#i should mention that most of the stories are planned to be at least functional as stand alones?

[tess-talks-inc]

On the Topic of Telemachus’s age:

First off preface lmao I’m a stranger on the internet if you want to see this and be like “I don’t care” more power to you this isn’t to condemn it’s more like my explanation? I guess? Of why Telemachus being represented as an adult is important to the context of the story and also to me.

Like obviously once again I acknowledge artistic interpretation, and Telemachus being young is important to the story as well and is part of the role he serves as a comparison to Odysseus, but like sometimes the way some artists draw him makes him look pre-pubescent and like… I understand what you’re doing, and honestly I respect it and I hope you are having fun, but I am holding your hands when I say that him being a young adult with that attitude is so so so important to his character and his relatability.

Adulthood isn’t something that magically appears one day, taking all of your dreams, immaturity, and weakness away. Telemachus embodies that- at twenty years old, he should be inheriting a portion of his father’s house and assisting in its running. He should, for all intents and purposes, have been a full and functional independent adult looking at purely his age. However, he is both literally and mentally stuck in limbo- his father is lost, so he cannot inherit in the case of his father’s death because Odysseus’ status is MIA, and internally he knows (literally mentioned book 1 of the odyssey and in Legendary) that if he reaches for that authority as an adult, the suitors will kill him. He doesn’t feel like he can, or that he is even on equal standing to the suitors as an adult man, he cannot see himself as one like they are, and it’s why he imagines his dad doing it instead. He wants to be saved, a childlike desire, even though he has advanced to a point where he himself can do something physically. That’s why, in the odyssey, Athena tells him explicitly that he can do something about the suitors, and lays out a plan for him. She says that he is no longer a child to his face, and the Telemacheia thus begins to be a coming of age story in which he matures, and later is registered as a threat of the suitors. He is a young adult yes, and he still has aspects of his young self (idealization of his father, daydreaming, him being quick to frustration), but him being an adult who realizes that he can do something and can understand the way he is childish is important and central to his character arc.

His arc is him growing into his skin, adulthood no longer being something that fits him like loose clothes and only a description of his physical state, but something that now is tailored to him, something that feels close to right.

Honestly, I think this aspect of him being an adult while still holding onto these aspects of childishness is where Legendary and We’ll be fine falls short in adapting his character. I understand why, because while he is introduced he is not the true central character of the Saga- it’s Athena and how he affects her, that’s what’s most important. Also, once again, he was just introduced. He’s not matured yet, but he’s realizing he needs to. I still love the songs and the saga, because it’s a good adaptation that poses interesting questions, but yeah. Telemachus is v clearly a young adult and that hasn’t translated over sound yet, which I think is why this whole age debacle is happening alongside the uwu-ifying of the man.

TLDR: Telemachus is a young adult and he acts like it due to his blend of childishness and slowly gained maturity. You can draw him and see him as a child if you want, have fun with it, but at least internally understand how his 20 years of age plays into his arc a of him maturing into manhood outside of your own interpretation of him :D

[nerdieforpedro]

Her smile was worth it

Pero Tovar (modern AU) x plus size female reader (La jefa)

Word Count: 1882

Warnings: DARK FIC, mobs and their enforcers, mentions of general violence and graphic violence, mentions and descriptions of torture, descriptions of injuries, solving problems Tovar style, comfort food and tea

Summary: Pero Tovar only has a few people he chooses to interact with willingly. The bookstore owner is one of them. Someone made a very stupid mistake, Tovar will handle it and still have his tea.

Notes: This was written for @iamasaddie ‘s writing challenge 2.0. My color was Mob Enforcer and the prompt was “Hurt/Comfort” and “Who did this to you?” We're longer than a Drabble again, we dribbled quite a bit. Such is Nerdie.

I may have leaned too hard into the ‘hurt portion’ but we’ll see. 👀

Main Masterlist/ Pero Tovar Masterlist/ Writing Challenges

The only good thing about doing collections, was that most of the time, Pero wasn’t using violence. Just intimidation. The shopkeepers knew why he was here and knew the amount they needed to pay to The Family. It’s been the same amount for the past six months, in was raised temporarily for some needed repairs on the club the Valentino family owned. The actual story was that a few of the younger members had been ordered to torture a few members of a rival family and went overboard. The walls, floors and everything needed to be scrubbed. 

Tovar’s been with the Valentino family for fifteen years and as one of their premier enforcers for the last seven working his way up from errand boy. His height and broad frame discourage crossing him, and even if someone is dumb enough to do so, they find themselves bloodied, battered and with at least one thing broken. 

Today’s last stop for collections was planned and one that Pero normally did by himself. The bookstore owner also functions as the town’s librarian since the town doesn’t have one. It’s a smaller town and to get to a library you must drive two towns over. She normally offers him tea and some type of baked goodies. He wouldn’t admit it, but he’s grown to have a slight sweet tooth. Maybe. Really, he could care less about the sweets, he usually chats up the owner and barrows books. Considering he is collecting money from her, he felt he should pay but she always said no. He got the sense it wasn’t out of fear, she liked knowing his thoughts on different books. At first, he didn’t like the idea of discussing them. The enforcer wasn’t sure if he could really talk about different themes, symbols, characters and the like he often heard people talk about when discussing these books. 

La jefa (the boss) as he often greeted her didn’t judge him on his answers or lack of them. He’d talk the best he could about what he read, even if he didn’t understand it all. She listens and sips her tea, then asks him questions to draw more answers out of him. It fustrated him at first. But he grew to enjoy the bi-weekly sit downs with her. 

The chime of the bell goes off as he opens the door. The sun is at Pero’s back as he enters the bookstore. He comes early in the afternoon around two. She’s not at the counter, though the shop is listed as open. Calling out for her, she doesn’t answer, and he sucks his teeth. It isn’t like her at all. There’s no tea out either. There are no books that appear out of place and making his way behind the counter, nothing appears to be wrong with the register.

The enforcer goes into the back of the shop, he only knew where the bathroom was back here. He was looking for anything that resembled an office, as he walked down the hallway, there was a sniffle. As he kept going, they got louder. Taking a breath while he stood in front of a door that was slightly ajar, he tried to prepare himself. Maybe it was a bad day, maybe she got a papercut or was reading a sad book or something. Tovar instantly knew none of those were the case when he opened the door. 

Sitting behind the desk, her shoulders were slumped, and her hands were covering her face. He saw the scabs on the back of her hands, defensive marks. “Jefa dejame ver. (Boss, let me have a look).” Her sniffles stop for a moment as she shakes her head, turning her body away from him in the swivel chair. His eyes widen at the mark on her neck he spies it when she turns, it looks like it could be from a palm. Moving to her side, Pero places a hand on her shoulder, “I need to see cariño (sweetheart) or just give me a name. Who did this to you?” She finally drops her hands, but she turns her face away.

“I don’t want you to see. The envelope is on the desk Pero. Please.”  It is on the table, and he’ll put it in his jacket shortly - it is why he came here in the first place, but he can’t just leave like this. On top of her being one of a small number of people who he wants to be around, it could get around that the protection money the shops pay isn’t worth a damn because you could get beat in your own shop, and nothing will happen to whoever did it.

“Then tell me a name.” It’s sterner this time, but he’s released her shoulder and instead picked up her hand, his thumb tracing the scabs on her knuckles. She’d tried to fight back at least. She’s biting her lips when she finally looks at him, most of the discoloration is on the left side of her face though there’s a cut on her chin and one on her bottom lip. A large bruise is on her chest across her right clavicle, partly covered by her shirt. Pero’s able to keep his face motionless. “Por favor cariño (please sweetheart).” He doesn’t recognize the name she says, but he kisses her forehead and wraps an arm around her. “Gracias (thank you). I’ll be back princesa (princess).” 

Pero puts the envelope in his jacket pocket and heads out of the office. “Close the shop now and have the tea ready when I come back. Between eight and nine tonight.” He’s going to be quick about dropping the money off and he’s texted one of his associates with the name she gave. Within fifteen minutes, Pero has a picture to go with the name and a location. Marcello talks way too much, but he’s the best Tovar knows at tracking people.

Pero finds this man himself and tells Marcello to tell the higher ups that he needs to demonstrate a lesson in messaging with the family. He’ll need the basement and he’ll keep the clean up to a minimum. It’s not that there wouldn’t be blood. There might be too much blood so the powers at be approve the basement use but ask that Marcello and a second enforcer be there so that the man isn’t killed. There’s only murder when necessary and it wasn’t they viewed in this case. Pero sucked his teeth for the second time today but would make sure the man in question lives. Just not with all functioning limbs. 

After the submission of the money and subsequent torture was complete, the man’s body was bandaged by one of their doctors on the payroll and dropped off at his home, during a time they knew his family would be home with the message, “The Valentino family suffers no fools.” Pero carved it into his back to emphasize the point. He was still alive but would not be the same. Not after, as Tovar saw it, he’s violated one of his favorite places. 

La jefa has long closed her shop and made herself dinner. Now that she thought about it, she’s never made Pero any of her food, just cookies, brownies and the like. Since he said he was coming back, she would make extra. The worst that would happen would be that he would say he didn't want any.  It also dawned on her that she has not made a book recommendation today. She should pick one out before he comes, straightening out her mint green dress. Turning off the stove, she went downstairs to look for a book and saw Pero standing at the door ready to knock. It was a quarter after eight, he was glad he’d taken the extra time to shower. He didn’t want to be late, but he didn’t want to be dirty either. 

“Ah! Mi princesa del librios es bonita (My Princess of books is pretty). You have our tea ready tonight?” His question follows the chime of the bell above the door as she unlocks it and lets him in. She then locks it again and nods.

“I have tea and I made some extra for dinner. I didn’t pick out a book for you yet.” She seems a bit brighter than this afternoon but still trying to make sure she was facing him with her right side. Pero takes her left hand and tugs it a little, not hard, just enough so she faces him fully.

“Hermosa (gorgeous) you don’t have a bad side. Don’t worry about the book. I haven’t finished with the other one yet. I want my tea and I want to see what you made for dinner.” The corners of her mouth curve and finally she smiles, squeezing his hand and leading him up the stairs. Pero watches her walk up and into her living area. It’s cozy as it has books scattered about as well. 

“I don’t know if you like stew, but I made that and heated up some rolls. There’s butter too. I have water, apple juice, coke, and some rum.” The last option surprised him as he didn’t picture her drinking at all. Maybe she had a glass or two when she sat up here before bed. She poured herself a glass of water as Pero pointed to her glass and held up an empty bowel on the table. She filled both and they sat down across from each other. “I hope you enjoy Pero.”

“I don’t doubt that I will cariño.” The food went quickly as they ate, and she asked what other kind of foods he liked. Pero felt he might be getting greedy. Perhaps he’s been gluttonous of her attention each time he comes here. She gives it so willingly. 

Tonight’s tea is mint like her dress which makes Tovar chuckle as he takes up half of her loveseat sitting down. She takes up the other and they sip tea, speaking of past books they’ve read and things he may want to read. 

Even if he got an urgent call, he’ll ignore it because he’s having his tea. Pero Tovar doesn’t feel like an enforcer or a conduit for violence. He just has an arm around one of his favorite people as she places her head on his shoulder. The tough pads of his fingers touch the injured side of her face while he tells her that it’s been taken care of. He won’t tell her details. Tovar figures she can put it together. If he can just have moments like these where he’s just a man with someone he cares for, Pero can use that to sleep. He prays she can rest without crying or being scared. 

The loveseat has his feet hanging off outside of the blanket he found on the back of it. So far, he hasn’t heard her sniffle again. Pero carried her to bed after she fell asleep in his arms. The faint scent of mint mingling with the earthy smell of the books lulls him to sleep. He had blood on his hands again today, but it was fine. It was for her sake, and she hasn’t cried again.

It was worth it.

[scrubbinn]

Slime HRT: 13 Months “Such a fickle thing”

“Recording now, starting dialog in 3, 2… Alright! Another month, another recording for the good doctor to listen to. You better be listening to this Theodore. Ugh, your name sucks, bad mouthfeel. I'm just gonna stick with doc. So then, where to start. It's a bit hard to focus on any one topic. A lot can happen in 30 days. Not to mention this isn't my first recording this month. I’ve been having trouble creating memories lately, so it’s nice to have a way to note things down. It's certainly been an interesting time to say the least.

