#because he relied on his technology to power his heart

[daydreamerdrew]

Iron Man (1968) #20

[dissapointu]

You write so fast omg 🫣 So I'm back with more ideas

Reader who has a terminal illness(Anguish??👀) , she is a doctor who tests herself and is responsible for finding several cures for people with diseases

She loves helping people since she can't help herself, a scenario with Viktor(come back home my love), Jayce, Silco and haimerdingers would be amazing <3

terminally ill doctor who helps others but struggles with her own illness. The characters Viktor, Jayce, Silco, and Heimerdinger

Viktor

Viktor had always admired your brilliance, your unyielding desire to save others despite your own condition. But lately, the look in your eyes had changed. There was a weight in your gaze, something that betrayed your struggle. He noticed the slight tremor in your hands when you reached for a vial of medicine or the way you would pause in the middle of a conversation, your breath catching, as if the Anguish was threatening to pull you under.

His heart ached for you, knowing you’d dedicated your life to saving others, finding cures, and yet the very thing you couldn’t cure was yourself. The guilt he felt for not being able to fix this—despite all his work in the field of science and technology—was unbearable.

One evening, as you sat hunched over your desk, surrounded by papers and vials, he entered the room quietly. “Come back to bed, my love,” Viktor whispered softly, his voice a balm to the storm in your chest. His words weren’t just an invitation to rest—they were a plea for you to let him take care of you for once.

He carefully approached, kneeling beside you and gently brushing a lock of hair from your forehead. “I know you don’t like to stop, but you’ve done so much. Let me help. Please, rest.” He reached for your hand, bringing it to his chest where his heart beat just a little faster than usual. “We’ll find a way to cure you, together. I promise.”

Jayce

Jayce had never been one to let anyone shoulder the burden alone. He admired your intelligence and dedication, but seeing you slowly fade, despite all your efforts, was a painful reminder of his own helplessness. He’d watched you push through your illness, continuing your research as if nothing had changed, always putting others before yourself.

“Why?” Jayce asked one day, his voice thick with frustration. “Why do you keep pushing yourself so hard when you know how much it’s costing you?”

You glanced at him, your tired eyes soft but filled with quiet resolve. “Because I can’t help myself,” you whispered. “But I can help them. And that’s enough.”

Jayce stepped closer, his hand cupping your cheek gently. “It’s not enough, not if it means losing you. Please… we need you here with us.”

With a heavy sigh, Jayce wrapped his arms around you, pulling you into a tight embrace, his words muffled in your hair. “Come back to me, okay? Let me take care of you. Let me share your burden.” He held you like that, as if he could shield you from the world’s cruelty, even though he knew the weight of the situation.

Silco

Silco was a man of control, of power. He didn’t let weakness show, and he certainly didn’t allow himself to rely on anyone. But when it came to you, he was different. He could see the toll your illness was taking on you, and though he would never admit it outright, it terrified him. He couldn’t afford to lose you, not when you had become such an integral part of his life. Your brilliance had helped him in ways no one else could—fixing things, offering him solutions he could only dream of. But it hurt him to see the woman he cared for slipping away, even though you would never ask for his help.

One evening, when you collapsed into a chair, too weak to continue your work, Silco’s voice was low but intense as he approached. “You can’t keep doing this. Your research won’t matter if you’re gone.”

You looked up, and his piercing gaze softened, though only for a brief moment. “I’ll find a cure for myself, just as I’ve done for others,” you said, a determined yet fragile smile on your face.

“Let me help you,” Silco’s voice was quiet, almost as if the words pained him to say. He rarely asked for help, but for you, he’d make an exception. “You don’t have to carry this burden alone. It’s killing you, and I won’t let it take you from me.”

His usual coldness was replaced by something raw—vulnerable—and for a moment, you saw the man he truly was. You didn’t have to do this alone. Silco would ensure that.

Heimerdinger

Heimerdinger’s heart broke for you. He had always seen the potential in you, admired your intellect, but seeing you slowly weaken because of your condition was more than he could bear. He knew there was nothing he could do with his current knowledge to help you, but that didn’t stop him from wanting to try.

He often stayed up late with you, pouring over research, working through theories, hoping that somehow, together, you could find a way to fix this. But he knew the truth: even his vast knowledge of science couldn’t change the fact that you were slipping away. It was a cruel irony that someone so devoted to saving others was unable to save themselves.

One night, after a long day of research, he found you sitting quietly in your office, gazing out the window, exhausted and defeated. He quietly approached, his small hands trembling as he placed them on your shoulder.

“You’ve done so much for this world,” he said, his voice gentle and full of emotion. “I only wish I could do more for you. You’ve worked so hard, and I fear it has cost you everything. But there is still hope, as long as you’re with us. We will continue looking for a solution. Together.”

Heimerdinger paused, glancing at the papers on the desk before returning his gaze to you. “You don’t have to fight this alone.”

[lord-squiggletits]

Hello! This was for your ‘ask me megop stuff’ post, which I realize I’ve lost track of october so if you’re not looking for those anymore feel free not to answer!! But in case you still want asks!

-How do you think megatron and optimus each react to being sick/who is the worse patient? Or how do they react to each other being sick? (in a scenario where they were in proximity to each other, could be during or post war)

-Do you have any headcanons about hearts of steel megop? Ik there’s not a lot there in canon but still, megatron cannon looks cool XD I have been contemplating if plug n play would work the same way because I’m not sure if a cannon and a train have cables the same way? Or if it’d work the same because they’re alien tech anyways!

-In the spirit of the season, what do you think each of them would wear for halloween if a scenario occurred where they had to dress up, or how do you think they would get out of wearing a halloween costume?

Sickness: I've actually thought about this before and even thought of writing a fluff piece for it in NATP-verse! Idk about who's the better/worse patient, but I think Megatron is actually the best caretaker simply bc Optimus is so active and powerful (their equality is a reason they're attracted to each other after all) that it's rare for Megatron to get the chance to be nurturing and protective towards Optimus. And I think, because IDW Megatron in particular deprived himself of attachments for so long, the act of caring for another person is especially novel to him and so he just loves doing it. Optimus is there all sick and grumpy bc he can't jump off buildings or w/e but meanwhile Megatron couldn't be happier... even the tedious/gross stuff just makes him so happy to have a chance to care for Optimus 😭 I think they're both equally bad patients for the same reason (tough, independent leaders not used to relying on others), but Megatron makes an especially good caretaker/they're both in better moods when OP is sick and M is in charge bc Megatron's latent tenderness simply gets a chance to jump out

Also, this is why it's a really good reason that in Addicted to You, Megatron is the one who overdosed while Optimus is the one who's taking care of him. Bc I think if it was the opposite way around, sore interface array or not Megatron would be doing the hell out of Optimus bc he simply would not be able to resist the combination of needy, desperate, affectionate Optimus PLUS getting the chance to take care of his needs? Actual heaven. (This is basically what happened in Megatron's OP-threesome wet dream anyways so I'm sure that's not a surprise sldkjlsdf)

Hearts of Steel MegOP: None, sadly 😔 I actually haven't read the comic (if there's a full comic? I've seen concept art but that's it). Also yeah, I think that even when they take on Earth vehicle alt modes, they only superficially look like Earth vehicles and their actual composition and interior guts are still Cybertronian. So, cables.

Halloween Costumes:

Joke answer #1: Them showing up to a Halloween party is scary enough as it is, so they just come as themselves

Joke answer #2: They come in dressed as each other (like, paint swap and wearing fake kibble stapled to themselves) and do absolutely uncanny impressions of each other's voices and mannerisms

Joke answer #3: They don't dress as each other but they pretend that they had a personality swap through some unknown technological mishap (or maybe they actually did personality swap) and they fucking prank everyone else bc everyone at the party genuinely can't tell if Megatron and Optimus are telling the truth or lying about the personality swap, or they're like trying to find the hologram devices bc clearly they're actually disguised as each other and there's no way that Megatron could reproduce Optimus' quiet, bleeding-heart self-effacing nature or that Optimus could reproduce Megatron's loud self-righteous declarations, right? lksdflsdk it could honestly go either way as to whether or not they actually swapped or are just pretending

Honestly, I'm not sure I have a NON joke answer for this one akldfjls I hope these answers were satisfying!

[ponyosmom35]

I remember you (Elliot x OC)

Elliot Alderson x Original Character

Synopsis: The reader was dating Elliot before he forgot who he was, she never left his side. and months later he remembers.

He clutches his head as memories flash through his eyes. 

There she was, standing in a dress, her hair was curled and she had a smile on her face as she opened the door to see who’d knocked. This woman, the most beautiful creature he’d ever seen in his life. All of the air is stolen from his lungs as he meets her eyes. Her aqua-colored eyes. After seeing the note she posted in the mail room about needing help with her computer, Elliot was curious. He surprised himself by responding to the ad and emailing her. Two days later he stood in front of her door, his heart beating out of his chest. His palms sweating. He’d never felt this way before.

