#i like the effect i did to translate stretch marks i think it’s fun

[theftshrubbery]

i am newly grown

[non-operator]

[source: https://www.oneesports.gg/valorant/easter-eggs-pearl-map-valorant/]

I couldn't find another picture that showed the whole timeline in one go lol

this video is also the one that brought it to my attention and shows the mural close-up with explanations. he also mentions some other cool lore bits, i'd recommend checking it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gNKj4m1z64&t=366s

Anyways, this is just what I think is happening in the timeline:

Kingdom Industries is formed? Or rises to prominence? (if it's the latter, it's interesting that omega Kingdom managed to do so before the discovery of radianite). This one shows a three buildings, two short ones on the side and one very tall in the middle. The middle building bears the Kingdom Industries logo.

Climate change. The signs either begin to appear, or worsen. There's a sun symbol shown above a melting planet.

First Light? I actually don't know. It shows a single large lightning bolt hitting the planet. The planet is colored half white, half blank/black, and it has some kind of halo at the top. This might be a bit of a stretch, but perhaps this could also symbolize Neon's arrival/birth? I'm not sure about the canon status of the interview with Neon's VA, but she did say that Neon arrived 10 years before the First Light/20 years before the events of Valorant. And Neon seems to be acting as a battery for the portal, at least on Alpha's side, so maybe omega Neon had a greater role in traversing the multiverse in omega Earth?

First Light 2: electric boogaloo? Radiants are discovered? I have no clue. The mural shows some kind of sun/star/bright light cupped in two hands

Radianite discovered? Or industrialized? It's just a block of radianite, presumably unprocessed.

Radianite takes on a more significant role in the provision of energy. There's the radianite symbol on a battery; I'm assuming it's implying that radianite is powering the battery.

Valorant Legion is formed. This one just shows the Valorant logo.

Alpha Earth is discovered? Or maybe another Earth, but not Alpha, since it is called the multiverse and not mirrorverse? It shows two earths overlapped (one earth is all white, and the other has white oceans and black continents). A line goes through the middle, through the overlap of the two earths.

This is presumably when Kingdom begins expeditions/exploration efforts of the multiverse. A person in a weird hazmat suit stands in the middle of portal.

Force Atlas is formed? Joint cooperation between Force Atlas and Kingdom Industries begin? The Force Atlas logo is on top of a planet symbol. I'm still not sure if Force Atlas originates from Kingdom, or if it existed as its own organization before Kingdom Industries and just decided to team up. The video suggests that it's Force Atlas heading the exploration, but I don't really see great evidence of that? I think it's Kingdom that began the portal stuff, but then Force Atlas coming into the picture allowed them either the support or manpower needed to make it a bigger and public project.

Multiverse exploration made public? This mural looks like one of the posters in the museum. The poster reads "Para além do Ómega: Nós tornamos possível". It roughly translates to "Beyond the Omega: we make it possible". It looks like a propaganda/recruitment poster.

The climate crisis worsens to extremes, and geo-domes are set up over cities? It looks like a city within a bubble, and waves fill up the bottom half of the bubble. Kingdom Industries' logo is below the waves.

Radianite shortage begins? It shows a radianite symbol; there's an exclamation mark over it, and below it, the colors of the radianite symbol continue down but show signs of disintegration. Another guess would be that the side effects of reality instability are becoming worse, so people are worrying about it?

Valorant Legion goes public. This just shows "The Valorant Legion" in a fun comic book font lol

Kingdom Industries?? again??? This also just shows the Kingdom Industries Logo, but this time, it's not on some buildings and next to the logo is "IND" Maybe Kingdom Industries did some rebranding?

[himbeaux-on-ice]

Hello! I was wondering if you could please explain to me what Robin Lehner said yesterday about vaccination and competitive edge? English isn't my 1st language and from what I gathered NHL and PA promised VGK that if they get vaccinated the restrictions on them will lessen and they can freely leave their houses. And when they players got vaccines, NHL changed their promise and said players can't do that until all of the teams across the league are evenly vaccinated (shitty move from NHL, 1/2

2/2 as always). But what did Robin mean talking about competitive edge? I rewatched the video 3 times and I still don't understand :( Did the league make it a competition between the teams? "The sooner you all get vaccinated, the sooner there'll be no resctions on you?" I hope, I'm not completely missing the point, sorry about that. Big respect for Robin for speaking up and calling out the league. I'm really happy seeing players speaking up for themselves and their teams

Hi anon! I’ve spoken about this already a bit here and here, in case you haven’t seen those yet and think they might answer some of your questions. But I’m happy to elaborate further! I hope I can clear this up for you.

First, just as a note: Right now it doesn’t seem to exactly be clear what the NHL and NHLPA did or didn’t promise players in terms of easing restrictions, but it seems like Lehner was definitely given the impression by somebody that a team getting fully or mostly vaccinated was the ticket to not being under such strict isolation. The NHL for their part seems to be claiming they promised no such thing, but it’s hard to know right now whether that’s just them covering ass, or if there was just a misunderstanding somewhere in which what they actually said was not fully clear to the players. [Elliotte Friedman voice] More news may be yet to come on this.

Right. So as far as “competitive edge” goes, I can definitely explain that. You’re only a little off the mark. What he means in this case is that the NHL is concerned that letting more fully vaccinated teams live under a less intensely restrictive set of internal rules (regarding things like dining together, exercising together, sitting next to each other on planes and busses, having more group off-ice social time, sharing hotel rooms, having in-person coaching meetings again, etc) will lead to that group having an on-ice advantage in their play over other teams who are less vaccinated and still have to live under full restrictions.

Because the NHL is intensely obsessed with “parity of sport” (trying to make the conditions of competition the same for all teams regardless of outside factors wherever possible), they always in as many situations as possible want to eliminate any potential leg up one team could have over others. This is why we have things like the salary cap, rules about scouting players, rules about how draft picks are distributed that try to make sure struggling teams have a chance to draft well, rules against signing your best players for 20-year contracts so nobody else can have them, etc.

In general theory, being parity-oriented is good! It aims to make sure that the success of teams on the ice and in the standings is determined by the hockey play/skill alone as much as possible, not by franchise wealth or other things they did to get an unfair jump on the competition. And that should make the games more fun and less boring/predictable in most cases! As far as sports leagues go, the NHL has pretty good parity of play overall — there are only a few REALLY good teams and only a few REALLY bad ones, and everybody else performs within a pretty similar range most years. This is why back-to-back Cup wins are so rare in the current era, because due to all the rules to enforce parity there are relatively few teams that are THAT dominant over the competition for a long stretch of multiple seasons in a row, and the odds of any given team winning each year are much more similar. (As compared to like that period in the late 70’s when it was like “who won the Cup? oh surprise surprise it’s the Habs AGAIN 🙄” lol).

However, sometimes the NHL gets unrealistic in its pursuit of making sure everything is exactly the same for all teams. We’ve seen it already this season with the stubborn insistence on making sure the Canucks play a full 56 game season like everybody else, regardless of whether it is safe or reasonable to do so in the time they have left.

This time, the fixation on parity seems to be rearing its head in the form of the League insisting that even if a team has most or all of their players and staff vaccinated, they still have to maintain the same intense restrictions within team spaces as other teams which may be WAY further behind in getting everyone vaccinated, rather than getting to benefit from the lowered risk that being thoroughly vaccinated brings within a closed group like that. And they seem to be insisting on this not because it would be unsafe to change things for vaccinated teams, but rather because of concern that doing so might make that team perform better as a hockey team.

That’s the key part here: The NHL seems to consider getting to (safely) return to a mode of team life that is somewhat more similar to what these guys have been habitually used to pre-pandemic, to be something that could translate into an unfair on-ice advantage in the quality of their play, over other teams who are still doing it all “the hard way” under strict restrictions because they haven’t been vaccinated yet. And because of trying for parity, they want avoid giving teams that “advantage” by basing restriction changes around each team’s individual situation, and instead plan to ease restrictions for all teams at the same time at some point once all teams are similar levels of vaccinated.

Now, US teams seem to be getting vaccinated faster and faster every day, but Canadian teams probably have not started vaccinating their players or any team employees under age 50 at all yet, because Canada’s vaccination process has been painfully slow. So waiting on them to catch up could leave US teams who are already mostly/fully vaccinated still stuck in those restrictive mentally draining conditions for quite some time before the other teams catch up — again, not because it isn’t COVID safe to ease their restrictions if done properly (that doesn’t seem to be a problem), but because the League sees the improvements to their mental state and team morale/cohesion that would come from living a less restricted life together and getting to return to familiar off-ice hockey routines as gaining a “competitive edge” over unvaccinated teams, which would lead to them playing better hockey to a level that can’t be matched as a result.

Which, Lehner is right, is a pretty fucked up way to look at it! “It’s an unfair advantage for you to not be miserably alone and depressed by that and frustrated and doing everything with 16 extra steps you’re still not used to, it’s an unfair advantage to get to actually act like a team off the ice when playing a team sport, so no, we’re not gonna let you eat lunch together or share hotel rooms or whatever” is not exactly a compassionate argument!

Anon I’m also really glad Robin said something about it, and I was glad to see VGK captain Mark Stone put full and vocal team support behind him when asked about it last night on the broadcast too. The mental price of these intense restrictions is something that has been weighing on my mind ever since I first heard they would have to spend all their time on the road locked in hotel rooms alone when not playing and thought “oh god, five months of that is going to be psychologically devastating”. It’s a relief to hear it acknowledged.

I’m not fully sure what the best solution is here, but that mental wellbeing factor absolutely must be discussed in all decisions. It would be fucked up if the League is treating that as something purely technical to be controlled like the salary cap, rather than as a key determinant of health and life (in the short and long term) that is just as important as COVID safety. The old hockey culture of “just suck it up” cannot cut it anymore.

Aside: I think it’s also worth mentioning while we’re here, that I think I do understand why players may be angry about have been talked into getting the vaccine because they thought it would lead to eased personal restrictions, and why I don’t believe that anger necessarily represents an “anti-vaxx” mindset. There are reasons they may not have planned on getting vaccinated just yet which aren’t necessarily “anti-vaxx” cult thinking (though that doesn’t mean they’re smart reasons lol) and would likely seem reasonable to players in-context. I’m gonna put that under a cut though bc this is already really long!

First, there’s the fact that we don’t know what medical conditions some players may or may not have which could make them hesitant to get some of the vaccines out of an abundance of caution. More prominently you also gotta remember, these guys are athletes currently competing their way through an extremely intense and extremely important part of the season as they try to secure playoff spots, playing sometimes as many as 4 games a week. Looking at it that way, it’s understandable why some of them would be hesitant about getting a shot at this particular time which we all know is going to whammy you with a nasty little bout of mild-moderate side effects that hit you like a bad cold for as much as a week. They probably don’t feel they can afford to be laid up with muscle aches, sinus suffering, fatigue, and all the other little fun (and eventually harmless in the end!) things that your body runs through while activating that initial immune response — because in the couple of days that it throws them off for, their team could play 3 or more REALLY important playoff-clinching games, which they could end up underperforming in or having to sit out.

If that is the situation you’re in, and you already feel like the current League restrictions are doing enough to protect you, you can see why you would say “I think I’ll wait and get it during the offseason/during the week break between regular season and playoffs, and just suck it up for these last few weeks dealing with the same ol lonely isolation restrictions I’ve already gotten used to dealing with all season long, rather than be hit with that curveball of possible temporary vaccine side-effects during this time when I need to give it my all every game.” That may sound like a selfish mindset, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that is how at least some of these athletes are approaching it, especially ones who may be single guys without families at home to worry about protecting. (Lehner, for the record, has a wife and two young kids).

BUT, if the League told you (or it sounded like the League told you) “Hey, if enough of your team gets vaccinated quickly, we’ll be able to lift some of the internal restrictions for you guys and let you like hang out and do stuff together within the team again”, and if you were REALLY struggling with the mental stress of that isolated living style, you might weigh the two options against each other and say “Okay, I’m willing to power through a week of potential side-effects and get vaccinated with the fellas if it means I won’t have to be so goddamn miserable and depressed every day.” and then you get the shot(s).

And if you did that, and THEN the League said “lol no, even though your team is fully immunized you still have to sit in your room alone every night and eat by yourself and not leave your house, because it’s not fair to other teams if you guys are no longer mentally miserable like them”, well now you find yourself in the worst of both worlds — still stuck in isolation, AND you’ve still got to play through all the potential vaccine side-effects that will leave you a little off your game during some of the most crucial games of the year.

Plus, that leaves you not feeling like you got to give informed consent — you agreed to get vaccinated (ie undergo a medical treatment) under the expectation that there would be certain rewards to be gained in terms of relief for your mental health, which made you decide it was worth the potential dent in your performance for a few games and any other worries you had about the vaccine, because the prospect of that relief was so worth it. And now, you are told by the League “that payoff you expected never existed, we never promised that, what are you talking about? we can’t change things for your mental health because that might make you better at hockey than the depressed unvaccinated teams”. I can understand how that turn of events could leave someone, as Robin expressed, feeling like they were “tricked” or “forced” into making a choice that they may have done differently otherwise. They felt that they were promised something in return that they didn’t get.

Note at the end of all this: Again, we still don’t know whether the NHL and NHLPA actually made any promises, or if they simply weren’t clear enough in communicating expectations to teams and the players misunderstood what was said to mean something else. Regardless, using the idea that being freed from having to be miserably isolated to an even greater degree than most of the US general public is an “unfair competitive advantage” to now justify not allowing reasonable adjustments to the restrictions for fully vaccinated teams is fucked up, and treats mental wellbeing as just another gameplay-impacting factor to be controlled rather than a deeply impactful part of a person’s overall wellbeing which can even threaten their life. The players must be treated as people.

[averagesmw]

Penny Haywood x MC- The way I see you

Game: Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery

A/N: This takes place in a universe where Bea didn't get snatched by the portrait curse and had a normal year

_____________________________

A pair of beautiful blue eyes slowly opened and blinked a couple of times to adjust to the light of a new day

These were the eyes of someone who had just woken up in a mess of blonde hair and still managed to look so cute despite not being properly dressed

Making her way through the sheets, the young Hufflepuff sat on her bed, yawning and stretching when her mind brought her the sudden reminder

This was the day she was craving for

A big smile appeared on her face the minute this realization hit her

You see, this day marked the second year of Penny Haywood's formal relationship with Y/N L/N

Well, as formal as a relationship in Hogwarts can be

And speaking of, there was an object in her nightstand, something that's not supposed to be there normally

The blonde looked at the novelty in her piece and discovered a cupcake made of her favorite flavor with a small note attached to it

"To start your day the way you like it"

In order to contain her excitement, Penny grabbed her pillow and muffled her happy screams in it. Thankfully, not many were around to hear it anyway

She knew exactly who had left this gift. This day was already proving to be brilliant

Without further due, she changed into her robes and did her hair, taking less than a minute to do her iconic braids. So many times she had done them, it just came to her naturally

And so, she walked off to the common room, where she saw the house ghost looking at the plants

"Good morning, Friar"

The ghost turned around to look at her, a smile immediately appearing

"Good morning, miss Haywood. I trust you had a good sleep?"

She nodded eagerly, that's when the friar noticed the pastry in her hands

"Is that from who I think it is?"

She raised the object so her friend could get a better look at the freshly baked object

"It is! Today's the day"

A joyful laugh came from the Friar upon hearing the news

"Then allow me to congratulate you on your second year together! You two are the purest couple I've seen in decades"

Haywood found herself flattered by this comment. However, it wasn't the only one of its kind

Practically all of Hogwarts cheered on the two of them, some going as far as to call them the "power couple" of Hogwarts. It was funny how easy they warmed up to Y/N after being saved a couple of times

Some others were insistent that they could be a better suitor for Penny, or that hanging out with curse breaker would only result in tragedy. While things did get interesting, every situation could be handled by their combined effort

With the help of their friends too, of course

"Well, if you want to know where your lover is, try looking at the courtyard"

"Will do, thanks, friar!"

