radio414

I Wish I Was Joking Minos was ready to jump back down but stopped herself. “I know how far down it is so I’d be able to brace, and Override probably has stuff in his suit to help out with the fall, but you don’t have either of those things,” she said to A.V.D.. “So I’m going to carry you.” A.V.D. hesitated. “I can just… I know how to make a…” Their protests were in vain, though. Minos scooped up the renegade and put him on her back. “Too late! Now, you heard him! Let’s go see what we’ve been dealing with!” She jumped into the blackened pit. The black persisted all the way down to the ground. As they landed, they noticed something else. The control room had vinyl flooring on top of reinforced concrete, the same as most other parts of the casino. But the sound when they landed was different here. It was muted, somehow, like the darkness itself was absorbing the sound. Minos tried to say, “Everyone land okay?” but that came out muffled too. “We might have overestimated ourselves here…” A.V.D. said. The voice from before rang out, piercing the veiling darkness. “What’s the matter?” she said. “Don’t tell me you’re scared of the dark.” Minos was undeterred. “She’s at, like, my two o’clock,” she said. “Someone else is behind us- oh that’s you, Avi. Can I call you Avi?” “Please don’t.” “Gotcha. Wait, no, yeah, there is someone else. Two and six.” Again, the woman’s voice was unaffected. She didn’t even seem to notice the chatter. “Well now, let’s see if this second vial Censer gave me works just as well as the first,” she said. Everyone heard the sound of glass breaking, and the fog lifted. There was indeed a woman where Minos had said there would be. Anyone who knew Caesar’s upper circle would recognize her as Tidebinder, She was sitting in an ergonomic office chair, wheeled around from her computer station to face the interlopers, themselves more or less in the center of the control room. Hers was not the only computer, of course. In addition to the three rows of identical workstations, there was also a large screen with several security feeds (many of them destroyed by Override earlier in their attack) broadcasting the whole of the casino. Behind Minos, typing away at a laptop, was Legion. A.V.D. quickly clambered off of Minos’ back but the woman took notice of that. “Well, don’t you all look cute,” she said. “It takes quite a bit of determination to get in here. I’d invite you to sit, but I don’t think your stay will be very long.” “I agree,” Minos said. “We just need to beat you, and then what, a few more mooks before we get to Caesar?” Tidebinder raised an eyebrow. “What makes you believe Caesar is here?” A.V.D. looked back towards Legion and their eyes widened. “We- there was a device to trace Legion’s tracking power…” he said. “Legion’s always been with Caesar.” “Well,” Tidebinder said. “He isn’t now, is he?” People In The Streets Up above in the sky, the two-on-one battle of Cassiopeia versus Arcturus and Albatross was coming to an end as well. The two Gibbons capes were clearly unused to working together, and Cassiopeia had exploited that for all it was worth, dancing between the two, goading one into firing their respective projectile at her and directing it right towards the other, perhaps with a kick to give it either a slight course correction or an extra boost. It had been a battle of attrition, and Cassiopeia had been winning it. Cassiopeia elevated herself above both of her opponents and looked down at both of them. Even from just her position, she seemed to say, “You’ve lost. And though we’ve had our differences, I’m sure if you surrender now we can find agreeable circumstances for you both.” Down below, Aeon’s makeshift javelin piercing the final globule turned the former Quintophyle into a None-o-phyle, and the remaining slime splashed outwards, leaving behind a puddle, any extreme chemical properties of which were rendered inert by the continual shower of water from the sprinkler’s still washing down the tunnel to the field. Countdown was there too, still unconscious and likely to remain so for at least a little while longer. But Aeon was not the only one observing the aftermath of her victory. Another one, the invisible Griffin, walked up behind her. “Damn, that’s crazy,” he said. “Well, tried their best, I guess. Saves me the burden of having to listen to them bicker anymore. Hey, gee gees. Was cool to see a fight in a place like this before Project Rubicon wipes the slate clean on things.” Sibyl loomed over the one remaining globule in her ooze. The upper half of the slime, the part that she had bisected away from the rest, made no motion to attack her flank. It made no motion at all, really, besides reacting to the sprinkler water raining down on it. The half in front of Sibyl, the one with the globule, quivered in place. It was a motion that could just as easily have been mistaken for a symptom of the sprinklers as well, but this one seemed to slow down as the ooze decided on how to act next. The slime hardened up, absorbing the excess water around it as best it could, and maneuvered its globule to the center of its mass. Once centered, the globule started to blink, flashing red light in regular intervals, and beep audibly even through the ooze barrier and the field. The pulsing light and beeping started to increase in frequency, almost like it was a countdown. OOC

