#RW Guard

[boyswhowawa]

The Guardian

The Guardian, a variation on one of my ocs, The Guard

he's been turned semi-eldritch because he went to rubicon with his lover, the Saint

and now he's like this!!! he has all the same powers a Guardian has, in addition to just. Being really freaking tough!!

here's him giving my friend @dramaticuser and @pookapufferfish's ocs!! a bit to just show him Big

ajsdflaksfj

he can turn more of his body into the bitties too, usually for wacky combat reasons

[batnip]

Reversed Karma AU

A Rainworld Alternate Universe.

...

 The.. triple affirmative has been found- the affirmative that a ..solution has been found, the affirmative that the..solution is portable, and the affirmative that technical implementation is possible and generally applicable.

I remember that cycle... ancients swarmed the stuff, only privilege given to the founder, Sliver of Straw, was leaving us first.

And then cycle by cycle, our parents left..

Spoilered for absurd about of text, and general spoilers.

Saint never wanted to ascend anything. And by the time every last ancient was dead and gone, cycles passed, and structures fell. The green fuzzy thing was not once fuzzy, growing a coat as the rain sent by iterators stopped.

- - So it trailed along, guilty for what was not its fault, bringing iterators to life again. With a new name, [Pilgrim].

-- Footnote : Karma needs are reversed with the Pilgrim. Dying will up their karma, surviving will lower it. Secret passages will be added to cross gates you cannot with low karma, as it is needed to progress. =======================================

Rivulet is an odd case. I wanted them to obviously give rarefaction cells, as they did to Moon originally. So the tale goes they were created by a rebellious, younger Ancient who was fond of life and the cycle. One who refused the common ideals.

-- The swift little mouse they created, was given their own ability to create low-density rarefaction cells (singularity bombs) and refine them into more high-quality cells which the Ancient learned themself.

-- As soon as the news was spread to the general public of the triple affirmative, they sent the [Technician] out into the world, wearing several pearls describing their mission. ===========

Monk and Survivor lived with their colony, and were sent to scout a new home for the colony by the [Mapmaker]. They are named [Guard] and [Scout] in Reversed Karma. They brought Scout's two slugpups with them, even if the journey was dangerous, finding a new home for Scout pups was important to both Scout and their Sibling.

-- They find the tree in journey's end, Guard staying with the pups there as Scout tells the rest of the colony, including the leader, Mapmaker.

-- Footnote: Monk still brings Moon her cloak and several pearls. =========================================

The [Mapmaker] replaces Gourmand in Reversed Karma, making a map for their colony to follow. They are the leader of their colony.

-- Very similar to vanilla, leaving current living to the tree, showing the colony to the new home.

-- Footnote : Rain is beginning to return to normal, without cold mechanic. =====================================

The [Traveler] replaces Hunter in Reversed Karma, created by Five Pebbles to check on the local group. They spawn in the grounds of Unparralled Innocence. They do not have the Rot due to Five Pebbles more careful creation of a purposed organism compared to No Significant Harrassment.

-- Footnote : Cold mechanics are in work in these areas, as UI and CW were revived later than LTTM and FP.

-- Footnote : You may optionally visit Chasing Wind. ==========

The [Mother] replaces Artificer in Reversed Karma. Their slugpups are both alive, with the same explosive quality. They give Pebbles back his cloak and become a citizen after Sofanthiel locks onto them.

-- Footnote : Mother has bad reputation with scavengers due to passing tolls without payment before the campaign. They get a backspear due to one less hand slot having two pups.

-- Footnote : Rain has returned to normal.

-- Footnote : Mother has reduced food needs compared to vanilla Artificer due to needing to feed their pups. ===============

The [Messenger] replaces Spearmaster in Reversed Karma. They were created by Seven Red Suns to send messages between them and their friends, similar to [Traveler]'s check-ins with other iterators.

-- Footnote : Messenger has a mouth, and cannot duel wield spears.

================================================

A note from the OP: I hope you like them.. I've been wanting to show them off for a while. One of my headcannons for iterators was that the natural urges are coded into them with anti-ascension stuff. Like. Make ascension for us, but not for you. This is why they were wildly unsuccessful in finding the triple affirmative. Also.. Tumblr nuked quality of my image :c If u read all this and liked it perhaps a rb?? also hehe funny number thank u all

[scugbox]

please do death notice (spear x arti) i beg you theres barely any content for us /silly /lh

come get yalls food!

i dont have a spearmaster design so i had to improvise with the patterns lmao

also i dunno if thats really clear but spear is makin a heart with their needles! cheesy slugs

[xenomorphicdna]

Void Head Canon Moment

Ok so what if the sky wasn't real

Hold on with me here

We know that the void sea sorta dissolves everything that falls into it, it just goes, matter disappears. But wouldn't the void eventually eat everything? The ground would be all gone, and yet it's still there. We are told by Moon that:

So what if, what falls into the void sea eventually falls as dust from the sky. Nothing is truly gone, the cycle continues. Dust that falls from the sky, to become part of a plant, or an animal and in due time to eventually return the void and fall from the sky yet again.

What if the sky was the very bottom of the void sea?

[ask-the-young-nor-westers]

Meet Raelynn Brackenborough

Bio: Raelynn is a young Guard who works on Edward's branchline. Being an operational guard, she has the capability of looking after both goods and passenger trains. Raelynn is very proud of her heritage in the NWR and is friendly with all the workers and engines she knows on the railway. Surprisingly, she also knows how to keep Bill and Ben in line.

