#Need to investigate replacements for my current sites

[skelleste]

If you use multiple, then pick the one you like best. If you don't use any of these then you're out of luck.

[astralarya]

Tumblr Investigation #1: Tags

As a New User of Tumblr, I find it interesting to see how tags are being used on the site. There seems to be barely any algorithmic recommendation, so these are the primary way that posts reach me that aren't direct reblogs or public likes, but even then it's not super useful. I've heard people use tags to filter their feed but as a novice that currently beyond my expertise nor do I feel the need to utilize that capability at the moment.

What I do notice is that often tags are used as just extra body text or straight up replacements for body text with no regard to any sort of classification system. I must admit this is Quite Funny and reminds me of all those "#not all x" or "#not my president" memes, which I've personally slipped into spoken conversations (with an verbal "hashtag" of course).

[tomreview]

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[mantisfriendd]

(have a graphic here that says welcome)

hey.

I'm Mantis Friend

I consider this an 18+ blog not because I frequently post 18+ content but because I want the freedom to do so if I want, usually though this is just a place for me to post art and reblog things I think are funny.

(full resolution cat pic at the bottom)

Number one Mr. Cupcake fan

I'm mainly an artist and musician but I also do a lot of other things, including shitpost, if you just wanna see my art, I've tagged it all as "#my art" if you wanna see my music I've tagged it as "#my music" ... if you only wanna see the nonsense I've tagged all of it as "#shitpost" any thing I reblog is now tagged "#re🅱️log" so you can mute that tag if you only wanna see my wholly original unhinged rambling and art. "🅰️sks" is the tag for asks.

Reblogs, replies, and follows are NOT a endorsement. Simply put I cannot do a full background check on every person I interact with on this site, obviously if I catch someone I'm following doing something awful I'll unfollow them then, but there is simply no time efficient way for me to do that with every person I ever interact with ever.

(more info below the cut)

https://href.li/?https://mantis-friend.neocities.org/

some more info about me for the nosy:

he/him

I'm a big fan of:

Five Nights at Freddy's , Ace Attorney , Undertale/Deltarune , JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, The Persona Series and Doki Doki Literature Club!

I consider myself a collector, I mostly collect Retro games and pins, but also anything that catches my eye, I have almost the entirety of Star Trek on VHS, I've not watched a full episode yet.

UPCOMING (?) PROJECTS:

Webcomic:

I have been working on this webcomic for quite awhile now, which is unfortunate because I started it with the intention of it not becoming one of my huge projects that never come out.

That being said this will be the first wholly original project I will make.

The comic is inspired by Shonen manga, specifically Jojo's, if that sounds like something you might enjoy, stay posted! I don't have a venue for the comic at the moment but I think I may host it here on Tumblr!

Role Playing Game:

Dont expect this one any time soon, I want to make sure I am at least somewhat competent in Game Maker Studio before I work on this idea I've had for years.

As this project is so on the back burners because of the skill needed for me to actually start work on it, I can't say with certainty what the game will be like when I finally start development, right now it is a scattered series of artworks, documents, and soundtracks, but this is what im building towards.

I will say that this game as I Invision it currently, is inspired by the Persona series, with elements of Ace Attorney's investigation and Cross Examination sequences. The only other thing I will say about this game is that I intend to have a mechanic to replace the "level up to get stronger" mechanic that most traditional RPGs have.

Finished Projects:

VIDEO A DAY PROJECT:

Back in 2021 I decided I wanted to upload a video to my YouTube Channel every day that year, and that I did.

Mostly songs you'll notice that the quality of the videos takes a serious nose dive during most of the year, they aren't all great but there are some good things in there.

I have a playlist of all the videos here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUv6pXjkdl6Bgq5Nim0AJuYzxNImg-Ga_

I do not recommend you watch them all, please don't, but it might be fun to scroll through the playlist and click on ones that catch your eye.

if you don't wanna do that then you at least watch the first video Black on White https://youtu.be/iI9HQg9lyjA and the Last https://youtu.be/qjdoybrOduQ which is a remix of the song using the experience I gained through the year. and who knows maybe there is some secret hidden in the end screen if that last video ;)

you can find me in other places here:

My website is janky but (hopefully) the best place to link you to anything you might desire (if your desire is more stuff by me)

YouTube is where I post my music and other video things: https://youtube.com/channel/UCKDmQwajLVwu_FKKlPqebUA

I sometimes post to Instagram but the way it works kind of annoys me so you might not find all my art there, but you will find some game boy photos!

I have a Gamejolt account but I kinda forget about it

on discord I am "mantisfriend" DMs are open, for now, feel free to DM me!

I have a Twitter but I find myself using it less and less as the CEO makes a fool of himself and guts the platform

I have a Reddit account but I am not really using it anymore as the CEO makes a fool of himself and guts the platform

I got a Newgrounds account have no idea how this site works!

If you want to Email me feel free to email mantisfriendsuggestions@gmail.com

and of course feel free to message me here as well, I'm probably most active here now that reddit has become worthless.

PROJECTS I'M APART OF:

currently I am a composer for the FNAF fan game Fazbear Rebrand

(sometimes this link breaks for no reason, but if you search Fazbear Rebrand on gamejolt it should come up)

Thats the only one for the time being, but I'll make sure to keep this post relatively up to date

Thanks for reading!

[stayathomesurveys]

160.

This time last year, what was happening in your life? I was at a job that I hated, about to quit. I don’t remember much else of what was going on.

Did you/will you have coffee or some other form of caffeine today? Maybe. I’ve had caffeine for sure but I am thinking about having some coffee later.

Who did you last have a text conversation with and what was it about? Nik, his friend’s house being built.

Are there regular trains in and out of your town/city? Yes.

Do you bathe your pets regularly? No.

Do you have a mailbox or do you collect your mail from the post office? I have a mailbox.

What was the last animal you saw, and was it a pet? Kitties, yes.

Have you ever had an ear infection? Yup.

If you could watch any TV series right now, what would it be? I’m currently watching CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

Would you have any clue when your best friend last got their hair cut? I don’t have a best friend.

Someone messages you just as you’re about to go to sleep. Do you reply? Depends on who it is and what it’s about.

Do you grind your teeth, and if so, why do you do it? I think I still do. Probably stress and anxiety.

Have you ever been hospitalized due to dehydration? Not like, admitted, no.

Is there anything you need to remember to do before the day ends? Yes.

When you listen to music with headphones, do you keep the volume low enough to hear surrounding noise faintly, or do you blast it? It depends on where I am.

What’s your favorite online radio site? I only really use Spotify.

Do your parents have any authority over who you date? No. I am 28.

How many different shades of nail polish do you have? A lot.

What did you have for breakfast this morning? A meal replacement shake.

Are you lucky enough to have an ice maker in your refrigerator door? I have one in my freezer that I don’t use.

Are you the type to wake up before the sun has even risen? Sometimes.

Have you ever watched an anime series, start to finish? Yup.

Do you feel the need to rant about anything right now? If so, go for it. No.

Do you have a favorite towel? What color is it? No.

Have you seen any films with Judy Garland in them?: Yeah.

How did you feel when you woke up today? Why? So sleepy!

Who was the last person you messaged on Facebook? I don’t remember.

When was the last time you saw them? -

Do you have a friend named Nick? What’s his favourite food? Not sure... pizza? Lol.

What are you listening to? CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

What year are you/did you graduate? -

Are you obsessed with anything? No?

Do you prefer waffles or pancakes? Pancakes. I like both, though. Just depends on my mood. Lately I’ve been leaning more towards pancakes.

Do you prefer non-diet or diet soda? Diet.

Do you like seafood? In moderation.

Are you craving anything right now? Chick Fil A... on a Sunday... of course.

Do you dress appropriately for your age? Sure.

If McDonald’s sold hot dogs, would you buy them? No.

How long is your hair? Shoulder length, I guess.

Do you like your neighbors? They’re fine.

What’s your school motto? –

Has a bird ever flown into your window? Maybe.

Which word did you say first, mama or dada? No idea.

How old were you when you learned to walk? I think I was 9 months old.

What was your first pet’s name? Tiger.

How many kids were in your class in kindergarten? Probably like 24? My classes always had like 24-26 students in them.

Who was your best friend in elementary? Ashly, Megan, Sabrina.

Who was the best athlete in your freshman class? No idea.

What teacher did all the high school boys/girls have a crush on? Coach Cutright.

Where do you see yourself in a year? No idea.

If you were able to change one thing about yourself, what would it be? Not be mentally ill?

Are you content just blending in with the crowd? Sometimes.

