#but you have to understand. this is the New one made with slightly different technology.

[whisperofthewaves]

I love having anxiety disorder bc I just signed up for covid shot next friday and immediately after hitting submit I got a "what if it kills me. what if I just chose my date of death" anxiety preview to what I'll be experiencing right after the shot is administered. so much fun to look forward to.

[coldfanbou]

Saleswoman

Who would've thought Yuna made a good saleswoman...Well, I would have. Anyway, here's the fic for the week; originally, I was thinking of doing a Yuna gangbang fic, but then Eros presented a saleswoman concept I liked in a writer discord and thought would be easier than a gangbang.

Length 2.1K

Yuna X Mreader

Having seen good reviews about the new mattress store, you look up the location. Your mattress has had a depression in it after years of use, and you needed another. The reviews praise the staff for their help in deciding. You set aside time to head out, ensuring you researched the different types of beds beforehand. You arrive at the store just a few minutes after they open; you take in the grand scale of it. You next notice how empty it was, considering the many reviews you thought the store would be full. You don’t even see any workers as you walk through. 

Shaking your head, you move through the store and look at all the different bed models. They had various kinds of technology, all meant to aid sleep, or so they claimed. You tested a few beds laying on them to see how they felt. You had decided beforehand you wanted something that was a little firmer, so you focused on those. As you tested another out, you shut your eyes, imagining what it would be like to sleep on it for years. This one was too firm, having very little give. You open your eyes to see the face of a young woman staring back at you. “Hi! Welcome!” She greets you. You jump, shocked that you hadn’t noticed her walk up to you. “Oh, sorry for scaring you. My name is Yuna, and I’ll be your special aid today.” She says with a wide grin. You look the woman over as she fixes her hair. Yuna didn’t look like someone who worked her. She wore a white sleeveless crop top from a nearby university and matching white shorts. Her red hair stood out against her clothing, attracting attention to her face. 

“I saw you lay on a few models. Did any of them interest you further?” Yuna asks, her hand behind her back as she listens to your response.

“Well, there was the smart bed and one over there.” You say, pointing out a mattress that wasn’t too firm or soft. “The second one is what I’m leaning toward. It’s a lot cheaper.”

“That’s true, sir, but the smart bed is much better for your sleep and other activities.” She states. 

You find her comment odd, “Other activities?” It takes you a moment to connect the dots; when you realize what Yuna meant, she nods.

“Yes, sir. I did mean that.” She states, “Now, if you’d like to test them out, please follow me.”

“But I already did.” You’re confused again, not understanding what she means.

“For the…other activities. You need to follow me.” Yuna says, walking ahead of you. She checks to make sure you are following her, smirking as she sees you are. Yuna stops at a door at the end of the building, picking up a mounted phone. “Hello? Yes, we’d like to test out the Genie smart bed and the Dura hard mattress. Okay, thank you.” Yuna hangs up and spins around on her heel. It’ll be just a moment; they have to set everything up. You see the hunger in her eyes as she looks you up and down. She licks her lips and smiles at you. “I’m sure you’ll like the Dura brand, but the smart bed is the way to go. I’m sure your girlfriend would love it.”

“I don’t have a girlfriend.” You respond, fixing Yuna’s error. “Why do you recommend it so much?”

“It has a lot of nice features; I can show you soon,” Yuna says just as the phone on the wall rings. She picks it up, talks to the other person on the line, and grows her smile as she places the phone back on the hook. “Everything is ready; please come in.” Yuna opens the door; the room is decorated like any regular bedroom, with only one thing standing out: both beds you had been thinking about were set up in the middle. Yuna grabs your hands, taking you to the cheaper bed, placing her hands on your chest, and pushing you onto it. She lifts her shirt, her perky breasts bouncing slightly. “First one of the day,” Yuna whispers to herself as she places a hand on your crotch. You’re taken aback at her advances but willing to go along with it. You wouldn't, couldn’t deny her. She feels your bulge grow larger, her eyes widening for a moment as her lustful smile appears.

She unbuttons your jeans, pulling them down. Yuna giggles as she sees your bulge being held back by your underwear. She bends over, planting a kiss on your cock through your underwear, “You’re so big,” She says with a giggle. Yuna pulls at the hem of your underwear, feigning shock as your cock pops out. You see her shining teeth as she smiles and grasps your cock. She strokes it gently, watching it fully harden in her hand. Yuna kisses the tip of your cock before tracing her lips with your cock.

You grunt her name; her warm lips surround the head, wrapping around it as her tongue moves across it at an agonizing pace. You’re squirming, wanting her to do more. “Relax, baby. I’ll give you what you want in a minute.” She says, her hand pumping your cock as she moves closer to your ear. “Once your cock is in my pussy, you’ll see who I really am.” Yuna’s low, sultry voice sends shivers down your spine. She runs a finger down your chest until she returns to your cock, her lips pressing against it before separating and taking you in. Her tongue runs along the underside of your cock, slowly moving from side to side as she strokes the base of your cock. 

“How are you so good?” You moan out, throwing your head back as she takes more of you into her mouth. Yuna ignores your question for the moment, too focused on your cock to answer. Your hips buck, sending your cock into the back of her throat, surprising Yuna. 

She pulls back, her saliva dripping onto your cock. “Ah, if you wanted more, you could have just said so.” She pushes herself back onto your cock, making it disappear. You feel Yuna’s throat tighten around the head. You fall back onto the bed, lying down as you explode in Yuna’s mouth, sending waves of cum down her throat. Yuna’s cheeks fill with your semen, puffing up as she pulls away. You sit up slowly, watching her as she lowers her jaw to reveal a mouthful of cum. Yuna swallows it, moaning slightly as she revels in the salty taste. 

Yuna takes a step back, undoing the button on her shorts and pulling them down, shivering as the cold air hits her cleanly shaven pussy. “Move back a little.” You follow her orders, centering yourself on the bed. Yuna crawls over you, her modest breasts swaying. She reaches down, grabs your cock, and runs it between her wet folds. Yuna’s soft moans arouse you further, making you want her more. She Presses the head against her entrance, slowly dropping on it. She takes a deep breath, groaning as she feels your cock stretching her. Yuna places one hand on her lower abdomen, feeling your cock make its way through her until it knocks against her womb. “You’re tearing me apart,” She whimpers. “I need a moment.” Yuna focuses on the sensation caused by your cock. 

You sit under her, desperate for more, her tight cunt feeling too good to just sit there. You grab her hips and begin thrusting, surprising Yuna. “I’m sorry, but I need you.” You moan, thrusting into her quickly. Yuna places her hands on your chest, trying not to collapse on top of you as you split her apart. You catch her expression, her furrowed brows and shut eyes showing slight discomfort as you knock against her womb. Yuna’s expression soon softens as the pleasure overcomes her. 

Yuna’s moans echo in the room; her head tilts back. She looks to the ceiling as she feels her climax approaching. “I’m gonna cum.” She mumbles. You were still a little ways away from your climax. You speed up your thrusts, trying to cum with her. Yuna felt your cock piston in and out of her; she felt like a toy being used and was loving it. A delighted smile appears on her face as she cums on your cock, her walls tightening around you as you continue to ruin her. The young woman’s strength gives out, sending her onto your chest as you near your climax. She mumbles something; it’s inaudible initially, but Yuna repeats herself. “Cum- cum in me,” she says. You moan Yuna’s name, repeating it as you impale her and shoot your cum into her pussy.

You feel Yuna’s walls milking you for your cum as you both start to relax. She stretches out her hand, pointing to the other bed. She gulps softly, saying, “We have to try out the other one.” You nod your head, already tired. Running your hands along her back, Yuna shudders as she feels your hands come to a stop on her ass. You sit up, struggling slightly as you move over to the other bed with Yuna still having your cock inside her. She grabs a remote and holds down one of the buttons, causing the back to raise and letting you be in more of a seated position. You found it convenient. Yuna gives you a dreamy smile as she tosses the remote and begins moving. 

You’re seated position puts you much closer to Yuna’s breasts. You notice now her small brown nipples; they move softly as Yuna bounces on your cock. You lean in, dragging your tongue over one slowly, flicking it with your tongue at the end. She gasps, and her body shivers at your tongue's warmth. 

“W- What do you think?” Yuna mumbles as she rides you like her life depended on it, her walls squeezing you as you hit her womb. You can tell Yuna is trying to speak more, but the pleasure she’s receiving is making it difficult. Moans flow out from her as her walls tighten around you again. Yuna could give you no warning as she came. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head as she reached her second orgasm; her voice was becoming hoarse from her moans.

You get Yuna off you, laying her beside you. The moment you do, she turns to you, “You didn’t cum.” She says softly. “I want to feel your cum.” Yuna’s hand slithers down her body, spreading her lips for you. You stare at her glistening pussy, it makes you hard, and you find yourself unable to resist Yuna’s invitation. She grabs the remote, lowering the bed back to its original position. “There, easier for you.” She says, licking her lips as she imagines you inside her again. “Go on, fuck me.”You align yourself with her cunt and push in quickly, feeling like you’re being sucked in.  Yuna’s moans bounce off the walls, fueling you to start thrusting. You lift her hips off the bed, giving yourself a better position and allowing you to go deeper into Yuna’s cunt. Each thrust creates a bulge that Yuna presses down on, making her walls tighten around you. Her moans grew louder; she was getting more pleasure out of it, too. Neither of you last long, your quick thrust making you both cum again.  You collapse on top of Yuna, feeling parts of the soft mattress. 

You watch her grab the remote, feeling the bed become firmer. “So what do you think? How was the smart bed? Better, right?” Yuna mutters, slowly regaining her composure as time goes by.

“I think you’re right. It is better.”

“I told you.” She replies, a smile on her face.

You and Yuna hammer out the details as you lay beside each other, your cum oozing out of her cunt, and you end up buying the smart bed. You don’t know if Yuna being naked at the end helped her convince you, but you were buying the bed. Yuna felt satisfied with herself. After you had left, she went to the staff room, skipping all the way there while still naked, happy to have made a good piece of commission on the sale. She showed off, annoying the others as they stood there watching cum run down her legs. You write a review for the store, writing about the helpful staff much like the others before you.

[peanutpinet]

Protection - Mafia! Jungwoo x fem reader

A/N: yes, this is another mafia NCT, this time, for a member that I rarely ever did but because my lovely friend @mymoodwriting is a fan of Jungwoo and she has always give in to writing for me, I want to do something for her and her bias. Hope you like it, Lin :)

Also, to the one that requested Jaemin, that is my next to-do and I already have a bit of a plot in mind. Minor spoiler in this one. Oh and you don't have to read Jeno, Haechan, or Taeyong's one to understand this but if you want to, I'll link it right below

Synopsis: NCT was developing a new technology to help them expand more and help them to always be one step ahead of their enemy

Warnings: mafia activities, a bit of cursing, slight angst, torture\

Taeyong's story: here

Jeno's story: here

Haechan's story: here

A smile could hide so many things that a person is feeling or doing. Whether it is their feelings or true identity. But Jungwoo learned to use his smile to not only protect his personal feelings but to also hide his true identity.

To his neighbours, Jungwoo was just a smart young man who was working in one of the best tech companies in the country, Neo-Tech. When in reality, Jungwoo co-owns the tech company along with Lee Taeyong, the leader of NCT, an infamous mafia in South Korea that has members from different parts of the world and has worldwide connections.

The only thing that people didn’t know was the core NCT members. While everyone knew the core leaders, Lee Taeyong, Mark Lee, and Qian Kun. There were many other core members under the leaders who were not made known to the world and oftentimes were just blending among the regular people. One of which was Jungwoo.

Walking into the tall building, Jungwoo greeted every single worker, from the security, the administration, to even the cleaning services of the building; all with a smile. Despite his tall, slightly unreachable figure, Jungwoo tries to be kind to everyone. Jungwoo would help the old lady from finance bring her paperwork, hold the door to the content team who were bringing big and heavy filming equipment to help his coworker’s work even if it wasn’t what he did.

Arriving at his desk, Jungwoo took his regular working laptop and got to work which was helping the HR filter out some candidates for an internship to be working under Jungwoo. Hours went by and Jungwoo started to get a bit hungry so he ordered some food while going to the breakroom to get coffee when he saw Taeyong and his personal assistant, Doyoung walking pass the breakroom. Stopping when he noticed Jungwoo gossipping with one of his coworkers.

“Ehem” Taeyong coughed, grabbing both Jungwoo and his coworker’s attention. “My office, now, Jungwoo” Taeyong stated, leaving his office but Jungwoo caught Doyoung eyeing and signalling him to come asap

“Sorry, I have to go. Boss is calling. But I hope that your operation will go well, Ms Choi” Jungwoo replied, throwing the paper cup into the trash as he went back to his desk to grab the necessary paperwork and laptop to Taeyong’s office, not forgetting to lock the door and closing the blinds

“You wanted to see me, boss” Jungwoo joked, acting as if he was a new worker in the company

“Drop the act, Jungwoo” Taeyong stated, unamused

“Geez, would it kill you to just live a little?” Jungwoo shrugged, sitting across Taeyong while Doyoung stood next to him. “Also, since when do you follow TY around?” Jungwoo asked, looking at Doyoung

“I’m part of the HR team here and his personal assistant regarding other business” Doyoung replied, rolling his eyes at the younger one

“Still. You follow him around like a pet” Jungwoo commented, annoying Doyoung that he almost strangled Jungwoo

“Enough. I can’t believe the younger ones are more easier to tame than you both” Taeyong reminded, making the two younger members stop

“So, what is it that you need from me? Broken weapons? Need an upgrade for your vehicle?” Jungwoo asked, crossing his leg over the other one

“Doyoung” Taeyong commanded and Doyoung took his tab out that showed a resume of a young college girl, placing it right in front of Jungwoo

“A college student?” Jungwoo questioned, swiping the tab to read more of the girl. “Holy. She’s from Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology (KAIST)?! Top of her class?! Researched about the potential worldwide satellite tracker?!” Jungwoo gasped

“She’s applying for internship here and will be directly under you. I want you to get close and work together to figure out that worldwide satellite tracker” Taeyong stated, making Jungwoo stopped scrolling

“You mean, you actually want me and this girl to upgrade our current satellite tracker to be able to be used worldwide?! Hyung, I’ve been researching and doing trials here and there for the past few months. I—” Jungwoo complained but Taeyong stopped him

“Don’t underestimate the girl, Jungwoo. I didn’t underestimate you when you first join us. When your college “friends” betrayed you and used your findings against you” Taeyong stated, standing up from his chair and swiped the tab once again

“She’s won multiple science fair since junior high. Always at the top of her class when it comes to anything science or maths related subject. Always receive scholarships since high school up till university. Her research on the worldwide satellite tracker won multiple attention from many other scientists. Even the US government wanted her knowledge. But of course, our government made a deal with us and it would benefit us greatly if you both actually managed to complete that tracker” Taeyong explained. “I don’t need you both to finish it that quickly but I need you to get as many information from her to upgrade our current tracker. She’s only going to be interning with us for only 6 months. Make them count” Taeyong added, placing a handful of the intern’s research in front of Jungwoo right as there was a knock to the door

“Come in” Taeyong mentioned. “Sorry to disturb you sir, the intern is here” the building’s security mentioned. “Right, bring her in, thank you” Taeyong mentioned and the security opened the door wider to reveal the new intern

“H-hi” the intern stuttered, clearly nervous when entering the boss’ room

“Hi. Don’t be nervous. Come, take a seat. That’s Jungwoo, by the way. He’s going to be your supervisor throughout your internship” Taeyong greeted the new intern

“H-hi. I’m (y/n). Please to meet you” the intern bowed at the older men before taking her seat right beside Jungwoo

“Hi. I’m Jungwoo. Welcome aboard! I promise you that you’ll learn lots of things and there won’t ever be a dull day with me around” Jungwoo exclaimed, taking in on (y/n)’s feature

“Oh, is that my research on the worldwide satellite tracker?” (y/n) questioned, looking at the paper on Taeyong’s table

“Right. I was just telling Jungwoo that you were also researching about that tracker. Jungwoo himself has been trying different things and I believe that with you onboard, it would help him a lot. You don’t have to finish it by the end of your internship. But if Jungwoo does manage to finish it with your help, there’ll be a big bonus for both of you” Taeyong explained

“I’ve never actually tried it myself since you know, I don’t have the equipment” (y/n) mentioned

“Then this is the perfect time for us to try it together. We have the equipment and you have the brains!” Jungwoo exclaimed, making (y/n) chuckle. “Yes, we can”

“Well, looks like the two of you are getting along. I trust Jungwoo will teach you around. Also, we don’t to overtime unless there’s a launching event but you don’t have to worry about that because we’ll compensate you for it. If Jungwoo gets a bit too much, feel free to tell Doyoung here. He’s the main HR of the company and my personal assistant” Taeyong explained

“Got it, boss!” (y/n) exclaimed back. “Here’s your laptop and welcome goodie bag. Jungwoo will show you around before actually giving you your tasks” Taeyong mentioned, taking out a laptop and goodie bag, handing it to (y/n)

“Oh?! Thank you!” (y/n) thanked Taeyong. “Here, let me help you. Let’s go, shall we?” Jungwoo offered, taking (y/n)’s laptop and standing up from his seat

Right before both Jungwoo and (y/n) leave, Taeyong called out to Jungwoo. “Jungwoo. Think about it” Taeyong reminded the younger one as Jungwoo and (y/n) left

Jungwoo’s POV After the little meeting with Taeyong, I helped (y/n) take some of her things to her new table which was right beside mine. Introducing her to the rest of the team before bringing her around the office for a mini office tour.

We started off with the regular floor which is where everyone does their work, a mini breakroom to make coffee or heat up some food or drinks. I then directed her towards our pantry where people can come to cook, have breakfast because as cold as Taeyong looks, he’s pretty considerate and provide different kinds of food, beverages, and snacks for everyone.

“Can we really take any of these food and drinks?” (y/n) asked

“Of course. I know Taeyong might look intimidating but he’s a very considerate boss. He pays us all well. He doesn’t push us. He would oftentime be hands on in some of the work, especially when it’s a busy week like launching a new product. You have nothing to worry about when Taeyong is the boss. Well, as long as you don’t get on his bad side” I joked

We then went to the floor where we do product testing where everyone run tests on the products, tries it, making revisions on the spot and even taking product pictures and video shots.