Trivia: Raelynn began working for the NWR shortly after Richard Hatt's training program was put into effect. However, she was not a member of his class and was trained personally by the Wellsworth Stationmaster.

[deviousdiesel]

was no one gonna tell me that the audiobook version for diesel's backstory retcons him being sent away in the rws because he asks duck to help him the next day and he gets to stay on sodor or was i supposed to find out myself

[completeandtotalchaos]

Finally caved and made a separate tumblr for my RW ocs; @chaositerators !!

[tojisun]

sugar, spice, everything on ice — tf 141 hockey au

hockey players tf 141 x (separate) f!reader(s)

> league players tf 141 and their journeys—both on ice and off ice—during the playoffs

!! ratings may change; loosely tied world-building; hinted age gaps; inaccurate references to nhl and ihwc

: this series is immensely self-indulgent bc every work was written for me (my team got eliminated in the playoffs and i was heartbroken!!) but i hope u guys would like it too :’33

for all posts, click on the #hockey au tag!!

— simon riley, LW forward (#41)

hockey player simon visual

⁺₊❆⋆𐙚 his favourite fan

his favourite fan 01

his favourite fan 02

his favourite fan 03

his favourite fan 04

extras of ‘his favourite fan’:

the genius

the goddamn mouth guard

comfort in you -

how to deal with a loss - ask; smut

⁺₊❆⋆𐙚 fwb spinoff

if fwb

if fwb - meeting

if fwb - mystery girlfriend

— john price, goaltender (#2)

the budding star

— kyle garrick, defenseman (#33)

we can’t be friends

the captain

polarities | recent!

— johnny mactavish, RW forward (#91)

the future mactavishes

— the specgru

the boys and their wags

penalty box and missing tooth’s - ask

(updated as of 20 june 2024)

[yourplayersaidwhat]

Stoned guard: hell yeah, I'll take a hit

Rogue Warlock: here bro (casts eldritch blast)

DM: roll deception

RW: 23

Stoned Guard: aw man what was in that weed?

RW: it's mixed with fentanyl man, don't worry about it (eldritch blast again)

Stoned Guard: duuuuuude that shit's strong man

[sudriantraveler]

Rheneas' Return

I’ve been thinking about Rheneas’ return to the Skarloey Railway after his overhaul, and there is a lot to talk about.

First of all, for those who don’t know or maybe just need a reminder, in the RWS Rheneas left the Skarloey Railway for a major overhaul in 1952, having just barely kept the railway running through its darkest hour as its sole working engine since Skarloey was sidelined in 1945.

He was then away from Sodor for 9 years, before finally returning home in 1961.

And he was probably in for a bit of a shock when he returned, because a lot happened in those 9 years.

First of all, the Skarloey Railway was in the middle of a crisis when Rheneas left. Only one engine is operable barely, the track is falling apart, revenue is low to non-existent, and about 90% of the work needed to keep things functioning day-to-day is being done by just two guys.

When Rheneas returns, it's like a completely new railway. Passengers are plentiful, there are new engines and coaches, the railways workforce has grown significantly, and the track actually feels good to run over instead of delivering a sensation of being repeatedly punched in the frames.

The thing is, Rheneas is still on some level probably going to be operating in crisis mode, because that’s all he’s known since about the beginning of the 1930s.

He insists on taking much more work than the other engines. Partly because he enjoy his work and is extremely happy to be home again, but mainly because he’s been having nightmares for the last few years about returning to nothing, and the fact that the railway still exists let alone that it’s actually thriving, is something which he’s having to constantly remind himself is not just a dream.

Then there’s all of the new stuff.

Before Rheneas left it was just him, Skarloey, the four old coaches and the one guard’s van, the numerous trucks, and a modestly sized workforce who Rheneas knew all of the names of. That was it since the railway began in 1865, the only exception being during WW2 when the war department briefly came in with a few of their own engines.

Now though, there are four new engines, several new coaches, and someone’s coming to light Rheneas’ fire in the morning who isn’t Mr. Hugh (keep in mind that in Rheneas' previous experience this usually meant the regular firelighter had either retired or died).

Also apparently the old slate quarry has been entirely taken over by the military and is now completely off limits, and there’s a big metal fence and a bunch of scary looking signs at the entrance, and frankly the whole situation up there just makes Rheneas feel really uneasy.

Needless to say, it takes something of an adjustment period for Rheneas to get used to everything.

I particularly want to talk about Rheneas early dynamic with the new engines, one in particular. You’ll know who when I get there.

To start with, Rheneas at least saw Sir Handel and Peter Sam before he left, so he at least knows they’re on the railway before he returns.

The thing is, his first impression of them was probably the same as Skarloey’s: Peter Sam is excitable and maybe a bit too overeager for his own good, and Sir Handel is bad tempered and takes his anger out on everything around him.

Rheneas probably breathed a sigh of relief when he saw they hadn’t burned the place down in his absence.

After Rheneas returns from overhaul he adjusts to the two former Mid Sodor engines well enough.

Sir Handel is still bad tempered, but he also still does his work regardless of how much he grumbles about it. Plus Peter Sam keeps insisting that Sir Handel does indeed mean well and is just having a hard time adjusting, and given the occasional details the two of them just casually drop about life on the Mid Sodor, Skarloey and Rheneas are inclined to give both of them plenty of time to adjust.

Peter Sam is still very energetic but Rheneas also sees that he’s clearly a hard worker, and the fact that the coaches adore him also helps to make him look pretty good in Rheneas’ eyes.

Rheneas immediately takes a liking to Rusty for much the same reason Skarloey did. They’re hardworking, kind, and their work repairing and maintaining the line makes them seem to the two old engines like an angel sent down by Lady herself.

