#Rab Shields

[bosguy]

Men in kilts

I never tire of posting pictures of the Kilted Coaches, Stephen & Rab. #kilts

The Kilted Coaches are a personal favorite for this weekly post. Previous Men in Kilts Posts

[posebox-guide]

Random Animations Box - [Dragon Age] by Nevarrah

Cover Your Eyes

[howi99]

When Jaune ran away from his house (genius au)

Arc sister one: Dad! Jaune left in the middle of the night!

Papa arc: ... God damn it. Did he at least take one of my weapons?

Arc sister two: *shaking her head* Nope, he took great-grandpa sword.

Papa arc: Of all the weapons he could have taken to protect himself, he chose the sword and shield!? Without a gun!?!

Mama arc: He reminds me of you when you also rab away from your home to become a huntsman. Ah~ You were so dumb~

Papa arc: I was inexperienced! Besides, he didn't get any training! I did!

Mama arc: What do you think the martial arts he learned was for?

Papa arc: ... On rectification, i am dumb.

Mama arc: I love you dumb dumb~

___

Meanwhile

Jaune: ... Did i forget my medication? *Looks into his pocket* ok, good for at least a month. I hope it will be enough time to find a j-

???: *snatch his wallet*

Jaune: Hey! I just have enough for lunch! Give it back! *Run after the individual*

And that's how he met Neo.

[secret-fiction]

Spyro, Wrath of the Wraith Ch 1 - Artisans Ambush

General Audiences, contains Cartoon Violence.

As Spyro the Dragon attempts to rest and Bianca the sorceress returns to her studies of magic, Gnasty Gnorc sends an incursion into the Dragon Kingdom seeking to steal a Guidebook and the power crystal encrusted within it. Things go awry and Spyro arrives to confront the intruders as they make their escape, his Guidebook and the Professor in their possession. With the help of Bianca and others, Spyro gives chase toward Gnasty Gnorc's hideout, a hidden ship off the coast of the realm. I do not consent to any use of this work in training Machine Learning programs, referred to by some as "AI."

Finished with another evening of work, the sorceress Bianca emerged from beneath the comforting shadow of a hollow under the plains. Instead of cool midnight darkness however, she found an ambush of morning sunlight that offered her eyes stinging blindness. She recoiled and fumbled with the purple hood under her long ears, eventually managing to pull it over her head. Now shielded from the light she marched back outside to face the consequences of a sleepless night. 

The path Bianca walked between hills and walls curved and meandered more than it had the evening before. Dark Hollow’s library had been a comfortable place to study, evidently too comfortable. Yet she had completed a set of magic portal instructions, now tucked in a bag under her arm. Bianca rubbed her eyes, smearing her purple eyeliner which now accentuated her dark eyebags. When her vision cleared she saw a shadow cast over her, stretched from the large figure of a gray scaled Dragon. 

“Oh!” said Bianca. “Excuse me, I took a wrong-”

“You’re well excused miss Rab-bit,” said the gray Dragon, “You’re here at a good time, watch these few here for a moment.”

The large Dragon gestured to a group of four much smaller Dragon hatchlings, all around the size of a wild mundane rabbit. They seemed mostly occupied with some paintbrushes and small canvases laid out on the ground. A couple were actually painting something, but another was chewing a paintbrush into sawdust with its sharp baby teeth. 

“Ah! I’d like to help, but I-”

“Now these ones can’t be caught easily if they decide to wander, but anything colourful or otherwise distracting should keep them together.”

“Really I can get someone else-”

The large gray Dragon didn’t seem to hear Bianca as he leapt into the air and with a flap of his wings took flight. Now she was alone with three toddlers, who were Dragons. Bianca’s eyes widened a bit as she surveyed the brood of hatchlings. There was definitely a fourth one a moment ago. Her heart rate increased as her eyes swept over the surrounding area. It took a bit of running around for her to find the fourth hatchling atop a nearby ledge looking down at her with its bright brown eyes.

“Uh… Wait there! I’ll get you down…” said Bianca.

The Hatchling giggled at her, and leapt off the ledge. Bianca yelped and scrambled to catch it. It however caught the air in its little wings, gliding down safely like a feather.

“...Your wings aren’t big enough for that to make sense.”

As that hatchling landed softly, then somehow still tumbled over itself a few times, Bianca glanced over to see an act of baby violence. A Blue hatchling sneezed on a red hatchlings painting canvas, lighting it aflame. The two of them held eye contact for a long dramatic moment, before the red one rammed the blue one with its horns. This quickly devolved into a small flailing battle. 

“Hey! HEY!” shouted Bianca as she ran over, “not so rough!”

Bianca rushed over and pulled the two hatchlings apart. They interpreted this interposition as a challenge. The Blue hatchling leaned over and bit Bianca’s leg through her coat. She yelped and dropped the red one, who proceeded to ram her other leg with its horns. Unlike their heavier Dragon elders, Bianca slipped on her long boot and fell onto her back. The two Hatchlings then resumed their combat atop of her prone body. 

As Bianca found out how well Hatchlings can wrestle, she felt a tug on the bag of papers under her arm. She sat up to see it being yanked away by a chubby yellow Hatchling. It stared at her with her work in its maw while wagging its tail. Bianca held eye contact and slowly leaned over to reach for her paperwork. The yellow hatchling grinned and jumped away, its plot to lure her into a chase successful. 

“Careful with those!” Shouted Bianca, “Please… Stay… Still!”

Her words falling on a toddlers ears, Bianca stopped her chase short and surveyed how the situation had devolved. How did the older Dragons deal with this? Right, they were big, heavy, and usually capable of flying out of reach. Hearing a crunch, she looked down to see a loose canvas splattered with colours under her long clown boots. Remembering one skill she did have, she waved her hand at the canvas and uttered a command. A bright flash and a loud crack sent the colours flying off of the canvas and onto a nearby wall. 

“Ooooh!” uttered all four of the hatchlings.

All their eyes were now on Bianca and they dropped whatever they were doing to surround her. She took a moment to sigh, slow her heart rate, and brush her blonde bangs away from her eyes. 

“Anotha!” said the chubby yellow hatchling, dropping Bianca’s paperwork from its mouth.

“Okay, I can do that!” said Bianca.

She looked at the mess of art supplies strewn about the ground. With a few more utterances and gestures, she cast a spell upon the paintbrushes. A wave of sparkling lights enveloped them and soon the brushes were floating into the air and toward the wall. In patterned motions the paintbrushes garnished the wall and smeared the splatter of colours into a swirling abstract image. 

“Bigga Magic!” shouted one of the Hatchlings. 

“You wanna see more?” said Bianca, a grin drawing on her face. The four hatchlings nodded and chirped eager affirmations. “I could cast some more powerful sorcery, but are you sure you can handle that?” Again the Hatchlings bounced and nodded in affirmation, some shouting “Yes Yes!” and others uttering excited chirps. “Very well, behold this!” 

Bianca turned away from the hatchlings, the paintbrushes falling to the ground as she clasped her hands together. Now she just needed to figure out what kind of spell would live up to the hype. While scanning the area for a good catalyst, the muffled sound of a breeze through leaves reached her ears. A trio of small well trimmed trees sat atop a hill above her. She considered them for a moment, then gestured her arms again and spoke an incantation, pausing for a second before the final word. 

A blinding flash from the central tree made Bianca recoil and shield her eyes. Then the light and the warmth of the sun faded away. Slowly, Bianca opened her eyes to a new shadow cast over the area. The hatchlings around her cooed in awe and as her vision cleared Bianca saw the tree standing several storeys taller. Its branches spread out wildly and its leaves grew unkempt. Overall it was very noticeable and Bianca grimaced at the thought of being chewed out by whoever was groundskeeping this place. 

A breeze pushed lightly against the now massive tree, which in all its magically enhanced strength started to buckle and tip. Large cracks loudly appeared on the hill under the tree and its roots ripped a chunk of the soil away as it leaned toward Bianca and the hatchlings. Eyes wide and teeth clenched she frantically mumbled to herself while raising her arms ready to cast a spell. Meanwhile the hatchlings cheered on the tree as it gained momentum toward them.  

Unable to think of a quick magic fix, Bianca started grabbing the hatchlings and throwing them on her shoulder. They laughed with an amusement known only to creatures unaware of their mortality. One, two, then three were quickly stacked on her head and shoulders. The creaking of wood grew louder and Bianca danced around looking for the last hatchling. Then she spotted it bravely and foolishly facing the falling tree and attempting to mimic Bianca's hand movements. Another loud crack came from the base of the tree and it suddenly dropped much faster. With a yell she bounced over to shove the hatchling out of the way, but the tree was already upon them.  

Then there was a loud thwack above them followed by the crashing of the tree hitting the ground. It laid to rest just a foot away from Bianca and the Hatchlings. A glance at the tree revealed a gash in the wood, something had struck it at the last minute and pushed it away. That something then spoke up.

“Well if it isn’t the imposing sorceress, practicing well controlled magic I see.”

Perching himself atop the fallen tree was the familiar purple scaled and yellow crested Spyro the Dragon. He was leaning forward wearing a cheeky smirk on his face and a chunk of bark on his brown horns. His body was closer in size to the Hatchlings than the adult Dragons but evidently carried enough mass to budge a falling tree. All the while the fast rate of his breath contradicted his casual posture. Around Bianca the four hatchlings gasped and clambered over her toward him. She simply sighed, for two reasons. 

“Thanks Spyro… Looks like these kids are glad to see you.”

“Yep, Heh, as usual…” Spyro waved his paw to the hatchlings who all clambered for his attention. “I’d love to stick around guys but I, uh… Sparx, what're we doing?”

 A buzzing noise accompanied a yellow Dragonfly, Sparx, who swooped over Spyro and perched atop the bark on his horns. Sparx tapped leg to his mouth and thought for a moment, then buzzed some sort of response with his wings. Spyro nodded and said “Yeah we gotta go help Hunter with-” he shot a look at Sparx, “Something.”

