#anyway that’s not what I actually feel but there’s your keystone for the type of Unwellness™️ I’ve worked past

[obstinaterixatrix]

dad said the concert was one of the best he’s went to! which means either the birthday gift was a HUGE success or he’s gotten a lot better at knowing when to give a considerate lie, and I’ll take either as a win tbh

[florallylly]

side a: eddie munson

side a

side b side b: steve harrington

explanation post

just going to go straight to my very very stream of consciousness commentary about each song but i want to clarify that i'm an eddie munson is dirty and gross truther and also i hate that rat man (endearing). so yes it might play into some of my thoughts

some songs are kind of vibe-y and you can tell when my explanations start getting contrived and bad but bear with me. i DO have some specific keystone songs idc KEYSTONE i love the word ok anyway

“I” Black Sabbath; eddie munson you are a LOSER with OPINIONS we get it. like yes you are so persecuted by everyone sure you’re going to prove us all wrong 

“Heaven and Hell” Black Sabbath; tbh added to match with heaven/hell in the other playlist, but somehow it’s kind of giving munson doctrine to me. literally googled and supposedly it’s about like band kids (??) but i think just like “the world is full of kings and queens/who blind your eyes and steal your dreams” i can literally hear eddie munson quoting it

“Fade to Black” Metallica; UGH why are there so many long periods of silence at the beginning and end of these songs. but just adding to the eddie munson i’m so outcast bad boy drug dealer thing and like. had to have metallica

“I Don’t Wanna Be Me” Type O Negative; idk if anyone can tell that i think eddie is a big dramatic loser who thinks he’s the main character (endearing?) like I AM RIGHT… 

“skins” The Haunting; okay this song is saur…. like normal people scare me i’m such a freak coded

“Nosferatu” Blue Oyster Cult; a nod to Eddie Munson being a BIG LOSER NERD. ugh whatever honestly parallels a lot of kas theory fic imo, like innocent maiden steve offering his blood to vampire eddie … why have i read it several times over. in my head, this is like. eddie munson having a dirty dirty loser fantasy about king steve 

“Teenage Dirtbag” Wheatus; need I say more………. 

“The Sun Always Shines on T.V.” a-ha; yeah… YEAH. it’s a steve song on here. i like tried to do this thing where on each playlist there are keystone songs and this is one of them. like, the song that’s in the other’s genre is the moment they fall in love even if they don’t realize it yet. but re: the song like it’s so eddie having this realization that when he was picturing king steve, he only saw him through snapshots and now that he’s live and an actual tangible human it’s different. like  LIKE

“18” Anarbor; tbh i am trying so hard to add some of these songs bc they are so quintessential to me and my connection of music to fandom, BUT IDK…. ITS HARD…. but yeah it’s very steve harrington would never really want to be with me, i’m such a bad boy. okay….  

“Poison” Alice Cooper; eddie munson ur horny . eddie munson we’re sworn enemies like ur a jock and i’m a nerd and like could i light my cigarette with ur cock please please 

“Falling In Love” Scorpions; “falling in love, it happens to me every day” okay eddie munson i did NOT see u doodling hearts around steve’s name in the fourth grade

“Around the Fur” Deftones; i do not know why but for some reason feeling like steve still hanging around his old crowd, and eddie getting all weird about it. IDK !! does it not just feel so eddie munson

“Closet” Fleshwater; an interlude-y song here kind of an angsty moment for eddie 

“I Was Made For Loving You” KISS; SECOND KEYSTONE SONG…. this song signals the first time they sleep together. i am so sorry eddie munson but this music actually DOES give me migraines but i tried very hard  

“Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)” Deftones; eddie’s dreams about leaving hawkins and becoming famous. just in general his wishes to be somewhere he’s wanted and where he belongs. idk i feel like it’s eddie talking about all of these grand plans for his future and turning to steve and being like “and what about you?” and steve doesn’t have an answer.

“Covet” Basement; “you are everything/my most demanding dream” like like like eddie munson loving and hating that he’s in love with steve harrington who is hawkins to the bone and seems determined to die there. 

“Ghosts” Scarlet House; in my head this is eddie munson angsting after seeing steve hanging around nancy wheeler or robin buckley depending on when exactly we’re setting this. but it’s very woe is me i’m lost without you. idk it could literally even just be they fought and steve is at the grocery store chilling and eddie munson is literally frothing at the mouth sobbing in his van 

“Saturnine Saturnalia” VV; “there is no end to the hurting/i love you” saturnalia was a roman festival where they indulged in mischief and partying and whatnot. feeling like at this point, even if it’s fake, even if it ends up hurting me, i’ll take whatever i can get kind of feeling. maybe it’s like realizing he won’t be free of hawkins unless he lets go of steve or thinking that he’s just a stop on the way to a white picket fence. and i think that maybe this is the moment when eddie begins to realize how deeply he feels for steve.

“Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want” Deftones; PLEASE LET THE MAN GET WHAT HE WANTS !!! FOR ONCE !!! he is out here every single day dealing drugs PLEASE give him a sexy passenger princess to come with him on deals

“Black Butterflies and Deja Vu” The Maine; ik it’s a jump scare but KEYSTONE SONG…. the moment when they admit they’ve fallen in love. this is their aha moment. their AHA! moment not a-ha… but yeah…. eddie munson finally being like wait i’m in love with steve harrington and idk for how long but i’m in trouble

the future holds IDK ... just this part took me this long so PLEASE spare me i literally wrote this out on my notes app

[thunck]

I've been playing a randomized version of Pokémon SoulSilver which I have dubbed "Pokémon Souled Out", created extremely easily using the most readily-available tool.

It uses 1-to-1 area mapping for wild Pokémon, so every encounter slot for each area is randomized, and all trainer and static Pokémon are randomized. Stats and movepools and stuff were left alone. These settings ended up creating a sense of ecological collapse, a world where habitat destruction and meta-driven selective breeding programs have churned Pokémon populations into a chaotic morass.

This isn't a Nuzlocke or anything, I'm just playing normally. Albeit not actually trying to catch 'em all, since it feels kinda pointless.

An old man asks me my pronouns and I begin my journey into this decaying world. Here's some stuff that happened.

Let's start with the starters! All unable to evolve, some more interesting than others. Which of these three humble 'mons shall become my closest companion?

No fucking shit, dude. Motherfuckers probably got six Mewtwos out there, I need all the help I can get.

Already this is pretty weird. In this generation Registeel is encountered at around level 30 and is unable to breed (perhaps something to do with being a giant robot), yet here professor Elm has one at level 5. Maybe they're building them?

Anyway my mom likes it. Probably this is fine.

Registeel was never meant to be such a low level, but it's still really beefy. The only moves it knows are Stomp and Explosion. So, it only knows Stomp.

There's a very specific situation in which this is a problem.

Did you know self-destructing is an automatic loss? I did not! This is what it said on my rival's trainer ID, I swear.

Route 29 outside New Bark Town is lousy with Magmar, with a few Nidoran♀ kicking around. The latter are also invasive, but at least the area resembles their natural habitat.

Most trainers in these early zone seem to be going for a smattering of type coverage with a custom-built team, but they're obviously unwilling to put the effort in grinding. Or else they're getting flattened by invasive fauna without a sturdy main as their team's backbone.

The gyms have long abandoned the theme thing. They still pay it lip service as kind of an in-joke, but obviously too many kids were soloing the whole thing with like a geodude or whatever.

Poor old Faulkner is still a loser, though. Now his bird-themed catch-phrases don't even make any sense. Just some shit he whispers in his keystone Meowth's ear as it gets punted 100 feet off the platform for the fifth time today. Maybe you should get more than four dudes for your gym. Sprout Tower has more dudes than your gym, and they're giving out commemorative Compact Disks. You gotta step it up, man.

I don't think his Meowth even knows Roost, although it's possible I guess. Time will tell if an inability to use their signature moves is just gonna gimp every gym leader.

One more early-game surprise! What's in the egg you get from Mr. Pokémon?

It's POLIWAG.

But not just any POLIWAG!

It's a POLIWAG that retains the egg move Extrasensory from the TOGEPI it replaced, which is a really powerful Psychic-type move it can't normally learn! Which means this guy is growing into the strongest Pokémon on my team!

I really should've named him "Toadguppy".

(Some miscellaneous images from this playthrough:)

[kagebros]

Home (A Marissacracker Fic)

Summary: Thundercracker’s been stranded on Earth for quite a bit now with Marissa. But it turns out he doesn’t exactly mind that. Especially when it’s with her and Buster. Warnings: N/A Word Count: 2066

Location: Keystone, Colorado

“Who’s a good girl? Who’s a good girl? You are!” Thundercracker’s voice sang in the barn. Buster gave a hearty bark back to him and licked at his servos. “Oh, you’ve gotten to be such a big girl, haven’t you,” he said, rubbing her belly with a digit. The barn door creaked open as Marissa came in with her hands full, carrying two full gas cans. Buster got up from the ground and bound towards Marissa with a cheerful bark.

“Looks like you two’ve been hanging out again,” Marissa teased. She drew near Thundercracker to set the gas cans down, carefully maneuvering around Buster’s every attempt to get in between her legs and give her what Buster considered a hug. “Buster, lemme set these down first then you can give me a hug!” It was a routine the two were used to. It had been three years after all since Thundercracker and Marissa had first met. Now the two had settled into a routine Thundercracker and Marissa enjoyed. Most days he was left alone, Marissa off at work and Thundercracker being left to watch Buster. Not that he didn’t enjoy it, he loved Buster with all his spark and would do anything for his dog (Marissa had told him a year into him being here that Buster was his and hers, his time spent with Buster and, specifically her trust, in Thundercracker being enough for her to let him say that Buster was his dog too.) When Marissa set down the gas cans in front of Thundercracker, his frame huddled to accommodate the small space of the barn (it was enough for him to stand up fully but then it would feel even more cramped with the roof less than a metre above his helm), he reached out for the gas cans. Buster took no time in forcing herself between Marissa’s legs as she stood and Marissa let out a laugh as Buster hugged her. 

“Thank you for getting this for me again,” Thundercracker said, picking up one of the gas cans and beginning to drink from the nozzle. It was a necessity at this point. Thundercracker had no way of getting energon without overexerting himself and putting himself in danger, knowing what was happening out there. The government was hunting down Decepticons. And as much as Thundercracker was an ex-Decepticon, they wouldn’t know that. Gasoline had an acrid taste but it was something he quickly grew used to since he needed it to survive and avoid rusting. It sucked to be stuck on a planet that wanted to kill him but he didn’t mind it as much with Marissa and Buster by his side. Marissa was understanding and kind, she didn’t seem to hold any malice or hatred towards him despite hearing all the awful events that went down because of the Decepticons. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Thundercracker didn’t kill her the moment they first met. Or because Marissa didn’t run off screaming and trying to call the authorities to come and get him killed. She ran but. She came back. 

During the time they spent together, Thundercracker learned a few things about her. She was 29 years of age, soon to be 30 this year, coming from a family in Scotland, far from where Colorado was. Working as a manager at a hospital, she oversaw various operations and decisions that led to people’s lives being saved. When she wasn’t at work, she would spend as much time with Thundercracker as possible. She was curious about him after all and she genuinely enjoyed spending time with him. There were nights where Marissa would show Thundercracker movies, trying to get him familiar with Earth culture. Thundercracker was immediately hooked as he grew more and more interested with things such as cinematography, director’s decisions on how a scene should be played out, dialogue and setting. Marissa would often fall asleep to the movies, huddled up against Buster, who was also asleep as she’d fall asleep on Marissa as soon as they were both comfortable, a warm blanket over her as she would lean against Thundercracker’s leg. It was nights like those where his optics would dart over to her and watch her fondly before going back to the movie. One night he’d set his servos down to provide Marissa with some extra comfort and when she reached out and hugged one of his digits close, his spark jumped. He’d never felt this way with anyone before. It was a conflicting feeling. Being attracted to a human when he was a Cybertronian. He wasn’t disgusted but he felt that it was wrong. Looks like years of being part of the Decepticons who had dismissed anything organic as inferior or useless were still affecting him. 

“You alright?” Marissa’s voice called out, snapping Thundercracker back to reality. Thundercracker stopped trying to drink from the empty gas can, having finished it while he was thinking and blinked, looking down at her. 

“Sorry,” he said. “Distracted. Was thinking about something.”

“Something you need to talk about?” she then asked. Thundercracker shook his head. 

“I’m just grateful that you’ve been doing this for me for so long, I know it’s a bit inconvenient and I’d honestly go try to look for the energon if I could but… well, you know what they’d do to me if they found me.” Thundercracker neglected to add that he also didn’t want to leave Marissa or Buster at all. He’d have to admit that he’d grown very attached to them over the years of living in her barn. He just only hoped that Marissa felt the same.

“Well, I’m not too keen on them taking you to Cheyenne Mountain anytime,” Marissa replied. “Besides, I’m too used to having you here now,” she then said. “It’d be weird to not have you here. Buster especially would miss you,” she said, patting Buster’s head. “Have you been paying attention to the news lately? It looks like they’re hunting your buddies down.”

“I’ve noticed,” Thundercracker sighed. “I almost was tempted to stop watching altogether. It’s too depressing for me to watch.” Marissa laughed.

“I completely feel you on that, TC,” Marissa chuckled. “They said that the Autobots were safe from all this but I’m not too sure on that,” she said. 

“You think they’re hunting the Autobots down too?”

“Just a hunch, I just haven’t… seen much news of them, y’know?”

“Hmm,” Thundercracker hummed in thought. “The Autobots are just as trapped here as the Decepticons.”

“Well, for what it’s worth, I’m glad they haven’t found you yet. I know there’s this whole ‘Call a Transformer in to report them’ they started wanting us to do a year ago but I’ve never had a need to report you at all,” Marissa said. 

“I hope that need never comes, if I’m being honest,” Thundercracker huffed. “Again, thank you for your hospitality.”

“We’re friends, TC, you can stay here as long as you want, I know Buster would love that,” she said. “I mean, me too as well,” Marissa then added quietly, looking away for a moment in embarrassment. “Anyway, you been up to anything today?” Marissa then asked, changing the topic. 

“I’ve been working more on my screenplay,” Thundercracker replied. “It’s about a Seeker, who’s out there looking for love in the vast emptiness of space,” he gestured with his servo.

“Oh?” Marissa said, propping her head up. “And what’s this Seeker’s name?”

“Her name is Cadet. A Seeker that defected from the Decepticons early in the war to find herself. And she’s a Cityspeaker.”

“A Cityspeaker? What’s that?”

“Well, a Cityspeaker is a rare type of Cybertronian. If I remember correctly they’re the type of outlier that can actually communicate with our cities. The cities back on Cybertron really were giant Cybertronians as well. But they mainly slumbered. It’s said that the Cityspeakers could wake them up and they’d ally with the speakers. I’ve never seen a Seeker be a Cityspeaker. I was told they only come from Caminus but it’d be nice to see the representation I guess,” Thundercracker said. 

“Is Caminus different from Cybertron?”

“Yeah, I can’t tell you too much about Caminus though, I’ve never really. Been there,” Thundercracker confessed. “I’ve been to a lot of places on Cybertron though! Although at this point a lot of the cities are destroyed.”

“What happened to the cities?”

“The Titans?” Thundercracker then clarified. “I. I’m not too sure,” he said. “I just know that. We… destroyed our planet. I think we killed some of the Titans. Some of the cities… they’re in ruins.” He looked away with some guilt. He then felt a hand placed on his pede and he looked down to see Marissa. 

“Hey, listen,” she said. “I know you feel guilty for what happened to your home… but is it really your fault? It’s war, you were just following orders.”

“Yeah, well… I should have defected earlier,” Thundercracker then sighed, drawing himself closer in.

“Why’d you stay?”

“My… family,” he said, the human term slightly unfamiliar. “On our planet though, we’d call it a trine, at least in Seeker terms.” Thundercracker frowned. “I stayed for my family, because I wanted to protect them and be there when they needed it. I mean. We bonded for a reason.”

“Can you tell me about them?” Marissa then asked, trying to bring him some comfort. 

“Well, there’s Starscream and there’s Skywarp. Starscream’s a little bit older than the two of us since Skywarp and I met him only after leaving the academy. He was already a senator at the time.”

“Academy?” Thundercracker nodded. 

“Skywarp and I grew up in an academy. Both of us are outliers, and on Cybertron, outliers were kinda considered outcasts, they didn’t like people like us. But Shockwave, Shockwave saw greatness in us, a lot of us outliers actually. They were like. Our dad, I think that’s the word. Anyway, at some point Shockwave had us live with Starscream, he’d expressed interest in us as not only body doubles but for our powers. Eventually, he started seeing us as family and we got a lot closer than someone would with body doubles,” Thundercracker said fondly. “He’s like Skywarp and I’s big brother,” he translated. “Starscream,” he then laughed. “Can be the most annoying jerk, he always wants to be right and thinks he’s the best looking, always obsessed with his image. But he never belittled us or made fun of us, it was just with other people. I think if someone messed with us, Starscream would be the one to really take care of it and make sure that person never messed with us again. And then there’s Skywarp. She. Well, she’s on the more serious side. They always wanted to be the best and she had a bit of a temper,” Thundercracker said, switching between they and she pronouns for Skywarp. “They’re stubborn too, but stubborn in the best way. She never let us get ourselves down. I guess. I was the dreamer of the trine,” he said, scratching at his helm. He then sighed and dropped his helm. “I hope they don’t hate me for what I did.”

“What did you do?” Marissa asked. 

“I defected, I betrayed them,” Thundercracker said. “Instead of going back to Cybertron with them, I. I left them.”

“Thundercracker,” Marissa then called out. “I don’t think they’d hate you,” she said. “They’re probably hurting though because you are their family. And from what it seems like they miss you and hope you’re alright more than anything. I can hear how much love you have for both of them.”

“Yeah, well… I can’t go back to them anytime now, especially with what’s going on out there.”

“It’ll be over sooner or later,” Marissa assured. “And I’ll do anything and everything to try and help you, Thundercracker,” she said. Thundercracker blinked and looked down towards her this time. She was looking away in embarrassment and if Thundercracker’s optics didn’t betray them, her cheeks were dusted pink. “Anyway,” she said, clearing her throat. “I think it’s Buster’s feeding time, huh?” she said. Buster let out an excited bark, her butt wiggling from how much her tail was wagging as she followed Marissa out of the barn. He couldn’t help but cover his face in embarrassment as the energon rushed to his cheeks. 

[wendibird]

SPN 15X17 Observations

Well, watching this week went pretty smoothly (and I was actually able to get my little bluetooth keyboard thing to talk to my tablet so I was able to watch on my big TV screen and type up notes fairly easily. :) 

And just to clarify, sometimes my notes as I took them were VERY brief, and in some cases I’ve gone back and added in a few details or explanations to make clear what I meant by what at the time. 

I’ve also come to the conclusion that I don’t always remember to take notes, especially if Important Things are happening. (Do people even like the notes section? Or would you just prefer reading my odd takes on everything after the fact?) 

Anyway, here’s what I have for 15X17 “Unity”. Well, I do have more thoughts drifting around, but I’m always concerned that I’m going on too long as it is. *LOL*  (Under the cut for length and spoiler aversion)

Okay, going in I’ve heard rumors that this is a “Sam Heavy” episode, so we’ll see. *fingers crossed* 

- wow, is Chuck starting in on this world already?

- Silent treatment.

- I wonder if she’s guessed.

- fuck you Dean!