“So, this is where we do all our testing. We have 2 floors for testing. Well, we mainly use this floor for testing and the other floor is more so for product shots and videos. Sometimes with models as well” I explained

“Jungwoo, I need your help because Hae— is this the new intern?” I heard Jaehyun calling out to me

“Yeah, meet (y/n), the new intern. She’s directly under me. (y/n) meet…” I introduced (y/n) but apparently it seems that she knows Jaehyun first

“Jung Jaehyun, right? I’ve seen you model for Prada. Your last drama series was also amazing! I can’t believe that I get to see you. In real life!” (y/n) exclaimed, making Jaehyun’s ears turn bright red. “Thank you for the compliment, it’s always a pleasure to meet a fan. I hope Jungwoo hasn’t been too much for you” Jaehyun replied

“I’m right here?! What were you saying again, hyung?” I asked

“We can talk later, Jungwoo” Jaehyun brushed me off. “So, (y/n), I heard that you did research regarding the worldwide satellite tracker?” Jaehyun asked (y/n)

“Yeap. It was just a theory. But Taeyong boss said that me and Jungwoo oppa might be able to test the theory out!” (y/n) explained, her energy was very cheerful despite being at the office this early in the morning

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out. I read your research paper and let me tell you, you’re definitely smarter than Jungwoo” Jaehyun half-whispered. “I heard you, hyung!” I scoffed whereas (y/n) just giggled

“A-are you a fan of all these science things? Sorry, I didn’t mean to just, you seem quite different from your on-screen persona” (y/n) asked

“No worries. I guess it’s because I’ve been a close friend of Taeyong for a long time. We go back since like senior year of high school and we’ve helped each other since. When Taeyong said that he needed my help to model his products, I was more than happy to help since Taeyong had helped me before. Plus, I used to suck with technology until this one taught me some tricks I could do with some of the products” Jaehyun explained, pointing at me

“Okay!! That’s enough backstory of you and Taeyong-hyung. Come (y/n), let’s go to the other floors and then we can start upgrading the satellite system” I mentioned, placing my hands on both of (y/n)’s shoulders, guiding her away from Jaehyun

“Don’t forget that I need to talk to you later, Jungwoo!” Jaehyun exclaimed and I waved him off

After bringing (y/n) around, it was lunchtime and I took (y/n) to our cafeteria and got her some food as we sat near the entrance since we came in a bit later than everyone else. Right as we were talking and getting to know each other, Haechan decided to come and disturb us.

“Hi. The name is Haechan. You must be the new intern” Haechan mentioned, sliding right beside (y/n) who was shocked at the sudden presence beside her

“Ya! You can’t just suddenly waltz in like that. Can’t you see we’re having lunch and how scared she is? Ignore him. He’s just a weirdo” I mentioned, reassuring (y/n) that Haechan is harmless

“I’m alright, Jungwoo-oppa, thank you. Hi! I’m (y/n), nice to meet you” (y/n) replied, taking her hand out which Haechan took to shake

“See, Jungwoo. You’re overreacting. Anyways, I’m Haechan, as I’ve mentioned. I work part-time here as the IT guy and part-time streamer. If there’s anything wrong with your laptop or anything wrong in terms of your technology, I’m the guy for it” Haechan boasted himself, making me scoff

“Thank you, Haechan. I’ll keep that in mind” (y/n) giggled

“Another thing to keep in mind is to not get on Taeyong’s bad side, you can bully Doyoung whenever you like because it’s fun. Oh and, I’m not sure if Jungwoo mentioned this to you already but do not. I repeat. Do. Not. Go to the absolutely forbidden place in this entire building. The backup backup storage room. Whether someone you know is in there and needs your help, do not go in there. Even if you have the access, you ask? Yes. Do not go in there” Haechan pointed out a piece of information that I accidentally forgot to mention

“Why? You keep dead bodies in there?” (y/n) joked, making me and Haechan look at each other

“Just don’t go in there, (y/n). You might not have access to that room but just in case if anyone who has it accidentally drops it, don’t use it to go in there. Even if there is an earthquake or whatever disaster” I mentioned, my tone was serious that it might’ve scared her a bit

“Okay. I won’t. I promise. Oh, lunchtime is over, shall we go, Jungwoo-oppa?” (y/n) asked

“Yeap. Let’s go grab some snacks from the snack bar and then start our work of the day” I exclaimed, helping (y/n) grab her tray. “See you later, Haechan” I mentioned

“Bye, hyung. Bye (y/n)!!” Haechan exclaimed

After grabbing some snacks, (y/n) and I went to one of the testing rooms to get started on our worldwide satellite tracker. I started by telling her about our current satellite tracking system which uses the current South Korean database hence we could find anyone in South Korea.

“It’s more complex when we’re talking worldwide database and we have already tried to access lots of the database from here and there but sometimes the connection would cut off” I explained, showing (y/n) the database that we had connected to the satellite

“Ahh right, I mentioned this in my thesis. I wrote that we need connectors in each continent like one in Asia, one in Europe. It acts like a phone, like our SNS in a way. You connect with one another to give and take information with each other” (y/n) explained

“Great. All we have to do is just build the connection devices, right?” I exclaimed

“Not quite. Each connection/transmitter device needs to be built with a chip that connects each of them together and activates them as a transmitter that links the data with one another” (y/n) explained. “Meaning, we need to create a chip that can be linked to our own devices so whenever our database is updated, so do the transmitters and the satellite” (y/n) added on

“Well then, what are we waiting for? Let’s get to work!” I exclaimed, smiling at (y/n) as she turned a slight pink hue

Time Skip to 5 Months Later

Throughout the past 5 months of (y/n)’s internship, we’ve gotten closer and even went to hang out with each other outside of working hours. I’ve come to know that (y/n) didn’t have the brightest childhood with her parents being harsh on her as she was their oldest daughter.

Not only that, she was always compared to her other family members who either are running a business, a doctor/lawyer, married to a rich guy and have kids already, and the list just goes on. It was heartbreaking to hear a young talented and smart girl being put down like this just because she was different from what most girls enjoy.

Plus, I also found out that her parents didn’t like her taking mechanical engineering, saying how it’s “too manly” and they even went as far as not wanting to fund her degree. But luckily enough, (y/n) was a smart and bright girl that she managed to get a fully funded scholarship from the university.

Throughout those 5 months, both (y/n) and I have slowly built all the chips that were linked to our main computer where our team would always update the database and while we haven't gotten to the exact part of building the transmitters, we have made much more progress as compared to before (y/n) joined us.

Because of this, I talked to Taeyong about potentially bringing (y/n) into our company full-time which he agreed since we were making a lot of progress because we’ve tested the chips on other devices between our internal NCT members to connect the database and it worked perfectly fine. Now the only thing left was building the transmitters; which is the easier job and then assembling everything and testing it in a larger distance. Which is the hard part.

3rd POV

But of course, building the machines wasn’t just the hard part because Haechan mentioned that there was a mole in the company who was working for one of NCT’s enemies who was also in the tech industry. While NCT wasn’t looking to sell our worldwide satellite tracking system, our enemies were and they have been eyeing (y/n) ever since her thesis on the tracking system went viral.

During lunchtime, Jungwoo was talking with (y/n) and Haechan like any other day when Kyungtae, one of their IT employees went up to their table, telling Jungwoo and Haechan that there was a bug, a virus in the company’s main computer, saying that one of the new IT guys accidentally bugged their computer which spread out through the company’s central computer.

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me. I told you that the new guy was weird. C’mon, Taeyong is gonna kill us” Haechan exclaimed

“(y/n), you’ll most probably leave early today so don’t wait on me. I’ll call a cab for you, alright?” Jungwoo mentioned, getting up along with Haechan. “Thanks for letting us know, Kyungtae” Jungwoo added, patting Kyungtae on his shoulder

“No problem, hyung” Kyungtae replied, patting Jungwoo back

“Alright. Be careful then, two of you! Hope everything will get resolved quickly” (y/n) reassured them, offering a smile as she watched the two males leave her

“You’re the new intern, (y/n), right?” Kyungtae asked, looking at (y/n)

“Yeap, that’s me. I think I’ve seen you before. You’re from IT, right? Sorry, I don’t know your name. I’m always in the lab with Jungwoo-oppa” (y/n) replied

“No worries. It’s Kyungtae. I heard that Jungwoo was going to call a cab for you, do you happen to go home alone?” Kyungtae asked

“Yeap. Typically I take public transportation but Jungwoo-oppa has been dropping me off since he found out I took public transport late at night” (y/n) replied

“Well, I can take you home, if you’d like. Jungwoo is right to take you home since it’s not really safe to be going home alone late at night” Kyungtae offered

“I’ll think about it. If I do, I’ll need to text Jungwoo-oppa first. Anyways, I think I should get back to my work. I’m finishing up my transmitters and my internship report. See you later, Kyungtae-oppa” (y/n) replied, slightly bowing before leaving the office canteen and going back to her work

Jungwoo’s POV

Haechan and I rushed to Taeyong’s office after walking past the IT section who were all in chaos trying to figure out the virus that was spreading through the computer. Knocking on Taeyong’s office door, we heard a rough sound from Taeyong, telling us to come in.

“Hyung? We heard what happened” I mentioned, coming in with Haechan

“It’s not just a regular virus. Someone breached all of our security and nearly reached the one that NCT made” Taeyong replied, showing us each security wall that was breached

“Shit. Let me check it real quick, hyung” Haechan exclaimed, going over towards Taeyong’s desk and opening the computer to review all the security walls that were broken by the virus

“Also, there’s a mole working in this company” Taeyong pointed out, making both me and Haechan look at him in shock. “Do you have any leads on who it could be?” I asked

“Someone from IT. Because the only people who would and could access anything on our database would be the IT system and engineer. But I’m 100% sure that it’s the IT because only someone that smart and knows the computer and system back and forth would be able to come here and even hack into the system” Taeyong replied

“Hyung!! We need access to the NCT system” Haechan mentioned

“Alright, let’s go there then” Taeyong replied as the 3 of us headed to the forbidden storage room where we have one of NCT’s main computers that helps power up all the tech and database for the company.

However, upon reaching and opening the door to the storage room, all three of us were shocked to see (y/n) in the room. Without even thinking, I yanked (y/n)’s wrist. Questioning her on why she was here. “What are you doing here?! Who brought you in here?! You’re going to get in trouble” I exclaimed

“What’s the difference with you?” (y/n) whispered back, making me confused

“What are you?” I asked. “You used me. All of you! You just wanted me to finish your satellite and then ditch me, weren’t you?” (y/n) confronted and that’s when I noticed all the computers behind her showing all her background information

“(y/n), let’s talk about this, alright?” I reasoned but she yanked her arm away from my grip and walked away, standing in front of Taeyong

“Are you going to do some MIB shit and wipe my memory of all of this? Or are you going to put me somewhere until you know what you want to do to me?” (y/n) asked and Taeyong let out a long harsh sigh. “You didn’t see much since the important information is completely protected by the top cyber security in the country. So, go to my office and wait until I get back” Taeyong stated and (y/n) just slightly bowed before leaving the room, leaving the three of us together

“Which one of you lost the card?” Taeyong asked right when (y/n) left and the door was locked again

“I have it with me since I was the one that opened it” Haechan replied and both him and Taeyong looked over at me

“It’s in my…” I mumbled but as I rummaged in every single one of my pockets, it was nowhere and I instantly panicked. “Shit. I, I lost it. I swear I always have it with me, hyung” I exclaimed

“Haechan, fix the virus that’s spreading in the company. I’ll find Jungwoo’s key access card” Taeyong-hyung stated, going towards one of the computers to find my card since every single one of our cards have a tracking chip on it

“My card. It’s…” I mumbled. “Moving. Someone stole your card. Recall anyone touching you near your pockets or anything? Because it’s moving fast from this building to another…” Taeyong asked as he tries to use our current satellite tracker to track my card

I tried to recall who would steal the card or who touched me, specifically my pockets throughout the day since I know for a fact that I still had my card the other day. Right as I was trying to remember, Jaehyun suddenly called us through our in-ear.

“Guys. Is (y/n) alright? I saw her going into Taeyong’s office but right when I walked past again, she was gone. I asked someone if they saw anything and one of the staff mentioned that Kyungtae was carrying her and that she was unconscious. Kyungtae said that she fainted right as he was putting some paperwork into Taeyong’s office” Jaehyun mentioned

“She was fine literally a few minutes ago” Haechan replied, finally fixing the cyber security of our company. “Hyung, you might want to check this” Haechan exclaimed and we went to his side right as Haechan opened the front security camera and saw Kyungtae putting (y/n) in a black minivan

“Jaehyun! Go with Jeno and find this van” Taeyong exclaimed, sending Jaehyun and Jeno the security footage that we just saw

“Jungwoo. Finish that global tracker. We need it. Kyungtae must know that there’s a tracker chip in that card. He’s going to eventually take that chip out. So I suggest you finish that tracker while you can” Taeyong instructed

“But hyung, the transmitters should be placed in each continent to collect the data” I debated. “We don’t need to go that far just yet. But we do need every information about (y/n) and Kyungtae. I’m sure that that won’t be so hard since it’s just an upgrade from our Korea tracker” Taeyong replied

“Alright. I’m going to grab the chips and put it in the computer” I mentioned, going out of the room to grab the chips that both me and (y/n) finished making and even testing

Back in the storage room, both Haechan and I put in the chips with the new database and started to look for (y/n) and Kyungtae through every single security camera in South Korea. Hacking into every tech device that has a built-in camera to search for their faces, what vehicles are they in, and even tracking their live location.

“Taeyong. The signal is gone. They took out the chip” Jaehyun stated. “Jungwoo” Taeyong called out to me

“We’re just about done, hyung. Our computer is using the satellite to connect with every tech devices in South Korea. There we go, they…They’re at the harbour in Busan. They’re going to make an escape to another country!” I exclaimed, immediately rushing out

“Hold on!” Taeyong exclaimed. “Haechan, I’ll have Doyoung come here and accompany you. Standby and keep us updated. Jaehyun, Jeno, go after them. Make sure they don’t escape. Go on the ship if you have to. Jungwoo, you can bring one of the chips and they’ll still be connected with the one Haechan is handling, right?” Taeyong added and I nodded

“Alright. Grab one of the chips, we’re going to sea. I’ll let Yuta, Hendery, and Johnny know that we might need their help since it’ll be on sea” Taeyong mentioned and I quickly followed him

Arriving at the Busan harbour, Jaehyun and Jeno told us that Kyungtae hasn’t left yet because according to Yuta and his Japan team, they were waiting for backup from Japan but Yuta and his team found out about it first and hijacked their ship so when Kyungtae is waiting for backup, it’ll actually be our backup.

After Taeyong instructed us on the plan, both Jaehyun and Jeno immediately confronted Kyungtae who was immediately flustered. “Better stop what you’re thinking. Even if you escape, we’ll always find you again” Jaehyun mentioned but Kyungtae just laughed

“Because you build that tracker that can track almost anyone? So what? I have the girl that can build a device to counter yours” Kyungtae exclaimed but Taeyong and I immediately came towards the other side, cornering Kyungtae

“No way we’re letting you take her with you” I exclaimed, grabbing everyone’s attention

“Right, because you need her to finish your little transmitters?” Kyungtae questioned, taking the blueprints that both (y/n) and I worked day and night to finish then ripped it in front of us right as a ship from Japan arrived

“Even if the leader of NCT himself is here, you all can’t possibly match up against a lot of people, now can you?” Kyungtae chuckled as he took an unconscious (y/n) out of his car, making sure to hold a knife right by her neck, just to make sure that we wouldn’t do anything

But right as Kyungtae thought that it was his backup that came, Yuta held a gun right behind Kyungtae’s head, making him shudder. “I think you want to rethink that” Yuta growled right as Jeno and Jaehyun handled Kyungtae while I took (y/n) out of Kyungtae’s grip

Jungwoo’s apartment - 9:12 pm

It’s been hours since I came back and Xiaojun and Kun took a look at (y/n), telling me that she was just asleep since Kyungtae most probably drugged her and the only injury she had were just a few bruises which Kun concluded that she got them from trying to fight off Kyungtae.

Not knowing when she’d wake up, I decided to clean up the apartment, cook some soup just in case (y/n) woke up hungry and showered. Right when I finished my shower, I heard some shuffling from (y/n)’s room and quietly opened the door to see her slowly wake up.

“Hey. Are you hungry? I made some soup” I uttered, grabbing (y/n)’s attention but she didn’t respond to me. Instead, she just scanned the room she was in. “You’re in my apartment. I brought you back here. To make sure that you’re alright. And to apologise” I added but (y/n) still didn’t respond so I just kept on going.

“I’m sorry that it might seem that I, Taeyong, and the company were using you by offering you a large amount of income. But I’m not sorry that we were the ones that took you in first. Sure, maybe during the first few weeks was just me trying to get more information out of you but after a few months, all that thought of using you was gone. I even convinced Taeyong that you should join us, permanently. We were about to break the news to you but then you went into the storage room and found some of our information” I admitted. “I know that it might feel that we, I, am betraying you because I know how much you yearned for that recognition from someone close to you and it seemed that we were using you but we’re not. And I promise you that you’ll be save under us” I added, sitting right by her feet

“It’s not like I got much of a choice, is it? Even if you guys let me off and I want to just bury everything underground, you will always be watching me and I don’t want that” (y/n) finally uttered and I instinctively grabbed her hand. “You’ll always have a choice. I promise you that. Watching over you is not because you saw something that’s supposed to be a secret but because I made it so that you’re under our protection” I replied

“I know that things might’ve gotten a bit…rough but I hope that you’ll forgive us because it’d be a bummer if we don’t get to finish that thesis of yours” I joked, making (y/n) chuckle a bit

“I get that you guys have your secrets but don’t ever do something like this to another person. Ever.” (y/n) argued and I chuckled. “Promise” I smiled at her

NCT Base - 2:17 am

“This is like the third guy that won’t admit unless Taeyong gracefully walks in and enlightens us with his presence” Haechan groaned

“What do you expect, he’s the leader after all” Jeno replied, making Haechan roll his eyes

“I expect for us to be done quicker so I can go home and cuddle” Haechan ranted. “Why don’t we just, you know, somewhat drown him but not drown him? Just make it so that he’s on the verge of not being able to breathe, you know?” Haechan added on, standing right behind Kyungtae. “I mean, you wanted to go to Japan, right? How about we help you, you know, just in case your ship drowns and you have to swim all the way to Japan?” Haechan provoked

“Lee Haechan” Taeyong scolded, making the younger one backed away. “No fun at all” Haechan scoffed

“You had your fun, remember Haechan?” Taeyong stated, making Haechan huff in annoyance

“Going to talk? Or I’ll let Jungwoo and Haechan have their way with you. Who do you work for and why do you want (y/n)?” Taeyong questioned

“You don’t know. Do you?” Kyungtae scoffed but it intrigued Taeyong

“See, I have many enemies. And many wanted (y/n) to work for them so they could have the most advanced technology. Unfortunately for you and your client, we have her first” Taeyong replied

“My client doesn’t want (y/n) to just advance their technology. There’s a specific person he’s searching for” Kyungtae stated but when Taeyong questioned him again, Kyungtae stayed silent

Taeyong looked over to Jungwoo and signalled him. Jungwoo then moved to stick some patches on the side of Kyungtae’s temple. “Wh-what are you doing?!” Kyungtae protested

“Nothing much. Be grateful that you’re going to be our first test subject” Jungwoo smiled as he turned on the machine, shocking Kyungtae’s brain, making him have an intense headache but also gathering some data

“Who is this specific person that they’re looking for? My members? Me?” Taeyong questioned again but Kyungtae refused to answer again which made Jungwoo send more shockwaves to his brain

“See, we have all night to do this and when we get tired and bored with your brain, we can have other kinds of fun. Maybe even let Haechan help you swim” Taeyong taunted

“You. You don’t understand. He’ll kill me if I admit everything to you” Kyungtae pleaded

“Could be worse. I’d have you torture first until you admit something or you wish we would’ve killed you. Now talk while I’m being patient. Who is it” Taeyong taunted

When Kyungtae didn’t let out any sound, Jungwoo was ready to fire the shockwave again until Taeyong stopped him. Telling him that Kyungtae let out a whisper. A name. A name that he hasn’t heard since the day he helped Na Jaemin. Nam Goongmin.

