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theonyxpath · 4 years

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The M20 Technocracy Reloaded (hence this blog’s title) Kickstarter has kept going strong, and we’re now over 400% funded! We’re all very thrilled by the many sections of the Companion PDF that have been added via Stretch Goals thanks to all of our amazing backers.

So, thanks to all of you who’ve already backed – and everyone else, please come check out the KS if you can and help us add even more! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/200664283/m20-technocracy-reloaded

Our team continue to be interviewed about M20 Technocracy Reloaded, and there are several awesome actual play broadcasts that you can check out below in the Onyx Path Media section!

If you have questions about M20 Technocracy Reloaded that aren’t answered by any of these venues, we’d love to help you out and answer them on our AMA on Reddit tomorrow, Tuesday the 12th, starting at 12 noon Eastern US time. https://www.reddit.com/r/OnyxPathRPG

Our crew will be popping in and out during the course of the AMA, and while our focus is M20 Technocracy Reloaded, please feel free to ask about anything on your mind!

Dark Eras 2 art by Brian LeBlanc

What We’re Doin’ During These Times

Which brings up the first part of our blog title today. Special Thanks to GuidoG who posted that one several weeks ago in our blog comments. Told ya I’d use it eventually! So we have that AMA mentioned above, but we’re still following up on the ideas I posted about these last few weeks.

Following up, when Dark Eras 2 goes on sale in PDF and PoD versions this Wednesday on DTRPG, we’ll also be offering individual chapter PDFs as well, for folks that didn’t pledge and might need a less expensive way to get gaming materials for the specific game lines they’re interested in.

All of the historical chapters are fantastic, and if you can get the whole book, it is well worth it – but these times, they have been really rough for a lot of our community, so we hope these discrete chapters help.

Our second set of Developer Town Halls went well last week, with lots of talk about development processes and the care and feeding of their writing teams. We unfortunately did hear of a few of our creators needing to be tested, but also a few creators who had Covid and got through it, thankfully.

In last week’s blog I asked for questions for the devs, and while I didn’t use all of them, and several folks included Onyx Pathcast related questions – which was interesting and cool – so I combined those, the Devs all seemed to enjoy answering. We actually had several more in-depth conversations based on their answers to the questions, which added a lot to our getting to know one another. So thanks for those questions, is what I’m saying!

Here’s our Dev responses to a bunch of the questions I received for them:

(Disclaimer: I was writing down the responses really fast, so if I missed anyone’s response to a question, my apologies – it wasn’t you or your answer, just my limited steno skills).

Question: What game line are you truly passionate about?

Eddy Webb: Pugmire, duh.

Matthew Dawkins: Wraith the Oblivion– capital P for Passion.

Travis Legge: Love the Scarred Lands.

Chris Allen: Werewolf: the Forsaken!

Vera Vertanian: TC: Aeon, because I’m such a giant dweeb.

Dixie Cochran: Realms of Pugmire the Masquerade the Lost Essence. (They Came From Beyond the Grave!)

Neall Raemonn Price: EXALTED!

Meghan Fitzgerald: Mage: the Awakening. But Deviant came out of nowhere and I really love it.

John Snead: Mage: the Ascension (for the arguing).

Danielle Lauzon: I’m a huge fan of everything I work on while I’m working on it. My first love/assignment was Mage: the Awakening.

Lauren Roy: Me too, I get so excited as I get to work on each line. But the game of my heart is Mage: the Ascension.

Monica Speca: Exalted, and right now Essence.

Lunars art by Joe Ng

Question: Do you feel good with the word count you handle at the moment?

Eddie Webb: Define good, I’m not freaking out.

Travis Legge: Thrilled and overjoyed.

Matthew Dawkins: That is definitely a question.

Dixie Cochran: Always dread until actually working on it.

Danielle Lauzon: I’m good with 10k, that feels easy. Any more at one time seems sooo huge!

Monica Speca: Shorter word counts work great for me. Especially fiction.

Meghan Fitzgerald: Depends on system or setting.

Neall Raemonn Price: Every time I get comfortable with my amount of work, something pops up outside my control, like Covid.

Question: Are there any groups that we could set up for slack outside of work that would help you?

Matthew Dawkins: Long form TV review and discussion slack.

Dixie Cochran: Animal Crossing, other fandom sites are too negative.

Eddie Webb: Sherlock Holmes, but not really into discussion groups.

Danielle Lauzon: Shitposting.

Neall Raemonn Price: Sopranos.

Meghan Fitzgerald: TV, all TV.

Question: Whats your party trick?

Dixie Cochran: Vanishing out of goth clubs.

Matthew Dawkins: Beating people at Mario Cart.

John Snead: Carry and open up a laptop to demonstrate memes – a memetic enforcer.

Danielle Lauzon: Go to parties at houses, and take over the grill and kitchen. “Because she knows things”.

Monica Speca: I bring the games – boardgames, card games, age and number of players appropriate, all ready for the party.

Lunars cover design

Question: Would you like to be an inerviewee for the terribly awesome trio on the Onyx Pathcast? and if so, what question would you want them to ask you?

Chris Allen: Would you like a drink?

