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reikunrei · 7 months ago

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A Parallel World

Last time I talked about Doctor Who, we met Rose's father, Pete, who died when she was 6 months old. That episode prompted me to watch a 2-parter in which Pete returns, only this time he's from a parallel universe. Let's talk about:

Season 2, Episode 6: The Rise of the Cyberman, and Episode 7: The Age of Steel

The general premise of these episodes is the Doctor, Rose, and her sort-of boyfriend Mickey find themselves crashed in a parallel world. There, they stumble into the nefarious plans of a scientist named John Lumic, who’s attempting to turn the entire population of the world — staring with Great Britain — into Cybermen.

We open on a scene with Lumic and a fellow scientist unveiling one of the very first successful Cybermen. A Cyberman is sort of like a robot, but rather than being built purely from metal, they’re an “evolution” of, in this case, humans. The human brain is slotted into a metal exoskeleton, making them a living thing.

Okay, Brenner-ass bitch. Even saying "blessed," something so close to the "miracle"-type language we get from Patty in TFS re: Henry's powers? Sure.

Lumic wants to go straight ahead with their plans to convert more people, but Dr. Kendrick reminds him that they need to get "Geneva's approval" due to its status as a new life-form. Lumic, however, knows that it'll be rejected, but he's hellbent on going ahead with it anyway. This experiment is a means to save himself in his declining health, and he'll be damned if anyone gets in his way.

He has the Cyberman kill Dr. Kendrick and decides to move ahead on his own.

We then cut to the Tardis, where we find the Doctor and Rose regaling tales of their travels to Rose's boyfriend, Mickey, while he holds down a button on the Tardis's control panel at the Doctor's request. The Doctor sheepishly admits he could've stopped holding it about a half hour ago, and after Mickey lets go of it, the Tardis lurches and starts going haywire. The Doctor frantically tries to regain control, but the Tardis's panels aren't reading the time vortex at all. He shouts that it's impossible, but it's just gone.

This honestly just makes me laugh, specifically the "Otherwise known as London" in conjunction with all the TFS promo about a "portal opening in London" etc. Also, the zeppelins are such a nice touch because of how Fringe does the same thing. I'm not sure if Fringe did it as a reference to this, because it's a trope that appears to happen in other shows, at least per my meager research. But given that Fringe began airing in 2008 and this episode of DW aired in 2006, I wouldn't be surprised.

Also, I know @aemiron-main has spoken about the UD as it possibly exists as an "in-between" place, which I can't find the original posts about, but he discusses here. I also recommend checking out Stav @heroesbyler's posts, like this one, about the void and differences between it and the "real world."

The Doctor says this isn't their world, and Mickey is the first to suggest parallel worlds, referencing the concept as it exists in films. That's when Rose notices a street advertisement of Pete, holding up some health drink and saying his catchphrase ��You can trust me on this,” indicating that he's still alive in this world. The Doctor tells her that she absolutely cannot go see him, because he likely has his own Jackie and his own Rose, "His own daughter who is someone else, but not you."

Today, as it happens, is Jackie’s birthday (February 1st), and she and Pete are setting up her birthday party at their swanky mansion due to this world’s Pete’s entrepreneurial success. It’s her 40th, but she insists she wants to tell everyone it’s her 39th. Something something weird ages something something dates being just slightly wrong something something she wanted her birthday to be the same as a celebrity so specific dates are important. Here, we also learn about the EarPods that everyone is wearing, Jackie gloating that Lumic sent her a diamond-studded version of the latest model for her birthday. We’ll learn more about these later, but for the time being, just think of them like a cross between bluetooth headphones and Neuralink.

We return to the Doctor and Mickey, who are sitting in the darkened, dead Tardis wondering how they’re going to leave.

“The worlds were sealed” really popped out at me. While we don’t know when or how the UD and Dimension X were created in ST or if they’ve been there this whole time simply locked away, it’s interesting to imagine that there could inevitably be a harmonious existence between worlds, especially with what the Doctor says here about things becoming “less kind.”

It pulls on a similar idea from Fringe, wherein the two shown universes begin colliding, and with two universes being shoved into the space of one, they start conflicting with each other in highly catastrophic ways. Before that point, things existed harmoniously, with our characters even able to view this parallel universe without issue. It was when meddling began, including lots of hopping between universes (sometimes for selfish reasons) without understanding what it would do, that the problems started. Ultimately, all is solved by permanently separating the universes again, barring travel between the two forever. Which, and I’ll talk about this in a future post, is interesting when taking into account how the parallel worlds in DW interact with each other in the future, including forcibly keeping characters apart/having the two worlds be barred from one another unless massive amounts of energy are used to link them, and, even then, only temporarily.

I’m curious to see how all our dimensions in ST interact with each other and if the solution will be keeping their communication in check, or if they’ll have to be sealed off entirely. I’m of the belief that destroying the UD is not the way to go as a solution to anything in ST5, and I highly doubt they’re headed that way anyway, but only time will tell how it’ll really shake out.

As the Doctor and Mickey talk, the Doctor spots something: a little speck of light down in the grating of the Tardis’s floor. Though it’s small, it means they’ve got power, and, thus, a way to get home. They need more power though, but specifically power from their universe. The Doctor, being the one source of that available to them, gives away 10 years of his life to this little glowing power cell, putting it on a 24-hour recharge loop that, once completed, will give them enough juice to hop back home.

Meanwhile, Lumic has sent one of his henchmen, Mr. Crane, on a “recruitment drive” for his Cybermen experiment. He drives to a homeless encampment outside the city in a freight truck marked as “International Electromatics,” which doesn’t match the name of Lumic’s company, Cybus Industries. The henchman gathers the homeless men, claiming he has hot food for all of them in the back of the truck. Many rush to him, but one is stopped by a young man with a camcorder telling him to reconsider.

The man brushes him off and goes to the truck. Once he steps inside, however, he seems to realize what’s really going on, but he’s grabbed and wrangled behind some hanging plastic sheets as the doors shut, leaving us only to hear the screams of the men inside.

Lumic’s entire operation is very HNL coded, if you couldn’t tell. It’s even tied into the Russian presence in ST3, what with the both of them working under the guise of a different company name in order to skirt under the noses of the public. But here, specifically, it’s obviously reminiscent of HNL stealing kids to experiment on/with, especially under the guise of it being helpful.

The Doctor and Mickey find Rose, who’s been reading up on her dad in this universe after her cell phone was automatically connected to the Cybus Network, which is basically just a specific kind of internet access made by Lumic’s company.

“You can’t become their daughter” okayyyy alternate selves filling in gaps where they “should” be. The "wrong" kid being stuck into circumstances they were never meant to. Surely nothing to think too hard about. With a name like Peter involved too? Completely unimportant.

With their 24 hours to kill, Rose goes off to see Pete and Jackie, the Doctor right on her heels, while Mickey goes to visit his grandmother. In their world, his grandmother died several years prior, so with the understanding that Pete is still alive, Mickey is curious to know if his parental figure is still around, too. However, as he comes up on his neighborhood, he finds a roadblock. He asks if he can enter.

“Lessons begin promptly at 10:00.” … sorry, I had to.

We really don’t get much into the socio-economics of this world, but, as it’s easy to see, there’s a clear disparity between the classes, and the average citizen is strictly surveilled and poorly treated.

Mickey does find his grandmother, still alive, but, here, she calls him Ricky.

Boy, if you don’t quit it with the name swapping and taking roles… something about TFS Henry likely being Edward and taking on a role that possibly isn't his own...

His grandmother complains about his friends and him getting into trouble when Mickey gets suddenly scooped up by a mysterious van, driven by a woman and accompanied by the young man who tried to save the homeless men. They speak to Mickey like they know him, scolding him for speaking to his family when he supposedly said doing so would be dangerous. He runs with it, opting to let them share their intel.

Always gotta have a "who?" moment...

As Rose and the Doctor head to the Tyler household, the crowd of people around them suddenly freezes as all of their EarPods begin beeping. Rose’s phone, connected to the network, also begins beeping and showing what everyone else’s EarPods are receiving.

Color me surprised when we get a hivemind reference even in these episodes. Because why wouldn’t we?

It turns out that Cybus owns most of the companies in Britain, including Pete’s. As soon as the “download” is done, everyone goes back about their business as if nothing happened, and Rose and the Doctor watch in bafflement before continuing on their trek.

We then get a scene of Lumic meeting with the President of Britain (remember, alternate universe!) in order to gain approval for his Cyberman invention. He speaks about the human brain being “the most precious thing on this earth” and “yet we allow it to die.” Through his invention, he’d be able to sustain the brain “indefinitely.” This would be “the ultimate upgrade” and “Our greatest step into cyberspace.” Disturbed, the President asks him to stop his presentation.

It’s kind of giving Brenner’s “I did everything for you” moment to El in ST4, claiming that all that he did was for the greater good, and should that all be cast aside? Here, Lumic’s goal on the surface is to better humanity, but he has selfish reasons for pursuing it as well. We get hints of Brenner’s selfishness, with it being much more overt in ST4 and in the VR game, in which Vecna and Henry, respectively, call him out for using the kids as a means to seek out greatness for himself. Not to mention the idea that Brenner may have been using Henry, at the very least, to find some sort of means of immortality or regeneration, just like Lumic is doing here.

Referring to Lumic as “God” really jumped out at me, specifically irt things James @henrysglock has spoken of extensively regarding the religious imagery/coding of various characters. We get a lot of it with Vecna and One, but there’s also endless religious coding for Brenner, specifically in the role of a priest/father. While that’s also not specifically God, it’s not a stretch to consider on-screen Brenner as “God” in the sense that he’s creating these children in his lab to be used for his own purposes.

Also, I’d be remiss to not at least touch on the mention of “cyberspace.” Again, I’m genuinely surprised that we get a hivemind-esque aspect in these episodes that contain myriad other similarities to ST. It’s not really emphasized that the Cybermen can communicate with each other/are all connected in the way the UD creatures are in ST, but they do all experience the same lack of emotion and have one shared goal, and they can all be simultaneously communicated to via Lumic’s transmitter. It’s akin to the flayed in ST3, following the idea of them existing in their daily lives before being “activated.”

Despite the President’s explicit rejection of Lumic’s plan, Lumic once again goes behind the backs of authority and asks Mr. Crane to move their plans forward — “I am governed by greater laws, old friend. The right of a man to survive.” Using the homeless men from before, now equipped with EarPods that leave them blank and pliant, he orders them into surgical chambers which, though we don’t have a reveal yet, put their brains into the Cybermen exoskeletons. They, along with many others that have been made from the “vagrants” they’ve grabbed off the streets, are loaded up into trucks to be transported. When one of the drivers concernedly asks what they are, Crane says “I’m told they’re the future. Ain’t technology wonderful?”

Honestly, Crane gives me lowkey Owens vibes. While he doesn’t have as much (supposed) kindness as Owens does and is still rather cold like Lumic, his demeanor is very casually playful by comparison. Unfortunately he doesn’t show up too much throughout the episodes, but he does progress the plot substantially again later, also in a semi-Owens way.

Now let’s check up on Mickey, shall we?

So, he’s been not-kidnapped by these two folks in a van, but when they return to their hideout, they find… Mickey already there.

But, if we remember, this is actually the previously mentioned Ricky, Mickey’s parallel world counterpart. Realizing Mickey isn’t who they thought, the three of them strip him and tie him up in a chair to search for bugs, of which they find none.

Okay Henward… cloning and brothers but also just being alternate versions of the same guy… surely nothing to see here.

Mickey learns that these three — Ricky, Jake, and Mrs. Moore — are part of an underground rebellion called the Preachers — “As in ‘gospel truth’”, as Ricky puts it, since they don’t wear EarPods. He says they’ve got “freedom” compared to everyone else who gets downloads from Cybus, which is so... haha wow okay fourth-wall-breaking sentient Henry in NINA helping El learn that HNL is a prison. As we saw in the earlier scene of Rose and the Doctor on the street, it might be hyperbolic, but "freedom" isn't far off. Everyone being hooked up to the same system, being fed the same information at the same time every day, and being closely monitored at all times? Slight Soteria reference, I see you…

Then, Mrs. Moore, their techie, interrupts with news that they got “an upload from Gemini,” who tells them that the vans (containing the Cybermen) are moving. Gemini is someone working with them from inside Cybus — a double agent — but they don’t know who that person actually is.

Now we return to Rose and the Doctor, who’ve snuck into Jackie’s birthday party disguised as waitstaff. The Doctor takes a moment to tell Rose that she “can’t stay. Even if there was some way of telling them.” Rose immediately dispels the possibility, since she has her actual mother back at home, but she does lament that this Pete and Jackie “have each other,” while her Jackie has “no one.”

