#scholaroftrivia

[newhologram]

@scholaroftrivia replied to your post “Is there another word for “vacuum tube” that is cuter or more...”

Not a direct translation but maybe “vacuum chamber” would work?

@lachryphage replied to your post “Is there another word for “vacuum tube” that is cuter or more...”

you could just leave it as "vacuum"?

@soapiekitty replied to your post “Is there another word for “vacuum tube” that is cuter or more...”

Vacuum tubes are also called thermionic tubes or thermionic valves, which sounds cooler and maybe old-timey?

Thanks for your input, everyone! I ended up making the lyric go like this

My sleepy brain was in a trance, time to wakey-wakey Like an empty vessel, my heart was missing something

I feel like dropping the vacuum tube bit and replacing it with empty vessel conveys the feeling of the lyric better. I may change this a few more times when I see it over the music video as usual.

[kimabutch]

I mean Beau did call Ikithon out for lying. Won't have much effect on him directly, but hopefully she manages to bring the case to the Cobalt Soul's higher ups.

I hope so!

[raionmimi]

Kakashi's the worst teacher, but people never talk about how Jiraya sucked as a teacher too.

You’re absolutely right, plus the worst godfather in the Naruto series for just dIPPIN DAY ONE LMAO. Couldn’t even drop by once in awhile, and it took f o r e v e r for him to take Naruto’s pleading to be trained seriously

[conceptstage]

