#probably walked straight off a cliff at some point

[lets-try-some-writing]

Blind starscream au, everyone forgets that he's blind until he points that out, cue the awkwardness

More blind Starscream, heck yeah. I love this mech so much, especially when he just does not give a frag.

Forgetfulness

Megatron

The first time it happened on earth, Megatron was issuing orders as usual and was looking over a map of the battlefield not recalling that Starscream was literally unable to see it.

Megatron: *pointing to the map* We will strike here! Starscream will lead the assault!

Starscream: *sarcastically* Ah yes, I can definitely see where exactly I am to attack, obviously.

Megatron: *silently sending starscream a set of coordinates over comm link instead* You have your orders, get going!

They didn't talk for a week after that incident. Megatron was too embarrassed at his blunder to even try to make amends and so just avoided the seeker.

Soundwave

As a general rule, Soundwave and Starscream don't interact. But the singular time Soundwave seemed to forget that the seeker couldn't see was something that stuck in both their memories. They had run into each other in the halls and Soundwave had suddenly stopped Starscream from continuing, gesturing to a sign that specifically pointed toward the area being off limits.

Soundwave: *gesturing with a nod and his cables toward the sign that says "keep out"*

Starscream: *irritated* Use words Soundwave. I am no psychic.

Soundwave: ...

Soundwave silently sent Starscream the warning over a comm link before walking away without a word. He would never admit his blunder to anyone.

Knockout

The Decepticon medic was in the middle of working on a Vehicon while he was gossiping with Starscream when he asked for the seeker to pass him a tool. Starscream of course gave him a look that quickly make Knockout realize his error.

Knockout: That sounds dreadful! Could you be a dear and pass me that scalpel?

Starscream: Ah yes, I will certainly pass you the small item that I can most definably see.

Knockout: ... My apologies.

They continued chatting as it nothing happened but Knockout screamed internally afterwards.

Breakdown

Normally Breakdown is very aware of Starscream's blindness and takes extra care to not mention it while still accommodating it. However on one occasion where Starscream's sensors were out of commission, he straight up forgot about the seeker's disablement.

Breakdown: *throwing a lob ball at starscream* Catch!

Starscream: *proceeds to get hit and fall flat on his face*

Breakdown: *softly* Scrap.

Breakdown went to Knockout with several scratches and a blaster burn later that day and he never forgot that moment, often having it come back to haunt him late at night.

Shockwave

Shockwave never actually forgot that Starscream was blind, he just didn't care and wanted to watch the seeker seethe while he tried to figure out how to find the thing he was asked to get.

Shockwave: Starscream, I require the third smallest beaker.

Starscream: Ah yes one moment, I will get it once I get my sight back.

Shockwave: Starscream, I require it immediately.

Starscream: *pointing to his lightless optics* How am I supposed to find it you slagger?!

Shockwave: You are resourceful, I am sure you will succeed without aid.

Starscream spent forty minutes trying to find the beaker. He never found it and resents Shockwave to this day.

Optimus Prime

It wasn't really that Optimus forgot, more like he simply used the wrong phraseology.

Optimus: Can't you see all the harm you are doing?! Starscream: No actually.

Optimus: *staring blankly for a moment* ... Allow me to rephrase. Do you not feel anything for the harm you are doing?

It was slightly awkward and Starscream has occasionally mocked Optimus for it since.

Ratchet

While doing a repair for Starscream, Ratchet temporarily forgot that Starscream literally could not see how bad his injuries were.

Ratchet: How in the pits did you do this? A gash of this size...

Starscream: It's that bad?

Ratchet: Yes! Can you not see-! Oh...

Starscream and Ratchet both coughed awkwardly after the fact and neither have spoken a word on the subject. Although on the odd occasion where Ratchet is feeling a little evil, he will exclaim something about Starscream having a bomb stuck to him during battle, temporarily causing the seeker to flail.

Arcee

Her situation was less awkward and more angering than anything else. She was in the middle of confronting Starscream for the death of Cliffjumper when she made a slight blunder.

Arcee: You killed him! Did the sight of his spark puttering out not cause you to feel any remorse!

Starscream: I didn't see it, so no.

Arcee: Why you little-!

Starscream was only barely saved from having the life beaten out of him by the team and he has since been careful around Arcee for fear of angering her further.

Bulkhead

He was in the middle of battle and trying to find a way to disorient Starscream when he messed up a bit.

Bulkhead: *tossing dirt at starscream to try and blind him* Take that!

Starscream: *unphased but a little irritated* How cute.

Bulkhead: *remembering* Oh fra-!

Simply put, he returned to base far more singed than he would have otherwise liked.

Bumblebee

While Starscream was a prisoner of the Autobots, the seeker's wings, and therefore his sight was put out of commission. And forgetting this, Bumblebee led the seeker straight into banging his helm against a doorway.

Bumblebee: *in binary* This way.

Starscream: *walks straight into the top of the doorway, hitting it with a nasty thunk* FRAG!

Bumblebee: *internally screaming at himself*

Bumblebee never forgot that particular blunder and he has since taken care with other prisoners to ensure the same thing doesn't happen twice.

[teyamloving12]

Bbbyyyy💕💕💕👀 Neteyam fic… all imma say is Neteyam fiiicc!!! 🔥🔥🔥 God damn i almost passed out reading it, that’s how good it is

Pleaseeee write more of him, i’m even gonna beg for it ❤️

Taking what is His

Warning: NSFW content (MDNI), cheating, arranged marriage, angst, breeding kink, angry!Neteyam, etc.

Pairing: Neteyam x Omatikaya!Reader

Synopsis: You were Neteyam's first but your parents promised you to another man. Like hell Neteyam will allow that to happen.

A/n: Your wish is my command sweetheart. Have some possessive Neteyam. 500 followers special!

You were Neteyam's but that "cunt" came in your life. Your relationship flourished beautifully before he left for the Metkayina clan. Distraught took over your soul. You mate-to-be was leaving. Would he come back to You? What if he found a woman more beautiful than you could ever be? Those were the question your younger self would ask herself.

It's been 8 years ever since that day. Probably he is living happily with a woman. No! You couldn't think about him. You had a mate. You didn't like him very much, he tries to be the carbon copy of Neteyam and continuously failing after you begged him to stop. He showed you off to his friends as you were his trophy and a prize that he won. Neteyam would never.

You went to the Tree of Souls praying your Neteyam, the man you truly love, would return to you in a safe conditions. You visited the Mountains and sat at the cliff waiting. About to give up, one day you saw ikrans flew to the west, towards the village. Your eyes widen, your Neteyam was finally back. You rushed down to the village. It was true. It was him. He looked different, tattoos were found on his stomach and face also with his arms and legs.

He was a warrior here and a warrior at sea. His handsome demeanor struck you unlike when you were with Ka'wan. He was good looking but could never compared to Neteyam. The girls beside you looked at him in awe stating how he become even more handsome. You walked away from the crowd, thinking Neteyam could never love you again. Maybe he had changed. Maybe he was not the same Neteyam 8 years ago.

Neteyam went straight to her grandmother's hut. "Where is she, grandmother? I have looked everywhere!", he asked in a panic. " She is a woman now, Neteyam. Do you still expect her to live with her parents?", she asked, making him realized what was happening. " So where is she?", he asked again.

" Do you see the hut over there?", she pointed. He nodded. "You will find her there but I warn you you may not like what you will hear.", Neteyam looked confused but heeded his grandmother's words. On his way, he saw a man exiting your hunt. Who was he?

You were cleaning up your hut until you felt a presence behind you. "Tìyawn, I have returned back to You!", he said hugging you from behind. Your Neteyam was here by your side and you smiled widely. He let you. He watched as you scanned your surroundings. "Neteyam, I'm so happy you're back but you can't stay here!", you whisper-yelled. Neteyam as angry, he was finally back yet you were pushed him away.

"What is wrong, ma syulang?", he questioned. "Neteyam I don't know how to say this but you can't call you yours anymore for I'm promised to someone.", you explained. That explained the man that walked out of your hut. He was furious, he backed you up to the hut's wall. You were scared. He grabbed you by your chin forcing you to look at him.

