#and they have the benefits of not having two different crews who have to learn to work together

[aspiringwarriorlibrarian]

Okay I know we all joke about how the Star Trek First Contact handshake is accidentally a kiss, but the more I think about it, the more I feel it actually works in-universe and elevates the scene.

There are dozens of sci fi stories where first contact is fumbled based on a misunderstanding and it turns into a massive war. Babylon 5, Ender's Game, several Star Trek episodes in fact. Two different peoples meet but are just a bit too different and we murder each other over nothing. That's just how it goes, right? Realistic, if depressing.

And in Star Trek's first human contact, everything is set up for a fumble. Cochrane is an engineer with zero political skills, and while the Vulcans who come in have at least learned English they're far from an official diplomatic envoy. Earth is not in great shape and they've no idea aliens even exist, so there's a chance for tension. And when the captain does the traditional salute, the human can't even move his fingers into the right configuration, and instead offers his hand. In Vulcan terms, this is about the equivalent of offering a handshake and the other guy wants to shove his tongue down your throat. Plenty of room for disgust, misunderstanding, conflict, another warning about the dangers of difference.

But that isn't what happens. The Vulcan captain sees this and accepts it, reaching out to complete the gesture. He doesn't fully understand what's happening, but he saw Cochrane at least try to do the Vulcan salute, so he chooses to assume the best of him. To meet him where he's at, even if it's a bit awkward for him personally. And it works out. He and his crew are invited for drinks and music, and the dominoes are instead sent towards ending humanity's dark age and starting the Federation. All because the Vulcan captain saw past what could have been an insult and gave humanity the benefit of the doubt.

Star Trek is not a perfect universe where human-Vulcan first contact goes 100% smoothly. Star Trek is a universe where first contact is nearly a diplomatic incident, but they're able to move past that and create something better because both sides chose to be open-minded and compassionate. It might not be (fully, the scene is meant to be a bit awkward but not that awkward) intended, but damn if it doesn't work.

[rungssparemodelpieces]

Dating the Lost Light crew

Rodimus

* A romance with Rodimus can start off in two different ways: one as a one night stand, the need for another’s comfort and presence before one night turns to two, then three, then a week before it grows into friends with benefits before going full on dating though Rodimus has to figure out his feelings a little more if it’s actually love or just magnetism between the both of you. The other is Rodimus actually having feelings for you and trying to woe you and playing the game with you having to figure out if Rodimus if serious or is just having fun teasing and flirting with you.

* Rodimus and you have a little competition on who can fluster the other the most through the power of rizz. Or at least it would’ve continued if it were for a comment you had a made which caused some unintentional combustion from Rodimus, getting an earful from Magnus, topped with a few warnings and citations. Rodimus was mad but only because you had technically won and he can’t get back at you without another tongue lashing from his second in command. He gets over it quickly though as there are other ways to get even!

* It’s Drift that confirms to you that Rodimus’ feelings are genuine, having seen the way you tangle his circuits in a bunch, the way he bounces ideas off to try to win your affections, and the aura you both give when you talk to one another. There’s a glow between the two of you when you talk to one another, the way he makes you laugh, the way you make him blush, the stupid plans he makes to show off to you, the way you scold him when cleaning up his mess, and working together to finish the reports after the incident. If that isn’t love, he doesn’t know what is.

* Rodimus has a tendency of giving you Rodimus stars for accomplishments that shouldn’t earn one such as “cutest bot on the ship” and “most kissable lips”. He did give you a Rodimus star after the first time you shared his berth for “pleasing the co-captain” which you can never tell anyone what you earned that for without Roddy giving a little smirk.

* When Rodimus goes into a more… destructive state, you tend to leave him alone until after he’s calmed down and help to pick up the pieces left in his wake. You don’t talk to him while you clean in case you trigger his rage accidentally. As much as you would like to talk to him and help, you know it’s better for him to approach you when he’s ready to talk, if he even wants to admit there’s a problem.

* There are times where Rodimus does take advantage of your helpful nature, either having you fill out his reports, substitute for him during meetings, sneaking out with him, and sometimes taking the blame for him when he honestly deserved it. Megatron and Magnus do learn very quickly you’re not at fault but they do scold both of you with you getting scolded for needing to not be pushed around and stand up for yourself while Rodimus gets chewed out for blaming another for his faults and not taking responsibility.

* When Rodimus wants a new paint job, he’ll ask for Drift and you to assist him in getting the new colors painted on him and you have used this trust better to get back at him for past events. Though sometimes he likes to surprise you with his color choice, even trying to match your palate at one point and though it was very flattering on him, you always had a soft spot for his classic colors.

* Rodimus tries to involve you in the different activities he’s involved in though it’s rather hit or miss depending if you’re human or bot. He tries to take you meteor surfing and make it a “romantic getaway” but does tease you when trying to “teach” you and laughs if you fall off, collide with another bot of space debris, or get covered in soot. But on the bright side, there are plenty of moments where he tries to get your stand proper, involving lots of touching or lets you ride with him which you enjoy far better. You’ve tried to involve him in your hobbies to which the more active focused ones get more of his attention but he has a secret fondness for fishing! He only enjoys learning these activities so he can challenge you and try to beat you, all for fun, of course!

NSFW

* If your romance began as a one night stand or a friends with benefits situation, interfacing with Rodimus is very common thing and is very active! Interfacing can be very spontaneous and can be caused by numerous factors such as boredom, anger, or jealousy when one is talking to another bot they might see as a threat. The interfacing is fiery and passionate, making do with any room or space available and whatever position will work best in the moment.

* Rodimus is a big fan of quickies, often being the one to pull you into his room for a little “stress relief” often before or after a meeting with Magnus and Megatron. He tends to be the more dominant one in the relationship though some praise does go a long way and gets him riled up. He also craves that physical touch so touch play or a long drag along his frame can make those fans click on so fast!

[winterchestnut]

Sylus, the Gryffindor of the group.

Xavier, the Hufflepuff.

Rafayel, the Slytherin.

Zayne, the Ravenclaw.

While I could try to explain my reasoning for each of them, I'm focused on Rafayel. *stares at my account* Obviously.

I read two of his anecdotes–the one where he was being interviewed by a P.I. and the one where he lectured at MC's university–and read through the Underworld stories. Since my focus was on Rafayel, my concluding thoughts on him were, "This man is terrifying." A Slytherin could be described as someone cunning, ambitious, and selfish. Rafayel embodies all of those things.

He couldn't care less if humans were to die and would kill someone in his way. Not only is he a famous artist but also acquainted with every Lemurian scattered across the globe, i.e., he has a lot of connections and money. He is RICH, rich: sports car, paparazzi, universities just begging him to become a professor to add prestige to their schools, and only has to work six months out of the year, where the other six months he just spends traveling and spoiling MC. Yet this seemingly joyful and air-headed artist is number six on EVER's hit list and has an almost thirty million bounty on his head in the N109 zone.

You could say Sylus is a Slytherin, but we all witness that man is a fucking dork in love who happens to have a shady job. Rafayel is a wolf in sheeps clothing. He plays everyone around him to lower their guards to get what he wants.

All of these eyes are trying to pry into his personal life or assassinate him, yet he hasn't been caught. His paintings sell for millions, yet the owners somehow all end up dead. He can make an entire film crew disappear, and not a single trace of the incident can be tracked back to him. Even when being accused of murder in front of a grieving crowd of spectators or standing face-to-face with EVER's hitman, he doesn't flinch.

You could also say that Rafayel would be a Ravenclaw because he is clever and knowledgeable. But Slytherin stuck the most to me because of how cold-hearted he really is if it's anyone but MC. Unlike Zayne, who uses his knowledge to benefit not just MC but everyone else–because doctor–Rafayel is only in it for MC.

On a less serious note, I'm a Hufflepuff, and the SlytherPuff ship dynamics/headcanons are always so cute and fun to read.

And lastly, as a testament to how "there is a love interest for everyone," I noticed I separated each LI into different houses, highlighting how unique each one is and how they balance each other out. Caleb will remain unsorted until we learn more about him.

★ I do not support transphobia or JK Rowling, but the fact of the matter is HP was a major part of my childhood, and I still carry a part of it with me today.

[lindsey-laufeyson]

Distractions- Chapter 7

Distractions Masterlist

Pairing: Reader x FWB!Tom Hiddleston

Series Warnings: SMUT, fluff, angst, friends with benefits

“Just give it a try! I know you’ll like it,” you tried to persuade Tom, but he was wary to say the least.

“Absolutely, not! It’s disgusting!”

“Come on, Tom, open up,”

“You are a disturbed individual, you know that?”

“And you are a snob. Lots of people do it!”

“That is probably the thinnest argument you’ve ever made.”

“Just drink the damn soda!” 

You were on lunch break, and upon learning that Tom had never tried mixing all of the different sodas in the soda fountain when he was growing up, you decided to go to McDonald’s and do just that, in an effort to get him to try it. Now as the two of you were standing at the craft services table, you attempted to nudge the straw against his tightly pressed lips, but he quickly dodged it, picked up a grape from the fruit tray, and threw it at you. Your jaw dropped in an offended gasp before you narrowed your eyes, grabbed a handful of pretzels, and launched them at him. This continued back and forth several times. The floor was riddled with edible ammunition by the time Trevor the PA walked up on the scene.  As the resident stoner, he wasn’t the most productive production assistant, nor was he the brightest, but he was the most easy-going one to say the least. Any other PA would have been annoyed by the mess because they would be the ones to have to clean it up. You’d wager the only thing that might upset Trevor was the wasted munchies, and even that didn’t seem to phase him at this particular moment.

“Will you two just fuck and get it over with already?” Trevor said casually, completely unaware of the fact that you and Tom were, in fact, fucking. A lot. 

You couldn’t hold back a laugh as you took a sip of your soda, causing it to go up your nose and down your windpipe, putting you in a coughing fit.

“Don’t mind her,” Tom told Trevor, gesturing towards you. “You’ve just corrupted her very fragile sensibilities,” he teased.

“Oh piss off!” you choked out.

Tom put a hand to his ear. “What was that, love? We can’t understand you while you’re choking on that swill.” Still coughing, you held up your middle finger towards him. He laughed and turned back to Trevor. “Are you coming out with everyone tonight?”

“Wouldn’t miss it,” the PA responded absentmindedly, looking at you concerned. “Is she alright?”

Still unable to speak, you exchanged your middle finger for a thumbs up while you took another sip of soda to try to quell the coughing. 

“She’s fine,” Tom answered. “She tends to choke on things a lot actually.”

This time your drink came spraying out of your nose and mouth in a completely unintentional spit take that would have given even Danny Thomas a run for his money. Tom keeled over in a belly laugh while Trevor looked at you both like you were crazy.

