#everyone else is just extra for now yeet

[something-old-something-new]

Hey! Scoot Cawthon did that with fnaf too!

(No,seriously, watch the interview Dawkins did with him. Man says it outright. Word for word.)

Some writers: *meticulously plan out every plot point and the tone and meanings before they start writing*

Me:

[aprocessionofthoughts]

A Haunting

dannymay day 26 art/fic switch

dp x dc crossover

1905 words

Danny was so done with Skulker. It was one thing to chase him and try to catch him to hang his skiing above the mantle, but it was a totally different thing to yeet him into an alternate timeline/dimension. Danny didn’t really care which. And he was extra annoying about it too. 

Skulker had been chasing Danny through Amity when a natural portal had opened up. Danny had been distracted and Skulker had used the opportunity to grab him and throw him through the portal,

And that was it. 

And so here Danny was who knows where, who knows when, for who knew how long. Well, Clockwork knows but that’s the equivalent of no one knowing because the Ancient doesn't know how to communicate.

Maybe Danny should sick Jazz on him to teach him the importance of communication. And also sick her on Skulker to teach him that it’s rude to launch your adversaries into unknown portals.

But first things first. He was hungry and required sustenance, preferably the greasy kind. 

Invisibly and intangibly he floated down to search for some food. Just in time to miss a bat swooping down onto the roof.

=-=-=-

Red Hood had been in the middle of…persuading one of Falcone’s members to talk when he saw a flash of green in the corner of his vision. He tossed the man aside and turned to see a crack in the sky the same color as the Lazarus pits open up above an abandoned apartment building. He could just see something falling through before the crack in the sky closed up. 

He was moving before he really thought about it.

It took him less than 5 minutes to land on the building's roof but as far as he could see there was nothing.

He hesitated for a moment before reaching up to his com.

“Oracle, I need you to pull up any feeds around the old Adam Apartments.”

“What am I looking for?”

“You’ll know when you see it.”

“What do you mean… oh. I’m patching everyone else in.”

“What is it, Oracle?” came NItghwing’s voice amidst the sounds of fighting.

“Hood spotted an anomaly over the Adam Apartments. It looked like a Lazarus Pit.

There was silence for a moment, then…

“What do you mean a Lazarus Pit!?”

“Are there any League members nearby?”

“Do we know where Talia is?”

“Are you sure Hood saw a pit?”

“Quiet! Hood tell us what happened.: came B’s voice.

“I was doing some business when I spotted a green tear in the sky. Something or someone fell out but when I got to the building I couldn’t find anything.”

“Alright, Nightwing heads over to Hood’s position and help investigate. Oracle, keep looking through any nearby cameras.  Everyone else, stick to your normal patrols and keep a lookout for any other anomalies.

A chorus of ‘yes, sirs’ and ‘will do , B’ sounded before the coms fell quiet.

=-=-

After Danny had eaten, a burger he had to swipe because apparently money was different in this dimension, he decided to explore. After all, there wasn’t much he could do except wait for a natural portal to show up. He stopped a few crimes because why not. And, he had to admit, it was hilarious to spook people with his slightly more eldritch form. Though, the muttering about another bat was confusing.

After flying through the shadier parts of town he came across some large mansions. And, well, Danny had always wanted to try his hand at haunting. 

-=-=-

Danny had only just started exploring the mansion and he had already found out that the owners were either furries or vigilantes. Then again, this was a different dimension. Maybe everyone here had secret basements and furry costumes. Danny shouldn’t assume. Then again again, his parents had a secret basement (kind of) and he was a vigilante (kind of). So, he totally had the right to assume. And judge. Who dressed up like bats and traffic lights?

Though, it would be cool to have a whole big lair with lots of gadgets instead of just hiding things under floorboards and in walls.

At least now he knew why the criminals he scared kept muttering about bats. 

But now it was time to start haunting!

-=-=

Time knew he should be in bed. Had been told repeatedly that he should go to bed. Had been  threatened that if he didn’t go to bed there would be consequences. But, well… he was technically in bed. Even if he wasn’t sleeping, or resting, he was sitting in bed. That had to count for something. Besides, he’d sleep as soon as he finished updating this case file. Maybe. He reached for his cup of coffee (decaf if anyone asked) and went to take a sip. But nothing came out. Tim frowned; he was sure he had just refilled it recently. That’s why he kept the secret coffee maker in his closet. He looked away from his computer to his cup and his frown deepened. His coffee was frozen.

-=-=-

Dick was staying at the manor over the weekend to help finish up a case which would probably now be delayed because of the Lazarus green anomaly that had been spotted. Oh well, that was a worry for tomorrow. Right now he was ready for a nice hot shower to relax his muscles and then a good sleep before waking up to a delicious Alfred made breakfast. 

After walking out of the shower he found his window open. Dick frowned. That was strange. He was sure the window had been closed. He shrugged, it was probably one of his siblings. He closed it and went to pull his sleepwear on. He was about to turn his lamp off when he saw that the window was open. He narrowed his eyes. He closed it again and watched it, but nothing happened. He turned towards his bed when he heard the window opening. He turned quickly but there was no one there and the window was open again.

-=-=-=

Damien had just laid down when his door creaked open.

“Who is it?” 

No one answered. Damien huffed and got up to close the door. It was probably Drake or maybe Todd. Regardless, Damien thought as he walked back to his bed, he would find out who and would show that they shouldn't mess with an Al’ Ghul.

His door creaked open again and Damien growled as he stalked open and slammed the door closed. Before he could turn around the door creaked open.

Damien inspected the door but couldn’t see how someone would be opening it remotely. 

He closed it again and when nothing happened headed back to bed. Had just closed his eyes several minutes later when the door opened again.

=-=-=

Jason had debated going to his safehouse but, and he wouldn’t admit this to anyone except maybe Alfred, he was nervous. Anything related to the Pits made him nervous. He didn’t want to fall back into a murderous rage. So, he’d stay at the manor just for tonight.

He still felt a little off. The Pit felt like it was stirring, but he didn’t feel angry. It felt like the Pit was calling out to something. Jason tried to ignore it as he made his way to his room where he hung up his leather jacket. Which promptly fell down. Jason rolled his eyes and picked up, he shivered his room felt colder than usual. He hung his jacket up and turned around only to hear it fall again. He scowled. If one of his brothers had done something…. But no, the hook looked normal and his jacket was fine.

But it wouldn’t stay hung up! Everytime he hung it up it promptly fell back down.

Well fine! If it wanted to lie on the ground then it would stay there. He was going to bed.

-=-=

Bruce was typing up tonight's report on the Batcomputer when the screen shut down. He frowned, The Batcomputer wasn’t supposed to randomly shut down. He turned it on but when he clicked on the report it opened up a video with some music video with some guy sign ‘never gonna give you up.’ Bruce scowled harder and clicked out and went back to the file. But this time when he tried typing no matter what keys he hit the only words that appeared on screen were the same lyrics.

He sighed. This was undoubtedly one of his kids trying to get him to go to bed. But just in case.

“Oracle, is there anything wrong with the Batcomputer?”

“Not that I can tell. Oh wait.”

Bruce tensed.

Oracle sounded like she was laughing.

“What is it?” 

“It looks like someone activated the “Rick Roll Procedure.”

“What?”

“Don’t worry about, it was probably one of the boys.”

“Oracle, what’s the “Rick Roll Procedure”?

“Sorry, B. Got to go.” she signed off.

Bruce grunted. Fine, he’d go to bed, if only to please Alred.

=-=

Alfred was in the kitchen beginning preparation for tomorrow's breakfast. The scone dough was ready, all he needed to do was add the apples and then he could b=put it in the fridge to bake tomorrow. When he reached for the bowl containing the pre-cut apples his hand found nothing. He turned and saw that the bowl of apples had been moved farther away and a bag of chocolate chips had been placed near his mixing bowl. Alfred raised an eyebrow and went to retrieve the apples, but just as he reached it the bowl slid further away. 

Alfred froze. He looked around the kitchen but didn’t see any of the boys. But his eyes caught on an odd shimmer in the air near the apples.

Well then.

“Hello, there. I was unaware we had a guest. If you’ll allow me to take the apples I’ll make another batch of scones with chocolate chips.”

Nothing happened for a moment, but the bowl of apples slid towards him.

“Thank you very much.” Alfred said before returning to his work. He’d let Master Bruce know tomorrow morning that they might have a new family member soon.

=-=-=-

The next morning at breakfast there was much glaring and staring at one another through squinted eyes trying to establish guilt.

Finally, Damian spoke up. “Alright, which of you kept childishly opening my door?”

“What are you talking about? The real question is who messed with my coat hanger?” Jason said, pointing his fork at Damian.

“Well someone kept opening my window.”

“And someone froze my coffee.”

“What are you boys talking about?” Bruce said, setting down his newspaper.

“Someone’s been messing with things around the manor and it wasn’t me,” Jason said.

“We’re being haunted!” Dick said with way too much enthusiasm.

“What?” Bruce asked, sounding somewhere between confused and concerned, a common occurrence when it came to his sons.

“Are you discussing our guest?” Alfred asked as he came in carrying two plates of scones. “It is thanks to them that we are having both apple cinnamon and chocolate chip scones.”

A clamor arose.

“What!

“Who?”

“What do you mean?”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“What is their purpose here?”

Alfred cleared his throat and everyone fell silent. “Perhaps, they’d like to introduce themselves?” He looked toward the back corner of the room, one eyebrow raised.

Everyone turned to stare just as a floating figure materialized. “Hi, I’m Danny, you’re resident Casper.”

[storytellingbadger]

LAES thoughts and spoilers… but firstly, gigantic credit to the VAs yet again for making me so full of thoughts I have to write them down. They are a talented bunch. Me posting this means I’m invested.

Okay. Onwards. Lunar for god’s sake.

So… because Lunar has unresolved issues, Earth and Sun can just go screw themselves, it seems? (Also feel like Moon got off pretty scot free but ANYWAY.) Certainly seems to me like Lunar’s problems matter and that’s where that buck stops. Everyone else, suck it up.

If Lunar is going to stick to the feel-nothing-because-astrals-say-so line, then credit for commitment and authenticity. But then Earth’s got a point too. If you can’t be there emotionally and are going to be deliberately callous, back off and make space from the situation, because you’re not helping.

And callback to the pre-Bloodmoon death/New Mook yeet episode where Sun, Earth and Lunar all talked. Remember that? I’m not even talking the collateral damage piece. The last time a family member so much as verbally disrespected Earth, Lunar disowned them on the spot without even being there. No hesitation.

Different standards of behaviour depending on Lunar’s estimation, apparently. Extra credit for booking it instead of making sure your sister, writhing in agony, was okay.

I don’t know. I find Lunar pretty tiresome at the moment. No one can ever call them out for anything ever, because they tap the trauma card and reject all kinds of critique/discussion. (Not saying they don’t have trauma before anyone comes for me in the comments - my point is they wield it like a get out of jail free card, but hold everyone else to a much higher standard of behaviour. Can’t have it both ways.)

And now they can’t have a disagreement without electrocuting or dark star power-ing someone.

Are they being otherwise influenced? Maybe. We’ll see. But Lunar being far less concerned with everyone else’s wellbeing and problems is not a new thing. But now they’re got the firepower to lash out.

Best to never ever disagree with Lunar about anything ever, I suppose?

And I surely don’t have to wave the “you’re acting like the person you want to get rid of” flag. Surely.

[cellarspider]

6/30 The road to hell

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⛬

We return to the movie equivalent of an incompletely-assembled Ikea PAX / BERGSBO wardrobe surrounded by chips of particle board and eight thousand extra screws, Prometheus.

If that analogy made sense to anybody, congratulations! You too are succumbing to The Madness.

