#(the ones that manage and don't die either in their home countries or on the way)
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This is a belated post where I wanted to briefly address the outcomes of 2023!
While Ukraine mostly faded from the stage of world's news, unfortunately, the situation didn't get better for my people. Every day Russia kills, maims, and ruins everything it can touch. Every day civilians die from its imprecise missiles, random shootings and artillery, and outright executions. I often see that those living in other countries call this Putin's war, but it really isn't. This is the war sponsored by Putin and his regime, true, but first and foremost, this is the war of Russian people. It's hundreds of thousands of Russian people who arm themselves and go kill our defenders and our civilians. It's Russian people who fire from tanks and other deadly weapons to ruin the Ukrainians' homes, to scorch our land, to leave nothing but destruction instead of cities and villages. It's Russian people who build the missiles, load their bombers, and fly for 5+ hours to direct them at our cities, homes, factories, and even empty fields.
This is me during one of the latest massive attack that took place on January 2. At first, at night, 35+ Russian-Iranian drones bombed us. Then Russian people sent about 100 missiles at us, mainly at my city Kyiv.
Our air defense system managed to intercept the majority of them, but while it sounds like interception is an entirely positive thing, it might have terrible consequences. Because the parts of the missiles fall down randomly. They can kill any human or creature walking down the street; they can collapse on top of a residential building. There is no escape, no way to feel safe even with the best air defense systems surrounding the city. Here's one of many disastrous results of this attack.
Dead and injured people and animals. Damaged and lost apartments.
On December 29, another attack killed over 30 people in Kyiv alone. You can see their faces below. They deserve to be seen and remembered.
This is a short story of just two latest attacks that took place just within one week, just in one city. Imagine how many of them me and my people lived through during the entire year? How many more we will have to experience?
Actually, we lived through another one before I finished writing this post. It happened on January 8, and it killed even more civilians.
I know that there are good, sane, compassionate Russians. I have some relatives among them. One of them, my aunt, can't keep herself entirely silent: she's deeply religious, and a few weeks ago, in a church, she risked saying that killing Ukrainians is bad. Another man told her that she's scum and that if she dares to open her mouth again, he will report her to authorities. The headmaster of a school where my aunt teaches was imprisoned for 7 years for refusing to hold a Z-event among students. Living there must be a torture of another kind, where you are surrounded by zombies who openly promote terrorism and bless missiles sent to kill other human beings. The problem is that sane and compassionate Russians are the minority - the vast majority is happy to either kill us or they support those who kill us. Or they simply don't care, trying to claim that everything is complicated when in reality, there is nothing complicated about it at all. Russia is a terrorist state and the world allows its people and its government to keep being monsters.
Seeing the indifference and impotence of seemingly powerful countries makes me increasingly concerned and depressed. At this point, I don't think I'm simply affected by my experiences: the world is rapidly going to hell, with terrorist countries like Russia being allowed to revel in their blood-thirstiness and the other terrorist countries, like North Korea, or potential offenders like China, observing and taking notes. When a criminal sees that no one is punished for a crime, they escalate. More criminals appear. This is what I feel is going to start happening more and more, until half of the planet is plunged into death and destruction. I'll be so very glad to be wrong.
On a personal note, I lost my most beloved pet pigeon Daikiria in 2023. I love her and miss her so much that I still cry whenever I think of her. In turn, I acquired a red nightmare of a rabbit who eats everything, including my feet, and two more pigeons. Taking care of them brings me joy - I only hope that my effort will actually benefit them.
Here's a pigeon that I named Noveria the day I found her, in a video I made for my vet. Attacked by a cat, bleeding all over, with broken ribs and a missing piece of her wing, with no tail:
Here is she now. She is feeling much better, although unfortunately, she got sick because of her weakened immune system.
My kitties continue to be adorable dorks. Here's me sleeping with my cat Tom after one of the attacks - he's really scared of loud sounds, so he sleeps like a rock afterward, just like me.
My family stays strong, and I hope we will remain to be so.
Writing stories remains a huge source of relief and distraction to me, and your support, love, and care give me strength even when I feel like I'm about to run out of it.
Thank you to those who support me on Patreon and give me a chance to have a safety net shielding me from some of the horrors and insecurities - thanks to you, I can rest sometimes when I would have to work instead; I can afford some more distractions and to write more as a result. Thank you to those who leave comments, kudos, asks; thank you to my friends who never fail to message me with questions about my well-being. I love and I appreciate you tremendously, and despite all my fears and worries, I hope that we will get to see a better future still.
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Chapter 1 - Anti-Hero [Chishiya x Reader]
You had been living in Tokyo for less than a year when you found yourself in the Borderlands.
Luckily, you spoke Japanese quite well because you had studied it since you were a teenager, having been a fan of manga and anime from a young age - which was what lead you to look for exchange studies in Japan. It was expensive, and your good grades only managed to get you a scholarship that covered close to half of it, but your parents were supportive enough that even though you came from a middle-class family, you were able to fulfill your dream.
But suddenly, every single person in the city disappeared just as you were coming out of a coffee shop.
After crying, sobbing and screaming hysterically for what seemed like hours, you found a fancy office building where power had not been shut off. You approached it visibly confused but eager to find someone, something, that would explained what had just happened.
There was a single phone left in a table by the entrance, with a sign saying "PICK ONE!" behind them. First thing you thought was that you could probably use it to call your parents. Surely whatever was affecting Tokyo couldn't have reached your home country, right? You ran towards it, but when you picked it up, the phone lit up and you found only two apps were available: GAME and VISA, no signal whatsoever. What kind of cruel joke was this? Maybe if you went to the highest floor…
You climbed the stairs, because what else could you do?
You arrived at the twentieth floor to find that it was filled with people, maybe 10 or 11, who eyed you either suspiciously or with something that resembled… fear? Why? You opened your mouth to talk, grabbing a young girl by her arm, too scared to demand answers politely…
REGISTRATION HAS CLOSED.
The voice startled you and you looked around, trying to find the source of it.
"What the…" You started in your native tongue, seeing the girl whose arm you were holding started to cry. What was this?
The voice continued to explain the rules of a game. Simple, really, a game of logic but you were never too good at those and the language barrier was really something you started to worry about because - what if you were missing a certain clue? Also, you had 30 minutes to solve it, individually as you each had to give an answer in a separate room, otherwise, it would be GAME OVER. Okay, so you would lose a stupid game? If you won, would you get clues as to what was going on?
A 40-year old man came close, with a sly smile, looking at your from head to toe. He licked his lips before he asked, in Japanese, "Poor girl, you probably don't understand anything of what's going on, huh?" You looked at him, careful, unsure of whether you should show him that you actually understood everything that he was saying, as well as what was going on. "You don't wanna die, do you?"
Sweat was running down your spine. "What do you mean die?" you wanted to ask, but preferred keeping quiet, wanting to see how the situation unfolded before doing anything. The man in front of you was also not making you feel comfortable, quite the opposite. Just as the thoughts were running through your head and you were starting to feel the panic settling in, a young woman around your age went into one of the office rooms, confidently, apparently to give an answer, but you could not hear it - maybe the rooms were soundproof?
Blood splashed the office window.
You wanted to scream, but were too shocked to do anything. How was she killed? Something or someone must have been inside the room with her… It was not until later that you would find out you had to give your answer with a gun pointed directly to your face.
Nausea overcame any feeling you could have possibly felt, and you had to throw up. Afterwards, while cleaning your mouth with the back of your hand, you looked at the man, who now was laughing maniacally, and spoke in the most broken English you could manage. "Sir, I don't want to die… I don't understand… Can you please help me?" The smile he gave you told you he would indeed help you, but only for a price. You were absolutely disgusted.
But you were going to get through this, no matter what.
No point acting like a hero with your life on the line.
#chishiya alice in borderland#chishiya x fem!reader#chishiya x reader#chishiya fanfic#chishiya angst#chishiya#aib chishiya#chishiya fic#chishiya x you#chishiya x y/n#shuntaro chishiya#chishiya shuntaro#Spotify#as much as you want
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Софија Јовановић (1895 - 1979.) - добровољац и наредник српске војске, српска Јованка Орлеанка
Sofija Jovanović - volunteer and sergeant of the Serbian army, Serbian Joan of Arc
When she went to sign up for recruitment, they told her it would be the greatest sin to die so young and beautiful, but that didn't deter her, she showed up again the next day.
When asked why she was here again she said: "I want a rifle and a war schedule! I won't leave without one. If I falter or get scared of a task, kill me... All my people are at war, I don't want to sit at home either."
She received 13 decorations for her heroism after the First World War.
Her grand granddaughter said in an interview about her:
< My grandma was a real lady. After the war she wore dresses and high heels, and I never knew how she managed it because she lost half of her foot. She didn't talk much about the war, apart from it being awful, but she said that we all had to give up everything for our country, that was our debt to our fatherland. >
#sofija jovanovic#serbian history#serbian woman#serbia#balkan wars#world war one#ww1#world war 1#female warrior#womens history#history#female soldier
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What is an alternative life path your OC might have gone down? How different would their life be if they'd made those decisions?
What is your favorite thing about your OC?
For Grant Please!
thank you so much!! 🤍💖
1. what is an alternative life path your OC might have gone down? how different would their life be if they'd made those decisions?
honestly, grant has so many "butterfly effect" moments. i'll try to list a few of the more interesting ones (starting the most obvious one but impossible one, which would be "grant's parents were actually nice and his sister didn't die, so he's a well-adjusted human being with no trauma.")
two alternate paths depend on his career! obviously, we know in canon that he was first an aerospace engineer and secondly a pilot (though currently a bartender - we'll see what happens with his dream job soon!). however, his parents wanted him to be a doctor, and he grew up playing hockey, including in college.
if he hadn't lied to his parents about his college majors and had instead done biochem for them, he'd be MEGA unhappy. he'd be good at his job because he is very smart and willing to learn and he does like looking after people, but again, unhappy here. i'd say he'd be in a specialty that would let him work at a hospital because i think he'd get bored if there weren't a change of scenery/some excitement. specifically, i could see neurosurgery. one, some excitement, and two, i think if he were a doctor, he'd also be insufferably stuck by coincidence in a specialty that his parents would be TOO proud of.
if he stuck with hockey, he'd also be unhappy. he never wanted to do it professionally anyway but let's say he did. it'd be terrible. he'd still have the problem that is his incurable autoimmune disease, so he'd either (1) continue having his previous painkiller addiction fueled by doctors who don't give a fuck about you and only want you to play, or (2) still figure out his own shit and choose to step back from the sport, which would just put him back at square one.
another alternate option for his life would be that he didn't leave los angeles when he required surgery for his condition. then he'd be basically all alone when you know who *cough cough, his ex* cheated on him and that would have been ugly. he also would have been very unhappy here, too, because california was never a place he enjoyed living. he's fine with living outside of his home state but only if he chooses the location (and los angeles was not chosen by him). after the päivi incident, it'd be worse.
last one: what if he didn't break up with päivi? if he stayed with her, he could make it work, but it would NEVER be the same. he'd always be very uncomfortable and fearful around her, and they'd continue to be in conflict. plus, he'd have to consider the reason behind the cheating, which was because she was homesick. 100% he'd be too nervous to assert that he does not want to leave the country to live in finland, a place that he's not super in love with because of his dad, and he'd be stuck probably moving away with her. he's not going to reject her on that if he doesn't break up with her.
SORRY THAT WAS A LOT
but you know, ironically, grant is on the best path tbh, given that his early life is an unchangeable horror that he couldn't control. had he chosen any other path i mentioned, he'd be MUCH worse off. and i didn't even delve into all the times grant attempted to kill himself. had he been successful...well, he'd be dead, but the repercussions on his family and friends would be heartbreaking.
