#i might redesign her again to be easier to draw with the rest of the cast or have a more distinct silhouette but this is good for now!!

[kabutoden]

ur buggy troll designs r so good 😭!!!! I would love to see ur take on equius + feferi !

i got stuck on the seadwellers at first so i didn’t draw them in the initial batch, but here they are now!! eridan’s based on the anomalocaris and feferi is one of those very spiny trilobites. initially, I had their species flipped until I saw how cool some of the trilobites were!!!

(rq open!!)

[asksoldieron]

SO-12: The Spirit of Harpo Marx

If there's a lot of engagement on this, this post is liable to get real long, beware before you expand.

Welcome to the Engagement Lounge, for Alight at the Window (SO-12) an instalment! Short comments can go in the replies, but there's a 475 character limit. Longer ones will need a reblog. Remember to @asksoldieron if you're reblogging someone else's reblog, so I can see it too!

Awwwwww, ya know? Awwwwww ❤️!

Poor Erik is in ⚡🔋no shape🔋⚡ to communicate, but he's doing his best. Maggie has no idea whether he's messing with her on purpose, or what's wrong with him, but she won't let him go. They'll get to him eventually. (I've just finished that part, actually. They've got him! Uh. Sorta. At least he's... safe now? 😅Oh, I can't say that with a straight face.)

This is the last of my queued posts/instalments, and I have no idea where my reading and drawing ability will be when it goes live. If I can't update you on my condition (and the condition of the next six instalments) I'll hafta have the spouse type a note for me. I want to do six more right away, or I might take a two week break, or - if I'm really struggling - it'll be a break of indeterminate length. I hope I'll be okay to just keep going, my Patrons have been so patient this year. Thanks, y'all.

But, either way, there will be a break at some point, because I'll have a while where I can't write or draw and that's going to eat up my backlog. Also, recent updates have done more stupid things to my theme and I think the site needs a redesign - maybe including some radical simplification. I'm just not mobile friendly and I can't make the current format behave. People with better eyesight than me do a lot of reading on their phones.

I have no idea how to build a community and I'm flailing, really, but maybe if I can get the interface more convenient, more people will like me? (I have no idea. Probably they won't.)

Look, though! You've got some extra art to tide you over! And a song!

I'm not in love with how Erik's design looks right now - he looks like a train wreck, but he should look like a train wreck. Nobody is going to fix his hair. I still feel self-conscious about it. He used to be cute. I've got to do a full-body rendering of how he'll clean up, but I don't have time for it now.

However, I did do a page of something trying to get comfortable with his ability to emote in train reck form. I don't have time to finish it, but I think it looks cool so I'm sharing.

This is potentially a way for me to serve you the music without lyric backgrounds that you can't read! It's very labour-intensive, but I was figuring out how to do it and it might get a little easier with practice. Also, my current tablet is struggling with the resolution and I plan to update it by the end of the year - depending on sale prices.

After I saw Hedwig and the Angry Inch, I found out the original Off-Broadway incarnation had filked music with lyrics by John Cameron Mitchell. 🥹😊I'm calling it! This is something other people sharing my identity do to tell their stories! Filk musicals are an enby thing! We do not give a shit about the music industry's copyrights! I'm performing nonbinary correctly!

So here's the lyrics again, and maybe I'll give you the rest in comic form as my vision and my tools improve.

You Are Found! (based on "We Are Young" by fun.) I need a minute, I… I don’t know if I’m ready yet I’m tryin’ to get my shit together, Maggie, please don’t be upset My family must be looking for me somewhere very near Guess I knew you must be coming but I can’t believe you’re here, and… It’s been forever since I’ve seen your face I know you want to take me home But although it hurts to do this work they need my help for what it’s worth —  Oh, gods I’m not sure if I wanna go So maybe if, next time you see me, You can take me by the hand, You’ll steal me away At last I am found So I guess the party’s over Time to get sober, and come down At last I am found So I guess the party’s over Time to get sober, and come down No, I wanna go home I’m just not done I guess that I, I just hoped We could visit and I’d get right back to work But I can’t go yet So I must forget 'Cause I think you’ll hafta steal me away At last I am found So I guess the party’s over Time to get sober, and come down At last I am found So I guess the party’s over Time to get sober, and come down Steal me away at last (na na na na na na) Come steal me away at last (na na na na na na) Steal me away at last (na na na na na na) Come steal me away at last (na na na na na na) The gods have their own plan (na na na na na na) But I’m just one weary man (na na na na na na) So you're gonna hafta steal me away at last (na na na na na na) I have so much to do (na na na na na na) How can I go with you? (na na na na na na) So you're gonna hafta steal me away (na na na na na na) At last I am found So I guess the party’s over Time to get sober, and come down At last I am found So I guess the party’s over Time to get sober, and come down So maybe if, next time you see me, You can take me by the hand You’ll steal me away at last

See you soon! Ha, I hope!

Late edit: Two week break, folks. No drawing ability yet, so we're stuck with it. I still hope to get you the next six by the end of the year. I'll keep you posted!

[Back to Site?]

[thetwoplayergays]

During quarantine, my dad and I have been taking long drives and visiting some of the nearby forest-y places, how do the RFA and MC spend their time together?

Speaking of, I hope everyone out there is having a safe quarantine, including you anon (ɔ◔‿◔)ɔ ♥ I hope this satisfies what you had in mind! I had to write it twice cause I deleted the first draft...

RFA during quarantine

Yoosung 

His first instinct when he thinks about being stuck inside for the next few months isn’t how he’ll be spending it with you...

No, instead his first instinct is to turn on the computer

LOLOL ALL DAY EVERY DAY BABYYYY

Of course, with the increase in players and traffic to the site, the game appeared to be getting a lot more maintanance than it usually would, which annoyed the blonde boy.

“I’m meant to be doing a raid today MC! What am I doing to do now....”

“...Well for one you could do something with me?”

“Oh yeah!”

After finally tearing him away from his computer, the two of you decide to be productive during this time and learn a couple new skills!

First week: Cooking.

Of course, it would be easier to learn about such a thing if the supplies in the shops weren’t extremely limited, causing you both to have to make up substitutes as you went along.

You almost burnt the kitchen down twice in one week

You gave up with cooking after that

It wasn’t entirely a bad thing, you even got Yoosung to invest some of his time into your favourite games, which to your pleasant surprise he seemed to genuingly enjoy!

A few weeks in, he found an old guitar from high school in storage.

Worst. Discovery. Ever.

“Yoosung no...”

“YOOSUNG YES”

The next few days were filled with the sound of out-of-tune plucked strings overlapping the various youtube videos Yoosung was ‘learning’ from.

“Hey MC, I think I can finally play Hey There Delilah!”

“That’s wonderful honey...”

Zen

This man was SO EXCITED to spend lockdown with you and immediately started to plan all the wonderful things you two were going to do together.

The beast certainly had a few ideas as well

It was domestic bliss for you two

You couldn’t get your hands off of eachother for even a minute

You did everything together - eating, sleeping, showering etc.

The RFA commented on how suffocating it was, but neither of you seemed to mind.

It only solidified the knowledge that you two were destined to spend the rest of your life together.

A few times, Zen had caught himself almost calling you his wife, causing him to immediately hide his face away from you in fear of you commenting on his sudden blush.

There was a downside however. 

Zen’s routine was in shambles

Products were sold out left right and centre, food shopping was even worse, it was driving him crazy.

You found yourself having to remind him that a break in his rountine wasn’t going to be the end of the world and that you loved him regardless, even if he got a pimple or two.

Don’t even go there MC

You found yourselves cooking together more often too, showing Zen how to prepare more meals that were normally out of his diet range.

Of course, it wasn’t like he could resist your cooking anyway.

Whenever you two got a little too stir crazy, he would take you on motorbike rides through the city, more often than not resulting in you two at the top of a mountain stargazing.

It turned into a weekly tradition, one which you both promised to keep up even after quarantine.

Jaehee

You would think that the lockdown would give Jaehee the break she so desperately needed, right?

You would be wrong.

With the cafe closed, this girl threw herself into her work just for something to do

Much to your dismay.

It took a lot of persuading for her to get up from the computer and spend time with you during the initial first few weeks, but it was definitely worth it.

This girl was also extremely prepared to the lockdown before it was even announced.

Sanitiser? Got it, she had spare incase the cafe ran out

Masks? No problem. She had many still in storage from the days she would force herself into work even whilst sick

Again, much to your dismay

You suggested that instead of doing mindless work on her computer that she could help you with a different project you had in mind.

“A project? Whatever could we do in a time like this?”

Redesigning the cafe!

It was something the two of you had talked about many times before quarantine, but had never gotten round to going through with it.

You both took it upon yourself to fill your day with physical and mental labour, pushing around furniture, painting the walls, coming up with new bakes and sales to draw the customers in etc.

It was hard, but it was so worth it.

During the evenings, you two would bundle up together on your sofa and pick a set of movies to watch before bed.

One of you always fell asleep before the end- not that either of you would mind.

Jumin

Out of all of the RFA, he was definitely the closest to breaking the social distancing rule

The idea of not seeing you- touching you- for an unknown amount of time was driving him crazy.

Mr We-shouldn’t-move-in-together-until-marriage was certainly about to rip that view right out of his head just for the chance to kiss you again.

He distracted himself by constantly checking up on you.

“Do you need food? I can have one of the guards stop by a local shop to grab- what do you mean everything is sold out? Can’t they just order more?”

“Jumin no-”

You had to teach him about video calling so he would stop asking for selfies every ten minutes, disputing his claim about how he ‘was already missing your beauty’. 

It went about as well as you might imagine it would...

“Press the little video icon to turn on your camera- no the other one. It looks like a small- NO JUMIN THAT’S THE MUTE BUTTON.”

When you did eventually get it working, he was more than thrilled to be able to talk to you face to face again. He even looked up how to take screenshots on his computer so he could save them.

“You know MC, this platform has a lot of potential uses...”

Down boy its only been a week.

At first you thought just video calling him was enough to satisfy his need to see you, hoping he would stop complaining about ‘missing your touch’.

That was until Driver Kim showed up at your door.

“Mr Han has asked that you pack your bags ma’am. It seems he is rather fond of the idea that you spend this quarantine with him instead.”

Of course he does.

You are thankful though, you missed him more than you were willing to admit. 

Saeyoung

This boy spends his life indoors anyway, he barely registered the lockdown announcement when it finally came.

But when you brought up the idea of spending quarantine with him instead of in your own apartment, that’s when his interest finally peaked.

He picked you up in one of his babies, grinning from ear to ear as he helped you with your small bag of things. 

“Operation 707 and 606′s lockdown extravanganza - COMMENCE!”

To no one’s surprise, he had hacked into the shopping network the moment he knew basic supplies would become sparse and ordered everything you both would need to come straight to his doorstep.

Which in his eyes meant a dozen boxes of Dr Pepper and Honey Buddha Chips. 

“Saeyoung.....”

He would often complain to you about being an ‘essential worker’ because he was still hacking even in the lockdown, but you quickly shot him down.

“MC! You’re so mean! I’m doing this for you! Reward me!!”

The only reward he got was a pillow to the face

When he wasn’t working, the two of you spent your time playing games and watching movies mostly, with the occasional prank call to Yoosung sprung in if you were extra bored.

As much as he joked around about it, Seven was genuinely thankful that you chose to spend such a delicate time with him instead of alone, and made sure to remind you of it at least once a week.

