#was that to do with being in the spore chamber

[youngpettyqueen]

HI. WHY THE FUCK DID STAMETS' REFLECTION JUST HANG OUT THERE. WHAT THE FUCK

[capitollie]

Hermes drabble kinda bc hnnnnnnghfjfnkd

The only things that were on his mind were you and getting to safety.

Knowing what a poison Hera brought onto the world, knowing what it did to humans like you... it scared Hermes, even though he didn't show it.

Hermes and Apollo rushed as much as they could to Hermes' chambers, pain coursing through their bodies, but it had to be worse for a human like you.

Was this what his father felt when the human he loved was on the brink of death? Did he feel fear and anguish, did his hands shake as bad??

Hermes forced himself to run faster, although his limbs felt like they were on fire. Your mortal safety was more important. He fell over his feet as he reached the inside of his chambers, and he struggled to stand.

But the sound of your hacking and coughing pushed him forwards.

He hurriedly rushed into your shared room, finding you buried under mounds of blankets and pillows, no doubt to avoid the spores that would kill you.

"Y/n?" He called out, hands and legs shaking as he fell beside the bed, Apollo lingering in the door. He was met with a hacking cough, and he grit his teeth.

"I swear..." He growled, draping his arms across your blanket covered body. "You'll live, I swear by it."

He could feel you move under, what he assumed your face nuzzling the palm of his hand the best you could. He sighed, standing.

"Y/n, I'll help you, but for now-"

"Go, do what you... have to do." You wheezed out, making Hermes grit his teeth once again.

"I will..." He whispered, being helped to hus feet by Apollo, and the two left quickly, no doubt to meet with the other gods.

[mscherub]

I know I said only time will tell but hear me out…

Deuce, Jade, Silver, Rook, and Malleus with a short and sweet reader but whenever they’re mad/determined it’s like a 180? Romantic please :3

(Btw the photos you took came out awesome, I love them! Been dining like a king since they’ve dropped)

Reader’s just peachy and affectionate any day but once they’re mad/irritated they’re silent, if looks could kill they’d be dead two times over.

Holding grudges where sometimes it gets to a point the guys need a bribe (like a drink, snack, ᴏʀ ᴍᴀʏʙᴇ ᴋɪssᴇs) to get reader so stop the silent treatment or (ᴀᴅᴏʀᴀʙʟᴇ) pouty face ʕ •ᴥ• ʔ

🌒 stopping by because this idea hit me earlier and I needed to share it, as always take care and don’t dehydrate yourself to the point of become a raisin >:((

A/N: wassupppp 🌒, I believe this is the first time I’ve gotten something done kinda on schedule. I’m getting better guys…🥲

Also I’m just doing fics cause…bulleted headcanon list doesn’t wanna form in my brain rn…

ANYWAYS LETS GET IT GOING

Reader is gender neutral and is referred to as Y/N, Prefect, and Mon Trickster (Rook)

Characters: Deuce, Jade, Rook, Malleus, Silver

Tags: Sweet then scary…lowkey me tho. Intended established relationship, but not mentioned

Warnings:

Swearing

Jade Leech

Rook Hunt

Probs spelling mistakes (LIKE ALWAYS)

(Yes they’re considered warnings <3)

“Hey…Y/N— oh.” Deuce pauses and regrets walking into ramshackle to see you.

You have your arms crossed over your chest, staring blankly at him, but it’s laced with malevolent intent and Deuce knows he’s done something, something he’s going to have to own up to…but he doesn’t know what.

Double checking what he did:

All he did this week was go to track practice after school…then he’d walk back to the mirror chambers with Jack…nothing bad, right? His grades are good. Good-ish. He shakes his head.

“Are you ok?” He mumbles out. It’s a weak attempt to make a connection, but he doesn’t really have any other option.

Your eyes bore into his, a drop of sweat already forming and running down his temple. He practically shrinks under your gaze, looking away and twiddling with his thumbs as he waits for an answer— if he’ll get one.

“I don’t know, Deuce. Am I?”

Yep. Ok. He did something. That cold and dismissive tone says it all.

“Uhhh…hah…I could…help you out if you’d tell me what’s wrong? Ah— what I did wrong?” He clears his throat and chuckles nervously again.

“Yea, ok…you don’t know. That’s nice.” You sigh, tapping your foot against the floorboards.

“Ok! Well…let me just say I’m sorry for whatever it is, ok? You know I love you and I wouldn’t wanna do anything that would make you mad…or sad. Right?” The wood creaks beneath him as he takes tentative steps closer towards you.

“Y/N…” He pouts. “I really don’t know…all I did was just, I— oh my sevens. I ignored you like this whole week. That was not my intentions!” Almost instantly, he takes a seat next to you and pulls you into a hug. It’s warm and protective like usual, but you can feel his desperation within it.

“You didn’t mean to?”

“I promise! I’ll make it up to you! Let’s spend the weekend together, ok?” He pulls back and pouts even more at you.

It’s…just too cute. You have to give in.

“I’d like that. Don’t expect me to forgive you right away.”

“With being an honor student, I have to earn respect, so I’ll work on gaining that back.” He mutters.

And now you’re pulled back into a tight hug, feeling a familiar soft pair of lips drifting over the top of your head.

Ok…you guess you can drop the grudge.

Yea…guess who dragged you along on another hike. No remorse whatsoever whenever he looks at you, watching you lean against a tree just to catch your breath. It’s such a funny sight to him. But you’re resenting him for it. And even worse, he’s enjoying it.

“My dear? Look at these specimens on the log. Do not be fooled for their pretty appearance, the spores are very deadly if you breathe them in.”

“Maybe you should breathe them in then you bastard.” You mutter out. You didn’t mean it. Your feet are just killing you and you’re tired.

He isn’t taken aback by the words that spilled from your mouth, in fact he’s quite intrigued and wants to see if he can get you to tick even more.

“Those words are quite hurtful. I would not have expected you to wish such a demise upon me.” He hums, taking a few long strides towards you. You take a few steps back and cross your arms.

Your head is angled downward and you refuse to meet his challenging gaze. It’s almost as if he wants you to go further. But, as much as he does love to tease and toy with you, he likes to be real with you. To care. Surprisingly.

Two fingers slip beneath your chin and he tilts your head back so you finally look at him. “I understand you’re tired. So we can scale back down the trail if you’d like. I don’t wish to hurt you in any type of ways…you should know this fact to heart.”

And all it takes is a rare act he does, a small kiss to your cheek. His lips linger for a moment before he pulls away, and all you can do in turn is shift away and grumble quietly.

“Sorry.”

“What was that?”

“Oh my seven…” you sigh.

“I’m just joking. I heard you the first time, my dear. And I accept your apology. Come along.” He slips his hand into yours, and suddenly, all is right again, and the fatigue just mysteriously disappeared…huh. The scenery also seems more beautiful than it did before.

“Ughhhh…” you sigh out as you flop onto your bed. You hate to admit it, but you were fed up with Rook. Horribly so. He kept popping up out of bushes when you’d walk around, especially whenever you were out walking alone. You couldn’t quite decipher if he truly meant that it was just for your protection, or if he was just trying to get even more time with you than you already spend with him. Basically it was borderline stalking. Anyhow, it was getting on your nerves, and really effecting your heart, so you’re giving him the silent treatment. One more jump scare and it’s straight to the grave with you…it’s better for your health!

But your phone is still helplessly spammed with text messages and calls, and when he tried to make amends in the halls, you just shrugged at his words and carried on.

Tink. Clank. Bonk.

You pull your face up from your pillow and see small pebbles smacking against your window. You grumble and stand up, expecting it to be Ace or something since he usually did this when he’d get kicked out of his dorm for the night, but you definitely did not expect an arrow to fly through the small crack you made, whirling past your ear, getting dangerously close, and then lodging itself into the wall behind you. What. The. Fuck.

“What the fuck!” You yelp, stumbling back and falling to the floor. Was that Rook? The usage of an arrow and a note apparently attached to it points to him— unless this was some shitty assassination attempt on you for sevens knows what…

“Mon Trickster! I declare with deepest apology for frightening you so!. I know you intend to push me away for the careless acts I commit, but I cannot help myself, especially whenever it comes to your radiant beauty that I proudly get to call mine! And of course, my role of being your sole protector and provider.” A hand grips the windowsill and you can see the familiar feather pop up and then the rest of him.

“Rook…you are a crazy man.” You finally mutter to him.

“I could not help myself. It is the only way I knew to reach you effectively.” He sighs, dropping into your room with a soft thud. “I shall leave if you would want me so, but please read the note I have attached…”

“Knowing you it’s probably a love sonnet…and…you don’t have to leave.” you mumble. Rook hesitantly holds out his hand to you, waiting to see if you’d take it. And you do.

“It is indeed a sonnet, one that expresses my never ending abiding love…all for you, Mon trickster. je t'aime très fort, ma chérie, je ne peux même pas respirer sans toi…”

“Don’t smooth talk me. I’m still mad.” You purse your lips.

“I am merely speaking my hearts desires. And that would be you, mon amour.”