2. what is your favorite thing about your OC?
this is going to sound VERY basic but honestly, i like that grant is just a nice guy despite it all. shannon conveyed to him in a story post that it's amazing he manages to remain so kind and that's true, i think. he COULD be a hateful and bitter person, but somehow, he still tries to see the best in people and would give up everything in him to take care of or be kind to someone.
it's tragic in a way, you know, but still impressive.
i also like that he's learning to know when to put his foot down. he is figuring out that some people actually don't deserve that goodness in him. like i said above about the alternate lives thing, grant is smart and willing to learn, and even though healing is painful and leads him to make some of the most embarrassing "mistakes", he is still learning. he can admit he doesn't know everything (and he certainly doesn't know everything about life.)
#tw suicide mention#hlcn: story extras#hlcn: oc info#hlcn: grant#honestly the AU/alternate life choice questions give me SO many ideas#i tried to answer it shortly but i could do a whole debrief about him had he chosen those other paths
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i’m the same anon who was asking all those questions about cacoethes (abt eren and ymir not noticing that reiner kidnapped y/n and abt the scouts LMAO i’m sorry i just really like asking stuff) anyway i was wondering what the warriors thought 😭 like what were they thinking when reiner was bringing some girl to marry and how did the marleyans react… love u
hi and welcome back anon <3 LOLOL it's okay if you wanna ask more about cacoethes, i like talking about it and trying to describe more in-depth about the characters.
so let's start with annie and bertolt cause of course we gotta start with reiner's homies and the ones that knew about her since the start.
annie was already sorta close with the reader in the first place, close enough to be teaching her a bit of the moves she learned with her dad back home. the reader was so persistent on being her friend and learning from her that annie just gave in so she'd leave her alone, but she does share some platonic fondness over her. when reiner mentioned about bringing her home with them, she really did think it was terrible idea and that he was a hard-headed moron to think that a paradisian soldier would trust a trio of enemy titan shifters in the first place. part of her was trying to protect the reader from an unwanted life but also because she was more focused on getting the founding titan and finally going home. when she finally gets de-crystiallized and meets up with the scouts, she notices that the reader isn't with them and wonders if reiner really did manage to bring her to marley or if she got killed (but she already knew that reiner would never let that happen).
bertolt has been mentioned to be wary of the reader and at first, hostile towards her. he didn't like the idea of krista/historia either because he didn't want reiner's intentions to get the founding titan to be muddled with trying to find a wife on this island. when he started to get to know the reader more, he felt really bad that they were deluding her from their real selves and their true purpose for being here. she's a nice girl, don't get him wrong but reiner can find another nice marleyan girl similar to her. but he was so goddamn persistent that his wife had to be her and only her that he went along with it, especially after reiner offed marco and had an unexplainable mental break. he basically just felt really guilty overall and though he was sorta mean towards her, he still cared about the reader since they were slowly become friends. even when facing his death, the brief thought of her being forced into marley made him sick to his stomach and he had to die with the guilt that he didn't do more to stop his best friend.
now moving onto the warriors in marley! i'm gonna be doing the adults cause i've established briefly (i think in the second chapter) that gabi doesn't like the reader at all and i don't really wanna write about the childrens' (gabi and falco) or colt's viewpoint lol
starting with zeke, he didn't and doesn't really care all that much about the reader. all he knew was that she's a devil that reiner became too fond of during the years of being on the island and refused to leave behind, making him pull strings out of his ass to convince the higher ups to let her stay in the country. during the transport and the "immigration" processes, he considered her a complete pain in the ass for making him do all of this needless work. he also doesn't like the fact that reiner wants to have children, consistently bringing it up after meetings or whenever they don't have anything to talk about. he does admire the determination the reader has on abstaining from sex, amused by the fact that she's rejected reiner's advances for nearly three years. zeke thinks she's a little cute whenever she try to hide from his gaze but he doesn't think about you 24/7 like reiner does. she's just a weak devil-blooded soldier that reiner chose to marry and that's it, nothing more and nothing less.
with pieck, she's kind towards the reader and briefly shown to have a peaceful acquaintance with her. she doesn't really care much that she comes from paradis, but she was shocked back then when reiner told her to bring her unconscious body to the boat, wondering why he had decided to bring her along (at first she thought that she was the founding titan holder). she knows that the reader will always be uncomfortable with the fact that she was forced to come to marley so she tries her best to ease her mind whenever they hang out, occasionally with the company of porco (before the reader and him fought and became friends). she does enjoy her cooking and likes the fact that she lets her hide in the guest bedroom to nap whenever the others are trying to make her do her share of the paperwork.
porco absolutely hated the reader, at first. he was never okay like the others with the fact that she came from paradis island, bringing up the fact that she's a "full-blooded" devil. even when she became married to reiner, he thought the man was under a spell that caused him to be so disillusioned from the fact that she's a paradisian, the enemy they've sworn war on. so in the beginning, he ignored her or insulted her bloodline, never wanting to be in the same room as her ever. it seemed to work for a while, she avoided him like the plague as well until that fateful night. sparring with her changed everything about her to him. i will confirm that porco did develop a crush on the reader as the days went by the more he hung out her alone (he can now sorta understand why reiner chose her out of everyone in the island) but he's always going to be conflicted about it and never do anything about his new and indifferent feelings towards her. cause yk... she's married LMFAO even if the reader had told him that she's dissatisfied with being married to reiner, he's not the one who's going to cause or push for an affair between them. porco develops a fondness for her but he constantly has to remind himself that his duty comes first, not this woman that comes from the island that he's been taught to hate.
in all, they're basically indifferent towards her. like they know she's nice but all the kindness she gave out was a weakness that reiner used to his advantage. hope this was a satisfactory answer to your question HAHA
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Shango's Thoughts:
I Feel Soooo At Home
I have soooo much to say about my latest visit to Africa, especially since it's been awhile for me, since my last visit.
And seeing as how this is A) a new country that I'm visiting, & B) the country that I'm planning to make my home, these thoughts are especially potent right now.
First, Blacks in the West really can't fathom what it's like to see nothing but your own face reflected back at you. Seeing people in roles of power who are Black just like you, gives a sense of comfort, belonging, & accomplishment that you just will never get in Amerikkka & other white places.
Seeing managers, executives, airplane pilots, & others all around you is just mesmerizing.
I'm gonna try to get more pics & vids, but seeing these people carry on their daily endeavors with a humble dignity & honor is to die for. People in Africa (& especially in Rwanda 🇷🇼) are sooo well dressed. And I'm not talking about expensive brand name clothes either. I've seen youths coming from both high school & university, & I have yet to see anyone sagging their pants or looking like professional dumpster divers, like we glorify in Amerikkka. The youths certainly have their own flair, but it's nothing outlandish like what we are used to.
Hear what, Rwanda 🇷🇼 traffic is terrible. Especially with all the moto riders everywhere. However, what you NEVER hear is cars honking endlessly, or blaring music, or people getting road rage. There's just a level of patience that this country has, that's very stress free, that I deeply appreciate.
And people here are not loud, like AT ALL. During the first day of my business mission, those of us that are not from here had to tell the Rwandan speakers to speak up a bit, & you can see this was a challenge for them. Everyone is very soft-spoken, & no one raises their voice. It's something that's initially jarring for me, because everyone in Amerikkka is screaming that the top of their lungs, talking over you & whatnot, so you have to compensate by doing it too, even if you really don't want to.
But here, everyone's quiet humility makes you wanna be the same way, because you know you're gonna get your turn to speak & be heard at some point.
And the women......🥰
Brothas, yall know how we see something amazing walking down the street, & we just gotta turn our head to look? Well, imagine having that feeling with nearly EVERY. SINGLE. WOMAN. 😱😭
And the women are very humble, but very driven. They work are, & are not flashy. They have braids, 'Fros, & even the low fades, that all look AMAZING. And none of them are revealing anything, & they don't have to.
Also, the African beauty that I see everywhere, is something that's almost taken for granted here. I have yet to see a man here turning around breaking their necks the way we do in Amerikkka. The Black Woman's Beauty is just an accepted aspect of life here.
But trust & believe.... One of these women is gonna be my wife. 👸🏿
People stare alot, but that's because I know I stand out here. And if you've seen my pics, you could probably understand why.... But suffice to say. My West African phenotype (Jamaicans typically have heavy Ghanaian ancestry) is drastically different from their typical East African phenotype. But overall they are extremely friendly & helpful, once they move past their initial shyness.
The fruits & veggies are soooo amazing here. It truly does remind me of Jamaica 🇯🇲..... Not like that poison garbage that passes for food that you get in the markets in Amerikkka. 🤮
I'll have more to say later, as I will be here for almost 3wks. But for the first time in a long time, I truly feel at home. 🥰
But yall can stay in Hell if you want. ✌🏿
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🐉🍎 💘 🍔 🤔 and 😞 for any oc of your choice!! or two ocs if you're feeling up for it [:
oc asks! / preferred ocs!
🐉 DRAGON — what is your oc's favorite mythical creature?
rafiq is a big fan of mythical creatures in general and loves watching shows and videos about it, or listening to podcasts during slow days at work. he's an avid reader of the revenant (a blogging site for paranormal investigators) and used to keep up with posts of the conspiracy group known as the hive, before they seemingly vanished at some point in time and stopped updating regularly. he loves the idea of bigfoot specifically but isn't in the right state of the country to investigate himself :( if he had the chance for it he 100% would though
since teddy works for CALAMITY which is an organization specified in monitoring and sometimes capturing strange phenomena all over the world, this is exactly the kind of thing that he works with. which is also exactly the reason why he HATES them LMFAO if anything they're all just troublemakers to him and he would like to get some rest. back when he still worked an office job for the organization he got very attached to some dustcatchers which are basically just little puff balls that cause chaos in the most dusty place of your home. that's about as close to a favorite mythical creature as it gets for him
yancey LOVES zombies. probably a little bit too much but i can't blame him because honestly same. he's watched every zombie media he's managed to get his hands on and will continue to do so for as long as he lives. it's funny because in this universe zombies do in fact end up as a thing somewhere but that's still a couple of years away so yancey doesn't know that yet. don't even worry about it
🍎 RED APPLE — where was your oc born? do they still live in/around their place of birth or do they live somewhere else? how do they feel about their birthplace?
rafiq was born in san francisco! very far away from where he lives nowadays and he does miss it a lot more than he likes to admit, but also wouldn't wanna go back there even though he is still very much welcome with his parents who still live there. the place has too many bad memories and rafiq wouldn't be able to live there comfortably at all anymore
teddy was born and raised in raleigh, which is not all too far away from blightwood crossing. he moved to the west coast at some point when he went to join CALAMITY and ever since he's been on the move, visiting towns all across the united states and sometimes even to another country to do jobs for the organization. he's been in blightwood crossing for a while now; the job he's doing there hasn't been going well at all and he's lost contact with CALAMITY, so he's just stuck in town without direction
yancey is from atlanta and only recently moved to blightwood crossing, after a series of events caused him to no longer be welcome at home. despite his mixed feelings about the town now, he does still really love the place and its energy and often wishes he hadn't been forced to leave; but there's not much he can do about that now and he knows he's better off far, far away from there
💘 HEART WITH ARROW — what and/or who do(es) your oc consider the most important to them?