Content warnings for terrible archaeology, terrible chemistry, and blunt force trauma to the audience with a piece of exposition.

Increasingly extensive alt-text ramblings include the logistics of securing items in moving craft, linguistics, atmospheric science, colorblind-friendly diagram design, swearing about orology, and cursing the crew for their fictional crimes against archaeology.

Many on Tumblr are familiar with Chekhov’s Gun, a piece of writing advice that calls for economy of storytelling: if you mention a loaded gun in your story, it should go off at some point. Sergius Shchukin phrased it this way: “Remove everything that has no relevance to the story. If you say in the first act that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third act it absolutely must go off. If it's not going to be fired, it shouldn't be hanging there." 

So Prometheus takes the rifle down off the wall and smashes you over the head with it, just to make sure you saw it.

CH: “Wow, nice place.”

D: “It's actually a separate module with its own self-contained life support. Air, food. Anything Miss Vickers would need to survive a hostile environment.”

CH: “Okay, so she lives on a lifeboat.”

MV: “Yes. I do. I like to minimize risk.”

Gee. I wonder if Vickers’ lifeboat living quarters will become relevant later.

Then, Chekhov’s rifle hits us with its next flurry of blows.

“Charlie, look. It's a Pauling Med-Pod. They only made a dozen of these.”

Gee. I wonder if the Pauling Med-Pod–-yes of course it’s going to be relevant later

You want a movie where a literal Chekhov’s gun gets fired off, along with Chekov’s crossword puzzle, Chekov’s ketchup packet, Chekhov’s swan, and Chekhov’s farmer’s mum, Chekhov’s everything all weaving back together again in a beautiful symphony of hilarious violence? Watch Hot Fuzz! Do it! Just watch Hot Fuzz! Not Prometheus!

I have said it before and I say it now, this movie is TERRIBLE at providing the audience with plot-relevant information. It hits you like head trauma. It bellows at you like Hans Zimmer has his entire orchestra hiding behind your chair, ready to let loose with an Inception Noise.

Vickers is here to make David mix drinks and to be a Corpo Ice Queen who demands that the team not make any direct contact with any alien life they find while they’re here. She doesn’t think they will, though. She thinks Weyland was delusional. But she’s the one in charge of the company money, so she’s the boss here.

Which begs the question of why she’s here at all, rather than back on Earth. This is actually a plot point, but because it’s not explicitly called out like the LIFEBOAT with the PAULING MED-POD, and everyone else has acted like loons anyway, it does not stand out. It just seems like another dollop of irrational behavior in the unpalatable stew of these characters.

However, Vicker’s demand that no direct contact be made? Very sensible! In fact, this was the point in the movie where I distinctly remember thinking in the theater “wait, they don’t have a first contact protocol already?” 

Like, Vickers doesn’t think that anything’s going to happen, but there’s enough of a chance that she’s giving orders not to engage. The sum total of their formal first contact attempt was yeeting a cultural message packet at the planet while in-transit to see if they got any response. The only one who appears to have been preparing was David–he basically spent the last two years learning comparative linguistics, with the aim of acting as a translator, should they get that far. That’s a sound choice, though its actual implementation is going to leave me incensed later.

But that still doesn’t answer the question of what they’re planning to do. Weyland certainly believed that they were going to meet aliens here. He’s arrogant enough to have demanded this whole project happen, and he didn’t have anything to say about what should be said if they made contact without him? 

This is, possibly, a plot point. But everything else that happens around this in the next five minutes is pure, howling madness.

Because they’re immediately descending into the atmosphere of this alien world.

This is too fast. In Alien, they landed on-planet to check out a possible distress signal, and it was a goddamn pain in their collective ass that they were only doing out of legal responsibility. In Aliens, they were a bunch of hopped-up marines ready to go shoot bugs. 

These are, again, scientists. The team leads are archaeologists! Aerial archaeology is a thriving field today that’s only going to get more useful as technology improves! There is no sense that they’ve done any scans, they don’t even know what the atmosphere is made out of, something we, right now, can already determine about exoplanets. Really! We can! 

We are explicitly told, in fact, that all this is happening within the same day as everyone waking up. The events of this movie appear to happen over two days, maybe three at the max.

And now, Spider yells at cloud. Or rather, the atmosphere.

The movie claims that if you spend two minutes on the surface without an oxygen supply, you’re dead. Why? Atmospheric CO₂ is over 3%.

Now, 3% CO₂ is not a fun time, and you will definitely experience weird physical and cognitive effects. But if you hang out in 3-5% CO₂, you’re going to be pretty okay for anywhere from four hours to over a month. 

What I've heard consistently is speculation that the movie meant carbon monoxide levels at 3%, which, yeah, that'll kill ya. In fact 2-3 breaths of 1.28% CO makes people pass out and die within under three minutes. 0.01% CO is enough to result in headaches and memory problems, as one redditor demonstrated to the internet back in 2015. 

But no. For whatever reason, the movie script says “CO₂”. Consistently.

And now, we get to the bit that had me screeching under my breath in the theater. Most people who saw Prometheus lost their sympathy for the human characters about 5-20 minutes after this point. I was ahead of the curve. I hated these characters before it was cool. Because they see a structure. They see what looks like roads.

Holloway, who I remind you all, claims to be an archaeologist, demands they set the ship down on one of those roads.

Let me tell you all a story. A few years before this movie first blighted me, I signed up for an archaeological field course. The university offering it didn’t have a dig permit lined up for the year I went, but their campus was in an area that had seen continuous human habitation for at least 15,000 years. They scouted out a bit of lawn, we cut the turf, and started digging. 

A week or two into the dig, we realized that the top layers were probably modern infill, dirt that had been trucked in from somewhere and completely jumbled. We started hacking away at it with mattocks to get down to the actual archaeology, which was delayed by a day or two when I struck 1940s asphalt. 

Like, literally struck it with my mattock. It felt like biting down on aluminum foil, but spread out over my hands to my shoulders. The professors rented a small mechanical digger to tear up the old car park, and also some of the plywood on the sides of our trench by accident. I have never seen a bunch of professors so gleeful about being turned loose on heavy machinery.

But finally, we got to what we were there for. A bunch of 13th century houses, and a Roman road.

I remember we made sure there was photo documentation that captured every fucking pebble on the medieval surface of that road, before we dug in. We were encouraged to sketch it, too. We took precise GPS coordinates of where the edge of the road started. We sifted through the road surface as we dug it up, finding dozens of tiny artifacts, because centuries of people had tossed little bits of trash onto the road, lost things out of their pockets and pouches, all the random little events that might happen on a stretch of road two minutes' walk from the parish church. 

I remember one student found the metal tag off of a horse’s bridle, that would’ve been used to identify it with its owner’s mark. Another found an 800 year old silver coin, tarnished on one side and perfectly, shiningly pristine on the other. It was beautiful.

And over and over, we were told: “A road is a find.” A road itself is history. A road is a place shaped by human hands, where humans have lived their lives. We can learn a lot from roads.

And that was what I was whispering at the screen in the theater, increasingly incensed. “A road is a find. A road is a find. A road is a find!!”

I was ready to reach through the screen and strangle that motherfucker Holloway from this moment on. The movie had lost me fully. Not because of this moment in isolation–if the rest of it had been consistently competent, I would have sighed and done my best to hold onto suspension of disbelief. But the drip feed of problem after problem had taken me from open and interested in the movie to actively spiteful in about 30 minutes or less.

So, fine. The movie seemed determined to make me watch a bunch of unprepared morons stumble to their deaths. Usually, this sort of movie doesn’t appeal to me. I don’t find much use for the kind of movie where you’re supposed to feel antipathy toward the main cast, as a free pass to watch them suffer. It’s why I still haven’t seen Alien Covenant. But I had been unexpectedly ambushed by just such a movie, and I was rooting for whatever horrors awaited them.

⛬

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⛬

Citations for alt text rambling:

1. https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/bane-vs-pink-guy--2

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_bronze_inscriptions 

3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumulonimbus_incus 

4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%A1rm%C3%A1n_line

5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Everest

6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympus_Mons

[cuprohastes]

Lunch In Space (Part 4)

There is an old Human tradition. We keep it alive to this day. When things are Very Bad(tm), for example, your shuttle is about to perform a high-velocity Lithobraking Manouver, you invoke the Ancient Words of the Ancestors. Usually "Oh, sh*t".

I, as I'm sure you're now aware, am culturally sensitive, and cultured, so when chunks of Oscar started becoming Free Range and my life support lit up red, and Oscar's little Atrix-face started doing some very worried little colour combos, I took solace in this hallowed and time-honoured tradition and went with "Ru-ROH".

Now you may be thinking, gee, having your life support blow out while flying around the backside of a planet while everyone is too busy to come to pick you up is bad.

I mean, sure. It literally is.

But what doesn't kill you instantly gives you the opportunity for a really slow, horrible death so you can appreciate it so much more.

I took the life support unit off.

Counter-intuitive, but there you go. I jsut clipped one of my lanyards to the bottom attach point and released all the clips.

All the connectors that move all my various essential fluids and gasses are on failsafe connectors. They close automatically because it'd be super dumb if they didn't.

So now I'm just using passive insulation and things are going to get very hot very soon.

I turned the Life Support unit over and found a... Space Squid. 

I mean that's what it looked like. This conical, bullet-shaped shell,  with tiny little thruster vents, and then on the bottom of the cone, a bunch of little tentacles, sensor windows and what looks like miniature tools.

At first, all I saw was the shell so I grabbed it and yanked it out. I screamed jsut the tiniest amount when it wiggled its tentacles at me, but then it folded up and glared at me, and tried to puff away. 

My mighty human fingers of course were more than a match for this.

My mighty human Brain took a few more seconds to catch up because Oscar wasn't loaded with enough coffee for peak human cognition and I did a comical flail and found two more of the little suckers trying to eat through Oscar's skin.

"I Yeet Thee!" I told them and yanked them off and threw them in the direction of away.

The first little guy was with me but still sulking. I think it was out of gas, to be honest.

So that leaves me inside Oscar, who's rapidly becoming a sauna.

Luckily, I am just covered in tools, patches, and other Fix-things stuff so I started checking the life support pack.

Not good. Squiddy had already chewed some quite important stuff - the valves all closed, but now there's no way to re-circulate a lot of the air supply.

A bit about life support. It's not just a couple of bottles of air mix.

There are coolants, thruster gasses that you just top up while you work, water, which is circulated through Oscar's inner lining, the uh, Yellow and Brown lines, and then the Scrubber which is kind of a back-up and also means you can go longer without an umbilical, or without large air tanks. It also prevents the inside of Oscar from filling up with condensation.

So anyway, the thruster tank and the air tank were basically there but unusable.

Two of four of the batteries were cracked. They got isolated by the technical process of just pulling them out. They're not supposed to be dangerous, but why take the risk?

Oscar was a nice toasty 40ºc by the time I got the life support back on and I almost cried when the cooling started to pull out all that heat.

And then I almost sobbed because Oscar told me I had three and a half hours until station rendezvous and approximately two hours and twenty minutes of life support.

So I shut almost everything down. Inspection lights, most of the computing, interior displays, and after one last use, the uh waste processing.

That got me an extra 40 minutes of power. What else?

Well duh.

My power tools have bi-directional charging. I plugged them into my utility ports and hey OK, now I was only 5 minutes shy. OK.

So what else?

The Scrubber - It's running out of... scrub-ability.

There's a thing you can do that you should never, ever do, because it's suicidally stupid and bad. Honestly, I've always wanted to try it.

I turned the temp down past freezing and told the auto-doc to go to Oetzie mode. 

Now, this isn't an official process. It's one of the macros I've developed in bored moments - I submitted it to a couple of trade journals, both of whom told me I was a dangerous lunatic.