“Hi, Elliot I assume?” she asks  

“Uh yeah” he responds awkwardly 

“I’m Willow, and I cannot thank you enough for answering! I tried taking it to a shop but they wanted to charge me $200, this was kinda my last resort” she explains 

“I’m happy to help”

“I hope you’re good, because I don’t know the first thing about computers” she says “come on in” 

Elliot follows her into her apartment, the layout the exact same as his. She’d decorated the place well, it looked like a home. She had tons of plants brightening up the space, as well as wall art covering every inch of space. A lot of color. He noticed her large bookshelf, a gorgeous color-coded collection. Her windows had sheer multicolored curtains which kept her entire apartment incredibly visible from onlookers. She had no tv and a large cat lying in the center of her bed. Her desk sat in front of the window just like his own, giving her a view of the apartments across the street. He wondered if they could see into her space just as well. The thought made him sick to his stomach. 

“Here it is” she says leading him over to the desk, her MacBook sits in the middle of the desk, perfectly aligned with the planner next to it. As soon as he laid eyes on it, he could tell that it was a simple fix. Five minutes max. A part of him felt disappointed that it wasn’t a large project to keep him in her apartment for hours. 

“I see what’s going on, its no problem” he says as he begins typing in a code

“Oh my gosh you are literally a lifesaver, I need this for work like seriously my entire life is on this dumb computer” 

“Fuck me” he curses 

“Elliot what’s wrong?” she asks 

“No I told you, dinner is on me as a thank you” she smiles as she sits across from him in the diner. “What sounds good?” she asks 

“I’m not sure” 

“Well I can recommend their garden burger, it’s one of the best I’ve ever had” 

“Garden burger?” he asks 

“Oh I’m a vegetarian by choice. I watched an animal cruelty doc in high school and now I’m scared for life”

“Okay, I’ll try it” he nods 

“Really? Nobody has ever actually listened to my recommendations before” she laughs 

“If I hate it then that means you’ll just have to take me out again” he says, smiling at her

“Deal” she smirks 

“you’re scaring me”

“How did you get into coding? It seems like such a niche skill” she asks as they walk down the street side by side. His jacket slid over her shoulders. 

“My dad taught me my first code, I taught myself the rest” he shrugs 

“Why?”

“I always found it to be interesting, the power of hacking into something and being able to see all of the secrets someone’s hiding. You can see exactly who someone is, no sugar coating no lies. You can always trust a code” he admits, shocked that he felt comfortable enough to actually say any of this out loud. 

“Have you ever hacked me?” she asks quietly 

“No” 

“Why not?”

“You’re different, not like the rest. You don’t rely on technology to survive. I wanted to know you” he says 

“I’m glad you responded to my ad Elliot” she smiles 

“Me too”

“Do you want me to call Darlene?” she asks 

Elliot stands to his feet and scrambles to his door to see who would be knocking at 9 pm. He looks through the peephole and there she was. He rips the door open and stares at her in concern. Before he could say a word she drops her head as her lips tremble. Tears fall down her cheeks and Elliot panics. 

“What’s wrong?” he asks

“My boss, he asked me to dinner tonight to discuss our big meeting on Friday. But he never even brought it up,  he told me that If I didn’t sleep with him then I would lose my job. I can’t afford to lose my job, Elliot! I love what I do, fuck I don’t know what I’m gonna do” she responds. His body is filled with rage as he takes in her words. 

“What did you say?” he asks 

“I told him I had to go and I ran straight here” she sniffles 

Elliot pulls her into his arms, holding her body close to his as he lets her cry. He clutches onto her hair, smoothing it gently. He’d never been comfortable with touch before, yet at the moment he’d met this girl he wanted to touch her skin, feel how soft it would be. He craved her like nothing before. 

“I’m gonna fix this, don’t worry” he promises as he places a kiss on her head. 

“Please say something!” she pleads 

Elliot had just gotten off of work. He hated his new job. A simple programmer, protecting Allsafe from any potential hacks. The simplicity of it was nice, yet he craved more. He was capable of so much more. He sets his bag down and sits on his couch. He was tired, after he’d spent the night talking to Willow’s boss, he hacked him and exposed him to the police for money laundering. He’d stolen millions. He closes his eyes to attempt to get some rest when a hand slams on the door, pounding angrily. He gets up and opens it to see WIllow. 

She pushes past him and walks into the center of his apartment and crosses her arms. “Did you hack my boss?” 

“Yes” he shrugs 

“He got arrested at work today, they said he was stealing money” she snaps, he does not respond and stares at her blankly. “You can’t just do things like this Elliot!”

“I was protecting you” he says, causing her to stare at him with an unknown emotion in her eyes. 

“Its not your job to protect me, you put yourself at risk” 

“I don’t make mistakes, and I don’t leave evidence behind” he says moving closer to her

“I can take care of myself” she says in a small voice as he stands mere inches from her. 

“I know you can”

“So why do this?”

“He made you upset, he tried to hurt you. He doesn’t t get to go free after that” 

“Why does that matter to you?” she asks

“Because you - you’re everything to me Will” 

“I - what?” she asks 

“I refuse to let anyone hurt you ever again” 

Elliot places a hand on her cheek and kisses her gently. She gasps in shock and melts into his hold. The touch of her skin against his makes him feel alive. This is what he’d been searching for his entire life. Peace washes over his anxious brain. All of the loneliness that consumed his nights melted away. This was it, this was everything. 

His eyes finally focus on her own, noticing the panic in her eyes as her tears threaten to spill. Two years’ worth of memories flooded him. All of the unconditional love and support she’d given him. The hours she held him while his body fought his anxiety. The way she would curl into his chest at night, tucking herself into him. Her loud laugh bounced off the walls of the apartment as she forced him to dance. He was happy, he was loved. And he’d forgotten her. Treated her horribly. She’d never said a word about who she was to him. Despite all of his words she stayed by his side. 

“I remember” he says simply 

“What?”

“I remember us” 

“Don’t fuck with me like that Elliot” she warns, stepping back. He reaches out and grips her arm out of instinct. 

“Your real name is Margaret, after your grandmother, but you go by your middle name” he says, watching as her tears fall. “You’re a Taurus and your favorite flowers are roses even though you’re allergic. You are my girlfriend, the woman I love. You are real”

“El?” she asks  

Elliot pulls her into a hug, holding her as though she may disappear any second. Willow breaks down into tears and cries into his shoulder. Her entire body shakes as she sobs. 

“Fuck I’m so sorry - I can’t even begin to apologize for what I’ve done” 

“It’s not your fault” 

“I left you”

“I knew something was wrong, it wasn’t you. I’ve been waiting for you to come back to me” she says as he wipes her tears 

“You knew?” 

“I wasn’t sure, but I knew that he wasn’t you. I’m just so glad that your back” she smiles

[story-weavr]

In the far past, Kryptonians were a race that was enslaved and genetically modified by the more technologically advanced interplanetary invaders, the Coluans.

The Kryptonians fought and won their freedom and planet back. The tech left behind by the Coluans was used and improved on by the Kryptonians.

In one portion of their rich history, the Kryptonians themselves would go on to be planetary conquerors and settlers akin to Earth’s Roman empire.

In order to have a firm hold of their planet, Kryptonians introduced a mutagen into their DNA that would allow a member of their species to be able to reproduce with an alien sapient species.

The method by which to activate it would be for the Kryptonian to have had enough intercourse with a being that induces feelings akin to love (lust, respect, protectiveness, etc.).

Thus such people’s as the Daxamites came into being.

Later on, the Krypton’s leading government would become replaced by the Science guild. Eventually Krypton’s colonies would become independent civilizations.

Krypton eventually would become more and more closed off.

The mutagen, however, would continue to exist among the Kryptonian populace and at times be activated if only among the lower classes where traditional reproduction still continues as opposed to the Birthing Matrix among the upper echelons.

Lara Lor-Van, whose natural birth caused a scandal within the traditional House of Van, knew of the ancient mutagen that is dormant among Kryptonians.

Not wanting her son to be forever alone on a strange planet, she made sure to activate the gene so that Kal El would be able to father children with the Earthling he chooses.

More than a Earth decade later, a young Clark Kent had left Smallville to travel the world. In part, trying to find purpose again after losing his lover and best friend, Lex, to amnesia caused by an experiment on Krypton tech gone wrong. In another, fleeing from Lex’s father Lionel who was powerful enough to blackmail and threaten Clark to stay away from Lex.

In addition to his heart pain, he was losing his powers and was becoming weaker every day.

He had to rely more and more on Krypto, a dog who was mutated by the green meteorite of Smallville, & Lori Lemaris, a friend he made at the college he used to secretly visit Lex at.

It was only after he was examined by another friend (Immortal Man) he made on his travels that he found out what was happening.

Apparently, pregnant male Kryptonians would lose muscle mass and become more aggressive if they felt threatened. Instead of their stomach distending, their organs would rearrange for the growing baby. This was so that male Kryptonians would be unencumbered if they needed to flee from danger that their mate/family/allies would deal with. It would also discourage the pregnant male from engaging in stressful activities and focus on his well-being.

After an intense labor that eventually lead to Clark just cutting himself open, Conner Julian Kent was born. (Julian was from Lionel’s estranged brother Jules, a lawyer living in Smallville whom both boys loved and respected).

From then on, Clark swore to keep his child safe and to be a strong person Conner could look to as an example.

