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not super sure why i was pinged but ok Anyway, best of the decade? That's a tough ask. To kind of echo what Rep said, what even were memes ten years ago? Double Rainbow? The first appearance of the Rent Is Too Damn High Party? The Game (you just lost)? Do people even remember these things (more importantly, did people know about them before I brought them up?) Like, I understand why "Best of Decade" lists are appealing. They're a closer ten times as impactful as "Best of the Year" lists, putting a lid on ten years of culture and tying it all up in a bow. It makes sense for movies, right? I'm not going to say movies haven't evolved over the past ten years, but, like, you watch something like The Master and it's like "Okay, outside of Philip Seymour Hoffman being dead, this movie could be made today." Meanwhile, there have been popular memes from even a week ago that have been forgotten now. That "plant a bunch of trees" campaign? Poof. Gone from the collective consciousness. We're moving towards an internet where the only memes that survive are the most versatile. I'm referring to notable templates like Drake and Expanding Brain, these things that spawn their own derivatives, yet still require a kernel of understanding of their basest concepts. And yet, if I'm calling these the best, I still feel like I'm discounting multitudes of other memes, some of which actually made a difference. The subset of youtube videos "X, but every time Y happens, Z" slowly morphed into We Are Number One, which actually raised cancer awareness and helped someone live much longer than they had been expected to. Various "Do silly thing for charity" challenges, popularized by the Ice Bucket for ALS challenge, genuinely raised awareness for those causes. But to go down that route also gets into this "How does one even define 'best?'" territory and I'm not sure I'm comfortable or philosophically equipped to deal with tackling that particular conversation. So instead, I'm going to just pick one. What's my quote-unquote "best?" Well, like I alluded to earlier, I'm interested in versatile subsets of memes, and if I'm picking a versatile set, I'd like to go with something so versatile that it can be used in multiple mediums. Things like the aforementioned Expanding Brain are great, but they really can only be used online, and in a space that allows images. Not all places have that. Real life, frequently, doesn't have that. Text, though, can be said aloud, and so can spread through the air just as well as any subreddit or facebook group. I'm referring, of course, to the evolution of casual dismissal in language, stemming all the way back to tl;dr and all the way to modern day's "ok boomer." They can be used to call out nonsense ("Sir, this is an Arby's"). They can be used to provide summary (again "tl;dr" in its modern parlance). They can even be used to express mocking emotion ("This is so sad. Alexa, play..."). And, in perhaps my personal favorite use, they can be used to self-deprecatingly admit they've gone on too long and might as well wrap things up. Anyway, here's Wonderwall:

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Ryia didn't do much but just sit there as the chosens of fire and thunder moved in to kill the warg. While she was relieved that it wouldn't give them any more trouble, Ryia as well couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilty as she saw Reinaan get bit by the creature. Though she knew that it was due to her own inability to continue fighting that lead to her being unable to charge it in his place, the girl didn't have much time to lament on her own shortcomings as Lindow had come over to her. She weakly looked up to the man, as his dispassionate gaze fell down on her, the girl not really sure what to make of all of it. She, in fact, had trouble making out what it was he was saying as well as reading him any deeper as she was struggling keeping her eyes open at all. Soon enough, though, her eyes became more alert as she suddenly felt a warmth wash over her body. The girl winced as she felt a stinging sensation start to radiate through her arm. It was certainly an improvement from the numbness that was there not moments before, though her arm certainly wasn't thanking the man for it at the moment. Her ragged breathing steadied a bit and the girl managed to keep her balance better, albeit falling into more of a sitting posture with the fight done, as she looked to the others. Discussing with what needed to be nodded, Ryia nodded at Pyrrha's statement. "Well, this is where we needed to get to but um," with the fight having been finished Ryia was able to examine the area around them more clearly now. They were indeed at the farm they needed to get to, only there hadn't been any signs of life aside from them and the gnolls here. While her first guess as to what was going on here was the most obvious one, being the gnolls, it was weird to her that the most recent conflict was the only one with any signs of having happened here. Add to that, the gnoll was looking for food, so if they had raided here then they wouldn't be looking for food in a place they had already raided clean. Looking around, the girl managed to notice one thing that stuck out to her among all others, though. Blood on the ground. While not uncommon given the most recent struggle, these ones seemed to be moving in almost a trial outside of the farm. Lifting her good arm and pointing to it, a clear look of concern on her face the girl struggle to move to her feet saying, "we- we should probably keep looking."

