#Reverse Logistics and Returns

[i4technolab]

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[fashionmachinetv]

[she-is-ovarit]

I see straight and bisexual women suffer so much from male partners in the smaller ways.

When he doesn't put the time in for you and misses events that you would never miss for him—such as your birthday—or maybe you always schedule birthday parties for him and he has never returned the favor.

When you take a ton of photos of him on your phone and he has maybe four or five of you and you've been together for years.

When you've spent nearly every holiday with his family and he's only gone over to your family's place with you for the holidays once or twice (just enough to argue that he has) and you've been together for years. And maybe he argues that it's because of the distance because, surprise surprise, you have moved to a closer location to his family rather than the other way around.

When he has fathered a child from another woman yet you frequently find yourself stepping in to protect the wellbeing of this child because he doesn't put much effort into bonding with them and gradually you find yourself assuming a lot of the emotional and logistical parenting duties.

When he's hyperfocused on his job and money and seems to consider whatever job or career you have as more of a "hobby". Or, the reverse, you have a well paying and meaningful career and make more of an income than him and he becomes incredibly resentful of you and insecure in himself.

When you put in effort to cook decent and healthy meals for both of you for lunch or dinner and he puts in no effort to learn how to cook or intention to nutritionally take care of you.

When every show or movie you watch, or any game you play, seems to always depend on his preferences and he's unwilling to try anything new that you're interested in.

When he always drives and is rarely if ever the passenger, and if you express you'd like to drive (and be more in control of where you go and the safety of your lives) he becomes reactive in some way.

I can really go on, but the point is, when he is the main character in both of your lives and doesn't practice even a basic standard of consideration and respect for you (except for a short time after you've had an argument maybe), don't ignore this and don't let this go. Forget how he seems to know exactly the right things to say and how to say them to you to smooth things over and pay more attention instead to his actions and behaviors. Would you do these same neglectful things to him?

[moodymisty]

So... I've been like reverse infected by the bully Cato Sicarius brainrot, so I'm going to make a longer, more fleshed out fic for it. Here's a snippet, forgive any rough edges.

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

You’re used to this type of work, and so you nod with sufficient understanding. Guilliman shifts in his armor and and continues speaking, briefly looking down at a blinking dot on his holotable for a moment.

“I will send some of Second Company with you to-“ Guilliman notices you expression sour, and you catch it too late to stop. “Is there something wrong with that?” Your hands unknit from your front to try and wave away the disrespect you thought you showed him, pursing your lips.

“I’m so sorry lord Guilliman, that was immature of-“

“It’s Sicarius, isn’t it.”

You stop speaking and look away. Guilliman sighs and rakes a gauntlet over his dusty blonde hair, before returning them to rest on the edge of the holotable.

“I have confronted him on his attitude already, has he not stopped this nonsense?” You swallow a knot in your throat.

Sicarius looked to you with a sneer on his lips, as he faced you. His olive skin shines with a red glow from the hazard lights around the ship's cargohold.

‘I struggle to think of a reason why we need you here.’ You, perhaps naively, spoke up in response.

‘Agriworlds are important logistically and diplomatically, and they’re prime targets for e-‘ Sicarius looked at you like you were nothing more than mud on his boots.

‘Did I ask for you to speak?’

You pursed your lips, and soaked in the frigid silence of the air. All the other marines stayed out of this; They have no stake it in and want not to get involved, or know they can’t without punishment.

Sicarius sighs and shifts in his armor, looking away from you with a petulant expression.

‘It really is true that women do nothing but talk.’

Mouth pursed tightly shut, you looked to Titus and an astartes beside him; They looked back with stoic, but sympathetic expressions. They can't say anything, but at least you know you aren't alone.

"No, it hasn't stopped. If anything, it seems to have only gotten worse."

[kheta]

Things I need in a Reverse Robins AU

-I don’t care what the order is but please let Duke and Jarro be adopted before Damian is taken in! I need Damian to be jealous of an alien starfish, my bones require it 😭

-Duke ans Damian make Jason and Dick’s lives so difficult… not as antagonist and purely because they snuck out and caused so much havock that Bruce now has a sixth sense for when his kids want to act up. They cannot even attempt stealth because Duke and Damian did it better.

-I want Duke and Damian to be those kid brothers that never got along. They used to regularly ‘spar’ (fist fight) but Dick, Cass and Jason don’t believe it because they get along so well now? Tim and Steph are obviously lying.

-A grown Dick Grayson being so mad because he went his whole life wanting to be taller than just one big brother, one! And he never gets it 🥰 (Him and Tim are the same height. He hates it w a passion) Technically he is taller than Jarro. But so is Ace and Tidus, that accounts for literally nothing.

-In contrasts to his big brother’s stealth and sneaking out shennanigans, Tim just straight up lies to Bruce when he wants to take off with YJ, vaguely saying their plans (baseball, trip to some histprical landmark, chilling on Bart’s new ride) So while Bruce blames Duke and Dami for his greys, he says that Tim is the only reason he isn’t fully grey because he’s so responsible and considerate and always tells Bruce everything. (Tim tells Bruce exactly three things, two are half-truths and one is the boldest lie in town 😇 Bruce is nonethewiser.)

-Running off of that, I want Tim to be the sneaky middle child always in chaos, but I want Dami to know this and point it out to Bruce and gst shut down (like Candace Flynn levels of bad)

-Dick is spoilt by his many older siblings. He knows and takes advantage. I’m talking like 18yo Dick Grayson showing up at 22yo Jason’s place when Jason is at College and Jason returns home to find his little brother wearing his robe, eating hia cereal and asking if he can borrow Jay’s car because Bruce is hiding his keys until Dick actually gets a drivers license, which he doesn’t need because he hardly ever drives anyway 🙄😒 Jason tells him to fuck off, kicks him for not throwing thw empty cereal box away and asks where tf he thinks he’s off to anyway??????

-I want Cass to be a bratty younger sister, but only to Jason. She’s happy to hangout and cherishes her time with all her brothers, but she terrorises Jason. Purposefully is quieter when walking near him to frighten him, steals every comfy, bright hoodie he owns, wiggles into his bed and leaves her stuff for him to pick up, clean. She happily helps with chores until Jason asks and suddenly, she did not hear him, she was ‘busy, calm down grumpy.’ I want her looking at his school work and making faces at him if he tries to help her. I want her to want nothing more than to bite Jason, but also have him be her secret favourite brother. I need them to be best friends but the sort who will sell each other out for a single corn chip.

-Dick convinces Damian to help him steal an elephant. If Damian weren’t so weak for his baby brother he’d think about how even tge manor is not large enough to comfortably house an elephant. Duke isn’t completely sure it’s a good idea, but he trusts his brother’s to be smart enough to think this through ☺️ (they have not and will not think the logistics of owning an elephant through) Tim is fully aware this is a bad plan, he’s just even worse at saying no to Dick 💀 Steph is so mad that she has to be the voice of reason among these idiots 😒

-Tim dropping out of High-school actually leads to a huge fight lol. Bc Duke and Damian have Masters and Jason is looking into Ivy Leagues and Cass adores you Tim you need to be a role model 😠 Tim moves to San Francisco and doesn’t talk to Bruce for months after that fight. He still regularly contacts his siblings though.

