#micro planet. micro planet weapon.

[carionto]

We'll do it our way

Been reading a bunch of Humans are Space Orcs and the like, and got me thinking - what if when aliens found humanity and our level of technology and method of propulsion for space travel, they decided that since explosions are way too hazardous and risky, that they're just not gonna let us leave on our vessels (via BS alien magic space tech). As a sort of intergalactic rite of passing (and poor results in the past of elevating a species like that), we have to figure out on our own how to not blow ourselves up once in space. But humans can be spiteful. We "have" to go in a direction they want? Fuck that. Aliens put a dome around Earth so we can't leave? Okay, that's a clear and practical problem to solve. Let's fix that instead!

_____________________________________

It had been just over sixty local cycles since First Contact with Humanity, and exactly sixty since the Federation had unanimously deemed it necessary to position a Responsibility Barrier around Earth.

Through countless observation relays, mass field generators, warp inhibitors (and the less spoken of and even less used laser batteries), any vessel - outside of local communication satellites, unmanned research vessels, or suborbital test vehicles - were prevented from leaving the planet.

Upon discovering Humanity, the Exploratory Commission Fleet quickly discovered a very hardy, innovative, diverse, violent, and adaptable advanced civilization on the cusp of entering the interstellar stage. There was one problem. Humans used explosions. For. Everything.

Their orbital spaces were already littered with micro-debris from their regular ventures into the local system. Practically every type of propulsion utilized highly volatile solutions, and they didn't even pretend to hide or be embarrassed by their history of weaponizing, well, anything and everything to be frank.

Wars and violence were common among nearly all sentient species, but there was something… peculiar, about how nonchalant the Human diplomats were about their supposed "solutions" to "tragedies" of the past.

We explained to them the dangers of their methods, showed examples of what happens when such line of thinking, without discarding these explosive ways, leads to - impassable fields of junk around once well traveled planets, now isolated; hastily jettisoned parts causing mayhem and destruction years down the line; entire Habitation Stations and their occupants reduced to faint rings around their homeworld from an "unplanned ignition"

We explained why we could not simply give them our safe technology, as they have to on their own give up the irresponsible ways first, lest they turned what was once safe into yet another means to an end. They "said" they understood, but it was all too clear the Humans would not follow our advice just like that. Hence the Barrier. This really angered the Humans.

They said it was stifling, that it was barbaric to "imprison" them like that. We tried to explained again why, but they would not listen, but we knew better. This had happened before and we would not allow it to happen again. It was for the greater good of both the Humans and the rest of the Galaxy.

For nearly sixty of their cycles, Humanity continued to advance and develop and flourish. We watched them with excitement at every new avenue of research they steered towards, silently encouraged them to keep going with every failure. They were getting close in several fields, we could see that Humanity was on the precipice of the right track. Then, one day, with a slight shimmer enveloping the planet and an eerie silence on all frequencies, the Earth just… vanished.

The Humans kept their true activity a secret, only after careful analysis of seemingly unrelated and unremarkable records did we figure out they were investigating a long abandoned line of research by all others in the galaxy - interdimensional travel. But there were no other traversable dimensions. That had long been tested by everyone - you can twist and bend and cut through the ones we have, but you are always bound to at least one of them.

It remained a mystery as to what truly happened to Humanity. Officially it was called a tragic scientific accident on an unprecedented scale. Earth and Humanity were memorialized as a bright species with infinite potential, but a recklessness that would serve as one of the starkest examples in the annals of Galactic history.

Until, nearly a millennia later, Earth just… popped back in. Right where it would have been had it continued to orbit around their star, almost as if that's exactly what it had been doing.

There was only a memorial station close to its original orbit, and some small research outposts dotted around the local system - it was decided to not terraform or colonize any of Sol's planets or install major stations within the system, as both a sign of respect to the deceased and a warning to all about the dangers of foolish science.

By the time the scrambled and panicked messages reached the nearest Coalition world and a small squad sent to investigate, everything had changed. Not only did they find Earth and Humanity, they were met by dozens of the largest space worthy vessels anyone had ever conceived of let alone dared to construct; orbital shipyards that each would put the production capacity of whole planetary SYSTEMS to shame; and a defiant attitude unmatched even by the previously thought exaggerated tales of our brief history with Humanity before the Vanishing.

The message we received from the Humans was simple:

"Thanks for the advice, but we do things our way. Now, let's start over, from an equal footing, shall we?"

(more while we were gone)

#humans are space orcs #humanity fuck yeah #humans are deathworlders #humans are space australians #humans are space oddities #carionto #story

[witchthewriter]

𝑨𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒚 𝑳𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒔!

𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐒

The next lesson is on Mars; this planet is known for what makes us tick, our passion, what makes us angry and how we express that anger. It also represents our desires and how we go about getting it. The sign of Mars reveals a lot about our basic animal nature; our instincts, sexuality and our drive.

First Lesson: Sun🌞

Second Lesson: Moon🌙

Third Lesson: Rising/Ascendant💫

Fourth Lesson: Venus

Mars is the planet of action, energy, and initiative. In a micro sense, it's your drive.

○ Zodiac sign Mars rules: Aries

○ Exalted in: Capricorn

○ House Mars rules: 1st House of Self

○ Mars retrogrades: Once every 2 years, each retrograde lasting around 10 weeks

○ Mars stays in each zodiac sign for: 6-7 weeks

○ Mars makes a complete trip through the zodiac: About every 2 years

○ Physical Energy: Athletics, Sex,

Mars represents these people:

Leaders, Athletes, Aggressive people

and these things:

Weapons, sharp or dangerous objects

Mars rules the Head.

All of us have Mars somewhere. If we do not respect him and give his energy an outlet, if we bottle up our anger and frustration, the energy will eventually force its way out in ways that are unconscious and potentially destructive. A blocked or frustrated Mars can bring injury and illness to the physical body, aggressive persons, impatience, rudeness, hastiness, or inappropriate competitive urges. That is one reason why exercise of the physical body is so important to our physical and mental health.

If Mars is Retrograde

Mars retrograde turns Mars energy inward.

Bottled up anger, fighting, aggression, assertiveness, confidence, initiative. With Mars retro in your natal chart, Mars energy turns inward and you may accept aggression from others. You tend to internalize anger and be really hard on yourself. You learned to swallow it all up in childhood, and you can unlearn it if you deal honestly with your past and turn towards the positive use of Mars.

𝐀𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 | 𝑇𝘩𝑒 𝑅𝑎𝑚

Weapon: Ram’s horns, head-butting

Mars is at home in the sign of Aries, meaning it can do what it does best: act! That is because it is the natural ruler of Aries, meaning it is at home or “domicile” in this zodiac sign.

People with this energy are unafraid to take action and often tend to be quite courageous.

However, that can also make them quite brash and impulsive — diving in first and thinking about it later. They will have a feisty temper and sex drive, easily ignited but then just as quickly dissipated once it has been released.

When it comes to sex, these individuals like to jump into the action, as their libido is especially high.

Despite Aries getting much of its reputation for feistiness from the god of war, Ares, your Mars sign is actually named after the ram in the Golden fleece mythology. Nonetheless, Mars is still Aries’s planetary ruler, and is super powerful in this sign!

Celebrities with this aspect:

Steve Jobs: Mars in Aries, Pisces Sun.

Stephen Hawking: Mars in Aries, Capricorn Sun.

Kate Hudson: Mars in Aries, Aries Sun.

Russell Crowe: Mars in Aries, Aries Sun.

Tyra Banks: Mars in Aries, Sagittarius Sun.

Bernie Sanders: Mars in Aries, Virgo Sun.

Joe Namath: Mars in Aries, Gemini Sun.

There is an obvious link between each of these people: Ambition.

𝐓𝐚𝐮𝐫𝐮𝐬 | 𝑇𝘩𝑒 𝐵𝑢𝑙𝑙

Weapon: Bull’s horns, bullheadedness, and brute strength

These individuals take action, pursue their goals and express their sex drive in a more refined and practical way.

People with this placement are slow and steady in tackling what they’re after — but once they set their minds upon it, there is nothing stopping them!

Usually slow to anger, their patience is also quite strong. However, once frustrated, they will dig in their heels and likely become quite stubborn and adamant about what they want.

“Slow and steady wins the race” could easily be a motto for Mars in Taurus. These goal-oriented people are not known for their speed, but their staying power is tremendous.

Generally calm and easygoing people, Mars in Taurus natives can have powerful tempers when they’re overly provoked. They generally don’t fly off the handle as quickly as others.

Celebrities with this aspect:

Madonna: Leo Sun, Mars in Taurus.

Lucy Lawless: Aries Sun, Mars in Taurus.

Muhammad Ali: Capricorn Sun, Mars in Taurus.

Kanye West: Gemini Sun, Mars in Taurus.

Stephen Colbert: Taurus Sun, Mars in Taurus.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy: Gemini Sun, Mars in Taurus.

There is an obvious link between each of these people: Authority/Power

𝐆𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢 | 𝑇𝘩𝑒 𝑇𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑠

Weapon: Words, hands, and the mind

Individuals with this aspect are extremely focused on logic, discussion and connection.

When it comes to conflict, they will use their words and messages to punish or destroy.

People with this energy are often highly social and prefer spontaneity and adventure when it comes to their lives.

They tend to be fascinated by ideas and crave interaction or else they will become bored quite easily. These individuals have a high level of energy and enthusiasm for life and can communicate quite animatedly.

You’re quick on your feet, but your mouth moves even faster. If you don’t slow down every now and then, you’re also prone to cutting people with your words. Just because you can say it, doesn’t mean you should. Speaking carefully is important if you don’t want to hurt others unintentionally or have your own words used against you.

Celebrities with this aspect:

Martin Luther King: Mars in Gemini, Capricorn Sun

Chris Evans: Mars in Gemini, Gemini Sun

Uma Thurman: Mars in Gemini, Taurus Sun

Al Pacino: Mars in Gemini, Taurus Sun

Sandra Bullock: Mars in Gemini, Leo Sun

Meryl Streep: Mars in Gemini, Cancer Sun

There is an obvious link between each of these people: Charm

𝐂𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫 | 𝑇𝘩𝑒 𝐶𝑟𝑎𝑏

Weapon: Small but sharp crab pincers, protective shell

People with this placement are often extremely emotional individuals and become very fired up about everything they feel.

Emotional connection is a top priority and they often express the need to be a caretaker or nurture those around them.

However, when it comes to conflict, they will only use anger as a vehicle for their emotions if it is absolutely necessary, more likely to stew in their moods.

They can also be quite passive-aggressive.

Like the side-walking crab, you’re known for playing defense in a less direct manner. Like Mars in Taurus, Mars in Cancer expresses itself in a unique way, contrary to its planetary nature. When you respond to an argument or an invitation to bone, you come prepared, but it also hints that you may have a tendency to overthink things.

Celebrities with this aspect:

Cardi B: Mars in Cancer, Moon in Aries, Libra Sun

Steven King: Mars in Cancer, Moon in Sagittarius, Virgo Sun

RuPaul: Mars in Cancer, Moon in Scorpio, Scorpio Sun

Dolly Parton: Mars in Cancer, Moon in Virgo, Capricorn Sun

Keanu Reeves: Mars in Cancer, Moon in Cancer, Virgo Sun.

Miley Ray Cyrus: Mars in Cancer, Moon in Scorpio, Sagittarius Sun.

Robin Williams: Mars in Cancer, Moon in Pisces, Cancer Sun.

There is an obvious link between each of these people: Memorable

𝐋𝐞𝐨 | 𝑇𝘩𝑒 𝐿𝑖𝑜𝑛

Weapon: Teeth

Mars in Leo gives someone the energy to be the star of the show — eager to express themselves, entertain and achieve everything they’re passionate about.

They are charismatic and driven and aim high both personally and professionally.

Living a fulfilling life is a top priority for them, as they struggle with following a path that doesn’t give them the freedom to follow their dreams.

In conflict, these people can be quite fierce, unleashing a fit of rage — especially if their sense of ego has been offended.

No one wants to mess with a lion, so you’re quite proud to have Mars in Leo! Your roar is loud—and your bite is hard, too. You command respect and have a regal air about you. You almost have to laugh when someone picks a fight with you because it’s unbelievable that someone would imagine confronting you! In the wild, lions commonly strangulate prey by crushing their airways with their teeth/jaw force…you do this by stealing the spotlight from your nemeses. Just like lions that hunt in prides, you possess social influence and know how to sway people in the direction you want, particularly to turn on those who have wronged you and others.

Celebrities with this aspect:

Beyonce Knowles: Virgo with Mars in Leo

Michael Jackson: Virgo with Mars in Leo

George Clooney: Taurus with Mars in Leo

Paul McCartney: Gemini with Mars in Leo

Sting: Libra with Mars in Leo

Robert Redford: Leo with Mars in Leo

There is an obvious link between each of these people: Star-Power

𝐕𝐢𝐫𝐠𝐨 | 𝑇𝘩𝑒 𝑀𝑎𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛

Weapon: Holier than thou, will condemn you

Mars in Virgo grants someone a strong work ethic and a goal-oriented nature. They tend to be highly analytical and able to manage many projects and people at once.

These individuals are excellent planners and organizers and favour productivity above all else.

They also are often highly communicative and practice restraint and practicality in life. This also applies to how they exhibit anger or their sexuality: with logic, balance and intellectualism.

With an eye for detail, you’re also talented at finding weak spots, flaws, and holes in arguments—and asking considerate questions is one of the ways you catch your opponents off guard and break through their defense.

However, when frustrated, they will become highly critical and can exhibit perfectionism. People with this placement can be very service-oriented, eager to aid others and please. When it comes to sex, they are often slower to interact and prefer sensuality and relaxation over intense or short fits of passion.

Celebrities with this aspect:

Barack Obama: Mars in Virgo, Sun and Mercury in Leo.

Diana, Princess of Wales: Mars in Virgo, Sun and Mercury in Cancer.

Gordon Ramsay: Mars in Virgo, Mercury in Sagittarius, Sun in Scorpio.

Mother Teresa: Mars in Virgo, Sun and Mercury in Virgo.

Will Smith: Mars in Virgo, Sun and Mercury in Libra

Britney Spears: Mars in Virgo, Sun and Mercury in Sagittarius

Robert John Downey: Mars in Virgo, Sun and Mercury in Aries

There is an obvious link between each of these people: Influential

𝐋𝐢𝐛𝐫𝐚 | 𝑇𝘩𝑒 𝑆𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑠

Weapon: Kills you with kindness, the pen, and contracts

These people favour harmony, peace, fairness and justice over personal victory.

They may also be especially passionate about partnerships and always have a key person they’re working with or aligned with.