I fully believe that after years of nothing but bent rails and rotted sleepers, running over an actually good permanent way for the first time after overhaul must have felt like a religious experience to Skarloey and Rheneas.

And then there’s Duncan.

Duncan, as he will happily admit himself, is a plain blunt engine who will rock and roll, and who speaks as he finds.

Sure, he means well, and he’ll pull just about anything… But Rheneas hears the story of him stopping on the viaduct, and is immediately wary of Duncan.

It doesn’t help that, having had the serious responsibility of being the only working engine on the line for an extended period of time, Rheneas has a bit of complex about doing everything himself and see’s anything that happens on the railway as, at least partially, his responsibility.

So Duncan just fully blowing off his responsibility to his passengers and stopping in the middle of the line, something which Rheneas did only once and very much against his best efforts, just feels like a personal insult to Rheneas.

It doesn’t quite register with him that Skarloey has already given Duncan the whole lecture on why that was stupid and how passengers are important.

And Duncan has improved since then. He acknowledges the importance of looking after his passengers and knows to at least keep his complaints out of earshot of them.

The thing is, Duncan is still a plain blunt engine, and passenger etiquette does not come naturally to him. But he’s trying, and quite frankly some of the passengers' complaints just seem ridiculous to him. So what if he rocks and rolls a bit? That's just how he is, and he still gets them to the station on time… usually.

But when Rheneas hears Duncan one night in the shed complaining about a particularly rough journey where there were significant delays and the passengers were really pushing his limits, Rheneas decides that Duncan still hasn’t learned their ways.

Rheneas may also be having a bit of a crisis of questioning just how much the railway still needs him with all of the new engines who are also there now. And what better way to reassure himself that he's still needed than to position himself as a mentor figure.

Duncan, for his part, does in fact respect Rheneas since Skarloey told him how he had saved the railway, and he wants to get along with the guy…

But that becomes increasingly difficult to do when Duncan keep having moments where he’s shunting the yard, minding his own business and doing a pretty alright job… and then he look towards the sheds and see Rheneas watching him like a hawk, looking for any sign that he’s about to mess up somehow.

And on the occasions that Duncan does mess up, however slight, Rheneas is very quick to give his input on what he did wrong and how the whole situation could have been avoided.

Skarloey may be stern, but he at least acknowledges that Duncan is trying his best, and gives him credit when he does well. He at least gives Duncan the respect of treating him like a capable engine.

So Duncan gets along fine with Skarloey… But Rheneas?

Respect him and his efforts to keep the railway running… Sure.

Actually get along with him… Not so much.

This pretty much sums up the dynamic between the two of them.

Until one day…

Duncan is taking the morning train, and one passenger in particular is just being a complete pain in the ass. It’s not just Duncan who’s fed up with him by the time they leave the station, this guy is getting on everyone’s nerves.

But Duncan puts forward his best effort, and maintains his professionalism.

But the guy keeps being a jerk throughout the entire run up the line. Anything goes slightly wrong, and he’s making his grievances known.

Duncan is glad when he doesn’t see him on the platform when he begins the journey back down the line, the man having decided to hike one of the various trails around Skarloey Lake.

When he gets back to Crovan’s Gate, Duncan immediately rolls off to the sheds and starts venting to whoever will listen about the angry passenger.

And right on cue, Rheneas begins his lecture.

Duncan, by this point, has been having a really bad day, and is quite frankly beyond his normal limits. So he just says “Alright then… You know how to deal with passengers, you take the afternoon train”.

So Rheneas does, and all goes well on the up journey. But then he finds Duncan’s passenger at the top station, who is apparently furious that Duncan’s train didn’t wait for him as he went wandering around the lake.

Rheneas tries to point out, very calmly, that there are schedules posted very clearly at every station building, but the man doesn’t listen.

Ok… This is fine.

Rheneas has dealt with his fair share of difficult passengers before, all of them with grace. He can handle this one.

But the journey back down the line doesn’t go smoothly, and all the while the angry passenger is becoming more and more unbearable.

And then, between Glennock and Cros-ny-Cuirn, Rheneas derails.

It wasn’t a particularly bad derailment, and it wasn’t his fault. Just a bad joint in the rails which Rusty and Mr Hugh hadn’t had the chance to fix on their last maintenance run, and which had been worsened by the last few times a train had run over it.

Naturally, the angry passenger is complaining more than ever now, and Rheneas is feeling rather defeated.

It’s Duncan who comes to rescue the train, and Rheneas is surprised but very grateful for the fact that he doesn’t say anything as Rheneas is leavered back onto the rails.

It’s a pretty speedy rerailing too.

Duncan is coupled on infront and the two engines double-head the train the rest of the way home. They get there with no further issues, and most of the passengers are just happy the derailment was sorted out quickly and efficiently, and that they were still able to catch the connecting train.

All except one.

The angry passenger is now just being insulting. Everyone is tired and unhappy, and now they still have to deal with him ranting about what a bad railway this is.

And then Duncan just snaps.

Rheneas never thought he would be happy to hear someone cursing out a passenger…

But Duncan’s tirade in Rheneas’, his own, and the railways defense, is just about the most cathartic thing he’s ever experienced.

Duncan only fully stops after the Thin Controller gets involved, denies the passenger a refund, and watches him storm off out of the station to catch a bus (he had spent so long arguing he had missed the connecting train).

After that, and with one final uttering of good riddance, the two engines shunt the coaches away and go to the sheds for a well deserved rest.

