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marlynnofmany · 26 days

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Squishy Cybernetics

“Hello!” I said. “Where would you like this?” I waved an arm at the large pallet of boxes, bags, and miscellaneous other packaging. It was on one of our biggest hoversleds, and accompanied by some of the biggest crewmates.

The Waterwill at the loading gate burbled thoughtfully, sounding like a water jug given sentience. She extended what passed for an arm of her own and pointed indoors. “You’d better bring it all the way in. Over here.” She glided inward, moving in that mysterious way I’d never figured out. Someone shaped like a column of jello had no business scooting forward that quickly, no matter how much their lower end rippled against the floor.

But I didn’t have time for galaxy-gazing; I had to help steer the hoversled. Regulations said we needed someone on all four sides for a load this big, just in case of antigrav mishaps. Didn’t want it slamming into something breakable at this client’s facility — or slamming into anything at all, really, but this place was some sort of high-tech manufacturing plant, and I didn’t want to think about what kind of damage a crash could do.

No mishaps today, though. The Frillian twins paced along on either side, all muscles and tight clothes (they’d left the flowy silks behind today; a solid choice). I couldn’t see Zhee in the back, but I heard the quiet click of his bug feet. My own feet were silent in proper Earth shoes as I tugged the steering handle and followed the Waterwill.

I thought we’d just take the thing to the far side of the big loading dock, unload it in an out-of-the-way spot to be unpacked later. But the Waterwill kept going. We passed hovercars and wheeled carts, storage cabinets and bins, along with a baffling arrangement of pipes along one wall. Windows showed glimpses of the busy manufacturing facility. I had no idea what they were making. Maybe I’d get a better look on the way back out.

Oh hey, a human, I thought in surprise as I passed a bigger window. With a Strongarm on his back? What in the world are they making together? I was already moving past, and could only speculate about intricate manufacturing projects that needed hands and tentacles at the same time.

I was still wondering why the Strongarm hadn’t just pulled up a chair next to the human when the Waterwill signalled me to stop. “Stopping,” I announced for Zhee’s benefit. We all came to a halt, and nobody crashed into anything. Hallelujah.

“Here, please,” the Waterwill said. She stretched her arm out into a long tendril to pick up a scrap of something blue that had fallen on the floor, and pointed at an empty space near several foam-topped tables. “I’m needed out front. Heeme, can you oversee?”

“Sure thing,” said a voice from nowhere, then a Strongarm climbed out from under one of the tables. “Found the last of the broken bits, by the way.” Two of his tentacles were curled around pieces of the same blue stuff the Waterwill had picked up. The blue stood out against the dark red of his skin, but not as much as the four mismatched tentacles on other side did. They were a transparent blue-green much like the Waterwill’s own tendrils. I tried not to stare, and failed.

“Thank you,” the Waterwill said. “I’ll be back in a bit.” She set her broken piece of whatever on the nearest table, then scooted through a door that was apparently soundproofed, because a cacophony of whirs and whooshes filled the air until it closed.

“Right,” I said. “Over here, then.” I steered the hoversled into position, then we all worked together to guide the detachable gravity platform onto the ground. That part always made me nervous, since it looked like the giant pallet that could crush me was floating through the air with just a touch of technological magic to make it go. I understand other models of industrial-sized hoversleds have more mechanical-looking gravity platforms, or regular forklift arms. Ours was the glowy magic kind, and it deposited the giant stack of objects with all the precision of the best fairytale enchantment.

“Perfect,” said the Strongarm. “We’ll unpack it from here. Thanks.”

“Our pleasure,” I said.

Zhee, finally able to see over the hoversled, got a good look at who I was talking to. “Oh, I’m sure you’re fast at unpacking,” he said, pointing with his pincher arm. “Does that model form into blades?”

“Sure does!” the Strongarm said, holding up a see-through tentacle that instantly flattened into a shape like a steak knife. “Good for packaging, stubborn latches, and all manner of other things.”

“And stabbing!” Blop put in, to be immediately shushed by his sister.

“No stabbing on the job,” she told him.

The Strongarm laughed. “Yeah, just respectable tool use. They don’t give these out to anyone who’s going to do violence with them.”

I asked, “Is that Waterwill tech? I haven’t seen one before.”

“Yup.” He turned the knife back into a tentacle, then into a variety of other shapes. “One of the perks of working here, for sure. They’re cagey about sharing tech. This is the best prosthesis I’ve ever encountered.”

I thought of the hard metal-and-plastic replacement limbs that were standard on Earth. They would be wildly out of place on this guy’s squishy octopus body. And no amount of interchangeable attachments would be able to beat this kind of easy shapeshifting. I said, “That looks really useful.”

“It is!”

The loud door opened to admit a wall of sound, along with the human-and-Strongarm pair. Which I realized with a start was actually just a human wearing more transparent tentacles on his back.

“Here’s the new set,” he said to the Strongarm, placing a clear box on the table that was full of a stack of more flat blue things. They appeared to be cut into very specific shapes. I might have been curious about what they were for if not for the much more interesting thing to be curious about.

“Hello,” I said. “Does everyone who works here get extra limbs?”

The tan human grinned. “If they want ‘em! And they pass the screening, of course. But you’ve got to leave them here each day if they’re the bonus kind, as opposed to replacements.”

The Strongarm wiggled his tentacles in a taunting manner. “I can open packages and slice food so easily at home.”

The human made a face and wiggled the tentacles on his back. “Yeah yeah, we’re all jealous. Someday I’ll convince the bosses that there’s an actual market for these, and I’ll be the first in line to buy my own.”

“They think there isn’t?” I asked in shock. “Those look so useful! I can’t list the number of times I’ve wished for more hands. Using teeth and feet only goes so far.”

Zhee made a disparaging hiss. “You have that many fingers, and still want more? Greedy.”

“I’m just saying that re-weaving a cargo net would go much faster if I could hold all of the fibers at once,” I told him, then turned to the Frillians. “Back me up. Two arms just isn’t enough sometimes, right?”