With that, she left the common room and headed straight to the place suggested to her

Penny was excited, not only because this date meant a lot to her, but her curiosity was piqued. Her relationship with Y/N was unique, and as some sort of tradition, one of the two would give a present to the other

The first year was an enchanted bracelet that Penny gifted Y/N that would bond them even at the distance. This year, however, the curse breaker insisted on being the one that gave her something, and judging by the way they talked about it, it would be incredible

Walking down one of the halls, the young Haywood was met by her sister, Bea

"I see you finally woke up! Thought I'd have to call Tonks to set up a prank on you"

"Good morning to you too, Bea"

They shared a laugh as they kept walking. Bea had just started her year at the school but she was adapting surprisingly well

While the Haywoods made their way to the courtyard, memories began to flood Penny's sweet mind

Memories of the night it all began, the Celestial Ball. Y/N agreed on setting up the dance and chose Penny to be their date for it

Little did she know, they had a surprise for her at the event. Gifting her a necklace, the star of Hogwarts asked her to be their partner in front of the people at the party

She almost teared up at the question, but it was a yes ultimately. Everyone cheered at this and the dance that followed was just as breathtaking

The sound of music and chatter brought Penny back to reality, seeing as they had reached their destination. However, her eyes sparkled when she found a certain someone not far away from her

"There you are!"

When they heard her voice, they welcomed her with open eyes

"Goldie! Good to see you!"

She ran towards her lover, who caught her in a hug and even spun them around in a playful manner

All the while, the other person that was with Y/N used a spell to conceal something. Bea saw what it was, but agreed to "look away"

"Tou liked the cupcake?"

"I loved it! Thank you so much"

She gave them a tender kiss on the cheek before breaking the hug to see what was Y/N doing in the courtyard. That's when she spotted an unusual figure there as well

"Badeea? Good to see you" she received a gentle smile from her

"Likewise, Penny, and congratulations"

She smiled and then gave her lover a curious look

"What are you doing here?"

"We're... "

They stopped to look at Badeea in hopes of getting some help, but she just shrugged

"...Working on something important. It's for later!"

"Can I see?"

Without losing their smile, Y/N shook their head

"I said it's for later, Penny. You'll have to wait"

A saddened Penny tried her best to bribe Y/N into confessing by making puppy eyes. It almost worked, if not for another voice to join the scene

One could argue that the whole scene was saved by...Tonks

"Finally, we were looking for you!"

The voice came from the pink-haired girl, who was accompanied by Tulip, both glad to see their blonde friend

This sudden change made Penny drop her act to welcome heir friends

"Girls? What can I help you with?"

"We need your help to choose some ingredients!

"Ingredients for what?"

"For a prank, of course!" Tulip chimes in

"Did we mention there is a discount on potion-making equipment?"

Upon hearing Tonks's words, Penny's eyes went bright like a kid in a candy shop

However, as good as this offer was, the memory of her agenda came back to haunt her

"It's tempting..."

Then, she looked back at her lover with a saddened smile

"But I wanted to spend the day with Y/N"

While the curse breaker was touched by this heartwarming statement, they smiled tenderly at her while putting a hand on her shoulder

"Oh Penny, don't worry, I'll be waiting for you!"

"Are you sure?"

She got a nod from them

"Just promise to have fun"

Penny was surprised by their attitude, but she appreciated that she wouldn't have to choose, so she approached them and gave them a quick peck on the lips

"You're the best"

With that, she walked out of the courtyard along with Tonks, Beatrice, and Tulip. All while Y/N waved them goodbye

Once they were out of sight, however, the kind smile turned into a sigh as they turned back and made the object reappear

"What do you think? Is it ready?" He asked Badeea

She approached it and inspected closely, with her hand on her chin

"I think it's almost done! Just cast the spell and then we wait for it to take effect"

They nodded and with their hand at the ready

"Capillum fluit"

Then, something started to move within the object, a graceful wave that was almost hypnotic

" It's beautiful, brilliant job, Y/N!" Badeea clapped

"Thank you!"

Y/N took one last look at this, their proudest achievement yet, aside from solving the vaults

"I just hope she likes it just as much"

...

Meanwhile, at Hogsmeade, Penny walked in the company of her sister, Tulip, and Tonks, the latter being the guide

"So, what prank are you going to pull?"

Penny asked deciding to break the ice. This question made Tulip and Tonks look at each other before nodding

"That may or may not be a lie, Penny" The redhead started

"We do need your help, but it's something much more akin to your expertise as a potion-maker!" Tonks added

They stopped to give Penny a small piece of paper containing a colorful add

"See, we heard that Honeydukes having a competition"

"It's to encourage students, but the reward sure is something!"

"What is it?" Bea inquired

"Six months' worth of chocolate frogs!"

There were gasps after hearing that. Those were some of the best treats Honeydukes had to offer! There would be more than enough to share with their friends

Penny looked away from the piece of paper and now focused on Tonks, with that determined look on her face

"And what do we have to do?"

Hearing this earned a smile from the girls, Bea even cheered a bit to see her big sister on board for this

"The team that creates the potion that smells the sweetest wins!"

"That's where you come in, you get to be our brilliant leader!"

"I don't know Tulip, I-"

"Too late! We've arrived!"

The sound of a nearby crowd ended the conversation. Those must be the other participants

Penny froze for a second, looking at all those people competing to get the same reward. She had won intern tournaments, but this was something else entirely

Then, she felt her robes being tugged, the cause being her younger sister

"Come on, it will be fun! Plus I want to see you in action"

"I...I don't know if I can do this"

" You're Penny Haywood! You knew most potions before they even taught them!

"Girl, you know how to do most of them on your sleep!"

"See? You got this, sister!"

The way the girls talked about her made Penny's cheeks turn red. Of course, she had received compliments before, but they just sounded so confident in this, even made it sound like it would be a walk in the park for her

It was true that she was one of the most proficient at school. Perhaps it would translate well into this competition?

Who knows, but it was an idea worth entertaining

"... alright, let's do this"

The girls cheered in unison before taking Penny to them to register their team for the upcoming challenge

Tonks got them a place in the contest, the last one available. While still unsure of this decision as the teams were announced, the blonde saw the look other people were giving her

Some seemed to recognize and were in awe, some others saw her as a rival to be dealt with. It was just like Hogwarts

So she would handle it as such

As soon as the competition started, Penny started barking orders to her teammates, making sure they understood what they were doing and most importantly, cheering on them

And so It begun, Tonks gathered the ingredients while trying her best not to drop any of them on accident

Tulip kept assisting Penny in the process of making the bomb. It was new for her, making something that wasn't intended to smell putrid

Bea followed in her sister's footsteps and acted as some sort of cheerleader while also assisting where needed...also keeping Tonks away from fragile things

While listening to what she was saying and how she was encouraging her teammates to do their best, one could see the indirect influence of a certain curse breaker

They were, after all, the most convincing person at Hogwarts. Who else could convince a student to fight a bloody troll?

After thirty minutes, the alarm sounded, echoing through the establishment and forced everyone to stop what they were doing, but it also gave everyone a chance to catch their breath after such an exhausting experience

The judge approached every team and smelled every potion until he reached the girls' stand and took their potion. His expression changed for the better when he smelled it, he raised the vial and proudly proclaimed

"Everyone, I think we have a winner!"

They gasped when they heard that, they couldn't believe that their team effort had taken them that far. Claps from the other competitors and the crowds of spectators came their way

"We...we won..."

Penny stood breathless, adjusting to the news when she was suddenly hugged by Bea, then Tonks and sure enough, Tulip

"All thanks to our brilliant leader!" Stated her sister

"Thank you so much for your help, Penny!" Added the metamorhmagus

"Bringing you here was the best decision by far!" Tulip admitted as well

They hugged her as if they were a Quidditch team embracing their most important player after winning the finals. To think that it wouldn't have been like that if she hadn't chosen to tag along in the cursed vaults

Penny knew she was lucky to have so many true friends, and she hugged them back like so

After having their photograph taken, the announcer approached them and gave them a certificate that would serve as a trophy for them, but also ensure that they would get their prize.

Shortly after, they celebrated their victory at the Three Broomsticks, the first round being courtesy of Madam Rosmerta

It had been so much fun, it was so easy to forget that the group had spent two and a half hours away from Hogwarts

Tonks suggested going back to Hogwarts to make sure nothing would happen to the certificate, but that Penny would keep it since she had led the team to a smashing victory

And so, they boarded the train back to their welcoming school, chatting as they traveled

When they entered the main hall, however, the atmosphere drastically changed

"This way, hurry!"

Badeea's shaky voice echoed through the hall, catching the girls by surprise

Then, the artist herself came rushing at them with a worried look to her, and behind her, was Y/N being practically dragged by her

They rushed past the group, without even stopping to talk, but straight out the doors and out of Hogwarts, leaving the four students beyond astonished

Penny wasn't surprised to see that, Y/N would get into an adventure without even looking for one

What surprised her was the fact that they were holding hands

It wasn't that big of a deal

Right?

It was just Y/N hanging out with Badeea and solving something

Like the past three months that they've spent together working on something that she couldn't see

Again

"That was... unexpected" Tonks was the first one to break the silence

"Should we follow them?" Bea asked, preparing herself for another adventure

Tulip shook her head in disagreement

"I didn't even see where they went"

But then, they noticed the silent blonde, who stared at the door longingly

"Penny, are you alright?"

"I...I don't know. I was expecting Y/N to at least say hi."

The pink-haired girl then wrapped her arm around her

"You know how it is with Y/N, sometimes they have to go and save everyone with just seconds of anticipation"

"You're right..." A sigh followed this reply

"Don't be sad, sis, I'm sure Y/N will have something for you!"

"And we'll stand by you until they come back"

Tulip stood proudly in front of her, making the others nod in agreement. Penny couldn't help but smile at this display

"Thank you, girls"

And so they sat at the staircase, already chatting to find a way to keep themselves entertained in the meantime

It wouldn't be long before Y/N returned, right?

...wrong

Four hours later

Tonks had fallen asleep, Tulip was casting sparks of the top of her wand to keep herself entertained and Hagrid had asked Bea for her help with some Puffskeins

"Yeah, until they come back..." Penny whispered

Her voice made Tulip sit up, finally listening to something after so much silence. Wonder where everyone was at this time

"You know Tulip, you can go now if you wish, I don't want to keep you waiting here all night with me."

"Are you sure? It's not a problem"

She got a nod from the saddened blonde

"Yes, don't worry about--"

That's when the doors were heard again and this time, it was loud enough to wake Tonks up and make the rest of them stand up and at this person

It was Y/N, with their clothes dirty and tattered, scratches all over them, and even some small cuts

Penny hated a few things. Being late to a class, werewolves, and above all, seeing Y/N like that

"Hello, girls" Y/N smiled with whatever energy they had left

"What happened to you?" Tulip asked directly

"I... It's a long story. Do you mind if I steal Penny?"

This caught the Hufflepuff by surprise. Now they wanted to see her?

Their friends gave her a thumbs up and sighing, Penny looked back at Y/N

"Yes?"

"I need to show you something"

Y/N took their hand and tried to move but was stopped by Penny herself

"No, you need to tell me what happened with Badeea and to you"

"I will, but in private. Please"

They locked eyes for a moment, her stern gaze couldn't hold against Y/N's subtly pleading eyes and that simile, that smile she couldn't deny

"...fine"

So she allowed herself to be taken away by Y/N. She was a bit mad because Badeea took them away, and by the hand nonetheless

It didn't help that they frequented each other quite a lot recently

But also because they were away for so long. Penny at least remembered she had something special today

But her thoughts were met with a heartwarming reveal. It was Y/N's bracelet, the one gift she had given him

As they were holding hands, she could get a clear view of it. Despite Y/N's roughed look, this accessory still looked as good

It was as if it had been enchanted with a protective spell every day

This didn't align with her theories, why would Y/N keep it and take care of it so dearly if they were with the other girl so much

The doors of the secret room took Penny out of her thoughts and by the time she knew it, she was in that special room that Y/N's brother used as a headquarter before disappearing

Y/N themselves would use it whenever they needed to review something in private

However, they had changed quite a few things. They organized the notes that were just scattered all over the floor and even managed to sneak in a bed for those times that they were too tired to reach the common room

Once they were in the area, Y/N let go of her hand to stand in front of Penny, scratching the back of their neck

"First, I'm incredibly sorry I arrived so late here"

"I'm sure there is quite a story behind that" The blonde answered with her arms crossed

"There is, but first, I want to show you this"

Y/N took a couple of steps back and turned towards something covered in a gray cloth

"I've done a few brilliant things in my time here, but this one is my favorite one by far"

They grabbed the cloth and removed it to reveal a portrait of Penny herself, enchanted so that her beautiful blonde hair would continuously flow as if blessed by a gentle breeze

Her blue eyes sparkled with hope and her tender smile was enough to turn any bad day into a good one

Penny's eyes went wide and she covered her mouth when she saw this painting in front of her. She tried to study every detail of this sparkling portrait but found herself too distracted by the fact that she was looking at a depiction of herself

"You...you made this?"

She asked almost breathless. Y/N was eager to hear her voice again

"Yes, and that's when the story chimes in."

Penny moved her gaze slightly so that she was now looking at the curse breaker, without losing her shocked expression

"You see, Badeea offered to tutor me in this painting when I told her that I wanted to give you something big, that's why we spent so much time together, we even invented a spell for this specific portrait"

Then, Y/N sighed, recalling the next part of the story

"But then Peeves stole it and we ended up going to the Forbidden Forest to get it. I had to duel an Acromantula to get it and--"

Y/N found themselves unable to finish their story due to Penny's soft lips crashing into them, she even brought their head closer with her hands

Of course, they returned the kiss as soon as they were able to process what was going on

"You went through all of that trouble, just for me"

Penny thought out loud, in awe of what she had just heard. This boosted Y/N's confidence, and they moved her hair to the side while looking at her in the eye

"I...I wanted you to see yourself the way I do"

This time it was Y/N who leaned in for a kiss, getting a taste of her warm lips that just craved theirs

"Although I'm sad that it took all day to show you. There was so much I wanted to do"

The curse breaker admitted with a hint of shame, making Penny giggle. It was astounding how they could be incredibly confident to steal a kiss and then be as cute as a child just seconds later

Then Penny looked at the bed beside them, an idea immediately came to mind

"Well, we can always cuddle"

And cuddle they did. It was a good thing that they didn't have classes the next day, so they could spend a bit more time in each other's warm company

Penny Haywood had it all, beauty, intelligence, unrivaled charm, and yet, she couldn't help but feel like she was the lucky one

And as she snuggled against her lover's chest, she allowed herself to rest, knowing that even if she might fear from time to time that someone could take Y/N away from her...

...They would always find a way back, always

[tes-trash-blog]

Mycosis, Or A Slightly More Scientific Take On How The Falmer Came To Be

(Alt title: I’m Never Eating Mushrooms Again)

Yep. This is happening.

Preface: This essay/rant/overanalysis is focusing only on the theoretical physical and biological aspects Falmer devolution. Expect a shorter rant on the spiritual aspect on a later date, thanks to oyarsas.

Part 1. Just Who Were The Falmer Anyway? A Brief Primer

According to the one surviving Snow Elf in Skyrim, the ancient Falmer were a wealthy and advanced race of Elves that occupied a portion of Skyrim during the Merethic Era. A few shenanigans, some unspeakable war crimes, and a genocide later, the remnants of this race fled underground into the waiting arms of the Dwemer. They laid it down in simple terms:

“Many of your people had perished under the roaring, snow-throated kings of Mora, and your wills were broken, and we heard you, and sent our machines against your enemies, to thereby take you under. Only by the grace of the Dwemer did your culture survive, and only by the fifteen-and-one tones did your new lives begin.”

