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siconetribal · 2 months

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Beyond the Bookshelves (7)

Pairing: Loki x Reader

Warnings: Time to clean up the mess!

Summary: You’re a Resource Management Specialist at S.H.I.E.L.D. normally referred to as “The Librarian”. You’ve been assigned the nightmarish task of digitizing all the physical resources currently owned by the agency, with a few new computers and one extra helper.

A/N:

Thanks for patiently waiting! I had a safe and easy flight, but the jet lag was a real troublemaker. But now I’m back, less brain foggy and ready to type. Without further ado, here is the next part!

Please comment/like/reblog. If you’d like to be tagged moving forward, please let me know! (If I missed any tags, please let me know, I’ll add you right away!) I’d also greatly appreciate it if rebloggers remember to add the tags (or some at least).

The lovely banners used in this fic are from @cafekitsune.

If you’re new to the story, please check out the master post for the rest of the chapters.

As much as it pained Loki to admit it, Thor was correct. He needed to clear the air so that he may resume his attendance to the one solace he had in the entirety of the compound outside his own quarters. The next day, the younger prince walked towards the library once more. He paused at the doors, raising a fist to knock but failed to make contact with the wood.

There’s no promise that she would read my email. What exactly would I type? I was unable to attend because of extended training? This is something that can easily be said in person and I won’t have to deal with that silly computer and all the unnecessary security keys and checks! He reaffirmed his choice, tugging at the lapels of his black suit coat and adjusting the length of his shirt cuffs. Technology was marvelous, but it was a hassle to deal with when trying to access something as simple as his emails.

Clearing his throat and straightening himself up, he focused his attention back onto the door and gave three quick knocks.

“Loki, the second prince of Asgard and Avenger, is forbidden from entering the library until cleared by Director Y/LN, the Librarian. You are unable to access this portion of the facility until further notice.” The computer voice warned him, as he expected.

“Yes, I am quite aware of that. I wish to speak with the Librarian about this matter.”

“You are unauthorized to enter.”

“I understand that she has put that ridiculous restriction in, but I am here to discuss that matter with her. I’m not entering for my leisure.”

“You are still unauthorized to enter.”

“As I said, I understand. I am not here for reading, I am here to meet with the Librarian. How else do you expect me to clarify this misunderstanding without talking to her?” There was a little edge of annoyance in his tone, but the prince kept his cool. The computer was not going to understand or aid him in this matter. It was merely a messenger between the two of them.

“Would you like to set up an appointment with the Librarian?”

“Yes, fine, I would like to set up an appointment!”

“A request for an appointment has been sent to Director YL/N. Please check your email for a response. Will that be all?”

“Very well,” he let out a heavy sigh and waved a hand in a dismissively, not that there was a person there to dismiss. Feeling foolish yet again for speaking to nothing, he turned and walked down the hallway towards the first meeting of his day.

It took some time, but the agents had gotten the new plan detailed and submitted for approval. Pruyn’s irritation was Loki’s pleasure. The meeting went smoothly, the plan that Loki suggested was the one to get unanimous approval from the directors, and the agents who argued against her were scolded to not waste time and get the mission properly planned and initiated. Loki was to play the part of a wealthy individual who had some questionable sources of income and gifts that needed laundering, and Natasha would be his most trusted personal assistant that handled his comings and goings.

“Loki will play the role of Mr. Walker and Natasha will play the role of his personal assistant, Jen. The profiles we’ve created have been shared with everyone. Please review them before our next meeting to discuss anything that may need to be adjusted or clarified.” Agent Pruyn tapped the button on the remote in his hand to change to the next slide. “There is a small charity ball next month, one that our target frequents. We’ve already started leaving hints and clues that there is a new person on the scene, and have made him someone of great interest to invite. We are expecting an invitation in the coming weeks. No one has really seen Mr. Walker, which will generate more intrigue.”

“I will make my first contact with our target at this gala then. A simple greeting should suffice. A relationship will strike up naturally if we meet frequently in gatherings such as this.” Loki picked up the flash drive that was provided to each of them that contained the files of this mission.

“I’ll get friendly with his secretaries and get the necessary gossip going. I can feed them something that could be considered interesting, and they’ll relay it to the target for us.” Natasha added. “If we play our cards right, this mission could be easy enough, but we need to be careful.”

“We must exercise the greatest caution. He is not someone to ignore even the slightest of suspicion. We need to keep him completely unaware. If he is suspicious, we need to give him a reason that would dispel it as something expected of someone like him.” Loki nodded his head, Agent Pruyn clenched his teeth and took a deep breath.

“Yes, we will keep that in mind. As of now, this is all the information we have to discuss. Please review all the information in the files so we can go into detail in our next meeting, which will be scheduled in accordance to your schedules.”

“Sounds good to me,” Clint lightly tapped the butt of his flash drive on the table and stood up. Raising his hand that held it for all to see, he nodded his head and left first. Everyone else filed out after him, though they waited until Loki was out to avoid him. Their avoidance stung, but it was not surprising, and it no longer hurt him. He was used to such behaviors and found it more of a nuisance than anything else.

It has been two whole days and no response to my inquiry yet? She must be purposely ignoring me and has the computer system making a fool of me! Loki slammed his fist onto the table, startling the surrounding staff. They quickly shuffled away, muttering their concerns as he seethed in silence. If looks could kill, the table he sat at would have disintegrated a good ten times over

“What’s got Houdini’s undies all twisted up?” Tony turned around in his seat to look at the hunched over back of the second prince.

“Beats me, he was fine during our meeting a couple of days ago and did good in today’s training.” Clint shrugged his shoulders, glancing over his shoulder at the newest Avenger. He understood the effects of the Mind Stone and how it warped and tormented Loki, but he still found it all to be a tad too convenient. There had to be some level of self in all that happened, but Clint also knew they worked in things that made no sense at all and was trying his best to give him benefit of the doubt. He concluded that if this mission was a success, then he would absolve Loki of his sins in his mind. It would be easy to catch him lying or not putting in the proper effort, which would mean he was only using the Mind Stone as an excuse.

“My brother? It’s nothing, he’s merely upset that the Librarian has refused to meet with him.” Thor took a bite of his sandwich, undisturbed by his brother’s ire.

“The Librarian? What’d he do to get on her bad side? I didn’t even know she had one!” Tony’s eyebrows shot upwards as he looked between the two princes. “That’s something I didn’t think was possible.”

“It’s a small misunderstanding. She requested assistance from us on a task given to her by Fury. We agreed to help when we can, and he was supposed to meet with to create a plan of how to complete it. We had that lengthy training session that day, and he ended up missing the meeting and also had no real means of informing her of this.”

“So she got angry, why? If he just explained to her, I don’t see why she’d get angry. Y/N isn’t that irrational.” Clint frowned.

“See, that’s the issue there, he never explained it to her because he forgot he made such a promise. When he finally got around to going to the library, he continued on as usual with disregard to her and his word. That is what led to the predicament he is in now.”

“So why doesn’t he just go talk to her?”

“He’s tried, she won’t see him.” Thor shrugged, taking another bite of his food.

“Hold up, you want us to believe that our sweet innocent Librarian is holding on to such a petty grudge to this extreme? The math doesn’t add. Something’s missing, I’m calling bullshit.” Tony stood from his seat and walked over to Loki who wanted to simply disappear, but he knew he would have to deal with Steve if he did and there was no library to hideaway in. “What’s really going on between you and Y/N?”

“As my brother just told you, simply that. Prior to our first official encounter, she and I barely conversed. I would go into the library, read, rent a book, return it, and repeat the cycle with minimal to no conversation. I did not recall making a promise to her, and she was upset with me. Likewise, I find it highly unreasonable of her to be avoiding me so intensely that I cannot even get the chance to explain that it was a simple lapse of the mind.” He forced himself to keep an even tone. The last thing he needed was to have them meddle in this matter. “Two days ago I requested a meeting with her through your precious computer voice, and it told me to keep watch of my emails. There has been no response.”

“No response of what?” Steve’s voice cut into the conversation as he took a seat by Tony, who sat across from Loki. The other two Avengers joined them, informing Steve about Loki’s troubles. Thor and Clint each took a seat on either side of the raven haired prince, who expression only grew more sour at the unwanted company and attention to his problem.

This is none of their concern! Do they have nothing else to do aside from giving me a headache? He pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut.

“Well, I’m not surprised she’s not answering. She’s not here right now anyway.” Loki’s eyes snapped wide open, and he leaned in closer to Steve.

“What did you say?”

“That she’s not here? Yeah, Y/N left to set up the new computers and do system training with the other library staff. I’d say she’s been gone for almost two weeks now? If all is going well, she should be back by the end of the week. That’s what she told me, anyway.” The famous captain shrugged and picked up his utensils to start eating. “I can’t say if it’s going smoothly or not, but until she’s back, you’re just going to have to wait.”

That woman is not even here, and I’ve been running around trying to get into that blasted room, but that computer and that damned order have been thwarting my each attempt?! And the audacity to simply leave, without a word to me?! The anger burned hotter in the first giant. “Well, isn’t that something interesting to learn. Thank you, Captain, you truly are the most helpful.” He gave a cordial smile to mask the rage.

“She may not have seen the appointment request until she gets back, maybe you should text her?”

“Neither of us have her number,” Thor spoke up again. “He asked me for it and I suggested he email her, but that would be lost under all the others she has yet to see at this point.”

“I have it,” Steve pulled out his phone and with a few taps had the contact information shared with Loki and Thor. Loki felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and frowned.

Tags: @vbecker10 @huntress-artemiss @softestqueeen @thegodofnotknowing @princess-ofthe-pages @firedrakegirl @rcailleachcola @cabingrlandrandomcrap @lotrefcp @lwtannie @jainaeatsstars @msdjsg7 @tom-hlover @kneelingformyloki @gruftiela @gigglingtiggerv2 @kats72 @mischief2sarawr @evalynanne

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theminecraftbee · 9 months

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[writing found in a floating temple belonging to an unknown player on a distant server. while there were no signs of life in the temple, there were signs of life in the caves below it, including some rusted armor sets, complicated machinery overgrown by birch saplings, and a small robot with a tag on it that read “lil buddy” and a battery clutched in one of its claws. despite all attempts, researchers could not find the portal that is normally found by those players taken in by the vault gods, though given the presence of an altar, it is certainly nearby, and the area has been quarantined until that portal’s location can be ascertained.]

I asked Idona to save me the other day.

It feels fickle; it feels like the sort of thing I only said because that’s what one ought to say to gods, when they want something from them. “Save me, Idona.”

They did no such thing, but I didn’t expect them to. I knew them when they still demanded blood sacrifice; now that they merely demand challengers at their altar instead of anything so obvious as the blood of their enemies, it can be easy to forget how malicious they had once seemed. It’s easy to forget that asking things of them had once ended poorly.

Perhaps that’s the Paradox that they are showing me; I had asked Idona to save me because within that Paradox, they would build a mine. That a blood god now offers mines and blacksmiths to me instead, in a place I can design to access myself—well, it’s easy to forget how I once knew them.

It’s easy to forget how often their challenges killed me once, too, back before I knew the trick to finish them quickly. The Gods had seemed just as cruel and capricious as always when I’d simply failed to find enough of the chests they’d laid out and they punished me by causing my health to steadily fade away.

That rarely happens anymore.

You see, yesterday, I killed a wither with a single hit from my javelin and a single hit from my sword. As I flew home, a nether star clutched in my feelers, I felt very little. It was hardly a challenge compared to the vaults; I don’t know why I’d expected more.

The gods have challenged me; I have risen to that challenge. I sweep through vaults, their minders at the side of my head, until I find their altar to bow at, find their altar to make promises of being the challenger they’re looking for at. I know the tricks to find my way around a vault, after all. I spend more time there than the overworld.

I wonder if I’m becoming arrogant, actually.

Even without my armor or sword, I’m too strong for the endermen I used to accidentally release from my farms. I hit them once and they die; if the punch doesn’t work, a javelin or a cast spell will. With the endermen, it’s fine.

