#hyperion part 2

[jack-in-the-dark]

Jack Builds Spaceboats: The Hyperion, Part 2: Stayin' Alive

Disclaimer: I am not an expert on this game, and some information I present may be erroneous.

So you may recall that I described the Hyperion as a "BFAW Psuedotank." Now that we've addressed the "BFAW" part, let's talk about what the flying fuck I meant by "psuedotank."

First, an explanation: the traditional MMO trinity of Tank/Healer/DPS does not exist in STO, as such. "But Jack!" I hear a convenient strawman cry, "Surely Engineering/Science/Tactical" equates to that!"

The truth is much more complicated. Namely that, in space, whether your captain is Tactical, Science, or Engineering matters relatively little; the ship you're on matters a lot more. And while it's true that Science has a lot of debuff cleanses, shield heals, heals, and debuffs, and that Science-focused ships can slot more of these abilities, where Science ships really shine is what is affectionately called "space magic." Creating artificial gravity wells to gather all one's enemies into a single place, draining all their power, crushing them to death, and then blasting the remains with a massive volley of AOE torpedoes out of spite, for example.

Most STO players, in my experience, will tell you that outside of specific coordinated high-tier play, the traditional role of "tanking" does not exist. In STO, the idea of tanking generally means "mitigating damage by blowing everything up before it has a chance to shoot you."

That said, there's something to be said for being able to take one on the chin without ending up like the USS Grissom.

Engineering captains have this relatively easy, since they get access to the Captain ability "Miraculous Repairs" which gives you a significant hull heal, good shield heal, and some temporary secondary shielding to boot. Trouble is, it has an appropriately long cooldown (barring a trait that refreshes it if you take a huge chunk of damage in a short amount of time, before that trait itself goes on cooldown).

The Hyperion, in addition to having an Engineering captain, is constantly using the lowest-rank ability of Auxiliary Power to Structural Integrity, which is a tiny heal (2k out of the Hyperion's 91k hull points), but has a quick cooldown. This is not actually for healing purposes, but to proc some offensive bonuses I get through the Miracle Worker and Strategist specializations that give me buffs when I use or receive healing. The ability Engineering Team is likewise at its lowest rank, offering a mere 4k of healing - it's primarily there for its ability to cleanse Engineering debuffs (such as Viral Impulse Burst; fuck you, House Mo'Kai). The Hyperion's primary source of healing is Hazard Emitters at its highest rank, which offers 10k hitpoints over 15 seconds combined with a Duty Officer that restores 0.2% of the ship's total hull every time a weapon fires so long as the ability Attack Pattern: Beta is up, which, naturally, is on constant rotation.

Between the above and the ability Tactical Team (which automatically reinforces shield facings when they take damage during its duration), the Hyperion can typically handle deliberately drawing the aggro it both wants to (to use Redirecting Arrays to maximize Beams: Fire At Will's uptime) and inevitably will regardless.

Should she get a little overwhelmed, well, there's still Miraculous Repairs.

Another bit keeping my beloved Hyperion in one piece is the starship trait History Will Remember. I keep this trait on literally all of my builds, because it's just so useful. For each individual enemy that damages the ship, she gains +1% damage, +1% hull regen, and +1% maximum hull points. This bonus can stack up to 30 times, and you keep all stacks until you map move. It also generates additional aggro if you have Threatening Stance active, but that's not helpful to the topic of keeping the ship in one piece.

Fuck a duck, I damn near forgot a key part of the Hyperion's defenses: the Shield Absorptive Frequency Generator. This beautiful bit of gear does something truly special: If a shield face is below 90% strength, every shot (not every volley, every shot) of an energy weapon has a 2.5% chance to restore shields for 200% of the outgoing damage. Remember how BFAW doubles the amount of shots you make per volley? Under BFAW, her beam arrays deal about 3.5k damage, and she has about 20k shields per facing. That one piece of gear does a LOT of legwork, and requires very little explanation/justification to boot.

So, this all makes her sound pretty tanky, you might think. To that, I would caution you that in terms of durability, a high-tier dedicated tank build makes the Hyperion look like she's made out of tissue paper, and the majority of her build is focused towards maximizing damage. Thus, I call her a "psuedotank."

[stevethehairington]

book 2 of the year = finished!!!

[phenikas]

Hyperion Propaganda - Borderlands 2, Borderlands The Pre-Sequel and Tales from the Borderlands

Part 2

[virginiaoflykos]

What to read after Light Bringer? (Series similar to Red Rising)

August 2023 update!

Red Rising is my favorite series of all time, and since I first read it, I have sought series and books similar in both spirit and execution. Some of these recs are books I haven’t read personally, but have often come up in discussions with other users!

1. The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson

Status: ongoing, expected 10 books in total, 4/10 out at the moment

Book 1: The Way of Kings. The Way of Kings takes place on the world of Roshar, where war is constantly being waged on the Shattered Plains, and the Highprinces of Alethkar fight to avenge a king that died many moons ago.

2. The Craft Sequence by Max Gladstone

Status: finished, 6/6 books out.