[hakesbrother]

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[havesomedragonsiguess]

OKAY I GUESS I'M VOICING MY BUBBLE THOUGHTS EARLY HELL YEAH

for context, here's the original doc i made compiling evidence and speculating about my whole "tidelord got abducted by aliens" theory. i am suddenly realizing i made this doc back in 2020. this doc is four years old. why do you do this to me, passage of time.

tdlr: when the forbidden portal venue first got released, i immediately got the feeling that this place could be way more important in terms of site lore than it first appeared and went on a lore hunt scouring the short stories and reading as many relevant item descriptions as i could like i was playing dark souls. this led me to the theory that, deep underwater, there existed some way of accessing the world on the other side of the forbidden portal (possibly the same portal we use to get there in the coliseum, but that seems unlikely to me). at some point in the ancient past, water flight dragons crossed through that gateway, discovered some form of forbidden knowledge, and chose to stay behind in order to keep the information from spreading at all costs. uncountable years later, the environment of the forbidden portal has gradually transformed that population of dragons into what are now the spectre/void wyverns we see as coliseum enemies (likely due to a combination of the species just naturally changing over the generations and the shade, since even from what little we see from the coli background this world reeks of shade to me). cut back to the sea of a thousand currents, and tidelord gets a prophecy about forbidden knowledge. somehow, the wyverns on the other side of the portal find out about this prophecy and decide to act as soon as possible to avoid word getting out. so, before tidelord can manage to say anything about what he learned, he gets overwhelmed and dragged over to the other side of the portal and hidden away, where he remains stuck to this day. completely unable to contact sornieth to tell them about his situation.

tldrtldr: Tidelord Got Abducted By Aliens.

cut to a few years later and hmm, that water ancient sure does look familiar, doesn't it?

and they abandoned the tidelord and exiled themselves to the bottom of the ocean, you say? forming bonds with a subspecies of maren, whose familiar/coli drop descriptions helped me form this theory to begin with?

and their diet is partially plant-based, allowing them to potentially eat one of the forbidden coliseum's food drops if they were unable to use their mouths for some reason? like having their entire head replaced with a gemstone?

fast forward again to today, during the third rest phase of unfathomable odyssey. when we've just finished investigating a cave-in located incredibly deep underwater (deep enough to be near some submarine volcanoes).

hm, sounds urgent. this message was intended to reach the wider population of sornieth, but got trapped until the fathoms got through that cave-in. tidelord was trying to tell us something before he disappeared.

okay, something about the shade. this was probably to be expected. tidelord's a literal deity, it would've been strange if he'd somehow gotten outmatched by some mortal beings (though not impossible, just would've been very unexpected imo. not that this being shade related is a bad thing at all, i'm loving this).

but, tidelord's disappearance being confirmed to be connected to the shade somehow is still very significant. because this is the shade.

the shade, which originates from "the very void from which [the Eight] had designed their world".

the shade, which arcanist initially spotted from the observatory and climbed to the very top of the world pillar to beckon from the cosmos.

the shade, which warps creatures it affects in such a way that the first aberration to be discovered in the modern era was initially mistaken for a shade-beast.

that shade.

so what's the last part of the message?

"unlikeliest of places", hm? "[near] and far alike"?

an entire other god damn planet we need a portal to get to seems like a pretty good place to look, then!

I DON'T KNOW HOW THIS THEORY HASN'T BEEN DISPROVEN YET. IT'S BEEN FOUR YEARS. GRANTED IT'S BEEN A WHILE SINCE I DID ANY DIGGING INTO ITEM DESCRIPTIONS, MAYBE I'D FIND SOMETHING THAT THROWS A WRENCH INTO THE WHOLE THING, BUT THE FACT THAT I JUST KEEP GETTING MORE FUEL FOR THE THEORY FIRE IS JUST WILD TO ME.

SO YEAH THAT'S MY THOUGHTS ON THE BUBBLE, AMONG OTHER THINGS. WHATEVER WE GET AFTER MAINTENANCE COULD DEBUNK THIS WHOLE THING, OR IT COULD JUST KEEP ADDING TO THE EVER GROWING PILE OF EVIDENCE I'VE GOT HERE. I'D BE HAPPY WITH EITHER.

admittedly i would be a little sad if staff were to confirm that wyverns aren't related to undertides at all, but that's more just because the ideas i came up with in my head while originally forming this theory were just super interesting and i got really attached to them, not because i was wrong. back when i intended this blog to be an askblog instead of just my side account for fr, the whole concept i had in my head revolved around the forbidden portal as a setting and the wyverns as a potentially interesting new species to build characters around because everything about the forbidden portal just fascinates me. i said near the beginning of the odyssey that i fully expected the aliens theory to finally get fully debunked, and i still sorta do just because "tidelord got abducted by aliens" is still just kind of an absurd thing to say after all this time and i doubt staff would choose that direction to go in once adventure mode is finally ready to go. but if that somehow does end up being the direction adventure mode goes, i am probably going to lose my mind because GOD DAMN.

so as you can see by how long this posts is getting, i have Thoughts (TM). i'm gonna finish this off here, then maybe do another item description search some time later just to see if i can find anything that might be fun to consider. thank you for for enabling this rant dgjskdghsjk

on one hand, probably a good idea to wait until after maintenance ends to start theorizing, good to have all the information instead of potentially getting debunked within like two days.

on the other hand, OH BOY DO I HAVE THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS VERY VAGUE AND CRYPTIC BUBBLE.

[inner-wellness]

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[canyouhearthelight]

The Miys, Ch. 201

Not even gonna lie, I kinda gave up on the queue at this point. It seems like every time there is an update to the site, my scheduled posts vanish. So, instead, I brought my tablet and a mobile hotspot to work so I could post on time,

Got to do what you got to do, right?

Shout outs for this week go to @bogwalkr and @peachymis, both of whom have been going through chapters at a very impressive clip.

Thanks, as always, goes to @baelpenrose for his beta reading, and also @quantumizedinsanity, who is trying to help me get this huge thing cleaned up for AO3.

“Can I retire yet?” I groaned as I fell on my sofa.

Immediately, I levitated back to a standing position with a shriek when a disembodied voice responded. “You have four more months until then, Wisdom.”

One hand slammed into my sternum while the other braced against the nearest sturdy surface as I caught my breath. “Are… are you speaking to me again, Miys?”  Thankfully, I didn’t even have to remind myself to not get my hopes up, seeing as I was half panicking and half mad as hell.

“I have never declined to speak to you.”

Wincing at the literal nature of the response, I tried again. “I was under the impression that you were angry with me, specifically, and no longer fraternizing with the humans on board, in general.  This is definitely the first time in several months that you have voluntarily spoken to me unless I asked a direct question in an official capacity.”

“Technically, asking an empty room the remaining duration of your tenure in your current role with the Council is a question in an official capacity, and one which could be interpreted to be directed at me.”

Discretion was the better part of valor, and cowardice sufficed, so I agreed to let it drop. “I thought I had one Terran year after the establishment of the Colony?”

“A year which will largely consist of handing over your responsibilities and smoothing the transition, not any actual work.”

Shaking my head, I made my way to the console. “One adult beverage, hold the additional nutrients just this once,” I asked before continuing. “And I don’t know where you got the impression that handing over a job isn’t actual work.”

“I fail to see the laborious part of a transition in which you have been training your replacement options for the better part of a decade.”

“Oooo,” I drew out mischievously. “You really are talking to me again. And to what may I attribute this wondrous occasion?”

“I am simply responding to your inquiry and also attempting to report a malfunction within the computers that is preventing new information from being transmitted to the escort fleet.  The time stamps are updating, but the data transmissions are simply reporting data from the last fourteen ship days. It is also transmitting the data out of sequence. It is distressing.”

Surrrre it is, bud. I’d received more impassioned weather reports. Out loud, I assured them “I’ll have Derek take a look. I assume that is why you told me rather than Pranav or Alice?”

A buzzing hum betrayed their coming excuse. “I am not entirely certain that Derek is not the cause.”

I arched a brow at the ceiling and pursed my lips to one side. “It’s not like he’s going to lie about it. He’ll just refuse to fix it.”

“I still request that you belay any inquiry in that direction until I am certain.”  The response was rushed, which told me all I needed to know.

Miys had done it, and humans dinking around in the system were the scapegoat. “In that case, let me know when you’ve finished your investigation, and I will put the appropriate parties on it,” I caged.

“Duly noted. What will you do once you leave the Council?”

I twisted my neck into a very uncomfortable position, purely out of confusion. “I’m…. I’m not sure, Miys.”

“You may call me Noah, Wisdom.” There was a subsonic hum behind the normal buzz of their ‘casual’ tone.

“I’m not sure what I’ll do when I leave the Council, Noah,” I sighed, sitting on the couch again and dropping my head against the back. “I suck at glass blowing, at any constructive portions of agriculture, and my knitting is ugly at best.”

Another hum issued from the ceiling, and my heart twisted in hope for better times. “You show significant proficiency in combat medicine - a disturbing amount for a human with no record of enlistment, radicalism, or training.”

“Eyeah. We’re not going into medicine.”

“Your psychological profile is rather counter indicative. What about your aptitude in cultivating spores?”

I scowled softly. “Leaving food in my fridge entirely longer than is necessary or healthy is not an aptitude.”

My drink spilled down my shirt when I heard Tyche’s voice drily intone “You would be surprised.”

“What the fuck!?” I shouted, brushing droplets off of me. “You called my sister?”

“I apologize, I did not.” A grinding noise I had never noticed before was added to their voice, and I wondered if it was a malfunction or an emotion I hadn’t identified yet. “I am unable to accurately produce the necessary level of emotional tone, and have established that Tyche’s tone is the one you are most responsive to in the regard to that emotion.”

