#And bonded with so many other sapient lifeforms

[fluffernuterfiller]

my personal favorite version of the “humans are special because…” is the idea that humans don’t just pack bond with other species we make other species pack bond with us

the idea that a human will pack bond with something/one and after a period of time that thing/person will begin to care about the human too, even if the species doesn’t typically form pack bonds or are exclusively solitary or only brought the human aboard for its usefulness (only thought of us as a tool to be used and discarded if no longer of use)

the idea that by caring for someone/thing we can make them go against their own nature and care for us too

I like the idea that once the alien’s figure out that it’s a thing™️ they try to study it and the results are frustratingly inconclusive, it’s not some sort of telepathic manipulation, it’s not pheromones, it’s not psychological conditioning, it’s not a method of training. it just is

Humans are Weirdos (ft.  animals)

I know a popular ‘humans are weird to aliens’ topic is how easily humans can bond to animals. But then think the opposite.

We humans are so weird because we are practically bonding magnets to animals.

We have our social hierarchies, so it makes sense that we can fit in with certain groups like dogs and even gorillas if we can understand them enough. We get ourselves acquainted with dogs who have been domesticated and these dogs will leap into our laps and constantly bother us for pets and treats and licking us as a way to show affection. People who can get certain animals to open up to us are super cool. Aliens are in awe of how our understanding of them can get us into a pack so readily that humans who are super close to normally protective dog mothers are allowed to hold their precious babies.

We can even manage to bond with animals like cats, known to be mostly solitary. We care for these cats and when they’re comfortable they will break their isolation and seek us out for affection.

Imagine an alien seeing a dog or cat go to an upset human and try to nuzzle them or snuggle into their lap to let themselves be held for our emotional comfort. These animals which, though currently domesticated, were descended from predators streamlined towards a goal of becoming efficient hunters. Willingly coming to our emotional aid and comforting us because they’ve bonded with us so closely.

Aliens see dogs act as protectors and bark away intruders on the human territory, but instantly turn happy when they know it’s their owner and friend. They see cats utilizing inborn maternal instincts to hunt down and leave ‘gifts’ of dead things in an effort to feed and teach their humans to take care of them since we’re such worthless hunters in their eyes. They’ll even know if something is wrong with humans medically before we do, or know about disturbances in the home like fires or gas leaks, and will uncharacteristically jump us to get us out of danger.

And when humans are in danger by others, and an animal senses it before we do, these animals will immediately jump on the defensive and snarl and warn against any potential enemies  and try to alert us.

You’ve got dogs who will literally jump on intruders and bite them when they’re trying to attack their human owners. Throwing themselves and and intimidating animals many times larger than themselves for our sake. Even cats, the ones people might think aren’t very interested in their humans, will throw themselves into the fray and claw the hell out of something that’s a danger to a precious human of theirs.

And, for an added bonus, imagine if we can get this to apply to bigger, deadlier animals with similar capacity for pack bonding.

After months and months of talking, mimicking, feeding, and caring for a giant predator the rest of the crew refuses to near, it’s sort of relaxed to the human. A sense of loyalty that 'yes, this creature cares for me’. Then, one day, pirates invade the vessel and somehow the animal gets loose. Cue the crew panicking when it comes ambling out of its’ holding bay at the time when a pirate is about to bring a knife or something down on the human. Two seconds later this pirate is running and screaming for its life when it sees it. The creature takes a running start, LEAPS over the human (which was closest to it and already injured) and takes off after it. When that pirate is either captured or dead, the creature returns to the human, nuzzling them and making sounds to see if they’re okay.

The human is smiling and mimicking the sounds back, or just talking to it to say what a 'good boy’ it is.

The aliens of the crew are in shock.  The rest of the humans just smile knowingly.

[aniverous]

Mirror World Ideas

I've been thinking about how the Mirror World could actually function, and I'm never gonna get around to writing all of these, so I figured I'd post them because why not:

Reflections were not sapient or sentient at the beginning. The Mirror World was just another function of the Prime World, like gravity or thermodynamics. However, since Reflections were directly connected to the Prime World in a way other forces of reality weren't, once sentient life developed Reflections gained the capacity for sentience as a species, and once sapient life appeared they developed the capacity for that as well.

Reflections have the memories of their Prime, but the connection is weak enough that Reflections can possess their own minds.

Before becoming sapient, Reflections would Recycle automatically upon their Prime's death, which means melting back into the substance of the Mirror World and re-emerging as the reflection of someone else. With sapient Reflections, the process only happens if the Prime-less Reflection decides to have it happen. If they are killed in the Mirror World, they Recycle at the moment of death.