The Hatchlings did not understand or did not care as they jumped and climbed up the tree toward Spyro. He flapped his orange wings as if to glide away, but the toddlers were upon him. Two jumped onto his wings and back, and the others tried to wrestle him over. For his part Spyro did a decent job of staying upright with a tight grip on the log beneath him. Bianca chuckled lightly to herself and picked up her paperwork. “Well if I see Hunter I’ll send him your way, thanks for taking over for me.” 

“Now hold on!” said Spyro.

“Hey kids! Up here!” shouted a new and recognizable voice from atop the half destroyed hill. It was none other than Hunter the Cheetah. His yellow coat of fur and light brown spots only made him stand out from the landscape here. His blue eyes met Bianca’s, and he gave a corny wink before leaping down. He landed on his feet harmlessly and brandished a frog at the Hatchlings. “For each of these you bring me, I’ll give you one toss into the air! Whoever brings the most gets to ride my kite!”

The four Hatchlings gasped and immediately took off in different directions, releasing Spyro from their clutches. As they scattered out of sight, which is definitely a good way to watch kids, Hunter turned to Bianca and said “Oh Man, you didn’t sleep again didya?” 

“Does it look like I didn't sleep?” said Bianca.

“Yup,” said Hunter. “Your face is that kind of ‘ready for an 11 hour nap’ type of cute right now.” 

The fluff on Bianca’s cheeks puffed out a bit. Something about the way Hunter spoke, and the way his goofy face looked with its shape and his goatee made it difficult not to smile a bit. “Well I finished my spellcraft work for the Professor, so I’ll just get that to him, then maybe nap… unless-”

“Go to sleeeeeep…” said Hunter, waving his paws around.

“Your spell needs work,” said Bianca, “but I'll let you give it a shot when I’m done with my errands.”

“If you say so,” said Hunter.

Bianca leaned closer to Hunter for a quick goodbye kiss.

“You stop that,” said Spyro, who was still very present and leaning away dramatically. 

“Bzzzt!” added Sparx as he finished yanking the chunk of bark off of Spyro’s horns. 

“Ooo! It’s a terrifying display of affection!” said Bianca, waving her hands.

Spyro squinted at Bianca, but before he could think of a retort one of the Hatchlings returned to Hunter, a frog in its maw belting a distressed croak. 

“Oh very nice! Good job.” Hunter bent down and picked the Hatchling up, then with a heave he tossed it a few meters into the air. The Hatchling thought this was the best thing ever as it giggled whilst gliding in circles down. Hunter then turned to Spyro, “You wanna get in on this?”

“...Nah,” Spyro’s eyes turned and followed the giggled Hatchling as it descended for a moment. “Besides, I doubt you could toss me very far.”

“Hey! I’m quite strong AND spry!” said Hunter.

“Doubt it.”

“Bet!”

While Spyro and Hunter proceeded to challenge each other, Bianca slowly stepped away. She sighed and picked up her bag of paperwork, maybe she’d deliver it before another distraction stopped her.

Far past the serene coasts of the Artisans plains lay a blanket of gray fog over the dark blue sea. A coastal breeze rolled the fog out flat over the waves till it dispersed at the edges. Yet even in the daylight it cast an opaque screen over its field of cover. In contrast to the rest of the clear daytime horizon this phenomenon could easily draw attention. Whether or not the large metal ship resting under this fog would draw even more attention was a topic of debate among its crew. 

Two tall chimneys towered over the deck of the ship and poured a constant stream of warm steam with the visual consistency of thick foam. At the base of each chimney several small creatures shoveled coal down open chutes. These mostly round green skinned laborers were none other than Gnorc soldiers, well exerted and dubiously dangerous. The grunts and idle chatter between these minions as they took shifts shoveling reached a bridge cabin overlooking the obscured deck. Though he could not see them well from here, the fog did not muffle their voices from reaching Gnasty Gnorc. 

Standing before a thick glass window Gnasty kept his posture tall and imposing. Surely any who glance up at the bridge would think his silhouette intimidating, and maybe smidge mysterious. Though the weight of his massive gold coloured breastplate and shoulder pads did make continuously standing for hours hard on his thin legs. That was the price of being the boss. As he started to consider the tragic responsibilities of his station a deep voice beckoned to him from the deck. 

“Heyo Gnasty Gnorc! We’ve finally found our woolly crony!” 

Gnasty grinned, the tusks of his underbite underlining the dark look in his eyes. He stepped out to the deck from the base of the Bridge tower just as a new breeze started to lift away the fog. Before him stood Dr. Shemp, a large oval shaped yellow Gnorc wearing round sunglasses despite the shade over him. Several Gnorcs nearby, some short and some very tall, stood up from their resting positions and assembled around them. This was the only clearing, as much of the deck was covered with tarps that concealed several large shapes.  

“Looking nice and threatening as usual boss,” said Dr. Shemp.

“Adequate flattery as usual Shemp,” said Gnasty.

The wind began to pick up, spinning around them in a vortex that sucked the fog up to the sky. Light poured down onto the deck as descending from above came a wizard with a long orange beard, brown pointy hat, and long arms gangly arms. Blowhard had few other features to see. Literally no legs and barely a torso to speak of. Not that Gnasty ever questioned this anatomy out loud. As Blowhard reached eye level with Gnasty the wind funnel shrunk to a small constant tornado that held him aloft. Blowhard held out a burlap sack toward Gnasty as he maintained a constant magic chant. 

“What treats have you brought me?” asked Gnasty.

The bag responded with a loud and noticeably exasperated bleat. As it rustled Gnasty took it and spilled the contents of a single sheep to the ground. Its wool was patchy at best and its skin bore old burn scars. It shook its head, long ears flopped around, and glared at Gnasty. After its eyes widened in recognition it recoiled for a second before standing tall and firm.

“Well if it isn’t the puppet Dragon slayer… how have you been Toasty?”

“Baa’ad!” answered Toasty the sheep, “As you’ave been!”

“But you’re alive,” said Gnasty as he started walking a circle around Toasty, “and that’s just the thing I’m looking for in a spy.”

“Spy?! Bah! I’m not going Ba-ack there!”

“Aw c’mon, where’s your ambition?” said Dr. Shemp.

“With his wool,” said Gnasty.

“Burned asunder, cast as ashes to the gales!” said Blowhard, who’s whirlwind almost dropped him until he returned to chanting.

“... Ba-urned like all of you.” 

Gnasty stopped pacing, his back facing Toasty, and let out a sigh. He gave the sheep a few seconds to become sufficiently worried. Then he turned his wide shoulders enough to make eye contact. “You failed me first.”

Toasty’s eyes widened, then turned to a scowl. “Your spell was Ba-aad. Your Pla-an, BA-AD! Your appearance… Less than Pa-ar!”

A shocked gasp emanated from the whole crew around them. But the sight of this ragged shivering sheep and the light sting of herbivorous venom in his voice made Gnasty smirk. A chuckle that sounded not far from a croaking toad rose from his chest. His laugh lifted the tension off of the deck as the other Gnorcs chuckled softly too. From that height, Gnasty dropped it back onto the scene like a tungsten cube as the amusement on his face morphed into a bullfrog's scowl. “You’re not only an ugly and ragged creature, you’re small.”

Toasty’s glare faltered under a burden of fear. 

“Your hate is worthless alone. But I can still use your appearance.”

“...Bah-ah?” asked Toasty.

“According to my new ally, that whelp has a useful power crystal from another world. You can get close, and Blowlord here can get you out.” 

“Na-ay! I’d be incinerated!” said Toasty.

“Maybe. But. You owe me success.” Gnasty Gnorc gestured to the ship around them. “And I have the means to arm you, and give you the first pick at revenge.”

“Yeh, we know you’ve been building a trap at your hideout,”  said Dr. Shemp.

One thing about Toasty that Gnasty could appreciate now was the palpable narrative in his expression. An ember of rage that had rested inside Toasty’s heart was growing into an inferno with all the kindling of opportunity Gnasty had laid onto it. The fire suppression system of fear and logic in his mind clearly faltered. It was quite impossible for Toasty to refuse Gnasty’s offer now.

“...I ca-an find it,” said Toasty, now smiling slightly for the first time. “I’ll find it, and you get me ba-ack.”

Being the cool older cousin of just about every Hatchling in the land did have some drawbacks. Which is why Spyro the Dragon was sneaking around hills and towers with the intensity of an anxious squirrel. While Hunter was off doing odd jobs for his elders Spyro was regularly left to entertain his juniors. Playing with the Hatchlings was fun usually, but there were so many of them around. Everywhere he went there was some little guy trying to chase him, headbutt him, or beg for attention. Spyro hardly had any time of his own to chase, headbutt, and beg for attention from anyone else.

Luckily Spyro had Sparx the Dragonfly at his side, who provided magic powers,  good representation when necessary, but more importantly comradery. The vast wealth of treasure Spyro had at his disposal was likewise helpful. 

“This is a good idea, Sparx,” said Spyro as he snuck around the edges of a field, placing red gems in bushes and behind stones, “but is there a faster way to hide all my gems?”

Sparx dropped a gem from his legs into a small stone fountain then shook his head at Spyro. 

“Darn, okay, how many have we placed anyway?” said Spyro.

“Bzzzt,” said Sparx.

“Really? I think that’s plenty.”

Their own treasure scattered around the area, Spyro and Sparx made their way toward a nearby tower. Careful to avoid being spotted, they dashed between hiding spots and only moved after checking that the area was clear. None of the other Dragons noticed them moving behind fountains, along walls, and eventually sneaking alongside a herd of sheep. Pretty soon they reached a stone tower and rode a vortex of wind to the top. 

From the ledge Spyro crouched low and looked down, Sparx resting on his head. It seemed they had evaded notice by the several wandering Hatchlings playing about the fields. Though Spyro could see boredom and pent up energy in their posture. Sparx gave him a buzz of “be right back” and dived from his head down to the plains. Using his shimmering sparks, Sparx steadily gathered the attention of all the Hatchlings before leading them toward one of the easier to find gems. The discovery of a single red gemstone in a spot of grass filled the Hatchlings with a visible sense of awe and duty.