"So after I nearly died at the Metkayina and kept you in my heart for eight fucking years, you had the nerve, the enfrontery to mate with another man!", you trembled in his hands. Tears stung your eyes as he continued to shout at you. You tried to push him off you.

"Neteyam, please!", you begged. "It was my parents! They hoped you would come back earlier but they feared I would be lonely for the rest of my life!", you yelled back, Neteyam finally calmed down, letting up of your chin. "What! I'm the son of Toruk Makto, a mighty warrior yet they had no hope for me!", he yelled before tried to calm himself. He looked at you lovingly, backing you up towards the bed.

You fell on the bed and Neteyam crawled over you. He kissed your neck and then headed for your cheek and then your lips. "You were mine then and you are still mine now.", he said with your bottom lip touched yours. You closed your eyes and smiled remembering your sweet memories when you were teenagers in love. You loved him but Ka'wan was still a person.

"Wait! We can't do this, Neteyam. Ka'wan-", you tried to explain but you silenced you with her finger. He slowly tried your top. "You're as beautiful as I remember.", you kissed from your chest to your stomach and paused at your loincloth. He looked up at you for consent which you granted. He grabbed for his loincloth and pulled it out.

"You and I are meant to be.", he said sliding himself into you. You squealed as the pleasure of the man you truly loved was inside of you. You pulled him in for a kiss. This was meant to be. "Ma'Teyam, I'm yours.", you said. He thrusted inside of you. "You're mine, my mate, the mother of all my children!", he said as he rammed into you like a mad man. He grabbed your hips allowing him to go either further.

"I gonna make you get birth to MY children, not his!", you tried to push him. "No--ahh-- I will be a shame to my family--nnmgh-- the village people will talk!", you said through your moans. "I am future olo'eyktan of the Omatikaya, no one will have a word to say of you.", you felt your cunt giving wetter by his words. "Move your hips, tìyawn! Eywa made us for each other.", he stated with each thrust touching your womb. You grabbed the soft sheet on the bed, you closed your eyes from the pleasure overwhelming your body.

You felt your pussy clench around his cock. You came inside of you. You moaned from ecstasy. You wrapped your hand around Neteyam as he fell in your chest. "You are my woman, the mother of all my children, Tsahik !", he said. "We are meant to be, Ma'Teyam.", you whispered, not caring Ka'wan was the man you were promised to.

[kining-the-evil]

Hi I was wondering if you could write a Steve rogers x daughter reader?

Like he gets back from a mission and he has a nightmare but the daughter is involved in the nightmare somehow. So when he wakes up he rushes over and realizes that she is ok and she is safe. So he just cuddles with her for the rest of the night to protect her and to calm his nerves.

Thank you and 100% your choice

My Safety In The Night

Summary: This mission got to Steve in a way he’s not used to

warnings: nightmares, talks of death, seeing a dead body in the dream

an: reader is around 13 years old.

Steve was exhausted as he walked into the section of the compound that was set as an apartment for you and himself. While Steve’s body was no stranger to pain, this mission just seemed to get to him. Maybe it was the length of the mission, or the fact that the kids they were protecting at one point reminded him of you, but he decided he didn’t care. He just wanted to check on you, change, shower- no. That could wait until tomorrow. The less he did the sooner he could go to bed himself.

He started towards your room, but changed directions at the last moment. It was a Friday night, so you had probably fallen asleep on the couch. The living room had no lights on, but the tv had the credits of one of your favorite movies playing on the tv.

“Kid, it’s almost midnight-“ his words stoped when he caught sight of you. You were curled up in a ball with a blanket covering you, fast sleep. A box of pizza was on the coffee table, a couple of pieces in it.

“Never mind,” he chuckled lightly, running a hand gently over your head to make sure you didn’t wake up. Hr grabbed the box, stealing a piece before sticking the whole thing in the fridge and moving on to get ready for bed.

———————

Steve wasn’t sure why he was running, but he did know if he wasn’t quick something bad would happen. The ground was uneven, slowing him down quite a bit which just frustrated him more.

“Dad!” He stoped I’m his tracks the best he could, spinning to try and find the source of the voice. It almost sounded like… “Dad!”

“Y/n?” He called, hoping your could hear him. “Baby, where are you?!”

“Dad!” Your voice sounded loudest to his right, so that’s the way he ran.

“Y/n!” He continued to call for you, trying to follow your own screaming.

“Dad! Help!”

Finally, he came to a cliff and found you. You were held by a faceless man, both of you standing far to close to the edge.

“The great Captain America. You took everything from me, and now I’ll take everything from you.” Without any more warning the man pushed you, your scream echoing through the area.

Steve sat straight up in bed, his shirt soaked with sweat making it stick to his body. He wasn’t sure what was louder, the beating in his chest or his head. Where were you?

He quickly got out of bed, practically running out of his room and towards the couch where he had left you. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Why hadn’t he moved you?!

He finally took a breath of air when he found you, still asleep in the same spot. A glance at the clock told him there were a number of hours until morning. He couldn’t go back to bed, he just…couldn’t. Instead, he walked over to the couch and picked you up.

“W-what,” you started to fight him, but he quickly calmed you.

“It’s Just me kid,” he mumbled while sitting down. He kept you pushed against his chest, trying to calm himself down.

“Are you ok?” You yawned, staying wrapped up in his arms.

“I’m fine, just…wanted to see you,” he rubbed light circles on your back. “Get some more sleep.” He knew he’d be staying up the rest of the night, closing his eyes would just show your face as you feel off the cliff. But he was fine to just sit here, as long as it meant you were safe.

[elldritch-horror]

So, there's this post I've been mentally drafting for a bit, which in its simplest terms boils down to:

broke: people at work asking 'how was your weekend' are genuinely interested in the minutiae of your weekend

woke: people at work asking 'how was your weekend' are doing so as small talk, and don't care about your weekend

bespoke: people at work asking 'how was your weekend' are probably not explicitly and specifically interested in your weekend, but they probably are interested in you, and in fostering a social bond with you

I think there's a tendancy among those of us for whom Small Talk is not a native language to get stuck at the realisation that we aren't as interesting as we thought, and Janice in marketing doesn't sit there with bated breath waiting for us to come in on a Monday morning so she can hear about the pizza we had for dinner on Saturday night. It kinda hurts, and feels like everyone around is disingenuous, and just pretending to care about us when they don't.

For me, it took me a long time to realise and properly internalise the idea that small talk isn't pointless noise, just because it doesn't mean what it says on the tin. People are interested in you! Just maybe not in the exact ways you thought. They're probably just as interested in you as you are in them, and this is their way of extending an invitation to connection.

That was going to be the whole post, but then my brain did that thing where it connected some dots which probably aren't really dots, and don't connect at all, so take the following musings with a big ol' helping of salt, but...

In autism assessments they ask about trauma. As I understand it, they ask this because autistic and c-ptsd traits overlap so much it can be hard to untangle exactly where those traits are coming from.

I was thinking about this, and I got to seeing a kind of logic to the groups of people for whom 'lovely weather today, isn't it' is a typical social opening gambit, compared to the people for whom 'hey, here's my childhood trauma wrapped up as a funny anecdote' is a more solid introduction.

Maybe, if you're the sort of person who is privileged enough to be able to assume that your basic self will be largely palatable to most people, the relationship model of gradually increasing intimacy makes perfect sense.

If you're someone who can't make that assumption, either because of being part of a marginalised community, or because of trauma, then that simple path towards a relationship becomes a trek into unfamiliar wilderness, where you have no way of knowing at the outset whether the road leads you somewhere beautiful, or around a blind bend and straight off a cliff. You don't want to invest weeks or months talking about weather and weekend plans before you find out that Janice in marketing is actually a white supremacist or terf.

Why does all this matter? Well, maybe it doesn't. But I've been really fucking isolated for a good few years now, because I figured out that people didn't care about my weekend plans, and I got stuck there, and spent my time exclusively interacting with people who matched my internal model of relationship building by starting deep. And don't get me wrong, I built myself some wonderful relationships, but not many.