Sometimes he’d go out of his way to cook you your favourite meal, sometimes he’d run a special bubble bath and light some scented candles for a relaxing night, sometimes there were other things too-

But he was genuinely happy to spend every day with you like this, it reminded him of how lucky he was to have you in his life.

Jihyun

Jihyun was concerned at first about the lockdown and his career as a photographer.

Where was he going to go now? Where would he find his inspiration?

His questions were thankfully answered when you walked through the door.

The two of you started a small project amongst yourselves to try and spread some positivity in the community involving V’s photographs.

You’d find inspiration around the house you shared and create these elaborate photoshoots between the two of you that you would share online, encouraging those at home to do the same.

It actually became rather popular, so the two of you continued it.

Your personal favourite entries were the photographs from Jumin as he tried to capture Elizabeth in all her glory but failed miserably.

It was the effort that counted though

When you weren’t taking photos, Jihyun was constantly entertaining you with various activities and puzzles, leading to your weekly board game tradition which was one that you very much enjoyed.

Living in the countryside, you were lucky enough to be able to spend your exercise out in the wilderness with your boyfriend, mindlessly cloud gazing and discussing what the future could possibly have in store for the both of you.

You made sure to spend this time making Jihyun feel as loved as possible too, showering him with little gestures of gratitude for his efforts in keeping you sane during this scary time, which only made him fall in love with you more.

Saeran

Stuck.... inside...?

For months???

OH HELL NO-

Saeran was not about that lockdown life, and immediately went into a grump only you were able to drag him out of.

“Saeran it won’t be so bad! I’m sure it’ll go by in a flash!”

“....You’ll stay with me for it?”

“Of course.”

The two of you slowly get into a comfortable rhythm with eachother, with the you both making sure to give each other space if the other felt suffocated or emotionally drained at any point.

You find yourselves searching around the house for anything you could possibly use to entertain yourselves, eventually stumbling upon a pile of old jigsaw puzzles you had forgotten about.

And thus a tradition was born

Both you and Saeran discovered your love of jigsaws during the quarantine, finding them to be both mentally stimulating and emotionally relaxing at the same time.

Plus, the satisfaction of finishing one you had been working on for the last few hours was extremely satisfying to say the least and quickly became one of your favourite activities to do with Saeran.

You ended up asking Seven if he could do you a favour halfway through the lockdown when your boyfriend had had a particularly hard day, and low and behold, a whole box of ice cream appeared at your doorstep a week later.

“...MC how did this get here?”

“Must have been a miracle darling. Now, how about a movie night, hm?”

[fire-the-headcanons]

Follow the Beacon Qrow—Now Your Real Training Begins

[Link to Masterpost]

[What’s this? Fluff?? In MY fic???]

The next few days passed in a haze of exhaustion—the process of forging was just as demanding as combat training, but in ways Qrow wasn't used to. Raven continued to hunt with Professor Mesánychta and Port, apparently lacking success in finding the one Grimm they were trying to study.

The two of them weren't speaking much.

But tiring as it was, it was thrilling to see the scythe take shape—intricate, elegant, the weapon of a Huntsman. And then it was finished, and he could hold it in his hands, feel the weight and reality of it. It wasn't much like the Grimm Reaper's kamas, but it was his, and that was so much cooler.

"What do you think?" Carmine asked as he took a few awkward swings.

"It's amazing," he said, sweeping it down in a huge arc before letting the head rest on the ground. Similar enough to a halberd if you ignored the bizarre balance. And shape. And weight.

"Now you just gotta figure out how to use it," she said, flicking the trigger so it shrank back down to the familiar broadsword shape. "The weight distribution isn't too different from a polearm warhammer, so I'd start there for the basics."

"Professor Mesánychta uses a hammer like that, right?" he asked, clipping it behind his back.

"Yes, and she'd probably be willing to help. Miss Rose might be able to teach you a thing or two, having had that spear of hers for so long, but not all of it will translate. You'll need to be observant and pull from many different disciplines."

Well, if there was one thing Bones had taught him...

She turned back to the workbench, starting to tidy up, and he hurried to help. Tossing the extra leather from the handle back into the bin, she continued, "Hopefully we won't have to do any major redesigns before the next break, but keep me posted on any new developments."

"Redesign?"

"Oh, you'll think of something, I'm sure," she laughed. "Hold on to the Mk. I for now, at least until you're used to doing the Mk. II's maintenance. The last thing you want to do is sit out of Grimm Studies because it's broken down."

"Right." He hung a pair of pliers back on the rack.

"Have you thought of a name yet?"

"Uh…not really."

"I'm sure you'll dream up something suitably imposing." She dragged out one of the metal stools and jumped up on it, stretching gratefully. "Make sure you take tomorrow off, all right? It's good to have another set of hands over in casting, but tired brains make more mistakes. I don't want any accidents."

Plenty of students complained about Carmine's almost pathological safety rules, but Qrow was just amazed at how effective they were in the face of his Semblance. "Raven and I are meeting Summer and Tai in Vale."

"Ah! Excellent. You can come back on Monday." She grinned up at him, and then the smile slid into a faint scowl as her eyes focused past his shoulder. A woman stood in the doorway, wearing a Mistrali robe in white and gold silk—she could easily have been from Anima, but did she know she was dressed for a funeral?

"Carmine," the newcomer cooed, light and soft as silk, "that may be the most magnificent weapon I've ever seen."

"Professor Eitri," she corrected flatly. Qrow blinked in surprise— nobody called her by last name.

The stranger held out her hand. "May I?"

Unsure what else to do, he offered out the hilt. She took it smoothly and tested the balance with a few confident strokes before shifting it to scythe form. "...Breathtaking."

"Flattery will get you nowhere, Blanc. What do you need this time?"

Blanc—like the company building Mountain Glenn? So that's why Carmine didn't like her.

"I came to pick up the custom ammunition," she folded the weapon back down, staring at the gears, and then handed it back to Qrow, "and see if you had considered my offer."

"Not since the last time I turned you down, no."

"Carmine, how can you believe that this is all you're meant to do? You have a gift. You have a higher calling. " It was kind of weird to hear someone half the professor's age speak to her the same way Professor Mesánychta spoke to Tai after he covered her chalk with glue, and Carmine seemed to agree.

"I happen to think what I do is a higher calling than spit-polishing turrets for engineers with more money than sense."

She laughed, charmingly, and Carmine's eyes narrowed further. "But that's why I need you, Forgemaster. All I have is funding. You have the gif—"

"Oh, get your ammo and get out." The professor turned back to the workbench and continued tidying up. Qrow glanced between the two of them. Was he supposed to leave now?

"...I can see my offer has undervalued your skill. I meant no offense—I am prepared to double it."

Carmine swore, viciously, rounding on the woman and hissing up at her like a small red cat threatening a thoroughbred white horse. Blanc backed off the same way too.

"I'M ALREADY WORKING FOR YOU FULL TIME ON TOP OF MY ACTUAL DUTIES AS A TEACHER AND FORGEMASTER. AND SO FAR, I MUST SAY, I AM INCREDIBLY DISSATISFIED WITH THE COMPENSATION! YOU ARE GOING TO GET PEOPLE KILLED THE WAY YOU'RE RUNNING THIS LITTLE PR STUNT, AND YOU HAVE VALE FOOTING THE BILL!"

The woman's serene expression darkened. "I see Ozpin has swayed you."

"You never had a chance."

"Loyal to a fault… Remnant's population has expanded at an unprecedented rate since the end of the Great War—"

"Expanded , not has expanded, it's leveling off—"

"If we don't act there will be overcrowding, starvatio—"

"Oh my gods get out or I'm calling campus security."

Blanc squared her shoulders, drawing herself to her full height, staring down at the Forgemaster. "We cannot survive if we only fight to defend ourselves," she declared passionately. "Humanity must take the offensive, or one day we will be wiped out."

Carmine leaned forward with a sly smile exactly like Summer's. "...Or, we could end up in stuck in the desert and getting beaten around the head by a child with a stick. "

Blanc turned a grayish-purple, turned on her heel, and stormed from the room. The door rattled as she slammed it closed behind her.

"...Huh?" Qrow asked, turning his attention back to the professor.

"Lady Blanc's mother was from Vale, hence her name. Her father, on the other hand, was Emperor of Mistral during the Great War. The King of Vale was half his age during his defeat at Vacuo." She set the last hammer on the rack before leaning toward him with that same conspiratorial grin. "It's a bit of a sore spot for the family."

He nodded, stomach twisting. Thank the gods she didn't notice my wrist. Even going back to Vanta would be safer than getting spotted by an Imperial.

* * *

Qrow reached the docks while the hunting party were unloading their specimens, and quickly fell in with Raven and a third-year pushing a crate up toward the Grimm studies building. "Find anything good?"

"Just Beowolves." she grunted. The thing in the crate snarled, and the whole thing rattled as it slammed into one of the walls. "Did you finish your little project? That sword looks just like your old one."

"It's new."

The crate rattled again, and the cart's handle wrenched from their hands as it toppled to the side. Everyone sprang back at the noise, drawing weapons, but by some miracle the crate didn't bust open. Misfortune was in a forgiving mood today.

"Why don't you just go back to the dorms?" Raven snapped, shoving past him as she sheathed her sword.

"Miss Taupe!" Port chided. "Your brother was trying to help."

Raven glared at him. The crate hissed, scooting an inch closer to her as the thing inside lunged at the closest source of negativity.

"…You, er, seem to have some difficulty handling live Grimm," Port continued. "I would recommend taking up meditation." Another snarl, and the crate lurched again. "Perhaps knitting."

Qrow shrank back. They were attracting a lot of attention from the rest of the party, Professor Mesánychta included. Raven either didn't notice or care, just turned heel and headed for the dorms.

"That's your sister?" the third-year asked somewhat pityingly, bracing his shoulder against the fallen crate. Qrow just nodded, mirroring him, and together they shoved it back onto its wheels. He seemed to regret his question, hastily adding "She's, uh, great in a fight."

"Is she all right?" Port demanded, resting his fists on his hips. "She's been quite the Grimm magnet this week. Er, more than usual. While it did make the enemy easier to locate, it can't be good for her health."

"She's fine," he said quickly, returning to the handle. Port's moustache twitched, but he didn't push the issue, just the cart.

It only took them a few minutes to get the specimens wheeled into lockdown, and then Qrow hung back as the other students dispersed, waiting for the professor to finish whatever paperwork she was doing on her scroll.

"Professor Mesánychta?"

"Yes, Mister Taupe? I'm afraid there's not going to be an expedition tomorrow, if that's what you came to ask."

"No, that's not—I, uh, built—I'm trying to learn to use a scythe, and its weight distribution is kind of like a polearm warhammer—would you be willing to give me some pointers?"

She smiled, collapsing her scroll and tucking it into her pocket. "I'm certainly willing to try. Do you have it with you?"

He nodded, stepping back so he could draw his sword and trigger its transformation. Carefully setting the blade on the floor, he offered the handle to her.

"Goodness. Carmine's outdone herself on this one," she muttered, rotating the blade and shotguns experimentally. "I've only seen a few transforming weapons that are more complex. The free range of motion on the barrels is a nice touch."

Qrow beamed. "That was my idea."