With my parrots or dogs—

I have Lil Buddy now. He can’t die because I’m not meant for the overworld anymore, I don’t think.

I wonder if that, too, is the Paradox. The gods are gifting me unlimited power. I step into a vault I have designed myself, under their guidance, and I pull untold riches from it every time. The gods are gifting me strength, which I can call from an altar at any time. No threat can step near me without either being poisoned or scratched by the strength of my blade.

But I have not had a pet that is not made of metal in—I don’t know how to count days any longer. Time passes strangely inside of vaults. It is Wendarr’s trickery. I simply know I haven’t since I was level 70, and that feels like ages ago.

That’s about when I realized perhaps I am untouchable to that which I want, too.

Maybe I should ask Idona to save me for a reason that was not me, desperately trying to seek out their altar for jewels I hardly need these days; maybe I should ask Idona to save me from sacrificing more than I can give.

I know them, though. I’ve known them since they’ve demanded blood.

They won’t.

And one day, I will give them everything, and I will thank them for it. The one god that even they worship above all others, after all, is greed, and that is an altar I cannot simply stop going to.

#vh talk #vh logs #vault hunters #a bee fic #I was playing vault hunters tonight and DID ACTYALLY SAY ‘save me idona’#and it was a joke but it made me think #so here! some fanfic of my level 95 sona realizing that they are untouchable these days for better or worse.#me realizing that I am currently REALLY USED TO being a late-game rpg player that deals ~150 damage an attack with regularity #me realizing how untouchable that makes me to. anything that can’t punch through 115 armor points and like 300 DPS #late-game vault hunters is wild man.

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the-trash-eating-llama · 9 months

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Hey, I've finished ðe 1st and second chapters of my new book. I'm posting ðem boþ here, as I can't find where I posted ðe first one when I first made it.

I will be tagging ðis post as "llama writes" from now on, for ease of access.

On wiþ ðe reading!

As all things go, it was quiet. The season was autumn, the usual browns and greens of dirt and moss that often blanketed the forest gave way to spectacular oranges yellows and reds. Yes. Reds.

The red of a new flower, the red of a fallen leaf, and the red of painted wood. Nestled in between the exposed roots of trees long since fallen, lay a door, red as a dying sunset, circular in nature, with a shiny brass doorknob, protruding from the bottom of this now horizontal birch tree. How quaint.

And as it were, this was not just any fallen tree, nor just any door. No, this was the house of a woman, and no ordinary woman mind you, as she was possibly the toughest woman to ever dare live, for she harbored a curse. This, is her story.

Once, a very long time ago, the woman was but a boy, who carried water in a bucket for his mother, who needed that water for her bread. The bread was not easy to bake, it could take swaths of time to make one handful, but it was always necessary to have some, for it was never eaten immediately. The bread was used to make pies that could last for weeks.

The boy never understood why his mother would spend so much effort on making bread she never ate, as it was for the boy’s sister, who would bring the meat home. After a long day of hunting, she would carry the meat back home and have her mother put them in the pies, and eat some leftover soup with bread on the side.

The boy on a bright day walked down the dirt road, into the local hunting forest, through the brush, over a small creek of stones, and plopped down on a stump of a recently fallen ash tree, and pondered. He liked pondering, he found, the time he spent on that stump was often his most favorite time awake. Certainly better than carrying heavy buckets of water, he would think to himself.

But eventually, we all tire of the questions we have going unanswered, so after spending some time out there, a kindly tree near his spot would drop a leaf on his head, to tell him to go back home, and so he would. And he would ask his tired mother about his questions on the way of it all, and he would get told he spent too much time questioning the way of things and not enough time submitting to their forces. And then he would ask his wise sister about the general way of it all, and she would simply describe how things worked and what would happen if, but the boy never did find interest in the what will, only the why.

And so, he would find himself walking along those trees the next time he awoke, slumped on his stump, stumped by the general way of things. But this is not where the story ends, merely begins.

For, you see, one day, the winds began to change.

The boy, after a long day of carrying his bucket, he asked his mother why the leaves were a new colour, and his mother, who had not seen the trees that week, looked through the small window in her work house, and right jumped out of her skin. The leaves had changed, but much sooner than she would have hoped.

The mother took a moment to calm herself, for now was the hardest day of her year, autumn. Now, to most, autumn is but sweaters and scarves, but to her home, it was death.

The mother told her boy to get some rest, and take an extra blanket with him, for it would be a long night. The boy had little concept of night, but knew it was the part you slept through. So off he went to bed, wrapped in not only his sleep clothes and soft white fur blanket, but also in a new musk ox blanket handwoven by his sister to keep even the bitterest of frost out.

The boy slept well, but when he awoke, did not find a usual sight. Unlike the often bright window sill he was used to, spilling light all over the interior of his small room, it was dark, as if someone had draped blankets over his window, like his sister would do if the wind started to pick up and throw rocks at their house. The boy never did like those nights.

So the boy thought to himself that perhaps the time he was asleep was long enough to see, or rather miss, the beginning and end of a nasty storm. Reasonable as this conclusion was, when the boy reached out to remove the blanket, he only felt glass, as there was no blanket, and there was no storm.

For the boy had long since understood day, it was time for him to understand night.

With a sudden creak from nearby, the boy was awake, but had yet to see, for the room was blanketed in darkness.

“Hello?” He asked to no one in particular, and much to his chagrin, they answered.

“Greetings fine fellow, how may the night find you?” They boy gasped and tried to sit upright in his covers, but unfortunately could barely even squirm.

“Who are you, and what’s going on!?” Wherever the boy thought the voice could have come from, he certainly did not expect a quite large eagle.

“I am your friend, and you are being attacked.” Spoke the eagle, which was very impressive for such a bird.

“Why can’t I move!?” Cried the boy, trying his best to kick, punch, sit up, or much of anything.

“Now you’re supposed to introduce yourself to me, but I suppose that will have to wait for other circumstances.” Announced the eagle, which then jumped on the bed and turned away from the boy, stopping the boy from seeing what little he could of his room.

“Please, help me!” The boy wailed, but the bird hushed him with what can only be described as a ksssssst before a second entity emerged into the room, this time from the closet instead of the shadows.

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t the fowl.” Grumbled a voice most grumpily.

“Fyrirboði, how did I guess.” The eagle retorted, it was clear to the boy these two had a history, and he was in the middle of it.

“I wouldn’t doubt your tracking skills for a second, although I can tell you lack a partner still.” The grumpy grumbler grumbled, grumbly.

“My private life is no longer of your concern, and your presence here proves your assertion false.” The eagle defended, which puzzled the boy even more, who were these two, and why were they having such an argument in his bedroom?

“Of course, I simply wished to hear it from you, as you never do own up to your own words.” Fyrirboði stated, a statement that implied a long history indeed.

“Now leave Fyrirboði, I have no need to see you ever again.” Croaked the eagle, clearly on the edge of their limit.

“And that is where you are wrong, but I will heed your request, I always do.” And with a sudden decline of tension in the room, Fyrirboði was gone.

“Can I speak now?” The boy asked the bird, who now faced the boy with tears in their eyes.

“Yes you may, but please stay seated.” And as if the boy’s body thawed from ice instantly, he could move once again.

“What was all that, and what is going on!?” The child once again asked of the eagle.

“My name is Gripur, and I can be trusted, now as you can see, you are no longer safe here, and we must move.” Cawed the bird, answering absolutely zero of what the boy just asked.

“Oh, and before I forget,” continued Gripur. “What is it I shall call you?”

“Nemandi, and I need to tell mother about this.” Replied the boy, dazed and confused from the current situation.

“Well, Nemandi, you are the only one currently in this house, so I suggest we leave it before you disappear too.” Gripur described, leaving Nemandi with not only a degree of emotional whiplash, but also a full bucket of worry. At this rate, Nemandi might need a second bucket, or at least two trips.

“Outside, I can do that.” Nemandi agreed, finally.

“Good.” Replied Gripur. “Because we face more than old rivals tonight.”

So, how did you like it? I just finished it, so any criticism I can get would be helpful.

@decoysender @tangerineflavouredduck @mag150cul-de-sac @cannibalcanid @bigmeatpete69420 @illululusion @lovelythenabeana

Ðank you guys for inspiration!

And I will see you soon wiþ my next chapter.

#llama writes #i hope you enjoy #lgbtqia

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lord-squiggletits · 1 month

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I know "numbers of hits and kudos isn't everything" discourse is a common topic, but I actually had an instance of falling for the numbers trap for a second that made me feel really bad about my writing despite the fact that I'm a pretty popular/prolific writer.

I was looking at my individual fic stats and realized that the majority of my fics have 2,000 hits or less, even ones that have been out for a year or more, and especially the ones with rarepairs, less popular characters, or gen fic. My top 5 most popular fics have remained virtually unchanged in the 4 years I've started writing for this fandom. A good 20%+ of my total hits and kudos only come from those top 5 fics.

But the thing is that all of those top 5 fics? Were among the first few fics I ever wrote, which means they've had the longest amount of time to gather stats. One of them was a multichapter fic that took a year and a half to write, during which I would get surges of new hits and kudos every chapter update. The other 4 are fics from the same PWP series of a top fandom ship, meaning that they would get repeated hits over and over again from people rereading the series (mostly composed of easy to read one-shots). And, again, are some of the oldest fics I've written, and one of them is a multichapter fic that would've gotten more hits from being uploaded one chapter at a time as people visited updates one at a time and read along the way.

Idk, it was just a moment that put things in perspective for me that sometimes your most popular fics aren't a matter of quality or people just "not liking" your work, but merely a numbers game with regard to age and the way the hits system works. I also noticed that I was adopting a toxic mindset of treating certain fics as "unpopular" or "not liked" just because they weren't above a certain number of hits (multiple thousands), which is silly because even getting a thousand hits and several tens/dozens of people leaving kudos is a lot.

I think the pitfall of going by numbers on AO3 is basically that you spend your time as an author judging your popularity/quality based on the numbers you DON'T have and expecting all of your works to be equally popular in metrics, which is simply unrealistic due to a number of reasons (time of release, trends in the individual fandom, specific tags/characters/ships that might be more popular than others, multichapter vs oneshot, etc).

Basically just imagine the "holy shit two cakes" meme but inside of your own AO3 profile. "Aw that one fic only has a few hundred hits compared to my other fic that has thousands" versus "oh boy, people accessed/read my work hundreds of times!"

#squiggposting

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kogglyuffs · 5 months

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Dead Plate Ghost!AU lore

no i shall not tag this.. but some of yall may have seen my fics, but probs yall may be confused as for whats goin on n stuff bc the lore was pr vague, but i stablished some more context so yall get a clue of whats happening n stuff (basically, i just added/changed some things so it makes sense)

ok so, the whole conflict on this AU is inspired by a phrase ive heard time ago: "If you don't let go and move on of the deceased, they will never rest in peace"

So Rody is still going throught the duel of losing Manon and can't move on from the things that happened while he was in the bistro, making the souls of Manon and Vincent get dragged down into some sort of limbo where they cannot rest due to Rody's remembrance of them (I know it's not easy to move on from trauma such as the things that happened at the bistro, but it affected Rody at the point where he grew paranoid of his surroundings. The place where the bistro was. The faces he met there. The conversations about the events. Even the jobs he's looking for because he doesn't want to work for crazy maniacs.).

Most part of this story is stablished on Rody's dreams, because the vulnerability of one's mind while theyre asleep leaves more easy access for the spirits to slip in. Though there's parts where we can see how the experience has changed in how he interacts with the rest of the world, due to his depression and paranoia. He still pursuits jobs to survive, but due to his demotivation, he gets fired pretty quickly.

Both Manon and Vincent want Rody to "let them go" so they can be at rest, but both take different methods.

Manon is the first one to enter Rody's dreams, she at first appears as a black silhouette with red marking and a teary eye, but Rody's mind manifests her as a blue, bright spirit, similar to the Manon he used to know. She wants to motivate Rody to move on and create his own purpose in life, but decides to not let him know about her existence as a soul, since that would make his emotional dependence even worse.

