#what's one more though XD

[finemeal]

It's April Fools and I've booped all my boops so here's the other three Poké's I promised I'd explain today. Also! Some bonus honorable mentions to the Poké's I considered but ended up not having on his main team. Definitely possible he's had those on his team before, though!

Gliscor: I knew I wanted Jason to have a bat Poké' because ... look Batman? Bat Poké? It just felt like it fit, ya know? When discussing it with a friend, I debated between SOO many bat Poké's (Crobat, Swoobat, & Noivern) but decided Gliscor felt like the right choice.

First of all, Gliscor LOOKS tough. Like, if I saw that Poké in the real world I'd think that Poké was gonna punch me. Or use it's claws to pinch me REAL hard. And the FANGS! Please I was WAITING for someone to hear me talk about the fangs. Just ... MAN it fits that a crime lord would have a bat Pokémon that has fangs.

Speaking of fangs, Gliscor is the "Fang Scorpion Pokémon." I already know what you're gonna ask. Scorpion? When I've been referring to Gliscor as a bat? Gliscor's both, as a treat, it's okay.

But focusing on the "Fang Scorpion" part, a scorpion that bites people feels like something Jason would resonate with. Gliscor isn't a poison type! It can learn poison moves, but is not inherently a poison type. Again, I think Jason would resonate with poison types a lot. Especially a Poké who looks like it deals poison and then throws you for a loop when it doesn't deal poison (typically). Exactly the kinda shit Jason would love.

Onto abilities. Hyper Cutter which prevents other Poké's from lowering its Attack stat. Are you KIDDING me??? That's such a badass ability that fits Jason SO much. Jason wouldn't be intimidated or cowed by other's, and neither would his Poké.

Sand Veil (i.e. raises Poké's evasion slightly in a sandstorm and immune to sandstorm damage). Listen ... this one doesn't necessarily fit Jason a lot but not all the abilities have to perfectly fit Jason. It is a kickass ability though!

Hidden ability Poison Heal is what it says on the tin (mostly), the Poké heals when dealt poison damage. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? Jason would fucking LOVE a Poké who when poisoned, when it should be damaged and continue to take damage continuously is instead healed he would resonate with that SO hard. I mean just look at Jason! He's waded through so much shit and kept fucking going. So does Gliscor.

Now we make our way down to the Pokédex. The Pokédex discusses how silent Gliscor is while it snatches up its prey. How it utilizes its fangs to quickly ... neutralize its prey. I've mentioned it before but Jason is big and fast and sneaky.

Jason for sure saw this Poké who waited for just the right moment before leaping and probably thought, "That reminds me of Batman ... I need 'im on my time." I don't know, I just feel a certain way about all the Batkids looking at bat Poké's and seeing themselves and their dad and wanting to have him along with them on their journey.

It's definitely possible that Jason evolved Gliscor from a Gilgar. Personally, I think he caught a Gliscor but if he had evolved it from a Gilgar? I mean that lil guy jumps onto its prey's FACES and injects poison that way. I'm just imaging a Gilgar jumping on Jason's face to poison him and Jason being like, "Yes, this is the Pokémon for me." And that? Makes me laugh. (Hey maybe he did find a Gilgar first, who knows. I haven't expanded on this too much yet XD)

Haxorus: Knew I wanted Jason to have a dragon Poké, and as SOON as I saw Haxorus something in my brain just clicked. JUST LOOK AT THAT JAW!! Look at the red accents. Look at this dragon Pokémon and just tell me Jason wouldn't think it was a badass Pokémon who belonged on his team??? (Although I do think Jason would've evolved Haxorus from Axew but we'll get into that in a bit).

The "Axe Jaw Pokémon" just makes me feel a type of WAY about how Jason would feel about this Poké okay? Like DAMN that is SO badass and you cannot tell me Jason, theater/literature kid Jason, did not debate using an axe at one point in a confrontation with Joker & Bruce? Just at least a little bit.

One of Haxorus' abilities is Rivalry (i.e. deals more damage to Poké's of the same gender). Rivalry? Jason? No that'd be soooo silly. Our boy? Our competitive boy? Our guy who will get into fights with so many people and who is a goddamn crime lord? Him having rivalry's? That'd be sooo silly. (I hope the sarcasm is ... clear here)

Then, we have Mold Breaker (i.e. prevents targets ability from affecting moves the Poké uses with some more nuance to it). Jason is for SURE a mold breaker in the Batfam. He was the second Robin, he had as major issues as Bruce does, and he is the first Batkid to die. Then? He comes back and becomes a goddamn crime lord. Just !!! Jason's a Mold Breaker and so is Haxorus. Brother's in arms and all that.