Watching Sparx lead the game of ‘find the shiny gems’ filled Spyro with a small sense of relief. Evidently his small companion was finding great enjoyment in this specific passtime. Enjoyment being something Spyro had felt being muffled away by some sort of… fuzz in his mood. He rolled onto his back and looked up to the sky as he came to realize that he wasn’t feeling tired, otherwise he’d be napping already. Yet the idea of running around with the kids anymore felt unappealing. A tension in his legs and wings began to clearly yearn for movement but were in contrast with that fuzzy, heavy feeling.

While Spyro laid there in his own head for the first time in who knows how long, something that had noticed him sneaking away prowled toward him atop this tower. A shadow cast over Spyro's face. It took him a bit to realize it wasn’t a cloud but the wool of a common sheep leaning over him. Spyro jumped and rolled to his feet. The Sheep only bounced closer. Its behavior was very unlike any sheep he’s met before.

“BA’AH!” bleated the sheep… no, sheep costume. The back of this woolly form opened up revealing a small light-brown Dragon Hatchling who looked at Spyro with a wide grin and shiny eyes.

Spyro relaxed and folded his wings, “Pfft, hey Ba’uddy. What’s up?”

The Hatchling, one Spyro and Sparx had called Ba’ah when they first rescued it, crouched back into the costume. They then bounced in a circle and gestured for Spyro to give chase. After the jumpstart of being startled, he was really considering it. That’s until another shadow passed over them both, this one indeed a cloud in both gaseous and liquid form. A smattering of rain droplets fell and brought a pause to the day.

Below the several Hatchlings chirped in amusement at first. Then after a few minutes they began yawning and moving lethargically. As if cut off from the solar power of the sun, one by one every young Dragon began to fall to sleep. This wasn’t unusual. He glanced over the Ba’ah who had already curled up and passed out in their comfortable wool bed of a costume. As Sparx returned buzzing with a frequency of disappointment the two of them decided to quietly head out somewhere else to be properly alone. But not before Spyro doubled back and pushed ba’ah under a ceiling protected from the rain. 

“Well, where too buddy?” said Spyro.

Sparx bobbed up and down in the Dragonfly sign of a shrug.

“Yeah, same. I’ve got no idea what I want to do today.” Spyro tapped his claws on the ground for a moment, “I think we need a good hidden lair.”

Before Spyro could elaborate on that thought, he and Sparx noticed a distant bright red light sail through the sky under the cloud cover. It hung in the air for a while before fading away.

“Huh, I wonder who did that,” said Spyro. A few moments passed as they sat there curious about that, but not enough to investigate. “Anyway, where would you hide a-”

“Spyro!!” shouted the high pitched voice of a fairy. A dim sparkling light seemed to appear in the air nearby. It speed towards them, slowly revealing itself to be a red-haired fairy with a yellow dress, Zoe. “The Professor’s in trouble!”

“...How?!”

“The other Dragons went indoors to hide from the rain! Then out of nowhere a sheep took his pencil and lured him away! One thing led to another, he got caught in a trap, and I went to find you immediately.”

“A sheep? I think you could get Hunter to-” Spyro was cut off from a buzz from Sparx. He cocked his head for a moment, then his eyes widened. “We’ll go check it out.”

Over the coasts and under the dark clouds of foreboding mild rains flew a squadron of rickety airplanes. Single propeller engines pulled them through the air. Their fabric wings buckled and shifted with the turbulence. piloting these virtual flying boats were small Gnorcs, their scarves waving and their foggy goggles reflecting the fading red light of a flare. In short order they passed over a larger castle and the central courtyard of the Artisans. With a sharp turn the leading pilot began circling close overhead, and one by one each plane followed the maneuver. 

Observing this display from the ground was a short brown mole-man known to the Dragons as The Professor. His glasses remained constantly obscured by the rain and the rag he had pulled from his lab coat was too soaked to fix that. His head, which was quite large for his body, turned to face a shaggy wooled sheep holding him at rocket-point. “Are those flying machines I hear?”

The shaggy wooled sheep uttered a muffled but threatening bleat. Toasty wasn’t interested in answering questions.

“Ah, I see,” the Professor gave up on cleaning his glasses and put them back on. 

One of the several planes split off from the squadron's maneuver and landed in the courtyard. It slid across the wet grasses until it bumped into a wall near the Professor and Toasty. Out hopped a single Gnorc pilot who then saluted.

“Gnorc Wing Four at yer service boss!” said the Gnorc.

“AND the wizard of Weather!” said the trilling voice of Blowhard. This long bearded wizard descended from one of the planes above, summoning a vortex of wind to hold himself in the aloft. This also served to whip a funnel of water into the air that then fell onto the Professor and Toasty. “Where is the Power Crystal?”

“The mole Ba-ears it!” replied the Toasty the sheep. 

“The Power Crystal?” said the Professor, “Oh I’m afraid I need that to jumpstart my new Axis gate.” The Professor proceeded to pull a large book labeled ‘Guidebook’ from his coat. Encrusted within it was a large red gemstone that reflected a rainbow of colours. “See, using the same magic previously used to reach the Dragon Realms from the other side of the world, I’ll connect this site to Forgotten Worlds directly. It’ll be quite convenient I assure you.”

“We need not access to that land!” said Blowhard, “we need it to eclipse the Dragon Kingdom!”

“...Well that’s just not a very good idea,” said the Professor.

Not interested in the Professor's very logical criticism, Toasty rammed him from behind, sending him tumbling into the seat of the airplane. The Gnorc pilot proceeded to cram into the same cockpit and begin strapping the Professor down. Toasty grew fidgety as the moment grew longer and the risk of a Dragon showing up increased. Luckily for him his stress was soon released in a spot of terror, for he spotted a familiar small figure standing before a stone portal only a short charge away. 

“Nice weather for a flight?” asked Spyro, flapping his wings and splattering water around, which Sparx did not appreciate. 

“No, this weather is not idea-aAAHHH!” said Blowhard, who proceeded to increase the speed of his magic chant, raising him out of reach into the air.

“Gnorc Squadron Four! Dive Maneuver Violet!” shouted the Gnorc manning the grounded plane.

The revving drone of propeller engines drew Spyro and Sparx’s vision upward where a line of seven more airplanes turned sharply toward them. Each plane had two bombs, one strapped on each side within reach of the pilot. The leading pilot brandished a large knife before diving toward Spyro. With a slash a bomb was released, as was its weight from the left side of the plane. The whole airplane took a dip to the right, then fell into a full spin before slamming into the grass with a splash of water and smoke. 

The bomb on the other hand fell toward Spyro, before the winds of the rainstorm sent it off course. It hit the grass but skidded several yards past Spyro and into the crashed plane. The pilot glanced over just in time to see their explosive child return home. The resulting blast and flying debris shook the rest of the squadron out of order. 

“I didn’t know you guys could put weapons on those breakable machines,” said Spyro.

Several planes of the remaining squadron attempted to dive bomb him as well, while others took sharp evasive maneuvers into the ground. A few more bombs thudded into and skidded across the ground around Spyro in a captivating display of fire and flying shrapnel. Sparx batted a mangled shard of metal away from hitting Spyro’s face then gestured up to one plane not falling off course. This pilot skillfully cut the straps to both bombs at once that proceeded to whistle toward Spyro. With Sparx’s warning, Spyro trotted over to the side, letting both bombs fall past him and into the stone portal at his back.

As that payload missed and the plane itself nicked the top of the portal trying to pull up, Spyro decided to actually attend to the grounded intruders. He made eye contact with the Professor who waved at him, then to the Gnorc pilot who shook his head in fear. 

“Spyro my boy!” said the Professor between the blasts and crashes, “Is that you destroying this squadron?” 

“...Yes.” Spyro bounded toward the plane the Professor was held in, but stopped short when the grass at his feet suddenly stood straight up. He dived to the side with a gasp, narrowly dodging a small strike of lightning. Still chanting through the rain and wreckage, Blowhard seemed to be summoning isolated clouds of lighting from the rain storm above. 

“Oh hey!” said Spyro while wagging his tail, “I remember you! Got yourself put back together windy beard?”

Blowhard responded only by summoning down another cloud filled with sparking lightning. Watching this unfold Spyro started leaning back and forth as if to dodge one way or another. Over him Sparx spun in circles, leaving a trail of light and sparks. The cloud of lightning shook as Blowhard tried to anticipate which way to send this attack. Suddenly Spyro took off to the left, and Blowhard sent the cloud after him. It went flying over Spyro and past him as he skidded to a stop, leaving the lightning to strike only wet grass.

“Come one down here and try again,” said Spyro with a wide smile, “You might not miss up close.”

“Spyro!” Zoe appeared between him and the glaring weather wizard, “don’t let them get away with the Professor!”

Zoe pointed her tiny wand in the direction of the plane the professor was aboard; it was now turning and rolling toward a nearby waterfall and pool. Spyro squinted at this move, then saw a small white shape hopping between stones in the pool. These five stone disks began blinking with a yellow glow, and the wall between the waterfalls opened up to reveal a hidden magic portal. The white shape, Toasty, made eye contact with Spyro and froze. 

“How’d it know…”

“BZZZT!” Sparx butted Spyro in the head. A static tingle filled the air around him again and he dashed away. Wet grass turned to steam as a bolt of lightning struck right behind Spyro, close enough to jolt his claws and cause him to tumble onto his face. The yellow glow Sparx illuminated dimmed and he dove down to check on Spyro.

This stumble gave the Gnorc pilot time to rev up his engine and accelerate toward the portal. The edge of the pool approached and the plane hadn’t lifted into the air yet. Yelling the pilot cut the bombs on each side of the plane loose, sending them sliding into the water and the plane wobbling into the air. Toasty bounced onto the body of the plane just in time for it to fly into the skyline through the portal archway.

“I’m fine I'm good,” said Spyro, shaking his head, “quick, let's fly after them!”

Sparx nodded to Spyro, agreeing the mess here could be someone else’s problem now. However Blowhard insisted they stay put with a bolt of dissenting lightning. It struck not at Spyro, but at the water in the pool between him and the hidden portal. Spyro’s eyes widened, then dilated against a flash as two explosions burst from the water. A massive wave of blue water and glowing stone shrapnel fell onto Spyro who managed to shield Sparx and his face with his wings. 