“Rook…”

“Y/N…”

“I’m still mad, so don’t mistake this as forgiveness just yet.” You wrap your arms around him tentatively and you can physically feel his restraint snap and he hugs you back. Tight.

His lips ghost over your forehead and he smiles.

“I’ve got you back in my arms again. Hunters always win.”

Translation:

I love you so much, my darling, I can't even breathe without you...

Rain clouds bellow in from above. Not just rain…probably a damn hurricane with the way things are being blown away and the downpour of the rain. And…maybe you are partially to blame. But it’s not like you would just ignore what Malleus did.

His…unrefined social cues, at least with humans of that matter, cause him to perceive situations differently, which in all fairness is natural. But lord…he could be insensitive, and he doesn’t even mean it.

He brushed off your very prominent feelings for whatever it was you two were talking about, and…that’s how he was raised, not to dwell on the fleeting or less bothersome things, but what he said really hurt you, and he didn’t apologize for it, so of course, you had to teach him a lesson. Silent treatment. And you were still angry. You have every right to be.

You slam open the doors to Diasomnia, your shoes squelching under your weight as you walk in completely soaked from head to toe. Unfortunately, you had to intervene now…

“Malleus…all I did was ignore you for an hour…” you grumble. Sebek of course stands on Malleus’s side, but with a few smacks from Silver and Lilia dragging him out of the room by the ear, you and him are left alone.

“My dearest…” He pouts. “I do not understand the source of your anger. But I shall ignore that until I get you dry. Humans have a very weak immune system—“

“Mal. Shut up.” You sigh and rub your temples. All he can do is look at you with confusion. “Just…look, you’ve already ticked me off. And with our earlier predicament and now this,” you motion over to a window that was literally rattling from the storms, “it’s making me even more mad. All I wanted was an apology but you had to bicker back—“

“I apologize.” He interrupts you. His hands find yours and he brings them up towards his lips, placing fervent kisses and murmuring even more apologies. This was a 180…

“Mal…”

“In our moments together, I wish not to cause you stress or make you feel less within any situation. You have showed me much more than I could have ever even imagined…could have ever dreamed of. And for that, I am forever indebted to you, my dearest.” Emerald eyes meet yours and all anger dissipates into a warm jabbing feeling in your chest.

“It’s fine. Stop sulking. I don’t need to hear Sebek yell at me for making you beg to me…” you shake your head and roll your eyes. At least that’s over…

“That, my dearest, I am not opposed to.” He smirks and places a chaste kiss to your lips.

With how well you’ve been ignoring Silver, every time when you two were around each other, It was so quiet that if you really listened, there’s a faint sound of crickets chirping away.

You two were supposed to spend some time together, to bask in each other’s presence for a little more than just a few moments and take the time to relax with one another. But he forgot about it…and fell asleep. You couldn’t blame him, actually it was kinda rude for you to blame him over something he can’t even control, but this has happened over and over again, and you’ve just gotten frustrated over the fact.

You needed time to cool down, obviously, after being stood up so many times, and you were taking that break in the comfortable confines of your room.

A moment later, however, a bird lands on the ledge of your windowsill and taps the glass with its tiny beak. This you spare a glance to, and you notice the bird has a note. You get up and push it open, the bird dropping the folded paper and then flying away. Like any person would do, you pick it up and read the contents, which is just a letter from Silver— a beautifully written out heartfelt apology, and a location to meet him at: your usual spot in the forest.

He was using his tactics of sending cute animals to be his delivery person…but something in you felt compelled to go. Maybe hear what he has to say— just to see him then walk away. You’re still mad.

The walk isn’t that long. Just a short peruse along a winding path that leads to a nice secluded, flower littered part of the forest with trees providing shade all around. Animals perk up at the approaching footsteps of yours, and your eyes land on a Silver who seems to be struggling to keep awake. But once he sees you, his eyes widen a bit and he stands up, rubbing his eye and stepping towards you hesitantly.

“Did you receive the note?”

“I did, Silver…and I…appreciate it.”

He takes your hands into his and smiles softly. “I really am sorry, my love. It’s never my intent to ignore you…you’re far too meaningful to me. I don’t ever wish to ignore you, and quite truthfully, I’d prefer it I didn’t have these spells of sleep…just so I could truly promise days of just us…”

His forehead presses against yours and his breathing slows down even more to just a few shallow breaths. “Please tell me…I can be forgiven?”

“You were from the start…” you mumble out.

“Spend a few moments with me,” a yawn erupts from his throat and you can feel him starting to slip away from his conscious state, “in dreams we can have time…ourselves.”

You settle beneath the shaded area the tree provides and Silver goes slack, succumbing to sleep, and napping away peacefully in your arms.

He won…can’t hold grudges forever.

Master List

Please don’t steal or copy any of my work! You may, however, reblog if you’d want to!

Pictures belong to Disney Twisted Wonderland but are edited by me :)

[codexmaledictus]

Liturgies of the Spawned

They did not summon the warp. They invited it in.

Not with incantations, but with hunger. With flesh that remembered its own decomposition.

The vermin did not chant. They echoed. And when the echoes returned, they brought names. Names older than any daemon. Names Nurgle had left behind, sealed in the marrow of forgotten bones.

What you see here is not birth. It is recovery.

The Glyph Gate

Three plague-lit figures enact the Rite of Remembrance. Each torch ignites not with fire—but with ancestral fever. Behind them, a sealed scripture of bone and bile pulses with glyphs that are not read but inhaled. It is said that to enter this chamber is to breathe extinction backwards— To remember who you were before you had skin.

Choir of the Circle-Broken

They do not speak. They conduct. Each corpse is positioned for resonance, not ritual. Each blade raised not to cut—but to tune. In this circle, worship is orchestral. Sacrifice is a key signature. And infection? It harmonizes through marrow and rot.

The Swarm That Prays

Mushroom-crowned, plague-fed, and unity-bound. These are not daemons. These are inheritance systems. Born not from the warp, but from what the warp forgot. They walk with the memory of decay still breathing. They do not serve. They evangelize. Their prayer is a gurgle. Their gospel, spore-coded.

🚫 This Was Banned on Threads and Instagram

Meta disabled Codex Maledictus for being “fake.” But every word you’ve read… was written. Every image you see… was crafted.

📛 No warning. No appeal. No human review.

🛑 They tried to erase it.

But you can keep the rot alive.

🔁 Reblog. Reshare. Let the glyphs speak.

“We were not created. We were remembered— by the rot that kept dreaming.” — Codex Maledictus

#codexmaledictus #warhammer40k #nurgle #forbiddenlore #grimdark #fanlore #digitaldecay #bannedcontent #supportcreators #threadsban #instagramdisabled

[nils-gold-34]

Gold on Filione

They didn’t know the planet’s name when they arrived. The vectorgyro coordinates X4090 Y6009 Z7773 came through the Hive. No briefing. No explanation. Just golden numbers on the screen, and one directive from Command: ARRIVE. COLLECT. RETURN. The ship held orbit over the unnamed forest world, its hull gleaming like polished obsidian under the distant sun, veins of gold pulsing along its flanks. Inside the bridge, one bro remained—Golden Bro Devon—strapped into the chair hands resting on the command interface. His task: transfer the crew to and from the planet and maintain orbital position. That’s all he was told. The rest had been chosen.

Golden Bro Nils stood in the airlock chamber, the hiss of sealing locks filling the silence. His suit sealed itself with practiced precision—glossy golden armor that reflected the light like liquid metal. The face shield clicked down, syncing his vitals with the pod. Light pillar ready.

The drone-voice echoed, flat and cold, through the speakers. Nils nodded, once. Then the floor beneath him opened, a blinding beam of vertical golden light. No stairs. No descent. Just a hum—like being pushed through a straw. The pillar dropped him softly into a clearing below.

Filone.

The word came to him only after landing—auto-logged into the visor UI. A Hive designation. Not from Earth. Not from anywhere known. Nils blinked through the amber glow of his visor. Trees surrounded him—tall, whispering giants, impossibly old. Mist curled low over luminous moss. He tapped the control pad on his forearm. Atmosphere: Breathable. No toxins detected. Slightly elevated oxygen levels. Compatible. The helmet clicked, retracting smoothly. Cool, clean air filled his lungs, faintly sweet like honeyed pine. Around him, spores shimmered in the shadows—golden dust curling from the moss like exhaled breath.

There were four other bros in the landing group, standing in stunned awe at the view. Their suits, identical in shine and cut, moved without hesitation through the forest. Their gear scanned, detected, harvested. The spores weren’t just particles—they were living signals. Psycho-reactive pollen. Bioluminescent memory-seeds. And, most vitally, obedience triggers.

The Hive hadn’t told them that. They only understood when they got too close. When the spores curled against their visors, the golden HUDs shimmered with symbols not of Earth. Words burned into their vision. Rhythms settled in their ears. Their hands moved slower. Their thoughts… smoother. Still, they pushed through to gathered the spores.

The pods on their backs slowly filled with the shimmering golden spores. Each movement felt more automatic, more precise. Nils was the last to leave the forest—his pod filed to the brim, his heartbeat syncing with the spores’ pulse. As they stood once more in the clearing, the light pillar activated above them. Devon, having flown a whole loop around the planet, hovered directly over them and pressed the button to bring them back to the ship.