Finally, hidden ability Unnerve (foes too scared to eat berries). I touched on why this fit Jason when I talked about Houndoom so I won't discuss it again XD

If you go on further, we can take a look at Pokédex. I am SO normal about this one particular entry that sold this Poké for me on Jason's team: "They are kind but can be relentless when defending territory. They challenge foes with tusks that can cut steel." A KINDHEARTED 'MON THAT WILL DEFEND IT'S TERRITORY RUTHLESSLY IS UGH. It's perfect. That is so Jason coded I don't even need to say more.

Okay, but back to what I mentioned before. I TRULY believe Jason would've evolved Haxorus all the way up from Axew. Why? I don't know, I just truly believe Jason would see an Axew marking it's territory with its tusks, getting into little friendly scraps, and it would remind him of himself.

Maybe Axew reminded him of when he would have to fight for any place to belong in Crime Alley. Claiming small territories that he could. He most likely got into a lot of unfriendly scraps, but seeing Axew get into scraps probably reminded him of when he'd spar with Dick. I don't know, I just feel like he sees a small guy who has the potential to be so much more and resonates with that a lot.

Feraligatr: I pondered over MANY Poké's that would be a good starter for Jason. Debated which Poké out of ALL of them he would've had from the very start. I threw out a lot of ideas to my friend, and when they pointed out Feraligatr's mohawk and I was sold.

Feraligatr's the "Big Jaw Pokémon" which like ... I don't know why but I saw that and was like, "Like Jason!" Which isn't true. But I think I thought that because of his helmet? I don't know, it just felt like it fit Jason's vibe to have a Poké who had a BIG ASS JAW for no reason in particular. I don't know, the vibes of this Poké just fits Jason so much.

The main Ability is Torrent (which increases power of water-moves when the Poké has a low enough HP). A Poké that get stronger the more it gets hurt??? Yeah that's Jason. That just fits that dude SO much. I've said it before but Jason gets hit over and over again and keeps going.

It's Hidden Ability is Sheer Force (i.e. increases power of moves that have a beneficial secondary effect but removes the additional effects ... it's a whole thing). I don't know, but this just feels like it fits how Jason would battle? I can't really explain it (also I'm so tired) but it just feels like it fits Jason.

Now let's scooch on down to the Pokédex and look at the fact that it tears its victims apart with it's strong jaws. It also touches on even though he's big he's fast and ... well I've already talked about how fast Jason is for his size. Also, Jason just feels like he for sure bit people as a kid. I don't know, sometimes about him fits the vibes.

Now, Feraligatr evolves all the way from Totodile (a starter Poké from Gen 2). I feel like Jason looked at all the Poké's he had to choose from (the other two being Chikorita & Cyndaquil) and saw something in Totodile. Cuz, again, this little guy is small but he is tough. Jason was for sure, at the time, small but tough!

When given these options I feel like Jason would choose the Poké that wouldn't hesitate to bite the shit out of him and know that he was the perfect Poké for his team.

Honorable mentions:

Crobat: Liked the Poké, but Jason already had a flying AND poison type so didn't feel like he'd have a balanced team with 'im. Still, if didn't have Gengar would've had a Crobat (one type crossover is fine, but 2 is pushing it ... not always but ya know).

Swoobat: A good bat Poké that felt like a 'mon that others would underestimate and then could kick your ass. Just a Poké that could've been a good fit for Jason, but not my favorite choice.

Noivern: Noivern is SUCH a great Poké, one of my favorite's, but something about Noivern made me think that this wouldn't be a dragon Poké Jason would have on his main team. Maybe he has Noivern in his boxes but ... yeah I don't know didn't feel like it was the best fit.

Hisuan Decidueye: Listen, look at that dude! Felt like a good Jason Poké, grass fighting just UGH beautiful. I think I ended up not going with Hisuan Decidueye because it didn't ended up feeling like it'd fit the way I wanted 'im to in Jason's team.