(Fun fact: If you translate the Stone using Ayleid words, it’s actually a lot more sinister!)

This wasn’t out of the goodness of their hearts, as the Dwarves were, in objective terms, dicks. While they didn’t want tearful songs of gratitude or boot-licking, they weren’t about to let a bunch of homeless and traumatized Elves, y’know, recover. No, they wanted something.

“We only request you partake of the symbol of our bond, the fruit of the stones around us. And as your vision clouds, as the darkness sets in, fear not.”

That something was their sight, and their obedience. Given what very little we know about Snow Elven culture, this looked to have been a bit of a big deal. After all, all the Prelates at Auri-El’s wayshrines implement light and sight in their blessings, much of the surviving iconography depicts the sun and its radiance, and what few surviving accounts remain mention the “dread of night” and “blessed sun”.

This wasn’t a decision made lightly, is what I’m getting at. The fact they agreed at all surely meant the Dwarves could do what they wished. Seeing some of the more elaborate torture chambers and traps, we can safely assume they did.

The Blinding happened in the Late Merethic Era, some hundreds of years before the Dragon War and the beginning of the First Era. Now comes the fun part.

And by fun part, I mean gross part.

Part 2. Can’t We Just Wrap This Up And Blame The Dwarves?

It wouldn’t be an overanalysis if I did, now would it?

There are theories abound as to how the Dwarves corrupted them, or they were part of a failed experiment (Underkiing, Lord_Hoot). This essay is going to ignore these theories, and focus on the more biological aspects of the Falmer transformation. Starting with a quote from the last surviving Snow Elf:

“The blinding of my race was supposedly accomplished with a toxin. Certainly not enough to devolve them into the sad and twisted beings they've become.”

This is further supported with the poem The Betrayed:

“Thrown into the pitch black dread of night.

Living in fear as their minds become lost.

As their eyes began dimming the light.”

This lost book also points to the slow creeping of insanity among the Snow Elves, no doubt from the unspeakable horrors seen above ground and the fancy word that made me write this whole damn essay in the first place: Mycotoxin!

Mycotoxins are a broad name for the various types of poisons produced by the Fungi kingdom, specifically those that affect animals, humans, and in this case, Elves. From NCBI’s extensive article on Mycotoxins:

“The majority of mycotoxicoses, on the other hand, result from eating contaminated foods. Skin contact with mold-infested substrates and inhalation of spore-borne toxins are also important sources of exposure. Except for supportive therapy (e.g., diet, hydration), there are almost no treatments for mycotoxin exposure”

“[...] Acute toxicity generally has a rapid onset and an obvious toxic response, while chronic toxicity is characterized by low-dose exposure over a long time period, resulting in cancers and other generally irreversible effects.”

That sounds… bad.

So, there are few if any treatments for mycotoxin exposure, and the Dwarves were not ones to use magic, so the only feasible treatment for the mass-poisoning would have been a good diet and hydration, but something tells me the Dwarves were not keen on giving their slaves either of those. From the Diary of Faire Agarwen, we can reasonably deduce that conditions were cramped, dark, and damp even among those who had political clout:

“Seventh Marking, Tenth Kulniir

[...] Often the surroundings make it impossible to dwell on any happiness. We have been locked together in such close quarters for so long.”

Keep in mind here that a kulniir was a notched basin that functioned as a simple time keeper, using drops of water. The diary also mentions there’s no real natural light, so we see the combination of dark, damp, and cramped. This was from a woman who held some social capital. We can assume that conditions for your average Joe and Sally were much worse.

Even among the best of conditions, the Snow Elves were kept in were prime real estate for molds and fungi to thrive. There is (thankfully) no evidence to support my next claim, but it’s also not exactly a stretch of the imagination.

The Falmer: A Study makes clear that the blinding was a multi-generational effort. Within perhaps two or three generations, the Snow Elves were eternally blind. Adding to the permanent blindness, there very well could have been the more unpleasant, unwanted, and unplanned changes.

I’m talking about mutagens.

To pull a real life example, Fumonisin B1 can cause neural tube defects in utero, which means that the toxin affects the development of the brain and spinal cord, as well as the central nervous system. In extreme, chronic cases of fumonisin poisoning, it can keep the brain from forming into a viable state, causing stillbirths. In a universe where dragons fly around and singing plants can make poisons, it’s not too much of a stretch to say that there is something equally terrifying growing in Blackreach. Already blinded, chronically ill, and hopeless, the next generation of Snow Elves were doomed to an ever lower standard of living without even the knowledge that things could be better. Combine that with whatever mold infected whatever flora that grew underground, similar to how say, fumonisin blights grains and how black mold is generally Really Bad For You.. Well, we can assume that there was a more subtle force that guided them to their ferality than whatever the Dwarves did to them.

In the same way the lead pipes of Rome contributed to developmental problems among their populace, I can imagine the toxic spores creating more violent, more feral Falmer, until finally their very sentience was taken from them. Seeing as all of this culminated into a war that spanned decades, something tells me the Dwarves didn’t see that coming.

Part 3: So… CAN They Be Cured?

The short answer is no. From the words of the Knight Paladin himself:

“I'm afraid that they're well beyond a cure at this point. The twisted forms you've seen didn't occur overnight. It isn't a plague or a disease that ravaged our species. The dwarves may have stolen their sight, but it took many generations for them to become what they are today.”

And as found earlier, there are no effective cures for mycotoxin exposure, and I imagine even less for chronic, multi-generational poisonings like what happened to the Snow Elves of old. I’m assuming, but I really don’t want to ever see that tested in the field.

But not all is lost. Gelebor also notes that the modern Falmer have started to re-develop their intellect. This grabbed me, as the Forgotten Vale is vastly different than the caves and ruins you normally find Falmer in. There’s fresh air and cool breezes, and open spaces for those sad little gremlins to lurk about. In short, they’re away from the poisonous influences of those dark caves and toxic spores.

It’s entirely possible that the Falmer of the Vale are developing, and it’s in part because they’re no longer confined to the dark and damp that was their prison. It’s entirely possible that with enough time, and enough patience, the Falmer could slowly undo the effects of their chronic poisoning. Not enough to become the Snow Elves of legend, those days are long since past, but perhaps enough to break their chains, and finally put a voice to thousands of years of suffering.

Sources, inspirations, and tangentially related articles:

Mycotoxins, from the National Center for Biotechnology Information. A recommended primer on the nature of mycotoxins and their effects on more complex organisms.

Toxic effects of mycotoxins in humans, from the World Health Organization, another excellent starting point if you like reading about poisonous fungi.

Repeating Mistakes of the Past: Another Mycoherbicide Research Bill, a condemnation of using mycotoxins in of all things, drug control. This article also calls the use of mycotoxins against humans for what it is: Biowarfare. An interesting, insightful, and very depressing read.

A review of the toxic effects and mechanisms of action of fumonisin B1, from the journal Human and Experimental Toxicology. Behind a paywall, but the abstract sums it all up quite nicely.

A Wikipedia article on the Mexican Tetra, because I think they’re cute.

UESP, without which I would be even more of a babbling trash gremlin.

[rusalkii]

It’s Friday, I’ve mostly even been okay at being a human and everything, yay me.

I... was mostly even productive and on top of things and didn’t procrastinate this week? I did the fucking paperwork. Moved in, unpacked, etc. Did follow-up with the pre-interview people: they didn’t notice I’ve submitted anything. Homework was minimal but I’ve been doing week-long assignments 1-2 days after we cover the material for them. Need to KEEP DOING THAT. I have not been doing recommended textbook reading, which is not ideal, but also this week has just been weird (where by weird I mean “I have had an 1.5 hour commute every day and I am refusing to do homework around my partners because they’re leaving and actually endorse this action”, so I don’t actually expect this particular set of circumstances to repeat.). Mostly succeeded at doing daily lists: ideally I’ll be doing one every day, even on days where the content isn’t substantive or high-priority. Mostly even succeeded at following my daily lists. Generally been decent at “here’s a small tasks, I have time, guess I can get this out the way”.Not doing this causes so many of my problems, please please please let me keep this.

My conclusion about accommodations: How About I Ignore The Concept, This Will Definitely Be Fine. Uh, realistically the things I might get are extended time on tests, which is worse than useless (need to schedule each test individually, which sounds like ef hell); a notetaker, which in theory sounds great but historically has not improved on having lecture slides available; recordings of the classes, which I have for one class anyway and... might? help in the ones I don’t. What I want is not to have those bullshit two-minute graded worksheet questions in Discrete which I can never get into my head properly in two minutes and end up frantically copying down my answer from notepaper while the professor is lecturing because we’re not allowed to erase or cross anything out on the actual answer sheet. However I somehow doubt I will be able to get out of this in any manner that does not make life actively worse.

On a related note, holy shit can I not pay attention during class. Sewing during helps but also makes me look fucking insane. I’m gonna do it anyway because having something to do with my hands is just enough stimulation for me not to zone out whether I’m on my phone or not, but also: ugh. I suppose there’s “””communicating with my professors”””” or something. It would probably be a good idea to just straight up leave my phone in my dorm, but then I’d have nothing to do between classes. Paper books? I did not use the soft blocking app this week but I will next week, I’ve just set myself a reminder (It’s an app that “plants” a tree and if you navigate away from the page it kills your tree and this Incredibly Motivating because of who I am as a person). Writing down everything I was thinking did not help, because it turns out that having usable notes is useful or something.

Saw some people and was not a total hermit, but I keep dodging new social situations. I was in fact not feeling well but I was also just - terrified of a potentially awkward dinner? The worst thing that was even remotely likely from the direction that was stressing me out was that some people I don’t particularly care about thing I’m an idiot for two hours and then immediately forget about me. In general I think my social anxiety’s getting worse, and I’m not sure what to do about that. I’ve been trying not to let anxiety prevent me from doing new things, because that way lie terrible spirals, but I have once rather strongly regretted that, so it’s not infallible even if you ignore the effects of anxiety on just me. (I was very stressed, was extremely unpleasant to everyone around me, generally fucked up in a way that I do not want to put myself in a situation to repeat.)

Good news: I don’t actually weigh less than 100lbs, our scale was just broken. Not worrying about having an eating disorder is pretty nice, actually.

Other good news: Discrete is fun. I knew it was going to be fun but I haven’t enjoyed a math class in a while and I’ve missed it.

Next week:

- FINALLY FUCKING GOING BACKPACKING unless I’m sick in which case fuck my life I guess, but this means I’m not doing anything until Tuesday. By Tuesday I want a schedule for homework/studying/etc with times for each class individually marked on it. Actually keep to them is a stretch goal, I know myself, but if I miss them I should have some excuse. Putting that in the google calendar or something would be nice but not necessary.

- Daily lists starting Tuesday

- Enter EVERYTHING in calendar or list. If a professor says the words “due” or “you need to” or “homework” or etc etc etc, write it down. If you’re thinking of going to an event write it down. If it’s not somewhere you’re going to check later it does not exist, you don’t have a memory, you know this.

- Not going to go into details because I’m keeping that to the daily lists, but if something’s time-sensitive that does not translate to “put it off until it is on fire and you don’t want to get close to it, quite sensibly, because it is on fire”.

- Next week gonna start going to get overpriced coffee to do these.

- Interact with... people. You will not have default socials with people you like anymore. Please do not hermit, this is bad for Kiras.

Meta notes: ...~45 minutes? Didn’t check my watch when I started writing. Turning more into journalling than goal-directed, which is fine as long as it stays object level and problem (or success!) focused.

[shadowsnlace]

HC's on how the captains would each react to finding their s/o wearing nothing but their captain's coat and their favorite lingerie underneath

Oooo! Fun ask! This is just what I need tonight! Enjoy!

Shunsui Kyoraku - Slow grin, slow stalking you. If you are draped on the bed or his desk, he’s going to start at your feet and work his way all over you with his hands and lips. He’s going to tease you physically and verbally until you are ready to rip any clothing off yourself and him. But, he’s not gonna let you. He’ll just shift what needs to be shifted to get to what he wants and what you need. Don’t bother counting orgasms, Shun recovers fast and can keep on going for long stretches when he takes it slow. And he always takes it slow. Expect to be very busy for the rest of the night. I hope you ate well, because your next meal will be breakfast.

Sui-Feng - She’ll smile, a light blush dusting her cheeks. For someone so tiny, she does a damn good job of completely covering you, hands and lips desperate on your skin. She’ll leave only the haori on you while she licks, kisses you to the edge of orgasm. Then she’ll want to kiss you deeply as her fingers bring you blessed release.

Rose Otoribashi - Slow smile, will stalk you around the living room couch like a predator. He’ll let you stay ahead just enough to keep out of his grasp because he likes the chase. Once he’s got you, every stitch of fabric is coming off. He’ll rip your lingerie (he likes the sound), and you’ll probably have some marks where the fabric pulled against your skin before it gave way. Then he’s all over you with hot kisses and hard, fast orgasms that keep you from coming down for a long time. You better have some stamina!

Retsu Unohana - That lovely smile of hers is a trap. She’s about to punish you good for wearing her haori and teasing her with the lingerie she loves to see you in. She’ll coo while your ass turns pink under her attentions. When the soothing starts, you shake right down to your bones. She’ll tease you through that lingerie until you beg, then she’ll tease just a bit more before giving you release. She likes to hover close while you moan or scream, drink in the power of the orgasms she rips from you.

Shinji Hirako - His eyes will widen a bit, a grin will start, and then a quip is quick  on his lips. He is a tease physically and verbally. He’ll use just his hands to roam over you so his mouth is free to tease and talk dirty. You’ll beg just for a kiss, and that’s what he’s waited for. Once he gets what he wants, you get what you want. Then it’s all about how many ways he make you sigh, squirm, and squeal. He’s another one that will rip your lingerie off and just leave the haori. He’ll use it to restrain you, keep you right where he wants you and just how he wants you to look so the beauty of your orgasms are on display for him.

Byakuya Kuchiki - One elegant brow will lift. He’s planning, don’t be fooled. He’s about to test the limits of your control. He’s big on aesthetics so not one stitch of clothing is coming off of you – or him, he won’t tell you, but the minute your skin slides against his, he’s a goner, he has to be inside you. It’s vital to his control that he keep that barrier. He’s a master at slow, sneaky orgasms that ambush you. His kisses will make you feel drunk; his hands are magic – pure witchcraft. His mouth on you anywhere is delicious sin. He’s another one that will use the haori to restrain you while he takes his time drawing out all the wonderful sounds that drive him crazy. His pleasure is always two-fold, he gets off on your pleasure and knowing what he did to you then he physically gains release as he once again drives you into more orgasms with his body.

Sajin Komamura - A deep, low growl will start. His eyes will glitter. Be prepared for the overwhelming kiss he’s about to deliver. His hands will be so gentle, a sharp contrast to near savage way his mouth is going to practically devour you. Hold on tight to those massive muscles or rich blonde hair because he’s going to make you cum until you beg him to fuck you. Even then there will be a barely contained wildness. His eyes will bore into yours the whole time and he will growl his affections between your moans.

Lisa Yadomaru - Big, happy grin. You just gave her a present and she will open it with relish! She’s everywhere – hands in your panties, mouth on your nipples, then mouth in your panties and hands on your nipples. She wants it all. She’s so excited she’s practically buzzing. Once she settles down, you’re in for a treat. All that porn she’s consumed leads to her choice of how to make you cum – hard and fast, or slow and easy. She usually opts for a combination until you have to wave her off so you can catch your breath. 