Recently I've been trying to broaden my horizons, and build bonds with people who aren't exactly like me, and there's so much joy in it, y'all! Sure, it's a bit of extra effort to consciously walk myself through the conversational template of 'question?' 'reasonably brief answer with reciprocal question' etc, but I've met some people I really like, and I'm excited to spend more time with.

And when you're doing these things consciously, you have the option of asking for a map, before plunging into that wilderness. Maybe when they ask about your weekend, the part of your weekend you highlight is one that subtly points at whatever topic you might feel unsafe about, in a non-confrontational way. You saw a drag queen when you waiting for the train. You gave a fiver to the homeless lady outside Morrisons and had a chat about the book she's reading. In a lot of cases, you can weed out the people you really don't want to be cultivating early on.

I don't have a clever and pithy closing statement, so I'll go with awkwardly earnest, instead. A lot of the people I'm building bonds with aren't going to ever become my closest confidantes, but that's okay. We need best friends, but we also need acquaintances. We need whole communities. Sometimes love is lying in bed with someone at 3am discussing your deepest hopes and fears, but sometimes love is also the woman twice your age at the local knit & natter who remembers that you like sugar in your coffee.

[mentallyshattered]

This is part 19 of the "What if Yuu didn't want to go back?" Series!

(I, the author of this work, do not consent to this work being crossposted/translated without my knowledge or used to train an AI, ever.)

Masterlist

The first thing we see when we walk into the club room is that Grim and I are the only Pomefiore students. Joy.

The second thing is that guy's hair is fire, much like the inside of Grim's ears. Guess it's just a rare trait, then.

The third thing is that Fire Hair Guy is staring straight at Grim. He probably didn't know animals could have that, too. He might just be a cat person. Either way, he's a clubmate now.

"You must be the new members! Welcome! I am Azul Ashengrotto, housewarden of Octanville and manager of the Monstro Lounge, and this," He motions to the guy he's apparently supposed to be playing chess with, "Is Idia Shroud, housewarden of Ignihyde. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Fire Hair looks like he's going to explode from anxiety. He's the one sitting accross from Azul, and he looks very intently at Grim, like his presence is the one thing keeping him conscious.

"What are your names, newcomers?"

"I'm Grim, and this is my familiar, Yuu! Spelled Y-u-u, not y-o-u."

Azul now looks off-put. "Well, Grim and Yuu, we here at the Board Games club are quite glad you're here! Welcome! And, if you ever need, say, a wish, then do not hesitate to come to me."

Idia sighs. "Never go to him for a wish, kitty. He's deceptive."

"I can hear you whisper, Shroud."

"Eep!"

Right off the bat, I recall something I was told at the entrance ceremony: Azul Ashengrotto, the housewarden of Octanville, is always trying to get people to sign contracts with him. Usually, only he benefits. Grim knows this, too.

"What, did we walk into the Contracts Over an Unsused-But-Set-Up Chessboard Club? Sorry, we signed up for something else. Come on, Grim, let's go find the club where they actually play chess."

"I'm back! Oh? New clubmates? Sweet!"

...looks like floating is another rare trait. This new kid has the same blue fire hair as Idia, as well as equally yellow eyes. He looks to be wearing some kind of jet boots, which he deactivates when he enters the room to oogle at Grim.

"A cat! Aww, your fur looks so soft and silky- and you have a uniform! By the seven, you're adorable!"

Grim straightens up, puffing out his chest and looking very proud. I do the same- after all, he's my familiar.

"Ortho, there's no need to be so close to our new members. Personal space, you know."

Well, now Grim just looks annoyed.

"Myeh, Azul, you have something on your face."

"This?" He points to a little black dot near his lips. "That is supposed to be there."

"Not what I meant," Grim continues, "the wire. Were you born into a fence or something?"

Ortho bursts out laughing. Idia does the same. Azul does not follow suit, but does try to talk, failing miserably become everyone in the room but him is too busy laughing their asses off to hear him.

Idia finishes laughing, pulls out a game labeled "Cliffs & Climbs," and sets it up, motioning for Ortho, me, and Grim to join. Azul continues failing to explain glasses to a cat who's ignoring him while people laugh at the obvious ragebait he's fallen for.

"I heard the whole thing from down the hall. Nice to meet you! I'm Ortho Shroud, freshman and Ignihyde's Vice Housewarden, as well as Idy's little brother. This character is mine."

Just looking at the board, it's a game of Snakes and Ladders. Ortho has selected a small, wooden flame to represent himself. Grim and I choose the cat, obviously. Idia considers for a moment, then picks the thimble that probably didn't come with the game. He flips it open-side-up when he puts it on the board, and Ortho glares at him until he sets it so you can't see the opening from above.

Let the board games begin.

[whatudottu]

Hmmmm if Annie fell and how would the Andromeda 5 react :))

Like what, she tripped? Fell out of bed? Jumped off a cliff?

Annie while being an adopted daughter to 5 aliens that don't know humanity inherently, she's a 16 year old who's first introduction to the 5 was through P'andor which I will state (if you're a long time follower, this is a reminder, if you're new, this is some context) she was immediately trying to mug him with a knife. He also probably looked like his human ID at the time which is... well, the picture of a large Slavic man who takes no shit.

But I'll indulge, I'll indulge, but prepare to be underwhelmed.

So if Annie fell (in the tripped context, maybe she fumbles a dance or just falls ass over teakettle on something), P'andor already has the impression she can take tougher shit than the ground. Might bark a short laugh especially if she gets right up and brushes the dirt off herself, depending on the dramatics of the fall he might jokingly award points for style, but not unless she got genuinely hurt P'andor does the quick 'You good' and move on when Annie starts walking as usual. Bivalvan would disapprove of P'andor's dismissiveness but less out of instinctual parental response and more from the fact he's grown up as a species with an exoskeleton, and Annie being human she has an endoskeleton which the soft fleshy bits on the outside. He takes a glance at whatever skin deep lesions Annie gets and puts in a bit too much stock than necessary into them, but his big main problem with that would be that Annie damaged the parts of her that would have been well protected under armour that humans don't have, and trying to associate the damage to scrapes in shell is building up his ability to cope that Annie would know what hurts or not.

You might expect that Galapagus would immediately baby Annie, but I don't think that would be the case. Aside from having the same instinct as Bivalvan (squishy shell-less human got skin damage), as a species with an unconventional method of flying, that being literal air propulsion, well there's a little bit of his cultural mentality that views children as baby birds or what have you. You could piff a geochelone aerio child (not in the least because they can be held in one human hand like Earth turtles and tortoises) and while still being an asshole, not an irredeemable bastard, the shell doing a lot of lip service (it's built in naturally to compensate for a fall, especially with all the weight of the shell itself contributing to the intensity of said fall) thanks to the inherent learning curve of 'oh yeah you're going to have to fly' children are gonna fall over anyway and heck, an adult too who would be much heavier is going to inevitably drop out of the sky like a rock. Not to say Galapagus wouldn't at least still hover over Annie for a hot sec or too, but if anything given that geochelone aerios have at least some areas of endoskeleton, so long as Annie isn't actively bleeding or straight up broken a bone he's not going to get too worked up about it.

The person that will really get worked up about it would be, of course, Ra'ad. Having absolutely no bones to actually break (his gladius doesn't count and his beak is hard to break at all) you might think he's the most prepared in dealing with skin lesions, but this is the man that grew up in an ocean and lived on land floating around like no one's business, people just don't get hurt by gravity! Not to mention, injuries in the sea are bound to attract predators, or injuries in stagnant water are bound to attract infection, or injuries are (in his culture) the first sign that you will be the next to die and dying isn't a thing his people are concerned with WHY AREN'T THEY CONCERNED WITH DEATH! It's only really his mind reading that tells him to stop right before he panics over Annie ensuing she dies... from embarrassment. If she fell and she's fine if slightly humiliated, Ra'ad will suppress his anxieties and kind of explicitly change the subject to hopefully make it clear he isn't thinking about her falling anymore (if it works it works, if it doesn't well...). And if she's legitmately hurt, Ra'ad would be actually the first to clock it since Annie like to be tough and infallible even if only for herself instead of being someone's stone, so if mentally she's wincing and grumbling etc Ra'ad will be the one to ask 'Are you actually okay?' and attempt (keyword: attempt) to be as low key about it as Annie is.

