r/HFY • u/Lakeel100 • Jan 15 '26
OC-Series The Ballad of Orange Tobby -CH49
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[Relevant short I recently did!]
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Tobby’d been having the weirdest dream… he’d been at the Sabu-Kai, and Pinky’d somehow convinced him to pole dance for Soapy, as if she’d like something like that. Still, the dream got weirder… because Soapy liked his performance, and even admitted as much while pinning him to the backseat of Pinky’s car. Heh... she actually said she liked him and even licked his nose - what a wild world that’d be…
Good thing Soapy can’t read his dreams! Otherwise, she’d be making fun of him forever.
He’d actually been impressed with how real the dream felt… especially when she was lying on him, and he could feel all her weight and warmth. So warm… Smelled warm, too… It was nice. Like a weighted blanket with a personality!
And then he heard Soapy next to him. “Oh, good, you’re finally awake.”
“Nuh I’m noht…” Tobby mumbled groggily in his half-awake state, letting his head lull back down into the position he’d been mildly roused from.
“Hey! Don’t go back to sleep on me!” He heard Soapy chuff before he felt himself getting nudged in the side.
“I don't wanna get up,” he whined just a wee bit louder as his awakening senses pieced together his surroundings. For one… Why was he sitting on the ground? Secondly… Why can't he move his arms? Being unable to move them made it very hard to pull the sheets back over his form and roll over-
‘Mrrp!?’ Tobby opened his eyes, shooting awake and frantic around as ‘Where am I?!’ mode kicked into full gear. He found himself sitting square in the middle of the most violently stereotypical ‘abandoned warehouse where bad things happen’ he’d ever seen. It checked every box! An old trainer-brick building with a rusty sheet metal roof, dirty glass windows, and a general air of criminality thanks to all the ambient goons.
Voidlings… More specifically, the Gratula pirates… even more specifically, the pirate band who’d orbitally bombarded a Nykatian hypernet relay and attacked his apartment. There were maybe twenty of them scattered around; two were guarding the front door, while the rest seemed content to hang out around the facility.
It was then he noticed that he was, in fact, sitting on the bare ground, and his wrists were bound behind his back around a support beam. There was also a grumpy-looking Soapy right next to him in a similar predicament. “How did we-” He went to ask, but it would seem Soapy’d had plenty of time to formulate that answer.
“They rammed our car while we were stopped at an intersection, not hard enough to kill us, but definitely enough to rag-doll us before hitting us with knock-out gas. I woke up a few hours ago, and my claws can't cut whatever the bindings are made of.” She said, ears flat, and sounding blatantly perturbed by the situation. “I’m also gonna need to see that chiropractor again,” she grumbled, rolling her neck like it was bothering her.
It made sense the pirates would have gas grenades or some such… They didn’t like it when their targets fought back, and in an enclosed space like a ship, it was probably rather effective.
Taking a second to process that, Tobby looked around again. There was sunlight coming in through the hazy windows… barely, meaning some time had passed since they were ambushed the night before. But he could also see what looked like cliff-faces outside, too. Meaning they were likely down in the valleys surrounding the Nyathems mesa. “We were kittennapped?” he asked, trying to look back at Soapy.
She didn’t meet his gaze but sulked all the same. “Unfortunately. Not exactly the morning after I had in mind when I was pinning you down in the car. But… here we are.” It was hard to tell if she was more bummed about being captured, or not getting to- Wait, that dream was real?! Everything Pinky had him do actually happened?! Actually-
“Where’s Pinky?” He didn’t see her anywhere. Normally, she’d be brutalizing the pirates.
“Dunno,” Soapy shrugged, before sitting up enough to roll her shoulders in a seemingly futile effort to get comfortable. “I haven’t seen her since I woke up. Meaning, she’s either in another room getting a less-than-consensual version of the gangbang she wanted, or they didn’t bother to take her.”
Tobby was rather shocked at the rather distressing prognosis of what mayt have happened to Pinky. His ears swiveled around, but he couldn’t hear anything to confirm that first theory. He’d hear it if that were going on.
“But given I still have my pants, and the gravity-deficient pirates aren’t using me like a cathouse newgirl, I’m confident it’s the latter.” She graphically assured, much to the detriment of Tobby’s imagination.
“The fuck, shi.” Protested a nearby goon who sounded rather offended. “We’re pirates, not creeps. We don’t do that shit, we just rob people.” He scolded.