Mesánychta's eyebrows shot up. "Was it? Well, it's perfectly suited for this. Most hammers and axes have the guns mounted opposing the head, so the recoil feeds into the swing," she said, swinging the scythe's head around so it curved behind a metal stool. "But the way the blade is turned on this, you'll also want to be able to fire in line with the handle, to draw it toward yourself quickly."

She jerked back on the handle, pulling it in toward the stool, and her finger brushed the trigger by mistake. The shotguns fired with a roar of thunder, cleaving the stool in two and vaporizing the Beowolf in the cage next to them. "Oh. Goodness. Are you all right?"

"Y-yeah." Well, third time's the harm. Good luck never lasted long.

"You're right, the weight distribution is more like a hammer than an axe," she continued, giving it a few careful, experimental swings. Her movements were far more fluid than his own, easily switching from hand to hand and almost weaving the blade around herself like a protective cage. "What an interesting project. I'd be happy to help."

He accepted it back, still grinning broadly. "Thanks, Professor."

"Although…" she frowned, glancing at her bow and quiver leaning against the little desk, "I don't think I've ever used Spring Tide's hammer form in class."

Qrow froze, smile instantly strained. She was right—he only knew from Queen of the Hunt. But she'd taught at Signal, right? "Uh, Summer mentioned it," he blurted.

"Hmm, yes. Well, I'd be happy to meet with you the week after next. You'll still be on campus?"

He nodded, grinning. "Thanks, Professor."

Next Chapter: Taiyang—Herbicide

[vitalpen]

Redesign

(Yo.  Its been almost a year, Chapter 5 came out a couple weeks back, Squiggly was lookin’ for some stuff to read, and I missed this AU.  So have a little thing just talking about how scary change can be, but how necessary it is.  Not specific to Toon Henry, but using it as a setting becuase I’m (ironically) and creature of habit.  Here’s a link to a visual aid

https://squigglydigg.tumblr.com/post/166168062821/so-whatisthisnonsense-and-i-were-talking-a-little)

“Morning,” a tired man groaned his way down the stairs, still in mint green pajamas and rabbit slippers..

“Mornin’”, the cartoon character sitting on his couch, flipping through channels at a comedic speed, groaned in a similar fashion.

Henry Ross stretched a little, working out the kinks in his back and trying to wake himself up a little more.  “Where’s Alice and Boris?”

“Morning walk, the lunatics,” Bendy replied.

“Mmm,” was Henry’s only reply.  He wasn’t surprised.  Those two always did have an easier time getting up in the morning.  He was old and Bendy was… Bendy.  “How’d you sleep?”

“Dang storm kept me up.” The toon jerked a thumb upward, “Must be one heck of a bowling tournament goin’ on up there.”  In his groggy state, it took Henry a moment to realize Bendy was talking about Heaven.

“Yeah, must be,” he walked into the kitchen and looked in the fridge.  After a moment, he called back, “You eat yet?”

“Nope,” came the answer. Another thing that wasn’t surprising.

“I was thinking eggs and toast, sound good?”

“Ooh!  Can I help?”  The reply came from just on the other side of the fridge door.   Henry closed it just a little to find the toon with enormous, glistening eyes, and his hands folded next to his cheek, “Pleeeeease?”

“Sure, you can do the toast,” he replied bluntly.

Immediately the toon deflated… literally.  He just as quickly re-inflated with a nonplussed expression and an indignant puffing of his chest.  “The toast? What kind of amateur errand-boy do you take me for?”

“The kind that might still find a way to set something on fire.”  The toon’s track record in the kitchen was anything but spotless.

“You’ve got insurance,” Bendy verbally handwaved.

“And a fire extinguisher now on standby,” Henry countered.  It hadn’t been there two months ago.

With a final puff and dramatic sigh, the toon relented.  “Fine, I’ll do the stinkin’ toast.”  He grumbled his way past Henry to the breadbox and yanked the bag out.  

With a chuckle, Henry took out the egg carton and looked at the time.  “When did they leave?”

“Around half past 7.” Bendy climbed up onto the counter and sat at the ready next to the toaster.

It was about 7:50 now, which meant they would probably be back soon.  “Did they eat?”  He looked over to Bendy, who shrugged.  Henry pursed his lips for a moment, then decided against making something for them just yet.  The eggs didn’t take long to make.  If they hadn’t, he could just make some when they got home.  With that decided, he put two frying pans on the stove and grabbed a mixing bowl.  A little bit of milk, four eggs, and some mixing later, the scrambled eggs were ready to be cooked.  He melted butter in the bottom of both pans and poured the egg and milk mix into one, then cracked the last two into the other.  “Alright, put the toast in.”

“Oui, mon capitaine,” Bendy saluted and pressed the lever down on the toaster.

Henry pursed his lips again, debating something for a moment, then nodded to himself.  “Hey, can you head to my office?  In the top drawer, there’s a folder with a couple sheets I want you to grab and bring back here.”

“Sure.”  Bendy hopped off and left the room.

“Don’t look at them until you’re back in here, alright?”

“Sure, sure, keepin’ yer secrets, I getcha,” Bendy called back.  In less than two minutes, he was back, carrying a folder full of papers. He set them on the kitchen table and waited patiently.  “Sure you’re not worried about getting’ grease on’em?”

“It’s fine, we’ll be careful.” He flipped his eggs and continued moving around the slowly solidifying batter for Bendy’s.  “Open it and look at the first sheet, tell me what you think.”

With a curious raise of the eyebrow, Bendy did as he was told.  What he saw caught him entirely off guard.  The first sheet was full of sketches, designs, even a fully colored image.  He, Boris, and Alice, all looking a far cry from themselves.  He was probably the most untouched.  His solid black form, head shape, and gloves were all intact, but his limbs were a bit thicker, his proportions a bit less stretchy, face less rounded, and his bowtie was yellow.  Boris and Alice had gotten a much more thorough treatment.  Boris was sporting dark brown fur, blue overalls, and a brand new ascot.  Alice was by far the most striking.  The black had been traded for white on the dress, red on her gloves and boots, and blonde in her hair.  “What’s all this?”  He finally asked.  “You applyin’ to Hanna-Barbera?”

Henry chuckled, flipping his eggs one more time and starting to scoop Bendy’s onto a plate.  “No, just throwing some things at the wall, seeing what sticks.”  The toast popped and Bendy took the opportunity to get a rest from the new designs.

“Why?”  He asked cautiously as he climbed up and plucked the slices from their hot cradles.

Henry handed Bendy the plate of scrambled eggs and started getting his onto a plate.  “Well, the designs for you three have been around for decades.  Black and white, massive pupils, it’s something a lot of other studios have moved away from.”

“You thinkin’ of doin’ that too?”  Bendy set his plate down and held a hand out for Henry’s, still sorting out the feelings as they arose.

“Not yet,” the old man replied, offering the plate for his toast.  “But if we do, I want to make sure I have some idea on where we’d be going with it.”  He sensed the toon’s worry and offered a reassuring smile. “After all, I’ve got three very important opinions to take into account.”  They both took their plates to the table, and Henry retrieved the salt and pepper.  “Now, you’ve clearly got some feedback for me.”

“Is it that obvious?” Bendy grabbed the silverware for them and a carton of orange juice.  Henry just replied with a smirk as he set a couple glasses out.  “Well, if you’re up for a critique.”

“You don’t get by in the industry without it,” Henry replied as he sat down.  Bendy joined him, having grabbed some jam for his toast.

“Well, I don’t hate the splash o’ color, but I’m not sure how I feel about havin’ cheek bones,” the toon took a moment to tear into his eggs.  “However,” he continued with his mouth full, “I think the limbs are what looked the weirdest.  I’m used to these noodles,” he displayed his spaghetti thin arms to demonstrate, “not normal lookin’ arms and legs, you know?”

Henry nodded, the toon had been reflecting a lot of his own thoughts on the designs.  He liked them, and he knew that the three could do with some updating, but drawing them in such a starkly different way than he’d been doing his whole career, it would definitely take getting used to.  “What about Boris and Alice?”

“Well,” Bendy rubbed his chin, giving his thoughts time to form into words.  “Boris is the easier one to swallow.  He still just looks like plain ol’ Boris.  He’d probably like the ascot, when I think about it.”  He cast his eyes to Alice’s new look.  “That one gets me.”

“Thought I’d try something daring,” Henry explained.

“It’s daring, alright. Switching out the black for all this bright n’ vibrant stuff.  She looks a bit more angelic, that’s for sure,” he paused with his eyes squinted.

“But…” Henry urged.

“But it doesn’t look like her,” Bendy blurted out like he’d been holding his breath.  “You know me, I’m a ‘glory days’ kinda guy.  I like how we look, and seein’ that change is kinda hurts, you know?”  He stopped and stood up and started pacing, “But things gotta change, right?  Clinging to the past ain’t healthy,” he looked meaningfully at Henry, “we both know a thing or two about that.”  His circuit back and forth continued.  “And change ain’t always a bad thing, sometimes ya need it.  Most places are doin color shows by now, even the mouse put some red in his shorts years ago.  Most of the cartoons we make these days are in color, we’re the holdouts on that one.”  

Henry waited quietly as the toon debated himself, more than a little amused by how similar the train of thought was to his.

“But does that mean we gotta start lookin’ like the Jetsons?  Do we all gotta start wearing shit collars so talkin’s easier to animate?”  He stopped pacing and started tapping his foot with his arms crossed and his stare boring into the floor, after a moment he looked back at Henry.  “Am I overreacting?  I think I might be overreacting.  Maybe I’m just too much of an old man, scared by these new-fangled cartoons.”  He slowly made his way back to his seat, taking a bite out of his toast.  “But I don’t want us to do it too much, and lose all the great stuff we had in the first place.”  He looked at Henry again, a little lost.  “Am I making sense?”

That was when Henry finally had to laugh.  It was like was hearing his own thoughts acted out in front of him.  “More than you realize.”  He brushed the crumbs off his hands and turned to the next page.  “How about this?”

What was meant to be a glance at the sheet devolved easily into staring.  His eyes were glued to the paper, completely silent as he looked over every line, every detail.  As he looked, the toon’s lost expression changed to intrigue, then to wonder and a wide smile broke out on his face.  “Well, helloooo there, handsome.  Have we met?”  The page was filled with a second set of designs.  The first attempt had been such a tumultuous thought process afterward, he’d decided to try again.  It was always a good idea to have multiple takes on an idea anyway.  

Like before, Bendy was the most unchanged.  Instead of yellow, Henry had gone with red, changing his bowtie and the soles of his shoes. Boris was also mostly the same, with tan overalls colored different from his white face now and there was a bit of blush in the cheeks to accent the black and white.  Alice had the most done to her; like the first attempt, she’d been given a real skin tone, but instead of white and red, he’d kept the black and added some blue.  These designs also kept the more prominent eyes, just giving them whites to frame the pupils.

When he got his fill, Bendy looked up at Henry with a questioning look.  “You had these the entire time?’  With a knowing grin, Henry nodded.  “And you decided to let me have an existential crisis before you broke’em out?”

“I had some doubts and I wanted to make sure it wasn’t just me,” Henry defended.  “I didn’t expect you to get that far into it, though. Besides, I had a feeling you’d like these ones more.”  With that, he stood up and took Bendy’s empty plate, stacking it on his own.  “What do you think?”