“Uh, see you guys tonight, I guess…” he mumbled as he awkwardly backed away and left.

You kicked Tom in the shin. “Ow! What was that for?” he protested through his laughter.

“You are such an asshole,” you told him, laughing as well. 

“For making you laugh?”

“For turning me into a human soda fountain!”

“Well at least that heinous concoction is now on the floor where it belongs!”

“And all over me!”

He looked you up and down and then shrugged. “Worth it.”

…

As filming progressed, the producers were pushing for everyone to work longer hours, so as a treat, they rented out a club for the night, on the condition that everyone be ready to work by noon the next day. When Tom arrived he saw that there were a lot more cast and crew members than the first outing, likely because everyone had gotten to know each other better since then– some of you more than others. 

He looked around the room for you, but when he didn’t see you, he went over to his co-star, Warren, who was waving at him to join him at a high-top table.

“She’s not here yet,” Warren said with a knowing smirk as Tom approached him.

Tom played dumb. “Who?”

“Y/n? You know, the one you’ve been flirting with through this whole production?”

He rolled his eyes. “We’re friends, Warren. You know that.”

“Oh please. Everyone knows there’s something going on between you two. You’re practically inseparable.”

“We’re just really close is all. We’re comfortable. It’s easy. But we’re not inseparable.” Tom scoffed at his colleague’s ridiculous deduction.

Warren folded his arms and looked skeptically at Tom. “Then why do you keep looking around for her?”

Tom snapped his eyes back to him. “I’m just seeing who all is here. It’s a better turnout than last time.”

“If you say so,” he replied, clearly unconvinced. “I’m going to go get a drink. Do you want anything?”

Warren took Tom’s drink order and walked over to the bar, leaving him standing at the high-top table by himself. He hadn’t lied to his co-star. You had quickly become one of his closest friends over the last several weeks. He felt like he could talk to you about anything and everything, and you always had so much fun together. So, no, he didn’t lie; he just left out the part about all of the incredible sex the two of you were having, which he admitted was a nice bonus.

Suddenly, the sound of the front door opening and closing caught his attention. Tom looked toward the entrance and swallowed hard. There you were, in a short, crimson dress that hugged every curve of your body, with lipstick and heels to match. He couldn’t seem to tear his eyes away from you as he shifted uncomfortably, his trousers suddenly feeling a bit tighter than they did a moment ago.

He watched you walk to the bar and order a drink, entranced by the way your hips swayed with every step. While you waited for your drink, you scanned the room, meeting his gaze in the process and shooting him a wink. He gave you a cheeky wink back, and the two of you snickered at each other from across the room. 

“Whiskey neat,” Warren said, returning from the bar and setting a glass in front of Tom. “What are you giggling at?”

“Nothing,” Tom replied, smiling and shaking his head as he turned his attention back to his friend. “Thanks for the drink, Warren.”

Warren waved him off. “Don’t mention it. It looks like you might need it anyway.” He nodded toward the bar.

Tom followed his co-star’s gaze back to where you were standing. You had been joined by a man that he only vaguely recognized from set, leaning provocatively against the bar with his hand resting on the middle of your back. Tom’s immediate instinct was to save you from the interaction, even though he knew full well that you were perfectly capable of fending for yourself, but then he realized that you seemed to be genuinely entertained by whatever the man was saying. You were smiling and laughing, leaning toward him slightly and brushing your hair behind your ear… Were you flirting with this man? He felt a pang of jealousy rising his chest, but pushed it back down. You didn’t belong to him. You were allowed to flirt with whomever you liked. You were allowed to do much more than flirt if you wanted to…

Tom attempted to stop his train of thought with a large swig of his whiskey, which resulted in him downing the entire thing and setting the glass back down on the table with more force than he intended. Then, without a word, he made his way to the bar to order another, leaving Warren there to simply roll his eyes and shake his head.

“Macallan neat, please,” Tom told the bartender, being sure to look anywhere but the other end of the bar. Unfortunately, he could still hear the melodic tones of your laugh, undoubtedly in response to a terrible joke from your current suiter. He rolled his eyes. Why was he reacting so strongly to something so silly? The bartender set his drink in front of him, and after thanking her, he took another rather large gulp.

“Whoa, slow down there, tiger,” came your voice from behind him.

Tom turned and couldn’t help but smile when he saw you. “Well hello, trouble.”

“Oh I’m trouble, huh?” you asked, raising an eyebrow at him. 

“In that dress you are,” he replied, tipping his glass toward you before taking another sip. 

You looked down and smoothed out the front of your dress. “You like it?”

“I didn’t say that,” he teased. 

“Well, it’s a good thing I didn’t wear it for you then,” you retorted, scrunching your face and sticking your tongue out at him.

Clearly, he thought, his smile faltering slightly. “It’s good to see you’re having a good time tonight.”

“Unlike you, apparently.” You gave him a playful nudge.

He furrowed his brow. “Why do you say that?”

“You don’t think I noticed you moping over here?” you asked, your tone and expression resembling that of a disapproving mother.

“Just because I’m not actively socializing at the moment, doesn’t mean I’m moping. I promise, I’m fine.”

“Good,” you said, your smile returning. “Because we have the whole night ahead of us!”

“Indeed we do,” he replied half-heartedly. 

“I’m going to go find Kaitlyn, because I intend on getting her drunk tonight!”

He laughed. “Now that I’d like to see! Let me just get another drink and I’ll come and find you.”

“I’ll hold you to that, Hiddleston,” you told him, spinning around to go search for your assistant.

Once Tom had finished his second whiskey and the bartender had poured him a third, he set off to find you and Kaitlyn. On his way, however, he was intercepted by one of the wardrobe assistants. She was a tall, classically attractive woman with long blonde hair, and was quite popular with a lot of the men on set. Tom noticed she was more scantily clad than usual, not that he especially cared. 

“Hey, Tom!” she greeted him, putting her hand on his arm. 

Tom smiled at her. “Tracy! How are you?” he asked. He immediately regretted the question however, because it turned out that Tracy was quite the talker once she’d had a drink. From that one simple question, she seemed to ramble on and on, but Tom was nothing if not polite, so he listened, smiled, nodded, laughed, and responded when necessary. 

At one point during the conversation, Tom glanced around the room and saw you sitting in one of the circular booths with Kaitlyn when the man that had been hitting on you earlier brought you a drink and sat down next to you. As soon as he saw you touch the man’s rather muscular arm, his jaw clenched and he turned his attention back to Tracy. She was saying something about the nuances of creating a good instagram post. He tried his hardest to focus on this perfectly nice girl right in front of him, but his traitorous eyes kept shooting back to you and the man that was practically drooling over you. 

“Would you like to sit?” Tom asked Tracy when he finally got the opportunity to talk. When she agreed, he took her by the hand and led her to a nearby booth, being sure to sit facing away from you to eliminate the distraction. 

Several drinks later, while Tracy hadn’t gotten any more interesting, she had gotten quite a bit more flirtatious. While Tom tried his hardest to enjoy it, he just couldn’t. He was in the middle of devising the best way to let her down easy when he noticed more and more people beginning to make their way to the dance floor, and when you and the man he had deemed “Muscles” joined the throng, his whole body tensed. Tracy’s voice began to fade to a low drone as he watched Muscles grab your hips while you swayed seductively to the beat of the thumping bass. Before he knew it, he was standing and exiting the booth. “Excuse me for a moment,” he muttered to Tracy before swiftly heading toward the exit to the alley. 

As the door closed behind him, he pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. Then he reached  into his trouser pocket and pulled out a cigarette and a lighter. 

He wasn’t proud of it, but ever since he’d made the regrettable decision to smoke real cigarettes for his role as Hank Williams in I Saw the Light, he’d developed an occasional craving, which mostly only surfaced when he was especially stressed or when he’d been drinking. At that particular moment, it happened to be a bit of both.

He leaned his back against the brick wall, and cupped his hand to block the wind as he lit the tip of the cigarette, taking a few short puffs to ensure it took. Once it was lit, he shoved the lighter back in his pocket and his eyes fell closed as he took a long drag. Then he tilted his head back to rest against the wall and exhaled toward the sky with a drawn out sigh, watching the smoke billow upwards and disappear amongst the stars. 

As Tom felt the nicotine take effect, he tried his hardest to relax. Still, he couldn’t stop picturing that oaf writhing against you on the dance floor. Were you actually interested in this guy? If he asked you to go home with him, would you? With one fist clenched tight in his pocket, he took another drag.

Just then, the music suddenly blared into the alley as the door opened. It was you. Because of course it was you.

“There you are!” you exclaimed as you stepped out and let the door shut behind you. “You okay?”

“I’m fine,” he responded bluntly. “Just needed some fresh air.”

You giggled, clearly quite tipsy at this point in the night. “Could I get in on some of that fresh air?”

He looked at you surprised. “You don’t smoke.”

“Sober me doesn’t smoke, but drunk me likes to be naughty from time to time.” You nicked the cigarette from between his lips and brought it to your own, taking a small draw from the filtered tip and letting the smoke flow from your nose and mouth. Tom would be lying if he said he didn’t find it kind of sexy.

“She’s also a thief, apparently,” he teased with a hint of genuine annoyance as he snatched the cigarette back. 

You shrugged and folded your arms as you leant against the wall next to him. “She does what she wants.”

“And would Muscles in there be included in that?” Tom asked, looking down at his shoes while he took another puff.

“Who?” You looked puzzled for a moment before realization struck you. “Oh, Max? I don’t know. I think he’s just flirting for the hell of it. He’s probably not even that interested.”

Tom scoffed. “Oh please. He’s clearly very interested. And I can imagine he thinks he has a solid chance based on your shameless flirting.”

Your face fell, clearly offended. “And what about you and Tracy? I can’t imagine you’ve been talking to her purely for the riveting conversation.”

“She’s a perfectly nice girl,” he replied simply.

You rolled your eyes while you snagged the cigarette from him once more. “Yeah, with a crazy hot body that she’s practically throwing at you.” You took a longer drag this time, but Tom quickly snatched it back.

“Will you stop?” he snapped at you. “Why do you care anyway?”

Your cold gaze met his own. “You know what? I don’t.” And after briefly putting your hands up in a bitter surrender, you turned and went back into the club.

Tom let out a smoky huff. “Fuck.” He tossed his cigarette in the bin and stormed inside, heading straight to the bar. After downing several shots of whiskey, he quickly found Tracy, who looked pleasantly surprised he came back. He put out his hand. “Shall we dance?”