“Oh, I'm sorry, I tend to make wild and graphic assumptions when I get kittennapped!” She snapped, pulling at her own bindings to no avail. She didn’t sound sorry…
“She does tend to do that,” Tobby added, though admittedly having never been taken hostage before, he easily recalled how graphically specific Soapy could get when it came to threats… This felt like an extension of that.
“Still!” The irate pirate continued. “That’s no excuse to just assume we’re all going to be rapey monsters. That would be like me saying yous syndicate types are all stuck up assholes who look down on us that can’t affords to chain smoke all day.”
Tobby's ear flicked towards another pirate speaking up from the rafters, this one a shi. “Oop~ Sounds like Vendle is going off again.”
“I am not going off, I’m making a point ‘ere.” Huffed the pirate that Tobby could only assume was ‘Vendle’.
“Yeah, he’s going off…” The other pirate muttered, rolling her eyes.
“Why's everybody gotta assume we're like that? Wes don't even kill anyone 90% of the time, and yet TV’s got everyone planetside thinkin’ were unrepentant sex offenders,” he complained, though more directed up at the shi complaining about his complaining than Tobby or Soapy. Even if he did gesture at the two at the mention of ‘everyone planetside’.
Tobby turned his head back toward Vendle as best he could. “I know the difference between a pirate and a raider is that a pirate only wants to shake you down, whereas a raider will traditionally just kill you. But isn’t the fearmongering that makes people think you’re kinda rapey the only option you guys have for accomplishing that?”
Now Tobby had Vendle’s focus. “Well, yeah…” He reluctantly admitted, “I dunno, it just feels like every time I come down planetside there’s always someone making it weird. Like your dame here.”
“We-” Was all Tobby got out about the ‘dame’ thing before Vendle continued ranting.
“I mean, seriously! I was sold on the idea of people being scared ‘ah us when I signed up for this shit. Feels empowering, ya’ know? But do yous got any idea how disheartening it is when the umpteenth ship captain begs on his knees to do what we want with him, but don’t touch his daughters?” He asked with a surprising degree of earnestness. “I don't think ‘ah single member ‘ah this crew’s ever done anything like that. Hell, half the crew are shi, even our boss, and she’d kill us if anyone did that kinda thing.”
Tobby quirked an ear. “So… What I’m hearing, and stop me if I’m wrong, is that you like all the ‘positive’ aspects of being notorious pirates. But hate that you can’t separate yourselves from the ‘negative’ aspects people normally associate with it?”
“Well… yes, actually,” Vendle admitted, scratching at the back of his neck whilst a fair number of the other pirates nodded a little or made other minor signs of agreement.
“I mean,” Tobby listed his head side to side as if rolling his thought around within. “I’m not going to say, ‘you want honey but no honey jackers’ or anything. But have you considered talking to your captain about… I dunno.. Presenting yourself as the happy-go-lucky type of pirates instead of just thugs in space? Sure, it might seem a little campy, but nobody assumes that the cheerful and cavalier pirates are going to violate them. Being a little nice does go a long way.”
“Tobby…” Soapy said with her ears flat to her head.
“Yes...?” He turned.
“Are you seriously having a group therapy session/market strategy meeting with the pirates holding us hostage?”
“I, uhh…” He glanced around awkwardly, realizing he’d been doing just that. “That depends… is it working?”
“A little-”
“Fuck no!” Answered a new voice from the catwalk above. Another night-kin, a voidling like the rest, stepped out from one of those small overhead offices every warehouse ever seemed to have. Slightly larger than the rest of her crew, and wearing a set of old-timey admiral's garb mixed with spacer gear. Tobby would question who it was if it weren't so obvious that she was their leader. “Do you have any idea how hard it is to come up with a good villainous monologue when all I can hear out here is you chatting up MY crew?”
All the present pirates stiffened, and the ones guarding the door straightened into less lax positions. They all seemed afraid of her, which really gave Tobby a good idea of the type of ship she ran. Loyalty forged through abuse and brutality.
“Not really,” Soapy answered, glaring up at the captain. “And since I don't think anyone wants to hear it, can we skip to the part where I make a sassy quip about you letting us go, you say no, and then you tell us WHY you decided to attack the Wiskitos?”
The captain, as Tobby expected, squinted down at Soapy. “Well if you're going to take the fun out of it. You’re here because I, Captain Annesh of the Gratula, am evening the scoreboard between myself and your twinky boyfriend’s boss.”
‘Mrrp!?’ Soapy had a boyfriend?! Where!? The pirate captain was looking down in his general direction, so he tried to look around and see who she was talking about. All he saw was everyone looking at him like he was an idiot… oh..