Rheneas see’s Duncan in a new light after that. He still often disagrees with his more grumpy and blunt approach, but he’s finally giving Duncan some space to make mistakes without needless criticism.

Rheneas still insists on the importance of passengers, and treats all of them with respect and high regard…

But he and Duncan have come to an agreement that some of them are just nuisances.

[cosinelanguage]

Double Overtime -- extended author's notes

as with the last long fic I wrote, I have some extended author's notes on the fic haha. posting them to Tumblr was fun the last time, so without further ado:

Hockey Details

I went into this set up being like ‘i know a reverse sweep isn’t likely but it IS dramatic so i’ll do it’ and then i watched in awe/horror as the Panther’s 3-0 lead shrunk down to 3-3 and the oilers were set to pull of a reverse sweep (and spoil the end of my fanfic.). The oilers ALMOST did it but whiffed it at the end. Still, wild timing for me. We’re living in one of Connor McDavid’s failed timeloops. 

I have a like, novice level understanding of hockey but a huge amount of enthusiasm. A time loop was the best plot to get around that– i only have to focus on one hockey match rather than the logistics of an entire season or more. There’s still a lot more i could do if i understood the game more, but hey, i was here for the fights and i provided for myself. 

The Baratie Steelheads and the Syrup Village Sockeyes aren’t the most fitting names for the both (types of salmon), but they are names that were on the Seattle Kraken’s original team name shortlist, so it was an easter egg for myself.

Sanji’s entire contract thing is definitely over the top plot contrivance, but there’s a certain amount of over the top required when adapting his backstory. The Steelheads leaving Baratie is inspired by the poor Arizona Coyotes being relocated. RIP to the Coyotes, coolest jerseys in the league squandered by poor management

Most the fights were actually based on hockey clips from twitter lol. thanks for the insp hockey

Character Details

I didn’t include all the character details for the strawhats, primarily because it’s Sanji’s POV and he’s mostly focused on zoro. But, for the list, with more details about characters with less screentime lol:

Luffy: Captain, Center. I think he’s pretty versatile and also sometimes plays LW/RW, but he’s primarily the Strawhats center and captain, with a huge near-elastic reach

Zoro: Defenseman, though a particularly offensive d-man and an enforcer. Roughly, this is basically an unofficial role for the guy who starts fights with people who make dirty plays. 

Nami: Technically the social media manager of the team, acts more like the team’s overall manager. Team manager kind of seems like a lazy spot to put her in, but i like to think she’s a travel enthusiast and expenses it all on the company card lol

Usopp: LW/RW, and one of the top scorers when he’s backed up properly. Pretty underrated when initially being recruited, but shines under the Pirates’ strategy

Sanji: LW, and a pest. Basically he annoys people into fighting him HAHA. the perfect role for him. I wanted him to be LW primarily for the whole pirate king’s wings energy

Vivi: owner of the alabasta ducks! And a former olympic figure skater. Her and nami have a complicated on again / off again relationship, which mostly comes up whenever there’s a Ducks vs Pirates game (and they either get together / break up)

Chopper: ok, chopper was a complicated decision. I was caught between him being a gentle giant of a defenseman VS him being team doctor, but in the end decided that doctor required less justification

Robin: Robin was difficult to fit in. I ended up deciding on her being the Pirates local commentator. Commentator is fun at the least because there’s a lot of context/history/etc of the players on the ice you need to know to be good at the job, and i think she’d be HILARIOUS

Franky: Goalie! Franky fits well as goalie, first of all because of how beefy goalie equipment is, and second of all because a goalie with a big personality is quite fun. There’s something extremely fitting about him doing the ‘super’ move with leg guards

Brook is the Pirates DJ! What Else. i think he picks great songs for the stadium. zoro tells him to use mamma mia as sanji’s song and sanji nearly sends him into an early grave.

Jinbe: coach He was initially the goalie in a very early draft, but coach makes sense in terms of how he’d be able to support the team and his general level headedness. There’s a lot of clips of Paul Maurice, the Panther’s current coach, having this absolutely chill energy about him that’d work so well

Plotting/Planning Thoughts

I decided on ‘Double Overtime’ as the title pretty quickly, just because it’s (a) a hockey term and (b) a fun way to describe two people (double) caught in a time loop (overtime). The emphasis on double overtime as a win condition came after the title

I decided on ‘Mamma Mia’ and ‘Waterloo’ as the main song insp for these early on. Mamma Mia itself is this good mix of an upbeat song that’s just a bit sad and just a bit ominous, and the lyrics can be fun for a time loop (‘here I go again’). Waterloo was always the credits song (‘i feel like i win when I lose’ come on now)

I decided that I’d post in early June like the actual Stanley Cups, and 6/6 was decided on as the in-date and IRL start of the time loop because it’s Germa Day (66): something kind of poetic about Germa fucking up their perfect win on Germa day 

Time Loop Win Condition

The time loop win condition! Zoro was always going to win and Sanji was always going to lose, but the details took a bit to figure out. I knew it was going to incorporate (a) him trusting Zoro and reaching out for help (impossible task for him), (b) him wanting to play hockey on a team that doesn’t hate him, (c) remix of Sanji’s Baratie arc, and (d) the concept of double overtime. 

