#for now he is just an OP blob

[f1mvln]

Seen a lot of OP fans complain about Lando having his own monster energy drink whilst OP doesn’t so here’s a few little break downs of why Lando does and Oscar doesn’t.

1. Monster sponsor Lando, not just McLaren.

Now for for some obvious points.

1. Lando simply has more fans. Take instagram it’s 10.1 mil v 4.3mil. Which will have a higher demand?

Lando simply has more marketability. Sponsors/brands look out for their own best interests. In terms of monster, “if Lando has his own can would it sell?” They clearly came to the conclusion it would. And so far it’s been proven right. People are looking in every possible shop to try find it. Two girls even went to a Costco in the UK to find it and they had sold out which is incredible since it’s a wholesale warehouse. It’s clear the demand is there.

Lando is more marketable, he has many other avenues that monster can take advantage of in terms of promotion for their brand. For example, the Quadrant Japan collection with the Skyline, Lando filmed the Quadrant promo for that collection along side monster. Monster produced a promotion video from that shoot with the Skyline GTR from the Quadrant Japan collection, including Lando’s monster can in that promo shoot.

Another point.

Lando has a cleave vision, a clear recognisable personal brand. For example, the black in fluro, everyone thinks of Lando and knows it’s Lando. The whole “blob” collection and helmet is immediately recognisable it’s a clear brand, just like his logo it’s all very thought out and recognisable. Brands/Sponsors love when there is a clear vision, and/or brand, as it means there is less work for them.

Brands/sponsors also love when those who they are sponsoring can promote in effective ways. In this case personality and creativity. Lando has that personality and energy that draws people in, whether he’s being silly, making jokes or just showing his genuine personality being open about many different things brands love to know what they are getting into and the personality of who they are sponsoring. And in terms of Oscar, he just doesn’t have the same draw in that Lando had, Lando’s seems genuine and not forced, unlike OP who seems to be very forced when it comes to promotion etc not having a natural flow.

So unfortunately for those OP fans the short answer is Lando is miles more marketable at this current time, and maybe always than Oscar is.

[zuppizup]

Not Quite Domestic Bliss

Opeli struggles not to let her irritation show as they continue to wait. Even King Ezran is looking anxious by the time Callum bursts through the door, looking flustered.

“Sorry I’m late!” He grimaces at everyone clearly waiting for him.

“No problem, Callum.” True to form, Ezran smiles brightly at him, seemingly holding no grudges for the fact they’ve been sitting waiting for over half an hour.

Opeli watches as Callum takes a seat, noting his dishevelled state. His hair is wilder than usual and he seems to be adopting more and more Moonshadow attire, dressed in a strange mismatched manner, dark leggings that look uncomfortably tight and a crumbled tunic she suspects might actually be a nightshirt.

In fact, if she didn’t know better, she would almost believe Callum slept in that shirt-

It’s morning, but it’s not particularly early.

He would never... would he?

Callum has never been the best time keeper, even back when things at the castle were more formal, but he’s become totally hopeless since moving permanently to Evrkynd. Opeli didn’t really consider his resignation from King Ezran’s council as much of a loss. He’s always been distracted and much of his actual “contributions” are in the form of random tangents or crude jokes.

At least Rayla isn’t with him today.

Opeli feels like a school mistress when they attend meetings together, constantly having to remind them to pay attention… struggling not to lose her temper at their whispering and giggling.

The crude jokes are even more frequent when they’re bouncing off each other.

“Where’s Rayla?” Soren asks, an eyebrow raised, seemingly at Callum’s appearance.

Opeli desperately hopes they don’t end up waiting for Rayla too.

“Em, she’s at home,” Callum winces, finally taking his seat. “She’s, eh, not well.”

“Oh no, is she okay?” Ezran asks, leaning forward in his seat.

“She’ll be fine,” Callum reassures them. “I’m still getting the hang of foraging and I kinda mixed up regularly moonberries with the moonberries you use to make moonberry surprise and well… she’s just lying down in the dark for a while.”

Opeli arches an eyebrow, knowing well by now what’s in moonberry surprise. “Is she safe alone?”

While she is concerned for Rayla, sending Callum to keep an eye on her would hardly be a loss for this meeting.

“Terry is keeping an eye on her,” Callum flushes bright red, avoiding eye contact as he drums his hands on the table. “So... where were we?”

After the meeting has concluded, Opeli overhears Corvus talking to Callum as she packs away her notes.

“Soooo, Callum, how’s life in Evrkynd?” Corvus looks and sounds awkward as he asks this, clearly trying not to look too intently at Callum’s mismatched clothing or ridiculous hair.

“Good!” Callum enthuses, “but busy,” he nods, wide eyed. “Lots to learn, you know? And not just magic either. Barius is coming over again tomorrow to help us with the bread stuff. I told him he doesn’t have to, but he got kinda mad when he saw what we baked the other day. He said we’re killing the dough or the yeast blob or something. You’re suppose to feed it… I don’t get it-”

“Uh huh,” Corvus nods kindly. “And how’s everything else? If you want help with anything-”

“Oh, we’re fine,” Callum waves him off, pulling awkwardly on his pants for what seems like the tenth time in so many minutes. “We’re figuring stuff out-”

“You’re obviously not,” Soren scoffs, folding his arms over his chest.

Callum gapes at him, looking offended. “Yeah, we are-”

Soren rolls his eyes, his lip curled. “Callum, you’re clearly wearing Rayla’s pants.”

Callum’s mouth falls open and he blinks stupidly for a moment before responding. “We’re pretty much the same height!”

“Yeah, well, girls pants fit differently to guys pants.” Soren make a play of shielding his eyes.

Callum goes bright red, making a futile attempt to pull his shirt down. “We’re behind on laundry!”

“What you two need is a roster,” Soren throws his arm around Callum shoulder and starts dragging him towards the door. “I know I can’t rely on you to be disciplined, so that means I have to deal with Rayla.”

“Hey!” Callum protests, trying to extract himself from Soren’s grip. “I can be disciplined when I need to be-”

Corvus sighs, watching Soren herd Callum out the door.

Picking up her scrolls, Opeli joins him, vaguely amused as they continue to bicker down the street.

“It’s good someone is taking the lead with Prince Callum,” she smiles at Corvus. “I fear learning domestic duties has not been high on his or Rayla’s list of concerns.”

Corvus arches an eyebrow, his face sceptical. “You think they’ve been high on Soren’s list?”

Opeli winces, turning her eyes back to the two younger men. “Oh.”

Corvus sighs, beginning to walk after them. “It’s like the blind leading the blind.”

———

For @m4rs-ex3

Sorry I couldn’t find any fluff for you in my WIPs 😆

[madam-sunrise]

I've been dormant for a while, so have a really messy Jazz sketch as a treat.

This was supposed to be part of a larger piece with both Prowl and Jazz, but I've been working on it on and off for months now, and I'm tired of Prowl looking like a blob everytime I draw him.

As for Jazz, he also gave me some trouble, just not as much as Prowl did. While I was drawing him, I got to thinking about food and how Jazz probably doesn't get to eat much when he's on a mission. That led me to think that Jazz might just have a problem with binge eating. Think about it, when he's out in the field he probably doesn't get a lot of opportunities to fuel properly, and when he does fuel it's more than likely that he's fueling on something that's not the best since it would need to last a long time in subspace without going bad. He probably has a mod or two that makes it easier to deal with hunger or even prevents him from feeling hungry at all. Once Jazz gets back from a mission, that mech must absolutely chow down on whatever decent energon he can get his servos on. On the other hand, if he forgot to turn his mods off that prevent him from feeling hunger, he might just end up passing out from energon deprivation.

You think Prowl is bad at fueling? Welcome to the Jazz Binge eating headcannon! Where The rest of the spec ops crew have taken to forcing Jazz to fuel everytime he comes back from a mission. He's passed out on them far too many times for them to be comfortable letting him fuel on his own. Sometimes, Jazz ends up going so long without proper consistent meals that even once his mods are switched off he still doesn't have an appetite for anything. Que the spec ops crew chasing Jazz across the base and through the vents to pin the fragger down long enough to shove at least something down his intake so he doesn't fall into stasis. They're very rarely able to catch him. The chase typically ends with Jazz falling out of a loose vent grate (deliberately loosened) directly into Prowls awaiting servos. Prowl scolds Jazz as he drags him back to their habsuite and eventually ends up hand feeding the chaos gremlin some freshly baked energon sweets.

[alpineshift]

I love your fics but selkie nico x jack will always own my heart!

🥹❤️🦭 I am so happy this seal!nico with his silly flippers and his adoring husband/boyfriend jack have endeared you ❤️

please accept a little extra seal cuteness for your dash 🥹

The little girl in the #13 HISCHIER jersey for tonight's walk-in photo op is unbelievably cute and unbelievably shy.

