#black quantum futurism

[burntsoft]

CPT Reversal (2022)

[compassionmattersmost]

Pristine Mind and the Cosmos: Shifting the Center of Gravity in Consciousness

How Metaphors from Dark Energy, Black Holes, and Cosmic Radiation Illuminate the Path to a Spacious, Peaceful Mind Pristine Mind and the Cosmos: An Exploration of Inner and Outer Space In the silent expanse of the cosmos, where galaxies drift through the vast sea of space, an invisible force—dark energy—stretches the fabric of existence. It is quiet, unseen, and yet its presence allows…

[egsoon]

بين النجوم

كان مستقبل الأرض مليئًا بالكوار�� والمجاعات والجفاف. لا توجد سوى طريقة واحدة لضمان بقاء البشرية: السفر بين النجوم. يسمح ثقب دودي تم اكتشافه حديثًا في أقاصي نظامنا الشمسي بفريق من رواد الفضاء بالذهاب إلى مكان لم يسبق له مثيل من قبل ، وهو كوكب قد يكون لديه البيئة المناسبة للحفاظ على حياة الإنسان.

[greenfiend]

Mike is named after famous theoretical physicist

John Archibald Wheeler

I reference this in my art here if you’re interested in checking it out.

We really should talk about this more…

John Wheeler is known for his work on promoting Einstein’s theory of general relativity. Mike has art on his wall titled “Relativity” by M.C. Escher based on the theory.

John Wheeler is also known for popularizing the term “black hole”. Stephen Hawking even referred to him as “the hero of the black hole story”.

He has also done a lot of work on quantum mechanics. Specifically, he has theorized that time may work much differently on a quantum scale. Wheeler’s Delayed-Choice Experiment, and the One-Electron Universe are examples of theories in which he postulates if subatomic particles can essentially “time travel”.

While I know Mike is “not a dog”, he does share something major in common with the dog in Back to the Future (who happens to be referenced in ST). Lol.

Anyway… much to think about.

[contemplatingoutlander]

This is an excellent article by astrophysicist Dr. Adam Frank and theoretical physicist Dr. Marcelo Gleiser about how information from the James Webb Space Telescope is changing physicists' perceptions about the standard model of cosmology. 😱

Since how we understand the universe seems rather important, the link above is a gift🎁link to the article, so that even if you do not subscribe to The New York Times, you can read the entire article. Below are a few excerpts:

Not long after the James Webb Space Telescope began beaming back from outer space its stunning images of planets and nebulae last year, astronomers, though dazzled, had to admit that something was amiss. Eight months later, based in part on what the telescope has revealed, it’s beginning to look as if we may need to rethink key features of the origin and development of the universe. [...] But one of the Webb’s first major findings was exciting in an uncomfortable sense: It discovered the existence of fully formed galaxies far earlier than should have been possible according to the so-called standard model of cosmology. According to the standard model, which is the basis for essentially all research in the field, there is a fixed and precise sequence of events that followed the Big Bang: First, the force of gravity pulled together denser regions in the cooling cosmic gas, which grew to become stars and black holes; then, the force of gravity pulled together the stars into galaxies. The Webb data, though, revealed that some very large galaxies formed really fast, in too short a time, at least according to the standard model. This was no minor discrepancy. The finding is akin to parents and their children appearing in a story when the grandparents are still children themselves. [...] Working so close to the boundary between science and philosophy, cosmologists are continually haunted by the ghosts of basic assumptions hiding unseen in the tools we use — such as the assumption that scientific laws don’t change over time. But that’s precisely the sort of assumption we might have to start questioning in order to figure out what’s wrong with the standard model. One possibility, raised by the physicist Lee Smolin and the philosopher Roberto Mangabeira Unger, is that the laws of physics can evolve and change over time. Different laws might even compete for effectiveness. An even more radical possibility, discussed by the physicist John Wheeler, is that every act of observation influences the future and even the past history of the universe. (Dr. Wheeler, working to understand the paradoxes of quantum mechanics, conceived of a “participatory universe” in which every act of observation was in some sense a new act of creation.) [...] The philosopher Robert Crease has written that philosophy is what’s required when doing more science may not answer a scientific question. It’s not clear yet if that’s what’s needed to overcome the crisis in cosmology. But if more tweaks and adjustments don’t do the trick, we may need not just a new story of the universe but also a new way to tell stories about it. [color emphasis added]

Image caption: "These six galaxies may force astronomers to rewrite cosmology books. (Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, I. LABBE)"

___________ Gif source (before minor edits)

[mamaclownhunter]

You have to understand this fic series added YEARS to my life @jezebel_rising (it is spicy M)

I been consuming drunk fics recently and I think I reached my personal new joy and headcanon that SQQ is an angry punchy but overly affectionate to his people drunk. Tsundere to the max.

There are like 2 fics that blessed me with punchy violent drunk SQQ and two that gave me him being a goober with SQH.

Give me both with zero filters. I want violent SQQ and his “bro we shouldn’t/bro bro we GOTTA” SQH toggles on enabler and responsible drunk for me.

But also learned and adopted that SQH is the type of drunk that will rebuild a car blasted. He makes the wildest contraptions and goes through strange tinker builder plans black out drunk. He is competent and efficient and wakes up hungry over wondering when the fuck he learned quantum physics. Like he is a “I got this”

I want them to be the others enablers. I want SQH to be ride or die if cucumber bro starts a bar fight he is there at his side sighing drunk and lazy but kicking ass. (Thank you Jezebel)

I want SQH to stare at a wall and go “I wanna invent a Xianxia version of a plane” and SQQ to go “that is fucking dumb let’s do it” (thaaank you Jezebel)

I want them to be each other’s friend. I want them to kinda sit there hung over… and kinda just weirdly happy they have a friend that gets them in this life. That they have a friend who is the bane of their existence but can have fun drunk shenanigans neither really got to have in their first life.

Mobei and Binghe not knowing what to do with them. They both are clingy drunks but one is spitting curses and aggressively snuggling like a cat high on catnip- and the other is singing praises and compliments while trying to bury himself in his husband’s robes.

But THIS FIC SERIES really had me rolling bc like- 2 twenty first century guys who are use to shorts and tee shirts forgetting after the third drink that- it is not 100% proper. They are aware enough to be these future boys behind closed doors- but to them hitting each other with paint in shorts is just guys being guys. To their royal husbands and everyone else in this ancient world????