Kensei Muguruma - Really wicked grin. You can just about see his plans taking shape as he surges toward you. Once his hands are on you, you get lifted by that haori so he can crush your mouth under his. He’s strong enough to hold you against him with one arm and strip off your panties with his free hand. You better pick the location where you want to be fucked before he walks in the door, because wherever he catches you, that’s where you are getting nailed. And, there’s no such thing as a quickie with him. The oral alone seems to last forever. His stamina once he’s inside you is unbelievable. Enjoy the dirty talk that you’ve inspired and the demands for your orgasms and that you’re his. By the time he’s done with you, you will be a quivering mess with a big, happy smile. 

Toshiro Hitsugaya - The auto-response, reflexive scowl will show first. He might even scold you for wearing his haori – he takes his position as a captain very seriously. But, I like to think as an adult he relaxes a bit. Like Byakuya, Toshiro appreciates aesthetics, so the overall effect is not lost on him. Make no mistake, seeing you in lingerie gets him hard instantly – add in his haori and he’s painfully aware how much he likes it before he’s ever touched you. He’ll take his time touching you, kissing you, dragging his mouth over every inch of you while his eyes burn you with intensity. His power will crackle along your skin like little bits of ice raining down. He will make you cum over and over before he removes one stitch of clothing from either of you. Once he does, it’s an avalanche of pleasure that sweeps you both away.

Kenpachi Zaraki - Big, wolfish grin. Grunt. The lingerie is getting shredded, I hope it wasn’t expensive. It will hang on you in tatters, completely ignored while he works you over from mouth to pussy and back. Hands, lips, tongue, fingers, he wants into you in every way to make you make those erotic sounds he loves so much. He’ll use that haori like a sex swing while he fucks you. His strength is phenomenal and he can suspend you for long periods without much effort. He will get so excited and caught up in you that his control over his reiatsu will slip enough that you feel it dance along your skin. Don’t hold back, he loves you to scream when you cum. The wilder you are, the higher his pleasure will soar.

Mauyri Kurosutchi - 99% of the time he’ll scoff and scold, call you silly and tell you to take off “that ridiculous outfit.” But, there is that 1%. His head will tilt to the side, assessing, bullet points in his mind as to what he’s about to do to you from start to finish – along with a statistical estimate of how many orgasms you will have. The lingerie will be slowly sliced off with some sharp instrument. If he’s feeling frustrated that you aroused him when he didn’t want to be, he’ll manually just rip it off. What follows will vary depending on his mood. Most times sex is just another experiment to him with the bonus of an orgasm at the end. He’s figured out orgasms on a chemical level and most times will just use that on himself since it saves time. I know everyone thinks he’s got a low libido, but I think it’s more about time management than lack of desire. For him to take the time to engage in the act of sex means you’re something really special because nothing is more valuable to him than his time. Of anyone in the Seireitei, he’s got the most extensive knowledge and arsenal of methods of achieving orgasm. It’s a measurable science – chemical, tactile, and psychological. No one has a clue why you stay with him. If they did, they’d be queuing up for his orgasm potion. 

Jushiro Ukitake - His eyes slowly widen as his mouth forms an “O”. Those eyes roam all over you, head to toe. A sweet smile and a sexy chuckle are hiding the power of the sex god that is Jushiro. He’s a master. He knows himself and the limits of his control. That means you get treated to a lot of slow, sensual foreplay. We’re talking hours here. He knows how to use his hands and mouth to keep you hanging on the edge of orgasm until it nearly breaks you. He will have you so mindless with pleasure you’ll try to give yourself relief, but he won’t let you. He’ll use kido to keep your hands away while he goes back to touching, kissing, and licking you. He knows that as sweet as it to tip over into bliss, it’s the moments just before that that are truly the sweetest. This man will teach you what words like “raptrue” and “ecstasy” really mean. Just keep in mind that while it feels like divine torture, it’s really love. Jushiro is so loving he can’t help but translate that into every touch. It’s what makes him unique among men and whats make you love him so much. 

[womanlalaboy]

Lublob #4: Elyu Then and Now

If you knew me from 5-10 years back, you'd know how much I dreaded the process of traveling. I hated the hustle, the waiting, the walking, the inconvenience of not being in your home, and the anxiety of having to talk to strangers. I was pretty boring. But everything changed when I’ve decided to go out for once.

4 years ago, there was a film camp my friends and I were dying to attend. For one, it's free. Two, it featured my favorite filmmakers. Three, it was gonna be held at La Union; and four, I was ready to take risks. 

Hours after my college graduation, I traveled to Manila and boarded a bus bound for Laoag and dropped off at Urbiztondo, San Juan, La Union. It was my first trip with no adult supervision. but I wasn't scared at all despite my mom nagging me about accidents that take place in post-graduation trips. Because I have my friends with me at the time and the event place was just a few minutes away from where we checked in, I felt limitless. I felt like I could do everything. I marked that moment as the beginning of my adulthood journey.

We stayed at the Circle Hostel and I'm glad that we did. Staying there is kind of guilt-free- it's not luxurious (which you wouldn't need when you want to really explore a place), it's supporting the zero-waste advocacy, it's humble, it's cozy, it encourages people to get together, and it attracts interesting people. Though we slept on hammocks, we had a very comfortable stay. They're not as strict as other hostels or inns. We arrived around 1AM and we had nowhere else to go. We were expecting them to kick us out, but we were welcomed by a staff who told us that we can stay in their common area. They were also kind enough to let us use their electricity while we haven't checked in yet.

There were a lot of changes since my first stay there at the Circle Hostel. They have removed the pulley they used to serve food, drinks, and even laundry at times from the counter to the common area. They've removed the space where you can sit and lie down that surrounds the whole common area (which we used as our office tables while we edit our videos) as well as the bean bags. We eventually discovered them on the makeshift lying space near the newly built kitchen. They've made new restrooms and places to hang your wet clothes with. The paintings have changed, which should have been expected. Graffiti is ephemeral after all. I was just a little sad to not see our favorite graffiti there which deeply resonated with us. It was a quote painted in yellow on the locker area. It was the biggest painting there, the boldest, and the brightest. We even filmed a scene there of a woman in the middle of contemplating to kill herself with pills. If it wasn't the one that made us feel fearless being outside our comfort zone. I don't know what else did.

More than the unfamiliar feeling I got when I visited Circle Hostel again, I guess the biggest, “what happened here?” moment was when we went out to see the beach. Hindi mahulugang karayom (way too crowded or in literal translation: even a needle wouldn’t fit) ‘yung lugar. We had to stroll for a few minutes to get to the rocky side of the beach where there were only a few people watching the sunset. 

The road looks like a parking lot now. I guess more people are no longer commuting when they choose to travel to Elyu. They might be bringing stuff they couldn’t transport safely via bus like surf boards or guitars, or maybe the place is just attracting non-commuters, I don’t know. What I do know, though, is we no longer have to worry about where to eat. Every nook of Urbiztondo has a restaurant, food hub, bar, pub, cafe, or a simple food stall. Four years ago, my friends and I would have to walk for minutes just to find one that would spell ‘sulit’ for us. Or maybe I just grew up. Now that I make my own money, what’s sulit for me now may not be as sulit as when I was a student.

I remember Flotsam Jetsam being our go-to place at the time. It had an inviting pathway towards the beach, comfortable bean bags at the beachfront, chic huts, tempting bar, and overall boho feels. I didn’t even dare to see the place again. There were just way too many people, but my friend went and partied with her soju-filled tumbler while I doze off at Circle Hostel. There was actually a drinking game while I was sleeping, a few live gigs at the neighboring inns and hostels, but I was too tired to even bother. La Union Saturday nightlife is so lit and exhausting. I wither even without involving myself to any. But the sea... oh boy, is still as charming as it was 4 years ago. We spent the next few days basking in the sun, swimming, and surfing- washing away the exhaustion and filling ourselves with nothing but good vibes. We talked to people, drank, laughed the days away, and generally just had fun. 

If it weren’t for that trip I had 4 years ago, I don’t think I’d ever change, or grow, even. If I compare my previous self who’s always at the same corner of her room binge-watching series to my current self who does way more than just watching series, I’d say I’ve gotten more comfortable to facing things I’m unfamiliar with. I’ve gotten used to the feeling of discomfort. I’ve learned how to deal with being always anxious and afraid. If it weren’t for that trip I had 4 years ago, I don’t think I’d be this happy to connect with people, with nature, and most especially with myself. If it weren’t for La Union and the Summer Film Camp we forced ourselves into, I wouldn’t appreciate the time passing while waiting for something great. I wouldn’t appreciate the path I have to take to get to a beautiful place.  I wouldn’t appreciate the discoveries I make along the way. I don’t think I’d ever see inconvenience and discomfort as effective mentors to learn how to bend and stretch to be a better person.

Some of us are hardly ever here, and I’m grateful for the experiences I had that lead me to where I am right now- doing the things that fill my heart, and makes me more like me. I’m thankful for the opportunity to not simply breathe, but to truly live.

MORE...

Also see: Elyu Then Also see: Elyu Now

Also read: San Juan Is The One: Womanlalaboy’s Travel Guide to Elyu and more   Also read: Lublob #1: Liwaliw sa Liwliwa Also read: Lublob #2: Touchdown Talisayen

[haiitanis]

Expression | Park Jinyoung

summary: 恋の予感 (“koi no yokan”) is a Japanese phrase that has no real English translation. It’s not about love at first sight, but a trust in the inevitability of love when you first meet someone.

word count: 1,810

genre: fluff

It started out like any other Friday night.

And by any other Friday night, you meant annoying. Since you had moved to Japan on an exchange student program with the University of Tokyo six weeks ago, your friends had been bugging you like no other to go out with them. You had gently refused them, sending Jackson, Shizuka, Mark, and Yugyeom on their way every time without you.

Jackson, Mark, and Yugyeom were all exchange students as well, each hailing from a different part of the world; Jackson was from Hong Kong, Yugyeom from South Korea, and Mark was American. Shizuka was your roommate, and the two of you had quickly grown close upon meeting, finding out you had a lot of common interests and were both literature majors.

Today, Jackson and Yugyeom were both stretched out across the little couch in the common area of the dorm room that you shared with Shizuka. Their limbs warred for space, and you laughed slightly to yourself when you saw them nudging each other’s legs roughly, trying to shove the other over so one of them had more space. So far, it appeared Yugyeom’s lengthy appendages were giving him a slight advantage.

Shizuka was the first one to whine your name, and you turned your attention to her. “You never come out with us,” she said, pouting cutely at you. “We just want you to have fun! Experience Tokyo college student life to the fullest with us.”

You couldn’t help but laugh at this. “Shizuka, I don’t think partying and clubbing until the sun comes up is a necessary part of college life,” you responded.

“It definitely is,” Jackson inserted with a grunt as he shoved the younger boy over, finally winning the ongoing battle between them.

Mark was next in the line-up to try to convince you to come with them, but he seemed to have realized by now that it was pointless as he wilted dramatically over the arm of a chair. “I want you to come, but I know you’re not going to,” Mark grumbled, his blonde hair flopping onto his forehead when he sat up.

“See, that’s the spirit,” you said, eliciting laughs from both Yugyeom and Jackson.

Shizuka let out a resigned sigh, accepting that their efforts would, yet again, be fruitless. “Alright, but what are you going to do tonight? You could just come out for one or two drinks, even just dinner, then leave before the trains stop!” she said, faint hope coloring her voice.

You hated to let her down, but you already had a date for the night. A study date to be exact, with the library and the campus cafe right next door. You had a research paper due soon and needed to finish it up and do some final research. So, after chatting with your four friends a bit longer, you sent them on their way.

It was getting late, already close to ten by the time you left your dorm. You had shoved your laptop and the books you had from the library into your messenger bag and slung it over your shoulder before walking out the door. Headphones in, you headed across campus to the library, head bobbing slightly and steps in time to the song’s heavy bass.

You made it all the way across campus at a record pace, heading into the silent library. It was getting late, but luckily for you the library stayed open until midnight for the students that had classes late at night or worked evenings. You returned the books you’d finished with before heading into the deserted stacks.

It was almost eerie, you thought, how quiet it was in the library this late. The sound in the library was always muted as the patrons were very respectful of each other, but it was typically still bustling with students either studying or roaming the stacks. But this late, it was silent except for the music playing through your headphones and your footsteps, muffled by the carpet. You were able to find the books you needed quickly, check them out, and head to the twenty-four-hour student cafe right next door.

A sleepy voice greeted you from the counter when you opened the door, and you bowed your head slightly before heading up the stairs to your favorite corner booth. It was unoccupied, as it usually was at this hour, and you spread your armful of books across the flat surface.

You set straight to work and finished two more pages on your paper before your head drooped it’s way down to rest on the pages of the last book you had skimmed through to find what you needed. You hadn’t realized how tired you were, and sleep washed over you before you knew it.

Next thing you knew, the sweet aroma of coffee was hitting your nostrils. You inhaled deeply, lifting your head from where it rested on the open pages of a book and blinked blearily at the person across from you. There was a person across from you?

He smiled slightly, pushing a mug towards you. “Here, you look like you need this,” he said, voice soft.

“Th- thanks,” you murmured, eyeing him slightly as you lifted the mug to your lips. He was handsome, almost too handsome to be real, you thought. “You’re not from around here, are you?” you added, having noticed that the very faint accent to his Japanese.

He laughed. “No, I’m from Korea. Here on an exchange student program. You?” he asked.

You told him where you were from, and told him that you, too, were on an exchange student program. You chatted with each other for a few minutes, then you realized you didn’t even know his name. “So, anyway, what do I call you?”

“Jinyoung,” he said, with a smile. “My name is Jinyoung.”

You offered him your name as well, and he repeated it with a small smile. You met his eyes across the table and returned it.

You spent the next several hours talking to Jinyoung about anything that came to mind. He was biochemistry and engineering major, and it created a strange juxtaposition with your literature major. You quickly found out that Jinyoung had arrived at the same time as the rest of your exchange student group, but he had stuck more with the other STEM majors, while the people you befriended were all humanities, social sciences, and arts majors.

But, you found yourself truly enjoying the conversation with Jinyoung. He was smart as a whip and seemed to know a little bit (or a lot) about everything, enough to hold an interesting conversation, but he didn’t come off as a know-it-all. Jinyoung also had a great sense of humor you found, dry and a bit sarcastic, but he made you laugh like you couldn’t believe.

With Jinyoung, you talked about everything that came to mind. You talked about everything from astrology to the effects of advanced technology in society, and about whether humanity would be more likely to win a war against robots of their own creation or alien invaders from the depths of space.

Before you knew it you could see the sky beginning to lighten, the sun deciding to peek its rays over the edge of the horizon. It was odd, you thought, that you’d spent all those hours talking to someone who was essentially a stranger. But Jinyoung didn’t feel like a stranger anymore. He actually felt more like a best friend.

Your conversation had dwindled into nothing, and you stared quietly out the window, contemplating the sunrise. When you turned back to Jinyoung, you found him staring at you, that same soft smile on his face.

“I think I need to head back to my dorm,” you said with a yawn and a stretch. Your exhaustion from the night before was creeping up on you, and while the nap you’d accidentally squeezed in before meeting Jinyoung had left you refreshed for a while, you knew it wouldn’t be long until you crashed.

Jinyoung agreed easily and asked which dorm building you lived in. As it turned out, he lived in the one right next door, and offered to walk you to your building. You accepted his offer and packed up your messenger bag, shouldering it, and the two of you walked side by side across campus to your dorms.

You were almost to your building when Jinyoung stopped, then ran a hand through his dark hair. “Hey look, you were really cool to talk to and hang out with, and I was wondering if I could get your number? Or your LINE?” he said, the hopeful glint in his eyes almost outweighed by the unmistakable cadence of nerves in his voice. “Just, you know, so we can hang out again.”

It was cute, you thought, that he was nervous to ask you for your contact information. You gave him your LINE ID, and caught the secretive smile on his lips before he gave you a quick hug goodbye.

