#the like. idea is the same kinda but the other comp was bad. like if i draw and i dont have a colour palette in mind i just draw for that
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im like tamftgebka (thinking about maia from ‘the goblin emperor’ by katherine addison)
#mine#original#the goblin emperor#maia i would die for u i would kill for u#u would not BELIEVE this problems this drawing gave me. outstanding#i actually did a whole other drawing. maia and th little people are taken from that drawing i had to frankenstein them#the like. idea is the same kinda but the other comp was bad. like if i draw and i dont have a colour palette in mind i just draw for that#comp to work in black and white. and then if i try to put colour on top it like always looks awful. why do i do that.#anyway. here he is. im pretty happy w it th colours arent exactly what i wanted but thats fine svbkdbgvd#my mum is away this week im playing house and having a good time#i got!!!! more isopods!!! ik i said i would post pics n of my magic potions and didnt but thats bc theyre very small and shy rn skjlf bless#i got more armadillium vulgare but a gem mix theyre so pretty!!! n one of them is like absolutely huge. enormous.#however th seller was very stupid th packaging for their postage was rlly bad n th ventilation holes were too big n they didnt pack th#tupperware tight enough so loads of babies fell out n died :(((((((((( i sent her a message like. maybe dont do this n she was like oh sorry#n was like this has never happened before but im like. ur stupid. why did u use such a big box all u had 2 do was put more moss in.#they were rlly dry as well theyve spent all day hanging out in th damp moss. poor babies. theyre absolutely destroying some cuttlefish rn#so i think theyre fine <3
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One of my favorite things about IS3 using Slay the Spire's Difficulty system of an extra challenge per layer rather than Easy - Normal - Hard mode is that it actually makes you come up with new approaches, rather than attempt old ideas with greater difficulty.
IS2 calamity was ultimately the same as regular mode once you learned all the bad relics you could get. Sure enemies had higher stats, but ultimately you were still running Guardknights, Berries, ASPD snipers, Spinach carries, etc.
IS3 on the other hand, gradually changes your approach over 15 waves, to the point where you're not running even remotely the same team comps anymore. Wave 15 is a totally different environment than Wave 1, the latter of which is just IS2 but without even needing Berries. You can slap Thorns into your team and call it a day. The usual Casters will incinerate everything. You can simply overpower most enemies without needing to learn their mechanics (I cleared Highmore without ever learning what she did)
But by Wave 15 you're considering very different things. No longer are you able to simply overpower enemies you don't like, not when those damn Skimming Sea Drifter enemies have 60k health and a ton of DEF and RES. No, now you NEED sources of control, whether that's Bind, Stun, Sleep, etc. Hope's tight with Wave 4's +1 Hope Cost, so now even 3 stars need to be weighed for hope efficiency, which means suddenly Kroos isn't an instant pick, but Spot is now VERY valuable for being a Block-3 1 hope operator that can heal and has evasion. Marksmen are also in total despair mode from how tough enemies are, but Kroos the Keen Glint—normally overshadowed by other Marksmen— is THE strongest 5 star and one of the strongest picks overall, boasting a long ranged rapidfire stun source to deal with UFOs and interrupt enemies, has a crit to get over DEF humps, and still has the Marksman trait of prioritizing flying enemies while having a 5 star cost.
Thorns and Surtr the I Win buttons of IS2? They're fucking gone dude they can't handle this kind of pressure considering their Hope costs. NTRK, a strong pick in IS2 but overshadowed by Surtr, instead comes into her own with her True damage on S3 and stun on landing. Hand of Diffusion Passenger? He's... Actually he's still kinda viable but he's definitely no longer able to solo carry a run now that bosses are 90 RES monstrosities. Evasion? Very powerful now with the relics that give +ATK after evading damage, making Ethan even stronger than he already was in IS2 (where he was always a 2nd pick after Jaye).
Kal'tsit? Wait no I think Kal'tsit is still Kal'tsit, especially with her module upgrade making Mon3tr a fast redeploy 2x stun bomb. Scratch that. Still really expensive Hope wise though.
Did you know Mr. Nothing with S2 and his module upgrade can solo stall The Last Knight once the boss hits 50% HP? The increased cold duration at half health works in Mr Nothing's favor. By freezing himself for 4 seconds, Nothing can't attack and thus activates his stun talent, and with the module upgrade, his stun lasts for 5 seconds instead of 4. This means he stuns Last Knight, hits him again to freeze himself while the boss is stunned, unfreezes after 4 seconds, then stuns Last Knight again for another 5 seconds before the guy can attack. This is the CN playerbase's secret to defeating Last Knight's bossfight without relying on crowd control relics. When they aim for an Ending 2 run, they keep Mr Nothing (and his usual partner Erato, who helps him stall the first 50% HP) in their pocket ready to stall.
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Dec. 17th: Ice Skating
Day 17: Shared Hobbies/Conversations at 3 am
Day seventeen of @comp-lady’s Domestic December writing challenge has arrived!
Warnings: Swearing (This is an 18+ blog, minors dni)
Word Counts: 0.7k+ Words
Pairings: Steve Harrington x Reader
“Hey, Y/n,” Dustin called from Steve’s kitchen. “Do you wanna play D&D with us next week?”
“I think I’d be free,” I called back.
Steve recoiled as he jumped off the couch. “Since when did you play Dungeons and Dragons?”
“She’s been playing with us since before you, Steve,” Dustin said as he came back into the living room. Steve looked between the two of you, confusion still plastered across his face.
“I’m sure you have hobbies that she doesn’t know about too,” Dustin said as he rolled his eyes.
“Well, I like to sing sometimes,” Steve whispered, looking at the ground.
“I’m not sure what’s happening right now,” I said, looking between the two boys who were having a weird nonverbal argument. “Stevie, baby, I know you like to sing. I hear you in the shower every night, it’s beautiful. I enjoy playing D&D sometimes. Why are you both being defensive?”
“The kids made a comment about us earlier this week,” Steve said, looking up to make eye contact.
“That’s not quite what happened,” Dustin said, crossing his arms as he prepared to start going in on Steve. “We asked him what you two like to do together and he said that you guys couldn’t be bothered with any of the ‘kid’ hobbies.”
“What are ‘kid’ hobbies, Stevie?”
“I just meant-“
“I know what you meant, Steve,” Dustin said, rolling his eyes again. “But it was rude, and it hurt my feelings. I’m not a child and you don’t have to enjoy doing everything I do but you don’t get to make me feel bad about them.”
“Steven,” I said as I stood up and wrapped my arms around Dustin’s shoulders.
“Look Henderson, I’m sorry,” Steve said, sitting back down on the couch. “I was insecure. Shit excuse but that’s what it was. You guys have these hobbies that you love and can do as a group. I don’t have anything like that and of course, instead of asking to join I just lashed out...”
“We’ll work on it,” I said, letting go of Dustin and moving towards the couch to sit next to Steve.
“The only thing I’m good at is ice skating and what kind of group activity is that?”
“I love ice skating!” You and Dustin said in unison making all three of you laugh.
“How about we go together? We can invite the rest of the party too. It’ll be fun to have people of all kinds of experience levels,” Dustin said, walking to the couch to sit on the other side of Steve.
“If we have enough people, we can even play a quick game of hockey,” I whispered, nudging Steve to get his attention before winking at him.
“You’re on,” He whispered back, placing a quick kiss on your cheek.
Three days later, the entire party was filing out of cars at the outdoor ice rink. Eddie groaned the entire way about how dangerous this was going to be, trailing behind the group. “Eds, I know you’re kinda nervous, but I can help you out,” Steve reassured quietly so nobody but Eddie could hear him.
“You’re not going to make a punchline?” Eddie asked.
“Cross my heart, no punchlines.”
Twenty minutes later, everyone had their skates laced up and were walking towards the open ice. Excited to be the first to skate on the freshly Zabonied ice, I raced ahead of everyone. Steve also had the same idea. He raced up beside me, grabbed my hand, and together we skated a lap around the ice careful to avoid the timid newbies as they entered.
After a few minutes of free skating, I raced over to the hockey sticks and pucks lined up along the side of the rink. Steve, noticing my actions, came over to grab his own. On a mission to demonstrate his stick-handling skills, Steve skated down the length of the rink, shooting a slapshot into the net. “Now that I know my man is a hockey pro, we’re going to have to make a point to skate more often,” I shouted across the rink.
His laugh echoed through the room, even over the sounds of skates and swearing. “Wanna see who has better stick-handling skills?” I challenged, raising my eyebrows.
“I’d say you,” Steve said before winking.
“You’re impossible,” I said, laughing as I skated away. I looked around the rink and I couldn’t help but smile. While Steve and I were having a fun little moment, everyone else was stuck holding on to the railing at the entrance.
“Okay, guys,” I began, skating towards the group. “Let’s learn to skate!”
#Steve Harrington#Steve Harrington Fluff#Steve Harrington Au#Steve Harrington x reader Fluff#Stranger Things#Stranger Things AU#Stranger Things Fluff#fckinwild kiwi#fckinwild kiwi writing#comp lady domestic december#domestic december
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Ok ok last question then I’ll stop bothering you lol (but I eagerly look forward to anything you will say in the future about fairytail!)
I think I got your thoughts on Nalu, but what about other ships? You said Gajeel and Levy are your fav ship, could you tell us more why? What about Gray x Juvia? Do you have a least favorite ship?
(And don’t be sorry for rambling a lot/your posts being long! I really enjoy reading your thoughts!)
bestie i literally love u i never have the chance to post my ft hc stuff im THRIVING
aight so im going to make enemies with this post i can feel it in my bones gjkfdhgsfdkj
however i just want to say if u like these ships thats completely fine and if you read them diffrently than i do thats also dope
so lets start positive!! i LOVE gajevy sm its so perfect i just ljdghfkjd
no listen like the thing that gets me abt gajevy is how it elevates gajeel as a character SO MUCH and gives levy so much agency at the same time, like u cant tell me ft would have embraced gajeel the way they did if levy didnt CHOOSE to forgive gajeel in some capacity and like fuck imagine ur GAJEEL in this situation like bro wakes up everyday and this is just his life
gajeel lost metalica at a young age, and (i dont remember too much of canon but im pretty sure its implied he just kinda fucked around until phantom tropue picked him up which yikes) like this CHILD was on his own most of his formative years and then got picked up by a super shitty abusive group of ppl and he just LEARNED to blend in, like yea metalica made him kind of a punk but he was a KID so during those years he was alone he probably just closed himself off to survive and learned to prioritize himself over everybody else and to do that it takes a level of desensitizing urself to others pain
and like ok again im playing hard and fast with canon but i THINK its implied he like, had done a lot of bad shit with them or whatever right? like what he did to levy and fairy tail wasn't NEW, so when the events in canon happen and he ends up at fairy tail, in my mind that's the FIRST TIME he has to face how HIS ACTIONS DIRECTLY HURT SOMEONE
and not only thats but someone who OBJECTIVELY DIDN'T DESERVE IT
like ugh gajeel just,, having to learn to let himself care but also it fucking sucks bc it just makes it set in more and more what a bad person he is (he isnt but he thinks he is) THEN FUCKING LEVY PULLS UP AND JUST?? IS THE BEST???
she literally blows thro all his expectations of her bc at this point i think hes use to dealing with ppl being afraid of him bc that ssomething he understands and control, what he DOESNT understand is her being NICE to him and it makes him RESPECT her and its so out of no where that by the time the GMG roles around and gajeel has fully accepted the fact that he indeed has emotions like everyone else, ONLY TO HAVE TO FACE LEVY BEING SCARED OF HIM AGAIN
learning to put others needs above his own and being empathetic in his own fucked up way
ok enough positivity time to make ppl mad
gonna link my juvia is a lesbian post here bc it sums up a LOT of my feelings on gruvia but the tldr is that my personal hc is that juvia is a lesbian with a serious case of comp het from trying to fit in with other kids growing up and it literally was just never corrected until she got to fairy tail and actively started to form friendships
the main reason i dislike gruvia is that it paints gray as the one who needs to change in order to accept juvias feelings and not just cuz he needs to grow as a person and learn to allow himself to be vunrable.
like grays arc doesnt ONLY center around juvia but its a big part of it and juvias growth CENTERS around gray and we can talk about the the borderline misogynist idea of having a female character whos damn near whole identity is her feelings for a man where she never grows or learns meaningfully but instead just very slowly chills out more so from being sidelined than growth but i digress i just dont like them
last is jerza,, i just dont like em,, jellal is really boring in my opinion and he had a lot of potential but meh? his redemption is neat and his history with erza has potential but i feel like the point of erzas arc is about growth and moving on and while i think her and jellal can still be friends and have each others back she still has so much healing to do after tower of heaven
idk i dont see a lot wrong with jerza i just feel like its a lil bland and not my cup of tea
and yes queer platonic nalu is my life id die for them actually and i have more stuff about natsus abandonment issues and how they carry into his relationships with ppl but imma stop bc this post is long jgkfhgdjhfdjk
tldr: i love gajevy, actively dislike gruvia, very meh about jerza, love qpp nalu
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what do you think of ene :3 the kagepro fans ive seen tend to write her off as LOL silly virus miku and not much beyond that and while she is sillay i do wish shintaro/ene codependency was explored a little bit .... so when i saw you mention post str takane/shintaro codependency i was like FUCK YEAHHHHHH
lmao. dude. she is my favorite character COME ON like it pisses me off so bad how everyone treats ene as teehee comic relief and only treat takane as Takane bc like. THEYRE THE SAME FUCKING PERSON IDIOT!!! Hating ene is hating post str takane 😒😒😒
anyways i dont have a fave between haruka and takane but heh takane just has so much more depth imo. her story is a lil more complex to me and its just such a good arc ugh like shes rly one of the characters to go through the most drastic development like her arc is so😭😭😭 i love you enomoto takane and i hate ppl who disregard ene. if u do that u dont fucking understand takane at all and u should GET OUT OF HERE!!!!!!!!!!!
POST STR SHINTARO/TAKANE CODEPENDENCY REALNESS ITS LITERALLY MY FAVE SUBJECT EVER BC LIKE takane fucking DIED and so did everyone she loved and suddenly there is shintaro who she holds onto not only bc he looks awful and obviously needs help but bc hes the one proof she was ever real so she holds onto him as her form of keeping herself sane!??!?!!? like it goes both ways!?!?!?? for over a year (i think ene arrives in shintaros comp like a year into him being a shut in out of the 2 years, irc?) theyre all the other has, but for ene it also goes into him being her whole entire life and point of existence. not only to keep herself sane and have a purpose, but being with shintaro in memory of ayano, of haruka, and of herself... like. post str takane has ISSUES i think its rly hard for her to really let go of shintaro.
as for shintaro its like... im kinda split. would he wanna cut her off or hold onto her as well? ive seen cool stuff with the idea of shintaro being super angry at her but tbh i think he'd be mad for only a little but since he's got memories of past timelines its difficult to be Actually mad at her and cut her off. like, he killed her in one route LMAO i think shintaro would feel guilty abt that + treat the situation seriously not like he did in the novel where they get over it after just yelling at each other for a bit and its rather a funny scene than a serious one😒 (i hate how the novels treated takane getting her body back as sort of a joke, like she gets it back off screen bc its a Kano Novel and then its implied she like shoplifted some food LMAO and then the shintaro confrontation is just written off as a funny bit i just UGH it should be a bigger deal that one of the main characters got her body back after 2 years but WHATEVER)
anyways. shintaro would go easy on takane especially when seeing how pathetic she looks trying to fix things with him and i think they have this sick sick sick she can fix me/i can fix him relationship where shintaro while wary of her at first, does fall in how comfortable it is to just rely on takane for everything and treats takane as a therapist while takane rejoices in not only still being in his life but being needed by him. ayano would be jealous of takane and goes to haruka like arent YOU jealous and haruka's like am i the only one seeing this is super just fucked up for both their mental healths especially takanes. haruka is not jealous of shintaro as much as hes kind of annoyed bc in the dynamic Shintaro is really the one indulging takane bc its comfortable for him. haruka probably tries talking to takane but its also difficult for him to call it out bc she sees how broken and nervous she is without knowing whats of shintaros life so its like. a whole thing. yuukei quartet relationship drama 4ever
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Weekly Update January 5, 2024
I’m still recovering slowly. I never mentioned this because I want to be as vague as I can about my big congenital medical issue, but the surgery last week removed some tissue that affects my endocrine system, and now that it’s gone I’m having some problems with my mood. I have a medicine that corrects it, but I need to wait another week and a half to get my dosage adjusted, so all next week I’m going to be volatile which sucks. Stomach has seemingly gotten better though so hopefully that pain was just caused by those cysts and nothing else was wrong. Sorry if I ramble on a bit too much tonight, I am loopy because of the endocrine stuff so I might go on too long. Anyway artstuffs.
I got a music project done. It was for Mav, and it was pretty small but I stayed up all night working on it. Working on it I discovered a big set of plugins that I got somewhere that look to be automatically doing some of that balancing I was worried about. I still need to double check what exactly it can do, since I’d like a widener plugin, but I don’t want to stack my brain over it if I already have one. I have a few ideas floating around for the next song thing, I’m a bit hesitant on continuing that vocal one I haven’t finished because I watched a bunch of videos today in the bad lyrics of the Wish soundtrack, and the lady kept bringing up cadence and pentameter which are concepts I know about but can’t hear. Like, pentameter is supposed to be the natural inflection a syllable has, but like whenever I hear it, I just hear the inflection of the vocalist. I think I’m overthinking it, since she used a writing scheme to explain it and I think the vocaloid software uses that same writing scheme so maybe I can learn through practice? Or I can just write lyrics that match the melody and call it good as long as the flow sounds natural because of subconscious understanding, like how I figured out how to do harmonies. Whatever. Music theory is hard but my stupid will and brute force is harder.
Other instrumental things I’ve been kinda thinking about include a little Zelda medley that I already recorded the melodies and stuff for, instrumental themes for my OCs because of course. And then I kinda want to just do a big fat medley that goes on for like an hour-ish because I love those kinds of medleys they’re great for car rides and stuff. And the final two I’m thinking about would be for animation memes: either an arcade beat-em-up style boss fight sounding theme, or a cover of a 90s pop-punk-rock (idk what genre) song. I think that one would be cool because I could use it as promotional stuff for a comic.
Oh yeah that O’Malley comic! I actually did good thumbnail work on that this week! I was going to do more today but mood and sleep schedule were wonky, plus I had a meeting this morning, so good chance I’ll put it off until tomorrow. But either way, chipping away at it, trying to watch more movies so I can get better at understanding shot comp, watched Kill Bill part 1 last night and wasn’t expecting it to be like, the best fucking movie ever? Like why does everyone talk about it like ‘eh it’s pretty good’ like no that shit was *Phenomenal*! Hoping part 2 lives up to the first, planning to watch it maybe tomorrow night? Definitely before I go back to uni. Anyway pitch comic is coming along nice, after it’s drawn I can either work on the rest of that story or a pitch for the secondary story I’ve been working on, depending on demand. Right now leaning towards series, since I have general synopsies for a couple more general ‘episodes’.
