nerdynaturegamingspy

[99-devilz]

no patience for foolish machines... OH NO GABRIEL WATCH OUT

[nattikay]

the constant inner struggle of a Na'vi speaker/teacher browsing Na'vi OCs

[inkyvendingmachine]

Avedone With All of This Season 4, Episode 4

💀 Call of Cthulhu: Haunted Hijinx Masterpost 💀 Call of Cthulhu Season Four Masterpost (Coming Soon)

Warning: This campaign is an edited version of  a Call of Cthulhu scenario from the Tales of the Crescent City book. While a lot has been changed, there IS spoilers for it throughout these posts.

GUESS WHO FINALLY SHOWED UP!!! and also a lot of other stuff happened. I'm sorry, this one is very long because I didn't take notes, and struggle to leave out details when I'm writing from the records instead of the notes.

Art Credit: @inkdemonapologist : sketching + inking @inkyvendingmachine : concept + colouring

Somehow Jack’s car, with all its original passengers and no extras, manage to make it back to the studio. Joey immediately rushes into the studio, to go rant at Bendy about everything that happened… and possibly to go fuse with Bendy because he feels utterly helpless now after completely draining himself with panicked magic. 

But it’s probably just the first one.

Sammy and Henry arrive as well to find Jack and Peter quietly picking glass out of his broken car in something like shock. Upon getting no responses from Jack about what happened, Sammy storms off to find Joey.

Joey is all too happy to start his entire rant over again for Sammy as he works on fusing with Bendy. They were just following Peter’s leads and driving from location to location and then all of the sudden this ASSHOLE shows up out of nowhere and just stands in front of the car. Busts the car, terrifies poor Jack, and then on top of that tries to break INTO the car and abduct Peter?? It’s a good thing Joey managed to blast him out, but they weren’t even DOING ANYTHING that would have possibly summoned him NOTHING AT ALL... And on top of all that, being an absolute PRICK as he’s doing it! 

… Anyways, how was the moooob?

Sammy updates Joey on everything that happened with Johnny Nero, which is pretty much just that he had seen the Yellow sign, that Henry removed it, and that Nero was pretty intent on getting his hands on whatever the Phantom wants first. Which like… yeah, if you wanna solve all our problems and fix this mess, go ahead! But Joey’s pretty sure that’s not going to happen, so he goes back to working on his ritual.

Sammy leaves to go back to Jack, and right as Joey feels ready to start the ritual his phone rings. The special one. And it’s… Avedon??

Avedon immediately starts info dumping on Joey about everything that’s been going on already… like, all the information Joey already knows. A lot of flat “yeah?”s in reply as Avedon rambles on, until he mentions that it’s already gotten to Norman. Wait, what?? But Avedon doesn’t stop, telling Joey to meet him at his hotel room in NYC so they can go over more information. Before Joey manages to get any clarification, he hangs up. 

That’s Joey’s thing!!!

Joey is the one who hangs up on others!!!!!!!

Frustrated, Joey does try to call Norman, and… Yeah, Norman is talking in weird riddles and speech that doesn’t fit with the Normal Norman Vibes. That call is also ended with little information gained… but at least it DOES seem like Avedon knows what he’s talking about this time, so Joey’s willing to meet with him, even though he’s also feeling done with him already.

Joey finishes the ritual and merges with Bendy.

On his way downstairs, Sammy is still turning over the car event he just heard about… and the increasing evidence that Peter might actually be the Phantom’s target?? Why else would he be trying to drag him out of the car?

Sammy approaches Peter, who has since started exchanging information with Henry as they all get the last of the glass shards out of the car, and says that he wants to see if Prophet can tell anything about what happened. Sammy looks distracted for a moment, and [lack of surprise because it was actually somewhat communicated beforehand,] Prophet is here!

Prophet concentrates, and with no hesitation, mushes his hands all over Peter's face. 

The good news is that, while Prophet can tell that Peter’s been grabbed by the Phantom recently, that’s actually all that he can detect. No additional eldritch stuff, he’s not possessed, he’s not weirdly marked or damaged in a way that can’t normally be seen. Great!

But Prophet can’t tell if Peter is the target or not. For his part, Peter has been muttering that it seemed like the phantom was trying to pull information from Peter on someone else he was looking for, someone who “followed us out”, but there’s nothing Prophet can sense to confirm that… but he realizes he can sense the distortions to reality increasing throughout NYC. They’re in the air, moving about… getting stronger.