Vincent, even in the afterlife, wants to experiment something: If Rody dies, wouldn't that break the shackles once and for all, since there won't be a Rody to grief for both of them? While he doesn't really harm Rody, his mere presence triggers Rody's mind and showcases Vincent's spirit as a very spiteful and hurtful spirit, though Vincent doesn't help much with his approach, since he's clearly still angry at what Rody did to him. (Plus, the constant itchyness he has doesn't help with his mood either)

Rody himself is conflicted both by the thoughts of his mind, and the emotions he carry, he doesn't have enough money to get therapy of sorts (and doesn't pursuit going there since it would mean he has to explain the things that happened at the bistro). He doesn't consider Manon and Vincent's souls as actual people but rather dreams. Both Manon and Vincent don't want Rody to find out the truth because that would make matters worse (Rody's dependance on Manon, Rody's traumatic imagery of Vincent)

aight so thats all i have for no, hope yall have a good read into my goofy ideas!!

#even if i... dont think anyone will see it n stuff #but i like rambling into the void

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vincent-sinclair-deserved-better · 1 year

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Made Of Stone

Words: 505

Content warnings: mentions of animal cruelty, nongraphic mention of injuries

dividers by cafekitsune, support banner by benkeibear

“Careful, watch where you put your feet,” said one of the boys in a hushed voice, struggling to keep his footing. The rain that had started around afternoon had made the rocks slippery and they had been worried they’d have to call off their little trip, but luckily it had stopped before the sun set.

Still, neither the wet stones nor the twilight limiting their vision and giving the world around them a mystical appearance, was too big of an obstacle. It was almost ridiculously easy to get close to the seals resting a couple hundred meters from them.

“Do you have your camera on?” another boy said, receiving a thumbs up from his friend. They had been scouting out the area over the time of their trip, looking for spots that wear easily accessible but close to where the seals usually came, with a fairly free line of sight, and – most importantly – loose stones, maybe some trash other visitors had carelessly tossed out.

“Hey, look, over there,” the first one whispered, pointing towards a small group of seals to the side, “Those are small. Do you think those are babies?”

“Might be,” the one with the camera said, “You wanna go for them?”

“Don’t you think that’s a little too much?” remarked the last one, “They might get seriously injured.”

The other two laughed at that. “So? Since when do you care? That’s kind of the point, isn’t it?”

He shrugged and agreed with a sigh.

Quietly, they inched closer and collected some projectiles, but just as they aimed to throw the first stone, all seals perked up as if on some imperceptible signal and started rushing towards the sea.

“What the fuck?” the first boy called.

“We took too long!” the second one complained.

“I think we should leave, something’s wrong,” the third one urged, a feeling of unease creeping up on him.

When they turned to leave, however, a thick fog had begun to spread, its white tendrils wrapping around the rocky ground like fingers reaching towards the sea. It wasn’t long before they were completely enveloped and basically blind, even the torches of their phones doing little to improve their vision.

The first twisted ankle had been predictable, a scraped knee almost expected, but the open fracture of the lower leg was a shock. They started calling for help, then, cold and blind and injured in the dark, but no one seemed to hear them.

Eventually, it started to rain again, and they decided that they had to do something. So, the third boy, with the merely scraped knee, agreed to try and get help while his friends stayed behind. The faint light of his torch was soon swallowed by the fog as he scrambled over rocks and pebbles in the direction that he hoped civilisation to be in.

The temperatures dropped further, the rain didn’t let up, and a strong wind came in from the sea, causing angry waves to crash against the shore.

The third boy did not return.

taggedy tag-tag: @bluecoolr @ace-of-hearts-and-spades @visceravalentines @rottent33th @the-pinstriped-hood @cyanide-latte @goldrose-star @myers-meadow @devil-doll13 @darklylucid @solmints-messyocdiary

#cylas writes #me? posting something i've written? in this year of our lord 2023?#🦭

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spectraspecs-writes · 7 months

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Manaan - Chapter 125

Link to the masterpost. Chapter 124. Chapter 126.

@averruncusho @ceruleanrainblues @chubbsmomma thank you for reading, you get a tag. @skelelexiunderlord thank you for support, you get a tag.

——–

The disassembly room is the other direction from the Selkath. We took a left to get there, we would have kept going straight to get to the north second of the base. So we backtrack back to where the path diverged and take a left, away from the base entrance.

A door. I don’t like the feel of it. I don’t let Carth or Canderous open it. “There’s a lot of power behind here,” I say, placing my hand on it, “Three Dark Jedi.”

“Don’t tell me you’re nervous,” Canderous says, “Not after you fought Malak.”

“I didn’t exactly win, in case you forgot,” I say, “And I’m not worried about me, I’m worried about you two. They’ll only have to worry about me going head to head, and I can’t fight three at once, which makes it all the easier for them to go after you. I’m not sure your armor can hold up against a lightsaber.”

“Is there any way around?” Carth asks. (Canderous scoffs and rolls his eyes, annoyed I guess at us wanting to avoid a fight. I don’t care if he’s annoyed as long as he doesn’t touch the door.)

I pull out my data pad, look at the base schematic. “… There’s a long way, but there’s a complicated series of pressurized doors in between. Plus there’s no guarantee there won’t be even more Dark Jedi if we went around.”

“I can’t believe you two,” Canderous says, “Especially you, Carth. We both faced greater challenges during the Mandalorian War. And, hells, Rena, you were one of the challenges. And now you both want to turn back to avoid facing a mere three Jedi? You faced more than that on the Leviathan.”

“When - while you were off with everyone else sitting safe and sound on the Hawk? Or when Rena was risking her life fighting Malak alone?” Carth snaps back.

“If it weren’t for me in the ship we would still be there,” Canderous growls, getting in Carth’s face, “We never would have made it out of the hangar if I hadn’t gone ahead and taken care of the guards.”

“Don’t make me laugh - we took out half the Sith on the entire ship; the others could have handled a few troopers in the hangar,” Carth scoffs, “Oh, but you’re right, we never would have gotten out without you.” He rolls his eyes. “No, you ran and took the easy job. Maybe if you hadn’t run from the harder fight, Bastila would still be here and we wouldn’t be in this situation!”

Canderous grabs hold of the fabric around Carth’s neck, teeth gritted. “Do not presume to call me coward when you have not fought my battles!”

“That’s enough!” I hiss at both of them, “We don’t have time for this, and even if we did you two are throwing any attempts at discretion out the window! It’s a wonder the entire base doesn’t know we’re here, let alone the three Dark Jedi on the other side of this door!” Carth avoids my eyes, almost embarrassed, but Canderous huffs and looks away like he’s ignoring me. If you guys want to argue so bad, do it when we’re out of the base, but for now, can we at least pretend to be a united front?”

Carth tugs at his shirt, straightening it. “You’re right, Rena. I’m sorry. We should focus on the problem at hand.”

Canderous says nothing. I don’t expect an apology, frankly. His pride is standing in the way of that. Plus, the only way Carth’s remarks could have struck so deep is if the wound was already open. He’s not innocent here by any stretch - he started the fight in the first place - but it’s definitely not the standard animosity between him and Carth. There’s more than that at play here.

Just like I need them to focus, so do I. How can three Sith be taken out quickly and with minimal injury for us? I could overload a power conduit, but I can’t see any access points here. Yes, we could technically go back to a computer, but every minute we’re here we risk detection and going back to the computer would take precious time. Going around is not the best plan - figuring out those pressurized doors would also take precious time. I wonder… Back on the Leviathan, I was able to figure out Jolee’s stunning trick, and it helped us win that fight fairly quickly. If I can stun even one of these Dark Jedi that will make the fight much easier. They’ll see me the moment I open the door, so I have to do it fast. Focus. One hand hovering over the door panel. “Get behind me,” I say, and they do (Canderous reluctantly.) I reach my other hand out and breathe. Focus. The minute I open the door I need them to be stunned. One… two… Tap the door panel, release the feeling. Two of them are stunned in the middle of turning their heads. The third is not. That’s okay, one is better than three. I jump to the one while Carth and Canderous focus themselves on the stunned two.

The unfrozen one is a master, the others his apprentices. He fights like Master Zhar does, the same movements, the same strength. But then for a moment he gets distracted. Usually, I’d take that moment of folly and gain an edge, but I see the same distraction out of the corner of my eye. Canderous, rather than solely using his blaster rifle, has wretched the lightsaber from one of the apprentices and is using it to attack the apprentice. Unsurprisingly, his form is sloppy and untrained. Lightsabers require different techniques than swords and vibroblades. not only is the weight different, but self-inflicted injuries from lightsabers can be fatal Despite his poor form, the apprentice falls quickly - technique or no, it’s a laser sword, if you can’t defend yourself it does a lot of damage - and Canderous rushes the master with a yell. The sheer force of his rage pushes me aside and catches the master off-guard. If I had come at him with rage, he would have encouraged me to give in to my anger. If I did that for even a second he would have a victory. But a non-Jedi… he isn’t prepared for that. Certainly not one with such brute strength as Canderous has right now. He pushes harder than the master expects, and cuts his head off with a shout.

I’m stunned myself. Why would he have done that? I had this sorted. He could have, would have, gotten himself killed if the master wasn’t so stunned that he couldn’t provide any defense. Canderous deactivates the lightsaber and stands over the corpse. The rage is pouring out of him like a gusher. He’s going to get us all killed if this keeps up! When I finally gather myself, I come up to him and shove him - for a moment he looks like he wants to strike back twice as hard, but he doesn’t. “What the hell was that?”

“You thought you couldn’t handle it, so I did!” he half shouts at me, “What’s your problem?”

“Look, I’m already questioning my capabilities, I don’t need you undermining them, too,” I say, “I said I couldn’t handle three Dark Jedi at once, so don’t put words in my mouth. I had this under control!”

“What does it matter? He’s dead! What does it matter if it was by my hand?”

“It clearly matters to you, otherwise you wouldn’t have cut his head off!” I shout back, “Taking that lightsaber was a stupid move. If you had any understanding of the Jedi you’d know it isn’t just a laser sword - you could have killed yourself! You could have killed me! And good luck freeing Bastila then!”

“I know exactly what it is, and that’s exactly why I took it!” He steps closer, challenging me. To my own surprise, I hold my ground. “I took the bond between him and his vaunted weapon and I used it against him, took the power to kill another. If this were the Mandalorian Wars you would have done the same thing. For all I know - for all you know! - maybe you did! But now? I look at you now…” His voice gets low. He surveys me. Not finishing his thought. Then he sighs. “Forget it.” He tries to step away.

I cut him off. “Say it!”

He meets my eyes, firing darts at me. “You’re not the same person who defeated my people,” he growls, “I could have counted on Revan to fight at my side, but you? Trying to avoid fights? Make them easier? You would have run from this fight if you could have. Revan never would have. Five years ago you bested my people in combat, but now I see fear behind your eyes. You’ve not Revan. Revan would have killed me where I stood. But you couldn’t even stop your own apprentice.”

“That’s enough!” Carth forces himself between us, “Canderous, whatever is going on with you, get ahold of yourself and stop using both of us as your personal punching bags. This is not the time. If you can’t follow Rena then go back to the entrance and wait. Otherwise your fight is with the Sith, not her.” Carth, I do not need you fighting my battles for me! “And you.” He turns to me. “We spent a whole week on Alderaan, a whole week of Master Zhar working with you to keep Revan under control. A whole week to convince you that you’re more than just Darth Revan. Do not let all that time go to waste.”

“What are you talking about? I’m fine!” I say loudly.

“I watched your fingers spark, don’t tell me you’re fine,” he pushes back.

They… they did? I didn’t even feel it. But Carth wouldn’t lie to me, especially not about something like that. If he hadn’t stepped in, I could have killed Canderous. No matter what he did, that doesn’t justify me electrocuting him to death.

Canderous huffs. He was looking for a fight and he’s angry he didn’t get one, but for now I think he’s going to let it go. Whatever is on his mind will come out soon enough, but we have to finish here first. However it happened, these three Dark Jedi are dead, and I doubt Canderous is going to make a habit out of using a lightsaber. It’s not an easy weapon to use.