A/N: Yeap, that's a tiny spoiler for the next mafia story, Na Jaemin :)) Also to anyone who wants to request a fanfic while also supporting my writing, you can request it on my Fiverr. Hope you all enjoyed reading this story and I'll see y'all in the next one. Stay safe and healthy xoxo vinet

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[runawaychar]

Myst Master Post

Okay, so here's a massive infodump for Myst, made to introduce my friends a series that I've been obsessed with since I was a child. In light of the upcoming remake of Riven, I decided to share it with y'all. I'm gonna be laying down some spoilers to the Myst book series and the first three games - you've been warned:

Part 1: The fall of D'ni

The D'ni were an ancient civilization from another world that lasted for tens of thousands of years. They advanced technologically and scientifically further than we can possibly imagine, but along a different axis than we would recognize as progress. A good example of this is their apparent obsession with geology - the D'ni were obsessed with stability and longevity, and found metal a poor building material, since they built things for the long haul and steel doesn't last as long as stone. Their capital city also existed within a massive underground cavern, and as a result they made it their business to understand Rock.

In conjunction with Rock, the D'ni civilization was built upon the Art of Writing - they had the ability to create books that, when a certain page is touched, would transport the reader to the world described therein (but leaving the book behind - this becomes important later). A poorly written book would be unstable - the world within falling apart if instabilities weren't corrected in time. Linking books could also be written - smaller books that reference another preexisting book - essential to keep on your person if you ever planned on returning home from whatever world you warped into.

Now, the origin of the D'ni is lost knowledge, but it is known that they aren't native to any of the worlds they inhabited. Long ago there was a schism that resulted in the D'ni fleeing their homeworld into a book Written by their founding figure. Without a linking book back, they essentially cut themselves off completely from the worlds they originally came from. The book they fled into linked to the massive cavern I mentioned earlier. The book itself is described as one of the most detailed ever written, designed to last without instability.

It isn't revealed until the third book why, but the D'ni took with them a taboo that, if broken, would result in the writer being sent into a prison world - essentially an island or wilderness without a linking book back home. The taboo was this: never ever ever write a book with people in it.

So you can imagine their surprise when an archeologist on a dig in New Mexico stumbles into their cavern.

Slightly upset at the revelation that their super special custom-made paradise has natives crawling on the surface, they imprison the archeologist, named Anna, and proceed to have many big boy discussions about whether or not this surface creature is intelligent or just a philosophical zombie. She manages to eventually win her freedom by learning their language and speaking to them in it, but they forbid her from ever returning to the surface, lest more filthy non-Writers dirty up their cavern.

She gets taken in by a respected D'ni called Aitrus, who has a thing for surface girls. He happens to be friends with a Writer's Guild member called Veovis, who decidedly does not. Their friendship becomes strained and eventually breaks after Veovis learns they fuckin', but worse, Aitrus is teaching her the Art.

Meanwhile, we meet an incel called A'gaeris who has a chip on his shoulder about being kicked out of the writer's guild and likes to write reactionary pamphlets in his spare time about the dangers of "interbreeding" with natives, i.e. Anna. In the fashion of youtube skeptics, he calls himself the Philosopher, and fosters a cult following of D'ni fuckboys. He befriends Veovis and secretly frames him for a murder, guaranteeing his exile and radicalization as part of A'gaeris's master plan. He resents the D'ni for not giving him his dream job, and sees the acceptance of Anna as proof of their degeneracy.

Using this as an excuse to break taboo, A'gaeris writes a book in secret with a native population that he enslaves, and uses this base of operations to free Veovis from exile and recruit him into his shitty shitty schemes.

Having been convinced that the D'ni aren't worth saving, Veovis helps A'gaeris spread a deadly plague through the D'ni cavern, killing every member of a ten thousand year old civilization overnight. They load up bodies onto carts and link them into every book they can find, spreading the disease to every world the D'ni ever linked to... All because his best friend married outside his race.

Agaeris then turns to Veovis, and says "haha lets create a world where we can rule over everyone as gods" and Veovis finally gets it through his thick skull that maybe his new friend isn't as rational as he advertises in his debate streams. This revelation doesn't mean much in the face of freshly commited genocide, and doesn't last for very long before he gets shanked by A'gaeris.

Anna, Aitrus, and their shitty kid "internalized Racism" Gehn, manage to escape the plague by sheer accident, having made a pilgrimmage to the surface. Aitrus finally kills Agaeris by luring him into a linking book to a volcanic inferno, sacrificing himself in the process. Anna leaves the cavern with her terrible child and raises him on her own, a task made difficult by the fact that Gehn blames her for the fall of the D'ni and hates that he's part human.

So that's the first part of our story - a civilization isolated from an outside world and cultures that they considered to be less real than themselves, destroyed utterly because they couldn't handle contact with evidence to the contrary. Their refusal to link to worlds with other people, while understandable considering what people like Agaeris would do with the power, led to a brittle, deeply racist society easily toppled by a reactionary demagogue.

In the second part, we'll see what happens when an asshole romanticizes that society and attempts to rebuild it in his own image.

Part 2: Gehn is the Worst

A thing to keep in mind before I continue is that genocidal fuckery skips generations in the myst series, opposed by those unfortunate enough to be in the odd-numbered ones.

Let me compose my thoughts here and tell y'all about Gehn, proof that good parenting does not run in the Atrus family tree. Gehn was a mixed race child to a human and a D'ni, and that came with complications, physically and socially. He suffered a lot of illness and was sickly as a kid, and no one really thought that he'd survive to adulthood - worse, his teachers and peers hoped that he wouldn't. Incredibly bright and taught by brillaint parents, he made it into the Book-Maker's guild, second only in social standing to the Writer's Guild. While there he was harrassed and bullied mercilessly by his racist classmates, and internalized that hatred, resenting his mother and idolizing his father and the D'ni culture even as it collapsed around him. When the D'ni fell, he blamed the events on his mother's arrival to the D'ni caverns, and decided to rebuild the lost civilization entirely by himself. He abandoned her to solitude while he crawled through the D'ni ruins, trying to understand a people that he only really knew in childhood.

He also had a kid with a native tribe on the surface, who he suspected had contact with the D'ni millenia in the past and were therefore worthy of his notice. The mother suffered complications during childbirth, so he brought her to Anna for help, the first time she had seen him in years. The mother died, something which Gehn also blamed Anna for, and without even looking at his child he set out back into the ruins.

Gehn, filled with ideas about D'ni supremacy, finished the work that A'gaeris set out to achieve - he pieced together the Art from books he found, and Wrote (i.e. slapped together) several unstable worlds that he dominated as a God and destroyed.

Now, imagine that you are someone who desperately wants to write a book, but can't read. Imagine you are clever enough to piece together linguistics ex nihilo but too full of yourself to actually learn how to write your own original sentences. Imagine you have a lifetime of anger and access to the complete works of the Library of Congress. You may begin to understand the "incredible chaos that my father's economy of words has yielded", as Atrus puts it at the start of Riven.

Motherfucker literally took sentences out of Shakespeare and stiched them onto Steven King paragraphs because they seemed to "work right" in the original books. This led to horribly unstable links, where contradictions, mismatched vocabulary, pacing, and tone led to worlds on the verge of collapse.

Of course, Gehn wasn't to blame. Gehn was never to blame. "It must be the ink I'm using", mr. Fuckboy thought to himself. "My moleskin notebook just isn't authentic enough to convey my brilliance".

So he did as one does and wrote worlds with the materials he needed, and people in them to exploit as a workforce. He showed up, used D'ni technology and manipulation of the link to freak out the natives, and set himself up as both their boss and a deity, who's divine commandment was "clearcut your forests and hunt your wildlife to make me books".

After four failed attempts, Gehn finally created his first working age, which he called the "Fifth" age because creativity is for soyboy losers and has no place in big boy writing. The natives called it Riven.

This world was probably his most stable work ever, which is a very low bar. It was so fucked and so kludged together that it eventually split into five seperate islands. The contradictions were also enough to eventually creat a tear in spacetime, which we'll get to in a bit.

Gehn eventually realized that he needed an assistant to help keep the world stable while he did his godly duties, so like a the deadbeat that he was, he showed up fourteen years late to take custody of his teenage son. At first enamored by his cool dad with goggles and an ancient city, Atrus's opinion of his father started to sour when he realized just how boneheaded the old man was. Without the mythologization of the Art that made the D'ni super special in the mind of Gehn, Atrus figured out something in a couple months that his father couldn't do in a couple decades: these were just words. Like, what if instead of trying to create Othello by slapping together phrases you found in a dictionary and a farmer's almanac, you just wrote something original?

Gehn was not happy with this idea - how dare this fucking child sully the Art by trying new things?! Everything good has already been written by the master race, dumb dumb, what makes you think a half breed could do better?

Gehn burned Atrus's first book.

It was around then that Atrus decided his father was a dangerous moron. When Gehn finally took him to Riven and Atrus saw what was going on there, he knew he had to do something. Meanwhile, he met a cool girl named Katran, who found his stuttering and mispronunciation of her name cute in a lame puppy kinda way.

Gehn had, in the years before he suddenly remembered he had a son, tried to recruit assistants out of the Rivenese population - Katran was his best student, and so he decided was gonna marry her. Real Frollo shit. When Katran shows Atrus the book she had written by herself in secret, Atrus scoffed. It was full of contradictions, broke every rule of Writing. The grammer didn't work, the words were out of order. It was poetry. The world she had made surpassed anything the D'ni or Gehn had thought possible. She had linked to a torus world, kept together with spin gravity - A pillar of water in the center shot out of the world on the dark side of the rim, spilling out into the stars. This blew Atrus's mind, who had adopted his father's unconscious bias that only the D'ni could Write. And here was some "primitive" native in a dying world, who had managed to create something impossible. She had groked the concept of symbiosis and dialectics in Writing, and demonstrated that contradictions work if done in a way that complement the whole. She then shows Atrus another book - this one leading to a library on a forested island - Myst.

They make plans to imprison Gehn and keep him from destroying more worlds. Atrus links into Riven and destroys all the linking books he can find leading out of it -unfortunately, his father captures him in the act, and imprisons him. Katran is not happy about this. And from their base in Myst she happens to have in her possesion the book that Gehn wrote - his fifth age. She does some editing.

Part 3: Katran is so cool in the books holy shit

Now, y'all might be going, "but Char, if Writers don't create the worlds they link into, how can they make changes and write a world into tearing itself apart?" The answer given from on high, unfortunately for us, is quantum mechanics.

You see, when you write a book, you essentially are referring to a place in the multiverse that matches your description. In the Myst universe, everything that hasn't been observed/described yet is in a combination of all possible states. So you can't really write in a forest fire if the forest's climate is already described and precludes the possibility without risking linking to an entirely different age, but you can describe the unseen/undescribed tectonics to cause a lava flow. This also means that unstable worlds like Riven become even harder to patch the more you try, because you can't really take anything written back or remove observed inconsistencies without linking to an entirely different place filled with strangers.

This does mean though, that the Writers of these books have a horrific amount of power over the future of the worlds they link to, and shitty writers will doom all that live there.

So, with that in mind, Katran, seeing her boyfriend trapped by his abusive dad, decides that, actually, metors in the shape of GIANT KNIVES exist, and have always existed, moving inexorably through the unobserved void of space over countless eons in a direct collision course with her homeworld. There were probably less metal options, but Katran was not interested in those.

The collision and resulting earthquake opens Atrus's prison cell and the patch job that Gehn had done to contain the rip in spacetime his shitty writing had caused, and he soon learns a timeless lesson: never, ever, *ever* piss off your editor. The final showdown has Katran linking in to save her nerdy damsel boyfriend in distress, while his father rants about being God and air gets sucked, howling, into the void between worlds. They put up their finger at him and walk backwards into the void, linking out while he sputters at them and all of Katran's childhood bullies stare at the power couple in religious awe.

I may be editorializing a bit here.

The Myst linking book, the last way out of Riven, tumbles through the vastness of not-space, far away from the pretentious self-hating clutches of the world's worst writer with a god-complex... and ends up almost clocking a random hiker in New Mexico as it tumbles back to the most improbable place imaginable, the place where it all started.

This is where a 90's point and click computer game about pipe management begins.

Once on Myst, Atrus discovers that Anna, 100% done with her son's bullshit, had actually done the responsible thing and followed him into the caverns when he was collected by his deadbeat dad. She had written Myst and given it to her grandson's more competent significant other and helped orchestrate the rescue attempt in secret. Katran and Atrus then lived happily ever after had some more shitty kids.

Part 4: Pipe Management and Terrible Children

Turns out, Atrus was too busy writing journals, trying to figure out a future for what was left of the D'ni after generations of fuckery, and stopping Riven from completely collapsing to really do the whole genocide talk with his sons. And I assume Katran was too busy doing hot girl shit. So they kinda left their sons to run amok with the native populations of peaceful tree dwellers and waterworld survivors.

The sons weren't motivated, as Gehn was, by some imagined past empire, or as A'gaeris was, by some deep seated hatred of the culture that denied him a spot at the top. They just really liked it when people licked their boots, both in and out of the bedroom. Maybe they were a shitty influence on each other, in the way that fuckboys are. Or maybe the Atrus family just has the star wars gene. In any case, the brothers suck each world that their father let them loose on dry to satisfy their endless greed and bloodlust.

Achenar, the violent one, has torture devices in the rooms you stumble on on the game, holograms designed to scare the natives (something he picked up on from gramps, maybe), poisons, and a torture chamber filled with human remains.

Sirius, the greedy one, has chambers filled with jewels, fine wines and silks, hidden daggers, plundered wealth and thrones.

Atrus's solution when he learns about this was "Oh no, we better send them to a nice friendly age with nice innocent people who will show them how to be kind and stuff" and there goes Channelwood.

They were not taught how to Write, ironically because Atrus was worried about their maturity and didn't want another Gehn in the family. He also forbade them use two books. You see, Atrus was feeling guilty about trapping his father on Riven - not because he was torn up about his dear old dad, but because he had basically trapped him in with a bunch of innocent villagers who he was taking his anger out on. So he had been working with Katran on a plan to trap pops in a prison age, similar to how Veovis was trapped.

This plan involved two prototype books called Trap Books - books that *look* like they're gonna link to somewhere fun, but instead trap the linker in the void between worlds. He had realized that having a library of books sitting around for anyone who may stumble on a myst linking book to fuck with was not a a good idea, so he put the trap books on the shelves with the rest for extra security. There they would sit undisturbed until he was ready to face Gehn again. Or so he thought.

Sirius and Achenar, not content with simply fucking up Channelwood, embarked on an omnicidal mission - they exploited, terrorized, exterminated, and burnt every book in Atrus's collection they could get their grubby paws on. When Atrus realized what was going on, he tried to return home, but was tricked into linking to D'ni with his Myst book tampered with. Katran was similarly tricked into linking to Riven. These fuckos, thinking themselves kings of the multiverse, started to wonder about the two forbidden books - was dear ol' dad hiding the best jewels and slaves from them? Was this his secret stash?

...And this is how we find the Atrus family when the MC links to the island.

These idiots plead their case to the Stranger, each blaming the ruination of Atrus's collection on the other, and ask you to free them by collecting all the link pages that Atrus had torn out of the trap books and scattered across his surviving worlds. After some excellent pipe management, you collect enough pages for both for them to let slip that "hey, don't check out that green book in the hidden room, just get me the last page buddy". Of course inside the green book is a very irate Atrus, pissed off that this has happened a second time in his family's history. You free Atrus, he throws his sons into a fire, and they live happily ever afterfuck we forgot about Katran.

Part 5: The part where I spoil all of Riven (please go play this its so good)

So Atrus gives the stranded hiker (you) a deal - help him free his captive wife, get rid of a tyrannical godking, and evacuate the Riven people utilizing your incredible birdwatching skills and pipe management experience. In exchange, you are given a way home to your retail job. You pick him up on the offer, because confrontation makes you socially anxious.

You are captured almost immediately, and the prison book you brought with you confiscated by the cops. Fortunately, you happen to be on the same world that Katran was tricked to, and she has been *busy*. An antifa supersoldier knocks out the guard, takes the book to someone competent, and lets you out of jail.

Turns out Katran did the sensible thing and has been fomenting rebellion against god from the second she realized her sons were the worst. Meanwhile, you bumble around the islands for a bit, fixing their pipes and learning how to count while guerilla forces fight for their freedom.

You eventually learn that Gehn has been successfully (by some definition), writing books. Fuck. Not willing to let the Wheel of Time author loose on an unsuspecting multiverse again, you manage to apply your birdwatching skills and locate the rebel base. All according to plan. After beating you up a bit, they let you know that Katran has been locked up, presumably after trying to take down Gehn with fisticuffs, idk. Turns out that Katran and Atrus's exit was kinda a big deal, and led to a weird offshoot religion where they worship Katran and... Atrus for some reason. They formed a secret society known as the Moeity, who use the space knives as sacred symbols. Katran uses her exile in Riven to build a world with a secret treehouse for them to hang out in.

This treehouse.