For that reason, Clark didn’t dare go back home until after Lionel died. In the meantime, he’d learn everything he could: about the world, humanity, & his and Conner’s heritage.

When he could finally return home, Clark decided to take the job offer he got from an editor at the Daily Planet. Because to do the most good, Metropolis, Delaware was the best place. Plus it was the city closest to Smallville aka “little Kansas”.

From there, he would be confronted by the so called philanthropist and man of tomorrow, Lex Luthor.

Having already grieved, Clark saw Luthor for what he really was: an immoral Machiavellian narcissist criminal who hated and looked down on humanity. Who would do anything and use anyone to get what he wanted: being the top of the food chain.

Clark was determined not only to stop him, but to never let him near Conner.

This began a war between a “meddling alien who is a threat to human progress” & “a man who could have done so much good if only he’d choose to do so”.

[shadowslocked]

Hells Greatest Dad

I can’t talk too much in depth about this because I’ve only seen “Hells Greatest Dad” and some clips but I am fascinated by how much more receptive to Alastor Charlie is than to her own father in the song

When Lucifer tries to offer his help he’s offering things and using his status to assist but nothing in it comes off as genuinely supportive. A fitting point because Lucifer doesn’t want to help with the hotel, he thinks Charlie is setting herself up for disappointment to achieve the impossible. But he can’t stand the idea of Alastor and Charlie being close, in a father-daughter way, so he start’s dismissing Alastor involvement to make himself feel better. Lucifer comes off as selfish, wanting Charlie to rely on him despite the fact he’s unsupportive, but it’s also him genuinely wanting to be close to his daughter again. And because of that, Charlie is largely quiet during his segment accept for “thank you” and looking in awe at her fathers angelic power.

When Alastor jumps in though he reminds Charlie of his good qualities and how much he has helped with the hotel since the start, Charlie even agreeing with him. She doesn’t have large speaking roles during his section nor does she praise him, but she does seem much happier when she is with Alastor during his part. And it’s not for no reason, Alastor may not be the pure definition of helpful but he does protect the hotel and has tried to assist. His first commercial was awful because he was being petty about using modern technology but when Vaggie reminds him that his entertainment is on the line he puts in real effort to not only make the commercial but get it on the air. Alastor has an actual track record of helping Charlie, something that Lucifer is severely lacking.

However this doesn’t mean Alastor is more supportive or better than Lucifer. Alastor is here for the entertainment of watching souls struggle and then fail (and maybe against his will depending on if Lilith is holding his leash), but he is upfront about that. He only starts acting supportive because he feels threatened by Lucifer coming in and, essentially, replacing him. Lucifer can easily do everything Alastor is doing and has more reason to step in and help by being Charlie’s father, something Charlie would be happily accept.

So he lays on the charm and tries to appeal to Charlie’s need for a supportive father figure, and then more so by pulling the whole Hotel into a found family dynamic. And Charlie buys into it, in part because her desire to give demons a chance means she wants to believe in their growing bond but also because Charlie wants that supportive figure in her life (outside of Vaggie)

This gets highlighted further when Alastor is defending the hotel and while Charlie isn’t happy with how violent he is she is happy that he is at least doing the bare minimum compared to her actual father.

Lucifer cares so much but isn’t supportive, partially because of how Heaven has hurt and dismissed him in the past and in trying to protect Charlie from that same pain he ends up doing the same thing as the Angels. Alastor doesn’t care and pretends to be supportive but does put in effort when needed to aid Charlie and the hotel, filling the bare minimum quota but clearly not having her best interest at heart.

[yeonchi]

A different take on The Power of the Doctor

Jodie Whittaker's final episode of Doctor Who, The Power of the Doctor, premiered one year ago today. While it was one of the better episodes of the Chibnall era, it heavily relied on memberberries from the 80's while making no effort to address lingering plot threads, most notably the Timeless Child arc. Earlier this year, I saw this post from @armageddon-generation about how they would rewrite the episode as a tribute to the Chibnall/Whittaker era instead of the classic series, and in doing so, expand the special into two hour-long specials. Off the bat, this could work as a Christmas/New Year Special, or put Part 2 on 23 November for the 59th Anniversary. The OP put in quite a few good ideas, but there were some gaps and omissions here and there, so in this post, I'll be sharing my take on armageddon-generation's take on The Power of the Doctor while also adding in some things myself.

Part 1

The space train at the start is replaced by Karvanista, Bel and Vinder, who are transporting the young Ux Delph from the Series 11 finale (instead of the Quaranx, and yes, I am spelling it that) when they are attacked by the CyberMasters. The sequence presumably goes similarly to the original before the Doctor rescues Karvanista and co. In the TARDIS, Karvanista gets angry at the Doctor and when Yaz asks why, she tells Yaz about Division and her past as Ruth way before the original where she only found out (kind of) towards the end when she appeared. Dan has a heart-to-heart with Karvanista, which leads him to leave TARDIS. As Dan is taken back home, the Doctor restores his house (thank you) before she leaves with Yaz and the others.

The Doctor tracks down Delph's life signs to the Cyberplanet, which is actually Gallifrey, transformed and transported by the Master using his powers. As the CyberMasters attack the Doctor and Kate calls her back to Earth, leaving her unable to rescue Delph, who is being held in Tecteun's lab. The Doctor tells Karvanista and co about this and he offers to investigate the Cyberplanet in a subship, thereby taking Vinder's place in the episode.

Ryan and Graham were slated to replace Ace and Tegan in the episode, with Gabriela, Jake and Adam returning from Praxeus. Now, Tosin Cole was busy filming in the US after leaving the series, but yes, we'll assume that he was able to reprise his role here. Regardless, there is a glaring omission here, and that is Ravio, Yedlarmi and Ethan from the Series 12 finale. OP puts Gabriela and co travelling the world with Graham, but I think they should be with Ryan while Ravio and co are the ones travelling with Graham.

So Ryan (and co) investigates ZAIA Enterprise VOR from Spyfall, which should have collapsed after Barton went missing, but instead it is leading a worldwide tech revolution; on top of that, history has changed so that technological advancements happened far earlier than they did. Meanwhile, Graham and co are investigating the missing seismologists and the missing paintings (because why not). They are revealed to have been in contact with Kate Stewart at UNIT who calls the Doctor and that's where we get the reunion of the companions, or rather Ryan for the time being.

The missing paintings were defaced to show Nikola Tesla's face instead of the Master as Rasputin; the Doctor learns that Tesla became very successful after the Master saved him from financial ruin, taking over Thomas Edison's factory in the process and causing the technological advancements as a roll-on effect. The Doctor and the others see the Master's message just as Graham informs Ryan that he and his group are headed for the same university in Naples where the Master is, leading the Doctor to rush off with Yaz, Ryan and co following. Graham and co are captured by the Master before the Doctor arrives with UNIT. Graham is reunited with the Doctor, Yaz and Ryan while Gabriela, Ravio and the others stay with UNIT in Naples to deal with the dead seismologists, which is where we leave them for now. As the Master is put into UNIT custody, the Doctor has Graham and Ryan stay with Kate at UNIT HQ to guard him while she heads off with Yaz.

During this time, the Order of the Custodians from Resolution have been in contact with the Doctor as they deal with a Dalek incursion beneath the Earth. They infiltrate the Dalek base in the Bolivian volcano and meeting with the Doctor and Yaz, they give the former a chemical weapon that can kill Daleks (tested using samples from the recon scout Dalek), but the Order are killed and the Doctor is captured by a Dalek puppetering her, managing to get the Order's weapon to Yaz in the process before she escapes in the TARDIS.

Karvanista's subship crashes into the Cyberplanet and it is here that we get a brief cameo from Paltraki, who made it his duty to keep the Ux safe and is checking in with Karvanista on the progress. Karvanista gets impatient and uses the phone that the Doctor gave Vinder to contact her.

Ashad and the Cybermen appear from the Kasaavin realm. In the ensuing fight, there is a scene where Graham confronts Ashad about how the fear of death makes people human and I think it'd be nice to have, but I wouldn't know where to fit it in. The Master manages to escape to 1920s Wardenclyffe, where the Doctor has been brought to. There, the Doctor learns that the Master had also been using Tesla to construct the regeneration chambers he would use for the forced regeneration in an effort to spite the Doctor for failing to save him from the fate history dictated for him. Part 1 ends with the Doctor's forced regeneration.

Part 2

The Master's rampage in the Doctor's body is expanded here, leading a jailbreak in the Judoon prison and inciting Zellin and Rakaya's bet in Can You Hear Me? Tesla is shown restraining Yaz during these scenes, but she manages to overpower him and escape, locking him and the Master out of the TARDIS before responding to Karvanista's call.

The Guardians of the Edge scene cuts out the classic Doctor cameos in favour of an appearance from Ruth. It is here that we finally get some kind of closure from the Timeless Child arc by addressing the Brendan visions near the end of Series 12; at some point, after being recaptured by Division, Tecteun finally grants Ruth's request to leave and uses the Chameleon Arch on her to reset/limit her regenerations and memories, leaving her as a male Time Lord baby who would go on to become the Doctor. As much as I hated the Timeless Child being the Doctor, at least we got an answer to it.