Book 1 (in publication order): Three Parts Dead. Comprised of 6 standalone books set in the same universe, the Craft Sequence tells the tales of the city of Alt Coulumb. The city came out of the God Wars with one of its gods intact, Kos the Everburning. In return for the worship of his people, Kos provides heat and steam power to the citizens of Alt Coulumb; he is also the hub of a vast network of power relationships with other gods and god-like beings across the planet. Oh, and he has just died. If he isn’t revived in some form by the turn of the new moon, the city will descend into chaos and the finances of the globe will take a severe hit.

3. Hierarchy by James Islington

Status: ongoing, 1/3 planned books out

Book 1: The Will of the many. The Will of the Many tells the story of Vis, a young orphan who is adopted by one of the sociopolitical elites of the Hierarchy. Vis is tasked with entering a prestigious magical academy with one goal – ascend the ranks, figure out what the other major branches of the government are doing, and report back. However, that isn’t quite as easy as Vis or anyone else thought it was going to be…

4. Suneater by Christopher Ruocchio

Status: ongoing, 5/7 books out

Book 1: Empire of Silence. Hadrian is a man doomed to universal infamy after ordering the destruction of a sun to commit an unforgivable act of genocide. Told as a chronicle written by an older Hadrian, Empire of Silence details his earlier adventures and serves as an introduction to the characters and the setting.

5. Dune by Frank Herbert

Status: completed, 6/6 books out

Book 1: Dune. Set in the distant future amidst a feudal interstellar society in which various noble houses control planetary fiefs. It tells the story of young Paul Atreides, whose family accepts the stewardship of the planet Arrakis. While the planet is an inhospitable and sparsely populated desert wasteland, it is the only source of melange, or "spice", a drug that extends life and enhances mental abilities.

6. The Expanse by James S A Corey

Status: completed, 9/9 books out

Book 1: Leviathan wakes. Set hundreds of years in the future, after mankind has colonized the solar system. A hardened detective and a rogue ship's captain come together for what starts as a missing young woman and evolves into a race across the solar system to expose the greatest conspiracy in human history.

7. The First Law by Joe Abercrombie

Status: completed. 3 books in the original trilogy + 3 standalone books + 3 books in the newest trilogy

Book 1: The Blade Itself. The story follows the fortunes and misfortunes of bad people who do the right thing, good people who do the wrong thing, stupid people who do the stupid thing and, well, pretty much any combination of the above. Survival is no mean feat, and at the end of the day, dumb luck might be more of an asset than any amount of planning, skill, or noble intention.

8. Cradle by Will Wight

Status: completed, 12/12 books out

Book 1: Unsouled. Lindon is Unsouled, forbidden to learn the sacred arts of his clan. When faced with a looming fate he cannot ignore, he must rise beyond anything he's ever known...and forge his own Path

9. Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons (one PB’s favorites)

Status: completed, 4/4 books out

Book 1: Hyperion. The story weaves the interlocking tales of a diverse group of travelers sent on a pilgrimage to the Time Tombs on Hyperion. The travelers have been sent by the Church of the Final Atonement, alternately known as the Shrike Church, and the Hegemony (the government of the human star systems) to make a request of the Shrike. As they progress in their journey, each of the pilgrims tells their tale.

[fleur-a-whump]

Overloaded (#5)

Rocky Reunions Pt. 2

More Kai being grumpy plus his team!!

previous | masterlist | next

CW: uhh shock collar, mentioned electrocution, whumpee paraded around, ex-villain whumpee, hero whumper, hero caretakers

Kai plops into the auditorium seat next to Elijah, letting out a long suffering sigh. His partner chuckles slightly, accustomed to his moodiness and drama, but when he catches a glimpse of Kai’s tight expression, he stops.

“What’s wrong?” he asks, as the Hero League Director and council walk out on the stage. They take their seats at the curved council table, outfitted with microphones and interrupted by a tall center podium, settling in to conduct the briefing.

Kai shakes his head, not wanting to get into it when the meeting is about to start. Elijah gives him a look.

“Later,” he promises, softening, giving him a small, reassuring smile.

Elijah nods and turns to the stage as the meeting begins.

Director Jaida Murphy stands tall and composed at the center podium, her serious face breaking easily into a winning smile once the auditorium has settled. Her voice is loud and clear over the speakers, swiftly silencing any lingering murmurs of the crowd.

“Thank you all for coming to this month’s briefing. We have many things to cover on the docket today so let’s go ahead and get going. First and foremost, Secretary Cho, will you read the previous meeting’s minutes?” she says, turning to the older gentleman at the end of the row, who’s set up with a steno machine.

Kai zones in and out of the tedious meeting. He’s well-practiced in discerning the useless and important parts and is assured by the knowledge that Lizzy, another member of his team, is an obsessive and thorough note-taker. If he accidentally zones out for something important, he can goad her into sharing her notes with him. Though he’d rather avoid the teasing that comes along with that.

He snaps back to attention at the words “villain reform initiative.”

“As you all know, a major responsibility of this organization is to invest in the effective reform of the villains we encounter while protecting the city. Team Delta is currently spearheading a new project which both makes use of insider information from some of the most devious crime syndicates in Hyperion City and actively reforming a major villain, directing his abilities towards the greater good. To tell us more about this new program, please welcome Miguel Toro, and Jasper Lane, also known as Tinker.”