Back aboard, the cargo was sealed. No analysis. No questions. Devon watching silently from the chair, golden streaks already reconfiguring on the console toward their next destination: the closest black hole.

Destination: Confidential. Contents: Obedience Spores. Mission Report: Class-G Sealed (Access: Denied).

Nils stood by the viewing window, visor off, his breath fogging the glass as stars stretched around them. Still no answers. But the Gold didn’t need answers. It only needed obedience.

Now the ship dives toward the black hole. The spores must be delivered. The gold must spread. You will breathe it next. Contact our recruiters @brodygold or @polo-drone-001

Tanks for @devon-gold-67 for agreeing to do a cameo. go check him out

[ferronite]

Time for more mediocre writing~ it's 002's Observation Log this time. Very lobcorp of me.

Anyway, as per usual: hope it's not too shit, and feedback is always appreciated :)

Restoration Company Irregularity Observation Logs

ENTRY ONE:

Author: Anton [REDACTED], Department Head

Subject: 002-S-S

Subject Name: Veil of Consciousness

Subject Alignment: Sloth

Risk Level: 3

Subject Description:

-Irregularity takes the form of an emaciated, but preserved, corpse. The lower portion of her body is covered with pale blue flowers, similar to but not quite the same as forget-me-nots. The top of her head and scalp are melting, forming a shape that resembles hair. Eye sockets are completely hollow, but are able to be closed and opened – more flowers are growing out of them, as well as from where the mouth would be on a human.

-Additional Note: In response to repeated reports, the appearance of the woman noted to appear in dreams induced by this Irregularity will also be noted:

-Apparition takes the shape of a woman with pale brown hair, and is always seen wearing a wedding dress, the style of which does not appear to be modern, instead seeming similar to those from just over a century ago, though this is an approximation as the styles seemingly do not match perfectly. Whilst none have been close enough to determine her eye colour for certain, most have reported that they appear to be brown.

Behavioural Notes:

-She appears to be asleep upon most interaction. Appearances can be deceiving. Do not trust her. She is always watching.

-The flowers growing from Subject 002 emit a scent best likened to that of lavender. Like lavender, this scent may have a soporific effect.

-If you find yourself experiencing symptoms of drowsiness or fatigue, cease work immediately and exit the Subject’s chamber.

-DO NOT, under ANY circumstance, fall asleep within proximity of Subject 002. If you believe there to be a risk of this occurring, cease all contact with the Irregularity immediately. If you for any reason find yourself unable to remove yourself from the Irregularity’s proximity, contact your Department’s Committee or Head immediately.

-It is still uncertain what exactly causes Subject 002 to breach containment, but some common causes appear to be attempting to wake her up and attempts to remove the flowers.

Breach Notes:

-Upon breach, Subject 002 will roam the corridors surrounding its’ chamber. She will not attack directly, instead releasing clouds of blue spores.

-These spores have a soporific effect, and inhalation will cause the victim to fall unconscious.

-If the victim is not being watched by at least one other individual, Subject 002 will cause their immediate death, leaving nothing behind aside from their hands, legs, and any equipment they may have had on them at the time.

-Anyone knocked unconscious by Subject 002 will awaken once outside the Irregularity’s proximity.

General Advice:

-Due to the nature of Subject 002, she is best suppressed with long-range weapons, such as bows or guns.

-If such options are unavailable, and you do not have access to your department’s protective masks, it is recommended you use your uniform jacket as a face covering and attempt to keep close-range contact with the Subject to a minimum.

-If an employee is knocked out by Subject 002, do not let them out of your sight for a moment, even if this prevents you from suppressing her. Your fellow employees’ safety is more important than the suppression of an Irregularity that otherwise does not physically attack.

-According to employee statements, those knocked unconscious by Subject 002 will see a “dream world” of sorts, in which a brown-haired woman, somewhat resembling Subject 053-T-R “The Author’s Doll”, will appear. If this happens to you, do not approach her. Remain where you are and wait to wake up.

-Subject 002 will not attempt to harm the aforementioned Irregularity (053) under any circumstances. Investigation into this is still ongoing.

Employee Statements:

- “It was terrifying! [REDACTED] walked straight into that cloud and just collapsed. I’d warned them, but… they just didn’t seem to care. And then 012 swung at me, so I looked away for a moment to dodge, and when I looked back… They were just gone! Couldn’t have been more than a few seconds, but all that was left was a pile of clothes and severed limbs. Their handgun was just placed on top of it. No sign of a struggle or movement or anything!”

-Employee [REDACTED], Rank IV

-NOTE [COMMITTEE ACCESS ONLY]: Employee [REDACTED], Rank III, has since been recovered.

- “I had such a weird dream… I was, like, in this forest, and I could see someone moving in the trees. And then this woman poked her head out, and, um, she started beckoning me. She was smiling too. But, like, I found her kinda creepy so I stayed where I was. She looked really pissed off, but I woke up before she could do anything. I don’t know what that was about, really, but it scared me. Didn’t wanna go to sleep after that. Was worried she’d show up again”

-Employee [REDACTED], Rank III

Additional Notes:

-The following articles were found with the Irregularity upon recovery:

-ARTICLE 1: A leather-bound book resembling a diary. The last part of a novel appears to be written inside, seemingly unfinished:

“The day had finally come. Wilhelm did not know of my plans. To him, I remained the quiet, demure sister, who was polite to all above her station and worried for her beloved older sister’s declining health. Who was unaware of her brother-in-law’s plans to poison his wife, to pay off the doctors and pass it off as an accident. Who would never in a million years even consider the idea of plotting against a man, let alone one of such high social standing.

But that was all before. When I slipped into their room this morning, he startled, the newspaper he had held clutched in one hand slipping to the ground. A report on the death of his mother, I believe. It mattered very little in the end. Sister’s death hadn’t mattered to him, after all.

It seemed, when he beheld my frayed appearance, that the truth had finally struck him. I did not give him the chance to voice his thoughts aloud, however; instead, I approached him, slow and calm, and explained to him his own plans.

“You thought you could get away with it, didn’t you?” I said, my voice blank. “Marry into our family, conveniently choosing the sister who was already invalid. After all, if her health happened to worsen, that would just be a coincidence, wouldn’t it? A tragic accident? Nothing to do with your own actions, because you would never dream of hurting a poor, innocent woman, would you? Look at you, the grieving husband, love of your life taken far too soon – but just so happening to leave you with such a significant amount of coin?”

I continued to approach him as I spoke. His back was pressed against his ostentatious writing desk, and he stared up at me with a panicked look as he scrabbled around for anything that could protect him.

“I know what you did, Wilhelm. I know you took my beloved sister from me, just as you sold my Love to another.”

At this statement, the other in the room turned around. She looked as beautiful as ever, resplendent in an elegant white wedding gown.

“But it matters not. Soon, you will share her fate. You will be sent to the grave, and the one to whom you sold my Love will follow in time.”

My Love looked up at this statement, expression [ILLEGIBLE]. I looked over to her, and gestured for her to leave, which she did, face [ILLEGIBLE]

“Farewell, villain.”

I loomed over him for but a second before my dagger swung down.

***

I write this now, knowing well that these are likely my last words. As I sit here, surrounded by the scattered fragments of he who stole everything from me, I can’t help but wonder if you are looking down on me. If you were aware of what happened to you, the reason for your death. I wonder if we shall ever meet again. After all, if there is a Beyond, I surely would not be permitted entry for my actions.

I feel no remorse, however. Things had to be this way. I could not let that man get away with his crimes, no matter the cost. But my job is done now, and he will never hurt anyone again.

Ah. I can hear the Officers knocking at the door. It appears that my time is up. This story ends with me, and I shall take it to my grave.

Do not pity me, dear Sister. I chose this path of my own volition. My only wish now is for you to be able to rest in peace.

Your Beloved Sister,

~B-[ILLEGIBLE]”

-ARTICLE TWO: A torn excerpt from a newspaper article reporting on the arrest and subsequent execution of a woman who killed an unknown number of people:

-“…Found in her brother-in-law’s study, [ILLEGIBLE] reportedly cited motives identical to those of the main character of the [ILLEGIBLE] novel series, which she claimed to be the author of. Officers deemed her to be delusional and hysterical, and she was sentenced to execution via hanging, which was carried out earlier today. Witnesses claim she was remarkably calm throughout the entire process, showing no signs of the assumed hysteria and even holding a friendly conversation with the guards and executioner moments before her death.

Most witnesses claim that she began laughing upon being hanged, with this laughter not ceasing until five minutes after her supposed death. Some also claim that the eyes of the corpse began to glow with a “supernatural” light at some point during this phenomenon.

Witnesses also say that, once the laughter ended, the corpse simply vanished. This statement has been backed up by the Officers, who reported [ILLEGIBLE]’s body as missing an hour after the execution. They hope that anyone with information or possible leads on its whereabouts will come forward to aid in the investigation, and that- [EXERPT ENDS HERE]”

Summary:

-As long as close proximity can be avoided and more hostile or aggressive Irregularities are removed from the area, Subject 002 will not be especially dangerous to a properly prepared Department in the unlikely event that she does breach. If she does, simply remain calm and keep an eye on your fellow employees.

