#i'm almost certain i would love if it were advertised differently

[dotster001]

Omg, I'm in love with Twisted Earth, can you please do Scarabia and Pomefiore next?

Hello may i also request a Twisted earth story but with the savanaclaw and scarabia dorm please 🥺requested by @magicalsweetsyouth

Twisted Earth Part Four

Summary:Scarabia and Epel x gn!reader You are the game, they are real. Vil and Rook HC's here. Savannaclaw HC's here.

A/N:Omg some of y'all are starting to get ahead of me with your requests. I have some places I'll take this once I finish off everybody's initial HC's. I'm so happy you guys are enjoying these 🥺

Part One Part Two Part Three Part Five Part Six

He was drawn in by the advertising. The colors, the designs, the music, the voices? Oh he was so excited to start playing! When he chose his initial character …it actually wasn't you. And he feels so bad about it now 🥺  You're his squishy baby, please forgive him, he'll make up for lost time.

Probably first was drawn in to you because of how drastically different your life is from his. Then he fell for you as he got more and more invested in your character's story.

As I said…you're his squishy baby. If you were real…Oh he gets so excited thinking about all the parties he'd throw for you, all the gifts he'd buy for you, all the CUDDLES HE'D GIVE YOU! (He has made Jamil bang his head against a wall multiple times when talking about you) he dreams of the two of you dancing together. That's what he'd do for a first date with you. He's already decided.

He has all your base cards, but none of your event cards. But he's not deterred! He WILL get one of your event cards one day, he's sure of it.

Kalim's parents don't need parental blocks on Kalim. They have Jamil. Jamil saw Kalim playing the game and downloaded it to make sure it was appropriate, and that it wasn't giving him any weird ideas. 

It's now his guilty pleasure. He plays it right before bed since he never has any other time for it. He always sighs heavily like it's a chore to play right before he opens it, but he definitely enjoys it. 

You….he has a complicated relationship with you. In game he adores you. He thinks you're perfect, and you'd be perfect together. Irl, he knows you two might not get along as well, with you being, well, you, and him making…questionable… decisions sometimes. You'd get on like oil and water….but if he had the chance, he'd be willing to try.

He has every. Single. One. Of. Your. Cards. Everyone of them is at their max levels. Every one of them has been groovified. He is almost psychotic about it. 

Your crush is the only card he has that he doesn't take care of. Again, to a psychotic degree. Your cards are the only ones he's maxed out, but he generally takes care of most of his cards. Not your in game crush. Despite his realistic take on how you two would be irl, he for some reason can't look at them without his brows furrowing and his teeth gnawing on his bottom lip.

He was playing it before the devs reached out to Vil for a review. It was his freedom away from his lessons where, playing as a peer named Yuu, he could interact with people who didn't care about his looks or behaviors. He could be as "masculine" as he wanted. (In quotation marks because Epel has some iffy views on what being a man means. I love him anyway 🥺)

Despite hating other people calling him cute…he thinks you are very cute. He is also certain you wouldn't call him cute, but "handsome" and "man of your dreams". He also just genuinely finds you to be a soothing presence. While some of your friends and coworkers cause chaos and various antics that move the plot along…you're just kind of there. A constant light. (You're the Silver, at least in his mind 😂)

He dreams of meeting you irl. He'd have you on his arm, and even Vil would be in awe of him. No one could call him cute with the cutest person ever on his arm. In exchange, he'd treat you like the deity you are. He'd get you anything you wanted and pamper you constantly.

He has three of your cards; a bunny cafe SSR, your casual R card, and your SR work outfit. He is so proud of these cards. Brags to anyone he finds who plays the game. Once Vil started playing, it was all he would talk about whenever he got mad at him.

[lawfulgoodsir]

the screw tourniquet, the HICKEY knife, and 19th-century women in trades

I'll be adding to this post as I find more details.

---

The same maker's mark decorates several recovered Franklin Expedition artifacts - including this tourniquet clamp recovered by Schwatka's 1879 expedition near Victory Point. (In this Petit-type model, a band would be threaded through the slots; the "screw" could turn, tightening the band around a limb, to stop circulation.)

("A Petit's-type wooden tourniquet screw clamp", Royal Museums Greenwich)

During the 2019 season, Parks Canada archaeologists observed another tourniquet clamp in the hold of the Erebus.

(I was slightly intoxicated when I first came across this image and thought it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.)

("This Petit-type tourniquet was documented during remotely-operated vehicle exploration of the main hold, below the lower deck. It almost certainly fell into the hold from above." - Parks Canada)

Because the artifact hasn't been recovered, I don't know the maker - I'd love to have a different angle on this photograph to see whether there are differences between the Schwatka tourniquet and the one currently in situ on the ship. (The thread seems longer on this one & I'm having difficulty visualizing the upper platform.) If this one also contains a Millikin maker's mark, that might indicate that expedition surgeons purchased multiples from the same company. If it's a different maker, that's exciting too - it could mean new leads on business records that might link certain surgeons to certain companies.

Astute observers and fans of the show may notice that another key artifact bears the same mark - the HICKEY knife introduced through John Rae's 1854 expedition. ("MILLIKIN 301 STRAND LONDON" is stamped on the blade.)

("Knife", Royal Museums Greenwich. Several other knives associated with the Franklin expedition are also labeled with Millikin's mark; they have been conveniently grouped in the museums' online database.)

So who was supplying these tools?

In most of the interpretive texts accompanying these artifacts, the authors identify John Millikin, surgeon's-instrument-maker, as the manufacturer. According to Dr. Brian Stevenson's biography entry, Millikin operated a business at 301 Strand from 1815 to 1833.

(William Battersby made a claim in 2009 based on this info that the HICKEY knife was a repurposed surgical blade - I disagree, as Millikin also advertised himself as a cutler at several points in his career. I'm intrigued by the fact that there are multiple different types of instrument sourced from the same manufacturer, though. I'm currently scouring the internet for more information on who was doing the buying.)

Dr. Stevenson's biography also reveals a potentially fascinating detail: that John Millikin died in 1833, leaving his business to his wife Martha. "...that my said Trustees shall permit my said Wife she remaining my Widow to carry on my Trade or Business of a Surgical Instrument Maker and to use and employ for that purpose such parts of my personal Estate and Effects as shall be then used or employed as capital therein..."

(John Millikin's will, sourced by Dr. Stevenson through ancestry.com. Highlights mine.)

Stevenson notes that Martha would move the business to 161 Strand "between 1844 and 1847" and would ultimately still operate it under her husband's name until her death around 1854. Obviously, things can be obtained secondhand - but if these artifact instruments were purchased new in that 1833-1844 window, there might be a chance that these naval officers interacted at 301 Strand not with John but with Martha Millikin, surgeon's-instrument-maker.

The world of nineteenth-century trades in London is a large one, and something in which I have absolutely no expertise, but I'm always curious as to the involvement of women in medical- and surgical-related businesses. At any rate, I think it might add yet another layer of complexity to the Franklin artifacts. :)

[theorchidfestival]

Setting the Scene

I wrote a little snippet to help set the scene for the festival, featuring Leander and my OC, Lavinia. It's suggestive but not explicit and contains some light temperature play. Hopefully it helps get those creative juices flowing!

The streets of Amaryllis District were bustling, full of color and life in celebration of the Orchid Festival. While there were many faces that Lavinia recognized either from her shop or the Wet Wick, there were many more that she'd never seen before, even some that, based on their choice of jewelry, seemed not to be from Lowtown at all. At least, she tried to focus on the faces, as looking anywhere else made her blush. Never before had she seen so much exposed skin in a public place! Everywhere she looked, people expressed their festive spirits with various levels of colorful dress: harnesses, chains, dyed feathers, black leather. Lavinia felt out of place walking down the street in her light blue sundress, even though she'd made the bold--for her comfort level--move of not wearing her corset underneath the dress.

She looked at Leander, who was dressed somewhat more casually in a sleeveless top and pants, and wondered how he usually dressed for this event when not trying to make her feel more comfortable. Was he an underwear and body paint type? Or did he prefer leather? Her imaginings occupied her long enough that she almost stepped in puddle of suspicious composition, saved only by Leander who tugged her by the hand he was holding to avoid it.

Once the puddle was avoided, Leander glanced down at her with a smile. "Distracted?" he asked.

Perhaps one day she would become immune to his smile, though she hoped not. Focused on where she was stepping, Lavinia felt herself blush, her mouth pressed into a slight pout. "It's just...a lot to take in is all. We have the Feast of Life in Stiving too, but it's...different."

At this, he laughed that musical laugh of his. "I'm sure it is!" he said. "Even in the rest of Eridia it's different, just a celebration of fertility honoring the Allmother. But Amaryllis District has taken it a step further."

That was an understatement! As unusual as the festival seemed to be, Lavinia supposed she could see the logical progression. Even back in Stiving where the Feast of Life was celebrated primarily by spending the day eating, drinking, and dancing, she knew it was tradition for many to make love to their special someone. It made sense that that particular tradition would flourish somewhere like Amaryllis District. What really surprised her was how the holiday itself had warped from a celebration of fertility to one of free love. And it lasted a week! It was fascinating!