Blip and Blop looked at each other and shrugged. “I guess?” Blip said. “But that’s just when it’s time to get another person to help.”

Zhee clicked a pincher. “Exactly so. Or approach the problem differently.”

The human told me, “I’ve had this conversation more than once. Apparently not all species grow up imagining what it’s like to have bird wings or monkey tails or whatnot.”

“Surely other people want to fly,” I said. The expressions around me were dishearteningly blank. “Surely!”

“I wouldn’t bet on it,” the human said. “See why I couldn’t convince the bosses?”

“But even on a practicality standpoint!” I exclaimed. “They have you using them here; why wouldn’t they think you’d want to use them at home?”

He shrugged, moving the tentacles in a graceful wave as he did. “Alien brains. I’ve given up trying to fully understand.”

The Strongarm spoke up. “If there are actually a large number of humans who would buy these, then it couldn’t hurt to put together a request from outside sources. The bosses don’t listen to random employees who are probably biased, but they might take an interest in actual buyers.”

I shook my head slowly. “Our courier ship isn’t going to be that kind of buyer, especially not at the scale they’d probably need.”

“What about big human ships?” Blip asked. “We could suggest it to the next one we meet.”

“Or human colonies,” Blop said. “Or large groups at space stations.”

Zhee said, “I heard Captain Sunlight talking about a delivery to Basal Station soon. There are plenty of humans there. You could suggest it to them, if you think this is really that widespread an interest.”

“It couldn’t hurt,” I said, thinking. There was indeed a significant human population on that space station, which might even include the crew I’d met from the droid jousting ship Hold My Beer. They were definitely the type to appreciate some extra arms. Both for working on finicky electronics and general slapfight shenanigans.

“Here, we should have something with the contact information,” said the Strongarm. “Jon, is there a notepad over there?”

“Yeah, got it.” The human leaned over a table and used his tentacles to lift a stack of books so he could pull out the small notepad at the bottom. That may have been showing off. “Here you go!” He handed it to me with his regular hand.

“Thanks,” I said. “I’ll see if I can find the right ears to whisper into.”

“Best of luck!” he said. “My partner has asked me no less than half a dozen times if I could sneak my set home to play around with, but I’m not gonna risk the job.”

I laughed, hoping I wasn’t blushing. “Oh man, I wasn’t even going to mention the bedroom applications.”

Of course Zhee had to ask, tilting his head with faceted eyes shining. “The what?”

“Remember how most humans find tentacles a little creepy?” I asked him, pocketing the notepad.

“I recall. It makes this insistence all the stranger.”

“Well, some humans aren’t creeped out at all. Kind of the opposite. They like them a lot. In a, uh, private fashion.”

Jon the human spelled it out for him. “Mating rituals.”

Zhee’s antennae did a complicated dance, then settled in something that looked like disgust. “I was about to ask why, but I’ve decided I don’t want to know.”

“Yeah, best not to,” I agreed. “Anyway! Very useful extra arms. Good for a wide variety of activities. Other humans will likely be interested.”

“Very likely,” Jon agreed.

I activated the hovercart with a nod, and we said our goodbyes. The employees wished me luck. They returned to work while we headed back toward our ship.