Something something a universe where none of this bad stuff ever happened.

Rose finds her way toward Pete to talk to him — obviously not giving herself away and simply making small-talk — and, similar to the other episode I linked at the top of this post, Pete finds himself sharing personal information with Rose and has a “have we met before?” moment. Again, despite not knowing who she is, and even though she’s not even from this universe, there’s an automatic connection that he feels.

Rose even tries to talk to Jackie, and, since she’s posed as a waitress, asks if she can get her anything, to which Jackie responds “The last 20 years back.” Yeah, I’d bet Henward would like that too.

Ultimately, after having a tender moment, indicating that this version of Jackie also feels a connection, Rose tries to convince Jackie to give Pete another chance, since she learned from Pete that the two were having marital problems and Pete had even moved out, they just haven’t made it public. Rose believes Pete to be a really wonderful guy, same as always, but the forwardness of her comment sets Jackie off, who verbally berates her for sticking her nose where it shouldn’t be when she’s “just the help.”

Here we also begin to learn that the Tyler residence is where the Cybermen are headed. Pete, with his company owned by Lumic, works closely with him — the Preachers call him a “henchman” and “traitor to the state” — but that also means he’s been interacting regularly with the President, who is in attendance at Jackie’s birthday, who also just rejected Lumic’s plans for the Cybermen. I assume you can see where this is going.

The Cybermen are released onto the property, where they promptly surround the house and start breaking inside to round up everyone. While the Cybermen are new to this universe, the Doctor recognizes them from his own — they’re from the original run of DW, which I haven’t seen, but we see the dismembered head of one in a season 1 episode, which Rose and the Doctor even call back to here.

Lumic, though not physically present in the room, speaks to everyone inside the house and, specifically, to the President.

Lumic argues that they were “homeless and wretched and useless, until I saved them, and elevated them, and gave them life eternal.” One of the Cybermen speaks, saying “We have been upgraded.” When the Doctor asks into what, it answers that it’s “The next level of mankind … You will become like us.” When the President asks what would happen if he refused the upgrade, despite the Doctor insisting that’s a bad idea, the Cyberman says he will be “deleted,” and promptly kills him via electrocution with its hand to his shoulder.

Do you see what I’m seeing? Are we seeing the 4.07 monologue parallels? One tells Eleven that she’s better than everyone else and he can help her get even further, that they can change the world to be what they want, and when she refuses, he tries to kill her. I also just think it’s neat that, while they’re not exact copies, Lumic being more Brenner-coded while the Cybermen are like One in the monologue… okay we get it, that wasn’t really One and he was just a husk for Brenner to puppet in NINA.

With the President dead, everyone panics and begins trying to flee, while Lumic orders the Cybermen to kill anyone who refuses and round up the rest. The Doctor and Rose flee outside alongside Pete, catching up with Mickey and the Preachers, who have guns and try to shoot down the Cybermen as they’re all surrounded. The Doctor warns them that bullets won’t stop them, however, and we see this in action with the Cybermen being entirely unfazed while they’re shot. Okay, Vecna.

Trapped, the Doctor orders everyone to put their hands up and says they’re surrendering, explaining “There’s no need to damage us. We’re good stock.” Doooon’t say that word!!! Don’t get that close to the HNL breeding program terminology!!!

However, the Cybermen claim they’re “rogue elements,” “incompatible,” and “inferior,” and therefore must be deleted.

Which, I haven’t really touched on that yet, but isn’t it curious that the Cybermen use the word “delete” rather than something like “kill” or “eliminate”? Searching around, it seems that this was something introduced in these episodes, so it’s not standard to Cybermen across the entire series, and it doesn’t even regularly continue when they appear in later episodes. However, while it ostensibly is a stand-in for “kill,” the use of a different word, specifically one more correlated to something like cyberspace and a digital realm, has me staring hard at NINA. To bring up Fringe again, it even makes me think of Peter being wiped from the timeline, something more akin to “deleted” since he wasn’t actually killed.

Stuck under threat of death, the Doctor uses the little power cell from the Tardis to hit the Cybermen with a beam of his energy, which…

Sure, disintegrate them, see if I care. Whatever.

Now able to escape, the whole lot of them pile into the Preachers’ van and drive off. There, Pete admits that he’s Gemini — the one who’s been giving the Preachers their inside information, though he was under the impression he was communicating with security services, not "Scooby Doo and his gang."

Lumic speaks to several of the Cybermen now, calling them “My everlasting children” and asking them how “it” feels.

Okay mister “you must not rely on emotions” and claiming that it will lead to failure if they use them to boost their powers, whatever you say.

At this point, it’s also very clear that the Cybermen are further reminiscent of massacre One with the lab kids, and Vecna with his whole “end your suffering” schtick that just amounts to killing his victims. Like, that sure is a way to end suffering, bud. Even if the Cybermen aren’t actually dead, as we’ve established, the humans inside of them are entirely stripped of their emotions and autonomy, which does technically lead to a sort of “end to suffering,” if you give it that angle.

Pete explains to the gang that “This all started out as a way of prolonging life, keeping the brain alive. At any cost.”, which Lumic claims is the one part of the body that “makes us human.” Having since removed their EarPods, all of them watch in horror as everyone who was wearing EarPods are activated and made to herd themselves toward the big Cybus factory where they’ll be made into Cybermen.

However, Mr. Crane roughly pulls out his EarPods before he can be turned into a mindless drone. Lumic is slightly disappointed by this when Crane comes to him afterward, but Crane says he wants to willingly offer himself for an upgrade. However, as soon as he gets close to Lumic, he begins ripping out the life support attached to the wheelchair he uses (“Are mommy and daddy fighting again?”). A Cyberman intervenes and kills Crane, but the damage has already been done.

Reminds me a lot of Brenner’s “bit off more than he could chew” tendencies. Like Lumic, he can control things only to a certain point, the only difference here being that Lumic’s situation is with the intent to help him, while Brenner’s is/would be a matter of creating something stronger than what he can control. However, it does make me think of the Brenner/One merge theory as well. Could there potentially be a sequence of events where, in Brenner's search for greatness, he is unwillingly, literally brought up to that level of greatness via some sort of merge with his favorite test subject? And, as a result, it ultimately destroys who he was, despite his desire to reach this point?

Then we get a really fun shot coincidence.

I also want to interject with a brief sidenote here. When I was plotting out this post, I found myself having to jump back and forth a lot. Many of the scenes as I've outlined are actually way more split up, with most of the different people interactions we get "overlapping" with each other. I realized it's because it's a very similar style to how ST operates, wherein there's several groups of people who are all working on different parts of the plot simultaneously, resulting in scene sequences getting "interrupted" by each other, before they finally converge and realize they've all got different information to help with the same situation. And I just thought that was a neat similarity! It's not something that happens often in DW, given that usually there's not this many "main" characters in any given episode and it's usually only the Doctor and their companion(s).

Anyway, Rose and Pete want to break into the factory to try and find Jackie, who they rightfully assume was taken to be upgraded, though they’re not sure if they can save her/if it's too late.

Not sheep……….

Now, Rose and Pete go off donning fake EarPods to sneak into the factory to find Jackie; Mickey and Jake go together to try and shut down the transmitter on the zeppelin; sadly, Ricky was killed by Cybermen while they were trying to flee the Tyler residence; and the Doctor and Mrs. Moore team up to go down into the cooling tunnels beneath the factory in order to enter from below to shut everything down. At this point, the entire lasting population of London has gathered inside the factory against their will, and they must stop it before they’re all converted.

The Doctor and Mrs. Moore make their way to the cooling tunnels, which they find lined with rows upon rows of inactive Cybermen. The Doctor asks her how she found herself in her current position with the Preachers, and she says she “used to be ordinary” (there’s that word again, we LOVE that word) and she even used to work at Cybus Industries.

Gotta love going down into an underground maintenance area while discussing truth and lies and escape. Hasn't happened anywhere else before.

When the Doctor asks her about “Mr. Moore” she explains that “he’s not called Moore” and she simply got that from a book — “It’s safer not to use real names.” She essentially faked her own death in order to keep her husband and kids safe.

Meanwhile, Pete and Rose are caught in the factory after showing emotion — they’d found Jackie, who had, unfortunately, since been turned into a Cyberman. Rather than be killed, though, the Cybermen recognize Pete as someone who worked with Lumic to create their species, and therefore decide to take him and Rose to be upgraded.

This aspect of their conversion is interesting to me, specifically the “she remembers” part of it. Because, yes, she does remember who she is; she herself confirms to them that she “once … was Jacqueline Tyler.” However, it’s not really her. On a physical level, obviously, but even still mentally, it’s barely Jackie. It even refers to Jackie in the past tense, saying it was Jackie rather than is. It's kind of giving "I'm normal. I'm Henry Creel" lol, like, okay, sure you are.

Let’s briefly touch on the whereabouts of Mickey and Jake. They’ve made their way to the zeppelin, where Mickey convinces Jake to simply knock out the guards at the entrance rather than kill them because then “what’s the difference between you and a Cyberman?” Usually I argue against this sort of rhetoric, because it’s just kind of stupid (“you’re no better than me!!1!” bro just kill the baddie it’s fine). However, we want to remember our emphasis on compassion, especially as it involves people who are either entirely innocent of or under the influence by the actual bad person. Mickey understands that there’s no point in avoidable death, even if these people are aiding in the eradication of the population of Earth — he doesn’t want to be part of it if it involves the murder of someone simply twisted up in a bogus system they have no control over. Something something circumstances make the man. The two of them find the computer controls, where Mickey begins tapping into the Cybus network to find a solution.

Returning to the Doctor and Mrs. Moore, Lumic is alerted to their presence in the tunnels, and so he begins waking up the dormant Cybermen to chase them. They manage to escape, crawling up out of the tunnels and shutting the door over the Cybermen making their way up the ladder. They then, however, come face-to-face with another, which Mrs. Moore incapacitates with an electromagnetic bomb.

This allows them the chance to get up close and personal with the suit. The Doctor opens its “heart of steel” to get into its chest, where they find it filled with flesh — a central nervous system which was artificially grown and then “threaded throughout the suit so it responds like a living thing.” Which, the Doctor clarifies, is what it is: a living thing.

Then he points out a small black chip within the chest plate.

The Cyberman then “wakes up” and asks why it’s so cold. The bomb broke the inhibitor, which is now allowing the human inside it to feel, which the Doctor apologizes profusely for. After learning her original name, he puts her to sleep so she won’t have to suffer in this new body.

This gives the Doctor the realization that that’s the answer to their problem: if they want to stop the Cybermen, they should aim for the emotional inhibitor, the key. All they’d have to do is find its cancellation code and feed it into the Cybus network, making them all realize what they are and kill them.

Just then, however, another Cyberman appears and kills Mrs. Moore. It senses the Doctor’s binary vascular system (two hearts), however, and deems him an “unknown upgrade” and will need to be analyzed.

So, he, Rose, and Pete all find themselves captive together once more. Lumic, now converted into a "superior" Cyberman — "designated Cyber controller" — reveals himself to them. Very early on in the episode, Lumic speaks on his experiments and, in an attempt to dispel rumors that his health is declining, talks about how his mind is "more creative than ever." In his new Cybersuit, he tells the Doctor that "London has fallen, so shall the world" and he shall bring everlasting peace, unity, and uniformity to the world so they never have to experience pain and suffering again.

The Doctor says that now the Cybermen will never advance, they’ll “just stop” and stay stagnant forever. He says that, in that world, the planet will lack the one thing that makes it so alive: “Ordinary, stupid, brilliant people.” I spoke extensively about the importance of the “ordinary” in my last DW post, so I’ll simply link that here again rather than talk your head off about it, lol.

Lumic asks the Doctor if he’s “proud of [his] emotions” and he gives an enthusiastic “yes.”

Um, Duffers… Tom MacRae called and he wants his ST3 Jim Hopper letter monologue back.

Emotions are good, even the nasty ones. Especially the nasty ones, because that’s what makes you alive.

Lumic says then, sure, he’ll simply kill the Doctor, but the Doctor shouts that that’s not his decision to make, and he “[doesn’t] control [him] or anything with blood in its heart.” Lumic threatens him with his army of Cybermen, but the Doctor argues against him.

Absolutely insane to me to call ordinary people the key. See again my last post about the importance of ordinary people, and this post (among others) about the importance of the word key as it exists in ST, and thus the tie to ordinary compassion being the key to solving our Vecna problem.

Mickey, with the Doctor’s help, plugs in the numbers for the cancellation code at his computer, which causes the emotional inhibitors in all of the Cybermen to cease functioning, which causes all of them to fall into hysterics. One stares at its reflection in a metal panel as it moans in agony, and the Doctor apologizes. The rest of the victims, those who hadn’t been converted yet, are free to escape with their EarPods now functionless.

