#SEE ITS CALLED STARCHASER

[adharastarlight]

So, I have proof that the universe (or at least magnum) ships jegulus:

[breeistired]

"Invisible string."

A starchaser angsty blurb?

This is part one of Bree tries to make fanfics while doing school.

TW: NO HAPPY ENDING, its my first time writing a blurb I think thats what you call it?, I dont know how to write on tumblr either, so bare with me.

----- (i dont know how to make an aesthetic boarder thing-)

James and Regulus never talked much. Only knowing each other from their mutual classes, or in this case, brothers.

Regulus had always found James quite annoying. "Why was he always laughing? What is there to laugh about anyways?" He would say to his friend Pandora.

If you ask anybody in this school, Pandora was tired of hearing Regulus complain about, "Pisser Potter."

"Maybe you should just fuck the hatred out of you both." Barty Crouch Jr would say with a mischievous smile. "Nobody asked for your opinion in this Crouch," Regulus snapped.

And so on the conversations would never be about anyone else, only James.

James on the other hand, paid much attention to Regulus. He noticed when Regulus had cramps, when he was mad or sad, when he was annoyed, James even noticed what time he ate and went to sleep.

James and him had many differences. Such as, Regulus being positive on his sexuality, he loved men and was a man.

Not his mothers little girl, her boy.

James, didn't know he liked boys until he met Regulus. When he first saw Regulus walking towards him, he walked the other way and ran into a wall.

Remus knew about James' little crush, it was quite obvious, but not to Sirius. To be fair, Sirius had just found out that Marlene liked girls, and she came out in front of them.

That's besides the point. James never felt as comfortable with his sexuality like Sirius, Remus or even Marlene.

Kissing boys felt weird. His whole life he was being told to create grandchildren with a nice girl, or marry a woman that he loves.

But what about the boy he loves?

Without even knowing it, James began to get closer to Regulus, feeling this invisible string pulling him closer and closer.

The invisible string pulled Regulus to James as much as it pulled James to Regulus.

The invisible string had no boundaries but someone did.

Regulus set major boundaries about touching. Anytime someone would touch him, he could push them away.

"Regulus!" James screamed, running to him. He hugged him, rather tightly and smiled. Regulus awkwardly, patting his back with a small smile. He couldn't explain why he was hugging him back, it felt natural.

James would do nice gestures for Regulus, such as, giving him flowers, buying him chocolate when he was dealing with his mensural cycle, buying him binders, etc.

Regulus could feel himself falling in love with James.

On one cold winter night, Regulus finds himself in the astronomy tower, with a blanket draped around his shoulders.

James himself couldn't sleep either, so he walked to the only place he knew Regulus would be at.

When James sees him, a bright smile spreads across his face. He slowly walked to him, his breath uneven.

"Don't you look cozy." James whispered sarcastically. Regulus rolled his eyes and looked up at the taller man. "What are you doing here?" Regulus mumbled. "I couldn't sleep." James gulped as he looks in Regulus' greyish eyes.

Regulus nodded and looked down at his feet. That gesture alone made James' heart tremble. Something came over him, with his right hand he lifted Regulus' chin up to face him. They stare at each other.

James smashed his lips onto Regulus' without any warning. Regulus kissed back, a small whimper eliciting from him.

They kiss for what felt like hours. James is the first one to pull away. "I shouldn't..." James mumbled. "I shouldn't have done that." His face turning into a look of regret.

"If its about my brother, we can fix that, he'll just have to live with it-" Regulus ranted and sighed. "Its not that." James gulped. Regulus' face turning into an expression mixed with confusion and panic. "What is it then?" He murmured.

"I wish you were a girl." James looked at Regulus, the twinkle in his eyes no longer there. Without another word, James runs off back to his dorm.

The next day comes around, Regulus was sitting at his usual spot at the slytherin table, having a much more gloomier face than normal. No one dared to talk to him.

He looks over at the gryffinor table, seeing everyone celebrate. He walks over there with a curious expression.

Sirius ran over to him. "James Potter has finally got a girlfriend! Can you believe it?" Over to the right, over Sirius' shoulder, he sees James kissing Lily Evans.

Regulus pushes Sirius away, not caring anymore. Regulus runs to the astronomy towers and breaks down. The words playing over again, "I wish you were a girl." Regulus' knees buckle, he falls to the ground, punching the floor. "Why not me?" Regulus cried out loud. Why not him?

James notices this and followed him. Not caring if anyone asks about his whereabouts. "Regulus, I swear-" James said once he gets to the astronomy tower. He doesn't let him speak. He stood up on wobbly knees and pointed at him, anger written on his face.

"I didn't realize I was such an inconvenience to you." Regulus deadpanned and swallowed the lump in his throat.

"Regulus I didn't mean to hurt you, I'm not ready-" James tried to explain, but he cut him off.

"Are you ashamed of me?" Regulus murmured. James shook his head frantically, trying to tell him no. "When you kissed her, did you think of me? When you looked at her, did you see me?" Regulus whispered, his voice slowly growing louder. "I let you tear down my walls, and after I gave my all, that's all it took for you to get over me?" Regulus shouted.

James just stood there, taking it. He knew he hurt Regulus, and he hated himself for that.

James slowly tried to reach for Regulus' hand, trying to comfort him. "Don't fucking touch me!' Regulus yelled as he yanked his wrist back.

Regulus started to walk away before he heard James whisper something.

"I never told you I loved you." James looked at Regulus, eyes filled with tears.

"Maybe that was for the best." Regulus deadpanned and wiped away his tears.

And with that, he never looked at James again. James would steal glances at him while he was with Lily. She would never know about the invisible string.

The day Regulus died, James could feel the string cut. And then he knew what Regulus had felt when he broke his heart.

-

HIII, THANKS FOR READING. I DONT KNOW IF I SHOULD MAKE MORE, PLEASE GIVE ME FEEDBACK ON WHETHER OR NOT I SHOULD MAKE MORE. REQS ARE WELCOMED IF YOU WANT. COMMENTS HELP OMG. PLEASE ASK SOME RANDOM QUESTIONS IN MY ASK BOX. AND IM STILL FIGURING OUT TUMBLR SO IF YOU COULD HELP ME THAT WOULD BE GREAT. THANK YOU SO MUCH, MWAH. BREE LOVES YOU.

[thebestofoneshots]

WHEN I TELL YOU I SCREAMED WHEN YOU SAID I WAS A SLY FOX!?!??? GOD I LOVE THIS STORY AND THAT JUST PROVES SO MUCH THAT I WAS THINKING ABOUT!!!! IM LITERALLY SCREAMING!!!! I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!! AND THE COVER FOR THE BOOK?!?!? ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!!! ITS SO PRETTY!!! BUT ALSO I DIVED DEEPER LIKE YOU SAID I NOTICED SOME HIDDEN CLUES!!!

ok so first of all right off the bat i noticed the little fox on the bottom! but also above that is “A labyrinth of lost souls” (now i know this might be reaching but idk!) so i looked up “a labyrinth of lost souls” and immediately got a bunch of links talking about assassins creed! and i quickly read over one of the links and saw that there’s a ring involved?!?!? and i immediately thought of the ring that y/n got from her mother! but i also saw there’s another game called wizardry: labyrinth of lost souls! so that could also be what you’re talking about!!! idk if either of those are relevant but for now this is just a quick rundown of what i can gather right now!

ok next are the the little moons in the top corners with the woman sitting in them! idk what meaning you have behind them rn but what i got from them is the fact that they are not full moons and she’s sitting inside of them while it kids looks like the moon is curving into her in a way? like trying to reach to her? idk again just the vibe i’m getting! ALSO THERES STARS IN THE MOON!!! WOLFSTAR!!! not only are there stars in the moon but there’s a single star outside of the moon but also in it? with the woman! it almost looks like the woman is sitting inside the moon admiring the star!!! idk!

MOVING ON BECAUSE THIS ISNT A DEEP DIVE JUST WHAT I CAN GATHER NOW!! I WILL DO A DEEP DIVE LATER!!! OK THE CONSTELLATIONS!!! I NOTICE THREE OF THEM AND I IMMEDIATELY LOOKED UP SIRIUS’ CONSTELLATION!!! AND WHAT DID I FIND?!?!??? THATS RIGHT CANIS MAJOR!!! THAT LOOKS LIKE A DOG!!! WHICH HAS SIRIUS’ CONSTELLATION IN IT!!! and where do i see a dog like constellation?!?!? ON THE LEFT OF THE COVER!!!

i believe the constellation in the middle is cassiopeia but i could be wrong. i don’t know for sure i looked up the story and don’t see how it fits in right now but maybe later in the story? hmmm

i can’t figure out what the one on the right is but hopefully i will find out soon!!! like i said this is just be briefly looking at the cover because i got so excited and couldn’t wait!!!

OK FOR NOW THATS ALL IM GONNA TALK ABOUT I WILL FIND MORE THINGS LATER!!! BUT OMG THIS IS SO MUCH FUN!!! TO LIKE LOOK FOR LITTLE DETAILS!!! ALSO THE WHOLE PRIZE THING?!?!??? I SCREAMED OMG!!! I WOULD ACTUALLY KILL TO BE A CHARACTER IN YOUR STORY!!! ITS LITERALLY AMAZING!!!! AND I HAVE SO MUCH MORE TO SAY BUT I NEED TO GET TO BED BUT JUST KNOW IM IN LOVE WITH YOUR WRITING AND EVERYTHING YOU DO ITS AMAZING!!!!

OK LOVE YA BYE!!!!

Tinny little fun fact so you don’t rack your brain over this one: Labyrinth of Souls was actually my second top option for naming Gilded Constellations, I wanted it to have a very David Bowie-esque vibe which is why Labyrinth (literally from the movie The Labyrinth, was just perfect, but I felt it was too corny (especially when the first iteration was Labyrinth of Hearts) that I went for Gilded Constellations instead.

Gilded being inspired by Golden Years from Bowie, and constellations because our babies are our moon and stars. In Spanish we have a word that’s “Astros” which roughly translates to “all the things in the sky” but there is no cool version of it in English so constellations it was in the end.

