#if these characters even BREATHE on the same planet I'm shipping them

[brighteuphony]

Do you have any other ships in Naruto?

I'm what I like to call a fairweather shipper. I don't actually have a single ship I stan because I stan ALL of them. Literally any ship you can think of, I'm down- It just depends on what mood I'm in...what flavor of ship I'm craving.

the tldr of me, consuming ANY media is: "If they exist, I ship them."

But my current mood is: Old man getting folded like laundry.

[anghraine]

ngl I always find it wild to see Star Wars stuff that's like "if you think about it in terms of realistic statistics/science then..." about almost any aspect of it.

I mean, what about the Star Wars films gives the impression that this universe abides by realistic statistics, or realistic anything else? SW is broadly a fantasy epic projected onto an IMAX screen with a space background painted on it. Yeah, the planets and moons in the films almost always have improbably limited biomes and two major locations max, because narratively these locations are usually just fantasy city-states with space aesthetics.

Starships travel at the speed of plot and we simply jump past the amount of time that presumably is passing, and sort of imply the passage of that time through shifts in the character dynamics. But this passage of time cannot be analyzed with any kind of consistency because the only logic governing it is the pace of the story.

Just how long did it take the Empire to send a full contingent of forces to Dantooine, search the entire planet, find the Rebel base, and then report back to Tarkin between one scene and another? No one says and no one appears to care. How long did it take Han and Leia to reach Bespin and what exactly went on between them while Luke was, in the same time frame, going through a protracted training over multiple days at an absolute minimum? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

How do giant space worms survive inside asteroids that somehow have an Earth-approximate gravitational field and I guess an atmosphere? Shhhh don't think about it. The point of the sequence is not "how does the giant space worm subsist off this random asteroid and how does it breathe and how does gravity work in this context, seriously" but that the giant worm sequence is fucking sick.

There's probably some after the fact EU justification invented by people who had nothing to do with the original writing of the space worm (or perhaps there are several mutually incompatible explanations) and I am profoundly disinterested in them. Nothing could make this even slightly realistic and it was never intended to be. Star Wars sings space shanties at scientific/mathematical realism as it sails past on a completely different ship going in the exact opposite direction.

And I do mean "sails" because while astronomy might tell us that space is unfamiliar and wild on a level we as Earthbound lifeforms can barely comprehend, Star Wars understands that space is basically an ocean, yet with stars and cool but survivable planets in it, or sometimes it's air but combined with a super cool space background so you can have early 20th century aerial combat that would make no sense in actual space conditions and doesn't need to.

"If you consider relativity, then just running the Empire would be..." General relativity does not govern the galaxy far, far away. Space magic does. I'm not sure there are even time zones.

[quietwingsinthesky]

gut eight for me please. kitty

>problem: don't know any of eight's other companions >solution: let eight interact with characters I do know >rose noble sure was casual about keeping an injured alien in her shed, huh. almost like she'd done it before.

The Doctor wakes up, not in the same alley that he was stumbling through in a haze of blood loss and pain but somewhere warm and soft. He gingerly opens his eyes, but the light that illuminates the room isn't so bright that he even has to squint. He hears a sharp breath and turns his head towards it. There's a girl with his blood drying under her nails and a look on her face that's half hope, half fear. "You're alive," she says. "I don't know what I was going to do if you didn't wake up."

The Doctor tries to sit up, but his abdomen screams in pain. His hand flies down, expecting to find himself still bleeding out, but it skims along a mostly dry bandage instead. He pokes at it and feels the twinge of skin pulled too tight beneath and the pinprick pains of stitches. He looks back up at the girl, and her voice shakes a little when she says, "I don't know how I did that, either. I mean, I sew, but that's completely different, that's-"

"You may have saved my life," the Doctor says. That's a relief to her, he can tell. He frowns. Unless he's been yanked off-planet, she should be human. "You didn't call an ambulance, did you?" He'd rather not walk away with the stitches so fresh, but…

"No," she says. "I should have. But-" She falters, searching for an explanation she doesn't have, and eventually, all she can give him is, "I've never liked hospitals." He smiles.

"Me neither." He gets a better look at his surroundings. He's been laying on a pile of plush toys. He picks one up and finds it bloodstained. "Oh. Sorry."

"It's fine," she says. "Most of the ones I keep stacked up over there, I'm not selling. It'll wash out." He turns over the toy in his hand.

From the oddly shaped head to the thick body, he can't help but ask, "Is this a Judoon?"

"A what?"

"A Judoon. Intergalatic police force. They…" He trails off at her expression.

"Holy shit, you really are an alien." She finally takes a step closer to him. "I thought I was crazy."

He holds out his hand. She steps forward again to take it. "I'm the Doctor."

"Rose," she says. "Rose Noble- Sorry, just the Doctor?"

"Just the Doctor." For a moment, she frowns, pursing her lips like there's something right on the tip of her tongue she can't place. It's the strangest thing; he's got the same feeling. He searches her face for answers, but she's just an ordinary human teenager. His mind slides right off of figuring out the source of how familiar she seems, no matter how he tries to focus. She sits down next to him and takes the Judoon plush from his hands, examining it like she's seeing her own work for the first time.

"I knew I had to help you," she says. "I didn't even know you were out behind our house, but it was like I could feel this weird pull. I had to." He pulls another plush out from under himself. A cyberman. He's surrounded by the cutest forms of his worst foes. He laughs softly as he squishes the cyberman's face. "I felt your pulse. I didn't think it could be real."

He holds out his wrist to her. Rose presses two fingers against it. Her eyes widen at the doubled heartbeats.

She looks up at him again, and for a moment, her eyes glow.

A reflection of the shed's light, something reassures him. Rose blinks, and it disappears.

"I have to find somewhere better to hide you than my shed, though. If Mum finds you in here, she'll kill you." He nods.

"My ship isn't far from here," he tells her. "Could I keep one of these, Rose?" At that, she looks delighted.

"Absolutely. Any of them."

(When he leaves Earth again, after asking Rose to come—a grin, then hesitation, then she looks back home and he knows, already, what she's going to say before she says it, "I don't want Mum to come home and find me missing. Maybe… next time?" but he does promise her, and means it, next time—and pinpointing where his attacker has fled back through space, there's a tiny plush dalek sitting on his TARDIS console, the most and only adorable one in the entire universe.)

[silentwillowwhisperer]

Krolia

Alright, I just had a thought.

I get that it's a major plot point that Krolia is part of the Blade of Marmora, but what if she was just another soldier?

What if she had been heading to Earth as a Galra soldier, and was shot down by a Blade member?

And then Keith's dad saves her!

So after that, she either decides to change after falling in love with him and realizing that destroying planets is killing innocent people like this man, oooor she continues to fight for the Galra.

If she continued with Galra, then she most likely would reunite with Keith in a battle, or at least see his picture in some battle briefing and be like, oH CRAP THAT'S MY KID.

And then if we continue on this path, then Keith would see her, and she tells him who she is, either mid-battle to throw him off, or to tell him why she won't kill him.

And if she were to do it mid-battle, Keith would be absolutely crushed and either have a character development arc in which he pushes back his feelings of betrayal and hurt and defeats her, or he gets distracted and she manages to injure him.

If Keith defeats her himself, (and this is all during fighting her) then right before she passes out/ dies they would have a moment where either Krolia apologizes, or tells Keith that he was a the best and worst mistake she's ever made, and either way she would tell him that she's proud of him.

If Keith were to get hurt by her, Lance would shoot her down and rush over to Keith. There would be one of those moments where character A is like dying, and character B places character A's head on their lap and like cries while character A is making some heartfelt speech and giving them a bunch of cliché advice, you know?

And then Keith passes out, and the team is there by then to rush him back to the castle and he makes it.

And then he breaks down when the reality of what happened with Krolia hits him.

And he has a moment with one of the paladins, BUT ONLY ONE OF THEM. More than one other paladin ruins the moment, don't ask me why, it just does.

And then if Krolia were to be still alive (This is assuming that the 'I'm proud of you' moment never happened), then she would rise up in ranks until when Zarkon dies, she's the empress. Haggar and Voltron think that she's controlling Krolia, so Haggar is targeted by Voltron and the coalition.

They CANNOT defeat her, no matter what they do, but then Krolia takes her out in order to gain full power of the Galra empire, and everyone's just SHOCKED. Krolia doesn't even do it in secret, this is like a full-on battle and she goes, "Bold of you to assume that you EVER controlled me, Witch. The only one who valued you was Zarkon, and that made him weak."

And then she straight-up stabs Haggar and leaves the battle saying to the paladins, "We've both won this battle. Now go. We all know that you are outnumbered here."

AND THEN instead of the whole Honerva thing, it's them against Krolia.

Keith would most likely be the one to kill her. Or maybe Krolia would have the same ending as Honerva! Though if that were to happen, then Allura can still sacrifice herself.

And throughout this, KLANCE exists. Allurance shippers can BACK OFF. ALLURANCE. NEVER. HAPPENS. AND NO. I am NOT adding Allurance to my computer's dictionary so that it will stop autocorrecting me, because the only ship that belongs in the dictionary is KLANCE.

*deep breaths*

Thank you for reading my Ted Ta- oh who am I kidding, thank you for reading my rant.

-

btw, does anyone else simp for Matt and that robot-masked alien girl??? Like, oh my goodness it is SO CUTE. In the clear day episode, (the one where Shiro wins the arm-wresting competition) the girl is INCLUDED IN THEIR FAMILY PICTURE. NO JOKE. LOOOOK!!!

MATT'S GOT A GIRLFRIEND!!!!

Sorry about that. I live for this kind of stuff.

-

If there's spelling errors, (at least more than usual) then feel free to correct me. I'm typing really aggressively right now, which usually leads to a WHOLE lot of mistakes. So, oops.

[lorddeathofmurdermountain]

So I just finished Dungeon Meshi. The manga.