So I asked the Most Dangerous Human.

Miranda is a mutant. She burns 4000Kcal a day sitting still. Her IQ is supposedly about double or more than a normal Genius. She hates her life. Literally everyone in her species is kind of sad and bumbling and unable to grasp concepts she finds simple.

She lacks intellectual stimulation, and just craves novelty or anything that might make her feel for a moment, that she can be part of normal life.

When I met her she was running a comic book store. 

She's considered the most dangerous living human because nobody can figure out if she's going to take a nap, then re-write the rules of linguistics, develop an AI that will take over the Human race or stub her toes and decide to eradicate all living things in a Light Millenium.

As someone who's spent an afternoon shovelling food into her and listening to her do the most hilarious routine on why Comic Books should be weaponised, I can tell you that she has no more ill will toward anyone who doesn't write Justice Interplanetary than the common dog owner has for their pupper.

But Stever Aronnomis and Gixy Lurraine? Your days are numbered. Especially after Issue 17.

Anyway, Mir-Mir took about eight hours and re-wrote the Oetzie protocol, and got published in about 19 interdisciplinary publications. She was nice enough to credit me with the original work, and that got me a job and a weekly visit from the People In Black to check that I'm not also a supervillain or plotting to steal people's essential fluids to make Tsin sports drinks.

Anyway.

Oetzie mode gives you near-fatal hypothermia. It's not quite suspended animation but it's close as you can get while maintaining a really good chance of waking back up.

All I had to do was program a really simple little macro that would ping for immediate assistance and flag the file with re-animation instructions.

Already I was getting chilled. My teeth were chattering and I was trying to relax and jsut lket it happen. My littel budd the spac squid was stuill floting her. gabe it one o th deb bat  klklklkkkkkkkkkk

Ow.

Seriously. I was feeling very disoriented. Everything was too bright and I felt very woozy and my jaw ached, but apart from that, the pins and needles, the way all my clothes felt like broken glass and the uncontrollable shivering, I felt surprisingly not dead.

Also not in Oscar.

I was having trouble focusing my eyes, but hearing I could manage.

Two Tsin were discussing eating me.

Voice One: "Well he's dead. I say we just ask. You know Humans - it's either 'no, you can't because we have a whole bunch of traditions and sacred laws that cannot be broken' or 'haha yeah that's what they'd want' and then they ask you if you want some sauce."

Voice Two: "Yeah but... what if the othre humans get upset that we asked? What if they think we killed this one to get the meat?"

Voice one: "They were in an un-powered EVA suit with no air, and the life support running colder than the Caffeteria Freezer. I don't care what stupid plan they had, not even a Human can survive that."

This is it. The moment that I have been living for all these years. You always hope one day you get the chance, and now finally it's my time to shine!

I sat up and said "Do you two mind? I'm trying to get some sleep."

Their horrified screams were like a warm bath. Ahhhh!

[silvandar]

BG3 Durge run: casualty list, sunmary etc. Durge spoilers.

I absolutely loved this run. Durge is like playing a completely different game! The plot is fantastic, and the dialogues are hilarious and very clever.

My Durge looks almost exactly like this! Love this tattoo design.

Party: Durge fighter, Astarion, Shart, random hireling sorcerer. Picking Duergar was a Choice, their movement is dogshit and they keep getting stuck on jumps 😭

Act 1

Gale: maimed, presumed dead. Unless Mystra took pity on him.

The Grove: bloodbath. Stole everything that wasn't nailed down.

Wyll: dead

Goblin leaders: dead. Minthara tried to shiv me when i picked Astarion over her, should have rerolled just to see her romance scene but it was late and I was tired.

Karlach: dead. Attacked me on sight yelling about the Grove massacre, which was weird but cool. How did she knowwwwww.

Laezel: dead, because she tried to shiv me when i was sick. Otherwise we were besties 😭

Act 2

Oliver: squished

He Who Was: openly likes me, headcanon dating.

Last Light Inn: bloodbath

Jahira: dead

Isobel: dead

Yurgir: freed from contract because i couldn’t trick him into yeeting himself

Nightsong: dead

Shart: Dark Justiciar mode.

Durge plot: think I'm figuring it out. Orin is getting slapped later.

Daddy Thorm: dead. Surprisingly easy to kill when everyone has misty step and range.

Githyanki plot: pretty much ignored.

Romances: dating Astarion, flirting with Shart.

Durge has slayer form which everyone else in the camp thinks is gross, but Durge absolutely loves it.

Act 3

Picking and choosing quests is fun! I'm already level 8 so can easily ignore stuff that feels too "good" to be of interest.

Somehow my general terribleness has made me Chronically Single. So I had to bang drow beef without the offer of a foursome. Sigh. Choosing the "kinky" options was hilarious.

Kissed and made up with Gortash. He's a good guy really, very swauve. Looking forward to killing him later.

Ascended Astarion. Went at level 10, fight was surprisingly easy now I know the mechanics of the power boosts. Also having Turn Undead is big and clever. Watching Cazador scuttle like a cockroach was very cathartic.

Murder tribunal: Met Saravok, he was fun! Chatted about the old days, killed an elephant, bathed in some blood. Good times.

Nightsong redux: Robbed Lorroakan while he sulked about the Nightsong being dead. Astarion can now summon Ghouls. (Genuinely, just hopped on downstairs and cleaned out the vault. Not a single combat reaction from anyone. Bugged? Or just wizarding hubris? Didn't try to take anything from the main tower tho as I didn't need the robes or staff.)

House of Grief: Shart turned about 1/4 of the adds to our side, so it was a surprisingly easy fight. Shart is now God's Extra Special Princess.

Orin: died in 3 turns, just went Slayer on her and ripped her apart. Fun! Astarion has a new sword.

Saravok redux: Durge has a nice new sword and hat. Although he did one-shot me at one point. Don't know why I expected anything other than a fight, honestly.

Gortash: roasted by the Netherbrain. Saves me killing him I guess. Bit annoyed that I couldn't loot him.

Ignored Raphael and Orpheus completely. Gave the Emperor the Netherstones. Pretty much zero Githyanki plot on this run, as it seemed pointless with Laezel dead.

Netherbrain: much harder with only 2 sets of allies! Blinding the dragon helped, and for some reason the mage got stuck and glitched, so I consider the fight Cheesed By Accident.

Ending: murdered the Emperor, dominated the Netherbrain, turned my party into thralls, ruled the world as Bhaal's Chosen. Epic end scene, absolutely brilliant. IN BHAAL'S NAME!

[jinjojess]

Stupid Names: Rain Code Edition (Vol. I?)

I gotta say, I do appreciate that the Rain Code characters’ naming keeps the DanRon sensibilities, but formats them in a Western enough way that I can finally point to something to get people to understand the specific kind of stupid that DR names evoke.

Up until now, the closest I could get was the Gyakuten Saiban/Ace Attorney series, but in those games the names are extremely on the nose, where as DanRon is a tiny bit more subtle.

Like all of these characters’ dumb, dumb names sound hit the ear just the same way as most DR characters’ do to someone who knows Japanese. Aside from a few extra tidbits here and there, I’ll mostly let you guys soak in how dumb the names are this time and do quick intros for the characters.

First up, we’ve got our crew of detectives with their special talents. (Why is special backwards? Does that mean something?) They’re all dispatched out to the Kanai Ward, where the game takes place.

First one out in the open and the rest under the read more:

Desuhiko Thunderbolt

Special Skill: Disguise

Okay so I have to assume that the “desu” here is evoking “death” and not the meme about the part of speech, but you never know. The “-hiko” ending is, as you may know, a common boys’ name suffix. This is our womanizer character, who also wants to become a famous detective. He’s always carrying his giant backpack full of disguises, like a horny little happy mask salesman.

Also, reading the notes about how he can change not just his face and clothes, but his height, voice, and body type is making me laugh, because they really just made a More OP Sagishi, didn’t they?

Aphex Logan

Special Skill: Detecting Life

A veritable Seer of Life, here. Can sense and pinpoint the location of any living thing within a 50 meter radius. His posture, backstory, and overall vibe say yanki tough guy (after his lawyer parents died, he grew up in the slums), but that hat/mask thing kinda says New Japan Wrestling, so now I’m wondering if his last name is a reference to one half of the internet’s shittiest brothers. It does say he tends to solve things with violence.

Zange Eraser

Special Skill: Thoughtography

I want the last name to be a pun on eraser + razor so bad. I mean, the “zan” in the first name could refer to slicing with a sword, so it’d be so good! Oh well. In Japanese, “erasing” is slang for killing someone, in the same vein as “rubbin’ him out” kind of Looney Toons mobster talk. This older guy has the vibe of a seasoned warrior, and never speaks about his past. However, since he sometimes refers to himself as a “former official”, it’s possible he may be an ex-govt employee. His ability is that he can project his own memories as images onto digital devices, so I’m not sure what the pole is for. Selfie stick?

Zilch Alexander 

Special Skill: Animal Puppetry

Being able to control animals is cool, I guess, but man this is a really good example of DR’s trademark “One Normal Name + One Really Stupid Name” principle in action. 

Anyway, Zilch here loves the harmony between man and nature, and so he specializes in things that blend the two (i.e., animals). He has tendency to overtake conversations in order to make sure things proceed optimally, which gives off the impression to others that he thinks he’s better than everyone else. But hey, nobody’s perfect.

What an amazing character design. Love these animals’ poses and expressions, too. No notes.

Vivia Twilight

Special Skill: Separating Spirit from Body

Despite the name sounding like someone’s MLP OC, this little twink can yeet his soul out of his body to become invisible and not let walls or floors stand in his way. This name is so good, damn. 

Vivia is one of those people with aesthetic, decadent kinda vibes. You know the ones. He’s got a self-indulgent type of personality, and you can often find him sleeping under the agency’s heater or beneath a hotel grand piano or whatever.

This is 100% the fanbait character.

Pucci Lavmin (Pucchi Ravmin)

Special Skill: Super Hearing

She may look like a little kid, but beneath her petite exterior lies machine-like serenity and intellect. Maybe it’s because she doesn’t get to talk to other people much, but she has a habit of unexpected responses or emotional outbursts in conversation. Guess she took the touching grass thing prescriptively?

Her skill seems a bit underwhelming considering we have a guy who can shapeshift and one who can re-enact that Pokemon Tower anime episode at will, but what do I know. I guess there’s lots of good practical applications to this one, which they point out, like listening in on conversations or for footsteps and stuff.

Harara Nightmare (Halala Nightmare)

Special Skill: Past Vision

Oh sure, don’t give me any direction on the romanization for this one, thanks. Also, why are both detectives on this page voiced by someone named Yui, written the same exact way? Weird. Anyway, excellent name, love it. Hindsight is always 20/20, and imagine if you could look back at actual 2020? Nightmare, right?

Harara/Halala always keeps a cool head and is able to make very precise deductions, so they’re a veteran of plenty of tough cases. That said, they trust nothing more than money, and won’t take on any clients that don’t offer sufficient compensation for their skills.

※ Thanks to @jadyjads​ for letting me know that the character’s official English profile uses they/them! (I’m sure you’re not surprised to learn that there are zero gender indicators in most of these blurbs in Japanese, so I usually just go off the VA to make a decision.)

Fubuki Clockford (possibly Crockford, but come on)

Special Skill: Rewinding Time

This one is my favorite name. As you may or may not know, “fubuki” means blizzard but is also a common girl’s name, but that’s not what makes it wonderful. The real star of the show is the meaningful last name that also sounds like a background character in Illbleed.

Good news: this Knight of Time’s powers aren’t busted, because you can only go back once, and after that you can’t use the power again until more time has passed. 

