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elsanna-shenanigans · 3 years

Text

April Contest Submission #30: Break Me Off

Words: ca. 3,000 Setting: mAU Lemon: no CW: none

“Can I try yours?”

Elsa’s head snapped up from the book she was reading to look to her left. Her baby sister was looking expectantly, her small hand outstretched and waiting expectantly, fingers wiggling in a grabby motion.

“Sure,” she answered with a smile, and passed her barely started dark chocolate KitKat on to Anna. “I don’t think you’ll like it though.”

Anna ignored that statement and immediately put the candy bar in her ‘some teeth missing transition period’ mouth, and bit off a sizable chunk. She chewed for a few seconds before her chocolate-covered lips twisted in a grimace, and she threw the KitKat back in Elsa’s lap.

“Ewww,” she said once she finally swallowed the bite (she at least had the decency to not spit it out like she used to a few years ago, something Elsa could bet would drive their father nuts if she did it in the new car), then gave Elsa the dirtiest look ever. “It’s so bitter! Why are you doing this to yourself…”

The last words were said with an overly-dramatic flair as Anna put her hand up to her forehead and pretended to faint like an old-timey movie lady on an ottoman. Which would work much better if she wasn’t stopped by the seat belt.

“It’s not that bitter to me.” Elsa shrugged as she picked up the discarded KitKat and continued to eat it as if nothing ever mattered. “You just still have a baby palate,” she said around a mouthful.

Anna blew her a raspberry, and her gaze dropped to Elsa’s book. “Whatcha reading anyway?”

Elsa swallowed the KitKat. “Harry Potter.” She flipped the cover to show it to Anna, who immediately started tracing and mouthing the letters of the title. “The fifth part comes out next week, so I wanted to re-read it before then.”

“Can you read it to me?”

“Later,” she lowered her voice and glanced in the rear-view mirror at their father’s concentrated face. It wasn’t the best idea to read–and have Anna interrupt with her loud comments–while he was driving. “When we’re settled at the hotel, I’ll read some to you.”

+++

“Hey,” Anna whispered, leaning over the wide armrest so she could reach Elsa’s ear. “You wanna try a bite of mine?”

She offered her the obnoxiously white KitKat, and Elsa immediately took it, as if its glow-in-the-dark properties could be seen by the row behind them. Without thinking much, she chomped down on the half-eaten candy bar. The overwhelming sweetness exploded in her mouth and seemed to coat her tongue with a thick, fatty film.

“You like it?” Anna whispered again, absolutely disinterested in the screen, her eyes locked square on Elsa’s face. “It’s kinda sweet, but I think I dig the white chocolate.”

Fighting through the nausea, Elsa finally managed to push the saccharine mush down her throat. “It’s absolutely disgusting,” she whispered back, then chuckled at Anna’s betrayed face. “I can see why you’d like it.”

Anna opened her mouth to say something (presumably snarky, she was hitting that age) in return, but an angry shhh came up from behind them. Elsa glanced at the people sitting in the back row and mouthed a sorry.

She turned back to the screen and tried to catch up on what she’d missed from the movie. So far The Goblet of Fire was proving to be worse than the previous parts, but she still wanted to know how they managed to work out the lake task of the Triwizard–

When Anna opened her mouth again just a few seconds later, Elsa stuck the white chocolate KitKat in it.

+++

“Hey, tradition!” Anna screamed suddenly as Elsa unwrapped her finals-study-motivation KitKat, almost making her drop it. “Lemme try!”

Elsa blinked. This was just the dark chocolate variety, one that she was sure she’d already let Anna try at some point in her life.

“You already–” But before she could finish, Anna’s shark jaws locked around the still barely unwrapped candy bar in Elsa’s hand with a loud crunch.

She munched for a moment, a thoughtful look on her face as she was considering the flavor. It quickly gave way to a disgusted scowl.

“Ew,” she said with a fake gag. “It’s as bad as I remembered.”

So Elsa did let her try it before. She rolled her eyes and half-heartedly swatted Anna away.

With a devious snicker and a hurried good luck with the exam!, Anna skipped out of the room and left her alone to study.

Elsa shook her head and finally returned her attention to her long-awaited snack award.

For some reason, the sight of Anna’s glitter lip gloss on the dark chocolate made her stomach twist.

+++

KitKats turned out to be the best way to go through her finals that year, and the next semester, and the next next semester, putting in the required fuel, feeling of accomplishment and the calories missing from not having time to eat proper meals.

It was also one of her little pleasures to find and test new flavors, especially those not available locally. It was Anna’s little pleasure to never say she wanted to order some for herself, and instead take bites off of Elsa’s, ‘just in case I don’t like it and don’t wanna finish!’

And over time it was one of Elsa’s little pleasures to look at the print of Anna’s lips on the chocolate and tenderly place hers on top to match the shape.

That little pleasure turned into a major curse when she realized she was daydreaming about placing her lips on Anna’s directly.

From then on, she would only buy the 4 finger breakable Kits.

+++

“I don’t really like this one,” Anna said around a mouthful of the Ruby cocoa KitKat. “It looks super cute, but it just tastes kinda waxy.”

Elsa shrugged. “Honestly, it’s just like the regular, but pink.”

“No, it’s different.” There was no point arguing with Anna on that. While Elsa preferred to try out new flavors, Anna has always been a hardcore true fan and real connoisseur of the regular Kit, so all she could do was to believe the expert. The currently pouting, cutely irritated expert. “Do you wanna finish mine?”

Elsa’s blood froze.

The whole point of the 4 finger Kits (which she personally considered inferior as the ratio of chocolate to wafer was just not quite on par with the single stick) was to not kiss Anna by proxy. Is what she came to call it.

But Anna was holding out the pink KitKat with a darker pink lip gloss outline in her direction, looking at her expectantly.

“N-no, I’m fine,” she answered a little too quickly and in a little too nervous of a voice. “I don’t really like it either,” she lied.