She's the youngest of the bunch for this particular group, and had all but dashed to hide behind her mother's legs when Nico first went over to introduce himself. Jack had stifled a laugh as he watched Nico's face go through a series of aww-so cute-oh no-she's shy expressions, clearly so smitten but also low-key heartbroken a little kid ran away from him.

But his boyfriend is nothing if not patient with children, and even though it had taken a couple minutes of lighthearted jokes and soft bribery ("Don't tell your mama, but I know where the M&Ms stash in the locker room is. I'll grab you your favourite colours if you want."), the little girl eventually ventured forward and gave her name, Leia. Maybe it was Nico's charm, or maybe it was the promise of chocolate, but it was definitely the gift of a little seal plush that had sealed (hah) the deal.

They don't always make seal merch, and they don't always push the marketing for it either, but every now and then someone from the design department cooks up the cutest stuffed toy or sticker of Nico in his seal form, and the merch generally flies off the shelf within hours. Jack had to strike a deal with marketing to make sure he gets a cut of the new creations before everything is sold out.

This new toy is the cutest so far, in his humble opinion--someone had the incredible idea to make Nico's 'chilled-out' blob shape, which means it's the most round little ball of fluff one could possible imagine. They've added a tag stitched with Nico's signature on it too, to make it some sort of collector's item, and Jack had gleefully toted his blob seal everywhere he went for weeks.

("Jack. I'm a real seal, you know. I'm literally right here waiting for you to cuddle me." "But look at him! He's so round and fluffy!" "I'M round and fluffy!")

Leia is clearly delighted, happily clinging to her new friend, and the girl Jack is paired with is clearly an older sibling because she immediately bustles over, drawing Leia into a conversation about animals, and then showing her the animal beaded bracelet on her wrist.

Nico has literal heart eyes on his face. Jack nudges him and waggles his eyebrows teasingly.

"I told you it was the best merch idea."

"Shut the fu--front door. They're exploiting my very round and very lovable shape for profit."

"But the plush is so portable. So much easier to cuddle. And, it doesn't get me wet when I want to hold it on my chest, unlike someone when they're too excited to splishy-splash in the tub."

The way Nico side-eyes him tells Jack that he definitely caught the sneaky double-entendre. "Are you really replacing me with a stuffed version of myself? So cruel, Jack."

"Aw, Neeks, you know you're the only one for me."

"And aren't I lucky," Nico says, quietly, his words for Jack only. Jack feels his heart flip over in his chest, and he does a quick glance around them before leaning in to give Nico a peck on the lips. And of course, because he's Nico, his boyfriend chases after him when Jack tries to lean back, drawing him in for one more kiss before he lets him go.

"Eww, Jack," he hears his new friend giggling. "It's like watching my parents kiss!"

"Shh," Nico jokes, holding his finger up between them. "You guys didn't see anything."

"I don't think I'm as old as your parents," Jack says, pretending to sound aghast. "Right? Maya, I'm not as old as your mom, right?!"

"Nooo, I think you're older!"

"Maya!"

"One-hit K.O.," Nico laughs, just as the coordinator walks by and calls, "Five minutes, people!"

Leia jumps, and she makes a peculiar little noise then, something between a gasp and a chirp. Nico immediately turns, eyes flashing dark for a second, and then hurries over to the little girl.

"Doing okay?" he asks, gently, and Leia just nods up at him, eyes shiny and clutching her seal to her chest.

"Can...Can I hold your hand, Nico?" she whispers, and Nico's expression softens even more.

"Of course. How 'bout you hold Mr. Seal on that side, and you can hold my hand here?"

And, well, there goes Jack's heart, he supposes. He might actually melt through the grating on the floor and Luke will have to play forward for tonight.

He watches as Leia smiles shyly up at Nico, and when the coordinator waves them over, the two walk up the path and around the corner for the photographers, hand in hand.

+

It's not until later into the night, long after the game had ended and they'd eaten dinner and Nico had finished his much-awaited salt soak and Jack had polished off a solid two chapters of his book (Quinn is so militant about their book club milestones, honestly) that he thinks to bring it up.

"Was everything okay with Leia, in the end?"

"Hm?" Nico asks, turning around, face half-hidden underneath his damp hair and his towel. "What do you mean?"

"She was so nervous before the walk in," Jack says, reclining into his side of the bed. (The seal plush, sadly, has been banished to the dresser instead of taking its usual space on his nightstand.) "And you caught on right away."

"Oh, yeah," Nico hums. He drops onto the bed beside Jack, letting his towel slide of his shoulder, then smiles wryly. "Leia is a selkie, did you catch on?"

"Huh? What? No," Jack startles. He pushes himself up on his elbows and blinks up at his boyfriend. "Is she really? How can you tell? Do you just know?"

"Sometimes you do. But sometimes it's harder--and I think it's because she's got a human parent, so she's only half-selkie. I don't know if she's shifted before, but I figured it out when she made this sound--a baby's distress call, when they're upset. So at that point I just instinctively knew."

"Jeez. Well, that's so cool. And kind of a good thing you figured it out. You went all mama seal for her, I bet she felt safe, yeah?"

"Dunno if I was actually any helpful," Nico laughs, flopping onto his side, not unlike his seal form when he's busy lazing about on the dock. "She was definitely very, very excited to be at tonight's game. She just needed a bit of reassurance, was all."

"And who better to reassure than our very own seal captain?" Jack teases, the squawks when Nico rolls over and shoves his cold nose right into the junction of his neck. "Hey! How are you still this cold after your soak?"

"It's in my blood, baby," Nico laughs, giving him an apologetic kiss on the cheek. "It's just in my blood."

[beautifulterriblequeen]

Teaser thoughts

I had to do adulting (leave for a suddenly rescheduled appt) 20 mins after the trailer dropped this morning, so I'm only now starting to get my thoughts settled but omg I have to write this stuff down or how will I know what I think

here we go

Rayllum flying together. Is it cute, romantic, or is it some twist where they're going somewhere for horrible reasons in a hurry and they can't even take the Shadowpaw. Where is the Shadowpaw why are they fl-

Does Ethari have his Shadowpaw back is that why they have to fly

Love the bisexual vibes here ngl

Starscraper is over land. It's not a deep thought shhh

The search for Zubeia. I'm curious why Ezran has let two of his best Crownguard leave his side. Surely this will have no consequences!

Janaya kiss with Amaya on her tippy toes. Janai has her crown on here. I feel that's relevant for uhh later. I hope this is real and not a dream Janai is having - those have not been going well for her.

This one makes me sad. The picture is torn, but then mended, and I love that. But it's set up like you'd see at a funeral.

Is this one super early on in episode 1 maybe? It could be the same night as the end of S5. That feels more likely than Terry catching up to Claudia later on... specifically in her allowing him close after what we got in the other trailer. Aahhh

This one has so much in it, I can't! It's got star bug stuff which I'm extremely here for, let the gods be gooey. It's got the whole quasar diamond crown right there. It's got Rayllum having a close moment. and it's posed like they're at the altar in a chapel getting married. Also the star is upside down in the stained glass window, so whatever theme is going on it's being consistent there.

This is one of my favorites: Ezran out on his own castle bridge defending it. Ye Olde Narrative of Strength got to him! Opeli looking worried has me worried - she's usually so certain and swift. This could be Viren trying to come home like a half drowned rat - will they let him in? Don't make me think of the men of Númenor right now, do not.

Battle couple battle couple! Rayla and Callum teaming up again! (she's the dark blob kicking free in the upper left) I love when a couple fights together. gonna be super normal about that.

This top down view of the Starscraper is a little dizzying, ngl. With Callum and Rayla tiny at the bottom, three floors down, these flying, circling elves give me shark vibes. What if they're not nice. like at all.

Why was Stella falling!? what are the Celestials doing, are they helping or are they trying thievery? Is this just a big mob of seagulls here

Janai is losing control of her emotions, she's furious and sad. She's setting fire to the Sun Seed tree. We know the Seed was stolen, but maybe this is her finding out, early on. It's less angsty if it's early, you know how things always get Worse during the course of a TDP season lmfao. If it's later on, maybe the fact that she isn't wearing her crown is... important.

Rayla in the frozen ship. Why's it burning, what's she there for? why did she go alone? This gives me some Banther Lodge infiltration vibes ngl.

Okay I am all about this altercation. Viren shoving Kpp'Ar to the floor in fury. are they arguing about Soren? dark magic? both? neither? What's the logo stand for, what's the I for in IK? Does he have a show called It's Kpp'Ar and they're just on set? lmfao the real reason there are gears everywhere is to change the rooms around isn't it. Kpp'Ar just got sick of those extra 29 steps to the kitchen.