Ok, I'll be honest, things have been rather difficult lately. I've been experiencing severe sharp pains in my whole body nearly everyday. Moving around without assistance is impossible some days. The theory goes that it stems from internal organs changing into slime, but most of my organs should already be made out of goo. At least according to Mayday's journals. But the pain is still there, and I can't understand why it won't disappear… At least I'm getting used to it. I'd rather not have the staff here constantly worried about me. Val, the head witch, offered some potions to help alleviate the pain. I sort of declined out of habit, but then I collapsed in the hallway. She insisted after that. They ended up helping a little bit with clearing my head. Wait, should I be starting at the beginning of the month? The pains really only started a week ago. How do you want me to present these? My memory is worse than I thought.”

“Ok just to be safe, let's go back to the start of the month, when you got back to me on that chunk of skin I sent in, and we found out it's made of fat, lye, and a few other particulates. Lye is the biggest component I'm made of, which makes sense. It's what a lot of soaps are made of, and it's what allows this body to jellify any meat I consume and break it down. It's kinda gross but it's a little cool at the same time. The other bits found though, well, I know you said it was nothing to worry about, but something about finding traces of dentin and enamel, something about it doesn't sit right. You mentioned it's just my dissolved teeth, still stuck inside, but they turned to rubber around 10 months ago, and eventually turned to goo. Shouldn't that mean a different material would be floating around if the hard tissues had already transformed? But the alternative ideas are, distressing, to say the least. And to say the most, if I start growing teeth from my skin, I will see how many lawsuits it takes to bankrupt you doc.”

“Moving back to the discussion of skin. My face and neck are now fully covered, besides the lips and eyeballs. Thanks to the numbing potions, it only tickles a bit. You don't want to know what it feels like when they wear off. I’m probably not going to be awake for most of the next month due to my face dissolving in on itself. I've heard horror stories from other slimes about getting your eyes and organs dissolved. Can’t say I’m looking forward to that. I’ll just have to ask the staff to be ready when they end up hearing screaming coming from my room. Though, come to think of it, my organs are already made out of goo right? It feels like they’re still holding their shape and even normal functions. Maybe it just, won’t, hurt when they’re integrated and dissolved? I'm already dealing with a lot of pain now, what happens when it really starts getting bad. Abigail was right about how dangerous this medication could be…"

“No, can't go thinking about that stuff now. Let's just try talking about something else. Oh! We can talk about eating! Ever since we found out what I’m made of, I’ve had a bit of a change in diet. Lots of fatty meats. Turns out I no longer digest plants anymore. I’m a pure carnivore. Abigail and I are planning a trip outside of Hyper city to visit this great little sushi place we used to go to. I hope they don’t mind if I just order a few whole fish. Er, yeah, I can’t deny I'm eating a lot of food. You’d imagine with no greens, grocery bills wouldn’t hurt the wallet so much. Well turns out meat is expensive, and when you buy a lot of it… Well I’m just glad T.H.E.M.S gives me a place to sleep."

Besides a diet change, I’ve been conducting my own experiments. It’s nothing too dangerous, I’ve just been ingesting different types of poison. Wait, no, hold on, before you speed dial my number! Ok, so I’m not doing something crazy like eating nightshade or anything, just the stuff I can find growing around here like ivy and those berries birds eat. But Lye is a type of poison. I think. So it makes sense that similar chemicals could be incorporated. After all, I don’t seem to have any acid inside me, it’s just poisons and venoms that break down cells, so I should be able to make different kinds. Figuring out how is still a process of trial and error, but don’t worry. I am being careful about it. So please, don’t get mad at me… Besides, imagine if I did learn how to control that sort of thing, I could create a bunch of different chemical compounds! I could be a walking chemistry lab!… Actually that sounds like it’d involve even more city paperwork. Let’s just keep that idea to ourselves, ok doc? And before you say anything! No, the poison is not causing my spikes of pain! That’s not how they work!”

“What else, what else to talk about… Have I talked about the memory troubles yet? It's been a bit of a disaster when it comes to scheduling anything. I need at least five reminders on my phone for any kind of appointment, and even then, you know I've missed a few checkups. I think my brain is getting replaced with slime instincts. I've been enveloping a lot of things without noticing. Arms and legs have been absorbing things without so much as a thought going into them. I spent a solid three hours searching for my phone only to feel it vibrate inside later and most of that time was spent trying to remember what I was searching for. I don't even know how it got there, I left it on my bedside table. I've heard a lot about what other therians have referred to this sort of mental change as a crossroads. Is that approaching? Did Mayday already agree to go through with it, and that's why I'm here? I feel like I'm losing my mind. End recording.”

“Ok, new tape… I think. Recording supplemental now. I have a theory about all the odd changes that have been going on. I looked back on Mayday's first journal. She somehow never made much thought about the doc mentioning the addition of chromatophores, a type of cell found in color changing animals. Though it seems they still haven't formed since I can't change colors at all. Combine that with my limbs moving on their own… There's a good chance that quack doctor combined some type of animal into the slime medication. Like an octopus, or a cuttlefish. It doesn't explain the bits of teeth floating around inside me, but the more I talk about it outloud, the more I realize I need to confront him about what exactly I'm taking. This doesn't feel like it's just a slime HRT, not anymore at least. I just have to remember to confront him. Memories are getting worse, concentration is completely shot from the pains. I just have to remember. I just need to remember… I just need to… I… I'm… hungry………………………

“hm? A recorder? Oh right! I was recording for the doc today, I'll send him this later. I feel so famished right now, when I get too hungry I start forgetting things and all that. Well… bye!”

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[ofdragonsdeep]

5: Stamp

To provide with a distinctive character

Riennaut takes up the lance.

(mentions of general Gridanian racism)

Moving through Gridania was, in a word, exhausting.

Not that Riennaut was a stranger to moving through Gridania. Indeed, he had lived most of his life within the embrace of the Shroud, even if he claimed Gelmorra as his heritage before he would Gridania. He was more than used to the typical attitude.

This was different.

It had been some days since he had last heard from any of his Adventurer's Guild contacts, and longer still since they had heard from him. He had not anticipated becoming an honest-to-gods White Mage, complete with the capital letters, when he had last spoken to them, but he did not imagine they would be all that concerned so long as his healing still functioned fine enough. But Gridania at large did not approve.

He was a duskwight. Even the padjal were only tolerated as users of white magic, the idea that a duskwight might take up the staff was nonsensical. He had been accused of a great many crimes, since he had walked among the public. Theft, primarily. Blasphemy against the Elementals, which included theft. Lying, although that one wasn't new. Typical duskwight behaviour.

What was not typical was the assurances of the Padjal. Your average thief was not protected by all three Seedseers, and certainly not tolerated by the Elementals. E-Sumi-Yan had also spoken out on his behalf, though that, at least, did not surprise Riennaut.

It irked him that it was necessary at all. But it was more effort to hide the horns, and he was tired of humouring the thoughts of terrified reactionaries.

Life moved on, no matter what they thought.

---

His newfound position, as it turned out, was far from the least of his problems.

It had been a distressingly long time since he had last heard word from Ar'telan. He had, of course, heard the news of Titan's defeat, and had thus assumed that he was fine - it would have been at least mentioned if their hero had died in the act. But there was nothing. Not a word.

He was not concerned that he would need to stop adventuring, or whatever passed for helping Ar'telan with the many chores a variety of ungrateful heads of state threw at his feet, despite his status as a newly-minted padjal. A-Towa-Cant had been famous as the only travelling Padjal, and while he could not quite understand the whispers of the Elementals, they did not seem to be binding him to forest service like the more regular Padjali. What he did know, however, was that Ar'telan had been involved in research that had led to the healing arts of Nym. Indeed, Ar'telan had spoken to Riennaut a great deal about conjury, and even learned from E-Sumi-Yan in the hopes of deepening his arts. It was not, therefore, a poor plan for Riennaut to diversify his own portfolio.

As tempting as it was to leave the city to learn another trade, he did not much fancy the idea of being stranded somewhere like Thanalan should there be a development, either with his own powers or the situation that had led him to having them. The archer's guild did not much interest him, and that left him with but one option: the lance.

He received no fewer than ten suspicious glances on his walk from Stillglade Fen to the Lancer's Guild, and upon his arrival, a group of lancers were shouting down a harrowed-looking duskwight. It was not a good omen, but he doubted the archers would fare any better, so he strode past behind them and into the building.

---

He was greeted at the door by an incredibly puzzled receptionist, who was clearly unsure if he should even have been there, and was only saved from having to leave with naught for his efforts by the timely arrival of the Guildmaster.

"Ah, I've heard the stories. An adventurer, aren't you?" he greeted. "I'm Ywain, the guildmaster here."

"Charmed," Riennaut responded, and did not reach out to shake his hand. To his credit, the man seemed unperturbed by the snub. "I am an adventurer by trade, yes. You may call me Riennaut."

"An adventurer? But…" the receptionist began, but stopped when Ywain held up a hand.

"That's all the credentials he needs. Sign him up," he said. "If that is, in fact, what you're here for?"

"Yes," Riennaut replied, keeping 'against my better judgement' behind his teeth. They both heard it, though, and the receptionist looked nervous as she took his details.

An auspicious beginning, and not of the fortuitous kind, but he had weathered worse.

---

The first clash was, perhaps, inevitable.

It had been but a sennight at the guild when it happened. He was doing the same drills as all the others, despite the glances they shot his way, and the same trials that many of them undertook. It was on one such trial, a fairly by the books test of nerve in the central Shroud, that they first met.

Foulques was an angry man. Many duskwights were, if they spent too long near the heart of Gridania, but Foulques had turned it into an art form. Not a particularly engaging one, but there were points to be had for intensity.

"They'll sell you out," he growled. "Those horns don't make you special. They'll have done with you, and the Elementals-" He spat as he said the name "-will use you up and hang you to dry."

"A fascinating theory," Riennaut remarked. "I have some critiques." Foulques growled.

"You can critique the end of my lance," he snarled, lips turning up like a riled dog. "Keep your staff when I can see it and use a real weapon." Riennaut raised an eyebrow at the tirade, and drew his lance as requested.

"If you insist."

---

Foulques was dogged. He dragged recruits into helpless situations, and Riennaut dragged them out. It was clear there was something driving the man - some source to his rage beyond the background tarring brush all duskwights dealt with, something that led to him baiting Riennaut over and over again. Riennaut did not have time for childish shouting matches, and even less for endangering the lives of others, no matter how distasteful he found the other recruits.

Foulques was many things, but he was not, Riennaut thought, a murderer. Certainly his reckless behaviour could make one of him, but it would not be him that dealt the blow. He ranted about the treatment of their people, and acted just like everyone expected him to.

Wild. Uncivilised. Brutish. A danger to the good folks of Gridania.

He did not see the irony.

Trying to get the man to sit still for long enough did not produce results, however. Riennaut played by his rules only enough to make sure he didn't do anything stupid, but even outwardly respecting the rules o fhis ridiculous engagement did not give him opportunities for anything other than listening to a lecture. He had enough of those from the Padjals, and more coherant besides.

He went to Ywain. Stated his thoughts, and his case. That Foulques was a danger, and mostly to himself. That he wanted to prevent the inecitable self-destruction his path was taking him down. Ywain listened, to his credit. It was more than most of those at the guild did.

"…Foulques is angry, yes," he said, which was quite the understatement, but it made the point fine enough. "It is not… entirely without reason, however." Riennaut folded his arms and waited. There was a story, and Ywain knew it - Foulques was clearly a lancer with guild training. He was not leaving until he heard it. "Though you may not like the history."

"With respect, Guildmaster, every time I walk into this hall I have stepped past at least three people convinced I stole the crystal that gave me these horns, and one other convinced the Elementals are but days from striking me down for my heresy. There is little you could say that would surprise me."

Ywain sighed at that, his face falling. He was a tired man at the best of times, but the lines in his face seemed haggard now.

"There was a theft from the Guild," he said. Riennaut thought he did not need to hear the rest of the story. "Foulques was involved, aye, but so too were some other men. Not that I learned that until too late." He folded his arms. "They'd made an agreement to confess to the crime. Foulques was first. The others did not follow."

"I'm surprised he was fool enough to give them the chance," Riennaut remarked. Ywain shook his head.

"Before the incident, things were… not good, but they were better. In the wake of it, it feels like the recruits have only doubled down on the blame, despite my best efforts." There was a saddened look on his face at that, though Riennaut doubted it had ever been good enough to be notable. "I only found out after Foulques had been disciplined and ejected from the Guild, and the Wood Wailers considered the matter closed. If I'd known it would lead to this…"

"No man is perfect," Riennaut replied. "While I understand the… concern this must have caused him, and the hurt, it does not excuse his actions now." He shrugged. "I will attempt to talk him down, though I think him deaf to most reason. We shall see."