Mars in Libra likes to be seen as a jovial and fun person, so they avoid situations or relationships that are intense.

They want to live a life of peace and harmony, nothing can come between them and tranquillity.

Still, they always play innocent when they are challenged, and can generally charm the birds out of the trees to win your favor.

Passive-aggressiveness is practically the hallmark of this position.

Mars in Libra people are adept at predicting when problems and discord will occur well in advance. They know how to compromise and are excellent at conflict management. They don’t want to look like they are ever being mean or unfair, but aggression has to go somewhere! Too often, this results in sneaky behavior and subterfuge.

Celebrities with this aspect:

Abraham Lincoln: Mars in Libra, Venus in Aries, Sun in Aquarius.

Nelson Mandela: Mars in Libra, Venus in Gemini, Sun in Cancer.

Bill Clinton: Mars in Libra, Venus in Libra, Sun in Leo.

Bill Gates: Mars in Libra, Venus in Scorpio, Sun in Scorpio.

John Lennon: Mars in Libra, Venus in Virgo, Sun in Libra

J. K. Rowling: Mars in Libra, Venus in Virgo, Sun in Leo

There is an obvious link between each of these people: Innovative

𝐒𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐩𝐢𝐨 | 𝑇𝘩𝑒 𝑆𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑝𝑖𝑜𝑛

Weapon: Stinger, poison, secrecy

In this sign, Mars isn't motivated to compromise or even consider what anyone else has to say. Mars in Scorpio gives us the gift of the ultimate cosmic backbone, causing us to feel totally in charge of our actions.

This placement gives someone a cunning and intense nature. Once they set their minds on something and desire it, they will stop at nothing to get it.

You’re very calculating and often eight steps ahead of everyone else, making sure that all bases are covered before others have the chance to make a move!

Intuition and focus grant you talent in uncovering and addressing every weak spot your opponent possesses, so you’re keen on taking your time to make the right move.

Psychological warfare is your game, and no one plays it better than you. As someone who is highly empathetic, you know how to get under someone’s skin, but you also know what to do to make someone desire you. Instead of taking information at face value, you rely on sharp psychic senses to suss out insecurities, weak spots, and hidden desires, and then weaponize them or use them to seduce others.

Celebrities with this aspect:

Liam Neeson: Sun in Gemini, Scorpio Mars

Shailene Woodley: Sun in Scorpio, Scorpio Mars

Jennifer Connolley: Sun in Sagittarius, Scorpio Mars

Charles Dance: Sun in Libra, Scorpio Mars

Joaquin Phoenix: Sun in Scorpio, Scorpio Mars

Morgan Freeman: Sun in Gemini, Scorpio Mars

There is an obvious link between each of these people: Intensity

𝐒𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐮𝐬 | 𝑇𝘩𝑒 𝐴𝑟𝑐𝘩𝑒𝑟

Weapon: Bow and arrow

Mars in Sagittarius people are born adventurers and sojourners. They hunger to experience everything that life has to offer and above all do not like being caged.

They have a “go big or go home” mentality and hunger for change and spontaneity wherever they turn.

They can often become quite bored if they are in the same physical or mental place for too long, so they need a constant supply of stimulation and interaction to keep them busy.

That restless nature provokes them to seek new ideas, experiences and opportunities that will satiate their wanderlust and pursuit of knowledge.

As a Mars in Sagittarius native, your fiery temperament makes you both a passionate lover and fighter. If there were one word to describe your Mars sign, it would be “loud.” There’s usually an air of drama about you when you get upset and you’re not one to hold back.

Celebrities with this aspect:

Jennifer Lopez: Leo Sun, Mars in Sagittarius.

Vladimir Putin: Libra Sun, Mars in Sagittarius.

Prince Harry: Virgo Sun, Mars in Sagittarius.

Kendall Jenner: Scorpio Sun, Mars in Sagittarius.

Christopher Reeve: Libra Sun, Mars in Sagittarius

There is an obvious link between each of these people: Opportunistic

𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐧 | 𝑇𝘩𝑒 𝑆𝑒𝑎𝑔𝑜𝑎𝑡 

Weapon: Will end your career

 The ambitious, strategic and driven energies of Mars can be focused in a harnessed and patient way. These individuals tend to be quite hardworking and are always after the long game, unafraid to put in the effort because of their innate desire for victory.

When it comes to conflict, these people are cunning and practical, understanding that drama is a waste of energy unless they are coming out on top.

They will often refocus their passion and emotions back into their goals or career.

With fiery Mars in the more orderly sign of Capricorn, natives with this position have a subdued and controlled style of approaching life. Most don’t come across as particularly enthusiastic; rather, theirs is a low-key but determined energy.

Celebrities with this aspect:

Lady Gaga: Aries Sun, Capricorn Mars

David Tennant: Aries Sun, Capricorn Mars

Florence Pugh: Capricorn Sun, Capricorn Mars

Olivia Cooke: Capricorn Sun, Capricorn Mars

Emmy Rossum: Virgo Sun, Capricorn Mars

Alfie Allens: Virgo Sun, Capricorn Mars

There is an obvious link between each of these people: Intimidating

𝐀𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐮𝐬 | 𝑇𝘩𝑒 𝑊𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟-𝐵𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑟

Weapon: Isolation

Mars in Aquarius grants someone a quirky and eccentric air in regards to how they exhibit their energy. They often are highly idealistic and intellectual and put their passion into their goals and group interactions.

They have a progressive nature and tend to be quite social and highly communicative.

Aquarius never cares about fitting in, yet this sign is always in the cool kids club.

With Mars in Aquarius, you may exclude people when you go on attack—you know that rejection stings! Aquarius is a rebellious sign, so having natal Mars here also means you don’t care to follow the rules.

Battling with you can be intimidating to people because your judgement doesn’t tend to get clouded by overwhelming emotions. You’re not a robot, but your ability to remain objective during an argument can frustrate others and translate into a lack of passion. But you’re not dispassionate; you’re passionately independent, challenging others to think for themselves. The secret is that you might also act detached because you know it presses people’s buttons, giving you an upper hand in certain situations.

Celebrities with this aspect:

Emilia Clarke: Libra Sun, Aquarius Mars

Scarlet Johansson: Sag Sun, Aquarius Mars

Charlie Cox: Sag Sun, Aquarius Mars

Rosamund Pike: Aquarius Sun, Aquarius Mars

Christopher Walken: Aries Sun, Aquarius Mars

There is an obvious link between each of these people: Unique

𝐏𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐬 | 𝑇𝘩𝑒 𝐹𝑖𝑠𝘩

Weapon: Love

Mars in Pisces brings an individual an emotional and sensitive nature. They tend to be more fluid individuals who become passionate about their feelings and lead with their hearts.

Their ideals and dreams are of great importance to them, and they trust their intuition and empathy over their minds when pursuing goals or sex.

They also will tend to be quite creative and romantic people, eager to express themselves and connect.

Your strength is less about divisiveness and more about flexibility and raw emotional power.

Water is reflective, and having Mars in this sign makes you empathetic and compassionate.

You intuit what competitors and opponents are feeling, but you don’t necessarily weaponize that information.

Emotion and sensitivity aren’t a weakness, especially when you have Mars in Pisces. Similar to the other watery Mars signs, you’re driven to fight for who and what you care about, but you need to be mindful about when you play the role of the martyr.

Celebrities with this aspect:

Marilyn Monroe: Mars in Pisces, Sun in Gemini.

Heath Ledger: Mars in Pisces, Sun in Aries.

Elizabeth Taylor: Mars in Pisces, Sun in Pisces.

Denzel Washington: Mars in Pisces, Sun in Capricorn.

Tom Hanks: Mars in Pisces, Sun in Cancer.

Tina Turner: Mars in Pisces, Sun in Sagittarius.

There is an obvious link between each of these people: Expressive

#witchthewriter #astrology #zodiac #mars #mars aspect #mars planet #mars zodiac #zodiac lessons #astrology lessons #aesthetic #pisces #aquarius #capricorn #sagittarius #scorpio #libra #gemini #virgo #taurus #leo #aries #cancer #astro posts #astro chart #astro community #astro notes #astro placements #astro observations #astrology blog #astrology houses

[honeybeezgobzzzzz]

Creative Writing Resources

Writing Tools:

🐝 ✎ OneLook: Thesaurus

Use: Enter a word, phrase, description, or pattern above to find synonyms, related words, and more.

Good For: Can't think of a word but can describe what you want it to mean, enter that description and it will give you words associated. Enter: "strong wind" -> gale, storm, tempest, tornado, etc

Cost: Free

✎ Word Hippo

Use: Thesaurus.

Good For: When you've over used a word and need to change it up.

Cost: Free

✎ Writing Realistic Injuries

Use: Seems kinda obvious, learning how to write proper and realistic injuries.

Good For: ...writing realistic injuries I guess? It's really helpful: minor injuries like emotional reactions, fainting, shock, broken bones, dislocated joints, burns, hostile environments, includes some normal ranges for things like blood pressure, pulse rate, body temperature. Also has accurate blood loss amounts and what is considered normal, severe and maximum and from what body part.

Cost: Free

✎ Period Based Injuries (WWI, WW2, Regency, etc)

Use: Medical treatment based on timeline/era

Good For: When you want to know what medical treatments were used during WW1 or what kinds of medicines were used in regency times.

Cost: Free

✎ Charlotte Dillon: Information Links for Writers

Use: Information on everything!

Good For: Research for medicine during the Middle ages or learning about what phrases were used in the Old West. Castle terms, rigor mortis information, viking foodstuffs, supernatural lore, regency facts, Irish sayings, and even ancient gynecology facts (why? no idea but it must be useful for someone). This place has everything.

Cost: Free

✎ Color Names and Descriptions

Use: Self explanatory.

Good For: Find some nice names for black or orange without saying black or orange. Get my drift?

Cost: Free

✎ Writers Write: Traits

Use: Find traits for your characters

Good For: Negative, positive, ambivalent traits, you get the picture.

Cost: Free

✎ Writers Write: Body Language

Use: Body language descriptions

Good For: Micro-expressions, hand gestures, and posture.

Cost: Free

🐝 ✎ Describing Words

Use: Find words to describe things.

Good For: Want to describe a tree? Enter tree and the site will generate descriptive phrases of a tree.

Cost: Free

🐝 ✎ Descriptionari

Use: Finding examples for creative inspiration.

Good For: writing prompts, descriptions of scenes, and help with describing a scene such a kiss or fight scene.

Cost: Free

✎ Flower Meanings Dictionary (A to Z) and Color Meanings

Use: The language of flowers! Lists flowers and their meaning.

Good For: Flower symbolism in stories, good for regency & victorian AU when floriography was popular. Take it with a grain of salt, sometimes flowers can have several different meanings depending on where you source the floriography.

Cost: Free

✎ Pre-Modern Combat Weapons

✎ Medieval Weapons

✎ Superpowers

✎ List of Legendary Creatures by Type

✎ Gemstones A-Z

✎ THEOI GREEK MYTHOLOGY

✎ Black Market Information (Legally Attained)

✎ Forensic Pathology, Science, & Death (Use W/ Caution)

✎ Religions of the World

✎ Languages of the World

✎ Methods of Torture (Use W/ Caution)

✎ Methods of Execution (Death Penalty)

✎ Poisonous Plants

✎ Plants, Just Plants

✎ Stab Wounds

Naming Generators:

🐝 ✎ Fantasy Name Generator

Use: Generating names, generating appearances, generating maps.

Good For: Generating names for people, places, things, planets, diseases, etc. Has a wide selection of name generators for all different ethnicities from African (varied by location) to Asia and Historic. Also includes fantasy and folklore name generators. It's my go to name generator for everything. You can also generate a description of a character or design your own map.

Cost: Free

✎ The Story Shack

Use: Generating names, creating your own generator, writing exercises.

Good For: Generating names, obviously. But also practicing writing through offered exercises.

Cost: Free

✎ RanGen

Use: Generating plots, appearances, archetypes, love interests, cities, worlds, items, and more.

Good For: What I just said previously. Very helpful.

Cost: Free

✎ Generator Land: Titles

Use: Generating Titles!

Good For: Creating... titles....? This site also has many other generators to use.

Cost: Free

Images:

✎ Free Images for Commercial Use

Use: Pictures!

Good For: Whatever you want!

Cost: Free

Story Development, Plot, Character:

＄✎ E.A. Deverell Workshop & Worksheet Index

Use: Learn how to plot your stories and build your world.

Good For: Character building, world building, narration, plot formula, prompts, ideas, genres, development. You name it, Eva has it.

Cost: Paid Courses, Free Worksheets & Tips.

＄✎ Story Planner

Use: Planning your story. Obvs.

Good For: People who need a little guidance with outlining and implementing before they jump into their story. Takes yous sentence by sentence building summaries and such.

Cost: Paid & Free Planners

✎ Character Sheet to Build Your Character

Use: Build your character in detail!!

Good For: Um. Building a highly detailed character? Self explanatory really.

Cost: Free worksheet through google docks.

✎ Create Your Character

Use: Build your character visually.

Good For: Designing a visual representation of your character rather than just writing out details on paper. You can save final result as an SVG or PNG

Cost: Free

Map & World & RPG Building:

✎ Inkarnate: Map Making

Use: Build a map of your world or country.

Good For: Designing a map of your country or world with details such as oceans, mountain ranges, cities, towns, and waterways.

Cost: Free version and paid version

✎ DonJon: RPG Tool

Use: Map making, name generator, good for D & D resources/references.

Good For: Designing RPG.

Cost: Free

✎ Townscaper: Oskarstalberg

Use: Map making 3D.

Good For: Designing maps, obv (it's really interactive a cool. Link if above is broken: https://oskarstalberg.com/Townscaper

Cost: Free & Paid Versions

✎ Medieval City Map Making

Use: City Map Making.

Good For: Making maps of medieval cities. Link if above is broken: https://watabou.itch.io/medieval-fantasy-city-generator

Cost: Free

✎ Fantasy Town Generator

Use: City Map Making.

Good For: Making maps of medieval cities. Link if above is broken: https://www.fantasytowngenerator.com/

Cost: Free + Paid Upgraded Accounts

🐝 ✎ Wonderdraft

Use: City & World Map Making.

Good For: Making maps of medieval cities and worlds. This app has labels and icons you can use to mark mountains, rivers, valleys, etc. It is a very good investment if you enjoy map making (particularly for D&D). Versatile, you can change map size (11"x 8.5", 9"x9", etc)

Cost: Paid, One time purchase of 29.99 USD.

🐝 ✎ Kanka

Use: RPG management and world building.

