#for THE NOSE™

[andy-clutterbuck]

bts of The Ones Who Live | 📷: Ande Yung

[diamondzart]

Unmasked spy because why not, he’s hot *_*

[canisalbus]

I work in a pet store with a self serve dog wash, and as I was cleaning one of the tubs I saw a couple of little guys

Definitely one of your nose dogs, and I think they were sisters. One had grey markings and the other had light brown markings. They came to about halfway up my thighs (for reference I'm 5'2) so they were probably still puppies? Either that or they're short as shit

They did Not like the blow dryer.

.

[waterdeeping]

Tempting as it is to keep you all to myself, we'd be terrible company if we didn't mingle for at least part of the evening.

[midnightcaptions]

research 👀

[cannibalhellhound]

Selkie AU doodles (+ bonus RatMav)

Because there's never enough of those 👍🏼

[shadows-coffeebeans]

art i made of Starlight for the @sonic-fankid-showdown

Starlight masterpost

[in-the-airducts]

A little busy right now Rodimus-

(Congrats on your milestone avoidghost!)

[averagemartian]

Gen V really missed the opportunity to make Luke/Cate/Andre a (closeted) throuple instead of that dumb cheating plot

[hoziersong]

but do you ever just stop and think about. tommy kinard scrunching his nose

[wjbs-bonkle-au]

Metru Nui Archives data log 36012: The Head

Log author: Spiritual Researcher Vizuna

The Head, as it wishes to be called, is, well, a head. Specifically the head of a Class-02 Toa, or maybe Class-03? I'll have to ask Surgical Director Gogot after I've finished writing this, then I'll put it as an addendum.

The Head was... challenging to deal with. It litters its speech with profanity (which, for professionalism purposes, has been expunged from this data log), threatened the lives of both me and my colleagues (though these threats appeared to be empty based on its lack of any limbs or weapons), and claims to have once been one of the few Toa to ever come from Xia, though as my... interview with it (and subsequent research) indicates, it is mostly lying about this.

The following is an audio-to-text transcript of my attempt at inverviewing The Head:

Vizuna: Apologies for taking so long. I couldn't find my archival tablet, so I had to borrow the Chief Archivist's one. Now, how did you get into this state? The Head: Wanna find out, [EXPLETIVE DELETED]? Vizuna: I admire your attempts to threaten me, but they won't work. Answer the question, please. The Head: Ran into an... old friend, see. Tried to kill me, but couldn't finish the [EXPLETIVE DELETED] job, not for lack of trying... Vizuna: I see. What do you mean by that? The Head: Eh, it'd take too [EXPLETIVE DELETED] long to explain, and I'd have to repeat myself. Especially since you [EXPLETIVE DELETED] Le-Matoran don't even seem to remember what [EXPLETIVE DELETED] colours you're meant to have. Vizuna: Why y- [SLOW INHALE] I am not a Le-Matoran. I am a Bo-Matoran. You should know the difference; you are... were a Toa of Air. Right? The Head: What the [EXPLETIVE DELETED] are you talking about? How would you know that? Vizuna: Your eyes are... red, but now I look at them, they're not... they're not the same as... The Head: Yeahhhhhh, now you're starting to [EXPLETIVE DELETED] get it. Vizuna: ... This interview is over. I need to check something.

Now, those who don't know about Matoran mythology may not be aware of Shadow Toa; powerful, illusiory constructs that a Makuta can manifest, though very little is known of them, as they are rarely used.

The only source I have access to that describes a Shadow Toa is an ancient text, written in ancient Matoran, which contains the following passage that I have partially translated into modern Matoran, with any words that have multiple definitions having both listed: "Be Toa's eyes as the setting suns, moreso than capricious Le or [steadfast/durable] Fe, armour dark, then ally is Toa not; for is instead illusion from cruel Kra. Only ceases after confront truest [self/friend]."

Translating this fully into modern Matoran is difficult due to the ambiguity in the grammar and certain words having multiple definitions, but I gave it a try because why not: "If a Toa's eyes are bright red, moreso than the pinkish-red of a Toa of Air or the reddish-orange of a Toa of Iron, with dark armour, then they are not an ally; they are instead an illusion from cruel Shadow." The next section is a bit more ambiguous; it could mean "It immediately ceases to exist when it is confronted by its true self", or "It can only be killed by a close friend", or maybe some combination or rearrangement of those. Maybe something else. Who knows?