Travis Legge: Tell me about Dead Man’s Rust?

Danielle Lauzon: I just like to taaalk. Any question.

Meghan Fitzgerald: Not so much a question, but it’d be great if there could be a group roundtable.

Monica Speca: Will always talk about game design nonsense.

Eric Zawadzki: Would love to get on there to talk about the Deviant Companions.

Neall Raemonn Price: With others, then Essence. The State of Scion, and tease upcoming projects.

Dark Eras 2 art by Alex Sheikman

Finally, we talked about the Gehenna Gaming virtual convention a few weeks ago, and there have been a few more of those popping up including a virtual convention Eddy is going to be presenting at this coming weekend. So let me ask you folks:

If we had an Onyx Path oriented virtual convention – and I’m just asking to see if there’s interest, I’m not announcing anything – what sort of events would you like to have happen during it? Would you enjoy seeing our creators play our games? Would you want to sign up to play with us? How about virtual panels and Q&A sessions? Or do you have an idea for something else?

Give me a yell, put your thoughts in the blog comments – we’d love to hear from you. And again, we don’t have plans for a virtual convention as yet, but if we were planning on maybe making plans, it’d help to know if you folks were interested in attending and virtual engaging with our:

Many Worlds, One Path!

Blurbs!

Kickstarter!

The M20 Technocracy Reloaded Kickstarter funded in 43 minutes and at almost halfway through has passed 1680 backer operatives, is over 400% funded, and has achieved Stretch Goals consisting of a Storytellers Screen unlock, an unlock of more original Mage PDFs, Backers’ Exclusive T-Shirt, Wallpaper, and building the Technocracy Reloaded Player’s Companion PDF: sections on Constructs and Symposiums (and then expanded by a later SG), Digital Web 3.0, Technomancers’ Toybox 20 and the Q-Division bonus section, Unlikely Allies (also expanded by another SG), and the expanded Digital Web 3.0.2. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/200664283/m20-technocracy-reloaded

Highlights of M20 Technocracy Reloaded include:

An Operative’s Handbook that provides a detailed overview of life in the Technocratic Union, describing the organization of the Union, the Conventions, and the roles that sympathizers, extraordinary citizens, and Enlightened Operatives play in the overall structure of the Technocracy.

An examination of Technocratic initiatives on a global scale.

Devices, procedures, and hypertech used by the Technocratic Union that explores the Enlightened Science, allowing operatives to apply similar effects in the field, if they have sufficient understanding of the principles that allow these gadgets to function.

A comprehensive list of citizens, cyborgs, operatives, progenitor creations, and allies to use as NPCs.

Storyteller support that explores story seeds and metaplot to shape a chronicle for their needs.

Onyx Path Media!

This week features a return to the Terrific Trio’s actual play of Scion!

As always, this Friday’s Onyx Pathcast will be on Podbean or your favorite podcast venue! https://onyxpathcast.podbean.com/

The Technocratic Union continues its live broadcast Tuesday, May 12th at 9 PM EDT on the Onyx Path Publishing Twitch Channel. twitch.tv/theonyxpath

You are under instructions to not miss it.

Plus, Red Moon Roleplaying have just started their actual play of Technocracy Reloaded right here: https://youtu.be/RtdW0znt7GU Please give them your support!

Come tune in to our Twitch channel for an overloaded schedule not limited to Vampire: The Masquerade- Blood on the Tamesis, Vampire: The Masquerade – Chicago by Night Noir, Pugmire – Paws & Claws, Changeling: The Lost – Littlebrook Reunion, Changeling: The Dreaming – The Last Faerie Tale, Mage: The Awakening – Occultists Anonymous, Scarred Lands – Purge of the Serpentholds, and Dark Eras Werewolf: The Forsaken!

You can subscribe to our channel over on twitch.tv/theonyxpath to catch up with any episodes you missed!

Come take a look at our YouTube channel, youtube.com/user/theonyxpath, where you can find a whole load of videos of actual plays, dissections of our games, and more, including:

Vampire: The Masquerade: Blood City – Chicago by Night: https://youtu.be/LXWGtVy2jbE

Mage: The Ascension – Technocracy Reloaded: https://youtu.be/hHG5fBCFlTE

Trinity Continuum – Special Series run by Danielle Lauzon: https://youtu.be/K1xCbfpmKlc

More Vampire: The Masquerade: Blood City – Chicago by Night: https://youtu.be/-zVEOQJK9zc

Chronicles of Darkness: Seattle by Streetlight: https://youtu.be/gMMFhoDncNs

Eddy’s Workshop: Proofing Layout: https://youtu.be/VhkEbMbQ3cA

Do subscribe to our channel and click the bell icon if you want to be notified whenever new news videos and uploads come online!