"I can only hope you are successful," Ywain said, and his tone did not bespeak confidence.

---

Their final encounter, too, seemed inevitable.

It was a foggy day in the North Shroud as Riennaut answered his challenge - his walk through the woods to the location of what Foulques doubtless intended to be a final challenge blessedly unmolested. The Elementals whispered in his mind, as they always did, and though the words were incomprehensible, there was a notable undercurrent of concern.

Foulques was angry. Seething. More rage than man, like the beasts driven to madness by the spirits. Riennaut would not have been surprised if he began frothing at the mouth.

"What makes you so special?" he demanded. "Why do you get to-"

"Get to?" Riennaut cut him off. "Do you not have eyes in your skull?" That made Foulques pause.

"They wouldn't just let-"

"I did not ask for this," Riennaut snapped. "Indeed, when I got it none where more surprised than I was. E-Sumi-Yan had to assure me three times that I would not be executed on the spot for providing the assistance he requested of me, and he has had to earn that promise since. Do you think they trust me?" He scoffed at the idea. "I am a blasphemer. A heretic. A thief and a blemish. I cannot walk two steps in the city without some slur being screamed after me, and I am chosen by the Elementals. It changes nothing, Foulques. I am not specieal."

"Then why the hell are you allowed to-"

"Because I am not stupid enough to keep friends," Riennaut said, curling his nose in distaste. "Because I have been taught the hard way that the only one I can rely on is myself. And your desperate grasping for revenge has not helped with that, by the way."

Foulques paused. Put his lance up. Scowled like the devil had crawled out of a void fissure in front of him.

"They deserve it."

"Yes, I'm sure those helpless recruits you tried to feed to raptors were personally involved in your struggles."

"They were all complicit. All of them! Even the Guildmaster teaches of courage, and he didn't even have the stones to-"

"Foulques." Riennaut held up his hand. "You have treated me with nothing less than disdain, but I will offer you this regardless. Gridania is a poor fit for you - yes, you were guilty of the crime, but not alone. There is no work for you here, and no redemption, and so you have flung yourself into this mess in some vain hope of feeling… what, fulfilment? Reparation? It matters not." He shrugged. "I may have a Padjal's horns, but I am an adventurer by trade. For reasons that may be obvious to you, I prefer to spend my time outside of Gridania. So. My terms. I will duel you, and I will win, and you will join my adventuring party."

"And what if I win, you arrogant sack of bird shite?" Foulques replied, which was incredibly rich coming from him. Another shrug.

"Then you can do whatever it is you were planning to doKill me, and add murder to your growing list of felonies? Stage a righteous assault on the lancer's guild?" He took his lance from his back. "I do not intend to lose, so I had not paid it much thought." Foulques growled.

"Then you can shove it up your elemental-blessed backside," he said. Riennaut rolled his eyes.

"I'm sure."

It was not a quick fight, and it was not pretty.

Rage made of Foulques a man far stronger than most would be. He was rash, and reckless, and threw everything he had into the fray - and he would pay for it in the aftermath, though Riennaut had no time to think of it. The fog had made the ground slippery, and it soon churned into mud under their feet. But Riennaut had not spent the month training to lose to an angry whelp of a man.

Foulques hit the floor, lance clattering from his hands. He slid through the mud, up against the face of the cliff, and spat out a tooth.

"I will remind you of my terms," Riennaut said, the tip of his lance against Foulques' throat. "Come with me, or prove them right. The choice is yours."

"Fuck your choices," Foulques said, and kicked him in the shins. Riennaut saw him stagger backwards, scrabbling in the dirt for his lance - and the cliff rise to meet him.

"No!" he exclaimed, lurching forward, but he was but a second too late.

He would not even be given a grave. Marked a remorseless criminal, vilified by the Gridanians with nothing to stand against it, another notch on the tally chart of useless, criminal duskwights.

The earth moved.

There was a sound like cracking, snapping twigs, and the trees bent to meet Foulques' fall. The edge he had fallen from collapsed beneath him, and the earth reformed to shield him from the chasm below. With a yelp, the duskwight found himself enmeshed - a leafy net to catch him, and not the cold, unfeeling ground.

"What in the hells?" he managed. There was terror on his face, a hypocritical mask of the bravado-led villain he had tried so hard to play. He knew he had made a mistake. He knew death would have, should have been the answer. But it was not.

There were whispers in Riennaut's head. Soft, insensible, gentle. The spirit of A-Towa, resting inside the crystal that hung from his staff, seemed to chuckle.

Your worry. They felt it. Sometimes they answer.

Riennaut huffed, walking fowards towards his downed opponent.

"My terms," he repeated, holding out a hand. "Though if you wish to traipse home through the mud on your own, you are welcome to refuse me a third time."

"Fuck you," Foulques spat. "I thought you didn't have friends?" Riennaut shrugged.

"I have associates," he responded, "and acquaintances. You are welcome to pick which."

Foulques hesitated just long enough to hear the branch of the tree crack beneath his weight. He threw out his hand, not in thoughtful acceptance but in desperation, and let Riennaut pull him back onto solid ground.

"I shall consider that a yes," Riennaut remarked. Foulques glowered in response. "Now, if you don't mind, I've an appointment in Coerthas. You are welcome to come along."

Surely he couldn't meet worse, after all.

[forevergoldgame]

Post-Demo Update

So, we're a few days out from the demo being out for a month, and so I thought it was about time we start giving proper updates... or at least a proper followup on the event!

We would like to give a(nother) warm thank you to everyone who has left feedback so far.

THANK YOU! 💛

Honestly, we're delighted at how well such an experimental shot-in-the-dark of a project has been received by the small audience who has chanced it!

Both compliments and criticisms are very valuable to us at this stage of development. Do continue to send us your thoughts if you have them. We want to hear everything - what you liked, what you didn't, which character you want to punch in the face most, etc.

Now, onto more specific talk about development, because that's something we can be reasonably open about now that people can actually see and smell how the game works.

So, what've we been up to since the demo dropped?

The short version is: we've been hard at work building the first proper release of the game.

However, we have a little cleanup to do (not to mention writing) to get everything in order! The tasks at hand are...

Fix some back-end stuff.

Nothing is ridiculously broken, don't worry. The demo just taught me a lot about managing Twine variables and how the engine handles memory in general. In the 27-ish days since the demo dropped, I've done a ton of data reorganization that should greatly reduce the amount of memory the game uses in browser saves and prevent the twine variables from bloating as the the story progresses and the amount of information tracked increases. 👍

Do some minor interface fixes based on user feedback.

Again, nothing crazy - mostly simplifying navigation and choreographing information better. Look! A nicer, more intuitive codex with a search function and better touch navigation for mobile users!

Write like crazy. Conjure new portraits for all the characters appearing in the first release.

As usual. ;) We're on it. Don't worry.

And the big one: reassess how we plan to handle releases.

When this project was in the planning stage, we came up with the "2 Acts, 4 Parts per Act" idea with the intention to release the game in 8 installments, with each installment being comprised of multiple large quests and spanning roughly an in-story year. However, once we got into the meat and gristle of development, we realized this would make each installment take a ton of time to make, leave unpredictable gaps in releases, and complicate testing & bug fixing.

So - we're aiming to ditch our original release approach for one which allows us to make smaller, more frequent updates and give you more new stuff to play faster.

This does not change anything about the story itself, but it will take some squinting on our part as we figure out the most logical "breakpoints" in the story so that each installment feels like a satisfying addition.

Until next time!

-LS

[chai-fi-rush]

Hi-Fi Rush and Capitalism

I've seen multiple posts about how Hi-Fi Rush is capitalistic/neo-liberal propaganda and like. I'm not gonna say they're wrong but I'm also going to say it's a little more nuanced than that. Or at least there's multiple angles to look at this thing and I want to do that so I will.

Also I just want to quickly say that I think that even if something endorses certain aspects of capitalism while critiquing others doesn't mean that what it does critique is meaningless, or that everything that critiques capitalism should end with a radical change in it's story's system. Sometimes things that are sort of milquetoast can be fun or make some good points, albeit not rly something to strive to.

The first thing to address which is undeniably on the side of those posts I've seen is that HFR basically assumes that capitalism is the default. It tacitly accepts that the system must function through capital, and not just at the end where instead of getting rid of the company they just replace the CEO. This comes up the most in Zanzo's level when CNMN and Macaron say that budgeting and development are a balance. There's no implication that the idea of well-managed projects shouldn't have to rely on money to be able to function, just that Zanzo himself is bad with money due to unrealistic goals and Kale's light hand as long as he gets what he wants. Honestly, this is where a lot of real life people get tripped up on. They genuinely have a really hard time conceptualizing how a world without capital would function and often think of it as some lawless world. So, even when they disagree with capitalism they often try to think about how to change it without the removal of currency.

That being said, it's more accurate to describe Hi-Fi Rush's early stages not as a critique of capitalism, but as a critique of the conditions of capitalism (I know to us red-blooded commies those things are basically the same but hear me out). The only point where money is really important to the plot is in Zanzo's level and the overarching point of Kale using SPECTRA as a market manipulation tool. There are also undercurrents of class when it comes to Chai and Kale as foils, but that point is also linked with ableism (which is linked with classism under capitalism, but the game is very purposefully vague about Chai's backstory so I don't necessarily feel comfortable making too much speculation about it). The game vlog's heavily discuss the labor and physical exploitation of their employees, such as how all of the old Vandelay units such as CARR1E are being overloaded for the sake of productivity and you know. The fact that there are three or four Mondays. But the game rarely mentions the wages of the employees. I'm not going to say it never does even though I don't remember a time, but needless to say the actual working conditions of Vandelay's labor force is a much bigger focus. It does sort of come into play when Kale talks about how he's planning on firing almost everyone once SPECTRA gets up and running (something we are supposed to consider is Bad because without those jobs those people won't have money).

Breaking all this down abstractly, HFR is a story about corrupted intentions. The game's narrative exists in two different camps, the experience of what Vandelay is right now, and how everyone talk about what Vandelay was when Roxanne was in charge. Obviously, the first one is going to be more powerful. Characters like Peppermint, Macaron and Korsica can talk all day about how cool Roxanne was, but we basically have to take them at their word. There's no reason for us to consider them untrustworthy, but lets just say that as an audience member it's hard to fully reconcile the idea without actually seeing any of it in action besides Roxanne being kind of chill in the final cutscene and some vlogs about how the company used to work (particularly from O5KAR).

But what we can glean from this narrative is that Vandelay under Roxanne was not productivity driven. You get this idea from both the Zanzo and Roquefort levels, and a couple of those aforementioned vlogs. One that comes to mind is about how production used to take the time to actually fix defected products, but under Kale they all just get immediately scrapped because it's faster to just make a new one. Roxanne was someone who wanted to make things whereas Kale just wants to sell them. I mean, Roquefort is literally crushed underneath the quarter profits. HFR has a lot of metaphors, and they never really claimed that any of them were subtle.

Something that hangs over the entire story but rarely comes up (even within meta discussions about it) is that Project Armstrong was something born out of Roxanne's love for her disabled daughter. It's not just that she came up with the implant tech and then had Kale make the project as a scheme, Peppermint specifically says in Track 12 that it was Roxanne's idea. This was something that was made to genuinely help people, and Kale warped it into something that would get him more customers because it's not profitable to just "help people."

That's the story that HFR is trying to tell. It's about a project that was good, became bad through its management, and then had people who believed in the original intention of said project (I should note that Korsica's inclusion as someone who hadn't worked pre-Kale was also probably intentional so it wasn't solely a return to the old guard). The game isn't trying to say that any company can be fixed with the right leadership, that this one had its reigns taken away for the sake of profitability. A corruption of intentions. If you're willing to accept capital as the implicit base of society, it's incredibly inoffensive, but if you can conceptualize outside of that system it becomes a hand-wavey response to the problem. We all know that "just put good people in charge of capitalism" isn't actually a solution the the problem.

It's also worth mentioning that HFR bears a lot of meta-narrative about the video game industry specifically. The director said that some of the emails were literally taken from ones that he had received. It draws attention to its relationship in several ways, ESPECIALLY with the addition of Vandelay Gameworks. It's all stuff that can be applied to companies in general, but there's still that undercurrent of game devs upset about crunch time or being forced to throw out something that they worked hard on at the last minute because it "Just doesn't work." The kind of people who love what they're working on but work underneath conditions that make it feel like hell.