And finally I think out of all the Andromeda 5 I think Andreas is the only one who has experience with children, both in raising them and with the [alien] to human comparison to what a child is. I've mentioned my piece a whole bunch about making talpaedans ant inspired, and part of that is because Andreas would be the 'male' of an ant colony or the tradie of a talpaedan, which would mean Andreas grew up learning to parent the children of the colony's Queen and other architect/tradie pairings, expecting to in adult do the same in the colony Andreas had been married to if Aggregor didn't cause a divorce instead. So unlike Bivalvan who would claim with 100% certainty he was a father but only because he's a broadcast spawning species, Ra'ad who would claim complete opposite else he'd be actually dead to a herd of zooplankton young, Galapagus who would really be in human translation in his early 20s only remembering being a child, and P'andor that doesn't even know what sex is because prypiatosian-bs literally don't have sexual reproduction, Andreas would have nearly a life's worth of knowledge of childhood development (which is still only the equivalent of being 25ish years old, it's just Andreas being essentially a male ant) and have the most experience with a child falling over.

Which - because Andreas has experience - Annie falling over is not a big deal and if in arms reach, Andreas would lift her back up and brush her shoulders a little bit before letting her run off again and move on from the whole thing. The worst thing any parent can do is coddle their teen like a toddler and damn, Annie falling over is not as bad as what happens to talpaedan youth, it's a breath of fresh air.

This is hardly a 'P'andor exposes Annie to radiation' moment, but I did use this as an excuse to shoot forward some brief biology and culture headcanons about the Andromeda 5.

[obitv]

beginnings of a william wisp backstory fic thats actually an elaborate ruse for me to explore the un-witness protection program and the goings on of deadwood. because seriously i think we all need to think about them more

It takes William 3 days to stumble out of the woods.

Or so he guesses – time is hard to track when you can barely keep yourself upright and just blearily crash into every tree and bush there is and hope you go the right way.

They told him it’d been a week. They told him the funeral was tomorrow. They told him a lot more, probably, but at that point he’d been running on empty for so long the world had started to blink in and out with every breath.

He got a break, after that. Your parents were worried, he heard, along with some ‘should’ve looked harder’s and ‘shouldn’t have looked at all’s. They let him go home, where he collapsed into his cold, pristine bed and promptly passed out.

(He woke up less than an hour later, when his mother came to check on him and thought he’d died in his sleep. He didn’t know how to tell her he’s apparently been dead for a week already.)

Two days later, when the town doctor had come in, eager-eyed to finally get a look at someone returning from the woods human, and left looking deeply disturbed, he was allowed out of the house again. Not to school, obviously, since he was still shaky and too-pale and covered in bruises and scratches and hiding bandages under his hoodie, but just a short walk.

He cried when he realised the Un-witness Protection crew were waiting for him in their usual spot. And then cried more, because he wasn’t sure if he was able to cry, and also because fuck, he’d never let them see him upset like this before. But he could tell they were all shaken too. He’d been trying his best not to think since he came to, but… He knew he’d disappeared into the woods. He knew they would’ve assumed the worst – and he wasn’t even sure they were wrong.

He went intangible for the first time that day, standing shellshocked with tears streaming down his face, as Mary ran up to try to hug him. He felt it the moment her arms passed straight through him, saw the looks on his friends’ faces turn from relief to a mix of fear and pure shock. Heard Mary say “Wait, Will–?” as he stepped back, seeing her confusion suddenly drop into understanding.

And watching, horrified, as he reached out to her, and… grabbed her. As if nothing was wrong. As if he hadn’t died in the cursed fucking woods and as if her arms hadn’t gone through him and as if he hadn’t fucking glowed when it happened.

“…William?” Her voice shook, fear and hope laced together in a horrible cocktail that made his throat close up around even more tears. He took a breath.

“Hey, Mary.”

A dam broke. She pulled him back in and this time his body didn’t betray him. He felt her arms wrap around him and felt how warm, how alive she was, how that feeling multiplied as the entire group came over to join the hug. This was their first group hug in months, not since the night they found Dara with only a broken leg on the edge of the woods after losing him in a chase.

It felt nice. It felt like home. For the first time since he’d woken up at the base off a cliff, William felt safe.

It was somewhat of a blur after that. Like one of their interrogations, everyone took turns asking questions and taking notes. It felt weird, being on the other side of it for once. No, I don’t remember what happened. Yes, I know who I am. No, I haven’t had any other moments of intangibility. Yes, I still have a heartbeat.

He probably should’ve felt bad for lying. But he couldn’t – He really didn’t remember. He knows there was a wisp. A few, probably. But nobody asked do you still see wisps all over town or have you really slept since you got back or hey, how come you aren’t a fucking decomposing sack of bones right now anyway? He’d have to remind them to be more accurate with their questions, next time they found a spirit.

Next time. Next time they saw him, more like.

[yostresswritinggirl]

I GOT AN ANGST IDEA, super, super aNGST.

I just read you Tighnari x reader x Cyno! And read some sad fic's... and Tokyo Rev but that's besides the point— How about reader that's not YET on a relationship with both boys and they (Cyno and Tighnari are in a relationship) have feelings for reader! They want to include her as well but reader hides their emotion's really well, they know her because she's always "happy" and helps everyone around them but her eyes look dull (with no life) and just hangs out with both of them but—

Reader is tired? As in mentally exhausted and just wants to end it all because some dark past came to her? (It could be a trauma that's get her on that state)

Nobody expected such a twist! Cyno and Tighnari watching as she almost jumps off a cliff and ask them to let her hand go so she could finally rest— ABSJSBS IM SORRY? I BLAME THE FANFIC I JUST READ— Also I want to suffer, they're not Cyno and Tighnari angst fic's—Ejem, if you feel merciful— Probably a sappy ending or something? I would leave that at your imagination of what happens at the cliff—

Anon—🖤 Bali

Ah, next time make sure to add trigger warnings to your asks please! Since I can't really add one before your ask, just to protect everyone reading (including me) pls and thankies

Tw: please read on your own discretion, tho the word itself isn't mentioned

This actually reminded me of the Tighnari series I've been following (also has unalive themes) and a Tighnari fic in my head that also has the same theme that I definitely won't write-

And anon Bali(?, Cuz I know this isn't the actual 🖤 anon we already have), I get what you're trying to put down but I want to raise a better point

What if this was AFTER they broke up instead? Ohhh spicier and more heartbreaking, the guilt of it all and the fear on their end after realizing that they may have had a hand on why their ex is acting like this, while the reader couldn't be bothered to comfort them back

Tighnari finding them on the cliff near where their favorite spot when they were still poly, sadly smiling at seeing them still attached to the place, until they jumped - and he rushes in to grab their hand, but they were too heavy because of their adventuring bag they won't let go no matter how much Tighnari begged.

Tighnari is shouting for help, getting more frantic at this point as his strength is starting to slip and that's when Cyno heard his call and rushed over to help. Quickly pulling them up, one of them takes the bag (it's SUPER heavy) to look inside, seeing that it was actually all the mementos they had when they were all still together. Their ex planned to jump off with the items they loved.

While the other, most likely Tighnari, pins them down to stop them from trying again as he shouts at them for being so stupid, so reckless, what the fuck was that stunt you pulled?! Why didn't you listen to him?! He was crying without even realizing, eventually realizing the implications the more he calls them out.

They still love them, of course, it's not easy to move on from someone you loved for so long and so genuinely. But that doesn't mean they want you gone just because you're not together anymore. It's not gonna be a cake walk back to the relationship, be real, but it depends on why they even broke up in the first place.

With the Matra and the forest rangers tasked to look out for their ex, the two took their time to help them back to living healthily again. Back to normal, as normal as things could be. When the reader does commissions outside of Sumeru, they were always antsy and paranoid that you'd have done it, and the wait is always terrifying that they can barely function in their work.