If they die outside of the Mirror World, they don't Recycle, and no one knows what happens to them.

Reflections don't keep their memories when they're Recycled, but they are aware that they have been Recycled. They usually don't bother counting how many times it happens, but some Reflections have been around since the dinosaurs.

It is rare for a Reflection to choose to become a Flec rather than get Recycled, and the Flecs are only needed occasionally, as it's uncommon for someone to become a 'Sliver'.

The Flecs were formed once Humans started philosophizing about their existence, causing Reflections to do the same. Most Reflections disagreed with the 'radicals' who wanted Reflections to have an identity outside of the Primes, and they were quickly crushed.

There have been rare instances of Slivers injuring and killing other Reflections out of desperation or malice, but usually they just run and hide.

No sound can be heard from the Mirror World by the Prime World, but sound can travel from the Prime World into the Mirror World, albeit muffled.

Reflections have no 'off duty' time, not even when there are no Primes around to see them. No communication is had between Reflections, and they only know how to speak at all by listening to and mimicking the Primes talking.

Of course, despite the 'no talking' rule, rumors and information still inevitably spread, given the unstoppable nature of such things.

The Chrome Car is the subject of the majority of the rumors.

Reflections have no books, songs, or official history of any kind. All rules and information are passed from Flec to Flec, told to the Reflections by the Flecs, or spoken in whispers in quiet moments.

No matter the connections or feelings between their Primes, Reflections do not consider each other family, friends, enemies, or any other relation because their Primes are. Any bonds between their Primes are inconsequential to their view of each other.

Most Reflections actually have very little personality. They have no societal or personal interaction standards that would encourage them to develop individually, and have very few personal traits to speak of, usually forming in response to however they view their Prime. This is more likely the longer they've been reflecting a person, as their sense of individuality will fade over time. If you talked to the average Reflection, they would behave like they were in a permanently dissociated state.

This is the main of many reasons why, despite there being billions of sapient Reflections, there has been no successful rebellion of any sort.

The desire to reflect Primes is an instinct, strong enough that there are few deviants, but weak enough that it is overpowered by conscious thought.

Non-sapient Reflections simply take their Primes’ memories and personalities as their own, giving up minds they have no reason to hold onto. Extremely worn-down sapient Reflections can do this as well.

The Mirror World is not a solid space, the Chrome Car being the exception. Rather than having sky and ground, the dimension merges everything together as though the entire world was liquid metal, with chunks of the metal in solid form floating around and gravity being nonexistent, the air extremely cold and heavy. The reflective surfaces connecting it to the Prime World float in the liquid space, and move in response to the surfaces' movements in the Prime World. Rather than physically moving, although they are capable of it, Reflections warp to move around, using their Prime as an anchor.

There are rumors that if you go too far out, you'll hit the edge of the Mirror World and drift away into nothingness.

Reflections do need oxygen to live in both dimensions, so the Mirror World has an atmosphere, albeit a very different one. While Reflections can hold their breath for a long time in comparison to their Prime species counterpart, they will eventually suffocate if they don’t breath.

The only way out of the Mirror World is the Chrome Car, so the Flecs keep it on high alert.

While the metal is very similar to chrome, the substance making up everything and everyone in the Mirror World is a unique metal not found in the Prime World. There is no actual name for it, so it's called chrome until the Prime World has the opportunity to discover and analyze it.

The Chrome Car is made of this metal, and is the only place the substance touches the Prime World, which is why it's the only way out.

All appearances of Reflections interacting with things while reflecting are in fact illusions made by the Mirror World bending light so the Prime doesn't see the gray void the Reflection is actually in. This includes making the Reflections' look like their Prime in terms of color, and making their metal skin appear altered and/or malleable. Inside the Mirror World, the light bends and twists around everything like a self-contained Aurora Borealis.

Clothing is actually not an illusion, however, as a metal reflection of the Prime’s outfit will form around the Reflection to match the Prime. No one is sure why this happens, but escapees are grateful that they don’t start out naked.

The metal clothes fall under the ‘people can’t jump out of people’ rule, as they are technically a part of the Reflection. If the Reflection dies, the clothes melt too.

Reflections do not have children. Prime newborns either get a Recycled Reflection or, if there are none available, a brand new Reflection formed by the Mirror World. Any signs of pregnancy in Reflections are illusions by the Mirror World.

In modern times, it is rare for a new Reflection to be made, as the Reflection population would be whatever the maximum number of Prime beings there had been at one time. This only happens if the Prime species experiences a population boom, or a rare massacre or plague occurs in the Mirror World.