Here is the second answer to this prompt. I hope you like them, thanks for sending it in.

~~~~~~

“How dare you!” he hissed, his voice so pinched that it squeaked. Beau couldn’t really remember his name, but it was something pompous and obnoxiously long. Jester had taken to calling him Lordly Fuzz-Butt and so that’s what they called him behind his back.

Beau blinked, trying to figure out what she had done this time. “Um… what?”

“You have stolen from the wrong man, you little monster!”

Beau straightened her back and balled up her fists at her sides, feeling defensive although she still wasn't sure what was going on. She realized suddenly that he wasn’t looking at her, he was looking slightly behind her. She followed his eyes and they landed on Nott.

Nott the Brave, holding a handful of jewelry.

The goblin froze in place and swiftly hid her hands behind her back. “What?! Nothing! Who? Jewels, what jewels?”

“I’ll have you executed for that!”

Beau stepped in front of her small friend and crossed her arms over her chest. “If you try it, you’ll be answering to me.” He was taller than she was by at least a good foot, but in her opinion you were only as tall as you felt.

“Nott,” Caleb said, stepping up to her and kneeling down. “Put those back? He already paid us for the job, we should just leave with what we have before he calls for someone.”

Nott frowned. “But…” she sighed and handed over the jewels. Caleb stepped forward and awkwardly sat them in the nobleman’s open palm.

“You think simply returning them will absolve you? Your little beast attempted to rob me and I will have justice!”

“You will have a busted nose if you don’t piss the fuck off,” Beau hissed. “And mind who you call a beast, that snaggletooth you got there looks pretty beastly to me.”

His entire face was bright red at this point. “You-! You-! You bitch! You will not speak to me that way!” He cleared his throat when Beau just gave him an unimpressed raised eyebrow. “I challenge you to a duel, swords only. If you win, I will not report this and you may go freely. If I win, you and your entire party of miscreants will go to jail.”

Beau huffed dismissively. “Deal. Courtyard, thirty minutes?”

“I made the challenge! I get to set the terms,” he exclaimed. “Meet me in the courtyard in thirty minutes!” He walked passed her and she rolled her eyes.

“That’s what I just said!” She moved to follow him and was instantly swarmed by her friends. “Woah? What’s wrong?” she asked, looking up at their worried frowns.

“Beau, you can’t duel that guy. Look at his wall, he’s a very decorated fencer,” Fjord said, pointing to the wall of trophies behind her.

“Yeah, I saw that. Pretty tacky, right?”

Molly gripped her shoulders and gave her a serious look. “Let me fight as your champion, Beau. I’m the best swords fighter in our group.”

“That’s what you think. What the fuck do you think us rich girls do in our free time? I was constantly in fencing classes since I could walk, and being with Cobalt made me an expert. I bet I could even give you a run for your money, and I can certainly handle this fucko.” She knocked his hands away and started stretching her shoulders. “I’m a little rusty, but that’s nothing ten minutes of warm ups won’t fix.”

“Beau, I’m not sure about this,” Jester mumbled, worrying her lip with her teeth.

Beau sighed and snatched the short sword off Nott’s back, ignoring the goblins indignant ‘Hey’. She flipped it around expertly in her fingers and then pointed it at Molly.

“Alright, I guess this will be my warm up. Take your best shot, Molly.”

Molly still looked dubious but took out his scimitar. “En guarde, my friend,” he said with a teasing smirk.

“Don’t be a dick,” she told him, before twirling around expertly, tossing the sword through the air into her other hand and then bringing to flat of it down on Molly’s fingers. He was unprepared for her to actually be competent and dropped his sword. “There. Disarmed you in three seconds, good enough for you?”

“No, no, I just wasn’t expecting you actually be able to do shit. Hold on, one more time.” He picked up his sword and stepped back into a fighting stance, taking her seriously this time. By the time their sparring was over and he was following her and everyone else out into the courtyard, he had a cut healing slowly on his chest, a wounded pride, and he felt fairly certain that she was going to make that pompous windbag cry.

[sigmalied]

Sorry to bother you, but I'm not sure my answers to your answer are visible. tumblr's a bit weird with me lately. In any case, have a fantastic day and week!

Oh! I see the response now. Tumblr just never notified me of it. /: I think I can address some of your points. Some of them may be unfair of me to answer because GBTQ is yet to be wrapped up, so I could have things planned that haven’t been shown. Meaning some points that are right about the state of the story now could be overturned in future developments. I’ll try to make sure to stay faithful to the script I have right now and let you know if I’ve come up with new ideas that were based on your points.  

Long post below the read more.

I also have a question for anyone reading this post at the very end, something I’m curious about.