Aaaalso, theories are so freaking fun, I thought I’d let you guys run with them, so I’m helping you recruit some of my other readers, especially the ones that always approach me with theories since I feel like you could have lots of fun together theorizing over the cover: @moonyunebi @starchaser-lily @blacksgarden @loving-and-dreaming @imdoingbetternow (no pressure btw)

Lovelies, this is a follow up to this post, and I’m also adding the cover here again for your convenience ♡

But in short, I was telling Comet that I had designed this cover and that is just as filled with easter eggs, foreshadowing and secrets, as the story itself… So you may or may not find clues for the story here ☆

Also taking this chance to invite everyone who has not sent questions for the future Q&A, to send as many as you want ૮꒰ ˶• ༝ •˶꒱ა ♡

Lastly, there will be a mini contest later on, so Comet will not be the only one receiving a price, stay tuned, and send in all your theories…

Ps, That’s not Cassiopeia, perhaps you should look closer to where the swans swim…

Ps2, thanks for the rose and love kit, you’re lovely ꒰ᐢ. .ᐢ꒱₊˚⊹

[underspacegame]

Hello starchasers! As you know last week we didn’t have a patch, mostly because I was in no position to be patching things, mostly because I was on the other side of the country, mostly because I was talking to people like Todd Howard.

He told me I was an inspiration for trains everywhere. Which is correct, seeing as people are already modding Underspace quite a lot. We even have a Nexus Mods page, of all things.

This is normally where I’d be talking about patch notes and all that stuff, sadly I’m going to disappoint you this week, we’re still delaying this patch until May 27th. Why? 

Because May 27th will be the launch of our first major update: Gods & Corpses.

I thought I’d talk a little bit about what you can expect with this upcoming update. The centerpiece of course is the secretive and sprawling Us homeworld of Gravecity and its moon: Tombwise.

It’s no easy feat to reach this undead metropolis, as the Us are rightfully distrusting of outsiders and people who aren’t colonies of corpse-mushrooms, but within are many secrets and more to discover. Gravecity already exists in game, but this update will come with a full suite of NPCs to talk to, news stories to discover, and of course updated graphics to the various characters and locations within it.

Second to our major update is a big redo of many of the highest level bosses, including that deranged mass of cubic malice that many players have affectionately dubbed “God”. I’ll keep most of this stuff under wraps, but players disappointed with many of these bosses being too easy will be in for a surprise. We’ll be providing some simple ways to refight these things in time, of course.

There’s lots of new gameplay features coming too. Players late in the game will be able to make use of… certain things with a few fast travel system. This lets you mark specific locations and jump to them, as well as perform blind jumps to random systems.

There’s lots of new gameplay features coming too. Players late in the game will be able to make use of… certain things with a few fast travel system. This lets you mark specific locations and jump to them, as well as perform blind jumps to random systems.

Cloaking devices have received an overhaul as well. Much like scanners, they now come in different levels of power. Each level can hide you from progressively more and more powerful enemies. Perhaps one day these cloaking devices can even hide your sins from God. Maybe.

Besides these, there are some big technical optimization bits here, which will see improved initial loading times and a MASSIVE reduction in RAM usage. This is because we’ve offloaded a lot of resources that were loaded at runtime (namely stations) to be loaded on a case-by-case basis. This was something we always planned for, but actually sitting down and implementing this for over 200 interiors was something that takes a while.

Acquiring and learning about the world around you has become much easier now too. Ships now have a chance to drop data packets, which when looted can randomly mark locations they’ve discovered within the region. You can also pay Ijuni pricemen to scan a star system or region for locations of a specific trade good that you want. And of course, you can now scan many hazards encountered in storms for money and that sweet, sweet nectar we call lore.

And there’s even more beyond that. There’s lots of new functionality for the UI, including the ability to use the navmap to view other systems via gates and jumpholes, the ability to view what ancient gates you’ve unlocked, more detailed UI elements, more confirmations when doing things like selling ships, the ability to ask for directions during courier missions, auto-detection of joysticks and controllers, the ability to sell wrecked items to certain junk traders, the ability to cancel crafting jobs, and more!

And that's all for this week. We'll see you on the 27th. Have some catpost to cap this post off.

[miss-bibbles]

I posted 2,320 times in 2022

That's 2,317 more posts than 2021!

635 posts created (27%)

1,685 posts reblogged (73%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@i-cannot-do-this-any-longerer

@viva-la--resistance

@lovelettersmp4

@toomanyfandomnames

I tagged 971 of my posts in 2022

#miss bibbles speaks - 276 posts

#asks - 255 posts

#shitposting - 119 posts

#jegulus - 72 posts

#starchaser - 61 posts

#kai my platonic soulmate - 36 posts

#fic: perfect places - 29 posts

#writing - 29 posts

#yaz tag - 28 posts

#regulus black - 24 posts

Longest Tag: 89 characters

#my friends started calling me that and spamming the elmo gif except it was bibble instead

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

jegulus inspired from the kiss by gustav klimt

happy (early) birthday yaz! i am not good with surprises or waiting so here you go bitch @thebattlehamster

622 notes - Posted May 27, 2022

#4

tumblr is sitting on its throne, watching as rich people fight on live tv and swirling a glass of wine between its fingers and saying, "we've been pleased. more. we want more."

939 notes - Posted March 28, 2022

#3

if you speak for gay rights, you're automatically gay. just like everyone who speaks for animal rights is a duck and all those against deforestation are secretly trees hiding in a trenchcoat

986 notes - Posted April 11, 2022

#2

guide to writing a desi james potter (and even for harry)!

(desi is used for south asians. meaning india + pakistan, afghanistan, bangladesh, bhutan, maldives, nepal, sri lanka. now i’m indian so i can only speak about that but a lot of the tips are the same. please research! and be respectful while writing them! i’ll try to include as much as i can here)

i've lived here my entire life so trust me.

and this is gonna be long. under the cut!

1. james potter can remain james potter

we don’t usually anglicize our names. don’t go finding obscure names starting with j that you can anglicize to james.

it kind of perpetuates the stereotype of indian names being very hard to pronounce. and britain fucked us over so no way in hell we'll be changing our own name to something easier for white people to pronounce.

instead you can make potters indian christians. i have a lecturer named veronica so i can assure you people in india have all kinds of names.

its a suggestion of course. but i have read fics where james has very traditional and religious names. no problem with that but its a little out of the loop and old fashioned. but if you want some help with finding names then don’t hesitate to ask.

2. where is he from

okay so now this gets interesting. there are a 28 states and 8 union territories. james potter can be from anywhere and not just gujrat and punjab and tamil nadu.

where’s my james potter from the gorgeous seaside state of goa? from the busy heart of metropolitan mumbai? from the amazing states of northeast? from bengal? from madhya pradesh? from kerela? from-

okay this is not a geography lesson but you get my point! there are so. many. places. he can be from any of them.

3. religion

india has a big population of hindus, muslims, christians, sikhs, zoraostrians, buddhists, jains etc. agnostic and atheist people exist too (hi).

your indian character can be any of those, not just hindu. it affects the indian sounding name you choose for him.

example: goan christian james can be james maharashtrian hindu james can be jai

but being religious or not, it doesn’t stop us from enjoying all the amazing festivals. you don’t know what i’d do to read a jegulus diwali fic ashdjfksdj

4. looks

now i know everyone’s like obsessed with atj (i can’t see him as james at ALL) or for desi james, dev patel (god, he’s the only desi character in all hollywood movies im so sick of his face. i have much better fancasts).

but just like names, our looks are also different. pale, wheatish, dusky complexion. again depending on which state. we usually have dark eyes and hair. and light eyes like blue, green or hazel are pretty rare.

5. food

curry doesn’t exist. repeat after me. curry doesn’t exist.

naan bread isn’t real, naan is A BREAD. and even though butter chicken is tasty asf, we don't eat this on a daily basis, my dudes. (#justiceforpavbhaji). but we do eat a LOT of biryani (its apparently the most ordered meal in india lol)

and i know you want to make the "im very white for spices" jokes but where are my desserts????? rasmalai? gulab jamun? rabdi? so cloyingly sweet ashdj

and we call tea, chai and it can be sweet and spicy.

it would make me so happy seeing names of my favorite food sprinkled through out your fic even if you don't elaborate on his indian heritage much <;3

i can’t list off every single one of them here but my dms are always open if you need any help with them

6. not all of us

it makes me sad reading about fics where james doesn’t like his indian heritage. not all poc characters need an "accepting my culture" arc.

See the full post

1,364 notes - Posted February 25, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

See the full post

26,022 notes - Posted June 27, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[legislature019]

welcome foolish mortals (youre stuck here now no takesies backsies) /hj

this is not my main. will you get my main?? no. if you have my main will you recognize me?? depends how well you know my typing style.

MOVING ON to yk the writing and such

psssst... psssssst... my ao3 is legislature019 (lmao i just changed it)

putting that under the cut cause who really wants to scroll through all that

as of right now, i write fanfiction and am slowly working towards my own work (marauders cause im cool like that)

WOO anyway shit i gotta take this off my mains intro WRITING i do that

FICS cause i work on those most;

rosekiller-centric (kind of like serial killer x 'detective') [long fic] [in progress]

currently called the murder husbands fic (they are not married but murder is involved heavily its almost the whole plot) also i have no title *thumbs up*

i have a taglist for this shit wait my cover will be blown i also have a better description i swear here it is

Serial killer Barty Crouch Jr. and "self-proclaimed detective" Evan Rosier, who's trying to figure out the killer's identity. He does, eventually, but when he goes to confront him, all self-righteousness goes out the window when Evan sees Barty and decides to actually just fuck him and while that happens, he asks about his body count (both) and asks him about the serial killer and tells him to just come clean cause Evan wants in. He wants to study the victims Barty kills. So they do. Barty kills, Evan dissects, they both dispose. Only once did they almost get caught cause someone for some reason was walking by at two in the morning.