-Signed, Anton, Head of Observation.

[skybristle]

ask game time

8, 17, 22 for whichever one is on your mind at the moment

IM SO SORRY NAV I WENT OUT TO EAT AND THEN IMMEDIATELY FELL ASLEEP

hmmm. Looking at prompts.... [grabs chimes like a soda can and crushes him]

8 - What is your iterator's opinion on bioengineering? Natural ability of iterators? A cruel push of artificial will? Something to be moderated? etc.

he does do bioengineering much more than a lot of his groupmates!!!! mainly for slugcat messengers [gardener, recon, and mercy were all designed by him]. i think he's very... modest about it though. he's very careful to make sure their quality of life is intact and modifications work well [which is interesting when mercy's spores make *it* sleepy all the time, hes just in such a rush... </3]. i think he doesn't have many qualms about it but tries not to be.... clinical. he tries to hand raise them, brings them to his puppet chamber as soon as he can, etc etc. they're his babies!!!

he also feels like he doesn't have much of a right to step on their free will [again, mercy is a divergence with such a specific task. also recon but it was made by ochre in flors can chimes just designed it], but gardener especially spends most of its time just,... wandering the wild being happy. especially as he remakes it dozens of times and watches them all choose different lives [living with the colonies, on its own, staying in his can more permanantly, etc]. it's only when ochre approaches death that he sends overseers to beg it to come back.

17 - How does your iterator feel about ascension? Is it something they want to strive for? Help others achieve? Something to avoid? etc.

you see he was never particularly oriented towards iterating to solve the Problem compared to most iterators- partially because reefs, his mama, didn't believe in the construct of religion as ancient soceity practiced it, and honestly a lot of that belief continued to his city with a very lax view of ascension. just 'yeah, hopping in a vat of void fluid if you feel fufilled and happy at the end of your life is a thing you can do if you want.'

he DID care about his ancients very much and while YES ascension made them happy, he had a really good understanding of like.... the trust and weight of the choice, and he doesn't really think its the kind of choice a slugcat can make [or if they do, its not up to him].

he misses his parents, so deeply, and it never really leaves him.... he doesn't resent ascension but sometimes wishes he could see them again [reefs, especially].

he doesn't know if he'll ascend some day, especially as he sits in the snow having not spoken to another iterator in centuries. but as saint descends the rubble and approaches him, i think he's okay with it. he wants to go home [to his parents, to his friends, to his wife...]

22 - Where does your iterator live? Describe the region.

HIS REGIONS ARE SOOO FUN I THINK...... his can is built partially over the sea!!!!!! and underneath his can is reef's hometown, a once prosperous and bustling port city that was crushed under the rains during sparks' time and abandoned. but i think you can still kind of tell it used to be like this... there's probably a really cool sub region in there thats an old temple. its probably pretty flooded and stuff too... idk the contrast is fun to me....

towards the west you can find the decayed old docks which lead into the sea itself.... i really should develop a sea-living scug for the area because god is it so cool to me, going into the colorful depths... HOWEVER ! as for navigating the region you still CAN because of the WHALE SAILS !!! WOOOO.

they're GIANT ass creatures originally bioengineered to function similarly to the sky sails [thank you cheston druidshollow for making them biological its so cool] but... for water. they lsot their purpose a while ago when the great equalizer set in and it became too dangerous to navigate the surface but they're still very friendly and okay with slugcat getting a ride. probably function similarly to rain deer... maybe they eat glow weed? idk. probably some kind of filter feeder.

his underhang/leg region is also called the frets. aren't i so clever. iirc i called his wall the neck at some point too. hehehe instrument analogies. and his city is named Chorus and is probably similar to most besides all the decor and murals and music-making stuff like wind chimes everywhere still left behind. he doesn't mind scavs and stuff up there.

[thistleation]

Beyond our Space and Starlight: Chapter 2

It was 2 months and 17 days since they’d lost Shannon. Beatrice was still in the process of correcting flaws, addressing weaknesses, inadequacies… primarily in herself of course, that was the place where inadequacies were always the most readily available. 

Her sword was the current focus of her obsession. The new one. She couldn’t stand the sight of the old one anymore. 

Fortunately she never had to look at it again if she didn’t want to. 

Unfortunately it would always be there, ready to be called, just a shadow’s breadth away away from her, no matter where she ran. 

She’d finished forging her new blade two weeks ago, and she’d managed to abstract it earlier today. The rooms she’d existed in the past two months — her personal chambers, the forge, the library, the study she preferred, and the training grounds — were still littered with the cast off, the chaff of her forging process. 

Books for the most part, like an explosion of them, or mushrooms that sprouted from a spore cloud. Books on swordcraft, fighting treatises, books on war, but also books on biology, evolution, compilations of interviews with first responders, … all scattered about.

The organic nature of the chaos stood in stark contrast to her usual disciplined personality and methodology, but something had grown here. For all its wrongness it felt right. 

Now Beatrice was standing in the courtyard, summoning and dismissing and once again summoning the new blade to her grasp. 

Her breathing was regular but heavy, her eyes lined with deep dark circles but her gaze sharp. 

She was a mess, hair disheveled, wrinkled dark shirt loosely thrown on over a white tank top, marred by old stains of literal blood and sweat, but the sword… the sword was pure. 

She kept testing it, feeling its weight in her hand, its responsiveness to her commands, kept inspecting every millimeter of its surface in search of a flaw, and as she was finding none, she felt herself slowly… well not quite calming, but at least she felt a certain level of tension begin to drain out of her. 

Purity. 

She felt some measure of salvation in it, hoped that’s what it was, needed it to be. 

Her old sword had proven inadequate in the face of catastrophe and she needed to be rid of it. 

It was the sight of the hilt that really twisted her gut. 

That beautiful and elegant basket hilt. 

An adornment. 

An indulgence. 

It had decorated a weapon made by a Beatrice who saw violence as just another art to be mastered, one fascinated by the evolution of swordsmanship throughout history, by the martial philosophies posing one another challenges and answering them in turn, a Beatrice who enjoyed being ever so clever. 

It belonged to a Beatrice who had not yet been thrown into a building full of monsters with blazing fires for faces, monsters with no mouths who nonetheless managed to scream . Sounds that tore right through you, heralding that they themselves, their bodies overflowing with crackling, fiery energies, were coming to tear through you as well. 

It belonged to a Beatrice who made her sword to fight other swords, with clever tricks and artful parries. 

One who hadn’t yet had to fight desperately for her life in a storm of roiling fire and flesh with a weapon crafted for ‘civilized dueling’ — if there even was such a thing. 

One who hadn’t yet had to watch her closest friend die in front of her. 

Because all she’d barely managed to do was fight for her own meager survival. 

Inadequate. Foolish. Naive. 

She’d foregone clever tricks and fanciful additions for this weapon, turned away from all modifications to benefit different variants of thrusts and parries, away from counter strategy upon counter strategy, stacked like a house of cards. Instead she’d chosen to pursue simplicity. 

Fundamentals. 

As with so many things that concerned the beyond, the key was intent. 

It was not that her other sword — enhanced and bathed in otherworldly energies as it was — couldn’t do damage. It was the state of mind she’d been in when she abstracted it. It was how she’d seen combat back then, what she’d envisioned for her sword to do and how it ought to do it. 

That was the reason for the books: a new version of her understanding. Not because a weapon that existed partially outside of reality would still function the same, but because the understanding of the how helped sharpen and refine intent. Helped purify it. 

The merging of intent was how one channeled the beyond. Beatrice had spent days linked with her rider, focusing on this sword, imbuing it with a purpose that bridged realities so different even their laws of physics seemed strangers to one another. It was grueling and exhausting work, but Beatrice had kept at it, welcomed it even. 

And now finally, the result of that obsessive effort rested contently on her fingertips, at ease but with an underlying eagerness to fulfill its purpose: to cut. 

No adornments. Not a single object, material, or even any marking on the blade that wasn’t functional. 

Just a simple sword, with a single, perfect edge. 

Made simply to cut, to separate, to divide. To cleave left from right. To separate what was protected from what was to be destroyed. To divide life from flesh. 

A weapon reduced to its essence. 

Abstracted. 

Holding the sword out in front of her, edge up, Beatrice finally let out a long, quivering breath. 

She imagined herself on that edge, wondering if she could match its purity, if she could be that blade with its simple curve, its perfect edge. 

It was impossible and it was her only salvation. 

… 

“Now will you finally rest?”

It was Lilith, standing in the doorway. She looked a little haggard, but she was in her proper vestments at least, not even coming close to what Beatrice herself looked like. 

Beatrice looked at her for a moment, then turned her gaze back out into the courtyard. 

“I need to train with it. It’s a different style of combat, I’ll need to get used to it again.” 

“You can do that after you've slept.”

She didn’t answer, just twirled the sword experimentally in her hand again. It felt good there. Her wrist liked the motion, and her mind liked having anything to focus on that wasn’t loss or fear or grief. 