It's always a relief to see their ex back and alive even if they promptly shove away their positive looks and go straight to Katheryne like nothing happened. I also can't think of the ending cuz I want to leave that for interpretation aaaaaa

[systemadministratorclu]

I watched Sonic the Hedgehog + I have an incorrect quotes generator + I am bored = This:

Tom: So, what, now I’m just supposed to do anything that Sonic does? I mean, what if he jumped off a cliff? Maddie: If Sonic were to jump off a cliff, he would’ve done his due diligence regarding the height of the cliff, the depth of the water, and the angle of entry, so yes. If you see Sonic jump off a cliff, by all means, jump off a cliff. Tom: You jump off a cliff! Maddie: Gladly. Provided Sonic did first.

--------------

Tom: What do you think Sonic will do for a distraction? Maddie: He’ll probably, like, make a noise or throw a rock. That’s what I would do. *Building explodes and several car alarms go off* Maddie: ... or he could do that.

--------------

Tom: HELP! I TOLD MADDIE I’D COOK DINNER TONIGHT BUT I CAN’T COOK! Sonic, pouring milk directly into the cereal bag: And you thought I could help?

--------------

Tom: If Sonic and I were drowning, who would you save? Maddie: You two can’t swim? Sonic: It’s a hypothetical question, Maddie! who would you save? Maddie: my time and effort.

--------------

Tom: Sometimes I drink milk straight out of the container. Sonic: The cow??? Tom: What? Maddie: Sonic, W H Y?

--------------

Tom: Let me show you a picture from last night that really upset me Sonic: Okay, but in my defense, Maddie bet me 50 cents I couldn’t drink all that shampoo. Tom: That’s not what I wanted to- you drank SHAMPOO?!

--------------

Tom: I know you’re deflecting by making jokes about how hot you are. Sonic: It’s not a joke. Sonic: *sniffles* Sonic: I’m a legit snack.

--------------

Tom: Ok, maybe playing ‘whose family is most dysfunctional’ wasn’t the best idea we’ve had. Sonic's been crying in the bathroom for an hour. We can’t get him out...

--------------

Tom: Where are you going? Sonic: To get ice cream or commit a felony, I’ll decide on the way there

--------------

Tom: How petty can you get? Sonic: I once edited a Wikipedia article to win an argument I was wrong about.

--------------

Tom: What are your goals? Sonic: To pet all the dogs. Tom: No, fitness goals. Sonic: To be able to run fast enough to pet all the dogs.

(Um.......You can already do that, Sonic)

--------------

Tom: Sonic was banned from the chicken shack, so we had to go out of town to get some. Sonic: Well, they shouldn’t say “all you can eat” if they don’t mean it. Tom: Sonic, you ate a chair.

--------------

Tom: If there's going to be a big dramatic scene, wait until I get back. Sonic: Of course. I can't flip this table by myself.

--------------

Tom, struggling to keep upright in his 1 inch heels: Yeah, I-I don’t really think heels are for me Sonic, pointing at him and walking flawlessly in sparkly golden 6 inch heels: WEAK.

(But can he RUN in those?)

--------------

Sonic: Jail is no fun. I’ll tell you that much. Tom: Oh, you’ve been? Sonic: Once. In Monopoly.

--------------

Tom: Do you take constructive criticism? Sonic: I only take cash or credit.

--------------

Sonic: Must be hard not being able to laugh Tom: I do have a sense of humor you know Sonic: I’ve never heard you laugh before Tom: I’ve never heard you say anything funny

--------------

Sonic: Am I in trouble? Tom: Take a guess. Sonic: No? Tom: Take another guess.

(Why is this one frickin' adorable when I picture it in my head?)

--------------

Sonic: You saved me. I owe you my life. Tom: No thanks. I’ve seen it and I’m not very impressed

--------------

Sonic: Are you the big spoon or the little spoon? Tom: I'm a knife. Maddie, from across the room: He's the little spoon.

--------------

Sonic: Hey, Tom? Can I get some dating advice? Tom: Just because I’m with Maddie doesn’t mean I know how I did it.

(Okay that one was awesome)

--------------

Tom: Sonic and I were crossing the street, and this dude drove by and honked at us Maddie: *Sighing* What did Sonic do? Tom: He chased him to the next red light, then reached into his window and... Sonic: Who wants a steering wheel?

--------------

Tom: Maddie and I are having a baby. Sonic: That's gre- Tom, slamming adoption papers on the table: It's you, sign here.

(Wow, okay. Ending the post on that one, because there is no way anything will be able to top that)

[aonoexpat]

05-11-2023 (1/3)

As I shelter from the rain in Elrond on my last night on Te Waipounamu in the very same spot in which I spent my first night, I'm going to try to take the time to catch you up on my adventures!

(I might add some photos into these posts later, atm I'm waiting to receive them from friends)

SO, after taking that illegal shower and feeling very cheeky and proud about it, I drove over to Tauranga Bay with my friend. We made good use of the fact that we had two cars at our disposal, so we left one in the parking at the end of a 1.5 hour walking track, and rode together to the parking at the start. Then we enjoyed the wonderful weather as we hiked along the coast line, almost losing our hats to the incredibly strong winds every now and then! I spent a long time just standing at different spots along the edge of the cliffs, breathing in the fresh air, feeling the wind in my hair and the soft grass beneath my feet.

At the end of the track we got to see a seal colony hanging out in the sun, with little babies playing on the rocks and swimming in the waves:

That day I finally crossed the Rubicon, and booked my ferry back to Te Whanganui-a-Tara after a long time of being in two (or sometimes more) minds about the next steps in my trip. I initially planned to be back in the city in time for Halloween, which didn't end up happening. More on that later. But what's left unchanged since then is that on the 10th of November I will re-join the team at the bar I had worked at (and tremendously enjoyed) last time I was there!

The next day my friend and I headed North along the coast to Karamea. The road offered some beautiful views:

We had parted with our third friend, but in the parking lot at the start of two beautiful hiking tracks up there we spotted her car. We left a note under her windshield wipers to let her know we were there, and decided to walk the larger loop track in the opposite direction. And lo and behold, after walking for about ten minutes she came walking right towards us! We had a very excited reunion, and she walked the track backwards with us, pointing out her favourite spots. We saw adorable little Toutouwai and beautiful stone formations, the Moria gate and Ōpārara arch:

After that we paid a visit to the Box Canyon cave, which was an incredibly cool experience. My favourite moment was when we had just entered the cave and other hikers (an older couple) there heard us come in, and decided to make exaggerated ghost sounds. Then they came out of the shadows and asked us if we heard the ghosts, acting all scared 😂 We walked down the cave, every now and then just turning off our torches to take in the absolute darkness. We squeezed ourselves through narrow passages, climbed up into other parts (it truly felt like a Minecraft cave system to me), and saw one of Aotearoa's largest spiders: the Nelson Cave Spider!

After that we headed back South, and hiked the Charming Creek track. This one was probably the most boring hike I've done here! A large part of the track was just a straight, flat path through the woods. It became a lot cooler though when we could walk along the train tracks of the (g)old mine carts that had been prevalent here, and ended up at a nice waterfall:

[wanderella-w]

Ferries, cows, and bare feet (day 28-29)

Day 28 felt like a really long day, probably because we had the ferry ride from Falmouth to St Maves in the middle of it. We got up early and had breakfast after an hour of walking with a beautiful sunrise. In Falmouth we picked up a special delivery I ordered a few days ago at Spar: A full carton of 12 cliff bars!! I just tied the whole carton to my backpack and walked around as a living Cliff bar dispenser after that, what a great feeling! We also did groceries for three days, got cash and a new olive oil soap (we use it for washing us our clothes and our dishes), and Rosa tried getting het parcel from Jonny's mum but they said they didn't have it at the post office. I decided my book was to heavy after all and donated it to a charity shop. 12 cliff bars for a book, I got my priorities straight .

