#DON'T GIVE ME A TALES OF THE ABYSS ENDING EITHER

[catacosmo]

If there is anything more they do to FFXVI, whether it be a new game, more LORE BOOKS, or an anime, or something, I still want more Clive. Yes I am THAT bitch

[lee-hakhyun]

Since you have no means of escape, let me tell you about my Merlin AU for ORV :D I haven't watched Merlin past some clips, making it clear, i just leveraged a very fun setting. Merlin spoilers ahead though.

Kim Dokja is the warlock servant who gets unceremoniously tied to Prince Yoo Joonghyuk by the whims of fate, meant to help guide him to become the Once and Future King. KDJ must keep this sunfish safe from perilous situations while hiding his magic, because magic is outlawed in the *flips notes* N'gai Kingdom.

Among this cast is fellow servant Yoo Sangah (Gwen), the king's ward Han Sooyoung (Morgana), a dragon in the basement (either Abyssal Black Flame Dragon or the Fourth Wall) the knights Lee Hyunsung and Jung Heewon, and on and on it goes.

In my head things would probably run similar enough to the show with the exception that every once in a while KDJ sees some strange cloaked figure that he can just feel the magic brimming off of, helping him in subtle ways when things get really tough. Who is that secretive figure helping him out?

KDJ kind of lets his guard down, able to trust this seemingly friendly (if extremely gruff) man with his magic in a way he can't with YJH. They don't have the same camaraderie, but it's still a comfortable companionship regardless.

And then this mysterious person kidnaps KDJ.

YJH and friends chase the evident sorcerer that kidnapped KDJ all the way to the ends of the Earth, having to combat power unlike any they'd seen before - until at a rift in space, this man finally uncloaks himself to reveal someone sharing YJH's face. It has to be a trick. It has to be.

But the man not a perfect reflection; he looks aged, older and wiser and with an undercurrent of grief that keeps him clutching KDJ to his side. KDJ is a warlock, the man claims. One that would, despite what YJH believes of magic practitioners, would give his heart and his life for over and over an ungrateful spoiled prince until he had nothing left to give.

And then he jumps into the portal. Into a parallel timeline/potential future.

This is where we get into spoiler territory for Merlin; in the series, Morgana betrays Merlin and Arthur, and Arthur kind of dies. In this AU, HSY and YJH were prophesied to experience the same thing, except KDJ gave all of his magic to abort said prophecy because it sucked and died, so now everyone in that particular future is in mourning.

Which is why, when the broken prophecy causes a rip in dimensions and into the past, YJH and HSY teamed up to nab KDJ from that other timeline. The people who MADE that prophecy though (either Olympus or the King Arthur legends from the universe of ORV's Main Story who are unhappy they didn't get the spotlight there, I'm not sure yet) are mad at KDJ for not following the prophecy and want to gank them. The future YJH (who will be referred to as SP for now) and future HSY have apparently become terrifyingly adept at fending off actual gods, but for how long? And how will KDJ get back to his original dimension?

Meanwhile, Prince YJH and friends desperately try to find a way to where SP had taken KDJ, as the rift had closed with their departure. Swallowing his pride and the biases that had started to form, he looks to powers he would never have trusted before...

(And somewhere in the future timeline, with the arrival of a reader to the world once more, a struggling writer finds himself startled to see a half-dead, malnourished young boy at his doorstep. To this boy that now rests in his home, he tells bedtime stories and fairy tales that he has no idea are now set to become another prince's adventure.)

This was very much abbreviated from the original thoughts I had, but I feel like I figured out a bit more of the details that I couldn't before (like what's going on with OD). Sorry for making your submission box my unwilling sandbox, but I hope you found some enjoyment out of it :>

[sevi007]

Tales of the Abyss, part 12

(It's getting hint-heavy today! )

Guys, guys it's over, we are hearing voices. They gonna put us back in house arrest again.

I'm about to put a ban on "giving ominous hints but not following through" here. They are all way too fond of it.

My thoughts on this exchange below the cut:

So if this keeps going (and it does turn out my ears did not deceive me) I will say that either

a) Luke had a twin, they were both kidnapped, and only Luke made it back. He does not remember because he lost his memories.

b) Luke is a clone of Asch, or vice versa. Sticking with that giant 3D printer theory I threw out there.

Both theories would lend to Guy remember Asch here, not Luke, and thus saying Asch was not quite as nice a guy as Luke here is.

The twin theory, in my mind, does not hold up entirely based on the wonky fact that Mama fon Fabre does seem quite happy with Luke around, though worried about him. I don't think she would be quite as calm with a missing twin brother.

Oh I think Jade just confirmed my theory... theories. Either or is true.

Okay holy damn can we now all understand that this boy HAS AMNESIA and give him some slack for not knowing complicating stuff like Fonons and stuff.

Oh snap, she heard me.

Okay who gave someone our remote control I just want to talk.

This is kind of scary? Does this have a certain range, or do we have to be worried that the speaker here can just take control of Luke whenever he feels like it?

Wondered nothing else, sir.

This could go either or now. Either my gut feeling is off and Van is a good guy with no ulterior moves, meaning he will give Luke important information here. OR my gut is right, we can't fully trust him, and should get Luke away from him right now before he fills his head with weird stuff.

Already not liking how this start. "Short leash" immediately sheds an incredibly bad light on Luke's father / family, pitting him against them.

Not saying they did right by him! But the wording here is a bad start. It's probably going to end up in Van going "BUT I will help you" or smth.

Meeeeh. Okay I understand that Luke is special but it's not quite right that he did that on his own, there was someone controlling him, so it still does need two people? I think? For the resonance at least. Or it needs two people til he learns to control it.

There's something about all of this that's just off. We have known Van for seven years. He only now comes out with all this information - first hammering it into Luke's head that now that he has seen the outside world, he will never again see it, then that he is special, then that he can be a hero, and free - and over all, that Van will be the one to help with that.