Also SQQ in gym shorts and a tee shirt is my new favorite thing. This is the cutest I have drawn SQH- I had fun

[filmnoirsbian]

Things read in May

Essays & Articles:

Ursula K. Le Guin on Being A Man

Investigating parents of transgender youth has agency on ‘brink of collapse,’ staff warns

Five Indigenous Speculative Fiction Authors You Should Be Reading

DECOLONIZING SCIENCE FICTION AND IMAGINING FUTURES: AN INDIGENOUS FUTURISMS ROUNDTABLE

Using Dogs As A Tool of Racial Oppression

Rings of Power: The new hobbits are filthy, hungry simpletons with stage-Irish accents. That’s $1bn well spent

First case of HIV cure in a woman after stem cell transplantation reported at CROI-2022

The Trees That Miss The Mammoths

NOPE’S SCIENCE CONSULTANT REVEALS THE NAME AND INSPIRATION FOR THE MOVIE’S ALIEN

Reflections on the Poetry of Eavan Boland

The dire state of trans healthcare in Ireland

How Letterkenny Got Indigenous Representation So Right

Einstein's Parable of Quantum Insanity

Surgical amputation of a limb 31,000 years ago in Borneo

Most Transgender Children Stick With Gender Identity 5 Years Later: Study

Were you a ‘parentified child’? What happens when children have to behave like adults

Fear of a Black Hobbit

It’s a ‘Full-Contact’ Haunted House. What Could Go Wrong?

The Craft: How a Teenage Weirdo Based on a Real Person Became an Icon

Remember When Multiplayer Gaming Needed Envelopes and Stamps?

‘We’ll Never Make That Kind of Movie Again’ An oral history of The Emperor’s New Groove, a raucous Disney animated film that almost never happened.

5 Incredible Sagas of Fandom Scams and Deception

I Used to Love British Period Dramas. Now I See Them as Colonial Propaganda

Why gender essentialism is a white supremacist ideology

Liberating Our Homes From the Real Estate–Industrial Complex

You Don’t Have To Be Pretty – On YA Fiction And Beauty As A Priority

Ten Years Later, There’s Still Nothing Like Tarsem Singh’s The Fall

Tolerance is not a moral precept

Scottish Poet and Publisher Derick Thomson 'Transformed' Gaelic Poetry

Poetry:

The Universe, as in One Last Song for the Lonely Hearts by Michelle Hulan

An Ordinary Evening in New Haven by Wallace Stevens

Heaven by George Herbert

Return from Death by Derick Thomson

Coffins by Derick Thomson

Chemin De Fer by Elizabeth Bishop

Yes, It Was The Mountain Echo by William Wordsworth

The Man and the Echo by William Butler Yeats

The Most of It by Robert Frost

Eros Turannos by Edwin Arlington Robinson

Books:

The Dark Yule by R. M. Callahan

The Invasion by K. A. Applegate

The Whisper by Aaron Starmer

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

Miss Iceland by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir

[redactedshapes]

Time is weird within the Oldest House

Spoilers for Alan Wake 2 and slight speculation for Control 2

Alright so. According to Estevez, HQ went dark and while she gives no hint as for how long it's been like that, it's safe to assume it's been four years due to how consistent the each Remedy game has been about the years they take place on.

Besides that, nothing is ever hinted at what's going on with the FBC's headquarters.

We know now time loops and spirals inside the Dark Place and that changes done there can bleed into reality (Jesse being told by a psychiatrist Zane is a filmmaker and not a poet, as she remembered him).

From the AWE DLC we know Jesse briefly witnessed Alan meeting Zane ("The Meeting" from now on), which came full circle in AW2.

From this event it's not unreasonable to assume two things:

1. The Meeting happened back in 2019.

The AWE DLC takes place before the ending of Control's and Foundation's story. This can be seen in the reports Emily writes about the new hiss enemies introduced in each dlc.

For the one introduced in AWE her title is still Research Specialist.

For the one in Foundation, her title is Head of Research. (also she got her Doctorate, you go girl!)

If this is holds up, Alan's timeline in AW2 has been bouncing back and forth way back from 2023.

Or, if you want a headache, even farther back given his role in Tom the Poet which came out before Zane disappeared. This is the poster in the Suomi Hall in Watery.

There's no hint yet if this change/addition of Alan writing a novel that inspired the film has made it past Watery and Bright Falls into the real world or was cleared at the end of the game.

This would also mean Ahti has been on vacations for four years.

2. The Meeting happened in 2023.

At the end of AWE dlc Langston says they're receiving an AWE alert from Cauldron Lake that is set a few years into the future. But is it?

What if it's actually the present, my dear beautiful Langston?

This would be consistent with the lack of any visual indication of the passage of time during the main story. There's none. And then, the Foundation DLC ends, and we see Dylan has grown hair and a beard.

Cute. But you know, Remedy has weaponized easter eggs. So no, I don't think Mr. comatose baldy growing a beard is a cute little detail they spent resources on.

We know by the time The Meeting takes place, Alan has not gotten out of the Dark Place yet, hence the alarm has not been activated (it goes off in the FBC monitoring station as soon as Alan/Scratch is transported back to the shore where Saga meets him for the first time).

If this holds up, then the timeline is more or less like this:

Ahti lets Jesse into the Oldest House in October 29th, 2019.

While Jesse is dealing with the Hiss, Alan unlocks Investigation Sector in the elevator.

Alan Meets Zane .

Jesse gets a glimpse of The Meeting.

Ahti gives Jesse his cassette players, goes on vacation.

Alan/Scratch gets out of the Dark Place (September 13th, 2023).

The AWE alarm sounds - and the signal made it into the Oldest House (September 13th, 2023).

Jesse takes down the Projector and deals with the Nail.

Dylan has grown hair.

Between point 4 and 5 more time could've passed, otherwise those are some short vacations for Ahti, it sounds like he's been in Watery for a while.

Therefore, during Control's main story, time was halted or passed very, very slowly when compared to the world outside.

How come?

With Remedy integrating their own alternate version of Quantum Break they might as well start using some of its harder science fiction approach. Alan has already mentioned the Dark Place as Dark Matter in one of his rambling videos. And well, this seems to have been the plan all along. From the chalkboard in Quantum Break:

There's been no text about black holes or matter density affecting space-time in any game as far as I remember. However, the imagery has been there with the Dark Presence vortex and certain images looking like event horizons.

So this is pure speculation:

The Oldest House is massive, it shifts, it expands and contracts. Could it be dense enough to affect space-time? could it do this on command?

It could be so dense that to those within its walls it'd seem like little to no time has passed, while outside at least four years have gone by.

The entire story is written in present tense in the missions menu, even after a mission has been completed (and the way the collectibles/mission menu was integrated as a world-building element with the Mind Place in Alan Wake 2, I don't think this was meant to be a cute weird little detail even back then).

Something happened during or after the events in the Foundation dlc, something shifted and now time is passing more or less normally. Or at least it is showing its effects on people.

Alice was seemingly cleansed from the effects the Dark Place had over her memory as soon she was brought inside the Oldest House. It's not unreasonable to assume this effect expands to protecting those within (those that are not too far gone, like Hartman). So the Oldest House would deal with time in its own terms, while the Dark Presence could make retroactive changes to certain details in the reality outside of it, like Zane going from poet to filmmaker.

Dylan's hair growth would indicate a month or two have passed at the very least by the end of Foundation. And from the one Control 2 concept art that has been shown so far, there are orange leaves in the pavement.

So Remedy could be planning to lift he lock-down during autumn. Autumn of what year? Heh, that's gonna be a fun one to find out.