You go to Gehn's HQ, trick him into linking into your prison book ("oooh nooo haha don't steal my only way home >_>") and set Katran free. You signal Atrus that the mission is a success by opening the star fissure and starting the collapse of the world while Katran evacuates her people. He shows up, thanks you, and you jump into the star fissure, returning to the 9 to 5 grind. It is lucky that the star fissure ends up opening in Anna's backyard a couple miles away from the D'ni cavern, because Atrus and his family getting into situations that can only be solved with pipe management skills.

Part 6: The final book

The last part of the story I want to talk about is from the Book of D'ni, arguably the weakest of the Myst Reader trilogy, set shortly after the events of Riven, I think. It's about Atrus finding D'ni survivors in linking books, and trying to figure out how they're going to rebuild, but Do It Right This Time(tm).

Eventually they unearth a massive ancient linking book underneath the zero point - the original linking location of Earth's descriptive book, and central location in the D'ni cavern. Turns out one of the original D'ni who fled to Earth decided to bring a linking book back home. This book leads to an age called Tehranee (no, seriously), where they encounter a thriving Ronay (the D'ni race) civilization on a lush paradise world. These people, who all live in massive opulent ziggurat palaces the size of cities, welcome the descendents of their wayward cousins who decided to fuck off ten millenia prior, and offer the D'ni survivors refuge in their utopia. Inside the palaces they live in the lap of luxury, playing games with mechanical contraptions and mazes, eating amazing food, having stimulating intellectual conversations and parties.

The other shoe drops when Atrus n' pals realize that the walls are unusually thick, and discover the slave races imported from a hundred thousand different worlds that toil and perish out of sight of the ronay so they can play their stupid games. There is a part where they realize that an indoor waterfall is literally powered by a crank - some poor person is forced to toil at the pump so they can have a water feature. So! Turns out there was a reason why the D'ni have a taboo about writing worlds with people in them - Because this shit right here is what they wanted to escape.

In a fitting end to the tehranee, the survivors happen to have brought A'gaeris's plague with them, having developed an immunity to it. The slaveowners all perish to smallpox, and the slaves lead a revolution.

The big takeaway Atrus has after his summer vacation is that maaaaaybe rebuilding the ronay civilization is not such a good idea. So he decides to close the sordid chapters of Tehranee, A'gaeris, Gehn, and his sons, and build a new age for all D'ni and the inhabitants of the worlds they touched, to live in harmony together.

Conclusions

Every story after this is kinda added on, I feel that this covers the main storyline. Atrus and Katran eventually have another kid, this one they parent way too well to overcompensate and ends up becoming the D'ni'satz Haderach.

Thanks y'all so much for listening to me ramble about a series really close to my heart - sorry for the tense issues, this was really stream of consciousness.

Oh! One last piece of worldbuilding I find Neat is the D'ni guild of Maintainers - they had the unfortunate job of being OSHA for books. When they found a unusual book or discovered one that had little to no info on the other side, they would link into it to make sure it wasn't leading to the center of a gas giant or covered in poisonous spiders. They did this while wearing something called an EV suit - a big bulky hazmat suit made of special Rock designed to be nigh unbreakable. The gauntlet had a linking book back home built into it, with a temporary membrane acting as a timer in case the inspector gets knocked out. There has only been one recorded instance of the EV suit being damaged by unfavorable conditions - The inspector had the misfortune of linking into a book just as its star went supernova (the helmet got a tiny crack in it).

Book of Ti'anna showed us the consequences of a racist, isolationist culture so fragile that, for all talk about stability and millenia of continued status quo, it collapses after it encounters a single person from the outside world.

Book of Atrus shows us what happens when an egomaniac fetishizes a glorified view of a mythic past and builds a fascist police state. It also shows just how incompetent and hateful such a worldview makes a person.

Myst shows us that even barring contact with some original historical sin, the atrocities from the past will come back to haunt us if we aren't vigilant against the impulses of greed and hatred.

Riven shows us that revolution is the only answer against fascism.

Finally, the Book of D'ni reveals what happens when fascism wins. It shows that the past was Terrible, Actually, and we should focus on building a future, rather than attempting to go back to some imagined golden age.

I think Myst:Exile shows how the past cannot simply be buried, however. Some victim from the past comes back for vengeance against Sirius and Achenar and steals Atrus's book, i.e. the future of the D'ni. Myst:Revelations is about forgiveness and redemption, and book five is about book jesus? idk. Uru is about saving a dying videogame studio before it gets bought out. Not sure if it's about anything else, I've been stuck on a puzzle since 2019.

Till next time.

[centrally-unplanned]

Doing some tab closing and I enjoyed this piece a lot; it has a clean thoroughness on investigating each of the different possible causes of the Baby Boom of the mid 20th century.

For those who don't know, the Baby Boom, despite what is often taught, probably had little to do directly with World War Two - it was not a phenomenon of soldiers "coming up" and releasing their pent-up baby-making drive. This is most easily proven by the fact that countries that didn't participate in the war had the same boom! And that the boom was already starting in the 1930's.

Its cause is still unproven, but the article makes a solid case for it primarily being a product of affordable housing (which itself is connected to WW2 in some ways) and more importantly medical technology, as maternal mortality declined between 1930 and 1960 by ~90%:

Which is another classic case of the 'short' being made by time into the 'long' - most people probably think of safe pregnancy as this gradual process of improving sanitation & medical technology throughout the 19th and 20th century, but in fact the lion's share of the decline was the invention of antibiotics that could treat sepsis over the span of 20 years. The "price" of having a child, combined with the housing boom creating the space for it, induced a fertility bump.

The article ends by stating that these forces could, in some way, be reproduced - that if today you make pregnancy safer and childcare cheaper again, you can get a similar rise. I think this is the false, solutionist optimism that only a concluding paragraph can bring, however. For one, if that was the case, you think you would evidence along the income spectrum of that - for a 75% income band couple in Sweden or the US, housing is more plentiful then ever, and pregnancy safer than ever, but in the main fertility continues to decline across every band (the super-rich in some countries are a tiny exception).

But more importantly, I think it mistakes why this happened. If you portray it as a cost-benefit calculation, as "oh the price of kids is way down now, lets shift our consumption basket", then sure it sounds replicable. I don't think that is right, however - you should instead look at this as a cultural revolution induced by rapid change.

The role of women in the workplace & wider society was undergoing a ton of flux in this era, and it was in a period of "contestation" - these changes were not settled or agreed on by society at large. What a woman should "do" with her life was very open, and many factions still pushed for a form of family traditionalism. The counter-forces to that 'benefited' from things like maternal mortality as counter-arguments; women (and their husbands) both desired the old way but feared the price, one they no longer had to bear due to no longer being mass farmers. That was the equilibrium of the 1920's.

Then technology came along and throw the whole game into whack, changing the equilibrium. It was so rapid, so sudden, it induced a culture shift. You can metaphorically think of it as like a consumer rush, buying the hot new toy - in this case the hot new thing was safe pregnancy and houses to raise the kids in. Everyone wanted a piece of that *new* possible life, different from the old. It was, in a sense, a fad.

Which you cannot replicate - its done. We have the tech, we have the wealth, it didn't last. The culture shift that began of the 1960's was absolutely a response to new equilibrium of the 50's, its gender roles were never stable. Radical new technology (like exo-wombs) could change that, sure, create a new hotness. But 5% reductions in maternal mortality or slightly cheaper childcare won't cut it. It could shift the margins, but it can't make a boom.

Or so I predict at least. Its certainly hard to quantify that dynamic, but I think if you study how people saw themselves & family in that time, this comes out from the narratives of the time - with no equivalent today.

[dr-futbol-blog]

Duet, Pt. 4

Some time later, we find McKay has gotten dressed and is in the lab looking over the wreckage of the dart. Beckett has accompanied him there, and somewhere along the way they have been joined by Sheppard and Weir whom, presumably, were the first people Beckett called when McKay woke up. We don't know what Sheppard did between lunch and this moment, or how much time had passed between these two events. All of the people are watching McKay, he is the focus of attention. And again, we get a close up of his hand (now, literally fondling "bits").

McKay: Oh, nice work! Zelenka: We were running out of power. I knew hardly anything about the machine. Who would have thought this could be one of the side effects? McKay: So, instead of waiting to understand what it was that you were doing, you just sort of mashed on the keyboard hoping something would happen! Zelenka: Well, you're alive, aren't you?

First of all, note how both Beckett and Weir are leaning slightly back as if taken aback by what they are watching, whereas Sheppard is learned slightly forward into McKay's space. Both Beckett and Weir have their arms defensively between themselves and McKay diatribe, where Sheppard's body language is open toward him.

Zelenka seems to take all the blame happily even though what happened was at least partially Sheppard's fault. He tried to explain to Sheppard the dangers, and Sheppard had ordered him to rematerialize one of the life-signs although, in fairness to Sheppard, he was nor informed that something like this could happen. Zelenka had presented him with an option of choosing to rematerialize one of the life-signs stored in the dart, and he had taken the chance. And Zelenka himself had had no idea that this was even a possibility, as this technology is literally alien to them. There's no guarantee that even if they had spent weeks trying to figure it out, the result would have been any different.

But McKay is not interested in being fair when it comes to people working for him on the best of days, let alone now that he has to personally bear the heavy cost of this mistake. But at the same time, Sheppard certainly does seem to feel the guilt from having made this decision. Zelenka may not have thrown him under the bus, and Sheppard may even be thankful for this, but he can't lie to himself about the fact that it was his responsibility. And McKay is too angry to notice how the way he speaks seems to affect Sheppard, as Sheppard interprets everything McKay says to Zelenka as being actually meant for himself. Where McKay thinks that he's taking it all out on a safe target in someone that works for him, Sheppard feels like he's taking it out on him.

Helpless and trapped inside the body of another, Cadman then starts asserting herself the only way she knows how, by trying to get McKay to relay her words to the others. She's distracting him, and this seems to make him even more irascible.

Cadman: Ask him if he knows how to fix it. McKay: He doesn't know how to fix it! Zelenka: What? McKay: I'm talking to her!

Notice how the very moment McKay first does something uncharacteristic of himself, he answers in a way that is slightly off, Sheppard snaps to attention. He notices immediately that something is off with McKay, that what he said didn't follow from what Zelenka had just said to him. They are all concerned for him, but Sheppard is the first to notice and where, in the background, he had been trying to avoid looking at McKay again, as he so frequently does for any number of reasons, his eye snap right back to McKay, brow furrowed.

McKay seems to be working himself up, transferring the disappointment he feels for Zelenka to Cadman and then transferring the frustration generated by both Cadman's presence and her voice, the fact that she speaks, back onto Zelenka. In reality, he's not really mad or angry with either of them, he's scared and overwhelmed. This is a completely new situation and he doesn't know how to fix it and the only way he knows how to deal with this fear is by lashing out at others. And listening from the sidelines, the people watching him are getting increasingly concerned:

Weir: You can hear her thoughts? McKay: No, not her thoughts, thank God. I can hear when she's speaking... or when I suppose she's trying to speak.

This here is such a convoluted way of telling us that McKay has secrets Cadman (and the audience) cannot find out. This barely makes sense, and the purpose of doing it like this is just to preserve that space for subtext that they carry out through the run of the series. But notice how McKay is keeping his eyes closed here, actually screwing them shut, making his body half-turned away from Sheppard and making sure he's not looking at him. He knows Cadman can see through his eyes so he very much tries to avoid looking at Sheppard the whole time they are here.

Now, in addition to listening to her speak inside his brain, he also has to listen to the people closest to him talk right over him as though he wasn't even there:

Weir: Are you sure he should have been discharged from the Infirmary, Carson? Beckett: According to the MRI, he's as healthy as he ever was. Cadman: It doesn't feel very healthy in here! McKay: Well, we can't all be track stars, now, can we? It was her again.

This is interesting. Let's presume for a moment that Cadman does indeed have athletic achievements of the track and field variety in her past and McKay wasn't just taking a lucky guess. What earthly reason would McKay have to know about it? He's not interested in women in general and certainly seemed to pay no attention to Cadman before she started teasing him about his upcoming date. He barely cares enough about the people working under him to be interested in their personal histories, and if you were to ask him for the name of the blonde German scientist working the case, he probably couldn't tell you. McKay doesn't catalogue personal information about people unless they're Sheppard.

It's of course possible that Cadman is a Chatty Cathy and had just been telling McKay and Beckett about her track and field achievements while they were out traipsing through the meadows, but that's also unlikely because for one, she didn't seem like she was all that keen to share personal information with the two men, and second, it didn't seem as though they'd been having a personal conversation like that and third, McKay wouldn't have been interested in it anyway, so even if she had been talking about something like that with Beckett, McKay would have tuned it out. He seemed sour enough not to want to listen to her at all back on the planet.

But there's another reason why McKay might know about her history, and that's if he had both been present when Sheppard was going over the personnel files choosing people for the mission and that Sheppard had actually shared them with him, had discussed his choices with McKay. A history of track and field is precisely the kind of information one would find in a personnel file, and we actually witnessed Beckett make reference to extracurricular activities of the people he was choosing for his staff in The Intruder (S02E02): "Four years' relief work in the Sudan and Ethiopia; graduate studies at John Hopkins and Harvard; half a dozen research grants. Oh, and she also enjoys judo, horseback riding, origami and something called base jumping." Any awards Cadman may have won in her past running track would have been in her personnel file, and the only reason for him to remember the personnel file of a random woman is that Sheppard had actually wanted his opinion on it.

Now, the files are confidential, to be sure, and McKay and Sheppard probably were putting the physical side of their relationship on pause a month into their visit on Earth after which Sheppard got his promotion and would have gone through personnel files. But given that McKay seemed to know Sheppard's personal code in The Siege (S01E20), sharing confidential information with McKay is something Sheppard might well do, especially it he felt out of his depth with the new and, frankly, undeserved promotion he had suddenly been hit with at the time. Cadman is blonde, so even though he has very little interest in women in general, Cadman might easily even have been McKay's pick for Sheppard's staff, and wouldn't that be ironic.

Cadman also makes a reference to McKay's health, here. Because it is accompanied with Beckett's reference to the MRI, the easy assumption to make is that she means his mental health. And given the fact that we have witnessed him dissociating recently, this may even be true. But it doesn't actually seem like Cadman has that kind of an access to his mind. Her reference must be to how his body feels to her, and how it's different from her own. McKay is hypoglycemic and his mood here may have more than a little to do with not having eaten (he missed lunch, clearly), so he might feel physically all kinds of bad at that moment that Cadman could be referring to. She could also be making a jab at his weight, which is how McKay chooses to interpret it anyway, his defense to her jab being a reference to athleticism. But as noted previously, McKay is in relatively good shape and actually did run faster than our track star back on the planet.

McKay is defensive because he compares himself with Sheppard, not with other scientists like Zelenka and Parrish, and it is because of Sheppard that he has been pushing himself to become better equipped for the field. So while Cadman may just have been referring to his blood sugar, McKay interprets it as a condemnation of his entire body. And with regards to Cadman's own sexuality, it's interesting that she doesn't come across as someone that particularly likes the male body. Yes, her barbs here are directed toward McKay's body in particular, but they are toward his body when there are so many more personality and mental faculties of his that she could have belittled. Her issue is with his body, and it may be that the male body is just not an object of desire for her at all.

It's interesting, though, that seems to be McKay's mention of track stardom in particular that stirs concern in Sheppard, and he leans in to conspiratorially although not precisely quietly talk to Beckett. Something in this reference made him uneasy, like he wasn't quite sure if things would come spilling out of McKay that shouldn't. The fact that McKay had been able to see Cadman's file was already a piece of information that he really shouldn't be airing out in the public, and not knowing just what kind of access Cadman herself would have had on McKay's mind was really starting to concern him.

Sheppard: Maybe there's something wrong an MRI wouldn't pick up, if you know what I mean. McKay: I'm not crazy, I just have another consciousness in my brain. Sheppard: So he just looks crazy. McKay: I'm sure I do!

What's fascinating here is that while Sheppard seemingly talks to Beckett, is pretending to talk to Beckett, he is actually having a conversation with McKay. McKay responds to him as though Sheppard was talking directly to him. Beckett doesn't even respond to Sheppard, probably having witnessed the Sheppard and McKay show too many times to think that Sheppard is actually talking to him here. He's being used as a prop, and he knows it.

Now, Sheppard is honestly concerned about McKay. He has never seen him like this but he can tell, better than any of the others, just how agitated McKay is. While Beckett may be his best friend and Weir may have known him longer, it's obvious that Sheppard knows him best. Never having seen McKay like this is freaking him out, and once more he both wants to understand what's going on, hence turning to Beckett, and to make sure McKay is getting the best treatment available for what ever this is. He is genuinely concerned.

Agitated even further by the fact that now Sheppard of all people seems to think he's crazy, McKay then says something really interesting:

McKay: But only because Dr Fumbles McStupid over here was in way over his head! Zelenka: Yes, yes, I made a mistake trying to save your life. Now, do you want to try to fix it, or do you want to continue to berate me some more? McKay: I'm perfectly capable of doing both at the same time!

The way people speak to others often reveals how they have been spoken to in the past. What's really interesting here is the Mc-prefix he attaches to the name he calls Zelenka (in the literal meaning of name-calling). It's the prefix of a Scottish name which he himself just so happens to have. Because the name comes out of him while he is both severely agitated and distracted, it has to come from somewhere deep in his subconscious, from very ingrained memories. From his childhood. The way he spits it out, he has heard it many times in the past. His parents hated each other and took it out on him, he told Carter. It is of course possible that one of his parents had called him by this name when he was a child, and the main culprit would probably be his father. Only, McKay is his father's name and it's less likely that he would have used the Mc-prefix in a slur.

Also, McKay is smart and likely was a smart child. If he had been called by this name, it would likely have been the result of his relatively poorer fine-motor control as compared to more athletic children, perhaps from dropping things. Children tend to drop things like glasses and mugs, especially if they are nervous, and in a toxic family dynamic, a parent might call a child Fumbles McStupid when something like that happens. But again, it's unlikely his father would have attached the Mc-prefix into calling anyone a name, especially since given McKay's name Meredith, he seems to have been proud of their heritage.