After the the 20 minute ferry ride to St Maves we had to take another small ferry, on which we were the only passengers. The ferry driver said that in summer though, it could get really busy and on one day he even had 390 passengers (the ferry fits 12 people at a time). It was nice to chat with him as he was very energetic. After the crossing we skipped about 3-4 km of the path because we were a bit in a hurry to reach Gorran Haven the next day (Emma would be leaving us from there) and Rosa and I were feeling a bit low on energy, I was still feeling my cold. In the afternoon my cold got better though and I was enjoying the walk along the beautiful, less rough coastline.

We pitched our tent on a cow meadow because we could find no better spot and had a nice and relaxing dinner with biscuits sponsored by Emma as dessert. After dinner suddenly a whole herd of cows came running towards our tent, they looked very curious and amazed, what strange green thing had landed on their meadow. We were able to shoo them away but they came back. Everytime we turned our backs on them they came two steps closer, like in the Annemaria-Kuckuck game. We decided to pack up and while doing so, one cow was actually nibbling on our tent! We had spotted a good spot on a beach about 15 walking minutes earlier, so we went back there but when we arrived we saw a sign that it was forbidden to camp there and that there was video surveillance. Alright then. The only other option was to camp next to the trail on a sloped and uneven patch of grass. We did that, and the night was actually still quite relaxing even though we kept rolling off our sleeping mats.

Today we walked approximately 24 km from Pendover beach to Gorran Haven. It was a great day, beautiful whether and my cold is as good as gone. Sadly it was Emma's last day walking with us :/. We had some goodbye cake and coffee at a beach café which was really nice. At the next beach we had another longer break where we went with our feet into the water. The water was still cold but it was warm enough to enjoy doing it! It was nice taking it slowly on that afternoon. After one other climb onto Dodman Point we arrived at our campsite in Trevague.

[thevindicativevordan]

Weekly reviews?

Damn what a packed week. Lot of great books came out:

Detective Comics #1064 - Probably the most straightforward issue yet but still solid. People who were hoping Ram was going to make Talia a hero again are probably disappointed, she's still firmly in gray leaning towards black.

Action Comics #1047 - Strong start to the new arc. I thought I was ok with Federeci leaving, much as I love his art this run would benefit from having someone more consistent drawing issues, but then he turns in some of his best work yet here. Now I'm sad he's leaving yet again. Initially I wasn't very happy about Lex being involved, love Lex but he's as overused as Joker, but damn if PKJ doesn't write a perfect Lex. Man walks into a killer robot's prison cell and delivers a classic villain monologue, not even caring that said robot is glaring hatefully at him and spamming "GET OUT", on how Lex is the solution to all of Metallo's problems. He's such an arrogant prick here and he's got all these awesome gadgets, I guess I'm on board for him being the big villain of the crossover after all. Metallo still has his military background thankfully, what PKJ is setting up for him sounds promising, I just hope he gets to have an arc to himself where he's the sole villain. Hoping whatever he looks like after Lex rebuilds him is finally a design I can get behind.

X-Men #15 - Remember the Vault and the Children? Well they're finally doing something again!

Superman Space Age #2 - When I finally accepted that Russell isn't writing a "Superman" specific story as much as a DCU story with Superman as the main protagonist, like Kingdom Come or how Hal was arguably the main protagonist of New Frontier, I am not as annoyed at Batman getting so many pages. Plus there's still enough great Superman and Lois moments to keep this in my good graces, even if I no longer see this as potentially entering into that All-Star Superman ranking of "greatest Superman stories of all time". Saving a deeper dive until the series is finished but I do think this will sit alongside Kingdom Come and Red Son as a great Elseworld Superman story. One thing that stood out to me which I'll mention here: I love how Brainiac is in the position of Jor-El and Superman is in the Science Council's position. Brainiac is saying the Earth is doomed and drastic measures need to be taken which Superman dismisses as insane ranting, because Superman is an optimist! It's never hopeless right? Wrong. Shit's fucked and Clark is walking straight off a cliff because of how idealistic he is, he's not treating the situation as seriously as it deserves. Such a great way of examining the nature of "hope" and showing how it can be a negative.

DC vs. Vampires #9 - Mostly reading for Steel and Kara interactions at this point, and Steel getting to kick ass. Mera as Black Manta is the kind of crazy twists that makes these Elseworlds worth reading.

DC Mech #3 - Much like the title above and Jurassic League this remains a very solid and entertaining twist on familiar storytelling.

Human Target #7 - I love it. The reveal isn't really shocking however, there's got to be another twist coming right? Otherwise it feels like things are too straightforward for a King story.

A.X.E. Avengers #1 - Gillen manages to write an Iron Man story that isn't just beating the dead horse about what a shitty guy Tony is. Pleasantly surprised that Tony passed where Steve failed. Now if only Gillen could swallow his pride and undo the stupid adoption retcon.

The Nice House on the Lake #10 - First of three Tynion books! Remains excellent but I confess I don't know where the story is going at this point.

The Sandman Universe: Nightmare Country #6 - Heh Tynion sure likes to roast himself with all these stand-ins appearing in his work. He's been talking about how he's had some great talks over in Hollywood, but I guess maybe he's also feeling like he's selling out for money?

The Department of Truth #21 - Either we're entering this book's endgame or the entire status quo is about to shift in a major way. I could see this book turning into a Shadow War between Cole and his husband, paralleling what happened with Lee and his Soviet opposite. I feel like an idiot for not recognizing until now that Baker is meant to be Steve Bannon.

[the-skeleton-lord]

Gelatinous Cubes and a Young Dragon

For the last year or so I have been running a consistent campaign of Dark Heresy, taking a break in the summer while people were out of the city for vacation. However, this week two of my five players told me they would be absent right as they are about to start a new mission. Normally I would just play through them not being there but it seemed like a bad idea to set up the whole scenario, not get much done, then have to re-explain everything again but worse since it would just be an info dump. Luckily the night before I had a gut feeling something like this might happen so I quickly prepped something different.

My players were surprised when I told them that we are playing d&d 5e today instead and they had 45 minutes to each build a level 5 character. They threw together a human wizard, a half-elf barbarian, and an elf rogue. The adventure was a simple conversion of Ruins of Castle Korvald from 4e, a quick trek through a ruined fort where a young white dragon has moved in and has a few constructs to guard the place.

The first challenge the players faced was getting into the castle. Normally this should be a simple choice between either walking in the front gate (and getting ambushed by constructs) or making a relatively easy athletics check to climb the hill the fort is on and go in through one of the ruined walls. The players were still in acolyte mode and decided to conduct a thorough sweep of the area before making a decision. They were given a description of the castle, the surrounding cliffs, and they discovered a single set of humanoid tracks along the road leading to the castle (que discussion about if the dragon is powerful enough to shape shift). Ultimately the party decides that the side entrance is too obvious and must be a trap so they go in the front... and get ambushed despite their efforts to scout the area using the rogue and the wizard’s weasel familiar.

Two animated armors, two iron defenders, and two walking crossbow turrets attack the party while they are standing on a bridge between two towers. Thinking quickly the party jumps off the bridge and hides underneath to avoid the crossbow fire and fight the four constructs as they follow. Barb holds them back but gets his but kicked while the wizard casts shocking grasp and the rogue keeps failing to hit anything. Once the party deals with the melee enemies the barb runs out from cover, avoiding arrows and gets to a point where he can climb up the crumbling wall in safety. He clambers up the wall and gets into melee with the turrets while the wizard shoots magic missiles through the arrow slits.

The barbarian climbs back down the wall and raises the portcullis to let the other two into the castle proper. The rogue notices a secret door on the floor and the party climbs down into the hole to see where it goes (they assume its safer than walking around out in the open). The rogue scouts forward a short distance and doesn't see or hear anything, but he does feel that it is much colder in this tunnel than it is outside. The party decides that its probably safe to take a short rest here despite figuring out the dragon's nest must be connected to the tunnels in some way. What the rogue did not realize is that he just barely avoided the detection radius of a pair of gelatinous cubes in the tunnel. During the rest the weasel familiar was set deeper into the tunnels and (lacking any dark vision) was easy prey for the cubes. The wizard was informed the weasel was suddenly killed but there was no indication as to how.