Of fucking course. I rubbed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose. “Hokay. Let’s run this back. You mentioned my proficiency in cultivating spores. I said ‘Leaving food in my fridge entirely longer than necessary or healthy is not an aptitude’.”

“You would be surprised.”

“You want me to learn to grow fungi.” In context and less startled, I blinked several times. “Wait. Waitwait wait.”  Scrabbling, I bolted to set my drink in the console for a refill while I flicked my datapad open and started typing furiously. “Noah, I need you to send me all mycologists on the Ark. If you find them before I do, I’ll buy you dinner.”

“I do not eat Terran food.”

“But you do ingest composted matter, and I can get that. You can do whatever you do while we chat. We’ll have dinner. It works…” I trailed off as my search came up with one biologist with a focus in the topic and three with sub-specialties. “Okay, we do have mycologists…. That’s a good sign.” Granted, it wasn’t very many, but if I went that route I would have someone to show me the ropes.

“Cultivation of spores on hot planets is particularly difficult.”

“We have caves,” I waved off. “Networks and networks of caves. The humidity is excellent in subsurface formations warmed by geothermal springs.”

“If humans do not take up the space.” Was Miys wheedling? That sounded like wheedling.

“Most humans despise humidity unless there is a corresponding amount of airflow,” I assured them. “Else will be fine, I just need to figure out what their preferred diet is these days….”

“Yes, Else.” The confirmation was sharper than I was used to, but I shook my head and continued on with the new challenge.

“AH!” I barked. “Says here that eighty percent of Else’s current configuration subsists on high protein vegetable matter and - capsaicin. Whoops! Sorry about that, Noah.” It did no good to even pretend I was blameless in our resident fledgling species’ love of the spice.  Granted, I was maybe half of half of half of a percent responsible, but still. Culpability.

“Technically, bell peppers contain capsaicin, and I am quite all right with those.”

That made my brows furrow. “Noah, Else loves capsaicin, the higher the concentration the better. Bell peppers aren’t going to cut it.”

“I understand that the podlings prefer much spicier fare,” Noah conceded. “But it does cause me burns.”

Suddenly, their interest in my future vocation seemed a lot less like concern for Else. Very, very carefully, I ventured my next comment. “We have the areas of the Ark dedicated to cultivation of foods that may harm you designated as a biohazard.”

“This is correct.”

“And the bell peppers are not in there,” I pointed out. “They are in the same BioLabs as the lettuces so that they go into the same biowaste containers. Because we know you like them.”

“This is also correct.”

“Is someone growing spicy spice in those labs without our knowledge? In labs other than One and Five?”

“This is not accurate. No, Wisdom, they are not.”

I nodded slowly. “So you are suggesting that we cultivate the produce from BioLabs three, four, seven, and ten in locations on Von as far from the produce from Biolabs One and Five as possible?”

“That would be preferred.”

“And Biolab Six is safe to put near the spicier group?” Six was dedicated to simulated genetic sequencing on Terran livestock that was considered either unkosher or haram.

“Yes, Wisdom.”

I nodded again. “But not Nine.” Nine was the same aquaponics lab that Eino assisted in, the one that smelled like hell and cow farts.

“Certainly not Nine. Data indicates that the crops in Nine would work far better embedded in the crops from Four and Seven, specifically.”

“Hmm.” I raised my brows and stood to get another drink. Four and Seven held crops that were especially prone to rot and required a significant degree of climate control. Which made them a very odd choice to suggest they be grown near the aquaponic crops. Something was going on, that much I knew.  I couldn’t tell if it was help or sabotage. “Well then. A toast. To computer malfunctions, mycology, and… knowing what crops don’t mix well.”

“Indeed.”

I needed someone a bit more familiar with this, for sure. And I knew just where to start.

<<Prev       Masterlist     Next>>

[kamenriderlogik27]

Saber headcanons part 4: Kento past + pre-caliber

-Like Sora, even though his dad was a swordsman, he went to a regular public school up until the day his dad betrayed the SOL. 

- The public school might be where he first met Touma (not sure about this yet since we don’t know who Touma’s parents are nor know his relation to the SOL) 

- If he did end up meeting Touma at school, then their first meeting would have to be on the playground. With Touma preferring to read a book instead of play with the other kids. 

- some of the other boys get annoyed at his lack of interest in joining their game, and they start picking on him. Kento, being his father’s son, detests the site of bullying and comes to Touma’s aid. After chasing away the bullies, Touma invites Kento to read with him to which Kento accepts; the start of a strong bond that transcends time. 

- Even though his dad wanted Kento to follow in his footsteps, Kento’s parents (suggesting that he has a mother) encouraged him to look into other careers such as a policeman, firefighter, soccer player, etc. 

- Because his dad was always away on missions, there would be times where Kento wouldn’t see his dad for moths on end. But his dad always made sure to write him letters of his adventures. 

-  Even though Kento was there the day his father betrayed the SOL and witnessed his father attack kamijou Daichi, he ended up fainting before he could see anything else and woke up two days later in the Northern Base’s clinic due to Ogami finding him and bringing him there. 

- Kento searched everywhere, high and low, for Touma and Luna, and waited at their promised place everyday just in case they came by.   

- After almost a year of waiting and not finding them, he started to believe that they were both dead and instantly blamed himself for his father’s actions. 

- Wanting to at least try and make things right, he started asking Sofia and anyone he could come across in the SOL about anything regarding his father, the betrayal, and what happened that day. 

- After finding out that no one really knew anything, he decided that he had to become a swordsman himself in order to investigate more. 

- He became the current Espada, Shinsen’s, student after begging Sofia to help him become a swordsmen. However, in order for Shinsen to fully accept him, Kento had to prove himself worthy and complete difficult tasks such as running for a specific amount of time, cleaning a very large ballroom, etc. which Kento did without complaint. 

- (according to RiderWiki, Shinsen took Rintaro under his wing after Nagamine died. I found this out a day after writing Rintaro’s headcanons. After reading it, I first thought that oh, maybe Rintaro and Kento really did grow up together then. But that still doesn’t answer why Rintaro seemed to be surprised at his presence in ep 2 and 3 and why he used formal speech when talking about and to Kento as if they didn’t grow up together. After thinking for a good long while, here’s what I came up with.)

- As Shinsen had already taken Rintaro under his wing after Nagamine died, He had trouble figuring out ways of teaching his two students in similar or different fighting styles (as Rintaro was still the successor of Nagare and Blades’s title and thus had to be taught a fighting style fit for the swordsmen of water.). Rintaro, not wanting to burden Shinsen as well as wanting to take more after his master’s fighting style, suggested that he learn Blades’s fighting style through books by himself so that Shinsen could focus on training Kento. 

- Even though Shinsen felt guilty at not being able to properly teach Rintaro what he needed to know, it still worked out perfectly since Shinsen could properly train Kento while Rintaro studied, and then both boys would be able to practice what they learned by sparring.  

- Kento was always super focused on training and bettering his technique, but he was still a kid at heart and wanted friends. however, at the same time, didn’t really believe that he deserved friends. This didn’t stop him from attempting to have friendly conversations with Rintaro during breaks while sparring though. 

- However, due to Rintaro’s personality and habit of taking things too literally, Kento was never able to start up a fun conversation with the water swordsman apprentice that proved to be even slightly similar to the conversations he would have with Touma and Luna. 

- Being as young as he is and having gone through so much pain, I can actually see Kento almost seeing Rintaro as a possible, unintentional replacement for Touma. But because Rintaro has gone through some shit himself and want’s to focus on his own path, he kinda goes against the image of Touma that Kento unintentionally put on him. The frustration Kento gets from this fact builds up so much that it explodes one day.

- That one day happened to be one of the rare days where Shinsen would be teaching the boys a new technique at the same time, since it was a pretty basic swordsman technique that didn’t require any particular style. Unlike most times where Kento would usually wait until a break or after sparring to strike up a conversation, Kento instead started speaking as the boys sparred. At first he talked about things like the weather and what they both had eaten that day (of course with Rintaro not saying much other than “can we please focus?”) then his words slowly got more aggressive to the point where Kento started mocking Rintaro’s lack of character. 

-Rintaro of course, tried his best to ignore Kento and focus on sparring, but when Kento asked “who do you take after, your mom or dad?” he finally felt as if he had to respond. 

- R: “I don’t know...” 

   K: “How can you not know? Don’t you have a family?”

   R: “The SOL is my family.”

    K: “Are you dumb? The SOL is an organization! They can’t be your family! A family AT LEAST has to have a mother and father!” 

- The last sentence Kento said brought Rintaro to tears, so he quickly yells “You don’t know anything!” and runs off back to the base. 

- For the next year, Rintaro refused to participate in anymore lessons and spars with Kento, and would always run the other direction if he so much as saw Kento appear anywhere. Kento did feel really guilty about what he said, especially after Shinsen scolded him and explained Rintaro’s situation and past. That being said, he tried his best to find Rintaro to apologize, only to always watch the boy’s back as he ran away. 

