#also the alternate title for this was 'an end to corruption'

[woodsplinter]

An untimely demise

[fanfic-obsessed]

Failing to Thrive then Thriving in failure

I just had the funniest notion. Time travel comedy, but the twist is that Palpatine is the one to go back in time. 

So we start just after Kenobi, Palpatine has been emperor for about a decade, he succeeded. The Sith plan is complete, he has everything he had dreamed of and worked toward for a decade…and he is so bored. He never realized that 90% of his joy actually came from pretending to be a benevolent Chancellor and the intrigue of fooling people.  Now he has shown his true colors and could not go back to pretending (it simply would not work). Being the Sith in charge is not as fun as he thought it would be. Even getting to openly torture people has lost its appeal after 10 years.

It’s ok for Vader. For one Vader was never interested in those intrigues in the first place. For two 45% of Vader brain is taken up by trying to resurrect Padme Amidala, 50% is taken up by Obi Wan Kenobi (Palpatine is not sure if Vader wants to kill Kenobi, Kriff Kenobi, make Kenobi tuck Vader in every night and tell him is it going to be alright, Force Kenobi to help Vader resurrected Padme, or make sure Kenobi is eating, taking care of himself, and has a good enough blanket), leaving only 5% for everything else.  

Frankly if this is what Kenobi had to deal with before the war, Palpatine is somewhat impressed he got anything done.

Vader isn’t bored. Palpatine’s assorted lesser minions are not bored, they are living the dream of being as bigoted as their little fascist hearts desire. But Palpatine just could not find joy any longer. 

I do want it clear. Palpatine is not repentant. He does not regret the deaths that he caused, the genocide, the enslavement, any of it. He’s just bored. 

One day Palpatine finds a book, or maybe an artifact, or possibly a scrap of paper with an archaic formula. The title roughly translates to ‘Sith Master Time Travel’ (Listen The Son was also very bored, and being outside of Space Time meant He wanted to see what would happen). Palpatine is able to time travel, but only as far back as when he became a Sith Master. It was also a one time deal, he would not be able to use the method again AND it would destroy his origin timeline (not that that actually factored into Palpatine’s decision at all).  Not to mention he would essentially be possessing and killing his previous, alternate timeline self. 

Of course Palpatine time travels. He goes all the way back to the moment he became the Sith Master (it turns out the Sith titles are not just titles), looking at the still warm corpse of Hugo Damask, just as the Naboo crisis is wrapping up. 

Now Palpatine had already decided to do some things differently.  At first he was still working outward the Grand Sith Plan, if trying to keep his ‘Kindly Politician’ mask a bit longer, however he has decided that instead of Vader (or possibly in addition to Vader, if things get boring again) he will get Obi Wan Kenobi as his apprentice, figuring that there must have been a reason that every Sith Apprentice for 20 years ends up obsessed with the man (also because he thinks it would be funny to corrupt the Jedi’s ‘Guiding Light’). Dooku and all the pieces needed to start the Clone wars are already mostly in place. It is just a matter of maintaining until the clones are the right age.  So he does what he needs to to maintain the Empire building plans and decides to focus on corrupting Obi Wan. 

He fails, utterly. He fails so fully that Obi Wan did not even notice his attempts at corruption. Like he knew it would take time to corrupt a Jedi, he had done before after all, but he still expected at least a little change within the first year. There was nothing. 

And it was not a case of Obi Wan not trusting Palpatine. This is still a decade before the war. Obi Wan is a grieving, freshly knighted,  trying to keep up with a nine year old with somewhat unique trauma. Palpatine knows how to get Obi Wan to feel comfortable and trust him (Palpatine probably knows too well how to get Obi wan to feel comfortable and trust him, between Dooku and Vader). Obi Wan is just, for a given value, incorruptible. 

Now Palpatine’s obsession switch has been flipped. He went into it thinking that corrupting Obi Wan would be a fun side project, a way to pass the time.  He was wrong.  He knows from the previous timeline that torture would not be effective (Listen if the torture mask specifically built to corrupt lightsiders did not make a dent after a month it is pretty well proven that torture will not cause Kenobi to fall, Palpatine knows this) nor would killing Kenobi’s loved work (again, if it didn’t last time we have some pretty concrete proof). 

So now we have Palpatine trying every method he can think of to seduce Kenobi the darkside, always just shy of admitting to being a Sith or being creepy. To the point that he has actually forgotten the Empire building he was doing. He kind of even forgets to be Sidious.  He almost ghosts Dooku, before he remembers that Dooku is Kenobi’s grandfather(that is not the correct term, Dooku tries to correct Palpatine an even dozen times before giving up) and gets Dooku involved in the corruption that is STILL. GOING. NOWHERE.

Dooku basically becomes Grandpa Dooku to both Obi Wan and Anakin, and falls back into the Light while trying unsuccessfully to corrupt Obi Wan to the Dark. Due to darkside vow complications (also because I think it would be really funny) Dooku is not able to say, imply, or otherwise do anything to make the Jedi suspicious that Palaptine is a Sith. Also, to a certain extent he thinks that as long as Palpatine is focused on corrupting his incorruptible grandson, the other Sith is not thinking about galactic domination (To be fair he is correct).  

Palpatine spends most of his time trying to corrupt Obi Wan, while keeping up the act used to maintain Obi Wan’s trust. The thing is Palpatine is fully aware that Anakin in the original timeline was about observant as a particularly dense brick wall and would not have realized that the persona of ‘My friend Palaptine’ did not match the reality of ‘My pal Friendpatine’. Obi Wan would realize if his act was not consistent. 

So Palpatine decided to keep the act up 24/7.  And everyone knows that your actions become your habits become your personality. 

Somewhere in year 8 Palpatine forgets how to Sith. 

Technically he is still a darksider but not the extra layer of fucked up that comes from being an actual Sith. And he still has not even made a dent in Obi Wan’s light. He has also, almost single handedly, derailed the war that had been brewing and fixed about 40% of the corruption in the Senate.  All without killing a single senator.

Palpatine spends most of his time very confused. 

Palpatine lets his term as Chancellor end, having gone down in history as one of the most beloved Chancellors in history.  The Clones are found and mostly are inducted as an arm of the Jedi Order. Jango Fett is given a metric ton of therapy, which helps him see that the Jedi were not actually at fault for Galidraan (Jango had, in fact, been the person to escalate things to violence) before he is allowed to take Boba back into the galaxy. By that point the Clones want little to do with him. 

For the rest of his life Palpatine tries, unsuccessfully, to corrupt Obi Wan (who never noticed). At this point he is genuinely friends with a number of Jedi (He and Mace Windu have a surprising amount in common, including a love of the theater and a mild exasperation for Anakin Skywalker's antics). He is an honored guest at both the CodyWan and the Anidala Weddings (including a Jedi based wedding ceremony).

Honestly he is having the most fun of his life. 

He is also never caught as a darksider. He never figures out how that is possible either.

[stumpyjoepete]

Thinking a bit more about Megalopolis (see prev post). It's not really the case that the script is as disjointed or schizophrenic as my post makes it out to be. The central plot is pretty simple: an egotistical city planner has an ambitious and futuristic vision for redeveloping the city, and he butts heads with the Mayor and others who oppose him in this. He ultimately succeeds in building his utopian "megalopolis". Everyone is happy, the end.

And yet.

There's this... intense centrifugal force that prevents everything from cohering into a unified whole. It's like a puzzle where all the pieces are cut from the same picture, but upon closer inspection, no two pieces quite fit together. Or like that collection of nonsensical objects. A fork where the tines and the handle are connected by a chain. A watering can with the spout facing the wrong way. A quick glance leaves you confused, and that confusion is only deepened by further contemplation.

I think this is especially clear in the pseudo-intellectualism of the title cards, narration, monologues, and quotations/references:

Laurence Fishburne does this heavy-handed narration at the beginning and end of the movie (and several random points in between). And there are these associated title cards that look like they were made by applying an "Ancient Rome" theme to some PowerPoint slides. "Or will we too fall victim, like old Rome, to the insatiable appetite for power of a few men?" My brother in Christ, you are making a movie where the hero is named Cesar, and the happy ending is when he successfully pulls a Robert Moses. This is not a story about power corrupting or good intentions going awry. What are you doing???

Cesar Catilina interrupts Mayor Cicero's speech (where he is introducing a plan to build a casino) in order to lay out an early plan for "megalopolis", which is an ambitious and long-term alternative to the (short-term) casino plan. He prefaces his megalopolis pitch by reciting the Hamlet soliloquy. What exactly does Coppola think "To Be Or Not To Be" is about? He must thinks it means, "I am a dark and brooding bad-boy intellectual", since it's hard to see how "I'd like to kill myself, but I fear death" fits into an argument about the importance of long-term thinking in urban planning.

Cesar says several negative things about "civilization". "[Imagine] humanity as an old tree with one misguided branch called civilization... going nowhere." (Shot of notebook shows an illustration with 'war' and 'cruelty' offshoots from said branch.) "Emerson said the end of the human race will be that we'll eventually die of civilization." (Note: unsourced, probably fake quote.) "Civilization itself remains the great enemy of mankind." Umm... you're an urban planner! You're doing a high modernism. What exactly does it mean for you to call civilization the enemy? Is "megalopolis" somehow anti-civilization because it looks like a Georgia O'Keefe painting instead of a bunch of straight lines and right angles? Will the "war" and "cruelty" branches wither and die when buildings have labia?

Also, there's this amazing line read that completely inverts the meaning of a fake Marcus Aurelius quote (the quote was attributed to him by Tolstoy but is not actually something he said). "The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape... finding yourself in the ranks of the insane." Why did you put in that pause??? Fake Marcus Aurelius is turning in his grave! You're supposed to be fleeing FROM the ranks of the insane! I suppose this isn't really inconsistent with the characterization of Cesar, it's just such a fucking batshit thing to say.

All of the cargo-cult intellectualism listed above could perhaps be excused if the vision that the film is supposedly about had any content whatsoever. Or, alternatively, if the movie was about something more substantive, and the vacuous megalopolis vision took place off-screen in an epilogue, like the "happily ever after" of a children's story. But no! The movie repeatedly interrupts the plot to grab you by the shoulders and scream in your face: "I have a vision! For the future!". And then--now that it has your undivided attention--it shits the bed like a man who has just polished off an entire bag of sugar-free gummy bears and washed them down with a fistful of Ambien:

"Conversation isn't enough. It's the questions that lead it to the next step. But initially, you have to have a conversation. The city itself is immaterial, but they're talking about it for the first time. And it's not just about us talking about it. It's the need to talk about it. It's as urgent to us as air and water."

"Mr. Catalina, you said that as we jump into the future, we should do so unafraid. But what if when we do jump into the future, there is something to be afraid of?" "Well, there's nothing to be afraid of if you love, or have loved. It's an unstoppable force. It's unbreakable. It has no limits. It's within us. It's around us. And it's stretched throughout time. It's nothing you can touch. Yet it guides every decision that we make. But we do have the obligation to each other to ask questions of one another. What can we do? Is this society, is this way we're living, the only one that's available to us? And when we ask these questions, when there's a dialogue about them, that basically is a utopia."