Few things are scarier than a True Believer getting everything he wants. this shot of Karim being so filled with elation cannot be saying good things for Janai's prospects. He's got all kinds of cool Sunfire stuff on, too, including a crown, and his old tin ring from his mother. Those things were confiscated when he was exiled, which means he must not be exiled anymore. He could be king, having displaced Janai somehow, and he's fulfilling his intentions to his people by bringing back the glory of the Sunfire elves by healing their injured archdragon. Or so he hopes, anyway! We'll see if it works.

Sol Regem has come out of his cave and he's got that Power Dragon Wingspread going on. Looks like he's been convinced to take a swing for uhhh big dragon things! I wonder how far his power will reach... and his bitterness. We might get a new Dragon King that makes Avizandum look soft.

It's so interesting to me what we did not get to see in the teaser, too. There's no Aaravos, no Aanya, no Runaan or Ethari, no Kim'dael. If we get another trailer before July 26, maybe they'll be in there! Or maybe we'll just have to white knuckle it until release day.

Hold on tight! S6 is coming!

[tabiito]

chapter eight: i just get so passionate about feminism previous ⎯ masterlist ⎯ next

You're peering over the edge of a railing on the roof of your rendezvous point, watching people mill about like specs of colour when you hear the familiar whoosh of wind that signals the arrival of Tokyo's arachnid saviour.

"Spider-Man," you speak, and he shoots you a timid wave. "Vigilante."

This time, you study him even more intensely than before, trying to gauge his height and cross-check with the Reddit post. You struggle to find any identifying markers, since his suit's practically stretched taut against his body, red and blue appearing glossy in the moonlight.

He'd always been cautious, even at your last two meetings when you'd been brainstorming ways to flush out the serial arsonist that had recently hit another shopping complex in Ginza. Constantly standing a couple of feet away from you, speaking in a thick dialect that sounded like a cross between Tokyo and another district you couldn't quite put your finger on. If it weren't for your doomscrolling through forums piecing together a digital footprint, and the lifesaver of a Reddit post, you'd be hitting your head against a wall right now.

Instead, you play nice.

"Did the police manage to salvage the footage?", you ask, leaning on the edge of the cool metal bars as he surveys you from a distance, scanning the perimeter not very subtly.

"They're tryin' to. I know we agreed to me handling the cops, but d'ya think you could run by the Ginza scene around 10 in the morning to get the footage? I got this unmissable appointment around then."

Unmissable appointment. That could be anything: a birthday party, a doctor's visit, or a training session.

You cringe inwardly at a run-in with the police, again, and that too during your Behavioural Econ class. Still, Spider-Man sounds sincere enough, and you suppose he's been doing most of the public lifting in this op anyways, so a quick visit to the crime scene should be the least you can do.

You sigh, relenting. "Fine."

You can hear the relief in his tone. "Thanks. I owe ya."

"I'll hold you to it," you grumble under your breath, and then, remembering a hunch that'd hit you like a brainwave while studying all three crime scenes in Shinjuku, Ginza and Minato, you add:

"Can we get a list of all the shops that'd been hit in these three places? I think it's time we begin making a suspect list."

"Sure," Spider-Man replies, shrugging. "I can get that info off the net and I'll bring it to ya. Same time tomorrow?", he asks, and you nod, unsatisfied and frustrated with how little personal information you've been able to extract from this meeting.

"Cool. See ya," he declares, flicking his wrist in the direction of the building behind you and whooshing past the railing in one swift motion. You watch him, swinging across the skyline of shiny glass and lights, until he becomes a tiny blob of blue and red, heading towards the curved roof Ariake Arena.

taglist: @diorzs @egoistars @she-lovesmyheartshapedsunglasses @dailyakira @giocriedpower @southernfrogprincesd @iiwaijime @punkhazardlaw @dazqa @loverlunaire @milesmoralesluvs @thiisisntlovely @kuroppiii

[ophieslibrary]

Okay so part 2 to this because I can’t stop thinking about it and also because @persephone-kore-law asked me to, and it made me happy that another person wanted me to continue onto that.

Word Count: ~1200

After the dust settled and everyone’s names were cleared, the normalcy you had craved, once again returned to your little family. You began to fall back into your routine. Brief. Go. Find your target, or sometimes take the target out. Debrief. Sometimes it took a little more than that, and sometimes one or more of you came back a little more battered and bruised than the last time. But overall? Normal. Exactly as you had hoped.

That is until the incident.

He was fine. He is fine. It was scary he could’ve died. But he didn’t.

You try to remain calm and to repeat this to yourself on the Heli, heading back to base from Urzikstan.

You had managed to secure Laswell after she had been taken on an OP in Spain. You and Captain had taken to the ground with Farrah’s troops to pursue the vehicle that held your CIA agent. Gaz and Nic were in the Heli, taking out enemy combatants from above and being ready for Exfil once Kate was secured. You volunteered to take to the ground with Price just so Kyle would still be in the Heli, to keep him off the ground, out of the direct line of fire. You thought you were doing the right thing.

Everything was fine, you were making good progress, making up a lot of ground. It was fine. and then it wasn’t. How were you supposed to know they had RPGs? You heard Nic tell out about the first one, but he managed to evade. You breathed out a sigh of relief only to gasp when a second missile took to the sky watching from the back of the truck you and Price had commandeered as the Heli was struck slightly, Nic not being able to fully evade it this time. It teetered like a log in a rushing river and then you saw the flailing blob of the Sergeant fall out from the chopper.

Nic managed to pull up just in time for Gaz to not smack into the hard earth below, getting caught a rope by some miracle. But that miracle was short lived as enemies now began firing on your vulnerable, upside down teammate.

Nic began screaming “Captain Gaz fell out!”

“Come again?”

“The Sergeant! He’s gone!”

“I’m not dead Nic! I’m hanging from a bloody rope- Pull up! Pull up!”

Nic cursed something in his native language but you didn’t need to understand it to know what he was saying. Holy shit. Gaz began swaying side to side to avoid being hit by vehicles and finally after what felt like hours of agony that truthfully lasted no longer than a minute. He cut himself down, and began the pursuit on the ground with the rest of you.

And now here you are. In a crudely patched up Heli. With your comrade, Captain, Kate, and Kyle. Kyle who could’ve died. Kyle who should’ve died. You still don’t know how he didn’t. You do, you saw what happened but your brain is having trouble catching up with your eyes. You can’t get the picture of his falling body out of your head. Every time you close your eyes, even to blink, it haunts you. His screaming, even if he had the situation under control, set every one of your nerve endings on fire.

He was fine. He is fine. It was scary he could’ve died. But he didn’t.

The heli lands and your rag tag groups heads to debrief and prepares for whatever news Laswell has on the missiles.

It isn’t until much later, days, weeks later even. That you are able to finally voice that you’ve been unable to sleep. That the guilt you feel for sending him up in that chopper has been eating you alive. You don’t admit it to Gaz of course. But to your mandated therapist. Everyone on the team has to see her. And it makes sense considering the shit you all see and walk through everyday.

“Have you told Sergeant Garrick about any of this?”

“No, no, he doesn’t need to hear about this. I’m sure he’s got his own stuff going on. Plus, he was fine. He is fine. It was scary he could’ve died. But he didn’t. So no reason to dig all this up for him again.”

“Hmm”

And you think that’s that. You told your shrink, you made it seem like you were dealing and you thought that was the end of it. Until Captain Price pulls you into his office with Gaz saying you were both mandated to a joint therapy session lasting no less than one hour.

“Do you know why you’re both here today?”

“Not a clue” Your teammate remarks.

You stay silent. You know what she wants from you. But you’re hard headed. You’re stubborn. You're a soldier who has been trained by the best of the best in the CIA. You can handle hours, weeks of torture and you would never speak. You stay silent.

“Hmm. Sergeant Garrick would you mind sharing your experience with the joint mission you had in Urzikstahn to get Kate Laswell back?”

And Kyle wastes not time telling the story from a tactical standpoint. He keeps it methodical, clinical, professional even. As if he was reciting his report of the OP.

“And can you go into detail about what you were feeling when you fell out of the helicopter?” She probes.

“I was terrified.” He whispers. Fine is the strong, sure voice from moments before. “I thought I was gonna die, I thought I had for a minute there. It messes with you thinking you're gonna die, accepting that, not dying, and then having to fight to stay alive. I can’t get it out of my head.”

You wish you could have kept the sob in. Or your tears back. But hearing Kyle admit that he was also struggling, that he was also fearful, somehow makes you feel better. Connected even. You feel bad of course that he’s struggling with this, but it validates your feelings to an extent.

You begin to tell him everything that’s been going through your head since the mission, all the sleepless nights, the guilt slowly eating you alive. After many tears, many many assurances, and a few glasses of water. Gaz and you promise to lean on each other as you both continue to work through the fears and feelings that mission brought on.