“You’re right, I do like’em more,” Bendy grabbed their glasses and followed him, feeling oddly optimistic.  “They feel more like us, you know?  It’s not tryin’ to make us into something we’re not, we still look like we could stretch a little bit, like we belong in a slapstick show, not a cartoon family sitcom.”

Henry laughed; the comparison was fairly apt, he had to admit.  “So is that a green light from you?”

“Bright n’ shiny,” Bendy confirmed with a nod.  Henry took the glasses from him and he went to retrieve their silverware from the table too.  As they cleaned the kitchen up, the toon felt a thought nudge its way into his noggin.  It was only by the time they were done that he’d finally worked it into a question, “Change is a good thing, right?”

Henry smiled down at the toon and nodded. “It’s gonna happen anyway, so it might as well be.”

They walked to the couch Bendy had been occupying before and sat down.  “Then,” Bendy started, but stopped, forming the question a bit more before he tried to ask it.  “Why’s it gotta scare the heck outta everybody everytime it comes ‘round?”

“Because it’s usually not gonna wait for you to be ready,” Henry sat down and Bendy hopped up.  “Sometimes the only thing you can do is roll with it, try to keep up, and,” without warning, an arm hooked around Bendy and pulled him in close to the man, forcing a grunt and a chew toy squeak from the little imp, “make sure you’ve got a pal nearby to keep you going.”

Being allowed room to breathe, the toon cast a pair of annoyed, squinting eyes at the old man, then laughed.  “Yeah, well, lucky for you, I’m here, ya jerk.”

“Yeah,” Henry agreed, probably more sincerely than the imp was prepared for, “lucky me.”

[eachainn]

Author’s Note: Why not talk about Shirley in this? They let her live, might as well actually have her doing something instead of being pretty in the background, or on an orange farm in France. I’m just slamming together both versions of Shirley, from the series and the recap movie. Shirley was shot, it wasn’t fatal.

Shirley pulled her hair back, wrapping the hair tie around her ponytail a few times before tugging it secure. She reached over for her phone, turning off the speaker and hooking it over her ear again. “Sorry.”

She heard her mother laugh, something in her stomach unkotting a bit at the sound. It had been a long while she her mother had laughed. Years.

She swallowed, sitting back in her chair as her mother spoke. “I remember the summers well enough in Ar-Japan.” The word didn’t seem to sit right in her mother’s mouth because she cleared her throat and continued. “It was always so humid there.”

“That hasn’t changed.”

“No, I guess it wouldn’t. But it feels like it should.”

Shirley nodded, even though her mother couldn’t see her. It had only been a year, but it felt longer, it felt like ten. She wasn’t aware that something like that could happen, that so much could change so quickly. She traced her fingers over the armrest of the chair, looking around the locker room. “It does…How are you?”

“Me? I’m fine. I should be asking you that.” Her mother hesitated before lowering her voice. “I’m still not sure how comfortable I feel with you staying over there.”

“Mother.”

“Finishing high school was one thing, and your internship-”

“You said it was too good to turn down.”

“I know, and I stand by it. You’re lucky to have gotten in.”

Shirley hummed, dropping her gaze to the side. Her hard work had been part of it, but most of her luck had rested with the fact that she had known members of the Black Knights. They were the UFN’s defense force, and no one could say no to Captain Kozuki, not when Kallen was determined to be convincing. It had allowed her to get to know many of the heads of state, had gotten her into the program she was in now, had gotten her the job she had now. It was all a great honor, too great to leave Japan.

But, sometimes, she would walk down that street and she would have to stop and lean against the nearest building because she couldn’t breathe right, couldn’t see anything but Zero charging up to Lelouch and running him through.

Shirley clutched at the armrest, trying to keep her breathing steady. She knew what was coming next, and she didn’t want to hear it. Her mother had managed to slip it into every conversation, and she was running out of ways to put her off.

It started with her mother sighing, silence falling on the other end of the line for a moment before her mother spoke up again. “I just wish you weren’t so far from home…or still over there.”

Shirley tipped her head back. “Mother, it’s been quiet all year.”

“Not on mainland Asia.”

“That’s across the water.”

“It’s too close!” Shirley winced at the panic in her mother’s voice. “You lived through the Black Rebellion, so you know how quickly those things can spread. It started in Area 11 and jumped right to China.”

It was a testament to how agitated her mother was that she didn’t automatically correct herself. Shirley closed her eyes. She wished that there was something that she could tell her mother, but nothing seemed to calm her down. The only thing that Shirley could think of was saying that she was coming home, but she wasn’t ready for that. Japan had been the death of her father, and nearly the death of her, but she couldn’t leave, not when what she was doing felt right.

Shirley reached down to rub over the scar from her bullet wound. “I know, but I’m in the best place to hear about it.”

“Yes.” Her mother took a deep breath. “Yes, you are. And you’re safe behind the lines.”

“Yes.” It was a struggle not to draw out the word, but Shirley couldn’t stop herself from looking at where her flight suit hung. She hadn’t shut her locker to give it a chance to air out a bit. She bit her lip, filing her Knightmare pilot training as something to beg her mother’s forgiveness for later.

She had only done it on a whim, to try and get closer to her father, but she had come out of the simulation with a single thought. She wasn’t going to allow one more person to die or to suffer. Not one more.

Shirley reached back to play with her ponytail, wrapping her hair around her fingers. “Honestly, I’m mostly doing boring stuff. Talking with departments, making lists, making phone calls.”

“That’s good.” The relief in her mother’s voice just made her feel worse. In the year since the end of the Britannian empire she had become a consummate liar. The fact that it was to only one person didn’t make her feel any better. But the fact that her mother sounded so happy was almost enough to make it alright.

Almost.

She shifted in her chair, resisting the urge to sink further down in her chair. Shirley licked her lips, offering an olive branch, more to assuage her own conscious than excite her mother. “I do have my vacation coming up and I have some days off from work. So, I should be able to visit in a few months.”

“Really?”

“Uh-huh.” Shirley turned around in her chair to face the door to the locker room. “I’ll have to get back to you with exact dates, but would that be alright?”

“Of course! It’s been too long. Everyone over here wants to meet you! We can go to the little tea place down the street. Oh, and Andrea ‘s son will be home at the same time. The two of you should meet. You have a lot in common.”

Shirley swallowed, looking back over at her open locker and the pictures from her Ashford days that were taped there. “Sure, sounds good.”

Her mother dug into the subject then, Shirley feeling a lump growing in her throat the longer her mom went on. 

Her gaze lingered on one of the group pictures, when all of them were piled in the student council room. It was a captured moment of chaos. 

Shirley couldn’t remember what they had been working on, but there were papers flying as Kallen tripped over the chair that Shirley had pushed out in a bid to grab onto Arthur. Arthur had taken the chance to lunge across the table and bite down on Suzaku’s arm, and Suzaku had recoiled to knock into Rivalz, who was twisted to try and save Nina’s computer from falling off the desk with Nina. Oblivious to all of it were Milly and Lelouch who were in a middle of an argument.

She missed those times.

The sound of the door opening started her from her thoughts. Shirley turned to look at the door, nodding when she saw Kallen stepping in.

Kallen waved back with one hand, the other occupied with a towel that she was using to scrub at her hair. She turned to head over to her own locker, pulling it open and rummaging inside.

Shirley reached up, pressing one hand against her phone. “Mom? Mom.”

“And he’s so sweet with cats. What?”

“My ride just showed up, so I’ve got to go. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“Of course. I love you.”

“I love you too. Bye.”

Shirley sighed when the other side of the line clicked. She shouldn’t feel relieved that the conversation was over, and yet she always did. It might be the talk about what she was doing in Britannia, a world away in more ways than one. Or it might have been the relentless way that her mother was trying to entice her with boys. It was an honest effort, something to ease what she thought was the loss and betrayal of everything that had happened with Lelouch. The problem was that Shirley wasn’t sure what she thought about it.

She loved him, that was the one thing that she was sure about. Everything was a confusing jumble of emotion that she didn’t quite know how to start to unpack. All she knew was that she wasn’t ready for anything.

Shirley took the phone from her ear with a sigh, glancing over at Kallen as there was a bang and a curse.

Kallen pulled back from her locker, rubbing her head. “Fucking locker.”

“You alright?”

“Yeah.” Kallen pulled her hand away, looking at it before shaking her head. “It’s got it out for me.”

“We could switch. Mine’s well behaved.”

“Nah, I’ll remember to stay low one day.” Kallen turned back around, nodding over at the phone. “Another check up with your mother?”

Shirley nodded. “Much of the same.”

“Come back to Britannia, it’s too dangerous?”

“Yes. And, come meet the new boy.”

Kallen sighed and shoved her locker shut. “Just tell her and get it over with.”

“I can’t. I can’t even tell her what I’m really doing here.”

Kallen turned to look at the flight suit, raising her eyebrow. “Telling her that you’re not looking for a boyfriend is easier.”

“Not really.” Shirley stood up with a groan, rubbing her back. “It’s hard enough telling her that I’m staying for the rest of the year. I haven’t even covered my next year in college.”

“That’s slightly more important.”

“I know but, she hates it here and hates that I’m here. And I can’t come up with a good reason that I’m staying. Anything I say makes it sound like I’m still hung up on-”

She motioned over at the pictures in her locker, watching as Kallen came around to look. The curiosity on her face softened, Kallen staring at the pictures with a familiar look longing before she shook her head. “I think we’re all hung up on that. Rivalz called me a few weeks ago to talk about how he ‘missed the days of our youth.’”

Shirley laughed, shaking her head. “We’re not that old yet, are we?”

“It feels like it sometimes.” Kallen stretched her arms above her head, groaning when her back popped. “That seat redesign is going to kill me.”

“Oh, I know.” Shirley walked over to close her locker, stopping a moment to press her fingers against one of the pictures before shutting it. She jiggled the lock to get it to shut securely. “I’m this close to turning in a report on the adverse effect on this position on pilot wellness and effectiveness.”

“Please do. I spent two years jury-rigging the Guren with pillows and the clothes I changed out of. I don’t want to do it again.”

“Consider it done.”

“Thank you.” Kallen reached out to open the door, holding it open as the two of them stepped out into the hallway. She fell into step beside Shirley, their shoulders bumping against each other. “For that, I owe you. Tamaki is opening his second café next week. It’s not tasteful at all,” Kallen rolled her eyes, “but the food and drinks are good, and it’s all free. I’ll hook you up with a ticket.”

Shirley glanced over at her, watching the way that Kallen stepped gingerly. “You’re going to owe me a bit more than that.”

Kallen shot her a quick look. “How so?”

“My college has a huge pool, and a hot tub. I’ve been going there after work to soak this out. As a first year sports medicine student, I’m going to prescribe you a long soak and sneak you in with my student ID.”

“Shirley, you are a life saver.”

She smiled. “It’s for the defense of the free world, right?”

Kallen laughed. “Yes. The free world needs us to spend an hour in a hot tub.”

“At least.”

“For our health.” Kallen leaned forward, laughing and ignoring the strange looks that the rest of the staff shot them. Shirley took the chance to wave at the people that she knew, pausing mid-wave when Kallen stood up, the smile on her face softening. “I’ll figure out something to pay you back.”

“We’ll grab dinner on the way back.”

Kallen nodded, slowing slightly. Shirley turned to look back at her, slowing to match her.

It took Kallen a moment to meet her gaze, Shirley bracing herself when she saw the girl take a deep breath, Kallen squaring her shoulders.