Henry can feel it too.

But that’s all the energy Prophet has, and he unfortunately misses Joey showing up and dumping his new plan of action on everyone. He, Henry and Peter are going to go find Avedon’s dumb hotel room and figure out what’s going on with him, while Sammy and Jack are going to go check up on Susie and Norman because Norman is definitely acting weird now and he’s not quite sure if Susie is in over her head or not…

Nobody objects to the plan. And with NYC losing more and more of its reality to the yellow mist rolling in, it seems important that they do something.

Henry, Joey and Peter do make a detour to Henry’s house though to make sure all is well there. The car is gone, the lights are out, things seem as they should if Linda managed to follow through and get the kids out of the city. Peter is concerned when he notices some of Henry’s wards, but don’t worry, those are supposed to be there. Henry checks them over, and they all seem good. Bendy finds a bucket of clay he and Henry's kids had played with before, and brings it along to entertain himself on any following sleepovers, since that is a thing that will probably keep happening. For once, it seems like everything is actually left alone? 

Until they look out back and find the treehouse Henry built for his kids is gone. Actually, it’s almost like all the landscaping and such in the area was just… cleared away? Or never happened. Joey meanwhile is tabbing through Henry's photo albums and makes sure everyone is still there, which they are. But the treehouse isn’t. And, perhaps even worse, there’s also an extra guy in the JDS staff photo now? Joey pockets it, since this guy seems to be in the music department according to the photo, but Joey is sure he’s never seen him before. And it’s not Alan. So. Hopefully the music boys can shed some light on this.

Henry grabs some supplies and his gun, and Joey turns him around to fix his outfit and make sure the gun is properly hidden. Avedon is 2 trigger happy, we don’t want to say our hellos by instantly showing off the weapons we brought.

Meanwhile Jack and Sammy’s drive to Norman’s is more fraught than the previous ones. Not only has he moved house again, (though at least this time they have evidence of his new address from the junk mail they took last time) but… many other roads are starting to move too. Also Sammy is driving, so, speed has been cut in the engine department too… don’t need to hit two things in a single day with all this mist building up, and any sort of navigation trouble puts even more delays in.

At least they do manage to find the place and head on in, with hope that also maybe now that Avedon has arrived Norman will stop being so “sticking it out in a house that keeps wandering off apparently.” Things seem kinda fine at first at least, like they’re not immediately shooed out or attacked or have any weird monsters hanging over the house waiting for them to try the door… But upon Sammy questioning Susie while Jack goes to find Norman in the back, the music boys find out that things are very much not fine.

Susie is… very confident with a knife all of a sudden, and very confident that she will be able to just stab the Phantom when given the word to go out and hunt him down. Y’know just… stab the guy who couldn’t be damaged by a 2 ton vehicle slamming square on into him. And when Sammy tries to argue this logic, it just becomes more and more obvious that Susie and Norman are both… in character. Susie’s speech cadence is even reminiscent of when she’s performing rather than talking normally. But they don't seem aware that their actions seem more scripted than decided.

Jack finds Norman in the back, with a hatchet and a very similar plan to Susie’s. But whatever is happening isn’t strong enough to make them completely forget themselves, and with some facts being pointed out and reminders of who they are, the boys manage to get these two actors back to themselves... kind of. There's still some weirdness going on, and this also doesn't answer the question of what could be done to prevent this happening again?

Neither Susie nor Norman really realized when it started to happen, and it took some serious outside convincing to snap them out of it at all… Do they need Henry to expel something to truly get back to themselves again??

ALSO, IF THE PHANTOM CAN’T BE HARMED WITH A CAR, WHAT ARE THEY GONNA DO ABOUT THAT TOO?? THAT SEEMS CONCERNING!!!!

Meanwhile, Henry parks near the hotel they were directed to by Avedon, and the trio look upon it in… concern. First of all, it doesn’t even look like a hotel, or look like it belongs in NYC. And the entire place is surrounded by a yellow mist… and while they could wait it out or try to somehow call Avedon and tell him to come out, it just feels like the longer they wait the worse it will get. 

Really, it’s starting to feel that way for a lot of things.

But even though everything about this feels bad, they press on and enter the “hotel”. What should be the hotel lobby is abnormally empty, and when they start up the stairs… well, that’s not normal either, the stairs just keep going. Joey is flipping any rugs he finds though to make sure they don’t have stupid destabilization spells underneath them.