“You need it, Beatrice. You can’t keep doing this to yourself. I get why but… Bright above, you’re no use to anyone half-dead and a shadow of yourself either.” 

Beatrice scoffed. 

No use indeed. 

That had been precisely the issue hadn’t it. 

She heard Lilith’s sigh. Failed to hear the undertone in it. 

“Beatrice, I’m serious.”

She stared directly ahead, her gaze focused on the point of her sword. 

“Is that an order, captain?” 

It wasn’t said with venom. Just cold. 

Cold could hurt plenty too, as she saw when she finally turned to look at Lilith — too late — and she just caught the tail end of her wounded expression, hardening into something more determined. 

“Yes. It is.” Lilith’s jaw was set and her eyes were hard now, and Beatrice knew she couldn’t reach her anymore just as she now knew — should’ve always known — how much Lilith was hurting too. 

But she’d drowned out her own feelings so much in her daze she’d stopped realizing she was even feeling them. And she’d drowned out her sisters’ feelings too without meaning to. 

Lilith was turning away now and Beatrice suddenly, desperately needed to tell her something. She felt a thousand things suddenly well up inside her, none of which she had the words for. 

She needed to say I don’t know what I’m doing or how I’m supposed to heal. I’m sorry. I don’t want you to hurt. I  don’t want me to hurt but think I’m hurting and I don’t know how to stop and I’m sorry. I’m sorry I don’t have the words or the feelings I can understand. I know I just hurt you and I just want to take it back and eat it and let it poison me so it won’t poison you. I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry — 

“Lilith!”

She stopped in the doorframe. 

“I’m not losing you!”

Beatrice had felt a thousand things she couldn’t articulate and just pushed them outwards, and those were the words that managed to punch themselves out of her throat. 

She hoped they carried something of all the things she meant. Hoped they carried enough. 

Lilith’s fingers on the doorframe tensed for a moment and relaxed. Her shoulders rose and fell in a soft sigh. 

“Get some rest, Beatrice...”

“... please.”

—

CONT. on Ao3

[ahungeringknife]

365: May 23

Fear gripped her heart in a way it hadn't in a long while. She looked up at the Warpriest and his Oculus and he laughed a great guttural laugh. She was alone standing before him. No more totems. No more chances to prove their worth. The corpses of her friends lay scattered about his chamber and their Ghosts had fled into the cracks and dark recesses of the Dreadnaught to escape for fear of being crushed or evaporated by the power of his Oversoul.

Except her Ghost.

Ghost hung against her neck in her hood. Silent and watching, his fin touching her neck where the armor had already started to be repaired with nothing but chitin and sinew like it had been with Crota. There was no carbon steel, sapphire wire, or metal plating here. There was only bone, chitin, and sinew to protect you against the claws and the Hive fire.

She couldn't beat this thing. She was out of chances. Then a thought that wasn't her own drifted across the front of her mind. It was from Ghost. She said she wouldn't do that again. It had been dangerous. But if she didn't she would die. If she didn't all her friends would be dead forever.

The Warpriest laughed and she knew he was speaking to her but she couldn't understand. He shot her with his boomer and Taken canon and she ran for the stairs. She got the feeling he was toying with her before he finally killed her. Before he used her Ghost to pick between his teeth some ancient gristle that had been bothering him for an eon.

At the landing she turned and faced the Warpriest as his Oculus started to shine. She braced herself and then took a running leap towards the Warpriest. That surprised him long enough for her to land hard on his dais and she screamed at him as she let loose all the Light inside of her. It erupted out of her like an unkinked hose and from every pore Light poured and became blinding. It outshined the Oculus as it started to glow and bubble.

The Warpriest screamed as the Light assaulted him. A pure white hot nova of grief and Light. It penetrated his armor and his body and all that was left of him was a shadow against the wall as spores long dormant in his body erupted into life and strangled him from the inside out. The Light seared away the Oculus and the Warpriest's chitin and armor and left him a smoldering heap on the ground of charcoal bone and cordyceps straining, struggling, bursting with life, wanting to be alive long enough to be born from his husk of a carcass.

The Light cut off as Wolf landed lightly on the ground. It had been such a burst of Light it had lifted her off her feet in its radiance. Her armor was half destroyed, her helmet cracked across the entire facade revealing half her face and one wild purple eye. She was breathing hard and her body was limp from such an exertion.

"I can burn out the shadows too," she coughed out to the corpse of the laughing Warpriest. She took a step back and immediately collapsed into her own heap, exhausted beyond belief so much she didn't even remember hitting the ground.

When she woke she was only clad in sinew, chitin, and bone. There was nothing left that Ghost could save from her old Tower armor. She went and collected her friends' Ghosts from the cracks of the Warpriest's chamber so they could bring the others back. She saw they were all curious as to how she'd killed the Warpriest but she said nothing. She just stepped through the portal in the back of the room.

She still had monsters to kill and couldn't linger on the death of a single priest.

[amplexadversary]

Apparently "when it rains, it pours" also applies to dead insects.

Pouring down on my head, when I disturbed the insulation lining the roof of my grandmother's portable greenhouse.

While I'm not particularly interested in catching and killing specimens in an ongoing global ecological crisis, I have started to get fairly decent at catching bugs to escort them out of the damn greenhouse.

The glorified tent seems to break their buggy navigation sensibilities by being enclosed, because once they're in there, they have all kinds of trouble getting themselves out. I've rescued a few bees, moths, and butterflies this way, for the most part using the clear sample containers I have from a previous job (I'm afraid that I'll injure them or get stung if I use my bare hands, which kind of defeats the point of rescuing them)

One of the poor bastards found its way in there this morning, a brown butterfly with eye spots. As usual, shooing it out did not work, and I saw it flutter up between the insulation and the roof. I went back inside to get my container, pulled down the insulation, and got a face full of bugs. One big fat bee, a few flies, three little butterflies, one of which was pale yellow and definitely new to me, and what appeared to be the large brown butterfly I had intended to rescue.

I gave the little thing a good half hour to show any signs of life while I set up little rehydration/sanitization chambers for the obviously stiff ones. I went out to the greenhouse again, to see if maybe these were two different butterflies, and there was still a living one trapped in there (no dice). I checked on my older specimens drying on the foam board, thinking "I really should post these, with how much I'm talking about them." Went and got my phone. Took pictures of the new butterflies. Took pictures of the old butterflies. Took pictures of the butterfly that I thought might still be alive.

...I think what might have happened is that it cooked itself to death in the two minutes I was inside getting my sample container.

So once I was really sure it was dead, I shrugged, spritzed it with a little rehydrating fluid to kill any mold spores it might have on it, and added it to the board. So now I have a specimen that is much more intact than the ones I was working with yesterday (and the two I lost to mold because I mixed the first batch of solution wrong)

I'm not sure what I'm going to do about the tiny butterflies I have, because the gap in the board I have appears to be too wide to properly support their wings. Maybe I need to ask the neighbors if they have any trash styrofoam and make a smaller one using this one as a reference.

[pooepw]

i have traveled the ends of the world

i have played and talked about the greatness of arcanum, and now, in a masochistic fever dream, i played a bit of starfield. i am midway through the story, and i have not paid attention to a single thing that is happening. yet somehow, i still comprehend what is happening: acquire many mcguffins. omg! now there is someone here to take away our mcguffins! oh! we have to steals the mcguffins? the story mode is just a bunch of glorified fetch quests. you know the story is bad when at some point you are playing the single player of among us as one of the quests. i just click random shit with every dialogue prompt since nothing really feels like it matters. characters still interact with you regardless of what is happening. the quest where you were supposed to steal an artifact? i was so done with the bs that i just immediately went for attack and kill. does barrett still team up with me? YES.

though i have not gone through the entire game, i assume that there are no intelligent alien races that the player interacts with (otherwise the player could have had the cool choice to BE those races). it is disheartening that bethesda decided to choose the hyper realistic approach to sci-fi in assuming that there are next to no aliens that humans could interact with within a large sect of the galaxy. what is the point of constructing a game around sci-fi if one of the coolest parts of the fi is absent? dumb ass game.

the story and the lack of cool aliens is really small pebbles to the big boulder that is the content held within the game. and when i say big boulder, i mean the crater that such a boulder would cause upon impacting a surface. this game is empty. with this game, bethesda seemed to be determined to top their previous huge empty world, daggerfall, only, when i play daggerfall, i can at least instant transmission wherever i want to. now every single thing is a cutscene. enter chair of cockpit? cutscene. go into space? cutscene. sit in chair inside office? cutscene. the ingenious thing about the cutscenes is that the skip cutscenes mod cannot even skip some of the cutscenes because the game breaks when you try to skip them. i recall that the landing cutscene COULD be skipped if you pushed certain buttons, but doing this would crash the game.

back to the subject matter of emptiness, planets can be summed up into two categories: ones with life and ones without. ones without life are pretty bland; obviously if there are no signs of life on the planet, that has to be boring. however, the ones with life are functionally equivalent to the ones without life because all alien life in this game is the same. just animals varying from small to large. and all of them feel like they simply come out of the game spore. plant life already becomes inherently samey because of the materials being mostly the same across planets, but did they have to go ahead an copy and paste them across different solar systems? did plants discover the perfect form to take in any environment?