Inside the Mirror World, Reflections get all the energy they need to survive from the dimension itself, and don't need to eat, drink, sleep, or do anything but breath to survive, although they are physically able to do all of it. In the Prime World, they have the same needs as whatever species they reflect. This information is widely unknown, so most Reflections that do get out run themselves to exhaustion and either get caught by the Flecs due to weakness or die of starvation and thirst.

There is, however, coffee and hot-chocolate in the Mirror World, which the Flecs import from the Train. They’re given to Flecs as a reward for their service, and to Reflections who report deviants as a reward for doing so. It’s surprisingly effective as a motivator.

Reflections cannot survive for any period of time without the unique energy of the Mirror World. They automatically cannot detach fully from reflective surfaces as a function of their bodies to prevent instant death. The Flecs’ skin-suits are designed to circumvent this by containing some of this energy, but given how Flecs only go to the Prime World in rare instances, the technology is underdeveloped.

Theoretically, an organic Prime lifeform could survive in the Mirror World without equipment, but only for a short time as the intense cold and extremely dense atmosphere would become fatal quickly. Since the Chrome Car is designed to have Humans enter the Mirror World, it nullifies these issues for its area.

All technology in the Mirror World is made by repurposing the metal using methods known only to the Flecs as a means of controlling and maintaining the Mirror World.

The skin-suits only work on the Train, as the dimension's odd properties make the barrier weak enough to pass through, as well as make it possible for the Chrome Car to punch through to the Mirror World.

Reflections only feel pain if they are damaged to the point that their body loses its structural integrity, which causes them to liquify. Small wounds can heal on their own by re-solidifying over time, but for serious wounds there are treatments that can stabilize the body up to a certain point.

Scratches, dents, and dried liquid wounds are fixed by smoothing them out and just waiting for the metal to replenish itself. Care must be taken not to grind the metal too far down or you’ll just liquify the injury again.

Fixing a huge wound mostly involves keeping the liquifying area in the right position and then welding and molding the skin layer closed around it. The Mirror World will slowly regenerate more metal to replace what the Reflection's body lost, but it only helps if the wound is in a stable position. If the damage is beyond what can be stabilized, like a missing chunk or huge gash, then there’s nothing to be done.

Since they only have a single mirror or a skin-suit connecting them to the dimension, escaped Reflections and Flecs in the Prime World heal much slower and are less likely to survive serious wounds.

Reflections can't get organic-life illnesses, but they can develop something resembling rust if damaged in either world if injuries are not tended to. Rust on the surface of their bodies formed from scratches acts like a rash or skin disease, and is relatively easy to remove. But if it reaches into the body, through a liquified injury or an ignored surface infection, it will act like an infected wound and will absolutely kill the Reflection if not given serious medical treatment.

Rust, as it’s called for lack of a better name, doesn't affect Prime lifeforms, but is contagious among Reflections, with metal not part of living Reflections, such as tools and ground, not being affected. Rare incidents where rogue Reflections injured many others have sometimes resulted in total outbreaks occurring.

Much like how Reflections can sense their Primes’ thoughts, Flecs can sense the thoughts of Reflections when the Reflections in question specifically focus on summoning the Flecs. This is how they are alerted about rogues, injuries, and Rust cases.

Reflections do not normally mourn their dead. To them, they have just been Recycled early. If a large number of Reflections have been killed at one time in a massacre or Rust outbreak, then they will mourn for a short time.

If the reflective surface attached to an escaped Reflection is cracked, their body will fracture as well, moving out from the object and going down beneath the skin as the damage to the object gets worse. If the object breaks completely, so does the Reflection before they liquify as the body becomes unsustainable.

Reflections are unable to dream inside the Mirror World. In the Prime World, not only can they have normal dreams and nightmares, but they can get brief flashes and memories of their previous lives if they encounter the right stimuli.

Escaped Reflections will no longer receive the memories of their Prime unless they re-enter the Mirror World. They will still feel the instinctive desire to reflect their Prime’s movements if the Reflection is looking at them.

Once out of the Mirror World, a Reflection will still grow and age, but they will only have the lifespan of the species they reflect, since the Mirror World will slowly stop giving them energy once the maximum amount of time has passed.

[urbanteeth]

Novel Prep

Thanks to @dimawriting and @maple-writes for tagging me!!

WIP: The Inbetween

Tagging: @drist-n-dither @theforgottencoolkid @minny-santa and uhh anyone else who sees this!

This gets pretty long so I’ll put it under a read more.

First Look

1. Describe your novel in 1-2 sentences (elevator pitch)

The crew members abroad the Perseus Space Station were tasked with investigating the first signs of early human-like civilization on an exoplanet. The truth behind the ruins scattered across the dying planet, however, is stranger, darker, older than anything they ever expected. 