It's just - to me, it looks like he is only ever divulging as many information as he needs to to keep Luke invested in this. And he is dangling Luke's freedom in front of his nose like a treat or something. Given Luke's basically non-existent memory and knowledge, he is very easily influenced by someone he trusts.

This has big red DANGER letters all over for me.

@magicmetslogic

@ahsokaisawesome

[wifiwulf04]

Movie was great! Wish it was longer, ending felt a little rushed and there was foreshadowing abound imo (clocked the villain immediately, but not all the intricacies of what happened), but hella epic!

That being said, bingo time! Spoilers under the cut, my full evaluative thoughts about the movie as relates to the bingo card and extra comments after that.

So, no bingo cause the movie took a bit of a different path than I expected and definitely focused in on OP and Megs as advertised, almost but not quite to the point of neglecting everyone else. I recognised so many folks in the wide shots, there was so much potential there, but they were sadly relegated to fan recognition easter eggs only.

Let's start with what I did get:

Decepticon movement starts without Megatron: Not exactly, but they're all there, and Starscream's leading the charge as advertised in the trailers. Ngl, I wasn't expecting to hear them designated the High Guard of all things, but like I said, the movie took a very different route than I expected, especially with folks' origins (like putting Orion in the mines rather than the Docks or the Records)

Megatron getting the Decepticon brand against his will: Pretty explicit in the film, doesn't need a whole lotta explanation. I deduced it from the scratched-up quality in the trailer when it did show up in the middle of his chassis, which looked like it was either Starscream's handiwork or Megatron's own attempts to get rid of it. As it turns out, neither of those.

Starscream gets his ass beat by Megatron: A Transformers staple, at this point. I wasn't expecting Starscream to taunt Megatron to hit him harder, kinda sadistic and a little sus imo Star 🤨but he switched up real quick to the Starscream I'm familiar with when Megs whipped out the fusion cannon, so I guess that speaks to his original confidence in the limited damage Megatron would have dished out against him and his armour using his fists alone.

T-cogs are restricted to the upper classes: A bit of deduction on my part, but considering Sentinel's response to seeing Megatron and Optimus in the race, I think it stands. The miners had theirs removed (I still don't quite get why tbh. Sentinel power play things I guess, but wouldn't the miners have even better production and odds of survival with their t-cogs?) while folks serving Sentinel directly (drone troops and Airachnid) and "his racers" kept theirs, a privileged status that clearly gives them some kind of social standing considering how Darkwing and his friend talked about Orion ("He can't even transform" and all that).

Use of outlier abilities: Soundwave used Telepath! It was super effective (unless you're Starscream snapping at him, rude)! I was hoping to see a couple others, maybe Blurr to win the race, but Chromia winning was one of those name easter eggs (like calling for Ratchet in the medbay afterwards LOL)

Megatron being genocidal, OP being pacifist/defensive: Tale as old as time, these two. I wish they spent a little more time developing Megs' genocidal snap, that's what felt rushed to me. Like yeah, he feels betrayed that Sentinel has been lying and controlling him his whole life, but he was content to follow the rules and even clung to them for a little while longer after knowing that they were artificial (yelling at OP for not following protocol, which was the event he pinpointed as the start of them getting into things), but after his fight with Starscream where he showed his capacity for anger (and the threshold past where he could control it, aka pressing his cannon to Starscream's faceplates and pretty clearly contemplating whether to kill him on the spot while Starscream begged for his life). We can see the anger build, but his decision to 'long live the king' Orion feels like whiplash. One moment, he's terrified for his friend, full of grief and regret, and suddenly he's cold and enraged, dropping him into the abyss (and I called that pit going all the way to Cybertron's core when I saw it. Ain't no way they weren't going to bring 'Primus is legitimately Cybertron' into this when they showed how the caves collapsed in on themselves like the planet was healing itself).

MegOP divorce: We all knew it was coming, free space for a reason (thank you merrydearest for the exact quote)

Elita gets to be a badass/actually gets an arc: We got both! Badass as always, and she got an arc from being out for herself and no one else, to believing in and helping Optimus round up the troops, being his second-in-command without hesitation and supporting him with a pep talk that didn't compromise her pride in herself and her own capabilities.

Jazz being an actual character: I clocked him on the train and lost my fucking mind, and again when he was mentioned by name during the cave-in. Every wide shot in the barracks was me recognising as many folks as my brain could handle and freaking the fuck out next to my friend who very patiently let me point everyone out :p

Now, what I missed and where the movie took it instead:

Starscream attempts to betray Megatron: A classic Transformers trope for Starscream, second-in-command to try and overthrow Megatron, but they didn't have enough time to even establish Decepticon command, or indeed Decepticons as a faction before the end of the film (putting it in a post-credits scene doesn't count, but it does leave the door open for a sequel, though considering TF:One is apparently supposed to be the prequel to the Bayverse, I don't even know anymore. I'm hopeful, but not hoping.

The Command Trine/Trines in general: As mentioned above, the film zoomed way the hell in on OP and Megs, so not too surprising that the Seekers didn't get too much mentioned. I clocked Sunstorm and Skywarp amongst the Seekers I think, maybe Thundercracker, but way too many Coneheads to pin down Thrust, Ramjet and Durge (I'm also not familiar enough with their colour schemes to even try). Was hoping to see them flying in formation somehow, or Starscream to be leading as Air Commander, but Soundwave deployed them ("High Guard: Eject" is as close a reference to Soundwave's cassettes as we get, unfortunately) and they went on to kinda just do their own thing.