I am yet again blown away by the amazing story. I am also blown away by the fanfiction fandom and it's incessant need to ship anyone and everyone. I get it. You think some of the interaction are romantic. They aren't. That's not what any of this is meant to be. But I get it. Romance ships have their own place in the ecosystem and any healthy community has a dedicated group that really likes to ship anyone and everyone.

It becomes less healthy when I go to AO3 and you can go through pages and pages only finding like two or three fics that aren't ENTIRELY "Two random characters have the sex" with occasional romantic undertones. Of those three that aren't just that, two are instead "cleverly crafted AU but the focus is still on the secks". People I get it, it's nice, it's got, and by god everyone is horny for the Faligon x Marcille ship. I get it, I do.

But the story has so many interesting aspects to it! I'd go as far as to say it's a modern day Lord of the Rings! I really fucking would, and I love LotR like no other story on this fucking planet! I'm barely holding back from gushing about it right fucking now. I'm taking deep breaths.

Look, my point is, it's an amazing story about friendship and genuine camaraderie, the sort of thing that sends the message of "people can forget extremely strong bonds without having the hots for one another." The story, beyond it's generally tasteful comedy and the repetitive but reliable skits, is chock-full of meaningful messages, pondering and it has some of the most beautiful and tasteful conclusions to story arcs I've seen in a while! I'd go so far as to say it's fairly innovative as well, not unheard of but you don't see something this good all that often. You really don't. I usually obsess over just sticking FromSoft protagonists into everything to have them fuck around and mess with everything but for once I'm genuinely unappreciative of the idea. The conclusion to the story is perfect if very traditional in a certain sense and all in all it's got very few real flaws. In the end, a very simple, kind and good lad alongside his party of misfits saves the day and everyone gets to live happily ever after.

So why the shit is almost everyone only ever thinking about hot ladies or hot men fucking each other? No, actually, forget the distinction, it's irrelevant! Why is sex with a side of corny romance the only thing everyone is doing?! Fuck, make literally anything else! I get having a niche but for Christ's sake expand your horizons or something! FF doesn't even have the damn tag for the setting yet, AO3 is just porn and SpaceBattles only has Vs discussions and one single story ideas thread that I myself also sperged out in while I was only halfway done.

Christ, there are so many ideas in my head it's actually hard to focus! What about a serious setting examining the end of the story and how it could have gone on? Remake it into a tragedy, or just a feels-good epilogue that's only slightly longer than the story. How about tossing someone you KNOW would mess up the story into the story, but have it be so messed up it loops back around to the same end? Why not just do something really stupid and see where it leads? What if Laios and Kabru switched places? What if Laios and Falin were in Utaya when they were young (they're still the same people inherently just with a more tragic backstory) while Kabru is just some country schmuck that no longer has a tragic story to spur him on to the Dungeon? Does Kabru actually become even more of a textbook hero type? Would the Touden siblings let their past bog them down and make them gloomy or would it only make them more aware of the world around them and thus more willing to look at the other? The story establishes that they're inherently selfish people - they are of course also selfless, but the initial drive for the story is a selfish one for pretty much everyone. Laios just wants to look at and eat cool monsters. Falin wants to tag along and experience new things. Marcille wants to research ancient, forbidden magic. Chilchuck... Uh... Wants to make money and not be constantly scammed at best and backstabbed at worst, I think. Senshi just kind of wants to vibe. Izutsumi wants to stop being a beast-person and is by far portrayed as the most openly selfish in everything she does and decides.

The whole story is really about people being selfish and realizing that's no good, realizing that the people around them are PEOPLE and they should maybe consider each other more. That's how Laios learns to take responsibility, for instance. Oh sure some characters end up not ACTUALLY bring selfish at all, some of them right from the start even, but narratively until told otherwise we start off thinking everyone in the main group are first and foremost in it for themselves. The unifying moment and first instance of selflessness comes when they decide to immediately go rescue Falin - well, Shuro and Namari didn't but we don't know that right away.

Look what I'm saying is there's so many fucking themes in this story and what everyone is focusing on is sex. My argument isn't "sex bad", in fact. It's that the porn with plot - or even the tasteful romance stories - would be even better if you had some other nice fics alongside them. After all, if you eat the same thing the whole time it's bound to become boring eventually, but have a good spread and every part of the meal will be all the better in combination with other parts. If I just ate soup I'd be kind of disappointed, but make some simple rice and cook some simple meat for AFTER the soup and now both the soup and rice and meat feel so much better based on the other things I ate alongside them. Fics are the same. Please. I beg you. Give yourselves some diversity.

[green-tea-in-absinthe-bottle]

THE NIGHT BELONGS TO YOU

Blade x fem!reader fanfic

MASTERLIST

Summary - in this chapter we accidentally get entangled in political drama, Blade appears in second chapter but this one is very important for the story. Reader discovers her special ability that she will use a lot in next chapters, slight romance with side character.

CHAPTER 1 - In turning divine we tangle endlessly  

Sounds of heavy breathing filled the room, sultry air felt thick in her lungs. Y/n turned around in her sleep, visions of thousand futures kept her in a chokehold, made her want to scream. She begged this being to release her, to just stop this torture, but this half-insane deity she suspected to be Terminus, Aeon of Finality never really paid attention to her or her pleas. They seemed to only look through everything in front of them, engulfed in foggy memories of futures long gone and inverted prophecies. Y/n was sure she would end up the same if she listened to them any longer. Their partially incomprehensible incantations were carved into her mind.  

She felt her heartbeat speed up to the point at which she was sure she's dying. Drewing in a sharp breath, she waited for her end with dull headache and violently trembling body. It didn't come.  

Her eyes opened.  

Oh, how she missed the days when the only topic of her nightmares were the last weeks of her planet’s existence, Yaoshi's abominations  destroying the world she used to know. Her beautiful Arkona, burning and decaying. Forests she grew up wandering turned into graveyards, mountains she watched through windows of her home split in pieces, songs only she in the whole universe remembered never to be heard again, monuments turned into dust. The most painful day of her life. Still, she begged the constellations from her memories, so cherished and worshipped by her folk, to save her from prophet's madness even if she has to relive this suffering every night. 

She got out of bed and hurried to the nearest workshop. After Arkona ceased to exist Y/n found save place to live on Xianzhou Alliance’s ships as well as the chance to get revenge on abominations, she spent her days in nearby forgery, infusing swords and arrows with magic, power of Lan's blessing flew through her fingers and echoed in every spell.  

 - Is everything alright? - concerned voice of Zhang, blacksmith she cooperated with today barely reached her mind. 

Nothing was alright, she couldn't shake off feeling of unease and she could still hear words of Terminus, ringing in her ears. She couldn't hold herself together but for the sake of getting the work done she pretended it was fine. Y/n looked up at tall craftsman, admiring his tanned face and shoulder-length black, silky hair tied with black ribbon at the top of his head. 

 - You worry too much, I'm fine, it's just... I had a nightmare again. 

Compassion in his gaze surprised her, after all he had a reputation of a cold man. For a second he had an expression on his face like he wanted to hold her, but quickly it disappeared, leaving no trace on his face.  

 - I understand. Maybe you should take a break today. 

 - Absolutely not, if I have nothing to keep myself busy with all those memories will overcome my thoughts, trust me. It will only make things worse. - Y/n lied only partially, she truly hoped to find solace in her work, but it wasn't past she had to run away from today, it was the future.  

 - If you say so... Well, looks like it's your turn. Do your magic, charmer. - Zhang spoke as he stepped away from the newly crafted weapon.  

Y/n took still warm sword in her hands. Inhale, exhale. You did this so many times, she tried to convince herself. But something felt awfully wrong and familiar in the worst way possible. Ignoring how tense Zhang looked observing shakiness of her hands, she chanted. But what came out of her mouth terrified her to the core. 

 She could barely recognize her voice, words she heard in her nightmares seemed even more alien when spoken aloud. By her. And she couldn't do anything to stop it. Her own tongue seemed foreign to her, her lips no longer obedient. She could only watch how the sword levitated mid air, glowing with ominous light. At last, the chant came to it's end (or was it beginning?), strong hand of Master Zhang caught the falling sword and y/n's world stopped turning.  

She exchanged anxious glances with him . 

 - I will bring it to Furnace Master immediately - Zhang declared with serious look on his face.  

[stitching-in-time]

Voyager rewatch s5 ep17: Course: Oblivion

Ah, the goo copy episode. The first time I saw this one, I thought it was the most depressingly bleak hour of Star Trek I'd ever seen, and upon rewatch, it still is. But this time, I've recently seen the episode it was a sequel to, so now I also know it's full of inconsistencies, which lowers my opinon of it even further.

The first time I saw this episode was actually on a rerun during Covid quarantine in 2020, so I was very much not in the frame of mind to like an episode about the whole crew getting sick and dying off one by one. Not being in the midst of pandemic quarantine, and knowing how it ends, makes viewing this ep considerably less depressing, but it still doesn't improve my overall impression of it.

It actually makes me kind of mad that there was so much nice character stuff in the beginning of this, because it was wasted on a crew that wasn't even our real one, when I'm out here starving for decent writing and characterization in most of the episodes this season. To throw away some of the best character stuff this season on the goo copies is incredibly frustrating.

Fake Tom and B'Elanna's wedding was lovely and actually good, and they gave Tom some incredibly sweet dialog that once again makes me frustrated, because it shows that they absolutely do still know how to write him not being a jerk, but they just actively chose to make him an asshole half the time anyway. Except here, where it's not even actually our Tom. I am tearing my hair out!!

Other things wasted on the goo copies include B'Elanna and Seven having a nice scene together where they're not being adversarial, Neelix helping Tom find a honeymoon holoprogram, and Tom and B'Elanna being incredibly sweet together while she's dying in sickbay. At least I knew nobody actually died in the show when I first watched this, or that would have been heartbreaking. (Also Tom's 1920s Chicago holoprogram sounds awesome! I swear he's the only Starfleet officer who knows how to have fun- the rest of those nerds would probably go on a geological survey mission or something for their honeymoon lol) But of course, after B'Elanna dies, we find out that not only was she not the real B'Elanna, no one on the ship is the real them, they're all biomemetic copies, or as I like to call them, goo people.