Also only done like one general drawing for comsheet practice hehehe it’s fine I can try others as time comes and is appropriate. Also did epithet stuff but not as much as I’d like. My original plan tonight was to work on TTRPG stuff but maybe I’ll do writing or thumbnailing instead. Or maybe both.
TRGA: got shot 1-4 done enough. Also got Jon tweened for 1-5. I need to clean him up and do his face and stuff. Tonight maybe if I’m having trouble focusing on the other stuff I’ll clean him up, I think I want to go back to that ‘one significant development a day’ schedule I was on for a bit, but pushed a bit further since I have better strategies now. I’ve also started the ‘every time I sit down and open clip studio I’m going to draw one (1) prop’ strategy so hopefully props won’t be as bad in the future either (even the ones I can’t just recycle). Tomorrow if I’m doing better I’ll try to get 1-5 Jon’s face done (and clean him up too if I don’t tonight) and maybe do another drawing. Maybe more epithet TTRPG stuff maybe not.
I’m trying to get my priorities back in order. 1) TRGA 2) Comic work 3) fix your commissions 4) other projects. Inspiration is fickle though so I’m really all over the place. My mood being volatilized is also not helping but I’ll keep going until my brain explodes. For now I’m able to plan out enough with time for sleep and stuff. I don’t know what’s exactly going to happen when classes start but I am taking *fewer* credits than normal so theoretically that means more time.
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It's that time once again, lads.
EX & 20/20
Current 5* powerups: 255
Current spirits: 890
5* powerups available: 49 (20 lodge, 5 event, 4 CS, 20 exchange)
Spirits available: 340 (85x4 CS)
Total powerups: 304
Total spirits: 1230
We can afford a decent amount at this point. I've realized I can spend powerups down to 150, to match the 500 spirits for 10 EX in a pinch. So let's call it 9 available.
This month's acquisitions will include...Penny and Valerie. Sylveon Supremacy. I am not sold on anyone else. I've talked myself out of Roxie and Ryuki, I don't care about Piers or Elaine at present. I may go for the Eevee tier scout. Two guaranteed Eevesi along the way is nice, and if I roll one of Selene or Elio, I'll get the other at pity. I don't know if I'll EX them, it really depends on how I'm feeling about it. Since Valerie is already 20/20, we can get up to 8 others.
Rei - Really strong Fighting damage, Hisui bias, etc.
SS Silver - My Ice roster is basically "Irida." I should aim to boost that, and I like Silver and Sneasel well enough.
SS N - Frankly a terrible idea, I don't really respect him, but he is fun when I break him out. That said, meta shift, 15k Master Mode may not play so nice with him.
Ethan - If I decide to go hard on the Fire High Score event. Which I'm already backing out of.
Eevee Lucas - Same as Ethan, but also, Eevesi. He is the Only Good Flareon, so tempted.
Lodge Calem - Fennekin is baby. Also Fire High Score I guess, but mostly the baby thing.
Classic Blue - I use him semi-regularly thanks to the Roxanne/Lodge Steven comp. But as an off-type, that one is in Major Danger with the meta shift, so I'm not exactly sold on it.
Alder - Bug game is weak, I think it'd be nice to have a stronger Bug Man around, and I like Volcarona well enough.
Anni Steven - Maybe one day. I legitimately do want to do this one day.
Relevant Support Roundup:
Lana - Still not really feeling it.
BP Morty - Kinda unnecessary.
BP Surge - Helps his Gauntlet survival but I hate using him.
Lodge Blue - Don't really use him outside of Gauntlet.
Lodge Elesa - Don't really use her outside of Gauntlet
Lodge Raihan - Really don't respect it.
Nita (20/20) - I'm considering just because I've been F2P focused, but I don't like Nita or Lando, so...
Lodge Morty - Actually does see use, there's an argument to be made here.
Lodge Acerola - Less frequently used than Morty, but still sees play.
Lodge Adaman - Not actually good, but Eeveelution and Hisui.
Lodge Leaf - I've found more opportunities to try with her, but also I feel like Penny just walked in and knocked her teeth out.
The 20/20
I have a few pairs that are sitting at 20/20, and would just cost spirits. Given that I have enough powerups for 9 EX but enough spirits for 14, this may be worth looking at.
NC Marnie - Intensely unnecessary but kinda funny. Compresses Fiery Wrath.
SS Ethan - Also super unnecessary given he's 1/5, and Aeroblast doesn't even compress.
Victrier - I don't like Victor, but he's a free Field pair for Ghost, and I do like Spectrier. The recent Galar battle got me thinking about investing after all.
CANDY SITUATION
Strike (4)
Petrel - 2. I mean. It's worth considering?
Rose - 2. He gets a lot stronger with it.
SS Ethan - 2. Full sync privileges, if that's a thing we care about now.
Honestly, just hold.
Tech (2)
SC Ingo - 2. Bug nuke man with MPR.
BT Leon - 2. I did EX him, and Dragapult has grown on me tremendously.
I'll likely do BT Leon, but at next datamine when I'm certain it's safe.
Support (2)
None! Amazing. If I lucky pull H!Phoebe I'll consider it. "What about Pen-" Penny will cooperate or so help me god. I am done with it always being the support that goes bad. Just one month without needing Support candy, Penny! JUST ONE!
General (19)
Rei - 2. He's really strong, so this is a fairly sane investment overall. And Hisui, so you know, regional bias.
The Eevi - Okay, this is a big one. I hoard. I hoard so bad I have 19 of these general candy sitting in my lap right now. I have not used one...almost ever. That's a problem. I stockpile so I can avoid disaster, but at the point I can also just hand all five of them candy and probably still be over 10, we've reached the point I'm being ridiculous. I am willing to candy them. If I crack for Elio and Selene, I'm not going for the other Eevee scout and risking another disaster, I'm just using general candy. This shit ends now.
Cake Situation
I have a Tech and a Support. Exactly nothing with these effects interests me right now. Holding. As for the potential for another Strike cake from Penny, I don't feel like anyone needs it. Akari's sync isn't that great, she's had no problem with DPS, and I sure as hell am not giving it to Penny. Hold all cakes.
LEVEL 150
Nemona - I don't use Nemona all that often, but that's a failure on my part, not hers.
Drasna - I love Drasna, I feel like I need to. Maybe if I shower her with affection, she'll show up off-focus.
BT Leon - My recent ScarVi competitive streak got me really hooked on Dragapult. I love that funky Ghostie Dragon.
SS Diantha - A little hesitant, but it is Diancie.
NC Serena - Considering because Serena and this is her best outfit. Hesitating because Greninja.
Bede - Look. We all need to accept that I like Bede.
Anni Skyla - Tornadus Therian is one of the only good djinn forms, and I really like her 3/5 kit.
SS Serena - I feel like it just makes sense but it's hard to justify.
Kahili - I like never use Kahili anymore but she was a big focus for a while there. Maybe when she gets EX.
Shauntal - Shauntal did get EX and I really like her DPS sets so I'm kinda tempted here.
Kris - Kick you apart, now even harder.
Clair - Favoritism.
Iris - I like running things that are bad.
Penny - Sylveon is good, and I like it.
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Retrospective 2022 (2)
See Part 1 of the retrospective and the overall graphic of 2022 here.
2021 had been a bit of a weird year for me (though it did give me the wonderful world of IF), with a lot of change. So I was glad 2022 was bit more... chill (kinda). I've dived so much deeper in IF and learned so freaking much in the past 12 months.
Long post ahead, breaking it here.
2022 Goals
Last year I only had a few goals: publish Scene 2 of CRWL, submit TTTT to the IF Comp, publish the demo of TTATEH and making Tweego my b*tch.
I am happy to say I've completed all these goals... and then some!
CRWL was updated not just once, but 3 times (with the last one including a bunch of re-writes.
I managed to submit TTTT to the IF Comp (for better for worse).
TTATEH's demo was up for Halloween (with 2 full chapters no less!)
Tweego is not a scary thing that I never managed to make work anymore (I even made an asset pack and guide to make it easy for everyone else)
So what's the extra?
I went from having essentially 3 working projects to 9-ish published ones, with the addition of: SPS Iron Hammer, The Thick Table Tavern, La Petite Mort (FR), The Trials and Tribulations of Edward Harcourt, Goncharov Escapes!, P-Rix - Space Trucker (and Le Jeu de la Dévotion - FR). All links are here.
I started getting my hands dirty with JavaScript (I know, the horror) and more customisation with CSS, and working on adding more accessibility in my projects (visual and gameplay wise).
Got more active in the community (here with Interact-IF, and on discord, and on the Forum... oh, as a note support your authors)
I've started sharing my little silly knowledge of Twine, by creating templates, and guides, and tutorials, and sharing resources.
Also organising my first Comp! (@seedcomp-if) with other peeps from the IF Forum. And we did that in 14 days! (kinda want to create more fun jams too now...)
Got into some trends, with one that resulted in the creation of the really bad idea that is @if-confessions.
And probably more that I forgot about...
Even then...
Part of me feels like it's not been enough, like I haven't been enough, like what I put out wasn't good enough. I've been struggling with insecurity and imposter syndrome for a long time, so this is not new, but it's still there, spiking once in a while, when I really don't need it to.
The slow but consistent increase of negative anons in my inbox (bound to happen with more people following/sharing my content) have made some days very hard to deal with (still, it could be much worse... even the hate from the leaks hasn't been too bad). It's hard not to feel emotional when something you are passionate about or something you do is getting egged on for not good reason. And it's not just the content of the messages (most are not even original...), but the amount of them. Honestly, it is infuriating and tiring (thank gosh for blocking...).
It's also a bit hard when there is more negative than positive interactions in my inbox/replies...
Another thing that got me was the little to no progress I've made on both EC or CRWL. I had planned on releasing updates for both this semester, but I've been stuck in front of a blank page for both, or writing and re-writing the same sentence over an over again. Hadn't I distracted myself with other small projects, I would have done the same thing as last year and peaced out for months again...
And then I wrote it all down. I went through all my projects, all the posts I made and put it together that infographic, created and nice timeline... and I realised I was a bit dramatic about feeling like I haven't done enough.
At the end, there were only two months (April and May) which didn't have any publication of games, assets, guides, or update, and that was because CRWL was in re-write/beta. Even if I didn't focus my time on one project throughout the year like I maybe should have, there was on average something out there every month (almost 2x a month by the end).
Yay for unrelenting insecurities!
(also, don't try to do as much as I did, I'm struggling with juggling all these projects, it's not sustainable)
2022 Achievements and Milestones
Not only did I reach last year's goals, I achieved a bunch of other stuff!
I published 6(-ish) new games/demos this year! And updated the other 3! I lost track of the count, but it wouldn't surprise me if I wrote somewhere around 100-200k words this year (maybe even more than 300k considering all I cut/re-wrote)...
I started experimenting with custom visual and macros (and editing other people's macro). Working on TTTT (and the update of EC) taught me so much about design and coding, and going much further with Twine!
With this newfound knowledge, I made my first template!
Got to learn how to use a bunch new Twine macros and tested a handful of different gameplay to incorporate in bigger projects.
Tweego. That's it.
I've seen my follower count essentially doubled this past year on both itch and Tumblr (getting close to 1k!).
All my games reached some sort of play milestone (from thousands to couple of thousands). More on that in the stats post, there's a lot.
I haven gotten more reviews and feedback on my projects than last year (the jams and comps have helped!) and in general more interactions with my posts. It's been so useful to grow as a creator and improve myself in general!
I reached 1st and 3rd place on a competition!
And participating in the IFComp was an achievement in and of itself!
And I'll add it here too: I helped organised a comp in 14 days! A proper one, not a spur of the moment jam, with an actual website and rules and stuff! (Now, I want to organise more!)
Honestly, I wouldn't have imagined at the start of the year how much I would end up doing this year, how much I would learn and grow, how much I would experience through it all. I got to climb that steep learning curve in coding, finding more about my voice in writing, designing some cool stuff, and share my love for the creative medium. Had someone shown me all I did this year back at the start of 2022, I wouldn't have believed them...
I feel very blessed to have been able to work on all these projects throughout the year and have gotten such positive reaction for each of them (and such help, to find wonderful people in this community and calling them my friends, and to interact with very passionate and helpful veterans in the genre and learn so much from them.
This year had some very high highs and quite low lows, but it has also been a very wonderful and fulfilling year overall! It makes me so excited for the new year and see what it has in store... (though I know of a few things already...)
#retrospective#manonamora#2022#year in review#gamesindie#dev#assets#twine#sugarcube#itch#mtp#tttt#ttateh#crwl#sps ih#p-st#goncharov escapes!#lpm#ec
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Tim & Eric Nite Live #10: “Chocolate Episode” | February 19, 2008 | S01E10
In private, I posited that this might be one of the weakest episodes of the show just by virtue of the fact that it’s a format breaker. I was wrong. It’s just strong in a different way.
This one begins with a big finale: the cast are covered in chocolate to various degrees, and singing a spirited song about loving Chocolate. Yo La Tengo is there, and closing credits roll. It’s possible that people tuning in live were genuinely confused by this, and thought they somehow missed the actual episode.
Jon Mugar comes out and announces that the episode has wrapped, and they begin setting up for a post-show writer’s meeting. There’s also static cameras set up in a green room area where Tim and other cast members are cleaning chocolate off themselves. Eric is bugging Tim about paying him $30 for a Lakers ticket, which Tim is, perhaps rightfully, being combative over because it was supposedly a comp ticket that Eric procured. All the cameras are fixed, and it’s immediately clear that we’re watching something that’s not supposed to go out over the air.
I mean, obviously Tim and Eric aren’t REALLY accidentally letting themselves be filmed. They are playing with the same conventions of television that Garry Shandling played with for The Larry Sanders Show. But it’s just uncanny enough to make you wonder if somebody (like an audience member, or maybe certain people on camera) are being tricked.
What happens is a fairly mundane but subtly hilarious “writer’s meeting” involving Tim, Eric, and their cast of misfits. The humor is in the details; Eric is given a cake for his birthday which already has a slice cut out of it. The participants at the writer’s table all bang their heads against the wall trying to come up with a suitable idea for their upcoming “Leap Year” themed show. DJ Douggpound wants Tim and Eric to dress like frogs, speak in subtitled croaks, and lay eggs. Dunn suggests a Princess and the Frog kinda thing and really likes the idea of having both Tanese Gray and Gabby come back for it. Quall suggests that somebody dress like an astronaut and use the phrase “a giant LEAP for Mankind”.
Things take more of a turn sideways when Eric presents a Youtube clip of Gorillas hanging out as an ersatz Carson-esque animal segment. Tim reams him out for it, bruising Eric’s ego. DLH rehearses his leap year song while Eric gets up from the table bitch about Tim to Jon Mugar who’s standing off to the side. Tim and Eric’s relationship is beginning to erode in front of our very eyes.
Bob Odenkirk shows up and takes the boys to task for their unprofessional show via a compilation of technical failures. He admits that he thought they were trying to make a bad show on purpose: “I found out from you that you were trying to do a good job”. Bob continues to chastise the cast, and DLH eventually leaves the table. He almost seems like he’s taking Bob’s criticisms a little too personally, though he does a glad-handing laugh at DLH’s ad-lib of “I’m the only chocolate one here!” in reference to the fictional show that took place. Bob similarly props up Quall’s line “I’ll be in the museum with all the other dinosaurs”, and indirectly compliments him by having the parallel thought of the astronaut “Giant Leap” bit.
Tim loses his temper with Eric for fucking around in the clips Bob shows, and they eventually blow up at one another, devolving into a cake throwing fight. “I’m going to go out the back door because he’s going to fucking jump me again” Tim complains. As people scatter, we cut to color bars. That’s the end!
This is a terrific episode, and they pull off the near impossible task of improvised, realistic performance with some wild card outsiders. Tim would later do a similar thing with The Trial, a season of On Cinema that consists of fixed-camera court-room footage of his character’s manslaughter trial. That, from what I can gather, was pulled off with the cooperation of professional actors who probably specialize in mock trials. This is MUCH shorter, but almost more impressive because it’s pulled off with non-professional and seemingly presented live. It could have been pre-taped for all I know, but there’s no obvious edits. Along with The Trial, it’s one of the pieces I’m most curious about in Tim and Eric’s oeuvre.
Man, I would pay handsomely for a complete Nite Live watchalong. I really would!
MAIL BAG
as for "microwaving animals" go I feel like Newgrounds was a big source of that kind of a humor. You could microwave any animal on that site, even the olsen twins.
I’ve been wrong about a lot of things, but I’m very glad that I was never a Newgrounds devotee.
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Sorceress of Arcadia || Gnome Your Enemy
Summary: Y/n Lake is Jim Lake's older sister. She discovers that she is sorceress and her brother is the Trollhunter. She and the Trollhunters go on adventures together, they save trolls and humans. Along the way, a friend becomes more than just a friend and discovers their secrets.
Warning: None
Word count: 5,784
Tags: @lunariasilver
Previous >> Wherefore Art Thou, Trollhunter? • Next >> Waka Chaka!
“For centuries, the troll and human worlds stood seperate and at peace, divided by bridges that acted as doorways between our two realms. But the Gumm-Gumms wanted to devour all of mankind. They were led by Gunmar ‘the Black’. The rest of trollkind fought against him, culminating in the great Battle of Killahead Bridge, the portal to Gunmar’s Darklands. After many moons, good triumphed over evil, and our great Trollhunter, Deya ‘the Deliverer’, lock Gunmar away, exiling him to the Darklands, and sealed the Killahead Bridge with the sacred amulet. After, we tore it apart, stone by stone. We left the old world in search for peace. We stowed away on a ship called the Mayflower, just a handful of us and some gnomes we’d brought along for companionship and nourishment. Finally, we arrived in a strange and exotic realm,” Blinky explained.
“New Jersey,”Aaarrrgghh commented.
“We kept walking. Eventually, we came across a new Heartstone, and we realised we had found a new home… under Arcadia,” Blinky finished as you heard Jim snoring.
Blinky groaned and walked over to Jim. He slammed the book in front of his face.
Jim startled up, "¡Lo siento, Señor Draal! ¡No me mates!"
You had done Spanish in middle school, so you knew what he had just said.
"I'm sorry Mr. Draal! Please don't kill me!"
You giggled at his outburst. Jim glared at you quickly before he turned his attention to Blinky.
