#[you know. the aliens. the horrors]

[stil-lindigo]

recently, Israel sent down hellfire missiles near a hospital in Gaza, which are missiles that explode into blades that slam down and cut through anything in their way. (link)

There is a video of a man with his legs newly amputated, screaming in a pool of his own blood. I won’t share the video, because it made me vomit into a toilet, but either trust me it exists or go look for it yourselves.

There is another video of a young girl, crying silently after her legs were blown off in an explosion. She explains tonelessly to the camera man that she doesn’t want fake legs because they’ll just remind her of her real ones. She is 13. (link)

A hospital is told to evacuate and they do, all the while waving white flags in a show of surrender. The IDF shoot at them anyway. (link)

Meanwhile in Israel - they begin to enforce one of the most draconian anti-free-speech laws in history.

1.link | 2.link | 3.link

Israel also claims to be the “only democracy in the Middle East”.

Israel has bombed hospitals, fishing boats, schools, refugee camps, power sources, water tanks, evacuation routes. They have killed 80% of Palestinian journalists, they have killed 100 UN workers, they have murdered over 4,000 children in 34 days. Because of the lack of food and water, Palestinians have begun to die from starvation, cholera.

If you still support Israel after all this, I believe you’re completely lost. Utterly without any humanity. Nothing could ever excuse this.

In Australia, there is an ongoing list of protests planned, as well as a permanent camp out being set up in Naarm/Melbourne to block Israeli transport company ZIM from shipping weapons. Congressional staffers in the US are finally being gotten through to - in spite of their rampant greed and long-suffering inhumanity, even they can recognise when their phones won't stop ringing with people saying flat out they'll never vote for them again.

Find resources to help Palestine globally at Ceasefiretoday.com

[esotericbadbitch]

Me when… me when… the identity is horror. Who are you? Can you be replicated? Is that replication you? If someone looks just like you, acts like you and is interpreted by others as you, are they you? Do your thoughts count for anything? If everything you actually think stays in your head and never comes out then you die do people grieve you? Do you respond to your name or to any name?

[that-wildwolf]

hey, remember being 18 years old and playing mass effect for the first time and it's got this like intense aura of being very small and very insignificant in a very big, very empty galaxy? remember playing mass effect for the first time and everything all of this is so new and mysterious, and it's 2am and you're sitting in a dark room in the light from your tv and you're playing through feros for the first time and you feel that this is someting very old and very ancient and you are somewhere you shouldn't be and you don't know what's going to happen or where you're going but you keep on. there's a tingling in your stomach and you're playing mass effect for the first time. the thorian is a milennia old sentient plant being. the rachni queen is old and telepathic and a hive mind and in pain. sovereign is an ancient machine that has not been built but is, and has always been, and this is something so alien and so unlike and beyond anything your human mind can comprehend, and this is something unexplainable and huge and as uncaring and indifferent as the empty galaxy around you. you're playing mass effect for the first time and you're walking on the surface of an almost completely empty planet with nothing but your two companions silently walking beside you and everything is so huge and empty and silent and you're so small and insignificant and it's so beautiful and so scary and you feel like you are on a rollercoaster about to drop down. you are playing mass effect for the first time and you're playing the mission on the moon and you stop and just look up at earth visible in the sky. you know this. this is home. you are playing mass effect for the first time, and the galaxy is so big, and you are so tiny, and everything is about to change for you.

[good-beansdraws]

They made Alien Stage merch of the singers being treated inhumanely in Anakt Garden? ;__;

Milgram

I'm still reeling that they released such intense art as merch.... At the same time it's not like I'm complaining -- wanting to draw this with 0 hesitation only proved I am also not immune to "Let's put those guys in situations 👁👁"

Small descriptions of these scenes under the cut, then some overall au thoughts because this got my brain going...

Mahiru is always speaking of romance and her heart racing -- the aliens want to test just how fast she can go before "overheating."

Amane always enjoyed singing as part of a choir, but the aliens hope to isolate just her voice, and every piece of it, no matter how long she must stand and sing for them.

Kotoko is quick at improvisation in both her music and in a fight, so they wish to find out exactly what makes her tick in these different areas.

Fuuta's big mouth is what makes him stand out in Alien Stage -- they consider straightening his crooked teeth to make him more marketable before deciding on a fang.

Haruka has always been deceptively strong to the smaller members of Anakt Garden, so the aliens only analyze him in a state of weakness.

Mikoto struggles daily with the breathing and circulation issues from the lab, only allowing himself to break when the cameras are down.

I chose the assignments based on the pics themselves, and only afterwards started looking into the overall au -- compared to typical Milgram assignments, I feel like these made for some really interesting dynamics:

Mahiru meets the prodigy Amane in Anakt Garden and takes her under her wing. She obsesses over romance as a general idea, but it's mainly the vision of a complete, happy family that she's dreaming of. Therefore she's optimistic for a tie, and that the two can become a family at the end of Alien Stage -- until Round 1 stops all her dreams short.

Amane had always spoken of god and the universe, and the others find themselves finally listening only after she’s gone. (It mainly affects Mahiru, but I like the fact that Fuuta can still call her his god.) Mahiru reflects on their time together -- though Amane had a big heart, spending time with her caretakers often left her quiet and stoic. Mahiru remembers meeting her in her perfect, doll-frilled dress and vowing to take care of her.

Someone as strong-willed and rebellious as Kotoko has always hated how 03060809 play along with Alien Stage -- she is their self appointed enemy for aiding the aliens in killing other humans. Deep down, though, Mahiru’s shining light has given her hope. She can hardly admit to herself what strong feelings she's developed for Mahiru, much less tell her outright. She focuses all her efforts to fight aliens and corrupt humans til the end. She isn't afraid to smash guitars and throw some punches along the way.