Zhee grumbled disparaging things about my species the whole way, but that was nothing new.

~~~

The ongoing backstory adventures of the main character from this book. More to come! And I am currently drafting a sequel!

PS: the story with the good ship Hold My Beer is here, if you're wondering about that. It's fun.

#my writing #The Token Human #I probably should have thought up a prank-related story for today #given what day this getting posted #but it didn't occur to me and I already had this idea #plus that might feel like a repeat of 'What’s a Minor Heart Attack Between Friends?'#which I'm going to reblog next just for funsies #anyways the location for this story is partly based on my old workplace #though the noise is on the wrong side of the door #humans are weird #haso #hfy #eiad #humans are space orcs #humans are space bards #and other such tags #tentacles #prosthetics #in spaaace

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carnivalcarriondiscarded · 2 months

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ON THE TOPIC OF BARNABY. as well as his relationship with Wally.

So. To kick this off - Riv (@funonion) and I were Speculating, and they introduced me to the johari window:

They put Barnaby in the “facade” section, and I entirely agree. To quote them;

“So he’s Wally’s guide, right? He’s the “knowledgeable” one of the two and is always the one teaching him new things. And you know, it’s one thing if you’re just teaching him how to laugh or how to tell a joke. But.

Clown has given us two doors. One says that Barnaby understands Wally in a way the rest of the neighborhood doesn’t, and is willing to do his dirty work so to speak. The other says that their friendship was not a natural occurring thing and had to be enforced repeatedly within the show. HOW THAT’S BEING ENFORCED IS ANOTHER THING ENTIRELY but it is worth it to note.

What is Barnaby willing to keep? What is he willing to bury for his little buddy? I can’t say anything definitively yet, but the fact that I even have to ask is telling. The class clown archetype is usually used as a way to cover up for something else a character might be experiencing”

And my response, (I won’t directly quote because I have little things in the phrasing & elaboration to add / tweak );

Barnaby being a Comic Relief Character immediately raised so many alarms in my head. I love comic relief characters. They’re always so fucked up in one way or another, and Barnaby is almost certainly SO inauthentic. He’s wearing a comedy mask just as opaque as Wally’s own mask. In everything we’ve seen about him so far he’s either Teaching Wally, wisecracking/joking, or… pretty much nothing else. We got that moment of concern in audio 14-14, but that doesn’t reveal anything beyond genuine care for Wally.

Comedic characters have the best disguises. Their poker faces & ability to deflect is always top tier [and practiced], and just look at comedy-focused actors and entertainers - so many of them have severe issues, either with their mental health or life. From what i’ve observed both in that aspect & with fictional characters, they play it off & work hard to entertain/deflect [one in the same] right up until the end. Sometimes it’s a coping mechanism. Usually it’s both. If they laugh loud enough and make people think they’re lighthearted fools w/ nothing underneath, no one will look any deeper and thus they’re “safe”.

& I’m a little suspicious that Barnaby’s red/orange/yellow spots aren’t naturally those colors. While yes, he could be (in-universe) designed that way to echo Ms. Beagle, there’s a strong possibility that that’s not it. What if he paints them to feel a connection to her, or it’s a physical manifestation of Barnaby covering up his insecurities/issues - what if it’s part of him striving to convince the world that he is what he paints himself as.

The laidback funnyguy with a loving mom and not a problem in the world.

And I mean, Barnaby claims to be a natural blue and I believe him! But the other colors? I’m doubtful

(I was going to include the Cast As Lil Kids Designs in this since Barnaby has all blue spots, but given how early in 2021 it was posted and how there seem to be little discrepancies from the ~official~ designs, I don’t want to provide it as evidence.)

& on the topic of Wally and Barnaby’s relationship being both real and not - disclaimer, this conversation happened before my Updated Thoughts On Them post, so there may be some minor rephrasing here from what I originally said - I’m sure that the relationship started out as inauthentic. Wally was assigned Barnaby as a best friend and technically vice versa, but I don’t doubt for a second that it became real to some extent. Clown wouldn’t treat their relationship outside of “canon” WH stuff the way that he does if they weren’t actually friends. They’ve said that Wally & Barnaby would be friends in every universe (which melts my heart <3 platonic soulmates my beloved <3), so then I have to agree with Riv. what WILL Barnaby do for Wally? I touched on this in the Milk Theory, but especially if Barnaby prides himself on “knowing Wally better than anything else”, what would Barn do to preserve that?

This relates to another conversation we had - Barnaby possibly having abandonment issues. It’s such a choice to have him of all characters be explicitly stated as an orphan. That and while every other Neighbor with a mentioned family have a somewhat large one (Howdy and his gajillion relatives, Julie and her three siblings, Poppy and her crowded tree [note: Eddie has a mentioned mother, but that info is tenuous and who knows if there are other Dears]), Barnaby has also explicitly stated that Ms. Beagle is his only family. That’s it. And farm life can’t be a sociable way to grow up, not with all the chores he must have had and how rural he might have grown up. Barnaby jokes that Home is the “Big Apple”, which could just be a joke - but jokes often come from a place of truth, and Home might be the most populated area Barnaby has lived in. Who’s to say!

Either way, Barnaby was orphaned one way or another, and I don’t doubt that it weighs on him. Especially if his birth parents really did abandon him. That added to a possible life of loneliness… I wonder if he’s latched onto Wally emotionally, which would hit all the painful places if it turns out that my “Barnaby is more attached to Wally than Wally is to Barnaby” theory has merit. Abandonment issues could also strongly back the apparent walls he’s plastered over with circus tent fabric

Back to Barnaby & Wally: the fact that, at present, Barnaby and Wally seem to have the best disguises / strongest masks. That. looking at 14-14, i suspect that Barnaby is excellent at keeping his up, but as soon as Wally’s mask cracks, so does Barnaby’s.

And then there’s the side of their dynamic that we could look at - it seems to be a very multifaceted relationship. The way that Barnaby genuinely cares yet in the 00 Halloween audio Wally was left off to the side and Barnaby was just “checking on him” while socializing (then again, this could be part of Barnaby understanding Wally & respecting his space / Wally wanting a break from that socialization). Barnaby is patient with Wally and yet he seems to sometimes treat Wally as his sidekick / let him fade into the background and yet Barnaby kept checking in on Wally during the 14 bug audios (this last one I could tie into the abandonment issues theory).