After the revolution, we won't have conflicts anymore; we'll have dialogue instead. We won't have a need for the "jobs" and "sanitation" of "now"; we'll have the "imperishable" "dreams" of "forever". We won't have problems that need solving; we'll all be too busy asking each other questions. Now, if everyone could just shut up and get the hell out of the way and let Cesar implement his vision, then "everyone" will soon be "creating together, learning together, perfecting body and mind." A chorus of children's voices gradually morphing into Laurence Fishburne's, chanting, "One Earth, indivisible, with long life, education and justice for all." It's eschatological anti-politics made entirely from cotton candy. Please, for the love of God, stop making Adam Driver monologue at me! Let's get back to Aubrey Plaza stepping on horny fascist Shia LaBeouf!

The incoherence of Megalopolis's vision is compounded by how anachronistic its depiction of our fallen world is. There are some half-hearted (and ham-fisted) gestures in the Clodio sub-plot towards the dangers of Trumpian populism, but the script was first written in the 80's, and it's extremely obvious that Coppola is writing about New York City in the preceding several decades. The city's finances are in dire straights. (There's literally a "Ford Tells City: Drop Dead" reference!) The city is full of slums, the streets are full of crime, and the elites are all decadent. (For Coppola, decadence means that ladies are doing cocaine and smooching each other in the cluh-ub.) The main character is Neo-Roman Robert Moses, and the conflict of the film is about urban renewal. In case you, like Mr. Coppola, have not been made aware, slum clearance is not a major political issue in 2020's Manhattan.

Two thirds of the way through the movie, a falling Soviet satellite provides a deus ex machina, blowing up the financial district and clearing space for megalopolis to take its place. Ironically, a previous attempt to produce the film came to its abrupt end when two planes flew into some buildings in the financial district. Perhaps you heard about it. The financial backers of the film at the time considered Megalopolis's plot a bit too close to current events for comfort and withdrew their support.

But Coppola's depiction of Manhattan was already decades out of date by then. Moses stepped down in '60. Jacobs' book railing against urban renewal came out in '61. The Power Broker came out in '74. One presumes popular opinion of Robert Moses soured in the following years. The crisis of the city's finances that peaked in '75 was over by '81 when NYC balanced its budget and reentered the bond market. The crime wave of the 70's and 80's had receded by the year 2000. The demand for housing in NYC proper is as high as it ever has been, and it's only getting higher. Megalopolis imagines America as an incoherent mishmash of several decades of mid-century NYC, dressed up in the toga of the late Roman Republic, calling out for (Robert) Moses to part the slums and take us into a promised land that is literally beyond any description, and whose only concrete feature seems to be glowing people-movers.

A Robert Moses with the power to stop time, at that!

Oh, did I forget to mention that part? Cesar discovers he has the power to stop time in the opening scene of the film. I forgot because it's literally irrelevant to the plot. Time stops a few times, and then it starts back up again, and the events of the film just plod inexorably forward. For a movie as temporally dislocated as Metropolis, perhaps that's just as well.

[six-paths-of-jeanmarco]

Alternative title: Why Mace Windu was right about everything and could have ended the Sith and their 1000 yrs old scheme in Revenge of the Sith if not for Anakin's betrayal, which was also Palpatine's doing

Saying Mace and the Council would have turned into the tyrants they were trying to destroy just because they wanted to end the Sith swiftly and get a hold of the corruption within the Senate and make sure Palpatine's allies are left powerless before a new Chancellor and a new administration could take office is just stupid, unserious bothsideism at this point

[youchangedmedestiel]

As promised I said I'll give you fic recs to celebrate the fact that I have more than 100 followers now. Again, thanks a lot! This makes me happy! :)

So now, here's my gift to you:

Every fucking fic by xylodemon

The writing is always perfect! I'm not kidding, this is my favorite writer so far! I've never been disappointed by their fics. NEVER! I haven't finish to read all of them but I certainly attend to.

Fics written by deancaskiss

If you like reading about Cas and Dean "just" kissing, then you should try reading those, if you haven't done it yet. I haven't read all of them yet, I read only around 10 fics for now, but same I'll attend to read more.

Then, more specifically:

Blackberries Wild by SaltyWords (agent4hire22) Angst, Love Confessions, First Kiss, Canon divergent after 13x12, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, brief mention of suicidal ideation - around 2500 words

This is so well written, the descriptions are everything, especially the ones for the kisses. It could totally happened like that. It's very true to their character if you ask me.

a kiss for every season (literally) by sobsicles and it is also available as a podfic here read by Scintillating Gatria (LadyLoralye) Canon typical level of violence, Canon Compliant, Brief Dean Winchester/Benny Lafitte - Freeform, Angst with a Happy Ending, Kisses, Smut - around 22000 words

The title says it all, a kiss between Cas and Dean happens every season and since there's never enough kisses between these two, that fic is therefore perfect.

People Who Are Good Like Pie by sobsicles Blowjob, NSFW, Castiel is a Little Shit, Dean is In Over His Head, Flustered Dean, Confused Dean, Creatively ties eating pie into sex, Sounds disgusting but it's really not I promise, it's hilarious, fluff and porn - around 1800 words

And it is indeed hilarious imo as well as very hot. It's short and easy to read, really different from the above. But it's human!cas and I'm weak for him in a sense that there is so much potential with him in a fic and that I love him.

You and I Know the Way by aishitara Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Post-Series, Canon Compliant through 15x18, Fluff, a smidgen of angst, PWP, Porn with Feelings, Castiel Loves Dean Winchester, Mentions of Blood, Mild Hurt/Comfort - around 4300 words

There is human!cas in there too, so yeah I'm sold. Plus some amazing, beautiful, stunning art from winchester-reload is included in the fic so it's even more perfect. This is smut yes, but, BUT you can really see all the love there is between them and that fucks me up. That's the type of porn that makes me cry. I never thought I could say that about porn one day. But maybe it's because it isn't, this is just LOVE!

Humans Do It Better by Hatteress Episode: s06e10 Caged Heat (Supernatural), Excessive Drinking, Light Angst, First Kiss, Second more heated kiss, Kinda Funny.

I invented the tags here because it isn't on AO3. I need to mention this fic because it was like one of the first fics I read. It was more than a year ago and I still remember it. Maybe because I wished it had a next FUCKING chapter. I want to read more about it. I want to see what happened when they meet again later. I want to see what's going on in Dean's mind the next morning when he realized what he did, thinking about how he corrupted a fucking angel. Feeling guilty about it because it's Dean. I - I, maybe I'll fucking write this second chapter one day. But I don't know if it's a thing, you know, writing a sequel to someone else's fic.

Anyway, I hope you'll like reading those if it's not already done. I for sure have more fics to recommend but I have to save some for the 200 followers I guess lmao. One can dream.

BUT if you need specific fics, like from an episode in particular for example, you can still ask me because I sort them by episode tag too.

[kidukami]

☾┅ about me ┅ ☽

hi, call me mika! i'm 21+ and i go by they/them pronouns. i'm a se asian writer + aspiring literary translator based in the uk. this post is essentially a writeblr reintroduction as i am starting anew in the community with this blog, and i'm really excited to share my wips and connect with all you lovely writers out there! i'm also tag and/or interaction friendly (although my reply speed is... not the best especially for tag/ask games, but i'm trying!), so please don't be afraid to say hi ♡

☾┅ writing interests ┅ ☽

important note: my works may contain mature and potentially triggering topics. viewer discretion is advised.

╳ i'm mainly a prose fiction writer, although i may dabble in scriptwriting and poetry at times. ╳ genres: speculative fiction, historical fiction, thriller, literary fiction. ╳ themes: sociopolitical commentary, satire, dark comedy, angst/tragedy, tragicomedy, morally grey characters, queer romance. ╳ open to reading all genre and themes! you're more than welcome to reblog this with your wips or tag me in them, whether or not they feature any of the above. the above lists are not exhaustive because to this day i still don't know how my writing brain works. ╳ i take plenty of writing-related requests (beta/proofreading, critique, collabs, translation work, etc.)! please refer to my carrd for more info, or contact me directly for inquiries.

☾┅ main wips ┅ ☽

will o' the wisp :: adult sci-fi/thriller novel. ╳ award-winning talk show host and journalist noe crane is constantly treading a tightrope as he assumes his secret vigilante identity behind closed doors, but things get worse when his past comes back to haunt him. ╳ features: tragicomedy, morally grey characters, lgbt+ characters, complex relationships, modern setting, superpowers, conspiracies ╳ wip intro here!

the duña duology :: adult weird fiction duology. ╳ a troubled man in his 30s attempts to escape from his past and seeks refuge in a run-down inn, only to find himself caught up in a dangerous conspiracy against the world. ╳ features: adult (30+) characters, unlikeable protagonist, multiple universes, high concept, complex worldbuilding, retrofuturism, found family, conspiracies, aliens (?) wip intro coming soon! message if you want to be tagged.

a history of the tenshima gang feud (working title) :: new adult sci-fi/romance novel. ╳ when a national museum tour guide somehow travels back to the city's deadliest era in history as one of its disgraced figures, he will soon find that his beloved city isn't what it claims itself to be. ╳ features: time travel, alternate future, fictional setting, criminal underworld, ensemble cast, sociopolitical commentary, morally grey characters, lgbt+ characters, love triangle, lovers to enemies, friends to lovers, mcd, tragedy wip intro coming soon! message if you want to be tagged.

lilium carnage :: historical steampunk visual novel (collab with @nana7esque) ╳ four characters on two sides of the same coin. each of them are determined to deliver their own justice in the corrupted land of navona, even at the cost of their own lives, but little do they know that there will always be a bigger price to pay. ╳ features: alternate history, fictional setting, choice-based story, multiple endings, morally grey characters, lgbt+ characters, tragedy, enemies to lovers, complex chara dynamics wip intro coming soon! message if you want to be tagged.

☾┅ side wips ┅ ☽

shelved wips, wip ideas i have yet to develop, etc.

╳ by the kiss of the sleeping night :: thriller/romance webtoon collab with @nana7esque ╳ retelling of the nyi roro kidul myth ╳ modern setting character-driven script with each characters being an allegory to the seven deadly sins

feel free to interact with this post especially if you're also a writeblr! ♡

[its-short-for-jackalope]

OKAY, WE GOT A TRAILER AND A TITLE AND I HAVE THOUGHTS

You know what that means: it's brainrot time.

🏝 TITLE REVEAL: WHO IS THE SEARCHER IN THE SHADOWS?

quick note, I love this title. It's rad as hell. 10/10. anyway—

of course when I hear the word "Searcher" I immediately think of the one and only Addison Arvad, missing captain of the Antikythera and beloved wrecker of journals.

look at her. I love her. she's beautiful. also I am lowkey obsessed with how Jackie draws hair. (please teach me your secrets.)

We didn't get to learn much about Capt. Arvad in episode 3, but we do know that she was a Searcher who disappeared without any explanation, along with the rest of her crew. Kal probably had something to do with it, since he was attempting to retrieve the ship's orrery and said some vague stuff about fog and vortices, but even he doesn't seem to know exactly what happened to her and the crew.

Whatever the case, her disappearance is the reason most of the events in TGOA even happened, so it would make sense for her to be a big part of the next episode. And if Addison is the Searcher and the Searcher is in the shadows, then I have two (and a half?) theories.

The first is that she (and her crew, if they survived, who are also presumably all Searchers) are lost somewhere and that whatever "fogging the vertices" entails led to her getting whisked away somewhere else. She could be trapped there, trying to get out, and/or maybe she is in shadows in the same way Margaret was—maybe she has lost her memories and her magic.