Shockwave controls Megatron into starting the war: Like I said, Megatron's turnaround felt rushed and a little whiplash-y, but I didn't notice Shockwave get close enough to Megatron to plant anything (unless he did it while they were unconscious, but unlikely considering Shockwave has no idea who D-16/Megatron is at that point in time)

Alpha Trion escaped Quintessons harvesting T-cogs, passing 4 of them to the gang before he conks it: Technically he did escape Quints and pass T-cogs to the gang before he knocked it, but the Quints weren't doing the T-cog harvesting, so this failed. Side note, the magical T-cog transplant in the middle of all that organic material from mecha who had been deceased for 50 cycles (I'm assuming that means years here, which also means that the gay old men aka MegOP are younger than that at this point) had Ratchet pitching a fit about 'unsanitary conditions' and 'T-cog complications'.

The Seeker bombing of Praxus/Decepticon bombing of the Docks: Turns out that bombing scene is neither, despite the sheer number of Seekers present who got blown up, which I thought was the bombing of Vos from the trailers. Guess war crimes would have been a little heavier than the tone they were angling for with this family-friendly movie (despite Sentinel's brutal death, although not necessarily super graphic with the lack of energon spilled in any fight in the movie).

Pre-Autobots and Decepticons fighting the Quintessons together: That's what I thought OP was rallying them towards in the trailers. As it turns out, something else entirely. The Quintesson war being supposedly over for the last 50 cycles and then finding out that Sentinel was paying them off, and then the post-credits scene of Megatron and the Decepticons on the surface makes me wonder how they're going to deal with living up there. Are they gonna take out the Quints? Cause with so many Seekers, I'd say they have a pretty good shot of bringing about an actual end to the war.

MegOP brought before the Senate post T-cog retrieval: Technically Megs gets brought before Sentinel, but OP isn't there so no dice. Gotta have both husbands present pre-divorce.

Soundwave and his children: I thought the kitty in the trailer might be Ravage, albeit a very strange looking iteration. Now we know it's Alpha Trion instead, things make a lot more sense. A little disappointing that we didn't get any cassettes making an appearance despite Soundwave's clearly G1 appearance, though.

Prowl joining OP from the current system: Technically he does, but I didn't count it because the condition was that Prowl had some kind of position in law. Instead, he's a miner, as are just about all the recognisable Autobots, rather than their multiple scattered backgrounds (I'm just a little salty about that).

Bee gets his vocaliser crushed by Megatron: Surprise! It's Starscream's turn! A nice touch that the damage actually stayed between scenes, enough that Sentinel commented on it.

Megatron enters the gladiatorial arena: I guess he kind of did when he played Starscream's little power game and won by beating Starscream's ass and threatening his life, but that's not really the gladiatorial arena, even though they all quickly acted like it when the two started brawling. I was hoping for some kind of reference to the underground fighting ring of the Pits, but alas. Guess blood sport is another thing too non family-friendly.

"All the best names are taken": I was hoping B would get his name (The whole Bumblebee, but to be fair there weren't any bees amongst the flowers.) and say the line, but no one did.

OP's promotion after the Quint war turns him into Senate figurehead: Since the Quint war was supposedly over, this one was dead in the water from the jump. No Senate either, just a false Prime.

Cliffjumper survives: Cliffjumper is never mentioned except a passing glance at the Iacon 5000 position tracker. His fate is therefore technically unknown.

Jet Judo with the Terror Twins: Ngl, I saw a screencap of Sunny and Sides in the Iacon 5000 crowd, so I had a shred of hope they would be seen jumping jets and having a wild time, but nah. I guess Sides technically did get his jetpack since he was part of the rush towards Airachnid's drones, but no sight of him and Sunny steering jets into one another.

Cuts back to present-day/post-war at the end of the movie: It seems like a bit of a trend recently, or maybe I've just been watching too much Earthspark (season 1, imo season 2 isn't as good and I wish they brought the guys who created season 1 back). The mid- and end-credits scenes are neat tho.

General movie thoughts!

From the trailers, I thought Sentinel was Ultra Magnus tbh. I didn't think Mags would do anything even remotely close to offend Quints for them to grab him without some kind of retaliation. Having Mags around would definitely have made it much harder for Sentinel to carry out his plan, sneaking around and surrounding himself with yes-men.

Some folks in the mining barracks look copy pasted. Look, I get that wide shots can be hard and no one wants to put in a lot of effort into a model or something and have it go completely unnoticed in the final product, but it made ID-ing folks harder because I would have a name on the top of my tongue, but spotting someone super similar made me doubt my guess.

End of the movie felt rushed, but I've griped enough about that.

I'm a little annoyed they didn't even try to bring in any other city other than Iacon, though. I get that Iacon is the headliner city that non-TF fans are most likely to recognise and too many names might throw folks off, but not even a mention of establishing a Decepticon empire in Kaon or Uraya or something?? The zoomed out view of Cybertron still has multiple spots where the cities would be, for crying out loud. Maybe there used to be multiple cities before the Quint war, but they don't say anything about before the Quint war, probably because all knowledge about it was locked up under Sentinel's command, but surely someone in Iacon is older than 50 cycles and remembers a time before they all went underground, right?? Sentinel is older than 50 cycles, you're telling me he's the oldest living Cybertronian??? Hell, bring in Kup as a conspiracy theorist old man or something, but it turns out he's retelling old memories, y'know?

Visuals, stunning. Sound design, amazing. 10/10 would watch again, more than likely going to (when I can get it online, shhhh. Cinemas make my hearing kinda fucked up and oversensitivity ahoy, now that I've seen it in an amazing theatre, I'm staying home with my 1440p monitor) just to further analyse it and lose my mind all over again theorising about this timeline. If they make a second one (probably not considering it's apparently supposed to be a prequel to the Bayverse according to one of the producers, I don't remember who, the article is on CR somewhere) and they don't show more folks or at least call it TF: Til All Are One (or TF: Two, I don't mind a good meme), I'm gonna lose my mind (even more).