"The training of troll history might seem like a minor duty, Master Jim, but--" Bliny started to explain but was cut off by Jim.
"Sorry, I pulled an all-nighter studying for my Spanish Comprehension exam and my brain is muy gooey. I don't know. I guess I thought if I'm facing Draal in a week, my training would be a little more… active" Jim yawned, standing up.
"Yeah, like, when is he going to learn Troll-kwondo? Or Rock-itsu?" Toby inquired.
"Well, Jim has to learn why he fights, so it's kinda important to learn this," you explained.
"Miss y/n is correct. Before one fights, Toby D., one must understand why one fights. For these precious early steps will decide whether a young Trollhunter will become a Deya ‘the Deliverer’…" Blinky explained.
"Or Unkar ‘the Unfortunate’," Aaarrrgghh added.
"Well, tomorrow, my Spanish exam is with Señor Uhl ‘the Unforgiving’. My main concern is for my immediate future," Jim informed Blinky.
"A-ha! But, to learn what will happen in the future, one must only look to the past," Blinky explained.
"Ugh!"
"I recommend A Brief Recapitulation of Troll Lore by the venerable Bedehilde. Volume one of 47," Blinky recommended.
"Wow, that's a big book," you commented as Blinky gave Jim the book.
Due to the book being so big, Jim struggled to hold it. He eventually got a good hold of the book. Jim placed his Spanish textbook on top of the other book.
"Okay, but if I don't pass the exam, I'm grounded and I can't be the Trollhunter. Sorry, Blinky, but the amulet chose me, and now I have two lives to keep up," Jim explained.
Then, Bagdwella came running in stopping in front of you, panting.
"Are you okay Bagdwella?" you asked, putting your hand on her shoulder.
She shook your hand off, not wanting your comfort.
"Oh, no. Is it the Heartstone?" Blinky panicked.
"No! No!" Bagdwella denied.
"Stalkling?" Aaarrrgghh asked.
"Is Gunmar out?" you also asked.
Jim gave you a look that said 'Who's Gunmar?". You just rolled your eyes in response. He really should've been paying attention to Blinky's lecture.
"Is Bular in Trollmarket?" Jim guessed.
"No! Gnome! Rogue gnome!" Bagdwella yelled, her voice echoing throughout the Forge.
The six of you walked to Bagdwella's shop to investigate what the matter was.
"Get your toasters here!" a random troll exclaimed.
"First, I couldn't find my monocle, then my collection of bed coils. Now something disappears every minute!" Bagdwella explained.
Suddenly, a gnome whizzes past, stealing an item and making Bagdwella fall over.
"Ah, yes. Gnome," Blinky said, lending his hand to Bagdwella, but she slaps his hand away and gets up herself.
"Oh, dirty little pests. Up to last week, the glue traps were working fine," Bagdwella said, showing you all a skeleton of a gnome.
Just before you could say something, the gnome snatches the skeleton, making everyone gasp.
"Fix it, Trollhunter!" she begged.
"Uh yeah, I'm really sorry about that. See you need a gnome-catcher, and I'm well, the Trollhunter, so--" Jim explained, but got cut off by Blinky.
"Oh no, Master Jim. The Trollhunter cannot refuse the call. And what better a call for you to train with than a pint-sized quarry?" he explained, coming up behind Jim.
"Blinky's right, Jim. This'll be a start to your Trollhunting. Plus, I think the task will be easy for you," you agreed.
You heard rapid footsteps around you, then a guitar play. You all try to look for where the sound was coming from. When you did, the gnome revealed itself. The gnome started to play his guitar once again and started to sing.
"He's trying to distract us! Hold tight to your valuables," Blinky warned.
"Well, I don't need to hold onto anything, I got nothing valuable," you chuckled.
"Yeah, right," Jim scoffed.
"Seriously, I don't have anything valuable. Unless if you consider my a hundred year old phone 'valuable'," you retorted.
"Okay, maybe you don't have anything valuable," Jim agreed.
Then the two of you see Toby going up to the gnome.
"Why? He can't be that bad," Toby chucked, clapping.
Before you knew it, the gnome had taken Toby's belt.
"Oh, no! My belt!" Toby cried. Then he sighed, "At least he didn't take my Nougat Nummy."
"Uh, Tobes, I don't think you should--" you warned Toby, as he took out his favourite chocolate out of his pocket, only to be taken by the gnome.
Toby gasped, "We need to catch that gnome."
All of you tried to catch the gnome, but he was way to fast for you. One time, Jim had caught him, but somehow, it escaped from his grasp. Jim then realised that his amulet got thieved.
"Oh no!" Blinky cried.
Jim and you chased after the gnome until it went behind a wardrobe. Aaarrrgghh pushes the wardrobe aside to reveal a small hole, which the gnome was probably hiding in.
"Hole," Aaarrrgghh stated.
"Yes, it appears the plot quite literally deepens," Blinky said, looking into the hole.
Jim slides his hands through the hole opening, hoping that his amulet would come back to him.
"Come back, come back. Shouldn't the amulet be coming back to me right now?" Jim questioned.
"Dolefully, that rule only applies if you've rejected it. When thieved, it's another story. If you had read A Brief Recapitulation you would have known that," Blinky explained.
"Technically, Jim didn't even have time to read the book, since you know, we're right now doing some Trollhunting business," you pointed out.
Jim gave you a quick smile, before Bagdwella spoke up.
"Some Trollhunter you are. Jim ‘the Baby Handed’.”
You glared at Bagdwella, as she snatched a bag of food from Toby.
I'd like to see how good you are at being the Trollhunter.
You turned your gaze over to Jim and Blinky.
"Master Jim, press on. This is not the moniker you want," Blinky said.
"What else can I do? I can't fit in that hole," Jim shrugged.
"Hmm, currently," Blinky thought.
"Bad idea," Aaarrrgghh warned.
"What's a bad idea?" you asked, but no one answered the question.
"No Trollhunter has ever lost his amulet. We'll need time to procure the Furgolator," Blinky argued.
"Uh, the Furgolator?" Jim doubted.
"Uh, don't you worry about anything, Master Jim. tend to your studies. We'll watch over the hole. Tomorrow, you'll return refreshed to deal with this, uh... little problem," Blinky said, and the three of us headed to the surface.
Toby and Jim headed to Arcadia Oaks High, while you headed the opposite direction to Arcadia Oaks Academy.
Once you had gotten your books, Izzy and Rachael both ran up to you.
"Y/n! Guess what just happened!" Rachael exclaimed.
"Uhh, you won the state lottery?" you replied.
"Nope, way better," Rachael denied.
"What can be better then winning the state lottery?" you asked, getting a bit curious.
"I got into the state math comp!" Racheal squealed.
"Wow! That's great, Rachael. So, when are you going?" you asked.
"Tomorrow, that's why I was texting you the other day, I wanted to hang out with my two besties before I headed off to the competition," Rachael replied.
"Oh, sorry about that, I was... busy," you said.
"Well, are you free after school?" Izzy asked.
You thought about it, you didn't need to go to Trollmarket or have any other plans.
"Yeah, I'm free," you nodded.
"Great! We'll meet at Sam's at 4, then we'll go from there," Rachael said.
You nodded. Suddenly the bell rang, making you jump a little.
"See you guys at lunch," you called, as you ran to your first class.
As you took a seat, you noticed that everyone was focused on the board. You glanced at the board to see everyone's name with a bunch of classes next to them. You searched for your name and saw your classes. You had chemistry, biology, calculus, literature, geography and history as your subjects for the next semester. Then, you noticed a certain name that you had not been expecting to have the same classes as you, well except biology. Tyler. You heard someone sit down beside you.
"Hey, y/n," it spoke.
You turned to see none other than, Tyler.
"Hi, Tyler," you smiled.
"I guess we have almost the same classes. What a coincidence, right?" Tyler chuckled.
"Ha, yeah," you commented.
"Hey, wanna sit next to each other in classes, you know since you'll be the only person I know," Tyler requested.
You hesitated. You didn't know Tyler that well, and seeing his anger the other day in the cafeteria, you weren't so sure.
Then you were saved by the bell.
"I'll see you in class Tyler, and I'll think about it," you said, rushing out of class.
You headed towards the lower office, since you needed your new timetable. As you were walking to the lower office you bumped into a certain emo-boy.
"Sorry," the two of you apologised.
You looked up at the person, to see Douxie.
"Oh, hey, Douxie!" you smiled.
"Hey, y/n! Going to get your new timetable?" Douxie asked.
"Yep," you responded.
The two of you got your new timetable. The two of you looked at each other's timetable, wondering if you had any classes with each other.
"Hey, we have mostly the same class, except instead of geography, I have economics," Douxie pointed out.
"Cool!" you said.
"Wanna head to class together?" he asked
You nodded and the two of you headed to class.
When you entered the classroom, you noticed two seats at the back of classroom weren't occupied so you nudged Douxie. Once you had gotten his attention, you pointed to the seat and headed there.
Once the two of you had taken a seat, you saw Tyler walking in. You groaned.
"You okay, love?" Douxie asked.
"Tyler wants me to it next to him in every class. It's a coincidence that he has all the same classes as me," you explained.
"Ahh. Understood. You can sit with me in every class then, well, except for geography of course. You'll have to deal with him then, but other than that, you can always sit with me," Douxie offered.
"Thank you," you grinned.
Soon after, Tyler started looking around the room. When his eyes fell on you, you were in a deep conversation with Douxie.
"Wait, so your actual name is Hisirdoux?" you asked.
"Yeah, I have no idea why, but it's my name!" Douxie nodded.
"It sounds very 12th century," you commented.
"I know right!" Douxie exclaimed.
From the corner of your eyes, you could see Tyler fuming at Douxie.
Huh? Why does he look mad at Douxie?
You thought he was going to come up to Douxie and start arguing with him, but instead he took a seat at the front of the class, right in front of the teacher's desk.
After a few minutes, your class started.
You had a hard time figuring out what the teacher was saying, since she had a very quite voice, luckily, she was only a substitute. The actual teacher was just away on leave because he was sick.
After an hour, the bell rang to indicate next class, which was calculus, great. You sucked at calculus and science. You and Douxie headed together to calculus, avoiding Tyler.
The next two lessons kinda sucked, they all just introduced your new teacher's and what you're going to be learning for the next semester. Luckily for history, you had an assignment not an exam.
Soon, the bell rang for lunch.
While, you and Douxie were walking to the cafeteria, you were suddenly surrounded by all of Douxie's friends. Well, band mates.
"Hey, Douxie! How'd all your new classes go so far?" Henry asked.
"They went good. I found a friend that's doing the same classes as me," Douxie replied, gesturing towards you.
"Hey," you shyly waved.
"Wait, you're the girl that Douxie brought back stage at our last concert, right? Y/n, was it?" Jason recognised.
"Yep, that's me," you confirmed.
"Well, we're going over to the band room to practice, wanna come?" Jason asked both of you.
"Sure, why not. I'll just grab some food," Douxie replied. "Y/n, I'll grab you some food as well, you head over to the band room with the other's."
"Oh, no. I don't want to disturb you guys with your practice, I'll find my other friends," you denied.
"You're not going to disturb us, in fact, you can give us some feedback!" Jack said.
"But, I promised my friends that I'll sit with them today," you mentioned.
"What about, you and Douxie find your friends, and bring them to the band room? We really need someone else's point of view of our music," Jason suggested.
You thought about it for a moment.
Izzy wanted to meet the Ash Dispersal Pattern for a while now, and Rachael, well, she can make some new friends, since she doesn't really hang out with anyone else other than you and Izzy.
"Okay," you agreed.
"Great!" Jason exclaimed, walking away with the rest of the band.
You and Douxie saw your two best friends in the line to get food.
"Yo y/n! Where were you?" Izzy asked as she saw you going up to them.
"Just talking with Douxie's band. Want to go meet them? They're in the band room. They said that you guys can come," you offered.
"Oh, you had me at 'Douxie's band'," Izzy grinned.
"Just let us grab some food first, "Douxie said, walking into line, pulling you along.
After grabbing some food, you all walked over to the band room, getting welcomed by a lot of laughter.
"What's so funny?" Douxie asked, grabbing a seat for you and your friends before grabbing one for himself.
"Nothing, it's an inside joke. You won't understand," Henry said.
"Okay..." Douxie nodded, getting a bit suspicious, sitting down. "Anyways, meet Rachael and Izzy."
Rachael shyly waved, while on the other hand, Izzy waved very energetically. You instantly saw Jason blush when Rachael waved at him while she also blushed.
Who knew, Rachael had charm. She's usually not the type to get involved with the boys and crushes that much.
"Looks like we have a fan," Jack pointed out, looking at Izzy energetically waving at them.
"I'm your biggest fan! I go to every single one of your concerts!" Izzy beamed. "Well, I couldn't make it to your concert last week. But other than that, I've been to every single one!"
You, Rachael and the entire band laughed at her enthusiasm.
After getting introduced to one another and getting autograph from every single ban member, they started to practice.
"Wow, Jason is good," Rachael commented.
"Of course you'd say that. You have a crush on him," you teased.
"I do not!" she retorted.
"Sure," you and Izzy smirked.
After about 10 minutes, you heard the door open. You glanced towards the door to see Tyler.
"Hey guys!" Tyler waved.
"Hey, Tyler! Wanna practice?" Jack said.
"Jack, I don't see any of our guitarists away right now. There's no point," Douxie claimed.
"Well, Douxie, I see you're getting a bit tired of playing. Tyler can fill you in while you rest," Jack said.
"I'm not tired," Douxie stated.
"Uh, Doux, not to be rude, but you're kinda missing some chords and not keeping up with the beat," Henry commented.
"What?! I'm not missing any chords! You guys are just going faster than you're meant to!" Douxie exclaimed.
"And you're getting a bit short tempered," Henry added under his breath, but you all heard it.
"I am not getting short tempered!" Douxie fumed.
"Yeah, dude, take a pill and chill. Y/n, can you take Douxie for some fresh air?"Jason requested, snatching the guitar off of Douxie and handing it to Tyler.
"Sure," you nodded, lightly pushing Douxie out the room.
As you closed the door, Douxie started walking down the hallway. You ran up to him and made him slow down.
"Douxie, are you okay?" you asked.
"I'm fine. Those guys over there are just going faster," Douxie grumbled.
"They're not, Doux. You just need to take a break," you advised.
"I don't need to take a break, they need to take a break," Douxie scoffed.
"Doux, this is not you. This is not the person I have met and befriended with," you said.
"Well, this is me! Get used to it!" Douxie yelled, stopping in his tracks.
Your eyes widened at the tone of his voice, making you step back away from him.
Douxie's eyes widened at what he just said to you.
"I-I'm sorry y/n, I didn't mean that at all. I've just been so stressed out lately. I just exploded," he apologised.
You smiled at him, putting your hand on his shoulder, "It's okay. Everyone has those days. You know you can talk to me about it you know?"
"Thank you, y/n. It means a lot," Douxie smiled.
"We should probably head back," you reminded.
"Yeah," he agreed.
The two of you headed back into the band room, getting greeted to everyone just chilling.
"Hey, y/n, Douxie," everyone said.
You noticed that Tyler had left.
"Is Douxie...?" Jack questioned.
You nodded and took a seat next to Izzy.
"What happened to band practice?" Douxie asked.
"Stopped a few minutes ago. We were discussing on hanging out this afternoon," Izzy informed. "Y/n's already coming, what about you Hisirdoux?"
"I'm free. And how do you know my actual name?" he inquired.
"Your mates here told us," Izzy explained.
"We're meeting at Sam's at 4," Henry told Douxie.
Soon after, the bell rang for class.
After three hours, you headed to your bike and peddled home.
You finished up some chores and waved goodbye to your brother and headed off to Sam's.
Once you met with the others, you all headed over to Lucia to watch Danger House 2: More House, More Danger. You were going to sit with Izzy and Rachael but there were seat numbers, so you didn't have much of a choice. You ended up sitting at the end of the row next to Douxie. The two of you shared popcorn while watching the movie. At times, you didn't want to see a scene, so you hid your face in Douxie's shoulder. While you weren't looking, the others snuck some photos of you two, especially when you hid you face in his shoulder.
After the movie, all of you headed across town to The Bluff to watch the sunset. Everyone hated the bike ride up the steep hill, but surprisingly, you didn't. It was kinda easy for you.
Must be the advantage of running from danger.
In the end, the ride up the hill was worth it, since you all got to see a beautiful sunset afterwards. As everyone was enjoying the sunset, taking pictures and goofing around, you saw Douxie leaning against a rock, staring at his phone. You strolled over to him and leaned against the rock with him.
"You know, you can't enjoy the sunset without, y'know, looking at it," you told him.
"Huh? Oh yeah, I know. I'm just looking at something," he mumbled, not taking his eyes of his phone.
You peeked over his shoulder to see what exactly he was looking at.
He was looking at his email, more specifically, emails about bills. The numbers weren't huge, but if you're Douxie that worked 2 jobs and hardly got tipped, that would be a lot.
"You worried about the bills?" you whispered, making sure no one heard.
He nodded. "I don't know how I'm going to pay all this. Thankfully, I requested the companies to give me more time to pay them. I got a few extra months, but I don't think that'll be enough."
You nodded, trying to think a way you could help your blue-tipped friend.
"Do you have any extra rooms in your apartment?" you asked.
"No, but I do have a lot of space in the bedroom. I’ve got two double beds that have been lying around," he explained.
"What if you get a roomie? Like they would give you rent every week, while you provide them shelter, food, etc.," you suggested.
"That's a great idea!" he beamed. "Thanks! I'll start to work on your plan tomorrow!"
"I'll come to help," you offered.
"Oh no. I don't want you putting time aside for me," he denied.
"I'm not, I have a lot of free time. And even if I did, it would be worth it. Helping a friend is always worth my time," you said.
"Okay. I'll text you my address and tell you what time you can come over. Probably on the weekend, but I'll just text you," he explained.
You nodded.
"Now, let's enjoy the view."
After the sun had set, you all rode over to Stuart's Taco Truck. Jason, Jack, and Rachael all went to get the burritos, while Douxie, Izzy and you chatted, waiting for your friends.
"So, y/n, have you been thinking about what you'll be doing after graduation?" Izzy asked.
"Uh, I don’t know. Maybe go to college, like every person does?" you guessed.
"Wow, I'm just gonna get a job and do that, it's just easier," Izzy said.
"Yeah. You never wanted to go to college," you agreed.
"What are you going to do, Douxie?" Izzy asked, turning her focus onto him.
"Well, I'll probably pursue my dreams of being a guitarist while having a job," Douxie replied.
"That's cool," Izzy commented.
Soon after, your burritos arrived and all of you dug in.
Once you had finished your burrito, you checked your watch to see it was starting to get late.