2. How long do you plan for your novel to be? (Is it a novella, single book, book series, etc.)

As of right now, The Inbetween is a single book divided into 5ish parts. The POV will be third person. Still not sure if I want to switch between characters for each chapter or if I want each of the 5 parts told through the perspective of one of the main characters. I am playing with the idea of a sequel. I also want to write about the before and after the events of The Inbetween. There are also at least two AUs running around my mind so I might explore those too.

3. What is your novel’s aesthetic?

Dark skies full of stars, floating weightlessly, lonely planets, geometry, singularity, the smallness of existence, amorphous shadows on the wall, empty corridors, static, flickering lights, hearts racing from adrenaline, the taste of blood in your mouth as you run for your life

4. What other stories inspire your novel?

The Inbetween originated from me wanting to take some of my unused characters beyond them just being characters. The earliest drafts of The Inbetween were short stories inspired by Wolfgun’s music. The story eventually grew into what it is now thanks to a few episodes of Star Trek and Welcome to Nightvale. Lots of the scenes I currently have written were born from daydreaming to Carbon Based Lifeforms’s music. I would say CBL has had the biggest influence on the story.

5. Share 3+ images that give a feel for your novel

This one is for the last part of the book.

Main Character

6. Who is your protagonist?

There are five protagonists:

Emmett Reyes: Mexican-American, 19 (at the beginning of the story), aro/ace, trans, biologist

Johann Herschel: British-German, 20 (at the beginning of the story), bi, nonbinary, pilot and navigator

Neveen Jalal: Egyptian-American, 19 (at the beginning of the story), lesbian, chemist, starship medic, lowkey inspired by my high school chem teacher

Oliver West: Korean-Canadian, 20 (at the beginning of the story), gay, mechanic

Alternis: A.I., years active unknown, primarily used for security and scouting 

7. Who is their closest ally?

Their closest allies would be each other. Here’s some specific friendships:

Overall: they grow as close as family. Nothing like a near death experience out in the middle of the cold, indifferent void to make five kids bond for life. 

Neveen + Emmett: Nerd friends! With him being a biologist and her becoming a medic, they share a love for the subject. They bond over their love for their cultures. They teach each other words in their native tongues. 

 Johann + Emmett + Oliver: Partners in crime!! These three are as ride or die as you can get with a group of friends. While Johann isn’t always keen on the chaos, he still goes along with it because “who’s going to serve as your guys’s impulse control???” Secretly, he loves it. 

Oliver + Johann: Oliver becomes pretty supportive of all his friends and his relationship with Johann is no different. Oliver makes for a pretty good listener and he doesn’t mind hearing about his friend’s worries. He’ll offer some pretty good advice as well. 

Neveen + Oliver: Oliver is, without a doubt, the most social of all the crew members. Unlike him, however, Neveen is the exact opposite. He will respect her space if she needs it, but he is also there to make sure she doesn’t lose herself in it. In a lot of ways, he reminds Neveen of her own sister.

Emmett + Alternis: These two form a pretty close bond. Both share feelings of becoming static in life. Both struggle with insecurity and general feelings of anxiety that they are not good enough. However, they both also share a deep curiosity for the world around them. She likes to ask him questions knowing he won’t brush them off and he feels comfortable enough to ramble on about whatever subject is most interesting to him knowing that she is willing to listen with interest herself.

Bonus: 

Commander Mitch Connor + his crew: At first, Mitch was pretty hesitant to be this mission’s commander. They’re all kids, two of them fresh out of high school almost. However, he quickly learns that this crew is more than capable. They’re adaptable and fiercely resilient. They know how to use their strengths to their advantage and do so creatively. Most importantly, though, they genuinely care about each other.

8. Who is their enemy?

The story’s main antagonist is a weird hivemind entity that is partially made from various alien life forms and part alien tech. It’s main purpose is to find creatures its programming deems perfect specimens and then merge with (eat???) them to take on their abilities. The creature was once a technologically advanced alien race from a different dimension who sought to create the “perfect being”. No one’s really sure what “perfect being” meant for them, but eventually they, and most of their old universe, were all consumed by their creation. The entity then traveled across many other dimensions still seeking specimens to consume. While it has no definite shape or can even be considered a single animal, it’s still very much sapient. It’s hard to tell the age or if it was supposed to be machine or animal or even what species it originally was. However, the minds and voices of its creators live on with it. 

If you want an idea as to how it sounds, it’s a little like the Warpers from Subnautica but with multiple voices. Here’s a clip. 

9. What do they want more than anything?

They all have different dreams that they are pursuing, but they basically all want a life where they can be happy and have closure.

Emmett wants to be at peace with himself.

Johann wants to find a place that he can call home.