I'm going to watch Transformers One with a couple of friends next Friday, decided to make a bingo card for the fun of it (my ass been trying to figure out which timeline the movie is on) and after watching the second trailer, shit Clicked

Will update after the movie o7

[finaldestination-3]

When he got the okay to come and help them with their current project, he did not know what to expect. The invitation to come over and bounce ideas back and forth did sound promising though. It kept the boredom at bay by giving him company and something for his mind to focus on. And it was late enough where everyone was doing their own things in their rooms instead of gathering together to make a noisy crowd. Some may have even been in bed, which was even better. He hadn't yet formally met their family so it was better not to be present in their company just yet.

Though, it was unclear just how long he'd be staying and what exactly the two would be doing when they were done writing for the day. It didn't matter in the end. As long as he was kept busy and not left alone he'd have no argument to make. And they for sure were indeed good company. When he got there, the two holes up in their room to work on their project at their own speed. He would offer ideas when asked or when he noticed them seeming stuck on something.

Watching them now, he could see the gears had stopped turning in their head as they were currently chewing on the non business end of their pen and looking stumped so he spoke up. "I think he should be able to turn his lover back into a man with a kiss. You'd kiss a rabbit, right?"

"A rabbit maybe. A hare, no. Those things look like they can see into the darkest parts of your soul." They chuckled, removing the pen from between their teeth and setting it down. "I don't need something with long ears that can hear your heartbeat and eyes that can peer into the abyss anywhere near my face."

"Maybe you're right." He huffed, wracking his brain a bit. "But how else can he get his love back? Surely one kiss will be safe enough. I think."

"I want to believe you. And maybe it'll be okay, it's his funeral not mine."

"Actually it's his wedding instead of yours. Because they will have each other once the hare turns back into a man. No one dies today."

There wasn't much left of this story to go and they were determined to finish it within the next few days. They called him here today to get the bulk of what was left out of the way in a way that felt like it made sense. A tale of two lovers that keep having trouble being together so one is turned into a hare that must be protected from all who would try to harm it. It seemed like an odd way to spend time with your dearest one, but they made it work. And the one who was still human spent the meantime clearing the way for them to be together with no more obstacles. All that was left was to turn his lover human again and then seal their union forever.

"Let him kiss the hare and then they can be together from then on as they were trying to all along. It sounds like a good plan to me and you should go with that."

"Okay, but I'm gonna make it a pain in the ass trying to find a way to make him a man again. One last trial before they get their forever."

"Aren't you a romantic." He teased.

"Wouldn't you like to know." They teased right back good naturedly.

The reply caught his off guard but he quickly dashed the concept from his head because it wasn't what he was here for. If they planned on dragging out the transformation back, the two of them would probably be up for a few more hours yet. Good thing he wasn't tired even if it was getting extremely late. How were they, though? Eventually they would hit the wall and have to pass out. What of him then? Would he have to go back home?

If he did have to go home, it would probably fine because he never went anywhere without protection. And not enough dangerous stuff went on around here even late at night for it to be a concern. As long as both of them eventually got some sleep he would be okay with it all. They had already taken their nightly dose of medication so that was also one less worry. Really there was nothing that was nagging at him so he resigned to enjoy his brainstorming session with his best friend. If either of them got hungry they could also make something simple to eat while taking a break from the work.

So the pair ended up working well into the night, taking a few breaks to stretch and to eat and use the bathroom, not paying mind to the time. Before either knew it might had started to deep into the room through the large window opposite the wall their bed was next to. Kouta had been so engrossed in what was going on that he barely noticed. When it did hit him, he became aware of a tiredness setting in to his entire body before anything else. Crap. He had to get home before he ran into any of the other Naras living here.

"Hey. Hey, Shin." He began.

"What's up?"

"I think it's morning already."

"Shit. Lost track of time." They set down their pen carelessly, it rolling into the ground, and shot up to their feet. Bad move. A little head rush hit them then and they had to take a second to right themselves. "Got too into it I guess."

"I should probably head out soon so I don't have to explain to your family what I'm doing here or why I've been here all night. Also I think I'm going to sleep for the next 15 hours."

"Hmm." They made a contemplative sound. "Maybe..."

"Maybe what?"

"I don't think anyone is really up yet. You don't have to rush home that fast. Stay. For now, I mean."

He shot them a look. "Don't give me that. You should sleep too. We were up all night."

"That is true, but it's not as bad as you think. I think we might even get lucky. Usually Shisui leaves for early missions or duties before the sun is really up so he shouldn't be an issue. Mom, I don't know, but there's a small chance she will be out too. And we don't have to worry about Sai or my sisters."

To him is sounded like excuses...but for what? Their sleep deprived brain must have been on overdrive. He knew he had to go so both of them could actually get the rest they obviously needed. That was clear. But part of him did wish he didn't have to trek home and pass out only to wake up gods only knew when to figure out how to entertain himself later. But he couldn't just stick around here and bother Shin all day like he did last night. The back and forth internally was beginning to make his head hurt.

"Me, home. You, stay here. Both of us, bed."

"Or we can cut out the middleman and just rest here. There's a chance no one will bother me or you. Why not risk it?"

"What kind of logic is that? You've been up too long."

"Stay." Their voice was turning firm but not forceful. "It's safe, I promise."

Sighing deeply, he knew he would not be able to talk sense into them. And that part of him he wasn't sure how to address wanted to believe and trust him. Maybe the sleep haze was clouding his judgement but it could always be worse. So he watched as they stretched thoroughly, yawning afterwards, and made to sit on the bed before flopping back on it with arms splayed to their sides. He went to stand over the bed now, to their side, and gave them an uncertain look.

"Care to join me?"

"Why do I listen to you. You're going to get me maimed, I just know it."

"The pillows are whispering your name. Come on, it's comfortable."

Every nerve ending was firing conflicting signals in his brain right now. As he peered down at them, dark eyes locked on orange ones, he had no idea how to feel. It did look comfortable and did feel like it was calling him. Bed was bed. He'd slept in weirder places before. This was his best friend, someone he trusted, even if it was a strange house to him still. He could just catch a couple hours of downtime here and then drag his ass home for more when he didn't ache all over. So with trepidation, he sat gingerly on the bed and kept his body stiff.