it's always spring 2024 somewhere

Quinn was grateful for the food. It was not good to have done so much already without proper nourishment. The same went for Cassiopeia and Normandie, of course. Quinn made sure to keep them in mind. There were a few other things to keep in mind as well given the circumstances. As Billy finished laying out a handsome breakfast with more assorted options than Quinn could count, the first thing thon did was take a plate, load it with all sorts of sweet goodies, and place it to the side. It stood there for a moment of reflection. “To absent friends,” she said. “And, of course, the house spirit.” Then Quinn grabbed another plate and used it to carry two pieces of white bread and some butter to the table. It was enough for zir. Billy’s musings still lingered in the air as Quinn ate breakfast. They just had to respond to some of them. “I am trying not to set my ambitions too high,” Quinn said, “especially not this early into the adventure. Truth be told, I would be happy with an adventure by itself, with or without a gymnasium program to give it structure. Cassiopeia and I will do our best, though, and Normandie and any other Pokémon we encounter along the way as repayment for your kindness. However, be warned I have some stiff competition in Nathaniel over there.” Billy laughed as he looked Nathaniel up and down. “You do look like a tough customer,” he said. After a few more chews, he added. “Well, I don’t know much about adventuring, but way I figure it, you could always aim for a big goal, and if you find you don’t want to anymore, well, nobody will get hurt if you stop.” “Perhaps,” Quinn said. “But I would not want to wander the afterlife wondering if I could have done more. I would rather my dreams be constantly just ahead of my abilities instead of way off in the distance. One step at a time. “Speaking of which, we are headed down Route One Oh Two today, to the next town over. Is there anything you believe we should be on the lookout for?” The first response was a shrug. “Not much to say about it,” Billy said. “There’s a spot that’s pretty marshy, so be careful if you just got normal shoes. Heard there was a pretty tough Pokemon somewhere around there but that might just be a rumor.” “Are not all Pokémon ‘pretty tough’ with proper training?” Quinn asked. That got Billy’s attention more than anything else Quinn had said. He leaned far forward in his chair, his eyes gleaming. “I agree!” Billy said. “With love and care, any Pokémon can be tough!” He seemed to realize he was looming over the table, though, and returned to his normal posture. “But what I mean is supposedly there’s a wild Pokémon that’s a lot stronger than it should be for this area.” “I see,” Quinn said. E looked down at his entirely light clothing and, as Billy put it, “normal shoes” and hoped that the next town had a very good laundry service on offer. At the same time, the idea of a Pokémon worth spreading rumors about was an interesting prospect. Quinn finished its breakfast quickly. It was difficult to not eat lightly toasted bread and butter quickly. Quinn put zir dishes in the sink and stepped outside. In hir bag was a spooled wire. It looked like a kite wire without the kite because that was what it was. Quinn had snipped the kite off early in her relationship with Cassiopeia for this very purpose. Drifloons fed on the wind currents of the upper atmosphere. The cord was so that Cassiopeia could let Quinn know when she was done. They were doing okay, supply-wise. Maybe they could get some more berries just in case. Quinn tossed out Normandie and offered her a few of what she had. The Rattfian snatched them up right quick, gobbled them down, and glared at Quinn as though expecting more. “Later, I promise,” Quinn said. The signs in the sky were right, and Route One Oh Two lay ahead.

Carmen was still flailing around. She stammered a few times through a couple different beginnings of sentences before she finally managed, “B-b-but it’s still only ‘yet!’ Who knows what could happen? Maybe you stick a broken one on me and it catches fire or something!” Brian took another step forward. “Well, if it catches fire, there's a water cooler over there,” he said. “I’ll even say a prayer so it’s holy water or whatever. Put the seal on, Carmen.” Her eyes were still as big as dinner plates, but Carmen relented. “Well, okay…” she said. “But let me put one on myself. You’re looking sorta…” She seemed to realize she was about to say something impolite and wisely decided not to say anything. It was something Brian could ignore. He relaxed a bit -- though only a bit -- went back to the box of seals, lifted the whole thing up, and carried it back to Carmen. “Take your pick,” he said. Carmen hesitated again. She reached into the box, then took her hand back out as though she was somehow choosing for her life instead of picking one out of identical pieces of paper. She went back and forth a few times like this, eyes darting back and forth before she finally snatched up a seal and stuck it to her arm, bracing with her eyes closed like either she or the seal was going to explode. No explosions came. Not in the physical sense, anyway. But Brian had had enough of this. He grabbed a seal himself. “Grow up, Carmen,” he said. “God, you were fine handling these things yesterday. I even felt okay letting you take care of yourself for half the night. It’s the same fucking box. They didn’t suddenly become a different sort of magic bullshit.” But before Brian could slap the seal on Carmen’s forehead, her eyes snapped back open. “Ahh!” she screamed. “Assault! Assault!” She ran through one of the doors and came back in through the other one again, still running. Brian walked after her, but Carmen grabbed the garbage can and started throwing garbage at him. When she ran out of garbage, she threw the whole can at him too, though it was a weak throw that barely even reached him. “Hey, Carmen,” Brian said, “did you ever see the movie They Live? John Carpenter? Nineteen Eighty-Eight? It’s known for two things. Thing the first: the phrase ‘I’m here to kick ass and chew bubblegum, and I’m all out of bubble gum.’ Rowdy Roddy Piper came up with that line. Absolute legend. Thing the second: In the middle of the movie, Roddy and Keith David get into a ten-minute fight over whether or not Keith is going to put on some magic sunglasses. It’s stupid, both people know it’s stupid, but they fight on anyway. I’m going to stick this seal on your forehead, Carmen, and so help me Christ, I don’t think you're going to be able to stop me.” Carmen waffled, looking like she was going to say something, but Brian stayed firm, and when it looked like she realized that, her face went entirely expressionless, and she lunged at him. “Fucking knew it,” Brian said even though he didn’t. He dug in his heels, grabbed Carmen’s wrists, and pushed back.

(i stole this joke from here)