“Hohohoh!!” Blowhard chortled as he dropped to the pool, the vortex of wind he rode turning into a funnel of flying water. His laugh did not manage to mask the sound of sliding stone as the entrance to the hidden portal slid shut.

The glow of the stone shrapnel that lay around Spyro faded, and seeing this he charged to the portal. Blowhard raised his arms and stopped laughing as Spyro seemed intent to go right through him. There wasn’t time for that fun however as Spyro instead dove into the water and swam under Blowhard. With a momentous leap he nearly reached the portal at the same time as the closing stone. Growling, Spyro skidded to a stop and narrowly avoided being smashed. 

“Oh! Ohohohoh!” said Blowhard once more. This drew Spyro’s ire toward him, so he quickly returned to chanting. A blast of flame merely singed his beard as he rose back into the air. 

“Ah come on, don’t want to play?” said Spyro, “afraid you’ll lose another duel?”

Blowhard responded only by continuing his chant and raising a hand. Spyro raised an eyebrow trying to discern if this was meant as some rude gesture or something. It turned out though Blowhard wasn’t brave enough for that, as the only remaining functional Gnorc plane flew past Blowhard, who snagged onto its rudder and was dragged away like a damp flag. 

“Oh, lame,” said Spyro. He watched the fleeing planes for a moment under the shroud of the rainclouds. A rainbow was shining in the sky now, though not as an omen alone. It waved through the air with a warping sound before crashing with a flash next to Spyro. Appearing from magic was Bianca, eyes wide and eye bags dark. 

“Spyro I came as fast as I could!” said Bianca, “Where’d all those explosions come from?”

“Gnorcs, somehow,” said Spyro. “Hey, d’ya think you could open the wall to that portal with your magic?”

“Between the waterfall there?” said Bianca, “Uh… yeah, give me a moment!”

After a moment of looking over the sight, Bianca began waving her hands around and repeated an incantation. A glow appeared in her hands that shot toward the wall like a rocket. It also blew up like a rocket, tendrils of light scattering over the rockface. Cracks spread over the wall, stone pops echoing through the air. Then bursting from the grassy hill above it came a wave of water which connected the two waterfalls and thoroughly blocked the path to the portal.

“Ah,” said Bianca.

“Sure,” said Spyro.

“Shoot,” said Zoe.

“Hey! Who had a party over here?” said Hunter the Cheetah as he casually strolled up beside the group.

“Bzzt!” said Sparx.

“Oh okay!” Hunter leaned down to Spyro, “What’d he say?”

“...Oh! Let’s follow the planes!” said Spyro who then took off running.

“Cool!” Hunter Leaned over to Bianca, “What airplanes?”

Giving little mind to the others Spyro rushed through an underground tunnel and out to a wooden dock on the sea. There a short balloonist with their face covered by a scarf was tying down a hot air balloon. 

“Hey Marco! Can I borrow this again?!” said Spyro whilst hopping around Marco the balloonist.

“Oh of course Spyro!” said the Balloonist.

Immediately Spyro hopped onto Marco’s head and into the small basket of the hot air balloon. “Oh yeah do I steer this after those planes that just flew by?”

“That’s… a bit complicated,” said Marco. “What do you know about altitude and wind direction?”

“...Not enough actually,” said Spyro.

“Hold on Spyro!” said Bianca as She, Hunter and Zoe caught up to him. “I actually got a spell that should help.”

“Maybe don’t blow up his balloon,” said Spyro.

“Blow up my balloon?!” said Marco.

“No no trust me,” said Bianca. Without more time for objections, she waved her hands and summoned a wave of dim rainbow light over the Balloon. A rainbow trail stretched into the air and faded into the horizon. “This should follow that wizard, he left a lot of magic floating around.”

“Oh Thanks! Be right back!” said Spyro.

The balloon lifted into the air along the trajectory of the rainbow, only jostling Spyro around a little bit. As they watched Spyro be carried away Hunter spoke up. “Oh hey, maybe I can get my jetpack. Or my RC plane!”

“Do you know where those are right now?” said Zoe.

“Uh, well…”

In the distance they all heard the shriek of an elder Dragon. “OUR WATERFALL!!!”

“Well let’s go look for your toys,” said Bianca, “No need to stick around.”

Out from under the overcast weather and into sunny skies flew the rickety Gnorc airplane. Blowhard sighed to himself and released his grip from the rudder, returning to riding his magic tornado. Here an updraft in the air made it much easier for Blowhard to stay aloft. He and the remaining plane of Gnorc Squadron Four had reached the island known to the Dragons as Sunny Flight. Large crystal clusters protruded from the island itself and the sea around it. 

“Hey uh, mr wizard,” said the Gnorc pilot beside Blowhard, “who’s balloon is that behind us?”

Blowhard looked at the pilot while maintaining his chant, then slowly turned his body around. Blowing through the air towards them was a large red and yellow striped balloon. Squinting, Blowhard made out a familiar purple Dragon in the basket hanging from the balloon. 

“Ohohoh!” said Blowhard, “the Fool!”

“Fool?” said the Gnorc, “Who’s the fool? Should we be leading it to the ship?”

“The wyrmling is a laying waterfowl! The balloon will be cast into the sea by cannon fire!”

As the balloon closed in Spyro glared at Blowhard, then smirked. He leaned over the edge of the basket and unfolded his wings. 

“Ohohoh! Wyrmlings cannot fly!” said Blowhard, slowly losing altitude as he interrupted his chant, “Lest they be in locales of high magic or updrafts! Ohoho-AH!”

Taking evasive action as he suddenly lost more altitude in a panic, Blowhard resumed his chant intime to skid across the ocean surface. Spyro’s smile widened and he leaned out of the basket and leapt toward the fleeing wizard and pilot. His small orange wings picked up waves of wind that trailed behind him. In the vicinity of Sunny Flight, Spyro clearly had more advantage to gain than those fleeing him.

^Art by @Artisyone here on Tumblr and on Twitter. Consider checking out her art or her Sonic AU comic Out of the Blue.

Thanks for reading if you got this far! This is the first chapter of a story I've had outlined for a bit now. Overall my plans are to have about 11-12 chapters, hopefully in a bit shorter lenght than this. Ideally I'd like this to feel like a prose form of a "Spyro OVA."

Feel free to offer any comments on this story, I'd appreciate it!

--CHAPTER TWO HERE--

[xamm3]

Princess Jade: I won't let you go again!

Amidst the tumultuous Fall of Heliodor, Princess Jade bears witness to the kingdom's invasion by Mordegon and his dark forces. The Luminary, unjustly accused as the Darkspawn, escapes the castle in the ensuing chaos, leaving Jade profoundly affected and setting her on a journey of personal transformation.

Determined to fortify herself and shield her kingdom, Jade undertakes rigorous martial training following the fall of Heliodor, evolving into a skilled warrior in her relentless pursuit of strength. Along her path, she encounters Rab, a wise and mysterious mentor figure. Rab imparts guidance and insights into Jade's past, illuminating the challenges that lie ahead and shaping her understanding of her own destiny.

Before her initial encounter with Hendrick, a formidable knight in the service of Heliodor, Jade is already immersed in her quest for strength. Hendrick, initially cast as an antagonist aligned with Heliodor's rulers, undergoes character development as Jade's journey unfolds. The narrative crescendos with Jade's poignant reunion with the Luminary, her childhood friend, evoking a surge of emotions as their shared memories resurface, intertwining their fates in the unfolding epic against the encroaching darkness.

[thepitofjob]

Job 16: 6-14. "The Breadcrumbs."

"Proud but not arrogant" is the fruit of the actions of the student found in the Shule. Thoughts grown in the orchard of the Divine Estate produce juice that is used to produce wine. Thoughts grown on the Diabolic Estate core the fruits like worms and make them shitty.

The thought of owning a cored apple in between one's ears causing a gaunted brain should be terrifying. The Book of Job calls the cause of gaunt "a refrain of a pain".

The only way to escape a gaunted brain is through the cultivation of what is called the Bud in Hebrew, "the silent witness." The Bud is "a discourse between the eyebrows that takes place while sitting on the butt."

"Our noun may denote the back or buttocks of a man (Psalm 129:3) or of cherubim (Ezekiel 10:12). It may denote a hill (Ezekiel 16:24), or the elevation of an altar (Ezekiel 43:13). It may describe a quality of a shield, perhaps its rim or bulbous curvature (Job 15:26), something said, perhaps a build-up argumentation or boastful discourse (Job 13:12), the hairy "hills" or "rims" of the eye, which are most probably a person's eyebrows (Leviticus 14:9), and something pertaining to a wheel, probably the curved segments that form the rim of it (1 Kings 7:33)."

The following section explains from the eyebrows down to the kidneys and bladder how to witness the Words of Moses and become successful at arguing for their truth, called the piercing eye by the Rab.

Truth feeds the mind and cures it of worms. Truth shatters one's enemies, it ends the need for their pity. Jews are the most piteous race of persons in human history as they have been murdered and persecuted in very large numbers because of worms grown on the Diabolic Estate. But Ha Shem has finally been revealed and as He promised in the Torah, so now has the truth reality of the Jew. Now it should be easy to perform the Bud, the build up the hill of the enlightened Jewish Self:

6 “Yet if I speak, my pain is not relieved;     and if I refrain, it does not go away. 7 Surely, God, you have worn me out;     you have devastated my entire household. 8 You have shriveled me up—and it has become a witness;     my gauntness rises up and testifies against me. 9 God assails me and tears me in his anger     and gnashes his teeth at me;k     my opponent fastens on me his piercing eyes. 10 People open their mouths to jeer at me;     they strike my cheek in scorn     and unite together against me. 11 God has turned me over to the ungodly     and thrown me into the clutches of the wicked. 12 All was well with me, but he shattered me;     he seized me by the neck and crushed me. He has made me his target; 13     his archers surround me. Without pity, he pierces my kidneys     and spills my gall on the ground. 14 Again and again he bursts upon me;     he rushes at me like a warrior.

