#also: the science very probably does not check out. I know. At this point I might not care

[silverserpent]

Stellar Firma Customers - Superfluous Tentacle

So. We encounter the Supefluous Tentacle Cult -- also known as the Many-Limbed People of Zachroom 7 -- in the first and fifth episodes, and never again. As most of the aliens, we don't know much about them, so I could wordbuild to my little heart's content!

The guys came out utterly terrifying, but actually they are pretty peaceful.

Worldbuilding under the cut.

So, Trexel told us that these things are about three feet tall, are a cult, and that they had six hundred thousand hatchlings last year according to the Stellar Firma system. The brief told the guys that they needed the hatchworld just "at the right shade of boiling", therefore they made a boiling hot planet. It turns out that was too hot; Hartro tells us that two thousand and then some some hatchlings got cooked.

Now. If you write that up to the story being inconsistent due to improv, we can say that Trexel killed off the entire species, which would be on par with Trexel's usual work, but I like to believe that the Superfluous Tentacle weren't a collective idiot and put some of their hatchlings elsewhere. It looks like these hatchlings were under the care of one person, Nurturer 163, so it's likely that there are about two hundred Nurturers. Also, one nurturer managing this many larvae suggests that they are an R-selector species, who produce a lot of offspring, most of which die before maturity.

That's more or less what canon offers, it's all my headcanons and worldbuilding from now on.

I made the Superfluous Tentacle species come from a gas giant, high in the stratosphere, with no ground in sight, only floatings structures they built themselves. In that environment, since things tend to fall down, there aren't a lot of nutrients, which would mean everything eats everything else. There are a lot of ambush predators, carnivorous flowers, and other arboreal dangers around, so the smart, but small Tentacle People had to adapt for danger.

The head-like organ, with six eyes, a mouth-like thing and the crown of tentacles is not near their brain, that is deep inside their body, protected by the only bone-like structure, a skull, in their anatomy. Instead, this is used to communicate, observe, and to escape.

The hole is not the mouth, it's the hole they breathe out of. (Not breathe in, they have a bunch of other holes for that.) The thin tentacles along that are sensory organs, they are equipped with mechano- heat- and olfactory receptors. They also break off very easily if their owner is scared.

When one of the Tentacle People has to haul ass, they breathe out from the hole on their head very violently, and that lauches them in the other direction. The thin tentacle flail behind them. They are very easy to grab onto by any potential threat, and if that happens, a few of them will break off, like the tail of a lizard. The predator will usually settle and eat the tentacle, and let the person escape.

The core of their economy is what I call "whale upfall". Down, deeper near the planet's core, there is an ecosystem based off of some lifeforms that get by on electricity. (Handwaving the how; i don't have any idea on the physics or biology or anything like that.) There are very large, whale-like beings there, who have an air sac, an organ that has low-pressure gas in it that helps them control how high or low they float. Now, the whales have to actively pull muscles to get it to a higher pressure -- so when they die, they float up. The Tentacle People live off of the floating, huge carcasses, slowly picking the meat off of them, fighting anything and everything else that wants to eat it, and, eventually, they build floating islands from the skeletons.

They are somewhat of a hivemind. There are always a high number of workers around a hatch pond to protect it from anything that could harm it, and they die a lot, but nobody pays a lot of it. This is why Trexel says they are a cult.

The "right shade of boiling" is a mistranslation. The Nurturer meant "boiling" as "the surface moves a lot" - so, they wanted a lot of things for the larvae to eat that move. And the larvae to move a lot.

They didn't start a war for the dead larvae because most larvae would have died anyways, but they did relieve Nurterer 163 of their position. I'm not sure if they straight up killed them, or just put them on a pace shuttle and told them to never come back.

Also: like sea otters, the Tentacle People face the danger of floating off into oblivion if they fall asleep. Therefore, they always cling to something when sleeping. They sleep holding each other's tentacles often.

[telvess]

Reader using pick-up lines on them

chaotic writing for the fun

Hades

“You should be arrested for stealing my heart!”

Pick-up lines, hmm? Alright, fine, but did you have to use the most pathetic, the cheesiest one? Hades is way too elegant for such a poor tasted attempt, he actually feels offended by your words.

Your first impression is horrible. Hades silently judges you. Of course, he is too classy to make any snarky comments, but you can tell by his cold, indifferent look that he has lost all interest in your company. At this point, he is more of a Poseidon than his brother himself.

If you aren’t the type of person who gives up easily and still tries to flirt… just stop. The best you can get from him would be „yes”, „no” or a nod of the head.

Buddha

“You see my friend over there? She want to know if you think I'm cute.”

Buddha stares at you for a long moment, then looks over your shoulder to check out your friend (who you obviously made up), then then returns to you. His expression is blunt, maybe slightly bored. Totally makes you lose the confidence you had a moment ago as you watch him lazily suck a lollipop and pierce you through with his unimpressed glare.

The worst he can say is „no”, right? Well, who would have thought that the enlightened mind of Buddha would prove otherwise. A drawn-out silence makes you uncomfortable and you start to squirm under his gaze, not ready for that unfazed attitude of his…

Once the confidence you felt approached him vanished and you are ready to leave as quickly as possible, Buddha begins to laugh historically. You jump up a little and stare at him confused. It takes him a while to calm down, but when he does, he looks at you seriously again and says „tell your friend I find ya cute” with the most annoying smirk in the entire universe.

Susanoo

“Do you believe in love at first sight, or should I walk by again?”

Susanoo watches you with harsh expression, his eyebrows raising as your attitude doesn’t change. You just stand in front of him and wait for his answer. Kinda hot, he has to admit.

He is amused by this shitty attempt, but still has to admit that it takes some balls to say something so crappy to his face. You’re bold, stupid and definitely not in your right mind.

He would definitely address all of the above and then… respond to you with an even cheaper pickup line that he thinks sounds good. He is very proud of himself and oblivious to the point that it matches his intimidating aura.

Susanoo likes a person who isn’t concerned with what everyone think of them, but he is also a person who expects others to submit to his will, which makes him rather difficult person to flirt with, demanding from you to adapt to his confusing preferences.

Nikola

“If I could rearrange the alphabet, I'd put U and I together.”

BUAHAHAHAHA! HE WOULDN’T GET IT 100%!

He looks at you very confused at first, then he puts to work all of his braincells trying to figure out what you meant. Is this some kind of puzzle? Mystery? It’s clearly impressive, because he struggles to solve it!

Please, stop the brainstorming session before he starts writing his thought on the board and calls members of the science crew asking for the consultations.

After yours short explanation (which probably burnt your soul to the bones with embarrassment) Nikola nods, compliments your clever attempt and… continues what he was doing before this whole masquerade started, oblivious to the fact you just hit on him. So you just stand there and wait for something, but you last barely several dozen seconds before you run away to hide somewhere far, far away.

Much to your surprise, Nikola visits you the next day and invites you for coffee, bluntly.

Hermes

“Can I put my hand on your thigh, where it belongs?”

You sit next to him and get straight to the point. No hesitation, no shame in your eyes. Hermes’ eyes widen for a millisecond as the words leave your lips. Oh? Oh? Oh? He couldn’t help but let his lips stretch into a wide smile, trying to cover his mouth with his hand as a single chuckle escapes his lips.

When he pulls himself together, Hermes lets his playful nature take over. So you thought you were flirty? Hermes is too smart and too cunning to allow you triumph for long. Even if he isn’t interested, he will leave you with a dry mouth and wet panties. Hermes uses the tongue as smoothly as he uses the violin.

Apollo

“I'm sorry, were you talking to me?” He denies, “Well, would you like to?”

My, my, look at you! Approaching the Sun God just like this? Apollo is impressed. In fact, because of how intimidating he is, it's not often that others surprise him with such bravado. Usually they just treat him as something as intangible as the rays of the sun, bathing in his glory, praising him as a celestial being, not as a person. You - on the other hand - are a breath of fresh air.

Once the first shock wears off, his entire figure begins to glow and he gives you the most breathtaking smile you will ever see. From that point on, everything he does comes so naturally that it makes you lose yourself. After making great first impression, you end up like everyone else: Apollo wraps you around his little finger and before you know it, you just sit there and listen to his melodious voice as if you are bewitched. The man is too charming.

Poseidon

“Are you a magician? Because when I look at you, everyone else disappears.”

Peasant. Get out.

You aren’t clever. You aren’t brave. You aren’t impressive. The only person that will disappear is gonna be you, if you don’t remove yourself in the next 3 seconds.

Whoever didn’t stop you from approaching Poseidon like this, definitely doesn’t wish you well.

Kojirō

“Aren't you tired? From running through my mind all day?”

The man gives you surprised look, and moment later he presents you his widest smile. Sasaki has no clue what to say, so he just stands before you, rubbing his neck and blushing like teenage girl. He may stammers out a few words of thanks, but you really shouldn’t hope for more. Kojirō is simply not used to compliments, so even the simplest pick-up line can rock his world.

Please, ask him about swordsmanship, because it’s probably the only thing he can talk about while his brain fries in the skull.

Once Kojirō pulls himself together, he turns out to be exactly as carefree and friendly as you expected. The longer you two interact, the more open and less awkward he becomes.

Ares

“Do you have a name, or can I just call you 'mine'?”

Did you just? Huh???

Ares blinks a few times before his brain process information. He can’t believe you said something like that! Do you even know who you are talking to? He is Ares, the God of War! One of the twelve Gods of Olympus and son of Zeus! He deserves more respect, not some pathetic, human-alike attempt at flirting. He shouts all this in your face, making a big scene and ridiculing you in front of the others gods. For a moment he’s proud of himself, but your teary eyes quickly put him in a less mighty state.

To make things worse, you literally run away. At first Ares tries to ignore the feeling of guilt in his chest, pretending that your reaction was childish and exaggerated, but all he needs is Hermes to make a little remark (“Poor thing, it seems she gave her all to speak up.”) to make Ares’ face red.

He mutters some lame excuse to leave and starts looking for you. He still thinks your attempt was awful, but maybe - just maybe - his heart skips a beat knowing that some pretty miss thinks so highly of him.

Jack

“If music be the food of love, let’s have a feast together.”

Okay, this man isn’t used to hearing compliments, let alone hitting on him. Jack is a little shocked, not because he doesn’t understand you, but because you actually chose him. He doesn’t recognize you, but to his great surprise you seem to know a little about him. After all, you referred to Shakespeare. It couldn't have been an accident, right?

“Pardon me, lady?” is probably the first thing out of Jack's mouth as he’s still processing what you’ve said, but he quickly snaps out of his surprise, “Forgive me, where are my manners?”

Jack introduces himself properly, takes off the hat and bows like a gentleman. He then politely asks for your name, still fluttered that you gave him a chance.

Thor

“Did you do something to my eyes? I can't seem to take them off you.”

“…”

Neither Thor nor Mjölnir budge. Well, this is definitely something new; no one has ever approached Thor this way before, so he has to give you some points for creativity. However, don’t expect anything as Thor isn’t interested in continuing the conversation, so it’s up to you if you are interested in one-sided interaction.

Loki

“Well, here I am! What are your other two wishes?”

Loki stares at you without the slightest sign of interest, twirling strand of hair around his finger. He seems distant, almost like he didn’t hear you. Then he flinches, as if snapped out of trance. His face changes in a split second: a wide, forced smile and squinting eyes screaming at you to evacuate, because you’ve hit on the wrong guy. “Do you have a death wish, woman?” Loki asks, his voice has the sweetest tone that tickles your ears, but his words spew poison…

Loki is capricious. I don’t think it’s a matter of wrong pick-up line, it's rather more a matter of right timing. But even if you choose a bad moment to approach him, he probably wouldn’t hurt you (physically) - he prefers to scare others, toy with their fear than kill them.

On the other hand, if your timing is right, then you would still bounce off the wall, because Loki doesn’t intent to give you a straightforward answer; he would like to play with you, confuse you with the mixed signals he sends. He wants a reaction from you, entertain him. If you are cocky - his goal is to crush your self-confidence. Shy? Prepare for blushing, squealing and stuttering. Ah, you think you’re being funny here? Loki will gladly turn your smile into tears.

[cormorant-red]

I played 999 recently at @xivu-arath's recommendation, and I had so much fun that (inspired by that one polygon video) I illustrated my liveblog about it!

If you haven't played 999 and you are even a little bit intrigued by a puzzle/mystery visual novel with multiple timelines that all guide you towards wild plot twists...probably don't read the text! 999 is the kind of story that is best experienced with no knowledge besides the basic premise.

Transcript below the cut:

Cormorant: characters in this game really just say shit like "have you heard the story about the crystallization of glycerin?"

as a matter of fact i haven't, june, please enlighten me

Storm: "I know we're stuck in a freezer but. let's talk about weird mythical science!"

Cormorant: it's also killing me that junpei is dressed like marty mcfly and isn't sharing any of his jackets

-----

Cormorant: this game is leading me to arrive at mathematical concepts on my own. what the heck

Storm: kshgushhsg

I take it you're having a good time then

Cormorant: trying to check lotus's work and it turns out that no matter what group i arrange to take through a door, the people left behind will always have the same digital root

so to get through door 7 with snake missing, i could either send a group with sum 16 (junpei, ace, clover, and june) or with sum 25 (clover, june, seven, and lotus), but it doesn't matter because the remainder always have root 9 and can't get through doors 3 or 8! wild!