Then there’s how Barnaby calls Wally kid & can tend to treat him like one despite both of them being in the same age group. The way that all of this could, in a way, relate to the infantilization of autistic people (no matter how well-meaning or unintentional) & internalized ableism.

Note: Riv pointed out that Barnaby does seem to be doing the best with what he has, and that this can connect to the Johari Window’s blind spot / unknown.

I do agree with this wholeheartedly! And I have to mention that - and making a Very educated guess here - the interactions we’ve seen take place in the very late 60s / very early 70s, so Barnaby’s behavior towards Wally is actually pretty fucking stellar given the time period. We can’t expect him to be perfect or do everything / say everything right. That would be boring I think! And one thing I deeply appreciate about the Neighbors & their dynamics is that they feel like real layered people, not cardboard cutouts being perfect caricatures of what people are “supposed” to be like.

Riv also presented this:

We likely are going to reach a point where Wally asks Barnaby something that he can’t / doesn’t want to / won’t answer. And like.. Ok. This is a slight tangent but I swear it’s related! When I first discovered WH and learned the Wally basics, I wondered two things.

Are we going to watch Wally “discover” new emotions? Because he certainly has them. Clown has said that Wally only ever feels happy, and a lot of people took that to mean that Wally can’t feel anything else. I don’t think we should take that answer at face value, because. I mean. Look at the project & creator we’re talking about. Layers, guys. Indirect direct answers. I think that Clown meant that Wally only ever feels happy in the Neighborhood because he has no reason to feel any negative emotion. Everything is as it should be. Until it isn’t - and I think that’s where he’s going to have to struggle with new emotions as he encounters them through new situations/events unfolding as the “story” starts to deteriorate. We’ve actually seen this a little bit - in Wally’s record audios (i believe the chronological second to last?), the way he says “Let Me In” so insistently. That’s definitely not a positive emotion being expressed.

How will the topic of death be handled - because it will be handled, it’s stated in the project warnings. I was wondering this even before I read the list, because I was presented with a blank slate puppet character and so went “oh fuck, this dude doesn’t know about death, does he?” Obviously I wanted to know how that would go. I want to know how it Will go!

How would Barnaby explain emotions that Wally doesn’t know how to convey? How would Barnaby explain death in a way that Wally would understand - given that Barnaby (& all the Neighbors sans Wally) knows what death is - and would Barnaby be willing to explain such a thing? I have a feeling we may find out.

And in a way, I suspect that if none of them know, Wally will find out himself and have to process it without help. But then again, how can something die if it was never really alive in the first place? Unless the death warning relates to human characters… I’m currently assuming it relates to both humans and puppets.

In conclusion: Barnaby has a carefully fabricated facade, he's doing the best with what he has but it likely won't be enough, and uh. shits fucked!

#AGH I HOPE IM PUTTING THESE POSTS TOGETHER CORRECTLY.#I HAVE TWO DAYS TO WRITE AND POST THEM ALL #but anyway another thing i was wondering in relation to barnaby & wally having an imbalanced relationship was #the possibility of:#howdy < barnaby < wally < home #as in the <[x] character is more important to the [y]< character than [y] is to [x]#because howdy does seem to like barnaby a whole hell of a lot but we don't know if barnaby feels so strongly back #idk. i feel like i might be seeing a little domino line being set up here. and im Nervous <3 #what happens if the first domino falls? who will it be? how hard will it fall.#who's to say if that has any merit i just wanted to mention it! its intriguing to me #(& to be clear since im aware of my laughingstock rep - im not talkin about shippy dominoes)#(i take off the shipping goggles for analysis. howdy can fully cherish barn as a Friend while still being [y]<)#homebogging #welcome home speculation #wh speculation #i feel like i have more in my brain but. im dealing with minor flu symptoms and im exhausted <3 #today was a Lot <3 #so i'll queue this for around 10 & hopefully I'll be awake & with the next post written for you guys!

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grishaverse-chaos · 4 months

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hmmm something about dominik haunting the narrative in king of scars. everything nikolai does is at least a little bit for him. he learns about the life of average ravkan people by meeting dominik's family. he starts gaining influence in politics just so he can improve dominik's life. and then he promises dominik that he won't let ravka break him.

that promise fucking haunts him. it follows him wherever he goes. it's the driving force behind everything he does, every step he takes to heal the centuries-old wounds in ravka. it's what drives him to do better, be better.

dominik is always there, in the back of his mind: this country gets you in the end. always pushing him to do more, because he couldn't save dominik and so he has to save ravka (for dominik) (because he promised) (because he loved him)

#my spicy hot take is that nikolai's relationship with dominik actually affects the narrative of the duology more than -#- his relationship with zoya does #you could argue that *none* of the events of the duology would have happened without dominik's influence #and honestly zoyalai as a relationship doesn't really affect the narrative/plotline all that much #which is One of the problems i have with it being endgame #anyway yes i am writing an angsty nikolai backstory fic why do you ask?#it's mostly about how he reinvents himself at every minor inconvenience (but also how incredibly fucked up his childhood was)#and if i have the energy it might turn into a rewrite of the ending of rule of wolves #bc him giving up the throne just plays into that pattern of running away #so honestly i think it's not a great ending in terms of his arc and character development #this may just be a me thing idk but i just feel like he doesn't actually get that much development in the duology #bc there's this idea of him as being Perfect and Invulnerable and Not Affected By His Trauma #which. is not the case.#it's all very dear reader (taylor swift) imo #ANYWAY #mayhem.txt #mayhem grishaverse originals #nikolai lantsov #shadow and bone #king of scars #grishaverse

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playertwotails · 15 days

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Okay so this has been circling around in my head for like two weeks like a fly hitting windows in a sun-room.

So I'm back on my Tails kitsune AU bullshit and I've also recently gotten into Cult of the Lamb so now they've mashed in my brain into a hodgepodged gloop.

And it's all going below the cut if you wanna read my brain worms cause it's long

***Trigger warning for like blood and cults and kidnapping and drugging. Just to give people a heads up (nothing too graphic or detailed but just in case and let me know if you think I missed anything I might need to warn people about)****

Little side note before jumping into this: do not tag as shipping, there is no shipping here it's all platonic and familial. If I see a ship tag I will block you.