But what I want to note is that part about red eyes and dark armour. The Head has eyes that match that description perfectly, and while it lacks any armour or a mask, the metal it is made out of does look darker than usual, at least compared to what I've seen from the few Toa I have met, which makes me wonder if The Head is, in fact, a Toa of Shadow.

Before I move onto the next section, I also need to address something interesting that last line. Both interpretations point to Shadow Toa being based on existing Toa; "truest self" could refer to the one that it was recreated from, while "truest friend" could refer to another Toa who is particularly close to them. Which means that The Head could have been based on an actual Toa from Xia, though I didn't want to deal with the Xian council's excessive bureaucracy just to access a list of registered Toa with no clue which one The Head was copying. This will come up again later.

Getting back on track, since I had an example of a rare phenomenon in my possession, I decided to try giving it a soul-scan to see what I could learn.

Souls are a form of elemental and life essence, generated in the cerebral crystals (also known referred to with the more casual term "brainstalks") of most beings and transported throughout the body via elemental conduits. Souls also what give eyes, cerebral crystals and heartlights their distinctive glow, though the actual colour of said glow comes from the surrounding protodermic biomineral that those components are made out of, which tints the otherwise blindingly white soul-light; even De-Matoran and Toa of Sonics, with their white biominerals, have their soul-light filtered slightly to make their eyes, cerebral crystals and heartlights glow to a lesser degree than if they were isolated.

Souls are comprised of six different "pieces", which affect the shape and appearance of the soul and the being it belongs to; they are Unity, Duty, Destiny, Light, Darkness and Element. The first three obviously relate to the being's connections to the Three Virtues; Light and Shadow have unknown purposes at time of writing, though it appears to have some correlation with the being's personality, as Matoran destined to become Toa usually have higher Light, and Makuta naturally have higher Darkness.

So I put The Head in the soul scanner (it tried to resist, but the most it could do was try to bite my fingers), activated the scanning mode, and went back to my office to water my plants and rearrange my tablets while I waited for the scan to finish.

As soon as I saw the results, I knew that I had to download them to the archival tablet so I could include an image of them here, because they would have been too bizarre to be believable, but it also undoubtably proves my hypothesis of what The Head is.

The Head somehow has 0 Unity, Duty, Destiny or Light, but its Darkness is so high it caused an overflow. This thing is (was?) definitely a Shadow Toa.

Now that I had this evidence at its true origin, I was ready to re-confront it, along with a secret weapon...

The Head: Oh good, the [EXPLETIVE DELETED] finally decided to give me the attention I [EXPLETIVE DELETED] deserve. Vizuna: Yeah, yeah, let's cut to the chase. I know what you are. The Head: [EXAGERRATED GASP] Oh noooooo, you managed to [EXPLETIVE DELETED] figure out "what I really am". You guessed it earlier; I'm a [EXPLETIVE DELETED] Makuta, and I am to be [EXPLETIVE DELETED] feared! Vizuna: You're a Shadow Toa, based on a Toa from the island of Xia. You were struck down in battle, but managed to survive as a damaged head due to not being defeated properly. The Head: Wait, how did you f- Vizuna: A combination of ancient writings, and a summary of your soul's construction. And to further prove it, I brought this. The Head: A [EXPLETIVE DELETED] mask? What's that going to do? Vizuna: It'll let me know who'll get the privilege of shutting you up for good.

At this point, I ran out of audio-recording space on the tablet (sorry about that, Etoku; I replaced the memory module before returning it to you), but when I put the mask on The Head, it turned dark-grey, so I will be requesting access to the Xian council's list of registered Toa and looking for any Toa of Ice or Sonics.

Now, a lot of fellow spiritual researchers might hate me for what I am about to say, but I am going to destroy it, because there's a lot that we're going to learn from how it reacts to being exposed to its original

Artifact information:

Categories: Living, Supernatural

Current location: External Warehouse 7434-B, "To Be Destroyed" section.

End of log.

Addendum by Spiritual Researcher Vizuna: I went to ask Surgical Director Gogot about The Head, but according to the other surgeons in the dissection lab, he's currently busy; some slackers from Le-Metru somehow managed to get into the Mutagenics gallery, and he's taken the sole responsibility of dissecting what's left of them.

Addendum by Spiritual Researcher Vizuna: Ok, so it's been a week, and Gogot still isn't available; according to the off-duty surgeon who answered the door when I went to ask, he won't be available for at least a month, maybe longer, and since I didn't want to subject any... less experienced surgeons to The Head's nonsense, I will just wait until he's finished. In lighter news, I managed to finally get a copy of the Xian council's list of registered Toa, and I've had letters sent to the Toa that The Head was mimicking, as well as what the list claims is their closest ally, so hopefully they'll respond soon to... dispose of it. Also it means I won't need Gogot to ID the type of Toa that The Head came from.