Quinn had to agree with Billy. “You can tell us all about the regional goings-on in just a moment. I am rather curious and I am sure Cassiopeia is too,” e said. “But we should get this egg to its rightful owner first. Do you have a way to alert your brother so that we do not all collapse in a Sing-induced stupor?” Billy waved his hand. “Ah, don't worry. From that distance it won't put you to sleep right away, so just go on ahead and give him a tap.” “Very well,” Quinn said. She checked on zir Drifloon who was still flitting around, hovering over Quinn’s shoulder. “Let us still get you back in your ball for now just to be safe, Cassiopeia. I do not want to take more Pokémedicine from these nice people than we already have.” When Cassiopeia protested, Quinn added, “Do not worry, we can find you a nice sunbeam later. It is a beautiful day out; they should be easy to find.” Once that was sorted, they went back outside to the scene of Jigglypuff desperately trying to calm a Magmortar. Bobby was nearby, both trying to keep things under control and trying to not pay attention, which would have been a comical scene if the circumstances were not so serious. Quinn did as they were told, giving Bobby a light tap on the shoulder and showing him the egg still cradled against Quinn’s chest. Bobby grunted, stood up, and clapped his hands together a few times. The Jigglypuff surrounding the Magmortar scattered at the signal, which allowed the distraught Pokémon to finally stand up from its sedation. Some part of Quinn was worried about the morning’s events playing out again. For example, what if fae and Nathaniel had apprehended the wrong thief, and had reclaimed the wrong egg? Indeed, as the Magmortar saw Quinn approach, she raised one of her hand cannons. Magmortar were generally only five Starly tall, but that still towered over Quinn, and she could see a glow down the barrel. The rest of Quinn, though, was undeterred. Xe held the egg out in front of her and simply asked, “Is this yours?” The Magmortar’s entire demeanor changed as soon as it saw the egg. She lowered her cannon claw, accepted the egg gently, and sat down. Quinn saw tears running down her face. “Oh,” Quinn said. unsure of what kind of tears these were. He thought about physically comforting the Magmortar, hugging them or just petting her on the head, but did not want to cause more distress than had already been caused. They settled for words: “It is a terrible thing, being kidnapped,” Quinn said. “I hope this brings you peace.” They gave the Magmortar another moment, walking backwards for a few steps before turning around to head back inside… …only to be swept up in a hug from the Magmortar the second it turned around. “Oh!” Quinn said, a different “oh” than the one before. “Okay, a hug after all, then.” Of course, Quinn’s position was not great for reciprocation, so ey settled for simply holding the Magmortar’s hand/cannon/claw-things until Bobby came over and convinced the Magmortar to let Quinn go. The hug was warm, though, in more ways than one. Billy was still there just inside the daycare. “The goings-on, then,” Quinn said. “We will keep an eye out for Team Phoenix. But if the champion is missing, how can Pokémon challenges be completed? I would hate for my and Nathaniel’s journey to be cut off so soon.”

Melissa hadn’t been sure what she’d been expecting when she walked into one of the temples. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. She’d wanted something familiar, and she knew why she wanted that. She just didn’t want to have wanted that. She didn’t want to impose her own views on whatever other people worshipped. If someone asked her, that was fine, and she’d explain if she felt confident enough (Melissa still remembered Salvo and Natasha asking to compare notes, for example). That was fine. But she wanted to see what was, without judgment, and disappointed herself when she was surprised to see the temple be used as a place of public transport. They didn’t even try to hide it. If you wanted to go to another of Prana’s many levels, a temple was apparently one way to do it. But Melissa didn’t want to teleport, at least not yet, so she simply stood in the hallway, paralyzed by indecision. There were countless doors on either side of her, and another large room at the end. There was no getting around it. She was going to have to talk to someone eventually. She walked up to one of the acolytes going around the hallway and asked, “I’m looking for the temple. Sorry, I’m new. I just wanted to see what it was like.” She was quick to add, “Like, a sanctuary space or something,” and very nearly apologized again. Thankfully, the acolyte was understanding, or at least tolerant. “This is the temple,” they said, and they gestured to the doors. “If you wish to worship, you need simply cross the threshold.” Melissa followed where the acolyte was pointing. “This one?” she said, going to the nearest door. “Of course.” They followed, placing a hand on the center of the door and sliding it open, though they did not cross the threshold themselves. Past the door was another hallway leading to another door, but this one had a handle on it for Melissa to slide open herself. That door opened with little effort, and she finally found herself in some sort of annex. This was where all the pews she’d been expecting were, arranged in a square surrounding a pillar of flame that went from the floor to the ceiling. Melissa took a moment near the entrance to take it all in before she sat down in one of the pews. “Is this it?” Melissa thought. If every door led to a room like this, Great Dragon worship seemed to be a solitary experience. And there was no guidance, either. Was there a liturgy that changed with the season? Was she supposed to pray? She wanted to do something, so she picked a hymn from the several she had memorized and began to sing. Theme: Poor Wayfaring Stranger Remembering eight minutes (including the organ interludes, which Melissa tried to replicate by humming) of hymnal music was a little tricky, especially once she got past the verses everyone sang and into the ones that she and nobody else seemed to think were the point of the song (she had opinions!). Closing her eyes helped, keeping her focus inwards and helping her imagine that there really was a small hymnal book in her hands guiding her along, while also keeping the fire from burning onto her retinas. But Melissa still found herself getting distracted every so often by a persistent hum that seemed to buzz throughout and within her entire body. It made her feel warm in a way she didn’t expect even while sitting close to the fire -- the warmth seemed to be coming from within her body. It was pure religious fervor that kept Melissa from stopping the hymn to check herself for any abnormalities. That went away when she finished, though. Her eyes snapped open to see nothing had changed save the fire was more intense than before. When Melissa stood up from the pew, the buzz dissipated almost entirely. Standing up and the brighter fire had a tertiary effect that she was now able to see an acolyte in a corner of a room. Melissa yelped when she noticed and felt her cheeks flush even after that. She hadn’t realized she had an audience. And yet, in the quiet that followed, Melissa’s curiosity got the better of her again, and she walked up to the acolyte. “Is there anything else in a worship session? Canon literature readings, sacraments, um, other people?” They looked at Melissa, then at the flame, then back at her. “There is nothing written. There is no need, for each soul here is born with the Great Dragon in them and so all know Them,” they said. “Okay, that makes sense,” Melissa said. Finally, something familiar! She had her own scripture to quote back:Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. John 14:17 (KJV)“What is it you seek from the Great Dragon?” the acolyte asked. Perhaps we can assist?” When she’d set off on her journey this morning, she’d felt pretty confident, and it seemed like every step of the way since then had eroded that confidence a little. Melissa found herself shrinking back. “I don’t know,” she said. “A week ago, a young girl asked if something I did was from The Great Dragon. I asked Mauvache about it but her answer was kind of brief. I like to learn about religions other than my own, so I sought out here. I don't expect someone to proselytize at me out of the blue like this, especially without a chance of conversion, but, um…” She trailed off. She wasn't quite sure where that sentence was going. “Maybe it's blasphemous and I apologize if it is, but is there anything I can do for them?” The response was vague, almost predictably so. “All the Great Dragon asks for is to leave the world better than you came into it and always keep them in your heart. They watch over us, They protect us, They accept our love.” “I see,” Melissa said. She thanked the acolyte with a nod and returned to her pew to pour over things in her head. It probably hadn’t been a lot of information, but it felt like a lot. In a moment, she would probably go and see what else the temple had to offer, but for now, she was content accepting everything and pondering the flame.