(but I’m not surprised. it just confirms what I’d already suspected about how Dean really feels about Jack.)

Commercial Thoughts:

Yeah, so, I’m firmly in Sam and Cas’ camp here. Jack may not be family to Dean, but he is to them. He’s their Son. 

I also think that though he hasn’t talked about it, Sam regrets his part in the Drama Coffin plan involving Jack last season. Think it’s one of those cases where he realized too late he was on the wrong side, and he doesn’t want to be there again.

As for Dean… I get that he wants to see the people he cares most about make it out of this. (Sam and Cas.) And I get he’s doing the tunnel vision thing. I think he knows that Sam’s right but he won’t let himself admit it.

- Wow….. The fanangels are kinda creepy.

- They’ve lost all their nuance with Chuck. Or my theory is right and Chuck has actually shifted darkside.

- Oh wow…. Amara is really going to bat here.

Commercial Thoughts:

Still not sure how much she’s (Amara) really guessed. She’s acting as though the whole “trapping him” idea is still a go, but what she’d said to Dean, as pointedly as she did, it seemed like maybe she suspected what was really going on and was still trying to give him the option to go a different way.

And even if this is Chuck having shifted dark, it could still be written with more nuance than this crappy villain schtick.

I mean, even in S11 when he’s all but given up on humanity and existence and was going to let Amara win, it was written with there being a depth to him about it.

- Don’t know if Dean’s trying to convince himself that he doesn’t care as deeply to make this easier or what.

- HOw is ADAM still alive?! And she’s an angel?

- Interesting behavior for an angel. *LOL*

- “Then he moved on to our sons.” Hints of Cain and Abel?

- Okay, so the angel kept him alive. (Sure, I can buy that.) 

- Pretty Crystals!

- He’s (Dean) heard those lines before. And Dean’s feeling uneasy about it.

- Amethyst! (Sorry, always had a thing for Amethyst and it’s my birthstone)

- (oh, okay, all of them)

- Ewww….. Open heart surgery

- Rib!

- Dean doesn’t like being rail-roaded.

- Talk time.

- I don’t like this…… (Jack using the rib and starting the suicide-bomb process.) 

Commercial Thoughts:

Okay, so, what Dean said, I’m glad he said it. And I have been getting hints of that feeling from him the whole season, about feeling disconnected because of what they found out about Chuck and their lives. I just… I still think he’s willfully blinding himself to what’s really going on. That even this version of “Free Will” is a script that he’s following. (Well, I think he’s starting to have misgivings about that.)

- Uh-oh! Ideas! 

- I love two researching nerds!

- Were we supposed to understand the Latin? *LOL* I caught “Mortem” in there a few times.

- Yey door!

- “your internal compass is functioning perfectly”

- I LOVE THEM SO MUCH!!!

- Who dat?

- Dead someone or other

- W section.

- Reapers maybe?

- Who’s thinning the ranks?

- Empty!Meg!

- Sam is good! (At bluffing the hell out of an ancient cosmic being.) 

- IT’S A LITTLE LATE TO STOP IT!!!!

Commercial Thoughts:

*FREAKING OUT!!!*

Jack already started it! OG!Adam said that once started the reaction couldn’t be stopped.

Okay, deeper thoughts. Everyone’s playing chess. Still. The game is just bigger.

OG!Adam wants God dead because of stuff that happened. And Billy is following his plan? (Did I get that right?) The plan will make Billy the next God. (Not surprised there honestly.) Her world will be a lot more “orderly” no doubt.

The Empty just wants to sleep. (Honestly, can relate.) 

But everyone’s just using them all as gamepieces again. Dean’s getting that feel from things OG!Adam and Whatserfaceangel said. Sam knows now too. They’re still stuck in someone else’s story. They’re still not gaining true “Free Will”. I’m hoping that the route they take will actually get them off this train track.

- DUDE - WHAT (was in reference to Dean pulling a gun on Sam)

- Go Sam! He’s not letting this one go. (Referring to my feelings on Sam feeling bad about Jack and the Drama Coffin thing from way before, and him NOT settling for Dean’s plan this time, him sticking to his guns and saying what he feels and taking action.) 

- Chuck played her (Amara) too.

- Not again! (Oh Jack, will this forever be your fate?)

- FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!

Holy shit! That episode!

Okay, it actually did a good job of wrapping up a lot of ideas. Like, big-picture ideas that have been themes throughout the run of the show. 

Also, apparently this was the only world where Cas and the Winchesters broke the mold? Didn’t play by their roles?

Also, minor point but it made me happy: Chuck pointed out how it’s Sam who needed to find things out. Sam who kept digging. I made mention of it last episode how Billy kept going to Dean, because he was easier for her to manipulate. But Sam asks more questions. I think part of it is what Cas said about his internal compass. I think another part is his experiences. He���s been the brunt of the cosmic plot-lines a LOT of the time. So he does keep asking questions because of all the times he hadn’t and things went badly. (Like end of S4 with killing Lilith.) 

And let me be clear, it’s not that I think Dean is dumb. He isn’t. And he and Sam both make decisions a lot based on their feelings. (Sometimes it’s all you have to go on.) But he’s shown a tendency in the past several years especially to be more likely to make them based on anger. And he doesn’t get called on it often. And I don’t know if this is TOO meta (is that even a thing with this show anymore? *LMAO*) but I feel like part of that is written into the script. Of their world. Even when Dean’s wrong he’s often proven “right” by the narrative. He very rarely is made to face up to his mistakes. (Not saying he never is. But it definitely doesn’t seem to happen as often.) And I’m wondering, is that because up till now, he was Chuck’s favorite? We saw that Chuck can manipulate a LOT of things. And events, and even some people. 

How often have we noticed and commented on how the Narrative backs Dean up so much of the time, even when he might be in the wrong? Or even just questionable? Or morally grey? How much of that is possibly now supposed to be due to Chuck’s meddling? Because I’ve also seen it mentioned (and have also noticed) that although Sam winds up the “wrong one” a lot via the narrative, he’s actually HAD to learn and grow because of that. But because Dean is rarely shown as wrong, he hasn’t had to, and his character has stagnated a lot in the last several seasons. Of course, in reality, that’s due to the writing/show-running/powers-that-be making those decisions, but in-show could it possibly be something to do with Chuck? Maybe at first because he liked Dean more? But as time grew on, and he kept trying to set up his Cain and Abel plot with them, maybe it was to reinforce Dean’s self-image that he’s Right? 

And also by contrast, we had the end of last season where so many of Sam’s decisions which had been made with best intentions and best information/resources at the time wound up blowing-up in his face. As if to say "Ha-HAH! That's what you get for thinking you could lead people! That's what you get for thinking you could save Jack! That's what you get for thinking someone like Nick could be redeemed! That's what you get for talking your brother out of the Drama-Coffin plan!" It felt like it was specifically intended to make him severely doubt his own judgement. And it worked. After all that shit went down, one thing after another, culminating with their mother's death, he didn't trust himself. He didn't believe in himself. So he put all his trust in Dean. And Dean was full of RAGE. (I don't blame him. His Mom has been a keystone of his life, even when she wasn't there.) But Sam didn't give the objections he normally would have to Dean's plan to box-up Jack. Even though it was CLEAR how much he didn't like it. How wrong it felt to him.

Basically, what I’m trying to say is, I think Chuck has been nudging and manipulating a LOT of things in order to get the Winchesters to behave how he wants them to. 

IDK. My head is hurting from some of these meta thoughts. *LOL*

SO! Back to what happened in the actual episode.

I thought the format was interesting, focusing in on the different POV characters for their spans of the story until it all came together. (Wondering if this is going to continue into the next episode…) 

I liked that we got a lot of reveals about what is (possibly) really going on, in regards to the grand schemas. Because there are several at play here. But now we're at least getting glimpses of them. 

Even though we didn't see Billy, I thought the reveal about her plans were interesting, but definitely fit with her character as established so far. I know a lot of people are saying she's gotten drunk with her power or she's "turning evil" but I don't think that's the case. It's true that she hasn't told them everything about her plans, but that's because she's also using them as pieces in her game. But her goal is the same as it's always been since we first met her. She has ALWAYS been about the Natural Order. She never liked how the Winchesters (or anyone else) flaunted death again and again. So once she's in charge? Everyone and everything goes where they belong. The demons stay in hell, the angels stay in heaven, souls go where they're meant to, people from other universes go back (even if there's no universe to go back TO. Tough shit, they'd be dead anyway according to her) and those who have already died and been resurrected? They go back to wherever they should be. (At least, I THINK that was the implication made, with Sam asking Dean if he'd be willing to trade HIM to take-out Chuck. Sam was definitely realizing a LOT when Empty!Meg told him what Billy's plan was.) 

This isn't her turning Evil like has been done with Chuck. It's more, her becoming a more extreme version of what she already was. When she got her promotion, she found out a LOT more things. Including this option of events for taking Chuck out and putting things back to how they belong. And it even started with Dean's aborted Drama Coffin plan. Which eventually fails, because Sam, but it then leads to Jack sacrificing his soul to take out AU Michael, which eventually leads to Mary's Death and Chuck's opportunity to manipulate things more and so on and so forth until we wind up here. 

(Also, just wanna say, absolutely LOVED Rachel as the Empty again!) 

And also, having just watched that scene again, can I just say again how awesome Sam is? He straight-up told the Empty that even if he WAS lying, their best bet is to let him go with the book. And it couldn't really argue with that because he was right! (Well, if it had killed him then and there, Dean probably wouldn't have known right away and probably would have been able to carry out the plan. So there is that. Buuuuut none of them knew that either at the time.) 

And in general, I love how Sam just would NOT give up. This is the Sam Winchester I've come to love. He could feel in his bones that this plan was wrong so he was doing everything he could to not only stop it, but to find some other way to get what they truly wanted. 

I also loved his and Cas' interactions. They were supportive of each other and both were trying to find a way to save their son. (Dean has officially forfeited his Dad-Card in my book. Hell, in his book too.) Also, I remember hearing someone from production, or who was maybe on set or something mentioning something about the Holy Grail in this episode? Well, in that scene where Sam and Cas are looking through those old crates and trunks and boxes, when Cas finds the key Sam is holding this really old looking chalice. Wonder if that's supposed to be what that is. *LOL* I mean, the Spear of Destiny (or at least, the head of the spear) was there in the Bunker, so why not I guess? *LOL*

We didn't get a lot of Sam and Jack interaction, but I liked what little we had. Sam made it clear to Jack that he wants to save him. (I'm really hoping we get SOMETHING more of them in the next episode or two but... yeah. Not a lot of time left.) 

I could go on for some length about my feelings on Dean and how he's been this season. But I don't want this to turn into a fully anti-Dean rant. I will say though that I'd definitely gotten the impression before this that Dean has different categories of people he cares about, and in his mind, he also has them ranked according to how expendable they are. And I'm not just talking about Jack here, though he is a major part of it. But at the end of the episode when he and Sam are having it out, Dean says he's basically willing to sacrifice EVERYONE to get what he wants. 

(I don't think he's actually willing to sacrifice Sam for it though. And yes, I know, he was waving a gun in Sam's face. But I don't believe for a moment he had any intention of killing his brother. Not when Sam asking point blanc if Dean is willing to trade him for killing Chuck, and that seems to be what causes Dean to start listening to what Sam's saying. Also, in the past, Dean hasn't been above threatening people to get what he wants. Like with Kaia. Also in S8's "Trail and Error" when he and Sam were talking about taking out the hellhound, Dean pretty much said if Sam even tries to get close to it, Dean would shoot him in the leg. Now, we never got to see if he actually would have or not, but regardless, it was a case of Dean being willing to hurt Sam a little in order to protect him from something he saw as a bigger threat. In that case it had been taking on the trials. In this case, it would have been to win their shot at freedom. At least in Dean's mind. Not saying I approve! Just, I think that's where his mindset was.) 

And this is a far cry from the Dean who, just a few years ago was willing to be a kamikaze bomb in order to save the world. And yes, Dean has mentioned "Saving the world" this season too. And I'm sure he means that too. But when he was at his most emotional, what he was talking about wasn't saving the world and everyone in it. It was freeing him and Sam from being Chuck's entertainment. And he's willing to sacrifice nearly anyone to accomplish that. At least, he was up til now. I hope that they're going to give him a change of heart before the end because I really REALLY would like the show to end with me not despising Dean and what he's become. Yes, I'm a Sam-girl, but I do care about Dean too. 

Also, I feel bad for Amara and what wound up happening with her. Like many other characters, she fell victim to Chuck's manipulations, and now I'm guessing he's even stronger than before. But also, Chuck wasn't the only one manipulating her. And maybe if they, (Dean especially, since she had a soft-spot for him) had actually been trying to find another way earlier, she wouldn't have fallen to despair when finding out the truth. 

Aaaaaanyway, I think I've rambled enough about this episode as it is. Thank you to whoever actually bothers to read all of this. *LOL*

[sunshineneedsaplacetokeephernsfw]

Here is part 1 of the very long story of how I learned about multiple things, including games like Boyfriend to Death and Degrees of Lewdity. Tracing it back as far as I'm willing to.

Kinda like my

Current interests origin story

I'll bold main points because I like to talk. This will be long, I like to ramble and say everything I was thinking

This first part will be covering how I learned about lady-bakuhoe (now @kingkatsuki) and @kazooli. I swear they're relevant in this. I just like to trace things back to as far as possible, so here we go!

- Origin story starts -

One day, before I had a tumblr account, but knew of its existence (which I knew was good for seeing fancontent), I decided to look up Deku headcanons. So at the time, I had just started watching My Hero Academia. I was on episode 1 or 2, but I instantly LOVED Deku. And I didn't feel like reading a whole x reader fic, I looked for headcanons. And one top result was headcanons for multiple characters that Jo wrote A LONG time ago.

There were two headcanon posts she made (probably) and I decided to check out her blog since the ones she wrote were good. But I DO know that I was like "Hmm, these headcanons are the best out of the top ones, and she wrote a few." So I started looking at more of lady-bakuhoe's posts. And then I realized she liked Bakugou a lot and she wrote smut a lot.

I honestly think that it's HILARIOUS that I learned about her blog because of Deku, considering the fact she doesn't like him too much (btw, if you're reading, Jo, I hope I'm not burning your eyes by mentioning him too much). If you look at her rules and read what she doesn't write, Deku is listed right there, next to incest and pedophilia (not literally, but they are on her list). (So I never asked or expected her to write for him and instead found people who did, unfortunately none of them right as well as Jo, but whatever.)

But despite me being more into Deku, I still really enjoyed reading what she'd post and reblog. I also got to taste some high quality smut, and now my standards are forever very high when it comes to written porn.

However, I didn't (and still don't) really thirst for anyone she frequently writes for. The two character I thirsted for the most (I'm not exactly sure now, I seem to have calmed down) were Deku and Shigaraki, both of which are on Jo's "3 BNHA characters I can't thirst for" list. And in general I was just more horny for the villains than the heroes, but Jo doesn't write very much at all for the villains and says she doesn't write them very well and from I read, I agreed. (Sorry!)

What I really wanted, was a blog with good writing skills that wrote for the villains. Which was exactly what I found! So, I forget which post of theirs it was. But I think the person titled their blog "anime hawks saved me" or something like that. I clicked on the blog, scrolled a little and eventually found a Shigaraki x reader x Dabi. It was called "Just for Tonight" and from the summary (? If it had one, I can't remember) and how well written the first few paragraphs I accidentally read were, I was intrigued. It just, somehow pulled me in, in a way no other fic has.

Now that I think about it, reading that fic was like shaking the bad guy's hand from the Princess and the Frog. You know, the one leading into "Friends on the Other Side" when he says, "Would you shake a poor sinner's hand?"

But anyway, I began to read that fic. I guess I felt guilty for reading a villain smut despite what I previously said (I have conflicting emotions, constantly), maybe also some sort of purity complex or whatever, so I was actually intending on just reading a little, and then I would stop reading it. Ha. Ha. HA. I should have known at that point that when I start reading smut I won't be able to stop until it's finished. I only succeeded once, that was Coercion by lady-bakuhoe, but then I couldn't stop thinking about it for the rest of the day and opened it again and finished it.

I finished reading "Just for Tonight" and it was REALLY good. So good that, in a few days, I went back and read it again. And that's the only time I've ever done that. Where I actually read a fic again because I had the impulse to because I loved it so much. So I read it again and thought "Man, this is good. I wanna see if the writer wrote anything else like this." And this is my plunge into the @kazooli blog.

(Also, I wanna quickly mention something off topic. Some of the things I mention may or may not be consistent with the timeline. Like, for example, I mentioned that I thirsted for Shigaraki, but Jo didn’t write for him. BUT at the time I read "Just for Tonight" I remembered I was more into Dabi (which was short lived) than Shigaraki, at first I considered Shigaraki just a bonus character in the fic and now I consider Dabi the bonus character (how turntables). Which doesn't make sense considering the previous. I'm confused too. Maybe so maybe reading that "list of three characters" was after learning about Kazooli? But anyway, I guess one could say that her blog plus others made me a Shigaraki fan, but honestly I just wasn't far in the anime at that point and even if I never found those blogs I would have ended up liking Shigaraki a whole lot. He is somehow my type in appearance, personality, and tragic backstory, it's like Horikoshi made him for me. It's strange and wonderful)

Anyway. I remember going on and scrolling through and instantly being treated to some nasty (but yummy) things. I also found that "Just for Tonight" was her first post from what I can recall. I remember specifically finding this one meme she posted with someone (her) feeding seeds (incest) to birds (followers) and I was very confused because I was still clueless dark content existed (despite the noncon and dubcon fics/thirst posts on Jo's blog).

I was like "No, incest is bad." But then that got my thinking, "Why do they like it? Is there a reason." So I actually clicked on one of her incest fics (Touya, obviously) and began reading it. I think I was either trying to figure out why they liked it, or trying to prove to myself it wasn’t that good and ppl were just being weird. Spoiler, I actually REALLY liked it. So much I quickly started to look for more.

That whole transition was 10 minutes or less. Made me think of that one Thomas Sanders vine when the girl comes in to say she can't play video games because she has a paper to do, but ends up playing the game anyway. Except for me, change the quote to "No, incest is bad and- I NEED MORE! How did I get here?" "Don't question it."

Also, Kazooli writes the BEST incest fics. I've read other people's, but they just don't live up to hers or write it in a way I like it (sorry, Mari). I mean @ tomurasprincess's (Mari) newest fic with the A/B/O + soul mate + incest + Todoroki, and Mirror Image, those were good ones that weren't made by Kazooli. But Kaz is just this master at making gross and dark things sound REALLY appealing and hot. And you know it's gross, she definitely writes it so it sounds nasty, but she somehow does it SO GOOD and I don't know how.

So that's how I discovered these two, and this lead to me learning about a bunch of different things. In a way, they and Mari are like the keystones in how I found a lot of my current interests, and the reason I even created this blog in the first place.

Next up! How I discovered Mari's blog and what I came to discover from that!

Next part (link will be posted after I write that next part)

[ginnyzero]

Completely Harmless Ch. 63

Completely Harmless An SSO SilverGlade Re-imagining Story (Or Fix it Fan Salt fic) By Ginny O.

When Lily and her friends wanted to buy horses and were directed to the Silverglade Manor and its myriad of problems, they didn’t expect to start a revolution. They were just a bunch a stable girls. Completely harmless. Right?