-

As a counterpoint one could point at the game cinematic shots of the Oldest House from outside, they're always set at night across the story. It's just a detail that could've easily be a result of resource constraints. Yeah, not that it implies the story could've happened within one night.

Like with the clocks! You can point out at time being weird inside the Oldest House because none of the clocks are working! Time is literally frozen teehee, static textures on 3D assets, except for uh

Darling's Office in Central Research? Is that-

IS IT

IT'S WORKING

WHY DID YOU DO THIS REMEDY?

STOP-

(WE GET IT REMEDY, YOU'VE BEEN PLANNING IT ALL ALONG AND WHEN EVERYTHING IS LAID OUT IN CANON WE'LL FEEL SILLY BECAUSE THE HINTS WHERE THERE, IN OUR FACES, ALL THIS TIME)

-

Or you know, Control 2 will deal with the main cast enduring years of lock-down and the concept art is actually the end or middle of the game, and everyone exits the building on the year Control 2 releases.

Kind of lame in my opinion, but would make sense I guess.

-

Of course, there's another possibility I don't feel like following through:

The Dark Presence succeeded in changing the entire world and only The Oldest House and those inside remained intact. I mean, Dylan's easter egg in Foundation has some images

(that better not be a frozen ocean NO)

(NO, do not tell me this is the Huotari Well omg)

Hiss/Dark Presence became besties

And maybe, count Dylan's cut Hotline call. But that's cut content so strictly speaking, not canon (imagine it gets restored between Alan Wake 2 dlcs and the next Control game haha).

-

There are some things that should be brought full circle about the AWE dlc.

Alan is already aware of the FBC thanks to Estevez and Alice.

The sound fx aspect of the Hiss chant is basically lifted from the Cult of the Tree chanting (or you know, if you want another headache, it could be the other way around). And there are hints of verses from the Hiss incantation said out loud here and there. So pre-existing elements to give shape to a dadaist poem attributed to a hostile extra-dimensional resonance complete!

Has he yet come across the information from the FBC, that Hartman became a Taken?

He also kind of knows about the general plot of Control given he wrote a screenplay for an episode of Night Springs that was never produced.

It became clearer that Alan doesn't write whole new things or realities from scratch (shut up), that he writes from "visions" and vivid "nightmares" he's had. If that screenplay is a vision of the future of the events within the Oldest House, then that could be it.

However we haven't seen him become aware or gain knowledge of Polaris or Jesse herself beyond her extremely brief appearance during The Meeting.

This information has yet to make it outside the Oldest House (as far as we know) and only Dylan and Emily know about Polaris so far. Ahti too, maybe?

Sure, Alan could've somehow glimpsed something through the Oceanview Motel, he's got a door there anyways and he's gone through the Dark Place version of it (the Hotel), but this has not been made explicit like The Meeting.

Maybe The Lake House dlc will clear up that connection.

I mean yeah, that'd be fitting.

Don't forget one of the cut pieces from Control was The Oldest House opening a passage to Ahti's cabin in Finland, so The Oldest House being able to making an opening to Cauldon Lake is in Remedy's toolbox.

(I also think it'd be fair to see more of Jesse since Alan got a whole new 3D model in Control's AWE)

-

I'm missing a lot of things here I'm sure, I put this together more or less from things off the top of my head. I haven't gone through Control in a while so there are probably a more and clearer hints regarding time shenanigans within the Oldest House.

Also, AW2 timeline needs to be put on a wall to make sense of it. It'd look like a spiral, because of course.

[donaardaardendrian]

A summary of the endings of Animation Vs Science

At the time of writing this, only the first 3 episodes are out, any follow up will be done in reblogs. Spoilers below.

Let's start with Animation Vs Math (Av∑) :

After discovering the Math Universe, and fighting with Euler's Constant (e), Orange (aka TSC) asks e if it knows an exit to get out of this place, and comes up with a solution :

The terms of that summation are the values of "volume" of 2n-ball (with radius of 1): With n=0, the 0-ball is the point, and there is 1 point in a point (shocking), π^0 / Γ(1) = 1 ; with n=1, the 2-ball is the disk with area π, π^1 / Γ(2) = π ; with n=2, the 4-ball is the hyper-ball with hyper-volume π^2/2, π^2 / Γ(3) = π^2/2 ; and so on...

So TSC gets blipped out of existence through an infinite dimensional ball.

And appear in Animation Vs Physics (Avᴘ⃗ )...

Where after adventuring in a cowboy hat through space thanks to conveniently placed props, he reaches a black hole, a plunge into it.

(Due to time travel shenanigans, TSC goes multiple times through the same period of time, which the video does not show, skipping ahead)

He finds there his future self, who teach him how to manipulate quantum probability, and the flow of time.

Together, they conveniently place props through space for their past selves, and before leaving, by selecting a different universe interpretation, future TSC takes present TSC's hat, making present TSC "past TSC's future TSC" (dear god).

We will now follow TSC after he jumps through the universe as his future self.

Sadly, in Animation Vs Geometry (Av𝔊), he seems to have ended up in a dimensionless universe which he have to expend to move freely, first adding time, then two spacial dimension.

And, with phi (ɸ), after a bit of fleeing from a 4D menace, the Octaplex, they put it in a dimension prison referencing Poincaré's Dodecahedral Space, where space as the same volume as a dodecahedron whose opposite faces are linked after a 36° rotation.

However, we come across a familiar face : Avᴘ⃗ 's TSC looking from the previous universe, which seems to shock our TSC a bit, making him fall in the opposite direction : into the next one.

The universe then reset to a timeless space dot, enter-able by any stick figure that would go through universe... Oh, it moved.

(Since the universe seems to reset itself dimensionless, quitting time until it's restarting, the universe itself is in a timeloop. Thus, the nudge is caused by the same TSC that arrived 9 minutes before.)

[mysticstronomy]

HOW MANY DIMENSIONS EXIST??

Blog#347

Wednesday, November 8th, 2023

Welcome back,

The world as we know it has three dimensions of space—length, width and depth—and one dimension of time. But there’s the mind-bending possibility that many more dimensions exist out there. According to string theory, one of the leading physics model of the last half century, the universe operates with 10 dimensions.

But that raises a big question: If there are 10 dimensions, then why don’t we experience all of them or haven’t detected them? Lisa Grossman at ScienceNews reports that a new paper suggests an answer, showing that those dimensions are so tiny and so fleeting that we currently can’t detect them.

It’s difficult to completely explain the mathematics behind string theory without putting on a graduate seminar or two, but in essence dimensions five through ten have to do with possibility and include all possible futures and all possible pasts including realities with a totally different physics than those in our universe.

If two protons smash together at high enough speeds, they have the ability to create a tiny black hole that would exist for just a fraction of a second before disappearing, according to a new study, which hasn't been peer-reviewed, on the preprint server arXiv.org. The collision would open up a little bubble of interdimensional space where the laws of physics are different than ours, leading to an event known as vacuum decay. In quantum physics, vacuum decay implies that if the interdimensional space was large enough, we’d be toast.

With enough gravity to interact with our world, the newly formed “Cosmic Death Bubble” would grow at the speed of light, rapidly change the physics of our universe, render it uninhabitable and effectively zap us out of existence.