Storm: yeah the numbers and which doors end up barred to you is so cleverly deliberate

-----

Cormorant: i'm glad i finally checked what novel mode meant, because this is way more fun

Santa cocked his head to one side, like an inquisitive bird, and looked at them.

After several long moments, during which it became apparent that Santa had no idea what the cards meant, June took pity on him.

i'll have to go back and redo the beginning after i get to the first ending

Storm: oh yeah! as I recall that was done differently when it was originally a dual screen game... but it's much better when in novel style. gimme all the descriptions

-----

Cormorant: I had a long day of sitting though presentations and so I entertained myself by calculating digital roots

I discovered that adding 9 or any multiple of 9 to a number has no effect on the digital root, which is awfully interesting bc I got to the part where snake gets killed. Assuming door 3 was opened with 12 and not 21, the options are 7+3 (motive?), 6+4 (they’d both have to be REALLY good actors), or 9+1. And if bracelets work without a body attached, and if ace picked it up in door 5…

That would be a really useful tool to get around the 3-person minimum without altering the digital root

I’m also very intrigued by the theory that zero is also in the game but I don’t know what to do with that yet

Storm: forlornly having to keep myself from saying literally anything

Cormorant: Understandable, please don’t give me any hints! I’m just calling shots for the joy of being wrong

-----

Cormorant: and how do you know that, my traitorous friend?

Santa: “The RED doesn’t need a person, you know.”

Santa: “All I need is the bracelet.”

-----

Cormorant: y’know what i think he’s bluffing. he does need June specifically and that’s why he refused to consider leaving her when they first found door 9. if all he needed was a hostage, he could have grabbed junpei and forced ace to come along, and then he would be dealing with two people under duress instead of three

i peeked at a guide and apparently i found the ending adjacent to the true ending(?) first, oh well. time to see the others!

santa: i said i don't want to leave seven alone

me: bud you can't do a heroic sacrifice too, it'll mess up all the math

reader, he was not doing a heroic sacrifice

-----

Storm: got any character opinions or theories to share so far?

Cormorant: hmm I’ve got soft spots for santa and lotus maybe just because they were in the first group I went with. I like that the game makes a point of showing that lotus is quick with the math/technical knowledge. I warmed up to clover and seven more than I expected to! I have no evidence to mistrust ace….but I don’t trust him

Snake died before I before I could say two words to him

Or…didn’t. Forgot clover said he didn’t

I got info about the previous experiments from clover and I wonder if we’re like…reenacting the past somehow? Experiencing morphogenetic resonance with the last voyage?

Again no evidence i just wonder where the pseudoscience is going

Storm: santa was so my type as soon as I started playing that I just picked all rooms with him on my first run skugrhsghu

Cormorant: AHAHA that makes me feel better about going “yeahhh door 4 I like the cut of this guy’s jib”

-----

Cormorant: “the bracelet comes off when your heart rate reaches zero” interesting then that we’ve brought up cryostasis

-----

Cormorant: i simply don't trust him not to have a spare bracelet in his pocket!!!

They climbed into the elevator and Junpei listened to it creak and rattle its way to the bottom deck. Only Junpei, Ace, and Lotus were left.

As the elevator rumbled out of sight, Ace spoke.

Ace: “Lotus, would you be so kind as to go with me?”

Cormorant: “bad end” YEAH I’LL SAY

Storm: lkksghr yeah there's a few of those!

Cormorant: santa was really quick to declare that he, june, and seven needed to go with clover. waht's his game

june and ace could have done it just as easily

Storm: they could have! good catch

maybe he just thinks seven is cooler than ace,

Cormorant: i'm imagining clover taking all her grisly trophies to the door only to find it already engaged, because lotus needed no persuading,

and regarding the true ending requirements, it's also funny that santa's like "i hate this bookmark! get it out of my sight!" and this is a huge help in junpei befriending the girl who's otherwise about to snap

Storm: load bearing bookmark

Cormorant: good thing you threw that tantrum bud or you would have been killed with an axe

-----

Cormorant: in my suspicions i forgot a critical detail, which is that he didn't actually go into the door with the body this time

of course seven has been propping doors open, so it really could have been anybody

-----

Cormorant: "where have these 16 boys and girls disappeared to?" eight for each game and then an experimenter? again with the idea that zero might be in the game...

-----

Cormorant: bad endings complete! on to the normal ending, which hopefully has less of junpei getting stabbed to death

puzzling over who could have done all those murders, especially in the sub ending...or did everyone get killed? clover thinks that snake's death was faked. or did snake do all the murders, since he was the only one unaccounted for?...and then i remember what kind of game i'm playing. can't discount the ice mummy as a suspect.

Storm: you truly cannot ignore the possibility of the ice mummy

-----

Cormorant: ah no, so santa's sister was the kid that died...

i can't figure out the connection between events! why did the last games have the veneer of a science experiment, while this one has no context given? why was it all kids last time, and a random mix of ages this time, with some repeat subjects?

-----

Cormorant: called it!!!!

Junpei: “Ace, Guy X, and the 9th Man’s bracelet.”

Junpei: “That was all you needed to open door [3].”

Cormorant: called it before i even got to an ending ehehe

what i’ve been saying!!

Ace: “(9) is a potent ally in the Nonary Game.”

Ace: “Adding (9) to any set of numbers won’t alter the digital root.”

Ace: “As you can see, (9) is a very useful number here.”

Ace: “With it, one can go anywhere, with anyone.”

Ace: “It is, I suppose you could say, a game changer.”

-----

Cormorant: okay, normal ending finished! junpei did not get stabbed but we also didn’t resolve much…I’m now thinking that ace with his pocket drugs could have easily played dead in the sub ending

glad to see that snake is okay and hopefully can stay okay in the true ending. where did clover get that riddle, and will she still have it?

0=6. how much do I read into this

still don’t understand how we get from here to santa hostage situation. he’s been so consistent about not even considering betraying or abandoning people, so either he’s a better actor than ace…or it’s staged. are he and june in cahoots

Storm: augh so close now!! soon I can actually say things

-----

Cormorant: O FUCK

Seven: “Santa’s always in the room with her. That’s what you’re saying, isn’t it?”

Snake: “Yes, that’s right.”

Clover: “What about it…?”

Snake: “That’s quite simple, really.”

Snake: “You told me that the first time you came to this room…”

Snake: “…Santa was the first to refuse to leave June behind.”

Snake: “Now, doesn’t that beg the question “why?” Why would Santa do such a thing?”

Snake: “The answer is easy.”

Storm: B)

Cormorant: i've been thinking of them as a pair because it makes the math easier! if you've got 3 + 6 + 8, just cross out the ones that make 9 and don't even bother with the addition, your root is 8

Storm: B) B) B)

Cormorant: but god!! they are a pair, do not separate (or the jig is up)

Storm: they hid it soooo well

-----

Cormorant: was wondering when we would see the last cradle guy and oh duh, he was guy X

i did think it was odd that santa phrased it as "i need to leave two of you behind" rather than "i need three of you to come with me," but if he was responsible for everything (most things?), he knew that snake was there, and he was setting up a group that could follow him. excited to see where this is going!

[dreamy sigh] this game is so elegant. what a little puzzle box

Storm: yeah it is, it's just so wonderfully crafted. so little is wasted!

-----

Cormorant: oh boy [akane vision label]

"through the morphic fieldset we were resonant, and we were as one" i don't think i've mentioned it before but i'm constantly pleasantly surprised by the narration in this game. it's not flashy but it's evocative in a way that's really working for me

Storm: this is where the port falls short a bit of the original version... the ds really worked well with this aspect

-----

Cormorant: the number of times i thought "this will be totally wrong but i'll say it to storm anyway"

hello??? [arrow pointing back to the message “I wonder if we’re like…reenacting the past somehow? Experiencing morphogenetic resonance with the last voyage?”]

Storm: Y E A H

Cormorant: laser-guided spitballing

-----

Cormorant: man i said that 4+6 would have to be really good actors if they were the ones that opened door 3...and while they didn't kill snake, i sure underestimated our queen of the stage akane kurashiki

the baseline was NOT where i thought it was

Storm: no one does it like her

[lemotmo]

They're in complete meltdown 🤣🤣🤣. She posted multiple questions at once, I sent everything. They're so bad at this 🤣. Enjoy!

Q. I have a college degree I am more than capable of comprehending the media I consume, certainly more than you are. I know what I'm watching when it comes to Tommy. Tim only came at us so you all would stop running to him crying.

Q. Love how wanting more of and for Tommy makes us the bad guys. You all are so pathetic. Tim's no better, he should have told you all to grow up.

Q. You all are so afraid of Tommy taking Eddie's place on the show and your desperation is showing. We all know Ryan's only there because Tim thinks he's hot.

Q. Tim should be embarrassed by that interview. How immature to call out your audience because we rightly told you that you weren't giving us what we wanted. He brought Tommy in he doesn't get to be upset when we tell him he isn't using him correctly.

A. I posted all of these together because this is what mine and many other ask boxes look like tonight. I will answer these questions jointly instead of one at a time. I want to first point out to all of you that you once again tattled on yourselves. You all seem to have a bad habit of doing that. First tattle was that you all clearly understood that you were who Tim was talking about. The second tattle was the one where we all said Buck didn't matter to you, and these questions prove us right. Buck isn't mentioned in any of these asks. The other thing these asks did though, and I'm positive you all weren't aware you were doing it, is confirm that you are indeed aware of the story the show is actually telling. Pretty sure you all didn't mean to let that little mask slip. Whoops. I do want to address the first ask for a minute though because, anon surely you aren't implying that a college degree is required to be on Tumblr.com discussing fictional television characters? The only qualification required is show/character knowledge (you know that thing many of you don't actually have). But if this is a personal dick measuring contest with me I have a double major in journalism and public relations and my minor was in political science. Does that qualify me to talk about Buck and Eddie being fond of one another? Or Tommy not being the right guy for Buck? What degree is required to be qualified to participate in fandom?

With that out of the way, let's jump straight into the interview since it's what set you all off. We need to acknowledge right away that Tim has spent his entire career dealing with fandoms. Buffy, 911, Lonestar. The man has seen some fandoms. The fact that he said he has never seen anything this ugly should embarrass and alarm you. I know it doesn't do either of those things, but it should. It's also probably very confusing for him because Tommy is very obviously being written as temporary so I'm sure this entire thing has taken him by surprise. But let's start at the beginning. Tommy came into the show at a clear disadvantage, and as a result many things needed to break perfectly in his and his fans favor for him to have any hope of moving the needle on the original storyline. One, everyone important involved in creating the show is firmly in the other ships camp. He needed to convert some pretty important people, that doesn't appear to have happened. Two, his scene partner on the show, Oliver, is also firmly in the camp of the other ship (he is in fact co-president of their fanclub), he needed him to at least be open to the idea of this relationship semi long-term. That very clearly didn't happen. Oliver checked out immediately following episode 6. He has been crickets ever since. Third, he needed a significant portion of the audience, a significant portion, to vocally become Tommy fans. That also didn't happen. He made a fandom dent of his own, and some of you all certainly tried very hard to appear to be many different viewers, but, again, you ratted yourselves out, so that plan didn't work. Lou needed all three of those dominoes to fall in his favor and he went 0 for 3. On top of that the fans that he did amass were described by Tim today in a very unflattering way. And that's putting it politely.

I will even give you the benefit of the doubt and say that the joint interview they sent him and Oliver on was testing the waters (it wasn't but I'm giving you the benefit for argument sake). If that had actually been a test, it was a massive failure. The only thing that interview accomplished was confirming their mutual disinterest in one another. They both tried for a brief minute but neither one was committed enough to the bit to really make an effort. Oliver's season long lack of even being interested in pretending was a death nail even if anyone behind the scenes was willing to think about it. What will be interesting to see is how long he actually sticks around for this season. Because I now believe it will be shorter than they probably ended season 7 thinking it would be. He was never going to be anything major, but I do think once they slowed the original storyline down they had plans to keep him for at least 8a, maybe a bit longer. Now I think he'll be lucky to make 3 episodes. There's a growing part of me that wouldn't be surprised if they did in fact decide to go the off screen breakup route. I raise that theory by suggesting they only released that deleted clip because they needed the audience aware that conversation took place, because it's going to be referenced in a scene in either episode one or two. I still believe the show needs him for at least a couple of scenes. Technically they could have Buck narrate why they broke up, but Buck is a notoriously unreliable narrator. Especially when it comes to himself. He'll paint himself as the bad guy, and this break-up doesn't need a bad guy. It's being written as a bad FIT. There's a difference. But if Tim, or especially ABC, believes Lou ended up causing more trouble than he was worth (he did) they'll cut their loss and explain the break-up and reasoning behind it (that's the part they need Tommy for) another way. It can be done though, it just won't be as cohesive as actually using Tommy to show it. In short, anons, the only thing Tim's interview today confirmed was that Lou's cameo nonsense did in fact create a mess that Tim, and company, are not at all happy about. Congratulations you played yourselves.

On a side note I didn't address the Eddie ask because you all have spent the entire off-season trying to hijack his entire character history to turn into Tommy's backstory. I think that proves who's actually afraid of who. And Ryan is hot. Tim is so valid for thinking that, but it's not the reason he has the job. But you knew that already.