-Personally don’t love Jason dying in Reverse Robin AU’s, but you know if Joker killed him at 15 he’d be dead in two weeks tops. Oh you want to kill the baby brother of a trqined assassin and Tim, one bad hour away from villany, Drake-Wayne? You think Duke would stop them? Dick? You think wrong. Dick might even try to jump ahead of the line. Cass is perfectly happy to shut her eyes and pretend she cannot see her brothers planning 🫢 The Joker would die a slow and painful death. Steph and Duje would run Batman distraction. (Bruce actually has a support network and two kids younger than Jason who are grieving. He’d need to be a parent and help them with their grief. He’ll probably be shit at it, but he’d still need to try.)

-When Steph starts college she occasionally visits the manor, liberally fills her bag with spare socks, new towels and non-perishables. Alfred doesn’t mind. Bruce does, but only because he’s more than willing to buy it for her and she will kick him if he even glances at any of his credit cards or bank accounts while she is near.

- Barbara probably has a crush on Steph and Tim. Like not a serious, I want a romantic relationship crush. But like ‘Steph is so strong and pretty and she’s so smart Dick, she wants to be a Doctor that’s so cool!’ And Tim is that weird crush you can’t describe. Like Matthew Gray-Gubler. He looks sorta like a raccon and an addict, but he’s weirdly handsome and can work a computer like no one else, ‘isn’t he so smart Dick?’ Dick doesn’t know whether to be jealous or to laugh at her because. Like. Really??? That’s who you think is cute from all my amazing big brothers ans sisters?

-Dick, as youngest brother, probably has the most eclectic music taste. He listens to classical, trap music, K-Pop, scremo, RnB, showtunes. Just all genres. He doesn’t love all genres, bit he k ows enough to have a super weird road trip playlist.

-Dick also always has to deal with his friends, civvie and otherwise, having crushes on his siblings.

-Jarro barely spends holidays with the family, but he gets presents put aside for him and is the most patient, most fun big brother of the batfam. Damian still hates him, but will begrudgingly buy him gifts and invite him to family events because unfortunately, Jarro is his sibling. -Because he's never around, Jarro is the favourite older sibling, with Jason, Cass and Dick always making him projects from school. Duke, Dami and Tim see Jarro more, since they love going to see the JL or going to space and don't care that Bruce disapproves. They will either lie to Bruce or sneak out or just leave the manor 'Because I am a grown ass adult B, you can't ground me.' Steph does not like space or the JL half as much and is more busy studying/working than the other three losers. (affectionate)

-Gotham villains are in shock when, after having highly predictable vigilantes who just come in through the front/back door (Duke and Damian) they are faced with vigilantes who will in fact bazooka an entry way open (Jason and Cass)

[starcolonelkatrinamoon]

The Last Dance

Jaguar’s Shadow Drop Cluster Camp, AO Omaha 2300 Hours

Gentle music emanated through the camp of the Jaguar’s Shadow drop cluster. The camp had turned in for sleep for the night beyond those out on maneuvers or standing watch. Much of the snow had been plowed into piles around the circle of tents and support logistics.

In the middle of the clearing, near to the mess truck, Katrina meandered pointlessly. She walked back and forth in the mess clearing with her arms out to either side, balancing on an imaginary line. She couldn’t sleep after all. She now and then would spin on one foot before continuing along the line. Slowly, the music changed. It swept from the orchestral music that it had begun from into a haunting melancholic waltz, and the Star Colonel’s movements changed with it, becoming a slow one-person dance. She stepped, spun, twirled her way through the mess clearing. Now and then she would dip herself, bending back with a reverse lunge. And so she continued to dance on into the night, moving to a waltz that called for a partner who would never return.

(OOC: The waltz in question this was written to:)

(And the full collection of waltzes that play:)

@is-the-battlemech-cool-or-not

[blueper-saiyan]

I’m overanalyzing something that’s canonically not meant to be thought about, for fun, so here’s a speculative Saiyan biology question: how often do they actually need to eat? I’ve sort of joked about the possibility that it’s like large predators irl where they gorge themselves occasionally and then wait until the next big kill. This would balance out the amount they’re eating to closer to a normal human, just a surprising amount in one sitting, and dodge the thing I’m about to go off the deep end about. But I think they’re probably supposed to need that amount frequently? Which is like, rodent levels of frequency and portions, but unlike a small mammal, a huge amount of actual food consumed. It’s fine if there’s only a handful of Saiyans on a whole planet but how did that work when there was a lot of them? That’s a massive amount of food, where is it coming from? Are they mostly feeding their army by taking food from conquered planets? They’d still need to be producing enough for their homeworld. Is it being farmed automatically and that’s how they can have the majority of their whole species be soldiers? But like, Gine has a job processing meat, so it’s clearly not entirely automated. Stuck thinking about Saiyan agricultural production and supply logistics help.

Unfortunately, I can also say that almost immediately after finding out the amount that Saiyans eat, the back of my mind did jump to “how fast do they starve?” Like, is that a much bigger threat for them than a human or do they have about the same amount of reserves, even if they’re eating more? If it is way faster, how does that affect how they view food/hunger? As a fun irl example, hummingbirds have such an insane metabolism that they would potentially starve to death if they slept at night. So they don’t sleep like normal, they enter a state that’s more like hibernation to slow their metabolism down enough to survive. Many hummingbird species are fiercely territorial because they need access to their food source or they starve. I imagine a theoretical hummingbird society would be thinking about food differently. And because this is my indulgent post where I get to talk about animals, I’m also going to bring up vampire bats, which could also potentially starve if they can’t feed within two days or so (I did not go deep into scientific literature to find original numbers and sources for this estimate I’m sorry true bat fans. Actually same goes for the hummingbird estimate but I know more about birds.). Unlike the more territorial hummingbirds though, vampire bats roost together during the day in colonies, with the same other bats repeatedly. And their food source can’t be guarded like a flower patch can, so there’s less purpose to territoriality. So they can form long term friendships with each other by interacting in ways like grooming each other. Within these friendships, when one bat gets a meal during their few-hour-a-night feeding window, but the other one doesn’t, the one who got enough food will often share with their friend to keep them from going hungry. Then their friend returns the favor when their roles are reversed, keeping them both alive, along with the rest of their friend network.

So those are some very different responses to needing food nearly constantly. If I were deeper in ecology mode I could probably try and come up with explanations based on the types of food source and territory and other factors for why, but I’m here to apply this to Saiyans lol. Honestly, a cooperative strategy would make more sense given that they’re pretty human-like, but that’s certainly not the sense we get given of their society. Were they always super individualistic or is that a recent development? Are they even actually individualistic or is that fully a societal role thing (elites are different from lower class warriors)? Or is the idea that they don’t cooperate partly a lie made up after their deaths anyway? Speculative biology for intelligent species get the extra layer of culture just to make things more messy and fun. We also know pretty much nothing about their original home planet and the actual context that shaped them, so I don’t get to apply other factors, like how easy it is to defend food sources or how important it is to stick together. We probably won’t ever get to know anything more about their original homeworld/Sadala, which is disappointing given that we got hints about it, but it does leave more room for speculation.

