#idk how well i explained this

[sainz100]

2024 Brazilian GP | x

[barghest-land]

ata tu corazón, mi amor, y arrástralo por la tierra

[zarnzarn]

TW: jumping on the manwhore au but aftermath, discussion of S/A, read carefully.

Three weeks pass.

Odysseus is carried through them with ecstasy and joy, reuniting and grieving and laughing and rearranging.

But then everything settles down, and-

It was him who'd ordered it. Ordered owls to be carved into every free inch of Ithaka, coveted shipments of the secretive birds for his personal menagerie, sold trinkets in the market. Made no secret of who favoured them, when he had half the houses painted blue.

But now every step he takes in his own home haunts him.

He cannot so much as look to the side before feeling the urge to flinch away, shame growing inside of him until it chokes him up. Cannot look at any owls. Cannot look at any of his men.

("Well, if our captain can't think his way out of it, at least now we know talking filthy works just as well!" One of the men chortles, unaware of how Odysseus' blood had run cold, standing with his hand raised to knock.)

("This day, you've lost it all, consider this as my goodbye-")

("Come on, she's a beautiful, powerful lady! How bad could it really have been, Captain?")

("Captain?" Eurylochus whispers, as Odysseus wipes the blood off his mouth and reaches for his cloak. The ships are silent, even though the roar of the waves has left. Eyes stare at him from all directions, wide and-

Pitying? Horrified? Odysseus can't really tell.

"Full speed ahead," He says, voice ruined, and keeps his chin high as he hobbles back to his room.)

(When the sirens come, all he sees is Penelope. It is nice, at least, to know that he can discard the intrusive thoughts creeping in about natural reactions and forced pleasures.)

("Please- please don't do this, don't make me choose, I'll do anything-")

("Leave me the fuck alone, both of you. If Penelope does not take me back after all of this, it's her choice. But I have to get all of us off this island and it's better me than you.")

"Ody- Your Majesty!" Odysseus reaches into his robes, pulls out the whittling tool and the wood, busies himself as he walks. It's one of the younger men, the ones who'd barely been boys when they left. "Listen, we were wondering if- if you'd come join us at the festival! The- all of the men, really, we've been- heh- missing you since we now have to share you with the rest of the kingdom. We could- we could sing together? Like we used to?"

Athena's prayers.

"You go ahead," Odysseus murmurs, eyes on the carving. "Next time."

"But you didn't come for the last one either!"

"I have-" He hears his own sharp tone, stops and swallows to soften it. He was terrible to all of them, he knows, those last few days aboard the ship, rude and sharp and brutal like all the other royals, where he never was before. "I have work to do. Have a good day. I've heard the new hound stock is coming in today, you should see if you want a pet."

He ignores whatever is said in response, walking on. He wonders, darkly, what they think of him. Do they still think he enjoyed it? That it was a privilege to be had by gods?

("He won't speak to us!" One of them hiss that night, when the lad comes back sniffling and downcast, like all the others. They'd grown up with Odysseus, almost like younger brothers, and all of the younger ones were taking the sudden frigid silence hard. They all were. Somewhere they had lost their friend, left him behind without noticing, until only their king returned. "He cannot possibly think we think less of him for sacrificing so much, for- the gods are impossible to hold up against, he can't think we blame him for-"

"We don't know what he thinks," Polites says, pulling his head out of his hands and wrapping his arms around himself. "He doesn't even look at us."

The men around the fire are all silent.

"He has to know, right?" Someone whispers. "He has to.")

"What did happen on the trip back?" Penelope says, voice quiet, sitting next to him. He jolts. When did he reach their bedroom? "Something did. You have barely touched me since that first day."

Odysseus opens his mouth, but for the first time, he has nothing to say. What can he? She had known, the first second he had turned his eyes from her in shame, and yanked him back in anyway with eyes blazing like a lion, growling that she didn't care what he had to do to come back, as long as he had.

Odysseus doesn't feel like he has.

Penelope carefully takes the whittling knife away from him, as well as the spear he'd carved. "And you have not prayed, after your return."

(He had tried. Had walked right upto the temple steps when everyone was asleep, and then turned around and thrown up in a bush.)

"Have you heard the story of the high priestess Medusa?" He murmurs, staring at the wall. Watches the shadows dancing across. "Athena used to tell me about her. One of her favourite devotees. I never understood why she cursed her, when it was not her fault."

Penelope puts a hand on his shoulder. Both of them are shaking. She has seen the scars, the ones that glow beautiful and bright, left behind by each god who touched him.