With the Cybermen neutralized, the Doctor flees with Pete and Rose to head to the roof. They make it, but so does Lumic as he grapples up after them on the rope ladder to the zeppelin. However, with some help by cutting one of the ropes, he gets knocked off and falls to his death atop the roof of the burning Cybus factory.

The rest of them manage to escape, and Pete finally really asks who Rose is. She explains that she’s his daughter from another world, and he seems put off and overwhelmed by this. When she calls him “dad” in an effort to get him to come with her, he appears to panic and hurries off, telling her that he has to work on shutting down the rest of the Cybus factories across the globe.

Even Mickey decides to stick around in this parallel world, seeing as he has his grandmother here to take care of, and with Rose traveling with the Doctor, he’s become a bit of a third wheel anyway (specifically "the tin dog," an inside joke about the Doctor's old robot dog, K-9, which I won't get into here but... we love our dog talk here at ST, don't we?). He tells Jake, however, that he’s “a different man, I’m not replacing [Ricky].” Once again, I want to point to the whole "I'm Henry Creel" thing in TFS and the concept of Henry and Edward swapping, literally, or at least being "swapped" by way of being shown interchangeably on-screen, etc. etc.

The Doctor brings Rose back home to see Jackie, who’s surprised when Rose rushes her for a big hug.

Whew! Are you still with me? We’re in the home stretch, I promise. Time for some last thoughts!

The first thing I want to touch on is the concept of the Cybermen in general, but also as they were adapted for these episodes in particular.

The main objective of Cybermen, as indicated in these episodes, is a desire for survival and immortality. This slightly changes between iterations of the Cybermen across the whole series, but, as the fandom wiki puts it, “they were often born out of a human civilization’s, or an individual’s, fear for survival,” which even included threats like poverty or degradation of their planet, which, speaking specifically to the “poverty” aspect, is something we see with Lumic claiming that kidnapping the homeless men was helping them.

Cybermen, as we’ve established, also lack emotion. In this iteration, they have their emotions forcibly removed because Lumic sees them as a hindrance (and it keeps them agreeable in Cyberman form), but past iterations involve it being a voluntary part of the conversion process because they “considered [emotions] to be a weakness and instead embraced pure logic.” How borderline-Vulcan of them… but as I previously mentioned, it’s similar to the sentiment Brenner expresses in the ST4 NINA sequences, wherein he warns the kids against relying on emotions to strengthen their powers.

While some Cybermen had names or monikers, most were only individualized by ranks or numbers. All of them, however, wanted to fully conquer their universes to ensure survival and would work to convert any “compatible” life forms to ensure their survival as well. Something something they’re not gone something something they’re still in here with me. Stripping them of their souls but claiming now they’re somewhere better or safer. Sure. Whatever.

Cybermen, despite being considered “life forms,” cannot breed and they only increase their numbers by converting compatible living creatures into Cybermen. Evidently, however, an upgrade was introduced in, as far as I can tell, season 8 of the 2005 DW reboot wherein Cybermen could convert the deceased into Cybermen, no matter the state of their corpse, but this could only occur in a place called the “Nethersphere” which is dubbed a “Matrix-like computer” where the “minds of the dead” were stored until their bodies could be converted. This “Nethersphere” is also called “the Promised Land, Paradise, or Heaven” … aight. Surely nothing to see here irt recent leaks and speculation.

As an additional note, even the stuff about Cybermen being made rather than born has me looking at what's introduced in TFS irt Brenner using Henry's infected blood to do transfusions with other patients to give them the same type of infection/alteration. As we see on screen, it's very clear that at least some of the kids were likely bred from Henry/were actually born into the lab, even if they were from outside mothers like Terry ("outside" meaning "not presently living in the lab"), but TFS partially presents it as children being brought in from the outside to be directly given these transfusions and "turned into" the same "thing" as Henry.

A key point of interest with the Cybermen is that they have no real point of origin. They don’t have a “homeworld” that they’re born from, and instead they crop up across several universes, or even within the same universe, at different times and places simply because the populations there had a parallel desire for security and/or immortality. This has me mulling over stuff such as:

Us still not knowing what the origins of the UD (and Dimension X) is, and whether or not it’s been around forever or if El created it. And thus, in that vein, what’s the origin of the Mind Flayer?

The mere concept of on-screen Brenner, across timelines, seeking out the same kid(s) in order to fulfill his still-unknown final goal, which in itself is interesting… what are his motives? What are his origins? How did we reach creating a child torture dungeon?

Patty being referred to as “the girl from nowhere” and, though having never been mentioned before on screen, carrying immense weight in driving the story of TFS forward, often times by force, at least as it pertains to Henry. Something something her and Henry being connected “whether you like it or not” vs the Cybermen/Lumic forcibly converting people.

Henry, per TFS, is from Rachel, Nevada, despite the town of Rachel having not existed in 1959.

For these specific episodes, the writer, Tom MacRae, wanted to reimagine the Cybermen so they weren’t “mere villains” and instead were “sad figures,” made terrifying because they were forced into being converted rather than outright killed. He said that this would make them “a cross between vampires and zombies.” Please, not two of the monsters wound tightly into the imagery of ST…

He didn’t want these Cybermen to be simple mechanical beings, he wanted them to be as close to human as possible while stripping them of everything that made them as such.

Moving on, I briefly touched on it above, but I once again want to draw special attention to the scene of Lumic being forcibly turned into a Cyberman. As I’ve said, we still don’t know much, if anything, about what Brenner’s goals actually are. Sure, the government probably does genuinely want a leg-up on the Soviets, and these kids are a path to that. They’re funding it, after all! However, come ST4, the government doesn’t seem too happy with their continued existence. Hell, even in TFS, Brenner has a quick line about how the DOD wanted to dispose of Henry, but he convinced them out of it. If that tracks from stage to screen, then there’s some sort of personal stake here for on-screen Brenner. What can I say? The man loves his wife. If you want to see more about why I’m keeping a neat divide between TFS Brenner and on-screen Brenner, peruse @henrysglock’s page and keep an eye out for his big upcoming post that will delve into a lot of that.

Like Brenner using the lab kids to fight the Soviets, Lumic presents his goal as a means to better humanity on a global scale. It’s about preserving the human mind and giving them a reprieve from what he deems to be “suffering.” However, he has the fairly explicit ulterior motive of preserving himself. He’s in poor health, thus this would indefinitely prolong his life and, as the creator of the Cybermen, would put him in charge of every other Cyberman in existence. Again, we don’t know Brenner’s goals, but, as I mentioned above, it does have me staring at the Brenner/One merge theory and the potential for Brenner being somehow mixed up in Vecna, which then creates a neat through-line with Lumic and Vecna’s shared intention to “end suffering,” even if it’s in the most eyebrow-raising and clearly-lying way possible.

It is interesting, however, that Lumic begged to not be turned into a Cyberman. The Doctor said it for him, but Lumic likely understood that once he became a Cyberman, he would no longer be the same man who created the Cybermen. Early in the episode, he speaks of feeling creative, but removing what makes him human also removes that creativity. He wanted to save his conversion for his very last breath, prolonging his human life for as long as possible.

On top of everything else, this leads me to wonder if whatever personal goal Brenner had/has for the lab kids is a double-edged sword. A lot of that comes simply by virtue of the unknown. TFS Brenner wants to make contact with Dimension X/the Shadow, but instances of that often result in carnage. On-screen Brenner (potentially, allegedly, possibly) used El to find Henry “in the darkness,” which resulted in our Mother Gate mess in ST1 that kicked everything off. If Brenner was seeking something like immortality or abilities of his own, would any path to that “greatness” ultimately have a large flip-side that makes him “lesser,” for lack of a better term?

Moving on, I want to further discuss the similarities between Brenner and Lumic and them claiming their arguably heinous methods are “helpful.” In Lumic’s case, he believes that he’s “elevating” the people in the lower rungs of society by creating a world of uniformity, even if it means entirely stripping them of their humanity and freedom. Hell, he has to turn off their emotions so they accept it. Similarly, Brenner claims he’s helping the lab kids and making them stronger, more important, calling them his family and saying he loves them, but somehow that also involves isolation and shock collars. El and One are right to call the lab a prison, but from Brenner’s perspective, he believes he’s doing best by these kids to prepare them for their roles in the world and protecting them from folks on the outside who might abuse them for their powers (yeah, ironic, I know, but that’s also kind of the point, right? When someone else does it, it’s for the wrong reasons, but when he does it…).

Now, I personally don’t doubt that Brenner truly loves the lab children. He’s very distraught during the massacre, and he seems genuinely grief-stricken when he talks about Henry (I couldn't find the more serious version of this post, I'm sorry ghsfjdgk). While he’s using them for expressed and personal gains, it’s clear that the pain he feels at losing them is something more than just “oh, boo-hoo, my experiments are ruined now.” Lumic expresses similar sentiments, and while he’s much farther in the camp of “wow look at my inventions, everyone clap and cheer about how smart I am”/it’s more about being proud of himself, he does still call the Cybermen his children, indicating he does carry a deep fondness for them as his creations.

And I know this sounds contradictory to what I said earlier about them working for their personal gains, but while they might have their selfish reasons, that doesn’t mean the expressed ones aren’t also real, you know? Lumic fully believed that this would be better for humanity as a whole, and Brenner fully believes that this is for the better of his children and the country. They also just both happen to have their own personal stakes in it that give them a little more devotion to their respective projects, even if it backfires in the end.

Now damn. Am I done talking? I think I’m done talking. These two-parters always take a lot more words than I think they will, especially when they offer enough interesting connections and ideas irt ST! There’s little doubt in my mind that the Duffers may have taken these episodes, or the Cybermen in general, as inspiration for HNL and its inhabitants. There’s just too much language surrounding them for it to be a total coincidence. The similar parallel world stuff I can at least concede is by virtue of how parallel world stuff usually works, but the rest of it? I’m looking.

As I mentioned prior, we do get returns of the Cybermen, including in episodes where we also get a return of the parallel world, which I’m planning on delving into soon. But for now, I think this is some interesting stuff to chew on irt how things might shake out in ST5 in conjunction with Brenner, HNL, and his children. Only time will tell!

There's plenty more things I could have touched on, but there's so many little things in these episodes that just had me pointing and going "you see that, right?" It's really great fun, and I wish I had more articulate thoughts on a lot of it, but I know it'll stand out to the folks who read this.

Until next time!

#i say things #st dw #stranger things #it's a long one. im sorry hsgfjdk

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skylermadness · 1 year ago

Text

Warehouse Expedition (Sniper, Medic, and Engineer (TF2) TFs)

(Original Date of Upload: February 8, 2023)

A gift for my close friend and boyfriend! I've actually been meaning to write a Team Fortress 2 character TF for a few months now, and I kinda did with a ficlet of mine a while back, but I never really got to do one until now! I wanted to write something special for my friends to celebrate something, and considering TF2 was a shared interest of ours I decided to go that route for things. Also my boyfriend kind of got me in the mood for Medic so that had to be dealt with swiftly. Admittedly I was planning for this story to be a bit shorter, but push came to shove and the end result ended up being about 20 pages in the document after I converted everything to Times New Roman. The TFs are still probably shorter than my usual runs though, but that's fine. I just wanted to write something short and special as a dedication to how much I care about my friendships with them! Anyway time to watch both websites I upload this on eat my formatting.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Of course it is, Mike. All of my ideas are good."

"Arti, this is illegal."

The sound of three voices reverberated around the narrow walls of a very dusty, dark hallway. A trio of friends; Mike, Arti, and Parker; have found themselves in an… interesting predicament.

Arti had been the first to suggest exploring some random abandoned warehouse for 'fun'. Neither Mike nor Parker thought it was a serious suggestion, and jokingly agreed to pulling off such an endeavor. They had quickly realized that it was indeed an actual suggestion for how they spent their night as the car they were in jerked into a new direction.

So here they were, walking inside a supposedly abandoned warehouse in the middle of the night. Mike's current thoughts involved this being the last place they ever walk in, as the darkness proved that this place would be one that would be where you'd go to get murdered.

"I thought it was a good idea anyway. The place had no fences or guards, the door was unlocked. Seems like a nice place to spend the night really."

Mike eyed Arti skeptically. "Your idea of 'nice place to spend the night' concerns me."

"It'll be… fine, probably…" Parker said in an uneasy tone.

"It'll just be an easy five minute in and out thing then."

"I seriously doubt that…"

The three had soon found themselves at the end of the hallway they were walking in, the volume of the space very noticeably expanding drastically as they approached the ending. They were very much nearing the storage section of the place.

"Guess we're here," Arti said, oddly excited about the prospect of trespassing.