A/N: Things are only canon if I say they’re canon. Pre-Saving the Moorland Stables compliant for the most part. Posted in its entirety on my website. Posted in 2000 to 4000 word bits here. Rated T for Swearing Word Count 177,577

Chapter Sixty-Three Rescue Time (but First Needling Mr. Sands)

Lily took another slice of lasagna. “This is actually decent lasagna.”

Mr. Sands’ brow twitched.

“Did you get the recipe from Catherine?” Lily asked.

Alex and Justin left. Justin giving a tour guide type of spiel. Lily figured he wouldn’t s how Alex anyplace sensitive. Which was fine. They didn’t need to see anything sensitive.

Mr. Sands stared at Lily.

She continued to eat. “When are you going to tell that poor boy that you killed his mother’s friends?”

“He wouldn’t exist if I hadn’t.” Mr. Sands frowned. “His father hid his heritage from him.”

“Hmm, I’m not sure how telling anyone that your grandmother is the Baroness of your district but we can’t associate with her because your grandfather, her ex-husband is an immortal alien who wants to take over the world is going to go over well.” Lily licked the fork suggestively. “I mean, there are May December romances, and then there’s you.”

Sabine and Jessica snickered.

“You know quite a bit more than you should.”

“What can I say? I have a face that people trust.” Lily shrugged and continued to eat. “You smile. You nod. You let them talk. People love to talk about themselves. The Baroness though, she was a tougher nut to crack. She doesn’t do talk. She does actions. Deeds. So, was it something you did or didn’t do that tore you two apart?”

Mr. Sands snorted. “Don’t be foolish enough to think I had any feelings towards her. She was a means to an end, no more. She didn’t have what I needed.”

“Hmm, it’s interesting to me that you were able to contain Anne, but not Lisa.” Lily stuck the fork into the lasagna.

“Oh, they fought,” Jessica said.

Sabine smirked. “But not enough.”

“You don’t need a Dark Rider,” Lily mused. “So, why keep Anne imprisoned?”

“Elise is not my recruit.”

“Oh, contingency plans.” Lily nodded. The name Elise sounded familiar but she couldn’t place it off the top of her head. “Clever enough.” She finished her slice and set down her plate. “I’ll go catch up with Justin and Alex. They might need minding. And I’m the one they think is the flirt.” Lily pushed her hair back over her shoulder strutting from the room.

She found Alex and Justin pretty easily.

“Hanging out here all day sounds like a bore,” Alex said as they wandered around a large room.

“There are plans to be set in motion,” Justin said. “And it’s not that bad.”

“No place to ride. No elbow room. Everyone on top of each other.”

“Sounds kinky,” Lily spoke up.

Alex jumped. “Don’t do that, Lils.”

Lily checked her phone.

Alex strode away from Justin. “Wait, wait, wait. At least you know what you’re waiting for I suppose.” She jerked her head to one side.

Lily waited to make sure Justin had his eyes on Alex before looking where Alex had indicated. A book rested on a book stand.

“The day is important. All the generals agree that to do it early would only bring disaster. The Keepers are too fixated on their prophecy to be paying attention. And without the other Soul Riders, they can’t stop us even if they wanted to.”

Lily walked towards the book slowly.

“They’re down to one now,” Alex said and shifted her weight. She moved towards Justin. “We’re going to be together, no matter what, baby.”

“You and me against the world,” Justin said.

Alex rested her hands on his chest. “That’s right.”

Justin frowned and turned his head to look for Lily.

Alex put a hand on his cheek and turned his head back to look at her. “Justin, look at me. I’d burn the world for you. You used to feel the same. It’s still in her.” She rubbed a circle on his chest.

Lily snagged the book and stuck it in the back of her pants under her trench coat. “Do I need to tell you two to get a room?” She leaned against the stand.

Alex flushed. “Are any of these generals hot so we can get Lily her own May December romance?”

“Only one person can rule the world, Alex,” Lily said. “And it’s going to be me.”

“Yes, yes, all hail the Queen.”

“I keep moving up in the world,” Lily murmured.

“Empress even. We can be the Empress’ advisors.” Alex grinned. “Ruling sounds so tedious anyways. You need a champion. I take champion.”

Lily snorted.

Justin rolled his eyes. “Garnok is going to rule. Not us.”

“I guess I better figure out a way to kill Garnok,” Lily said dryly.

“Come on, you have to be here for one reason or another. Show me.” Alex took Justin’s hand and tugged him away.

“Fine, there’s a control room. I can show you that,” Justin said. “It’s just a bunch of screens and drones though. There probably isn’t anything very interesting going on.”

“But it will kill time,” Alex said.

“Ugh, don’t talk about killing time,” Lily groaned. “You want the entire world to fall out of whack.”

Alex winked at her and urged Justin forward.

--

Evergray polished the keystone with a rag. “Keystones truly are a thing of wonder. You wouldn’t think a thing of such humble origins would be able to part the veil of space and time.”

Linda double checked the tuning of the harp like Lily had shown her. It was mostly nerves. She turned her head.

Horse hooves clopped against the stone of the path echoing into the Dale.

But not one set of hooves, multiple.

Elizabeth Sunbeam, Rhiannon, Avalon and a host of druids in robes and hoods swept into the Dale on horses of all colors.

“What is going on here?” Elizabeth asked.

Avalon cleared his throat. “I told you to leave, brother.”

“Tsk, as if I listen very well,” Evergray said and coughed.

“Linda,” Elizabeth scolded. “I thought better of you. Evergray isn’t to be trusted. He’s a thief.”

Linda stood up holding the harp in her arms. “He’s been more honest than you have been.” She lifted her chin.

“What is that?” Rhiannon nodded at the stone in Evergray’s arms.

“You don’t know.” Evergray shook his head. “Twenty years and all the new recruits are base ignorant. This never would have happened while I was chief archivist.”

“Evergray, you have violated the terms of your exile,” Elizabeth said. “You were warned what would happen if you ever returned. We have come to take you into custody.”

“I see how you are, Elizabeth.” Evergray turned his head and coughed. He looked back at her. “You’ve come full circle then.”

Elizabeth flushed. “I don’t know what you mean.” She straightened on her horse.

“If you didn’t, you wouldn’t be so mad. Come, now, we haven’t actually answered your questions.”

More horse hooves echoed in the Dale, this time, they were alone.

A grey dapple horse with a white mane appeared at the end of the Dale.

The druids murmured and moved aside.

“Concorde,” they whispered and murmured to each other.

Concorde trotted between them. He lowered his head to Linda. “Soul Rider,” he murmured.

Linda pressed her forehead against his. “You’re safe and alive.”

“What do you need me to do?” Concorde asked.

“Make room, make room,” Evergray said. “I believe this is our cue.”

Linda quietly explained to Concorde the plan.

--

Alex had managed to wheedle Justin back to the horses.

“It’s time,” Lily said.

“Justin, baby, your lips look super chapped.” Alex grabbed his chin.

Justin tried to move his head. “They’re fine.”

“No. They’re definitely chapped. Can’t kiss you with chapped lips,” she said. She took out the chap stick and popped the lid off with one hand. “Hold still.”

Justin’s eyes widened and he leaned back. “Alex.”

She smeared it onto his lips before he could say anything else or get away.

Justin stilled and stared ahead barely blinking.

Lily reached into her saddlebag. “Catch,” she said and tossed potions at her.

Alex caught them and opened the first one over Saga’s rump. “There, there, boy, you’ll be yourself in no time.” She hurried over to the other horses.

Lily juggled the other three potions. She poured them over the backs.

“Last one,” Alex said.

Lily tossed it to her.

Alex poured it over the back of the horse.

Lily went for the halters. “Ten minutes, and counting,” she said.

Justin blinked and rubbed his eyes. “What happened? Where am I?” He looked around. “What’s wrong with Saga?”

“Saga’s going to be all right, give her a few minutes,” Alex darted over to him.

He stared at her. “Are you wearing lip stick?”

She flung her arms around his neck. “That’s my Justin,” she said tears in her eyes. “You aren’t going to do this to me ever again. No more mind control from evil grandfathers. You hear me Justin Moorland. I can’t go through this again.”

He wrapped his arms around her. “It’s all so fuzzy. Except there was lots of lasagna.”

Alex laughed and hiccupped. “Of course you remember the lasagna.”

“Tasted like mom’s,” Justin mumbled.

“Justin, I need you to help Lily get the horses to the gate.” Alex cupped his face. “Can you do that?”

“Sure,” Justin said. He rubbed his face. “I’m just, there’s this fog.”

Alex handed him the chap stick. “Apply if you think you need more.”

Justin looked at it. “For the record, my lips aren’t chapped.” His hand closed over it.

“Sure they aren’t.” Alex kissed his cheek. She went to Lily’s saddlebags and grabbed her tools and the keystone.

“Five minutes,” Lily said.

“On it.” Alex jogged off.

“Help me get them saddled. They probably won’t fight you.”

Justin nodded.

Together they saddled the horses who tried to move away, but the further time went, the less they fought.

Justin tightened the last girth as the first spell broke over the horses.

They tossed their heads and locked their legs.

“Easy, easy,” Lily said. “We’re going to get all of you out of here. Come on.” She grabbed the reins of Nimbus and two of the others.

Nimbus took charge.

Justin took the other horses including Saga.

Alex had the gate mechanism ripped open and was fitting the keystone inside fitting the wires to it.

Lily took the book out of her pants back and put it in her saddlebag.

Alex flipped switches.

Justin’s brow furrowed.

Alex pushed the lever up. The entire rig hummed. Purple energy swirled around.

“Stop!” Jessica shouted. “They’ve opened the gate!”

Lily got on her horse.

Alex selected a horse at random and mounted.

Justin got on Saga.

“Run!” Lily shouted and Nimbus vaulted forward jumping through the portal and running flat out, the two horses behind him.

Justin urged Saga forward. The other horse followed him.

Alex gave the running Dark Riders the finger and her horse, not willing to be left behind even if the way ahead was pink energy ran after the others.

They ran as fast as they could down the winding floating stone road, jumping the gaps and through the other portal.

Alex jumped through the portal into Pandoria. It fizzled and snapped shut behind her almost taking her horse’s tail.

Justin stared around. “Where are we?”

Lily moved into view, Nimbus’ wings pressed tight over her legs. His horn gleamed in the odd light. “Welcome to Pandoria.”

--

The Soul Horses moved into their positions at the bases of the statues. They looked upwards. Magic swirled around them and they became more than what they were. Starshine’s grey mane and tail turned electric blue, a crystal horn jutted from his head. The end of it gleamed with pink light.

At the base of his statue, magenta light filled the carvings making them grow brighter.

Meteor was no longer just red. He was the red of the Harvest Moon and scattered with crater markings with moving clouds. His mane and tail white gold and glowing. His beard curled under his chin.

The magenta light swelled in the carvings of the Moon Soul Horse Statue and lit up the Dale.

Tin Can stomped his hooves. They turned cloven, like a deer rather than a horse. Lightning swirled around his bronze body and crackled in his golden mane and tail jumping off in jagged sparks and spears.

The lightning jumped from him to his statue. It turned pink and crept up every leg and around the body lighting up the carvings.

Concorde spread his glowing white wings. His coat had turned silver with lighter white gold spots. A feather fell from his wings, drifted down and fell at the base of the statue. A rainbow flared around it and then it turned pink and disappeared. The carvings glowed pink.

Linda carefully shifted the keystone into place.

Magenta light swelled at the base of the broken statue and raced up the carvings of the stairs to the gate. Pink light swirled around like a galaxy, small at first but growing until it stabilized into a door.

Elizabeth’s voice sharpened. “Is that the Harp of Aideen?”

Linda cradled the harp in her arms. She moved to the base of the stairs and plucked the strings. And with the music, she sent her heart after it.

FOR THE ACCOMPANYING IMAGES PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE MY WATERMARK AND CONTACT INFORMATION. THANK YOU. I get it. Some of you might get excited and want to see this stuff in the game, especially the clothes, tack, and pets. However, the only way I want to see this in the game is if I get paid for it. If I see it in the game and I’m not paid for it, there will be hell to pay. You think I’m salty. I’d be angry. Personally, I’m not going to send this info to SSO. If you do, leave my contact information there! Don’t give them any excuses to steal.

Now, I’ll know you haven’t read this note if you leave me comments about how ‘salty’ I am about the game and if I hate it so much I should do something else. I am doing something else. It’s called Mystic Riders MMORPG Project. Mystic Riders however is a very baby phase game. You can check out our plans on the game dev blog. (Skills, Factions, Professions, Crafting, Mini-Games, 25+ horse breeds!) If you know anyone who would be interested and has money or contacts about game making, direct them to the blog.

[musicprincess655]

Okumura Koushuu is not very observant, but eventually he has to realize that his teammates are also his friends

Written for @daiyarpwk2020 day 2: Bonds

Koushuu is, perhaps, less observant than the people around him. It’s not exactly news to him, but it feels like a pretty poor excuse for explaining why he never realized he and Asada are friends.

In fact, other than Taku, Koushuu thinks Asada might be his best friend. They don’t have the same wordless ease born of knowing each other far too long, but if Koushuu actually craves someone’s company, he’s most likely to seek out Asada, and if Asada finds him instead, Koushuu never feels the urge to tell him to leave.

He realizes it all in a rush when they’re walking back from the cafeteria later than the rest of their batchmates. A year of this life should’ve gotten them used to the ungodly amount of food they have to eat to keep up their bodies, but they’ve settled into a routine of eating slowly and steadily, and Koushuu, at least, will never be the kind to scarf down his food like some other teammates he could name. They linger late, taking their time, and a kind of camaraderie is born from being in this slowpoke squad.

“Do you think we’re good senpai?” Asada asks, not looking at Koushuu. “I mean, we’re not setting a very good example, right? Taking so long to finish our food.”

Koushuu privately thinks it might actually be better to let the first years know some of their senpai still struggle. It shows them that no one on this team is superhuman, that through hard work, all of them can rise.

“I think if they can’t keep up, they’re not worth worrying about,” Koushuu says sharply. It’s the kind of acerbic comment he usually reserves for Taku’s ears only, the kind that just sounds mean – and it is, but he didn’t only mean it that way – that would get him in trouble.

To his surprise, though, Asada just huffs a laugh into his fist and keeps walking, and that’s when Koushuu realizes. Asada gets how Koushuu is, and accepts him for it, rolling with the punches much like Taku does, just in his own way.

“One of them asked me to help with pitching from the stretch,” Asada continues. “I don’t know if I’ll be a very good teacher, but I’ll try. I asked Sawamura-senpai to help me.”

“Don’t let him overpower you,” Koushuu says. He doesn’t have the same antagonistic relationship with Sawamura that he used to, but they still have strong, opposing personalities, and they still butt heads, and Asada seems like the type to let Sawamura talk right over him.

“He said he just wants to watch,” Asada says. “Not that I think he won’t chime in, but he and Nori-senpai helped me a lot last year. I want to do the same for the first years.”

Sawamura, at first glance, doesn’t seem like a good matchup for Asada at all, but Asada needs that kind of reassurance in a way Koushuu never has, and Nori was a good way to temper that. Asada isn’t a pitcher like either of them, and he might never be the ace, but he’s a wicked closer, and that’s the influence of both of those pitchers.

“Let me know if you want me to catch for you,” Koushuu says. “I’ll make time.”

Asada doesn’t even look surprised at the offer, which means he probably realized they’re friends long before Koushuu ever did.

***

Kuki is loud, and boisterous, and gets in people’s faces, and in general, he seems like the kind of person Koushuu hates the most.

But he’s also a brilliant pitcher, and his second year is showing the potential he has for rising to take the ace number. It won’t be possible this year, not with Sawamura and Furuya fighting with each other for glory, but Koushuu will eat his own batting gloves if that number 1 isn’t emblazoned on Kuki’s back next year.

Then there’s the fact that Kuki’s interesting as fuck to catch for, and unlike Sawamura, who has a style built between him and Miyuki, Kuki is still growing into what he can do, and Koushuu is helping to shape that.

Koushuu doesn’t appreciate having to agree with Miyuki Kazuya on anything, but making a pitcher grow and bloom is thrilling in a way baseball hasn’t been for a very long time. Dare he say it, he’s even having fun.

“What the fuck was that?” Koushuu growls as he snaps the ball back to Kuki. He’s lucky he snapped his hand up fast enough to keep it from flying over his head.

“An experiment!” Kuki tells him cheerfully. “I saw some video from America, and this pitcher could do this cool trick shot.”

“It’s not so cool if you take a batter’s head off,” Koushuu says, because that’s exactly where the ball would have landed if a batter was actually standing there. He’s glad it’s not one of the nights where Asada stands in for them. It would’ve sent him running, scared shitless. Masashi…well, it might actually do him some good to get the fear of God put in him, but Koushuu doesn’t really want to see him decapitated.

“Lemme try a few more?” Kuki asks. “I think I can get it. That felt weird, but I think I can fix it.”

“It might fuck up your form,” Koushuu warns.

“Come on, Kou-chan, please?” Not even Taku calls him that, but Koushuu has somewhat given up on getting Kuki to quit it.

Koushuu is not indulgent, never has been. This is probably a waste of his time, and there’s better uses of it. For example, fixing this new quirk in Kuki’s slider that might be nothing and might be a game changer, Koushuu hasn’t decided yet.

But…

Well…

“Keep them in the zone,” Koushuu relents, and with that, he also has to add Kuki to the growing list of Friends Koushuu Has. He wouldn’t agree to sit around and let Kuki possibly fuck up one or both of them if they weren’t. He definitely wouldn’t allow the nickname if they weren’t.

“I’ll do my best!” Kuki says, and immediately throws a ball. But then he gets it in the strike zone.

And then Koushuu thinks he sees what Kuki’s going for.

“Relax your wrist instead of your fingers,” he suggests, resetting the way he squats.

When the ball comes to him, it’s far from perfect, but it might be something.

“Did you see that?” Kuki demands, laughing to the ceiling. “I did it!”

“Do it again,” Koushuu says, throwing the ball back. “Prove it’s not a fluke.”

Stumbling and flailing, more failures than successes, Kuki does.

***

Yui is a rival, but he’s also a good captain. He’s doing a far better job than Koushuu ever would’ve. Unlike Miyuki, Koushuu had the good sense to turn the coach down when he offered the position. Koushuu is good at intimidation, and he’s fine at teaching a few selective underclassmen, but a captain needs to be for everyone, and that was the fatal flaw of Miyuki.

He recognizes, of course, that Miyuki did the best job he was capable of doing, and no one can fault him for the work he put it to make his captaincy function, but anyone who wanted to look could see that it only worked because Kuramochi was, essentially, a second captain rather than just a vice. After a year of Kanemaru as captain, supported by Toujou and Sawamura but not dependent on them the way Miyuki was on his vices, no one needs a repeat of the past, and Koushuu has never been shy about telling the coach what he thinks.

Besides, he likes being vice-captain. He gets all the perks without any of the work. Koushuu is mostly left alone to work with the pitchers and catchers, but now his voice carries more weight. Kuki is happily handling the moral support side of the equation, and Yui gets stuck playing keystone and, somehow, not crumbling.

It doesn’t mean there aren’t cracks, though.

“My head’s gonna explode if I look at that any longer,” Yui complains, rubbing his palms over his eyes.

Koushuu lowers the playbook they’ve been looking at down to the desk. It’s not that late. Koushuu’s roommates aren’t even back from the baths yet.

But Yui looks exhausted, slumped in his desk chair, and Koushuu can’t bring himself to point out that they’ve been at this for less than an hour.