"A gorgon, snake-woman, capable of turning anyone she looked upon to stone, gods and humans alike. No eyes upon her, ever again."

The breeze blows in.

"At the time, I thought it to be a curse." He whispers. Remembers the story of the way she had screamed in the temple bower for Athena's help, insane, at the feeling he knows now is violation of self and celibacy both; Athena's chosen, ripped away from one of their ways of worship by force. "Now I know it was a blessing."

"But-" Penelope swallows. "Perseus-"

"Was a mercy." He looks at the ground. "She was pregnant. She did not wish to be. Athena granted her so."

"The shield is to honor her," Penelope murmurs. "Not a trophy."

He hums.

"I-" Penelope starts, voice thick. "I remember when you asked. When we first got married. If I was fine with not being joined with you in bed often, as long as I was satisfied. Was it-?"

"Only her priestesses can have true celibacy, her devotees less, me lesser. I had a crown to continue, so Athena accepted a more lenient vow, when I became her student." He stares out at the sea, the sky. "But I had vowed. I had sworn." A half-sob escapes him, some delayed noise of grief. It feels far away now, and the scars have all healed, but he cannot move past the violation, the stares, the whispers. The shame of betrayal. "I had an oath, Penelope."

"It was not your fault," Penelope whispers, taking his hand like he will shatter like glass. "Poseidon seems to target all of Athena's people. If anything-"

"We fought," He says, turning his head to press his face to her shoulder, shuddering as he confesses it. Abandoned by his own god. "She left. Maybe this is her punishment, all the eyes, all the time. Paranoid that another Olympian will jump out of the shadows, do it again."

"Or," Penelope says after a long pause. "She does not know. Only one way to truly find out."

Odysseus considers.

"Could you," He swallows, throat clicking. "Could you get me- the things from my shrine?"

-

He does not expect her to actually arrive.

He shakes in front of her, for the first time, feeling small and foolish and broken. Wishes he could go back to being twelve, do it all over correctly. "Lady Athena," He says, as formally as he can. "I beg your forgiveness. Please- please, is there anything I can do to-"

"About time," She interrupts, bored. "Finally willing to concede that I was right?"

Odysseus feels bile rise in his throat. "Yes, goddess. I was- stupid, to ever consider otherwise."

Penelope's hand is clenched tight in his robes, kneeling with him.

"Good," Athena says, pleased. "A war well won, all things considered. Our glory will go down in the history books." A pause. "Why are you on the floor?"

"What?" He chokes out.

"You've never kneeled to me once, even when I've taken you out at the ankles, you impudent brat," She snorts. Odysseus feels his pounding heart freeze in his chest at the- fondness in her voice. Fondness. She is not furious with him, not unforgiving. "What, do you want something else-"

She knocks him on the head, flicking him on the forehead playfully- then freezes as he looks up at her. Goes completely still, and he knows she can see what they did to him.

Penelope's hand reaches out to steady him.

"Only your forgiveness, goddess," His voice breaks. "Only that."

-

After, Penelope holds him, crying silently herself as she wipes at his cheeks. Athena sits with her head in her hands, helmet removed, anger finally under control but completely silent. Just sits there at the edge of their bed, bent over, face buried in her own palms.

Finally, she straightens, inhaling. Turns to look at him. "You may not be alive to see it," She tells him, quiet and furious. "But this is their last transgression, I swear to you. I will find a way to get revenge. They will die."

"I do not-"

"They will die. And no vows have been broken." She hesitates, hand hovering over his ankle. Odysseus crumbles, nodding desperately, and nearly passes out at the relief of the familiar touch, sharp and cleansing, godly and unlike the chaos of all the others. "You need not apologise to me about that."

He sniffs, turning his face into Penelope's shoulder. It feels freeing, some latent relief that Athena finally sees him, understands, forgives. She is not the terrifying goddess so far removed, cold and cruel, that he was starting to think she truly might be; bowed over in grief and horror for him, like a friend- he just wishes this was not the reason why.

Her eyes are gold at the edges. Crying. Nauseated almost, at the fact that- her uncle. Her father.

"Would you-" Odysseus wheezes. His heart hurts still, for their fight, for what happened after, for how hard he knows she will take it. "Can you-"

"Anything, champion," She says softly, strained. Gives him a half-smile. "My friend."

"The wings-" He whispers, feeling stupid, but-

"Slow," Penelope murmurs, reaching out to steady Athena as she climbs in close. Her voice is wrecked. She does not say anything more.

Owl wings fold around him, not white or blue or pink, patterned and brown like the mud; home. Home.