I consult the map again, to see which of the two doors here goes the right direction. Looks like… the door on the left; the one straight ahead goes to those pressurized doors. Left goes to those droids I deactivated earlier, and the part of the base where the Selkath most likely are. “This way,” I say, and I start ahead. But I don’t feel either man following me, at first. Which is weird - Canderous makes sense, but Carth, too? When I stop and turn around, though, they’re both following me, albeit further back than they would have been if they had been following me from the word go. Whatever. Not important.

#kotor fic #star wars #knights of the old republic #star wars knights of the old republic #oc #rena visz #fem!revan #ls!revan #carth onasi #canderous ordo #manaan #sith base #chapter 125 #death mention tw #death tw #fiction #autistic artist

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maliro-t · 5 months

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Early on in my second BG3 playthrough, I had my pocket picked by Silfy at the Emerald Grove, and when Mol returned my things, they came in the following container:

Pickpocket's Bag: "A warning is embroidered in shaky letters on the inside flap- 'HANDS OFF'."

There was a lovely bit of irony to this whole affair, given that my Tav was an urchin that grew up on the streets of the city running similar cons, and keeping similar stashes. He was endeared by them (and by the bag), and I'm overly sentimental, so I started collecting items that I thought would have stood out to him in this sack, something I added to through the end of the game. Just trinkets and letters; the kinds of things that didn't feel right to just sell or lose in an overfull chest. Little bits of other people's lives that he wanted to remember.

So, to give myself something to look back on, the following is an account of its contents by the end (excluding some utility items I kept in there for easy access), and some musings on each.

Kanon's Handkerchief: "Its owner frequently insisted he didn't need this hand-cut linen square, but his sister kept it to hand in case his allergies kicked up."

Found on the body of the tiefling Arka, on an overlook between Moonhaven and the goblin camp. He thoughtlessly encouraged her push for revenge. He wished he had told her to live instead.

Mirkon's Story: "Mirkon's present to you, describing how you saved him from the harpies, and how he thinks you were 'ammazeing'."

Once, there was a boy on a beech. he saw there was a harpie nest. He was a very good climer. he wantet to clime to the top and steel from the harpie nest. But the harpie was very mean. She sang a song and the boy forgot wat he was doing. But then an adventurer passed by. The adventurer was very strong and killed the harpie in one blow and safed the boy. The boy was very cold and scared. He was standing in the water so he was very cold. But the adventurer was ammazeing. The boy wanted to be like the adventurer. He wanted to be strong and safe peopple and never be scared egain. Just like the adventurer. THE END

A little scrap of someone else's wonder. Nothing else like it.

Brass locket: "Slightly tarnished and opened with a mere flick of the thumb."

Found on the body of one of Aradin's crew; an adventurer that died at the gate to the grove. It seemed important somehow.

Dog Collar: "An old, leather collar for a large dog. The name 'Myrna' is engraved on the tag, surrounded by a plethora of indecipherable runes."

Someone's still thinking of her, all the way down there.

Guiding Light: "Used by the previous owner to access both the Underdark's darkest corners and her own basement, this ring seems to reflect light where there should be none."

Torn-Out Paper: "A torn strip of paper with two lines of barley legible script."

[The writing on this torn-out strip of paper is shaky and blotted with tears, making it barely legible.] The silence stretches on- I'm all alone. Please, can hold your hands, for just a while?

Patched Parchment: "A small poem about love and loss inscribed in this torn paper."

[The paper is torn and patched in many places, as if it was well-used but treasured. On it is a small poem without a name.] These empty sheets are all that's left of you. The last of all the thoughtless gifts you gave. I will hold onto them; it's all that I can do. I can't throw them away; I've never been that brave.

Vestiges of Lenore. He never had a handle on pretty words like this. The arcane tower was striking, even as someone with little knowledge of or interest in magic. Sometimes you enter a place and can sense the fingerprints of the people who lived there all over it, take in their joy and their pain and their loss as if it were your own, and leave feeling like you've lost a friend even though you never met them.

Sending Shell: "Faint whispers creep from this Sending Shell when you hold it close, yet the method of sending messages from it is unclear."

Purchased from Mattis at Last Light Inn. You can't knock the kid's hustle in even the darkest of times. And besides, this thing has got to work eventually, right? It's pretty, if nothing else.

Stuffed Bear: "This bear- oft torn and repaired- seems one good squeeze away from crumbling into mouldered stuffing and threadbare patchwork."

Found abandoned on the road through the Shadow-Cursed Lands amongst other belongings likely left by refugees. He's sure someone is missing it. He tries hard not to think about the shadow vestiges.

True Love's Caress: "The most pragmatic and courageous lover ever known was, of course, Sorcha MacTire, for whom the popular hairstyle is named, and for whom many an extremely sappy poem has been written (most of them comparing her to geography)."

One of a magical pair of rings connected by a warding bond, the other of which he never found. He's a romantic at heart, in his own way. The idea of it was sweet, anyways.

Barnabus' Collar: "Necklace the Gnoll Master gave Barnabus when she first met him."

He watched this creature tear itself apart, unable to fulfill its master's saccharine-voiced requests. Even a monster deserved better than to be twisted like that. It mattered that it had a name, even if it was given by her.

One Becomes Many: "This book is redolent with the enticing smell of paper and ink."

In each of us is more than what we are; Parts and multitudes that form our thoughts, desires, nature itself. Manifold are the creatures inside you- and what you can become when you speak my words is all your parts made manifest. Your weakness can become strength if it is made legion: quaking hearts can find courage in their numbers, the lowliest vermin can humble a goliath if they stand as an army, and a ruin can become a kingdom for one soul made many. Speak Itori mustag thrice. Become your finest self- all of them Raphael.

Perhaps he kept this one as a warning of what becomes of dealing with devils. Or, on the other hand, out of enticement. But maybe there was just something about a man so desperate to live that he split himself into a hoard of vermin- left to be the final wretched survivors worshiping at the ruined altar of spiteful god- that felt worth mourning.

Crumpled Note: "A plain, unadorned note."

Papa, I love you. LOVE FROM IZ

How quickly we lose things, he thinks, carefully folding one more note into a side pocket. How desperate we are to remember them as they were.

Arfur's Private Musings: "This book is redolent with the enticing smell of paper and ink."

[An unfinished love story, handwritten by Arfur Gregorio, whose name is attached to the bottom of every page.] Her ample bosoms fluttered like doves' fingers, brushing against his nails. The very ends of his moustache stood to attention as the fire stirred behind his eyes. No doubt this was love. Love, ah love! The stuff that dreams are made of. It made him sweat to think of it- the graceful, enduring, blossoming magnitude of what it all, the priceless, breathlesss, weightless, sheer romping joy of it..."

Sometimes you intimidate a 'philanthropist' into surrendering his house to squatting refugees, discover his involvement in an elaborate plot to kill a bunch of kids, scare him into skipping town, go through all of his shit, and keep his half-written smut as a hilarious trophy to fondly remember him by. You know. That universal experience that everyone has.

Guild Ring: "Calishite emeralds are embedded in this heavy silver ring"

A souvenir from past and present.

Inklings: "This book is redolent with the enticing smell of paper and ink."

[This novel is bookmarked on a page lined with markings; its reader seems to have underscored certain parts for emphasis] After all, there's no point in denying the undeniable, which, until that moment, I had obscured with the million minor tasks by which I measured my life. Yes, the polishing, the scrubbing, the pouring of wine and tea and deference into my master's cup- all of it had surrounded and obscured the essential truth of my life, like a phalanx now fallen. I had wasted my years, one by one, and now there were hardly any left to me at all.

Garlow's Retirement Plan: "This book is redolent with the enticing smell of paper and ink."

List of Things To Do: -Climb a tree -Have a truly exceptional sandwich -Spend a whole day reading -Visit Waterdeep -Get a massage -Swim in the Chionthar -Buy a new coat -Get a cat

Vestiges of Garlow. Reminders to live life and live it joyfully. To always notice how beautiful the sunset is, even when he sees it every night. To never take the gentle warmth of the sun on his skin for granted. Wherever that old man ended up, he hopes that he never stopped seeing how precious it all was. The clock won't stop, and this is what we get.

Dear Ansur: "A plain unadorned note."

Dear Ansur, I've said it a thousand times and I'll say it again- there is no cure, and that's all right. I'm fine, more than fine, I'm better than I've ever been. So why torture yourself like this? Of course, I know why. Remember Yal Tengril? You and I sailed together for months, seeking the Great Spire. By the time we found it, we were sick as dogs. But you never left my side, not for a moment, even though you could have simply chosen to fly. You told me there was something about experiencing it with me- through my eyes- you wanted to share in my passion for the adventure. It was, you said, a privilege. The truth is, the privilege was mine. You are the greatest thing that ever happened to me Ansur. I never had to ask you for anything, but I'm asking you now to stop. I may no longer feel my feelings, but I know yours, and yours are agony. It doesn't have to be this way. Be free, Ansur, Fly. And know that even if I'm not beside you, I will always have been your Balduran.

He's not better than he's ever been. He's sure of it. What would it be like, he wonders, to try to impress upon someone the profundity of a love he could only remember once feeling?

Yet here, the Emperor begs not just for its own life, but for Ansur's. Of course, that didn't matter in the end. But there's something about this that feels more real than the carefully presented facade he sees most often from it. There is an incurable humanity in the way it believes unfalteringly that it is right.

#alternate title: what's in my bag (cian's version)#alternate alternate title: a bunch of shit i found mostly on the ground that made me very emotional #the old garlow notes make me tear up for real. i hope the person who wrote them knows that they are appreciated.#and honestly so does dear ansur. woof #oh also the guild ring thing is related to like. the whole backstory for this man that exists in my head which i still think i'm too #self-conscious to trot out. but u know.#it speaks #buzzin #bg3

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a-crash-in-time-collection · 1 month

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Chapter 59: One Last Look Before The End

The repairs had been going well... Really well. Sure having magic on their side was always going to speed it up but, it felt like years of work were being finished in just a week, or even a mere few days. They had gotten a lot done throughout the months they had been on this planet, but for the first time, the station actually looked like it could work again. They even got the artificial gravity working again, so now the entire station was free at any time, no more dealing with the unbalancing or not having access to some rooms.

Though the solar panels still needed work, they along with a lot of the functions to actually get the rocket off the ground. Not to mention figuring out the fuel needed to launch them off. But on a planet filled with magic, it shouldn't be hard to find some substitute. Sven looked the most relieved he had been all year in the meeting going over all this. Sure it was going to take awhile, but they may actually be able to get back home before they spent a year on this planet. Maybe even before Spring came if they push hard enough. And surely the government wouldn't try again once they returned from the impossible.

There were still some issues that needed to be settled that didn't directly involve the station. Randy, oddly enough, being one of the biggest ones. He was part of a legend that belonged to this planet, but he was also a part of the clan. Was it right for him to come with them, or to stay? It was something they tried not to think about at first but it was clear it would be a bigger issue. Reginald had been thinking of a way to return in the future, but there was no promise it would work...

Another issue was Hat Girl, who had stumbled by the meeting room half way through it and started listening in. She found herself... quiet as she rested against the wall by the door, Rumbi beeping a bit by her side. She knew it was going to happen eventually. Leaving this planet again. She knew that since the day she first got here. She knew that for what felt like forever now. That all good things had to come to an end at some point, including her time here on this planet, with everyone...

So why was she suddenly so unwilling to accept it inside? It didn't make any sense. She was almost tearing up at the thought. She had to pick up Rumbi and rest him in her lap so she could take part of her mind off it. They all moved on without her before, and she thought she moved on from them. She should be able to again... Why was it so easy for her younger self to just leave without a trace? She couldn't take them all with her, and she couldn't just stay with them, she was the next in line after all...

"Hattie?" She blinked a few tears out of her eyes. She didn't even realize the door to the room had opened. They must have finished. She glanced at Reginald as she stood up, the man giving her a concerned look as he beckoned her over to the corner of the hall where it was a little more private. She headed over with him, Right staying by the door to the room as the others left, but kept his eyes on the two. "What's wrong? You look like you were crying. Did something happen while we were in the meeting.."