rafiq loves his parents to bits and misses them a lot. he also has a small group of friends in blightwood crossing, mainly his coworkers from the diner he works at, and he cares a lot about them too :^) eventually during the story he gets together with teddy and yancey and he loves them soooo much. btw. if you even care
teddy is very lonely in town. he doesn't have contact with his family anymore since he's not allowed because of CALAMITY and their rules, and he didn't really have many friends at the organization either; so he's stuck in a strange town where nobody likes him all that much and no one's out there missing him either :( during the story he grows closer with the other main characters and he ends up ride or die for them, being a very loyal guy in general
yancey is hesitant to make new friends in town despite it coming naturally for him, and he does end up caring a lot about the other main characters. he's very scared to have all of them ripped away from him in one sweep without warning, just like what happened before with his ex friends and family back in atlanta, but also knows there's no way to predict or prevent that from happening if it were to happen one day so he tries to ignore it as best as he can and not let it get in the way of enjoying the time he has with them
🍔 HAMBURGER — is your oc good at cooking? are they good at baking? which one do they prefer?
rafiq is decent enough at cooking. his father sends him a lot of recipes to try out and he can follow them well enough on most days, but often has to simplify them a little. baking is also not his expertise but he still loves doing it! usually does it with friends so it's a group effort (and a group failure if it doesn't go well) and it's more to have an excuse to hang out with them
teddy is a very good cook but just doesn't do it :/ he's living on instant noodles, microwaved rice, pizza, any meal he can get from the diner and then leftovers of that for the next day, tater tots, questionable quality dry bread with cheese, and sometimes he will pensively have a vegetable. he doesn't like baking all that much but also does enjoy hanging out with rafiq so he will bake with him. just this once (<- said every single time)
yancey is a GREAT cook which is why he ends up as a cook at the diner :^) he loves experimenting with cooking and coming up with his own recipes and while it doesn't always work out for him, he uses the knowledge from that to make something that DOES work out next time. also pretty good at baking but does that significantly less because he's stuck in the belief that baking is mostly sweet stuff and he prefers savory things. clearly this man has never had a pizza muffin before
🤔 THINKING FACE — what are some of your oc's quirks/mannerisms?
rafiq is very expressive and a very active listener, which can take some getting used to when you're getting to know him. he likes actively adding his thoughts into a conversation and is good at relating to other people, which always makes for a very lively conversation :^)
teddy is basically a brick wall. you can't tell what's going on in his head you can't tell how he's feeling and sometimes you may even wonder if he just fell asleep standing up with his eyes open (it's not the case but with how far away his brain has zoomed out it may as well be). he's very easily distracted and gets lost in his own brain a lot which causes him to speak slowly and sometimes he just doesn't finish his sentences. he also cracks his knuckles a lot
yancey can be very witty at times but his brain lags behind when there's too many people talking so he doesn't control WHEN he gets to be witty. he does finger guns at people a lot or a little thumbs up because he never knows what to do with his hands so adding in a little gesture like that gives him something to focus on. it's very endearing :^)
😞 DISAPPOINTED FACE — does your oc attract others, or do they tend to be left alone?
rafiq is a people person and loves to chat with people, which is why customers at the diner tend to stay a lot longer when he's on the workfloor because he'll just end up talking with them for hours. despite being surrounded by people a lot, he can still get very lonely easily because actually connecting to people in a deeper way takes a lot more effort for him
teddy is probably the loneliest man in blightwood crossing at the start of the story. he mostly just stays at home and goes to a nearby bar and the diner and that's IT. sometimes the grocery store. he mostly just talks to the diner's waiters rafiq and yukiko and then the bartender and cashier and he's a regular in those places so they would recognize his face but they wouldn't even know his name. he's always been a bit lonely and just focusing on the task at hand by himself so it doesn't really bother him, but also just isn't aware of just HOW lonely he is so once he starts talking to people more he's like "ohh so my life was just really fucked up before. ok"
yancey makes new friends very easily because of his fun and kind nature and he's good at making other people feel at ease with him :^) he values his alone time a lot but also knows when it's time for him to get out of the house and hang out with people again, which is why his new job at the diner is very good for him. it gives him something fun to do that he also gets paid for AND he gets to hang out with his new friends because they all work there :D easy right? what could possibly go wrong
#asks#reaperkiller#ask:rafiq#ask:teddy#ask:yancey#oc asks#sorry i answered for THREE guys because these three are a package deal. to me#most annoying throuple in blightwood crossing and i love them so much for it
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Jemima was approaching her second birthday and was slowly but surely growing bigger. While the loans were far from being fully paid off, they were progressing reasonably well and all seemed fine. In reality, Elmer's job as a nurse proved to be a difficult task, often leaving him home as late as 10pm. He thought it was ridiculous; how would he manage to spend quality time with his lonesome wife and child living like this?
In search of a means to relax, Elmer took up a new hobby: woodworking. Not only could this help save money, but it could help make money should anyone be interested in his creations. His first long-term project was an easel he'd made for Claudia, subtly encouraging her to explore a new hobby and follow in his footsteps. Given the limited activities on the farm, indulging in a little fun wouldn't harm either of them.
Still, the mounting stress was taking its toll hard on Elmer. The weight of his responsibilities became overwhelming and solemnly watching him break down as soon as he stepped foot into the bedroom was an all too common occurrence for Claudia.
She too faced her own set of challenges as she navigated the journey of motherhood, shouldering the responsibility alone most of the time due to Elmer's demanding shifts. Raising a child sure proved to be a tricky task. Jemima's peaceful and quiet nature occasionally granted her moments of respite and during these precious intervals, she managed to carve out time for herself. Leaving the task of nurturing the baby to a trusted friend, Vera Brindleton - patriarch of the proud Brindleton family - had invited her for tea in the local cafe to finally get to know the new family in town ... Even if it had been a few years by now.
The town centre held a special place in Claudia's heart. It offered a stunning view of Brindleton Bay's finest sea and alongside it, a vibrant yet not overwhelmingly crowded atmosphere. The surrounding shops and their nostalgic energy, as if you could sense the citizens that had once roamed the area years back, added to the charm of the place. During their outing, the topic of children had been brought up by Vera.
Vera: "A single babe? And a female, too? That shan't do Claudia, do you know how imporant bearing sons are for us ladies?"
"Should you feel true pride for your country and take the role of a proper English woman, you simply must give birth to future protectors of our land. I've lived by that for as long as I can remember. Do you know how many brothers I have?"
Claudia: "I appreciate the sentiment, Vera, but I believe bearing children is more than just producing human safety nets - Though believe me when I tell you I don't intend to come across hostile. Pregnancy has just never been an easy decision for me."
Vera let out a deep sigh, dismissing Claudia's logic as if it were a mere product of a child's mind in dire need of further education.
Vera: "I love my sons very much. My boys understand just as much as I do their role in society. They must protect us and I assure you they are more than willing to die for Britain. Pride naturally courses through their veins. War is not something to be wished upon, of course, I'm saying it is simply what they were born for." Vera calmly claimed, leaving Claudia wondering how Vera's youngest boy - 6 months - was able to understand the weight of his mortailty to this degree.
Claudia: "But Vera, raising children is ever so hard ... And should war come upon us, I'd hate to see any son of mine leave to fight. My child's life is surely worth more than my country."
"Then you stand alone. You have a kind heart, Claudia, but you lack the ability to see past your emotions. The greater good will always be for, as it suggests, the greater good. No matter what."
After they'd parted, Claudia felt incredibly conflicted. On one hand, she wanted to stay true to her values and on the other, she couldn't help but ponder whether there was any truth to Vera's words. One undeniable fact remained: most women in Brindleton bay possessed sizely families, so just like Vera had put it, she really did stand alone. Perhaps, she thought, it would be better to contribute to this societal norm rather than disappoint the people around her. It was just so scary ... Claudia would have to make up her mind, and fast.
📜 next / previous / first
#The Pence Legacy#ts4 decades challenge#Claudia pence#Elmer pence#Jemima pence#1890spence#pencelegacy#1890s#ts4
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OC! TIME!!
<3 thank u to everyone who has encouraged me now u get oc lore tonight rather than tomorrow
so, here's a collection of notes re characters and worldbuilding. some of this is stuff i already had in my head but im ready to share publicly now, and some of this is stuff that is genuinely as new to me as it'll be for yall but im set on it so. here we go
character updates
so i've mentioned arha is a solider*. the truth is arha is originally a soldier for the opposing country to ai/william/adalia's. in fact she and ai et al meet because arha is captured after a battle. arha is snapping at people and fully prepared to be either tortured or killed or sent to an absolutely abysmal prison and she is not looking forward to it so she's hoping for the best of the options (dying) by provoking them. shes honestly exhausting to deal with so she gets relegated to a tent as a makeshift jail for a while LOL. eventually ai comes in as part of her duties and is like "are you ready to be a normal person and go get dinner" and arha is like "what" and ai is like "it's dinner time. i was sent to fetch you. or did you want to see the doctor first." "arent you going to kill me" "why the fuck would we kill you when you surrendered already" oh arha mad af about that line she doesnt like being reminded of surrendering she's so prideful but she's also confused af. she grew up being told that if the enemy caught her she was for sure going to fucking die and be miserable while she did but here therye offering medical attention?? arha does not like being left in the dark so she just complies. to a point. basically she jsut follows ai around and makes her explain things and ai is like so fucking annoyed but arha wont leave her alone no matter how snippy she is or how much she ignores her so she figures answering her questions will get her to leave her alone (at least until they finish this campaign and return to the capital and arha in theory goes to actual jail. of course arha grows on her and vice versa. cause . im weak. theyre gonna be endgame whatever that means)
adalia kills a man revealed: the man is her country's fucking general. th set up: upon return to the capital after aforementioned campaign, another drafting occurs, and since this is common place seeing as they have been at war for 100 years now, no one is really surprised and it doesnt raise super big alarms however the rules have changed while ai adalia and william's troop were out; age of enlistment has been lowered. zoinks! so context for it: when they make it back to the capital, ai and arha return to ai's mother's house. ai's mom is really uspet over arha being there and she and ai get into a big argument about it. ai's mom is like "i just dont understand why you care, her country killed your father and brother" and ai is like "no YOU did when you refused to LOOK FOR THEM" and she storms out. arha of course follows but before she does ai's mom asks her to please look out for ai cause "she obviously chose you. you need to choose her too. you need to. i will never forgive you if you don't." arha is troubled by this but agrees and ai's mom lets them go. they go to adalia's house to spend the night but uh oh Adalia Has Killed A Man. while arha and ai clean her up as her family is gathering supplies for travel packs, adalia manages to shakily explain: when adalia came home, she found the general there and he was drafting her two siblings (twins, aged 12). adalia could not let that happen so in her panic, and in line with her training, she jsut swung a sword at her problems. this kills the man. uh oh! and now adalia has to flee cause like. she can't stay she has committed utmost treason. and the general is Going to be found and if her family tries to hide it they are going to Die and adalia is not gonna let that happen. so she will run. arha and ai go with her of course. and on their way out of the city william finds them cause already, when the general never appeared at the next house he was supposed to draft from, military personnel had been deployed over the city to investigate. william decides to go with them too cause he's just too soft and frankly he doesnt wanna participate in a military that engages use of child soldiers it's not what he signed up for. wow it's almost like both countries have their skeletons and both were employing fucked up tactics against their citizens...anyway. the silver lining is that adalia killing the general did in fact save her siblings form being drafted (for now) cause the houses were chosen at complete random it's kinda like a fucked up lottery thing. since adalia wont let her family cover up her crime and in fact makes them turn her in (just yknow once she's out of the house; theyre gonna be all "oh we woke up in the night and found the general dead and adalia gone") so that officials wont punish them by sending in the twins anyway cause like, as far as the law is concerned they had nothing to do with adalia turning rogue. but this wont keep them from being named in other drafts...but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.