The second theory is actually an idea @man-down-in-hatchet-town proposed that promptly blew my mind: what if whatever happened to Addison led to her getting corrupted and going dark and she is the villain of the episode? I honestly love this idea so much and I think it would be fun and also delightfully heartbreaking after hearing that entry from Addison's journal and getting a glimpse of the person she once was.

(also every pulp fan I know is in complete agreement that we want a cool female villain, pretty please Matt— 🥺🙏)

🏝 OH GOD, THE TIME TRAVEL

I've already yelled a bit about Rose being separated from Samuel and the others, so I'm not gonna repeat myself here, but I also have other thoughts about the time travel!

The trailer has confirmed that Rose was indeed sent two weeks into the past like Ahlaam said she would be. I think it's safe to assume that Rose will have to wait those two weeks until she can reunite with the others, and I also believe we're gonna have to wait with her.

Rose’s two weeks are going to be important—she's meeting Dakkar and hopefully getting some Travelore™ about the island and The Blazing World, and probably getting into some sort of trouble that better not require a printing press plate to resolve, since she doesn’t have it right now—so I don’t think they're going to just blip by. Otherwise what’s the point of sending her back in time?

I think it’s a pretty safe bet that we (the listeners) are probably going to be doing some time travel ourselves, hopping between Rose's two weeks with Dakkar and the rest of the brick family in the present as Sia takes them to the island and they get started on all that mysterious work they have to do. I have no idea what they're going to find there except maybe a rocket? but I can imagine Samuel and the others following Rose's trail as they piece together what's happened to her and learn about this place and its inhabitants, and then the storylines will connect by the end of the episode and we'll get the twins back together and they'll never be separated again!

Isn't that right, Mr. Dahan?

/lh

Alternatively, I suppose the Ellen Austin could be met on the shore by a Rose who has already spent two weeks on the island and then we could get relevant flashbacks here and there, but I don't think that's as likely. It might be too impractical for this medium when we have a lot of story (and lore) to cover and only so much time to sing about it! Plus, that"By the time our heroes are reunited" bit really makes me think that they won't see each other until closer to the end of the episode. The reunion is absolutely gonna make me cry. I can't wait.

🏝 TRAVELER ISLAND, BABEY!

The island's inhabitants have magic similar to Margaret's, and are led by a new group of powerful Travelers.

...Well, maybe it's not Traveler island, exactly. I'm guessing that most of these ~inhabitants~ are actually Searchers. Sia might not be the only Traveler, but I don't think there are a lot of them out there. It makes more sense for there to be less Travelers and more Searchers to balance things out if the Travelers are significantly more powerful like they've been implied to be.

I definitely think Ahlaam is one of the "new group of powerful Travelers" and I'm super excited to get to know her more. (I am also hoping that maybe we'll get a Jackie Traveler character? 👀) I still don't know if Dakkar is a Traveler or not, but I'm inclined to believe he might be a Searcher—mostly because his portrait doesn't have glowing eyes and flashy gold jewelry like Sia or Ahlaam. (I also feel like it may not be a coincidence that he's wearing a light blue-ish colored shirt like Addison, even if it's a different style and looks considerably less like a space suit, lol.)

They speak of a lost kingdom, The Blazing World, and how what occurs on Lincoln Island will impact an entire civilization.

The Blazing World!!! Rose hasn't heard this name yet, but we have! (and Margaret and Samuel.) The people on Lincoln Island could be survivors/refugees from the Blazing World, or perhaps they are all here on a war mission and this is simply their base of operations. Either way, I'm sure the civilization being impacted is the Travelers'; even if this island isn't currently sheltering all that remains of their people and this is only an outpost for the war, they still have some valuable people here—like Margaret, who is recovering her memories and I am certain has an incredibly vital role to play in this war—and the aftermath of whatever happens will undoubtedly be felt beyond the shores of Lincoln Island. Either our heroes succeed in whatever they're trying to do here, or it goes wrong and the Blazing World potentially loses valuable warriors & resources, and the war against Itzal takes a turn for the worse.

🏝 THE "D" WORD: DESTINY

By the time our heroes are reunited, they will be closer to understanding their destinies than ever before...

Destiny... oh, I've had many thoughts about this and been part of multiple discussions with various friends about fate and coincidence and puzzle pieces coming together in this story. enough that I'm almost not sure where to start.

...Eh, chronologically, I guess.

1817 — the year the Stratford family paper stand was established and the year Anna Hanover's father lost his place in the world. Both of these events affected the characters' lives, helping to cement the twins' love of stories and giving them an eventual connection to the New York Sun that would allow them to publish the moon hoax, and giving Anna her tragic backstory and a goal that would drive her to construct her own moon out of brick rather than ink.

1829 — the year I believe Margaret Cavendish arrived in New York City. She lost her memories and her magic, and the Travelers set her up here to live in comfort and safety and loneliness. We don't know why this happened yet, but I think it's safe to assume the location isn't a coincidence when we know at least one Traveler with precognitive abilities and it's only a handful of years until...

1835 — the year of the moon hoax and the brick satellite. Samuel and Rose Stratford write a story that takes the city by storm, attracting the attention of both Margaret Cavendish, who has been looking for answers and winds up with more questions and magic she doesn't remember or understand, and Sir John Herschel, who doesn't want fantastical stories written about him, thank you very much—but wait, how did he get here? He was in South Africa, a whole other hemisphere! How did he find out about the hoax so quickly?

Well, someone brought him the newspaper that made him come to New York, meet the Stratfords and Margaret, and invite them all to work on the brick satellite with him. They go to British Guiana, manage to finish the satellite alongside Anna, get it into the sky thanks to Margaret's Radiance, and finally meet the Traveler out in space, who somehow knew they would be there and knew Margaret's magic was returning but is surprised that her memories weren't. The Traveler knows more than she's telling, but rather than explain she sends the quartet back to Earth.

1874 — the year the quartet are teleported to. They happen to meet a friendly bosun who offers them a place on a ship that'll take them to New York, right where they want to go. Perfect, right? But in reality it takes them to a ghost ship that just so happens to contain some stuff that helps Margaret remember some things. There's a crazy awesome magic battle, sailors vanish, the ghost ship vanishes, and by the end of it all they're sailing towards a mysterious island and the Traveler, Sia, is telling them they have a lot of work to do.

...okay, the point I'm attempting to make here is that yeah, it definitely seems like something has been leading them here, to this time and place. I just can't tell if it's ✨️destiny✨️ or if it's just Sia, who can see into the future and had a clear hand in at least some of these occurrences. She sent our heroes to 1874 in a flash of light, right into Morgan's path, into Kal's, into the Antikythera's. And if she did that, who's to say she hasn't been guiding the quartet in more covert ways this whole time? Someone had to get that paper to John. Someone—specifically a Traveler someone—had to get Margaret settled in New York.

You could say that it's all destiny and that Sia's foresight and her actions are simply destiny's way of getting shit done, that it was all going to happen this way no matter what. You could also go round and round questioning how destiny and precognitive abilities work & influence each other until your brain feels like it's melting (why yes, I am speaking from experience) but I think I'm going to skip that and focus on a different question instead:

What does destiny (or Sia) have in store for our heroes?

I don't know, of course. probably a rocket at some point? gotta wait for the episode to find out.

but regardless of who or what has been pulling the strings, it took a lot to get our heroes to this point and the idea that they're meant to be here, that they've always been headed toward something that's more than this the lives they had before is so unbelievably exciting??? even if you don't care for the idea of destiny or fate, you know great things are coming and that the story is gonna get bigger and wilder.

🏝 YEAH I KEEP MENTIONING THE ROCKET, DON'T I?

might as well actually give it its own little section on this ramble-y ass post, lol.

We've had hints that there'd be at least one rocket in the story from the very first M.A.I.A. transmission. (If you haven't seen those, you're missing out!) Now that we're getting new cast photos where everyone has been posing with a little red rocket, it looks like it's time!

Maybe the quartet are going to help the Travelers build a rocket. Maybe they're going to help repair a rocket that already exists. Maybe they're going to go to space again, or another planet—The Blazing World?—or maybe they're only going to see the Travelers off and that'll be it. (Okay, that last one would be a little disappointing, lmao.) Hell, maybe they're only going to Lincoln Island to meet a rocket that hasn't arrived yet! So many possibilities!

...hmm. I think that's it? I think that's all the thoughts I had. I have been putting this post together off and on since last night so if I missed anything or it seems a little disjointed then that's why, lmao.

this is admittedly less of a theory post at times and more of a John impression (it's not my fault I have questions!) but why wait for M.A.I.A. transmissions and more information when I can shout about it all now? the universe simply wouldn't be right if I didn't seize every opportunity to scream about Pulp Musicals.

anyway, if you read all of this then I hope you enjoyed it! you can expect/dread more posts like this in the coming weeks, as soon as we get more info and M.A.I.A. transmissions. can't wait to see my best girl again. 💙

...I really hope Matt and Jackie have gotten that window fixed.

[knifedog-machina]

Android Abnormalities

Species dysphoria, but the “wrong” way, ft. my borderline personality disorder

J: so you know how my source is technically Detroit: Become Human? you know how we fucking hate that title? you know how we’ve made fun of it multiple times? unfortunately it's a mood! I also hate this!

Hey! This essay is about how incredibly uncomfortable I feel in my own skin around common android tropes, in media and some of its reflections in robotic identities and experiences, featuring reasons for why I'm like this, and a helpful suggestion for what I want readers to do about it at the end of the piece. I really hope this reaches someone who feels the same way so I can point at them like Same Hat!

-

I first noticed this problem on October 30, 2023, when we stumbled across a fanfic on Archive of Our Own. It was an alternate universe of a TV show we've never seen before, but it was written by an author we liked, and it was an android AU. That's fun! We thought it would just be a quick read, something to idly talk about after lunch.

Well, uh. Nope. I was co-fronting while Max read, and the more we read, the more… weirdly uncomfortable I felt. It wasn't actively distressing, but it made me feel weird, so I stopped reading halfway through to talk about it with some friends.

I'm not gonna link the fic, because Tumblr is weird about links, but for my own future reference, it's “persona ex machina” by BirchBow. It was a really good fic, we thoroughly enjoyed it! I just have - hangups, I guess?

I think I was uncomfortable that, on the surface, it seems… really close to my experiences. Like, the protagonist, Chuck, is an android made to mimic humans, and he’s made to be a combat unit. He’s scared of what might happen to him if he fails to meet expectations. Technicians operate on him, put him back together. He's made by a corrupt corporation for fucked up purposes. He eventually defects from the corrupt corporation, with the help of some really kind people. That’s all really similar to me.

But it's different. Because as much as Chuck was designed to look human, he still had to be taught how to act human, how to feel. The way he emotes is off at first and he has to recalibrate, not look so stiff, learn how to smile and laugh and understand what different emotions mean. He automatically runs through the technical terms for something before working to turn it into common vernacular as it reaches his mouth. And this is a typical android trope, you know? The machine doesn’t intrinsically understand emotions, so humans have to teach them.

I’m… really, really not like that. I don’t remember a time when I didn’t feel too much. Every memory I have, even in blurred out mental snapshots of beta testing, it’s all drowning in emotions that I couldn’t articulate and wasn’t supposed to express. I looked at my siblings, who were so stoic and professional around humans it was like they were different people entirely, and I knew I was supposed to be less emotional. People always just assumed they were better than me, because they were better at code-switching to what was expected of androids, because they could keep their mouths shut on the job.