Losing a member of your family is something you never want to have to worry about again. Something you never want to have happen again. You're thankful to still have Gaz with you, and you know in time you’ll both heal together. Because that’s what family does, they help when needed and they pick each other up when they’re down. Your group may not be a conventional family, but it’s yours and that’s enough for you.

xx

Requests are: OPEN

A/N: I’m thinking about doing more in depth parts for all the boys, if you want me to lemme know and I’ll do it, if you hate this and don’t want me to, don’t tell me🙂

[umactuallyidkbutsparkles]

Just want to say that numberjacks meanies are overpowered.

Numbertaker: Not that op, just a guy. UNTIL HE STEALS YOUR EYEBALLS BECAUSE HE LIKES THE NUMBER TWO. Give the guy a chainsaw and he'd probably take the rest of your limbs. And how strong is his vacuum?

Spooky Spoon: She can swap stuff, and change the order of things. Swap your heart for something of equivalent size: a potato. You just die, you spud-hearted fool. She could also just. Swap your clothes for a swimsuit. And swap your you with a polar bear. Enjoy being cold af in the Arctic! Or swap the order of things you do, like fall asleep before nighttime (thanks, 5's anxiety spiralling for that idea) while you're fighting. So you're unconscious. If she wasn't so full of herself, she'd realise spoons are well known for their eyeball scooping powers. Swap socks for handcuffs and they fall over. Or just make you stop moving. Fighting by a cliff? Mix things up, you start walking (ep 16, Stop and Go). If she wasn't so lazy, she'd actually be the scariest (or spookiest). Most heroes are very colourful, and apparently she can just??? Vanish colourful things????

The Puzzler: Very confusing powerset. His honour is the only thing stopping him from being the worst (he keeps his deals :D). He frequently kidnaps the bigger numbers, he screws with patterns. Y'know how your heart beats 1,2, 1,2? He can canonically make it go 1,1,2,2. He could also bubble a hero and use their reality warping powers. Also his domain expansion Puzzle Place??? Coloured circles making orders go screwy? OP.

Shape Japer: You suddenly have triangles for eyeballs. See that very structurally sound building? Now the bottom constricts into a pinprick, and it collapses, countless casualties from both falling and being squished. Also, everything is made of shapes (ask Geo from oomizoomis) so technically. She can do anything. Like cut a person exactly in half down the middle.

Problem Blob: Consider- goop on your head. Your skull shrinks at an alarming rate. Your brain doesn't. Or, make you so large you physically can't stand with your muscle formation (ask Charles Darwin), and you just collapse under your own mass. Also, what if he aims really well and hits your teeth? They could grow so long they wreck the rest of your mouth.

In conclusion: The MHA cast would get their asses whooped by a spoon. Thank you for coming to my TED talk. Also, if all the numbers can act like 0 and 1, just say "x" and the amount becomes that, or "x more" and increase it (or "x less), that's also kinda overpowered. I want a fanfic where the meanies are the good guys and the Puzzler kidnaps 1 because 0 has been off disappearing things again. Also the Brain Gain song has been stuck in my head almost as much as the Animal Jam Gecko song. British children's shows in a nutshell, everyone.

[rimeiii]

Random WHB tier lists based on games/franchises I've recently had brainrot of

I may not play WHB regularly now (no, seriously, last time I played was during the Tortured Leviathan Nightmare Pass, then Girls Frontline 2: Exilium and especially my Puyo Puyo + Trauma Center obsessions resurfacing from high school happened) but I still love some characters a bit too much to truly let go of them aha...Marbas, Lucifer, Minhyeok, Belial, Gusion, and Naberius, my beloveds-

But more than that I guess it's more of like...my old obsessions being annoying brainworms again, which leads to brainrot, essentially. That, and watching an unhealthy amount of League of Legends esports content.

Fair warning that most of these are purely based off vibes!

So, without further ado...

1.WHB as MOBA players when facing an OP character

Yes, this is the MOBA brainrot speaking.

As for tier explanations:

Tier 1: Some people just want to watch the world burn.

Tier 2: When Mewtwo X and Zacian were first released in Pokemon Unite, many players were so disgusted by how utterly overpowered they were (these two Mons can easily 1v5 coordinated efforts to kill them, even in the hands of not-so-skilled players). It got to a point a subset of these disgusted players actively griefed and trolled those who played them.

Tier 3: Doublelift had this to say about Yuumi, who was a notoriously overpowered Support in League of Legends:

"I am not kidding when I say that if they removed Yuumi from [League of Legends], it would be a better game."

Tier 4: Heo "ShowMaker" Su, professional League of Legends player, had this to say about the then-OP Champion known as K'Sante...keep in mind this is just the K'sante rant, which has become a meme, and the original stream highlight as uploaded by his esports team (Dplus KIA) was simply titled "NERF THIS".

Tier 5: Comfey is essentially Yuumi in Pokemon Unite, which is why people said it's overpowered in coordinated play. Notably, spragels has an entire video going in-depth about how Comfey breaks the game and how to, essentially, mitigate the sheer brokenness of the Mon.

Tiers 6 and 7: self-explanatory

2. WHB as Arknights Icebreaker Games players

A bit of context - Icebreaker Games was a multiplayer co-op game mode where players deploy their own squad of units on the same map (this was different from the R6S collaboration event's co-op game mode, where both players are on different but connected maps).

Wis'adel is an absolutely BROKEN Operator whose usage was criticized in Icebreaker Games for being such an insane DPS she essentially ignores stage mechanics and having her Revenants taking up three extra deployment tiles that your teammate might want to use. She absolutely can easily win stages (tier 1) but her Revenants is how most people who want to troll use her (tier 2).

Seeing this, many players attempt to try and limit Wis'adel from ever being used. Some do it in a more violent way using Aak (tier 3) - who inflicts damage on an Operator in his range before buffing them. He's most commonly to buff Operators with high Defense...a stat Wis'adel lacks, so she just Dies.

More peaceful players would put Wis'adel in their subs and simply Not Pick Her whenever she shows up in their randomly-generated picks (tier 4). Not the most foolproof strategy, but it helps.

Last two tiers are, again, self-explanatory.

3. WHB as Puyo-Puyo AI levels

Puyo Puyo is a competitive puzzle game where your main goal is to make your opponent's board fill up to the 'X' of their field. You do this by sending what is known as Nuisance Puyo to your opponents, generated by popping the regular Puyo you drop into your field.

Regular Puyo, which are the colored blobs, are cleared by matching four of the same color together. Nuisance Puyo, the grey blobs seen in Lemres (COM1) and Yellow Satan's (COM3) fields, can only be cleared by clearing regular Puyo touching them. You are expected to create chains in order to generate more Nuisance Puyo by arranging your regular Puyos in a way that when one regular Puyo set is cleared, it'll cause another regular Puyo set to be cleared - like what Ecolo (COM2) is doing to the red Puyo set by clearing the yellow Puyos below it. The row on top of your board gives a visual indicator of how many Nuisance Puyo are about to be dropped onto your field (the limit is six rows at once), and you can chip away at it by clearing Puyo chains of your own (otherwise known as offsetting).

The general difficulties are as follows, starting from the ones at the bottom (i.e. easiest difficulty):

Beginner difficulty: allows gravity to drop the Puyo, doesn't really try to form a chain higher than 2. Rotates their Puyo minimally.

Joke AI: uses fast drop to build their joke build before actually playing, prioritizing clearing Puyos in their joke build. Their joke builds may include stacking all Puyos to the sides (Yu and Rei, Dongurigaeru), or stacking Puyo evenly up to a certain height (Suketoudara).

Normal difficulty: will actively attempt to make chains (a 3-chain is the average), but will still let gravity drop their Puyo - until around halfway down the field, where they will then fast drop the Puyo.

Tough, but fair: will bunch Puyos up in threes for ease in chaining, it's not uncommon for them to suddenly pull out 3+ chains. Will fast-drop their Puyo. Starting here, the AI will rush to start a chain to offset any incoming attacks. In 20th Anniversary, in game modes where rotate-stalling is a legitimate strategy to win, they'll do it.

Very tough: the previous tier, cranked up to 11.

Rubber band AI: the AI plays better when you play better...but the issue is that Strange Klug is essentially the final boss of Fever 2, so his base difficulty is already hard.

Unfair: can and will counter your measly 3-chain with a 7-chain, essentially generating enough Nuisance Puyo to fill your board completely unless you offset it. Plays optimally and shows no mercy, including stalling and fast/hard-dropping Puyo in modes that allow them (instantly teleports Puyo to the bottom of the field).

4. WHB in Trauma Team game modes

Disclaimer: This tier list is made while ignoring the fact that all of them, save for the Paradise Lost demons, absolutely cannot function in an actual hospital scenario.