After a few rounds of strange rooms, weird hallways, some alien screeching outside the windows, and Henry noticing that NYC is not the city outside said windows, he stops everyone out of worry that they’re walking into a trap… and Joey agrees. But not that this hotel is specifically a trap.

All of New York is a trap.

It doesn’t matter where they go next, the longer they don’t solve this issue, the more of a trap everything will be.

They just gotta press on.

…

Aaaaand start yelling for Avedon because clearly they aren’t gonna be just walking up to his hotel room at this point.

Good news! Avedon replies! Bad news!! Only Henry can hear it for some reason!! And… Avedon can hear Joey but not Henry?? 

It’s all very confusing. They find Henry’s reading glasses on a table. Those were in his pocket how did they get there excuse me. All of this isn't fine actually.

But after a few rounds of Avedon Polo, they finally stumble across each other in a… garden. In the middle of a hotel. And of course, the first thing Avedon says is that they need to leave immediately. He didn’t know it was going to be like THIS, he just stepped out to get a coffee and suddenly the whole place is weird??? Well, now that they’re here, time to immediately leave because YEAH THAT WAS THE PLAN FROM THE START. 

Going through another door leads out into a familiar courtyard, at least familiar to Joey. He had been here a few nights ago, while invading Y’s dream, and indeed, right where he’d expect, he finds the Y twins chatting amongst themselves. Marching up to them, Joey demands to know what they’re doing and what’s going on.

They respond by addressing him as royalty.

✧･ﾟ: *Joey Drew, as Your Highness･ﾟ: *✧

Normally, this would probably inflate Joey’s ego! Currently, it sinks like a stone into his stomach!! He does not want to be part of the play!!!

Unless…

Joey suddenly wonders, because it’s the same courtyard, if they are in a dreamscape of some sort… Does he appear different than himself… and that's why they're addressing him this way?

But no, he looks like Joey, and Henry looks like Henry, and Peter looks like Peter, and Avedon is still here… except Joey also notices some of their hands are starting to turn transparent…………. That's probably fine.

He still doesn’t want to be part of their play.

The Y twins try to get Joey to go somewhere with them, and he makes up a story why they need to not do that rn, so that the group of normal fading humans can attempt once again to leave this place. 

Since it's all weird here, Joey tries his little will-what-he-wants-into-reality trick and… well it doesn't work. Instead, he finds a throne room?? and realizes that they aren’t just in Carcosa, they’re in the castle where the Yellow King’s play takes place. And Joey manages to follow his intuition from here to find some kind of portrait hallway, covered with familiar faces… all labeled as characters from the play. Not recognizing all of them, Henry starts drawing them so we have a record of it later.

But there's a few he doesn't have to draw.

One is Alan Leroy, the guy that they're becoming sure is the target of the Pallid Mask. Part of the royal family, apparently. He's a slender man, black hair slicked back, young looking, quite pretty … kinda looks like Joey…

Which makes more sense perhaps when the portrait of the eldest son in the royal family is none other than Joey himself. Guess this is why he was being addressed as royalty… but that means the Y twins are not quite in their right minds, and anything he finds them doing here is probably just play nonsense.

Also Denis is the youngest prince but who cares about that guy.

What they DO care about is the fact they’re getting more and more transparent, so the boys go to find Avedon, who is oh so helpfully knocking shit over and muttering in french, and Joey manages to get his door trick to actually work this time; he opens the door and there’s…

STAIRS!!

Everyone starts running down them, managing not to get turned around when they start making twisty turns, and get to the front door of this stupid castle in a hotel lobby.

They peek outside.

Sure enough, on the side of the building, there’s a shadow shaped suspiciously like nothing they can really identify, so it must be some sort of angel monster or something.

At this point, there’s really only one option they have: try sneaking to the car and hope it’s looking the other way, and if not, run!

Everyone agrees that this is a great plan.

And then they do that.

There’s a bit of fumbling in the middle, but the car was parked outside of the yellow mist for once, so the creature just fades out as soon as it leaves the mist to chase them. 

Well! Okay then!! That problem is solved!! Let’s go deliver Avedon to Norman so that he can take responsibility for his mad man and then maybe stop hiding at home or something!

Henry drives off, and things seem fine for now…

Until Joey swivels around in the front seat to question Avedon, and out the back window, sees something flying after them, only visible whenever it passes through the mists…

Problem… not solved.