Good For: D & D related things (it's intended purpose)

Cost: Free + Upgraded Accounts (depends on how many "worlds" you create)

Search Engines:

✎ Search Engines

Use: Search Engines!

Good For: Researching topics for your writing! These website have an amalgamation of of different types of search engines depending on your need (Writing, Research, Reference, etc)

Cost: Free + Upgraded Accounts (depends on engine used but mostly free)

Writing Software:

✎ Pages (iOS)

Use: Mobile Word Processor

Good For: Tagging folder system for organization, export documents, good for apple pencil, multiple formats & templates. Sync's w/ iCloud.

Cost: Free

＄✎ Liquid Story Binder XE by Black Obelisk Software (Windows)

Use: Liquid Story Binder XE is a uniquely designed word processor for professional and aspiring authors, poets, and novelists. Writing software for those who require the editing ability of a commercial text editor as well as a document tracking system. It is for those who want the freedom to create, outline and revise but are tired of losing track of their work.

Good For: Keeping your writing in one place, organization, compiling into one document, no internet connection required.

Perks: Drop Box Compatible

Cost: $45.95 US, free trial, one payment.

🐝＄✎ Scrivener (Mac, Windows, iOS)

Use: Scrivener is a word-processing program and outliner designed for authors. Scrivener provides a management system for documents, notes and metadata. This allows the user to organize notes, concepts, research, and whole documents for easy access and reference.

Good For: Keeping your writing in one place, organization, compiling into one document, no internet connection required.

Perks: Drop Box Compatible

Cost: $59.99 US (50.99 students & academics), $23.99 US for iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch, free trial, one payment

Editing & Grammar:

✎ Text to Speech

Use: Listen to your writing be read to you.

Good For: Editing, catching grammar and other mistakes. Also great for listening to the flow of your writing.

Cost: Free and paid versions

✎ Grammarly

Use: Editing.

Good For: editing your writing, catching spelling mistakes along with grammar mistakes.

Cost: Free and paid versions

Languages:

(Google Docs I made for my own references 🙂) IN PROGRESS!!

✎ Latin

✎ Greek

✎ Spanish

✎ Yucatec Maya

Creative Sources the 🐝 Uses:

Canva (I have pro)

Pinterest

Last Edit: 3/18/24

#writing help #writing tips #writing research #writing resources #creative writing

[ms-scarletwings]

You know all those ways we talk about inhabitable planets to freak each other out? Like how it’s a noteworthy fact that there are worlds out there surrounded in a cloud of boiling acid fog or ones where it rains molten iron? I’ve been thinking a lot about all the weird information Zim has and could be sharing about the disturbing alien rock he’s getting by on.

• The environmental water is so contaminated by toxic pollutants that it dissolves your skin on contact. It also sometimes just pours right out of the sky in wide showers, maybe even for hours.

• The dominant native species is a race of simian-descent bipeds, and are braindead primitives. Literally still a type 0 civilization and completely fractured into hundreds of incompetent countries where the stupid lead the dumb. They do shit like throwing themselves down a hill after a roll of curdled bovine secretions and call it a sport. They burn plants and inhale the combustion fumes knowing that they are damaging their fragile organs in ways their medicine still cannot hope to reverse. Despite all of this, they’re…. Tall.

• The polar ends of the world are frigid wastelands of ice and fathomless seas, where carnivorous megafauna sit at the top of the local food chain. To the North even live things such as moose, enormous horned beasts that are only hunted by humans and bears, and even these predators are occasionally killed by them.

• Speaking of the ocean, it’s like 70% of the whole planet’s surface and not even the humans have any idea wtf is down there really.

• Some plants have evolved fruiting bodies that, when eaten by mammals, simulate the sensation of burning alive to their taste receptors. Humans specifically breed some varieties of these crops to inflict even more simulated pain and inflammation when eaten… and then they eat them.

• Advanced Irken vehicles have a bizarre and currently unexplained terminal weakness to colliding with bees.

• Any prolonged eye contact with the closest star for more than a few seconds causes severe cornea burns and completely blinds a person.

• Because it is so undeveloped and teeming with off the rails organic diversity, it’s an unhygienic horror show at the micro level. Fungus. Parasites. Bacteria. Invisible and literally everywhere and anywhere: in the dirt, in the water, in the air, and on the animals- the humans alone are practically walking petri dishes loaded with trillions of germs. Their bodies might as well be more micro-biome than human cells and it’s impossible to forget the fact when they carry the stench of their personal teeny-zoos everywhere with them.

• So there’s this thing called rabies… it could make a formidable weapon against humans, but you gotta hear what this crazy shit does, my Tallest

#invader zim #iz #iz headcanons #humans are space australians #episode plot hook spoiler- dib needs rabies vaccines #and Gir gets taken to the pound #scarlet talks about things

[aethelaum-pages]

Armistice

The Armistice is a Pilot bar. Everyone is welcome, of course, but when your establishment is located half a mile from the Mid-South Gate, you attract a lot of Pilots who want to drink off their post operation stress. Pilots like Onager.

She's much like every other Pilot in the bar – staring dumbly into her drink, nothing behind her eyes until Vesa, the orange-haired bartender, snaps her fingers and she sits bolt upright, eyes wheeling around as she remembers how her Handler used to do that and the conditioning kicks in. Vesa doesn't do it again. The bartender's seen that look before. If the look hadn't given Onager away as a Pilot, the dark, swirling neck tattoos surrounding a jagged mess of interface ports on the back of her neck would have.

Volmjir III was plagued by sandstorms. The high walls surrounding the few cities the planet had did a solid job keeping the sand mostly out, but development outside the periphery was difficult, as the tiny grains had a knack for working themselves into mechanical joints. Enter the biolith rigs: looming biomechanical monstrosities made of melded metal and flesh. Owing to their thick skin and armor plating, they fielded much better outside the walls, as well as on hundreds of other "difficult" planets.

Every biolith was a veritable colony of both micro and macro-organisms, all lab-grown and designed for mutually beneficial relationships. The crucial flaw, however, was their inability to distinguish between humans. To them, while they were in active mode, everything that moved was a target, because training them to slaughter everything was easier and cheaper.

This problem was solved with the Pilots: neurochemically conditioned humans who rode inside each rig's protective shell and acted as a living targeting unit for the machine. A human, linked to the brain matter of the biolith through external neurons and arteries, could detect a target, process it, and approve a kill order faster than any mechanical computer and with more reliability than wetware – and receive a massive dopamine reward for each confirmed hit. A trained Pilot was essential to the successful operation of each rig, and the most valuable piece of the weapon.

Wars end. Pilots age and retire young because the stress and emotional highs of Piloting a biolith take a toll on the brain and the dopamine rush from driving a massive cannon shell through an enemy becomes hard to replicate. Many Pilots find themselves chasing anything that makes them feel good to try to feel that again.

Onager sleeps under a weighted blanket half her weight and wears a compression vest under her duster – she needs the feeling of the biolith's muscular internal sac squeezing around her, fleshy walls compressing her arms to her sides, thick secretions slicking her dark wolfcut against her unused eyes, to feel comfortable. She feels exposed without the pressure.

Her curiously absent drinking partner Ballista, who she trained with, feels phantom shoulder cannons and wears knee and ankle braces and has for years. Being pinned down and having her biolith panic and clamp down on her with enough force to liquify a normal human, messing up her legs, wasn't enough to disqualify her brilliant brain from the NKD's Pilot program. When someone talks to her, she still subconsciously pulls back her left wrist to extend the arm-mounted blade she no longer has.

When they drink together, they usually have about a dozen drinks each, each setting one aside for Mortari and drinking it last. They never found her.

Onager stares lifelessly into her drink, completely still except for her jerking eyes, which lurch back and forth in her head, scanning across a nonexistent targeting interface. Vesa worries about her. Most Pilots aren't the most mentally stable after a career of operating a rig, but Onager was different. Pilots who stayed inside too long were at risk of developing rig-rot: their brain functions would shuffle with the rig's, causing loss of brain function when extracted.

"Onager?" Vesa knew her name. It was tattooed on the back of her right hand, her serial number on her left. "Are you alright?" No response. Vesa sighed.

"KV846?" Onager's head snapped up, the light returning to her eyes as she heard her serial number.

"Command-ready, ma'am." The Pilot didn't recognize her. She drank here almost every night, but the bartender was just another unimportant face. Vesa had taken a course on how to help rotted Pilots. The phrases were just as burned into her head as they were to each Pilot she saw.

“Run internal diagnostics and report.” She felt bad to activate Onager’s conditioning, but she didn’t know how else to reach her.

"I feel... wrong." That made sense. Formerly rig-rotted Pilots pulled from their bioliths described the feeling as similar to losing a limb and experiencing constant phantom limb for an entire second body.

"Here." Vesa laid her hand on the bar, and Onager practically snatched it up, serial number twisting as she squeezed it.

"It hurts." Her voice was thoroughly broken, even compared to other Pilots Vesa had helped.

The bartender just nodded. "I know."

...

Onager cries in her sleep sometimes. When she does, Vesa holds her close and squeezes her. She makes wonderful breakfasts on those mornings. She knows Onager isn't used to eating anything besides NKD rations yet. She loves pancakes with whipped cream and strawberries – expensive to get this far from agricultural worlds, but worth it for the way she laughs and smiles.

Legally, they had no connection. How could they? Onager didn't exist and Vesa had died. In every other manner, though, they never needed one.

They both have new lives. Vesa designs buildings, and Onager helps build them. They save money to go somewhere nicer – A beautiful world like Hiho VII, perhaps. It's forested and temperate, and housing isn't very expensive.

Rig-rot never fully goes away in most cases. Onager still has bad days. She wakes up shaking and sweaty or freezes up in the middle of tasks, crushed by the immense feeling of everything being wrong. But Vesa is there to take her hand and rub her thumb gently, and when Onager looks at her lover her eyes don't flick up and right to access the threat assessment menu anymore.

#writblr #wlw love #wlw post #wlw #sapphic #lesbian #writing #mecha #mecha pilot #fantasy #scifi #worldbuilding #mech pilot

[altruistresistance]

INFO DUMP FOR MY PRIMARY AU

SONIC: BATTLE LINE

PLOT

On the Planet Mobius, all is quiet. The population of Humans and Mobians alike live in harmony. Or so it seems. Under the shining exterior, a cold war between extremists and the government is starting to boil over. Head of the Science Division, Dr. Ivo Robotnik plots to use scientific advancements to turn the population against one another. As such, the Guardians of the United Nations scrambled a small platoon of heroes with remarkable powers in order to stop him. The conflict has been going for three years... and it's reaching a boiling point.

THE SECOND STAR RESISTANCE

Cole "Sonic" Aleena the Hedgehog (Powers: Super speed, mild wind manipulation.)

Michelle "Sonia" Aleena the Hedgehog (Powers: Invisibility.)

Jordan "Manic" Aleena the Hedgehog (Powers: Super strength, limited seismic manipulation.)

Miles "Tails" Prower the Fox (Powers: Two-tailed flight.)

Amy "Rusty" Rose the Hedgehog (Powers: Super strength, invisibility, cyborg anatomy.)

Elijah "Knuckles" Meadows the Echidna (Powers: Super strength, hyper durability.)

Clara "Rouge" Hopkins the Bat (Powers: Psionic shield.)

E-123 Omega (Powers: Internal nanometal arsenal.)

Samson Robotnik Beowulf "Shadow" Terios the Hedgehog (Powers: super speed, super strength, mastery over Chaos manipulation.)

THE ROBOTON REGIME (HIGH COMMAND)

Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik (Powers: Cybernetic enhancements Badnik control.)

Jason "Sleet" Fredrick the Wolf (Powers: control over the nanometal drones known as the Dingo Pack.)

Snively Robotnik (Powers: Badnik control.)

Neo "Metal Sonic" Metallix the Android Hedgehog (Powers: Nanometal copy ability.)

Xander "Infinite" Oliver the Jackal (Powers: Unstable Chaos energy manipulation filtered through the Phantom Ruby.)

Agent Breezie the Synthetic Hedgehog (Powers: Hypnotic mist.)

THE ROBOTON REGIME (BADNIKS)

MotoBugs (Motorcycle beetles armed with submachine guns. Weak point, wheels.)

Buzz Bombers (Small VTOL wasps armed with low-burn plasma beams in the stinger. Weak point, torso.)

Crabmeat (Crustacean sentinels with claw-mounted rocket launchers. Weak point, joints.)

Optic Pods (Single-eyed scouts with micro missile salvos. Weak point, power core/eye.)

Slicers (Praying mantis guards with reinforced titanium blades. Weak point, back of the neck.)

SwatBots (Elite humanoid Badniks capable of speech that use built in high-burn plasma cannons and smart-lock missiles. Weak point, Achilles heel.)

Hover Units (Large helicopter drones armed with ultrasonic concussion cannons, fusion core missiles, and a deployable energy shield. Weak point, rotor blades.)

Tank-Rexes (Huge theropod-like tanks with powerful jaws, optical plasma cutters, drill tail, and hyper-concussive roar. Weak point, internal generator.)

WEAPON TYPES

Melee (Swords, hammers, pile bunkers, the list goes on.)

Ballistic (Firearms that use traditional bullets. Effective against lighter Badniks, but useless against SwatBots and large units.)

Plasma (Firearms that utilize plasma engines rather than standard ammunition. Rare, but effective against more elite Badniks.)

Explosive (Be it a rocket launcher or grenade, these weapons pack a punch. Can be just as damaging to the wielder as it is to the enemy.)

HEADCANON VOICES SO FAR

Sonic - Benjamin Diskin

Sonia - Erica Mendez

Manic - Johnny Yong Bosch

Tails - Anthony Del Rio

Knuckles - Khary Payton

Amy - Jamie Lamchick

Rouge - Grey DeLisle

Omega - Keith David

Shadow - Ian Hanlin

Eggman - Charlie Adler

Sleet - Steve Blum

Snively - Peter MacNicol

Metallix - Ron Perlman

Infinite - Liam O'Brien

Breezie - Laura Bailey

SwatBots - Isaac Singleton Jr.

#sonic au #sonic fandom #sonic the hedgehog #shadow the hedgehog #miles tails prower #knuckles the echidna #amy rose #rouge the bat #e 123 omega #dr robotnik #sonic underground #sonia the hedgehog #manic the hedgehog #infinite the jackal #au #alternate universe #fanfiction #holy shit this was fun #i hope you enjoy

[sinisterexaggerator]

Masterlist - (NSFW 18+)

Multi-chapter:

Stars Above!

Ao3 link | Tumblr Masterpost | Zulara

Cad Bane x OC (Smut / Porn with Plot / Character Study / Sexual repression / inexperience turns into a sex addiction.)