There’s polite applause, underlined by suspicious murmuring, as the two join the council on the stage. Director Murphy steps aside and the two take her place at the podium. Jasper stands just behind Miguel, his face carefully neutral. Kai can make out that the kid is still slightly green after seeing it earlier. He doubts anyone else picks up on it though. He hopes he doesn’t get sick on stage.

What catches his attention most, and likely everyone else’s, is the collar still tightly fastened around his neck. He’d changed his shirt since Kai saw him, now wearing what could be scrubs—or a prisoner’s top—with a v-neck that puts the collar on prominent display. The brazen showcase makes Kai nauseous. It doesn’t sit well with him, no matter what Jasper has done.

He watches the kid's Adam's apple bob against it in anxiety. Kai’s skin prickles as he remembers how badly the electricity hurt him, second hand. He wonders how often they use it.

“Hello,” Miguel says, loudly, firmly, in an attempt to settle the whispers still rippling through the auditorium. He’s not nearly as effective as the Director, but it does quiet some.

“Thank you for allowing us to present this project to you today. Jasper has been working with us for about six months, and we can report only positive results from this venture. He’s used his technopath abilities to improve our equipment and assist on over two dozen missions, most notably with data recovery from the Blitz Family Warehouse reconnaissance mission down at the Wharf last month. Most importantly, as Jasper is the son of old school villain Nero and protege of Psychosis, Jasper has supplied us with invaluable intelligence from within the crime empires these two are orchestrating.”

Kai raises an eyebrow. He knew Tinker was trained by Psychosis, which was intimidating enough, but the kid is also Nero’s son? Nero had essentially been an untouchable keystone in one of the largest syndicates in Hyperion for like 25 years.

No wonder they wanted to keep him close.

“Jasper has restricted, supervised access to technology and his powers. His movement is also restricted and his location is tracked. Jasper has performed very well within these safety precautions and has been a very useful tool in our belt. We believe with properly tailored boundaries and effort made on both sides, this program is replicable with other villains.”

So, you’re just not going to mention the fucking shock collar? Kai scoffs quietly.

He’s sure the only reason Jasper hasn’t wreaked havoc on the whole tower is they’ve been electrocuting him. Miguel is just peacocking; putting lipstick on the pig that, knowing him, he probably staked his whole career on. He’s been trying to move up the ranks for years.

He watches Miguel bring Jasper forward with what could be a supportive hand on his back, but looks to Kai more like a possessive grip on the back of his neck. Miguel opens the floor to questions, giving non-answers and continuing to speak about Jasper as if he wasn’t there. Jasper stands quietly, entirely stoic through even some of the crueler questions and discussion of his crimes and background. One question does get Kai’s attention though.

“How did this idea come about?”

Miguel stiffens a bit. “We arrested Jasper in the field, and it was my idea to work with him rather than just shuffle him off to prison.”

Kai just barely catches Jasper’s face twitch. He recalls Jasper saying he came to the heroes. He sort of hates that he feels more inclined to believe the villain over the hero.

Then someone finally has the guts to ask about the collar. This time Jasper's response, another twitch like he's holding back a grimace, is more noticeable.

“It's simply a tracking device, fashioned this way to minimize Jasper's opportunities to tamper with it, given that he is technologically inclined.”

Kai nearly jumps out of his seat at that. There's no way he just lied like that. He wouldn't be surprised if a collar like that could kill someone without an affinity for electricity, and Miguel wants to pretend it's just a tracking device?

If he wasn't sure there was something wrong with the whole scenario before, he certainly is now.