"Let's just not touch anything," Parker cautioned, Mike nodding in agreement from behind.

"Yeah, sure. Yeah!"

Their conversation was abruptly halted once the trio crossed the threshold. The rather sudden, loud sounds of overhanging lights turning on in ordered succession echoed through the walls of the storage area; illuminating the place instantly.

"I uh, thought this place was abandoned-" Mike said, now very uncomfortable.

"I mean, power could still be getting routed here…" Parker responded in an attempt to rationalize things.

Arti turned the flashlight of their phone off. "At least we can see now. Now how about we go look around for a little bit?"

Mike and Parker, both feeling like they're already in too deep to really refuse, nod in agreement. Although Parker did speak, "Only for five minutes though."

"Ye"

Arti was the first to walk ahead with Parker and Mike following behind them.

The trio's steps echoed throughout the room. It looked like a proper warehouse; large, lots of shelves, although most of them seemed empty. It was slightly triggering to Mike's agoraphobia though.

"God, this room is too big for the amount of nothing it contains…" Mike said with a shudder. He had elected to look downwards for most of the trek, but he flicked his gaze upwards every so often just to check the shelves. They were bare, usually.

Parker nodded. "Yeah, it does seem a bit… empty?" He was casually looking at each shelf as the three of them walked between them. Usually very dusty, or had some kind of cobwebs. If he was unlucky he'd see a dead bug.

"Hm. Disappointing," Arti responded. Yeah, this place was empty. They were hoping for something interesting though.

Things seem to drone on though. With none of them finding anything remotely interesting it didn't take very long for their group to have navigated two-thirds of the shelves in this space.

"Perhaps they moved everything out before abandoning it?" Parker said in an attempt to rationalize things.

Arti sighed. "Eh, yeah. Probably. Kind of wish something would be here though."

Mike looked up at the back of Arti's head for a second. "We'd be doing this for nothing if the end result was… nothing."

They all eventually rounded the corner of a shelf to inspect the next row. With the rate they were all going, this would be done in less than the five minutes they agreed upon.

"Er, why was this place even abandoned anyway…?" Mike asked out of curiosity.

Arti looked back at him and shrugged. "Dunno. Just heard about it from somewhere and got curious."

Parker followed up. "That's really your only reason coming here?"

Arti fully turned around, now walking backwards. "I mean, I thought there'd be something cool here, and I also thought 'hey, why not bring my friends with me as well!' Spur of the moment-"

Before Arti finished their sentence, the heel of their shoe dug into something hard. Stopping, their gaze moved downwards to find a box. A few boxes, actually. "Did none of you see these?"

"Nope," they both said in unison. Mike had gone back to avoiding taking in the place's size, and Parker was focused on Arti.

The triangular formation the trio had established broke as they proceeded to inspect the boxes. Instead of being on the shelves, the three of them were laying around the ground. Seemingly untouched, unopened, and covered in dust.

Even more peculiar, all of them had a logo on them. One recognizable amongst the trio. A simple design of a bomb with a lit fuse, the word RED scrawled within the object in fancy lettering.

"Red Team Logo" Arti said flatly.

"That's… weird…" Parker knelt down to stare at the box. "Promotional boxes, maybe?"

"They're still sealed…" Arti said, a hint of excitement in their voice. Their head was full of thoughts related to criminal acts; specifically larceny at this moment.

The air was suddenly pierced by the abrupt sound of a box being forcibly pushed into by an external force. Arti and Parker both looked at where the source came from, that being Mike who had shoved an elbow into the box. Mike stared at them blankly. "What? I had nothing to open it with!"

"...I have a multi-tool with a knife," Parker said.

"Oh."

The knife was passed around between the three, and the boxes were opened properly.

"Oh my god…" Arti said in astoundment. They rummaged around the box, a few packing peanuts flying up into the air and onto the ground, and pulled out an… exact replica of the Medic's Medi Gun from Team Fortress 2.

Parker raised a brow, then rummaged around his box. He pulled out a wrench, very likely a replica of the Engineer's melee weapon from the same game. Although the metallic feel to it felt oddly realistic. He hummed, a little confused.

Last was Mike, who pulled out a sniper rifle. It was realistic. Too realistic. It was unnerving.

Arti was having fun though. A 1-to-1 replica of the Medi Gun? Perfect for their collection of Medic memorabilia. "Yup, I think I got something cool…"

Parker stood back up, inspecting his wrench. "Er, so the only thing in here is just… replica weapons for TF2?"

"Seems like it…" Mike said as he stood up as well. Although he seemed noticeably uneasy, holding a very realistic weapon and all.

"It's good though! This Medi Gun almost looks functional."

Parker then looked at Mike. "Aw, you both got ranged weapons and I just got a wrench."

"This isn't a weapon, Parker-" Arti corrected.

"I would take that over a firearm…" Mike said as he continued to inspect his rifle, slowly turning away from the other two. Proper gun safety and all. Speaking of safety, he was checking to see if this thing has an active safety guard, just to make himself feel a bit more at ease.

His eyes then widened. "There!" he whispered to himself. Inactive trigger safety. Just have to activate it and… click.

At that moment a slight shock emitted from the rifle and into Mike's hands, the younger man momentarily shivering from the sudden electrical input. "Woah, what was that…" He was going to investigate, but suspicions suddenly arose at the sight of his hand.

Was his hand… growing?

A few seconds passed and his suspicions were confirmed way too easily. It was indeed growing, although it didn't seem to grow too much. He unclasped his other hand from the rifle and lifted it into view, finding it too had looked to gain some additional sizing.

Things only got weirder from there. The palms of his hands began to callous. Age started to creep into them while the now slightly thicker fingers blunted themselves. A certain angularity etched into them as well, the changes slowly jumping from his hands to his wrists as they did so.

The diameter of his wrists expanded, followed by his forearms beginning to shift. Muscles were starting to expand to a more moderate size. Follicles of hair began poking out the skin before quickly dusting the area more prominently. The tone of his skin deepened slightly as well, pale becoming a darker beige.

His upper arms followed with similar changes as well. Arm hair growth cascading upwards, although appearing not as prominent. Muscles continued to tone, his biceps and triceps increasing in size slightly as well. The short sleeves of his shirt were tightening as a result, although not uncomfortably so. This tightness progressed as his shoulders started to broaden.

A hand was still grasping onto the rifle, and Mike was staring at the free one. "Whoa, what's… happening?"

This was definitely abnormal, and if he were to be honest he felt kind of scared. However, it also felt… nice? Really nice! Although casting a glance at his other hand and the rifle within it, he was beginning to connect the dots as to what was happening.

Meanwhile, his body was widening. Not much, but it was enough to begin straining the split of his shirt slightly. He also felt a pressure in his back, his spine elongating as he was starting to gain an inch or two. This was riding the hem of his shirt upwards, revealing a small portion of his lower abdomen.

Changes soon started to transition inwards, reaching his torso and unifying at his chest. This was signaled by a momentary gain in strength, his chest pushing out slightly and straining his shirt buttons as a pair of pectorals arose from that area. Hair started to poke out of the skin of his chest as well, slightly more plentiful than it was on his arms. This hair steadily trailed downwards, meeting at the lower portion of his cleavage and running down his midline to make a dusty treasure trail.

While the trail coarsed downwards to his abdomen, that region altered alongside it. His body fat started to melt away, steadily getting replaced by ridges that creased into his skin signaling a newly forming musculature. Abs slowly emerging, a standard looking four-pack getting solidified. As time progressed the dusting of hair poked from beneath his shirt and moved down into his waist, which had widened to fit his new proportions.

At this point Mike was getting curious, the young man now spending a little too long trying to unbutton his shirt with one hand to look at his body. He managed to do so, a little glad he could alleviate his discomfort a bit. But that was disregarded as he started to stare intensely at his torso. His muscles. They weren't the most impressive thing, but they did look nice…

He squeezed a pec. "Ohhh, that feels… that feels good…"

He blinked. Did his voice… deepen? "Er, t-testin'-"

Yeah, it was deeper. And… accented as well. The accent was eerily similar as well. Swallowing a lump in his throat, he let out a deep sigh. "I'm turning inta Sniper, huh?"

While he came to this realization, his transformation surged beyond his waist and into his legs. They mirrored the changes in his arms, gaining significant tone as hairs speckled the deepening skin. His loose jeans were filling up as a result, becoming oddly snug against this new gain in mass. He could also feel the back of his jeans fill slightly more substantially, his rear getting slightly larger. Whether it was a result of his glutes getting thicker is debatable. All the while, the bones in his legs were lengthening and adding a little bit more to his height.

His calves flared as everything washed beneath his knees and into the crus of his legs, then from there the changes began to pool at his feet. His shoes were starting to feel smaller as his feet stretched and got larger, slightly thicker. His heel dug into the back of the shoes a bit more, and he could feel the laces and tongue strain against the bridge of his feet. His toes, getting more rectangular and blunted like his fingers, pushed up against the toecap as well.

"Agh, damn! Things're gettin' tight-" Mike said before his speech sputtered to a caught. His voice was getting more accented; decidedly more Australian with each word. "Feels good though… real good."

He felt a tickling within his neck, likely his vocal cords fully adjusting while the area got thicker. But shortly after that, a slight itching in his face notified him that the last change was nigh.

It was more a slew of changes really. The itching was a result of scruffy, grayish stubble running across the sides of his face and jaw. He felt his skull pushing slightly as its shape got slightly thinner and more rectangular. His facial features morphed; eyes narrowing, nose thinning, ears pulling back slightly. His jaw crunched as it lost its roundness, getting seemingly trapezoidal while his cheek fat seemed to fade giving him a more chiseled look.

The last major physical change came to his hair. Messy and curly at first with a murky brown tinge. However, that brown coloration seems to darken to a more fuller brown. The curliness of it dissipated, straightening out while the overall length steadily shortened back into his scalp. It eventually shortened rather drastically, although not so much that it could be classified as a buzz cut.

Almost instantly after his physical changes ended, his eyes caught onto his clothing beginning to change. His shirt seemed to go first, its sleeves becoming even shorter until they shrunk into nothing and left it sleeveless. The plain white tone of it shifted to brown, split between a lighter upper portion and a darker lower portion. The material clearly shifted to something more leather, buttons sinking into the material while a zipper formed in the split. A couple pockets emerged in the lower half. The collar remained raised, although the fold dissipated into a single raised portion of leather.

Beneath the newly changed vest another set of clothing materialized, red washing across his torso as a new shirt formed beneath it. A collar raised from the shirt's neck, a portion of the split remaining unfastened to show a white undershirt beneath it. Sleeves unfurled from beneath the sleeveless vest, bunching up at the elbows as they were clearly rolled up. A watch manifested on his left wrist with a fingerless glove appearing on the corresponding hand. The denim of his jeans shifted color as they turned to a dark brown.

Something fastened itself to his belt, that being a pouch containing a canteen. His shoes enlarged to fit his new foot size, laces and cloth smoothing out as they took on a brown hue as well. The topline had also lengthened, but was quickly obscured by his pants.

Finally in one fell swoop multiple things manifested around him at once. Orange lensed hunting glasses in front of his eyes, a bush hat with a portion of the brim raised up plopping itself onto his head, and a scabbard for his rifle on his back with its strap around his body. With a glow on the sleeves of his new shirt, a symbol of a rifle scope bullseye manifesting onto them, his changes came to an end.

Mike practically instinctively sheathed his rifle on his back and smiled, inspecting his new form. "Huh, didn't expect this to be happenin'..."

A brow then raised. If he'd been transformed, that would mean…

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

Arti was oblivious that Mike was transforming just a few feet away, as they were still a bit focused on inspecting this Medi Gun replica. It looked so accurate, so real! They'd honestly take it as a real life copy if it were possible to even shoot healing beams like that in real life.

Arti smiled, an idea crossed their mind. That would mean it wouldn't hurt to just pull the handle down to "activate" it. They put a hand on the object's bottom handle with another hand grasping onto the upper handle. They pulled it back and…

Their eyes widened. It's…

"It's glowing…"

The area around the object shone with an intense red aura, although instead of firing into something it just glowed around the weapon. Actually, wait…

Their gaze moved from the weapon and onto their arms, then their chest. It wasn't just glowing, it was firing into them?? That shouldn't be possible, but… Arti's smile widened. Who cares! This felt… great, actually! Like it was making them stronger.

The truth is while they haven't noticed it yet, it was indeed making them strong. Albeit it was bit by bit.

It started with their hands, since that was the piece of their body in contact with the actual weapon. Their size stretching out to be substantially larger, getting thicker and meatier. Each finger expanding, thickening as well as they gained a more angular look to them. Age was getting poured into them as well, getting rougher and older with each passing second. It didn't take long until their hands became large, with the changes crawling up to their wrists and etching into their arms as well.