[calfrxca]

[JUDGEMENT]

no way, cal returns from his art hiatus to post gay people and returns from hiatus for good :00 ??? no- im. im still on hiatus, my escapades to vatican city and specifically st peter's basillica last month just caused some brainworms LMFAO, i have. way too much to say about this specific piece and how my reading of the illiad and the war that killed achilles made it so much stronger

also before you ask, yes this is based on michelangelo's pietà in the vatican, dont even TRY to @ me

my yappings aside

ordo (the guy with the fuckass pipe in his chest) belongs to @gemsbokk !!!

meanings and yappings regarding this piece below the cut as usual, i dont expect anyone to read this, i just need to get this out or i'll actually EXPLODE

(upright) improvement, forgiveness, change of perspectives, absolution and rebirth

(reversed) oppression, lack of self awareness, failure, repeated mistakes, and self loathing

generally, in roman mythos as a whole, there's this whole idea that cannibalism, incest, murder, whatever, doesnt apply to the olympians because of their status as "The Divine" and any mortal who tries to do the same will be met with divine punishment from said olympians [many times, a mortal's fatal flaw is hubris, see achilles who believed he was immortal and a god because of how successful he was on the battlefield; icarus who flew too close to the sun and died, a literal modern day saying in the west for man's own hubris, etc] and if i remember correctly, some renditions of the illiad depict the myceaneans as cannibals. the war that killed achilles specifically writes:

"In the apocryphal Acts of Andres (dating to the 3rd century A.D.), there is 'a city of the cannibals,' which is identified as Myrmidon; it is possible that this account taps into some more ancient, and savage, lost tradition."

and my recent escapades to the roman colosseum revealed that the romans regularly consumed blood because they believed it had health benefits to it and they thought it cured epilepsy [paper written by the NBCI on this topic]; is there any historical basis proving that the consumption of blood actually had health benefits? no clue, nor do i really feel like checking these exact logistics at the moment (but if anyone does, feel free to @ me about it, i love weird historical shit like this), the actual effects behind it are moot, what's relevant here is the idea

the idea of consumption and cannibalism turning one into a god have the same effects as how, in greek mythos, the gods were often depicted engaging in acts such as incest, cannibalism, whatever, acts that we as mortals define as "immoral" and "unjust," not only just to seperate them from humans but also show that morals are a very fickle, human thing

anyways, my point here is there's something so raw about tacet losing it to the point he's not even just eating mechanical parts, but he's also eating organic parts, see: organic hearts, guts, kidneys, the like

"No matter how many men you eat boy, you will not be a god."

i mean tacet himself masks his desperation for touch and sensuality with literal blood and guts, which then creates a feedback loop of violence and death, which is a reoccurring theme in greek tragedies; specifically observed and mentioned in emily wilson's translation of the illiad:

"When a man is slain in times of peace, families can gain partial compensation for their loss by exacting a blood-price from the killer. Killers may also be forced to leave the community and take refuge elsewhere, as Patroclus did as a boy after he accidentally killed another boy in an argument over a game; he was adopted by his cousin Peleus and raised beside Achilles, like an older brother. In such cases, the killer's loss of his original home comforts the family in their need for vengeance. But in war, killers recognize no binding obligation to compensate the families of their victims. The only way the bereaved can recoup their losses is to kill the killer—whose comrades will demand vengeance in their turn. Killing begets killing, death begets death, and every loss of life generates further loss of life."

another instance is observed in the emily wilson translation here:

"When it is too late to save a warrior's life, friends and kinsmen may be able at least to save his weapons and his armor. If those have been stripped, the companions of the dead man may at least save his body."

there's a certain trope found in media, especially queer media where cannibalism and consumption are a common metaphor for love (see hannibal and interview with a vampire), and considering their dynamic was written in the midst of a hannibal brainrot im not exactly surprised there's a lot of similarities here

namely, tacet was a cannibalism from the start, starting drinking energon just as a more cost and time efficient way to staying fueled, but it turned into an addiction and eventually was lauded as something holy (there's something to be said here about the christian idea of wine and crackers being symbols of christ's blood and body; communion, the eucharist, whatever); i cant remember if this was canon or not so don't quote me on this

but at some point, tacet convinced ordo to try cannibalism as well, just to "see what would happen," went well enough until ordo got the fuckass pipe in his chest; something something play on the idea of cannibalism is only reserved for the divine; ordo died and tacet lost ordo

queer tragedy is very much a phenomenon found in greek and roman mythos, and well. this feels like it fits

alright im done yapping for now, my head hurts now, thanks for listening to my ted talk

here's some pics from rome and venice as a thanks LMFAO

i'll add image IDs to these once my headache goes away I PROMISE

[iaus]

I SHALL return w specific scene but also ⭐️ bc I love hearing you talk about your v cool work 💖🫡

okay. we're. going to talk about porter. i talk about jace so much (not a bad thing!) but because i tend to draw towards epilogue for these.... i really don't ever talk about porter.

so. i'm gonna talk about a scene from the first chapter of darling.

which. looking away from the untouched draft and the new project.

anyway. i DID make a series for epilogue & darling finally. because. well they are a duo. :)

nsft writing under the cut. as is the nature of darling. <3

so. darling is also tagged unreliable narrator and i want to talk a little about that. specifically about the scene when jace and porter finally get to their honeymoon cabin. so far jace has mostly been kind of poking at porter. he's playing with him. seeing if he matches his memory. and porter's a bit adrift. he can't approach jace the way he used to because this jace is more independent (in a way... i'd argue he's swung more to codependent in a way but. we'll get into that later.)

so. they get to the cabin and look at the amenities. i wish i was more comfortable showing the pictures of the place i based this on but. privacy reasons because it really is a place not far from me. BUT.

their honeymoon cabin is literally one room. it has a little kitchenette that porter's disappointed in, it has a breakfast nook not made for a goliath-genasi (even if he is small <3), and a gigantic bed. well. we're not being subtle on what darling is really about but.

porter's biggest issue is. with the shower.

The shower, irritatingly enough, is not big enough for two. It’s hardly big enough for Porter. Jace finds it hilarious as Porter does his best to maneuver himself into the room. Gives Porter a mean little grin that Porter feels like he hasn’t seen in years. “Guess you can’t wash my back then,” Jace drawls as Porter closes the door.

i personally think this is very telling about their dynamic. in epilogue, at some point when jace is showering he remembers that porter would tend to barge in when he was conditioning his hair and bother him. porter's used to having access to jace all the time. jace was not afforded any sort of privacy in their previous playing house.

but now... there's a logistical issue with just the size of this place they're staying. porter is too big for this space. he cannot just barge in on jace when he's showering in this space. and jace immediately catches onto it and is mean about it. jace has gotten nasty over his week alone and he's more than willing to push that onto porter.

(and this is something else the audience gets to know. from epilogue, we know that jace will kill porter if he's ungrateful. jace is hellbent on having what he wants from porter. porter has no idea. he's still expecting their previous dynamic. he still doesn't know about the fact that there's a literal role reversal now. jace has the power. he's not about to ascend. he doesn't have the shatterstar. yea porter could physically overpower jace: but would he be able to get the opportunity to do that to this jace?)