"So what all does this whole thing entail?" Lavinia asked as they strolled down the street. Among the crowd were people passing out little flyers and advertising the special shows and events being put on by the local brothels and bars. On either side of the road, vendors had set up stalls. Some sold food such as novelty treats shaped like various body parts, foods that were meant to improve sexual desire or stamina, herbs and teas meant to increase or decrease fertility, and even something called a pineapple that was supposed to make certain body fluids taste sweeter. Other vendors sold toys and accessories meant to be used during the act, like lingerie, special ropes, and any number of things she'd never seen before the use of which she could only guess at.

As she finished her question, one stall in particular caught her eye. The vendor was apparently a glass blower, her wares all manner of shapes and colors that sparkled in the sunlight.

"Anything you want it to." Leander looked at her only to notice what had drawn her attention.

She didn't need to ask before he was steering her over to the glassblower's stall. There was just enough room for the two of them and the couple of other people who were already there to browse the beautifully-made toys. In spite of herself, Lavinia found herself drawn to the shelves of dildos. She would have expected the primary difference to be in size, but that was only one of many. There were different types of curvature, for one. But there were also bumps and ridges and bulges and different colors.

One in particular caught her eye. It had a bulbous head with a red flower inside of it. A green ridge spiraled down the outside of the shaft ending just above the base where there were little bumps. In terms of size, it reminded her of Leander, which made it that much more perfect.

Leander, who was standing close behind her with his hands affectionately rubbing her upper arms, followed her gaze to the toy she seemed to like. Sensing her hesitation to pick it up, he reached over her shoulder to grab it himself. As he held it in front of her, it began to glow with a swirling, green light that she recognized as his magic.

"Leander, what are you--?"

Before she could finish her question, he touched the glass head against her shoulder. It was cold--not cold enough to hurt, but cold enough that it felt nice given the warm weather as he slowly dragged the implement down her shoulder, then down to her clavicle. Lavinia leaned back against Leander and let her eyes flutter shut. Her breathing became heavier, and she lost herself to the sensation of cold glass against her skin.

Just as the glass inched down past the neckline of her dress, they were interrupted by someone loudly clearing their throat.

"Can I help you?" The voice of the glassblower startled Lavinia back to reality. Embarrassed, she looked away, her cheeks red as she muttered an apology.

Leander, who she imagined was also blushing, laughed awkwardly. "We'll take this one!"

[heckyeahponyscans]

Thoughts on MLP Make Your Mark Chapter 4, Ep 2: Top Remodel

This was a busy episode with many threads: Sunny learning that being a leader means you can't please everyone, Pipp and Hitch clearing rats out of the old Canterlogic factory, Zipp examining Twilight Sparkle's message, and Misty wrestling with her reluctance to follow Opaline's orders and kidnap Sparky.

The last two plotlines were definitely the most interesting, but I get the sense there's a playset coming up so they dutifully advertised Canterlogic, which got turned into "Canterlove Studios."

Interestingly, Sprout returned and (kind of) helped Pipp and Hitch with the rat infestation. I think this was to inform the viewers that he isn't going to be a background villain; he ends up giving his stamp of approval to the studio and seems to be on okay terms with the main cast. Also his family doesn't seem to own the factory anymore, since Sunny is doing whatever with it. My fanon theory is that his family had to pay restitution to Sunny for destroying her home and almost killing her with a giant robot so she now owns the place.

Oh, we also see Phyllis in the background so she's still around.

I think she's congratulating him on a good school report. I also think he plagiarized from some other pony.

Anyway, as Zipp replays Twilight Sparkle's message, she notes that Twilight said she put the magic of Equestria in "the crystals and the [static]".

My theory is they're in a tree (or maybe in nature itself?) because there's that tree in Maretime Bay that Zipp said "seemed familiar" (and there's even a picture of its blossoms on the wall), plus we get a shot of the book (from the winter holiday special) with unicorns gathered around a tree. If it's not in a tree then I don't know, maybe the Elements of Harmony are still kicking around.

Speaking of the book, I went back to the Winter Wish Day special to get a better look at it and noticed that the gilded figure on the right--which I had assumed to be a unicorn--has feathers. So she's an alicorn. The figure on the left has bone-like structures behind her head, not sure if those are meant to be wings or not. Also there's a star in the middle that looks a lot like Twilight Sparkle's symbol. So maybe the other two figures are Celestia and Luna? However the book is post-dystopia, as it also shows Zephyr Heights on the cover.

When Misty overhears the message Zipp is replaying and reports it to Opaline, Opaline describes the Unity Crystals as "conduits . . . elements . . . a very complex spell containing unity magic."

She also says that Twilight was the one who put all the magic of Equestria into the crystals. So, yeah, magicless Equestria was Twilight Sparkle's fault. On the one hand I'm not a fan of this; I don't like it when a sequel is like "Actually your heroes sucked, and they got everything wrong." (Looking at you, Star Wars sequel trilogy.) IMO they should have had Twilight live out her life as a successful monarch and then two or three rulers later everything got screwed up.

On the other hand, this dumb plan does seem exactly like something Twilight Sparkle would do, because she always had a certain naivety. I can picture how she would think it out: "There's strife between different kinds of ponies. How can I stop it? I know! Every pony loves having magic, so if magic only works when everyone is friends then the ponies will be motivated to get along! :D"

Anyway, Zipp deduces that the pony who wants the crystals must be extremely powerful--like an alicorn! I'm extremely curious to learn how much modern Equestrian ponies know about alicorns. Equestria has lost so much historical knowledge, does the general populace even remember Celestia and Luna? The townsfolk of Maretime Bay (except Sunny and her dad) didn't think it was possible that earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns had EVER gotten along, so a pony who had elements of all three breeds would probably seem outlandish. (Or a creature of nightmare.)

Random thoughts:

As in Tell Your Tale, Pipp has a love of spookiness. Did Zephyr Heights have an equivalent doll line to Monster High? (Monster Hay?) At any rate she's a fan of the Spooky Stable series.

"I ain't afraid of no ghosts!" Hee hee!

The oldest pony in Bridlewood is Elderflower.

Misty makes a junk-pony so she has someone to talk to. Oh Misty . . . She reluctantly concludes that she should kidnap Sparky even if it will make the other ponies sad. "After all, they already have each other." Man, that really tugged my heartstrings.

aw no, now I'm sadder

[real-globophobe]

Hiya! I'm writing a fanfic all of my very own at the moment, mostly focused around the concept of SpyDad and how much I love it :)) It's not out yet, but will be posted to AO3 once I'm happy, and I figured might as well do some advertising. So, here's the first lil section, just for a taster. Enjoy!

The Guilt of a Spy - By Real_Globophobe

What happens when a toughened, deadly Mercenary with a knack for backstabbing is haunted by the arrival of a blast from his past?

Chapter One – The Teufort Eight

The Mercenaries of Teufort receive some interruptive news.

When you’re a dangerous killer who gets nothing short of a thrill out of sliding a blade between an enemy’s shoulder blades, you rarely feel guilt. The satisfaction that came with decloaking right behind a distracted Engineer, or an unsuspecting Demoman, or a defenceless Medic... well, there was nothing like it. To know that a single stab was all it would take to bring the man down, it made him slightly giddy. But of course, he would never show it. He had a reputation to uphold, and he had seen one too many times when an accidental slip of the tongue, or an absent-minded facial expression, had led to merciless teasing.

If that ever happened to him, he would have to kill all his teammates and then himself.

Spy loved his job. He may have acted cold and meticulous when it came to his colleagues, but really, he often found himself grinning like an idiot to himself late at night, remembering earlier that day when Soldier had accidentally launched himself off a cliff, or when Pyro set the BLU base on fire before the match had even started (they insisted it was by accident - or at least as much as one can insist when all you can say is “mmmph, phmm, mmmh” - but Spy was certain he had seen them skirting around the edge of the group looking exceptionally shifty), or when Sniper shot his own shadow for the hundredth time.

Yes, Spy’s fellow Mercenaries were the most arrogant, hard-headed, stubborn bunch that you could have the displeasure of meeting, but really – although he would take it to the grave – he loved them all more than nearly anything.

Soldier, Pyro, Demo, Heavy, Engie, Medic, Sniper and Spy. The Teufort Eight. As close as close can be. (As long as you forget the time when Heavy thought someone had touched his beloved Sasha and threatened them all at gunpoint to fess up. Spy still had bruises from that day.) It had been that way for five years, when the group welcomed – with varying levels of enthusiasm – the newly qualified Sniper to the team. Mundy quickly proved himself a worthy ally, picking off a respectable sixteen BLUs in a single round. After that, the RED team truly accepted the Australian as one of their own, and the group was completed. Perfect.

For Spy, life had never been better.

***

“Hello Mercs!” boomed Saxton Hale, standing on at least three medkits to make himself seen. Spy smirked to himself, leaning on the shadowy wall behind him and stealing a swift glance at Engineer and Heavy. The height difference between the two had always amused him, and it became even more obvious in times like this; Heavy was looking at Saxton almost straight ahead, while Engie was noticeably having to crane his neck upwards. It’s the little things in life, thought Spy, fighting to keep from looking amused and turning his attention back to the broad-shouldered Australian.