Fubuki herself is an illustrious daughter of the noble Clockford family, and hasn’t had a lot of opportunities to interact with the normal, everyday world. As such, she’s got some unique views on things, and she’s often causing issues for people by marching to the beat of her own drum. She’s also got a bad tendency to drop conversations, which doesn’t help.

Melami Goldmine (Merami Goldmine)

Special Skill: Necromancy

This is another great name, because this one seems to hint at an avaricious nature, rather than being a direct reference to her talent. (Unless of course this is also a Zombieya no Reiko reference in which case, WOW.) She can raise the spirits of the dead for a price, but only if she’s wearing something the deceased wore in life.

Melami likes clothes, and people who'd look good in clothes she likes.

I... Okay, sure.

Yakou Furio

Role: Head of the Yakou (Midnight Service) Detective Agency

Not one of the Super Detectives (or Great Detectives? I haven’t kept up with the direction the loc is going), but still an accomplished sleuth recognized by the International Detectives Organization (World Detectives Organization? This might be a WHO reference). Presumably the founder of the agency, he’s also the only office staff, and everybody’s boss. Despite running the agency, he tries to keep operations on the downlow to avoid dealing with the Amaterasu Co. Security Dept. He’s known for his timid demeanor, but his name belies fiery rage (”yakou” can also mean “let’s burn”).

Yomii Hellsmile

Role: Head of Amaterasu Co.’s Security Dept

This is simultaneously a floor master from Kimi ga Shine (name, personality) and our Junko (personality, presence in a Kodaka game). He’s young but delights in the misfortune of others, crushes people with a serene demeaner, and uses his underlings just to toss them aside after. He rules Kanai Ward, and uses that achievement to broker influence within the Amaterasu Mega Company. (Wasn’t the big evil company in Enen no Shouboutai called Amaterasu too?) 

Also, I revise my earlier statement, this may very well end up being the fanbait character...

Suwaro Electro

Role: Vice Head of Amaterasu Co.’s Security Dept

Meanwhile this character design is one that speaks to my heart. The first name kinda sounds like both the imperative order “sit!” and the English word “swallow”, while the last name just sounds like a C Tier comic book character. This is Yomii’s right hand woman, who is the beneficiary of his sprinklings of trust and love, and she thinks very highly of herself. She normally has zero mercy for those who oppose her but makes an exception to be a loyal lackey for Yomii, making her sorta like this game’s Mukuro. I hope she’s just as fail and tragic as my beloved Corpsey.

Then there’s these weirdos who work in the Amaterasu Co. Security Dept:

This rejected Persona enemy is Spank Cassanero, and he likes money.

I’m guessing at how to transliterate this name, since it could also be Spunk, and the last name could be a little different. Seemed like it was going for Italian to me, I dunno.

Next, the bullybait looking person is Seth Brows(e), the head of the security department’s investigation team. He speaks so softly that he needs a megaphone to help him project. He’s pretty subdued when he speaks, which makes him come across as kind of sickly.

The third-string Vtuber is called Gyoumu Hall, which is a classic stupid Japanese name, where you use the Western surname to just call a character “conference hall”. The leader of the security department’s Anti-Terrorist Unit, she talks fast, is rather animated, and uses the first person pronoun “this” (kore).

Finally, we have this 6′6″ fellow known as Dominic Fulltank. How apt. He sure looks like a Dominic, doesn’t he? He’s the vice head of the Anti-Terorrist Unit. He’s totally loyal to Gyoumu, though sometimes struggles to carry out more complicated orders.

...Some of these characters have unfortunate optics, man.

So there you have it!

This includes most of the actual info from the Famitsu issue last week; if you want to see some of the other text on the pages then cool, but you aren’t missing too much.

Thanks for reading and have a good week!

[atamascolily]

Lily liveblogs: Thunderbolt Fantasy 4x07, "The Terminus of the Demonic Path"

Well, that escalated quickly.

Chao Feng and her party get their asses kicked by some ordinary demon goons... only for the camera to pivot to them standing around looking confused as Lin Xue Ya appears. Another victory for the Enigmatic Gale, everyone!

Lin recognizes Chao Feng and decides to keep her around as a potentially useful pawn--everyone else can come, too, I guess. Meanwhile, Chao Feng demands that he kowtow to her, but once Lin reveals he's seen Lang recently, she'd follow him anywhere.

meanwhile, Azi is lounging around at home on his Brooding Couch (where did he get the furniture, Lang and Spider trashed everything) drinking wine and video chatting with Xing Hai

Xing Hai wants to know what's going to happen in the future given all of the scheming, and Azi's like, "hahaha, no, can't be bothered"

also it turns out that something weird happened to Azi as a result of meddling with space-time and he lost all his memories up to a certain point (~200 years ago) and has no idea how he got here and no desire to do anything, so he advises Xing Hai to tone it down with the drugs demonic magic, lololol.

the only thing that makes Azi happy anymore is drinking tormenting Lang, lolsob

this supports my theory that Azi doesn't care if Lang kills him as long as he fucks shit up in the process/breaks everything

all this is to say: the Madoka Magica vibes intensify

elsewhere in the Demon Realm, Covid Safety Protocols and Megamind are having a nice banquet together.... and unlike Ansarto's banquet, the food actually looks pretty good?

how does Covid Safety Protocols even drink with her mask on is one of this show's greatest mysteries

but it doesn't matter because they're both abruptly murdered from behind!

Cut to Spider and Wasp yelling at each other for "accidentally" killing their allies, lololol

they take the seals, but THEN Xing Hai shows up with a steel chair a scrying mirror and banishes them to the Shadow Realm because it's one thing if Lang kills a noble (he's a demon and her boss says it's okay) but she can't allow ordinary humans to get Ideas.

all of this happens in like three minutes, btw, and it's a lot.

wish we'd gotten a full season 5 and an extra episode in S4 so this could be less rushed, sob.

meanwhile, Lang drinks the Dubious-Looking Potion that Ansarto gives him over Ling Ya's sensible objections, which is supposed to transform him from caterpillar to butterfly. I thought this was a metaphor, but then after he coughs up the requisite blood, Lang gets rolled up in a silk cocoon, so actually that was entirely literal.

is he gonna wake up with insect legs now

... anyway, Lang has to confront his Inner Demons, which turn out to be important people from his past like Shang and Tian Ming telling him he sucks.

weirdly, no sign of his mom, though - bet they're saving that for the next episode

also that final shot where he passes out on top of his own reflection... poetic cinema

In the Wasteland of Spirits, Shang Bu Huan whips out the broken magic sword that You Qing used to fight Lou Zhen Jie back in s2 (making this the most unexpected callback/cameo EVER) and takes advantage of its innate attraction to demonic energy to hover in mid-air and yeet himself into the abyss leading to the demon realm

Shang Bu Huan: "I'm Mary Poppins, y'all!"

also that little somersault he does... this show is delightfully Extra

Dan Fei and Juan Can Yun are just gonna wait there for him to come back, I guess?

anyway, the preview for the next episode shows Shang reuniting with Tian Ming and Chao Feng going into a glowing green square portal, which makes me think that Lin is going to find out her dad's true identity this way, hahahaha.

[f-oighear]

For the ask game, how about 16 for Where The Heart Is, 17 for I'll Follow, 22, 25 and 26, 30 for the SAU ✨

Heyyy! Thanks for the ask! All about the Soulmate AU, huh... Obviously, spoilers for the entire AU under the cut. Also, it'll be a long post. I'm rambling quite a bit.

WTHI- 16. Talk about the fic’s biggest moment & how you came up with it It has to be the confession... That's the scene I wrote and rewrote the most in WTHI. I came up with it quite early in the AU iirc. I had it almost from the beginning— you can tell from the title drop and the callback to the first chapter...

I knew what I wanted Nozel to say, but I didn't want it to be perfect. So they had an absolutely awful date before to counterbalance everything fhdkkhfds. Also, I think that... had they had a good date, he probably wouldn't have said anything. I think that the fact that they got stuck in the rain and the date went horribly made Nozel think he had nothing to lose anymore. The birb was far too anxious to do anything right— he needed to lose some of that pressure. (I mean. Imagine you have one person. only one. you can truly connect to. andyou have a Nozel mentality which is if I fail once the world will end. ofc you'd be beyond stressed). So, I needed this extra element as a push for him to make a move. As we know, that worked splendidly!

What else can I say about the confession... It was first written in Nozel's point of view (which is why there's a sudden shift in the pov at the belvedere), but then I thought. We already know what's inside the birb's head. We don't need to know more. And so, I wanted to have Vanessa's reaction to it.

IFW- 17. Talk about the fic’s ending. Why did you end it where you did? I suddenly can't remember how I'll Follow ends. Sorry. Okay. Reread the last chapter and how could I forget! I love that scene!

I'll Follow is probably the gloomiest part. There are very few happy moments and even the happy moments we get are tainted and most of them are more... bittersweet than anything. It's quite heavy (and god knows it was heavy to write...). So I wanted to end on a good, refreshing note... A party! I thought that New Year was the best moment to do so. (which is why the events at the end of I'll Follow are all crammed so tightly in so little time— I wanted that symbolism). Let's be honest, everyone involved in this Soulmate mess has just had the worst year hgjfhkjdg. It was time to start anew and let go of the past year's difficulties.

A small detail about the very last scene because it still makes me smile every time I read it. Nozel says that the bottle is half full. Not half empty. Half full. That means everything to me.

SAU- 22. What is something you learned about yourself as a writer from the experience? That I cannot be trusted when it comes to how I feel about my writing fjdjsld. There was a point when I was publishing chapters because I had to and I, uh, hated them haha. I had spent too much time editing and doubting. I probably should've taken a break back then but oh well.

So now, I try to yeet the fics in the wild even if I'm not 100% satisfied with them and remember how much fun I had when I was plotting and writing the first draft.

SAU- 25. Share your favorite line Favorite line in the entire AU? That's tough! I' happen to have been rereading've reread the beginning of Your World lately and I had completely forgotten this bit that made me laugh out loud, so here it is:

True, the night before had been, for Zora, the first time he ever celebrated Vanessa’s birthday [...], but he [...] had collected insights; these parties were ‘something’ (Finral’s word), ‘useless’ (Gauche’s word), ‘fun’ (Luck’s word), ‘a blur’ (Magna’s words), ‘never again’ (Noelle’s words), ‘embarrassing’ (Grey’s word, although Zora learned nothing from that intel) and ‘hell’ (Nero’s word, although she had participated as a bird so Zora wasn’t sure what that meant). So, Zora thought he knew what he was getting into (a mess). But it ended up worse than expected (the biggest mess). 

SAU- 26. Share your favorite detail Again: in the entire AU?? hjkfdkhjs. I wrote the last chapter a good while ago and I have Swiss Cheese Brain so that'll be challenging to think up a detail.

OH. I HAVE ONE.

Noelle fiddles with a bracelet at the end of They Don't Need To Know and the beginning of Stargazers. This is the bracelet Nebra gives her in Your World, the one that belonged to Acier. I'm pretty sure I've already said this somewhere— if I didn't straight up write it in the text— but that's a nice detail I remember...

SAU- 30. Would you ever return to the story’s universe and write more?

Well... Brittlest is still ongoing (I know— one chapter a year isn't a wonderful publication rate but it's still something!) and I'm technically still planning for the Yamichar part... Still, nothing's planned in the immediate future for this AU.

It was a fun AU to make though, and I hadn't planned writing a bad ending for the Nozessa part during Angstpril either, but it somehow happened sooooo who knows.