Hair sprouted from the skin of their arms, lightly dusting their forearms as things began to trail upwards. They could feel the sleeves of their coat begin to constrict as well, the muscles within the region warming up and bulking out, trying to reach a proportion adequate to their hands. Nice and thick and muscular, the warm heat of this instant workout surging through Arti's very body.

"Yes! This feels great!!" they exclaimed, a bit abruptly, although nobody really answered back. They didn't mind too much though, their focus was on this sensation. Feeling their arms amass in strength, their coat tightening against their bulging biceps and thickening triceps. A few rips even pierced the air from its failure to contain their new muscles, although Arti didn't seem to notice. They were more so wondering if this was what steroids felt like.

Hairs continued trailing upwards, lightly layering the sides of their arms as this newfound musculature settled itself in. Another rip of their coat entered the air as their deltoids started to bulge as well, a sign that their shoulders were beginning to broaden as the changes crossed the barrier into his body. This was exacerbated by a body-wide feeling of tightness as their form began to expand and widen, changes surging in order to make it lose its twink-like body type.

With this development, everything soon came rushing onto their torso. A tingle cascaded down their back as it began to pressurize and extend, making them taller and steadily bringing the bottom of their coat and undershirt upwards. The zipper of their coat started to pull at itself as their form got wider, easily prompting their attire to lose its previously proper fitting state around their body.

Things intensified as their very core felt like it lit aflame, hot and intense as the muscles within their chest began to expand. A crevice slowly started forming in the fabric of their undershirt while the zipper of their coat struggled even more than it did before. Beneath them, their pectorals were enlarging. Thicker, bulkier, meatier. Getting larger and larger, becoming like two massive slabs. It didn't take very long for their coat to just give up, the zipper busting off of it and the teeth splitting apart to reveal the now massive set of pectorals they possessed. Their new pecs were cleanly etched into the fabric of their undershirt.

Body hair began to poke of their cleavage, soon quickly spreading around their pecs before moving downwards. Their abdomen started rippling as the muscles in that region started to shift next. Abs gradually slotted themselves outwards as moderate amounts of hair grew around the midline. It didn't take very long for them to attain a six pack, although the creases that divided it weren't extremely deep. However they were deep enough to etch into their undershirt as well.

The zipper of their coat continued to break apart against Arti's new musculature. The rips of the seams and tears of the zipper splitting apart were no longer ignorable. They looked downwards at their body, their eyes widening at the sight of their massive pectorals.

They grinned. "I guess that- that strength wasn't just a feeling after all! O-oh-"

As they spoke, their voice was slowly starting to alter. It's tone and pitch shifting, a Germanic accent seeping into it. Despite being in its fairly early stages, they knew what was happening.

"Ohoh, guess this wasn't just a replika after all!" Their grin only seemed to widen at that realization, at this point bordering on the maniacal.

Their pants were the next to begin undergoing trouble, the singular button and zipper tightening against their now wider waist. Things were rapidly surging downwards as well, the muscles in their thighs packing on mass rapidly. Hamstrings and quads were growing in tandem at a quick pace, the denim of their pants squeezing up against them in an attempt to contain this bulging strength. At the same time, the seat of their pants steadily filled out as their butt rounded and expanded. A testimony to the size being amassed by their glutes.

Leg hair sprouted across their legs, around their thighs and jumping down to their crus to sprinkle that region. The muscles there were thickening, calves aflame with heat as they were given an increase in musculature all the same as the rest of their body. The bones in their legs ached for a moment before pressurizing, elongating to increase their height some more. Their jeans continued to attempt to hold together, but the sides were already beginning to split against this raw strength. Their shows soon followed, already rapidly becoming undersized as their feet expanded. Much like their hands before, their feet were getting larger, now to fit their new bodily proportions.

The neck of their undershirt was getting increasingly uncomfortable as their own neck thickened, but at this point that didn't matter to them. All they could think about was how great this felt!

"Zis… zis power is…" They couldn't even find a proper word to articulate it. It was just so good to feel all of this strength coarse through his form.

"Deific…" they said under a breath, their German accent thickening a bit more. The word was the closest thing to god-like. Although whether or not this was some newfound God complex from just the thought of becoming Medic was beyond them.

Thoughts were cast aside once they felt pressure wrack their skull. "Ohh, I'm going to enjoy zis!"

Arti had a pretty rounded face at first, but steadily their skull structure was losing that. Angularity getting introduced, their jawline hardening and getting more chiseled while the overall shape of their face became more rectangular. A small cleft formed an inch beneath their lower lip as well, accentuating that masculinity that was being formulated.

Aspects of their face shifted as well. Their face was overall developing a more aged appearance. Their mouth seeming to get wider. Their eyes getting larger while their brows thinned and gained an almost stylized crookedness to them. Even their nose flared as it lost its almost button-like shape; reshaping to something wider, concave bridge with an almost pointed base. Their glasses weren't really accustomed to this size, although the new wideness of their skull was already giving them trouble anyway.

Last to the physical changes came their hair, which was on its way to getting shorter. The black coloration of it lightened slightly, gaining a deep brown tone. However, the hair at the sides of their temples gained a grayish tone, signaling their age a bit more. Hair continued to shorten, rushing back into their scalp as its once neck-reaching length and almost slightly messy style became long forgotten. Their hairline had also receded a bit as well, developing quite the substantial U-shape. What could be considered close to a three on the Norwood scale.

Still grinning, Arti took a moment to ungrasp the handle of the Medi Gun and feel their jaw. "Ja, this feels great!"

Although no words could probably explain the pure ecstasy they were feeling. This wasn't just great, this was great! So, so great…

Their gaze descended back onto the Medi Gun, although their vision was still a bit blurry thanks to the fact their glasses no longer fit. The object was still glowing, pouring red energy into them though, they could tell that. "Hm, handle must be stuck."

They placed their hand back onto the handle and tried to push it forward. No response. Maybe it had one last thing to change? Hopefully it was their clothes.

Luckily, their hopes were answered.

Tightness was being alleviated rather rapidly, all the clothing on their body concurrently growing in an attempt to fit their new form. It was also shifting as well. Undershirt gaining a split while already fastened buttons lined it, the neck raising as well as it formed into a collar. The blue color was shifting into a plain white, it becoming more like a dress shirt than anything else. A red object slithered around their neck and beneath the collar, comfortably wrapping around it as a tie started to hang perfectly from it. Their coat probably endured a more drastic change as what rips and tears formed fixed themselves while the material seemed to alter and become softer. The soft fur of the collar seemed to fade into this material as well. The deeper blue coloration was shifting to a shaded white as well. The zipper slunk into the new material while a few buttons lined a portion of the upper half, steadily buttoning themselves over Arti's now much muscular torso. The bottom of the coat lengthened drastically, quickly going from their hips to their knees, all the way down to reaching the lower half of their legs. A more triangular collar swelled from the now lab coat's neck, and a breast pocket emerged above where the left pectoral would be.

Their jeans soon followed, getting subsumed by a dark brown color as they seemed to take on a much baggier appearance than before. A belt materialized around their waist, large and with a single pouch already clipped to it. Their shoes gained a smoother shine to them as they dulled to a full black color. The topline raised halfway up the crus of their legs, making their footwear more into boots. Following this, the portion of their pants shoved themselves into their boots, which resulted in their legwear getting a puffier appearance in the lower half.

The red aura steadily dialed down as the final aspects of the changes came forth. Red latex materializing and covering their hands, hardening into gloves that extended to cover their forearms. Their glasses grew larger, frames thinning as they now better Arti's new facial structure A sudden weight (albeit one that they could definitely handle) manifested on their back as a massive metallic backpack seemed to have just appeared with straps coming from it, snaking down the front of their body, and buckling to their new belt; all while a hose connected the Medi Gun to the backpack. The final piece was a glow on the sides of their sleeves, a red cross symbol with a yellow background appearing on the upper portion on each one.

And with that the handle dislodges and the Medi Gun deactivates. The aura fully disperses, leaving Arti with their new body. With a hand on the bottom handle, they lower the object and look down at their body. Their muscular form clothed in a dignifying set of doctor's clothing. "Perfect!"

Now, the only logical conclusion would be that their friends…

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

A few minutes earlier…

Parker had found himself looking at his other two friends. They seemed to be exploring the supposed replicas pretty well, especially since Arti was practically beaming with euphoria. Although Parker had also noticed Mike's apprehension with the rifle. The other guy seemed to have turned away though, probably to inspect the rifle in peace; all while Arti seemed about ready to test their new Medi Gun.

Parker looked down at their wrench. It was… large, he supposed. And a bit heavy, although not so much so that he'd be unable to lift it. It looked to be some kind of standard agricultural wrench as well, although Parker wasn't quite sure how he knew that.

He fumbled around with it, rolling it around in his hands idly as he thought. It wasn't really the most impressive thing in comparison to the other two, and it felt a bit odd to have a replica wrench of all things. Like, yeah that could be considered Engineer's signature tool, but it's still an odd choice to him.

They sighed. It's fine at least. Plus, what are the odds everyone decides to take these home with them? Well, for Arti that was 100% but that's whatever. Parker then smiled to themselves, lost in thought and deciding to just casually tap the top of the wrench onto their belly. They weren't sure why they did it. It just felt a bit silly.

He was unaware that that action alone kick-started his own transformation, alongside those of his friends…

It was subtle at first, very small amounts of fat beginning to accumulate around his abdomen. A small bit of chub at first, but it didn't take very long for that small bit to increase by a lot. Fat continuously piling on his belly, the area bloating more and more as the hem of his undershirt rode up it, the region just getting larger and softer. It didn't take very long for it to be considered less of a belly and more of a thick gut. And all the while, abdominal muscles had started to form beneath it, although greatly obscured by his sizable tummy.

It would be hard for such a development to go unnoticed, especially with the chill running across the skin of his abdomen thanks to his shirt slowly becoming more ill-fitting. Parker looked down, eyes wide as he nervously moved a hand towards his belly. "What the heck…"

The gain in weight only persisted though, moving from his belly to his chest with ease. Mirroring what occurred on his abdomen, a softness filled his chest region as his pectorals pushed out slightly. This was still accompanied by a firmness of muscle mass, giving him a more balanced mixture of muscle and fat in that area. It steadily squeezed up against his shirt, faintly etching his cleavage into the light blue portion of it.

At this point Parker had started squeezing his belly, then moving that hand upwards to squeeze a pectoral. He winced as he felt something squeeze his spine, him slowly getting taller and his shirt moving even further up his belly. This allowed him to catch onto body hair starting to grow on his usually hairless form, slowly rising up his midline and moving beneath his shirt. Judging by the itchiness on his chest, he could tell he was getting some chest hair as well (although the amount wasn't extremely impressive).

"Soft…" was the primary thing Parker could think of as he continued to squeeze himself. It was nice and warm, kind of reminded him of all those stereotypical images of a dadbod. An ideal for him, really…

He didn't notice the few specks of gray entering his chest hair as he thought this. What he did notice, though, was his shirt and jacket getting a little more constricting. It was starting to stretch out, Parker taking a few moments to realize his body was widening as well. The slight discomfort only continued as the shoulders of his sleeves filled up, his own shoulders steadily welling up in size.

While fat started to spill into his arms, muscle seemed to grow a little more prominent in that area. His delts getting thicker, his biceps and triceps steadily increasing in mass. All with the accompanying feeling of strength entering them, years of hard work being granted in mere seconds. If he were being honest, the newly amassing upper body strength was slowly aiding in making the wrench less heavy than before.

Things then trickled beneath his elbow and onto his forearm. Muscles growing, getting nice and strong. Hair speckling across the top of his arms with ease, mixed with browns and grays. The area in general was growing to fit his new proportions. However, once the changes reached his hands things began to get stranger, each hand changing on in a different way.

The right one seemed to be normal. Stretching out larger and getting thicker. Fingers getting meatier. Age creeping into them as the palm calloused, cuts forming and scarring instantly. Even a few fingernails seemed to chip as grime got beneath them.

The left one though, the one holding the wrench, that one was the one Parker was focused on. It started to feel numb, the skin upon it looking discolored. An almost metallic sheen coming into it as if the wrench's metal was melting into his flesh. His skin soon started to harden, that metallicness getting more and more prominent. It was consistently getting more inorganic, the fingers segmenting for free movement, hand disconnecting from his wrist as the associated forearm underwent a similar shift to metal. It did somewhat hurt, having his nerves reconnected to the now prosthetic limb, but that was only temporary.

The shine was only temporary, dulling as grime dirtied up the metal and years of work piled onto it in seconds. He could see assorted dents and gashes emerging as well. It was definitely well worn, but as he casually turned it around he found that it still responded to his every movement.