I must admit that the OP has more patience than me. I got so angry seeing those questions she got in her askbox. I would have probably ended up deleting a bunch of them.

That being said, I love this answer so much. I agree 100% with everything here.

I think this deserves another one of these:

Thank you Nonny for dropping this in my inbox!

Heads up! For anyone who is giving me the shifty eyes for reposting these anon OP updates instead of reblogging. Don't get mad at me. There is a reason for it and it's all done with consent from the OP. You can find out more about that here.

Remember, no hate in comments or reblogs. Let's keep it civil and respectful. Thank you.

If you are interested in more of the anonymous OP’s posts, you can find all of their posts so far under the tag: anonymous blog I love.

[eyeballmarshmallowtea]

BBC Sherlock

Hi, I'm Sophie. This post will be a rant. You have been warned.

BBC Sherlock last aired in 2017, with Series 4 Episode 3, The Final Problem. I am still waiting for Series 5. I first discovered this show when my amazing English teacher showed us A Study In Pink before the christmas holidays. I went home, watched the next epsiode, and promptly forgot that Sherlock existed. Until a couple of days before the summer holidays, when we were shown The Hounds of Baskerville. We only got to watch half the episode, and me and a friend finished it and watched half of the Great Game in Science and French class. (It was the end of the year, there was practically no work). And then I left for music tour. We spent 30+ hours on a coach over 5 days. 28 hours of that (I checked) was spent on BBC iPlayer. That's the whole of Sherlock twice. I finished it and then rewatched with a friend, and from then I became obsessed. I got a group together of 4 people, old and new fans, and we chat about Sherlock the entire time and it is amazing. My parents used to watch it so I convinced them that my sister was old enough to watch A Study In Pink. (She was only allowed to watch that one, she is now on Series 4. I regret nothing). My dad found the DVDs in the free book pickup at our local station, so I watched the original pilot episode and it was amazing. I also read and write fanfiction, which leads me onto the next point. And it is a long point.

Johnlock.

Although the series ended 7 years ago, I still hold out hope. Sherlock Holmes and John Watson belong together and always have, and before I finished the show I truly believed it would become canon. I was heartbroken and I genuinely felt let down. As so many of fans were at the time of the show's release, I am an LGBTQ+ teenager, and representation in my favourite show would be more than just a stupid headcannon coming true, it would have meant the world to me and so many others. This show has made me laugh and cry but sometimes I think about what could have happened and I wonder what could have been different.

However, regardless of this, I truly believe that this show is an incredible feat of acting, writing, filming, production and it will come back. Even yesterday (I say yesterday, it's 00:16 currently), the producer said there might be a movie or a new series. There is always hope, and Sherlock will return, because it has to. The 'ending' cannot be the ending, because it is not the ending. It is the temporary ending, and the true one will be here someday, even if it takes another 7 years.

And even if not, then there will be more adaptions, and someday someone will tell the true story of Sherlock.

And whether you ship Johnlock, or are a fan of Sherlock, this show is incredible. And honestly, if there is another series, I don't even care what it is about as long as it just happens.

In conclusion, this show has genuinely been life changing. It has changed my perception of things, given me friendships, made me less bored, given me something to do and something to talk about, and I am endlessly grateful for the show.

So when it does return, I will be waiting for it, and when the first announcement comes, I know my reaction will be pure joy, and probably make me look very stupid in public.

I'm now crying. I need to sleep.

Thank you for reading

-Sophie

[getvalentined]

I've never done a full breakdown of everything that happened to my version of Vincent while he was under the knife (although there is a partial breakdown from like 12 years ago on Ask Vincent Valentine), but @spinejackel tagged my recent Vincent doodle gushing about autopsy scar (Vincent Has a Y-Incision headcanon supremacy!) so I figured it was probably a good time. This is also probably the best method, since I can apply the right tags and trigger warnings to hopefully keep it from hitting the people who would be disturbed.

For anyone who doesn't know, figuring out the fucked up physiology of victims of science is like my entire jam. I think this is what happens when you let a chronically ill child watch Akira and the original Bubblegum Crisis OVA and most of the works of Masamune Shirow. All that before FF7 even existed. This means that the explanation under the cut may seem excessive, and this post is very long. I've been building it over over a quarter century, I don't think there's any avoiding it at this point.

Warnings for body horror, nonconsensual body modification, medical horror and torture. Basically, if there's anything you can think of related to becoming a victim of science under the rule of an unethical sci-fantasy oligarchy, it's probably in here to some degree. It's explained plainly and simply, in clinical but not visceral detail.

My headcanons for what Hojo did to Vincent are pretty specific, albeit not precisely comprehensive; 27 years later I still don't really have a particularly solid concept for how he turned Vincent into a shapeshifter, although at least we know it's not something entirely specific to Vincent—Hojo repeated that facet of the experiment in Azul, but not in any other SOLDIER operative even in DeepGround, implying that it's only possible if very specific physiological conditions are met. The minimal concept I do have involves a twisted application of the concept of incarnate summoning as it appears in FFXIII-2, but it's very vague and also not the topic of this post. Maybe later.

Regarding the Y-incision/autopsy scar, my headcanon is that once Hojo tweaked Vincent into being able to regenerate from any injury—an enhancement that is confirmed to be entirely Hojo's work in Dirge—the professor of course felt it necessary to run various tests quantify the usefulness of his handiwork. He did this first by inflicting various surface injuries, then by causing more extreme bodily trauma, which eventually culminated in Hojo removing the majority of Vincent's internal organs in order to measure how long it took them to grow back and, assuming they did grow back, how the new ones compared to Vincent's original parts.

To be able to observe this as closely as possible, Hojo kept Vincent's torso open for the entire process—which he repeated twice more in order to check the weight, size and structure of the newly-grown organs in comparison to the originals. This study proved that most of them did grow back, but the majority of them stopped developing much earlier than was appropriate for Vincent's age and size. The difference was consistent, Hojo just never figured out why most of them grew back smaller and less-developed.

The reason this happened is based the fact that most of the organs in the human trunk are used in digestion and other related processes, and Vincent's regeneration means he doesn't need to eat or drink anymore. His body only expended as much energy as was completely necessary to develop those organs to the point of being functional rather than normal, because they're not really necessary. Vincent is glad he still has them, though, because he does still occasionally eat (usually in social situations) and also he'd be really sad if he couldn't even have coffee.

Vincent's brain activity remained normal during the entire process, although that may have something to do with Hojo driving a bunch of fluid lines into his head and flooding the inside of his skull with mako to keep him awake the whole time even while deprived of oxygen. (Rebirth spoilers, but seeing the bit in the Nibelheim Protorelic questline where Hojo does something super similar to this, after this has been my headcanon for decades, was a trip.)

Two organs didn't grow back at all: Vincent's appendix and one kidney. This was also the result of efficient energy expenditure, as the human appendix isn't necessary for survival, and only one kidney is really required. (Each time Hojo removed the new kidney, the one that grew back would be on the opposite side, which bothered Hojo to no end.)

His lungs grew back a little larger, possibly because his skeletal structure never quite recovered after his first transformation into Galian—his arms and legs are noticeably too long for his body, although not to the point of looking impossible, and likewise his ribcage settled to breadth that would allow for larger lungs. He doesn't really need these anymore either, related to his brain being exposed to so much mako during the process that it can now operate without oxygen if necessary, but switching himself over from aerobic to anaerobic respiration is really unpleasant and Vincent tries to avoid it when he can.

His heart was pretty normal by the time Hojo was done with him, although his heartrate had dropped to like 20bpm even when elevated. Again, if respiration isn't necessary, there's not much reason for the system to be active. (By the time Lucrecia was done this had dropped to around 5bpm on average, although it's completely arrhythmic and jumps all over the place when he's not either particularly active or on the verge of a transformation.)

This was the experiment that left Vincent susceptible to degradation, which Hojo didn't realize until after finally closing him back up. Upon realizing that Vincent's body wasn't responding properly to a different test (a repetition of an earlier experiment related to the regeneration of external tissues and features), Hojo just kinda threw him in a tube to be disposed of at a later date, kinda like that scene in Arrested Development where there's that dead dove in a bag in the fridge. The incision healed at some point during the period that Lucrecia was working on him, but early enough in her work that the tissue couldn't flawlessly regenerate (like it does in the present), leaving him with one more gnarly scar on top of all the rest.

Vincent is self-conscious about all the physiological changes brought on by what was done to him, often to the point of loathing. His left arm is the worst—it rotted off while he was in the throes of degradation and grew back as something that he hesitates to call his arm—but Vincent hates that Y-incision scar almost as much. Some days they tie.

(It has come up in appropriately horrified conversation with Shalua that, considering how his regeneration works, Vincent could probably get rid of all the scars on his chest if he somehow peeled the skin off his torso in a single swath. He will not be doing that. Besides, it might grow back the wrong color/texture/etc, like his left arm. Not worth the risk, much less the suffering.)

Also I gotta finish off this entry with the extremely stupid headcanon reveal that Vincent's (honestly fairly impressive) dick was cut off during the first round of bodily trauma regeneration tests—and Hojo has never felt the sort of rage he experienced upon discovering that it grew back bigger than before. This occurred early enough in the experiments that Vincent was not awake for it, and thus has no idea how the fuck this happened, and does not want to talk about it ever thank you very much. I've never mentioned it in public anywhere because it is extremely stupid, but I hope someone out there finds it as funny a concept as I do.

[slocumjoe]

Companions reactions when Sole finds an abandoned baby and is like, “Welp! No parents, your mine now!” And wants to take them back with them?

Cait; ...okay...she understands that there is something of an obligation to not leave a baby to die, but...does Sole really have to keep it? Surely there's someone else that would like a baby, like a gay couple somewhere. Maybe those lesbians in the DC science center. Or the Ms. Nanny and teacher dude that got married, also in Diamond City. Like...Sole already has a bab—oh. Right.

Codsworth; Gotcha, what are they naming it? He'll sort out the feeding situation while they figure it out, go check shops for baby things.

Curie; Ms. Nanny protocol remnants + Curie naturally having a strong sense of justice = Sole will finally hear Curie say naughty words. They won't understand it if they don't speak French, but Curie is spitting pissed off. If Sole wants that baby, they might have to wrestle it out of her hands. Becomes very mama bear. Fusses over it in incessantly. Will relax once it is in a safe environment, and then Sole can claim it for themselves.

Danse; Goes fucking Terminator levels of bodyguard until the kid is in safe hands, like Curie. If a leaf on a tree moves, he's shooting it. Twitchy and on high alert until they get to a settlement. Sole is already planning on putting a baby room in their house. Very worried. Sole has a lot on their plate, much of it involving travel. Sole is not going to travel with a baby in their arms, fuck no. Pre-BB, suggests taking it straight to the Prydwen. After...surprisingly open to keeping it.

Deacon; Thinks they're straight-up joking. Makes a joke in response. Sole keeps joking, he keeps joking, Sole holds up a baby, Deacon has an aneurysm. Plays 5d chess in his head, planning the safest routes back to a town. Hyperventilating the whole time. Babies are loud. Loud is bad. Sole says they want it. Also bad. Sole. You are a spy. Spies don't have kids. You can't keep it, he's sorry, he knows what it's like, but that kid is safer somewhere else.

Gage; The deepest sigh man has ever achieved. Could have inflated a blimp with it. Okay, yeah, sure. Don't use crotchgoblins as bearbait. He's a raider, but there's...no, no there isn't honor amongst raiders. There is with Gage, though, he has, like, some coupons he can cash in whenever the ol' moral compass stops pointing at money. But...no. No, Sole...no. You don't have to put it back, but you can't keep it. And if they're Overboss? What the fuck are you thinking? What, like Mags is gonna babysit or some shi–why are they looking at him like that.

Hancock; A pendulum of 'chill with it' and 'unchill.' On one hand, SOMEONE GET THE BABY AN ADULT. On the other, WAIT NO NOT HIM, A CAPABLE ADULT. Doesn't matter what relationship he has with Sole. Hancock is getting babysitting duty. Hancock always gets babysitting duty. For some reason, he gets stuck watching kids way too fucking much. It's not that he hates them, it's that he breathes more Jet than air and has a penchant for throwing knives at things when bored. Please for the love of God, keep it if you want, but understand Hancock himself is baby and is not suitable for watching another baby.

MacCready; He's from Little Lamplight. As if he's even gonna blink. Hops on board quicker than Codsworth.

Piper; Sole's probably still in that phase after having their own child, where the hormones go all crazy with kids in general...losing their kid isn't helping matters, either, huh? Regardless of the circumstances, Piper is just going to shrug and do what she can to help. Whoever the parents are, they're either dead or don't deserve it, so...

Nick; Will not rest until he finds parents, dead or alive. If they are alive, has some stern fucking words for them. It'll take a damn good reason for him to take the kid from Sole and give it back to the parents. Will also suggest giving it to a couple who wants kids, but can't have them. Knows quite a few people who'd appreciate it. But not against Sole keeping it. Hope they like Uncle Nick back-seat parenting, though. Like a crusty grandpa at Thanksgiving who makes a face when your five year old has an iPad.

That grandpa is right, by the way.

Preston; Also doesn't flinch. Baby alone in the Commonwealth, you take the baby. This isn't a moral conundrum, it's basic common sense. Sole wants to keep the baby? Chill. Preston is not a useless potato sack of a person, like some people. Baby get, baby take care of. Hey, they're Minutemen, too, so they should have access to resources you need for childrearing. Third fastest to hop aboard the This Is My Baby Now train.