Tevos about Benezia and the geth stuff: The characteristics Tevos has seen of the geth hybrids so far are basically summed up as… zombies. They don’t act like people anymore, and they’ve got wires everywhere, so I think Tevos would be looking for those characteristics. Nazara was a sophisticated exception because she never had her brains blown out like Olat, and she was intended to be sentient and thinking, but Tevos never knew about her. Aria never told her. I think a more significant geth-controlled suspect would be Saren because he’s so… geth-ified by that point. I mean, this would be assuming that Benezia is still seen around the galaxy prior to Saren’s disbarment. She has that ill indoctrinated look about her but it’s not geth-like, I mean. Plus, the geth suffer as well when they’re combined with an organic conscience (I will be sure to look back at gbtq and make sure this detail is explicit, or made explicit if it’s not), so the geth wouldn’t do this to themselves, it would have to be Saren who’s done it. But then the geth probably wouldn’t follow him if he’s been doing this to them, unless the geth decided one platform’s sacrifice was worthwhile for their goals…This is getting messy. Nevertheless, I could see Tevos wanting an investigation into Benezia after this point though, due to the geth and possibilities of her being manipulated by them. Canonically, Tevos allegedly knew about the geth being out and about prior to Eden Prime (no word on other councilors’ knowledge), so she might’ve kept any investigation on the down-low with her government. 

Tevos’s Spectre deployment: This is good. I think in the revision I may just have her sending out Neora and having the other Spectres replaced by other agents under the direction of Neora. It would be an easy thing with Benezia though, to officially denounce her or charge her with some treason or defection to absolve the Asari Republics of responsibility for her actions when she and Shepard fight it out, to avoid the worst of any sort of diplomatic problems. As for why Tevos and the other councilors would send a newbie Spectre to handle a disaster like this, that’s outside my control, lmao.

Tevos and the Reapers/Cerberus: Tevos was always with the Council’s ‘ah yes, reapers’ stance. She thought it was just geth the whole time, didn’t even really think the collector’s were up to anything significant, but if they were, they helped Shepard just so they wouldn’t risk not knowing if something came of it. I think Tevos would only disdain Cerberus more than people like Aria because Cerebus is an actual enemy of Council space, whereas Omega is neutral. Helping Aria was to originally avoid messing up that neutrality and starting a war, but Shepard is working with Cerberus to tackle a job Tevos and the other councilors don’t even know is real; for all they knew at that time, Cerberus could’ve been up to something horrible. And they kinda were, in the end. 

Tevos and Udina: I think this could be explained by the unreliability of her biotics skills. With Aria, she pushed her in anger while not seeing her as a life-threatening enemy. Being held at gunpoint by Udina could have evoked a different set of emotions that broke the concentration of someone who’s untrained. And if Tevos were composed enough in that moment to muster a shove like the one she gave Aria during GBTQ, I think it might’ve provoked Udina into shooting her. I think she decided not to take the chance, knowing her effort might’ve fallen short. 

Aria and Cerberus: Something that’s not really in GBTQ (until the end) is that Tevos and Aria haven’t communicated for decades before ME begins. Tevos had no idea what was going on prior to Omega’s takeover, and Aria didn’t tell her (probably cause she knew that Tevos would condemn her for it, so what’s the point in telling her?). But yeah, all I can ever think about is the disjointed logic in the canon novel, comics, and games where Aria realizes that Cerberus murdered her daughter yet she rents space for them on their station… I think this situation frustrated me into not worrying about it too much.

Aria and Shepard on Omega: Mostly, I just assumed that after GBTQ Aria and Tevos would be on good terms again and Aria would let her put Spectres in the Terminus systems sometimes. I could see her maybe calling up Tevos and complaining about not getting any forewarning. That could even be a source of the ‘unsettling rumors’ the Council cites when meeting with Shepard again. I could work their repaired terms into gbtq more explicitly if I find a good spot.

Honestly, sometimes it’s hard to not let the transformative fiction spitefully overwrite canon’s shortcomings. I know I’m being a jerk toward the canon when I say this but I think a lot of what you brought up were issues that I originally thought were either shaky or illogical in canon… Holy shit. This is Freudian or something. Holy shit. I know GBTQ is just a fun fantasy with crazy shit happening but it’s the little details like you’ve mentioned that are making me see where I’m struggling not to revolt while sticking to canon… 

Benezia’s actions not concerning the Asari Republics. Sending out newbie Shepard to handle a Big Deal. An asari (Tevos) who can’t defend herself against a human. Aria letting a known terrorist organization onto her station. All things I went “bleh” about. This is enlightening.

Here’s my question I mentioned earlier to anyone who wants to answer:

Are there spots in canon that you would prefer that GBTQ stray from, redefine, or otherwise contest? Strictly from a literary perspective, meaning not necessarily what we desire to see happen and rather what should happen for the benefit of a quality narrative, while also keeping in mind that GBTQ is meant to coexist with the canon timeline to a large extent. Do you have examples? (it’s okay if you don’t)

