#I'm so rusty but we got there folks

[seat-safety-switch]

I'm in the marketplace of ideas, and some of these thoughts are coming from the bargain basement. We've all got terrible concepts rattling around in our heads, but in times long past, there were limited opportunities to disclose them. Maybe to your suffering spouse, sometimes to a beloved family dog, perhaps to your kids if you hadn't sent them out to labour in the fields yet. Once that audience was spent, it was better just to keep your mouth shut.

Now, with the internet, anyone can descend into an international network of other dingbats. No matter your dumb-assed belief, there are statistically several million people with the exact same one. This experience will reinforce your worst behaviours, and soon you'll be kidnapping a state senator to get him to stop making the government owls spy on you at night. Not the private industry owls, those are fine and are only interested in collecting pseudo-anonymized shopping data for marketing purposes. Just the government ones.

Paradoxically, all these free-minded folks are really getting into the swing of old-fashioned, no-thinky-so-much totalitarianism. It has never been a better time to be a charismatic, personable cult leader. A few catchphrases, a hand gesture or two, and an unwavering drumbeat of confidence that the people responsible for the current state of affairs will be punished. Unfortunately for me, "charisma" is not exactly compatible with cornering people in the hallway and one-on-one asking them about their gear ratio setup. Most folks just hiss and try to crawl away, or fumble for mace. What wannabe dictators need, though, is a large luxury vehicle.

Almost universally throughout history, a true leader has needed an enormous luxury sedan, often with little flags on the front fenders. It's how we know someone is important. Sure, the Dutch show up in a squadron of bicycles, and the Japanese Emperor travels in a train that converts itself into an enormous war robot at a moment's notice, but to get that real autocratic vibe, you want an impractically massive car. And that's just what I've been selling out of my yard.

Sure, I don't like selling my New Yorkers and Mark Vs, but I don't really drive them all that often. You have to pay too much attention to where you're pointing the car in today's crowded city streets. They don't even fit in the Tim Hortons drive-thru anymore. Every tinpot internet fascist has a thick stack of banknotes to place in my lap in exchange for some rusty shit they can trick their followers into restoring. And, most importantly, those suddenly-desirable cars are taking up room in my backyard that I could use to store more shitty old cars.

So if you're planning to get into an internet cult this weekend, tell whoever's in charge to come on down to my place, once they've reached a critical mass of acolytes. Only my shitboxes can provide the curb appeal required to add true legitimacy to your insane conspiracy theories.

[electricfied-wolf]

So... you've been reblogging a lot of Starlight Express onto my dash and I feel like it's about time I ask what it's about? What I'm picking up is that it's... humanoid trains?

Whatever it is I must admit it's piqued my curiosity

OHHHH BOY YOU'VE ACTIVATED MY AUTISM CARD I LOVE TO TALK ABOUT STARLIGHT EXPRESS. Ooookay, there's a lot to talk about, especially because a new non-replica production like JUST opened in London. I feel like I'm gonna ramble a lot so we're gonna put it under the cut and I'm just gonna blab until I feel I've explained it well enough. First of all I should note that I am explaining just off the top of my head, if you'd like more info the Starlight Express wiki is run by some very committed folks and as far as I know every word on that wiki is true. Also if you'd like more photos you're gonna have to go there bc GUESS WHO LEARNED THE LIMIT FOR PHOTOS IN A SINGLE TUMBLT POST IS 30? ANYWAY ONTO MY RAMBLE!!!! And be warned, it WILL BE VERY LONG. CLICK AT YOUR OWN RISK.

What is Starlight Express?

Starlight Express (often abbreviated to Stex by the fans) is a musical produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber (yes the CATS guy) that revolves around a child's toy trains "coming to life" and having a big ol' dramatic race. They've got an underdog, a couple bad guys, train god and romance. Pretty much everything. Most productions are more song filled than dialogue filled. It has its roots in Thomas & Friends and some of the earliest stuff had a Cinderella type of thing going on (not surprising I'm sure), the plot is actually pretty easy to follow once you get used to it. Starlight Express is performed SOLELY on roller skates (not counting lndn24's scooters for the Trax and Control) for the entire duration! And in such heavy costumes too! The show has been performed since 1984 and has absolutely ZERO signs of stopping as the Bochum, Germany production is still being performed and as I stated above, there is now a non-replica production running at the Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre in London. And if you don't know what that term (non replica) means, it essentially means they are not using the traditional costumes for the show that John Napier designed and are taking quite a few liberties with a newer plot and characters to make the show something much more unique as compared to its replica counterparts.

An older version of Rusty and Pearl in the John Napier style (left) VS. Rusty in the style of the London 2024 production standing with ALW (right) _ I specify 2024 London as the show was originally produced in London but also got revised so there's like three London Stex productions I could be talking abt lol, though the costumes have gone through some pretty drastic changes even in the replica productions.

Electra's more recognizable costume (aka the more compact mohawk version of red/blue Electra) used up until the rehaul in 2018, and the one currently used in Bochum's performance of the show (aka used from 2018-now). The same character and both replica, but still different! Over the course of the many years these trains have shared our earth, I'd say that Greaseball and Rusty are amongst the few that haven't changed that massively over the course of the show (again, NOT counting the current non-rep). This show has indeed graced the US and was even performed on Broadway! Unfortunately, us Americans are really really boring apparently because the show (while still wildly successful) did not stick around here in the states. It is still however beloved by many and that is the sole reason why it has stood to be seen for 40 years: people can say the show was made on drugs and that its "weird" all they want, but Starlight Express has a bigger community than you'd think, and it is incredibly well loved by those in the community. We are VERY devoted to our trains. Despite everything though, it has never gotten a pro-shot and the only fully versions available for streaming (...in terms of official audio for official streaming) on places like youtube and spotify are the original 1984 London Cast Recording and "The New Starlight Express", aka the revised London production's album released in 1993. There is also the english and german version's of Bochum Starlight Express' "Ich Bin Ich" otherwise know as "I Am Me", but no other parts of that production have been released for streaming. You can technically stop here and just go on to the wiki and stuff but if you wanna spend like an hour listening to my infodump I AM going to keep going.

The Characters

Before I touch on the story (a much shorter section I assume) I feel it is important to explain the characters, as there are a LOT and they change depending on each production and long story short yes I am nowhere dear done with this post. The characters can be broken up into groups of which I'll introduce them by. I also cannot really do London 24's characters which I wish I could bc I'm dead obsessed w/ it but it literally just opened a little while ago so the only sharable photos of other characters I got are fuzzy and from the megamixes or backstage pics. So unfortunately no cameos from those guys in this post but trust me THE WEMBLEY PARK PRODUCTION IS SO GOOD. Uhm anyways. First I'll mention the Trax/Racing Marshals, no speaking roles and very simple costumes compared to the other trains. They're simply there to wave the flags for the races and perform other tiny tasks to move the show along, as well as doing some very cool stunts that the other performers cannot do due to the absurd weight of the main costumes. They're just as important as everyone else!

The Marshals (Bochum 2016) *note, I'm mainly going to use Bochum photos to show off the costumes because they're just usually better quality The Humans: Usually disembodied voices (with exception from two productions) our only humans are a little kid named Control, and their mom who is simply known as Mom/Control's Mom and also has an even smaller role than her child as she only comes in at the introduction to put Control to bed. Control is OBSESSED with trains which grants us the plot of this musical, over the course of the show they order the trains around and narrate the races, but (up until recently) typically don't play an active role in terms of properly interacting with the trains. They are, as their name suggests, the Control for the trains. In Bochum's performance 2018 and onward Control mentions having a grandmother who is hard of hearing, but to my knowledge said grandma is only brought up in that specific production. The National/Competing Engines: For pretty much every production excluding WP's, the non-main character racing competitors have been international trains from across the world. However their names and some of their designs have been changed over time, and the French engine even switched genders in the 2018 Bochum rehaul. I am excluding the doubles from the tours because this'll take all day if I don't. _______ The French engine- Essentially from the beginning up to 2018, Bobo the TGV. In/after 2018 in Bochum, Coco the Eurostar. Arguably the most changed of the nationals, originally a male character (Bobo) she was changed to be a female and even given a blue color scheme which Bobo usually never had as he was typically seen with orange colors in Bochum.

(Bobo (Bochum) and Coco) _______ The Japanese Engine: Originally Hashamoto (misspelling of Hashimoto but technically that's his official name), later changed to Nintendo in 1992 for all english language productions but still Hashamoto in Germany, and from 2018 onward in Bochum known as Manga. All three are labeled as Shinkansen bullet trains.

(Hashamoto (Bochum), Nintendo, and Manga) _______ The Russian Engine: Turnov the trans siberian express has literally just been Turnov this whole time and really he's hardly changed aside from his costume having to have its chest symbol changed due to obvious reasons. This poor guy has suffered greatly due to political stuff even all the way back in 1987, though I will avoid getting into that here.

Turnov (Bochum 1991), Turnov (Bochum 2018, ft. Manga) _______ The German Engine: Weltschaft originally, later named Ruhrgold, the german engine is the InterCity Express (ICE). Like Turnov he hasn't really gone through many major changes other than the original switch from Weltschaft to Ruhrgold, though the two are presented with very contrasting personalities.

Weltschaft (Bochum 1991, ft. C.B.), Rurhgold (Bochum 2018, ft. Espresso) _______ The Italian Engine: ESPRESSO! He's a fun one, very similar to Bobo in that they're both pretty flamboyant european engines. Not really similar to Coco though. Espresso's a silly fella, flirts with the audience sometimes. His design has also been pretty consistent.

Espresso (Bochum 1988), Espresso (Bochum 2021) _______ The British Engine: Our pathetic failure king <3, aka the engine that literally never races as he usually breaks down before he's meant to race. Like every time it's got to be one of the most consistent plot points across 40 years of showtime. Even through three different transformations this british loco cannot escape it. Originally named City of Milton Keynes, later Prince of Wales upon the opening of the broadway production, and in 2018 hit the stage as Brexit. Yes, you heard me. They named the British national engine Brexit, and no none of us are particularly proud of that but it is how it is. At least he's got some charm!

No images of Milton are available atm, Prince of Wales (Las Vegas, 1993), Brexit (Bochum, 2018) _______ OKAY WE'RE DONE WITH NATIONALS. We can talk about the important ones now.

So next I'll move onto our main trio of engines. Rusty, Greaseball, Electra. Lots of design altercations over the years but no name changes and basically no role changes. However, the most recent production involves a female and wlw Greaseball as well as a canon they/them Electra! We'll go engine by engine, talk about our trademark "old steamer", and then I'll move onto the cars. _______ Greaseball, the world racing champion of Union Pacific: Heavily greaser based with muscles that make coaches and freight cars alike swoon, Greaseball is a black and yellow diesel and one of the antagonists of our plot. He's the world racing champion at the start of the show. Dating Dinah (both at the beginning and by the end despite some issues) the dining car, VERY proud of himself and pretty damn self absorbent in pretty much every production. He is also NOT that nice. He was pretty terrible in the very original plot back in the day BUT DON'T FEAR! They very quickly edited those plot points and made him less terrible and more of just a really pompous jerk. Bochum GB is actually such a goofy guy by the end. His female counterpart in the new production doesn't lack her meanness either! She's just as big of a jerk but also just as big of a softie by the end of the show. Truly, the same in every universe. Being a girl and a lesbian does not destroy her asshole tendencies and I am glad for that. Let gay girls be jerks too!!!