TANGENT.

but anyway. porter's angry, jace is delighted. but then strangely enough from that frustration we get a bit of sentimental thought from porter:

He thinks about how Jace used to complain—that he hated showering together when obviously Porter just wanted to fuck him against the tile (not that he complained when Porter palmed at his hips, massaged his thighs, spread his ass, and pressed his cockhead up against his already stretched hole)—and then about how before he had the shatterstar in his chest, that Jace would sometimes draw a bath for Porter when they were at their house. Would sit at the edge of the tub and talk to hear his own voice as Porter alternated between dozing off and trying to get Jace’s clothes off.

they're extremely sexually charged thoughts. because i mean. you might be able to tell i think their relationship is really sexual even though they do have some sort of care for each other. but. porter thinking about fucking jace in the shower leads to a memory of jace taking care of him.

which. we never saw any of that in jace's memories of epilogue. in epilogue it was all about how porter took care of him, how porter happened to him. now that we're getting porter's pov we get to see how jace might have showed affection for porter.

(and how porter responds with trying to get in jace's pants.)

i personally think this paragraph is tender and revealing. because even though porter writes it off in the next few sentences and insists this connects to things that he did to keep jace around. it's the first thing he thinks of when he realizes he won't have access to jace.

it's romantic in a bit of a fucked up way. or as romantic as he can get.

He wonders, as he’s hunching over to wash the shampoo from his hair, if Jace remembers that. Little private moments that Porter was so sure Jace would find important. That he went out of his way to do because he knew it had been a good way to ensure Jace was loyal, that he was committed. That he wouldn’t leave.

this section right here. porter plays off his attachment to this memory. he says that he did this because he figured jace would find it important. it's something jace would want. and jace is already known as flighty at this point so i mean. of course he's trying to make it so that jace, known commitmentphobe, is comitted. that he won't leave.

but. there's almost an underlying desperation imo to this little thought.

he's trying so hard to keep this man here who has left him multiple times. he's going out of his way to create these moments and gestures that he thinks are VALUABLE to jace even though... he could get another caster. he doesn't have to entangle himself this deeply but.

porter, unreliable narrator in his own way, wants jace committed. wants jace to stay.

and what was it that jace said in epilogue?

you don't need me, porter.

you want me.

(jace does know him well, huh.)

[masked-rat]

Space Marine Chapter: The Impalers

Posting this here because I would kind of like it to survive for posterity, and the odds of me coming back to 40k are pretty low.

Going to skip the Index Astartes entry because, let's face it, they're actually Night Lords.

They are *not* "lost in the Warp" or something like that. They're literal heretics who fought against the Imperium in the Heresy. And at some point, they realized that it's hard to enjoy the freedom of being Chaotic if you don't have the logistics. And while Chaos is good for freedom... it really sucks for logistics.

So, they take some old battle barges that can still pass for loyalist, come up with a cock- and- bull story about being a Raven Guard successor chapter that really had gotten lost in the warp, made a big show of dropping off a bunch of daemon weapons and warp artifacts to buy off the Inquisition, "return to their homeworld" which is now an industrial world (as in, 20th century tech, not like a forge world), the whole shebang.

Everybody buys it. And sure, they have to fight for the False Emperor every now and then, but on the other hand, the False Emperor's logistics are worth it. The Mechanicus doesn't even question when they have the industrial world's manufactories start building equipment to *their* specifications. And the gene- seed? Perfectly clean, because Night Lords geneseed is perfectly clean.

So by the time Guilliman returns, they've gone from about a hundred Marines to five and a half companies. Plus dreadnoughts, all that. Nobody cares that they're doing Night Lords shit to the planets they attack, because it's done in the name of the (False) Emperor.

Everything goes swimmingly until the Chapter Master gets summoned to meet Guilliman and receive the chapter's allotment of Primaris.

Guilliman takes one look at him, chokeslams him to the floor, and demands to know why a traitor like him should be let live.

"All hail the False Emperor."

Guilliman listens to his elevator pitch, sighs, and then tells him that he's going to be keeping a eye on that chapter, and sending him back with a different contingent of Primaris.

---

Org- wise, they still have ten standard companies. But that's where the similarity ends. The first squad of each company is terminators and veterans, and the tenth is scouts. And each company's marines are trained as more than tactical- one through four are trained in jump packs, five thru seven in bikes, eight in speeders, and nine and ten as devastators. The training emphasis is on mentorships between the veterans and regular marines, and the regular marines and scouts.

When the Primaris arrive, up to two squads are assigned to each battle company, and they get worked into the mentorships. (Edit: But, about 100 of the "old guard" are *never* up for Crossing the Rubicon. They're the ones who were the original hundred- ish Night Lords.) And those Primaris- of unspecified geneseed- are let in on the secret.

By the end of M41, the first through third, fifth and sixth, and ninth companies are combat- ready. The eighth is at half strength. It's rumored the seventh won't be combat ready until the Imperium is willing to accept jetbikes again.

They really do have a couple of Mk.14 jetbikes, but they're not used because it'd be too much of a lift for even gullible Imperials.

---

Genetic- wise, they're hard to distinguish from Raven Guard other than a mutation to the neuroglottis. Impalers have multiple pheromone- sensitive pits in their tongues, which are attuned to the stress hormones related to fear. So they can taste human fear.

They're also cannibals. They can and will eat humans, under the leadership of their chaplains and apothecaries. They try to play it off as a religious observance, but... I mean, they're really Night Lords so they probably just like doing it.

---

Armor, worth noting they use a weird pattern of armor based on reverse- engineering some Mk.2 and Mk.3 armors they had lying around. They refer to their armor as Mk.2a.

---

I think that's it. Hope someone likes this. It's probably as close as they'll ever get to seeing the tabletop. At this point, if I got back into 40k, I'd probably play Eldar.

[emmebearpaw]

How to build a character

Step 1: Come up with 2/3 central concepts for the character based on what sounds interesting to you at that moment

Example: Reverse 1999, 1940s in Europe, logistics with magic Step 2: How do those things fit together. Think of some plot that fits those things together. Example: An arcanist in the berlin airlift realizes they have the choice to remain hidden and safe, which is what kept them alive previously, or to step forward and use their abilities to make life better for everyone around them Step 3: play around in that setting for roughly 1-2 weeks

step 4: put those bitches away for a while. let the rotisserie oven rotate step 5: welcome back. Go back to step 1. do you still like all of those concepts? If not, swap out 1 of them. if you do, add one.