"No one will see you," Athena murmurs, and her voice is wretched, but caring. "No one can see you. Peace."

"Peace," Odysseus repeats, and leans into them both, letting the darkness shroud around them like an embrace. Peace.

Home.

[thevoidstaredback]

How To Balance Your Daytime and Nighttime Activities So That You Don't Burn Yourself Out More Than You Already Have

It was halfway through his shift the next day, just after he'd come back from lunch, that the anonymous tip came through. Dick had frozen when he heard it, but only slightly because the others were brushing it off as a prank call.

"'Blockbuster's after someone named Oracle,'" Officer Diaz had scoffed, "What a joke. Aren't kids supposed to know that their stupid prank calls clog the system? What if someone who actually had useful information had needed to call, huh?"

Dick didn't mention that that isn't how the tip system works, nor did he eve attempt to scold the officer for brushing it off, no matter how stupid it seemed. No, instead, he was stuck in his thoughts.

Blockbuster is after Oracle. Why is he after Oracle? It doesn't make sense! No one in Bludhaven, save for himself, should no who she is! Besides, he'd kept all of the attention on himself. No one was able to even think about the heroes or rogues in Gotham without him knowing! Or, so he'd thought. How does Blockbuster know Oracle's name? More importantly at the moment was who sent the tip.

There was another scoff from one of the others. Did he say that out loud? "Look, I know you're new and everything, but shouldn't you know the mean of 'anonymous'?"

He forced himself out of his head, rubbing his neck with his left hand with a fake smile. "Yeah, I do. I guess I'm just a bit out of it today."

"Well, get your head back in the game," Detective Soames snapped, hitting a file on the back of Dick's head, "File that for me, then file the rest on my desk."

"Yes, sir," Dick took the file, ignoring the snickers and snide remarks from his coworkers.

He knows he's not going to be able to fully focus on anything for the rest of the day, possibly not even until after he finds out who sent that tip and how Blockbuster knows Oracle's name.

Oracle. Dick knows she can handle herself, but he doesn't like the fact that anyone knows her name. Not even B knows about Oracle! Babs had spent so much time and energy keeping her online persona from B so that she could have at least something of her own that Dick had taken it upon himself to erase traces connecting him to Oracle. She didn't deserve to have Batman on her ass, nor did she deserve to have Nightwing's enemies go after her!

He shook himself back into the present with a soft sigh. He'll call Barbra as soon as he gets home.

***

"Danny!" Dick calls into the apartment, knowing full well that the kid is in the kitchen, "I'm home!"

"Welcome back," Danny responds from where he's standing at the stove. He, Dick realizes, does not sound happy.

He hangs his coat up on the hooks he installed beside the door, his shoes going on the rack below them. "You good? You sound a bit upset?"

"I am upset." Danny, after getting comfortable around him, has stopped sugar-coating his words, being brutally honest. Dick blinks. "I was going to message Tim, but I saw a lack of apologies from you."

Oh. Dick had meant to do what Danny said last night and apologise to that Tim kid for snapping at him, but he had been a lot more tired than usual and it had slipped his mind. "I was going to use my phone?"

"You don't have his number."

Another thing Dick had come to learn about Danny in the few weeks they'd been living together was that he can't be lied to. He somehow picks up on lies, so even Dick's best efforts - that have fooled even Batman! - are always thwarted.

"I meant to," Dick said, sitting on one of the new barstools at he island counter, "But I was really tired last night."

Danny sighed. "Because you were out longer than you're now used to." He turned the burner off, moving the pan to sit on the hotpad beside it. "You're body's gotten used to only being out for eight hours during the day and six hours at night. You going out for eight hours last night wore you out more than usual because you're no longer used to your seventeen hour work days."

Dick tilted his head, accepting the bowl of soup he was given. "But it's only been a few weeks?"

"It only takes eighteen days for your body to get used to a routine." He said, placing a bowl of homemade rolls on the island. "After about sixty-six days, it becomes habitual."

"But it hasn't been sixty-six days."

"No, but it has been twenty-one days."

He hesitated for a moment. "Has it really been only that long?" Then, "Have you been counting?"

Danny blushed, sitting beside Dick with his own bowl of soup. "I've been keeping track of your schedule, which means I gotta keep a calendar. I haven't been counting on purpose."

Dick smiled, eating the soup. As usual, it was really good. The first week of Danny's stay, he'd asked where he'd learned to cook, but Danny had given a non-answer, saying only that his parents couldn't make anything edible that wasn't fudge or cookies.