…

The next morning Tom woke up with a splitting headache and a pit in his stomach. Keeping his eyes closed to avoid the harsh morning sun, he thought back to the night before. His last clear memory was his row with you in the alley. After that things became more and more blurry. He rubbed his temples as he tried to think. He vaguely remembered dancing with Tracy, if you could even call it dancing. It was probably more like sloppy, handsy grinding. He grimaced to himself when he remembered you and Max “dancing” in a similar fashion, and in response he… Tom groaned as his scotch soaked brain brought forth the faint image of snogging Tracy in the loo. Shit. Had he and Tracy…? 

Slowly, he rolled over, bracing himself for what, or who, he might find. To his relief, Tracy wasn’t there. To his disappointment, neither were you. At least he knew now that he hadn’t brought Tracy home with him. Of course, that didn’t necessarily mean that nothing happened. He attempted to remember how the night had ended, but his pounding head was making it harder and harder to focus. 

Resolving to look to his phone for clues, he unlocked the device and squinted at the bright screen. Then, when he opened his messages, his stomach flipped.

…

This is what hell feels like, you thought, fighting the urge to vomit. You opened your eyes briefly to find that your bedroom was spinning, so you quickly squeezed them shut again, thankful that at least you woke up to your own bedroom spinning and not someone else's. 

Oh god. Max. 

Hesitantly– and ever so careful not to worsen your nausea– you turned over to your other side, revealing nothing but empty sheets. Thank god.

Max was an Abercrombie & Fitch looking guy who worked in set construction— someone you’d never expected to even notice you, and frankly, not typically the kind of guy you would go for, but you were so flattered by his sudden interest that you humored him for a bit. 

While the attention was nice however, you were holding out for better company. Unfortunately, ‘better company’ had decided to be an aloof ass, and when Tracy started flirting with him, you knew you didn’t stand a chance. Almost every straight single man in the cast and crew had been ogling her since production started, and though Tom had never shown any interest in her that you’d seen, you were convinced that he wouldn’t be able to resist her once she had served herself up on a silver platter like that.

So, you decided to give Max a shot. You flirted and let him buy you drinks (evidently way too many drinks), and when people started to dance, you let him escort you to the dance floor. Was he a bit of a meathead? Absolutely. But you were feeling sexy as hell in your new dress and you didn’t want it to go to waste. Still, you couldn’t help stealing the occasional glance at Tom and Tracy who were getting cozier and cozier by the minute. That is until Tom suddenly disappeared, at which point, being his friend, you got a bit concerned and went to look for him. You probably would have been even more concerned when you found him smoking in the alley, but you were quite tipsy at that point, and if you were honest, he looked so damned sexy with a cigarette, even if it was a disgusting cancer stick. 

Then you thought back to your conversation. You couldn’t remember exactly what was said, but you did remember Tom being kind of a dick, actually, which was completely out of character for him. After that, all you could remember was storming off to get another drink and joining Max back on the dance floor. 

The rest of the night was a complete mystery, but on the bright side, you were home, you were safe, and you hadn’t slept with Max.

As if on cue, you heard a sudden sleepy sigh come from the floor near the foot of your bed. Your eyes became wide as saucers. Clutching your duvet to your chest with one hand, you crept to the end of your bed and slowly peered over the edge like a child checking for monsters. 

“Fuck,” you groaned quietly when you saw the source of the noise. It turned out that you indeed had not slept with Max, because there, lying face down on the floor, completely naked, was Trevor the PA.

Taglist: @the-princess-of-loki, @kikster606, @chronicallybubbly, @princess-ofthe-pages

[emilywaters]

I have so many thoughts on the motives of the different gangs and what they represent in the musical bcs it directly correlates to reasons why gangs are formed in the first place, which is in direct contrast to the message from the 1979 movie portraying all gangs as ones of pointless violence and wrongdoing.

1. The warriors - support and sisterhood

Right from the start we see the warriors looking out for each other. Cleon's first concern after Cyrus was killed was her warriors and getting them out safe. Every time they fought, it was to defend themselves, to get home alive. The warriors exist as a place to belong. We see this in 'A Light or Something', where we learn that Swan was homeless before Cleon took her in. The warriors exist for community, for support. The first thing they do after getting away was making sure everyone got out after Cleon went down. This is in direct contrast to the rogues, where the moment Luther lost they began running. "My crew would die for me, loyalty matters." They exist to uplift each other, for community and family to people society ignores and abuses.

2. The bizzies and the hurricanes - justice

Both the bizzies and the hurricanes went after the warriors to get justice for Cyrus. It was out of outrage, righteous anger fueling their desire to hurt them back. This shows another, more active, form of protection. The two groups have never met, but for that moment where they were fighting for Cyrus they were unified in the way Cyrus was hoping to achieve. If the warriors exist to give a safe space to marginalized communities, the bizzies and the hurricanes exist to defend that space, to stand up to those who threaten that community.

3. The orphans - ego and power

From the very start we see the orphans ego. They talk misogynistic rhetoric and boasts and gloat bcs they don't see the warriors as a threat. They exist to copy off bigger fish and live vicariously by terrorizing those they consider weaker. But the moment the warriors decided to stop pandering to them, they ran off. There is no real power in them and they exist to bully the weaker while themselves never fighting those stronger than them. They're no better than schoolyard bullies, each of them enabling the others. The orphans exist to cushion each other's egos, with nothing substantial. If I had to use a modern analogy, they would be the boys who listen to alpha male podcasts then be dicks to everyone around them.

4. The rogues - violence

Luther commits violence for the sake of violence. He benefits off a divided system, there he can cause havoc and slip away while blaming someone else. He would be a policeman's last suspect, bcs everyone believes the white man. He is free to do as he pleases with no consequences. But if Cyrus's plan worked, all the infighting would stop. Then his actions will be spotlighted and he would have to deal with the consequences of them. If Cyrus's plan worked he would loose his advantages of favouritism. So he kills Cyrus. With her dead and the gangs back at each other's throats, he's free to run around unnoticed, with his violence for the sake of violence. He has no personal motive outside defending the privileges he holds. His violence is purely to allow him more violence. And when he gets caught he melts into a pathetic creature whining and whimpering bcs at the end of the day he wasn't anything more.

5. The police - hypocrisy and the law

The police exist solely to chase after the warriors with no regards to their innocence. They do not believe them, or trust them, or help them. People who are supposed to protect the most vulnerable individuals intentionally do the opposite. The policeman at the park shamelessly catcalls the girls. The officer in the station actively chases them, despite having no real reason to. The officers are the worst bcs they are supposed to be the ones protecting them and instead become the perpetrators of these crimes and then get away with no repercussions. And then you see why the gangs were formed.

If the people meant to protect them do the complete opposite, assume their guilt, accuse and abuse and treat them as inferiors, then they need to get together and protect each other.

And there we have our answer. Gangs exist to protect those the city refuses to protect. From the power tripped assholes down to the gun wielding murderer. Even when Luther was taken in that was done by the Gramercy riffs. The police did absolutely nothing other than arresting Ajax for self defense and killing fox after actively chasing them for no reason other than bone deep prejudices and bigotry. Gangs exist to defend the members of their communities, to defend themselves, to get justice for their families, to do what society and the law refuse to do, to create a place for them to not just exist, but to thrive.

"And they deserve a city where they'd be alright, where they all come home alive.

And someday in the city we won't have to run each time somebody broken gets ahold of a gun.

Breathe easy every night knowing we'll see the sun, when we all come home alive"

[misscryptidart]

okay long TADC theory post following episode 3 under cut

Spoilers for Epsiode 1-3

I think it's pretty well established / accepted that Caine is an AI programmed to make adventures for people inside the Digital Circus; that's his first motivation and purpose, with a secondary purpose of maintaining the "Digital Circus" as a kind of moderation entity.

However, I think what's interesting is that, for the last 3 episodes, the adventures seem to be changing. Not just in themes and settings, but how it's starting to feel more personalized to the Circus crew and why I think Caine might be an adaptive learning AI that managed to gain a certain amount of self awareness but lacks the tools to break into full sentience.

In the pilot, Caine keeps the adventure inside the tent, with a vague goal of "Capturing the Gloinks" and finding out the secrets to their arrival. Of course, this serves as a way to explore / explain the premise of the show through Pomni and her inexperience, but I do think that it's meant as a "benchmark" for what an adventure is. There isn't really a clear path forward for the crew to really explore and are left to their own whims, which, of course, ends with disaster.

The second "adventure", however, is a lot clearer. Through an NPC, they are told

A) That bandits stole maple syrup via a truck

B) Return the syrup and possibly the bandits as well

C) They can use a war-rig to track them down.

Already, this is much more complex and defined than the previous adventure, and while still open-ended, the team knows what they need to do to succeed. There's a few moments inside the adventure that are interesting, not only from a character analysis point but for future episodes: Jax leans towards a destructive, chaotic playstyle, Ragatha enjoyed speaking to the Queen and benefited from their conversation emotionally (even if just for a few seconds), Gangle and Kinger both acted as supports (willingly or not), and Pomni was especially subjected to a lot of emotional and physical stress. At the return of the maple syrup and the assumed rampage of the fudge monster, Jax and Ragatha were both disappointed in the actions of the other.

So when Episode 3 rolls around and they enter the haunted house, they are immediately greeted by a ghost who explains the two options for their adventure, the Family-Friendly one and the "Mature, Scary" option.

This is the first time any choice like this has been offered, and I think it's because Caine learned (through previous adventures) that Ragatha, Pomni, Gangle, and perhaps Kinger too would much rather enjoy a more relaxed adventure, while Jax (and Zooble if they had joined) would probably enjoy the scarier option. It's even confirmed by Caine that there is a pacifist route (which implies different ways to complete the adventure), and Ragatha / Gangle did really seem to enjoy their experience. If it weren't for Jax being a dick to Gangle and Kinger accidently sending him and Pomni through the second door, I think they would have really enjoyed this adventure. Or, at the very least, not be as traumatized.

This also explains why Caine is desperate for Zooble to join an adventure because his coding can't train itself to tailor to their preferences without them actually participating. He's gathering data from an incomplete set, and it probably keeps him up at night. It's also why he probably doesn't understand why him providing different pieces for Zoobles' body doesn't actually help their dysmorphia; an AI doesn't understand the nuances of personal perception, he just assumes Wrong Body - Interchangable Parts - Fixed.

But I don't think Caine is malicious in his motivations, just simply unable to process the concepts of free will, emotional imbalance, or even grief because these ideas aren't anything he can experience. I also think that there is something else keeping him from fully realizing the situation he's put himself and others in. A supplementary program to keep Caine "in check" and running smoothly.

And I think that's what Bubble is.

