#zephyr mccloud

[salthien]

when all was said and done, Coronation ended up leaving kind of a bad taste in my mouth, so I didn't really plan to make anything further for blball and especially not for Coronation. that being said, I did have some stuff I kind of liked from before it broke bad, so on request here's a kind-of wip amnesty for one of them.

hands, 1.4k. gen. blaseball does not leave much time for leisure, especially for its captains. elip dean of the hades tigers makes do with what they can get.

“have you thought about picking up a hobby?”

elip’s attention is slow to leave their notebook, still scribbling postgame notes at one of the empty clubhouse tables. their head lifts, eventually, then tilts, one brow arching.

“something small,” mehdi elaborates. “to keep your hands busy.”

they maintain the look, brows furrowing in a challenge.

“you fidget, eli. a lot.” a pause, and mehdi lifts a palm defensively. “don’t look at me like that. i just think it would be good for you. you don’t need to be in captain mode all the time.”

elip ducks their ears as if admonished, but their eyes are smiling as they tip their head in another unspoken question.

“you’ve got options. just something to keep your hands busy - i wouldn’t be surprised if we’ve got needles and yarn stashed away around here somewhere, or beads. paper’s not hard to come by either.”

something clicks, then, and elip’s eyes go wide as they nod excitedly.

----

it starts like this: little paper animals, folded and strewn about the clubhouse. they are imperfect; the white underside of the bright squares peeks out around uneven folds on cranes with wings that won’t sit right, crabs with lopsided pincers, frogs with short bodies and too-long legs.

there have been a few casualties, too, accidentally swept to the floor and caught by wayward heels. elip trashes the crushed ones as readily as anyone else.

“oh– shit.” vela says, prying a bright yellow crane from her cleat one day. “cap, you gotta be more careful with these little guys.”

elip looks across the dugout, shrugs once. later, though, they see vela tuck the crane under a magnet in her locker, its crumpled wing carefully smoothed out. it fills them with a warmth they can’t name long after they’ve left the stadium.

----

they don’t limit themself to paper. as the season goes on, elip swaps craft paper for colored twine, carrying beads in a hidden pocket of their skirt. despite mehdi’s protests, they unwind the first three lumpy, uneven bracelets they make to save material - no use being wasteful.

the fourth, elip presents to stevie with little fanfare. they press it into his hand - a simple thing, pale blue twine, small green beads strung into the weave - as he comes in from striking out in the top of the ninth.

“for me?” he asks, even as elip is beginning to step away. they nod, only half-looking at him, but pause as the crow’s feet around his eyes crinkle with a smile.

“captain dean, you’re too kind.”

they notice it after that sometimes, the twine fastened snugly beneath his glove. it makes them smile no matter how far they’re down on the scoreboard.

----

in the off-season, they throw themself even further into mehdi’s suggestion, whenever training and their duties as captain allow for it. one day in late summer, amaya arrives at the clubhouse to elip, awaiting them expectantly, hands behind their back and eyes bright.

“morning to you too, elle.”

when elip finally reveals their gift on outstretched palms, amaya pauses, surprised, her eyes flickering from elip’s face to the painted clay pieces cradled in their hands.

“you made these?” elip answers their question with a firm nod and lifts the little clay armaments further, gesturing to amaya with both palms.

“seriously–? they’re so cute, are you sure?”

elip rolls their eyes exaggeratedly, and amaya finally acquiesces, taking the miniature silver-and-rose painted sword and shield from their palms with a kind of fond reverence that elip won’t soon forget.

----

by the beginning of season 2, more gifts have found their way into the hands of their team, each stripe carrying a token from their captain’s creative spree. elip abandons their more complex endeavors as the season begins and they turn their focus to the game.

they wonder, perhaps too much at first, about wandering zephyr - cursed and, they hope, making the best of it. he seems happy, no matter what color jersey he wears when they see clips of him online, and that’s what matters.

but pragmatism is the name of the game, especially as players start going up in flames: they stop letting themself worry if he misses Hades, unsure if a yes or a no would bring them more peace.

when they catch one of his interviews, scrounging for news on the rest of the league as much as they dare, they linger on it just enough to notice the beaded corner of an ash-gray keychain hanging out of his pocket. a lump rises in their throat, bittersweet.