"Okay guys, I'm going to head back, it's getting late. I'll see you all tomorrow," you declared.
"Wait, y/n, I'll come with!" Douxie added.
You waited for Douxie to throw his rubbish in the trash and peddled your way home with him.
Before the two of you went your separate ways, Douxie thanked you for your suggestion.
"Thanks for your suggestion before, y/n."
"It's no problem."
"Well, I'll see you soon, love," he grinned, giving you a flirtatious wink along with a two-finger salute.
You blushed and returned the two-finger salute, riding your separate ways.
Once you got home, you saw Jim was finishing up washing the dishes.
"Hey, Jimbo!" you sang.
"Hey, y/n!" Jim called. "How was your hang out?"
"Good, but I'm beat. I'm heading to bed. ‘Night," you yawned and trudged to your room.
"‘Night," Jim called.
The next day after school, you, Jim and Toby headed down to Trollmarket. You were glad to take a break from everyone. Today was just not your day. Everyone from the hangout had uploaded to social media of the photos of you hiding your face in Douxie's shoulder and the both of you sharing popcorn. The post made you attract the crowd at lunch. People bombarded you with questions related to Douxie. Most of them consisted of 'Are you two together?', 'Are you a couple?' and 'How long has it been?' Luckily, Douxie came in time and saved you from the crowd, again.
You approached Blinky, Aaarrrgghh and something covered with a piece of cloth.
"Remember when I told you all Trollhunters must start small?" Blinky asks, revealing the Furgolator.
"Full disclosure, I'm a little worried how I let you talk me into this," Jim doubted.
"A 'little worried'? I'm full on concerned!" you gulped.
Blinky turns on the Furgolator, making the doors open up.
"Still bad idea," Aaarrrgghh warned.
Jim steps inside and the doors start to close, "Wait a minute. So, how does me going into this thing help me get a gnome out of a hole?"
"If a gnome won't come out, the Trollhunter must go in," Blinky informed.
"Wait, what?" Jim questioned.
"I think Blinky plans to make you small enough to fit inside that hole," you hypothesised.
"Yeah, right," Jim scoffed.
"Exactly! We often use the Furgolator to compress minerals. And now for the anthracite!" Blinky agreed.
"See?" you teased.
Jim rolled his eyes playfully, but you saw the fear in his eyes.
"But you've done this a few times on flesh and bone, right? Right?" Jim yelped.
Blinky placed the rock inside a compartment, "Not exactly." Then the machine started up, "But I'm not concerned."
"Well, that's because you are not the one trapped in this thing," Jim complained.
"Nothing to worry about, Master Jim. We work best under pressure," Blinky shouts.
"I can't see anything!" Jim coughs. "Why is there so much smoke?"
The machine started to make weird sounds. You and Toby ran to the Furgolator, trying to get it open.
"Come on, you guys gotta get him out of there!" Toby cried.
Blinky rushed over to help us, "Don't just stand there, Aaarrrgghh!"
Aaarrrgghh comes over and pulls the doors open.
"Looks like it didn't work. Hope you have a plan B," Jim began, but then realised he had shrunk.
"On the contrary," Blinky said.
"You sure we need a plan B? I think plan A worked fine," you chuckled.
"He's like an action figure!" Toby gushed.
"The Furgolator functioned perfectly!" Blinky laughed.
He picked up tiny Jim, holding him in his palm. Jim looks at his tiny figure. You quickly took out your phone and took a photo of your little brother. Jim groaned, not liking you taking photos of himself.
You all made your way to the hole that the gnome had escaped into. Blinky placed Jim just outside of the hole.
"Real subtle. ‘We've got to start small. Deal with the little problem.’ This is a huge problem! I can't be shrunk! I have exams to take! I have sinks to reach!" Jim raged.
"You have a gnome to catch. Now, onward, Master Jim, and fetch your destiny!' Blinky reminded.
Toby grabs a pencil and hands it Jim to use as a sword, "Your sword, my liege."
Jim pokes the pencil on Toby's palm, earning a yelp from him. He attempts to walk into the hole, but he falls down, earning a giggle from you. But he eventually got into the hole.
"Oh, and one last thing to know when dealing with a gnome, Master Jim, and this is of dire importance: Do not touch its hat!" Blinky forewarned.
"Of course. It's right there in A Brief Recapitulation," Jim taunted.
"You remember!"
"Of course not! Nothing in this world makes sense!" Jim yelled.
You backed away from the hole to see Vendel walk pass.
"Miss y/n, you should go and continue your training with Vendel. We will handle things here," Blinky advised.
"Are you sure?" you asked.
"Completely."
You nodded and jogged over to Vendel.
"Hello, Master Vendel. Do you have time to teach me how to make objects move?" you inquired.
"Hello, Miss Lake. I am not known to any troll as 'Master', but it sounds good coming from you. And yes, I can instruct you how to make objects move," Vendel said.
The two of you walked over to the Heartstone and began your lesson.
Soon after, you could move objects easily, with just a quick gesture of your hand or finger.
"Thank you, Master Vendel!" you beamed.
"Your welcome. Next time you come, with some spare time, I will teach you something new," Vendel replied.
You nodded and jogged back over to the hole to see Toby backing away from the hole.
"Why hasn't he come out?" Toby asked, his voice full of worry.
"What happened?" you asked.
Aaarrrgghh explained to you what happened to your brother.
You all waited for Jim to come out safe and sound. You then saw the gnome walking out with Jim following behind him, wearing the gnome's hat.
'You summoned the armour and caught the gnome! Well played, Master Jim!" Blinky beamed.
You all clapped at his heroism.
"Thank you, thank you. I don't want to forget the little people," Jim smiled.
"Expedient and-" Blinky started.
"And good humoured," you finished.
"Oh my hero!" Bagdwella praised.
Toby captures the gnome into a bag and sets aside.
"And what about this shrinking stuff? When does it wear off?" Jim asked.
"Don't worry. Sleep it off. By morning, you'll be as good as new. And how you have earned it! Jim "the Gnome Slayer!" Blinky reassured.
"He was so young. There was so much music left in him," Toby commented, playing the little guitar.
You ignored him.
"All that is left is for you to take care of it," Blinky instructed.
"Wait, what? Take care of it?" Jim puzzled.
"Rule number two," Aaarrrgghh reminded.
"‘Always finish the fight’," Blinky quoted.
"And by finish... " you began.
"Deaden. End. Le coup de grâce," Blinky finished.
Aaarrrgghh moved his thumb across his throat, indicating to kill the poor gnome.
You and Jim shared worried glances. Neither of you were killers, but you had to follow the rules. But, it was up to Jim, since he was the Trollhunter.
You headed home, while Jim stayed at Toby's house.
As you opened the door, you saw your mom unpacking food.
"Hey, Mom. What are you doing?" you asked.
"Just unpacking the food I got. As you already know, I'm not a good cook, so I thought some takeaway would be good," she explained.
Soon, the two of you sat down and dug into your food.
"Y/n, where's Jim?" your mom asked.
"He's staying at Toby's place," you answered.
"Well, since he's not here, want to have some girl time?" she asked.
"I'd love to," you replied.
Once you two had finished dinner, the two of you sat down and binged watch watched Mistrial & Error together.
After a dozen or so episodes, the two of you started to play truth or dare.
"Okay, y/n… Truth or dare?" Mom asked.
"Truth," you answered.
"Hmm... so, that friend of yours, Douxie. Is he just a friend or...?" Mom questioned.
"Douxie?! He's... uh... um..." you stammered.
"And my question is answered," Mom cheered.
"What?! He's not. Uhh..." you cried.
From that, you and your Mom started to talk about your love life, more specifically, Douxie.
"I saw on one of your friends posts that you were hiding behind him during your little movie night," she said.
"It was a scary movie! Some scenes were just absolutely terrifying, so of course I’d hide behind him. That's normal," you defended.
"You could've just shut your eyes," she suggested.
"Um... well... uh..." you stuttered.
"I guess my suspicions are true," she smirked.
"Mom!" you cried.
"Okay, okay. We'll have this conversation another day. I'm tired, so I'm heading to bed, kiddo," she said, getting up from the couch.
"Me too. I need to go to school," you agreed, following suit.
Next morning, you woke up to the sound of clattering downstairs. You got up and got dressed into a t-shirt, pair of jeans and sneakers and rushed downstairs to see what the commotion was about. You found the source of the commotion, your mom.
"What are you doing?" you asked.
"Nothing for you to worry about, kiddo," she said.
You shrugged and realised that there was nothing for you to eat for breakfast.
"Sorry, y/n. No breakfast. Maybe grab something in town," she suggested.
"Will do. I'll head out, love you!" you called and rushed out your door, hastily grabbing your bag on your way out.
You made your way to Toby's house, checking on Jim. You knocked on the Domzalski's door. It opened to reveal Toby.
"Hey, Tobes!" you grinned.
"Hey, y/n! Checking in on Jim?" he guessed.
You nodded and you followed him to his room. On the way, Toby's Nana forced you to eat a blueberry muffin.
As soon as you entered his room, you noticed Jim's absence. But then you realised he was in a doll house.
Toby opened the doll house to reveal a startled Jim.
"What's wrong, Tiny Jim? Did you not sleep well in Nana's dollhouse?" Toby asked.
"Why am I still small, guys?" Jim whined.
"Maybe the stuff works different on trolls than it does on humans?" you theorised.
"Oh, my gosh. The gnome! You did it? I told you I was supposed to-- Oh no! School!" Jim panicked.
"We have to call you in sick. Tell them you ate too much chocolate. That always works," Toby ordered, shoving his phone into Jim's little face.
"No, Señor Uhl can sniff out a lie a mile away," Jim refused. He thought for a second when his eyes lit up. "That's it! Toby, I need you to do me a huge favour. Well, maybe a small one. But huge."
You gave him confused look.
"Look, I have a plan, just trust me on this," Jim explained. "Plus, you should be heading to school right now."
"Fine, but I want you to be normal size by the end of the day. I can't take you home like this," you said, gesturing to his size.
"Okay. Now, go!" Jim said.
You rode off to school, hoping your brother would return to his normal size.
#douxie x reader#douxie x y/n#hisirdoux x reader#hisirdoux x y/n#hisirdoux casperan x reader#toa#toa douxie#tales of arcadia#trollhunters
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The Unknown Journey Continues
Part 1
I know it's been a while... but I've been going down a rabbit hole with @starlight-samurai regarding time loops, Jenova, Minerva, and more fun. So I figured I'd try to put it into one post to get the insanity out of my head. Everything in here is based on things we've found by either going through more obscure Ultimanias, learning more about Dirge of Cerberus and trying to decipher what the hell Jenova is by putting together various sources - including other Square Enix games - and how they handled freakishly similar scenarios.
Did you know there is a companion mobile game for it that was out on the good old flip phones? Did you know there was an online mode in Dirge of Cerberus only available in Japan, but had story elements that were not in the main game?
The sad part is, there's still so much to go through...
(I've also had various discussions with @ourfinalheaven, Manu, who doesn't have Tumblr, so here is her Twitter. and Somebody's Nightmare (here is her Twitter). So I wanted to tag them here, as it's much more fun to discuss these ideas as a group, since it'll only help you build on and strengthen your own ideas.)
Please be aware, there will be Spoilers for FFVII - Almost all Compilation titles, Xenogears, and NieR Automata throughout this.
So let's go on a journey where we explore what actually already exists in the compilation - including the idea of the whispers and timeloops - how Minerva may play into everything, and what exactly Jenova is capable of doing.
I asked Sesi if he'd ever played any of the NieR games, because he'd said something that made me wonder if they were going to take a similar approach. As a very, very quick high level summary: NieR Automata deals with a time loop type of idea. The androids will be rebooted and repeat the same things over and over again. This is broken when 2B is killed by A2 because she becomes infected with a virus. That being said, you have the option after Ending E to either erase all of your data and end the cycle OR you can try again. The Pods have a discussion, and one asks, "But won't they just do the same thing again?" and the other replies with "Maybe. But it could also be different this time."
Here's Sesi's message back to me when I asked him about this (cleaned up a bit since we were having a casual conversation over Discord):
Maybe I could just guess based comparatively on the Dirge storyline, because that was sort of SE's first flirtation with “robots and androids” since they’re all programmed and locked behind like task managers and shit that can shut them down. The story of the online mode for DoC that came out in Japan, we never got to see it, you’re basically an Android OC and you have to get to “the end of the level” and then essentially die, and a new one takes its place. This keeps happening until Weiss is essentially freed from being able to be task managed by the guys who are suppose to be able to control them and I know from tons of years with Square games that they’re verrrrry bad at differentiating their narratives they tend to just keep “ripping themselves off” so is it anything close to that?
Cuz if so I think I kinda know what you’re saying and yeah, I agree, I think with CC bringing in its poetic symbolism and LOVELESS, and DoC bringing back the cyclic nature of the lore, whispers, premonitions and future visions, proto-Materia and the perversion of this next cycle since the planet can no longer cleanse and protect itself and its will is weakening lesser and lesser to the point where it’s fate is “in a true sense of jeopardy This time essentially it’s all tied in together and sort of played as though it's a fated track; a cycle of events and something has hitched it, thus the whispers manifesting and Sephiroth's higher implied control over his destiny.
Of course, even all that is just their new red herring game, but it’s definitely a part of the lore they want to play with, in order to go back and reMAKE the OG with the comp inserted from inception. Also gut punch a lot.
Time Loops
I was somewhat surprised to find out that this concept is NOT new to FFVII's universe. It's discussed in Dirge of Cerberus... probably one of the least played and least understood of the compilation. (Trying to sell a third person shooter with terrible controls to a market of mostly people used to turn-based combat wasn't going to go well.)
On top of it, we didn't even get all of it, since online mode was never released outside of Japan, and the Dirge of Cerberus Lost Episode was on Amp'd Mobile and Verizon flip phones back in 2006. Were you around for the cell phones in 2006? I had the ones on the list, and how somebody could play a game on those blows my mind.
Square has a tendency to reuse themes from their other titles. Probably one of the most blatant is the similarities between Xenogears and Final Fantasy VII. They were both being developed at the same time and a lot of ideas that didn't make it into FFVII ended up in Xenogears.
NieR
So how does this work? In NieR (both Replicant and Automata), you play the same path multiple times. Each time, it's slightly different depending on what side quests you did your first and second playthrough, but there's also other subtle differences throughout the story. In Automata, you get to play as 2B your first playthrough and 9S for your second. They follow the same path, but you get it from his perspective the second time and it reveals a bit more of what is going on. However, even with some slight differences, the main plot points stay the same and the ending result it also the same.
Then on your third playthrough, you wake up in the Bunker, and you're getting ready to go on a new mission. This time, though, 2B is killed and shit hits the fan. Things get crazy, you play as a new character: A2. In the end, pretty much everyone "dies", but you can choose to "reboot" and try again. You also can say you are done and let them all rest and delete your save data (the game gives you the option for both Automata and Replicant, and with Replicant, it actually leads to a new ending).
The striking thing for me is... There are certain events that will always happen, no matter what.
Fixed Points in Time
It's been years since I've watched Doctor Who, but there was something that stuck with me, and that was the fixed points in time. You can read about all of them here, but here's the basics:
Now, of course Doctor Who goes into this with much more detail and it's a recurring theme. However, as you read through that page, you'll probably find many aspects that have been used in various JRPGs that you've played. And Doctor Who most likely pulled some of the idea from classic Science Fiction novels. Each story puts its own spin on it.
How does this relate to FFVII Remake? Well, when they say that the major plot points will stay the same, it reminds me of this. No matter what, Cloud must fall into the Sector 5 Church, the Sector 7 Plate must be dropped, Aerith and Zack both must die, and Meteor has to be summoned, to name a few. So, with a time loop, those things would still have to take place in order to prevent a complete collapse of reality (at least in how Doctor Who uses it).
Therefore, the Whispers are ensuring that the Will of the Planet is followed.
One of the major themes in FFVII is that of loss. People die and they do not come back. Yes, other FF games do allow this to happen (FFX, FFXIII, FFXV), but VII is not those games. It was written with that idea in mind, that once a person dies, they, just like in real life, are dead and cannot be brought back.
I've previously written that I think they'll make us believe we are able to change fate, but we will eventually be slammed with the reality that we can't. That is because the planet has determined that certain events are fixed points.
Xenogears
Xenogears takes a bit of a different approach to the loop idea. Instead of repeating the same time period over and over, it has the characters reincarnated, and the same outcome happens each time: Elly dies. However, each time it's different. After all, they're in various time periods, in some cases thousands of years apart.
In all of the lives of Fei (who will have a different name in each time period) and Elly (who is always Elly/Elhaym), Elly will end up dying trying to protect Fei and the others. In one life, she is a religious figure at a totally not Catholic church, in another she's the wife of a scientist who was working to create children from nanomachines due to mass infertility issues. But she is ALWAYS with Fei, even if his name changes.
In her Mother Elhaym time, this is when Lacan (Fei) finally snaps. Though he's not fully aware of his past lives, he becomes aware, the anger consumes him, and he becomes Grahf. Fei is then reborn into the time period you play the game in.
There's a lot to unpack with this, so I won't go into it. Grahf wants to destroy God (Deus) because he thinks if he does, then it'll stop the suffering (his suffering).
If you do want to read more about Grahf, you can do so here, but it probably won't make much sense unless you've played Xenogears up to that point... Since it's much later in the game that this is all explained.
Lacan's desire was to stop the cycle of Elly always sacrificing herself for his sake. Though Grahf is not a perfect existence - he's not fully "The Contact", he sacrifices himself in order to let Fei move forward, and hopefully stop the cycle, by destroying the Deus system. (Elly also tries to sacrifice herself here, but Fei goes after her and stops her.)
Now, some people may think I'm saying that Cloud or somebody is going to do this in order to save Aerith or Zack (or his village or mom), but in FFVII if they do the loop method, I don't think Cloud, Tifa, Barret, and the others are aware of it. Most likely, it's only 'Sephiroth' and Aerith who are aware of it.
How this Could Be used for Final Fantasy VII
I'm stressing could because there's so many different possibilities on how they use this (if they are using this), so please, don't take this as fact. This is based on speculation based on what we know.
A time loop is a great way to explain away the differences in the story that we've seen: Biggs being alive, Wedge living for longer than he should have, etc. Since these are not major plot changes, they can simply say that this time it'll be slightly different... but your fixed points (major plot points) will remain the same.
It's a way to pull in some of the more obscure themes from Dirge of Cerberus and also play with the LOVELESS lore.
It could all simply be a big red herring and it's really just a remake of OG, but with the compilation tied together nicely... since it works much better when it's combined and not in 50 different games, books, movies, etc.