The Values in Gematria are:

v. 6-7: Surely God, you have worn me out. The Number is 11602, יאס‎ב, yasev, "what are you going to create with all of your effort?"

v. 8-9: My opponent has piercing eyes. The mirror image is called one's opponent until the attainment to Ha Shem. He must be eradicated using the lessons found in the Shule. Some people think this means they can't masturbate or they have to check with God or the Bible on every last little thing but that is not correct. The opponent is the ego, the sneaky part of the mind, the one that tests the world. The world as the verses say will test us back and that is not desirable.

The Number is 9082, טאֶפֶסח‎ב, tapeshahb, "stretch out". "To test beyond the limites of one's obstinate mind, to exit confining spaces." In the same way the mind wants more space to grow into, which means one must give up on silly superstitions, so do ones persecutors cause the world to become stretched thin.

"The verb τεινω (teino) means to stretch tight (of reins, of a sheet, of a bow, of tendons), or in general, to exert a force to something so as to stretch it to its limit. It derives from the same Proto-Indo-European root "ten-" that also yielded the Latin verb teneo, to reach for, to hold, to grasp, from which English gets words like tenet, tenor and tenure.

In the classics our verb τεινω (teino) is likewise used in the sense of to strain or exert oneself (in order to reach something), to strain an issue or dispute, to run off at full speed, and so on. It may be used in the sense of to aim at (to stretch a bow and thus aim an arrows toward some target), to lay out in one's full length, to stretch or hold out, to stretch or reach for, to lengthen (of time). Our verb does not occur independently in the New Testament, only as part of the following compounds:

Together with the intensifying prefix α- (a-), meaning very much: the verb ατενιζω (atenizo) , meaning to look intently, to stare (comparable to our English word attention, from the Latin equivalents). In the classics as well as in the New Testament, this word is applied mostly to staring eyes, and on occasion to an otherwise probing (or obstinate) mind. This verb is used 14 times; see full concordance.

Together with the preposition εκ (ek), meaning out: the verb εκτεινω (ekteino), meaning to stretch out. In the New Testament this verb is nearly exclusively used to describe the stretching out of one's hand(s), but certain usages suggest that more is implied. In Acts 26:1, for instance, the stretching out of Paul's hand is equated with him speaking for himself. Note that the word χειρ (cheir), hand, also denotes one's personal power, and whatever is in one's hand(s) is in one's power. In Acts 27:30, this same verb is used to describe the casting off of a ship's anchors. This verb is used 16 times, see full concordance, and from it in turn derive:

The noun εκτενεια (ektenia), which literally describes the act (or instance) of reaching or stretching out, but which is used to describe zeal or enthusiasm (Acts 26:7 only).

The adjective εκτενης (ektenes), literally meaning stretched out, but used to describe the warm bond between friends who reach out to each other, with zeal and eagerness (Acts 12:5 and 1 Peter 4:8 only). From this adjective in turn come:

The adverbially used comparative of the previous, namely εκτενεστερον (ektenesteron), meaning more zealously (Luke 22:44 only).

The adverb εκτενως (ektenos), meaning intently, zealously (1 Peter 1:22 only).

Together with the preposition επι (epi), meaning on or upon: the verb επεκτεινω (epekteino), meaning to reach onto or toward (Philippians 3:13 only).

Together with the preposition υπερ (huper), meaning over or beyond: the verb υπερεκτεινω (uperekteino), meaning to overstretch, to overdo (2 Corinthians 10:14 only).

Together with the preposition παρα (para), meaning near or nearby: the verb παρατεινω (parateino), meaning to stretch beside, along or nearly onto (Acts 20:7 only). In the classics this verb may mean to prolong or protract, which is how it appears to be used in the New Testament.

Together with the preposition προ (pro), meaning before, in front of: the verb προτεινω (proteino), meaning to stretch out before (Acts 22:25 only). In this case, the "stretching" relates to the tight thongs, and the "before" relates to the beating that was to follow and for which Paul was bound.

The adjective στενος (stenos) means narrow (hence English words like stenosis and stenography) or confined. In the Greek classics, this word is used largely the same as "narrow" is in English, with "the narrows" describing sea straights (the straights of Gibraltar, the Hellespont), and "narrow minds" referring to folks of petty mental means. This word was also used to describe a "narrow spot", either literally or figuratively, in the sense of being driven in a corner, or being stuck in a difficult place where one can barely move or escape from.

It's formally unclear where this word comes from, but here at Abarim Publications we surmise it's one of a small list of words that were amended with a leading sigma (see our article on σειρα, seira, for a discussion of this phenomenon), and hence is the counterpart of our verb τεινω (teino), to stretch (see above). In the classics, our adjective στενος (stenos) also occurs as the variant στεινος (steinos).

Our adjective occurs in Matthew 7:13, 7:14 and Luke 13:24 only, and only to describe the narrow (i.e. difficult to get to and through), gate onto life, as opposite the broad (i.e. easy to get to and through) one that leads to destruction. In modern evangelical climates it's not always emphasized, but if the going seems easy, the chances are excellent we're not really going anywhere. Not all difficulty leads to life, of course, but life is a difficult trait to get right, and the gospel of bliss and fun might be the worst good news anyone has ever received.

From our adjective derive:

The verb στεναζω (stenazo), meaning to groan or sigh deeply, to vocally demonstrate that one is in a tight spot or trying to figure out something very difficult. This verb does not describe a state of defeat and placid sorrow, but the roar of flexed muscles, bent backs and a hell-or-high-water kind of can-do attitude. In James 5:9 the author warns to not loudly wail when carrying a brother's failings, as this would make everybody feel bad, but simply carry what we can, knowing that those who carry our failings are quiet not because our failings are light but because they are dignified about them. This mighty verb is used 6 times; see full concordance, and from it in turn come:

Together with the preposition ανα (ana), meaning on, upon or again: the verb αναστεναζω (anastenazo), meaning to groan out loud, or several loud groans in a row. This verb is an amplified version of the previous (Mark 8:12 only).

The noun στεναγμος (stenagmos), meaning a groan or groaning (Acts 7:34 and Romans 8:26 only). In Acts, the author quotes Exodus 2:24, but Paul in his letter to the Romans speaks of "un-talkable groanings", which doesn't so much emphasize the non-verbal nature of the Holy Spirit's groaning, but rather that the Holy Spirit's most arduous efforts can't be joined or spread out over a broader conversation.

Together with the preposition συν (sun), meaning together or with: the verb συστεναζω (sustenazo), meaning to groan together or jointly groan (to be engaged in a communal effort that has everybody groaning together). This important verb occurs in Romans 8:22 only, where it describes the collective groaning of creation, not out of defeat but out of the unshakable conviction that it is bringing forth something very much worth the effort. If we are correct and our parent verb indeed comes from the PIE root "ten-", then our verb συστεναζω (sustenazo) is very closely related to the English verb to sustain.

Together with the noun χωρα (chora), "region of cultural distinction": the verb στενοχωρεω (stenochoreo), to narrow one's space (2 Corinthians 4:8 and 6:12 only). From this word in turn comes:

The noun στενοχωρια (stenochoria), which is commonly translated with distress or persecution but literally describes a narrowing of breathing space (in a cultural or intellectual sense).

v. 10-11: God has thrown me into the clutches of the wicked. Clutches are not handbags without straps, they are what we long for. What one wants one will draw too one. No one longs to be ritually pure however. But the sage says it is the job of the Shule to teach us how to long for the proper experience of one's own man:

"To covet (this is the famous one, used in "you shall not covet"), אוה ('wh II), to desire, wish or covet, פער (pa'ar), to desire or lust — and since our verb כסף (kasap) occurs a mere few times, it evidently expresses a specific and rather reserved sensation. In Arabic this verb means to be colorless, obscure or even to eclipsed (of a heavenly body) or to be depressed in appearance. In Aramaic (and subsequently modern Hebrew) it means to become pale or deteriorate, and is often used in the sense of to put to shame or frighten. Its five Biblical contexts are:

You will call and I will answer you; you will long for the creature your hands have made (Job 14:15).

He is like a lion that is eager to tear (Psalm 17:12).

Now you have gone off because you longed to return to your father's house (Genesis 31:30).

My soul longed and even yearned (כלה, kaleh) for the courts of YHWH (Psalm 84:2).

Gather yourselves together, yes, gather, O nation without shame/desire (Zephaniah 2:1).

v. 12-13: But his archers targeted me. They spilled my kidneys and my gall. Gall is bitterness. It can only be cured by its antidote called merara, the Myrrh, the Balsam of God, "the oil of the wedding night."

Telling one strength and sweetness are both types of bitterness associated with the Myrrh does not even scratch the surface of the meaning of the above. Complete withdrawal of the mind from the clutches for the purposes of conserving time, money, energy, emotions, and one's visions until the right time is the reason we study the Torah in the Shule.

The Number is 11169, ט‎יאאו‎ ‎, tiao, "the Theo."

Theo is thineself. It comprises all the theories and their accomplishments that reveal Ha Shem, specifically "definitions of God that we are sure about."

The etymology suggests the God and the Torah are like instructions for putting together prefab furniture that arrives in a box:

"The primary purpose of knowing things — knowing when to sow, when to harvest, how to track prey, how to battle threats, how to respond to a complex international social market — was to create security and thus increase people's chances of survival (see our article on the word πιστις, pistis, meaning "faith" or rather "that which one is sure about", for more on this). And all details of all knowledge added up to the unified quest for the basic operating principle of the universe."

If one finds oneself unable to do this, Ha Shem has yet to be achieved.

v. 14: Again he bursts upon me like a warrior.

=The proper aim or purpose one has longed for has been achieved. It is accompanied by a report, and then the warrior goes and takes what he knows is right for him and also right for the world:

"The root רעה (ra'a III) does not occur in the Bible, but in Aramaic — רעא (ra'a') — it means to take pleasure in or desire, and yields nouns that mean thought, opinion and disposition. Some scholars propose that this root and its derivatives are in fact a specialized group of words coming from root רעה (ra'a I). Also note that two of three derivations of this root are also produced by the previous root:

The masculine noun רע (rea'), meaning aim or purpose (Psalm 139:1).

The feminine noun רעות (re'ut), meaning longing or striving (Ecclesiastes 1:14).