Anna’s brows furrowed. “I thought you said it tastes like the regular to you.”

Elsa could feel herself sweat. Damn, the stupid act of sharing a KitKat, something they’ve done since they were little kids was making her sweat.

Probably precisely because they’ve been doing this since they were little kids. Growing up together. Being sisters. Who should not want to kiss each other, yet there Elsa was, looking away from Anna’s perfect cupid bow glossy lips like a teenager (which she was definitely not anymore, on the final stretch to obtaining her bachelor degree) in love.

Her own lower lip felt numb from biting down on it. Fuck, she was in love.

“Yeah, but you’re right,” she said, mouth dry. She was in love and she was just now realizing this because of a stupid Ruby KitKat. “It is waxy.” Stupidly good Ruby KitKat that she was going to deny herself because her sister’s lips touched it and she would burn in hell if hers did too. “Just toss it out.”

Anna’s face looked like she just told her she actually was planning to vote on Trump for the pure fun of it, but she didn’t say anything.

+++

“Hey, I’m just about to head out– oh is that a new one?”

Elsa almost dropped the half eaten candy bar on the floor. She was not expecting Anna to come in her room any time soon, and like the true disgusting goblin she was, she decided to partake in her secret stash of imported KitKats.

Her dirty little secret stash of single stick KitKats that she couldn’t find in 4 finger format, and thus could not ever, ever let Anna know about because even if she ordered two pieces of each kind Anna would refuse to try an entire bar on her own.

‘I mean, what’s the fun in that? Half of the joy of KitKats is sharing!’

Not really seeing any way out of that, Elsa admitted defeat. “…Yes.”

“Oh, cool!” Anna bounced over excitedly to drop down on the bed next to her. “Oooh, white chocolate and peach? So fancy! Is it from Japan? It looks about the size of the Japanese ones I saw online…”

Her pure, genuine excitement only made Elsa feel even worse about hiding in her room like Gollum with his ring. Then, right as she was reaching for Elsa’s KitKat, Anna’s face and hand suddenly dropped.

“Wait…”

Elsa gulped.

“…you… you were going to eat it without me, weren’t you?”

She focused on the pattern of her carpet.

“Oh my god, Elsa! You stinker!” Anna sounded full-on betrayed, and Elsa could honestly not blame her for that. “I thought KitKats were our thing!”

Elsa blushed, for many different reasons. “I-it’s not like that,” she started explaining herself, fully aware of how pathetic she sounded. “It’s just cause you never want a full KitKat of a new flavor and I couldn’t find them in the sharing format–”

“So? I didn’t know we were suddenly only allowed to share the break-apart ones.”

Elsa sighed. Right, to Anna it didn’t make any sense, because Anna was a normal person who didn’t fantasize about kissing her sister. Or flustered about indirectly kissing her. “I-it’s just easier to portion…”

“I’m pretty good at portioning a bite, thank you very much.” She still sounded a little miffed, but she did smile towards the end– right before her eyes turned very round and glistening. “Did you eat many without me?”

Holy shit, she was looking like the pleading emoji and Elsa was at her wit’s end. “No!” she denied quickly and truthfully. “I-I bought more, but this was the first one I was going to try…”

Anna crossed her arms.

“Aaand now that you know about it I guess there’s no point hiding,” Elsa continued sheepishly. “I’ll uh– I’ll go to the kitchen and cut you off a piece.”

She stood up quickly, holding the KitKat like a relay sprinter holds the baton, clinging on for dear life with the prospect of glory and escaping the rivals, or in this case escaping her sister before she could–

“Wait.” Anna’s hand was on her wrist and Elsa almost yelped. The rivals outran her and the finish line was nowhere in sight as she fell on her knees, defeated, and only metaphorically speaking as in real life she was just standing stiff in her place. “What? Just let me take a bite, it’s easier–”

“N-no,” she interrupted quickly, trying to pry the wrist away from Anna’s surprisingly strong grip. “Cause, uh– umm, that way I can make sure to cut in the middle and give you a fair share.”

Yes, that was a splendid save.

“I just want a bite, I’m not sure if I would like a whole half.” And a gloriously crushing response from the opponent. “Just let me–”

Her peach pink lip gloss would look amazingly fitting on the white chocolate and peach KitKat. Or on Elsa’s lips. Applied with her lips. On her lips. Kissing–

“No!” She yanked her hand away. Anna’s eyebrows shot up in shock, and Elsa realized she yelled that very loudly, even though she was mostly responding to her own dirty little secret thoughts. “I mean– I don’t wanna…”

What? What was she supposed to say to get out of this? There was literally no logical reason she could not be wanting to simply share the KitKat like they used to for so many years, aside from the obvious plague that was currently rotting her mind, but she could not tell Anna that–

“…are you disgusted by me?”

She said it in such a small voice, looking up from where she was sitting on Elsa’s bed with hands folded neatly in her lap, her big teal eyes glazed with a sheet of tears and Elsa’s heart broke into a thousand shards.

“Oh god, no!” Her hands moved on their own to grab Anna and pull her into a hug, but she stopped herself on the way, now with her hands awkwardly hovering at Anna’s eye level. “Why… no, I’m so sorry you would even think that, I–”

“Then what is it, Elsa?”

Fuck. Fuckity fuck shit fuck what was she–

“Just say it,” she damn near sobbed. “Out loud.”

“Your lip gloss,” she said in a flat voice, grasping at straws to not lie, but also not tell the truths. “It stays on the KitKat when you bite it.”

Anna’s eyes went wider. “You don’t like my lip gloss?”

Why the fuck was she sounding this hurt by the idea? “No, I–”

“I thought you said it looks good…”

“It does!” She could clearly feel herself getting flustered. “I like it, and it looks very good on your li– on you. Really good.” God, was she sounding as borderline creepy to Anna as she did to herself? “B-but it leaves a– a stencil of your lips on the…”

She trailed off, not really sure how to get out of the corner she just talked herself into.