- Somewhat fed up with having to chase the water swordsman apprentice, Kento came up with a plan to have Ren capture Rintaro and tie him up so that he couldn’t escape. He honestly wasn’t expecting his plan to work so well, but because it did, he was finally able to talk to Rintaro and ask for forgiveness. To which, Rintaro gave under the condition that they both work hard to become swordsmen. After this incident, Kento saw Rintaro in a new light. He wasn’t a boy that could possibly fill up the whole Touma and Luna left, instead, he was Rintaro; a fellow apprentice who was really talented and smart. And Kento really admired him for that. 

- The only reason why Kento flew in on his magic carpet in ep 2+3 is because he was on a mission somewhat far away and wanted to see Touma as soon as possible once he was done. 

OR

- Despite being overjoyed that Touma was actually alive AND had been introduced to the SOL/become a Kamen Rider as well, Kento was actually super nervous about meeting him again. He thought about what he would do and what he would say. He wondered how he would ask Touma about Luna, and how he should explain about what happened that day 15 years ago. When Rintaro told him about walking into Touma’s bookstore while riding his blue lion, Kento thought that maybe riding in on his magic carpet might be a good conversation starter if anything got too awkward. 

-He’s literally imagined his and Touma’s reunion hundreds of times after he heard that Touma was alive. He also wanted to ask him questions like “where did you go to school?” “What college degree do you have?” “Did you go on any adventures?(bookwise or real life)” ect. Kento just really wants to know how his friend has been all these years. 

- Kento is actually a neat freak and low-key OCD. He can’t stand being messy and has his own, somewhat professional way of organizing. Though he’d rather let others clean if there’s a way for him to opt out. 

- Kento is very fond of fictional novels, especially if they’re books that he read with Touma and Luna back in the day. However, he has no patience for non-fication, and secretly finds them very boring. His favorite genre of fictional novels would have to be adventure, fantasy and anything with super heroes. However, he does have a secret soft spot for romance (to the point where he has his own ships), and would rather die than admit to this fact.

- Is on the book side of the “Book vs. Movie” argument because he has never actually watched a movie to the end. Whenever he finds time to watch a movie, he ends up being so tired that he falls asleep before the climax. Reading a book at least gives his eyes something to focus on, plus books are like ‘a movie in your head’. 

-Kento kind of gives off a ‘spring’ feel to me, so I think that his favorite scents could be fresh laundry, calm lavender, and a warm spring breeze.

- Doesn’t dog-ear books, thankfully. But he does end up using weird objects as book marks. (i.e. an old receipt, a library card, post-it note, basically anything small, flat and within hands reach.)  

[heraldofzaun]

Hi. We’re doing this again. I’ve already spoken a little bit (well, a great bit) about how old lore Viktor wasn’t a stereotypical evil villain, but I keep seeing this interesting trend crop up - especially in the comments of analyses on Viktor’s character - and so I’m going to write about it. That trend is the fact that people seem completely and utterly convinced that only old Viktor “augmented without consent” or “didn’t respect free will” or similar mad-scientist-adjacent claims. This isn't true. The inverse is true, actually.

What follows is the entirety of Viktor’s old lore (I’m using the first - the second variant is the one that snips out his going to the Institute of War, I’m not trying to pull a trick on you or anything), his lines upon release (which are still technically canonical, even if many people believe them to be outdated - whether that is due to Riot still believing that they’re accurate to his character or, more likely, Riot not caring to replace them, I don’t know), and the accompanying blurb to his release comic. I am also including Jayce’s second lore, the one which Riot wrote after Viktor fans pointed out that Jayce’s original lore was contradictory to Viktor’s character. (Which is mentioned in the post I linked above. TL;DR: Viktor fans made such a fuss that Jayce’s lore got changed to paint Viktor as less of a villain, which again points to the fact that old Viktor wasn’t necessarily perceived as villainous by his fans. Of course, fan perceptions can be wrong - but canon was changed, so...)

This screenshot is missing his pick/ban quotes (“Join the Glorious Evolution.”/”Inferior constructs.” - ban quotes were added after his release, so they recycled one of his attack lines) and the quotes for Chaos Storm (“Obliterate!”/”Consume!”/”True power!”/”Behold!”). This is because it didn’t fit on my computer screen nicely.

This was written alongside Viktor’s teaser comic. (I personally really like the teaser comic, even though I’m concerned about Viktor cutting a hole in his laboratory wall.) It is, technically, non-canon material as it was posted on the now-defunct forums rather than anywhere on the client, but as we’ve seen a recent trend of Rioters Word-of-God’ing facts about canon, I may as well include it. There may be more Word-of-God confirmations on those forums as well, but the backup site that they’re currently hosted on doesn’t allow for searches as the original site didn’t either. You can find this on the “Development” tab of Viktor’s wiki page, if you’re curious.

Is there anything in here, besides “Submit to my designs.” and a few other of his voice lines, which should be taken with the context that they were a) written in 2011 and are thus not the highest examples of character-focused writing and b) written under the context of these being things he is saying to opponents on a battlefield, that says “Viktor augments people who are unwilling”? I don’t see it. He isn’t an angel, sure, because he wrecks Jayce’s lab after the man doesn’t want to work with him, but… He’s mostly alright, at least when it comes to the claims I’m investigating. (Also, note that his acolytes are not specified as being under his control or anything like that - they very well may just be people he’s helped, who don’t want a strange man smashing up the lab they were helped in.)

An interesting side-note: Jayce’s first lore does seem to imply that Viktor murdered people, as he “staged a deadly raid on Jayce’s laboratory”. This is concerning. There’s still somewhat of that implication in the second lore, considering the whole “incinerating the lab’s meager security force” line, but I’ve never seen anyone in fandom over the years use that as evidence for Viktor being a murderer, which is interesting. There’s actual textual evidence you can point to to say that Viktor’s a morally awful dude, and yet no one pointed to it when it was canon...I’ve never seen it cited in any character analyses for Viktor, nor have I ever seen anyone make the point that it’s people that Viktor’s incinerating. Food for thought, I guess. Anyways, my personal take is this: it’s security systems, not people. It doesn’t quite make sense, in-universe, for Viktor to murder a bunch of redshirt security guards but only blast Jayce aside - and leave him with no lasting injuries, obviously. Out-of-universe, you can say that it’s because Jayce is a champion, but still… It really doesn’t fit. Of course, I’m an old lore Viktor fan and this is entirely me trying to justify that he’s not a bad guy, so you can definitely take my words as biased. As we’ll see later, even if you take this as proof that old Viktor’s a killer, it doesn’t mean new Viktor is morally spotless.

Also, if you speak a language other than English and want to kill time, feel free to write in with what Jayce’s old lore says he did if you can find a translation of it. (If you go to the League wiki you can find other language versions of it, and from there you can poke around on Jayce’s page to see if it even has his older lore at all.) The Polish version apparently doesn’t imply people, but the Russian version uses “guards”... or so I think, my knowledge of Russian is pretty small so it was me and Wiktionary against the world. I think that League lore translations, especially from 2011, aren’t exactly the best material for textual evidence, but it’s an interesting curiosity. (I’m genuinely fascinated on how this was never a point of argument, and also to the fact that it was made much more ambiguous in Jayce’s post-outcry lore… but not removed.)

Anyways. Of course, you can take his lines and general character to a logical endpoint and say that it is implied that he doesn’t care much about whether or not people consent to the Glorious Evolution, but at that point you’re arguing interpretation and need to say as such. The cases I’ve seen in which people say that old lore Viktor was lopping people’s limbs off without consent or what-have-you just say that, without citing any textual evidence or saying that it is possibly implied by his character and lines. It’s pretty hard to take those claims seriously when there’s much more textual evidence that current-canon Viktor doesn’t seem too keen on respecting autonomy. Let’s begin with his own lore, which is written to favor his perspective.

Please keep in mind that this Viktor got his start selling automative technology to businesses in Zaun. The Zaun that is full of corrupt chem-barons. But let’s give him the benefit of the doubt and say that he only sold to good businesses. (Also, fascinating that a common complaint about old Viktor is that his status as a pioneer of his field is that he’s “unrealistically accomplished”, and that other people would have figured out the same technology - just as it seems to be the case in current lore, with the Church of the Glorious Evolved existing pre-Viktor (except that it probably didn’t at the time of this lore’s release, as there’s a paragraph later on in his lore that talks about a “quasi-religious cult” that is unnamed but… Who else would it be?) and augmentations being common on the NPCs on the Universe page. Yet someone who’s 19 having their inventions be commonly used in Zaun long enough for the term eventually to be used in reference to the next stage of their life is perfectly acceptable. Anyways…)

What we see from this is clear: even if there is a “good” reason to control the divers, there is no mention of them consenting to the procedure. Considering the previous quotation, Viktor seems to deal more with the bosses than the workers and doesn’t seem to consider the potential job-removing impacts of his work (how many people lost jobs due to being rendered obsolete?), which doesn’t bode well for him caring much about what the workers think. But of course, this aside about dealing with bosses is all interpretation, so you can ignore it if you’d like. There still is, however, actual, textual evidence that new Viktor does not care about consent if he believes his idea is what’s best for you.