After they had both finished eating, Dick's portions and appetite being larger than Danny's because of the calories he burns as Nightwing, they settled into a nice quiet. Dick had changed from his uniform into sweats and a T-shirt while Danny had chosen a movie. Then, Dick cleaned up dinner and Danny changed into a hoodie and sweats.

"We still need to take you shopping," Dick pointed out when they were both sitting on the couch, ready to start the movie.

Danny shook his head. "Letting me stay here is already enough. Besides, your old clothes work perfectly fine."

"But you're room's so empty! And my clothes don't even fit you!"

There was a pause like Danny was thinking. Dick had the feeling he might not like whatever was going to be said next.

He was right.

"I'll let you take me shopping next week," Danny agreed, "if we go to Gotham tomorrow so that you can apologise to Tim in person."

Dick's jaw twitched. He didn't want to go to Gotham. Going to Gotham meant that he'd inevitably run into Bruce. He wanted to stay far away from that man.

Then again, he'd promised Alfred to come by some time. And, it'd be nice to see Barbra and Jim again. Maybe he could have Alfred make sure Bruce wouldn't be in the Manor?

"So?" Danny promted.

He sighed. "You're evil, y'know that?"

His grin said it all. "I could be so much worse."

"Please don't."

"Don't give me a reason."

Part 9 Part 11

[weinzapfel]

🤫

[kug-the-carrot]

After thinking about it, I can think of nothing more powerful than Alexander Skarsgard's Murderbot pulling the most disgusted face and bluntly stating it has no gender and does not want one. New viewers who do not know Murderbot and will be expecting the typical white male power fantasy "robot marine" are going to have to come to terms with that and I for one think it is a delightful notion

Would I have liked a non white cis man casting? Yes, but I'm also ready to see people tie themselves into knots over a masculine appearing character say it has no gender or sex and also wants neither

[nattikay]

I had so much fun putting my sona on the little Na'vi base I made recently that I had to do some more characters as gifts! 😸 there were two more I was going to do also, but just these four already took way longer than I anticipated and I need to move to something else for a while. Might come back to them later though... 👀

@arcadia-trash, Gwen is lucky she's a Reef Na'vi; she gets to keep the G and D in her name 😹 in the Forest dialect it'd be spelled Kxuwentxolìn. I based her loincloth on one of the designs from the Metkayina concept art, then for her top I tried to make it match the loincloth while still remaining similar to that initial sketch you did a few years ago haha. Also threw in some white shell/pearl accessories that would shine all pretty in the light as reference to troll!Gwen's moonstone skin :) also originally tried giving her some arm tattoos in addition to the chin and torso ones, but between the detailed chest piece and long curly hair I thought the area was starting to look a little too cluttered so I removed them. But I can still send you the version with them if you'd like! 😸

@the-tiny-dragons-tea-room, I know Kiwi is actually the name of your Sarentu character which may not be the same as the character in the sketch I based this on, but I wasn't sure what else to call her hrh. The sketch only showed her head so I had to take a lot of liberties with her outfit; tried to give her a kinda goth-ish vibe, hope you like it! 😸

[sweetsuo]

Chiika is a very odd character to me so far since we know so little about him and what we do know is from Endo’s POV so we don’t rly know how reliable it is. BUT I do have very specific head canons about him like a voice SO HERE YA GO

 [slaps fic like an old car]

𝐓𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧 𝐀𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐥

Chiika Takiishi x fem!Reader

Cw. Crying. Sex work. Rough sex. Emotional conflict. Blood. Mention of birth control & period (blood unrelated to this).  Genre & Synopsis. [ SMUT! ] Taming the beast that is Chika Takishi. wc. 1.2k

Chiika’s hand slides along your throat, grazing the sensitive flesh with a shocking amount of care. You’ve seen those same hands break bones, yet he touched you now like you’d break under the slightest pressure. He had you pressed with your back to the hardwood floor, right hand caressing the curvature of your body. His expression was blank, but you could see the slight crease between his brows as he focused on you. 

His fingertips grazed the slit between your thighs. Long, pretty cock twitched at the slick forming at his fingertips. He played, stroking up and down to his leisure. Within his left hand, he felt the heave of your chest through the palm of his hand and the way your heart fluttered by the pulse under his fingers. When he inserted his middle finger and you arched your back at the flame that singed you from within, he let slip a satisfied grin. 