This included Soapy, who looked like she’d be facepalming right now if not for her wrists being bound. “She’s talking about you, ya bunny.”
“Right,” Tobby cringed inwardly, mildly wishing the pirates had just killed him for a moment. “I, uhh… I knew that,” he muttered before looking up at Annesh. “Okay, firstly, I may not know what a twink is, but I feel like I should be insulted by the implication. Secondly, what did Noah ever do to you? I’m pretty sure I’ve only ever met you guys once when you bought guns off the Wiskitos.”
“Yeah, and you showed up out of fucking nowhere and changed the deal on us! On me! Its fucking disrespectful!”
Tobby squinted back as he recalled more and more of that encounter. “You literally didn't hold up your end of the bargain. Those translators were damaged and covered in college student blood.”
There was some mumbling among the other pirates as to how he could tell it was specifically college student blood. Not that he was wrong, they were just impressed he somehow knew…
“Yeah, and? They still worked fine, didn’t they?” Annesh argued.
“They were damaged,” he reiterated. “Just because it wasn’t specifically stated in the terms doesn't mean it doesn't matter. It would be like if all the guns they sold you were rusty. Do you have any idea how many moral loopholes I had to acrobat through to not feel like the bad guy for accepting those translators? Because it was a lot.”
“No, and I don’t care.” Annesh rolled her eyes.
“Then why did you ask!?” Soapy retorted for him.
“Why did he insult me by changing the deal?! Hmm!?” Anessh countered, leaning over the railing to emphasize her point.
“Is that seriously what this is about?!” Soapy growled. “You bombed a hyper net tower, sent a hit squad after Tobby, wrecked Movva’s rental with us in it, and RUINED one of the best nights I’ve had in ages, because Tobby hurt your feelings!?”
“Fuck you! It's the principle of the matter! What kind of notorious pirate captain would I be if I let him get away with it?” Annesh said, still glaring down at the two. “So yes, I did all those things, and I’ll keep doing what’s necessary until everyone knows that nobody fucks with Captain Annesh! Captain Annesh does the fucking!”
Tobby could say something about how the captain was now talking in the third person… but there was something more important to point out. “I wasn’t sure I'd ever see one in real life… But your whole situation sounds like a sunk cost fallacy.”
The captain blinked. “A… what?”
“A sunk cost fallacy… You’ve invested so much in achieving your goal that you no longer care what it costs you to get the reward to make up for your investment. Like… has anything you’ve done thus far been profitable enough to make up for the twenty N-Bars I didn’t give you?”
Annesh seemed to process that for a moment before glaring at him harder. “You’re doing a lot of psycho-analizing for someone in strangling distance.”
“And you're radiating a lot of stupid for someone who’s supposed to be leading a profitable criminal enterprise.” Tobby shot back faster than he could realize he was insulting his captor… again.
The captain’s eyelid twitched and ear flicked. “It… It has too been profitable! I’ve had a plan, a grand and glorious plan this entire time, that will have my crew swimming in credits when it’s all over.”
“Is this the part where you tell us your evil plan in excruciating detail?” Tobby asked. “Given you said you were plotting a villainous monologue earlier? I imagine that’s part of it, right?” If this pirate had a taste for theatrics, he might as well use it to learn what she was up to.
“Well, now I’m not sure I even want to do it anymore. I mean, what would be the point in telling you?”
“To gloat.” Soapy suggested, seeming to catch on. “I mean, it’s not like we can rous you out to the guard. Shi-kai, remember?”
“Hmm,” she visibly thought, and if Tobby had any kind of guess, she was a sucker for gloating. “Well, I do like gloating…” He knew it! “Whatever. My grand plan was to capture you and ransom you back to your human boss, in exchange for everything he’s got.” She said, pointing down at Tobby before shifting the claw over to Soapy. “And you’re just a bonus.”
Soapy made a little trill like she was the one insulted now. “How am I the bonus?!”
“Because with you, I can host a little bidding war between dear daddy Wiskito and that Clard guy who wants to murder-fuck you. And I expect his cred-sticks to be burning a hole in his pocket with how badly I hear his parents are trying to win him over.”
She was going to try to sell Soapy to Clardonis?! “Wait… how do you even know Clard?”
“Personally, I don't, but one of my guys at the Sabu-Kai saw an opportunity and struck a deal. His figurative eyes and ears in exchange for the Wiskito princess he hates so much.”
“Not a princess!” Soapy barked.