Octavia »»————-　♡　————-«« "Your concerns aren't unfounded, Dread Knight probably will not join you, but at this moment, it's better to aim for the stars and miss than it is to lay on the ground and do nothing. He most likely won't attack you all." Octavia glanced at the ground for a moment as she rubbed at her chin lightly, it wasn't really fair to be too harsh on them for this one, cause they weren't wrong necessarily. It was better to make an attempt than to just give up before even trying. It still didn't seem like the best plan though, to hope that this guy would agree to help them. At least there was a sort of backup plan to scout and try to find the cult. Octavia just propped her head up on her hand for a moment, considering how they could go about this as the rest of the discussion seemed to pass on without her input, not that she really had much to add now. The beep on her duel disk did catch her attention, the map of the city causing her to narrow her eyes a tiny bit as she looked at it. Sure, two years had passed since she had been able to see what Hearthome was like before, but all the gang territory lines were drastically different, it was going to be awkward for her, without a doubt. Nothing that she had been used to before was going to apply now. "Well, that's all we got time for now! Here's some boxed lunches that Barbatos kindly took the time to make for you all, but in case that isn't enough," Mr. E walked over to Shannon, handing her a black credit card. He then spun around, handing Octavia a white one. "If you need something, these cards should help. Don't spend them all in one place~! Good luck to you all today!" Octavia blinked at the card being offered to her, a little look on her face as she coughed lightly. She wasn't sure how useful this sort of thing would be for them, considering the state that Hearthome was in... But she took the card anyway, giving Mr. E a small, appreciative smile as she did, "Thank you. I'll make sure that we don't spend too much of it in the first place." She nodded her head to the strange, strange man as she took the card, before standing up as she took a deep breath. Time to go. The truck ride was a little unnerving. It didn't seem safe, going to the city in such an... Open manner, anything could go wrong with them exposed like this. She knew that Blues and Mr. E probably wouldn't put them in such foolish danger, so it was probably safe, but that didn't mean her nerves weren't firing all the same. It had been a long time since she had properly been in the city, she had no idea how things were faring, where the most dangerous points of the city were anymore, so much changes in a few years really. The truck came to a sudden stop, causing her to wobble in her place as she snapped to attention. The gloomy city wasn't much different than what she remembered on the surface, but she knew all the mechanics underneath were changing all the time. "We're here. I'll be here, waiting for you all." She closed her eyes as she brought her hood up and over her head, just enough to hide her hair from the outside world, standing up quickly as she took a little look around. It was a quick, to the point scan of the area around them, it didn't seem like anyone was lurking too closely by, and she stepped out of the truck and gave Barbatos a nod. "Home sweet home, I guess," Octavia stifled a small laugh as she shrugged her shoulders, "It's not the best place, but it's home." She glanced towards the others as she tapped at her cheek, "...I don't like splitting up yet. Not until we have some sort of lead," Her voice was notably sterner than it had been while they were back at the base, lowering in pitch, as if she was trying to keep it lowered intentionally, "Once we get some idea of where to go for both, then we can think about splitting up. But it's a big city and even if we comb over it in two separate groups, it wouldn't change much. Stick together and be ready for the worst." She rubbed at her cheek lightly, as if she was reconsidering what she had just said, "Though, if we gotta split up, this is where I would do it. Two of us start with the store. Occasionally people will check on them for missed supplies if they've been raided, we can try and see if anyone is doing that... Or maybe squatting there," She made a little motion towards the bank as well, "And if that's functional, we should see what's going on there. They might have info too. So the other two can check there and we can just meet up back here."

caster would be gucciiii

"Did one of you drop this?" "Yes, I did. Would you mind disabling this minefield so I can come over there and get it?" "Oh, but why? An inactive minefield is no fun for anyone." "I would argue a trip to the nurse's office is even less fun." Sammi pointed at the boy who had done as she asked as she continued "I'm not sure what sort of force your mines have, but a biological organism wouldn't be able to handle something exploding right under their feet and just walk it off like you might." Come to think of it, how well could BOMB handle explosions? "Are you sure? But I tested this field on the principal and he said it was great fun...." Bomb slumped a bit, seemingly disappointed. Was BOMB a child? "I'll humor you on the way out," Sammi sighed. "I don't mind an explosion or two, but this boy has business with you too, and he looks a bit more frail than the principal did." BOMB kicked at the ground a bit, then "Okay..." He said and moved off to the side where a large red switch was. He flipped the switch and all of the mines suddenly exploded at once. Not the deactivation I was expecting. Sammi nudged the fleshbag boy with her foot, nodding down the hall to signify that it was time for them to meet up with BOMB more closely. The robot girl retrieved her arm from BOMB, and let him and this other boy talk over his business here while she worked on getting the arm re-attached. Once they had wrapped up, the boy told Sammi he'd be waiting outside, and took off. That just left the two robots. "..." This was going to be awkward. "I have a question about Jax Benton's physical education class. He claimed we'll all get stronger or break trying. I was wondering how you - as a robot, which should mean your physical parameters don't improve - handled that." "Oh, that? That was easy, I just did the best in my class so he had nothing to complain about!" "Noted. And, while I'm at it... how much of that scan did you finish from yesterday?" "What scan?" "You said you were going to scan me... were you not able to start before I left?" "Oh. I forgot....who are you again?" Not everything could be perfect, Sammi supposed. "Sammi Knett. A-Anyway, that isn't the point. Basically, what's a robot doing walking around in broad daylight? Don't we have potential enslavement or disassembly to worry about?" Question marks appeared in BOMB's visor. "Why ever would that happen?" "...what?" Sammi was just as confused as BOMB now. "The... the war?" "The last galactic war was with the people from the Helios Sytem...are you one of them?" "N, No, this was a war that happened on Kavra and surrounding planets, about... three-hundred years ago. Mechanical versus organic life. I understand that part of the galaxy is pretty remote, but... that did happen." "A devastating event for those in the area; it did not have a widespread effect...I do not understand where your concern comes from." "Er... being built by Kavran technology myself, I thought... it might be problematic..." Even if the technology was pretty old. Pieces were starting to come together in Sammi's mind, bringing her to the one crucial question. "Okay, straight answer. Machines and fleshies, are they no longer at odds?" BOMB's visor seemed to be full of squiggles. "I do not understand the question. I have never heard anything like it. Cannot properly answer." "I'll take that as a no." This was a lot to take in all at once. It was only one piece of data, but the sheer significance it had was staggering to Sammi right now. This certainly gave her a lot to think about on her downtime. "I'll be going now. Thanks for your time. Feel free to reactivate the minefield." "Now that's an idea! Whatcha think, we should go sneak back onto that field or something? How far you think these watch things reach?" Then, something happened. Kellz's arm was stuck. Was she okay? "We should, uh, get going then. Wherever we're gonna do this thing." Should she call attention to it? One out of a person's two arms suddenly stopping sounded like a problem. But at the same time, from her limited interactions with Kellz, Vivian got the feeling that she wouldn't want someone to point it out. This was a difficult spot to think her way out of. It was probably best to leave it to Stella. She understood her friend better than Viv did. "I don't know how far these reach, but surely they can at least reach the field on campus. I bet we can also find a mech gym or something to spar in if we look around a bit."

