#i genuinely did not think he would die

[welcometogrouchland]

Disgustingly messy and crusty sketch dump but I couldn't get my own terrible theory out of my head and ended up making a bunch of sketches about it. Also at the end a bonus dickbats and Damian doodle bc I was reading an issue of their Batman and Robin run (IDs in Alt)

[dykedvonte]

I think a big misunderstanding is the power people give Curly to actually change things about the way the pony express operates or could’ve done things on the Tulpar.

We are talking about a company that docks pay for bad synergy despite mandated psych evals that should tell which staff members would work well together, only allots for 5 hours of sleep despite having literally no other tasks to truly do and locks all resources behind the access of one person. The last one is likely to manage resources and make it easier to justify collective punishment and blaming one person for it; someone needs something in “excess” or the captain gives in? It’s all on them your pay is docked. Instant resentment.

It’s insidious how the company works, it’s by design to distract you from coming after them, to force tensions to line their own pockets. With all the restrictions and forced interactions, altercations are bound to happen. 5 hours of sleep a day, limited sources of entertainment, no real tasks… the monotony alone would cause bad cabin fever, mix that with just only one absolute mediator and you get the exact environment that allows shit like in the game to happen.

The idea he could just complain and try to throw his weight around to get them to dig into their pocket for the crews comfort is laughable and misses the predatory and dehumanizing aspect of capitalism the Pony Express represents. Curly was and is still just another asset to them. Being a top show pony doesn’t mean he’s anywhere close to the actual top. He is the top of the working ladder, not whoever’s in corporate, he wouldn’t even be on the bottom step unlike what Jimmy perceives. The resounding recommendations he would get are almost mocking as they throw him out like nothing just like the rest. Being a shitty fucking company, how much do you bet they’d mean anything anyways, especially since he wanted to leave the field all together.

He made a fuss and they didn’t listen, he says he should’ve done more but you can tell he knows it wouldn’t have changed anything. Jobs like this are willing to make a sacrifice if it means even a penny more. Curly makes a bigger fuss they likely would’ve just found an “unrelated” reason to fire him, hired a more pliable guy or, terrifyingly, promoted Jimmy. The company was failing, going to shut down whether anything happened on the ship or not. But knowing that they were shutting down and that everyone, including him, would be out of a job with this being their last paycheck, he had to factor in not destroying the last bit of their financial stabilities combined with every other issue on the vessel and his own. He gets another cryopod or locks and then he has to break to them that they are not only fired but there will be substantial cuts to their paychecks due to the “upgrades” (things that already should’ve been in place on their part) on top of anything else that could be docked along the way.

You can blame him for saying it so early into the trip but then again, if he mentioned it later who’s to say it wouldn’t have been worse? On the capitalism side alone how would people in a galaxy away from home, out of a job and already stir crazy react? Don’t get me started on how Jimmy would have reacted if he realized he only had two days left to fix what would be a very hard to miss “problem” in his head…

I can’t even consider explaining this as devils advocate because it’s just facts of the world we and they live in and factors that heavily affected the situation. People are just so quick to make claims on the ease of the choices when P.E literally makes it hard to choose to do anything but suck it up.

[doverstar]

actually I love Tentoo and he is the Doctor and it was the only ending for Rose that worked and it is a huge gift to be able to have the man she loves grow old with her, they were always heading for that, y'all be quiet. I 100% understand the angst but it's okay, they're okay, good ending-

[todayisafridaynight]

rate the outfit

[ask-itager]

A bit dark, but uh, what would happen if one of you died? How would the other react?

im not really the type to want to protect anyone but now if germany was in danger i would absolutely make sure he would survive instead of accidentally saving him with the pictonians. since if he dies that means hes leaving me!!!!!!!!!! D:

germanys honest reaction would be the blog banner lawl

[unma]

My theory is that you've had (or currently have) a big thing for roleplaying, perhaps directly related to your aptitudes as a writer.