Starting off it doesn't matter if Tails is actually a kitsune or not (I personally prefer that yes he is just for the post situation of the gang all being like "okay so what species is Tails actually???" )

I've just had this idea in my head where some cult somewhere is started and they worship kitsune's as godlike entities. They then catch wind of Tails in the news or rumors and their target is now locked.

So this cults leader gets the 'big brain but head actually empty' idea to kidnap Tails like any sane cult leader would.

Now these people somehow stumble ass backwards into kidnapping Tails and keeping him contained. And by keeping him contained they're basically drugging Tails just enough he's conscious but nonreactive. And they basically dress him up and drag him to their ceremonies as more of object than a kid. Tails is hating it and actually scared cause what the hell is wrong with these people let him go home.

Meanwhile Sonic and the gang are all freaking out cause "WHERE IS HE??!!!!" Cause lets be honest kidnapped by a cult was not on any of their bingo cards and at this point they don't know that's what happened, they only know Tails is gone and none of the usual suspects have him.

Rouge starts going through her contacts on the side looking for any crumb of information and gets a lead. And in typical Rouge fashion splits off on her own to look into it. She then comes across the cult and infiltrates their compound.

During her snooping though she overhears the leader of the cult and his subordinates talking about "living forever through the blood of their god's mortal form", sees a statue of a multi-tailed fox and all the red flags are immediately up for her. Internal panic button is smashed. 2 + 2 = fucked up situation.

She's already pressing the "get your asses here" button on her communicator and tears off as quickly but quietly as she can looking for Tails. When she finds him he's in a locked room just laying in bed, all dressed up in a white outfit. Which strange for her to see him just laying there since normally he'd be out and gone long time ago She sees what they've been giving him next to the bed and she's now double pissed off. (I like to think it's at least been over a week Tails has been missing, but if you wanna get really angsty make about 6 months, just as long as Sonic was locked up in Forces).

As gently but quickly as she can she bundles up Tails and carries him cause at this point he's got so much in his system he can't walk or talk, blinking is kinda his only form of communication at the moment. To which Rouge doesn't know what's worse, for Tails to have been asleep for the whole time unaware or to be awake for the whole time and know what's happening.

Tails on the other hand is just so happy to see her and scared that he starts crying. Which is just breaking Rouge's heart to witness as she starts to backtrack out of there with him, with him just silently crying nonstop in her arms.

Unfortunately only about halfway to the exit they discover Tails is gone and the place starts going into lock down with cultist swarming the halls of the place. And even though Rouge is an excellent fighter, she's in close quarters with a kid who can't walk so she's quickly overrun by cultist who tie her up and take Tails back.

The leader then using all of his one brain cell figures she's already signaled to the other's where they are and he knows it's only a matter of time before the fastest thing on the planet busts their door down looking for his little brother.

The leader announces to the group they're moving up the ceremony to now much to Rouge's horror and they drag her along too kicking and screaming cause they don't have time to drop her off in a cell or anything.

Everyone is now in this big ceremony/chapel room that has a big stone table covered in white flowers, that suspiciously is the perfect size for an 8 year old fox to lay down on. And the leader does just that laying Tails on the table.

Rouge is throwing an absolute fit and cursing everyone out cause no way in hell is she gonna let this happen, it's to the point multiple people are having to hold her down even with her tied up cause she's kicking up such a storm of rage.

Meanwhile, Tails is mentally absolutely freaking out in a panic and is terrified out of his mind, especially when the leader brings out a large ornate knife and starts chanting something.

As the leader is finishing up and reeling back his hand with the knife Sonic busts in and sees all of this. Immediately rushing to the table just as the cult leader goes for the downswing.

Sonic just barely catches the knife about an inch from Tails' chest grabbing on to the blade of it and cutting his hand which drips onto Tails.

Now Sonic finally has a moment to process all of this and what exactly is happening and for obvious reasons he is beyond pissed off. He's probably not far off from turning into dark Sonic or it's creeping around the edges of him. And just as he's about to send the cult leader to meet his maker he glances at Tails' face and that's the only reason he doesn't kill the leader right then and there. Cause Sonic thought Tails was asleep but now he notices not only is Tails somewhat awake but tears are streaming down his face.

So Sonic does the next best thing in this situation, knocks out the leader in less than a second and just pulls Tails into a hug off the table and starts just sobbing with Tails in his lap curled up on the floor. Cause the horror of what about happened and the relief Tails is okay and he found him in time hits Sonic all at once.

The rest of the cultists are still frozen cause for Sonic, Tails and the leader all that happened in less than a minute and the group is still catching their bearings of everything that just happened. Which is a good thing cause in that moment everyone else catches up and runs into this whole scene.

From their perspective though they just see Sonic sobbing over a limp Tails with blood on his chest (from Sonic's hand but they don't know that), a guy knocked out (or possibly dead??) next to them, a big stone table that suspiciously looks like an alter also next to them, Rouge who is still cursing up a storm tied up in the corner and held down by like 5 people, and a room full of people in matching robes that look like the guy up near Sonic and Tails.

The rest of the group now splits off with Amy and Knuckles running over to Sonic and Tails, Shadow going for the leader on the ground, Omega going to help Rouge, and the rest of their friends they had helping them splitting off to take care of the rest of the cultists.

From here everything gets resolved, cultists and leader locked up, Tails getting what ever drugs they were giving him out of his system and going home and everyone somewhat going back to their lives. Sonic however does not leave Tails' side for a while and hovers around him which for the first few weeks Tails appreciates cause if he's honest he doesn't want Sonic to be far from him either after everything and really doesn't want to be alone for long. Tails get constant nightmares about the situation and is snuggling with his big brother almost every night. Which is great for Sonic cause he's also getting terrible nightmares from the ordeal and feels better when he wakes up and Tails is right there.

