#scout-out-the-mesa

[pudding-parade]

Canyon Skies.

I've been scouting around for some different worlds to use for the Globetrotter Challenge, on the (possibly delusional) assumption that I will make it past the first stage. I wasn't in love with any of the suggested options for the desert stage, so I've been looking at different custom desert-y worlds to use, and I think I've settled on this one, which is inspired by the Grand Canyon.

It has pretty scenery, doesn't include/require CC, and it has all of the things required to fulfill the challenge's goals, except for gambling facilities and a wishing well. But, one of the world's bars already has a little arcade area, so it would be easy enough to switch that out for a little gambling area instead, and I can plop a wishing well down pretty much anywhere.

I took a bunch more pics while I was having a look around. They're behind the cut.

Aerial pics:

I like how the various "neighborhoods" are arranged on different mesas.

Assuming that I get to this stage, I'll put my playable into one of these "trailers" to start.

Other lot/scenery pics:

[infectioustomfoolery]

HALF LIFE HEADCANONS

(feat my man kade)

For all intents and purposes, this is for fun and any time period mishaps should be ignored. Part two eventually.

Gordon Freeman

- 5’10”, green eyes and slutty little waist, he/him, autistic, dumb little ponytail.

- So white. So very very white.

- Makes absolutely no facial expressions ever.

- Talks exclusively through sign language, but even then sparingly.

- Got a major staring problem.

- Probably trans idfk.

- He’s definitely gay or aroace.

- He has no idea he’s autistic, gay, or in love with Barney.

- He has PTSD and because of that he’s a prick to the Vortigaunts.

- Hopelessly addicted to morphine

- Anger issues but no one can tell

- Everyone in Black Mesa wants to fuck him silly.

- Derealization issues

- Really does NOT fw Alyx

- Regularly keeps up with Aperture Science

- Chell’s brother

- “I’m not gay, Barney.”

- He is. He so is.

- Definitely thinks Barney is a sexy beast in the combine uniform

- Plays DND and likes Star Trek

Barney Calhoun

- 5’6”, he/him, spectral heterochromia

- Gay and knows it

- Probably trans too fuck if I know

- Fluffy hair, permanent 5 o’clock shadow. He’s so goddamn hairy.

- If he doesn’t pluck his eyebrows, he’ll grow a unibrow

- Dadbod

- Alcoholic

- Literally never shuts up

- Every single guard in Half Life 1 is Barney. They’re all Barney. Always have been.

- The Blue Shift Barney is “our” Barney, though. I like to think he retained all the other Barney’s memories.

- Frat boy in college. He told them he liked football and now he has to pretend

- Poses infront of the mirror everytime he has a uniform on

- Understands Gordon Freeman perfectly literally no matter what

- He got a fucked up leg from the elevator crash.

- Cries over Gordon at least once a day

- Really hates all the Half Life 1 scientists. They’re douches.

- Gun enthusiast

- Likes conspiracy theories

- Lauren doesn’t exist, she never existed. He’s just a fat liar.

- Listens to Mitski

- Beefs with Adrian because Adrian thinks its funny but really does not care

- Southern as Hell

Adrian Shephard

1.) She’s a FEMALE

2.) She’s not a BOY

3.) and most importantly, She’s a GIRL!

- 6’5”, blue eyes, she/him (she has a preference for she but Does Not Care.)

- Butch lesbian

- Was in the military with Soldier from TF2. She played along with his antics and sort of “trained” under him.

- white, but very tan

- She gets hurt a lot

- Laughs obnoxiously loud

- Wears boxers

- Blonde, either a crewcut or mullet situation

- Probably has an eyebrow slit, but in a scar way not in a gay way

- Speaking of which she is COVERED in scars and bullet wounds

- Also freckles why not

- Very high pain/spice tolerance

- Fucking LOVES nascar (poor and stupid)

- Was able to make it into the military because when she was filling out the papers she wrote "yes" next to sex and the government just thought he was a normal amount of US Marine stupid

- Colette and Gina saw her from across the bar, and they really dig her vibe

- Her mask makes her sound really grovely and awesome (see: https://youtu.be/Fr8Jxm65EC8?si=5WvOpXfQerjM7G79 )

- She beefs with Barney

- Gets a kick out of annoying Gordon Freeman to death

- Probably makes thirst traps on TikTok

- Has really good abs

- Scout’s older sister

- So she’s from Boston

[sunlightmurdock]

AETERNA | Prologue

SYNOPSIS: WHAT’S THE USE IN MAKING PLANS? IT’S ALL INEVITABLE ANYWAY.

WORD COUNT: 2550

MASTERLIST

MOODBOARD

PLAYLIST

quick lil a/n: this isn’t an OC fic, audrey will just be a recurring character who is mentioned through the fic and this spooky lil prologue is her origin story I guess 🫶 we meet reader in chapter 1

…

Audrey Weiss began her last morning the way that most people do: unknowingly. Unknowing in the sense that it was the last time she would bark at her sister to get out of the bathroom, or sigh too loudly when her mother asked her to take the trash out.

Mere weeks from graduation, her focus should have been college in the fall and summer trips and prom. Instead, she was thinking much shorter term — simply of her plans for that evening.

She had ducked out of her parents’ three-bed ranch style in the middle of Saturday morning breakfast, headed for the indubitably more important venture of tackling La Mesa Shopping Mall with her best friend, Suzie Clarke. Once Girl Scouts together, Audrey and Susanne were attached at the hip even now that they were all grown.

Suzie Clarke was the first person the police would speak to the next day, after Audrey was reported missing.

Exactly three weeks and four days from her high school graduation, big things were on the horizon for Audrey. She had been accepted into some pretty good schools for that fall, but her pick was Mount Holyoke — she was going to be a lawyer.

At the mall, she had found the most gorgeous jumpsuit. A peach color that made her brown hair look like pure silk with a crochet floral middle and bell bottoms that made her legs look a mile long. Something awful grown-up for a girl like Audie, but that was the point.

Then, back home, she had considered leaving her large, round wire-framed glasses on their vanity. They made her eyes look ten times bigger and unnatural, and her mouth look small — but she probably wouldn’t look too stellar if she couldn’t see either. These opinions were her own, formed by middle school boys from years passed.

To her baby sister, her glasses made Audie look awfully smart. There’s an old People magazine in their mother’s dresser that shows Barbara Streisand in a dark-framed pair of eyeglasses; Audie could look just like that if she combed her hair a bit.

To make matters worse after deciding that her glasses would make the cut, before she could make it to the safety of Stacy’s car, Audie’s mother had forced a denim jacket over her shoulders and told her to mind the weather. Like it was ever that cold around there.

Still, Audrey’s confidence was unwavered. She looked dynamite in her new jumpsuit, and four weeks into the long stretch that eighteen years old was supposed to be, she looked grown-up for the very first time, even with the glasses.

For the sixth time since March Third, 1977, Audrey Weiss bought a ticket and visited the circus on the outskirts of her hometown.