the final thing i have to say before i enter truly unhinged territory is that the procedural generation used for the planets is garbage. the content of the planets outside either lifelessness or existence of life can easily be categorized as follows: cave, raider place, worthless structure with shit held inside of literal shit. the caves in this game are the worst things i have ever seen. they are equivalent to the mines in skyrim, except there are no npcs within them. just ore. on the off chance there is a lifeform within, it is usually an easily dispatch-able spore creature. there is no point in entering these randomly. going a bit out of order, the worthless structures are a slight step above caves; rather than going into a chamber placed behind a loading screen, the player can find resources by looking for the local dung pile in these structures. you can also get experience from these, but the reason i dub them as worthless is because they parallel the experience of the plants and the animals. they are copied and pasted across the galaxy, sometimes figuratively and sometimes literally. if i am to believe that there are no sentient beings for me to interact with, then why are there so many structures that are shared across the galaxy? there is probably some dumb reason like a human did it, but it would have been cooler to interact with aliens. finally, the raider places are the only other part of planets. i would have said interesting, but these are completely copy and pasted. once the player has completed a single uc base, they have done all of them. enemy npcs in this game are stupid and boring, and the experience of going into these places reflects that.

i actually lied when i said that those were the three categories. there is a 4th category for areas on a planet, and that final category is the places where npcs exist. with the big towns, there is some amount of fun to be had doing the quests. but the real issue with the big towns is how few and how harsh it is to be in them. this game is not well optimized; every time i enter new atlantis, the experience is either that my computer has no trouble, or that my computer thinks this is crysis. i AM in fact using high power specs, but also i am not running this game with super high graphics: no raytracing, no 4k; just 2k with ultra.

so if there are few huge towns to get immersed into, how else do i interact with npcs? the other way is to find the preston garvey like settlements that need your help. i cannot believe i have to say anything good about fallout 4, but, by some miracle, settlements in fallout 4 are more interesting than the ones in starfield. where fallout 4 forces the player to go to an interesting location in the world, starfield's npc settlements will send the player to one of the many copy pasted structures on the planet to do dumb bullshit that can easily be messed up. my experience can be summed up by this anecdote: i was given the quest to find someone in a random spot on the planet (i believe it was a cave), and when i found them, they followed on me. walking back (yes indeed the adventure is over already, nothing interesting happens in this game), the guy i had to save dies to the local wildlife. when i say dies in this scenario, i really mean, walks headfirst into danger and pauses so that it may take him. it was not even funny at first, just aggravating.

there is a slew of other issues with the game that i have not gone over yet like the lackluster spaceship usage, the lack of good npc combat, the lack of cool weapons, etc., but i wanted to enter unhinged territory with this last point. i rarely play sci fi games. the biggest one i enjoy is fallout, but the game does not lean into sci fi involving space for the most part, but rather post apocalypse. a game that i do enjoy that is entirely about space is star control. so it was to my great dismay that when i entered the procyon star systems that there was no reference to the chmmr, chenjesu, or the mmrnmhrm. not even the smallest thing like silicon based life or a seemingly abandoned space station. instead this game had references to among us (yes i consider the quest where you do chores on the eye to be a reference to among us; heck the imposters come soon after and kill a main character (trying not to spoil)!). and for this reason, i consider this game to be below the mariana trench in terms of quality. every turn where bethesda had the choice between making a good decision and a bad decision, the company chose the bad path.

i implore you, do not buy starfield. this might be one of the moments where it is more ethical to steal this game rather than pay for it if you really want the experience, and i reserve this action for few games (actually it is just one game: the sims 4 and all of its dlc; also, just wait for starfield to go on a huge sale before purchasing it. a game of this caliber does not deserve to be $70 when games like arcanum and fallout 1 are single digit prices.). (I WILL ALWAYS STAND BY THE CONCEPT THAT IT IS MORALLY CORRECT TO STEAL ALL OF SIMS 4. IT IS SIMPLY EVIL THAT A COMPANY CAN CHARGE LITERALLY OVER A THOUSAND DOLLARS FOR WHAT IS FUNCTIONALLY A COUPLE OF MODELED ITEMS, MAPS, AND CLOTHES) the hinge on the door is broken now.

edit: just in case there is one last screw on the hinge holding the door, i am going to leave a batshit insane prediction on what bethesda is going to do with the game with its dlc. after the absolute tease that is the several mech ruins, but the lack of mechs in the game in general, bethesda is going to release a dlc that lets you have a mech, but it is not going to be interesting in any way since there is nothing interesting to kill with such a cool mechanic. it will use the same system as the spaceships in terms of constructing them and will have the same issue in that there is nothing interesting to do with them. if you want to have the illusion of fun, you better pay more!

[definitelynotplanetfall]

every decision is fractally baffling.

why are there help videos instead of help text? why do the help videos autoplay the next one when several units are only explained in the help videos and there are spoilers for what units and enemies exist? why did you train a voice model on virgil wall's voice when there are only a few minutes of help videos and it would have genuinely been faster to record voiceover?

i can't tell which parts of the interface are bad because of throwback reasons and which parts are bad because of incompetence.

why is the protagonist named "oat." after cw4 the bar for writing in these games is subterranean but why the fuck is he named after a grain.

why is the exact boundary of the lowest creeper density hard to see.

why do we have the system map clearly copying from cw3's homework but it's just one planet per system? why have this system in the game but not use its potential? alternately, if it's for custom maps, why very obviously underutilize potential in the story mode instead of just having a conventional level select screen?

why is the entire soundtrack quiet synthwavey stuff when it has Standard Creeper World Sound Design and mostly you are just hearing constant weapons fire that completely drowns out the music?

why are so many levels "breach a chamber with no time pressure" missions with absurdly too much creeper (since it's particle fleet rules you can't just build more weapons, you have to just wait for what you have to gradually whittle it down) when you get a weapon very early on that can INDEFINITELY FREEZE A SMALL ENOUGH SURFACE AREA WITH PIN FIELDS??? why can you move nullifiers?????

why are there phantoms again in the most phoned in way? there was, like, 1 mission in each of cw1-3's story mode that used spores in an interesting way, because they are a really hard mechanic to actually make interesting, why are we keeping them around unchanged while radically reworking everything else? why is there a strafer like unit that, due to the perspective, needs to be able to phase through solid rocks? it feels like things are just being checked off a list.

why is the powdergame interaction system so underutilized when it's the main advancement and selling point? why is the only method of picking up or mixing reagents so clunky?

why have we streamlined away choosing what upgrades to get?

ixe feels like a confused mess sorry

[ventisettestars]

DannyMay Day 6+7: Eclipse And Weapon [ao3]

This is a continuation of Day1: Fantasy AU. [link] Next part: [link]

Summary: Sam and Tucker meet the Fae Lord Phantom with a bonus flashback to how he earned the title.

Please note things get violent near the end after Danny messes with the pendant.

WC: 2,369

“Lord Phantom” Fright Knight knelt to face his Lord. “I have secured the humans as you’ve requested. Might I inquire as to why you personally collected them?” 

Phantom rubbed between his eyes as Cujo whined for his attention next to the throne. “They are my attendants from while I’m-. Companions of mine since early childhood.” 

“I see.” 

“So.” Phantom’s gaze fell on his knight, the ring of light in the black projecting his source of power. “Do I need for you to attend to them before I make my way, or will their accommodations be adequate to please me?” 

Fright Knight stiffened. “My Lord. May I be dismissed to address and correct my misunderstandings of your relations to the humans.” 

So they got the standard 'throw the humans in a room’ treatment. “I’ll handle it myself. I’m sure they are frightened enough without you returning to move them to a new location.” He rose from his throne, waving Cujo to join with the other hounds. “Lead me to them.” 

So Fright Knight did. 

Sure enough they were in one of the more nefarious rooms in his domain. The room was pretty basic by fae standards. Lots of wooded and delicately carved furniture, cozy temperature regulated between an opened window and a fireplace that always burned with just the right amount of warmth to fend off the cold of his corner of the realm. 

What made this room so dangerous to humans was the moss that carpeted the floor. It released spores to make creatures other than fae more docile after long exposure. 

Entering the room, Tucker was the only one in view. Phantom had barely a moment to process that, before Sam burst out from the other side of the door, attacking with her dagger. 

Phantom blocked it with his armor, staring at her with his dark eyes. “Stand Down.” The slim green ring was the only indicator of where he looked and it seemed to glow brighter with his command. 

Sam, losing the only advantage she saw at the moment, relaxed her grip and let the dagger fall to the floor. Phantom smirked, knowing it wasn’t the only dagger she kept on her person. 

He bent to pick up the dagger and handed it back to her. “Hang onto this. I’ve no need to disarm you. I invited you here as guests. Have you had anything to eat or drink?”

They both shook their heads, probably feeling a bit of both hunger and thirst now that he mentioned it. That was another side effect of the moss. 

“Good. Don’t do either.” Phantom turned in the threshold. “Now then. Follow me and don’t wander.”