"No.. It's kinda silly." She said, forcing out a sad chuckle as she bent down to place Rumbi back on the floor, the robot having whined a bit while being carried. "I knew we were going to leave soon, but now that we're getting close to..."

"I think we're all going to miss them, Hattie." Reginald said, placing a hand on her shoulder. Hat Girl looked at him. She couldn't tell if he actually meant it, or if he was just saying it so she wouldn't feel alone. Most of the clan tried to stick to just themselves during the whole event, avoid forming connections to people here. And while her father did tag along on certain misadventures involving those here, he did try to stick close to the clan. "They're all wonderful people, and you knew them before."

"I just…don't know if I can say goodbye again. After everything..." She sighed as she glanced to the side. There was a faint spot in the wall where a crack used to be. She used to be able to peek out it during rainy days here. It was almost scary how quick things were changing now, and there was nothing she could really do. Not that trying to sabotage the process would do anything in the long run. "I'm scared I might forget them, forget the places. I forgot my biological family for years, who's to say I won't forget everyone here in four years time?"

"Just because you haven't gone on some grand adventure this time doesn't mean the memories you made are going to fade." Reginald claimed. And maybe he was right. He seemed to be about a lot of things. But who's to say what the future holds? No one, really. Even if she had a timepiece, she couldn't smash it to see her future, it only allowed you to go back. And alter things, like Mustache Girl did so long ago. "I know you're sad, dear, it's ok to be. This place is close to you after all."

"Know for a fact it's goin' to take years to get Snatcher's voice out of my 'ead." Right commented from nearby once everyone inside the meeting room had left, walking a bit closer to the two of them. Hat Girl chuckled and shook her head, Snatcher did have a voice that stuck out in one's memory. Although if you asked her, Macbeth would have the hardest time due to the spell. Right gave a hum. "Reg, don't we 'ave to go to Alpine again tomorrow? For t'e next bit of metal we need?"

"Yes, but we just talked about that during the meeting." Reginald said as he looked over. "I don't see why you're.." He paused as Right gestured his head to where Hat Girl was. Reginald looked at her, and seemed to put the pieces together. She blinked a little, confused before Reginald let his hand drop from her shoulder, gesturing to Right and then himself as he looked at her. "Why don't you come with us tomorrow, and if we have time, you can head around the planet a bit?"

"Really?" She asked, getting a nod from Reginald. Right let out a tiny sigh in the background, but she paid no mind to him. She gained a smile as she glanced down at Rumbi, who was just looking up at her before beginning to wander the hall looking for dirt. She couldn't let him come, to much of a risk it seemed. But he did give her an idea as she turned back to Reginald. "Can we have Platinum come too? He made some friends while here too, I'm sure he'll want to come say goodbye."

"T'e bot is goin' to drag us into a mess, isn't he?" Right asked, earning a shrug from the girl.

"Give our boy a break, he's been good lately." Reginald said before he looked at Hat Girl. "Why don't you get things ready for tomorrow. I have a feeling it's going to be a long day." Hat Girl nodded as she left, thinking about it. It was bittersweet. She still didn't want to say goodbye, especially since they weren't leaving right this second. But at the same time, doing it now would save her the pain of gathering everyone just to say goodbye. Or worse, not getting the chance at all...

Right sighed as he watched, before pausing as he heard a tap from the ground, looking down to see Rumbi bumping into his legs. "S'e went t'at way." Right pointed as he stepped out of the rumba's vision, who darted down the hallway with a jump. He shook his head and turned to Reginald, who was heading to a room nearby. He followed him, turning on the lights as they stepped in. "Are ya goin' to tell 'er about t'is?" He asked as he looked at the two, large circle machines on the ground.

"Not until I get it to work." Reginald said as he grabbed a screwdriver, opening a plate on the device. "And we won't know if it will until we get back."

"Do ya even know 'ow yer goin' to power it?" Right asked as he sat in a chair, resting his hands in his lap. He knew Reginald had been working on something for awhile, he woke up some nights to find the man gone from their bed. Reginald only showed him recently. How he was working on a device with some of Snatcher's magic input. One that, in theory, would be able to teleport whoever stood on it to the other’s direction in one piece. Even if they were galaxies apart. "We 'ave this tech on our planet, but no one could ever master it to this extreme."

"That's why I'm not telling her until I'm sure it can do so, I don't want to get her hopes up." Reginald sighed as he wiped his brow. "And to answer your question, Snatcher says it would take a lot of magic for it to run. More magic than most creatures hold." He signed as he got back to work. "Which means if I want this to work, I need to have it be as energized as possible, so it can run on less. It has to work, for her mental state... She can't be hurt again..."

-------

They ended up leaving earlier than planned that morning to try and get to Alpine as soon as possible. Going to every spot Hat Girl wanted to go see was going to be tight as it was, they were expecting it to be past midnight when they got back, even with using a newly repaired vehicle to do a lot of the heavy lifting. If they were going to have a realistic chance, they needed to be out as soon as possible. Even if it would mean they would end up being tired most of the day. It was something for future them to worry about.

Alpine Skyline had a lot less snow than Hat Girl expected. She thought it would have been covered since it was mountains up in the clouds but no. It had less than the forest. Then again, she supposed it was past a lot of the clouds that would have given off the snow... She would have loved to race around the whole skyline, but she and Platinum were told to just stick to the main one. They were told to go free looking around it, as long as they stayed away from the edges.

She was at least able to get a good look at the peaks using some of the telescopes that were dotted about. She began to wonder what she could have gotten up to if she could visit them again.

She suddenly felt a race behind them. "Oh hello you two!" A voice rang, Hat Girl holding onto her hat as she looked over at the cat, smiling. Adalyn rested on the fence nearby. She only had a winter jacket on over her fur, as well as boots to protect her feet from the cold. She did have fur to protect her from most of the cold, Hat Girl assumed. She tilted her head as she noticed them looking at the peak. "Hey, we could sneak away to get a better look at it, if you want." She said.

"We don't have time today." Platinum said with a sigh. "Sadly." He added, making the Cat tilt her head.

"Our station is getting close to being done.. We could be gone by spring." Hat Girl said, giving a small smile. Adalyn seemed to pause, but gave a small nod once she seemed to have thought it over. She had been to the station a few times, she had seen the prograss. Hat Girl looked over at the peaks again. It would be fun to sneak away, but like Platinum said, they just didn't have time. "We wanted to try and see places again. Before we leave for good... And say goodbye in case we don't get another chance.:

"Dang.." She gave a small smile as she got off the fence. "Well, at least I got the chance to know you while you were here this time around. Even if it wasn't too much."

"Hey, you helped us during the metro situation." Platinum said as Hat Girl glanced to the side slightly. "Don't undersell yourself." Adalyn rolled her eyes at that comment. Then she began to walk, gesturing for the two to follow her. She began to lead them higher up the mountain top they were on so they could get a better view. Platinum was in awe. He hadn't seen sights like this in awhile. "Man... you're trying to make us miss this planet more, aren't you?" He asked as he rose a brow.

Adalyn gave a shrug as Hat Girl giggled. "Well, thanks either way. It is nice to see this." She said as she began to look around all the skyline. She gave a tiny chuckle. She had no idea how her younger self had been able to race around all these peaks without a care in the world. "Almost odd to believe this place used to be covered by sickness." She said as Platinum looked at her confused.

"Man, have I still not learn about all you did here? Or did I just forget?" Platinum asked as he looked at her. Hat Girl shrugged. She didn't remember. No point wasting time trying to remember a specific detail like that. Platinum shrugged a bit, deciding it was something not to worry about. After all, he could always ask her later if he was really curious. He leaned against the wall and glanced over. "This is a nice place to stay..." he suddenly looked like he was holding in a laugh, making Hat Girl tilt her head.

A head that soon lacked the feeling of a hat on it. "Whoops." Adalyn said, before she went invisible. Hat Girl glanced at where her voice was, before she quickly grabbed her umbrella. She looked down to see footprints in the snow.

Hat Girl turned to Platinum as he began to laugh. "Help me find her, or I'm going to add more sensory to your blush function." She said with a small smirk as she pointed her umbrella at him. Platinum's voice box cut out after she said that, returning with a mumble as he walked over and they began to follow the footprints in the snow, Hat Girl keeping ears open for any sounds Adalyn made. "You know you can't do this for long, we do need to get going once Dad and Papa are done."

"Come on out so I can get back to laughing!" Platinum called as he looked around, pausing as he thought he heard something. He turned to Hat Girl and gave a quick 'shush', before walking over to a small bench nearby. The bench had a bell tied to it. It chiming softly as if something just kept barely hitting it. He reached for the air and felt himself get ahold of the hat, before it slipped from his grip. "Come on!" He shouted as he jumped to try and grab the cat, only to fall face first onto the floor, Hat Girl bursting into laughter.

"Oh, it's been a good while since something like that happened." She said as she headed forward, following the new track of footprints in the show until it ended near some buildings. She began to hum as she walked around, her ears wide open. She eventually heard the faintest snicker from behind her, and quickly turned around and grabbed Adalyn's arm with one hand and her stolen hat with another. "Ha!" She said as she placed it back on her hat, giving a small smirk. "You can't keep me from it forever."

Adalyn gave a small chuckle as she shook her head. "It appears I cannot. Oh, but just you wait. One of these days I might be known as the quickest thief in the galaxy." She hummed before giving a shrug. "Or the sneakiest. Whichever suits me better." They earned a small chuckle from the two of them as she rested against a post. She then paused as she turned her head to the side. "I think I hear your parents coming over. Guess it's about time for you to go." She said as she began to leave.

"Adalyn." Hat Girl called. "Be safe, alright?" She said, getting a nod before the cat disappeared from view.

Right turned the corner and looked at them. "Were ya two talkin' to someone?" He asked, Hat Girl turning and giving a nod in response. Right took a quick scan around but didn't see anyone. He glanced at Reginald as he came beside him, then gestured for Hat Girl and Platinum to head back to the lift. "We've already got everyt'in' loaded up. We need to get down and get it in the truck." Right pause as Reginald gave him an odd look. "Look, I don't know every vehicle type by name."

"It doesn't even look remotely like a truck... does it?" Reginald asked as he turned to the kids. Platinum and Hat Girl both shrug. It looked like a mix of a truck and a van. It honestly looked like a frankenstein monster of car parts when you look at it from certain angels. Reginald sighed and just gestured for them to follow them again, locking eyes with Hat Girl. "Have you decided where you want to go next?" He asked.

She nodded. "The harbor. We only got to see the seals and captain once. Plus, they'd like to know how Hydartic is."

Right rolled his eyes at the mention of the electrical being's name. He swore he kept trying to mess with anything he owned specifically. Why couldn't he just be calm like the rest of the Moonjumper pieces?

Regardless, they all headed to the lift and started heading down. Hat Girl watching as Alpine faded more and more from view. She reached for it for a moment, watching until it could be hidden comptelly behind her hand. The human or, alien, eye really was something, wasn't it?

-------

There was a lot more snow at the harbor, Right had to set something on fire for a moment before they got near the ship just so they could all warm themselves up. Luckily he had prepared something in advance, but it was still a bit annoying for him. But, it's for Hattie. She smiled once they were free to head closer to the ship. She could see Seals bringing in boxes and faintly see some cleaning windows inside. They must be getting ready for another cruise trip soon. Good thing they came when they did. Who knows if she would have gotten another chance.

She saw the Captain near the walkway onto the ship, marking something down on the checklist while mumbling under his breath. He kept glancing at a TV set that had been placed nearby, as if expecting it to come to life at any moment. Platinum began to try and sneak up, but Right garbed his shoulder and shook his head. Platinum stuck his tongue out in response but listened. Hat Girl smiled as she walked over to where the captain was, making a quick salute once she got there. It took a minute for him to notice her, raising a brow once he did.