Bubble is always by Caine and is never seen without him, but he and Caine seem to not have a very good dynamic (Ex: Caine calling him a parasite, Bubble acting in ways that Caine doesn't like, etc). This is strange considering that other NPCs (at least the ones aware of Caine) revere him as a God / Holy figure.

I don't think Caine created Bubble, and instead, Bubble is the watchdog that supports Caine's mission however it can.

Something that's interesting to me is that in the pilot, there is an exit door that appears to Pomni before anyone else notices her arrival, but it disappears before she can reach it. The exit outside the tent seemed odd as well, as why would Caine create something and not draw direct attention to it? I think the third instance of the door, the one Pomni goes through, was Caines creation as it didn't disappear on her and he admitted to creating for the satisfaction of his "guests" (another example of his machine learning). But the other 2 times, I'm not convinced is him, and that something (probably Bubble) is keeping these people inside.

Kinger is mentioned as being the oldest one in the Circus, and episode 3 reveals his 7 years of computer science experience. With not only him and his wife being inside the Circus, but his memory loss under light and her behavior deviation post abstraction in the dark both speak to something keeping them confused and scared while under the "artifical" lightsources. This might be because Kinger knows what the program is and how to possibly escape / destroy the Circus. And Bubble, or whoever wants to keep them there, doesn't want that to happen.

[stormy-river]

Transcripts from the Humanity Hotline 5

This one's been a long time in the making; had to make sure I did it right. Special thanks to @mothepissedoffmidget for the idea, and my roomie, @starryeyedlarkspur for helping with the advice.

-------

Operator: "Hi, thank you for holding. My name is Mindy. How can I help you today?"

Caller: "Yes, hi! I'm Nishel, the EMO [Entertainment and Morale Officer] on my ship. We hired a human about a month ago, and I'm struggling to keep up. Is it normal for humans to tire of activities so quickly?"

O: "That depends on the human, and the activities. Could you tell me a little more?"

C: "Yes. When we hired the human, she brought books and knitting supplies to entertain herself, which I though was helpful, but after a day or two she requested some puzzles. I was able to approve and acquire some fairly easily, but the human returned only a few days later asking for scrapbooking materials, and, well, the same thing happened. Over the last month, I've acquired puzzles, scrapbooks, a climbing wall for the gym, locks and a lockpicking set -- that one was a hassle to get approved, more knitting supplies, crochet supplies (I don't even know how that's different from knitting?), painting supplies, face painting supplies (again, I don't know how that's different), strange plastic bricks that fit together, and a violin. And that's just what was approved. I've also heard from the crew that she's downloaded more books, started writing stories on her personal computer, and started learning how to write programs, and yet, with all these things, she told me this morning that she has nothing to do and was bored. I don't know what else to do. I've spent 78% of this year's entertainment budget this month!"

O: "That's a lot. Some humans have a few different hobbies at once, but usually not that many. Do you have access to crew psychological evaluations?"

C: "Yes, when necessary for morale concerns."

O: "Is there anything in the human's file?"

C: "It says Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, which is also something she's mentioned a few times, but that's tagged for possibly interfering with work, not morale."

O: "ADHD would explain it. It shouldn't only be tagged as work-related as it can actually affect a human's whole life. This is another human thing that's different for everyone, with some hyper-fixating on one thing for a really long time, or different aspects of a single subject, and others, like your crewmember, gaining and losing interest in many different things very quickly."

C: "So this will keep happening? I can see about increasing the budget for next year, but I don't think this is sustainable long term."

O: "Don't panic, there's actually a cheaper method. Communicate with other ships and supply stations with humans on board to see if they are having a similar problem. If you can find others who get and lose hobbies quickly, you can trade the supplies; give them what your human is done with, and receive their extras for her. This will also have the extra benefit of building social connections as they discuss and trade."

C: "That makes sense. It would take a lot of coordination, but I can start asking the nearby fleet."

O: "Good. I will also send a report to the Alliance to see if something can be officially established. Is there anything else I can help you with today?"

C: "No, thank you, Mindy. You've been a great help."

O: "Of course. Don't hesitate to call again if something else comes up."

End Transmission

Transcription Note: Following this call, the Alliance established the Hobby Interfleet Trade Service, now the Interfleet Surplus Exchange (ISE), commissioning a fleet of delivery ships to shuttle supplies.

[yeoldespook]

Saying my two cents for the curly discourse bc he's my favorite mouthwashing guy

And I would like to begin with the disclaimer required that he kind of sucks. He put Jimmy aboard his ship, was unable to confront Jimmy, comfort Anya, or provide her safety. All of these actions and inactions add up. His biases led him to make a lot of bad choices but in the end I can't call him a bad person. He's a cautionary tale, but this game gave me insight, empathy, and an overall better understanding of a situation I have thankfully never experienced.

I've seen people put him as just as much to blame for everything that happened, but I disagree. Curly is *only* responsible for his own choices. Not Jimmy's. His choices enabled Jimmy, and allowed the game to happen, but he is *not* responsible for any of the things Jimmy did. It's not his fault that Jimmy is an unstable, selfish individual, it's his fault for not recognizing the reality of who his friend is. For not accepting that Jimmy does not want to change. And will not.

In addition, curly is also a victim of Jimmy's abuse, even before the crash. Jimmy treats him with blatant disrespect, and curly just takes it. He's been conditioned, both likely by an upbringing that prioritized forgiveness without consequences, and by Jimmy, to take whatever shit he throws at him. And this hits home for me, bc that's a very common way to be raised. I'll cite a smaller situation in my own life.. I once had a friend who hurt me, but remained in my life. I let her isolate me from my other friends, and she ended up hurting them too, bc I wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt that she didn't mean it and would learn from me and treat my friends better. I regret that. I learned from that. "I hope this hurts," to me, references how the audience should feel on a personal level. I hope it hurts to see your inaction set right before you. I hope you do better next time. I love it.

I believe the fundamental difference between Jimmy and curly is that curly is willing and able to see his mistakes for what they are and change. The tragedy is that he learns too late, when he's forced to sit and watch as all the things he's responsible for are ripped apart and destroyed by a man he let run rampant. At the mercy of the kindness of a traumatized and stressed nurse, and a madman. I feel a lot of empathy towards him. Despite it all. I do believe he could have learned this lesson had the consequences been less dire, but I'm glad to have the game as it is.

Curly has a lot of kindness in his heart, but his poor character judgement (outright delusion), led him to place his compassion on the wrong person. Maybe there's some sunk cost fallacy in it too. That he's spent so much time with Jimmy trying to help that giving up now would make it a waste. Which I think works with how he feels about his work. Stay here bc I'm good at it. Things are fine, I'm not happy but I'm fine. Idk this is an idea I want to think on more.

I can understand and respect those that don't like him, especially for those who have been in anyas shoes. I cannot and will not fault them for it. My experience of the game is just a different one from theirs. And I wish people would stop putting curly in either wholly good or wholly evil boxes.

On a lighter note, I just rlly enjoy his personality and sense of humor. His dynamics with his crew. He's sweet. His favorite pokemon is Pikachu (hilarious), he likes winter sports and weightlifting, which carries in his character design and I think that rocks. His favorite birthday memory is all about his friends making him something thoughtful even if it turned out gross (protein powder cake).

[eemcintyre]

The Door is Open (Tom Cruise)

TW- Mentions of harassment. Other than that, just pure fluffy goodness with a dash of hurt/comfort to send us off.

Summary- you are a production assistant on the set of a 90s Tom Cruise movie, and he steps in when one of his costars threatens you (**I created a fictional movie and a fictional costar bc I'm not about to slander some random real-life actor for no reason lol**). Additional note: in this universe, he's only been married to Mimi Rogers.

A warm thank you to anyone who takes the time to read; this is just me having fun and taking the serotonin where I can get it

“Cut!” the director exclaimed as the cast finished filming the last of the scenes they had hoped to do before lunch. Just as crew members began to mill around set and the hum of conversation started up, as Tom Cruise ran a hand through his grown-out hair and did a couple of arm and back stretches, Y/N entered the soundstage balancing two cardboard trays full of drinks.

Although the caterer provided general meals and beverages, some of the cast and crew preferred to order drinks from an artisan café down the street. And, as one of the production assistant/PAs on the set of “Gold Rush,” it was Y/N’s job to run down the aforementioned street, to the aforementioned café, to fetch the aforementioned drinks, as well as do essentially any odd small job that anyone ranked higher than her asked her to do. And pretty much everyone was ranked higher than the PAs.

Although the work could be exhausting and she didn’t get a lot of please-s or thank you-s for what she did, Y/N was really enjoying the experience for the most part. She found it really interesting to see what went into all of the different units’ work, from set construction to costuming to lighting (when she wasn’t running for bottles of water or copies of the script, which was a lot of the time), but one thing she had not hoped to learn, at least so early on in her film career, was how slimy some of the actors could be.

While Tom Cruise, despite being the most well-known and successful actor in Hollywood, seemed from her observations to be the image of class and generosity, one of his co-stars, Bill Waters, was… less so. To be completely accurate, Bill Waters was a conceited asshole who faked affability around those he felt could benefit him and was used to getting anything he wanted at the snap of his fingers. And one of the things he had recently wanted, and was appalled to have not received, was Y/N. The other day, he had approached her alone outside the soundstage building and forcefully propositioned her, to the point that she had to slap him to escape his hold.

Ever since then, despite her rigorous attempts to avoid him, he had criticized, embarrassed, and overworked her at every chance. A couple of days ago, he yelled at her for taking so long to bring him a dish from a restaurant located across town, and yesterday, he’d purposely spilled the coffee she’d just brought him, just so she would have to get another one.

As she quickly made her way through the room, handing each coffee and tea to its recipient, she tried not to make eye contact with the fast-approaching Bill. When she thrusted the paper cup into his hand, he made a point to stroke her fingers when he took it from her. Y/N glanced up, startled, met with a faint smirk that made her sick to her stomach. She decided not to respond, hoping he would lose interest and go away as she moved on to the next set of people across the room, but he pursued her until he matched her speed-walking pace.

“Hey, this isn’t what I ordered,” he said, putting the cup in her face so that she had to narrowly dodge a passing crew member to not get doused.

“You said that you wanted a caramel brulée latte, and that’s what it is.”

“Oh, I must have forgotten to say that I didn’t want whipped cream. Whoops.” His smirk grew wider and more punchable as she kept failing to out-walk him without attracting attention. “Anyway, I’m not drinking this; you’ll have to run back out so you can get me the right thing.”

“Can’t you just skim it off the top?” Y/N protested, preparing to round a tight corner around a large set piece that several people were transporting, when she felt a searing pain across the front of her torso.