Trauma Team, released in 2010, is the final instalment in the Trauma Center franchise, a series of medical malpractice- I mean anime surgery simulator games by Atlus (famously known for the Shin Megami Tensei games). We use the term 'surgery simulator' very lightly because, well, it's very anime at times (you fight bioweapons in all previous instalments) and there are still some medical inaccuracies (like operating on a still-beating heart).

Trauma Team, for the most part, is tamer compared to all of its previous instalments. Very standard hospital procedures - until the Rosalia chapter, where you deal with the Rosalia Virus epidemic (which becomes harsher in hindsight when you realize Trauma Team's events happened in 2020 of their canon and the Rosalia Virus is an Ebola-type virus). It has more game modes compared to the previous games, and this tier list would pretty much fit them into the 'vibes' of the Trauma Team game modes...save for the last two tiers.

Surgery: What we often call the 'standard Trauma Center game mode'. Surgery deals with most standard surgical procedures, and in Trauma Team especially a lot of them are very detailed. Most of the time you're only dealing with one patient in each level - in previous games, there were times when you had to deal with multiple patients in one level.

First Response: Always at the scene of an accident or disaster, this game mode focuses on giving first aid and stabilizing victims before transporting them to the hospital for further treatment. The gameplay is frantic, and you're expected to juggle multiple patients at the same time while keeping them alive.

Endoscopy: One of the harder game modes for most, Endoscopy has you, well, operate an endoscope to treat internal wounds - usually conditions within either the digestive or respiratory tracts. Gameplay consists of moving the endoscope around and treating symptoms as they appear.

Orthopedics: Bone surgery, essentially. Along with Endoscopy, it's a game mode that requires delicate control of the Wii remote's motion controls. As such, the amount of precision needed is insanely high, and it rewards careful gameplay. Chip and drill away at bone, affix synthetic bone, treat bone cancer - this game mode has it all.

Diagnosis: Your standard consultation. One of the two more chill game modes, you're really only taking note of symptoms based on patient interview and observations, as well as comparing chart results with potential diagnosis. Requires some creative thinking to get the symptoms you need, for example asking your patient to lift his shirt after he coughed to reveal the fact he has bloody sputum as his clothes came out stained afterwards.

Forensics: The only game mode that doesn't involve medical treatment, and is the other chill game mode. You're solving mysterious deaths, piecing together evidence to deduce and determine how they happened. As an aside, wondering why this game mode is in Trauma Team? Because Naomi Kimishima, the character you play as in Forensics, was a surgeon previously known as Nozomi Weaver, who was playable back in Trauma Center: Second Opinion.

The nurses: Staples in all of the previous instalments, they're your surgical assistants who often remind you of procedures - yes, this includes reminding you to be careful while extracting objects or what tools you're supposed to use. Their role is mostly replaced in Trauma Team by the other doctors or the chairman of their hospital (Esha Patel), except for Diagnosis and Forensics. In Diagnosis, you have RONI, a state-of-the-art computer that eases Gabriel Cunningham (the doctor for Diagnosis) with his job. In Forensics, Naomi is assisted by her previous coworker, Navel (aka Little Guy).

The patients: Self-explanatory, for one reason or another.

[dana-chan-the-control-brain]

For the longest time I thought the new update in Base Security Breach before Ruin came out did nothing...

But here are highlights:

Vanessa actually chases you instead of summoning animatronics to your location. She chased you before in base game, but they pumped it up to be a LITTLE bit faster.... She is still slower then all the other animatronics though. (Vanessa you're a security guard. work on your glutes)

The animatronics not despawning after Moon shows up for the first time after the Daycare Section is pretty OP honestly. (op for the animatronics, not us) I would try to run past Monty and get to the recharge station without Freddy here just to see how it goes.

When you get the shoe upgrade, Gregory's footstep sound effects are more accurate. Which is hilarious Now you can hear this little gremlin running all over the map.

They shrunk the Blob???? He's at least two sizes smaller and you can walk around and examine all angles of him now. Maybe they changed his size so he could show up as an easter egg for Ruin? Idk

"Press E to skip" isn't on screen anymore during cutscenes the whole time......👏👏👏 Revolutionary.

The Blob/Tangle is more aggressive during the Afton Boss Fight and will spawn in tentacles more frequently.

Afton fight is still skuffed.

You can break Chica before the Pizzatime Mini-game, and she will no longer Scream "Pizza" if she lost her voice box before the quest :(

If you alert Chica when she's eating trash after the Pizzatime Minigame... She will ignore Gregory and go straight back to eating Pizza. hahahah. I like that. Like she priorities eating garbage over hunting Gregory. It's a good little bit of character flavor.

The "Game Over" Static Screen has been dimmed. 👏👏👏 Thank god.... the bright white was hurting my eyes.

But yeah. That's all the little touches found.

I wish Steel Wool had a comprehensive list for this little patch, but it was so minor I can see why they didn't

[klmwrites]

Bishop takes Rook (a pre Black Ops 6 Story)

ao3

Directing his attention back from the room to the chessboard before him, Adler now raised a hand to make his move. On the opposite side of the stage from where the pair were seated one of the staff members near the giant board, upon placing down a pair of binoculars, reached for the cutout of a white bishop and moved it diagonally upwards - replacing the position of the black rook before it. 

The audience visibly stirred.

“Bishop takes Rook.” he heard the younger woman murmur under her breath, her mouth set in a firm line as Adler moved a finger to press down on his side of the Fischer clock. Chewing her bottom lip, Bell now turned her attention towards her one remaining rook and king. 

“I should tell you Adler, survival is now the main priority of ours now. Her eyes now flicked upwards, gaze directed at Adler as she switched the positions of the aforementioned two pieces with ease.  “My job is to do anything to make sure it stays that way.”

AU in which Adler - on the run from the CIA - goes undercover as a competitive chess player where he is made to play a match against a ghost from his past in front of a live studio audience.

In the spirit of respecting those who have yet to play Black Ops 6 (it has only been a week since its release as of this post) this fic will be spoiler free. So go ahead and read to your hearts content 😊

song recommendation (this song slaps ok and for some reason in my head it fits really well don't come @ me lmao) :

Russell Adler

Moscow, Union of Social Socialist Republics

20 March 1990 - 10:00 MSK

Seated at the back of the state-provided saloon car, Adler watched as the huge crowd gathered consisting of the media, adoring fans and curious onlookers alike appeared in the horizon, the once small black blob was now becoming discernibly larger as the vehicle drew closer to its destination. Retrieving a cigarette and his zippo from inside his suit, Adler rolled down the window on his side before lighting the nicotine stick and taking a long drag from it, watching the evidence of his vice float out into the open and vanish from sight.

The speedy little devil that was the maroon coloured automobile sped down the remainder of a seemingly vacant highway before making a sharp right turn, parking itself right before the end of the pavement in what only could be described as in a cartoonish fashion. Opposite stood a building sporting gothic style architecture and right above the pair of twin wooden doors that marked the entrance was a huge banner with the Cyrillic Words ‘Annual Soviet Chess Championship, Moscow’ accompanied by the silhouette icon of a knight chess piece. As soon as he opened the door and stepped out onto the red carpet the flash photography and videographers came into full swing, all of which he had expected at such an event. He was however pleasantly surprised by the cordiality of everyone else around - not once had any member of the public rushed up to him in an attempt to take a photo or sign an autograph. For that Adler was grateful, as the last thing he needed as an rogue agent was close up pictures of his face taken for the world to see. He had changed his aviators and hairstyle in a fashion that he would still be unrecognisable in pictures and videos taken from afar, but any closer and he ran the risk of being identified.

Though he never liked any of the countries behind the iron curtain (for more than just ideological reasons) he was begrudgingly grateful for the match to be taking place in Moscow of all places. Had it been Hollywood or any other western country it would have been a completely different story, and it would have been much harder for him to remain inconspicuous for long given the strong alliance the authorities had with the United States.

Adler made his way into the building with haste and after a quick pat down was escorted by a member of staff to a nearby sitting room to wait for his registration to be confirmed. In this building he was no longer Russell Adler, the framed CIA operative but Lev Balashov, a former KGB agent and aspiring holder of the ranking of Candidate Master in his hobby of competitive chess. Adler only knew of his existence thanks to Belikov, whom he contacted before entry into Moscow. Despite the former's defection, Belikov still knew people on the inside and not only managed to arrange the necessary papers to get Adler into the country, but also gave the former clandestine officer the profile of the man he was to replace. 

“Why him of all people?”

“Because my friend, Balashov is a notorious recluse. Only a handful of people have seen his face and they will most definitely not be present at the tournament because he has beaten them all to get to where he currently is.”

“And you are certain that she will be there.”

“Most certainly. Her injuries post Solovestky were serious, so I reckon she is currently taking a much needed break from the field.”