X6-88;

[a-heart-of-kyber]

No, no cuz listen.

@dealingdreams and I have discussed how Qimir/The Stranger gives trapped animal vibes. And she mentioned how maybe it was something similar to Ben wherein someone spoke to him from a young age in his mind.

(Kylo theme plays in the distance)

(It literally also played while Kelnacca...had someone else...in his head.)

And idk where, but someone pointed out that his cave has those Cortosis veins. So it, or maybe even the whole island, potentially has a similar veil of protection as the helmet aka blocking thoughts/energy etc.

Which means, if that's the case, this dude is hiding and has been hiding for a long time.

He only seemed to take on the "Qimir smuggler rat man" persona because Mae wasn't doing what she was supposed too and he wasn't even sensed by the Jedi in the force. Overall, he probably assumed he had laid low long enough to go unnoticed without the helmet.

Then he made himself very obvious, and if someone were looking/feeling/sensing they probably found him. Aka, his display on Khofar led Plagueis to the Unknown Planet.

Cuz remember...the helmet broke. He didn't have it on for hours after that fight.

I am personally not going to assume EU stuff is canon until it is made canon. So, while it could be Bal'Demnic, that has not been confirmed. Additionally, just because it could be Bal'Demnic it doesn't mean Plagueis has tapped that resource yet. It could still be unknown to even him until right now.

Now, whatever happened between Qimir and Vernestra, we know she thought he was dead. Aka, he was either actually dead or very close to dead.

(Additionally, this would mean that he initially had no reason to hide from her if he could assume she thinks him dead. So, if he has been hiding, he's been hiding from someone else.)

Plagueis most likely scooped that boy up and treated him like a science project for a bit. Screwing with him mentally in the process (a nice bit of further Sith ideological brainwashing). Then, of course, Qimir became the Apprentice.

(This would make him a bit of an analog of Darth Venamis. Far from the same, but taking bits of him...but also, surviving/escaping being an experiment.)

Which could mean he has been fed the Sith code and the Jedi code by those masters, but he has already had traumatic experiences with Both sides...leading to this lack of care for rules/wanting freedom.

(Aka Power of Two, not Rule of Two "rules rules rules if you never follow them, you never have to break them.")

And Qimir has repeatedly been compared to a Vampire in interviews and has comments and imagery within the narrative that lean that way as well.

(The floating/disappearing, "it was a very long time ago", the implication that when Sol knew him Sol was probably a child...being carried away in a swarm of bats-I mean moths)

I know so many people think Plagueis is involved with Osha and Mae...but I don't think he is, yet.

At the moment, I still think he's there for Qimir.

(Also, I'm not really pro having this guy show up for 3 seconds and suddenly literally everything is about him and he did it all. If he already did everything, where is he meant to go within the narrative exactly? If he already knows how to create life and Has Created Life?...anyways)

I think he's checking in on his potentially immortal or at least inhumanly long-lived test subject... I mean Apprentice (who may or may not have actually been resurrected). And, somehow, said Apprentice has linked up with a woman who was created using the force.

These two are literally Plagueis's version of Christmas.

P.S. I think he wants an acolyte for exactly the reasons he said. We have been repeatedly shown and told that Qimir/The Stranger speaks the truth...or, at least, his truth.

But...this doesn't necessarily disprove my other idea that he wants to draw out Vernestra have her go against Plagueis so he does not have to do that.

Going back to the idea that both of these Masters are powerful and they have both screwed him up royally.

And despite this, he can still fight blind in the force.

He is extremely balanced for someone who realistically shouldn't be if he's fully dark.

[mixelation]

an interesting trend i've seen in online discussions of biology (and other topics i cannot comment on meaningfully, like other sciences or law and criminal justice), is that people often seem to try and reason through a question using only facts they already know. this makes sense as something you might do in an IRL conversation or while actively DMing someone, which are both more fast-paced than online posting, and irl it's usually mildly rude to jump on your phone unless everyone agrees something simply MUST be looked up right then. i also understand the intellectual appeal in trying to tease apart a puzzle without "looking up answers," and just the conversational feel of "oh, i keep seeing news articles about [thing] lately, so I just assumed....."

however, it gets weird when people carefully lay out their reasoning on tumblr/reddit posts or in their speculative fiction because often it becomes clear that they simply did not look up basic facts, or double-check some of their assumptions, even though they had both the means and the time to do so. and listen, i spend a lot of time just spewing thoughts on my blog. that's what i'm doing right now. but i very frequently see this approach just ending with someone making completely incorrect conclusions and with no real disclaimer that they made the conclusion based on memories of tenth of grade biology. you actually usually cannot rationalize your way to answer if you've misremembered or are missing facts, but creating the illusion (i think usually unintentionally) that you used true facts to get to your conclusion often makes people buy into it sight-unseen.

and actually i don't think i can push back against people making posts like this in any meaningful way. but i CAN sit here and encourage all of you to look out for red flags. no sources, the source cited being "that tumblr post going around" or "my bio professor*", the person at no point mentioning looking anything up or double-checking what they're claiming as fact, high degrees of speculation attached to a single source**, big jumps between the fact state and the conclusion... none of this necessarily MEAN the post is misinfo, but i would consider looking up any claim therein.

*your bio professor probably knows what they are talking about. this does not mean some rando on tumblr is not wildly misrepresenting that they said, or attributing their authority to a specialization the authority might not actually know a ton about (this happens a LOT with medical misinfo, e.g. "my mom who's a nurse said [something about a medical condition that person has never worked with or studied]). i generally take this sort of "an authority said..." statement with a large grain of salt

**AGAIN, i'm not anti-speculating or asking questions about things you read! i am against the way people often talk about their speculation as if it's a likely explanation when in reality it's.... based on nothing

[saharaadesertt]

˖˚˳⊹Blue Lock University: an Uni AU˖˚˳⊹

included: aiku, chigiri, gagamaru, kaiser, isagi, nagi, reo, rin, sae, shindou

note: already thinking about uni even though i still have two months LMFAOOO i am catching up on bllk and i finally made it to the different team battles. idk y'all manshine city kinda slaps all of these HC's are not official! check out part 2!

aiku

oh god, this guy gives off business major energy

most definitely in a frat, you can't prove me wrong

the kind of student that slacks off and parties all night but manages to do decent on exams and in class

not stellar but decent

insanely popular, gets all the girls but doesn't know how to keep them

the class clown

professors hate him so much but he does well enough where they can't lecture him

chigiri

Sports medicine major: wants to help people the way doctors helped him when he tore his acl

also oversees track and xc meets because of his speed

can be spotted at the cafe studying most of the time

likes to spend time to himself but doesn't mind seeing friends once in a while

but when he has a deadline he will focus on that 1000%

Everyone likes him, he gets good grades and is always very good with finishing things on time

His sister and mom visit him often, a family boy!

loves when people compliment his hair

gagamaru

Agricultural science or archeology major: mans is in the mountains constantly

probably does research there

a little bit of an oddball, mostly on the quiet end in class

that being said, he's an underdog in his class rank and always performs suspiciously well

people are scared of him because of his stoic aura but is a genuinely good person to get advice from and study with

if you get past his quirks, he's a great friend and an ever better person to depend on when you need it

kaiser

please hear me out

at first i thought "another business major but THEN"

i realized he could also be a really self-centered, full of himself STEM major

so i am going to say he is in computer science and thinks he is the true pioneer

honestly, the person that people complain about after class

tryhard and complains about getting a B on something

that being said, if you get on his good side, he is slightly more kind to you

isagi

kind of the same as kaiser but a psychology major, more popular, and much nicer lol

likes to study athletes and wonder if their personalities line up with how they play

a hard worker and studier, his weekends are rarely for rest

likes to go out though, he takes comfort in small things like visiting friends and grocery shopping

believe a healthy body is consistent with a healthy mind so is constantly health-conscious and drinks a ton of water

his parents send him care packages occasionally :))

nagi

this guy is undecided for now major-wise but will probably do something in video game development or digital communication

possibly cybersecurity if he actually wants to put in the work

lazy as hell but we knew this

constantly skips or sleeps in class but manages to do well

reo has to wake him up or call him if he has an early class he cannot miss or an exam or else nagi would legit miss it

isn't seen out much but when he is, he's with reo

fond of arcades, hoodies, and sweatpants

president of the gaming club and is surprisingly popular because of his gaming abilities

i believe him and reo share an apartment that the mikages help with financially because at this point nagi is like a second son to them <3

reo

another business major, this time marketing

president of the uni's business frat for sure

the definition of star student

everyone loves him but he only hold a few close to him because he knows a lot of people gravitate to him for his money

despite his family line, he is the most humble person you'll ever meet

super polite and respectful

he and nagi live in a shared apartment and only a select few friends get to come over

but when they do, reo shows them the best hospitality and above all, they actually study since he is a man of his word

rin

Definitely doing something in sports administration

the tryhard that is usually quiet, but piss him off and he WILL let you know

part of the school's podcast and newspaper club, where he works on reporting sports and talking to athletes

hates to be compared to his brother who is in the same major as him

gets jealous easily and finds it hard to keep a relationship because of this

communication is key for him in all aspects

sae

also sports adminstration

quieter than his brother but also has more attitude

enjoys being alone no matter where on campus he is in

but also popular

an ace student

is a part of a soccer travel team so is away a lot

drinks venti cold brews

shindou

biology... i don't need to explain LMFAOOOO

is VERY interested in all that stuff

actually a good student but is a class clown

doesn't take work seriously but does well enough

befriends everyone although he is a little unhinged

no filter at all

loves sugary coffee and staying up until the sun rises

would be part of the improv team bc he has a quick mouth and is quick thinking

thanks for reading!

[quitealotofsodapop]

back at it again with Soft Boiled

[So he took the scarf. Wrapped it around himself when he felt cold. Maybe even used it to swaddle his new baby girl. Yuebei dragging it around the cave as her security blanket. It being carefully washed and repaired so many times that it's barely red any more.]

that is so cute!!

I love the idea him using it t swaddle Yuebei and then her using it as her baby/security blanket as she grew. I can imagine that she chews on it to stim like Macaque does.

Wukong would probably put a spell of some kind on the scarf to preserve Macaque's scent, but he probably had to be careful when doing it otherwise he ran the risk of also preserving the stench of blood and death.

[And once the reality sets in, Macaque is sobbing at the sight of Yuebei wearing her beloved scarf as he once did.]

I can easily picture him just going and giving Wukong one of the biggest hugs ever when he realizes what he did, and the actual reason why the scarf was gone when he came back.

[Once the woman calms down, she wraps Wukong into a near-crushing hug, thanking and begging him to never ever do something so stupid again.] + [Wukong makes sure to hug DBK when he sees him next, knowing that the Bull feels the same as his wife over the matter.]

as established in other AUs where Wukong is pregnant during the ritual, PIF ain't messing with that bs. she is eternally grateful for Wukong's aid, even more so knowing the risk he put himself at. but two things can be true at once, and she is equally as enraged by his carelessness.

I can just picture the 'waiting room', consisting of the pilgrims, DBK with a baby Red Son, Ne Zha, waiting for news. then Quanyin comes out to let them know that the check-up post Yuebei starting to cry went well and they'll both be alright. but before they can even say a single word, there's suddenly muffled, very loud, non-stop yelling coming from Wukong's room. and they all just, awkwardly sitting there, in the waiting room, patiently waiting for there turns to see Wukong and Yuebei as they can just hear PIF's near incoherent screaming faintly in the background.

Wukong makes a sound like squeaky toy and his eyes bulge out of his head from how hard she squeezes him in that hug. he's pretty sure something in his spine cracks.

DBK can claim all he wants to be stoic, but when it comes to his family? you can be damn sure that the moment he goes into to see Wukong he's holding back tears from how relieved he is that both Wukong and Yuebei are okay. Wukong tries to hug him as hard as PIF just did him in hopes of providing an adequate amount of comfort for his dage.

[at least she stops being afraid of ol' Uncle Bajie when she gets a little bigger.]

now I'm just picturing a little Yuebei, maybe around the beginning of a monkeys toddling age, seeing Bajie again and hiding behind Wukong's leg. more out of shyness/uncertainty at this point, but it's still a dagger to the heart.

[He's immortal, he's indestructable - but that means nothing to him if he can't protect his baby. He knows that mint and licorice, and anti-muscosal formulas help people with poor lungs, but the science back then wasn't 100% sure...] + [All he can really do is to have a fully-stocked pharmacy inside Water-Curtain Cave, and make sure Yuebei stays away from pollen-rich flowers.] + [Wukong cries with relief in the early 20th century when Ventolin, Antihistamines, and Epinephrine become common knowledge.]

Wukong has seen time and time again how little his own immortality means in the face of the mortality of others (esp if he loses Ao Lie at some point when Yuebei was young), it makes him fear for Yuebei's safety to an almost self-harmful degree, like giving himself headaches and stomach aches from worry about losing her.

he probably makes a habit of rather obsessively stocking up on and checking the stock levels of whatever he knows helps, or whatever he thinks might help as he puts that doctorate to good use. even if the king's knowledge is perhaps a little outdated, it def helps and makes a big difference in Yuebei's early life to have a dad who is trained in medicine.