I don't think it's a "sequel" per say, not in the way I generally perceive a sequel. It's more of a loop of the same thing. The question is, when is the loop started and what will cause it to end? When will the planet (if it even is the planet) determine that it's good enough to begin moving forward?
JENOVA, Sephiroth, Genesis, and Minerva - Oh My!
Let's be real... Genesis isn't exactly the most popular character in the FFVII Compilation... but what if they make him one of the most important to the story? //Ducks as various fruits and vegetable are thrown in my direction//
I think what Genesis is probably most known for is his love of LOVELESS. He has the entire thing memorized and randomly says lines from it throughout Crisis Core. LOVELESS lore is still something I'm trying to grasp, so I am not going to comment much on it. Once I understand it more, I'll update this.
...And then this happens. The secret ending for Dirge of Cerberus, where Genesis picks up Weiss. Weiss, who has now been introduced along with Nero in FFVII INTERmission and is an optional ridiculously hard boss in the Shinra battle simulator in chapter 17 of the main story. There is some lore associated with the battle sim - so if you don't plan on beating it or you just can't, you can look up the pre-battle and post-battle cut scenes on YouTube. They're very short, but interesting. (I beat this asshole last night - it's a hell of a fight.)
....To Be Continued because apparently Tumblr won't allow more than 10 images per post now.... Next will be more on JENOVA and Sephiroth along with Minerva.
#ffvii#ffvii genesis#ff7 genesis#ff7 intergrade#ff7 intermission spoilers#FFVII intermission spoilers#FFVII Intermission#Final Fantasy VII#Dirge of Cerberus#FFVII Weiss#Xenogears#nier automata#final fantasy vii#ff7r#final fantasy 7#timey wimey
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hello blue :D i would like to know everything you would like to tell me about your favourite fic you've written
lyssie shrugofgod weirdly-enough this is the kindest thing ever i hope you're ready for vaguely comprehensible ranting.
okay so i couldn't choose between two fics "once i called you brother" and "the art and (mine)craft of war" because i could talk forever about both, but im gonna talk about "once i called you brother" because its the less popular one
heres the link :)
so i basically wrote this fic because i thought that the song "the plagues" from prince of egypt (or at least the opening lines) were incredibly perfect for c!tommy and c!techno and it was a shame that no one did an animatic for it yet. i cannot draw so i just wrote a fic for it.
once i called you brother
once i thought the chance to make you laugh was all i ever wanted
is that literally not tommy with techno though?
and then the rest of the song can read as like doomsday or november 16th, you know, them arguing about selfishness and betrayal and all that. the song fucking slaps.
but anyways the fic itself?
the opening is inspired by how like, if you didn't know who technoblade was during the beginning of the smp, he would just be this mysterious figure of legend that tommy, wilbur, or dream occasionally talked about. it hit me during the dream v technoblade duel stuff that since techno had never been on the smp before, he was just this invisible dude with a huge reputation and that was so cool to me.
"Alrighty, I've been here before, right?"
"Listen, Techn—Dream..."
these are quotes from tommy that i quoted in the fic. i used to do this a lot, just stick quotes with no context into fics because i assumed everyone had the same precise memory of everything that went on the smp that i did. the first one is referring to tommy being surrounded by people outside the community house and "i've been here before" is him remembering a similar scenario on smpearth and therefore technoblade. the second is when he accidentally calls dream techno (about 30 seconds into this comp) again adding to techno's thing of being just this widely alluded to figure.
"Who do you think will win? My bets on our boy, Dream, but feel free to be wrong."
Niki stays quiet, a small frown on her face.
i feel bad for cutting niki absolutely owning dream with "well, techno's my friend" but it simply couldnt stay in for fic purposes
waking up to a frantic Bitzel muttering about hypothermia and something heavy and red covering his shivering frame.
smpearth is canon because i Want it to be canon and in my canon there's a moment where tommy passes out in the middle of a fight and techno brings him back to business bay wrapped up in his cape because he's technosoft and all their fighting is more like play fighting anyways
Tommy knows that love is earned. That if he does well in some Championships, then his place in the family is secured.
this is inspired by the bet that wilbur and tommy had in like mcc8 that if they placed fifth or higher tommy could be in sbi. in tommy's pov it becomes, "you have to earn your place in this family."
“Because I’m not the vice president.”
this is from one of his exile streams where he's talking to dream about why people won't visit him anymore
Tommy is 10 and too big for his boots.
this section is inspired by tommy's story of how he met techno as told in this storytime.
there is something that flickers at the back of his mind when the ratty zombie child calls him The Blade.
i think it's so incredibly special that everybody calls techno The Blade but like,, that's tommy's nickname for him. theres this moment where tommy's talking about giving techno a nickname and techno's like "you call me The Blade!' again, everybody calls techno The Blade, but he tells tommy "you call me The Blade." like i don't know how to articulate this but, that's tommy's nickname for him. they're brothers.
Tommy's been to war with soft, pale blues.
ae reference because again, smpearth is canon cuz i said
Tommy is 13 and standing over the remains of Business Bay's storage area.
this is an smpearth thing. wisp and vop did a whole grief of business bay, it was very dramatic very tragic. the thing with techno coming to business bay to talk to tommy is from this comic and i hold this headcanon close to my heart.
"Tommy, if anyone gives you trouble—and I mean serious trouble, not the kind we have—you tell me.”
Tommy hears an echo of similar words from the man who just burnt down everything he’s worked for.
"Tommy, anyone that touches you fucks with me... I will kill Techno if it takes me all of my life to prepare for it, you understand me?"
im so proud of this parallel between wisp and techno man you have no clue. okay, so like i said before, the ae versus bb thing in my head is very much like play fighting. sometimes it gets serious like the scenario which is happening in the fic where things actually get destroyed. that's because they're stubborn teenaged boys and conflicts can go from fun to actual trouble real quick. these "similar words" and the following quote are references to one of my favorite wisp moments ever. wisp, for anyone unclear on smpearth backstory, was a part of business bay before he betrayed them for the antarctic empire. he was also the one who burnt down the storage area which is why tommy's remembering this quote so bitterly.
Tommy rolls his eyes. "I pinky promise, Technoblade." He sticks out his little finger like a challenge.
the pinky promising is Canon from like the post-exile streams i think and i headcanon it as something tommy just does with people
and so this is to put context to the "using techno" thing. because i've always kinda viewed as like calling in a friend (or a big brot—[gunshot]) in for help so this part of the fic gives it the background to be like that
But then, Tommy is 16 and standing in a cataclysm, once again watching everything he’s worked for get destroyed by a man who swore to protect him.
this line solidifies that parallel to wisp where techno made a similar promise to protect tommy and now he's destroying everything tommy's worked for (business bay in wisp's case, lmanburg in techno's case) im very proud of this parallel.
His tall brown-haired friend from competitions past
wilbur of course, the competitions past being mcm
He collects titles like music discs
i asked my friend for things that people collect and they said "records" and i said "wait—"
Technoblade is 17 and he has no family. He has a friend who makes sure he sleeps. He has a friend who creates bridges and mischief. He has a bug that he still hasn't squashed.
i've always loved the idea of sbi becoming this little found family on smpearth. like they're not super lovely dovey "we're like brothers" but they're so fond of each other and they hang out when they're not pretending to be at war. and so theres still that room to say that they're not family, but like they totally are
Bright blue eyes beg him for some entertainment, so Techno sighs and grabs The Complete Works of William Shakespeare off the shelf.
this headcanon that techno used to read them shakespeare comes from wilbur's offhand comment asking techno to recite king lear to them
Wilbur's planted himself at Techno's side for the duration of the finale, something that he's grateful for. Wilbur's always been his person to lean on for things like this.
inspired by i think wilbur saying that he was techno's like designated extrovert during mcc's and i really love that aspect of their relationship. because techno is looked at as "the older brother" in so many ways, but like in this way, when wilbur's guiding him through social situations and supporting him, he gets to be wilbur soot's little brother.
Technoblade never says I love you, but he reads his baby brother The Twelfth Night instead of Hamlet and ends Theseus' tale after the Minotaur.
this was one of the first things i had written for this fic. so obviously hamlet is a tragedy while the twelfth night is a rocking good time. so like going back to that shakespeare headcanon but techno protecting tommy in the little ways. the theseus part is inspired by me not knowing the rest of theseus' story after he gets home and his dad jumps into the ocean. like the exile and death stuff i didn't hear about until the dsmp so that's where that came from. techno, even though it kind of goes against who he is, leaving theseus' story as a victory where the hero slays the monster, just to give his little brother something with a happy ending
"Do you want to be a hero, Tommy? THEN DIE LIKE ONE!"
i did always think this could be seen as like "well if you want to be a hero, then you can die like one" and leaving off the unspoken "but if you don't want to be--if you choose not to be, then you get to live. so don't be a hero. please don't be a hero." and theres like that little tragedy there that i really love in techno and tommy's relationship. like, i love you, you love me, all i ever wanted was to make you laugh, but we don't speak the same language. we don't understand each other. everything you are is against everything i stand for. so yeah bedrock bros feels. i wrote this long before exile and all that so its even more complicated now gosh.
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Ooooh, gimmie those juicy, juicy Johnny backstory headcanons 👀👀👀
Okay, so I always feel kind of bad? I guess, talking about my ideas of his backstory because A) I feel like they’re very cliche,
B) I know I don’t know every drop of TTRPG Lore, despite that not truly being canon to the game a lot of the time and also the cyberpunk universe timeline is kinda a mess, so i just do whatever i want (like samurai’s starting when he was 15 and also when the war he served in started, like the amount of overlap between the war and samurai’s active years is insane and the game can’t decide when Johnny was a soldier and when he was a grungy rocker)
C) given CDPR still plans to expand on the game with DLC and stuff, I know it’s fully possible that my ideas will be debunked in the coming months.
So, take all of these ideas with a grain of salt and as always if your headcanons conflict with mine; that’s cool that’s why they’re headcanons
I feel like Johnny had a rough childhood firstly, cause in the immortal words of Linda Belcher; “Look at how you stand. People who had good childhoods don't stand like that.” Like everything about him screams shitty childhood. My brain for some reasons specifically imagines, alcoholic abusive father and enabling compliant mother. Which, again, I know is the cliche of shitty childhood backstories, but it is cliche largely because its an unfortunately common reality. I imagine his first guitar is probably one of the only nice gifts he ever got and music was largely an escape. I came up with the idea too of his father having been a blue collar worker who was injured on the job; unable to work afterwards, given barely anything for workers comp and ongoing unemployment. Leaving the family struggling financially. Fucked over by his employers, turning to abusing pills and alcohol to cope with pain and raging at Johnny and Johnny’s mother. Teaching and instilling habits that would follow Johnny too.
I like the idea of Johnny and Kerry meeting first as kids, junior high to high school. And between the years of at least 13-15, the earliest conception stages of samurai started. And I do mean the earliest, messiest, barebones stages of Samurai; it was basically two teenage boys playing and scream singing their unrefined lyrics in a garage. Cause they were kids and just wanted something to do, something to get their mind off the shitstorm of life. Maybe, i debate internally, they do manage to meet Nancy, Denny, and Henry maybe they all grew up in Texas and with someone more competent even at their young ages, Nancy manages to get them actually going a bit as a young band. A few little underground grungy gigs playing at bars they weren’t old enough to drink in.
Now again, formation of Samurai and Johnny serving in the war, lead to like the biggest question marks in his backstory because nothing lines up very well. The war he served in started when he was fifteen, albeit that’s not for sure when he enlisted. Given we’ve been told children can in universe be scouted by corps to be their soliders; its not out of the realm of possibility that he served before he was 18 and was drafted as a child. But. Johnny specifically states he enlisted, that he made that choice. I’ve stated before that given how long the war lasted, its fully possible he enlisted at 18, served so much of the last four years of the war then ditched following his friend dying for him.
However, I have also considered and really do personally like the idea, that Johnny did enlist himself and did so prior to being 18, though not as young as 15. Because, he forged his documents to enlist. There’s incidents and documentation of people as young as 15 faking their birth certificates and high school diplomas in order to enlist. I could absolutely see a 16-17 year old Johnny, frustrated with life and thinking he could have a bigger impact in the world in the military, forging his documents and enlisting. This leads to of course Samurai breaking up for that time.
He serves around 4-5 years, deserting and leaving around 2009. Spends his month spinning his wheels and staring at the Pistis Sofia. He comes out of his funk and is ready to send his message about the dangers of corps to the world and he knows just how to do it. Fully adopts the name Johnny Silverhand and goes to track down his old friend Kerry. Samurai is freshly reformed.
Right around that same time, he meets Rogue. (which even this is fucky in canon????? Rogue says lets pretend its 2015 and idk what a bastard you are, Alt died in 2013, he’d already cheated on Rogue by then???? ANYWAY) They meet about the 2009-2010 mark as Samurai is coming back together. Personally, I like to imagine they met while she was on the job. She had to eliminate a target who happened to be at the venue Samurai was doing a gig and Johnny managed to stumble upon her snapping the guy’s neck or something. And she thinks her covers blown, but hahaha Johnny’s into that and is like “hey, you want a drink?” and is then like determined to get with her and they fall into a relationships. Then around 2011-2012 he fucks it all up, cheats, there in my opinion is definite overlap in his relationship with Rogue and his relationship with Alt.
I also feel like he met Alt at a samurai gig? I can’t remember the TTRPG lore of it, but I feel like in general Johnny met most of the women he had relationships with at Samurai gigs, partially cause he’s a just...a liitle egotistical. Alt however was there as someone who was genuinely into the music, (Rogue at one point in canon condescendingly calls her a groupie and I can’t but feel there’s a bit of truth in thats how it started). But Johnny started to legitimately feel things for her, but being Johnny, he never properly articulated that and always had to keep fucking it up. They fall into a pretty whiplashy toxic relationship over the course of a year or two where they do genuinely feel for each other, but Johnny can’t ever let his walls down enough to tell her that in earnest and is constantly doing things to fuck up the relationship, cause he’s a dick. Until in 2013, well, we know what happens.
Johnny has to spend some time with nomads, (probably after releasing Never Fade Away, because I do see this man as the kind of guy to postpone going in hiding just to release his song for Alt before doing so) as do Rogue and Santiago after the attack on Arasaka. Because Johnny’s busy trying not to be spotted. They wait for the heat to die down before Johnny comes back to Night City. Him and Rogue rekindle things for a time, but it ultimately is on and on and dies out again, because Johnny is stinky bastard man. Kerry had already been talking about going solo and by the time Johnny’s back in the city he had and Johnny does his solo thing for a while too. But ultimately Samurai reforms for a bit, in 2020, neither Kerry or Johnny quite ready to let it go yet. Somewhere also during this, Spider Murphy helps deliver a message from Alt about her status and asking him to let it go. He does not and joins the Morgan Blackhand mission to attack Arasaka Tower in hopes of saving Alt’s construct in the process.
Thats the barebones of some of my thoughts and headcanons; Im sure some are not lore compliant, I’m sure my timeline is messy and clashes horrifcally with CDPR’s also messy timeline. But, these are some of my thoughts, headcanons and ideas that will probably be defunct and pointless in a week.
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Online Love. Yan Shigaraki x Reader [Part 5]
Shigaraki has never had a full grasp on understanding others.
It’s never presented itself as an issue before, due to his unique lifestyle that doesn’t require him to rely upon others to the same extent most do. He doesn’t need to bend himself to the will of others. If anything, people need to mold themselves to his liking.
There’s no place for coquettish remarks and hidden agendas for the people around Shigaraki. He wouldn’t care for it, and they’d be cut off without a second thought.
So where do you fit into that?
He doesn’t know himself. The black and white relationships that stay in neat, understandable boxes for him are all but wrecked by your presence. Where his underlings bite their tongue and present themselves to his liking, you feel no obligation to do the same.
You live as you please, speaking to him as you please. The rules he’s used to don’t apply to you, you don’t even know they exist in the first place. If anyone acted as you did towards Shigaraki, they’d undoubtedly be killed for it.
There’s a fondness that’s reserved solely for you.
Even so, he can’t help but feel aggravated at how you’ve been treating him lately. The past three days have been a miserable stretch, his mood taking a turn for the worst. Not due to anything you’ve said to him, no, but because of the opposite.
You haven’t messaged him in seventy-two hours.
This has never happened before, in the entire time he has known you. In the past three days you’ve not logged onto any of your games, responded to his messages, or uploaded on social media. He’s aware of the fact that you’re physically fine -- a bit of stalking ensured that nothing had happened to you.
A part of him almost wishes that was the case, so he could make sense of it. It would be undoubtedly easier to digest the situation, and he could get you out of the situation with ease.
But the aspect of the unknown is what troubles him the most. His mind wonders pathetically, grasping at any straws to make sense of why you’ve been living your life normally; just without him.
Staring at his monitor in the dim light of his room, Shigaraki grimaces at the blinking cursor in front of him. Coarse fingers hover over the keyboard, wanting so desperately to seek you out; but unsure of how to go about it. He wants to demand an explanation.
Were you really able to live your life peacefully without him? Did Shigaraki delude himself of the symbiotic relationship he once believed you two shared?
His teeth ache from the hours spent grinding together, neck raw from constant scratching. Sleep has all but evaded him, as he spent hours painfully waiting for you to come back to him. For things to go back into the routine he was used to.
Your absence serves as a reminder of how much he needs you.
Narrowing his bloodshot eyes, he abruptly stands from his trash covered desk and stalks over towards the door. How dare you ignore him, how dare you treat him like this! Did he mean nothing to you all along? Have you just been waiting for the chance to cut him off, having been secretly disgusted by him all along?
Fury masks over any secret feelings of hurt, Shigaraki intent on demanding Kurogiri to warp him over to you. He’d get an explanation one way or another. Even if he had to pry it from you. Staying idle any longer would surely be the death of him.
Before he opens the door, he hears the custom alert. The one that he had set for you, so he could always know when you were messaging him.
Shigaraki’s mind goes blank as he goes back over to his computer. He wonders if it was imagined, only to be disproved by a message from you on his screen.
From: [First] 2:06 AM
hello tomo-kun
That... that’s it? Mouth slightly agape from confusion, Shigaraki’s mind races with countless responses. Ranging from cruel words directed at you for ignoring him for so long, to inquiring about what even caused it in the first place. But none of them are typed out as he delivers an equally mundane response.
To: [First] 2:06 AM
Hey
Anyone else would’ve been facing the wrath of hell right now, but Shigaraki manages to contain himself. Knowing that you haven’t forgotten about him or discarded him was enough to momentarily distract him from his previous rage. Biting his finger nails that were already short from countless hours of similar activity, he awaits your response.
From: [First] 2:10 AM
i’m sorry that i haven’t been around...