Adler was rudely pulled away from his trip down memory lane upon hearing a member of staff at the door of his assigned dressing room calling out his alias name. 

“Mr Balashov? The tournament you are scheduled to participate in will begin in 90 minutes.” 

Adler nodded in acknowledgement and after requesting for a cup of coffee, proceeded to light another cigarette as soon as the staff member’s back was turned. He allowed his mind to drift back to her; he had always wondered how she had been doing after all those years. He remembered the surprise he felt upon realising that she had survived what was supposed to be a fatal shot - one which he justified to himself was done out of mercy. It had been sheer luck that she had not gone insane already after being exposed to the many rounds of MK-Ultra, and figured that it was only a matter of time before that would come to fruition. 

No doubt she will be livid upon seeing his face again, but for the sake of the free world he was willing to take the brunt of her anger. 

Adler chuckled mirthlessly to himself as the familiar smell of arabica wafted into the room. There was no longer a point in reminiscing about what could have been or the many questions he had repeatedly asked the imaginary figment of her in his head - for now he has the privilege of hearing the answers to all his unanswered questions straight from the horse's mouth.

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When it was time, Adler was escorted out of the dressing room and backstage where he was made to listen to what seemed to be the announcer presenting the current tournament lineup of the day in Russian through a set of thick curtains. As soon as he heard his alias name being announced he stepped forward and into the limelight in front of the adoring crowd. Giving a half-hearted wave, Adler made his way to his designated seat, where the nameplate “L. Balashov” was placed facing the audience, along with a small table red coloured flag of the Soviet Union. In the centre of the ornate wooden table that was to serve as the mental battlefield for the next few hours lay a wooden chess set, pieces already put into place. 

Another round of applause now sounded and from the opposite end of the stage came his opponent - a Miss Yelizaveta Ivlev. Dressed in a simple dark blue dress and a pair of pearl-studded earrings, Ivlev walked across the stage with a small smile, waving her hand towards the audience cheerfully. She then turned to her side with the intention of greeting her opponent when she realised who it was. Adler noted that Ivlev was careful not to let any shock show on her face and the only indicator she gave as to knowing his true identity was the small drop to her beautiful smile, perhaps in part due to the sheer number of cameras around recording both players' first encounter with each other. 

Ivlev’s eyes flicked downwards to look at her opponent's name plate. “Mr Balashov. A pleasure meeting you.” She simply nodded her head, tone slightly harsher than normally how an introduction should entail. “The pleasure is all mine.” replied Adler, playing along. 

Once both players took to their respective seats, Ivlev picked up the black velvet pouch that sat inconspicuously towards the right side of their shared table right next to the Fischer clock. Shaking it slightly, she allowed its contents to drop into the palm of her hand: a single coin.

“Heads or tails?”

“Heads.” Adler now watched as the rounded object flipped in midair and landed once again into the safety of her palm. “Looks like you get to pick the colour, Mr Balashov.”

Adler’s eyes now flipped back to the chessboard with disinterest. “I don’t mind keeping it the way it is now.”

“Very good.” Ivlev now turned her head and made eye contact with a member of staff, nodding her head as she did so. This prompted the staff member to walk over to their table, giving it a quick once over before walking over to a giant board - in which a replica of the current chessboard configuration has been made - and writing down the names of both players in the blackboard above.

White –  L. Balashov

Black –  Y. Ivlev 

“Shall we begin?” Ivlev’s voice prompted Adler to once again focus on the woman currently sitting in front of him bearing a deceptively neutral look on her face. Adler did not respond, choosing to proffer out a hand to her instead which she accepted. 

For a third time, a round of applause thundered around the auditorium. But Adler wasn’t paying attention to any of it, for his eyes were currently on his actual prize - the sole reason why he was here in the first place. 

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Truth to be told, sitting in this auditorium, Adler felt like a fish out of water - and it has been a while since he had experienced such a feeling. Though he played the game occasionally and knew the basic rules and moves, he knew that he was widely unprepared to be playing in such a professional environment. Still, he has come too far to fail now - he will achieve his objective by hook or by crook. 

Despite his limited understanding of the game, Adler knew that being able to take control of the middle was vital for eventual victory - the player that controls the centre has the best vantage attack point on the rest of their opponents pieces. With this in mind, Adler’s opening move was to move his pawn to d4. Ivlev responded by moving her knight to F6. Seeing her motive, he pushed another of his pawns to c4. Where is she going with this? Seemingly unfazed, Ivlev simply moved her pawn to e6. She really is that insistent on wanting my d4 pawn huh. Adler now brought forward his knight to c3 in hopes that it would deter his opponent from their current objective but instead what it did was embolden Ivlev to bring forward her bishop to b4, effectively not only threatening his knight (and in turn the king) but also preventing Adler from taking control of the centre by moving his one of his other pawns from e2 to e4.

It took a while for Adler to realise what Ivlev had just done: the Nimzo-Indian defence. In his rush to control the centre, not only had he given away his strategy early on, but placed Ivlev in a position to not only develop her pieces earlier but also play them aggressively should she so choose, possibly gaining potential control over the centre as the game progresses on. 

“Interesting that you didn’t open using the queen’s gambit.” Ivlev suddenly remarked, possibly in response to Adler’s surprise. “You are a habitual gambler, no? And very apt at giving away your pawns when needed. Frankly I’m quite surprised to see you here. I thought you were all brawn and no brains, just like the CIA lapdog you once formerly were.” Ivlev’s voice could only be fittingly described as a sheet of ice - calm on the surface, but arguably emotionally tumultuous underneath.

“Formerly?” Adler raised an eyebrow as he moved another one of his pawns to a3. As Ivlev focused on her next move Adler waved his hand up in the air, making a motion with his hand for a cigarette. “What makes you say that?”

“I might be physically out of the field, but it doesn’t mean I am out of the loop information wise.” Ivlev now tutted as she moved her bishop to take his pawn. “Also, you are not as subtle as you think you are.”

Their conversation came to a temporary halt with the arrival of said item - a cigar surprisingly - balancing precariously along its edges of an unused ashtray. “You mind?” asked Adler rhetorically as he placed the item between his lips, flicking the cap of the provided zippo open. Ivlev simply snorted back in amusement, shaking her head. Taking a much needed drag of nicotine, he now moved his own pawn to take Ivlev’s bishop. “It seems that word travels fast. Either that or you have been keeping tabs on me….Bell.” Adler saw the woman’s composure break slightly at the mention of that name, her body physically tensing up. 

“Don’t test your luck here, Russell Adler. We are being live streamed for the whole of the Soviet Union to see; I could unmask your identity right here and you will be arrested by the KGB within a few minutes.” Sensing the man’s scepticism, Bell elaborated. “The USSR has changed over these past 10 years - especially since our little stunt in the Lubyanka Building. Now with some of the Eastern Bloc Republics expressing disillusionment, the Motherland is ramping up efforts to keep the collectivist culture and ideology alive.”

Adler hummed in acquiescence. “So why didn’t you do that from the very beginning?” he now asked, to which Bell elected not to respond.

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The game dragged on for longer than expected. The silence in the room changed from being comforting to suffocating, save the occasional cough from a spectator and the constant ticking of the Fischer clock near his right elbow. From the corner of his eye Adler watched some of the moderators and judges fidget in their seats as did some members of the audience, who by his standards were doing rather well in keeping their impatience at bay given the games seemingly lack of progress. 

Though not one to always practise what he preached, Adler could appreciate the art of patience - many years of being in intelligence taught him the value of it. Besides, it was good to exercise that brain of his once in a while - even if admittedly he would have preferred being out in the field shooting at something or someone instead. 

“Why did you shoot me at Solovetsky, Adler?” Bell asked abruptly, eyes never leaving the board or the pieces before them. Ah, the inevitable question that needs to be answered. Adler opened his mouth to respond, but realised that the words he had rehearsed in his head were now stuck at the back of his throat. Did he actually want to tell her the truth? Was there even a point in lying at this stage regarding all that happened 10 years ago? “And please don’t lie, that would be extremely low of you to do so. The least you owe me is the truth in that regard.”

“I don’t owe you jack shit, Bell. I did what I had to do for my country.” 

“The country that now turned its back on you when you were clearly framed?”

“So you believe that I’m innocent.” Adler saw an opportunity to deflect and gladly took it. Bell simply laughed in response. “Russell Adler, willing traitor of the CIA in exchange for blood money? Not your style, and certainly not your modus operandi.” Bell moved another of her pieces and like clockwork pressed down the button on her side, folding her hands on the table before her afterwards. “Humour me, Adler. You clearly want something from me - that’s why you are here playing a chess game for the past 3 hours, no?” 