The masculine noun רעיון (ra'yon), meaning longing (Ecclesiastes 1:17).

The verb רוע (rua') describes the production of a sudden burst of sound brought about by humans, namely an aggressive war cry (Joshua 6:10, 1 Samuel 17:52, Isaiah 42:13), a defensive alarm cry (Judges 7:21), a cry out of distress (Isaiah 15:4, Micah 4:9), a signal to start marching (Numbers 10:7), a triumphant shout (Jeremiah 50:15), a shout in applause (1 Samuel 10:24), or religious zeal (1 Samuel 4:5), or joy (Psalm 65:13). This verb is a bit of a chameleon; it appears formed as הריעו (Judges 15:14), הרעו (1 Samuel 17:20), יריע (Isaiah 42:13), תרועה (Joshua 6:5) and תרועת (Ezra 3:13).

The derivatives of this verb are:

The noun רע (rea'), meaning a shouting (Exodus 32:17, Job 36:33, Micah 4:9 only, but each of these occurrences is dubious and may rather be due to any of the above).

The feminine noun תרועה (teru'a), meaning alarm or war cry (Joshua 6:5, Amos 1:14), marching signal (Numbers 10:5, 2 Chronicles 13:12), shout for joy (1 Samuel 4:5, Ezra 3:13, Job 8:21)."

The Number is 2988, ךטףח, "picked up pat," "a morsel of bread."

The creation of the individual Jewish Self and the Nation are a process made up of bread crumbs. This is very deluded world. It is being run by criminals and dipshitz. The human race has no idea what it is doing or why in spite of every advantage. The purposes named by the Torah and Tanakh are the ones that will save it. But they are not accepted ubiquitously and are not taught to but a few.

[wikiuntamed]

Top 5 @Wikipedia pages from a year ago: Wednesday, 1st February 2023

Welcome, welkom, hoş geldiniz, ยินดีต้อนรับ (yin dee dtôn rab) 🤗 What were the top pages visited on @Wikipedia (1st February 2023) 🏆🌟🔥?

1️⃣: Pathaan (film) "Pathaan (pronounced [pəʈʰaːn]) is a 2023 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film co-written and directed by Siddharth Anand and produced by Aditya Chopra under Yash Raj Films. The fourth installment in the YRF Spy Universe, it stars Shah Rukh Khan in the title role, alongside Deepika Padukone and..."

2️⃣: 1962 Mexico City radiation accident "Between March and July 1962, a radiation incident in Mexico City occurred when a ten-year-old boy took home an industrial radiography source that was not contained in its proper shielding. Five individuals received significant overdoses of radiation from the 200-gigabecquerel cobalt-60 capsule,..."

Image licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0? by KDS444

3️⃣: Tom Brady "Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr. (born August 3, 1977) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 23 seasons. He spent his first 20 seasons with the New England Patriots and was a central contributor to the franchise's dynasty from 2001 to 2019. In..."

Image by Congressman Charlie Crist

4️⃣: Pamela Anderson "Pamela Denise Anderson (born July 1, 1967) is a Canadian-American actress, model and media personality. She is best known for her modelling work in Playboy magazine and for her role as "C.J." Parker on the television series Baywatch (1992–1997). Anderson came to public prominence after being..."

Image licensed under CC BY 3.0? by elevatefestival

5️⃣: The Last of Us (TV series) "The Last of Us is an American post-apocalyptic drama television series created by Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann for HBO. Based on the video game franchise developed by Naughty Dog, the series is set twenty years into a pandemic caused by a mass fungal infection, which causes its hosts to transform..."

[finlands-beret]

Thinking of epithets for the party, and: Erik, the dagger of night Veronica, the spark of life Serena, the voice of healing Sylv, the sword of light Rab, the mage of blight Jade, the princess of the fight Hendrik, the shield of light

[giantsorcowboys]

Happy Pride From The Kilted Coaches!

Woof, Baby!

[bosguy]

Men in kilts

It has been too long since I last shared a photograph of the handsome @kiltedcoaches so I'm sharing this image of Rab Shields and Stephen Clarke. I can't get enough of these guys.

It has been far too long since I last posted a photograph of the Kilted Coaches so when I stumbled upon this photograph of Stephen Clarke and Rab Shields I knew I wanted to share it on my weekly men in kilts post. Previous Men in Kilts Posts

[incorrect-dragonquest-quotes]

*During the final battle*

Eleven: Erik! *dodges an attack before slashing at Mordegon* Erik... Will you marry me?

Erik, jumping away to avoid an attack: I don't think now's the best time!

Eleven, healing an injured Hendrik before unleashing a spell at Mordegon: NOW MAY BE THE ONLY TIME!

*When they have a brief moment, Eleven holds Erik close before whispering "I love you." They then return to the fray*

Eleven: I made my choice... what's yours?

Erik, turning to Serena, who is healing Veronica: SERENA! Marry us!

Serena, running away to dodge: I'm a little busy at the moment!

Eleven, casting another spell: Serena! NOW!

Serena, with an exasperated sigh: Fine then.

*During the fray, Serena began to say their vows as she dodges, attacks, and heals at the same time*

Serena: Dearly beloved... *pauses to revive Sylvando* We are gathered here today... *ducks from an attack* to join Eleven and Erik... *heals Jade* in holy matrimony...

Eleven, jumping back before taking Erik's hand: Erik... do you take me to be your husband?

Erik: I do.

Eleven, smiling: Great!

*They separate for a moment to attack Mordegon*

Erik: Eleven... *shields Rab from an attack* ...do you take me... *throws a Medicinal Herb at Jade for her to heal herself* ...to be your husband... *stops for a moment to catch his breath* ...in sickness and health... *gets hit and pauses to use a Medicinal Herb* ...till death do us part?

Eleven, at a distance: I do!

Serena: You may now kiss-- *dies before being revived by Hendrik's Yggdrasil Leaf* ...You may now kiss-- *jumps away from another attack* ...JUST KISS!

*With that, Erik and Eleven kissed during the heat of battle*

[limetimo]

RAB I read (7-13 March)

rewrite my heart (let the future in) by secretpersona ♥♥♥♥♥ Pandora Sees what people need. Regulus dreams about his death. The Order is an organised mess and Voldemort plays favourites. Also, SOUP ♥♥♥

Remus and Regulus: Horcrux hunters by Oliivii Remus bumps into Regulus and tags along for the Horcrux retrieval. What follows is a satisfying angsty mess!

BLAME by YouBlitheringIdiot ALL! MY! HOMIES! HATE! DUMBLEDORE! AND! SNAPE! Aka James takes full blame for the Prank is expelled and joins DEs as a spy. And I can't stress this enough, fuck Dumbledore.

Everyone Is Someone At Home by FivePips, shadow_prince Prince Sirius dreams of running away from home and who's a better ride to freedom than a sexy Viking Jarl Remus? Ft. Good Sibling Regulus!

Harry Potter y la orden de- ¡Dejen de tocarme los huevos by Denébola Black (Estefi343), Estefi343 Okay, so Spanish is not a language I possess and it's been 90k of online translator for me; buuut the gist of it is a Slytherin-ish Harry (you know, cool, collected Harry) meeting the portrait of Regulus in Grimmauld Place, and they become besties like, instantly.

I Didn't Catch Your Name by Kach_wow a comedy of mistakes and near-encounters! We have two groups: Regulus, Remus, Pandora on one side and James, Sirius and Lily on the other. Regulus and James had a one night stand but don't know each other names, Sirius doesn't know Remus' roommate is his estranged and long lost brother, Pandora is about to propose to Lily but doesn't know James is Regulus' one night stand. You're going to scream, I can promise that.

Quite Like Us by Anonymous it started as a wrong AU number and now it's such sweet fluff (with some drama on the horizont)! Human puppy James and a hissy kitten Regulus

glimpses of heaven by lunahunt I have only just started this one but it's looking GOOD! After the Prank, James and Regulus meet at a summer Quidditch camp!

A place where souls go by slytherinharrison I'm screaming the Bartylus we deserve. I can't believe I haven't discovered this sooner. The DRAMA sksksksksk

Drugs and surgical scrubs by anauro ♥♥♥♥♥��♥♥♥♥ AAAAAAAAAA I don't even have words anymore. Doctor Regulus doesn't want to give up on his addict brother, so when stabbed James Potter lands on his couch he agrees to keep him and treat him despite the dangers it poses to his licence. The price? No drugs. The Marauders have to go clean. Can they? Can the Black brothers salvage their relationship? Can James reclaim his life? Maybe smooch his personal doc? :D

Sky Full of Stars by TowardTheStars The story of how rotten Hollywood is, Sirius/Severus, Regulus is a good brother (or at least he's trying his best)

Did You Miss Me? by Fantismal, Krethes the story of how rotten the beauty industry is! this time following wrong number Wolfstar, love at first sight Jily, oops im in love with my best friend Floradora and the estabilished couple Bubbles (Longbottoms). I'm in awe of the formating of this text fic.

shield, shadow, shelter by coincidences following his betrayal, Regulus is tortured by Bellatrix and rescued by Sirius! Anguish and fluff!

Pretty Lies by Anonymous OOOOOOOOO fucking HOOOOOO Remus' mission is to stop a werewolf pack from joining Voldemort. Regulus' mission is to recruit the werewolves. Remus knows that every word coming from Regulus' lips is poison. It doesn't save him. FAN-TAS-TIC, time stopping, game changing, where is that Lady Gaga gif?

Every Rose Has Its Thorns by shadow_prince Wolfstar Beauty and the Beast with background Regulily. but like pretty background

rials and Tribulations by lemon_drps after Sirius runs away, Regulus has an awful fucking time and he and his friends are awful fucking people. Self-medicating with self-invented potion is going to end so. badly. I love this take on Regulus' character and teen Death Eaters.

and we're gone by blackkat Sirius is running away from home. my heart this is short but so impactful

As Soon As He Can by Trex_patronus sassy but also kinda suicidal ghost Regulus takes MArauders and company Horcrux hunting! We love Frank Longbottom ♥

Crush Culture by shadow_prince ace Regulus at a club. Really captures the atmosphere!