I feel like someone just sniped me through a buncha buildings and windows and still hit a head shot. How could you tell? I haven't actively roleplayed in at least a couple of years—not because I don't want to, tbh, I would if I could actually get back into it again—so I'm surprised anyone could tell. I still have a bunch of my proudest rp posts saved (it was mostly crp), and I was into it for at least 3 years or so.

It's definitely related to my aptitude as a writer though. Having to respond so often to some of the most detailed crp posts where you would and often did get technicality'd into oblivion (and would do the same back) definitely made me care a lot about the details, and I'm not gonna lie I do still draw on that still when describing combat sometimes. Getting technicality'd into oblivion doesn't sound too fun, but I assure you it was (once you got used to it anyway), and that community was definitely my closest set of online friends for a good bit.

[enhanced-operatives-division]

Junicrane/Starstruck Ramble

I will not be brief, all under the cut

To clear some things right off the bat:

No corpse, no proof with Juniper. Obligatory this is set in a canon where he's alive and adjacent to the agency in some way.

Reggie & Juniper are just gay to me, but I don't mind any interpretation of their sexuality

The games are set in 1967/68 to me (based on a couple bits in game) which is before it was legal to be gay in America at least (1971), which is relevant to how I interpret canon as being somewhat grounded in reality, despite unrealistic elements.

This is just an insane amount of headcanons/elements of and AU all culminated into one post. I will talk about some headcanons like they're just facts because they are established in my head, and it saves me over explaining literally everything, however I will explain some parts a little bit for clarity.

Alright. Actual beginning of the ramble:

Juniper is a character to me who had gotten so lost in his job as an actor and a social presence that in the end his whole life revolved around that 'role'. Because of this, by the time he's put into the situation where he's around the Agency, he basically knows nothing about himself, though he doesn't realise at first. Furthermore, what little identity he had has changed in so many ways. He's no longer a beloved famous actor in the prominence of public light, he's legally dead and he tarnished his career just before he was supposed to die, with the bonus of that making him lose the majority of his estate. From that, he also has horrific facial scarring from the electrical burns from literally having his face fried. I believe a friend of mine made a post about this a while ago (I also think they were the first to think it up also), but, to me, Juniper has a permanent trimmer in his right arm (aka his dominant hand) from the electrical current and it is messing with his nervous system.

All in all, he's not doing great, but he's too proud to admit that he's not doing great, because if anything, what's left of his ego is all he has as a defense since he's deep in unfamiliar water.

Before ending up around the agency (I have multiple interpretations of this, so I'm just going to bring it up generally), he'd never actually seen Reggie, and his only impression of him is a single voicemail, which was his only reference he had to later impersonate him. Juniper probably has very little feelings other than the ones he projects onto him because of Phoenix and that, at the very least, he's physically attracted to Reggie to some degree (that's like the beginning of how everything else would tumble into place in this sort of interpretation at least).

And on Crane's side? His feelings towards Juniper are probably very intense and muddled. On the one hand, he adores musical theatre, and that's his now ex-favourite actor. The thought of just casually being around him blows the bit of fanboy in him away at first because THAT'S the GUY, plus the inklings of a celebrity crush which still poke at him. And then there's the rational side of him, which knows Juniper has committed absolute atrocities on the side of Zoraxis, and hates him for that. Then there's how much Juniper comes off as an asshole at first because he refuses to cooperate with anything the Agency tried to put in place. He finds Juniper endlessly frustrating, and yet he's stuck working with him since, afterall, he's the one who knows the Agency's history with Juniper the best. I imagine him acting a lot like how he does IEYTD 1 around Juniper.

At this point, I'm just describing the pitch for a romcom.