There was a lot of changing around on what exactly Sanji would be able to do; initial drafts actually had him coming out pretty clean from the double overtime deal (saving the Baratie) but that didn’t feel earned, I liked the kind of bittersweet selfish sacrifice of letting the team go, otherwise it’d feel a bit too contrived. this is already a late reveal loophole— it wouldn’t feel earned without that tinge of regret 

In the end i liked what I went with, though I think I could’ve built up a little bit more before hand, and had a bit more emotional consequence to Baratie’s relocation. But ive written like, FIVE separate sad zeff phone calls in the last few months, i decided i had Enough. I had to Limit Myself. Only one sad zeff phone call this time for me ok

things to do differently

Look at me!!! Finishing a fic before i post!!! This was good actually, and meant the pacing was better than what i did with my last long fic lmao. Still had some issues imo, but considerably stronger on keeping scenes regularly paced. I should always do this.

IMO after reread (after it being finished for weeks) i think one of the weaker points is just really sanji’s apology– zoro figures out the duel time loop deal fairly fast (benefit of relying on other people) and folds pretty easily. I mean he’s unfortunately smitten but it doesn’t change the fact that he was hurt. There’s a specific degree of pulled punches I do sometimes with emotional moments that I’d like to get better at, but live and learn lol

Intermission 

Hey i had a lot of notes on zoro’s POV the entire time loop. and also a lot of thoughts on the fade to black scene of my T rated fanfic. There were three main points I wanted to explore with Zoro’s POV

First: there’s a fun contrast with Zoro (VS Sanji) both feeling utterly alone as the lone person in the time loop and having an actual support network. Sanji talks to basically Iva, Zoro, and Reiju only during his loop, and all of them he keeps at arm’s length, but Zoro is both deadset on winning for his team, and lets his team helps him. Sanji is meanwhile stewing in his own anger alone, despite knowing he’s not the only person stuck there

Second: Zoro is way more of a time loop speedrunner. He has the timeline down pat. He thinks about the details of the game. He’s shaving off minutes of conversations. Sanji doesn’t plan as much, primarily because Zoro’s an unknown that shakes up the loop too much. 

Third: the hookup lol. i liked the idea of their hookup being good but limited emotionally due to how closed off and testy sanji still is about the time loop– in the end an extension of him refusing to show zoro his own injuries. There is that enticing flash of vulnerability at the end, but then Zoro’s back to square one. 

One of the first times i’ve written not like, funny porn for Z/S (which is my default), so look at me. Varying the porn i guess. congrats

epilogue

I have a lot of thoughts on an extended epilogue HAHA. i felt bad adding a secret sad smut chapter but not having the chance to do the opposite; i had one going but i spent like 4k on a luffy recruitment scene and decided… another time…

Zoro is smug about the whole ‘you only get to touch the stanley cup if you WIN!!!’ thing and uses it as an excuse to be the one to touch sanji in the pwp, since he never got the chance in the loop.

I also think luffy takes the stanley cup into the middle of the ocean, gives the one piece speech as usopp livestreams, and tosses it into the sea. Zoro and sanji have to save it (this is how it’s revealed sanji is somehow being traded to the pirates)

[boyswhowawa]

here have some love for your fellas

(you are singlehandedly making me put campfire in my modern au, would it be okay if I put guard as a cameo in my modern au stuff lol)

you've been too kind i've been killed from how often i've had to go feral for your art (/j)

seriously though this is so fucking cute I love it so much I love it

annd yES YOU CAN ABSOLUTELY USE GUARD

Half the time I forget he's not canon so like genuinely if you want to use him feel free, even feel free to make up your own design for him or anything you want

also here's the Campfire Trio (& Guard) for the tumblr people who haven't gotten to see them yet

Campfire is Gourm x Arti x Saint

[suryp]

It was a calm day.

The water was clear, the waves calm, and the sun shined through them. Mothers dark dorsal absorbed the light, but her pale belly was painted with the shine, even as far down as we were.

"Are you ready to go out today?"

She'd been pressing me. I was two meters long by then, and had yet to see open water.

"Um..."

"There's no need to worry. Predators don't like calm days like this, and we don't need to go far."

"...alright. Lets go."

So we went. Even to the outer reefs, hunters avoided mother. Small fish crowded around the flotsam, some like islands more than twice her length, casting shadows down below. We continued onto the barrens, then the jelly fields, avoided stingers as we went, and eventually made it to the wall.

"..."

"...It's alright sweetie. I'll be right behind you."

"...ok."

We swam slowly, cautiously. I curved my neck in every direction, to see what was out there. Above us, only driftwood. Below... I flipped over to get a better look.

Nothing.

Just shadow. the light slowly fading in the dark water. I turned back. My dappled gray skin wasn't so obvious as mothers black, but I had spots that might give me away.

We rose to breathe, I stayed just below mother, her flippers curved under to cradle me, the hard skin at their edges could cut sharks.

I lifted my head up, out of the water...

Something cut my sides.

In a panic, I thrashed and dove, before quickly finding cover on the underside of the driftwood, clinging to it with fins.

And I looked to the void.

And then I looked for mother.

Blood... her blood. Mothers blood was around me, it was still falling into the water. I could taste it...

...Falling?

Cautiously, I crept to the side, preparing to look up and out of the water...

A great pile of flesh crashed into the waves. The taste was intoxicating, and filled me with fear...

So I swam. Away. I didn't know where. Open water wasn't familiar, and there were no landmarks to tell where home was.

...I'm lucky to be alive.

The people I swim with now are not like me. They do not speak my language, cannot speak it, with only two flippers and no neck, and I can only sing a fraction of their songs over a fraction of the distance...

But they are kind. They have learned my strengths, and support my function in the pod. Together, we are more effective hunters.

But not really a family. I guard their pups with my agility, wrestle large game with my size, and am allowed to eat first with hunts I help with, but I can not sing their songs, and there is nowhere to write or draw in this abyss.