He's come a long way from a few days ago, when his tender touch was nothing more than rabid rutting between your legs: 

Endo bought your time in the hopes that getting laid would be best for his dear virgin friend, Chiika. He even acted as mediator the first time in case something was to go awry. From meeting him, you understood what the brunette meant when he said Takiishi was ‘a tough nut to crack.’ His expression barely changed, he seldom gave reactions to what was going on around him, and even the slightest issue resulted in someone breaking or bleeding. He seemingly had no interest in nearly anything aside from fighting and destruction. 

Taming this monster of a man was no easy feat, either. The redhead only fucked you initially because Endo promised him something or another in return. After, it was obvious that he had a sex drive. For about a week straight, he fucked you like a wild animal. Frightening as he was, you couldn’t deny how much of a turn-on it was. The mix of desire and curiosity melded, resulting in your extended stay with the two. Chiika kept with his routine. No foreplay. No Prep. Just a quick, rough, session until he was satisfied. It would happen whenever, wherever. You practically had to keep lube on-hand for when the act could happen.

He was rough. He didn’t stop even if you were spent. He truly only cared about his own needs, treating you nothing more than a doll to satiate his needs before a prowl. He didn’t emote and he barely made a sound past grunting. It was always doggy, no eye contact. No intimacy. No interest in you. He’d finish and leave Endo to take care of the aftercare when you were left overstimulated.

It wasn’t until you cried did he stir from his shell. His cock was nestled deep within you, tip bottoming out painfully. You bit your finger hard and sniffled, body entirely too tense for comfort and legs trembling from underneath. You had your head bowed and your shoulders shook as tears dripped down your cheeks. With a pitiful hic, you steeled yourself for more. You were determined to see this man crack at some point. And crack he did... just not in the way you thought. 

Rather than continue, Chiika slid out. 

“Fuck’s wrong?” 

You blink away newly formed tears as you stare bewildered over your shoulder, “Wh- huh?” 

He shifted on the bed, roughly pulling you onto your back to face him. His hands were at either side of your head on the bed and his frame hovered over you, reminding you of his size. Your body went cold and you feared you’d be the next blood pulp for his fireworks. It was then you noticed his eyes. The dreadfully dull honey hues now seemed to have a shred of concern. They betrayed the flat-pressed line of his lips. 

“What. The fuck. Is wrong?” His voice is cold, flat in affect, but forceful in its question. 

“You...” Your mouth opened and closed, searching to find words through the frenzy of your thoughts. Your chest rises and falls. He grabs your cheeks roughly, squishing them between his forefinger and thumb. He examines your expression thoroughly and then looks down. There was a very light spotting of blood on the sheets. You already knew from the pain this was going to happen. 

He didn’t flinch, just tilted his head. It took him a moment to piece things together. You’d been on birth control to skip your period. There was a bit of color on his cock, too. “I did that.” His hand loosened on your cheeks. Takiishi sat upright, hands pressing at your thighs to separate the thick of them in investigation. His nose scrunched and the corner of his lips twitched ever so gently downward, “Yeah?” His eyes are on you again. The intensity of his stare was startling. You couldn’t quite place what his expression was telling you but his voice -

Was that... concern?

“Y-yeah,” You sniffle out, “Usually can prevent it but,” You revisit how he grabbed your wrist to bring you to the bedroom as soon as he got home. You didn’t have the time to grab the lube this time. A wave of irritation overcame you, overtaking every other step of preservation in your system, “You always just go in without any prep work! Like yeah, sure, you have a nice dick an’ all, but I barely have time to use lube and this time I didn’t even get to grab it!” You rub your eyes, a roll of hics shattering your scarlet voice, “A-and you’re ramming your cock into my cervix so hard it hurts.Like fuck’s sake, did Endo not even tell you what to do? I get you were a virgin but forreal? The hell were you expecting?” You’re still on your back, palms pressed to your eyes and you wait for whatever is to come. At this point you didn’t care what he did. Not that he ever laid a hand on you for anything other than sex. The risk was always there.

“Oh.” He mutters dryly. You don’t know what he’s doing, but the weight shifted on the bed. Large, warm palms wrapped around your wrists, puling your hands away from your eyes. He licked the tear form your cheeks, calming your crying via sheer confusion. “What do I do?”

“Uh...” You blink, crying nearly stopped, “For me not to bleed?” 

“For you not to hurt.” There was novel warmth in his words. You feel a flush to your cheeks.  

“A little hurt is fine,” You noted, “I guess start with foreplay? Go slow?”

“Sure. Not tonight. Tomorrow.” Chiika nodded, flopping back onto his pillow. It wasn’t an apology, but probably the closest you’d get to it for right now. You’d take this as a win. You broke through. 

You’ve begun to train the beast. 