“If you’re standing nearby when the bubble starts to expand, you don’t see it coming,” the study’s co-author, physicist Katie Mack of North Carolina State University, tells Grossman. “If it’s coming at you from below, your feet stop existing before your mind realizes that.”

Ultrahigh energy cosmic rays are bashing into each other all the time with enough energy to start this process. If extra dimensions were large enough to allow the death bubble to form, the researchers found, it would have happened thousands of times already. The fact that we still exist is one circumstantial piece of evidence that other dimensions are ultra-tiny. The team calculated that they must be smaller than 16 nanometers, too small for their gravity to influence much in our world and hundreds of times smaller than previous calculations, Grossman reports.

The new study comes on the tail of another study about extra dimensions published in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics published in July. Mara Johnson-Groh at LiveScience reports that one of the big questions in physics is why the expansion of the universe is accelerating. One theory is that gravity is leaking out of our universe into other dimensions. To test this idea, researchers looked at data from recently discovered gravitational waves.

our universe was leaking gravity through these other dimensions, the researchers reasoned, then the gravitational waves would be weaker than expected after traveling across the universe.

But the researchers found they didn’t lose any energy on their long journey, meaning other dimensions either don’t exist or are so tiny they don’t affect gravity very much, if at all.

“General relativity says gravity should be working in three dimensions, and [the results] show that that’s what we see,” physicist Kris Pardo of Princeton, lead author of the July study, tells Johnson-Groh. The latest study also concludes that the size of extra dimensions is so small that it precludes many theories about gravity leaking out of our universe.

Originally published on www.smithsonianmag.com

COMING UP!!

(Saturday, November 11th, 2023)

"WHAT IS THE FURTHEST THING WE CAN SEE IN SPACE??"

[wobster109]

Why is Aventurine Preservation-Imaginary?

(The real answer is, it's probably just HoYo filling out the path/element roster, but we'll play along!)

We'll tackle his element first. It's not the easier of the two, but it's the one with less info to sort through. The basic element types are:

Elements: wind, fire, ice, lightning

Sorta-abstract: quantum, imaginary

Physical: physical

It's a pretty funny system, all things considering. Here's Gepard, he can summon a massive wall of ice through will alone! Here's Dr. Ratio, he can make a massive tower just by thinking it into existence! Oh and here's Luka. Ordinary human. Pretty good at boxing.

(Not including Trailblazer here - probably the stellaron helps her swing that bat extra hard or something.)

And in the middle, you have Guinaifen, Hook, and Serval, who use the element but do not create it from scratch. For example, Serval is conceivably using electricity from her electric guitar.

Most of the elements are pretty self-explanatory, but Quantum and Imaginary are a bit more abstract. What are these types? What do they mean?

Quantum: technology, information, data, uncertainty

In my mind, Silver Wolf is the classic quantum character. She uses hacking to change data. In her hands, the data is always shifting. Fu Xuan is another direction that quantum can go - she's a diviner, and her job is peering into the future and making sense of the uncertainty. And then Qingque has elements of both: she works in divination, and also there is uncertainty in each hand of Celestial Jade.

Imaginary: Logic, abstraction, math/physics/metaphycs, theology

For some reason, Imaginary feels to me like dealing with the grand existential questions. There's Dr. Ratio on one end, knowledge is the measure of all things, and then there's Luocha with religious symbolism all over him, the devils, the church, the insanity in his character story, healing you with a cross necklace. Welt with his black hole - there's some kind of physics in there!

But this seems more like a philosophy than an element in battle. So in practice, what Imaginary characters have in common most of all is summoning miscellaneous objects 😅 black holes, dragons, chalk, etc.

So on that note, Aventurine fits right in, summoning dice and coins all over the place! Watch your he-ead~ 🎶🎵

I would've expected Aven to be Quantum. All the RNG in his kit. . . all the gambling, all the uncertainty. . . it seems more alike Qingque's tile suits. He even has card suits on his shields!

Perhaps the Imaginary is more about his character. Much of his story is intensely existential - what's the good of his blessing when everyone he loves is gone; why are we born if it's just to die. Perhaps he brings not just another answer, but a new way to see the question—not Why am I here, but All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.

A more direct question that he himself discusses is why he's Preservation. We know he was offered the chance to become a Masked Fool, and seek Elation - the pursuit of happiness. Yet he turned it down.

As his alter-ego says, he and Preservation have nothing in common.

Interestingly, he also gives himself the answer.

He didn't choose the Preservation. Aventurine chose the IPC.

But wait—aren't the IPC the bad guys?

It is fascinating to me when people make out the IPC to be the villain of this tale, or talk about him "escaping" the IPC as if he's being held hostage. Not only did he choose the IPC, he gambled everything, including his life, just for a sliver of a chance to join them.

They didn't kill his family, enslave him, brand him, or make him kill 34 other slaves. Certainly, the IPC has used Aventurine's talents and self-destructive behavior to their benefit, and is not particularly concerned with what becomes of him. They are big, corporate, and easy to hate. But they are also not the cause of his tragedy.

It's not the IPC, but rather the Katicans, that kill Kakavasha's family. His sister describes them as "bloodthirsty, cruel, and insatiably greedy." Personally I can’t say with confidence that the Katicans are villains without knowing their full history, but either way, the conflict is between the Avgins and the Katicans.

My feeling is that the IPC is amoral - they are not actively out to do harm, but neither will they go out of their way to avoid or prevent it. They are focused primarily on profit. Sometimes that means taking over a planet against the people's will. Sometimes that means making gambles. . . or sacrifices. Other times, it means hosting an Aetherium event.

So, why does Aventurine choose the IPC? What's interesting to me is, he isn't a slave to the IPC in any sense - not even in the lack-of-choice sense of Topaz's planet. He had a choice. He could have become a Masked Fool. So, why?

It all comes back to this:

"Go ahead, use me as you wish, even stab me in the back if you see fit. Exploitation and treachery are simply tools of the trade. But remember, I don't make deals that don't pay off... So, I hope you don't disappoint me."

The IPC is a tool to him, a means to an end. He expects that the IPC will use him, and in exchange he intends to use the IPC.

But to what end?

It's got to be something big. He could have become a refugee or an ordinary IPC employee, and instead he took the risk of lying about Tayzzynronth's remains. He let himself be arrested and brought to Jade. "I bet you won't send me to the gallows." Death was a possibility, so it had to be worth that risk.

My guess is that he wanted to save the Avgin people.

(And in this sense, Preservation is his true path after all.)

His sister tells him, "As long as you are alive, the blood of the Avgin will never run dry." Perhaps his goal was to save the remaining Avgin people, bring them away from the land of rock and sand and hardly any rain, and give them a home where they could prosper. Or to environmentally transform his home the way the IPC transformed other planets. To do that, he'll need more money and power than an IPC grunt's income. But with a Stoneheart's power, the IPC's money, and the Intelligentsia Guild's knowledge, he could make that happen.