Empoleon: Water/Steel just felt like it would fit Jason so much. This Poké does kick ass but in the end didn't fit the vibe I was aiming for. Looking back, I think this Poké would probably be on Nightwing's team than Jason's.

Swampert: I did like Swampert, but I already had Gliscor as a flying/ground type and ... Gliscor already has one type similar with another Poké which I think was already pushing it for a Champion team (not that I think it's bad to have the same type when you play, but didn't fit the vibes I was going for, ya know?).

Title: Champion

I'm gonna post these separately because I know people who like DC don't necessarily like DPxDC SO! This is my DC Pokémon AU piece I did for a game in the @haunting-heroes-creative-games server! Hosted by @artdecielle, we played Guess the Artist: Through the Screen. I had so much fun drawing Jason with all these poke's, and it took me a total of 9 hours and 37 minutes.

The Pokémon shown on the left from bottom to top:

Houndoom

Feraligatr

Staraptor

The Pokémon shown on the right from bottom to top:

Gengar

Haxorus

Gliscor

I imagine Jason is a Pokémon trainer who has become Champion at this point. Trained by the Chairman of their region: Bruce Wayne (who has trained many Pokémon Champions). Eventually, Jason will become a Gym Leader when the next protégé becomes Champion, but right now he's holding it!

Tried to add the Red Hood symbol on his shirt and make him feel very Jason. I excluded his white tuft cuz I felt it would give me away in the game, but I do generally imagine him with it! I'm just so proud of this piece and had so much fun making it <3

[fluffyartbl0g]

FIN. thats a wrap guys!

START | PREVIOUS

Speedrun/Timetravel AU masterlist

[bleue-flora]

i need ur opinion on angel cdream

I’ve literally had this for weeks and this is still all I got…

[cheriafreya]

the decline of the kingdom hearts fandom needs to be studied 😭 as a former fan myself it's so funny to me how hyped everyone was 10 years ago and how no one cares about it nowadays

[orange-artblog]

joking around was fun but now I did a ~final of Esther‘s design xp

she‘s a supposed Aim (post dark cream) x Axel (errorink) kid made out of the magic of headcanons and inside jokes (/j)

Aim is by @zu-is-here / Axel is by @ari-cuno

anyway I went and had some more fun with her

alsoo this

[taryn40k]

Pyrrhic draw The Assassination Of Guilliman ('s son) by Fulgrim ('s son), circa M42 Ganbaatar's JRPG adventure Red Thirst

[saltedcaramelchaos]

tide jrwi has so much primary teacher energy

[jessamine-rose]

*lovingly tackles Aine*

Read my Yandere! Pierro longfics first ♪( ´▽｀)

Last week, my beloved mutual @ainescribe surprised me with Savior! Darling fan art and AHAI9232@2-!/! CRYING SCREAMING I WANT TO LOOK AT THIS ART AND WORSHIP YOUR VERSION OF SAVIOR THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR BLESSING ME WITH YOUR ART—

*clears throat* Anyway, now that I finally have the time to properly sit down and comment on the fan art, I’ll do just that. Feedback will be in the tags and it will be unhinged. Once again, thank you so much to Aine for drawing this <3

[a-finnish-janitor]

I'm glad I managed to scroll past those other screenshots of this meeting I happened to come across one day, kept this a surprise for me just now! And so thoughts.

It's fun seeing them both on screen, the face and voice of Alan Wake together in game at last!

Love the lampshading of the above point, with the looking and sounding familiar.

Tom bisexual confirmed, Tim wasn't lying about him being touchy feely lol. The way he starts feeling at Darling's lab coat, just gets right up into his space.

And on that last note, GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM CASPER I do not like this. I do not know why this makes me soooo nervous but it does.

But also, it will be interesting to see if anything comes of this? The whole idea of science and art combined, will Casper get out? Will Tom just use him and then leave him in whatever reality he is stuck in? Who knows!

[frameconfessions]

I hope the protoframes remain relevant even after this story arc for the Drifter concludes, but I also recognize how complicated things would get with how many characters they could keep trying to make stay relevant, leading to a Konoha 13 Naruto type situation where we have too many relevant characters from Umbra & Ordis all the way to Kaya Velasco.

.