I guess the purpose of this question is just me wondering… I guess wondering what’s best for the story. I mean, I started GBTQ when I was 19, and I’m gonna be 24 in a month. It’s a big chunk of my life. I wanna know what’s best for it.

[captainofthetidesbreath]

Since proficiencies with tools was mentioned in this latest ep, here’s a quick rundown of what tool kits each member of the Nein is proficient in, how they acquired it, and what each kit allows them to do as quoted in the Player’s Handbook:

Fjord, Navigator’s Tools (Sailor background) - Proficiency with navigator's tools lets you chart a ship's course and follow navigation charts. In addition, these tools allow you to add your proficiency bonus to any ability check you make to avoid getting lost at sea.

Beau, Thieves’ Tools (Criminal / Spy background) - Proficiency with these tools lets you add your proficiency bonus to any ability checks you make to disarm traps or open locks; Artisan’s Tools: Jeweler’s Kit (Monk) - Proficiency with a set of artisan's tools lets you add your proficiency bonus to any ability checks you make using the tools in your craft; a third tool proficiency that I am personally unsure of at this time (Prodigy).

Caleb, None.

Veth, Thieves’ Tools (Rogue); Artisan’s Tools: Alchemist’s Supplies (Guild Artisan background) - Proficiency with a set of artisan's tools lets you add your proficiency bonus to any ability checks you make using the tools in your craft.

Jester, Disguise Kit (Charlatan background) - Proficiency with this kit lets you add your proficiency bonus to any ability checks you make to create a visual disguise; Forgery Kit (Charlatan background) - Proficiency with this kit lets you add your proficiency bonus to any ability checks you make to create a physical forgery of a document.

Caduceus, Herbalism Kit (trained in during campaign) - Proficiency with this kit lets you add your proficiency bonus to any ability checks you make to identify or apply herbs. Also, proficiency with this kit is required to create antitoxin and potion of healing.

Yasha, None.

[blueares]

scholaroftrivia replied: We don't know where Breath of the Wild fits in LoZ's branching timelines. Even if it was after Twilight Princess, it could be they went away from Hyrule for a time before coming back.

We may not have a definitive placement yet, though Zelda has a line in one of the flashbacks that, to me, suggest that this game takes place after TP. “Whether skyward bound, adrift in time, or steeped in the glowing embers of twilight, the sacred blade is forever bound to the soul of the hero.”

She references Skyward Sword, Ocarina of Time, and Twilight Princess; the beginning, the split in the timelines, and a game from the Child Timeline. I feel like that’s a pretty decent indicator if where BotW fits.

[fivegoldpieces]

scholaroftrivia just pointed this out to me: "Jester's insisting Molly was a god and Beau denying it takes another layer when the previous inhabitant of Molly's body was head of a cult who apparently thought killing himself was a good way of increasing his power." Now I'm doubly worried for Jester's well-being. She's put Molly on such a high pedestal that she's not realizing how dangerous it is to do so. Because she doesn't know what kind of person Molly, or rather Lucien/Nonagon, really was...

oh boy I completely forgot about that part of molly's backstory ngl but yeah that's. wow yeah I definitely hope jester doesn't get blinded by her own belief of who molly was.

though, I do have to wonder if jester actually does believe what she said about molly or if she only said that to distract beau and tbh herself from the fact that she is very much not fine at all - that whole conversation went from her guilt to not healing beau, to her sending a message to beau's dad, to the tarot cards: she pretty much took the focus of conversation away from what she's feeling to something else and that's what worries me as well

[komatsunana]

If it doesn't bother you, a second Trope Rating Time: Authority Equal Asskicking

By all means, send in as many as you like.  I’ll answer them all eventually.

No | rather not | I dunno | I guess | Sure | Yes | FUCK yes | Oh god you don’t even know |

On the one hand the leader of an army (or the equivalent of) should be able to join the people beneath their rank and understand the danger they are in and not take it for granted... at the same time I question the idea of putting the leader (especially if they are the strategist) in danger which often happens with this trope.

[newhologram]

Happy birthday newhologram!

ty!!

[kimabutch]

I'm not sure how to do a song ask, I always see "Too Much, Too Young, Too Fast" by Airbourne as a great song for Beau. What do you think?

You did the song ask! :D

And I agree with this!! It really captures her anti-authority attitude:

“Some people like to make all the rules/ And tell others what to do/ They make it their way so they always win/ And the others always lose” 

And her propensity for living dangerously and occasionally getting a bit messed up:

“Too much, too young, too fast/ I'm gonna drink it up while it lasts/ Too much, too young, too fast/ I'm gonna tear it up so fill my glass” 

Can definitely see her rocking to this. 

Come yell at me about songs that remind you of Critical Role! (Playlist | song masterlist & spreadsheet by disasterhumans | CR music tag)

[conceptstage]

I had two ideas for this prompt and I liked them both equally, so I did both. Here is the first one, I played with the idea a little, I hope you don't mind. Also, Molly is here because wishful thinking.