Summary: Zulara Anu Trattu, an alluring Twi’lek-Human hybrid, was handed off into slavery by her alcoholic father; he lost a game of sabacc to the owner of Kayson’s Weapons shop located on Tatooine. Rather than pay his debt - his home and his entire fortune - his daughter is relinquished and taken from her native home of Lothal to Mos Eisley by her new master, an alien, adept at obtaining weapons on the black market, one who offers contraband to trusted customers; those who want to fight to protect themselves as a new Empire rises to power. A fascist galactic dictatorship has replaced democracy, the senate, and the Jedi are nowhere to be found.

Cad Bane is on the hunt - he’s been offered a job by Tour Aryon, the Imperial Governor of the desert planet – figure out who's been selling weapons to would-be rebels; remaining groups of Separatists, straight out of Mos Eisley. He has a hunch, but Kayson would never risk himself, his reputable business . He has another to do it for him - a certain someone - and she has the most luscious lips, the widest hips …

He’s seen her dance, smelled her pheromones, and watched her work diligently for her employer. One thing’s for sure: things aren't always as they seem.

***

Beauty and the Bounty Hunter

Ao3 link | Tumblr Masterpost

Cad Bane x Second-person POV / OC (Smut / Humor.)

Summary: You are Aurora Ordel: the pinnacle of femininity gone wrong. Smart, sexy, but with a sassy mouth. Hailing from Corellia, you live on Coruscant at your career’s behest. You are a “Chief Design Engineer” for The Galactic Empire; inventor of the Onager-Class Star Destroyer - this super weapon is your pride and joy.

Your employer is Palpatine; you answer to Darth Vader; and Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin is always barking up your skirt.

You are also beauty who has met with beast – a surly, ill-tempered bounty hunter who you like to swap spit with. Your problem? Everyone’s out to kill you for being such a kriffing witch, and on top of that, you’re addicted to that Duros dick. Your solution? Make Cad Bane your (on call) bitch.

*Inspired by an anonymous reader request and dedicated to my Duros hoes. “There’s no shame in it.”

***

I’m so glad you’re not dead

Ao3 link | Tumblr Masterpost

Cad Bane x Ahsoka Tano (Smut / Humor / Cad Bane is “infatuated" by one of the very last "Jedi.")

Summary: Ahsoka Tano encounters Cad Bane on the planet Daiyu while gathering intel for the Rebel Alliance. She is in her 30s now, and Cad Bane is an “old man.”

THIS IS A CRACK FIC. IT’S DUMB AS HELL. It has now become a multi-chapter fic by accident, and also, the crack may turn serious, also by accident. Whoops.

One shots:

The Interrogation

Ao3 link | Tumblr post

Cad Bane x F! Reader (Smut / DP in vagina sex - Cad Bane has two dicks.)

Summary: You have been captured by Cad Bane, though he is not after you. You have information that he seeks, yet you are shy. Perhaps there is a way he can persuade you to squeal, albeit one that is a bit unorthodox.

***

Size Matters

Ao3 link | Tumblr post

Cad Bane x F! Reader (Smut / Size kink / Voice Kink.)

Summary: Extensive fingers, long-reaching, your fantasies brought to life on the vertex and crooks of their multi-jointed lengths. Blue flesh, cold and smooth with a faint roughness that paralyzes you when they caress your human skin. Marks are left in the form of horripilation, the bristling of micro hairs on your aching body, as you pine for the hunter’s patented ministrations. Cruel, while at the same time tantalizing, stimulating your already sultry sex, dampened to the deepest, darkest depths that he can fathom.

***

The Code

Ao3 link | Tumblr post

Cad Bane x F! Reader (Smut / Mildly Dubious Consent.) 

Summary: You're a naïve bounty hunter, trying to earn a name for yourself, but you don't know anything about your new profession or its Code of Honor. You piss another hunter off by stealing his quarry; he sends you on a wild goose chase with the premise Cad Bane is an old man, retired, and it's time he paid his dues.

You realize too late he's no easy target, and he's out to teach you a lesson or two you won't soon forget.

***

Damn you, Fennec Shand! 

Ao3 link | Tumblr post

Cad Bane x F! Reader (Smut / Mildly Dubious Consent / Sickfic.)

Summary: It had taken Cad Bane two days to get his ship into the air, whereas Todo 360 had failed to make appropriate repairs. The Justifier is going down over an icy planet, and you are one of its few residents. The Duros is in bad shape by the time you find him; it's getting darker; there is a storm brewing in the distance. Todo begs you not to let his Master die - you have a choice to make.

*This story takes place after the episode of Bad Batch entitled “ Bounty Lost” where Fennec Shand sabotages Cad Bane’s ship and leaves him stranded on Bora Vio. By the way he holds himself, it is evident he is injured. Well, I fuck him up even more.

***

The Existential Crisis of an Elder Duros; or, “Had too much to drink.”

Ao3 link | Tumblr post

Cad Bane alone with his own dark thoughts.

Summary: World-weary. No. Galaxy-weary. That’s a word you might put to it. The overwhelming, all-encompassing feeling of just being over it.

***

Trigger Happy

Ao3 link | Tumblr post

Cad Bane masturbates / Cad Bane x Fem! Reader (Involves fantasy scenarios.)

Summary: Cad Bane is alone on his ship in the darkness of deep space. He lets his mind wander to that soft mammalian skin, so warm and inviting. How easy it would be to bite and mark with his teeth...

***

Patience is a Virtue

Ao3 link | Tumblr post

Cad Bane x Male Reader (Smut/Mildly dubious.)

Summary: Revenge is a dish best served cold, by a cold-blooded, cold-hearted killer named Cad Bane. You hire him in hopes of seeking retribution on your crooked partner who is a crook, and you are too, dealing in priceless artifacts. The trail’s gone nearly cold as well, and the hunter’s getting restless; you promised him five-hundred-thousand credits, but you find yourself offering up something else to sate his appetite: yourself.

Ficlets (Fem!/ GN X Readers / Misc.): * Contains Smut

The lil’ lady’s house - Fluff.

The green-eyed monster - Cad is jealous of Hondo Ohnaka.

Daimyo Bane - Cad Bane is the Daimyo of Tatooine (AU).

The Storm - Gn! Cad Bane tries to comfort you / fluff.

Rub-A-Dub-Dub, Cad Bane's in a tub - Reader gives Cad a bath to help him slough off his dry scales.

Don’t bite Bane - Reader bites Bane and experiences his reaction. *

More than you can chew - Reader cockwarms Bane (first entry). *

Lemmie see - Gn! Fluff / “caretaking” when you cut your finger.

Smile - Gn! You give Cad Bane a compliment on his smile / fluff.

Only good girls get seconds - Fluff and a kiss. You try to steal Bane's toothpick.

sick till I see you - Gn! Cad Bane has had a tough time of it. He comes to you for a little TLC / fluff.

An Unlikely Muse - Gn! reader. You are an artist with an artist's block until Cad Bane comes to call. *

Headcanons:

Cad Bane Part 1

Cad Bane Part 2

Cad Bane Part 3

Cad Bane Part 4

Old man Bane has the horny

How does Cad Bane treat you if he loves you?

How does Cad Bane feel about marriage?

What kinds of things make Cad Bane happy?

Spiran caf

Only work as hard as you have to

My explanation of Cad Bane’s breathing apparatus.

Cad Bane's accent and voice modulation

Armorweave

Freelancer

Bane's scars

Bane’s favorite color :)

Jango Fett x Cad Bane, and its connection to Todo

Banaka / OPT

Love letters / Handwriting headcanon

Love bites and Banaka / blood bonds.

Loss of "virginity" and Duros anatomy discussion.

Duros sexuality

Duros dick

Extras:

Cad Bane Speech Patterns:

Cad Bane’s Arsenal:

Padawan Killer

Code of Honor

Reptilian?

Cad Bane mentored Boba Fett

Did Cad Bane work for the Ohnaka gang?!

Cad Bane and Hondo Ohnaka were friends.

Best Bounty Hunter

Bane's a sentimental bastard.

Cad Bane is complicated.

Gateway Duros

Jedi Path mention

Death / birth

Language is fun!

Todo 360

-----

Return to the Main Masterlist

#Cad Bane #Cad Bane x You #Cad Bane x Reader #Star Wars #Duros #Star Wars Smut #Masterlist #x you #x reader #original female characters #fanfiction #Todo 360 #Headcanons #Clone Wars #Bad Batch #Book of Boba Fett #Anonymous Ask #Reader Requests #Star Wars Fanfiction

[pumpkinstep]

since I have a shit ton of mobile games

almost 100 downloaded, I think it's time I do another reccomend run

let's start with chill games

Greening and Greening 2

both very cute, you blast asteroids to bring life to dead planets.

there's a very satisfying quality to upgrading the weapons you use to pop asteroids and you get a lil index that shows you what items you're collecting are.

it's a pixel art style and pretty much no ads, though I don't remember if I ever paid for an ad free version.

I'd say 10/10 just about everything I could hope for in a chill game to help me calm down and sleep

Cooking quest

I'm a sucker for cooking games, plain and simple.

this one is also a pixel art game. you run a food wagon and send adventurers out to collect ingredients for you to cook with. practicaly ad free too. you only have to watch ads if you want to earn a few gems or new adventurers but that's it. it does have an ad free option to buy. I did and I haven't regretted it at all

there are micro transactions but way less than your average game has nowadays

also a 10/10 very nice time waster and very cute, can't think of anything I'd want to improve

Ghost hotel

Absolutely adorable. it's clear it's translated from another language but it's really endearing.

you run a hotel for ghosts, earn money to build more rooms and upgrade them. they've been updating the game pretty regularly and recently added a new hotel you can build up.

it's a 2D long scroll kind of game, very much idle game play with merge segments you can do to make baked treats and fullfil orders for more coin. the ads here are entirely optional and I think you can play the whole game without seeing a single one if you so chose. there are microtransactions but not too bad. the progression is well enough that I never felt the Need to buy anything.

if you like nice and slow progression with cute ghoulie graphics, you'll probably really get a kick out of this

10 outta 10 mwah love it

finally a game that gets advertised a lot

Merge dragons

most of the ads are pretty true to the gameplay, merge eggs, get dragons, merge dragons, get better dragons.

I get obsessed sometimes

you got your little island that you expand using dragon power which comes from merging better dragons.

then they have the main gameplay of merge puzzle levels outside of your camp. its cute, not ad heavy, it's practically optional, and easy to play. they've been adding a whole bunch of new stuff recently that I think improves gameplay, like egg storage and dragon breeding.

there is lots of microtransactions though, so keep that in mind. you don't really come across gems easily so you'll have to empty your wallet if you wanna stay on top of events and opening chests. they also sell you chest packs for as much as 20 bucks sometimes, so there's that.

I'm a freak so I spend money on this game but you don't have to in order to enjoy it

if you like merging games, you'll probably like this one

7/10

knocked off three cause I spend too much money on it lol

The Tower

it's pretty alright. the ad is exactly like the game, surprisingly enough. I actually started playing this one recently. I play it every now and then but not hardcore.

not really any ads, seems to all be optional. also not much in terms of micro transactions too

it's a very slow game though, so if you that sort of thing, you might like that.

it's a 5/10 for me

final note

those paint by the numbers games, I couldn't find any that source their artists or where they get their images, so I don't play them. I can't really reccomend them either due to that too.

#bear barks #mobile games

[msbarrows]

My latest gaming addiction - No Man’s Sky. Bought it on Steam in sales last week and after an initial “not sure if like or dislike” I’ve spent a disturbing number of hours running around and finding stuff and building mini-bases all over my starting solar system. This particular one is at the site of a crashed space freighter I’m salvaging stuff from (my only base so far in a second solar system is positioned at same). I have several sites I’ve named “Drydock” that were claimed just for the purpose of salvaging a wrecked ship and warping it to the space station to melt down for scrap (best haul so far netted me > 5 million units plus a storage upgrade for my own tiny ship). At some point when I have a lot more in the way of resources and technology, I might try actually repairing one of the crashed ships. Because why not.

I also like having bases handy to specific material types - like the one super-weird planet covered in coral-like desiccated creatures that are formed of both carbon and ferrite (two of the three main building materials, the other being silicate sand you can dig up anywhere), making it an awesome place to farm for more building materials any time I start running low. So much easier and faster than running around mining them from random plants and rocks on other planets, and I can just use my teleporter to step to there from any of my other bases if I need to gather more

So far if I had to describe my character I’d say they’re conflict-avoidant. Happy enough to just ignore the battles occurring around them, scavenge for salvageable crap, and build micro-bases. I am looking forward to unlocking more of the decor items so I can make bases that look comfortable, not just functional (I blame many years of playing The Sims for that interest...).

I’ve barely set foot outside my starting system yet, and don’t really have any interest so far in following the main storyline assignments or getting into any fights. I’ve only killed one pirate so far - mostly I just scram away from them as fast as my tiny ship can go - but I may beef up my weapons and shields a little, because being randomly attacked when I’m just minding my own business mining asteroids (for gold so I can build more solar panels) is getting old.

#Gaming #No Man's Sky #Euclid Galaxy #I have played a ridiculous number of hours already #As in just over 34 hours in the few days since purchase #I need to start setting a timer before I start playing #So that I have something reminding me to STOP #Because it's always #...just one more thing and then I'll log off #And then I glance at the clock and it's an hour or two later

[turtlethon]

“Night of the Dark Turtle”

Season 7, Episode 14 First US Airdate: October 30, 1993

Donatello adopts a new, aggresive persona following an accident.

“Night of the Dark Turtle” first aired in the US as the second half of a double bill alongside “Elementary, My Dear Turtle”, the concluding episode of the Vacation in Europe arc. David Wise returns as the writer of this story.

In the Lair, Michaelangelo walks into the living room to find the other Turtles watching a broadcast, where April appears to be running away from an enormous dinosaur. This turns out to be part of a report on the new animatronic dinosaurs that have been unveiled at the city’s Natural History Museum. Mikey suggests that he’d have wasted no time in fighting the dinosaur if April had been in actual danger, leading to Donatello countering that his reliance on inventions is a smarter approach. The other Turtles are dismissive of this idea, but Donnie doubles down, insistent that he could take on Shredder himself if he had to. The conversation is brought to an abrupt halt by his early warning system, which picks up unusual vibrations underground. Convinced this might be connected to Shredder, the Turtles rush off to investigate.

Across town at a government research laboratory, we see Shredder’s Scheme of the Day unfold, as he pressures a scientist into handing over the Micro Blaster, a device resembling a AA-size battery which he declares is a super-powerful weapon. Bebop and Rocksteady almost immediately manage to destroy the gizmo, while the reluctant inventor escapes in the commotion. Shredder sends The Boys after him, and after being pressured by Krang, decides to try and fix the weapon himself.