Oliver wants to protect the little he already has.

Neveen wants to achieve her dreams.

Alternis wants to belong.

10. Why can’t they have it?

Emmett is, first of all, much too doubting in himself. He worries so much that he can’t appreciate the things he has done right or the things he can do. He isn’t very kind to himself.

Johann misses the life he had on Earth. He and his family moved to a new planet because they don’t really like Earth and want to experience something new. But Johann never feels the same sense of “home” as he did on Earth. 

Oliver’s job is helping out his mother with their repair shop. So, when the shop is threatened with closure, he is desperate to find another job, but since he dropped out and never finished school, he’s having a really hard time coming up with something that will provide enough. This is why he ends up joining the space program. 

Neveen is in a somewhat similar boat. She has dreams of working as a doctor and all of her time and effort goes into studying for that. She, however, ends up getting rejected from three different schools in her area. She starts to feel like time is somehow running out for her.

Alternis has had a hard time. When she didn’t fit the expectations her creators set, she quickly discovered that her differences were seen as something flawed. She spent a lot of her early days either alone and she grew to be resentful towards people. But she wants to be accepted, so when they told her she was to be assigned to the Perseus Station, she had a lot of mixed feelings about the situation. 

11. What do they wrongly believe about themselves?

Emmett: not smart/good enough, not allowed to make mistakes

Neveen: her success determines her worth, has to do things just right or Else

Oliver: dumb for dropping out of college, is not much other than the comic relief in his friend group

Johann: thinks he can run from facing what’s really bothering him

Alternis: needs to have a purpose to be worth something to others, needs to change to be accepted

12. Draw your protagonist! (Or share a description)

Emmett: 5′2, curly brown hair, brown eyes, tan skin, a scar running from jaw to cheek, there’s a picture @auroradrawing made here!

Neveen: 5′5, long black hair, brown eyes, dark skin, red hijab

Johann: 6′2. dark blond hair, blue eyes, pale skin

Oliver West: 5′10, black hair, brown eyes, pale skin

Alternis:  i made a post on her appearance here

Plot Points

13. What is the internal conflict?

I would say that the overall internal conflict for all the characters is them struggling to understand that they are human which means that they are allowed to be wrong, make bad decisions, have emotions, and fail and none of this undermines their value in any way.

14. What is the external conflict?

The main external conflict is survival. They come into contact with a powerful interdimensional creature who is possibly hundred of thousands of years old or more and they have no idea how to stop it. After their station and only way home gets destroyed and they find themselves stranded with no way to let anyone know what’s happening, they realize that they have to find a way to at least repel the creature as it’s not just their survival at stake, but also that of their friends and family back on Earth.

15. What is the worst thing that could happen to your protagonist?

Death, probably. There’s a lot of things that would be left undone and unsaid and also literally no one else knows what is going on, so it could be a while before anyone back home realizes they’re never coming back. And that thought is one of the scariest things they can imagine.

16. What secret will be revealed that changes the course of the story?

Basically the purpose of the entity and them figuring out what it is and what it wants changes everything they were led to believe at first about the planet and the origin of the ruins.

17. Do you know how it ends?

Yes. They all get a happy ending because I’m done with the sad shit. Also happy endings are good?? Like give me more happy endings dammit! They go through so much shit and get tested so much, like, they deserve their happy ending. 

Bits and Bobs

18. What is the theme? 

You are stronger than you think. Let yourself be flawed. Things might not be okay, but they will work out. You have a place in the universe, no matter how small. Tomorrow is a new day.

19. What is a reoccurring symbol?

Darkness, geometry/symmetry, fire (?),static, lots of the names of things have meaning behind them

20. Where is the story set? (Share a description!)

There are two made up planets on which this story takes place. The first planet is Thesan-4. This planet is a desert-like planet. It’s in the Milky Way for sure, but I haven’t exactly figured out where yet. This planet is primarily used for military/astronaut training. At least 40% of the story will take place here. The other planet is an icy, Earth-like planet. I call this planet the Mirror World in my head but the actual name is pending. Here is where the remains of early civilization are found and this is where the Perseus crew is assign for their mission. At least 60% of the story will take place here.

21. Do you have any images or scenes in your mind already?

Hell yeah! Scenes and a general outline are all I have right now. A lot of the little details are still pretty vague though.

22. What excited you about this story?

Oh man, is “everything” an answer? I always wanted to write a story set in space, but my biggest issue was finding a good plot. Like, I had the characters and I had some vague idea of a setting, but no actual plot or conflict. This story spent a lot of time on the back burner and I honestly thought about abandoning it a few times. However, it has come to grow so much and I’m really happy I didn’t abandon it. I love the lore behind the antagonist and the character interactions and uhhh well damn. Everything!