“I can finish up,” Koushuu says. “Get some sleep. I’ll tell you the important stuff in the morning.”

“You’re not even the one starting,” Yui protests without heat. “I’m the one that needs it.”

“You need to rest,” Koushuu says. “I’d do this anyway. It’s no trouble.”

“For a practice match you’re probably not playing in?” Yui asks.

Koushuu shrugs. The data analysis has always been one of the better parts of being a catcher for him, and just because he’s not playing this practice match doesn’t mean he can’t use it for practice. Besides, he started yesterday, and he’ll probably start again as their season gets rolling. It’s still spring. Even though their last summer is coming, it hasn’t started yet, and Koushuu is trying to enjoy the time they have left. In as much as he enjoys baseball, anyway.

Yui’s head lands on his shoulder. Koushuu jumps, because Yui isn’t usually the touchy type, and Koushuu definitely isn’t, but he lets Yui stay there anyway. It’s been a long day, and being captain is hard, and Yui has been fighting barriers Koushuu never has for far longer than this.

“I quit being captain,” Yui says. “You can do it.”

“You know I’ll just make Kuki do it,” Koushuu says. He knows Yui doesn’t really mean it.

“I feel like I keep fucking up,” Yui says. “No matter how hard I work, I always feel like there’s more to do.”

“You have vice-captains for a reason,” Koushuu says. “Let us help you.”

“So you’ll do all the data analysis, and Kuki will handle everyone’s emotional problems, and that just leaves me doing what?” Yui asks.

“Leading,” Koushuu says, and he gently pushes Yui off. “Go sleep. It’ll be better in the morning.”

Koushuu stays up later than he should and walks into breakfast blinking sleep out of his eyes, but the relief on Yui’s face, coupled with the way the dark circles under his eyes have faded, is worth it.

“Aren’t you the diligent vice-captain?” Taku teases when Koushuu sits down, cursing the lack of coffee. “You’re a good friend.”

Koushuu really should have realized that Yui was also his friend sooner.

***

“That is blatant favoritism!” Kuki complains as Koushuu throws a pillow at him and growls for him to shut up. “Taku-chan started it and you didn’t say shit to him.”

“Can’t help it if I’m his favorite!” Taku grins as he passes by Kuki on the racetrack, piloting his Princess Peach across the line to lap him. “Or maybe Asada is now, I can’t tell.”

Asada shrinks and focuses on keeping his Luigi on the track.

“Nah, if you’re not the favorite it’s definitely Kaoru-chan,” Kuki says. “They have this catcher bond that can’t be bro – dammit, Kaoru-chan!”

“You snooze, you lose!” Yui crows, browbeaten into taking a night off and thoroughly enjoying himself. “And I say Seto’s the favorite.”

“You’re all wrong,” Koushuu snaps from where he’s trying to focus on his homework. He’s not suffering the indignity of makeup exams again. He’s a third year. It’s demeaning. “Masashi’s my favorite.”

Masashi has been patiently waiting for one of the four controllers to open up, leaning against Koushuu’s desk as he works, and he looks up at the call of his name but doesn’t say anything. Koushuu adores him for it. Masashi stayed on later than he normally does because the other four had declared it a third year bonding night and camped up in Koushuu’s room with Mario Kart. He hasn’t said much – usually doesn’t – and that’s just fine with Koushuu, because he really wants to get ahead on his homework before it comes crashing down around his ears.

“You wound me,” Taku complains. “How is Masashi your favorite? No offense, Masashi.”

“None taken,” Masashi says.

“Taku, you’re fired as my best friend,” Koushuu says. “Masashi, you’re hired.”

“I don’t want to get in the middle of anything.”

“Too bad.”

Everyone else complains a little more before letting it slide, taking Koushuu’s mood for what it is.

“You dropped a decimal there,” Masashi says, pointing to Koushuu’s homework. He’s right. Koushuu fixes the mistake. “Are you actually mad at them?”

“No,” Koushuu says. He’s annoyed, sure, but they mean well, and it’s not their fault he has a hard time focusing on baseball and homework at the same time. Besides, he can’t actually bring himself to break it up when they’re having so much fun.

He’s really gone soft since his first year.

“Good,” Masashi says. “If you need help, I’m okay at math.”

“Thanks, Masashi,” Koushuu says, and he means for more than just the homework.

He and Masashi don’t talk all that often, but Masashi offers a quiet kind of companionship that Koushuu can’t get from any of the others. At least this time, Koushuu recognized the friendship for what it was early on. It’s a strange kind of friendship, not one he ever knew existed, but he’s grateful for Masashi anyway.

“If you want a turn, go take one,” Koushuu tells him. “Send Taku over if you do, I’m doing history next.”

Masashi goes, clapping a hand on Koushuu’s shoulder on the way. It hurts, a little, but Koushuu doesn’t complain.

***

Koushuu sits in the grass, knowing it’s staining his uniform pants, and he can’t bring himself to care. He has a diploma in his hand, and he never has to wear these again.

“Jeez, try to look less like someone died,” Taku complains, dropping into the grass beside him. “This is a time for celebration.”

“You’re even less eager to leave than I am,” Koushuu says. He made friends here, created memories, played baseball that restored the fun of the sport to him, but Taku loved it here. He’s grateful he made the decision and Taku chose to follow him for that if nothing else.

“True, true,” Taku agrees easily. “But it does give me the chance to do this.”

He holds out a button under Koushuu’s nose, and Koushuu realizes his jacket is hanging open.

“Is this your second button?” Koushuu asks. “Is this a confession?”

Of all the things he expects, he doesn’t include Taku laughing at him.

“Is this…of course it’s not a confession!” he says, grin in place. “This isn’t news to you.”

Koushuu shrugs, because it kind of is.

“Koushuu, we got playground-married when we were seven,” Taku says, incredulous. “I made you a flower ring and everything!”

Koushuu doesn’t admit that he’d kept that ring until it fell apart.

“We haven’t been…together, though,” Koushuu says.

“Of course not,” Taku replies. “We’re in high school, and we were busy with other stuff, and you had to work through those weird crushes you had on Miyuki-senpai and Sawamura-senpai.”

“I did not have-!”

“You totally did, and it’s fine,” Taku says. “I’m surprised you didn’t date anyone this entire time, though. I did.”

Yes, Koushuu remembers the girlfriend Taku had for a few months, remembers how fiercely and furiously jealous he was of her. Taku’s confession, if it can be called that, isn’t a surprise, sure, but Koushuu expected to continue as they were, best friends and maybe something a little extra, growing closer without him realizing it.

But, of course, life isn’t that kind. They’re not going to the same university, although they’re both staying in Tokyo, and Taku isn’t playing baseball anymore. He still loves it, but there are other things he wants out of life, and he told Koushuu he was happy to keep supporting him in the aftermath of the huge fight they had about it.

Koushuu reaches out, but instead of grabbing the button, he grabs Taku’s hand, holding the button between their palms. Taku rests his head on Koushuu’s shoulder, and they watch the sun sink together.

“You’re not allowed to lose my number,” Koushuu threatens. Taku laughs.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” he says. “Come on. Our moms are making some huge celebration dinner at my house that they think we don’t know about.”

Koushuu didn’t know about that, actually, but he’s not surprised Taku did. He lets Taku tug him to his feet and lead him home, just like always.

[dramarising-replacement]

What we REALLY learned from BotE lore

I know I’m about a month too late for this but…. (Dadmin feel free to put a keep reading here if you think it’s too long)

Jailbreak- -Tundra??? Skydancer??? Eating fish??????? There’s like 6 different plant food granola ration items that would keep just fine??? -Either the breed diets are more of a preference or the writers just forgot their own lore, I’m inclined towards the second but the first is a plausible in-universe plot bandaid

-Dragons have surnames and with little exception they’re all warrior cats adjectivenoun shit. Because of course they are.

-Feathers can be unusually thick, apparently -Isolated beastclans unaware of/apathetic to the uprising are a thing -Most of the icefield is too dangerous to fly in -The fortress of ends is far from the only prison location -New location: Dripcave dregs -Icefield’s government so far seems to consist entirely of the (very harsh) prison system, so i guess the southern icefield is ice age america -[Racial tensions intensify] -Dragon money is accepted by at least some beastclans -Racial tensions not helped by language barrier -Rations stashed at key points along the mountains -Tundras become amnesic when stressed -Who/What the wardens are does not seem to be common knowledge -Oh hey look a new canon breed for one of the flights that only has one breed which isn’t very popular, which has unique lore, and a design that perfectly matches with many people’s wishes for “Something like a tundra but fiercer”, that i guarantee will be eternally left right next to couriers as “Perfectly good breeds that will never be implemented and the admins will never even tell us why” -They don’t seem to know much about other breeds -Like genders, for example -They also might be psychic -May or may not be ageless on top of that -Tundras are descended from them, which means at some point in the distant past some left for the surface and stayed there, which means these things are perfectly capable of joining surface society again -It seems a lot of the deities have disappointing giant first children that they want to hide/kill to bury their shame Ten Eyes- -New location: The Oculus of the Eleven -Like if the UN was also a wizard council -So far implied there haven’t been any major interflight wars for at least a few generations -Leylines are Serious Business™ -SMARK -SMARK -Mirror pack instincts are very strong -Dragons supposedly don’t have computers, but the leyline monitor things sound an awful lot like computers -Crystalspine mountains grow in response to ambient magic -Oculus seems to have been anticipating eventual sabotage of some variety for a long time -Age discrimination -Not only are dragon/beastclan racial tensions insanely high, but racial tensions between flights and breeds seem to be immense as well -Mirrors revert to base aggressive animal instincts when stressed -Even if they act like they’re friends they all actually hate eachother and will totally throw eachother under the buss at the first sign of trouble -Dragons know about the two arcane apocalypses(the first of which wasn’t technically the arcanist’s fault because he wasn’t fucking born yet but that’s a rant for a different time) -Mirrors can be blinded by enough heat -Uuuh -Uuummm -What, you wanted useful bits on what it’s actually like in arcane in general? Fuck you, have this rushed and thinly-veiled segway into lightning’s bit that takes place entirely inside an isolated dragon UN base with no elaboration on the outside world Temper, Temper- -Fire has kind of an Industrial revolution/great depression theme going on -Funding cutbacks -Railways confirmed -Imported materials confirmed -Racism again -Economic class divide -Angry coatls puff their feathers -Fire treats their working class like shit, and apparently has been for a very long time -Vocal Accents confirmed -I have no idea why Haemil isn’t overwhelmed by heat signatures all the time if just a few angry people was enough to blind Beatrix -Worker’s guilds are a thing. We have no idea how they work, but they’re a thing, and they have some amount of power. -Only the blacksmiths can withstand the great furnace -Volcano heartshaft -Dragons have explored at least as far down as the upper mantle -“Forgemasters” who seem to be greedy slavedriver corporate aristocrat types -Forgemaster council of some sort exists, and apparently is the closest there is to a central government -There’s a main cavern where the great furnace’s blacksmiths work and it has a big-ass gate on it -Fire tundras crop their fur and still get burned anyway -Ashfall wastes are the main exporters of tools and weapons -So, who wants to break the news to Por and Ventik that they literally cannot physically speak to eachother? -I suppose you could make the excuse that one of the others is translating, but i think they just forgot their own lore again. -Ashfall provides the tempest spire with bolts, rivets, and sheet metal -Arftificial scarcity to drive up demand is a thing in sornieth’s economy -Also, international economy is a thing -Apprenticeship is a thing -Giant bellows in the great furnace, operated by big tattooed imps who may or may not be exaltees -Non-arcane archmages -Other flights are required to construct sanctums whenever concentrations of magic are found -The Oculus doesn’t have anywhere near as much power across sornieth as it thinks it does-their efforts are easily foiled pretty much whenever the local government feels like it -They don’t seem to be very well-respected or even liked anywhere either -Magically-charged magma (and presumably other things) exist, and have useful scientific properties -Government’s first reaction to discovery of new resources/tech is to use it as an excuse to lay off most of their already-struggling workforce -Government cover-ups are also totally a thing -Apparently, tundras rarely frown -Parties of blacksmiths are sent to chart any caves discovered -Steel crates -New location: Flintlock Fumaroles -Professions are often handed down through families for generations -Individual clans are capable enough of reliable communication for a worker’s strike of this magnitude to be assembled in only days. -Flamecaller isn’t really present, and has fallen almost entirely into legend -You don’t have to be a skydancer to sense high levels of magic -There’s another volcano now, apparently even bigger and badder than the great furnace -Everyone’s been fired(lol), There’s a worker’s revolution going on, and there’s a whole new fucking island, all of which i’m sure will never be spoken of again. -If you claim it they will come A New Direction- -Ashfall wastes and Scarred wasteland are visible from the plateau -Dis place high yall -Dragons have trouble flying in stagnant air -Dragons sometimes rob couriers -Couriers run in an awkward waddle -The twisting crescendo is sentient, capable of appearing as a dragon, and, apparently, female -The windsinger can send magic statues in the mail or something idk i’m not sure anyone entirely knows what’s going on there -Windmills confirmed -That’s it -This one’s kinda simple -What, you wanted more useful detail on what life in the plateau is like? Fuck you, have this folk tale-sounding glorified space whale aesop Kindred Crossing- -At some point in the past, light and shadow made a failed attempt at an alliance that involved building portals that seem to only be able to activate during a lunar eclipse with the correct keystone like some lonely mountain shit(At least if admin comments on the forums are to be trusted) -Apparently the technology to make said portals was lost and the incident was forgotten about -Somehow this created the hewn city by bleeding the two together. Why shadow doesn’t have an unusually light-y area near the portal, i don’t know. -New location: thorndark altar, for all your cliche cultist needs -Lots of shadow pool and moon-related religious stuff -Creepy cult clans confirmed -Shadow goo smells like shit -Shadow goo puts out feeding tendrils -Awful mothers confirmed -Action figures confirmed -Whiny edgy teenagers confirmed -Some sect of shadow religion that multiple clans apparently follow involves elders in robes passing around candles with purple flames, creepy cultist chanting, and throwing prized possessions into the goo -Presumably this “sacrificing prized possessions” thing is not an isolated practice -“Voidling” seems to be an insult or derogatory title of some sort, in other news awful mother is awful. Something tells me her son being such a screwed-up asshole isn’t entirely his own fault. -“It’s not like he’ll remember it anyway”- That’s racist -The descriptive phrase “Dark hovels” is telling. Make of it what you will. -Lots of crazy ancient shit like this is absolutely hidden under pools and growth throughout the tangled wood -There are specialists trying to map the hewn city -I can’t help but feel like the specific wording of the description “A primitive hook-shaped runestone” says a little bit and the light flight’s attitude -Shadow flight has assassins specifically for the purpose of ruining light scholar’s work Ancient Fascinations- -Preservation guild is a thing, and presumably other guilds of similar function are too -Archeology confirmed -Most places still rely on torches and candles for light -Secretaries are a thing, which also means all the things that necessitate secretaries exist -Some weird monsters or some shit like that have popped into existence under dragonhome, and apparently are turning people into fossils or something -The things in question looks sort of like beastclans. Maybe undead second age creatures? -Government coverups: Archeology guild edition -Organizations take funding from wealthy sponsors -Imperials can be just as self-important as pearlcatchers -A very ominous, mysterious, wealthy, anonymous organization that if fiction has taught me anything can’t be up to any good -Even in fantasy dragon land you can acquire just about any historical artifact for your private collection by throwing enough money at it -What, you wanted more on what dragonhome is like for the average dragon? Fuck you, here’s a boring ametuer SCP story taking place entirely in an isolated archeology site. Workplace Hazards- -Lightning farm has monitoring equipment -Uhhh -Ummmmmm -Flying in storm bad -Shock switch is a real thing…? Maybe…? -Computers don’t exist yet, everyone still uses papers -… Even though that lightning farm monitoring equipment from just a few lines ago sounded an awful lot like a computer -Errrrrrr -Electrical engineer guild…..? -The shifting expanse does in fact have money -Cactus tea? Cactus fucking tea? -Aaaaaahhhh…? -Whelp lightning has effectively just withdrawn from the dragon un, secretly declared war on them, and pissed on their embassy just for good measure. you know, just in case the whole “Antithesis of all magic and nature, making them effectively the closest there is to a shade faction” thing wasn’t enough. -Unless the lore in the next one does a complete 180 and it turns out this is fine somehow or it’s because of a secret conspiracy unrelated to the flight or something, lightning is now likely THE designated antagonist faction and enemies with the entire world -Oh nooo sciency scientists with no morals are gonna destroy the world again with their scientific hubris!1!1! No bad things would ever happen if those darned scientists would just stop messing with nature and poking around where they don’t belong!1!! -Yeah, salary cycle.. That’s certainly……. A word……. That probably means something…… Which is never explained…. -Scientific scientists destroy non-sciency things because of science reasons, Next up our special guest Vulcan with “Emotion is illogical and must be destroyed” -Have fun being the designated wholly evil faction, nerds. Technology eats your soul. -What, you wanted lore that provided any insight whatsoever into what the expanse is like on any level, or at least something that didn’t spend every line it could going out of it’s way to emphasize how one-dimensionally amoral everyone and everything here is? -That’s stupid -You’re stupid -Fuck you and that train you rode in on -Here, have a bland thinly-veiled tacked on continuation of arcane’s story that pointedly goes out of it’s way to avoid introducing any significant new elements whatsoever because that could potentially humanize lightning on some level and interfere with our pushing the totally irredeemable mad scientists that need to be wiped out for the good of the world narrative, set almost exclusively in an equally bland extension of the dragon UN building that gets knocked over to make an evil hubris reactor because scientific scientists sciencing sciencly oppose all non-science. -Watch as all lore from now on is about how everything is lightning’s fault and they’re the enemies of all life or something -durr hurr science is scary thomas edison is a witch The Seed and the Sickness- -Plague and nature getting lumped together for no goddamned reason, as usual -If the excuse is because they’re twins then light and shadow should get lumped together too, light’s story is certainly short enough and they’re already semi-connected -Plague and nature have had an armistice for thousands of years -Why yes, let’s trade nukes every decade. How could this possibly go wrong. -Plague dragons have lots of scars and war paint and wear bones confirmed -Earth flight mediates because of course it does -Dragons know about the first battles of the plaguebringer and gladekeeper -Scarred wasteland is humid -Nature dragons tell horror stories about it -Quarantine zones for testing diseases -Plague actually specifically develops and tests diseases -Nature dragons can’t live in the scarred wasteland without special measures -Bonerguards -The behemoth is sick, possibly, maybe, it’s not entirely clear, probably just hallucinations -Secret ninjas poisoning ambassadors -“Be strong, survive” -Bone spears. *immature giggle* -Nature magic can do some pretty gory, fucked up stuff. Impaled corpses hanging from trees, anyone? -It’s nice to know the admins are allowed to write about shit like that but even having an argument written in a playermade bio puts it in the danger zone -Weaponized carnivorous plants -Plague breath is toxic gas and yellow goo -Other plague magic includes giant rotting membrane cocoons -Nature and plague are probably gonna go to war again, and might drag earth into it too -Now there’s a sick lady with a plant-nuke fused to her out there somewhere -In plague, if you’re hurt, too bad. Medical treatment is for the weak. Either you survive your open wounds or you don’t. Plague dragons covered in bloody bandages are not lore-freindly, because bandages mean they weren’t strong enough to tough it out themselves. -Also implied that plague looks down upon the dead in some way