Ignoring the writer misusing the term “psychotics” - par for the course in fiction unfortunately - here’s Viktor kidnapping people “for their own good”. Nothing is said in his lore if he’s contracted to do this, or if he’s just Zaun’s version of a Good Samaritan out and about chloroforming people. While I’m not saying that the moral choice is to not intervene, he is drugging people here and performing brain surgery on them. Please note the “in a manner of speaking”. What does that mean? Is it in reference to them having permanent brain damage? Or is it in reference to him being all well-and-ready to transfer their bodies into robots that presumably weren’t designed for them? (Speaking of, if Viktor can transfer the consciousnesses - or at least brains - of people… why is he still in a fleshy mortal body? Yes, it would require a VU to update him to be fully robotic, but none of his written media seems to imply that he’s on his way. His color story has him integrating technology directly into his arm, for example. Why aren’t you getting into the robot, Viktor?)

Anyways, two options here: either the automatons had enough of their former programming to react to Viktor giving a kill command, or the consciousnesses of the people Viktor is “saving” are in these robots and are under his sway enough to commit murder. Either is bad (and negates any moral superiority over old Viktor’s maybe-implied-canonical-murder), but the second is horrifying. And, obviously, non-consensual. (Because the damage is reversing, I don’t believe there’s room for a justification of the second option in which these people are still violent and dangerous.)

Anyways, last bit. It’s pretty bad when your ethics are panned in Zaun, the nation host to rampart corruption and also people like Singed. Let’s now move on to his color story, which is what a lot of fans point to as evidence for new Viktor having a heart or a moral compass.

Yay! Moral win: your cyborg isn’t cutting off the head of a child without his consent. (Also, again, is this proof that Viktor can put brains or consciousnesses in robot bodies? Admittedly, he might be joking since this Viktor is a little softer than he is in his biography.)

Moral… win… your cyborg is augmenting a child… Anyways, joking aside, this is unethical. How’s Naph supposed to consent to something like this? I know that we can’t expect fictional characters in a fantasy setting to abide by modern ethical standards, but I think we can critique them from an out-of-universe context. This is bad. Viktor gives very little context, could very well be lying (he isn’t, hopefully), and sends the kid off with his version of a pat on the back and tells him to come back if he wants more. (The “Oh yes” is also… creepy.) A kid’s decision-making abilities aren’t developed to the extent that they can be reasonably expected to understand or consent to a procedure that removes a pretty crucial emotion. If Naph comes back and wants his fear gone permanently, will Viktor oblige?

Also, fear is something that is very important to survival and judgment calls. Without fear, a kid in Zaun might take dangerous risks that could end up with them dead. I can’t really see how people interpret this as a morally sound decision - Viktor’s pretty much giving mood-altering drugs to a child and telling him to come back if he wants another hit. Just because he got Naph’s okay doesn’t mean that he got informed consent.

Let’s now turn to the black sheep of Viktor content: his Legends of Runeterra lines. There’s two of interest.

Armed Gearhead’s card art is of a man whose only augmentation is his arm, which he says he broke in another line. (I suppose he didn’t want to wait for it to heal?)

Viktor is talking about messing with his head, here, because Armed Gearhead is… too emotive, I’d guess. He is “not yet complete”. A statement which Armed Gearhead seems rather apprehensive about, if you listen to his response.

I know that LoR Viktor is one of the more “comically villainous” depictions of Viktor we’ve seen, so if new Viktor fans would like to ignore his lines I have no issue with that. But these lines certainly seem to imply that what Viktor sees as Armed Gearhead’s end state isn’t necessarily what he sees as his, and should be considered if people want to take them as canonical.

Not necessarily needed, but here’s Jayce’s present lore. One of them is definitely lying - Jayce’s lore says that he doesn’t strike until after Viktor gives the kill order, and Viktor’s says that he gave the kill order in response to Jayce smashing up the lab. Either way, Viktor is ordering automatons (that, in this version, are outright stated to be housing the brains of the people Viktor is trying to keep alive) to kill Jayce. Not a good look.

Viktor’s new lore gives significant textual evidence that he doesn’t care for whether others willingly consent to his ideas, so long as he believes that his ideas are for the greater good. This is in contrast to the vagueness of his original lore, meaning that any individual who speaks about how current Viktor is someone who cares for consent in contrast to the “unethical mad scientist”ness of old Viktor is unfortunately mistaken. I have to imagine that general fandom interpretation, combined with the fact that his bio and color story are very tonally different, have made it so people believe that this version of Viktor is much more ethical than he canonically is.

Interpreting Viktor as sympathetic and actually morally grey is fine, of course! Riot wrote his narrative very poorly when he was updated, which is why I’m still finding bones to pick with it in comparison to his original and more open-to-interpretation lore. The issue is stating that this is canonically the case, which it isn’t, and/or stating that the current iteration of Viktor has the moral high ground over his previous incarnation, which he doesn’t. I think that much more interesting character conversations can happen if people acknowledge that Viktor as he’s currently written is roundly unethical - how can that be improved upon for a more complex character, does that mean that Jayce’s behavior was right, etc. For all my dislike of new Viktor, I’d be genuinely curious to read a take that actively acknowledges his pre-college work in automation and how that affects his standing in Piltover and Zaun. (Is he well-known in industry? What do workers think about him? And so on…) And, well, on a personal note: I think that acknowledging current Viktor’s moral failings would be nice, because it would mean that people would stop using old Viktor as a strawman.

Anyways, I suppose that’s the post. Thank you for reading!

[inkribbon796]

A Diamond in the Rough Ch. 3

Chapter 3: A Gift

Summary: The chapter in which Eric gets some much needed protection and Damien attempts another surprise adoption.

A/N: A story in which Damien and Patton share the same brain cell, and it says to adopt the sad child.

Chapters: 1, 2, 3

Eventually Eric was able to tell a little bit of what had happened. Dark had killed his father in front of him, and he was scared and his hands wouldn’t stop aching and tingling. Randall’s mother came in to help try and calm him down. Patton did pass on the message to the other heroes before going back inside and using his powers to help calm Eric down again. It resulted in him falling asleep from exhaustion.

Logan wound up calling in with information, after looking through several police reports they found out that Eric was the survivor of an accident that killed his brother and that Derek was suspected of working for Dark but the police hadn’t been able to prove it.

Currently the only thing the doctors could prove was that while Eric didn’t have evidence of being stabbed, he had a lot of old and recent bruises. And that was making Patton overprotective and unhappy, wanting to coddle and smother Eric in love but was unable to for a multitude of reasons.

Logan was standing in his outfit, trying to “reason with him” while the two were in the lobby. “We cannot adopt him, he is a teenager and most likely has extended family, he is a witness in a murder investigation.”

“Yeah, but he’s so sad,” Patton smiled and tried to continue to argue his point.

“Marie Curie and her notebook,” Logan groaned. “This is why we don’t let you be around children.”

“Princey wants and sidekick and Silver and Jackie both have one,” Patton gave a huge smile.

“No,” Logan cut in to stomp that out. “No. No! We are not taking on an apprentice. I can barely corral you and Princey, I am not adding a literal child to those complications.”

“Aww, come on, it’d be great,” Patton continued.

“No, I am figuratively putting my foot down,” Logan said and distantly he heard the faint ringing of Dark’s aura and signaled an alarm. “Dark is here, we’ll continue this at a later time.”

The two Sides followed the staticky, ringing aura until they found Dark outside of Eric’s room.

“Halt!” Logan ordered him. “What do you think you’re doing here?”

“A surprise adoption,” Dark’s blue soul answered, not-so-helpfully, despite the heroes not being able to hear him or him being able to talk to them.

“Don’t start!” Dark’s red soul pushed him out of the way.

“That’s none of your business,” Dark managed to say despite the fact his twin souls were fighting with each other, his form splintering and fracturing. Which gave an unintended nefarious air to his words.

“You’re here to kill him aren’t you?” Patton accused.

“Of course not,” Dark told him in a rare moment of honesty. He didn’t want to kill the young Derekson boy; he wanted to add him to what Anti often referred to as Dark’s “hoard”.

Dark’s blue soul was quickly winning out and Dark knew he was losing against the impulse to take the Derekson kid and just run off with him. He was already planning on introducing him to Illinois and Kay first, Bim and Arthur were a bit too high energy for a first introduction.

“You can’t have him, you fiend,” Patton proclaimed loudly and bravely.

“You really are insufferable,” Dark told him.

Silver flew down the other side of the hallway, braced for a fight.

“Why are you looking for a kid?” Silver demanded.

“You should mind your own business,” Dark scoffed.

“Not in the job description,” Silver smiled, pulling up his fists. “Let’s dance, Darkcus.”

Dark scowled at him, looking about ready to literally hiss at him and he jumped at him, his aura curling around him.

“I’ll get him out, you make sure people are safe,” Silver called at the two Sides who were already going towards Eric’s door. Patton rushed in to find Randall’s mother not in the room.

“Where should we move them?” Patton asked as Logan closed the door, the quick entrance and the loud conversation had woken both Randall and Eric up, Eric easily getting disoriented at the unfamiliar scenario.