Example: Reverse 1999, 1940s in Europe, logistics with magic, trains step 6: fit them together again. your concepts should be broad enough you can put them together a second way Example: The home army needs weapons for the upcoming uprising. Everyone needs food. Not all the dead have anyone to bury them. A train's purpose is to move goods, people and those that once were. Welcome aboard members of the Foundation, the train will be making a few stops. You should get off before we reach the terminus. Step 7: once again fuck around with that for a few weeks. in this specific example I started planning a fanfic at this stage but tried to frontload all of my planning so i'd burn through it and not get myself in for a 40k+ fanfic idea to abandon part way through again. Step 8: put those bitches away for a while. let the rotisserie oven rotate Step 9: repeat steps 5-8 as many times as needed. current character: Reverse 1999, Post WW2 in europe, magic trains, trains as a way to move the dead, soothing others as a way to try to soothe yourself A stolen train rolls into town. It is empty. Save it's driver. She climbs down from the train. She has a list of its passengers. She asks if any of them lived in this town. You answer no. She asks for a few more people you don't recognize, family, she assures you. You can not help her. She promises to return with more souls to put to rest. She climbs aboard once more. The train rolls out of the station. Silently. The engine isn't on. + The foundation's number has swelled with orphans. It's your job to comb the records and count the dead. A tentative step back into a region arcanists had been exterminated from not 6 months ago. It's quiet work. It's quiet. You somehow do not hear the approach of a train. This train isn't carrying people to the camp though. No, the sole person in the train seems to be interested in bringing them back. You attempt to ensure her they are dead, they can not return unless she plans on exhuming the graves... which is probably illegal. She smiles tiredly, insisting that numbers on a report aren't what people need. The dead need to be brought home for the living to grieve. You aren't sure if she's gone mad or if the people she is talking to actually respond. You climb aboard a stolen train.

[spiderdreamer-blog]

The Rescuers Down Under (1990)

Movie sequels are a funny thing. Done well, they can be clever, meaningful expansions of the original film or give artists chances to take the creative impulse in a different direction; compare Ridley Scott's Alien to James Cameron's Aliens. Done poorly, they seem like cheap cash-ins with lazy writing and not an ounce of true artistic passion. Nowhere can this divide be more apparent than in the decade-plus of direct-to-video Disney sequels that kicked off with 1994's Aladdin follow-up The Retun of Jafar. As I've said in other posts, it's not ALWAYS true that these or the TV spinoffs were bad. In addition to my previously published review of 101 Dalmatians II and Atlantis: Milo's Return, I swear by Aladdin and the King of Thieves for being a solid adventure film. And Cinderella III: A Twist in Time fills in characterizations for characters that often came off as ciphers in the original, as well as being a clever story in its own right. Some could even be downright inspired, like how The Lion King 1 1/2 takes a page from both MST3K and Tom Stoppard's play Rosencrantz and Guildernstern Are Dead compared to the original's Hamlet influences. But many fumbled in trying to justify further stories for characters that weren't necessarily built for them or did lazy reversal rehashes. Curiously, though, a built-for-the-theaters sequel beat this crowd to it, in the form of 1990's The Rescuers Down Under, coming to us in the midst of the Disney Renaissance. How does that one stack up?

A sequel to the 1977 film The Rescuers, Down Under reunites us with Miss Bianca and Bernard (Eva Gabor and Bob Newhart, reprising their roles), two mice who are agents of the Rescue Aid Society, which dedicates itself to helping lost or kidnapped children. Their case this time is Cody (Adam Ryen, who, in a fun fact, dubbed his own part in the Norwegian dub), an Australian boy captured by the evil poacher McLeach (George C. Scott) and his sidekick goanna Joanna (Frank Welker) in pursuit of the great golden eagle Marahute. Bianca and Bernard catch a flight with Wilbur the albatross (John Candy), taking over from his brother Orville from the original, and catch up with local hero Jake (Tristan Rogers, the only natively Australian actor in the film) to track down McLeach.

The most immediately striking thing about the film compared to its predecessor is its look. The original Rescuers was made in the heyday of Xerography, the process wherein Xerox machines could print animators' drawings directly onto cels and save a shitload of money/time in terms of hand-inking and painting. Starting with 101 Dalmatians (which necessitated the process both for the logistics of all those puppies and because the gorgeously rendered, lovingly hand-painted over years of production Sleeping Beauty had been a financial failure), this gave Disney's films a scratchier, more graphic look through the next couple decades. It's not a BAD way to make a film, and I would say the results often looked quite good, especially for moody, atmospheric scenes such as the swamplands in the original film.

Down Under, however, took a different approach, being the first Disney animated film to be fully inked-and-painted digitally in Disney's CAPS (Computer Animation Production System) pipeline. This has a number of advantages, such as better integration of the CGI elements like McLeach's Truck Of Doom, but not the least of which is the bright, vibrant colors. The Outback truly feels like an epic stage for the adventures, with the justly famous Marahute flight showing off its grand scope and beauty. Even the urban night-time New York scenes feel freshened up compared to the muddier vision of before. Even beyond that, the filmmaking has evolved. The original's director, Wolfgang "Woolie" Reitherman, was a fine talent (I'm especially partial to his Robin Hood), but the 1977 film feels awfully slow-paced for what's supposed to be exciting and propulsive. Down Under's directors Hendel Butoy and Mike Gabriel use tighter angles and much brisker editing to lend a real sense of Spielbergian action mechanics, such as in a scene where the mice try and board the Truck Of Doom or the nervy climax.

The character animation is excellent as usual, with the obvious standout being Glen Keane's Marahute. Bird anatomy is perhaps the hardest to do in animation outside of horses, and Keane gives the eagle both a sense of realism and character without anthropomorphizing her to the same degree as the rest of the cast. Mark Henn, meanwhile, does a solid job of grounding Bianca and Bernard as a duo and separately; they never reach too far for effect and seem more or less like normal people doing their best. The great Ruben Aquino, whose resume is more diverse than he gets credit for (Ursula, Adult Simba, and Pleakley are among his characters), gives Jake a full dashing-rogue bearing. Nik Ranieri does honestly some underrated work with Wilbur on the anatomy front, and Duncan Marjoribanks and David Cutler attack the duo of McLeach and Joanna with gusto. The way the latter moves in particular is hilarious, such as in a scene where she tries to steal eggs from a pondering McLeach.

Story-wise are where things get interesting. In addition to the original being well-suited to a sequel (literally having the "you've got another case!" ending), we smartly get things rolling fast. The first film is about the same runtime length-wise, but it spends a long-ass time getting anywhere, or at least feels that way. Whereas this is like "yup, we're off to the races, kids, iconic eagle flight in the first 10 dang minutes". Thus, while Bianca and Bernard don't enter the film for a hot minute, we don't feel like our time's being wasted in the first act as we set up the situation. I like also how the potential triangle between Bernard, Bianca, and Jake is handled with remarkable subtlety. Bianca barely seems to notice, while Jake is certainly puffed-up but never outright cruel to Bernard, and the latter gets a great chance to step up to prove himself when the time comes. The only possible negative effect is that the film is ultimately on the short end, and the plot is fairly simple as a result. Thus we get some goofy comedy padding with Wilbur being subjected to unhelpful medical practices to straighten out his back, as well as a pair of scenes with Cody and some Marketable Animal Friends as they try to escape McLeach. Hardly bad, but a little perfunctory.

I also like Cody a little better as a kid protagonist, tbh. The original film tries to get a lot of pathos out of the plight of Penny, who's not just an orphan, but a KIDNAPPED orphan. It's not bad in and of itself, with an effective scene where the villainous Madame Medusa insults her passive-aggressively to try and get her under her thumb. And it anticipates where Don Bluth, who worked on the film as a directing animator, would go in terms of his own child protagonists like Fievel or Littlefoot. But a little of it goes a long way, even if my heart's not fully made of stone. Down Under trades things up for Cody in terms of being well-adjusted with a single mother and tenacious enough both to save Marahute upfront, as well as seeing right through McLeach's transparent attempt at bullshitting him (though a later manipulation DOES succeed).