The hologram implants activate in Yaz, Ryan and Graham, giving them some scenes with the Doctor. Ryan and Graham head up to the roof with parachutes, but Graham turns back at the last moment and decides to help Kate instead, thereby taking Ace and Tegan's roles in the following sequences respectively while also giving a highlight to Ryan's dyspraxia.

There is a bit of a modification to the Cybermen strategem here; when the Daleks detonate the volcanoes, UNIT would evacuate civilians to their strongholds, where Cybermen would be waiting to trap and convert them. Yaz saves Ryan and drops him off in the Bolivian volcano. To further emphasise Ryan overcoming his dyspraxia, I think he should be the one to destroy the volcano alone with the Order's weapon and the hologram Doctor guiding him. Or better yet, for an optional bonus, why don't we have Kane and Bella from Orphan 55 make an appearance here, going to Earth's past so they can help avert events that would contribute to Earth eventually being something like Orphan 55. It would also give them closure by showing that they managed to survive the destruction of the Dregs and also briefly reuniting Bella with Ryan before quickly leaving. There weren't any others good enough who could have helped Ryan in that scene but Kane and Bella did come to mind as another loose end.

At the same time, Yaz would pick up the Master and Tesla before going back to Wardenclyffe. While Yaz went out of the TARDIS with the Master and Tesla, Karvanista would stay hidden inside before coming out and shooting the Master after the Ruth hologram tricks the CyberMasters into shooting each other. Yaz uses the CyberMasters' regeneration energy to degenerate the Doctor into her old self. We then get a Thasmin kiss (OP's idea) while Karvanista has a heart-to-heart with the Ruth hologram, giving him closure while also alleviating his resentment for the Doctor.

Meanwhile, Gabriela, Ravio and the others fight off the Cybermen at the UNIT stronghold in Naples while Graham would save Kate from being converted before she self-destructs all the UNIT strongholds, trapping the Cybermen in them. The Doctor, with Yaz, Karvanista and Tesla, now freed from the Master's hypnotism, goes to pick up Graham, Kate and Ryan and they go to deal with the Cyberplanet Gallifrey.

The Doctor frees the Ux Delph and leaves him with Karvanista so he, Vinder and Bel can take him to where he was originally meant to be going, while also not wanting him to stress himself even further given what he went through. While the Doctor gets to work in the Master's TARDIS, Tesla (and Delph) helps Karvanista fix his subship before going back to work the controls in the Doctor's TARDIS alongside Yaz, Graham, Ryan and Kate. Karvanista and Delph successfully escape in the subship while the Doctor and her companions freeze the erupting volcanoes on Earth and transport Gallifrey back to its proper place in space, disintegrating the Cyber constructs with it.

The Doctor leaves the Master's TARDIS and prepares to leave Gallifrey, ready to make peace with the loss of her past as the Timeless Child and leave it all behind, but the dying Master returns to his TARDIS and uses his TCE to fire a laser beam at the Doctor (whether from the TCE itself or from the lamp atop the Master's TARDIS), knocking her out and triggering her regeneration. OP wrote it so that the effects of the forced regeneration was the cause of her eventual regeneration, but it left the Master with an unsatisfying ending so I adapted the original scene without the destruction from the Cyberplanet being disintegrated.

Yaz comes out, brings the Doctor back to the TARDIS and lays her on the floor before she takes everyone else home (well, she takes Tesla back to Wardenclyffe then drops everyone else off in Croydon). The Doctor regains consciousness, realises that she is regenerating and they have ice creams on top of the TARDIS. Just before Yaz is dropped off, OP wrote another Thasmin scene, gifting her the hologram implant in a projector Yaz had in Survivors of the Flux to round off her character development, praising her for what she did on her own while telling Yaz to carry (a part of) herself with her.

The ending scene with Graham's Companions Anonymous is replaced with a dinner celebrating Yaz's anniversary of running away from home as shown in Can You Hear Me? Yaz's sister, Sonya, is there, along with her parents Najia and Hakim and grandmother Umbreen. Ryan, Graham, Dan and Diane are there as well, having been invited by Yaz in addition to Aaron (Ryan's dad), Kate, Gabriela, Jake, Adam, Ravio, Yedlarmi and Ethan. The Doctor's extended fam is now Yaz's extended fam and support network as Yaz begins to tell them about the Doctor, calling back to Ryan's opening line in the Series 11 opener.

The Doctor's regeneration is witnessed by the Thijarians before they disappear again, leaving the Thirteenth Doctor to regenerate into the Fourteenth Doctor.

tl;dr

OP's changes and additions

The 90-minute special is expanded into two hour-long specials

Karvanista takes over Vinder's role in the story, though he and Bel make an appearance

The Quaranx is replaced by the Ux Delph, being transported on Paltraki's request

Ryan and Graham replace Ace and Tegan's roles in the story

Gabriela, Jake and Adam return from Praxeus

The Winter Palace is replaced by Wardenclyffe and Tsar Nicholas II is replaced by Nikola Tesla, who plays a more significant role alongside the Master

There is a sudden acceleration in Earth's technology as a result

The Cyberplanet is actually Gallifrey transformed using Delph's power

The rebel Dalek is replaced by the Order of the Custodians, who have a weapon that can destroy the Daleks

The Cybermen appear from the Kassavin realm and they attack all UNIT strongholds

The Master's rampage across the universe as the Doctor is expanded

Ruth is the only Guardian of the Edge shown and we get some closure to the Timeless Child arc

All UNIT strongholds are destroyed by Kate to trap the Cybermen within them

Ruth appears again to give Karvanista closure

Tesla (and Delph) helps repair Karvanista's subship

Extended Thasmin scenes

The Doctor's extended fam becomes Yaz's extended fam

The Thijarians bear witness to the Doctor's regeneration

My changes and additions

Ravio, Yedlarmi and Ethan return from the Series 12 finale

The missing paintings are defaced with Tesla's face instead of the Master's

(Optional) Kane and Bella return from Orphan 55 for a short cameo

Gabriela and Ravio et al help defend the UNIT stronghold in Naples from the Cybermen

Delph is freed and is left with Karvanista - the Doctor's plan with the two TARDISes returns Gallifrey to normal

The Doctor is still killed by a laser beam thanks to the Master, but it's not Delph's fault because he's already gone by this point

Once again, The Power of the Doctor was a decent send-off to the Thirteenth Doctor akin to an anniversary special, but it heavily relied on memberberries from the 80's without addressing the Timeless Child storyline. OP contends that the episode would be better if it were a tribute to the Chibnall/Whittaker era and I agree with it, though there were some aspects of their pitch that could have been improved upon, hence me making this post.

The Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Specials are coming in November, which isn't long to go now. There is also a Christmas Special coming up as well in December (the first since 2017) and Series 14 is expected follow in Spring 2024 (again, the first since 2017 or even 2011). My schedules for those months have been reserved for Doctor Who to be the focus because I intend to review the RTD2 era. We're still waiting for the exact airdates, but hey, at least we knew the specials are coming out sometime in November this year for two years, so that's a plus.

[plothooksinc]

How do you think Rise Don would act if mystical powers were kinda forced on him? Like he was so resistant to a mystical weapon (which I found surprising though understand with his characterization). If he just kept like...exploding out mysticism he *had* to acknowledge to control, how do you think that would go? (Feel free to take this as a prompt or just a thought experiment.)

I'm honestly not sure how to answer this one, anon 8|a I've been thinking about it for days. Largely I'm not sure what you mean by 'acknowledging' it in order to control it. Because on the surface, Donnie believes in facts and evidence and that means he'd acknowledge it just fine, grapple with fine tuning his control, and then just start using his mysticism much earlier than canon. He'd have a blast. Case closed.

But if you mean more than that, like he needs to know how to manipulate mystic energy, or he can't control it because it's too potent/too much/he's spent too much time trying to resist it and now it's kind of exploded out of him, that's different.

I think... if something happened and he started manifesting power suddenly, powerfully, it really depends very much on the timing in the setting. I'd imagine it would take some kind of extreme stress as a catalyst so he's already not going to be in the right mind set to deal with it.

Any time before Shredder, any drawing of mystical power on his part has been purely accidental and he's mostly relying on his tech, so sudden mystic power would be met with bewilderment, fear of the unknown (it's Donnie why is this happening he didn't predict this), maybe a little relief (guarded, kind of annoyed because he still very much prefers tech) that maybe he can connect with the mystical after all and that means that feeling of not being able to keep up with his brothers is no longer an issue. But then he can't control it. And Donnie likes control. And Donnie insists on control and would fight tooth and nail to gain it, stubborn and sure he can do this, but he's coming at it from entirely the wrong kind of angle because of his mindset and so... things just go pear-shaped super quick. That's a gauntlet of emotion that's maybe a minute long before he starts scrabbling for control and can't get it. And from there you could go in multiple directions:

He was probably already working with ways to dampen mystic/magical power to deal with problems like Draxum, maybe he'd use it on himself. Or maybe he'd accidentally, in the midst of scrabbling for control, manifest a kind of restraint on his own power and accidentally lock his access to the power away for good. Whoops, put a mystic lock on his own mysticism. Thaaat would lead to its own issues.