"Relax. It doesn't bite." They lazily waved one arm in the air. "I might though."

"Do that and I'll bite you back. Hard. Also take your binder off this time."

"Never gonna let me live that one down, huh?" They sat up then, ran one hand through their hair, and lifted their shirt over their head.

If he could go any stiffer, he would have. He knew his request was legitimate but the thought of being here while they complied made his brain shut down a little. Kouta had no idea what to do as he stayed frozen in place and they removed their shirt, flinging it into a corner without a care. That was probably a mistake. The thoughts were running wild in his head so thoroughly that he didn't notice them turn their back fully to him until they spoke again.

"Would you be okay helping me with this? If not, that's okay, I can get it."

"I..." He stuttered. "You probably shouldn't have thrown that shirt away like that..."

"Shit." They cursed. Good point."

But they made no move to go and get it, which perplexed him further. He could fetch it if they asked. Why hadn't they asked? He looked at them again and saw they hadn't moved. Maybe that sleep haze had set in too deeply. Maybe it had for him, too, because he found his hands moving slowly of their own accord until they rested on their back where the binder's zipper rested. This was insane. He had been asked something so simple and yet it seemed like the most difficult task he had ever been given. His fingers lingered on the zipper a few more moments before carefully beginning to drag it down. They tensed under his hands then for just a second and he nearly jumped out of his skin.

"I'll get the shirt in a minute, I promise. Don't worry about it. That was me not thinking."

The words hit him but he barely registered them. As he slowly brought the zipper down, he was sure he was going to wake up and find this all to be a fever dream. He'd be home in his own bed and not helping his weird friend not sleep in their binder again. But once the zipper was fully undone he still did not wake. Instead he watched their back as they gently pulled the thing off, this time setting it on the floor next to the bed, and then got up to get the shirt. They pulled it on hastily and then made their way back to lay next to him, grinning once more.

"See? Problem solved. Thank you by the way. Remind me to wash that thing later."

"No...no problem." He choked out, still reeling. He hadn't even seen anything incriminating but it had still shortcircuited his thought process.

"I think you need sleep more than me, you look dead right now."

"Yeah, I think that's it." He replied and scrubbed a palm over his eyes. "Let's go with that."

"You okay?"

"I will be. After I've been dead to the world for a little bit." He shook his head, feeling dragged down, and spoke groggily.

"Then you should get started on that. Come on, before the sun gets too high and makes it hard to fall asleep."

"Okay..."