[forgotmynametag]

That one time the wholeass sun came careening down

[sculien]

i'd never tell. no, i'd never say a word. and, oh, it aches, but it feels oddly good to hurt. emily prentiss + jennifer jareau | she - dodie

@lgbtqcreators creator bingo | color

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

WIFI IS MINE ONCE AGAIN as i sit on a mattress on the floor

[cocoa-rococo]

without giving away spoilers for the new vengeance saga from epic: the musical --

man, the second half of "six hundred strike" sure fits percy de rolo against orthax or sylas briarwood a little too well

[blu3-j]

Welcome...Home..?

Overworked! Reader x Welcome Home Crew

Chapter 4

TW: Small breakdown (hinted at), character going nonverbal

I sincerely apologize for the delay of this chapter, fellow strangers! This chapter went through a lot of writing, revisions, edits, more writing, and more edits before finally making it here. But I finally have it done! I sincerely hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it! (Side note; I love the idea of all the characters giving the reader a nickname at some point that relates to them and how they see them in some form. It’s too adorable. I can’t resist it. I can now see Howdy calling the reader a nymph. It’s another name for larvae! Yes. Yes, I will now write Howdy calling the reader in any stories he’s in.)

Last we left off, Y/N had just gotten home from a busy day, and after a lot of emotions and events, began a trusting relationship with the crew of Welcome Home. One hurdle has been conquered, but there are still plenty more before our journey comes to a close.

Chapter 1 l Chapter 2 l Chapter 3 l Chapter 4

Groaning, you rose up from your spot. As you did so, your arm jolted forward to catch the warm blanket that fell from its precarious position on you. At first, the blanket wasn’t familiar. This isn’t the blanket you keep on your bed. Curiously, you looked up to find an unfamiliar sight waiting for you. The birds outside chirped their worries away as the sun began to rise and paint everything in a golden glow. The house was peaceful and still, like an old grainy photo hanging in an equally old and yellowed window. And sat in the middle of the living room was you.

Why were you sleeping in the living room? 

The events from the day previous flooded your memories. Your head darted around, desperate to see if maybe it had all been a dream. It must've been...right? You wanted to believe it had all been a dream, that you wouldn't have to worry about any of the problems that came with this. That maybe that night you fell asleep watching that show you just dreamed it all---and maybe hallucinated the small yellow puppet talking to you from just being that exhausted.

But in the end, you couldn't deny what was in front of you.

There the puppet cast was---sprawled along various places in the room. Across the ground, in chairs, and even on the couch next to you. Some even piled on top of each other, even when there was space for them all to have their own spots. All fast asleep.

Confetti was strewn across the floor and on furniture, paper straps and ribbons to games you had long since forgotten the rules of lay wherever there was room, and fake swords and feathers you had never got to see used rested haphazardly on the nearby coffee table. Looking back up, you saw the banners and balloons still hung from the ceiling. To you, it was quite a sight to behold. And even more strange and unfamiliar when you haven't had a mess like this since your high school graduation party all those years ago. Or had anyone else in your house like this since your moving in celebration, which ended up in a sleepover with your friends. You had almost forgotten what it was like to have company around.

Coming back to the present, it occurred to you just how cartoon-like and comically this cast was. Barnaby and Julie snored louder than a whale, and Wally....could you even call that snoring? You watched him as he lay curled up on Barnaby's chest, his face buried in the blue spotted fur, mumbling away a mantra over and over and over again.

"I'm sleeping...I'm sleeping...I'm sleeping..."

It was a wonder how the others slept with the noise, and even more of a wonder how you slept with all the noise. You were usually a light sleeper due to your schedule, but unlike then, this time appeared to be an exception. You didn't even wake up to your alarm. Wait...what happened to your alarm? Did you sleep in?

...

Sleep in?! Your hand desperately searched around for your phone. When you didn't feel that familiar rectangular gadget by your side, you jolted up from your spot. Finally turning back to the spot you were previously sleeping, your body froze. Now with a better view of where you slept, you realized who you had been sleeping on. Originally unbeknownst to you, you had been curled up in Howdy's arms as he laid against the arm of the couch, the both of you dozing away without a care in the world. As it turned out, he was the comfy cushion you had passed out on.

He groaned as he began to stir from the sudden jerky movement, and he opened his eyes. His drowsy gaze met yours, and for a moment the two of you just stared at each other. You, with no clue as to how to react, and him…most probably still registering what’s going on. Outside, the birds continued chirping away their cheery song. A small lazy grin crept onto his face.