ther's gonna be an underwater arc and ai is . well. ai. (: m'beware the light. n'lol
qiu, due to being raised by dragons ie some of the most blunt species on the planet, just fucking sucks at human social etiquette. he is very forthcoming and his speaking tone is very flat and he does not Do minor facial expressions his face shifts from its resting state only to full-on smile or full-on frown etc. he is very honest in this way but he reads as very blunt and honestly? kinda mean. but he's literally not trying to be he's just standing there. if you know anything about deaf culture he's very similar to that. just no filter or what human hearing etiquette calls a filter. he also gestures in weird ways cause dragons do most of their gestures with wings cause theyre tetrapods and qiu obviously is bipedal. he's got constantly chicken wings going on also t-rex hands
im going to be candid btw arha and ai are based on my read on noritaro. so sorry. it's the only way i could get myself to think about these guys again after three years forgive me
william is 44. when ai's village was raided when he had just officially become a soldier, so he was called in to help reclaim the town and drive off the enemy soldiers. he and ai never actually meet during this because ai and her mom were long gone by the time reinforcements arrived, but he saw firsthand how fucking ravanged the village was and how indescriminate the killing was so when he finds out ai is from there and was a child during that, he just can't help but feel bad honestly. like he's nice in general but that's the reason he gives ai so much leeway. he kinda pities her. she hates him for it a little but eventually it evolves past pity and as such she stops hating him
worldbuilding:
the reason ai at el and arha's countries are at war is cause, okay. country a (ai et al's country) and country b (arha's country) are both world superpowers. there are others beside them but theyre big players in the game so to speak. both are very influential etc. however they're very different: country a is a xenophobic ethnostate that hates magic for religious reasons, and country b is based on a huge metropolis of many intersecting races and such, such as orcs, humans, dwarves, elves, etc. im still adding stuff. and theyre very big on magic. one day 100 years ago kingdom b accuses kingdom a of stealing a very important magical artifact in order to get an edge on them in terms of world superpowerism. kingdom a is very offended that they've been accused of wanting fucking anything to do with magic let alone dealing with kingdom b or lands that have people not of the same ethnicity and they accuse kingdom b right back of making shit up, esp cause kingdom b won't actually describe the artifact or what it does, just so they can use it as a bartering tool for their land (there has been a few land disputes over resources lately). so war breaks out cause neither side is happy and there's already a lot of judgement and irritation going in. so. yikes
magic! speaking of! let's discuss. it's something anyone can learn in this world but some people are more naturally inclined to it. it's a lot like being ambidextrous: some people just know intuitively how to do it and others have to be taught but either way both can do it and both can be very good at it. witches are magic users that had to be taught and wizards are magic users that had a natural affinity for it. witches tend to use wands/staffs as conduits for magic; helps to get from point a to point b. wizards tend to use staffs/wands as well but just to make their spells more powerful. everyone has a sort of magical energy just by being alive in this world. however the amount of magical energy you have in you is finite like ur body isn't just gonna keep making more on its own just like normal energy, and if you drain yourself of your own juice by using too much magical energy you will die! so to replenish the supply (think of it like a health bar) you can do various things that all amount to just, using other lifeforms' magical energy. like, you know how energy from the sun is traced along the food chain. it's like that here. you can like take something's magical energy by eating it, by rubbing it on yourself like sunscreen and absorbing things that way, or inhaling things, etc. just any way you can think of how you get a vitamin, it's similar for how you can take magical energy from things. what your magic is and what it does depends on what you take magical energy from
um yes i believe that's all. i didnt proofread this so sorry. if you actually read all of this i think youre a fuckin saint
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Personally I hate Henriette more than Gustav. Base version Sharena tells us how she and her mother write each other every day/weeks and I imagine she writes how many times they were almost killed, not to mention Gustav and Henriette being perfectly fine with sending their children to war instead of trained soldiers with far more experience. I imagined Henriette would at least showed up to stay with her children or talk to her husband and tell him to "forgive them" for abandoning royalty, instead Henriette shows up only when the war towards Hel starts how strange...
I swear if Intsy give us the possibility to adopt heroes (a S support but platonic) I will take Alfonse and Sharena and give them all the love they deserve
That's entirely reasonable! I don't...really think I can say I hate one more than the other, though, because frankly both of them have handled this situation terribly, just in very different ways.
I'm actually willing to write off Henriette's letter writing with Sharena and general absence as having duties of her own to perform: a queen isn't necessarily just there to look pretty, she can have her own matters to attend to either separate from or related to her husband's work. The diplomatic situation with Embla is in a terrible state and has been since before the game began: although we have no idea what the Askran king and queen are up to, we do know that Embla has a council that helps guide policy, so it wouldn't be unreasonable for them to be trying to use diplomatic channels to sort out the situation while the Order of Heroes and the rest of the Askran guard handle the country's defense; then in Book 2 when we start forgetting about Embla in favor of Muspell, it's similarly reasonable to think that the king and queen are managing the Emblian front while the Order of Heroes gets pulled into the Nifl/Muspell side of the conflict. Just like Sharena and Alfonse aren't able to get away from their duties with the Order of Heroes to sit down regularly with their parents, it's unfair to assume that Henriette could but chooses not to. Writing letters doesn't require schedule alignment: it's something both she and Sharena can do when they have the time to spare to keep in touch, and honestly it can be a sweet gesture -- especially when compared to Gustav freezing his children out for their decision to join the Order of Heroes.
(Also, I don't think Sharena's going to tell her mom that she almost got killed. If she wants to stay in the Order of Heroes and keep making friends, she's probably not going to make it sound like her life is in immediate danger -- if she brings up any risk at all, she'd probably immediately downplay it by saying that she took care of it or that Alfonse/Anna/one of her Hero friends saved the day.)
It also bears mentioning that Gustav and Henriette aren't 'perfectly fine' with their kids engaging in the conflict against Embla/Muspell/Hel (at least not through the first few books). It's stated explicitly in Book 3 Chapter 1 that after Alfonse went against his father's wishes and joined the Order of Heroes, Gustav told his son that he never wanted to see him again:
Alfonse: Mother...why have you come?
Henriette: To bring you back home. Your father needs to speak to you.
Alfonse: He does? Last we spoke, I understood that he...he did not wish to see me again.
Which. Uh. Not a great look there, Gustav, disowning your son for doing something you don't like, rather than...oh, I don't know...talking to him and explaining why it's not a good idea? Maybe actually teaching him about how to lead Askr instead of washing your hands of your heir? So it's not that Gustav personally ordered his kids out onto the battlefield, it's that he basically decided "let them die, that'll teach them to go against my orders." Henriette might not have stopped them, either, but she's clearly more amenable toward her kids, willing to let them make their own decisions while still being there to support them -- hence the letter writing, and being so eager to spend time with her children when she gets to (such as personally tending Alfonse's wounds after a battle).
Personally, my big issue with Henriette is that she's basically an enabler of her husband's neglectful and abusive behavior. If she was in any way trying to mend the rift in the family after Gustav turned his back on Alfonse, she wasn't willing to go against him in order to do it. When Gustav chastises her for telling Alfonse that his father missed him, she immediately bows out and says it was "her mistake." She specifically warns Sharena before that not to "disrupt the conversation" between her brother and their father, and later when Gustav tells Sharena off for defending her brother Henriette makes no move to defend her daughter (and while I'll admit that we don't know with certainty whether she was there for that moment, since she doesn't have any lines, she is in the camp since her bandaging Alfonse's wounds happens shortly afterward). And then on top of that, telling Gustav that he did the right thing in that Forging Bonds...that's the epitome of the enabling behavior. She tells Gustav that he was right in the way he chose to mistreat his son, and that he was a good person for what he did. It's frankly disgusting to me, because there might have been an argument that she's as much a victim as her kids, given Gustav's abusive behavior...until she jutifies his actions with three years of hindsight, having watched her children continue to struggle to fill roles they were never prepared for because Gustav neglected to do so, preferring to berate them for not knowing what he never taught them. She tells a dead man that his cruelty was in fact justified, and that I cannot forgive.
#answered#anonymous#fire emblem: heroes#gustav#cw: abuse#look i have a lot of thoughts about henriette and gustav#none of them are terribly good#at least henriette can kind of support her kids#that's about the only thing she has going for her
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Tales: Gate Part 5
Back on earth, there was a Foundation site used solely as a prison for captured Group of Interest members, hostile Persons of Interest, Anomalous Criminals, as well as traitors of the Foundation. Inside one of the rooms JSDF First Lieutenant Yanagida Akira was tied to a chair and was left there for about a day without eating anything. But he managed to keep his composure and was still sitting tall despite still being in his underwear.
"Tch, damn pricks. Even if our orders were faked, this is still technically declaring war against Japan. Do these morons even come from a country who can handle being responsible for starting a war like that. I wonder who would be dumb enough to do that... America? North Korea? Hm..." Suddenly the door swung open and JSDF General Kōichirō entered the room and threw a uniform at him.
"Argh! huh? General?"
"I'll untie those ropes and you put on that uniform." Akira looked down at the uniform in his lab and was confused by its color and logo.
"But generally this isn't the standard JSDF uniform? Didn't you negotiate with the government representatives of the men holding us to let us all go?"
"Enough with the General its MTF Trooper Hazama Kōichirō now."
"What?!"
"Turns out we weren't just given fake orders but also ended up jumping right into the maw of the tiger. Apparently, these people are known as the SCP Foundation. they claim to be bigger than the UN and NATO combined." Just then Kōichirō had finished untying Yanagida from the ropes binding him to the chair. Yanagida started rubbing his wrists to soothe his irritated skin, but he also looked at Kōichirō in confusion.
"... That's impossible."
"That's what I thought. But my mind was changed when they allowed me to contact the Prime minister and he told me that not only everything they told me was true, but they are within their rights to execute him if we disobey them." Yanagida looked at Kōichirō in shock, Kōichirō just sighed.
"Anyways I don't have time to explain everything, so I'll get to the point. They want us to join them, more specifically becoming members of a Mobile Task Force of the SCP Foundation known as Sigma-66. they're going to send us to the quarantine area where we sent Itami and the other Recon teams to investigate for the fake orders we received. Apparently, there's something more in there than just a meteorite with valuable minerals inside. So, they want us to be their soldiers and that means all of us. Even me and especially you."
"They want us to be soldiers?! Their soldiers?! After kidnapping us?! That's enslavement?! That's a war crime!"
"Yanagida-san! ... Look where we are, do you really think anyone is going to be able to find us here? These SCP Foundation men... they're dangerous and they can kill us easily and erase us from history. Besides this was the best option, the only other option was to be accepted as D-Class. And that... that is not only slavery but a true descent into hell. Now put on your uniform, Yanagida-san, or should I say MTF Trooper Yanagida Akira." Yanagida looked at his uniform that he was holding but he clenched it in his hands in anger, Kōichirō noticed this and sighed.
"I'm sorry I can't offer any comforting words or a third alternative. Just know that sometimes it is better to be alive but ashamed than happy but dead."
"Hmph, with all due respect, GENERAL... As a patriot, I would happily die for my country and not some organization that claims to be higher than the UN and is willfully committing war crimes."
"... I wish I had the same courage as you do Yanagida-san, but frankly speaking if I had said no to joining the SCP Foundation then everyone, and I mean everyone, involved would die and that includes those with family and children waiting for them back at home. I don't like my decision, but I don't regret it either."
"Of course, sir, but for the record true patriots would be fine leaving their children and family behind for the sake of their country."
"Enough with that Yanagida-san, not everyone is a patriot like you. Now put your damn uniform on, you're a grown man standing in your underwear for god's sake."