Greaseball (London 1984, ft. Pearl, Dinah, and Ashley), Greaseball (Bochum, 2021, ft. Caboose)

_______ Electra, the engine of the future: QUEEREST PRE-2024 STEX CHARACTER WHOOOO? Despite never having been fully confirmed (at least up until recent) to be any specific non-cishet identity, Electra the electric engine has been an icon for the girls and the gays since day one. With he/him pronouns but a slightly feminine name and physical demeanor, it's clear he was made to represent a less traditional form of gender presentation as he has been played by actresses in the past too, though primarily has been portrayed by male actors. Andrew Lloyd Webber even once referred to Electra's main song, AC/DC, as "transgender electro-pop". Not to mention the casting notice for the 2019 Bochum cast having described Electra as 'gender fluid / androgynous'. Electra has a pack of "components" aka his freight car entourage who follow him around and sing his praises. He is also one of the antagonists, though antagonist is a bit of a strong word as he isn't as hardcore as Greaseball or our villainous railcar. He has more beef with the diesel than our main character as well, stealing his girl and the show at every opportunity. And also aggressively zapping him as often as possible. The only thing they have in common is that they're full of themselves, they want Rusty out of the race, and they want to win. No photos for Electra I gave him his spotlight earlier in this post. Though do remember that the newest version of Electra (got a little sleek helmet instead of hair, super pointy costume, blue and silver colors) is NOT he/him, they are they/them and so is their current main actor! Electra is accompanied by an entourage of "components", aka shiny and fancy freight cars that bend to the engine's every whim. Pre-2018 the components are Wrench the repair truck, Joule the Dynamite Truck, Volta the freezer truck, Krupp the armaments truck, and Purse the money truck. Post-2018 the components are Wrench, Volta, Joule, and Killerwatt the security truck, Krupp and Purse are no longer present. It is also important to note that pre-2018 Volta is portrayed as very feminine meanwhile post-2018 Volta is meant to be much more masculine. No photos for Electra they got photos earlier in this post and I'm trying to save myself from hitting the photo limit. Same for Rusty. _______ Rusty, the steam train: WOOO WOOO! WOOO WOO! Say hello to the titular bitchular that everyone loves. Seriously I've never seen a Rusty hater. Our main character and a timeless gem of the show, he's a pathetic wet cat, he's rusted and falling apart, and he meets god. The perfect man! Rusty obviously has the greatest arc over the entire story, he's our underdog and incredibly charming in all his forms. Overtime some actors have played him up as sassier while others amped up the wet cat energy (Looking at you, Javeen), but no matter how he's played you will feel sorry for him and likely fall in love with him. He's so overconfident at the start but is very quickly brought down by the other engines, fear not though, because he's the main guy!! I'll yap more about his whole thing in the story section. _______ The old steam engine: Had to make the title gender neutral w/ these guys bc GUESS WHO ELSE GOT GIRL'D IN 2018! Poppa, or in terms of Bochum 2018 and onward, Momma, is Rusty's mentor and the only other steam engine in the show. Quite stubborn, preachy in more ways than one, but ultimately good at heart. They're the engine that pushes Rusty to race and encourages Rusty to seek faith in the Starlight Express (Eyyyy title drop!). Most of this engine's role is story related too so I'll save that for then.

Poppa (Bochum, 1997, ft. Rusty), Momma (Bochum, 2018, ft. Dustin) _______ The freight: For the convience of I'm afraid to hit the word count, we're gonna lump the cars into whole sections. Minus one specific member of the freight due to plot significance. Anyway the freight!! Lots of people are big fans of them and I can't blame them. Though they went through a few changes here and there, they're usually a pretty consistent group (once again, minus 2024). From 1984 to 2003 they contained the boxcars aka the Rockies, then productions between 2003 and 2018 included the Hip Hoppers, with the 2018 rehaul marking the return of the Rockies to the show. All productions included Flat-Top the brick truck and Dustin the big hopper, and while Dustin does play a significant role in the show...there's a certain sixth member that plays the greatest role of all the freight. _______ The Red Caboose: Though his Bochum rehaul design spells out "brake van" on his shoulders (even though brake vans aren't cabooses, rant for another day) and he's gone by the Red Caboose for far longer, most know this beloved boy as CB...buuut the version that is widely marked as CB isn't technically CB! That was his original name in regards to the radio codes he used throughout the show- "10-4, smokey bear!" -C.B., 1984 "10-7, gone to heaven!" -Included in the segment after the first run of the final race -but his original name was dropped upon the entry to Broadway, from then on he was just the caboose, and he continues to be so to this day! No matter the production...or at least the ones he's in, he sticks out from the start as one of the guys to keep your eye on. And I'm sure you caught that, that's right, he's not even in every production! Though he is in most of them! His role is another plot heavy one so I'm sure you get the deal by now.

CB (London, 1984), Caboose (Bochum, 2006) _______ The Coaches: The girls, the lasses, the women, etc etc!!! Full of lovely ladies (again, not mentioning 2024's changes) and honestly the true stars of the show in my eyes. In this group is where you'll find our other main character! But would you believe they've also undergone swaps? Originally it was Pearl the observation car/first class carriage, Dinah the dining car, Ashley the smoking car, and Buffy the buffet car, and it remained that way for a long time...but there was an odd period in which Ashley was replaced with a sleeping car named Duvay, though Duvay didn't last very long in the grand scheme of things. Upon the 2018 rehaul, Buffy and Ashley were replaced with Carrie the luggage van and Belle the bar car. Belle actually shares her name with a coach that was present all the way up into the broadway production, though not really used afterwards. Belle the sleeping car was a companion to Poppa and while not part of the main quartet of coaches would usually appear with the other girls for Girls Rolling Stock! Broadway did OG Belle dirty but that's another rant for another day. Again, for simplicity's sake, we'll only individually cover the gals you absolutely gotta know about. _______ Pearl the observation car/first class carriage: Pearl girl!!! Very near and dear to me, our secondary main character and Rusty's love interest. The label for what type of coach she is varies from production to production, all you need to know for certain is she's a super shiny new coach and Rusty is absolutely INFATUED with her...but she's her own coach too, and she's not as quick to settle as he is. She makes it very clear that she wants her choices to be her own and she's not going to let someone else make those choices for her no matter what. She has her own little arc too. While in older productions Pearl is painted as being new but still having an established bond with Rusty, newer ones (aka bochum and london's current shows) paint Pearl as a completely new coach who doesn't know anyone and literally just got here, making her and Rusty's relationship a bit more fleshed out...but we'll discuss that more later!

Pearl (Bochum, 2011), Pearl (Bochum, 2019) _______ Dinah the dining car: HARD to not just ramble about how much I adore her. I am her she is me we are the same person, ESPECIALLY her 2024 variant same taste in women fr. A southern accented (usually) dining car, Dinah is Greaseball's partner with honestly a very inspiring little arc of her own, she's emotional and devoted to her partner but is not to be mistaken as someone who can't stick up for herself, because she makes it crystal clear that she's not someone to be pushed around. She was given even more of a powerful and independent personality in the 2018 rehaul/london revival, but she's always had fight in her from the very beginning!

Dinah (Bochum, 1993), Dinah (Bochum, 2018) AND WHOOPS TOO LONG OF A POST FOR TUMBLR. I'M GONNA HAVE TO PUT THE PLOT IN THE REBLOGS HOLD ON TIGHT. EDIT: I AM GOING TO HAVE TO MAKE A SEPARATE POST NOT A REBLOG BECAUSE TUMBLR WON'T SAVE THE REBLOG AS A DRAFT.

[sparkles-rule-4eva]

SPOILERS FOR THE NEW SONIC PRIME S2 TRAILER UNDER THE CUT!!!!!

AKAKKDKSKDKSKSODOSOSO IM LOSING MY FREAKING MIND GUYS AND SCREAMING TO AN EMPTY HOUSE BECAUSE OF THIS TRAILER!!!!!!!!!!!

OKAY!!! LET'S SEE WHAT WE'VE GOT!!!!!!!!!

Sonic sounding MUCH more emotional than usual, while asking, "How do we fix this?"

THE SHAPE OF THE ORIGINAL PARADOX PRISM?? JUST WAITING FOR THE OTHER SHARDS TO BE RESTORED TO IT? PLS TELL ME MY THEORY WAS RIGHT AND DOING SO WILL FIX IT 😱😱😱

WE'RE BACK IN THE GRIM? WHY??

Would you look at that?? Sonic and Shadow actually effectively communicating?? Didn't think I'd live to see the day!! (Jk, sort of. Since they still start out beating each other up, AGAIN 🤦‍♀️🤣)

TWO AMYS!!! Can't tell if Rusty Rose is really fighting alongside them, the clip was too quick to cut, but STILL!!!!

THE NEW YOKE CITY ROBOTS ARE IN THE BOSSCAGE MAZE NOW?????? AND ATTACKING THORN ROSE??? AND SONIC'S BACK THERE, TOO!!!!!

Sonic can touch the shards now without getting sucked into other dimensions with them?? What happened to change that??

THIS SWINGING HUG WITH SONIC AND NINE TORE MY HEART OUT!!!!!!!! NINE LOOKED SURPRISED BUT THE FACT THAT SONIC ACTUALLY INITIATED A HUG???? I CAN ONLY THINK OF ONE OTHER TIME THAT THAT'S HAPPENED 🥹🥹🥺

More fighting the bots in the Bosscage Maze! Btw, looks like the Jungle folks will finally see what a robot is 👀😂

IS THAT PIRATE KNUCKLES, DREAD, IN NEW YOKE I SEE???

OKAY I'M NOT ALLOWED TO ADD ANY MORE PICS TO THIS POST SO I'LL MAKE A PART 2 IN A MINUTE AND THEN EDIT THIS POST WITH A LINK TO IT!!!!!

Edit: here's pt 2!!

[cool-person-yey]

Hey folks, so I was a bit bored and thought I'd be cool to take some notes of my thoughts while I was watching the first episode of tmagp

Most of them are nonsense but that's the way I think so

obviously, there will be spoilers for the new tmagp episode ( I'm tagging it tmagp spoilers ofc) so I'd you didn't watch it, go watch it now cmon man

welp, here they are

TMAGP SHOW NOTES!!!11!;1

• Oh dang 44 minutes ???

• ohhhh ominous music :)))

• HI ALEX

• HOLY SHITTT

• RUSTY QUILL PRESENTS THE MAGNUS PROTOCOL LETS FUCKIN GO

•* printer not functioning noises*

• not even 5 minutes in and I'm already recognizing some voices

• Alice <<<333

•BONES ARE A BIG LIE MADE BY MILK TO KEEP YOU BUYING IT that's what I've saying

• I also function on coffee and spite. and social media drama. as a treat.

• sorry mate you deserve to be booed

• " or they finally kill me " oh boy

• ooooohhhh Gwen!!!!

• " I'm your cool sister, Gwen's your uncool sister, Lena's the emotionally distant mother, Teddy is the uncle that just got another job and Collin's the grumpy IT manager" just. this. idk. just

•Alice is funny and I'll die on this hill thank you

• not the nepotism

• the spooky tape recorders already started or is teddy just forgetful??? hmmmm

• mold you like clay

• Alice is my favorite character actually

• Windows 95? oh wait no

• "what does it do?" "crashes mostly"

• " is that legal?" " probably. We do work for the government. sorta"

• finally a filing system that's a least a bit understandable(???)

• " The coolest person *left* in London" the hell you did to the rest of them Alice? 🤨

•wait what

• smashing it with a hammer would fix a lot of problems. supernatural or not.

• Collin is a mood

•Norris, Chester and Augustus huh

• WAIT WHAT

• NEVER HEARING WHO

• WHAT

• CEMETERY???

• THE HELL

• ARTHUR!!!!

• took him away from you??? this is concerning

• oh no,,,,,

• Darla?

• it spoke! using another person's voice— oh no

• discolored skin? mismatched features? oh no

• " some of him:)))" oh no

• shit

• being afraid of someone ( or some parts) of someone you loved. we're starting well

• Yeah there are worse ones buddy

• oh cmon it ain't that bad just put the goddamn word in there

• "you traitor" love me a dramatic queen///

• OHHH SHE'S GOING INTO THE DIRECTOR'S OFFICE ( the equivalent of it in a office job I suppose)

• ohh performance review okay

• look kids, sometimes you gotta deliver a work that's just okay instead of ABSOLUTELY perfect.

• so Gwen's the overachiever, got it.

• she's saying that as if Alice hasn't been shitting on everyone there already lmao

• oh we wish it was that easy

• oh the deja vu

• " what do you actually want" " your job" damn she's bolder than I thought lmao

• I wish I could talk back to people like that

• damn Collin's pissed

• Alice being a menace we love to see it

• " I'm a vegetarian" deadpan

• top 10 awkward conversations

• Collin is the most relatable of them all

• " a bit bleak" is an understatement

• clack clack clack

• you really need to know bro's backstory on his first day?

• is there a bet going on on who has the worst awful backstory to explain being there. that'd be funny I think

• buddy that's the worst place to try getting back to your feet but ok

• MAGNUS INSTITUTE RUINS LETS GO

•" what's the deal with the Magnus Institute" well. see. there's a lot of deals.

• alright? just a semi-normal conversation as of now

• nope

• yea the institute does that to ya

• " a cool vibe " yeah buddy

• "offices like little cells" oh you'd be surprised

• ARCHIVE HE SAID ARCHIVE!!!!!

• oh no the symbols

• strange stains mmnn

• an,,,,, empty box?

• photographic distortion. oh boy. oh boy.

• yea guys don't steal stuff from spooky sightseeing places especially if they could be yknow. cursed.

• are we going to be listening to ppl fighting on the internet rn or

• IMAGE REMOVED??? STAY ABOVE GROUND??? OH NO

• EYES????

• GORE???? OH BOY,,,,

• and the thread was locked. well damn.

• a blast from the past huh

• " is a bad name" " so is Gwendolyn"

• hmm static

• phone

• "you get a job and I got a victim"

• that seems like a reasonable theory tbh

• cleaning toilets actually helps people

• Sam noodle arms confirmed

• " to new beginnings" " with old friends" * clank*

• oh great more little noises

• more noises

• OHHH

• find who???? WHO????

• oh you got to be kidding me

• more ominous music hmmmm

• The Magnus Protocol is a podcast FUCK YEAH IT SURE IS!