It does get to the point though where after a bit of recovery and time healing the mental scars Tails has to convince Sonic that he can be go back to running around and exploring without Tails right next to him. It takes a lot of convincing and scheduling regular check-ins (like 5x more than they previously had) but Sonic and Tails slowly get somewhat back to their normal lives.

If you wanna get angsty though have it so Sonic is just a second too slow in saving Tails and the fallout from that. (couldn't be me though I'm a hurt/comfort girly at heart, give me the angst but everyone's okayish in the end)

#miles tails prower #tails the fox #tails kitsune au #kitsune au #enjoy my brain worms #this has been eating away at all my other ideas for a while now #feel free to add on if you like just keep me in the loop #i might post the little comic I'm attempting to draw about that one scene at the altar with Sonic grabbing the knife #that scene is so vivid in my head #I've had bad art block and burnout for like 4 years now since coivd hit and my job got STRESSFUL (call center life sucked)#but I'm slowly trying to knock the rust off my skills #a whole art minor I have not used in a while #my drawing skills are like the Tinman in the Wizard of Oz #someone give me some oil so they move again

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umblrspectrum · 8 months

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thanks iz

#you'll never fucking guess what new hyperfixation ive gained #had the game for 3 days and i already have over 24 hours on it #its so punishing and so fun #anyways friend bought it for me cause i showed minor interest and well here we are #burrowing heaven is so cool though #i might get another favorite eventually cause i'm only some 30% through all the Beasties #who knows #art #lobotomy corporation #lobotomy corp #lobotomy corp burrowing heaven #burrowing heaven #i didn't feel like coloring today #dont worry md followers. im cooking #i didnt actually check what tags existed for lobotomy corp so this will have to do

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ratwithhands · 10 months

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Got dragged around a lot today so I couldn't quite finish this on time ;/ Anyways Emmet in his little goofy suit. Mildly formal, mildly circus, just thought it'd be fun :) Hope you guys like it and goodnight

#submas #subwaymasteremmet #emmetpokemon #kudari #monthofemmet #pokemon #pokemonfanart #I'd like to think this is his “deceptively formal” outfit #like at first glance you could definitely wear this to some event but you look at it for too long and it feels like a costume #idk might just be me #also it's like the most minor pointless detail but for sketches like these Emmet's coast and pants are just sliiiightly grey #feel like it makes him a little easier to look at than straight white #anyways this was supposed to be a proper old fashioned conductor's uniform but uh I started colouring #I don't usually work with the red version of their designs (I prefer the brown personally) but I think it worked better for this #the pinstripes also made it more interesting #maybe I'll draw him in this again sometime :)

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fortes-fortuna-iogurtum · 2 months

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there are too many thoughts inside of me at all times.

#hello friends hope you all are doing well. my words have been abandoning me lately.#I talk a lot and feel like I say nothing. it is truly frustrating.#meanwhile I am doing a bible word study and realizing that all the things I have realized in the past might be valid #(namely the way that a lot of people in my church tradition try to reduce biblical concepts of 'peace' to a sort of inward emotional state #and that's not actually a great way to interpret the biblical concept of shalom. like at all. and massively cheats a lot of communities out #of the actual practical real-life extension of the kingdom and how it's supposed to function)#also I had a minor crisis a few days ago when I looked at a boy who I know only vaguely and thought 'oh. shoot. he's cute.'#I am not used to having these sorts of thoughts or at least not to acknowledging them to myself #not sure why I'm telling tumblr this but I have no one else to tell it to and I feel like I should get it out of my system lol :')#ok logging off again gotta eat some noodles and finish this assignment with is already late #I will see you guys at a later date #(probably not too much later tho bc it is spring break and I am unfortunately stuck at college and there are very few other people here :')#gurt says stuff

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zmzebra-writes · 11 days

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Title: The Wrong Amagi Wedding Chapters: 3/? (start, previous) Genre: Comedy Summary: After being invited to their father's second marriage, Rinne and Hiiro find themselves having to temporarily return to the village. Not wanting their friends to be alone, the rest of Crazy:B and Alkaloid join them on their journey back, but these "city folks" might not be the only ones learning something new during this visit.

In this chapter.... The hike towards the village continues! Follow Alkakurei as they traverses the trees and rivers, meet old friends, and take their first steps into the village.

CW for vulgar jokes. Nothing cruel, just a tad dirty.

They were about half-way to the village when Rinne decided to stop for lunch. He had been pointing out edible plants for Niki to snack on, but everyone else wanted to eat a proper meal. It was around lunchtime anyways.

“On the other side of the river,” called out Rinne, “There’s a good space for us to have a picnic. Is everyone confident in their balancing abilities?”

Everyone made noises of agreement, but Aira and Mayoi looked unsure.

“What do you mean by that, Rinne?” asked Aira.

Rinne held up two fingers. “If you don’t want to get wet, there are only two ways to cross the river to the village: balancing on an old fallen log or balancing on some high river rocks.”

Rinne gave a sly grin. “Unless you want me to test how far I can throw you, Aira-chan~...”

Aira squeaked and rapidly rejected the idea.

“Kyahaha! Don’t worry, it’s not that bad,” reassured Rinne, “The water isn’t that deep or strong at this part of the river. If you’re nervous, you can walk on through.”

“Really?”

“Yeah! You’ll just freeze your nuts off instead!”

Aira’s face scrunched up. “...I think I’ll take the log.”

Rinne whistled and skipped ahead. “Rotting log it is!”

“Huh?? What do you mean rotting??”

Mayoi looked sick as he watched Aira chase after Rinne. “... I think I’ll just let the river take my balls.”

Tatsumi gave a look of concern. “But your balls are so lovely, Mayoi. It would be a loss for the world.”

“Tatsumi?!” shrieked Mayoi.

Tatsumi giggled. “Kidding~! Just a joke.”

“You are disgusting, Kazehaya,” said HiMERU as he pushed himself ahead of everyone.

“Aw, HiMERU, your balls are cute too~...”

HiMERU turned around to murder Tatsumi for uttering such slander.

“Can we please stop talking about balls?!!” yelled Kohaku, thoroughly done with his seniors.

“Yeah! Don’t worry, Mayoi,” said Hiiro, aiming to be a beacon of comfort today, “You’ll still have your balls after crossing the river! It’s just cold.”

“Not helping, Hiiro!” There was no refuge for Kohaku.

“Hey are you guys done talking about your balls or are we going to cross this log?” yelled back Rinne, “Aira’s too much of a pussy to go first so Kohaku you need to get over here and hold his hand.”