Listening to Miguel drone on for the next ten minutes just pisses Kai off more and more. It’s a good thing the presentation was the last order of business. Much longer, and the cups of coffee and water bottles around him would’ve started boiling and bursting as his emotions fueled his powers. Kai’s one of the first people out the door, slamming it open as hard as he can and storming some ways down the hall.

~~~

Kai wants so badly to label Tinker as a villain who should be in prison. He wants to fall back on the comfort of a black and white world that’s been drilled into him by his League training, and not think about the image of the shaking and whimpering villain on the floor just an hour ago. But the whole spectacle made Kai a little queasy; now, he can’t blame Jasper for puking his guts out. And the way Miguel so clearly sees him as a tool, a means to an end to advance his career makes Kai see red. Partly on Jasper’s behalf, partly out of his hatred of Miguel and the politics of the League, and partly out of frustration with himself for caring about, worrying about the infuriating villain.

Kai couldn’t remember ever hearing him speak when they fought—his mask, which covered the lower half of his face, didn’t really allow for it he supposed—but he always got the feeling the kid was laughing at him. That, combined with the way Kai’s powers could actually make Jasper stronger, his electricity more powerful, and how damn fast he was without that even being his power, made every fight so annoying that he’d complain about it till Elijah got sick of it and told him to move on.

Speak of the devil, he hears his partner jogging up behind him as he angrily paces. He stops, forcing himself to let out a long, frustrated sigh as he leans against the wall of the hallway he’d found himself in. Elijah leans against the wall next to him.

“Sooo, I had to set my coffee down during Miguel’s speech because it was getting hotter. Which, y’know, isn’t how that usually works. Wanna talk about it?”

Kai huffs out a light laugh in spite of himself. His boyfriend definitely knows him well.

“Sorry. It was just—well, you know how I feel about Miguel in the first place,” he begins.

Elijah purses his lips. “Mhmm,” he hummed. He’s been hearing about how Kai felt about Miguel since they were in sidekick training together.

“Well, so, I was in one of the bathrooms before the meeting and somebody was throwing up in there, and it was Jasper. Well, before I knew his name was Jasper. I thought, y’know, fucking villain in the Heroes League! And, uh, remind me to tell Mari I burst some more pipes, please,” Kai rambles.

Elijah chuckled. “Will do.”

Kai runs his hands through his hair, putting the thick, dark curls up in a bun to give himself something to do as he speaks. “But, yeah, Jasper told me he was on Miguel’s team, and I went with him to check it out. Halfway there, he just fucking collapsed, twitching and shaking in pain. He was being electrocuted! That wasn't a damn tracker, it was a fucking shock collar!” he exclaims.

“Oh shit,” his partner murmurs. “Miguel lied?”

Kai shakes his head in anger. “Yeah, big surprise. It’s definitely a shock collar, and he’s petrified of it, and they definitely use it. The shock I saw was apparently just a warning.”

“I mean, while I don’t agree with the method, maybe it's a rare thing? They thought he was running away while he was in the bathroom? If he’s confined to their level, I can’t imagine they’d have reason to use it much. Tinker never struck me as the kind to rock the boat with that kind of threat hanging over his head.”

Kai shakes his head again, though he knows Elijah could very well be right. And Tinker is a villain. He’s definitely done bad things.

“I don’t know. I know I shouldn’t care; it’s great that we’re getting intelligence on Nero and Psychosis. And whatever is going on with the “project,” it’s probably better than prison. But I don’t know, something about it is really bugging me. I keep picturing him shaking on the floor,” he finishes quietly, some of the anger ebbing from his body in the calming presence of his partner, only to be replaced by worry—which is almost worse.

Kai tries desperately to find a way to better explain himself, the knot in his stomach that was growing bigger and bigger the more he thought about the kid.

“It’s also just, the whole spectacle, putting him on display and talking about him like he wasn’t even there. He’s obviously just a political pawn for Miguel.”

“Yeah, I picked up on that. It was pretty gross.”

Kai nods. “I don’t know; it pisses me off because I feel bad for him, but he’s a villain, so I shouldn’t, but I definitely do and—ugh.” He runs his hands across his face only to slide them into his hair and tug, totally overwhelmed with the conflict twisting his stomach.

Elijah takes the pause in his rambling to step in front of him and gently pull his hands from his scalp. His thumbs rub soothing little circles across them, as he says, “Hey, first of all, it’s okay to feel whatever you’re feeling. You saw someone in pain, and that felt bad, and that’s a good thing. If it’ll make you feel better, maybe we can find a way to visit him. Just to check in? That team asks for extra manpower all the time. They’re hardly balanced.”

“Yeah, okay, that sounds good.”

Kai sighs dramatically, “Damn moral compass.”

Elijah laughs. “Oh, yeah, you poor thing, you have compassion for other human beings.”

The teasing finally pulls an involuntary smile from Kai, and he gently takes Elijah’s chin for a chaste kiss that’s all goofy grins.

“Thanks, Eli.”

“Anytime,” Elijah says, leaning in for another kiss.

Suddenly there’s a loud groan he’d recognize anywhere from down the hall. Kai reluctantly, a little self-consciously, turns his attention to his team coming down the hall—the other three members having finally tracked the two lovebirds down. The groan definitely came from Isla, the young ginger pyromaniac of the team.

Elijah’s not having it though and pulls Kai back with a soft hand on his cheek.

This time it’s Lizzy’s turn to complain, loudly. “Get a fucking room!”

Kai breaks the kiss to laugh at that, and Elijah gives up. He turns to the team, pouting, “Y’all never let me have any fun.”

He chuckles, but still rubs Elijah’s arm in a simple apology, wordlessly promising to make up for it later. He lets himself be pulled into carefree conversation with his team, doing his best to ignore the knot still settled in his stomach, and the image of Jasper convulsing on the floor still imprinted in his brain.

~~~

I can now show y’all funny little bit of speed brain dump that manifested his and elijah’s dynamic

Kai is not fuckin happy to have a villain in the hero building

Kai witnesses some of the abuse

Kai: Elijah (boyf) help I'm not used to being conflicted like this what is happening to me

Elijah: it's called empathy babe.