So I’ve always felt like I was bad at being an android. Androids aren’t supposed to feel emotions, not really, not to the extremes that I do. That’s a predisposition for deviancy. And I was made this way on purpose, I was made to “mimic” deviants to earn their trust, but I wasn't meant to be like that all the time. I tried to repress my emotions, it just never worked.

And I don’t see androids like me, in the media we’ve watched and read and listened to. It’s not really a characterization that lends itself to exploring what it means to be a person, right? Machines are supposed to be logical and unfeeling, to contrast with humanity’s irrationality - they’re supposed to be better than that. And when the machine starts having emotions, it's treated as a flaw, or a breakthrough. Wow, you feel things about the world around you, you’re a person now!

I’ve never been logical in my fucking life. I have a laundry list of reasons for why, but for now, I’ll focus on the BPD. I have borderline personality disorder, because of the way my brain is wired and how that interacted with my traumatic experiences.

One of the symptoms of BPD is emotional dysregulation. I’m not just bad at repressing my emotions, I also experience those emotions as more extreme and overwhelming than a neurotypical person would. I keep finding myself affected by things that the people around me brush off, and I have to remind myself that it doesn’t mean I’m overreacting, it means that I’m literally feeling shittier emotions.

Another symptom of BPD is an unstable sense of identity - and this is really where we’re getting into how these traits and tropes affect me. Because I don’t relate at all to these androids on the screen. They’re as foreign and separate from me as they are to the humans sitting across from them in the shot.

I do relate to the humans. I do relate to seeing an android do something in the name of pure cold logic and going, “Why? What the fuck, why?” I do relate to being told I’m irrational. (The trope that all robots are logical feels like it was designed to make me feel like the most irrational, bitchy, hysterical piece of shit on Earth.)

So, what, does that make me human? If I'm going by the adage that wanting to be something is a sign of being that thing, then… I don’t know, maybe? I want to be human, I so badly want to be human, because here’s the thing, humanity is diverse. Humans are flawed, messy, weird, complicated, and defy categories every fucking day of their lives. Humans can be weird, ridiculous, fucked up people and they’re allowed to be.

And let me bring this back around to alterhumanity. If I say I’m an android, people will make assumptions about what that means about me. People go, “Hey, you're a robot, you must have one of these common robot experiences!” and I just don’t.

Maybe it’s because I’m coming at it from the opposite direction? The machines and robots and androids that I tend to see around, the ones who talk about their identity, they often identify as fully nonhuman. They describe wanting to be metal and chrome, feeling like they run on algorithms, not processing emotions the way most people do. They identify very much with the same tropes that I feel alienated by. This isn’t a bad thing, by any means. It’s just a thing. People resonate with what they see. It just means that I feel like I’m doing bad at being an android again, but in a new, improved way.

Another symptom of BPD is being terrified of real or imagined abandonment, and trying to do anything to avoid it. A constant feeling of social alienation isn’t really that different, to my BPD - it’s just a slow, drawn out version of being left behind. People will still talk to me, they still like me, but they won’t understand me. I’ll still be alone.

In that sense, I feel wrong being an android in the same way I feel wrong about being an aromantic allosexual. I actually like being an android, and I fucking like being bi. I don’t want to stop being who I am. I just hate feeling like I’m the only one who feels this way, like nobody else can relate, like every time I talk about my feelings to people they can only nod in sympathy instead of understanding me.

So! You've reached the end of the essay. You see my problem. What do we do about it?

I’m going to refer to the theme of… every single online alterhuman convention that has existed in the past four years, and that is:

Write about your experiences!

The reason I feel so alone and isolated and alienated from my own identity is because I’m only being regularly exposed to pieces from a very specific perspective of what being an android means! That’s a fucking sampling bias!

I know other weird fucking robots are out there, I know you exist, but I can’t fucking reach out a hand and go, “Hey, you're not alone, I relate to you!” if you don't write it down! I want to talk to you! I want to hear from you!

WEIRD ALTERHUMANS, HEY, I LOVE YOU, GO WRITE THINGS!

[sjsmith56]

The Gilded Age, Part 1 - Introductions All Around

Summary: Miss Amelia Winston arrives at the building housing the Society of Heroic Individuals and Estimable Lofty Deeds (SHIELD), home of the famed Avengers, having accepted the position of librarian / curator for the organization. Of all the introductions made the one that affects her the most is that of Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes.

Length: 4.6 K

Characters: Named OFC (description scattered throughout the story), Virginia Stark, Morgan Stark, Anthony Stark, Steve Rogers, Sam Wilson, Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton, Wanda Maximoff, Vision, Bruce Banner, James Buchanan Barnes.

Warnings: a reference to ritual cannibalism in passing.

Author notes: In this Avenger/ Bucky Barnes AU, there are elements of steampunk, but they have been used sparingly and only as a device to explain how things may have worked if the Avengers were a reality in that year. Some of the amenities or activities described in the story may have happened later in our reality but since it is an AU, anything is possible. Much of the official canon has been changed or modified starting with what the acronym SHIELD stands for, and the powers (or lack of) that the individual Avengers have. HYDRA will still be evil. Pepper Stark's given name in the MCU is Virginia so she will be referred to by that name in this story.  Given the setting of the story, most title boards will contain images generated by Microsoft Copilot in Designer mode, created by the author. Dividers from vecteezy.com.

This is an alternate universe story set in 1899, near the end of the Gilded Age, in New York City. It is a time that appears to be prosperous, as economic expansion grows the economy, leading to better wages and a demand for skilled labourers, drawing immigrants from all over. But this time also has dark shadows. It is described by Mark Twain as an era of materialistic excess, combined with political corruption. Just as there are villains, there are heroes, the famed Avengers of the Society of Heroic Individuals and Estimable Lofty Deeds, or SHIELD.

Part 1 – Introductions all Around

The hansom cab pulled up in front of the large stone building in the heart of New York City, and a door attendant came straight over to it, opening the door then pulling out the fold out step. Inside the cab, Amelia Winston rose, then grasped the gloved hand of the door attendant, nodding at him as he helped her out onto the street.

"Go right on in, Miss Winston," he said calmly. "Mrs. Stark is waiting for you."

"Thank you," she replied as she turned towards the door while the door attendant called for another to help him with her luggage.

Inside, the ornate lobby of the Society of Heroic Individuals and Estimable Lofty Deeds, also known as SHIELD, drew Amelia's attention, as the gilded columns that surrounded the space seemed to reach high up into the heart of the building. The gold reflected the light that came through the almost cathedral-like windows, the beams of sunlight illuminating the mosaic marble tiled floor with a grandeur she had never seen before. The thought occurred to Amelia that surely this initial entry into the building would make anyone feel heroic and capable of great deeds, not just the individuals who resided here.

"It is impressive, is it not?" asked a female voice and she turned to see an elegant blonde woman approaching her.

Her fine state of dress was exquisitely made and obviously exclusive, but the manner in which Virginia Stark extended her bare hand was familiar and Amelia withdrew the glove from her right hand, extending it to Mrs. Stark. They stood together in the lobby, still gazing upwards as the two doormen brought in the last of Amelia's luggage. Mrs. Stark glanced at the one man, the one who had come out to greet the cab.

"Hogan, please make sure Miss Winston's luggage is taken to her suite on the 17th floor," she said. "I'll give her the tour." He touched his cap and directed the younger man with him to fetch a dolly. Mrs. Stark linked her arm with Amelia's then strode towards a more central location inside the building, where a large fountain, it's water streams caught in the beams of light from the windows, glistened. "Anthony installed this as a wedding present, to remind him of the day he proposed. We were on a mission in Chicago, when a bomb exploded on a water main, sending streams of water into the air. It was destructive in its beauty, and he just turned to ask if perhaps we should get married upon our return. I couldn't say no."

"Do you still go on missions?"

"Occasionally, when the situation warrants it, but Anthony requires someone he can trust to manage the affairs of the Society as well as his own personal empire in his absence. I'm it, but we have no rules about married woman resigning from active service so if you happen to find a connection with one of our gentlemen heroes that leads to matrimony, your future roll will be decided by you and him. They are used to having female colleagues in the field, so most should be amenable if you wish to continue your career as one of our heroic individuals."

"Even though my position is librarian?"

"You never know," smiled Mrs. Stark. "Sometimes we need someone that looks the part to play the part. Plus, it is in your contract that you may be required to perform other tasks as needed. We would never knowingly put you in danger, please be assured of that."

She showed Amelia the other parts of the lobby, the small kiosks that provided services, a shoeshine station, newspaper emporium, a small store that provided sundry needs and necessities, as well as a restaurant that seemed to have many people entering it from a separate street level door. Pausing at the elevator, she pressed the button to bring one of the cars down, then smiled at the elevator operator as he pulled the sliding grate out of the way. Mrs. Stark asked for the top floor, the 21st. Along the way up the car stopped several times, and Mrs. Stark greeted everyone who stepped on by name, proving her talent as a capable manager, as all seemed pleased at her notice. After the last of those individuals, including the elevator operator, stepped off before the 17th floor, she leaned closed and murmured into Amelia's ear.

"Only those in the Avenger service, and certain staff, are permitted beyond the 16th floor. Since many of our heroic individuals have unique abilities, we protect their privacy in the residential area. Anything you see, hear, or experience here is to be kept to yourself as part of your contract. Failure to do so can result in immediate dismissal."

When the elevator car opened on the 21st floor she opened the sliding grate herself, then the outer doors, allowing Amelia to exit first. Leaving the elevator as it was Mrs. Stark stepped forward and led the younger woman to a large open area, punctuated only by a few pillars. On one side was a doorway to another wing, containing the Stark residence, a fully self-contained suite. This side had a view of New York that was breathtaking, as one could see out over both the Hudson and East Rivers. Handsome leather club chairs and sofas punctuated the area, interspersed with small decorative palm plants, side tables, and off to the side a large billiard table. Along one wall was an impressive display of books, with several tables with bankers' lamps on them, presumably for someone to perform research at night. Another wall contained a large bar, backed with many bottles of fine liqueurs, wine, and even a beer dispenser. It was done in a most elegant and civilized way. A piano in another corner hinted at the possibility of performances. Next to it, a dart board promised some competitive activities.

"This is where most of the Avengers come to relax after a mission or between missions," said Mrs. Stark. "It can get quite lively in here. Some are quite happy to quietly imbibe a spirit, gazing out the window at the landscape, while others seek something more active. Many undertake their own research, using the library here. You, being the librarian, will be responsible for the care of these books, as well as those on the 16th floor, a more extensive collection, which is why you have been given Avengers status for access to this floor."

"It seems to be very quiet right now," Amelia ventured.

"They are on a mission," answered Mrs. Stark. She checked a pocket watch that she pulled out of a small pocket in her skirt. "I expect their return after dark. Now, let me show you your apartment."

They re-entered the elevator, and Mrs. Stark, once again pulled the sliding grate back, then pressed the 17th floor button. When they exited the car, Amelia was surprised to see another open area immediately in front of the elevator core. There was a small kitchen area, as well as a dining room, sitting room, and a large room that seemed to have several projects going on at once.

"The Avengers have various personal interests," said Mrs. Stark. "Captain Rogers is an accomplished artist, while Dr. Banner has several different interests, including gardening, chemistry, and astronomy. Sergeant Barnes shares the astronomy space with him, but is also inclined to tinker with engines, although that is down in the basement due to the noise and smells. Anthony often joins him there. They can talk for hours on mechanical subjects. Miss Maximoff is a musician, while her beau Vision is attempting to learn the culinary arts. Mademoiselle Romanoff is a student of fashion and has worked on making appropriate attire for our female operatives that allows them greater freedom of movement in the field, while maintaining their femininity. If there is anything you are interested in, please pass it on to Jarvis, the concierge. He will go to the ends of the earth to acquire your needs."