"Howdy, there. How'd you sleep, kiddo? You passed out during Sally's play last night." He adjusted himself to sit up more as he spoke in a hushed voice. "You looked so peaceful and I know how busy you are, I just couldn't bring myself to wake ya up." Your voice was caught in your mouth. You're talking to a puppet. Again. It's actually real. A living---maybe not so much breathing---but living puppet. And you just woke up from sleeping wrapped up in his arms, no less. He was still a complete stranger to you, and acting so casual with him despite the recent events was something you could not handle.

Still, you couldn’t ignore his expectant stare. It came out small and late, but he remained quiet for your answer. "...It was..okay." Your hands absentmindedly fiddled with each other, and you turned your gaze away as you corrected yourself. "Actually, it was the best sleep I've had in a long while. Too long." A chuckle slipped its way past your lips.

Your breath hitched. "Oh, no!" Adrenaline shot through you. Howdy flinched at your shrill exclamation—as did you, and the two of you froze. A loud snore from Julie echoed throughout the room, and you recalled how comically loud a few of your other “guests” were. If they could sleep through that, then they could sleep through just about anything. The two of you let out a relieved breath.

"I gotta find my phone! What time is it?! How long did I sleep in? What day is it?!" You rambled incoherently—your voice much more soft than before—as you searched the couch more thoroughly for that little precious device of yours. The green caterpillar snorted, bringing one hand up to his head and another to his mouth to stifle his giddy giggles.

After he managed to hold his laughter at bay, he talked once more. "It's Wednesday. Don't worry, kiddo. According to your calendar over there---" He pointed to the familiar paper calendar hung on the wall. "You don't have to worry about work today. Or any of your classes." A green hand patted onto your shoulder. "You have the day off!"

Another hand dug into one of the pockets of his apron and out he pulled your phone. He held it awkwardly in his hand in an attempt to mimic how he had seen you hold the device. It looked tiny caressed in his hand compared to how it looked in yours.

"It took a while of trying to figure out how to use this silly thing, but I turned off that doggoned alarm. Every busy bee needs their sleep every once and a while, after all!" His smile twitched to a frown as he stared deeply at it. "What is it, anyway? I never did ask. Is it some futuristic alarm clock or something? Why do you take it with you everywhere you go? And where are all the buttons? Shouldn't something like this need a buncha buttons? How did you make it so it works with just touching the glass here?" He tapped the phone and the screen came to life.

You were forced back to your nostalgic memories upon seeing the lockscreen. Displayed was an old memory of you and your friends not too long after your high school graduation. All of you were grouped together in a booth, laughing the night away at a karaoke restaurant. Things were so much more simple then. And a lot less lonely.

Above it was the clock, harshly contrasting in color to the photo. It read 8:23 AM. Below it sat a single unbothered notification.

"Day off!!" It read. He was right. You let out an exasperated sigh as your body eased and—without realizing just how relieving this knowledge was to you—plopped down harshly on the couch next to him. He softly chuckled as one arm of his leaned back on the arm of the couch.

"I know that look!" The tall puppet ruffled your hair. "Before I owned the Bugdega, I used to work a lot at a job I hated. Extreme word, but it’s true! You should take this day to just cool that jet of yours. You'll break down if you overwork yourself, nymph!" His eye caught yours, and the two of you shared a small smile in the peaceful moment. Before any more conversation could be had, however, a small movement in the corner of your eye caught your attention. Wally was now wide awake and peacefully watching the two of you talk.

Howdy waved and quietly called out to the little yellow puppet. "Howdy, shrimp!" The blue haired puppet remained quiet, only widening his permanent smile and waving back for a moment before shuffling himself off of the large sleeping dog. Mesmerized by his form, you watched as he moved and carefully made his way over to the two of you. Carefully, he tip-toed in between each colorful member of the cast on the floor, only stopping by Julie for a moment to dodge her arm she roughly threw to the side as she dozed away.

It was simple movements, and exactly like a regular human's, but something about it was...off. Perhaps it was just the knowledge of knowing he's a puppet and shouldn't be moving at all, but something about him felt....unnerving, in a way. You brushed the thought to the side. Maybe that's a thought for another time.

Wally crawled up on the couch next to you and into your lap. As always. But you didn’t push him away. In a strange way, it comforted you. The tension that had slowly been digging itself deep into your core melted away like snow on a warm sunny day. Your inner child pleaded to hold him dear, but you refused. It was a hard fight, but you managed to resist the urge.