I think the start of their relationship with one another largely started with Juniper trying to wind Crane up. It was a way of getting his attention, and I don't think Juniper knows why he's so dead set on that at first, because I don't think he realises he has a crush on 'this grump' at first. (I think that's actually the fun part about these two, because it's almost like a role reversal of the celebrity crush dynamic. This ex-big name actor has a TERRIBLE crush on an average joe and it is KILLING HIM.) But of course the Agency keeps them together because Juniper is at least conversing with Crane, so it's a start.

Through one way or another, they actually get talking casually, at least mildly at first. It takes Juniper a long time to fully deconstruct the wall he's built, and the thing is, Crane isn't the one trying to deconstruct it, at least at first, because yeah, Juniper realises if he wants Reggie to actually like him in any way, he can't keep winding him up. So they talk. Small talk at first, something rhythmic and almost easy to keep to a script. And over time that turns into actual conversations. Genuine ones in which Reggie rips out the occasional one of his jokes which Juniper is endlessly endeared about. The way he smiles just before he makes them, like he wants to chuckle at what he's about to say before he says it. That's probably when Juniper realised that he does have some vague crush on him, and that it wasn't going away.

This is what kickstarts John I can't-buy-you-things-to-impress-you-so-acts-of-service-it-is Juniper to do little things for him. It mostly starts off as him trying to make Reggie his tea how he likes it. However, the nerve damage in his arm makes that hard, as the weight of the kettle and trying to pour is hard all of a sudden. And he refuses to accept that, so he tries for a very long while. Long enough that Crane would go to investigate what was going on. And when he does see Juniper leaning over a cup with the kettle as he uneasily tries to pour it, and when Crane asks Juniper responds so matter-of-fact that his intention is nothing but genuine. And it catches Reggie off guard because Juniper hadn't done anything like that up to that point, and his very apparent vulnerability is so clearly on show.

It shifts something between them.

From that point on, conversations are longer, more familiar. Both of their attitudes soften, and Reggie makes more jokes. Juniper learns how to better use his left hand while strengthening his right back to a point where it could be used again. Slowly, they're both spending time with one another not because they have to, but just because they can. Little bits at first, not too far outside what they already were doing, but those little bits turned into long bits to a point where the other person's company was genuinely desirable.

As time passes, Juniper probably realises that he doesn't genuinely know much about himself or what hobbies he's into, because he never really had the time when he got big, and his home life in his youth wasn't bad, but it wasn't picturesque. I think Reggie would pick up on it, and absolutely try to introduce him to some things he's into. Some things stick, other things don't (corn husking very much stays Reggie's passion, and John will go with him sometimes because it's him, but it's not something he strongly cares for). Crane introduces him to a lot of music, and it's something that becomes a staple between them, with tracks they listen to more than others (tragically, I know relatively little about 60s music so I couldn't really say what). Occasionally they dance, never anything intense, think slow dancing, but the closeness is nice.

Through all of it, Juniper is battling the worst crush of his life, and he can't stand it, because I think he struggles to read people since he doesn't have anything like a script or a director to refer back to, so he has no idea if Reggie likes him back or if he's just desperate for that to be true. I think because of that any sort of confession between them would be incredibly raw, not only because of the time they live in making it hard for them to be truthful about how they love, but because it's a complete show of Juniper who's worked to be this better person. I don't exactly know how that would go, mainly because I don't have one set version of their dynamic, this post is just a generalisation of main consistent points.

Reggie does like him back, because he's gotten used to Juniper being just this guy, not a figure in the public eye, not a Zoraxis lackey, and not any sort of Agency operative (despite being under their care to some degree). He's someone he genuinely cares for, because they've given one another the time of day to learn one another, and I think because Reggie was a field agent, he was a lot better at reading Juniper than Juniper was at reading him. Eventually Juniper's company becomes something he could see around him for the rest of his life, and I think he accepts that he likes Juniper a lot more gracefully.