[lazylittledragon]

right now i'm very torn between "taking critique is important as an artist and it's not an attack on me personally" and "people commenting about my same face syndrome under my posts upsets me an unreasonable amount and i wish they would stop doing it"

[mari-lair]

Thinking about the Sif is Out AU, and would Bonnie eventually be a boss fight for Siffrin where they try to prove how much stronger they've gotten so 'Stupidfrin' doesn't treat them like a kid anymore?

How long until Bonnie wins?

Bonnie wouldn't go out of their way to hurt Siffrin, they always resort to verbal attacks when they get angry not punches, (they had a GIANT crisis about siffrin losing an eye for them + the guilt of giving Sif pineapples in this au) even when they snap they only attack when you try to approach (like the memory of promise fail) but I do find your question very intriguing.

So let's assume the kid is on their equivalent of ACT 5, the family is too busy with their own issues to give them enough attention, and it all comes crashing down, they don't want to hear Siffrin's "everything alright bonnie?" again since Siffrin is stupid and will forget everything, they want to 'explode the world'! In that scenario, it wouldn't take long for Bonnie to beat Siffrin in battle.

Not because of how strong they got (since Bonnie never properly/officially entered a battle, only occasionally giving the team a support hit, they barely gain any experience, 10 levels for the party is one for them, and they are too young to craft. Though they are indeed noticeably stronger.) but because Siffrin will not fight back (in the very hard possibility Bonnie convince Siffrin to attack it would be fake attacks, very light, and non dangerous. Siffrin isn't trying to hurt them) Depending on what Bonnie screams at Siffrin, Siffrin wouldn't defend himself either, just... take any hit given because "they deserves it"

...Bonnie would hate that. Deep down they look up to Siffrin and don't want to hurt him but they are SO BLIND WITH ANGER, they don't understand why attacking Siffrin, one of their biggest sources of conflict in the loops isn't helping! They are just exploding and doubling down. They will eventually hurt siffrin, (not nearly as bad as the eye, but a visible ugly injury) and that's bad. When Bonnie eventually snaps out of it, they would carry that through the loops, feel guilty.

[dear-ao3]

Heyy totally weird question and having never experienced a long term relationship before this is really coming just from a place of curiosity, I'm deeply sorry if I'm stepping over a line. Did your ex boyfriend change as a person as time went by, because I remember loving your posts about him, and everything seemed wonderful and adorable about your dynamic, thinking that even if these complete strangers to me break up one day it will be full of mutual respect and understanding. Can a person really change up like that? Like were there ever any signs that he is a douchebag capable of breaking things of over a text and anything else that he's done or was he never actually like that and a "change" happend over night?

I am not at all probing into your life, please don't think that, nor am I asking for some kind of explanation no, just curious about someone turn up to be a complete douchebag at the end

i mean yea there were signs, generally when youre dating someone in the beginning things seem fine and dandy and then it all falls apart later. most of the problems stemmed from the fact that he broke a lot of bad habits and then gained them back. we were also pretty young and in that weird limbo stage of life where youre figuring out what the fuck you want to do and when youre in that area of life (college) things can change very quickly and you can very quickly realize that you are not as perfect for someone as you once thought.

actually though we were decently mature towards the end of it and knew it was falling apart and were like okay when the time comes we will be respectful and this will be mutual and likely we will remain friends (cause we did get along pretty well, there were just a lot of logistics that were not working) and then he decided to dump me over text (which he didnt really realize he was doing? he thought it was a break he was proposing but he worded it so badly that i was like um no this is a breakup. goodbye. then he tried to be like oh no no no we are still good for eachother! so even though he definitely started it i finished it) and all respect was lost

tho despite all that crap i dont regret it, there was a lot of fun, learned a lot about myself and most importantly learned what it does feel like to be in love. its not my fault it didnt work out, there was a lot of stuff that i was aware of at the beginning that would make it challenging and i knew it wasnt going to last forever, but while it was good it was definitely good.

[57sfinest]

theoretical entroponetics: the post

okay. LONG post incoming. i have summarized all available information on the pale, separated into confirmed objective truth & in-canon speculation that may or may not be true, and then appended my own very detailed theory on the pale! this post is meant as a resource; please feel free to add things of your own in replies/reblogs (please tag me if you do!) or point out any errors i may have made. you’re welcome to use any of my personal theory in your own work but please credit me if you do!! (and tag me in that/send it to me, i really want to see what you do with it!)

Here’s what we *know* about the pale, according to in-game and concept art: 

It erases data, at least the kind stored on radiocomputer filament and magnetic tapes.