His brothers would try to help, but none of them really think about how to control their weapons or whatever, they simply do not know enough. Mikey's the closest to being able to help here, the most intuitive. Donnie's power is going haywire, none of them can fix it, Mikey does his best to maybe try and channel it safely/dampen it down from pure instinct with mixed success. Donnie's manifestations are both a danger to himself and the environment, given how they manifest later in the show, so no control is extremely bad. Donnie starts suffering ill effects a la Mikey in the movie, they panic and go to someone they know who might be able to help. Early in the series, that's Big Mama or Draxum. I'd lean more towards Draxum, given he's their creator so surely he knows about this stuff, right? But early in the series, he's not exactly inclined to help them out of the goodness of his own heart.

Either option leads to an interesting plot. But that's early in the series.

(Post Shredder, well, he's activated his Ninpo and is perfectly comfortable with the idea. So it would be an excess of power he couldn't control for whatever reason-- maybe he accidentally tapped into a mystic conduit oorrrr accidentally upgraded himself with alien technology or is just having issues post Technodrome in general-- in this case it's a bit more straightforward because I think Donnie would fetch up on Draxum's doorstep much earlier and Draxum would probably just teach him in tandem with Mikey and, in fact, any or all of them, because it's high time. But that's a story I won't get into now, largely because one of these options is already going into something I'm writing anyway. If you've read NRFTW, you can probably guess which one.)

So yeah, this question is rife with far too many possibilities and dependent on time frames for me, but here's some general thoughts on it. I'd love to hear if anyone has a different take!

[basedkikuenjoyer]

To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day...

This is not exactly a first-time playthrough. But I am ripping through yet another of one of my all-time favorites. Because apparently Fallout: New Vegas became a staple of Millennial trans culture and at times I do live up to stereotypes. You should see how wide-eyed I get at opportunities to use heavy machinery around the greenhouse. At least my PoliSci degree is useful here, because everyone knows the most fun thing in video games is complex political scenarios!

Seriously, we have a fun action RPG here but if I wanted that I'd pick up Fallout 4. Which I quite like a lot in it's own right. But there's something about the charm of New Vegas. Sorta become a Christmas tradition to play it while cooking my parts of the big get-together meals. How can you not love this beautiful concoction of 50s sci-fi B movie and old Western? Cowboys & Aliens shouldn't be just one random forgotten movie it should be an entire subgenre complete with it's own Samurai & Aliens analogue. World is bullshit sometimes.

Giant fuckoffty Gatling laser chem fiend build this time because I have spurs that jingle jangle jangle and usually rely on the Big Iron on my hip. Never done Sneering Imperialist in Honest Hearts before and yeah we're doubling down on the evil with enthusiastically supporting my original and current decision to the big question it all builds to. Who should Courier Six tip the scales toward in the battle for Hoover Dam? (Which I can never take seriously due to how many times I saw Beavis & Butthead Do America as a kid.)

House Always Wins bay-bay! And don't you dare sully the good name of this captain of industry by comparing him to Fuccboi Prime Elon Musk. Game gives you three factions and the choice to go it alone. The New California Republic, or the best candidate for the US government's successor on the West Coast. Caesar's Legion, a pack of Roman cosplayers complete with slavery and aggressive chauvinism while still being anti-drugs so like...wtf? Not a serious choice. If I have to endure a post-apocalyptic Mojave Desert I am going to make Hunter S Thompson look like Carrie Nation. You dorks managed to conquer Arizona, stop the fuckin presses (<3 you Piper).

Then you have Edwin House, an old CEO of a robotics Corp from before the great war on some kind of space-age life support for 200 years with a great big boner for Las Vegas. Yes, he's kinda a total douche but his goal is to mostly maintain Vegas as a city-state with his advanced robots. He's the one I lean towards because his resources at hand don't allow him to do much more than that and while he isn't perfect he seems content to operate through finding someone he can just pay. Doesn't seem too big on moralizing and honestly he's kinda funny. Like, recruiting tribes to fill out themed casinos is such a weird way of bringing "civilization" to the wasteland but...they did it willingly and it's been working pretty well. For all the shit Freeside gets even it's pretty stable by wasteland standards.

Obviously if you decide the main character Courier Six is a saint who'd never do wrong Wild Card where you do it yourself is the moral choice. But the kicker to me is that House and his agent sorta keep each other in check, especially if Courier Six has stuff like Big MT in their back pocket. House is ultimately doomed to fail because he only has so many of his big robots and his explicit goal is mostly about trying to get technological progress back on track. He can't really project power though. He's fine working with the NCR but they'll win in the very long game. Vegas staying a city-state that the Republic needs to sit down and stabilize if they want to oust is good for both sides and it'll get the Legion out. That's my view at least.

[pb-dot]

Author Ask Tag

If you know me and my presence here, it should come as no surprise that I love talking about the stuff I write. So, when @mthollowell-writes tagged me in this thing, I wasn't going to say no.

1 What is the main lesson of your story (e.g. kindness, diversity, anti-war), and why did you choose it?

The Clockwork Boy and the series I hope it becomes is a story about unity and collaboration. The forces arrayed against them are considerable, but since both The Spire and The Clockmen are filled with inveterate backstabbers, the scrappy underdog of Jake, Adrian, and The Northwest has a fighting chance, not only for survival but the future of the city. My "thesis" if you will is that The Spire and The Clockmen are doomed to fail in the long run because the glue that holds them together is that the participants can each profit from each other's strength. This means that nobody has an incentive to show weakness, lest they be judged unworthy of the group, and nothing resembling mutual trust can develop. The Northwest and the rest of "team hero," on the other side, rely on each other to compensate for their weaknesses and vulnerabilities which inherently builds trust.

This theme emerged from the place I held in life when writing the initial draft, I believe. I was, and am in many ways still in a fairly vulnerable spot in my life. I am seeking treatment for both physical and mental health problems as well as employment despite challenges in the above-mentioned departments. It's easy for me to feel self-conscious about having to rely on external factors such as doctors and other healthcare professionals, but I have found much solace in the works of the effervescent Philosophy Tube, and one of her older videos, in particular, have shaped this insecurity into some neat thematic stuff in the book I write, for which I am eternally grateful.

2 What did you use as inspiration for your worldbuilding (like real-life cultures, animals, famous media, websites, etc.)?

A lot of the world of Hearts In Clockwork has been inspired by colonial-era Europe, England in particular, but I am aiming more for a wider pastiche than a direct reference. There's also some bits of steam punk aesthetics to the setting, but due to severe disruptions of the coal supply, much of the borderline impossible steam-powered technology is mostly for show.

3 What is your MC trying to achieve, and what are you, the writer, trying to achieve with them? Do you want to inspire others, teach forgiveness, help readers grow as a person?

My main characters are still kind of figuring out their place in the world around them per the last book, so their needs are very personal. Jake wants to belong somewhere and 13/Adrian wants to know who he was before becoming a Clockman, or barring that what kind of a person he wants to be now that he is free. It is my goal to transition these goals into grander goals as the series progresses, as Jake is motivated to oppose The Spire and The Clockmen by his bonds with Adrian and The Northwest, and Adrian attempts to end the conflict brewing in the setting as nonviolently as possible in direct defiance of his original design. I base this progression on the idea that problems, even some problems viewed as personal, might be best solved by trying to change the world in some way. It is a counterargument to the "Clean Your Room"-crowd, I suppose.

4 How many chapters is your story going to have?

The Clockwork Boy currently sits on 24 chapters and one epilog chapter. It's approximately where I want it lengthwise.

5 Is it fanfiction or original content? Where do you plan to post it?

It is original content. My goal is to get it published, preferrably through a smaller indie outfit.

6 When and why did you start writing?

This question is a bit ambigious. If it's when I started writing period, I've done it as long as I've known how to. My motivations have never been entirely clear to me, but I do believe it comes from a need to be seen and heard in some way.

As far as when and why I got into The Clockwork Boy, I started that during National Novel Writing Month in November 2022. My initial motivation was frankly that I hadn't found any genre novels with intrigue, politics and a gay romance in a while, so I decided to try writing one myself.

7 Do you have any words of engagement for fellow writers of Writeblr? What other writers of Tumblr do you follow?

Like Share And Subscribe Seriously though, this is the most useful piece of advice I've ever gotten so I'm going to pass it along:

Your Writing Is Probably Fine, you've just been staring at it for Too Long.

as well as

If it doesn't Feel Like A Book that's just because you recognize that you wrote it. Other readers will not have that problem.