Anna gave her a puzzled look. “So you don’t like… my lips?”

“No!” Jesus why was communication so difficult and why was the room so hot and why was Anna looking at her like this? “I love them. Like! I like them. I like. Them. Your lips. Like them.”

If Anna got up and called the ambulance right now because ‘my sister is having a stroke!’ Elsa would find it completely justified.

“Ookay…” Anna said slowly, not reaching for the phone, and instead continuing to try to read Elsa’s face (but what she could potentially read was that inside Elsa’s head there was a wind-up monkey puppet playing the cymbal, and nothing much beside that.) “So what is the problem?”

Elsa mumbled in response.

“I’m sorry?”

“It feels like we’re kissing,” she said weakly, absolutely giving up on her hopes and dreams in that instance. “When I bite the KitKat.”

Anna blinked at her. “That’s it?”

Elsa nodded.

“I mean, that’s all?”

It was Elsa’s turn to wear a confused expression.

“You’ve been getting only breakable KitKats for a year just so you could share with me without feeling like this?”

Elsa nodded again, albeit cautiously. She had no idea where Anna was going with this.

“And denying yourself flavors that don’t exist in that format so that I wouldn’t feel left out?”

Nod again.

“I’m sorry.”

Record scratch. “What? No, why are you sorry?”

“Because you were feeling uncomfortable because of me?”

“No, I– I didn’t want you to feel uncomfortable knowing I want to kiss you.”

Wait, no– oh no no no no holy fuck no backtrack backtrack backtrack–

Her stomach sunk. There was no way to backtrack.

Red alert, escape the room.

Anna caught her hips before she could dash for the door and spun her around to face her again, this time meeting her at eye level. She reached for Elsa’s hand–which was currently hanging limply at her side, and still holding the goddamned half-eaten KitKat–and clasped it gently in hers, then brought it up until it was between them, right in front of Elsa’s mouth.

The scent of peach and white chocolate hit her before her brain registered the development.

“Bite,” Anna said softly, but with demand. “And hold.”

Elsa’s mouth opened on its own as her sister pushed the KitKat in, and obediently she clamped her teeth down on it–just enough to break the chocolate layer, but not all the way through.

She stood there patiently with the candy bar sticking out of her mouth, watching Anna remove the remaining wrapper as if her body was not hers to steer, as if she was just a passive observer as her mind was struggling to pick the pieces of what her sister was doing without going for what she really wanted Anna to be doing in her heart of hearts.

Once the wrapper was off, Anna climbed on her tiptoes and– Elsa could swear she saw her smirk right before the free end of the KitKat disappeared in Anna’s mouth, slowly, until their lips finally touched.

Their lips touched.

She was kissing her sister.

She was kissing her sister around a fucking candy bar.

And in just a few heartbeats she heard the tell-tale, trademark KitKat crunch as Anna’s teeth broke through the wafer, and with a final brush of her glossed lips she was off, leaving behind only a chunk of white chocolate and peach mousse in Elsa’s numb, speechless mouth.

“It looks good on you too,” Anna said with her mouth still full and gaze dashing between Elsa’s lips and eyes. “Bet it would be even better without the melted chocolate.” She swallowed down her bite, and let out a satisfied hum. “Mm, I like this one. Funny how the flavors work together so well… chew, Elsa.”

She brought her hand up to Elsa’s chin and pressed on it, and Elsa mechanically picked up the chewing motion, earning a delighted smile from her sister.

Anna glanced down at her watch. “Well, I gotta go. The sea and beach won’t run away, but my friends just might if I keep them waiting any longer.” She placed a soft, sticky kiss on Elsa’s boiling hot cheek. “But I’m really looking forward to trying the other flavors you got.”

With a wink, she pushed past her and out the door, leaving Elsa to deal with the lump (of KitKat) in her throat.

#elsanna #submission #April 2021 contest #prompt: break

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brooklynislandgirl · 3 years

Note

Star Wars Asks

2. Which character do you want to be most like?

5. What planet would you most like to visit?

6. What planet would you most like to live on?

14. What is your favorite alien species?

20. What do you hope will happen in future movies?

22. Favorite droid?

23. What’s your favorite Star Wars musical piece or theme?

24. How do you pronounce Twi’lek?

Not So Long Ago || Accepting

II. Which character do you most want to be like?

Despite the fact that I have all my assorted favourites from Episodes 1-6, the Expanded Universe, and even the role playing games {I have yet to play any of the actual video games but I hear good things about them}, the one character I want to be the most like is of course, Han Solo. I absolutely love Harrison's embodiment of Han, and I love his cool, cocky, gunslinger/smuggler archetype. The morally questionable but does the right thing in the end, loyal to his friends person that I have spent 40+ years of my life watching. I consider myself cynical, sarcastic, sometimes irreverent, but I would also consider myself loyal to a fault, uniquely talented in some areas, and I'm a pretty decent shot.

V. What planet would you most like to visit? The simplest answer is Kashyyyk. The forested home of the Wookie species, with tree houses and beautiful lakes, everything that pale grey-green and misty. There's limestone spires and winding rivers and that's literally just the surface view. It's real life counterpart is Guilin, in the northern part of the Guangxi-Zhuang region of southern China.

VI. What planet would you most like to live on? I would absolutely love to live on Zelos II because of her moons and her landscape, and the fact that everything there is botanical and deadly but you know to set myself apart from my muse, I would choose Scarif. If we could get rid of the Imperial buildings and the like. Scarif comes across as a tropical island planet, sharing many characteristics of earth's Polynesian chains, but was in fact filmed off the Sri-Lankan coast, and on the southern Maldives. I would kill to see if Scarif also has bio-luminescent sea-algae.