Warily, he allowed himself to lay down fully and found himself very comfortable. The bed was decently sized so both of them had plenty of space. Really, what was he worried about? It would be fine. In a few hours the two could get up and carry on just like normal. Maybe he could even help them like this again, but not for so long next time, if they needed. He liked the sound of that. It all sounded so ideal in his head and the combined comfort of his resting position began to pull him from the waking world. It did not take his friend long to pass out and he knew he'd be following soon. When they woke up, they could deal with this. Until then...sleep called his name.

~~~~~~~

Entering the house casually, Shisui surveyed the place and deemed that something felt off. Nothing was happening in the spaces where normally someone would be occupying. He knew his wife had taken their younger children to the market for groceries earlier so that explained their absence. Sai was a mystery as he did not know what his younger son had planned for the day but he trusted him enough to check back in eventually. So where the hell was Shin? The only way to find out was to investigate so he set off to do just that.

Sharingan blazing to life, he went from room to room looking and listening for his eccentric older child. Nothing came to sate his searches so the only place left to check was their room. Maybe they passed out after a late night's writing session and would have to be gotten up still. He could do that no problem. Shisui stood in front of their door now and prepared to knock as an uncertain feeling crept up on him. Lights off, no noise, no nothing. What would he find on the other side of the door? Hopefully not the worst.

Taking it slowly and carefully, he opened the door and scanned the whole room in order to make sure nothing had exploded or been set on fire. None of that, thank gods. Now he brought his gaze to the bed, half lit up by the flood of sunlight and half dark with no lights on in the room, and had no idea what to say at what he saw there. There was his oldest still fast asleep and with company he didn't know had even come over. The orange haired young man was clinging a bit to the adopted Nara and seemed to be peacefully asleep as well. Answers had to be gotten immediately.

Raising his voice but not too loud, he sent to get their attention. "What is going on in here?"

Shit hit the fan. In that instant Shin shot up to a sitting position, disoriented, and caught sight of who had spoken. Crap. They had nearly jumped out of their skin when it became clear who was here. "SHISUI..."

"Mind explaining yourself?" He narrowed his crimson red eyes.

Feeling the sudden motion then, Kouta stirred. He had mostly been freed when Shin moved but not entirely. His eyes came into focus after being open briefly and he caught sight of the predicament he found himself in. Fuck. Quickly pulling his limbs back to his personal space, he turned to the doorway and wore a matching deer in headlights expression that Shin also wore. The two of them had been caught doing something that was ultimately harmless but to the man standing there it may not have seen that way.

"I was just catching up on lost sleep after an all nighter, that's all." They began, voice a little wavy from being woken up suddenly. "I asked him to stay so he wouldn't have to go home at a weird hour."

"And who is this?"

"I'm sorry sir, I didn't mean to get this caught up." Kouta spoke up anxiously. "My name is Hekireki Kouta and I was just here helping them with their writing last night. Time got away from us."

Shisui looked from one to the other then and then back again, deciding it wasn't as bad as it probably seemed at first. He let his red eyes fade to black and breathed out deeply through his nose. "It's 11 am I hope you know." He looked at Shin then. "You need to take your morning dose. And then get dressed so we can meet your mother for lunch."

"Yeah yeah, I'll get to it." They grumbled.

"I'm not playing, Shin. Hop to it. It's only been a week since last incident and your mother would lose her mind if it happened again."

"I heard you."

"See that you get it done." He switched his gaze to Kouta. "I don't know who you are, or if they've told you about me, but I'm their father. My name is Uchiha Shisui."

"I'm sorry you had to meet me like this. I promise I didn't plan this."

"Relax. A heads up would have been nice. But, they're an adult and I can't control everything they do not do I want to." He flipped them lights on and ignored the hiss from his disgruntled grown child. "Akari hasn't mentioned you so I don't think you've met my wife either. If you want to join us for lunch today, you're welcome to."

"Thank you, I appreciate the offer but uhh..." He stammered. "I should really get home. If it's okay, I will take you up on that later. I promise."

Shisui shrugged. "That's fine. Just let me know next time before you stay over. I don't want to cause another mess like this again."

"We will, dad. And before you say anything yes I'm going. Please leave so I can do that stuff."

"You have 15 minutes before I come in here again and you probably won't like it when I do. See that you get those things done. And see that he is okay to go home before we leave."

With that, be turned and left, closing the door behind him. They shot a petulant look at the door before laying back down and covering their face with one hand. Kouta watched them with concerned eyes but chose to say nothing. Shisui had had a point. They had missed their morning dose because the two of them had slept in so late. If they had an episode because of it he would never forgive himself.

"I guess I have to get my ass in gear. If I make mom wait too long I'll never hear the end of it. Come on, let's clean up or whatever."

The two of them got up slowly and he watched as they retrieved their binder off the floor but made no move to take off their shirt and put the binder on. He guessed they would probably do that in the bathroom so as to avoid another moment like last night. At least it would spare him another crisis. He was still a bit dizzy in the head when he thought back to that moment. It would stick with him a while.

"You sure you don't wanna come? Dad said it's fine. This way you can meet mom too and maybe Sai will be there. Then you won't have to be a stranger in this house."

"I don't live here. I don't have a right to any of that yet."

"Yet?"

"Shit. I meant at all. You know what I meant. Just go take your meds and out that binder on. Also wash it later. There's your reminder."

"Much appreciated. But fine I guess. If you're in such a hurry to bail."

"I'm gonna go home and water my plants then pass out and try to forget how I was clinging to you for some reason. Need to get my head back down to earth and decompress."

"It wasn't that bad. You look like you slept well."

"Until that wake up. I don't wanna repeat that ever."

"Welcome to this household."

Did they really have to phrase it like that? Or maybe he was just too dazed from the events of the last 24 hours. Yeah, that had to be it. He'd go home soon and out it all out of his mind. Then the two of them would meet up again somewhere and spend the day fucking around like usual. That way there was no time to be hung up on last night. He really needed to think of anything other than last night. That and their willingness to go along with all of this in such a relaxed way.

"Go get ready. I'll see you sometime soon probably. Okay?"

They looked at him with sincere dark eyes, nodding. "Yeah, sounds like a plan. Next time you see my old man it'll be better. He's a pain in the ass but not really a threat if you know him well enough."

"I don't know him though."

"You will."

Fuck. What did that mean? It would weigh on him all day now. So he forced himself forward, slipping out the door and out of the house. His travel home was going to be full of unease. Maybe he wouldn't be getting more sleep after all. Not when that statement had been so up in the air ominous. But he knew it wasn't a threat. What did Shin mean by it, anyway? Gods only knew.