[raycatz]

something something my mom has always been very strict that my family eat healthy. Organic, no junk food, no sugar, etc. but it got to the point of starting to go on fad diets progressively cutting more and more out to try and see what might fix whatever health issue we might have had at the time. no milk. no eggs. no soy. no wheat. no white rice. whatever it was she had read was evil that week. It didn't lead to a very good relationship with food!

anyways this is just to say I am so glad to the summer camp I work at for how good the food is. I am so thankful that camp has the resources to provide us with so many options. when we make pack out requests I can ask for nearly anything. even things that aren't in the kitchen I can request for it to be brought up from a town run. I can even request individual items on recs on the side just for me or my staffmates. An individual yogurt. A single gluten free muffin. And because our kitchen staff are awesome they'll do that for us!

We rarely had strawberries at home 1) because they had to be organic and 2) because organic berries are expensive and my mom would always guilt trip us or point it out when when we got them. But at camp when cooking out it's really common to get strawberries. It's just something you can do. They're not organic and I don't care. I'm just happy to get to eat.

Desserts, too. There will sometimes be a camper who will go, "my mom doesn't want me eating sugar. I should only eat half." Kiddo I won't tell if you don't. Your mom isn't here. I'm happy if you eat and enjoy eating.

One of the things we're taught when trained is to not try and control the kid's eating and thank goodness for it! Just make sure they're eating something. If kiddo doesn't want to eat anything but cheerios for the week- that's fine. They're eating. Offer them what else is available but like, that's it that's enough.

If we have leftovers by the end of the week we'll keep what can be used next session and send the rest home with the campers. Last summer I sent a camper home with two loaves of bread and it was so funny watching them proudly show them off. Last summer kitchen was testing out a teriyaki turkey bacon recipe and they had sooo much leftover, but my unit liked it, and we were able to send all the kids home with a baggie of it. The was a session where we had a lot of leftover apples and dessert toppings so we had a candied apple party with lunch before sending the kids home on the bus. The kids were thrilled! On Mondays, the campers choose what they want to eat at cookouts for the week and then at the cookouts they're part of the process, getting to help start the fire, cook, clean. If they're older, we encourage and guide them to lead cookouts themselves.

There is no evil food. It's one of the most rewarding things to feed these kids!

[good-wine-and-cheese]

"This is what love feels like."

Crossover comic between Gesicht from Pluto and Star Trek TNG, specifically the episode "The Offspring" - in which after the death of Lal, Gesicht helps Data experience love (and by consequence, grief) by sharing his own memories of his child. These are characters that have a lot in common and I would love it if they could share their stories and have a good hug and grieve together.

I wanted to try to render the emotional progression of the scene without using any dialogue, though I can't say whether it worked how I want it to or not. It was a fun exercise though! Trying to render Data with and without emotion is interesting. I may touch it up and colour it eventually but for now it's just this ^_^

[redfurrycat]

🐓💍🤠The LOTR Proposal🤠💍🐓

Bradley "Don't Think Just Do" Bradshaw buying a ring on his way to Jake Seresin's temporary housing, several days post-mission, (days he spent at Icemav's big house, under the loving care of one Icepops and one injured Mavdad).

After a superb 'mav-style'-mad-running, Bradley arrives at the house, breathless, and says to a confused and sleepy-looking Jake:

"There's good - and some might say VERY good- in this world, and it's worth fighting for."

*gets on one knee and offers Jake the Ring*

"I can't carry it for you, but I can carry you for the rest of our lives, if you let me."

"Marry me, My Precious?"

Bonus:

"Wow, Bradshaw, did you get me a lotr mood ring?!"

[koka-mi]

I had a very nice dream :0 I woke up in the middle of nowhere on this like, grassy field? But it wasn't super sunny. It was raining very hard. The grass was wet and so were my clothes which wasn't the most comfortable thing but it didn't bother me that much in the dream luckily.

So I assumed I was the only one there, but after walking aimlessly with my thoughts, turns out there was in fact somebody else there! They were sitting on this bench? Which looked very out of place honestly. There was also a vending machine next to it but it didn't matter because I didn't have any cash and I later found out this other person didn't have any either.

I sat next to them on the bench and I can't remember much after that. It kinda felt like the dream skipped around a lot. I only remember that this person had the same name as one of my tumblr mutuals? Though idk if it was actually them or a placeholder name my brain came up with but it'd be cool if it was them!