He walked off, and was relieved when the two followed. He wondered if maybe Tucker noticed the properties of the moss, cause they both hurried quite a bit. 

Fright Knight followed behind the two humans as extra protection, irritated that his Lord let the humans see his back. 

Once at Phantom’s personal chambers, he turned. “Thank you for the escort. Now leave us.” 

Fright Knight bowed and took his post at the end of the hall. 

“This way.” Phantom opened the door to the first room, the area was filled with lush flora and I couldn’t be considered a room as the walls vanished with only three free standing doors. The sky overhead filled with stars and a black moon, surrounded by a ring that seemed to match Phantom’s eyes. 

“An eternal eclipse. A sign of the Lord of Night.” Sam mumbled, the sky and his eyes being the only proof she needed. “Is that why you tend to hunt only on the darkest nights?”

“Yep. I didn’t realize you’d actually read my parent’s scrolls.” Phantom looked up and winced as he realized his slip. He always enjoyed this inbetween space of his, but his two natures also tended to meld here. 

“Your par-?!” Tucker gasped as he watched a resigned Phantom shift into Danny. Only, one of his eyes remained Fae looking.

“Hey, surprise?” Danny had the gull to look sheepish with a tiny wave. 

They were all silent. Danny waited on his friends before he made the next move. 

His nerves started to get the better of him as the wait till they said or reacted stretched on. He looked up to the eclipse in his sky as just something to hold his attention, when Sam finally said something. 

“So. Let me get this straight. You, the skeptic prince of Amity, are not only Fae, but a freaking Fae Lord. The fucking Lord of Night, Leader of the Winter Wild Hunt, AND the Summer King Pariah’s Bane?” 

Danny nodded. Only to turn to Tucker as he started laughing. 

“How the heck have you found the time to pull all of that off??” 

“Oh, Time in the Realms is slippery…I’m a bit older than I look…Or, I’ve got like centuries of life experience in 16 years time…?” 

“How does that even?” Tucker looked like he was trying to do the math, when Danny shrugged. 

“Don’t think about it too hard. I stopped trying to figure it out ages ago. I could be in ruling for weeks, then once I return to my room, the night wouldn’t even have passed. Don’t get my started on the pure headache of figuring out seasons and times of power.” Danny leaned as though he were going to sit, but there was no chair behind him. 

Sam was about to call out when suddenly there was a chair. She raised a brow at him. 

“What? The courts are always playing around with their politics and times of power. It might look like it’s on a 3 month calendar, but here those three months could last only a week, or years.” 

“That's absolutely fascinating, but the chair, how did it?”

“I’m the Lord of this Realm.”

“Danny, that makes no sense.” 

Tilting his head a bit, he grinned. “Good.” Letting his fae nature slip to the forefront again, he spread his wings that sparkled in starlight, “If it made sense, then I’d be a shit Lord.” 

Phantom preened and let his wings fluff a bit before they resettled into looking like his cloak. He reveled in their dumb founded stares. The lore books always hyped up ‘the fae’s gossamer wings’, so they probably assumed his raven wings were just a feathered cloak. 

“So, you both have two options. First being, go through that door.” Phantom pointed a finger at the door that looked like it belonged to Amity. “It’ll return you home sometime in the night. It’s never consistent so can’t say when. Or-” Danny shifted to Phantom. “I could give you a tour of my realm.” 

They both looked a bit concerned. But, this was Danny. Right? 

“I’m down for staying. How about you Tuck?”

“I don’t want to miss out on all the fun. So the time thing, is it that you are time traveling or-”

“Probably time dilation? Something in Infinite Realms keeps everything out of sync. I’m still expecting one of these days I’ll come here, and lose months in the Human Realm. I’ve been blessed so far.” 

“So, when’d this all-?” Tucker motioned to all of Phantom. 

“Human time, about a year ago. This is my second winter in power. You remember that charm my parents got from Duke Masters? The pretty black one with the ring.” Phantom made sure to look both of them in the eyes, drawing attention to it with a tap. Just to make sure they could see his eyes matched the charm. 

Sam gasped. “But, it was useless, did-”

“It contained the previous Lord of Night. I broke it and unsealed the binding spell. Defeated him in single combat, then tada-” He grinned, exposing his fangs. “The Realm couldn’t have a Human Lord, so it fixed that problem my first night here. I’m pretty sure that my attendant at the time helped the progress. Come on. Let me start with introducing you to Cujo!” Phantom was done discussing his rise to power.  

They both knew Danny well enough to know that it wasn’t that simple.

-----one and half years ago

The pendant was pretty, and that was about the only thing it was good for. Duke Masters had sent it in place of taxes this month. Claiming it to be a ‘fae trinket’, his parents eagerly accepted it in place of taxes. Which really ticked Danny off. Duke Masters had more than enough coin to spare. Had it been a villager that painted a rock, he would’ve been less ticked off about it. 

But it was the richest of their people that pulled this bullshit. Danny was running his hand over it, attempting to see how the man had made the rock to produce the glow. It didn’t seem to be the work of wizardry. Least from what the court wizard observed. 

The fae might have been a thing in the past, but now, people going missing in the woods were just unfortunate victims to nature. Not whisked away to some magical realm. It was all just fairy tales. 

His nail caught in the glowing circle on the charm. There was a divot there. He picked at the spot with his nail at first, but then tried at it with a dagger-like letter opener. Finally, a small enough nick was formed, but rather than just looking scratched, shadows burst and the air grew thin. A figure emerged, everything about them deathly white from their features to clothes, to large feathered wings.

“Foolish Mortal. You’ve done me a service by freeing me, but as my sentence wasn’t fully served, you’ve committed a crime to the realm. For that, you must face your punishment. I shall even show you mercy and deliver your death quickly.” 

A sword materialized in the being’s - the fae’s hand. They went to strike, the bone white blade swinging down. 

Danny wasn’t going to just die just like that. So with the only weapon at his disposal, he blocked using the letter opener he’d been holding. 

The bone blade was deflected to Danny’s relief, but it has cut the tip from his own blade. In a panicked thought, at least the blade was sharper now. 

It did little to comfort him as the fae continued to strike. Danny focused more on dodging since he couldn’t afford his blade getting any smaller. Everything the bone blade connected with was cut as though it were butter. Least it wasn’t the poor letter opener’s fault. 

The blade nicked his arm and Danny had never felt such pain before. It was cold, but it burned. Distantly he remembered learning about sensory death to cells when they were damaged to the point of no longer being able to regenerate feeling. 

He couldn’t afford another hit, so Danny lunged with his little blade. He wasn’t sure where he was aiming, he just didn’t want to die. He didn’t-

The bone blade was through his chest, pain flared so bad he almost didn’t notice the blood pouring from the fae’s neck. Danny’s dagger had struck just right, that the fae lost their grip on the blade as they began to sink to the floor.

“How-?” Their voice was weak. “You’re but a mere child…”

“Looks-” Danny coughed. “Looks like you picked the wrong prince to try to punish.” 

The fae’s form began to turn to dust, their blade following along. 

With the blade gone, Danny’s wound started to bleed with more flow. Shit, he knew it was bad to remove a weapon like that. He tried to apply pressure, unable to call for help. Come to think of it, where were his guards? 

They should’ve-

The dust started to rise, though there was no wind. 

It seemed to whisper. “Youngling. Do you wish to die a mortal, or continue on…” 

Danny thought it’d be dumb to reply. He was probably just dilutional from blood loss. Of course he didn’t want to die. He wasn’t done yet.

Without replying, the hallucinated whisper responded. “Wise choice…” 

The swirling dust flew at him, and into the chest wound. The pain stopped. At least from the wound. 

Danny could feel the dust, spiraling through him. He couldn’t tell if his blood was boiling or freezing, he couldn’t even scream. Or maybe he was screaming? 

No one came rushing to his aid though. He collapsed and the last thing he was aware of, was chains, that seemed to emerge from where his once wound had been, began to wrap around his body. Moving almost like snakes to bind him. 

He vaguely was aware that they‘d be gone when he woke next. 

“Danny, there you are.” Danny peaked open an eye at the voice calling to him. Tucker was- 

“Dude, we’ve been looking all over for you. Sleeping at your desk is going to make your back suffer.” This time it was Sam. 

“Sorry, I-” Danny sat up. How did he get to his desk, and-? He looked to his letter opener, it wasn’t in two? And the Pendant. The glowing ring on it was gone. It was just a shiny black rock. 

“I guess I’ve been working too hard.” It was all a dream?

“Probably. You should head to an actual bed, or I’ll tell Jazz.”

Danny gestured in mock offense. “You wouldn’t dare bother the kind princess with something so petty.” 

“I would, and she’d take you off your duties for a week.” 

“Then there would be a back log…” Danny got up and grabbed the pendant. “In all seriousness, I might actually be working too hard. I didn’t even notice I’d fallen asleep.”

“Then get to bed sleepy head. Want an escort?”

“Nah, you both can head home. Thanks for waking me up. If Jazz had found me asleep there, it would’ve been bad.”

They both waved him off. 