“No, while he’s still out there it is unsafe for anyone to move,” Logan warned. “I’ve already contacted the hospital staff to help Ms. Voorhees to get up here safely when Dark is removed from the floor.”

“What’s goin’ on here?” Randall demanded groggily.

“No, everything’s fine,” Patton promised, at the same moment that Silver came through the left wall, being thrown through by Dark.

Dark stepped through the hole, looked frustrated and very disgruntled, aura a shrill ringing.

Eric let out a squeak of terror and Randall huddled next to Eric.

“I’m not going to kill him,” Dark straightened his tie. “Killing a child is beneath me.”

“That doesn’t discount the numerous things that could happen to a child under your quote-unquote care,” Logan responded.

Dark let out a long sigh, swiping the fringe of his hair to the side as a quick slew of memories of everything that his Lost Ones had done while they’d been living in the Manor. He waved his hand and a large portal opened up and dropped all of them, along with everything in the room, into a currently unused construction site. One that Marvin was currently not at because he was still at the hospital currently ten miles away.

“There, now that pesky magician isn’t in the way,” Dark growled, cracking his neck in agitation, flattening out the already pristine front of his suit coat. “I really should get around to killing him one of these days.”

Eric looked around wildly, his IV and monitor no longer hooked up and the young teen started to slip into a panic.

Silver was already moving, “I’ve got—”

Dark had already grabbed, his aura had a crushing grip on the monochrome hero’s ankle, tugging him back, “Go away!”

The hero was flung up towards the half finished ceiling and because Silver was super sturdy and already moving quickly a couple pieces of rebar came loose, chunks of concrete still and started tipping over.

For all the adults, things were moving in slow motion and Dark let go of Silver to try and reach out in time with a portal but only half of it fell in and but because of its positioning a piece of concrete broke off from where the rebar hit the portal and fell right on top of the teens.

It hit Randall square on the back, Dark let out a horrified gasp that fortunately for Dark’s reputation — but not his nerves — Patton’s equally horrified gasp was much louder and he was closer to Logan so the other Side didn’t hear Dark.

For the heroes’ sakes, and for Eric’s as well, when it hit Randall it activated a superpower in him and the concret just fell apart like it was made of flimsy plaster. All the heroes just froze, Dark felt a chill of relief come over him and he held a portal over the teens to keep any more debris from falling over on top of them. Randall felt like his whole body was on pins and needles.

His only thought was: “Never before have I been so happy to see superpowers.”

All it looked like to the heroes was that Dark was planning something. Silver flew at him and slammed into Dark as Logan and Patton raced for the two teens, hurrying to. Pull them away from the site as Jackie and Marvin rushed in. They stayed in-between Dark, and Eric and Randall.

Dark snarled at him, “Fine! Pests, the lot of you! I did that boy a favor!”

Then there was a flash of a portal and Dark was gone. All the heroes stayed braced for an attack. When it didn’t come after a couple minutes, Silver and Jackie rushed to take the teens back to the hospital where the staff and Randall’s mother were very anxiously waiting for them.

Without any other physical wounds to treat, and confirmation that Dark was his father’s killer. The police got what scarce information they could.

Then Marvin was left to talk to Eric, and it took a little bit before the very skittish teen warmed up enough to him to even look at him.

Marvin smiled, “Don’t worry, we’re not gonna let anythin’ happen ta yah.”

Eric managed a small, sad smile, trying to hope that maybe they were right.

That maybe, just maybe his luck was finally turning around.

After Eric was deemed healthy enough to leave the heroes decided that for safety’s sake and security they could keep Eric living at the base, he wasn’t the only person living there. He would repeatedly meet with social services and a doctor as a follow up for health and wellness checks until they could find any other family. Randall’s mother offered to take him in if they couldn’t. But it was determined that until Dark stopped hunting for him, he would stay at the base and learn to control his explosive powers.

Silver even offered to help teach Randall to control his super strength, and with very tentative permission from his mother, training dates were set.

Immediately upon bringing Eric to the base, Bing and Logan took one look at the prosthetics he had, then they both looked at each other. Logan’s eyebrow was raised and Bing took off his glasses to take pictures of it.

“Who has been letting the little dude use these?” Bing commented.

“How soon could we procure replacements?” Logan asked.

“Procure nuthin’,” Bing boasted. “I could build better.”

“Maybe others could also be made in the process,” Logan proposed. “The holidays are coming up.”

“I like how yah think,” Bing smiled, putting his sunglasses back on. “Let me just get some measurements from the little dude, yah think he would like some rocket shoes?”

“How about we do not include such modifications?” Logan told him as they went to go and find Eric to get some leg measurements. It would take Bing a week to make some custom prosthetics for Eric. Some nanites embedded into it to help it react to whatever terrain or environments he was in.

Upon receiving them, Eric would burst into tears, almost too afraid to touch them for fear of breaking them but after an impromptu stress test where Bing demonstrated that short of an atomizer he couldn’t possibly break the new prosthetics, Eric took them and put them on.

Eric took some time getting used to his new prosthetics, but found that like his new life he would grow into it quite nicely.

[tsarisfanfiction]

Melt IV

Fandom: Thunderbirds Rating: Teen Genre: Hurt/Comfort/Angst Characters: John Tracy, Scott Tracy, Virgil Tracy, Gordon Tracy, EOS

Part 4 of my entry for @gumnut-logic‘s SensorySunday: Smell. Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

I’d say I’ve got this fic back on track - despite John going off on me at the start of this part - but that would be a lie.  I know where I think it’s going to go from here, but we’ll see if it listens to me.  I’m doubtful.

“Talk to me, Scott. What happened?”

Virgil wasn’t the only one worried.  All John had had was heat readings way past Scott’s suit’s parameters to deal with to tell him what was happening to his older brother as the avalanche had borne down on him and Gordon – who, aside from an increased heartrate and rising temperature in his gloves, had no maladies reaching Thunderbird Five’s sensors. Scott would no doubt be devastated when he found out that John had sacrificed Thunderbird One to the avalanche to shield them; ideally he’d have opened the cargo bay doors and swallowed both brothers up, away from the snow, but there were limitations to remote controlling Thunderbirds from space.  He’d done what he could, and no matter what Scott had to say about it later, John would never regret it.

Lives before machines.  Relegated to listening and watching rescues and his brothers’ recklessness (all four of them, no matter what Virgil might claim about being the responsible one), John had learnt to prioritise.  A Thunderbird could be repaired, or replaced.  A brother could not.

He had no desire to ever be the eldest brother, and if he had to destroy his sole big brother’s Thunderbird to keep that title away from him, then he’d do it as many times as it took. Similarly, he had no desire to end up an only child, nor indeed to have anything less than one older brother and three younger.  John had always had a gift for gaining unauthorised access, but it was with his own Thunderbird that he’d honed that to the art it was now.  His siblings thought he did it to help them with their missions, to take part as best he could.

They weren’t wrong; John was a member of International Rescue just as much as the rest of them.  It just wasn’t the entire reason – or even the main reason, if he was honest to himself. Gaining control of the most innocent of things – a plane door, a train signal – was always to keep his brothers as safe as they could possibly be in this dangerous job their father had left in their hands.

Sometimes, John resented their father for that, in his darkest moods, when there’d been yet another too close moment, when he’d been the sole witness to a brother’s breakdown because the pressure was just too much.  He resented him for leaving them, even if there was really no other way Jeff Tracy could have left the world – with a bang, saving lives.

That end awaited them, one day.  One day, all together or one by one, they wouldn’t come home from a rescue and the world would mourn a hero, forgetting that heroes had families, too. Up in space, in a constant state of danger as opposed to the ever-fluctuating levels his brothers threw themselves into, John didn’t know if he’d be the first or last to follow their parents.  He suspected the latter, because that was all he could ever do, wasn’t it?  Watch, and be useless when he most wanted to be able to do something.

He hadn’t been useless today.  He’d had Thunderbird One at his disposal, and both his brothers were alive.  It was just another day of too close, bringing back to the fore the ever-lurking fear that one day too close would become too late.

EOS was taking Thunderbird Two to the nearest hospital with a burn specialist unit.  Not New Zealand – for all that was their usual hospital, the local one they liked to use whenever they had a choice, there were other, better hospitals closer, and John was worried.

“The HeliPod exploded,” Scott rasped at him.  He looked awful, and John didn’t bother trying to convince himself that it was just the hologram’s blue tinge making him seem pale.  Enough of his big brother was being projected into his Thunderbird that he could see where his mangled uniform had been cut off, stuck to burns that should never had happened.  “Some of it landed on me.  Gordon tried- Gordon!  John, how is Gordon?”

Typical Scott.

“Gordon is fine.”  He knew for a fact that Scott had already been told that.  Several times.

“Has he woken up?”

“We’re talking about what happened,” John reminded him.  Gordon had woken up.  In fact, he’d been awake since Virgil had put him in the cargo pod, but all three brothers had unanimously decided that Scott was a higher priority.  If Scott was thinking properly, he’d have known that Virgil would not leave an unconscious patient alone for that long (as much as John hated it, as long as he was only there via hologram he didn’t count), but he wasn’t and all three of them had unashamedly preyed on his concern about Gordon to get him to co-operate.