[borathae]

Chapter 7

are we about to see his art collection or his "art collection" ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

sneaking around is fun keke no wonder she is all excited and giddy haha cutie pie

Stop laughing”, Taehyung warns quietly, looking over his shoulder. He carries fondness in his eyes and a mischievous grin on his lips. stop IM GONE IM SIMPING IM A PUDDLE

NO UR A MENACE FUCKER DECIDES TO TICKLE ME TO STOP MAKINGME LAUGH NOPE watch my ass fall down the stairs and wake the whole house up

“You’re beyond adorable."

I told my familiar to light the candles your WHAT????

Taehyung is thinking into the future. THATS I WHAT THOUGHT TOO YIPPEEE

other than the rest of the house - which reminds you more of a museum than a home - his wing looks like a home. Bear in mind it was still a very impressive - and royal - home, but it gave you a homely feeling with its burgundy red walls and hardworking radiators. ooh red walls, they feel cozy/warm and very royal vibes

He is already wearing fur slippers HOW DID HE DO THAT dudes faster than flash

Why ruin your home with the dirt of outside? FR 💯

HE TOOK OFF OUR SHOES AAAH and TOUCHED OUR ANKLES THEY BOTH ARE FOR THE COBBLESTONES

They are matching with his UWU, im imagining cat slippers its too funny

You have the prettiest of ankles, my sweetest me to hobi and kook

ALSO HOW MANY ANKLES DID U SEE MY MAN (ik he saw a lot considering he is ancient lol)

Tall windows let in the moonlight from the left, illuminating the paintings on his walls that sounds extra cozy, i want to put a fluffy blanket on my shoulders

“Doesn’t he? It’s the reason why I purchased it”, he says excitedly. 👀 u sure about that?? 👀 did he get kneller to paint it for him 👀👀you sure that this isn’t like your great great great grandfather BABY CONNECT THE DOTS

come now I want to show you something else. HE CHANGED THE SUBJECT

Oh no”, you chuckle, “he just likes to show off.” still cool cousin kudos to him

“Three years? Holy cow and I can’t even work on an essay for twenty minutes without feeling the need to procrastinate.” WOW TAEHYUNG DAMN THATS SICK also u didnt need to call me out like that i-

Delicate roses climb up a marble pillar thats amazing i love murals

"A very long time." edward cullen who

Shall I show you something else too?” he asks quietly. aww my cute lil pookie go ahead why so nervous, smooches the fuck out of nervousness😭

the description of him playing violin gave me goosebumps and its 33C here. why am i slightly teared up

THERES A SECRET DOOR OMG IM GONNA PLAY BARBIE AND THE SECRET DOOR THERE FUCK THIS IS SOO CUTE AAAH

Gosh you own so many cool things.” ik he is soo cool, he can totally murder me on the stairs

Do you have your secret stack of drugs up there?” you joke, dont what if he is a mafia boss???? also he is about to throw you off the top 😭 yeet

Okay yep, holy cow. This is better than drugs FR OCTAGON SHAPED ROOM ARE THE BEST, my uncle's living room is like that and its amazing to play "find the object with hints" type games

if I could marry one room it would be this one TAE MOVE SHE IS MINE WE ARE MEANT TO BE MARRIED wait tae dont move, we can be a throuple

people were right, namjoon copied love yourself album FROM SIR KIM TAE-ITH HYUNGWILL THE THIRD, love thyself

His skin is glowing silver again, like water when it reflects the moon at night or snow when the sunlight hits it just right. singularity performances *shudders

You are the only person who knows this room exists.” SAY WHAT *faints

Why did you paint the stars?” THAT TOO FOR 3 YEARS AND HE THOUGHT OF IT AS HELL, his therapist will need a therapist

NAUR THE ICE CREAM NO SHE JUST TOLD U NOT TO hes such a cute lil shit i cant

oh the trying to be invisible, i do that too, i keep doing that for half of an academic year, and all that time i just vibecheck everyone and the other half, i slowly come out of the shell (not much tho lol) that way i dont miss anyone or does anyone miss me and they cant hurt me too

this chapter was so cute, fluffy and cozy and they both speaking more about themselves aah its sooo good. and i loved his home/wing. the description of the place was just great i could feel the bed and the stars

byee 💜💜❤️❤️

This ask was a ghost ask on my computer 😶 like I saw that you sent me an ask in my notifs and I could open it on mobile, but it was non existant on my laptop HFHADHSF help

sneaking around is fun keke no wonder she is all excited and giddy haha cutie pie

no but they're so cute no joke 🥺

I told my familiar to light the candles your WHAT????

he's just a rich lil spoiled vampire

Taehyung is thinking into the future. THATS I WHAT THOUGHT TOO YIPPEEE

EHEHEH <3

other than the rest of the house - which reminds you more of a museum than a home - his wing looks like a home. Bear in mind it was still a very impressive - and royal - home, but it gave you a homely feeling with its burgundy red walls and hardworking radiators. ooh red walls, they feel cozy/warm and very royal vibes

I agree YES 🥺

HE TOOK OFF OUR SHOES AAAH and TOUCHED OUR ANKLES THEY BOTH ARE FOR THE COBBLESTONES

he is so fucking HOT

You have the prettiest of ankles, my sweetest me to hobi and kook

I'm obsessed with their ankles 😶 it's the Dom in me 😶

ALSO HOW MANY ANKLES DID U SEE MY MAN (ik he saw a lot considering he is ancient lol)

imagine all the ankles he had resting on his shoulders 😶

Delicate roses climb up a marble pillar thats amazing i love murals

NO BUT ME TOO 😭 I wanna paint a forest mural on my bedroom wall, but I'm too scared to mess up

Shall I show you something else too?” he asks quietly. aww my cute lil pookie go ahead why so nervous, smooches the fuck out of nervousness😭

he's just a lil pookie <3

Okay yep, holy cow. This is better than drugs FR OCTAGON SHAPED ROOM ARE THE BEST, my uncle's living room is like that and its amazing to play "find the object with hints" type games

ooh nice I love this vibe <3

Why did you paint the stars?” THAT TOO FOR 3 YEARS AND HE THOUGHT OF IT AS HELL, his therapist will need a therapist

he does not a Therapist I can tell you that much HAHAHHAAH

oh the trying to be invisible, i do that too, i keep doing that for half of an academic year, and all that time i just vibecheck everyone and the other half, i slowly come out of the shell (not much tho lol) that way i dont miss anyone or does anyone miss me and they cant hurt me too

That was me too when I was younger, but we're allowed to take up space on this earth. That's our right too, remember that my love 💜

this chapter was so cute, fluffy and cozy and they both speaking more about themselves aah its sooo good. and i loved his home/wing. the description of the place was just great i could feel the bed and the stars

I'm so happy that you loved it so much seriously heheh 💜💜

[thequietmanno1]

Thelreads, MHA 284, Replies Part 2

1) “Why Bakugo? You think would suspect that there’s something wrong with the kid that didn’t had a quirk for 15 years then suddenly has super-strength, then less than a year before has energy tentacles and is training to be able to fly? I don’t see aaaaaaanything wrong here, it makes perfect sense his quirk would allow him to do that.”- If the other powers are as flashy and obvious in use as Black Whip, and can’t be subtly used in a fight, like for instance, using Float to get some extra air time mid-leap, then it’s gonna become really obvious really quickly that Izuku actually has multiple powers instead of just a weird singular ability, like everyone else does. And then people are gonna start wondering about him, about how this random powerless kid suddenly got multiple powers out of nowehere. Because the public does have a widespread perception of beings with multiple Quirks, but it’s not that of a hero, but that of the Black servants of villainy, the Nomu. And then people are gonna notice the coincidental timing of how everything started going to shit, starting with the League’s first appearance, right around when Izuku first joined UA. And then people are gonna be thinking “what’s this kid’s connection to the Nomu? Is he secretly a villain spy? Say, wasn’t there talk of a UA traitor some months back…” 2) “Honestly, I would love to see a floating power exploding, can just imagine Midoriya being yeet’s into the sky at mach 5 while people just stare at him getting smaller and smaller at the distance, until finally disappearing like Team Rocket.”- Coincidentally, Izuku’s new ringtone for his phone is “Rocketman”. No, but seriously, they need to be on edge for whenever the laser eyes Quirk starts manifesting, that power can go wrong very fast. 3) “And there ain’t no rest for them, like the songs always warned us about”- All Might never broadcast the information about OFA even after he seemingly killed the man whom the power had been cultivated to defeat. One reason was how personal the whole situation was, but the other, as he somewhat outlined to Izuku during the beginning chapters, is that his condition left him needing to pass his power on, but he didn’t know who to pass it onto. Taking the teaching job at UA wasn’t just to sort out which young student was worthy of the power, it was because only a young, innocent and idealistic child could be trusted to use it in a heroic manner at first. The adults of hero society are too cynical and in many ways concerned with the materialistic over the substance of the job. Even Stain, who shares All Might’s fervour, took that in the opposite direction to become a killer of those he deemed corrupt, showing just how easily those same convictions can be twisted and abused. And if the sheer power of OFA was backing those twisted convictions, then it’s be the second coming of AFO all over again. In many ways, in a world where it doesn’t have the enormous might of AFO to contend against and focus on fighting, OFA is actually a great liability and danger to the wielder than it is an asset. And even if Izuku does eventually overcome Tomura, he’ll still be struggling with the fact that he’s now a marked man for both Villains and heroes who might be hoping for their chance to take OFA for themselves, if they can convince Izuku it’s a good idea. It’s just like Spiderman: Far From Home, really.

4) “Oh, you’re gonna accuse All Might of hiding something? I hope that’s not the case All Might, because we’re way past the point where you should keep secrets.”- Well, in this case, he’s not exactly keeping it a secret, especially since he left evidence that Bakugo picked up on and is fine discussing it with him – it’s specifically Izuku he’s keeping in the dark about it, and that’s because he judges that, quite rightly, Izuku’s simply got so much on his plate that whatever concerns he’s got can wait a while longer until Izuku can better master the powers he does possess. It’s not keeping these secrets hidden forever, it’s merely delaying telling them to Izuku until he’s in a better position to cope with more burdens. 5) “All Might… I can’t believe you’re still doing this shit.

Yeah Yeah sure I bet you’re just ashamed about how Nana died, it probably was your fault and yadda yadda JUST TELL YOUR BOY ABOUT EVERYTHING ALREADY GODDAMMIT”- Well, you’ve had 19+ asks about this, so I won’t add more to the pile. I will just say that, this is the first concrete piece of information we’ve had on the 4th and prior users besides the 1st, as the ones prior to Banjo are those who are right in the Dark Age of Quirks, when AFO’s power was strongest and record keeping was at its worst, meaning there’s arguably very little to find out about them until Izuku can converse with the other vestiges more freely. And the only information we’ve learned is, that the 4th’s death was somehow special than the others’, and it may somehow still have an impact on Izuku himself, despite the gaps between them, which is All Might’s greatest concern. (MHA ch 257) 6) “Oh? Well, I mean, if it was a bit less than 200 years, and there was like, 8 people before Midoriya… Alright, okay, I think now the counting is starting to make sense… But alright, what`s the next quirk on the list? Do tell us, oh venerable All Might, holder of all the knowledge.”- And the minor hint here that there might be more to the deaths of the previous holders than meets the eyes, with All Might’s slight hesitancy about confirming the deaths of every one of the previous holders and the shadowed eyes. The number 4 is traditionally associated with death in Japan, and for some reason, the 4th wielder’s passing was especially noticeable compared to the others… 7) “I can hear the “tsc” of disgusted being uttered by this fucking tsundere. But yet, he didn’t deny it.”- This time, the disgust is aimed at himself, for his inability to fully swallow his pride yet and just apologise to Izuku outright, like some part of him knows he has to, in order to fully atone for his transgressions against him. They made up, but some things still need to be said for the healing to truly begin. 8) “OH HOLY SHIT WE ARE HAVING A MOMENT OF REALIZATION HERE?!