***
"Begin!" About a week had passed and now Itami, his group, and all other JSDF units involved were officially a part of MTF Sigma-66. Currently Itami's group were training on Xio's command; as such, after hearing the order, the group started firing in front of them. They were in one of the training buildings of Site-GATE and each of them were standing behind a shielded shooting range with a holographic stage in front of them. Though it was called a stage it was more of a floor in front of them filled with holographic projectors on the floor. The floor was currently projecting several instances of different anomalous monsters and subordinates of Groups of Interest. There were holograms of Black Queen Insurgency White Pawns, Scarlet Children Murderers, Zombies, Werewolves, Vampires, Androids from Anderson Robotics, Mekhanite Warriors, Sarkites, and several other well-known enemies of the Foundation.
Most of them were confused at all the seemingly random monsters and robotic nightmares they were shooting at. Itami on the other hand was handling it surprisingly like a pro and was even doing so with a calm expression. Even as the enemies were getting more elaborate at hiding their weaknesses, getting faster, and even shooting back; Itami just dodged, planned, and shot back at every enemy with great precision. It's just like a videogame; he thought as he kept firing.
Kuribayashi noticed his calm expression and was greatly annoyed that an Otaku like him was doing better than her. However, her annoyance was quickly turned to fear when she saw an ogre like Sarkite running toward her, so she quickly shot it several times in the head and when its body fell, she punched it in the face making its body disintegrate. Kuribayashi was actually stunned as when she punched the holographic Sarkic Ogre, it felt like she actually punched it and not a hologram.
"Kuribayashi! Keep those enemy's back! Letting them get that close is considered a failure."
"Ah sorry Xio-san!"
"Enough with the Japanese honorifics! Just call me Xio! And don't apologize, just keep firing!" Kuribayashi sighed and did as Xio ordered and continued to keep shooting hoping she could eventually beat Itami.
"Hold your fire! This round is complete!" Just as Xio ordered everyone raised their rifles and the holograms stopped manifesting. However there ended up being a single hologram still there and it showed a Werewolf that was trying to kill a little boy. Kurokawa quickly shot the werewolf and the hologram of the injured boy started walking toward them.
"Thank you. Please help me, I'm so hungry." Kurokawa thought this was part of a medical test for helping injured civilians, so she quickly ran over to help the hologram boy. But then Kurata shot the boy in the head.
"Ah! Kurata-san?!"
"What is wrong with you?!"
"How could you shoot an innocent boy like that?!"
"Everyone relax!" Itami was quick to come to Kurata's defense and pointed at the hologram and sure enough the little boy started mutating into a grotesque monstrosity of flesh. Everyone started screaming in terror and shooting at the monster, after a few hundred shots it finally died, and the simulation was finally over. Then there was silence as no one knew what to say, instead all that could be heard was Xio clapping.
"Congratulations Itami and Kurata, you both ended up scoring the highest." Xio then pressed a button on the remote she was holding, and the projection floor showed the scores of everyone participating. It showed Itami as the highest while Kurata was in second place, Kuribayashi was in third place, but she was still furious she was beaten by the two men she hated the most. Kurokawa then sighed in defeat as she was somewhere in the middle, not the worst but not the best either. But just like Kuribayashi, everyone was shocked to see Itami and Kurata, the two well-known idiots of the JSDF, were actually doing great.
"Tell me Kurata, how did you know the boy was a Sarkite?"
"Uh, I actually don't know what a Sarkite is, Captain. I just knew something was up. The boy wasn't crying. First of all, second he said he was hungry even though there was a giant slash on his stomach. I just feel like his priorities were in the wrong place."
"Interesting, did you notice this too, Itami?"
"Sure did, that's why I didn't stop Kurata when he fired."
"But what if he was just confused due to blood loss? You could have killed an innocent child!" Xio then looked back at Kurokawa in disappointment.
"*sigh* Kurokawa. That mind set of yours is going to get you killed within the Foundation. Don't see things for what they are but instead what they could be. Don't go assuming something is innocent because it looks that way and don't go thinking you can save everyone. You can't."
"But captain-!"
"Enough! You've all worked hard today and have shown great improvement during the past week, go out and check how the villagers are doing, I'll catch up with you." Itami then patted Kurata on the back but right afterwards Kuribayashi hit him with her shoulder hard while glaring at him in anger. Xio just watched as they all left, thanks to her training as an assassin she was able to sense MTF High Commander Yōsai standing behind her.
"They're improving quite well, it won't be long before they're ready to be a proper MTF unit."
"But?"
"... But, Itami is still lazy and better at evading than attacking, Kurata still treats it all like a video game, Kuribayashi is still as bashful as ever, and most like Kurokawa are way too naive to understand how brutal it is to be in the Foundation."
"Maybe they just need a mission to forge them into proper MTF units for the Foundation." Xio then turned around to face MTF High Commander Yōsai.
"Sir? What do you have in mind?"
***
Itami quickly went back to the newly constructed lounge for MTF Sigma-66 units. He went over to his desk, opened the drawer and pulled out his phone. He was happy to not only see his phone but now that they had WIFI at Site-GATE.
"Oi, slacking off again, ey Itami." Itami grunted at the sound of that voice and looked up to see another MTF Sigma-66 unit reading a newspaper. it was Yanagida who was now smirking at him from the desk across his own. Itami was full of dread when they told him he was going to be sitting apart from one another.
"I'm not slacking off, I'm on break. We already did our training for today."
"As if I'd ever believe that given your history." I'm actually not lying this time though, Itami thought to himself.
"Anyways Itami, tell me what you know about the SCP Foundation."
"... what do you want to know?"
"Who they work for, why they claim to be higher than even the UN and NATO, do they honestly think they can get away with opening a portal in the middle of Japan, and are they willing to negotiate with the Japanese Government." Yanagida was still smirking at Itami, but his expression quickly turned to shock when for the first time in his life, Itami was glaring at him with disappointment.
"*sigh* Apparently they work for something called the O5 or whatever, they actually are higher than both, they didn't open the portal the meteor did, they are just trying to understand and contain it, and no they will not negotiate with the Japanese Government, in fact according to MTF High Commander Yōsai the Japanese Prime minister is lucky to be alive given the whole blunder caused by all of the JSDF."
"Hmph, this Yōsai punk actually thinks he-" An MTF Security Trooper who happened to be walking by quickly chopped Yanagida on the head hard.
"That's MTF High Commander Yōsai to you! Get it right Trooper!" Yanagida rubbed the back of his head while looking at the MTF Security Trooper in annoyance as they walked away. Yanagida then looked at Itami again only to frown as it was clear that Itami was trying to hold back his laughter.
"Hmph, Ok, this MTF High Commander Yōsai punk, actually thinks he can threaten the Prime Minister of Japan without consequences?"
"... Hey, Yanagida, have you ever heard of those conspiracy theories surrounding that Area 51 place, aliens, mythical creatures among us, people from other timelines and realities, and the government is covering it all up."
"Yeah, don't tell me you actually believe in that garbage."
"I don't, or I didn't until I came here, look around you. A mythical world full of fantasy creatures and here is the SCP Foundation telling everyone that it was just a meteor hitting Ginza and its radiation would kill everyone if we didn't evacuate in time. Except there is no radiation it was just a portal to another world and the SCP Foundation is covering it all up."
"What the hell are you even saying right now Itami?"
"Is it not obvious?! There's a reason those conspiracy theories are always seen as hoaxes or nothing more than theories. It's because of these guys! They are dangerous, powerful, hold and keep all the secrets of the world, and can tear both the political and military of the world apart if they wanted to! Like it or not Yanagida-san we're stuck here and the only way to survive now is to do what they say. I don't like it but if it means I can keep those villagers and my men safe, then so be it." Yanagida just looked at Itami unimpressed to which Itami looked back in disappointment.
"You still don't believe it, do you?"
"The fact that you actually believe what you just said, shows how much your head is in the clouds." Itami grunted in annoyance as he couldn't deny that he loved fantasy more than reality, but it still hurt to hear that when he was actually telling the truth.
"Look Itami, maybe you're right about these guys being linked with the Area 51 and Fairies being real and all that bullshit but there's still no way these guys can threaten the Japanese prime minister, or any other government for that matter, without any consequences. That's just not possible, these guys have a political weakness, and they answer to some form of government. I'm going to find it and when I do, you'll all thank me. Because afterwards this SCP Foundation or whatever will lose all control over this Site-GATE, and you know who will get to take charge afterwards... Japan that's who."
"... why would you want that?"
"Isn't it obvious? This is a new world full of resources untouched, air so clean there's not a black cloud for miles, tons and tons of unused land ready to be settled in, and of course the technology here is so primitive we could rule over the natives easily."
"Wow, hey I watched plenty of movies, so let me tell you, invading the native lands for resources never ends well for the military assholes."
"Obviously we'll go for peace when we can, but peace can easily be ensured when you're the one with the bigger stick. Furthermore, thanks to your personal blunder, you got some natives on your side, you saved them so naturally they would trust you."
"You want me to use those villagers to find the treasures of this world?"
"Even if they don't know they should know people who do."
"Yanagida, you're getting ahead of yourself, and frankly it's kinda concerning. Look I know you're a patriot, so you'll do anything for Japan but let me warn you. ALL of our heads are on the line here, if one of us screws up we all die from it. So please, don't do something that will drag the rest of us down with you."
"... Tch, I should be the one saying that to you, Itami."
"Given what you've said thus far, that's certainly not true." Itami shuttered when he heard the tone of Xio's disappointed voice and quickly stood at attention toward her. Worst off right behind her was MTF High Commander Yōsai, who was staring at Yanagida in disappointment. Yanagida then sighed in annoyance and slowly stood up at attention towards them both.
"Hmph, so you want to try to tear apart the Foundation through political means. I would give you credit for being the first person to think such a plan will work but that would be discourteous to all the thousands of others before you that died trying."
"Uh, Sir, with all due respect I have no idea what your-"
"My hearing is a lot more powerful and sensitive than most, as such it is possible for me to hear even the slightest of noises from miles away. Also, your uniforms are bugged which is standard for MTF Sigma-66 units to prevent rebellions before they occur." Itami and Yanagida looked at each other in shock and started feeling and looking at their own uniforms.
"Don't bother, you won't find it, just know that fighting the Foundation is way above your capabilities."
"... With all due respect Sir. As a Japanese man yourself you should know we aren't powerless." Xio grunted in anger and was about to walk up to Yanagida and punch him in the face. However, MTF High Commander Yōsai stopped her and as he sighed in disappointment.
"Fine, if you want to learn the hard way then when you fail, don't say I didn't tell you so. But either way I'm not here for you, Itami, get your armor and gear, we have a mission for you and your team."
***
Elsewhere close to the settlement for the villagers Lelei and Kaneki were sitting on the grass together. As requested, Kaneki agreed to and was currently teaching Lelei Japanese with a Japanese children's book.
"Okay, now repeat after me. The Cat eats fish."
"The. Cat. Eats. Feesh."
"No, no, Fish, as written here. F. I. S. H. Try again."
"Ef- Eye- Es- Achee. Fish."
"Good, now say it all."
"The Cat Eats... Fish." Kaneki clapped for her and set his translation collar back to the native language.
"Perfect! Your accent still needs work, but you got it. Though I still don't get why you won't just let me get you a translation collar."
"You've already given us enough resources we don't want to receive more than we can return."
"Lelei, you know-"
"I know, you said all you want is information and not money but... it just feels so wrong to have so many luxuries and not be able to repay for any of it."
"Hm, ok I sort of get it. But still, it would be nice if you guys didn't worry so much about repaying us for simply being good hosts. Now then-" Kaneki then switched his translation collar back to Japanese.
"Do you want to continue?" Lelei then did something she rarely ever does and smiled at Kaneki.