Chris watched the first maid leave and caught a glimpse of the other one coming up behind him. It was starting to become a bother. Now that he’d found the book he wanted to check out, he didn’t want all these eyes on him. This was why he’d requested to be alone. Alas. If Estellise were here, she surely could have scared all these servants off with a look. He, meanwhile, had to do it the hard way. He approached the maid, who was not-to-subtly looking back at him from the corner of her eye. “Weren’t you just over here?” Chris said. “Did you not clean good enough the first time?” The maid glowered a bit, then smiled. “Well, you know, filth always comes back.” How come even the servants were so snooty? Just because they lived in the house didn’t mean they were any better than him, even if he weren’t noble. Chris’ retort came out of his mouth before he even had a chance to realize where it had come from. “Did you know that if you wash your hands too many times, you start to draw blood?” It was only then that he realized he was speaking from experience. The Wolfsbane incident was the inciting action for everything in his life that had followed. Oh, how he’d tried to wipe out those spots. Stewardess Myrtle had not been worth it. Not that the maid knew anything about that. She only said, “Sometimes a little bleeding can be good for you,” before turning and walking off. Chris was too focused on the actions to internalize another barb. As far as he could tell, nobody was watching him right now, and while he would have loved to cross-check and make sure, it seemed like an opportunity too rare to miss. He took out his spool of magic string and tied a knot around it, then another just to be extra sure. He kept the whole thing close to his chest as he moved to the far wall where all the windows were. They were pretty high up, but he had planned for this. A well-placed dagger didn’t even need to hit the right way around to- Oh. Right. Of course he’d assumed he’d still have those and then didn’t even think through what it meant for his job in the real world. But he didn’t have time to ruminate on the consequences. He unsheathed his sword and threw it through a window instead. The crash sound startled everyone in the library except him. Chris could feel everyone’s eyes turn towards the broken window, then him, and then he started to hear movement as they came rushing forward. Chris hadn’t stopped moving, though. He spun the book around with the magic string and threw the book through the window. He wished Estellise were here. Not that he would have done anything differently, just that he wished he could have said something before he did it. Something like, “I promise I’ll return this,” to the one person who might believe him or even just, “I’m sorry.” But no, it was too late for that. He felt a hand on his shoulder, but he tugged on the spool and teleported away. Chris landed on top of the book. His sword was nearby too, thankfully. He scooped one up, then the other, giving both a quick once-over for any obvious damage, but there was nothing more than what one might expect when getting thrown through a window. Good enough, Chris thought. The house’s security systems were starting to activate. There were statues on the outside of the house, and they were zeroing in on him. Before he could even blink, one spat a fireball at Chris that he had to throw himself back onto the ground to avoid. Another shot right where he would have been had he stayed there any longer. He took off, away from House Fereis, dodging more fire as he escaped. Chris ran this way and that, making sure to never run in a straight line for long enough for the statues to lock in on him, while still always heading towards his goal: out and away. He wasn’t sure where he was going after that -- someplace he could lie low where Estellise wouldn’t know to look for him -- but one step at a time. There were back roads he could wait in in the meantime. He tossed the book over the fence, teleported through it, and kept on going into the night.