Phew, that was a lot. thank you if you read all of this lmao

edit: fixed some misspellings, if there any left please do warn me! my heading's not the best and auto-correct is a bitch (especially if you use two languages lmao)

[spoonyruncible]

I'm not gatekeeping, I just have some gates and I've sort of vaguely known they're there, I haven't kept them and the hinges are so rusty i doubt they'd close if I tried. But, like, for ages all that came through those gates were stray geese and a dog I think belongs to a neighbor but might just belong to himself and of course there's the hunching afflicted wrathbeast. That's just having a garden. Things grow there and random folks stumble in sometimes, mispronounce the names of my favorite varietals, say stunningly inaccurate things about them, and wander bemusedly back out.

As a surprise to probably no one I was a deeply lonely child. No one really got me or what my deal was, so when I found something I loved it was mine and mine alone to treasure. As I got older I found other people who liked 'my' things. Some of those people were horrible! But there was a kinship and it was okay to be a bit horrible so long as we could be odd together. Gardens are resilient things, they tolerate mistakes and abuse. It's absolutely wonderful to share, to dance to the same music, that imperfection becomes part of the joy of it, becomes a unique thing unto itself.

So imagine my shock when there is a garden party that rapidly becomes a festival. No one has ever really been here before, it's been me and the geese and that one dog and a few other weirdos. Suddenly my things, things people beat me for loving, are things everyone loves. All at once the landscape is unrecognizable and if I acknowledge that then I'm being a hipster. I don't mind the festival, it's nice, now it's much easier to get things I need without having to put on my trekking gear and hike out to the one obscure location that has The Supplies. It's not bad, it's just weird. It feels like there is something wrong with me instead of something wrong about liking what I like.

I'm not really talking about one specific thing here, there have been a lot of these moments where what used to be unusual or even shameful is now the big thing. And it's good, it's can be great sometimes even with the unforeseen bizarre bad parts. But there is this selfish little part of me that wants to cling to my unloved love, to put a raggedy LP on a barely working record player and lay on the wooden floor of my childhood home staring at a painting of a ship in a storm that is right beside a picture of a young man in a cap and a too large jacket and listen to sea shanties belted out by people not very good at singing while I drift and drift and drift away on the sound and the whitecaps to a place where there is only this. I love the new versions like a drowning man loves air, I am happy that people have found this beautiful thing and can enjoy it, but there is a tinge to it I don't like. A prick of pain every time I see this joy over my joy, over my joy that I was punished for, humiliated for, shamed for. I'm glad people can love these things without suffering but it makes my suffering seem so fucking stupid.

There is a certain temptation, a bitter agony, that makes me want to hiss like an abused cat and cling jealous to my silly little toys. It's not that I want them all for myself, it's that I can't let go of that little kid with a bruisy eye sulking because no one wants to play with him. It's the whisper of, "We can be friends but only in secret. I don't want people to know I'm like you." It's the enthusiasm that rapidly becomes muted because the whole world is demanding to know why you can't just be normal for once. But that same temptation to lash out is the one that makes me reach out my hand instead, especially to people who are like, "Wow! I've never been to a garden before. I'm gonna screw this up. How do I not screw it up?" because now they're that bruisy eyed kid no one wants to play with. I can't protect the person I used to be by becoming the exact thing that hurt me. Gotta keep the gate open, gotta get used to new things even if it takes noise cancelling headphones and an entirely rational amount of backsliding, gotta wake up every day and keep trying even though the world keeps throwing curveballs that no sane person could anticipate. It's all okay. We're in this together and we're all gonna be okay,

[wilsons-journey]

Tyria Games - Day 2

Welcome back! Who is ready for some bloodshed?! I AM Muhahaha. ... I'm sorry, I got carried away,... juuuust a little.

Uhm, the Simulation is ready again! So lets continue, where we left yesterday.

The Night of the first day! Oooooohhh

Oh and by the way. If there is a gender wrong. I'm deeply sorry. I only could choose between male and female. And,... well I'm clumsy I might pushed the wrong value,... //Asura technology is just to small for big charr like me, argh//

ANYHOW - lets gooooo

*button mashing*

------------------------------------

Rugan fends Castor Sharptongue, Nastazya Ragewelder, and Valefor away from his fire.

Cara tries to treat her infection.

Arengar, Nisha, and Athena get into a fight. Nisha triumphantly kills them both.

Rurk Lamesprit cries himself to sleep.

Vashildr stays awake all night.

Raevik lets Drorah Helberg into his shelter.

Verus fends Gaius Horncleaver, Wilson, and Yahuk Thornheart away from his fire.

Ciaran stays awake all night.

Rel defeats Selene in a fight, but spares her life.

Marcus Furyclash cries himself to sleep.

Eldrid goes to sleep.

Kaia receives fresh food from an unknown sponsor.

------------------------------------

Naw, please send Rurk and Marcus some love. Poor little babs crying themself to sleep. And after Wilson, we have another maniac: Nisha, my dear. Please calm down! Two at once? That's wild!

What else do we have here,... hmm some more fighting and scaring away. Nah. Lame! Oh Kaia got some good! But also Lame. Hmm,... hmm,... Oh another fight Rel vs. Selene - aaaaand life spared.

Okay, lets head over to the next day.

*excitedly pressing buttons*

------------------------------------

Nisha, Nastazya Ragewelder, and Gaius Horncleaver get into a fight. Nisha triumphantly kills them both.

Wilson discovers a river.

Drorah Helberg hunts for other tributes.

Eldrid is pricked by thorns while picking berries.

Verus and Selene track down and kill Yahuk Thornheart.

Kaia makes a slingshot.

Cara searches for a water source.

Rel scares Valefor off.

Raevik receives fresh food from an unknown sponsor.

Castor Sharptongue kills Vashildr with a sickle.

Marcus Furyclash thinks about home.

Rugan picks flowers.

Ciaran sees smoke rising in the distance, but decides not to investigate.

Rurk Lamesprit receives a hatchet from an unknown sponsor.

------------------------------------

I have to say. I'm impressed and scared by Nisha. At this rate we reach the end very soon - and all to Nisha. Thats a kill count of 4,... ON DAY TWO!

I LOVE IT. BUT ALSO PLEASE CALM DOWN!

And looks like Selene had to let off some steam, after almost dying in the night before. With the help of Verus they slaugtherd Yahuk. Ughs, that was nasty.

And another one bites the dust by a rusty sickle. I haven't seen a head fly that far away from the body. Castor,... I think you need help. Wanna talk? No. Well, you can't even hear me,... you are a simulation haha.

Beside all the blood shed. I love how Rugan is just vibing and picking flowers. Becoming the prettiest tribute! Maybe he should bring Marucs some, he seems very... like VERY sad.

Okay, I think thats it for the day. Again a little salute to our fallen tributes:

---

6 cannon shots can be heard in the distance.

† Arengar - District 4 † Athena - District 5 † Nastazya Ragewelder - District 7 † Gaius Horncleaver - District 1 † Yahuk Thornheart - District 2 † Vashildr - District 5

---

Oh, looks like we entered another loading Phase. Maybe this thing can only simulate two instances each day. With that less ram no surprise,... hrmpf.

*claps the hands together*

ALRIGHT. So you know what that mean: We meet again tomorrow! Same place - same time!

Love ya folks ♥

//Hmm, I should open a bet booth! My coins would be on Nisha. Crazy Person just killed four persons in this round. That was awesome!... and scary. //

--- Your host Nektarius

--- Previous Round:

[introvertbard]

Today's extremely coherent and movie-like dream

I was in the sequel to Wakanda Forever because Ryan Coogler decided to draw on Filipino mythology for it. When you do a movie that heavily revolves around the colonization of Africa and the Americas, you might as well bring in Asia.

My coworkers naturally went "OMG OMG OMG. JAMIE, PLEASE INVITE THE CAST TO THE BOWLING ALLEY!!!" and so I did.

Anyway, I had such a great time talking to Tenoch Huerta that my flaky ass forgot to actually go bowling, so I just told everyone to take my turns, and I could focus on Ajaw Kukulkan.

Cut to like midnight, where we go to the parking lot and both our cars are gone. Me and Tenoch panic for a minute until we get some texts that our friends/coworkers borrowed our cars to ferry the drunk folks home. So I'm like "you motherfuckers, you gotta ASK FIRST! That way you can leave us at least one car!"

So with very bad reception at the bowling alley and everyone ELSE'S wifi shut off for the night, we can't call an Uber and we are forced to walk 3-ish miles / 1 hour to my place.

This is where the Dream-Logic happens. That lagoon where people have waterfront homes suddenly cuts diagonally across the island, so it would be a much shorter way home. The problem is, there's an ancient nightmare-bridge with rusty metal and rotted or missing planks. The lagoon is also WAY deeper than in real life. It's got wave-action from the rest of the ocean now.

So I'm like, "Oh noooooo! Normally I just sprint across, but you're a celebrity, so I can't just leave you behind."

Tenoch is just looking at the nightmare bridge and he goes, "Well, I'm not a god-king, but I play one in the movies. Do you want me to carry you?"

And I'm like "NO, then we're gonna be too heavy for the boards, and then at least one of us is gonna drown, because MY character's plot is that she's a Pinoy girl who can't swim!" (Did this draw from my Wakanda Forever fanfic??? Universe, please manifest this!!!)

So we cross the bridge and I'm just clutching Tenoch's arm in a death-grip. I am also trying not to hyperventilate, because that's going to make me too shaky to stick my landings.

We get to the other side and Tenoch is like "Jesus Christ, you have to do this all the time???"

I tell him "Yeah, people keep asking for renovations, but it's been twenty years and nobody's died YET. The city probably thinks it's good until the REST of the boards fall apart."

So we're only a few blocks from my place, and I am fucking STRESSED. And Tenoch goes, "Well, we're on solid ground now!" and he picks me up.

Anyway, this sounds like the setup to either a rom-com or an actual superhero story. Also I feel very weird about how the Mexican dude and the Filipino woman are the ones who got stranded at midnight because our cars both got "borrowed."

[braveclementine]

Mrs. Davis

Warnings: None

Copyright: I do not own any Marvel characters or locations. However, I do own my OC Elizabeth Lightwood. I do not condone any copying of this.

"The sandwich was fair, the spring was a little rusty, the rest of the materials, I'll make do." Tony said as he walked towards one of the alleyways, "By the way, when you said your sister had a watch-" He slid his sleeve up to show the kid the dora watch on his wrist.

"Yeah?"

"I was hoping for something a little more adult than that."

Harley laughed, "She's six! Anyways, it's a limited edition. When can we talk about New York?"

"Maybe never. Relax about it."

"What about the Avengers? Can we talk about them?"

"I dunno. Later. Hey, kid, give me a little space." Tony said, lightly pushing the kid.

Tony looked at the memorial that was in front of him. Most of it was lit by candles, with lots of small notes and presents around them. There were several black figures on the walls, as though they had been painted there. They reminded Tony of the stories of the eruption of Pompeii or the explosions in Nagasaki. Where the heat was so intense, people were blasted into nothing but shadows.

"What's the official story here? What happened?"

"I guess this guy named Chad Davis used to live roundabouts. He won a bunch of medals in the army. And one day, folks said he went crazy and made, you know, a bomb. Then he blew himself up, right here."

Tony touched the wall where the black was. There was nothing to feel as though there was paint. These weren't painted.

"Six people died, right?"

"Yes."

"Including Chad Davis?"

"Yeah, yeah."

"Yeah. That doesn't make sense." Tony said after a moment, looking around. He sat down next to the kid, "Think about it. Six dead. Only five shadows."

"Yeah. People said these shadows are like the marks of souls going to Heaven. Except the bomb guy. He went to hell, on account of he didn't get a shadow. That's why there's only five."

Y/N would've liked that theory, Tony felt. "Do you buy that?"

"It's what everyone says."

There was some more silence as Tony contemplated everything in front of him.

"You know what this crater reminds me of?"

"No idea. I'm not- I don't care." Tony sighed.

"That giant wormhole in, um, in New York." Harley said with enthusiasm. "Does it remind you?"

"That's manipulative. I don't want to talk about it."

"Are they coming back? The aliens?"

"Maybe. Can you stop?" Tony asked, frustrated. He wished he wasn't like this, but he had never been good with kids. He knew subconsciously he was acting like his own father, but he was frustrated. He missed Y/N and Everleigh. He wasn't sure what was going on or anything that could help him find the Mandarin.

"Remember when I told you, that I have an anxiety issue?"

"Does this subject make you edgy?"

"Yeah, a little bit. Can I just catch my breath for a second?"

"Are there bad guys in Rose Hill? Do you need a plastic bag to breathe into? Do you have medication?"

"No." Tony breathed out.

"Do you need to be on it?"

"Probably."

"Do you have PTSD?"

"I don't think so."