I just say it was a nice dream bcz I usually don't have dreams like that. Most of my dreams are mundane every day life things or nightmares, but this didn't feel like either of those. It felt relaxing but not in that mundane everyday way. Plus the one person I met there was pretty nice to me from what I can remember :3 and they didn't seem bothered by the rain either.

[victorluvsalice]

Valicer In The Dark: "A Murder Shared Is A Murder Thirded" Outline!

Hello everyone -- I recently started work on the second Valicer In The Dark story, "A Murder Shared Is A Murder Thirded" (aka the one where they kill Bumby), and I thought it might be neat to share with you guys the outline I prepared for the story! Especially since I don't have any Sims 4 stuff to share on Wednesdays at the moment, thanks to the Chill Valicer Save file no longer functioning. :( I have plans for a successor, but it's going to take a little bit to get off the ground, so...

*shakes head* Anyway -- outline! My planning process for this story involved approaching it like it was an actual Blades In The Dark score -- complete with deciding on the type of plan the gang was going to use (and the detail they needed to provide), the loads they were going to have (and thus how much stuff they could actually carry), and doing actual rolls to figure out how the story would progress as they encountered various obstacles! (I, uh, may have purchased actual BITD-themed dice and a dice tray explicitly for this purpose. ^^;) However, I also took a moment to note down any "must-happen" moments in the fic first -- basically, any particularly important or cool bits that were going to occur no matter WHAT the dice said. Reason being, I've done some "rolling for something on the spot" fic-writing in the past with a friend, and I know how fucking frustrated I get whenever a dice roll ruins the cool thing that was supposed to happen in my head. Noting down the things I was DETERMINED to have happen and doing all the rolls BEFORE I actually started writing meant that I couldn't get angry at a good moment being ruined. Though actually, as you'll see, the dice were pretty kind to the trio in this score! I guess they wanted to make sure they succeeded in their task as much as I did. :) So, without further ado, here's the outline/score summary for "A Murder Shared Is A Murder Thirded!" Naturally, there will be spoilers for what happens in the fic, but I'll put most of it behind a cut, and you guys already know I have no care for spoiling my own stuff on here. XD

---

Score: Infiltrate the Houndsditch Home For Wayward Youth in Charhollow, find proof of Bumby’s activities, and preferably kill the bastard

Plan Type: Stealth (I mean, there’s going to be an element of Assault, but first they have to get in)

Detail: Point of Infiltration – the back door into the basement kitchen of the house

Loads: Alice – Light; Victor – Light; Smiler – Light (each have three load slots)

Have To Happen Moments:

The gang successfully make it to Alice’s room so she can get her stuff; possible heartfelt moment when they see the picture of her family on her wall

The gang successfully finds Bumby’s ledger in his office (inside a safe stowed away in a hidden drawer of his desk; it’s generally opened via Lizzie’s key but can be picked)

Bumby shows up, and Alice reclaims Lizzie’s room key and blows him up

Gang successfully escapes with the ledger, and run into Smiler’s parents Matt and Carol as they head out of town; they’re taken back to the Ministry Of Joy for the Names (aka night)

Engagement Roll:

+1 d for sheer luck

+1 d for being bold or daring (they’re trying to expose a known philanthropist as a child pimp)

+1 d for exposing a vulnerability of the target (Dr. Bumby has written off Alice as lost in the city and hired a new dogsbody, AND he doesn’t think she’d ever get anyone to help her if she did tell anyone about his activities)

3d total

Result: 1, 2, 4 – Mixed result, risky position – they get in the back door without incident, but Alice’s replacement June comes into the kitchen as they’re preparing to head up the stairs

Score Rolls:

As per the above, trio encounters June coming into the kitchen shortly after their successful infiltration and have to get past her – Smiler immediately introduces themselves and explains that they were hoping to meet with Dr. Bumby to see if they could form a partnership, as they believe their alchemical prowess would help the man in his work (they are indeed cringing on the inside as they say this) – Sway, 2d – 6! June believes them and sends them up to see Dr. Bumby with the other two

Safely inside the house, Victor gets the idea for Alice to get her stuff from her room before they proceed further (having already suggested they grab it before they went); Alice agrees with this and they grab her things (1 load for Victor, who I picture as carrying the bag)