23. Tell us about your usual writing method!

I think the very first thing I come up with is either the setting or the characters. Then, I make the characters that I feel would go best with the setting or vice versa. Other details like names and stuff come way later. 99% of my writing process is music. If I need a certain mood for a scene, I’ll put on some music that fits and I’ll listen to it a few times before actually writing. I find that this helps me come up with scenes so I don’t really struggle at that. Putting them down on paper is harder lol, especially when I can see at least three different ways to write the opening. But once I start writing, everything flows much easier.

[countlessstorieswithoutend]

Alright, I have a lot of thoughts on the first episode of Vrains, like, a ton, so get ready.

We start with our first look at virtual reality...interesting. A representation of countless pockets of data verging into a cohesive whole. It's aesthetically pleasing, even if it could be more stimulating. Revolver is the first character we see, denoting his importance. He's a symbol of power and anger. His monster circles around a pillar, presumably representative of a server. That's one thing that's interesting about cyber space, everything we see therein is symbolic of something else. We see anthropomorphic programs, determined to help, but sealed. Right from the start this is interesting. They are artificial lifeforms that look over Link Vrains, and they seem to be sapient...you could explore the nature of artificial life, creatures that are created purely to serve a purpose. Then Ignis appears, and he's just...great, right from the start. "Your savior has arrived!" "Lol, too bad you got yourself trapped." He's so nonchalant and boastful, it's really entertaining. He also says that being hated has its perks, which...what does he mean by that? Is he used to being hated? And if so, what advantage does that give him? Is it how he avoided being sealed? The trap for the AI reminds me of a Fullmetal Alchemist transmutation circle...though there are definite differences in design. Ignis has this great little smirk, and it's even built into his face, I love it. His first action is to save the network, even at cost to himself. He's a good guy. Also very powerful. He saves the target of their attack by hiding it within himself...making it so no one can get their hands on it. The programs say he won't be able to return that way...for some reason. Because it makes him an outlaw? Then, surprisingly, they brutally slaughter Ignis, if he weren't a program that would be so gory. Notably, despite acting human, programs aren't flesh and blood like humans. Suggesting they're something less...or more. You must wonder why exactly Ignis was helping out, since he seems to be some sort of rogue program. Because this is where he lives? Because he thinks it's his job? Altruism? Lulz? maybe some combination of the above. So we skip to five years later. Interesting. So after five years the knights are still unsuccessful. What's the significance of the timeskip? We get a scene of...someone, or something, surveying many different areas with some sort of digital apparatus. We don't know what it means yet. We get introduced to our hero fighting evil, he's confident, and the music is great. Notably, he attacks with "Link Slayer." In other words, a severer of bonds. An odd monster for the hero to have. Is it foreshadowing? Notably, the monster also attacks with an item of hope. Things are just starting off, but already the technology in this series is pretty cool. We see self repairing areas, manipulation of space, teleportation... The opening is nice, typical showcase, it looks promising. The thing I like most is how it starts in reality, then around the halfway point the lines blur and we get introduced to virtual reality. I hope that's a theme that gets followed up on. Despite the heavy focus on virtual reality, the ending shot of the opening is something natural and optimistic. We get out first hint of Yusaku's past as he dreams in the aftermath of class. I presume he's sleep deprived from all his fighting with the knights. You can tell Naoki is something of a bumbler, just from the way he holds himself. He points out Yusaku must not have many friends, which, dude, rude. But I kinda like that touch, because it gives him some personality. He's tactless but still trying to reach out to a stranger, as well as putting on an air of confidence. Yusaku so deadpan...he doesn't give a fuck. The guy's clearly proud of his new duel disk, which apparently doesn't need cards because it's all virtual reality. Wow, cool development, Vrains has invented Dueling Network. I wonder if Yusaku's unusual duel disk will be a hint about his identity to others...it's cool that they're going for something new. We get these shots that suggest that they're being watched. But who is doing the watching? It can't just be a dramatic flourish, right? It has a real big brother feel. "I have a program that helps me in duels." That's nothing to brag about kid. The scene has good exposition, it's natural. Sol Technology is in charge of the new duel disks. They who control the duels, control the world. The guy says that Link Vrains is only for the elite, which makes me wonder. Is SOL Technology really elitist, only allowing the most qualified into their system so as to curate their output? Yusaku agrees with him that it's not so easy to go to Vrains, but later in the conversation he says the fact that Naoki hasn't gone to Vrains yet means he doesn't have much faith in his skill, and we