(It feels off. It feels like too simple of an answer.)

But the Avgin people are all gone. Aventurine specifically says there aren't any left. Now that his reason is gone, what will become of him?

In a way, he does offer us an answer.

Aventurine: There will come a day when the sky will drizzle, and I will hear the call of Gaiathra Triclops and know that it is time for me to go and be reunited with my family. Aventurine: So until the time comes... I should be preparing. Kakavasha: Preparing for what? Aventurine: Preparing to face them, Kakavasha, and to make them proud.

He will go on to live a good life. What form will it take?

I don't think he can ever completely shake off the responsibility of being the last surviving Avgin. It would be quite a leap for him to settle down and have a family, so perhaps he'll have to pass it forward some other way. Either by preserving the culture (another museum management event?) or by dedicating his wealth and power to saving other peoples.

The thing about being somewhere is, you can't help but grow into it, and it grows around you. And now, he has. . . allies who are a bit closer to friends than he might think.

He has two coworkers who willingly handed over their cornerstones for his plan—cornerstones more precious than life itself. He seems to genuinely look out for Topaz (advising her against getting involved in Belobog), and she talks about him cheerfully during 2.1. And I am sure that bringing him into the IPC was a significant personal risk for Jade, especially since he'd already caused the IPC a major financial loss. For Jade and Topaz, he has—if not their trust, at least their respect in his abilities.

And he has the Intelligentsia Guild's top Mundanite fussing over his survival. Not for the Avgin bloodline, and not for profit or the success of a mission. Acheron refers to Ratio as his “friend”, and he doesn’t bother to deny it.

He has three allies/maybe-friends involved in a grand scheme with him, and isn't there something addicting about scheming together? Something as marvelous as what the Trailblazer has with the Express? So, I don't think he'll leave the IPC anytime soon. He carved out this path with his bare hands, made a life and a purpose for himself, and even made some friends along the way. Now, it's time to live it.

[othernicknameisgaslighter]

The Wisp pt. 3

(Cross posted on tumblr and AO3)

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Prev - Next Chapter

"What's the date. Exactly," Five said, dropping a wooden cutting board on the table.

"March, the twenty-fourth," Y/N replied, fiddling with the hem of her shirt.

The skinny boy came back over with a loaf of bread. He paused, looking at Y/N for a bit before looking back down at the bread. "Good."

Luther piped up from across Y/N, to Five's right, "So are we gonna talk about what just happened?" He didn't respond, keeping himself occupied with two slices he pulled out of the bag. Annoyed, Luther stood from his chair. "It's been seventeen years."

Five looked up at him sternly. "It's been a lot longer than that." He disappeared, only to reappear behind Luther, on a stool to reach the marshmallows on a higher shelf.

"I haven't missed that," Luthur mumbled.

"Where'd you go?" Diego asked, seeming a tad pissed himself.

"The future." He "jumped" back to the table. "It's shit by the way."

"Called it," Klaus cheered.

This time Five walked to grab the peanut butter. "I should've listened to the old man. Jumping through space is one thing, jumping through time is a toss of the dice." He glanced over at me again before laying his eyes on Klaus. "Nice dress."

The druggie made a noise. "Danke!"

"Wait, how did you get back?" Vanya asked.

"I had to project my consciousness forward into a suspended quantum state version of myself that exists across every possible instance of time."

"That makes no sense," Diego said.

"Makes sense to me." Y/N shrugged.

Without looking up, Five replied, "Thank you, Y/N." He leapt from his seat on the table, only to be held back by Luther.

"How long were you there?" Luther asked.

"Eh, maybe forty years years, give or take."

"That would make you… Fifty three years old," Y/N thought out-loud while the others remained silent in awe. She looked him up and down once more. "Mentally, right?"

"My consciousness is fifty, to be precise," he replied. "My body is apparently thirteen again." His eyes quickly traveled up and down. "You seem to be going through something similar."

"I'm physically fourteen." Was all Y/N said. The rest of her siblings didn't push her to elaborate, after all, her being alive was a sensitive topic to Y/N.

"Hold on," Vanya spoke up. "Y/N's situation makes sense. How did that work for you?"

Five only rolled his eyes. "Delores kept saying the equations were off. Eh." He took a bite out of the disgusting sandwich. "Bet she's laughing now."

"Delores?" Y/N asked, intrigued. She pictured a curly grey haired woman nagging Five about things every day. It was almost comical.

He briefly glanced at Y/N before finding the newspaper with our "father's" death as the main headline. "Guess I missed the funeral."

"How'd you know about that?" Diego asked.

"I believe he said that he went into the future, Gogo." Y/N said to him.

"He died of heart failure, huh?" Five said absentmindedly.

"Yeah," Diego said.

"No," Luther butted in. Soon all eyes were turned to him.

"He thinks I killed him." Y/N crossed her arms, looking away and avoiding eye contact.

"I never said that!"

"Didn't deny it." Diego said.

"Oh, of course you're on her side."

Five stared at Y/N for a bit before mumbling, "Nice to see nothing's changed," as he left the room.

Allison turned. "That's it? That's all?"

"What more is there to say?" he asked without turning. "Circle of life."

Dad's remains were carried outside by Luther, who, as well as Diego, had no umbrella as the rain poured down on their small group.

Meanwhile, Y/N, Vanya, Allison, Five, and even Mom had black umbrellas as Klaus sported a clear one with Barbie-pink trim. It seemed fitting for him.

Mom looked at all of then. "What's wrong? Did I miss something?"

"Mom… Dad's dead," Allison said gently. "Don't you remember?"

"Oh, of course," she replied, frowning.

"Is… Is she alright?" Allison asked, leaning to look at Y/N down the row.

"She's perfectly okay," Diego insisted. "She just needs to... Recuperate. To charge or something."

Pogo walked up beside Vanya with a striped umbrella of his own, came in hand as he turned to face Luther. "Whenever you'd like to begin, Luther."

He took a hesitant step forward, popped the top of the urn off, and turned it upside-down. The dark, powdery contents of the jar fell to the ground unceremoniously. Klaus grimaced with a new cigarette in his hand. "Some wind might've made it… Better," the hulk of a man mumbled.

"Would anyone like to give a few words?" Pogo asked kindly. There was a heavy silence from everyone for a while. Even the teacher's pet himself kept his mouth shut tight.

Y/N looked at the statue of Ben with a sad frown, she didn't even get to go to his funeral… And than there was her statue. It was definitely… Something.

The statue of her had been placed next to Ben's, with her head looking down and her arms held up high, forming a cup with her hands. Dramatic as always...

Pogo stepped in. "He was a teacher, father, and friend. He will be missed more than can be expressed." His little sad smile remained on his little sad face.

Diego rolled his eyes. "He was a terrible person. Reginald Hargreeves was a walking disaster and hurt everyone he came into contact with. We're better off with him dead."

Allison interjected, "Diego - "

"He named me Number Two," he stated gruffly. "And that's because that bastard couldn't bother to give us real names. He made Mom do it instead."

Mother randomly asked, "Is anyone hungry? I could whip up some snacks?"