I think any affection directed at Juniper would at first be met with him feeling a little muddled. Reggie was a very physically affectionate person when he could be, and sure the initial flirting with one another came with the occasional little touches, but everything now was so deeply intentional. I also don't think Juniper would almost ever get over the novelty of being able to kiss him, or many other gestures, because it made the fact that they were together so very real, and it was great. I do think it comes easier to Reggie, and it's a big way of showing how much he cares, so it's important for Juniper to try and show it back because he knows how much it means to the other.

I like the idea of them eventually living with one another, too. I think Juniper would have always had a quiet little daydream of sorts where he does just live a domestic quiet life, and he can with Reggie (well, as close as they can get between the Agency and Zoraxis always being at odds), and he loves that, and he loves him, and it's immense.

I think they cook for one another a lot, it helps Juniper work on his dexterity in a controlled environment, which means a lot because it's a huge point of insecurity (that and his scars). He does improve, and Crane is proud of that and shows it and it's great. I also think they'd probably cook together too, because they can deal with being in the kitchen together and they work well with one another. It's probably a good way for them to unwind because over time they can do it in relative silence.

As I said before, I also think music is a staple in their household, and that Reggie listens to things on vinyl almost all of the time because he likes the background noise. Sometimes Juniper will catch him chuntering along to the music which he finds endlessly endearing. I wouldn't put it past his dramatic ass to also join in to fluster Reggie, but I also don't think Reggie would mind that terribly because Juniper has listened to the music enough to know the lyrics, and that's huge to him.

I don't think they are without rough patches, no relationship is, but I think the good part about them is that they're willing to talk about it (... eventually). They're used to long conversations, and while they're often less fun conversations, they're needed and they know that, and it works out.

Alright. I think I'm done for now. I haven't mentioned everything, but this definitely got the worst of it out of my system. If you ever want to hear any specific thoughts my ask box is open but other than that, behold my general dynamic for these two which has been festering in my head for years. I think they're great

[vaguely-concerned]

I was just ambushed within the turbulent halls of my own mind by some headcanons about rye ingellvar's childhood that did 15000000 points of psychic damage to me and my heart personally and also made me almost sure of how I want to play it all at the end (very very differently from how I imagined going in!). some 'oh holy fuck this changes everything' rocking my own world bullshit going on in my neurons right now I'm reeling

[givemewallywestorgivemedeath]

Hi, im researching for a fic im writing, and i want to ask if you know whats up with Jai's messed up connection to the speedforce? and also how the fuck do they use the speedforce to get super strength? how does going fast translate into being strong? Do you know what issues to read to learn more about this? like why do Jai (& Jesse?) have super strength, how did they do this? Why did they do this?

So Jesse's strength is a very quick and easy answer so I'll address that first before jumping into Jai's whole thing.

Jesse's mom is Liberty Belle, a hero with super strength. Jesse inherited her father's speed and her mother's super strength. She's just... I don't want to say that she's better at being a speedster but high key she is. Jesse only figured out her super strength recently and it's still pretty touch and go. She used to only have the speed and then that fizzled out and she only had the strength for a bit and then it switched back to just speed again. She seems to have both powers now though and she seems to know how to use them both so fingers crossed 🤞

Jai is a whole different ballgame.

So Irey and Jai were born as fraternal twins. There were two things wrong when they were born.

A) Only Irey was born with a speedforce connection. Jai technically wasn't born with powers at all. Irey had wrapped her speedforce connection around Jai to share her powers but it was significantly damaging to both of them.

and

B) Their shared speedforce connection was tainted with Black Flash energy. (Negative Speedforce)

So let's talk about the Negative Speedforce energy. This is the stuff that turns speedsters into Black Flashes. This is what permanently killed Johnny Quick. One touch of this stuff will obliterate a speedster entirely. It's one of the only ways to permanently kill a speedster because it corrupts their speedforce energy in a way that cannot be undone. So there isn't anything left to bring back.

