“Uh-huh, yep. I gotcha. Thanks for the ride, we really appreciate it,” I finished, then nodded again at the reply, even if the person on the other end couldn't see it. “Yep, you too. Gotta' say goodbye now, Junior. We'll see you in a few days.”
Then I hung up and sighed deeply.
Kim leaned against her bed from where she was seated on the floor next to it, an array of textbooks scattered around her. “Drama?”
I took a deep breath and shook my head, closing m...
2025-02-05 09:59:32 +0000 UTC
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Okay, so the poll for the month is called and Mind Games won pretty solidly. Expect that as a the focus, along with one or two chapters of Industrious, which got the second place.
After that, it was the three usual suspects: The New Ron at third, Nexus at fourth, and Where Your God Is at fifth.
Now that Winning Peace is over and I've got Mind Games sorted into its own thread, I am going to try and sneak in a few chapters for the less-popular stories here and there. To make good ...
2025-02-05 09:57:34 +0000 UTC
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This time we weren't smuggled in by boat.
The 'Castle Incident,' as General Phillips had taken to calling it in order to avoid saying the word 'vampire' in official meetings, had apparently spooked command staff enough that they wanted to give us a way to quickly extract ourselves if we came up against something that we actually couldn't beat with jolly international cooperation and a dash of crazy American bullshit. I didn't entirely believe such a thing existed, but I wasn't i...
2025-02-01 12:11:34 +0000 UTC
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As promised and only a few hours late this time. Sorry about that, but this week's been busy. Well, when are they not?
Anyway, this is the 'getting back in the saddle' chapter. Ray & the Howling Commandos are returning to fieldwork now, with the addition of a new heavy hitter in Nina Price, AKA Vampire by Night.
And, of course, since Ray has been busy running around and talking to people, he's the only member of the squad Nina hasn't really gotten to know yet.
So, tha...
2025-02-01 12:09:19 +0000 UTC
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Second Verse, Same as the First.
2025-02-01 07:43:35 +0000 UTC
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Okay, I'm still working on the Industrious chapter, which should be up in a few hours.
In the meantime...
I think everyone knows the way things go by now, but for those of you who are new, you pick the project you want to see written the most and I'll try to focus on that. I'm usually pretty good about it, a little wiggle room aside. I'm hoping to sneak in a chapter of some of the less-chosen stories this time around, but we'll see if time permits.
I think that's it...
2025-02-01 07:40:14 +0000 UTC
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“Nachti Zorah-Lopez! You get down from there, this instant young man!”
“And to think, she thought Casey was so cute at that age,” Sasha chuckled, watching fondly as our boy played on the children's recreation center. A new, and very human, addition to the Citadel Presidium, it was a madhouse of a place that, in my previous life, would have inspired awe and wonder in the age group it was built for. It still did, really, but given ...
2025-01-30 10:45:38 +0000 UTC
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Well, here we are. Last chapter.
Now, a few notes. This isn't meant to tie up every loose plot thread that exists. There's a galaxy worth of individuals and stories out there and plenty more beyond that. This is just, mostly, the end of Ezekiel Lopez's story. Or at least the end of the beginning. He'll have more adventures, more things to bitch about, and more temptations to God-Emperor status to overcome, but that's it for now.
This is just meant to tie up his personal stor...
2025-01-30 10:43:59 +0000 UTC
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“Kid, gotta admit, you are great ASMR. Dunno if you mean it like that, but you have the most soothing voice when I'm too exhausted to fall asleep. Putting one of your hour-long streams on knocks me out and lets me sleep like a baby all night.”
I shifted my stance and opened up my shoulders to give off a more exaggerated agreeable appearance as I shook the eight-foot-tall giant's huge black hand. I'll give him this, his hero-name really did fit given t...
2025-01-26 09:11:56 +0000 UTC
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Okay, still working on the Winning Peace Epilogue, but it's coming along nicely.
In the meantime, have another chapter of Mind Games.
This week will be the WP Epilogue (come hell or high water) and another chapter of one of the Industrious stories.
Hope everyone's having a great weekend and thank you again for all your support!
2025-01-26 09:09:26 +0000 UTC
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Greenland Declares Independence!