But there are drifters.

The things that took my mother.

And I could not make them pay without my pod.

-

Cast in the same (overall) world as my previous short story (singular paragraph of a story) but with a different main character.

I'm sure at least some of you will be able to figure out whats actually happening here, but if you need help:

The narrator (and their mother) are Plesiosaurs. for a rw species I'd liken them to Tricleidus seeleyi, particularly the illustration by @ddinodan (twitter) on their plesiosauroidea chart, which is also featured on wikipedia.

The pod, who takes the narrator in, are cetaceans most similar to Acrophyseter deinodon, if a bit smaller.

the drifters are... well, it should be pretty obvious. no-one else really uses boats in this setting, since they can't or don't need to.

well. thats a wrap, folks! :3

[moralanxietystudio]

Roadwarden - In Search of Urgency Through Limitations

(This is a repost of my Twitter thread that got quite a dose of love yesterday, so I figured you may be interested in it as well.

1/ Hi! I was invited to post a thread for #MAMG23 on a unique feature of my fantasy game, Roadwarden. I’d like to tell you about its most controversial design choice - the time limit. The expectation that you’ll finish the game without seeing some parts of what it has to offer.

2/ In RW, you play as a single character patrolling the roads of a distant peninsula, aiding or harming its tribes. This land has grown detached from any strong, governmental body, and you start the game as an outsider, an agent, a spy sent here by the city.

3/ You’re encouraged to travel, make friends, learn more, but instead of being The Chosen One, you’re just a rider, a traveling sheriff. And you’re meant to get back to the city soon - usually, in 40 days, after which you are held accountable for your actions and their outcomes.

4/ You start with a personal goal you can select from a short list, and a few other quests to guide you, but none of them are obligatory. You may shape the fate of various people, or even whole settlements, but that’s just a small dent in the grand scheme of things.

5/ I think the reason why it works is that RW tries to make you feel attached to its NPCs and villages. Most people are guarded at first, but open up as you prove your worth to them - or manipulate them. You get options to spend time with them, to share meals and ale.

6/ You see NPCs’ perspectives as you exchange news and rumors. You get familiar with the way people get by, with their routines, and their plans for the future. My NPCs may not have the most depth, but in many ways, you get to learn about their vulnerabilities.

7/ At the start of the game, you’re also vulnerable system-wise, and you won’t increase your stats much. Instead, you rely on others to help you get out of the loop of hindrances. You grow closer with people - by quests, trading, hanging out - and open access to convenient tools.

8/ You unlock new shelters, free supplies, free care, free advice, lower prices, even direct help during tasks. You collect favors. It’s no wonder you may grow attached to NPCs and their problems, and actually care about what’s going to happen to them.

9/ (It’s a very different approach to many older video game plots, where your character would get dropped into mid-apocalypse, saving the world they know nothing about, or trying to save their sibling/village after a brief introduction, relying on our real-life contexts.)

10/ Your character is weak, and travels between the “points of light” (villages, inns) and the threatening wilderness, seeking ways to optimize your journeys, avoiding threats until prepared to face them, sticking to the main roads at first, then exploring the more obscure paths.

11/ But the game needed tension to make this work, to let you game the systems while pushing you into taking an occasional leap of faith. Balancing between risk and preparations is where the challenge comes from. Hence - the time limit.

12/ In the core game mode, the character has 40 in-game days to explore the peninsula. They can complete the game before that, but once the time runs out, they are forced to return to the city - very often begrudgingly. Not many people get to finish all of the quests. 

13/ Without save-scumming (reloading the game in hopes to get better results) or looking up a guide / seeking advice online, the player will struggle. I didn’t intend for them to see everything during their first playthrough. They’re meant to taste failure.

14/ RW is most rewarding when the player accepts their character’s shortcomings. When they decide that they need to leave a village to itself since they lack the time to help it. That they can’t rescue a traveler, or a place, because they’ve got to move on.

15/ Judging by RW’s reception, it’s an unintuitive, and not exactly welcome, design. Most people, myself included, expect to have the option to 100% the game from the get go. Despite my best efforts, it seems like I didn’t succeed at setting the game’s promises correctly.

16/ The tutorial section of the game tries to set the expectations straight. It promises that the peninsula is overgrowing, wild, filled with monsters, that the locals are *pagans*, that the time limit is pressing. But many players don’t treat these threats seriously.

17/ Oftentimes, they see these promises as the set up for a story of success, something to overcome with enough grind and wit. It seems like the game failed at making it clear that it tries to embrace human limitations, that it’s a part of the core experience.

18/ The game didn’t make it clear that by deciding what matters to you the most, whom you want to help, whom you leave behind, which mysteries you unravel, which conflicts you solve, and when you put your needs above others - you get to make meaningful choices.

19/ My ideas did resonate with some, and I saw people playing the game once on the “standard” mode, then again, on the “casual” mode - with no time limit - to experience the rest of the story threads. I think it’s even better to take a longer break between playthroughs.

20/ This way, you focus on your character, and encounter the realm beyond your grasp. You get to embrace your mistakes and choices. If you return to the game after a year or two, it will feel different, as you are also not going to be the same being.

21/ It may not be a reasonable expectation on my part. But to justify myself, I’d like to make it clear that the time limit is not just a gimmick, but rather a system I play with in many ways. You can’t travel during nighttime. You need to restore stats every day.

22/ Some quests disappear or show up on specific days. Some actions are available only at specific hours. Days get shorter. You can care for the roads to ride faster. In many ways, time is a resource, and various tasks can be solved by spending it.