[amoralto]

Hi! Since you're such a great source for Beatle quotes, do you happen to know if any of them ever commented on Charles Manson using Helter Skelter/the White Album as justification? I don't think I've ever come across any comments from them and I'd be super interested to know what they thought. Thanks! Love the blog, btw

Hello! And thank you so much for liking the blog. 😭 The short of it is that they have, intermittently, and there was some contemporaneous one-sided goings-on as well. I’ll put it all behind a cut, lest I be an interminable eyesore on dashboards.

For how/why Manson interpreted the White Album as he did, Barry Miles provides a good overview:

Charles Manson, thepsychopathic killer responsible for seven murders including that ofthe actress Sharon Tate, blamed LSD and the Beatles’ White Albumfor the series of killings his “Family” committed in August 1969.Manson was obsessed with the Beatles and, like many disturbedBeatles fans, thought they were directing secret messages to him viatheir songs. In Manson’s case, he thought the messages wereordering him to kill, and that “Helter Skelter” was the uprising in which blacks would murder a third of the world’s population. It wasalso the name his followers used for a murder spree. In his ramblingstatement at the conclusion of his murder trial on 19 November1970, he told the judge and jury:

“Like, Helter Skelter is a nightclub.Helter Skelter means confusion. Literally. It doesn’t mean any warwith anyone. It doesn’t mean that those people are going to kill otherpeople. It only means what it means. Helter Skelter is confusion.Confusion is coming down fast. If you don’t see the confusion comingdown fast, you can call it what you wish. It’s not my conspiracy. It isnot my music. I hear what it relates. It says ‘Rise!’ It says ‘Kill!’ Whyblame it on me? I didn’t write the music. I am not the person whoprojected it into your social consciousness.”

There were five tracks onthe White Album that Manson played more than others: “Blackbird”, “Piggies”, “Revolution 1”, “Revolution 9” and “Helter Skelter”, thoughfor Manson virtually every one of the thirty tracks brimmed withhidden significance. Even the fact that the sleeve was white wasprophetic. Manson’s interpretation of the Beatles’ lyrics was atwisted affair also heavily dependent on the Book of Revelation ofJohn 9, which he equated with John’s “Revolution 9”. In the biblicalRevelation, St. John says, “So the four angels held were set loose tokill a third of mankind. They had been held ready for this moment,for this very year and month, day and hour …”

To Manson theBeatles were the four angels. At the beginning of Revelation 9, Johnsees an angel [star] fall to earth: “and the star was given the key ofthe shaft of the abyss. With this he opened the shaft of the abyss;and from the shaft smoke rose like smoke from a great furnace, andthe sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the shaft.Then over the earth, out of the smoke, came locusts …” Locusts, inManson’s mind, meant beetles. The fallen angel with the key was, ofcourse, himself. He had also found an abandoned mine shaft in thedesert north of Los Angeles about which he span many a fancy taleto his brainwashed followers, claiming it was the shaft in Revelation9.

Manson’s exegesis of Beatles lyrics was a supreme example ofobsessional interpretation and would have been hilarious had theresults not been so tragic. Manson taught his followers that theWhite Album prophesied that the black races would rise up andmurder the whites but that Manson and his Family would be saved.To him, “Rocky Raccoon” was about a “coon”, a black man. “Happiness Is a Warm Gun” was the Beatles telling the blacks thatthe time had come to fight, and the lyrics to “Blackbird” spelled it out even more clearly. With headphones on, Manson was able to hearthe command to “Rise!” hidden in the mix of John and Yoko’s soundcollage urging the blacks to rise up; in fact it was John shouting “Right” from the original “Revolution” tape. The white enemy wasidentified in “Piggies”, which is why the Family scrawled the words “Death to Pigs” in blood on the wall after killing Rosemary and LenoLaBianca with knives and forks “in the dead of night”, and “Pig” onthe door of Sharon Tate’s home.

The words to “Helter Skelter”showed Manson and the Family emerging from the shaft to take overafter Armageddon. Manson expected the murders to be the long-awaited signal for the blacks to begin their bloody uprising and wassurprised that riots did not follow. Vincent Bugliosi, Deputy DistrictAttorney for Los Angeles, whose book Helter Skelter is the standardwork on the trial and Manson’s cult, questioned Manson about hisbeliefs. “We both know you ordered those murders,” he told him. “Bugliosi,” Manson replied, “it’s the Beatles, the music they’reputting out. They’re talking about war. These kids listen to this musicand pick up the message. It’s subliminal.” It was complete madness.

— Barry Miles, Many Years From Now. (1997)

John’s thoughts right around the time of the trial:

WENNER: What did you think of [Charles Manson] when that thing happened?

JOHN: I don’t know what I thought when it happened. I just think a lot of the things he says are true, that he’s a child of the state made by us. And he took their children in when nobody else would, is what he did. But of course he’s cracked, alright.

WENNER: What were your feelings when he quoted ‘Helter Skelter’?

JOHN: Well, he’s barmy. He’s like any other Beatle kind of fan who reads mysticism into it. I mean we used to have a laugh—put in this, that or the other in a light-hearted way, that some intellectual would read as symbolic youth generation whatsit. But we also took seriously some parts of the role. But I don’t know what’s ‘Helter Skelter’ got to do with knifin’ somebody, you know? I’ve never listened to the words properly, “helter skelter,” which is sort of a noise.

— John Lennon, Lennon Remembers interview w/ Jann Wenner. (December 8th, 1970)

Interestingly, in the lead-up to the trial, The Family had tried to get in contact with the Beatles:

With Beatles’ lyrics adding an enigmatic backdrop to the proceedings, it transpired that Manson wanted to call John Lennon to court to support his reading of ‘Helter Skelter’. In fact, Charlie was wrong to credit Lennon with the song, as it was actually Paul McCartney’s sole composition. Nonetheless, someone from the Family obtained the London number of Apple Corps, The Beatles’ London headquarters. As chief messenger, Squeaky made a series of calls with a view to talking to one of the group.

‘One of the Family, Squeaky, called the Apple press office,’ remembers Apple press office assistant, Richard Di Lello. ‘Not wanting to get involved, I do remember that we passed that call on to Peter Brown [Apple Corporation head]. The call from Squeaky did not get very far. We wanted nothing to do with them.’

But the Family didn’t give up on The Beatles so easily, not after they’d help kick-start their bloody rampaging. Gypsy, one of Manson’s most loyal supporters, collared reporters during the trial, armed with a message to be passed on to the Fab Four. ‘What can I say to the damn Beatles?’ Gypsy begged journalist David Felton visiting Spahn’s Ranch. ‘Just get in touch, man. This is their trial. And all the things they’ve been hearing – there’s something happening here; they should see it by now. It’s hard to see through the negative, but just tell them to call. Give them our number.’

— Simon Wells, Charles Manson: Coming Down Fast. (2010)

The defense team also tried to officially subpoena John to testify for (them and) ‘Helter Skelter’, either not knowing he wasn’t the writer of the song either, or banking on the John-Is-The-Intellectual-Beatle persona, or most likely some measure of both:

But, in London, a spokesman for the Beatles said today that is “like summoning Shakespeare to explain Macbeth.”

What’s more, said the spokesman, the song in question “Helter Skelter” — was written not by Lennon but by Paul McCartney, another Beatle.