More and more people filed in after her. The conference room still wasn’t, like, full full but it was certainly filling up with a number of interesting characters. Rabbits and cats and wolves (oh my!) and all that. With so many new faces since she’d crashed the door the first time, Elsie almost wondered if she was supposed to introduce herself a second- Corbin beat her to the punch. “No, you aren’t,” he said. “I’m not?” Corbin shook his head (at least ravens could do that). “Look, you’re the one that said first impressions today were important, and you already messed that one up. If you ask me, now you’ve got to just focus on the next opportunity. How’re you going to impress people who already think you’re a ditz?” Elsie gasped and put a hand on her chest like she’d just been stabbed in the heart. “Rude! Alright, Mister Know-It-All, if we’re past first impressions, what are yours of everyone here?” Corbin cawed a distinct caw that Elsie immediately recognized as a self-satisfied “I was right, you were wrong, and I’m glad we agree on that” (which immediately earned another tongue-sticking from Elsie) and started moving around the table in a mix of steps, hops, and flutters, only pausing when he was in front of someone’s seat, whereupon he just sort of paused and gave that person a once-over. He didn’t even say anything, instead broadcasting his feelings to Elsie, a decision that she sort of appreciated? Like she didn’t want him blabbing all about how the guy with the gag was probably not in Jekyll’s “trustworthy” book or how the quiet human was unlike any other Corbin had seen (if he was human in the first place), but on the other hand, she also wasn’t sure if having a raven hop up to you and just, you know, stare at you for a bit was the best look for her. But! The decision had been made and it wasn’t like Elsie was about to give Corbin any more satisfaction by calling him back early. So while she kept a monitor on Corbin’s general mood, she also started thinking about what they were even called together to do. Like, she could handle just about anything herself, right? And Jekyll could probably handle the rest if he wanted to, so why all of them together? Just to save time, maybe? Like, they’d all have just the one meeting and they’d be split up - Her thoughts were interrupted by Corbin’s, which had shifted wildly from a natural curiosity to… what was that, a mix of greed and lust? She focused back on the room and saw him frozen in place staring at a bespectacled man across the table from her. The pieces started falling into place; she’d felt that feeling from him before. Corbin was feeling that instinctive raven feeling of want. After all, you could make a raven familiar, but that didn’t mean the raven part wasn’t still there. It was marbles, mostly, or gemstones that she needed for a particularly intensive ritual, but anything with a particular glint that caught his eye could be a problem. Glasses, for instance. “Hey!” Elsie said as she dove onto the table after her raven. In one fell swoop she managed to scoop him back up into her arms, and one quick snap of her fingers later and she was spritzing him with water. “Stop it!” Corbin’s caw this time was a much more annoyed one. “Hey! Hey! Alright! I get it!” He squirmed in Elsie’s hand, trying to get free, but she didn’t let up until he’d stopped and his mood had been reduced to one of resignation. “Back on the shoulder with you,” Elsie said, and Corbin complied, though he reacted with glee when water started dripping onto Elsie’s shoulder. She tried to play it off with a smile. “You’re going to have to forgive him,” Elsie said to the man with the glasses. She took a seat closer to him. “He’s been getting better about shiny things, but sometimes he just slips, you know? Sorry about that.”

Sure I'll join in on this. Suppose a particular servant to go with would be Assassin, might as well work with smoky the now ninja for a second time.

Holy shit, Toby Fox's song in SwSh is from a Homestuck shitpost that got him banned lmfao