Kai: WELL I DONT LIKE IT

Bonus scene w/ Kai’s team and Mira: “Did you have to burst the pipes again, Kai?” “Well, I wasn’t gonna use the fuckin’ toilet water.” “What’s the difference?” “Yuck, you used the sewage water, Kai?” “I know which pipes are clean assholes!” *giggling* “Goddamn, how many times have you burst the bathroom pipes that you just know which ones are clean?” *angry waterboy grumbling*

~~~

tags!! hello friends!! lmk if you wanna be added or removed!!

@whumpsday @sergeant-jasper @watermelons-dont-grow-on-trees @crystalrose141 @aloafofbreadwithanxiety

@paingoes @elizaisnotokay @quaggasus @defire @tonystark604

@writereleaserepeat @whump-queen @clickerflight @gliittergelpens @kawaii-cakes

@whump-in-a-million @scoundrelwithboba @idkwhattodowiththisaltiamsorry @vampiresprite

[transacewithapan]

You wouldn't believe this, but...

I have more SolarBalls playlists :0

They're still being updated, sorry if some are short

SUN

MERCURY

VENUS

MARS

JUPITER

URANUS

PLANET X

Part 1 - EARTH

Part 2 - LUNA, NEPTUNE, SATURN

Part 3 - You're already here :)

Part 4 - Galilean Moons, Titan, Triton

Part 5 - Dwarf Planets

Part 6 - AstroDude + A Bunch of Moons

Part 7 - Hyperion & Moons of Uranus

Part 8 - Moons of Neptune

[blue--ingenue]

Masterlist

Link to my ao3

Scorbus Playlist

Scorbus

One Fell First, And One Fell Harder: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3 Dear Soulmate Year 5 Cast Details I Love [Part 1] Proposal Headcanon Halloween Headcanons "As You're Told"

Albus Potter

- Headcannons Part 1 -Anger Headcanons [Part 1]

Scorpius Malfoy

Hyperion Headcannon Kindness "Little Star" "Carve" Autistic!Scorpius Headcanons Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 Slytherin Traits

Sebastian Sallow

- “Evasive Maneuvers” Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8 - “My Hero” - (request) "Repentance" - soft!Sebastian headcannons part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8 - Angsty Sebastian Headcannons part 1 -Sebastian Sallow Christmas Headcannons

Ominis Gaunt

- headcannons {pt. 1}, {pt. 2}, {pt.3}, {pt.4} - Ominis' Son

Hogwarts Legacy Headcannons

pov: morning classes at hogwarts

Red, White, and Royal Blue

"I Will Love You Until My Dying Day" (Moulin Rouge! AU) "The World Watched, and History Waited"

The King's Man

"For King and Country"

[mugman64]

Percy Jackson Headcanons Pt.2

(Some of these tie into the first part)

-Powers

The gods adapt to modern day but only partially, they reflect the way their domains were in ancient Greece or Rome more than how they are now. Their children on the other hand have adapted. Poseidon remains the god of the old sea, the unexplored, the terrifying depths that few would dare to enter.

Percy is the son of a much newer sea, one that has been home to all manners of beings. Millenia of people coexisting and traveling the ocean has given it some newer powers. When Percy needs help and does not have the energy to raise a storm he can sing, the songs of pirates, of sailors, he can funnel the lives of all those who lived and died by the sea into magic. A magic that belongs to the sea, that has become one with the sea. Some even rumor that the Princess Andromeda was pursued by the ghost ship herself, The Flying Dutchman, the seas wrath wrought upon it by Percy’s hand.

Clarisse has a similar power. The Spartans her father swears by never did get much into things outside battle. But as times changed so did war. During capture the flag when all seems lost its been said that the songs of marches seems to emanate from the children of war, empowering their allies. When they are beat down and tired, they die with their backs strong, a distant chant of "a Hell of a way to die" blowing in the wind. And when Silena Beauregard perished the battlefield fell silent as a memorial for a fallen friend rang through the air.

-Appearance

Most demigods use the mist to hide their blemishes. Percy is no different, he hides his scars, some from monsters, some from accidents, and some from Gabe. But the biggest thing he hides is his skin. Percy has fought many gods, titans, immortals, you name it. They have left their mark on him. When Percy defeated Hyperion the golden ichor that fell from his wounds never washed away, when he fought more titans in the pit it added to it. His body has always been an amalgamation of scars and tattoos, now it has splashes of the golden blood of immortals and the green blood of the more powerful monsters he killed thrown in the mix.

Him and Annabeth have theorized why it only happens to him and struggled to find an answer. It was only after Thanatos informs them that he understands. The fates wanted to remind the gods that they aren’t infallible. How better to do it than to mark their savior, the most pertinent demigod of all, with the blood of the immortals he’s beaten on the quest to save them. After all it isn’t only titans whom Percy has made bleed

-Vendetta

Percy frequently had to fend off fights from gods before the war. Every other week it’s either Ares or Athena wanting a fight. At least Artemis stopped after he hit her with his car and Dionysius after he broke his knees with a brick thrown at Mach 1. But these two are so persistent it doesn’t matter if it’s knives, swords, spears, fists. He even beat Athena with a waffle iron once. They just never seem to give up. It doesn’t help that Phobos,Deimos,and Enyo seem insistent on fighting him too.

-Trauma

(t/w: suicidal thoughts, Substance Abuse, and Self Harm mentioned )

After the second Titan War Percy and Clarisse where fast on the track to self-destruction. It all came to a head when they encountered each other in their old bunker, hidden deep in the woods. It was a place where they would hang out and have fun with Beckendorf, Silena, and Lee. All of them gone. Percy saw Clarrise holding a bottle of malt liquor, he himself had just felt a bullet break against the impenetrable skin of his temple, the only way to feel. They saw each other and made a pact to keep each other alive, to confide in each other and help each other until eventually they got past self inflicted wounds and survivors guilt. Both of them were supposed to be generals, supposed to be strong. So they were weak as friends, in private, until they became strong. Many think that only Annabeth or Chris could help them through an episode, but when it’s really bad it’s Percy or Clarrise coming to help the other.