OH MY GOD FINALLY

Alright Bakugo, you’re good on my books. I still hold a grudge for the “jump out of the roof” thing, but I can let bygones be bygones considering you’re finally admitting that you were an asshole.

holy shit this chapter is a goldmine after tall.”- Bakugo always knew that Izuku was naturally more heroic than him, capable of doing the selfless saving deal on instinct that Bakugo had to put effort into, and that rubbed him the wrong way. Not only because it made him feel inferior to Izuku, but also because it’s just not natural for somebody to be that selfless. People are inherently selfish in some manner, for bad and for good reasons, and Izuku being so willing to give of himself without really thinking of the consequences is actually a really bad thing, something that Izuku is naturally blind to, but Bakugo always knew on some level that if he became he hero, he'd not only outshine him, but he’d quickly burn himself out doing it. Perhaps, underneath all the complex and layered emotions in their relationship, some deeply-buried part of Bakugo wanted to protect Izuku from himself when he wanted to make him give up on becoming a hero. As it stands, now Izuku has both the immense power and partial training to enforce his maniac “save everything” willpower into reality, he’s running the risk of eventually turning out like the legend of the Giving Tree, a Tree that gave and gave of itself selflessly for other’s needs until it was naught but a dead and desolate stump. 9) “Of course he doesn’t, it’s Midoriya, he never held that against Bakugo, he always wanted them to go back to being friends, it was I that was the one saying “No! Bad boy! Bad!” and spraying him with a water bottle every time he mentioned something along those lines”- And to fit further into the “endlessly giving” themes, Izuku would freely give out his forgiveness of Bakugo’s past transgressions at any point if it was brought up, whether or not Bakugo had done anything to really earn that forgiveness himself, which is why he’s kept quiet about it all this time, Bakugo doesn’t want Izuku to just plainly accept his apology, he wants to do something for him, that’d make him earn Izuku’s forgiveness for real. It’s refreshing that Bakugo’s stubborn pride is for once being used to justify why he and Izuku haven’t really made up for the right reasons – he won’t let himself be forgiven unless it’s preceded by him actually earning that forgiveness, in order to do it “properly”. 10) “A lot of people online would be mad at you making that comparison All Might, but I think it is quite fitting. Both did some fucked up stuff, hurt people they loved because of their obsession with being the best, and both realized their mistakes and are trying to atone for it, Endeavor by leaving his family and Bakugo by helping Midoriya.

That is the sort of character development I love, that is a redemption arc there. It’s not a goal, it’s a journey.”-  A lot of people were comparing them even before this chapter, what with their spiky hair, flame powers, rivalry with the main hero/holder of OFA- losts of people were noting how Bakugo is basically Endeavour 2.0, but being given his own realisation and redemption moment whilst he’s still young and hasn’t made the kind of mistake you can’t take back yet. In a way, learning from the missteps of the past to do better in the future, especially since he also overheard the whole traumatic backstory from Shoto at the same time as Izuku and it probably resonated a lot more with him and his victory-obsessed streak than he was comfortable with. 11) “And you better say something before Shigaraki sees you and remembers when you didn’t want to join his League of Legends team back at kamino ward. He has never forgiven, and he has never forgotten.”- Somewhat Ironic to put it there, because presently Bakugo is faced with the very real fear that he won’t get the chance to actually apologise to Izuku like he wants to, and in trying to save him from himself and his mortal enemy he may wind up losing that chance and his lease on life at the same time. 12) “Oh, are both of them gonna jump in the fray to help Midoriya? Hide your roads, the big guy is stepping in once again!”- Bakugo doesn’t yet have his own Quirk’s firepower honed to the level of destruction that the experienced Endeavour can pull off, but he’s in much better shape than him. If he can make an opening for Endeavour to land a big damaging hit when Tomura’s injuries are slowly stacking, then there’s a chance they might actually be able to pull this off without Izuku having to finish his Farewell to Arms moment. 13) “OH HOLY SHIT SO MIDORIYA WAS HITTING HIM WITH 100% MOVES ALL THIS TIME?! AND HIS ARM IS STILL HOLDING ON

JESUS THIS BOY IS FUCKING PISSED FOR REAL”- The downside to Float is that, lacking self-population to help ground his attack attack in mid-air, Izuku’s higher-level attacks actually blow him backwards from his own inertia. It’s useful to “fly” with in a certain direction, as he showcased in the training with Uraraka, but when actually hitting somebody he’s gonna go flying backwards just as fast as they do. However, with Black Whip, Izuku’s ensnared Tomura and is using the tether to reel him back in for another blow again and again, no matter how far apart they’re knocked back. In essence, he’s turned Tomura into a human paddleball.

14) “MIDORIYA IS READY TO COMMIT MURDER HOLY SHIT WE DO BE IN THE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER AFTER ALL”-  Mercy is a privilege afforded to those you can best with ease. Tomura’s made himself too strong for Izuku to do anything less than land the killing blow on him as many times as it takes to make him stay down. 15) “Midoriya that’s not the unexpected speech that you think it is, we saw you pretty much blow up every single bone in your body getting here, you really think we were expecting anything but you self-sacrificing in the name of protecting others? Pssht, my boy, what I am surprised is about is how there’s still solid bones on your arms after those last few minutes of fighting”- It’s not just that he’s sacrificing his well-being and potentially his life to stop Tomura. The doctor warned him that overdoing the ligament damage like he did against Muscular would permanently paralyse his limbs afterwards, leaving him crippled for life and incapable of being a hero, in much the same way that him being Quirkless handicapped him from getting the profession in the first place. Midoria going this far may have already done too much damage to his body to recover from. At this point, the worse outcome for Izuku isn’t that he dies fighting Tomura, it’s that he survives, but has to deal with the rest of his life stuck helpless to save others in danger around him. Izuku may very well be killing his hero career with every single blow he unleashes on Tomura, and it still might not be enough.

16) “And this was everything I ever hoped for him. I said a lot how even though I despised Bakugo as person, I always liked him as character because I could see the pride being carefully chipped away chapter after chapter, and in some cases that chipping was with a sledgehammer, but even so, it was a slow process until he actually changed.”-

@thelreads

[leatherbookmark]

making it a separate post because i’d talk forever and it’s annoying to talk forever in the replies--

gnomeicecream replied to this post:

Makes me wonder if Lan Zhan isn't 'remember that time you thought my boyfriend was evil and nearly whipped me to death? I do' then deliberately not helping. He was left alone for what, three years after?

oh dear, now that's material for a loooooong conversation i'm not sure i'm qualified for, but like. i don't think lwj blames lxc for his punishment!

considering what the punishment is for, he kind of got off lightly; on top of that, lwj says in the banquet extra that "during the years i spent in seclusion, brother would always come visit me and talk to me sincerely", implying that now that the situation is reversed, he can't do the same. he has to feel at least a bit regretful/conflicted about that.

the thing that irks me is that... lxc is just a forever afterthought. this line i just quoted is from literally a three lines long post-coital conversation that happens and fizzes out quickly (wwx then doesn’t reply and they just go to sleep). another occasion lxc is mentioned in the extra is at the beginning of part 2, in which wgxn can’t try fucking while lwj’s doing handstands because “lwj has to visit his brother”. i know the book is about wgxn and the extras are even more so -- just a chance for the readers to bask in their adorable life together -- but from my pov (i don’t really care about wgxn’s adorable life together and i’m heartbroken about xiyao) it’s just... sad.

it’s been a while since i’ve read the chapters earlier than the one with the post-burial mounds lotus pier jgy haters conference, so i don’t remember all instances of the gusu twin jades interacting, but i can’t help but think that the whole jgy business kind of... changed it in a way that i’m not sure is salvageable. what i mean is that after lwj realized wwx is back, he sort of -- yeeted him on the very top of his priority list, and forgot everything and everyone else in the process, well, save for lsz because he’s wwx’s Kid Buddy From The Burial Mounds. he trusts and supports wwx completely, even if he has no real empirical reason for it -- wwx says jgy killed nmj, so jgy killed nmj, duh. the jades have their thing with silent communication, but i don’t remember lwj even showing that he’s in any way concerned with how lxc might feel about this.

in the guanyin temple as well -- i believe they do it out of concern for lxc, but i can’t help but feel bitter when wgxn tell lxc not to talk to jgy, not to believe him and so on, when they don’t want jgy to Tangle LXC In His Web Of Lies Again. i don’t know how to put it, but it’s like -- lxc isn’t a full person in this situation? they sort of assume he’s been tricked by jgy. they treat him almost like a child who doesn’t know better, when he says it himself that it’s not that he didn’t know jgy was up to No Good, he just trusted that he was doing it because he had no other choice. no thought is given to this revelation! jgy is bad, jgy is an excellent actor and a skilled manipulator, so it’s best to just not let him talk to lxc at all.

i think that at this point, lwj doesn’t understand lxc at all. i’m not sure whether he’s aware of this, so focused on wwx. probably not. but before he leaves, he doesn’t do anything to even show lxc... anything, really? i’ll be there for you, brother? i don’t understand, but i feel your pain? anything else, just anything! but there’s nothing. and by the time lxc is mentioned next time, it’s in the context of lwj not trying to help him because “it would be fruitless either way”. doesn’t that sound just fucking bleak.

because here, i feel, is the source of the problem, lxc’s crown of the most tragic elder sibling: his little brother doesn’t even know how to help him. there’s nothing he thinks he can do in this situation. does he even have anything to say about jgy, or his relationship with lxc? does he have anything to say about how his beloved helped bring him down? is he sorry about that, does he feel bad that lxc can’t or doesn’t want to face the world?

we just don’t know dot gif.

we do know, though, that at the end of the novel wangxian agree that they’ll tell lxc the truth -- the horrible truth that might make lxc, gasp! realize new things about his friend -- when he asks. which is honestly... well, i think you can guess how i feel about it.

it’s funny, though -- we talk a lot about the yunmeng bros’ reconciliation, is it possible or not, etc, etc, even though through jin ling all things are possible so jot it down. the fact that jl stubbornly points out that jc clearly wanted to say something to wwx -- this, i think, is a hint that they will eventually talk. or at least it would be in a world that i think would make sense; in a world where wwx has relationships other than lwj and the juniors. what should be debated more, i think, is the relationship between the lan brothers. the problem of lxc is often glossed over in fics; of course he leaves seclusion and attends wgxn’s wedding as their first and main shipper&supporter, and of course he finds peace, whatever the fuck it is. but does he really? i think lxc “finding peace” primarily should mean him figuring out what he wants as a person, individual, not “sect leader lan” or “lwj’s big brother”, but he, lan huan courtesy xichen. and i think that one of these things could be... understanding. and i don’t know if lwj can offer him that tbh

[awellboiledicicle]

I feel like Indy would feel bad for leaving all their pokemon to laze around the house after meeting Nemona.

Mostly because Sarge the 300lb swampert made of muscle and muddy water would probably love to throw down with Nemona. So would the rest of the teams currently existent in the timeline. Well, except their contest Sylveon, but his whole deal is double battling when he does and double battles make Indy tired. But this is their retirement. Retiring to being a normal ass person, that like... goes to school and learns things instead of saving the world or grinding through another league that deffo does not want to deal with the international politics of sharing a champion with a good chunk of the world. 

So they feel bad but also kinda... excited? Because in Hisui [before the return yeet] they only really had Ingo as a proper ‘rival’. And he had his shit together to the Nth degree. But they weren’t his in return, if only because he trained with EVERYONE and rapidly outpaced them. Where as now they can just... focus on regular, run of the mill breeding and battling and being chill.