Having spent some time searching in vain, the Turtles trace the source of the vibrations to the government facility, and inside find Shredder – flanked by a group of Foot Soldiers – repairing the weapon. In the ensuing battle, Donatello goes toe-to-toe with Shreds, leading to a chain reaction of events where the Micro Blaster rolls away as nearby machines begin to malfunction. Shredder hurls Donnie into a bay of scientific equipment, leading the Turtle to be electrocuted. With the fight having drawn the attention of a pair of security guards, both Shredder and the Turtles make their respective exits.

Above Earth, a group of spaceships are seen approaching. Voices are heard discussing how easy the planet will be to conquer, one of them addressing someone by the name of “Captain Zorax”.

Donatello comes around while being tended to in the Lair, his voice and persona much more hard-edged than usual. He immediately grabs Leonardo and begins venting his frustrations at being pulled away before he could finish Shredder, adamant that he “nearly had him”. He attempts to leave but is restrained by the other Turtles, who encourage him to cool off. Splinter then intervenes, ordering his pupil to clear his mind of his “vicious thoughts”. This only serves to make Donatello angrier: in a heated tirade, he points out that it was Shredder’s fault Splinter was turned into a rat, and that Shredder is “responsible for everything evil that ever happens!” (A slight exaggeration, as anyone who had to endure the endless parade of mediocre villains present in seasons four through six could attest).

After being blocked from leaving the Lair for a second time by the other Turtles, Donatello appears to concede that it would be better for him to stay home and recuperate. In truth, he retreats to his workshop, where he pulls off his bandana, declaring that he’s “sick of these stupid masks!” Echoing Batman’s origin story, he adds that “criminals are a superstitious and cowardly lot”, and as such he requires a new disguise to strike fear into their hearts. Instead of a bat, he finds inspiration in a pile of comic books that he had angrily knocked onto the floor upon his arrival, taking special interest in one titled “Midknight Avenger” (mistakenly rendered in one shot as “Midknigt Avenger”, which takes the edge of what had up to that point been a dramatic and effective scene).

Later, Shredder skulks around the government research lab, but finds that the number of security guards has been increased following his previous visit, and determines he’ll need to change his approach. Back in the Lair, the Turtles find Donatello has placed a group of pillows under his bedsheets to trick them. I don’t know why he bothered as he hasn’t left yet, emerging to shock his team-mates with his new persona: the heavily Batman-inspired “Dark Turtle”. After being confronted again, he uses a Turtle bomb device to fill the Lair with smoke and storms off to confront Shredder.

Act two begins with the other Turtles heading up to the surface and confronting Donatello, trying to convince him that taking on Shredder by himself is dangerous. The Dark Turtle uses a grappling hook to evade his former team-mates, leaving them floored as he escapes. (Leonardo remarks that Donatello has “gone totally bats”, but is warned by Michaelangelo to watch his language, lest they get into trademark infringement territory.) The attempts by the team to reason with their old comrade are cut short by Splinter, who informs them that they’re needed urgently in the Lair.

In a hideout at the docks, Shredder is seen negotiating with a mobster called Wolf Jackson to gain assistance in raiding the research facility. Meanwhile the group of spaceships seen approaching Earth earlier have now arrived, landing in the middle of a busy city street. From them emerges Captain Zorax of the Triceratons, a group of alien dinosaur warriors. Zorax declares that he’s claiming the planet for his Empire.

Splinter draws the attention of the Turtles to the readout on Donatello’s early warning alarm system, indicating an incident unfolding in the midtown area. Despite Raphael’s insistence that the machine may be as screwy as its inventor, the group rush off to investigate. Meanwhile, the Dark Turtle is seen capturing a mugger, hoisting him on a sawn-off streetlight to pressure him into revealing the current whereabouts of the Shredder. After learning that the masked villain is working with Wolf Jackson’s men, the Dark Turtle leaves the mugger pinned to the wall.

Shredder and the group of mobsters work together to lure the security guards at the government lab into being captured. Meanwhile the Triceratons are rounding up citizens when the Turtles arrive to confront them. Zorax tells the team that he doesn’t normally like battling his fellow reptiles but is prepared to make an exception for the green teens, as his men open fire with their laser weapons.

Bebop and Rocksteady have been wandering the city off-screen throughout this story in search of the scientist who created the Micro Blaster, and now find themselves confronted by the Dark Turtle. The Boys initially mock the masked hero, but find themselves tied up and pressed in regards to the whereabouts of Wolf Jackson. After Bebop unwittingly reveals that the mobster operates out of a hideout on the wharf, the Dark Turtle leaves Shredder’s underlings tied up in much the same way as he did with the mugger earlier.

In an exciting fight sequence – albeit one that I suspect has been edited down to bring it in line with CBS broadcast restrictions – the Turtles find themselves outmatched by the Triceratons, who point out that they’ve conquered half the galaxy, and it’ll take more than our three heroes to stop them. Meanwhile the Dark Turtle barges into Wolf Jackson’s hideout, dragging him outside and threatening to drop him into the water surrounding the pier if he refuses to reveal the whereabouts of Shredder. Jackson coughs up the details, and winds up taking the plunge anyway.

The Turtles re-emerge in their van ready to counter-attack, but find the Triceratons have implemented the next stage of their plan, having created a stargate, a giant wormhole that Earth will be pulled through until it arrives among the Triceraton homeworlds, where it’ll be asset-stripped. Raphael suggests that things can’t get much worse, but Mikey counters that he shouldn’t be so sure as there’s still one more act to go.

Figuring that they’ll need the assistance of Donatello in sabotaging the stargate, the Turtles shoot down the proposal from the Triceratons to work together as “fellow reptiles”, escaping in their van. Meanwhile the Dark Turtle finally makes good on his promise to confront Shredder at the research facility. Like Rocksteady and Bebop, the masked villain doesn’t take this threat seriously at first, but after dealing with an array of different gadgets and weapons, he too is captured. The Turtles arrive in time to find Shredder being dangled over a railing by the Dark Turtle, and wind up saving their old enemy, breaking his fall and preventing him from being dropped onto a mobile generator. Michaelangelo attempts to restrain the Dark Turtle, but the would-be superhero winds up falling onto the generator instead. Bebop and Rocksteady emerge to rescue their boss, the three villains making their exit.

As per the rules of TV amnesia the second bump has restored Donatello to normal, and he learns from the other Turtles about the current situation with the Triceratons. After Leonardo points out that Zorax repeatedly showed reluctance to battle his fellow reptiles, Donnie suggests they pay a visit to the Natural History Museum.

Only three minutes remain until Earth is pulled through the stargate when the Triceratons are confronted by a group of enormous dinosaurs, who smash the machines holding residents of the city hostage. In truth, the dinos are being operated by the Turtles, and while the ruse initially works, Zorax reluctantly gives the order to open fire on his fellow reptiles to prevent the entire mission from failing. Adopting his Dark Turtle disguise again, Donatello confronts the Triceratons, declaring himself to be the ruler of Earth. As a demonstration of his might, he uses the Micro Blaster to decimate a nearby tank and the stargate generator. Terrified by the sight of this, the Triceratons rush to their ships and retreat into space.

Later, in the Lair, the other Turtles talk amongst themselves about how impressive Donatello was in his exploits, with Raphael remarking that as the Dark Turtle, Donnie was “so crazed he made Casey Jones look like a wallflower”. The group overhear Donatello aggressively wondering where “that Shredder” is in his workshop, and fear he’s returned to his superhero persona; in reality, he’s simply looking for his automatic cheese shredder, as he has a craving for pizza.

As we start our exploration of what might be considered the legitimate portion of season seven, I think it’s worth taking a moment to reflect on the changing fortunes of TMNT, and how this is affecting the direction of the series. If 1990 represented the height of Turtlemania, 1991 the end of the boom period and 1992 a year of managing the decline, then 1993 must represent the point where the Turtles are now well and truly in trouble. Almost six full years have passed since the broadcast of the first episode of the series, an eternity in kid-vid terms, and much of the audience from the early days is now growing up or simply losing interest. Between seasons six and seven the third live-action Turtles movie arrived in cinemas, widely considered to be at best a major disappointment and at worst a box office bomb, and to my mind it’s difficult not to see this as both an indicator of waning interest in TMNT as well as a failure large enough to damage the reputation of the Turtles moving forward.

From my own personal experience, time has muddled my memories of watching what might be termed “Late-Stage Turtles”, but my recollection is that in 1992 UK viewers watching on Sky One wound up getting seasons five, six and the European vacation portion of season seven almost back-to-back. It was... a lot, and I finally found myself burned out. I could have sworn that this was one of the last episodes I saw, and that we got at least the first few proper season seven episodes immediately after the European vacation arc at the tail-end of 1992, but that doesn’t seem to line up; certainly the episodes as presented on DVD all have 1993 copyrights, so that seems implausible. It’s possible I’m mixing this up with “Leonardo is Missing”, a similar Turtles-meet-dinosaurs episode that would have been in broadcast rotation during this period.

What I do know for sure is that I parted ways with the Turtles soon after the European Vacation episodes wrapped up in late 1992. It wasn’t an “I don’t like this show anymore” thing, but more a logistics issue: when satellite transmissions on BSB’s old Marcopolo DMAC system ended on January 1, 1993, we didn’t have access to Sky One in the family living room anymore. (I could still watch Sky upstairs, but it was far less convenient.) In September of 1993 Sky’s channels became subscription-only, putting a paywall between me and any future episodes of TMNT; it wasn’t until late 1994 that I’d see the Turtles on Sky again, the show by then demoted to weekend airings only and looking far different than it had the last time I’d seen it, season eight then fully in effect. It’s funny in retrospect that I had hung in there right up to the beginning of this season before starting to mentally tune out, unaware that only a scant few shows remained before the series headed in a dramatic new direction.

Though it might not be immediately obvious, the beginnings of that new direction can be found in “Night of the Dark Turtle”. It’s clear that David Wise has been tasked with righting this now rapidly sinking ship and has immediately set about subtly altering the tone of the series, upping the action and science fiction elements and perhaps drawing upon the Mirage comics for further inspiration, as well as bringing in some of the earliest TMNT comic book foes in the Triceratons, a surprise inclusion this late in the show’s run. Donatello’s genuine anger – if only due to his accident – at everything Shredder has done would have been unthinkable in seasons two through six, and it’s hard as a viewer to disagree with him even if his approach may be questionable. The Dark Turtle’s more aggressive tactics when fighting crime are scuppered by those Saturday morning rules and regulations meaning he can’t inflict any actual punishment; at best he can drop Wolf Jackson in the water, the implication being that Donatello would normally just let the mobster be. Nevertheless, there’s a sense that the show is finally shedding its goofier tendencies, if only out of necessity, and that perhaps the days of cream pie fights as conflict resolution are behind us for good.

Of the remaining episodes in this season, all but two will be penned by David Wise. His next contribution will see the Turtles deal with an entirely different kind of alien in “The Starchild”.

#Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #TMNT #TMNT 1987 #1993 #Ninja Turtles #TMNT Donatello #tmnt donnie #donnie tmnt #Donatello TMNT #Night of the Dark Turtle #dark turtle #the dark turtle #Turtlethon #Triceratons #Captain Zorax

[bigskydreaming]

Bruce Wayne upon Henry Cavill returning to the DCU as Superman: 

“Oh, I see somebody decided to go and STEAL MY ENTIRE CHARACTERIZATION on his summer vacation. Nice. Boy scout, my ass. Well, don’t forget where you are now. You’re not in Kansas anymore. OR Middle-Earth. Oh, I’m sorry, I meant “the Continent” (look, all fantasy lands are the same, everyone knows that. Its called the United States of Narnia? Read a map?) Whatever. Just don’t go around thinking you’ll be bringing any of THAT role into this one. Stay in your lane, Kent. I do the brooding around here, and I DON’T share well with others. Ask literally any of my children. I even compete with each of them for their siblings’ time and attention, lmao like why would I share my stuff with you? I’ve never even adopted you, like even a little bit, helloooooo. 

Oh, and btw, I still have my anti-Superman armored suit down in the Batcave. Its filed in the Aisle of All My Mistakes, Obsessively Archived For Posterity and Also Memorialized In A Super-Healthy And Not At All Concerning Way That Has Nothing to Do With Routine Self-Flagellation Because Reasons, no matter what Dick has told you. He’s a habitual liar, picked it up from me. I’m very proud. In addition to my anti-Superman suit I also have a lifetime membership to the Can and Will Repeat My Worst Mistakes Like Clockwork and Learn Nothing From Them Ever Club, so despite how disastrously everything went the last time I got my ass beat by you even WITH ‘prep time,’ no matter what the reddit Rumbles thread started by my sockpuppet account claims - y’know, back when I was manipulated into seeing you as Satan by a supervillain who looked at my ego and paranoia and said well this looks so easy even I almost feel bad about weaponizing it for Evil? - well, Poor Life Choices is the longest committed relationship I’ve ever had in my life and I’m WAY too invested to back down on that front now. I’d just look flaky. 

So in conclusion to this impromptu Powerpoint presentation that I just happened to have handy despite zero advance indicators I might need it and suggests either that I probably SHOULD be tested for the meta-gene or else that I really AM an extra-dimensional Batgod and everybody should be wildly concerned about that, the point is I’m ready to willfully disregard ALL of the aforementioned self-awareness and life lessons that didn’t stick, 100% prepared to throw down all over again if I see even a hint of that lip curling in a derisive half-smirk that suggests ‘I am cursed to share this planet with incompetent dumbasses.’ Just because my legal department still hasn’t figured out how to trademark a Mood even when its mine and I basically invented it, I’m pretty sure, well, that doesn’t mean I’m gonna just stand idly by and let you STEAL IT when plagiarism is a felony that carries a five year sentence. Minimum. Probably. Idk. Look, in this particular universe I mounted machine guns on my car instead of ridiculous physics-defying grappling hooks. I lost sight of Proportionate Responses literal decades ago. This is not new information. Let’s move on.

 Wait, what? No there’s nothing to read into the fact that I make a habit of watching your lips. You’re an alien. I’m a detective. I’m documenting how the topography of your face shifts in response to each and every emotion-incited twitch, all so I can plausibly pull off my ‘I can see into a man’s very soul by deciphering his micro-expressions’ bullshit with you too. Its literally for Science? I’ll write a book on it someday. Maybe. And if I do there will obviously be zero subtext about why I detail Kryptonian musculature in vastly more explicit detail than I do the mechanics of heat vision, duh, like lmao you sound so unhinged right now, literally what even is your deal.”