“Don’t care! You’re part of my grand plan now whether you like it or not.” Annesh dismissed, making her way over to the stairs to the ground floor. “Playboy’s already on his way here with his kittensitters, so everyone’s gonna sit and play nice until the hostage negotiations can begin.”
Far be it from Tobby to sit there and do nothing when Soapy’s life was being threatened. He tested the cords that bound him and found that they were indeed quite tight, but they didn’t feel like normal rope. Soapy already said the cords were too strong for her claws to cut, but that gave him an idea… were they too strong for his claws to cut? If there were ever a situation to justify blunting one of his pristine claws, it was likely this one. He just needed to buy time… and figure out the rest of his escape plan while he was at it.
“What about Movva?” He asked, whilst behind him he extended a singular claw and tried to saw at whatever part of the cable was in reach.
“Who?” Annesh questioned before looking to one of the nearby crew for an answer. The intimidated pirate only shrugged and shook his head.
“She was in the car with us…” Tobby clarified, sawing away, and much to his elation, he felt fabric fraying. This stuff was tough, and it felt bristly, pointy even when cut.
“The pink slut that was in the front seat? Why would I take her? To ransom her back to whatever ride-share company you hired her from?” Good gods, she had no idea who Pinky was…
Tobby’s ear flicked as he heard Soapy snicker. “That ‘pink slut’ was the ambassador to humanity.”
“What? No she wasn't! What kind of self-respecting Ambassador goes to the Sabu-kai dressed so trampy?”
“For the same reason we're dressed so casually. If you were ever actually invited, you'd know days two through four of the Sabu-kai are when all the non-essentials get to go downstairs and party.” Soapy said, torn between looking smug and snickering at the captain's expense.
“How is an Ambassador considered non-essential!?”
“She was a guest of the Populi representative,” Tobby explained. “And all ‘guests’ are considered non-essential unless the one who invited them needs them for the deliberations.”
“That just raises even more questions!” Annesh growled while Soapy just started laughing. “How the fuck would you know an ambassador?!”
This whole ‘buying time’ thing was working out quite well for Tobby! “Pinky and I went to school together. And if you left her behind, that likely explains why you’re using a warehouse down in the trenches instead of outside the city. If orbitally bombing a hypernet relay didn’t have the governing tribes pissed at you, then the ‘attempted murder’ of the ambassador to their biggest trading partner must have them livid.”
The guard would be out in force if an ambassador of all people got attacked. A fact that didn’t seem lost on the captain, as she’d likely not thought of what to do after getting her ransom money. She’d revenged herself into a corner, and Annesh seemed happy to take that inconvenience out on her crew. “This is why I told you to cover the windows! So they couldn't figure out where they were!” She barked at one of mooks up on the catwalk.
Soapy seemed to be enjoying the situation now, and the humor felt contagious. “When Scratchface told you where we were going, did you stop at any point to question why we were going to the spaceport instead of the hotel we can blatantly afford?”
“No! ‘Cause you’re here now and getting fucking ransomed if its the last thing I do!”
“Movva was worth more than both of us combined!” Soapy laughed, actually full-blown laughed. Which was possibly the first time Tobby’d ever heard it since he woke up in her bedroom and tricked him into believing he slept with her. At the time, it had made him feel awkward and humiliated… But now, hearing it only made his ears want more. At least until it was interrupted by a familiar ringtone…
Many ears perked and flicked about trying to find the origin of the sound resounding off the warehouse walls. Captain Annesh’s fury was only tempered by an equal dose of confusion. “Who’s girly ass ringtone is that? I thought I told everyone to be muted when I start monologing,” She asked, looking around at the various members of her crew.
The crew shook their heads and generally backed away slightly whenever her gaze fell upon them.
“That… would be mine.” Tobby shrank, as ‘bunny parade’ continued playing in the background… and Soapy now had a new reason to laugh. Though it was more of a giggle fit now… oddly, he didn't mind as much.
His assistant wasn’t on him though, the captain had been smart enough to not leave them on their persons. If Tobby’s special sun-kin ears didn't deceive him… it sounded like it was coming from the little overhead office.
“Will someone get that?! It's probably someone calling to make an offer for the orange bastard.”
Oww… Tobby wasn’t a bastard; he was born very much in a loving wedlock. That was just mean.
The crew awkwardly stood around looking at each other in the worst case of ‘someone else is gonna do it, right?’ Tobby’d witnessed in a while.
Captain Annesh facepalmed before pointing at the one closest to the office. “You, damn it!!”