23/ Take the wooden lantern, as an example. You can buy it from a merchant, or hang out with a friendly carpenter to make your own, chatting with his neighbors. What do you need more right now? Money? Coins? Friendship? Without the time limit, you’d get limitless resources.

24/ The world of Roadwarden is rotting, collapsing, fading away, reaching a new form. With no time limit, it’s a playground, a place to be tamed according to your will. And the time limit was meant to turn it into a mystery, an interactive adventure. #MAMG23

[daenystheedreamer]

"Grand northern conspiracy" what part of the last 5 books makes you think ANY of these people have the ability to collaborate with each other independently be so real rn. ned had been IMPRISONED and the manderlys and umbers were fighting over hunting lands they are NOT planning anything together they just all hate roose that much

exactly plus what have we learned about people. They Do Not Shut The Fuck Up EVER. r+l=j only stayed secret because it was JUST ned and howland and they never said anything ever ned lied to his wife for fifteen years. there is no way, in such a tense climate, every lord and lady in the north could a) keep their mouth shut b) coordinate despite conflicting loyalties c) not have any of their hundreds of men blab even accidentally. also ravens is not texting its not immediate and you can just shoot that raven dead. the grand northern conspiracy is several seperate minor quests that slightly overlap.

my thoughts on the gnc (based on the ASX video, i hate the forums) below the cut

WINTERFELL

the snowmen lords (barbrey, wyman, harwood stout, whoresbane umber) have their rickon conspiracy. this is the davos one, most obvious, confirmed etc. i believe what has been explained and hinted is straightforward.

ROBB'S WILL: MAEGE AND GALBART

maege and galbart are ambiguously with howland in the neck with robb's will that says jon is heir. there's evidence they made it and maege is "with lyra and [jorelle]" but probably not at bear island, because lyanna is the only one there. there have since no mentions of galbart's whereabouts

howland of course is the last living person with knowledge of r+l=j

robb's will was made under the belief that bran and rickon were dead and that sansa and arya were ???, leaving that document in limbo. also jon is dead

my belief is maege and galbart had their meeting with howland and are in some kind of hiding rn. i don't think howland told them about r+l=j because it's honestly sooo unrelated to the northern political situation. all it does is make things way more chaotic and puts jon in a really precarious position.

ROBB'S WILL: LADY STONEHEART

LSH has robb's crown and since cat was at the signing of the will it's possible she could crown jon. people link her to maege and galbart but lsh is clearly doing her own thing right now and does not gaf about her bastard stepson

the lannister/freys lost the brotherhood somewhere in the neck so its possible LSH is up there slaying it up with howland.

i think the LSH/howland collusion is a little iffy. LSH is not in her right mind because her brain is rotting in her cracked skull. i just dont see her scheming a huge political conspiracy rn.

personally im of the opinion LSH is on a course towards arya and/or sansa, not jon. or at least her nexus is at her daughters. she is on a revenge quest, not avenge quest. she wants to kill RW participants, not complete robb's will.

plus imo if LSH and the brotherhood are scheming anything, its a red wedding 2.0 massacre

RIVERRUN

tom of sevenstreams is spying on the lannister riverrun camp on behalf of the BWB and is clearly colluding with edmure.

edmure frees brynden

brynden is a robb loyalist and is now running around possibly knowing whatever edmure knows from tom

two riverrun tully guards choose to join the night's watch. where JON is!!!

also jeyne westerling is confirmed to feature in the TWOW prologue

this stuff is wayyy more circumstantial. the line of thought is that the BWB knows about robb's will -> tom knows -> tom tells edmure -> edmure tells brynden -> brynden becomes jon snow #1 fan or whatever. + those tully men are sent judge jon/inform him/whatever

again this is all under the assumption that this is LSH's plan, which i doubt. i think this part of the conspiracy is the least credible and i think a lot of these 'clues' or whatever are probably about a possible red wedding 2.0 (or attack on the lannister camp) as opposed to Everything Is About Jon. those tully men are sus though...

---

jesus okay i got bored here once i got to the part about stannis army politics. i only have enough space in my head to care about one conspiracy per contingent and i picked night lamp for stannis' army. i think there are conflicting loyalties and the fArya situation + bran rickon thing will complicate it further but jesus christ theyre on a military campaign. they do not have time to hook up with fuckn wyman manderly. everyone is freezing and starving okay.

flint and norrey have some shit going on. plus the fuckin liddle that met bran. god. what ever. basically its several minor conspiracies that happen to overlap and some are probably unrelated. but anyway everyone go watch and draw your own conclusions<3

i think the bolton-held winterfell is a powder keg waiting to explode is the Point or whatever. everyone runnning around with conflicting loyalties lying hating each other loving their family etc etc human heart in conflict with itself. way more fun and thematically appropriate. plus its so unneccessary... its like how people try and make littlefinger have bigger and crazier plans. his plans are already big and crazy you dont need to throat him so hard. now i think wyman does deserve a good throating but he's already an awesome schemer do we need to include lady stoneheart. let her murder more people on her own for her own reasons. god forbid women do anything

[anonymousboxcar]

TTTE/RWS OC: Bessie the Bicycle Locomotive

A while ago, I posted about this steam engine:

[Image ID: a steam locomotive with one large driving wheel sits on a monorail and is attached to a track running above. It has a double-deck cab, with one man (the fireman) on the bottom and another (the engineer/driver) on the top. The Wikipedia caption explains the locomotive belongs to the Boynton Bicycle Railroad. End ID.]