Matthew Dawkins appeared on the excellent 307 RPG Podcast, where he was interviewed about everything from They Came from Beneath the Sea! and They Came from Beyond the Grave! to upcoming Vampire: The Masquerade books! Give them a listen here: https://307rpg.com/?p=265

Further to that interview, the 307 RPG Podcast released an episode all to do with the Archetypes in They Came from Beneath the Sea!: https://307rpg.com/?p=282

The Story Told Podcast continue their excellent journey into Demon: The Descent right here: http://thestorytold.libsyn.com/the-aggregate-choir-file-2

A Bunch of Gamers have been running a fantastic Pugmire adventure! You can check it out here: https://youtu.be/b57kVpzV2q4 and here’s a synopsis: Retrievers in the Plastic Quarter, explosions all around, and the cats of Korat demanding answers. Our heroes are locked in a deadly battle as their long time foe make their move to wrestle control of the city from King Pug. Will they be able to stop Terry or will the city of Pugmire fall into darkness?

Occultists Anonymous are here with a new special Mage: The Awakening series:

RV Mage 05: We Have a Side? Drifter meets with the Hierarch, Bless Your Heart, to get to the heart of the Consilium’s politics. Vicar and Amanita settle around a Locus to meet with werewolves, then finally, the mages join forces… https://youtu.be/w-FKL4Fnimo

RV Mage 06: Inversion Fleeing into the Shadow, away from raging werewolves, Amanita, Drifter, and Vicar confront opposing mages, Seers of the Orphean Ministry. Of course, werewolves are very good at traversing through the Gauntlet into the Shadow as well… https://youtu.be/P6Ko6_tCFDU

Please check these out and let us know if you find or produce any actual plays of our games! We’d love to feature you!

Electronic Gaming!

As we find ways to enable our community to more easily play our games, the Onyx Dice Rolling App is live! Our dev team has been doing updates since we launched based on the excellent use-case comments by our community, and this thing is awesome! (Seriously, you need to roll 100 dice for Exalted? This app has you covered.)

On Amazon and Barnes & Noble!

You can now read our fiction from the comfort and convenience of your Kindle (from Amazon) and Nook (from Barnes & Noble).

If you enjoy these or any other of our books, please help us by writing reviews on the site of the sales venue from which you bought it. Reviews really, really help us get folks interested in our amazing fiction!

Our selection includes these latest fiction books:

Our Sales Partners!

We’re working with Studio2 to get Pugmire and Monarchies of Mau out into stores, as well as to individuals through their online store. You can pick up the traditionally printed main book, the screen, and the official Pugmire dice through our friends there! https://studio2publishing.com/search?q=pugmire

We’ve added Prince’s Gambit to our Studio2 catalog: https://studio2publishing.com/products/prince-s-gambit-card-game

Now, we’ve added Changeling: The Lost Second Edition products to Studio2‘s store! See them here: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/all-products/changeling-the-lost

Scion 2e books and other products are available now at Studio2: https://studio2publishing.com/blogs/new-releases/scion-second-edition-book-one-origin-now-available-at-your-local-retailer-or-online

Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Try this link! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Onyx-Path-Publishing/

And you can order Pugmire, Monarchies of Mau, Cavaliers of Mars, and Changeling: The Lost 2e at the same link! And now Scion Origin and Scion Hero and Trinity Continuum Core and Trinity Continuum: Aeon are available to order!

As always, you can find Onyx Path’s titles at DriveThruRPG.com!

On Sale This Week!

This week, the PDF and PoD versions of Chronicles of Darkness: Dark Eras 2 emerge from the haunted past on DriveThruRPG on Wednesday!

Dark Eras 2 explores 13 new eras scattered throughout the history of the Chronicles of Darkness. Each chapter features two to three game lines which include Vampire: The Requiem, Mage: The Awakening, Hunter: The Vigil, Changeling: The Lost, and more!

The rules in this book are compatible with second edition Chronicles of Darkness. Each terrifying time period and location is examined through the supernatural creatures that dwell there.

Unlock the past. Find out what hides in the shadows.

Inside, you’ll find:

Historically inspired settings and story hooks

Character-creation tips and gameplay advice

New Tilts, Conditions, and era-appropriate rules

Conventions!

As mentioned above, our own Fast Eddy Webb will be appearing on 2 or 3 panels for the Flights of Foundry online convention this weekend! Check it out here: https://flightsoffoundry2020.sched.com/mysessions

Though dates are subject to change due to the current COVID-19 outbreak, here’s our current list of upcoming conventions:

UKGames Expo: https://www.ukgamesexpo.co.uk/

GenCon: https://www.gencon.com/

Tabletop Scotland: https://tabletopscotland.co.uk/

Gamehole Con: https://www.gameholecon.com/

PAX Unplugged: https://unplugged.paxsite.com/

And now, the new project status updates!

Development Status from Eddy Webb! (Projects in bold have changed status since last week.):

First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep.)

Exalted Essay Collection (Exalted)

Under Alien Suns (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Adversaries of the Righteous (Exalted 3rd Edition)

The Clades Companion (Deviant: The Renegades)

The Devoted Companion (Deviant: The Renegades)

Saints and Monsters (Scion 2nd Edition)

M20 Rich Bastard’s Guide To Magick (Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary)

Wild Hunt (Scion 2nd Edition)

Dead Man’s Rust (Scarred Lands)

V5 The Faithful Undead (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

V5 Trails of Ash and Bone (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

V5 Forbidden Religions (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Trinity Continuum: Anima

Redlines

Dragon-Blooded Novella #2 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Hundred Devil’s Night Parade (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Trinity Continuum: Adventure! core (Trinity Continuum: Adventure!)