[andy-clutterbuck]

Rick Grimes in The Ones Who Live 1x01 - Years

"…𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯…𝘪𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘴."

[papa-evershed]

Robert James-Collier as Daniel Watson THE INHERITANCE EP01

[moxyphinx]

ULI KERSTING + hair down

[metropoliswhite]

Barry Keoghan's nose. I hope you agree.

[notmoreflippingelves]

Krisnix and cykesquill?

Krisnix (I Ship it)

What made you ship it?

Projecting onto Kristoph. I first started to be curious about the ship at about the same time that I got into the fandom a few years ago. Discovering the k*nk meme was pretty groundbreaking for me in terms of introducing me to a lot of ships that I might not otherwise have considered. (As I believe I've mentioned, I'm pretty indifferent to both narumayo and narumitsu so I was definitely looking for other pairings to get into besides the obvious slash option and obvious het option). Krisnix started appealing to me pretty quickly due to the inherent tragedy and drama of such a ship. However, it took me finding fanworks that leaned more into Kristoph as a comedic and/or tragic character (as opposed to just him as the designated evil villain in endgame narumitsu) and emphasized his vulnerabilities that really got me into the pairing. I really credit the Count of Monte Cristo AU, the Frozen AU, and these two pieces of fan art for really getting me to latch onto a more nuanced, emotional Kristoph and to the ship.

2. What are your favorite things about the ship?

As a former English major, I tend to get feral over ships that utilize some of my favorite literary devices. And there is so much to work with for krisnix. The "doomed by the narrative" trope, particularly given that the fact that Kristoph's actions even before they met inevitably doomed any relationship (romantic or otherwise) that they might have had before it even began. Not to mention Phoenix's savior complex vs. the man who it is too late to save.

There's this sense of Kristoph as a dark mirror/foil of Phoenix, and given that Kristoph's influence canonically brings out a very dark side ( hidden cameras, forgeries, manipulation) of the otherwise "heroic" Phoenix, I like to contemplate that the reverse may have been true as well--that Phoenix's "light" might have penetrated Kristoph's darkness even if only a little and if it was already too late. The yin-yang potential fascinates me. I also love the fire and ice imagery motif that surrounds them.

I also love the intriguing possibilities of the 7-year gap--the opportunities for closeness, catching feelings in spite of one's self in a way that is all but inevitable when you spend so much time together, the idea of Kristoph at least somewhat co-parenting Trucy with Phoenix, wondering exactly how much of their "dinners" were genuinely for mutual surveillance and how much was because they grew to enjoy each other's company, speculating as to when Phoenix realized Kristoph was involved in his disbarment (my headcanon is less than a year) and if Kristoph ever realized Phoenix was on to him.

They're also so weird about each other in a way that's so interesting to me. The solitary cell scene is frankly bizarre in a lot of ways, but I am always taken aback by how quickly the two of them fall into their old rapport. Kristoph is literally in a jail cell because of Phoenix, and yet they are super polite and friendly to each other. Honestly, Kristoph in this scene seems far more upset about the idea that Phoenix's "friendship" might have had ulterior motives from the start than he is about the fact that said false "friendship" resulted in Kristoph's incarceration. (Phoenix's bringing up their friendship, trying to snoop in Kristoph's mail, and questioning why Kristoph killed Zak are the only times in this scene that Kristoph's facade slips. Otherwise, they're just bantering like old times. Why are they this weird? I don't get it but I love it anyway).

I also love a lot of the relationship tropes that the ship plays into: uptight loves impulsive; repressed loves outspoken; contrasting visual aesthetics; fake relationship/becoming the mask; foe yay; things we left unsaid; the enemies-to-friends-to-lovers-and-not-necessarily-in that-order pipeline. It's all so good.

3. Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

The unpopularity of this opinion has fluctuated over time, but when I first started shipping krisnix, there were really strong fanon for all of the following: 1. Top and/or Dom Kristoph who liked subjecting poor poor Phoenix to times that were neither fully safe, fully sane, and/or fully consensual. 2. Helpless cinnamon roll woobie Phoenix who has NO IDEA about Kristoph's various crimes until a Savior™ (usually Miles, occasionally Apollo, Trucy, or Maya) comes and explains the plot to him even though canon implies he puts this together on his own and pretty quickly. 3. Kristoph is a generic sociopath incapable of any real feeling and diabolically clever who gets off solely on POWAH and does evil for evil's sake.