Bruce, walking away muttering: Who the fuck does this guy even think he is? And just going around adopting random orphans he trains to fight bad guys and save the world? That’s MY move. Everyone knows that! Respect my brand and go get your own, asshole. Jeez.

* this is a joke post that is not in any way meant to speak to OP’s actual interpretation of any Bruce Wayne that matters, just a random expansion on DCU movie Bruce Wayne who I disavow for being the Ultimate Bad Take of that universe on account of what the actual fuck am I supposed to do with a Batman who has his car gun down random henchmen in the name of literally nobody even knows at this point. Like, hello? Now what are he and Jason supposed to fight about and be forever tragically estranged because of? You guys gotta THINK about this stuff before you just go around throwing hundred million dollar budgets at the first pitch to go “here’s how a Superman and Batman fight to the death can still win, actually.” No, but seriously. For real. I just really hate Batfleck’s characterization. Like, with the fiery passion of a hundred thousand suns all competing in the official Universe’s Hottest Supernova competition. And as you can see, I am super reasonable and rational about this and am definitely probably likely to change my mind about it if exposed to just the right counter-argument that I have just never considered or been approached with before. And ‘tis not even an objection to his casting, the aesthetics, not the DC movie universe as a whole. Nay. Nay I say, with much over the top ridiculousness to blunt the edge of any inclination one might have to treat this post seriously because Somebody On The Internet Is Being Wrong persists as a problem that occasionally besets us all. No? That’s literally just me projecting and my experiences are not actually universal? Huh. Weird. Not sure I like that. ANYWAY, to return to the afore-mentioned NAY I SAY(s)....my grudge match is against Batfleck’s characterization and Batfleck’s characterization only. Consider this my love letter to how absurd I find it, rather than an invitation to The Discourse as even my substantial history of arguing molehills into Mount Everests isn’t up to the task of expanding on a thesis that is basically just “I just think it sucks and I hate it, bye.”

#now you might be reading this post and upon reaching the end of it having the entirely reasonable reaction of thinking: #what the fuck even IS this post? #totally valid. its the same reaction I have and I wrote the damn thing. #guess we're all doomed to never know #my inexplicableness baffles and bamboozles even me #Idk guys. I might just be weird? feels anticlimactic #was hoping for an eleventh hour reveal that The Reason is Aliens Actually #but sadly there's no little green scapegoats here #just my goofy ass #i should probably do something about that at some point. like. idk mature or whatever? #idk idk ill look into it. there's a webinar for that probably #(Also its one am and sleep deprivation is probably a factor here but that's much less exciting I feel)

[clonewarsarchives]

RISE OF THE BOUNTY HUNTERS (#118, JUL 2010)

 Eagle-eyed viewers of the second season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars might have noticed some cool Easter Eggs and fascinating trivia. Star Wars Insider takes a look at some of the best!

Holocron Heist

Holocron first appeared in the comic series Dark Empire, published in 1991-1992 by Dark Horse Comics.

Cargo of Doom

This episode features “Kaybur memory crystal”. The initial drafts of the screenplay of A New Hope featured the Kyber crystal: a Force-focusing artifact. Although written out of subsequent drafts, a version of this idea appeared in the novel Splinter of the Mind’s eye as the Kaiburr crystal.

Children of the Force

The mobile over the Gungan toddler’s cot includes a colo clawfish and a sando aqua monster. These underwater beasts can be seen during the journey through the planet’s core sequence in Episode I.

Senate Spy

This episode revisits many environments seen in the live action movies. Padme’s apartment (Episode III), the senate corridor (Episode II) and rotunda chambers (Episode I), the Jedi Council war room (Episode III) and entrance gates (Episode III), and Cato Neimoidia (Episode III) all feature.

Landing at Point Rain

Anakin and Ahsoka are said to have arrived from an engagement near Dorin. According to the Expanded Universe, this is the homewrold of the Kel Dor, Plo Koon’s species.

Weapons Factory                              

The nose-art on Luminara’s gunship has a clone trooper giving Count Dooku a kick!

Legacy of Terror

This is the second Star Wars story to feature zombies in 2009. The first was the horror novel Death Troopers release by Del Rey in October.

Brain Invaders

Mace Windu’s efforts on Dantooine and Kit Fisto’s knowledge of Ord Cestus are two minor nods to the Expanded Universe. During the first Clone Wars micro-series Mace fights a droid army on the plains of Dantooine, and the novel The Cestus Deception features the grinning Jedi Master, Kit Fisto!

Grievous Intrigue          

According to the 2003 book, Inside the World of Attack of the Clones, Eeth Koth died in a gunship crash on Geonosis. Fans of this Jedi were delighted that he appears alive and well in this episode.

The Deserter

Respected film editor Rober Dalva directed this episode. His many credits as editor include Jurassic Park III and Hidalgo—both directed by classic trilogy art director Joe Johnston.

Lightsaber Lost

When Ahsoka is researching underworld thieves, a mugshot of Brea Tonnika, one of the Tonnika sisters seen in the cantina in Episode IV, appears on the monitor.

The Mandalore Plot

The elongated shape of the Mandalorian helmets in this episode was inspired by the Boba Fett animation model used in the making of The Star Wars Holiday Special.

Voyage of Temptation

Anakin, noticing Obi-Wan’s anxiety over his reunion with the Duchess while ascending in a turbolift, recalls the scene in Attack of the Clones in which the younger Jedi is teased by his mentor.

Duchess of Mandalore

Deputy Minister Jerec’s description of the tumultuous time on Mandalore as “a period of civil war” echoes the original title crawl from A New Hope.

Senate Murders

Mon Mothma, a character seen in Episode III and VI, was produced as an animation model for this episode, though the air order of The Clone Wars had her appear in “Duchess of Mandalore” first.

Cat and Mouse

Chronologically, this episode precedes all the others that have been broadcast thus far. “Cat and Mouse” is followed by Season One’s “The Hidden Enemy” and then The Clone Wars feature film.

Bounty Hunters

The episode begins with an unusual title card, specifically mentioning Akira Kurosawa, an influential film director admired by George Lucas. The original Star Wars was very much inspired by the works of Kurosawa, particularly the 1958 movie The Hidden Fortress.

The Zillo Beast

When the Zillo Beast first surfaces, it tramples a clone trooper who emits a distinctive scream. That sound effect is affectionately called “the Wilhelm”. It’s a decades0old audio recording that has become a pet sound effect to many sound editors and appears in all the Star Wars features.

The Zillo Beast Strikes Back

The droids tending to the Zillo Beast include re-purposed heavy labor droids first seen in Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith.

Death Trap

Admiral Kilian was named after Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ concept artist Kilian Plunkett.

R2 Come Home

Plo Koon mentions the Hydian Way, a navigational hyperspace route that was created in the Expanded Universe.

Lethal Trackdown

Hondo Ohnaka’s cluttered office and desk are inspired by Dave Filoni’s cluttered workspace.

#season 2 #insider #i118

[metaphysicalpistolsoraclemine]

As we come out of this dark cycle, it can feel like moving through the narrow part of an hourglass, where the micro and macro are being compressed together and squeezed through the bottleneck.  We are processing the dark eon of these controller power abuses along with the accumulative pain of the suffering that is being inflicted upon the Earth, while we come into a deeper knowing and comprehension that it was never actually about us at a deeply personal level. We may have had many spiritual lessons that our soul could learn in this dark cycle, through incarnations in this density. We may have come to the planet in order to find completion and healing from other lifetimes where there was abuse or dysfunction and this is the lifetime that we are going to clear many of these inherited overlays or karmic issues.

That's why this ascension process has been so exceptionally hard for so many, as this is the life time many souls are completing incarnational cycles based on consciousness slavery. Those awake and aware to the ascension cycle are choosing to end the accumulative karmic patterns of consciousness slavery this time. You are not going to repeat this cycle of abuse and pain again. This means that you must see what has happened to your lifestream in order to enslave your mind.

To graduate you must see the impact of those interactions with the darkness that felt such immense pain, in order to finally heal from those patterns.

Once we can see it, then we must choose to stop allowing darkness to inflict harm and slavery upon ourselves and others.  We must stop the behaviors where darkness creates harm in our consciousness and choose to align ourselves with the Godhead. This happens easily when we intend to align ourselves with Natural Laws and Divine Will, not my will but Divine Will, and this intention will help to take us through this very difficult and challenging process with as much ease and grace as possible.  

We are in the end game stages of the final conflict for Earth.

Message for Christos Mission Family.

For awakened Starseeds connected to the Cosmic Emerald Order Elohei lineages of the Cosmic Christos Solar Dragons with cellular memory records of our spiritual mission, we are enduring the final battle in the timeline wars, which has amplified the energetic challenges we face at multidimensional scale. Not only are we enduring the surface physical war with military grade mind control with brainwashed people promoting the harmful bio-weapon injection designed to destroy the original angelic human DNA, through forced genetic bonding with nano composites of self-assembling metal materials used for AI alien hybridization, but we are also facing extremely hostile dark entity backlash when awakened Starseeds are singled out because we are the genetic holders of the original Diamond Sun Founders DNA records that anchor the planetary ascension timeline.

There is no sugar coating this phase of heightened spiritual warfare, the current state of the anti-Christ death culture instigates the agonizing desperation of wanting to escape, to flee from those in the global population who are gripped in carrying out harmful anti-human agendas of self-destructive madness. We must remember that we were made for these tumultuous times, as we are facing the heat of this spiritual battle for the ultimate liberation of angelic humanity so that all humans can have the opportunity to evolve into the consciousness freedom that exists in the future timelines. Each individual is either currently asleep, or awake at this position of the bifurcation in the timelines to know without doubt that humanity, our children are under aggressive siege.

While facing this reality, our most potent state is to remember that God is Love, and to do our very best to embody this inner blessing as a prayerful wish for all on the planet to achieve this consciousness freedom someday.

Beloved Cosmic Christos family of Emerald Founder Elohim and Indigo Blue Ray, we have been preparing lifetimes to be fearless in the face of these end time challenges and to awaken to remember that we must build the architecture of loving kindness and compassion inside of us in order to return our knowledge of the authentic Cosmic Holy Mother Sophia into this world. We are blessed with the privilege to know that the ultimate power of God and the truth of the Inner Christos is with us now through the presence of our Cosmic Parents, and that divine alignment within our crystal heart to be in right relationship to our highest loving expression, is all that really matters.

Take peace and comfort in this ultimate truth that IS our direct relationship with our God creator, knowing you are not alone in this spiritual warfare, as we are sharing this heavy burden together.

Our unique energy signature and spiritual name is known and written in the eternal sacred scrolls of God in the ancient records of the perfect Cosmic Order, thus none of us will be left behind no matter what happens.

The Cosmic Christos Metatron Collective entered this fallen system with the mission of rebuilding the Lyran gate and helping to repair the 8D layers in the Metagalactic Core.

We look at why this was necessary and how their failure and capture have become entangled with alien technologies of reversal fields, used to syphon and entrap. Recently, Guardians have been able to access pre-fall and pre-invasion templates for correcting the architecture in this present timeline.

The Vatican City in Rome is one of the NAA Black Sun entity’s main control bases and global headquarters as the spiritual center used for carrying out the satanic ritual and funding their global elite pedophile satanic agendas.

We are observing the top hierarchy of nonhuman controller power that designed the religious centers for the purpose of global human slavery and building their satanic empires to control the planet, -crumble.

We are living through the personal mystery of waking up to find out that earth humans have been existing in a fallen system. We are in the process of undergoing a spiritual liberation of our planet, in which everything we thought was true is being tested and challenged during this time.

We all have been here before, standing at a precipice of major evolutionary change where the same choices were presented to us, Love or Fear.

Much of the current crisis and the themes we are facing now are steeped in our hidden Galactic history. We must ask ourselves, how do we actually choose a different future, an ascending timeline that benefits all human beings? If we can do our part to stay out of fear and continually choose love and peace, we can create a link through time in which our present timeline can phase lock into the future timeline of the Christos realignment, where spiritual freedom and human freedom has already manifested.

Reference:

#Gridworker #Starseed #galacticcitizens #Galacticfamily #GSF #GodSourvernFree

[lomi-nogard]

The Lost Micro Megazords of Power Rangers RPM

or how I became a toy archaeologist...

Well, since I seem to be one of the only (or perhaps *the* only) person on this planet to have taken an interest into this incredibly niche corner of the Power Rangers fandom, especially enough to make actual documentation about it, take a journey with me through some lost relics of Power Rangers RPM toy history.

The quick opening overview is that in Power Rangers wasn’t doing great as a franchise in 2009, so the then-current season Power Rangers RPM was due to be the last one before cancellation. I’m not sure when all the details worked out, but it definitely seems to have been something decided before the show started production but after the toyline got going. As such, the 6″ Micro Megazord portion of the toyline got planned for two waves, three sets in each... and only Wave 1 fully released worldwide. Wave 2 was part of a large toyline portion that got cancelled.

But not entirely. Wave 2 may have never made it to the US market, but Europe and Asia ended up getting some of the merchandise. And so with a little luck, a lot of patience, and the help of an acquaintance across the globe...

So basically, there were six total sets across the two waves, with three main zords for the featured Megazord and an additional “bonus zord.” The bonus zord was ostensibly for extra combinations and playability, but more on that later. I should probably start with the most well known out of all of them...

The Torque Micro Megazord

Released as part of the first wave, the Torque Micro Megazord is the most common and well known of the lot. It also has the bonus of having gotten ‘proper’ budget put towards it, since it was the featured Megazord of its box set - with only five Megazords in all of RPM, they made one toy-original one to round out the numbers for proper wave release. If I had to guess, Torque was designed before the additional bonus zords that I’ll talk about in a minute.

The extra budget means Torque is at least on part with all the other, regular Micro Megazords. He has arm articulation at the shoulders like them, his legs hinge side to side for a bit of movement, and he can actually hold his weapons (and has two of them!). Perhaps most importantly, each zord is well designed, has bits of accent paint that help the designs pop, and are all large enough to feel substantial.

Bonus Megazord #1

The second bonus megazord is unnamed, both on boxes and in instructions. All of its constituent zords are ‘bonus zords’ - fourth members of each of the sixth boxsets that aren’t actually part of their advertised Megazord. In this one’s case, the black zord forming the torso/legs came with the RPM Micro Megazord, the purple zord making the abdomen, thighs and sword was with the  “Velocimax” (Valvemax) Micro Megazord, and the red zord for arms came with the above-mentioned Torque Micro Megazord.