They were the same ones created by the silver goo on the Y class planet in the season 4 episode 'Demon'. Which is all well and good, except that the planet they came from has an atmosphere that's deadly to humanoid lifeforms. So even if they forgot that they were goo copies, they would have figured it out as soon as they went on an away mission to an M class planet, because they wouldn't have been able to breathe, just like they couldn't breathe the air on the real Voyager. Likewise, if any alien had tried to come aboard their ship, they wouldn't have been able to breathe in their Y-class atmosphere. Unless they'd never left their ship, or had anyone try to come aboard theirs, there's no way they wouldn't have realized that they weren't human before this. (And fake Janeway mentions an Ensign Harper having a baby- how can the goo people have babies if they need to have a preexisting lifeform to mimic?? Unless the real Ensign Harper was pregnant when she was copied, but they state that they were over 10 months out from having been copied on the Demon class planet, so that doesn't check out.)

There were so many inconsistencies with how the celular cohesion loss they were having worked too- first they said that people closest to the warp core experienced it first, but Seven was in Engineering all the time, and was one of the last to go, so that didn't make sense. Also, the symptoms seemed to be different for everyone- B'Elanna got cold, then her skin started warping, then she died the same day, before she started to look melty and gross. Meanwhile, Janeway and most of the other crew hung on for months, and looked very gooey, and nobody else was shown having chills. Kate played it as though she was tired and slurring speech, whereas everyone else seemed normal energy level and speech.

On the one hand, sure, they're basically the same people, since they have the same memories, so it's a way to explore what would happen in a hopeless situation without actually killing everyone off in the end, and there's certainly a ton of drama and pathos and gut wrenching tragedy. But as soon as we find out it's not really our crew, I stopped really caring. There's no real stakes for the audience, because we know our crew is still going to be safe at the end and ready to go on adventures again next week. Tragic though their situation is, the goo copies don't matter to me because they're not the characters we've been following all this time. They've obviously had adventures we know nothing about, with their hyper warp drive, or whatever it's called. So then the rest of the episode just turns into a morbid countdown of watching them all be miserable and suffer and die, which is neither fun nor worthwhile. Spoiler alert: they all die, and no one ever learns what happened to them, or that they existed at all, which is pretty awful considering that, as far as we know, they were the only examples of their form of life. (But if they had stuff on board that was real, like Neelix's vegetables and their time capsule, that should have been in the debris field for Voyager to find actually, since that wouldn't have turned into goo with the ship.)

While it's an interesting idea to go back and find out what happened with that duplicated crew, it seems more suited to a short story somewhere than an actual episode. Voyager did a few weird, random episodes that didn't follow the standard format, but I find that they tend to be my least favorites because there's nothing to really hook you when the regular characters aren't even there. I would have been perfectly happy without this sequel, just remembering every once in a while that 'oh yeah, there's a whole duplicate crew living in that planet, weird! I wonder what they're up to!' and left it at that, because at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter, and it makes the ending of 'Demon' retroactively less hopeful, because while Voyager did such a nice thing to help this new life form come to be, they all died not long after, so nothing new was created after all. A real downer, tbh.

Tl;dr: A bleak, depressing, and ultimately pointless episode that didn't even feature any of our regular characters, which made me lose investment as soon as it was revealed.

[swift-creates]

@chrumblr-whumblr day 16: begging

wc: 613 | warnings: torture, knife violence, threats | characters: Strike (OC) (pov), Alex Brisals (OC), unnamed Separatist human female

[all time low voice] tonight's like a knife, would you cut me with your kiss I bleed red lips you're unbelievable-

another oc ship fic because i'm uncontrollable! so is the brainrot more things about Strike on AO3

—

Alex's eyes were wide as his gaze desperately clung to hers. She knew that look. That was the lie to me look, the tell me everything's going to be okay look.

"Stay away from him," she forced out through gritted teeth. "Oh, darling. It's sweet to see you think you have any say in the matter whatsoever." The woman selected out a knife from the tray in front of her, flipping it between her fingers as she strolled up and down the tiny room. "Don't darling me. Touch him, and I'll shove that knife down your throat." Strike's threat was made somewhat less effectual by the audible tremor in her voice. The woman laughed, and patted her on the cheek. "Just watch."

She left Strike, and walked towards him. Alex watched her the same way a frightened animal would someone approaching them, leaning away when she tried to grab him by the chin. "Hmm, where should we start? Do you think she'd like it if we gave you some lovely scars on your face?" Alex's breathing hitched, and he looked frantically past her to Strike.

"Maybe around your pretty mouth. So she remembers this every time she kisses you." She traced the knife lightly over his skin, and she saw his hands start to tremble.

"Don't." Her fingers dug into the leather straps that restrained her, kept her strapped to this stupid chair. They were right there; she should be able to stop this, to protect him, to do something, not stay seated as a creepy woman with knives threatened him. "Here's the thing, sweetheart. This all comes down to you. Just tell me everything I need to know about your little operation, and your boy here goes free and unharmed." She smiled, as if they were at a cafe instead of in a torture room. "Don't call her sweetheart." Oh, Alex. Poor, brave Alex. He was so far out of his depth, and still tried to stand up for her. Strike might be trained to withstand the worst Separatist torment, but he wasn't. He shouldn't even be here, her mind wailed. What have you done?

"You'll look wonderful when I'm done with you." The woman smiled wickedly, digging the tip of the knife in deep enough to draw blood, and Alex let out a strangled yelp. "Stop!" Strike desperately pulled against her bonds, tilting the chair dangerously forward. "Please." The woman turned to her, pretending she hadn't heard the first time. "What was that, lovely?" "Stop." She rolled her eyes and went back to her task, etching a curved line around the edge of his lips. "No manners. Really, should know better than to distract me. Or I might slip up." The knife jarred sharply downward, and Alex cried out.

Strike squeezed her eyes shut at the sound. "Please! Stop." Alex stopped screaming, and she opened her eyes to the woman looking back at her, knife hovering just above his skin. "One more time, soldier." "Please don't do this." Her voice dropped to a whisper. She kept her eyes trained on Alex's, holding him with her gaze if nothing else, and watched the woman pull away from her peripheral vision.

She walked over to Strike. Bent to look her straight in the eye. "Tell me everything I want to know about the Republic operations on this planet, or I will see to it that you and the boy become well acquainted with the very worst I have to offer." "I will. I swear. Just don't hurt him."

The woman smiled, and Strike thought of Rex and Anakin and Ahsoka and Jesse and Kix. I'm sorry.

"Now, that wasn't so hard, was it?"

[lt-alara-kitan]

Broken Pieces Shine || An Orville AU Fic

Chapter One: Slingshot Characters: Alara Kitan, Ed Mercer, Original Characters Romantic Pairing: Alara x Ed Rating: Mature Triggers: None yet but warning for future triggers to come Summary: Ed x Alara || Orville Alternate Universe: Flung into deep space via the gravitational pull of a wormhole, Ed and Alara find themselves lost in international space. Even worse, they've run into pirates on an outlaw space station in the middle of nowhere. With untold damage done to the ship they have no choice but to dock there, and try to fit in, but when the Overlord wants to see them, their seemingly simple plan becomes their worst nightmare.

It was a risky maneuver that didn't pay off. However the reality of the situation was that had she not tried to do it when she'd done it, they probably would have ended up in a million different pieces floating out in space for all eternity. She knew that Ed wasn't anywhere near happy with this but neither was she so they sat there in silence. It was like a very pathetic game of chicken to see who might yell at the other first. Ed was tapping his fingers on the console, periodically glancing in her direction before looking away just as she attempted to catch his eye.

"We're still alive." She was the first to break the silence between them, "And as long as we are alive there's hope."

"Hope for what? Let's be realistic here, you don't have to coddle me."

"I'm not trying to coddle anyone, Captain, but I think we'd have been far worse off actually being pulled through that black hole than-"

"Than what? Getting flung a billion lightyears across space after getting caught in its gravitational pull? Where did that thing come from anyway? Do we know that it was a blackhole because a lot of this doesn't make sense." He sighed loudly. She looked down at her console. The data was confusing, that was a light way of putting it at least. She also didn't have any way to answer his question. Not immediately.

"I don't know." She closed her eyes and rested back in her seat, taking in a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself.

"Do you even know where we are?"

"Do you?"

"Not the first clue. I don't even think our distress beacon is working." He frowned and leaned in to work on the console in front of him. Being slingshotted through space like that hadn't been good for the shuttle they were in. Perhaps it was one of the larger, nicer ones, meant for longer travel than just a light transport from ship to ship or landing on a planet but it was still very cramped compared to the size of The Orville. The ship they were both accustomed to being on. "Get some rest I'll keep running scans until I come across anything resembling signs of life."

"Captain-"

"That's an order, Lieutenant."

She didn't want to say anything that would upset him more than he already was, so she got up, moved to the back of the shuttle, and pulled down one of the beds from the wall. After locking it in place she laid down and curled up. Still watching him from behind as he worked tirelessly, trying to find anything familiar. A single speck of life in the vast emptiness they were thrown into. She was trying to tell her that there had to be some hope. That maybe the Orville would be able to pick up their signal even if they couldn't do the same. It wasn't as if they wouldn't have seen what had happened but how fast they could be caught up to was another question entirely.

She lay there, in silence, for a long time, wondering how she was ever going to sleep or even rest at a time like this. Unfortunately, there wasn't much else she could do and if he wanted to be left alone for the time being then her best bet would be to leave him alone. Ever so slowly her eyelids got heavier and her blinks turned into gentle dozes until finally, she'd fallen asleep. Her dreams were nowhere near peaceful, either.

******

"Alara!"

Her eyes opened up and she blinked a few times to clear her blurry vision. When she sat up she could see what Ed had woken her up for. In the distance, there was a very large space station. Though it wasn't Union, that was for sure. It looked like a place that had been cobbled together from space junk and debris of other broken-down ships.