Anyways, hope that made sense. Hope I didn't sound too apologetic because I also take beef with endings that handwave capitalism away as an individual issue. Honestly, I think that HFR has far more interesting things to say about disability, but that's something that has to be its own post.

[invested-in-your-future]

How do you plan of handling Yang's disability?

Oh boy, where to begin?

I think to start, it's important to remember just how fetishized the idea of "prosthetic/cybernetic limbs" is overall. And not just in stuff like the cyberpunk genre, but even going as far back as major wars and the need to trivialize soldier injuries. If you can "fix them back up" - it's alright, right?

It's pretty common to treat prosthetics as "superpower". Cyberpunk genre is filled with cool prosthetic gun arms and the like, which is part of the genre, I get that. And there's interesting way somewhere in there about exploring concept of transhumanism.

But when it comes to trauma - it is not a "superpower" or "upgrade".

There aren't many ways to "win" at writing a prosthetic arm storyline.

It's why, when V4 was coming up, I did not want the show to give her one. And not just because very few fictional characters go through something like that and NOT use this trope.

In a lot of ways, "writing a prosthetic" can turn the story away from "writing about a character who lost an arm" and into "writing AROUND them losing an arm" - so the the characters in the story (and thus writers) and the audience don't have to "deal with it".

The writer doesn't have to think about all the small details when setting a scene, like "now how would this character open a door" or even stuff like "can this character stumble or fall and how writing that would work". Let alone anything with action because the mind will ALWAYS jump over the fact that there's only one, for example, arm.

I remember imagining a lot of mistakes a show could make and RT walked right into most of them - pretending everything was normal, hiding her prosthetic arm (in the story or marketing) behind clothing, NEVER mentioning it at all, nor dealing with experience and trauma that a loss like that causes (because, as RT people put it, "It would be boring"). They even blew past my lowest expectations by literally having a sexual predator character compare PTSD to fear of MICE.

There are so many ways to mess up that it's genuinely scary. The arm is this "ultra-special-magic one-of-a-kind" thing? Pitfall. The prosthetic is an upgrade that allows a person to do something better than before? Pitfall. The story becomes more about the prosthetic than the character's experiences of using a prosthetic? Pitfall. Even the commonly used trope of "oh wow, this prosthetic is JUST like the real thing" IS a pitfall (if you are writing a prosthetic that is exactly like the real thing, then you are effectively writing around it and are just doing "it magically grew back" trope but with more words).

And that's before even getting into stuff like psychological effects such an experience causes or even less thought about physiological ones like phantom pain (if it's written as psychological effect? That's another insta-failure - the pain is an actual physical sensation tied to how the nervous system functions - people just LOVE throwing it together with psychological effects because it's the least researched part of such trauma and by doing so partake in little bit of ableism by implying people IMAGINED it)

It might sound counterproductive, but adding at least a somewhat accurate portrayal of the difficulties and differences of using a prosthetic IS important - the worst thing one can do, IMO, is to erase the trauma by pretending it's "fixed" or "normal" now.

Trauma doesn't make you LESS of a person (unlike how people at RT seem to think). And neither does using or not using prosthetics (unlike how people at RT seem to think)

Now, mind you, I am not going to go - "nobody should ever write prosthetics into the story". Escapist fiction is fine, and empowering stories are fine, but what's important is to think about how it fits - maybe the setting requires it? Maybe characters are going through the idea of using it as part of dealing with what happened?

The key question is always WHY. Why does Yang need one? Is it part of her internal struggle? Is it something she is coerced into by people around her? Does she feel like she needs something like that to "appear normal to people who would otherwise have a problem with her"? (Expectations of society overall are a pretty decent angle to go about writing something like this) Why do prosthetics exist in the story? Are they there just to be cool or the presence in the narrative is used as part of some wider theme?

I am TRYING to write her as someone who has to live with what happened. If there's a prosthetic, then it's an additional tool, but NOT a solution to her problems. The issue with Yang is that she WANTS a quick solution, in part wanting to buy into the illusion of "normalcy". She is also someone easily frustrated when that simply is not working as intended. She does not handle change well, she does not handle self-introspection well and she does not handle being forced to actually do any sort of soul-searching well. Because its always easier to invest into routine, escaping into sense of repetition rather than to take a look inside.

Just like Ruby longs for simple explanations to complex moral dilemmas, Yang wants quick solutions to complex issues.

So, if anything. she is not just going to plop a prosthetic arm in, hide it under her clothes and forget about it.

[alaffy]

Deadpool and Wolverine

There will be some spoilers below the cut.  I won’t be going into any great detail about the cameo’s (although I will go into some general spoilers here and there is one character I will end up spoiling in the last paragraph); but I will be going into detail about where Deadpool stands in the MCU and that will have some spoilers for the plot.

Saw this a couple of nights ago and thank God it lives up to the hype.  I mean, from the beginning to the end; it hits ever beat it needs to.  Now, would I have had more criticism for parts of the plot if this had been any other Marvel movie? Yes.  But the Deadpool movies have always acknowledged how screwed up the X-Men timeline is, and how Deadpool is kind of shoehorned in, and it’s no different in this movie except that it also (somewhat) involves the MCU now.  And, yes, they also take a few cracks at the issues facing the MCU.

Also, Emma Corrin’s Cassandra Nova CANNOT be a one-time villain.  Establish the new X-Men team in their first movie; make Cassandra the villain in the second.  I need Charles vs. Cassandra. 

Of course, the biggest question on everybody’s mind going into the film is if Deadpool is going to join the MCU?  The answer is mostly no, but partly yes.  Most of this film isn’t even set in 616 or 10005, which is Deadpool’s universe.  But at the end of the movie, Deadpool is still in 10005.  And it seems like, if they so choose to continue with making Deadpool movies, they would be set in 10005. 

This film, for the most part, isn’t about the MCU at all (emphasis on the most part).  Like Spiderman’s No Way Home, this is more a celebration of what came before.  At Fox, they created a ton of X-Men movies…and several other movies highlighting Marvel characters.  So, yes, there are characters from the X-Men franchise that pop up here; there are also characters from other Fox made Marvel movies that also appear.  And, just like No Way Home, it was fun to see these characters one last time. 

Now, that being said…

Let’s talk about how the TVA and 616 do fit into this story.  So, this is a little complicated because all of this is kind of spelled out with a few not-so-subtle hints and reading between the lines as the events take place.  So, the TVA no longer is pruning timelines (as we know); but it’s clear that any timeline, bar the Sacred Timeline, they aren’t going to actively save if something causes it to unravel.  Which is what’s happening to Deadpool’s timeline.  The complication is that, this Deadpool apparently is going to be important to a future event that happens in the Sacred Timeline.  So, a rouge TVA agent decides to pull Deadpool out of his timeline in order to stick him in 616.  (I should note that I’m simplifying this a bit.  Pulling Deadpool out also has to do with the plan the rouge agent has for Deadpool’s universe as well, but I don’t want to get into all of that).

So, basically, the MCU is somewhat continuing the multiverse storyline here.  It’s letting us know how the TVA functions now.  It’s letting us know that, while Deadpool’s universe won’t be merging with the MCU; he will play a part in the universe at some point (probably Avengers 5 and 6).  That it will probably be the TVA who will bring him (and probably other characters as well) to the MCU during the big event.  So, Deadpool is confirmed to be MCU adjacent and will interact with the 616 characters as some point.

What about Wolverine?  Um, it’s less clear.  They make jokes about keeping Jackman in the role until he’s 90; but beyond that…basically, the end of the movie sets it up to where Wolverine and one other fan favorite could easily come to the 616 universe; but they don’t actively say that they are a part of whatever happens in the future. In other words, if Jackman or the other actor I won't mention want to return, they can.   

Bit of an edit here given tonight's announcement, it seems like Deadpool set up more than we realized. At the very least, there was that "cameo" joke that seems to tease RDJ's return. Also, while we've known for awhile one character can look different from universe to universe, Deadpool and Wolverine showed us that it is also possible that two characters have the same face. That's right, what we thought was a simple joke was the MCU establishing cannon.

[dogaquarium]

Hey Laika, I saw your post about nightmares and I hope you’re doing alright :( that sounds really hard and on top of all the other stressors must be rough.

I’ve been curious about your thoughts on alien 9 recently, and was wondering your thoughts on it! If thats too much to think about right now how about some of your favorite foods or items?

Hope this helps a little 🫶 <:D

Hi star thank you so very much for the ask <3 I'm feeling a little better now, just takes a little bit of wind out of me whenever I wake up from something like that. Let me focus on answering your questions now though....

Asking me my thoughts on alien 9 in such a vague sense is a recipe for disaster, lol. I have so many thoughts and opinions on so many different elements of it. So feel free to ask for specifics later if you'd like, but I suppose I'll do a quick overview on as many things as I possibly can! Also going to try to make this as relatively spoiler free as possible since I'm pretty sure neither you nor a few other people following this blog have seen it yet, and I'm not sure if you're interested in attending movie night or not whenever I have time to plan a date for that.

Boy, where do I even start..... alien 9 is something so special to me. The entire franchise definitely does have its issues, and I do wish some moments were expanded upon or changed slightly. The pacing can be a little strange in the OVA, and even stranger in the manga (which is one reason I enjoy the anime a lot more; the manga sometimes feels almost detatched entirely). But it's something really valuable as it is regardless. It's such a foundational media for me that I came away from differently. Something I've found a lot of comfort and security in! The characters are all extremely charming, the story itself tackles such serious taboo topics in a proper sense, such a large part of it corresponds to the young queer experience, it doesn't poke fun at childhood mental illness, the core concept of the universe it exists within is endlessly compelling, the list goes on..... plus, kumi's character themes of identity (which I've already mentioned in precious posts) is something you can dig into forever. It's all so interesting. And it resonates a lot with me!

Episode 3 is one I'm especially excited for everyone to experience when I stream it. It's my personal favorite episode for a lot of reasons that I think we're masterfully tackled. It's a beach/vacation episode! Which sounds, admittedly, very frivolous and unimportant in the grand scheme of things. And to some degree it is!!! But what I personally find so compelling about episode 3 is the fact that it serves as a medium through which we can see how the main three girls function outside of a traumatic environment. It provides a baseline for us. It allows the audience to see them just be kids. I truly do not think it'd be as impactful of a series for me without that.

And now, since you can't have a general dump of my thoughts on alien 9 without mentioning the spinoffs.. prepare yourself......

I firmly believe that hitoshi tomizawa should have not been allowed to expand on this franchise any further after the original story had been wrapped up because after seeing what he's done with it you're bound to get a headache. There's two spinoffs from the original three classic volumes: namely alien 9-emulators and alien 9-next. I will not dwell on emulators (at least in this ask) because my rant on it will likely be even longer than this response, but know that with the way it handles the original subject material, it's not only incredibly insensitive, but I'd go as far as saying actively harmful. Tomizawa is a fuckin pedophile which SHINES in his later works in particular, and is very ironic considering so much of the point of the original classic series concerns the harm done by csa and how cyclical it can become (most blatantly in relation to kasumi's character). That's all I'll get into it for now because if I talk any more on it I'll get even more pissed. Idk where to even begin with Next, though.... such a strange expansion of the universe...... this spinoff takes place after the girls have all grown up and are on some kind of outer space mission.. idk how to even explain it to you and it's been far too long since I've read it but it's utter horseshit, such an anomalous entry in the series. Also the art style changed to be 3D models for no reason and it's ugly as sin.

Besides all the....... obviously glaring problems with both next and emulators..... there are also some simpler things that don't work for me in them. Namely kumi and yuri's relationship! In the classic volumes, such a major plot point is the evolution of their relationship from one that is tense, angry, and unhealthy to one that is mutually supportive and uplifting. There's a lot to be said about this change in relation to both parties- be it relaring to kumi's home life/preconceived expectations of her to yuri's mental illnesses/the way others treat her due to that. They act the way they do for a reason, is what I mean. And so when the audience finally gets the relief of them forming a genuine bond together, you expect that to be that, it's a plot point wrapped up and done with. And does stay wrapped up..... in the classic volumes, at least. In the spinoffs, kumi suddenly reverts back into someone aggressive and untrusting. Yuri reverts back into someone who has made no advances in her bravery and independence. All because fuckin tomizawa had no idea how to craft a story with meaning after he finished the first three volumes.

^ so cutes.. awwee......

I suppose this turned more into a response of why I dislike all the spinoffs rather than why I like the originals.. oh well..... easier to avoid spoilers in that way I suppose. Maybe you still found this interesting enough? Don't hesitate to ask more if I didn't answer how you'd expected!