As for my Pound of Tags: @covenscribe, @stesierra, @leisoree, @hollyannewrites @ettawritesnstudies

[helmarok]

me & my friendgroup were hoping ganon would get more backstory and humanization in totk for the entire time since the sequel was announced :( the idea that he might get revived was so exciting. i didnt think it would happen but i hoped for a sequel where youd switch between link and zelda at different points- zelda being more lore and archaeology/exploration focused so youd learn more about ganon and the events causing the calamity and how to stop future ones as you also tried to understand why he was so enraged and what exactly happened to him and link engaging in direct dialogue and confrontation with ganon so the player can see his pain and character depth. the game wouldve been more about defeating the calamity possessing him vs ganon himself being bad and acknowledging that hyrule never really tried that route which lead to the constant devastation...sorry for rambling but tldr i feel you 🫡 ur ganons strongest soldier

literally this entire ask. i don't know why i had my hopes up cuz now i'm disappointed over something that was gonna happen anyways... i just wish that after throwing in the excuse of "oh well we use the same formula over and over because DEMISE'S CURSE causes hatred to reincarnate!" they actually built upon that, but they only focus on how the curse affects the chosen hero and zelda. like they never actually go into how the curse affects the man who is born asab (assigned satan at birth 😢)

heres what i think under the cut if youre interested, it's kind of a long story so whatever

my personal hesdcanon completely and totally disregarding anything totk says is that hylia chose ganondorf to be her hero. she chose him and the 'calamity' wasn't actually ganondorf himself based on the more lizard-like appearance of it in the tapestry: it was demise, hence the reason why it not only took a hero and princess but the divine beasts as well.

based on his outfit in the original trailer, i think he was invited to the castle. but while he went dressed his best, it was a trap. throughout his time as hero the kingdom questioned it because of their awful history. after defeating the calamity, ganon was invited for dinner and was betrayed. being poisoned by people he loves and cared about who he thought cared about him but their generational hatred just... led to this.

it broke his heart when they broke his trust because the male gerudo 'king of evil' could never be our chosen hero, the symbol of courage in the kingdom. he's the bad guy, and always will be even if it's a different man from the one in OOT and TP entirely. his broken heart turned into anger and rage while he was coughing and dying at the table as people he cared for watched it happen. his eyes turned red, his mane and tusks grew and his triforce shined. when he tried to grab the sword it burned his hand. hatred took over and changed him- keep in mind that demise's entire being relies on the existence of hatred. with so much hate in his heart the demon was able to grab ahold of it and use that as a second chance to win.

nobody could stop him but the princess, who did with hylia's help. his body and spirit was sealed under the castle before it got too bad. but over time, the betrayal ganon felt had 10k years to brew and demise used it to his advantage. ganon's hurt combined with demise's raw energy- malice- created what we see in botw as that ugly beast calamity ganon.

now here's my favorite part! everyone had to have wondered why the fuck hylia wasn't willing to help zelda this time around when zelda was unable to use the powers in her blood that her mom could use, and hylia never bothered to help her awaken them. well the reason for this is because hylia felt betrayed by her people. her people were so full of hatred that they tried to murder the hero SHE chose! not only that, but after ganon's murder, the sheikah strongly opposed, which led to what you can see in the tapestry- sheikah being pushed by guards, and then the game tells us their technology was destroyed and sealed away.

as punishment for the problems her children were causing, she decided to abandon them. they would get no help from her. no prayers would be answered, no assistance with light magic- they were on their own now. there wouldn't even be a chosen hero- link was actually chosen by fi when fi knew a hero had to come but hylia wasn't going to bother.

hylia only decided to step up after she felt sorry for zelda. when zelda prayed and begged her she ignored her until the hero died and she felt her child's pain. she finally decided to be a mom and make zelda's powers fucking explode. zelda walked into that castle and sealed the demon the best she could without the assistance of a hero. from then on after a hundred years, hyrule basically accepted the flying boar demon cloud over the castle as part of their life along with corrupted guardians and such.

basically i think ganon's story was about hatred and betrayal and that the reason calamity ganon is so insanely powerful, and the reason he takes on a more demonic form not made of flesh but physical hatred, is because of how much it hurt him. he is hurt and hatred took advantage of that.

demise's easy control of ganondorf is kind of a nod at how you'll see that hurt people can often get easily taken over by hatred. a wife who is cheated on might kill her husband. a trans man who has suffered his whole life might bully trans men who are happy. a victim of misogynistic culture might be manipulated by others into becoming a terf. it's sad how easily hate can take over hurt people.

for the hylians, it's how for generations their kingdom was destroyed by a ganon, so they can't think of him as anything other than a threat even if he is a good man.

so yeah, there's my ganondorf take. he's just some guy who is stuck in a cycle and i wish nintendo would stop acting like hyrule is a perfect kingdom and the royal family has no flaws because theyre the Goddess Children when time and time again there's been hints in the games at their treatment of others, especially the sheikah. basically what i want is for them to give their special little good guys and special little race of blue eyed bitches some more depth instead of just being like "theyre good and nothing more because they're the Good Guys so they can't do anything wrong and opposers like ganon are the Bad Guys". cuz it's 2023 and we deserve more advanced stories than "hero and princess defeat the big bad evil and save the day!"

[noaheadiegamedev]

Harmonie Platine

Species: Sentrai

Homeworld: Serenex Prime

Pronouns: He/Him

“The symphony only continues if we all play our parts.”

Backstory after the jump.

On the crystalline planet of Serenex Prime, life is peaceful among the sentrai peoples. An arcane energy known as lumiere flows through the lands, giving the air a dim glow. Built around tremendous geysers of lumiere, sentrai cities freely emanate this magical nourishment, the sentrai equal to food and drink. Resources are plentiful, and lumiere-fueled technology has made toil obsolete. The people are free to philosophize, practice and engage in the arts, and meditate on the profound mysteries of the magic conflux that permeates their world.

However, sentrai society is kept in precarious balance against forces of nature. The savage wilderness of Serenex Prime classifies it as a death world, despite the welfare of its denizens. Prowling predators roam the lands, their evolution augmented by lumiere into ever crueler and more fearsome forms. The cities are few and far between, thick-walled and isolated, connected only by a network of portals. To step outside city gates is to guarantee your death. Upon reaching adulthood, all able bodied sentrai must stand guard upon their city's wall for several years. This perpetual vigilance is all that prevents the cities from being overrun in a matter of hours.

Some predators happen upon a glut of lumiere and grow to horrific size, dozens or even hundreds of men tall. These monsters are known as titans, and their hunger for even richer lumiere draws them to Sentrai cities. With their earth-shaking might and mind-bending magics, they will stop at nothing to tear open the nearest city like a tin can and sup upon the geyser at its heart. For some titans, the walls are enough. However, many tower to truly behemoth proportions, rendering the ten-story barriers useless. For this purpose, each city on Serenex Prime employs an elite team of protectors, known as Titan Rangers. These idiosyncratic, color coded squads fight off these existential threats to sentrai kind. With their bespoke weapons and quick thinking, they employ ever more creative strategies to fend off the titans, which seem every year to become more powerful and bizarre than the last.

Harmonie Platine is the platinum Titan Ranger of the city of Hydra Vale. As expected of a platinum-suited sentrai, Harmonie acted as his squad's strategic leader and spiritual guide. He served his city dutifully for six years, fending off dozens of titans in his time. Upon studying the history of Hydra Vale, and Serenex Prime at large, Harmonie noticed a disturbing trend. Though a city hadn’t fallen in several centuries, there'd been an increase in close calls, accelerating year by year. Total wall breaches, unheard of by Harmonie's elders, had become a regular occurrence. The titans were getting smarter, and the sentrai were running out of ideas for effective ways to stop them. Sooner or later, the tools and tactics at their disposal simply wouldn’t be enough - not even the ingenuity of the Rangers could save them - and what then? 

Recognizing the urgency of the issue, Harmonie trained a replacement for his position in his squad, and set off for the stars to learn about other peoples and the various ways they protect themselves. It pained his heart to leave behind everything he knew. Serenex Prime is in a remote region of the galaxy cluster, such that any travel to a more populated area would take many years, and he may never find the time to return. Harmonie would have to rely on a synthetic lumiere generator for nourishment, which produces tacky and bland energies, engineered for nutritional value and nothing else. Worse still, because it’s so rare for a sentrai to leave their world, he may never meet another of his kind again. He could rely only on radio communications, with messages taking months to transpire from sender to recipient, for direct contact with his homeland. Gone were the days of lazed contemplation in the lush parks of Hydra Vale, tasting the floral-sweet lumiere for which his city was known, idly playing his flute for all who would listen. However, Harmonie deeply loves his world and his culture, and will make any sacrifices necessary to guarantee its future.

Several years into his lonely trek, Harmonie’s shuttle was discovered by Thor. Upon learning his plight, Thor brought Harmonie into the Thrasher League - perhaps the best place in the galaxy cluster to learn all the ways people fight for what they hold dear.

Harmonie is a skilled leader and tactician. He absorbs the knowledge of his colleagues like a sponge, intuitively recognizing their strengths and limitations. He works diligently to ensure everyone is in the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing to get the job done. However, he always defers to those he recognizes as experts in their craft, and makes it his priority to understand their perspectives. Though some consider his highly regimented training drills redundant, his endless frustrations with lone wolf types grating, or his after hours team building exercises pretentious, it comes from an earnest wish to engender a sense of community with his colleagues and help build them up to their highest potential.

To many, Platine comes off as humorless, self-serious to a fault. In reality, he's quite jovial and witty. However, most of his jokes would only come across as such to a sentrai. For sentrai, hidden punchlines with only a vague, tenuous relation to their setup is the height of comedy. The humor comes from realizing a punchline was made in the first place, then sorting out its hidden connection to the setup. To even make apparent that a joke was cracked would defeat its purpose. Thus, Harmonie never explains his comedy, and it goes totally unnoticed by his colleagues. Nonetheless, his warmth and sincerity is infallibly expressed when he comes out of his shell enough to play his flute, with which he recites classic sentrai folk songs about vibrant gardens and peaceful afternoons.