Head up the stairs to Bumby’s office, encounter one of the children (Abigail? Charlie?) in the upstairs hallway, who naturally recognizes Alice and wants to tell Dr. Bumby she’s back – Alice tries to tell them no, with Smiler backing her up by claiming they want to surprise him – Command, 3d (+1 for Smiler’s help, 1 stress for Smiler; +1 for pushing herself, 2 stress for Alice) – 5. The kid agrees not to go tell Dr. Bumby right now, but it’s clear that they will tell him the next time they see him… Start a “Bumby Shows Up” clock as a result, four pieces, none ticked so far

Into the office before Dr. Bumby shows up! Time to find that ledger… The trio split up – Alice examines the bookshelf, Victor checks Dr. Bumby’s desk, Smiler looks around for anything that might give them a clue as to where the ledger might be

Alice – Study, 2d (+1 for pushing herself, stress up to 4) – 6! She doesn’t find the ledger in the bookshelf, but she does find a book safe with some money in it – +1 Coin for the gang to take with them!

Victor: Study, 2d (+1 for pushing himself, 2 stress for Victor) – 5. Victor finds a secret drawer with a safe in it �� but, well, unsurprisingly, it’s locked, and opening it will take a bit (+1 to the “Bumby Shows Up” clock, 3 segments left)

Smiler: Survey, 2d (+1 for pushing themselves, stress up to 3) – 6! While Victor finds the safe, Smiler notes the windows on the side of the office and determines that it would be safe for the group to exit via one of them if they had the appropriate means to do so – cue them going “good thing I brought some rope!” and setting it up for them to climb down (one load ticked for Smiler)

That safe looks like it’s important – shame it’s locked! Smiler offers to try and pick it (flashback to them finding some lockpicks in Elder Gutknecht’s library – as they have, or will have, the “Pack Rats” special ability as Shadows, I will let them squeak by with no stress for this – probably does count as load for them, so that’s a second slot ticked) as Alice and Victor keep watch for Bumby or other suspicious children – Tinker, 2d – 5. Smiler gets the safe open, but Alice hears what sounds like someone coming up the steps… (+1 to the “Bumby Shows Up” clock, 2 segments left)

However – safe is open, and there is indeed a ledger inside! A ledger that is very clearly about selling off children to pedos, and in fact contains some notes from Bumby about the work that he does...and how much Alice reminds him of Lizzie. Everyone is notably disgusted, and Alice angrily wishes that she could get that room key off him, but agrees that it’s better to try and escape. The ledger is thus shoved in the bag, and Victor closes up the safe and stores it back in the secret drawer, before the trio try to stealthily head down the rope leading outside –

Alice – Prowl, 1d – 6! Alice is shockingly stealthy and gets down like a fucking ghost

Victor – Prowl, 1d – 4. Victor is not so stealthy and hits the wall once – he doesn’t make THAT much noise, but it’s definitely noticeable… (+1 to the “Bumby Shows Up” clock, 1 segment left)

Smiler – Prowl, 1d (+1 for pushing themselves, stress up to 5) – 4. And Smiler is also not particularly stealthy, losing their balance as they get off the rope and falling over – just loud enough for someone to notice! (+1 to the “Bumby Shows Up” clock – full!)

And that someone is Bumby, who entered his office at just that moment, saw the rope hanging out of his window, and stuck his head outside to see Alice and two other people, one of whom is carrying a bag. He naturally assumes that she’s stolen SOMETHING from him (even if he doesn’t yet suspect it is his ledger) and starts yelling at her – Alice blasts him as an abomination and reveals that she knows exactly what he’s been doing. Bumby is first like “oh come on, who would believe–” And THEN it registers “wait, she’s here with two other people, SHIT SOMEONE BELIEVES HER” and scrambles out of the office himself on the rope. Fortune roll for how gracefully he gets down, 2d because I imagine he has decent Prowl to get kids to customers – 4. He gets down, but like Smiler he lands badly and is off-balance for a bit –

And Alice, seeing an opportunity, darts in and grabs his watch-chain, ripping Lizzie’s room key off it, while shoving the electroplasm bomb (tick one load for Alice) into his hands. As this is a must-win scene for the fanfic, this Skirmish, 2d roll is only to determine the consequences to her – 4. She gets the bomb in his hands before he can retaliate, and he goes up a treat...but unfortunately, poor June has come out of the kitchen, attracted by the noise, and promptly starts screaming as Bumby goes up, forcing the trio to flee VERY FAST (Smiler yelling “sorry!” behind them) – they are not a crew yet, but they will start being one with 1 Heat on their tracker as a result!