Hale was one of the most physically interesting people that Spy had ever seen. The man had calves the size of the Merc’s head, biceps that may have been basketballs, a pretty impressive moustache, and (most notably for everyone that met him) chest hair that took the form of Saxton’s homeland.

Spy recalled first joining the team eleven years ago. As was customary, before he was sent out onto the field, he met Hale himself, and for the entirety of the meeting the Frenchman was flitting his eyes between his supplier’s face and his chest.

Spy liked to think that he had gotten over this fascination. He hadn’t. The truth was that the Australia still caught his attention even now. He grimaced, trying fervently to snap himself out of it and hear what the speaker had to say.

“As you know,” yelled Saxton, smiling confidently. “It has been a good few years since we have had an addition to this group. Of course, we at Mann. Co are delighted with the unique uses of the weapons supplied to you over the years – whether it’s been twenty or just five.” Spy noticed Saxton glance at Sniper, grinning warming. Sniper crossed his arms and held Hale’s gaze, not returning the smile but frowning slightly. Waiting for him to get to the point.

Spy bit his lip. Don’t smile.

Saxton looked away, not outwardly miffed.

“But, if I’m gonna be honest with you... it’s gettin' a bit boring.”

Various sounds of indignation and disbelief rang out. Spy even heard one or two guns being taken from their holsters. Saxton must have realised it too, because for the first time that Spy could remember, a flash of what looked like fear flashed across Hale’s face. But he didn’t care. In fact, it was somewhat gratifying to see.

Boring? Boring?! Sixteen people fighting, dying, reviving, fighting, dying, reviving, every single day for years on end... was boring? Spy was in two minds to pull out his own revolver.

“W- Wait! All of you! Just... hear me out!” called Saxton, visibly wobbling on the stack of medkits. A sudden intrusive thought told Spy to cloak up and push him off, and he very nearly laughed. The idea of such a large, muscular man toppling over onto the ground like some overgrown toddler certainly was enticing, but the last thing Spy wanted was for his job to be on the line - no matter how ‘boring’ it was. Hale would probably just brush it off but, in Spy’s opinion, it just wasn’t worth it.

The nose of Soldier’s rocket launcher suddenly came into view, poking above the heads of the people between him and Spy. And pointed right at Saxton’s moustache.

Before Spy had a chance to even consider an appropriate reaction to this newest turn of events, a completely different voice make itself heard over the general chaos of the Mercs.

“Listen up fellas! Let’s give him a chance to explain himself.” Engineer stepped forward, arms folded. He often managed to impress Spy in the way that he could convey both friendliness and hostility simultaneously, and as he approached their weapons supplier, the masked Mercenary smiled to himself, making sure not to drop his cigarette.

Engie stepped up to the base of the medkit pile and turned to face his co-workers, a determined expression on his face. “I say that we hear Saxton out. And if he don’t have a good excuse for calling our job boring...” Engineer smiled a lop-sided smile at Soldier and reached out to grasp his friend’s shoulder. “Well, then I say you got a good chance to practice with that rocket launcher a’ yours.”

I'll be updating when it goes on the air! Have fun :)

[prancingintheshadows]

A RWBY RPG Idea: Formations

I'm not a game designer, nor am I someone with the skills or money to make a game. I'm just a guy who needs a hyper fixation to keep himself awake during the night shift

So, this is it.

RWBY's one of my favorite series and video games are some of my favorite forms of media, so obviously this was inevitable. Though I have to preface I have zero idea how deep I'll go with this idea. I'm labelling this title as if there's multiple parts but this is all I really have.

"But why an RPG?" The imaginary person asks.

Well, there was a couple of reasons. For one, I wanted to be somewhat realistic. I love RWBY and it's pretty popular, but it's not like it's got the ability to go for a full triple AAA game. I think a character action game would be great, but the amount of physics and work needed to put into those might be out of the ball park. With an RPG, you can still have impressive attack animations and action, just without the need for complex physics and enemy attacks and hit boxes and whatever. Fighting games are also in the ring, but Fighting games tend to be fighting games first and vehicles for narrative last. RWBY has gotten increasingly story and character driven, so I think an RPG is just a better fit for RWBY than a fighting game would be if it wanted to explore the world of Remnant.

Two, I think RPG is somewhat fitting. Monty was a huge Final Fantasy fan, and certain elements of RWBY, like Dust basically being materia.

Another very important reason is a thematic one. It seems to me, based on Grimm Eclipse and Arrowfell, they always want to include team mechanics in these games. Team up attacks in Grimm Eclipse are more common from my experience in multiplayer and Arrowfell necessitates using all 4 girls and was initially advertised with multiplayer. I think an RPG is a great setting to do team stuff with the least hassle, whether that be via dual techs or all out attacks or pair units or whatever else you can think of.

But now let's get into it

Story

I'm not doing story.

No, seriously.

This is a big limiting factor here since a story can often help give a game direction for its mechanics and character design, but I'm not going to pretend to know how to best make a story for RWBY. You can place it in Beacon, in Atlas, in Vacuo, in some sort of extra adventure in the Ever After on their way home, in some side continuity- Point is, that topic is so broad and vague that it's almost pointless for me to speculate on what it could be about, especially since RWBY's story isn't finished.

Gameplay

Final Fantasy XIII

Say what you will about the game, most have, but it's a heckin good battle system. It's also one of the first to try to be more actiony and cinematic without fully delving into action rpg, which is good for this. I'd love to have a FF7 Remake style RWBY game, but that's super complicated and, as mentioned, I'm not trying to imagine something too improbably here.

But there's one big reason I gravitated to XIII: Paradigms.

To me, this is a great system to enable team game play in a few possible ways.

I want to actually preface this by mentioning the idea I had before this one. This isn't vital to the gameplay idea, just my thoughts, so you can skip this if you want to. Long story short: I finally played the fangame Sonic RPG episode 10. It was good. It also has an ATB style gameplay, like XIII, so it's actually relevant. The Drive system got me thinking though. It's named after various Sonic characters and gives Sonic a stance system essentially. What if those were just actual team up formations? Like if the game was primarily Ruby calling in Weiss, Blake, and Yang for different formations. Then I just decided, fuck it, why do just Ruby teaming up with the others? Why not just do the whole team? (The Ruby main character with calling in different team mates to back her up is still a good idea though. I'll keep that one in the back pocket)

Back to the important bits: Let's give a rundown for the uninitiated. XIII's combat system doesn't use turns, and instead uses a meter that builds over time to let you perform actions. What actions you can perform are determined by your Paradigm. Each Paradigm focused on something different: Damage, chain building, tanking, healing, buffing, and debuffing.

So, what if I just used Team RWBY's team up formations as stand ins for paradigms? I mean, with 4 members, there would be 6 team up attacks, a perfect number to fit 6 paradigms. Now, these aren't one to one. I did want to take into account how the team up is depicted in RWBY to inform how they should function. This means I've actually modified some of the paradigms to split their roles or take on new ones to satisfy this.

Bumblebee was easy. It fills the slot of Commando, the damage dealer. It's big, strong, but unable to pin down the paladin without assistance. The same is true of XIII's Commando. A big damage dealer, but it needs help from Synergists's buffs and Ravager's chain building to deal it's huge damage.

Freezerburn: Another easy one. FB was used to blind the paladin, so it's easily the Sabateur, the debuffer.

Ladybug is where things slowly begin to shift. My current idea is to make it Ravager-esque. Ravager builds up the stagger meter on enemies, eventually breaking the enemy and letting you deal several times the damage you normally can. There's some differences here though. Ravager uses elemental attacks, this doesn't. I'm also considering whether or not stagger is the bar this kind of game should use. Building a more tradition limit break meter is in the back of my mind, maybe unleashing dual techs or a full team combo. Either way, with this dealing a huge combo of hits, it's obviously the meter builder.

Ice Flower is where I start making bigger changes. This is one of the buffers. Yes, one of them. I've decided to split the buffing between two roles, both of them featuring Weiss actually due to how she uses her glyphs. Because of this split, I'm actually splitting a lot of the other roles too and stitching them together. Due to how this Ice Flower is depicted, I'm thinking adding the offensive and elemental buffs here, while also giving it some attack options. Not sure where they'd lean to in comparison BB, LB, and even FB (since Sabo actually deals some damage), but that could be figured out later. I wanted to figure out overall roles first

Checkmate is the other buffer. You'd think with Schnee-brand haste, it'd be offensive, but nope! I'm making it a defensive role. Yes, not just buffer, role. It's half defensive buffs from Synergist and half Sentinel. Lightning's Sentinel in particular for more of a dodge focused build. Why? Honestly, it was inspired by Amity Arena's interpretation of this team up, being focused on negating attacks and such.

Which brings us to the Unnamed and Unseen Ruby and Yang Team up. That really needs a name at least. So, I'm actually glad this hasn't been shown off. It means I can do whatever I want with it. This makes it perfect to be the only healing role via Ruby's silver eyes and hopeful spirit, as well as pick up the last Sentinel moves with Yang's bulk.