~~~~~

The arcane field that separated her and Nott from their friends glowed a deceptively disarming light blue. Nott was shaking down by her feet. “I-I’m sorry!” she said, her voice shaking. “I’m so sorry, I thought I got everything, I didn’t see-”

“Nott,” Beau interrupted, because if she didn’t the small goblin would go forever. “It’s fine, this isn’t your fault. The trigger was arcane, so this is Caleb’s fault.”

Caleb frowned at her from the other side of the wall. “Well, that is rude. Perhaps I will not dispel it and free you now.”

“What!?” Nott exclaimed and Caleb’s face instantly softened.

“I am sorry, it was a poor joke. I will begin the dispelling now.” He sat down and started flipping through his book.

“Don’t you worry guys,” Jester said, grinning. “We’ll get you out lickity split!”

There was a noise from behind them, farther into the darkened room and, when they both turned to look the room was suddenly awash with light. Beau winced but didn’t close her eyes to let them adjust, and when she could finally see she couldn’t believe her eyes.

“What… the… fuck…” she mumbled, in shock.

The entire room was made out of white marble, so the light was harder on her eyes than it would have been otherwise. There was a large, glowing ball of light hanging from the ceiling with no discernable power source or anchor holding it up. There was a pedestal in the center with a single short sword sitting on top. The hilt was inlaid with several glittering stones and the blade itself was silver in color and glowed with a faint bit of magic. Across the room was a hulking, nearly transparent spirit in translucent armor, it’s eyes glowing red. She recognized the sigil on the front of his armor from the book she’d read before they ventured in here. This was the protector of the queen they’d come to grave rob. Shit.

“Fight me,” it said in a voice that shook that the walls. “If you wish to continue, you must prove yourself the superior sword fighter.”

“Holy shit,” Molly mumbled, he was leaning against the barrier now. “Hurry up, Caleb, I need to get in there.”

Caleb frowned at him. “It is not something I can hurry, it is a ten minute spell, it will take ten minutes no matter how urgent the situation.”

“Fuck,” he tiefling cursed again and he and Fjord shared a worried glance. “Is this the sword fighter we were told about, I guess? The one buried here to protect the queen?”

“I hope not,” Jester mumbled, twiddling her fingers nervously. “He was, like, the best fencer ever right? Beau can’t fight him, she doesn’t use swords.”

“Beau,” Fjord called, banging on the wall. “Just dodge and weave, do what you can to avoid him for as long as possible until Molly or I can get in there. We’re the best sword fighters here, we’ll run in when we can, just hold on.”

“The fight will start when my opponent picks up the sword provided,” the voice said again.

Molly sighed in relief. “Alright, it looks like we’ve got some time. Just hold on, you two.”

Beau huffed and started walking towards the pedestal. She picked up the sword and spun in around in her fingers. “You guys, I got this,” she said, sneering at them when they cried out for her to wait. The pedestal made a groaning noise and began to sink into the ground. “What the fuck do you think the monks taught me at that damn library? But, you know, I don’t like to show off.” With a flourish, she tossed the sword into the air and then caught it deftly, continuing to spin it and toss it from hand to hand with a practiced and surprising grace. When she was finally done proving her point, she turned to face the spirit once more.

“Don’t do anything stupid, Beau,” Molly called.

“Too late,” she called back, flipping him off without looking back at him.

“Fuck you!” he called. “Don’t die!”