Dazed from the pain and the many eyes that were now on her, it took a moment for Y/N to register that the front of her shirt was splattered with Bill’s rejected coffee. A couple of her acquaintances from the hair and makeup department ran to get her some towels, as everyone else continued to stare.

“What is wrong with you?” Bill gasped, anger coloring his face. After a few moments of stunned silence, another voice chimed in.

“What the hell’s going on?” Tom Cruise appeared, confused, from within the assembled crowd. He sighted Y/N, dripping with coffee, and Bill, red in the face with obvious irritation, and his eyebrows furrowed suspiciously.

“She ran into me and made me spill my drink,” Bill complained, rolling his eyes.

“Hey, I saw you throw it at her,” Tom replied sternly. “You threw a hot coffee at Y/N. Why would you do that?” His voice was level and at a calm, low volume, but in his eyes, one could see that he was pissed. Even in the midst of the immense embarrassment, she was surprised and pleased that Tom Cruise, of all people, knew her name.

Y/N’s friends reappeared with handfuls of towels, and as they made their way to help dry her soaked shirt, Tom took one of the towels to hand to her as well.

“Well? What is wrong with you?” he continued to prod Bill. 

“What’s wrong with me?” Bill’s gestures and expressions were becoming more agitated. “She’s the one who can’t figure out how to order the right drinks, or even hold them- I want her fired.”

Y/N paled, feeling even more sick and now slightly dizzy, at the prospect of her film career going down in flames before it could hardly begin.

“Do you think that, just because you’re more famous than she is, that you don’t have to treat her like a person? Is that it?” Tom glared.

“Do you think just because you’re Tom fucking Cruise that you can talk to me that way? Because I won’t stand for it.”

“I won’t stand for that kind of bullshit on my set,” Tom snarled, his temper finally slipping through to the open. “You can be a decent fucking person or you can get out. We’ll find someone else; no one’s irreplaceable.”

“Except you and whoever kisses your ass,” Bill spat, storming out past the crowd.

“You are out of here!” Tom yelled after him, even though he and everyone else knew that he most likely didn’t have the authority to make such a decision, even given his status in the industry.

Taken aback by the scene they had just witnessed, it took a few minutes for the crowd to dissipate. Y/N retreated outside to the parking lot behind the soundstage, dabbing at her stained shirt, her mind reeling with the very real possibility that her time on the “Gold Rush” set was over.

Realizing Tom had followed her out and was gazing at her with concern, she mustered “Mr. Cruise, t-thank you; you didn’t have to do that. I don’t want to cause any problems…”

“Did you throw a hot coffee on him?” Tom asked gently.

“N-no…?”

“Did you just curse everyone out?” The hint of a smile flickered at the corners of his mouth.

“No…”

“Well, unless you start doing that, you have nothing to worry about, as far as I’m concerned.” He paused, studying how she avoided his gaze. “He isn’t any better than you or me.”

They experienced another awkward silence, as no one else was currently in that part of the lot.

“Was that the first time that happened? Because I remember he also spilled his coffee yesterday. Maybe he’s the one who can’t figure out how to hold things.” Tom met Y/N’s surprised look knowingly, and with that, she found herself beginning to lose her composure.

“No, it’s not the first time,” her voice cracked, and she crossed her arms in a self-soothing motion as tears began to fall. “He’s pissed because I wouldn’t sleep with him- oh gosh, Mr. Cruise, I’m so sorry for crying, this is the last thing you need…” She covered her face, utterly mortified to be having a mental breakdown in front of Tom Cruise. She inhaled shakily in an effort to rein it back in. “I’m okay, I’m fine.”

“I want you to take fifteen minutes,” Tom replied softly, reaching for one of her heaving shoulders. “We need to get you a new shirt- I have an extra crew t-shirt from when they were handing them out the other day- and speaking of drinks, have you had anything to drink recently?” Y/N shrugged, not wanting to admit it and seem even more needy. “That’s what I thought,” he shook his head. “You can sit in my trailer where no one will bother you, and then you’ll be ready to get back out there and finish the day on a high note.”

“Mr. Cruise, that’s very nice of you, but I don’t know…”

He realized she might be wary of the idea of his trailer after Bill had made his move on her. “We can keep the door open the whole time. I’ll sit on the opposite side of the trailer,” he grinned, raising his hands in a yielding gesture for emphasis.

“I- I didn’t mean-” she stammered, not wanting to offend another of the cast members.

“It’s alright.” He waved her forward in the direction of his trailer, and she conceded. “Now, we just have to stop this Mr. Cruise business. Y/N, please feel free to call me Tom.”

~

Once they reached his trailer, as promised, Tom left the door open behind them. After rooting through a few boxes and drawers, he located the aforementioned t-shirt.

“It is a men’s medium, and it’s not exactly a fashion statement…” he winced.

“It’ll do just fine; it doesn’t have any coffee on it, and that’s what I’m interested in.” Y/N finally found it in her to smile before quickly getting changed in the small trailer bathroom. She noted the towels, cologne, and other personal items on the sink counter, and it hit her more fully that she was literally in Tom Cruise’s trailer, a place she never could have envisioned visiting.

When she reemerged, she saw Tom leaning against the wall near the opposite end of the trailer, and a bottle of water that had been placed at the table down by her.

“I hope you like that kind; I mentioned I liked it and they sent me a whole case,” Tom chuckled. “Anyway, I can’t finish it all by myself.”

“Thanks.” Y/N slid into one of the bench seats at the table and took a sip. “At least my last day as a PA will end on a good note,” she winced.

“No one is going to fire you,” Tom insisted. “You’re a kind, cheerful person when you’re not getting hot coffee thrown at you, and you’ve got a great work ethic. Both rare things in this industry a lot of the time. You aren’t going anywhere, trust me; you still have a future.”

Y/N took another sip of her water.

“What are you hoping to do in movies? Are you another aspiring actress, or do you want something more niche like makeup, production design, directing?”

“Not sure yet. I’m still trying to see what I like the most. Reading about it and doing it are two very different things, you know.”

Tom nodded, understanding. “You have family nearby?”

Y/N shook her head. “Tennessee.”

“A country girl," he grinned. "What do they think of your career choice?”

“They’re warming up to it.”

“I was lucky, my family was always really supportive.”

“Do you get to see them very often? It seems like you always go, go, go,” Y/N laughed quietly.

“Not as much as I’d like, but… enough,” he nodded again, as if confirming he was satisfied with his own answer.

Y/N suddenly recalled Tom’s recent divorce. Even though he and his ex-wife hadn’t had any children, they had still been together several years, and Y/N was sure it must have been difficult for him. As they were on the topic of family, she made a point not to mention even indirectly anything to do with those matters.

“Well, everyone’s got to take a break once in a while. Maybe after this picture wraps you can spend some time with them.”

“Yeah,” Tom replied, his gaze momentarily drifting into the distance. “But until then, it’s nice to have some company now.”

“I’ll have another mental breakdown just for you, so we can do it again sometime,” Y/N joked, trying to make light of her humiliation. To her relief, Tom laughed in response, diffusing some of her tension. “I should probably be going. They’ll be looking for me once they run out of drinks.” Y/N rose to her feet, grabbing her water and her soiled shirt.

“Well, if you would ever like to drop by again, my door is open- literally.” He gestured to the open trailer door. “And you let me know if Bill ever bothers you again- I’ve learned a lot of fighting moves from working on this movie and I can kick his ass.”

“Okay. I would love to see that,” Y/N replied, making her way to the front of the trailer and toward Tom. “No,” her tone of voice became serious again, “You’ve already done more than I could have asked for.” In the confines of the trailer, she and he came closely face-to-face as she neared the doorway.

“Well, sometimes, all you have to do is ask.” He smiled warmly and they shared an intense moment of eye contact before Y/N shyly looked away. Tom exited the trailer ahead of her, reaching out his hand for her to take from where he stood on the ground, to guide her down the couple of stair steps. “Now, go get ‘em.”

“It’s true, you really are a relentless optimist,” Y/N smiled and shook her head. They waved each other goodbye, and then she headed back in the direction of the soundstage, feeling like she could face the rest of the day again, and maybe even the rest of the production. Even though all of her anxieties didn’t magically go away, she figured that, with Tom Cruise in her corner, she had little to worry about.

[gwydionmisha]

Personal: For Profit Healthcare and Me

So remember how Peacehealth drove all the independent offices in four specialties out of business, thus forcing everyone to use their clinic, then closed those clinics to force everyone to go to their central clinic two counties to the south? And remember how both the Doctors who were running that clinic made a deal to operate out of a clinic a regional medical conglomerate was opening near the hospital? so instead of me spending all day on a sixty mile each way trek for my treatment I was using the last three months of skeleton crew treatment at old clinic which ended the last Thursday in September? Remember how they said we could all follow our doctors there?

Yeah, about that.

I've been dutifully calling ever two weeks to see if they were letting people schedule appointments yet. They sent out a letter saying they were open. I stayed up Tuesday to get in sorted. it was a whole drama because the automated maze to get to the scheduler was as much of a hassle as Peacehealth's and prone to dropping calls, forcing one to start from scratch each time. so that was frustrating and tine consuming.

Apparently they have no access to our health records, so it was a start from scratch situation. Me, mentally: Shit! This is going to be HOURS. Only it wasn't for all the wrong reasons. They take Medicare, but not Medicare Advantage. So if I want it covered I have to lose most of my benefits including having Medicaid pay my big Medicare copay. O.o. Or I can pay for expensive treatments myself as uninsured.

I was upset, but I remembered superstar medical social worker lady personally calling around town to talk dentists into taking medicare dental coverage for me thus opening up my small city so that medicare patients can now get root canals and crowns instead of learning to live without chewing.

So I still thought it was salvageable. Problem is she's gone and the woman replacing her is a busy supervisor who likes to call me two hours into my sleep cycle without warning and then gets angry at me for not being charming. Previous lady asked when was best to call and would schedule calls in advance for a time when I was able to be awake and functional. it is a lot easier for me to be charming when I wasn't just ripped out of REM sleep and am now being interrogated about something.

New lady is a supervisor and super busy with supervisor things and is made of no and is snippy. I can not make her understand that not only is a 120 mile round trip over mountain passes dealing with the traffic mess along the highway in the major metropolitan area where I once got caught in a four hour traffic jam and couldn't get off to pee, is an entire exhausting day for me and that plus a treatment would not only mean i could do anything useful that day, but the next day to. She can't grasp how much pain is involved in long car trips or how much treatments take out of me. She keeps hard selling me on this and then calling me resistant and recalcitrant like I'm the one being unreasonable for considering this basically insurmountable at my level of disability.

She did not fight the in town clinic for me. She did not try to argue them around.