“Brother, can’t I hold hands with Aira?” asked Hiiro.

“Nah, there’s only so much this old log can handle at a time, but you can go first and help them off the log.”

“On it!” Hiiro zoomed forward, crossing the log with light, deft steps. He leapt off, and started waving from the opposite bank.

“Come on, Aira! It’s perfectly safe!”

Aira still felt nervous, but Kohaku came up from behind and grabbed his hand.

“Don’t worry, Love-han. I’ll be right behind and keep you from falling,” said Kohaku.

Aira smiled.

“OK now chop chop, loverboys, get moving,” said Rinne, “We still have a lot more people to get through.”

Kohaku glared at Rinne, but let Aira lead him to the log bridge. Slowly, but surely, they made it to the other side where Hiiro helped them down.

Next was Niki, then HiMERU, and lastly Tatsumi, until only Rinne and Mayoi remained.

“Alright, Mayo-chan~, you’re up.”

Mayoi began to fidget. “... I really think I should just take the river.”

Rinne swooped down and lifted up Mayoi in a single, quick movement. Mayoi squeaked.

“Come on, scaredy cat. If this ol’ log can hold up a fatass like Niki, it can hold up your flat ass. Unless you want to see if it can handle both our weights at once when I carry you across…”

Rinne held Mayoi so he was barely standing on the log before letting go. Mayoi quickly and gracefully crossed the log in one fell swoop.

“Now that wasn’t so hard, was it?” Rinne followed behind on the log at a relaxed pace.

Niki greeted him on the landing. “So lunchtime? You have the cooler, right?”

“Am I only a piece of meat to you, Niki?”

“Nyahaha, of course not, Rinne. You contain many different types of foods. Now open up!”

Rinne grumbled, but unzipped his bag. “A ‘please’ would be nice…”

He looked up at Kohaku. “Do you still have that messenger bag of snacks, Kohaku?”

Kohaku huffed at the obvious as the bag rested in front of him.

“Are you an idiot, Rinne?” he said as he opened the bag, “Obviously I still have the— huh?”

Kohaku took off the bag and shook out a pile of trash. Only a few of them still contained food or drink. “Where did it… Niki!”

Niki carefully slinked out of sight. Kohaku dropped his luggage to increase his speed as he moved in for the kill. The rest of the group began setting up for lunch as Niki ran for his life.

A few minutes later, a sudden thud and shriek from Niki and Kohaku had Rinne dropping the sandwiches he was taking out of his bag and swiping his knife. Both Amagis hopped to action, running towards the sound of the shouts.

Niki was sitting on the ground behind Kohaku who stood on the defense. In front of them stood a large beast in the shadows of the trees. Its massive flat face was only rivaled by the size of its soaring humpback. Smoke appeared to surround the beast, hiding its features as it breathed heavily.

“Rinne, what is that thing?” asked Kohaku, unsure of whether his fists would be enough to take the monster down.

“Stay still, Kohaku,” said Rinne as he creeped closer to the beast with a hand out to tell Hiiro to pause, “We don’t want to set it off.”

A low rumbling came from the beast as it scraped the ground with its wide hoof.

“Easy, fella, easy,” said Rinne. He had a bet on what this mystery animal was, but he needed to take a risk to let everything end peacefully, “Don’t you recognize me?”

The beast huffed as more smoke billowed through the trees. Hiiro and Kohaku tensed up. Rinne was now only a foot away from the being. He held out a hand for it to sniff, his knife stored secretly in his back pocket.

“I know it’s been years, but do you remember? The apple from that time.”

The beast stilled. The ever growing smoke began to thin to everyone’s relief. The beast moved into the light to press its face into Rinne’s outstretched hand.

Niki and Kohaku looked shocked at the sight of the now clearly visible strange creature.

Hiiro’s eyes lit up in recognition and he tensed up to attack. “Volcano bison! You returned to destroy us!”

“Calm down, Hiiro,” replied Rinne as he patted Volcano Bison, “I’m friends with it. I think Volcano Bison was just curious.”

“Rinne, what the hell is that?” asked Kohaku with a slightly horrified look. The beast appeared to break several laws of existence with its large eyes and what appeared to be smoke coming from the peak on its back.

“It’s just Volcano Bison, Kohaku. It’s not that complicated.”

“It is Incredibly complicated, Rinne! Niki, back me up here.”

Kohaku turned to look at Niki who was ignoring the conversation in favor of observing the newly revealed creature. “Hmmm… I wonder how it would taste… Since it’s friends with Rinne, we probably won’t be allowed to eat it, but still…”

Kohaku’s face dropped for a moment until he recovered with a face palm. “Right. I don’t know what I expected.”

Rinne moved to the side to introduce his new friends to Volcano Bison. “That over there is Hiiro, my younger brother who I told you about. The pink shorty is Kohaku, and the guy on the ground is Niki, my wife.”

This caught Niki’s attention. “I’m not your wife, Rinne!”

“Can we not argue in front of my friends, Niki?”

Volcano Bison let out a low rumble (that Kohaku pretended he did not jump at) before appearing to bow its head. In a way. It didn’t particularly seem to have a visible neck or bendable knees which made it rather unsettling to watch.

“Any friend of my brother is a friend of mine,” said Hiiro with a smile.

“We were about to stop for lunch, if you would like to join us, Volcano Bison,” offered Rinne. He had packed a few apples for this exact possibility.

Volcano Bison smiled with its eyes and nodded.

“Follow us then!”

Niki used Kohaku (against his will) to stand up, and together they watched the beast gallump after the two brothers.

“Please tell me you think this is weird too, Niki,” begged Kohaku.

“Maybe a little, but this is a big world we live in Kohaku,” responded Niki before following after them.

Kohaku stared at their disappearing backs. He huffed.

“HiMERU and Love-han wouldn’t treat me this way,” he said before walking back to the picnic site.

Thankfully for Kohaku, the rest of the group seemed correctly shocked by the beast joining them for lunch. The apple Rinne passed to it appeared to somehow be eaten in one gulp like a :3-faced toucan. Kohaku and Aira pretended they weren’t hiding behind HiMERU and Tatsumi as Volcano Bison stared directly at them. Mayoi also hid behind Tatsumi, but he didn’t try to hide it. It made for a very surreal picnic.

Later, as they were cleaning up, Rinne passed it another fruit before speaking quietly to it. “If anything happens in the village, I want you to cause a diversion and get as many of them out as fast as possible. I’ll call you if I need you.”

Volcano Bison nodded.

Rinne smiled and patted his old friend on the back. “Thanks.”

The Amagis waved goodbye as Volcano Bison disappeared back into the woods in a cloud of smoke. Kohaku, HiMERU, and Aira wondered if some of those road trips snacks had been laced with something.

The rest of the hike to the village was quiet until: “Oh be careful of the twine there,” warned Rinne as HiMERU paused his gait. On the ground was a thin piece of string tied across the path.

“Thank you for the warning, Amagi,” said HiMERU as he and the rest of the party carefully stepped over it.

“No problem,” waved off Rinne.

“What would have happened if the trap went off?” asked Aira.

“A bunch of arrows would get set off and kill MERUMERU instantly,” said Rinne as he glanced around the trees.