Nott was holding Beau’s pants tightly in her fingers but let go when Beau gestured for her to go stand by the wall. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep him away from you. Just go stand still and don’t do anything.”

“Prepare yourself, intruder!” The words were so loud and seemed to be coming from everywhere, it briefly made her vision swim.

When the pedestal sunk completely into the ground the spirit began to change, becoming more corporeal and solid. He pulled a sword from the sheathe on his belt and started running towards her. Each step he made caused the ground vibrate under her bare feet. She held up the sword in front of her and stepped back into a defensive stance. Nott squeaked in fear and ran off to the far wall, pressing herself against the stone.

Beau smirked and flipped the sword around in her grip until the blade pointed down. She balled up her other fist and bounced lightly on her feet. “Come and get me then.”

[sigmalied]

Hello! First, I just wanted to say I find Goddess Bless the Queen to be pretty amazing, and that you write very well. One question: are the Mass Effect games events going to happen unchanged in your GBtQ series? I'm not saying your characters are OOC, far from it, but the circumstances they went through would make them act differently than in the games, IMO. Ex: I'd have trouble believing Tevos treating Sheppard like in game, given the scheme she saw and her concern for non-Asari Space issues.

Thank you! And yes, I write with the intent to “slip into canon”, where everything can mesh with canon events.

How do you mean, regarding how Tevos treated Shepard? She always seemed inclined to help to the extent of her abilities at the time, such as proposing the compromise to help reinstate them as Spectre (despite Shepard committing treason; now that’s good faith). The only thing I feel would challenge her sympathy toward other races would be the beginning of ME3 where she denies help for Earth, saying the sad reality is that they need to worry about their homeworlds first. Which is, unfortunately, a very sound decision to make in that situation, and I don’t count it as a true strike against her sympathy. I’m one of those “the Council did their job pretty well” interpretation people.

I would also add that her salient concern for other races in GBTQ (the batarians, mostly), is largely a product of her own guilt, for throwing them under the bus on multiple occasions.

I’d love to hear any counter-points you have, though. You’ve given me something to think about, particularly for when I edit/revise GBTQ again in the future. 

[komatsunana]

Trope Rating Time: Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting. Thanks in advance!

No | rather not | I dunno | I guess | Sure | Yes | FUCK yes | Oh god you don’t even know |

The discrepancy is depending on if it’s series or played for laughs, lol.  I love when there’s some comedy to all out chaos of a bunch of skilled fighters all fighting each other even if it’s a serious fight.  I’m just not that interested in super serious action movies, like I don’t go “wow what a good fight scene” instead I’m more like... “Oh that was a fight scene I guess.”

But thanks for sending one in!!

[vriskamylove]

scholaroftrivia reblogged your post and added:

The Jane and Jade of the up8 are from doomed timelines. John’s retconning of the Alpha timelines make every other timelines doomed, and as it was implied by Nix, all the alternate versions of John and Roxy are going to die.

hmm so even if there was an alpha timeline it's a moot point because now that John is retconning only the timeline he creates will be allowed to be the alpha one.... I guess :P

amazingacepilot reblogged your post and added:

These seem to be various different timelines.

The one we were watching so far was the alpha timeline.

It seems to me that various timelines are having certain kids disappear. My first guess would be that maybe John is recruiting his friends from various different timelines? But….that doesn’t make much sense.

All we know right now is that Jane and Jade right now are from two different DOOMED timelines. If this trend continues, we may see more kids disappearing from timelines as more show up to tell their story to Callie.

Eventually it should all piece together.

wait which kids are disapperaing? you mean Jade from Jane's story? actually it would be cool if John was really recruiting people and pulling them out of reality, but it seems more like this is a solo mission for him

god if even more kids come from even MORE doomed timelines and they each have a different story I think it's just make me more confused rather than clear things up for me haha :P I'm more curious to see where John's retcons will lead to tbh