Contagion Chronicle Ready-Made Characters (Chronicles of Darkness)

Novas Worldwide (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Exalted Essence Edition (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Mission Statements (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Second Draft

Many-Faced Strangers – Lunars Companion (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Kith and Kin (Changeling: The Lost 2e)

Assassins (Trinity Continuum Core)

Dearly Bleak – Novella (Deviant: The Renegades)

Development

TC: Aberrant Reference Screen (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Across the Eight Directions (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Contagion Chronicle: Global Outbreaks (Chronicles of Darkness)

M20 Victorian Mage (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

They Came From Beyond the Grave! (They Came From!)

Crucible of Legends (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Exigents (Exalted 3rd Edition)

N!ternational Wrestling Entertainment (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Manuscript Approval

Post-Approval Development

Scion: Demigod (Scion 2nd Edition)

Scion: Dragon (Scion 2nd Edition)

Editing

Terra Firma (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Lunars Novella (Rosenberg) (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition core rulebook (Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition)

Player’s Guide to the Contagion Chronicle (Chronicles of Darkness)

Contagion Chronicle Jumpstart (Chronicles of Darkness)

TC: Aberrant Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Trinity Continuum Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum)

Masks of the Mythos (Scion 2nd Edition)

LARP Rules (Scion 2nd Edition)

One Foot in the Grave Jumpstart (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2e)

Heirs to the Shogunate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

The Book of Lasting Death (Mummy: The Curse 2e)

Post-Editing Development

City of the Towered Tombs (Cavaliers of Mars)

W20 Shattered Dreams Gift Cards (Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th)

Cults of the Blood Gods (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Hunter: The Vigil 2e core (Hunter: The Vigil 2nd Edition)

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant core (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)

Monsters of the Deep (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Legendlore core book (Legendlore)

Titanomachy (Scion 2nd Edition)

Pirates of Pugmire KS-Added Adventure (Realms of Pugmire)

Tales of Aquatic Terror (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Magic Item Decks (Scarred Lands)

Yugman’s Guide Support Decks (Scarred Lands)

Indexing

Art Direction from Mike Chaney!

In Art Direction

Scion Titanomachy

Tales of Aquatic Terror

WoD Ghost Hunters – KS final art coming in. Gaydos should be done shortly.

Aberrant – Contacting and contracting. Signing off on sketches.

Pugmire Adventure – All sketches in.

Hunter: The Vigil 2e

Mummy 2

Deviant – Dividing up among current artists.

Legendlore – Kickstarter on hiatus/doing art buy breakdown.

Technocracy Reloaded (KS) – Happening.

Cults of the Blood God – Rolling along.

Scion: Dragon – Working on chapter art breakdowns.

Masks of the Mythos – Working on chapter art breakdowns.

They Came From Beyond the Grave! (KS) – Getting fulls for KS.

In Layout

Yugman’s Guide to Ghelspad

Vigil Watch

TC Aeon Terra Firma – Over to Josh.

V5 Let the Streets Run Red – Prepping for layout.

Buried Bones: Creating in the Realms of Pugmire (Realms of Pugmire)

Proofing

Trinity Aeon Jumpstart

Pirates of Pugmire – Waiting for backer errata.

TCFBTS Heroic Land Dwellers – Waiting for backer errata.

Lunars: Fangs at the Gate – Backer PDF out to KS backers Tuesday.

Scion Companion – Just waiting for two tweaked pieces.

Contagion Chronicle

Cavaliers of Mars: City of the Towered Tombs

Duke Rollo Book – Waiting for backer errata.

At Press

Night Horrors : Nameless and Accursed – PoD proof on the way.

Dark Eras 2 – PDF and PoD versions on sale on DTRPG this Weds!

TCFBTS Screen and Booklet

They Came from Beneath the Sea!

C:tL 2e Oak, Ash, & Thorn – PoD proof OK, on sale soon.

Today’s Reason to Celebrate!

Today in 1997, Deep Blue, a chess-playing supercomputer, defeats Garry Kasparov in the last game of their rematch, becoming the first computer to beat a world-champion chess player in a classic match format.

Not saying that was the beginning of the end for humanity, that the Technocracy won, or that this connects in any way with Trinity Continuum: Anima. Just interesting, that’s all…

#Onyx Path Publishing

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brooke0297 · 4 years

Text

Julie Purple Nail Polish (A Julie and the Phantoms Fic)

Masterlist

So last week was absolute garbage for me and after wallowing for a bit, I decided I needed to paint my nails and write some ghost bois fluff. Plus, I would pay Netflix an insane amount of money to let the boys have painted nails in the show. Sacha and Owen rock painted nails and I am HERE FOR IT. Enjoy lovelies!

It was just one of those days for Julie.

The days where the hole in her heart where her mom used to reside seemed to throb and made it hard to breathe. Where it got harder and harder to swallow the lump in her throat and the smallest thing could begin a meltdown.