An island on top of the world is seldom in the public consciousness, but today we take a break from discussing the grim realities of the ongoing war in Europe and the Pacific to take a look at the political situation with one of the few remaining colonial holdings in North America. Denmark, a nation under the boot of Nazi tyranny and occupation, has held the sparsely-populated island of Greenland as a possession of the crown for seve...
2025-01-22 12:59:44 +0000 UTC
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So... next chapter we go back to fighting Nazis.
Steve wants to, Ray wants to, I want to.
A 5.5k essay on the geopolitics of 1944 will do that to you.
Have fun reading it, I'm going to go stare at a wall for a while and not think about anything. Next update is... uh, Winning Peace? Mind Games? Something. I'll have something out by the weekend. Brain tired.
2025-01-22 12:57:48 +0000 UTC
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“Master, if you're not terribly busy, may I ask for clarification?”
The question, coming at a time when Professor van Beek was reading rather than actively conducting an experiment, brought an only slightly-irritated glower at me rather than a shouting chastisement that would send me hurrying from the room.
He looked at my Sacred Gear, open as it was, and grunted. “Why not look it up in your God-given artifact rather than pester me with the wonderings of an inept pup...
2025-01-19 07:02:09 +0000 UTC
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As selected by the... one person who both joined and cast a vote on the new Awesome Tier, here is the extra-long chapter for this month. 5k of The Hand We're Dealt. This is largely a worldbuilding chapter and breather to space things out properly. It also covers some of the things Henry has been doing behind the scenes while the war in Florida & Cuba is carrying on.
Hope everyone is having a great weekend and I'll have Marvel Industrious and the last chapter of Winning Peace out ...
2025-01-19 07:00:12 +0000 UTC
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I don't need to sleep.
That said, I usually do.
First and foremost, it's a hard habit to break. Sleeping isn't just a physiological need, there's a psychological aspect to it. Periods of unconscious rest break up the monotony that would result from days blurring together into a solid mass. Which is something that many people who fantasize about not needing sleep don't realize. Imagine if you just continuously rolled over onto the next day of school-work-travel-whatever... ...
2025-01-16 03:20:16 +0000 UTC
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...and that's a wrap! Good size chapter and a decent place to stop at. Next chapter will feature a meeting with Endeavor, get ready for some weirdness there.
Mostly this is something of a filler chapter to bridge things into the internship arc, which will be... four chapters or so? Something like that.
Remember that this is an early internship for Shinso and he's not completely grown into his main character energy yet, so don't expect anything too wild to pop up like in canon. ...
2025-01-16 03:17:51 +0000 UTC
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Kokoro stared at Hiruzen.
Hiruzen stared at Kokoro.
They stared at each other.
Then my daughter turned to Yakumo and myself. “I don't like him. He's got too much darkness inside him. Is he an enemy? Can I eat him?”
The ANBU around us were too good to give tells, but I felt the atmosphere electrify like the moments before a lightning strike. While Yakumo looked downright mortified, I merely shook my head and crossed my arms at Kokoro as she wilted under the ...
2025-01-12 08:15:32 +0000 UTC
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...and done!
Had to review a few chapters to make sure I knew what I was doing with this one, but I'm back in the saddle, baby! Woo!
Anyway, expect... probably another chapter of Mind Games next. Then it'll be a tossup whether I get the upcoming chapter of The Hand We're Dealt finished up or have another Industrious Marvel chapter ready first.
Hope everyone's having a great weekend!
2025-01-12 08:13:06 +0000 UTC
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Azathoth came awake at my touch.
In the Cthulhu Mythos, from whence I gave him his name, Azathoth is the dreaming eldritch deity at the heart of the universe, and it is his dreams which sustain the universe itself. In some ways, one could liken it to the idea of the matrix; the concept that we all lived in a simulated reality instead of a 'true' reality. In other ways, though, the concept of the slumbering Old One is more sinister than that. Even in the thought-experiment of the matrix,...
2025-01-09 11:33:44 +0000 UTC
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...and there we are. Last actual chapter of the story.
There will be one more, though, to tie things up. An epilogue later this month.
But that's it for the main body of the narrative.
And it would have been out yesterday but for some family drama that just drained me dry. Anyway, enjoy the this one and I'll have another chapter out over the weekend. I want it to be Industrious' Naruto timeline, but we'll see what happens. Thank you for your support and hope ever...