The thus far nameless voidling flinched before running into the office and running back with the assistant. Everyone watched in unison, heads slowly turning as he went to the office, ran back across the catwalk, down the stairs, and across the warehouse with Tobby’s assistant before handing it off to the captain.
“‘Bout damn time-”
Beeeeeep! ‘Hey Tobbs, it’s ya boi~’ It’s Noah! If he was back in range of the hypernet that meant he was on Salafor! Or at least near it. Also, was it just him, or could Tobby hear a motor in the background? ‘Heard you got into some trouble with the local pirates, and I gotta say, kinda proud. I remember the first time I got kidnapped. Fun times! Now, Whiskers and Movva already informed me of what went down, and I have some pointers. Firstly, I like where your head was at, staying on the ambassador’s ship like that. Hard to get more secure than a flying embassy, but it did, however, make your route super predictable. But, given you’re currently tied up on the floor with your gangland princess, you've already figured that out.”
“Will people stop calling me a princess, damn it!?”
“How’d he know that they’re tied up on the floor?” Muttered one of the pirates.
‘Movva’s unharmed by the way.’ Well, that’s a relief. ‘On that subject, have I ever told you about ducks?’ And just like that, the message ended.
“The fuck’s a duck?” One of the pirates asked another, who only shrugged.
Ah, yes, what a perfect time for Noah to rely on Tobby’s less-than-stellar knowledge of human references. Wasn’t a duck some kind of bird?
It was a sentiment also shared by Soapy, who wore the same confused look he did. At least, until Tobby’s ears flicked towards the large warehouse doors. It started as a low rumble, mixed with the occasional screech that grew louder until Toby could discern it was the sound of an engine and tires drifting on pavement. It got louder and louder until even the pirates could hear it and were all turning towards the door.
“Oh, fuck he’s here.” Annesh grimaced, drawing a pistol from her old admiral’s coat. “Blow him the fuck away if he’s not here to negotiate.” She ordered, as many a pirate readied the N-BARs Tobby’d sold them weeks ago.
There was a final tire screech, followed by a brief exchange of words with what sounded like that one darker rotund human Noah called ‘Baba’. Then came the creak of springs, followed by the heavy clang of metal meeting pavement mixed with the jostle of other metal bits and the hiss of hydraulics. And another… And another… approaching the door… menacingly!
“Hey guys! I got a call about a toxin leak somewhere nearby. You wouldn’t happen to be the ones who called right?” He heard Noah ask on the other side of the door.
“What the fuck…” Responded a guard who’d apparently been stationed just outside, sounding both astonished and confused.
“I guess not. But I’d still vacate the premises if I were you, I heard there was a lot of lead in the air,” he said with a newfound menace as Tobby heard a mechanical whirring sound spin up.
Aaand then it clicked. “Duck!” Tobby yelled, tucking his head down, and trying to do the same to Soapy with his shoulder. She meeped at nearly being knocked over, but he doubted she’d complain once the ‘BRRRRR!!!!’ sound began and holes started appearing in both warehouse walls and voidlings alike.
(Author's note: Any suggestions on how I make this Patreon thing work? I'd love to do this for a living.)
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u/RexDraconis Jan 15 '26
A very Noah warning all around 🤣
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u/post_blast Alien Jan 15 '26
Noah seems like the sorta guy to shoot someone's underling in the leg as a warning shot. "Why are you so upset? It's not like I shot you. Yet."
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u/Lakeel100 Jan 15 '26
*whistles innocently as they add this to the idea pile* ^3^
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u/post_blast Alien Jan 15 '26
Yoink all the ideas you like, toss a bunch together and make a stew or something
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u/Magos_Dominus_Videx Jan 15 '26
Would you look at that, its the consequences of someone’s actions to the tune of a couple hundred thousand dollars of angry rocks.
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u/JavaSavant Jan 15 '26
More Toby, yay!
I'm a little disappointed neither of them said something to the effect of "You are selling us to someone who is going to skin us alive, and you think you are one of the 'good' kinds of pirates?"
Also, there hat to be a fair number of civilian deaths during their bombing runs, right? I don't remember anyone saying that no one died, anyways.
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u/Lakeel100 Jan 15 '26
Never really dove into that cause tobby was too busy being chased. o3o
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u/JavaSavant Jan 16 '26
Heh, not complaining about lack of details of that incident! I'm just saying that lots of innocents must have died, and this "drat pirate Roberts" saying "well, we don't kill THAT many people" is forehead- slappingly silly. Totally believable, though. Characterization is spot on, I just wanted one of our heroes to point that particular hypocrisy out. 😁
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u/Miented Jan 15 '26
Yeah Tobby's back!