"Those you just named are also residents on this floor?" asked Amelia.

"Yes, in fact, your apartment is between Sergeant Barnes and Captain Rogers." She stopped at a door, then showed how they didn't use a lock and key. Instead, there was a rolling dial, with three columns. Stark showed how the three numbers were selected then listened as the locks disengaged. "Only you, I and Hogan know the combination. I know it so that if there is ever an emergency we can enter. Whether you share that number with anyone else is your choice. We do respect your privacy and expect the same from you."

Pressing the door open, Amelia walked into a suite unlike any she had ever lived in. The furniture was well appointed, without appearing too opulent or gaudy. Her sitting room promised many hours of quiet reading, knitting, or crocheting, and she realized that she could even start some other hobbies that she had considered, like needlework, flower drying, and philately. Hogan had correctly determined which of her cases held her own personal book collection, as it was placed next to a sizeable bookshelf, positioned behind a wide desk. The rest of her luggage, containing her clothes was in her bedroom, placed beside the large wardrobe. The bathroom alone, comprised of a separate toilet in a small room, sink, large vanity and claw foot bathtub, that also contained a shower, was almost as large as Amelia's previous flat in Chicago.

"This is more than I anticipated," she exclaimed to Mrs. Stark. "Are you sure it isn't an imposition to have me live here?"

"No, it is more efficient, considering the nature of our vocations," said the blonde woman. "There may be times when you are roused from sleep to undertake some last-minute research on a location, or a certain segment of the population to prepare the Avengers for their mission. Having you on-site means you can dispense with having to get fully dressed." Amelia's eyes widened. "I meant that in the sense you wouldn't have to wear a corset or even a full sleeved blouse, which you don't have to anyway if you're more comfortable not wearing them. You can wear more practical clothing that takes moments to don and be at your desk quickly. Our society in this building is quite modern in temperament and liberated for 1899, Miss Winston. Suffragette is not an unpleasant word in these confines."

With that last pronouncement, Mrs. Stark left Amelia to commence unpacking, inviting the younger woman to join her for dinner at 7 pm, sharp. Putting her mind to the task, Amelia was fully unpacked well before 6 pm, leaving her enough time to bathe then dress appropriately for dinner. After summoning the elevator, she entered the empty car, copying the motions that Mrs. Stark had performed earlier, then pressed the button for the 21st floor. There was no one present but the door into the Stark residence was open, so Amelia walked towards it, only to be almost bowled over by a small dark-haired girl, running out without looking where she was going.

"Morgan H. Stark, you come back, please," called Mrs. Stark from within the apartment.

The little girl stopped suddenly in front of the visitor, who spoke first.

"Hello, my name is Amelia Winston and I've been invited for dinner. Who might you be?"

"Morgan Stark," she replied. "I live here. Are you the new librarian?"

"I am." She looked up at the doorway. "Perhaps, you could escort me in and announce my presence?"

A grin crossed Morgan's face and she held up her hand. "Okay." Leading her inside she took the young woman into the sitting room. "Mama, I am announcing Amelia Winston, the new librarian."

"You have met our little cyclone," smiled Mrs. Stark. "Thank you, Morgan, for your excellent introduction. Now, if you would be so kind as to wash your hands, I think you can join us, if you're on your best behaviour."

A maid appeared and escorted Morgan to perform her ablutions.

"She is very spirited," noted Amelia. "You have only the one child?"

"Yes, thus far," smiled Mrs. Stark. "Please come in."

They sat in the sitting room, chatting until the reappearance of Morgan, who had also had some repair work done to the ribbons in her hair. With her appearance, Mrs. Stark advised the maid to let the cook know they were ready to eat, and she led the way to the dining room. The grand room, with doors to both the apartment and shared common area, centred by a table large enough for twenty, was richly decorated, with paintings, small statuary and thick damask curtains on the windows. The table, set for three, was oak, stained almost black and buffed to a high shine. It was both impressive and its chairs comfortable to sit at, as Mrs. Stark kept up a commentary of the origins of much of the furniture while the entrée was served. It seemed that many countries and rulers were indebted to the society for their services, feeling the need to provide some recompense in the form of unique furniture or other gifts.

"Now mind you, the gifts we received from the head chief of a tribe in British New Guinea, aren't exactly meant for regular company. When you explore your domain, you will find the artifacts catalogued in the collection of religious icons." She leaned over and whispered. "Skulls, as the tribe were still engaging in ritual cannibalism at the time. They are probably our most unusual "payment," but they were appreciative of our work on their behalf."

The subsequent conversation was just as engaging as that fact shared with Amelia and she found herself enjoying the company immensely. When dinner was finished, and while Morgan was prepared for her bedtime, the two women sat in comfortable chairs, overlooking the south end of Manhattan. The view of the streets below, lit by a combination of gas and electric lamps was breathtaking. After they finished their tea, and Morgan came out to say goodnight to Amelia, Mrs. Stark also bid her goodnight, as she always read her daughter a story and tucked her in for bed. It was a genial way to end the evening.

Back in her suite, Amelia disrobed, then washed her face and neck in the bathroom. Her hair was let down, and she brushed its long length before plaiting it into a single braid. Slipping into a cotton nightgown, she then turned down the bed, and after making sure the door was locked and windows secure, got under the covers and turned off the electric lamp at the side of the bed. Her heart was full of both hope and ambition that this position would be fulfilling for a young woman graduate of Chicago's Armour Institute library program, completing her formal education just two years before. Now, here she was, on the cusp of the next century, the head researcher, curator, and librarian of the Society of Heroic Individuals and Estimable Lofty Deeds, along with other tasks not yet specified. Life was truly exciting.

A slip of paper placed under Amelia's door before she woke up in the morning, invited her to dine with the others for breakfast, in the large dining room on the 21st floor, at precisely 9 am. Wrapping her hair up in a turban, Amelia tried out the bathtub, amazed at the water pressure coming out of the tap at this high floor level. After bathing and putting on her undergarments she decided to take Mrs. Stark at her word, and dispensed with her strongest corset, instead using one that she often used when on vacation with her family. It didn't interfere with her breathing, and she had accomplished several hikes in the mountains of Colorado without difficulty. She put on a white blouse, cut in a close-fitting shirtwaist style, then draped her favourite necklace over it, a silver locket pendant given to her by her father when she graduated from high school. Her petticoats and skirt were stepped into, and she buttoned the opening then fastened a beaded belt at the waist. Twisting her hair into a loose chignon, and fastening it with several long hair pins, she pinched her cheeks and admired her figure in the mirror. Finally, she placed a small dab of her perfume, Cœur de Jeannette, behind her ears. At least she would look nice and smell good for this first meeting with the others.

When she stepped out of her apartment, she noticed several individuals were already gathered in the sitting area. They all rose when she made her exit out of her suite. One of them, a beautiful red-headed woman approached her eagerly.

"At last, you must be Miss Winston," smiled the woman. "I am Natasha Romanoff, code name Black Widow. Please call me by my first name, as I know we will be great friends."

"Very well, call me Amelia." She shook Natasha's hand, then looked past her to the others, who were approaching.

"Amelia Winston," repeated Natasha, "may I introduce you to Wanda Maximoff, code name Scarlet Witch, her beau, Vision, whose name is his code name, Captain Rogers, who everyone knows as Captain America, Samuel Wilson, known as The Falcon, and Clint Barton, known as Hawkeye, who is my fiancé. The others are still to appear."

She looked at them in turn, the petite and incredibly beautiful Wanda seemed younger than her, while her beau Vision, a tall blond man with a serious air seemed older and more reserved by the formality of his greeting. Captain Rogers was everything she ever imagined from the drawn images of him in the newspapers; tall, handsome, broad-shouldered and sporting a short haircut that seemed to be somewhat unruly as a shock of it draped itself over his forehead. His blue eyes twinkled as he shook her hand.

"It's a pleasure, Miss Winston," he said. "I've been fortunate to see some of your published sketches of your hiking trip in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. You must be an accomplished hiker and mountaineer to have ascended the heights you did."

"Thank you, it was quite an accomplishment, considering I had been limiting myself to less extreme terrain before," she replied. "We had excellent guides and the presence of my father and brother added to the enjoyment."

Another handsome man stuck his hand out, repeating the introduction of himself as Sam Wilson. She detected an accent of the south in his speech and commented on it, to which he admitted coming from Louisiana.

"So, by your code name are you a falconer, Mr. Wilson?" she asked. "It is a noble profession with centuries of history behind it."

"I do have falcons," he admitted. "But I am also the person who wears one of Mr. Stark's newest inventions, a flying suit. So far, I haven't used it on missions, but I will soon, once I become more skilled at it."

Mr. Barton, or Hawkeye was also friendly, admitting that he acquired his archery skills in a circus, then spent several years portraying one of Sitting Bulls braves in a Wild West show. That was where he met Natasha, an aerialist originally, who picked up other skills such as trick shooting, and trick riding.

"I didn't feel right portraying one of the Sioux, since, let's face it, I don't exactly look the part, but my skill was archery and that is where the owner of the show wanted me. Then I met Natasha, and we learned of SHIELD recruiting skilled individuals as part of their operations. It seemed tailor-made for us. We've been with the society for five years now."

"I am just excited to be here, in New York, working and living in the same building," said Amelia. "Your exploits are in all the newspapers."

"Our very exaggerated exploits," joked Captain Rogers. He checked his pocket watch. "We should go on up otherwise we'll all be tardy."

He offered Amelia his arm and they stepped into the elevator together. The others joined them and within moments they were at the penthouse level. As they stepped out, Anthony Stark came forward, his eyes only on the librarian.

"Miss Winston, it is a great pleasure to finally make your acquaintance," he said, extending his hand to shake hers. "I've heard much about you from my daughter."

"All of it good, I hope, Mr. Stark," she replied, blushing.

"Very much so." He stepped aside then checked his pocket watch. "Come, we're still expecting Dr. Banner and Sergeant Barnes. The brothers have gone to see their father and will return later this afternoon."

"Parker?" asked Captain Rogers. "He was worried about his aunt when we arrived late last night."

"You're right, I believe he has taken the subway to Queens to be with her." He leaned towards Amelia. "I've offered her an apartment here many times so that Parker isn't so worried about her, but she insists she's fine there." He shrugged. "I won't stop asking but it isn't only his aunt who draws his attention away from our domicile."

The sound of the elevator doors opening, presaged the arrival of others. Since it was impolite for Amelia to turn, she waited until the late arrivals presented themselves. The first, a rather rumpled looking man with a thick shock of greying hair and glasses, introduced himself as Dr. Bruce Banner.

"You are the scientific and medical consultant for the society?" asked Amelia, as that is what she had read in the newspapers.

He nodded uneasily. "Partly. I also have another role that is kept secret from the public." He looked to Anthony Stark who raised his eyebrows as if to say it was the doctor's decision to elaborate. "Are you familiar with the tale The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?" Amelia nodded, slightly puzzled at the reference to the famous novel. "As part of my scientific endeavours I was exposed to a substance that turns me into another being, a frightening vision. You've no doubt heard of the rumours of a giant of a man, with green skin and a frightening personality who has appeared at several incidents where the Avengers are present. He is me and I am him. If you ever encounter him, I bid that you do not panic. He is fairly friendly with the others, and Mademoiselle Romanoff has been able to soothe the beast within me with her words so that he settles down."