"No, it's fine, Mother," Y/N smiled at her.

"If you say so." She seemed almost dejected.

"I'll… Maybe you could make me a sandwich…" Y/N quickly said, "I wouldn't mind one of those. After all, it's sort of nostalgic." Mother smiled and nodded. She was acting… Off…

Diego moved towards the ashes. "Look, you wanna be polite and give some words? Fine by me. But at least spare all the lies about how much of a 'good person' he was."

"Diego, shut your mouth," Luther said lowly.

"Diego… I'm not sure this is a good idea." Y/N said.

The knife-wielder rounded on him. "You of all people should be agreeing with me, Number One. Years of being his little pet, after everything, he still shipped you all the way to the Moon."

"Shut up!" he hissed.

"That's how much he couldn't bear being around you!" Luther snapped. The two started brawling, Pogo at one point pleading them to stop. Klaus moved protectively in front of Five, who shoved him aside. Y/N quietly stood on the other side of Vanya, in front of Ben's statue, watching the scene unfold.

This seemed familiar, like it happened before. The fighting, the yelling, the cheering… It was all so familiar like a balloon that Y/N had lost to the wind and desperately tried to grab back. Diego started to gain what looked like an upper hand.

Vanya begged the both of them to stop, while Klaus was begging them to continue, cheering like a rabid sports fan.

Pogo huffed and slunk back inside as Diego started shouting encouragement at Luther. The former was then thrown by the latter before getting held in a chokehold.

"Get off me!" Diego wheezed. Luther was knocked off and Diego staggered closer to the statue.

"This is utterly pointless," Five muttered as he turned to leave before turning and grabbing my hand, "I need to talk to you."

"You're telling me, that I end the world?" Y/N asked in disbelief as Five jumped around looking for a coffee mug.

"I'm not saying that, I'm saying that when I ended up a few hours after the apocalypse-"'

"Which is in a few days."

"Which is in a few days. I found this." Five stopped and held up a glass eyeball. "And one of these." Five then dug through his pocket to find a few pieces of chipped porcelain.

Y/N froze, as she saw the cracked pieces and shut down almost immediately as she saw the pieces. Her hands shook and she steadied them on the table with a shaky breath.

Five placed his hand on her shoulder and she snapped her head towards him, quickly clearing her throat.

"I found it in Luthur's hand. As well as the glass eye." Five said, jumping around once again before finding a coffee mug. "If it's not you, then we need to find the owner of the glass eye."

"Hold on, 'we'? We as in our siblings right?" Y/N asked. Five shook his head.

"They're all imbeciles, I need someone who can keep up with me. And I need you to stay around me." Five said, "Keeping you around me may prevent the end of the world.

"I… Think I'm going to take that as a compliment." Y/N said as Klaus and Allison walked in the room. Five dug through the shelves curiously, probably in search of some coffee.

"Where's Vanya?" Allison asked.

"She left a while ago." Y/N said.

"That's unfortunate." Five said before taking an empty container and placing it on the table, "An entire square block, 42 bedrooms, 19 bathrooms, and not a single drop of coffee."

"Dad hated caffeine." Allison pointed out.

"Well, he hated children too and he had plenty of us." Klaus laughed, clutching onto a random electric guitar.

"I mean, he does have a point…" Y/N agreed with her brother.

"Aww… Y/N agrees with me…" Klaus let the guitar drop to the floor as he stumbled over to Y/N and gave her a big hug.

The porcelain girl smiled as Klaus collapsed onto her. "You’re so amazing…" Klaus sighed.

"I'm taking the car." Five left, "Y/N, c'mon."

"Where are you two going?" Klaus asked as Y/N managed to push him off of her and stand up from her seat to follow Five.

"To get a decent cup of coffee. And to talk." Five said with a 'duh' tone.

"Do you even know how to drive?" Allison asked, crossing her arms.

"I know how to do everything." Five said snarkly.

"I mean, I've got a drivers license." Y/N shrugged. Five and Y/N held hands as they both space jumped to the garage.

The girl shivered, "I'll never get used to that." She sighed as she sat in shot gun and Five sat in the drivers seat. After a few minutes of awkwardness, Y/N broke the silence. "So… Did you just learn how to drive during the apocalypse? Like, you were lucky to find a car and ended up teaching yourself?"

Five sighed as the car drove into the road, "And to think I missed your idiotic questions…"

"Aw, you missed me?” Y/N smirked.

The two of them pulled up to Griddy's Donuts, something Y/N was very familiar with.

The bell rang in her ear as a random stranger opened the door for the two of them. "Thank you." Y/N gave a smile to the stranger.

The duo both sat down at the table before another man sat down next to them, exhaling deeply as he took his cap off and started working on a… Crossword puzzle? Y/N didn't really know.

"Sorry, sink was clogged." An elderly waitress wearing pink smiled as she took out a pad of paper and pen, "So, what'll it be?"

"Uh, give me a chocolate eclair." The man said.

"Mhmm, sure. Can I get the kids a glass of milk or something?" The waitress asked.

"The kid wants coffee. Black." Five scoffed. Y/N gave the waitress a friendly smile.

"I'll have some tea." Y/N said.

"Cute kids." The waitress smiled slightly. Five fake smiles at her as she went to the back.

"Even if you're old, you still have to be nice to other people." Y/N said, turning to him, "After all, you're physically thirteen again. Not fifty."

"You're too nice, Y/N. Even for your own good." Five shook his head.

"At least I'm not rude all the time, you've always been a smart-ass." Y/N remarked.

Five looked at her before looking away, smiling slightly as he started a conversation with the man next to him. "Don't remember this place being such a shithole. I used to come here as a kid. Used to sneak out with my brothers and sisters and… Eat donuts 'till we puked. Simpler times, huh?"

"Uh… I suppose." The man said, clearly confused as to why a thirteen year old looking boy was talking like an old man.

The waitress came over to them, setting down their orders as the man offered to pay for the other two's drinks. "Thanks." Five said as he eyed the man's jacket, "You must know your way around the city."

"I hope so. I've been driving it for 20 years." The man said.

"Good. I need an address." Five said.

Y/N drummed her fingers on the counter, looking around at the familiar looking place. She smiled as she remembered there was one time where she had to carry both Ben and Klaus out of the cafe because they got too sick off of donuts.

Their father scolded her for an hour because she took the blame. God, that was a long night.

"When'd you start drinking tea?" Five asked, suddenly snapping her out of her trance.

"Well, I enjoy it more than water and soda." Y/N said, "But sometimes I like to drink coffee.”

Five nodded as Y/N felt his eyes on her. She shifted uncomfortably before the doorbell rang and tons of people filed in.

Since she was facing the other way, she could see that they had guns. She vaguely remembered Diego saying guns were for sissies. Heh, simpler times.

"Hm… I thought they'd have more time before they found me." Five said calmly, setting his coffee mug down.

"You're gonna explain later, Five." Y/N frowned.

"Don't worry, I will." Five said.

"Let's all be professional about this, okay? On your feet and come with us. They wanna talk." The man with the gun pointing to Five's head said.