"Pup? What brings you and your family out here? Did Hydartic make you come?" He asked, getting a small head shake from her as she lowered her arm, Platinum going over to the edge to watch the seals. The Captain gave a small nod as he took his cigarette out from his mouth and stuffed it out before letting it rest on a box. Someone else could clean it off later. "Is he alright?" He got another nod of confirmation and he sighed. "Good... It's been too quiet since he left for that trip."

"Oh, trust me, ya aren't missin' anythin'." Right Hand Man said as he rolled his eyes as he looked up, as if trying to find something to amuse himself.

"It must be the best time of the year for all you guys, huh?" Platinum asked as he looked back with a smile. The Captain just gave a tired sign as he looked over at Hat Girl, who was looking up at the ship, then at the water past it. She hummed in what felt like a nostalgistic tone, making the Captain raise a brow as he turned back to the others, Platinum getting up. "Our station is close to finishing. We'll be gone by spring, probably. We just wanted to come by and look around while we had time."

"...You know. It did just hit me how weird it is this whole planet has one season at a time." Reginald commented aloud, earning some quick chuckles from Platinum and Hat Girl. The Captain just blinked as he tried to keep an eye on the seals as they gathered more boxes they needed to carry in. Reginald looked over at Hat Girl who just have a simple shrug as he shook his head. "On our planet, usually two seasons exist at the same time, just in different places. Winter at one place and summer in another... That must sound confusing to you."

"I can see why." Hat Girl stated as she chuckled a little, sighing as she thought back to the day she raced around the ship. Looking back, she wondered if Hydartic was there during the original cruise. She could always swear she saw something on the glitching TVs... her train of thought was cut off by a sudden crash, turning over to see the Seals by a box with a lot of gears and parts spread over the ground by them, one rubbing their head. "Oh no, are you all ok?" She asked as she came over.

"It's not that hard to imagine." The Captain said before he turned his attention back to Hat Girl. "Well, just promise us all you'll be careful when you leave. Don't want to get stuck on another planet." Hat Girl gave a nod to his claim as he turned his attention back to the TV, giving a hum for a moment as he glanced up at some clouds nearby, then back to

her. "Also, make sure Hydartic gets back before you do leave. I don't want to risk losing him for good. The seals like him too much."

"Miss!" One gasped as she looked over at her, before turning her attention back to the parts, trying to pick one near her up. "Oh, we swipped on a cuwp someone had waid ouwt. Suwch a mess..."

"Here, let me help." Like old times, she added quietly. It was an odd thought, she only did it twice. She began to pick up the gears for the seals, especially the heavier ones. Sometimes she forgot her own strength as she carried a good pile back to the box, some other seals gathering small pieces and placing them in. She caught Platinum trying to make a pile of his own in the corner of her eye, turning to him. "Are you trying to set up some sort of competition again, brother? You know you'll lose."

"Well it's not fair you're the one who always... I forget where I was going with that sentence." Platinum blanked and Hat Girl giggled. Still, he tried to quickly grab pieces before she could to build the pile in his hands before he would drop it in the box. Hat Girl let him, just making sure to grab any that slip from his grip wherever they happened to pass by each other. "Wait, hey-!" Platinum called once he caught her, giving a glare. "That was in my pile, give it back to me."

"Isn't it stiww going in the box eithew way?" One of the seals asked, and Platinum sighed and gave a nod. He had his recording feature going silently as he placed some pieces back in the box. "Thank u, miss and siw!"

Platinum placed a hand to his chest. "It's too cute, I'm not going to be able to take it. Still can't believe they speak OwO seriously." Platinum claimed as Hat Girl held in a giggle. The seals glanced at each other slightly confused as she went ahead and got the last little bits in a box, helping some Seals get it to the pathway before she trusted them to take it the rest of the way. "Why is it this stuff that messes with my heart? I'm programmed to deal with cuteness, I'm going to experience an overload."

"I programmed you to handle it, I didn't program you to be immune to it." Reginald chuckled as the two started to head back over. Hat Girl took a chance to look up as some of the clouds parted in the sky, allowing her to see the sun. It was already high, near the top of the sky. She paused, a bit of worry filling her. Did they already spend that much time out? Reginald seemed to notice her worried look. "We should probably get going if you wish to see more. Although, everything else is close to the station."

"Not close enoug' some days." Right sighed as he rubbed his eyes. "Swear t'at desert takes a year to even fly across."

"It's attached to the same piece of land Subcon and the clearing is in. So it would probably be best if we saved it for last." Hat Girl said as she thought about her choices. They already agreed that since Subcon was right by where the toppats were, there wasn't a need to go to it today since they would have many chances in the following days alone. She gave a nod as she came to her destination. "Let's head to Mafia Town then. I don't think we've seen Mu since Winter has started."

"I hope she's alright." Reginald stated as the red hooded girl came to mind. He didn't like to speak, or even think much about her. But he felt so bad. The girl barely got to live her childhood, a protector of a town who didn't want one. He honestly thought it would be better if she just left, but he knew she had nowhere to go too... On this planet at least... He shook his head and looked at Hat Girl. "Well, let's get going then, the sooner we get there the better."

She nodded, and gave a quick wave to the Captain and the seals. "Be careful out there, Pup."

"Have a nice twip home, miss!" One of the seals called as they began to walk away. Platinum stopped recording and let out a small 'aww', earning a quiet chuckle.

Hat Girl glanced at the snow on the ground nearby, and then she paused mentally. She hadn't really thought about Mu much. She just was focused on her own things. It was funny, outside of Snatcher she was probably the person she saw the most on this planet, but now they hadn't even talked in awhile... Did her cave provide her enough shelter to deal with the cold of winter?

-------

Something felt off, almost wrong as they roamed the streets of Mafia Town. Right was on high alert, keeping an eye locked onto every Mafia Goon they passed. There was nothing wrong. They didn't even see the Mafia doing anything wrong. Nothing even crime worthy. It seemed peaceful. The place even looked pretty with the faint hits of snow dotted about. So why were all four of them filled with the feeling something was off? They tried to joke and laugh it off, but nothing seemed to work...

They got around the beach line, the snow fading with only a few hints dotted about. It was then they heard what sounded like conflict. Hat Girl could tell just by listing where it was coming from. She dashed in the direction, and she didn't have to dash long before she saw Mu tossed to the ground, coughing as she tried to stand up, a group of Mafia Goons and their boss nearby, the Boss letting out a laugh of joy. It was the first time he ever sounded evil, truly evil. Mu seemed to be in pain.

Hat Girl raced over to help Mu onto her feet. She paused when she saw Mu's black eye, and the blood that poured faintly from her mouth. Her hands were as cold as ice. Hat Girl glared at the boss.

"Girl with the hat?!" Mafia Boss growled as soon as he noticed her. She pulled Mu closer to her as he floated over. "Why are you here? This is no time for you!" She ignored his stare, instead looking at the Mafia Goons that were by Mu's cave. All seemed to have a hint of guilt in their eyes. She couldn't tell if it was genuine, or if it was just because she caught them in the act. "I am doing what I should have long ago, getting rid of Red Hooded Girl. And you believe it is your-"

"Excuse me?!" Reginald came between the two suddenly, Right getting behind him. Mu coughed a bit as she looked at them all, then brought the timepiece she held closer to her. She looked half tempted to smash it, but at the same time, she seemed to know it would do no good. "This girl has next to nothing already." Reginald stated as he gestured to her, keeping his eyes locked onto the jar. "And you want to throw her out of the only shelter she had, during Winter of all times?!"

"You can go." Mu managed to mumble out as she glanced over at him. "I can handle this myself, I always do. He'll forget in the morning anyway.."

"HUSH!" Mafia Boss shouted as her. She barely flinched. He turned his attention back to Reginald. "Red Hooded Girl has been nothing but a pest to this town. Even those from before Mafia came hate her. Girl needs to get lost!" Hat Girl pause as she remember those words. Once upon a time it was just to get her out of the position of power she had gotten herself into... She held Mu's hand. "Two hatted man claims to be a man of crime as well. Surely he must understands why this must be done."

"Just because I'm a criminal doesn't mean I'm a monster!" Reginald said. He step forward and Right garbed his arm, kept him in a safe distance. "Sure, I may have thought similarly once. All about myself and the grand picture of the clan. But that ended up hurting myself and my family. I learnt to get off my ego, my high horse, and I'd suggest you do the same." He glared as he began to back away, keeping his eyes locked with the jar. "And at least I've never taken a home away."

"Don't follow us." Right warned as he got in front of Reginald, Reginald gesturing to the teens to follow him. Hat Girl and Platinum did with no issue. Mu tried to pull herself from Hat Girl's grasp at first, mumbling about showing them. But she didn't. They ended up heading back to the vehicle, now in some type of water mode. Reginald really needed to find who made this.. he shook his head clear as he grabbed a first aid kit and looked at Mu. "Can you stay at Cooking Cat's for the time?" he asked.

"Cooking Cat isn't here right now. On a trip somewhere for…something. I don't remember." Mu sighed as she looked at Hat Girl. "Sorry you can't see her." Hat Girl glanced to the side. She did want to stop by and speak to her but, that wasn't the focus now. Mu took an icepack to her eyes as Reginald began to bandage some wounds he had spotted around her body. "They just got the jump on me, that's all. Would have noticed quicker but I was focused on my fire. It wasn't burning."

"Mu, you should stay, let us help." Hat Girl said as she looked back in the direction she came. "I can put up a good fight."

"No. You've done more than enough as it is. I-I'm the hero of Mafia town. It's my job to deal with these things.." She tried putting on a smirk, but it just fell flat. Platinum was pacing back and forth on the doc, trying to calculate why she would keep all this up in his head. Hat Girl just gave a sadden look at her as she looked at her timepiece, placing it to her side. "It's all I've ever been. The lone hero. The one who fights for the justice of this place. To return it to its former glory."

"Mu, listen." Right said as he looked at her. She gave him a slight glare, she didn't want to take orders. But she didn't feel like she had a choice. "If t'e people before t'e Mafia really wanted c'ange, t'e least t'ey would 'ave done is taken care of you. Not leave ya alone in a cave for over a decade."

"You don't understand." Mu started, before sighing. Maybe to some extent, he was right. She didn't want to admit it. But maybe he had a point. It's just, there were so many Mafia's... And only she had been fighting them... What if something bad happened and she didn't have a chance to save them... Maybe she needed a small break. Just a small one. One night at most. "Can I... stay with you all, just for tonight? So I can rest?" She asked. Even if she hated how those words came from her mouth.

"Of course." Reginald spoke without question.

"We probably should be heading back now. We can probably make time to visit the birds later." Platinum said. Mu glanced over as she tilted her head, Reginald leading her to a more comfortable spot to rest. Platinum hopped back into the ship, looking at Hat Girl who nodded at his statement. He sighed as he rested in the corner, then looked up as he noticed Mu's confused look. "Oh, the station is going to be repaired by Spring, so we were making sure we got to see everything again, at least one more time."

"Oh, well, don't let me stop you. I'm just the guest." Mu said as she looked over at Hat Girl. "It could be the last chance you all ever get. I don't want to ruin that."

"Are you sure?" Hat Girl asked as she looked at Mu, who nodded. Hat Girl gave an unsure look to her fathers, who glanced at each other before looking back to her. It was clear they all didn't think it was the best idea, but at the same time, they didn't want Mu to feel bad over a change of plan that wouldn't hurt anyone. Besides, with the vehicle, it wouldn't take that much extra time. "Well, I suppose we could at least stop by for a quick chat. If they are there to chat with."

"I'll go ahead and make sure the engines working." Platinum said as he went to the back of the ship-car thing. "Seriously, who made this thing? It's like they were trying to recreate a superhero vehicle." Hat Girl let out a tiny chuckle at that, Mu giving a small smile as she rolled her eyes. Platinum smiled at that. It made him feel better. "Maybe we can track them down together, if you're interested."

Mu gave a small shrug as Hat Girl looked back over at Mafia town as they started to leave. It was still pretty... despite the pain it clearly caused. She just wished the Mafia could treat her friend well. She knew Mu rewrote history once, but it never would have happened if they hadn't hurt her in the first place.