Cruel?  Probably, but Scott had long since proven that the only way to get him to even vaguely co-operate with medical care was manipulation. They’d deal with Storm Scott later when he figured it out.

“Give me an update on Gordon, Thunderbird Five.”

Of course, the downside was that Scott had a single-track mind regarding their younger brother and getting him to focus on anything else would be an absolute nightmare.  Right now, John was rather concerned about an ‘exploding’ HeliPod, considering nothing Brains ever built and approved for use would explode unintentionally, and would appreciate more details.

Besides, Scott had suffered through the first stage of treatment.

“He has a broken leg and a broken wrist, but both breaks are clean,” John assured him.  “His suit protected him from the cold so there’s minimal concern regarding hypothermia.  His fingers have some first degree burns, but nothing of concern.  And yes, he has regained consciousness.”  Scott visibly relaxed, and John kept a close eye on him for an escape attempt even as a hurriedly typed message to Virgil informed him of the update to Scott’s knowledge. A moment later a text reply arrived.

Almost done w G.

“Now, what was that about the HeliPod exploding?” he asked Scott.  “That shouldn’t happen.”

“I don’t know,” his brother groaned.  “Gordon took us around the peak, and then it fireballed.”  No, John did not like the sound of that.

He immediately pulled up all the scans of the area, looking for anything that could have possibly caused a malfunction of that level.  Nothing immediately showed itself, but John was nothing if not persistent.

Especially when his brothers were involved.

“Thunderbird Two will be arriving shortly,” EOS chipped in, just as Virgil left the pod and headed back to Scott’s side.

“Thank you, EOS,” his brother said.  “Scott, this is your stop.”

“What?”  Scott sounded horrified at the idea, and John watched Virgil jump forwards to lightly hold him down, securing the straps enough to stop any successful escape attempts from their injured brother.  “What do you mean, my stop?”

“Exactly what I said,” Virgil said matter-of-factly.  “You might be conscious, but you’re still seriously injured beyond anything we can handle at base.”

“This hospital has a specialist burn unit,” John interjected, before Scott could start arguing back. It didn’t pacify their older brother at all, but there was nothing he could do about it as Thunderbird Two landed and Scott found himself being pushed out to the waiting paramedics. Virgil ushered the climbers out as well, to thanks and more apologies.

“We’re not leaving Scott there alone, are we?” Gordon asked him and he turned to his younger brother’s hologram.  Of all of them, Gordon knew best what it was like to be alone in a hospital, and always made a point of ensuring none of the rest of them were alone for long.  The only thing stopping him this time was his own injuries, none of which were severe enough to justify taking up hospital space when they could treat them just fine at home.

“Kayo’s on her way with Grandma,” he informed him.  Their sister was furious at what little information he’d already streamed her way, and it had taken some stern words from Grandma to get her to agree to go to the hospital instead of heading for the crash site to investigate.  “Scott won’t be alone.”  Gordon sighed but seemed pacified enough for the moment.

There was no cameras John could legally use in the hospital, but when it came to his brothers, John wasn’t overly concerned about legality.  It took barely a minute to get into the security system, tracking Scott’s journey and watching as he was taken straight to the burn ward.  There was no sound, but he could see Virgil debriefing one of the physicians before heading back to Thunderbird Two.

There was nothing more John could do for his brothers; EOS kept the feed from the hospital up in the corner, always showing whichever camera was currently focused on his brother, but John had better things to do than sit and watch helplessly as they began work on Scott’s injuries, although he couldn’t help glancing over periodically to see high-grade anaesthetic being administered before treatment began.

Thunderbird Shadow was quick to appear, landing next to Thunderbird Two.  John watched as hugs were exchanged, Grandma briefly entering the module to hug Gordon, and then the two women were heading inside.  He directed them to the relevant ward personally, rather than letting the well-meaning staff waylay them, then watched Thunderbird Two take off for home.

Satisfied for now that his brothers were in good hands, and allowing Gordon to patch himself through to a by now agitated Alan – who had been largely kept out of the loop and therefore getting more and more frustrated ever since Thunderbird Shadow had taken off – he turned his attention to the biggest concern of the day.

He needed to talk to Brains.

Part 5

[sylvanfreckles]

Buried Alive (FebuWhump 09)

Fandom: Supernatural Summary: Like being buried alive in the core of the sun      When Castiel is captured and tortured by Raphael, Balthazar enlists Sam and Dean’s help for a daring rescue.

(Set in season 6, before the boys get zapped to the “real world”. Loosely based off of/inspired by this and this. You don’t have to read either of them, but they’re out there. You can also read this one on AO3, if you prefer.)

(I always feel like I hype these things up too far and they end up disappointing. Oh well.)

* * *

Sam looked up when Dean slammed the book shut with a curse. “Nothing?”

“Oh, there was Alpha lore all right,” Dean retorted. “Alpha Incubus. Thought to be the source of all sexual deviation and a bunch of weird cult stuff, but it's probably all garbage. Read more like some sicko fanfiction if you ask me.”

“You...know what fanfiction is?” Sam raised his eyebrows.

Dean just snorted and tugged another book off the pile. “Don't even go there, Sammy.”

Sam bit back his grin and turned back his own book. Bobby had dug up everything he could think of that might even reference the Alpha monsters, and was currently on his way to one of Rufus's old drop sites to check for more.

Which left them between cases trying to find out more about what Samuel and Crowley could possibly have been up to.

Dean restlessly pushed the book away and Sam was about to suggest a break when a gust of wind blew through the room and ruffled half the pages off the table.

“Dammit, Cas,” Dean began, twisting in his seat.

“Oh, shut up, Dean.”

It wasn't Cas, it was Balthazar. He looked winded, maybe even a little exhausted, but he rubbed his hands together as he studied the brothers. “Good. You're both here.”

Sam opened his mouth to ask what the blond angel meant, but before he could even get a word out Balthazar had a hand on both their shoulders and the world was sliding away from them. Bobby's kitchen disappeared to be replaced by a large, dark space with a hint of vaulted ceilings, then the florescent brightness of a bowling alley, then a dozen other places before he finally released their shoulders and the stumbled onto their knees in what appeared to be a warehouse basement.

“What the hell!” Dean pushed himself up, then immediately grabbed at the nearest wall for support. No doubt his head was spinning as much as Sam's, and the younger Winchester decided to stay where he was until he got his bearings.

Balthazar, looking even more disheveled now, held up a hand for silence and peered around in the darkness. “I think this was far enough...Phineas?”

“Abigail's laying the second trail,” a tall, redheaded young man, face speckled with freckles, emerged from the darkness around them. “I think they followed you as far as Budapest, but you threw them off at the ruins.”

“Good,” Balthazar clapped his hands together. “Now...yes, darling, you may speak,” he interrupted his own sentence to stare at Sam, who had just started to form a question.

“I just...what's going on?” Sam asked.

“And where the hell are we?” Dean added.

“Where doesn't matter,” Balthazar waved a hand dismissively. “As for what...I need your help.”

Dean let out a snort. He was finally standing up straight, though it looked like he could go back down at any moment. “For what?”

“Cassie's missing.”

Sam went cold. Everything else—the irritation at being pulled away from their work so quickly, the nausea from the journey, his underlying mistrust of Balthazar—all of it faded away at the angel's words.

“What do you mean missing?” Dean managed to ask. Sam pushed himself up to his feet and stood beside his brother, facing off against Balthazar and Phineas.

“Raphael's taken him,” the blond angel explained. “We don't have a lot of time—Dean, I need your blood.”

Dean took a step back, very nearly wrapping his arms around his chest. “Why?”

“Don't be an idiot,” Balthazar rolled his eyes. He made a gesture and a small vial appeared in his hand. “Profound Bond? The kind of thing that leaves a mark?”

His older brother's hand automatically went up to his right shoulder. “It's gone,” he replied, a little confusedly. “Cas, he...he healed that a long time ago.”

“Not that, the mark on your soul. That kind of touch leaves a connection between the two of you, something more than physical. Your blood can help me get to Cassie.”

Dean nodded and tugged his knife free. Balthazar rolled his eyes. “Don't be absurd,” he taunted and grabbed Dean's wrist with his free hand. The older Winchester stumbled a bit at the contact, but to Sam's surprise the vial slowly filled up with dark red blood.

There was another rustle of air from somewhere in the darkness and Balthazar nodded in approval as he tucked the vial away in an inner pocket of his coat. “Now. The two of you need to go with Phineas and Abigail and cause distractions. Big ones. Big enough to pull Uncle Raffy and his minions away.”

“Hang on, no, we're going with you,” Dean protested.

“Out of the question,” Balthazar shook his head. “I need to do this alone.”

“That's insane,” Sam said. “What if all of Raphael's forces don't respond to the distractions?”

“That's why you're going to make a lot of distractions.”

“But what if they don't? What about guards or, or the rest of his army?” Sam raked a hand through his hair, shaking his bangs back out of his eyes. “You can't rescue him alone, Balthazar, that's crazy.”

Balthazar actually laughed at that. “My stupid little monkey, who said anything about rescuing? I'm going to steal him back.”