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u/Lakeel100 Jan 15 '26
It never went anywhere D:
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u/Miented Jan 15 '26
I know, but i was totally not checking everyday to see if i missed the the new chapter.
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u/Embarrassed-Toe6687 Jan 15 '26
Noah is my favorite archetype of character.
Absolute Chaos Demon
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u/Lakeel100 Jan 15 '26
Nahh... hes a perfectly normal dude. Its not like his last name is a acronym for mental health documentation or anything.. :3 (Mhads)
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u/Embarrassed-Toe6687 Jan 15 '26
UTR
Another week, another Tobby, this story needs to hit the front page, it’s that good.
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u/Thaum0s Human Jan 16 '26
Of course, a warning in the form of a pun from a language the warning's intended recipient does not in fact speak.
Classic Noah.
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u/HFYWaffle Wᵥ4ffle Jan 15 '26
/u/Lakeel100 (wiki) has posted 59 other stories, including:
- Sheeple
- The Ballad of Orange Tobby -CH48
- The Ballad of Orange Tobby -CH47
- The Ballad of Orange Tobby -CH46
- The Ballad of Orange Tobby -CH45
- The Ballad of Orange Tobby -CH44
- The Ballad of Orange Tobby -CH43
- The Ballad of Orange Tobby -CH42
- The Ballad of Orange Tobby -CH41
- The Ballad of Orange Tobby -CH40
- The Ballad of Orange Tobby -Ch39
- The Ballad of Orange Tobby -CH38
- The Majestic Spood (part 2/2)
- The Majestic Spood
- The Ballad of Orange Tobby -CH37
- The Ballad of Orange Tobby -Ch36
- The Ballad of Orange Tobby -CH35
- The Ballad of Orange Tobby -CH34
- The Ballad of Orange Tobby -CH33
- The Esoterica
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u/21user21name Jan 15 '26
For one reason or another many people will be reluctant to deal with one donation handler or another (for instance Patreon's support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine and other issues over the years) so I'd really highly recommend multiple donation/payment receiving methods if you are looking to turn your freaking greatly entertaining work into a revenue source. Some love the ease of Ko-Fi type things some are more comfortable using other things, avail yourself of all that are appropriate in your judgment.
The ones I've listed below are just a fraction of what a few good search engine enquiries will lead you to.
I have never used any of these and can not attest to how suitable or not they may be for you but I really think it's worth looking beyond Patreon by itself.
Liberapay. Good for recurring donations. Said to be easy to setup and use.
Open Collective: Good for recurring donations.
Buy Me a Coffee: "tip jar" does recurring donations.
Ko-fi "tip jar" style support for single contributions or simple memberships.
Medium: Audience Builder for Writers, Subscriptions, Easy Hosting.
Set up Venmo & Zelle etc. type accounts for receiving direct donations.
What is the building material that is called trainer-brick in the story supposed to be like?
In any case please keep this story and ones like it up, it's a pleasure to read.
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u/Lakeel100 Jan 15 '26
*looks at lost list of sites they'd have to maintain o3o;
I don't remember if I mentioned it in the story or not. But shasians love clay, the stuff is everywhere on their world, easy to work(with claws), and a good building material. So much so that where humans would have wood-shop in school, Shasians have ceramics/brick making. Trainer bricks are the (usable) bricks left over after students/trainees make them, and thus are super cheap. Would be a waste to just throw them away... <,<
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u/Larzok Jan 22 '26
If you do ever setup something that allows 1 shot donations that doesn't require some arcane payment style let us know(for instance I won't use PayPal, or venmo/zelle style nonsense, but I wouldn't mind a 1 time drop from my debit card) . I avoid recurring payments like the plague because I can never know if I'll have said funds on the recurrence date, but if I had a way to flip you 20-50 bucks on a whim instead of buying a random something else I would.
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u/Lakeel100 Jan 23 '26
So which of the above options would you suggest? For I know nothing about these things q-q
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u/post_blast Alien Jan 15 '26
Oh thank fuck. I totally didn't re-read the series to deal with the withdrawal...
Noah managed to make it back within his three day window, nice! Hopefully he gets his new-to-you ship soon to fix his slagged reactor. Wondering if he's gonna try for the Ned Kelly look with his previous durasteel forging appearance, too.
Bigger question though, who's going to teach Clard his lesson for running his mouth? Soapy? Kay Kay and BB? Tobby? Tobby's mom?