The audio end is a good marriage here too, starting with Bruce Broughton giving us an absolutely iconic adventure score. There's lots of distinct themes here that all weave together fantastically, never feeling overly like a "cartoon" score. In terms of the voice cast, Ryen gives a nicely natural performance, kid-like without ever being too cutesy, and brave, but not SO brave that it feels out of place. Gabor and Newhart, the highlight of the earlier film, reach a nice equilibrium between "society lady who takes nobody's shit" and "nice normal guy who can nonetheless keep up with her". Rogers is one of my favorites here, his Aussie twang lending some authenticity to the proceedings, and his soap opera experience (he's a longtime fixture on General Hospital) lets him access the slightly broader cartoon acting necessary. Candy, of course, was a comedy legend, and he adjusts well here in terms of making Wilbur a distinct chatterbug with a noble streak rather than simply recycling his genteel screen presence. My favorite performance, though, is undoubtedly George C. Scott as McLeach. Always an intense, thoughtful actor (he's my favorite Ebenezer Scrooge on film), he makes what could've been a generic "evil hunter" type into something really memorable by snacking on the scenery and giving him a real cruel streak. And I'd be remiss without mentioning Welker's Joanna, who nearly sounds like an anticipation of Andy Serkis' Gollum in her slobbery growls and chuckles.

I'll be honest, I can't be TOTALLY objective about this movie. It was one of the first Disney films I owned on VHS, and many a rewind was had because I couldn't get enough. It's a little rougher around the edges now that I'm an adult, true, but when Marahute starts to fly as the music swells? Every time, I get transported back to a living room in Peachtree City, Georgia, inches away from the TV. That still means something, and thankfully, most of the movie still backs that kid up.

[ahmedmootaz]

Continuing off my last ask on Ayin's death

After getting over the logistics on how they'd bring Ayin's corpse home if he did die due to the Sweepers, what would have Roland and X done after coming home?

Obviously the party isn't happening now and the whole cleanup and injury tending would be happening but would funeral preparations be immediately made? Or would Roland turn the kids back into adults behind X's back and then planned the funeral once everyone was back?

Would others even want to hold a funeral immediately or would they try to bring back Ayin first? Would Angela even let them try?

Speaking of funerals, assuming they couldn't bring Ayin back because of a variety of factors. Unable to book him or light him away or heal him with K Corp or T Corp tech. What type of funeral preparations would they make?

Does Ayin even have a will with instructions of how to bury him (i.e. chuck his body into the Outskirts and be done with it since he doesn't think he even deserves a funeral or memorial or being shot out of a cannon or hung up like a pinata on a cieling fan)?

What type of funeral would Ayin get: a burial in the Outskirts, a cremation into an urn and then a columbarium, an internent into a mausoleum, a burial at sea, a shove into a stasis box, or something else entirely?

What type of funeral procession and mourning customs there be: general western customs, general eastern customs, Korea specific customs, Kabbalistic specific customs or none at all/something else entirely?

How would everyone react to finding out Ayin is dead before they could even get full closure or try to patch things up? Especially Hokma, Binah, and Angela?

How badly would X be taking Ayin's death and how would Roland be comforting him knowing he'll have to betray X and make X lose his kids the same day as losing his sort-of-but-not-really brother?

How much more severe will X's depression and thus distortion would be after everyone is back to being adults?

How much of a dramatic fight is it going to be with X going full distortion out of grief especially since he's not just mourning Ayin but also mourning Abram, Abel, Adam, and his kids at the same time?

What type of distortion would X even become? Would he be the equivalent of all the Sephirah meltdowns all at once? Would he become some sort of manager/puppeteer/commander unleashing minions?

What would it take to calm X down? Angela talking him down? Roland giving him a hug? Them beating him up physical therapy style?

How badly is X going to be depressed for after distorting? How would he act after the funeral? Is he going to hurt himself?

Would they put a memorial like a photograph and a small shrine to Ayin after the funeral and X's breakdown?

In any case, this would have been a very bleak ending that would no doubt make a lot of people tear up. And since you are an author eager to lap up people's tears, how are you going to take my questions and make the scenario hurt even more?

Anyway, that is all for my questions AhmedMootaz. Thank you for all the hardwork you put into the fic I've been binging in my downtime. Since you wrote such a long fic, hopefully you're okay too with such a long ask.

(Ask Part 2)

Dear Anonymous,

Welcome back again! It seems we have created a cascade of Ayin death content, heheh. I'm not sure if that means the Ayin fans are very stable, mentally speaking, but this is the PM Fandom; nobody is mentally stable, no matter how much they might want to claim otherwise, heh.

So, this ask...What would happen directly after everyone returns? I think that Roland opts for a quick and unceremonial return to form; X and the kids are all devastated. They're teetering on the brink of breakdown, and while as adults the Librarians would also be grappling with shock, loss, and devastation, at least as adults they'd know what to do. Maybe after some convincing, Roland gets X to help him install the Reverse De-Agers on the kids to try and cheer them up while wiping their tears away, making sure they're unable to see Ayin's corpse before he puts them all to sleep. Maybe he even convinces the kids that this was all a big nightmare that they'd wake up from just as soon as they head to bed, and although some kids like Garion, Kali and Benjamin might be sceptical, they'd likely be desperate enough to try anything, putting the Reverse De-Agers into motion.

Now what happens when they return to adults? Well, I'm sure you can imagine the shock, terror, and devastation that sets in, but my guess is that they'd try bringing Ayin back in whatever capacity they can. Whether by using the Light, City technology like K-Corp's ampoules, or maybe technology found in the Ruins and the Outskirts.

And as for Angela...I think, deep down, she might be the most upset of them, hence why she'd resist burying Ayin for as long as physically possible, covering up her desire as 'wanting to let the Librarians try out everything to their heart's content', but deep down, she's as desperate as they are for something, anything to work. After all, we know Angela's relationship with Ayin is incredibly complex, with a part of her loving him and a very much larger part of her despising him thanks to his actions towards her, but deep down, she always wanted to believe that, maybe, some part of him loved her back. That he didn't just loathe her for no apparent reason whatsoever.

And now, he died trying to protect her. Now, when she knew he loved her so much that he was willing to die for her, he dies for real. And she can't ask him anymore questions. She can't see if he would actually be the man she needs him to be. She can't even call him dad anymore. It's all gone, and she didn't even have the chance to experience it as an adult. She'd really be one of the people who suffer the most from the whiplash of losing Ayin so suddenly...

As for the funeral...I think that Angela might want Ayin's burial site to be in the Library, as a way to have him around if the Library ever needs to move again. Perhaps it's a rash decision in the moment, but I assume she can create a nice, small garden with the threes and grass Ayin loved so much so he could be buried in it. While the other methods you mentioned are probably what Ayin would want for himself considering how much he hates himself and also they're hilarious pffffffffft, I think he would be buried very, very plainly, without a coffin even. Just buried in the dirt while shrouded with a white cloth to not have him touching to dirt directly; I assume it would be Hokma's suggestion, seeing how Ayin loved the grass and greenery while Carmen was alive.