From: [First] 2:11 AM
i’ve been having kinda a bad time lately with some stuff. but if it’s okay with you can we play some comp? i kinda just wanna take my mind off it. if you’re not busy that is
It isn’t concern that he feels, but an undying curiosity. If something major had happened to you, like a death of a loved one, he would’ve known about it by now. What could’ve happened that upset you this much that he wasn’t alerted about?
Shigaraki silently ponders to himself. Maybe he needs better scouts.
To: [First] 2:12 AM
Whatever you want, idm
An immediate response.
From: [First] 2:12 AM
thank u, i appreciate it
From: [First] 2:13 AM
aaa i feel so dumb. im sorry im sure i worried you. i just havent been in the mood to talk to anyone. its nothing like crazy or anything im fine, just some life stuff
Shigaraki’s never been the best at comforting people, as it’s a task that he’s never been given. He can barely take care of himself, much less anyone else. But in situations like this, he feels you’re supposed to offer something. Only for you would he stretch himself in this way.
To: [First] 2:15 AM
What happened
It might seem like a lackluster response, but to anyone who knows Shigaraki it would come as a surprise. People’s personal affairs have never interested him in the slightest, but you’re a unique case.
From: [First] 2:16 AM
wellllll its kinda stupid but ig it doesnt hurt to tell you lmao
From: [First] 2:17 AM
ive... ive had a crush on this guy for a long time. we’ve known one another for a few years, stuff like that. anyways i worked up the courage to ask him out and he got upset at me. saying stuff like im ruining our friendship. it was just really bad, and ever since then ive been on auto pilot
The word crush hits him like a ton of bricks. He’s incapable of focusing on anything else in that moment, as time all but comes to a stop. His breathing uneven, and hands shaky; he sits back from the light of his screen. Disgust isn’t the right word for it, it doesn’t begin to describe the barrage of emotions he’s experiencing.
You liked someone. You liked someone that isn’t him.
Even if he actually wanted to, he couldn’t fake a decent response to your message. All along he’s been under the impression that you may return his feelings. That all the little gestures meant you treasure him on the same level he does you, and that you would one day be his.
Hours spent daydreaming of you sweetly confessing to him come to mind, as his vision goes red.
It doesn’t matter how. He’s going to find out who this cesspool of human waste is, he’s going to savor tearing each limb from their body and take pleasure in his screams of agony. Shigaraki will take care of this individual personally, wanting them to suffer in the same way he has.
There isn’t any way you could like someone else. This all has to be a joke, a cruel prank with an eventual punchline. There’s no other way to make sense of it. No one else could be even remotely deserving of your affections other than him, and no one will ever have them if he could do anything about it.
He will figure out what to do with you and your betrayal later. For now, only this apple of your eye has his attention. Countless cruel ideas flood his thoughts like a tidal wave, a malicious grin breaking out onto his face.
Shigaraki will make them pay.
#shigaraki tomura#tomura shiragaki#tomura shigaraki#shigaraki tomura imagine#tomura x reader#yandere#yandere x reader#yandere imagine#bnha#bnha imagines#bnha imagine#bnha x reader#yandere bnha#my hero academia#my hero academia imagine#yandere my hero academia#my stuff
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Sabrina - One Year Later
More fun facts from my early days: Sabrina was the first unit I sparked for! I was pulling on the old triple Spotlight of Dawn/Lyra/Plumeria, because I liked Dawn, but I wanted to diversify options on the spark and took Sabrina because I’d heard good things. Sabrina actually used to be considered one of the best supports in the game, if you can believe that with how powercreep has gone. Obviously, this isn’t often considered the case anymore, but was that because things went bad for her, or because newer options just got better?
I am of the opinion that Sabrina was considered top tier because, for the time, she was like the only unit that could buff special attack and crit to cap unconditionally. The only other option was Lyra, who needed Sun. Okay, sure, Sabrina was also insanely fast as a supporter, and could reliably and quickly buff speed off Reflect as well, facilitating the meta’s favoritism for dual striker comps at the time, but the buffs though.
Sabrina was, for her place and time, an absolutely stacked unit. Pep Rally 2 on Reflect was basically getting half physical damage and X Speed All in the same move. Her trainer move gave +3 special attack, +1 accuracy, and 40% HP recovery to a single target, meaning two uses capped special attack, and ensured about any attack would hit. Dire Hit All got Crit Squad to cap crit for the team in two actions. Her mega evolution pushed her speed over 500 if EX. Which she didn’t initially have, but got almost right away after I started playing. At that point, you got double damage buffs and one of the fastest units in the game playing defense.
The downside was her defenses kinda suck. Only kinda, though. She’s a bit Hilbert tier, in that her main draw was the impressive buffing potential. But special defense in the 300s and Reflect to augment a low-200s defense stat is far from bad. The real issue was that, unlike a pure defensive tank, her healing move was also her buffing move, and you needed to buff early. You sometimes don’t get to use it for the healing, and thus Sabrina gets rolled over. There’s also the issue of it being single-target. While Sabrina could get a specific target to +6 really fast, you needed to only have one target requiring that support, or she’s both taking too long, and far too reliant on MPR procs. For contrast, Sabrina takes two turns for crit, and two turns for just one unit’s special attack. MU Torchic was +4 special attack and +2 crit for the whole team in two turns. If that thing had MPR, Sabrina would be out of a job.
If it weren’t for how ridiculously strong her team comps were. As stated with Caitlin, Psychic was a really good typing, in large part due to Psychic Terrain. Sabrina’s tools for these comps were ideal. With Bianca/Caitlin, speed buffs on Reflect and crit buffs are exactly what both players needed. When Lear dropped, he saved a whole turn on getting to first sync, but needed 3 more special attack, something Sabrina provided in a single action. When Giovanni got his bullshit running, all he needed was special attack to explode a stage, and Sabrina capped him in two turns. When SS Lusamine dropped, she was able to do the same thing, but instead of special attack she needed crit, and Sabrina was right there for that too. Every permutation of Psychic teams loved Sabrina’s presence. It wasn’t even just Psychic teams; general teams emphasizing one offensive unit needing a specific kind of buff all benefit from her. Cyrus and May was always the best example. Two incredibly strong Water-type damage dealers, just add crit, and some special attack for May. The team hit hard, and the speed buffs meant gauge issues were covered. She could even fix Cyrus’ accuracy.
One thing I will note is that, for a long time and probably even still, people would argue for Crit Strike 2 on Sabrina. For a support, her damage is pretty solid with Psychic after Mega Evolving. My problem with this is, if Sabrina is tanking, this is just a bad idea. Always go Vigilance. One of my earliest battle memories in this game was trying to beat the Cynthia battle in the Ingo and Emmet event, using Sabrina as the support. And every time, things would go great, right up until Cynthia crit with Fire Blast. You will always run that risk without Vigilance. Maybe you’re fine with that. But in stages where the foe buffs crit, you’re begging for death. I never liked the trade.
Anyway, as will happen, contenders to the throne arose. Lyra was always there for sun, and Falkner entered for general mixed offense support, but she maintained relevance with the speed of her buffing. The first real threat was SC Jasmine. Jasmine offered +5 special attack, +6 special defense, +3 crit, and gradual healing, in the span of three turns, gave Safety Net on sync for a team-wide Endure, and then spammed Absorb for MGR9 and a 50% chance to drop foe’s special defense. This...absolutely eclipsed Sabrina’s abilities. Sabrina maintained relevance thanks to the speed buffs and Psychic Spam, but Jasmine had her completely outclassed as a frontline tank, and a rapid special attack/crit buffer who facilitated the whole party. Worst of all, SC Jasmine has Vigilance on her grid. This meant Jasmine could not only block crits by default, but has the ability to block status or stat debuffs. This wasn’t a huge deal in CS meta, but...
Meta shifts. As mentioned before, Sabrina is not the tankiest frontliner, and 10k Master Mode upped the power level of a lot of stages to a point she couldn’t handle as effectively. She was still good, but on a worse timer than before, and didn’t have Endure like Hilbert to maintain consistency. Reflect became a bit more mandatory early on, which slowed down her buffing game. It wasn’t the biggest hit, but it was a hit regardless.
Gauntlet was a mixed bag. On the one hand, for longer streaks, every unit matters, and Sabrina, as not just a support but a legitimately good one, had eternal relevance in this mode. On the other...team compositions often largely favored SC Jasmine’s bulk, Safety Net, immunity to status, and debuffs. Gauntlet also brought Deluxe Cookies, which doubled down on the value of built-in Vigilance by proving absolute status immunity on Jasmine’s part.
SS Dawn was a bit of a contender, offering universal crit buffs while bulking up the team, and adding in the new special moves up next effect. SS Dawn was optimal for Bianca/Caitlin teams, but Sabrina maintained superior relevance for Giovanni and Lear, and was a side-grade for SS Lusamine, who could decide between speed or bulk as the better deal. But then Anni May dropped. Anni May’s X Sp Atk All was able to buff special attack, and in tandem with SS Dawn, could cap in two turns. Speed also wasn’t an issue, as Anni May didn’t consume gauges under Psychic Terrain. This started to bury Sabrina’s relevance in Psychic Spam comps for CS.
If SC Jasmine was a threat for her special bulk and Vigilance, SC Lillie was an impossible hurdle. Here was a supporter that could give +6 special attack and +2 crit in two turns. This was a faster, global buff that Sabrina could not keep up with. To make matters worse, SC Lillie wasn’t just a better buffer, she was a better tank. Lillie carried Potion for healing that wasn’t tied to her buff skills, and healed the entire team every time she took damage. You often didn’t need healing for your partners, her passive handled it by itself. As if that wasn’t enough, Lillie’s offensive move, Astonish, had tremendous value thanks to its high flinch rate and low gauge cost. Lillie could even take Posthaste 2 on grid for even better gauge control. Any reason to use Sabrina went out the window the instant SC Lillie dropped.
And frankly, time has only been more unkind to Sabrina. SS Kris was yet another special attack/crit buffer that worked globally, but this time with added stacks of special moves up next and Rain Dance, securing the position as Cyrus and May’s new best friend. Even now she’s getting dunked on with SS Brendan, who’s an immediate +4 special attack and special defense, tremendous Potion game, absurd tanking bulk, and ability to cap crit, alongside a host of other good traits for Gauntlet on grid.
Even the common grid war didn’t leave her alone. Cheryl and Roxanne both got grids, and could cap special attack while raising speed. This was notably great for old Sabrina favorites like Giovanni. Cheryl in particular hurt, because her trainer move was another heal move that wasn’t tied to offensive buffing, but did boost both defenses by 2. Sure, no crit buffing, but if you allies didn’t need it, Cheryl could be argued as a stronger pick now. And that...is something.
But for all that...Sabrina’s still good. Really good, in some contexts. Her former role that made her one of the best didn’t go anywhere, it just got upstaged by newcomers. Newcomers that, admittedly, are just flat-out better than her. Sabrina’s biggest limitation has always been the trainer move being single-target, and tied to her healing. Opportunity cost is massive, and with dual-striker comps, missing out on global buffing is a problem. But in Gauntlet, Sabrina will always have relevance, and her utility in CS is still good enough to achieve a clear, even if she’s no longer considered “optimal.” This is a great sort of inverted Caitlin, where Sabrina’s trended downward over time, but is still good, while Caitlin trended upward but is still kinda middling. Of the two, Sabrina probably got the better deal, but maybe now that we’re entering grid expansions for old units, Caitlin can get something nice for herself too.
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Like Rabbits Seeking Buried Treasure Under the Moonlight
Cyberpunk 2077; Jackie/V, T-Bug, assorted others; PG-13 (AO3 Flavor)
“...point being, I think we deserve a bonus.”
The woman in the swank suit stared at her, an icy fury boiling her eyes.
“But, hey,” V remarked, the shard dangling between her fingertips, “if you don’t wanna comp us what it’s worth, we can always put it back and you can find another team willing and capable not only to take on a corp but also work outside of a fixer.”
Expression still fixed in a scowl, Lavigne glanced off. Then she turned back to the table, credit chip pinched between her thumb and forefinger. She placed it flat, and slid it across the table.
V nudged Jackie. He tore his attention away from the dancefloor below, and reached for the chip over V’s shoulder to give it a scan.
“Looks clean,” he told V.
“Of course it’s clean.” Lavigne huffed. Rising from her seat, she leaned forward to snatch the shard from V, who amicably let it slip away and brushed her thumb against her fingertips instead. “I never want to hear from you again.”
“Feeling’s mutual,” V told her quietly, as the woman faded into the crowd without a backward word.
Behind her, Jackie started to snigger. Smirking, V raised her hand and he clasped it tightly; she squeezed back before letting go. Her head lolled back against the chair, and she smiled at him before rolling to her feet.
The night was young, and they’d just gotten paid overtime.
“How the hell do you do that, anyway?” Jackie asked, as they made their way down from the balcony.
“Do what?”
“Put ideas into peoples’ heads without even saying ‘em. You had her thinking exactly what you wanted her to think.”
“I told the truth; it was her own goddamn paranoia did her in.”
“Fuck, how’d you know she’d think it was worth extra?”
“Educated guess. She was willing to go outside of a fixer to get it. And she was so worried that I’d read it she didn’t even think of you as anything but dumb hustle. Just ‘cause someone can make it in the corpo life doesn’t make ‘em any less of a gonk.”
“...you ever do that to me?”
At the bottom stair, V paused to look up at him. “Huh?”
“You know – make me think shit that’s not true.”
Staring down at her, Jackie wasn’t even offended by the notion.
Just openly curious.
V thought about it, and shrugged. “Can’t remember a time I ever needed to.”
Jackie snorted.
“What?” V scoffed. “That was a no.”
“Mhhm,” Jackie intoned.
He reached for her hand, and his fingers tangled with hers as he took the lead.
Dancing in Night City was nothing like in the badlands, V had learned early on. Even different districts, different clubs could have their own unique flair. Melding them together gave her a distinct style all her own, that shifted and changed with the mood and the music.
Jackie wasn’t quite as fluid in style, but nevertheless he improvised as best as he could and kept up with her all the same. They shared a kind of synchronicity that transferred smoothly from the battlefield to the dance floor.
A woman drifted along the far wall, circling inward as she watched them. As the night wore on, she moved right into V’s orbit.
It was almost too subtle to be called a dance, the way they circled one another on the floor. The woman moved with a refined kind of elegance, her cream-colored dress splashed with the colorful lights of the club. V found herself entranced by the pale glow of the strangers eyes.
And when Jackie got too close, the stranger stared at him icily.
Taken aback, he offered the woman a nod of understanding and a repentant smile. Meeting V’s eyes, he stepped away.
Just because they had an arrangement, didn’t make them exclusive; just because they shared didn’t mean every hookup worked out that way.
They ended up along the dark edge of the room. Pushed up against the wall, V found the peculiar glow of the woman’s eyes seemed even brighter, with the light of the bar shining like a halo behind her. Her own eyes slid closed, she tilted her face lower...
And then...
What she’d been expecting to happen, didn’t.
V blinked, at a loss, as the stranger stared at her, equally so.
Then, the woman simply turned to walk away.
V reached for her, and the woman shrugged her off. She cast a cold, blank stare over her shoulder, to which V raised her hands in a gesture of amicable peace.
The stranger slipped off into the crowd.
V cut her own path, her focus shifting back towards the dance floor, and the beating heart of the bar. There was plenty of delight left to be had, but the strangeness of the encounter, never mind the sting of the rebuff, left her feeling distant.
Instead, she made her way towards the outer landing, following the Exit sign. From there, she cast a perfunctory scan of the room.
At last, she caught sight of Jackie at the bar, a woman on either arm, each as different, at a cursory glance, as night and day, but complementing one another to a glitz perfection. He was splitting his attention between them, for all that Jackie had made himself the center of theirs; V couldn’t be sure what subject they might’ve been on, but he was energetic in telling some story or a joke while they hung off his every word in rapt attention.
With a soft sigh, V glanced away.
When she looked again, Jackie was staring right at her, vibrant expression faded.
Managing a faint smile, she held up a hand in a lackadaisical wave, meant to impart: Goodnight. Good luck. ‘Til tomorrow.
Jackie stared a moment longer, an inscrutable expression on his face as he watched her across the room, before seeming to remember he had company. He turned his mind back to them, twice as lively as before.
V tore herself away as he was kissing the brighter one’s hand.
Stepping out of the warm embrace of the bar and onto the chill night street, she breathed out a long, measured breath. Holograms and billboards cast bright shadows over the world, blotting out both the darkness and the moonlight, and despite the hour there were still a colorful assortment of people going about their business – legitimate and not.
With no destination in mind, V started down the street.
She’d only made it past a few buildings when a message flickered at the edge of her display, demanding attention.
Hold up.
Lifting her head, V blinked, and glanced behind her to find Jackie jogging to catch up. She waited for him, and only starting walking again once he’d fallen into step beside her. Quietly, at first, but when she didn’t say anything at first, he opted to fill the silence.
“After all that, didn’t work out, huh?”
V shrugged.
“Too bad. She’d been watching you the entire time we were negotiating with Lavigne, you know?”
“Since we walked in. But... hey, maybe all she wanted was a dance.” Not wanting to dwell on it, she veered onto a convergent path, “Anyway, why’d you split? Looked like you were having all the luck tonight.”
“Tch.” Jackie nudged her shoulder with his own. “Really, V, what kinda guy’d I be if I got off with twice the good fortune and let a choom walk home all by her lonesome?”
“‘Sides,” he added, “this is nearer my neighborhood, you may as well drop in.”
They walked along in comfortable silence. V’s gaze was drawn to Jackie as he moved with a confident, capable ease, though he was nevertheless weighing up every thin shadow between the buildings they passed.
Her eyes flicked lower, and her fingers brushed his hand.
All at once he was staring at her, a warm curiosity in his expression.
Casually, V glanced off.
As though the shadows between the buildings were that much more interesting than the warmth radiating from his hand, so close to hers. Movement caught in the corner of her eye, and her gaze drifted that way.
Jackie slipped away from her as her pace slowed, and he paused to turn back.
V’s sneakers scuffed the sidewalk as she stopped and blinked.
“Are rabbits common in Night City?”
“Not... that I know of. Why?”
V stared at the white little bunny rabbit, eating lettuce without a care in the goddamn world. Jackie stared at her like she'd lost her mind, or maybe dropped a tab of something she shouldn't have. “Nothing; no big deal.”
It was a bit of an absurd question. But when she looked again, the rabbit was cleaning its face, a pace or two from where it had been a moment ago. V took a step towards it, and it nonchalantly hopped away from her.
With a backwards glance at Jackie – who was still staring at her, at a loss – she took another step, and the rabbit stretched and pulled itself forward.
“You’re really not seeing this?”