"A-Are you going completely mental?" Tony huffed. "I can stop. Do you want me to stop?"

"Remember when I said to stop doing that? I swear that you're going to freak me out." Tony growled. Tony got to his feet, "Aw man, you did it, didn't you? You happy now?"

"What did I say?" Harley called after him. Tony ran away and Harley had to run to catch up with him. "Hey! Wait up!"

Tony ran and then slumped against the Stop sign, falling and sitting in the snow. "What the hell is that?" Harley asked as Tony pressed snow to his face. Tony took the snow and threw it as a snowball at Harley. "You're fault. You spazzed me out. Okay, back to business. Where were we? The guy who died. Relatives? Mom? Mrs. Davis, where is she?"

"Where she always is." Harley sighed.

"See? Now you're being helpful."

🎃 :::::  🧡  ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━  🧡  ::::: 🎃

Harley went home and Tony headed to the small town bar that Mrs. Davis would be at. Even as he crossed the street, he could hear the loud music playing from the bar. It was lit nicely with colourful Christmas lights and had a home-like feel for it.

As he went to enter the bar, he accidentally jolted shoulders with a woman as she walked past him. "Sorry." He said, before noticing that something had fallen out of her pocket. "Lady?" He bent down and picked it up. She turned back to him and he held it out, "Is this uh-"

"Thank you." She had a soft voice, very nice. Tony might've looked at her twice if he didn't have Y/N. She had a nice hair colour as well, and would've had a pretty face if it wasn't for the scars on her cheeks. Not that they made her ugly, just changed her.

"Nice haircut." He said to cover up the fact that he'd been staring, "It suits you."

"Nice watch." She said, nodding to the kid watch on his wrist.

"Yeah. A limited edition." He said.

"Oh, I don't doubt it." She smiled and Tony nearly kicked himself for liking her voice, "Well have a good evening."

Tony quickly turned, mentally berating himself. He was so happily married it was unbelievable. He really needed to get out of his playboy mentality. He could never hurt Y/N like that.

The bar was filled with mostly older men, sitting at the bar itself. The Sherriff was there as well, with his gun casually sitting in his holster.

The atmosphere was cheerful, farther back there were families sitting there instead. Some people had clearly been newly soulmated, with animals in laps or kneeling by their feet. Some children played in the corner as they waited for their meals.

Tony found Mrs. Davis sitting by herself, holding onto dogs tags. She had a folder on the table in front of her as well as an empty glass. He set his own down.

"Mrs. Davis? Mind if I join you?"

"Free country."

"Sure is."

"All right." She said, leaning back in her chair a little. For someone who was supposed to get drunk every night, she looked rather alert, "Where would you like to start?"

"I just want to say, I'm sorry about your loss. I want to know what you think happened." Tony said sincerely.

She stared at him for a moment, contemplating, and then looked away, picking up the file to put in front of him. "Look. I brought your damn file. You take it, go." She made a slow shooing motion with her hands. "Whatever was in here, he wanted no part of it."

Tony opened up the file and saw pictures of her son in his military garb in another country. "Clearly, you're waiting for someone else. Huh? Supposed to meet someone here?"

"Yeah." She said softly.

Tony lifted the pictures to scan the rest of the information in the folder. Names popped out at him, little bits of information. He closed the file and leaned forward, "Mrs. Davis, your son didn't kill himself. I guarantee you, he didn't kill anyone." She gave him a sharp look. "Someone used him."

"What?" She questioned.

"As a weapon."

She drew herself up and then leaned forward to whisper, "You're not the person that called me after all, are you?"

So maybe she was a little bit more drunk than he had thought. But still, from one alcoholic to another, he could admit that she was definitely not a lightweight.

Suddenly, an object was slammed on the table and the familiar voice from outside said, "Actually, I am."

Both him and Mrs. Davis looked down at the badge in front of them, before the lady nearly ripped Tony's arm off as she twisted it behind his back. His face hit the table harshly and he grunted. The commotion brought the attention of the others around the bar.

"What's all this about? What the hell is going on here?" Tony recognized the voice of the Sherriff who he had seen when he'd first come into the bar. Using his free hand, he quickly tucked the dog tags into his inside jacket pocket.

"It's called an arrest." The woman above him said, tightening the handcuffs. She tossed him out of his seat and onto the floor, "Sherriff, is it?"

"Yes, ma'am, it is. And you are?"

"Homeland Security. We good here?"

"No, we're not 'good.'" The Sherriff gave a short chuckle, "I need a little more information than that."

Tony watched the scenario in front of him while his back was against the brick wall. Who the hell was this woman?

"Well, I think it's a little above your pay grade, Sherriff." She smirked.

Tony motioned to Mrs. Davis, you took the note and leaned back in her chair, putting the file on the floor and sliding it under the counter.

"Yeah? Well why don't you get on the horn to Nashville and, uh, upgrade me?"

"All right. You know what? I was hoping to do this the smart way. But uh," She took a few steps towards the Sherriff and Tony watched with widening eyes as he saw her hand start to glow around her badge. "the fun way is always good."

"Deputy, get this woman out-"

He didn't get to finish as she shoved her arm forwards, the badge sizzling hot against the Sherriff's cheek. Screams erupted. She yanked her hand away and the Sherriff looked dazed, before she grabbed the gun and shot both him and deputy.

Tony got to his feet and ran, his hands still cuffed behind his back. He managed to make it out of the bar and looked behind himself.

"Hey, hot wings, you want to party? Come on, you and me, let's go." He knew she must've known who he was right off the bat. Tony was going to run one way, before recognizing the man that Happy had facetimed him about was getting out of the car. He tossed his coffee to the side, raising his eyebrows at Tony.

Tony decided it was time to go in a different direction.

He ducked behind a car and saw that there was a man laying on the road, "Crazy huh?"

"Yep."

Tony looked over his shoulder and then said, "Watch this."

He ran, ducking through a glass window. When he rolled back and then got to his feet, his hands were now in front of him. He watched through the window for a moment as someone from the bar ran up behind the lady with his personal gun to shoot her. She grabbed it from him, butting him with the end of it, before aiming it at Tony.

Tony didn't hesitate for a second, running and leaping over the counter of whatever store or shop he was in. He heard the sound of the shotgun going off and the shattering of glass.

He could see her taking off her jacket as she approached him, he could see through the bullet hole in the wood.

He got into a crouching position, sliding along the counter. He went to hide behind the pillar, before getting a jump scare as she was right next to him. She grabbed him, slamming him against the wall before punching him.

The two of them fought- well she fought. Tony was mostly getting kicked and punched around. Finally, his foot found leverage on one of the counters and he managed to get on the other side of the counter, while also bring the handcuffs around her throat so that her head was against the counter.

She started to glow and he pressed down tighter with the cuffs. When they melted, he went flying backwards and he had to shake them off to avoid getting burnt.

He quickly grabbed a jug of gasoline, kicking it through the doorway to the room that she was in, sliding the still flaming handcuff in as well. A well lit fire was going immediately. Tony immediately set up his next trap, knowing that she was going to just walk through the fire.

"You walked right into this one. I've dated hotter chicks than you." Tony smirked.

She burst through the doors, her clothes and skin singed, but she seemed as though it hadn't hurt her at all. As she got back to her feet she said, "That's all you got?" He pulled out the gasoline. "A cheap trick and a cheesy one-liner?"

"Sweetheart, that could be the name of my autobiography." Tony replied. He quickly ducked out the door, slamming it closed behind him. He hoped that the metal dog tags in the microwave would do the trick as fast as he needed it to.

He didn't have to wait long, ducking behind the ice box outside and heard and also felt the explosion. He looked around, hearing people's screams when he thought it was safe enough to look, and saw her body lying across the electrical wires on the telephone poles.

Good. It was what she deserved after killing those Police Officers.

Suddenly, Tony became aware of a loud creaking sound and looked around for the noise. It was the water tower, which the man was standing under, melting the metal that was keeping it from falling.

Tony quickly turned, running into the Christmas tree farm to get away from it.

Tony jumped, landing harshly in the grass before it fell around him. He held his breath as the water rushed over him for five long seconds, before it was gone. He gasped, the cold and the water combined making it even colder.

His foot was trapped in the metal works, and he twisted his ankle until he heard a familiar voice cry out, "Let me go!"

Harley?

"Help me!" A mocking voice cried.

He looked to see that Harley was over the man's shoulder, grunting.

"Anyway." The man said, sitting down on the chair and putting Harley on his knee, wrapping one arm around him, "Hey, kid, what would you like for Christmas?"

"Mr. Stark, I am so sorry." Harley cried as Tony tried to get himself free. There was no way that he was going to let this kid get hurt. Not after all that he'd done to help him.

"No, no, no. I think he was trying to say, 'I want my goddamn file.'"

"It's not your fault kid." Tony said. "Remember what I told you about bullies?"

It didn't take long for Harley to figure out what he was talking about, using the weapon to flash him in the eyes. The man grunted, letting Harley go and Harley took off.

"You like that Westworld? That's the thing about smart guys, we always cover our ass." He raised his hands, bracing his right one in front of his left, and let the hand blaster go off. It shot him in the chest, and he flew back into the tubing.

Tony quickly threw the melted Limited Edition watch away from him before it could burn his skin, and grabbed a pipe to get himself free.

Once he was free, he checked the pockets, and grabbed the car keys.

Jackpot. 

[lakemichigans]

tlou episode 6 thoughts!!

- i love the introduction of joel's interrogation tactic ("your answers better match up") being used in a relatively low stakes, chill situation. i hope this scene was a little taste of what's to come, rather than a replacement for the scene we'll see later. (also I loved that couple's dynamic!! so much was shown in so few lines of dialogue)

- ellie with the whiskey omg riley reference??

- holy shit the tension of that scene with the dog was impeccable. my heart seriously skipped a beat when the dog barked

- the reunion with tommy was even more emotional than in game, and i love that they're already living in the established jackson area! it means there are so many little references for players to notice

- "just because life stopped for you doesn't mean it has to stop for me" 😭

- when joel thought he saw sarah :((( and the fact that it happened immediately after talked about sarah and had a little panic attack from the grief. everything that's happening with ellie is bringing up so many emotions and they're all portraying it SO PERFECTLY

- i loved the scene between maria and ellie. in the game, we know maria is the one who tells her about sarah, but we never see it happen. i looooved being able to see ellie's reaction to that.

- "i'm failing in my sleep. it's all i do. it's all i've ever done." FUUUUUUCK just kill me 😭

- tommy and maria expecting a baby fits thematically and i'm very curious to see how that plays into part two / season 2. no spoilers for anyone who hasn't played it but i'm excited to see if there's some crossover between their baby and a future character

- the giraffe poster watching joel while he says he's not her dad. liar liar pants on fire! also i think it was a smart decision to not have ellie run away (it works in the game but would only be a waste of time in the show) and instead to have her say that she overheard the conversation earlier. great adaptation of existing material

- but i do think the scene where ellie and joel decide to go together felt a little rushed as a result of the aforementioned change. on one hand i like how quick it is, because they've both done all the thinking they need to do on their own, so it's only matter of saying "yes". but at the same time it felt a little blink-and-you-miss-it. it's also a very quick decision in the game, but it comes after an arduous bout of gameplay, so it doesn't feel so rushed. i'll have to chew on this one some more!

- i'm so glad they didn't make the jackson folks be the cannibals like some people were theorizing

- "you gonna shoot this thing or get it pregnant?" made me laugh so loud omg

- i'm a little disappointed we didn't get any environmental storytelling about the students at the college. the whole section being crammed into the last 20 minutes was... an interesting choice. i know most of that part of the game is just exploration & gameplay, but i feel the show had a unique chance to explore what the students went through after the outbreak that was only hinted at in notes. it had a lot to say about humanity and community and it could've been a neat parallel to jackson

- yesss that was a much more realistic injury that's still life threatening but actually possible to recover from, rather than rusty rebar fully going through his abdomen lmao

- and he got stabbed in frank's shirt 😭 and the depeche mode song plays 😭 fuck 😭

- SO EXCITED FOR RILEY!!!!!

[nancypullen]

A Monday in January

It's just a week before I start my new job at the library. I am cautiously optimistic. I know without a doubt that I can do the job and do it well, though I'm probably a bit rusty. My concern has been improving my wardrobe a bit. Lucky for me, the library has a very casual dress code, but I don't think they want me showing up in sweatshirts. That's been my uniform for far too long. I need one of those What Not to Wear interventions. Today I wore this sweatshirt, purchased from an Etsy shop.