“We want John Lennon to testify,” a defense source said in an interview Tuesday. “We feel he may want to explain the lyrics.”

— Associated Press, Tate Defense Wants Beatle to Be Witness. (October 28th, 1970)

‘We want John Lennon to testify,’ a defence spokesperson revealed at the time. ‘We feel he may want to explain his lyrics … He’s the most articulate and philosophical of the Beatles, and he understands his social and political effect on the world.’

— Associated Press? (October 28th, 1970), c/o Simon Wells, Charles Manson: Coming Down Fast. (2010)

Lennon told the Associated Press: “I’m a peace-loving man. If I were a praying man, I’d pray to be delivered from people like Charles Manson who claim to know better than I do what my songs are supposed to mean.”

Reporter Donald White also quoted Lennon as saying, “Why didn’t Manson listen to our song ‘Revolution’? ‘Revolution’ clearly states my position on violence. ‘When you talk about destruction, you can count me out!’”

Lennon didn’t testify at the trial which ended on Jan. 25, 1971. Manson was found guilty of first degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

— Steve Seymour, Infamy grows for Helter Skelter. (February 23rd, 2011)

And John in 1980:

SHEFF: Did it trouble you when the interpretations of your songs were destructive, such as when Charles Manson claimed that your lyrics were messages to him?JOHN: No. It has nothing to do with me. It’s like that guy, Son of Sam, who was having these talks with the dog. Manson was just an extreme version of the people who came up with the ‘Paul is dead’ thing or who figured out that the initials to ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’ were LSD and concluded I was writing about acid.

…

SHEFF: ‘Helter Skelter’?

JOHN: That’s Paul completely. All that [Charles] Manson stuff was built ’round George’s song about pigs and this one… Paul’s song about an English fairground. It has nothing to do with anything and, least of all, to do with me.

— John Lennon, interview w/ David Sheff for Playboy. (September, 1980)

Paul, George, and Ringo, from what I’ve seen, have been overall reticent about it over the years, usually speaking of the song solely on its own terms and not Charles Manson’s. But they did touch upon it in Anthology:

PAUL: Then it got over to America – the land of interpretive people. And as a DJ would later ‘interpret’ the fact that I had no shoes on the Abbey Road cover, Charles Manson interpreted that ‘Helter Skelter’ was something to do with the four horseman of the Apocalypse. I still don’t know what all that stuff is: it’s from the Bible, Revelations – I haven’t read it so I wouldn’t know. But he interpreted the whole thing – that we were the four horsemen, ‘Helter Skelter’ the song – and arrived at having to go out and kill everyone.It was terrible. You can’t associate yourself with a thing like that. Some guy in the States had done it – but I’ve no idea why. It was frightening, because you don’t write songs for those reasons. Maybe some heavy metal groups do nowadays, but we certainly never did.

RINGO: It was upsetting. I mean, I knew Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate and – God! – it was a rough time. It stopped everyone in their tracks because suddenly all this violence came out in the midst of all this love and peace and psychedelia. It was pretty miserable, actually, and everyone got really insecure – not just us, not just the rockers, but everyone in LA felt: ‘Oh God, it can happen to anybody.’ Thank God they caught the bugger.GEORGE: Everyone was getting on the Beatles bandwagon. The police and the promoters and the Lord mayors – and murders too. The Beatles were topical and they were the main thing that was written about in the world, so everybody attached themselves to us, whether it was our fault or not. It was upsetting to be associated with something so sleazy as Charles Manson.

— The Beatles: Anthology. (2000)

PAUL: I wasusing the symbol of a helter skelter as a ride from the top to thebottom, the rise and fall of the Roman Empire and this was the fall,the demise, the going down. You could have thought of it as a rathercute title but it’s since taken on all sorts of ominous overtonesbecause Manson picked it up as an anthem, and since then quite afew punk bands have done it because it is a raunchy rocker. […] We did work very hard on that track.Unfortunately it inspired people to evil deeds.

— Barry Miles, Many Years From Now. (1997)

I’ll end with a recent Paul interview, because in the end, what ‘Helter Skelter’ is is a good song, and a damn good one:

“Well, that put me off doing it forever,” he says. “I thought, I’m not doing [‘Helter Skelter’], you know, because it was too close to that event, and immediately it would have seemed like I was, either I didn’t care about all the carnage that had gone on or whatever, so I kept away from it for a long time. But then in the end I thought, you know, that’d be good on stage, that’d be a nice one to do, so we brought it out of the bag and tried it and it works. It’s a good one to rock with, you know.”

— Paul McCartney, interview w/ Dan Stubbs for NME. (September 14th, 2018)

[sevi007]

Tales of the Abyss part 27

By now I realize why "Abyss"! Hah!

Did you guys just sneakily clean up Luke's hairstyle while I was not looking or -

They are trying to distract me from the hair-situation and it's working

(Daughter of Watchers, indeed)

Fair I have no idea how to stop a whole landscape from falling down a - hole? Down the earth's interior?

Sorry I just had to use this XD

Can I PLEASE take two steps without getting attacked by skits lmao

Nevermind I'm placated. He got a cute new pic! Look at these puppy eyes!

Lmao some things have not changed (yet) XD

Incredible rude way to start a conversation - "oh hey you're the replica!" I would have assumed an elder would be more polite.

In theory I understand what Teodoro is saying. But I can also understand Luke's outrage. I cannot say what's better: Brace yourself for what is to come, knowing you cannot change it - or try to take steps to avoid the worst possible outcome because you know what is going to happen. Sincerely, my gut is telling me the later is better. The evacuation could have been started earlier if the people had known. You don't have to tell them years before, scaring them to death, but you can take steps necessary so you can take action when that time is coming. The way the world is operating right now is just "oh this catastrophe is meant to happen, glad it's not hitting us!" which seems awful.

Ugh I'm starting to understand Van's hatred for the Score. "Oh sorry granddaughter we could have saved thousands by evacuating them, but the Score did not talk about THAT so we just waved them goodbye as they fell"

Van must have been young(er) when he found out the truth, and terribly angry, I assume.

He what.

He WHAT. I want to shake some sense into this blind as a bat old man.

Thanks Luke.

I don't know how to break this to you, Teodoro, but Van is long since sick of "watching". He is actively creating his own future, and that one does not look good for anyone right now. "Watching" would mean doing very little. "Watching" would not include creating Replicas, kidnapping the prophesized sacred flame, controlling the replica into destroying a city, etc etc.

By the way, now that I'm ranting, I realize that the Score as we heard it in Baticul only mentioned ONE sacred flame. That's either Asch or Luke. There is nothing about a second one - nothing about a replica. Can the Score not cover everything? Are certain actions outside of its range, or... Is LUKE outside of its range thanks to being a replica? Cuz theoretically a replica - when not explicitly stated otherwise in the Score - would have the same destiny as the original, but since Luke is taking his own actions... Agh I'm giving myself a headache thinking so hard XD

Tear step aside I'm about to dropkick your grandpa outta the huge window there.

Ah dang, tumblr is reminding me I'm out of pictures. I will end my rant here then. See you on the next post! @ahsokaisawesome

@magicmetslogic