"What is it?" She moved from the bed where she had been laying and back into the seat she had been sitting in before he'd told her to go get some rest. "I mean how...all the way out here? This is the middle of nowhere."

"Technically this is international space but that's also in the middle of nowhere so I guess that information is a tad redundant. Forget I said anything." Ed shook his head, "But we are going to have to dock there." She was going to ask what for then she saw the data laid out on the console before her. Not only did they need fuel they were going to need several other types of repairs thanks to the damage done to the ship while being flung through space.

"Is it safe?"

"Yes and no." Ed sighed, he looked exhausted, almost as if maybe he'd be better off getting sleep before they continued but since he outranked her she didn't feel like she could make that suggestion. He'd probably shoot it down anyway. "Space pirates."

"You mean like the mythical ones they told us about at the academy to scare us into being good?" She chuckled. It hadn't worked on her because she knew her history quite well. Space pirates hadn't exactly been seen or heard from in decades, years before she'd joined the academy in the first place.

"Yes but these ones are real. Maybe the last of their kind but real none the less. That space station is active and running. We aren't in scanning range of them yet but I was able to scam them. All the classic signs." He turned his chair to look at her, "They will not be very hospitable to anyone in the Union."

"Okay then how do you expect us to dock there safely and not immediately be what? Killed?"

"Taken hostage more likely, they could negotiate a pretty large sum from the Union holding a captain and his security officer. Not to mention the information they would believe they could get out of us under threat of torture, or actual torture."

"I'd never-"

"I know you wouldn't and neither would I but it wouldn't stop them from attempting it so we need to make ourselves look the exact opposite of Union officers." He explained and then got up. At least they had a replicator that was still working and could get them the right type of clothing and look that they'd need to fit in.

"That's all well and good, Captain but how are we going to explain being in a shuttle from the Orville?"

"Well, we're pirates so we stole it."

"I guess that kind of works." She had to admit it would be hard for them to contradict that story seeing as how she was Xelayan and with her strength alone it would be believable. "But what about names or...what do we do about that and how is this going to look?"

"I've done a bit of research on this, what I could find, in the limited database we now have access to and I had the computer generate us some clothing styles and ideas." He turned back towards his console and used the controls to pull up a display of his outfit and hers. She laughed softly.

"You want me to look like that? With you?"

"I don't think we have a choice and if I did I wouldn't ask."

"But-"

"We can sit here and argue about it, or we can get changed, or the third option."

"Which is what?"

"Navigate away from this station and hope that somehow we either get back to Union territory or the Orville catches up with us before we lose power and any sort of hope of living through this." He was serious and she knew it. She looked back at the outfit, not liking it or what it implied but he would know more about this than her anyway. He was older, more experienced, and a higher rank. The truth was that they didn't have a choice. All they would have to do would be to fit in long enough to get the repairs made and resupply then they could be out. How long could that possibly take? A day? Two?

"Fine." She relented, "But no one hears about ths back on the ship."

"Trust me, it's not my proudest moment either." He stood up and headed over to the replicator to start creating the clothing and accessories they would be using. She sat back in her chair, already dreading the mission ahead. So many things could go wrong even if they looked the part. They'd have to act it too and she didn't have the first idea of how to do that either.

*****

By the time they were fully dressed, Ed had explained quite a bit to her about protocol within the space pirate universe. A lot of it had to do with women being subservient to men, though he did mention there would be higher-ranking female pirate captains it was because they would have proved their worth long ago, through many more trials and tribulations than were expected of men.

This was what left her in some sort of leather corset and miniskirt with knee high black stiletto boots and complicated buckles going up either side. On her wrists were bracelets with chains that connected to the rings on her hands and around her throat was a spiked leather collar with a metal loop at the center meant for a leash.

Ed was dressed in a somewhat similar style. Black leather pants, combat boots, a tight silver t-shirt with a leather vest over it. Something that also had various pins and different bits of metal for accessories or aesthetics. The look suited him. A lot. So much that she was kind of aroused while looking at him, even more so than usual. She'd always been attracted to Ed but she'd also known that because of their work relationship and whatever he appeared to have with Kelly she'd have no chance with him. Especially not now that she'd made the brilliant maneuver that got them sent to this spot in the first place. She couldn't blame him if he was going to hold this against her for the rest of her life. However long that may or may not be if they had to go mingle with actual pirates. A society she'd only read about in books. Fictional books.

Ed slid on the fingerless leather gloves and then fixed up his hair a bit. He'd already changed her hair to a very platinum blond, nearly white color it was also much longer, almost down to her waist. She also wore what looked like a nose piercing with quite a few more fake earrings in her ears. He'd changed his hair a bit too, though it retained most of its original color it was spiked up now with frosted white tips. She didn't know why she was so intensely attracted to this rebellious pirate version of him but it was probably just the fact that she would have been attracted to him no matter what he looked like.

"Okay names, I'm Shark and you're...."

"Don't make me say it."

"Come on, Alara, we don't have much of a choice here." He pleaded she sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Bambi."

"Good."

"No one is ever going to buy that's a Xelayan name."

"Yes but they will buy that it's a pirate name, do you really think I want to be called Shark?" He sounded annoyed, not at her but by the name. She couldn't blame him because it was kind of stupid. It was something she could deal with better than the next part, which was her being his pet of some kind, which was where the leash came in. "This is a currency based society, you remember what those are like, right?"

"Yes. Very unnecessary but, I grasp the concept."

"Good." He nodded then pushed the ship towards the station. It was only a few moments later when they received an alert for an incoming frequency. Ed took a deep breath, let it out slowly and answered it.

"Union ship, state your purpose or be destroyed." The voice said over the comm. Thankfully they weren't on screen, not for the moment.

"Oi yeah mate, you think we'd fuckin be here if we hadn't stolen this beauty?" Ed replied speaking in a rather trashy but spectacularly accurate British accent. She arched a brow, she didn't even know he could do that, nor did she know why he chose to do it, but she guessed it if helped him get in character it was fine. She hoped that wasn't expected of her since she'd never pull it off.

"You're saying you stole this ship? From the Union?" Whoever they were talking to sounded like there was no way they thought this story was true.

"Did I fuckin stutter, mate?" Ed laughed, "We fucking got the ship and we brought it here, needs repairs, as you can imagine it wasn't a smooth escape, yeah?"

"And how do you expect me to believe that?"

Ed messed around with the controls on the panel until he opened up a video connection with the other side. The man standing there was tall, slender, handsome, and human. At least from what she could tell behind the mask the man was wearing over the lower half of his face. His green eyes seemed to shine through the screen into her very soul. She didn't say anything because she wasn't supposed to, as Ed had told her not to speak unless spoken to. He did motion to her, however, in a very flippant way, pointing out the obvious assets on her face that would show anyone that she was Xelayan.

"With my attack dog what can't I steal, bruv?" Ed laughed. The man leaned in and seemed to study her for a long moment. His gaze gave her the creeps. There was something about his eyes that was as warm as they were incredibly evil. Besides, he was eyeing her up like she was a juicy steak and he was a hungry dog.

"A Xelayan....impressive. The Overlord will want to see you right away." The man said. "Dock in bay Alpha 6."

"Thanks, mate." Ed said then ended the communication. Alara heard him breathe a huge sigh of relief before he turned to look at her. "See? Everything is going fine so far, right?"

"Maybe for you, that guy looked like he wanted to eat me, and what's with all this weird leather and metal combination everyone seems to be wearing? It's so...impractical." She shook her head.

"Yes and no, better protection from knives than the uniforms we were in."

"Knives? How much are we going to have to worry about that?"

"Not much.....I hope." He laughed nervously and started to direct the ship to the docking bay that they were told to head to. She didn't think this was a good idea. Not if her being Xelayan was part of the reason the Overlord would want to see them right away. Ed was in a much better position than her, much higher ranking, and she was nothing but a pet. A commodity. If they weren't able to play along they would be called out quickly and that could easily mean imprisonment or death. She just hoped that whatever happened, they would be safe. It was her job as the security officer to make sure that nothing happened to her Captain. At all costs.

[voidendron]

Leave It All Behind

Whumptober 2023 Day 8: "I've got a soul, but I'm not a soldier." Overcrowded ER | Outnumbered | "It's all for nothing." Star Wars: The Old Republic | V'ehsz Legacy Next Gen Warnings: None Characters: Cadera'tten "Atten" (Outlander's Heir/Co-Commander, he/they, Chiss/Human), Deca Iresso (Head of Security, she/they/ze, Mirialan/Human), Cadera'raa "Araa" (Outlander's Heir/Co-Commander, any, Chiss/Human) (( thanks for the civil war idea for Zakuul, Raven!! ))

A thorn in the Empire’s side one too many times. A nuisance to the Republic just long enough that it didn’t lift a finger to help even when it knew what was about to happen. Zakuul, dealing with its own issues and unable to aid its ally in its time of need. It was only Inferno Squad’s espionage that had clued them in that the attack was about to happen, and even with that prior warning they… Well, needless to say they weren’t ready when the Imperial battleships came out of hyperspace just beyond Odessen’s atmosphere.

To say all hell broke loose would be an understatement.

Drive-by bombings from overhead, angry Sith, well-trained troopers and snipers and grenadiers. They all struck so fast that the Alliance was left scrambling for a foothold.

Atten’s breaths heaved in his chest and fogged the visor of his helmet; Araa to his left wasn’t doing much better. She’d tossed aside her assault cannon when it ran out of power, clumsily catching one of Atten’s blasters when he threw it her way.

Then there was Deca. Fire in her eyes, saber pike wielded with practiced ease, as she protected the exhausted Commanders with the ferocity of a wild dog.

It still wasn’t enough.

“Deca, fall back,” Atten ordered with wide eyes as he watched the next troop transport land. A new wave, even as their numbers were driven farther and farther into the trees. She didn’t hear. “Deca!”

“Dammit!” She ducked under a swinging lightsaber, shoved the Sith wielding it to send him sprawling, and bolted back to the pair’s side. “What the hell are we going to do?!”