The other alternative is that, if his mother was smarter than his father (and McKay's behaviour toward Carter--calling her a dumb blonde because being threatened by smart and beautiful women is just the top of the iceberg of his mommy issues--suggests that it was indeed his mother that had been the smart one of his parents), and given that McKay thinks his parents hated each other, Fumbles McStupid may be something that his mother had called his father more than once. Fumbles McStupid is like the opposite of Angus McGuyver (which was a popular TV-show when McKay was in his late teens, but if there's any connection in the name to that then it had probably been his sister that called him that, as their mother very likely was already dead by that time). Regardless, the Mc-prefix and the visceral way that he spits out the name both suggest that this is something very personal to him, something resurfacing from his own past. The entire way he blows up here witnesses to having grown up in an environment where people fought and argued excessively. This, reacting to a stressful situation by lashing out at people that mean him well, tells us a lot about his childhood.

And again, Zelenka decides not to throw Sheppard under the bus even though he very well could. This probably is not the first time that he has received an earful from McKay, and Zelenka seems to be among the few colleagues that McKay actually respects. He also does realize that he's in way over his head and needs Zelenka's help here, which is why he then tries to start workshopping the problem with him:

McKay: Now, I assume you've tried to run one of our own generators on it? Zelenka: It's not as simple as that... Cadman: Why not? Zelenka: The trick is having it interface with the wraith machine in real time. The power fluctuations are, are, are huge. If we overshoot just a little... Cadman: Wait, wait, what does that mean? Zelenka: ...we're screwed up. McKay: Yeah, yeah. Um, I'm sure if we can maybe run an interface programme that will take care of all the... Zelenka: Of course, yeah, but... Cadman: Hello? Rodney? Will you please answer me? McKay: Here's what I want us to try. Cadman: Rodney!

McKay: We'll take a-- Cadman: Ro-o-o-odney! McKay: Naqahdah generator... Cadman: Rodney! McKay: ...and, um... Cadman: Rodney. Rodney! McKay: ...and, uh... Cadman: Rodney! RODNEY! McKay: YES! WHAT?!

Now, Cadman is perfectly within her rights to get to say something when it's her life on the line. She is allowed to want to know what's going on. But at the same time, she's trying to get attention in the way an annoying little sister (something of which McKay would know a great deal) would, basically doing the whole "Arewethereyetarewethereyetarewethereyet" routine, not stopping until he responds to her. And the way he blows up, he has likely blown up at his sister in a similar way in the past. He can't concentrate, he can't think, he's overwhelmed and there's too much noise, and he just wants it to stop.

Notice in the background how Sheppard reacts immediately to McKay's outburst. He unfolds his arms (having folded them after McKay's Fumbles McStupid outburst because, again, he feels like part of the ire McKay has for Zelenka actually belongs to him since he ordered Zelenka to do it), clearly ready to jump in at a moment's notice. But like previously, Sheppard has no reason to believe that McKay is a danger to other people and although he is acting very strangely, very unlike himself, like he saw when McKay was going off at Colonel Everett, Sheppard's first instinct was probably to get to McKay to comfort him, to make sure that he's alright. McKay was looking quite pained as he struggled to speak before his outburst. Sheppard is not worried about other people, he is worried for McKay.

The only way he would jump in to restrain McKay was if it looked like he was a danger to himself. And yet, McKay's outburst clearly made Sheppard's body prepare for action. He had never seen McKay like this, and although there clearly seemed to be some attenuating circumstances to this, he was seeing a whole new side of McKay, one that he wasn't that keen for. Because, the thing is, while McKay would never speak this way to Sheppard, Sheppard nonetheless fears that this is exactly what McKay really thinks about him when ever he has questions for him, when ever he asks McKay to explain things to him. Somewhere deep down he fears that McKay thinks he's stupid where what McKay actually thinks is that Sheppard is one of the few people he's ever met that truly challenges him. We'll circle back to this come Trinity (S02E05). But for now, it gets worse:

Cadman: Stop ignoring me. McKay: Well, stop asking stupid questions! I will get you out of here, OK? Now just be a good little girlie and keep quiet. Cadman: Don't you dare condescend me! This is as much my problem as it is yours. McKay: And do you have a degree in physics, hmm? Well, what about mechanical engineering, huh?

So the thing is, McKay doesn't really like women. No heterosexual man would speak like this to a beautiful young woman. Although they don't necessarily respect them either, heterosexual men treat beautiful young women well on the off chance that somewhere down the line, their good behaviour might be repaid. They can be and frequently are condescending toward them especially if they feel like the beautiful young woman is encroaching on their professional territory but for the most part, they enjoy looking and listening to these woman, find it a pleasant way to while away the time by being in the presence of beautiful young women. You can see that Rodney McKay has a negative zero interest in ever getting sex from this woman. The only value he found in her body was the fact that she was obligated to take a bullet for him, and now that she didn't have even that going for her, he has no use what so ever for Laura Cadman.

She's not a person, she's a fly he just can't swat because the buzzing is coming from inside his brain. If there was a button that he could press to erase her entire existence, he would do it without a second thought. Having a woman inside his head is like a double digit level of personal hell for him. Now, some people think that he treats women like this because he just doesn't know how to treat women, but no one is this bad with women. It's also not a clash of personalities because he simply doesn't see her as a person. The vitriol with which he meets her precisely because she is a woman is an example of actual, bondafide misogyny. Now, the roots of his misogyny we can only begin the guess (mommy issues of many different flavours, to be sure) and he probably should hash it out with Heightmeyer, but here we are. Rodney McKay does not like women, and they do not present an object of interest to him. And we can see how he finds women interchangeable in how he (accidentally) transfers the irritation he has built toward Cadman onto Weir when she tries to interject something, to get him to calm down:

Weir: Rodney? McKay: YES?! Sorry. I'm sorry. What, please?

Now, just as soon as he says this, McKay realizes what he did and attempts to walk it back. It's through their professional roles that he is able to muster respect for women. In making them abstractions through their roles, he is able to see them as distinct personalities, which is ten different kinds of messed up. But Weir is his superior, he respects Weir as a professional, and he knows that one should never speak like that to a superior. And it wasn't his intention, he's not upset with Weir (he's not even really upset with Cadman either, he's just upset and taking it out on others), but as soon as he realizes he slipped up, he is very apologetic. Sheepish, even. Clearly trying to perform the role of a professional, realizing that he had somehow ended up stepping so far outside the realm of normal behaviour that people were actually starting to question his sanity.

Meanwhile, Sheppard is doing something interesting in the background. Following McKay's "be a good little girlie and keep quiet," he looks away from McKay, casting his eyes downward. He keeps looking at the floor, looking uncomfortable, possibly even pained. He can't seem to look at McKay. Now, there might be several reasons for this. For one, he might just be offended on behalf of his officer that he refers to her as a "girlie". That is definitely something that he, as a commander, should not let slide. He should reprimand McKay about that but this whole situation is just nuts, so he doesn't know how he's supposed to react. But it's also possible that the words "Now be a good little boy and keep quiet" are words that he had heard a lot during his childhood, the words themselves might be triggering for him. He was expected to be well-behaved and not draw too much attention to himself, so his father almost certainly would have said these words to him, perhaps even other people from his childhood environment.

But even beyond that, the word "girlie" or "girly" may be something he had been called in his childhood and adolescence, and his macho posturing may well be the result for overcompensating for how both having been a pretty boy and having had interest in other boys would have made him a target for emasculating slurs like that, especially during his boarding school years. What McKay says here may be triggering to him for a number of reasons but what ever it is, he really did not care to hear that coming from McKay's mouth. The way he turns his face away is kind of like he's been struck. And again, while McKay would never say these words to Sheppard (and indeed, he previously used to shield Sheppard from having to see him like this, like in The Storm, S01E09), Sheppard now knows that he's capable of saying such things.

And worst of all, what ever is wrong with McKay now (and there is something wrong, he knows that, he's not acting like himself), it's his fault. He let this happen to McKay, and there didn't seem to be a damn thing he could do about that.

Weir: Why don't we let Zelenka handle this? McKay: I'm fine. Sheppard: No, you're not. Weir: And I'd like you to talk to Doctor Heightmeyer. McKay: I think it'd be more useful if I was to... Weir: Rodney, I'm not asking you. McKay: Fine.

If there's something Sheppard knows, it's when people say they're fine when they're really not fine. He doesn't have to know McKay half as good as he does to know that he's lying, and that he's lying most of all to himself. He can tell that McKay is nowhere near fine. But note the fact that Sheppard does not tell McKay what to do. As his team leader, it could easily have been Sheppard's call, and maybe he even should have been the one to order McKay to see Heightmeyer. But he doesn't. He doesn't give McKay orders. The only thing he does here is express his concern. He lets McKay know that he thinks he's not alright, and that does give him pause.

And while everyone that has gathered to watch is concerned for his well-being, McKay feels humiliated by Weir, who does make it an order. It's like he's being asked to go to his room in front of his entire class. For McKay, his mind is his most important asset, and he was starting to spiral, to feel like he was losing control of the last threads that had been holding his life together. Further yet, he once more feels like he's being not chosen here, like he's not being wanted. Although it might come from a place of love, they all want him to leave. And Sheppard looking at him the way he had, that was worst of all. What Sheppard thinks has meaning to him. What Sheppard tells him, he hears it. It's only for the briefest moment here that he allows himself to look at Sheppard, and it looks like his heart is breaking just then. Because as much as he would like to seek comfort in Sheppard, to hear him tell him that it's going to be alright and they can figure this out, they're not that anymore. This cool, detached professional concern is all he can expect from Sheppard now.

He leaves without looking back and doesn't see that Sheppard turns to watch him go. Losing McKay is his worst nightmare, and he's starting to realize there are more ways to lose him than he ever could have even imagined.

Continued in Pt. 5

[blueberrypancakesworld]

heyy. wanted to ask if you write for male reader too.if not i totally understand^^.if you do could you maybe write something for Dead/Pelle or Faust from LOC with a male or transmale reader? Take ur time dw^^. Have a wonderful day :3

Faust, Dead - He is true Black Metal

warning : fluff, tiny angst, kissing, drinking, reader is male (amab), no use of Y/n

masterlist

Info : Heyyy I write for every reader type just put it in your request (if not then I always writw for a female reader). Have a wonderful day dear anon and hope you like it.

Disclaimer : I don't want to glorify anything, it's about the actors who play a role, not the real events.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dead :

°For the blond one it makes no difference whether he has a boyfriend or a girlfriend. You both met in an art store. Dead needed some new crayons and you needed acrylic paint. To both your luck, the black of your clothes seemed to attract each other and you practically ran into each other.

°Since then, you've been meeting on and off, talking about art and music, which eventually ended in a first date at the local museum. You insulted most of the art and maybe redesigned a couple of paintings which led to your escape.

°But the fun they had led them to find each other in the local cemetery. They hid behind big old tombstones and could hardly keep from laughing. But the feeling as Dead had grabbed his hand when the blonde had been frightened.

°He still did not let go of it. ,,That was funny," the blond mumbled and looked down. He saw that the other one did not retreat either. The looks of the two met and it was in this evening that they both kissed. Behind a tombstone they drew closer and from then on it was just like that. Wherever Dead was, there was also his boyfriend and everyone who said something else. Well, the blonde had managed after less than a week to send three people to the hospital because of knife wounds.

°As well as disturbing the peace while his infinite love of a friend happily painted pictures of the crying victims. But also Mayhem enjoyed the growth because they had a new one who could design the album together with Dead. It was a dreamteam from hell.

°A dreamteam that on valentine's day painted a picture with little dead animals and cuddled on a grave worshipping Satan.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Faust :

°The meeting of the two was rather a meeting with murderous intentions. Faust wanted to finally find a victim and put his plan into action. So he roamed through the darkness but he had found his victim. A boy about his age who ran after someone else.

°But what brought the two closer was that both found themselves in a fight afterwards, both somehow a few knife wounds. And yet, as they lay there, each of them a few beers too many, the long tousled hair, the dilated pupils and the slightly bloody fist seemed to look all the more beautiful.

°,,The same victim," he muttered and saw that the brown-haired man gave him a wry smile before Faust hastily rose and walked away from the other boy. Faust looked down at the boy before offering him his hand and pulling him onto the two of them. ,,Fancy a beer?" he asked, and before the other could even protest, the two ended up in a pub.

°A pub in which they now squeezed side by side slightly bloody on a bench and drank a beer each. That was the beginning of something between them that they later called a damn metal hafte romance.

°The very next day he was taken to an exclusive rehearsal of Mayhem and when the band saw how good he was with technology. Faust's new cool friend was immediately accepted and the band and the black circle grew bigger. And together they all made the night unsafe.

°But also Faust and his friend he affectionately called ,,My Satan" made both especially the night better in which they searched together their victims. Of course, not every week but here and there they enjoyed it before they dan mostly in another pub ended drinking beer and singing and kissing their way home. Where they slept together cuddling on the bed fist.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[qupshalfempty]

Can i request a small drabble of tfp ratchet with fem!human s/o who loves painting? She ends up painting him and he gets flustered about it, but still adores it.

Reader is human for this, GN!reader as I don't use pronouns.

Words: 573

TFP! Ratchet x Artist! Reader HeadCanons

Ratchet wouldn’t flash an optic if you had your head down in a spiral notebook, he’s seen the kids do work with those lowly graphite pencils despite humans going through a technologically advanced renaissance currently. So he doesn't think twice of it, he may ask what you're up to over his shoulder as he's working but that's it.

He’s only judged those items based on their usefulness, though once you grab his attention with doodles of him... flustered is an understatement, and for once he’s ready to take back his rants about human paper. No, he won’t say he’s wrong but he will compliment your art no matter the medium because he respects any handiwork or careful craftsmanship.

He’ll reluctantly agree that debating the "usefulness" of art is a Pandora’s box, as you humans would refer to it, and doesn't want his aft ripped a new one by philosopher Optimus so he'll leave it at that.

If you do something off the wall like cosplay, miniature, or food art he’s confused and already thinking back to his old comment but will bite his glossa. Hard. He understands you have your interests and will leave you to them, he likes to ask what you’re up to though and can come off judgemental but he does like listening to your rants and sharing something you’re passionate about is one of his love languages. You can tell by the way he pays attention to every detail and asks how you're able to achieve the look of your strokes as he has no idea what type of "pigments" you use. Giving him a handful of examples leads to his earlier question; Why? After seeing your work though, he doesn't mind all the different inefficient ways. (He likes it.)

Once he's over his Ratchet spell he’s impressed with any medium of yours, although crochet, oil/charcoal paintings, and the laser lights installations are his favorites. The lasers are smaller replicas of the ways cybertronians used to celebrate their own holidays, closer to the smaller ones for the smaller gatherings.

Paintings are satisfying for him to watch, watching your hands as your knuckles move under skin and the twist in your wrist with each stroke. Also is a hypocrite and likes charcoal a lot, especially as you use your small fingers to smudge and- He’s going to stop himself there.

Any art made of him completely flusters him, he’s having to clear his throat and stumbles over his words slightly before getting a compliment out. His helm is flushed, depending on who’s at base he’s getting teased. He’s hoping he can keep his back turned at his station and away from anyone’s eyes or optics.

He does not know how to play it off if someone were to tease him because he doesn’t want to act like it’s no big deal towards your work, though he’ll grumble out a-

“Don’t you have a patrol route to get to?” Or he brings up whatever stupid things has landed them in his medbay and they usually shut up so they get fixed the next time.

Later on that night he rewards you with affection he’d otherwise not give in public, cuddles before bed being one of many things he has planned and the tired Ratchet classic. Watching you paint and invest in your hobbies makes him long for a domestic life with you, for now he'll take the small moments between.

[agenericplaceholdername]

Dragons Rising E16-20 Thoughts

Here’s some thoughts on the final episodes of Dragons Rising, Season 1:

Land of Lost Things:

So how’d the Dragon Core end up in the Land of Lost Things? Nya says, “Someone lost it” but who?

The Land of Lost Things in this ep is permanently at sunset/rise and looks beautiful

The land itself is screaming? Seems kinda important

Couldn’t Geo just fuse the Hoarder to the ground

Bonzle! Never expected how much they’d do with her after this ep

Sora ngl powering a machine off of another person’s energy does sound like Imperium

Who built this machine anyway

Poor Geo :( 

Cole is just so lost lol. “What Empress?!”

Okay but he’s also super cool

“Bones. Extremely useful.”

“Broken things can be repaired, and made stronger!” Thanks Geo - not only is your relationship w/ Cole super cute but you’ve helped Sora

Dr. LaRow is exactly the type of person who would “erm actually” an insult

IT FORMED A HEART

Wow it’s a cute blue blob

Wyldfyre growth

Very good episode - Cole is characterized great, Geo is fun, we get both Sora and Wyldfyre growth, the Land of Lost Things is beautiful. Certainly could go into more detail but these bullets are just what I think as I watch, not in depth analysis

The Administration:

Arin nearly hits Lloyd in the face with his grappling hook

I wish I had a line to wait in

The Kai and Wyldfyre stuff this episode is great for both characters

The Administration as an agency is so fascinating. Reminds me of the TVA from Loki

“We have to fill out ‘Tricked by fake forms’ forms first”

Blue Frohicky

Is that a new species? The guys who look like Munce? Or are they Munce?

Zane says that the Administration has no real authority, which is true, but it’s also the case that their teleportation technology is very powerful

The Administrator… hmmm

“The lands formerly known as the Cursed Realm” so the body of the Preeminent in Hollow’s Trench? The soul of the Preeminent in the Departed Realm? Something else?

JAY!

Of course the Administration had a car specifically designed around Zane (I choose to believe this was Zane’s car at one point and the Administration confiscated it)

So what else qualifies as a Class B artifact? Is there a hierarchy — would Class A be something like the Golden Armor?

And of course the Administration has a mech designed for Arin and Lloyd

Love the Zane death note scene. “You’re a form genius.”

Really fun episode on the Administration side, and heartfelt one on the Kai & Wyldfyre side

Absolute Power:

I wonder if Ras got revenge on those guards later

Ras has seen a Source Dragon with his own eyes…hmmm

Interesting choice to make Levo a jerk. It makes sense why Beatrix would be so resentful

Beatrix using adults in green suits to represent children I can’t even

This fake dragon core thing is slightly confusing but pretty understandable once explained

“Sora’s Armor for Geo” is a great soundtrack

“[Time] is running out everywhere” because the ground is screaming. Cole what are you talking about? Your journey here is still unaddressed, at least a year in universe later

This Nya Cole exchange is really nice

Was Beatrix just waiting under the Throne Room for them to arrive?

“Obviously they have different energies, they’re different Cores” it’s funny that the sets color the cores differently, but in show they’re all identical lol

Bye Rapton

Excellent manipulation by Ras, but the following scene in prison shows Ras’ fatal flaw: he thinks he’s smarter than everyone else, so he can’t see that Beatrix has (or at least thinks she has) grown beyond him

Love the Imperium coup scene

The hoverboard one take is also great

One of the Imperium Teen Protection/Resistance Force members has changed

LaRow finally grows a spine— only for Jordana to fill in!