Wukong watches carefully for changes in medicine for any sign of a better solution. Yuebei gets used to her baba coming home and asking her if they could try a new remedy he heard about. the first time he used Ventolin, Antihistamines, or Epinephrine was probably during a sever asthma attack, and Wukong def got very emotional when it actually works as well as it does. [Hard not to when the bodhisattva is so doting over the tiny girl. Yuebei finds a lot of her lessons and treatments boring, but at least for a long time she had Red to hang out with]

imagine if through sitting in on a few of Guanyin's lessons she accidentally/inadvertently begins to cultivate a bit of immortality/enlightenment like the bodhisattva's pet goldfish. that would be a bit of a surprise.

considering the (literal and figurative) fire-yness of both of their personalities, Red Son and Yuebei either got along like, well, a house on fire, or downright hated each other. always getting into squabbles, super competitive, elementary rivals kinda dynamic. Red Son, depending on how old he was when he started leaning into the holier-than-thou attitude, probably was at least a little insensitive if not outright mean about Yuebei's perceived "weakness". tho to be fair, it might also have come from a place of not wanting to get attached in the event Yuebei's health ever took a nosedive considering the time period and infant mortality rate, especially for already sickly children.

this does not stop Red Son from demanding any medical personal to bring her back alive and unharmed while crying himself in the event Yuebei had a sever medical episode while at Guanyin's.

[the Monkey King is hesistant to let anyone tend to his little girl for a long time.]

I can easily imagining that when she was a newborn he was very reluctant to let anyone to close or hold her. probably even had to fight with himself just to put her down at all! everywhere he went, she was in his arms. after all, how else would he know if something happened? she's so delicate, how could he trust anyone else to be gently enough? would they know what to do if she stopped breathing?

all around, it was just safer him to keep her close and handle it should the need arise.

his friends def all still do their best to make sure he's taking care of himself through this, even they can't really get him to open up entirely.

[She likes arcades but they get very loud for her at times. MK is quick to notice when the "Monkey Princess" (as he calls her) gets overstimulated, and suggests that they check out a quieter activity. Like a play.]

MK takes her to the arcade first, and for a while its great! the spend a lot of time playing on the machines, which Yuebei is surprisingly good at given she doesn't have much else to do but play games on FFM. they have a lot of fun, Yuebei's slightly sour mood quickly turning to one of genuine joyfulness, showing MK a side of her he hasn't really seen before. MK calls it a win!

until they try out the zero gravity dance floor.

it's fine, at least at first. but its very crowded, and Yuebei's used to crowds when it comes to other smaller monkeys, but not when almost everyone is bigger than her. all the bodies means it's very hot, too. it's very bright, with lots of strobe lights, and the music is cranked up high and almost everyone is yelling. she's used to heights thanks to her baba's cloud, but she's not used to having the little to no control of a zero gravity environment. that's not even mentioning the physical labor of the dancing.

MK notices her looking overwhelmed and pulls her out quick, but I wouldn't be surprised if they have to take a minute once outside or if Yuebei has a small asthma attack from it all. they go back to the noodle shop in hopes some good noodles will cheer them up from the less then stellar end to the bonding trip.

Tang's happy to see them, they just got some free tickets to a historical shadow play! Yuebei likes some forms of theater, that sounds like its far more speed. MK will have to bring her back to the city the day of the showing.

[the human girl now aching constantly from her body being forced to move like a puppet. The two jokingly compare how one briefly hosted Fire while the other Ice.]

Yuebei, knowing her baba's medical knowledge from first hand experience, reassures Bai He that she's in good hands once Macaque and Wukong start getting their shit together. Bai He probably looks up to Yuebei for being able to handle and somewhat safely expel a power like the Samadhi Fire while not even born yet, and for being fearless enough to take LBD's skull as a trophy. I see Bai He as being quiet and a little meek in contrast, so her and Yuebei probably balance each other out nicely, the ultimate sister duo.

def see Yuebei as being the embodiment of the "she asked for no pickle" meme when it comes to Bai he.

heaven quakes at what the two might the capable of if both truly angered.

[Amnesiac!Wukong, crying too: "I'm so happy to be able to hear that. I was so scared when you tried absorbing the Samadhi Fire...] + [Pigsy and Tang are so emotional over the amnesiac!father-daughter bonding, that they are completely off-guard when the older monkey rattles off some details about the Samadhi Fire that he neglected to let the others in on.]

oh no... this implies that Wukong, when he got amnesia-ed he was at least partially brought to a time seemingly in between the ritual and when Yuebei started crying post-natal. no wonder he initially panicked when he couldn't sense the egg in or around him, it was less about the egg and more so that he couldn't sense her at all. that would be terrifying, I can only imagine his relief when he first sees "her future projection", because its the only thing currently telling him he didn't lose her before even getting to meet her properly.

cute heartfelt moment completely undercut by the confusion of Wukong's terrible communication habits XD, complete record scratch moment, unfortunately he'd only said tiredly as both he and Yuebei were two seconds away from a power nap. Wukong was normal again after he woke up.

how evil would you call me if I said I think that the peice of the Samadhi Fire that Yuebei initially tried to consume was the same piece that ends up off shooting and hitting Ao Lie after she spits it back out at top speeds?

[Macaque, chuckling: "Well, that's progress from the nose busting."]

the whole thing about them coming to understanding was great, beautiful I must say and Wukong would be emotional over them bonding so I don't have much to add here, but little side tangent. how exactly does the shadow play incident fit into the current timeline given that its now supposedly a thing that Macaque goes out of his way to help Yuebei during a sever medical episode during new years? as stubborn as she is I feel like she'd be less inclined to bust his nose after that, but I love the shadow play thing so much and am really hoping it doesn't get "ret-conned".

[The only reason Azure gets as far as he does with the Memory Scroll is that Yuebei is either A: Not on FFM at the time, or B: Got Memory Scroll'd in the confusion.] + [Otherwise, she starts kicking and punching Azure the second she clocks who he is. MK and Mei are gonna have to drag her off of him.]

imagine if she did get scrolled at about the time that Wukong did. would they stay together or would they be separated? imagine Yuebei alone in the scroll looking through memories majorly made of her beloved baba's suffering. Yuebei's wouldn't be having a great time, I'd say.

if she got scrolled, I imagine she was let out with MK and the others, Wukong still left behind. she recognizes Azure almost immediately.

I feel like Wukong uses a lot of his won stories as cautionary tales for Yuebei growing up, especially ones from his early youth/brotherhood era. she knows Azure by name, and by his face, but not for the reasons he would have hoped. she knows him because he's the one her father warned her about when he said to keep wary of the intentions of those around her, to never lose sight of yourself and your own limits for the approval of another. which means, she also knows him as the one who hurt her baba. a lot.

Azure never stood a chance.

she goes for the throat, but MK and Mei pull her away as Azure tries to explain herself, the whole time she'd interrupting calling him a liar and demanding her baba back. MK agrees with her, but Azure still denies, leading to MK having his own freak out.

both MK and Yuebei scream when the scroll gets cut in half.

much to the horror of the MKrew, she lunges for Azure when he tries to flee, getting caught up in the brotherhood's teleportation. she escapes with Red Son from the Demon Bull castle, and goes with him to warn Heaven. despite many celestials having not ever seen her or possibly even known Wukong had a kid at all, the moment anyone lays eyes on her they just know, her anger towards the brotherhood rivaled only by her own father's post-Furnace rampage (bonus point if she unlocks lazer eyes at some point during the battle, Peng swears their entire back is singed). their too afraid to tell her she can't fight, but Ne Zha does try. when the MKrew show up and get Ne Zha out they manage to get her too, her and MK's combined had tagged teamed Azure, each taking one half of Wukong's scroll.

they scold her for her carelessness, but at the end of the day are just glad she came out of it all miraculously unscathed. she's forced to sit out the next big battle, tasked with keeping count of the mountain's monkey subjects and keeping them calm as a princess would in a crisis, effectively benching her to her own displeasure. but she's not so grumpy about it when Wukong relents and let's her join in on the pre-battle training montage.

Wukong and Macaque are torn between worry, rage, and pride when they inevitably hear. both are having war flashbacks to a younger Wukong. not matter how much the coo at her strength she is mega grounded. for til college.

Prev.

sorry if this took a bit. I get distracted easily.

[I love the idea him using it t swaddle Yuebei and then her using it as her baby/security blanket as she grew. I can imagine that she chews on it to stim like Macaque does.] + [I can easily picture him just going and giving Wukong one of the biggest hugs ever when he realizes what he did, and the actual reason why the scarf was gone when he came back.]

Macaque sees Yuebei with his old scarf and at first thinks "Huh. Weird. Eh. Maybe she just likes red." only to see her chew on it/stim with it like he did and is like "Whoops! So thats where it went!"

Macaque just rolls up purring to Wukong the next time they meet, gesturing to the scarf.

Wukong is a little embarrassed, but admits that "I wanted to keep something of yours for her. It was the only thing I had on hand when she was born so..." and that just leads to an even louder-purring shadow monkey.

And a Yuebei who tries phasing the scarf out of her outfit line-up out of disgust, but fails cus its' her fave item ever.

[as established in other AUs where Wukong is pregnant during the ritual, PIF ain't messing with that bs. she is eternally grateful for Wukong's aid, even more so knowing the risk he put himself at. but two things can be true at once, and she is equally as enraged by his carelessness.] + [they all just, awkwardly sitting there, in the waiting room, patiently waiting for there turns to see Wukong and Yuebei as they can just hear PIF's near incoherent screaming faintly in the background.]

There's Five Major elements in their world, and PIF's anger is the secret sixth one.

Wukong may have saved her baby from a terrible death from internal self-immolation and life-long chronic pain, but he is SO IN TROUBLE for putting himself and his unborn child on the line! PIF nor DBK would forgive themselves if Wukong and/or his baby had perished because of the ritual!

Meanwhile little Yuebei is fast asleep with her scarf-blanket covering her ears while all this is going down.

Also the imagery of PIF's rant being topped off with a hug strong enough to make Wukong squeak like a dog you is so adorable and hilarious. I love it <3 And Wukong doing the same to DBK, who's trying his best no to cry out of worry/relief.

[now I'm just picturing a little Yuebei, maybe around the beginning of a monkeys toddling age, seeing Bajie again and hiding behind Wukong's leg. more out of shyness/uncertainty at this point, but it's still a dagger to the heart.]

Aww, Bajie gets a little emotional when his littlest big brother's baby is scared of him. He's been trying not to be so scary since he's become a monk, but it looks like little kids still see a monster when they look at him. :(

One day though, little Yuebei comes running to "Uncle Piggy", scared of "monster!" chasing her (in reality a toad that startled her). The baby monkey clings to her uncle, clearly less afraid of him then what she saw.

Bajie puts on a big performance of "battling" the toad, brandishing his weapon and declaring the Monkey Princess under his protection. The toad hops away unimpressed. Bajie smiles when Yuebei looks up at him in wonder.

Bajie: "Don't worry Princess. Your Uncle Piggy is scarier than anything in this world. Nothing will ever hurt you when I'm around." Yuebei: (*shyly hugs her Uncle around the neck*) Bajie: (*trying not to cry from the sweetness*)

Bajie seriously considered asking his wife for kids after that interaction.

[Wukong watches carefully for changes in medicine for any sign of a better solution. Yuebei gets used to her baba coming home and asking her if they could try a new remedy he heard about. the first time he used Ventolin, Antihistamines, or Epinephrine was probably during a sever asthma attack, and Wukong def got very emotional when it actually works as well as it does.]

Wukong I feel also donates a fair amount of his wealth to medical research and development - cus while in case what's found can't help Yuebei, it can help others. At least a few hospitals throughout China were built by his generous (and anonymous) donations.

I can just imagine Yuebei overexerting herself one day and having a bad asthma attack. Wukong panics and tries an aerosol he learned might help and... Yuebei recovers in record time! Wukong is overjoyed!

Yuebei is excited too - the medicine is small and portable enough that she doesn't need her baba's pharmacy-sized supplies all the time to bounce back from an attack. And this new medicine can even stop them as they're happening! She def gets a lot more adventurous after Ventolin and whatnot are discovered - and Wukong is happy to let her explore (with supervision)!

[imagine if through sitting in on a few of Guanyin's lessons she accidentally/inadvertently begins to cultivate a bit of immortality/enlightenment like the bodhisattva's pet goldfish. that would be a bit of a surprise.]

Hah! Yuebei accidentally cultivates immortality/dao almost like her baba did when he became Subodhi's student!

Wukong wonders if his immortalities rub off onto his kids, and wonders seriously if Yuebei would like a semester with Subodhi to cultivate her dao.

But luckily dear Auntie Guanyin helps out with that part. A few centuries of meditating and learning from the bodhisattva helped Yuebei to gain exp in her own way.

[Red Son and Yuebei either got along like, well, a house on fire, or downright hated each other. always getting into squabbles, super competitive, elementary rivals kinda dynamic.]

Cousins behaviour XD

Red def started to get on Yuebei's nerves when his more pompous side started to develop. And Red didn't want the daughter of his dad's greatest enemy to get involved in his plan for world domination - so it was easier to Red to act a jerk and cut contact than dealing with the possibility of fighting his little cousin down the line.