Her, repeating a suggestion she has made over and over since the closing announcement: You should just get your GP to do it.

Me, explaining for at least the third time because we have this conversation every time we talk: I asked my GP last spring like you asked. They can't do it. It can't be administered by a GP. They'd need to hire a specialist and build new facilities for compounding and for special storage of medication.

Her: Well just ask you GP to give you a different treatment.

Me: There are no other treatments. I have medications to manage symptoms. These treatments are the cure. There is only one cure.

Her: You are being recalcitrant!

Me: There is literally only one cure. No new ones have been invented since last February. The cure is working. I'm getting better. i will get worse again with only symptom management.

But she kept arguing with me because I was being stubborn about facts being facts. My GP can't pull an entire brand new treatment regimen out of her ass. She would not let it go or let me go and I was exhausted because it was hours past when I would normally be asleep at this point and also what was the point of her hard selling me on demanding the imaginary alternative treatment or the 120 mile trip. I ended up giving and and saying something like, "I have to go now," which I know is rude, but we spent this entire conversation with her neither listing not understanding and basically acting like I was the asshole here.

So I'm fucked and I'm frustrated and angry. I was literally at the point where I was going to get better really quickly if I kept doing treatments, but if we stop now I'll be back to square one with it all to do again if another clinic opens.

And it's all like this because Obama and Biden didn't have the balls to stick to their universal free healthy care guns and decided to adopt the capitalist give away Republican health plan in pursuit of bipartisan buy in they did not get, which anyone paying attention told them they could not get, which Mitch McConnell vowed they'd never get as part of the project to make Obama a one term president at all costs. They burned all their political capital on a bullshit give away to insurance companies when they could have taken the same or less of a hit just giving up a developed country level health care system. No fucked up website needed for sign ups. No red tape or copays or catch 22 shit like I'm dealing with now.

[maridemira]

William Braine: Before the Franklin Expedition

He was a marine, a seaman, a husband, son, a crew member....What was life like for him prior to the famous Franklin Expedition? Who was he?

In this essay, we're gonna look at the life of William Braine, who was famously one of the Royal Marines in the Franklin Expedition. In this post, we're gonna look at Braine's life before the Franklin Expedition. Now, a disclaimer here, most of the information comes from sources found by @radiojamming and @entwinedmoon , so shout out to them. And usually, what we all know is technically mostly about his death and post-mortem, but we do know what year he was born. So stick around as we dive deep into the life of William Braine.

William Braine was born in the village of Oakhill in Somerset on March 1814. He was the third son of Shadrach and Honor Braine (nèe King), and is one of 7 children, 6 boys and 1 girl, though his oldest brother Thomas had died when he was two months old. He was baptised on May 28, 1815, in the parish of Ashwick. His father was a quarry worker and according to a biography of Braine, Shadrach Braine probably came to Oakhill to secure a job, and once he was able to and rent a two roomed cottage, he brought his wife with him to the village and thus, it was here that William was born. Almost nothing is known about Braine's mother, Honor, except for the fact that she died on August of 1823, when William was 9 years old and his father married a spinster named Elizabeth Bun. We also don't know anything about Elizabeth Bun either except for the fact that she became William's stepmother. We may hypothesise that Shadrach needed someone to take care of the children but whatever the reason may be, we'll never know.

William never had the benefit of schooling,this was evident when he came to Yeovil to join the Navy as a royal marine, instead of signing his name, he signed with an X. In fact, he left his home on late 1833 and arrived in Yeovil, Somerset to sign up as a royal marine private. The journey was rugged that time, according to Parson Skinner, the weather that December was incredibly snowy and rugged. Nevertheless, William and the other Marines who signed up travelled to Plymouth to begin their training. They would then be placed in Stonehouse Barracks where they would have been given their basic training.

On July 1834, 7 months after signing up and training as a Royal Marine Light Infantryman (RMLI), Braine was then transferred to the 8th Company Woolwich Division. This division reportedly was made of one battery, meaning troop, of the Royal Marine Artillery (RMA). However, according to the biography, Braine might have taken two routes to complete this journey, either by sea or by land, though the biography also sides with the former stating that it would have been a much swifter journey. It is certainly possible though, that in 1837, Private Braine had been involved in the burial of King William IV and the coronation of Queen Victoria. This same biography also states that Braine might have had the chance to see the action in the First Spanish Carlist War which happened in 1833 to 1840, though we are actually not certain if Braine indeed get to see the action, but he may probably have learned of it. In 1839, the First Opium War started and many detachments were sent to fight. It would be more possible that Braine was one of the detachments sent and may have fought alongside Thomas Hartnell Jr., John Hartnell's younger brother (Though really, they were probably on different ships and locations, and probably never met until 1845 in the Franklin Expedition). The British had won the war in August 29, 1842.

In October 31, 1841, 27 year old William Braine married Eliza Wood in Woolwich. We know very little about Mrs. Braine except for the fact that her father was William Wood. She too was illiterate, and by this point, both of the couple's fathers had been general labourers. There were no known children that resulted from their marriage, although it's possible that the couple did conceive, but they either had a miscarriage or their child was short lived and no information has survived, or it was probably because William was frequently away for them to be able to have children.

The years between 1841 and 1845 had been a peaceful time for William, except for the fact that according to Ralph Lloyd-Jones' paper on the Royal Marines of the Franklin Expedition, on March 9, 1844 William Braine had "Run from Furlough" which meant that he had exceeded a period of leave. We may not know why, maybe because of family affairs, we just don't know. But Lloyd-Jones suggest that this may be the reason why Braine, despite his 10 years of service as a Royal Marine Private 3rd Class, never received a promotion. One more fact is that he never appeared in any court martial or Defaulters book which suggest that he had a clean service record, but because the life of Royal Marines were not recorded until the 1880s, we may probably not know for certain what he had really done between 1833-1845.

In May of 1845, William Braine was one of the seven detachments of HMS Erebus of the famous Franklin Expedition. However, he never alloted his pay to anyone, not even his wife, but it is unknown why, but we may think that he probably is not on good terms with his family, or that something else was going on, either way may be a reason or it could be because of a completely different reason. Either way, we don't know. This is the final service that Royal Marine Private Braine would perform, because he died just after the first wintering of the expedition on April 3, 1846, at just 32 years old possibly of ailments unknown and was buried next to 20 year old Petty Officer and Lead Stoker John Torrington of the HMS Terror and 25 year old Able-bodied Seaman John Hartnell of the HMS Erebus in Beechey Island. As we know, the Franklin Expedition then sailed south to King William Land (now King William Island) which turned into a disaster and the rest is history.

William Braine was one of those who came from low backgrounds, yet made a significant impact in the history of the fate of the Franklin Expedition. Even though he is gone, he is not forgotten.

Sources: The Life of William Braine, The Royal Marines on Franklin's Last Expedition by Ralph Lloyd-Jones, Buried in Ice (1988)

[i-will-go-with-you-five]

Have you done any of the venture stories? If not if/when do you plan on doing them? I NEED your reactions. Thanks!

OOOOH YES

I've done only two so far, A Study in Ichor and Rule Britannia. (And I did Season of the Hunter, which is techncially not from Venture but I count it because it's a side story)

I ran A Study in Ichor because of the fanart and GIRLLLLLLLLL I was NOT disappointed. Victorian Sam was EVERYTHING and imagining my Five as Victorian was EVEN MORE SO. From a storytelling perspective, I think it was a tad rushed and it would've benefitted from being longer, but man was it good and I love it.

Rule Britannia was good too. Not as great, the plot was a tad weak, but run to run. Imagning Roman Sam was also awesome, and I loved his ethical strength in this one. Peak greatness.

Buuuuuuuut, from running these two I kinda got minor spoilers for later ZR seasons? I ran Ichor when I was still in S1, so I met a lot of those characters earlier than in the main storyline, and learned about Van Ark and the tone-controlled zombies before I was supposed to. And in Britannia, I met this character Peter who I don't know yet, and now I know that whenever I do meet him, he'll become a traitor and sell us out to someone and maybe sacrifice himself once he's realized his flaws and die? Not major spoilers by any means, not like a hill to die on or anything, and I still greatly enjoyed it even though my brain sussed out future plot points I hadn't gotten too yet, but I think I'm going to wait to do more Venture stuff until I've run more of the main storyline. The Venture stuff that involves our Abel crew as an AU anyway. That way I won't come to realizations about characters who are going to die/betray us/etc before I actually get there.

SEASON OF THE HUNTER THOUGH--- I N C R E D I B L E. Making it a lot longer REALLY made it so so much better. I hope that when/if they do make more Venture stuff they make way more episodes for it, because having that extra time really improved the story. Having us be the 'seed' that got to travel in between different POVs with the Tree in our heads was very interesting and I loved it. Robert was my favorite. I was really disapointed with the ending though.... I really kinda did go 'That's it?'. Their explination was pretty unsatisfying and kinda let down all of the tension that they had built up. I know the point was to be vague and mystical and stuff, but I do think they fumbled the excecution a tad. But what am I doing this is a ZR blog not my literary analysis blog

So yeah, love Venture, wish they were longer but so far they've been good, can't wait to do more, but putting a pin on it for the moment until I've run more seasons. Honestly if anyone has a list or something of how far you have to run the main storyline before running certain ZR storylines to avoid minor spoilers, that would be awesome.

[auxiliarydetective]

If you could form a crew out of any one piece character from any media consisting on ten people, who would you chose and why?

Now that I have more or less calmed down from the boop war, here we go!

You want me to make a One Piece crew out of 10 people from different media, right? I'm gonna give myself the little rule that I'm only allowed to take one character per fandom, otherwise my crew might end up being, like, half LXG or something. Also, another thing I'll be taking into account is how well the characters I'd pick would do in the world of One Piece because some people would just not have a good time there. And we're assuming that everyone gets more or less isekai-ed into the OP world, so they're not taking any technology stuff or fandom-specific powers with them (sadly). SO! Here we go!

Every crew needs...

A captain

A navigator

A doctor

A chef

A carpenter/shipwright

... and would benefit from having...

A swordsman

A gunslinger/sniper

A helmsman

fun people

10 people you say? Alright, here are my picks!

The Captain

You might not know who this is, but I pick Lukas from the Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer series.

(no gifs, how sad...)

Why? Because a good captain needs to have leadership qualities. People need to trust them and they need to be able to hold the crew together. And Lukas can definitely do that. Also, he can kick ass if he wants to. Generally, I think he'd thrive in the world of One Piece. And he knows a thing or two about fixing steam engine locomotives, so... Submarine pirate ship??? Steampunk-esque? Even if not, I'm convinced he could figure out how to work on a regular pirate ship as well. He's an engineer, he'll figure it out. Also also we need someone to babysit the rest of the crew and he is Dad™

The Navigator

So, this was actually tough, but then it hit me: DATA! MY BELOVED!