They had been fewer and far between since the boys had literally dropped into her life. Those first few weeks after she’d found music again and they’d formed the band, she’d been more preoccupied with rehearsing and writing and saving her boys from evil ghost magicians.

And the Orpheum. Oh man, the Orpheum had changed so many things in Julie’s life for the better. Andi Parker from Destiny Management had found her and now (with her dad’s blessing) Julie and The Phantoms had official representation. Andi was still booking some smaller gigs, but doors had been opened for the band that the boys hadn’t even seen when Sunset Curve was at its peak. Venues were calling, begging for the band to headline and had willingly agreed to strictly Friday and Saturday gigs (school came first was one of the first things Ray and Andi had agreed on).

The boys had recovered beautifully from Caleb’s curse. Alex was still worried about Willie and tried to hang out at some of their favorite places to make sure he was safe. Reggie was still following her dad around and had taken to casually making sure a forgetful Ray never left without his wallet and backup camera battery. Carlos had been clued in on the secret the night of the Orpheum and spent most of his free time while Ray was at a shoot playing Mario Kart with an invisible opponent. And Luke was still...Luke. The ability to touch the guys had remained after their luminescent group hug and no one was happier to take advantage of that fact than Luke. The casual touches he’d always given the boys extended to Julie now and she tried not to let on how much the hand holding and brush of their shoulders made her heart flip flop in her chest. It was hard to be sad when she had her ghost boys around to love her.

Today, however, it seemed her mood just couldn’t be salvaged.

Flynn had seen it immediately when Julie had trudged into school that morning: the dark circles and barely contained tears in her eyes. She hadn’t said anything about it, only launching into one of her crazy stories as a way to pull Julie from the pit in her mind and distract her until there was a ghost of a smile on her face. Despite Flynn’s distraction techniques, classes felt overwhelming and she spent the whole day on the verge of a meltdown until she finally made it home and collapsed face first onto her bed. She was exhausted from trying to keep herself from bursting into tears and all she wanted was to curl up and disappear for a few hours. Her dad was out at a shoot and her brother had baseball practice all afternoon, which meant she would have the house to herself for a while. An added bonus was that Luke had (reluctantly) designated Wednesdays as their day off from rehearsals, so the boys would probably be up to their own shenanigans and Julie could mope in peace.

She decided a nice hot shower would make her feel better, first and foremost. Maybe a bath, but she didn’t feel like getting her bath bombs out and lugging all her stuff to the ensuite in her dad’s room. So she pulled her hair up and into a cap, grabbed her comfiest sweats and a flannel she was pretty sure she’d stolen from Reggie at some point, and jumped under the stinging hot water.

Her muscles immediately loosened and she sighed. She could almost feel the stress of the day wash off of her as she scrubbed at her skin with her favorite body wash. Her mom had always told her there was nothing a hot shower and Disney movies couldn’t fix.

She spent some extra time moisturizing and using one of her “girls day” face masks her and Flynn had splurged on. She knew Flynn would forgive her for it, knowing what kind of day she’d had. After she had cleaned the bathroom up and put all her stuff away, she padded into her room to grab her laptop and her case of nail polish. Her nails were looking a little sad and could use some TLC. Plus, doing her nails always relaxed Julie in a therapeutic way.

She paused in her doorway when she caught sight of Reggie lounging on her small couch, looking chipper.

“Hey Julie! Sorry, I knew you were in the bathroom so I waited here for you.” he said. Julie’s mouth turned up slightly.

“Hey Reggie. No worries” she said quietly, climbing into her bed and sliding under the covers.

“Whatcha doin? We didn’t see you come to the studio so I thought you might have been at Flynn’s.” He trailed off, sensing that Julie wasn’t quite herself. His face fell minutely into a worried frown.

“Are you okay? You seem...tired.” he asked, shifting on the couch. Julie sighed.

“I guess I’m just having an off day. I’ve been missing my mom and today just felt like a lot.”

Reggie’s face morphed into understanding and he nodded.

“I’m sorry, Julie.” he said softly; sincerely. Julie felt a rush of adoration for her ghost bassist and his extra large heart. Usually when she told people about missing her mom and they apologized, it felt hollow. Like they didn’t know exactly what to say or how they could make it better. Reggie knew what it meant to lose people you loved. His was more of an “I’m sorry you’re not having a good day” instead of an “I’m sorry your mom died.”

Julie, not wanting to wallow and bring her sunny bandmate down with her, patted her laptop gently.

“I was actually about to start a movie and paint my nails, if you wanted to watch with me.” she said. Reggie’s eyes lit up and he hurried to pull his shoes off and climb onto her bed beside her. As Julie queued up Tangled on Disney+, Reggie shifted so that his left side was pressed against Julie’s right. She couldn’t help but still feel a shot of surprise and contentment when she could feel his warmth radiating off of him. Now that she could actually feel them, ghost cuddles and casual touches were not only encouraged, but required. So she snuggled in closer.

“So what’s this movie about?” Reggie asked as Flynn Rider’s opening monologue began. Julie began telling him the premise of the movie as she rifled through her nail polish case. By the time she’d decided on a color and had begun putting on the clear coat, Reggie was enthralled. He had tugged one of her throw pillows to his chest and hugged it tightly as Gothel kidnapped the baby princess.