"Woah," Parker started with a smiled, "a-a robotic limb!"

He blinked his eyes. "Wh-what happened to mah voice… there…"

He cleared his throat. His voice was getting deeper? And… "Is that a… Texan accent??"

His cheeks flushed momentarily. It was. It sounded really good though. Deep, masculine, part of him wanted to say 'yee-haw!' just to hear how it'd sound, but he decided to do that later. Once all the changes were done.

Speaking of, his jeans were beginning to be next on the list of things that were steadily losing their fit on him. His waist had already widened to incorporate his new width, now all that remained was his legs. Slowly bulking with muscles, fat forming around those as well. Thighs getting decided thicker as an end result. He could even feel his butt round out as it swelled up, filling up the seat of his pants.

The floor started to get a little further, his height increasing a second time with his legs getting a bit longer. The muscles in that area were also gaining in size, although at this point it was clear his leg muscles weren't as worked on as his arm muscles. But they still possessed a substantial amount of bulk to them, at least in comparison to what they used to have on him. It actually felt quite empowering.

Following this came the changes in his feet. His shoes were quickly filled, before filling out a bit more as his feet grew larger than what his previous shoe size was. Larger, bulkier, heels digging into the back in, ankles digging into the size. The straps started breaking from the Velcro they were attached to, and an outsider could probably see bulges where their toes were. To say their shoes barely fit them was an understatement, especially since they were doing more to attempt to contain the changes rather than try to fit around them like the rest of his clothing had.

"Agh- darn body bulkin'-" Parker said, smiling in contrast to his complaints. The sound of his Southern accent getting thicker was pleasing, although he wasn't quite sure if the way things were being phrased was him leaning more into the accent or not. "I hope my clothin' changes soon, don' think it'll last too much longer."

He pulled at the neck of his shirt with his organic hand, his neck having already thickened a bit over the size it'd actually be comfortable in. The scarf he kept around his right arm was also rather constricting, Parker swearing his blood flow there was getting cut off. "That don' sound very good…" he said towards that thought. It was fine though, it was fine-

Parker shivered as a tingle ran up their spine and zapped into their skull. Pressure started to squeeze into it, him feeling it get squished and molded like putty. His jawline getting squeezed, roundness becoming a little more chiseled and square. Dusty brown stubble prickled out of his face, starting at his chin and gradually working its way up the sides of his face and around his mouth. His eyes got a little smaller, his rounded nose getting more pointed and triangular. His brows even seemed to fade a bit, getting thinner than they were before. The youthful look of his face seemed to harden, aging and weather as his age crept upwards towards middle age.

The most noticeable change came to his hair. It was long, full, fluffy, but as the transformation seeped into his face that was getting lost. His hair began receding back into his scalp, steady at first before picking up the pace with the rest of his face. Shortening from neck length, retreating consistently as its fullness got lost. His manbun undid itself almost instantly as a result, and his hairline had receded slightly as well. His hair continued to get shorter until the brown reached a point of being more of a dusty brown equal to that of his facial stubble. He was sporting more of a buzzcut now, extremely short and scratchy.

"Ah hell, kinda wish I'd keep that!" Parker exclaimed, rubbing his head with his human hand. It did feel kind of nice though.

A rip then pierced the air, the sleeve of his jacket unable to handle this kind of movement with this bulky an arm. Parker let out a nervous laugh, "God damn, eheh- now'd be a good time for some new clothes right about now!"

His desire was granted in an instant with all the constricting of his clothing steadily fading, everything better growing to fit his size. The hem of his shirt edged downwards, finally covering his belly as the light blue and white coloration of it saturated to a hard red color. The sleeves of it elongated, then rolled themselves up. Meanwhile, the neck lengthened and folded into a collar, a small placket forming in the middle of his shirt to accompany it. A white undershirt seemed to have separate itself from the red shirt as well with it being visible from that placket.

His jacket was next to follow, although its changes were exceedingly peculiar. The split started to merge with itself on the lower half while much of the upper half seemed to practically dethread itself into oblivion. It promptly, albeit temporarily, disconnected before metallic clips materialized and snapped them onto the changing attire, seemingly to conform it to being a pair of overalls. The coloration of both his jacket and pants shifted, the denim altering to a deep brown. A belt then manifested, snaking around his waist while coming pre-equipped with various pouches and a sheath for his wrench. His shoes then enlarged, blue and white cloth shifting to a normal brown leather, the soles growing more rigid, and the topline raising and going beneath his overalls. All of which was in one slew to change his footwear into a more fitting pair of boots.

The last fixtures to his attire came in a slew of various materializations. Metallic knee pads appearing from thin air and wrapping around his knees. A yellow and gray glove effortlessly slipping on his robotic arm. A hard hat had even popped into existence atop his head, a pair of goggles slipping from within it and clinging comfortably to his face.

Any remnant of his old attire that remained was the colorful scarf on his right arm, which just grew to fit the arm more comfortably. With all of that settled, a soft glow emanated from the sides of the sleeves of his shirt, a yellow symbol with a red wrench insignia within it forming and signaling the end of his transformation.

"Heheh, lookin' good Engie…" Parker said, patting his belly proudly as he sheathed the wrench.

He then looked up to speak. "Ey guys, ya see this- oh!"

His eyes widened beneath the goggles. In Arti's place was Medic, and in Mike's place was Sniper.

"Parker, my friend! You got transformed as well?" Arti said excitedly.

"Yup!" Parker slung an arm around Arti. "Glad t' know I ain't the only one!"

After just a few seconds Mike walked up to the two. "G'day, mates! Guess uh, we all got changed, huh?"

"Yep!" the other two said in unison.

"It feels… strange, don't it?" Mike said, pulling at the collar of his shirt awkwardly. "Still tryin' to grasp all of this. Weird feelin's."

"I do quite like the strength zis body provides, if I do say so myself!" Arti said, their mind jumping to their newly gained muscles. His attire felt quite nice on them.

"The dadbod I got is quite nice as well, although I do agree with our partner here. This does feel rather disorientin'. Head's been a little achey, a lot of unfamiliar knowledge comin' ta me." Parker explained, rubbing the back of their head nervously.

"I can alleviate that easily!~" Arti said with a smile, pulling back the handle of their Medi Gun and shooting a stream of healing energy into Parker.

A smile formed on Parker's face, the pain getting alleviated. "That feels real nice, partner…"

"Glad you two are enjoyin' yourselves. Now, how 'bout we get out of here before someone else decides to come in after us?" Mike said, slightly worried about the prospect of getting caught in here. Although odds are they'd just be seen as very accurate TF2 cosplayers over anything else…

"Sounds good to me!" Arti responded, with Parker giving a thumbs up in response as well.

"Great, although…" Mike looked around for a moment, his agoraphobia not triggering for once as he noticed the room looked different. "Does this place look any different to either of you?"

His friends looked around curiously. Parker was the first to speak, "It does look a lil' dirty. A lot more brown than gray."

Arti didn't speak at first, but they had a look on their face that Mike could clock as them having a theory. They did speak after a few seconds though. "I think we should take a look outside-"

Mike and Parker looked each other in the eye quizzically, then nodded in agreement. Something weird was going on…

After a couple minutes, the trio had found themselves walking through the very hallway they used to get in here. Dust was replaced by dirt, and both Arti and Mike were pretty sure they saw a few bloodstains around, albeit it was long since faded.

"The hell are we…" Mike said, his deep voice practically rumbling as it echoed through the hall.

The trio eventually found the door they came through, and Parker was the one to push it open and walk out first. Arti came out behind him, Medi Gun in hand; and Mike seemed to almost instinctively pull out his rifle as he stepped outside.

The grass crunched under everyone's boots. The sun was hanging high in the air, and the once heavily forested area around the warehouse seemed to have heavily lost much of its foliage.

"What in tarnation…"

"Car seems to be missin' to," Mike observed as he stepped out from behind Parker.

"Seems like it. Where even are we? This place… looks like where we were." Parker responded.

"I have a feeling that transformation changed more than our bodies-" Arti said. Mike and Parker both looked at him.

Mike was the first to ask, "Mate, what are you tryin' to say?"

"We done got reality shunted?" Parker followed up.

"More like time shunted!" Arti corrected, a finger raising to punctuate their point. "I think ve might be in some kind of… alternative 1970s? It's quite convoluted to explain-"

"Time travel, got it." Unease fading, Mike sheathed his rifle. "I have a feelin' this'll be quite the interestin' week…"

Parker nodded. "You and me both, partner."

Arti smiled, placing their hands on their Medi Gun. "So, my friends, how about ve head out and live these new lives we've been granted?"

Mike was a little perturbed, but a part of him felt… oddly accepting of this. Especially since he's got both of his friends here. "I don't see why not, I suppose. Had to be put here for a reason."

Parker brought both of his friends towards him and slung both arms around them, the middle aged man smiling. It could be the steady amount of knowledge being hammered into his mind making him think this, but he also wants to think that this is a legitimate feeling he's having. Being in a strange alternative world with his two best friends, planning out some kind of weird adventure. "I think we should as well, partners!"

Parker's enthusiasm was infectious, Mike softly smiling alongside him while Arti grinned (although with their new facial structure it looked practically devious).

All tension that was in the air was displaced by a strange buzz of excitement. The trio of friends were still rather confused why this all happened, but all of them came to a mutual agreement that…

One way or another, they were all going to find this out together.

#character tf #human tf #transformation #age progression #muscle growth tf #weight gain tf #tf

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daenerysoftarth · 2 years ago

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ya know now that I think about it, I think Ghost will go on a killing rampage once he feels Jon die, he was already growling and acting aggressive before Jon was murdered bc he could sense something wasn’t right.. and based on past descriptions of Warg relationships, humans at least can feel when their bonded animals die (varamyr screamed and cried when his bird was killed iirc), so I imagine the reverse is true as well… it seems to be a pretty traumatic experience to feel the violent death of a bonded animal, as it caused varamyr to ‘go insane’ temporarily. to be fair the eagle he was bonded to was burned alive, which is notoriously one of the worst ways to die, but I imagine a group stabbing session is also pretty horrific and painful. point being, I bet Ghost feels Jon die and feels how he dies, and freaks tf out… Jon has locked him in his rooms but I cannot imagine the crumbling castle’s doors would last against the rage and fury of a direwolf

if the night’s watch went the red wedding route of trying to kill Ghost and Jon simultaneously, even then I can’t imagine them succeeding. besides the whole themes and plots of the story being thrown off with Ghost dead, cornering and killing an angry direwolf is no easy feat. the Frey’s were well armed, already had Greywind caged, and were trained soldiers. the night’s watch is nowhere near as well supplied or trained, plus imo Ghost seems more fearsome. I imagine they would try to kill Ghost, only for Ghost to kill all those who try, and then goes to massacre everyone who betrayed Jon (but also the assassination seemed somewhat rushed and like a spur-of-the-moment group decision, so they may not have even planned ahead for what to do w Ghost)

(all this only applies if Jon doesn’t Warg into Ghost’s body and somehow take control… but maybe even if he did take control, he’d still want revenge on the men who killed him and go on a killing spree)

#jon snow #ghost the direwolf #asoiaf #got #my posts #valyrianscrolls #ghost

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seastarblue · 4 months ago

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OC Fight Game Tag!

ohhhhh yessss thanks @sableglass for the tag here!

OKAY SO we’re gonna do 5 characters: Kaiden, Mehri, Li Hua, Noah (whose name will CHANGE dammit), and Harper!