see virtual reality spectators later on, so...not sure what to make of this. It's kinda confusing. Is spectating allowed but not participation without special permission? Or is it actually really easy to get into Vrains and it's just being blown out of proportion here? He can just access the class's projector with his duel disk? That's some real high tech. I want to see more applications of this high tech...they've already shown us several. Oh my god. Language is regulated by AIs...like, that's just so hilarious. It tells you a lot about SOL technology. They've built their company's image so completely around decorum and class that their userbase isn't allowed to say "fuck." Maybe that's why the Knights want to destroy the network, they can't deal with how stiflingly restrictive it is. You know, this kid seems like a bit player, but I wouldn't mind seeing more of him. Charisma Duelists are namedropped, and I'm immediately interested... I like how Playmaker has his own fanclub, but Yusaku wants nothing to do with it. He's just interested in defeating the knights of Hanoi, he doesn't like standing out (though if he doesn't like standing out he's really doing a poor job of not standing out. Maybe he secretly wants attention?). He has a cool, disaffected personality. I wonder if this classmate is gonna have greater significance. I wouldn't mind if he did. So, does dueling a Knight of Hanoi somehow facilitate their arrest? I mean, i'm kinda assuming that, because everything in Yugioh is solved by dueling and otherwise dueling them would be kinda pointless, but what's the mechanism for it? Also, what incentive does a Knight of Hanoi have for dueling Playmaker? Will it make him go away somehow? The episode is unhelpfully vague, though I will cut it some slack because it's just one episode in. On the one hand, I'm kinda happy that we're getting right into PLOT, but at the same time I remember looking forward to potential slice of life regarding Charisma Duelists and Yusaku coming out of his shell. I imagine we'll still get some of that, but it's gonna be far more plot heavy than initially assumed. I like how Yusaku casually asks if Naoki has any evidence on Playmaker, only for those doubts to be assuaged. He's really good at not giving stuff away, but I imagine the pressure of maintaining a secret identity must get to him. Yusaku shows his analytical chops, pointing out Naoki's flaws and virtues. It shows that he's kinda blunt and has a hard exterior, but also has a good heart. It also rather illustrates Naoki's personality. We keep getting shots of something surveying the surroundings, and I wonder what it could be. It can't be the Knights of Hanoi or Sol Technology, because if so they'd have already figured Yusaku out. Though if it were Sol Technology, that'd really bump up their big brother cred. Is anyone else surprised by how deep Yusaku's voice is? We get a shot of Ignis in VR, being found by some drones. I gotta say, this shot is really confusing because the VR world looks just like a regular city, so at first it's kinda hard to tell where the AI even is. For some reason the way the life form retreats looks funny to me. Bishop too wears a mask of anonymity. Both to save his true identity for a later reveal, and because masks are power in Vrains. Though seriously, making an alias and avatar based on a chess piece is kinda weird. I guess he's just trying to look sophisticated. Notably, they say SOL Technology is the leading group in the network, meaning they aren't the only one. The Cyverse creates Data material, whatever that is. Something to generate new digital landscapes? The scene is expository, but it delivers some good tidbits in the process. SOL Technology is interested in staying on top, but also in maintaining order. They've been on the decline, and are convinced that capturing the program is for the best, positioning them as potential antagonists. I wonder what Ignis' motive was. Like, he hid the Cyverse to prevent it from being destroyed, but now no one is using it. So what was even the use of saving it? People in this setting don't see AIs as people, although they clearly have sapience. I wonder if that's going to be a point of conflict, gradually awakening to the personhood of non-human life, and fighting to protect them. I like how we're dropped right into a power struggle between three parties. Notably, there are many shades of gray here. The Knights of Hanoi seem devious but probably have some sort of goal that they think is noble, given the name "knights." SOL Technology is interested in profit but also thinks it's doing what's right by returning what was stolen from them. And Yusaku seems heroic, but as we'll soon see, Anti-Hero seems more appropriate. He'll take the program for himself even if it means hiding it from its rightful owner, he hacks to make a difference, and he threatens to erase the AI to maneuver himself into an advantageous position against the knights of Hanoi. SOL Technology has a platform in the middle of nowhere in its building, taking up who knows how much space. Those eccentric businessmen. I think it's notable that Yusaku is only able to hide his presence through his hacking skills. Without them he'd be doomed. You can't fight against the powers that be in Vrains by playing by the rules. You have to subvert them. Which makes sense. In a virtual reality, those with admin powers are absolute. We get introduced to Shoichi, and already we get a good idea of their friendship. Shoichi brings up speed dueling to Yusaku, presumably out of a desire to try to cheer him up after he lost his