Adler took a puff of what was now his 5th cigar, tapping it at its end as more black flakes dropped into the ever growing pile of grey in the middle of the ashtray before setting it down in favour of moving his piece. “It was supposed to be a mercy kill.” There, this was as close to the truth as he could master. When one lies on a regular basis as part of the job requirement, suddenly telling the truth becomes a tall order indeed.

“Who did you take me for, A chained up dog? One you can just simply get rid of as soon as the work gets done? Even the process of euthanasia has rules and guidelines and doing that with your reasoning fails the eligibility criteria!” Bell took a deep breath in, before her calm mask of composure returned once more. “Give me one good reason why I should work with you now after what you have done.”

“I don’t have to. Clearly your handlers see a mutually beneficial outcome by us working together: if not you would not be up here with me right now.” Adler smirked. “Your handlers are the two men seated at your 4 o'clock, are they not? I’m frankly surprised Perseus took you back after all the shit that went down, how we thwarted their plans and all.”

“I’m frankly quite surprised too. And grateful.” Adler could hear from her voice that the sentiments were genuine. “Враг моего врага - мой друг”.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Their previous campaign against Perseus in the 80s must have set them back quite a bit; to the point that they feel threatened by simply the presence of another prominent paramilitary group. But why Perseus and this particular group are antagonistic towards one another is something that Adler mentally stored in his head as needing to be further investigated upon. 

“Now that we are on the same page, I’m going to give you a code phrase that you must keep to yourself until the time comes.” Directing his attention back from the room to the chessboard before him, Adler now raised a hand to make his move. On the opposite side of the stage from where the pair were seated one of the staff members near the giant board, upon placing down a pair of binoculars, reached for the cutout of a white bishop and moved it diagonally upwards - replacing the position of the black rook before it. 

The audience visibly stirred.

“Bishop takes Rook.” he heard the younger woman murmur under her breath, her mouth set in a firm line as Adler moved a finger to press down on his side of the Fischer clock. Chewing her bottom lip, Bell now turned her attention towards her one remaining rook and king. 

“I should tell you Adler, survival is now the main priority of ours now. Her eyes now flicked upwards, gaze directed at Adler as she switched the positions of the aforementioned two pieces with ease.  “My job is to do anything to make sure it stays that way.”

“I understand.” was all Adler simply responded with ease. He could easily read between the lines, and he knew that a cornered animal is always a dangerous one - not that he was currently in the position to corner them any further anyway. The subconscious weight he had been carrying left him both physically and mentally. With his objective now fulfilled, he could finally fully focus on playing regularly just as he was sure Balashov would have if the latter were currently in his shoes.

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.

After another tedious hour of nothing but back and forths, the match was eventually brought to a standstill and declared inconclusive by the panel of judges present. Despite the outcome of the match not being significant Adler, it was mostly out of professional pride that he refused to withdraw after getting what he needed - besides, It would have been the same thing the real Balashov would have done after all. 

As soon as the panel made the results of their judgements known, the media personnel, who were no doubt restless and itching to move after the tiresome four hour long match, seemingly leapt up from their seats like people possessed and approached both players with their endless barrage of questions. This was promptly ignored by both Bell and Adler as they made their way backstage unscathed thanks to the diligence of the security personnel present. 

“Stay here.” Adler broke the silence between them as he led Bell into his dressing room, closing the door behind him and he swept the room for cameras. Once he determined that they were not being watched, he opened his bag and from it revealed a nondescript looking file which he passed to Bell promptly. “Everything you and your handlers need to know about the organisation I am tracking is here. I’m presuming your handlers would know more about them though than I, given Perseus’s  implied history with them.”

The woman opened the folder and stared at the papers inside unimpressed. “There’s nothing much to go on.”

“I know. They are very good at infiltration; I believe they have multiple moles in the CIA. Elusive fuckers, they have already dug their claws in deep which is how they were able to produce fake irrefutable evidence of my so-called betrayal. Mason and Hudson are dead because of them.”

Bell’s face fell slightly. She wasn’t Hudson’s biggest fan, but she and Mason did share an amicable relationship. The latter was someone she actually enjoyed having conversations with, so it was sad to know of his fate. “Mason has a son right? What’s going to happen to him?”

Adler looked up at Bell grimly. “I don’t know. I can only hope he will be well cared for by the state, or whoever Mason had placed as the next of kin.” The duo continued to look at each other, either side seemingly hesitant for the conversation to continue or their time together to end for that manner. Perhaps they knew that they eventually needed to discuss what happened at Solovetsky and both sides are reluctant to bring that up; or maybe because this is the first time they have seen each other face to face in five years, and the feeling of seeing someone who had attempted to brainwash you (Bell) or was a ghost from your past (Adler) standing  in the same room as you in the flesh was simply…overwhelming.

Luckily for Adler, the awkward silence was eventually broken when Bell’s phone rang. Adler watched as the woman removed a flip phone from her pocket and answered it with much haste - a call from her handlers, no doubt.

“ I’m currently in contact with him, he’s passed me a file with the information we need. Are you sure - yes, Comrade, at once.” Bell placed the phone back into her pocket. “Change of plans. You are coming with me.” Adler raised an eyebrow in genuine surprise. “What do your handlers want with me?” 

Bell shrugged. “I will go get my purse from my dressing room; they said to meet us outside in five.” And with those words, Adler watched the once timid and non-verbal woman now exited the dressing room with her head held high. Feeling the man’s gaze on her, Bell turned around abruptly once more with a gaze which sent an involuntary shiver down the older man's spine. 

“C’mon Adler, don’t dawdle. After all, we've got a job to do.” 

[thefrenchfryturtle2]

WELCOME BACK TO DAY FOUR OF PLAYING ECHOES OF WISODM?

SPOILERS UNDER CUT

1. I finished the faron temple hehe

2. THE DEKUS ARE SO CUTE I CANT

3. They’re also kinda mean still but idc they’re adorbableeee

4. I love it when Tri just plops onto zelda’s head

5. Omg when they locked me up in jail it took me 10 attempts to get out 😭

6. Im lowkey kinda stupid sometimes-

7. Mwhahaha guess who got lv3 lizalfos and lv3 darknut. They’re so op-

8. Amos are interesting

9. I am very fabulous, i have four accessories 😎. I normally use jump boost, damage reduction, and material bonus but now im adding ruppee bonus! I NEED MORE MONEYYYY

10. Gohma was easy lol i accidentallydid the final hit using electric blobs- not zols the other weird one w two legs. I used an energy up potion and everything and just spammed y but echoed electric blobs on accident 😭

11. If it works, it works-

12. Not me throwing ignozols around to light the torches, thats how you’re supposed to do it right-

13. I still don’t know what the lost forest is for. The great deku tree ig

14. Yay the smoothies are back in business!

15. I fought the cloud guy again, he’s so annoying 😡 WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO OTHER THAN YEET ROCKS AT HIM

16. I got shoulder pads lol

17. Not me traversing hyrule in my jammies so that i can take my power naps

18. Why can’t i copy thingsss i need to grow my collection!!!

19. I moved on to the lanayru area

20. WOAH MORE HEART PIECES YAY

21. I also got more bottles so im kidnapped so many fairies

22. The stamp rally is so cute

23. CONDÉ IS SO CUTE I LOVE THIS FLUFFY LITTLE BEAN. Is he like those yetis from Twilight Princess????

24. When Condé said how his dad became a star my heart just broke- this poor little blorbo…

25. I will find ur brothernfor you

26. Wow im already in the lanayru still world

27. Holy mount lanayru is cold

28. I COPIED SNOWBALLS AND CLOUDS HAHAHAHAHA

29. I WANNA COPY THE STONE BEDS AND POTS FROM THE DEKUS THOUGH 😭

30. I love their houses too (the dekus) cuz it’s literally just slabs of stone with leaves- the worldbuilding of hyruel is so amazing

31. I feel like i didnt give the gerudo enough love. I LOVE THEM SO MUCH YAY

32. Ok im gonna keep playing! Thansk for tolerating me!

33. LINK I WILL SAVE YOI 😭😭

34. Tri is lv 8 now

OH RIGHT THIS HAPPEEND TOO

35. I TALKED TO THE GODDESSSSSSSS!!!!

36. I think they’re gonna compliment her for corage, wisdom, and power. Mwahahaha i love triforce shenanigans-

37. YIPPEEEE

38. What is Farore’s Sanction-

[deada55]

Kloktober 2024 day 3: Horror movie crossover

I also did Carrie because I forgot that role was legit made for Toki, but have a Murderface spin on it. Because why not!

They’re all gonna laugh at you!

The gym was silent. Glitter’s bright stars on the curtains lining the walls continued to flutter unfettered. A blob of pig shit rolled off of Willy’s head and landed on the toe of his shoe.

They’re all gonna laugh at you!