Crawling Into A Fireplace Cackling Countdown stared at the hole he’d made in the floor-now-ceiling, trying to get a glimpse of Aeon up there as she reduced the former Quintofthingy (whatever Overflow called it) down to a threeothingy. It was weird how the slime knew that that was happening, how it shivered in response. The fall had made the shivers more pronounced, too. “Fuck,” he would have said if his mouth wasn’t full of weird breathable slime -- If they hadn’t tested it, he would have sworn his power wouldn’t have worked under such conditions. But this was part of the plan. Keep them split up, and keep them busy. They didn’t even need to win so long as Project Rubicon -- whatever that was -- went off without a hitch. Overflow had reassured him: “If Aeon kills you, you won’t be there to know her greatness or however she likes to phrase it. The worst is a little concussion, and my research will be most grateful for the data.” In any case, it was better than Arcturus kicking his teeth in herself. At least he was getting paid for this. Countdown raised his index finger, pointing up at the hole, and tried to think of a number that would work this time. Something to really get Aeon’s attention. Before he could, though, his watch buzzed a quick phrase in code. Griffin wanted to talk to him. Countdown stuck his head out from the good (more accurately the goo stuck his head out but he hated thinking like that). He couldn’t see anyone, of course, but that didn’t mean anything. “What?” he hissed at a ticket gate. “Behind you, actually.” He hated it when Griffin did stuff like this. He almost wanted to not turn around and insist on the point, but the slime rotated him around anyway. “What?” he said again. “Hanging in there? No, I can see that look even behind your mask so I won’t do too much small talk. Overflow gave some tactical information to relay: You’re going to want to move in a little bit, maybe get in the tunnel. See that sprinkler head? I’m going to commit something of a misdemeanor.” “What the fuck does that mean?” Countdown asked, but he got no response, and the slime responded on its own, moving as instructed. Countdown briefly wondered why he even had to be a part of that conversation if everyone was going to talk past him, but he stopped when he realized he’d kept his eyes off the hole in the ceiling. Whatever Aeon was doing up there was still kind of a concern. He pointed his finger again and started counting as the slime pulled him back into its center, ready for any sign Aeon might want to give him on where to point. Administrative Violence Minos repeated Override’s conclusion. “So it’s a floor and change below the restaurant? I wonder if people know that when they decide to eat there…” “I mean, it kinda makes sense,” A.V.D. added. “If they’re using water as their main fire suppressant because Caesar’s got that woman on staff, like, you still want a different suppressant if the restaurant’s got a fryer. I don’t think even Caesar could convince a health inspector otherwise.” “Oh, true,” Minos said. “Bureaucrats are pretty scary.” “And the control room’s probably got a lot of tech. You don’t want water leaking through the floor into that. She can’t be here all the time to keep it out if something goes wrong.” Neither of them spoke for a moment to let A.V.D.’s conclusions sink in. Minos was the one to speak up first. “Oh, so it’s like a blind spot!” she said. “She’s in the Control Room, but she can’t let too much water get in there. We could probably just make a hole in the kitchen floor then, right? Go down through there?” “You know where the kitchen is?” A.V.D. looked at Minos quizzically. It was an expression Minos ignored. “Duh! My superpower-Cassie-says-isn’t-a-superpower, remember?” She grinned. “Also, there were signs for the restaurant when we came in. “Anyway, yeah, if you’re real anxious, I could probably close up the floor when we’re done with it too,” Minos said. A.V.D. looked down at the rushing water and slot machines below. “I don’t want to get into all that water on the floor, though,” he said. “I guess we’re running across the machines, then? I’ll try to conjure up some handrails in case we lose balance because that doesn’t look safe either…” “Good idea!” Minos said. “Well, we’ve got a goal and a plan to achieve it.” She looked at Override. “What else are we waiting for?” Hail Sound The Chameleophyte, well, it couldn’t really roar, but it certainly looked like it would have if it could as Sibyl took another chunk out of its side. Up above, Cassiopeia kicked another set of Albatross’ feathers into the ooze, which it took significantly less notice of. She sent one of Arcturus’ balls of energy that way too, but Arcturus maintained control of it enough to not shunt the ooze somewhere it didn’t belong. The ooze got low again, going for another sweep to knock Sibyl back down to the ground. It did so, however, while making a slight retreat, extending itself to attack the rest of it moved backwards. Small black cylinders popped out all over the turf as the ooze stood back up. They were arranged around the field in even intervals -- it was hard to not be near one of them. Then, somewhere in the stadium, Griffin turned the sprinkler system on, and water began to spray everywhere. Everyone could also hear the sound of a fire alarm coming from the stadium building. Griffin had also pulled the lever on that, sending an extra shower of water down on the triophyle. The water affected both slimes in the same way: they absorbed it. It took a moment for their internal chemistry to change again, but both of them grew in size with each droplet of water that landed on them. The Chameleophyle Sibyl was fighting seemed entirely rejuvenated, though its Hellhound disguise seemed much more see-through now, while the triophyle grew to block off the tunnel entirely, its three remaining globules also swelling inside it to match. There was one additional small consequence to all this water getting sprayed everywhere. If Sibyl was looking, she would be able to see the outline of an invisible human watching her fight. OOC

Quinn did not know what the man was talking about either, and so just stared at the man in confusion until Nathaniel tackled him and put an end to whatever remaining semblance of a chase there had been. She might have even applauded such a move had fae not been clutching a Pokémon egg against their chest. Just because the egg had been through so much already and remained intact did not mean each subsequent action was any less dangerous. Cassiopeia, meanwhile, tried to make sure the man did not make it any further, blocking off whatever routes she could with a body the size of a Starly. She kept turning around to look at Quinn, though, clearly concerned about the potential for scraped knees and bruised elbows from that dive Quinn had taken. She was not a very good roadblock even with her arms outstretched, but Nathaniel was a good enough alternative to keep the man in place for the time being, even as he wriggled out of Nathaniel’s tackle. The disparity in size was probably why the thief threw a Poké Ball at Nathaniel and not the Pokémon ready and willing to fight, though perhaps nobody was expecting the ball to be used as a weapon of assault instead of the monster inside. Before anyone could do anything else, the man ran off, making it Quinn’s turn now to inspect Nathaniel for wounds. “I am alright,” xe said, “The egg is alright too. But you are not dizzy or anything, are you? Any blurry vision? I cannot believe it has been barely two days into our proper adventure and we have both been hampered by injury.” With regards to the Pokéball now in Nathaniel’s posession, Quinn said, “That must have been stolen too. I could not imagine surrendering a companion so easily. Normandie has only been with me for a single day but if anything happened to her I would fight tooth and nail to get her back. But if that is true, I wonder who the owner is? They would be worried sick. Perhaps Bobby would know? He would at least know who to ask, and we have to head back with this, too.” Ze needed a moment at the beginning to catch its breath from the sprint, but once they were moving again, it was easy to keep doing so, and the walk back to Billy and Bobby’s hostel was shorter than Quinn had expected. “We brought an egg back,” Quinn announced as soon as they had crossed the threshold. “Hopefully it is the one that was missing. The thief mentioned something about Team Phoenix and regret, but I only recognize the latter of those things and I do not regret anything about this morning yet besides that it happened at all.”