[mmaurysiek]

how does a mechanism of a Mechanism work? - vague musings

(please do argue and share your own headcanons if you'd like! I'd love to start a discussion :3)

I imagine that the origin story of these functionally unbreakable mechanisms was simple. I mean, look at the inventor -- a disabled ADHD vampire. Carmilla had to be fed up by having yet another version of a working artificial eye unexpectedly start breaking on her at least once every few decades or so.

(what i don't get is - why not just go on living with one eye instead - but I guess that literally unlimited amount of spare time and Carmilla's love of creative tinkering have played a huge role in that)

Hence, a sci-fi dream of a prosthetic/medical device that:

seamlessly or near-seamlessly connects with the nerve system and provides natural-like neural feedback,

is as effectively self-repairing as Carmilla's own vampire flesh,

doesn't require the user to remember charging it, as it passively collects whatever (eldritch) energy it needs from the environment.

Near-perfect for a space-faring vampire scientist with ADHD!

And when you already have that sort of tech, why not use it to improve other people's lives? And sure it has worked, at least to some degree. Not that most mortals would live long enough to truly appreciate the unbreakability of these mechanisms, but still, it's improved people's lives. And it got Carmilla enough rapport with the locals to keep the G-Pol's investigations (and their "serial killer" charges - honestly, a girl has to eat!) off Carmilla's back. So it was very practical to have different types of these little unbreakable miracles at hand (an advanced enough science is indistinguishable from magic), ready to use for strangers who'd need them, and pay for them.

Jonny was an accident. See, usually that sort of surgery is pre-planned. Usually, a significant amount of effort goes into keeping a patient safely alive thorough the surgery process. There was no way to guess (and thus test) beforehand what would happen if one of these little miracles got connected to an extremely fresh corpse. I mean, why would anyone waste one of these on a corpse, fresh or not, if not for the desperation of a parent who refused to let death win? (necromancy is just first aid that's delivered late)

And so the eldritch clockwork blood-pump fussed with the entire body, integrated the flesh into its template design, most likely as a powersource, a battery, and included that "battery" in its self-repair function.

mechanical heart: - access point, - medical-grade steel (microwave-safe), - it pumps blood in timed pulses, - maximum simplicity to minimise vulnerable break points, - smart pacer + fallback clock (1.17 pulse per second) note: his brain should be filtering the noise out note: Jonny, what the hell, trauma symptoms aren't "side effects"

extra notes:

- the access point should have allowed for DYI repairs, but Jonny is more likely to try to break something than to fix it,

- he may be one of the people who can hear their own heartbeat,

- the fallback ticking tempo of the device is just slightly differently paced than ticking of an analogue clock.

So the medical device that was supposed to keep its user alive - and it has the side effect of keeping its user alive. Like, infinitely, and through experiences that no mortal should've been able to survive.

I expect that Jonny's newfound immortality was a surprise to Jonny and Carmilla alike. I expect that they didn't know why it had happened for Jonny and not for other people. When the effect had reoccured with Nastya's blood replacement - that may have narrowed down the why, but still left a whole lot of variables that might or might not be necessary for a mechanisation process to take.

Jonny, Nastya, Ashes, Ivy, Scuzz, Brian - none of them would've been able to survive without what they had replaced by the mechanism. There are mentions of failed mechanisation attempts, but going by how many of the potentially important variables are kept, and yet at least some prove to not be necessary later? Carmilla actively tried to avoid mechanisations that could fail over those variables. Carmilla chose to keep those variables in every attempt, chose to avoid the risk of trying to mechanise the people who didn't meet those variables - the scientific method put aside for the sake of something more important.

mechanical lung (internal) - access point, - medical grade steel, - oxygenates blood, - air filters note: Ashes, please stop testing the capacity of the filters. these filters need time to self-clean

extra notes:

- the access point was placed on their back due to a lesson learnt with Jonny and for the sake of everyday comfort and ease of accessing the lung area directly,

- the fallback pace was set to a resting tempo to better allow for "sleeping it off" until the mechanism fixes itself (no need for another Mechanism getting slightly hyper during a malfunction)

mechanical brain (opening the cover illustrated) - extra batteries allow for higher performance, - cannot be turned off, - AI with personality pre-programmed - don't treat her like a baby, she is learning - make backups!!! nanorobotic blood - not intended for warm-blooded species, - was to be temporary, - not mercury, WTF - thick, silver, liquid, transports nutrients maintain bio-heart - do not replace! - do not attempt to remove! - more in the manual note: where?

Has Brian mechanised that priest, effectively?

And then there is the Toy Soldier - who has mechanised itself by a process notably inverse to everyone else's. The Toy Soldier who has replaced a part of its self-repairing wood-based body with a fleshy-meaty component it's scavenged out of a very fresh mortal corpse. (wood is more versatile than metal, for those with knowledge and patience needed to work with it.)

The Toy Soldier did not need a voicebox to survive. Gunpowder Tim was mechanised after Carmilla left, but he could have survived as a blind mortal, too. Raphaella gave herself a spinal structure to attach two extra limbs that she never had as a mortal (in the world shaped for humanoids - more of a social hindrance than a boon) - was she even dying before the process? Marius wouldn't die from being one-armed.

- metal-bone fusion zone should not move, - openable casing (responsible for eye movement), openable shell, lenses and filters, neural interface (tech-nerve fusion zone) note:any mistakes in the fusion zones will be permanent note: use eyelid slices to cover the shutters to make sure they don't fuse permanently open!

I think the lines by Tim's eyes are sort of a gate in the flesh, installed so that the space around his mechanism-eyes would be accessible for repair -- it's much easier to open the mechanism the way it's designed to open than to exercise the futility of trying to separate it from the flesh it's fused with. I think that part of Tim's mechanisation was replacing his still-healthy eye sockets and part of optical nerves, too.

mechanical wings: spinal fusion 1 (neck), attachment port (triangular), motion support (also triangular like 4 extra scapulas), 2 "rib" processors, spinal fusion 2 (lumbar region), neural cabling through the vertical middle column parallel to the spine

Raphaella can swap between the wing models, but the port for connecting them, her mechanism, stays firmly there.

Can TS, Marius and Tim take their mechanisms off? I think not, at least not TS nor Tim.

mechanical arm - notes: Marius, why? All the fucking weapons were two-handed and it was marketed as cutting-edge tech and it was a war-zone liability: the arm can be separated by cutting through the stump fusion zone around the stump neural interface cannot be accessed, cannot be fixed unknown contents between the stump and the elbow elbow: the joint is made out of three: pivot, hinge, and another pivot unknown contents of the zone between elbow and wrist - pressure and temperature fluctuations happen wrist appears to be constructed like the elbow, but the functionality is partly broken a broken spread-fold structure mid hand - it can only spread and needs external pressure to fold fingers have two hinge joints each, except for the thumb that has the base joint constructed like a smaller version of the elbow external fixtures improve the functionality

is the self-healing factor is likely to be more intense around the mechanism?

Jonny is an unreliable narrator, what is the chance that the story about trying to use a black hole to separate his mechanism and flesh has happened?

Unlike medical devices and prosthetics - a mechanism has a primary function of keeping the flesh attached to it alive at all costs. The medical / prosthetic function is secondary. Unlike contemporary prosthetics, these mechanisms cannot be taken off.

At least some (if not all) of the Mechs are gonna yearn for the impossibility of taking those off -- mortality aside, it'd:

- it'd make cleaning much easier,

- it'd be nice to relieve the muscle tension from having one's body-weight distributed differently than what the humanoid body is prepared for,

- the neural feedback that's only partially compatible with the nerve system is disorienting, and makes tasks that require any precision - extra difficult.

like, my own biological optical wiring has a tendency to go weird, so at times it was literally easier to just cover my eyes (eyelids wouldn't fully cut off the light) and go around do stuff sight-less - than to keep dealing with sensory overload of just slightly wrong light - unfortunately, i never had a computer with enough RAM for a fully functional NVDA (non-visual desktop access)

I definitely think that Tim would sometimes do that.

I definitely think that Marius would default to doing precision tasks with his left hand. I may be ambidextrous (more like ambisinistri honestly) myself, but this rant is also very very insistent on it (content warning for medical abuse and discussion of ableism) :

i've ran out of steam before i could figure out the precise inner mechanics of each mechanism, but i guess this long rambling post is long enough?

i'd love to hear other people's ideas!

[endobiologist]

How is hormone therapy going? I've considered it myself but I'm nervous about it. Can you tell me a little about what its like? :)

Ah, thank you so much for asking!! I appreciate it!!

Well, the experience is really quite vastly different for every person on HRT.

For me, it was one of the best choices I have ever made in my life. I was hopelessly and horribly dysphoric for my whole life to the point of nearly not being able to function (dysphoria coupled with severe mental illnesses is for sure A Bad Time) and I was lucky enough to be able to get on it fairly early, thank God because I probably would not have lasted longer-apologies for that dark subject but it is necessary to mention for how much it turned my life around entirely.

I am still not fully transitioned to my liking per sé, as the full range of Testosterone's complete effects is a maximum of 5 years according to my research. I have been on it for nearly 2 years now. I plan to be on it for the rest of my life if possible, as I'd like all effects to stay forever-- I fucking ADORE every second of it, honestly I'm not afraid of needles either like most are so I literally get ecstatic & excited every time it's time to inject LOL!! Probably a weird reaction but--it legit makes me wanna throw a party every time those 2 weeks pass & it is time to.

(Not all forms of HRT have to be injected however, though it is the "strongest, most evenly distributed form" especially if done every 2 weeks instead of every 1 week,

as my doctor described it, which made me choose it--and coupled w my lack of giving a shit about injecting lmaoo)

I have had a lot of effects, I am also finally growing actual facial hair which is nice-though I learned I prefer my face clean-shaven or at least mostly, which is a hilarious twist tbh as I thought I'd want a full beard. I'm cool with both but I definitely prefer how I look without, so I shave every now & then currently.

My body looks entirely different, at least my shoulders and arms HELLA, I've had strong asf cis men say I'm built better than them which gives me giggle-fits of pridefulness LMAO--im petty ig--

but anyway to get to the true point--I would not be where I am today or perhaps here at all, myself, if I didn't go on it and exactly when I did. I am so extremely grateful for it occurring and that I have access to it at all--I am honestly hardly feeling dysphoria except on Really Bad days when it still hits me. Even things I should be dysphoric about and was in the past, idgaf about now. My chest barely bothers me now, and used to be my personal Hell. I have even decided to not do top surgery in the future which is... really bizarre as I was DESPERATE for it before (however this most-dysphoria-removal effect seems to be rare, so don't expect it to "cure" dysphoria, it didn't for me either but I'd say reduced it by like 90% or something lol. But most don't have that strong of a reaction)

My advice for you and every trans person on the fence about it, would be do a CRAP TON of research, on its every effect, type, etc. and talk to or read about/etc. as many people you can find who can give their opinions on their own experiences-as everyone has a different story!

If it is a "HELL YES" after that, then definitely go through with it. If there is still doubt, I'd wait. There is no rush as you can always decide to begin in the future

Know though, that if you do start it, but wish to stop later,

in some ways there's a "reset button",

but in some ways there is not.

Some effects will reverse if you stop taking T, like the fat & muscle redistribution, etc.

however some will stay, for example any body or facial hair that develops will then grow forever as the follicle is "activated" (male hair is a different subtype of hair, so once it's made it can't be reversed) and etc.

Be aware of which effects do this, and just in general, get as much information you can gather.

This info-gathering also has the added bonus, of impressing TF out of your endocrinologist if you do happen to choose to go the route of beginning taking it--

During the consultation, they'll ask if you know about it well, and for me, I began on a spiel of the things I knew & how much I researched because I was so excited to begin and how much it would help me.

By my Dr's reaction she was blown away by my very informed decision, that I had thought about it VERY hard, & I think that is what assisted me greatly in acquiring the prescription for it so fast.

Basically, if they either know or just think you are going into this without much context or don't seek it passionately, they think you may change your mind and that you're "going through a phase" or that you can't consent due to not enough information that you know on it for such a majour medical decision.

If you come in confident asf that this is what you need, and you're like "Yeah I know this, I got this shit locked down" they know they're dealing with someone who is very damn sure this is the path they need, and thus the doctor doesn't have to worry nor explain more, which speeds everything up.