3. i fear that i dont actually have a direction for this story but were gonna ball cause its the one i have motivation for

4. the vibes are there but i miiiiiiight rewrite what ive got or save parts for later

band au (im feral and an overachiever) [long fic] [in progress (ish)]

OKAY BEAR WITH ME its on ao3. wait shit i did not think this through at all anyway i have one whole chapter and i kinda sorta hate it (changing my ao3 as we speak) (mkay changed)

its kind of got a working title and is subject to change (it will) so im gonna like... link it so we can just move on to the desc

remembered i dont have a description just parts of one so here have a frankendescription;

okay so there might end up being three bands i might drop it to one or two but like i already have... 'songs' (*sobs in eighty six of them*) (literally just a title and an idea) but the ships are starchaser, wolfstar (hella slowburn), marylily, dorlene, emmedora, rosekiller (ydek the extent of my love for rosekiller), MINOR bartylus at the beginning, background fralice, nobleflower, and quillkiller

BASICALLY what happened was james said they should start a band and sirius was like hell yeah and remus was like wtf why peter was indifferent hes vibing truly unbothered king

regulus had always wanted to be up on a stage and singing but since hes extremely socially awkward and anxious (not projecting at all WHAT WHO SAID THAT not me) they started a band (also. pandora can play the clarinet) (might drop this part idk yet)

regulus full perspective [long fic]

okay so its a third person LOOOOONG fic of regulus' whole hogwarts years plus a lil from right before he came to hogwarts

trans reg, he will die eventually (at the end yk) cause kiiiinda canon compliant (literally just his name and he dies is compliant), bartylus, starchaser, might kiss evan for the bit its the homies its not gay

i kinda started it but i kinda also hate it i also kinda originally wrote it when i actually liked writing first person (i hate writing first person genuinely) so now i have to rewrite it but thats kind of a hassle atm buT LATER I WILL trust

sunkiller heathers (??) [long fic]

bear with me i wrote one scene in april that i actually dont like but the concept is a vibe

its james and barty btw if you didnt know also called darksun

THIS ONE MAY BE DONE AWAY WITH or just heavily pushed back (probably pushed back)

short bartylus thing that is yet to be titled [oneshot]

its a little bit like if regulus had broken up with james after getting the mark for his 'safety' so james didnt get 'targeted' (hes paranoid)

uhhhhhhh s m u t anyway

have started this (in feb sob) dont see it being finished anytime soon (CAUSE ROSEKILLER)

prongsfoot "microfic" (its past the point of microfic it was SUPPOSED to be a microfic but i digress) [oneshot] [in progress (ish)]

also kind of based off glitch (loosely) by taylor swift

am currently working on it (havent in a month but besides the rosekiller was the last thing i wrote for)

that is... basically all the info i have on it

minigolf !!

that may be all of them as of right now onto... finished ones?? i have two theyre both oneshots... ill save those for the end ORIGINAL SHIT TIME !!

*cough* anyway

ORIGINAL WRITING lower cause i only ever reread the same one over and over again and tell myself ill write some and then end up losing the vibe and reading a book;

the marigold chronicles (working title)

my babies i love this (i have two chapters written) (that may be scrapped) this is the one i reread

genuinely zero plot i have characters and a dream

sapphic princess thingy (i have no title but thats the plot basically)

basically so a princess (who had always thought marriage was disgusting) gets kidnapped by this (hot) woman who introduces her to the rebellion (against the kingdom she didnt know be nice shes a sheltered princess) but she JOINS the rebellion cause turns out theyve got a point and her mother (the queen) is ass at progressiveness

also her guard tries to find her and rescue her (btw hes kind of in love with her and has been ever since he was assigned to protect her) (realizing as i am retyping this here that it seems stockholm esque) (anyway) and gets let down gently but he ALSO joins the rebellion BUT theres the princess' fiance that gets wrapped up into it too but hes kind of not into women (*cough* woah crazy hes gay *cough*) and boom bam turns out the guard is pan

i have a plot *thumbs up* wow (i will expand upon that later my hands hurt and i have more to write on this post)

also i realized a while ago this seems a lot like high class homos but like I DIDNT MEAN TO I SWEAR ITS DIFFERENT

*recoils* idk if i like this next one as much as i did when i thought of it (*shudders* tenth grade) (legit the first ideas of this was in my SCHOOL PLANNER I AM NOT EVEN KIDDING)

actually. lets not. there are some ill keep to myself until i actually do shit with them.

MOVING ON finished things ive written

FINISHED WORKS they are on ao3 and will be linked;

drowning isn't the best way to go, love [oneshot]

It's an unfortunate fate... if you do in fact recognize a body in the water. And what sucks worse?? That nobody knew to tell you that you didn't. or Barty recognized a body and the adrenaline didn't let him come to his senses.

rating; teen and up audiences archive warning; major character death category; m/m fandoms; harry potter - j. k. rowling, scp foundation relationship; barty crouch jr./evan rosier characters; barty crouch jr., evan rosier, regulus black, james potter, bellatrix black lestrange, mary macdonald (harry potter), rita skeeter additional tags; mentions sirius/frank/alice/lily/pandora, scp-2316 - freeform, you do not recognize the bodies in the water, paranoia, domestic rosekiller, rosekiller, background starchaser, its very minimal, regulus has a cat, i mean its kind of unsettling ish, drowning, angst, very tiny baby amount of quillkiller angst, implied pandalily at the end, tragic lovers, this all happens within like twelve hours, modern au, mention of suicide, marauders, marauders era (harry potter)

dying on the hill we met on [oneshot] (being so fr i kind of really hate this now but i digress)

mostly canon compliant (but regulus is alive) tbh there's no jegulus til the end but it's worth the wait i swear james being in his subconscious the whole time nobody dies i promise it's a play on words the formatting isnt great but atp i cant really change it without changing the work itself

rating; general audiences archive warning; creator chose not to use archive warnings categories; f/m, m/m fandom; harry potter - j.k. rowling relationships; james potter/lily evans potter, regulus black/james potter characters; james potter, lily evans potter, sirius black, remus lupin, regulus black, peter pettigrew, frank longbottom, euphemia potter, fleamont potter, marlene mckinnon, mary macdonald (harry potter), mary macdonald's father, alice longbottom, emmeline vance additional tags; jily wedding, james crashed his own wedding kinda, frank the honorary older brother, whoops not regulus stalking the wedding, then running away, starchaser, sunseeker, they kiss at the end, james is kind of like in his head the whole thing, sort of spiraling??, marauders era (harry potter), marauders

WOO TAGS;

just know they will be absolutely (probably) deranged i literally love my tags theyre amazing on main theyll be amazing here

#woah hes writing?? i am writing woah

#original?? itll pass i am working on an original work

#fanfic?? be honest i am working on a fic

#going on about fictional characters headcanons/thoughts

#going on about fictional characters (mine though) headcanons/thoughts but for my characters this time

more tags will probably be added at some point

[angelwingartfarm]

Cosmic Debis the Flight to Save Aven: A race of star travelers hurdled toward our solar system. They are made up of three different orbits of the universe. The Sun, the Moon, and the Star orbit and hale from a planet far, far away called Aven. These space explorers are called Avens.                                                                                                                                           The reason for the journey to our solar system is to save their home world from dying.                                                                                                                       You see, first, their Moon crashed violently into their world, leaving their nights cold and dark.                                                                                                     Then, the wise ones discovered that their Sun was expiring. That event would spell the doom of the planet of Avens and all that they loved.                                                                                            The ancient ones quickly assembled a mission. The plan they developed was to fly to the nearby solar system and gather a core sample of its Sun, bring it back, and put new life into their failing Sun.                                                                                                                                    After an extensive survey of surrounding solar systems, they came across only one with a Sun similar to theirs that could help them attain their goal.                                                                            The neighboring system they found just happened to be Earth's solar system and their Sun.                                                                                                  To journey to this system, a team of specially trained Avens was required to be assembled.                                                                                                   A captain with a crew that was well-trained in long space flights.                                                                   Then, along with them, a company of scientists with the knowledge of the Suns.                                                                                                                          Next, a spacecraft that could handle a long flight, not be detected by other worlds, and withstand the heat of the Sun.                                                                                                                    To achieve this, the wise ones created a spaceship shaped like a comet. It was designed for speed and built to withstand the high temperatures of the Sun.                                                                                                                     They christened their vessel the "Starchaser."                                                                              Flying along with "Starchaser" will be other ships also disguised as fellow comets. They will not carry a crew but help keep the mission as stealth as possible. The last thing the wise ones want is for a planet to think they are on a mission to invade their world.   Everything was now set, and within days, the journey and mission would begin.   www.angelwingartfarm.com

[linuxgamenews]

The Epic Space Journey of Underspace with Native Support

Underspace Lovecraftian, sandbox spacefighter RPG game is due to get a native build on Linux with Windows PC, plus a Demo. Thanks to the skilled team at Pastaspace Interactive for this impressive adventure. Due to make its way onto Steam Early Access soon. So, there is something unique that's just around the corner - a new adventure in the realm of space and stars. This isn't just any ordinary journey; it's called Underspace, crafted by the solo developer behind those quirky Thomas the Tank Engine mods in Starfield and Skyrim. That's Trainwiz for you! He's also just announced that this epic sandbox spacefighter RPG is hitting Early Access on April 10, 2024. And the best part, native Linux support is due to be in the mix.

There are indeed plans for Linux support...

Exciting news from Camlann Games, the publisher behind Underspace. They're keen to let us know about the native support in the works. While they haven't locked in a native build for Early Access just yet, there's a strong possibility that the full version 1.0 will launch with Linux support. And they're using Unity 3D for game development, which is fantastic news for Proton 7.0-6 support – the Demo is performing brilliantly. Underspace will have you dive into a universe where every star system is a unique creation. Each sector is a treasure trove waiting to be explored. This isn't your typical space story. You're stepping into the boots of Kardoz, a once-mighty noble now living on the edge as a starchaser. It's a wild galaxy out there, teeming with pirates, cultists, and all sorts of cosmic dangers.

Underspace Early Access Release Date Announcement Trailer

You're in the driver's seat of this story. Whether you're facing monstrous beasts, allying with cunning pirates, or unearthing secrets of ancient star cities, your actions shape your path in this Lovecraftian space odyssey. Underspace has a galaxy full of storms and secrets at your fingertips, how you make your mark is entirely up to you. Feeling a bit lonely out in the vastness of space? No worries! You can create your own squad with NPCs from across the galaxy, each with their own stories and missions. Plus, there's multiplayer on the horizon (online PvP and online co-op), so you'll have plenty of company on the Underspace interstellar journey. For those curious about the details, here's what you can expect: Dive into 70 handcrafted star systems, tackle over 20 unique bosses, and indulge in some dynamic dogfighting that rewards skill and bold moves. Customization? Absolutely. With over 60 ships and 150 pieces of equipment, you're due to face whatever challenges come your way. Try the Demo with Proton 7.0-6 and see for yourself. It runs well for an Alpha build, and offers insight into Early Access. Where is it due to remain for about a year. And for the storytellers among us, over 40 factions and 30 sidequests await, promising a tapestry of tales and encounters. Plus, with planned mod and multiplayer support, your adventure in Underspace is just the beginning. The sandbox spacefighter RPG game is coming to Linux and Windows PC. Available on both Steam Early Access and GOG on April 10, 2024.