Now, we already said how Angela would feel, but Hokma and Binah...I feel that Hokma would be the most visibly devastated, even if he tries hiding it; Ayin's return must've been an invaluably precious moment for him, as he finally gets to see his mentor and good friend after thinking he was gone forever, and now, actually seeing that he was gone after such a large sacrifice...it would leave him touched, no doubt, especially considering Ayin was not the most open of men; he would rarely, if ever, speak about his emotions or even address their existence, so sacrificing his life for him and the rest of his de-aged 'siblings'...It was the strongest message of care and affection that Ayin could've ever hoped to send. Despite how pained he would be, I imagine Hokma would, eventually, manage to get over the pain as he would be accustomed to it, while Angela will take a lot, lot longer.

And when it comes to Binah...here's the thing: I think she'd almost feel robbed. This isn't the ending she wanted for Ayin; she thought he'd go out in a large blaze of glory accomplishing the grandiose destiny he involuntarily set out to accomplish, but this...this wasn't it. To die protecting them...She'd think it to be pathetic, no doubt, but it's not the ending he deserved. He was her greatest rival, and it's obvious that she respected him. Now that he was gone like that so suddenly and without warning...It would be something of a bitter taste in Binah's mouth, I think, even if she would display no outward reaction at all.

How badly will X take it? I assume X will just straight-up Distort. In AiP, the only reason he didn't was Ayin providing him with a pseudo-family of sorts. There's no reason holding X back now, not when he's feeling so betrayed, and as for the fight...well, I'd assume it'd be one of epic proportions, and the Librarians might even have to consider putting X down if he doesn't stop fighting them; without the Light, it's possible he'd be more than capable of defeating them all with his Distortion, which I assume will be the same as the one seen in AiP, only a lot, lot more vigorous with the Distortion directly enhancing him in order to use him as her weapon of choice against the Library. I'm assuming it'd have to be as dramatic as Roland's fight, at the very, very least, with X getting more and more Distorted as the fight goes on.

Maybe even one of the elements that break X out of his Distortion would be when he accidentally knocks Ayin's corpse over or otherwise disturbs it and realises that what he's doing...this isn't what Ayin would've wanted at all...That is if he's not beyond saving due to the grief and the downpour of emotions he's experiencing.

And if he doesn't die...well, this is going to be a very, very depressed X for the funeral...We're talking unresponsive, quiet, sobbing X. The type us sickos seem to adore and whose tears we slurp for sustenance...delicious...

And, at last, yes, I'd think they'd have to give Ayin a memorial of some sort, with a picture much like the one he had of (what I assume is) Carmen, and perhaps they even put a cactus next to it, hehe.

Still, this isn't the end of the story; with Ayin dead, Carmen, too, may be beyond saving, which means that the only way to stop the Distortion is by killing her, but that...well, that's a whole different ask. And...before you ask, no, I have nothing in mind for what I'd do with that particular scenario, heh.

I thank you for your dedication to the Ayin Death cause, Anon! Until next time, be well, take care, and see ya'! Thank you for the fun, if depressing, ask!

[enddaysengine]

Zebub (Accuser Devil, Paths Beyond)

I never got around to accuser devils last time, so I’m glad to return to the zebub, because they are one of the favourite devils out there. Zebubs get their name from Beelzebub, which you can see if you don’t anglecize the Hebrew: Ba’al-zebub. Ba’al is “lord” and zebub is “flies,” so that’s where the very distinctive appearance of these devils originates. Got more to say on that front, but I’ll save it for when I talk about Big B, but consider using them if you are drawing on Canaanite or Phoenician mythology. 

In-universe, accuser devils are also linked to Baalzebul (with Pathfinder’s alternate spelling) since they manifest fairly exclusively from his layer: Cocytus. The technical term for zebubs is “sneaky bastards” - a role they share with imps. Whereas imps focus on corruption, particularly of spellcasters, zebubs practice classical spycraft. In 2e, they even sneak attack to reinforce this stereotype! 

The iconic ability for accuser devils, however, remains the Infernal Eye, allowing zebubs to pass information onto their handlers with perfect fidelity. This also makes them excellent secret messengers and terrible witnesses. Zebubs forget the memories they transfer with Infernal Eye, so as long as you can guarantee they’ve passed on the message, you can be reasonably assured they don’t know its contents anymore. 

But can you, really?

Outside Pathfinder, 40k is an excellent visual touchstone for zebubs. The game loves its creepy cherub servitors and their aesthetic is close enough to zebubs that you’ll get there if you squint. Although perhaps that is even more apropos advice for Starfinder. Still, consider how you can use zebubs like the Imperium uses cherubs to carry around relics and icons. Even if it doesn’t make encounters tougher at high-level, it may just make them more memorable.

Sozar and Grabba have a better relationship than most imps and zebubs, but they still maintain a healthy professional rivalry. Sozar (the imp) is a logistics and honey traps specialist, maneuvering operatives into positions where they can leverage emotional bonds to acquire intelligence. Grabba prefers eavesdropping and invisibility, directing its open operatives with whispered messages. The two work well together but engage in a never-ending game of oneupmanship, even if it puts their spy networks and missions in untenable situations. 

The Devil’s Left Eyes is coven of zebub occultists who have learned how to reverse their Infernal Eyes. Instead of giving memories to others, their rituals allow them to absorb memories, obliterating them from the minds they are taken from. These rituals can destroy lives, make people forget promises and vows, leave seemingly random holes in their memory, or even lose memories of signing infernal contracts with the zebub. With that said, the coven’s abilities are highly sought after by mortals willing to do anything to forget their pain, trauma, or sorrow despite the danger of leaving oneself at the mercy of the devils’ whims.

Zess the Dragon is a unique zebub blessed by Mahathallah, transforming her dipteran body into that of a dragonfly. Specializing in ferreting out secrets and saboteurs, Zess is frequently summoned to the Material Plane, especially by cutthroat nobles of Cheliax and Taldor. Unknown to the hapless mortal summoning, the Dragon is also an accomplished enchanter and illusionist. Its magic certainly serves its master’s purposes, but it also uses it to trick those same summon into thinking it has used its Infernal Eye when it hasn’t. Zess has accumulated a treasure trove of secret messages, memories, and blackmail over the centuries that mortals believe have been safely forgotten. 

[motionjames]

Wake up girlies, it's time to return to the frontline!

Guess who has insomniaaaa! 🤗💕💕

A month of cramps, nausea, increasingly worse insomnia (but a strangely good mood) has lead me down the path once again. I caught wind of some strange "gfl2" thing and after being struck with nostalgia, I grabbed bluestacks and fell into hell once more. I'd deleted gfl off my phone simply because it took too much space but now that it's on my computer, it's become DANGEROUS...! Github and clip studio up front with logistics running forever in the background. Yes, the ideal working experience.

Anyhow, everyone say hello to Contender.

I've been making more progress in these past two days than I had in the entire two months I spent with my new account because I realized how to (partially) Not Be An Idiot. Turns out there's a thing called "anchored construction" and you can get some pretty nice units (eventually) if you realize it exists! Wow! I got the girly and now I'm working on grabbing Carcano because she is pretty but also insane skillz.

Also, there's a discounted gatcha running right now and that means I can finally get over my mental block and spend tokens... I was surprised at how easy it's been to acquire them, so I've just been shilling em out. My dorm was totally bare until now. I'm sorry, everynyan...