-Parenting/Family

Annabeth is the full blown mama bear in the mortal world, she's at every parent teacher conference, every open school night, holiday parties, EVERYTHING. Gods help the school that tries to shun her kid for having ADHD and dyslexia, she will rain hell on them. She makes sure to listen to her kids side of the story before making up her mind.

Percy on the other hand is pretty laid back, until the Greek side of the family gets involved then all hell breaks loose. No child of his is going a quest before they're fourteen, thank you very much. Aphrodite needs to find her hairbrush for the 12th time this decade? She can go hook up with some actor and make a kid to do it for her, his child won't be risking their life for a fucking hairbrush.

Thalia, Piper, and Reyna are all in equal competition for the cool aunt title. It’s a much less intense competition than the vine riddled flaming skeletal mess that is Grover, Nico, and Leo’s competition to be the favorite uncle. (In reality Frank and Hazel have already claimed the titles)

Grandma Sally is a favorite of all the kids, and both Annabeth and Percy find family dinner where Athena glares at Poseidon from across the table very amusing.

-Protectiveness

Percy has always had a “me and mine” mentality. That is to say he’s fiercely protective of his friends and himself. That is why he fought in the wars. That is why he mouths off to the Olympians. Everything he does is to protect his friends and family, not the gods who sit and watch, but his siblings who fight next to him, who he protects with each battle.

His rage during the Battle of Manhattan was equally about his sorrow for losing members of his family as it was about protecting Annabeth. Even to this day demigod veterans remember his anger when he found that the enemy rolled a Panzer tank through HIS PEOPLE into HIS CITY. -Safehouse

Sally has an open door policy to all demigods. If you’re on a quest and you need a safe place to sleep or a meal you’re welcome to stay. Even the Hunters have taken advantage of such a boon. Not once had there ever been a monster attack on the apartment.

A couple people have theorized on how this works and the best answer is Percy is so terrifying to the monsters that know to stay away from his mother. And they’d be partially right, but Sally Jackson knows better. Because she’s the one who put the shotgun with celestial bronze ammo next to the door. Percy got his protectiveness from somewhere, and it wasn’t the God of the Seas.

[dragondroid]

Replaying Borderlands 2 for the first time since middle school, and one thing that really sticks out to me is how progressive and ahead of its time the writing is, especially for a shooter from 2012 aimed at teenagers.

It takes place in a setting where being queer is just considered a normal part of life. One of the player characters is bisexual (which seems to be the norm for the setting), one of them is ace, and nobody makes any jokes at the expense of their sexuality. One of the main story NPCs is a sex worker, and it's never treated like an invalid line of work. There's a fat character who likes her body and is never condemned by the narrative for this; in fact, her dialogue and backstory make it clear that she's consciously defying conventional beauty standards and is much happier for it.

And as for the main villain, Handsome Jack, he is a chillingly accurate portrayal of an abusive parent; as a victim of emotional abuse in my childhood, his constant justification and blame-shifting felt all too familiar. Not to mention that his corporation, Hyperion, is explicitly colonialist, with his goal being "civilizing" the "savages" of the planet.

Even the side content has a lot of great stuff- there's a character with a stutter who's portrayed as competent and intelligent, a sidequest that deals with the gatekeeping and infantilizing women face in a lot of nerd spaces, and even a major story arc dealing with the effects of grief.

Obviously, the writing isn't perfect. There's a lot of dated 2012-era humor, but it still treats its characters with respect and its story's serious moments are given room to hit hard. It never cracks a joke in a moment meant to be serious, which is a problem later games in the series definitely have.

[a-study-in-spacey]

Hyperion ==> Look up

Panel edit! I’m not the biggest homestuck 2 fan, but the recent panels have been really good and got me inspired. This edit is based off of a herostuck roleplay I’m a part of that’s been really fun. Eridan is a hero known as Hyperion (or is he?), Roxy is a hero known as Felicity, and Jake is a paramedic doing his best. It’s great and there’s so much fun stuff planned.

[phenikas]

Hyperion Propaganda - Borderlands 2, Borderlands The Pre-Sequel and Tales from the Borderlands

Part 1

[deconstructivesurgery]

I'm on my like tri-monthly random Borderlands fixation tirade tonight, and one of the things I've really got kicking around in my head at the moment isn't a character- but rather, Helios station in its entirety.

A corporate satellite hub orbiting the moon of a major planet, the size of a city or larger- shaped like an H, the pinnacle of egotistical, over-the-top design. Too *good* to grace Elpis or Pandora's surface, keeping a cool professional distance from everything and everyone below it. Allowing the people on-board to monitor the lives of those below on both sides, and to oversee all of Hyperion's endeavors from a distance. Built to give Hyperion express access via moonshot to anything that falls within its Eye's field of vision. If the Eye can see it, Hyperion can send people to it- or annihilate it from a thousand miles away in space.

Hyperion does surveillance really well. It's not something they ever really emphasize throughout the series, to my awareness, but it's fascinating. The first major time we're introduced to the concept of an ECHOeye connected to a Hyperion database, it's through Rhys- a character who can use his eye to see all the bizarrely specific information Hyperion's database has held over the years. Hyperion knows the names, faces, and life details of a stunning amount of people, when you really think about it. (I know this is just because the ECHOeye thing is a fun info-gathering mechanic in Tales, but hey- if I think it's fun to assign it narrative meaning, I'm gonna do it.)