"Yes, Kaneki-Kun." Kaneki blushed and chuckled shyly hearing Lelei address him with familiar honorifics. Lelei blushed as well and smiled joyfully, she was never really interested in love like her sister but when she was with Kaneki, she felt like there was more in her future than the pursuit of magic.
"You two look cute together." Kaneki and Lelei turned red with embarrassment knowing that the one speaking was Xio and she had probably been standing there for a while, watching them.
"Sorry to interrupt your date but I got orders from higher ups, apparently it concerns you too Lelei." Kaneki looked at Lelei in confusion and although her expression didn't change her eyes lit up as she knew what this meant.
***
"Ugh, for the last time Miss Marceau, if your father isn't here then I can't help you!" Tuka was at one of the management offices that was specifically close to the villager's district of Site-GATE to handle complaints and requests form the villagers, not that they ever got any. In fact, the villagers already felt like they had too much, so they were scared to ask for more. The only one who tried was Tuka. She went everyday requesting items for her father, but she was always met with a resounding no.
"But please! My father is around here somewhere he's just not here right now!"
"Well until he is here, your request for additional food rations, clothing, bedding and overall resources is denied!" The manager talking to Tuka grabbed the denied stamp and was about to stamp it onto the paper Tuka turned in but before he could, she placed her hand in front of the stamp.
"Wha-?! Miss Marceau!"
"Please! What if my father starves or has to sleep on the floor?!"
"Then I'm sure he'd be glad to know that at least his little girl is being well fed and has proper bedding. Any reasonable father would come to the same conclusion, just like any reasonable father wouldn't send his daughter to go get the groceries, HE'D DO IT HIMSELF!"
"But-!"
"GOOD DAY, MISS MARCEAU!" The manager then slammed the stamp on the paper, quickly threw it out, and closed the window so he wouldn't have to hear Tuka talking anymore. Tuka kept banging on the window for a short period of time before she walked away frustrated. She then left the management office and once she was outside, she just leaned by the walls and huffed in frustration.
"No luck today huh?" Tuka then turned to her right to see Rory looking at her with a smile. Tuka smiled back as she was always glad to see someone who sympathized with her situation.
"*sigh* yeah, I just don't understand. Their willing to give us so much but just because my father is out, they won't give him so much as an extra bowl of soup until he shows up himself. I keep telling them he's just not here right now, but they won't listen, or they just don't care." Rory felt pain in her heart, she heard form Xio that Tuka's whole village was destroyed, and she was the only survivor. This meant that her father was definitely dead, yet Tuka continued to insist that he was alive just not here right now. Rory knew that sooner or later Tuka was either going to find out or just continue to deny reality entirely.
"I wonder which one is worse?"
"Eh?"
"Oh nothing, anyways I'm actually here to talk to you, Kaito and the rest of their team are being called in for another mission. Apparently, this time they also want experts of this world, so they requested me and Lelei to come with them. We're going to a human fortress to trade some items, so your expertise might not be needed but still I wanted to invite you. You know, since Kaito will be there." Rory then smiled devilishly at Tuka making her blush in embarrassment.
"Though of course that Kurokawa girl is going to be there as well, I've noticed you stare at her face a lot... as well as her chest and behind." Tuka was now as red as a tomato to which Rory was laughing joyfully at the sight of her embarrassment.
"Ahahaha! Okay, okay but seriously you should come with us and travel a little. Get your mind off of stressful things like that rude manager over there. As well as get to know a little more about human culture since you're going to be living with humans."
"... what do you think father?"
"Hm?"
"Oh nothing, sounds good your holiness! Please lead the way."
"Of course, Tuka, but for the record, my friends call me Rory." Rory then walked off and Tuka quickly tried to catch up with her.
***
"Is everyone here? Good, let's begin then." Xio, Kaneki, Kaito, Itami and his group as well as other MTF units were in a debriefing room within one of the newly created main buildings of Site-GATE. MTF High Commander Yōsai stood in front of them all with a holographic projector behind him. Also, behind him and beside the projector was Lelei, Tuka, and Rory.
"According to the information provided by Cato el Altestan the dragon scales he and his fellow villagers have been collecting can be sold for a hefty amount of money especially since there are bags of them thanks to the villagers. However, what interests us is not the money but where to obtain it from. This particular city is owned by the Sadera Empire which the Foundation is currently at conflict with." Itami and the others started looking and whispering amongst themselves; this was the first time they had heard of a conflict concerning the Foundation.
"Ahem!" However, they all quickly shut up as MTF High Commander Yōsai was clearly getting annoyed with them. Then the holographic projector showed the city which Yōsai was discussing.
"Drones show the city is heavily fortified by standards of the Empire. Of course the Foundation could easily destroy this structure, but we are not here to declare war. We want to obtain as much information as possible. That is the secondary priority, the first priority is to find someone of noble birth there that has strong connections to the Empire. It is supposed to be an area that is under the control of a nobleman within the empire. As such the primary mission is to find this nobleman and to start establishing connections with the Empire from the shadows. Of course, this isn't earth, but that doesn't mean we stopped being the Foundation the moment we came in. As such our this is the first step in Operation Blind Spot, which means that this mission cannot allow any forms of failure." Itami then raised his hand, his group grunted or glared at him in embarrassment though Yōsai didn't seem bothered at all.
"Yes, Trooper Yōji Itami? Thank you for raising your hand by the way."
"Uh, of course Sir, now uh... what is Operation Blind Spot?" Kuribayashi then got up and smacked Itami on the back of the head.
"Idiot! You're the captain, how do you not know that?"
"Actually, Trooper Shino Kuribayashi, he's not the captain, I am." Xio got up, turned around, and glared at Kuribayashi in disappointment. Kuribayashi then looked shocked and quickly bowed while apologizing.
"Furthermore Trooper Kuribayashi, I was going to say that it's classified to units of MTF Sigma-66 which is all of you. The only ones who know are those who are in charge of you, that being Captain Xio, Specialist Kaneki, and the others. In fact, I was just about to tell you that before you rudely interrupted me." Kuribayashi then started tearing up and sat back down, Itami did as well, he wasn't sure why, but it really seemed like Yōsai hated Kuribayashi.
"Moving on, Rory Mercury, Tuka Marceau, and Lelei Lelena have agreed to act as our medium for the people of the city. They will help educate us on what to look out for, what to say, how to say it and in return all the money and profits from the dragon scales will be distributed to them and the other G Class personnel within the Site." Itami and the rest of his group was shocked by this even Lelei and Tuka, Rory on the other hand was surprised but not as much as the other's.
"Wait, we don't get to keep any of it?!" Everyone then looked at Kurata with Xio and Yōsai glaring at him in anger while Itami was also disappointed but had a look mixed with pity.
"No, Trooper Takeo Kurata, the Foundation has no need for something as worthless as money." Kurata's jaw dropped in shock but then he slumped back down to his chair. Lelei and Tuka looked at one another though Tuka was the only one expressing concern. They had hoped that by obtaining lots of money they could repay the Foundation but now that plan is worthless.
"All you need to know is that this mission hinges on the following goals: obtain information, find the noblemen of the city, and ensure the safety of these three girls. Failure to just one of these tasks will lead to the complete failure of the entire mission. We CAN NOT fail this mission. The O5 Council has made it clear that Operation Blind Spot needs to start now. I don't think I need to remind those of you within MTF Sigma-66 what happens if JUST ONE of you fails." Chills then went up Itami's spine. He looked around and saw similar reactions of fear in this group. He knew that to be a member of MTF Sigma-66 was better than being a D Class, but he still felt like it was too cruel at times.
"Ah one last thing, you'll be receiving a new member of MTF Sigma-66 this one was actually collected during the first battles when establishing Site-Gate." Yōsai then looked to his right and waved towards someone to come in. The door opened and an MTF Trooper entered but already had his helmet on so they couldn't see his face.
"This is Duran Elbe and he's a local here who's been recruited by the Foundation. It's actually because of him that our translation collars were able to process the language of this world. As such he'll be coming with us on this mission as well so please treat him well." Yōsai was about to dismiss them but Kurokawa then raised her hand.
"Oh? Yes, Trooper Kurokawa?"
"Sir, is this man really a local of this world?"
"That's correct."
"And he's a member of Sigma-66? That's a prisoner of war! Isn't that unethical?"
"Trooper Kurokawa, please allow US to worry about the ethics of the Foundation."
"But Sir! How can you do something so cruel? How can you even call yourself a man doing something like that!" Xio, Kaneki, and Itami looked at Kurokawa in shock, what she was doing right now was essentially asking for a death sentence. Yōsai glared at Kurokawa in disappointment but instead of punishing her in any way he just sighed.
"... Trooper Kurokawa, I am going to tell you this once and only once, you are a unit in MTF Sigma-66 you have NO right to deem what I, nor anyone in the Foundation should and shouldn't do. Once you graduate from Sigma-66 you are free to either quit or rank up within the Foundation, until then you have no freedom and no right to voice anything, so I suggest you keep your opinions as well as your self-righteousness to yourself. Am I clear?"
"Ah... Self-righteousness?! Sir I-"
"Kurokawa! Your High Commander asked you a yes or no question! You WILL respond with the appropriate answer and ONLY the appropriate answer!" Captain Xio turned to Kurokawa with a stern look at Kurokawa; However, Kurokawa looked at her in disappointment as if Xio was in the wrong. But then Itami elbowed her to which Kurokawa glared at him in disappointment but then she saw him with a serious expression which wasn't something she ever expected from the goofy Itami. She then sighed and nodded to which Yōsai huffed in approval.
"Though given your personality and naive world view, it's going to take quite a while before someone like you graduates from Sigma-66. Do work hard to better yourself Kurokawa, understand?" Kurokawa sighed in disappointment and nodded again.
"Alright then mission debriefing is over, follow your Captain where you will receive the equipment needed for this mission." Xio then got up and led the others to the next room. Yōsai was about to follow but Rory ended up grabbing his hand to keep him there.
"I know they will succeed but if by the off chance they do fail... do you really have to kill ALL of them?" Yōsai looked at Rory confused but then noticed she was blushing and smirked at her. He then gently placed his hand on her head, and she looked up at him embarrassed.
"You know people like us are too old for people like them. Even if we look young." Rory glared at Yōsai and huffed in annoyance while slapping his hand away and turning around to stomp away.
"I'm much older than you, young man!"
"Then you should know even more that age gaps don't lead to healthy relationships." Rory then stopped and turned her head to Yōsai.
"So, I should just give up and spend my remaining years alone?"
"... I would say that's better than forcing a young man to waste his life filling the void in your heart. He may love you and you may love him. But in the end, you'll be the only one who's actually happy, he'll think he's happy, but he won't really be." Rory then looked at Yōsai in shock.
"You speak as if you have experience."
"Yes... though not just me, I've seen it happen to friends and family too. In fact, I've seen it happen time and again and... it never ends well for anyone. So rather than gambling with love, it's better to just accept that they'll be happier with someone else." Yōsai then walked out of the room leaving Rory alone. She just stared at where Yōsai once was and thought about what he said but then she started smiling seductively again.
"I guess it is healthier to give up on love at my age, but that doesn't mean I can't have fun."
***
Now Itami and the rest of Sigma-66 were in another room right next to the locker room. There was a bald man in a lab coat who was standing next to a table with rifles and behind him was a mannequin wearing standard MTF Trooper armor.
"Good afternoon! I'm Doctor Ethanual Eureka, but please call me Ethan or Dr. Eureka. I will be showing you today what you will be wearing but first, show of hands for those of you that are reality warpers, augmented, anomalous or a species of interest of any kind?" Itami and the rest of the group looked at one another in confusion but they all shook their heads.