You opened the door to your building and turned to wave goodbye to Jinyoung. As the heavy glass closed behind you, and you started up the stairs to your room, your phone dinged quietly in your bag, and you decided to check it when you got back to your room, figuring it was just Shizuka texting you that she was on her way back.

But you unlocked your room’s door and found Shizuka standing in your shared bathroom, taking her makeup off. “What happened to not wanting to be out until sunrise?” she said with a loud yawn.

You just laughed. “I was at the cafe all night,” you responded, digging through your bag to find your phone. It was a LINE notification, from Jinyoung. Your eyebrows knit together. Did you accidentally grab something of his?

Opening the message, your eyebrows knit together even further. It was Japanese, but for some reason, your tired brain wasn’t computing and you didn’t fully understand what it was saying. So you decided to show it to Shizuka.

>> From: Jinyoung 恋の予感.

Shizuka giggled when you showed it to her. “Koi no yokan,” she repeated. “The closest translation is when you meet someone and you know that you’re going to fall in love with them, but it’s not love at first sight. More like trusting in the inevitability of love with someone. Who is sending you these things?! Did you meet a boy?!”

You smiled to yourself while Shizuka continued to exclaim. Funny enough, you’d felt the same way about Jinyoung. So you texted him back. Just two words.

>> To: Jinyoung same here.

He responded with a sticker, and then you locked your phone screen. That morning, you fell asleep with the faintest of smiles on your face.

[itsthejuggernautbitch]

Dissolve - Colossus/OC

Alright, y’all. Finally. I rewrote this intro so many times. Here’s the first section, with an ao3 link for readability. The section is under the cut.

(Side note: y’all have NO IDEA how hard it was for me to type you both instead of y’all.)

Negasonic was having a great fucking day, as she usually did on Friday’s, when she got the super fun call that some little mutant kid on the other side of the city decided to pitch a bitch fit and flood three city blocks. Fridays at the mansion were quiet - no one wants to do bad things on a Friday. It's Friday, for goodness sake. Go on a date, take your kids to the park, go to a bar. Do something that's not blatantly criminal.

From the sound of the call, it looked like the mutant kid had broken out of the Ice Box on transfer. And no, the kid couldn’t have flooded the streets with clean sink water, or water from the pond in the park. You know, something simple and not-disgusting. That would have been too easy. No, the kid thought it would be funny to flush out the sewers and influence every septic tank within a mile radius to simultaneously explode. Nevermind how the kid had even gotten his collar off. Apparently no one had been able to figure that one out yet.

It’s not like Negasonic was going on a date tonight or anything.

She was already nervous, but she definitely wasn’t going to meet Yukio now, not if she was going to have to wade through sewage on the heels of her eight-foot-tall Man-of-Steel mentor who just had to make it a priority to talk to the kid personally about personal responsibility. Can’t exactly have a fun date when you smell like literal shit, and some smells just don't come out after three consecutive showers.

Negasonic almost felt bad for the kid. She’d gotten the Personal Responsibility speech a handful of times (mostly because she sometimes couldn't turn off the sarcastic tone in her voice), and while she loved her mentor dearly (not that she would ever say it out loud), Colossus tended to get a little preachy after the first few sonnets of poetic justice. She almost felt bad for the kid, before she remembered that she was going to be drudging through an ocean of shit to reach him because he just had to cause a scene. On a Friday.

Student and mentor stood at the edge of the poop lake, staring out into the street full of sewage was expressions of disgust that were oddly similar - the kind of similarity that only comes from lifelong familiarity. It was absolute bedlam; fire hydrants were gushing, manholes had been displaced from the sheer force of the gushing sewage, water was leaking out from under door frames. The unmistakable sound of scores of toilets flushing at the same time droned on under the honking of car alarms. Negasonic caught the sound of gentle retching coming from her mentor, who tried to hide the coughing behind his huge fist but failed. Poor guy could barely deal with the sight of blood, much less a lake of poop water.

“Can’t we get Wade to do this? He smells worse than this on a daily basis anyway,” Negasonic asked, hiding the smell-and-taste parts of her face behind her gloved hand. She practically had to yell to be heard.

“That is true, but unfortunately not. He - uh,” Colossus coughed again, wetly, then took a deeper breath than he really meant to, “he left for Japan on mission last night. Besides - this builds character.”

There was more of a question mark than a period on the end of that sentence. Even with all his teacherly conviction, Colossus didn’t really believe it.

“It’d be really helpful if one of us could fly…”

“Indeed,” Colossus replied, beckoning his student onward. “Come, Negasonic. The quicker we find the boy, the quicker we go home.”

It was, at that oddly opportune moment, a great time for a jet to drift in past the line of buildings. It hovered past the treetops and streetlamps and came to land in the little park quite near where they were standing. Technological marvel that it was, it hardly disturbed the grass as it landed, which was a blessing because it was disconcertingly close to the sewage. Negasonic was not often excited to see the X-Jet, but in this case, she would make an exception. Hopefully, it was someone coming to bail them out, because this whole situation was just… yikes.

The door of the jet came down, and Negasonic sent up a silent vibe of thank fuck to whatever deity may have been listening.

The cleanup crew stepped out - a handful of X-men whose powers didn’t translate well in combat but had mission-worthy uses. There were ten or so of them - just a small faction responsible for cleaning up the areas around the mishaps that tended to befall the X-men. They were usually sent to take care of the aftermath of large-scale disasters. And out of that cleanup crew came one of the very few people on Negasonic’s people-who-don’t-suck list (Wade and Colossus were both on it too, not that she’d ever tell them), Suraya Josephs, known as Metanite. If Negasonic actually wrote out her list of people-who-don’t-suck, Metanite would be at least pretty close to the top.

Negasonic was not easily intimidated. Her attitude came hand-in-hand with being an almost-adult teenager with too many responsibilities to handle. And yet, even Negasonic could admit that if Metanite were a complete stranger, she’d have to look the other way. Metanite’s defense form was a vaguely smudgy, jet-black humanoid with smoldering, empty eyes. She was difficult to look at, and consequently emanated a vibe of creeping terror.

But Metanite wasn’t a complete stranger, so Negasonic at least tried look. Tried being the operative word. Fuck, she looked creepy.

As the mutant woman stepped onto the grass, the overwhelming creeping dread set into Negasonic’s bones. Negasonic squirmed; she caught Colossus fidget out of the corner of her eye. It was the most gentle feeling of terror she’d ever experienced, like her heart might crawl out of her chest; it was a secondary effect of Metanite’s defense form, she’d been told, which made it difficult to assign the mutant woman to a team or a mentee. It was difficult for anyone to look at her before she disengaged.

Metanite caught the uncomfortable stares and looked down at her hands. “Oh, I’m sorry, you two! Let me fix that. The rest of the crew is used to it.”

The feeling of dread ebbed as Metanite shifted into a human form; her usual smiling self was left standing where the smudgy humanoid had been. She strode on over, surveying the sewage disaster with a measure of disgust.

“You know, from the air this looks like a giant brown lake appeared in the middle of the city. It’s stretching, like, four blocks now” she said, grimacing at the smell. “We got pulled off of another scene on the outskirts of Atlanta to come back and take care of this.”

Negasonic caught Colossus fidgeting again out of the corner of her eye, but she was pretty certain it wasn’t because the big man was still retching from the smell. She held her hand over her nose, trying not to breathe through her mouth. "What's going on in Atlanta?"

"We're not really sure, but there's several human limbs left lying around. We found teeth embedded in a tree. It's quite morbid. We're thinking some people with regeneration factors got in a fight."

Negasonic would've liked to see that, actually. Nevertheless, she'd really like to get the current mess out of the way. “So, do we need to go find the kid?”

Metanite shrugged. “I would suggest letting us get this cleaned up before you bother, unless you just really want to wade through this mess.”

Negasonic would rather have every single one of her fingernails peeled off with a cheese grater than have to walk in this mess. She assumed that her mentor probably felt the same way.

Colossus, finally, spoke up. He folded his arms over his chest. “The boy will not get far, not with everyone watching for him.”

“Yeah, you’ve got all of us here,” Metanite said. “If we see happen to see him, I’ll handle him.”

Negasonic, personally, would not want to have to be handled by Metanite. She felt a little bad for the kid now. “He’d have to be around here somewhere if this is still spreading.”

Colossus nodded. “He is near. We will be watching for him as well.”

“Well, you’re welcome to take the jet. We’ll be here for a while,” Metanite replied. She handed him the access card for the jet. “I’ll call you when we’ve got this under control.”

“I look forward to your call,” Colossus said, taking the card from her. He looked as though he wished he’d worded that differently as soon as he’d said it. If Metanite noticed, she didn’t show it. “I - we do. We look forward to your call. We will handle it.”

Negasonic fought back the ensuing snort. That was one of the least-subtle things she thought he'd ever said, and she'd seen him ignore his feelings for years now. Watching her mentor tiptoe around the woman he liked was excruciating, but she got a good laugh out of it. For such a business-minded man, he sure did get awkward quick.

Metanite grinned. “You always do. I’ll see you both in a little while.”

She headed off towards the group gathering at the edge of the mess. Some of her team looked human, some decidedly not. There were a couple of vibrantly-colored humanoids, a couple covered in fur, one with proboscis-like appendages attached to his head. They were all huddled together in a tight wad around a display screen, looking at something that Negasonic couldn’t see from her angle.

Metanite stopped abruptly and turned around before she reached the group. “By the way, you two, this is my last mission. I’ll be returning to the mansion as a teacher.”

She looked quite pointedly at Colossus before she turned around and ran off to join her team. Colossus followed her movements, mouth set in its usual hard line, but his eyes belied his hard face. He watched her retreating back with an almost doe-eyed stare, causing Negasonic to have to fight off another ensuing snort. Fuckin’ nerd. She - and the literally everyone else in the mansion - had been bothering him to say something for years, but he just wouldn't do it. Negasonic suspected it was because Metanite was pretty much never there, always off on some clean-up mission.

And yeah, Negasonic could understand being wary about it. It's hard to have a relationship when one person is almost never home. But Colossus is Colossus, and if anyone could deal with that like a real adult, it would be him. If he'd ever say anything.

Colossus pulled himself out of his reverie and clapped Negasonic on the shoulder, causing her knees to shake. “We will wait for them to take care of this. Come, let’s get away from the smell.”

At least, Negasonic surmised, maybe she wouldn’t have to bleach her entire body before her date tonight. Someone else could trudge through that mess.

[nezumiismissing]

Pacing: What the Fuck Happened Here?

So I’ve finished rereading all of the novels, which means I can finally make a long post! There isn’t much to this one, but as I’ve said before, this is based on a small project that I started months before the blog, and I didn’t want to  start over on something completely different just to have to come back to this later. It also ended up being quite a bit longer that I anticipated, so sorry in advance.

Anyways! If you couldn’t tell from the title, this post will discuss the pacing of No.6, and what the differences between the pacing of the novels and the anime actually look like. I’m not going to talk about the manga here, mostly because I didn’t think of it until it was way too late to do it, but also because it follows the novels fairly closely, although in the future I may update this post to include it. I’m also not going to talk about the differences in events between the novels and the anime, because I would be writing this post for the rest of my life if I did that. I’ll have plenty of posts in the future discussing many of the events that were not included in both versions of the story, but for now we’re strictly going to talk about comparisons in pacing.

(There won’t be specific spoilers for anything, but if you haven’t read the novels and for whatever reason don’t want to know what is different, go read the novels. You will not regret it.)

For anyone already familiar with the anime reading the novels for the first time, there are a few things in terms of differences in pacing that are fairly clear, no matter how little you were paying attention to it during the anime. Among those I include:

The timescale of Episode 1 vs Volume 1

The placement of the cave/Nezumi’s backstory scene

The timescale of the climactic arc of the story (entrance —> exit of the correctional facility)

There may be others that people noticed on their first reading, but those three especially stood out to me, and the last two especially felt like major changes that really shifted the flow of the story. I’ll summarize every episode and volume later on, but how do these three events match up between the anime and novels? How different are they really?

Although though Volume 1 does not contain certain events that take place in Episode 1, it still only takes 14 pages to get through the entirety of Nezumi and Shion’s introduction, up until the point where Nezumi leaves Chronos. While overall this is a fairly minor thing, it is kind of strange the first time you read it to see the events, made up of practically the entire introduction to the story, take place over only 14 pages rather than an entire 20 minute episode. This also makes it one of the few points which is really noticeably shorter in the novels than the anime.

The scene in the cave, in which we discover Nezumi’s backstory, as well as more information about No.6, seems to be about the same length between the novels and the anime, and remains mostly the same between the two versions; however, where it differs is in where it is placed within the story. In the novels this scene takes place after Shion and Nezumi have entered the basement of the correctional facility, while in the anime it takes place quite a long time before this (episode 8 for the cave, episode 10 for the basement). As will be a running theme in this post, I have no idea why they changed this. Do I think the placement of this scene has an especially profound effect on how the story works? Maybe. Does it make more sense to have it where it is in the novels, and was I completely confused when I read it for the first time? Yes. I feel that the purpose of this scene is to give us one last moment of relative peace after the events of the basement and before we have to confront the rest of the facility, so moving it seems pointless and somewhat detrimental to the flow of the story.

The correctional facility. Clearly the most important and action-packed arc of the entire series. In the anime, it takes up two episodes, which I would say is a fair, but maybe slightly short amount of time to get through everything. In the novels, we have the other extreme, with the entrance to the basement of the correctional facility taking place across the end of Volume 4/beginning of Volume 5. Even if we remove the cave scene, that still leaves this arc of the story taking place over 3 entire volumes, plus the multitude of events that take place in Volume 9 which are entirely cut from the anime. In total, for the entirety of the events from the last two episodes to be shown, the last five volumes of the novels must be read. Again, I’m not going to go into all the things that are left out of the anime that do explain much of this disparity in pacing, but even without those events, we are left with an arc that is significantly longer and more developed than the anime showed.

But what about the rest of the series? Surely the anime follows the novels decently throughout the rest of the story, right? While in many ways the pacing is not quite so extremely different through the middle section of the story, many things get shuffled around and reordered, creating some interesting-looking lists of comparison. Below are the two lists I made that compare the overall event structure of both the anime and the manga. The first list states at what point in the novels every major event from an episode is shown, while the second states what episodes contain events that are in each volume:

Episode 1- Vol.1 pg 14

Episode 2-Vol.1 pg 49

Episode 3-Vol.2 pg 35

Episode 4- Vol.4 pg 68

Episode 5- Vol.4 pg 51

Episode 6- Vol.4 pg 55 (most of this was completed by Vol.2)

Episode 7- Vol.3 pg 67

Episode 8- Vol.6 pg 69 (most of this was completed by Vol.3) 

Episode 9- Vol.4 pg 74

Episode 10-Vol.7 pg 63

Episode 11- Vol. pg 66

Volume 1- 1, 2, 3, 4

Volume 2- 3, 4, 5, 6

Volume 3- 5, 6, 7, 8

Volume 4- 4, 5, 6, 8, 9

Volume 5- 8, 9, 10

Volume 6- 8, 10

Volume 7- 10

Volume 8- 10, 11

Volume 9-11

Here the result of the correctional facility arc starting so late in the anime becomes fairly clear, since 4 volumes of content now had to be stretched out over 9 episodes (Volume 4 seems to have gotten the worst of it). We can also see where lots of things were shuffled around (episode 7). These may not be exact either, since many of the repeating events had both locations and details shuffled, making it difficult to judge which one I was looking at. This was especially troublesome in terms of the meetings between Yoming and Karan, since details were shuffled to the point of none of the meetings being able to be identified as a specific event. I also struggled to decide where I should mark the end of Getsuyaku’s segment, since he only appears very briefly in the anime, and isn’t even really a character, yet he plays an important role in the novels. Either way, the lists are as accurate as I could make them.

So how does this change the story?