... Alright, that's all I got. Ramble over. We'll see if I make up any more ideas during work. Maybe, maybe not

[shortroundandeasytotrick]

The bbeg of the Never After is Homogenization.

~beware my ramble~

The erasure and sanitization of stories that then get commodidified and distributed on mass to be the "right version" of the story that then become almost the "only version" of the story. Erasing centuries of culture and influence, beliefs and experiences, real world problems that these stories portray, and replacing them with the most marketable version.

And in a way, the stories themselves end up cannibalizing their different versions to fit in as the "right version" or just the nature of time combining and losing stories over time.

Like all of the worlds and groups are from folklore. Stories that have been told over and over again, that change to fit the world and the message that needs to be conveyed. Folklore isn't supposed to have a "right version". Much like weaving, the basics of cloth weaving are very similar all over the world but what is made with those techniques, the styles and additional learned cultural practices, can be so very different or so weirdly similar you wouldn't believe they came from different places across the globe from one another.

But in our more modern era where all of our stories feel factory made, we know where they come from, they aren't "folk" in so so many ways. The closest we get to folk media these days are MEMES. They are passed around and shared, often the original poster gets lost or is not common knowledge, have real world effect and meaning, and exist mainly in a specific group culture (internet culture, tumblr culture, etc) To quote my old professor "All folklore are memes, but not all memes are folklore" Think Creepy pasta vs horror movie. Internet legends, "send to 10 friends or blank will happen to you". BLORBO is a folk term. Slang in general I believe is counted as folk based. FANFICTION IN MANY CASES IS CONSIDERED FOLKORE BTW and I find that sooo delightful.

And whats kills memes faster than anything? The commodification of it! When companies go "ooo that'll make us some money" and take it and sell it back to us for profit. Often these days it feels choc full of advertisements and versions of propaganda.

In this era of Disney overlords defining the genre of fairytales to the point that they have set the standard for what is cannon for certain stories they tell. Like the first time I found REAL fairytales I was like 9 and cried myself to sleep because they got so dark, and how were we (me and my mom) to know with how we expected the disneyfied version of the story. Ironically it could be said that the Grimm's Brothers are guilty of the exact same thing in their era, commodifying and centralizing their versions of the stories.

I could also get into the demonization of tropes (lookin at you cinema sins) because tropes are the building blocks of story telling. Common themes and elements that we recognize because they MEAN something to us.

But, and I know what site I'm on, fanfiction is a great example of taking those stories and in some ways turning them into folklore. Its not because we believe we can tell the stories better, in most cases at least, but rather that we take the elements, characters, ideas that we connect to that we love and mean something to us, and make play with it because we have our own stories to tell.

The Homogenization and restricting of what counts and what doesn't ignores the importance of the differences in the stories.

Ylfa's "right" version is a lot like how the animals describe being part of Aesop's fables. There's no nuance. There's no room for change and adaptation. And in a world ever changing, even in bad ways, you have to change to make it work. Even Gerard's "Sometimes you have to be scary in a scary world" touches on this. The barebones basic Little Red Ridinghood is unrealistic in its simplicity. And also kinda blocks out how that whole experience would still be heavily traumatic for anyone (being attacked by a wolf and seeing your granny crawl out of the wolf's destroyed body ain't pretty) , even if it is better than the experience in this life. Meanwhile the more they die, the more versions of their stories get cannibalized and lost to time. Much like how folklore and stories die when culture dies.

Also Stepmom literally consumes story elements into non existence.

Nom Nom

[pink-strawberry-kissess]

I'll call myself clown anon to keep this train of thought going. I, and I'm sure others, would love to hear your thoughts on remake for 6. Also, sorry about the unfortunate initials, wasn't even thinking about that. :/

Before getting into the hypothetical 6 remake though, I just want to say I think 6 was the perfect opportunity to kill off Chris. Piers could've taken his role and maybe Capcom would've stuck with Ada being in Village. Oh well.

Soooo, I thought a bit about how to divvy up certain things from Chris' campaign if Capcom were to cut it. I think another idea would be merging Jake and Sherry's rescue - or really all of Chris' chapter 5 - into J/S campaign, make it a self rescue like getting out of the lab, and turn Ustanek into a final boss for their chapter 4 or maybe just make it an Edonia thing. Cause someone needs to deal with HAOS and I don't know if something that big, meaning plot relevant, should be cut.

Some of the Carla encounters might be able to be folded into Ada's campaign. I want to see them interact more so we could see even more of Ada's reactions. Might also be nice to see more of Leon interacting with Carla and maybe actually spotting the differences between the love of his life and the woman that was genetically altered to look like her... aside from the obvious outfit change.

I think a dev stated somewhere that the standoff was one of the first ideas they had for 6 and they built around it. I would love to see more of that if they were to focus the story. I want to see more antagonist!Chris and I could see him being turned into a stalker-type enemy for Ada's campaign except obviously you can't kill him.

love it

clown anon hehe

it's okay, i'm just chronically online so i saw it immediately and was like oh no let's change that (it's okay, it's probably better that you didn't see it)

considering that in concept re6, they WERE going to kill off Chris but decided not to. i think that the fact that capcom had been playing with this idea since like 2012 or much earlier says a lot about what they wanted to do with chris. that being said with village, i guess that idea could be scrapped now.

i idea of ada and chris is village would've been amazing but oh well, capcom has been shafting ada for the past while now :| i think most of your ideas are solid. to be frank i don't think i can accurately decide what should or should not be cut lol. i don't have every single campaign memorized.

(that's a lie i mostly have leon/helena's and Ada's in my head rent free)

i feel like a lot of carla's interactions are kind of REPEATED in Ada's so it makes sense if they're cut out of Chris's. i would've loved more exploration of Leon figuring out that it's not Ada. I mean people like to be like "OH HOW COULD HE NOT HAVE FIGURED IT OUT"

WOULD YOU?

WOULD YOU HAVE?

With a ALMOST CARBON COPY OF SOMEONE YOU KNOW.

i wish there was something more definitive to allow leon to discover that it wasn't Ada. (but also to the audience. yes i'm bitter that ada is still being blamed for carla's actions.) the fact that they fight between chris and leon was like HEAVILY advertised is also more reason that they would push for that again imo

[turtle-steverogers]

Mikey!! You said you wanted HCs? I got some. (I should really be going to bed, but oh well)

1. Steve loves closets. Any dark enclosed space, really, but closets are his favorite. It has something to do with the memory of hiding under his ma’s dresses when he was little. Now, whenever Bucky comes home and can’t find Steve anywhere else, he goes to their closet, where he can almost be guaranteed to find Steve behind their dress pants

2. When Steve’s by himself, he reverts to speaking in Irish. He doesn’t even know he’s doing it, it’s so natural. Bucky started learning the language through it

3. Bucky does the same thing with Yiddish

4. Steve refuses to be the little spoon. He tried once but felt so exposed he had to ask Bucky to switch

5. Steve likes Hanukkah more than he likes Christmas. It has nothing to do with the presents, though he likes the opportunity to give Bucky gifts. What Steve loves most is the lighting of the menorah and the celebration of light. He finds it beautiful. Plus, the way Bucky looks when lighting it, so confident and happy, doesn’t hurt either

6. Steve can’t cook for shit, but it doesn’t stop him from trying, especially because it usually means Bucky’s plastered to his side to make sure he doesn’t set the house on fire

7. Alpine never takes to Steve, but it doesn’t stop Steve from loving her

Okay, I should probably go to bed now. Hope you get some joy from these!

oh MAN I GOT JOY FROM ALL OF THESE!!! THANKYOU!!

Also on bad nights and during panic attacks, Steve tends to huddle into the closet, shaking as he presses his forearms or hands to his ears to block out the noise. When this happens, Bucky makes sure to keep the lights off when he goes in to find Steve, bringing ear plugs with him and helping Steve get them in his ears before wrapping his arms and squeezing tightly until Steve is breathing steadily again.

And Irish was never something Sarah really wanted Steve to advertise that he spoke due to the danger of advertising that they were Irish when he was younger, so he always jumps a little when someone walks in on him speaking it until one day Clint is like, "Yo, are you speaking Irish? That's so cool!" And Steve just smiles all small and pleased to himself and learns not to be ashamed of that part of him anymore.

Bucky barely notices he's doing it, but sometimes he becomes hyper aware of himself when he speaks Yiddish and it always sparks a certain, concentrated yearning for his ma that he remedies by journaling a little about her.

Ahh I love this!! I'm personally a fan of little spoon!steve so he can get all the squeezes, but I also love this because you're so right, he would feel so exposed. Really, his ideal position is facing Bucky and tangling their legs together.

Everything about this!!!! And one year he sketches Bucky lighting the Menorah from memory, capturing the pride and confidence and gentle expertise on his face from scratch and gifts it to Bucky that year. Bucky definitely cries and hangs it in his office.

PLEASE I LOVE THIS. Because Steve may not be the best cook, but he's so passionate and tries so hard to succeed in each of his recipes, and really, that's, like, 70% of it. Part of it is healing that younger part of himself who never had enough food to experiment with and developed a pretty bad relationship with food through different circumstances involving both poverty and his dad's abuses. So having this control and developing a love and appreciation for food through creation and passion is so good for him.