“We need to regroup.”

And because he knew exactly how she could be, Atten grabbed her around the waist, activated his jetpack, and took off—all while she cursed him out and elbowed him halfheartedly in the ribs. He didn’t look back, but he knew his sibling wouldn’t be far behind.

It was only when they landed far away from the fight that he let her go—and she immediately turned around and punched him in the (fully armored) shoulder. “We can’t just let them overrun our planet!” she growled.

With that, Atten and Araa glanced at each other; he was chewing his lip, and though they both wore helmets to hide their faces, he was pretty sure she probably was, too. They had a lot of the same habits, after all.

“What?” Deca’s hands still gripped her deactivated saber pike so tightly her knuckles were pale.

Then her grip loosened. “...Did the scout ships come back?”

“One.” Atten took a long breath. “We… We have a good candidate.”

Her shoulders slumped as he said it, and it broke his heart. “This is our home, Attie.” Where all three of them had been born, and raised, and trained all their lives to protect.

“Not if they destroy everything, kill everyone.” He grimaced at how bluntly Araa put it, but… She was right.

Deca slumped back against the nearest tree as she dragged a hand over her face. “So… Was all of this for nothing?” When her voice cracked, Atten had to bite back his own tears. “Everything our parents did, what they built, what we’ve done now that we’re leading all this. We’re just…going to leave Odessen?”

When Atten pulled off his helmet, it revealed hair that stuck to his sweat-slicked face where it had come loose from its low-hanging tail.

And when he cupped a hand behind Deca’s head to gently bump their foreheads together, she didn’t pull away. “The Empire will destroy all we have, the Republic doesn’t care, the Hutts will take advantage the moment they know we’re weakened, and Zakuul—they’re dealing with civil war, you think they’re worried about us right now? If we want to survive, we need to leave Odessen.”

From the helmet now tucked under his arm, he could hear Araa—who’d stepped away at some point to give the pair some space—giving out the order that made his heart clench. “Odessen, retreat to the bunker. The Sith have us outnumbered.”

“What are we going to do?” Deca’s voice was a hoarse whisper, and in her eyes he swore—for just a moment—that he saw tears brimming before she blinked them away.

“We find a new home and try to build something new for ourselves… Far away from the warring of this galaxy.”

[naughtygirl286]

So we went to see the new Aliens movie Alien: Romulus. I can honestly can say I'm not a huge fan of the Alien(s) franchise I like them and I have seen them all and have some of them on disk and in the digital collection. I say I'm not a huge fan I just like Predator more. I think Predator is more interesting design/style wise and story wise nothing against H.R. Giger of course its just a preference as a fan thats all but yeah we went to see this new terrifying chapter. Also yes there was collectable goodies which you can see here.

Anyway about the movie I thought it was great I really liked it. I felt it was very reminiscent of the original 4 movies like they took aspects of them and put them into this even some stuff from the two prequel movies Prometheus and Covenant.

but I would have to say this movie drew more on the first 2 movies Alien and Aliens then any of the other ones. Also this is like a direct sequel to the original Alien being it takes place like 20 years after the events of that movie being they talk about in this.

the basic story for this a group of people are wanting to escape their lives working in the mines on a mining colony planet and discover what seems like an abandoned ship and they are going to use cryo pods to escape to another planet. So they go up to the ship and find out that it is a derelict space station which unknown to them had found the remains of the Alien Xenomorph from the first movie and were doing experiments on it. So while these people are looking for the cryo pods they inadvertently unleashed the aliens and now have to survive in order to get off the station.

I knew this was going to be good being it was directed and co written by blank who did both Don't Breath and the recent Evil Dead which were both amazing movies so I knew that this was going to be very good and being he is a horror director this movie played up the horror alot which i think this franchise should be. It did have some actiony bits to it but was as actiony as say Aliens which was good. like I said it should be a horror franchise.

The the visuals were of course impressive the production and set design were all really good and felt like the same time period as the first movie. also the creature effects were excellent. There was an amazing amount of of Facehugger action which was cool I think maybe this is the most you seen them scurrying around on screen? I'm not sure but you actually got to see them almost stalking the human characters. Also the character called the "Offspring" was crazy weird and creepy and its kind of hard to believe that the character is not CGI but an actual person in a suit with like prosthetics?!? That alone is a bit terrifying in itself I was shocked to find out that was a real person in a costume.

In the end the movie was great I enjoyed it alot and I think any fan of the Alien series would enjoy it being it brings the movies back to their horror roots.

[mr-random-man]

Our New Home Planet

Okay so listen, I never really post my writing because its usually not something i think is worth posting buttt I really enjoyed writing this so I'm going to post it anyway, WARNING I took little bits from two different fandoms, so none of this is canon accurate! I just like writing about my games and also my favourite characters at the same time so most of this is just fun brain fire and not to be taken too seriously.

also if yall like this don't worry i absolutely plan on writing more

Prologue

The last few minutes I had on my home planet were a bit rushed to say the least, and trying to get my entire life into a bag, grab my dog, and get to my ship in under ten minutes was pretty fucking stressful, I would have of course loved more time to prepare and all that good stuff but I'll be honest when I woke up this morning I wasn’t really expecting a rogue asteroid to hit my home.

I run out the door to my ship Avos as fast as my legs will take me, running as I yell to the first couple of my neighbors I see to get on and most of them quickly comply. As soon as the last person was on Avos I started her up and flew as far past the planet as I could get, I’d have to wait for further instructions from the Cyrodiil before I could truly leave our home behind but I’m definitely getting as far away as I can.

As soon as I stop and put Avos into idle I quickly realize that without the sound of her engines whirring in the background how quiet we truly all had become, I turn around in my seat to face the small table behind me where everyone had congregated.

“we’re quite far out of the set blast range so we should be fine now...I’m not sure how much ya'll travel out into space but you can’t go much further than our homes gravitational pull without permission by the Cyrodiil so we’re going to have to wait here just on the edge for a bit until they contact us”

Looking away I sigh thinking about how slow they were to get back to our safety lead when my job sent the whole team out onto a recovering planet that had suffered a supernova going off too close to them not knowing that it left behind a zombie star that went off while we were trying to take off, leaving our crew stranded without a ship for just under two months.

*Quickly explain zombie star here

Trying to avoid worrying anyone any worse than they already are I try to put on a smile as to not spread my thoughts about their reliability

“…they try their best to be quick”

Judging by peoples faces I didn't do the best. A few people slowly nod at me before putting their heads back down or returning to what they were doing before, I sit still for a moment trying to think of anything else comforting to say but my mind only draws blanks as my thoughts wonder back to everything and well, everyone left back home.

Part of my brain begs me to turn the ship so that I can see earth for the last time in its final moments but I just know that when that asteroid hits if we’re watching we’ll never recover.

After finalizing my decision to not turn around my brain looks for another escape, planning. We could live on this ship for a couple months but we’ll run out of supplies for the fabrication machine pretty quickly with all six of us so we’ll need to find a suitable planet to make a new home on, I know probably three planets out of everywhere I've gone to that I could properly breathe without a space suit or gas mask but those were pretty far so we might have to settle for a planet with no oxygen right now and then short-long term a planet with just enough oxygen so all of us could go out even for short bits with just gas masks on because my ship doesn’t come with enough suits for all of us but definitely enough gas masks…

My thoughts trail off before they’re interrupted by a short jingle coming from the speakers of the ship

“V.A.I.A your Virtual Artificial Intelligence Assistant is online”

 “The Cyrodiil has contacted you Mx Clover”

I sigh again but this time with some relief, The Cyrodiil may not always have my trust but in a world ending event It will never not be nice to hear from a source of stability.

“thank you Vaia please bring it up”

A few paragraphs appeared on the large screen above the front window.

Dear citizen, we apologize for not being able to talk to you directly at this time but we are working very hard to insure you and all Cyrodiil citizens safety. Earth is no longer with us, everyone who couldn’t leave the atmosphere within the time period given has been uploaded to the Printing Pod™ and will be reprinted as soon as possible. You as one of the few ships with a large enough crew to launch a rebuilding mission so we are blessing you with the opportunity to rebuild our civilization. If you not only survive but thrive and build us a promising new home, then you will be rewarded with your leaders and loved ones coming to live in our new found sanctuary. More crew will be printed into your printing pod as soon as you are deemed ready for them, make sure you have enough beds, water, food, and bathrooms for all individuals or no new crew will be printed. After this, coordinates to a survivable planet will appear along with further instructions.

You may under no circumstances pick who is reprinted to avoid bias, if you want your loved ones home make a city to fit us all and they will be printed inline with everyone else.

-The Cyrodiil

The coordinates appeared on the screen after their predecessors disappeared along with the instructions

“Thank you for your cooperation, we are sending a civilization packet to you with an upgraded fabrication machine to build all your new city engineering needs! There will also be a step by step guide book series delivered with it about how to build your city and what it needs to grow along with another step by step series on how to govern your city for whoever you choose to be the UNOFFICAL leader of your group! Remember whoever you choose does NOT have any governing authority once The Cyrodiil have arrived and all rulings you make MUST follow the laws and regulations of The Cyrodiil. We look forward to working with you further and watching how your city develops! Any questions you have about Planet: {TERRA} please don’t hesitate to ask your ships AI Assistant! Please wait where you are for the civilization packet to reach you. It will take exactly 24 hours, have an amazing day and good luck!

 ….….great yeah give the fate of our world to a herbalist and their neighbors, thanks guys.

The silence after the messages were read was louder than any ship engine and I couldn’t say shit because I was stuck in the exact same silence as the rest of them.

I'm not sure if trying to comfort them even though I don’t know what to say or just leaving them to their own thoughts is worse, I open my mouth to speak but stopped have way short of any real words, so I decide to just accept the silence that fell upon us and take a few minutes to sit with the reality of the situation.

It felt like I was watching the time literally fly by, sitting in place looking at the clock on my computer as my brain ran through different thoughts and scenarios. They ranged from missing my garden and bed to how I was going to insure our survival on this new planet, I had never even heard of it which already sounds off because I've traveled to or heard of most planets in our surroundings galaxy and especially the survivable ones… I should probably look into our new home shouldn’t I?