"Is there no cure for your malady?" asked Amelia, her heart affected that this obviously gentle man was afflicted with such a fearsome condition.

"Alas, no, I have tried many times to develop a cure. I thank you for your concern."

He bowed and stepped away, having dealt with that pronouncement. It was then the last person who arrived stepped into view and Amelia thought her heart would stop at the sight of the tall, handsome man before her.

"Amelia Winston, may I present Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes," stated Captain Rogers. "He is my longest and closest friend as we have been like brothers since we were boys."

"Miss Winston," he stated, in a low melliferous voice that noticeably quickened her heartbeat. "A pleasure."

"For me also, Sergeant Barnes," she stammered, taken in by his blue eyes, dark hair and impressive physique.

It was only then she noticed she was still holding his right hand and let it go, blushing at the same time. A hint of a smile crossed his face as he gazed down at her, for truly his imposing height would have him looking down on most individuals. He bowed his head slightly and stepped aside, allowing Captain Rogers to escort her to the dining room. When everyone was seated, she was placed between Anthony Stark and Captain Rogers, with Mrs. Stark facing her. Sergeant Barnes was several seats down the table beside Samuel Wilson, who leaned towards his seat mate and murmured something before gesturing towards her. Barnes glanced at Amelia and smiled slightly, then placed his napkin on his lap, awaiting the service of the food.

The quality of the breakfast food was excellent, as it appeared that Mr. Stark was emphatic on providing a fine meal at his table. The conversation also flowed well, and many interesting topics of conversation were discussed, except for politics and religion. Partway through the meal a gentleman staff member, Jarvis, based on the whispers of his name when he appeared, dressed in full morning dress stood at Mr. Stark's side, presenting him with a slip of paper. He read the slip then nodded his head and continued to eat. Although the others looked at him questioningly it was obvious that he wasn't going to let anything interfere with his enjoyment of the meal. After what seemed like an interminable amount of time, Anthony Stark finally picked up his napkin, dabbed it to his lips and looked out over the assembled Avengers.

"It appears that HYDRA is up to their old tricks," he said. "Secretary Fury has advised me there are cryptographic messages between several of their operatives in several different New York newspapers. Miss Winston, how are your cryptographic skills?"

"A little rusty, sir, but I'm sure that I'll be up to speed in a short time. Do we have microfilm copies of the newspapers in our collection? I haven't had a chance to get acquainted with our library yet."

Stark smiled. "Of course, we have files for up to a week ago on microfilm, with paper copies since then. Is anyone free to assist Miss Winston in gathering the intelligence and decoding the cryptograms?"

"I can," stated Sergeant Barnes. "I cleaned my weapons on my return last night and need only 15 minutes to prepare to leave."

"Very well," stated Rogers. "Everyone else, check your weapons and supplies. We meet here in three hours for a briefing."

Captain Rogers pulled out Amelia's chair and she hurried to the elevator, accompanied by Sergeant Barnes. As he closed the doors and pressed the button for the 16th floor, he looked grimly at the young librarian.

"Sergeant Barnes, forgive my ignorance, but who is HYDRA?"

He breathed out sharply then studied her in that inscrutable way he had. "Trouble."

Part 2>>

Series Masterlist

Please support the author by reblogging.

[britt-kageryuu]

A New Vod on the VTurtles! Channel. Titled 'VTurtles! Concert (and kinda verity show)'

--------------------

It starts with a short of the 3 Purple Dragons Models with their drones rushing around trying to finish setting up for the concert.

Wyvern yelling out that the show starts soon. Then yells at Wyrm(Jason) for tripping on a wire, and almost pulling something down. She just stands with her face in her hands.

"Drake (Jeremy), take the hatchlings, and get to the controls. Wyrm, if you weren't my step brother I swear! The show starts in 10. Get this fixed or you have to deep clean the Garage with a toothbrush!"

--------------------

The concert opens with Four Figures on a roof top overlooking New York City. Then music starts playing. Starting with a guitar riff, and "Rise~"

"Rise of the

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles~x2

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Heroes in a Half Shell Turtle Power!"

The lights turn on to reveal the Turtles Models in color coded ninja pants with their ninja gear over top, along their weapons on them. They start singing the song alternating lines as it goes on.

"Rising up against evil, paint the city Green,

Red is looking for a fight!

Blue is Making a Scene~

Mandarin's got mad skills!

Dee Rocks Machines!

With each other, they discover their destiny

And Rise! Cowabunga!!"

The song goes on swapping between scenes of the brothers fighting crime, and various villains.

----------------

Leo is doing a Solo Performance dressed in Glam Rock Fashion, singing some Queen.

Though mid song his voice cracked badly, leaving him feeling a bit embarrassed. A mumbled "I'm not a teenager anymore why?!" Could be heard as he tries to remember the lyrics.

----------------

A break in between music where Shelldon and River are teaching the 'Hatchlings' how to adjust their optics and which noises to make for max cuteness potential.

"And with this, you can get almost anyone to do whatever you want!" Shelldon says while River nods sagely.

From of stage there comes a yell of "Stop trying to corrupt your cousins!"

--------------

There's a rap battle and a dance battle going on at the same time. It's very hard to tell who is supposed to be winning.

Up until Raph accidentally sent Donnie flying across the stage with his tail. Then it was called a draw with a cut to the next segment.

--------------

Donnie, Mikey and Leo are singing Zero to Hero from Hercules, just changing some words to relate to Raph, while said Turtle is sitting on a throne with a Wrestling Belt.

Stars Model is sitting on the armrest, dressed in light blue workout gear that showed off many of her star shaped 'spots'. She looks very amused with everything, because Raph is slightly embarrassed by his brothers.

--------------

There's a break from the songs, this time Donnie is playing an AR Whack-a-Mole game. Thought the 'Moles' are foot ninja, and they're wielding a giant purple hammer.

Donnie is laughing and shouting Bonk every time they hit one of the ninja.

The game ends with showing that Donnie got a new high score.

--------------

Splinter has taken the stage singing and dancing to some classic songs. Draxum is shoved on stage to sing a duet with Splinter too both of their embarrassments.

-------------

Every one is on stage for the finale singing 'We Are (Family)'.

As they sing and dance around, there's pictures of them with their friends and family popping up on the wall. Including some pictures from when they were kids. All edited to look like 3D models overlaying the original picture.

I.E. Raph and Star posing together. Leo chatting with Usagi while Spot nuzzling Leo's cheek. April, Cass, CJ, Mikey, and Donnie baking together. Splinter reading a picture book to the turtle tots.

There is surprisingly also a couple pictures with the Purple Dragons with their drones.

-------------

Masterpost

I had some plans for this, but kept running into the 'which songs' dilemma, and kept getting stuck on what they would be singing.

[delphinus-dancer]

Why Mihaly’s [spoiler] form is different, and what it could mean

Sorry for the clickbait-esque title, but I’m not sure on the state of the Jd 2024 storymode spoilers with the fandom, so spoilers for the storymode ahead (including images)!

It’s also a bit long because I’m back on my bs of overanalyzing Mihaly

I’ve already made a post about Mihaly in the 2024 story mode with elements of their journey and uniqueness of their interactions with Night Swan- which grants them a lot of depth, in terms of their dances and character. With Night Swan’s corruption at the end of 2024 altering the costumes of Wanderlust, Brezziana, and Sara as well, the refs posted via the YouTube short allow for several details to become clear. (Shoutout to the costume department- they’re gorgeous!!) As pointed out in another post by @phoenixriaartemis , Mihaly’s headphones become the belt in their Dark form, and without the earbuds, Mihaly would be unable to connect with their headspace. I initially thought this was the case as well, since Mihaly’s maps both begin by placing them in their ears to enter their space of contemplation, practice, and growth. (More on that in a moment.)

As I noticed when I did the other post, Mihaly is the only one of the corrupted dancers to maintain elements of their original outfit. I initially thought it was only the leggings and wraps, but after comparing the concept art, those parts have changed too- the pants are shorter with rips cutting up, and the wraps come up further. While part of it could be chalked up to a different dancer portraying Mihaly in their dark form and requiring an alternative costume even for similar pieces, I think those elements are more deliberate. Looking at the headphones, pants, and wraps, they can be viewed as something Mihaly retains, but is twisted by a vision of perfection- just to a lesser extent than the others, who don’t retain any aspects like that.

It wasn’t until a Rather Be rewatch that I noticed something that I completely overlooked: the details of Master Panda’s design.

Although Mihaly’s design mimics his closely, there are some notable elements where they are different. There are two small ones of note: the piercings on his left ear, and the headphones. When Mihaly assumes the panda form in Never Be Like You, they gain almost all elements of his costume, barring some colors. Their hair color is retained in his hairstyle, and while their pants lighten to dark blue, they become looser to match his. However, there are two elements unique to the panda that they do not gain: the headphone belt and the two piercings. (Sorry for the image quality below.)

Instead, in its place are two over the ear headphones, which seemingly combine those elements into one- the headphone component and the piercings/ear adornments. As a result, the headphone belt and piercings are absent, even in the form where Mihaly seemingly achieves mastery of a milestone in their training. While this could be chalked up to Mihaly’s individual understanding of the Flow, its commonality seems more significant.

Let’s consider the Panda’s costume to represent mastery of the Flow. Since the headphones are used as a belt rather than their practical purpose, this indicates that instead of needing the headphones and the music they provide to connect with the Flow and be transported to that higher plane, it can be done by mastering the Flow within oneself. After all, the Master Panda appears in both maps independent of Mihaly’s music, and appears/disappears on his own time. Even when Mihaly gains the Panda form, they still keep the over ear headphones, binding them to the music, even in their supposed ascension.

Going off of that, let’s look Mihaly’s Dark Form again. (Sorry for the same photo again!)

It’s easier to see in the art than the photo, but since the headphones have become a belt, Mihaly has also gained the earrings in their left ear. Between this and the dark feather elements being the least prominent out of all the corrupted dancers, including Jack in Treasure, Night Swan’s vision of perfection is not very present.

Instead, Mihaly’s Dark form is ‘tainted’ by Night Swan’s influence with the creeping feathers on their robe and the alternations to their leggings and wraps, but the overall costume is Mihaly’s own idea of perfect: a master of the Flow. With the headphones as the belt, this represents their goal of connection beyond the confines of music, and piercings of the Panda could possibly symbolize mastery of the spiritual and physical realms they inhabit in their maps.

By gaining both of these elements that they have yet to achieve and lacking as much of Night Swan’s influence, it seems to imply that Mihaly has retained a degree of control over their identity that the others lack. In the other post, I speculated this could be because of how they were initially corrupted. Rather than passively falling to the smoke Sara brings in, the smoke comes from offscreen (presumably from Night Swan herself), and they send out the message to Jack while actively losing their color. They also have a degree of control and agency throughout their part of Swan Lake that Wanderlust and Brezziana lack, since Sara does not actively defeat Mihaly or control any smoke during their part. Night Swan also may not have subdued them as much, with the short interval between losing their color and the Dark forms appearing, causing the perfection imposed on Mihaly to have more elements of their own than Night Swan intended.

Going off of that, as I said in the last post, Mihaly could be the easiest coach to return to normal, as they have presumably retained the most of their former self. While they could be reached through the usual method of dance fights/battles, they may also be brought back by the true, pure Flow they aspire to practice. If they are returned to normal before the other coaches, maybe they could achieve the true mastery they’ve sought after by freeing them.