It's because they're too similar. And the kicker is, both Alpine and Steve love each other, you'll just never catch them dead admitting it. Tails flicking and chins turning up and glaring contests that have Bucky rolling his eyes and scooping up Alpine while simultaneously kissing Steve's chin. But when it comes down to it, they'd probably die for each other.

Thank you for these! I hope you have a good night, my friend!

[cypheroxide]

WARNING FOR ALL MALES FROM ME when buying a security device for a loved one.

Last weekend I saw something at The Gun Show that sparked my interest. I was looking for a little something different for my wife ######. What I came across was a 100,000-volt, pocket/purse-sized Tazer.

The effects of the Taser were supposed to be short lived, with no long term adverse effect on your assailant, allowing her adequate time to retreat to safety...??

WAY TOO COOL! Long story short, I bought the device and brought it home.. I loaded two AAA batteries in the darn thing and pushed the button. Nothing! I was disappointed I learned, however, that if I pushed the button and pressed it against a metal surface at the same time, I'd get the blue arc of electricity darting back and forth between the prongs.

AWESOME!!! Unfortunately, I have yet to explain to ###### what that burn spot is on the face of her microwave.

Okay, so I was home alone with this new toy, thinking to myself that it couldn't be all that bad with only two AAA batteries, right?

There I sat in my recliner, my cat Leo looking on intently (trusting little soul) while I was reading the directions and thinking that I really needed to try this thing out on a flesh & blood moving target.

I must admit I thought about zapping Leo (for a fraction of a second) and then thought better of it. He is such a sweet cat. But, if I was going to give this thing to my wife to protect herself against a mugger, I did want some assurance that it would work as advertised.

Am I wrong?

So, there I sat in a pair of shorts and a singlet with my reading glasses perched delicately on the bridge of my nose, directions in one hand, and Taser in another.

The directions said that:

a one-second burst would shock and disorient your assailant;

a two-second burst was supposed to cause muscle spasms and a major loss of bodily control; and

a three-second burst would purportedly make your assailant flop on the ground like a fish out of water.

Any burst longer than three seconds would be wasting the batteries.

All the while I'm looking at this little device measuring about 5" long, less than 3/4 inch in circumference (loaded with two itsy, bitsy AAA batteries); pretty cute really, and thinking to myself, 'no possible way!'

What happened next is almost beyond description, but I'll do my best.

I'm sitting there alone, the cat looking on with his head cocked to one side so as to say, 'Don't do it stupid,' reasoning that a one second burst from such a tiny lil ole thing couldn't hurt all that bad.. I decided to give myself a one second burst just for heck of it.

I touched the prongs to my naked thigh, pushed the button, and...

HOLY MOTHER OF GOD. WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION. WHAT THE... !!! I AM CERTAIN I JUST MET JESUS!!!

I'm pretty sure Hulk Hogan ran in through the side door, picked me up in the recliner, then body slammed us both on the carpet, over and over and over again. I vaguely recall waking up on my side in the fetal position, with tears in my eyes, body soaking wet, both nipples on fire, testicles nowhere to be found, with my left arm tucked under my body in the oddest position, and tingling in my legs! The cat was making meowing sounds I had never heard before, clinging to a picture frame hanging above the fireplace, obviously in an attempt to avoid getting slammed by my body flopping all over the living room.

Note:

If you ever feel compelled to 'mug' yourself with a Taser,

one note of caution:

There is NO such thing as a one second burst when you zap yourself! You will not let go of that thing until it is dislodged from your hand by a violent thrashing about on the floor!

A three second burst would be considered conservative!

A minute or so later (I can't be sure, as time was a relative thing at that point), I collected my wits (what little I had left), sat up and surveyed the landscape.

· My bent reading glasses were on the top of the TV.

· The recliner was upside down and about 8 feet or so from where it originally was.

· My triceps, right thigh and both nipples were still twitching.

· My face felt like it had been shot up with Novocain, and my bottom lip weighed 88 lbs.

· I had no control over the drooling.

· Apparently I had crapped in my shorts, but was too numb to know for sure, and my sense of smell was gone.

· I saw a faint smoke cloud above my head, which I believe came from my hair.

I'm still looking for my testicles and I'm offering a significant reward for their safe return!

PS: My wife can't stop laughing about my experience, loved the gift and now regularly threatens me with it!

(found on the inter webs, not really me)

[vancekilo]

Curse of Strahd liveblog #2

I will refrain from making an Electric Boogaloo joke.

And then there were four... We had someone drop out. I'm pretty bummed about it but we were able to pick up two new players so that's cool! Our lineup for this session (June 30th) was...

Aspen the ??? Ranger

Ignacia the Aasimar Hexadin (aka me!)

Nadja the ??? Artificer

Stranger the ??? Rogue

We spent the night with the Vistani again. After being told a story by one of the men, we decided to check out what he'd told us. Basically, Strahd had a big fight with a wizard and the wizard fell into the Tser Falls and disappeared afterwards, leaving no trace of himself or a body beyond some residue from his spells. We spent a WONDERFUL amount of time deciding whether to approach the falls from the top or bottom before one of us realized the horses we bought would be hard pressed to climb the falls either way lol. So we ended up going to the bottom of the waterfall. Stranger rolled well and was able to swim to the bottom of the river and found some broken goggles, described as the kind that protect your eyes from sunlight sensitivity, but they are broken. I'm confused if these are supposed to be the wizard's? A wizard vampire? Wizire?

After that we decided to head to Valaki. On the way we heard a ton of wolves howling, and while we ended up bypassing them with a frankly appalling group stealth roll (I got a Nat 1 which put us at a measly 10), DM revealed that she'd rolled a *17*! to determine how many wolves. Wolves have pack tactics. I almost TPK'd us with a stealth roll. You're welcome, friends :)

After that we found a windmill that we were warned by a wereraven contained hags that people brought their children to in exchange for pies. Now, I might be in the minority, but that sounds like the pies are the children.

Also Aspen refused to not shoot the raven when she was a raven and I had to use my laying on of hands to heal her so she wouldn't, like, drop dead while explaining to us about the hags. Thanks, ASPEN.

After that we headed into Valaki proper. We talked our way in after noting more wolves, but in the form of heads on pikes outside the walls (pikes more like yikes am I right fellow teens?)

This is where it gets funnier because there is just a certain type of NPC that I love to be a dick to. It's a curse, honestly, but I can't help it. We ended up going to the Baron's house after seeing fliers his men were putting up, advertising different festivals. The wolf's head on a pike festival and the blazing sun festival.

So the Baron's been throwing festivals daily? weekly? hourly? in an attempt to get his people to lift their spirits and to bring back "the light". I just... Or rather, Ignacia, just could not wrap her mind around this. She kept trying to get him to build a school. I know I was annoying my fellow party members but I couldn't let it go. You know what makes kids happy? FOOD AND EDUCATION. I'm not sorry!!

Like, yes, he wants to help the "mist-touched" among his people but like, if they don't have souls I don't think fried dough is gonna do anything.

Anyway we wrapped back around to the pies and the Baron brought us two. Ignacia went to take a nibble to see if it was human flesh. Or child flesh, as she said, which made Nadja question 1. Why does Ignacia know what human flesh tastes like and 2. Is there a difference between adult and child? Shush. You don't know what Ignacia's done in her life >:(

Anyway Ignacia is now addicted to dream pies, Stranger pinged as "really fuckin' weird" when Aspen used her primeval awareness to check the town for undead, and the second pie is in Aspen's bag... calling to Ignacia... eat me...

And that's all for session 2! Next week we'll be intro'ing two new party members. I'm excited to see what they bring to the table!

Have a lovely 4th of July if you don't celebrate it, and have a terrible one if you do.

[rofoundsomethinginteresting]

Playing around with something

So I saw @bouncybrain 's FEC idea and I'm pretty hooked! I thought I'd give it a little go, not sure what's happening exactly but I love their posts about the FECs.

Also (addressing BouncyBrain directly), I hope you don't mind that I changed a couple of things! If any of this bothers you, just let me know and I'll either alter it or take it down!

Fazbear Inc. had gone through many changes over the years. They were the manufacturers of some of the most advanced electronics known to mankind. They were family-friendly entertainers. They were the source of tragedy and many disappearances. And finally, in their latest iteration, they were educators.

Fazbear Exploration Centers were marketed as educational entertainment. Schools all over the world set up trips to visit with their students. Even colleges had excursions to the Centers, mostly for STEM and Education majors, the former taking a look at some of the exhibits - particularly the genuine fossils and bones in Monty's Mesozoic Maze - and the latter learning different teaching styles and techniques through seminars. There were locations all over the world, though they varied with the programs they contained. After all, if you allow for each Center to be a perfect copy, what’s to keep your customers trying to see them all and therefore more money streaming in?

Throughout the years, many different attractions had come and gone, some being decommissioned and others simply moved to a quieter location. The central location, and the one with only the latest and greatest, housed six attractions. Occasionally, the company would briefly add another, only to shift them to a different location - like when they created the Mr. Hippo animatronic, which had been removed quite quickly.