Unfortunately, thanks to this ‘bonus’ approach, the quality starts to take a dip. This Megazord is essentially a McDonald’s Happy Meal toy in quality. The black and purple zords have decent designs, but they just aren’t quite as strong, and the red zord suffers greatly, not feeling great in hand and lacking any paint highlights or variation besides a little yellow on the windshield. Despite having a sword, there’s no proper place to hold it in the short, stubby arms - the picture below features the sword handle forced into a small gap between a peg hole and the edge of the plastic, just to make the sword a nice feature of the image.

Bonus Megazord #2

The third and final Megazord is also a ‘bonus’ zord combination, and just as unnamed as its’ previous companion. Spread between the three boxsets of the Europe-and-Asia-exclusive wave 2 boxsets, the silver/blue zord came with the Mach Micro Megazord, the red zord came with the PaleoMax Micro Megazord, and finally the black zord came with the Engine Shogun Micro Megazord. Interestingly, the Engine Shogun Micro Megazord was technically toy exclusive to RPM, as it was based on the Engine Dai-Shogun mecha from RPM’s Japanese counterpart Engine Sentai Go-onger, which had never featured in the US adaptation’s TV show.

While the design gets to be just a bit more unique, the quality of these zords make for an even simpler unit. The arms can only rotate left or right on pegs, and the legs - similarly pegged - can rotate forward and back but at the risk of very easily coming loose, leading to a very static mecha. The colors help Megazord stand out, and the black zord is the standout of the three as an individual unit, but the silver/blue zord needed just a little bit of accent paint to make it pop and the red zord needed a lot of help with its near-complete lack of paint.

Alternate combinations

The instructions for each set include ways to “combine” the regular zords with their bonus zord to make new formations. How well these combinations work varies from fairly well in some cases to fairly badly in others. For the sake of brevity, here’s a list of the combos with pictures below:

RPM Megazord swaps the yellow Bear Crawler for its’ black bonus zord

Valvemax Megazord wears its’ purple bonus zord as shoulder armor and a spear weapon

Torque Megazord swaps out its arms for its’ red bonus zord (definite downgrade)

PaleoMax Megazord gains fiery shoulder pads from its’ red bonus zord

Engine Shogun Megazord gains some big cannon handguns from its’ black bonus zord

And lastly the Mach Megazord’s bonus zord does... nothing. The instructions don’t suggest a combination, but I’ve included a crest and cape option that’s technically possible.

The Ultrazord

As with any great Power Rangers megazord system, the instructions also include a way to combine the Torque Megazord with all the other bonus zords to create an Ultrazord. The instructions are given in two parts, forming a two-Megazord combination in wave 1 and a three-Megazord combination in wave 2, tho the differences are fairly minor.

The first combination extends the legs on the Torque Megazord and places it on a rolling cart formed from its original, purple legs, while in the secondary configuration, the zords of Bonus Megazord #2 create knee guards and a rocket-cape for the already towering combination. Sadly the head/torso of Bonus Megazord #1 is left out of the combination in all forms.

As a bonus, I included my own Ultrazord combination that I made before remembering to check the actual instructions. Its made using all the parts, and creates more of a rocket chariot type silhouette.

Names and theming

This section is just fun conjecture and brainstorming, so skip it if you’re only interested in facts.

It’s worth noting that with the exception of the three-zord formation of the Torque Micro Megazord, none of these zords, megazords or combinations have any official names. Not on the boxes themselves, nor in the instructions. They also do not identify any of the zords’ animals officially, which is a shame since the animal-car hybrid nature was a big detail for the zords in both the English and Japanese versions.

Thanks to this glaring omission, I’ve decided to provide a few unofficial names of my own and the animal-theme musings of the RangerWiki to fill the void. Pictured below:

The back-most row features the three Torque Megazord zords. These are the blue Condor Supercar, the black Panther Roadster, and the Fox Hotrod

The middle row features the three ‘Nitro Megazord’ zords. These are the black Frog Monster Truck, the purple Cobra Dragster, and the red Cat Truck.

Lastly the front row has the three ‘Afterburn Megazord’ zords. These are the red Turtle Saucer, the silver/blue Manta Bomber, and the black Orca Shuttle.

For the Ultrazord combinations, I assigned the names Ignition Megazord for wave 1′s combination and Turbocharge Ultrazord for wave 2′s combination. My own, alternate configuration I’ve dubbed the Full Throttle Ultrazord.

As a last little bonus, my personal fan names for if these Megazords had featured in Go-Onger are Engine Gattai Accel-O for Torque, Engine Gattai Saikaeru-O for ‘Nitro’, and Engine Gattai Jindei-O for ‘Afterburn’, with the Ultrazord coming in Accel-O X6 and X9 varieties (and X9-2 for the alternate configuration perhaps?)

Final Thoughts

Overall, a very fun little set that I’ve enjoyed taking a lot of photos of, toying with, and documenting as well as I can for myself and for any other Power Rangers fans that are out there in the depths of the internet wondering about these weird, wonderful little guys. I definitely recommend them just for the novelty if you can ever get your hands on them. Hopefully you’ve enjoyed this and the photos and info help someone out there one day; as a parting gift, here’s the instructions for the second wave so that hopefully they’ll be out there if they’re ever needed.

Instructions. Note the Engine Shogun features the same back page as the PaleoMax Megazord; likely since it didn’t combine with anything else specifically, it simply reused the same template. I have decided to include it anyway for the sake of posterity.

#Power Rangers #Power Rangers RPM #Micro Megazords #toy-exclusive #rare #2009 #Torque Megazord #Torque Micro Megazord #bonus zords #toys #megazord #instructions #lots of images

[nn1895]

AU August Fic 17

Annoying Neighbor

Warnings: grief, recovery from a severe injury, death of a loved one, ableism (?)

Prowl had concocted the perfect plan of revenge.  It had eleven steps and was guaranteed to succeed.  Then he’d logged onto Electronics Planet-Wide to purchase micro-motors and industrial adhesive and The Morally Correct Decision was on sale instead.

It had started six weeks ago when his new neighbor had moved in.

Prowl had caught sight of him from a window the day he’d moved in.  Being the vigilant, concerned Enforcer that he had been, he shifted his chair slightly to one side and watched him.

(It was not spying.)

He was easy to peg - flashy expensive paint, very trendy color changing visor, and smooth curves from helm to pede.  Beside him was a music case - which meant he was a Serious Musician and not a dabbler like Nightbeat.  Serious Musicians insisted on having their weapons - instruments with them at all times.  They babied the bits of string and metal like real sparklings and ordered everyone around them about.  It was all done in service to ‘The Music’ or ‘The Muse’ depending on how pretentious they were.

Prowl may have been asked to do protection detail for one too many ‘artists’ when he’d been a patrol bot.

As he’d watched  a trio of mismatched trucks had pulled up and more bots had hopped out and started unloading.  Obviously not a hired company.  Friends from the way they greeted his new neighbor.

Prowl had been deciding if he should start running the plates or not when something heavy slammed into his front door.

The fraggers!

Prowl rushed to the door, dragging himself along by the back of his couch and the edge of the table.

He slammed his fist on the panel and the door slid open to the sight of two femme with sparkly pink and green paint trying to manuver a box that was at least five inches too long to fit through the doorway from the hallway.

“What do you think you are doing?!” he yelled.  The two femmes jumped and dropped the box.  “If you’ve damaged anything -!”

Prowl heard running pedes and turned to see the musician jogging over.  He came to a stop and put a servo on the box.

“Sorry, sorry, mech,” the musician said.  He sounded tired.  Probably partying all night with beautiful bots on either arm.  “We’ll try to keep it -” The mech’s optics looked down and caught sight of Prowl’s-  Now he looked sympathetic and Prowl hated it.

“If you are so incompetent and stupid to try and fit that up here, I won’t count on it!” he growled.  There, now he looked angry.  Better.

“Whatever, mech,” the musician said, waving a servo and turning away.  He grabbed one end of the box and the femmes took the other.  Prowl watched them struggle with it for a few more minutes and then closed his door.

There.  His neighbor would have no reason to bother him.

Prowl limped over to a chair and slowly lowered himself down.  He looked around at this meticulously clean habsuite.  Everything matched.  Everything was in order.

It might be his prison, but it was still his.

0-0-0

That night the music started.  At first Prowl had written it off as the Great Musician trying to announce his presence.

The second night it happened again.  Then the third night. 

By the second week, Prowl was already plotting destruction.

It wasn’t even a song - not really.  He’d tried to find any pattern, but it was just an odd collection of notes, strummed at odd times, as if the musician was playing half in his processor and half in the real world.

(It gave him something to blame the insomnia on at least.)

It was nearly morning and The Musician still hadn’t stopped.  Prowl had given up on recharge hours ago and was trying to at least read a datapad.

He started to press himself deeper into his favorite chair - the way he had since he was a youngling - to feel the thick foam curl up around him and the tension in his legs and hips stretch sleepy cables and sensors.

His fake pedes slipped.  Without sensors or the instant control of his processor, he couldn’t get enough traction and he slipped out of the chair and onto the floor with a thump.  

He’d done some physical therapy and training just after the - just after.  They covered the basics of standing, walking, and getting up.  His medics had warned him that there would be some things he would never do.  They’d warned him that too much repeated strain on his healing stubs would cause damage and had advised him to break the habit.

Prowl crawled across the floor and into his berth.  The strange music notes tapped on their shared wall as he waited for the rage to stop shaking him.

0-0-0

“This is Knock-about, signing off for the night!”

Prowl itched to respond, to correct him, to tell him that was not the proper way to -

But he couldn’t.  As far as anyone was concerned, Prowl had left his enforcer’s comm chip once he was put on leave.  They had neglected to check if anyone else’s comm chip got ‘misplaced.’

He couldn’t risk plugging it into his frame and alerting them, so he’d hooked it up to a radio speaker.  With no transmitter, despite how much he was tempted, he couldn’t talk to them.

He wanted to tell Nightbeat to stop shilling his new mystery novel and investigate the west dock more thoroughly.  He wanted to tell Chase he was doing an amazing job with the Balljoint case.  He needed to tell Strongarm she was being an idiot about the report format.

Prowl looked out the window and down into the street.  If he had his times right then - there!

A fluorescent blue and yellow two wheeled altform was zipping down the road - Knock-about.  Prowl raised a servo even though the mech wouldn’t see him so high up.

Be safe, he thought, watching until he was gone from view.

“This is Unit 994, I need some backup for a -”

There was a knock at the door.  Prowl leaned forwards and flicked off the radio. He brought up the door camera on his HUD and -

Ugh.  His Building Manager.  Prowl pinged the door to slide open and there stood Alchemy, shinier than a racer, dumber than a senator.  More annoying than a medic.

“Good evening!  I hope I’m not interrupting?”  Prowl heard him add the ‘my dear’ in his processor.  He hadn’t done it out loud since Prowl had blown up on him that first week.  Progress at least.

“What do you want, Alchemy,” Prowl grunted and turned his chair away from him.  He wanted to watch Chase make it home at least and his shift should be ending any klik now.

“It’s going to be a lovely day tomorrow!  I’m going to walk down to the street market and pick up some sweets - do you want anything?”  Alchemy took a few steps into the room and put on a winning smile.

Prowl glared harder and didn’t answer.

“Maybe you’d like some fresh crystals to brighten the place up?” he offered, his smile stretching his face almost painfully.

“No.”

“A cup of warm candied energon?”

“No.”

“We could -”

“No.”

“Go away,” Prowl snarled.  Any minute now -

“No,” Alchemy said, crossing his arms.  He sat down defiantly on the couch.  “You can’t lock yourself up in here like this Prowl.”

Prowl turned slowly, his spark tight and huge in his chest.

(He wasn’t used to being scared.)

“Go.”

“I’m not leaving here until you agree to do something besides sit in that slagging chair and stare out the window.  It’s weird.  It’s not healthy.”

“Leave.  Now.”  Prowl could feel his voice trembling slightly.  He was - he was going to lose it.  The medic had called it a panic attack.  Prowl just hoped this one was one of the ones where he got violent.  He was going to wipe that smile away.

(He hated the panic attacks.)

“I’m not leaving and you can’t make me,” Alchemy said primly.

“No,” Prowl said quietly.  “I can’t.”

For a moment Alechemy looked pleased.  Then, Prowl watched the realization come over him like the shadow of a moon.  

“No - I mean.”  He stood quickly.  “I didn’t mean - I’ll go.  Sorry!  I’m sorry, Prowl, I’ll just -”

The door thudded closed.

He’d missed Chase driving home.  He hadn’t told him to be safe.

0-0-0

The true horror of the week was when the Musician Himself came to visit again.

Prowl was in the process of re-sanding his tabletop because the slate blue didn’t match the trim as well as he’d thought.  After a very heated conversation with the local paint store and one drone-delivered can later, he was finally re-doing it.

The knock was another annoying tune - up-up-down - and he didn’t bother getting up.  It came again.  

(Leave.)

“Hello?”

Scrap.  Slag it all to hell.  Prowl lifted himself into the chair and ping it to open. 

The musician still looked tired, but he was smiling.  Prowl glared back.  He stepped inside and the door closed behind him.

He was beautiful.  He was clearly built for performances - simple, bright paint and accents, strong hips and shoulders for stunts, delicate pedes and ankles for dancing -

Prowl didn’t think about his chipping paint (couldn’t get to the detailer’s) or his (don’t think about it).

“Hello,” the mech said, his voice surprisingly rough, “we’re neighbors and I’ve been wanting to introduce myself.  I’m Jazz.  Jus’ moved here from Polyhex.”  Yes, Prowl recognized the accent now.

“Do you need anything?” Prowl bit out, digits curling into the arms of his chair.  

“I jus’ think we got off on the wrong -” panic stole over the mech’s face as he changed his words.  “I think mebbe we started wrong, so I wanted ta introduce myself and find out a bit more about ya.”

Prowl said nothing, letting the silence stretch.  On the other side of the room, Jazz fidgeted.

“I’m a musician?  Do you like music?  I see ya got a radio -”

“No.”

(Don’t look!  That’s private.)

“No…ya don’t?  Ah, ‘kay.”  He looked down at the tarp and the sandpaper.  “Oh!  Are ya doin’ some renovatin’?  I did a bit wit’ my - my family when I was a bitlet.  I could -”

“I do not need help.”  That was sharper than he’d intended, but if it got him to leave -

The mech flinched.

(Sorry.  Sorry!)

“Well, even if ya don’ need help, if ya jus’ want somebot ta keep ya company.  Ya can always call, I’m not doin’ much these days… If - if ya need anything -”

Need anything from a healthy, whole-framed musician who was probably just getting home from a party or the racetrack or a lover’s house?  Ha.

“I won’t.  Good-bye.”