"No? Okay then first things first your armor. Normally we don't distribute Foundation tech to MTF Sigma-66 units but most of you have proven more than trustworthy, especially your previous captain Itami with his astounding display of skills." Itami smiled though he was also sweating in fear as Kuribayashi was glaring at him with eyes of burning rage.
"As such you will be one of the few MTF Sigma-66 units that will be allowed to wear the standard MTF Trooper armor! As you can see behind me is a mannequin with said armor you will be wearing. The first piece is its shock resistance suit which is worn first. When you first put it on, it will seem to be oversized and far too big, however once you reach it to your neck you will find a button on the chest, press this button and the fibers will retract to fit the same size and shape of your body.
Rest assured that once it has your shape, like muscles it will stretch and retract along with your body's shape and movement, this is done to prevent discomfort. Furthermore, the fibers are capable of "breathing" to ensure your body will stay cool. Lastly the fibers are reinforced with enough strength keeping knives from stabbing you and blocking one or two bullets. However please bear in mind that afterwards your suit will get weaker so in general, the best option is to not get shot at all. Thankfully that rarely happens thanks to the next set." Dr. Eureka walked over to the mannequin and pointed out the armor over the Shock Resistance Suit.
"This is the Shock Nullification Armor unlike the suit this one is reinforced with carbonated plating strong and condensed enough to ensure bullets just bounce right off. To show I am not lying here is an M4/M4A1, a common weapon used by the U.S. military." Dr. Eureka picked up the rifle and started firing at the mannequin without warning. Itami and the others jumped in shock at the sudden gunfire but quickly became even more shocked when they saw the bullets falling to the ground right after impact. Once Dr. Eureka was done shooting, all the MTF Sigma-66 units were able to see that none of the bullets left so much as a dent on the armor the worst damage was powder and smudge marks from the bullets.
"As you can see even the most basic armor of the Foundation has the capability to resist common firearms of the world; so long as your armor is on, your safety is guaranteed. However..." Dr. Eureka went back to the table, put down the M4/M4A1 and picked up the other rifle.
"This is a Standard Foundation Assault Rifle, reinforced with a metal alloy making it half as light as the average rifle yet four times as strong. Furthermore, the scope has been anomalously enhanced to ensure that the shooter never misses their target no matter how incompetent they are. Observe!" Dr. Eureka started firing again, this time he was able to shoot the mannequin right where the heart and brain would have been. This time the armor was being dented and actually started cracking a little.
"As you can see the main danger especially in this world is only with each other, so be sure to avoid friendly fire as much as possible. Any questions?" Kurokawa quickly raised her hand.
"Yes, you in the back?"
"Shouldn't we be given something more basic? This weaponry seems too overpowered especially in a world where the crossbow is considered the most advanced weapon."
"... I see, unfortunately this actually is the most basic weaponry and armor. However, we shouldn't be so quick to assume that just because these natives look primitive that they are primitive. For all we know they hold power that is much greater than even the most advanced Foundation weaponry we possess. Besides I heard that this mission of yours was a recon mission at best, so rest assured these weapons are only a safety measure and you wouldn't actually need them. Now please go into the room here and get changed into your uniform." Kuribayashi then raised her hand.
"Oh yes, you there?"
"Uh where are the lockers for girls and boys?"
"Oh, MTF lockers don't separate the genders." Kuribayashi and Kurokawa were shocked by this, Itami and Kurata were shocked as well but started blushing as their thoughts went wild. The girls noticed the looks of the boys and started glaring at them in anger.
"Of course, if you are not comfortable with this then the girls can go in first and the boys go in afterwards. It would make sense since to comfortably wear the Shock Resistance Suit you'll have to strip to your underwear. Though even if you don't trust the boys to respect your privacy then please know that your Standard Foundation rifles and Pistols are in the lockers. So, feel free to shoot each other." Now everyone in Sigma-66 was staring at Simga-66 in confusion.
"... Uh, shouldn't you discourage us from doing that?"
"Oh, don't be ridiculous, no one cares what happens to MTF units within Sigma-66." Dr. Eureka then walked out of the room still having a smile on his face, now everyone in Sigma-66 was left in an awkward silence.
"Uh... So-"
"Girls first!" Kuribayashi quickly grabbed Kurokawa's hand and went in first, leaving the others to stand there just to wait their turn.
***
Now that everyone was ready, waiting for them was Xio, Kaneki, Kaito and about five others who were to help Xio watch over MTF Sigma-66. However, to everyone's shock MTF High Commander Yōsai was there as well.
"Good evening, everyone! I know it's last minute, but I will be joining you all in this mission regarding the future relations of the Foundation and the Empire. So, let's ensure that nothing goes wrong regarding this mission, alright?" Yōsai then walked right into one of the Foundation Vehicles leaving Xio, Itami, and their respective groups in an awkward silence.
"Uh, should we be worried about this?"
"... Well, MTF High Commander Yōsai is actually a high supporter of the Ethics Committee who are determined to weaken the Foundationists and their growing power. He does understand the Foundation needs to be cruel sometimes to achieve its goals, but he does value human life first and foremost, but then again, he is a Level 5 Clearance Foundation staff member, and those guys are normally crazy. So yeah, you should still be worried." Xio just walked to where she would be driving, leaving Itami standing there, only for him to sigh in defeat.
.
Part 6
Part 4
#DZtheNerd#SCP: Horror Movie Files#SCP Foundation#SCP Fanfiction#SCP AU#SCP#SCP OC#anime and manga#gate anime#Gate#scp mtf#scp mobile task force#Mobile Task Force Sigma-66 “Sixteen Tons”
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Chalice - "Hit You Like a Bomb"
Jamaica Ska-Kore
Song released in 1984. Compilation released in 1997.
Reggae
Plays: ~10.8K on Spotify // ~8.7K plays on YouTube
Chalice are a popular reggae band from Jamaica who have been around since the late 70s and have continued to be an eminent live act to this day, noted especially for their sets at the annual Reggae Sunsplash festival, which was mostly held in Montego Bay throughout its two decades-plus run from the late 70s through 90s.
From critic Andrew Hamilton:
They were a hot live act whose studio recordings often lacked the same intensity and failed to convey their infectious entertaining skills. Chalice used synthesizers as the back and front bone to achieve their bouncy danceable sound, but an over reliance on the sound branded them as lightweights by die-hard reggae fanatics.
Despite some of that side-eyeing, though, Chalice have still managed to find popularity both in and outside of Jamaica, especially in Europe, where they've been known to tour extensively. And throughout their career they've racked up a handful of hits in their own home country as well.
But today's song doesn't happen to be one of those hits, and it doesn't have that dancy sound that Hamilton alluded to earlier either. However, what "Hit You Like a Bomb"—the opening cut from Chalice's third studio album, 1984's Stan' Up—most certainly does have is those defining synthesizers. And, boy, do they end up making this track whole.
Written by band member Robi Peart, "Hit You Like a Bomb" really seems to shine its brightest when it comes time for the keyboard solo in the second half. Chalice don't do anything out of the ordinary by deploying a solo that's both dubby and echoey—which are hallmarks of an endless slew of Jamaican tunes—but the preset they've chosen to use, and how they apply it, ends up giving this song a transformatively futuristic and kaleidoscopic feel that definitely hadn't been there prior. In fact, before this section, there wasn't really anything within this song that you could point to that would set it apart from other contemporaneous reggae tunes. But that solo seems to do the trick, and I think, ultimately, it's what ends up making this otherwise somewhat pedestrian-sounding track so especially gratifying 😌.
Underrated mid-80s tune from this long-tenured reggae band that loves to incorporate synthesizers into their sound.
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Obsessed with the Sims 4 Not-So Berry challenge? Love the concept, but tired of playing it over & over again; Wish it was more storyline-driven? Say no more, for I have a solution; My own version of the NSB challenge that I started writing back in May of 2022:
The basic rules for the NSB challenge are simple: Each Generation is based on a specific color, & must have that hair color, or at least as close as you can get to it (MY FELLOW CONSOLE SIMMERS, SNOWY ESCAPE HAS GREAT HAIRS FOR THIS!). Each generation has a unique set of rules, including, but not limited to: Their Aspiration(s), traits, & career(s). The original challenge was written by @lilsimsie 5-6yrs ago.
*there may be multiple aspirations listed, only the first is required, the 2nd is to switch it to after you finish the first, but you don't need to complete it
Gen 1: Rose (Dusty Rose/Pastel Pink)
You grew up in the simple farming life in Henford-on-Bagley. As an orphan, you never knew your own parents, but after the orphanage kicked you out at the age of 18, you start a cozy farm where you raise crops & animals as if they were your children until you had your own *human* children. You've always known that you'd love your own child more than anything, & try your best to give them the best life you can while managing your farm.
Requirements:
Aspiration(s): Country Caregiver, Super Parent
Traits: Animal Enthusiast, Family-Oriented, Cheerful
Must Master Gardening & Parenting Skills
Must live entire life with the Simple Living & Wild Foxes lot challenges
Must marry a townie from Henford-on-Bagley (or a NPC, like a Pub Owner or Grocery Deliverer (aged up ofc) in an older save file, for example
Must have at least one cow, llama, & chicken
Must befriend one bunny & bird flock
Must die before gen 3 heir is a teenager
Must START generation in Henford-on-Bagley
Can only PREGNANT once (can still have twins/triplets, science babies, get others pregnant, or adopt)
Cannot have a real career
Cannot attend university
Gen 2: Sapphire (Blue)
You grew up in the heart of Henford-on-Bagley, but never got to see the rest of the world, so when you move to Windenberg, you enjoy spending your days socializing with new people. After growing up in such a small town, the busy urban life excites you! That being said, though, you still have a major soft-spot for your childhood home & the cozy country-side. To you, Windenberg is the best of both worlds.
Requirements:
Aspiration(s): Leader of the Pack
Traits: Loves Outdoors, Dance Machine, & Insider
Must Master Dance, Cross-Stitching, & DJ Mixing skills
Must be born in Henford-on-Bagley, but eventually move to Windenberg before they are an Adult
Cannot attend University
Gen 3: Orange
You're sort of the "Orange Sheep" of the famiy, so to speak. While the generations before you enjoyed the simple, cozy, quiet country life, you've always wanted more with your life. You & your parents always argue about how you dream of leaving Windenberg to go off to college. You know they love you, but you also know your thirst for knowledge & new experiences just can't be ignored. So you run off to college, & move to San Myshuno. Your relationship with [gen 2] is permanently damaged, & while you may mend your relationship eventually, it will never be the same. Romance was never a priority, you never really thought about it. You've always been way too focused on your family, education & career, so you never marry (plus, you've never really been that interested in relationships anyway, which is perfectly fine!).
Requirements:
Aspiration(s): Academic
Traits: Ambitious, Lactose Interolerant, Genius
Must Master Logic & Research & Debate Skills
Must earn a Distinguished Degree from either university
Must join any career supported by your sim's Distinguished Degree
Must retire from career as an Elder, then join the Teacher career in the Educator branch
Must move to San Myshuno Spice Market neighborhood as soon as sim starts Uni
Can never marry
Must adopt all children
Cannot interact with parents throughout entire Young Adulthood
Gen 4: Teal &/or Turquoise
You grew up in the more suburban areas of San Myshuno, the Spice Market, filled with friendly faces & a love for flavor! Ever since you were a child, you would look up at all the fancy high-rise buildings, & the locally-famous Uptown San Myshuno, dreaming about one day being one of those successful, wealthy residents. Like your parent, you have a lust for new experiences & culture, & none is as unique & diverse as San Myshuno! Especially when it comes to food! Growing up in the Spice Market, you fell in love with food, & have quite the knack for the culinary arts. You are always on the look-out for new recipes. You've only ever had 1 parental figure, & they never married, so you never really saw a lot of PDA. It's really unusual to you, & makes you a little uncomfortable. I mean, people just,,, put their lips together?? For pleasure??? Kinda weird if you really think about it, not gonna lie. Regardless, you find yourself a partner & stay together for the rest of your lives, happily growing old together. You love your city, & what better way to protect it & show your appreciation than become a Politician?