"I've got nothing to say."

"It doesn't have to go this way." The man said. "You think I wanna shoot a kid? And go back home with that on my conscience?"

"Well, I wouldn't worry about that." Five sighed as he turned to the man pointing the gun at him, "You won't be going home."

Five looked to Y/N and blinked twice. She blinked twice back as Five slowly picked up a knife and space jumped, stabbing the man in the shoulder.

Y/N quickly got up and reached for her pocket, searching for her garrote. Tightening it, she ran up behind a person and slammed them on the ground, effectively choking them before they passed out.

Y/N grunted as a bullet grazed through her side. She hissed at the pain. Five watched her get shot before bashing someone's head on the ground.

Y/N threw a fork and it landed into a man’s eye. She sighed as she felt a burning sensation in her side, dammit, she thought that her dad made her skin impenetrable. So much for that bullshit.

"Hey, Y/N! Leave it to me!" Five smiled as blood splattered onto the floor.

Y/N nodded, holding her side and coughing harshly. She grimaced before tearing her sleeve and wrapping it around her waist as a makeshift bandage.

As the lights flashed rapidly and Five finished off the rest of the attackers, Y/N hopped off the table to join Five, who had finished cutting his arm and digging out a small tracker.

"So… Did you want to come to my place? I mean, I think we have to deal with that injury sooner or later." Y/N suggested as they walked out of the diner.

"No, can't risk it at your place. Let's go to Vanya's." Five said. Y/N frowned.

"Are you sure? I mean-"

"You're injured." Was all Five said. Y/N, as if on cue, winced as she remembered the bullet wound.

"I've-" Y/N coughed, "-Had worse. I'm sure it'll heal like the rest."

"It could get infected." Five said matter-of-factly. Y/N shrugged.

"I guess I can tend to it later. Right now, we need to get to Vanya's place." She said, "We're taking the car, right?"

"Why do that when we can just-" Five grabbed her hand and space jumped into an alleyway.

"Shit! Again, you've got to warn me." Y/N said as he chuckled slightly.

"Sorry." Five said, giving her a smug smirk as he climbed up the side of a building.

"How'd you find out where Vanya lives?" Y/N asked, following him up.

"Sources." Five said as he opened the window to the second floor. Y/N sighed as she followed him.

The room was fairly clean, as expected from Vanya. There was a small kitchenette and a violin sitting on a wooden chair.

Five sat on a plush grandma chair and Y/N sat beside him in another. Five and Y/N heard keys click as the door opened. Five clicked the lamp on to reveal… Vanya. "Jesus!" She said in surprise.

"You should have locks on your windows." Five commented.

"I live on the second-floor." Vanya said, flicking the light switch on to bring some more light to the dark apartment.

"Rapists can climb." Five said.

"Five, that's not…" Y/N's voice trailed off as the stinging in her side made her body feel like it was on fire.

"You are so weird." Vanya said, closing the door and taking off her shoes and coat.

[eowyntheavenger]

By Emily Strasser | August 9, 2023

At the theater where I saw Oppenheimer on opening night, there was a handmade photo booth featuring a pink backdrop, “Barbenheimer” in black letters, and a “bomb” made of an exercise ball wrapped in hoses. I want to tell you that I flinched, but I laughed and snapped a photo. It took a beat before I became horrified—by myself and the prop. Today is the 78th anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki, which killed up to 70,000 people and came only three days after the bombing of Hiroshima that killed as many as 140,000 people. Yet still we make jokes of these weapons of genocide.

Oppenheimer does not make a joke of nuclear weapons, but by erasing the specific victims of the bombings, it repeats a sanitized treatment of the bomb that enables a lighthearted attitude and limits the power of the film’s message. I know this sanitized version intimately, because my grandfather spent his career building nuclear weapons in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, the site of uranium enrichment for the Hiroshima bomb. My grandfather died before I was born, and though there were photographs of mushroom clouds from nuclear tests hanging on my grandmother’s walls, we never discussed Hiroshima, Nagasaki, or the fact that Oak Ridge, still an active nuclear weapons production site, is also a 35,000-acre Superfund site. At the Catholic church in town, a pious Mary stands atop an orb bearing the overlapping ovals symbolizing the atom, and until it closed a few years ago, a local restaurant displayed a sign with a mushroom cloud bursting out of a mug of beer.

Oppenheimer does not show a single image of Hiroshima or Nagasaki. Instead, it recreates the horror through Oppenheimer’s imagination, when, during a congratulatory speech to the scientists of Los Alamos after the bombing of Hiroshima, the sound of the hysterically cheering crowd goes silent, the room flashes bright, and tatters of skin peel from the face of a white woman in the audience. The scene is powerful and unsettling, and, arguably, avoids sensationalizing the atrocity by not depicting the victims outright. But it also plays into a problematic pattern of whitewashing both the history and threat of nuclear war by appropriating the trauma of the Japanese victims to incite fear about possible future violence upon white bodies. An example of this pattern is a 1948 cover of John Hersey’s Hiroshima, which featured a white couple fleeing a city beneath a glowing orange sky, even though the book itself brought the visceral human suffering to American readers through the eyes of six actual survivors of the bombing.

The Oppenheimer film also neglects the impacts of fallout from nuclear testing, including from the Trinity test depicted in the film; the harm to the health of blue-collar production workers exposed to toxic and radiological materials; and the contamination of Oak Ridge and other production sites. Instead, the impressive pyrotechnics of the Trinity test, images of missile trails descending through clouds toward a doomed planet, and Earth-consuming fireballs interspersed with digital renderings of a quantum universe of swirling stars and atoms, elevate the bomb to the realm of the sublime—terrible, yes, but also awesome.

A compartmentalized project. The origins of this treatment can be traced to the Manhattan Project, when scientists called the bomb by the euphemistic code word “gadget” and the security policy known as compartmentalization limited workers’ knowledge of the project to the minimum necessary to complete their tasks. This policy helped to dilute responsibility and quash moral debates and dissent. Throughout the film, we see Oppenheimer move from resisting compartmentalization to accepting it. When asked by another scientist about his stance on a petition against dropping the bomb on Japan, he responds that the builders of the bomb do not have “any more right or responsibility” than anyone else to determine how it will be used, despite the fact that the scientists were among the few who even knew of its existence.

Due to compartmentalization, the vast majority of the approximately half-million Manhattan Project workers, like my grandfather, could not have signed the petition because they did not know what they were building until Truman announced the bombing of Hiroshima. Afterward, press restrictions limited coverage of the humanitarian impacts, giving the false impression that the bombings had targeted major military and industrial sites—and eliding the vast civilian toll and the novel horrors of radiation. Photographs and films of the aftermath, shot by Japanese journalists and American military, were classified and suppressed in the United States and occupied Japan.