At the same time, Kotoko has never noticed the person idolizing her in silence: Fuuta. Even when she lashes out at him, he's inspired by her strength and intensity. He can tell she doesn't feel the same toward him, so he keeps his growing, touchstarved crush a secret. He's also willing to fight the whole way, even finding a flaming escape opportunity for them as kids (to which Kotoko argues she isn't a coward, and needs to stay and fight.) It isn't until he sees his idol lose her fire that he finally stops and hands the win over. He gets in one violent, rash show of love before it's all extinguished in the rain.

Alongside them, Mikoto becomes a fan favorite to the public. The asthmatic with a gentle side and violently self-preserving one is a huge hit. (Something about Mikoto’s mvs being the most popular for a while.) He earns win after win, no matter the health and memory issues that haunt him. Any time a performance gets too risky, John takes matters into his own hands to make sure they come out on top.

Though it's harder for him to physically evoke Amane's relationship with Mahiru in round 5, he knows how to play into right lyrics: "make me your god, I can give you everything." It's easier for him to act as Fuuta, giving Kotoko a Deep Cover moment of guilt that she'd gotten him killed by fighting for the wrong things. In a twist of irony from canon, Kotoko says her final words in Mahiru’s arms, and Mahiru is the one left feeling responsible for the loss...

Back in their childhood, Haruka and Mikoto had found themselves outcasts together. Haruka was always afraid of Mikoto after witnessing his violence against the other children (I think it'd be weird to switch around victims so maybe it was both of their faults that Haruka’s suster died.) But at the same time, a part of him kept coming back and seeking Mikoto's attention because he admired him so much.

After being rescued from a disastrous Alien Stage round, the others in the resistance were taken in by Haruka’s innocent shyness. Regardless of his protests at poor public speaking, his heart earned him the spot of leader. He is willing throw himself in the path of danger to protect the people he cares about -- an admired trait until it actually does get him killed.

(And a bonus Yuno for Bones :D)

[ria-starstruck]

and also "putting everyone in a simulation will make it all ok 👍" and also "let's park next to this random system's sun" and also "we can't live on our own planet because of our own folly" and so on

[liquidstar]

I know Ivan's sacrifice was more theatrical but let's not forget the OG. The lead up to Sua's death was quiet, which made it all the more gut wrenching. Sua kept Mizi in the dark about it, knowing it would be their final performance. It was their dream- or at the very least, it was Mizi's dream, to sing together on stage like that. So Sua sang her heart out, letting Mizi live this dream for only a moment. We did it! We made it! So it's okay! She makes Mizi shine, and falters only slightly to make sure she's the one to go. She smiles at Mizi one last time to tell her it's okay. But it's not okay, the happiest moment of her life will now be forever tainted with unspeakable grief. Mizi has been kept in the dark about the horrors of Alien Stage, and she was brutally awakened to it in an instant. And though this ultimately leaves her traumatized, she knows. She's more free by knowing. She's the rebel Mizi we know now because of Sua's sacrifice. Whatever revolution happens at the end of this story will be because of Sua's actions too. I think Ivan is wrong in saying that Sua's sacrifice will only leave Mizi trauma, she left a lot of good too. Sua's death is the real inciting incident, her sacrifice wasn't pointless, her life had meaning. She was Mizi's entire universe. She was God.

[elizabethrobertajones]

Being a dragoon on the First is like "hey guys aliens exist and also I have bathed in their blood and can do this" *summons an entire spectral creature from the deep abyss of space that lives in your soul while you thrum with fiery scales*

[charlesemersonwinchesteriii]

Had Silna's father already cut his tongue out by the time she was born? By the time he met her mother? Was he ever able to speak to his daughter, even once?

And is the shaman's role always hereditary like this? It's certainly implied to be in the show. Did he know from the moment of her birth that he would be forcing this sacrifice onto her one day? Had he grown up his whole life under that terrifying shadow as well? Did he watch her mother patiently teach Silna her first words, knowing it all the while? How old was Silna, when she was told that it was her duty and obligation to cut out her own tongue?

We talk about the parallels between Silna and other characters like Crozier who have a burden of responsibility thrust upon them that they do not want and cannot handle. But all the British men did, in some way, choose the life that led them here (yes, even the marines, in that they chose to join the military). Silna is the only one who was born into the role she is forced to play, with no way out. The tragedy of the men's fates is that they doom themselves with their own choices, but the horror of Silna's is that she has no choice.

[bumblingbabooshka]

I could fix the Hirogen and it's by making them 10x creepier.

[v-i-r-i-d-i-a-n]

…..

Just finished episode 3 of BITB… oh my god.

So genuinely best thing my money has ever gone to

[samthechaotic]

At this point, DC is a social experiment. I refuse to believe those people are real.

[cctinsleybaxter]

Had this song stuck in my head all day going into the new Alien and was disappointed that it wasn't appropriately Alien-y. So I tried my best.

[YouTube version]

[the-earth-priestess]

"x ship is toxic and doomed" <- ship is also put through unimaginable horrors with events that would drive many actual people to end it all; they get traumatized to hell and back, resulting in a bond that is forged in blood, sweat and tears that would put most ~healthy~ people's to shame in terms of strength and perseverance and devotion

but yeah sure, the ship is toxic... just say you're privileged and unempathetic or follow the trends of shipping vernacular mindlessly, it would be more honest

[silverspleen]

[furby-organist]

> "I would never end up in a horror movie situation, one, because I'm not white, and two, because I have a healthy fear of nature!"

[doverstar]

right now my favorite Clara Oswald moment is after The Crimson Horror where the Doctor tells her casually that she's the boss and she plays it cool until she gets home and then her strong independent facade finally falls off and she's so tickled that he called her that. like. it makes her day. she can't get over it. give me more of that Clara