XIV. What is your favourite alien species? It would again be unfair in the grand scheme to claim Zelosians as I do play one as a muse whom I love. So going for some variety, we're going to choose Nautolans. The amphibious race that produced heroes like Jedi Master Kit Fisto. One, they're cool to look at. Two, Kit Fisto wasn't a complete dick. Three:

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury, I rest my case. But for real, I just think they're cool, and everyone else has their favourite races with head-tails, so I can have mine. XX. What do you hope will happen in future movies?

That the Haus of Maus will stop making them, honestly. There were few things I may have appreciated about TCW but that was specifically the clones and Kit Fisto. I saw the Solo film and hated it, except for Donald Glover who was perfect as Lando Calrisian. The less said about the next few movies the better and I have never seen the third film of the sequel trilogy. Of all the new films, Rogue One was probably the best, and even then it was not what I was hoping for save for a few scenes. Maybe the EU spoiled me. Maybe I am too entrenched in the original Lucas era sextology, and that is, in fact, the proper term for two trilogies or a series of six works, I'm not trying to be a funny bitch about it. Every time I look Disney is really shitting on something I have loved since I was a toddler. And I mean that fully and with sincerity. I was 2 years old when A New Hope was released into theatres, and it is the very first movie I ever saw. So what would I hope for? That Lucas or at least someone who shared his visions and passions, re-canonises the EU. That we get films based on the Rogue Squadron Series. That Ahsoka Tano chokes to death on a fucking porg. I mean, I'm not really asking for much, guys. XXII. Favourite Droid?

"Why do people keep hiring him? They're risking the wrath of the Empire." "Sir, I believe it's because IG-88 always gets the job done." ―Gurdun and Minor Relsted IG-88. <-- cool theme song.

XXIII. What's your favourite Star Wars musical piece or theme? It's my husband's ring tone on my phone. It makes me squirm with anticipation while sitting in the dark. I... *bursts into tears* am not worthy. John Williams NAILED it guys, you can all go home now.

XXIV. How do you pronounce Twi'lek? Maybe because I only read it in books for the longest time, and never heard it said aloud, but for whatever reason, I say TWI-lek. Twi as in twilight, lek as rhymes with beck. I don't know what a twee-lick is, or any other variation and will ignore any such pronunciations in the future.

#Mahalo!Matt <333 #The Turtle Speaks|Mun Answered Asks

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theonyxpath · 6 years

Link

Yep, we’re at that strange part of the Trinity Continuum: Aeon Kickstarter, the part where things kind of plod along with a pledge here and there. (So I’ve included this new art above to kind of be the totem of shaking things up and making some action happen!) Amazingly, it took us until three-quarters of the way through to plateau for a bit. We’ve had KSs that plateaued three days after they started!

So now’s the time to tell all your friends if you’re a backer, and to take another look at the KS if you haven’t backed yet. Please, if you have time, post in social media so word gets out. In particular, if you know somebody that was a fan of Trinity back in the day, they may not be up on who is publishing what, or that this Kickstarter is even happening to bring back the game.

We always have folks coming to us after a KS wanting to know if they could still pledge because they missed hearing about it while it was running. If we can get word out to them now, they can get in on the fun and the extra goodies. Because while we now have BackerKit for post-Kickstarter activities, it’s not exactly really pledging during the KS.

Enemy Action illustration by Justin Norman

Let me back up a tad.

When we first started doing Kickstarters, which I think was six years ago last week, there was just the bare bones of usability. It was the creators of the Kickstarters that added in “Add-ons” and “Stretch Goals” (and a bunch of other things), so when it came to knowing who had added on what, we all came up with improvised systems. Even Reward Tier rewards were, and continue to be, delivered one Reward Tier at a time by messaging that Tier. And then the next, etc.

Now, if you look at some of our Kickstarters, I put in anywhere between a dozen and two dozen Reward Tiers, because we were having fun and had a lot of wacky ideas we wanted to share with potential backers. It could take me a day to go through all those Reward Tiers, and then go through all the pledges individually to find out those who had added on the reward, and send out the links for just that one reward.

So, obviously, a bunch of folks saw opportunity in my misery, and what they call “Back-End Services for Kickstarter” became a thing. (Of course, I’m certainly not the only KS Creator who was grinding their teeth at the methodology, and a lot of folks had much more complicated reward set-ups).

BackerKit was one of these back-end services that I heard good things about, but I was hesitant to pay someone to do something I could do, albeit with a lot of complaining. While the late Stewart Wieck and I were talking about how he was doing his KSs in preparation for our shared Scarred Lands Kickstarter, he extolled the virtues of BackerKit and convinced me that the time and effort saved was well worth it.

And he was right. Not only does their set-up simplify any given disbursement of reward links or messages to setting up one file and letting BK get the links out to all who have that reward listed, but they have a “pre-order” page where folks who missed the KS can still “pledge” for items from the KS after it is over.

I put those two terms in parentheses because it’s not really a pledge that folks are making in that they don’t get all the stuff from the Reward Tiers, but they do get some, and it’s not a pre-order in the sense we are all used to in this hobby. But the terms are close enough and most importantly, they are a great way for folks to get involved in the KS after it has run, but without waiting for the books in stores, if they are even the type that get there.

As the folks who have contacted me about the Deluxe Wraith 20th Anniversary Edition and wanting to back-end pledge have learned, unfortunately. Wraith 20‘s Kickstarter came before I adopted BackerKit, so we don’t have a method for allowing post-KS pledges of any kind. That is totally my bad for not adopting BK earlier. We live and learn.

Scion Origin illustration by Shen Fei

We do expect those Deluxes to show up available with our friends at Indie Press Revolution (see below in The Blurbs section) eventually, though, as have previous books from KSs before BackerKit.

To help you out, here are links to our existing BackerKit “pre-order” pages:

Deluxe Changeling: The Dreaming 20th Anniversary: https://deluxe-changeling-the-dreaming-20th-anniversary-ed.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders

NOTE: You’ll need to go to the C20 one ASAP, as I’ll be closing it down soon as we prepare to ship the backer rewards.