interest in dueling. He feels responsible for getting Yusaku involved, but Yusaku doesn't hold it against him; he's doing this of his own free will. They work together as equal partners. Notably Shoichi is working class. Right from the start that tells us a lot about him. He's a guy who's had to struggle to survive, a guy who knows the meaning of hard work, an underdog. All likeable traits. It's interesting that Yusaku is motivated by a vendetta, adding yet more to his anti-hero cred. It's pretty dark for a Yugioh protag. We get a nice bit of humour, and Yusaku being pushy, but it's urgent, and Shoichi is too reliable to turn him down, he's happy to work alongside him. They also have their hacking station set up in a hot dog stand. That's just...priceless. Yusaku shows his smarts, creating a plan to capture the AI. I hope he remains consistently smart throughout the series. Though frankly the very fact that he's hacking without being caught by SOL Technology shows he's impressive. "It can be done, if we work together." There's that typical Yugioh protagonist friendship speech, Yusaku knows all about kizuna. Though fittingly for Yusaku, this speech is relatively subdued. It seems SOL Technology basically runs the city, not just VR. Are they contracted with the government or something? We get introduced to charisma duelists, and it's nice. Blue Angel clearly loves the adoring crowd, I like her already. Oh look, a generic announcer guy. He'll never measure up to 5D's announcer guy. Man, how must Go and Blue Angel's opponents feel, to not even get their names dropped? The plot is pretty well put together, it feels fairly real. So Ignis is running from SOL. So he clearly doesn't work for them...but what is he then? He still helped SOL. I guess it'll come to light later. They could break through the firewall because of the weakened power from the scan. So wait, normally they couldn't do that? Why do I get the feeling that these firewalls are gonna be next to useless in this series. He gets a feeling while searching for the AI while the knights make their move. Wonder what it means. Oh my god that woman got roasted. Though I've gotta say, this scene was initially really confusing, because according to Shima's words regular people shouldn't be in Vrains, yet here they are. This is further compounded by the fact that the monster seems to do damage even in the area Yusaku is in, despite clearly not being part of virtual reality, which leads you to wonder if they can materialize into reality or something, or if Yusaku is already in virtual reality. It's really confusing. best I can figure, spectators are allowed in Vrains, and virtual reality somehow has some sort of effect on actual reality. Took me my second watchthrough to puzzle that out, because it was not EXPLAINED. Still, that is a pretty great moment, because it shows how ruthless the Knights of Hanoi are. They mean business, they'll do whatever it takes to achieve their goals (not that the guy seems to have a good reason to be attacking people, he kinda seems like a colossal dick). Though at the same time, I have to ask. What happens to people who get attacked in VR? Do they die in real life? Or do their accounts just get deleted? I need to know. The episode is less than forthcoming. "Link Vrains Might Collapse!" What, seriously? Just how fragile is your network? One guy crashing random virtual reality buildings is enough to bring the entire thing to its knees? How has this place not been destroyed by now? Stupid. The monster has a sense of real power to it, but I gotta ask, why only send one guy? Do they not have a lot of guys? The opening suggests otherwise. Yusaku is out in the open, does no one see him? "I'm just a lil'old passing through AI!" Look at him humble himself to try to get out of this. Man that's cute. Yusaku really has a rough start with Ignis, on account of not seeing him as a person. Yusaku gets his own transformation sequence, neat. Yusaku saves Blue Angel, showing his innate heroism, but I have to ask, is there any reason why she couldn't defend herself? Yusaku was able to duel off the Knights of Hanoi before, so what was stopping her from preventing his rampage? Was she just scared? Yusaku sets it up so they have to beat him to get the program. Of course. It always comes back to dueling. Was it impossible to stack the deck more in your favor Yusaku? Revolver seems pleasantly surprised, perhaps happy to see a worthy challenger? The knight of Hanoi seems confident, but...doesn't he look a lot like the knight we saw Yusaku fighting at the start of the episode? What's up with that? And for that matter, isn't he using Revolver's monster? Is revolver letting him borrow it? That could be interesting. Yusaku has snark. So AIs are secular beings. Ignis is stuck between a rock and a hard place, but his natural altruism kicks in, coupled with deciding that Playmaker is better than the Knights of Hanoi. He helps Yusaku out. So this is how speed duels are introduced. I'll withhold judgment on them for now, the setup seems kinda cool. The ending is nice, not much to say about it though. A nice glimpse of things to come. By the way, isn't it kinda odd that the ending song in this purely technological world is "believe in magic?" And a bit of hope at the end. Yusaku already knows how to speed duel. My first impression is that this is effort to make Yusaku super special awesome, but maybe it's more than that. maybe it's tied into his missing past? All told, real solid first episode. My only real issue is the several important questions that were left unanswered. So, thoughts?