We Are All Dragons:

So Percival didn’t know Arin’s name— but did he still think he was a doctor?

“I forgot there’s two of them now” Kai and Wyldfyre work so well together

“There’s no talking to [my parents]” we’ll see about that Sora

Genuinely curious what Arin thinks about the fact that Wyldfyre thinks her powers make her superior 

Nya that joke was “Mediocre-at-best”

Hey it’s the dumpster Arin hid Riyu in

Why did Beatrix film herself admitting her lies

“I’ve always got your back, Sora” thanks Arin, good to know for reference

NO JIRO!!!! (yeah he’s fine but the implication)

The return of Melvin, the greatest Imperium guard

Yet another perfect Kai and Wyldfyre scene. Not the shoulder pad storage!

Get him Riyu, he deserves it

The Beatrix dramatic entrance and then immediately Dorama

Another great one take

LaRow loves nothing but taunting people she doesn’t like - both Sora and Jordana. If they ever end up reconciling, they already have a mutual enemy

They show a clip of Beatrix admitting the dragons didn’t escape, but it’s a different one from when she does the same thing with LaRow in E11

Sora’s dad shakes his head as Sora speaks

Excellent speech from Sora, following in her Master’s footsteps

Kai and Wyldfyre are so cool

Why would you throw one of your own loyalists?

We are all dragons!

Oh shoot

The Power Within:

Finally, Dorama sees the bigger picture

Extremely cool shot (the MergeQuake over the entire city of Imperium)

I agree, the Empress *has* lost it

Excellent shot of the Ninja

Wyldfyre!

Kai gets sliced with a giant mech sword and is basically fine— what sort of armor is under those Ninja outfits

Percival!

Riyu!

Arin can only do Object Spinjitzu when Sora’s in danger (or when he thinks about Sora being in danger)

Oh no not Rapton ah well

LET’S GO SORA WOOOO

See ya Beatrix

Oh no not the Bounty (again)

Zanth randomly grows in size and then never does again lol

I would never forget you Lobbo

I think Arin’s parents are proud of him

Sora’s parents were swallowed by a MergeQuake

Is the Sora scene a culmination of a whole season of character development executed really well? Yes. That being said, I had an even bigger smile when Frohicky appeared driving Zane’s car with the dragon core

Yet another awesome Lloyd vision scene

Dragon hugs :)

The Source Dragon scenes are always cool

“Who was right?” Good question

What’s special about Riyu, Mr. Energy?

“This cycle” what do you mean?

Good advice Lloyd, suppressing your emotions is bad

So we now know that Wyldfyre has Heat, not Fire, but how does that differ besides burning vs melting aluminum cans? (there are plenty of ways but I’m interested to see what they go with)

Kai how’d you drop your pie immediately

Ras stop manipulating teenagers challenge level: impossible

So Ras has a “true” Master, wants to unlock forbidden secrets, and is now working with Jordana. Great setup for Season 2

Closing (brief) thoughts on Dragons Rising Season 1: It’s really good. Good blend of the more episodic stuff and serialized content. Arin and Sora are a blast, Lloyd is great, and I forgot just how good the Wyldfyre stuff is this season. There’s a lot of hanging threads, but Season 1 also does feel like a complete story. It’s not perfect by any means, but certainly at the higher end of Ninjago seasons.

Next up, the start of Dragons Rising Season 2!

[impossiblesuitcase]

I wish someone would rewrite the lunar chronicles but better (no offence to Marissa Meyer) and make it cooler with minor alterations. Such as the cresswell age gap, the lack of futuristic or dystopian description besides the author’s own developed ideas like lunars and portscreens, more cyborgs mentioned so it doesn’t seem like Cinder is the only one really, and just overall slightly better writing minus the attributes that make it very clear this was made in the awkward 2010s. This series has so much potential, the whole idea is fantastic really, but the executions haven’t exactly shown that potential. It’s subjective and I’m not saying it’s a horrible trilogy, because it definitely is not, however, the initial interpretation or impression of the “futuristic cyborg cinderella/fairytales” is such an interesting and eye-catching topic on its own that it becomes a let down in certain ways. It could tell the story of all those Pinterest cyberpunk year 3000 cities. Additionally, various writers and authors have their own unique style of writing and it’d be quite compelling to read this series in a different style, preferably a dystopian author like the ready player one type

I agree to an extent. I too would want to alter some elements such as the wolfen soldiers and the alpha mate aspect. It would be cool to further enhance some of the futuristic elements of the setting. However what we have to consider is this--is there time for that? I personally don't see how more worldbuilding beyond the already extensive groundwork laid could work without slowing the story and pacing. Winter is 800 pages already--imagine if you added to it with further exposition! I feel it would suffer, not shine.

This is not a story about what a technologically-advanced society could look like, it's a story about a lost princess who reclaims her throne and overthrows a broken political system--set in a futuristic society. Marissa is foremost interested in characters and plot, still, when you sit back and analyse the worldbuilding, you can clearly see that she put a lot of thought into it. Cyborgs, escort droids, language evolution, robotic animals, political conflicts, space cruise ships; there's a lot of cool stuff in there! I think of all the things to improve about tlc, this would be low priority.

Moreover, this isn't intended to be a dystopian series, it's a sci-fi fantasy series. No, it doesn't have the social commentary like The Hunger Games, but it isn't trying to. The books in The Lunar Chronicles are based on fairytales, and are therefore meant to reflect the romantic, sometimes improbably fantastical elements of such. And yet still, this series explores themes of racism, ableism, sexual assault, suicide, domestic abuse and classism. These are not the main focus of the story, but they certainly aren't ignored. If the series was any darker, its core values of love, adventure and friendship could fall to the wayside.

You mentioned that the series is a trilogy so perhaps you haven't read all the books (the main series is actually a tetralogy, but the whole series is 7 books in total). If you are looking for a darker, more dystopian feel, try Fairest. For more cyborgs, try The Little Android in Stars Above.

So overall, would I enjoy reading tlc by a different author? Sure. I would love to see how an Asian author would depict New Beijing and the Eastern Commonwealth. However would I enjoy any other version more than the original? I don't think so. It would lose the humour, friendships and character developments that are uniquely Marissa. If The Lunar Chronicles isn't written by Marissa Meyer, then it just simply is not The Lunar Chronicles.

That's just my thoughts and I can understand your opinion.

[itsohh]

The Contract

A/N: G/N reader, this is the sort of introduction to the vampire AU which will branch out into different one-shots with different characters. This is just a fun little AU which @lululandd​ and I have been playing around with. (So credit for some of the ideas goes to them)

Summary: When given an opportunity to branch out for a promotion, you couldn't help but jump at the opportunity. Yet with a large amount of paperwork to be signed, you find yourself in a new world that you never knew existed.

Word count: 2793

Warnings: None

AO3 Masterlist

In your lifetime you had seen a lot of paperwork. If there was one thing you were used to, was bureaucracy. The stack of papers in front of you, however, brought things to a different level. The stack Laswell had placed in front of you was about the size of a child and you were, frankly, a bit surprised she could even carry it all. Her hand slipped down the side about a fifth of the way down and picked up part of the stack and placed it on the desk. “This is your contract.” Her eyes met yours for a moment then she placed her hand on the free stack. “This is your NDA.”

“Pardon?” You had signed a lot of things and seen a lot of NDAs in your lifetime. Never like this before.

“The contract highlights all the duties you will be required to perform. I can not allow you to look at it before you have agreed to the NDA. It goes into the specifics of what will happen if you attempt to disclose everything including the risk to your life if you agree.” She informed you. “This NDA and contract relies heavily upon you knowing and understanding what every single word means. The pair of us will be going over it together. If you wish for a lawyer to be present I must insist that they be one of our approved list.”

“Is that even legal?”

“This is…something outside the limits of the law. Your usual laws do not come into play with this agreement. It is part of an international agreement signed by the secretary of state. I can tell you this, the moment you sign this NDA, your life will never be the same.” Your eyes focused on her and your lips opened slightly. “You will not be reprimanded for refusal, everything will return to how it was and nothing will change for you.”

“Are we living in the matrix or something?” You leaned forward and you saw the small corner of his lip curl up and you swallowed. “Ma’am.”

“Sign and find out.”

-

Laswell had given you a week to fully process everything and come back with your answer. The deep breath she had taken when you signed that NDA. There was a certain fear in her eyes. Almost like a weight had been lifted off her back but immediately replaced with a new one. You blinked a few times at the woman as a fury of emotions cross your face. “Is this a joke? A test?” Your eyes searched her body and she shook her head.

“This is no joking matter.”

“Vampires? Like real life? Ma’am, you can’t be serious. Is this a metaphor? Or a codename?”

“No. I understand this can take a while to process.”

“This is some grade-A conspiracy theory stuff. Vampires? I can understand aliens like the universe is a big space but what is secretly lizard people too? Pigeons that all secretly all cameras.”

“Aliens aren't our concern. Thats an FBI matter-”

“-What?”

“Lizard people are just a stupid thing that people made up decades ago and pigeon theory is illogical at best. We already have the technology for surveillance, cameras are almost everywhere in cities. People's phones, social media. Birds? That would be a pointless waste of resources.” She blinked a couple of times. “Regardless, vampires are indeed all around you. They blend in perfectly with humans.”

“Is that what all the murders are around us in the world?”

“No, those most of the time are just humans. But I can understand why would ask that with media. Vampires haven’t particularly needed to feed from veins since at least the early 19th century.”

“Because of blood donations?”

“No, those are all used in human medical treatment. Powered plasma became extremely widespread as it involves zero risk for everyone involved. It doesn’t provide as many nutrients as straight from the vein but unless you were actively dying... There is no need.”

“Dying? Vampires can die? Aren’t they all like undead or something.”

“Undead isn’t a term I like to use. In all ways, vampires are alive. They are different humans yes and can survive most terms of attack. They can still die.”

“How do you kill one then?” She paused at your question but decided to answer it.

“Complete unrepairable damage to the heart or removal of the head.”

“So the whole stake thing?”

“Works but only if you aim correctly. A stake would have to be made from pure silver and thick enough to destroy the majority of the heart. Removal of the head is fair easier or in the modern age a grenade if hit centre enough would work fairly well.”

“Okay wait, Ma’am, hold on. Does this mean they are affected by warfare?”

“Very much so. The vampire population may be far smaller, minuscule compared to the human population but like I said. They are very much all around you at all times.”

“People I know?” You tapped the centre of your chest with your finger and wet-pressed her lips together.

“Yes.”

“Will you tell me who?”

“It will be important for you to know part of your job so if you choose to accept this contract then I will.”

“I haven’t automatically taken the job by signing the NDA?”

“Of course not, this NDA is about vampiric race. One I had to sign a long time ago. You are part of this world now yes but that doesn’t mean you are forced into this job. You could very well go back to your previous position. Your life would be heavily monitored, but it already is. You wouldn’t notice a thing. No one would believe you regardless. I wouldn’t want to imagine what knowing such a secret without anyone to speak to would do for your mentality but regardless. This job is a taxing one which will see the use of all your skills. I will not force you into it.” Her eyes went to the stack of papers that had been on the desk for two weeks, the bindings untouched. “Now, shall we?”

-

Minutes ticked by as you looked at the signed paper. “So… I’m your assistant now?”

“To a degree, the role's name is a handler.” She pulled out a small book from inside her jacket and handed it to you. It was old, really old. It had to be at least fifty years old, probably older.

“What's this?”

“Something I started when I became a handler. It’s all the information on vampires that you could possibly need to know. Common mutations, limitations and how to deal with our charges.”

“Ma’am- this is like a hundred years old.” You looked down at the old book and open the pages to see the cursive writing on it with a couple of diagrams.

“Eighty-one years to be exact.”

“And you said you wrote this?” The gears turned in your head and you looked up at her to her waiting eyes. The pair of you stared at each other for a moment. “Are you…?” Your voice carried off while her lips turned into a smile with a slight chuckle. Laswell looked away for a moment and nodded her head. “I was turned after the end of the war.”

“Which war?”

“World War 2. I’m the only handler that's been changed. It was quite the fuss about it but the matter was settled with the creation of the CIA.”

“Why did you change?”

“I was good at my job. Tensions have always been high between humans and vampires and I helped settle that.”

“Then why bring me aboard?” Laswell looked down at the paper you had just signed.

“Vampires can be affected by stress too. Not to the extreme states that humans are but I recognised I was neglecting my role as a handler. With my current position at the CIA, I am unable to perform all my duties to the quality that they require. People will suffer because of that.” You couldn’t help but stare at her as she spoke, your eyes dead set on her mouth. Laswell picked up on the matter almost immediately

Her head tilted slightly and she gave you a knowing look. A look that had your eyes snap up to hers. “For the future, some vampires may take offence to staring at the teeth. I don’t mind, this is, after all, a lot to get used to. I am the exact same person that I was to you yesterday. You will have a lot of questions, all should be answered in that book but a book isn’t the same as real life now is it?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“While it's the two of us, Laswell is fine.” You nodded at her correction and your eyes flashed down to her lips again.

“If you have any questions Agent, you have my permission to ask. If you have questions ever at all I highly advise you to come to me about them. Not all vampires are as patient as you will soon learn.”

“Do you have fangs?”

“I do. Mine are retractable but not everyone is as lucky.”

“What do you mean?”

“Vampires aren’t all the same, we have variation, mutations like humans would. Who our creator is or 'master' if you're more old fashioned, can affect the traits and change to your body. Some vampires are left with a set that won't retract. Normally when that happens the vampire will purposely file them down. There's no need for them to be that sharp.” You looked away at the thought as you debated whether to ask her or if it would be rude. “Would you like to see?” Your eyes snapped to Laswells and you nodded right away. Her teeth flashed as she laughed and nodded. It was a little strange when Kate leaned forward and opened her mouth wide. In all ways, she looked completely human. There wasn’t a thing off about her. Then with a flex of her muscles, her teeth slid out at an insane speed. Despite being prepared for it, you jumped back in your seat with wide eyes.

There was no denying the truth now. Her upper canines had shot down while her lower ones shot up but not as long as her upper ones. You stared at them for what had to be about five minutes before Kate leaned back on her chair and they retracted back into her mouth. As if nothing had happened.

“Does it hurt?”

“No. At least not for me, every vampire is different. She smiled and placed her hands on her lap. “Any other burning questions at the moment?”

“No ma’am.” Laswell gave you a nod and leaned over to her bag. A group of folders were pulled from the bag and she placed them on the desk. “These are our charges. Specifically the top case.” You grabbed the top folder and opened it. “That there is Captain John Price. True age unknown. All you need to know is that he's been alive for a very long time.” You glanced at the picture of him and started to skim his official military record. You flicked through the page and found the ink had changed from the usual black to navy blue. “Everything in blue is class x.” There you started to read the true documented history of his military past. It was extensive.

“Price was one of the vampires who created the vampire-human treaty alliance after the fall of the vampire council.”

“When was that?”

“About three hundred years ago. Vampires were to be treated the same as humans for their crimes and punished as so. He was one of the first enforces of this. It wasn’t until the creation of powered plasma that tensions really died down, that most of the vampiric population adhered to the treaty. There still is the odd vampire who refuses to use powder but so long as they obey the human laws of the country they are in, there's nothing we do.”

“Why wouldn’t you use the powder? Is it hard to eat?”

“Well, you don’t leave it in its powdered form. You heat water and add it. Think of instant coffee. From what I’ve heard from Price, the taste isn’t comparable to human blood. I’ve tried real blood.” You looked down the file, it was obvious a lot was missing or blacked out. “Offspring?” You read out, everything under it was blacked out.

“The registry records who your creator is. We have certified offspring and uncertified offspring. Certified offspring is when both the newborn and the creator testify the same. Uncertified is when only one party agrees. In my case, I am a certified offspring of Price’s.”

“Your charge changed you?” You raised your brows.

“Yes. Now, the next is Lieutenant Simon Riley.” She directed you to the next folder, changing the subject. You didn’t push the matter. You thought that Price’s folder was rather empty, Rileys was on a different level. There was almost nothing inside. You did see one redacted name under his offspring count.

“He goes by Ghost.”

“Laswell, this is an empty folder.” Laswell let out a laugh and nodded.

“Ghost’s identity is a very classified matter. These files of theirs won’t tell you too much. He wears a mask at all times. He may seem intimidating at first but you will get used to him.” You pulled out the next folder.

“Soap?” Your eyes immediately drew to his nickname.

“Sergent Johnny McTavish. Goes by Soap or John. Don’t call him Johnny, he doesn’t like it.” Your eyes looked over to his military history.

“He fought in World War 2 when he was human?”

“Yes, he was changed a few years before I was. Your final charge is Gaz. Or Kyle Garrick. You frowned as you looked at the file, it had relatives listed in it, his birthdate. His file seemed completely normal as if you were looking at a human file. You gave Laswell a slightly confused look and she looked away for a second and then looked back at you.

“Garrick is still considered a newborn. His creator is unknown but Price has taken the role up. Garrick must be always paired up with either Price or Ghost. Preferably Price.”

“Why?”

“Vampires are apex killers by nature. We, of course, are more than that nature, but it takes time to control one's self. These men all belong to battlefields, they are constantly surrounded by blood and learned to control themselves far quicker than most have to. There's still always the risk with someone as young as Garrick, it's best to be safe.”

“I’ll be assigning them missions?” You looked a little taken back.

“No, in the odd case that I am unable and someone else is in charge of their mission it's important your my voice in my stead. You will be responsible mainly for making sure they receive the proper food in the field and at times may be sent out with them.” You swallowed, you recall reading that in the contract and nodded.

“I’ve never been into an active warzone before.”

“You have been to bases and have combat experience. You can handle it. They will listen to you, they may not like it, but they will. In three days time we will meet with Price. Perhaps some of the team, it's important that you develop a level of trust, familiarity and respect. It’s been a long time since the Captain has had a different handler. Don’t worry about him, spend tomorrow going through that book I gave you. It has more information than any file that I can give to you. I suggest writing out a copy of it, writing notes may help you. Whatever notes you make you must guard with your life, make the book highly flammable and keep a lighter on you at all moments if you don’t already. None of this can get into the enemy's hands.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“I’ll pick you up from your apartment in two days. Be packed and ready to go.”

“The contract said I would be stationed in England right?”

“That's correct, having you close to them will make things far easier. Your current accommodation, do you have plans for it?”

“I was unsure if I would be staying here. I’ve talked a bit with a real estate agent but not much further than that.”