[talesfromlissom]

He Kills Monsters

Summary - Megatron finally manages to get the number of that cute manager at the diner he once fell asleep in. It's a shame that he keeps getting stood up. With a lame excuse that Orion is ‘busy’. 

Well, Megatron has had enough. 

He never expected to find this was the reason why Orion never returns his calls. 

A/N - I imagine this universe to have a more soft body type of universe. As in, they have transformer heads, but fleshy bodies. This is why Megatron & the other characters are described as wearing clothing, driving cars, etc etc. I didn’t really imagine this taking place within a particular universe either. 

TW - Blood/Gore, Mentions of Death, Ugly Ass Monsters, guns, swearing, & body horror.

Orion’s diner laid at the very edge of the city. The clear paved roads developed into broken asphalt. With faded paint in the center. Surrounded by sets of tall evergreens. Its pines litter the edges of the pavement. 

The drive is silent and dark. The only sound is a few birds, and a distant rifle being fired. But Megatron has lived out here before. People hunt in these woods a lot, as long as his headlight still works. He has nothing to worry about.

He turns to his left, spying the neon sign for Orion’s diner. Named ‘The Arc’. 

The building itself looks like a typical diner. From the silver walls to the neon wrap-around lights. There’s one car parked in the parking lot. A class black muscle car. A 1968 Ford Mustang it seems. Why someone who works at a diner would need a muscle car is beyond him.

But, he doesn’t see Orion’s truck.

Megatron pulls into the parking lot regardless. And parks his motorcycle, and climbs off the bike. 

Marching up the cement stairs and opening the glass door. 

He’s greeted by the sound of a bell and stares into the empty diner. The lights are still on, and he looks down towards the breakfast bar. 

The waiter (or he assumes they’re the waiter). Is leaning against the counter, sipping at what appears to be a chocolate milkshake. With a large dollop of whip cream on the top. 

Even if he’s walked in, the waiter (again, he assumes) has not acknowledged his presence. 

Megatron goes to sit down-

“We’re closed,” The waiter says, not bothering to look up from his phone. “Sorry. I forgot to change the sign.”

Megatron frowns. 

“I’m not here to order,” He began. “I’m looking for someone.”

The waiter looks up, and he spies the nametag on the mech’s chest. 

‘Dion’. 

“Who?” Dion asked, head tilted. “It's just me and Starchaser here tonight.”

Megatron narrows his gaze.

“Orion.” He says, crossing his arms. “I’m looking for Orion Pax. He owns this…establishment.” 

If Megatron can even call it an establishment. The diner looks clean, pristine even. Untouched. So much so. That he can tell nobody comes to eat here. There’s only one waiter, and he assumes this ‘Starchaser’ character is the only cook. So yes. Megatron isn’t sure if he can really call it an establishment.

“Well, he’s not here.” Dion shared, placing his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “You just missed him.”

“Where did he go, then?” 

“What’s it to you?” Dion blurts out, eyes narrowed. 

Megatron scoffs.

“He and I were supposed to see a movie together. Tonight.”

He leaves out the part where this is the second time Orion has stood him up. 

Dion blinks. Once. Twice.

He then grins and snaps his fingers. And points at him with his index. 

“Holy shit, you’re Megatron!” 

Megatron stares. 

“Starchaser!” Dion shouts, walking over to the open door. Leading into the kitchen. “Megatron’s here!” 

Megatron shakes his head when another person pokes his head out. This bot looks older than Dion. and he’s much taller too. He can’t tell if Starchaser is taller than him from here. He might be. 

Starchaser steps out of the kitchen, wiping his oil (?) littered hands on a dirty white rag. And yeah. Starchaser is taller than him. 

“So, you’re Megatron, huh?” Starchaser starts, stepping towards the counter. 

“I am.” Megatron sits down. “I’m assuming you’ve heard of me?” 

“Of course I have,” Starchaser chuckles. “Orion won’t shut up about you.”

Megatron frowns. 

Starchaser looks him up and down. 

“Why are you looking for him?” 

Megatron narrows his gaze. The two are stalling. And whatever the reason is, Megatron doesn’t like it. 

“He was… supposed to see a movie with me.” 

“Oh shit.” Dion blurts out. “He stood you up again, didn’t he?”

Megatron scoffs. 

“Yes yes. He did, now can you please tell me where he is?”

“So you can what? Yell at him?” Starchaser criticized. “Sorry but…no. He’s got more important matters to address.” 

Megatron shakes his head, jaw clenching. 

“Like what?”

Starchaser doesn’t reply. 

“May you please tell me where he is? All I need to ask him is why he keeps standing me up.”

Because he wants to boast about having your number. A small voice tells him. But he pushes that voice aside in favor of the task at hand. 

Dion and Starchaser look at one another. Then back at Megatron. 

“Again, I’m sorry.” Starchaser starts. “But-”

“But, he’s down in Devilwood Clearing.” Dion interrupted. “He said-”

“Dion, shut the fuck up!” Starchaser hissed, slamming the rag onto the counter. 

“What do you mean shut the f-”

Dion and Starchaser turn towards him again. There’s a moment of silence before Starchaser grabs Dion by the arm and pulls him into the kitchen. Dion shouting angrily the entire time. 

Megatron’s shoulders slump when he hears the two arguing. He can’t make out what they’re saying. But it's not that it matters.

He narrows his gaze, pulling his phone from his pocket. Searching up the name Devilwood Clearing. The location pops up, almost 30 minutes out from here. 

Its…odd. 

Why would Orion be out in the middle of the woods? Now specifically. And is this the place Orion keeps returning to every night? Why does he go there instead of on a date. 

The questions boggle Megatron’s mind and hears the arguing get softer. He looks up at the kitchen one last time. Well, whatever it is. Orion can explain himself when Megatron finds him. 

—

The drive to Devilwood is quiet. A bit too quiet. There are no birds. No gunshots. Nothing. Just the sound of his bike crunching on pavement and dirt-

Megatron looks down at the headlight. Head tilting when the light itself begins to flicker. Then dimming. Before completely shutting off. 

Megatron stops immediately, parking the bike and getting off. He pulls his phone out, turning the flashlight on. He touches the headlight’s glass. It's still warm under his fingers. Odd. 

He gets back on the bike, turns the ignition-

The bike sputters, then dies. 

He tries again. He gets the same reaction. 

He curses, and grabs the handles of the bike, rolling it off the road and onto the grass. Makes sure to hide it with a few bushes. He takes the helmet off as well, placing it onto the leather seat. 

Megatron grumbles to himself, turning to his map. Thankfully, Devilwood Clearing isn’t far from here. A good ten-minute walk, actually. 

So, with that. Megatron turns and begins to walk. 

—

The walk itself is uneventful too. The only sound is his boots crunching against the ground. But there are no birds. No crickets. No owls. Nothing. 

But he makes it to Devilwood Clearing. 

The name is rather…ambiguous. 

Because this isn’t a forest clearing. It's a parking lot. A parking lot with one single lamp. A lamp that flickers, and is surrounded by various bugs. 

But Megatron can see Orion’s truck. He walks up to the first, shining his light into the driver’s seat. There’s nobody there. But he can see an open first aid kit on the passenger's seat as well as…a box of ammo.

Megatron presses his lips into a thin line and backs away from the truck. He shakes his head, turning towards the fence. He sees an opening leading into the forest itself. A set of wooden stairs that descend further into the greenery. 

He bites the inside of his cheek, squinting. 

Why would Orion go on a hike at this hour? Or hunting?

He isn’t sure. 

Megatron descends the wooden stairs anyways. He won’t go far, only a few miles out. And if he can’t find Orion, he’ll leave. And delete his number. 

The lack of sounds worries him. He’s lived in the countryside, and loved exploring the woods as a child. Especially during the spring. There was always some kind of noise. From frogs croaking to an owl hooting. 

But it's not like that here. 

Not at all. 

Megatron comes to a stop, hearing a crack of wood in the distance. He looks around, shining his flashlight towards the right. He sees nothing. Then to the left. There’s still nothing-

He flinches, hearing crunching in the distance. He sees a light in the distance. A light that bounces, like someone running. He grits his teeth, taking after the figure. Whoever it may be. 

His mind screams at him to leave. To turn the other direction, and get the hell out of here. But he doesn’t listen. Something is in these woods, and if Orion is here. Then he has to get him out. He’s no hero sure, and he knows this isn’t some tv show or action film. But if Orion went hunting and got attacked-

He slides to a stop, seeing that the dirt path has ended. But he still sees the light in the distance still. He hops over the fallen log, and runs through the forest. He pushes a branch aside-

He lets out a shriek when a bullet goes past his foot, making a hole in the dirt. He looks up, breathing heavily. His eyes widen, spying Orion. A rifle in hand, as well as a mask over his mouth. It appears to be metal as well. 

Yet, Orion still points his weapon at him. 

Megatron raises his arms, looking around. He then narrows his gaze, putting his arms down immediately. 

“Orion, what the hell are you doing out here!” He shouts. “You were supposed to meet me at Hydrax Theater almost 2 hours ago! This is the second time you’ve stood me up!”

Orion stares at him with wide eyes, bulging even. He’s speechless, and his head draws back. But his rifle isn't lowered.

“Megatron-”

“No. No. I don’t want to hear your excuses. What are you doing out here?” Megatron snarled, arms sweeping. “Are you hunting, hiking-”

“Megatron, keep your voice down.”

Megatron clenches his fists. 

“Excuse me? I’m sorry, but the last time I checked. I’m not the one out in the middle of a forest, carrying around a rifle, and…” Megatron starts. 

But he trails off, upon seeing that Orion isn’t listening to him. He’s looking straight up. 

Megatron’s head slowly-

“Don’t look up.” Orion blurts out, causing Megatron’s gaze to snap back over to him.

Megatron narrows his eyes and scoffs.

“You’re such an asshole,” Megatron starts, turning back to the sky. “The least you could’ve done is say you're not-” 

He cuts himself off, eyes widening. He takes a step back, lips trembling. As he stares into a pair of bulging red eyes. 

This creature has no skin. No muscles. Just bones. A long verberay, with a set of small ribs. The other bones are just as long, but the fingers of this beast are not fingers. They’re sharp. Claws. They’re pitch black, and Megatron sees the remnants of blood on its tips. The creature hums and Megatron turns back to it. Its eyes. His head is suddenly pounding, all noises becoming muffled. The things jaw bone is extensive. Sharp jagged teeth lay at the bottom. And… 

He's snapped back to reality when a bullet goes flying past his ear. He assumes it hit this…thing. Because his head stops hurting, and the creature shrieks from the impact. 

Orion grabs his arm and runs. He hears the beast screaming in the distance, and sees the trees bending and breaking. As well as one of its boney legs landing on the grass. Birds scatter, and Megatron stares at the black tar that drips from its socket. Its remaining eye boring into him-

“Stop looking at it!” Orion shouts. “If you keep looking at it, it’ll mark you!"

Regardless, the beast shrieks. And gives chase, jumping into the trees. 

“It? It?” Megatron cries. “What even is that-”

“It’s a demon, obviously!” Orion yelled as the two found themselves on the dirt path. “I’ve been hunting this thing for months-”

“Is that why you’ve kept standing me up-!”

The two slide to a stop when the demon lands in front of them. Nails digging into the dirt, its mouth opens. Letting out a hoarse roar. So high-pitched that Megatron has to cover his ears. He turns away.

He turns forward seeing Orion firing at it. The demon jumps into the trees again, its roaring becoming distant. Birds scatter into the sky. 

“Come on! That thing won’t flee for long!” Orion shouted. 

The two break into a run again. 

It's at this moment that Megatron finally hears the sounds of the forest return.

—

When Orion pulls into the diner, Starchaser is leaning against the metal railing. And Dion is sitting on the steps. 

Orion leaves the truck, and Dion smiles. But his smile fades when Megatron gets out as well. 

“Oh shit,” Dion mutters. 

Orion takes the mask off.

“Inside. All of you. Now.” Orion orders. The two comply instantly, but Megatron still stands in the parking lot. 

Orion turns to him. Eyes narrowed.

“If you stay out here Ruz'gadar will find you,” He starts. “But he can’t find us inside the diner, it's warded.” 

Megatron stares, crossing his arms.

“And if I do stay out here?”

“Then you’ll get torn limb from limb. Have all your organs consumed, and then your soul.” Orion says, flatly. 

Megatron stares, before climbing the metal stairs swiftly. 

Orion watches him, turning to the empty street momentarily. He narrows his gaze, rolling his shoulder, and grabbing the strap of his rifle. He then opens the glass doors, and steps inside. The door shuts behind him.

And as a final action. He turns the ‘open’ sign to ‘closed’. 

[twentiethcenturymoviesandtv]

Star Wars and the Space Opera

In 1941, a writer by the name of Wilson Tucker coined the term: ‘Space Opera’, used to describe what he called the “hacky, grinding, stinking, outworn space-ship yarn”.  This derogatory term followed in the footsteps of words like ‘Soap Opera’, a familiar term used even today, and ‘Horse Opera’ a less-used word referring to a cheap western.

However, in the years following this initial term creation, the words ‘Space Opera’ soon became associated with a different connotation.

Today, well, we’d probably call it ‘Soft Science Fiction’.

The term ‘Space Opera’ as we know it now refers to a story set in an unfamiliar galaxy, full of space faring civilizations with access to wonderful technology that isn’t terribly important to the story. Space Operas are epics, action/adventure stories spanning solar systems and galaxies, full of political intrigue, romance, huge space battles, sprawling empires and planets, and larger-than-life heroes and villains playing out the age-old good vs. evil conflict.

The total opposite of hard science fiction, Space Operas are concerned with characters and stories, rather than how the warp-drive works.  In the years since its original examples in the days of Buck Rogers, the term has lost nearly all of its negative connotations.  No longer looked down on, many writers and moviemakers have come to embrace the Space Opera.  Science fiction author Brian Aldiss even wrote a poem describing the steps that every self-respecting Space Opera must take in order to be an example of it’s subgenre:

The world must be in peril.

There must be a quest,

And a man or woman to meet the mighty hour.

That man or woman must confront aliens and exotic creatures.

Space must flow past the ports like wine from a pitcher.

Blood must rain down the palace steps,

And ships launch out into the louring dark.

There must be a woman or man fairer than the skies,

And a villain darker than a Black Hole.

And all must come right in the end.

There have been plenty of Space Operas in recent media history, ranging from the Dune novels to television shows like Battlestar Galactica or Star Trek.  However, easily the best known and most recognizable example of a Space Opera ever created is obvious: George Lucas’s science fiction epic from 1977: Star Wars.

Star Wars was more than a film.  Like Star Trek, it was a cultural phenomenon, sweeping the world immediately and paving the way for stories like it to find success in the future, as stories either inspired by it or intending to cash in on it were created in the years following.  While hailed as the start of a renaissance of Science Fiction in film, it was more accurately the start of the Space Opera in modern popular culture.  While set in space, the film states its scale firmly from its opening words: A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…

Star Wars wasn’t concerned with telling a story about science or logic.  It was a story about heroic rebels rising up and fighting back against an evil empire.  It was about big H heroes, Cool Starships, and Saving the World.  Star Wars was the shift in connotations for the Space Opera.  It was Star Wars’s thouroughly ‘space fantasy’  nature that changed the term ‘Space Opera’ from an insult to simply a genre.  

As such a game-changer, it bears some discussion.

Star Wars was the template used in countless science-fiction films after it, whether outright copied by films like Starchaser: The Legend Of Orin or spoofed in films like Spaceballs, creating a series of characters, scenarios, locations, and technology that has inspired multiple stories since it’s release over forty years ago.

The fact that Star Wars has become such a codifier of Space Operas makes a lot of sense, considering that it almost follows Aldiss’s poem to the letter.  While it does put an entertaining, fresh spin on a lot of fantasy and science fiction conventions, it doesn’t stray from those conventions.  In fact, it embraces them.

Hence our discussion.

Today, we’re going to be analyzing the 1977 film Star Wars in the context of the Space Opera, using Brian Aldiss’s poetic criteria above to analyze how George Lucas, whether knowingly or not, managed to create the perfect Space Opera, starting with, of course, point number one:

The world must be in peril.

To start, let’s look at the opening crawl.  Spoilers below!

It is a period of civil war. Rebel

spaceships, striking from a hidden

base, have won their first victory

against the evil Galactic Empire.

During the battle, Rebel spies managed

to steal secret plans to the Empire’s

ultimate weapon, the DEATH STAR, an

armored space station with enough

power to destroy an entire planet.

Pursued by the Empire’s sinister agents,

Princess Leia races home aboard her

starship, custodian of the stolen plans

that can save her people and restore

freedom to the galaxy….

The story of Star Wars begins in an era of galactic unrest.  The evil Galactic Empire rules with an iron, tyrannical fist over the planets under it, squashing attempts at resistance, but stubbornly, the Rebellion fights on.  However, even their attempts are hopeless in the face of this new weapon: the Death Star.

The stakes for the story are established immediately.  By introducing the idea of a weapon powerful enough to destroy a planet, the audience, themselves only confined to one planet, immediately understand the threat that this weapon holds.  Billions of people extinguished in one shot, and the people with the only hope to stop them are on the run, in danger.

It looks grim for the galaxy.

At the beginning of Star Wars, it’s the End of the World as We Know It, and it’s not just an idle threat.  The Death Star is fully operational, and we see its effects as it destroys the homeworld of Princess Leia, Alderaan.  Billions of people are destroyed instantly, and the weapon won’t stop there.  

The galaxy is definitely in peril, and in order to prevent its destruction, the heroes must obliterate the weapon first, which, of course, answers our next line:

There must be a quest.

The quest is twofold.  The immediate quest is a small-scale one, a quest as old as fairy tales: rescue the Princess.

After Princess Leia is captured by the Empire, she sends the plans for the Death Star, and a message pleading for help, in a droid, R2-D2, trying to get them to an old Jedi Master, (The Mentor and Wizard of the story) Obi-Wan Kenobi.  Unfortunately, the droid (along with fellow robot, C-3PO) end up in the hands of farmboy Luke Skywalker.  Luke, recognizing the name, takes them to the Jedi, and ends up whisked away, determined to rescue Leia.  As he finds out more and more, the second part of the quest, the larger one, becomes clear:  Destroy the Death Star.

In order to prevent the destruction of the Rebellion, Luke must go on a journey, traveling through interesting places, all while learning the secrets of the Jedi: a power known as the Force.  Throughout this journey, he learns and grows, becoming better equipped to complete his quest along the way.  As Luke passes through criminal-infested cantinas, the Death Star itself, and the Rebel base on Yavin 4, he gains new understanding and perspective, all while focusing on his main goal: Rescue the Princess.

This version of The Quest storyline falls under the ‘Overcoming the Monster’ quest, a single-minded one focused on the end goal of the story.  Rather than focusing on a series of smaller quests that tie into the large one, the story of Star Wars revolves around the final act, with the characters pushing to Rescue the Princess and destroy the Death Star.  It’s concise, simple, but solid enough to work, propelled forward by the characters in the narrative.

The Quest directly overlaps with the famous Hero’s Journey narrative, seen in countless stories on the page and screen.  The combination thereof gives us a story where the focus is on the Hero’s growth and development as Luke finds his destiny, reacting to events pushing him forward, all while striving towards the end goal of the story.  It’s a very compelling narrative, traditionally done as a fantasy story, which naturally makes it perfect for the standard Space Opera story.

Which brings us to our next point:

And a man or woman to meet the mighty hour.

Of course, the man of the hour in Star Wars is farmboy Luke Skywalker, whisked up seemingly by accident into this world of Jedi, Evil Empires and Rebellions.  As with most Space Opera/Epic heroes, he isn’t terribly complex.  There are no moral struggles for Luke Skywalker, he knows what he has to do, and with determination, he strives for it.

In many ways, Luke Skywalker is the quintessential Hero archetype.  When we first meet him, (stage 1 of the Hero’s Journey), he is living on a desert farm that he desperately wants to get away from.  He craves adventure, excitement, and information about the father he never knew, constantly badgering his aunt and uncle for a chance to leave the planet Tatooine.

Luke is a big H hero, good and pure, bent on achieving his goal.  He’s an archetype, as old as stories themselves: the Ideal Hero, determined to finish the quest, stop the villain, and rescue the princess.  He’s new to the galaxy at large, serving also as the audience surrogate as the other characters explain and teach him about the more mysterious elements of the galaxy, but he proves a quick learner, also able to (clumsily at first) wield the powerful Force to assist him in his quest.  He even inherits the lightsaber (the science fiction equivalent of a sword) of his father, further adding to his Knight in Shining Armor role in the story.

Despite his good qualities, Luke isn’t perfect.  He’s inexperienced, and naive.  He’s a good shot with a blaster, and a better pilot, but he has problems with patience and anger, and has to be reigned in by other members of the cast.  He also doesn’t always get along with everyone else on his team, as evidenced by his arguments with reluctant partner and Lancer Han Solo.

Oddly enough, Luke’s motivation to start this journey is mixed.  While it would seem like he must want to Jump at the Call, when initially offered the chance for this adventure, Luke turns it down, citing his aunt and uncle as reasons not to go.  Unfortunately, the Empire, in search of the droid in Luke’s possession, burn down his homestead, killing his aunt and uncle in the process.  With nothing left of his home and family, Luke embarks on the adventure he seems to have always wanted, being pushed into the role of unexpected Hero.

While initially starting the story in a role akin to The Load, it doesn’t take long for Luke to go through some Character Development to rise to his full potential.  When dragged into the belly of the beast, trapped within the Death Star where Princess Leia is being held, it is Luke who assembles a plan, convincing the pilot who brought them, Han, and his copilot, Chewbacca, to assist him in rescuing Leia and escaping the Death Star.  Later on, it is Luke who exploits the Fatal Flaw of the Death Star design, destroying the weapon and saving the galaxy (for now).

Throughout his Hero’s Journey, Luke inevitably fulfills the next part of our criteria:

That man or woman must confront aliens and exotic creatures.

While most of the characters are examples of Human Aliens, not all of the beings in this galaxy are.  Good Space Operas tend to have interesting aliens to populate the planets the characters travel to, further spicing up the environment.

For Star Wars, one need look no further than the cantina sequence in Mos Eisley.  The scene is filled with odd looking creatures, some of which even assault Luke.  Earlier on, there are the Jawas, a species of scavengers who are responsible for C-3PO and R2-D2 ending up in the hands of Luke in the first place.  But both of these examples are minor in comparison with the token alien of the team: Chewbacca.

Chewbacca is Han Solo’s copilot, and a Wookiee.  Large, furry, and unintelligible, Chewbacca’s contribution is invaluable, being the decoy prisoner, and the Big Guy of the team.  The Bruiser with a Soft Center Mr. Fixit, Chewbacca is presented as more than an alien, but a character who happens to be a different species as the rest of the cast.  He serves as a constant reminder of the ‘otherness’ of the galaxy, a constantly present ‘exotic’ creature to drive home the Space Opera atmosphere.  As the co-pilot and mechanic, it is also part of Chewbacca’s job to keep the iconic Millennium Falcon running, and fly her when Han is needed in the gun turrets.

Speaking of the ships:

Space must flow past the ports like wine from a pitcher.

The galaxy is a big place.  In order to move the plot forward, the characters need to get around, fast.  Unfortunately, space is so large that characters would likely die of old age before reaching anywhere interesting, so a faster method must be developed.

The problem of slow space travel has long been ‘fixed’ in science fiction stories since the ‘60s, with Star Trek’s warp drive being a prime example.  In Star Wars, a similar idea is used: that of the hyperdrive.

In order to get anywhere, the ships in Star Wars travel faster than light, enabling them to hop from location to location speedily, as well as engage in high-speed chases and dogfights.  Indeed, it is due to this that the Death Star is such a threat.  Being able to travel quickly, it could destroy multiple planets that much faster.

Using the hyperdrive, the Millennium Falcon is able to travel from Tatooine to the ruins of Alderaan, to Yavin 4 quickly, adding to the urgency and allowing the characters to keep moving.  As useful an invention the hyperdrive is, though, there’s more to the use of speed in space than just travel.

Star Wars ends, not with a sword fight or shootout, but with a dogfight.

The battle of the Death Star is a tense action sequence making up the climax of the film, reliant entirely on the forces of the Empire (flying TIE fighters) versus the Rebels (flying X-Wings and Y-Wings).  The fast pace and high stakes combine to make a tense ride, and an unforgettable ending.  Neither the Death Star trench run, nor the escape from Tatooine would be possible without the Handwave to physics, but in a Space Opera, it doesn’t matter.

All of this talk about stakes leads us right into the next line:

Blood must rain down the palace steps,

Victory does not come without a price.

Throughout Star Wars, lives are lost.  Owen and Beru, Luke’s Aunt and Uncle, are the first notable victims, although the death toll is surprisingly high.  Princess Leia’s entire planet is wiped out with one blow.  Obi-Wan Kenobi is killed, sacrificing himself to allow Luke and the others to escape the Death Star.  And the final Death Star trench run ends with a victory for the Rebel Alliance, but only after all but three of their ships (and pilots) are killed.  These deaths are not without purpose within the narrative, demonstrating the severity of the Empire’s threat, as well as serving as reminders that more peoples’ lives are at stake.  These horrible events push our heroes on, forcing them to always consider the cost as friends are lost.

There may not be a palace, but there certainly is bloodshed.

And ships launch out into the louring dark.

Spaceships, like mentioned above, are absolutely essential to the quintessential Space Opera.  They are beyond forms of transportation, they are characters in their own right.  From the Empire’s menacing Star Destroyer to Han Solo’s beat up freighter, each ship has its own unique look and ‘personality’.

Star Wars coded it’s ships in a very specific way.  The Empire’s ships are shiny and sharp.  They are grim and foreboding, all greys and blacks, well-put-together and dangerous looking.  From the tiny TIE fighters to the imposing Star Destroyers, the Empire’s fleet is both foreboding and numerous, a frightening force pitted against the small Rebel Alliance.

The Rebellion ships, on the other hand, look a bit different.  From the Tantive IV vessel to the tiny X-Wings, the ships of the good guys look a little more worn down, a ragtag assembly of ships that are utilized to the best of the Rebel’s ability to fight the Empire.  The X and Y-Wings are small but fast, evocative of our own fighter planes, bringing home the imagery of the space-dogfight.

But no ship says ‘personality’ like the Millennium Falcon.

The Millennium Falcon is, to quote Luke Skywalker, a ‘piece of junk’.  She looks awkward, clumsy, cobbled together, and at times, she doesn’t seem to work all that well.  The ship is easily recognizable, with a unique design, and she seems to have a personality of her own.  A faithful ship, despite her flaws, the Millennium Falcon is fast, very fast, and maneuverable.  It is her speed that makes Obi-Wan and Luke choose to hire Han and Chewbacca to pilot them, as the Falcon turns out to be quite a match for TIE fighters, and is able to outrun the Empire’s forces.  It is Han and Chewbacca flying this trusty hunk of junk in for a last-minute rescue that enables Luke to destroy the Death Star, cementing the Millennium Falcon as a ‘Hero’ ship.  In fact, it’s the Falcon’s speed that made a lot of the rescuing possible.  Speaking of which:

There must be a woman or man fairer than the skies,

This one depends on how attractive you find Han Solo, but in the story proper, the ‘fairer than the skies’ part seems to land to Princess Leia, the Damsel in Distress who is the one giving the quest in the first place.  However, Leia is a subversion of the typical Damsel and Quest Giver character, as being a leader in a Rebellion, she is no stranger to battle, and once rescued, takes charge, and gets in on the action.  Leia is beautiful, and it is remarked upon by Luke, but her royal station and her position as a prisoner does not stop her from being a Royal Who Actually Does Something, and is quick to take up a weapon to help fight her way out of the Death Star.  In the end, she is the beautiful Quest Giver, but Damsel in Distress?  Only slightly.

But we can’t talk about heroes, quests and battles without talking about the other side.

And a villain darker than a Black Hole.

Every Epic story needs a villain, and the bigger, the better.  The Dreaded Evil Overlord is a staple of the Space Opera genre, the very epitome of villainy.  In the case of Star Wars, thankfully, the villain bases are covered.

Besides the overarching evil that is the Empire in general, there are specific villains in the story for our heroes to overcome.  Grand Moff Tarkin, a cunning, proud military leader, is in charge of the Death Star.  He orders the destruction of Alderaan, and is a cold-blooded killer, also willing to terminate the captive Princess Leia.  He presses in on the Rebel Base with the Death Star, intending to wipe them out, and it is his pride and arrogance that keeps him from being concerned about his superweapon’s fatal flaw.

Despite how horrible Tarkin is, he is not our villain ‘darker than a Black Hole’.  That would be, of course, Darth Vader.

Darth Vader has long been heralded as one of the greatest villains of all time, and with good reason.  With an iconic, unique look (dressed head to foot in black armor, with a mask obscuring his face), Darth Vader, much like the rest of the Empire, is unquestionably evil, the epitome of darkness to contrast with Luke’s light.  Despite the fact that Tarkin commands the Death Star, Darth Vader’s power is greater.

Like Obi-Wan, Darth Vader is also a Force user, but one who uses its power for evil.  It is Darth Vader who tortures Leia for information (which she resists), and Darth Vader who strikes down Obi-Wan in the Death Star.  He is a foreboding enemy, and his skill with the Force, the lightsaber, and as a pilot is a triple threat to the Rebels.  He also plays a large part in the Death Star trench battle, picking off many Rebel pilots and nearly finishing Luke off as well.  Only Han Solo’s last-minute entry into the battle stops him, sending Vader careening off into the galaxy, defeated, but not destroyed.

Unlike most variations of the villains of Space Operas, Vader does not stick close to his base.  He ventures out, actively hunting down and destroying the Rebels.  He commands his officers, but seems to answer to the Emperor himself, setting up the idea that he may not be the Evil Overlord he seems to be (revealed to be the case in later films).  Darth Vader is incredibly dangerous, however, cunning and powerful, and it is telling that, at the end, he is not destroyed with the Death Star, but merely taken out of action for the time being, indicating that he will return.

But although Darth Vader isn’t entirely vanquished, the day is still won.

And all must come right in the end.

Although Luke’s family is gone, Leia’s planet destroyed, Obi-Wan dead, most of the Rebel Fleet destroyed, and Darth Vader still out there, there is still a Happy Ending.  The Death Star has been demolished, proving that the Empire is not invincible, and Grand Moff Tarkin has gone with it.  The Rebel Alliance survives to fight another day.  Luke Skywalker has found his destiny and become a hero, pulling together his band to do so.  Han Solo managed to find a selfless side, joining the fight as well.  Leia has been rescued and can return to helping lead the Rebellion’s fight against the Empire for the future.  There is a New Hope for the galaxy.

Star Wars, like most Space Operas, is an idealistic story.  The villains are defeated, the heroes are triumphant.  Good wins over evil.  It’s a good ending, a happy ending, well-earned by our heroes.

The ending doesn’t feel saccharine, either.  It is a hard-won victory, and many lives have been lost.  It is an against-all-odds victory, one not without cost, but thanks to the courage and sacrifice of people who believe in freedom, the Rebellion has a fighting chance, and the Empire is that much closer to destruction.  It’s a Happy Ending, and more importantly, it’s the right ending, perfectly matching the tone and characters of the rest of the film.

Star Wars is not about how the hyperdrive works, or the technology required to build the Death Star.  It’s not about how humanity contends with it’s own creations, or how we live in a technologically advanced society.  In fact, it’s not really about ‘humanity’ at all.  It’s just about people.

Star Wars is a fantasy epic set against a backdrop of stars, set a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.  It’s about good vs. evil, about the defeat of tyranny.  It’s about a heroic farm boy, a rogue smuggler, and a brave princess.  It’s about heroes and villains, magic and battles.  It’s a fairy tale.

All of the above comes together to make Star Wars the definitive Space Opera.  Every point is perfect, every element in place, so much so that it seems paint-by-numbers.  But it’s not.

Star Wars relies on tropes that are almost as old as stories themselves, but it all feels fresh and new.  By developing interesting worlds, compelling characters, and a moving conflict, Star Wars managed to rise above the standard, taking the term ‘Space Opera’ and turning it into a defining subgenre, rather than an insult.

Star Wars single handedly changed a genre thanks to its earnest storytelling and characters, proving definitively that Tropes Are Not Bad, and that any story, no matter how ‘old’ it is, can still be made something fresh and beloved.

Don’t forget that the ask box is always open for anything from suggestions and discussion ideas to questions and conversations!  Thank you guys so much for reading, and I hope to see you guys in the next article.

[alainaheart]

Here she is- I’m planning on possibly working on a whole ass fic for her, but meh. I lowkey ship her with Arthur but I don’t know, we’ll see.

Alaina ‘Libra’ Heart, 25 Blue eyes, brown hair, 5'4" on a good day, 5'2" most days. Scars running under her right eye due to a cougar attack when she was 18. She has an attitude, so expect to be sassed back.

Refuses to commit to one job for longer than necessary. “I like to travel, ain’t no use committin’ to something like that." She doesn’t care much for Bounty Hunting. “I spend more in bullets than I get paid for the live bounty. ‘Lotta work for shitty pay.“ Good collector. “According to Madam Nazar, I’m one of the more illustrious collectors.” Enjoys being a trader with Cripps. “I make anywhere between $150 to $180 a run. It’s easy work for good money and I get to travel.” Enjoys the moonshine business. “Ms. Maggie is a fucking gem.”

Accurate as hell with a gun. (I have the belt buckles to prove it)

She fucking spoils her horses. “They are my babies.” They are fat. “Hermes is the perfect amount chunk for hunting, and Starchaser can still fucking outrun most things.” Hermes is a bay framed Criollo. “Its a damn good thing he was on sale, they’re 950$ usually.” And Starchaser is the chestnut Arabian. “She’s flighty like all Arabians, but she’s a doll.” Odessa, a silver kladruber, is the newest addition. “Oh my god, I love her. Nothing bothers that horse.”

Her mother was called a witch. They lived off the land and traveled. An infected bullet wound put her mother in the grave when Alaina was eighteen. It’s a, uh, touchy subject.

Her first run-in with the Van der Linde gang was when she was spotted by Charles while hunting Buffalo for meat and trading. This was shortly after the poaching incident so he was already on edge. “He scared the shit out of me. Most men of that size aren’t kind to women. I didn’t think I’d meet one of my best friends by him almost shooting me, but stranger things have happened.”

[tarisilmarwen]

RobStar Week 2019, Day 2 - Stardust

(Takes place during Robin and Starfire’s two-month-long honeymoon IN SPACE.

Because that’s totally something they would do.)

---

A light in the corner of the viewport was the signal that they'd arrived.

Starfire pulled away from their kiss with a happy gasp, running at once to the window and pressing her hands and forehead against the glass.

"Star..." Robin whined, pouting a bit in his seat, the warmth of her lips still lingering on his skin.

"We are here!" Starfire announced, floating from control panel to control panel and rapidly inputting the shutdown sequence, fingers flying across buttons and switches.

Robin straightened up, all thoughts of continuing to make out with his beautiful brand-new wife shelved for the moment.  "The comet?" he asked.

Starfire nodded vigorously, firing up the ship's boosters.  The Starchaser slowed, brake boosters firing in the opposite direction from ship's now-cooling engines, working against the zero gravity to gradually bring the craft's forward momentum to a slow crawling drift.

Robin walked over to the viewport, peering around the corner as far as he could.

"Woah..." he breathed.

The comet, called Zarthar's Breath by the Tamaranians, was a blue-white ball of light in the distance, breathtaking in its radiance, in the stellar beauty of the ice chunks and burning gases that silted off it in gentle rays and trailed behind it in long streaks.

Starfire joined him at the viewport, giggling.  The Starchaser hung silent and almost still in the vastness of space and the two of them watched the comet flying by, passing the window slowly on its inexorable course towards the other end of space.

Warm orange fingers slipped into pale human ones.  Starfire peeled her eyes off the dazzling cosmic sight to take in the equally as delightful look of awestruck wonder on Robin's face.

"It's... amazing!" he whispered, his eyes transfixed.

Starfire's heart bubbled with warmth.  "Would you like to see it closer?" she offered.

He jerked to face her, excitedly.  "Can we?  I mean..."  He shifted on his feet.  "Is it safe?"

She grabbed his wrist, pulling him towards the storage units on the other side of the bridge.  "I had Cyborg pack an environmental suit for just this occasion!"

***

The airlock opened with a heavy series of clicks, and from the top of the silver-plated ship they floated up, soundlessly.

Robin gripped her wrist tightly, his fingers clenching as the weightless sensation of space made his stomach drop out.  His eyes darted down nervously, but they were already moving away from the airlock door, passing over the hull of the Starchaser with barely a whisper of movement.

He gulped, looking back up at Starfire through the thick glass helmet.

Sensing his unease, she met his eyes and smiled, squeezing his arm through the canvas of his spacesuit reassuringly.

The strength in her hand anchored him, giving him a fixed point in the empty endless vastness to cling to.  Robin peeled apart his dry lips.

"Promise you won't let go?" he asked, some lingering hesitation in his voice.

She nodded.  "I promise I will not let go," she assured him.

Turning forward, she gently pushed off from the starship's hull.

The stars were like countless tiny jewels hung all around them, sparkling in white and yellow pinpoints from all directions.  The two of them moved like floating feathers through the expanse, the ever-growing form of the comet the only sign that they were actually making forward progress.

Starfire flew them confidently, with all the practiced ease of one who had spent her whole life here.  Her grip never faltered.  She steered them towards Zarthar's Breath on a straight-line intercept course.

Robin glanced back only once, seeing the Starchaser grow smaller and smaller in the distance--Starfire had assured him the ship would remain relatively in place during their little excursion--before the incredible sight ahead stole his attention and breath.

The comet's core hurtled through space below them, almost blinding.  The coma and tail flaring out around and behind it left shimmering particles in its wake, tiny dazzling pieces of rock and ice and dust that flickered and went out like tiny embers.  In the distance they could see the brilliant crimson sun that was heating up the comet, causing its wondrous display.

Starfire flew them so close they could almost reach out and touch the trailing gases.  Robin laughed and wobbled, arms out straight and legs dangling, hearing Starfire's voice and her beautiful laughter through his radio piece, cautioning him to be careful.

He looked up and saw her framed against the celestial backdrop of space, blue-white particles from the comet sifting through her flaming hair like stardust.

His heart tightened, squeezing with barely-contained joy and happiness all over again.  This radiant alien princess, the girl who made things like this possible, she was his and she loved him.  They were married.  It was all real.  Everything.

He'd never know how he'd gotten so lucky.

Starfire swerved around, giddy from the exhilarating brush with the comet, pulling Robin around to face her.  She grabbed onto his other wrist and just... spun for a moment, in a slow drifting circle.

"I wish we could fly through the actual tail," she said, moaning a bit at the lost opportunity.  "But I am not certain your environmental suit is properly shielded to handle that."

"It's okay," he told her breathlessly, staring into her eyes with the look of absolute adoration she so loved.  "That was... amazing, Starfire," he said again.  "Definitely one of the highlights of my life."

She tilted her head.  "Oh?  What are some of the others?"

She spied a grin behind the glass.

"Well, there was Galfore pronouncing us married," Robin said.  "And then our wedding night.  And getting to kiss you in front of the fireworks display."

Starfire laughed.  "That was all yesterday!" she protested.

His helmet bobbed as he shook his head.  "I don't think we're ever topping this, Star."  His silver-gloved hands tightened around hers.  "All this... it's just..."

He trailed off, his blue eyes alight with warmth.

"Glorious?" Starfire finished for him.

"Yeah," he chuckled.

Starfire gently bumped his helmet with her forehead, wishing she could kiss him right there.  She straightened, one hand raising.

"We should be getting back to the ship," she said, and she tapped into the wellspring of unbridled joy inside her, letting it course through her veins as she flew them back to the Starchaser.

Behind them, Zarthar's Breath continued its eternal dance through space around the glowing red giant, sending dust motes and icicles trailing through the black.

[stellaralchemist]

Come Fly With Me - A Summary

Or: The Gang Robs Protostar

The Starchaser let down amid the jungles of Celestion, the clouds above heavy with rain and rolling with thunder. It was a gloomy day, the jungles lightened only by the lights from the ship and the fires of a crashed ship just at the other end of their little clearing.

“Okay, but how come the ship is on fire?” Jeremy Murdoch asked, sensibly enough given the situation. He was reasonably pragmatic for an exiled Cassian who seemed to spend at least fifty percent of his time inebriated.

"Yeah... I thought it crashed last year or something,” Lady Starheart supplied, but it was too late. The back end of the ship was not on fire and despite the fact it was covered in tumbling vines that should suggest it had been here far too long to be on fire the gang was away.

It wouldn’t really do to be last on the ship, would it? Lady Starheart always ran freckled-face first into danger.

As the gang scrambled around like ants, trying to make hide or hair of this fascinating vessel the ever-sensible Morducai, with his oddly glowing pistols, waited down below. He was far too sensible to get caught in the trap, the trap which appeared to have sprung when rustling sounded from the side. Unluckily for Morducai he seemed to be wrong, and the little bot appeared to be harmless.

Bolo was a Chua, and Bolo was not wholly sensible. E excitedly poked around the little bot before announcing to the crowd, "Is just new Protostar bot. No bombs. Unless bombs come in original model." E couldn’t seem to stop irself looking just a little disappointed with this fact.

"Aww, poor buddy," Bron said, taking a step up to have a look. The granok was always sympathetic to robots, perhaps because (with proper maintenance and unlike the humans around him) they could live as long as he could. "Must'a gone down with the ship."

The granok scraped some mud away from the bot. “You look like an Isaac.”

The gang, with some intermittent bickering, and with the Isaac’s help discovered a door, its keypad indicating that it was even still being powered, at least a little bit. The red light waxed and waned over its face.

“Ooh, power! Good news for us, probably.” Bolo exclaimed. Bolo was relentlessly positive.

"Hopefully," Jeremy muttered to the chua. He was not as relentlessly positive. "Unless there's turrets behind the door or something."

“Is that likely, with Protostar?” Seeker asked, it was possible he was the least positive person in Celestion at the moment, given the current company this was also extremely impressive.

"One advertising bot and nothing else is a bit weird though, right? Protostar shit is usually so... you know, protected,” Lady Starheart pointed out helpfully. It was all a bit weird.

At the door, Jeremy was having trouble. He had a special eye that should have helped him get in, as it stood all he managed was to explode the panel. That made things rather difficult for Bolo, who tried to reconnect some wires. E managed the wires alright, they shocked the chua so badly e ended up rolling down the stairs, smelling of burnt fur.

Jenny Brightmist had a laser, and as the usual ways of opening a door didn’t seem to be working she tried that. Jenny Brightmist was an engineer, an excellent one at that, but even she couldn’t seem to do much more than put a little dent in the thing. Protostar was not fond of being robbed but they also weren’t immune to being blown up. The slightly weakened door coupled with a large number of explosives rendered the doors into pieces and revealed a treasure hoard of gadgets and gizmos, many of which were most definitely not for public consumption.

The hoard was enough to send Bolo into a dead faint but Yautja, the old draken, the clanlord of Mikros who was now the clanfather by default of the Starchaser, knew how to sort that out at least. "He'll come to. Watch this." He leaned down over the chua and said, lowly, "Morducai is touching your tools."

As the crew began to load up the goods, Bolo launched irself at the one-eyed man while Lady ran behind screaming,  "Bolo! Bolo no! Yautja was just trying to wake you up buddy! Don't hurt his face!" She hesitated and helpfully added, "Or his dick!"

It took the crew a few hours to load up the hoard of equipment, above the sky rumbled with thunder and below the crew sat on the ramp, sweating, as the last few pieces went away. Isaac, who had helpfully followed along and beeped cheerfully was nowhere to be seen, an oddity that the crew may have happily overlooked had a heart-rending and panicked mess of beeps not sounded from somewhere in the woods.

Bron was off already, that soft spot for robots would get him hurt one day, and behind him Lady Starheart, whose soft spot for idiots would get her killed. From there it was a domino effect of sorts. Yautja followed along with Jenny, and then Morducai and Jeremy. Seeker and Bolo were smart, they stayed back, at least for the moment.

Isaac was in a clearing, found smoking and injured, its front panels gouged away. It sounded as though something stalked the woods around and Bron, helpful as he was, focused on fixing the droid. Lady Starheart called for Bolo to bring them supplies, something she regretted when the Chua appeared and, beneath the clearing, a crude trap door sent all but Morty, Seeker, and Jeremy tumbling into a cage.

The trapped gang came to with numerous injuries, a snapped leg, cracked ribs, an injured shoulder… perhaps the worst was Yautja’s broken tail. Those were important to Draken, having it broken was a rather large tragedy. Still, none of them were in as bad a state as the bones around them, so there was still hope.

They lay in pain until helpfully supplied with medkits and a few beers from the safe men above. There didn’t seem to be anything to perform a rescue with, either inside the ship or outside. And so, after an hour’s work at the top the three men disappeared and the injured five below were left in the dark, to ponder what had happened to the bones around them.

------

It was six hours or so, before anything happened. When it did it came in the form of a J-X3 Protostar Shipping Protection Unit, its shoulder-mounted laser cannons were decorated with red and gold leaves tied together with vines and it communicated toward the cage in a series of beeps. It looked like it might be an Edgar, possibly a Francis. It came with five other protection units, these ones smaller and flying.

“This definitely how Chua expected to die,” Bolo observed. That was fair, now that it was upon them it seemed reasonable now they would all die this way.

Edgar/Francis tried to communicate, Bron tried to translate, they came to the agreement that what the bots wanted was the Starchaser and this was non-negotiable.

"Tell them they can get fucked,” Lady said after two abrupt a laugh. “Over my dead body and all of yours. Sorry Bolo, dude." She did sound apologetic about that but at least this way her mother would be wrong and she wouldn’t be dying alone.

"That's a no from the captain, friend. How about we work something else out?" Bron asked hopefully but this was not a negotiation on either side. But Isaac was there and Isaac was helpful. It tried to point out the power core in the corner and may have succeeded then if Seeker hadn’t appeared in another cave mouth.

The three men who had not fallen had been trudging all day, through miles of twisting caves, until they found a tunnel that opened here. And now, frustrated, Seeker has stepped out to try to negotiate. This may have been a poor decision given the jumpiness and unease of the bots, one fires and burns the man’s arm. It is not going well.

The bots descended into bickering, the one that shot Seeker even tries to offer him a pebble as an apology. It isn’t going well. The pebble clatters to the ground. The bot looks upset if bots can.

In the cage Bron is just excited to see Jeremy, they are good friends after all. A few pleasantries are exchanged, an attempt to understand what is going on. Edgar (or Francis) points to the power core, it lies dead in the corner beside a powerless bot. An examination of the others yields an indication that they’re all running low on power, their indicators are yellow and red.

Jenny voidslipped out of the cage, why she hadn’t done that hours ago was anyone’s guess but now she stood next to Morty, looking over the power core.

"Power core's fine,” Morty said “Just off. Looks like these bots tried to fix the damage to it and got themselves fried."

"Shame,” Jenny said without meaning it.

They got to work while the bots freed the caged group. They did look excited to be free at least, it was better than being in the cage. The bots seemed mostly curious about them, the bots hadn’t seen people in a while, not living ones anyway.

On the edge of the room Jenny, Seeker, and Bolo were at work on the power core while Jeremy and Bron determined whose fault this was (Bron’s) and Lady Starheart expressed her happiness that Morty had not “Stolen her ship and fucked off”.

Things, it seemed, had ended well for the gang. They repowered the robots (who still had a cage full of bones it was best not to think about) and said their farewells to Isaac, who sent them off happily. And then, well, they were up in the air. Back home and safe.

Well, except for Bron who had a bomb around his neck, but that was very much a different issue.

[revena-pathfinder]

to: Cap. A. Kleft Star of Desna Port Office, Manaket, Rahadram

Dear Captain Kleft,

Toilday 30 Kuth 4707

Today I was adopted into the House Ryuzoji. Oathday would have been a better day, but Ran wanted this done before the 31st and that was the soonest. I’m happy to be a part of their house, but its less of adoption how we know it and more covering me with their political clout and them having someone of their house if death happens. Ran and Shoji are all that's left of their clan and they don’t want it to die should they. With how many close calls Shoji has had in the past few months, their worries are warranted.

The ceremony was small and hinged on giving me a mythril dagger named Starchaser that glows and returns then thrown. There will be a larger party next week to make this public and celebrate it. Will see how it goes.

Wealday 31

I’m fine, but I never want to see another dragon as long as I live.

It came down from the Fist with giants and  I never want to be that terrified again. I’m told  Shoji delt the killing blow, but it fell on him, crushing, and nearly killing him for all the glory it won him. The giants weren’t easy, or their bear pets, but they were killed or scared away. Now we just need to deal with the destruction their rocks and bodies did to the town. None of the towns people died and that was the goal. We knew the giants were coming, just not how many or when. Nothing really prepared us for that dragon.

I’m grateful I got salt and brine bread before the giants got here. Having Chem appear in my room in the inn or any of the others that died that night would just top off the day in the worse way. Hopefully a newly dead dragon won’t be added to this towns haunts. It has enough problems.

Oathday 1 Abad 4708

Pale night gratefully quiet.

Scarnetti pushed out, likely back to Magnimar. Left behind their lumber mills and their manor was empty, looked looted, likely by their Sczarni allies. Might have been a falling out between the two as rumors of collusion are drifting through the dock unchecked by the Sczarni saying they burned down competing mills for the family.

Starday 3

We didn’t get them all. They split before coming to sand point and currently siege the garrison up north at Thistle. Got word from a lucky runner and we headed up there fast. Found a kidnapped farmer cooking a cow for the giants and worried about his safety, but was able to distract attention away from them. Their bear was dealt with quickly and our bear, Ursala, dealt with the giants handally. She was awe inspiring and looked god touched while at it. Cowed the rest of the giants into surrender and they were brought back to the embassy. I think Shoji is going to use them as labor to fix what they broke then they raided though the farm lands. Got some advice on who to invite to the party and it seems like all the halflings in the Sandpoint area. Its going to be a very large party.

Safe travels and stiff breezes,

Revena Z.A.R. Kleft

The Rusty Dragon, Sandpoint, Varisia