Requirements:
Aspiration(s): City Native, Grill Cheese
Traits: Ambitious, Unflirty, Foodie
Career(s): Politican Career in either Branch
Master Cooking & Gourmet Cooking skills
Must marry & stay together until death do you part
Must join the Fast Food career in high school
Must learn ALL City Living recipes
Gen 5: Black
You were raised by one of San Myshuno's elites, a born-&-raised Myshunan! While your parent's intentions were always good, everyone has their enemies. Not even just from your parent's haters, there was crime everywhere! It's inevitable in such a big city. Everyone tried to hide it from all the children, but no one could hide it from you. You train hard to become a Detective when you grow up. In high school, you make an enchanting frenemy, your academic rival of sorts. You fall in love & get married straight out of high school. You have twins, & wanting to protect your family, get up & move to the suburbs. Not only is work hard to manage, but with raising two kids who are total opposites at the same time, plus the frequent marital squabbles, which is expected when your life is an enemies-to-lovers fanfiction. Needless to say, it’s stressful, & when your workaholic-ass finally gets home, all you can do is try to hold onto your sanity for dear life. But it’s all worth it when you get home & can relax by baking, a coping mechanism learned from [gen 4], & other creative activities. Your kitchen permanently smells like freshly-baked cookies.
Requirements:
Aspiration(s): Successful Lineage
Traits: Good, Gloomy, Loner
Career: Detective
Must master Baking skill & 1 other “creative” skill of your choice (ex: Painting, Fabrication, any instrument, any skill involving food or drinks, etc.)
Must marry HS rival
Spouse must have the “Evil” trait (Cannot be in the Criminal Career, because [gen 5] would arrest them)
Must have at least 1 set of twins (Cheats allowed! Btw, if u shift-click on keyboard or O+X on PS4 controller (idk Xbox), u can click "Starve baby (DEBUG)" if u have triplets)
Must move from San Myshuno to any world perceived as “Suburban” (ex: Copperdale, San Sequoia, Newcrest, etc.)
Gen 6: Gold/Yellow
Your family is from the fabulous, busy city of San Myshuno! But unfortunately your lame parents decided to steal you away from it & instead move you to Nowheresville. They’re fine & all, but, like, not really, y’know? This suburban slice-of-life way of living just isn’t enough for you! Your parents could never balance their attention between work, & your & your sibling(s), & each other, so you always felt like you got the short-end of the stick. As a result, you crave the World’s attention (Daddy Issues much?*)! What better way to get that attention than to become a World-Wide Celebrity! You’ve always had a taste for the dramatic. Your creativity was never encouraged in your youth, so you throw yourself into your life’s work just like [gen 5] (*You can say that again). Of course, you never go anywhere without your other half, your mischievous twin. They might stress you out from time to time, but you might as well be bound at the hip. As long as they don’t cause too much trouble, right?
Requirements:
Aspiration(s): Master Actor/Actress, World-Class Celebrity
Traits: Creative, Self-Absorbed, Snob
Career(s): Actor/Actress
Must master Acting & Media Production skills
Must live with your twin for your entire life
Must only have 1 child
Must marry baby-parent, then divorce child’s parent when [gen 7] is a teenager
Heir must be the oldest sibling, being Gold/Yellow theme, twin being Silver/Grey theme, & other siblings being Copper/Peach, Bronze/Brown, etc., continuing with a metallic award-based color scheme
Twin Requirements:
Aspiration(s): Public Enemy, Chief of Mischief
Traits: Geek, Goofball, Kleptomaniac
Career: Criminal
Cannot marry or have children until Heir dies or retires
Gen 7: Red
Just like [gen 6], you have immense creative talent, & your self-expression has no bounds. Unlike their parents, yours support all your endeavors unconditionally. Your parents’ divorce left an impact on you, & sent you into an emo/goth phase, which was more encouraged by your Pling (a gender-neutral name for Parent’s sibLING). You write goth-y fanfiction, channeling these hard times into your creative spirit. Teenage angst aside, you have a happy childhood, spoiled rotten by your famous parent. You learn to accept the change as you become a Young Adult & completely go back to your usual self. Born & raised in Del Sol Valley, you most definitely believe you have a greater sense of style & poise. You just enjoy the finer things in life. As an artist, you feel fully qualified to tell others when their work isn’t one of the finer things.
Requirements:
Aspiration(s): Painter Extraordinaire
Traits: Materialistic, Creative, Self-Assured
Career(s): Critic in the Art Critic Branch
Must master Painting skill
Must be at least level 7 Writing skill
Must live in Del Sol Valley for your entire life
Gen 8: Violet
You live a simple life, despite being raised in Del Sol Valley. You spent your childhood playing the piano with your family & singing, letting your voice echo throughout your luxurious childhood home, which you admit, was impressive, but you stayed humble & didn’t get caught up in the spoiled, luxurious life of fame like [gen 6 & 7]. You appreciate your Glamourous childhood & the privileges you have that others aren’t lucky enough to. The generational creativity certainly didn’t skip you, for your love for music & your natural talent is blatantly apparent. Any party guests can hear the instruments being gracefully played from The Other Side of the Door of your bedroom. You take any & every chance to take up a new instrument, until there aren’t any more to master! While [gen 7] focused more on painting & such, you’d always find your nose stuck in one of their novels they wrote as a hobby in their emo days. Novels of romance & fantasy, occult & spectacular sights. Thoughts like these consume your Teenage Mind. One day your dreams came true, as you met a Vampire, the Edward to your Bella. You fell in love & promised to run away together as soon as you graduated. Your Highschool Sweetheart teaches you about fantastical abilities & Wonderland -like secret worlds you only saw in your Wildest Dreams. You work together to build your dream home from scratch while pursuing exciting magical adventures. You fill your home with your Family Portrait & photos of your youth.
Requirements:
Aspiration(s): Musical Genius, Spellcaster & Sorcery
Traits: Music Lover, Book Lover, Romantic
Career(s): Entertainer in the Musician Branch
Master Piano, Pipe Organ, Guitar, Violin, Singing, & Vampire Lore skills
Must have 5 kids, at least ⅗ being vampires (matches Vampire Family aspiration), must have human Heir
Must move to an Occult world as a Young Adult with $0
Must learn ALL spells
Gen 9: Cream🍦
Your family was…interesting…to say the least. There was always something happening. You grew up w/ magical parents, a vampire & a spellcaster, w/ 4 siblings, & sometimes you feel like the only normie. After all, even some of your siblings are vampires, too. You don't really fit in, but honestly, you're glad. I mean, wasn't it Spiderman who said "with great power comes great responsibility"? I mean, you have 1 human-born musician parent who's working to become a talented spellcaster, shooting off spells all over the place & another vampire parent trying to train vampire children. So there's always spells being thrown around, sometimes starting fires, yelling & criticism, kids trying to fly through the house, & stubbing toes on all sorts of instruments just lying around. To be honest, as much as you love your family, & how close & special they all are, it *is* pretty overwhelming. Luckily, you used meditation as a way of coping through the chaos. Speaking of overwhelming things, you grew up in a pretty isolated area. Your life motto is "don't talk to strangers." So when you get older, you take a trip to the peaceful Mt. Komorebi, & fall in love. The serenity, the snow, & most importantly, the solitude. So, after your trip, you pack your bags! You continue to develop your yoga skills, but also develop an interest in snow sports! You're just in love with mountain climbing! Just another reason why you love Mt. Komorebi so much. You enjoy your alone time for as long as you want, then take in a single child as an adult, adopting them. You guys sorta just,,,found each other?? Whatever, you guys are more like bros than parent-&-child. Like &i & Bex from the late 2010s Disney channel show "&i Mack" (iconic). You chill out together, go down the bunny slopes, & while it's not really your area of expertise, you teach them to ski & snowboard as best you can, & they seem to love it, so you must be doing something right. You learn from the culture around you, & practice healthy habits, like clean vegetarianism & meditation, inspired by your relaxing environment. Oh, & you think Simmis are really, REALLY cute.
Requirements:
Aspiration(s): Inner Peace, Mt. Komorebi Sightseer
Traits: Socially Awkward, Loner, Vegetarian
Master Wellness & Rock Climbing skills
Must move to Mt. Komorebi before aging into an Adult, alone
Must adopt 1 child-aged sim as an Adult
Must complete Simmi collection
Any or No career, as long as their career doesn't involve too much socializing
Gen 10: Olive
You grew up sort of bouncing around between boring blue suburbans, collecting post cards from all of your foster homes, until you somehow l&ed in the clutches of your best friend, your adoptive parent who lives in Mt. Komorebi. It's awesome! They teach you about meditation & stuff, but most importantly, they teach you to ski & snowboard, your passion! Sure, they might just know the basics of it all, but after they introduce you to the snow sports, you become obsessed & throw your heart & soul into it. You learn the local mannerisms & expectations, & they immediately grow on you. You're super friendly & outgoing (mostly from the isolation [Gen 9] enjoys so much, so you're constantly on the lookout for some outside socialization), but you would cut someone's foot off if they entered your home w/ shoes on. Are they trying to dirty your brand new rugs?? If you want some protection for your bare feet, but on a slipper, you just got that carpet at the San Myshuno flea market, after all. The audacity. Besides that, though, you're really chill. I mean, how can you be so pressed when you're the kid of a total Zen guru? Even if you think they're a little quirky at times, they still taught you everything you know, & you love them for it. You want to become the reigning Monarch of snow sports.
Requirements:
Aspiration(s): Extreme Sports Enthusiast
Traits: Proper, Bro, Adventurous
Career(s): Athlete in the Professional Athlete branch
Master Skiing, Snowboarding & Fitness skills
May or May Not have kids, up to the player since it's gen 10
Must complete Postcard collection
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Alan had mentioned to Charlie that he’s about to run out of heart pills and foot cream. Either this is foreshadowing/giving us a sense of urgency at passing time + the ending coming upon us OR… A.) Sam will surprise Alan by bringing home more supplies (showing he cares about Alan to some degree) or B.) “sorry… I had a pet as a child but it died because I forgot to feed it :/“ XD
Okay, maybe this is me not being American coming in, but I'm very interested in the logistics of Sam trying to get prescription medication for Alan! I would like to see that happen because I'm really very curious about how he would go about it? In my country, certain medications you can buy over-the-counter but stuff like heart meds and such-- require the person to bring a document to buy it, because the prescription is tied to our Identity Cards (they essentially digitalized all prescriptions in recent years). So would Sam add breaking and entering into his list of crimes, or would he try to track somebody down that would get the meds for him? Really, I want to see that happen now. So bad.
And oh god fcking dammit, how I hope he doesn't get Alan killed over a heart attack because after everything that would be a really awful way to go. Fingers crossed that doesn't happen.
Maybe Alan manages to get out? Hell, I don't know. I just hope he doesn't die from his medical conditions, I guess. That'd be really fcking sad.
Actually, on a side note, that got me thinking of the Table Tennis moments we saw in that one trailer... is Sam intentionally trying to exhaust Alan? I am curious if that's something he's trying to do for some specific purpose (like killing him easier if he's let down by him :( ) but of course, I'd rather have Sam start to care. Even if just to show progress with his empathy. And seriously, Alan has to tell Sam he's running out of meds, right? Damn, I really want to see what the hell they do from here on out.
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