Howdy watched the two of you, a gentle grin on his face, before he lifted himself up from his seat and walked around the couch. You glimpsed at him and jumped when you saw him looking and motioning you to follow. You glanced between the two puppets, unsure, before quickly picking Wally up like he was a toddler and carrying him with you and obeying the insect puppet’s wishes.

Wally, of course, quickly fell limp in your arms. You recalled his attempt to comfort you last night, and it occurred to you that this was most probably another thing he didn’t know how to really…react to. One awkward pause later, he leaned against your shoulder and buried his face in the crook of your neck. Instinctively, you gave in to that inner child that pleaded for a connection, and nudged your head against his.

Howdy led you to the kitchen where he began rummaging through the cabinets. Now away from the rest of the colorful puppets sleeping away, his voice became a lot louder and clearer from his previous mumbling."This is a nice place you got, nymph." He bent down to a cabinet and began shuffling through it, only finding pots and his laughter echoing back to him. "I'm still having trouble finding everything, though! Where do you keep your pans? This place is like a maze!"

The two of you talked the morning away as you directed him to the right cabinets for everything he needed. Slowly, one by one, the other puppets awoke and walked in, each joining your conversation. Some chose to seat themselves at the table while others opted in aiding Howdy in cooking breakfast.

Sally was the first to walk in. She was cheery and energetic, and each step of hers had a bounce in it. For a moment, you almost thought she was quite literally glowing. But the allusion dashed away as soon and fast as it had made itself evident. The little starlet chose to occasionally aid Howdy when requested while she recited and re-enacted scenes to numerous plays she had starred in. Most of it was nothing more than dramatic improvisation, but you couldn’t resist applauding her and watching her eyes light up every time you did.

Barnaby and Poppy were the next ones to walk in. Both were generally drowsy and calm, quietly jabbering away as they walked in. Poppy clamored if everything was okay from all the racket she had heard, but Barnaby assured her and joked about how loud Sally was being. After her worries had been quelled, Poppy stationed herself next to Howdy to converse and help cook when she wasn’t too scared to do so. Meanwhile, Barnaby gladly seated himself next to you and Wally at the table.

Finally, Julie skipped into the kitchen, holding the hand of a drowsy Frank holding the hand of an upbeat Eddie. The trio questioned the commotion, but quickly seated themselves at the table and joined in the ever growing conversation upon seeing the six of you joyfully conversing.

For a while, you all acted as though there was nothing wrong. Like you had all known each other for months and everything had already been resolved. But tension remained. And finally, when the conversation died down and came to a pause, Poppy spoke up.

"So..." She hesitated, glancing to you for help. The large bird curled a little in on herself and hid herself with her wings. "What do we do now?" The others murmured. The tension was much thicker than before. You furrowed your brows and looked down. Wally was still in your lap. His expression remained the same, but he was silent. His gaze followed the others to you.

Over the past two days, you noticed something about the puppets. Something so extremely small, but made a mountain of a difference in the way you saw the colorful cast.

When looking at something, the puppets' pupils never twitched back and forth like humans'. Theirs never moved subconsciously to take in as much information they could like yours. This was the first time you noticed Wally's was.

A small part of you wanted to panic and run away again. A large part, actually. You had as much of a clue of what to do as they did. But just as you almost gave in, bright pink fabric in the corner of your eye caught your attention. The fabric of her dress.

"Then I'll be brave with you."

You promised.

You're going to be brave.

You swallowed the urge down as far as you could. "I'm...not sure," You started. "I mean, we all already established you'll be living here until you can find a way to...." Your voice drifted off.

Eddie piped up. "Home."

"Home, right." You turned your attention to a topic a little less stressful, opting for casual conversation to stall you time to think. "Wait, is that what you call that place? It's just...Home?" Julie jumped up, her expression relaxing a moment.

"Yeah! Oh, that's right. You haven't met Home yet."

Watching your eyebrow furrow, Sally joined in. "Home's a living house! That's where Wally lives." She hummed to herself. "I wonder why Home isn't here. Are they still in the neighborhood?" Her gaze wandered to a few of the others, each shrugging in response. Frank stepped forward as he adjusted his bright yellow bowtie. You quickly turned your attention back to him after brushing off seeing the bowtie flutter in a strange movement. That’s a thought for later.