As for actual gameplay, I finally made it past 2-6. It might seem like a simple thing to most but I was yet again, being an idiot. I was under the impression that I HAD to have dupes of the girls to dummy link them when I actually was swimming in dummy cores 🤦🏽‍♂️ What's wrong with me... Well, I jumped over that hurdle, blasted through the emergency missions, and am finishing chapter 3. The first parts arent so bad when you learn how to read! 😃😃😃

First eschalon is good, it's the standard one that everyone seems to use to clear the early game. This second one is a WIP mess that I'm readying for night missions. You see, I'm really hurting for half-decent SMGs and rifles, the second one there is kinda lacking in defense/fire power... I wanna create a decent second eschalon and night mission groupie but I gotta figure out what units to invest in. I hope for Carcano soon. She is cute. Also, feel free to berate me for my bad decisions and suggest decent compositions. I am so lacking in SMGs that dont immediately explode (mpk you are so cute but so stupid). I'm currently looking at friend's compositions to figure out what formations work...

In completely different news and only further proving how dense I am, I only recently learned that Girl of the Bakehouse was related to GFL. I've had my eye on Reverse Collapse for a while now since it's a remake (of a remake?! I didnt play the previous one) of a visual novel I played in 2012 or so. The original vn was made in 2009 in like Kirikiri script and I was a young lad very fixated on all things with girls and guns (Gunslinger Girl was and still is a favorite of mine, I would've read it one summer at my Uncle's out on the front porch). There's an english patch now, but back then it was only in Chinese so I had to use text extracting and image translators, looking up the characters as I went. I got a cup of coco and opened up a patched version last night for old times sake. It's clearly a doujin work with those rough edges but it's so damn confident in its presentation you can't not get swept up in the presentation. The sound work make it very immersive. I highly reccomend reading it if you want a solid, emotional war story. Looking at the sepia soaked sketches, down-to-earth narrative, dense wordbuilding and general war otaku sentimentality... It really predicted a lot of my tastes, huh... 😅

Behold, teh wolfguy...

Back to work. Logistics still running. I can and WILL continue being stupid. The nostalgia is really strong, I'm tempted to draw fanart despite the sour memories of the past. Again, please berate me and tell me of your team compositions. I think my ID is 772030 but I promise you, I won't be any good on teh battlefield 😇 this machine runs off hopes and dreams, not realities!

[chronicowboy]

rules: Pick any 10 of your fics, scroll somewhere to the midpoint, pick a line (or a few), and share it! Then tag 10 people. tagged by @brotherslynchs and @kitkatpancakestack thank you <3333

all you have to do is call my name (i'll be there)

Eddie wakes up warm and comfortable and well-rested for the first time since he was knocked out on painkillers in a medical tent. There's a solid weight draped over half his body, heavy but not so heavy that it hurts, just a reassuring pressure on his torso. There's an arm curled over his waist and a wet patch growing on his shirt near his chest and, when he peels his eyes open, all he sees is golden curls. His right arm is dead under Buck's body, but his palm is alive against the bare skin of Buck's back. The skin is searing warm and so soft and Eddie has to fight hard not to move.

the persistence of memory

"Hey, Buck?" He calls out. Buck spins, mouth full of toast, tomato sauce smeared on his lips. How the fuck does he still look so attractive? "I'm in love with you." Its only then that he realises just how many people are in the loft and are looking directly at him. He doesn't really care, hyper-focused on the tears filling Buck's eyes as he tries to avoid choking to death. "And not in, like, our weird, platonic friend way we've both been trying to convince ourselves is normal. I love you in a I want to kiss you senseless at all times of the day, want to marry you, want to buy a house with twenty bedrooms and fill all of them with our kids, want to make out in the supply closet even though Bobby gave us very strict rules on workplace PDA way."

pit stops and detours

Buck and Eddie don't get a moment alone until some guy shoots a grenade into his own leg. Which is like very insane and Buck is a little distracted trying to figure out the logistics of that and a lot distracted by being crammed into the back of an ambulance with the love of his life who moved to LA to be in the same state as him. He's already jittery and on edge, he's practically vibrating, so, when Eddie goes still and tense, he knows its not good.

open heart surgery

"Hey, Eds." Buck murmurs, sitting in the chair by his bed. He stares at Eddie's hand, palm up, fingers slightly curled, resting on the mattress, almost like its waiting for him to take it. Like Eddie has reached for a hand in his sleep. And, well, Buck's never been good at denying Eddie anything, so he wraps it up in both of his hands and squeezes. "I, um, I miss you." He scoffs. "I'm sorry, Eddie. I'm so sorry. God, if I had have been paying more attention, you wouldn't... You'd have... I'm so sorry." For a second, Buck thinks Eddie's fingers twitch. But it doesn't happen again, no matter how long he holds his breath and stares. "Thank you for saving me. I just. I wish I could have returned the favour."

sorry i'm late, won't happen again

Everything kind of fades into white noise when that thought hits him like an arrow to the heart. Time becomes meaningless. He lives in the dot above the I in the fucking Jeremy Bearimy and he hates that he knows that, but he watched that whole show with Buck and Chris when he was laid up with a bullet in his shoulder. But then there's a flurry of activity and he watches as Bobby and Chim and Hen and Ravi snap back into action with a renewed purpose.

forget-me-nots

"Today is our wedding day." Eddie sucks in a sharp breath. Buck scrubs a hand down his face, chuckles. "We were gonna sleep in different rooms tonight for very different reasons than you not remembering me and freaking the fuck out about being in love with a man." He huffs a sigh, clenches his jaw. "Sorry, that's not fair."

betting pools and barbecues

They jump apart when the beep of the reversing ambulance shatters their little bubble. Eddie recovers first, allows himself a moment to revel in the swell of Buck's lips, the pink of his cheeks, the thin ring of blue around his blown pupils, then he steps back. Buck blinks himself back into awareness, sticks out his bottom lip in a pout he knows Eddie can't resist. Eddie pecks him, quick and sweet, then grabs his hand as Hen and Chim hop out of the ambulance.

isn't every great love story a tragedy?

Buck hears someone scream as he falls to his knees. Its a desperate, primal thing that sounds like it was ripped from the depths of the person's soul. Logically, he thinks it must be Bobby. He's the only other person on the scene with someone so important to them in there. It could be someone from the 103. But his throat is raw and his face is sticky with tears and his hands are pressed into the gravel and his arms are shaking and he can't breathe and. Oh, god. It was him, wasn't it? He's the screamer.

memory (all alone in the moonlight)

"I, um, told him everything." Eddie starts, frowning at the steering wheel. "And we talked about how he's gonna act. He's gonna be careful, you know? Not push too hard, not mention too much. But he really missed you." Eddie looks at him for the first time since they left the hospital. "So, he's definitely gonna hug you the moment you walk through the door."

this is it (i can feel it)

And Eddie seems to be fully sustained on the high of his first day back at work. Well, Buck too, of course. They feed off each other like sunflowers on a cloudy day, seeking each other out to get their sunshine. Ravi is really exhausted, okay? That's why he's tearing up. Its not because of his stupid sunflower metaphor about his co-workers. Its not.

my brain stopped working around 1pm today so i'm not sure who to tag. go for it if u want, i guess!!