Searching the planets name into my ships data base Vaia spoke

“Planet; Terra. 268 planets away, with a lush moss floor and many plant species similar to trees Terra is extremely similar to your home planet, the only clear differences are the lack of large bodies of water on the surface suggesting an expansive underground system of lakes or oceans, the slightly lower oxygen content, and the presence of an aggressive humanoid race of reptilian creatures. Unfortunately no other data is available on the creatures as when the Cyrodiil sent a exploration group to see if the planet was worth colonizing and they came across the creatures the whole crew lost their metal facilitates, apparently the idea of other intelligent life humanoid life is something most humans can’t handle as all 15 Cyrodiil employees have been in intensive care since leaving the Cyrodiil to cancel any further investigations into the planet...until now I suppose! approximate time to reach destination will be 16  days but given the direct orders we’ve received we will not be moving untill tomorrow so I'll adjust the time to 16 days and two minutes”

Nodding along as I take in the info, I pause at her last statement

“And two minutes?”

Her AI features changing to a smile

“Well they never take more than two minutes to deliver”

I also crack a small smile with her words

“Ever the perfectionist you are”

 So the journey looks to be more than a few days, I guess we’ll have time to cope with our home exploding before we have to start making a new one…nice.

I shut down the screen with the instructions and stand up walking over to the others, they all look up at me expectantly and my face falls slightly knowing exactly what’s going to happen

‘oh god please don’t look at me like that… I'm not even a good leader! just because I own a ship doesn’t mean I'm built to be a captain- I'm not ready for this shit-’

is all I can think but as Onyx the sweet old lady who’s lived next to me for ten years looks to me says those damned words I already know my fate is sealed

“so.. what…what are we going to do?”

“fuck.”

[sanchoyo]

ok!! entire post about it! I wanted to talk about my headcanons for the tokyo mew mew alien's world! (with some of these being grounded in canon somewhat and some just being 'I think this would be neat' with no basis sjdfhk)

I would LOVE to hear other tmm fan's random alien headcanons/thoughts on any of this (or just anything in general, feel free to rb/reply and add stuff!)

LONG POST under the cut :D

-the aliens were on earth like...200-300 million years ago according to the manga (see @ribbonstrawberrysurprise's great post about that, here!) or if we go off new, gondwana was 600 million..ish. (I think the 300 mil is more reasonable personally)

-according to a quick search, at the moment, nasa thinks the closest planet that might be livable is roughly 14 light-years away. (and okay, the planet the alien's landed on isn't exactly...ideal for living on, but it has an atmosphere they can breathe, and land, even if there are harsh sandstorms. like. it's BAD conditions, but it's ~livable~ technically.) the fastest (manned) spacecraft we've had went 24,791 mph (39,897 kph). which is SUPER FAST but it would still take 378,449 years to travel 14 light years at that speed (unless the website I used to convert this is wrong?)

-and sure, the aliens have repeatedly been said to have been WAY more advanced than humans, so it could've been faster than that! but considering a few points that were brought up in canon... (going off the 2002 anime here!)

-the aliens were in some kind of cryogenic pods for a large portion of their journey, even if it WAS shorter than roughly 378,449 years (and that. is a lot of time) but it specifically says 'long sleep' and yeah man. that IS a long sleep if its even close to that. even half of that would be a lot! But again, the planet isn't IDEAL. and going to another is 'beyond their means'.

so...why is that? for such a long, hard journey, why not keep searching? did they run out of fuel? had they seen worse planets before this one? (colonies of the same alien species on previous worlds left to evolve separately from the main one would be a FUN fanfic concept) did the sandstorms tear up their ships? (in the screenshot of them tunneling, the character shown is using a pickaxe. and hey? a PICKAXE? NOT MUCH MORE ADVANCED THAN EARTH, BUDDY, ARE WE SURE THEYRE THAT FAR AHEAD OF US?! or... did a lot of their tech break?) was this even the intended planet? what if they had scouted one even further out at first but couldn't reach it and had to settle for this one? (this is all me just spitballing, but again, fun fanfic concepts)

-I'm sure even the most advanced cryogenic pods would need some kind of maintenance for such a LONG period of time, not to mention..did the ship have some kind of tech to keep it from hitting stuff, running on course, etc?

-So. I'm headcanoning that a small group of people...did not sleep the entire journey. they were selected to be engineers, pilots, do maintenance, etc for the sake of the entire species. and would have to have kids to take up the mantle, for literally thousands and thousands of years. space-fairing aliens! of course, it would be WEIRD, because they would almost certainly evolve and develop a language, culture, etc separate from their ancestors. who are still alive, waiting to be woken up. I wonder if that's where the flying and teleporting come from, or if that's tech?

-alternative to this is that people took shifts. like, a small group does the tech for as long as they can, then wakes up group 2 and gets put back to sleep, etc. this would be a lot of work and rotating ppl for 300,000+ years would be bonkers. (also would still require training new people regardless doing this so I do like option 1 better)

and here's the Other Thing:

even assuming the journey to the New Planet took 300,000 to 400,000 years? there is still a HUGE gap between that and present day in canon! A gap that is either ~199 million or ~599 million years long. MILLIONS. These were fully sentient, evolved people!

SO THEN.

THIS?? IS CRAZY. the fact that earth was in the people's memories for MILLIONS OF YEARS? How good could their records possibly have BEEN for that to happen??? Was it entirely orally passed down since they specify 'talked about'? And if so, how exaggerated did the stories of it become? (all of these screenshots are from episode 17) My assumption is that this screenshot is, like the others, the aliens ancestors and not the modern aliens, because, assuredly, with MILLIONS OF YEARS you'd think conditions would improve. If not outside of the caves, then within them, right?

what's also crazy: in new, the FASHION HASN'T CHANGED IN A FEW MILLION YEARS? even if you brought the same plants/animals you're getting your material for clothing from (which, sure, reasonable to assume the people weren't the only thing on the ships if they were going to be in space THAT long... and someone might also have to take care of plants/animals on the ship. possibly dinosaurs still exist, on the new planet. lol) fashion is something that generally should change. esp depending on the environment. the fashion in the 2000s anime had them dressed greco-roman...ish in the ancient flashbacks then totally different in present day, but in new the ancient aliens fashion? VERY much resembles the current trio's fashion (actually, the ancient fashion had MORE frills and colors. see Madeline's fit) and in new they have the same cloak things from the ancient alien flashbacks, with the newer clothes under

so. fashion being the same (or if anything, getting more boring compared to the ancients? depressing lol. this is what happens when you're too survival focused to worry about anything beyond function, but even then, the shoulder puffs have GOT to be for fashion-only. right. objectively funny that that seems to be the fashion-ish thing we got. unless everyone's clothes look so similar because it's some kind of uniform? (I have made a longer post speculating abt clothes+ genetics with aliens)

-anyway based solely on the fact I think this is a weird choice, and the fact they still even REMEMBER EARTH AT ALL AFTER MILLIONS OF YEARS, I'm choosing to believe they were in space for MUCH longer than 300-400,000 years. maybe even a few million. after all, why would they choose that one? even our current tech (behind theirs!) can scope out potentially nice, livable planets that are much more ideal than the one they ended up on! I think they were shooting for one much, much further away and had to land on one out of some kind of emergency (hence not scouting for another one or just packing up and leaving like they did with earth!)

-the wild thing is, in tmmnew, the ships IMMEDIATELY START UP AND START HOVERING WHEN DEEP BLUE OPENS THE PORTAL TO EARTH. they were READY TO GO. meaning they're functional, at least in new! maybe fuel is the issue so they did require the portal in new? (there was no portal in og anime or the manga as far as I can remember. kind of a shame the ancient aliens didn't have deep blue and had to take a 'long sleep' on their ships instead of just portalling to New Planet. when...did he come around, exactly? he...isn't actually only as old as masaya is, is he? thoughts for another post, lol)

-it kind of does beg the question: how did the pastry trio and Gateau get to Earth so fast? did the aliens devolve light-speed travel? I guess they must've been doing something in those caves for that long 🤷‍♂️ and I do think this is the case (again, the long sleep, to me, implies they didn't have this travel when going to the planet!) but the fact the aliens do visit the mews after healing their world with mew aqua also implies it's very fast-travel now, at least.

(HOWEVER. I think a fun fanfic au concept would be that they put the pastry trio into cryosleep for the long journey there and back. like, that would mean they were technically born a few thousands of years ago assuming they don't have lightspeed travel...and that by the time they reach their planet to fix it with the mew aqua, thousands upon thousands of years would pass again. that would be some GOOD angst potential. again, disproved by canon bc the aliens reunite with the mews, but fun as an AU!)

(I guess we aren't going to ask WHY they sent three young kids/teens to Earth? I actually hope they might have been intended to be scouts rather than the adults telling three kids to go Get Earth Back and maybe just decided to take it themselves, because their plans always came across as childish and short-sighted. Like...you're going to further pollute the earth...and poison the air ...where you want to LIVE? GREAT PLAN! could also have been deep blue being a jerk, since they seem to answer to him. like he hates humans so much he'll kill everything. no one gets earth in that case tho. so it's still very weird. (new does somewhat retcon this, he at least seems to care SOMEWHAT in new, more than the original, but...Still, Dude, his tmmn continent plan would also cause mass chaos and make the earth UNLIVABLE it is unbelievably bad as a plan and makes him look a bit. erm. well. maybe he could use magic to fix it. who knows. someone write an 'aliens win' au explaining how his plan does NOT cause mass destruction/extinction events. lol) very weird and food for thought on why that could be!

Anyway. That's my thoughts about the weird ship to planet and back time. Headcanons about the alien's new world and architecture incoming.

As much as I love the og anime, the architecture of new's ancient aliens is SO cute. (and the dinos casually everywhere <3)

I think it would be fun if this type of architecture was brought back to the alien's world post-canon when they can leave the caves more! or even...incorporate it INTO the cave faces! We at least know there ARE mountains (going off new!)