"I've been doing research on this strange world," Frank began. His unibrow furrowed further as he slowly spoke, his tone growing in intensity with every word. "...And so far..I have no idea how we could've gotten here. There's no record of these things happening before!” His hands curled into fists. He stammered further and further with every sentence, his pupils twitching back and forth towards nowhere in particular. “Which..is preposterous! We couldn't have been the first instance of this happening!" He stomped his foot down as his face grew red, and much to your surprise, his head spun. Spinning…spinning..and stopping when Eddie lightly grasped onto it and held it in place. Frank sighed and glanced at the mailman before continuing. "I'm sorry, Dear, it's just---" His brow furrowed as his face grew red again. "I just don't get it! How could we be the only ones for this to happen to?! I-I don't---" he paused again as his glare turned towards the ground. His voice turned quiet as a few strands of hair drooped in his face. The harsh shadows kept you from seeing his face. "I don't understand. I don't know how to get us back to Home." Things were quiet as Eddie turned him around and hugged him close. Frank didn't hug him back. Just kept silent.

Glancing at the others, you found one by one, they all looked back to you. There were no more smiles. No more laughter.

You couldn't tell what they were thinking by looking in their eyes. But you could tell they were lost. Lost and scared.

…Just as much as you.

So you inhaled a sharp breath, and pulled yourself together. "Alright," You started. Peering over to the bright-eyed girl, you watched a small glimmer return to her eyes. "I don't know what to do either." Your gaze connected with each puppets' as it wandered over the group. "But that doesn't mean we can't throw ideas until one sticks!" A small twinge began to form in your stomach, but you continued. "We're all lost…a-and confused, and scared. But we're not alone." Finally, you looked back to Wally. "We're in this together." Determination inflamed you. "And if there's anything I know, it's that if there's a way something can happen, then darn it, there's a way to undo it! I don't know how...but I'll help you find a way home."

"To Home." Frank mumbled into Eddie's shoulder. Your mouth twitched up at his response.

"That's the spirit!" A small round of chuckles came around the group of puppets. “We’ll start throwing ideas and making investigations soon, but first, we need to take some time to get ourselves calmed down. A panicking mind isn’t the best for getting out of bad situations.”

A clacking sound caught your attention. Eggs and hashbrowns---organized in a way the eggs formed eyes and the hashbrowns a smile. Peering back up, you saw Howdy.

"You sure know how to bring people up, kiddo." He ruffled your hair before turning to the rest of the puppets. "I've got breakfast fixed up for you all, so you better come get your fixing before it gets cold! Like Y/N said, we'll get this figured out, but first we have to take care of ourselves!" The cast cheered and grouped around the counter Howdy had set with various cooked foods. You watched them with curiosity as they gabbed away and piled food on their plates.

Out of the corner of your eye, you spotted a familiar blue hair strand, and looked down. Wally hadn't moved from his spot. Rather, he watched the crew with you. "Are you going to get some?" You questioned him. His eyes met yours, half-lidded as always, and his stare unchanging and unmoving. It was quiet as you waited for his response. Distantly, a small tik-tik-tik was heard.

"Okay." He hopped off your lap and walked over. The others quickly noticed him and helped him grab a plate.

Things were back to how they were before the topic changed. And once again as you watched the group, you felt a small pang.

You were so different. And in those differences, alone. Just like always. You decided to push that feeling down.

Now's not the time.

You sighed as you turned back to your plate.

Now...how in the world were you going to get them back to Home?

[kef-meister]

So anyway, cite your fucking sources or Harris Bomberguy will post an essay on you.

[legionofpotatoes]

All other criticisms of modern Star Wars aside, the thing that gets me the most is how every single story is being written to fit into some Avengers-level grand finale that just isn't laying a solid enough foundation to make it worth the wait. Regardless of whether the individual stories are good or bad, what makes them fall so short, imo, is that there's usually no real payoff within their own runtimes (unless you count cheap callbacks or loose promises of More, which you shouldn't)

Like, I already knew halfway through Ahsoka that we were in for a cliffhanger and it's just like...alright, guess we'll see how this ends in about 5 years? Even Mando, which had a great first season and was poised to stand on its own two feet and ride off on a rootin' tootin' bounty huntin' adventure, has ultimately become yet another dusty path on the road to the current Big Plot with an indeterminate due date. That's not deliciously addictive media, it's a dry-ass carrot on a spindly little stick, lol

Of course, this is a problem that many franchises are happily getting cozy with lately because everybody wants to have their own Infinity War / Endgame moment, but I guess it seems a bit more egregious with Star Wars because, ironically, it used to work best because it had less overall focus. Like, sure, we had concurrent movies, animated series, and games, but they were always happy to do their own things and tell their own stories with definitive conclusions. Now it all has to funnel into the Big New Plot and, man, I honestly just can't bring myself to care when it feels like an endless waiting game