It's actually perfect for the library because it's a nod to Mr. Darcy's insult to Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice. I mean, that's literature, folks. Still, they'd like for me to wear business casual so I've been attempting to add a few pieces here and there. When taking stock of my closet I realized that I'm apparently a collector of black pants. Straight legs, boot cut, leggings, ponte, denim - you name it, I've got 'em. I need a couple pairs of nice indigo/dark wash jeans, they look good with just about anything. I have enough tops and sweaters to rotate. I doubt anyone will really notice what I'm wearing. But, because I have Xmas money and gift cards I traveled to Easton today to shop at the Kohl's there. It was so frustrating. I found plenty of pretty things, but the whole store looked like it had been ransacked. If I found a sweater or top I liked, the color I wanted wasn't available in my size. I refuse to buy anything I don't truly like, so if I want the cobalt blue but they've only got my size in beige, I'm not getting it. I spent hours in the store and finally came out with two tops and a necklace. I found a pair of shoes I liked but again, no 6 or 6 1/2 in stock. I came home and found them on the Kohl's website and ordered them. So that's enough of a happy ending for me. I'll always be tidy and clean, I'll accessorize and then slap on some lipstick. Granny chic! I mentioned the sweatshirt I purchased on Etsy. I was gifted a very generous Etsy gift card for Christmas and I've had a ball spending it. Look at this treasure.

I ordered a beautiful journal, and had a quote and my initials added. I'm filling it with my thoughts, my poetry, and sometimes my melancholy ramblings. If you love it as much as I do, you can order your own here:

Choose the color, your own quote or saying (whatever inspires you) and get to writing. Wouldn't this be a lovely gift? It's beautifully made and quite thick.

I couldn't love it more. It's perfect for me during this season of my life. I am truly out looking for myself. The mister is upstairs on a Zoom photo club meeting, I think they have a guest speaker or something. I'm downstairs with both kitties enjoying the quiet. I just downloaded a couple of books from the library so I've got some good reading for the stormy day ahead.

I'm okay with everything but a power outage. Let the storm rage, but I'm going to need to heat up my soup, ya' know? And speaking of books, I'm considering joining the Modern Prairie Book Club. Melissa Gilbert, who played Laura/Halfpint Ingalls on Little House on the Prairie has a company called Modern Prairie - I loooove all of it, the cookware, the home goods, the clothing, the recipes, everything.

I absolutely love the Modern Prairie Instagram account -

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Modern Prairie (@officialmodernprairie)

so of course I was intrigued by the book club. She mentioned revisiting old books that we all read once upon a time and discussing how we view them now, decades later. I laughed when I saw the first book choice.

Then I got nostalgic (it's been more than fifty years for me!!) and then I became curious. I think I'll give it a whirl. What's the worst that can happen, I'll change my mind and go back to reading Lisa Jewell or Liane Moriarty? No big deal. Best case scenario is that I'm able to recapture some of that sweetness and simplicity. So that's where I'm at on this quiet Monday evening in January - optimistic about the new job, but yearning for the past at the same time. I suppose that's normal for most of us, isn't it? Looking forward with hope while trying to hang onto the best of what was. Sending out loads of love tonight. I hope it finds you and wraps you in a hug. Stay safe, stay well. XOXO, Nancy

[seat-safety-switch]

The European Union won't let me come into the country, because my lead foot violates their RoHS directives. And that's okay. Europe has lots of fantastic automobiles: the 1988 Fiat Panda 4x4, the 1993 Renault Twingo, and pretend I mentioned something German here. All of them have delightful, teeny-tiny engines, and are a joy to drive in a crowded city. None of them are easy to import.

Japanese folks are all too willing to dump a Skyline or a Crown on a cargo ship for you. We've got too many amazing high-performance automobiles, just like fields full of them, and Big Otochan Government says that we have to keep them in pristine condition, or no registration. So why don't you have a couple of them? Clear out the back forty behind my mechanic's shop. Europeans, though, make it very difficult to import their cars. It isn't a full-service auction-to-driveway curbstoning operation.

All this is to say: I can't enter European countries. I can't ask them to send me a car (I barely speak The Queen's English,) and also they will probably expect payment of some kind. Getting a beautiful, 80s-wedge-humping-a-space-shuttle Citroen BX in my driveway is going to be a challenge.

Luckily for me, there are a lot of cargo ships that have failed to deliver their cargo in time. Hurricanes. Typhoons. Really ugly storms. Captain farts on the GPS and breaks it. The bottom of the ocean is full of little tiny Italian shitboxes, and all I have to do is commission a submarine research project to go pick them up. Billionaires love a submarine research project, and standards for the industry have slipped in recent months such that you're no longer expected that they survive the mission. Best part is? Maritime salvage law means those suckers are free.

Now, I know what you're saying: doesn't salt water violently corrode every part of the car, rendering it nearly unusable after mere days immersed? And you'd be right, but I also live in a province that salts the roads in winter. The only difference between the car I'm actively driving and a chunk of rusty Frenchmobile that I pulled off the ocean floor using a robot is that the latter one is more predictable. See you next spring, in something with twelve-inch that will be half Bondo, but with an air of the exotic about it.

[icescrabblerjerky]

twenty questions for fic writers

tagged by @senseandaccountability THANK YOU!

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 200 exactly! I did not know this until I just went and checked.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 1,222,468 - I too have been at it for a long time, about fifteen years (and there is more of it on other sites lol)

3. What fandoms do you write for? Rusty Quill Gaming, Baldur's Gate 3, SWTOR (and other star wars related fandoms), Dragon Age, The Magnus Archives, Final Fantasy XIV, uh... and lots of little one offs for books and tiny podcast fandoms.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

The Mbmbam Archives (mbmbam/magnus crossover) with 949 (this still makes me laugh so much)

Seven Days (RQGaming, Zolf/Oscar) at 458

Sex, Death and Plants or: Four Seasons Total Landscaping (RQGaming AU, Zolf/Oscar/Grizzop) at 425

Willing to Wait for It (RQGaming, genfic) at 394

and

A Little Help (RQGaming, again Zoscar) at 384

Rusty Quill Gaming folks are super super supportive and awesome and I'm forever grateful they went on my dumb journeys with these characters with me.

5. Do you respond to comments? Always! I hope! I know sometimes I miss them when I'm away from my computer but they are definitely always read.

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Mmmm, angsty-est?? I'm not one really for angsty endings, although I like angst in all the other bits. Probably the fic I wrote where Zolf is mourning Oscar. I honestly can't remember what it was called.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Sex Death and Plants ends in a massive polycule and the take down of a fascist asshole billionaire so I think it deffo qualifies as the happiest of my endings :D.

8. Do you get hate on fics? Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm LOL. Never directly. I have reports of people who dislike what I write but they never tell me to my face for some reason, it always gets around to me, usually about two years later, on the underground.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? I do. I love writing smut. I don't write very graphic smut as a general rule but most of my fics will have one or two scenes in it and I've done a couple of kinktobers. Love it.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? I've got a couple. One Dragon Age/Lucifer crossover that I wrote specifically for a friend. One aborted Firefly/Dragon Age Crossover that lives on FF.net I think if that site hasn't destroyed itself.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I know of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? I've had enquiries about translating some into Russian but I've never actually seen if they followed through.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yes! Quite a few actually. Some of them haven't been published :D.

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship? I should say Zoscar. So I will. I love them your honour.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? Gods I got a comment on my old Rebels fic "Talking to Strangers" and I read it again and went "this shit's good I should finish it" but that would involve me actually watching the rest of Rebels and I don't really watch TV any more and it just ends up being too hard.

16. What are your writing strengths? Dialogue and character voices, I think - at least for fic. I have a lot of fun trying to make what characters say feel like it could be lifted directly from the source material but isn't.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Description. Fucken' hate it. I'll do it but I'll moan about it for every single sentence.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? Very risky IMO and not something I'll do any more although I used to when I first started out. These days I'll write it in English but indicate which language it should be in in other ways.

19. First fandom you wrote for? If we wanna get technical I wrote my first fanfic when I was about ten years old. It was Sherlock Holmes fanfiction (the stories, not the series, since the series didn't come out for another twenty five years lol). Self insert time travel fic. I may still have it somewhere lol.

20. Favorite fic you’ve ever written? I love all my fanfictions equally (I really don't care for Mbmbam Archives). No that was a joke, I really do love all of them, my favourite tends to be the one I'm writing at the present moment. That said honourable mention should go to The Nature of Crystal (G'raha/WOL smut) because that one just arrived fully formed in my head one morning and tickled me.

I'll tag @feralkwe, @wishflower4, @zombolouge @makesometime and anyone else who would like to do it!

[vyla-and-the-pods]

Vyla's Sunday wrap-up!

Hello lovely people on my screen! I've been getting really into podcasts these last few weeks since finishing Wolf 359 and I am DYING to talk about them! This is my way to talk about what I've been listening to this week and dumping my thoughts since I do not have friends that listen to podcasts lol

Cry Havoc! Ask Questions Later (ep 14) (minor spoilers)

I'm a die-hard Cry Havoc! fan. It's one of the few podcasts I've caught within the first few episodes and it is quickly one I will jump to every time a new episode comes out. Who would've thought a workplace comedy set in ancient Rome would be so good! The humor is dry and mostly situational and works so well.

This episode had a bit more heart than Cry Havoc! has had before and it worked so well! Listening to Octavia and Charmian have a serious discussion that helped further their relationship beyond "ooh haha sexy morally grey lesbians" was really refreshing and nice to see such character growth within just a few episodes.

And the entire plague plot with Gaius and Mark was a great way to balance it out. I love Cry Havoc!'s style of humor. My only qualm is I couldn't find a transcript for this episode but I might've been looking in the wrong place.

Arden (eps 1-4)

GUYS I LOVE ARDEN SO MUCH!!!

This is also a Shakespeare inspired piece! Season 1 is inspired by Romeo and Juliet, which I realized embarrassingly late in, and the little R&J easter eggs I have been picking up are really cool and make me feel like I remembered something from 9th grade English haha.

I used to looove true crime podcasts but I got uncomfortable by how the hosts would discuss the killers and victims so Arden, as a fake true crime podcast, is a great middle ground! I heard season 3 is coming out soon so hopefully I can catch up in time! I love Bea and Brenda's banter and honestly the two just need to kiss or something, but I digress. The writers make this a really compelling story and even though only one aspect of the cold case is examined per episode I am hooked and not at all bored or frustrated when we divert to Bea and Brenda's side convos. I have listened to this when going to bed and gotten scared once or twice, and for a fake true crime podcast I consider that a win!

Wolf 359 (finale)

I don't have the word count to say everything I want to say about Wolf 359. If you know me you might have seen the post I made about finishing Wolf 359 this week and how it was just so world alterting for me because I've been listening to it on and off for about 8 years. It really is the end of an era. It didn't go down the way I thought it would and it was a very bittersweet ending. I feel like everything was tied up well but I do have some questions about Bob. I am going to miss Lovelace, and Eiffel and...everybody! Maybe not Kepler. Truly is an end of an era for me. I was podcast-hungover the whole day.

Stellar Firma (ep 1)

I gave the first episode of Stellar Frima a try, I'm a big Rusty Quill fan so I had high hopes but guys, I don't think this is for me. The pilot episode didn't click for me the way I thought it would and it just didn't seem my speed. What do you guys think about Stellar Firma? Should I give it another shot?

Malevolent (ep 6)

Malevolent is another show I'm trying to get into since everybody loves it but the pace just feels so slow to me right now. I know more overarching plot points develop later on so I'm willing to stick this one out. I like malevolent but it just feels like all the places and things they're doing right now are building toward something I'm not at yet and that's just frustrating.

Time:bombs (1 -3)

What better way to get me out of my Wolf 359 hangover than a podcast made by the Wolf 359 folks? This one came recommended to me by anon so thank you whoever you are! I listened to the entire podcast (3 episodes) in one day and loved it! I miss you Radio Bob. I hope you're doing well. Humor was elite but what else should I have expected from Gabriel Urbina? I loved the character development they were capable of in 3 episodes. I can see myself relistening to this soon!

The Kingmaker Histories (prologue....ep 0?)

another podcast I heard had a new season coming out soon. I don't know how I feel; about fantasy podcasts but I liked season 1 of The Two Princes so I have high hopes. I only listened to the prologue so far and haven't even met the MC so I don't have many opinions yet.

Liminal Criminals (ep 1)

I listened to the first episode twice. It was so funny. Few podcast make me actually laugh out loud. I interrupted my roommate making dinner to tell her about this because I kept laughing. The dry voice the narrator has while he explains the most ABSURD FAKE TRUE CRIME sold this for me. "Mr. Breadsticks stays. Mr. Breadsticks stays. I will kill you with a fork. Mr. Breadsticks stays." is my discord status and no one understands me. I hope the rest of these episodes are as funny.

Alright well that's my week! Thanks for dealing with my ramblings folks! Tell me your thoughts on these shows, what's worth it what's not? I'll be shitposting about some of these shows throughout the week, but we'll see what the Pod Gods hold. Til next week lovely people!

~Vyla

[bijoumikhawal]

For the ask game: Kira Nerys, or/and Jake-O!