King and Lionheart by shadow_prince huhuehehehe Lord Sirius hires Remus to nanny and tutor his children. Cool Uncle Regulus AND dad Regulus! Historical and magical ♥

The Lie of the Lone Wolf by shadow_prince Marauders and Percy Jackson crossover. The focus is Wolfstar but there's some Regulus/JAmes/Lily drama on the sidelines, also Lily cuts her hair and I cannot stop thinking about short-haired Lily

Lion's Roar by Seralyn Regulus had been hiding and teaching in Beauto-I-haven't-remembered-the-spelling-yet-dammit-teux but returned to Grimmauld once again in OotP, brotherly... somehting ensues after he has a nasty run-in with a Boggart.

Leave Out All The Rest by Seralyn !!! After PoA Sirius is enjoying warmer climates when he runs into an interesting little girl and her papa (who is Regulus Black but Sirius doesn't know that yet)

Blood in The Water by Seralyn Regulus gets yeeted from the cave to 1995, it looks like there's some epic Regulus & Ginny friendship on the horizont! :D

Black Honour by limeta Bellatrix Black: The god, the victim, the eldest daughter, the woman in love, the spy. I a-dore this.

do you remember (we used to be so close) by Fencer13 five pairs of siblings. feels like a punch in the guts

The Wolf at the Door by lusilly Oh, so good! Regulus betrayed Voldy, went to hiding; after 1981 he approached Remus hoping to prove Sirius' innocence, but they got close and started dating instead. Remus' issues made them fall apart and they haven't spoken in years... but now Voldemort is back and they can't avoid seeing each other at the Order HQ. So. Good.

Teenagers Scare The Living Sh*t Out Of Me by LimeOfMagicLimo Sirius accidentally activates a blood magic spell and pulls Regulus from the cave to 1995 Grimmauld Place. Regulus has nothing but spite to keep him going. He lived and he's going to make everyone regret it. Crack!

[osakaso5]

Nagi Rokuya Birthday Photobook Rabbit Chat Part 2: Nagi And Takanashi Productions

Part 1 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

Tsumugi: Thank you all for coming! This project was created to show more of Nagi-san’s true nature as a way to commemorate the release of the Nagi Photobook.

Tsumugi: I believe this’ll show the fans how Nagi-san acts around the agency. Feel free to talk about whatever you like. I look forward to chatting with you all!

Nagi: Hello, Banri and Mr.President. I do hope your day was greatly improved by reading my photobook X-)))

Nagi: If you have any thoughts on it, I would gladly hear them.

Otoharu: Hello, Nagi-kun! I was looking forward to chatting with you.

Banri: Hello! You come across as a lot more sharp and cool over text.

Nagi: (V)o¥o(V)

Nagi: I can even use playful kaomoji, like the one shown above.

Otoharu: You're really something. Talented, not to mention you seem to know lots of trivia. (*^。^*)

Otoharu: (*^。^*)

Otoharu: This kaomoji is one of my favorites. What do you think?

Nagi: I love it. It shows off your personality quite nicely (*´ω`*)

Otoharu: Hehehe, thank you. Banri-kun, you should show our resident kaomoji sommelier your favorite one, too.

Tsumugi: K-kaomoji sommelier..!?

Banri: You think so? Hmm, I don't tend to use them much... Unless I'm talking to a girl, lol

Nagi: OH! You are one smooth operator, Banri. I never knew you took such a different approach to communicating with men and women.

Banri: Huh!? Isn't that normal? I don't want to come across as cold to girls...

Otoharu: Tsumugi-kun, don't let yourself be charmed by a man like this.

Tsumugi: Huh!?

Banri: Sir..!?

Nagi: What about a man like me, Mr. President? As you can probably tell by the cover of my photobook, I would spend a quiet and invigorating life with her.

Otoharu: The only man my daughter needs to have a quiet life with is me, so no.

Nagi: Hm... X-)))))

Banri: But if I was love rivals with Nagi, I don't think I'd win anyway...

Nagi: I also doubt I would lose, but I think you are very beautiful as well, Banri.

Banri: No way... I saw the pictures in your photobook, and there's no way I could pull that kind of stuff off.

Tsumugi: I must admit, I was charmed by that picture of you in front of the cherry blossoms!

Nagi: As photogenic as I am, the locations Sogo chose for shooting also helped.

Otoharu: The style of the pictures caught me off guard. It was like even the cherry blossoms were in love with you.

Nagi: Thank you for your kind words :-))))

Otoharu: I was also caught off guard by your crying. (*^。^*)

Nagi: It was a sight that brought a tear to my eye, whether I wanted it to or not. Would you like to join me for a viewing someday? If you watch with me, you will surely come to love every creature living on this Earth.

Otoharu: I never knew anime could do that. My daughter used to love this anime when she was little, too. I bought her the toys, and she'd use them to transform all day, every day.

Tsumugi: I think that's enough about me!!! Let's get back on topic!!!

Nagi: I would love to hear more about your anime phase, Tsumugi!

Banri: Me too, lol

Tsumugi: Aaaaahhh...

Otoharu: Which anime was it, again? I remember there being a catchphrase that went something like, "Bunny bunny kyun kyun~"

Nagi: Could it be... Rabbits★Panic!?

Otoharu: Ah, I think that's the one. That's the anime that made her like rabbits so much.

Tsumugi: .........

Nagi: Rab★Pa is an anime loved by people of all ages! Why, oh why did you not tell me sooner, Tsumugi?

Banri: Maybe she had emotional anime marathons like yours!

Tsumugi: Let's talk about literally anything else, please...

Nagi: It is important to appreciate the arts. Particularly the arts that cultivate your sensitivity and creativity.

Tsumugi: You really think so..? ><

Otoharu: He might be right. That could be the reason for why Nagi-kun himself is so expressive.

Nagi: You finally see my true charm?

Otoharu: I do find myself discovering a new expression or talent of yours often. I'm excited to see more.

Otoharu: You're a top-tier entertainer.

Nagi: Thank you. You never fail to warm our hearts.

Banri: You can pull off anything, whether it's cuteness, beauty, coolness, or even sexiness. That photo of you sitting on the couch was really seductive. And you're the reason why we've been getting all sorts of new work lately.

Banri: Not to mention you're a smart multilingual. It's practically a miracle that a man like you even exists.

Banri: I was still pretty surprised when a fan sent you a copy of their bank book with the message "I'll let you handle all of this, Nagi-kun"...

Nagi: Is that a courting tradition here in Japan?

Tsumugi: No, it's definitely not a tradition ><

Tsumugi: Let's move on to the questions before Nagi-san starts getting any ideas!

Choices/outcomes:

1. Tell us if there is anything about the agency that incoveniences you.

Nagi: I could not ask you for anything more. Coming back to you puts me at ease. It warms my heart. And that is why I will keep working with this agency for as long as you let me.

2. Tell us which side of you is the real Nagi.

Nagi: Every side of me is your dear Nagi Rokuya.

3. Are you glad to have joined Takanashi Productions?

Nagi: "Glad" does not even begin to describe it. Perhaps it was both Haruki and destiny who brought me to you.

Tsumugi: Thank you! I'll use these for the online publication later.

Nagi: Right. I do hope my answers were good.

Tsumugi: Of course..! They were great.

Nagi: May I say something, now?

Tsumugi: Yes!

Nagi: Banri, Mr. President?

Banri: Ah, sure!

Otoharu: (*^ 。^*)ノツ

Nagi: I am grateful that I was able to meet Iori, Yamato, Mitsuki, Tamaki, Sogo, and Riku thanks to you.

Nagi: I have never loved anything so much I could cry. To me, this agency is a place of miracles.

Nagi: If possible, I wish to never leave your side. And if I must leave, I hope you will still remain a place of love.

Tsumugi: Nagi-san..?

Otoharu: Takanashi Productions wouldn't be what it is without you around, Nagi-kun. We need all of you here.

Otoharu: It's our job to protect your smiles. This is your second home, after all.

Otoharu: Protecting our family is our top priority. We won't let you cry all alone.

Nagi: Mr. President...

Banri: "My heart is always with you". That's what you said in your photobook.

Banri: This place you love so much will always be here, right by your side. I don't know why you're so worried, but you're going to be fine.

Nagi: I truly am a lucky man, to have found so many people to love and be loved by.

Tsumugi: You sometimes look like you're deep in thought... But I think we can help you with whatever it is you're concerned about, at least a little.

Tsumugi: You're like our sun, so we'll be the ones to shield you from wind or rain.

Tsumugi: We'll wait until you feel like talking to us about it.

Nagi: How strong you are, my beloved Tsumugi.

Nagi: As are Mr. President and Banri, of course :-)))

Otoharu: I suppose I can overlook you calling my daughter your "beloved" just this once.

Banri: So you wouldn't otherwise? lol

Nagi: Perhaps the day I call you "Father" is closer than you think ;-)*

Otoharu: I take it back!!!

[thenewdeadseascrolls]

Judges 5: 24-27. "The Sink."

The Song of Deborah continues with a hint at what happens after one acquires Ha Shem. The experience is inextinguishable so after all the meditation and study of the Torah and agonizing over everything, the Rab says it will all be driven from the mind and the past self will die:

24 “Most blessed of women be Jael,     the wife of Heber the Kenite,     most blessed of tent-dwelling women. 25 He asked for water, and she gave him milk;     in a bowl fit for nobles she brought him curdled milk. 26 Her hand reached for the tent peg,     her right hand for the workman’s hammer. She struck Sisera, she crushed his head,     she shattered and pierced his temple. 27 At her feet he sank,     he fell; there he lay. At her feet he sank, he fell;     where he sank, there he fell—dead.

The Values in Gematria are:

v. 24: The goal of Deborah "the Establishment" is Heber of Kenite, "an association with people who understand the power of Constitution." I've said in previous frames it makes no sense to meditate and study the Torah and attempt to be a part of an ungodly planet. This makes God look like a hypocrite. This is a big problem on this planet, how the printed words "thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself" and "it is illegal to force a woman to carry an unwanted pregnancy" but nowhere no how do these things ever seem to make a damn bit of difference.