And now I’ve made an OC out of her! I’ve decided her name is Bessie. Enclosed below the cut is my story for her. Hope you enjoy! :)

Bessie steamed to life in 1889, in Portland, Maine. Her creator, Eben M. Boynton, believed the monorail was the way of the future, thinking it would be cheaper to build than regular tracks. He built her to fit with that early monorail vision.

She ran for a few weeks on the Boynton Bicycle Railroad in the summer of 1890. Pulling trains with two-story cars in Long Island, she realized from the odd looks she received that her design was… unusual. She developed a shy, soft-spoken personality as a result.

Bessie also worried about whether her “experimental” nature would be deemed a success or a failure. The entire railroad was something of an experiment; each train was a test run. So while often silent, she worked very hard. She kept to time and never complained. She felt like she had to be perfect.

And she was right to worry. After several weeks of easing into a routine, of learning how to be an engine, the railroad pulled her from service. The experiment was over. They had no more need of her.

As far as anyone knew, including Bessie, she wasn’t bad at her work. But they decided they could improve on her design and on their monorail model. She overheard talk of an elevated monorail and an electric locomotive as they pushed her into storage, shutting the doors behind her.

Bessie awoke an indeterminate time later to the sound of doors opening on rusty hinges. “I say!” said a voice.

As it turned out, Sir Robert Norramby was in the midst of his travels around the world. While in America, someone told him about a bicycle locomotive and a summer’s experiment. He became intrigued and managed to sniff out her location.

She braced herself for a confused stare. But Sir Robert had a wide smile as he walked around to her smokebox. “Hello! What’s your name, my dear?”

It took her awhile to remember how to speak. But he waited, beaming as her hoarse voice rattled out, “Bessie, sir.”

“What a lovely name. Tell me, Bessie, however did you wind up in this place?”

They got to talking. Bessie felt herself relaxing around Sir Robert, bewildered but also glad to be spoken to like any decent engine. And she gradually realized this was her chance to escape storage.

In the end, Sir Robert took her to Sodor at her request. He had a monorail with an overhead guiding track built at Ulfstead so she could pull tourists on a small line around the estate. On occasion, she also pulled goods trains as well.

It took some time for Bessie to settle in to her new life. For one thing, she only had a few weeks’ worth of experience from 1890. Everything was new again and she had learn as well as relearn things.

For another thing, she was still on-edge and reserved. Sir Robert seemed nice, but so did Mr. Boynton. And she knew what storage was like now. She never wanted to go back to it.

The result was Bessie holding herself to impossible standards and being too afraid to ask for help. Every slight mishap — missing platforms, not starting after the guards’ whistle, etc. — only made her more anxious and withdrawn. At night, she was the first back to the sheds and the first one asleep so no-one could talk to her.

Stephen, Glynn, and Millie noticed all of this and worried about her. They debated how to break the ice. Stephen wanted to race her, Glynn wanted to have a chat, and Millie wanted to leave her be until she made the first move.

In classic Sodor fashion, it didn’t happen as any of them suggested.

You see, one of the few comforts Bessie had was that she wasn’t too out of place. While she was a novelty, so were most of Sir Robert’s other engines. Tourists took her photograph and whispered about her, but they moved on to someone else a few minutes later.

One day, Ulfstead had special visitors. They were aristocrats from the Mainland, invited by Sir Robert as part of renewing alliances after his time away on his travels. He took them around the estate and introduced them to his engines where they rested in the sheds.

Bessie saw the visitors’ gritted smiles from a mile away. She knew very well what disdain looked like. They described her as “experimental,” “distinctive,” and “so very American,” and she knew it was a backhanded compliment.

It was like 1890 all over again. She felt like she couldn’t speak, couldn’t move an inch under their cool gazes.

And then they turned to Glynn. They called Glynn quaint, a relic of a bygone age. She saw the flicker of naked hurt on his face.

It was the same flicker she trained out of herself all those years ago. It spoke to a greasy, creeping feeling of boiler-sludge she knew he was feeling, because she had been there, too.

Bessie never wanted to be there again. She realized then that she never wanted anyone else to be there, either.

Stephen went red in the face, about to snap something at the visitors. But Bessie spoke up first, quiet and low: “Glynn has years of experience with today’s railroads, sirs. I only have weeks. He’s more modern than I am.”

Glynn’s gaze flicked over to her, startled. “Well,” he said after a pause. His voice softened with his eyes. “You’re a fast learner, Bessie. I don’t think you’re too far behind.”

“Yes, because we’re glad to help each other,” Stephen interjected, scowling at the aristocrats. “We’re one railway, sirs.”

Millie smiled a not-very-nice smile. “Is there anything else you would like to say to all of us, sirs?”

The aristocrats blinked, but Sir Robert — who watched everything with a look of dawning realization — folded his arms. “I think not,” he sighed. “Forgive me, dear engines. I suddenly have a pressing appointment with these… gentlemen.”

Those aristocrats never came back to Ulfstead. As Sir Robert apologized to them again that evening, Bessie kept thinking about they all stood up for her as well as Glynn. For the first time, she felt like she was part of a railroad. She felt like she believed them.

And so, little by little, she began to speak with them more. She asked for help when she didn’t know something. She did small talk with them at station platforms. She smiled at Glynn and Stephen’s silly arguments, giggling at Millie’s dry asides.

She couldn’t help them pull or shunt their trains, but she took on passengers or goods in her double-deck cars when they had too many or when they broke down. She told stories about America when nobody could sleep.

While still reserved in comparison to Ulfstead’s big personalities, Bessie is more at ease today. She pulls her trains without any issues, working to repay everything Ulfstead has done for her. She knows she’s home.