With every cautious step V took behind it, the rabbit continued its leisurely way down the alley. Always, it seemed, the same distance away.
Still – she didn’t want to spook it and send it running.
Halfway down to a dead end, the rabbit turned towards the brick wall. The last V saw of it was a flash of its fluffy tail as it wriggled and vanished into the dark. Nearing where it had disappeared, she crouched down; at the base of the wall, bricks had been broken and removed, or had perhaps more simply fallen apart, and she found herself peering into a jagged hole close to the ground.
She couldn’t see into it, and scanning it turned up nothing. And so, without a second thought, V reached down into it.
“What’d you find?” Jackie asked.
V blinked up at him; he’d followed her step for step, even if he hadn’t seen the rabbit. But all she could do was shake her head.
She had no idea what it was.
Rather than soft, warm fur, her fingers found roughened, cold canvas – an old, faded military jacket stuffed in the gap. It was weighed down, and as V pulled it loose from its hiding place, the cloth unraveled around an older-style cyberdeck, at a glance not unlike the antique model she’d had to trade in when hers had stopped working.
But it was in good condition – better than hers had been. Finding its wire, she shrugged up at Jackie, and plugged it in.
A display booted across her lens, but all she could make of it endless stream of garbled data.
“It’s encrypted,” she told Jackie.
“Ah,” she winced, as her further poking around provoked a cautionary counter-spike. “Really, really encrypted.”
Tugging the wire free of her port, V handed the deck up before moving on to check the pockets of the jacket, and came up with an unlabeled shard. Slotting it gave her a momentary sense of... something as it connected and powered on, but... there was nothing on it. Nothing at all.
There was nothing else in the stash, and no sign of the rabbit at all.
Pushing up to her feet, V met Jackie’s inquisitive stare.
He flipped the deck over in his hands, and offered it back to her. Taking it, she wrapped it back up in the jacket.
“Maybe that’s enough mystery for tonight?” Jackie reasoned out loud, as V cast about the alley for anything that would give them any sort of a clue. “Already been a long day.”
V opened her mouth, but she couldn’t argue.
Not when Jackie brushed his fingers down the traces adorning her cheek. Particularly not when he brushed his thumb across her lip, and not in the least when he followed it with his mouth.
~*~
There was a squeak in the third stair from the top she hadn’t kept in mind. By some stroke of luck, it didn’t give her away as she padded down to the family room.
Jackie was sprawled on the couch, thumb pressed to his cheek and a contemplative pout on his lips as he stared off into space.
Stepping lightly, V edged around the sharp angles of the table. Her fingers slid over Jackie’s shoulder for balance as she helped herself to his lap; he roused with a soft groan, turning his head blindly towards her as his hands first skimmed her hips, then slid behind her, and his arms settled about her waist. Jackie blinked twice, the glimmer across his lens fading, only for his eyes to flutter shut as V sought his mouth with her own for a languid, unhurried kiss.
Jackie shifted beneath her, allowing her to settle more firmly against him and drawing a croon of appreciation from her throat.
The kiss broke, and V immediately claimed another – softer, shallower, but no less sweet – before they drifted apart. Opening her eyes, she found herself lost in his, and absently traced her fingers up his neck, her thumb brushing lightly over the mismatched texture of metal and skin behind his ear.
Jackie breathed in deep, and sighed a gentle little, “Oh.”
“Mmm,” V agreed. “Mornin’.”
“Afternoon, more like. You slept half the day away.”
“Mmm? What’re you reading? Anything interesting?”
“Sure.” Jackie shrugged, thinking to add, “If you enjoy poetry.”
“Frost?”
“Blake.”
“Huh.”
Pulling her lip between her teeth, V tangled her fingers in the hem of his shirt, giving it a gentle tug to free it from being tucked. Jackie chuckled, catching one of her hands to stop her from fussing with his belt, and braced her with his other arm as he sat up straighter.
“Alright, how about,” he suggested, with a soft kiss to the heel of her palm to sweeten the deal, “I go and I make you breakfast ‘fore we go and we get started on dessert, hmm?”
With his arm still around her, V held on as he stood, and dropped gracefully to her feet to pad after him as he made his way into the kitchen.
The kitchen was kept, clean, and stocked as it always was. V watched with rapt attention as Jackie dug out and set to work on a selection of fresh vegetables – how Señora managed that feat, V felt she would never know – and tofu protein.
Jackie glanced her way but didn’t admonish her when she stole a slice of toast from a half-built plate, and nibbling kept V occupied long enough for him to finish. She followed him right back out to the family room, where he set the food down on the table for her.
Almost burning her mouth on the first bite, V hissed sharply, and Jackie paused on his way back to the kitchen.
“Jesús, V,” he chuckled. “Give it a moment to cool, yeah?”
She picked away at it, blowing on bites even while it was almost too hot, and he was back again soon enough – a soy drink in one hand and a bottle capped with a shotglass in the other. Seating himself beside her, Jackie slid the first her way, keeping the latter for himself.
Realizing the discrepancy, V blinked.
“You’re not having any?”
“Already ate, chica.”
She jabbed a forkful towards him. “You want some?”
“Nope,” he assured her. “All for you.”
Shoving the food into her mouth, V murmured something around it that might’ve been intended as a word. Jackie smirked at her, pouring himself a shot of tequila.
“So... uh... this thing with seeing rabbits...”
“It was one rabbit.” V stabbed a cube of fried potato. “Maybe I was drunk.”
“Didn’t see you touch a drop last night; how drunk could you have gotten?”
“Maybe I was high.”
“And were you high, V?”
“...no.” V pushed food around on her plate before taking another bite. “Maybe it was just a rabbit.”
“In Night City?” Jackie sighed. “Just thinkin’ out loud here, but maybe it’s time you oughta drop in on Vik. Make sure everything’s workin’ as it should be.”
She stilled, staring at him.
Then swallowed.
“Yeah... maybe,” she assented. “After dessert, though.”
Jackie paused, with the glass barely having tipped towards his mouth.
“Claro que sí,” he acquiesced.
~*~
“Hmm.”
Fidgeting on his table, V rolled her head towards him. Vik had just gotten done telling her how unlikely a problem seemed, and now it was Hmm?
He glanced over at her, then back to his display, and shook his head.
“There’s some garbled data in your system.”
“Meaning...?”
“I’m not sure. Doesn’t look like it could be much of anything.”
Her eyebrows drew together as V stared at him.
“Think in terms of script at its most basic. Binary. Ones and zeros. It looks like some of the zeros got flipped to ones, but at complete random. No pattern behind it. There’s not even enough of it to make anything – a few bytes at most. It doesn’t mean anything.”
“So it’s... not a virus or some daemon that put it there, it’s just... a glitch?”
“There’s nothing else in your software or your hardware. Everything came back running as it should be.” Viktor’s mouth pulled into a frown as he thought about it, “It might indicate your cyberdeck is starting to deteriorate, but the odds on that are long. Militech makes good hardware, and this deck is still practically new.”
“Yeah, and I still got a warranty, right?”
His expression softened, and Vik didn’t quite smile at the joke.
“I could delete it for you? See if it comes back?”
“I could delete it myself, if it turns out to be nothing. Now that I know it’s there.”
“You sure?”
“I kinda wanna know what it is. What it means... if anything.”
Vik conceded with a subtle nod. V reached to pull her link cable free, and he shut down his display. He slid his hand behind her back to support her as she started to sit up.
“If I had to guess, I’d say what it means is be more careful when jacking into random, unmarked terminals.”
She had one foot on the ground, and his hand lingered on her arm as she met his stare, head cocked.
“What about that cyberdeck I found?”
“It’s encrypted. Whatever’s on it, I don’t have the means to decrypt it. Best I could do is reset it for you. It’s in good shape, I’m sure I could get it working like new, but anything on it – if it’s anything of value – would be gone.”
“And the rabbit...?”
Vik shrugged.
“Maybe you saw a rabbit.”
“That Jackie didn’t. And that led me right to the deck and then disappeared.”
“It’s not impossible.”
“Sounds a little like Alice in Wonderland.”
V blinked.
Vik’s eyebrows raised.
Both of them glanced at Misty, who draped herself over the arm of Vik’s table and flicked her eyes between them.
“By Lewis Carroll? Jackie has a copy.” She thought about it, leaning her cheek against her hand, and added, “Or he used to. He let me borrow it once.”
Thinking on it a moment longer, V sighed deeply, then turned her attention back to Vik.
“What do I owe you?”
“Peace of mind,” Vik replied. “But scans are always free.”
~*~
“Misty usually knows what she’s talking about,” Jackie told her.
They sat at a stall in Kabuki market over lunch, and V absorbed half of what he was saying, but she was full of good food and the sun was warm on her skin. And if Vik had said it was next to nothing to worry about, well... why worry.
Propping her chin on her knuckles, V glanced off into the thick of the it, gaze wandering across the colorful assortment of stalls and goods for sale. Nothing she felt obligated to buy, but an eclectic selection all the same.
Her eyes narrowed.
“...uh, V?”
She heard him.
Barely.
But her eyes were locked on the rabbit. A scan came up empty, and as it hopped around the corner of the nearest stall, V slipped out of her seat.
With carefree ease, it made its way through the market.
V crept after it, her pace slowed by the bustle of the crowd.
The rabbit ignored her and continued on, disappearing up a walkway without her when she got caught in a particularly thick crowd. Working her way through, she hurried up a level to catch up with it – only to see it’s tail disappear around the curve of the building once she reached the top.
On the upper level of the rotunda, V found the rabbit sitting in front of a door, scrubbing its face with its paws.
“This?” V asked.
The rabbit offered no response, and she glanced up at the sign. She looked down again, and around; the rabbit was nowhere in sight.
Waving her hand over the panel, she opened the door and stepped through.
It was a small shop, but majestic by market standards – a pair of netrunner chairs for public rent in the back, a selection of arcade games... and all the goods that must have been kept behind the counter, or in cyberspace.
The woman manning the counter regarded V coolly as she wandered in. Endeavoring to put up a good front and act, at least, less lost than she felt, V marched right up to the counter. Placing her hands flat, she leaned into it, smiling brightly.
“I’m here to pick something up,” V said. “For...” a rabbit, “...someone. I think.”
The woman behind the counter merely continued to stare at her.
V scratched the back of her neck.
“For... Alice?” she ventured, “Like in Wonderland?”
The woman’s eyes flicked over V’s shoulder, and V followed her gaze to find Jackie moving to stand close behind her.
“Try White Rabbit?” he suggested. “Dinah? Dormouse? Jabberwocky?”
“Maybe...” V tried, “Lewis Carroll?”
It was like attempting to figure out someone’s password. The woman’s bland customer service stare had begun to slip into a look of irritation, as though they were playing some kind of joke.
“Cheshire Cat?” Jackie guessed.
Several uncomfortable seconds ticked by. V dropped to her elbows against the counter, at a complete loss, with the woman now glaring outright, and Jackie slipped his fingers around V’s arm.
“Ah. Apologies, señorita, I think we got the wrong ‘runner shop.”
With a gentle tug, he pulled V away from the counter, and she trailed along after him as he led her out of the shop. He only let go once they were outside, a few paces down the catwalk.
There, he stared down at her, mouth quirked in less of a smile than in complete bewilderment.
“Mind me askin’, What the fuck?”
“Not in the least; I’ve been asking myself that all morning.”
~*~
Her console flickered on. A black screen and a blinking white command line cursor, and nothing else. Lifting her head from her desk, V stared at it, blearily.
Words flashed across the screen.
Who are you?
V sat up a little straighter in her chair, and scrubbed her eyes.
Curiosity won over confusion.
Tentatively, she typed a reply.
The first thing to come to mind.
Who is anybody?
A pause, then followed,
Neither a rhetorical question, nor a riddle. Tell me your name.
V
V?
Just V.
Link in.
V stared at the words on the screen.
This was the part of her life where being reckless often got her into trouble.
Sometimes, at least, she was aware of it.
In the pause that followed, another word appeared.
Please.
V swallowed. She pulled her neural link free of its cradle, and jacked it into the terminal’s port. She felt... something. A little like linking in to another person and a lot like getting scanned.
You’ll have to do.
“Um. Thanks?” V ventured out loud. She left the cable linked in, for all that she opted to type her replies.
What is going on?
I need you to go to Kabuki market. There’s a netrunner kiosk there. There’s data in their servers I need you to retrieve.
If you’re the one that’s been jerking me around, I was there this afternoon. I don’t think they like me very much.
I’m not jerking anyone around.
Before V could reply, the next line jolted down her back like ice.
I need help.
I have access codes. No one should be there.
Do not trust anyone.
V’s next sentences came slow.
You should know, that’s going to be difficult for me.
I don’t work alone. I have a partner. I trust him very much.
There was a pause before the mystery answered.
Valentino?
Yes.
Don’t involve him.
“Fuck you,” V told the screen, incredulously.
Please.
I need you to find me.
I can’t hold out much longer.
V rubbed her eyes. When she opened them, peering over the back of her hand, there was a single word on the screen.
Help.
“Yeah.” V sighed. “Alright. I heard you.”
Back to Kabuki?
~*~
Kabuki at night only resembled Kabuki during the day.
The merchandise had changed over completely in the hours between, and in the darkness there was much the illusion – if not the reality – that one could find anything.
A distinct flourish of color caught her eye as she turned a corner – an older man, selling nothing less than flowers out of a stall. On another, more leisurely night, V might have stopped and browsed. It wasn’t the first thing to catch her eye, but it was perhaps the most eye-catching.
Tonight, she wove through the evening crowd, once more making her way to the upper rotunda.
The door was locked, its indicator dim.
Narrowing her eyes, V cracked the lock, and the door slid open.
She slipped inside, intuitively pressing herself into the shadows once she was past the threshold. The shop was empty at this hour, and, creeping through the dark, V vaulted over the counter and cracked the door to the back room.
There were several servers running, assorted status lights and screens casting a soft glow over the room. A console drew her attention, and V found a jack to plug into.
For several long moments, she sat still – watching her display and listening to the soft hum of the mainframe as she waited for some connection to be made.
At long last, V fidgeted.
A data packet uploaded to her system.
She didn’t have time to unpack and go over it in detail before a sound got her attention. Another door whispering open, different to the one she’d come in, and V slipped out before whoever it was could stumble across her.
Slipping quickly as she could the long way around the counter, a step ahead of them, V bolted out the shop’s door, onto the rotunda catwalk, and kept on running.
~*~
Her door slid open.
Jolted from her thoughts, V sat up straight.
Jackie poked his head through, offering her a wave and a bright smile when he found her at her desk before stepping through. V pulled herself up from her chair, and stepped around the partition that separated her desk from the rest of the room to meet him.
“¿Qué onda?”
The words that slipped out of her mouth were first that came to mind.
“I was not expecting you here tonight.”
They were overtly blunt, and did nothing to cover her. It was obvious in the way that Jackie cocked his head, eyebrows knit together.
“Had a thing with Vik. Figured while I was in the neighborhood I may as well drop by.”
Smile blooming in full splendor, Jackie offered her a rose.
Taken aback, V blinked at it.
Eyes narrowing at him, she reached for it slowly.
Not a real rose, not up close – the silky petals were made of some kind of synthetic micro-velvet, in an striking array of red and blue, overlapping into one another. Its green leaves and stem hewn closer to the illusion of a plant, but nonetheless still soft under her fingertips.
And even synthetic, the rose still had thorns, for all that they were encased in velvet.
“What’s this you’re working on?”
“Ah.” V turned to find him staring at her terminal screen.
Fuck.
“It’s... something... I was looking into. For someone. Asked me to.”
“Looks familiar...” Jackie mused. He glanced back at her, “Hey, isn’t this the place we broke into the other day?”
V’s gaze was drawn to the map.
“...is it?”
“Maybe not the same floor, but I think that’s the same address.”
He’d barely finished the sentence before V killed the display with a flick of her fingers.
Which only served to bring the full weight of Jackie’s perplexed stare down on her.
V’s gaze fell to the flower in her hands. She twisted it by the stem between her fingertips, watching the petals shiver as they moved.
A small piece of art.
Jackie’s fingers brushed against her temple, and her breath caught in her throat. V leaned into the soft touch as he threaded her hair back behind her ear.
“You know, I...” She breathed out a shaky little sigh. “I’m glad you stopped by. Everything was feeling all...”
It was an honest truth.
Even if it was only a fraction of another.
A deep chuckle rumbled in Jackie’s chest. V dragged her gaze up to meet his.
“For a moment there, thought you were gonna say...” His smirk faded, and he glanced off. “Uh. Yeah. No matter.”
Reaching for his fingers, V let the rose slip from her hand into a glass on the desk. His other hand was already sliding over her hip as she pressed his palm to her mouth, eyes drifting closed, and his fingers skimmed down her chin to tilt her face upward.
Her eyes cracked open again to find him staring, mouth set in a solemn expression that seemed far out of place as he studied her face. Before she could read too far into it, the corner of his mouth quirked, and a slow smile spread across his.
Smiling now herself, V blinked as he kissed her forehead, which was followed by a kiss to her cheek, and another to her chin. He yanked her closer, and she gave a sharp gasp of surprise right against his mouth.
~*~
She was comfortable and warm, and a slow, rhythmic breathing lulled her heart gently.
A small spike of electricity jolted up her spine.
Fuck!
V hadn’t intended to fall asleep.
Squirming, she tried to extricate herself from his embrace without jostling Jackie awake, only for her arm to get held back by a taut pressure on her wrist. Reaching behind her, she followed the tension in her link cable to unplug it from his neural port by touch.
Perceiving a glimpse of the data it was feeding her just before it vanished from her display, V froze, her cable retracting with a soft, audible click as though to punctuate the snag.
Jackie’s arms tightened around her, his mouth soft against the back of her neck sending a shiver coursing through her.
His vitals were hot.
He was wide awake.
“You gonna tell me what it is that’s going on,” he murmured, “or... I gotta make you scream s’more for that?”
“Fuck.”
“Mmm.”
Jackie was warm.
Her bed was warm.
His breath was warm.
That little flutter in her belly in response to his gently scraping across the apex of her jaw with his teeth was warm.
Someone out there needed her help.
“Can’t,” V mumbled at last, wiggling her way out of his grip. She slid her legs out over the edge of the bed, and pressed her hands into her face. “Shit to do.”
“Está bien,” Jackie sighed. He eased past her out of bed, and started picking through their clothes get dressed. “Guess I get to find out when we get there. No es gran cosa.”
“We?”
“You gonna run off into the wild blue yonder chasing rabbits, I’m sure as fuck gonna tag along make sure you don’t trip and disappear down any rabbit holes.”
V rose to her feet as he stepped into his pants.