(I’ve been playing Cookie Run Kingdom a lot recently so I based the attacks off that! Hope this makes sense lols)

(all stats are out of 10 and it got a lil long so under the cut!!)

~~~

Kaiden Evania:

Health: 10

Strength: 5

Speed: 8

Armor: 3

Cunning: 9

Special Attack: (Hit ‘Em Where it Hurts): After analyzing the battlefield for a few moments, Kaiden rushes forward and hits the 2 most dangerous enemies with quick strikes of her twin swords. High chance of Critical DMG.

Weaknesses: Ranged attack, shitty planning, cannot be buffed by magical means.

Idle Animation: Kaiden is in a slight fighting stance, looking straight ahead at each of the enemies. She’s oddly calm, but has a faraway look. Seems like she’s deep in thought.

———

Mehri Al-Adwan:

Health: 9

Strength: 9

Speed: 4

Armor: 4

Cunning: 3

Special Attack: (FYAHHHHHH 🗣️🔥🔥): Mehri preps their magic and sets the front half of the battlefield on fire, dealing Burn DMG and slowing down enemies on the front line. While this skill is active, enemies cannot move forward without getting Burned.

Weakness: Ice/Water spells, mean people.

Idle Animation: Mehri bounces on the balls of their feet, grinning like an idiot. She occasionally turns to the camera and gives an even goofier smile and a wave.

———

Zhao Li Hua

Health: 6

Strength: 2

Speed: 9

Armor: 8

Cunning: 5

Special Attack: (Where tf did this bish go—OH SHI): Li Hua teleports behind the rearmost enemies and pricks them with a dagger, dealing Poison DMG. She then teleports back to her position and throws a smoke bomb into the crowd, obstructing enemies’ vision.

Weaknesses: Melee attacks, pain, oranges.

Idle Animation: Li Hua shifts from foot to foot, rapidly glancing all around her for a place to run to. Her usual smile is not there, replaced with a nervous grimace. Looks like she’s not a fan of fights.

———

Noah de Escarra:

Health: 7

Strength: 5

Speed: 10

Armor: 4

Cunning: 8

Special Attack: (Sneakster): Instead of regular attacks, Noah slips into the background at specific intervals and attacks one enemy each time. Said enemy is given temporary Blindness, Bleeding, and lowered Defense.

Weaknesses: Light magic, High Elves, frogs

Idle Animation: Noah stands like they’re about to run away: tense, ears folded back, eyes narrowed. Occasionally they flip a knife in their hand as a stim, and glance at the camera with a scowl. Or, at least that’s what you think—the bottom half of their face is covered anyways.

———

Harper O’Kennedy:

Health: 7

Strength: 1 (weak ahh-)(I say that like I’m any better)

Speed: 10

Armor: 5

Cunning: 7

Special Attack: (Quickshot) Harper pulls out his trusty revolver and fires 6 rapid shots at random targets. They always hit and do Critical DMG. For his regular attack, he boosts morale with his Song Magic. (Heightened Defense, Attack, and Speed.)

Weaknesses: Melee Attacks, Strong people, observant people.

Idle Animation: Harper stands in a relaxed position, eyes scanning the area. He looks deceptively calm, the only thing giving away his nervousness is his hand rapidly tapping his thigh. He occasionally side eyes the camera and gives a quick wink.

———

this was fun :3

Tagging with no pressure as always:

@rumeysawrites @dearunreliablenarrator @cain-e-brookman @the-ellia-west

#o(sea’s)#oc #writeblr #writerscommunity #sea’s story 1 #tag game #321FIGHT🗣️🔥‼️‼️

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youremyheaven · 8 months ago

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Hi! You mentioned "unkempt Saturn" initially and i thought of Woody Harrelson immediately lol and then you also wrote about it towards the end 😂 well the jokes on me coz I tend to be the embodiment of this trope when specifically when I'm low... Idk I noticed that pattern with myself a lot.

About the whole Nicola Tesla issue I also felt that his ethnicity had a lot to do with Edison getting ahead. I still remember as a kid how Edison's childhood sob story was part of a lesson plan and we all were supposed to go "wow! He accomplished this after all that he went through as a child". But he's just every other "White inventor" coz obviously all us non-Whites are stupid people who can't figure out basic stuff. 😤

I'm sorry to all the white folks here I don't mean to target every one of you but as an Indian it sucks how we were conditioned to make us feel like our culture was primitive and senseless. The Bengal Famine is one thing that happened (actually reccurently, there were multiple famines). There were so many things that have gone unaccounted so yeah I'm glad you wrote about Churchill (Father of Europe it seems 😒)

im glad you could relate 🥺but wish you didn't have to

yeah Tesla had it rough, he was an immigrant and was basically robbed in daylight by Edison 😡🤬😠

I swear to god??? even Indian education is sooo sympathetic about British Raj??? "it sucks they looted and plundered us for 200yrs but at least they gave us trains<33" type of attitude or some shit,,, i wish they had left us tf alone. India was never meant to be one unified country. They did so because it was easier for them for administrative purposes. They took thousands of princely states and imposed their white man rulership over them and then basically left everybody to fend for themselves. It was like if all of Europe were one country,, so many disparate cultures and geographies all brought together.

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alex110370000 · 9 months ago

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Ishimaru x gn! Reader

Request by @princeasimdiya12

Summary:you and Ishimaru made a bet of whoever loses the run test has to do what the winner says

Warning: contains gags, palming privates m!reciving, humiliation and I think that’s all

You and Ishimaru were running a mile, whoever lost had to do whatever the winner says for a week. You had won so once you guys got home it started. You dig into drawer to find a ball gag but find a pair of underwear first, you come up to him and shove it in his mouth, “wgff dff I grre tf ifs”(why did I agree to this). He whines out and lays down only to be pulled back up by you. You take him into the kitchen and tell him to sit on a chair, after he does as such you tie him to it so he doesn’t try to take out the gag. He squirms and pouts while muffling gibberish, you place a light smack to his cheek, not enough to hurt just to get his attention, “your gonna stay here while I explain to you how this will go.” you say kissing his head. You explain that you will be having him wear different gags throughout the week, his eyes widening as he knows he has to go out and do things throughout the week, as he dreads the humiliation.

Day 1: today he is going over to mondos, he goes to walk out the door until you stop him, “I’m coming, to make sure you keep this inn~” you say as your take out the wadded underwear from last night and put in a ball gag and smirk at his red face. He sighs as he walks out with you behind him, as you get in the car he just glances at you and sighs, “euau au i dooin ueh y ifu(what am I doing with my life” he says as he puts his head on the steering wheel. Once you guys get to mondos you go to the door, ishsimaru knocks and as soon as mondo answers he freezes then bursts out laughing while holding his gut as he doubles over practically snorting. You snicker a little, “what the hell is this???!” Mondo asks while laughing, as ishumaru looks unamused but also humiliated. After you explain to mondo he doubled over again laughing.

After mondo and Ishimaru got done you guys went home.

Day 2 :P. :today was a calm day at home, but you still were gonna make him wear it. Once he woke up you put on a ball gag, surprising him. Then you remembered you had to go to the store to get some stuff for around the house. You told him and he wasn’t very happy, of course you had to bring him. The more humiliating the more fun. Once you guys got there all eyes were on him. Many people came and questioned so you told them he lost a bet. Then you ran into Byakuya of all people. He just looked jaw dropped and confused. After shopping you guys went home and he laid down very unhappy

Day 3: for today I am gonna use a bell for a gag,today was a party, Aoi had invited us. Ishimaru was dreading this but we had this planned for a month. Once we got there the news got around already thanks to byakuya and mondo so they knew thankfully for Ishimaru, even though they knew they teased him the whole time. Once you guys got in the car after he was abt to cry, you couldn’t help but feel a little bad. You decide to give him at least a little fun

(SLIGHT SMUT AHEAD)

You are laying beside him and you decide to help him with his frustration your hand snakes down his thigh to his bulge, you look up at him and he nods giving you the consent(consent is key guys) you start to rub as he lets out soft sounds forming a melody to your ears as you rub faster the overwhelming melody gets faster soon enough he’s panting, after a couple more minutes he finishes.

(SMUT OVER GUYS, YALL THOUGHT THEIR WAS GONNA BE TANGO, NOT IN THIS WRITING😘)

You leave the room to get a towel and come back and clean up before you guys call it a night.

(Day 4 😘)

Today was you guys had another calm day at the house, or so he thought. You wake him up and tell him you have to go to the mall and he’s coming with. You grab a leather bone gag and put it on him. He looks more pissed with todays gag, after getting ready you guys head out.

Once you got there you go into (your favorite store) and drag him along, getting looks from everyone. Ishimaru stays closer to you wanting to die from humiliation right on the spot.

Once you guys got to the car he looked like he wanted to cry, so you made a deal with him, “if your good tomorrow and don’t get all upset with the gag we can cut the deal short and tomorrow will be that last day instead of dealing with it all week, deal?” , “eallf” he says as he tries to say deal.

After you guys got home you decided to just watch movies and have a calm day

Day 5 😈))

Today you had something planned to make it a bit harder for him to hold the deal so it’s fair, you guys were going to another party except your whole graduated class was there.

Once you told him he did not look pleased but cooperated. You both got ready as you changed the gag to a bright pink rope gag. To draw more attention.

Once you both pulled up all eyes were on Ishimaru, mondo walks up, “your still wearing that thing?!???” He days bursting out in laughter as most people looked at him like he was crazy, once you explained it every one just laughed it off.

The rest of the night a lot of people stared but didn’t really say anything sparing Ishimaru the humiliation.

Once you guys got home you took off his gag, “since you were good, your done no-“ you went to finish your sentence being cut off by his lips as he bites your lip and rubs down your body, “I’ve missed kissing you like this”, he says breaking the kiss.

(I’ll leave the rest to your guys imagination also sorry if it sucked the last couple parts were rushed)

#kiyotaka ishimaru #danganronpa #danganronpa ishimaru #smut

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oflights · 10 months ago

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when you started writing the star splitter, did you know this was where it was gonna go? what was the planning process like? what plot issues did you struggle with or find easy? what a masterful work, i’m so happy i get to read it and i’m so curious about your thoughts as you wrote

hi!! thank you so much, that's so nice to hear!

so, yeah, i outlined it pretty heavily. i outlined it by parts, though, then just sort of wrote to fill the story beats i knew that part would have.

i will say that writing as i went (or at least, a few chapters ahead of posting) made me stray from the outline a lot more than usual, but i stuck to the very bare bones of the outline structure: part 1 about finding little harry and bringing him to the future/keeping him with draco; part 2 about bringing big harry into it and understanding/starting to deal with the horcrux issue; part 3 about having everything in the open, ending the threat of the horcrux, and resolving harry/draco. i always knew the main core of plot would progress the way it did, including how these ending chapters would go! i just switched a lot of details/circumstances as they made more sense in practice.

at some point, maybe a week from now (because i will miss star splitter fridays!!!) i might post a list of notable changes from the original outline! that's usually where i struggle the most, when i look at my plan and i'm like "how tf did i ever think this could work, no, it has to be this way"

i'm still in disbelief i wrote so much and how far it's come almost a year from starting it/thinking about it. i've never posted like this before and while i don't have any immediate plans to do it again right now, i'm never completely ruling it out again. 😊

#asks #anonymous #time travel fic #i'm emotional i don't ever want to stop talking about this fic with people lol

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notproofread · 1 year ago

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enjoy my unhinged thoughts while reading Morning Star by Pierce Brown for the first time <3

SPOILERS AHEAD OF COURSE

be aware that i'm a cassius and sevro stan.

pls be cool cassisus pls be cool pls be cool pls be cool

honestly sevro is such a delight he just says whatever and gives zero fucks i love him

seeing darrow defeated and then picking himself up again was honestly very good change of pace compared to the first two books

<sevro3

ragnar also slays i love a brutal but soft giant

not victra calling cassius darrow's boyfriend bye

i think sevro spiraling is so interesting bc its really just darrow in the first two books

and tbh i like third book darrow much more bc he seems less arrogant and more grounded somehow?

so sevro get your shit together so i can love you again

he got his shit together

so back to loving him <3

also victra? she slays, no filter badass queen

RAGNAR DIES??? AND AJA IS STILL CRAWLING SOMEWHERE

what is this shit

fuck i'm crying

well... at least they got the Valkyrie

and cassius is alive so thats good

'mangy little guardian angel' is the best sevro description to ever exist

add 'psychotic Goblin-sized fighter jet' to that

Romulus seems like such an interesting character and i gotta hand it to him: he is one of the more likeable golds

i feel like pierce brown is much better at writing 1-on-1 fight scenes than big space craft wars

or maybe thats just me being too dumb to understand such descriptions

bro victra is so cool holy shit i love i hope she lives forever and ever

rip roque, if only you had stayed as cool as you were in red rising

the chemistry between darrow and cassius? holy shit get married

actually now that i think about it; the relationships between darrow and all of his male friends? sevro, cassius, roque... bro he loves them fr fr

maybe its cuz i dont remember golden son that well but has there ever been such tension and trust and undying love between him and mustang? 💀

anyways i almost cried reading chapter 50 even tho it is one of those few timed no one dies

VICTRA AND SEVRO MARRY OH MY GOD I MIGHT CRY

CASSIUS YOU BITCHASS I TOLD YOU TO BE COOL AND YOU DO THIS???

how am i supposed to defend you now you stupid dumbass

is sevro dead????? did he die for real???? what the fuck??? dont do this to me bro i am emotionally unstable

ok sorry cassius i take that back my bad

back to loving him i go

if this was all some elite plan i hope for you bitches that sevro is alive (will be alive?)

the choice to makw mustang sovereign is so good omg i love it