Undaunted, the party continues forward through the darkness. They party reaches an intersection where they can go right or straight. To the left they can see the glow of winter sunlight coming through a hole in the roof but decide to go straight instead. The cube that killed the weasel silently follows. They realize that the tunnel they are following must go underneath the wall of the castle as they reach a corner with another secret trap door entering an empty tower. They stay in the tunnel and discuss what to do next while the cube slowly catches up to them. Lucky for the party the rogue notices the cube approaching and they shoot at it with ranged weapons and spells. It becomes very clear that my players have never dealt with a gelatinous cube in a confined space and dont realize how much danger they are in as they keep delaying climbing out of the trap door until the last second. Its an easy DC 10 athletics check to climb out of the hole under pressure; the wizard goes first and fails his check as he struggles to lift himself up, the barbarian easily passes and I let him use his action to pull the wizard up DC 10 again but he fails, the rogue goes last and also fails the check asks to use his cunning action dash to try again and fails the roll anyway.

The wizard and the rogue decide to run away down the tunnel while the barbarian watches the cube pass below. The stranded pair make a run for it through the dark and realize there is another path to the center of the caster where they can see the light. They take that path looking for another way out when they spot the second cube that has also spotted them. Realizing they are about to get pincered between the two cubes they make a break for it and try to get through the hole in the roof before the cube blocks them in. Its a very easy DC 5 athletics check to climb up the pile of rubble which the wizard makes but the rogue again gets his foot stuck or something. He asks to use his dash to try again again but this time dislodges himself and makes it above ground as right as the cubes catch up and then give up the chase and retreat back into the tunnels to look for prey.

We take an IRL break for a few minutes and I ask the players if they know what gelatinous cubes are/do and they all say no before looking it up and realize how much danger they were in.

Moving forward the players poke around the castle grounds and deduce where the dragon is hiding. Nothing of note happens other than they miss or ignore every piece of loot they could have found. Next step is the tower with the dragon in it. The rogue sneaks up and passes his perception check which tells him there is a campfire lit inside the tower, the sound of metal on stone (iron defender), and a single humanoid inside (an orc emissary from the nearby clan here to try to ally with the dragon). The party kicks in the door, gets a surprise round and kills the iron defender and orc thanks to the rogue's assassin ability. Then they realize the dragon isnt here... and then they hear it start moving below them.

The dragon climbs up from a hole in the floor and immediately breath attacks the barbarian who fails his save. He's still standing but hit hard. The wizard casts haste on the barbarian, the rogue shoots an arrow, and the barbarian slips and falls on the icy floor caused by the breath attack. The dragon rolls a six to recharge his breath attack and fires it again at the barbarian who passes his save (thanks to haste) is knocked unconscious anyway. It then takes to the air and moves over to the rogue, it uses its reach to keep the rogue in threatened space while also being out of reach.

The wizard runs over to the barbarian and uses his potion of greater healing on him, risking slipping but passes the check. The barbarian gets up, rages, and (still hasted) unleashes a furry of attacks on the dragon with his glaive. The rogue uses his cunning action to disengage and shoot with an arrow. For a second time in a row the dragon recharges his breath attack and sprays the barbarian. He makes his save and the damage roll is low enough that he stays up.

Next the wizard casts web on the dragon and on the dragon's turn it fails its save and falls to the ground restrained. The barbarian and rogue get in a big chunk of damage while they have the opportunity but then the wizard's true plan is revealed. He casts fireball at the group and, because he is an evocation wizard, nominated his two allies as being excluded. The rogue easily makes his check and the barbarian passes due to haste, the damage isnt quite enough to kill the dragon but the wizard then points out that the webs igniting cause extra damage which was exactly enough to slay the dragon.

[lunamains]

Yep insurance

#Yep insurance how to#

#Yep insurance drivers#

One could even say, spontaneity rules the road. Though it may be tempting to take the straight shot, sometimes taking the scenic route can add that level of spontaneity and escape you need. Are you the type of road-tripper who likes to take a little longer on the scenic route or the one who holds off rest stops like you’re allergic to bathrooms? For this part, you’ll want to get a consensus from your travel partners on your points of interest, because cars do not cut through mid-trip tension well. Much like Toggle Auto, the route you choose is customizable to your needs as well. Once you figure these things out, you can move forward with booking those reservations, or no reservations.Ĭhoose the road, don’t let it choose you. We never said it has to be an overnight stay. Or maybe just a day trip will do for you. Did you hope to sleep on nice pressed linen sheets all weekend or under the stars at a national park? Or both? Hey, glamping is a thing now too. It’s also important to consider accommodations at this point. Do you prefer a view from the top of a cliff or from your hotel’s rooftop infinity pool? Is strolling through hiking trails across mountain ranges more your style, or is wandering through the streets of an authentic Bavarian alpine re-creation village more on par? Once you narrow down your interests, you can narrow down your destination choices. Are you a member? Also, if you’re looking to save money, keeping it close is fantastic for that too.įirst, it’s important to decide what you’re hoping to pack into your weekend.

#Yep insurance how to#

The adulting elite know how to be resourceful with their time. So preferably, you’ll focus on a getaway that is just 1-2 hours away. Once you hit the road, the key to maximizing your rest and relaxation, and those sweet, sweet PTO days, is to keep your travel time short. In other words, you don’t have to take a whole week off to avoid screaming into a pillow after each Zoom meeting. One study found that a single short-term vacation has large, positive and immediate effects on perceived stress, recovery, strain and well-being. Who says you need to cash in all those vacation days at once? Short trips pack a strong stress-reducing punch too. Take that Friday and Monday off, and make your weekend feel like a month. And as we said previously, almost every town has a local hidden gem nearby. We are all about safety and precaution here. map and being super free, unless you’re in a biker gang, it’s probably best to consider all your destination options first. As much as we’d like to suggest throwing a dart at an open U.S. The road you travel doesn’t have to be a long one. So buckle up, we’re taking you from 0 to 60 with our weekend road trip planner.

#Yep insurance drivers#

Since launching Toggle® Auto, we’ve been a little obsessed with helping drivers get the most out of the open road. There’s just as much adventure to be had when keeping the trip local. And with every town having a local hidden gem, you really don’t have to go that far for some candid weekend vacation shots that are bound to make everyone you went to high school with jealous. There’s a little bit of nomad in all of us. Road trips are the epitome of freedom: ravaging the food scene at every stop, taking in each breathtaking sight and making memories that will or will not stay on the road. With spring right around the corner and road conditions improving, there is no better time to hit the open road. So why can’t you get out and explore whenever you want? We think you can. Not even walking across a creek that wasn’t even a creek at all, but just oily street runoff water. A little concerning, right? But when you were a kid, it was the norm. If you came home covered in dirt and grass, it would be a little weird.

[ink-stained-words]

It's fuzzy. It's been quite a lot of weeks, multiple months

I can't remember what it felt like exactly, but listing details helps

It was after the sleepover. I woke up before you- I was up for half the night, off & on, listening to noises out your open window & staying very still so as to not wake you up

I got some granola bars for breakfast. I knew it wasn't enough, I ended up almost passing out anyway. But I wasn't hungry

I sat next to you while you scrolled through tiktok or instagram. You were wearing a silly hat. I love you dearly

We listened to music in the car with an aux cord splitter. The volume was never quite right for me, but I didn't care. We connected to the car & blasted Bruno & Hell's Coming With Me & C'mon Down

More than just those. But I remember those the best

The trees were pretty. The park was even prettier

I liked the feeling of it

Genuinely not caring that I was probably annoying a lot of adults with my singing

I think I spiraled a bit later, on the drive back. Penance for taking up more space than I strictly needed to

But it was nice. It was so nice

I still couldn't look straight at you (too bright, too brilliant) but you were sitting next to me, & that was close enough

There's something I'm supposed to say about it. Some connection I should make, some aspect I can't picture quite right

We shared ice cream while it rapidly melted in the tub. I carried Loveless around and didn't read any of it