Well, like I said earlier, a lot of the differences in pacing are a result of so much being taken out from the period during and after the correctional facility arc, as well as much of the novels consisting of internal monologues and descriptions, which obviously don’t translate well to audio-visual format. Because of these factors, I think it’s hard to say exactly how pacing specifically affects the story, but the effects are definitely there. Because of how episodes are formatted, most of the scenes in the anime are the same length, causing scenes that explained important information about what was going on to be cut short or written strangely (Safu and the Mother and the cave scenes come to mind), while slower paced scenes were stretched out over longer periods. The timing of the correctional facility arc in the anime also erases a lot of the urgency of the situations the characters find themselves in (difference between the amounts of time from Safu’s disappearance —> entering the correctional facility). I’m surely not the first, nor will I be the last, person to say this, but No.6 would have greatly benefited from having that extra 12th episode.   With another episode, more time could have been spent in the correctional facility (I would have loved to see more of the stuff from the basement scenes), and on telling us what was really going on with No.6.

So why did they shuffle things around so much? Honestly, I have no idea. I’ve spent a considerable amount of time thinking about this, and although I can come up with a million and one ideas about why certain things were cut from the anime or added into the story, I have absolutely no explanation as to why it was necessary to change the order of both major and minor events in the story. Why are all the events in Episode 7 taken from Volume 3, while Episodes 8 and 10 are spread out across four different novels? I don’t know. I can’t even begin to explain it. I’m sure there are reasons for it, but since the ordering of events seems to have almost no impact on how we understand the “second act” of the story, I see no reason for it to have been changed. But I suppose it doesn’t really matter that much anyways, and I’m just overthinking things like always.

In conclusion, the pacing of the No.6 novels vs. the anime is so remarkably convoluted that I’m not even sure I’ve figured it out, and I wouldn’t recommend looking too deeply into it.

If you made it all the way through this post, congratulations! You made it through a short essay about a topic most people don’t care about from a series that ended six years ago! But for real, if you made it this far, thank you for reading! It’s not the best thing I’ve ever written, and it’s certainly not the most exciting topic, but I had a lot of fun with it, and that’s all that really matters, although hopefully I’ll write about more interesting things in the future and we can talk about lots of fun topics like character arcs and specific scenes (If you have ideas for topics let me know!). I’m hoping to get posts like these out about once a month, but I’ll be writing mini posts and random No.6 thoughts I have at random intervals between longer writings, so look out for those!

[draqcnheartstrinq]

Vitalum Vitalis: Their Luck

Part VI

Peter Parker x Female!Reader

Word count: 2.173 Warning: None

Reminder: this is a slow burn series, don’t expect this to be quick and easy ;)

VV Masterpost | Part VII: The Downfall

Peter’s attitude changed dramatically after that night with Ali. He was less stressed, less agitated and more concentrated in class. Everybody thanked whatever force had made Peter Parker calm down, because when Parker was stressed, so was everyone else around him. When he started using his irritating habits like tapping his feet, biting his pencils and losing focus on the decathlon team everyone was on edge at his nerve wrecking antics.

Ali had been able to make those habits disappear in only one evening and the boy was surprised by the effects she seemed to have on him. She did it so effortlessly too, only one movie night and he already felt so much better about their forming friendship.

“Parker!” Carl from the other day tried to get his attention. “I see you took my advice, you look much more rested, man. Keep doing what you’re doing, it’s working!” Peter nodded his head at the guy and gave him a thumbs up in understanding.

“But, dude, don’t be getting yourself into street fights now”, Carl pointed at his bruises and cuts, laughing at Peter’s complexion. “I know it probably attracts the ladies but it might not be the best idea you can come up with.”

“Yeah, thanks Carl!” He joked back, waved, and walked away towards Ned’s locker.

The herd of students guided Peter down the hall, looking at the familiar blue rows of metal and teenagers leaning against them. Why did Ned’s locker have to be so far away? Why couldn’t it be right next to his? It made their days only harder and more tiring as they had to walk across almost the entirety of the school’s hallways to get to each other after classes.

Finally, Peter spotted Ned who was already making his way across the hall and they exchanged smiles before starting their personal handshake. When they ended on pointed fingers, they took off towards Chemistry.

“Had an eventful weekend?” Ned asked whilst strolling to the lab together.

“Yeah, it was fun, I met someone new last weekend and we met up again this Saturday.”

“Without me?” Ned laughed and punched Peter on the shoulder.

“Oh come on, don’t make me feel guilty for meeting someone, dude, that’s low”, he smiled back at his friend and pushed his elbow against Ned’s arm.

“Nah, of course not! What’s his name?”

“It’s a... “her”, actually…” When Ned looked at his friend he didn’t know if that was a serious remark or just a joke.

“A girl? Really?” he asked unbelievingly.

“Why’s that so surprising to you?” Peter questioned with a smirk and a glance around him.

“I don’t know! Maybe because every time you open your mouth in front of a girl, only stutters come out and afterwards they basically try to get as far away from you as possible?”

They both laughed out loud and walked into the assigned classroom, clutching the straps of their backpacks.

“It’s not like that with MJ!”

“Yeah, but that’s different, she’s our friend, Peter. If you would be stuttering in front of her I would lose all hope in finding you a girlfriend!”

Their conversation was nice and friendly and comfortable, but then Flash Thompson had to walk into the room and ruin everything.

“Parker? Our Penis Parker having a girlfriend? Don’t make me laugh, that wouldn’t happen even if he was the only male on earth!” Flash spat and snickered whilst placing himself behind a lab desk. All eyes were now focussing between Peter, who looked down at his shoes in pure shame, and Flash, who smirked like he had just won an easy fight.

“Flash, shut up, that nickname wasn’t even funny last year. Stop calling Peter like that”, Helena, another classmate, spoke up from the other side and everyone already in the classroom turned their heads her way. Flash looked surprised that someone dared to speak up to his remarks, but Peter did even more. He smiled at her in a thankful way before opening his notes on the last page. He was even more surprised when he saw a little message written inside them on an otherwise blank paper.

Thanks for letting me borrow your papers Parker Tell me if you ever need something Carl :)

He looked around, knowing that Carl wasn’t in the room with him, but he just looked for some reason why everyone would suddenly be acting so nice towards him. Maybe this year would just be a nice one? Not like the last few years of bullying and laughing in his face?

But this wasn’t enough yet, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and quickly reached for it. On the screen was a text message from an unknown number. He unlocked the phone and smiled when he read the short name at the bottom.

i thought it would be nice if i actually kept my promises so here’s the text you’ve been waiting for aaallllll day ;) (i hope, otherwise i look stupid now) i’m bored either way, please text back when you’re home, tell me some dorky puns... anything! i’m desperate... Ali x

His heart skipped just a little bit faster at the little “x” at the end of the text. Could he get any luckier today? Was it even possible to have this much “fortune” in such a short time? The teacher walked in before he could answer back with a new “dorky” pun, but he marked a cross over the back of his hand so he wouldn’t forget later. As if he would ever forget texting her, as if the thought of her smiling down at his future text didn’t make him feel warm and fuzzy inside, already. Who was he trying to fool, exactly?

The boy shook his head, before trying to concentrate on the teacher’s explanation, but once again, someone else was occupying his thoughts.

*~*~*~*~*~*

The bad puns quickly became the pair’s little inside joke, and much more than just a joke too. They became their “goodmorning” at dawn and “sleep tight” at night, their “how are you” after a few days of not replying and their “i’m bored” when they needed each other’s company.

May noticed her nephew’s smiles when he walked through the apartment door, hands clutching his phone and eyes trained on the screen. He often didn’t even notice her presence and went straight to his room without even a “hello” or “what’re we gonna eat today” like he would’ve usually done.

Ned saw his friend’s features and noticed the wrinkles next to his eyes from laughing, he saw his notes and the doodles that were drawn on the margins where there were meant to be formulas and translations. The asian boy thought about the girl Peter had mentioned in conversation a few times and couldn’t help the smirk on his face whenever another doodle made its appearance.

MJ was as observant as ever and noticed the skip in Peter’s every few steps, the excitement that hung around him and just the overall joy. She didn’t need any explanation to his behaviour, she already knew what was going on by just observing from a distance.

Tony discovered Alive’s newfound happiness and for the first time ever saw what it looked like when she was truly content. Her eyes were much wider, her lips were more stretched, her shoulders didn’t hang and her hands moved around when she talked to him. He knew Parker was the reason behind her sudden change in mood and he was glad to know they could get along just fine.

“When was the last time Peter came around, Ali?” he asked when she passed him on her way to the third floor. She turned around and tilted her head, confused by his unexpected question.

“Two weeks ago, I think. Why? What about him?”

“Would you like it if he came around for dinner, spend a little more time with him?” Alive stood perplex at his words but quickly shook her head in disapproval.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea Tony, I mean I would love for him to visit again, but you know I can’t explain why I wouldn’t be eating to him”, she looked down at her feet.

“Ow yeah, sorry darling, I completely forgot,” he sighed and grabbed her shoulder to accentuate his apology about bringing it up, “this thing just looks so realistic.”

“That’s okay.”

Some things just weren’t meant to be talked about, not even to innocent and lovable Peter.

Pepper joined the conversation not long after and greeted Alive with a big comforting hug. She informed Tony of another one of his meetings coming up in a few minutes, so he excused himself and went straight towards the Avenger’s headquarters. Before leaving too, Pepper first took it upon her to check in with Ali and make sure she felt comfortable and safe around the facility. When she got the answer she was hoping for, she went ahead and got back to work too.

Without anyone around, without anyone to talk to, Alive realised how much she had enjoyed the evening where Peter had kept her company. She liked the movies he made her watch, she loved the puns he told her every night and day, she admired the way he talked so passionately about science like it was his biggest dream to one day become a scientist himself. His intelligence seemed to be one of his most cherished traits, and she couldn’t blame him for sometimes bragging about it a little. It would’ve sounded cocky or big headed if it came from anyone else than that boy Parker, but he was a boy with a dorky smile and blurry eyes whenever the word “science” was mentioned in any conversation.

It made Alive chuckle every time she thought about his dreamy expression.

“Alive?” the voice of the AI rang through the hall.

“Yeah, F.R.I.D.A.Y.? What’s up?”

“Peter’s calling you on your phone.”

When you speak of the devil, right? Think of the devil, even.

Immediately, she reached for her back pocket but realised she hadn’t brought the device along the way whilst taking a walk through the building.

“Fuck!” The word was out of her mouth before she had even fully registered it in her head.

“Language, young lady!”

“Sorry, F.R.I.D.A.Y.”, Alive said before running towards her room with a big and exciting smile tugging at the corners of her lips.

In the end, Peter had simply called because he wanted to talk to her, “hear her voice again” as he had put it in a joking matter. The words he had chosen made the girl overthink, contemplating if his words had held any hidden meaning, but she gave up quite quickly. His words weren’t even meant to be thought about in the first place, let alone being anything more than just a conversation starter.

They talked for hours, never ending the call. Peter took his phone to the kitchen to grab some snacks, to the bathroom when he needed to brush his teeth, to his own bedroom whilst changing into pyjamas for the night,...

They only ended the call when they said their goodbyes at two in the morning, a pun from both of them representing each of their “sleep tight”s.

Peter knew he was smiling, even when the line had cut off, he still kept the phone to his ear and sighed in content. It definitely felt good, to be able to let everything out and complain about school and stress to Ali at the end of every day, it didn’t matter if his confessions were in the form of a text, a video call or a regular call. He still loved it, he loved… her? No that couldn’t be it, that was just plain stupid.

“Peter, what are you getting yourself into?” he groaned at his own thoughts and slammed his hands in front of his face. “You only met her freaking three weeks ago, she doesn’t know anything from your life, you don’t know anything about hers,... What an idiot.”

The feelings that were growing inside of him, bubbling in the pit of his stomach, were ridiculous and he knew that more than anyone else. So why did he still want them to be real and unique and something more than just the friends they grew to be.

He blamed it on the hormones, a logical explanation to irrational teenage behaviours. What he couldn’t clarify, though, were the protective feelings that emitted inside him whenever she mentioned any displeasure she had been experiencing. Loneliness, pain, stress. He didn’t want her to go through the same things he had gone through so many times in the past.

He wouldn’t let her, he would protect her from them just like he tried to protect his aunt, his friends, the citizens of Queens,...

he promised that to himself, and ultimately to Ali too. That night, in his room, in the dark. He promised it, he promised.

Part VII: The Downfall

[lilithhawthorne]

Bachelor Number One

This was done for the @masseffectcreativecircle and is a super silly little nonsense piece with my favorite pair of dorks.

Rating:Teen And Up  Fandoms:Mass Effect Trilogy, Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Relationships:Female Shepard/Garrus Vakarian, Shepard/Garrus Vakarian Additional Tags: Fluff, pre ME1, alcohol mention, Fluff and Humor, One Shot Find on AO3

As far as forced parties went, Aliza Shepard wasn’t having as bad of a time as she had expected. The music left a lot to be desired, and the slough of small-talk that she was forced to endure with the first dozen guests had been enough to put her teeth on edge. But she had stuck it out for Mabel, not only because her friend was cashing in on a favor, but because Shepard was crashing on her couch until the Normandy left dock the next day. Even if she had wanted to avoid socializing, there wasn’t another place for her to go.

“It’s not so bad, is it?” As if she could read her mind, her friend had drifted to her side, a drink in each hand.

“If I admit that I’m having an OK time, promise you won’t make me dance?” Shepard took the offered drink, and the two paused the conversation to toast, the honor falling to Shepard, as usual. “To friends with shitty couches and free time to spare.”

“To obnoxious commanders who crash on shitty couches and their self-sacrificing friends.”  

Mabel took a sip, her brown eyes searching the crowd over the rim of her cocktail glass. Shepard had to admit that she was the perfect host, waving to someone in the another group and winking at someone else who drifted past.

“So,” she said, focusing her attention back to her house guest, “you’re really having fun and not lying to me? I know that you’re awkward and hate things like this.”

Shepard put on a show of being offended, her free hand fluttering against her brow as she made a keen of disapproval. “I’ll have you know that I’m incredibly charming. Well...” she trailed off and pressed a finger to her lips. “After the first 30 minutes of wondering how long I could hide in the bathroom before you noticed pass, I’m exceedingly charming.”

“Naturally.” Mabel finished off her drink and motioned with the empty glass for Shepard to do the same. “That’s exactly why I came to see you, I have use of your charm.”

As Shepard drained her glass, she felt a tug on her elbow, Mabel weaving her hapless friend through the crowd at a brisk pace.

“What do you need me to do?” Shepard enquired. She left her empty glass on a counter they passed, then helped herself to another pre-made drink that waited on the next. Mabel, as always, was the perfect party planner.

Mabel didn’t answer right away, but her impish smile and crinkled nose gave Shepard an idea of what waited for her. “Oh no,” she moaned, trying to disengage herself from the sudden vice-like grip on her arm. “Mabel, you wouldn’t.”

“I wouldn’t,” Mabel agreed. She pulled Shepard to a stop and brushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear. Still unsatisfied, she wet her thumb and ran it over Shepard’s eyebrow. “Gross, I know, just hold still- “

“Mabel!”

“Commander!” Mabel ran a hand down Shepard’s thigh, adjusting the hem of her dress as she did.” Stop fussing, you’re being a baby!”

“Don’t call me that when I’m off duty, mom. Ugh!” She attempted to slap Mabel’s hand away from the scoop of her neckline. “Stop!”

Someone cleared their throat loud enough that the two women scattered apart, guilty as two siblings caught fighting. “Sorry to interrupt,” the voice hummed in a tone that suggested they were not at all sorry.

Mabel gripped Shepard’s hand in hers and turned to face the turian who had witnessed their tussle. With the air of a true diplomat, she effortlessly slid into conversation with the turian as if she hadn’t  just been adjusting another woman’s breasts moments before. “Ah, Detective Vakarian! It’s so good to see that you were able to make it.”