Julie let the sound of the movie fade into background noise as she carefully spread the thin clear coat on, paying attention to around her cuticles. She gently blew on them to help them dry before taking the brush from the purple color she’d chosen to begin carefully applying the color to her nails.

Julie could remember her mother spending many Saturdays in their bathroom, painting her nails a deep red color. She had always watched in fascination until Rose had sat her on the counter and let her pick her own colors. Then she would take Julie’s hand and gently cover her little fingers in vibrant shades. When Julie got older, they would share the counter and Rose would help her clean around the tips of her fingers where the polish would smudge. After her mom had died, it had taken Julie a long time to feel right about painting her nails without her mom. It was a sacred ritual they had shared and it was only when Flynn had handed her the nail polish before the Orpheum gig that she had felt right about it.

Now, she let the small brush glide along her nails and fill the blank spots with a deep purple that made her think of her dress from the Orpheum. She smiled softly, remembering the poofiness of her skirts and the exhilaration of performing at one of the biggest venues in LA.

“Hey Julie…?”

She looked up from her left pinkie finger to see Reggie watching her in fascination.

“What’s up Reg?” she asked, waving her hand around to dry the polish.

“I like that color. It’s a really good Julie purple.” he said.

“Julie purple?” she asked, grinning.

“Yeah, like your dress from the Orpheum and how you always seem to have some sort of purple with you. It’s very...wait what does Flynn call it? ‘On brand’? Yeah! It’s very ‘On Brand Julie.’”

Julie giggled.

“Thanks Reggie. Purple is one of my favorite colors so I tend to gravitate towards it.” Reggie nodded and turned back to the movie. Julie started on the second coat, painting until the color was to her satisfaction.

“Julie?” Reggie was much quieter this time.

“Hmmm?” she hummed, keeping her eyes fixed on her ring finger. It was the trickiest finger for her for some reason and she wanted to get it right.

“Do you...I mean...could you…” Reggie suddenly flushed and Julie quirked an eyebrow, glancing up.

“What do you mean, Reggie?” she asked. Reggie swallowed harshly and blinked.

“Doyouthinkyoucouldpaintminenext?” he blurted out. His eyes widened, as if he couldn’t believe he’d actually asked.

Julie thought nothing of it, only grinned and nodded at him.

“Sure Reg. Let me finish my second coat. Pick out a color that you want.” She finished the second coat of her right hand, carefully filing in the spots she’d missed and trying to avoid her cuticles. Once she had finished, she glanced up and saw Reggie smiling at her brightly.

“What, do I have something on my face again?” she teased, blowing on her nails.

“No I just...you’re amazing Julie.” he said quietly. Julie smiled at him as she reached for the black polish he was holding in his hands. She held out her hand for his and placed it on her thigh as she began spreading the black color on his nails. Reggie watched in fascination as the pale pink of his nail beds were slowly covered by Julie’s expert hand.

“You know, it’s pretty common for men to paint their nails nowadays…” Julie trailed off nonchalantly.

“Really?” Reggie asked happily.

“Yeah. You know that artist I was playing the other day? Harry Styles? He always has his nails done. And a lot of guys at school paint theirs. Nick does before the lacrosse season starts. He doesn’t like to wear it during the season because he hates when it chips too much.”

“I’ve always thought it looked really cool. Bobby and I always talked about doing it before gigs to see how it would look but we never did.” Reggie said. Julie smiled sadly.

“Actually, Trevor always paints his nails before his shows. Says it always brought him luck…” Julie saw a shadow pass over the bassist’s face for a moment before he was back to his happy go lucky self. Julie finished his right hand and began on the left.

“Blow nice and gently on them to help them dry enough for a second coat,” she instructed. Reggie followed her directions, eyes wandering to the movie still playing on her laptop. They sat quietly for a moment as Julie finished his left hand until the tell tale sound of ghosts poofing into the room made them look up.

“There you are!” Luke groaned dramatically, flopping onto the bed beside Julie. The momentum sent the nail polish bottles flying and Julie grunted, sending the guitarist an exasperated look. Alex only sighed.

“Luke…” she warned.

“I’m sorry. Julie, can I please sit on your bed while you and Reggie hang out without us?” he pouted. Julie rolled her eyes and Alex groaned.

“Yes, you man child, sit down and don’t make me spill on my bedspread.” she chastised. Luke smiled contently and spread out on the mattress, curling his head in towards Julie’s leg. Julie tried to ignore the flush of her cheeks by focusing intently on Reggie’s hand.

“Anyways…” Alex cut in, sitting on Julie’s bean bag. “What are you guys doing?”

“Julie’s painting my nails!” Reggie blurted, waving his newly painted nails at his friends. Julie grinned as Alex grabbed Reggie’s hand to look.

“That looks really awesome, Jules.” Alex said quietly.

“Yeah! That looks lit!” Luke crowed. Julie and Alex shot him another look and he shrugged.

“Just trying to get the 2020 lingo down.”