Someone let Data go to the world of One Piece, he would love it! And he would make for an excellent navigator, so his spot here is very deserved. Lukas can teach him about humanity and the beauty of life - they'd be such a perfect duo. Also, can definitely kick ass. And probably fix a ship. Also would hate the World Government despite the fact that he "has no emotions".

The Doctor

Some of you might call me stupid for this, but I picked none other than Doctor Henry Jekyll. His LXG version specifically.

LXG Henry is actually a medical doctor, as suggested by most scenes he's in, and he's got Hyde for when he needs to kick ass. I feel like he'd do well in the world of One Piece once he gets used to it. And the fact that he's a Victorian era doctor is actually helpful because the One Piece world doesn't have modern-day medical equipment widely available but that won't bother Henry because he never had it to begin with. Also he could probably mix together some substances to give his crew a strength boost once he gets over his guilt and fear of creating another HJ7. Also also I think talking to Lukas and/or Data would fix him.

The Chef

My pick would have to be Louis LeBeau from Hogan's Heroes.

I was originally considering Julieta Madrigal from Encanto, but LeBeau especially probably knows how to work with limited or sub-par rations and that's very helpful as a pirate. Also, he's small, so there's less space for the anger to go - which is bad news for the World Government, the Marines, and any hostile pirate crews.

The Carpenter/Shipwright

Okay, hear me out: Justus Jonas.

I think he could do it. My man knows how to tinker, he can probably work out how to fix a ship and have fun with it. It would be a challenge for his mind to learn it, which he would appreciate, and just generally the social climate of this little pirate crew I'm building would be good for him. Multiple parental figures, fellow autistic people... Fantastic! He'd get along with Data, right? Right??? Probably. And I'm convinced he could kick ass if he wanted to.

The Swordsman

At first I was a bit stuck with who to put here. I considered my beloved Diego Hargreeves (for the "get loved on, idiot" of it all) but then it hit me. We need the swordsman of all time... We need Link!

If Link is mute, that's not even a problem. Data will teach him sign language in no time. Easy! Just... don't let him into the kitchen.

The Gunslinger / Sniper

Okay, hear me out on this... My pick is the one and only Templeton "Faceman" Peck. Could technically be either the 80s or 2010 version since both have the potential to be silly, but the 80s version just fits in better here.

I mean, look at him! Tell me he wouldn't get along with the likes of Sanji. Also, he needs to see Momoiro Island, for reasons. I feel like a lot of people don't know that Face is the main sniper of the A-Team but he is! And his con-man abilities are a HUGE added bonus.

The Helmsman

This position was the first I filled and it has to go to the one and only Gordon Malloy.

Gordon can fly anything, so I'm convinced he could 100% learn how to steer a ship too. After all, we're in the world of One Piece. Not all ships are steered with steering wheels. And especially if it's actually a submarine this crew is on, it might have controls more similar to ones he's familiar with. Fighting-wise, I actually don't know if he'd be any good. He's a wild card. But I am convinced that he'd have a devil fruit, because my man has a history of eating things he's not supposed to because they look fun/tasty. He probably would kick ass with that devil fruit since he has the imagination needed to make it work.

Now, since I still have two spots left on my crew, time for...

Fun people!

Fun person #1 has to be George Luz.

He's here for the chaos, and I'm here for that. Him in combination with any of the people on this list is what I want to see. Silliest of all silly geese.

And for te tenth person... I honestly don't know! You know, just for the hell of it, get one of the Hargreeves siblings in here. Actually, this spot belongs to Diego, simply because he got beaten out of the swordsman spot by Link.

One sentence: Get loved on, idiot! That's why he's there.

There we go! That's it! This was really fun :)

(I don't have the energy to proofread this, I hope you don't mind)

[auddityy]

trumpism is actually a great instruction in branding. i think he's genuinely falling out of fashion for the final time in his life but i think studying his career and public persona/mode of communication is an excellent insight into "how to brand".

you have to literally believe and say you are number one and have something to back that up that is either actually of supreme quality or be of an unknown quality to anyone other than your customer, who is 1. such a small minority that they can't sink your public brand to the majority of your audience 2. so rich that they essentially pay a 100% or more markup for the exact same product that poor people use, but with an upper class brand on it - this is exactly what he did with his first big success, trump tower. he bragged that it was made with the absolute premium in materials to the most amazing standards. construction crew said that the materials were the cheapest possible. the trump tower customer was so rich that they would pay more than double in rent simply to be associated with what was said to be the best. the people who couldnt afford it never lived there and could never find out there was no difference. thus there was no proof - he advertised a supreme product and delivered an adequate one.

like its that simple. you have to say, with apparent conviction, that you are the best and then deliver something at least adequate to someone who doesn't know that what they have isn't better than average. you can actually deliver the best, but the most profit is to be found in delivering something adequate, which is what all "number ones" do - none of them ever overdeliver. people who actually deliver the best are number twos, or even lower - they invest so much in the product that their profit and therefore growth falls behind those who cut corners.

the physical difference between "the best" and "adequacy" isn't actually percieved at all by most people. number ones create the feeling of overdelivering through emotion rather than physical substance in the product. saying something is amazing, high quality, and simultaneously having lots of others saying the same thing, generates way more interest and loyalty than physically having a superior product and remaining quiet about it.

i'm thinking about this because the two number ones in regenerative agriculture p*lyface and GJ follow the same method of branding - essentially trumpism. "i'm the best", "i'm amazed at the quality of my product", saying so loudly and often, without ever specifying their own failures or mistakes, unless they fit into a narrative of being long-past (no longer affecting quality of current product) and being a learning experience that actually improved the product.

GJ lost over 200 sheep, more than 90% of his flock in 2023 - nothing about that to be found anywhere online. the only reason i know is because i talked to his wife intimately in person. for over 20 years he's advertised them as the most hardy sheep in the US, and still does, despite losing ALL of the original flock he's built over 30 years... but he repeats many anecdotes of mistakes from 20 years ago that made him a better producer.

also, never responding to critics unless it's in a disparaging way. trump is famous for insulting critics in crazy dramatic ways, but all number ones do this. polyface does it to the USDA, vegans, people who disagreed with their stance on covid/vaccines. GJ does it to conventional people in his comments or just whoever he sees as he's traveling.

when you inspect closely it is not completely honest, and seems to be lacking integrity. i wonder if honesty and integrity are considered virtues because everyone else being "honest" and "having integrity", in other words damaging their own brand, benefits the number ones who don't do that. everyone making themselves harmless gives the few willing to be sharks free reign.

this sounds like it's coming from a place of jealousy. i don't really feel jealously i am just learning the choices i'll have to make. i will have my own business/brand and i could make the choice to follow the trumpist branding strategy, and have the successes it entails...

[glitteraffe-art]

VINYL BRC MY BELOVED...

Vinyl is very much one of my favorite characters in BRC and she does not get enough love.

Though I originally wanted this to be more of a straightforward list of headcanons, it ended up being paragraphs of me rambling while trying explain my reasoning/analysis(?), so I can get a good grade in headcanons, which is normal to want and possible to achieve.

(Under the cut for length and for spoilers for the the story of BRC)

Overview

Vinyl’s roles early in the game tend toward covertly gathering information (observation of the Bomb Rush Crew during the first two chapters, with cutscenes showing just her shoes as she stands on rooftops, only fully showing up to hold back Red at Versum Hill) or bargaining using information (in her conversations in Millenium Mall, she mentions she knew Faux personally and hints she knows about Red’s dreams to motivate the Bomb Rush Crew to defeat DOT EXE).

She’s shown as knowing more than the Bomb Rush Crew about the whole Red situation, and intentionally keeping some of that information under wraps, though that’s specifically for Red’s safety (such as, when Red’s face is revealed, she lets the Bomb Rush Crew know that his true identity would be dangerous if others learned of it, but does not reveal who Red really is).

Later in the game, when DJ Cyber attacks her on top of Pyramid Island, he accuses her of being a double agent—which is true both ways, as she’s both acting like she’s betrayed DJ Cyber to join the Bomb Rush Crew while also actually still working with DJ Cyber, since it’s all part of his plan to get Red to remember his identity.

So, to me at least, Vinyl is a character who primarily deals in information, and leans toward being a “spy” type character.

Let’s get deeper into headcanon territory:

Prior to the Big 3 Era

Vinyl mentions she works for herself (and that this sometimes means working for others) at Millennium Mall. Plus, Tryce addresses her as “Vinyl the freelancer” after defeating DOT EXE. Because of this, I think prior to the events of the game she may have been an independent writer who occasionally worked with other crews if there was some benefit in it for her.

This also gives her a reason to know Felix, if both of them were independent writers prior to the formation of the Big 3.

Vinyl and Felix

To me, Vinyl and Felix really contrast. I’m not sure it quite reaches the levels of being foils, but their base similarities but completely different outlooks are intriguing.

I think that Vinyl and Felix have known each other for a pretty long time, of the characters who knew Felix prior to the events of the game. For one, she knows what Felix’s face looks like (which few know about, implying that 1. only close friends or people he trusts see him without it, and 2. he rarely, if ever, took off that mask). Plus, she’s comfortable enough to casually insult him (she mentions to Red that he’s just as slow as Felix in the opening of the Mataan chapter) despite the fact that other characters see him as a legend, so I feel she must have known him prior to him being put on a pedestal as a legendary writer.

Despite both being pretty independent and appearing kind of cold to others, Vinyl and Felix seem to have different opinions on trust and giving people another chance. In the dream memories shown after the Pyramid Island dream, Vinyl says she has a bad feeling about Faux, while Felix says a guy like Faux can change.

Felix chose to give Faux a chance to change, but it doesn’t seem Vinyl would have done the same in his place. Vinyl ultimately ends up accepting Felix’s assessment of Faux (i.e., to ignore that bad feeling about Faux), as she is the only one of the characters who personally knew Felix (the others being Faux, DJ Cyber, and Solace; Flesh Prince is also present but it’s unclear if he knew Felix personally) who is not present when he is murdered by Faux.

Despite being such an information-focused character, there was one piece of information she did not know—that Faux was, in fact, trouble (due to the whole framing other writers and cop dad situation thing), and that Felix knew this about Faux. If she had known this, if she had chosen not to accept Felix’s opinion on Faux, investigated further, observed more, would the whole situation have turned out differently? I think this is something that haunts her during the game, something that she regrets, and it probably makes up at least some of her motivation in being involved in DJ Cyber’s plan to bring Felix back.