“Speaking of dinner, has Milly asked you about the…the thing next week?”

Shirley took a quick breath, feeling it catch somewhere in the back of her throat. Her phone felt like a stone in her pocket, her fingers twitching as she fought the urge to reach for it. The message was still there, read but not responded to.

She struggled for words for a moment before she nodded.

“Are you going?”

Shirley fixed her gaze ahead of them, watching as people streamed out of the building. It would be easy to pretend that she hadn’t heard the quiet question, but she couldn’t do that. There was only so much lying that she could do in a day. “I…I don’t know. I think we should.”

“I kind of thought we should to. I just don’t understand how we’re suppose to celebrate and remember when I was the one who-” Kallen cut herself off, her gaze going unfocused.

Shirley watched Kallen for a moment before reaching out to link their arms. Kallen startled a bit at the touch, but she was quick to hold on. Shirley glanced around before speaking, keeping her voice low. “It’s not about what they became. It’s about what we miss about them.”

Kallen glanced over at her. “I’ll go if you go.”

“I don’t think we have a choice. I think Milly might move it to wherever we are.”

“Didn’t anyone tell her that she can’t order us around anymore? She’s not Student Council President.”

“I don’t think anyone is brave enough to do it.”

Kallen huffed, the sound almost a laugh. “I’ve fought Britannia and I can’t do it.”

“It might be good just to go along with it then.”

“For our health?”

Shirley nodded. “For our health.”

Kallen didn’t say anything to that, but she did hold onto Shirley’s arm tighter. Shirley squeezed back, happy to have something to hold. It seemed to be what the two of them had been doing for the better part of the year, holding each other up. Shirley was glad for it. 

She didn’t know what would happen if she had tried to go through all of this alone. She would have crumbled so many times if Kallen hadn’t been there to drag her somewhere in Tokyo or even to the apartment that she and her mother shared. It was nice to know that she wasn’t the only one that was torn between mourning and anger at what Lelouch and Suzaku had done.

The world was a better place in the end, it was just her selfish heart that said she would have preferred it with the two of them there.

Shirley cleared her throat, pushing those thoughts away for the moment. She could unpack that later, maybe at Milly’s get together. The important thing at the moment was not to linger.

She tugged lightly on Kallen’s arm, getting her attention. “What did they keep you back so long for?”

Kallen stared at her for a moment before rolling her eyes, some of the life coming back into her eyes. “Some final tweaks to that new outer armor unit.”

Shirley frowned, trying to remember what that was. She had heard talk around the Knightmare unit, but she was still in training, so she got nowhere near where Kallen was. The bet she had were what Kallen had told her about. “Is that the thing that got you locked in the Guren for an hour?”

“Yes.” Kallen groaned. “Where were you and your offer of a hot tub then?”

“Does it work now?”

“Kind of.” Kallen took a deep breath before she launched into an explanation why the armor was generally a good idea, but why she personally hated it.

Shirley listened with a while, letting most of the technical stuff go over her head. Kallen sounded more like herself, and, in the end, that was all that mattered.

[shadowsfascination]

YAAU - Chapter eleven - Breather

The foggy morning clouds that hung low into the forest of Angel Island along with the last raindrops glittering in the light of the sun that shone behind the clouds, left a fairytale like scenery on the mystical place. Rain had been coming down non-stop for the last 24 hours until it finally stopped pouring down this morning. A red echidna was sitting on the steps of a familiar staircase. He was soaked, but didn’t seem to care since he was used to it. He was the guardian of the Master Emerald and had been for a really long time. It was a job he was proud at and he felt responsible for it. “Hey there, Knuckles.” A cheerful voice resounded through the early, fresh, yet damp morning air and the echidna opened his eyes. “Good morning Toma.” “I’m sorry you had such a storm during your shift, man.” The echidna shrugged his shoulders in a laconic way. “I’ve been through worse.” The other person took in the image of Knuckles’ attitude in admiration. “Anyway: you’re off duty. You can go home and rest for a couple of days.” Knuckles rose from his position on the stairs and stretched his legs and arms since they were cramped from sitting in the same position for a long time. He felt his butt and feet tingle from the lack of a decent blood circulation, waited it bit for the feeling to come back to it and walked down the stairs while saluting his co-worker that took over. When the war against the A.R. started four years ago, a feeling of nationalism lit a spark in many Mobians’ hearts, wanting to protect their planet, their freedom and their way of living. As a result of that, a lot of Mobians started to gain interest in the history of their planet and the many legends that were connected to it and so it happened that a small group of young Mobians began to spend more time on Angel Island. At first, they were just visiting the island out of interest, but as time moved on, their interest in the floating island turned into dedication. The group eventually built some houses for themselves and settled on the island, something the guardian of the island wasn’t particularly happy about. He lectured them about this being a sacred place and told them to get off the island. The group refused to leave and told the guardian about their wish to contribute to the safety of the Master Emerald. Knuckles warded off their intention of doing so, but the members of the group continued to live there. The red echidna was about to resort to violence to make sure that they’d leave but they refused to fight him and he left them alone, hoping that they’d get bored in the end, but they turned out to have a very strong will and dedication to stay. They gradually got involved with Knuckles’ business around the Master Emerald by helping him out. In the end they gained the guardian’s trust and they proved him worthy of contributing to keeping the Master Emerald safe and they came up with a schedule that showed who was supposed to do what task around the island, including guarding the altar. And so, the hotheaded Knuckles headed to his second home on South Island to spend some time with his friends. After the hedgehogs clashed two weeks ago, things had been stable and everyone was able to breathe again. Even though, the situation left its’ scars on everybody in their own way. Sonic and Shadow had been going to individual therapy to learn to cope with the things that happened and it wasn’t easy. Both of them kept having nightmares and Sonic was impressed by how dark things could get and how vulnerable he’d felt. He had been confronted with the fact that he was perishable and it was a scary feeling. Tails had been worried about Sonic and was scared off by the fact that even Sonic could be broken. His brother, the one he looked up to in so many ways. Broken. Even now it sometimes still seemed surreal. Knuckles just kept doing his own thing but had been thinking about everything that happened the last weeks on his own, reflecting by himself as he guarded the Master Emerald. As for Shadow: there were times where he’d freeze up at someone’s touch, especially in the dark and he zoned out from time to time. He would grow tired easier than before and Amy was having nightmares herself as well about losing the ones she cherished most. On top of that there was Jayde. Or actually: there wasn’t, because she had shown very little interest in Amy during this disaster and Amy was fed up with her. Luckily she was able to spend a lot of time with her friends right now and she was happy to be with Shadow again. She looked over her shoulder and caught a glimpse of him and Sonic as they were practicing new tricks with their Chaos energy as he agreed to do so earlier, but it was proven once again that he wasn’t a patient being, something Sonic and he had in common. To be able to do this, Sonic and he had to get back their Chaos energy in the first place since it was temporarily being stored in Tails’ translucent box due to the gotten out of hand-fight. “Okay, guys. Let’s do this!” Tails stated at Sonic and Shadow through the speakers in the training room the young fox had designed several months ago. It had been his special project and he’d finished it a couple of months ago. He created a device, similar to virtual reality helmets – only he had connected the device, shaped like a chip, with their contacting devices, connected to their inhibitors. When he sent out a request to the device, the receiver would have to accept it and when they did, they were being sent into a room that Tails could redesign over and over again. This time the room was plain white and had grey walls, existing from special fibers that had the ability to ward of energy, so that the Chaos Energy would not leave this very room. “Let’s roll” Sonic added and Shadow nodded in agreement. “I’ll open the box on the count of three. We’ll have to separate the energy first. One. Two. Three.” The box opened and nothing happened, leaving Sonic somewhat confounded, Shadow ready for everything to happen and Tails suspicious. “Is this even the right box, Tails?” He asked after nothing happened in a minute or so. “Of course it is.” “Doesn’t seem like it to m-“ Suddenly the box exploded and the energy squirted around the room at high speed and they could see the mixture of red and blue Chaos Energy aimlessly flying through the room, bouncing at the walls. It gained speed with every hit on the wall and reacted to the hedgehog´s readiness to attack it by becoming more aggressive.   “Ready?” “You bet!” The hedgehogs locked eyes and nodded in agreement without phrasing their strategy as they didn’t need to and never had. They closed their eyes, lowered their heart rate, opened their palms and put pressure on them to draw in their energy, but it was reluctant to separate. It shaped itself like a ball and spindashed at them and they jumped away to avoid it. “It’s copying our attacks.” “Been there, done that. Follow my lead.” Sonic shouted at Shadow  trying to overcome the noise from the crackling, aggressive energy. Something the blue blur learnt from battling against Emerl, was that it might help if they switched while attacking it so it wouldn’t be able to copy multiple attacks at once.  Sonic jumped forward, aiming for it, with a clenched fist. “NOW!” Shadow jumped before him and kicked it into a corner, but it bounced back at him, smashing him to a corner himself. Standing up again, Shadow had enough. “Let me try something, Sonic.” “What are you thinking of?” “CHAOS CONTROL!” At that sound, time stopped and he signaled something to Sonic. They both attacked the energy, counted down from ten and made sure to touch the energy that was theirs. On the count of zero the energy was absorbed back into them with quite a shock and smashed each of them into a different corner of the room. Tails brought them back into reality and Shadow started teaching Sonic new tricks with their Chaos energy. “I’m glad it worked out in the end,” Miles stated, thinking back at how they settled things with the Chaos energy. “Totally. The odds are with us for once,” Amy added. “Not like that, faker!” Her attention was drawn to the hedgehogs again. A groan escaped the blue hedgehog’s mouth as Shadow snored at him in a fierce way. Yes, he wanted to learn those tricks Shadow pulled off before, but not like this. Shadow was getting on his nerves. “First, you step back, holding your right hand in a punching position and your left hand near your chest. Yes- then you step forward and draw the circle with the right hand and-.” “Hey there, guys!” “Do not interfere with our training.” Shadow replied abrupt to the red echidna’s greeting, who frowned and the others that were on the porch of Tail’s house, playing cards. “Hey there, Knuckles!” Sonic called. “Focus, Sonic!” “SHADOW the Hedgehog! Stop being an ass, right now!” Amy shouted at Shadow. “Hmph.” The black hedgehog folded his arms and ignored his girlfriends’ commentary- an unwise thing to do. “Mind your own business, Amy”, he added. Amy grunted at him. Sonic drew the young woman’s attention and signaled something to her which made her smile. “One more time So-“ Shadow wasn’t able to finish this sentence for he was knocked over and shoved over the ground by a powerful gust. Crawling up he looked agitated, an expression he was showing often. Amy giggled at him. “Now, how was that?” Sonic phrased in an amused way. “Very funny.” “I thought it was funny.” His girlfriend said. “Say it like you mean it.” Sonic held out a hand towards Shadow while proudly smiling at him. The black hedgehog gave him a sarcastic glance, grabbed Sonic’s hand and rose. Amy had walked towards them and wrapped her arms around Shadow from behind, who stiffened up and seemingly remained stoic at the public display of her affection. “Shall we go?” She asked him. “Go where?” “What do you mean? You were the one who wanted to take me somewhere tonight.” “Heh? Uh... Oh! Right! Let's go, Ames. Hold on to me.” She hopped onto his back and he ran off, leaving the others behind. “Where are we going?” she questioned, having to lift her voice, caught in a shout, due to the noise of the wind. “I'm not telling you! Can you close you eyes?” “Hm!” She agreed  and closed her eyes, her muzzle decorated with a smile that showed her joy of being like this. Shadow would often lift her in his arms or let her sit on his shoulders while running so fast and she enjoyed the feeling of the wind, bristling against her quills and the power that was released from his velocity- almost transcendent. There was nothing that could ever knock them down. She felt his speed slowly fade into a slower pace and he gradually came to a stop. “Can I open my eyes now?” “I was going to have you keep them closed for the entire evening with no reason.” “What?” Amy shouted, her tone decorated with awe and annoyance and she opened her eyes – the view was so stunning, it took her breath away. Countless ivory flowers covered in the silver light of the rising moon above this lake, surrounded by hills and mountains. It was amazing and she instantly forgot about the reason she opened her eyes in the first place. “It's beautiful...”