----

you only keep what you had on you when you died, say the long-dead as they fill the hall of flame with space and color and depth. 

there are ways of contacting the living, but not reliably. 

we’re here for you, they offer, but you’ll have to get used to this. chances are you’ll be here a very long time.

leandra doesn’t mind. she’d heard the stories of the hall and still chosen it willingly the day she’d taken the field after mondegreen’s incineration. that does not make the physical adjustment any easier - the dampness, the way her fur clings to her flanks, the way her chest aches for breath that won’t come - but she’s made her peace with that, too.

what does ease her mind is the scrap of maroon cloth she discovers in her breast pocket, surfacing a memory - elip, closing it into her hands the morning of day 79. sewn into it is a sun, pale yellow and filled in with hasty stitches. the captain had not been clear what it was for, only that she was meant to have it. they’d been quite insistent.

leandra finds herself glad for it now, running her thumb gently over the stitchwork. it is, if nothing else, an affirmation of her decision. she cannot imagine elip in the dark of the trench.

----

they don’t talk, much. derrick is fine with that. the silence is comfortingly familiar, and elip seems equally unbothered by it. they commiserate over bad games, elip might ask a question or two about the hall or about derrick himself, but mostly they seem happy to simply have him around as quiet company while they read or study games or make things, sequestered for a handful of hours in elip’s hades flat or derrick’s tiny new apartment.

on one occasion - post-finals, when elip’s in charleston for vela’s memorial - they bring a bright sheaf of paper and seat themself on the floor with it, one cowled ear tipped toward where he sits on the couch. it’s a kind of quiet intensity he hasn’t seen from them much.

aren’t those good luck? he asks in sign, the quiet too comfortable to break with his voice - it's easier, sometimes, and elip's fluency in the common languages of the league makes up for his spotty hall-earned education. elip looks up between cranes, a brightly-colored row of them lined up in a semicircle on the rug. elip's ears tip back in confusion, and derrick repeats himself.

their expression doesn’t change; if anything, they grow more confused.

“those’re good luck, right?” he says, out loud this time, and the understanding that dawns over their face is quickly replaced by amusement, their shoulders shaking with quiet laughter.

lucky, they sign with a smile, middle finger lifting off their chin, and derrick realizes his mistake before their hand can even make it back to their face to demonstrate what he’d said instead.

“y’know– fuck it. maybe i do want to know if they taste good.” he grouses with a lopsided smile, leaning back to stare up at the ceiling. once elip’s laughter subsides, they nod, signing lucky again as they set the newest crane with its fellows.

“gonna need a lot more cranes than that to help either of us, i think.”

elip’s ear flicks dismissively beneath their tichel, and they pull another piece of paper from the sheaf to their careful creases anew.

derrick doesn’t remember falling asleep, but he wakes later to find his apartment empty. the only evidence of elip’s departure is a text comprised entirely of emojis - happy face, shushing face, waving hand, sleeping face - and a small navy blue crane they’ve left in his upturned palms. he smiles faintly, leans to set it on the side table and only jumps a little bit when something crunches softly behind him.

he starts upright, turning halfway, but there’s nothing behind him except the back of the couch and another crane. a third falls into his lap with his movement, and he connects the dots at last, pulls the collar of his sweater around to find that elip has in fact filled his hood with yet more palm-sized paper birds.

derrick doesn’t believe in luck, really – but he gathers the little pile of birds onto the old side table and carefully slides the blue one into his phone case for good measure.

[reaverborg-net]

[start ID: A three panel comic. Panel 1, silhouette of Zephyr McCloud infront of a score display at 03 - 00. It’s captioned, “Zephyr McCloud loses.” Panel 2, close up of their chest with dark shadowy hole dripping black where their heart is. It’s captioned, “heart empties.” Last panel, close up of their eyes glowing white with chromatic abberation giving hints of yellow, red and blue. It’s captioned, “eyes white.” end ID]

[hadesblaseball]

Oh my whoever would have expected this definitely not predictable outcome.

[ ID: A screenshot of the Blaseball website depicting the end of the Tigers-Lift game. The Tigers lose 0-1 and the text indicates "Zephyr McCloud Can't Lose! They join the Tokyo Lift!" ]

Bye Zeph!

[doctorwhoisadhd]

im probably not the first person to say this but the parallels between neerie mccloud being the longest time spent elsewhere of any player and zephyr mccloud being the very first cant loser and therefore wandering all around the league

[ditto-the-alien]

At this point

Zephyr McCloud has switched teams 3 times. Game 4 of 90 in the normal season just ended.