We sat on a rock looking at the buses, trying to decide if we had enough time to ride one. We didn't. Your head was on my shoulder. You scrolled through what music I had downloaded

Your family took forever to come back from their hike. We threw sticks off a cliff. We walked a ways uphill trying to get reception, so you could message your boyfriend

It was very hot. I hope November is less hot

My lungs and heart and chest and soul were always in some stage of collapse, implosion, corrosion, decay

Not in a bad way

I paid way too much attention to clocks, worrying how long I was making my dad spend alone, without a car, in shitty hotel beds

I think he was in a lot of pain when he got back. I can't remember. I don't remember a lot about the week after we got back

The definition of decay is to break down into component parts

My soul was breaking down, in a way. Looking straight at you was a catalyst. Your existence was both the catalyst and the cause

There's a list of things about the universe that I believed very strongly, up until June. Up until I met you

I suppose the most important was that at some point, I'd stopped believing I'd ever find anyone I could love this much

Emotional vulnerability tastes like a death sentence. It feels like a taunt, daring the universe to rip things away

Looking at you felt a bit like jumping off a cliff without checking my parachute first

It still does, a bit. It's getting easier

My exposure therapy really is just looking at my best friend

Looking at you made me process, all at once, in a blinding deafening imploding supernova, how easily this could destroy me, how easily you could. How much you matter to me

How deeply invested I am in knowing you for the rest of forever

I want vacations, wandering around airports, finding shitty coffee & sitting in the weirdest positions trying to get comfortable in the terminal seats

I want every concert, even if I don't know any of the songs, though I know for a fact you'll loop them for the entire drive up

I want afternoons doing laundry and dishes and vacuuming, planning meals, writing schedules out on a whiteboard in different colors

Forgetting keys on the counter, picking up takeout, arguing over what movie to watch, even if neither of us particularly care what we do together

I want every playlist and every piece of art, critrole or Steddie or anything. Every rambly chain of messages and horror movie night

I could keep listing things. I know I have. I've probably said all of these things before, at some point it has to become a bit redundant

But it terrifies me, how easily I can picture you at every moment. It doesn't feel like any of the big future things would be complete without you there

Part of me knows I'd think of you at all of them, if you weren't. I'd be aware of your absence. It'd hurt more than I'd expect it to

I'm not sure where I was going with this. It's all just things I've told you before

Why do we have to be here for so long, at this part of life

We spent so long in the before, aren't we owed the after

Don't we deserve all of those things

I know I'm being unreasonably dramatic, there's only a couple weeks left until I see you. It won't feel as much like a decaying supernova

I'm accustomed to the fear of putting my heart in your hands, I know how much I trust you. I don't know the limits of it, of any of it, but I trust you

That feels sufficient

I don't know if this will help anything, I doubt it will. But it helps to get all my thoughts in the right order

I bought an aux cord splitter. It's silver and I'll put it in my purse

We're very close, not just to November, but to the point where I can stubbornly prove to your brain that I'm not going anywhere by just being there

Part of me's convinced you'll get tired of it at some point. Waking up in the same place as me, watching me make chocolate chip pancakes because sometimes it's all I can stomach

But we're close. We're very close. Only a little bit longer

[bmaxwell]

Death Stranding

Death Stranding was my first real Hideo Kojima game. I remember dabbling briefly in Metal Gear Solid back in the PlayStation 1 days, but the MGS series is stealth + modern military, which makes it an incredibly hard sell for me no matter how batshit crazy it gets. I didn't know the series got crazy at the time and, had I known, it might not have made a difference.

I remember seeing this trailer in 2017 and being confused, intrigued, uncomfortable, maybe a little scared. Men in the rain being dragged into black tar and killed by invisible enemies. Norman Reedus dying and coming back to life. A fetus inside him shows you its butt then gives the camera a thumbs-up. Lots of good, weird stories get told in various mediums. Weird stories with a huge budget are less common.

The game had been shrouded in mystery since its reveal in 2016, followed by a few cryptic trailers and a lot of hype. When it came out, the buzz around it was mixed at best. Some people connected with it and were blown away by it. Many described it confusing, pretentious, and dull. Even the game's fans admitted it was a hard sell. A triple A game where you travel from city to city...delivering packages? I'd seen clips of a man walking on foot through a barren wasteland with a comically tall stack of boxes strapped to his back, weaving back and forth struggling to keep his balance.

How I came to play it in 2019 was a confluence of events. Like all cool people, I listen to a few weekly videogame podcasts. Everything I heard and saw of the game made me want to play it. Not because it was so incredible, but because it was so different.

I think about "buy-in" with games a lot. Hell, with media a lot. If you approach a thing looking to be skeptical of it, you're probably not gonna dig it. The inverse is also true. There's nothing wrong with criticism or enthusiasm. But with some media there comes a point for me where I have to either give myself over to it or put it down forever. I can tell there's something here, now do I want to put in the time and effort to enjoy it?

Death Stranding is corny and heavy-handed as hell. You're a porter for the Bridges Corporation. Your name is Sam Porter Bridges. Your mother is Samantha Strand. She is the President of what's left of America. Your sister is Samantha America Strand. There are characters named Heart Man, Dead Man, Mama, and Die Hardman.*

You are tasked with trying to bring the scattered, isolated colonies back together by delivering packages between them and trying to convince them all to start using wi-fi again. Basically. Your cell phone takes the form of literal handcuffs. "Likes" are a sort of currency in the world. Some people get addicted to that. THE METAPHOR DO YOU SEE IT

Oh, Sam also has a live baby in a jar strapped to himself. Sometimes the baby cries and gets scared and you have to rock him and calm him down because sometimes there are invisible black ink monsters who will find you and drag you off to inky swamp hell if you're not very quiet. Or they might just knock all your packages everywhere.

The game deals in apocalyptic themes, destinies, all centered around global extinction events that come around to cleanse the world every so often. Oh, there's also a weird scary soldier ghost man named Cliff who is after you and seems to want your jar baby.

I do not blame anyone who gets a whiff of this, says "What the everloving Fuck is this?? No!" and writes the game off. It's preachy, heavy-handed, and corny. The meat and potatoes of the gameplay consists of walking from city to city, crossing rough terrain with a giant stack of boxes on your back. Did you fall down? Uh-oh, better pick all your shit back up! Sometimes you encounter enemies you mostly run from or throw pee and poo grenades at.

Everyone in the game world takes it all seriously and plays it all straight. It has to be this way, otherwise it would all fall apart. The acting performances range from serviceable (Norman Reedus mostly grunts and utters a few terse, gravelly-voiced lines) to fantastic (Mads Mikkelsen kills it). If you give yourself over the ridiculousness of the setup** then there is some wonderful, gripping drama and heartbreaking moments that are exceedingly rare in the world of games. Mikkelsen and Tommie Earl Jenkins in particular have some unforgettable performances.

The one part of the game system that absolutely does work is the limited multiplayer. You don't encounter other players, but you do encounter structures and signs*** that they build. You can build structures that provide shelter from the elements, or recharge vehicles. You can build roads and zip lines. You can build ladders to help with difficult terrain. These structures will show up for other players as well, and vice versa. I've been nearing the end of a long journey in extremely bad shape, and happened upon a safe shelter built by another player. I will never forget huddling under shelter from the rain while Low Roar played.

The game does big dramatic moments beautifully, and the excellent soundtrack does a lot of heavy lifting there. The game's vibes really hit me just the right way. It's filled with melancholy and dread, with bits of hope sprinkled throughout. I suspect this sort of thing appeals to my depression-addled brain. "Everything seems hopeless, but you still get up and carry on. Here's another reminder that you are not alone, even when it feels that way." There is also something peaceful and meditative about travel. Motion soothes us when we are babies. As adults we forget that sometimes.

Death Stranding misses the mark for many, if not most, people. It also doesn't feel like anything else. For those of us who find something here, it is a unique, beautiful, flawed work of art. I'll take weird, ambitious, and flawed over by-the-book any day of the week.

*Whose birth name is Joh McClane **See also Groundhog Day ***And piss-mushrooms