also darrow saying he makes a bridge to the lowColors and she to the highColors ans together they can make a new world?

stop the powercouple?? omg literally dying

TF A CHILD???

naw bruh😭

#golden son #pierce brown #darrow of lykos #cassius.#sevro au barca #red rising

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hiding-under-the-willow · 2 years ago

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PLEASE talk more abt the social politics of all the egos I'm BEGGING YOU

Oh absolutely I will!

Okay so like not to talk about Dark and Jackie again but I actually wanna elaborate on their dynamic because I have this really funny picture of them in my head. So like Jackie talks a big game about hating Dark. Really does not like or trust that guy. Maybe they've beat the shit out of eachother a few times, who's to say. Here's the thing, I think Dark couldn't give less of a shit. I think at most he thinks of Jackie as being an occasional nuisance, but also as being occasionally useful. I think he like shows up to Jackie's secret hideout (bc of course he knows where tf it is Jackie is terrible at hiding shit), knocks on the door all polite and shit, and Jackie answers and is like "Dude wtf you can't just show up here, you're not supposed to know where I am, we're enemies!!" And Dark just walks in like "Yeah, yeah, 'enemies', anyways so Anti is being a nuisance-" bc he knows Jackie will take care of it because Anti is like the only person he hates more than him.

I really don't think Dark is particularly hostile towards any of the other egos by default, unless of course they're getting in his way at any given time. I think that's definitely another place he clashes with Jackie, because I've recently fallen in love with the headcanon that Jackie and Actor!Mark would be friends, bc Jackie bought his whole sob story about being a tragic hero and Dark isn't exactly one to come in and rationally explain things, so that misconception has just never been cleared up. And, again, the parallels Jackie has drawn in his head between Dark and Anti aren't exactly making him keen on listening to Dark at any point anyways.

On the other hand, I think it's rare that Dark is generally openly friendly with many of the other egos either. He's polite, y’know, but he's not exactly looking to be buddies. there's Wilford obviously. And I think he'd get along really well with The Host, actually. He's got this thing about control, so I feel like he'd be really drawn to The Host's narration, an attempt to get a leg up in his plans, stay one step ahead. And I think The Host, having had a similar history with an obsession with control (I am a Host was the Author truther) is happy to help guide Dark in the right direction as long as he's not directly interfering with the story. I feel like he'd give really good advice too, maybe steer Dark towards letting go a little bit.

Other than that I think, maybe surprisingly, that he'd be on pretty good terms with Schneeplestein. Like, Henrik is the only one of Jack's egos who has a direct line of communication with Dark type get along. Like. They catch up over the phone regularly type of get along. I am completely serious. I think Dark likes having at least one ear on the inside of Jack's egos and Henrik is happy to have someone of a bit higher elevation to talk to. Maybe Dark occasionally funds his practice in exchange for information. Who's to say. I think Dark absolutely went to Henrik with all the worm hole stuff after Space.

I think Henrik definitely doesn't exactly share that connection with Jackie all things considered, since he's kind of already walking a fine line with the guy considering the occasional moral ambiguity of his work. He's not looking to be seen as a traitor in any sense in addition.

I think the Jims would follow Jackie around a lot. He'd be in the middle of crime fighting shit and they come in like lost puppies and fuck it all up trying to interview him. He broke his rule of avoiding Wilford at all costs to talk to him to try to get them to stop and it Did Not Work. Maybe he pawns them off on Chase or Marvin eventually.

I think that Chase and Dark would actually get along okay. I have this personal headcanon that Damien had a soft spot for kids when he was alive that kind of carried over to Dark, so I think he'd feel for Chase a little, maybe be particularly polite when they run into eachother, be willing to do a bit more for a bit less in return. He'd never admit it though.

This whole paragraph is just gonna be a bunch of my headcannons about the Markiplier TV crew. I love the idea that Bim's show got canceled bc of. Well. All of it. And the reason he's at Markiplier TV is because Wilford was the only one who would hire him. He's absolutely a fucking suck up about it. Illinois was on his show once and they had a similar dynamic to his dynamic with Matthias in Hire My Ass. Ed brings it up to this day. Ed and Bim are regularly at eachothers throats ("Mr. 'It was only one cannibalism accusation' over here-" "OH! Says the man who's been publicly, UNSUCCESSFULLY, trying to sell his son for the last DECADE-"). They beat the shit out of eachother in the breakroom and Yancy joins in just cause he likes a good fight. And also maybe a little bc he hates Ed's whole deadbeat dad thing. Bing thinks he's friends with Bim but Bim just hasn't figured out how to avoid him around the office. I think Bing is like solely in charge of public relations on the station. And Google fucking can not stand it. Because somehow Bing has the most human understanding of how they all come across to other people out of any of them, and Google 'I have all the data in the world' Iplier, is pissed because be thinks he could do that job easy. He could not. Which is why he works as Dark's assistant, doing stuff that his more logical, inhuman focus is actually helpful with. You might be surprised to learn that Jim News is actually the most successful program to come out of the network. So was everyone else at the network. All of the other hosts fucking hate this fact and refuse to acknowledge it. The Jims couldn't care less. They don't even realize they're the highest rated.

#atlas speaks #okay okay okay this is really long #but i think i got all of my main ideas down lol #long post

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vagueposting-femnb · 4 months ago

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Saw this, reminded me of various things which I will now recount, in detail, on my own post so my ramblings are contained.

Anyway, missed opportunity to say “$6.66” but idk if due to being like, an alternate universe, perhaps their number or Bill’s demon number is $9.99.

That reminded me of the humor of getting a $6.66 total in the south.

Missed payin for a toll road bill once, which was $.66… the late fee made it $6.66, which even my father, who used to be a “facts that can be proven through science above all else” type of guy, until (my working theory-) age and lead got to his brain, was like “naw, keep that devil number away from me.”

Other instances, in retail, were largely varying types of “unhappy” expressions when I mentioned the total, which only turned more sour when they noticed my slightly amused expression.

Working fast food? They were typically more annoying about it. Would seemingly freak out, ask to add or remove something, then if they asked for the cheapest thing we had to add, they’d then complain about the size (bro you paid .79 cents for this thing, yeah it’s only like 2in tall and 1in in circumference. Cry about it WHEN YOU PULL AWAY AND GET TF OFF MY TIMER???) my favorites just whined about it while keeping it moving- mainly bc I didn’t have to do anything besides put on a “uh huh, boohoo you” act and rush them along.

Ofc statistically it would happen more often when there was a fuckin rush, line wrapped around my building & sometimes bleeding out of the parking lot, which made me only more frustrated. I personally would have the amusing thought of “ah, at least /something/ heard my pleas for some way to get rid of these people… and one of these days… I might just take the offer Mr. Devil… one of these days…”

Bc like… look, I greatly preferred fast food over every other job. It IS a hard job that MOST can’t last in, or at the very least hate being in.

I didn’t. I found out after working retail that I actually just somewhat disliked the job, bc it was a job. Everything else about it made it actually one of the best jobs I’ve had- after being a haunt actor at a place that actually pays me (not all do, lookin at you, Lake Hickory Haunts, haunt actors across the country speak, and we know you don’t pay your employees for all the hours they work. Get fucked. Anyway-) of course!

Like, for me? At the three different locations I worked for the same company (bc they were all within the same… like under the same main guy? Bc the company is… whatever it’s called when locations can be individually owned.) and the three locations were owned by the same guy, and each of those locations was owned by one brother, the other brother, and who (was? Became?) the friend of one of those two brothers. Either way, despite WILDLY different personalities (all of them shitty tho) funnily enough, they let us snack!

Working overnight there, I could get one sandwich made personally by and for me for free, any abandoned orders I wanted (if no one else wanted them), along with as many fries, nuggets, bacon slices dipped in the liquid cheese bucket and pickles dipped into the ranch bucket as I wanted! Plus leftovers at the end of the night, which wouldn’t necessarily be a LOT bc we tried to not have any… but if we did, we got em if we wanted them.

Plus, at these locations, there wasn’t a point system, and even when I kept running into shit ass road work on the highway which I HAD to take to work, as long as I called ahead and was like “I’m sorry but they’re fucking up the highway still, and differently from last shift so my plan to get there on time didn’t apply to this new traffic pattern” I’d get a “ugh… unfortunate, get here asap but be safe.” And no repercussions! I didn’t have to have “PTO” or “ppto” to not be at work! I just had to let them know as far ahead as possible! “No, I fr cant. I live with my parents & y’all don’t pay me enough to live on my own, so if I want housing I have to go on this trip.” And they want me to stay there bc I’m good at what I do, so I always got the time off! Plus it’s not like it’s difficult for ME, I speak fast, punch in the order fast, take the order ASAP which was typically as soon as someone got to the speaker, basically I was the one setting the pace for the team and I was TRUCKIN. Then at the end of the night, the hardest part for me was the frozen treat machines, which was more tedious than anything bc I was seemingly one of the few who could manage not DROPPING THE BUCKET FULL OF MIX THAT NEEDED TO BE DUMPED, EVER. So that always made cleaning the floors easier than if we had to try and scoop/mop it up THEN dump the soapy water & scrub & squeegee.

They ain’t pay much, not enough for me now, as even working part time (even if only 24hr) I STILL make more at my retail job than FULL TIME at fast food. But fuck… if I could afford to go back, I would. If I’m ever able, I’d even weasel into management’s brains & do everything I could to shape the store into something TRULY impressive. Yes, ofc a better team and higher standards would make my work even easier, but it would also make the store run better which would improve profits! And if my help in ensuring that outcome makes them endeared to me even more so… well, now that’s just a lil extra treat for me. Honestly, while that might sound a wee-bit “L’il Gideon” like, I don’t want much. I’d probably barely ever even ask about a raise!

All I’d be securing for myself is that “late arrival” forgiveness, minimal whining and little-to-no repercussions when I HAVE to call out sick, and ofc my days off, with minimal whining. That’s just stuff folks should largely get REGARDLESS, and quite frankly it’s not my fault I HAVE to act buddy buddy with management & nudge them in mutually beneficial directions for that, it’s simply utilizing the tools at my disposal to ensure my survival.

Plus- line in the sand, I don’t fuck with employees, and even if some employees are… less than favorable in terms of skill and/or speed, I still try to protect them as long as they’re decent team members in terms of not fucking up the “we are all fighting in this trench together” vibe.

But, if I utilize plausible deniability and my ability to endear myself to just about anyone, as well as my ability to push other folk’s buttons juuuuust right into getting them to lash out, and I get certain folks who DONT get the “were in the same foxhole” message removed from the team… well, that’s just better for everyone, even if the tactics I use to make them truly show their ass are a bit underhanded.

Add being fairly capable of reading people due to the tism & fighting for my life to at least be less of a target, and the ability to speak incredibly formally and… diplomatically…

While I’m certainly not suffering under like, delusions of grandeur, for someone with a fairly basic upbringing, little to no real useful skills, and certainly lacking the looks to be anything formidable or successful (certainly wouldn’t make it in politics due to those things, and ofc the morals I have & sense of justice) I am just capable enough to say things fairly bluntly, to just about any member of upper management, and hey! Either I get a “yeah, you’re right” *does nothing to fix the problem*, “haha you’re so silly” type of response where I’m just brushed aside but not punished for speaking wildly out of turn in terms of absolutely ignoring the hierarchy, or… shit changes. Sure, they’re quick to play it as they had a good idea, it was planned, or whatever other bs “it had nothing to do with you, idiot” type of potential excuses…

But, if any of those excuses for why they ended up changing things were real, then why is it they seem to always align with my audacious ass working overtime to light a fire under their ass? I’m stupid and dumb, but I’m observant. It always lines up just a little too perfectly to NOT have been, at least in part, due to me.

Again- does it always work to cause change? No. Not every bet wins the lottery right? Same shit. I ain’t tryin to win the lottery in this example, I’m simply not going broke.

That seems to be the common misconception when I try to explain all this- I ain’t sayin this shit works out GLARINGLY in one’s favor even MOST of the time, but when it comes to this shitty ass capitalist society, the bare minimum is not losing a job you need or want.

Folks tend to think that I’m under the illusion that I’m some sort of “evil mastermind,” when, quite frankly, if I believed that, then I’d likely be aiming higher than absolute bottom of the corporate ladder, but in reality I simply wouldn’t succeed for long, if at all, anywhere else.

I mean… my own abilities or lack of aside, most of my shtick is significantly less effective if you’re in a position that could in any way be perceived as a threat to someone else.

But hell, in the end, if nothing I’ve said screams “well aware of my actual inadequacy & incompetency” then maybe this will- I’ve forgotten my body requires sustenance, and upon being reminded due to dizziness somewhere around the middle of my ramblings, I decided that actually rambling was more important. So, now I’ll have to carefully make my way to the kitchen and have at least 2-3 spoonfuls of peanut butter paired with a glass of milk so I don’t ACTUALLY pass out.

#ramblings of a madman

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