Also meeting Miraidon throws them so hard because at no point did they think they’d find MORE pokemon they didn’t know about. Like they’d read up on Paldean pokemon before the move was finalized, and that ain’t no cyclizar. It enjoys pets and food though, so woo new thing! And grass cat! And new rival that they’re going to warn about burnout because holy shit can they see that coming a mile away.

They’re still shit at math though. First math class they sit for all the students are listening to Tyme use pokemon battling for word problems and they expect Indy to know it all and they’re just. “Ma’am i have never once brought numbers into this.”

Raifort both loves and hates having them in class because every time Laventon comes up they’re like “i knew him in the day” She laughs. They do not. “You can’t have. He died decades ago.” “I literally know Dialga personally. We’ve met.” They then get in trouble because they didn’t look up history for the area and knowing about the history of everywhere else only works in the world history unit. Raifort gives them ‘villain that doesn’t have a proper plan yet’ vibes, and they spend a lot of time trying not to talk with her.

Dendra’s only mark against them is that they get very bored of talking through their process very fast. Like their battling is spot on, they just... hate explaining their thinking.

Mr. Saguaro keeps asking them to help demo baking projects because they made poffins 1 whole time for an extra credit thing and now they’re doomed.

Jacq gets either 100% attention or they’re physically falling asleep. If he didn’t know about them completing multiple pokedex, he’d be madder about it. Well not mad, he doesn’t get mad so much as worry about the example its setting... and that his lack of punishment for it will get to Clavell. Which is does. They swap to doodling instead of sleeping.

Languages trips them up expressly because they’ve got at least four rattling around in their brain and at this point their dyslexia has thrown in the towel.

Art is fun, tho. Just in general.

By the time the treasure hunt rolls around their room is full of approximately too many mudkip plushes. And skitty merch. because cats and cute kips.

[rocket-sith]

Re: Repentance - HALLELUJAH! You have no idea how much of a relief it is to hear another person say that. Repentance (and IMHO 30 Days for the same damn reason) need to go on some sort of Voyager Yeet Sheet. Boot it out the airlock, court martial the writers for character assassination, and strike it from the record. *sigh* Oh Voyager. Nuanced/complex issues and inconsistent character writing do NOT make good bedfellows. Makes it hard to read between the lines when you're not sure whether the lines are carefully crafted, or nonexistent because they all got snorted in the writers room.

Re: Prey - Okay, yeah, I think we're differently interpreting which order(s) Seven was/wasn't disobeying, and which one Janeway was nailing her for.

She did flat-out disobey orders about the singularity. Zero argument there. After that, though, she agrees to follow orders and put aside her personal feelings about 8472. And she does. But that's where it gets muddy.

I do think there's an issue at play here that often gets overlooked. One of the first things Janeway told Seven after severing her from the Borg is that Voyager is her Collective now. And to Seven? That is a standing order to protect the Collective. So Seven believes at this point she already has one order from Janeway, and Seven is, at this point in the ep, agreeing to follow orders.

In Prey, Seven states that she is willing to put aside her personal feelings regarding 8472 after the initial fiasco. And she does. But in her mind, she already has an order from Janeway to protect Voyager. And now she has a separate, conflicting order to let Voyager be destroyed. So she has to make a personal/individual judgment call on which order to follow - but no matter which order she follows, she'd be disobeying the other.

She went with the first one, hacked the transporter, got accused of insubordination anyway, and naturally got pissed off because it probably felt like Janeway had done the verbal equivalent of uploading an impossible geometric shape into her brain and then punished her for it. (This is how I interpreted it anyway. Definitely up for debate, but it explains a lot of Seven's seeming insubordination over the years if she considers "protect your crew above all else" to be her first and most important standing order and highest priority.)

TY for sharing the interview info about the catsuit. It definitely did look like like there was something mechanical about either the suit, the body of the person wearing it, or both. It's difficult to tell from the Doctor's comment in The Gift how much was meant to imply medical functionality, and how much was meant to imply leotard flexibility with male gaze bootyhounding.

You're raising a good point about Janeway's extremely difficult decisions often being framed as her just doing whatever, ignoring everyone's input. Lord knows I don't always agree with her either (even Yeet Sheet eps aside, which are their own league). And Lord knows she faced no shortage of decisions in which there was only a crappy choice and a crappier choice. But now that you're pointing it out, it does seem like there was sort of an - extra nudge, I guess? From the writing to try and frame it more as "Janeway is being the meme-lore Honey Badger and ignoring everybody's input." That's not to say she never DID try and cosplay Honey Badger, and I do think she did sometimes - but there was an undertone to sort of try and make her seem more Honey Badgerish than she was probably realistically being considering all the circumstances.

Seven is a tricky one because she can definitely be irrational while sounding rational, but she can also be truth-bomb accurate while sounding like she's off her rocker. Janeway kinda can too though. (LOL Admiral Janeway exasperatedly telling her younger self she'd forgotten how self righteous she was back then). And I think with Seven, there's an extra level of frustration because Seven pretty much had no say in her own body or destiny or anything, ever, in her entire life life - so Janeway or anyone else making personal decisions for someone who'd already spent their entire life deprived of agency instinctively raises hackles.

I would like to clarify that when I say that Seven's situation on Voyager is fucked up (like in this post I wrote yesterday) I don't mean that Janeway should've listened to her demands and let her go in “The Gift”, or that Janeway and the Doctor had no right to start removing her implants (leaving them would've killed her after all). What I mean is that the fucked-upness is in the whole situation that made Seven's reclamation from the Borg possible but also put her in an environment (the USS Voyager) where survival is guaranteed by the close collaboration of everyone on board, which also means concessions of personal freedom and privacy. Other crewmembers entered this pact voluntarily (we can discuss some other time what choice did the Maquis actually have other than join the crew), but Seven unequivocally did not. Yet it's the only way she could've been reclaimed because we know, and the show drives this point home multiple times, that she was so young when she was assimilated that Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix Zero One alone would always choose the Borg. She knew of no other alternative.

I don't think letting Seven go back to the Borg in “The Gift” would've been an actually ethical choice, even if it's true that that was what she wanted. She was undoubtedly a prisoner, but I think that we forget (well, I do sometimes at least) that Seven, outside of any metaphor, can be very dangerous. She is strong and quick, she has Borg weaponry and technology at her disposal, she is relentless when pursuing her goal, and even as a drone she knows how Voyager works inside and out. Janeway took the gamble of disconnecting her from the Collective in “Scorpion, part 2” because they were expecting her to try and assimilate Voyager on her own, which she promptly tried to do as soon as the Species 8472 was no longer the main threat. So imho the ethical question posed by “The Gift” is, what do you do when an extremely dangerous individual asks you to be freed so she can rejoin the genocidal alien army of brainwashed zombies that terrorizes the galaxy? They will likely pursue you afterwards, but even if by some lucky chance they don't, you'll still have given back both a weapon and cannon fodder to the genocidal alien army. In addition to that, there's the concrete possibility that your prisoner might one day start living a different life once the brainwashing loses its hold on her.

So no, I really don't think that Janeway made a bad or even questionable choice in “The Gift”, even if it's painful to see Seven struggle against it. The complication has only just started at that point, imho. The fucked-upness comes from her having to “become an individual” in a highly-regulated and closely-surveilled community, one she could've never chosen on her own. On one hand this allows Seven to develop skills she completely lacked in a somewhat safe environment, but on the other hand it limits quite severely what she can or can't do. And while at first she rails against those limitations (she spends the entirety of season 4 doing just that), with time she starts understanding the value of living on Voyager. She manages to resist the Borg Queen's threats in “Dark Frontier” because she has learned compassion in the meantime, eventually choosing voluntarily to return to Voyager. It's a turning point that definitely does a lot to compensate for her lack of agency in “The Gift”. She thinks of Voyager as her new collective, which is equally a testament of how far she's come as much as it is a worrying admission that her new group identity is not that far off the Borg, in her mind.

By season 7 Seven is outright grateful for everything Janeway has done for her, but it still doesn't make her arc learning to ‘fit in’ any less of an exercise in shaping herself into the mold she was given as her only possible future. Is it better than being a murderous, mind-controlled zombie? Yes, it absolutely still is. Seven's independent thoughts and actions now matter, even when they clash with the rules, which is just not comparable with being a Borg drone in any way. Yet it's easy to see why her role on Voyager is also stifling, and that again she can't choose differently because she knows of no other alternative, and none are available to her anyway.

The fucked-upness also comes from extra-diegetical, production reasons, of course. The stupid ideas about what a woman is and what Seven should do to really be one (does she even want to be one?), the fact that a medical practitioner could control so closely how she presents and what she eats, the lack of actual clothes in order to make her a sexy babe for the 90s Trek target audience (“males aged 16-40”), the lack of locks on Cargo Bay 2 where she regenerates, and many other aspects that I'm sure I'm forgetting now... Ignorant, ‘default’ assumptions on how things ‘are’ that the show simply refuses to acknowledge. I know they only seem so obvious now because more than twenty years have passed since Star Trek: Voyager was on the air and the culture (in the US) has changed so much since then. This, I agree, is the kind of fucked up that I could easily do without and Seven's story would be better for it.

So in conclusion, when I say that Seven's situation is fucked up it's not so much because I think Kathryn Janeway should have chosen differently when it came to her; it's more that Seven's arc on Voyager is very complicated, for the most part, by design. Even if I think Janeway could've handled some things in a different way, in most cases it makes sense for her character to have taken those decisions regarding Seven, and I don't always think it would've made for a better story if she hadn't. Obviously I wish the production-level assumptions weren't there, and I think part of what Star Trek: Picard did right in its first season was flipping a lot of those assumptions on their head in just a handful of episodes where Seven appears.

Personally I find it valuable to keep in mind that Seven's storyline on Voyager can be complicated and fucked up without necessarily wanting to make it ‘better’. It still is interesting and effective because it's far from perfect, because everyone tried the best they could given the very difficult circumstances, because we've never seen the whole crew, much less the Captain, outside of survival mode. Yet Seven is also a survivor of almost unimaginable violence and coercion and it makes sense, I think, that her presence regularly poses ethical challenges to what other characters and even the audience might consider ‘right choices’ or ‘right behavior’. Survivors in real life, I think, often challenge our societies (none of them perfect, and where many also live in survival mode) in precisely the same way.

[42wallaby-way-sydney]

saw that you have new ocs??? for the veles mafia???? mafia women????

Yeah I do! Because I have zero ounces of self control! So without further ado I introduce ocs for the Veles mafia:

My main favorites so far have been Yulia, Liliya, Valery, and Vera. 

I’m still deciding stuff for everyone else and they are:Dmitry (yes I am aware that there was a Dmitri in the show, two different people because it’s fun for me), Matvei, Mikhail, Stepan, and Yuri.

So Liliya and Valery, I like them together. So it’s official. They’re a package deal.

- They’re married. When they come to America (and I headcanon everyone else was coming right before, during, and after Vladimir and Anatoly escaped Utikin) Liliya is nine months pregnant and ready to pop at any moment. 

- She goes into labor right as they’re leaving the airport and Valery very nearly faints because he’s weaksauce unprepared for this.

- Valery and Vladimir have a hate hate relationship. They’re constantly bickering. Like children. And Anatoly is constantly tired with Vladimir. They’ve almost gotten into a fist fight more times than anyone can count. Everyone makes a drinking game for how many times they’ll talk shit about the other one. They had to stop said drinking game because Stepan started throwing up terribly.

- Liliya has a cathedral, meaning she was born a thief, on the middle finger on her left hand.

- Their son’s name is Luka. The first time Vladimir sees him he says, “Congratulations Liliya. It looks nothing like Valery. You got lucky.” And Valery just glares daggers and, “CAN WE SEND HIM BACK TO UTKIN PLEASE?!”

The disrespect!