Aira went pale, but now was Hiiro’s time to shine: “That’s not true! That trap only lets the village know that someone is walking down the path towards us,” he explained.

Rinne booed him. “Why’d you have to ruin the joke so quickly, Hiiro? Let your little girlfriend hop around worried for a bit first.”

“But the arrow traps aren’t on this path, brother!” said Hiiro, “I don’t want to lie to Aira.”

Aira frowned, but Tatsumi patted him on the back in reassurance. “Don’t worry, Aira. If any arrows come towards you, I’ll protect you from the arrows with my life.”

“Tattsun?!”

“HiMERU will help Kazehaya if the event occurs,” said HiMERU as he walked towards the front again.

Rinne hit HiMERU on the back. “That’s the spirit, MERUMERU. Glad to see you getting along with Tatsumi.”

HiMERU frowned as Tatsumi smiled.

Rinne looked up at a tree and smiled as his eye caught a glint of metal in the light. “Hey, Hiiro, do you want to do the honors in letting everyone know we’re here?”

Hiiro lit up as he rushed over to climb up a nearby tree and pull on a similar looking piece of string.

“Hey, Rinne?” asked Kohaku, “So what’s the difference between that trap and the one your brother is setting off?”

Rinne turned back to look at Kohaku. “Hm? The one Hiiro is setting off is the hidden village doorbell so that no one thinks a sneak attack is happening. That one MERU was going to set off is the stupid loser doorbell because only the ones not in the know or not paying attention set it off. I think Hiiro set it off once and no one let him live it down for a month.”

“I see,” replied Kohaku, thinking of his own family’s secrets.

Hiiro climbed back down the tree. “Hey guys, what are we talking about?”

Kohaku looked at Hiiro’s bright eyes and decided to spare him. “Oh we were just talking about the different traps on this path.”

“Yeah! We got a lot of them around here to do all sorts of things,” said Hiiro, “My brother is well versed in a lot of them since he set most of them off when we were kids.”

“Oh really?” said Kohaku with a cat’s grin.

Rinne sped up his walking to race ahead. “Wow! Look at how close we are to the village. We should be hitting the village border any second—”

The more observant of the group spotted a blur racing towards them. “Rinne, look out!” called out Kohaku as he realized the attacker’s target. Rinne braced himself as he stood alone on the forest path, the rest of the group farther behind.

“I was wondering when you were going to show up,” said Rinne through gritted teeth.

The attacker dove for Rinne, starting a brief brawl as the two fought using moves Kohaku had never seen before. Kohaku and Hiiro raced towards Rinne, but they were too late, and soon Rinne was taken down by what appeared to be a large woman with short red hair in blue and tan clothing.

“Hiiro,” she said flatly, and that was all the warning they got before she attacked once more.

This time, however, Kohaku was close enough to lend his aid. The two of them worked hard to down this strange opponent, but somehow Kohaku kept finding all his moves to kill swiftly disarmed. It was worse than fighting Madara, who had a tendency to enjoy preventing Kohaku from actually connecting any hits over fighting back. In the end, Kohaku and Hiiro found themselves both hanging upside down, one in each hand, as the woman wrangled the two teenagers at once.

The rest of the party caught up and stared in horror as they found themselves helpless against their surprise opponent.

Aira looked at Hiiro’s serious eyes, but found himself confused by his friend’s smile.

Why was he…?

“Haha! You got me again, father!” laughed Hiiro as he swung himself in the woman’s grasp.

“FATHER?!?” yelled the rest of the party.

“You must be the friends Rinne spoke of,” the woman said, continuing to hold Kohaku and Hiiro by their ankles, “He spoke very highly of all of you.”

A distant voice called out ahead from where the woman came from. “Leader! Leader!” an out of breath voice cried out, “You are supposed to be resting!”

Rinne groaned from where he lay on the ground. “Even while sick, you are still causing trouble, old man,” he grumbled to himself.

Rinne sat up and leveled his father with a flat stare as the villager came closer to them. “Can you put down Kohaku and Hiiro, father? Kohaku’s hair is going to turn red from all his blood rushing down and you’ll confuse him for another Amagi.”

The elder Amagi let go of her opponents. Hiiro tumbled down quietly while Kohaku yelped before both landed softly, used to breaking their falls. Aira rushed forward to their sides and grabbed their wrists. He dragged them both back to stand behind Tatsumi. Kohaku glared while Hiiro smiled. His father cocked her head at the sight, but paid them little mind.

“Hey,” called out Rinne, pulling her attention back to him, “Aren’t duel greetings reserved for martial arts students?”

“You will always be my student, and there will always be more to learn. I needed to see if your skills have rusted in your absence,” she stated.

“Just admit you wanted to take a swing at me and Hiiro after all this time,” said Rinne as he glared upwards at his father.

She pointedly looked away from Rinne towards the oncoming aide. The woman huffed as she bent her head forward in deference. “Sir, I apologize for cutting your reunion short with your sons, but you must spend more time saving your strength for the wedding.”

“It is traditional for the monarch to greet guests to the village before they arrive, Ayasato,” she said.

“It is traditional with a team of bodyguards present, sir,” the aide emphasized, “We had a welcoming team prepared to meet them in your absence led by your wife to be.”

“I deemed them unnecessary. As the only main branch Amagi remaining in the village, I deemed it necessary for myself to be the one to greet these outsiders.”

Ayasato’s face remained blank to avoid showing her true feelings on the matter, but Rinne frowned at his father’s intentional dig.

“Now are we going to stand here all day or shall we return to the village?” their father asked, “We’ve prepared a big dinner for you all tonight, and we have much to explain to you about the rules during your stay here.”

Ayasato bowed. “Lead the way, sir.”

The senior Amagi began walking back towards the village. Ayasato leaned down and offered a hand to Rinne. “It’s good to have you back, sir.”

He ignored it and stood up on his own. “Keep the fake praise to yourself.”

Ayasato frowned, but nodded before she turned to the rest of the party. “Everyone, follow us and I will inform everyone of our basic rules as we walk to the village center.”

With no other path, but forward, the idols followed them deeper into the forest.

#feel free to shoot me down if the cw feels unnecessary #the story has no rating currently so... this felt like the next best thing for something as minor as rinne's mouth #rinne amagi #kohaku oukawa #aira shiratori #hiiro amagi #volcano bison #niki shiina #enstars oc #enstars #ensemble stars #my writing #fanfic #all of this will likely become defunct after the new amagi lore drops but i Needed to share my amagi father oc before he shows up #i also have other amagi village ocs but they are easier to add in later. Probably. we shall see #might make an oc character sheet later and keep it updated with all my ocs for this story to better split this story off from canon #in case VOLCANO BISON being there isn't enough

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