The Shoftim says he or she who aspires to do so, a person called a Jael, "a very good goat" is like a resident in a tent; a temporary shelter that shields one from the elements but is not at all home sweet home. Every Jew on this planet is a goat in a tent, waiting for the world to Constitute itself within the law.

The Value in Gematria is 6488, ודחח‎‎‎ ‎ "rejected and pushed."

v. 25: A bowl is the depression inside one's heart. It is where one hopes one's fondest wish will one day be found. The Shoftim says our good goat expected the water of freedom while he was waiting in his tent, but the Establishment gave him rotten milk instead.

The Value in Gematria is 3413, ג‎דאג‎, doug, "worried."

To worry is to be able to predict all the ways an unscrupulous people and their Democracy will not successfully avoid corruption just as ours has not. It would have been so easy to arrest Donald Trump after the election fraud bullshit in 2016, close the Republican Party down then and get onto the business of government in this town, but we did not do that. This is indeed worrisome:

"And Moshe grew up and he went out to his brethren.... He saw an Egyptian man beating an Israelite... and he smote the Egyptian…. And he went out on the next day... and he said to the wicked man: “Why are you striking…?”

And [that person] replied: “Do you intend to kill me...?”

Moshe became frightened and said: “The matter has indeed become known....” And Pharaoh heard... and he sought to kill Moshe. And Moshe fled....2

On the phrase,3 “And Moshe became frightened,” Rashi comments:

[The verse should be understood] according to its simple meaning. [Alternatively,] according to the Midrash,4 he was worried because he saw wicked informers among the Jewish people. He thought, “So perhaps they will not deserve to be redeemed.”

The question arises: Why does the simple meaning (that Moshe feared for his life because it had become public knowledge that he killed the Egyptian) not suffice?5 Why must Rashi also cite the interpretation of the Midrash6 — his fear that his brethren would not deserve to be redeemed — which is not at all alluded to in the verse?7

It is possible to offer a simple resolution to the above questions. Rashi was seeking to address a general difficulty raised by the verse: “And Moshe became frightened and said, ‘The matter has indeed become known.’ ” Why does the Torah mention this point?8 After all, Moshe’s fear did not lead to any action, for he did not flee to Midian until after Pharaoh heard about the matter and sought to kill him.9

To resolve this question, Rashi cites the interpretation of the Midrash which explains that Moshe’s fear was not motivated by concern for his own future, but rather came as a result of his worry that the Jewish people were not worthy of redemption.10"

v. 26: I have stated above a contemplative and law abiding culture need worry about its religion very much at all. Except we are living in Godless times and need to worry about it quite a lot. The inverse form of seeking Ha Shem, finding Him and leaving religion behind is to kill all thoughts found within the former faiths and start over with a fresh look at the Torah.

The Value in Gematria is 5285, הבחח, "sneeze." A sneeze, which resets the central nervous system also resets one from all incorrect concepts associated with Ha Shem.

Ha Shem means "The Knower of All." We give Him zero credit for all He knows and does. To sneeze is to stop giving onself too much credit and become humble before the manifest reality one is a part of. None of us knows everything about God, that is a ridiculous thing to say or think. This is not possible. But we can know Ha Shem. To make His Acquaintance is the goal of all spiritists, and this does not require a foolish self-fellated middle man who knows nothing at all about anything.

v. 27: To sink is to use the mind not one's circumstances to realize one is Jael, a good goat, but even still one is not particularly good at being human.

The Value in Gematria is 3116, גא‎או‎, "to bleat, to be brought low, to have arrived at the lowest point." The Rab says to be brought low is liberating:

From Ecclesiastes 3:

18 I also said to myself, “As for humans, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. 19 Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath[c]; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless. 20 All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. 21 Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?” 22 So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work, because that is their lot. For who can bring them to see what will happen after them?

There are signs we are going down into the earth like animals digging for a place to wallow. Ours is not the holy work that will lead to happiness.

We know this is not what we are doing, and we know we are not going to last very long if we do not stop. So why have we not stopped? We are being lazy and spoiled. We think the cause of our future happiness includes the belief someone else will clean up the mess.

This sloppiness towards the law and the laws of nature is costing us time, money, our health, and all of our future prosperity. What is happening all around the world is coming to your house in the not too distant future this is already obvious.

The desire to be just a goat in a tent praying and crying out in a language no one grasps is not going to fix anything. As Solomon states above, "as the effort, so the result."

Is it fate or is it destiny? Fate happens one way or the other, a destiny is earned. In order to understand how to change the nature of the effort, to stop sinking and change our destiny we will need to conclude this Midrash on the Song of Deborah. This happens next.

[rabtownsend]

unearned.

model: icelandicselkie photo: rab townsend

Toronto. November 19th, 2019. The convenience of implied nudity on social media in 2020. Maybe we all need to do a bit more shielding our bodies from the approaching void. Or, y’know, bellyflop into it.

patreon | instagram | ello | twitter | mastodon | pixelfed | pillowfort

[sarunohadaki]

DQXI/ATLA Crossover

Crossover week: Home | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |

And so it begins! Time to pull out my fat folder of fic ideas!

This one I have a vague plot down but need to work on it a lot to get it to where I want it to be. There are many elements of the spirit world from the Legend of Korra that I think would lend itself very well to the ideas I’m about to discuss, but unfortunately, it’s been whole years since I have last watched the show, which I never finished.

More under the cut because it gets long. Spoilers for a potential future Saru fic and parallels to DQXI and a bit of Legend of Korra.

Rating: T

Relationships: Mainly Adventure/gen, with a dash of luminerik

Fic title idea (given what day this is being posted): Earth, Wind, and Fire

Premise: The fic is set in an Erdrea that has properties of the ATLA universe, mainly bending abilities and the hybrid animals. Yggdrasil is still a giant tree, but in this universe would also serve the dual purpose of being the main gateway into the spirit world.

In this universe, Yggdrasil didn’t quite get to pick who would become the next avatar. I wanted to do something with Harmonic Convergence, but it doesn’t quite work the way I need it to for my purposes. Add it to the drawing board, Alfred!

Mordegon would be human in this. He is Carnelian’s trusted advisor, and therefore, whispers in Carnelian’s ear that the rebirth of the avatar would only cause unnecessary trouble for a world that has been surviving fine without one for 10,000 years. Mordy convinces Carnelian to nearly murder a toddler but in canon fashion said bab ends up in a river for an indefinite amount of time and gets adopted by a rustic village community in the very country that intends to kill him. Great.

All of that being said… who is this avatar, anyway?

Eleven

Up until he was 16 and completed his village’s traditional rite into adulthood, El had believed he was like all the other kids. Waterbending comes as easily to him as breathing, and he uses it often, though mostly to play pranks on others.

Personality

I’ve looked at Aang and Korra and while both of them are very different avatars, they both have an excitable energy that I just adore. I will take that and inject it into my protagonist, thank you very much.

In a bold departure from meek or even level-headed Eleven, I want to emphasize his mischievous side, the side that stole Dunstan’s joke book as a kid and caused trouble for the other villagers. He has a strong moral compass, is self-assured, and likes to try new things. Maybe he even brags a little bit!

Abilities

He’s a casual waterbender user, but talented enough to still be pretty powerful with it.

El hasn’t used the other elements in a very long time. I say that because I feel like he’d had the ability to use all of them as a child, but Chalky deterred him because he knew to reveal that El was the avatar would be… a very problematic situation. Unlike the rest of the villagers who live in relative peace and ignorance, Chalky is more privy to the dangers of the world and decides to encourage El to stick to one type of bending to keep his identity a secret. Maybe El slips up sometimes, but who cares all that much?

Idk. I’m not sure I’m keeping any of that last paragraph. But as a child, adults tell you stuff all the time and you just believe them, so I can imagine Chalky sitting El down and saying, “You have to pick one element.”

The other characters (speedrun):

Gemma: Firebender (let the girl do things please for the love of Yggie)

Erik — No bending, knives, boomerangs, swords

Veronica — Earthbender

Serena — Waterbender

Sylvando — Airbender! (this fic’s version of a Kyoshi warrior, disguised as a woman when they first meet him, goes by Sylv, genderfluid) — fights with a fan

Jade — Firebender

Rab — Airbender (Later revealed to be the Air Bison the North)

Jasper — Firebender

Hendrik — No bending, shield, greatsword

Worldbuilding

I'm not going to get in-depth. It'd be... a lot. So, I'll just cover which elements are where. No country is distinctly a specific element (there is no named fire nation here), but some areas are going to be heavier on one element than another.

Heliodor: Mostly firebending, with touches of earth and water, particularly in villages like Cobblestone with a lot of waterfalls.

Gallopolis: Earth and airbending.

Octagonia: Mostly earth bending/no bending.

Sniflheim, Gondolia, Puerto Valor, Lonalulu: Waterbending.

Hotto: Firebending.

Phnom Nonh: Earthbending and firebending.

Arboria and Angri-La: Mostly airbending.

Girl’s Medal Academy: Everything, though it’s not the main focus of the school.

Plot

I initially wanted to take the video game plot and mix it with story beats from ATLA to create a blended disaster, but I was having trouble determining how to do that, so I put it on the backburner.

I know I want to do something with the spirit world and Yggdrasil’s seedlings. I know I wanted to include stakes where countries go to war or there’s some sort of overarching political… thing. Along with action scenes, waaaay more worldbuilding for Erdrea, and character dynamics that are more than just, “I joined your team and support you now!” We need a Toph in this fic! We need kids who don’t know what the heck they’re doing and get at each other’s throats sometimes!

I don’t want the reader to open up the fic and know immediately what’s coming, which indicates to me the fic needs a whole renovation, one with a plot made from my own brain. Because I don’t want the fic to just be, “Eleven went to Heliodor. He got thrown into the dungeon. He met Erik and they ran into a dragon then they jumped off a cliff.” That’s completely valid to write with new spice, but I would like to conjure up something different!

But I keep getting stuck at the beginning! It’s like trying to wade into a thornbush. You don’t. You just walk up to it and it’s all in your face and you just give up before even trying to untangle it, lol.

So for right now…