[I can easily imagining that when she was a newborn he was very reluctant to let anyone to close or hold her. probably even had to fight with himself just to put her down at all!]

baby monkeys do be clinging to their mom almost 24/7, but after a while Wukong starts to wonder if he's wearing his baby by this point. He eventually gets so tired that the Stalwarts manage to guide him into his nest and set up Yuebei's own mini-nest next to him. He awoke only briefly panicked, as he immediately could hear and see his sleepy little moonlight beside him.

I feel like the first person to be allowed the privilege to hold the baby is Ao Lie, who's probably still recovering himself from the fire. He wanted to see the little princess up close, and Wukong feared that he may miss the chance if he hesistated.

Ao Lie adored Yuebei from the moment he met her. He never blamed her for what happened. She was worth it.

[Yuebei's slightly sour mood quickly turning to one of genuine joyfulness, showing MK a side of her he hasn't really seen before. MK calls it a win! until they try out the zero gravity dance floor.] + [MK notices her looking overwhelmed and pulls her out quick,]

MK is a good older-brother-figure. He really wants Yuebei to like him, and sometimes can't read the room that she doesn't want to. But even he can recognise someone who's overwhelmed.

Yuebei has a lot of fun with the game machines, and I can see her loving those racing games with the moving seats.

But the anti-gravity dancefloor was just a little too much.

I feel like MK brought Mei along with him too as "friend backup", and while she gets lost in the music, Mei is clued in that Yuebei isn't having fun anymore.

Emergency retreat!

Yuebei is frustrated and embarassed by her reaction, but MK and Mei assure her that they've experienced moments like that. Sometimes you get overstimulated and need to tap out, both mentally and physically. Yuebei feels only a little better at that...

Thanfully here comes dear Mr Tang, checking in on the kiddos on their day out (secretly a favor for a worried Wukong), in case they wanted to cap off the day with a snack or a slow-paceda activity.

And hey! Look at these free tickets to a traditional shadowplay he has! Maybe little Yuebeu might want to come see? :3 It'd be a lot more chilled out and slow paced than the arcades or night market.

[Tang's happy to see them, they just got some free tickets to a historical shadow play! Yuebei likes some forms of theater, that sounds like its far more speed. MK will have to bring her back to the city the day of the showing.] + [how exactly does the shadow play incident fit into the current timeline given that its now supposedly a thing that Macaque goes out of his way to help Yuebei during a sever medical episode during new years? as stubborn as she is I feel like she'd be less inclined to bust his nose after that, but I love the shadow play thing so much and am really hoping it doesn't get "ret-conned".]

Macaque still does the Shadow Play, mostly out of a need to "set the record straight" (in his mind) to Yuebei and MK about what happened between him and Wukong.

Yuebei calls BS once the story ends - pointing out that Macaque had abanonded her Baba at the mountain and left him all alone for centuries. Whether out of pride or cowardice, Macaque had been the one to cast "The Hero" into darkness.

The pair of monkeys gnash at eachother throughout the second half of the episode while MK is having a crisis over if people will come to abandon him if they don't like the Him that develops from his new responsibilities.

MK ultimately puts his foot down on Macaque's attempt at a "teaching moment" with the shadow play/lantern. All this tells him is that Macaque never got over Wukong after all that time, even after being the one to break things off.

Macaque is stunned enough that he wordlessly smashes the Lantern, releasing the captured gang, and is about to walk away into his own shadow when...

Yuebei: (*arm reaches in and grabs him*) "Oh no you don't! You are going to say sorry to MK and baba's friends for this! What sort of Warrior runs and hides at being proven wrong!?" Macaque: (*speechless as he sees the sparks of Wukong's righteousness in Yuebei's eyes. And the fact that the little girl is no-selling his shadow magic*) Macaque: "Ok... fine. But only because you asked me to."

A few awkward apologies are given out before Macaque is allowed leave.

MK realises something after the incident when the fam are all at Pigsy's eating dinner. Mei and Tang are relaying the gist of the shadowplay to Wukong (who's very much rolling his eyes at Macaque's choice of story).

MK: "Hey, why did you do that?" Yuebei: "Do what?" MK: "Make Macaque apologise to me. Why did you?" Yuebei, hiding face in scarf: "Cus he was being a jerk! He hid your family away to try and prove a point. A stupid point! He tried saying that you'd forgotten your friends when you were scared that they left you!" MK, proud smile: "Yeah, he did. But you showed him huh?" Yuebei, begruding: "Yeah, I did. And that look on his face when you said he never got over baba was funny too." MK and Yuebei: (*share a sibling-esque laugh and nudge eachother in the sides*)

Wukong smiles at seeing his student and daughter finally start to get along. Even if some of it was stoked by mutual annoyance at Macaque. XD

[def see Yuebei as being the embodiment of the "she asked for no pickle" meme when it comes to Bai he.]

The power of two little girls supporting each other makes Heaven and Hell quake with fear.

Bai He is certainly more of a "tea party and dolls"-kind of girl, while Yuebei is more athletic and tomboyish. They do humor their respective interests - Yuebei does like just being a little girl sometimes, and Bai He has found some yoga methods helpful for physio therapy. They know when the other likes to do something their own speed.

They're duo of fire and ice. Balanced and powerful!

[oh no... this implies that Wukong, when he got amnesia-ed he was at least partially brought to a time seemingly in between the ritual and when Yuebei started crying post-natal. no wonder he initially panicked when he couldn't sense the egg in or around him, it was less about the egg and more so that he couldn't sense her at all.]

Wukong is *panicking* when he can't feel or see his baby. I feel like he went into a minor medical coma after delivering Yuebei after the ritual, and he's convinced for a few solid hours that's the case.

He can't feel his baby, but he sees a "projection/time traveller" of her as a teenager. Thats stuff you see during a near-death experience.

Wukong is calm enough around his daughter's older form, but clearly wants to ask a million questions. He couldn't hear Yuebei crying before he passed out - so it's a major relief to him to see her alive in some form, even if he might not be soon.

He does manage to ask if she's in pain or hurting. Hosting a piece of the Samadhi fire like that has to hurt.

Yuebei lies a little and says she isn't, she's just a little sickly from being born early.

Amnesiac!Wukong sighes with relief, pulling her into another hug. He wants to know his baby's heartbeat before he wakes up from this.

[how evil would you call me if I said I think that the peice of the Samadhi Fire that Yuebei initially tried to consume was the same piece that ends up off shooting and hitting Ao Lie after she spits it back out at top speeds?]

Thats evil and I love it. It's canon now. >:3

that would be a huge regret Wukong would carry on hos own, refusing to let Yuebei know about it for her own mental well-being. Unless she happened to peak in at the memory of the ritual during Memory Scroll shenanigans? :3

[cute heartfelt moment completely undercut by the confusion of Wukong's terrible communication habits XD]

Yuebei just looks dumbfounded when Wukong mentions "the four Rings" offhandedly. She knew the lore, and that Uncle Ao Lie got hurt, but a secret Fourth ring?? Baba tf!?

As she silently panics, Wukong decides it's time for him to "wake up" and goes into another brief astral meditation that reboots him back to normal.

[imagine if she did get scrolled at about the time that Wukong did. would they stay together or would they be separated? imagine Yuebei alone in the scroll looking through memories majorly made of her beloved baba's suffering. Yuebei's wouldn't be having a great time, I'd say. if she got scrolled, I imagine she was let out with MK and the others, Wukong still left behind. she recognizes Azure almost immediately.] + [Azure never stood a chance.]

I feel like Yuebei in the Memory Scroll is herself when she was a lot younger/sicker, and had to stay on Fragrant Mountain for her health. Not much is required for her to go back to normal though, MK mentions "Cousin Red" being off the island and possibly in danger, and the sickly little girl is up like a firecracker ready to stab somebody!

After being released from the Scroll at Camel Ridge, Yuebei takes one look at Azure and declares: "Thats the bitch!" and rushes at him teeth bared.

In the chaos of both her and MK going for Azure's throat, Wukong's scroll is cut in half. Azure blames the kids as he does in canon.

[despite many celestials having not ever seen her or possibly even known Wukong had a kid at all, the moment anyone lays eyes on her they just know, her anger towards the brotherhood rivaled only by her own father's post-Furnace rampage]

Yuebei and her cousin Red flex their synconised fighting skills in Heaven. The celestials are having flashbacks to when Wukong and DBK used to storm and pacify Heaven in their wake.

Their very existances are likely secrets amonst the immortals, so the appearance of Sun Wukong's daughter, and the son of the Demon Bull King (+one of their princessess) coming to defend Heaven against assault?! It's nealry enough to make a grown solider faint.

[her and MK's combined had tagged teamed Azure, each taking one half of Wukong's scroll]

MONKEY KIDS TEAM UP!

About four seasons of trust-building leads to the biggest grift of their lives! Getting their mentor/dad back from the smelly lion! Yuebei manages to flex a little of shadow magic she learned from Macaque - making her shadow papa mega proud and the Brotherhood further convinced that she's a shadowpeach baby.

Yuebei and Macaque end up bonding a little when they travel through the Memory Scroll together with MK. Yuebei now truly sees how in-love her Baba and Macaque were, and why Wukong raised his baby to know his mate's songs and stories (something Macaque hadn't even known) and scent. Macaque also has the revelation that Wukong was geniunely hurting after their break-up, and vows to make it up to him once this is all resolved.

[they scold her for her carelessness, but at the end of the day are just glad she came out of it all miraculously unscathed. she's forced to sit out the next big battle, tasked with keeping count of the mountain's monkey subjects and keeping them calm as a princess would in a crisis, effectively benching her to her own displeasure. but she's not so grumpy about it when Wukong relents and let's her join in on the pre-battle training montage. Wukong and Macaque are torn between worry, rage, and pride when they inevitably hear. both are having war flashbacks to a younger Wukong. not matter how much the coo at her strength she is mega grounded. for til college.]

Baby girl gets to flex her fighiting and her governing abilities! Wukong appeals to Yuebei's jealousy of not being his fighting successor by pointing out something important about his job.

Wukong: "You may not be the one holding my Staff, moonlight. But our people need their future Queen. You are going to inherit our kingdom one day after all!" Yuebei, eyes glittering excitedly: "Queen?"

Cus while MK is Sun Wukong's succesor in fighitng style and heroism, Yuebei is his heir as Monkey King! And thats something she can gloat over!

She goes full Warrior Queen-mode gathering the subjects and bringing them to safety. Macaque and Wukong watch on fondly.

Once Azure is defeated and the Jade Emperor's power secured, Yuebei does get a little grounded for recklessness. But her two monkey dads are overwhemling proud of her for stepping up in the moment.

She's their little Moon Comet Star after all <3

[hylaarborealove]

your god is a fiction, theist...

Very insightful, thank you. You prooved my point, you have no idea what you are talking about. Most probably not bothered to look into what Jesus theaches and what the Bible says. If you did you would know that only the fool says in his heart there is no God. Not my words but a Bible quote.

The world's religions in fact do NOT teach the same thing. Also very interesting that Jesus is the only one, every other religion mestions, respects and says is one way or another talked about the truth and preached God's words. (That might be because He is the Word in flesh).

You can deny it all you want, but that does not make it true. JESUS is the truth.

The Bible was written by 40 different people, it goes on for centuries and more, it all points to one God and to Jesus. Check out all the cross references in the entire book. It's an insame amount for people who did not even met each other. Clue no.1 that it must be something bigger than them. All of the prfecies about Jesus and His coming and saving us is fulfilled except the ones about the endtimes because by the grace of God, we are not there yet. Jesus is in everything. Genesis begins with the creation of the universe, (6days plus the one that God rested on) and believe it or not, its in the exact order that the BigBoom theorist believe all evolved and has a perfect alinement with the Evolution theory (not the part that says we were at one point monkeys obviosly). Curious. It was written 1000s of years ago... dont you find that interesting that God states something and than science runs to "descover" it.

The bigboom theory is just ridiculous. We can clearly see, that in our world everything has a cause. God is the creator, He was the cause this whole thing exists now. Now this is the point most people get it wrong. "Who created God?" No one. He is a infinite beeing, He has no cause, because He is not a part of this world that is based on the cause and consequence. He is apart from it, above it, outside of it, since He created it and it's order.

Hope this helps, of you have more specific questions and not just atheist memes to try to proove your point, I will gladly explain anything about God, anything our theology teaches, even our history. And if I don't know the answer right away (which is not due to the falshood of what I'm saving, just proof that I myself am human and can't always know everything,) then i'll do everything in my power to find the answer for you.

If you find it in yourself, I can introduce you to God, but if I still haven't managed to change your feelings or ways of thinking, thank please be civil and let's say goodbye in a conservative and considerate manner.

Love,

Hyla

[texasdreamer01]

Atlantis Expedition: Science Division Departments

"Many of the scientists on Atlantis are organised into departments, each with their own department head. Dr. Rodney McKay was head of the Science and Research Division which most likely meant he was in charge of all of the science departments. Dr. Radek Zelenka was also the head of his own department. The various science departments on Atlantis are:

> Physics

 » Astrophysics

> Biology

 » Microbiology

 » Astrobiology

> Oceanography

> Botany

> Medicine

> Anthropology

(SGA: "Remnants", "Grace Under Pressure", "Suspicion")"

From <https://stargate.fandom.com/wiki/Atlantis_expedition#Departments>

---

As I'm working my way through worldbuilding headcanons on the expedition, I figured I ought to start with the science division first. Above is my starting point: the canonical information at hand, to flesh out and give it some real-world reliability.