[wei75631]

P6 Idea : Change Settings

Recently, I saw Head on the Block breaking new news: "Persona 6" will be a semi-open world game, the community will be more flexible, and it will also be themed around Japanese high school students. It is currently in progress Close to 95%, it is expected to be officially announced in 2025. In addition, "Persona 6" will launch an update roadmap after its launch, and various DLC updates will be released at that time.

Did you see it? The "Japanese high school student" thing won't change, so that means I might have to change my mind.

Ophion and Lost World

The key points of nature, environment, life and green have always been fans' speculations about P6. I personally hope that P6 will develop in this direction, so Ophion and Lost World will not change much, but the focus is on me The focus must shift from the whole world to Japan.

Precisely because this is a country like Japan that combines traditional beliefs with advanced technology, it must pay attention to residents living in concrete jungles such as cities. They forget that humans themselves are also part of nature, and the human nature (self) and animal nature (id) in people's hearts lost balance.

The imbalance of people's hearts has affected Ophion and the Lost World. The Lost World has been eroded by the shadows, causing Ophion to develop a protective mechanism and entrust the important task to teenagers who retain their youthfulness and have not been polluted by the urban environment.

Just because I replaced college students with high school students, the concept of "utopia" generated by aspiring young people will also become invalid, and will be replaced by a "jungle" generated by the collective subconscious of mankind. As for the detailed settings of the jungle, I will introduce it later.

The Protagonist

Compared with other characters, the overall setting of the protagonist will not change, but there are several questions to consider: How will she integrate into high school life？How does she deal with the daily routine of real life？

First, she still has to go to school. The school she attends is located in an unexploited forest. The school is equipped with green technologies that rely on alternative energy sources, in stark contrast to overdeveloped cities. In addition, it is a boarding school, and you can still live in the school dormitory after school.

The Mascot Navigator

The mascot was changed from a fairy to a little girl with goat horns, named Amalthea, who will become a key point in the later part of the plot. Amalthea's personality is sensitive and introverted, and like Teddy and Morgana, she has forgotten her own birth, which gives her a strong sense of inferiority and makes her identify with the protagonist, who is also a girl.

The Sports Girl

Taking into account that Japan is the stage, her identity has to be Japanese, but it also has the setting that she has a Latin American mixed race. The sports girl's class is powered by solar energy, and the food is also crops grown by teachers and students themselves. After the protagonist becomes familiar with the sports girl, he can improve his crop planting skills.

The Advisor Boy

His class mainly focuses on hydroelectric power generation. Most of the food depends on teachers and students going to rivers and seasides to fish. At the same time, aquatic organisms are cultivated for food supply and scientific research objects. After the protagonist gets familiar with the advisor boy, he can improve his fishing skills.

The Masculine Boy

This time the masculine boy is not of mixed race, but because he lived in England for a long time, he looks more like a Western than a Japanese. The masculine boy's class is about wind power generation. Students and faculty usually participate in mechanical engineering research on aviation. The food supply is organic food transported by air.

Volva

Among the members of Volva, only spy girl is an adult outside the school, while wasteland boy and navigator boy are classmates of masculine boy and advisor boy respectively.

Wasteland boy is a British-Indian student studying abroad, and he is childhood sweethearts with a boy who has lived in England. The navigator boy is timid and mentally ill, so he is shunned by his classmates. Only the advisor boy will open his heart and pay attention to him. The attention paid to the navigator boy makes the advisor boy feel that he is leading by example.

Cosmic Eggs and Dragon Veins

Another important point is that the cosmic egg and dragon vein will still stay in Ophion and will never escape to the real world. Once the dragon veins become cosmic eggs, players must spend time establishing social connections with these eggs. If they are too busy, they can ask Jose in the Velvet Room for help.

The Velvet Room

You should have noticed that I did not describe the velvet room before. The reason is, there's more detail on this sale than on previous games. Igor has left, and the person in charge of managing the Velvet Room is Jose who appeared in P5R, which fits the qualities of an "egg". The theme of the velvet room this time is "Museum of Nature", which corresponds to the theme of nature and life that P6 wants to convey.

[dontjudgemeimawriter]

Magic Inspiration Tag

Taking an open tag from @blind-the-winds

Rules: list the inspiration(s) for your WIP's magic system and, if you want, go into detail.

I'm tagging...open to any fantasy writers to join in, but also going to tag @thegreatobsesso @dogmomwrites @lexiklecksi @oh-no-another-idea @eli-writes-sometimes if you want

Okay I'm going to go a little off the rails with this one.

So, inspiration for a lot of my magic systems actually comes from my own beliefs and background in witchcraft. So I'm going to talk about the different magic systems.

In general, I try to work within a few guidelines based on things I see that I like/dislike:

Magic is accessible to everyone, perhaps with exceptions (My exception is a story where every single person except the MC can do magic). But in general, magic is accessible to all, even if not everyone would use it, know about it, or have talent for it. There is no chosen one(s). The reason I don't like this is it would break my heart to discover this level of magic exists and I can't do it because idk the universe doesn't like me, so I don't like it in my systems.

Magic will never cause more problems than it solves, and I will never explore a plot where you remove magic from the world. Fuck that.

Magic almost always has a secret-- there is a difference between how the people understand it and how it really works.

Magic is based on the energy flow of the universe, and manipulating it. Anything can be explained through this.

I don't care about power imbalance. There can be ways that the characters are challenged or unable to solve all their problems without everyone's magic needing to be equaled or there to be major drawbacks. The main limits in my systems are the character's own knowledge and the character's personality.

So. Let's get into a few of them.

Syndicate

In this, everyone has a natural, inherited talent for 1 out of 5 types of magic. While they can be more or less talented, everyone is capable of learning some type. Not everyone does, especially since some types are valued more than others. Nyp magic, which is mind magic, is straight up illegal to learn.

Magic here isn't so big that it alters the nature of the world or even puts the world in danger. This is post-industrual age but premodern day, and their technology has evolved based on the discovery of an ability to store spells to be layer cast. For the most part, there is nothing magic can do that we in moderrn day haven't been able to accomplish from different angles... broadly and generously speaking. I suppose we can't accomplish mind reading, but we can get pretty close, and mostt mental manipulations could hypothetically be accomplished with therapy. So magic strretches beyond what we can accomplish with technology, but not far beyond it, and they rely on magic-powered technology.

Every type of magic, though, is based on manipulation of some type of energy that already exists. Fire magic is exciting the atoms in something until it combusts. Nyp magic is manipulation of the electricity of the brain/neurons. Terran is able to change wavelengths, make them stronger or weaker, which is how he can manipulate his own brainwaves as well as sound. (The only one that you could argue isn't isn't based on scientific reality is Chaf magic, which relies on the energy existing between connections between people. This is where my own spiritual beliefs come up-- I believe in an energy between people's relationships, so one exists. So there.)

But, you may say, isn't there not much difference in those? What really is the distinction between brainwaves and neurons, if those are two different types of magic? No, there isn't. The inherited talent/inclination is more that you're in tuned with. But from your own angle, you can go into others' magic types. The lines and distinction was drawn by people, not by the world. The overrlap is explored within the story. And practicing going into others' can make you much more powerful.

Raymond is explicitly very powerful. He has a natural talent for understanding how the mind works and was a very fast learner. He is mentioned explicitly as being a very good nyp. The limits and justification come from:

Admittedly, powerful stuff (such as suppression of brainwaves enough to put someone to sleep) does exhaust him

He is good because he's obsessed witth learning about Nyp and other magic. He draws from any research that's been donee

Nyp magic is illegal so not many people know ot very well and the limits haven't been tested. He's powerful in comparison

He's a good person. Heart of gold. Always wants to do the right thing. His personality keeps him from going too far.

Him being powerful is exactly what puts him in a lot of dangerr and makes him a target

He also isn't the main character. He's very important and a major character, but he's not the main character. I think you can get away with being more OP with not the MC.

Oh! I do actually remember some distinct inspirations. When plotting this story I knew it would have similar vibes to some other books with criminals and magic, so I actually sketched out the basics of the magic in Six of Crows, the Curseworkers, and Ace of Spades. From there I took what I already knew I wanted, what I liked in those systems, and built the magic Types around it.

Second Chance

Okay. This one does kind of break my "magic is possible for everyone" rule. A bit.

Basically, it's not exactly magic, it's access to a god's power. And not everyone has that.

This was born out of developing how Chrys gained thee ability to live every day twice. Basically, it's because a shitload of time energy was dumped into her. Once again with the OP powers! This time it is a MC XD.

So once again, magic is based on the enery that exists in the universe. Any type of energy (including... relationships, creativity, drive forr knowledge, the flow of time... pretty much anything that exists has an energy) forms from people interacting with it (much of it is very old. But like, I think there's a newer god of internet.) and grows. The more it exists, the more it is interacted with, the more it grows. But it can't just build up in one place. It needs to disperse, but energy can only disperse so much on its own. It needs something conscious to do so, so when there is enough, a god form to redirect that energy. Doing so makes them more powerful, so this is a positive feedback loop.