Overall, I will end this by saying I wish you the utmost good luck, and that whatever path you choose, you feel happy and gender-euphoric!! Thank you for asking my advice & I hope I helped in any way!! 👍👍💜🏳️‍⚧️

(ALSO I SEE UR USERNAME MMMMMNN YES, SOMEONE WITH QUALITY TASTE IN CHARACTERS--LMAOOO SRRY IM A SHAMELESS WILLIAM FANATIC, I GOTTA MENTION THAT

UR USERNAME MADE ME LEGIT SMILE-- HAHDJGNGJGJGJG)

[margonozako]

Beans Critical Analysis

Beans (2020), directed and co-written by Tracey Deer, is a semi-autobiographical film that follows Tekahentahkhwa (“Beans”) during the Oka Crisis (July through September of 1990). This violent conflict between a group of Mohawk people and the town of Oka in Quebec, Canada, in a way, began centuries before when the Mohawk (the most easterly section of the Iroquois Confederacy, located in southeast Canada and northern New York state) first settled in the area in the late 1660s1. However, this specific event arose because “The Pines” (indigenous land) and a nearby Mohawk cemetery were to be cleared to expand a golf course and build new condos. While not all residents of Oka supported the plan, the mayor refused to discuss and hear from the people. By the end, the crisis was successful in halting the development, but resulted in two killed and over one hundred wounded.

Tracey Deer, who was born and raised in Kahnawake (one of the Mohawk communities in the region of Oka), was 12 when she lived through this crisis. In the grand scheme of things, there are very few who could be entrusted to create a film on this specific event, and luckily, Deer is one of those. This won’t be a tale of the white savior entirely misunderstanding and misrepresenting colonization conflict! A nice change of pace.

Critical Race Theory

Critical Race Theory is at the heart of this film. It’s centered around an undeniably racialized conflict: First-Nations (and their supporters) vs. Colonizers. But, as mentioned previously, this is co-written and directed by a Mohawk woman who grew up in this community and experienced this conflict first-hand (the other writer is Meredith Vuchnich and it seems as though she is not indigenous). As we all know, relations between indigenous populations and settlers around the world are violent and oppressive, to say the least. Speaking for myself, I am most familiar with the North American history and from what I know, it is relatively representative of global indigenous genocide. So, what is so special about this film is that it is a coming of age story that takes place during a widely unrelatable historic moment and proves that the fight for sovereignty is not over. We’ve all been Beans: should she go to the private school she was accepted to? Are her new friends good for her? But also will her community succeed in the protection of their land? Deer sets the story during a somewhat recent conflict, proving the battle for sovereignty is not over as some might like to believe. In their article “Colonialism, Racism, and Representation: An Introduction,” Stam and Spence write that “[a]n ethnocentric vision rooted in North American cultural patterns can lead, similarly, to the ‘racialising’, or the introjection of racial themes into, filmic situations”2. I would argue that Beans is a functional execution of this idea: Tekahentahkhwa is just a pre-teen coming into a difficult world as she witnesses Canadians and their government fight against her existence and right to save her land. Stam and Spence also write specifically about indigenous populations, arguing that the “attitude toward the Indian is premised on exteriority”2 and the “besieged wagon train or fort is the focus of our attention and sympathy, and from this center our familiars sally out against unknown attackers characterized by inexplicable customs and irrational hostility”2 (2009, 759). While this is true in wider film history, I would argue that it is only partially true in Beans because Deer brings us onto the reservation and into Beans’ family. We’re not viewing the Mohawk community from the outside and watch them be victimized by white Candians. The viewer does not pity them and is more familiar with the attackers. However, it is clear that the hostility of the Canadians is irrational and wildly disproportionate (considering there should not have been a conflict in the first place because they were proposing to steal even more Mohawk land). Deer deftly navigates a relatable coming of age 90s story and the experience of indigenous women and populations in modern history. 

Montage Theory

Another theoretical approach that this film utilizes is the montage. I love a good montage, especially if it makes use of archival footage of historical events, and Deer does this flawlessly in Beans. She intercuts the narrative with footage of the actual protests to provide context and transition during the film. If we follow Sergei Ėjzenštejn’s Soviet Montage Theory, I would argue that Deer employs a metric overtonal, not just tonal, montage, because “movement is perceived in a wider sense”3 and it’s “based on the characteristic emotional sound of the piece,”3 but “it is distinguishable from tonal montage by the collective calculation of all the piece’s appeals”3. Furthermore, these archival montages are “capable of impelling the spectator to reproduce the perceived action, outwardly,”3 meaning Deer is looking to evoke an emotional reaction as the viewer is confronted with undeniable, clear evidence of the vitriol and hatred of the white Canadians. Through it direct confrontation, Deer sets a emotional tone, lest the viewers forget that Beans is not simply a coming of age film: Tekahentahkhwa and her family are battling a centuries-long genocide, something that most pre-teens are unfamiliar with. The structuring and score of almost every single montage is identical, creating an overarching tone conveyed by her. Many of these montages are accompanied by the newscasters’ voiceovers and a tight, quick, string-heavy score, almost reminiscent of a horror film, which I believe sets the consummate haunting tone and reveals the “psychological turmoil of [the] characters”4.

Beans is an amazing movie about an event that I, hate to admit it, had never heard of. I loved how Deer balanced a coming of age story with a violent crisis that is simply one event in a long history of colonial oppression by white settlers. Viewing this film through the lenses of Critical Race theory and Soviet Montage theory enhances her storytelling abilities and allows the viewer to melt into Beans’ world.

Sources:

Ėjzenštejn, Sergei. “Methods of Montage.” In The Film Form: Essays in Film Theory, translated by Jay Leyda, 72-83. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1949.

Melinda, Meng. “Bloody Blockades: The Legacy of the Oka Crisis.” Harvard International Review, 30 June 2020. https://hir.harvard.edu/bloody-blockades-the-legacy-of-the-oka-crisis/.

Pudovkin, Vsevolod. “From Film Technique [On Editing].” In Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings, edited by Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen, 7-12. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.

Stam, Robert, and Louise Spence. “Colonialism, Racism, and Representation: An Introduction.” In Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings, edited by Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen, 751–66. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. 

[cocoacat22]

Danganronpa-style killing game in WDO!

Just a story concept as mentioned in the author's notes near the end of The First Code, if the WDO establishes a council after the election for the next Director took place. I think it would be something cool to read, but I really need to focus more on the wdo library series instead as;dhaef So I am jotting down the concept to let it go, instead of writing it all out in another 100k+ fic LOL

Other than the new Number One is acting as the President, I don't know exactly how the council functions (LOL), but I'd say Forte is not a requirement to become a council member. Maybe the top management for the WDO's general staff (ex the instructors' representative, head of finance department, etc) can join as well?

Either way, since I am also lacking the brain power to plan/write all cases out and make up so many original characters (again), here is my general brainstorm of how it goes:

Participants & Location

16 people wake up, finding themselves in an empty, locked down WDO HQ (sky-scraper though, so maybe lock up rooms and floors or have some Forte suitable for vast investigation [ex Pucci's audial aptitude])

The current Number One is missing

The protagonist (with the traditional ahoge) doesn't have a Forte. He is recently invited to join the WDO council (as the new representative of general WDO staff members, probably)

At least half of this group has their own Fortes (which can be lies)

One of them claims he is amnesiac and doesn't remember much. However, he holds a WDO badge and remembers speaking to Number One before the knock-out, who told him to visit the WDO council.

(And of course, the amnesiac guy [Kai] in question is this dude:

Look at his youthful, innocent face- Do you believe him? He may not even be a real WDO Detective/ staff member!

I don't know if I would, but protag chooses to trust him.)

A mascot, who is definitely-not-Monokuma, comes out and explains the rules of the game. Simply put: If you want to live, kill without the others knowing and survive the trial! Or catch the culprit and move on!

2. The cases!

As per Danganronpa tradition, there are free time events in between cases to get to know everyone. Most of participants already know each other, but not in such a deep level as given by the current circumstances.

Being members of the WDO, they are already efficiently investigating the mastermind behind their predicament. Someone (Probably a vice president in the council? Not Kai, though) becomes the impromptu leader to gather and organize reported information.

Not knowing what to do, the protag goes around to different groups to see if there is anything to help with

And of course, definitely-not-Monokuma wouldn't let things sail smoothly.

Case 1:

Incentive: Ex Lives of other WDO members (friends, family, work/ organization itself)

Kill until only one of you lives. Or else. [But some rule is in place to prevent a killing spree]

VP: Only possible if Number One played a hand in it. [Empty out the skyscraper with so many people as hostages]

Detective #1: Then you are also sus, VP.

D #2: Maybe we should sacrifice ourselves for many other lives? -> Silence in the group [some seriously contemplating, but most don't want to die]

Kai: Calm down. Let's discuss other logical solutions together? [does not want to fall into the Mastermind's plans]

Murder happened the next day anyway.

A murder case committed by a regular WDO council member. Something for protag to grasp how the detective work goes.

Kai and several others help out in both investigation and trial

Danganronpa tradition: Betrayal of protag's trust from a close friend; Attempted murder gone wrong

People remaining: 14

Case 2:

Designed a plan to catch Mastermind as a group, but failed

Someone among them is a traitor...? Or they are the Mastermind themselves...? (Uncertain)

Probably the victim/ killer did something suspicious, and the other got into an argument with them.

A slightly more complicated murder case. Need more cooperation/ uses of Fortes, but everyone is suspicious of each other.

Protag follows Kai like a lost puppy during investigation, much to his amusement (but he understands his predicament, so he patiently helps him via talk-no-jutsu to others)

Protag: You sure you don't remember a thing...?

Kai: Nope. Just instinct. :)

Danganronpa tradition: Reveal serial killer (maybe with split personality); Reveal something new and unexpected about victim/ culprit

People remaining: 12

Case 3:

Protag learns more tidbits about his friends, especially how Kai should not be allowed in the kitchen

Someone suggests each person/ group to try catch the traitor/Mastermind in their own ways (almost like a competition, I suppose)

Culprit uses this opportunity for their own benefit.

A seemingly impossible case! But it is actually caused by someone's Forte! (Bonus if it was briefly shown during previous cases' investigations)

Culprit exclaims someone secretly forged decisive evidence by copying his Forte after the trial (Coalescence *cough cough*). But of course, no one believes them

Danganronpa tradition: The double kill case; Motivated by selfish greed (Ex. Wants to become the next Number One)

People remaining: 9

Case 4:

Group finds out current Number One was dead for quite sometime. The one they saw near the beginning of the story was an imposter?!

Mastermind is someone else then? Even more likely now that they are in the group after betraying Number One

Tense atmosphere (suspicions, uncertainty, worry, impatience, etc)

More arguments -> protag tries to break up fights

Protag: We should work together! Didn't the last appointed Number One encourage us to? *Some of others rolled eyes at him*

Someone suggests everyone stay together in one room, so everyone can keep an eye out for each other (no more killings and scheming behind their backs)

Someone got killed the next day anyway

(The night before, Kai secretly sneaks to book vault by himself to look at current Number One's file, compare to cause/manner of death, and narrow down the Mastermind's characteristics])

Nearly caught/ got called out by another detective, but protag helps Kai out

Protag: I am not sure where you have been/ what you have been up to. But from the time we spent together, I believe in you, Kai!

Kai: *difficult to decipher kind of smile* You really remind me of someone I once knew.

Danganronpa tradition: Hard/ difficult to identify murder weapon; Sacrifice of the big guy :(

People remaining: 7

Case 5:

(Kai is going to reveal the Mastermind, and becomes a victim in the process)

Protag is disheartened when they find his body.

Kai's true identity as former Number One is revealed during the trial

The killer was forced by the Mastermind to do so in their stead (ex manipulated, through the real Forte that someone was hiding [ex Persuasion], etc.)

D:<

Danganronpa tradition: A trap as an attempt to break the game; Unknown cause of death (where Kai aims to trick the mastermind to expose themselves, probably)

People remaining: 5

Case 6:

Gather all pieces of information about the truth, free to explore throughout the entire skyscraper

Protag finds the current Number One's file as retrieved by Kai

Identifies the real Mastermind during the trial!

Danganronpa tradition: A mind-blowing truth that causes the protag to enact change

Ex: Everyone here are homunculi! Current Number One decided to mass produce homunculi of the WDO members (especially Master Detectives, old and new), so the skill wouldn't be lost even if the original dies. Aka, this is a test trial of how successful the new experiment was. Maybe the Mastermind is the only human in the group, who despises homunculi. They learn of current Number One's plans, killed them, and then hijacked the test to kill off the rest of the homunculi.

3. Ending:

Mastermind tries to run away, but stops by someone.

Kai is alive!! Actually, he is Makoto all along!