2025-01-09 11:31:21 +0000 UTC
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Dad had taken off from work.
In theory, as he was a self-employed tech consultant who set his own hours, the man didn't really need to 'take off' anything. He could, instead, simply choose not to work that day. It wasn't something he did often, given he was a Japanese workaholic specifically, but this was a special occasion. A regrettable occasion, but still I suppose, a special one.
Niko glared at the pill case in his hands as we sat waiting...
2025-01-05 03:00:24 +0000 UTC
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Okay, quick look at the poll and some mental math... Industrious looks like its retaken the crown for the moment. There are a couple of hours to go before I make the final tally, but that's how it's looking now. Mind Games is a solid second, then New Ron, Where Your God Is, and Nexus Event.
So what's probably going to happen next week (barring a sudden upset) is a chapter of Winning Peace and a chapter of Industrious. I'll see about getting back into the Naruto continuity for that on...
2025-01-05 02:55:30 +0000 UTC
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Second Verse, Same as the First!
The Awesome Tier poll will go out in a few days after these close.
2025-01-01 06:48:43 +0000 UTC
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Ah, that New Year Smell!
...god I hope it goes away quick, ugh. Too much gunpowder from the fireworks.
Anyway! Most people know the deal here. Pick the project you want me to focus on the most in the coming month and I'll give it my best shot. I have a pretty good track record here, even if Mind Games has been eating my attention lately.
As astute observers might see, Winning Peace has been removed from the running. That's not because I'm dropping it, it's becaus...
2025-01-01 06:46:06 +0000 UTC
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I'd decommissioned the various bodies I'd kept myself connected to as I'd promised my wife.
There were, in total, about three dozen newly-legitimate sapient humans running around the Systems Alliance that didn't realize they'd just come into existence some weeks ago. It was better that way. The existential crises that would ensue were they to find out their entire sense of self up to that point had been a lie, a psychotic break would probably be the least of their worries. I'd k...
2025-01-01 02:21:11 +0000 UTC
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Here it is, the third to last chapter of Winning Peace and the last chapter of the 2024 Year, I hope you all enjoy it.
I'll be putting up the January Favoritism Poll in a few hours and opening the $10.00 Tier along with that (and increasing prices on the other tiers). The special poll for that tier will open after the standard favoritism poll closes. So look forward to that as well. I'll also post the Notes for Mind Games as the first exclusive $10.00 post.
2025-01-01 02:19:14 +0000 UTC
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Her friends were still around, just not immediately present.
“Th-thank you,” Himiko mumbled, her head dipped low, her fingers twitching. “For that.”
I hummed as we walked into the music shop, steering her towards the vinyls. “You're welcome. Everyone needs help sometimes, though, so don't worry about it.”
The words were at least partly performative, and I think she knew that was why I said them. Of course, I also meant them, but she wouldn't bel...
2024-12-29 10:24:04 +0000 UTC
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Alright, a few house-keeping things to clear up, first.
I've been going through the nearly 600 posts on my patreon and adjusting permissions with the new tier that's going to open up in a day or two. This has had the added effect of fixing all of the really, really old stuff that the Bonus Tier should have had access to, but didn't because... well, technical stuff. I wish there was a way to do this en masse, but there apparently isn't. So I've gotten 400 of them done an...
2024-12-29 10:20:10 +0000 UTC
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The Red Skull ripped a secure table from its moorings and threw it across the room to impact harshly against the stone wall. “IMBECILES!”
Zemo stayed where he was, hands tucked behind his back and his face a mask of discipline to shield him from the fear he felt at seeing his leader in such a towering rage. The only way to make himself more of a target was to cower, though. Were he to display the lack of composure in truth, the Skull would no doubt rip him limb from limb i...
2024-12-25 00:52:04 +0000 UTC
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Merry Christmas All! And a very Happy Hanukkah upcoming tomorrow! A Joyous Kwanzaa to everyone as well!
I've been swamped with family stuff, but managed to hammer this out in time for the holiday, so here's my Christmas gift to everyone. Hope you enjoy it.
Hope everyone has a happy and safe celebration, however you choose to hold it. I'll be working on... something once Christmas is over, so look forward to that on the weekend. Not sure what, but I'll have something ready.
2024-12-25 00:49:48 +0000 UTC
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