-------

It was warm when they got to the desert, as expected. Still colder compared to the rest of the year, but noticeably warm compared to everywhere else they had visited today. Mu was quiet for the most part on the way over, and even as they got out of the vehicle. She offered to stay by and watch it for them, make sure no one would steal it. But they told her to come with. They didn't want to take her out of their sights until they got to the station. Just in case her wounds got worse before they noticed.

They walked into the building, and saw Grooves and Conductor talking to each other. It didn't sound like a fight. They didn't even sound that annoyed. Grooves had Dinenna with him, who was the first to notice the group, looking over and reaching in Hat Girl's direction. She gave a smile and a wave as she looked at her. She was a sweetheart.

It didn't take long for Grooves to turn his attention over to her once he noticed his daughter wasn't just looking at air. "Oh, darling! What a surprise, did you invite her here,Conductor?" He asked the bird, getting a head shake. He gave a small shrug as he looked back at the family, raising a small brow to Mu's presence before he put his full attention back on Hat Girl. "Me and Conductor were just talking about plans for a collaboration movie between us. We were actually thinking of seeing if you wanted to cameo."

"Well, as nice as that would be, the reason I came by was because I wanted to be sure I saw the studio one last time." Hat Girl said. Both birds shot her worried looks before the toppat's situation came back to them. It would only be a few months until the anniversary of the day they met her again in Subcon. It was going to be odd not having her around again. "I'm sure we might be able to make it work but I wouldn't get your hopes up..."

"Oh, no need to worry then Lassie. Even I wouldn't want to stress ye out before yer big move back!" Conductor smiled as he glanced up at her, her giving a small nod as she could hear one of her fathers breath a sigh of relief in the back. He then hummed and snapped his fingers, before heading to one of the doors and gesturing to them to follow him as he began to head to one of the rooms. "Why don't we let you have some disk copies of the movies ye made while you were here. We got more then we know what to do with!"

"Isn't that a good thing?" Platinum asked as he followed them all, briefly glancing at Mu who was following behind them slowly. It was like she didn't want to risk bothering them. It made him feel guilty. Why did she go through so much, it seemed? He tried to clear his mind from it, but did slow their speeds so at the very least they would be walking close together. "You can make a lot from selling them? And having extra just means if someone breaks theirs they can go buy a new one?" He asked as Conductor opened a door, Grooves reaching and and turning on the light.

"Well, here we are!" Grooves said as he walked in. Hat Girl looked around, seeing a lot of machines she didn't know the purposes of, as well as film reels laying about. Also, many cases that seemed to be filled with disks. Grooves placed Dinenna on a chair and she looked over at Hat Girl, reaching over for her a bit. She smiled and patted her on the head as Grooves began to get some out. "I'll probably throw some copies of my best box office hits in as well, I'm assuming it will be a long trip back."

"No, your too kind but there's no need. We'll have ways to entertain ourselves as it is." Reginald said with a smile, hearing a faint grone from Platinum as he turned to look back at him a bit. Platinum turned his attention back to talking to Mu, and it made him pause as he saw the girl, thinking about her state again. He walked a little closer to one of the corners of the room so his voice didn't travel as far. "Don't mind her. Mafia Boss wanted to kick her from her cave, so she's staying with us a little."

"He tried to what-" Conductor started, only to quickly be shushed by Grooves who dragged him over to the corner. Hat Girl stayed by Dinenna. "Isn't that the one thing the lass has?"

Reginald nodded and Grooves sighed, looking over at where the girl and robot were talking. "That's not right.." He still remembered the fight all those years ago, back when Mu had rewritten history to put herself in change. Or at least, everything he could remember before it went black. Mu might have caused a lot of pain if she hadn't been stopped, but he didn't wish her to live on the streets. "She deserves a good home. It's almost dreadful how she looks some days."

"Was that comment necessary?" Conductor asked, Grooves just looking at him. It wasn't like he was wrong. He swore there wasn't a day anymore where she didn't have bags under her eyes or sand in her hair. Her cloaked looked somewhat soaked in what Grooves could only assume as ocean water or snow. Conductor shook his head as he looked down at the ground, tapping the floor. "The lass has grown since then. We may still not like her fer what she did but, she doesn't deserve to have nothing."

"I know." Hat Girl said from nearby, letting Dinenna hold her hat as she looked over. "She's grown... maybe too much."

"What character are you guys talking about?" Platinum called in. "I can't hear too much but I can hear a bit." Quiet down before Mu hears, if she didn't already. Hat Girl went ahead and picked up Dinenna and walked back over to the others, handing her over to Grooves. The little penguin just gave a giggle as she tried to put Hat Girl's hat back onto her head as Hat Girl bent down. "Anyway, Mu, you should have seen it when it happened. It made me and Hattie so annoyed.." They heard footsteps go slightly down the hall and his voice faded slightly.

"We probably should let you go. We don't want to keep you here until Midnight." Grooves said as he quickly gestured for Conductor to start grabbing things. The bird let out a small huff but got to work, quickly putting dvd cases inside of an envelope style bag and handing it over. Hat Girl smile as she took it. They probably should be going home... She glanced around a bit. "Oh, don't worry about us, Darling." Grooves said as she turned back to him. "We're all going to be just fine. We've always been."

"I know you all will be... It's just…going to be sad not getting to see you again.." She admitted with a sigh, not noticing the faint look Right gave Reginald. She looked at Dinenna and gave her a quick little 'boop' on her beak as she smiled at her. "Take care." She said. She knew she should have been saying goodbye all day. It was just hard to get those words out. "Make movies so grand they will have to be shown across the universe" she told the birds as she stood up.

-------

She offered them a smile before she gathered the others and headed out.. She needed to let everyone rest then they get home

so they could rest...

H̶̨͍̝̙͕̜͇̃͊̏́e̷̢̲̰̫̝̓̋ ̵͉͇͖͍̺̉̓̋̃̈́̌́͊͋͝͠c̴̳̱̲̼͉̣̯̝͈̲̋̽̐̌̏͂̌̕̚͘͜ͅo̵͚̠̝̦̬̮̱͎̤̹̓̑͐͂͛̅̋̓͒́̾̌̓͠ͅͅu̶̡̨̢̡̖͕̞̳̜̣͔̻̲̲͋͊͊͂͊̂̆́͑̋̏͘͘̕͝ͅl̵̛̛̬͍̒̈́̿̀̽͒̃̓̋̈́̓̌͐ḍ̵̢̨̨̮͖̙͕̱͕̤͓̙̓̅̿͌͌͑̊̈́̿͐͛̊̃̕̕ ̴̟̈́̄́̈́͛f̸̪̹̑̑̋̎̇̎͝ḙ̴͕̟̘̬̝̊͜͜ę̵̪̦̯̝͕͍͍͇̺̤͎̰̀͛̿̏̓̓̌̃̽̕l̷̢̧̼̖͈͖̘͚̤̺̳͚̠͂͋̏̅̃̕͝͠͠ ̸̧̢̨̘̬͔̞͎͇͕̎̌̈́͊͌̌͆̆̽̎̄͘̚̕t̸̡̘͈͓͎͓̑̋͒̂͜ͅh̸̞̦̹͙̱̫͇̮̲̬̞̖͊͑̑̀̏̂̉͋̂̽̌͌̊̌͠ȇ̵͉̊͗̽̉̚͜ ̴̨̨̡̨͓͚̘̹͓̰̦̯͙̮̲͊̌̏̈́̍͂͒̐͝l̴͈͊̃͑̏̋́̅̈̄͛̈́̕ͅa̸̡̳̗̘̾̆͗̕̚͠s̸̨͙̬̥̠̲͂̇̃͗͛̉͝͠ț̵̢̯͓̱̤̰̼̞̼͍̞̾̐̾̎̄͝͝ ̷̨̧̥͍͉̝̝͎͈̈́̈́͐͊̔̋f̶̛͎̖͇͍̹̟͎͔̩̼̱̬̹e̷̡̮͉͛̂́̓̚w̵̘͔͎̰̖̬̺̉̾͋̒̈́͠͝ͅ ̷͍̜̼̪̩͇̘̜͉̪̽̅f̴̨̦̺̝͍̥̥̳̩͓̱͓͓̻̔̿̿̎͒͌̒͋͠͠a̸͙̗̜̹̟̔̕ͅd̶̨͉͈͔͉̤͉͍̘̞̣̜̍̄̈́̈́̽̈́̚ĩ̶̧̡̨̛̳̜͔̤͙͍͑̈́͗̑̓̀̅̀ṋ̷̢͚̞̗̌̎͌͗̄͗͒͆̈́̓̂͛͝ģ̵̼͇̰̿̉̂̌̆̔͘͘.̶̧̂̌͐̀͠ͅ ̴͓̗̹̞̟̺̩̣͔̏̑͛̀̆̎̊̍̊̓̍͆͝Ģ̶̟͔̱̝̺̰̞͑͗͒̆̎̀͑͒̓̓̔̕̚͠ę̷͖̫͈͔͕̪̪̉́̀̋̉͝t̷̛̞͇̰̱̞̺̹̜̲͓͉̪̺̬̄̀̊̑̈͛̈́̈́͂̈͘ẗ̵̙̋̋̀͋̍̒́i̴̧̻̱̪͙̮̻̊͛n̸̝̟͙̺͉̹̟͉̭̼̼̭͑̋͒̔̇͆͌̏̑̈́͋̔̚̕g̴̢͎͈̞̖͔̫̏͐͋̀͜ ̴̛̖͎̦̯͔͈͈͛̎͗͂̔͘͜ͅr̷͓̔̊͊͊́̔̈́̆̑̂̈́̀͘͘͠ȩ̶̣͎̺̱̼̀́́͒̃͌͂͘͜a̸̱͙̎̀͠d̵̤̮̬̯͗̊͋̈́̈̌̅̾̚͝͝y̴͓̜̭̹̙̞̾͐͛͛̕͝.̶̡̼̮͔̜͔̘̰̤̗̍͗̾͋̃̾͐̈́̎͑

̴̶̡̛͚̬̫̳̫̞͕̳̋̃̀̾̈́͂̂̌͐̽̊͒̄̓͐̋̐̅̕͠͝

̷̛̙̝̫̼͓̀̈̓͗͋́̾I̸̡͈͎̱̽̊͂͑̍̉͛̈Ṭ̸̰̣̟͎̗̺̜̝̯̬̩̳̱͒̄̈̑̑͒̈́̎̎͜͝ ̶̨͖̪̖͍̝̲̯̥̭̒A̶̮͆̓̕G̶̨̛̹͎̎́̌̋͝ͅͅͅȎ̵͔̤̪̬̥̳͐̌̄́̌̅͒͌̍͐̅̈́̕͘N̷̡̢̝̫̜̪͙͔̝̪̫̦͇̋̍͋̎̾̐̆́̌̈́̎ͅȨ̸̨̯͍̞̕͠Y̷̧̰̠̫̻̱̣̟̳̤͎̤̯͋̅͗̌̎̉̍̓̍̀̕̕̚͠.̷̛̩̘̓̆̓̋͂͗̋̅̿̓̅̀͠

#a hat in time #the henry stickmin collection #hat girl #hat kid #a hat in time fanfic #henry stickmin fanfic #henry stickmin oc #reginald copperbottom #right hand man #copperright #ahit mustache girl

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vellichorom · 1 year

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hi! immense apologies for the sudden interruption.

the last thing i wanted to do was make this post, let alone drag this ridiculousness out onto main, but my name's been run through the dirt & i've been being accused of something i'm not as of late.

so here's why!

cw // nsfw mention beneath the cut.

months ago, for all of ONE time, i drew nsfw of the possessed doll vers of dexter er0t0ph ( from the sp00ky m0nth franchise ); said character being an 18+ adult merely possessing a doll, with said nsfw accompanied by explicit explanation of such.

given adult-possessed dolls in media have been given sexual attention before ( ie; chucky child's play, the concept the above character was even based off of ), i figured this would be fine, especially considering the character(s) in question in no way acted like children despite a more juvenile, kid's toy appearance.

in hindsight, still not the greatest idea, but the above was NOT AT ALL made with the intent to emulate/simulate or otherwise convey or replicate anything criminal OR so disgusting as cp. this of which, was also explicitly stressed with said above work.

despite all of that, & despite my not having advertised this piece in any way nor putting it in any of main, traceable tags, kids somehow still found that piece & have since openly framed me as a child p0rn0graphy artist / pr0shipper, which has sparked further spread of my name negatively as well as endless harassment of both my friends & i.

so, at the risk of all of that spreading any further otherwise, i'm now forced to bring it up here & clear my name officially.

i am not a cp artist nor would i EVER draw, condone, or want anything to do with the like or emulations of it. i can't stress enough how abhorrent it is & how ill just the thought of it existing makes me, let alone being accused of making such.

i perhaps made an error in judgement given the work's surface-level appearance, but such was never made with ill intent, nor with anything BUT a consenting, adult character in mind.

i also obviously never intended NOR wanted kids to see this piece nor any nsfw work of mine period, & made every attempt i could to keep it from easy access. just for the record.

so, there it all is. hopefully this clears up any possible concerns.