As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!” -Mark 13:1 (NIV)Melissa kept as much attention as she could as Aduain described a situation that would be impossible to contain in the margins of any paper he wrote it down on, but her mind was elsewhere. She’d already had breakfast and wasn’t hungry for more, so she had to turn down Fen’s offer of cooking, but she still chewed on her thoughts as if that would help her make a decision. Trevor had asked what they were all doing today, and while Fen already had plans, Melissa… didn’t. On some level, she had the same wants as Fen. Prana was their ward, to be sure, but it was still an enigma to her, and having someone tour everyone around was probably the best bet. Kelsey was certainly one of the better options for that, the overlap in “those we know” and “those fit to give a tour” was not large in Melissa’s mind. Rei was an option, but that girl had largely exchanged phone numbers with Melissa out of obligation. Texting her too soon would come off as needy, wouldn’t it? Plus, after spending so much time meeting so many new people, Melissa kind of just wanted to be alone. She just wanted to wander, and while she recognized her situation as a celebrity guardian and a host left her little in the way of physical or mental privacy, it was something she wanted to work towards just as well as everything else she was training and developing. Of course, she had been focusing on those aspects of herself because her spiritual life had been forcibly put on hold. What was she going to do, go to some dragon temple as a proxy? Well… It wasn’t the worst idea, and she was curious. To be clear, it was an academic sort of curiosity -- Melissa was very confident in her faith even in adverse times such as these. She wasn’t about to convert to some otherworldly religion on a whim. In the worst case, she could learn what needed improving when she inevitably did start proselytizing, and at best it could serve as one of those universal quiet places of prayer and reflection that peppered public areas back on Ambrosia. Maybe the dragon god was a less jealous sort than her capital G one. Melissa realized that if she was going to go pray somewhere she should probably look the part. She mumbled some excuse about thanking everyone for the company at breakfast or something, checked on Bartleby again, and slipped back upstairs to change into her Sunday best nun getup. She packed what supplies she had into a bag -- Duel- Yu-Gi-Oh! deck in case the Spike Brothers waylaid her, the church program she’d been clutching when Mauvache brought her here… did she need a water bottle? That was something to consider for later. Fen was greeting Kelsey at the door when Melissa came back down, and Melissa nodded her greetings to the both of them. “I’ll see you around,” she said. “I think I have everyone’s numbers if we need to get in touch.”

‘Sup, nerds. This one took a bit longer than expected partly because I was just a little lazy in getting around to organizing everything and partly because oh my goodness there was so much good music this year. There are some albums on here that people love that just didn’t happen to make my list this year, like JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown’s collaboration or Geese’s new 3D Country album. And this isn’t to mention all the music I didn’t get a chance to listen to this year! There’s too much music! Anyway, if you’ve been following this list for the past few years now, you know the drill. The honorable mentions are in alphabetical order by artist, and then the actual Top 10 list with remarks: like i said, there was too much music this year so don't be too disappointed if your personal top picks don't make the cut. leave which snubs made you the most mad in the comment section below.

Boxboxboy!

Chris did not have to fight as much to get into House Fereis this time. It was almost refreshing if he wasn’t solely focused on the job. The servant at the door tutted under their breath and said something to the effect of, “That’s still ‘Lady Fereis,’ to you,” but they nevertheless led Chris into the house and to the grand library, where they left him in the care of the other members of the house staff cleaning the library. Estellise was nowhere to be seen, but the servant said she would be there when convenient, a phrase so loaded Chris couldn’t help but double-take as the servant left him behind. The maids were off dusting all the bookshelves at the direction of the butler in the center of the library, all of whom looked busy enough, so Chris decided to ignore them and browse at his own pace. He remembered thinking the circumstances for this job weren’t ideal -- Estellise hadn’t been able to secure him completely private access -- but he could handle some of the help if it came down to it. The first matter of business was figuring out just what exactly the heart-shaped stone the undine girl had given him was, so he looked for books on magical artifacts. It was a task easier said than done. The books were all clumped together on the shelf, but he had to go through a few of them before he found one that had anything remotely close to his thing, and even then, it just said something about a “Conjuration Enhancement Item.” Chris had to read that a few times to even make sure he wasn’t reading the word “Enchantment” lumped in there, and was going through a reread to make sure there weren’t any more citations he could follow (there weren’t) when the butler walked up to his table, breaking his concentration. “Do you need any assistance, sir?” Chris looked up and saw that there was a smile on the butler’s face, like the “sir” was perfunctory. It was a taunt more than anything. He didn’t take the bait. “I guess I’m looking for your section on Conjurations,” he said. “Enchantments too, if you can provide it. I admit I’m not entirely sure what I’m looking for, just trying to use Lady Fereis’” -- he remembered that time -- “hospitality while I have it.” The butler’s smile only grew more smug. “Ah yes,” he said. “I believe we do have some tomes on the… lesser magics here. I am not sure why you would bother the great Fereis family if that is your goal, but you could find them off in… that corner, I believe.” Chris turned to look where he was pointing and saw a maid doubling back to dust in a corner he was sure she’d dusted before. It was suspicious, but Chris was pretty sure he was still in the clear as far as people surmising what he was capable of, so he left the last books on the table and went over to check out what Conjuration had to offer him. Magic was hard, it turned out, especially for a mundane person like Chris to wrap his head around. Even for a less extensive section, every book had all these extra words that Chris could only infer the meaning of, and he could feel his eyes start to glaze over. The artifact books were all, like, archival. They were lists of stuff. He could deal with lists of stuff. Now that he was trying to read actual theory, he could hardly make head or tail of it. Needless to say, it took a lot of skimming back and through a few different books again before he was able to track the reference down. “Lodestones,” Chris mouthed the word when he found it. He kept a finger on the word and traced the following lines to ensure he picked up every word he could. “Used to bind entities to objects rather than the caster.” There was some other stuff warning about the dangers of keeping them around, but Chris was more focused on how to get rid of them. “Kill the caster, destroy the thing, or Abjuration magic…” He raised his voice and turned his attention to the maid who was surreptitiously trying to look over his shoulder. “Excuse me, I know it’s a lesser magic or whatever, but where is the section on Abjuration?” The maid didn’t know (and, to be frank, seemed surprised to even be asked), so she had to ask someone else on the house staff to take Chris over. And this maid, unfortunately, was chatty. As Chris pulled out the first book to comb through, she said, “My you sure are reading a lot. Tryin’ to master every magic or something?” “Oh, I'm not particularly magic-inclined,” Chris said, trying to ignore her. “I’m just the curious sort and found myself with the opportunity to learn.” “Well isn't that quaint! What are you looking for now, hm?” She took a step towards him, trying to get a glimpse. Chris snapped the book shut and tucked it under his shoulder, spine facing away from the maid to ensure she wouldn’t be rewarded for being nosy. He did try to oblige her a little bit. “Well, I started with enchantment, then I went over to conjuration for a bit, and those books said something about abjuration so now I’m over here,” he said. “I’ve heard of some other schools of magic too but I wouldn’t expect a noble house like House Fereis to have books on necromancy. I’m just happy with what I can find.” Whatever frustration the maid had from being thwarted disappeared when Chris implied she could still be of use. “Oh well of course there's Necromancy books too, why wouldn't there be? Of course, everyone knows that Evocation is the strongest magic but it wouldn't do not to learn what you can from others too. A lot of people read up on them for fun!” It was an opportunity. Chris could smell it. “Well, I need to finish getting what I can out of this book,” he said, “but if you can find some good primer material for me, I would be much obliged.” If this didn’t work, maybe Estellise could shoo her away when she showed up. Or he would have to use some other plan. He hadn’t committed to anything yet, but that didn’t mean he didn’t want to put something into motion soon.