Deluxe V20 Beckett’s Jyhad Diary: https://deluxe-v20-becketts.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders

Prince’s Gambit Casual Card Game: https://princes-gambit.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders

Scion 2nd Edition: https://scion-2nd-edition-tabletop-rpg.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders

Chronicles of Darkness: Dark Eras 2: https://chronicles-of-darkness-dark-eras-2.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders

Cavaliers of Mars: https://cavaliers-of-mars.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders

Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition: https://changeling-the-lost-2nd-edition.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders

Monarchies of Mau: https://monarchies-of-mau.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders

That’s a fair number of ongoing BackerKit “pre-order” sites! We really do have:

Many Worlds, One Path!

BLURBS!

KICKSTARTER:

The Trinity Continuum Kickstarter is three-quarters done and we’ve only just hit a real plateau, so now is the time to let folks know it is happening! There are a lot of fans of the original releases out there who aren’t connected to our current incarnation, so please, if you know a fan from back in the day: LET THEM KNOW THIS KS IS HAPPENING!

So far, we have pledges headed towards 300% of our funding goal, over 1500 backers, and we’ve gone through thirteen Stretch Goals including VARGs, new Noetic Biotech, new Cyberware and new Espionage-Related Hardtech, and Aberrants and their cults that will be added to the AEon AExpansion, a Trinity Continuum: Aeon novella entitled “Dawn“, a scenario called “Caper, Incorporated” has been added to the In Media Res scenario collection PDF for the Trinity Continuum Core, and backers will be able to download the Trinity Core Dice for the Onyx Dice Rolling App.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/200664283/trinity-continuum-aeon-rpg

Trinity Continuum: Aeon, is our reboot of the classic Trinity (Aeon) game, and Trinity Continuum: Core is the core book that all of our Trinity Continuum game lines will spin off from. Both books will be a part of this Kickstarter and backers have already received the first two quarters of the Trinity Continuum: Core text, with more to come. James Bell, our Kickstarter Manager, has been keeping this KS hopping, so we hope you’ll check it out!

Our next Kickstarter is slated to be EX3‘s Dragon-Blooded.

As we try and find ways to enable our community to more easily play our games, the Onyx Dice Rolling App is now live! Our dev team has been doing updates since we launched based on the excellent use-case comments by our community, and this thing is both rolling and rocking!

Last week the devs are added a whole bunch of new game lines’ dice and rolling bg’s and got caught by a bug Apple needed to fix, so be sure to update your app and soon that should be fixed.

There’s been tweaks to all elements of the UI, you can now preview every die type in the store, and you can use multiple die types per roll! Here are the links for the Apple and Android versions:

http://theappstore.site/app/1296692067/onyx-dice

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.onyxpathpublishing.onyxdice&hl=en

Three different screenshots, above.

(The Solar Anima special Dice above)

Promethean: The Created and Demon: The Descent dice on a Demon: The Descent tabletop

Hunter: The Reckoning and Mage: The Awakening dice on a Mage: The Awakening tabletop

ON AMAZON AND BARNES & NOBLE:

We’re delighted to announce the opening of our ebook stores on Amazon and Barnes & Noble! You can now read our fiction from the comfort and convenience of your Kindle (from Amazon) and Nook (from Barnes & Noble). Our initial selection includes these fiction anthologies:

Vampire: The Masquerade: The Endless Ages Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Werewolf: The Apocalypse: Rites of Renown: When Will You Rage II (Kindle, Nook)

Mage: The Ascension: Truth Beyond Paradox (Kindle, Nook)

Chronicles of Darkness: The God-Machine Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Mummy: The Curse: Curse of the Blue Nile (Kindle, Nook)

Beast: The Primordial: The Primordial Feast Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

And here are six more fiction books:

Vampire: The Masquerade: Of Predators and Prey: The Hunters Hunted II Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Werewolf: The Apocalypse: The Poison Tree (Kindle, Nook)

Werewolf: The Apocalypse: Songs of the Sun and Moon: Tales of the Changing Breeds (Kindle, Nook)

Vampire: The Requiem: The Strix Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Werewolf: The Forsaken: The Idigam Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Mage: The Awakening: The Fallen World Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Andand six more more:

Vampire: The Masquerade: The Beast Within Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Werewolf: The Apocalypse: W20 Cookbook (Kindle, Nook)

Exalted: Tales from the Age of Sorrows (Kindle, Nook)

Chronicles of Darkness: Tales of the Dark Eras (Kindle, Nook)

Promethean: The Created: The Firestorm Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Demon: The Descent: Demon: Interface (Kindle, Nook)

And even more books are now on Amazon and the Nook store!:

Scarred Lands: Death in the Walled Warren (Kindle, Nook)

V20 Dark Ages: Cainite Conspiracies (Kindle, Nook)

Chronicles of Darkness: Strangeness in the Proportion (Kindle, Nook)

Vampire: The Requiem: Silent Knife (Kindle, Nook)

Mummy: The Curse: Dawn of Heresies (Kindle, Nook)

OUR SALES PARTNERS:

We’re working with Studio2 to get Pugmire out into stores, as well as to individuals through their online store. You can pick up the traditionally printed main book, the Screen, and the official Pugmire dice through our friends there!

https://studio2publishing.com/search?q=pugmire

Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Here’s the link to the press release we put out about how Onyx Path is now selling through Indie Press Revolution: http://theonyxpath.com/press-release-onyx-path-limited-editions-now-available-through-indie-press-revolution/

You can now order wave 2 of our Deluxe and Prestige print overrun books, including Deluxe Mage 20th Anniversary, and Deluxe V20 Dark Ages! And Screens…so many Screens!