Stampingston snickered first, and so did the rest of the team of volunteers, then the gym erupted in giggles. Throaty heuh-heuh-heuhing rose out of the cheer team, with half a dozen acrylic fingernails pointing towards the stage.

They’re all gonna laugh at you!

Nathan and the whole football team pounded their fists on the table and laughed until their surround stank of cheap body spray and fireball whiskey. Pickles looked up from the punchbowl and suffocated a snicker with a black cocktail napkin. Some punch dripped out of the tiny cup and onto his ruffled shirt

They’re all… laughing at me!

“What the fuck is wrong with you people?!” Dick shouted, but that was almost it. He waved his hands once or twice before the bucket came down from the rafters, with a couple more chunks left inside. It hit him on the head hard enough to bring Dick to the floor, knocked out cold.

They’re all gonna laugh at you!

Lost in the cacophony of laughter, Toki Wartooth looked through reinforced glass in a metal double door in shock and shame that Crozier’s plan had worked, and that Toki was powerless to stop him. By now, Mr. Offdensen was sure to have figured out why Toki tried to stop the announcement of the prom royalty… Mr. Offdensen slowly elbowed through the crowd toward the stage–

They’re all gonna laugh at you!

All of the doors locked with a satisfying metal clunk. As Willy’s eyes shed tears, he looked down into the crowd and all the glass centerpieces shattered and scattered their pieces. The tablecloths bowed down then up like gym class parachutes and flung broken glass and liquid just in time for every chair in the gym to collapse, and the tables, too. While students rolled and cut their palms trying to pry their legs free from the furniture, the bleachers unfolded and shoved tables of refreshments into some of the fallen crowd, and others were impinged or moved by the structure itself.

The right halves of two athletic championship banners broke free from the ceiling. The flag fell, but the pole followed, conveniently through Nathan’s jaw and Skwisgaar’s chest. Not quite writhing and not quite choking, Nathan squirmed until he’d lost enough blood to pass. Meanwhile, Skwisgaar tried to move around it, but all the squad around him could do was scream and run towards the back of the gym. One girl was trampled underneath the fallen banner itself after she’d slipped trying to untangle herself from it.

The sprinklers ove the gym floor went off: black liquid shot out of them over the crowd and soon everyone was slipping.  However, the stage remained dryer than the rest. Power strips shorted and sparked until the dust bunnies and spare butcher paper crumpled up by a trash can went up in flames by the entrance and caught the photo-op area. Wet oil paint behind the stage caught a light and erupted into flames behind Willy. Slowly, fire traveled through the crepe paper. It was an old school: the sprinkler system didn’t keep up.

The crowd started to scramble up the bleachers to get out of the wet below and the fire spreading by the doors, then Willy snapped them back together, leaving people hanging upside-down by their trapped, mangled legs.

Mr. Offdensen was almost frozen. Just when he started to thaw and reach for the stage, Willy looked over and a speaker on a stand came toppling down on top of Mr. Offdensen, smashing his head against the floor.

Willy stepped down from the stage slowly, chunks of shit rolling off of him. Under the sprinkler, it sank into his suit. Slowly, he walked to the door to the parking lot.

Toki prayed until his father’s truck turned on and put it in gear: It was time to leave.

[lifenconcepts]

you do have oc’s yes. give the lore now. That is an order, mister /j /nf

BHSXHHDOBSOXBXBI HAVE TOO MANY

UHM

I GOT LIKE A MILLION ESSAYS OF LORE FOR MOST BUT HERE ARE THE INTRODUCTIONS:

For this show I wanted to write I have 3 main guys I love dearly, Lifen Heid who is the main dude and German- is secretly holding some kind of power and yet isn’t aware of it. This spirit guy Fhelix (quite OP but is so fed up with every being that he litterally does not use his powers at all except for his main goal) knows though and was set off on a journey to help him become a god like he once was but can’t say what he’s doing otherwise they would both die an agonising death. They got some chemistry and lore together plus I advanced the plot into a full blown book. Robin, a side character whom I love dearly, is a pathetic little kid who was forced to flee from his planet from false vigilante accusations and resides in the realm (this whole new world only accessible through a portal) with Fhelix, whole ordeal, and also some other people that also had the same fate, basically heroes turned sour and he got trapped into their little group (There’s this massive group and all got their individual relationship with one another and personality but in short they’re like 15-23 year old losers with some sort of dramatic past and incredible talents (lemme tell you about them..) ) So there’s Batrose - an emo shithead who is 99% a sadist and is a very good swordsman, and despite that, he is in a relationship with Florence, an absolute sweetheart who also is quite a dangerous individual. Basically that meme template where they both can absolutely kill you but one visibly has intention and the other is bubbly. Both dress somewhat goth. There’s also Dan, a daredevil cat hybrid who always looks for trouble and is a horrid influence on Robin but I still love him, not too much older then him. Westifer is this ginger kid the same age as Dan and yet is much more secluded than the rest and has an amulet passed down from generation to generation which allows him to practically bend water to his will, but he sort of struggles with it. He has a floating blob of water he can activate anytime and it’s somewhat sentient and has bubbles for eyes but mostly just helps him get to places sometimes as it’s body can act as a cushion. Also has a pet flamingo named fern. There are some other others but they’re not worthy enough of being saved in my mind.

one of my newest two is Neil Wolfman, he got a shitload of lore which I could copy and paste here in a second. Absolutely adore him but in short he’s a pathetic little soggy boy who has a car and out of paranoia spends most time out in the suburbs and owns an adorable German shepherd named Arc. also this mad scientist I haven’t bothered with making a name for that I do quite love and is my most attacked character for art fight!

also idk if it counts but just any variety of me whenever I draw myself, ranges from abstract concept to realistic depiction to absolute goofy doodle to entirely new creature or human.

I also realised like not lately that they almost all were some representation from me and I was incredibly surprised.

[jacenotjason]

hellooo!!! helloo!! i am here yet again.. asking silly questions because.. i am just a curious little blob.. hahahee..

Does Frank still like bugs? is he still a funny little bug lover man??? 2. You said that Op. Eddie and Og.Frank would just scream at each other right (i think i hope im remembering correctly) uhmmm is it like fearful screaming? angry screaming? confused screaming? and thank uou to barnaby for letting me kiss his big ol fluffy head -a pink n yellow blob (thats now slihgtly fearful and anxious that it is asking a tad bit too many questions) ((sorry if i am aaaaa))

HI AGAIN BLOB! AND DW!! My askbox is full asf but I don’t mind at all!!

1. He is terrified of bugs, but doesnt want them to die or anything!

2. They are very angry at eachother! They don’t like eachother! At all!

And Yw! Barnaby says thank u for kissing him!

[thegeminisage]

back at it with zelda...now with automaton in tow

Big Flower. its just like wind waker lol

i like the music in here! still kinda generic but at least it's pretty

dungeon is brutal. so many enter and exit points :(

are we fighting the boss early??? it kind of looks like the four swords boss

kind of a snoozefest tbh. electric blob op as fuck, that foght barely needed me at all

never really felt the need to use warp points around a dungeon before but now im glad i have them

FUCK this puzzle with the weighted platforms where you have to hit 2 switches at once. prior to now the game has only shown me this with armos so i thought you HAD to do itbwith arnos which meant even googling the armos puzzle in faron temple was no help. i had to dive into a full fucking walkthru

Big Flower round 2 a little more complex and fun

OH NO BIG SPIDER

how could i have forgotten gohma............but i have killed her before and can and will kill her again

MOTHERFUCKING EYE LASER????

ok got her. jesus fuck

FINALLY got another triangle. now i can summon a wizzrobe

FARORE??????????????

DIALOGUE FROM FUCKING FARORE? THREE GODDESSES ARE BACK AND THEY FUCKING TALK NOW??????

sorry did tri just say someone IMPRISONED the GODDESSES? the three goddesses? they fucking imprisoned them???????

this is crazy...the sanction looks so much like the ww pearls too...zeltik is gonna have so muxh to say if he isn't saying it already

fuck. these deku scrubs are real tiktok kids, akways chasing the next trend.......

ok, since i gotta quit soon i'm just gonna do a little sidequesting

soldier echo quest deeply cute. i HAVE always wondered why soldier uniforms were identical thanks for asking tri

WHITE STEED TIME. i did run up onto what i believe is the edge of the lost woods near this rift...

horse quest COMPLETE. i wonder now if i should have been doing these optional rifts before dungeons to level up...

might as well do another since there's one like right here

oh damn stilled sanctuary...this shit looks crazy

a rumor about a garmet that lets you talk to the CATS. fuckin hell yeah

omg i found thebgreat fairy...

jesus, good thing i'm flush with rupees. this shit is expensive. i wonder how high the upgrades go...

theres also another rift here lol so i might as well

ok, i actually wrote this like an hour ago and had to stop abruptly to cook so that's all!