This story takes places a hundred year+ after RainCode. Makoto is here because he heard rumors of homunculus project elsewhere. Again. (And also partly because of a semi-promise to Yuma to occasionally check on the WDO council. But he is not going to admit that out loud!! :3)

Mastermind (and accomplices, if any) are apprehended

the survivors come to live and find their place in Kanai Ward (maybe protag becomes a trainee under the unzombified Chief Yakou!)

And that's about it! Thanks for reading till the end and indulging me in this long post~

[letters-to-rosie]

mhm, I think for Jinx interpersonal relationships definitely take the highest priority, so whatever enforcer killing she might've wanted to do over the years, she wouldn't have done it if she didn't think she could make it up to Silco afterwards. I think that's why both sets of killings (the lab and the bridge) are related to her getting the hexgem, even though she probably could have done all of that in a less bloody way. I suspect she chose to do it in a bloody way for cop-hating reasons, but yeah, she clearly only acts in that way when she thinks her relationship with Silco will be able to survive the action

I also draw some of the implication that enforcers are a big part of her story from the Enemy MV, considering those are the enemies she takes down and she's shown to suffer under them regularly as a kid

the interesting thing about Jinx, though, is she doesn't really seem to care about existing on top of the hierarchy of the undercity when it's under Silco's control. she certainly cares about her freedom, and she enjoys being enabled, but this is all more interpersonal than it is a desire to maintain hierarchical property relations. Jinx doesn't have "greed-confused motives." she's romping around in torn-up clothes all day! lol caring primarily about freedom and relationships means any future she imagines isn't necessarily resting on the continued oppression of the rest of Zaun. I'm firmly in the "let's repoliticize Jinx" camp, but I agree she's probably not aware of her ideals, even if her actions suggest she has some

Sevika is really interesting to me because she's (imo) the most ideologically committed character in the show. she's made it clear her loyalty is based primarily around whether or not someone's plan of action will get her closer to her goals. and she defects when Vander puts down the possibility of organizing a mass movement, in the same scene where Jinx/Powder is confident one would work. Ekko of course then reveals that this is because of Vander's deal with Grayson. I think Sevika would be happy enough with a bourgeois revolution, or at least happy enough to see it as a step (there are limits on this, as seen with Finn), but I doubt she's entirely opposed to mass action. it would be interesting to think up a "what-if" about Vander capitulating and agreeing to lead an uprising with her help

but the advantage Vander did not have that Silco was later able to negotiate was the lack of surveillance. Grayson had a deal with him, but it wasn't like the enforcers were functionally out of Zaun, and she certainly didn't answer to Vander. she had almost all the real power in that dynamic, whereas Silco has much more of the real power over Marcus, making a mass movement much more viable

Interestingly, a few pages later in Blood in My Eye, George Jackson writes something that I think makes a pretty good critique of Vander lol

We clearly cannot dodge our responsibilities by giving credence to slogans built around “conditions.” Conditions will never be altogether right for a broadly based revolutionary war unless the fascists are stricken by an uncharacteristic fit of total madness. Should we wait for something that is not likely to occur at least for decades? The conditions that are not present must be manufactured. Recall: we had people who felt conditions weren’t right in the 1930s also. The government’s bread lines were backed up around every corner, and baseball was at its peak. Private ownership of public property should have been destroyed in that decade, but the “conditions weren’t right.” The vanguard elements betrayed the people of this nation and the world as a result of their failure to seize the time. The consequences were a catastrophic war and a new round of imperialist expansion, this time carried out by the greatest imperialist of all time—the Yankee brigand. There would now be no Indochina “situation” (to mention one of dozens of like situations) if we had taken ourselves seriously then, when all conditions were favorable. It was a slightly below-conscious desire to avoid doing the U.S. further violence, and perhaps a general distaste for organized violence, in particular, that robbed us of our chance to win on that occasion when, ironically, a win would have cost very little. There wasn’t then even the illusion of well-being.

tbf Jackson was not alive in the 30s but I think he has a point lol. Silco is basically manufacturing his own conditions, which is good, but he's not using them to their fullest potential, which he pays for. I guess the real question is the one you raise about Sevika, and if others will also see the rocket as the thing that creates the conditions they need

so not that long ago, I sat down and wrote out some thoughts about why Silco didn't start a mass movement in Zaun and why I think that's lame (while also recognizing it's not all his fault). this is here

but you know what's kinda wild about that? the first person to suggest a mass movement after Vander's rebellion fails is JINX! in the first act, she suggests everyone in the Lanes get together and fight the enforcers and she believes they would win! and Jinx, you're correct! you would win! you're all too important to the system topside has set up for them to crush you all! I wish you had been able to win your new dad over to your position! 😭😭😭

[twilight-orchid]

How The Demon Brothers React After Fighting With Their SO

tw: some angst with resolution at the end, mentions of past arguments, insecurity.

Lucifer:

This man is petty as hell.

He doesn’t do the silent treatment, but he acts like you aren’t dating.

If you need to work on something together, you’re a co-worker.

At RAD you’re a classmate.

Around the house you’re just a housemate.

His poker face is immaculate and it will not crack when you’re around.

If someone didn’t know what was happening, they’d probably think you two barely knew each other.

However, you won’t notice, but as soon as you look the other way his eyes are on you.

He’s used to arguing with his brothers and is no stranger to explosive fights that end with he and the other person not being on speaking terms.

But you’re different.

He tries to go on with business as usual, but he can’t think about anything other than how much he misses you.

Yet, he lets it continue because he just can’t put his pride aside and apologize.

If you decide to sleep in your old room it’ll both hurt his feelings and royally piss him off.

He thinks you’re being childish and will be pretty rude about it, but that’s because internally his blood just ran cold.

It adds a degree of seriousness to the argument that he’s uncomfortable with.

Yes he’s mad, but he can’t lose you.

If you still sleep in his bed, he makes sure to scoot over to the very edge so he doesn’t cuddle you in his sleep.

In fact, the first night after the argument he’d probably put a pillow between you just to really punctuate the fact that he’s still upset.

I’d say it could go 4 days to a week tops without you making up.

After a point though, he just can’t function until the issue is resolved. He can’t sleep, he’s falling behind on his work, and he’s just generally not doing well.

You get called to his office one night and find him at his desk surrounded by piles of paper, disheveled and exhausted.

“MC, come sit down. I’d like to talk this through. Please.”

Mammon:

He’s so dramatic.

You dare defy him? The Great Mammon can’t believe this tiny fragile human would have the audacity.

The theatrics are just a front though.

His ‘The Great Mammon’ act is a mask for his insecurity, one he hasn’t had to use with you in awhile.

Even as the words leave his mouth he regrets them.

He’s going to be very uncomfortable with everything until the argument is resolved, but most of all himself.

He’s learned not to take his brothers too seriously when they toss insults his way, but words have a way of morphing to belief over time.

Internally he is going to be super hard on himself. 

Regardless of if the fight was his fault or not, he’s going to kick himself constantly for making yet another mistake.

He’s over the argument pretty fast. The anger quickly melts into anxiety.

Are you going to leave him? Do you hate him? Did he hurt your feelings? 

That being said, he doesn’t know if you’re still mad and he doesn’t know how to ask. 

As a defense mechanism, he defaults to how he treated you when you first arrived in the devildom.

Calls you human, disregards you, stuff like that.

If you decide to sleep in another room, before midnight expect him to be knocking on the door.

“Oi, MC. You awake? I just - I can’t - *sigh* Can we talk about this?”

If you sleep in his bed, he makes a point of sleeping with his back to you.

Less because he’s actually mad and more because he doesn’t want his image of you as he drifts to sleep to be a look of anger.

Though as soon as he passes out he’ll roll over and tuck you into his arms on instinct.

I’d say any after effects of an argument with Mammon would be resolved in a day, maybe two tops.

Leviathan:

Arguing activates his trolling the forums mode.

Goes back to calling you a normie and contradicts everything you say.

He’s less mad about the argument and more using the bitterness to cope with how upset he is.

He feels like a break up is less of an if and more of a when.

Why would someone as amazing as you settle for weird otaku like him?

Honestly doesn’t understand why you’re with him in the first place, so when there’s a serious argument he assumes its over.

Tbh don’t know how you and Levi would sleep together being that I doubt two could fit in a tub, but any deviation to your routine sends him into a panic.

It’s his reality check that the situation is serious and he needs to fix it NOW.

He’d have trouble apologizing in person. He can’t think of what to say, he stumbles over his words, and he feels like he’s on the verge of a panic attack.

Instead, expect a long ass text message.

He says how sorry he is, how much he misses and loves you, and legit begs you to forgive him.

If you sleep with him like normal, he’ll probably try to make up after laying there for awhile. His mind is going a million miles an hour and there’s no way he can sleep.

Still really has trouble verbalizing how he feels, so give the poor boy a break and take over the conversation.

He hasn’t had a serious relationship before and he doesn’t know what he should do to make it better.

So the after effects will last however long it takes him to read several mangas, watch some anime, and play a few games to see how the characters get over arguments in the story.

Satan:

Satan makes sure not to fight with you over minor issues.

He’s worked tirelessly to tame his wrath and he refuses to feed into it over a minor issue.

Thus, if you fight with Satan it’s a major argument and it’s explosive.

The aftermath isn’t much better.

He doesn’t want to risk blowing up again, so he’s frighteningly calm.

He’s an absolute master of the silent treatment.

He won’t say a word to you until he’s certain he’s calmed down enough.

For the first few days he’ll straight up leave a room if you enter.

For a good while the only way you can expect to communicate with him is through his body language and the expression in his eyes.

Satan’s biggest fear is losing control and lashing out at you. 

He couldn’t live with himself if he hurt you and he can’t stand the thought of you being afraid of him. 

He’s a whirlwind of emotions, so he isolates himself until he can figure out how to deal with it.

Not just from you, but from everyone else too. 

Satan will not share a bed with you for at least the first night.

If he got worked up enough to actually fight, it’s gonna take him time to simmer down.

And he’d rather not risk doing or saying something he regrets in the meantime.

Once he’s ready, he’ll approach you when he’s completely calmed down and has thoroughly analyzed the situation.

He’s considered both of your sides, tried to pinpoint what caused the disagreement to turn into a fight, and made a plan of action to prevent it from happening again.

“MC? I’ve been thinking quite a bit about what happened. Would you please talk it through with me?”

He won’t apologize for the argument if he feels like he was right, but he will apologize for letting the disagreement escalate into a fight.

Satan could go weeks without making up if necessary, but he tries to resolve it within a couple of days.

Asmodeus:

Wants to give you the silent treatment, but is physically incapable.

He can’t stand to have you ignore him.

He’s the type to go back to normal then suddenly remembers you guys had a fight.

“Wait, no! I’m not talking to you! I’m mad at you!”

His biggest downfall is that he’s so stubborn.

If he thinks he was right, he will die on that hill.

There are arguments with his brothers that happened a thousand years ago and he could still tell you exactly why he was right.

But with you, he realizes that doesn’t matter too him nearly as much as it usually does.

If it means going back to normal, he’ll forget who’s right or wrong.

If you sleep in another room, he’s beyond offended.

“What?! Well fine! I don’t want you in my bed anyway!”

Laying in bed alone is a different story though.

He can’t sleep. All he can think about is you. Your face when you sleep next to him, your smell, the feeling of his arms around you.

He 100% cries.

Finally goes and knocks on your door with wet, glossy eyes.

“MC? Can we talk about this? I can’t get my beauty sleep and my tears are wiping off all of my skin care lotion!”

Will throw himself into your arms before you can answer.

If you sleep next to him still, he rolls over and watches you sleep.

It puts him at peace and he decides seeing your sweet, resting face every morning is worth more to him than the argument.

He’ll initiate the conversation the next morning.

I think Asmo could make it a few days if it was a really serious argument, but he will not function well until you make up.

Beelzebub:

Wants to make up immediately.

He doesn’t like to argue, even less so with you.

Whether he was right or wrong, he blames himself. He’ll take all the blame in the world if it makes you happy.

He’ll go make you your favorite food and bring it to you.

If he thinks you don’t want to talk to him, he’ll leave it outside your door and text you to let you know it’s there.

He’s honestly devastated if you decide to sleep in another room.

You guys migrate to your old room when you want privacy from Belphie, but you almost never sleep separately.

Seeing you grab your pillows and march out of the room nearly stops his heart.

He goes completely numb and silent as he just stares at the space you had just occupied.

Like Levi, he thinks this means the relationship is over and he genuinely does not know what to do with himself.