The most powerful gods can't effectively redirect all that energy on their own, so they give some as a gift to people, usually in exchange orr with the purpose of usingg it to help them further their goals, disperse the energy, and become more powerful.

While this is a lot based on my spiritual beliefs in energy (I don't believe in gods but I was inspirred by other things) there are definitely some other things this comes from. The intrinsic way magic works allows makes it so with the time god, I can compare it to how the rich get richer, even at the expense of kinda fucking woth the world. The more powerful time gets, the more we pay attention to it, the faster things seem to move. But there's also some ways that magic works that is more idealized: the Luck god is disadvantaged by the "rich get richer" thing happening irl-- those born lucky get luckier, which makes luck energy all grow in one place and not disperse-- meaning the Luck god hates the rich and privileged and would prefer to tip the scales in the poor and maraglized's favor-- but the way magic works works against them.

Immortal Souls

This is mainly just IRL witchcraft that is more powerful and more certain. I think I also draw from... idk, tthe cozy magic genre. The kind with a witchy bookstore and magic is there but not a big secret just not big enough to impress or worth sharing.

Lialyn

While this isn't a WIP I'm actively working on, it's the most unique and developed magic system I have so I want to talk about it.

I mentioned this briefly-- the basic premise is that everyone can do magic, except the main character, who is a prince, and no one knows he can't do magic.

There is a huge difference between what people know and how magic really works. As far as the people are concerned, magic works by saying words and exerting your will over the universe. Anyone can learn it. MC has no idea why he can't.

In actuality, every single person is bound to a spirit that exists on a parallel plane. Casting spells is basically controlling the spirit. In ancient history, the bond was known and the relationship between yourself and your companion spirit was known and mutually beneficial. But when the current kingdom took over, they copied what those people did to learn magic for themselves, unknowingly forcing their will on their companion spirit.

The MC, who can't do magic, doesn't have a companion spirit. And the reason for that is a secret.

This was inspired by the character concept itself: someone who can't do magic and is not only supposed to be, but expected to be (as a prince) one of the best. The system here has been growing in my brain so long I don't know the exact inspirations. But somehow I came up with the idea that magic was simply a misinterpretation of what was happening on another parallel plane. And this melded well as it gave a pretty simple reason that he couldn't do magic. The great thing for me is this premise shapes the would itself-- the country's government and history is based around this stolen magic that nearly everyone can use. I just wish it gave me a good enough story, too.

To be honest, a lot of my magic systems have been in development so long that I'm not sure if I can trace it back to inspirations. I got really interested when magic systems had a misconception to them, so I usually play witth that myself.

[silverphantom36]

An old favorite of mine. Might as well introduce my kids here.

Meet Team Spectral, my Sonic OCs, a team of close friends that lives carefree & occasionally gets into misadventures.

Characters from left to right:

Iola the Iguana

Gender: Female

Color: Purple

Chaos Power: Water

Team Type: Speed

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Bio: Iola had to become independent early on due to her parents neglecting her for being more interested in females & caused her to feel inadequate & unsure of herself. However, meeting the others encouraged her to be proud of herself, no matter what. She's the party girl of the team. She can be a little rebellious at times, but she's fun-loving, smart, sassy & friendly.

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Fade the Fox

Gender: Female

Color: Brown

Chaos Power: Earth

Team Type: Power

Alignment: Lawful Good

Bio: Fade once started off as bright & open, but dealing with a pretty bad rejection made her very cross & standoffish. While initially cold to the others, she learned to open up again after seeing that they have similar experiences with getting turned down. She's the glue that holds the team together. She may come across as cold & grumpy, but she's kind, wise, bold & supportive.

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Gray the Wolf

Gender: Male

Color: Gray/White

Chaos Power: Fire

Team Type: Power

Alignment: True Neutral

Bio: Gray grew up with little to no friends & was frequently picked on. He grew up to become an introverted & an apathetic loner. After meeting the others, he was originally distant from them, wanting nothing to do with them, but he greatly warmed up to them after learning that they all have similar backgrounds as him. Aside from his anger issues & seriousness, he is kind, supportive & dignified.

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Breeze the Bird

Gender: Male

Color: Red

Chaos Power: Air

Team Type: Fly

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Bio: Breeze grew up in an underground gang like setting where he developed a bit of an attitude but after moving on from that setting & meeting the others, he learned to mellow out. His ignorance & snarkiness often makes him the wild card, but he's got a kind heart & his energetic nature can give his friends a boost. He also loves skateboarding & is a fan of the Extreme Gears.

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Ramon the Raccoon

Gender: Male

Color: Light Blue

Chaos Power: None (Relies on his gadgets, like wrist-guns, grapple hooks & flight jets on his shoes)

Team Type: Fly

Alignment: Lawful Neutral

Bio: Ramon is an orphan who grew up in a foster home. He spent most of his life making small gadgets due to him being good with technology (Not as good as Tails, but he comes pretty close). Not having any parents throughout his life has made him a lonely soul, but the support of his friends & his girlfriend, Jewel the Beetle, has made things a little easier for him. He can be introverted & lonely at times, but he's smart, bright, considerate & friendly. He also loves to read.

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Colleen the Cat

Gender: Female

Color: Yellow

Chaos Power: Electricity

Team Type: Speed

Alignment: Neutral Good

Bio: Colleen is an adorable sweetheart from the beginning, but she suffered from loneliness throughout her childhood due to not having any friends because everyone saw her as a weirdo. Gray & the others were the first friends she made due to them sharing the same experiences as her & she welcomes them in with open arms, with Fade & Iola being her closest friends & Gray becoming her boyfriend. She can be naïve & short-tempered, but is cheerful, lighthearted & sincere. She's pretty much the heart of the team.

[monsterkong]

Letting Go of Gear: The Path to True Photography

Why do we let gear define our craft? Photography is about so much more than the tools we use. It’s about capturing the essence of a moment, telling a story, and expressing our creativity. Yet, many photographers are caught in the cycle of obsessing over the latest equipment. Let’s explore why this focus on gear might be misguided and how we can shift our attention back to the true art of photography.

⚙️ The Gear Myth

When I first began my photography journey, I believed that the right gear was the key to becoming a great photographer. I walked into camera stores, my eyes wide with excitement, convinced that the latest camera model, the most expensive lens, and all the gadgets would make me a master photographer.

And, to some extent, it worked. My photos were sharper, the colors were more vibrant, and the dynamic range was impressive. But there was something missing—my images lacked soul. They were technically proficient but artistically hollow.

This is the myth that many photographers fall into. We’re constantly bombarded with advertisements, reviews, and updates on the latest gear. It’s easy to believe that the next piece of equipment is the secret to success. But the truth is, no amount of gear can replace creativity, vision, and experience.

🖌️ The Heart of Photography

Photography is about seeing the world in a unique way and capturing it in a way that resonates with others. The gear is just a tool—a means to an end. The real magic lies within the photographer. It’s about seeing something extraordinary in the ordinary and capturing it in a way that tells a story.

Great photographers like Henri Cartier-Bresson, Annie Leibovitz, and Sebastião Salgado didn’t rely on advanced equipment to create their masterpieces. Instead, they focused on their vision, creativity, and ability to tell powerful stories through their images.

🧠 Learning from the Legends

Consider Henri Cartier-Bresson, known as the father of photojournalism. He used a simple Leica rangefinder with a 50mm or 35mm lens for most of his career. For Cartier-Bresson, the magic wasn’t in the equipment but in the decisive moment—the fleeting instant when all the elements of a scene came together perfectly.

Annie Leibovitz’s iconic portraits aren’t about the gear she uses; they’re about her deep connection with her subjects and her ability to capture their true essence. These photographers remind us that the true essence of photography lies in the story, not in the tools.

🌍 Embracing Creative Freedom

Rather than getting caught up in the latest gear, embrace the simplicity of your current equipment. Use it as a creative challenge. Some of the greatest photographers in history worked with far less advanced gear than what we have today. Their creativity blossomed because they focused on their perspective, imagination, and storytelling.

If you’re just starting out, focus on learning the fundamentals of photography—both the technical and artistic aspects. Understand the exposure triangle, composition, lighting, and storytelling. Then, practice, practice, practice. The more you shoot, the better you’ll understand your equipment and your own creative process.

🎨 Shifting Back to the Art

In a world where technology is constantly evolving, it’s easy to get distracted by the latest gadgets. But true photography isn’t about the gear—it’s about your vision, creativity, and ability to see the world in a unique way. By shifting our focus back to the art, we can create images that are not only technically proficient but also deeply meaningful and impactful.

Remember, the gear is just a tool. The magic lies within you—your vision, your creativity, and your ability to see the world in a unique way. Embrace the tools you have but never let them define you. Focus on the craft, hone your skills, and tell your stories with passion and intent.

Experiment, make mistakes, learn, and grow. But don’t hide behind the equipment. Stand alongside it and utilize it to create something extraordinary. The magic is not in the gear; it’s in you.

Thank you for reading, and I can’t wait to see the incredible images you create. Until then, take care and happy shooting! 📷✨