And this stuff was creeping through the twin's shared connection like a virus. That's what caused their fatal aging disease. Their speedforce connection was so out of wack and their bodies didn't know how to fight off this energy and their metabolisms went into overdrive. Aged them both to 100 within six months. Thankfully Wally figured it out and was able to absorb the Negative Speedforce energy. This cured the twins and deaging them down to five ish (but caused some serious problems for Wally).

Okay so back to point A. Their shared speedforce connection. Irey was sharing her powers with Jai subconsciously and that's why she couldn't run. She didn't have enough energy to. She could only vibrate through stuff. Jai also didn't have enough energy to run but he had other serious issues because he wasn't a speedster like Irey. His body wasn't built to handle that much energy.

As a result Jai had some weird stuff going on. Jai's main power was to hyper accelerate the growth of his muscles. This would give him temporary super strength. I say 'super strength' but realistically Jai on par with extreme weight lifters. He wasn't Superman levels of strong. But, again, Jai's body couldn't handle this so everytime he used his power he had about five minutes until he passed out. Then someone would have to feed him or he'd go into shock.

He also had some other strange things. Like his DNA mutating and devolving when he got stressed. Basically his DNA went 'back in time' and Jai shape shifted a bit. This wasn't something he could control and it was very very very bad.

Irey eventually took her half of the speedforce connection back, which cemented her connection and stopped them both from having seizures. Jai was not happy about no longer having powers. Even less happy about Irey being a child prodigy speedster. Although Irey shared her powers with Jai in emergencies (which gave them both superspeed because Irey had a stronger connection and more skill as she grew older), they couldn't do this without Jai being in extreme pain. Also his seizures coming back.

Now we need to talk about the speedforce surge. The speedforce surge is this insane amount of wild speedforce energy that has to go somewhere or it'll explode the world. It's an overload of energy. To explain the scale of this thing, it caused the mass extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs.

Wally tracked this dangerous surge down before it destroyed reality and he absorbed it until he could figure out what to do with it.

And...

Well he gave it to Jai.

Jai's speedforce connection is the surge. Jai operates on this untamable wild speedforce energy. So Jai now has A LOT of energy to work with but it doesn't really work the same way typical speedforce energy does. That's why he can't run. (yet at least. can't run yet)

Instead, the surge energy ramps up Jai's friction barrier, healing factor and his metabolism. That doesn't sound like much but hoLY FUCK it's op.

Every speedster has a friction barrier that they generate when they run. It stops their skin from melting off when they reach top speeds, the wind from tearing their bodies apart, bugs from hitting them with the force of bullets, their bones from shattering every time they take a step, ect, ect. Their friction barriers can only do so much (they act as a cushion, they don't make them invulnerable. They won't stop a bullet for example) and they only really work when the speedster is actively running.

Jai put all of his goddamn energy into his friction barrier. The child is literally invulnerable. I'm not even joking. And it's constant too, it doesn't switch off.

Jai's metabolism and his healing factor are why he has super strength. Simply put, Jai has a lot of energy. A LOT. And what doesn't go to his friction barrier, goes to his cells. His healing factor is also amped up and would take care of any muscle tears, fatigue, lactic acid build up, dead cells, ect almost instantaneously. What I'm saying here is that Jai's body is in perfect condition always and he has an unlimited amount of energy for his muscles to use.

Jai has super strength because he doesn't have limits. Jai turned Minecraft from Survival Mode to Creative Mode. He can extend any amount of force without any negative consequences on his body. He uses his strength to do his Thunder clap move which is canonically, at 8 years old, stronger than a Kryptonian's Thunder clap. It's confirmed that Jai is still figuring out how to channel the surge energy correctly, so he's not there yet, but one day he will be stronger than the Kryptonians.

Which is insane.

Honestly Wally is the embodiment of 'I will do anything for my children' because Jai was sad about not having powers so Wally gave him a dangerously unstable energy source (that's killed millions of people) that has the equivalent energy of two stars colliding. AT EIGHT. Wally gave a CHILD this unlimited unchecked power!!