When I looked at it again, I realized it was, to put it politely, ill-thought-out crap that was only looked upon when the writers needed some random scientist around for episode material.

So, what considerations would an expedition like this actually need to take into account when hiring people?

At the very bare bones of it is "how many people can I fit through a wormhole in twenty or twenty-five minutes, plus supplies?". I went back and forth, prevaricated for a bit, and settled on 200 people if you really want to hoof it.

(Why 20-25 minutes? It's SGC's first stable-ish wormhole to another galaxy that's powered by a ZPM. They don't even know how much of a success that would be, or if they're just shoving people into a glorified shredder. Gotta pick and choose who you're maybe putting through the billion-dollar shredder. Y'know. Just in case.)

My initial rough estimations were about an even split between scientific and military personnel, which I kept on hand as napkin math to sanity check myself. This would be approximately 150 scientists.

What departments would there be, and how would it be divided? Who makes the priorities, and why?

The canon data is a mess, and as I worked through things, canon kept getting folded and refolded into different configurations because there's two competing priorities: the IOA/SGC, and Rodney's approach to pragmatism.

What was everyone expecting to see on the other side of that wormhole? Definitely not a city ship sunk into the ground of an ocean, and definitely not isolated from others (the Athosians were an unexpected godsend that kicked off the reason to have a plot in the first place). Whatever the IOA or SGC had in mind will quickly get thrown out the window, but needs must, and the departments were likely arranged long before the shipping manifest was decided.

I poked around the uniforms, because everyone is colour-coded, and there's five sections:

> Red (civilian, leader) - Worn by Dr. Elizabeth Weir, Teyla Emmagan, Colonel Samantha Carter and Richard Woolsey.

> Blue/dark blue or purple (scientist) - Worn by Dr. Meredith Rodney McKay and Dr. Radek Zelenka.

> Yellow (medical) - Worn by Dr. Carson Beckett and Dr. Jennifer Keller.

> Black (military) - Worn by Lt. Colonel John Sheppard and Major Evan Lorne.

> Green (technician) - Worn by Chuck and Amelia Banks.

This information is listed in both the "List of Atlantis personnel" and "Atlantis expedition uniform" pages on SGCommand.

Thus far that gets me two and a half departments in my hand: Scientist, Medical, and Technician (that's the half).

What would the SGC and IOA want the expedition to prioritize? Technology, and lots of it. This means that, probably, there's going to be more engineers than you can shake a stick at, and not a lot of pure sciences. Remember, it cost money to fire up the gate, and flinging people into another galaxy is an unfathomable amount of (international, at this point) taxpayer funds. You're going to want as much applied science as possible, and as much overlap in disciplines as possible.

(Unfortunately this does leave little room for error, so anyone that dies is capable of leaving a hole in potential research.)

Therefore, how would a top-down order of technological research look like? My assumption was this:

> Engineering of the city of Atlantis itself

 » ZPMs, auxiliary and/or complementary power sources

 » Materials and material manufacturing

 » Design specs of different technologies (jumpers, yes, but also anti-grav, shields, climate controls)

> Biological sciences

 » ATA gene therapies

 » Whatever the Ancients were working on regarding ascension

  ⇛ Helpful with the Ori once Atlantis is informed of that issue

To wit, neither addendum on the biological sciences bullet point is pertinent at the time of department formation, as Carson invented the ATA gene therapy after arriving in Atlantis, and the Ori weren't an issue for a similar reason.

Ergo, all non-biological engineering fields would have had higher billing, and thus more of them hired. The only exception would be medical, and I'm sure the SGC had the forethought to bully the IOA into its relevancy and make sure that department was as fully-stocked as they could manage.

Now what about practical considerations? Plans are nice and all, but rarely survive contact with reality, so some adjustment might be needed. This, I believe, the SGC considered, given their own history of needing to rapidly adjust on the fly.

Rodney, as Chief Science Officer (CSO), would be the one to not only make these kinds of decisions, but also to listen to the head of the expedition as to what needed to be prioritized. As the show has demonstrated, there can be a significant amount of shuffling around of employees based on the needs of a minute, and hour, a week, a month - for an indefinite amount of time? Basics are what gets the job done.

So what things would Rodney need to consider, or be directed to consider by Elizabeth?

> Oh shit this can sink

 » Rodney's main work - keeping the ZPM working and get as many new ones as possible

> Oh shit everything's so far away

 » Rodney's other main work - making sure the gate works as ordered

> Oh shit we're in another galaxy

 » Food

  ⇛ Getting, keeping, preserving, maybe the occasional growing

 » Utilities

  ⇛ Luckily they don't have to pay for it lol

  ⇛ But also oh shit lighting, water, sewage, air filtration, general life support

   ⟹ Rodney's third main work

   ⟹ This poor guy

 » Medicine

  ⇛ Rodney delegates the hell out of this

  ⇛ Good luck making potions, guys!

 » Bullets

  ⇛ Also other things the military needs

  ⇛ Fun times re-inventing the wheel I mean gunpowder

  ⇛ Good work for bored soldiers, and possibly also any scientist Rodney puts in time-out

 » Clothes

  ⇛ Ha, thread

  ⇛ Also needles

  ⇛ Experiments in sewing machine making

   ⟹ Watch the fingers

  ⇛ How to replace fabric?

  ⇛ Off-duty clothes

  ⇛ Also medical clothing (scrubs for staff, patients)

 » Miscellaneous

  ⇛ Entertainment, I guess

Internal monologue included because I think it's funny.

Anyway.

While Rodney's spending his days with Benny Hill music playing in the background trying to get all of those priorities done on top of actually delegating work and doing whatever else Elizabeth (and John) want him to do, other people actually need to have some work to get done. So what are they doing?

It depends on who already does what, frankly. So in the above combined interests (amount of people that can fit through an intergalactic wormhole, competing IOA/SGC interests, realities of living in Atlantis), I'm proposing this set-up (commentary included):

Medical Sciences Department

Head: Carson Beckett (later, Jennifer Keller, later, whomever)

Contains: Surgery, psychiatry, physical therapy

Function: Maintaining health of expedition members

Examples of function: surgeries, medical prescriptions, recuperation from injuries, mental stability

Personnel quantity: 1 (Head) + 10 (surgical team) + 5 (nurses) + 1 (psych) + 1 (phys. therapy) + 1 (anesthesiologist) = 19 total

A/N: Nurses have training in medications and physical therapy, surgical team also doubles as general practitioners.

Life Sciences Department

Head: OC

Contains: Earth biologists, bio- & biochemical engineers, astro/xeno-biologists, botany, environmental chemistry, zoology, microbiology

Function: Auxiliary to Medical Department needs

Examples of function: pharmaceutical synthesis, analysis of unknown species, biological database creation, gene therapies (pharmaceutical adjacent)

Personnel quantity: 1 (Head) + 2 (Earth biologists) + 2 (bioE & biochemE) + 1 (astro/xenobio) + 1 (botany) + 1 (envchem) + 1 (zoo) + 2 (microbio) = 11

A/N: Both biologists also have training/specialization in genetics/gene mapping (assists both Carson and Katie), some input in requesting gate missions based on in-house needs.

Field Sciences Department

Head: OC

Contains: Linguistics, historical geography, cartography, ethnography, sociology, oceanography, hydrology, atmospheric physics, planetary physics

Function: Research pool for gate teams and any assigned missions

Examples of function: Preservation of refugee cultures, scouting for trade planets, analysis of back-up sites for establishment

Personnel quantity: 1 (Head) + 3 (linguistics) + 1 (histgeo) + 1 (cart) + 1 (ethno) + 1 (socio) + 1 (oceano) + 1 (hydro) + 1 (atmophys) + 1 (planphys) = 12

A/N: SGC duplicate all shoved into one department, mostly ignored in-house but their brains are picked for background dossiers when it comes to mission planning. Linguists trained in xenolinguistics, from the SGC, can cover the various anthro fields if necessary, also various training in structural linguistics. Main scientist pulls for gate team assignments, if something critical isn't needed (i.e. Ancient technology).

Applied Sciences Department

Head: Rodney McKay (or perhaps Radek Zelenka?)

Contains: Electrical/technical engineering, nuclear physics, civil engineering, astrophysics, laser/optical, chemical engineering

Function: Study, synthesis, and adaptations of Ancient technology

Examples of function: ZPM analysis with intent to duplicate, experimental duplications of Ancient technology materials, study of gate physics and construction with intent to duplicate, study and experimental duplication of other Ancient technologies (i.e. hyperdrives, cloaks, weapons, etc)

Personnel quantity: 1 (Head) + 3 (electreng) + 6 (techeng/gate techs) + 1 (nucphys) + 1 (astrophy) + 1 (LZ/opt) +  3 (chemeng) = 16

A/N: The people Rodney are yelling at most often, because mistakes mean kablooey. Also a lot of the people running around in an emergency. 1 nuclear physicist because Rodney pulls a lot of intellectual weight, and same with the astrophysicist and laser/optical person (mostly they're there as on-paper hires and back-ups/assistants for him for his own research).

Gate Technicians

Head: ??? Joint custody

Contains: Gate technicians

Functions: Auxiliary to Applied Sciences Department, interacts with the gate and the gate only

Examples of function: dialing, searching database for addresses, maintaining mission logs and planets visited, basic repair and maintenance of the gate, technical drawings as required by others

Personnel quantity: Chuck, idk +5 for full shift overlaps = 6 total (listed in Applied Sciences department as techeng/gate techs)

A/N: Technically nerds but are active duty, probably loans from SGC (maybe also Russia because of the DHD debacle?).

Gate technicians are, although folded into the Applied Sciences department, listed separately in order to better articulate their duties (and the fact that they get the green shirts). Shout-out to @spurious for enabling the idea that gate techs would do technical drawings 😁

Sum Total of Science Division Personnel

Medical: 19

Life Sciences: 11

Field Sciences: 12

Applied Sciences: 16

Total total: 19 + 11 + 12 + 16 = 58

This isn't anywhere close to my initial estimate of 150, but I think it adequately covers all the preconceived and actual responsibilities that the science division would need to handle in the expedition. Possibly I might update these numbers as I develop this headcanon further, but that would end up in a new post.

Further elaboration on headcanons about each department will be in their own posts, with links updated here as they're posted for ease of reference.

Science Department Breakdown Posts

Medical Department (posted 14 May 2024)

Life Sciences Department (posted 29 May 2024)

Field Sciences Department (posted 30 May 2024)

Applied Sciences Department (posted 10 June 2024)

Chief Science Officer (posted 18 July 2024)

Chief Medical Officer (posted 20 July 2024)

Science Department Heads (posted 20 July 2024)

[voidandabyssal]

Okay, hoping this is allowed. In regards to Below the Ice, how do you think some of the other Sans' would react to Reader in the same situation? Say Red, Blue, Axe, or Dior? You don't have to answer for all of these if you don't feel like it!

Of course this is allowed! Such a good idea. Hopefully I read this right lol

Red:

Reds more aggressive than Sans. He's not an Orca Siren but a Bull shark Siren. Not exactly known for being cold and calculating. There's definitely more murder attempts, Red is also far more successful at killing off Readers co-workers. This is probably set off the coast of coast of mexico, lots of bull sharks and bull shark sirens congregate there.

He's also more openly flirty though, he's more aware of his feelings to reader than Sans is and he's not shy about checking you out ;)))

Initially, he thinks your just like the other scientists. Dumb, easily manipulatable and an easy meal. You quickly prove him wrong when you successfully manage to trap him under some falling rocks.

Boy does Red love a strong and smart partner. Something about being capable enough to take down an apex predator like him just does it for him.

The two of you get closer once he's under captivity, which is in this au, not for evil science purposes but more so for everyone's (including reds, safety). Once you're on more equal power dynamics you find him to be quite funny and charming when he needs to be.

He's pretty touchy as well, not to the point of it being uncomfortable. He just likes play fighting with you, or just holding onto you.

Blue:

He's a Dolphin Siren! you initially meet him when your scuba diving taking coral samples. He's friendly and inquisitive and all too helpful. Your other colleagues are jealous he approached you this time. Similar to Red, this doesn't take place in the arctic but instead somewhere off the coast of Australia, maybe the Great Barrier Reef.

Yeah, he's definitely known around the area for how kind he is. Tons of youtube videos have gone viral featuring him helping fishermen, scuba divers and even lost swimmers.

ngl, this is probably the best start to your relationship compared to any of the other boys

He often swims circles around you, trying to draw you from your work to play with him, solve puzzles and even tries to get you to meet his brother. Sometimes you relent, sometimes you don't, though you do build a strong friendship.

You fall first but he falls harder.

It just hits him one day. You and him are out swimming, you collecting important marine data and him following you around with a strange stirring in his soul that he can't quite place.

When he sees you helping a small fish out of a plastic bottle. That's when it hits him. He loves you. You're perfect

Axe:

hhrrrrrrgggg pretty human,,,,,,

eyes wide, jaw dropped, STARING,,,,

you first meet when you're out late night fishing. You had been warned of a Giant Pacific Octopus Siren that had recently started inhabiting the area but what did they know??? Certainly not more than you! You'd been fishing round these parts since you were a baby!

"....HOLY SHIT!" is what you screech out, dropping your fishing rod when you see Axe's bright red eye-light looking up from the murky deep.