* * *

Despite his bravado, Balthazar was under no illusions that this was even a good plan. Yes, if Phineas and Abigail—two of the fastest from his garrison back in the old days—could string together enough mischief to empty the barracks here, he had a shot. And, if he was right about the spell holding Castiel, he should have the proper counter-spell to break it.

His stomach twisted as his wings shuddered at the memory of that spell. Once upon a time it had been a flail, wielded by the hands of angels like Zachariah to “correct” the behavior of angels like Balthazar. Back in those days, when Zachariah had controlled the ranks through fear and awe and to stand against him was to invite some of the most terrible punishments of Heaven.

Balthazar had stood against him once. So had Castiel. So had so many others that had chosen to throw themselves into battle rather than face the Flail of the Accuser. Michael had ordered the flail melted down, and Zachariah had had it formed into five rings. Each one capable of causing great pain and destruction.

Those rings had been his goal when he plundered the armory of Heaven. He'd taken other weapons, of course, so that with so much stolen no one would suspect he'd actually just been after Zachariah's pride and joy.

And then Dean Winchester stabbed Zachariah in the face. Maybe he hadn't given the boy enough credit.

True to their (less than creative) nature, Raphael had set up his little torture headquarters in an old factory in the middle of nowhere. Much like the beautiful room where Zachariah had always done his business, this place looked like nothing more than an abandoned building from the outside. Inside, Balthazar knew, would be a cavernous space with layers upon layers of spell circles etched into the floor of walls, all to contain the prison in the middle of the room.

He crouched against the base of a tree a dozen or so yards away from the factory. He and Abigail had carved runes into the tree, beneath the bark, that should make him undetectable but...well, it hadn't gone so well when he'd come here for reconnaissance. Balthazar had gotten a rough guess on how many soldiers Raphael had stationed here before he'd had to take flight.

Ready, brother. Phineas's voice was grim and determined, and Balthazar caught the slightest hint of the large summoning circle he and the younger Winchester had painted in an empty stretch of highway somewhere in Iceland before a burst of pressure from the factory indicated three angels on their way to investigate.

There was a brush in his mind of Abigail's voice, alive with the scent of broken marble as she and Dean shattered a monument to the archangels in an old catholic church. Balthazar waited as two more angels were dispatched to investigate.

He watched the factory as he listened to the others carry out their part of the plan. Phineas was impressed by the younger Winchester's methodical dedication to their distraction...Abigail giggled and passed on every vile name Dean was calling Raphael. The number of angels responding to the others' actions began to dwindle, until they were being sent out one at a time. Then there were none. Balthazar waited another agonizing few minutes, as Sam stole the rosary from a priest's tomb and Dean taught Abigail how to make crop circles, and finally spoke to Phineas to start the final stage of the plan.

They would summon Raphael himself.

There was no telling if the archangel was here on earth or in Heaven, and the summoning spell Balthazar had found wouldn't work either way. But after nearly half an hour of emptying his own barracks to investigate the heresies being committed all over the world, Raphael wouldn't be able to resist going after whatever puny little being dared to summon him.

Nothing happened for a few moments. Then an awful, world-bending pressure erupted from the factory in front of him. Balthazar felt himself thrown flat as the archangel Raphael, his fury an almost tangible force, streamed up and into the ether to chase down those who dared to summon him.

Balthazar was back on his feet in a moment, darting inside the factory with barely a rustle from his wings.

It was exactly as he'd expected—large open space, overlapping spell rings, prison in the center. It didn't look like a prison, but so many things in Heaven were deceiving. It seemed to be a column of golden light, and the surface of the column shifted as though it were made of scales.

Light was part of the essence of an angel. Light shouldn't have been a punishment, but that was the horror of the Rings of the Accuser. To have light itself turned against you, burning you, enveloping you. It was like being buried alive in the core of the sun.

There was no time for finesse. Balthazar pulled out the vial of Dean's blood and dribbled a few drops on the first spell circle he reached. The incantation was swift and rolled off his tongue easily—it was a magic often overlooked, but the blood of a mortal bound to a celestial being could shatter the strongest chains. Even if they chose to view that bond as merely brotherly (though, really, who were they kidding), it was still strong enough to break through a prison like this.

He moved on quickly. There wasn't enough time, and this was his only chance at this. If Raphael or one of his minions caught him, Castiel could be taken up to Heaven or sent to the depths of Hell.

Soon there was nothing but the column in the center left. Balthazar flicked out a hand to summon his angel blade and trickled the last of Dean's blood along the weapon's edge. There was a stirring in the air around him, a sense of incoming pressure. He was out of time.

Balthazar lunged up and pierced the side of the column with his blade. The scales sparked and shattered as he hauled down, bracing himself with his own wings as the bloodied blade snapped right through the facets of the binding spell.

The column's light dimmed, then vanished altogether, and Castiel tumbled free of his prison and right into Balthazar's waiting arms.

“Hey! Stop him!”

No time. Balthazar flapped his wings and pulled them out of the factory and to another place. Then another. Then another. Landmarks and buildings rolled by at dizzying speeds as he crisscrossed the world, then he was back in that musty basement where he'd brought the Winchesters.

“They're right behind me,” he gasped. Phineas nodded, his face tight and anxious.

“Balthazar...” the younger angel hesitated. This was the part of the plan no one had liked. They had to lead Raphael's minions, to keep Castiel safe, and the only way to do that was to set a different trail.

“He'll understand,” Balthazar gently shifted Castiel until the dark-haired angel was lying mostly against his shoulder. They'd stripped him of everything but his shirt and trousers, and his vessel showed signs of rough treatment. His true form, however...Balthazar could have retched.

The eyes, the wings, the fantastic, eldritch features of his brother's true form had been beaten and burned and torn. It reminded Balthazar too much of the young angel, the flail that had damaged him so badly the healers spoke of nothing but a mercy kill...and the bright, blue-eyed brother who had carried him and protected him and poured his own essence into healing every wound until he was good as new.

“He'll understand,” Balthazar repeated. “It's all right.”

Phineas swallowed and nodded, then his hand phased half into the etherial plane to grab a handful of Castiel's feathers.

Cassie bucked against the pain, twisting further into Balthazar's arms to bury his face in the other angel's shoulder. “It's all right,” Balthazar said again, both to the traumatized brother in his arms and the stricken one before him. “Go, Phineas.”

Before the rustle of the younger angel's wings had faded, Balthazar was already pulling a slip of paper out of his pocket. “You, the tall one.”

Sam Winchester made a face—though he tried not to, which was very considerate of him since they might all be dead anyway—warily approached. “What do you need?”

“Finish these sigils, I've already started them. Use your blood.”

The shorter, angrier brother wandered over. “Just his blood?”

“He reeks of sulfur,” Balthazar explained. At the startled look on both boys' faces he shrugged. “No offense. Happens when you spend time downstairs. The scent will convince anyone looking for us that this is just a demon's lair.”

Sam nodded and took the paper, pulling his own knife out to start the work. Dean hesitated, staring down at Balthazar for a moment, then retreated to a corner of the basement where the angels had stockpiled human supplies in case they needed to stay here for a few days.

Balthazar gently lowered himself to the ground and rearranged Castiel so that he was cradling the other angel more or less in his lap. There was no telling what kind of damage had been done by his time in that blasted column. Angels had lost their minds after torture like that, or been left with their true forms crippled.

He tried not to think about that. He let his grace gently brush over his brother's form and wrapped his etherial wings around him. In their true forms angels could meld with each other for healing or comfort...stuck in these limited little vessels the best he could do was brush the hair out of Castiel's face and assure him that he was safe.

“Is he okay?” Dean asked. He'd come back across the room with a blanket, obviously noticing Castiel's near nakedness (yes, it was a shirt and trousers, but considering his brother usually wore about seven other layers this was practically immodest for him).

“What do you think?” Balthazar gave the older Winchester a flat look. “Raphael can adjust the flow of time. Cassie might have been tortured over centuries or millennia. I didn't even know he was gone until last week. I thought he was with you.”

Dean hunkered down into a crouch, resting the backs of his fingers against Cassie's pale cheek. “We haven't seen him in a while. Wish he'd check in more often.”

Balthazar let out a cold laugh at that. “He's been a little busy losing a civil war against a power you can't even hope to imagine.”

The human had the grace to flinch at Balthazar's tone. “What happens now?”

“We wait.” Balthazar finally accepted the blanket and let Dean help him wrap it around Cassie's unconscious form. Dean stared at him for a moment, jaw working as though he wanted to say something, then pushed himself back up to his feet to wander over to help Sam with the sigil work.

Balthazar leaned over the form in his arms, brows knitting together in a frown when he realized Castiel was trembling. “Come back to me, Cassie,” he murmured. “It's my turn to carry you.”

* * *

There's a part two to this story, it's for the "Torture" prompt so it's a few days away. We'll get more of the story from Castiel's point of view, and see more of the recovery too.

I have over a dozen WIPs sitting in my laptop, but there's one with the working title "The Light of Attrition" that actually tells the full story of this, including the backstory with Castiel and Balthazar in heaven. It's on the list, so maybe someday I'll be able to finish it.