-Plague also DEFINITELY hates doctors and medicine -Ohh nooo EEEVIL plague conspiracy involving the plague ambassador -You thought there would be equal sections for both ambassadors? The plague ambassador’s section is all of 3 sentences long and only exists to tell us how evil she is. -What, you wanted lore that expanded on what it’s like in nature in any significant way? Fuck you, have a bland sabotage plot that takes place entirely in the scarred wasteland with no mention of anything at all in the viridian labyrinth. -What, you wanted lore that expands on what it’s like in plague in any significant way? Fuck you, have a bland sabotage plot that takes place entirely in an isolated nature embassy with no mention of how anything outside it works. Hear Today, Gone Tomorrow- -Pearlcatchers have slings and bags to carry their pearls -New location: shoredeep presage -Divination caves that direct the tidelord’s prophecy bubbles up from the deep for rite-of-passage rituals -Prophets have multiple levels of rank based on age -Water dragons carve handholds to use in areas with strong tides -Divination requires specific rituals seemingly similar to alchemy, along with a blindfold and special chant -Braziers made of dried coral and shells -Dragons swim with their wings -Not all water dragons have divination powers, and the ones that don’t seem to be considered lesser -The first prophecy is meant to be carried to your grave -Dragons breathe water. With their lungs. -Fishing shacks exist -The weather in wind has a direct effect on the weather in other flights, in this case leveling the whole damn water flight because the crescendo decided it wanted to spin the other way -The crescendo also does not have a monopoly on the “gigantic magically-charged supercell” game, it’s just the most consistent one -Giant whirlpool. Maybe the spiral keep collapsed? -Prophecies tell you whatever the fuck they feel like telling you, not what you want them to -All the currents in the ocean have also changed thanks to the reversed wind -Fish daddy’s not talking anymore Raising a Family- -Did you really just use a Necromancer pun? Is the next line going to be about doing it on a budget? -Very short -So short it may as well be fused with shadow’s like they did with plague and nature -Emperors generally have extremely simple, childlike minds, with varying levels of decay, and are often deliriously happy -Always hungry -Think of eachother as siblings, it’s unclear if they really are or not. Technically siblings of multiple elements are possible if their parents traveled a lot. -Have fragmented and hazy memories of their past lives -Something about “Mother and other siblings”, possibly lightweaver -Hewn city has a border patrol -Emperors with less then 4 heads DO have enough juice to go apocalypse mode, despite what the encyclopedia says -The only one i genuinely enjoyed and felt was well-written -Except now there’s a fucking hydra-zombie rampaging through light flight. i’m sure that won’t be a problematic place to leave a cliffhanger dangling for months at all. Voices- -Leafmom’s worried, Germmom’s pissed -Droolmom thinks this is the funniest shit she’s seen in 10,000 years -Something’s wrong with sornieth’s molten core, i think -Icepop bragging about his limited edition Cthulhu collection -GLITTERMOM NO YOU RACIST FAVORITE-CHILD-PICKING BITCH I SWEAR IF YOU DO ANYTHING TO THOSE MURDERNOODLES -Noddledad don’t give a fuck -Daddy Cave Johnson definitely sanctioned this evil scientific hubris reactor. Goddammit Cave. -*Space dad creepily floating outside everyone Else’s window with binoculars* -Earthdad got a playmate, but they don’t seem friendly -*Goes around putting up missing posters for tidepapa*

[hellobestjaropener]

Pricing Practices for Embroidery and custom patches

Evaluate your rates consistently to make sure you are striking your revenue target. If youve been embroidering for some time, you may have questioned, “If Im so active, why arent I abundant? Theres little doubt that the majority of us could modify our pricing practices click here. Nevertheless, costs in all various other areas of our lives resemble moving targets, so its practical that we must examine our needlework prices on a regular basis to ensure we are striking our income targets. Of course, to do this, you initially should establish a target. Prevent prices simply out of routine or by duplicating another embroiderers rates. Your expenses almost certainly are various and also you do not even understand whether the various other store is profitable. Instead, be proactive regarding your rates policies; it can influence your business in a positive way. Compute custom patches utilizing your own approach. WHAT ARE YOU OFFERING? Its a good concept to stop and also think about what youre truly offering. Youre not selling thread in material. Youre not marketing logo designs. Youre offering a service combined with an item, which needs your time, ability and proficiency. Every one of these things have value. Regrettably, many people concentrate on their cost per thousand stitches, making their needlework function an asset rather than the complicated mix that it really is. Its typically a lot more lucrative to offer garments or various other products, such as bags or blankets, as opposed to just providing the needlework. You and your client gain several benefits when you recommend products that know to you. If you choose sensibly, you are advising and selling an item that: – has good qualities for needlework – is durable, and washes and also wears well – is quickly accessible – sustains an excellent mark-up. I recommend packing the cost for the needlework as well as your suggested item, allowing you to give your consumer a solitary cost. This is a much better pricing approach than potentially puzzling clients with information they dont care regarding anyway. Plus, you might unconsciously create them to make wrong contrasts in between your costs and also those of your competitor when you break down the prices of the needlework and also garment independently. The quantity of margin that you can moderately anticipate ranges marketing valued things as well as more high end garments. For example, you may be able to increase the price of a $10 t-shirt by including the rate of needlework, thus leading to the bundled price of the finished garment. This is called keystoning. However, youre much less most likely to be able to keystone an upscale well-known t-shirt that sets you back $30. Your margin might be reduced, but you still make a practical dollar amount per garment, plus your needlework cost. CALCULATING PRICE PER THOUSAND STITCHES To include the cost for needlework, most embroiderers make use of the price-per-thousand-stitches technique. Calculating your cost by stitch count might play a part valuing formula, but it isnt the whole story. Right heres why: Lets state that you made a decision to bill $1.50 per thousand stitches. Males shirt-cuff monograms can be profitable, however a 300-stitch monogram would just cost regarding $0.50 making use of the price- per-thousand-stitches formula. 2 prices policies should be developed: minimal price per item and also minimal rate per order. For instance, lets say that a singlehead equipment proprietor chooses $7.50 as the minimal rate per item and also $17.50 as the minimum per order. A consumer with two shirt-cuff monogrammeds at $7.50 would certainly pay $17.50 for the two monogrammeds to fulfill the minimal price per order need. The consumer must bring three t shirts to obtain the best worth. Its practical to know the typical price of creating a thousand stitches in your store or studio. Knowing the expense of producing embroidery can help you value a lot more profitably. In lots of shops, this expense is more than the proprietor visualizes. CATALOG ANYONE? If you ask 100 embroiderers if they have a price list, most would certainly claim that the nature of customized embroidery doesnt enable catalog. Absolutely, variables need to be thought about, so I favor having a price overview. A properly designed rate overview can give your clients a high level of self-confidence and also actually help you sell. An associate, Frank Gawronksi, shows that factor by asking the following: “Do you feel extra comfy getting involved in a cab with a meter or a taxicab without a meter?” Your cost overview is a type of meter that gives your consumer a base price. I such as the technique of developing a price overview by utilizing a threshold stitch matter for the embroidery, combined with your recommended product increased at a lucrative margin. This type of guide likewise reveals packed rates for preferred things stitched with logo designs containing approximately 8,000 stitches. Simply put, the price overview might note a certain design number with needlework– up to 8,000 stitches– consisted of. If the logo design has less than 8,000 stitches, you make a little bit a lot more earnings, or when the client is on a budget, you have built-in room to “sharpen your pencil.” For logos with greater than your limit stitch count– special services, such as appliqué or embroidery foam– your rate guide need to contain a disclosure declaration like the following: “This is just an overview. The customized nature of needlework needs that the real rate of each job be priced quote independently. Stitches over of 8,000 will be charged at the present price per thousand stitches.” A declaration comparable to this allows surcharges to cover non-standard stitch matters, procedures or products. TARGET REVENUE I use the concept of target revenue for developing a rate overview. First, I determine just how much money I wish to make– my target revenue. After that, I use my understanding of just how much I can generate per hour, integrated with the variety of hrs I can work at embroidery, to determine my rates. Belows exactly how it works: Decide just how much money you wish to generate from your needlework operation in a year. For example, allows say you intend to embroider on a part-time basis while you continue to function till retirement. At that point, allows say you intend to embroider full-time. Choose around the amount of hrs you have available to embroider. Full time embroidery has to do with 2,000 hours each year. Lets say that you prepare to embroider part-time– nights and weekends– for about 1,000 hours each year. Now, you require to have an understanding of your capability– just how much you can produce in a hr. A conventional estimate would certainly be about 18,000-20,000 stitches per hr, per needlework head. You can make a spreadsheet to see examples of your prospective profits utilizing this per hour capability, consisting of different quotes in the price-per-thousand-stitches column. This just is the revenue for the needlework portion of your work. You make about fifty percent your cash from the garments you market, so if you always market the garment, you could approximately increase the earnings figures. Bear in mind the client with the shirt-cuff monogrammeds? This is exactly how developing your target income assists– even with that rates situation where stitch count doesnt use. SETUP CHARGES In the case of logos and custom-made layouts, I recommend charging an one-time setup fee. Some needlework houses say the digitizing is “totally free.” Naturally, its hidden in the cost of the items. Billing the client a filled with air cost every time he orders or puzzling him with different prices on various orders might cost you that individuals service. I suggest speaking simply about the demand for a single charge to skillfully translate the logo into a digitized layout that can be reviewed by an embroidery machine. In some cases you may utilize a supply design incorporated with keyboard lettering to accomplish a request with a quick turnaround or a tiny order for a client that has no logo design. You need to charge something for your time as well as expertise. I recommend assigning a hourly price for computer system arrangement. For example, if your price for computer work is $60 a hr, a 15-minute set up would set you back the consumer $15. What about configuration fees for monogrammed customers? I recommend using a tiny team of preselected embroidery designs that have no more than three or 4 colors, split amongst maless, girls as well as childrens motifs. You might select to charge a small additional total up to include one of these accent designs in a monogrammed. Track your ordinary manufacturing to readjust your capacity as well as price per thousand stitches, if necessary, to accomplish your target earnings. I believe this technique is a good starting point to establish a pricing approach that functions best for you. Review it consistently and also you will certainly see exactly how you need to adjust your formula to be as successful as you imagined when you acquired your needlework device.Evaluate your rates consistently to make sure you are striking your revenue target. If youve been embroidering for some time, you may have questioned, “If Im so active, why arent I abundant? Theres little doubt that the majority of us could modify our pricing practices click here. Nevertheless, costs in all various other areas of our lives resemble moving targets, so its practical that we must examine our needlework prices on a regular basis to ensure we are striking our income targets. Of course, to do this, you initially should establish a target. Prevent prices simply out of routine or by duplicating another embroiderers rates. Your expenses almost certainly are various and also you do not even understand whether the various other store is profitable. Instead, be proactive regarding your rates policies; it can influence your business in a positive way. Compute custom patches utilizing your own approach. WHAT ARE YOU OFFERING? Its a good concept to stop and also think about what youre truly offering. Youre not selling thread in material. Youre not marketing logo designs. Youre offering a service combined with an item, which needs your time, ability and proficiency. Every one of these things have value. Regrettably, many people concentrate on their cost per thousand stitches, making their needlework function an asset rather than the complicated mix that it really is. Its typically a lot more lucrative to offer garments or various other products, such as bags or blankets, as opposed to just providing the needlework. You and your client gain several benefits when you recommend products that know to you. If you choose sensibly, you are advising and selling an item that: – has good qualities for needlework – is durable, and washes and also wears well – is quickly accessible – sustains an excellent mark-up. I recommend packing the cost for the needlework as well as your suggested item, allowing you to give your consumer a solitary cost. This is a much better pricing approach than potentially puzzling clients with information they dont care regarding anyway. Plus, you might unconsciously create them to make wrong contrasts in between your costs and also those of your competitor when you break down the prices of the needlework and also garment independently. The quantity of margin that you can moderately anticipate ranges marketing valued things as well as more high end garments. For example, you may be able to increase the price of a $10 t-shirt by including the rate of needlework, thus leading to the bundled price of the finished garment. This is called keystoning. However, youre much less most likely to be able to keystone an upscale well-known t-shirt that sets you back $30. Your margin might be reduced, but you still make a practical dollar amount per garment, plus your needlework cost. CALCULATING PRICE PER THOUSAND STITCHES To include the cost for needlework, most embroiderers make use of the price-per-thousand-stitches technique. Calculating your cost by stitch count might play a part valuing formula, but it isnt the whole story. Right heres why: Lets state that you made a decision to bill $1.50 per thousand stitches. Males shirt-cuff monograms can be profitable, however a 300-stitch monogram would just cost regarding $0.50 making use of the price- per-thousand-stitches formula. 2 prices policies should be developed: minimal price per item and also minimal rate per order. For instance, lets say that a singlehead equipment proprietor chooses $7.50 as the minimal rate per item and also $17.50 as the minimum per order. A consumer with two shirt-cuff monogrammeds at $7.50 would certainly pay $17.50 for the two monogrammeds to fulfill the minimal price per order need. The consumer must bring three t shirts to obtain the best worth. Its practical to know the typical price of creating a thousand stitches in your store or studio. Knowing the expense of producing embroidery can help you value a lot more profitably. In lots of shops, this expense is more than the proprietor visualizes. CATALOG ANYONE? If you ask 100 embroiderers if they have a price list, most would certainly claim that the nature of customized embroidery doesnt enable catalog. Absolutely, variables need to be thought about, so I favor having a price overview. A properly designed rate overview can give your clients a high level of self-confidence and also actually help you sell. An associate, Frank Gawronksi, shows that factor by asking the following: “Do you feel extra comfy getting involved in a cab with a meter or a taxicab without a meter?” Your cost overview is a type of meter that gives your consumer a base price. I such as the technique of developing a price overview by utilizing a threshold stitch matter for the embroidery, combined with your recommended product increased at a lucrative margin. This type of guide likewise reveals packed rates for preferred things stitched with logo designs containing approximately 8,000 stitches. Simply put, the price overview might note a certain design number with needlework– up to 8,000 stitches– consisted of. If the logo design has less than 8,000 stitches, you make a little bit a lot more earnings, or when the client is on a budget, you have built-in room to “sharpen your pencil.” For logos with greater than your limit stitch count– special services, such as appliqué or embroidery foam– your rate guide need to contain a disclosure declaration like the following: “This is just an overview. The customized nature of needlework needs that the real rate of each job be priced quote independently. Stitches over of 8,000 will be charged at the present price per thousand stitches.” A declaration comparable to this allows surcharges to cover non-standard stitch matters, procedures or products. TARGET REVENUE I use the concept of target revenue for developing a rate overview. First, I determine just how much money I wish to make– my target revenue. After that, I use my understanding of just how much I can generate per hour, integrated with the variety of hrs I can work at embroidery, to determine my rates. Belows exactly how it works: Decide just how much money you wish to generate from your needlework operation in a year. For example, allows say you intend to embroider on a part-time basis while you continue to function till retirement. At that point, allows say you intend to embroider full-time. Choose around the amount of hrs you have available to embroider. Full time embroidery has to do with 2,000 hours each year. Lets say that you prepare to embroider part-time– nights and weekends– for about 1,000 hours each year. Now, you require to have an understanding of your capability– just how much you can produce in a hr. A conventional estimate would certainly be about 18,000-20,000 stitches per hr, per needlework head. You can make a spreadsheet to see examples of your prospective profits utilizing this per hour capability, consisting of different quotes in the price-per-thousand-stitches column. This just is the revenue for the needlework portion of your work. You make about fifty percent your cash from the garments you market, so if you always market the garment, you could approximately increase the earnings figures. Bear in mind the client with the shirt-cuff monogrammeds? This is exactly how developing your target income assists– even with that rates situation where stitch count doesnt use. SETUP CHARGES In the case of logos and custom-made layouts, I recommend charging an one-time setup fee. Some needlework houses say the digitizing is “totally free.” Naturally, its hidden in the cost of the items. Billing the client a filled with air cost every time he orders or puzzling him with different prices on various orders might cost you that individuals service. I suggest speaking simply about the demand for a single charge to skillfully translate the logo into a digitized layout that can be reviewed by an embroidery machine. In some cases you may utilize a supply design incorporated with keyboard lettering to accomplish a request with a quick turnaround or a tiny order for a client that has no logo design. You need to charge something for your time as well as expertise. I recommend assigning a hourly price for computer system arrangement. For example, if your price for computer work is $60 a hr, a 15-minute set up would set you back the consumer $15. What about configuration fees for monogrammed customers? I recommend using a tiny team of preselected embroidery designs that have no more than three or 4 colors, split amongst maless, girls as well as childrens motifs. You might select to charge a small additional total up to include one of these accent designs in a monogrammed.

[tech-battery]

ASUS ROG STRIX SCAR 15 REVIEW: POWERFUL PORTABLE GAMING

If you’re looking for the absolute most powerful gaming hardware out there... well, you don’t want the Asus ROG Strix Scar 15. You want a desktop or a laptop that weighs seven pounds, requires multiple power bricks, and is basically a desktop. But if you still want something you can realistically carry around, the Strix is about as powerful as it gets.

We’ve reviewed a number of Asus laptops this year that are members of the ROG Zephyrus gaming line — powerful, while still portable and attractive. You’d buy a Zephyrus if you want decent gaming results but also want an everyday work machine you could bring into the office or class. The Strix line eschews the latter role. These are gaming laptops. They are just for games. They’re not cheap, they’re not subtle, and they hold nothing back.

That’s where the Strix Scar 15 stands out. Every aspect is designed with the gaming enthusiast in mind, and there are a number of unique features for those customers. Of course, those also come with a few trade-offs — and folks who might need to use their machine for tasks besides gaming should consider other options.

The Strix Scar 15 starts at $2,199.99 on the Asus store. The base model comes with a Core i7-10875H, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super, 1GB of SSD storage, and a 240Hz screen. The model we’re looking at today is a significant step up from that: it costs $2,799.99 and is powered by Intel’s eight-core Core i9-10980HK and an RTX 2070 Super, which are joined by 32GB of RAM, 2TB of storage, and a 1920 x 1080 300Hz screen (3ms response time). The 10980HK is a workhorse — it’s one of the most powerful mobile chips on the market — and 300Hz is the fastest display you can get on a 15-inch laptop.

If you clicked on this review, you’re probably most curious about the frame rates this laptop is putting up. Suffice to say: they’re good.

On CS:GO at maximum settings, the Strix Scar averaged 248fps. Thanks to this model’s 300Hz screen, the chips aren’t just rendering 248fps; you’re actually seeing 248fps. You’ll see a frame rate difference between this system and an identical one with a 240Hz display, albeit a small one. (But to folks who play a lot of esports and first-person shooters, a small difference can matter.)

Overall, CS:GO was a smooth experience. The Scar only dipped below 100fps once when I was running through a thick flurry of dust.

Not all titles are able to take full advantage of the 300Hz screen, unless you plan on bumping the quality settings down. The Strix put up 67fps on Shadow of the Tomb Raider’s highest settings with ray tracing on Ultra. On Red Dead Redemption II (one of the most demanding games out there) cranked up to Ultra, the Scar averaged 54fps. Both games were quite playable on those settings, without any stuttering or slowdown. Those results are right on par with the MSI GE66 Raider (which put up 50fps on Red Dead and 70fps on Tomb Raider) and beat the smaller Zephyrus G14 by a significant margin.