I definitely need to get around to watching Visions at some point because, every time it pops up, it sounds like the lifeblood that Star Wars sorely needs atm

Yeah the setup-and-payoff a-to-b type dramatic clarity that seemed so entrenched into the very bones of cinematic grammar - up to around the emergence of streaming, wink wink nudge nudge - is sorely missed in star wars atm. sure maybe downsized writers rooms fidgeting with limited series formats instead of doing actual seasonal TV has something to do with it, but even that is probably such a small piece of the larger issue that spins all this longform storytelling bullshit ferry wheel around.

Another part is certainly chasing the MCU business model of it all like you said. Carrot on a stick is verbatim how I've often described these things myself, the endless promise of another promise of another promise instead of forming a complete thought with a beginning and an end. servicing the plot before story at all costs. another part still is reverence towards the aesthetic trappings of the source material instead of its themes, trying to nail the exact texture of tatooine's huts and dial in the perfect balance of lightsaber choreography and pay homage to a thousand iconic shots before articulating something true in the text.

And like it's an endless laundry list, this confluence of capital-I Issues both industry-scale and creatively-driven that seem to be flaying the skin off the bones of whatever star wars even "is" nowadays. no one can answer that in the context of billions of dollars made off toys and storylines centering around this one moment in fictional history about sons and fathers and empires and rebellions. so they just keep twisting in the wind filling in any gaps within that period. I don't know nonnie, it's all so bleak. ahsoka and obi wan and even mando tbh. as charming as season 1 was, it truly felt like it coasted on its incredible restraint to avoid muddying its aesthetic with cameos, and lucked into effective storytelling as a result of that utterly unintentional alchemy. that's obviously well and truly gone now as its true optics have reared head.

what star wars is by itself is such a pointless discussion, right? andor argues it's a perfectly functional heightened universe that can support incredibly nuanced and dramatically charged stories of grassroots rebellion and the bureaucratic strain of fascist regimes. visions argues it's a world beholden to the force, an endlessly mutable and elegant metaphor that can support infinite monomyths and fairy tales. both are equally fantastic at executing on their takes, despite being in diametrically opposite extremes of interpreting the source. so it's not really about that at all, why the other stuff sucks this bad.

they're just bad at the craft of it, that's really it. whether it's auteur worship or business decisions rotting that fish down, it still rots all the same. maybe the new writers' guild contracts can shift the winds a little, because I was so securely done with star wars and then the aforementioned 2 shows came and affected me. so, so profoundly that I'm back on the hook again. like a lil sucker!

[sea-buns]

Holy fuck, man. What a trip Fearne has been on, huh?

You tell her how grateful you are to have her in your life, you flatter her, you tell her you need her, that you have to do this together. You have her make a promise that has this woman, born of chaos and fey, agreeing through shaking hands and a trembling voice.

You make her deceive your friends; you make her follow where they cannot know; you make her help you into this contraption; you make her feed this thing into you despite the fact that you both have been warned extensively of the risks. You make her watch you crumble and splinter and shatter and fracture and burst and implode. You make her watch you die, over and over and over and over, for a minute in agonizing bullet time.

You make her do all these things, because when she tries to back out, when she tries to not be the one who let you do this—how could you do this—

you tell her, "YOU PROMISED."

Because if there's one thing you know, it's that the fey do not break a promise.

[ravenwolfie97]

i don't want to fully give away my game as i'm editing this but

look at these beautiful boys

[curioscurio]

Reading some more books about autism ! I don't quite know if I'm on the spectrum (a lot of tests seem to lean towards yes) but still! A lot of them make the very lonely person inside me feel seen and understood a little more than before :]

[leonardcohenofficial]

sent multiple emails and wrote approximately two paragraphs on one of my dissertation chapters today please clap

[urne-buriall]

july 19, 1997

The Hearts & Spurs Stampede is on! We have rodeo events, trick riders, delicious tacos, and of course, the Big Dance. Giddy-up.

and we’re back! with our first of two days at the Hearts & Spurs Stampede, where anything could happen

[scribefindegil]

Lower Decks was my "Wow, sometimes Star Trek is Good!" moment, and now I'm watching TNG (from the beginning, so I know it gets better) and getting to experience the crucial oppositional emotion of, "Wow. Sometimes Star Trek. is Bad."