Yeah you turn right back around and don't come back. Much to Axe's disappointment. Luckily for him, and unluckily for you, he has very long, very powerful tentacles that he uses to pull you into the water with him.

He doesn't drag you under of course, he's smart enough to figure out that you really don't like that.

He's already designated you his mate. Sorry, pal, you're just going to have to make do with the giant octopus Siren cuddling up to you now.

He does let you go eventually, though you do have to repeatedly promise him that you'll come back.

And you do, afraid that he'll come chase you down. Eventually it does come to be a mutually loving relationship, it just takes a little time.

Dior (lusttale Sans):

This time you're the one approaching him. You're a famous wildlife photographer and you have been craving that perfect, career making picture; and you know who you have to photograph.

Dior, a famous lionfish Siren, known for his striking beauty and his charming friendliness to everyone. He proves to be rather elusive. Hard to find, rarely ever in one spot as he's surrounded by many Siren admirers. But you're determined!

finally, after days of bashing up against sharp corals in your search, you find him! Dozing off on a large rock formation. You're steadying yourself for the perfect picture when you notice a much larger Siren sneaking up on Dior, teeth bared and claws sharpened.

"Look out!" You say, or at least try to say through all the bubbles. Dior does manage to wake up though, and quickly pokes the attacker with one of his many poisonous spines.

He thanks you, deciding to pose for you in thanks for you saving him.

When you leave, he assumes you'll never come back. He's too used to people leaving once they've gotten what they want out of him.

He's pleasantly surprised when you come back, without the camera, just wanting to know more about the beautiful but distant Siren.

He doesn't mean to fall as fast and as hard as he does, but being around someone so genuine is such a nice shock to his system he just can't help but fall for your smile.

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

s2 episode 9 thoughts

whew! i had a busy day so it's nice to unwind with some scully and mulder time. although by the end of the episode i didn't feel very unwound tbh. it was still time spent with the babygirls, so i can't complain.

so we start with some volcano research. my only note here was "i know a geologist" which is true! shoutout to my one professor. you were chill but i hated that class.

there's a dead guy in the volcano which tbh doesn't seem too surprising... i mean volcanoes are very deadly. but it seems to be one of the dudes involved with the project so that's weird because why would he go down there?

there's this stream going on of the inside volcano and something is disrupting it... hate to see a streamer interrupted :(

then we had the title sequence but for some reason i was wondering, do you think if they got married they'd hyphenate their names... scully-mulder... mulder-scully... does it roll off the tongue? hmm...

so firewalker (the title of our episode) is a robot that goes into the volcano. noted.

here i wrote "holy fuck scully is beautiful". all she was doing was standing there but man.

the scientist who has come to them requesting help is like, this lead scientist named trepkos started this project, and scully says "i always heard he was brilliant", which raises the question: why is scully keeping up with volcano science? nerd

at this point the visiting scientist was explaining how he and trepkos had a professional breakup kinda thing and i'm very sorry for them but i genuinely could not take my eyes off of scully. hope they work it out or whatever. i have bigger priorities.

she wants to get out there and investigate but mulder says "i don't think it's a good idea for you to go" AUGHHH. i am wailing and tearing my shirt. she says that she's fine!!! really!!!

and he has this look on his face that says "i cannot tell this woman what to do, even after she just woke up from a coma, and i never will be able to" and he's very right in that regard

HELICOPTER TIME! mulder is such a gentleman helping her climb out

she has very messy hair at this point and the scientist seems a lot more concerned about his equipment than the fate of the people trapped inside the compound and she seems so thrown off by this

next we have some BIG ASS FLASHLIGHTS!!!! WOOHOO

at this point i made a note that i think i might have been going feral because mulder also looked SO good prowling around that creepy base. and i don't take back my observation but i will psychoanalyze it a bit later. reluctantly.

a creepy dude is hanging around the corner. OH SHOOT he tries to bash mulder's head in and he is MAD "do you always greet people this way?" LMAOOO he took it personally

the other scientists in the base seem to regard the missing trepkos as a threat... hmm...

i really like this jesse character, who is a student and is here to do some research with her advisor

mulder asks for the data on the research trepkos has been doing and she says he destroyed his field journals and computer discs. ahh, computer discs. my old friends. i used to have some games on discs when i was a kid. positive memories.

mulder sees scribbled in some of the notes trepkos didn't destroy that he had written about a "new life form" which honestly kinda happens a lot. like people are always discovering new life forms but the gag is they're beetles. everyday we find new species of beetle. they just won't stop coming. so i'm thinking, well they wanted this to be all dramatic, but statistically it's probably just a volcano beetle this guy found.

mulder and scully have an exchange and again i'm distracted by her freckles but she says he's being paranoid and i'm like. yeah that's kinda his whole deal. mulder being paranoid is like a fork spotted in the kitchen.

so the other scientist who was checking on his equipment was, at this point, killed by trepkos. with a rope. and we get the great closed captions "(neck cracks) (body thuds on ground)" which were very descriptive of the whole process

mulder and scully are having a science based argument on the probability of a silicon-based life form and it was really funny to me because it was a nerd off. and frankly i wouldn't go into a science debate with a doctor but mulder is going full steam ahead. it's getting heated and i'm like damn does this ever lead to them kissing because i can see it happening. anyway she's like no trepkos did not discover a silicon-based life form (spoiler alert: he did)

he's looking around like damn. i'm glad she's back but she's such a pain in my ass <3

scully goes to talk to jesse by knocking on her door and asking to chat and then not waiting for an answer and coming in because that is my girl!!!

jesse says trepkos stopped taking his pills that treat his bipolar disorder and he started being weird, saying they polluted his mind and that she was "polluting his body" which has... implications i prefer not to think about?

(why must we make erotic the bond between a student and their thesis advisor? there is no stronger connection! but. not in this way, tv writers, not in this way. i mean Maybe it wasn't meant that way but it seemed like it was)

mulder is streaming the descent into madness of trepkos because he recorded his ramblings which is probably what my friends on my private story think each time i post. but he's going on about finding a silicon-based life form.

this whole time one of the scientists has been very noticeably coughing and losing his voice and i knew it was gonna go somewhere but all of a sudden he collapses. and mulder yells for scully who is undergoing her shift to Doctor Mode. but we see his neck... pulsate? is that the best word to describe it? augh i don't want to even think about it so we'll leave it there

(jesse was also looking super suspicious but i liked her...)

anyway they put the sick guy on a stretcher and he's down and out until he isn't, and now he's making a RUN for it. he runs and runs and falls in a ditch until a THING takes over his body and explodes. i thought it was a worm at first and it was sososo gross i started sweating. i do not like body horror. the things i endure for these two.

so scully's doing some testing and she's like, yeah this is a silicon-based fungus. and poor jesse is having a nervous breakdown because she has been in this base for 8 months and she just wants to go HOME but now they have to quarantine and i felt so bad for her.

then i remembered the line about her "polluting his body" and things were adding up... and they were NOT looking good for her... no... i cannot do this...

scully's really worried about jesse which is justified because this poor girl is freaking out. but mulder is really worried about scully! he wants to go look for trepkos and he's making excuses why she shouldn't come and finally settles on the need to autopsy the body which he seems to both genuinely believe and also say to keep her back at the base

she knows he's being protective so she says "i'm here and i'm not going anywhere" which is sweet but girl you were in a coma. they had your gravestone made. you are lucky he has not put you in bubblewrap entirely. you can't blame the man for needing you to be safe!!!!

he says he's counting on her and grabs her shoulder with some heavily lingering eye contact that, when i see in gif form, i will surely slam the reblog button upon because. good lord.

jesse is talking to the other guy and he says something like "do what we said" and i'm thinking oh man, they're gonna try to get mulder (spoiler alert: they did not quite do that)

the guy is like "you need a guide to go get trepkos" and i'm even MORE suspicious but his reasoning kind of does make sense- it is a volcano maze, after all- still, when mulder goes with him i was tense

BUT THEN he immediately gets shot with a FLARE GUN? which i did NOT see coming. and trepkos emerges from the back of the volcano caves all burned and wild-looking.

he's covering the newly dead body with gasoline and mulder's asking why he's trying to kill him twice when we see the parasite wriggle in his neck (GAG) so then he shoots him with ANOTHER flare to burn up the evil creature. and he's explaining how if you're exposed to the parasite's spores you're gonna be sick...

and scully is back at the base with jesse... who was exposed... so she's not going to be safe...

and we see jesse in her room gagging and convulsing... oh man... it's not looking good....

trepkos is not letting mulder leave, but mulder does not give a fuck LMAO he says "you're gonna have to shoot me then" and goes to walk out... this man was really thinking "they are NOT gonna take scully from me again" and i know that is exactly right!!!!!

NOOOO the lights go off in the compound........... NOOOOO JESSE ATTACK.....

she's handcuffing her and scully together!!!!!! but scully was smart enough to get her behind a door really fast before jesse collapses and the fungus explodes...... but the handcuffs... was the door open a crack?? was it enough to get her infected???!?!?

mulder BURSTS in to see her handcuffed and she keeps repeating "i'm okay, i'm okay" but he must be so shocked because he asks "you alright?" and gently cups her face and at this point i wanted to do some powerful screaming to let out the things i was feeling

we see trepkos come in and look at jesse's body and he says that he told her how this experience would change her life... and i'm getting callbacks to when mulder told scully it would be a nice trip to the forest, but then the whole evil bugs thing happened in s1 ep20... and i am filled with a deep sadness...

so the duo has been sentenced to a month long quarantine, which i'm sure had to absolutely drive them wild. but i think my mutual wrote a fic on this subject so i just simply have no choice but to go read it now! and i assume that, since there are more seasons, the spores did not actually infect them

(and mulder, who was earlier suggesting time off for scully, must be some mix of terrified that any day now the symptoms will start showing and the end will be near, deeply satisfied that she has been forced into getting rest and healing like he wished, and regretting his words that she should take a break, because here she is taking a break. with him. and they're driving each other crazy)

we see trepkos hiking back into the volcano maze with jesse's body and it was actually really sad :(

overall a good episode, another one in the vein of s1 eps 8 and 20 where there is some sort of contagion and we must figure out from where it started and to whom it has gone... but the formula in these episodes keeps me on the edge of my seat and allows for a convergence of doctor scully and protective mulder, two things i am deeply invested in seeing. and seeing mulder try and keep her away from the case after her whole incident made me emo as hell!!!! he is never going to let her out of his sight again unless he has to go keep her safe by finding the wild man in the volcano!!!!!! and even that backfired!!!! ugh my heart!!!!! i love them so deeply!!!

rip my girl jesse i thought u were rad in the brief time we knew each other

[snotsloth]

Probably one of my better quotes from my chat with @physicalvocalist today, "If I had a nickel for every time Marvel gave me a skinny white* boy who could change the fabric of reality itself, I'd have at least three nickels, which isn't a lot, but it is weird that it happened THRICE!"

We were of course talking about the narrative parallels between Franklin Richards, Quentin Quire, and Wiccan. Phys is a huge F4 fan and I have X-Men brainrot. So, of course while discussing Franklin's currently suppressed powers, and the "he is/he isn't" back and forth about his mutant status, I had to also bring up Quentin and Billy.

Just, the fact that there are three of them, relatively close in age, that are all so overpowered that Marvel continuously has to nerf or sideline them during major events because at full strength any one of them could just FIX it is just wild to me. AND they all have a different flavor of power. Wiccan is Magic, Quentin is Celestial via the Phoenix Force, and Franklin is Science via Mutation.

I think they all definitely have some Icarus DNA to them, a young boy is given an amazing gift and warned not to take it too far, too high, or he will fall. Each of them have been warned in one way or another not to express the full range of their powers for fear of failure/corruption/ironic unforseen consequences/etc.

On top of that each of them also struggles on a more personal level with identity. Billy early on struggles with his queer identity, but also with the fact that he started life as a figment of his mother's imagination that gained sentience. He fears becoming like his mother and causing more problems than he fixes.

Quentin constantly struggles with his own hubris. His powers set him apart even from other mutants and he struggles to connect with his peers on a personal level, which only drives him to be more standoffish and egotistical. Plus there's all of his subtextual gender shenanigans. I won't go into detail about it here because this post is already long enough, but I HC Quentin as a stealth trans boy (and I have so much textual evidence).

And then there's Franklin, who literally had his Mutant identity ripped away from him just as he reached adolescence, the period of life where you build much of the foundation of your self-image. He has artificially aged himself once and then reverted back to his original age. He met a future version of himself that time travelled to save the universe. He knows he will most likely survive the destruction of this universe and witness the birth of the next one. As of the most recent retcon, he has suppressed his mutant powers and abilities to the point that even he remains unaware of them except for one night a year where he basically does a check-in on the overall state of the Universe and then goes back to sleep and forgets it all again. So his sense of identity might be the most convoluted of the three.

Basically, I think they should all hang out and save the universe or something. They'd have a lot to talk about and Quentin would drive Billy up the wall in frustration. I know the last thing Marvel needs is a major event centered on three skinny miracle boys but I think there's a lot of potential in actively making them foils to each other.

*EDIT! Billy, as an anon very politely reminded me, is not white. He's of partial Romani and Jewish descent (depending on the current retcon status of whether or not Magneto is his actual grandfather). No matter how much most Marvel artists whitewash both him and the rest of his family, Billy isn't white.