“Sell it if you have no plans on coming back here, you won’t be positioned here long term in the future. If you are needed here I will arrange accommodation, a hotel. All expenses will be paid.”

“What time should I expect you?”

“0500 hours, we have a flight to catch.”

“Yes ma’am.”

[positivelybeastly]

Astonishing X-men Beast, if someone were to ask you what’s the main issue with the X-men/ Professor X philosophy what would you say? Not from anyone else’s experiences just yours and events that have taken place. While I take you as someone very loyal to the dream of Xavier, even though Scott is the poster boy/boy-scout of the team, you’ve surely have diverged at some point. Not completely, but slightly. Maybe. I don’t know.

". . . Have you ever noticed something a little odd about the First Class of X-Men? Charles' handpicked selection of mutants with whom to shock, astonish, charm, and woo the world?"

"Professor Xavier had access to Cerebro, the most advanced mutant locating technology ever devised, working in conjunction with one of the most powerful and well trained minds that's ever graced this Earth. He had his pick of an entire planet's worth of mutants whom he could have chosen to elevate, to show the world, to use to prove to the human race that we were not to be hated and feared.

And he chose five white young Americans with non-threatening powers.

Sometimes I wonder - if I looked back then how I look now, would I have made the cut? Would the Professor have deemed me worthy of being a flag-bearer for his dream? Perhaps. Perhaps not."

"But that is the issue, isn't it? The dream requires infinite patience. It requires infinite understanding. It requires an infinite capacity to be smacked in the face and turn the other cheek. It requires certain qualities. It requires certain people, includes certain people, excludes others, if only by proxy.

It requires a seventeen year old boy to be nearly beaten to death by an angry mob and decide, no, I'll continue to fight for you."

"That's quite a thing to ask of a child. That's quite a thing to ask of anyone, don't you think? There are those who might say that when it comes to survival, the moral high ground merely ends up being the six foot of earth separating you and the top soil. I don't agree, obviously, but. It's not a life for everyone.

Sometimes, I think it's not a life for anyone."

"But, in the end, I do believe. I believe in co-existence. I have a mother and a father who have loved me from the instant they saw me, no matter how unnatural my appendages.

They remind me that, no matter what else happens, there are always humans who make the world better. Humans who will like us, love us, break bread with us, protect us, nurture us. Even though it may seem like all you ever see are the sneering faces calling you a gene-freak, the other kind of person exists, too. It helps, to break the surface and take a deep breath every now and then. Remind yourself what you're fighting for."

". . . The Professor himself has admitted that the dream may well be just a dream. That it needs to change if it's to become reality. It needs to include the physically mutated, the violent, the dispossessed, the unhappy, the unruly, the different. The strange.

The uncanny.

But the problem is that dreamers aren't made. They become. In some ways, maybe we're all just waiting for the new dreamer to come along to tell us what the next big idea should be.

For a time, I wondered if that might be me. But, I don't think it is. I'm excited to meet them, however. Whoever they may be. And when I do, I just hope they recognise that even if their dream is better, the Professor's dream are still the shoulders upon which they stand."

". . . Heady stuff, no?"

I'm also going to copy over my thoughts about a particular scene in Astonishing X-Men that you might find interesting, both in relation to your earlier question about body language, and about Hank and Xavier's dream. I originally posted this analysis on Reddit.

Something I really appreciate about this scene is that it highlights how different Hank and Scott are in their relationship with Xavier.

Perhaps because Scott grew up with an abusive parental figure in Jack Winters and Hank grew up with very loving parents, Scott was able to recognise Charles' toxic behaviour and break away from Xavier - it might also have had something to do with the fact that at least one of Charles' biggest fuck ups had to do with Scott's brother Gabriel? Hard to say. But Hank, who Charles very carefully isolated from his parents by mindwiping them for years of Hank's whole existence, never really managed to break free of him, and it shows here.

Hell, it arguably never went away, even into the Krakoan era - a more interesting version of X-Force would have really dived into the kind of fucked up dynamic they have, where Chuck keeps covering for Beast's moral transgressions for seemingly no reason, because in some respects, he's responsible for them. He gave him the power, he gave him no oversight, but even more pressingly, he wasn't there for him emotionally. He pulled him into this life and didn't prepare him for the toll it would take, how much it would ruin Beast by the time he gets to Krakoa. Beast needed someone to help him there, and no-one did, which is part of why he went on the skids, I think.

But anyway, Whedon does a lot of moments where Hank is present for scenes but doesn't speak, which is important for a character who's well known for not shutting the fuck up. This, the initial cure conversation, the whole conversation about Piotr - Hank clams up. He doesn't feel like he can talk about it. He's off in his own head, his thoughts are his own, he doesn't feel the need to share them.

And here, it's especially important, because this is a big moral violation that Charles has committed in their name. I know it may be hard to remember, but back in the day, Hank had a moral opinion that was worth something, so the fact that he doesn't say anything here speaks volumes about just how much he feels capable of calling out the Professor, i.e. not at all. He craves Xavier's validation, his approval, he feels a kinship with Chuck. So he doesn't criticise him like he should.

It's especially interesting given that this would continue through the Utopia era. Every time Scott distanced himself from Xavier, Hank was there to comfort Charles, and I feel like that's just something he feels like he has to do. He feels like the devoted brother to Scott's more radical, more willing to criticise brother, and if Bendis had any interest in Beast as a character, he would've played on that in All-New X-Men - the fact that Scott killed their toxic father figure, and Beast feels both free of an influence he didn't know was choking him, but outraged that Scott would break their 'family' like that.

I find Beast compelling because of his flaws, and this is an interesting moment when you take all of that into account. I don't even know if that was the intention of this scene, or if Whedon just wanted to give Scott the speech, but it's interesting.

I definitely feel as though Hank agrees with Scott in the scene, for the record, but doesn't feel able to express it. Is that better or worse? Hard to say. The way that Cassaday draws him as he tells the other X-Men that their ride is here, it communicates shame and disappointment - but not just in Xavier. He's ashamed of his fear. He's disappointed in himself, that he didn't feel capable of speaking up.

And the reason that has real weight is because of his original X-Man status - I don't feel inclined to judge Kitty here despite the fact that she's silent as well, because it's a different dynamic. I don't really expect her to, you know? But Hank, I do, and I think he expects that of himself.

I doubt that Scott or the rest of the team judges Hank for staying silent, either - it's not as if he was complicit in Danger's abuse, after all - especially since it doesn't come up in the conversations Hank and Scott have after this. But Hank, I feel, would judge himself.

I also wonder if this might have played into why Hank got so much more vocal and active in opposing Scott's actions on Utopia - because he felt ashamed by his passivity here, and felt obligated not to let that tendency to repeat. But also, on some level, because he felt more like a peer to Scott, and less like a child, compared to Xavier.

In those instances, Hank is often morally correct, but, in some respects, naive and unhelpful, and he recuses himself from making what we might perceive to be the correct decision because of his ethics. I feel that there's a tendency to call him a coward or obstinate because of that - but is it really cowardly to make a moral stand? And, especially given what Hank would do as time went on, would we not have rather he kept making those moral stands, rather than desperately trying anything he thought would work?

I genuinely don't think he opposed Scott because he didn't like him or didn't love him, because I feel like he very clearly did, but because he felt it was the right thing to do for the both of them. In Hank's mind, he's fighting for the X-Men's soul, for Scott's - for his own. Scott, meanwhile, feels like it's all worth it so long as mutantkind makes it through. They're both right. They're both wrong. That's what makes it a worthwhile conflict.

[the-bjd-community-confess]

Hello, Anon, this is your Oldie Chinese Diaspora Anon™️. I am sorry to keep you waiting. As you’ve probably noticed, vinyl and non-resin dolls are usually not my forte. It took a while to dig up some information for you, but I hope to be able to answer your questions.

The advent of “Cheaper, affordable MJDs” didn’t come from the desire to make BJDs affordable. In fact, the technology that really elevated the production of this kind of MJDs started from what we understand as vinyl collectibles. These small figurines are made from a combination of PVC powders as well as a series of other emulsifiers, lubricators and activators (From the factory that produces them, here: http://www.dgzhonglinhb.com/news_content-859681.html ) Different companies have slightly different recipes, which would explain the different pliability of their final products. The technology was first created as a way to create memorabilia that are of limited edition and they were first considered as collectibles. They’re known internally as “Urbanvinyls” and include signed trinkets that can go for hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. Some examples would be KAWS, Kidrobot, Tokidoki, Bearbrick etc.

With the rise of “Made in China” soft power, the internally patriotic sentiment had fostered local artist-designed vinyl collectibles, which had eventually ballooned into the blind box craze that we see in the last 4-5 years. It also opened a door for vinyl/PVC based MJDs. I do not think they were specifically made to usurp the DD/SmD market, but since “moe sells”, a lot of the new doll companies go with the cute, anime-inspired aesthetic while the blind boxes cater to more design elements. These newly designed MJDs tend to be small, usually 1/12 and 1/6; larger ones exist, but they are rare. In all, they are created to be much more like their direct inspiration, the “blind box collectibles” than what we would usually consider to be articulated dolls. It also meant their target demographic is very different as well. The lower price point allows more people to impulse buy out of FOMO; these are things you buy on a whim instead of saving up to buy.

In this arena, Imómó is not alone in terms of aesthetic, pricing or packaging. Other companies in this group include Hüa Jüan, Tïny Fóx, UFdóll, CNDóll, Kimdóll, Pópmilk, Mónst and the upcoming YünLai/LückyDoll, etc (but not YMY – who has lost a battle with Piccodo for copying their body design recently). These dolls are created with a higher number in circulation in mind – but still limited enough to stimulate the FOMO behaviour – with shared features (sharing bodies, design elements, etc). To keep the production cost down, these dolls would be considered rather threadbare compared to BJDs. I have seen box opening videos where the floating “blind box” heads were packaged in a brown shipping box and wrapped around in clear plastic bags with no other packaging material. The “accessories” for these dolls are usually close to none as well – no or very simple COAs, basic box, air-filled tubes instead of fabric cushions, etc.A snapshot in time in online stores shows that Imómó is definitely not an outlier in the new era of MJDs: https://weibo.com/1448114577/Nj9fqfog3

https://www.dollyteria.com/product-list/58?page=1

If there’s something that really made Imómó stand out, it was the rumours that spread within Chinese doll collectors earlier in the summer of 2023 about the company not issuing legitimate receipts (usually with the intention to cook their books to pay less in taxes). They accuse Imómó of being a “Three Nothings” company (no date of manufacture, no QC and no source factory) with really awful customer service. They had registered the company as an “overseas-based” one so they would be in a different tax bracket. Some collectors also accuse the owner and their family members infiltrating doll collector groups to hype up their own products and downplay the complaints. A popular agent, SWDólls, were also implicated in helping them to not issue traceable receipts. (Details and screen grabs can be found here: https://weibo.com/7303299294/N8lHE6wGE?type=repost ) I have also heard of owners who complain about the parts not fitting well, the seamlines were wide and uneven as well as other imperfections that should’ve never passed QC, if there was a QC.

I understand that most of us, who are looking in from the outside, would wholly welcome a new era of articulated dolls that are affordable. They are a great entry point for people who want to get into BJDs or just want to collect these dolls on their own. I personally think they are great the way they are, because they are starting to populate a brand-new market for people who like dolls in general. However, the first company that most folks encounter in this group was probably Imómó. I cannot comment on the accusations made by the Chinese collectors; all I can say is, I am hoping that the other named companies start to make headway into the overseas market. We’d been waiting.

Note: The write up here didn’t include previously existing vinyl dolls such as Azóne and Obitsü or the vinyl versions of resin dolls such as Kinókó Jüice and Püyüdolls. This write-up only includes MiC, PVC-based, original, MJDs. My understanding is that they are not on par with the company in question in terms of price range, target market and country of origin. I didn’t think they’d make for a fair comparison, but your mileage may vary.

~Anonymous

[inkybloom-luv]

Words Unsaid 10, fireworks

♪~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~♪

Hi everyone! Late upload but w/e! At least it's a long one! I hope you enjoy my little silly update! I have worked in a little bit of Urdu, for which I will put the translations at the bottom but please be aware that it is not a language I speak, feel free to correct me! (Politely tho please)

Major Al'ab Nayira spoilers

Slightly suggestive for like,, 1 sentence

2.5+ k words.

Part 9 Masterpost Part 11

♪~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~♪

At the Camel Bazaar Grim managed to sniff out a Shawarma stall and also managed to convince everyone to order. Six different orders, all accustomed to everyone's preferences and still Jamil could remember them and give them to the stall owner. Both Cater and Inky found that absolutely amazing, but Inky found Jamil amazing on a different level than Cater.

When their food arrived however, one seemed to be missing. Jamil's. Everyone accused Grim at first but he was obviously not it, because somehow his counter argument made enough sense. "I could have stolen the whole spit of meat if I was going to steal anything!" Or something like that, at least.

It was then discovered that a young woman, slightly younger than Jamil, maybe by a year or two, had swiped it. Her appearance sent Jamil into a sputter as it came to light she was his younger sister, Najma. The group was theorising over what was causing Jamil to loose his composure but really it wasn't because he was embarrassed, he just didn't want his younger sister to find him with.. well, his crush, NOT THAT THAT'S WHAT INKY WAS TO HIM!! Absolutely not! He just didn't know another word for it! Yeah that's it! And to top it off Najma inserted herself into the group via Cater suggesting she join them after hearing how her plans got cancelled after Mr Viper had sent her out to tell Jamil about the change in seating, though this was because their father did not quite understand phones and technology all too well. Of course, that made Cater give Najma the rundown of the group after Jamil had been unwillingly coerced into letting his sister join. Everyone else got a turn and then it was time to introduce the prefect.

"And this lovely lady is the prefect, Inky! She's super sweet and the school would probably go up in flames without her! Get this: she's actually real cammable! And her outfit today is an easy 100/10!" He said, and of course, that flattered Inky, although she didn't really fully believe that. Actually the part about the school was probably true but the rest was a little odd to her. She did try to be sweet though. It was then that Najma noticed her as Jamil had sort of stood in the way, which was totally on purpose. Najma inspected Inky a bit, noticing her brother was looking at her as well, trying to keep a stoic expression. But there was just something in his eyes that felt different, new, more.. affectionate even. And then she realised. The pretty little lady had stolen her big brother's heart and he was more than slightly in absolute denial.

"And that's the short n sweet on our little group!" Cater finished.

"Wow, honestly I'm surprised my brother has this many friends! He never mentions anyone when he comes home over the holidays!" Najma said, which made Jamil respond in a slightly agitated manner.

"They're not my friends, they are schoolmates, that's all." To which Najma ghasped in exaggerated shock, worming herself through the group to behind Inky, gripping her shoulders. Which, Inky seemed slightly hurt by what Jamil had said, though he didn't intend to make her feel that way.

"You can't tell me this little cutie of a girl you brought is *just a schoolmate*" Najma said, continuing to feign shock to tease her brother.

"Well- no, she's not just a schoolmate. She's.. a close friend. Had I the time to say anything I would have but for today I am busy." He answered, trying once again to avoid the truth. It was then Najma had a sort of lightbulb moment. She had never been more glad to be his sister and to understand what he meant by that.

"Jamil Viper..! تم اس کے ساتھ چھپ کر چھیڑ چھاڑ کرنا چاہتے تھے..!"

She said, a smug grin now plastered on her face. Her brother was making googly eyes at a girl and was trying *so hard* to hide it that it was almost hilarious!

"No! آپ چیزوں کا تصور کر رہے ہیں!"

Jamil said, almost a little too quickly. He felt immensely glad that his friends did not understand a lick of Urdu right then. Even if the little sad look on Inky's face earlier did kind of plague him. But it's not like she was his crush! He just didn't have another word! Sure she was absolutely breathtaking in her current attire, not just that, anything really and she was so sweet and- you know what? Nevermind! What mattered was that Jamil was most definitely not crushing on her and his sister was just trying to tease him!

His sister gave one last and incredibly unconvinced "yeah sure Jamil, whatever you say...~", before everyone had finished their food, save Inky, who was still holding half of hers. Odd but maybe she wasn't all that hungry yet.

One way or another the conversation drifted to a fruit vendor who was selling many high quality fruits. The group then learned that fruit grown here was high quality due to a special irrigation method since water was scarce back in the day. Malleus also learned what a dragon fruit was and Najma bought some and drizzled it with honey for the group to try.

Another mentionable fruit was the so-called silky melon, a Silk City specialty known for its taste and texture.

"It's said that sharing these with someone will make your friendship or romance last forever." Jamil explained. He couldn't help the way his eyes wandered over to her, to Inky. Would she share a melon with him? He hoped she would. He bought some for the group, himself included. Though he was surprised when Inky refused a portion. Did she not want to be tied to the group, or even him? Was it him? He had to know, so he asked her why she wouldn't take her portion, then again she didn't finish her shawarma either.

"I don't like melons much. In my home they are popular too, a summer treat but I just find it tastes.. weird. So while I would try a piece.. a whole portion would likely be wasted on me." Was her reasoning. She was eyeing Jamil's portion though. He waited until everyone was distracted with their melon bits until he turned to her again, holding out to her one of the smallest pieces from his little pile. And she did take it. Despite what she said about not liking melons she ate it. Jamil didn't know why, but she knew. It was because it was Jamil that offered, ever considerate a small piece. But they shared. And that's what mattered to them both. Cater wanted to take another picture.. but no one except Inky was down for it and she didn't have a melon so no pic for poor Cater.

They tried bread next, which made a story of little Jamil come to light. Apparently he loved to make bread when he was younger and his sister tried it once. That one didn't go so well so Jamil made Hamburger steak out of what was left. After that they saw some urns and vases at a stall, where Grim did, in fact, fall into one. Najma chose that moment to reveal that Jamil had hidden in one as a kid and scared the daylights out of his sister as her tried to leave with it in a very Link hiding in a barrel fashion. It embarrassed Jamil to no end but Inky was giggling at least.

Since it had gotten hot now they settled on going to get some coconut water. Turns out that Kalim drank it by the truckload and the Malleus Draconia cracked the empty coco-fruits for everyone to enjoy. You know, like a glorified nutcracker. No one was gonna believe that. After that, they wandered and found a stall that sold, among other things, dates! The vendor recognised Jamil and began to coerce a story out of him. The one that explained his seething hatred and fear of bugs. He'd burnt down an entire awning of the stall trying to get the bug away, but he was a child and the control he had over his magic at the time was most definitely not that great. Apparently he was crying too, according to the stall owner. But that didn't matter much because right in the next moment it was Inky that shrieked and jumped at Jamil, seemingly out of nowhere. It happened quickly enough that Jamil barely managed to stay standing and it alerted the whole group. But still, Jamil held her up as she clung to him, not daring to put her feet on the floor. Unfortunately no one in the group could tell what happened until about half a minute later when Inky lifted her head to sniffle as she slowly put her feet back on the floor.