It’s worth noting that while I was letting the Scar rip in Turbo mode (the highest power profile available) the 10980HK got quite hot throughout my gaming session, spending a chunk of time in the mid-90s and even hitting 99 degrees Celsius a couple of times. When I swapped to the regular Performance profile, the CPU spent more time in the mid-high 80s, and I only saw a 1-2fps difference as a result. So if you’re worried about frying your hardware, you won’t miss much if you stay on the Performance profile.

Moving on to other laptop stuff. Apart from its chips, what distinguishes the Strix Scar 15 as a gaming laptop is the design. It features a customizable per-key RGB keyboard, a luminous logo on the lid, and a bright LED strip around the front three sides. A glowing strip may seem obnoxious, but this one is actually more subdued than strips you may have seen on gaming rigs like MSI’s GE66 Raider. It wraps around the underside of the deck, so you don’t see it full-on; the effect is less garish gamer than the GE66 Raider and more fancy nightclub. (You can turn all of the RGB stuff off, of course. But then, what’s the point?)

Another cool thing is the deck design, which is printed with what Asus calls “Cybertext.” Basically, Republic of Gamers is written all over it in an urban-chic sort of font. It’s subtle and far from distracting, but it gives the whole product a subtle sci-fi vibe.

Speaking of the keyboard deck: the palm rests are coated in a unique “soft-touch paint.” It’s much smoother than your typical palm rest (you can very much feel the difference when you touch the rest of the chassis) and is quite nice to lay your hands on.

Asus keyboards are often among my favorites, and the Strix Scar’s keyboard is no exception. I love typing on this. I feel like my fingers are flying while using it. There’s a satisfying click with very little resistance. And I especially appreciate the convenient row of hotkeys at the top, which includes volume controls, a microphone mute, one that changes the performance profile, and another button that brings up Armoury Crate (Asus’ app where you can adjust various settings and features).

If you’d rather plug in your own peripherals, you have a good port selection at your disposal. There are three USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports and an audio jack on the left side, while the back houses one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port (which supports DisplayPort, but not PD charging), the charging port, one LAN RJ-45, and one HDMI 2.0. That’s most of what you’ll need but there’s one glaring omission: Thunderbolt. Plenty of people may not care about this, but it’s a port I’m disappointed not to see on a $2,799 laptop.

On the right side is a Keystone II reader. A Keystone II is a physical key on which you can save personal settings. You can also use it to access a private storage space, which Asus refers to as a “shadow drive.” This can be encrypted if you have Windows 10 Pro. (Only this model ships with that operating system. You’ll need to upgrade from Windows 10 Home if you buy the base configuration.)

The Keystone II is a neat idea considering how many settings and profiles there are to keep track of on the Strix. In the ROG app GameVisual, you can choose between color presets for different types of games (FPS mode enhances brightness and contrast, RPG mode prioritizes vivid colors, etc.). In Aura Creator, you can customize your keyboard’s colors and animation. In GameFirst VI, you can prioritize bandwidth between the programs you have running; there are presets like Gaming First, Live Streaming First, and Multimedia First.

One more thing I like: the speakers. Music sounded great, with a nice surround quality. The Strix won’t replace a good external speaker and percussion was a bit tinny. But vocals were quite clear, and at maximum volume, I never heard distortion. The laptop’s fans get quite loud during gaming, but I had no trouble hearing my games’ audio over them. (You can also switch to the Silent profile if the whine is bothering you.)

There’s lots of good stuff on the Strix, as you can see. But there are trade-offs, too. Most of them aren’t super relevant to gaming (and thus, forgivable on a laptop like the Strix), but they’re worth bearing in mind nonetheless.

For one: there’s no webcam. It’s not a deal-breaker — streamers will be using their own equipment anyway — but it’s a big minus for anyone who would otherwise use the Strix for an occasional work meeting or virtual catch-up with friends.

I also have a couple of issues with the trackpad. It has discrete clickers, which require a bit more skittering around to press than integrated buttons. I like these particular clickers more than most, but they’re still easy to miss and I sometimes found myself whacking chassis when trying to click. Generally, I found it less responsive and less accurate than I wanted it to be. Occasionally, it thought I was clicking when I wasn’t, causing me to accidentally drag things everywhere.

The touchpad also has a nifty feature where it can morph into an LED number pad if you press an integrated NumLock button in the top-right corner — but I hit this button with my palm while typing and accidentally activated the Numpad several times. Unlike with Asus’ ZenBooks that also have this feature, you can’t navigate with the touchpad while the Numpad is up, so I kept having to interrupt my workflow to deactivate it. (You can disable the touchpad itself with F10, but there’s not an easy way to disable the NumPad without disabling the touchpad.)

The biggest downside, though, is battery life. I averaged two hours and 28 minutes of sustained multitasking and office work with the Strix on the Battery Saver profile with the screen around 200 nits of brightness. (With all the battery-saving features off and a slightly heavier load, I got as low as one hour.) The Strix is a gaming laptop, so I wasn’t expecting hours upon hours of juice. Still, plenty of competitors do better: The MSI GE66 Raider (also powering an LED strip and RGB keyboard) made it through four hours of that same workload.

AGREE TO CONTINUE: ASUS ROG STRIX SCAR 15

Every smart device now requires you to agree to a series of terms and conditions before you can use it — contracts that no one actually reads. It’s impossible for us to read and analyze every single one of these agreements. But we started counting exactly how many times you have to hit “agree” to use devices when we review them since these are agreements most people don’t read and definitely can’t negotiate.

As with other Windows 10 computers, the Asus ROG Strix Scar 15 presents you with multiple things to agree to or decline upon setup.

The mandatory policies, for which an agreement is required, are:

A request for your region and keyboard layout

Windows 10 License Agreement and Asus privacy agreement

A PIN

In addition, there is a slew of optional things to agree to:

Wi-Fi network

Microsoft account

Device privacy settings: online speech recognition, Find My Device, Inking and Typing, Advertising ID, Location, Diagnostic data, Tailored experiences

Customize your device for various purposes (gaming, schoolwork, creativity, entertainment, family, and/or business)

Link your Android smartphone

OneDrive backup

Office 365

Allow Microsoft to access your location, location history, contacts, voice input, speech and handwriting patterns, typing history, search history, calendar details, messages, apps, and Edge browsing history to aid Cortana’s personalized experiences and suggestions

Asus member registration

Set up McAfee account

That’s five mandatory agreements and 16 optional ones.

Gaming on battery is possible, but not great. Red Dead ran mostly in the high teens and low 20s. I got an hour and 15 minutes of the game on a charge, but I started to see stuttering when the Strix was down to 60 percent (about half an hour in) and the game became unplayable at 10 percent. Realistically, if you plan on bringing the Scar anywhere, you’ll need to bring the massive 280W adapter and spend some time charging the device. (It took 45 minutes to charge up to 60 percent during very light Chrome use.)

Overall, these nitpicks emphasize Asus’ priority with the Scar. It’s not a laptop that’s meant to double as a travel companion or a work-from-home driver — don’t buy it to be your primary PC.

But that doesn’t mean the Scar isn’t great at what it’s supposed to be great at, which is gaming. Its results are on par with those of the best 15-inch rigs on the market, and it offers useful customization software with a unique colorful design to boot. If you need the best frame rates and the fastest screen, the Strix Scar 15 is a fine purchase.

[mamaneedsadrank]

Pull the ball, please?

Welcome back friends, fam, boy, gals and everything in-between. Do you know what day of the week it is? 

I feel like this is getting a very Barney/Blue’s Cluey’s feel. How do I knock that shit off? 

Just like that. 

What am I drinking you may ask? Well LET’S GET THERE.

Today’s blogging experience is paired with a majestic Rocky Mountain brewed light beer. It’s clean and crisp smooth taste makes it easy to grab life by the stones. Okay, it’s Keystone. The beer of choice is only due to a 30 pack costing 12 dollars, AND  the fact that it tastes of nostalgia and terribly great decisions

Beer Pong. 

*le sigh*

I am not really sure what it is about the satisfaction of a Ping Pong Ball sinking its way into a disposable plastic cup. 

No, I did not refer to them as “SOLO CUPS” as I am not getting paid by any of these companies to give shout outs, but we should make that happen *cough*

I am a lover of the Pong arts, and may actually be one of the most savage players of the game that has ever walked the planet.

Yes, you read that right. I did just get cocky about Beer Pong, but let me explain why I feel it is allowed and justifiable.

As I hit the end of my teenage years, and approached my 20′s I hung out with a “Wolf Pack”.  The Wolf Pack was, and is to this day, a congregation of Bros that share a set of common rules. It even entails a very specific initiation ritual that one must complete before becoming a member. 

The Pack is made up with a numerous amounts of Steve’s/Stevens, A 7 foot Waggy Tail that does not fit into a Dodge Neons, 2 gentlemen that own the same purple plaid style button up and would call “purple shirt” on evenings they would venture out so they would not be dressed alike again, a shrimp of a Manchild, and a 6 foot fella that looks like Luke Bryan and Aaron Rogers mated and had love child. 

You could feel moods shift to pure and utter joy when this group of bros entered a room. OR maybe it was just the Cherry Doc and Sours I was tipping back that made these occasions so joyous. 

ANYWAYS, you get the picture. They were the life of the party, and everyone wanted to surround themselves with these fellas. 

No, I can assure you, it’s not a cult.

Even if you were the designated ball and beer wench during the pong games, you could learn many strategic ways to better your pong skillage: 

Rule 1. Your elbow cannot cross the back cup line when throwing. So watch your damn lean, or you are going to get called, while looking like an amateur little bitch.

Rule 2. If someone shoots the ball, and makes it into the cup your partner must request the opponent to pull the ball out the cup. “Pull It, please,” is the correct terminology to get the ball out when playing a gentleman’s game with manners. Otherwise, just yell .”PULL IT” like a crazed sex monster trying not to explode and impregnate the prom queen.

Rule 3. It is called “LONER”. If you call it an Island, you may be requested to return to your douchebag beacon you came from. Loners are cups often isolated, and hanging by themselves not touching other cups. If this cup is made and loner is called, this counts for 2 cups. If Loner is not called and the cup is made, it only equals 1 cup. 

Rule 4. Watch your rack. Not the fun kind that’s attached to your chesticles, but the rack of cups on the table. You don’t want overly spaced cups, or overlapping cups. The beer pong snobs will call you on this shit all night.

Rule 5. You are allotted 2 re-racks per game. You cannot re-rack if you have over 7 cups. Re-Racks options are: the Diamond +1, Freshman, Lego, Turtle, Zipper, 6-pack, straight-line and/or House.

Rule 6. Not all houses play circle of death rules. Clarify this prior to starting the game.

Rule 7. “ On Fire” shots are only allotted after calling heating up. If you make 2 cups in a row on each turn, you may shoot your fire shot until you lose.

Rule 8. Watch the bounce. The pack has always had the mean set of bouncing pairs. They will attempt psyching you out with one player shooting while the other is bouncing simultaneously. If the bounce is made, you must pull 2 cups off the table.

Whew. I am now winded and have carpel tunnel from all this typing. 

But seriously.

 You have the gist as to what I endured when facing this pack of Manbeasts. Savage fucks they are, but many are the most genuine beings. Even after a decade, nothing excites me more than playing this party game with these bros.The nostalgia of the game assures my youth is always in tact, and that I will always be aware of my elbow placing.

So, set up a table, get plastic cups, fill with beverage or water,(no judgement- this is a pandemic after all),& grab your finest set of orange ping-pong balls. Kick it old school, turn on Rack City and gyrate. Rinse, Lather, Repeat.

Sometimes the simplest things will make you the happiest.

Be the clutch. XO, Still Mommy Lashless

[firesoulstuff]

Secret Santa

A VixenWave oneshot for Christmas!

It’s Christmas Eve, and they’re stopped in the present anyway to drop Jax off, so Sara’s decided to park the Waverider until tomorrow night in order to allow everyone a chance to get off and spend Christmas with their own families. She’s also offered to take Amaya and Zari back to their own times for the holidays, but they’ve both declined the offer. Zari gave the reason that, although she was happy to take part in the goodbye Jax/Christmas party on the Waverider, she doesn’t really celebrate any of the end of December holidays, and even if she did there isn’t really anyone left for her to celebrate with back home. Amaya said that she wouldn’t want to go home for only a day, which is true, but she didn’t have it in her to mention that she feels like once she’s home again that’ll be it; she’ll never let herself get back on the Waverider again.

She has a destiny, after all, and so the next time she gets off in Zambesi it will have to be the last; and she’s not ready for that day to be here just yet.

Still, wandering around the empty ship does get boring when there’s something other than the time stream outside the window.

Sara has gone to visit her mother, saying that she’ll probably go to see her father in the morning. Ray’s taken the jump ship to New York, apparently he STILL hasn’t bothered to tell his family he’s alive and has no plans of ever getting around to it, but he wants to see the big tree in Rockefeller Center. He’s also dragged Zari along with him, as well as Nathaniel, and even Leo. He asked her to go along on the trip with them, and truly she isn’t exactly sure why she turned him down, because being stranded alone on the Waverider is boring.

Alone.

It only hits her in that moment that she’s alone on the ship, with only Gideon for company, yet she has no idea where Rory would’ve gone.

“Gideon?” She asks; her brow furrowing as she goes through her earlier conversation with Ray in her head, making sure Mick didn’t go with him.

She knows he didn’t.

“Yes Ms. Jiwe?” Gideon’s reply nearly startles her, what with the way it echoes off the corridor walls more than usual.

“Do you have any idea where Mick went?” She’s just curious, because she knows Mick doesn’t have any family left in 2017 but he doesn’t seem like the type to join in on whatever Barry is doing, yet she doubts even he would pull a heist on Christmas Eve.

“He didn’t say, however he did take his cell phone and I have tracked him to an address in Keystone City, would you like the address?”

 When she finds him he is indeed at the address that Gideon tracked him to, but he’s sitting on the roof. She eyes him curiously from the street below, and she thinks he sees her but she can’t be sure. So, going around the back of the house, she finds an overturned crate with fresh boot prints in the snow on its surface and climbs up. She follows Mick’s trail on the roof, until she’s standing beside him, and he still doesn’t say anything.

“What’s over there?” She finally asks after standing a few minutes in silence.

“Nothing,” Mick mumbles but she isn’t buying it.

“You’re standing on some person’s roof, on Christmas Eve, looking across the street at nothing?” She questions but his expression doesn’t change, and that expression is almost sad looking. “Mick?” She pleads, “Mick come on, what’s-”

“What do you see over there?” He cuts her off quietly, stoic as ever, and confused she directs her attention to the house across the street.

The bottom floor is lite up, a few people milling around the front room in nice clothes. There are also some children who pass by every now and again, most of them wearing pajamas. There’s a tree in the back of the room, illuminated by colorful lights and surrounded by presents. It looks pleasant, and warm in more ways than one, but the reason Mick is so interested in it is still lost on Amaya.

“A party?” She guesses but he doesn’t answer, not at first, it takes a few minutes before he finally nods for her to take another look.

“See the one on the end, with the little one in her lap?”

She looks more closely, noticing that the children are all squeezing together on one couch, probably for a picture. The one Mick has indicated appears to be one of the oldest, a girl who looks like she’s just reached the start of her teenage years and is holding on to one of the younger children. She has light skin and dark hair that is falling out of a low ponytail and hanging in a mess around her face. Amaya can’t tell many other details about her from here, nor can she understand why Mick’s pointed her out. But, he must know that, because the next thing that she knows he’s slipping something into her hands.

She looks down at the object she now holds, a small package wrapped in Christmas tree paper, and she turns it around until she finds the nametag stuck to it.

“To: Caroline, From: Santa.” She reads aloud, her brow furrowing even more, “I don’t understand.”

Mick shrugs, like he didn’t entirely expect her to understand, and settles his gloved hands into his pockets.

“I met her mom at a bar one night,” He says and suddenly Amaya gets it, her eyes widening with realization, but she doesn’t interrupt him. “Went back to Iron Heights for a couple months not long after, she came to visit me. Said she didn’t want anything from me, that if I wanted to come around every once in awhile I could, she just thought I should know.” He nods towards the window, through which they can now see the children all scrambling to get away from the couch and back to whatever they were doing before their parents corralled them. “In a couple hours she’ll go to bed, and I’ll go over there.” He nods again, this time towards the roof of the house, “And drop that thing down the chimney.” He concludes, his eyes having now fallen onto the present.

Handing it back to him Amaya doesn’t say anything, doesn’t know what to say. She wants to ask how many years he’s done this, but she already knows. She wants to ask if he’s ever actually met Caroline, or if he’s only watched her on Christmas Eve through this window, but she knows the answer to that too. So she sighs and tried to think of a question without an answer that will be immediately depressing.

“What did you get her?” She decides on, thinking it a safe question, but she reevaluates when Mick tenses up.

She’s about to apologize for crossing a line, about to leave him to his business in peace, when he answers her.

“A stuffed dog.” She doesn’t mean to raise her eyebrow at him, she truly doesn’t, but it happens anyway. “What?”

“You got your teenage daughter-”

“Thirteen,” he interrupts, like despite the fact that he doesn’t even know his daughter he still isn’t ready to admit that she’s already a teenager.

That’s oddly sweet, in Amaya’s opinion at least.

“Still,” she goes on, “Don’t you think she’s a little old for something like that?”

“Maybe,” he admits with a shrug, “But I don’t know what she likes, kind of have to stick with the generic stuff.”

She nods at that, “Well we can find something generic that’s a little…. More mature, if you want.”

“On Christmas Eve?” he asked doubtfully, and Amaya smirks.

“We have a time machine with a jump ship,” she reminds him and he considers the idea for a moment.

 They take the jump ship back to yesterday, destination set as Central City just to be sure they don’t screw anything up. They go walking all throughout the down town area of the city looking for a gift, which is turning out to be more difficult than Amaya had anticipated. They can’t buy clothes because they have no idea what Caroline’s style is, or her size for that matter (though Amaya could probably make a fairly accurate guess after seeing her through the window). The same problem presented itself with shoes, and Mick put his foot down when Amaya wandered into the make-up section of a store. They also rule out the toy store fairly quickly, which Mick was surprisingly happy about because apparently there had been about three or four years in a row when he got her a Barbie every year, and he still hates walking into the obnoxiously pink aisle.

“Can I just give her the dog?” He nearly whines as the sun starts to set, snow starts to fall, and the two of them are still walking down the sidewalk empty handed. “She likes dogs, a couple years ago I saw her sitting on that couch petting one.”

“I though you didn’t know anything about her?” Amaya questions, almost challenging him, but he just keeps looking ahead.

“I don’t,” he insists, his voice a touch more gruff than usual. “Don’t even know her birthday. Just noticed a couple things over the years of spending Christmas Eve looking through that window.”

“Like what?” She asks, her curiosity peaked, and he seems unopposed to telling her.

“She likes dogs for starters,” he says before thinking a little more. “Saw her do some old woman’s hair once, or try to anyway. She used to walk into that room wearing some different, not to mention bizarre, costume each time; so she probably liked dress up when she was little.” He smiles then, to himself, almost like he’s forgotten Amaya is with him. Not that she has any intentions of reminding him. “When she was little she ran around like nuts. There was one year I think her mom must’ve spent that entire party trying to keep her from running into something, kid never seemed to stop moving.”

Amaya smiles to herself as he laughs; it’s so rare that Mick lets down his walls and allows himself to care about something in the way that he clearly does in regards to hi daughter, and even rarer that he allows someone else to see it.

“One more store,” she suggests, “If we don’t find anything you can give her the dog.”

She leads him into a jewelry store that’s caught her eye. She isn’t sure if she actually expects to find anything here, what with it being the day before Christmas Eve and all. Even as they walk through the tiny shop and a few things that aren’t terrible catch her eye she starts to admit to herself that they’ve struck out again, until she notices Mick looking at a shelf in towards the back.

“Find something?” She asks, hurrying to join him as he picks up a small box.

“Don’t know,” he rumbles in that low voice of his that let’s her know he thinks he’s found something, but he isn’t entirely sure.

The box he’s holding is made of dark blue velvet, and inside is a single silver chain supporting a heart shaped pendant. The heart is small and simple, attached to either side of the chain by the two arched sides of the top. There is a row of diamonds, false obviously, on the right side of the heart and the bottom side of the left is curved inwards.

“Think she’d like it?” He asks and Amaya looks up at his sincere gaze.

“Yes,” she answers, “I think she would love it.”

 Upon returning to the present Mick makes one quick stop by his room to leave the dog behind and wrap the necklace, something he isn’t half bad at. He promises that he’ll be back soon and Amaya knows that’s his way of insisting he do this alone, which is more than fine by her. She ends up in the galley for a midnight snack and then head to her own room to get ready for bed, but to her surprise there is something settled on her pillow.

It’s small, maybe the size of her hand, and it’s wrapped in the same Christmas tree wrapping paper Mick had used for Caroline’s present. There’s also a sticky note on the top.

Picked these up at the jewelry place, thanks for the help, and don’t tell anyone. –Merry Christmas, Mick.

Smiling to herself Amaya carefully tore the paper from the gift, her smile widening when she finishes.

Underneath the paper is a small blue box, much like the one for Caroline’s necklace, and inside is a pair of dangling gold earrings.

She puts them on and waits in the galley for him to return, and when he does she looks up at him with a soft smile.

“Your secret’s safe with me.”

[robininthelabyrinth]

Countless Roads - Chapter 13

Fic: Countless Roads - Chapter 13 - Ao3

Fandom: Flash, Legends Pairing: Gen, Mick Rory/Leonard Snart, others

Summary: Due to a family curse (which some call a gift), Leonard Snart has more life than he knows what to do with – and that gives him the ability to see, speak to, and even share with the various ghosts that are always surrounding him.

Sure, said curse also means he’s going to die sooner rather than later, just like his mother, but in the meantime Len has no intention of letting superheroes, time travelers, a surprisingly charming pyromaniac, and a lot of ghosts get in the way of him having a nice, successful career as a professional thief.

———————————————————————————

Mick has been driving himself spare trying to investigate the attempts to kill Len of the past few months, and it’s starting to show in the way he broods over the topic any time there’s a moment to do so.

"At least whoever’s behind it haven't made any new tries recently," Len offers on the drive home from STAR Labs, where they’d dropped Jax off for a day of what Team Flash called ‘orientation’ and Len called ‘Caitlin running baseline tests while Cisco shows off their cool villain archives and tries to think of a decent villain name while Barry is at work’. Jax finally managed to finish the extended summer hours he promised to put in at the autoshop this week, so he’s ready to start getting involved in the Rogues at last. Besides, the delay meant that Len’s leg is fully healed by now. "The last one was all the way back on Black Hole Day. That’s something, ain’t it?"

"People don't order assassins – "

"Amateur assassins at best – "

"People don't order any type of assassins and then stop, Len," Mick replies. "There's something we're missing."

"I'm sure," Len says. "But we’ve been over it half a dozen times. I don’t know what else you think we can do.”

“If we sent out the ghosts –”

“To do what?” Len asks practically. “The ghosts are useful, but only to a certain degree, and only when they’re given orders. You know most of them aren’t stable enough to focus on a serious search like this.”

“I know, I know. S’why I’ve only been using the good ones. But –”

“Mick. If there was something I could think of, some angle, I would. But I don’t know why they started, and I don’t know why they stopped, either – and I don’t know why they shifted over to wanting me alive, either.”

“Assuming they didn’t always,” Mick grumbles. “Goddamn amateurs. I went back and double-checked, by the way – they were using Santini guns and bullets, every single time. Even that usher in the theater; I checked the bullet casings and there’s no doubt.”

“So we're back to thinking it was a frame-up job?”

“Guess it has to be. Why someone intent on framing a Family would only hire amateurs, though, I don’t know.”

“Maybe the goal is to have us go up against the Santinis, cause them trouble?”

“Nah. Even the Santinis have been answering our questions since we explained the whole hired killer thing; the Dons seem to be taking it as a personal insult that someone’s been handing out their guns.”

“Of course that’s what they care about,” Len says, shaking his head. From his perspective, he’s worried about the issue enough; there's nothing good ruminating on it further would do. They just have to wait for the next attempt, and that's that. “Anyway, to change the subject, I was thinking, for the Rogues, might be worth it to have a good getaway man."

"Thought that's why we had Jax?"

"He's only one guy, and you don't let me drive anymore," Len reminds Mick.

Mick shrugs. "If the unquiet dead attack you one more time while you’re behind the wheel, you'll lose your license for epilepsy anyway. I'm just preempting it."

"My license is fake, Mick."

"Consider me your DMV, then. How many people in your family history do you want to bet died of falling off their horses, huh?"

"Horses – "

"Don't knock horses. Horses are scary."

“Mick. Why are we talking about horses?” Len asks, because honestly he has no idea when that happened. It’s not that he disagrees – there was an incident when he was younger, when Lisa got it in her head that she wanted to go horseback riding and they’d been scared off by the sheer size of the beasts – but seriously, how had the horses entered the conversation?

“Because you won’t tell me the real reason you want to recruit someone new.”

Len groans. "I want someone else on the Rogues that's closer to Jax's age. You happy now?"

"See, that's a good reason. Who were you thinking?"

"Webber. He could use the money, and he's a speed demon."

Mick hums thoughtfully, then turns on the wrong exit to go home, but the right exit to take them over to Keystone – and the drag racing tracks.

"I'll take that as a yes," Len says, satisfied.

They find Webber counting up his cash at the end of a race, no car in sight, and looking anxious, which isn't an uncommon sight these days.

"Hey, WWW," Len says, leaning out of the car window. "How's the mom?"

Webber looks up, with a wry smile. "Still sick," he says. "But better. Not so much nausea anymore. Tell me you've got a won't-go-wrong job that needs a driver."

"Better," Len says. "How do you feel about trying to out-race a speedster through skill alone?"

Webber's eyes all but glow with excitement. "I can't afford to get arrested for it," he warns, because he sometimes remembers to be level-headed. "And I need money, not just speed."

"Cut of our profits or a flat fee each time, whatever's bigger," Len says. "You wear a mask, and the Flash has promised to make sure you don't get tossed in the clink if you obey a certain set of rules – no killing people, best efforts to hurt anyone, pick the targets carefully, that sort of thing. I run the show and you listen to me."

"The Flash promises? Man, I don't know what con you're running, but I want in."

"Adrenaline hog," Len says fondly. It takes one to know one. "Hop in, we'll give you a lift since you lost your keys."

"That obvious, huh? Jonesy’s crew won my ride, but I'm gonna buy it back."

"Wait till tomorrow," Mick advises. "He'll think you're not as desperate and drop the price a bit to make sure you buy it."

Webber climbs into the car. "True," he says. "But without you guys, I wouldn't have a way home otherwise, so I was desperate. Anyway, doesn’t matter now. Tell me about your newest scam."

"It's not a scam," Len objects. "It's – media managing, s'all. The real game goes on."

Webber arches his eyebrows.

"The way it works is this – "

It turns out that Jax has finished Team Flash orientation and is waiting for them back at what they’re currently using as the Rogues safehouse, which makes everything easier.

"Jax, meet Webber," Len says. "You'll be our go-to car guys, so bond. Learn each other's tricks. I want a well-oiled machine out of the two of you. Proper pumping engine."

"He knows literally nothing about cars," Webber tells Jax.

"No kidding," Jax says with a snort. "He doesn't even drive."

"I drive!" Len protests.

"Barely," both young men chorus, then smile at each other.

Len rolls his eyes. "I'm conceding the point only to encourage team morale."

"Wait, that works?" Mick asks. "I've got some other points for you to concede on – it'd certainly raise my morale – "

"No."

"My name's Jefferson Jackson," Jax tells Webber, ignoring Mick and Len. "Everyone calls me Jax."

"I think I remember you," Webber says. "Football QB for Bradley High, right? You kicked the Bobcats' ass up and down the field."

"You were a Bobcat?"

"Not on the team, but the school, yeah. I'll just apologize in advance."

"Nah, man, I'll apologize to you. That's the rowdiest school in the whole district – unless you count Holy Angels, and – "

"— no one ever counts Holy Angels," they conclude in unison with identical smirks.

Len shares bewildered glances with Mick. High school drama is something Len will never get. Real sports, even college ball, sure, but high school?

Webber sticks out a hand. "Wally West," he says. Jax shakes his hand, smiling.

"Webber, your real name is Wall-E?" Len says dubiously. "Like the robot movie?"

"No, you dweeb of a supervillain," Webber says, rolling his eyes. "As in, short for Wallace."

"Why do they call you Webber?" Jax asks.

"It's one of my racing handles in Keystone," Webber says, shaking his head. "See, my full name's actually Wallace Wickham West..."

"It is?" Len says, not without some real horror. "And here I thought Snart was bad."

"Snart is bad," Mick says, pulling out a beer from the fridge.

"I get it," Jax says, laughing. "World Wide Web, huh? WWW?"

"And from that, Webber," Webber says. "Either that or Wally’s fine. What brings you to these crazy bastards?"

"College tuition. You?"

"Mom's medical bills. I'm still hoping to scholarship my way into college."

"Tough road, man. Sorry about your mom. It bad?"

"Yeah, cancer."

"Shit. Let me tell my mom, she'll probably want to drop off a casserole. Or ten."

Webber cracks another grin. "Yeah, my mom used to do that, I know exactly what you mean. Yeah. That'd be good. A bunch of mom's friends ditched when she started getting really sick, and my dad’s not in the picture. She could use some company."

"I'll tell my mom tonight," Jax promises.

"And when you're done with that," Len says, "maybe you could go try out the cars out back and see if you think they need to be tuned up for the heist we're pulling on Friday."

"Friday? Short notice."

"Need to get the Rogues plan into action," Len says firmly. “No reason for delay.”

"Also, he's invited the Flash and Co. over for a potluck on Saturday to celebrate our new supervillain-superhero alliance and just realized how much money feeding a speedster's gonna cost," Mick says dryly. "Well. I realized, since I'm gonna be doing the feeding."

"I can't wait to actually meet the Flash," Jax says, bouncing a little, Webber nodding along.

"He's just a nerd in a red costume," Len warns them, but that doesn't seem to dim their enthusiasm one bit.

Especially not after he promises that after a few months of successful heists they’d be able to pick their own villain themes, with Cisco’s assistance.

The heist goes well enough – they get lots of publicity right next to the awful tenements near old McFeely Park, Flash lets them get away with about half the cash they'd lifted – the physical form of a wire transfer, Monsanto money being shipped in from the local farmers, and the farmers' obligations being done once they paid meant the loss was all on the corporation – and the potluck goes well, too.

Jax brings casseroles for everyone. "I have another three out back," he says to Webber, who'd brought soda. "You don’t want to know. Even my Great Aunt Josephine got in on the action when she heard the words 'speedster metabolism'. Your mom's gonna be descended on by an army, just warning you."

"She could use an army," Webber says, eyes suspiciously wet. "Thanks."

Barry brought pizza. Twenty-seven boxes of pizza.

"You're a crazy person," Webber tells him, opening one of the boxes which has the weirdest pizza toppings Len's ever seen. "But you've got great taste."

"You're all crazy," Len says. "Barry, this here's Webber – or Wally, whatever – and he's gonna be a junior Rogue, too."

"Nice to meet you," Barry says, shaking Webber's hand. "This is Caitlin Snow, her husband Ronnie Raymond, Cisco Ramon, Iris West, and my ghost-mom, Nora Allen."

"Ghost-mom?" Webber asks.

"Did Len not tell you about the ghost thing?" Iris asks. "It's a hell of a story."

"No, I just know the basics – hey, wait, you said your last name is West?"

"Yeah, Iris West."

"Cool," Webber says. "I'm Wally West."

"Nice! Last name bros!"

"Maybe we're related," Webber says. "Cousins or something. That'd be awesome – god, this is gonna be so awkward for first time meeting conversation, but my mom's sick – cancer – she needs a bone marrow transplant and I'm not compatible, so we’ve been asking people – "

"I'd be happy to get tested," Iris says immediately. "Absolutely. My mom died when I was a kid, when I was too young to really remember, so – yeah. Happy to help."

"You're awesome," Webber says happily. "I'll ask her about maybe-cousins when I next see her."

"My dad's working tonight – he's a cop and he doesn't want to officially come to hang out with criminals – but I'll ask him, too. That would be so cool; I've always wanted a little cousin!"

“Cop, huh? He come down hard on drag racing?”

“Nah,” Iris says, laughing. “He doesn’t really care; says it’s better than drugs. My fiancé – also a cop, also not attending – says it’s a bad habit, but that he’ll only arrest you if you’re racing somewhere there could be collateral casualties.”

“No problem, then. That’s not my scene…”

"Food's almost ready," Mick calls from the kitchen. "Ghosts are laying it out as we speak."

"Kind of rude not to invite them to eat if they're serving, isn't it?" Cisco asks Len.

"I'm not made of life energy," Len snipes back, then pauses. "Well, technically – "

Cisco snickers. "Wish I'd known about the ghost stuff when I named you."

"The 'Captain' bit kinda covers the 'having a group to order about' stuff. Also, how would you fit it in with the cold theme? Don’t say Chillbones."

"Don’t be so down on it, it’s a good name! Maybe – Ghost Cold?"

"Sounds like a disease."

"Yeah, I’m not feeling it. Let me think about it a bit more."

"Don't waste your brainpower. Let's discuss what we’ll be naming our Little League Rogue Squad..."

"The food looks fantastic," Caitlin tells Mick.

"Thanks," he replies. "Say, you're the doc, right?"

"Uh, yes."

"Great. I'd like to talk to you about getting some updated scans of Len's brain -"

"He's had another attack?"

"We fought it off before it got severe, but the unquiet dead are causing more problems – there's been more and more of them coming to Central as Len's power increases and since friendlies are more likely to pass on eventually, the proportion’s getting worse."

"Yes, I see the problem. When was the last time he got scanned..?"

"So you're Firestorm, huh?" Jax asks Ronnie. "That's pretty neat. You and – what's his name, the grey-haired professor?"

"We're actually hoping to find another Firestorm," Ronnie tells him. "Right now, my partner, Martin Stein – he couldn't be here tonight; his wife was attending a dinner and he went with her – he and I are bound together."

"Oh? How so?"

"Well, there's a mild psychic component, but the principal thing is that we need to merge on a semi-regular basis or else, boom. But if we had a third Firestorm – not even a third one in the actual merge, just someone else capable of doing it – we think that could lighten the load. Basically, we think that might mean we could stabilize it further meaning that we wouldn't have to merge all the time – "

"I think I get it," Jax says. "Triads are more stable than pair-bonds."

"Exactly! You're into chemistry?"

"Hoping to be a mechanical engineer, actually."

"That was my major! What program were you thinking? CCU?"

"Nearest and cheapest."

"The engineering program's not shabby at all, actually; it cleans up pretty good nation-wide. Were you thinking of any specializations? Professor Babasijibomi is great – "

“I haven’t even started thinking about that, but that’s good to know…”

Len looks around the room, ghosts floating in with grins as they watch the bickering, living people chattering and eating, Cisco talking to Lisa over Skype –

All in all, things are going pretty well.

“Never ask me for another favor ever again,” Len tells Barry a month or so later. "Ever."

“You think I’m happy about this?” Barry asks, making a face. “They’re my parents. Besides, you have no place to talk, you also regularly sleep with a dead guy!”

“I’ve never given anyone life so they can have ‘released from prison’ sex,” Len says. “I feel dirty now.”

“You’re a thief.”

“This is worse.”

“…yeah,” Barry concedes, shaking his head. “So, what do you think? About Zoom and the breaches?”

“I think you’re a lot more tolerable now that you’ve stopped blaming yourself for it,” Len replies, willing to take any conversation shift away from what he just empowered Nora to do. Also, he’s right.

Barry rolls his eyes. “I still think it’s kind of my fault, since I did cause the singularity by powering up the Accelerator before deciding against going into the past, but I have accepted – how did you call it – my role as a pawn in Wells’ scheme, and now I’m working on internalizing the idea. That wasn’t what I meant, though. Jay says –”

“I don’t like him.”

“Thank you! I don’t either but everyone’s just saying that I’m being too suspicious because of the whole thing with Wells.”

“You’re being reasonable,” Len says. “Listen, at your age, a lot of people look for a mentor, and there’s a lot of people willing to take advantage of that – especially if they have access to your powers as a result.”

“Jay doesn’t need it, though,” Barry says reluctantly. “He’s the Flash on his own world.”

“So he’s a speedster?”

“…no, he lost his powers when Zoom threw him through the breach.”

Len arches his eyebrows. “A speedster who lost his speedster powers, who now wants to mentor you? Sounds a bit familiar, don’t it?”

Barry makes a face. “What do I do, though? There’s definitely an Earth-2, and this Zoom guy is definitely sending metas through to our world with orders to kill me.”

“I’ll have Mick send some of my better ghosts with you as guards,” Len decides. “Pick one to be your go-to ghost, whichever one you like best, and they can monitor the others, maybe help you keep track of this Jay guy, see what he gets up to on his own, if you know what I mean. He doesn’t know about the ghost thing yet, so that’s an advantage we have.”

Barry nods. “Thanks,” he says. “That’ll help a lot. And can’t I just use Mom?”

“If your mom keeps getting everything she’s ever wanted, she’s going to have no regrets in no time, at which point she passes on,” Len reminds Barry. “And that’s a good thing. You want her to pass on.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Barry sighs. “I’ll pick someone, then, and have Mom train them up; that’ll give us a bit more time with her.”

“She worries about you,” Len says. “But passing on is really the best thing for ghosts. They all seem to really like it, even the unquiet ones.”

“So we’ll keep an eye on Jay,” Barry says. “That makes me feel better already, actually. Trust but verify.”

“I’m also going to assign the Junior Squad to cover you with these new metas,” Len decides. “A few minor confrontations the next few weeks – they can plan them out themselves with you over texts – give you some eyes on the outside.”

Barry nods. “What about you? Any word on the Santini thing?”

“Not a peep, but then again, no new murder attempts, either. I’m taking it as a win.”

“Mick isn’t,” Barry says knowingly.

Len sighs. “Yeah, well, can’t have everything. You go figure out this Zoom business. Say, have you considered checking this Garrick’s story?”

“Checking it? What do you mean?”

“Set Cisco and Stein on figuring out a way to get you to Earth-2 and back and check the guy’s story. You know, credentials, birth certificate, shit like that. And while you’re there, well, maybe you can find Zoom before he finds you.”

“They’re already working on stabilizing the breaches to get Jay home,” Barry says, brightening. “And if I take the fight to Zoom –”

“Less collateral damage here,” Len says, nodding. “Let me know if you need help; we can team up to fight off the outsider.” He taps his cold gun. “I specialize in speedsters, after all.”

“Thanks,” Barry says sincerely, hopping up. “I’ll let you know.”

With a crackle of lightning and a gust of wind, he’s gone.

Shaking his head in amusement, Len texts the new instructions to Jax and Wally – they’ve done a handful of heists with him now, they should be ready to strike out on their own, especially with Barry’s willing assistance – and contemplates, for the first time in quite a while, a more or less entirely free weekend.

More or less.

“Hey, boss,” Mick says, coming through the door. “We still hitting the cashier’s cage at the racetrack tomorrow?”

“Indeed we are,” Len says. “Let’s go pick up Lisa at the train station, treat her to dinner. Tomorrow’s going to be back to the basics, family only.”

“Good,” Mick says. “We could use something nice and simple.”

Maybe they were just tempting fate, saying something like that, because the cashier’s cage went sweet and easy, no problem, but a parked van’s doors snapping open and people in dark masks swinging batons and smashing them down on their heads is an entirely unexpected twist.

Len sees Lisa go down, hears Mick yelling, and lunges forward, only to hear a crackle of electricity – similar, yet subtly different from the Flash’s – and then everything goes dark.

Len hates tasers.

He wakes up –

He’s not sure where he is. The trunk of a car, judging by the way he’s been stuffed inside and the bumping and shaking as they drive. A car, not the van from earlier.

It’s strangely quiet.

All of his joints hurt, electricity having done them no good, and his head hurts, too. His head especially, actually; the back of the skull feels like he got bashed instead of shocked.

He’s not bound, which is perhaps the most surprising part.

It’s quiet.

Len’s not sure why he keeps thinking that. The road keeps rattling, there’s a ringing in his ears…

It’s still too quiet.

The car shudders to a halt.

There’s a slammed door.

Footsteps.

Len tenses, waiting to see what would greet him when the trunk opened – to make the split-second decision whether to leap out aggressively or to hang back, make a few snide remarks, and find out what whoever-it-is knows and wants before attacking.

The trunk is popped open.

And then –

All of Len’s muscles seize up at once, the memory of old terrors hitting him straight in the gut.

“Hello, son,” Lewis says.

[ledenews]

Kyle Cooper: Finding that Familial Feeling

Kyle Cooper may be a Keystone-state native, but throughout his adult life, those ‘County Roads’ seemingly keep him coming ‘home.’ Cooper grew up in Waterford, Pa., less than a 20-mile trip southeast from Erie. Yet when it came time to select a college, Cooper opted to attend West Virginia University in Morgantown. This, despite the fact that his father is a Penn State alum.There he earned dual bachelor’s degrees during his undergrad career. He decided to stick around Morgantown to finish his master’s in educational leadership. All the while, Cooper spent his free hours surrounded by basketball -- first helping John Beilein’s men’s team as a manager and camp counselor, and then hopping over to the women’s program to help Mike Carey as first the head student manager and then as a graduate assistant. He finally left to work as director of women’s basketball operations at Ohio University in Athens for one season, before an assistant coaching opportunity opened up at then Wheeling Jesuit University. After two seasons at WJU, Cooper jumped at the chance to work and learn under Lynn Ullom at rival West Liberty. When Ullom hung up the whistle and accepted the Athletics Director position at WLU, he handed the reins to Cooper. Cooper has spent nearly as much time living as a West Virginian as he has as a Pennsylvanian -- a fact not lost on the married father of two. It doesn’t hurt that his wife is an Ohio Valley native and Katie, like her husband, works for the university as West Liberty’s Director of Financial Aid.

Cooper poses for a family photo with wife Katie, son Brody and daughter Cali.

All in the Family

That closeness has helped Cooper run his program like a tight-knit family. His top assistant, Cassie Seth, grew up in Waterford along with Kyle. They knew each other long before Seth, whom Cooper calls his co-head coach, Cassie Seth, joined Cooper's coaching staff after serving as an assistant at Baldwin-Wallace College. The two play off one another, which helps both in coaching and in recruiting. Speaking of recruiting, now that he’s the head coach, Cooper hasn’t stepped back and asked his assistants to handle his light work. He’s actively involved in the process. He knows the types of not only players, but also people whom wants to bring into his team environment. They have to be the right fit. The only way to ensure that is to develop a close relationship with the player prior to committing to the university—as close as the NCAA allows anyway. But that bond continues long after the recruited players sign on the line. It’s not a ploy to get them to come to West Liberty, but a genuine philosophical approach to basketball and life. Watch Cooper interact with his players, both on the sidelines, at practice, or even during a press conference, and you can see the camaraderie and mutual respect. The players know Coach Kyle has their back and offers his full support. At such a transitional point in a young adult’s life, that is support is key.

There's always time for a celebratory fist bump, even during the game.

You’ve gotten to work in some capacity under some pretty successful coaches, from John Beilein and Mike Carey at WVU to Lynn Ullom at West Liberty. Obviously, you want to forge your own style and path, but do you find yourself taking bits and pieces from each and molding them into how you want to coach and teach the game?

There is no doubt that I have been fortunate to work under and alongside some incredible coaches including Lynn Ullom, Mike Carey, Joanna McNamee (Bernabei), John Beilein, and Semeka Randall (Lay). I have always been someone that is a sponge and almost nerdy when it comes to the game. I was fortunate to grow up around great people, especially my parents, and they pushed me always to outwork people and take on more, and that carried right into how I approached and forged my path into coaching. Whether it was trying to sit in recruiting meetings, practice, game, etc. as a student manager to pushing to take as much ownership of the program as an assistant coach, I am someone that wants to constantly learn, grow, and develop. I'm fortunate to say that the majority of people I have worked for and with I have stayed close to and now am fortunate enough to call them friends, colleagues, mentors, and family. They all have shaped me in some way into who I am today; whether it was Coach Beilein's meticulous film study and work, Coach Carey's intensity and ability to push people harder than they believe they can go, Coach McNamee's ability to build meaningful and genuine relationships, Coach Randall’s passion for the game and her players, or Coach Ullom's unique and effective style of play, there is a part of them in everything that I do. I still turn to each of them, among others, on a regular basis as I continue to evolve as a coach but always remember to still be me in every way and put my own spin on things because the more true you are to yourself, the better you are going to be, and the more the players are going to believe.

You’re a Pa. native, but you have spent most of your time in the MEC with primarily West Virginia schools. Is there something about the area that interested you in the first place or is it the conference itself which seems fairly competitive with some top teams and individual talent?

I am definitely a Western Pa. guy and proud of that, but somewhere along the way, despite my love for Penn State football and my dad being an alum there, I wanted to pave my own path, and that led to WVU, where my career in coaching truly began to grow, and more and more opportunities started to present themselves. Honestly, I never saw myself getting out of the DI world, but I wanted desperately to get out of the administrative/operations side of the game and dive into the recruiting and more true coaching roles so when the opportunity presented itself through networking ties to get into the DII world in the Ohio Valley, where my wife is from (Weirton Girl), I took the chance and made the move; and I have never looked back and truly love being at West Liberty University because this place is special. It is really crazy to think that in a few years here I will have spent as much time living in the state of West Virginia as I did growing up in the state of Pennsylvania, and I love it here, and I've enjoyed my time at WVU and WLU.

Coach Kyle treats his players like family. He teaches them, cares for them, and occasionally, he needs to light the proverbial fire underneath them during a timeout. They players know he wants them to maximize their potential and see them succeed, so it makes the occasional bouts of tough coaching all the more palatable.

This was your fourth year involved in the recruiting process as a head coach. How did it differ, not only in terms of has it gotten easier but also the challenges that may have been posted by the pandemic? Do you think this will have more of an effect on the 2021 and 2022 class than this year’s?

I've learned that being the head coach versus the assistant coach comes with different hurdles and challenges, and recruiting is no different. Everywhere I have been, I have always had my hands in recruiting and loved it. I've always been known as a recruiter when it comes to hearing colleagues, competitors, etc. describe me, and I can honestly say that unlike most head coaches, especially at the DI level, I am still extremely active in the recruiting process. For example, Cassie and I tag team all recruiting travel versus her doing the majority of travel. I still take the lead on planning visits, meetings, game plans, etc. I guess I am someone that always has believed that you win this game with people, so I am going to make sure that the people we bring into this program and family are the right ones. There is no doubt that this pandemic has affected recruiting in a major way. We love to get out on the road and see players, and once we identify the ones we want, it is a full court press to build that relationship, get them on campus, and sell who we are and what we're about. Like anything though, we are adapting. One unique thing that we did was I went and shot multiple short videos of myself touring our athletic facilities and then Cassie put the product together so that recruits who couldn't come to campus could see how lucky we are here; and I am happy to say they were a hit and helped us in major way. We make sure as a staff to keep family and who we are at the heart of things, and so even with distance we highlight that.

Speaking of recruiting, you had a brief performance as Topper the Bear; not a lot of head coaches would be willing to do that. Do you think it’s important for your players to see that side of your personality as well? Even during the press conference following the regular-season finale against Wheeling with your four seniors, you could see the family-style atmosphere and camaraderie with the players. Is it tough to balance that with the demands of coaching?

I have to credit Cassie with pushing me to do that, and I’m fortunate to have her in so many ways, but she really has a pulse on players and gets really creative with ideas. We’re definitely a staff that isn’t afraid to show people, not just players and recruits, who we are because that’s what it’s about in life, and that’s doing what you love and being true to who you are while doing it. There’s no doubt that I believe the biggest part of our success as a program surrounds our approach to relationships, and I can honestly say that we show love and vulnerability and so on with our players, and in turn they play harder for one another and for us. Family is not a sell for us; it is a way of life here at West Lib. It can be tough to balance our approach with the demands of actually coaching and pushing the players, but a lot of that takes care of itself because they genuinely want to get better and want to play hard and want to do things the right way because of that level of care for one another. Our relationships being stronger allows us to better work together to get the best out of one another while wanting to be the best versions of ourself at the same time. I’m also a firm believer that it’s easier to take tough coaching when you know it is done out of love and out of a genuine want to make you and us successful versus fear or other tactics. 

There are a lot of demands timewise from someone in your position. Is it tough spending so much time away from the family? Or, given that both you and your wife work for the university, is it easier to incorporate your children into your work lives? 

That’s definitely the area that I believe was slightly different than I realized when transitioning into being the head coach; and that is just how many different directions you get pulled. Our approach though of being more than a team and being a family naturally lends itself to have both the passion I have for my basketball family and the passion I have for my home family cross more, and it is more natural and not forced because of it. My wife and kids love our players, and the feeling is mutual, and with Katie and me on the same campus, it makes it easier to all be around each other. That said, there are definitely times of the year I don’t get the time that I wish I had with my family at home, but I’m fortunate to have someone like Katie that gets my job and is strong and driven as my better half and the head coach at home. Along with that, I am fortunate to have Cassie as an assistant, even though I approach it as her being a co-head coach, because she is really, really good and takes lead on all strength and conditioning and academics while attacking and being a part of all the other aspects of the program as well to take things off my plate. She does so balancing me and knowing who I am as a person, not just a coach because of our extensive background which makes everything come together more and be more consistent for the team. There are tons of long days and long hours, but I just work really hard at being where my feet are and giving everyone in my life my everything, and somehow it always comes together.  Read the full article

[jbharrisauthor]

Timing is Anything (Episode 1 - Chapter Nine)

Read Chapter One here

Read Chapter Two here

Read Chapter Three here

Read Chapter Four here

Read Chapter Five here

Read Chapter Six here

Read Chapter Seven here

Read Chapter Eight here

The screaming started just as The Doctor reached the courtyard. “Ianto!” She launched into a sprint, following the sound into a storeroom, just like the man upstairs had said. But there was no obvious or immediate opening through to the silver chamber. The screaming just kept going, the painful intensity of it making goose-bumps ripple over her skin. He just kept screaming, even as his voice started going hoarse. Oh God. What were they doing to him? “Ianto, I’m coming! Just hold on.” She got out her sonic screwdriver, scanning to work out which wall was hiding the opening. But some kind of energy was interfering with it, making it fritz, not giving a clear reading. “Come on, don’t fail me now.” She tried again, but still didn’t get any better results. “Damn it!” She shoved the screwdriver away and rushed to the nearest wall, tapping on it, trying to work out which was hollow, where his yelling was coming from, even though it seemed like it was echoing from all directions. The screaming cut out and her breath caught on a gulp of apprehension, waiting, straining her ears to hear anything. “Ianto?” Maybe he was just unconscious. God, don’t let him be dead. Again. A flash caught her attention, low, from the bottom of the opposite wall. She hurried over and crouched down, running a finger along near the floor. It was definitely a seam. She followed the line, prying her fingers into the corner and then pulling. The wall shifted slightly, just enough for her to wedge her hands in. She yanked, her arms aching as she struggled to shift the heavy barrier. Finally, she made a gap just large enough and squeezed herself through. Inside, the room was empty apart from Ianto strapped unmoving to a table in the middle. Some kind of apparatus was just inches above his head, instruments adjusting and measuring as if they were about to begin a procedure. She started running across the distance, pulling out her sonic screwdriver. Except it fritzed again, just like it had outside, some kind of energy field in here playing havoc on the device. Skidding to a stop next to him, she adjusted the settings on the screwdriver way up; to a level that could pretty much melt metal and cause brain aneurisms. But she didn’t have another choice and didn’t have time to think of any other answer. She hoped the energy field in here was only dampening the effects of her sonic screwdriver and that turning it up would make it operate closer to normal, not make random things explode. “Here goes everything,” she muttered, pressing the screwdriver against the apparatus and squeezing her eyes closed. There was a pop and fizzle. Then silence. She cracked one eye open and peeked out. The apparatus had gone still, the instruments no longer moving. “Ianto, it worked!” She gave a relieved laugh and pushed the apparatus out of the way so she could look down at him. He was pale, but definitely only unconscious. Thank God she’d managed to stop that thing before it’d started whatever nasty procedure it’d been about to do. Definitely not any type of regulation-standard brain surgery. “You know, this sleeping beauty thing is going to start getting old.” She reached over and unbuckled the thick leather straps around his wrists. They’d bruised and broken his skin. He’d definitely put up a fight before passing out. Once he was completely free, she returned her attention to his face. He groaned, starting to come around. “That’s it, time to wake up.” “Wh—what happened?” He squeezed his eyes closed tighter and brought a hand up to rub over his face. “I was hoping you could tell me. Was there someone else in here with you?” He blinked open his eyes, taking a moment to focus. “There was… It was… Christ, my head is killing me.” “It could have been worse, believe me. I just barely stopped this thing from cracking your skull like a watermelon.” He made a face at her. “Charming imagery.” She helped him sit up, and he glanced at the now defunct apparatus, shuddering. “It looks like the upgrade unit the Cybermen used. Do you think they were going to do something like that to me?” “Luckily, we won’t ever find out. And hopefully we’ve left a big enough path of destruction through this temple that they won’t bother trying to pick up the pieces.” She took his arm and let him lean on her as he gingerly climbed down from the table like his whole body was aching. “What about the Timeless? We still don’t know what they’re up to.” “That’s not your problem, Mr. Jones. Your part in this is over. It’s time I took you home.” “To Jack.” That seemed to cheer him right up, his bleary eyes clearing. “To Jack,” she confirmed, enjoying the smile that spread over his face. Like an actual sunrise. Some days, she could swear it was love, pure and simple, that kept the universe ticking over. She kept hold of his arm as they left the silver chamber, since he still seemed a little unsteady. Neither of them said anything the entire walk back to the TARDIS. “So you’re going to go after them, the Timeless?” he asked once they were inside and she’d sat him down on the seat while she fired up the engines. “I don’t have a choice. If they’re really out there, I can’t turn a blind eye. I’m probably the only person who has the slightest chance of stopping them. And even those odds are miniscule, if I’m being completely honest. Last time it took an entire army of Timelords and advance weaponry to stop the Timeless. I’m one Timelord with a sonic screwdriver and a temperamental TARDIS.” She sent him a smile over her shoulder, catching his worried expression. “But when has that ever stopped me?” “It’s just that—” He stared down at his hands, brow furrowed like he was trying to sort out his thoughts. “I don’t know what it is. There’s this heavy feeling in my stomach. Like we missed something. Like there’s something else. You said someone else was in that room with me?” “That’s what they told me.” She turned to face him, leaning against the console behind her. “But there was a flash just before I got into the room. Some kind of transport beam I’m guessing. Whoever it was, they weren’t interested in waiting around to face me.” She went over and sat next to him. “There’s no use you worrying about it, Ianto. And I’m truly sorry you got dragged into it. But you should know, that temple, it was set up specifically to trap us; you, me or Jack. I have no idea why, but I intend to find out quickly.” “But if that’s the case, won’t Jack and I be in danger? What if they come for us?” “I can’t guarantee they won’t.” She took his hand and squeezed it reassuringly. “But the fact is, they’ve left you alone while you’ve been on Earth. This was set up to lure you out, I’m only sorry I was foolish enough to fall for it.” He shook his head, understanding in his blue eyes. “You couldn’t have known. Anyone could have made that mistake.” Yes, anyone could have, but with all her thousands of years in age and experience, The Doctor should never have made such an error. “Anyway, I think you and Jack will be safe enough on Earth while I track down some answers. The universe knows that Earth is protected, and any threats that have arrived on your doorstep have been dealt with swiftly and decisively. The Timeless aren’t imprudent or impatient. They know it would be harder to get to you on Earth, which was why they had to lure you out.” “Got it. Stay on Earth, stay safe.” “That’s all you have to do, Mr. Jones.” He smiled at her, but she could see concern in his gaze. “You will be careful, though, won’t you? Maybe find someone else to watch your back? This doesn’t seem like the kind of thing a person should be taking on by themselves.” “Don’t you worry, I’ll take care of this, with or without a companion.” She jumped up and returned to the control console. “Now, it’s about time we went back to Earth to see what Captain Jack Harkness is up to. One can only imagine what kind of trouble he’s getting himself into.” “If you don’t mind, I’m going to change back into my own clothes.” He was already heading off, even as he said the words. “Go ahead, take your time.” She waved a hand at him, keeping her attention on the console screen checking readouts. “Actually, not too much time. We’ll be back on Earth in just a few minutes.” Information scrolled across her screen, the years of Earth with major events listed, skipping by as she searched for a point in time close to where they’d left. But as she read over them, patterns started emerging, specifically that nothing much had changed in the years following the day Ianto should have died, when the fact that she’d saved him should have created some distinctly new sequences. “That doesn’t make sense,” she muttered. Unless— “Unless he’s not meant to go back. Unless he’s meant to stay dead.” Oh no. Ianto was not going to be happy about this. She searched the intervening years, taking a few moments to work it out, but she managed to pinpoint where Ianto needed to slot back into Jack’s timeline, and it definitely wasn’t where she’d taken him from. The events in the years following Ianto’s supposed death now looked completely different with her knowledge that The Timeless was out there. Perhaps they hadn’t been leaving Earth alone liked she’d assumed. Perhaps they’d been playing a much longer, more subtle game. And when she found the event the people of Earth had dubbed Miracle Day, it was like a neon sign that she’d somehow overlooked before. The answer of the Timeless had been like a keystone, locking together pieces that previously hadn’t fit. She blew out a long breath and stepped back from the console, no idea where she was supposed to start with this. The Timeless had a head start on her thousands of years long. Who knew how far and deep their seeds were sown? There was only one certainty right at this moment. She would not be returning Ianto to 2009.

Read Chapter 10 here