The door closed and Prowl was shaking.  He vented.  He wrapped a blanket around himself.  He counted ceiling tiles and sparkbeats and colors.

0-0-0

So Prowl planned out the Perfect Revenge.  He made sure it was untraceable, that no one would get hurt, and hoped it would be enough to drive the mech away.  There would be lights, confetti, and minor damage to the doorframe.

He logged onto the site to buy the last thing he needed when a pop-up ad filled the screen.

External Helmphones!  29.99!  Block out noise without mods!  Play your favorite tunes!

Prowl had gone to exit out of the pop-up when he’d hesitated.  Only bots like The Musician and constructionbots had internal control of their audials - increasing and decreasing their sensitivity.  If he could just block out the noise…

He wasn’t sure why the noise bothered him so much.

(That was a lie)

Maybe for many reasons.  

It kept him up.

(Lie.)

It was all nonsense sounds and that irritated his tactical computer.

(Lie.)

He needed the quiet to concentrate.

(Lie.)

It…was a reminder that there were people outside these walls.

(...)

He added them to cart, checked out, and closed out of the site entirely to remove temptation.  

He was going to be a ‘good person.’

Slaggit.

0-0-0

Prowl waffled for the next few days between being glad he’d decided to just order the helmphones and wishing he’d bought the industrial adhesive at least so he could glue the Musician to the ceiling.

He had realized after he’d repainted the table that it was not the exact match he’d intended and so he was now repainting the shelving to match.

Primus, he was tired of this.  Even the paint dealer had thought it was weird, getting mad about a .023 difference.  But once it was finished he could -

(Why was he doing this?)

He was making good progress on the shelves.  He’d probably be finished in time to listen to Chase and Knock-about use the comms for their lunch orders. He’d told them many times not too, but since it was a closed circuit between just his team…

The delivery company pinged him that his package was at his door.  Finally!

Prowl closed the paint can - he’d learned his lesson - and rolled onto his knees.  He shuffled to the chair.

(Thank goodness no one could see him.)

He heaved himself up and walked (stumbled) towards the door, gripping the edge of the furniture.

(He’d lined it up like this so he didn’t have to use -)

By the time he reached the front door he was panting.  He waited a moment for his venting to slow and the heat in his helm and thighs to dissipate.  Then he opened the door.

No package.

Prowl cycled his optics.  Where - ?

He looked right and there was his package, box loudly proclaiming it contain the planet’s the best helmphones, in front of the Musician’s door.

Prowl growled.  If he used the wall and went slow, he should be able to make it and pick up the box.  It would be tricky, but if he -

The door opened.  Prowl jerked back and slid his door mostly shut, leaving just enough room to watch.

The musician looked down.

“What?”  He knelt and lifted the box, turning it back and forth.  Fraggit, Prowl’s address would be on it and then the mech would come return it, make it awkward and ask questions and-

He was opening the box and lifting the helmphones out, turning them over.

Fraggit!  Now the mech was stealing his helmphones too!  Prowl seethed behind his door.

The musician held them in his serovs and then -

-pressed them to his spark with a sob?

“Thank you,” he whispered, looking around.  Prowl pulled back, closing the door until just a strand of the hallways was visible.  What the pit was going on?

He waited until he heard the door slide shut and lock before he closed his own.

That night he laid awake.  The silence was strangely uncomfortable.

0-0-0

The knock came the next evening, just as Prowl had dreaded.  He considered pretending he wasn’t home, but the mech had seen him - he knew Prowl wasn’t driving off anywhere.  Scrap.

He was in his chair already so he pinged the door open.

Jazz looked smaller today, his shoulders rounded and his servos clutched together in front of him.  He smiled, weakly.

“Ya got a minute ta talk?”

“Yes,” he answered stiffly.  Scrap, he was dreading this.  

Jazz shuffled forwards.  “Do ya mind if I sit?”  Prowl shook his helm and Jazz settled on the couch just like Alchemy had.

(It felt different though, from when Alchemy had done it.)

“I jus’ wanted ta say…thank ya for the helmphones.  An’ I’m sorry.  I was sitting here thinkin’ ya were - but I guess you’re not.  Didn’t think ya’d do somethin’ like that for me.  Thought ya hated me.”

Ah.  So he did think the helmphones were a present for him.  At least it solved his problem.

(Did it?)

“You do the radio ’m guessing,” Jazz continued, gesturing to it, to Prowl’s confusion.  “I thought about getting one after I saw your’s, but…  That would be too much like admitting it, if I bought it, ya know?  Not sure why.”

Now he was lost.

“For me, for me I keep hearing his voice, ya know?  Oh, sorry,” he said at Prowl’s probably obvious puzzlement.  “My twin, um, slag this is hard, and it’s been six months.”  He closed his optics and vented slowly.  Prowl realized it was the same venting his therapist had tried to teach him.  He opened his optics.

“My brother died of an overdose six months ago.”

“Oh.”

“It wasn’t really a surprise,” Jazz said, hurriedly.  “We’d known for a while that he wasn’t going ta his meetings an’ he wasn’t speaking wit’ his therapist.  Towards the end he was angry all the time.  He wanted us ta stop tryin’ ta help, wanted us ta stop pityin’ him, wanted the drugs more than anything else.  Got the call at night.”

“So you play at night,” Prowl found himself saying before he could stop himself.  “Because you can hear the comm ping if you don’t.”

(I hear them calling for backup.  I hear Strongarm trying to stop the energon.)

“Yep.  Can’t - can’t stand the silence anymore.  I can’t give myself too much room ta think most ‘a the time.  So…thank you.”

Oh.  Jazz played his music at night so he thought Prowl had given him the helmphones to help.

(Jazz played his music at night for the same reason Prowl couldn’t stop sanding and painting and listening to his radio.)

Prowl felt a stab of guilt, but pushed it away.  Besides, it all ended well.  Now Jazz could leave him alone and he would have the quiet again.

(He hated it.)

“I’m glad they helped,” he said, hoping to end the conversation.

(But what if they kept talking?  Maybe he wanted that.)

Jazz didn’t seem to be in a hurry to leave.  He wrapped his arms around himself and leaned back against the couch cushions.

“Yeah.  I jus’ wanted ta say, too - it’s okay if ya need ta ya want ta play ya radio louder.  That is, if ya need ta take ya time wit’ it all.  My friends don’ really get it, ya know?  They think I need to move on.  I think it’s probably the same for you, isn’t it?  It’s a whole tangled thing - it’s him and it’s all the stuff we never got ta do together and it’s having to look normal when ya not.”

“I don’t - “ Prowl started to say.

(He did.)

“I mean, I know he wasn’t the best of bots,” Jazz said, his voice edging closer to a sob, rough and trembling.  “But he was my brother.  I - I miss him.”

“Of course,” Prowl said quietly, “he was your brother.”

Jazz nodded and gripped his arms hard, servos denting the metal.

“I thought maybe if I moved outta Polyhex, away from where we’d always been together, I could at least not see his ghost ‘round every corner.  Guess I didn’t realize ya bring ya ghosts wit’ ya.”

Prowl knew that feeling - wanting to get away from the tragedy - drive until he could outrun it.

“And, well -” Jazz’s laugh turned into a sob.  “I didn’t realize how much work grief was.”

Prowl remembered the therapist’s words, right after they realized his injury couldn’t be fixed.

“It will take time.  Grief is work.”

He flinched away from the memory.

“I just wanted it to be over.  I jus’ wanna stop bein’ sad all a’ the time.”

“I don’t.”  Oh.  That was him.  Blurry optics looked up and Prowl felt something twist in his spark again.  “I’m so angry I can barely think in the mornings.  I don’t want to be over it - I don’t want this to be my new normal.  I want my life back.”  A sob escaped the lockbox of his spark - slag, he hadn't cried about this.  He wasn't going to cry about this.

(He wanted to.)

“I’m not going to get it back.”  

There he’d said it.  His therapist would be pleased.  It changed nothing.

(He felt different.)

“I wanna go back ta when me n’ Rico were bitlets.  I want it to all be easy again.”

Prowl (understood) - he understood.

(His spark hurt but it was a new hurt)

A new hurt.  It felt like having a gash welded.  Like 

(Like healing?)  Like healing.

Prowl stood up.  It was shaky and inelegant and it was nothing like how he used to be able to spring to his pedes.  He still did it.

He took two steps and fell onto the couch next to Jazz.  What was he doing?  He held out his servo - he held open his arms - and Jazz turned to him.

At least they could grieve together.

0-0-0

Time passed.  They spent it together.

0-0-0

“I promise.”

“Unless you are in possession of mind control powers I am unaware of, you cannot make that promise.”

“Okay, I promise if it gets awkward and people start starin’ at ya, I will announce that I am engaged ta a Vosian Prince an’ we’re adoptin’ a Quintesson ta complete our family.”

Prowl snorted and readjusted the stabilizing extensions that looped from his wrists down to the ground, ending in rubber tips.  He didn’t want to use them, but if he was going to walk down to the outdoor market with Jazz he would need to.

The market itself was a shock.  It had been so long since he’d left his habsuite for more than a medical appointment.  Seeing so many bots moving around had been a welcome sensory explosion.  They were loud - he could hear half a dozen accents and everyone was talking - about the food, about the art, about the nice weather.  He had to move carefully as the flow of bots from stall to stall changed - sparklings darting out and bots calling their friends over.

The canes…helped.  He was surprised how much more steady he felt with them.  The only time he’d used them was in the physical therapist’s small office.

He didn’t realize how much faster he would be with them either.

“Prowl, slow down!”  He looked back and saw Jazz chasing after him with a cream bun in each servo.

“Captain Prowl?” He spun around, his spark twisting.

“Hello Strongarm, Chase, Knock-about.”

It felt like stepping back into his life.  He was Captain Prowl, whether or not he could walk or transform.  He was their Captain.

Strongarm was shifting back and forth.  She’d been his second, his strong right servo.  She was probably up for promotion to his position.  He was so slagging proud of her.

“Sir?  Are you alright?”

“I am, Strongarm.  I’m glad to see you.”  He smiled.  How long had it been since he’d smiled?

Knock-about, true to his designation, took that as permission to thump! into him and try to squeeze the spark out of him like a tube of grease.

“Knocky!”  Strongarm was trying to scold him, but Chase was right behind him, thudding into Prowl’s other side.

“I’m so glad you’re okay!” he wailed, face buried in Prowl’s shoulder.

That had been exactly what he’d said after Prowl had woken up.

“Chase!  You’ll knock him over!”  Strongarm was there suddenly and all Prowl could do was smile at her.  He looked down and laid a servo on Chase’s bent helm and said the words he hadn't been able to then.

“I’m going to be okay, Chase, Knock-about.  It’ll be alright.”

He looked up and caught Jazz’s optic.

“Come meet my new neighbor.  He’s a musician.” 

#transformers #maccadams #maccadam #transformers fanfiction #jazz x prowl

[doubleddenden]

Okay so I've been playing Star Rail and I'm gonna do a lil amateur review because I do that sometimes

Here's my take

1. I like it. I got it for pc and it's fun when I can play it.

More under the cut

2. It is free to play with micro transactions, however I've not spent any money on it and I find it quite playable and easy to get into. That being said, I started with a lot of free stuff from starting so early and codes, so my experience may have differed if I started later.

3. It's a turned based RPG akin to JRPGs like Digimon Cyber Sleuth, Persona 5, etc, but a little easier to comprehend combat wise

4. Story and setting so far is something sort of like a mix of Star Ocean- specifically 4 with the planet hopping- or Rogue Galaxy, with... well, a LOT of mystic, techno, scifi, and religious babble. Enjoyable tho. I love space trains so much. It's dumb but classy. There's also a LOT of optional lore you can collect and read to really help you get immersed if that's your thing, and characters will have a lot of dialogue to give you more world building lore too. That being said, they do kinda just toss you into the ocean with really complex shit right out the gate with no vuild up- I've been told that having SOME knowledge of the Honkai Impact series can build upon what's given, but it's not entirely necessary.

5. Graphics are great, I like the art style and how polished everything looks. Art style works for the game and it looks gorgeous. I do think the NPCs kinda look plain, but that's about expected.

6. Music is passable. Not really finding any ear worms just yet, though. The summoning music and the train music are great though.

7. It might be me and my somewhat shit connection, but I experience lag and disconnection sometimes. This can get pretty frustrating

8. Characters are fun and have fun dynamics with each other. I already dig The Trailblazer, Dan Hung, and March 7th's dynamic- I will say, wtf is this name? Like I know why, but still, not just March, March 7th specifically is her name. Is her full name Saturday, March 7th, 5023 AD?

9. Voice acting is... decent enough. I play English dub because I have reading difficulties due to unmedicated ADHD, before anyone starts screaming at me to change languages. There's some strange takes or line reads sometimes, sometimes the voice will read something different from the text, and there's a couple of voices I wish would just sound... different. But the majority is passable to really good. I've also heard some unexpected voices- you could say they are TRASH, but I find them TASTEful.

10. Character design is pretty fun imo- definitely a bit of Genshin style, but it is by the same people so you kind of expect that. But they're fun to look at, have fun weapons and moves, and have great art. My one complaint would be similar builds and designs for some characters, but that's minor and also expected. But I will say, I do prefer a good anime style over indie cartoon or realistic style, so to me I think it's great.

11. The menus are... very complex. Easy to lose track and get lost in. I swear the pause menu rearranges every time I open it.

12. It shouldn't need saying, but: It's not Genshin Impact- that's fine actually. In fact it's great, turn based rpgs are really fun, especially JRPG styled, which i like to play (Dragon Quest 11, Digimon Cyber Sleuth, Persona 5, Pokémon, etc). While I do like exploring open worlds and having a lot of freedom and real time fighting, sometimes it's nice to have a simpler point A to point B system with smaller maps, and especially nice to have auto battle. There's a bit of carry over from Genshin, but i think it works for what's given. I do miss my emergency fo- I mean, my adorable best friend Paimon, but she and all my other Genshins are Impacting in the other game while I Rail some Sta- wait I'm not finishing that sentence.

13. It is gacha. You kind of expect it- some people won't like it, I kinda like it to some degree, but I do got issues. Basically watch your spending- again, I haven't felt the need to, unlike some games that feel like you have to to get anything done. But it definitely would help to speed things along if i were. When you get a good character, it's a nice feeling for me, personally. That being said they do give you 3 pretty good ones right out the gate, and you do gather in game materials to help you summon at a fair pace anyway, so you're rolling decently enough to get something out of it.

Overall an 8/10 so far. I wanna keep playing, but unfortunately this damn meat mech that is my wretched bodily prison of my soul requires sleep, and I have things I have to do.

#honkai star rail #star rail #doubled plays game #den reviews stuff