(sorry I held off on answering this until it was a more reasonable time of day for me)

Kira

one aspect about them i love

Her BDE honestly. She goes through an arc of course, with regard to her relationship to people from other powers and thar causes her to shift stance, but she has a bullish ability to stand her ground that she never looses.

one aspect i wish more people understood about them

I don't think I really have Kira hot takes (yet). Like we all understand that she has some conservative beliefs and part of her character is that the needle on that moves for her a bit.

one (or more) headcanon(s) i have about this character

less about her and more about Bajoran religion- I think there's a tension between aniconic factions and a strong tradition of folk religion and icons, with Orthdox factions tending towards the former to various degrees- and this has lead to Kira having complicated feelings about her mother being an icon painter.

one character i love seeing them interact with

Sisko! I find the navigation of her in the personal (mundane), personal (religious), and professional spheres, as well as her legit rapport with him very interesting.

one character i wish they would interact with/interact with more

i mentioned Julian in his ask, but I'd also like to see her and Tekheny more- I feel like one more episode between his introduction and death (so for a total of 3) would have nailed their relationship more and why Kira kind of... deceives herself into not thinking of him the way she thinks of other Cardassians and feels betrayed by him as hes dying. (I don't think her doing that is bad or makes her stupid, but Tekheny obviously served in the military during the Occupation and I'm not inclined to think Kira, who's had to live in an "every Cardassian, even civilians, is an acceptable target" would forget that readily)

one (or more) headcanon(s) i have that involve them and one other character

One may remember my headcanon that archery is a traditional Bajoran sport- I think Kira and Ziyal got into that together while she was taking care of her

Jake

one aspect about them i love

I like his efforts to reach out to others even when he doesn't understand them or is frustrated with them (obvs this is the basis of his and nog's relationship)

one aspect i wish more people understood about them

...that he exists.

one (or more) headcanon(s) i have about this character

Jake also knows how to play piano! He doesn't like music as much as his father so he's a bit rusty at it, but he can break it out as a cool funfact

one character i love seeing them interact with

his and Nog's friendship is so nice. I think there's a few stumbles in that area- for example it feels like their interactions taper off after Nog's leg getting amputated.

one character i wish they would interact with/interact with more

The joke answer is I'd like to see if Garak’s streak of children causing him psychological anguish holds

one (or more) headcanon(s) i have that involve them and one other character

The horrible outfits were actually Benjamin's fault.

Jake tried to introduce Nog to fishing once. It did not end well.

[doublegoblin]

Get To Know My OC

Well thank ya kindly @gummybugg, first time I've been tagged on a game by someone who I hadn't followed/followed me (not to say I'm against it or offended just it has happened before!)

So I've done a couple of these for ocs from Rituals and Red Tape, I think it's time I covered the other bigger WIP: Abnormal Analytics.

>1 new message<

[Good evening Rico. With an influx of newer members it would ease incorporation for all parties to have a general understanding of each other. I am aware that these types of employee interaction are generally frowned upon, however please see to it that you fill this to the best of your ability; it is also best to write as if you would be speaking. -T]

1. Are you named after anyone?

A real head scratcher to start with! Well like most everyone else here at wonderful AARI I got to choose my own call sign. You know, you never really think much about a name until it's your turn to pick one ha ha! To tiptoe around any sensitive information, let's just say I'm trying to channel a certain role model. As far as out of work name, I'm named after my Uncle's Half-Brother, who also just so happens to be my [REDACTED]. That'll maybe be censored for publication...oh well, think of it like a fun mystery!

2. When was the last time you cried?

Oh dear, why do I feel like X had a hand in this? Well, to the best of my honest ability, it was about three weeks ago to the hour. It had been a long shift of [REDACTED] and [EXPUNGED], so needless to say I needed a nice pick-me-up. So after cleaning my area up I made my way through [REDACTED] and stopped down to the cafeteria. I had such high hope and then they were out of my favorite flavor of cake! Now Rico is man enough to not be ashamed of shedding some frustrated tears. Thankfully I had a secret angel watching me and juuuust as I had given up hope a fresh, and I mean steaming fresh, batch of cinnamon rolls was brought out. It really is the little things!

3. Do you have kids?

[Redacted]. But, that's not that important.

4. Do you use sarcasm?

I try not to. The folks that work here don't often have the best grasp of it. So all it really serves to do is make a lot of folks upset and more of a headache later on. A couple of my buds have came a long way though...still need to make it obvious I am using sarcasm, but they catch on and we have a great laugh.

5. What's the first thing you notice about people?

It's gotta be their sense of humor! In a humdrum employment you really have to understand who you can and can't crack a few jokes with, and how best to let the jokes fly. Made that mistake once with T. Great boss by the way! The man can not joke around to save himself though. I don't think I've ever even seen him smile...here to put it into words I [EXPUNGED].

6. What's your eye color?

I was blessed in the genetic lottery with these deep blue peepers. They look black most of the time, but in the right light, I've got a couple of sapphires in my face.

Scary movies or happy endings?

An ending so happy it scares you! Ha ha, I joke. I'm a bit of a softy, so I want something that will make me feel all warm and cozy at the end. Something you desperately need sometimes here, what with all the [REDACTED], [REDACTED], and blood. You get used it, but like, not over it?

8. Any special talents?

I can roll my tongue! Also I'm a little rusty but I can still play a pretty mean harmonica.

9. Where were you born?

Toledo, Michigan!

10. What are your hobbies?

If the sun is high in the sky, you can catch me fly...fishing. Really most outdoorsy thing: Kayaking, swimming, and I'm even learning to scuba dive in freshwater. My dream is to one day go out to Lake Superior and see some of those underwater shipwrecks. You know? The ones with the bodies so perfectly preserved from the cold that they still look alive. Gosh, what an experience.

11. Have you any pets?

I have a short-hair calico name Susan. She is my pride and joy. I found her as a kitten outside my house one winter. The poor thing was so thin. I didn't have any hope of saving her, I figured I could at least make her last moments not horrible. But, that little fighter would not give in. That was almost three years ago. I think she has a little siamese in her, she is one vocal misses.

12. What sports do you play/have played?

Whatever my folks wanted me to do to stay active. I played ice hockey for a few years, did some cross country, tried my hand at tennis which didn't last long, and some other more odds and ends. Right now I'm part of the company softball league. Go Pencil Punchers! Now the team name has quite a story. But, I'll keep that to myself for now. Can't go spoiling all the surprises.

13. How tall are you?

1.8 meters. Though I like to tell people 2.0 meters for a little confidence boost.

14. Favorite subject in school?

You would never guess by looking at me, but I was really passionate about biochem. Can't recall a lick of it anymore though. Maybe I can get a study group going with X and their teams. They're always happy to teach...or perhaps boast about their own intellect.

15. Dream job?

No fooling, where I am right now. I've got some amazing coworkers and work on such interesting things! I know everyones name here, or at least their call sign, and they know mine. Sure we bicker and snap at each other but what workplace doesn't? Heck I even get along just peachy with D, and he's the king of sourpuss castle! Don't tell him I said that. I couldn't ask for a better crew. And believe you me, I've been through quite a few in my time. Now I'm so glad you are here to join us...whoever you are, and I hope you'll stop by the studio once in a while! My door is always open! See ya!

Tagging in coach (no pressure): @asterhaze @hallwriteblr @ethaeriea @lola-theshowgrl and anyone else!

[lizard-shifter-noms]

Broken Bloodlines Chapter 2

——————————————————————————

Hello everyone! Arc two will now be gradually uploaded (im thinking every saturday but if someone has a better suggestion im all ears) also the chapters for arc two will be shorter for ease of reading. (i know the general attention span of people has gone down cuz Internet)

this Story contains Vore, Dont like dont read. (not in this chapter but in future ones)

have fun reading!

and as always reblogs are appreciated! (Also ASK’s are open so feel free to bother me!)

——————————————————————————

What was going on? Hopefully not any of those anti Fae folk people, 

that could cause problems, especially with Fable here.

Maybe we should just go inside the castle and ignore this, the guards would make them go away soon enough.

Then I noticed that while there were a few Guards there also was a VERY distressed looking Robin and Barsen, who weirdly enough was threatening some shaggy looking dark blonde man with Gardening tools.

What. the. Hell.

Barsen was NOT the hostile type, at all, 

he was way too kind for that,like not a mean bone in his body kind, So what could be bad enough to get him angry like that?

I turned back to Fable for a second.

“Fable? Stay here for a moment,  I'm going to check that out and I don't want you getting hurt, okay?”

He simply nodded and I crossed the short distance to the gate where a few Guards tried to tell him to leave.

Oh man that wouldn't happen with Nea or Norrin here.

I immediately went up to Robin who was clutching his head and looked extremely close to crying.

I bent down and shielded him with my arms letting him latch onto one even if his fingers dug grooves in my skin and put a comforting hand on his back.

The cause of his distress was very clear and I bared my teeth at the man that I now noticed smelled of alcohol.

I hated the smell, it was sharp and bitter and did not bring any positive memories with it.

I had no idea what he did but I didn't care, whatever it was made even Barsen angry, and that was a near impossible feat.

Then the guy addressed me, at least sort of and I could smell his awful breath from even the three meters away where I was holding the hyperventilating Ginger.

“Now there's some other fucknn Basterd, you ought to kill those vermin before they breed even more! And now this ones touching my son!”

Son? THAT was Robin's Father? The one that kicked him out? 

The one that apparently did not give a fuck about his own wife dying? The stupid alcoholic? That one?

I completely ignored his previous comments about my heritage in favor of being outraged on what he did to Robin.

No doubt he'd been an already shitty person to Robin while they lived in the same house, why else would the ginger have this reaction? 

So what the hell did he want here now? He hadn't cared about Robin and tossed him to the streets for fucks sake, and judging by how he acted he wasn't sorry nor here to make amends.

I hugged the whimpering redhead a bit closer to myself and stared at the man with as much hatred as I could.

He was probably here because he'd heard that Robin was friends with the new king and wanted a part of that. 

What exactly he wanted wasn't something I knew nor did I care to find out, but it was probably money.

It was always money after all.

Barsen was still holding him off by putting himself between the man and us and holding a sharp looking small shovel.

Yeah that thing could do damage if it hit, 

and I kinda hoped he would but Barsen wasn't the type to do that.

Then suddenly the man sprung into action, pulling a wicked and rusty looking knife out and lunging over Barsen,  who got pushed to the side, to aim for me.

Then he fell to the ground clutching his ribs and wheezing.

What? 

Looking up I saw Fable standing there with one hand behind his back and the other bent in front of him.

Where the fuck did he come from that fast? 

And on top of that what the hell just happened?

It took me an embarrassingly long time to connect the dots that Fable had saved us.

He somehow had managed to jab the man's ribs in a sensitive spot and shoved him away from us.

The man in question was currently lying on the ground and then was dragged away by a few guards.

They should have done that sooner and spared a lot of people the trouble.

Despite the man now being gone Robin was still in a panic attack and I had no idea what to do. 

Normally I would go big and comfort him like that but there were too many people and not enough space right now.

Also Fable had not seen my Ardua form and didn't know how he would react to seeing me shift without warning.

Luckily Barsen started shooing away anyone that wasn't needed 

Then he sat down in front of me and Robin who was now clinging to my shirt and making himself as small as possible, 

He also did not seem to be aware of where he was or what was going on judging by the glassy and haunted look in his eyes.

Oh fuck, what could i do now? 

I wanted to comfort my friend of course,  but Barsen and Fable were right there.

I could technically shift,  but that might scare Fable even if he probably already knew what an Ardua was, though he didn't have a bracelet like I did.

And Barsen didn't know that I was able to carry people within myself in the pouch my weird anatomy had given me.

Also we were in plain view in the front of the castle,  anyone could look out the window and see, 

and there were Guards on top of the wall as well.

I ended up just hugging the rusthead close to my chest and hoped he'd still be able to hear my heartbeat even if he was a bit further away than he was now used to.

“Its okay, he’s gone, you don't have to worry,  i'm sure he won't come back after this, you'll be okay”

I really wanted nothing more than to be able to calm him down right now but there was still way too much going on with Guards running over the wall and the Alcoholic asshole screaming something from the other side of the door.

Seems like he'd recovered already, fuckdamnit just my luck.

Maybe it would be better to carry Robin away from all of this,  just right inside the Castle might be already enough?

Barsen suddenly put a hand on my shoulder and stretched his other one out to help me get up while holding Robin.

I gladly took his arm and hoisted myself up while still holding Robin.

I half dragged half carried the smaller human over to the door while Barsen followed,  Fable was already gone but I hadn't seen where he went.

I could look for him later, right now Robin needed my help.

Also as he just demonstrated Fable was capable of handling himself, He'd be fine.

We went past the throne room which I still found ridiculous and overly pretentious but whatever.

Me and Barsen ended up bringing the still distressed Redhead into the big hall right behind the throne room itself and I recognized it as the room where the Guards had celebrated after Oakley killed the ice mage.