The limit of theory. Not only is it dishonest and harmful to erase the suffering of the real victims of the bomb, but doing so moves the bomb into the realm of the theoretical and abstract. One recurring theme of the film is the limit of theory. Oppenheimer was a brilliant theorist but a haphazard experimentalist. A close friend and fellow scientist questions whether he’ll be able to pull off this massive, high-stakes project of applied theory. Just before the detonation of the Trinity test bomb, General Leslie Groves, the military head of the project, asks Oppenheimer about a joking bet overheard among the scientists regarding the possibility that the explosion would ignite the atmosphere and destroy the world. Oppenheimer assures Groves that they have done the math and the possibility is “near zero.” “Near zero?” Groves asks, alarmed. “What do you want from theory alone?” responds Oppenheimer.

Can the theoretical motivate humanity to action?

One telling scene shows Oppenheimer at a lecture on the impacts of the bomb. We hear the speaker describe how dark stripes on victims’ clothing were burned onto their skin, but the camera remains on Oppenheimer’s face. He looks at the screen, gaunt and glassy-eyed, for a few moments, before turning away. Americans are still looking away. As a country, we’ve succumbed to “psychic numbing,” as Robert Jay Lifton and Greg Mitchell call it in their book Hiroshima in America, which leads to general apathy about nuclear weapons—and pink mushroom clouds and bomb props for selfies.

On this anniversary of Nagasaki, the world stands on a precipice, closer than ever to nuclear midnight. The nine nuclear-armed states collectively possess more than 12,500 warheads; the more than 9,500 nuclear weapons available for use in military stockpiles have the combined power of more than 135,000 Hiroshima-sized bombs.

If Oppenheimer motivates conversation, activism, and policy shifts in support of nuclear abolition, that’s a good thing. But by relegating the bomb to abstracted images removed from actual humanitarian consequences, the film leaves the weapon in the realm of the theoretical. And as Oppenheimer says in the film, “theory will only take you so far.” Today, it’s vital that we understand the devastating impacts that nuclear weapons have had and continue to have on real victims of their production, testing, and wartime use. Our survival may depend on it.

[xkeyon]

Luna Maximoff Marvel Future

So Luna is a pretty popular character, reaching most of the Marvel fan base thanks to the many connections she has, even though she doesn't get used that much. Marvel loves to bring out the next young hero so why not have one who is known yet can also be developed, letting her have a shot at something and there are 2 paths that come to mind.

That would be the Avengers path, first the Young Avengers later on joining a different Avengers group most likely Uncanny. The other would be the Magic path, as it is revealed one per-generation of the Maximoff line takes on Witchcraft powers and holds a Scarlet Title, so have her be the next inheritor going to Strange Academy while getting private lessons from Wanda.

Ok now that 2 paths are out there what about a costume, most superheroes wear some kind of costume and she has a family full of them. Well I would put costume in 3 sections. Design, Colour, and Attributes. The design would be leaning to the Inhumans, she is a literal Princess for them. Plus her mother's family seems to have a theme that she could follow

A prime colour, with black trim, and a given name symbol on the waist

Crystal = Diamond Medusa = M So Luna could be a Crescent, as for colours I would look to her father for this

Switching out the Black trim for white, as for the Prime I think it should depend on the path she would be on. I would go green for the Avengers, and Blue for Magic. Now Attributes to really scream Avengers or Magic.

If Avengers then wear her mother's Avenger's jacket, a real passing of the torch moment.

If Magic, then Red/Scarlet like Romani articles of clothing. She would adopt these not just with her costume but also everyday clothing as well. Since she would be at Strange Academy and while they have a uniform it does look to have some customization.

So powers, as an Inhuman who has gone through Terrigenesis she has gained powers that in the form of empathic aura reading and control.

But this has given also some precog abilities. It has not been explained how this is, but I think it might be she sees the future someone is leaning to the most based on their emotional state.

She holds a high amount of Inhuman DNA so will have their advanced bodies even before Terrigenesis, as well has received martial training from the likes of Karnak. Of course if she goes the magic path then Witchcraft will be a birthright as much as her Inhuman gifts. Witchcraft a magic that connects to a Goddess and the Earth.

Now while all of these are good things for a hero path to have she doesn't feel at least right now a solo act. Teams and Companions will be important part to her, and how she will act with either the Young Avengers and Strange Academy will depend on who could/should/will be there, but I do know someone who could get added to these Franklin Richards.

Currently depowered him getting his own new path could work here. For the Young Avengers give him a suit like the Thing Suit + Thing Rings, but make it something that connects to the other three Fantastic Four members letting him take on their powers though it being weaker. Each of the main members of the Fantastic Four have been part of the Avengers so he captures still the Young Avengers theme. If magic, well Agatha Harkness was his nanny maybe her recommendation to try plus get into the academy could work here, him learning Quantum Magic, still leaning into the F4's more science connections but looking at it another way.

Their families are close so they know each other and depending on who is on the teams they would most likely have the closest connections with each other, perhaps even moving from friendship to romance.

[pommedepersephone]

007 Fest 2024 Master Post

NAME: Rin Rigg

PRIMARY DUTIES (Fics)

crimson touched by blue

Am I the ghost at the end of the song?

never did run smooth

A Quartermaster Bi Any Other Name

ON THE COMMS (Immersive)

Glass Animals ILYSFM Illustrated Lyrics series:

Lost in the Ocean

On the Run

Tear in Space (Airlock)

How I Learned to Love the Bomb

White Roses

Scavenger Hunt items featured in crimson touched by blue:

Report to the Quartermaster on MI6 employee social media accounts

Scavenger Hunt items featured in Am I the ghost at the end of the song?:

Double-0 Old Fashioned cocktail recipe

A garden for Madeleine

Black out poem from The Once and Future King

Bond for Children (sort of) in the style of Goodnight Moon

INTERDEPARTMENTAL COOPERATION (Social)

Joined the watch parties for The Fourth Protocol and Richard II

ADDITIONAL DUTIES (Making it a Family Affair)

Family Watch Party List:

Paddington, Paddington 2, Logan Lucky, Passages, Knives Out, Glass Onion, Bright Star, Bond movies from Dr. No to The World is Not Enough

Book List (with links):

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang by Ian Fleming

For Your Eyes Only: Ian Fleming + James Bond by Ben Macintyre

Quantum of Solace by Ian Fleming

Superspy Science: Science, Death and Tech in the World of James Bond by Kathryn Harkup

Bond Movies: A Retrospective by Ho Lin

This was my first Fest, and it was so awesome to stretch myself a bit, and spent time working with colleagues - thanks especially to @anyawen for all your support, and to @l219tj and @emiliasilverova for your contributions towards the Care and Feeding of Alec. A big thanks to my ETERNAL cheerleader @murphysscribe who I have forced to put up with my Bond obsession.

(and for those who shared, commented, etc thaaaank you @foxsoulcourt , @ato-the-bean , @luminiferocity @amongthejumbledheap @aching-arc-reactor @celandinebergerac @spiritofcamelot @tales-of-whales @boffin1710 @castillon02 @thestalwartheart @dude-watchin-with-the-brontes @crewman-penelope @bludelivers @tsubame17 @myndelling @kmk1701d @emerald-truth @cicerfics @tiny-tardis @phinniastuff @kitten-kin )