He can’t even bring himself to eat, he just wants to lie there, lost and trying to grapple with his emotions. 

He’s another one who will absolutely cry, but unlike Asmo he will make sure no one knows it.

If you still sleep in his bed, he’s very nervous about it.

He doesn’t know if it’s okay to touch you, what he can or can’t say, stuff like that.

He just lays there stiff as a board not even able to close his eyes.

Honestly the fight would probably have to be resolved before bed. His anxiety just can’t take it.

I don’t think he’d initiate the apology. Not because he doesn’t want to make up but because his confidence is rock bottom in these situations.

He catastophizes and honestly thinks you hate him.

If you don’t initiate the apology soon, Belphie will. He can feel what his twin won’t say, and he knows Beel won’t approach you about it for fear of making it worse.

Belphie will lock you two in a room if that’s what it takes for you to make up.

Belphegor:

The embodiment of if looks could kill.

He won’t talk to you, won’t look at you, basically pretends you aren’t there.

If he must interact with you he’ll roll his eyes and sigh the whole time.

Tries to sleep through any interaction so he doesn’t have to deal with it.

He feels almost betrayed by the fight.

He thought the relationship was stronger than to have such a huge divide, so he’s really insecure about it.

After the first day, the anger has melted away to guilt.

He ‘s not guilty that you fought, but he is guilty about how he treated you after.

Guilt and self-blame have become unwelcome friends at this point. Guilt over Lilith, over his plans to destroy the human world, everything.

But more than anything else, the guilt for the fact that he attacked you weighs on him every day.

He moved past it quickly after, essentially pretending he hadn’t killed you, but that’s because he just couldn’t confront what he’d done. 

He feels like the luckiest demon alive that you forgave him, let alone  opened you heart enough to love him, and now it’s all in tatters.

Another thing to regret.

If you decide to sleep separately, it’ll hit him like a bag of bricks.

“You - what? Where are you going?” 

It’ll take him a second to process what you were doing, but then he’ll roll over and let you leave.

“Fine. Don’t let the door hit you.”

No one will see him for awhile. 

Belphie sleeps all the time anyway, but he just can’t make himself get out of bed.

If you don’t approach him to apologize, Beel will tell you that he’s been nauseous and randomly emotional which must mean his twin is coping very badly. 

Will beg you to go make Belphie happy again. 

If you sleep in his bed still, the argument will be resolved by morning.

He can’t keep himself from embracing you in his sleep, and it’s hard to say you’re mad at someone when you wake up in their loving arms.

It’s hard to pinpoint how long it could last with Belphie. If you don’t apologize first, he won’t let himself be conscious long enough to approach you.

This is both my first hc post as well as my first obey me post so I’m sorry if le boys are ooc. I just got this idea and couldn’t stop thinking about it so here we are.  Especially Belphie, he was hard to me for some reason. Let me know if you guys agree or disagree and if you want to send a request or ask, my box is open! 

[tredderwrite]

Symphony ~ Technoblade

Word count: 2.1k

Pairing: c!Technoblade / reader

Warnings: explosives mentioned, reader in a dress

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“Have I told you how beautiful you look tonight?” his jaw tensed up, hiding his disgust, he had a story to sell and no plan to fail. “No,” you smirked, pushing your luck, your taunting stare burned into his eyes, “you haven’t, tell me about it.” He paused, to anyone who didn’t know any better he looked unphased, but you saw the shock in his eyes, so sharp he could kill you right there, but passed quickly, at least quicker than his following words, “ I cannot.” The room lit up, laughter flared from every corner, and every unsuspecting victim mistook his words for friendly banter, remembering his nature, keen on his deep sarcasm. 

The mission was clear, you were paired up with Technoblade, well known for his competence, and highly skilled in many things, especially assassination. He was the only one up for it, immediately jumping at the idea of putting all his enemies in their well-deserved grave, what he didn’t know was the plus one he’d have to bring when attending the function.

A soiree, dress coded strictly, putting you in a ballgown, not the most efficient attire when it came to hiding weapons, the heavy red velvet piled on top of the both of you, your flowing floor-length dress and his cape to match, the weight only added to the disadvantage. However, though far from practical, the outfits did paint the perfect picture, pushing your courted appearance above actual couples in the room. 

You shifted your weight as the laughter died down, leaning your shoulder against his, your chin resting right above your collarbones as you smiled at him, shifting your eyes toward the hall, quickly signing for a meeting. He stood up, excusing you both as he took your hand in his, walking slowly, showing no signs of his intentions, completely calm and confident in his stride. Conversation continued at the comically long dining table as you stood up and followed him, voices fading the further you strayed. 

Pulling him into a corner you sighed, the stress already shaking you up, yet he seemed to be going strong. “When do you need to go?” you asked, ready to hear the plan over one more time, making sure you aren’t capable of screwing things up. “I’ll go now, you make up something to tell them, I’ll plant the TNT, start the timer, and come back, just make sure everyone is distracted, okay?” he stated, not missing a beat, his brows furrowing the longer he waited for your response, “Alright,” you nodded, about to speak again, but he stole your words, “I know you like fighting better, but there’s no way we could show up with armor and weapons drawn here, just go along with it once.” his words were quick, eyes already shifting for the fastest route to take, you turned your head away from him, eyebrows raising momentarily, showing your concern with the whole situation, “We’ll make it out in time,” he spoke up again, already turning to leave, “don’t worry, and don’t blow our cover.” his footsteps quickly getting quieter.

Walking back you rehearsed your words, desperately searching for an excuse, but your thoughts were interrupted, questions about his sudden disappearance already thrown your way “He’s in the bathroom,” you blurted, the worst one you could’ve come up with, thankful there were multiple scattered around the property so if anyone was determined to find him they’d spend a good while searching, keeping you safe for some time. Heads nodded in understanding, and the discussion continued with no further concern for a while, about twenty minutes before you were doubted again, your heart racing as you stood up, face twisting in a fake frown, “I’ll go check up on him,” your hands came together to fidget with the top rail of your chair as you pushed it forward to the table “he should be back by now,” the statement only partially made up as he had to have something in the way to take that long. 

Walking the corridors was different when you were alone, everything suddenly seemed so dark, closing in on every corner in your vision, speeding up your pace, a final push to find him before anyone else does. The time seemed long and drawn out, a couple of minutes took hours to pass as you walked up and down every stairway, opening every door to try and see if he was around. Luck smiled your way at the end of what looked like a hidden staff tunnel, the door opened in front of you, a moment of panic taking over before you saw his famous pink hair, pieces falling on his face right above his scars, pushed in place by the crown sitting heavy on his head. The tall man jumped back, startled by you just as much as he startled you, quickly grabbing your forearm, dragging the both of you out of the forbidden ground. “Why are you here?” his voice was hushed, angry yet quiet, breath heavy as he basically ran back to safety. 

He let go of you just in time, instead stretching his hand out in front of your body, putting a finger up to his lips to stop any questions. Footsteps echoed your way, careful and quiet, yet still audibly closing in on you, he nodded at you, hoping you play along with his next move. “You didn’t have to worry baby,” his voice echoed louder than the walking as you turned the corner, you held back a scoff at his words, going with the conversation as you passed by Dream, seemingly headed for the bathroom, or at least you only guessed, no clue to where it actually was. Too scared of anyone else you kept a pleasant small talk going, no harsh remarks that could give you away but no overly informational planning either. All eyes were on you both upon your return, the short walk from the doorway to your seats excruciatingly awkward, the silence only adding to the discomfort. 

Clearing your throat you took a step toward your seat, the pink-haired male already reaching for your chair, pulling it out then going to his, all four legs scraping against the floor while he pulled it closer to yours, leaving an inch or two between them before he sat down. His arm reached for you, hovering above your thigh, heartbeat quickly ascending to the base of your throat, bringing heat to your cheeks. “Lift my sleeve.” his voice came in a whisper, directly in your ear, his breath ghosting past your neck, into your hair. You obliged, pulling it up just enough to see what he was hiding, uncovering the timer strapped to his wrist for a second, quickly pulling the fabric down, afraid someone else might see, you lifted your head back up, now looking at his smiling face, passing off the moment as a romantic gesture for the rest to digest. Straightening up, he went right back to his food, ignoring the vicious thump against his chest, unwilling to admit to his strange feelings for you, who he once called a rival, now a fake date to a team operation. 

The music changed, a fast tango urged on by the melody. He pulled up his sleeve again, eyes widening at the widget on his wrist, caught off guard by the surprisingly short amount of time you two had before you needed to make your escape, tuning it to end at least 10 seconds early giving just enough time to avoid the detonated explosives below your feet. Standing up quickly he kept a firm hand on the wrist with the time, smoothing the sleeve over before he kneeled down, extending out his palm for you to take. “Care for a dance?” his voice laced a charm too convincing, the same heat from before returning in your body. “Sure.” you returned the smooth tone, taking the opportunity to talk to him. 

Every head was turned toward you, nobody else dared to step up on the dancefloor, piling on the pressure. A firm hand was placed on your waist, pressing you close against his chest, you both leaned in close, faces lacking distance, he took the lead, taking you in circles around the space, only talking at the times you were furthest away from the table. “There’s not much time left.” he said, quickly shuffling back to where you could be heard, the silence fell again shortly. 

Once you reached the distance point again, he spoke up, “I’ll tell you when, you just run, I’ll meet you at these coordinates.” he pointed your interlocked arms down, catching a paper falling from his sleeve in your linked hold, pressing it against your palm. You pulled your fingers out the space between his, clutching the item in an closed fist, his hand enclosed over your knuckles, bringing the dance to a slow, dipping your body down, you gripped the fabric right below his collar. 

“Ready?” his voice quiet, never once wavering despite the distraction, “born,” your response was brief, the sound strained through your teeth, tightly pressed together, creating the illusion of an innocent smile, one without any hidden intentions.

“Run!” he whispered, not even a second after your response, arms immediately dropping your sides, you knew he meant every man for himself.

At least, he wanted to, his body flew forward, every step faster than the previous, but his heart was pulling him against the effort, his mind stuck on the moment you were no longer in his hold. 

You ran behind him, still following his lead despite the harsh farewell. But he saw no issues with it, barely noticing while his head clouded, the itch to put your safety first kept poking at his gut, the anxious feeling spreading up toward his chest.

While you ran down the front entrance steps the explosions began to sound off, the shockwave pushing your forward ever so slightly, speeding down the marbled surface, still chasing after your companion. Panic rose in the building once you stared running, reaction far too late to save the rest, getting no headstart to the chase. He whipped his head back in the midst of all the chaos, eyes quickly scanned the building up in smoke, searching for you, but he didn’t need to look far, your path only straying from his once you had the time to read the paper, heading for the predetermined location, you assumed he had something to take care of before joining you, setting off by yourself. His gaze followed your figure, speeding off away from him, he felt a bit relieved, glad you were at least alive, yet still pulled to chase after you and make sure you’re alright. 

Shaking the thoughts from his head he continued on, climbing on a horse he had tied up within a mile or so, speeding down the same route you had taken mere minutes ago. You ran before him, not alone for long, the harsh clack of hooves against the packed dirt below alerted you of his presence, coming in view soon after you stopped running to catch your breath. He slowed down too, jumping down he took the lead on his horse and walked beside you, his lungs still burning just as much as yours did. 

“You’re okay?” he panted, words fast and breathy. “Yeah, where were you?” you gestured to the horse, attempting to chuckle but the lack of air only brought you to a cough. In a split second he was at your side, hand on your back, soothing your outburst. After you calmed down he finally felt at ease, nerves settled at the thought of your guaranteed safety, only with you next to him he could get rid of that drowning thought you were somehow in danger when away. “Had to take this guy,” he patted the saddle on the horse, smiling gently, “I couldn’t leave it behind.” 

“Oh,” was all you said, tearing your eyes from him and instead pointing your field of view toward the sky, counting the stars above you as you kept your body close to his. 

“You know,” the numbers scattered from your head once you heard him speak again. “Hm?” turning to look at him again, you found his sight glued to the horizon, “We should do that more often, like, go on missions together and stuff-” “Oh my god?!” you gasped, pushing him aside with your elbow, “are you asking me out?” a teasing smile spread wide across your face. “HEH?” he turned to look at you, bewildered at your pride. You only laughed, mocking his reaction, everything from the look on his face to the way his neck craned forward. He scoffed playfully, mounting on the saddle again, “Whatever, I’ll see you there”. You watched as he sped off, welcoming the warmth of your fluttering heart, finally at peace with the newfound feeling.