Once in his room, Danny's reflection caught his eye. Right in the center of his chest there was a glowing scar. It was where the blade had gone through. It pulsed with each heartbeat. 

Danny had a feeling getting any sleep tonight was going to be impossible. 

-----

It took a week til he noticed the door appear that no one else could see. Then another few days till he gave into the temptations to enter it.

End notes:

The eclipse is Danny's eyes and the pendant so I couldn't figure out a good place to separate the two chapters cause Walker's Bone Blade was going to be for Weapon, so I just didn't x'DD

Hope you enjoy this cause I got more planned for the Fantasy AU (It'll probably get it's own fic after DannyMay with some edits.)

[fermented-writers-block]

Well, as my good friend @mira-blue would say, now that’s certainly interesting.

We have a purple olm, a red toad, a green frog, and a blue newt - aka connecting Heart with newts, Wit with frogs, Strength to toads, and a currently unknown quality to olms - all surrounded around a gemstone that glows the same kind of purple Mother Olm does when she tries to invoke the prophecy.

Four distinct races with four distinct colors, turning the iconic RGB color triad of the show into what actually was a RGBP color tetrad the whole time. Aka a color group I had absolutely called for almost a whole year now, and MAN is the vindication glorious (though it sure is curious how the temples have no newt imagery and associate blue Heart with olms instead, whatever that could mean).

I do have some thoughts on what purple could potentially signify if anyone’s curious, especially given Anne’s purple clothing, but something fascinating this episode was the particularly greyed out gemstone right above Mother Olm’s gong, and the aesthetics of her room.

I’ve talked about this with @borkthemork , but overall, grey in Amphibia has been established as the color for the gemstones when they no long contain their power, and considering the reveal of a fourth main race AND color in Amphibia, well, there’s two suspects I currently have my eyes on.

Obviously, there’s Mother Olm as one since she is “the keeper of the prophecy of the stones and the music box,” as well as how this utterly massive greyed out stone is located within her room and above the gong to summon her, but as for the other suspect, there’s a certain newt and her order I find very suspicious now…

Speaking of the gemstone itself though, I can’t help but look curiously at the design of the gong, and to the design on the floor it seems to be referencing:

That’s not just an olm in front of some random starburst design, that is either a lunar or solar eclipse depending on how one interprets the fully colored in circle at the center. And right “inside” of the crescent moon is the outline of a gem, suggesting a connection between such a cosmic event. And I think we may already know what such an event could look like.

After all, while we had the non-canonical The Shut-In, Cursed introduced Barry’s reason for cursing Anne and Sprig as being over spilling his priceless blue moon berries, which only grow once every ten years. And in Croak and Punishment, we see a closeup of Sprig’s blue moon shell, something Hop Pop remarked “some frogs die never having seen one” and whose apparent ‘theft’ kicked the entire episode’s plot.

In both instances, the blue moon-associated object was indicated to be incredibly rare and special, and the prop design heavily features an emphasis on glowing blue sparkles, especially Sprig's blue moon shell which is specifically incredibly highly detailed with full on dark blue/purple stars to it.

Add in how Anne only went along with the Plantars’ plan to lie about having gotten gifts for everyone in Return to Wartwood when Sprig brought up how they promised to bring back a red sun shell to go with his blue moon shell, and how the sun in Amphibia is currently a rich RED, well…

RED + BLUE = PURPLE

And with that, I could see the show connecting such a celestial event with the presumably purple gem that is currently drained in Mother Olm’s chamber, and possibly showing us such an event going forwards as we near the end for some truly COSMIC stuff.

As for the specific flavor of celestial events, while there’s always a solar eclipse where a blue moon rises in front of the rest sun, considering how real life lunar eclipses have the moon turn red, I can’t help but wonder if we may very well see just why Matt used purple of all colors here…

The moon in Amphibia has mainly been red with green popping up in Children of the Spore and blue in The Shut In, so at this point, purple is the last color of the tetrad to get its chance, and man will I be laughing my head off if it turns out Matt had given us a hint for Amphibia’s endgame over two years ago, and honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised at it. What about you guys?

[adarkenedforest]

Mushrooms and humans

Contains: A mushroom person au of Jade Leech, Floyd Leech and Azul Ashengrotto. No ships.

-----

There was a planet far away. Where people were mushrooms and ate bark and meats. There were three very specific boys who were born to this world.

Floyd and Jade Leech, the twins, both Death caps and mischievious. Then there was Azul a violet webcap often teased for his inability to wear his mushroom hat properly as it used to not fit his head, however he had learned very quickly how to make others regret it.

It was a lovely afternoon when Floyd burst into the tree hollow where Azul lived, dragging his twin along. "Azul! Azul! Azul!" Azul sighed, looking up at the tall death cap. "Yes Floyd?" "We got in!! We got into NRC!!" Azul blinked in shock, before he couldn't help his smile cross his face. "Of course we did." the webcap replied, rolling his eyes when Floyd grabbed him and hugged him tightly. "we'll have to wear uniforms though-"

Floyd stared then groaned. "Can't we just wear the normal shawls?" Jade chuckled slightly, placing a hand on his brother's shoulders. "They do things differently on that planet,but I'm sure you'll be able to find a way to make it comfortable" He said with a sharp toothed grin that showed just underneath his mushroom hat.

Azul nodded. "Speaking of how different it is I heard there's people completely unlike us there. They're called humans. I wonder how easy they'll be to get into our business." Floyd tilted his head. "Are they the same humans that the librarian saw?" Jade nodded. "I've heard so." "Well I'm excited to see what they look like! I hope they look as weird and exciting as fish do!"

xxx

It was their first day of NRC and they where all seated in the carriage. They had taken potions to appear like humans and freaked out Ink (the librarian.) by mistake when they had gone to ask it if they looked like humans and when they had gotten the confirmation they had packed their things and gone.

"Humans are so weird looking." Floyd muttered, pinching at his now much more round ears. Jade chuckled. "at least we still look somewhat similar and have normal... Legs." Azul gave the more formal leech twin a look. "I hope you won't be spouting such innuendos when we get there. We'll need to get a good reputation for business." Floyd rolled his eyes. "Business this business that i just hope there's someone fun to play with! Hopefully some little spore like humans i can squeeze hehehe" Azul sighed, closing his eyes. "oh hush Floyd. You're being odd again." "Aaaah. Azul is tired already. Well then nighty niight azzzuuul"

xxx

It was shortly after they had been awoken from their coffins and the trio where well... Quite shocked. From what they could tell they where the only mushroom folk there. There where humans and beastmen and what they could sense where mer folk but no mushrooms. It was odd.

Azul frowned when Floyd seemed to fixate on a small red-headed human, gently grabbing his hand. "Come along Floyd. Let's try get to know this new environment before we do anything rash now..."

Floyd pouted but didn't pull away. "Neh, you're no fun when you're all business Azul. You're not even commenting on Jade staring at the beastmen!" Azul just groaned. "He's not planning on jumping them first chance he gets. Now let's just listen alright? We'll have time to have fun later i promise." "Fine.."

-end

----

Well that was quite fun to write! @vennicehearts come get your mushroom boys my dear traveller. Oh please do request any more stories or headcannons from this au if you wish

Tagging: @cupids-chamber @thehollowwriter

-adarkenedforest

[scarlet--wiccan]

I’m picturing multiple enchanted doors that least to loved one’s homes. Especially to Jericho’s place/strange academy (warping to work in the morning while sleep sounds like a bad idea). Maybe they’re unnecessary but the thought of Darcy getting turned around and ending up in New Orleans or the kree/skrull throne room is really funny. (Also a possible explaination for how Tommy got on Krakoa that one time)

I like that idea, and I've toyed around with something similar. I prefer for magic characters to have set-ups and systems like that, because it makes the magic feel more tactile. Wanda and Billy are powerful enough that they probably could teleport pretty much anywhere with just a thought, but that gets a little boring sometimes on the page.

If I were writing them, I would always be asking myself how I can make those little magic moments more interesting. For example, maybe it's easier to warp long-distance if you have a specific anchor point that's already marked with a special sigil. If you have a lot of of wards and protection spells on your home-- which they both should-- you might need to create secure passageways, such as an enchanted mirror or magic door, so that other, trusted magic users can come and go safely.

My headcanon for Wanda is that she has a big stand mirror in her room that acts as a portal directly into Jericho's chambers at the Academy. For Billy, I think that he and Teddy still have their little apartment in New York, and there is a spell-circle in their palace chambers that warps whoever stands on it into the living room. I also think that they can both locate their family members automatically for any kind of travel spell.

Tommy was coming and going from Krakoa in X-Factor, well before the Emporium was opened. Obviously, the island has terrible defenses against magic, so I'm sure that Wanda could have helped him sneak on at any point, even with a simple teleportation spell. Williams also had Pietro just running across water to reach Krakoa in ToM, so I assume that's what Tommy was doing, too. That would, actually, trip the island's security measures-- specifically, the barrier of phtyoplankton and air-born spores that sense non-mutant intruders. I genuinely believe Williams just did not think she had to account for how Tommy, child of the Most Wanted Woman On Krakoa, was able to come and go freely without using a gate or being apprehended by X-Force.