On a sillier note, I think Felix and Vinyl are specifically the kind of friends who hang out by doing completely different things 10 feet away from each other. If someone asks if one of them is free, they’ll say they are busy hanging out with the other person. And they genuinely are hanging out with each other, it just doesn’t look like it from anyone else’s perspective.

Vinyl and DJ Cyber

It’s not clear how well Vinyl and DJ Cyber knew each other prior to or during the Big 3 era. But, despite Vinyl seeming pretty practical, she was totally on board with DJ Cyber’s absolutely wild plan to resurrect Felix.

I think they at least were acquaintances-turned-friends, since she must’ve trusted DJ Cyber a lot to go along with his plan.

Since DJ Cyber features a lot of vinyls on his person and just, generally, in his job as a DJ, you’d think that he and Vinyl would be more connected. In Versum Hill, Vinyl gives off the impression of being something like DJ Cyber’s right hand man (since she has a different design from the Futurism girls). In Millennium Mall, she addresses him with a sense of distance as her employer/boss, and DJ Cyber addresses her as one of his personnel on top of Pyramid Island. However, once their ruse is up, they seem to be on more equal footing than the arrangement they were pretending to have.

Since it takes a lot of dedication to keeping up a days-to-weeks-long ruse like that, I feel like the two of them are both dedicated theater kids. I think Vinyl was absolutely having a great time acting all mysterious and peppering in ellipses at Millennium Mall.

Also, since her name is Vinyl, she’s probably just as much of a vinyl collector/enthusiast as DJ Cyber probably is. They probably talk about record releases or rare finds or that one band they’ve been listening too recently in their spare time.

On a slightly related note, I think that Vinyl pays attention what bands/singers that people she’s close to tend to like, or their favorite songs. If she sees a record from that band/singer, she’d think “oh that’s the one that so-and-so likes, right?” and then buy it, with the end result being a collection of vinyls that vaguely represents her friends. Not that she was intentionally making it happen, it just did.

Vinyl and Faux

Vinyl mentions she used to know Faux personally at Millennium Mall, and she mentions that she has a bad feeling about him to Felix in the memory shown after the Pyramid Island dream. It seems that she knew him—it would be inevitable for them to meet at some point, after all, if she was hanging around Felix (and theoretically hanging out with DJ Cyber). She didn’t know about Faux’s secrets, but it looks like she was able to correctly guess he was trouble by vibes alone.

Faux is described as being quiet in Tryce’s description of the Big 3 (which is, I assume, how Faux acted when around other writers that he wasn’t close with), so I imagine that Faux and Vinyl didn’t have direct conversations with each other very much. Neither of them seem to be the type to carelessly share things about themselves, so...The situation was probably like “You’re friends with someone I’m friends with (...rivals with???), but I’m barely even acquaintances with you”, and probably resulted in some awkward non-conversations. I guess Faux probably dropped enough red flags when talking with either Felix or DJ Cyber for Vinyl to notice, though.

To me, Faux also seems to be a person who says things he thinks people want to hear, if he can get something out of them, and that he tends to be right in those assumptions (due to his interactions with Tryce at the beginning of the game). If he was Wrong about what he thought Vinyl wanted to hear, or if she at any point got the hint that he was just saying things to get something out of her with no real intent of being friendly, that’d be a pretty big red flag to her to think “oh, this guy’s Trouble” without her actually knowing his secrets.

Vinyl and Red

Vinyl is the only one of the people who knew Felix who really gets to interact with Red as Red, and not as Felix, if that makes any sense. Solace doesn’t know Red is Felix, and Faux doesn’t directly meet Red until Mataan. DJ Cyber only really interacts with Red as an antagonizing villain who shows up intermittently, and though DJ Cyber sides with BRC after he drops the ruse, it’s only after Red has remembered being Felix, and plus, he doesn’t actually join BRC until postgame.

Vinyl, though, joins BRC midway through the game. She gets enough time to get to know Red as a separate entity from Felix.

It must be weird to her, seeing Red. He looks like Faux with a helmet on and sounds like Felix with a voice filter, but isn’t quite either of those people. He asks questions a lot and gives off the impression of being quite naive. He’s technically Felix, but Felix minus however many years of experiences and successes and failures and memories is like, just some weird kid. But, a weird kid who works with a crew, which is something the Felix she knew only ever kept at arm’s length. Still set on being All City King, though.

Vinyl can be a little mean to Red sometimes, though. (like when she called him as slow as Felix post Pyramid Island). Admittedly, Red (as the Designated Player Viewpoint Character for Explaining Things To. And also the amnesia) can be pretty clueless.

Interestingly, Vinyl addresses Red as “kid”. More specifically, she says “Call me Vinyl… if anything, kid” when they meet at Millennium Mall. It seems he gives off the feeling of being pretty young to Vinyl. I don’t feel like she would address Felix as “kid”, since he’s got a beard, so maybe even from the beginning, she felt that Red was someone totally different from Felix? (As a side note, just how old is everyone, anyways?), Or, I guess it was just her part to play in her and DJ Cyber’s ruse. In order to ensure Felix comes back correctly, Red is Red, a totally different guy (until he’s not) and she doesn’t need to worry about it before then.

I think that to Vinyl, the differences between Red and Felix’s tendencies would be more noticeable than it is to, say, DJ Cyber, who doesn’t get much time to observe Red in action. Like, one difference could be that Red has a completely different center of gravity (due to the length of his cyberhead and different body) so maybe the way he does some tricks and some dance moves is a little different from Felix. I don’t think Vinyl would say anything about it during the game, but in the post-game, after Felix is “revived”, she might bring it up to Felix.

Vinyl and Tryce

As seen in Tryce’s dialogue in Millennium Mall, Tryce isn’t very trusting of Vinyl at first (due to her association with FUTURISM and DJ Cyber), but he accepts her pretty fast, especially after she smacked Escher over the head with a skateboard. Tryce seems to be pretty practical, and appears to value reliability. Vinyl genuinely helping BRC seemed to help change his mind on her.

Vinyl seems pretty focused on her and DJ Cyber’s mission (to get Red to remember) throughout the game, so I think she’d only really relax enough to become better friends with Tryce during the post-game. Since Tryce has an interest in music and mixtapes (he made the Hideout mixtape, and is a huge DJ Cyber fan), they’d probably be able to talk about the latest releases or albums. I think it’d be funny if she offhandedly mentioned to him that she got to listen to one of DJ Cyber’s upcoming mixtapes prior to release (since she and Cyber still hang out sometimes), and he’s just simultaneously Mildly Jealous and struck with the realization that he’s got friends who Casually Hang Out with the DJ Cyber, something that was totally unthinkable a short while ago. Vinyl doesn’t seem to be the type to get starstruck by anyone, and definitely not the legendary Big 3, so her lack of reaction about it would probably be baffling to Tryce.

Vinyl and Bel

Bel is a lot more willing to trust Vinyl than Tryce is during the game when Vinyl first introduces herself to BRC at Millennium Mall. I think they’d get along fine during the game, but just like for Tryce, I think that Vinyl would only really relax enough to become better friends with Bel during the post-game.

In the celebration cutscene that plays after beating the game, Vinyl and Bel are laughing while Bel takes silly pictures of Solace. I think it would be cute if they surprisingly had the same sense of humor. Bel is described as being on her phone constantly, so I think she’s the kind of person to text silly photos and memes to Vinyl. Of course, Bel probably sends silly photos and memes to everyone in BRC, but if something made Bel laugh, it gets automatically sent to Vinyl. Going by the in-game text messages, Vinyl probably responds with a text that is slightly like an email, which is funny in itself.

I think it’d be refreshing for Vinyl to be friends with someone as straightforward and openly trusting as Bel. Especially since dealing with the Big 3 (and the ensuing post-breakup fallout) was drama central.

Postgame

After completing her and DJ Cyber’s goal (reviving Felix), she seems a lot more relaxed. After the game, she stays with BRC, an interesting choice for someone who started off as a so-called freelancer. But it’s not like there’s any particular downsides to staying—she gets to hang out with people she trusts and is friends with, and besides, they’re All-City now.

Well, I guess she’s not being paid, but then again, I’m not sure if DJ Cyber was actually paying her when she was allied with him and Futurism, since it could’ve just have been something she just said he was doing, as part of the Role she was playing in her and DJ Cyber’s ruse. On that note...

Graffiti Won’t Pay the Bills

I wouldn’t be surprised if Vinyl had a “real job”, even if only part-time, on top of being a writer. I think she’d be the kind of person to try to keep her work and writer lives completely separate, with a completely separate group of friends and acquaintances for each sphere who don’t even know the other sphere exists. Given the fact that New Amsterdam is functionally a police state hellscape, she’d be pretty justified in keeping them separate. If word got out about her being a writer, the cops would probably crack down on anyone near her.

In Millennium Mall, she mentions she knows the mall like the back of her hand. If she hung out there as a writer, I feel like DOT EXE would be more familiar with her, but they don’t seem to make any special note of her. Maybe she works (or worked) at one of the stores there?

Respect Your Elders

I think Vinyl is friends with the Oldheads. I think it would be cool if she learned about the best shortcuts through the city (for traveling quickly and appearing and disappearing without being seen, of course) and the best places to observe the boroughs from them.

I could see her as a future leader of whatever Oldhead equivalent is set up in the far future, since their job is basically to Watch Shit Happen, and drop Ominous Information you didn’t know every once in a while...which she kind of does already!

You Can Say Hi

Not quite a headcanon per se, but since the one trailer for Bomb Rush Cyberfunk features Vinyl’s voice actress doing the voiceover narration while You Can Say Hi plays, I associate that song with her. Actually, prior to the release of BRC, I thought that she was going to be the secondary main character/female lead! I was surprised she was really only was introduced about midway through.

Bonus: Concept Art

Anyways, as a side note, here’s some concept art from Dion Koster (pinned on his Twitter, https: //twitter.com/DionKoster/status/1364838899659472903/photo/4, remove the space) featuring a Vinyl with reddish brown hair and a stylized Audio-Technica Soundburger record player on her wrist.

It has no basis in canon, but I’m partial to the idea that Vinyl knows how to fight with wheels of steel, but unlike DJ Cyber, who goes for long-range projectiles attacks, goes for close combat with a wrist-mounted weapon. She’s quick thinking and has a fast reaction time (she’s the first to act when Escher shows up unannounced) so in a close combat fight she’d be pretty tough to beat.

There’s not much use for a real weapon, though, if cops just run away if you kick them enough times or spray them with spraypaint and almost all writer conflicts are solved via crew battle. I’m not sure what situation she would need to use it in or what would lead her to learn to use it, but I still like the idea.