And you can now order Pugmire: the book, the screen, and the dice! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/manufacturers.php?manufacturerid=296

DRIVETHRURPG.COM:

With a howl of RAGE, the W20 Changing Ways PDF and physical book PoD charges at you this Wednesday on DTRPG.com! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/229183/W20-Changing-Ways

Changing Ways is an in-depth look at what it means to be a werewolf, both on a personal level and as part of a pack. It digs deep into what it feels like to have bones re-knit after breaking, the range of senses available across all forms, and the sudden heady rush of the Gifts and Rites bestowed by spirits. It also provides a look at what life is like for lupus and metis werewolves, characters who have had experiences alien to any person. It shows the many ways that werewolves organize in packs, and how those packs are designed as groups of warriors, rather than aligned to the behavior of wolves.

Changing Ways contains:

• A detailed look at what it means to grow up as a lupus or metis werewolf, and how that colors a character’s perspective.

• More information on what it feels like to be a werewolf, a creature that changes in both body and mind.

• Frameworks and organizations for packs, along with new tactics and systems for forging the pack as part of play.

Appearing on DriveThruRPG this Wednesday are the PDF and PoD physical book versions of Arms of the Chosen for Exalted 3rd Edition! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/226224/Arms-of-the-Chosen

Take up the panoply of legendary heroes and lost ages, and awaken the world-shaking might of their Evocations. Before the dawn of time, the Exalted wielded god-metal blades to cast down the makers of the universe. In an ancient epoch of forgotten glories, Creation’s greatest artificers forged unimaginable wonders and miracle-machines.

Now, in the Age of Sorrows, kingdoms go to war over potent artifacts, scavenger princes risk everything to uncover relics of the past, and the Exalted forge great arms and armor on the anvil of legend. These treasures are yours to master.

Discover the mystical power of the five magical materials and the secrets of creating your own Evocations. Wield weapons of fabled might and don the armor of mythic heroes, making their puissance your own. Claim Creation’s wonders: the miraculous tools of the Chosen, living automatons, flying machines, hearthstones, and more. And unleash the mighty warstriders, titanic god-engines of conquest and devastation, to once more shake Creation with their footfalls.

Coming this Wednesday as an Advance PDF on DTRPG, we reveal The Secret of Vinsen’s Tomb, a Jumpstart adventure for Pugmire. (And yes, there will be a physical book PoD version coming soon). www.drivethrurpg.com/product/232337/The-Secrets-of-Vinsens-Tomb–A-Pugmire-Jumpstart

A cat living in Pugmire disappears, but neither the police dogs nor the cats of the Cat Quarter know why. When zombies attack the heroes, however, all signs point to an invasion by the Monarchies of Mau. But how does this intrigue tie into the lost tomb of the first king of Pugmire?

The Secret of Vinsen’s Tomb is a Pugmire story for three to six characters. This jumpstart contains all the rules and characters you need to play — just grab some dice and go! You can also use this adventure with the full version of Pugmire.

The Secret of Vinsen’s Tomb contains:

• An evocative and mysterious setting that’s both family friendly and deep enough to create compelling stories.

• A summary of Pugmire’s traditional fantasy rules system. It’s designed for streamlined play, with an emphasis on cooperation and action over competition and violence.

• A complete adventure for a Guide to run for three to six players. Also useful for Guides running a full Pugmire game of first or second level characters!

• Six ready-to-play characters, so you can jump into the action.

Can your good dogs discover the secret of Vinsen’s Tomb?

Also releasing this Wednesday on DTRPG is the physical book PoD version of the Pugmire Core Rulebook itself!

Is a life of running and hiding a life worth living? We say yes. There’s always something between the running and the hiding, and those moments of grace make it all worthwhile.

The Huntsmen Chronicle Anthology is a perfect companion piece to Changeling: The Lost, 2nd Edition. These stories spin tales of the Lost, of those abducted and enslaved by fairies. Those who escaped, but whose captors will stop at nothing to find them. These fairies summon forth the Huntsmen, primordial hunters who understand nothing but pursuit and capture. The Huntsmen are unstoppable monsters, and the Lost can only look to each other for respite, rare comfort, and rarer trust.

The Hedge has parted and you can get the PDF/electronic versions and the physical book PoD version of The Huntsmen Chronicle Fiction Anthology for Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition at DTRPG.com! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/210042/The-Huntsmen-Chronicle-Anthology

We unveil Vampire: The Requiem 2e‘s Half-Damned as PDF and PoD versions on DTRPG.com this Wednesday!

http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/227500/Half-Damned

I love her, she’s family, but I don’t love what she is.

– Antonio Ramírez, dhampir

This book includes:

• An exploration of what it means to be one of the Half-Damned, dhampir, revenants or ghouls.

• Mechanics for creating Half-Damned characters.

• Information for creating and running chronicles using the various Half-Damned character types, both with vampires and alone.

• Information on Half-Damned antagonists for vampire chronicles.

POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

The Pentex Employee Indoctrination Handbook is the gold-standard corporate guidebook for employees of the world’s finest multi-national corporation and many of their subsidiary companies. This volume contains the main Pentex handbook, along with the Guide to Werewolves, and this year’s round of updated corporate handbooks for our subsidiaries.

Available here in PDF and PoD versions: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/227498/W20-Pentex-Employee-Indoctrination-Manual

MONKEYWRENCHED!

This is the unredacted version, replete with notes from the higher-ups! It took a lot to get this information out, so it’s had a chance to go through some monkeywrenchers’ hands before going to you. Make good use of it!

The Employee Indoctrination Handbook contains:

A guide to working for Pentex itself, along with the Guide to Werewolves given to certain staff.

Employee handbooks for Endron, Magadon, REDnetwork, Sunburst, and Tellus

Notes on the contents, from both werewolves and the Board of Directors

At last, one of the most legendary of Kindred will share his personal journal with you! V20 Beckett’s Jyhad Diary goes on sale in PDF and PoD versions on DTRPG.com! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/225322/V20-Becketts-Jyhad-Diary

It’s ever been a loaded word among vampires. Jyhad is in force everywhere from lofty, perfumed Elysium to cloying, smoke-filled blood feasts. Jyhad’s the eternal game played by elders, Methuselahs, and worse — it’s the agenda of beings so utterly beyond humanity, one such as yourself could scarcely understand its movements.