Was it disappointing to see Carmen disappear through the ceiling and immediately reappear coming back through one of the doors to the room? Yes, obviously, but Brian tried not to let it show. He’d thought it was a good idea, and now he was less enthused about his other idea about breaking down the wall. He was running out of good ideas in general, actually, which sucked because he was the one who suggested thinking about the whole thing like an escape room in the first place, and he hated admitting he was wrong. At the same time, Carmen had found a clock that was still ticking away. According to that, it hadn’t been long at all since they’d first entered the room, but Brian could still feel his mortality creeping up on him. The office had water, so there was that necessity, but soon he would require food, and there wasn’t much in the way of leftover congratulatory pizza parties (provided instead of a cash bonus, of course) that he could see. He sighed. Well, there was one idea left. They were dealing with something supernatural, and they did bring a box of things with them that worked on supernatural things. In his defense, they’d known the room was cursed or whatever from the moment Carmen went through the door, he just thought there was an actual ghost to find like last time. He hopped down from the desk as Carmen went to go pick up all the shit he’d kicked off of it, and grabbed a handful of seals. The first thing Brian sealed was a door. The far one, the one that had started this mess in the first place when Carmen had gone through it. He stuck one on the other door across the way for good measure too. When he opened the door and stepped through, though, he found nothing had changed. He still immediately popped through to the other door with no time in between. Brian made a noise like “Hm,” and paced between the door and the box. Nothing else in the room seemed out of the ordinary. It all seemed perfectly mundane. Too mundane, perhaps, but that was just offices in general. He’d been in those. The only thing out of place really, was, well, the people in it: Carmen and himself. It wasn’t their office. He took one of the seals and examined it under one of the humming office lights. Now that he thought about it, the seals were supposed to put ghosts back where they belonged, and right now, they were kind of like that. Brian stuck the seal on his chest. The next best idea was ripping one in half as part of the solution to the stupidest riddle imaginable (put the halves back together, two halves make a whole, fall out through the hole). He turned to Carmen and looked her up and down. He couldn’t put one on her chest without running the risk of touching something he wasn’t supposed to so he looked for somewhere more unassuming. He settled on her forehead and closed in. Carmen leapt back. “Wait wait wait, what are you doing?” she said. “I dunno, what’s it look like?” Brian said. “Just trying stuff. I’ve got one on and it hasn’t killed me yet. so you shouldn't have to worry about anything bad happening.”

Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

Gravity’s Rainbow Thessa’s presence on top of the broken ceiling as it came crashing back down to the mezzanine floor kept it from rotating, and the ooze bore the brunt of the flat surface slamming directly into it. The whole thing squished down and spread out, cushioning the impact as best it could. It took a moment to spring back up, but spring back up it did, throwing the ceiling chunk off-balance though still resting lopsided on the ooze. If Thessa were to look, she’d see two features of the ooze change slightly. The first, more obvious one was color. Most of the ooze was a redder tint than it had been before. A pocket of contrast surrounded the man inside ‐‐ maybe the color around him was the same but that was harder to tell. The newly-colored slime started to dissolve all the debris touching it, slowly but surely, but the man inside did not dissolve. Speaking of the man, as soon as he saw Aeon again, he had his index finger trained on her, though an explosion wouldn’t go off after three or even five seconds. The other changed property involved one of the five globules. They all moved about the ooze freely, so perhaps assigning them locations was not the brightest move, but the one near the top of the ooze looked worse for wear than the other four. There were visible cracks all around it. As more and more debris dissolved, the cracks started to heal, but it was a slow process. As soon as the slime sensed Thessa’s presence again, it shuddered and launched a piece of itself at the hero. The Same Space Override came crashing through the ceiling of the casino at just the same time that the other capes ran in through the front door. It took everyone a moment to find each other and regroup, but that was the only issue. Thankfully, by dealing with those on the roof, Override had saved everyone else from the initial counterassault. Now they were surrounded by row upon row of slot machines, all alike. Minos’ voice was clear, even over the sounds of blaring klaxons. “Classic move,” she said, commending Override’s entrance. “Always wanted to do that someday except, well,” she stomped her boots, “also like having my feet on the ground.” “Maybe you could do it again?” A.V.D. said. He was a bit harder to hear but one could at least get the gist. “That’d get us underground better than dealing with the backrooms. Surely they’ve got security.” As if on cue, every sprinkler system in the casino pit activated. A.V.D. conjured up an umbrella, miming the opening action and shaking it a few times to get it big enough for everyone to comfortably fit under (“Isn’t that bad luck?” Minos said), but the water was starting to pool at everyone’s feet. Worse, the klaxon subsided and was replaced by a voice over the speakers. “You seem like a troublesome bunch,” the voice said. It sounded feminine, but a low sort -- almost sultry. “Casino policy states that we can refuse service to anyone for any reason, and that means you, I’m afraid.” “Where is that coming from?” A.V.D. said. “Control room?” “If you don’t voluntarily exit the premises, you will be escorted out by security, and we will not be responsible for any injuries caused by me or my colleagues in the carrying out our said duties.” The water on the floor started receding away from the raid team before the voice even finished speaking. “Alright, sounds like we gotta deal with her first,” Minos said. She looked down the row of slots and her eyes widened. “Incoming!” Tearing across the rows of slot machines was a massive wave ready to crash down on all of them. As Above So Below The way Overflow saw it, you had two career options with powers like his. Supervillainy, or becoming the best goddamn plumber in the city. He had chosen the former and had no regrets. Who would want to spend their life iterating on variants of drain-o? Research was so much more fun when there were none of those pesky “ethics” involved, and who else would have developed such magnificent aquiformes besides himself? The answer was nobody. Nobody else could even try. He was here on Caesar’s explicit permission. His work on Project Rubicon had been completed weeks ago, and whatever supervisory role he could perform was better performed by somebody else. Overflow knew his limits. He had been itching for some field tests and jumped at the call. A notification buzzed in on his watch. His Quintophyte model had just sustained some damage. That was to be expected, though. Both Aeon and Countdown were up there, he would have been surprised if the Quintophyte didn’t get roughed up. And even if Aeon (or Countdown, in his idiocy) managed to destroy the five slime cores he had fused into that thing, well, that was useful data too. Overflow focused back on the fights on the field, coming back to his senses just in time to leap back out of the way of his Chameleophyte’s attack on Sibyl’s legs. He was just an invisible observer, leeching off of Griffin’s power to avoid detection. Griffin’s whereabouts, of course, were none of his concern. The Chameleophyte, meanwhile, what a design! How much of his work had been combined, infused into it to make it just so? It was all worth it for that brief moment of surprise on their opponent’s face. Had they not just captured Hellhound? Up above, Cassiopeia kicked some more of Albatross’ feathers into the Chameleophyte as she continued to duel both him and Arcturus. The aquiforme gave no indication that it even felt the feathers as they slowly sank through its disguised skin. It was more interested in Sibyl getting it in a crab claw grab. The sliced-off arm splashed down onto the turf, collecting in an inert blob. Overflow watched as the Chameleophyte dove on top of the goo, reabsorbing it to grow another arm. It was either that or shrink, of course, and Overflow felt it had made the correct decision. It was a little vulnerable on the ground like that, but it counterattacked smoothly, shooting out a foot aimed squarely at Sibyl’s chest. OOC

The moment Nathaniel passed Quinn was the moment Quinn doubled her efforts to catch the thief. It was not a moment of competition, of course -- no man nor spirit in good karmic standing would dare turn this chase into something of that nature -- but an act of determination. The knowledge that Nathaniel was there at all gave Quinn the will to push onwards. Cassiopeia was there in front of xir too. She had not quite had her fill of hot air and sunlight for the day, but the Drifloon was still able to float. How Quinn wished his material form would hurry up and leave gravity’s clutches, but no such luck. Eir parents always insisted that it needed to gain more weight. Quinn and Nathaniel’s collective will must have had some sort of effect, because the man they were chasing slowed, stumbled even. Nathaniel in particular was gaining on the man, and one errant look to check his position, one small crack in the thief’s own will, was enough to send both himself and the egg he was carrying flying into the air. Quinn did not slow down to check on the man. He charged forward, eyes on the precious thing that had been taken and, even when the egg seemed just out of reach, they leapt forward with one final burst of energy, diving to get zir hands underneath the egg and cradle it from harm. It was just enough, and Quinn landed on the ground as well, though significantly happier for it. Or perhaps “happiness” was not quite the right word. In that moment, all Quinn could feel was relief. Quinn tucked the egg into faer chest and sat up, examining the egg for any potential break in its shell. “Nothing,” xe said, saying the result aloud just to reassure zemself. “Safe.” She looked back at the man, who appeared to have completely forgotten his stolen loot, and was now evaluating which way he could go next. Cassiopeia was pestering him already, trying to get in his way no matter which way he looked, though she was a bit too unimposing to give him any more than small hesitation before he picked a direction. Quinn was out of breath, but they still tried to at least keep his attention a few moments longer. “What did you think you were doing?” Quinn said in between further gasps of air. “Or do, present tense, or will in the future? Were you the one causing all that trouble on Route One Oh One as well?”

The Delusions of Von Sottendorff and His Square Mind 6×1≠Unlimited Fat Dragons I am an Air Traffic controller Airport Hero Hawaii

it's already been winter for nine days oh no i'm late