“Thanks guys,” Julie said, pulling out her top coat. As she grabbed Reggie’s hand to finish his nails off, she glanced over to see Alex eyeing the case of polishes with an unfathomable expression on his face. Luke had summoned his guitar and was idly strumming it, but every once in a while he would pause and glance at his own bare nails. Once Julie was done with Reggie, she grabbed the case and shoved it towards Alex.

“Pick some colors, Alex. I'll do yours while Reggie’s top coat dries. Then I’ll need your help to pin Luke down to keep him still enough”

The drummer’s face broke into a wide grin and he sifted through the various colors, ignoring Luke’s indignant squawk from beside her.

Which is how Julie ended up giving Alex a rainbow set and Luke ended up choosing black as well, with the added purple on his pinkie fingers to match Julie. He cited wanting to have cohesion as a band, but based on the looks Alex and Reggie were throwing at him, she knew he just wanted to match her. As Julie finished Luke’s top coat, Reggie and Alex were chatting quietly about how they could incorporate new nail colors into their performance outfits and what Flynn (their unofficial stylist) would think. They praised Julie’s work and Julie quirked a smile as she was once again reminded how lucky she was to have her boys.

Maybe her day hadn’t turned out as bad as she’d thought it would.

******

Thanks for reading everyone! Let me know what you think and don't forget to check out my other stories if you liked what you read.

#julie and the phantoms #julie and the phantoms fanfiction #jatp #jatp fanfic #julie molina #Reggie Peters #luke patterson #Alex Mercer #b's fanfics

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thrashermaxey · 7 years

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Ramblings: Anderson Shutout In NHL100 Classic, Landeskog’s Five-Point Game (Dec 17)

Anderson Shutout In Outdoor Game, Landeskog’s Five-Point Game, plus more…

It has been an eventful past week for the Ottawa Senators, if you factor in the Erik Karlsson no-trade list and the Eugene Melnyk comments. But the outdoor game couldn’t have gone any better for the Senators, who win 3-0 over Montreal in a game marking the NHL’s very first game 100 years ago.

Craig Anderson stopped all 28 shots he faced to pick up his second shutout of the season. Even though Anderson has been struggling this season, I was sure to start him for this game, as outdoor games (at least ones with colder temperatures) seem to favor the goalies (at least according to my observations). Anderson is the fourth goalie to earn a shutout in an outdoor game. He has now had back-to-back quality starts, which should make his owners feel a little better about using him going forward. At least his goals-against average is now below 3.00 and his save percentage above .900.

Here’s the opening goal scored by playoff hero Jean-Gabriel Pageau. This is a great call by Jim Hughson. Perfectly timed.

"What this game needs now is Joe Malone, or…"

Jean-Gabriel Pageau? The #Sens will take it! #NHL100Classic pic.twitter.com/N2h777T290

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) December 17, 2017

Erik Karlsson stuffed his fantasy owners’ stockings in this game. One assist, a plus-3 ranking, seven shots on goal, and eight blocked shots. All in 32:55 of icetime, which set a record for time on ice in an outdoor game. Fun times again. If you read my weekly column at Sportsnet, I suggested that you could try to buy low on him.

Karlsson baby what is you doin pic.twitter.com/spXgSMa7jc

— NBCSN (@NBCSN) December 17, 2017

One of those goalies who has earned a shutout in an outdoor game was Cam Talbot, which happened last season. Talbot returned to the Oilers’ lineup on Saturday afternoon, playing his first game since late November. Talbot stopped 29 of 31 shots in the Oilers’ 3-2 win. As much as fantasy owners have been down on Talbot this season, he had won three games in a row before his injury. So in each of his four consecutive wins, he has allowed just two goals in each start. There’s still a buy-low opportunity here.

One other thing: fantasy owners can now officially shed Laurent Brossoit if they’ve been hanging onto him.

Both of Talbot’s two goals allowed on Saturday afternoon were to Matt Dumba. The Wild blueliner had scored just one goal over the first two months of the season, but he has scored four goals during December.

My drop of the week recommendation was also from this game. Mikko Koivu has now gone 10 consecutive games without a point and 23 consecutive games without a goal. Koivu is normally very reliable (at least for assists), but there are probably more productive options at a deep center position on your league’s waiver wire at the moment.

Speaking of point streaks (the good kind this time), David Pastrnak extended his to 11 games with an assist. His point streak is now tied for the longest this season along with Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov. Pastrnak assisted on a goal by Brad Marchand, who has an eight-game point streak of his own, which includes 12 points (5g-7a).

On a busy Saturday, it’s unlikely that many fantasy owners would have rolled the dice on Blues’ backup Carter Hutton. But the precious few that did were handsomely rewarded, as he stopped all 48 shots he faced in the Blues’ 2-0 win over Winnipeg. Hutton had not started in about two weeks because of a foot injury.

By the way, Sunday seems to be the best day for goalie streaming starts. There are fewer games, so it’s easier to slot in a goalie that’s not one of your regulars. Those that are willing to reach out for one probably need to catch up in goaltending categories, and since it’s the final day of the week it’s all or nothing. It worked for me with Curtis McElhinney last week, who pitched a shutout last Sunday.