#twinkie talks #sorry again for THIS just out of NOWHERE #this was a quiet issue but i just had to put it out there already & set the record completely straight

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ishgardofficial · 2 years

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Concerning Chocobos...

A Brief History

The popular mount that is used across Eorzea is a native of Dravania, specifically the Chocobo Forests in the Dravanian Forelands. Being in such close proximity to this native and wild population, the art of breeding, raising, and training chocobos has been long held in Ishgard. House Fortemps in particular has taken on this hallowed task.

In the years before the Calamity, Ishgard was wrought with a plague amongst its breeding stock and temporarily halted exportation of chocobos across the realm in order to contain the contamination. As the illness ebbed, the standard has been to export mostly male chocobos to Grand Companies in order to control excessive breeding. Private buyers may acquire chocobos of any gender or persuasion.

The Cool(er) Chocobo

Chocobos come in a variety of colors and their plumage can be altered to fit its rider's tastes and chocobo's personality by changing its diet. The most common colors are yellow, as seen across much of Eoreza and in the distribution queue of the Grand Companies of Eorzea, and black, which is objectively the better color.

Black chocobos are the purebred of Ishgard and tend to be more muscular and obedient. In the last five-to-ten years, several of these mighty steeds have spotted doing squats while idle.

Unicorns?

We have been asked a few times why the unicorn has not been the traditional mount of Ishgard, especially given its use in family seals.

I ask: have you attempted to hastily mount a unicorn during battle? Nay? There are accounts of many knights who tried and got on the wrong end only to suffer irreparable damages. Given the smooth cranium and lack of natural spikes on their heads, chocobos are easily the preferable mount.

Why You Should Own A Chocobo

There are several reasons to own a chocobo!

They are oft the most accessible form of transportation without the use or your feet or aetherytes.

They can be accessorized with fun outfits and cute hats.

Their preferred diet is cheap and easy.

They are pre-trained to be called from great distances.

Most city-states have chocobo stables to house your bird while you visit.

But more importantly...why you should own an Ishgardian Chocobo:

You're supporting the Holy See!

Knowledge that your chocobo has supported the chain-mailed posterior of Ishgardian Knights for centuries.

"Kweh" but with a real Ishgardian accent. Kwéh!

Black goes with everything.

Chocobos are more than mere mounts and make for fantastic companions. Should you wish to try riding a chocobo for the first time, see your local chocobo porter today.

And for those who have chocobos...what did you name yours? Pray tell us in the comments, your reblogs, or tags.

#ishgardofficial #chocobos #ishgard

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riversimmone · 4 months

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Three's A Crowd - Chapter 6

RiverOfTheSand

Summary:

SasuSaku. He didn't mean to kill that man. He had simply reacted to being attacked. And now Konoha is forced to hunt down the rogue members of Team 7, or risk open war. Eventual NaruHina.

XXX

Read from the beginning. This is a work in progress story you can find on tumblr and AO3 and completed on FF.NET.

[All tumblr posts will be tagged ‘Three’s A Crowd’ with their corresponding chapter for quick and easy access.]

Enjoy. :)

Chapter Six: Living In Hope.

Hinata Hyuuga was getting a strange feeling. It had started when Kurenai Yuhi had asked her to help her pick out a birthday present for Asuma Sarutobi the other day, shortly after she'd heard from Kakashi Hatake that Neji's squad had found the most recent victim of the rogue Shinobi group just known as Kitsúne. Hinata thought it odd that anyone name themselves after a fox but whatever.

The strange feeling made her think of Naruto Uzumaki, her long time crush. She'd been thinking about him a lot lately, wishing he was still in the village. The anniversary of Kakashi's squad going rogue was coming up and as usual, Hinata found herself more depressed every time it did. Kurenai was one of the few who knew she'd always liked Naruto, so attempted to draw her mind away from her reminiscing by spending the day shopping. She used Asuma's birthday as an excuse, but both women knew what she was really up to.

But for now, Hinata was fighting the strange feeling twisting her stomach while sparring with her Sensei.

On the sidelines, Kiba Inuzuka grinned at Hinata, his eyes raking over her body as she moved into the stance for her jyuuken strike. He'd heard her father talking about arranging an engagement for her within the next six months. He hadn't decided on a husband and was hesitating for reasons he couldn't explain to himself.

Kiba had had a crush on Hinata since their academy days, and wasn't shy about it, but hadn't exactly been declaring it either. He knew how the clans worked, being a part of one himself, so held no fairytale notions. Still, if it was at all possible…

"Come on Hinata," Kurenai teased. "You've gotta come at me faster than that!"

Kiba chuckled as the Hyuuga screwed up her face in renewed determination and activated her Byakugan again. She was really set on beating her Sensei, although she wasn't at her level. Hinata had been this way for six years, not that the Inuzuka had a single clue as to what had caused the sudden shift in her demeanour. She was fighting for more than recognition these days, a hint of regret and fierceness driving her.

Hinata was trying to be as strong as she could so that one day (hopefully), if she ever ran into Naruto Uzumaki again, she could bring him home. She had thought of little else since he'd left.

It was almost twenty minutes later when the two women finally took a break, choosing the moment once they had another visitor.

"Kakashi," Kurenai said, towelling her face.

It had been awhile since a mere training session had been this tough for her, no matter her sparring partner, but she had only recently lost her pregnancy fat and had been frustrated for so long, not being able to train. Her husband was looking after their daughter while she got in some much needed exercise, and Hinata had volunteered to help her.

Kakashi Hatake nodded to her, and then turned his head to look at the sheepish Hyuuga. "Your father is looking for you."

Hinata nodded, bowed, thanked him, and then left quickly. After a moment, Kiba too removed himself from the training area. Kakashi had just finished talking with the head of the Hyuuga clan, concerning Hiashi's worries over another matter and the man had asked the copy ninja to fetch his daughter for him. Kakashi could only guess as to the man's motivation: he did not often summon Hinata in the middle of the day. Rumour had it he was finally sorting through the paperwork on the marriage proposals made to him for both of his daughters, as well as Neji.

Well, Kakashi had heard it from Kō, who was the only Hyuuga who ever told him anything. Kō wasn't the most tactful person he knew, but was one of those who thought high enough of Kakashi that he let him in on some things. Of course, being a clan member, there was always a line the man never crossed. Every clan was secretive of course, with varying degrees of censorship.

"You seem unusually sombre today," Kurenai said, breaking Kakashi's train of thought.

They both knew why though; the same reason Hinata had been down lately.

"Have you considered going back to Anbu?" She asked, silently thinking that Kakashi needed to stop waiting for a miracle.

He shrugged. "It does seem a popular suggestion as of late."

"It's better than just hanging around, lifelessly waiting for something that isn't going to happen."

She realised she might sound a little callous, but Kakashi wasn't offended.

"I'm not sure I'm ready," he said evenly.

This depressed version of him was depressing, to say the least. He wasn't holed up or sulking though, just not caring about anything but missions anymore. After all, Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and Naruto Uzumaki weren't the only team members he hadn't saved. They may not have died, like his original team, but it was near enough.

"You're living in hope they'll come back Kakashi?" Kurenai asked, teasing the copy ninja gently.

He smiled slightly. "Better that then throwing in the towel."

X X X

The leader of the squad from Kumogakure was called Himunari Akatachi. He was an old acquaintance of Hiashi Hyuuga's and recognised Neji immediately. He didn't know what to think of the Hyuuga's Sensei, or that strange miniature version of him, but the only girl in Neji's squad seemed nice enough. Neji bowed respectfully, remembering Himunari from several diplomatic dinners in the Hyuuga complex, growing up.

The strangely dressed ginger haired Jounin wasn't the most jolly or expressive person (which was why he got along with Hiashi so well), but to the outside observer, he looked like just another Gai Maito. It was his personality that was a little more reserved. He introduced the three Chunin in his squad after Guy made introductions.

"Kurami, Shibo, and Kusane," Himunari said, indicating to his team in turn.

As it turned out, both teams were here looking for the assassin with ninja abilities who was going around and picking off teams that carried the insignia of either Konoha or Kumo. So in the interest of inter-village relations, the Kumo Jounin suggested the two teams cooperate on this little venture. They would not do well to go their separate ways and race each other to the prize, although he could tell this idea would go over well with Guy and his "mini-me" called… Lee, he believed.

"Well, this will work out well," Himunari said, agreeing with Guy.

Both teams had decided to use themselves as bait for this assassin, and together, they weren't sure if they doubled their chances of attracting the guy's attention or scaring him off. The last group attacked was a squad of four, before that, a joining of several. Whoever this assassin was, he clearly planned out his attacks meticulously before striking. They had a better chance of overpowering him with more numbers, but it was quality over quantity after all.

Enthusiastic as ever, Guy and Lee proclaimed that the power of youth would see them victorious. Uncertain, Neji was surprised when Tenten grabbed his arm and have him a half hearted hug.

"Lighten up," she said, giggling softly. "After all, we have the power of youth on our side."

Neji just rolled his eyes at her.

Meanwhile, Kitsúne followed the teams at a safe distance as they left Kurakuta Town. Sasuke Uchiha was grateful that Neji hadn't activated his Byakugan yet, believing he was only able to keep them in his sights because of his Sharingan. There was no need to alert the Hyuuga to their presence. Silently, Sasuke promised himself to put keeping off Neji's radar ahead of succeeding in procuring this bounty. There would be other rewards with less problems.

At that thought, he wondered if maybe they should just let this one go.

But noting the eager Naruto Uzumaki and recently persuaded Sakura Haruno (though considerably less eager) he knew it would be an argument that would only take time and effort he didn't want to waste. Besides, it wasn't like they were heading into this blindfolded.

"Looks like we got lucky," Naruto said softly, his eyes narrowed as he stared in the direction he knew the two teams to be.

Sasuke was the only one who could see them, and was leading the way.

"They're both here for the same reason," he told the stupid blonde. "Don't be so naïve."

"We aren't going to wait until the assassin has killed the squads before moving in, are we?" Sakura asked, not wanting to be responsible for the death on Konoha ninja, no matter who they were.

"What makes you think one lone assassin could take on bushier brow Sensei's squad and live?" Naruto asked.

The pinkette ignored his tone, an indication to how nervous she was, despite her agreement to go ahead with it. They had a plan and it sounded solid, but she worried nonetheless. Yes, the idea of being caught or seen was terrifying, but the imminent chaos and potential fatalities concerned her even more. She didn't want to watch any of them die just so they could get the bounty.

She did realise she was being overly dramatic, but they'd never been this close to leaf ninja before, on purpose that was.

Sasuke, glancing at Sakura in his peripherals, decided to allay her concerns. But as he move to assure her that there was no way Team Guy was going to die at the hands of some lone assassin, no matter how good that assassin was, he stopped himself.

There was a singular, powerful chakra signature nearby, heading toward the two teams. Sasuke noticed him first, then Neji. It was show time.

X X X

#sasusaku #sasuke x sakura #fanfiction #my ao3 #All images are not mine #MULTICHAPTERED FANFICTION #Three's A Crowd #Chapter 6

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