“I know.” “Thank you for bringing me here.”

[kelmcdonald]

A Year in Review 2017

New Post has been published on http://sorcery101.net/news/a-year-in-review-2017/

A Year in Review 2017

Hi everyone,

So it’s the end of the year. I have been looking back over the year to make my goals for next year. Last year I posted my goals on Patreon for the highest backer level. It’s a level that no one ever backed at. I don’t know if the price was too high or just general lack of interest. But I liked writing those posts so as long as I have time, I think I’ll start posted some edited versions of them free on my site each month. Before I started doing that I thought I’d post a public behind the scenes wrap up.

2017 was rough and exhausting. That’s true for a lot of people.

I tried to stick to my professional and personal goals anyway. I also tried a few experiments to see how things would work out.

Last year, I had a few business/income related goals. I wanted to focus on building my Patreon, my newsletter, and my store. I wanted to get rid of ads and do less cons. Ads are ugly and hard to track down bad ones. Cons I want to do less of because they are exhausting to me. I don’t think I’ve ever got creative burn out but I definitely get hussle/promo burn out. It’s been taking me longer and longer to recover from cons. So anywhere that I can get money which isn’t from cons if great.

A lot of my site redesign was to push those things.

My newletter is I think the most successful of those goals. I got a good few hundred folks signing up from my website and a bunch of folks signing up after my kickstarter. Next year I’m gonna try to focus on making it better. I few people asked for highlights from the blog here as well as promo. But I’m still taking suggestions if anyone wants to leave them in the comic. Right now it’s just promo but if I don’t have promo that month I end up not knowing what to write.

The shop getting pushed more, I think it did better than last year but I haven’t crunched the numbers yet.

Patreon didn’t go very well this year. I wanted to get more patrons there to mostly get rid of ads. I ended up making less money on patreon than before. I used to charge weekly and thought switching to monthly would help get more people on board, but I never ended up attracting enough people to make up for the difference. I tired a few different things like business posts like this one, sketch requests, and streams. At first I was posting my early comics in a big PDF but then was told more frequent posts get peoples attention more. I also tried to post more art on there. None of those really enticed people to jump on. I don’t know if people just don’t like my stuff. If I’m just not cut out for promoting a long term thing rather just doing a focused push for one big project. Either way I’m feeling pretty discouraged and after last weeks debacle with the fee change is leaving me kinda sour on Patreon. In 2018 I’m gonna try to focus on other stuff that might pay off more.

I was looking for more work from publishers and companies in 2017 too. Or more working smarter not harder with companies. That didn’t pay off in 2017 but it get me some cool stuff lined up for 2018.

But for now it looks like I’m gonna still be hitting up 10 or more cons a year.

On the somewhat creative goal and somewhat personal, I spent a lot of of this year making sure I kept up with my comic reading. It can be easy to not keep up with reading new comics and know what is out there when you are busy trying to make comics. I buy most of my comics at conventions but I got an ipad pro to be a portable digital drawing tool so I’ve been reading a lot of manga on that. But here’s some high stuff I really enjoyed and will probably write about on my blog over the coarse of next year. I read them this year but they didn’t all come out this year. The webcomics I’m just gonna link cause they are free to read but I usually just read the print collections when it comes to webcomics. So when I say I read them this year I mean the print collection.

Wilde Life by Pascalle Lepas 

Agents of the Realm by Mildred Louis

The Meek by Der-shing Helmer

Feywinds by Nicole Chartrand

Check Please by Ngozi Ukazu

O Human Star by Blue Delliquanti

A Silent Voice by Yoshitoki Ōima which is about a guy trying to get forgiveness from the deaf girl he bullied in elementary school. It’s very intense and grips with complicated questions about who gets forgiven and who decides who gets that forgiveness.

Monstress by Marijorie liu and  Sana Takeda. It’s a fantasy epic that is set in a matriarchal setting where magical humanoid creatures and sorceresses are at war. The main character is trying to learn more about an elder god type thing that has taken over her arm. It’s gorgeous and complicated and female focused. This might be my favorite comic right now.

Fun Family by Ben Frisch. I picked this up because I went to college which Ben. Fun Family is a fictional behind the scenes of Family Circus. It kinda odd but I liked it because it explores how a simple wholesome comic like Family Circus can be comforting when your home life is falling apart.

Dragon Ball by Akira Toriyama. I don’t got to tell you all what Dragon Ball is about. But I read it for the first time and really liked it. I had only seen the anime before this. It was interesting to see the source material. I thought it was a lot of fun.

Parasyte by Hitoshi Iwaki. Most anime fans know about this one too but again I read it this year. For you none anime fans alien parasites take over human hosts and replace their heads. The main character gets his hand taken over instead and he has to work with the parasite to hide from both humans and parasites. It’s an interesting mix of body horror and exploring morality.

My Hero Academia by Kohei Horikoshi. It’s about a superhero school in world where more people have superpowers and being a superhero is partly being a celebrity and partly a government job.

Space Battle Lunch Time by Natalie Riess. It’s about a cooking reality tv show in space. I was a lot of fun and very cute. It does a good job of having multiple rounds of cooking contests without getting repetitive. The main character is super charming.

Moonlighters by Katie Schenkel and Cal Moray. An all ages comic about werewolves doing magical odd jobs on their college campus.

Soupy Leave Home by Cecil Castellucci and Jose Pimenta. I picked this up because I introduced Cecil and Jose to each other. Their book is really good. It’s about a girl who disguises herself as a boy so she can run away to ride the rails as a hobo during the great depression. It’s bitter sweet and does an excellent job showing the relationship build between Soupy and her mentor on the rails.

I also liked Castoffs by MK Reed, Brain Smith, and Molly Ostertag and Letters for Lucardo by Noora Heikkilä but those both are only at volume 1 and I feel like the stuff that I’ll really want to talk about will probably happen in volume 2. My reading list is organized shortest to longest and so some have been on there for awhile. For 2018 far it’s:

As the Crow Flies by Melanie Gilman

Not Drunk Enough by Tess Stone

The Fifth Beatle by Vivek Tiwary, Kyle Baker, and Andrew C. Robinson

Vattu vol 2 by Evan Dahm

The Last Halloween by Abby Howard

East of West year 2 by Jonathan Hichman and Nick Dragotta

Drive by Dave Kellet

The Less than Epic Adventures of TJ and Amal by EK Weaver

I Am Hero by Shinsuke Sato

If you all got recommendations I’m open to em. I think it’s important to read comic if you want to improve. So while I am gearing up for my next big project I wanted to make sure knew what was out there. I have been writing about them on Patreon but I’m gonna start posting them publicly. Writing about the stuff I like is just to help me articulate what I’m looking for in stories and be more deliberate in the future. I’m intentionally not reading Marvel and DC though. So if you suggest stuff from them I’ll probably pass.

And then here are more general personal goals and experiments.

I got really unhealthy while working on Misfits of Avalon because juggling two comics isn’t super smart when when has a hard deadline. There were a few months while working on it where I basically drank ALL THE REDBULL to finish on time. I also gained 20 lbs while working on it. So a lot of 2017 was me trying to undo the damage caused by overworking.

I don’t pay a lot of attention to my weight and mostly noticed because I got faced with the choice of lose weight or buy new clothes. Excising takes more work but is cheaper. So I started biking 3 times a week and used the biking version of couch to 5k to improve. I mostly stuck with it because MK Reed was my biking buddy. We fell off a few times when con season got hectic. Then because of con season I tried to think of something that is easier to do while away. So in October after all my cons were done I gave jogging a try. I wanted to die and my throat was closing up. I couldn’t finish even half of what couch to 5k tells you to do the first day. I thought maybe I’d improve. But after no improvement for a month I went to the doctor. Turns out my lungs are all fucked up and I just didn’t know it because that was how I always breathed. Doctor gave me an inhaler which helped with running so now I can completely the first day of the program, but my none running breathing is still not as good as it should be. So I just got a different inhaler that is supposed to help with that. Otherwise I might have some expensive medical tests coming up. So fingers crossed that everything is fine.

I also tried to do some push ups at the beginning of the year. I started by doing them off my counter and then moved lower to the arm rest of my couch. But I was apparently doing them wrong so I never successfully got to doing push ups off the floor. Building muscle strength might be something I need more help with than cardio.

And while running sucks honestly the hardest thing to do was fix how bad my caffeine addiction got. I mentioned above that I drank a lot of Redbull when Misfit of Avalon deadlines got tight. Well, when I went to C2E2 last year, the time it took me to wake up, go to the airport, fly to Chicago, and get to where I was staying gave me a withdrawal headache. So less than 24 hours. I still had 2-3 months of work to do on Misfits but I made a self note that this is a problem I needed to deal with once finished. So I turned in my pages that June. Then I quit caffeine cold turkey because I’m very bad at cutting back on things. It was a miserable two weeks. But by the time SDCC rolled around I could get through a con day with only one cup (as opposed to like 6 cups).

So for health stuff in 2018, I’m gonna try to keep up the jogging and biking. Figure out what is up with my lungs. And try to get help on the upper body strength that I am lacking.

[aeon-wolf]

Betrayal - Chapter 12

Now that Lena has joined her father and the Titans against the Gods, her loyalties made clear. Her betrayal of all she once held dear haunts her every day. But she made her choice and as the war between the Gods and Titans draws near, Lena’s allegiances will be put to the test. Does she help bring about the end of the reign of the Gods? Or will her love for Kara Danvers and the friendships she made along the way be enough to stop the daughter of Hyperion.

Or

A PJO inspired Supercorp series. Part Two: Betrayal.

Read it here on AO3

I.

Kara sat in J’onn’s office, alone with the headmaster himself. “And this is to be your new role in this fight Kara?” He asked seriously. She nodded.

“It is. My father believes I’m the only one strong enough for it.” She said quietly. J’onn sat back in his chair, nodding.

“It is not my place to question the Gods. But are you sure you are up for this Kara?” The son of Ares asked out of concern. “We both know that Lena will certainly be a part of many future battles. And I know she is something of a sore subject for you…” He trailed off. But Kara nodded.

“We would be meeting again regardless of this arrangement or not, J’onn. But my father is right, we need leadership, someone equivalent of Lena’s position here, to rally our forces. I can do that!” Kara insisted. “It’s not like I’m not already part of our war council meetings anyway! Everyone here trusts me.” She reasoned. She had their confidence, she knew she could lead them to defend Olympus.

J’onn just nodded. “If you’re sure Kara. I was going to let everyone know this at our next meeting, but since you’re here, we’ve found the location of the Titan’s base here in the city. An underground bunker network not far from here. I’ve already sent a few haflbloods from Hermes dorm to scout. They should return sometime in the next few days.” He confided in the new commander. Kara nodded.