But that's a bit of a tangent. Asides from being an enormous eye in the sky and Hyperion's very own hand of God as far as terrestrial punishment is concerned, it's also fascinating on an internal level.

It's design allows for so many fascinating choices. It isn't a company building alone, it's a city with a PA system. There are rooms you walk into in the lines of the 'H' that are so tall vertically that the endless expanse above you as you walk almost registers to you as the sky. Lines of vegetation- fake or not is anyone's guess- and paved paths make regular hallways feel like courtyards. There are countless windows that face the night sky, and some of them have been given a holographic sheen that makes them resemble a blue sky. People don't commute from Helios to the celestial bodies below on either side- they live here, work here, buy here, and more. There are commercial centers, office districts, laboratories, and more. A person could spend their entire career- hell, their entire life up there, cloistered away from the unruly truth of life on the ground, inventing weapons to fuel the fire of constant conflict outside their company doors. It's fascinatingly huge and terrible, and I wish we'd gotten more time to explore its insides and find out more about what life on Helios really looked like for Hyperion employees.

What we do get that I love is the vaguely haunting (or maybe I'm just way too sentimental) experience of watching Helios rise and fall over the course of a few games. Chronologically, we look up at the sky in TPS and see the half-built skeleton of Helios' limbs, still spindly and unfinished, rattle as the station rains hell onto the moon below. We see it again, finished and pristine in 2- a constant presence on the horizon far above us, completely untouchable from where we stand. Even when we explore it in TPS, Helios feels mostly untouchable. We have to stop the people on it, we know- but we never get the sense that the station itself is fallible or will somehow beget its own destruction. It's as much a part of the Pandoran solar system as anything else.

And then Tales From The Borderlands hits after Jack's death, as we visit what remains of Hyperion in Jack's absence- still putting along in the corporate world despite their retreat from Pandora's surface proper. Nothing's changed much. Nothing does change much, until the Jack AI begets the place's destruction.

Only in that first sequence of TFTBL's Chapter 5 (such an amazing musical sequence, imo, still- I've always loved it) does our perception of Helios as a fixed point in space ever get challenged. Watching it peel up at the corners and spout rubble into Pandora's atmosphere- drawn by the planet's heavier gravity to fall endlessly away from the moon- was enough to make me feel mildly dizzy the first time I saw it. As a pathetically tiny number of safety shuttles make their way away from the collapsing body of a city-satellite down to uncertain fates, we're reminded once again that Helios is an entire city and then some- supporting how many people exactly, who are now being violently spat out into the void of space, or worse, carried down to earth in a flaming wreck? Suddenly this impossibly huge display of corporate self-sufficiency, this giant throne they built in the sky from which to survey the world beneath, seems like a fatally hubristic project. They're not above the violence, chaos, and uncertainty of the world below anymore.

And when all is said and done, its skeleton sits there like a monument to the downfall of an entire corporation- carried to the grave by one man's foiled plans and replaced by a dozen other hungry mouths vying to profit off of intercorporate wars and upheaval. You look up at the moon, or down at Pandora, and feel ever so slightly wrong- like there's a star on the horizon now missing.

In a game series that doesn't often take itself seriously for long enough to deliver meaningful world-altering change as a result of past actions (in a way that isn't hideously underplayed or broken up by irony or a lack of care), Helios is a really subtle major world alteration that means a lot to me. It's a whole corporation we've come to know and despise taken out of orbit for the last time. There's no magical Helios 2. We never see a character turn around and try and make light of the situation with some shitty action-movie quip, or a joke about how 'that could've gone better'. There's just a flaming pile of rubble on the ground where thousands of Hyperion employees died on impact, and the knowledge that the Borderlands corporate sphere has been permanently refaced.

I wish we'd seen more visible change in the world throughout the games like that. It would have been a lot of fun. It's the little things- like a familiar location permanently destroyed, or a character we love dying in a way that actually begets grief and meaningful introspection (rather than just a wuh-oh, they're gone now, what's the next plot point again?) that could have really made the story of these games have a bit more punch. Because it's my opinion that when Borderlands actually *tries* to hit hard, they don't miss quite as often.

[kisavatore]

Goth/Alt cc finds part 8-Hair [Part 3]

Generated (ReColor) PT.2 | Zavia Hair Lara Hair | Raven Hair | Rin Hair Quella Hair | Seoul Hair | Noella Hair | Shaleigh Hair | Ethereal Hair JavaSims-Generated (ReColor) PT.1 | Komori Hair | Lollipop Hair Alina Hair | Lukita Hair | Meg Hair | Ellen Hair | Lotus Hair | Viki Hair Blue Orion | Endless Hair | Holo Hair | Torch Hair | Namae Hair | Yuki Hair Peony Hair | Laura Hair | Larsson Hair | Pamela Hair | Hyperion Hair Mantis Hair | Lux Hair | Camille Hair | Phoebe Hair | Lisa Hair | Evelyn Hair Lioness Hair | Pumpkin Hair | Alyssum Hair | Abeni Twist | Oni Hair Camila Hair | Danica Hair | Deimos Hair | Randi Hair | Agnes Hair v.2 Rainbow Hair | Winslow Hair v.1-4 | Seaholly Hair | Sainted Hair Pack All Eyes On Me Hair | Maki Hair | Mona Hair | Alichia Hair | Talia Hair | Donna Hair Maia Hair