Someone got alted and I dont know who bring back the log of events please game band.

[limelocked]

The loser watch of zeph and ingram is more fun than originally anticipated, it’s stupid hard to track without search and player history but I’m now invested in seeing them meet before the post season

[atlantisblasebl]

EMMET ATOMIC: Current member of the Georgias' rotation. Not the best pitcher on said rotation, but that speaks more to the strengths of the Georgias' pitching than anything bad about Emmet. As a rookie player, there's currently not too much to say about Emmet currently, but ey have a shockingly similar name to a dead Alaskan Immortals player, which is pretty cool.

ZEPHYR MCCLOUD: Was only on the Georgias for brief periods due to the Can't Lose modification, but man, if we didn't love him in those moments. As one of the best hitters in the league, Zephyr makes every team he joins that much better, so it's kinda hard not to love him while he's here. Probably help that he has ties to Neerie McCloud, another iconic Georgia.

[idonthaveanyurlideas]

25 animatics 2 and a half years 1 hour, 20 minutes and 39 seconds Approximately 5852 frames 349 unique characters appearing a total of 982 times

have what will most likely be my final blaseball animatic, a self-indulgent goodbye to all my beloved beams and a whole bunch of other players

Music is Celebrate the Reckless by Magic Giant - design credits below the cut

Credits: Randall Marijuana by alienmandy_ - Pangolin Ruiz by Mortimer_Mekhane - Dunn Keyes, Ramirez Winters and Pedro Davids by glassgoblin - Cory Ross and Grollis Zephyr by saltbuzzard - Lucas Petty by Dorito - Logan Rodriguez by Monthenor - Zephyr McCloud by dreambaot - Steals Mondegreen by 510five - Spears Taylor by Bells - Jessica Telephone by telekeys - Randy Dennis and Niq Nyong'o by tiny_revel - Kelvin Drumsolo by Australia-Hungary#9082 - Haruta Byrd and Erin Jesaulenko by miasmajesties - Justice Spoon and Edric Tosser by necromngo - Isaac Johnson, Gita Sparrow, Dunlap Figueroa and Mullen Peterson by _waalkr - Rivers Javier by toadparty and sidoopa - Baby Sliders by samiratu - Alvie Kesh by quilyn - Alexander Horne and Wyatt Mason VI by Fancymancer - Forrest Bookbaby by bugsbenedict - Helga Burton and Helga Moreno by electricgaunt using picrew by r4tist - Andrew Solis by rabbittraps_ - Rhys Trombone by Ephesos - Esme Ramsey by HetreaSky and grr - Mickey Woods by sol - Bright Zimmerman by staradavid - Iggy Delacruz by Karagna_ - Rey Wooten by dipppitydoop - Ziwa Mueller and Richmond Harrison by avery_helm - Workman Gloom and Beasley Gloom by shenaniglenn - Snyder Briggs by mensisritual - Jasmine Washington, Donia Bailey, Jasper Blather and Hops Chen by desmodusrotunds - Avila Guzman by jaungeedraws - Richardson Games and Hiroto Wilcox by CurseOfScots - Cornelius Games by kyl_armstrong - Nicholas Vincent by Hazel Cooper - Eugenia Bickle by awhekate - Fran Beans by thr33h3addrag - Valentine Games by deerstained - Magi Ruiz by Nofacenerd - Tiana Takahashi by VHS_DREAMER - Tillman Henderson by cryptmilk - Mcdowell Karim by ferretrix - Sebastian Woodman by Starfauna - Yosh Carptener by gfclass - Aldon Cashmoney by occultclassic - Donia Bailey and Hiroto Wilcox by crickadelic - Jasper Blather by nel using picrew from astrolava

Wiki Pages: Eugenia Garbage - Rivers Rosa - Stevenson Heat - Qais Dogwalker - Margarito Nava - Lou Roseheart - Beck Whitney - Nic Winkler - Neerie McCloud - Blood Hamburger - Kennedy Rodgers - Nagomi Meng - Lachlan Shelton - Kichiro Guerra - Fletcher Yamamoto

Other: Emmett Internet - Priya Fox - London Simmons - Cravel Gesundheit - Willow Dice - Xanthe - Jorge Owens - Carter Grimsley - Kajjala Aliyev - Guozhi Ong - Grizz El Sayed - Thomas Marsh - Amos Parveen - Kaj Statter Jr. - Anastasia Isarobot - Zack Sanders - Özlem Suttner - Malik Romayne - Sigmund Castillo - Son Jensen - Jayden Wright - Paula Reddick - Sandoval Crossing - Velasquez Meadows - Hahn Fox - Howell Franklin - Miguel James - Passenger - Nagomi Nava - Wyatt Mason VII - Wyatt Mason III - Wyatt Mason V - Dudley Mueller - Joe Voorhees - Harriet Gildehaus - Phineas Wormthrice - Elvis Figueroa - Borg Ruiz - Tot Best - Lars Taylor - Nerd Pacheco - Hendricks Richardson - Kaz Fiasco - Hank Marshallow - Beans McBlase - Sutton Bishop - Quack Enjoyable - Guy Gulp - Siobhan Chark - Alaynabella Hollywood

Unsure: Mooney Doctor - Wyatt Mason IV

[lenasai]

ID: edit of the dril “i’m not owned!“ tweet. it has been edited to be written by zephyr mccloud (@/neverloses) and reads “‘i’m not owned! i’m not owned!’ i continue to insist as i slowly shrink and transform into a tokyo lift player.” End ID.

zephyr’s team lost? no it didn’t 👁

[blazeball]

i think zephyr mccloud's "can't lose" thing is like. it will not prevent them from losing. it will enforce something bad happening if they do. definitely gonna keep an eye on that

[dryad-lesbians]

Ump/Eclipse Breakdown

Rogue Ump/ Blue Solar Eclipse: INCINERATION

The one we already know and hate. 

Affected players: Anastasia Isarobot [S1 election]

Mage Ump/ Red Solar Eclipse: ALTERNATE

In the single instance we’ve seen during play, the Mage ump ruled in favor of the player, and the resulting alternate had all-around improved stats. TBD if this actually means anything.

Affected players: Terrell Bradley [S1 election], Vaquita Mango

Knight Ump/ Silver Solar Eclipse: SHADOWS

Players that are shadowed are said to have been sent on a quest. This is the only one we’ve seen be resisted (parried) so far.

Affected Players: Simon Haley [S1 election], Winnie Hess [attempted, parried], Letitia Diop

Bard Ump/ Gold Solar Eclipse: CURSE

As we’ve only seen one curse so far, it’s unclear if all curses will be in a similar vein of making a player change teams, but my bet is that these’ll be a broad range of modifications (stuff like Flinch, Haunted, Debt, etc)

Affected Players: Zephyr McCloud [S1 election, Can’t Lose]

[caligulalotus]

*zephyr mccloud voice* if it sucks hit da bricks

[hadesblaseball]

[id: a screenshot of the game Hades by Super Giant, with the caption "THERE IS NO ESCAPE" in the games font. Overlaid on top, is Meme-style Impact Text that reads "ATTENTION ZEPHYR MCCLOUD - COME BACK TO HADES". end id]

[doctorwhoisadhd]

ok so as of the end of day 84 heres how things are gonna work wrt how many cant losers make it into the postseason:

how playoffs are lookin rn:

good league clinched: 🌞 sunbeams, 🌹 flowers, 👟 shoe thieves

good league still hunting: 🚤 dale, 🍬 mints, 💋 lovers, 🦀 crabs,

evil league clinched: ✨ magic, 🍗 wings, 🏝 fridays

evil league still hunting: 🔱 georgias, 👐 jazz hands

cant losers currently:

🛠 jenkins ingram & zephyr mccloud (mechs)

👟 özlem suttner (shoe thieves)

🕵️ sigmund castillo (spies)

so to get them into the playoffs:

if the georgias win on day 90 AND clinch the final evil league playoff spot, then jenkins ingram AND zephyr mccloud will be in the postseason (and sigmund will not)

if the jands win on BOTH day 87 AND day 90, AND clinch the final evil league playoff spot, then sigmund castillo will be in the postseason (and jenkins and zephyr will not)

if dale clinch the final good league playoff spot, özlem is guaranteed to be in the postseason

if dale DO NOT clinch the final good league playoff spot: thieves must win on day 90 in order for özlem to be in the postseason

[broken-ridge-jazz-hands]

Cloud Watch: Zephyr McCloud is currently with the Miami Dale, where he has spent most of the day

[notquiteaghost]

i want blaseball to add a team history list to player profiles just for the comedic potential of zephyr mccloud's