“Do we know anything about their next attack? When it might be? And how many?” She asked. J’onn shook his head.

“We don’t know much. I’ve received some early reports that Lena seems to be undergoing additional training. Something to do with her performance in their last fight. But we don’t know anything about it. Just that it is going to be a week or two. So I’d assume we’re not expecting another attack until then.” He reasoned. Kara nodded, time for her to test her new powers. “Get some rest, Kara. I think after everything, you’ve earned it.” He said. Kara grimaced but nodded. She got up out of the chair, jokingly saluting at J’onn.

The two shared a smile before Kara exited his office and headed, not back to her room, but to find Winn. She beelined for the forges since she figured that was probably the most likely place to find the son of Hephaestus. And her guess was right since she found Winn pouring over some of his schematics on one of the workbenches. He lifted his head as she entered, smiling and waving at her.

“Hey, Kara! What brings you here?” He asked curiously. Kara shrugged, sitting down across from her, looking at the blueprints.

“What are these?” She asked, genuine in her curiosity. Winn was one of the most brilliant inventors she had ever met.

“Oh, these? Schematics for the monster grenades. I’ve been trying to find a way to attach a homing device or something to them so they can target monsters, not halfbloods.” He said. Kara nodded. She remembered the first time he has tested those grenades on the Scythian Dracaena what seemed like forever ago. “So, how are you holding up?” He asked. He knew that she had been going through emotional turmoil for the last few days. Kara just shrugged.

“I... “ She considered lying, but they both knew that she was terrible at it. So she groaned. “I don’t know what to do Winn.” She confessed. “I was summoned by the Gods.” She confided in him. He and everyone else was going to find out at some point. Winn looked surprised.

“What for?” He asked.

“They wanted me to become our commander. To match Lena.” She said quietly. Winn went silent for a few minutes, gazing at Kara, appraising her.

“And you’re okay with that?” He finally asked her, the blueprints in front of him all but ignored. Kara put her elbows on the table, her chin resting in her hands.

“I’ve got to be.” She mumbled. Her eyes flicked to Winn. “I do have a favor to ask you though.” She said hesitantly. Winn just grinned, gesturing for her to continue. “I know you’re busy with our weapons and all, but I was wondering if you have the time to design me a suit of armor?” She asked. She figured that she probably shouldn’t be going up against Lena, who was fully equipped, completely unprotected.

Winn smiled and nodded eagerly. “Oh yeah! I’ve been wanting to design you a suit for months, Kara!” He said, excitedly getting up and folding the schematics in front of him up, heading over to a drawer, pulling it open. He pulled out a tube, opening the top and pulling a large piece of paper out of it. He padded back over to Kara, rolling it out in front of her. Kara raised an eyebrow.

Before her was a full design for an armor set. “You’ve been…. Busy.” She commented, looking down at the designs. Winn just shrugged.

“What can I say? You’re my best friend. If I could design something to keep you safe, you know I would in a heartbeat.” He replied. Kara’s heart clenched at the confession. “I actually have been redesigning parts of it ever since I saw Lena’s armor.” He admitted. “The original designs weren’t as flexible and easy to move in. But after getting a look at how hers was made, they seemed to have made it out of different individual plates covering what looked like something of a bodysuit. So I asked Maxwell for ideas and he said that the bodysuit could be made out of arrow resistant material and the plates could be made for protection against blade attacks, close combat, you know?” He asked, pausing. Kara nodded, following where he was going. “It wouldn’t be exactly like hers because obviously, I don’t know how hers was made, but it did give me a lot of ideas, design wise.” He said sheepishly. Kara nodded.

“Do you think you’d have the time to give it a test run?” She asked hesitantly. He nodded without a second though.

“For you? Anything.” He said reassuringly. Kara smiled gratefully.

“You’re the best Winn. Let me know if you need any help. I owe you, big.” She said.

“That’s what friends are for Kara. But I’ll keep that in mind, there’s probably from scrap metal around here somewhere that I can find.” He teased. Kara rolled her eyes.

“Well let me know. I’m sure you’ll put me to work.” She teased back.

II,

The next few days mainly consisted of Kara spending time in the training arena, alone out in a field, working on expanding her powers and in the forges helping Winn. It was good to finally be able to get her mind off of everything, relatively speaking. She worked on improving her skill with the sword, drilling herself on different methods of attack and defense. Her mind constantly drifting to the way she memorized Lena’s movements. How talented her friend had become over the years. From day one, Kara knew Lena had a lot of raw potential that just needed to be cultivated. And it seems that it had been.

If she was honest with herself, she was also a little embarrassed that Lena had been able to disarm her. And as much as she wanted to blame the fact she hadn’t seen Lena in two years and had been distracted by her, she knew that wasn’t the case. Lena was just that good. And Kara got the feeling that she had far more tricks up her sleeve that she hadn’t pulled out the last time.

Kara would also spend hours away from the school buildings, though still within the relative safety of Demos' campus, testing the limits of her newfound power. It wasn’t as impactful as Kara had imagined, though she figured it was because they were siphoned powers from the Titans, rather than Lena who had been born with them. Rather they helped her to be more on par with Lena herself.

The blonde found her stamina had significantly increased, both physically and in regards to her powers. Kara recalled that when she had been first learning to control her air manipulation powers, she could often only use them for a very short time before becoming exhausted. Her stamina grew as she trained more, but she had her limits. Now, after she had absorbed the power of the Titans, she found that it was far easier to use her powers and she could use them longer. Kara wondered if, eventually with enough work, she could use them without limit.

Kara could often be found manipulating air currents around her, flying around the fields she was training in. She found it calmed her somehow. After all, children of Zeus were made to take on the sky. She would just spend hours zipping around the fields until her stamina depleted and she was forced to ground herself for a while. Though this increase in stamina did not come with a significant power increase. Her powers, while they had a little bit more of a punch to them, did not get any significant strength increase. Which Kara figured was a good thing. She was already something of a loose cannon just being a daughter of Zeus.

Sometimes in the evenings, she would just watch the setting sun. She recalled the few days that she had done that with Lena and Kara always found herself close to tears. Aphrodite had given her hope that Lena could still be saved, but she still wondered. Was she up for the task? Lena seemed so far detached from everything they had once shared that it seemed like a daunting task to try to make her remember. But Kara was not a quitter. She promised Lena that she’d fight for her and that was exactly what she was going to do, even if that means fighting against Lena.

Kara also found herself helping Winn where she could. She was asking him for a big favor, it was the least she could do. The son of Hephaestus mostly had her running around and getting supplies for him. And stood in for fittings without complaining. Kara had to admit, Winn was extremely talented and had an eye not only for reliability and practicality but also for aesthetics. He had designed her suit with an arrow resistant bodysuit, black in color and paired it with the blade resistant plating, red and blue in color. And at Kara’s request had added her family’s crest to one of the shoulder plates. Kara had been rather insistent about it. It made her feel like her family was right there with her, if not physically, but in spirit. And not just the family she had lost, but all those that she had gained over the years. The Danvers, Alex especially, James, Winn, Mon-El, Maggie. And Lena. The demititan might have lost her way, but didn’t everyone at some point in their life? That’s what family was for. To be there when times were tough.

III.

A week passed before the Hermes scouts returned to Demos. At which point, Kara and everyone else was summoned to J’onn’s office to discuss the intel they had gathered. Kara had told all of them of her meeting with the Gods steadily over the week, starting with Winn, then Alex and Maggie, then Mon-El and James. They had all been somewhat concerned but trusted that Kara could handle it and all of them knew they would follow Kara wherever their journey took them.

“You all know why you’re here,” J’onn said grimly. Kara nodded hesitantly. She was very wary of what possible information that could have been gathered. But she couldn’t skip out this time. She had to see this through to the end.

“Is it that bad?” Mon-El asked, noting a look on J’onn’s face. The man nodded.

“This is probably going to be difficult for all of you to hear, but you all need to know what we’re up against.” He replied. Kara felt her stomach clench, but she swallowed and nodded. J’onn opened a folder on his desk. Recounting what their scouts had found.

IV.

“Get up!” Hyperion hissed. Lena groaned, but did has her father asked, getting back up, her body aching from the physical strain that was being put on it. She only had just enough time to raise her swords in defense as he attacked again. They were blurring in and out of a normal human’s visual perception, almost moving too quickly to be seen at all. Lena tried to defend herself against her father’s relentless attacks, but once again had her feet kicked out from underneath her in a show of speed that she couldn’t match, landing on her back again, a sword at her chest. She looked up defiantly at Hyperion, frowning.

“What good is this doing exactly?” She asked as he stepped back, giving her room to get back to her feet, brushing herself off. “Showing me my place? Because I’m fully aware of where I am and where I belong.” She spat. Hyperion hardened his gaze at her.

“As I said, I tried to protect you from Kronos’ wishes regarding your feelings. But this is getting out of hand.” He hissed. “Your feelings for the halfbloods are crippling your ability to do what has to be done, Lena.” He insisted. “Twice now you have left them alive when you had perfect opportunities to kill them.” Lena just blinked.

“I did what I felt was right in the situation.” She responded. Hyperion sighed.

“And that is precisely the problem, Lena. These people are no longer your friends. They don’t care about you. They would never join you. Join us. They are just as dead set on protecting the gods and their corruption as much as we are set to destroy them. You can’t save them. They’ve chosen their side. And you are going to have to choose yours.” Hyperion said dangerously. Suddenly, the burn mark on her wrist started to glow, a white hot pain coursing through Lena’s body. She managed to not scream out in agony, but fell to one knee, rubbing at the mark, gritting her teeth. She looked up at Hyperion, his eyes glowing brighter than normal. “You made your choice a long time ago Lena. Now act like it.” He said coolly, his eyes fading and the pain going away.

V.

Kara was clenching the arms of the chair rather tightly as they listened to J’onn recounted a number of tales that their scouts had gathered. Most regarding the tentative attack plan the Titans had coming. Though it was hard to piece those together since it seemed the Titans didn’t share their full plans with many people if any at all. And the intel about Lena was the worst. “See, she’s not fully in control of the situation. We just have to convince her that we can protect her!” Kara insisted after the latest piece of information about Lena.

“Kara, just because she’s suffering at their hands doesn’t mean she’ll want to join us,” Alex said, though not without some caution. She and Kara had been working on being more receptive to each other’s ideas and opinions regarding the demititan. “I’m just saying that Hyperion does have a point. She’s trying to help them destroy Olympus. And we can’t let them. Even if she is not fully in control.” Alex warned. Winn and J’onn nodded in agreement, though James, Mon-El, and Maggie were a little more skeptical.

“Unfortunately Kara, your sister is right. Unless Lena comes to us and convinces us that she’s worth trusting again, we have to be wary of her. She is a threat.” J’onn said. Kara pouted but didn’t argue. She knew that they were right. She just wanted desperately to believe that she could be the one to convince Lena to change course. “We know that they will be launching another attack on the school within a matter of days. We all need to be ready. Kara, are you ready to step up and lead?” He asked their new commander. James put a reassuring hand on his friend’s shoulder. Kara looked around the room, everyone giving her an encouraging nod. She just sighed.

“I don’t know. But I have to be ready, whether I’m actually ready or not.”