I wasn't sure if being here would help him but at least the room was mostly empty now with only a few tables and chairs which had all been shoved to the walls.

So the middle was empty, safe for some dust maybe,  so we set him down in the center of it where he immediately went back to gripping one of my arms as if his life depended on it.

I sat down on his right while Barsen sat to his left,  I hugged him close again to let him know he was safe now.

I had no idea what that sonofabitch did to Robin that he got this bad just by being confronted with the guy.

I really wanted to shift and comfort him in the way he'd asked in the past but Barsen was right here and if I did shift there wouldn't be much space in the room anymore.

Not to mention that if Robin saw my shifted form he'd probably do something like stick his arm in my mouth.

That was not something i wanted to explain to the Gardener, especially as i respected the man a lot and aside from being awkward how the fuck would i even begin to explain that?

And the Giant form would just brush against the ceiling, not to mention that I actually had never used that one while in the castle as I was pretty sure it could be seen over the walls and I wasn't keen on people freaking out about it.

Robin himself was still tightly gripping my lower arm, the one without the bracelet, and I moved to hug his hyperventilating form again.

Barsen sat next to us on the floor with crossed legs and basically radiated calm.

I was thankful for it though as it provided a beacon of peacefulness

Then he began to hum a little tune, a soft and simple melody that had a serene tonal pattern.

After a few seconds of this he began to sing, and I had to admit that it was rather entrancing with his baritone voice.

Just Hold On Don’t lose Control Now

I know that life gets hard sometimes

I know that sometimes you just want to cry

Just Hold On Don’t lose Control Now

Everything’s gonna be alright

Until the storm is calm

Everything’s gonna be alright 

Until your fear is gone

I know that you’re in a chapter you wish that you could erase

I know that life gets hard 

But brighter days will come

Everything’s gonna be alright

Everything’s gonna be alright

I know it hurts It's hard to breathe sometimes

You are not alone

I've been here the whole time singing you a song

Everything’s gonna be alright

Everything’s gonna be alright

You are not alone

I've been here the whole time singing you a song

Everything’s gonna be alright

Everything’s gonna be alright

As soon as he had finished I noticed that I had just been staring at nothing the whole time.

Same as Robin who had now calmed down either by surprise that Barsen could sing so well or just the melody itself.

Either way he wasn't panicking anymore and that was what mattered.

He was just sitting there quietly now, still holding onto my arm but not nearly as tight as before.

Barsen was also just sitting there on the ground seemingly not disturbed much by what had just happened.

That was the weird thing about him, He always seemed so weirdly calm and collected.

But he did help, in his own way and it worked so that was good.

“How are you?”

I looked down at the ginger who had slid a little bit onto the floor into a position I really could not call comfortable and he made a displeased noise.

“Mhf i had really hoped i'd never see him again”

It was very clear who he was referring to and if I could I'd punt the guy off the cliff.

But maybe a more nonviolent approach would be better.

“Should we tell Rikaad about it? I'm sure he could ban the guy from even going near the castle”

He looked up at me with alarmed and wide eyes.

“I'd rather not, i don't wanna bother him with my problems,  besides he probably has more important things to do right now”

I wasn't sure if I liked that response as it was clear that what happened troubled him, but if he didn't want to then there was nothing I could do.

Then Barsen stood up and both of our heads turned to the source of movement automatically.

“You might not want to go and bother him but as part of the Castle staff i do have to inform him of anything strange happening, including what happened today, 

but i'll tell him that you don't want anything to do with it”

With those words he left before either of us actually registered what he said.

Robin then sat up straight on the ground next to me.

“Oh, i hope Rikaad won't be too busy then”

I looked at him quizzically.

“What do you mean?”

He crossed his legs to sit more comfortably and then looked back at me.

“Rikaad is just a bit, uhh, perfectionistic? If that's the word?

But he has the habit of getting rid of everything he doesn't need or want if it proves to be a danger, so I don't know what he's going to do to my Dad.

And I'm not sure if I want him to do anything? I just want to keep away and pretend the man that married my mom doesn't exist”

Those were actually very valid worries,considering that Rikaad was king he could do whatever and face basically no consequences.

But Rikaad was a smart man, he wouldn't do anything that damaged his reputation, especially this early in his kingship.

Right?

I had witnessed how feral he got back when he'd thought I had eaten his friends.

Which to be fair I did,  but it wasn't to hurt them, It was to get them out of the cold.

Dodging me trying to catch him and trying to get around me to get a good angle to slay me from an ambush point.

Thinking about it if he hadn't been slowed down by the hill he'd probably managed to do just that.

No doubt he'd have cut me open immediately if I had gone down, maybe not even waited for me to die to gut me.

I had been on the wrong end of those icy gray eyes before, if briefly, and knew Rikaad was a dangerous and Capable man.

I was really glad we were friends, well as much friends one could be with the stoic king.

“Well, what now? Im sure if Barsen tells him you don't want to be involved he’ll keep you out of whatever he's gonna do, if he even does anything”

“I dunno, i don't wanna think about that”

I stood slowly up so as not to startle the redhead.

“Then don't, come on now i need to see where Fable went”

I held out a hand to him which he gladly took and pulled him up to a standing position.

“What do you think of him? He said he's your Half-Brother right? What's he like?”

That was a difficult to answer question as Fable was just, weirdly uncanny in everything he did.

“Well, i haven't known him that long but i think he's a good guy, if socially awkward but i think Elven culture is different from human culture so it might be that?

Also he just responds to things and doesn't really do things aside from that.

In short he's a bit weird but so am i so i cant judge”

The last bit managed to put a smile on the Ginger's face.

“Were all weird i think, but i don't believe that's a bad thing, Also maybe i should go tell Rikaad what happened?

I mean Barsen already told him but he doesn't know what happened before he turned up and i don't think they have context for any of it”

That much was true, Barsen could only report what he had seen and if he only appeared after it had already escalated then he wouldn't know all the details.

“I mean if you think it's best? That's up to you though and i'm sure they'd understand if you don't wanna talk about it”

He nodded and turned to face the large door.

“I'm not sure but i'll try, i don't want any of them doing something dumb just cause they got angry at him for making me cry”

I went beside him and gave him a thumbs up as a sort of encouragement.

“I don't believe Rikaad would do something rash, he’s far to calculated for that, most likely hell just ban the guy from going near the castle and that's it”

He turned to face me with wide brown eyes.

“You think so? I really don't wanna make people go Violent over it”

I shrugged.

“C’mon both of them are adult men and i'm sure they'll find a peaceful solution”

“If you say so, yeah i think giving Rikaad more info would be good, So I'm going to go and look for him.

The floorplan of this is still confusing so i don't know how long will take to find him, you don't have to come with tho, you should go back to your brother”

Right, Fable, i wasn't sure where he'd gone to but i doubted he was in the castle itself.

“Alright, good luck navigating this maze”

I messed up his Ginger hair,  drawing out a rather adorable squeak from him.

“See you then? Oh are you gonna eat at the table today? 

Or stay outside? 

I mean your Brother is here so sitting down might be nice?”

That was true, normally I just sat out in the sun for the day and that would be enough, unless there was something tasty, but occasionally I did join just to chatter a bit .

Aside from the times I snatched cinnamon bread of course.

Also Rikaad had moved the entire eating place closer to the Kitchen which was logical, especially considering they used to be almost on opposite ends of the castle.

Shitty floorplan indeed.

“I think so? I don't actually know if he had human food before,

Whatever if he doesn't like it he can just leave it”

“Oh then I'll save both of you a spot! 

Hey maybe he’ll like cinnamon bread? 

I mean you do so why not him too?”

That was actually a funny thought, yeah i did love the cinnamon bread so there was a chance that Fable would like it too?

“Maybe? I’d have to ask if he likes cinnamon at all, but for now i'd better go look for him, see you later then”

He waved and disappeared into one of the smaller doors that lined the wall.

Good luck finding anything in this labyrinth though.

I myself walked back out the door i had come from trough the throne room, which i still found idiotically pompous,  back outside into the sunlight.

I squinted a bit at the sudden change in lighting but still looked around for Fable.

After a few seconds I spotted him, he was in the same place I had earlier told him to stay behind while I went to check on Robin.

He was also just standing there not doing anything.

Literally, he was just there and did absolutely not do anything.

It was a tiny bit weird to look at so I walked briskly over to him to free him from this awkwardness.

It made sense in a way, he didn't know anyone else here, or the area, So I would probably do something similar if I was in his place.

“Fable! Hey, I'm so sorry for walking off but I had to help Robin, but now we can continue, if you want? I'm sure we'll find the library if we look for it”

I did hope however that we'd find someone that actually knew where it was, if only to spare time, and me embarrassment from not knowing where things were. 

He turned to face me fully and I was left to stare directly into his blood red eyes that still seemed weirdly uncanny.

Must be the unusual color.

“I apologize for not staying where you told me to”

What? Did he think I was mad at him for following me to Robin? I definitely wasn't, if he hadn't stepped in I'd be in the infirmary right now!

“No, no it's alright, you helped and that's what matters, without you i would have gotten stabbed, also that was impressive to be honest”

It really had been, he'd disarmed the man with a single movement, granted he didn't have armor and was drunk but still.

His eyes flicked over me for a second, coming to rest on my left arm.

“Your arm is bleeding”

Looking down I saw that he was indeed right, There were five tiny bleeding wounds.

I realized that this was where Robin had gripped my arm,  maybe a bit too tight it and ended up digging his fingernails in.

“Oh, yeah don't worry about that, that's such a small wound it'll stop bleeding on its own, also i don't want to walk all the way back to Oakley and ask for a rather useless bandage”

“Is there not an infirmary in the castle?”

Well yes there was, the problem was that my anatomy was nonsense to any of the human medics though.

Also from the years i spent on the street i kinda had a problem with asking for help in minor things, Besides, it was just five tiny dots that really weren't worth the effort in my opinion.

“There is but I'm not gonna bother them over something so tiny, besides they are human medics they have no idea what to do with my weird hybrid anatomy.

And Oakley is the only one i trust not to fuck up in that regard, he pretty funky in the anatomy part himself after all”

Oakley had to deal with all of his shit himself as far as i was aware, also unlike the medics he had an actual book on Ardua anatomy somewhere.

Even if he still hadn't found it as apparently his old hut was a disaster of a mess stuffed full of things he didn't even need.

He ought to sort his stuff better this time.

“The winged man is strange i agree on that”

Strange probably didn't even begin to describe it sometimes, but so far the only thing that got set on fire was Oakleys cloak so it was probably fine.

“Well whatever, lets go look if we find the Library, we can just stay there till dinner, oh by the way did you have human food before?

I don't want to give you something you react allergic to”

He seemed to think for just a second before he responded.

“I have had simple foods like bread and fruit but did not get the chance to try any other dishes,  and i do not have any allergies as far as i am aware”

Well yeah bread and fruit was easy to get so it made sense he'd got to try that first, also no allergies was great! 

He could try whatever he wanted then.

Like cinnamon bread.

I strung him along towards the castle then.

“Hey, have you ever had cinnamon? 

It's a bit expensive but one of my favorite spices”

He walked briskly beside me.

“Cinnamon? Not that i know”

He'd be in for a surprise then when he got to try all the stuff this evening!

Ducking into a side door that was in the castle I tried to remember what little I knew of the layout.

There had to be someone that knew where the library was after all.

Or where the hell we where right now as we had taken a few turns in one of the stupid hallways and i lost track of where i was already.

Luckily I could hear some form of chatter coming from one of the other paths.

Turning the corner I could see the head chef of the kitchen petting the cat.

Myril was her name and she was a pretty nice person even if didn't interact with her much aside from asking for food through one of the kitchen windows.

She had plenty of fun just throwing Bread at my Ardua form one time though.

“Ah hey Myril! Could you tell us where the library is? I really don't know how any of you find anything in this stupid floorplan”

She looked up, much to the displeasure of the cat,  and put her hair behind her ear.

“Oh the library? To get there you just have to go two times right one left and then another right from here”

She pointed to one of the hallways that went away from this one before picking up the cat who didn't protest.

“Really? Thank you! Fable wanted to see it, so we'll stop bothering you now!”

She waved and left in the opposite direction we had to go and took the cat with her who seemed to be alright with being held like a baby.

I then led Fable to where we had been instructed to go.

And as Myril had said, taking two right one left and then another right there was the beautifully carved wood door to the Library.

The carvings mostly consisted of a big tree above a single splayed open book but the detail was actually very pretty with all the leaves and such.

Pushing the doors Open we were greeted with shelves full of books and scripts as well as scrolls some of which were still sealed with wax.

We should probably not touch those.

“See? I said we'd find it eventually! Now let's look what books they have here”

I went along the shelves while Fable did the same a bit away from me, he was also faster and I realized he was probably a way better reader than I was.

Eh id just try to pick something simple then, like… this book about cats?

Apparently it was about Coat patterns?

Oh I could look if my Feline friends pattern was described in there!