This is pretty close to what I think the alien's world looks like, we seem it as a red ball in New, so red soil maybe? And...not huge oceans like Earth, but some bodies of water. The rain shadow from the mountains where the caves are would cause deserts to form around the area, and the sandstorms. (I imagine the aliens would want to get a home around a body of water the same way any living thing needs to, but also the most insulated they could be, so that area where a river snakes up but there's a semi-circle of mountains shielding them from the worst of the sandstorms from the north would be a real sweetspot. + caves are usually nice and warm and damp, so good for growing stuff+ underwater reserves of freshwater! :D) we do see them (in og anime) digging into the SIDE of an area for a hole, so I think it would be fun if the cities were built RIGHT into the mountains.

I LOVE looking at real examples of this, btw. It's happened plenty of times and still IS a thing

Cappadocia, Turkey

Ajanta and Ellora Caves, India, and Ronda, Spain

Azenhas Do Mar, Portugal, and Santorini, Greece (the look of Santorini is really reminiscent of the alien's town in tmmn's flashback, isn't it? the shape of the buildings, and colors, at least!)

-In the flashback we also see a lot of greenery growing RIGHT ON HOMES/BUILDINGS. which is SO cool and reminds me of solarpunk type illustrations/vibes. It's obvious they as a society highly value nature, so being as much as a part of it as possible and incorporating it into their homes? very cute. It would be fun if post mew aqua fixing/stabilizing the sandstorms (I don't think it would actually entirely stop them, but make them predictable, and make the ground more fertile? maybe?) the houses were built into the mountains/caves still but had greenery ALLL over them + big bubble windows/domes like the screenshots from new. but still very much a Part of the world and still utilizing the caves

-on the note of utilizing the caves? CAVE ANIMALS. if they WERE ON THIS PLANET FOR MILLIONS OF YEARS, AND DID BRING THE DINOS WITH THEM? THE DINOS WOULD EVOLVE IN CAVES WITH THE ALIENS, RIGHT??? you know how WEIRD cave animals can get? you're turning dinosaurs into troglobites!! (okay, maybe not true troglobites, maybe they took the dinos out of the caves, too. I assume the aliens also had to leave the caves when they were able, because most things Need Some Vitamin D. I know theyre all sooooo vitamin deficient those first few years of adjusting to cave dwelling tho...not even touching on the psychological effects that would have.

- on that note, the aliens themselves probably should've had some weird evolution over the time period of MILLIONS OF YEARS IN CAVES but I'll save that for artists who like to Redesign Things

📢 no, really. the noble olm would like a word with you all now. tmm artists who do redesigns, make the aliens way weirder! (joke, draw them however u want ofc, but also, I WOULD like to see this lol.

...do we think them having slit eyes is recent evolution as a result of being in the caves, actually? ancient aliens:

HAD ROUNDED PUPILS, AT LEAST IN NEW.

and then the other aliens in new:

Not ALWAYS drawn as slits actually, but mostly always more slender/drawn wildly different from the mews' eyes or the ancient alien's eyes. even the bg characters!

-but in the og anime, it's a bit harder to tell. in 90% of the shots we get of the ancient aliens, they have such dark eyes its hard to tell if their pupils are slit or not!

I know if I'm being realistic this is just saving the animators time, but everyone having brown eyes is like. right. okay. sure.

but there is this one singular child who is the only one we get a good look at having blue eyes and rounded pupils. so. rounded in ancient times in the og anime too!

(and yes I KNOW some people speculate this is baby masaya, which I don't agree with, because 1. this seemed to be a part of the ancient alien flashbacks. 2. he's been said to be an artificial HUMAN so the alien ears would make..not a lot of sense (did they CROP HIS EARS LIKE A DOG IN THAT CASE??!) 3. only has blue eyes in the manga/as deep blue, and a totally different shade at that. this is..dark blue eyes. maybe closer to the blue knight's shade, but even then, these almost still look Too Dark. UNLESS we think maybe they packed him up on a spaceship and sent him to earth as a baby and it took a really really really really really long time for him to get there and he changed his hair part which usually does not happen in anime. lol?? nothing against that headcanon but do not agree with it in general)

(also on the subject of it, the blue knight sometimes has slit eyes and sometimes doesnt in both anime, more often does NOT. I will say I think this is probably just because masaya also has regular rounded pupils like a human would. deep blue has slit eyes in the og anime, but is animated as having slit OR rounded pupils even when masaya's NOT in control in tmmn which is. an Interesting Choice possibly unintentional..?...in the original anime, iirc he mostly only had the slit eyes!)

-so yeah, it would be a reasonable assumption to say maybe the alien's pupils in both og anime and new used to be rounded in ancient times but got Slit to deal with Cave Stuff. Long winded way to say they did probably do SOME evolving. not to mention the fact NONE of the aliens in the flashbacks in new or og anime could fly or teleport...whether you want to think that's tech or some new built in ability, or if the trio is genetically altered like the mews are...up to headcanons! just like all of this. :D

There are only 30 pics allowed in one post, and I had More thoughts, but I'm splitting this into two posts. Expect one More...Directly after this one (SORRY I PROMISE AFTER THAT I WON'T SPAM THE TAG AHKSDFJ)

thank u for reading it you made it this far!

[athenafire]

💚+ Mer and Frieza

// This has only been talked about between you and me on discord, so I'm going to give a real quick rundown. It's based on an old, very much dead AU where Meredith was picked up by The Ginyu Force two decades prior. The captain himself saw something in her that he didn't quite understand, but absolutely loved the novelty of.

//Years pass, and the Namek saga happens as it does normally in the series. However, she was asked to stay behind and do her usual bit of keeping Lord Friezas house in order. When the planet started breaking apart, she made the order of getting everybody still breathing back into the ship and getting the hell out of there. For years after, the very young teenager took over the ship as acting captain without any knowledge of what happened to Frieza or Captain Ginyu. This au takes place after Frieza comes back to life and takes over the ship again. Having gained a large amount of respect for her because of how well she handled the situation with zero funding from the Cold empire, and even managing to dodge being recruited by Cooler.

//all of this led to him becoming obsessed with her in a way that is so delicious to watch. It's horrifyingly toxic, yet weirdly respectful and cute at the same time. And watching the two of them dance around admitting they care for each other, and remaining professional despite the clear possessiveness and toxic loyalty.

// They're so close to either being the universe is most terrifying power couple, but also extremely close to tipping that seesaw into so many flavors of toxic relationships. It's just a fun little playground.

//All that being said, I love this. It's a completely different version of the nice gal we all love, we're a lot of her motivations are still deeply embedded in who she is as a character normally. Nature versus nurture, possession versus admiration.

[dingoat]

Five Years

[Well, this is a huge mess of rambling fiction, but I'm working on the philosophy that getting something out terribly is better than not getting it out at all! A response to @askshivanulegacy's Written In The Stars, musings set during KotFE that barely scrape the surface of what our characters have been experiencing. 2.2K words from my best girl's perspective (but they all get a mention), raw and barely edited, sorry not sorry for any incoherency, I need to get to bed hahaha.]

He was as infuriating as he’d ever been.

But that only meant he was still just as captivating.

She’d felt the breath knocked out of her, when the ship finally landed on Odessen, when she felt his presence walking the same earth as her paws tread. “They’re back,” she knew it was only through her that Blakk was aware, and she felt the thread of nerves flickering through him. It was still such dangerous territory, even muddied as it was after so many years. Watcher Five and Cipher Thirteen had been dead as far as the greater galaxy had been concerned, for five years. Each one mourned under a different name, one a polished public figure tailor made for the Empire to love, and the other all too raw and real, the sole survivor of the death of Ziost, the one man who had watched a planet turn to ash around him.

Most considered that cataclysm to be the beginning  of it all.

To Ahuska, it had been the moment they had been sealed in carbonite.

She’d never stopped thinking about him, not really, even after Ulfran had whispered that it was for the best and gently undid the bond she’d built with Thirteen through the Force. It had served its purpose. Linked to his body through his very soul, she’d re-learned how to shift her body with the moon harmoniously, stabilising herself against him. She’d re-learned how to settle her form into one free of discord, free of pain, and she was able to exist peacefully and thoughtfully among those she’d only ever been driven to kill.

She owed him so much for that alone.

And yet he’d also… become something more to her. She couldn’t deny it, even if she still didn’t fully understand it. There was a part of her that loved him, would always love him, but it was a part of her that she’d never had the chance to fully explore, as she’d been physically separated from him and turned back to her study.

Her duty.

Ulfran had been right, of course. Master Tanak’qi had been right. Letting half her heart live half the galaxy away, she’d never have found the room or the focus needed to fulfil her promise to Blakk. She’d never have been able to give her all to Blakk, what he needed, what she owed him, what she desperately wanted to pour into him to see him reclaim his whole self and begin to flourish. To finally allow them both the opportunity, the space, to get to know one another properly and come to understand their feelings for each other without all the galaxy getting in the way.

She was devoted to Blakk. She was in love with Blakk.

But she’d never stopped thinking about Cipher Thirteen.

Was he even Cipher Thirteen any more? She wasn’t really sure what the state of Imperial Intelligence and the Cipher program was these days, and she cared very little for those who claimed to be running things. She heard the people up in the base referring to Five as Commander, and it made her stomach tighten and her lip curl, but when she saw the look in his eyes, when she felt that tear in his soul and the void that was trying to devour him from the inside, she found she felt only pity for the man who had once attempted to keep her as his prize trophy hound.

He was not that man any more, even if the Alliance members who trotted at his heels seemed to think his iron fist would save them all.

She listened to the people, in their little hive of warfare up above. Some still said Thirteen, but she wasn’t sure she’d heard the title ‘Cipher’ in quite some time. Nor Agent. There were those who spoke of The Survivor in sombre tones, or those who named him Corran, but she knew not even that was his real name. His true name… oh, she wished to whisper it to him some time. She wanted to let him know that she knew. She wanted to be able to give him something real.