Luckily for you, you’ve picked up a copy of my diary. With my help you may just take a step on the first rung of understanding. Information worth having is information you must earn through blood, and oh, how I’ve bled for what’s contained within these pages.

— Beckett

Beckett’s Jyhad Diary serves as the definitive book of setting and plot for Vampire: The Masquerade, containing 30 chapters spanning different geographical regions, encountering vampires of every clan, profiling obscure and profound segments of the mythology, and providing countless story hooks on every page.

Masterfully written by the likes of Neall Raemonn Price, Joshua Alan Doetsch, Myranda Sarro, Steffie de Vaan, Malcolm Sheppard, Alan Alexander, Renee Knipe, and Matthew Dawkins, Beckett’s Jyhad Diary is as fascinating to read as to use for your game Chronicles.

Legacy of Lies, the V20 Dark Ages Jumpstart, goes undead in PDF and physical book PoD versions on DTRPG:

http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/222956/Legacy-of-Lies-A-V20-Dark-Ages-Jumpstart

TWO PRINCES. BITTER RIVALS. AND A COTERIE CAUGHT BETWEEN THEM.

Marcus Verus, the vampiric Prince of Chester, secretly prepares to go into torpor. Should his plans be made public, the Prince knows the wolves — both real and imagined — would launch an attack, threatening all within his domain.

That’s where you come in.

Legacy of Lies includes:

Basic rules for players and Storytellers

Introduction to the Vampire: The Masquerade Dark Ages setting

Introductory adventure

Characters for players and Storytellers

A Land Where Legends Walk

Drawing enthusiastically on Greek mythology, the revised and re-imagined Scarred Lands nonetheless retains its place as a modern fantasy RPG setting. This is a world shaped by gods and monsters, and only the greatest of heroes can expect to be counted among them. The most populous continent of Scarn, Ghelspad, plays host to vast unexplored regions, hides unsolved riddles from ancient cultures, and taunts adventures with the promise of undiscovered riches hidden among the ruins of older civilizations.

Yet the myths of the Scarred Lands are relatively recent events. The effects of the Titanswar still ripple through the world, and the heroines and villains of many of these stories are part of living memory, if not still living.

The Award-Winning Fantasy Setting Returns

Scarred Lands has been a favorite fantasy setting since the release of the Creature Collection for the d20 System in 2000. In subsequent years, over 40 titles were published for Scarred Lands, making it one of the most fully supported fantasy RPG settings ever and the premiere product line of Sword & Sorcery Studios.

Available in both 5th Edition and Pathfinder compatible versions! PDF and PoD formats available NOW!

http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/193014/Scarred-Lands-Players-Guide-Pathfinder

http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/197803/Scarred-Lands-Players-Guide-OGL-5e

CONVENTIONS!

At the end of the February (2/26-3/5) Mighty Matt will be in Seattle for Emerald City Comic Con. He plans on spending some time in Artist Alley checking out artists – so if you are an artist interested in working for us, particularly with super-hero genre based Trinity Continuum: Aberrant coming up, say hi to Matt as he comes by!

And now, the new project status updates!

DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM FAST EDDY WEBB (projects in bold have changed status since last week):

First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep)

M20 Gods and Monsters (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

M20 Book of the Fallen (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

C20 Novel (Jackie Cassada) (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)

Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)

CofD Contagion Chronicle (Chronicles of Darkness)

M20 The Technocracy Reloaded (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

M20 Victorian Mage (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Dystopia Rising: Evolution (Dystopia Rising: Evolution)

Spilled Blood (Vampire: The Requiem 2nd Edition)

Redlines

Guide to the Night (Vampire: The Requiem 2nd Edition)

Second Draft

WoD Ghost Hunters (World of Darkness)

Tales of Good Dogs – Pugmire Fiction Anthology (Pugmire)

Development

Signs of Sorcery (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)

GtS Geist 2e core (Geist: the Sin-Eaters Second Edition)

Night Horrors: The Tormented (Promethean: The Created 2nd Edition)

Hunter: the Vigil 2e core (Hunter: the Vigil 2nd Edition)

Fetch Quest (Pugmire)

They Came From Beneath the Sea! Rulebook (TCFBtS!)

WW Manuscript Approval:

Editing:

Ex Novel 2 (Aaron Rosenberg) (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Exalted 3rd Novel by Matt Forbeck (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Trinity Continuum: Aeon Rulebook (The Trinity Continuum)

Monarchies of Mau (Monarchies of Mau)

Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook (The Trinity Continuum)

Post-Editing Development:

Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition, featuring the Huntsmen Chronicle (Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition)

Dragon-Blooded (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Pan’s Guide for New Pioneers (Pugmire)

The Realm (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Kithbook Boggans (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)

Scion: Hero (Scion 2nd Edition)

Indexing:

ART DIRECTION FROM MIRTHFUL MIKE:

In Art Direction

Cavaliers of Mars

Ex3 Monthly Stuff

Scion Hero

Changeling: the Lost 2

Trinity Continuum

Ex3 Dragon Blooded – KS artwork in and approved.

Boggans – Contracted.

Monarchies of Mau – Sorting through buy and figuring out roster.

Fetch Quest – Getting artwork for KS.

Marketing Stuff

In Layout

Scarred Lands Community Content

Scion Origin

Pugmire – Pan’s Explorer’s Guide (or whatever)

Wraith 20 Screen – Front approved… now waiting for errata phase to assemble all the charts.

Proofing

Beast PG – First Proof.

DtD Enemy Action – Second proof.

Book of Freeholds – Got notes from Maggie and sending it back over to Mark.