Freddy was a Fazbear model, the company had always worn the name with a pride that extended to all of the bear animatronics. He was the face of the company, appearing on all of the advertisements and the majority of their merchandise. There had been many Freddys before him, but he had managed to capture the public's attention in a way that no other had. He was, across the board, the favourite.

He taught about many different subjects, ranging from the ecosystem to different facets of every day life. He always worried that the others would see it as him stepping on their toes, but only Monty ever felt that way. Contrary to popular belief, Freddy did have favourite subjects himself. He loved teaching about habitats and the creatures that lived in them, especially when it came to the bears his form was based on. Forests were something that could capture his interest so that he felt like he'd never get enough. The section that was his was called Freddy's Forest Foray, and was set up both high in the trees and within deep caves that seemed to go for miles.

Chica was another model that had been modernized over the years. She, along with Freddy, Bonnie, and Foxy, was considered a "classic" in that there was almost always a version at each restaurant and later, Center. The model at the Hurricane Center was part of the "nutrition and food science" exhibition. She would walk the guests through what our food really is and where it comes from, whether that's the processing or evolution/breeding of certain plants and animals to become what we know today.

She was an animatronic of taste, in her opinion. She loved to wear different outfits, try different food combinations though most of those were actual trash - hey, reduce, reuse, recycle, right? She was seen as an icon of femininity, though she certainly wasn't the only female-coded animatronic in the Center.

Roxanne Wolf was a new animatronic compared to many, she was in charge of the "Industrial and Technological advancement" section. Anything from cars, to the historical progression that she and her fellow animatronics had gone through were under her purview. Her section got a lot of attention from the older crowd, college students in particular who wanted to change the world. She was programmed to know how everything worked and was built, but she also knew when to keep things hush. After all, the company would not be happy to discover her giving away the secrets behind their developments!

Her location was called Roxie's Racing Revolution, since one of the most popular entertainments within was her prowess on the racetrack. She could out-build and out-drive just about anyone who decided to give it a go.

Montgomery Gator was also newer, he was set to focus on the natural world, both what is current and all the way back to the beginning of the world. Granted, he did tend to get a lot of questions about dinosaurs, including whether he was in fact one. Thankfully that gave him the perfect segway into talking about just how perfect alligators are, after all, how else would their forms have been basically left without evolutionary progress for so many eons?

Monty's Mesozoic Maze was also jokingly called "the Bone Zone", mostly by the animatronic himself. Monty's main mission was to collect as many hats as he could. His personal favourit was the little excavator's hat that hat atop his unstyled mo-hawk whenever the Center was open. After the doors closed, though, he was quite happy to dip into the styling clay and get those strands air-borne.

Not everything in the FEC focused on STEM subjects. There were other programs, like DJ Music Man's, which was music and arts oriented. Sadly, it wasn't the most popular part of the Center, though it still did well enough that the giant animatronic wasn't going to go the way of Mr. Hippo any time soon. People actually tended to migrate there for the music or art sessions more than anything. There was a steady crowd interested in the music and art history side, but many more were there for a hands-on experience.

Every so often, which was never as often as DJMM would prefer, his section would be rented out for a concert that he would get to perform. He always relished those days, when he wouldn't be teaching tone-deaf kids that thought they had talent how to hit an A minor and would instead be serenading a crowd with his own hits.

The newest, continuous attraction to the Hurricane-based Center, was a double act. They had a huge, grand part of the Center, with a focus on two subjects - space and the sea. At first, many were confused about how those two could even be connected. Then the anthropological animatronic, Foxy, showed how humanity has connected the two for most of its existence. Seafarers had always used the stars as a guiding tool, mapping out both the waters below them and the constellations above.

Sun and Moon were the animatronics in charge of this section. Sun was based on a few different tropical fish, with bright yellow colouring, as well as the actual sun. His side of the Center was always well lit, with schools of fish and coral reefs that people could watch for hours. As well as teaching about oceanic life and the environment, he taught their guests about meteorology and how to read the clouds.

Moon's half of their section was pitch-dark. There were all kinds of bio-luminescent fish and features to help the humans see, but the real star of his show was the planetarium his side of the tank was set up to mimic. He could educate about the stars and planets throughout the universe, and then explain what little we know of the deepest parts of the ocean.

Due to the sheer magnitude of their exhibit, Moon and Sun had a spot in the middle that was very popular for people to relax in. Since it wasn't as bright as Sun's side, nor as dark as Moon's, it was just right for parents to catch their breath from chasing after their kids all day and there was plenty of plush seating and even a small cafe/gift shop. There were toys and plushies as well for the little ones to enjoy while their parents de-compressed, all available for purchase in the gift shop, of course.

In fact, Sun and Moon's spot was so popular that people, locals in particular, tended to get tickets just to spend time there. They could let their kids run and play, while being able to spend some time either chatting with the rest of the parents, or watching the aquarium-like display from the comfort of the cafe. The nickname "the Daycare" had been thrown around enough for it to stick due to this habit and atmosphere.

Sun and Moon themselves were modeled after different species of fish, with Moon mimicking deep sea creatures' features and Sun resembling those found in a coral reef. This had the added effect of them being mostly bound to the tank that covered the circumference of their area. With such drastically different habitats being needed for the actual fish that lived in their tank, the space was large enough to allow for plenty of entertainment pieces in the center.

The only time the animatronics left their tank was to be taken care of by their handler. Due to their physiology, they needed a handler of their own instead of making the long trek to Parts and Services for any necessities. It was already quite the pain to get them out of the tank and into their smaller version of P&S, nevermind lugging them all that way. And it would be lugging, Sun and Moon had one major flaw in their design, there was no real way for them to transport themselves around out of water. This was mostly due to the owners not wanting any issues with them leaving the Tank, but it led to more mischief on the boys' end regardless.

They always seemed to need a new handler, unlike the other animatronics at the Hurricane Center. For the most part, they stuck with one after finding someone who meshed well with their personalities, but the Twins. They were a completely different story.

[kaimelia]

heyy!

i saw your queer book rec post, and have been meaning to reach out. thank you so much for sharing <3

i've read a bunch of these and would probably give them similar ratings, so i was wondering if you could elaborate on your thoughts about yerba buena?

it's been on my tbr for a hot minute and i was honestly so stoked about nina lacour's debut into more adult novel territory. i read all of her ya stuff as a teen and i remember really loving it. i haven't reread or thought about it much recently, so idk if it's just nostalgia or the fact that my taste has changed, but i'm almost certain that my opinion on it will be different now than it was then. what i'm really asking as a reader (fan?) of nina lacour is the reason behind the lukewarm rating + is it worth going there with yerba buena + any other thoughts you have, ofc?

thanks so much again for sharing, defs poaching some of these for my tbr

happy pride x

hi anon!

i was equally as stoked for her adult debut! i definitely enjoyed the book a ton but with nina lacour's writing, I often find myself let down by the ending of the books, and I had the same experience with yerba buena. the book was a lot more contemporary than i expected it to be, which may partly be my fault for just jumping in to a book because it was queer and had her name on it! this was advertised to me as a romance but it definitely falls better into a literary fiction category. it was very character-driven rather than plot-driven if that makes sense.

i also personally would have LOVED to see more of the characters and their relationship. i felt like the two MCs were incredibly well-developed on their own but the relationship wasn't as developed as it could be. i also found one of the main characters much more interesting than the other

the beginning of the book was also a bit confusing - you learn about the characters' teen/younger years but the timelines are not the same between those stories and it's not specified when things are happening. when their stories finally connected I did find myself super drawn in, though.

i think it's definitely worth reading if you enjoy literary fiction, but if you're looking for more of a romance then it may not be for you. also, definitely check content/trigger warnings before reading! but, I totally still recommend it regardless of all of this! the book had a very comforting vibe in a way I can't totally explain.

also re my rating system: it's a total mess. i like NEVER give books under a 3 star unless I absolutely hate it but if it's not an immediate LOVE I don't give it above four so I feel like so many end up in that weird 3ish area where it's not clear. i just don't wanna be mean giving under a 3 star it feels so harsh I DONT KNOW WHY

but anyway! i hope this was helpful in some way...my ask and dms are open if you have any other questions or want to talk!

[0aurelion-sol0]

I'm gonna be frankly honest. I'm probably going to get slandered for it anyway whether it's here, Twitter, Reddit or else where. Go for it, I don't care, I am not a bringer of truths and I never said I was, I am just some weird theorists online who can be wrong just as anybody can. We have been called every names and even toxic when we are literally the one being attacked, non-stop because we don't believe and didn't agree with the main views and thoughts of the fandom. Hypocrite much but I digress.

I am happy for those who liked all of this and happy, in a certain way, for those who reported the leaks and or believed in it. I am an empathetic person, far too much sometimes, so I enjoy seeing other people happy from anything, in this case entertainment they love. The thing is, I enjoy things in this show that other people don't or that a few people do. The elements I like are almost being ridiculed everytime and everywhere in the majority of this fandom. I personally am tired of that. What do I see in this teaser, the elements I love are pushed to the side once again to cater and market to the masses once again. It was fine in 1, 2 and especially 3, because that was point in that season.