Anyway, father of the goddamn year. I love that man. He would truly do anything for his children and now I'm pretty sure his son can't die so 10/10 decision.

[sysig]

Light would be the type of Sims player to make his Sim take the Criminal career and then actively make their home life a living hell

[lavellane]

act 1 solasmancer arc is sooooooo much sexier when headcanoning that they had their first kiss during the redcliffe nightmare future scenario. solas immediately dies and then lavellan returns to the present unable to be normal about him forever <3

[trashcanwithsprinkles]

I did read the recent chapter, sorry for the bad question- I was worried I might’ve been misreading or missing some of it- so (no spoilers!) I was hoping to go over it. Sorry, again. I didn’t phrase it very well, and one of the things I was questioning was like. Them bringing up how willing he was to go to the library, how he brought up drowning-

I wanted to check to see if my conclusion I reached with them thinking he was possibly suicidal was just. Me misreading it. Badly.

While the temptation to ask about their direct thoughts because I’m nosy is there- I had not intended it, or asking for spoilers. Once again I am sorry.

oh nonono no worries, you did nothing wrong, i was mostly just confused hahah your question does make sense with that in mind!

as for their thoughts then, with no spoilers, guizhong did have like a flash of a thought that he might be because y'know xiao did say the man offered to literally kill himself. but she was more like wait what? is he-? no. no that makes no sense, i've never gotten the vibes- but then again you never know, do you? and then xiao did say no, he didn't think he was. so ultimately neither came out that convo thinking zhongli was suicidal, but they DID take away that he's oddly apathetic about his mortality what with the library and the 'casual about his own drowning' situation. so like-

i wouldn't say they think he's suicidal? more like they're pretty sure he's not, but at the same time, if he isn't, then what the fuck is going on there like why is he so unbothered. so they're more like... confused, on how he treats his mortality like it's any other random topic

they're basically in shock about zhongli's 'when the door opens its time to leave' mentality lmao

as for the other things, on the childe situation none of them actually think he was married to the man, guizhong just said that as a joke. they're just wondering if it's possible he might've known him before, and maybe even liked him back then, too

and for qiqi, they've got no clue. xiao might know zhongli didn't know what a phone or a motorbike was called, and while that does raise some questions in his mind, zhongli did also say he was a machine tester and he does also not seem to (outwardly) struggle with any tech. so xiao (and the others) don't know that he's not from a modern reality, hence xiao thinking zhongli might've seen a photo of qiqi. i mean photos do exist in teyvat but y'know what i mean.

[raayllum]

me, remembering my old "amaya and viren have a lot of similarities, specifically in being both fiercely independent and willing to prioritize the world over their family" parallels post (circa august 2021), a latter facet that 5x08 goes out of its way to show callum being Not That

[look-at-the-stars-tonight]

i would like to stop experiencing the full spectrum of human emotions every day please. putting this out into the universe

[lloydfrontera]

i think it fucks immensely that bk moon went out of his way to 1) establish rakiel wished to live a long life and eventually pass away of old age, 2) have him very briefly envy an immortal being only to be told very clearly to be careful what he wishes for by that very same person because living forever isn't all it's cracked up to be, 3) make the main antagonist be another immortal being who is so desperate to die he's willing to destroy the universe just to finally rest and 4) have said antagonist psychologically torture rakiel with the threat of making him live for a thousand years as everyone he loves and knows eventually grows old and dies and becomes nothing but forgotten memories.

only to then end the novel by making rakiel also immortal

like. god. it's so fucking good i love it. i'm not being sarcastic i genuinely think it fucks and it's one of the best ways bk moon could've wrapped up the plot.

it's a happy ending by all means but it has consequences and through the entire novel we've been shown and told over and over again just how heavy the consequences are and/or will be on rakiel.

he got his happy ending but it was at a price and by the last time we see him he's only just starting to pay for it.

it's great i love it

[haunted-xander]

I'll bury myself with your suffering, if that's what it takes