It has no dimensions of its own- pale latitude compressors serve to force dimensions on raw pale and allow navigation. 

The pale is referred to in the context of entropy

It arrived with mankind, but not immediately- there are 8000 years of written history, but the pale was first recorded 6000 years ago, implying that pale either didn’t start forming immediately or that it was so insignificant/distant that it went unnoticed for 2000 years. 

There exists a group of people who are actively trying to expedite entroponetic collapse; the ideology is called entropolism

To this point, pale isn’t immediately visible. Pale has molecular structure, but manifests as a waveform, and only becomes visible at a certain distance from the origin, once wave frequency is sufficiently high. 

During pale exposure, people experience “sense objects”: visual or auditory hallucinations and/or vivid physical recollections of memories. These hallucinations may originate from their own consciousness or someone else’s. c

People require physical and mental examinations before interisolary travel and are allotted a certain number of days per year as their pale exposure threshold. 

Overexposure results in a pale “addiction”- these individuals crave pale exposure, and it’s unclear if this addiction can ever be broken. It’s also unclear whether there is a point at which pale exposure becomes lethal, but given that it dissolves matter, we can be fairly certain that a given length of continuous exposure will kill. 

Radio signals, cold plasma torches and anodic sound are all used to manage the pale to permit travel through it. Plasma torches destabilize the molecular structure of the pale to create gaps, anodic sound widens and maintains these gaps, and radio signals rationalize the pale into recognizable dimensions.

Radio signals are, in return, susceptible to corruption by the pale, resulting in entroponetic crosstalk, where signals from the past or the future are transmitted to the present. CCP is one such phenomenon and is directly related to the formation of new pale through magpie interpretation.

There is a dedicated Union for people who work in and with the pale (the Pale Workers Union). They have two slogans; “The light purifies; The sound absolves; The pale no more” and “Son et Fureur” (sound and fury)

Here’s what we may choose to believe about the pale, based on the thoughts and beliefs of in-game characters:

In conversation with Soona, the pale is described as a “curdling milk” phenomenon: “repulsive, but natural”

In this same conversation you can theorize that the churches were meant to contain the pale origins; out of the seven churches, six were destroyed during the suzerain or the revolution

The phasmid and whatever other lifeforms it’s communicated with believe that entroponetic collapse is comparable to an oxygen holocaust (i.e. the great oxygenation event), implying mass extinction due to a toxic overabundance of sapient thought

Harry refers to it once by saying “The wolf is at the door. It’s going to eat the sun.” so take that as you will

It’s likely that Tiago’s “Mother” is some manifestation from the pale, if you choose to believe that the 2mm hole is in fact a pale origin point (the concept art does confirm it’s a pale origin, but the game offers other explanations, so I won’t say it’s the only answer)

Inframaterialists believe that revolutionary action (NOT thought) may create a counter-force that will prevent the spread of pale; it’s unclear if any reversal is possible.

The world will be fully consumed by the pale in 27 years (I put it here because you may or may not believe that shivers and harry are reliably sourcing this information)

And now my personal speculation about the pale:

A quick and easy point: it’s confirmed that the pale has a measurable EMF “exhalation” frequency that varies with proximity. Strong enough EMF pulses can actually tamper with magnetic storage- radiocomputer filaments! Electronics! Fortress Accident data loss! This gives us a tangible explanation for why pale can delete data :)

This may also explain its ability to cause radio interference- radio frequencies are just a subset of EMF frequencies, so it’s possible that pale exhalation on *just the right frequency* is what’s responsible for the entroponetic crosstalk we get on radios sometimes

The pale canonically has an atomic structure, but it also has wave properties, so it’s possible that the pale has wave-particle duality on its subatomic level, like photons do

Based on this, entroponetics is likely a very similar field to quantum mechanics, which might be an interesting source of ideas for anyone (like me) who wants to explore pale-related possibilities

The pale could be a manifestation of raw patterns. That’s why math “forces dimensions” on it- it rationalizes or “tames” the patterns, which allows it to be manipulated to a certain degree.