I am happy for those whose elements they love got brought back, some that I like and some that I don't like.

I am not hyped for Season 4 anymore, might be overkill but I don't care. I am slowly losing interest for it personally. This ST Day was dissapointing for me. I barely enjoyed any of it.

I am sick of having to swallow tropes and ideas that I just do not enjoy and are inherently bad in their very concepts. I don't care about them.

Subtext is interesting, I love subtext. But it's still subtext. Something that a lot of people do not see and can be dropped when the authors don't want, need or can't use it or do anything with it. There are very few instances where it becomes more essential than the main text. The 004 teaser was messy, confusing and boring in many parts. I wanted to see main text from the characters and the story that I love and I care.

I am not asking for a plot twist or anything major but something different more clear. Even if it turns out to be not true.

I love El but making it all about her and her relationship with Mike does not interest me. What about the other Byers and their stories ? Jonathan, Will and Joyce, some small bits here and there but that's it. We started this story with this family and now it feels and are advertised as just a background for El's plot who we already new about and was much more interesting in 002.

I dear god, HOPE, it's not the case and that the Byers are not just standing around experiencing El's plot. It ruins the potential these characters have. At least Joyce may have something to do but Jonathan and Will, I worry a lot about their story.

I see pretty much everything everyone is talking about here. I see the subtext but if the plan is still Season 5. I need things to come to light already.

Instead we got Season 3-esque type of stuff.

Season 3 worked for what it's supposed to do and I can appreciate it's genius but it was season 3, it was supposed to be that way. I can defend this season but there was legitimate criticism with the ways certain things were handled.

I think it's normal to have certain expectations and wants from a show especially three seasons into it. Like everyone, there's thing I want and I don't want. But apparently, there not as valid for some people but I don't care, I genuinely did not like many things I saw, read and heard.

If you did good for you. I didn't and I don't want to pretend like I did.

I am not pissed by the release date. I expected it. COVID and the recent demands by the workers would have delayed it anyway.

I am more mad at the fact that after telling everyone that their set was very safe for leaks, a fucking leaker decided to leak stuff as much as he could and the things I've heard, I do not like them. (And apparently, there's more to those.) I don't, I truly don't. It's my humble opinion, if you do, great for you. It will be boring and cliché if it happens for me.

Now what is mixed with real leak and theories by these same people remains to be seen. They might have also not all the information of these particular plots so they might just know the superficial part of it all and might be missing some parts. But so far, I am not excited for Stranger Things 4. It is probably overkill but I honestly I am not excited.

There are some things that I did enjoy and found interesting but my thoughts and feelings are mostly negative at the moment. I have reasons that I found legitimate and I am now even more cautious than I was before. I have experienced too much similar stuffs in other stories, I don't want to reexperience it again.

My head needs to rest and clear itself to get to the analysis part of it all. But right now, I am not motivated, I am sorry.

If you did enjoy it, good for you, I am happy for you. I didn't sadly and it's pissing me off. I feel bad and guilty for not doing so. Slander me all you want, at this point, I don't care.

I'm off for now. Happy Stranger Things Day.

[astraltrain]

watching tommy's exile meeting vod from december 2nd, will update with things i find interesting as i watch

"if the roles were reversed, i wouldn't even think about exiling you" - tommy. haha foreshadowing for the actual exile haha

tommy: you have bees.

tubbo: i do have bees!

tommy: if they all died, that'd be fuckin...

tubbo: that'd be awful. probably all of humanity would die with them.

...

"i am addressing the elephant in the room, which is me. although i am not the size of an elephant. in height i am! not in weight. if i was the size of an elephant though -" *laughs* "if i was stretchy, this world would be real different right now." what goes on in tommyinnit's mind.

tommy preemptively preparing everyone for him to fuck up the meeting and no one listening... tommy knowing he was going to ruin it for himself and knowing he'd somehow let tubbo down.... fuuuuuck

tubbo: minutes man, we summon you!

ranboo, materializing in the seat next to tubbo with a book and quill in hand: hey

tommy: what the FUCK,

we all talk about wilbur's acting with his facecam, but tommy does it a lot too. the way he rolls his eyes and shakes his eyes with a confident smirk every time dream speaks, the way he looks shocked when things go wrong. goddamn

jack manifold watching the whole meeting, listening the whole time, just following them around with very little input. hmmmm

he was taunting him. the fucker knew

tubbo desperately wanted a way out for tommy. he wanted to give him probation to escape whatever dream had planned. he never ever wanted to do what he had to do.

dream: "tommy, let the adults speak." hmm, sounds familiar... almost like a line techno would repeat almost exactly a month later, when talking with dream about the favour.

he was taunting him the whole meeting. trying to provoke tommy into snapping.

"this isn't some "insanity arc," i'm not following down wilbur's path!" ouch ok tommy

the way tubbo's voice flattened in tone when he said "you're speaking out of line." he knew tommy had fucked it from the moment he brought out spirit.

god, the second it seemed tommy knew what he was doing, fundy and quackity were on his side. tubbo was the only one who remained serious the whole time, knowing dream had something up his sleeve.

everyone turning on tubbo the second it seemed like they were winning because he was the only one to realize something was wrong. fuck, man

"i don't give a FUCK about spirit." holy shit way to pop off with the voice acting???

the fact that c!tommy genuinely can't imagine being unable to care about things because himself and c!dream are such polar opposites when it comes to attachment. tommy loves with ALL his heart, he cares so deeply and so warmly and so fiercely. dream cares for nothing unless it gives him an edge, an advantage. that's why tommy was certain that holding spirit's remains over dream would help them win. he couldn't picture being unable to care about anything.

"l'manberg can be independent, but l'manberg can't be free." *dream leaves the call.* DANGGGG

tubbo, very softly and calmly: "tommy. you had one job." hoooly shit

the way tubbo snapped at quackity and fundy and began to argue with them while tommy zoned out and stared at dream as he began to extend the walls upwards in disbelief. god

"you couldn't do one thing for me! you couldn't do one! you couldn't do one thing, and it was for your own good! so yeah, if the roles were reversed, you probably wouldn't have exiled me - because i would have actually listened! i would have had a couple ounces of respect! ... you've messed this up for no one but yourself." *pause* "you're selfish." c!tubbo.... :stress:

RANBOO STANDING UP FOR TOMMY???? RANBOO SPINE ARC??????

"tubbo, you said that tommy was selfish. that he doesn't care about anyone else. that's not true. i robbed george's house too. i did it with him. but in court, he said that it was just him. he could have pinned the blame on me, he could have said it was me, there was evidence it was me - but he didn't. he's not selfish. he can't be selfish. me and tommy robbed george's house. we didn't mean for it to burn. we didn't want to burn anything down." HOLY FUCK WHY HAVE I NEVER SEEN THIS SCENE BEFORE

tommy: tubbo, you can't become what you hate. you can't become the next schlatt. if you exile me, you're following in that man's footsteps.

tubbo: .. ok. well, if i can't be the next schlatt, you can't be the next wilbur.

ouch

tommy: the only thing dream wants is the one thing i care about. *realizes, glances at ranboo* well, not the one thing.

tubbo, deadpan: mhm. the one thing you care about.

literal chills from tubbo's voice acting what the FUCK

"what do YOUUU think, connoreatspants?" ok now we're onto the lighter stuff thank god hakshsksjk

fundy: so if eventually the people choose not to exile tommy... what happens to l'manberg?

tubbo, about to come up with a serious answer: i guess -

tommy: it gets fucking simpsons movie'd, bro, we get boxed in

tubbo, immediately breaking character: I LOVE THAT MOVIE

tommy: this guy's a wrongun, ranboo.

techno, literally just vibing: •_•

tommy explaining server history to ranboo? telling ranboo that techno was at fault for the crater of l'manberg? wuh oh

"wilbur died in action, so he didn't live long enough to face the consequences." o h

tommy taking ranboo to the bench to watch the moon go down, not turning to see the sunrise like usual. hey i could make symbolism out of this

TOMMY THANKING RANBOO FOR STICKING UP FOR HIM.... ALLIUMDUO REAL

c!tommy has nightmares about wilbur, huh. interesting interesting interesting interesting

"i knew that if tubbo was president... it would pull us apart, ranboo." IMAGE OF A CAT CRYING HERE

ranboo and connor's first meeting being tommy getting ranboo to help him evict connor from his house hsksbskdjsk

connor: "never trust a british man. that's what my parents taught me, in the 1800s." IMMORTAL CONNOR HAS ALWAYS BEEN REAL WE WERE ALL SO BLIND

LITTLE PENIS LAND

FJDKDHDK JACK APPEARING TO ADVERTISE MANIFOLD LAND

"hey jack you've actually just been exiled from this land here" "no" I FORGOT HOW FUNNY THESE TWO WERE

monkaS

tommy: i've never seen dream that angry.

ranboo: well, this is the first time i've actually ever heard him speak

tommy: oh

OH MY GOD WAS THIS THE DAY THAT TUBBO MADE THE JOKE ABOUT C!WILBUR BEING DEAD TO FUNDY AND HE ENDED STREAM AND LEFT BAHAHAHA

"this is a very wide taco stand" i love dream smp lore

"i don't wanna go. there is no wilbur anymore. i'm on my own. i don't want to be on my own." OK NEVERMIND GO BACK TO THE TACO STAND LORE

wow ok that really was just IT, huh. what the hell man that was heartbreaking

in conclusion. ouch

[queridopascal]

The new job (Din Djarin x F!Reader)

Part 1 of the “Ad Astra” series

Summary: as your eyes scanned the page, the words “spatial coordinates” and the phrase “writings and symbols no one has been able to decipher” made your eyes widen and your interest spike... (word count: 1.7k)

Warning: mention of food and drinks

A/N: my first ever Mando fic/series (even though we don't get to meet him in this first chapter)! Huge thanks to @hnt-escape for beta reading, and I hope you guys enjoy it ✨

Reblogs and comments are highly appreciated ❤️

NEXT | SERIES MASTERLIST

Sitting alone in your home office with a mug of coffee in your hand, you shuffled through the heap of unopened mail you found upon your return from your last expedition: advertising brochures, leaflets, bills and, at the bottom of the stack, a cream-coloured paper envelope with slightly torn edges.