Vakarian shifted his weight to his back leg, his mandibles flexing. Paired with a low subharmonic hum, Shepard guessed that he was laughing at the erratic behavior he had just witnessed. “It didn’t sound like I had a choice, Acolyte Cyders.”

Mabel laughed a little too loud, her eyes darting quickly in Shepard’s direction. “That’s nonsense, Detective! I would never force -”

“You were insistent that -”

“You’re hilarious!” Mabel cut him off and waved a hand in the air. “Isn’t he hilarious, Commander Shepard?”

Shepard ran her tongue over her teeth, her narrowed eyes darting between the two of them as heat colored her cheeks. She couldn’t decide which one was responsible for the ambush, so she pressed her lips together in a display of indifference.

As the two stared back at her, she took a moment to take in the turian in front of her. He was dressed smartly in a blue tunic with intricate silver trim. The front of his tunic hung low, falling past his spurs, and the sides were cut high enough to sit above his bony hips.

Though she was no expert in xeno-expressions and body language, she could tell he was as uncomfortable as she was. With a delayed sense of embarrassment, she also realized that he was taking the time to look her over.

“It’s nice to meet you, Detective Vakarian,” Shepard finally said, bypassing the question proposed by Mabel and trying to take matters into her own hands. She knew how persuasive Mabel could be. There was no need to rankle him when she should be saving her energy for getting back at the acolyte.  

Vakarian tilted his head to one side, his mandibles flexing once more and the thrum of his laugh deep enough that she clenched her jaw as she felt it reverberate in her chest. Mabel, keenly observant, pressed her lips together as she suppressed a smile. Shepard dug her elbow into her friend’s side.

Oblivious to, or opting to ignore, the two humans’ subtle back and forth feud, he spoke up once again: “Please, call me Garrus.”

“Sure,” Shepard said, though she didn’t offer her name in return.

Garrus cleared his throat again and looked at Mabel, his expression unreadable. Shepard kept her eyes on him. The color of his tunic matched his face markings, an observation that made her smirk as she pictured him holding up the tunic to his face in a mirror.

Mabel sighed, the silence tense only to her. “This is Aliza,” she supplied on her friend’s behalf.

“A pleasure, Aliza.”

“Uh-huh.” Shepard finished her drink and handed the empty glass to Mabel. She crossed her arms over her chest, feet hip-width apart, as if she were about to give directions.

Another stretch of silence silence dipped between the trio. Mabel shifted between feet. Garrus clacked his mandibles and looked between the two women with the universal expression of confusion playing across his features. Shepard pursed her lips.

Once again, Mabel broke the silence. “I think I hear my name being called!” She looked over her shoulder and knit her brows together, pretending to strain to hear something. “Oh, yup, yeah. Someone is calling for me.” With a huff, she threw her hands up in the air and cast the two a faux look of deference. “Duty calls.”

“I’ll find you later,” Shepard warned with a smile as Mabel backed away.

Unconcerned, Mabel showed Shepard what she thought of the threat with a profane gesture. At the same time, she flashed a smile at Garrus. “Pleasure to see you again, Detective.”

As Mabel melted into another group, Shepard turned back to Garrus. He seemed to relax as Mabel left, his arms loosening at his side. “Looks like you were blindsided, eh?”

She relaxed as well and nodded in answer to his question. “If it makes you feel better, this is not the first time she’s done this.”

“That hurts my feelings a little.” Now it was his turn to feign being offended. He placed one clawed hand against his sternum and let his head droop.

Shepard laughed, surprised at the witty response. “You’ve made it further than the others,” she said on a whim.

“You haven’t even told me your name.” He looked up at her from beneath his brow ridges, head still bowed. “Officially. Mabel told me, but how do I know she isn’t lying? She seems to have a devious streak.”

There was no telling if it was the translator or the natural vibration of his speech, but she felt a flush creep across her chest when the rhythm of his voice hit her. Shepard pulled her lower lip between her teeth and considered her options. If she wanted to, she could simply walk away, insert herself into another conversation, and the worst she would get from Mabel would be a dirty look. She wasn’t lying when she said this wasn’t the first time her nosy friend had played matchmaker. And they had all been without success, which suggested either Mabel had terrible taste or no idea what her friend liked.

Then again.... Shepard looked at his empty hands. “You don’t have a drink,” she remarked.

“Neither do you,” he countered.

“My name’s Aliza. Now that introductions are out of the way, care to wet your whistle?”

Garrus perked up, his eyes lighting up in a way that Shepard took as interest. “I left my human dictionary at home, but I don’t have anything better to do.”

-[|]-[|]-

It was well past midnight and Shepard had a meeting later that day, but the house was still packed. The two had moved away from the largest clump of partygoers, and they had even been lucky enough to find a pocket of quite that meant they didn’t have to shout or risk their translators picking up another bit of conversation.

“Hold on,” Garrus interrupted her story by holding up a hand. “You expect me to believe that you went up -”

“Me and a squad of 19 other humans,” she corrected.

“You and 19 other humans went up against a krogan in a tug-of-war battle, and won?”

She nodded vigorously, a few strands of loose hair bobbing up and down as she did. “Why is that so hard to believe?”

“You know, my people have fought the krogan before.”

Shepard waited a beat. “And?”

Garrus made the turian equivalent of a snort, his mandibles open wide as he shook his head in disbelief. “And they aren’t an easy foe. I find it dubious that if we had only taken a squad of 20 humans, we would have had an easier time.”

Maybe she was feeling bold, or maybe it was the beginning of sleep deprivation as she eked closer to the hour that would mark a 24-hour cycle with no sleep, but she put her hand on the bony jut of his knee and leaned forward. “That’s the secret of the Alliance, you know.”

His eyes drifted down to where her hand alighted, and he responded by leaning forward to meet her halfway, one arm sliding across the back of the couch. His claws brushed the back of her shoulder, sending a tantalizing shiver down her spine. “What’s that?” he wondered.

“We are willing to do anything, no matter how stupid, if it means we can brag about it at parties.”

Garrus nodded his head sagely. “We’ve tried integrating a similar tactic, but the results have been mixed.”

“I’m not buying it. Come on, you’ve had your fair share of reckless fun that you’ve slotted away to brag about later.”

He made a wordless sound that she guessed was something like a human hmm, his head listing to one side as he thought.

Sometime during her story, the crowd had thinned, and only a few pockets of stragglers remained. Those that were still drinking and swaying to the music had drifted away from their corner, gravitating closer to the drinks that were being churned out at startling speed by the bartender Mabel had hired.

“Sure,” Garrus finally said, and Shepard diverted her attention back to him. “I’ve got stuff to brag about.”

“Let’s hear it.” She settled against the arm he had placed across the back of the couch, her fingers trailing away from his knee as she leaned into him. Without missing a beat, he angled his upper body towards her, his arm sliding off the couch and onto her shoulders.

“I once - and this is true - sweet talked a human commander in the Alliance into coming home with me.”

“That’s nothing to brag about.” Shepard gave a noncommittal shrug that belied the warmth that was rapidly spreading through her. “Humans are the easiest species in the Milky Way. You should watch some of our old vids.”

“You didn’t hear the part that’s truly impressive.”

“What’s that?”

“Not only did she come home with me, she even had dinner with me the next night.”

“That must have been quite the feat because I heard that she had already left for her next assignment by then.” There was a pang of disappointment that echoed in her words. He recognized the tone and dipped his head, his subharmonics rolling in disapproval.

“That’s a shame,” he said after a moment. “But she wished she had been able to stay for dinner.”

“Yes,” Shepard admitted, “she did wish she had been able to stay for dinner.”

The two sat in a comfortable silence. One of his gloved claws was tracing circular patterns on her shoulder, and she had moved her hand back to this knee. She had never had the chance to look at a turian so close before, and she used the vantage point to observe his alien features.

She must have been looking a little too intently because he made a clicking sound to get her attention. “Sorry,” she muttered, flustered that she had been caught staring. “I just - was looking.”

The two locked eyes, something like the heat she was feeling mirrored in his eyes. “Did I mention that the place I took the commander isn’t that far from here?”

Shepard looked for Mabel in the small cluster of people that still occupied the apartment. Enough time as friends must have alerted her to Shepard’s searching, and the other woman poked her head out from between two people.

No need for words. Mabel winked, an overt open-mouthed, double thumbs up gesture that made more than a few of her guests stare at her in confusion. Theatrics aside, Shepard understood.

She turned back to Garrus, patted his knee once and then stood up. “Lead the way, Detective Vakarian.”

[anigeosm]

Week 14 B1aB ‘Arcs’

Task 1: Static Bouncing Ball

The challenge in this task was to make the ball look like it was bouncing along with the camera tracking it as if its on a dolly or something similar. I quickly realised that the ball would just move up and down if the camera was completely in time with the balls movement so I opted for a slightly ovular path to make the action more recognisable and dynamic. This was a great task to do, especially when Dan pointed out its application to feet or heads in walk cycles. Its such a nice feeling when you see what the exercises are leading up to when it comes together. Its easy to feel like what you’re doing is pointless in this learning environment. I was really pleased with how this came out and how quickly I was able to spot and refine the issues with my initial sketch.  I’m especially pleased with the squash and stretch and how it reacts to the ground. My ONLY issue is it could have done with one more frame just before the loop resets, or its possible I accidentally extended the last frame by one. It’s irritating me now I’ve seen it... gosh dangit. 

Task 2: Heavy Pendulum

This was just a 2D replication of the pendulum swing tasks from the After Effects projects so it was nice to be back in familiar territory. Dan suggested we add some kind of multiple or smearing to the lowest point of the swing to convey the weight and speed of the pendulum. I opted for some subtle smearing as I thought the multiples looked a bit messy and didn’t translate with the keyframe marks I had made that I was happy with. It’s definitely nothing special as an action so I coloured it in (: If I was to repeat the task I’d probably add a frame or two extra at the high points as it looks a little clunky and could do with more easing.

Task 3: Light Pendulum

This was much more interesting and shows how much more fluid hand drawn animation can be in comparison to things like After Effects (which is precisely why I prefer it.) This was a much lighter weight on the end of a pendulum which meant the string would lead the downswing, creating a really nice arc. It was difficult to keep the strings length consistent as it ignores the guidelines when it bends upwards. I’m quite happy with the little flick when the weight shifts on the downswings and the consistency is good. I think the looping and easing is pretty on the nose actually.  I experimented with multiples and smearing again, even though its a much slower swing but found the multiples looked a bit clunky and the smearing very difficult to make flow believably from one frame to the next because of the inconsistent path. I think if I was to repeat the task I would do something about that difficulty because it looks a little uninteresting on the bottom part of the swing. I’m not sure it would look right even if I did it bang on but its always worth experimenting.

Task 4: Pendulum with a joint.

Again, so much fun to see it come together as something recognisable and applicable to walk cycles. Its also great to see how complicated things can be simplified when they’re broken down. I’m really excited to see how all the little exercises we do over the course will come together later and inform my work when I start working more on self-guided tasks. I think I didn’t get the length of the lower pendulum quite right and its much longer by the time it swings back which I didn't notice when making sure the starting and end point were the same, resulting in quite an obvious shortening just before the loop restarts. I think if I had done the whole drawing slightly smaller I would have had more space as I think the few frames that were out of the shot did influence the back swing and the consistency. On the plus side, I think the pacing is good and the general action is very believable, its just a case of refining my drawing more so its more consistent.

[thedaughterofkings]

ceo of matchmaking

It’s the last day of the @laurahale-appreciation week and today it’s the Dealer’s Choice, and because I can’t resist a chance to remind fandom of Neckz’N’Throats and how there totally should be more Neckz’N’Throats fic, have almost 2k of Neckz’N’Throats fic with matchmaking CEO Laura (and Sterek of course). Happy reading!

Laura loves her job.

She’s one of the youngest CEO’s in the country, possibly even the whole world. She runs one of the most successful werewolf magazine - and yes, some might call Neckz’N’Throats a skin mag, but it really is so much more than that and Laura has worked tirelessly to get it recognised as a respectable piece of journalism. Sure, the name still says it all - they show a lot of necks and throats, tastefully photographed to the maximum enjoyment of their mostly werewolf audience, but Laura takes pains to ensure that the pages of her magazine are not filled with blank faces and dead eyes. Her models are paid adequately, with all the insurances and securities necessary, and if there’s even the slightest hint that someone is not there just because they enjoy being photographed, Laura steps in and tries to figure out an arrangement that’s beneficial to both parties. It has worked well enough so far and has given her a reputation of being a fair and respectful employer that she’s proud of and strives to keep up.

Neckz’N’Throats did start out with just what it says on the tin: vulnerable necks and throats on display, meant to titillate and excite, but Laura has dared to branch out from that. She has introduced models from all kinds of backgrounds, aiming for diversity in all aspects, be it size, colour, or species. Then she started shooting couples - mated ones tend to be more popular, that special connection even shining through the glossy pages of a spread. Her most popular pair so far are Lydia Martin and Jackson Whittemore. Lydia started shooting for Neckz’N’Throats first, her lily white neck ticking every box on most hot blooded werewolves.

Not that Laura would know, being ace has both its advantages and disadvantages when heading a skin mag. On the one hand she still doesn’t quite get what “sexy” is even supposed to mean though she’s fared well enough in that respect by hiring models because of aesthetics and charisma - and employing actual hot blooded werewolves to advise her. On the other hand she is never ever tempted to leer at her employees creepily - and sadly enough that still seems to be a stand alone feature in her profession.

Either way, Laura hires Lydia because she exudes self-confidence and makes it clear right there in her job interview that this is just a way to have fun and earn easy money while she’s working to become the youngest recipient ever of the Field’s Medal. Laura is instantly charmed and her readers are too; Lydia’s editions regularly need to be reprinted because the demand is so high. That only gets worse - or better if you ask Laura and her wallet - when Lydia gets her then boyfriend Jackson to join her. Together they are the two main faces representing Neckz’N’Throats to the public, aside from Laura of course.

Lydia and Jackson are also the two main models in the spread that wins Laura her first Pulitzer Prize - focused on portraying non-traditional mating pairs. The picture of Lydia standing over Jackson, whose neck was clearly on display was perfectly innocent by human standards, but caused an uproar in the were community that Laura didn’t expect to be that strong herself.

It’s not all mated couples and shaking up traditional values (though the pearl clutches don’t read her magazine anyways, so Laura has no qualms about keeping up the shaking up in the future), though, getting to shoot a pair that has only just met and is still figuring out how to interact, still more or less fighting it out for dominance right there on the page can be fun, too, and creates great sales figures, too.

“It’s the thrill of the hunt,” Peter loves to say, smarmy grin firmly in place, and that’s why they don’t let him out of his cave. With his cave being a veritable mansion that pretty young people love to be invited to, Peter sadly doesn’t mind much. And he writes the best articles, Laura has to grudgingly admit. Somehow all that smarm doesn’t translate to the page and the fact that he never leaves his house just adds to the intrigue and helps further the sales of her magazine, so Laura just makes sure he doesn’t act out too much and lets him have his fun otherwise.

She’s more worried about Derek anyways.

Unlike Cora, who is still off finding herself in South America - at least she sends postcards now, Laura would prefer not having to hunt down her wayward sister again, just because she forgot to let any of them know she’s still alive for half a year - Derek works for Neckz’N’Throats, too. Sadly enough not in front of the camera, because Laura knows number of subscriptions would jump up tremendously if he ever appeared on the glossy pages, but behind it. And really, Laura can’t complain, something about Derek’s looks compared with his glower and ‘fuck if I care’ attitude gets the best pictures out of her models. She suspects that it’s a knock to the ego for all of these beautiful, charismatic people that Derek basically comes in, takes his pictures, and leaves again. And so they all try to get a rise out of him by any means possible. But no one has had any success yet, and at the end of each work day Derek disappears into his cave again - a loft in his case, wonderfully light, and airy, and openspaced, but Laura guesses that doesn’t matter if you never have anyone over who can look from the kitchen through the living room straight into your bedroom.