Santa Paloma, Arizona, was a safe place and only a stone’s throw from Phoenix. It had a movie theater and a couple of arcades, plenty of playgrounds, and a roller rink. Still, Audrey wasn’t interested in hanging out at any of those places.

No, she had her sights set bigger. Older. She wanted more than the other girls her age. Maybe if the boys her age had been kinder, this wouldn’t have been the case.

That’s why she was here, and why this sixth visit was going to be special; she had met a guy. In her killer new jumpsuit, with her hair done like Farah Fawcett, and her Mom’s lipstick coating her lips — her mind was all made up, tonight was the night that she was going to make her move.

Restless in every sense of the word, Audrey had lept out from the backseat of Stacy’s bubblegum blue MGB roadster first, her heart aflutter and her friends in tow. The late April sky was ablaze, orange and pink. It was quite the send off.

Children laughing and screaming, Audrey knew her way around the circus attractions well by now. She bid her friends goodbye with knowingly exchanged giggles, and started to walk. They had discussed Audrey’s plan in great detail by the point of its execution.

Brown leather sandals, barely leaving footprints across red dirt; she was gentle like that. Neon lights surrounding her, she passes by the carousel where she had first seen the man of her dreams for the last time. Its chimes sing her a goodbye as she disappears deeper into the Friday night bustle.

Eager, grinning faces surround her in a blur as Audrey strolls down the midway. A nervous, fast-feeling energy buzzes through her trembling limbs. The ring toss to her right, the shooting game to her left, her sights set straight ahead.

She had been too nervous to pick at the meatloaf her mother had made, and the air had smelled of warm popcorn and sugar. Her stomach growled, leaving no room for butterflies.

Amidst the epic orange and pink, the sky threatened to grow dark behind the looming, spinning ferris wheel.

Audrey left behind the painted faces and the smiles, the smell of sugar and the sound of shrieking laughter. Echoes of the excitement rang out behind her as she left it all behind. Her destination was beyond the fair, behind one of the big, red and white glossed storage trucks. Even in her killer new jumpsuit, Audrey had gone unnoticed.

One confident foot in front of the other, she squared her shoulders like the older girls do and kicked through that soft red dirt. Weaving between caravans, campers and trailers, restlessly brushing her hair back off of her shoulders and bringing it back in place.

A familiar whistled tune guided her where she intended to go.

Jake can usually be found whistling an Elvis tune.

His shirt slung over his shoulder, he passed between the lodgings coolly, headed to his camper to prepare for the show. Maybe he heard her coming, maybe he saw her feet under the caravans. By the time Audrey had rounded the corner, he had stopped and was staring at her.

He animated again, after a moment of static.

Jake was the star of the show, and to Audrey Weiss on that night in particular, he was just about the center of the universe. Tall, and gorgeous, with a strong jaw and a long, straight nose. Blond hair and golden skin, and green eyes. Muscles like something out of a comic book.

And despite being all of those things, Jake was nice, too.

“Hey, Aud-Ball.” Like odd-ball. But his way of teasing her wasn’t cruel like everyone else’s. He shot her a cool grin, his broad shoulders making his white tank stretch taught as he passed by her with no intention of stopping for a chat; again, in the kindest way. “You lost?”

This was far from their first conversation, but it was the first time she had gotten brave like this. There are signs all over the place saying staff quarters are off limits. She shouldn’t have been back there. She should have waited until after the show — Jake always came out to hang out front after the show was done, she could have found him then.

“No,” She wavered. A pit in her stomach and a lump in her throat, she looked down at the dirt and her glasses slipped a bit on the bridge of her nose. “I… wanted to see you.”

Jake can be real friendly. Too friendly, if you were to ask some of the folks around camp. Too friendly with ladies sometimes, too. That’s not what this was. When Audrey showed up for the second weekend, after Jake had complimented her glasses and told her she was funny — he had known she needed a friend. That’s all.

He played dumb.

“What for?” He stopped by the door of his trailer and took a moment to look at her. A slight heel to her sandals, a brand-new outfit, and magazine-worthy hair. He knew exactly what for.

She kicked and toed at the dirt, her eyes on the ground in a sheepish manner that tarnished all that work she had put into looking grown-up. “… I dunno.”

He looked behind her, and then around the two of them. The bustle of the fair sounded so far away. His grin settled into something friendly, but detached. The kind of look you get from a waiter when it comes time to decide on how much to tip.

“You lose your friends?” She never came alone. She had come with her parents that first weekend. She had looked so sad.

“No.” In her kicking and toeing at the ground, Audrey had wandered a bit closer to him. Close enough that he could smell her mother’s perfume on her neck, because she thought it was more mature than her own.

He took his shirt from his shoulder and wrung it in his hands, bootprints in the mud as he put some distance between the two of them. “Look, you know you’re not supposed to be back here. House rules.”

She looked up at him through those big glasses.

“Well, I mean—“

“Really. You should go.” He said more firmly. He was looking at her differently. The kindness in his eyes was gone and all that’s there was pity. In an instant, Audrey Weiss is crushed.

This wasn’t the first time she had been hurt by a boy. She had a tendency to read too much into things, to want things too much. There was a boy in ninth grade, he hadn’t ever liked her — she had convinced herself that he did. She had been so humiliated.

Jake watched her face crumple completely before him, and he was reminded of exactly what he saw in her that first weekend. A scared little girl with a heart full of sadness. He looked to the ground, feeling like he had knocked her to the dirt himself. She did look sweet in her new get-up.

“I’ll find you after the show.” Jake had offered.

Dejected, Audrey fiddled with the leg seam of her jumpsuit. She looked at the ground, and despite having no children, Jake got a glimpse at what it might look like if he had one to scold. She nodded her head weakly.

His lips twitched, his smile almost apologetic as he tapped at the side of his trailer and swung one foot in. “Alright.”

She presses her lips taut, staring at the indent she had toed into the dirt.

Jake hesitated by the door. He couldn’t stand the thought of letting her go, looking so sad. “Thanks for stoppin’ by— your hair looks killer, Audie.”

And so, Audrey had sulked back through the site and found her friends. With her being back so soon, and looking so cheesed — they hadn’t asked questions. They had bought her a coke, and taken their seats inside of the Big Top.

He said he would find her after, but to a girl like Audrey, that could mean a lot of things. Most of them were not good. As the lights dimmed and the familiar introductory drumbeat rattled out, Audrey just wanted to go home.

As he had five times before, the ringmaster burst out into the center of the area and threw his arms into the air, starting the evening with his usual speech. Audrey sipped sadly at her Coca-Cola from the stands. Jake comes on second for the first part of his act, right behind the ringmaster.

Audrey knew his routine like the back of her hand. Once again, she was not picked to be his assistant. As always, he was incredible.

At 9pm, the show had finished and the crowds were filing out. The fairground was even more abuzz than it had been earlier, the sky was a deep indigo, and Audrey really wasn’t in the mood to listen to Jake tell her that she just wasn’t his type. She wanted to be, so badly.