Prompted by curiosity, you put down the mug and opened the letter with an old knife you kept in the first drawer: it was typewritten, dated 25th of September and signed at the bottom by a certain Elizabeth Williams.

As your eyes scanned the page, the words “spatial coordinates” and the phrase “writings and symbols no one has been able to decipher” made your eyes widen and your interest spike. Your work as an archaeologist had given you the opportunity to travel the world, discover different types of artifacts and ruins, get closer to cultures and their ancient origins; but something inside of you, a feeling in your gut, was telling you that what was described in the letter was unique and, possibly, something you had never seen before.

Without giving it a second thought, you dialed the phone number scribbled underneath the signature and waited with bated breath as you began fidgeting with a pen, clicking it open with every beeping sound coming from the other side.

“Hello?” a calm tone greeted you.

“Mrs. Williams?” you asked, clearing your throat.

“Yes, it’s me.”

“Hi, I’m-”

“I know who you are, I’ve been waiting for your call.” the woman said with a smile in her voice.

“Oh,” you gasped, “I... received your letter and I would love to hear more about this artifact you mention.”

“Great. I’ll have someone pick you up tomorrow morning at 9 sharp.”

“Thanks, Mrs Williams,” you nodded, “do I… have to bring anything?”

“Your knowledge will be sufficient, my dear.”

Once you both ended the call, you took a deep breath and closed your eyes, feeling anxious and impatient for what was about to come and reliving the exact same sensations you had experienced the day of your very first excavation.

After a sleepless night, you were awakened by the furious pitter patter of heavy rain against the windows. The dark grey of the sky made every room of your house incredibly cold and humid, and you put on your favorite cardigan as you dragged your feet into the kitchen to prepare something for breakfast.

When you finished eating, you took a quick shower and got dressed in your favorite black pencil skirt and a white blouse, a matching blazer and a pair of heels completed the look. You took a seat on the couch in your living room and waited for the driver.

At 9AM there was a knock at your front door, and you immediately grabbed your blazer and your purse and walked over to it.

“Good morning, Miss,” the driver bowed his head a little and extended his gloved hand to you while opening a black umbrella with the other. “Please, follow me. Mrs. Williams and her colleagues are waiting for you.”

You put your hand in his as he walked you over to the sedan; he opened the car door and waited for you to get in, shutting it swiftly once you got comfortable in the cream leather back seat.

After a two hours drive, the car stopped in front of a wired mesh and barbed wire fence, lined with several “Military Zone” signs. A couple of seconds later, the guarded gates opened with a screech, letting the car enter what looked like a tunnel carved inside of a mountain.

The driver pulled up in front of a large white door with soldiers on either side, where an elderly woman waited with crossed arms.

“Goodmorning my dear,” the woman stepped towards you. “I’m Elizabeth. Welcome to the Falls Hill military installation.”

She hugged you tightly and you stiffened at first, looking at the two soldiers, whose eyes were fixed on a point in front of them.

“Come, I’ll show you around.”

One of the guards stepped to the side and held the door open for you and Mrs. Williams. The large corridor that extended in front of you reminded you of a war bunker: it was grey and cold, illuminated by pale neon lights, and it had the same distinctive smell you would find in the subway.

You followed her obediently, and when she reached the end of the corridor, she slowly opened a set of double doors bearing an "Authorized Personnel Only" sign; taking a step forward, your mouth dropped open in wonder as soon as you laid eyes on what looked like a giant stone ring covered with strange inscriptions.

“I've never seen anything like this,” you gulped, keeping your eyes fixed on the object.

Mrs. Williams chuckled, pleased at your reaction. “No one has, my dear.”

“Can I…?” you asked in a trembling voice as you pointed at the artifact.

Elizabeth nodded and you walked over to it, placing your hand on the rough surface of the stone to feel the engraved characters under your fingers.

“These inscriptions,” you started, turning to her, “might be hieratic or maybe cuneiform, I think I've seen some of those symbols before.”

“Perhaps you could help us with the interpretation?” she moved to stand beside you and tilted her head to the side, looking at you expectantly.

“Yeah, of course. I'll get to work right away.”

The hours passed quickly, and between one cup of coffee and another, it was already evening. The succession of symbols and characters engraved in the stone kept repeating in your mind, a mix of infinite combinations and interpretations, from the most logical to the least plausible.

Wrinkling your eyes for tiredness, you looked up from all your papers and notes, finding a new possible interpretation of the second row that made your heart race.

“Mrs. Williams, was anything else found in the proximity of this object?”

“I was hoping you'd ask me,” she smiled and motioned you to follow her.

Elizabeth led you through a hallway and stopped in front of another door, resting both hands on the opening handle.

“You are not to speak of this to anyone, understand?”

You simply nodded, your breath catching in your throat at her request.

“Mrs. Williams, I haven't issued any new authorization papers for this lady.” a baritone voice captured your attention, and you turned around only to find a soldier in uniform staring back at you.

“Colonel Shaw, it's nice to see you again,” Elizabeth greeted him with a gentle smile, but the man looked at her with a serious and impenetrable gaze.

“Mrs. Williams, I don't think I'll have to remind you that what's inside this room is classified.” he walked over to the both of you, his expression unfazed.

“She's the new addition to my team, Colonel,” she said, looking him straight into his icy blue eyes, “a world-renowned archaeologist who is going to help us decipher the inscriptions on the stone ring.”

“Exactly. Then why are you here?” he glanced at you out of the corner of his eye.

“Because,” you cleared your throat “the second row of inscriptions refers to another object, described as the portal.”

The Colonel raised an eyebrow at you and sighed, then looked at Elizabeth.

“Permission denied.”

“Excuse me, Colonel Shaw. I was told you would have given me carte blanche, especially since the government authorized this project,” she stepped towards him with her usual calm tone.

“Not for long,” he retorted, “you have one more week Mrs. Williams, the clock is ticking. And since she doesn't have any authorization at the moment, I won't grant her access into this room.”

“Then I guess I'll have to ask Captain Gallo,” she crossed her arms. “See, he was the one who helped us get started with this project and I'm sure he would authorize this young lady in a heartbeat.”

The Colonel exhaled angrily, his jaw was clenched in frustration and you smiled to yourself.

“Fine,” he said through gritted teeth “You have my permission.”

6 days later

Staring at the portal, the inscripted characters on dark metal and stone looked so similar to something you had seen before, but also so different. You felt intimidated by that object, almost in awe, it was as if it gave off vibrations within the room, as if it wanted to give you clues to solve that riddle that had been keeping you and the rest of the team awake for days.

“Morning guys,” Elizabeth walked into the research lab with a box of donuts, “I brought something to eat.”

“Thanks,” you beamed at her as you took a glazed donut from the container. “I really needed something with sugar.”

“How is the research going?”

“Bad,” Linda, one of the members of the team, shook her head, “no matches whatsoever.”

“Is that so?” Elizabeth turned to you, her expression somber.

“Yeah,” you sighed, “even if the inscriptions look familiar to us, when comparing them to all the material we have available, we found no similarities. We’re missing something and tomorrow is the last day.”

“I’m gonna ask for a permit extension, I'm sure they'll grant it to me,” she stroked your back, comforting you.

“I found another reference!” Linda squealed with excitement “Shall we start with the comparison?”

“Absolutely,” you rushed to her side and took a seat on the corner of her desk, looking at the monitor of her computer.

The documents she had just found showed incredible similarities, and referred to an engraved metal fragment found a few months earlier in the Atacama Desert.

“These three symbols are exactly the same ones of the central row!” you exclaimed, not believing your eyes.

Linda nodded, then gulped, “They also say here that they found out some symbols represent a stylized version of constellations, and that this type of metal is not…”

“Terrestrial,” you added as you kept on reading the description under one of the pictures.

Mrs. Williams looked at the both of you with a proud smile, then she walked over to the other desk and dialed a number on the phone.

“Captain, we finally found a match for the inscriptions.”

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