There are several references to the pale that refer to mathematical concepts and patterns, saying that the world dissolves into “a tangle of azimuths and cosines” as it blends into the interisolary pale- more on this later

Steban comments that the pale is commonly theorized to be nostalgia or “historical inertia”, but it’s largely agreed that it’s “the past” in a broad sense. Thinking about the idiom that history repeats itself, it could be that history/the past is part of the pattern that comprises the pale, and that it’s also the type of pattern most readily perceived by people (people don’t viscerally *perceive* math, for example, but we experience memories)

To first define entropy: Chemically speaking, “the measure of a system’s thermal energy per unit temperature that is unavailable for doing useful work. (per encyclopedia britannica).” Physically speaking, it’s a measure of randomness or disorder in a system. Less work/less order = more entropy; it’s a physicochemical “winding down” of a given system

It’s commonly thought that pale is the entropic force, but what if it’s the opposite? (Keep in mind the chemical definition: less ability to do work = more entropy) Consider: the pale as less entropic, a cleanup force, recycling the potential lost by death and destruction in the universe. This in part explains why a dead person’s memory is present in the pale- their potential has been recycled into the pale in the form of their memories (their life’s *pattern*)

Enthalpy is a related concept to entropy and is defined as the total energy contained within a system. Holding the system enthalpy constant- saying the universe will always have the same amount of total energy, no matter what, according to thermodynamics- results in an entropic tug-of-war between the pale and the world. The pale wins through sheer inertia (again, inertia is mentioned specifically in game)

Overall: think of the world as “cooling”, losing heat and energy through war and death and complacency. Think of the pale as steam and heat, melting down old materials to start it all over again. (Kim says, *through entroponetic interference*: “it’s been a long, cold winter.”)

Consider: the pale as a sinusoidal function, eternally repeating. The pale recycling the universe to start a new cycle, “spending” itself, resulting in pale not being present in the beginning. Then, as the new things begin to settle- with the advent of the human mind, specifically- the pale reforming, slowly reclaiming potential, eventually ending the cycle to start again.

In comes CCP and magpies. Consider: CCP as a backwards transmission from the next “cycle” (after all, pale has no sense of time). Magpies as *pattern-sensitive* people who are able to decode CCP into something useful called novelty. They reach into the potential of the next cycle to build the potential in their current one- this paradox could be what creates more pale, because (and this is where it gets weird, I apologize) doing this retroactively increases the total amount of energy/work/potential in the current cycle to have been reclaimed by the pale for the next one.

Think of the pale as the compost bin for every single thought in the universe. The pale is the exact right size to compost every little atom and thought in the universe, and can hold nothing extra. But magpies reach into the future, the next cycle, and bring in extra. This paradox forces the pale to grow to accommodate the additional material, which also increases the starting potential of the next cycle. This process allows each cycle to accumulate minor changes from the previous one, which can snowball over many cycles.

Furthermore, to the inframaterialists’ point: revolutionary action would be such a radical shift in inertia that it would increase the potential in the world, forcing the pale to pause/shrink to “balance the equation” in terms of pale-vs-world thermodynamics. So maybe they’re right after all :)

And some diagramming, to explain the utter bullshit I’ve just dropped:

[32girassoisdevangogh]

Verbs conjugations in spanish are so specific it's not necessary to write the pronoun to indicate if it's first, second or third person.

It would eat you alive = te comería vivo.

Is a very direct translation but without "eso" (it) because is not needed.

However, it/eso generally has an objectified connotation which makes sense as Bill distances himself from the monster so Ford makes no connection.

But in spanish, since no pronoun is used, it feels more like a hint than a cover-up.

[purpurussy]

i’m really glad to see everyone saying that overall the show was amazing. i think because they made the bold choice to really go for it. like the boxing thing or the theories iceberg or the doll humping (can’t believe that’s a real thing i just said oh god) could’ve gone cringe if they hadn’t just fully committed to it. i knew i’d love it regardless but it’s sooooooo great to hear that it really was just a great fucking (heh) time. i’m that much more excited for my show now

Real it was SO GOOD!!! I have to be honest I was mentally preparing for it to be a bit cringe dsdfhkl but it really wasn't at all. My friend described it as having the exact right level of self-awareness, which I think was really accurate. They fully committed to everything, it felt like they were having a great time being on stage too! There were so many moments that made me genuinely laugh out loud, it was an incredible show and I really wanna see it again

[kikithefox231]

YALL. LISTEN. THEYRE THE SAME.

AND SO COMPELLING!!!

[other-peoples-coats]

hey folks, putting my Professional Googles Shit Guy hat on for a second, but as I'm sure you're aware google has rolled out AI overviews which are uhhhh dogshit lies at best. Currently this is rolled out in the US only (as far as I'm aware it hasn't got here yet so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯) but even if you are not in the US it is fucking up your search results.

You can, however, turn this the fuck off

basic explanation is you need to append the string 'udm=14' to the end of your searches; arstechnica has a good explanation of how to set that as your default search if you don't know how, for both chrome and firefox.

(edge users, it's basically the same as chrome)