Sticking with the Blues, here's some good news regarding an Alex Pietrangelo return in the very near future.

Yeo says it’s possible that Brodziak and Pietrangelo play tomorrow. #stlblues

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) December 17, 2017

I said this in another Ramblings earlier this season, but it’s worth mentioning again: the New York Islanders are a hidden gem of fantasy talent. However, the one player that we all know about leads the way. John Tavares scored a goal and added two assists to give him two consecutive three-point games and nine points over his last four games. We talk about how Tavares’ talent rubs off on linemates Josh Bailey and Anders Lee. But there also seems to be mutual benefit, as Tavares is scoring at over a point per game (40 points in 33 games) for the first time in three seasons.

Shayne Gostisbehere picked up what I like to call the double-double for his fantasy owners on Saturday. No, I’m not talking about the famous Tim Horton’s coffee. I’m referring to two goals, both of which were on the power play. With 24 points in 29 games, that 50-point season that we projected for Ghost is now well within reach.

The Colorado/Tampa Bay game was an eventful game with plenty to unpack, including a number of fantasy standouts and even a controversial hit.

Just like Jack Eichel on Friday night, Gabriel Landeskog’s monster game on Saturday went to waste when it came to determining his team’s result. Landeskog posted a hat trick to go with two assists, which included two goals in a third period where the Avs exploded for four goals to make this into a game. Landeskog had not scored a point in his three previous games, but don’t assume that this season resembles last season’s disaster. In just 28 games, Landeskog is just nine points shy (at 24 points) from matching his point total from all of last season.

Nathan MacKinnon was impressive again, scoring two goals and adding an assist with seven shots on goal. So were you ready to give up on him before this season? Even though it seems as though he’s been in the league a while, he is only 22 years of age. And he’s finally scoring at over a point per game (38 points in 32 games).

Tyson Barrie recorded three helpers in the third period of this game, two of which were on the power play. Another example of how much better things are in Colorado this season: Barrie already has one more power-play point (11 PPP) than he had all of last season.

In a winning cause, Anton Stralman scored two goals and added an assist. After struggling through November (one assist in 12 games), he’s turned it up in December with five points in seven games. Stralman probably shouldn’t be one of your fantasy d-men at the moment, though, as he has yet to score a power-play point this season and doesn’t receive much power-play time.

Yanni Gourde scored a goal and added two assists. With 23 points in 32 games, Gourde is having a very under-the-radar rookie season. He’s currently tied as a top-5 scorer among rookies in both goals and points.

Lastly, Erik Johnson’s hit on Vladislav Namestnikov is sure to be reviewed by the league for possible supplemental discipline. Fortunately, Namestnikov was able to return to the game. Johnson was handed a two-minute slashing minor, a five-minute major for boarding, and a game misconduct. Maybe the league will deem that sufficient. But it sure looked dangerous.

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The Nashville Predators are on a roll, having just swept the Western Canada stops in Vancouver, Edmonton, and Calgary, having allowed just one goal over those three games. Pekka Rinne did not start the Edmonton game, but he has stopped 57 of 58 shots he has faced over the last two games. Rinne stopped all 32 shots he faced in a 2-0 shutout win over Calgary. I know I was premature in assuming the 35-year-old Rinne was on the way down. But an 18-4-3 record with a 2.25 GAA and .930 SV% has him right in the mix as a top-5 fantasy goalie.

With one of the Preds’ two goals, Kevin Fiala extended his point streak to seven games. Over that stretch he has six goals. We’ve mentioned this before, but the Kyle Turris acquisition has given Fiala’s fantasy value a major boost. By the way, Turris is also on a seven-game point streak. No one has benefitted more from the three-team trade last month than Turris, who has 17 points (4g-13a) in 17 games as a Predator.

In a losing cause, Mark Giordano fired eight shots on goal in 26 minutes of icetime.

The Flames didn’t score any goals on Saturday, so there’s not much else to talk about. But this is an interesting stat as to how much Johnny Gaudreau means to their offense:

Johnny Gaudreau has 39 points on 89 #Flames goals this season (43.8%).

That is the highest percent of team goals involved in this season.

— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) December 17, 2017

After Gaudreau, Sean Monahan has 30 points. Then no one even has 20 points.

Mario Lemieux’s five-goal game – the one where he scored even strength, on the power play, shorthanded, on a penalty shot, and on an empty net – was voted the NHL’s greatest moment, announced at the outdoor game. This was quite the statistical feat, if you think about it.

Even Strength Shorthanded Power Play Penalty Shot Empty Net

Mario Lemieux’s tremendous feat has been voted the Greatest Moment in NHL history! #NHLGreatestMoments #NHL100 pic.twitter.com/UOFkVNeHip

— NHL (@NHL) December 17, 2017

Personally, I thought the Bobby Orr “flying through the air” goal would win, since that image is so memorable. You can view the entire results of the vote at NHL.com’s Greatest Moments Bracket.

For more fantasy hockey information, follow me on Twitter @Ian_Gooding.

from All About Sports http://www.dobberhockey.com/hockey-rambling/ramblings-anderson-shutout-in-nhl100-classic-landeskogs-five-point-game-dec-17/

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