However, score is officially a SUCCESS! :D The trio run until they’re sure they’re not being pursued, then take a moment to celebrate their victory, with Alice being very happy that she was indeed able to kill the bastard (even if she accidentally traumatized her replacement – she’ll want to make up for that later if she can). Talk then turns to getting the ledger to someone who will be able to publicize Bumby’s misdeeds – And then someone says “Smiler?” nearby, and Smiler recognizes their parents! They run over for hugs and introduce Matt and Carol Alton to their new friends. Matt and Carol are very nice and warmly greet Victor and Alice – Alice, feeling a little guilty, apologizes for getting Smiler into some trouble and preventing them from coming home sooner. Matt and Carol are confused, so the trio explain the Barkis situation and the whole “turns out he was a Spirit Warden and the Bluecoats think we murdered him” thing – And Matt and Carol go, “Oh! No, the actual Spirit Wardens confirmed he was an imposter who killed one of their own and stole their kit, and that his corpse showed signs of being very recently possessed before it burned, so you’re in the clear!” Victor, Alice, and Smiler are a bit “…” over this, as you might imagine. Carol jokes that, “oh come on, it’s not like you killed anyone else, right?” [significant silence] “...right?” Fortunately, this is when Victor hands over the ledger, with Alice and Smiler explaining a bit more about what just happened – after a look inside, Matt and Carol are like, “Oh, yeah, that murder was TOTALLY justified, good job.” They tell them that they can send it onto a reporter of their acquaintance, the lady who runs Publick Occurrences, and that Victor and Alice can stay the night in the Ministry of Joy if they want. As the trio have spent two days since the end of “Start At The Beginning...Sort Of” living in a house with no running water or heat, in one set of clothes, they are more than amendable to this suggestion, and the story probably ends with them on the way to the MOJ.

Post-Score Summary And XP:

Alice:

Stress level before downtime actions – 4

+1 Coin

XP:

2 for addressing a challenge with violence or coercion (commanding the kid, killing Bumby)

2 for expressing her beliefs (protecting the children) and background (she was the former dogsbody at Houndsditch!)

1 for – less struggling with and more indulging her vice (Obligation to the children of Houndsditch!)

Total: 5 – put 3 in the Insight XP tracker, 2 in the Prowess XP tracker (Alice wants Hunt and Finesse)

Victor:

Stress level before downtime actions – 2

XP:

1 for expressing his background (trade, he was the one to know to look for a ledger in the first place)

Total: 1 – put it in the Playbook XP tracker

Smiler:

Stress level before downtime actions – 5

XP:

2 for addressing challenges both with deception (talking their way past June) and technical skill (picking the lock on the safe)

1 for expressing their beliefs (taking Bumby down makes the world a little bit happier)

Total: 3 – put 2 in the Insight XP tracker, 1 in the Prowess XP tracker (Smiler wants Study and Finesse)

Downtime Activities:

Alice:

House Rule – if a score serves as indulging a vice for a character, that character automatically gets 1 stress knocked off the tracker at the end – stress down to 3

Train Insight, +1 XP in that tracker (Alice is working toward Hunt – maybe she gets pulled into a game of tag with some of the younger members of the cult XD)

Train Prowess, +1 XP in that tracker (Alice is also working toward Finesse – does some drawing)

Victor:

Train Playbook, +1 XP (Victor talks to some of the Whispers in the cult, starts getting excited about being one despite himself)

Train Resolve, +1 XP (Victor might as well work toward another Attune dot)

Smiler:

Indulge Pleasure Vice – 4, stress down to 1 (entertains themselves and their new friends with some songs on their guitar)

Train Prowess, +1 XP in that tracker (Smiler is working toward Finesse, and playing the guitar works with THAT too)

[as-dreamers-do]

i have yet to put together an outfit that would at least somewhat blend in at a ren faire without it being a huge boost to my confidence

maybe it's the boots because i can't not stride a certain way in them

but I just feel actually pretty (or at least attractive) when dressed up like that in a way I very seldom do in even my Sunday clothes (though when I incorporate my brown vest into a church outfit that definitely helps xD). not sure what's up with that.