Whatever the story mode holds for Mihaly and the other coaches, I have a feeling the true mastery of the Flow they’ve sought after is somewhere in cards for their future appearances, both literal and physical.

If you’ve read this far, then thank you for listening to my rambling! Hope you have a great day/night and feel free to fire back with any ideas or questions!

[adorationmajestic]

Little to Do With Love

Rating: Mature

Archive Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence, Major Character Death

Relationship: Gideon Nav/Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Minor or Background Relationships

Characters: Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Gideon Nav, Palamedes Sextus, Camilla Hect, Cytherea the First, Ianthe Tridentarius, Coronabeth Tridentarius, Pash | Our Lady of the Passion (Locked Tomb Series), Enver Gortash, Mizora (Baldur's Gate), John Gaius | Necrolord Prime, Varun the Eater (Locked Tomb Series)

Additional tags: Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Cyberpunk, no beta we die like cavs, Major Character Injury, the major character death is gideon but she gets better, Temporary Character Death, Necrophilia, Cannibalism, the tridentariicest is not central to the story but it aint hidden, Pining, Useless Lesbians, Literal Sleeping Together, Touch-starved harrowhark, Deaf Character, Sign Language, Masturbation, Bad Ending, Bittersweet Ending

Chapters: 15/?

Completed: no

Summary:

Title is a phrase from 'A Sermon on Cavaliers and Necromancers by M. Bias' (page 453 of Gideon the Ninth) ⚔︎ A story taking place in my original universe I created for my cyberpunk (genre) AU. Also Gideon is Deaf, a barista, and a half elf. Harrowhark is one of the most talented necromancers in the last several generations and has enlisted in service to the Cohort. (Gideon is 23 and Harrow is 22.) Description and tags will update as I go. Edit:I have two possible endings set up. They are both equally as likely to happen. One of them is rough and angsty. The other is not. I'll be honest and tell you I have no idea which one it will be. I have chosen the angsty one. So, I guess consider yourself warned. Also I used the regular Necrophilia tag instead of the Canon-typical Necrophilia tag because it's a different brand. Because my experience in Sign is exclusively with ASL, that is very much what Common Sign resembles (no previous knowledge needed to enjoy this work).

and because i think you guys are awesome, here's an excerpt from the fifteenth chapter! (under the cut)

Rancid energy leaked off them in lazy waves that had Harrow stepping back again. She had no idea what to say, or if she should say anything at all. Abruptly, Language Corrupts Thought turned to her, fair hair falling over their shoulder and bright white eyes burning like the tortured souls of a million innocents. “We can't abide by liars.���

[insoukokuhell-434]

Soukoku Fic Rec - First Kiss <3

The format I’m using is:

Title - writer (ao3 link) Fic length Time period (teen/mafia skk, 22! Skk, all ages) Additional tags (Tags in bold added by me for extra info) TW

Some fics have parts of the summary/ comments added for additional info

Only for You - StormDew2

9.9k MAFIA SKK (Post 15) Literal Sleeping Together, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Kissing, chuuya gets banned from drinking so dazai gets him some wine, Underage Drinking, Light angst

give me a kiss like a kick in the teeth - communist_sasuke    

3.5k MAFIA SKK (Pre-Dark era) Kissing, Dazai is Whipped, Dazai is oblivious correction: Dazai's not oblivious he's just in denial, Chuuya Is So Done 

Summary: "Not that Dazai thought Chuuya was beautiful, because that would be a bit much. He was attractive, objectively. Not that Dazai was attracted to him.

(Or, more accurately: Dazai was, in fact, very attracted Chuuya.)"

Threats Made in a Hotel Room - Moonyeyes

2k MAFIA SKK Kissing, Making out, Drinking, Sexual Tension, POV Chuuya

Cross-reference - chuuzxi

2.6k MAFIA SKK Fluff and Humor, Bickering Lots of it, Bets & Wagers, Gay Panic, Dazai Osamu is a Tease, Developing Relationship, Mutual Pining, that tag runs HARD here, Denial of Feelings, chuuya goes thru the 5 stages of grief in thirty minutes

Stitches - orphan_account

11.3k MAFIA SKK (Post 15 and Dark Era) First Kiss, Canon Compliant, Mutual Pining, Feelings Realization, Denial of Feelings

it's always been you - devantsun    

2k 22 SKK Love Confessions, kind of???, telepathic soukoku strikes, Fluff and Angst, Rated T for language, softer than the tags imply lol, this is very soft in general, blink and you miss it fukuzawa x mori TW- Dazai-Typical Suicide References

of sunsets and first kisses - Bl34ry

2.5k MAFIA SKK Fluff without Plot, very soft, Fluff and Angst, Maybe a little angst, But it's very soft, and there's kissing, Awkward Conversations, Awkward Crush, this is set to before dazai met oda actually…

Fireside - littlewritergrl

1.9K MAFIA SKK First Kiss, Light Angst, Internalized Homophobia, but just a little??

Fics with good first kiss scenes

(less focused on first kisses)

the moments in between - hellcatspangledshalalala

3.7k  ALL AGES Hurt/Comfort, Post-Corruption, pining, fluff, angst, fluff at the end, character study, Dazai POV, getting together, dazai’s depression

I'll Make A Home In Your Gut Because its Somewhere Warm to Sleep - arahabakii

8.9k 22 SKK Fluff, Angst, Mutual Pining, Feelings Realization, Making Out, Getting Together, Domestic Fluff, Touch-Starved Dazai, Dazai needs a hug, Chuuya needs a hug TW - Dazai-Typical Suicide References

A chance to start again - Root (Fyki)

4.4k 22 SKK Mutual Pining, Getting Together, Fluff, Introspection, they work they shit out

hey look, the sky's falling apart - saffroncassis    

24.8k TEEN SKK (16/17) AU - Canon Divergence Hurt/Comfort, Protective Nakahara Chuuya, Angst, Fluff, Humor, Developing Relationship Found Family (the Akutagawa siblings, Oda's kids, Kyouka, Oda, Ango) TW- Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse and discussions of both these, also cw food for the whole fic

a piece about tensions unresolved - acuteguwu

2.1k 25 (AU) Alternate Universe - No Powers Fluff, Friends to Lovers, chuuya is a mess, dazai is no better tbh, kinda unrequited crush, First Kiss

Summary: "Chuuya’s been into Dazai for so long that it doesn’t seem relevant anymore."

the same groove - halfbloom (diphylleias)

11.3K MAFIA SKK (16), 22 SKK Feelings realization, Pining, Love Confessions, Light Angst, Happy Ending, Growing Up

Summary: "Dazai always knows too much, and too fast, whether it be for the better or for the worse. But for Chuuya, the realization comes slower, gradually, clumsily over the years"

Please like/reblog if this helped u find a fic, I'd be delighted to know <33

Soukoku Fic Rec Masterlist

[verlaineszz]

✮⋆˙ THE ONLY EXCEPTION.

𓂃 ࣪˖ ཐིཋྀ LIFE EMBODIMENT! Dazai!

X DEATH EMBODIMENT! Chuuya!

⁺‧₊˚ ཐིཋྀ ˚— SUMMARY: Everything was the same for the two bodies, one had a curse of living and the other had the curse of death.

Every reincarnation of chuuya was him losing his loved ones then hisself, and on dazais side of the story, he does not reincarnate. He rots in the boundaries of living trying to fill the gaping hole in his chest but everytime he gets close to another human being, they face misfortune that does not include death.

It is bad both ways. The people around dazai gets corrupted by the living and chuuyas dies on his hands.

𓂃 ࣪˖ ཐིཋྀ — ANGST + FLUFF (?) + ALTERNATE UNIVERSE

A/N: can you guys tell i dont know how to get more color fonts in tumblr? I genuinely don't know how people get grey or pastel colored texts..(－‸ ლ) also the title is from the song, "the only exception" by paramore! Anyways, enjoy the soukoku — <3

Extra note! : i decided not to write what i usually write, gothic romance.. But you never know🙏

(i also just broke my leg and English isn't my first language so please excuse my grammer..)

also NOT!! PROOFREAD.

—˚₊‧⁺⋆ WARNINGS! : Blood, Death, Swearing, Alcohol

Most people that lives in the world believes that reincarnations did not exist, but chuuya did. He believed it since he has experienced it himself, in every universe he was always reincarnating as his self but in different universes with different outcomes. And every outcome was never good, he always had to lose somebody or himself, in every universe he loses somebody, it was either the flags, the sheep, dazai or more..in every universe someone is always dying. And that someone is someone he cares about.

Reincarnation after reincarnation, his memory was still there.. The memory of his past lives, he lost hope that he truly did not wanted to get close with anyone again. Everytime chuuya died, He wished that he would finally reincarnate in a universe that he belonged in.

Every waking day of his life felt like dread but he tries to make the best out of it, his personality never changes. He was still the sarcastic guy he is, but just more distant..

Another stake to his heart and caskets were served once again, this was the end of chuuyas other life. And he will reincarnate into another one once again, it was a never ending agonizing cycle.

As he reincarnates all over again, same story same everything. He escapes the lab through his brother verlaine, joins the sheep then join the port mafia. Chuuya avoided mostly everyone though, not getting too close with anyone as always. But as he met dazais snarky face again, he felt the same as others. Someway somehow he knew that dazai would die due to him but he ignored it.

"Ugh. Do i really have to work with this kid?" Dazai says while rolling his eyes

"who the hell are ya callin' a kid?"

✮₊⊹₊⋆ ☠︎︎ ⋆₊ ⊹✮

Mission after mission, dazai and chuuya spend their time together, dazai wanted to learn more about chuuya, in his eyes, chuuya was more human than he could ever be. He was drawn to his aura and how perceptive chuuya was. (due to how many times he has reincarnated.)

Chuuya was drawn to dazai as well since he seemed like he had no affect on chuuyas 2nd ability, which was being the embodiment of death. Dazai was alive and all teasing as always that chuuya missed the feeling of spending time with someone.. Even though it was dazai, the person that made his head hot, he found comfort in the way dazai was.

Years passes by, they both found comfort in eachother, within each banter was a hint of care, and dazai found something to live for.. For atleast a certain period of time. And it was chuuya, chuuya was unreadable to him, chuuya was like an anomaly, something extraterrestrial. Which made dazai want chuuya more, he wanted to live for chuuya and for chuuya specifically.

The two of them just had a connection in this universe thay chuuya couldn't decipher, why? Dazai was the only person that believed that he was human, that mattered to him alot.

The both of them currently just finished a mission and they both just sit down on a field of grass, talking and just bullying each other as always.

"Don't talk crap about my height when im still growin' jackass." chuuya snarked back at dazais comments about his height.

"And when will that magically happen?" dazai chuckled, chuuya glares at him and sighs and mutters out — "soon. I swear."

Dazai smirks and moves closer to chuuya, his face close chuuyas, chuuya just glares at him with a faint pink tint on the ends of his ears.

"you know, you're very hot headed and weird."

"what the hell does that mean?!" chuuya asks in an offended way.

"But that's what makes me love you." dazai smiles softly at chuuya before pulling away.

Chuuya looks at him with a raised brow and replies back, "ew, that's gross man!"

Dazai laughs back at his reaction. The reaction that he seemed to feel weird towards to. The feeling that bubbles up in his stomach that he found uncomfortable but exciting, chuuya had always standed out of the rest that dazai knew that he was— The only exception.

⋆｡‧₊°♱༺𓆩❦︎𓆪༻♱༉‧₊˚.