I'm really... not happy with this chapter but it's the best I could get out. I've been fighting some writer's block recently and just tried to power through. I was debating between doing a Lena or a Kara chapter for this period of time, but I went with a Kara chapter. I feel like I want to establish her a bit more/better and all Lena's being doing at this time is erm... getting 'trained' by Hyperion which I don't even know how to write a full chapter for. So I went with a bit of Kara instead.

I think next chapter is another head to head fight so it should be a little more interesting. Hopefully.

[earthenthoughts]

The New Year's New Look: Post Patch 6.9, and Syndra.

The Crystal Ball is Wild and Dangerous

It is with no small distaste I look back upon my predictions and see how they have come to fruition. For the first time in many years, Syndra found herself thrust into the spotlight in a way that can only be described as 'damaging'. Clocking in a 97% ban rate at Worlds 2016, and earning the World Casters' bristling ire, her solo queue performance achieved around a 50-70% ban rate depending on any day's given temperament. Now, as we stand in the twilight of 2016, the world is looking pretty different for her.

My predictions back around August didn't play out as I thought they would, but ultimately did come true. Upon the landing of the Patch 6.9, Syndra's kit broke with a couple different bugs that would remain until Patch 6.12. Namely, her ultimate no longer detected spheres correctly, so if any of her abilities modified a sphere, there was about a 1-2 second window her ultimate wouldn't see the sphere. The net result, quite often was something like a 6 sphere ultimate only firing as a 4 or 3 sphere ultimate in turn. In all my time in playing her, it was the single most frustrating thing to deal with, and that's a pretty tall statement in over 5 years of League of Legends with her.

As Patch 6.12 landed, however, and these bugs were corrected, Syndra also received some AP ratio help, bumping her damage even further with the Patch 6.9 changes. This rode upon the back of many other different champions, many of which were the S-list and A-list competition she had to deal with, getting nerfed. The net result was a near meteoric rise to the top in competitive play and the world at large gleaning what would happen in a meta where Syndra is handed the queen's seat on a silver platter. This isn't entirely new to her, as Syndra's last rise to the top saw some stiff nerfs to her complete lane domination some years ago.

In the course of Patch 6.12 to Patch 6.24, much of the lukewarm reputation Syndra possessed was pretty much destroyed. Any notion of skill involvement disappeared as the roving bands of mob mentality paid their seasonal visit with her in their sights. I didn't really expect her to survive it any better than the rest, though I do find myself irritable nonetheless over the matter. My own personal misgivings aside, it was quite the useful learning experience, as it ever is, in watching how powerful public perception is. After all, when the man on the television preaching to you and millions of others that a champion has, "Absolutely no counter play", why wouldn't you believe him? Certainly not when no defense or counter argument is given in favor of the problem, of course.

  A New Year, and More Patches.

As we step out of the shadow 2016, and the clock turns over, the future is looking interesting for Syndra. The nerfs are on the horizon, and they aim at correcting what is arguably the biggest problem in her kit currently. Her W, Force of Will, is (as of the last PBE I looked at), being changed to something like this:

AP Ratio reverted to 0.7 from 0.8. Base damage reduced by 10 at all levels.

Old: Force of Will grabs 2 additional spheres near the target.

New: Force of Will now deals 20% bonus true damage.

The developers are fairly confident it will ship 'as is', but as ever, the Crystal Ball is dangerous. They may post something different tomorrow and explode this entire blog post like a destroyer in Battleship.

Notably, her new Q passive (+2 seconds to Dark Sphere life timers) and E changes (+0.1 AP, -2s base CD) are being retained. The rest of her kit, otherwise, remains untouched or considered as far as I'm aware. I find myself quite welcoming to these changes, as they will largely return Syndra to her prior playstyle and with easier-to-tune levers. An instrinic problem of the multisphere W is that it has no way to be balanced–your only recourse is to reduce the grab targets from 3 to 2, and this opens up other issues. The natural throw pattern would be a V-shape, which would ironically make it so awful to level you'd intentionally avoid it, as this would destroy her stun pattern. As a designer, you're forced to adjust it so one sphere is center mass and … where does the second go? Then you have to argue how it throws, and so on. As her kit is designed currently, the idea just opens more problems. Just looking at it can make a new problem appear out of thin air, seemingly.

Damage, however unimaginative it might be, is easy to tune. You make it go up or down, and if damage as a mechanic is undesired, you visit the project when you have more time. In this regard, although Syndra's W having a considerable amount of true damage (that's BONUS true damage, not a conversion. Her W overall has more damage), it's simple to change. From a gameplay perspective, it definitely empowers her skill route for W second max, as level 13 is when the mid-game/team fighting phase happens. Being true damage, she'll hammer all targets equally, though squishy ones will fear her W throw the most as they have less over all HP to absorb true damage with. Magic Resistance rushers, particularly those favoring Abyssal Scepter and Maw of Malmortius, will get stung pretty heavily by it and relieve some of Syndra's crippling issues with fighting those build paths until Void Staff is complete.

Her tank killing prowess will enjoy a slight increase, though out of all her targets, I imagine she'll still feel very cramped against them. Flat true damage is not necessarily an elegant way to kill tanks, but it does help.

The only problems I can foresee with this is squishy carry champions getting slammed particularly hard by Syndra's W sniping. However, lacking the multi-sphere throw now, she can no longer infinitely maintain her ultimate or a stun wall as large as a lane. Whether or not that's a fair trade off, time will tell, but if the true damage is a problem (in being too weak(?) or strong), a quick number change is all it needs. It is certainly a much better alternative to the multisphere mechanic and her original W passive.

  In Defense of the Multisphere Mechanic

I'll take this moment to kind of step aside and try to frame the vitrolic I have around this idea. So, standing in defiance of my past remarks, let's be a little different. On its own, the principle idea of manipulating multiple spheres with Syndra is a thematically interesting idea. It also has potential for zone control, power ramp, and everything her kit is based as an idea. As Syndra exists, however, it's inclusion destroyed safety levers many parts of her kit relied on to permit the power she has. Notably, her incredible team stunning and nuking power went from 'very timing sensitive' to 'whenever I want because I can'. The core idea itself can work, as experience has shown, merely not with the iteration Syndra herself currently exists in.

I feel that in a future VGU, or whenever the idea of a radical redesign for Syndra is in mind, it can be revisited. The concept of multiple sphere management is powerful enough you could redesign her whole kit with it in mind, and emphasize a lot of her unique strengths in the process. But, I fear it would be necessary to no longer consider Syndra a Burst Mage in that iteration. Her single target nuke ultimate as it is right now would not play nicely with that idea, so it would have to go. The multiple sphere ability (Force of Will, in this case) may even evolve into becoming her ultimate in such a world. Where it would go, or do, is a matter of speculation. You run the very real risk of making Syndra the best AOE nuke mage in the game, rather than a powerful single target problem remover. That's a wild ride of speculation and theory design I've played with for a while, but, no matter what, we'd have to fundamentally redefine a lot of who and what Syndra is.

So, the idea is good, the game just doesn't allow for it as it is. I'd be very curious to see how it'd play out on a theoritical design in testing with a bigger scope of work in mind, though.

  The World At Large

Assassins got their update and promptly fell on their face (except for LeBlanc, as always), as many of the current mage mid laners are quite comfortable against them. I'm honestly not certain if Assassins will find a happy existence, as their class entails a range of fundamental assertions that are problematic for the League of Legends environment. The largest one is the 'always losing until they're winning' one. Assassins do not have fallback mechanics in exchange for their incredible target selection and maneuverability. Thus, this means a stalwart defense and neutral farming playstyle can put them into a 'losing the game' position by just simply ignoring them. The onus to succeed is on the Assassin, and they must pursue an almost dangerously reckless degree of gameplay to stay relevant, then to win.

This in turn means player agency is a bit more suspect, as the Assassins are given–by design–the tools to out play, out manuever, and defeat their opponent. If they cannot do this reliably enough, they will simply never exist in professional League of Legends unless they're a wild card pick. Regular play will see them more convincingly, as skill and play style varies wildly there, but the class as a whole won't be regarded with some modicum of seriousness. I ponder if this is an issue of how League of Legends, as a game, is designed, and whether or not this problem can be answered by tuning the Assassins directly. Time will tell as Riot's attention goes to stepping down on the mage mid laners and giving a boost up to the Assassin class, and everyone gets to fight Fizz again(again).

Tanks are prowling around quite happily right now, and a fair number of other classes who shouldn't be, with the new Courage of the Colossus mastery. Word on the street is that will be getting slammed, so hopefully that draws that array back in line. Overall pleased with tanks having a menacing presence, though the damage available to them is brow raising. I suspect new mechanics unique to them would help give them more 'tank' and less 'tank by damage threat'. Reworking Taunt, for example, has interesting potential. Imagine if Taunt made it so a targeted enemy can only auto attack or use targeted abilities to the tank taunting them, but the target was normal otherwise (so no pseudo-stun lock mechanic). This means some of the existing tanks would either have to gain a Taunt effect, or some sort of item for them alone to use. It's one idea that comes to mind, anyway.

As is tradition, the entire jungle role is once again on fire as the new year of 2017 and Preseason 7 comes. The whole place is on fire, in a very literal way.

Bot lane is currently a whipping post as the ADC(marksman) role is finally contested after 7 years of League of Legends. That is, marksmen as a class are finding themselves constantly stepped on, smacked around, and new picks coming to contest their relevancy to the game. I find this particularly interesting to watch as, while I don't want a whole class to disappear, they're unique in that they have always 'been there'. The entire history of League of Legend metas is defined by 'Marksman+X', where X is the flavor of the month. It got to the point you had marksman in all 5 roles, though that got nerfed down. They maintain a presence in jungle and midlane, and the occasional terror pick arrives in toplane (to every top main's insatiable ire). To find a playing field open up where there are viable and desirable team compositions without marksman is a breath of fresh air in the potential of the game.

What the marksman bring to the table will still always be there, but I wonder if it will no longer be the mandatory must-have it has been. A team that could field no marksman, and make a dangerous yet viable choice in doing so, is not often considered nor held in any regard except 'I'm being trolled'. Mordekaiser as a marksman was arguably the first foray, however awkward, into this idea. The execution of that plan kind of exploded like a transformer on a power pole when the bristling hate mail came down the line … but still, it had merit in testing. Yasuo, amusingly, was somewhat envisioned as a potential marksman replacer, but he does every role. Now, we have Ziggs showing up in bot lane, not even as a marksman, but as a siege war waging machine whose unique strength is one of the few virtues the marksman class is built on. Where the marksman will end up after the dust has settled, I think, is a very telling point in how League of Legends could evolve.

If they're put back into their mandatory position, then it's reasonable to assume a degree of 'this is how it is, period'. If they're not mandatory, then it's reasonable to assume a greater degree of fluidity in design.

In what ways I can remember, I'd be historically inclined to say 'Riot will pursue a rigid method of design'. The ever changing balance team seems open to new approaches, though. I'm hopeful they'll experiment in this regard, though I live with an ever traumatic fear of what happened to Zyra, The Stolen Mage. Nonetheless, positive thoughts are better than anything else.

But, I'll be here, playing Syndra like I always do.

I'm a Syndra Main, not an OTP guys.

Seriously.

I'm serial.

staph calling me a one trick

The New Year’s New Look: Post Patch 6.9, and Syndra. was originally published on Earthen Thoughts