None of these headcanons/interpretations had any appeal or rang true for me, so it was hard for me to interact even with some of the people who shipped it because they shipped in in the opposite way/ for opposite reasons that I did. I even had someone tell me in no uncertain terms that I was shipping it "wrong" for headcanoning a more vulnerable, conflicted, nuanced Kristoph who wasn't a pure one-dimensional generic villain, who had real and genuine feelings (both for Phoenix and in general) , and who was overall more likely to be submissive and/or a bottom than dominant and/or a top.

As I have said, fanon de jour has fluctuated significantly overtime and more and more people who headcanon/prefer a Kristoph more similar to the version that I enjoy have come out of the woodworks and shared their fanworks/head canons/meta with the world. (*Waves affectionately to all my beloved krisnix frens and mutuals. You know who you are. *) That being said, with the release of the AA 4-6 Trilogy port, I have noticed another shift within the larger fandom towards the "Hello Naughty Phoenix, It's Murder Time" Kristoph interpretation again, which makes me rather sad/anxious. I just wanna be able to project onto and shamelessly woobify the pathetic blond blorbo without worrying about people telling me I'm not allowed in the krisnix sandbox anymore. And like I think I'm probably safe enough but there's still a little fear.

Cykesquill (I Ship It...albeit much more casually)

What made you ship it?

A combination of being somewhat indifferent about the fandom-preferred ships for them (Juniper or occasionally Apollo for Athena; Nahyuta for Blackquill) , the fact that I already actively shipped Athena in a similar-ish pairing that is just as (if not more) "problematic," and the fact that telling me I am not "allowed" to ship something/shouldn't ship is far more likely to encourage me to ship it than actively deter me. Also I project pretty heavily onto Athena so naturally I'd be drawn towards ships that are narratively and thematically interesting for her.

What are your favorite things about the ship?

I tend to be especially drawn towards ships that are (or have the potential to be) agents of narrative/character development for the characters as individuals. And this is especially the case for Athena and Simon. They were quite literally created with and for each other.

You can't really think or talk about Simon Blackquill without first talking about Athena Cykes--about the fact he was willing to risk and even give up his life to protect a sensitive, frightened child from an experience (prison and/or execution) that would've destroyed everything about her. You can't really think or talk about Athena Cykes without talking about Simon Blackquill--about the brave, kind young man who comforted and protected her when no one else would but who wouldn't let her comfort and protect him back.

Everyone always talks about the impact that narumitsu have on each other, and I'll admit that they do. But the thing is...there are other people in Phoenix's and Miles' lives that have had as greater or greater an impact on each of them than they have on each other. (Mia, Maya, Dahlia, Trucy, debatably Larry, Apollo, or Kristoph for Phoenix; Gregory, von Karma, Gant, and debatably Kay, Gumshoe, and Ziska for Miles).

For Athena and Simon, there's really no contest, they are the single most important and impactful person in each other's life. Yes, Apollo, Phoenix, and Juniper also influenced Athena. Yes, Fullbright, Metis Aura, and the spoiler character also influenced Simon. But none of them did so to the level that Athena and Simon influenced each other. To quote Wicked, "Who can say if I've been changed for the better? (I do believe I have been changed for the better.) But because I knew you, I have been changed for good." That's it; that's them.

Additionally, they do have some other tropes that I enjoy: grump and sunshine (though Athena is so much more complex and complicated than just a "sunshine" and Simon can also be much more playful than the typical grump); the couple that saves each other; contrasting visual aesthetics; height difference; "we're both hella neurodivergent albeit in different ways,"

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

The fact that it's a valid ship in the first place? I've legit seen the argument that you can't ship it because hypothetical future step-incest. Which is absurd in and of itself but especially cause it's presuming a reality that could not possibly exist. One where Metis not only lives (so we're starting off very canon-divergent) but also returns Aura's feelings, assumes that because they love each other that they would of course have to get married (which not every couple want) and therefore Simon now is hypothetically Athena's step-uncle in the future and this possible reality should be treated as such even if it doesn't exist. And just if you have to conceive of so many steps in order to justify why not to ship a pairing, maybe your case against isn't as strong as you think. Also very curious to hear what OP thinks of double-in-law marriages (ex: Person A marries Person B and then Person B's sibling marries A's sibling) because like those exist in real life???

send me a ship and I’ll answer three questions based on if I ship it or not.