“Look. I’ve been in Night City long enough – and you’ve taught me enough – that I know what I’m doing. I can take care of myself.”
“Mira. And do you know what it is what you’re doing?”
V stated evenly, and with full confidence, “Not in the fucking least.”
“Exactly my point, V.”
Staring at the floor, V swallowed.
Grabbing up her clothes, one by one, from where they’d fallen, she retreated into her storage room to get dressed. And, more importantly, to strap together her kit.
Stepping out again, she went straight for her terminal, ignoring Jackie as he lurked around behind her.
The shard was missing from the computer’s port.
With a slow, meticulous sigh, V straightened up. She held her hand open over her shoulder, and Jackie pressed the shard into her palm.
“Someone asked for my help,” she told him. “Kept anonymous so far. I really don’t know anything more than that. Just what you saw, and coordinates.”
“They offering you any money?”
“No.”
She slotted the shard. No better place for it, really.
“Sounds suspicious as hell.” Jackie waited until she’d turned around to face him to ask, “Do you really wanna walk into this alone?”
“I don’t want you to get hurt,” V stated. But that wasn’t the whole conflicting truth. “And I’d feel better having you at my back.”
“¿Cuánto mejor?”
“A lot.”
“Eso lo resuelve. We rollin’ or what?”
~*~
V’s coordinates, once they untangled the right set from the jumble of data, led them out to the badlands.
Straight to a worn hatch dug in the rock beneath their feet, under the moonlight.
“I don’t have any idea of what we’re gonna find down there.”
“No sense standing around, then, is there?” Jackie told her. “Let’s go down and find out.”
V sighed.
Then nodded.
The hatch opened smoothly, without a sound. Down the ladder hidden below it, it opened into an empty, well-lit security checkpoint, guarding a lone door.
Stepping up to the door, V happened to glance down, only to find the rabbit sitting at her feet.
On impulse, she crouched down beside it, thinking it might hop away... but it didn’t. She expected her fingers to pass right through it, like a hologram. Instead, its fur was soft under her fingertips. It scrubbed its face and sat up on its haunches, and for the first time seemed to take notice of the fact that she was there next to it.
Incredulous, V smiled.
Then she remembered Jackie was standing right there beside her. Staring down at her like she might’ve lost it; a mix of confusion and concern playing across his face that he was struggling to keep in check. Straightening up, she looked at him, and shrugged.
“I guess... this is our place.”
Jackie glanced up the ladder, and around at the guard station around them. No one had followed them down, not that they expected that; but stranger still, no one was down here already and no alarms had been tripped.
None that they knew of.
V glanced at the rabbit, still there. She reached for the door’s panel; it slid open, and the rabbit meandered through ahead of them.
Strange, how it wasn’t even locked.
Beyond the door was a dimly lit corridor.
Ahead of them, the rabbit wove from wall to wall, leading them onward into the warren of hallways beyond.
Or leading V onward, as Jackie merely followed her.
A more grim discovery lurked within the darkened halls, where they stumbled across a body – armored, but lifeless. And soon enough another. After a few more, clustered together, one of which might’ve been a scientist or a board director, Jackie stopped to inspect one of them more closely.
“These people can’t have been dead longer than a couple of days.” He wondered out loud, “I know life is cheap, but isn’t it kinda weird that no one came down here to check on any of them?”
V didn’t have an answer for him.
Not a real one, anyhow.
Ahead of them, the rabbit sat and cleaned its face.
Their path wound still deeper into the complex.
V’s thoughts turned inward.
What was there here for them to find?
Who would it help, and how?
What were they even doing down here?
The rabbit thumped.
An illusory warning, which nevertheless brought V up short. She saw the danger the moment she did, only for Jackie to wrap his arms around her and pull her out of harm’s potential way. The rabbit had bolted for cover behind one of the elaborate planters posted at intervals along the hallway, opposite the one were now crouched behind.
Ahead of them, a crew of maybe a dozen heavily armored soldiers, clustered at the end of the hall. One was working on a security door with a torch. Two were standing by. The rest were milling about uneasily
Looks like they’re trying to cut through to whatever’s in there., V flicked to the man over her shoulder.
Bet you it’s the same thing we’re after, whatever that is., hit her display a moment later. You got a map of this place, too? Flick me a copy.
V did as he asked, and almost imperceptible, Jackie shifted beside her, obscuring his eyes to hide the glow of his lens. He gave her shoulder an amicable pat, and stepped out into the corridor.
“Wait, what...?” V tried to ask, the words a breath on her lips and spoken to late.
“¡Cogé a cada una de tus madres y a tus padres cogé dos veces!”
Having brought all due attention down on his head, Jackie turned and bolted back the way they had come, bellowing a boisterous laugh as he did.
It was only luck and timing with which V slipped around the planter, out from under the gaze of a soldier glancing back, and as two men left behind – the one cutting through, the other his guard – turned their attention back to the door.
Great plan, Jack, V was tempted to send after him.
Not that she had a better one.
She stifled it, focusing on the task at hand.
Stepping up silently behind the guard, V caught her arm around his throat and prayed he would go down before he could send a message to his buddies.
He went slack in her arms, and the other man didn’t seem to notice.
A good sign.
The power tool posed a challenge – scanning it, V found a weak link and short-circuited its connection to the powercell. When the man stood, she leapt at him out of the darkness to slam his forehead against the door, knocking him cold as well.
V sighed.
The rabbit crouched at the door as she pulled the battery from the cutting tool, and used it to restore emergency power to the keypad. Whatever programs had been loaded onto the Kabuki packet autobooted to work their magic, and the door slid open with a screech of warped metal.
Dim light spilled out.
When she looked down, the rabbit was gone again.
The room beyond was half-powered. Emergency lights still hummed above her head, brighter than the ones in the hall, as she passed under them, but there was also the deeper hum of more sensitive electronics. Taking it in, V found herself standing in a netrunner station – a single chair in the center of the room, surrounding by an array of databanks and consoles and screens, with even more databanks stacked deep along the walls.
There was a woman in the netrunner chair, eyes closed and inert.
Biting her lip, V concentrated on what looked to be the main console. She linked in to it, and whatever command or access she was carrying seemed to... do... something, as some of the screens flashed to life, and the fluorescent lights overhead buzzed to life.
An unmarked text message flickered across her display, demanding her attention.
Retaining bolt.
“Um?”
As V stood there, at a loss, another message appeared.
Back of the chair. Slides across.
She glanced at the woman in the chair as she circled it, examining closer. Finding what she thought must have been it, she fussed with the lateral bolt until it scratched and slid from one side of its mooring to the other.
Something disconnected, and as soon as V had pulled the bolt, the netrunner stirred. She groaned as she struggled to sit up, and V sprung to her feet to support her as she detached one wire after the next. Fully disconnected, she wavered a bit in V’s hold, and perhaps thinking better of it, sank back into the chair.
“...water?”
V frowned.
She hadn’t thought to bring water.
But had she...?
Stepping back, she dug through her bag in search of any that might have happened along for the trip. Instead, she unearthed a soft nutrient packet. Unsealing it and uncapping the built-in straw, she pressed into the woman’s hands, letting go only when she was certain it wouldn’t fall from them once she did.
Raising it to her mouth without even looking at it, the woman pulled a tentative sip. She pulled a face at the flavor, side-eyeing V as she did, but continued to drink the thick mixture anyway.
“It’s pomegranate black cherry,” V stated helpfully.
“It’s goddamn corn syrup,” the woman groused back.
“Yeah...” V agreed cheerfully, “But it’s artificially sweetened to taste like what some corpo-mandated algorithm has determined pomegranate and black cherry mixed together tastes like. And the date’s still good – ‘cause that shit’ll last well into the next century.”
The woman rolled her eyes.
“And, uh...” V pulled the jacket she’d found out of her bag, along with the cyberdeck. “I think this is yours?”
She offered it to the woman, who stared at it coolly.
“...yeah,” she said after a moment, taking it from V. “Thanks.”
With a distinct lack of enthusiasm, she left the entire thing in her lap as she focused instead on sucking down the fruity meal replacement corn syrup.
Moments ticked by in awkward silence. V walked along the perimeter marked off by the consoles, drumming her fingers on the metal casings, and the woman eyed her all the while.
Before V could think of a suitable topic to broach the silence, a message flickered on her lens.
Hope you’ve found what you’re looking for, chica, ‘cause I could use a hand whenever you got a moment.
Her blood ran cold.
“Fuck,” she swore out loud.
Jackie wasn’t asking for help, he was just... asking for help.
That didn’t bode well.
Finding the woman staring at her, V explained, “I gotta delta – my partner might be in trouble.”
The woman’s eyes narrowed. “The guy I explicitly told you not to bring along?”
“Yeah, well – he’s stubborn,” V defended. “And to be fair I don’t think I could have gotten down here without him; we ran into another team down here trying to get to you and he opted to run a decoy. On his behalf, You’re welcome, by the way.”
“Motherfucker.”
Taking a thick slurp off the packet, the woman sought out of the cyberdeck in her lap. She plugged them into the jack on her arm, and strapped the cuff around her wrist.
“So, yeah,” V said, starting for the door, “gotta go.”
After a thought, V paused to turn back. “And... um, I guess you should know where my apartment is; Megabuilding H-Ten, oh-seven-sixteen – feel free to grab whatever you need out of it once you get out of here.”
“Wait.” Patting down her pockets until she found it, the woman pulled the blank shard from her jacket. She slotted it, and V hesitated, glancing at the door.
A handful of moments later, she slipped the shard free, and held it out.
“Take this.”
“What is it?”
“Trust me.” The netrunner shrugged. “Or don’t.”
~*~
V dashed down the halls, following Jackie’s signal. She barely slowed coming around the corner where he was pinned down, and slid her knife free from its sheath.
None of the soldiers were paying her any mind, too focused on the displaced Valentino in their midst.
Jackie was kicking up a fuss: machete in one hand, gun in the other, with a modicum of cover in an old office and a barrage of increasingly petty insults.
They might’ve wanted him alive. To know how he knew about this place, or whatever intel Corporate liked to know about trespassers on their top-secret bases.
V held no such regard for their benefit.
Their armor was comprehensive, so she focused on the weakest spot she could fathom, and jammed her knife into the soft gap between the helmet and the shoulders of the first man she reached. He went down in a gurgle of blood, and her sudden arrival caught the rest of the lot by surprise.
As soon as he realized she was there, Jackie leapt into the fray with her, firing at one of the men and bringing another to his knees with enough force to crack bone as he twisted between them to reach her.
Between the two of them, an easy half of the soldiers were down before they wound up back to back, surrounded in the cramped hallway. The rest began to spasm and collapse one after the other around them as their implants seized up and overloaded, burning them from within.
For Jackie, the fight went on a moment longer, until he realized for good there wasn’t anyone else left standing. He raised an eyebrow at the still-twitching bodies.
“Ah...” He turned to V. “Neat trick. Hope you got what you came here for,” he told her again, adding, “‘cause I think they called for backup.”
“Reinforcements are on their way, I suggest you find an exit now.”
“Yeah, I think you’re right.” V answered them, one after the next, “Hey, what about you?”
Jackie blinked at her, before the realization dawned on his face that she wasn’t talking to him.
“Already way ahead of you.”
“Yeah, alright,” V replied, before glancing up at Jackie. “Time to leave.”
“Pase,” Jackie agreed, with a sweep of his arm.
With no rabbit to guide them, they followed the map. It cut them a swift path to the security gate, and they escaped back into the desert.
~*~
The closest thing to a rendezvous was V’s apartment, and the netrunner wasn’t there waiting for them.
For a few moments, V thought she might have been. The door glitched, refusing at first to open, but everything seemed as she and Jackie had left it – the bed unmade, the room lived in, in a hurry.
In the end, it might have been wishful thinking. V realized she wouldn’t have been able to tell, one way or the other.
Once it was obvious they were alone, Jackie had shed his machete and made himself right at home on her couch.
V followed him, slowly, and was still trying to determine if – maybe – that one can of cream tangerine dream in particular had been open and empty when they’d left when he leaned forward to wrap his arms around her and pull her onto his lap.
“All’s well that ends well, huh?”
V shifted around in his arms, and he kept her steady as she found her balance, knees to one side of him as she draped across his chest, leaning into his shoulder.
“Has it ended well?” she asked.
Jackie’s eyebrows raised in question. Her fidgeting stopped. “I thought... you might be pissed off.”
“You kidding?”
“Not really, no.”
“V, you tried to seduce me as a means to a deception. That’s like somethin’ I would do. I love it to think that I might be a bad influence on you.”
V snorted. “Other way around, maybe.”
“Maybe. But, uh....” Shifting under her, Jackie shrugged. “Anything else you might wanna let me in on, while we’re on the subject?” He brushed her cheek with his thumb, then his hand dropped lower, where he toyed with the neck of her shirt. “Little secrets? Heartfelt confessions?” Smirking, he flicked his gaze up to meet her eyes. “Any other shit you might’ve been holding out on me?”
V pressed her tongue into the corner of her mouth as she considered the question.
“I thought it must be obvious,” she remarked.
“Hrmm?”
Dipping her head, she nuzzled his jaw.
He tilted his face towards her and their lips brushed together as she pulled only near enough away that their eyes again met. Stretching just that far, Jackie enticed her back down until her mouth was pressed firmly against his, with his fingers tangled her hair.
The television screen flickered to life, emitting a soft, crackling hum.
V paid it little mind; Jackie, even less.
“...am I interrupting?”
They broke apart, V casting about for the source of the voice and Jackie tensing outright, his fingers digging into her shoulder as he assessed the danger of a threat that wasn’t there.
Or... was maybe not a threat to them, anyway.
“Mmm, tal vez un poco,” Jackie answered her, while V stared mutely at the screen. “Wanna try back in an hour?”
The woman depicted on it hrrmphed.
“The name’s T-Bug. I wanted to thank you for your assistance earlier.”
“I’m happy we got there in time.”
“Trust me, so am I.” In the brief pause that followed, the woman seemed to arrange her thoughts. “Listen, I...” she explained, haltingly guarded, “Recently... I’ve hit upon some hard times, and my resources are limited right now. I can’t exactly pay you back for what you’ve done for me, but I’d still like to find a way to even things out.”
“Sometimes it’s not about the payoff.”
V started to slide off Jackie’s chest as he jolted up straighter. Eyes locked on the screen, he slipped an arm over her to catch her on reflex, and she got a hand on the couch to prop herself back up.
“Hey... you...” he jabbed a finger at the screen, eyes narrow. “Not to interrupt, but I feel like I know you from somewhere. Did we, uh... Have we... met... before all this?”
“Yes.”
“Ah.” Jackie fidgeted beneath her, and V followed the conversation raptly between him and the woman on the screen. “Sorry, if I, uh... can’t remember every little detail...”
“I was hired on for cybersecurity. Consulting job. You showed up out of literal nowhere and punched my client in the jaw. Tracking you down after the fact wasn’t really worth anyone’s time or money.”
“¡Ay! That... must’ve been it. Now that you bring it up.” Under his breath, he breathed a quieter, “Gracias a Dios.”
T-Bug seemed to regard him for moment more, then her attention visibly shifted.
“V.”
“Mhhm?”
“I’ll contact you later when I’m better situated.”
“Guess you already know where to find me.”
“Yeah. In the meanwhile, I’ll let you get back to... what you were doing.”
The television screen flickered off again.
Jackie continued to stare at it, until V combed her fingertips through his hair and she felt him start beneath her.
“Ah. Right.” Jackie cleared his throat. “What were we doin’ again?”
Biting back a smirk, V offered a hapless shrug. “Not sure I remember.”
“Guess we’ll just have to do this, then.”
The way his arm tightened around her was all the warning she got when all at once he twisted, rolling her onto the couch beneath him with a deep chuckle at her surprised squeak.
~*~
“Where’s your friend?”
“Honest?” V answered wryly, “In hiding.”
“...in hiding?”
T-Bug met her easy smile with open skepticism.
It only made V’s smile grow deeper.
“I think he might be worried that you’re gonna hack his dick.”
Hands slowing as she worked, T-Bug regarded V for a long moment, then scoffed with a shake her head.
V leaned over the chair, watching her wire her space. The apartment was barely more than a room, smaller than V’s, and the assorted half-built array of netrunning equipment took up half the floor space, and a sliding partition wall separating the net space from the rest of the living space made it feel even smaller.
“Isn’t this place a little cramped?”
“You don’t need much space when you’ve got cyberspace.”
Sitting back, T-Bug scratched her eyebrow. “So, I managed to, uh... I called in some old favors, scraped together a few eddies; it’s not much, but it should cover the food I took from your apartment. It’s on the counter.”
“From the looks of things, I think you need it more than I do.”
T-Bug’s eyes widened, a glance slowly pulled V’s way. “Generous of you.”
She sighed, brushing off her hands as she got to her feet, and fixed her stare on V.
“Hey. Who are you, really?” she asked. “The letter V alone is impossible to find a data trail on; what’s the real name?”
“V is my real name. In its entirety. I rode with the Bakkers, before the clan fell apart.”
“And now you do mercwork in Night City?”
“It’s a living. And I occasionally rescue netrunners from...” V trailed off as her gaze fell on the chair, and she realized she still didn’t know. “What the hell was all that, anyway? Why did they have you locked in like that?”
The expression on T-Bug’s face soured.
“From what I managed to piece together when I was in their network, some kind of AI research,” T-Bug indulged her, “I don’t know the detes. Typical corpo overlord wanna-be bullshit.”
“You don’t think anyone’ll come after you?”
“I hope they’ll have learned their lesson the first time. And, with respect? I’m trying to put it behind me.”
V took the hint.
And felt a twinge of regret for having asked
Standing straighter, she gave the chair a pat.
“Guess I should let you... finish... setting up all this...”
It looked pretty set up, but V didn’t know much about netrunning tech, aside from the few tricks she’d picked up in trade.
“Mmm,” T-Bug intoned.
V started for the door, pausing at the threshold as T-Bug’s drifted after her.
“Hey, V?”
V looked back to find screens flickering on. Standing amidst the cluttered display of cyber-tech that was her element, T-Bug smiled at her... for all that it looked a little forced. “I’ll be in touch.”
Smiling back, V nodded a goodbye.
The door slid closed behind her; the indicator on the panel reading it to be locked.
V followed the faded carpet running the length of the hallway towards the stairs, to make her way out onto the streets. There, she rolled her shoulders as she picked a direction at random, her smile had faded a touch, but didn’t vanish.
She had no destination in mind.
It was nearing midnight, and the city was still wide awake.
#cyberpunk 2077#nomad!v#jackie welles#t-bug#misty olszewski#viktor vektor#fanfiction#please take this away from me now#it is a long fic for me you probably wanna read it on ao3
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