"S-sorry..!" She stuttered out, drying her tears as best she could before she actually started to cry. "a big s-spider was crawling up my leg and I p-panicked..!"

The prefect was not scared of a lot of things, but spiders, specifically large ones? That did her in. It had the whole group scanning the floor but at least nothing was on fire. Jamil was trying to calm her down a little too, offered her a date, which she gladly took, no matter how much Jamil disliked the fruit. After that whole mess Inky held on to Jamil's sleeve for a bit. But they walked past a toy stall, so upon Grim's request Inky did actually buy a game.

Najma left shortly after to meet with her friends, not before giving Jamil another teasing look about the girl that he was absolutely head over heels for. Unfortunately that was suddenly unimportant as Malleus had somehow managed to disappear right then and there. Somehow Jamil seemed a bit too calm as he led the group to Zahab Market. Turns out those neat little bells on everyone's outfit, right? Those cute things? GPS trackers. Not only that but Kalim showed up, since he'd finished early and wanted to join the group a while, with permission of course. A bit of conversing later and it was decided that they would all go look for souvenirs to bring home from the trip, though it was likely that Inky would really only look rather than buy.

After everyone finished and they moved on Grim had somehow gotten his heart set on coffee divination. Turns out Jamil knew the basics as Najma was into it, this Grim could happily try. And for once, Inky wanted to as well, if only to try the coffee. Grim had swallowed the grounds, unfortunately, however Inky had been careful not to, so Jamil could read her fortune. He took a few looks and blinked.

"A J, which refers to love as well as a 1, the start of something new, a romantic relationship perhaps.. as well as.." he leaned in slightly closer "a 6.. for.. intimacy" he said to her, hoping he'd made his point come across and by the looks of those slightly rosy cheeks, he did. He said a few more minor things but that was about it. Those first 3 were the most important to Inky, for obvious reasons.

They kept walking and a little while later as everyone dispersed for a few more moments Inky was looking at jewelry. Waist beads to be specific. She'd always been fond of them and wanted to try them, too bad they were just slightly out of their tight budget, so they turned to the others to learn what they'd gotten instead. And while that went on, Jamil disappeared for only a moment, only to come back with seemingly nothing. But who knows how true that was.

More time passed as the sun set and they ran into the chief pyrotechnician, who struck up a friendly conversation, only to realise he'd been stolen from! Not only that, someone tried to snag Inky's poor old phone! Well, not someone, a monkey they'd seen earlier, that performed tricks. Malleus suggested using magic to stop the creature but that was quickly passed up on in favour of Jamil's plan, which, although it ended in Jamil fighting the man who owned the monkey, went well. Considering it was a great way for Jamil to blow off steam, of course it went swimmingly. Gently brushing the dirt off him, Inky congratulated him with a smile as the police went and took care of the crook, who regretted his life choices. The show was on!

Once they reached the venue and everyone had gotten a mint lemonade, which was very tasty, they waited. It was then that the pyrotechnician from earlier had come back, offering Jamil the chance to set off the firework festival's finale. He needed a lot of convincing but eventually agreed to do so, perhaps it was everyone's encouragement or their smiles.

Kalim was the one that asked everyone their opinions of the day, and they all had lovely things to say. "I loved it, I can't believe there's a place this amazing out here. Makes me wish I'd lived here all my life, maybe I would've met you guys sooner..!" Inky chuckled to herself, being the last one to say anything. The fireworks started and music played as everyone got roped into dancing, though Inky simply swayed a little to the beat, not far from Jamil, who took the chance and danced with her, once again for a little while, instructing and guiding her along the way, not taking his eyes off her and her bright smile for even a moment. When it came time however he gave the cue for the final fireworks. His heart raced as he looked at all his friends and then at Inky, who was standing there amazed and wide eyed, the biggest smile on her face. He stepped closer, slightly out of breath.

"Was.. was the timing right? Did I do it? How did.. how did everything look?" He said, turning to face the night sky, lit with blooming colours and bright lights, like stars or flowers that blossomed. Everyone was enamoured by the performance of the carefully organised spectacle. Even he allowed himself a brief moment of distraction until he felt a hand on his shoulder and something soft on his cheek. he looked to his side, seeing a flushed Inky look at him from the corner of her eyes as she pretended to enjoy the fireworks rather than stare at him. He grinned, a smile on his lips as his own cheeks grew hot. He couldn't help but intertwine their fingers and hold her hand in that moment. It was pure bliss. Alright. Maybe he did have a crush on her. Maybe he loved her even. Who could say? Jamil certainly couldn't. But he could say for certain he had fallen. And maybe that was okay this time.

♪~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~♪

Translations:

¹; You wanted to flirt with her in secret..!

²; You're imagining things!

♪~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~♪

@krenenbaker

@escaaaaaanyeh

@dove-da-birb

@leonistic

@az-flaming-sword

@azulashengrottospiano

@cy-inky

[waywardsalt]

im actually going to tear into totk’s dragon’s tears/ memories rn bc i remember feeling distinctly unsatisfied with them when i got all of them so im just going to write some general bullet points about them, about what i dislike or maybe what i do actually like about them, leaving out both master sword scenes and the mummydorf one because i’m here to talk about the stuff in the past not that

- off the bat (i play this game in english btw so all of this is based on the english text and translation i am aware some stuff is slightly different in other languages) im not really a fan of how the descriptions of all of the tears is just a literal description of what happens?? i think my issue with it is that some of the text is a little bit too in depth, as in it just tells you literally everything about the scene. this might be nitpick-y but i personally dont like it

- what’s up with zelda saying ‘but that must mean...!’ at the end of the scene. is it suggesting that she’s made the realization that rauru and sonia are the first king and queen of hyrule? because they literally tell her that like ten seconds before. i guess it’s suggesting she’s realizing she’s in the past but... idk the texts says ‘she’s left startled by a suspicion that she’s heard those names before’ yeah theyre the first king and queen of hyrule?? they tell her that. they tell her their names and that they are the first leaders of hyrule is she just now connecting the dots that she’s in the past? that’s what the next cutscene implies. but all of the surrounding dialogue and the description don’t suggest that that’s what she’s realizing i feel like this was kind of muddled in the translation

- why did sonia elbow rauru he was just standing weird he didnt say anything this isnt a nitpick im just confused. is it because he’s not being very empathetic towards what zelda’s going through? she elbows him and then she goes and talks to zelda why even elbow rauru. ordinarily you elbow someone like that if you mean for them to go do something why elbow someone if you’re going to do the thing you want anyways

- why doesnt zelda offer to help with the purah pad or anything like that. what happened to her sheikah tech fascination from botw. not even as someone actually familiar with the technology who could give mineru some points as to how it works

- what are sonia and zelda doing behind rauru when he shoots that insane fucking beam at the mulduga swarm they’re clearly doing something with their stones but like... are they amplifying rauru’s power somehow?? what do time powers have to do with the beam of light i dont- what were they doing please the text description only mentions him using his powers so are sonia and zelda just... supporting his powers? idk man

- dragon tear #5 is a whole can of worms with its worse-than-oot reenactment of that one scene from oot. why the focus on sonia and her tear btw. i mean yeah she dies to motivate rauru and zelda but like. why not aim for the new girl who probably doesn’t know how to use it as much and is probably more likely to be separate from the king who can shot insane lasers. im really not a fan of this scene for how strongly the game sides with rauru and zelda being passive and judgemental but ganondorf is literally the best part of it there’s a lot of character in just how he picks up his sword and stands up to leave

- putting memories 6 and 7 together just because of how there was just. no fucking care put into the idea of zelda learning to use her time powers. memory 6 zelda talks about wanting to use her time powers and sonia gives her tips on how she could use it and visualize the use of it and then in memory 7 she can just use it perfectly with great control and timing. why even bother talking about her nothing yet understanding how to use it when the very next scene she just uses it like it’s nothing. how much time has passed we get nothing to show us zelda trying to practice this power just. nope. she’s good she can use it perfectly. also more awkward dialogue sonia saying ‘what a picture zelda paints of him’ as she is. looking directly at zelda. change the line to like, ‘what a picture you paint of him’ she is literally looking right at zelda so why would she say it like that

- generally i feel like memory six should have been before 4 and 5 (4 being where she uses some power to... support??? rauru and it being before memory 5 so that there isnt this weird break in between the memories concerning ganondorf.) memory 6 does not have anything to do with memory 4 or 5 so just put it earlier so there isnt a weird shift in focus between the two big ganondorf scenes

- good god they introduce the idea of sonia and zelda being aware of ganondorf using a fake zelda but theres literally nothing about it having been a problem or them having experience or like. anything. they just TELL you that they know and suggest that it’s been like. a thing for a bit??? also obligatory ganondorf’s face model rigging is fucked comment he’s still the best part

- the pacing of these memories is just weird in general, memories 7 and 8 being separate but the same scene is strange when other memories are long as fuck but cover one event each, plus theres clearly barely any passage of time between memories 7 and 8 it almost feels like they were split up to fill space or just because otherwise it’d be... too long? man idk

- ‘queen sonia needs you!’ girl she is DEAD good fucking luck doing anything to help her

- ganondorf’s horse and its armor both look sick as fuck i really wish you got to see more of it outside the memory it appears in

- everything about the original sages honestly sucks. they aren’t characters they’re just walking macguffins. they have no names and are not relevant or mentioned or make any appearance until they are needed by the story. why does the zora sage talk about getting word about the attacked gerudo village in this scene when like. they’ve all met up and have clearly. been together for a bit. when she gives them the news it’s clearly the first they’ve heard of it... but... why would she wait until this moments to give this info unless for the benefit of the player watching the scene. why does the ZORA sage have this news and not... the gerudo sage?? what’s with the masks. they’re all made of zonaite or whatever sure theyre gifts from rauru but like. i hate that it kind of denotes them being subservient and lower than him and the zonai. honestly i really hate this scene in general mostly because of the uncomfortable showing of how rauru absolutely holds power over them and despite them being leaders as well they are expected to be wholly blindly loyal to him. rauru only gives them these stones when he needs their aid and they swear loyalty too him soon after but you also see that sonia and mineru have stones, too, so they’re clearly withholding these things despite it being kind of reasonable for him to give each race their own secret stone as further proof of their pact? there is so much shit to be said about the imperialistic themes or whatever in this fucking story and i really hate it

- i do kinda like how the next scene shows you that the one rock in the corner of that first hidden room in the forgotten temple is sonia’s grave

- zelda’s phrasing and description of how she and link found ganondorf is weird to me ‘he’s still alive’ ‘he lives on’ girl that was a mummy. he was not moving until you got there. he’s undead at best as far as you know. this is def a nitpick but eh. also the reliance on link is a... bit odd when zelda does not actually know that link is safe until she gets the master sword. its fine but still. also her shell-shocked expression after rauru talks about her being in the past for a reason is a bit... it doesn’t fit her emotion it’s kind of similar to the expression she had when sonia was killed

- the memory about the imprisoning war starts with practically the whole story up until now being repeated back to you by mineru with a decent amount of bias on mineru’s part and while it’s fine because of some of the extra stuff you learn but it does a lot more telling rather than showing when it comes to the actual imprisoning war and... idk the whole thing about their ‘fight’ kind of falls flat when you don’t actually see any fighting you just see that the sages have gotten their asses beat. i think it would have been a little interesting if in the god-awful repetitive sage-awakening scenes they had actually showed you the og sages fighting ganondorf instead of just. slow-mo freeze-frames for whatever. once again ganondorf if the best part of the scene

- the rest of the memories are fine idc

i get the feeling that the japanese-to-english translation was either all-around rough or somehow rushed, because some of the phrases in the game as well as some of the dialogue is really awkward and... could have been better. i don’t know how it works but it feels like a lot of it was very literal, direct translation and no one at noa thought that it ought to be tweaked just a little bit

these memories also do a fuck-ton of telling rather than showing and it really is like they don’t really trust you to connect the dots, and some of it does come off like they either didn’t want to make more memories or ran out of time or something. i felt like the memory of ganondorf just summoning his monsters and riding on his cool horse could have been a bit longer to actually show us the forces of hyrule fighting him and having a hard time with it

a lot of the character animations doesn’t have a whole lot of personality to them, ganondorf is the character who had the most distinct and interesting movements. rauru and sonia had their... singular movement (rauru putting a hand to his chin and sonia taking zelda’s hands) and zelda was kind of just... standing around and reacting to stuff, and neither mineru nor any of the other sages had any really interesting animations asides from mineru’s coughing fit in memory 16 (plus her reclining chair that was a nice touch). very few of their movements really express anything about the characters besides some really baseline values or traits.

the ordering of some memories is kind of odd, the excessive flashbacks in memory 17 are a bit much, the telling rather than showing, the sometimes awkward dialogue, a lot of the scenes are characters just... talking at each other, you don’t actually see very much of hyrule in the past or any characters beyond the main four, and it really did nothing to actually get me to care about these characters at all.

tldr i dont like totk’s dragon tears

[ethanm8n]

Gulls

March 19, 2024

“I was mugged by a gang of seagulls” reads the title of a Tripadvisor review for Granville Island1. “When I came outdoors [a] gang of seagulls attacked me and stole part of my lunch.” Anyone who has eaten a meal outside of the Granville Island Public Market will understand this frustration. Seagulls watch like sentinels from rooftops, above benches and dining tables, on the lookout for a loose pizza slice; grey-coloured seagulls beg near sitting diners, screeching incessantly. Some seagulls patrol the skies above, while others choose to stay close to the ground, walking around on webbed-feet, waiting for loose food items and handouts. It would be easy to overlook these birds as a nuisance—rats with wings, to quote the pelican from Finding Nemo. They may be kleptoparasites, stealing food from other animals, including lunching humans and unsuspecting tourists. But seagulls are so much more than just ratbirds. In the Salish Sea region, they humble the proudest of birders trying to make an ID. (Is that light grey-mantled gull with darkish grey wingtips a Western x Glaucous-winged Gull hybrid or a darker Glaucous-winged Gull? Does the slightly smaller, petite head indicate hybridization with a Herring Gull, or is it a female of another species? Is its eye colour dark or pale? How about the colour of the orbital rings?) Their increasing reliance on urban breeding grounds (e.g. rooftops) serves as a litmus test for habitat degradation, and also gives researchers an opportunity to study how fauna adapt to urban living. How does the diet of an urban dwelling Glaucous-winged Gull Larus glaucescens differ from one that spends its time in more remote areas? Do urban seagulls lay more or less eggs than their counterparts? What is the survival rate of their young in to adulthood? Researchers have been hard at work answering these questions2. One recent study flew drones above buildings in Victoria to study nest sites of Glaucous-winged Gulls, a wonderful example of new technology opening up more avenues for scientific inquiry3.

Before going further, I need to address a misnomer. Gulls belong to a diverse group of birds in the family Laridae, from the circumpolar, all white Ivory Gull Pagophila eburnea, to the grey-bodied Lava Gull Leucophaeus fuliginosus and coal-black backed Olrog's Gull Larus atlanticus in South America. (Melanin—the pigment responsible for skin colour in humans—is what gives darker tones to feathers. It helps resist sun bleaching, which is why gull species's upper bodies trend towards darker tones closer to the equator4.) The Heermann's Gull Larus heermanni is a true pelagic (literally “ocean”) species, individuals spending their days hunting for fish, rarely going inland. Then there is the California Gull Larus californicus, which breeds inland of the Western United States; and the Ring-billed Gull Larus delewarensis, prolific in most of North America, but rarely straying beyond coastal waters5. This is why you will almost never hear birders refer to seagulls as such. Many gulls are generalists, found in urban centres, prairies, rivers and lakes, landfills, open oceans and coastlines. Calling them seagulls would be a disservice to their enterprising nature, breeding on every continent, including on the fringes of Antartica. Many of these species have adapted to living in rapidly expanding human-made habits. We can conflate this success with the annoyance conjured up in many people's minds when they think of these birds: Their pervasiveness; their loud squawking; the mess they make with their guano; and their proclivity towards thievery. Perhaps the things humans find so irritating about gulls are actually what we hold most in common. But I digress. No birder or ornithologist worth their salt is going to call you out for saying seagull instead of gull. (If they do, they will bring it up benignly.) Gulls as a label in itself is taxonomically ambiguous, pertaining to several genera within the Laridae family while excluding terns, skimmers and noddies. Instead of splitting feathers over vernacular, try learning about local gulls in your neighbourhood (if you have any.) Download an app like Merlin or Audubon for quick reference if you stumble upon an interesting bird. Your local gull species may not have the vocal acumen of a Song Sparrow Melospiza melodia, nor the fantastically coloured plumage of a Wood Duck Aix Sponsa. For me at least, I find tremendous enjoyment in watching a second winter Olympic Gull walk past me, a collage of grey and brown and white; or seeing a first winter individual staring at me with those deep and dusky eyes, its first grey scapulars developing, like ash on a dirt road. Gulls are full of personality. I observe them trying to snatch fish from cormorants; pulling up worms from park grass; standing on volleyball pegs and tidal rocks, heads tucked in behind their backs and bodies rotating side to side as if to lull themselves asleep. Even the seemingly normal, mundane, sometimes irritating aspects of life can offer up wonders if you are patient. Gulls or otherwise.

References:

“I Was Mugged by a Gang of Seagulls – Granville Island, Vancouver Traveller Reviews – Tripadvisor.” Tripadvisor, 2011, www.tripadvisor.ca/ShowUserReviews-g154943-d156255-r120159573-GranvilleIsland-VancouverBritish_Columbia.html.

Edward Kroc. “Reproductive Ecology of Urban-Nesting Glaucous-Winged Gulls Larus glaucescens in Vancouver, BC, Canada.” Marine Ornithology, vol. 46, 2018, pp. 155–16.

Louise K. Blight, Douglas F. Bertram, Edward Kroc. “Evaluating UAV-based techniques to census an urban-nesting gull population on Canada’s Pacific coast.” Journal of Unmanned Vehicle Systems, vol. 7(4), 2019, pp. 312-324. https://doi.org/10.1139/juvs-2019-0005

Steve N.G. Howel, Jon Dunn. “Peterson Reference Guides to Gulls of the Americas.” Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2007, p. 25.

Birds of the World, https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow