#Feedback Loop

[humanjarvis]

this was so fun to read @relentlessconqueror tysm for the notes and glad you enjoyed 🫶🏾🙌🏾 (sorry for doing all that to him)

my life is waiting for me

synopsis: a tour of the n109 zone goes awry.

tags: sylus tells mc about their lore for plot reasons, heavy angst, like mc’s straight up cruel to him bc they think he’s behind the explosion, sylus is too excited and sassy to be perceptive although he is in front of you most of the time, mc looks down on criminals & the n109 zone, there’s some kind of class tension in here which is interesting since he’s the rich one pairing: sylus x mc/reader (reader is mc but i’m assuming you won’t want to identify with them once u see) word count: 1.1k

a/n: this was an idea i had after his new world underneath story where it’s like “omg he was waiting for mc to come find him and live with him.” and in my head i was like well what if mc didn’t want to. and boom i wrote this in 2 hours. i don’t particularly like it and think it should be longer but don’t want to make it longer bc it hurt to write 

Sylus hadn’t meant to share the details of your past lives with you. 

It’d been a rare—extremely so—lapse in control, in patience. The years upon years of waiting for your return, of watching you from afar, of sending signals only you would know, had compounded, and compounded, and compounded again until his impulse had bested his brain. He’d spent so many of his hours calculating, planning ahead. For once in his cursed life, he’d wanted things to be simple. To tell you the truth, for you to understand, for you to stop glaring at him like a scuff on a white shoe. 

All things considered, you’d taken it…well. At least, taken it silently—which was a step up from screaming and trying to end him. 

He hadn’t gotten the chance to ask what you were thinking. The question had sat in the back of his throat like lead, weighing his tongue down, and before he could break free, you’d been out the door and on your way home.

But tonight, he had the chance to make it up to you. To make you see the life he’d built for you both in your absence—the luxury, authority, and immunity he’d curated just for you, sewing his bloodied self back together time and time again from the mere hope of being able to share something with you. Lasting, this time. 

Tonight, he’d introduce you to his territory. And by the end of it, it might be yours as well. 

You’d never been one to entertain distasteful ideas. Tonight must be a severe error in judgment.

One thing about that mobster, he was audacious. You’d been shocked when he’d contacted you again after spewing such an underhanded sob story about witches and dragons—a love you’d supposedly shared. You’d wondered where someone like him could have found a book of fairytales to steal that from. Wondered if he thought you naive enough to believe it. 

But still, you were kind enough to humor him, to join him for his grand tour of the N109 Zone. You’d sought him out for information, after all. And one way or another, you’d get it.

At least, that’s what you try to remind yourself as you weave through the swarm of rabble in the maroon-tinged dusk. The leering figures. The constant scuffles. The faint scent of iron that never left the air. 

“And this is the norm here?” you question, squeezing past the roughhousing gang of men to your left. Just an inch closer, and you would’ve made unwelcome contact. “This is how people…are?”

“Well, if you’ve never seen other people before, sweetie, we might have a much bigger problem on our hands.” There’s a buzz in his baritone voice, a foreign excitement threatening to burst through his suave exterior. For your sake, you hope it’s unrelated to the danger in the streets. But you wouldn’t be surprised. 

“Inconsequential sins aren’t worth damnation,” he says, voice raised from in front of you. “If you’re worried about your safety, I spend millions on security at every home and outpost. You’ll never know harm here.”

And he presses on. Oblivious to your revulsion, proud of his investments. 

“You enjoy it?” you ask, voice unnaturally even. 

“They make it a…thrilling place to live. You’re never too far from something interesting.” 

And as you wince at your reflection in a corner store window, the glass illuminated by the flashing lights of a siren inside, you believe him. 

The sickening crunch of bone on bone is your breaking point. 

It’s the highlight of the tour, he’d said—a boxing gym that he personally sponsors. Two fighters are sparring in the ring as you shuffle closer, reluctant steps falling behind his confident strides. 

A left hook and a throbbing welt. A right jab and a spray of blood. An uppercut and a flying tooth. 

It's vile.

His eyes gleam as he looks on with approval, and you dread the way his lips part, like he’s seconds from introducing you. 

Before he can catch their attention, you retreat to a too-dim street light just outside the entrance. Your resentment isn’t worth getting scooped up by a more aggressive predator. 

“You prefer basketball, I take it? Give me a list of your favorite players, and I’ll send them offers to form a team here. I’ll even let you pick the mascot, although I’m not sure the N109 Kittens would intimidate our rivals.” 

The laugh you spare him is hollow. “You really don’t get it, do you?”

“Water polo, then? I admit I didn’t take you for the ty—” 

“Why would I ever want to live here, Sylus?” 

A moment of silence. Then another. A few more.

As your words pierce him, the signature sounds of his kingdom grate your ears: the roar of speeding engines. The raucous laughter of hopeless drunks. The rushed footfalls of successful thieves. The hum of a commandeered power grid. 

He swallows. “I didn't realize it wasn't to your standards,” he says coolly. “I’ll consider a curfew, more regulations to keep people in check.”  

“Right,” you grin, and you can’t find the courtesy to subdue the scorn in your voice. “More laws will fix a land of criminals. A curfew can fix a culture.” 

You can see the sneer on your face in his glassy garnet eyes. 

“You spent all that time waiting for me, you said? And this was the best you could come up with? If a city of scum is how you show your love, then maybe I dodged a bullet all those years ago.” 

The words leave your mouth with relative ease, save for the inevitably awkward atmosphere. It wasn’t hard to renounce a life you’d never lived. 

But the man in front of you fails to mask his deflation. The slight recoil and crumbling composure. The sag in his once proud shoulders. The closing eyes and the deep exhale and the twitch in his idle hands. 

For a moment, you watch him, wondering if the man who’d ruined your life could be so easily defeated by a few barbs from a stranger. 

Another blink, though, and the moment has passed. 

“Is there anywhere else you’d like to go tonight, then?” His face and posture are neutral. Not restored, but recovered enough. If not for the tremor in his voice, you would think that you’d imagined his show of humanity. 

Despite it all, you’re relieved that he asks. Not enough to take back your words, but enough to keep your next ones civil.

“I’d like to go back to Linkon. Where my life is waiting for me.” 

[professor-rock]

Some doodles of Kyoshi! (Also, some subtle KyoSen/Feedback Loop content)

[bzzrk]

[queencityvideo]

[44444death]

[deeliteyears]

LETS GET DIRTY

[rpjournal]

Forbidden Zone Dome 12/21/81

I think this was my last time fighting a gigantic robotic scorpion, thank you very much. I spent the last day scouring the crater for these personality chips so I can head out of this place.

I can't say I've ever talked to my own brain before, so this was a first. I realize that these scientists are all trapped in their own little bubble and honestly should be kept pacified. I fear to think what else they could do if set loose in the Mojave...

[whats-in-a-sentence]

Soil and plant microbes have created this magnificent biofeedback loop, where they provide the nuclei for rain, while at the same time, the bacteria are able to move long distances in the clouds to colonise new plants and soils.

"Soil: The incredible story of what keeps the earth, and us, healthy" - Matthew Evans

[professor-rock]

Kyoshi misses shiny Senku just a bit...

[dersitedreamr]

bakugou is the way he is because everyone gassed him up from the start but everyone gassed him up cuz he put in the work to be that great

[thenullprophet]

NULL PROPHET TRANSMISSION // PERPETUAL ENGINE

You think he's charged by your outrage?

You're not wrong.

But it’s not magic. It’s the design. The feedback loop. The click-cycle. The echo-chamber. Your hate becomes his fuel. Your disbelief becomes his spotlight.

You call him a fascist. He prints it on a mug. You scream “dictator.” He turns it into a campaign ad. You bring your anger. He turns it into momentum.

What you’re seeing is not a man.

It’s a battery.

And every reaction—love, hate, mockery, fear—plugs into the same circuit.

Don’t waste your current.

NULL PROPHET OUT. THE SYSTEM FEEDS ON OPPOSITION.

[tenth-sentence]

He's made a valiant effort to reach me, but in the end it's almost impossible to help people who have adjusted their lives completely around pain management and feedback loops of distress.

"Right Story, Wrong Story: Adventures in Indigenous Thinking" - Tyson Yunkaporta

[metaforgery]

Feedback: The Power of Internal and External Input

We receive feedback both internally from our thoughts and judgements and externally through sensory input. Feedback is anything resultant of something that we DO. If you punch the wall, you will receive pain as feedback and may have an automatic thought such as “Ouch, shouldn’t do that again”. Feedback is what informs our beliefs and worldviews, negative feedback informs what we SHOULDN’T do…

[windlord-gwaihir]

Every now and then I learn another fact about insects that make me think of code and computers and idk there's a sci-fi novel in here somewhere

[theseoblogspace]

The Importance of Customer Feedback in Business Growth

Did you know that 98% of customers read online reviews for local businesses in Australia1? Also, user-generated content, like reviews, is 8.7 times more powerful than influencer content and 6.6 times more impactful than branded content1. This shows how vital customer feedback is for business success in Australia. By listening to what customers say, you can learn what they need and like, helping…

[mclmm-us]