- Luka is often left with the neighbors then daycare so that Liliya and Valery can come to work. Three years later they have another son, Grisha. Everyone in the garage throws a baby shower for them but most of the gifts were bottles of vodka and or diapers since no one knew what else to bring. Liliya said, “Well…. at least you all brought diapers. And I can drink the vodka after the baby is born.”

Yulia is my murder dumping lesbian. 

- I like her before she officially joins the mafia, she scams people, men typically, especially from other countries. She’d meet them, pretend to be someone else and tell them how she just needed some money and then she could leave Russia to go to them and marry them. Once she had the money, she’d disappear.

- She’s been to prison quite a bit. Has an oskal, grinning lion, on the back of her left shoulder and a spider on her forearm crawling up. She has a butterfly with an eye on the left wing and lipstick mark on the right wing that denote her being a lesbian.

- Her type in women is probably brunette. That’s it. If they’re brunette, there’s a chance she’s staring with a ‘please come talk to me pretty girl’ look on her face.

- Dimitri tried to hit on her once, thought he was getting somewhere because she was giving him the time of day, and when he tried to touch her, she broke his nose and dislocated his wrist and told him, “Oh stop your screaming and walk it off you baby.”

- Her favorite form of murder is choking someone. Favorite way of disposing the body is by tossing it into a river. She’s trying her best.

- She’s a heavy chainsmoker, nearly as bad as Anatoly is. And if anyone in the garage ever needed a cigarette or a lighter, Yulia and Anatoly are the two they go to.

- She, Vera, and Liliya have a ‘girls night out on the town’ and it results in a dead body having to be dragged from a bar. They argue over the best way to dispose of the body.

And now for Vera…

- Probably my fave so far. I don’t know why. I feel like Sergei is nearly Vladimir and Anatoly’s second in command. Only nearly. Right after Vera. Because Vera is the only one who’s legitimately serious in this mafia is badass as hell.

- Tattooed on one of her fingers is a ring with a crown on it. She’s the only one aside from Vladimir and Anatoly to have stars on both her chest and knees. On her hip is a tattoo symbolizing female thieves. She has a lot of unfinished tattoos on her legs and arms and hands because guards in the prisons would punish the inmates for giving tattoos.

- She was a prostitute before joining the mafia and has quite a few tattoos that show this.

- She and Sergei begin a friends-with-benefits type deal and it results in a baby girl, Nadezhda (Nadya because I think I’m funny because Faith and Hope ba dum tass okay byyyye) who is one year younger than Grisha.

- Okay but Sergei, I headcanon he had a girlfriend, Yelizaveta, and accidental daughter in Russia. But when he’s arrested she leaves him and he has no contact with her or their daughter, Nastya (because I think it’s funny, Nastya and Nadya. no? okay byyyye.)

- She’s a heavy drinker. Smokes, just not as much as Yulia or Anatoly. 

- Is skilled at picking locks. She started at a very young age.

- She’s cold and blunt, nearly rudely so, and stoic to the point where no one can tell when she’s being serious or telling a joke. So when she also acts a fool, everyone is just in shock and “Vera?!” Her response? “Oh no. Your stupid is contagious.”

Okay and Piotr… I have some stupid, cracky headcaons for Piotr but I love them so much that it’s staying.

- So Piotr has a few prison tattoos, more innocent than anything really, from going out drinking under age and getting caught. Vandalized a building at one point or five with some friends. Stupid stuff like that.

- He comes to America for school and needs a job. Just so happens that he catches a glimpse in the newspaper one afternoon that says ‘Veles Taxi Garage: Now Hiring!’So the poor eighteen year old goes and pplies for the receptionist job. Sergei and Yulia see his few tattoos and think he’s already part of the mafia, and hire him on spot. And Piotr starts working as a taxi driver for a full week during the day since he mostly takes night and online classes. And for this full week he doesn’t realize that anything is wrong.So what if he hasn’t met his bosses yet? So what if everyone else in the garage looks scary? They’re also complete and utter morons and hilarious and treat him like family. So what if everyone has tattoos like his and that means they were in prison? He was in prison and he’s still a decent person he likes to think.So it’s just not that weird to him.Until Anatoly sees him one day and “Who the fuck is this? Guys! Who is this child?!”Mikhail, “Oh that’s Piotr-”Piotr, small wave, “Hello.”Mikhail, “-he’s been here a week.”And Anatoly is just ‘how dafuq did i never notice this child here????’ so he takes Piotr up to his office and Piotr starts to worry he’s about to be fired. But Anatoly is just asking him questions.And Piotr just shrugs, “To… to be honest I just wanted to be the receptionist. But I don’t mind driving the cars.”Anatoly hold up wait a second what the fuck did- “…. receptionist?”“That’s what was in the add.”Anatoly finds the add online right there and just leaves the office to start yelling, “Who the fUck put an add for the fucking mafia in the newspaper?!”Yulia raises her hand, “Oh that was me. Vova said to.”“Why the fUck would he do that?!”“He said to get more women in here willingly so we can sell them.”“Well you know what we got?! A college student!“ And that is the day that Piotr begins working for the mafia because he’d rather work for the mafia than be killed by the mafia. Then he meets Vladimir and develops a huge crush.

- He has a thing for people older than him.

- For Domestic au (which is really what all of this is basically yeet!) he meets Linda Diaz (another of my ocs because I’m an oc creating monster) who is friends with Claire, a nurse at the hospital, and begins crushing hard. This ends in a fiasco of him getting stabbed multiple times in various spots by Anatoly because Anatoly just won’t listen to him fully.

- He and Linda have a baby boy much later on and Linda names him Peter after Piotr. Piotr’s never grinned so wide in his life.

So uhm yeah. Still fleshing out some of the ocs for this but as of now, this is them. They are all over grown children and it’s amazing that anyone is scared of them because they’re walking disasters.

I also have way too many ideas on them all throughout the eight years they’re living in Hell’s Kitchen.

[onestepbackwards]

Concept: The reader who gets thrown into Hisui can actually still use apps on their Arcphone, and have internet. But only somewhat. They actually can’t type anything. They can’t posts tweets, make any text posts, send any texts, nothing. However, they find a loophole. They can make and send videos, and take pictures. Then they get the idea to stream being in Hisui. It technically works! They don’t have to type anything, just go live and go from there! Bonus points if they were like, a popular streamer/youtuber, or even the Sinnoh Champion before being yeeted to Hisui.

Like, imagine if you’re a popular face in your country and just,,, disappeared for at least a whole week. Literally nothing to show what happened to you, or how you even left. No clothes packed, car still in the lot, all identification still on you table, and even your pokemon are still on the nightstand next to you bed, safe in their pokeballs! The only thing gone is your phone, but it must be broken or turned off, because the phone company and police can’t track it. Some people wonder if you had been kidnapped, or Arceus forbid, something worse. But the detectives can only scratch their head. The doors were still locked, and there were no signs of forced entry, or any at all for that fact. Not to mention the pokemon would have broke out of their pokeballs if they had sensed their owner’s distress. You were just.... Gone. Until a week later. Imagine a week later, people are beginning to lose hope about you, all trails having gone cold. Until later that evening. People get a notification about a streamer going live. It’s the person who disappeared. People rush to the stream to see what the hell is going on, and maybe get some answers. Maybe an explanation at best! Or at worst, someone hacking your account.... Everyone joins, only to see.... You...? You’re dressed in odd clothing, but it’s unmistakably you. You’re going off, talking about how you got dumped in ancient Sinnoh or something, and have been told by god itself to find all pokemon in said ancient Sinnoh. At first, people think you’re crazy, until they notice some familiar landmarks. And all the wild pokemon. Especially the GIANT wild pokemon. You claim Arceus won’t let you make text posts or regular tweets, and won’t let you receive normal messages, so you’re just,, stuck making streams and videos. You laugh how that’s arguably worse than typing anything else, but hey, you’re not a god. How are you supposed to know how one thinks? People are suspicious at first, but it becomes horrifyingly clear that you aren’t joking, and that you are somehow stuck in the past, still able to livestream and make videos. You jokingly talk about the people you meet, and your job for the day/week. You often stream yourself hunting down pokemon, and writing down stuff in your pokedex. If you still have access to the chat, you gladly answer any questions you get, and happily get all help in filling out the pokedex. If not, I’d think it’d be amusing if people could still talk through donations, the TTS voice talking out to you in the wild. Even funnier since you don’t even get the money being sent to you. “it’s not so bad!” You muse to the phone quietly, back striking a Pikachu with a pokeball, and catching it instantly. “I just wish that the people would stop acting like I’m gonna grow four extra arms and bite their heads off.” You tend to use the streams to vent a bit as well, seeing as they are the only sense of familiarity you have here in Hisui. So when people find out you apparently fell from a space and time rift in the sky, they are rightly horrified. With all of this going on, your situation gets international attention. People from across the globe are wondering what the hell is going on. Champions, professors, gym leaders, you name it. You have a lot of people now watching your streams. It’s gets even weirder when you open up stream on day, both giddy and almost gobsmacked. “Hey guys! So uh- okay.” You start off, almost scatterbrained. “So like, I have to go quell this one pokemon, Lord Electrode, I think? Whatever- ANYWAY you guys will not believe who I found.” You say, ignoring the questions about ‘Lord Electrode’. “Turns out, okay- like, I didn’t keep up with a lot of international news before ending up here, right? But I did hear about a few things. Anyway, this is important. Wasn’t there like, this subway guy that went missing a few years ago? Like, in Unova?” You managed to ask in your rambling. You get a few responses to your question, a lot of people bringing up said Subway Boss’s name. “Ingo? So it is Ingo? I knew it!” Your viewers ask what you were talking about. Why was this relevant? Though a few people already had a sinking feeling in their stomachs. “Okay so, like, I wake up this morning and just?? There’s a guy in a torn coat? Outside my house? Like, he looked like the subway guy, but there are a lot of people who look like people i met personally. I figure, ‘huh, this guy might be an ancestor, or whatever.’“ You ramble on, ignoring how the chat seemed to speed up as you continue talking. “Anyway, he tells me good morning, and says I’m needed at headquarters. I said thanks, and went on, and learned that the guy’s name was Ingo!” You ignored the chat blowing up, as you paced across your little room. “And like, I thought ‘huh, that sounds familiar! And he looks familiar!’ But didn’t really think about it until Irida mentioned he was an amnesiac? And is also not from Hisui? He apparently also fell from the sky or something. He’s not sure.” You said with a wave of your hand. You ignored the onslaught of text to speech messages for now, too caught up in your own explanation. “So then I got to thinking, ‘hey, didn’t a guy with that name go missing in Unova?’” You asked, spinning on your heel, facing the phone once more. “And THEN it hit me, I thought he looked damn near the same as the guy! Just like, a little beat up. His coat is like, super shredded, and his hat has some holes in it.” You said, briefly describing the man. “Guys, I know it sounds crazy, but I think the missing subway guy is the same guy who I’m supposed to meet with today. I think he got sent back like me, but somehow lost his memories!” You told the chat excitedly. Your phone was blowing up with the amount of messages you were receiving. You definitely had a back log. Grabbing the phone, you looked to the door, and sighed. “I gotta go guys. I have to meet Ingo soon, and it’s gonna take a while to walk there. I’ll see if I can get pictures or stream with him! Bye guys!” You wave to the phone, ignoring the messages desperately asking for more details. Shutting the stream off, you begin packing for your journey. Meanwhile, Emmet and Elesa are desperately trying to contact you after hoards of people sent them clips of you talking about Ingo. None of their messages go through. Some people tell them that apparently, Arceus itself won’t let you type messages, only stream and make videos and photos. Emmet begrudgingly waits for your next stream. Eager to see if it really is his missing brother, who’s apparently been thrown several centuries in the past.