”I’ll pull the car around.” Stacy had told her saddened friend, already thinking that they could stop for milkshakes on the way home to cheer her up. Audrey had nodded absently, wondering where Jake had planned to find her.

“Come on, watch me hook a duck. I’ll win you something.” Suzie was Audrey’s best friend for a reason, after all. She looped her arm through Audrey’s and led her over to the attraction. She had just let go for a second, to take the pole from the attendant.

Audrey had just looked away for a moment. Well, maybe a few moments. It hadn’t felt like very long.

She stared across the sea of people, finding him in the spaces between. His eyes were settled right on hers, green and as kind as they always had been.

Standing over by the house of mirrors, Jake was wearing the same clothes he had been earlier, his shirt discarded over his right shoulder and his white tank stretched across his chest. He had gotten changed out of his show clothes quickly. Maybe he was excited to see her.

She bit at the inside of her cheek, nervous tingles making her fidget on her feet.

He straightened up, and cocked his head sharply to the side. The right side of his mouth tugged toward his ear like something was funny. He untucked his hand from his pocket, and pushed away from the support beam.

There was no goodbye, no ‘I’ll be back in a second’ — the plan was clear — Audrey hadn’t felt the need to waste time bringing her friends up to speed, that could be done in the morning. Light-footed, her brown sandals barely marked the soft dirt beneath her feet.

He had turned and reached for the door, watching her over his shoulder. Her eyes scanned across the neon red signage above him as he disappeared into the Hall of Mirrors. The door fell shut behind him.

Audrey’s heartbeat hammered like a snare drum. Her entire nervous system could keep easy pace with a Lynyrd Skynyrd record. Her dad loved those guys.

The sky darkened behind her, the metal handle cold under her palm as she opened up the door. She leaned inside, and peered around, half-way inside. “Jake?”

The halls between all the mirrors had to be lit somehow, and someone chose blood-red bulbs. Darkness in the corners of the reflections, red illuminations right through the center. Audrey took one sure-footed step inside, her mouth twitching toward a nervous smile.

She let go of her breath and smiled. Sticking her fingers out, she touched her own reflection right in front of her. Filtered red, she looked so different. Her hair really did look killer. Her glasses hadn’t ever looked that awful. She trailed her hand softly along the glass as a marker, following the whistle tune.

Butterflies tickled her tummy. She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and let the door fall shut behind her, her second step less-certain. “Jake, are you in here?”

Of course he was, she had just seen him walk right in. To banish her doubts further, a whistle rings out from deeper within the maze. Unmistakably the first eight notes of Elvis’ I’ll Never Fall in Love Again — the song Audrey listened to in her bedroom when she thought of him. How incredible, that he had picked that song.

She bit at her bottom lip to keep from smiling, and called out one last time. “Jake?”

NEXT CHAPTER

TELL ME WHAT YOU THOUGHT

tags: @sunflowercharlie13 @spinning-away @eloquentdreamer @a-reader-and-a-writer @breezyweazybeezy @mel119g @blaircharlotte @hersuitisbanana @aragorn-02 @one-sweet-gubler @chrysalismuh @xzyzycxdd @atarmychick007 @ximehs @ah9242 @gleefulleve @nnatel @topherwrites @princesskreator @seitmai @d0main-expansion @yepyeahuhhuh @cherrycola27 @ohtobeleah @roosterbruiser

[sketchnskribbles]

A03 | Rectifying Fallacies

The rhythmic clacking of keys echoed through the main room of the hidden mesa base. The noise was level. Controllable. Soothing. A familiar presence. One of the few things that this organic planet had in common with his wonderful homeworld.

It brought a sense of ease that lulled him into the calm of a mindless task. A quiet chore that brought a peace that he could hardly find at any other point within this senseless war. 

A silent alarm popped up in the bottom right corner of his screen and he gritted his denta at the reminder that the children were nearly done with their last day of school before summer break. Because that was just what they needed. Sparklings underpede. 

He shuttered his optics, stretched his digits, and continued his current job. He only had a few short earth hours before the next two months. Which would be filled with youngling fun and fancy free. An absolute boon to the war effort, he was sure. Note the sarcasm. 

He pushed away the souring thoughts. They wouldn't serve anything other than ruin his mood more than it already was. 

He'd gotten back into his groove when a Deception proximity alarm screamed through the mesa. 

A window concerning the potential danger popped up in front of his work and he nearly threw one of his tools in a fit of rage. He didn't, as he was a fully grown cybertronian and he needed those tools.

He maximized the window and narrowed his optics at the information. The signal was unknown. Meaning that it wasn't of any decepticon that they'd been in contact with since they'd moved into this mesa. Magnificent. He wished yet again that they had access to Teletraan I. But Primus-only-knew where the Ark was in this blasted universe.

The bot sighed and notified his team of the disturbance. He got four acknowledgements and ETAs. The heavy pedefalls of his oldest and closest friend coming near brought down some of his frustrated anger. He breathed in a deep breath and closed out of all his open programs. Leaving only the map showing the signal.

Moving away from his monitors, he turned around to greet his Prime. "Optimus."

"Ratchet." The deep baritone welcomed back. The Prime settled his hand on his shoulder plating and giving it a comforting squeeze, as he walked past. He peered at the screens to oversee the tripped alarm and hummed in consideration. That familiar gleam of the infamous strategist brightened up his gaze. "It is of unknown origin."

"Indeed. A new menace to grapple with." The older bot rolled his eyes.

"Or… perhaps a weary soul in need of better allies?" The Prime retorted back with his usual bout of hope.

"As if any Con would understand the meaning of the word." The medic huffed. "You expect too much out of thieves, societal rejects, and ex-convicts."

For a moment, the taller bot looked surprised. Then pained. Ratchet felt a lurch at his spark when he actually took the time to analyze his words. 

He blinked and pinched the bridge of his olfactory sensor. There he went, shoving his pede into his derma. Again. "I… I'm sorry Optimus. That came out wrong."

"But full of truth." His leader gently chided. That look of disappointment never faltered. Ratchet sighed and looked away.

"I am sorry. You know of my past and how I was raised… but that is no excuse." Ratchet felt the familiar weight of his friend's servo land back on his shoulder. A comforting weight. Forgiving. The old bot looked back over to the younger mech. They smiled.

Optimus looked back up to the signal and then teasingly back down to the medic. "What do you say we scout out the signal together? It's rather close to being time for our charges to be picked up by their guardians."

"I'd say we're asking for trouble."

"Hmm, that doesn't sound like a no to me." Optimus had already inserted the coordinates into the ground bridge, powering it up. 

Ratchet felt the tell tale of a ping reverberate through him. One that he was sure was felt by the rest of the team. It notified the rest of their orders from the Prime, to retrieve their humans and to join them at base on standby at the soonest opportunity.

There were more pings that flew in soon after. Full of complaints and acknowledgments. They were happily ignored as the two walked through the gate. 

It led into a road through a forest of trees. 

From the position specified on their internal maps, they were about a couple hours away from the heavily populated city of Los Angeles.

It was honestly not too far away from their own home base in Nevada. Less than a day, even. Which was much too close for comfort in Ratchet's opinion. 

He followed Optimus through the trees. Their optics to the skies as they scanned for the source of the signature. It didn't take very long to find the jet. 

They heard the engine long before they caught sight of it. A worryingly familiar palette of purple and black made it ever obvious just who it was, despite the unfamiliar altmode.

" Skywarp." Ratchet growled, his optics narrowing at the jet above. 

He slipped a servo into his subspace and brought out a tiny gadget given to him by Wheeljack. The wrecker had created it on a whim and given it to the medic proclaiming that it needed to be "field-tested" by the team. 

He hadn't yet brought it up with Optimus. A fact that was backed up when the Prime looked down at the medic's arm cannon in confusion while Ratchet inserted the device within a small port that seamlessly opened up.

"...What is that, old friend?" Optimus looked back up to meet Ratchet's optics, wariness pooling in his own. The medic didn't hold the same concerns.

"Jackie said he needed this field-tested. So here it is!" His answer didn't seem to be to his leader's satisfaction.

"Ratchet… let's not be too hasty." A servo found its way over top of his weapon. With enough pressure to imply that he needed to put it down, rather than forcing him to do so. The medic rolled his optics.

"If all goes well, it'll merely incapacitate him. Not kill him. Wheeljack knows of how you operate and wouldn't dare to go outside of those bounds." Ratchet looked over to his old friend, the corners of his lips curling downward the slightest bit. "For all my misgivings with him, I know he respects you too much to do something like that."

With that said, the old medic took aim. An optic closed as he aligned the sights with the plane overhead. He took the shot.

The old bot turned around to smile with pride at his leader, as the plane stalled in the distance. Blue arches of electricity danced along Skywarp’s frame as he was forced down to the ground by gravity.

“I'm quite surprised you actually agreed to test it, old friend.” Optimus sighed and shook his head when the ground shook and a few of the trees ahead cracked and fell. 

“Oh, no. I've run test after test on my terminal on this thing. Also checked the power output and many other things.” Ratchet nullified with a shrug. “I kind of liked the idea of temporarily incapacitating a foe. Just too bad that some of the materials to obtain it are either expensive or hard to obtain.”

“Is that so?” Optimus began his trek forward toward the decepticon. His medic, right on his heels.

A03 | Rectifying Fallacies

[grate-prime]

Had an idea for a proto of my favorite warframe

As usual I've been blessed by a prophetic vision

Name: Mitsuki "Misty" Callaghan

Callsign: Huckleberry

Age: 29

Batch: Mesa

Nationality: Jipangu/Libertatia

Bio: Born the daughter of a Jipangu woman and a libertatian soldier stationed on the island, Mitsuki Callaghan lived in the WF1999 equivalent of tokyo until she was 8 years old. Moving to the Libertatian equivalent of New Mexico when her father retired, she informally changed her name to Misty in an attempt to assimilate better. A lifelong fan of both westerns and samurai movies. At the age of 18 she joined the libertatian military as a cavalry scout and was incredibly disappointed when she learned that they no longer used horses. 4 years into her enlistment, she disobeyed a direct order from her superior, refusing to shoot an unarmed civilian who had spotted them on a recon mission. She was discharged for insubordination and joined up with the ICR to try to make a change in her life. She was assigned to Hollvania when the plague broke out where entrati infected her with the Mesa strain of the virus.

to this day she's never been on a horse.

[one-of-many-journeys]

Day 58

Meridian Village

Dawn in the village, then I rode the elevator up to the mesa to trade ahead of my trek west to Sunfall.

I traded the rest of my ancient vessels for handsome rewards. I'm not sure the collector will be able to find anyone else as interested in these things as he is, but at least he'll have plenty of containers for this 'shaving ritual' he seems convinced they were used for.

Onto the Banuk envoy next to sell more figurines. According to the legend of this wanderer in exile, only one more of them was ever made.

I bought some new Carja armour. Very similar to Talanah’s, actually. I figure if this screams nobility, maybe I won’t be questioned so much in Sunfall. From a distance, it’s enough. The armour is strong too.

I stuck with my plan to travel past the fortress at the fork rather than make the swim. I was willing to go on foot if there were guards watching the pass—less conspicuous that way—but the fortress was still empty. I guess the Shadow Carja really have suffered losses if they can’t scrounge up the soldiers to hold their border line.

The watchtowers unmanned, I rode through the passage to the Rustwash, but stayed vigilant.

The pass was only patrolled by machines. On the other side and over the dunes were the towers of Sunfall. Just to the west, carving a path through the dunes, was a Tallneck. I headed for it first.

The rusted ruins of old vehicles ringed the Tallneck's path, patrolled by Ravagers, Longlegs and smaller machines. I took out a few Watchers on the patrol path but got past the rest undetected, climbing to the Tallneck's head and extracting its terrain data.

Back on the road to Sunfall, I spotted some Banuk markings on the hoodoos and pinnacles, a climbing path set between them. At the peak of the challenging climb, I found the alleged final figurine left by the Banuk wanderer. Maybe he continued further west, leaving more carvings as he traveled.

I left my mount where it stood and took the road to Sunfall on foot. If the Eclipse among the Shadow Carja knew to look for a red-headed machine rider, then charging in on my mount would defeat the purpose of crashing the Focus network in the first place. Sylens chimed in to give a little spiel when I arrived at the city gates. I can tell he's excited to discover the secrets of this orbital base, but I still need to find a way inside.

The gates through the outer Citadel walls were shut and guarded. I had a feeling that getting inside wouldn't be as easy as slipping across the unmanned border.

I scouted the area as best I could from afar, walking through the tents and shanties of Sunfall's many refugees. It was worse than I'd been imagining, even after what Kindiv and Keadi told me. Everyone huddled together in the shadow of the Citadel, under tarps in filthy rags, burnt raw and hacking dust from their lungs. Festering in the stench of waste and sickness.

In all that suffering, one person caught my eye—a man singing hymns over the pale, shivering form of a little girl. His name was Abas, and the girl succumbing to fever was his sister, Shianah. There were no healers in the tent city, he said, and the only healer that went west at all was under the employ of the military, only willing to help those with the shards to pay. His name was Ghaliv, and he resided in a settlement called Blazon Arch, the port town of the northern shore and first line of defence against attacks over water.

If Ghaliv thought the refugees of Sunfall were below his notice, maybe I could convince him. I've proven to be persuasive in the past.

I walked back to my mount on the roadside and took it southwest to Blazon arch. By the time I arrived it was almost midnight, and I guess I forgot my plan to keep my mount out of sight, because I nearly ran it right under the battlements. Too many things running through my mind, making me careless. Like how I'm never going to be able to get into Sunfall. I won't be able to curry favour with these people like I have with other tribes.

No one shot at me on the approach, behaving much as the kestrels did at Unflinching Watch—standoffish, but not aggressive. Not willing to drive me out, but certainly not wanting me there. Especially when I tried to spectate on their wrestling match.

I asked after Ghaliv, speaking to the merchant of the settlement. Singular. The wares he sold were meagre, and there was barely any food. The nobles eat first, then the soldiers, whoever can pay, then whoever's left. I guess the military has to pick up recruits somehow. And no, the merchant couldn't point me to Ghaliv, but he was indeed in the settlement. Asleep. I suppose I should have expected that. I won't go banging down his door. Threatening, I'll grant, but not persuasive. I don't want to go getting arrested before making my attempt on the Citadel. At which point I'll probably be arrested anyway.

No inns in Blazon Arch, unsurprisingly. I found a place out of the way on near-empty sacks of wheat. The contents looked like sawdust.

[fan-clan-fun]

Unique Role Names

I have a fanclan called SaguaroClan. Their territory is set in the deserts/mesas of Mexico. I'm looking for some names ideas for roles. The ones I have now are pretty basic and boring.

Currently, the roles are:

Hunters - primarily hunters for the clan, skilled in combat, defenders of the Clan

Trackers - cats who patrol the territory identifying threats and reporting back to the Leader about what's going on in the territory

Foragers - knowledge of herbs and healing, caretakers of the Clan, keeping everyone healthy 

This Clan doesn't believe in StarClan & has no knowledge of StarClan.

Sometimes, simplicity is helpful, and honestly these names sound lovely! However, I can offer you some options!

Hunters- Stalkers, Providers

Trackers- Scouts, Guardians, Protectors

Foragers- Healers or Herbalists

Now if you want names themed specifically to your clan? I can indulge in some ideas for that too.

Hunters- I sat for a while to try and think of something more specific. Best I can do is Branches? The branches reaching out to the sun, to provide food and sustenance to the clan.

Trackers- Thorns: just like the thorns or spines of cacti, these cats protect their clan, get stuck under the skin of their enemies and seek to drive off trouble.

Foragers- Roots: just like the roots of trees and plants and cacti, these cats spread out in search of resources, being the lifeblood and healing to the clan

Not sure how helpful this was! But maybe this can spark some inspiration for you!

[decks-writing-blog]

Couldn't Leave You Behind

Summary: Eli and Kleiner are chased by a pack of houndeyes and a bullsquid.

[A/N] I had the idea to write about Eli losing his lower leg and making it have an Elisaac vibe because if I want content for this ship, I gotta do it myself, then I figured I should probably google it to see if there was a canon explanation for how it happened that I could adapt to what I wanted to write. And turns out he lost his lower leg because he got attacked by a bullsquid when helping Kleiner get over a barrier and into City 17 which actually feeds me shipping them, dude lost part of a limb to help Kleiner, that's true love right there. (Seriously, how is this a rare pair when that's a canon event between them? Where are all the old man fuckers in the Half Life fandom?) So here is my take on that event.

Content Warning: blood and gore, Eli's foot gets hit by bullsquid acid and is somewhat graphically described.

~

Breath burned in Isaac’s chest, his heart beating faster than it probably ever had before. His legs and sides ached, sharp and insistent, begging him to slow down or stop before he collapsed. Ahead of him, Eli’s lead was growing bigger and bigger; that jogging phase he’d had back before the Black Mesa incident, coming in to help him once more. Behind Isaac though, the lead he’d had on the pack of houndeyes and single bullsquid chasing them was shrinking. Their barking, gurgling, and thumping of their feet on the decaying road, growing louder as they gained on him.

A hiss that he now recognized as the bullsquid preparing to spit came from uncomfortably close behind him. He sped up… or tried to; he didn’t have much left to give. With a splatter and a hiss of an entirely different sort, acid spit splattered onto the ground just to his left, prompting him to hop to the right with a small yelp. The bullsquid’s aim was worse when it was in motion. A rather interesting data point in that it was currently the main reason he was still alive.

Up ahead, Eli reached the barrier. He’d be justified in jumping up and hoisting himself over it, leaving Isaac to make it or not entirely on his own. Like the sentimental fool he was though, he didn’t. Instead he skidded to a halt and turned back. “Hurry Izzy!”

Isaac would’ve loved to shout back that he was running as fast as he possibly could but didn’t have the breath to spare for even a single syllable. If he survived this he was going to have a jogging phase too, get himself in some kind of better running shape lest he ever find himself in such a situation again. That was looking more and more like a rather big ‘if’ though as he didn’t have much left in him.

Another hiss and splash of acid, this time just to his right would’ve had him yelping again if he hadn’t lacked the breath to make such a sound. It gave him another incentive to keep going though despite feeling like he might collapse at any moment.

Just a little bit further and… he almost crashed into the barrier next to Eli. How the fuck was he going to get over it? Its top was just in reach – the reason they’d chosen this as their entrance point into the city, it was the least secure barricade their scouts had spotted. He reached up for it anyway, scrambling to pull himself up it despite having spent all his strength on the run over. He was doomed; he’d run all this way just to…

Instead of hoisting himself up too as expected, Eli put himself under Isaac and pushed him, giving the exact boost he needed to get over the barrier. He tumbled over it with an undignified yelp, landing hard on his shoulder on the other side but alive. Ignoring the pain, he pushed himself up to his feet as fast as he could force himself to help Eli in whatever way he could.

He was just in the time to catch Eli as he toppled over the wall with his own yelp, more a scream really. Naturally catching him sent Isaac right back to the ground with Eli on top of him this time, knocking whatever little breath he’d had left out of him. Painful but he was alive. They’d made into City 17.

Eli groaned and rolled off of him, blessedly making it easier to breathe. Isaac would’ve gladly just lain there next to him while they caught their breath but… Eli’s face was scrunched up with pain. He’d been hurt somewhere. Damn it.

Isaac sat up, ready to get to work searching for which bone had been broken but there was no need as the injury was impossible to miss. Eli’s foot had been hit with acid spit. It had eaten through his shoe and lower pant leg, melting into his flesh and revealing bone. It was hissing, steaming and bubbling as the acid continued to eat through it.

Still desperately trying to catch his breath, Isaac quickly pulled his pack off and dug through for one of the spare water bottles. Carefully as he could while still being quick about it, he poured it out over Eli’s foot, moving it back and forth over the whole injury. Eli hissed and tried to jerk away, forcing Isaac to move after him. Before resuming pouring the water, he used his other hand to grab Eli’s knee, holding it still.

By the time the bottle was empty, the acid seemed to have mostly been washed out of the wound. But just to be sure, he pulled out another one and poured the whole of that one out too.

“How bad is it?” Eli asked, his voice strained with pain.

“Uh… pretty bad.” The acid had eaten through the entire shoe and most of the flesh surrounding the foot, leaving bone and tendon exposed, much of it burned away as well. Further up wasn’t as bad but there was still a sickening amount of bone exposed with varying degrees of acid damage. “I don’t think you’re likely to keep this foot.” Isaac wasn’t a medical doctor but one didn’t need to be to see that there was no saving it. “I imagine once we get you to a medical professional, they’ll want to amputate it.” Especially considering the potential infections having alien spit splattered in one’s wound was bound to cause.

“That bad, huh?”

“Yes.” Isaac pulled off his lab coat and using the pair of scissors from the pack set to cutting it up so he could bandage Eli’s foot as best he could with his limited medical experience. It wasn’t clean but the foot wasn’t likely to be saved anyway. He started with his best attempt at a tourniquet around the upper thigh. “Why’d you wait for me?”

“Couldn’t leave you behind, had to make sure you made it.”

Isaac couldn’t complain about that, especially since he wasn’t sure he could’ve gotten over the barrier in time without Eli’s help. But if the bullsquid’s aim had been a bit more true, if the acid had hit Eli’s back, even with the backpack and the supplies inside, it likely would’ve had a far worse outcome than just him losing a foot and part of his lower leg. “What about Alyx? If you’d died because of me, she’d have no one.”

“Not true, she’d have you, Dog, and Barney. I couldn’t leave you behind, Izzy, don’t say I should’ve. I’ve lost enough people already. Besides, I lived, didn’t I? So it’s fine.”

It had come far too close though. But they had both blessedly lived and such luck wasn’t something Isaac wanted to question lest it not remain for long. So, in silence, he finished doing what he could for Eli’s injury before helping him stand. He had to lean heavily into Isaac, his arm around his shoulder as Isaac returned the gesture, helping him hop along on one foot.

It would’ve been preferable to have a medical professional come to him and carry him in a stretcher or wheel chair. But they didn’t have that luxury. They had to get to the safe house before the sun rose in a few hours and then they had work to do. Most of which Isaac would be doing alone now as Eli rested and got much needed proper medical attention. Being the heads of the resistance efforts really sucked sometimes but it was certainly better than many of the alternatives.

[coetusmachina]

👼 and 🩹

Ugh. Cliffjumper really hates it when his processor decides to start complaining. Headaches, to use the human term; simple but annoyingly accurate.

At least Sierra and the others are at school, so he doesn't need to hide it from his kid. And Ratchet's busy, distracted, which gives Cliff an opening to slip away from the silo. He doesn't go far - just the nearest mesa with a nice sized cleft at the base, perfect for a guy to sit down inside, tucked out of view, and wait for the pulses of pain to go away.

They've been happening more often lately. So far he's pretty sure no one has noticed.

...except maybe Arcee.

( ✧ ― send 👼 for a comforting starter . ― ✧ ) ( ✧ ― send 🩹  for  an  injured  /  sick  starter . ― ✧ )

Arcee had just arrived back to the Silo after a scouting mission, fully prepared to have Cliff on her tailpipes about how it went and if she had any good fights with 'cons... however, as she transformed and took a few steps in, she immediately noticed his presence missing.

The femme frowned, servos on her hips as she tried to think of where her partner could possibly be if not the Silo. He hadn't been sent on any missions - he would've told her so - and none of the kids were out of school yet. Again, that was another thing she would've been told; if not by Cliff or Sierra, then by Jack.

Looking up at the monitors, it finally clicked, and she hummed to herself, pausing just before heading out to find him to try calling his comm to check in - maybe there was something she could bring him if he needed it. Holding a few digits to her audial, she walked toward Ratchet's cabinets, looking through to see if there was anything in there she could take. Call it a hunch that her partner in crime might need a little something from among the doctor's stash.

» Any reason you decided to have a field trip without me, Cliff? «

[possibly-god]

TF2K Timeline

1945

December – Medic emigrates to America.

1946

March – Medic marries Ursula Osterberg.

June – Engineer and Darleane Mayer graduate their theoretical physics Ph.D course.

1947

March – Hedy Mayer is born.

1948

May – The Skeleton Incident; Medic flees town, Ursula remains.

November – Scout is born.

1949

January – Christoph Osterberg is born.

1956

February – Heavy emigrates to America and meets Mary O’Bannon.

June – Ursula remarries to Carl Bauer.

October – Heavy finds steady work out west.

1958

June – Patrick O’Bannon is born.

1960

April – Christoph’s interest in medicine is piqued.

1965

February – Linda Phillips-Green discovers her husband’s infidelity and meets Demoman; Christoph begins forging his medical records.

June – Hedy graduates high school and begins interning with Black Mesa.

November – Kelly Phillips is born.

1966

August – Linda Phillips’ divorce is finalized, she attempts to contact Demoman but is intercepted by Tilly DeGroot.

October – Mary O’Bannon is killed in an accident, Patrick enters the foster system.

1967

May – Sniper and Diana Guzman meet on the road.

August – The mercs are hired by Mann Co., the events of TF2 begin.

September – Hedy starts at ZMU.

1968

February – Rosa Guzman is born.

September – Christoph starts at ZMU, cutting contact with the Bauers.

1971

July – Kelly discovers the cartoons of Rube Goldberg, begins constructing her own inventions.

November – Expiration Date

1972

June – Christoph receives his Bachelor’s degree and enrolls in medical school, celebrating by performing his own top surgery.

August – Mann vs. Machine.

1973

April – Linda signs Kelly up for the Girl Scouts.

June – Gray Mann and Olivia take over Mann Co., start of Ring of Fired’s 6 month time skip.

August – Scout and Barbie Nakamura meet.

October – Hedy and Christoph get married.

December – End of Ring of Fired time skip.

1974

April – The twins are born.

May – Barbie skips town, the Nakamuras attempt unsuccessfully to track down the twins’ father.

August – The Naked and the Dead, Dennis is born and adopted by Mags; Helen opts to use her last few months to try and find a more elegant solution to her problem; Mann Co. and RED are retaken and reestablished.

October – Hedy and Christoph belatedly celebrate their wedding anniversary, Christoph bets Hedy she can’t acquire any meaningful quantity of Australium.

November – Soldier and Zhanna get married and discover their pregnancy.

December – Hedy completes the polycyclotron and successfully synthesizes Australium.

1975

January - March – The kidnappings, RED’s rescue, OHM, etc.

March – Saxton Hale appoints Helen his successor at Mann Co., resigns, and proposes to Mags.

June – Jane Doe Jr. is born; Hedy receives her fifth Ph.D., nuclear physics, and leaves ZMU to work at Aperture Science.

August – Saxton and Mags get married, Dennis is their ringbearer.

September – Helen rehires Saxton as the Team Fortress Administrator.

December – Hedy receives the Nobel Prize in Physics for her work with the polycyclotron and acerized elements.

1976

June – Christoph graduates medical school.

July – The ’76 Conagher Family Reunion.

1977

May – JJ first uses magic.

1978

January – Mason Hale is born.

1980

January – Patrick joins the fire department.

October – Kelly joins her high school’s theater department.

1981

May – Christoph completes his residency and receives his medical license.

1984

September – Kelly starts film school.

1986

September – Rosa studies journalism in college.

March – Kelly drops out of film school.

1987

February – Kelly books her first film job, Flight of the Fifty Foot Fantom.

December – Scout has a near-fatal heart attack.

1990

July – Rosa begins working as a photojournalist and making poachers’ lives a living hell.

1994

June – The twins graduate high school, Lance disappears.

1996

August – Lance returns from Japan.

2000

January – Team Fortress International forms.

(Please alert me if anything is unclear - I am bad at math, particularly where dates are involved, and I am not sure what qualifies as a significant event that should be represented on this timeline.)

Next up - So how does Australium work?

TF2K Master Post

[medium-observation]

November Release

Beetlejuice - First US National Tour

October 31, 2023 - Medium Observation

Video

Cast:

Justin Collette (Beetlejuice), Isabella Esler (Lydia Deetz), Megan McGinnis (Barbara Maitland), Will Burton (Adam Maitland), Jesse Sharp (Charles Deetz), Kate Marilley (Delia Deetz), Lexie Dorsett Sharp (u/s Miss Argentina), Abe Goldfarb (Otho), Brian Vaughn (Maxie Dean), Kris Roberts (Maxine Dean/Juno), Jackera Davis (Girl Scout), Lee N Price (Ensemble), Eric Anthony Johnson (s/w Ensemble), Haley Fish (Ensemble), Kenway Hon Wai K. Kua (Ensemble), Sean McManus (Ensemble), Katie Lombardo (s/w Ensemble), Trevor Michael Schmidt (Ensemble), Corben Williams (Ensemble)

Notes:

Good capture of Halloween! This was filmed on the aisle so you can see some people getting up and walking around at times. LOTS of latecomers during ready set I had to get up to let people into the row, so there is no video there. The guy in front of me wouldn't stop moving so his head can come in and out of frame at times but it's always worked around.

NFT Date: May 1st, 2024

Screenshots: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjB1KLh

Video is $20

Mean Girls - Second US National Tour (Non-Equity)

October 26, 2023 - Medium Observation

Video

Cast:

Natalie Shaw (Cady Heron), Maya Petropoulos (Regina George), Kristen Amanda Smith (Gretchen Wieners), MaryRose Brendel (Karen Smith), Alexys Morera (Janis Sarkisian), Ethan Jih-Cook (Damian Hubbard), Joseph Torres (Aaron Samuels), Shawn Mathews (Kevin Gnapoor), Kristen Seggio (Mrs. Heron/Ms. Norbury/Mrs. George), Justin Phillips (Principal Duvall), Justin O'Brien (Mr. Heron), Justin O'Brien (Coach Carr/Glen Coco/Math Moderator), Thalia Atallah (Dawn Schweitzer), Victoria Mesa (Lizzie Therman/Caroline Krafft), Lucas Hallauer (Tyler Kimble), Jonah Nash (Christian Wiggins), Mikey Corey Hassel (Shane Oman), Oshie Mellon (Sophie Kawachi), Megan Arseneau (s/w Caitlyn Caussin), Brandon Moreno (Jason Weems), Tyler Jung (Marwan Jitla), Reagan Kennedy (Taylor Wedell), Joi D. McCoy (Rachel Hamilton)

Notes:

Nice Capture of the new non-equity tour! There can be a head in the way at some points but it's worked around well. The video can be somewhat grainy at times due to how far I was + how dark the show was. Overall a great video of this incredible cast.

NFT Date: May 1st, 2024

Screenshots: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjB1e1L

Video is $20

Come From Away - Second US National Tour (Non-Equity)

October 30, 2023 - Medium Observation

Video

Cast:

Addison Garner (Beverley/Annette & others), Shawn W. Smith (Kevin T./Garth & others), Andrew Hendrick (Claude & others), Danny Arnold (Oz & others), Hannah Kato (Janice & others), Trey DeLuna (Kevin J./Ali & others), Stanton Morales (Nick/Doug & others), Molly Samson (Diane & others), Candace Alyssa Rhodes (Hannah & others), Kristin Litzenberg (Beulah & others), Kathleen Cameron (Bonnie & others), Jason Tyler Smith (Bob & others)

Notes:

Incredible capture of the new non-equity tour. No obstruction, very little washout in wideshots. Overall a perfect video of a great new cast.

NFT Date: May 1st, 2024

Screenshots: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjB1DyY

Video is $20

Videos can be purchased through me at

mediumobservationtrading@gmail.com

[swagdinner]

TF2 NEW MAP REVIEW

nobody asked for it, nobody cares, so it's here! by: me

Selbyen

+ great design

+ lots of flanks, feels like every class and every playstyle can have their moments here

+++ fat fuck

- mini sentries are a crime, but tbh that's a pd gamemode boone overall

- how the hell do you pronounce it? sel-bien? sel-buy-en? prolly the latter but still

8/10

Phoenix

+ nice-looking, gives me overwatch vibes (maybe a bit too saturated?)

+ overall not too chokey i think

+ last is so cool

- first point is kinda meh imo but i mean it could be worse. looks like one of those redesigned tf1 maps with tall claustrophobic mesa walls

7/10

Venice

+ love love LOVE LOVE the design. instant fav, best map looks-wise

+- if this map was a woman she'd be such a bitch. insufferable but i wanna fuck her so bad

- sniper hell. what the FUCK are these sightlines

- halls are way too narrow or way too wide. also that doorway on approach to third... dozens of blu lives were lost to a single heavy+medic combo just sitting in there

- i swear this is an overwatch map. no i have never played overwatch.

3/10 at most

Shark Bay

+++ there are sharks on this map

+ really well balanced and fun to play, i even had to go for 2 games

+ very high octane gameplay

+- scout goes kinda schnasty but its ok, maybe it's just my bad luck

- could use more health packs i think

9/10

Rotunda

+ donut shape is always neat

+ looks cool too

- thought the entire map was rotating in the preview, turns out it's just the camera

- just kinda sucks man. nucleus did the donut shape better, at least you couldn't put sentries on the point there and have them fully protected. honestly out of 3 games not a single one was good

5/10 kinda mid (feel free to disagree btw, i probably missed something)

Sulfur

+ cp_steel, japan

+ cp_steel but without last point cheese

+ water on last is actually sulphuric acid what the hell they didn't lie

8/10

ok the game is lagging hard for no reason so imma conclude this, even though there's like 4 more maps left. also have stuff to do. pt 2 tomorrow methinks and it will come with a tierlist because that is the only way i can perceive new comparative information nowadays

[thothproductions]

If you're on a location scout for an alien world where the heroes have to infiltrate the mesa fortress, I recommend driving east on Hwy24 out of Torrey and looking for the off road area on the east side of Capitol Reef.

[sketchnskribbles]

A03 | Rectifying Fallacies AU

.

“[Who’s your overseeing officer?]” The scout asked.

Skywarp, taken away by his rant, opened his mouth to answer. When it caught in his throat. With wide optics, he looked between all the Bots in the room and, instead, said, “Well, I can tell you. Probably even will but… you won't believe me.”