Enter Stiles Stilinski.

Lydia is the one who brings him, more or less forcing Laura to call him in for an interview, despite him having no experience and no portfolio at all. But the moment Stiles comes in through the door, Laura makes a mental note to never doubt Lydia again.

Because Stiles? Is perfect werewolf bait.

He has a long vulnerable neck and he keeps tilting his head back to laugh and it makes even Laura want to bite him - and she hasn’t struggled with her control in years. His doe eyes almost glow beta golden and there’s a twinkle of mischief in them that promises a good time to be had by all. His hair is messy and just the right length to bury your hand in and tug, to tilt his head back further and really put that throat on display. The series of moles that marks his skin is just begging to be licked, and if Laura notices all of that being ace, she doesn’t even want to try imagining what every even slightly male orientated werewolf thinks seeing Stiles.

She’s tempted to hire him on the spot, but as Derek is the one who’ll have to photograph him, he gets the final call. Usually that meeting boils down to a handshake, a hard stare, and either a nod or a shake of the head, and then that’s settled. This time, Derek starts with a wide eyed stare which quickly transforms into a vicious glare that would make anyone sensible duck and run. Stiles just grins though and starts forward towards Derek, all the while saying: “Hi, you must be Derek, Lydia already told me how much of a sourwolf you are!” Laura is already saying goodbye to her dream circulation which she’s sure they could have reached with this guy on the front, but no way is Derek going to agree to shoot him now.

But then Stiles stretches out his hand towards Derek, palm up, so the vulnerable inside of his arm is on display and tilts his head aside in blatant submission. And Laura can see Derek’s nostrils flare and the electric glow of his eyes flashing for just a moment even though he ducks his head to hide it and thinks: “Oh.”

Through it all Stiles remains seemingly oblivious, chattering on about how he admires their stance on werewolf rights and their attempts to clear up old superstitions and preconceptions. He also compliments Derek’s work and how he doesn’t photograph a mere canvas, the outside of a person, but their inner, hidden soul. Derek stares at Stiles with the most obvious hearteyes Laura has ever seen in her life (though given the ratio of eyebrow to rest of face that Derek has, the hearteyes still look rather glowery), and Laura wonders how Stiles doesn’t see the effect he’s having, but he just keeps talking and waving his arms around, spreading his scent and to some extent he has to know what he’s doing, because that greeting was automatic and instinctive, not studied. But on the other hand he seems to be completely oblivious to everything else he’s doing - that is push every single button Derek has in the best way possible.

Eventually Laura can’t bear to watch the awkward flirting - oblivious on the one side, reluctant, but helpless not to, on the other side. So Laura coughs and bites back a smirk when they both startle and blush, obviously having forgotten she’s in the room, too.

“Well?” she asks and Derek clears his throat and finally steps away from Stiles, muttering gruffly: “We’ll be out again in a moment and will let you know our decision then.” Laura can’t help raising her brows in surprise because that is not how they usually do it. But she decides to wait and see what Derek’s plan is and follows him out of the room with a wink and a smile to Stiles, who waves back at her awkwardly and blushes even brighter.

“So what do you say?” Laura asks as soon as the door falls shut behind them, secure in the knowledge that Stiles doesn’t have werewolf hearing. “I think he’d make a great addition to our team - he’s unbonded, so no mate to shoot with him yet, but I think Boyd or Isaac or perhaps even Erica would make a great match for him and produce some great pictures.”

“No!” Derek exclaims and Laura has to bite back a laugh because he has walked right into her trap. “What? You don’t like him?” she asks innocently and Derek shakes his head vehemently: “No, I just meant - no couple shoots for him, unless …” and here he descends into barely audible mumbling, though Laura can guess what he’s saying. Still, a prerogative of being the big sister is teasing her younger brother, so she asks sweetly: “Sorry, I didn’t get that?”

“No couple shoots unless they are with me,” Derek bites out and that’s how Stiles Stilinski ends up with a clause in his contract with Neckz’N’Throats that as good as declares him and Derek Hale mates.

Now Derek only needs to actually ask him out.

Laura totally believes in her brother. And while he’s still gathering his courage, she’ll sit back and enjoy the awkward attempts at flirting. They’ll get there eventually. Laura will make sure of it - by scheduling as many couple shoots for the two of them as is necessary. And because Derek obviously can’t take the pictures if he’s in front of the camera, Laura will be so kind and take the time out of her busy schedule to be their photographer. And if she makes them cuddle and kiss then that will be for purely artistic reasons. Obviously.

Laura loves her job.

[abelzumi]

November Contest Card Commentary

Right, anyway, here we go. Judging time. Alphabetical order under the cut. @follower-of-liliana is not included, as I’ve said what I need to say about Twilight Harvest.

@auartic-games - Hexseeker

(Runner-up!)

As for the card itself, it’s a brilliant card that is painfully narrow to design around and would require tricks and craziness beyond current MTG limits. That said, I adore it. I would love to see a complex set where curses are a primary focus. This card was a runner-up for a reason, and the elegance speaks for itself. Small nitpick: the hypen/quote should be its own line. Shift+enter gets you there on MSE.

@conorace - Final Zenith

If you had told me that one of the possible runners-up would be a five-color oriented card that is designed around planeswalkers and the sideboard, I would have said: “That’s highly unlikely. How did you get into my bedroom?” This head-scratcher is pretty much as well-designed as it could be for anything this complex. It was certainly a stretch of rules, and I appreciate the way that this card challenges MTG status quo. That said, might be too far into the future for now. Small nitpick: The tap symbol in the second ability should come before, and the cost should be “Remove ten charge counters from Final Zenith and sacrifice it:” Also, in my opinion, “Zenith” doesn’t sound exactly like a land name. I understand exactly where you’re coming from, but that doesn’t change the nature of the word.

@fatblunt69 - Risky Business

I’ll get the criticisms out of the way first. This card is woefully undercosted and should not in any circumstances be common. The second ability needs to come first, and the first ability should be a replacement effect as seen in cards like Blind Fury and Curse of Bloodletting. Now onto the good! This is a powerful card that is certainly red, a risky finisher, and feels reckless enough to be flavorful while being powerful enough to give thoughtful players a challenge. I would have changed either the name or the flavor text to reflect more of a world, considering the nature of enchantments, but for piracy and whatnot, I could see a swing with the art in a more humorous direction.

@guardgomabroa - Final Lap

(Runner-up!)

This is a card that should have been in Kaladesh. I can feel the rush of air, the heat of a dusty track, the roar of the crowd, the intensity of the rushing metal... Love it. Vehicles in general, however, are also something that feels narrow to design with. I would have made this card rare for that alone, but extra turn effects are so powerful that I know it needs to be mythic. Perhaps this card could have done better without the extra turn and instead given a bigger boost to vehicles as a finisher card - maybe extra combat instead. Regardless - perfect flavor and effective design.

@luckylooter - Bloodskull Tributary

Very fun design here. I can see the river turning from blue to brackish in the shadow of a gore-strewn battlefield. Still, I feel this card could have benefited from not being legendary and from not having Morbid attached to it. If it was still legendary, I would have liked to see a more powerful effect. As it is, this card could use some tweaking but is an effective and flavorful design. Not a whole lot to say except: thumbs up!

@myroo400 - Arixmethes, the Lost Polis

What the fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck. In a good way! Alright, this is probably up there with Final Zenith in terms of “cards that I love and that are currently outside of Magic’s realm of possibility.” Impossible to be a cycle, impossible to judge balancing without playing, but fantastic and strange and intense. Because of text box issues, I might have liked to see this without the Island type and instead have it just able to tap for blue mana. I don’t know - this card is slightly too wacky for my to judge properly because it really is a challenge to form. Good job! I’m nervous!

@neroxmtg - Equinox Instrument

Mechanical nitpicks: “Sacrifice a colored permanent you control” needs to be part of the activation cost. “Permanents” needs to have an apostrophe before the “s.” Right, commentary time. Interesting design for sure, but I’m failing to see the importance of color as it relates to (a) name, (b) flavor, and (c) mechanics. Alara was the first plane that seemed to come to mind with this for me, although I can’t place this card as belonging there. I’m honestly not sure where it belongs, and that frustrates me. Zendikar/Eldrazi doesn’t seem to suit it. I like the idea, but the barriers and the mechanical jumble needs to be ironed out before this card is viable. I would like more flavor text to see the story behind this.

@night-mtg - Yarana, Stone Mistress

Planeswalker design is difficult, and I appreciate the planeswalkers that came into this contest. Yarana is an interesting character, and reading up on the card itself, I’m impressed with the thought that came into the design. That said, I’m honestly not a fan for a couple reasons. Firstly, the first and second abilities feel both overpowered and... God, I feel like an asshole, but I don’t feel inspired by them. Gorgon magic in MTG needs more flavor in the designs that you captured well in your story; I just don’t feel it translated well to the card. Additionally, the ultimate is too close for comfort to that of Liliana Vess. For future reference, I am a believer that planeswalkers need severe mechanical strictness and balance before they can truly be adjusted for flavor. I want Yarana to exist, but I want her to be more streamlined.

@obzedat-repost-council - Frantic Agonizer

Good shit right here. My only concern is that at six mana your opponent is already willing to sac three lands and chump in order to get this card out of the way. I love the design as a designer, and as a player, I would hate to open this up in limited because I already know my opponents aren’t going to feel threatened by it at all. In other words: underpowered. But HECK if I don’t still love this card, so don’t get me wrong there. Nitpicks: The keyword abilities should come before the ETB ability. Also, I would like flavor text here.

@ohdearaqueerdeer - The High Priest of Ashmouth

Commanders that go back to the command zone don’t “die” and don’t do death triggers, which is where, I assume, this idea is coming into place. “Leaves the battlefield” might have been better. Hm, okay, I’m... Here:

“When The High Priest of Ashmouth leaves the battlefield, you get an experience counter. Then reveal cards from the top of your library until you reveal X Demon and/or Devil creature cards, where X is the number of experience counters you have. Put those cards onto the battlefield, then shuffle your library.”

Maybe the “leaves the battlefield”/”dies” abilities don’t even work here at all. Hm. I like this card and I like what you’re doing. I just feel the tweaks could make this perfect. This card was super close to being a runner-up.

@oona-queenofthefae - Totality of War

I feel that this card is trying to do too much. The cost is attempting to be flavorful - which I personally appreciate but that I don’t think has a place in true card design. The abilities could have been on one line, and upon reading this card, I don’t feel like playing it or playing against it; I just feel resigned. The desire to make huge ‘epic’ cards is real and understandable. But I highly recommend starting much smaller.

@planeswalkerwithtardis - The Eternal Guardian

Why is this an artifact creature? Why plants? I’m resonating with the design, as it’s simple but effective and powerful. Still, there’s a degree of disconnect between the elements you’re trying to bring together that I don’t really have the answer to. I’ll say this much: Simplify. Focus. Don’t put everything on the card at once. Find a place of unique design and then work to make the legendary aspect and the card aspect come together.

@remember-the-eldrazi-titans - Baum, the Wise

No flying on a Sphinx? Hm. Well, the first ability is GREAT and honestly... I would have made this card a runner-up if it had had flying and flavor text instead of that second ability. It might have been explained in post, but I don’t see how it’s necessarily mechanically relevant and even then what the intended flavor is. The cost could have been 2UU as well.

@samwisethebold - Vernal Miasma

I’ll get the strong criticisms out of the way: “Miasma” is a dark, shadowy, sad thing. This card is explosive and happy. Total disconnect that needs severe revision. Secondly - for that first part, do they draw equal to the cards they discarded themselves, or the TOTAL cards discarded? This needs major mechanical clarification. Thirdly, there needs to be a shuffle clause after the search ability.

But now onto the GOOD. This is the kind of “epic” card that I can get behind. I just wish there was more of a connection between these effects, because library searching and wheel effects... I don’t see them coming together. I love what you’re doing with seasons and change, I get it. Still, this card needs lots of mechanical revision before being considered. Keep up the good work, captain. I want to see more cards from you.

@seajai24 - Lazras, Spirit Reaper

(Runner-up!) (Like, seriously, so close runner-up!)

This was a card I was disappointed to pass up because it’s just so good. Every aspect of this card is good. The first ability marks it as an aggressive defender that’s tied into the name. The second ability is powerful and judgmental. The third ability is icing on the fucking pile of icing that at one point could have been a cake. I don’t know what to say except that I’m hard for this card and I am just fucking so mad that it’s second place. God, I love this fucking card. ARGH.

@sphinxs-revelation - Terra Incognita

Mechanically, I get this card. Don’t get the red, but okay, I feel it. Flavorfully, I don’t understand it at all. Why are things being returned? What does that have to do with land, as implied in the name? Why is the land “incognito?” Who wrote the poem in the flavor text? What is the context for the flavor text?

This is a fine card, but it raises far too many questions. Streamline, revise, rebuild. You’re onto something good once you clear your path.

@stoneforge-misclick - Long May She Reign!

Sure, I feel the flavor. But this card is insanely underpowered. Three-colored mythics need more power - lots more power. I like where the mechanics are trying to go, but I encourage you to push more, especially if you want to keep the type and rarity. I would have been more favored towards this as a tweaked enchantment, something that can give rise to Marchesa’s power while retaining the essence of your capture.

@sultaiascendancy - Simic Hybridizer

(Runner-up!)

You know me too well. I’ve been trying to get this kind of card and to see it for years. The second ability should be “Create an X/X creature token of the chosen colors and types.” Also, I would have loved to see flavor here. What is this wizard doing? Is he a rogue chemist? A reject? Does he sell his creations to the highest bidder? Do his other scientists like him or dislike him? Push flavor a little more here.

@thelastmegalomancer - Archlos, the Hate Reaper

Oooookay, let’s check this out. Five colors makes that first ability really...really crazy. I honestly don’t know if it’s even balanced but holy shit it’s insane. But in a good way. Second ability needs “...all other creatures with the same name as that creature.” Last ability? Perfect. I want to love this card. I really do. I just don’t feel that it’s balanced, even though all the balances are there. I’m afraid of this card and it gives me special feelings in my loins.

But “Hate Reaper?” This card doesn’t feel hateful - it feels devious, mystical, beautiful, terrifying. But not hateful.

@themaskedhero - Wilhelm, the Lily King

Heh. What a chump. Also what an aggressive knight, holy cow. I like this card - also, first “when” should be “whenever,” FYI - and I think it’s decent. It doesn’t tickle me precisely, because it’s based off of real-world storybook stuff in a way that doesn’t quiiiiiite mesh with the MTG-niverse, but I like it. Not a whole lot to say except that I think you did a good job.

@tmstage - Elysium, the City of Heaven

What the heck did you do the the picture box? Was it to keep room for the flavor text? Hate to say it, but I get the flavor WITHOUT the text. This card is balanced and unique, and tribal players would love it. I think it’s pretty darn cool, but that it also would need the right environment that I’m not sure Magic has right now. It’s a card that’s asking people to build around it, but we just might not have the correct mortar. Interesting and cool!

@wapulatus - Cloud Skipper

Congrats for making a new mechanic for this contest, or, well, for introducing one regardless. I think Tide is a good mechanic mechanically, but the memory issues are... interesting. Would Wizards make a “Tide Card” that goes in the middle and shows where the tide is? I read your post a while back and it stuck with me, which was good. Honestly, this card could have been a runner-up in a common/uncommon contest, but it had a lot of competition. This card is inspiring me to make a “world shell” design contest now, and I feel you may have a strong section there. Great job, and I’d love to see more.

That’s all, folks! Thank you to all the entries and the participants.