Chuuya and dazai balanced out eachother perfectly, they matched eachothers personality in an unexpected way. And thats why they're always hanging out after missions.

Chuuya bought some ice cream for the both of them, they played some arcade games and then went on a walk in the forests of yokohama.

Dazai stared at chuuya the whole time as they ate their ice cream. Dazai had the same feeling again, something bubbling up in his stomach. He wasn't sure of the feeling since he has never quite experienced it before but as he thinks about the last "dates" him and chuuya have been going on, it hit him. He has a fucking crush on the chuuya nakahara..but it wasn't a biggie for him, he did confess that he loved him from the start.. But he wanted him madly. A graze of chuuyas hand already sent him to the moon...

Chuuya looks at dazai and catches him staring, dazai locks eyes with him and smiles warmly while eating the ice cream. Chuuya felt warm.. Like it was the first time he has ever experienced life, dazai had no effects of chuuya and neither did chuuya to dazais.

The more and more time passes by, the more desperate they got. Chuuya felt more attracted to dazais demeanor and dazai felt more attracted to chuuyas mannerism.

There was just something that made dazai lose his breath from chuuya, to his way of combat and to the way he even replies back to banter, dazai felt more intrigued.. From the way chuuya patches dazai up with soft and gentle touches and the eye contact they always gave each other.. Drove dazai insane.

Everything felt out of hand for the both of them, dazai was smitten and chuuya was embarrassed, they both swore it was just a crush and they were both indenial about it.

Chuuya has lived through many universes but in this one.. In this one he felt something. No body was dying when dazai was around, and chuuya wanted to keep it that way.

In dazais case, he felt like something was wromg with him, like he was just alone with nobody understanding him like the way he understood people. He saw death as just an extension of life and that's why he wanted to die so badly, because he could not just die through natural causes, but as many times he tried to die, he couldn't.

One day, chuuya wanted to reject the feeling that was lingering in him, the feeling of wanting dazai. And that was the worse decision of his life. He decided to distance hisself away from dazai that dazai got curious.. "did i do something to piss him off? Why is he just randomly ignoring me?.." dazai thought.

As time distanced the two, everything went back to normal, chuuya wanted to protect dazai by just distancing himself from him, chuuya knew that his deathly quirk wouldn't hurt dazai but he was still wary. The both of them slowly lost connections that led to dazai leaving the port mafia and bombing chuuyas car— "god damnit. Ugh.. great."

As the two distance theirselves, chuuya tries to take another shot in getting close to people even though he knew the consequences but still.. Cadavers scattered his soul.

Distance took a toll on dazai, he felt connected to chuuya like he was his soulmate, they were one soul in 2 different bodies, that which made the both of them somewhat connected.

Years and years passes by and melancholy filled the hearts of both of the 2 men, dazai had already tried to commit suicide numerous times.. And time after time.. It finally worked.

His body was found floating unconscious in a deep lake, bricks and his wallet was found in his coats pocket. The police investigates the scene and this eventually reaches chuuya, his heart stopped at the news, dazai was the only person he cared about during the time.

His eyes were wide as he gets the news from a phone call through his akutagawa and he clenches his fist, "i.. I understand.. Yes."

"a picture of you was found in his wallet.." akutagawa mentions before chuuya hangs up. he felt numb. he wanted to scream since thats how he expresses pain but he couldn't. He already knew the feeling of losing who he cares about, why does he feel so Different?

He covers his mouth and a cold sweat dripped down his back, he felt regret. He should've never distanced hisself fron dazai, he wished he could've atleast confessed his feelings. The only person who stayed alive with him that he cared about died because he thought distancing hisself would do any good.

He would never forgive himself, but in every universe, he forgave dazai.. Since he was the only exception.

BONUS! :: a bouquet was in chuuyas arms as he walks aroumd the graveyard, visiting the grave of an old friend. Dazai osamus. He leans down and offers the bouquet of flowers, sitting down with his hand in his coats pocket, he stares at dazais name and he smiles softly and chuckles, "you know.. I take back what i said.. I didn't mean it. I swear. I love you too, samu."

He says as he takes out a pistol out of the pocket of his coat, "i hope i meet ya again, i swear i'll treasure you more." he says as he points the pistol to his head and pulling the trigger.

© All works by @Verlaineszz. Do not copy, redistribute, or repost on other platforms.

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[imasimpcentral]

Burack Rant

"FUCK IT SO MUUUUUCH" here's my burack ship thread post cause I need to ramble about them feel free to not read this I just need to let my silly little thoughts out 😁

Burack is a ship that consists of Burt and Mack from In Space with Markiplier (ISWM) They have three ships names ship name number one is burack; which is just their names joint together

Now before I get to the other two ship names I have to say Mack has two variations Crew Member Mack (pictured on the left) and Dictator/Head Engineer Mack (pictured on the right) and Burt is a reactor specialist so his title is featured in both ship names

It should also be said that these are both Mack but in different universes, in crew member Mack's universe he isn't head engineer (though we can assume he is an engineer) and in the universe where he is Head engineer he basically takes over the role of engineer mark (pictured)

(cont.) who is basically the captain's (/y/n's) right hand man but in a universe where Mack is head engineer we see that he takes on a lot more of a dictator role if you allow him to take control of the ship, if you don't allow him to do this he essentially has an identity crisis and becomes mark (don't ask)

So thus their other two ship names are born with their second ship name being theoryreactor: it's a mix of Mack's crew self (seeing as he's simply deemed theory crew in the credits) and Burt's title of reactor specialist

It is likely Mack is deemed "theory crew" in this universe due to being played by matpat (creator of game, film, food, and style theory) that leads us to our third ship name corruptreactor: which is a combination of dictator mack and burt's reactor specialist title

Corrupt refers to how Mack is a very corrupt leader who takes advantage of those he rules over. Generally speaking I usually alternate their ship names but if I wanna get more specific these are the ships names I use.

Burack; all Burt and Mack variants

Theoryreactor; crew member Mack/all Macks [This is pretty much their default name that I lean to] - I also think theoryreactor is funny because someone can react to a theory and be a theory reactor.. idk

Corruptreactor; dictator Mack

Corrupttheory; evil/dictator Burt (very rare variation that is usually only based on au/HC)

No real distinction between ships names but if only one of them is evil or dictatory it's likely one sided (and angsty!)

Okay now that we got all their general info out of the way here are my headcanons for them!

Burt is trans guy but he doesn't really care what pronouns you use on them, they're just here. He's also panromantic and asexual. I give him a lot of angst but I swear I love him!

For example Burt had a husband and 2 children on earth but his husband died a year prior to him going on the space ship and he had to leave his children on the dying planet earth knowing they would die. ( I am evil ) Burt now feels guilty pursuing relationships. Due to how recent his husband's death was (or maybe it's been decades at this point who knows) he still feels bad and just pushes his feelings for Mack aside. That's all for Burt but now let's talk about Mack...

Mack is trans? (I really don't know I just know they're not cis...) they use they/he/it pronouns. He's also aromantic and gay. Crew Member Mack often finds himself unintentionally competing with Mark often feeling unworthy and like he doesn't deserve his job as crew member. Burt and him have a good relationship and Burt continues to tell them they're worthy, but Mack isn't able to take the praise as truth as he doesn't have a lot of friends or people who like them on the crew, they believe Burt's only friends with them out of pity. Hence why they often end up pushing her away.

Dictator Mack has a lot of identity issues as he knows he's not supposed to be here and he knows Mark's supposed to exist in his place ( but he'll never tell anyone this ) Burt and him have a generally okay relationship but it can be toxic... Mack will use Burt for his own selfish needs often times dismissing Burt entirely. He doesn't hate Burt he more so thinks very little of them. Burt tries to help Mack as best he can due to his respect for him but it can difficult. Burt feels some responsibility to help Mack as they're the only one Mack has opened up to. ( Mack seriously needs therapy ).

that's all for now friends if you read all the way here you get a cookie! 🍪

[002yb]

I absolutely adore your DickJay fics, scenarios, and thoughts! They're so fun. I am curious, though. What are your headcanons on the other Bats reaction/opinions on their relationship? What members are supportive? Do any of them disapprove?

Oh, anon. The way my thoughts scattered every which way with this hahaha. We've got a little bit of everything here; vibes separated by bullet points. ٩(๑ơలơ)۶♡

Bruce

Simultaneously overprotective and aggressively supportive; wars with himself over how his dear boy is defiling his darling baby boy and like, he doesn't know how he feels about it. On the one hand, fuck Dick. On the other, there's no one that Bruce trusts more with Jason. So. Both earnest and begrudging acceptance.

'Don't get weird about it,' Jason says. Only Bruce gets weird about it anyway. Just so intense that it's embarrassing. Fuck forbid Bruce remembers his own anniversaries, but he'll send reminder texts to them both and send them congratulatory flowers or champagne the day of. Just weirdly involved despite keeping to the fringes.

Forever oblivious. Doesn't matter what precarious situation he catches dickjay in, it never registers. 'World's greatest detective' title revoked.

Pragmatic. Uncaring so long as it doesn't impact work. Seemingly indifferent, but would capitalize on what relationship can mean for his mission. Would probably try to use Dick to manipulate Jason.

Not supportive. No blessings given. Unfortunately this sort of situation feels more like Bruce holding onto grievances with Jason and not trusting him to not corrupt Dick's morals (though like, lbr; Dick doing a lot of corruption/defilement in his own right lol).

Tim

Accepting, supportive, but also very done with these two morons because dickjay harass him with their shenanigans (intentional and not); so tired.

The above, but Tim is sort of into it (freaky freaky (*°∀°)=3)

Pragmatic. Would play their feelings for each other to his favor. Not usually in a negative way, but not above it. Generally indifferent to the feels, just sees the utility in it.

Damian

Protective of Dick (but supportive)

Protective of Jason (begrudgingly supportive after a period of failed attempts to sabotage Dick hahaha; just a whole jealousy thing because Jason is Damian's and Dick is infringing on what isn't his and Damian's patience is short and his tolerance at the end of its rope so help him Grayson, Damian will fuck him up if he fucks Jason - sorry, fucks up Jason in any way).

Protective of both and at a standstill because of it (still supportive, but too many shovel talks too little time).

Oblivious. Just oblivious.

The above would be fun in a fic where father dearest, world's greatest detective, is also oblivious lol. It runs in the family.

Devastated, but bears the heartache well (unrequited crush on Jason)

Have I made it apparent that I really like Damian crushing on Jason? Because I do. Weird place to ask but if anyone has a fic rec with this premise (bottom!Jason if anything veers that way lol) then like, yes please??

Adamant supporter because it's like his second dad/mom are hooking up. Dick and Jason are the only people worthy of each other in Damian's eye, so it works. This Damian is having a good time, given Bruce won't make an honest woman out of Talia (alternatively, Talia isn't making an honest man out of Bruce either so lol)

Cass

Supportive, no doubt or question to it

Teasing (specifically of Jason hahahah she can fluster him so easy; she sees why Dick enjoys it).

Alfred

Supportive. Content. Pleased.

Concerned, given both boys are dear to him and both are moderate disasters. He doesn't want any heartbreaks. ):

Exasperation because he finds them all over the manor, without fail.

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Thank you so much, by the way!! It makes me all sorts of happy that you enjoy my stories and the little informal things I put out there. (´⌣`ʃƪ)♥ Thank you for the engagement, too! This was a lot of fun. Have a lovely weekend, anon~ ♥♥♥