Ring of Spiragos

At Press

Beckett Screen – Shipped to shipper.

Scarred Land PGs & Wise and the Wicked PF & 5e – To fulfillment shipper. PDF and PoD physical book versions on sale at DTRPG.

Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition) – Deluxe Edition cover and Screen in the works. Printer shrink-wrapping books.

Prince’s Gambit – At press.

V20 Beckett’s Jyhad Diary– Creating files for the Deluxe edition.

C20 Ready Made Characters – PoD proofs on the way.

Pugmire Artisan Cards – PoD proofs on the way.

Pugmire Shepherd Cards – PoD proofs on the way.

W20 Changing Ways– PoD proofs on the way.

Scion Dice Packaging

Wraith 20 – Backer PDF out, and errata is coming in.

TODAY’S REASON TO CELEBRATE: On this date in 1847, the first group of rescuers reaches the Donner Party. Bon Appetit!

#Onyx Path Publishing

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plusorminuscongress · 5 years

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Letters About Literature: A Life-Changing Book

Letters About Literature: A Life-Changing Book By Wendi Maloney Published December 04, 2018 at 12:05PM

This is a guest blog post by Maya Mau, a 10th-grade student at West Windsor–Plainsboro High School North in Plainsboro Township, New Jersey. She is a national winner of the 2017–18 Letters About Literature contest, a reading and writing competition for students in grades four through 12 that involves reading a work and writing to its author (living or dead). Entries for the 2018–19 contest are now being accepted. Here Mau writes about her experience as a participant.

Maya Mau

It was my ninth-grade language-arts teacher who announced that we would be writing letters – something that I hadn’t done since I was in elementary school. Specifically, we were to write a letter to the author of a book that had changed our lives. In the beginning, I was skeptical. The idea of a book that had changed my life seemed a bit far-fetched and lofty. So, naturally, I went about it the wrong way. I tried thinking of every single book I’d read that had had any discernable impact on my life.

Half-heartedly, I picked up a few books from the library. A week went by and I bounced from novel to novel, unable to decide on one.

Funnily enough, it was my sister, Maddy, who suggested that I should look at this assignment another way. Instead of trying to find a book first, she told me to think of something significant in my life. Immediately, my thoughts went to her. Because she had been born blind, a large part of my life is intertwined with Maddy’s, more so than some other siblings. It was then that I visited my own bookshelf. Now that I think about it, that should have been the first place I looked.

I saw Helen Keller’s “The Story of My Life” sitting between my math textbook and science fiction novel. Pulling it off the shelf triggered countless memories I had of reading and re-reading this book – of laying on the ground next to my sister and pouring over words that she helped me understand. I wondered why I hadn’t thought of Helen’s memoir earlier. Sometimes the most obvious choices are right under our noses, and it took me a while to figure that out.

My letter wrote itself after that. My sister and I have desks right next to each other in our “office,” so I frequently questioned her about everything I was writing about. She remembered how Helen’s book changed our relationship even better than I could. I pulled certain quotes from the memoir to enforce points in my letter and analyzed them, linking them to specific experiences I had with my own sister. My sister was by far my best critic. I also met with my teacher to go over my letter. After hours of peer editing, revising and spell-checking, my letter was sent in with the 24 other submissions from our class.

When my name didn’t show up on the semi-finalist list sent to my language-arts teacher a few weeks later, I pushed my letter to the back of my mind and continued adjusting to high school life. I eventually shared my finished letter with the rest of my family – it was the first time I had written about my experiences having Maddy as a sister, and I was excited to share Helen’s memoir with them.

You might be wondering how my letter reached the national competition if it hadn’t even passed the semi-finals for New Jersey. My teacher pulled me aside during class near the middle of the school year and told me that she had sent my letter back to the judges after the list had come out. It turned out that the judges simply hadn’t read my submission! They sent the letter on to the national judges, and I was announced as a national finalist.

The email sent to me informing me of my letter’s success showed up in my inbox during the school day, so it was my mom who told me about it after school ended. The first person I told after hearing the news was my sister – we were both super excited that everyone would soon be able to learn about how Helen’s memoir changed our lives.

This letter forced me to reflect on my relationship with my sister in a way that I had never really done before. It forced me to put my thoughts and experiences into words, which was hard at first. As I look back on my writing process and finished letter, I’m realizing more and more that writing the letter was for me more than anyone else. It helped me be more self-aware of how I was interacting with Maddy – a reminder of what I had read in Helen’s memoir all those years before.

But enough about me. Because last year was my first time submitting anything to this competition, there were so many things that I could have done differently to make the process smoother. Now that I’m rereading my letter after nearly a year since it was written, I’m still finding entire paragraphs that could be rewritten. I noticed some sentences that were unnecessary and others that were lacking. For students looking to enter this contest, it is so important that you start early. Don’t wait until a week before the submission deadline to go book-searching. This way, you can put your letter down for a week or so and visit it again later with fresh eyes. You’ll notice things you’ve never noticed before. To get another pair of fresh eyes, recruit a peer or teacher to look over your letter with you. Their feedback is invaluable.

Arguably the most important component of writing a heartfelt letter is finding a book that has actually changed your life. The first few I considered were very important to me, but they weren’t nearly as personal as Helen’s memoir. I learned lessons from them, yes, but I rarely used them explicitly in day-to-day life. With Maddy, however, I was able to apply what I learned from “The Story of My Life” every single day. No matter how well you write, the idea behind your letter is the most significant.

This contest is a brilliant way to bring literature and self-reflection together. Writing a letter about a book that has changed your life is more than just a submission to a contest – it’s a way to share what you’ve learned with the world.

The 2018-19 Letters About Literature contest for young readers is made possible by a generous grant from the Dollar General Literacy Foundation, with additional support from gifts to the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, which promotes the contest through its affiliate Centers for the Book, state libraries and other organizations.