“I believe we should be the judge of that for ourselves. Out with it now.” Ratchet huffed impatiently. Ducking his head briefly when Optimus gave him a stern, short glance.

"Okay…" Skywarp nodded slowly. Optics now wide as he thought over what should be said and how he should say it. Though his worry was soon overcome with a bright flash of his optics and a grin. His face now marred in a devious quality. It only seemed to grow when he spotted the curious humans peering over at him quietly. He remarked, “Well, then it should be said that my overseeing officer is… your mom.”

A stark silence overcame the room as everyone processed what he’d said. The audacity of it.

A small snrrk from the human lounge broke the surprise and Skywarp found himself being forcefully manhandled into the med-berth by two very unhappy Autobots. One a large green Wrecker and the other a very persnickety two-wheeler.

"Alright, I think that’s enough out of you for the day. If I have to deal with your particular string of idiocy any longer, I’m going to suddenly find myself stricken with an unusually harsh case of proto-rash.” Arcee snarked with a particular snarl. She was purposely inconsiderate of her strength when she had to duck under and then catch a stray arm that had managed to break free from her and Bulkhead’s hold.

The Seeker was cackling with certain delight. The sound of it deranged and far more familiar than the previously relaxed personality he’d been hitting them with for most of the time they’d been dealing with him. It was so much so in line with his typical brand of crazy that Ratchet felt the need to reaffirm for a third time that the warp-drive was still offline. It was, thankfully. So he focused his attention then on inserting the Seeker into a forced, temporary medical stasis.

No one spoke a word as Arcee, Bulkhead, and Ratchet regained their breath. Suddenly able to hear the echoes of a far off drip in the mesa’s halls that would likely need mending. The Wrecker looked over to the humans to check on them and had to wince. Jack had an arm wrapped around a frightened Raf. While Miko held a hand up to her mouth with wide eyes.

He opened his mouth to— well, he wasn’t quite certain what he wanted to say. Only that he needed it to be comforting to their younglings. He wasn’t able to get anything out when the clacking heals of June brought her back into the Common Room.

“Okay, kids! Everything is finally prepped for baking some cookies--”, June halted half a step as she took in the state of everyone in the room and the unconscious Seeker in Ratchet’s medical corner, “I missed something, didn’t I?”

.

A03 | Rectifying Fallacies AU

[sarandipitywrites]

Hi there! :)

An Ask: What's something about a piece of your writing that you really, truly appreciate? It can be anything

hey, Ember!

Dead Roots, Dark Water has its hooks in my brain right now, and i've promised myself i'm going to finish nano before i go back to edit the second draft of it, so i'll talk about it here :)

i pulled this piece from chapter one because i love how tactile it is, and i always love an excuse to hang out in a character's inner world for a while. i'll leave it below the cut for length.

thanks for the ask! 💜

Soaked with sweat, his cloth hand wraps pulled across his skin, slipping and sticking and pulling on chapped calluses. His damp fingertips squeaked against metal as the device shifted in his grip. Everything from his chest up — lungs, face, brain — smoldered like he’d been dipped in yellow eco. Every squeaking millimeter of slip turned the temperature up, and up— “—boy. Put. The processor. On. The table.” Jak’s jaw clenched. His fingers tightened around the edges of the eco processor. The bite of metal into his flesh anchored him, coaxed him not to throw the machine at Gol’s head. He’d never been on Keira’s level — had never tried to be. She operated on a different wavelength than the rest of them. Jak’s thoughts were ocean currents: steady, consistent, pulled by forces he didn’t always understand. Keira’s were rays of sunlight refracted into rainbows as they passed through drops of morning dew. “Minister Acheron, I’m positive that the solar cells that power my scout fly drones are scalable. If we were to convert…” Rainbows. Like the elytra of the prismatic crystal beetle in the display case above his dresser. That case held all his favorites: the prismatic crystal, the sapphire clubtail, oleander moth and infernal beetle— “Ms. Mesa, such a large-scale project deserves more time than today’s demonstration can provide, wouldn’t you agree?” Jak’s fingers itched to drop the processor. The early afternoon was one of the best times to view his collection — the midday sun shone into the loft just right, making each specimen glitter like ocean spray. He would feel better, he could tolerate Gol better, if he just had a few minutes to look at them.

[ventricide]

good morning dash... on friday night I got hella high and wrote about skydroid au, so I will share what I can ✌️

in this au, project skybox is a legitimate scientific research company, a la black mesa and aperture. they specialize in robotics and ai (the cool sci-fi kind not the dumb chatgpt kind)

anomi and lucy are young, but fairly respected scientists due to the work they've done

anomi probably discovers skyghost in a similar way to canon, (mayyybe a bit more simplified?) with her being a highly advanced AI found in a source game.

anomi forms a connection with her, and brings info about skyghost to work thinking it might be worth looking into.

to understand her on a more physical scale not bound by the game, PSB puts her AI in their latest android model (mona being a previous version they made)

when she first comes online in her new android body, skyghost is... extremely overwhelmed. she mostly spends her first few days crying, and hiding curled up in the corners of her room. (her room/enclosure basically, being just a plain white room with massive windows that look out to the rest of PSB's lab, and an operating table with computers/machinery she can hook up to for various things, like recharging and etc.)

anomi and lucy lean more humane in how they treat skyghost, with anomi already having a connection to her and lucy hearing about her by proxy. they try to make her room as comfortable as allowed. operating table is replaced with more of a hospital bed and she's given blankets and pillows. they bring her stuff like her bunny plush, a steam deck to play games on, music to listen to, sketchbooks and pens to draw/write with, etc. anomi also gives skyghost her circle glasses that she can dim and adjust if she's visually overstimulated.

anomi and lucy's boss/founder of psb, jeremy (not scout tf2 😔 ) also leans more humane (red herring for later), later invents an "android-grade emotional regulation patch" to help skyghost with regulating her mental health & emotions (basically it's the android version of an antidepressant that comes in patch form DFKJGHJKD)

the rest of psb... doesn't really like this, because they think all this shit might be distracting to her when it comes to experimenting, but they cope with it. one of them tries to take away skyghost's bunny plush at one point because it's interrupting the test they're trying to conduct, she screams & cries and refuses to do anything until they finally give it back.

skyghost literally hates everybody except for anomi and lucy (later jeremy). most of her testing is urged to be done by them because she trusts them the most, but they tend to be selective in what they choose to do (they both refuse to do anything that will harm her). this gets bad enough to where the other scientists start physically and verbally abusing skyghost to get her to do what they want.

skyghost is fuckin miserable due to this, and is also dealing with her feelings for anomi (*and* lucy, as she later learns). anomi and lucy get clearance to let her roam the lab freely, thinking that getting out of her room would make her more happy.

at that point the au gets too R rated and I also stopped typing because i had the munchies LOL, but the plot basically starts after skyghost is allowed to explore around PSB's lab. she gets to make some friends (more than friends) and discovers some fucked up secrets about the circumstances of her creation. it's a fun au.