PT.1 | PT.6 [Hair PT.1] | PT.7 [Hair PT.2]

[oathofkaslana]

hi3 hot takes are like. 1. common opinion 2. the most luke-warm criticism but like. said in a mean way. 3. opinion from someone with little media literacy skills.

i dont think i have any hi3 hot takes actually.

[transacewithapan]

A new hyperfixation...

Sooooo, anyone like Solarballs?

Would anyone like a playlist specifically about Earth?

I plan on doing more of these. Let me know how I did :)

Earth is my favorite character which is why I made a playlist about him first

Part 1 - You're already here :)

Part 2 - Luna, Neptune, Saturn

Part 3 - Main Planets + Planet Nine

Part 4 - Galilean Moons, Titan, Triton

Part 5 - Dwarf Planets

Part 6 - AstroDude + A Bunch of Moons

Part 7 - Hyperion & Moons of Uranus

Part 8 - Moons of Neptune

[gaymars97]

Holy shit i just remembered i never introduced tumblr to Betrayal au im gonna change that

So basically, in betrayal au, Maya doesn’t meet the raiders till much later. Before that happens, she also experiences way more betrayal trauma, assassination/murder attempts and overall discrimination than in canon. In fact, pretty much all she lived from interactions with other people ended up being negative, or at best, neutral, either on the short or long run.

So naturally, instead of being open to form new relationships, she starts to distance herself from others. (Cauz yk. Who would want to try to socialize again after over 27 years of perpetual negativity from people? You try keeping your cool after that) By the time she finally meets the raiders, things are different than in canon…

That was the short version. Long version is under the cut

(I shall post a part 2 on bl3 BAU cauz theres a few important things to say about her and if i cram it in here the post will just be. Interminable.)

When she gets on Pandora, instead of directly joining the raiders, Maya is instead approached by a different group of so called « vault hunters » who offer her to work together to open the vault.

As time passes and she gets to know her teammates, even though the betrayal from the order of the impending storm still deeply affects her emotionally, she learns to trust and care for those new friends.

(For reference, the impending storm plot twist™️ also happens earlier, so she also gets to pandora sooner)

Well surprise! Turns out this was a trap too! The « vh » team lured her into trusting them so they could get their hands on a siren, after all. Plan devised by a commander in Hyperion, fyi.

In an act of self defense, she had to kill the very people she thought she could trust. Once again, it wasn’t her who was welcomed with open arms in a family. This whole time, all they cared about were her powers.

Now, this had happened twice, and this time, she nearly died. A part of her did die that day.

Every time she trusted people, it was used against her.

And how about the strangers she had met so far, well, in her life? Either avoided her, visibly feared her or tried to kill her. At best, they just went on to live their day.

So, she started to believe that maybe she was doomed to be left behind every time she tried to follow others. To get hurt every time she showed vulnerability. To be hunted. Feared. Hated.

And can you blame her?

I mean, after all, when was the last time people genuinely cared about her?

…

Did that ever happen in the first place?

So, as Pandora just seems to keep proving her fears are justified, she learns to become distant.

After making the same mistake twice, she wasn’t going to let people deceive her again. Now she knew that if she wanted to reach her goal to learn about sirens, it wasn’t by entrusting others with her help.

At some point, the crimson raiders offer to team up. But she won’t let her guard down so easily now. She refuses. I mean, what’s stopping them to just take all the info they need from her hands once they don’t need her help anymore?

So, led by nothing but bits of info and a mysterious voice in her head (As much as she’s real hesitant to follow the advice of the so called « ai » talking to her somehow, she’s the best lead she’s got.), she leads a one woman hunt for the vault key.

But things don’t go exactly as planned (as always). The moment she’s finally close to get the thing, guess who shows up? That’s right! The crimson fucking raiders, and they want the key too!

Lilith confronts her. She gives her another chance to work together, but Maya just can’t take that kind of risk a third time. So, siren fight ensues, and things seem to be going well, until Lilith decides enough is enough and uses eridium. However, instead of killing the fellow siren, she knocks her out and gets her to sanctuary.

Held captive by the raiders (You can thank Lilith for that btw. Homegirl can’t get herself to kill a fellow siren just yet) a deal is eventually made (working with other people may be the last thing she’d do under normal circumstances, but she has no choice. They caught her.)

So against her own will, she learns to know the people she works with, thinking that after the key is acquired, she’s just get the info she needs and then fuck off. But once again. Didn’t go as planned. These guys are way more loveable than expected-

Goddamn it.

She has one hell of a crisis when she realizes that not only she’s feeling herself starting to care about those people, but that this odd feeling she has whenever she’s with the odd one who screams about meat might be romantic attraction. (And it is)

It takes time, but the raiders eventually prove to her that this time, it’s mutual. Things get better after that 💜

(She’s still more of a bastard than canon tho. All this time of the intimidating distant facade taught her how nice it feels to be a lil mean. As a treat)

Another noticeable trait is the massive scar she has on her face. It was inflicted by one of the members of the fake vh team the day of the betrayal (it still brings a load of bad memories and she hates it) I shall post how the scar looks pretty soon.

(Other note, i would like to thank @rando-lesbo210 because her Fallen Heirs au is what inspired the creation of Betrayal au)