Might even help with picking out a name too.

Glancing over I saw that Fable had taken a fairly thick book and was reading it in front of the shelf while standing up straight.

That couldn't be good for one's spine, there surely was at least one chair around right?

I let my eyes wander across the room to look for anything to sit on.

There were a couple chairs around an old looking table but they didn't look all too comfy.

There also was a bay window that contained a total of two old pillows which were decorated with colorful patches, presumably to patch holes.

Yeah, whatever, that would do, I'd give Fable the Window area and just sit on one of the chairs.

“Fable? You don't have to read standing up,  there's some pillows over there that's bound to be more comfortable”

I pointed at the window seat thing as soon as I'd gotten Fable’s attention and he gave a graceful nod.

While he walked over I could see that the book he picked was an old one that had the Kamerasca flag on it.

Made sense, he didn't really know anything about the place so reading up on it might help.

Maybe it would even help him be less awkward around people in general?

Well if it soothed his nerves about being in the middle of a human kingdom at least a little then that was already good.

Swinging myself into a chair that provided sufficient reading light so I could at least see the letters on the old paper.

Glancing over at Fable I could see that he opted to sit on the inlaid bench with his back against a wall and his legs tucked up as a sort of makeshift Lectern to rest the book against.

Just looking at him proved he was a far more graceful individual than me and I wondered for just a moment how I would have turned out if I had lived with Elves instead of humans.

But if i had done that i would never have met my friends, none of them.

I'd probably have a different name too, an Elven one like Fable even if he didn't want to tell it.

How weird to think about what could have been but never will be.

I decided to read the book I picked before I spiraled myself into some form of existential dread with that train of thought.

Opening it the first thing that greeted me was a glossary of the chapters and whatnot.

Maybe that would help me find the thing I was looking for faster.

Though the first few chapters weren't exactly what i had expected so i would just skip them.

I did not want to know how to properly skin a cat. 

No thanks.

At least there was a short description of the basic fur patterns as the list did not contain any drawings to help with that.

The one i was looking for was apparently in the latter half of the book near the end so memorizing the number i flipped the pages till i found it.

The pattern was Described as Siamese but apparently there were subtypes too as the description said dark brown legs and tail instead of Rusty so I flew over the other descriptions till I found the word red, orange or rusty.

I found it after another minute or so of reading, sure anyone else would probably have been faster but I did go as fast as i could.

The description fit almost perfectly aside from the fact that the cat i knew did not have a rusty face too like it was described here but everything else fit so it was probably just an anomaly.

So my cat friend was a Flame point siamese, or at least that was the closest thing to it.

Funny how pale and rust haired individuals just randomly decided to befriend me.

Though that did not help with a name idea at all, using everything fire related as a name was stupid, not to mention it didn't fit at all.

Oh well, worth a try at least.

Time to stuff the book back then, and maybe take a new one as Fable was still reading his.

Glancing over I saw that he was already a fifth in, He really was the better reader here.

Standing up I went to put the book back only to realize that I didn't quite remember where in the shelf I had pulled it out from.

Whatever the approximate area would be good enough.

Stuffing it into the shelves in what probably was the wrong place I went to look over the other books trying to find anything that interested me.

Since I was a slow reader that took a while and I somehow ended up finding a loose brick between two shelves.

Pulling it out simply out of curiosity I found a rather thin book that someone must have hid there at some point between the other brickwork.

It didn't possess a title but the cover had something akin to a broad lizard with six legs and fur on it.

I had no idea what that Creature was but maybe It would be described in the book itself? It did have a strange mammalian vibe.

Bringing it back to my spot at the table I blew the rest of the dust off which resulted in a sneeze from myself.

Fable didn't say anything to that, not even a bless you but maybe elves just didn't do that sort of thing?

Whatever that really didn't matter, also he was pretty engrossed in his own book so i didn't want to disturb him.

Opening the book showed that it did have a title but the pages were old and faded so I could only make out the first few words that looked to be added later in the book's life.

THE TALE OF

The Tale of who? Or what? The thing on the cover maybe?

Well maybe the later pages would show that, and what the six legged mammal was called.

Flipping to the next page it showed the thing on the cover resting near some houses which weren't even half the size of it.

It was just sitting there and the people that lived there didn't seem to mind much which was weird as they were clearly humans.

Who knew how long ago that was? The second weird thing I noticed was that the being itself, while fuzzy, still possessed a scaled underside even if not much of it was shown.

I flipped the page as there was no writing to decipher, at least none that I could see on the old parchment.

The other page was in a way better condition and even contained some color, it depicted the creature again who was being offered a variety of things by the humans, cute, maybe some deity?

Then I saw something that made my brain freeze.

On the chest of the Creature was a Very familiar symbol.

Even with the scarce coloring there was no mistaking it.

It was the Kamerasca flag, blue background, red ring and yellow star.

How? And how old was this book? What was this?

Intrigued, I flipped to the next page which showed the Creature defending the little humans from what appeared to be a mixture of Manticores and other creatures most of which I couldn't name except Drakes.

Funny to think that Manticores were a problem however long this dated back too.

So whatever the big thing was it was Guarding the little humans for whatever reasons.

Well the previous page had shown them giving offerings.

I flipped to the next page and it showed an area that I was sure I had seen before, 

or at least half of it as the other half did not look like it did today.

But it was for sure Lormount, the unclaimed place between the two Kingdoms of Kamerasca and Maringand.

There even was the river which went a different route than it did today.

There also were more people, but they looked to be clad in different things than the ones with the creature and they seemed to want to trade with the Humans that lived on the other side of the river from them.

Was I looking at the stories of Kamerasca and Maringand before they were Kingdoms? 

Well they were literally just a few huts and some tents so it was more than likely.

How old was this book? 

It seemed to predate the actual history of the kingdom but for that it was in astounding condition.

Now I was really curious so I went to the next page which showed the big Creature again, and another one that was just as big as the six legged one.

This one seemed to only have four legs but there were strange nubs on its back which seemed to have been wings at some point? 

At least it looked like it but I couldn't be sure.

It was also fully scaled and had what looked like the Maringand flag as a mask over its eyes.

The two beings were just staring at each other while the humans traded.

Flipping to the next page they were apparently back in their little area with the big Creature keeping watch.

Seeing it next to the tents and everything only showed how big it was and the humans next to it where barely the size of one of its claws, some not even half that.

The size difference between the creature and the humans it was protecting was a lot greater than the difference between me and humans.

It was strange, but there was a faint feeling of happiness that if something THIS big could be gentle with something so comparatively small then so could i.

Though I guessed to accurately get the size difference I'd have to hold something like a Rat at my own Giant size.

That was not something I wanted to do if I was honest.

Wellp next page then.

This one showed the Creature again with its head resting on the ground and an absolutely tiny human seemingly just petting it.

A child? I couldn't tell the gender of it but with how simple the style was it probably didn't even matter.

The only defining feature from this one that set them apart was the red hair, huh like Robin almost.

Maybe they were friends with the Creature? That would be nice.

The next page showed that I had guessed right as the little one was sitting on the creature's head picking some fruit out of a tree while everyone else had to use ladders or stay on the ground.

The next set of pictures showed more of the friendship with the Creature like the little one braiding what it could in the thick sand colored fur of the creature or just cuddling with it.

It was honestly kinda cute and made me wonder what the hell happened to the creature that these days nobody knew of it anymore.

Probably died of old age or something, same with the other one.

The next page wasn't so happy though as it showed Lormount again and this time the other tribe or what it was holding spears and tried to threaten the Creatures humans.

It didn't really like that so it was baring its teeth which had a total of six canine teeth.

Impressive really, the attention to Detail in this one was insane.

I flipped to the following page cautiously as to what would happen next.

This one just depicted the Creature leading its Humans back with a wary glance at the other big thing.

The next one showed the spear using humans falling into the little community in the middle of the night only to get chased off by the Guardian of it.

The spear wielding ones seemed really aggressive. 

I swiftly flipped the paper to the next page which showed the spear wielders to be fleeing back to their own creature.

The thing had a very displeased look on its weird face and was staring at what appeared to be the direction of the little community.

The next time I flipped to the page it showed both parties back at the river in Lormount and trading once again.

Both Creatures were there and openly hostile to each other but the Guardian looked more protective while the other one was just downright nasty with its hatred so openly displayed.

Next the book showed the huts and tents again with the little one appearing to comfort their big Guardian which was nice but I had a feeling this book was going to take a turn for the worse.

Which it did as the next page showed another trade attempt or whatever it was and this time the little one had sneaked off to the side.

It seemed their Guardian hadn't noticed for the moment but the Hostile one was looking directly at them.

Uh oh that wasn't gonna end well was it?

Flipping again it showed the Hostile one had stretched its neck over the water and snatched the little one in its jaws with the Guardian only now noticing with an alarmed expression.

Flipping again it depicted the Hostile one again in a sitting position with one absolutely tiny arm poking out between its only slightly parted teeth while the Guardian seemed pissed and did what I assumed to be some sort of threat display.

From the face of the Hostile one I judged it wasn't impressed with that though.

The next page showed that the Hostile Creature had bit down and a single bloodied arm dropped to the ground in front of the horrified looking Guardian.

That turned Graphic pretty fast.

And it was disturbingly detailed too.

Still I wanted to know how this ended so I flipped the page once again.

This one showed both of the creatures fighting with the hostile one having embedded its jaw in one of the Guardians front legs while the Guardian itself was scratching the other one's chest with its free leg and biting one of the strange nubs the hostile one had on its back.

The next few pages were just a continuation of the fight where the Guardian lost the already bitten leg and the hostile one having a chunk taken out of its shoulder while the little humans fled to their respective sides.

At some point the fight moved to a mountain peninsula and them trying to throw each other off of it.

The hostile one slipped and bit the guardian's tail so both ended up falling in the water while half the mountain collapsed under them.

So that was how the cliff came to be.

The story continued by showing that both of the creatures were still alive albeit severely injured and crawling out from under the rubble that was being washed away by the waves.

The Hostile creature seemed to have been hit worse than the guardian as there were sharp stones embedded into its back and legs while it dragged itself back to shore.

The Guardian was just a bit better off but still full of deep cuts and scratches and a chunk of its broad tail taken out where the hostile one had bitten it.

It was also right behind the hostile one and when it got close enough bit it's heel one last time before getting kicked in the face with the hostile one fleeing towards some mountains in the distance.

I knew those mountains as they were where Maringand would be one day.

The Guardian itself limped back back to where the humans had set up their place and lied down somewhat next to it.

The next page then showed what the hostile creature was doing, and it was not going well for sure.

The Hostile one had lost the fight over the area and instead moved to die quite a ways away in the groove of some mountains.

Huh, so Maringand was basically build over this things corpse, well that was a bit fucked up to put it mildly.

Also the depiction of it lying dead there and blood leaking out in little streams was kind of disturbing to say the least.

At least the next pages showed the guardian creature again.

It was still lying in the same spot but the humans seemed to have tended to its wounds as it looked better than before, though still missing one of its front legs.

The following pages it was clear that the Guardian couldn't do what it usually did as the little humans got attacked again and again by various creatures which mostly consisted of manticores and drakes.

The book then seemed to be missing a few pages but the ones that were still there showed that one of the humans had picked up a spear that had gotten dropped by the other community.

They went back into the village only to be met with another monster attack on the humans while the Guardian tried its best to fend them off while it couldn't walk, which wasn't as effective as it had been in the past.

The human with the spear then set to stabbing some of the manticores to death till all of the monsters left the area.

There were once again one or two pages missing but the next intact one showed the spear human again in what probably was supposed to be the middle of the night.

There was a rack of even more spears next to it so I assumed the missing pages just depicted the humans making weapons for the first time.

Flipping through once again the next page showed the human holding the spear to the Guardians eyes while the stars reflected in them.

I couldn't tell what color exactly they were supposed to be but in the surprisingly realistic drawing they seemed to be some hue of a lighter shade of blue.

The human then brought down the spear right in the middle of the poor creature's pupil.

It didn't react much while the human hacked both of its eyes out aside from tears leaking out of its damaged eyes and later blood.

The poor thing, all of that what happened previously wasn't even its fault so why was the human so violent towards it?

That was probably in the missing pages, damnit.

The human continued to cut and hack at the Guardians face till they moved to its throat where the human impaled the front of it repeatedly until there was so much blood that i was sure the poor being was dead.

Also basic anatomy with most creatures was that the airway was in that general area so there was a chance it suffocated as well by the holes poked into its trachea.

The human then moved to the beings chest area and cut out the patch that looked like the Kamerasca flag.

It probably was the first one too but I also assumed that later versions had been made a little more symmetrical than this scaly hide had.

The last page of the book only depicted the human swinging a flagpole where the still a bit bloody hide of the creature was mounted.

That was the end of the book, and apparently the end of the creature's story.

Kamerasca had killed its Guardian.

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