She wanted to tell him that she’d never stopped thinking about him, but she wasn’t sure if he wanted to hear it.

About how she’d grieved his home planet from afar, when she caught wind of the devastation on the holonews.

About how she’d closed her eyes and let her heart travel and how she’d ached at what she’d found, how it had felt too raw and personal for her to experience without him knowing she was there. Those feelings… they were for the people physically there with him, who could put their arms around him, who could give him a place to rest his head and soothe his ragged soul.

About how she’d not been able to contact him, to find him in person, amid the surge of jammed signals surrounding Ziost’s cataclysm, or the way he’d gone dark when he’d begun hunting the rogue Emperor in earnest. With Five, and Crow, and Ulfran…

She’d tried, though.

She wasn’t sure he wanted to hear about how she’d known the moment his breath had been pulled from his lungs and Arcann had sealed him off from the rest of the galaxy.

Dead, the galaxy at large had said.

Asleep, her guts had told her. Quiet. Distant. But not wholly gone. When she ran through the Force in her sleep, she’d glimpsed a barren wasteland that echoed with his presence, but no matter how she called he never seemed to hear her.

Blakk had asked her about Five, once. Very softly. She’d closed her eyes and pushed the pain from her expression, but not before a flicker of it showed through. Five was the same, she’d told him. Somewhere distant, but not gone.

They’d stayed gone for years, and those years had been hellish.

For so long, she’d kept herself free of the never ending conflict between Empire and Republic, determined never again to be used by either side. Determined to keep Blakk free, and safe, and give him the time and space he needed to heal. But the galaxy raged on, and when a new player entered the field, when Zakuul moved in and began to decimate both sides with equal prejudice and unthinkable power, safe places to lay low and avoid the fight grew fewer and further between.

Odessen had been a perfect haven, for a time. One that they’d shared with Crow, where together with Ulfran she’d helped him come to understand the gifts that he possessed. It was a place they’d allowed others to take refuge on, in fits and spurts, a place to keep hidden, a place to be nourished by the Force. A place where she worked as a healer, when those she trusted brought wounded who’d seemed beyond hope. The Queen of the Wilds, they’d called her, and she and Blakk had retreated to wilderness in earnest, only to be pulled out, again and again, to tend to people who had done nothing for her, for the sake of those who’d done everything.

She wondered, sometimes, how different life might have been if she’d held onto her bond with Thirteen. If she’d been beside him, in person, or even riding in his heart, knowing his thoughts and seeing through his eyes, on that fateful day he’d been walled off from all the galaxy. Could she have helped? Could things have gone differently, could they have cut off the head of this new reign of terror then and there? She rose to her feet, wolf-shaped, huge and powerful, and moved to where Thirteen sat, hanging her massive head over his shoulders. None of the endless what-ifs were any good to them, and it seemed that Thirteen had become even more accomplished at dwelling than she was. He’d been lost, and… awkward, almost, in a way so uncharacteristic that it pained her to see. She saw the tension, between him and Five, and wasn’t sure what to make of it. She watched as Crow tried to reconnect, but Crow was somebody new now, as well, with unheard of responsibilities and years of growth and experiences behind him that Thirteen had… simply not been there for.

Ahuska wasn’t sure it was right to push herself into the middle of all that, if she was welcome or wanted, even if the piece of her heart that he’d always owned leapt at the sight of him.

And then the Star Fortress had fired, and she’d found herself shaken to the core, mourning a people, a planet, that she’d never taken the time to get to know. Rage and regret were a potent combination, and the last thing she’d expected was for Thirteen to come to her, after the news of the attack on Bothawui had spread.

He had come, and she’d seized his offered hand, and together they had stormed their first fortress together. Together, they’d cut loose, and together, they’d found an outlet for feelings they didn’t otherwise know how to express. Ahuska realised, as they raced through the fortress halls, shattering glass and splitting skytroopers and tracking the blood of Zakuul Knights through golden corridors, that in Thirteen she had an equal. Someone who understood her wildness and accepted it without judgement, because he knew it as she did, he relished it as she did, and he had never once made her feel like a monster for it. They were equally appalled at the activities of the Zakuul nobility, and they were both driven by red hot fury at the sheer injustice of it all. He had served for years; she had been used for years, and every hope they’d had of putting those bloody, brutal lives behind them and finding something good and new had been gutted.

With Thirteen, she finally found the nerve to stare the enemy in the eye and say no more.

Yet every attempt to express herself to him had fallen short.

He shied away from offering too much of himself… just like he’d always done, really, except now she sensed the hollow ache inside him, and now she didn’t want to let him slip away.

It was easier to be the wolf, to offer herself with no expectations of conversation, to accept his arms around her and give him something strong and stable, but… it wasn’t enough. She needed him to know. His eyes were so soft and his expressions so strained and she needed him to know that he didn’t have to keep facing this battle alone.

They would part, she knew. He would head up to his quarters, she would steal away back into the forest, each to the partners who were theirs.

But she needed to give him more.

She flowed into her smaller shape, halfway between bothan and wolf, taking one of his hands in hers before they went their own ways for the night. She ignored the uncertainty that flickered across his features, the tremor that rolled through him.

“Thirteen,” she said softly, letting her wolf ears splay loosely either side of her head. “Do you remember, years ago, when you told me I shouldn’t rely on a crutch to use my power? When you took the stones and said I didn’t need them?”

“You gave them to me,” he corrected, with hint of wariness about him.

“Yes, after you convinced me. And it was the right thing to do. You were right.” She paused, and dared to reach up and touch her fingertips to his cheek. “I never wanted to be cut off from you.”

His eyes went wide, and she nearly fell apart then and there. Never had they spoken of it; never had they faced what it had meant to have their bond severed with crude and ugly words. And maybe that had been a mistake. She clung to his hand, and forced herself to continue.

“But that had also been the right thing, because I would have leaned on it too hard. You… you would have been a crutch, just like the stones, and I never would have learned just how much I could be on my own, I’d never be where I am today…”

She tried not to look too closely into his eyes, she tried not to read too deep into the expressions tugging at his features. “It hurt, I never would have dreamed how much it would hurt and I… I’ve missed you. I’ve missed you all these years, even when it never felt right to say it, watching the way Crow and Ulfran searched…”

She swallowed, almost lost her nerve, but then pushed herself to find his gaze again. To meet his lovely eyes, did he have any idea how brightly his soul shone through them? “But it’s not a crutch any more. I’m stronger than I’d have ever imagined or hoped, or ever even wanted and so now, knowing you… it’s a choice. It’s something I can choose freely.” Did he hear what she left unsaid? Did he know when she spoke of knowing him, she meant to be connected as they once had been? Did he realise what she couldn’t quite bring herself to say aloud, that she would reach out and bind herself to him once more if he gave any indication that he would welcome it back? “It’s a miracle that you’re back with us and I don’t want to lose you again.”

[spaceytingz]

An Exploration Of Planetary Aesthetics:

A beautiful girl on TikTok once revealed to me that her secret to embodying the ideas and archetypes she wants to embody, is curating Pinterest boards, one for each...archetype, idea, facet, whatever you wanna call it. I wanna do the same, based on the nine planets in the Solar System, but in order to chase to Mercurial Aesthetic, the Venusian Worldview, etc..., I need to be able to define them. I'm documenting my progress here.

Part I: Mercury

Astronomical Research:

Mercury is the smallest planet in the Solar System (barring Pluto which I do consider a planet cause I decide that), and also the closest one to the Sun.

It's a desolate world, robbed by atmosphere and geological activity by the only thing allowing its existence. The planet that takes the least time to do a full orbit around the Sun, so quick that somehow it takes longer for it to revolve around itself. Full of craters that shall remain forevermore and fluctuating between extreme heat and extreme cold, Mercury the planet appears to be a devoted servant to the Sun itself, hurrying to cater to its every whim, leaving its self preservation to the subconscious.

We're going somewhere.

Incoming quote from Wikipedia:

Craters are named for artists, musicians, painters, and authors who have made outstanding or fundamental contributions to their field. Ridges, or dorsa, are named for scientists who have contributed to the study of Mercury. Depressions or fossae are named for works of architecture. Montes are named for the word "hot" in a variety of languages. Plains or planitiae are named for Mercury in various languages. Escarpments or rupēs are named for ships of scientific expeditions. Valleys or valles are named for abandoned cities, towns, or settlements of antiquity.

So Mercury is closely intertwined with art, science and culture in general.

Looking at it through the lens of the information we just gathered, I'd characterise Mercury, the planet, as a tortured/mad artist/scientist who lives and breathes for a muse/an idea/an invention/a patron, neglecting their own needs in order to please them/achieve perfection/satisfy them and themselves. They're quick, quicker than anyone, and more devoted than anyone but in all their hurry, no one can keep an eye on them for long enough to notice it. And, why would anyone look at Mercury when gorgeous Venus and different Earth are bigger and more visually striking? Doomed to burn itself out in the pursuit of something bigger than them that would probably never even notice them, Mercury reminds me a bit of Natalie Portman's character in Black Swan who allows her drive for perfection to ultimately cause her downfall.

To preface the mythological part of my research, this also kinda reminds me of the Icarus Myth - flying too close to the sun to the point of your own demise.

Mythological Research:

Mercury is, obviously named after the Roman god Mercury, who is the Roman counterpart of the Greek God Hermes (they are not exactly the same tho, might elaborate in a bit). Basically, he is the god of commerce (therefore roads, trade voyages, etc.), luck, travel and travellers, boundaries, trickery, communication (including divination), eloquence, financial gain, wit, cleverness. He escorts the newly deceased to the underworld and is essentially mostly known as the messenger of the Gods.

The picture this paints is basically a God that controls so many important things about everyday life that also gets overlooked cause things like currency and roads are easy to undersell when compared to the ocean and the sky. A trickster that can live among mortals just as easily as he can among gods. Someone who knows and understands human nature and has fun with it, all while being a protector of humanity in a sense.

Other Associations:

In astrology, Mercury, much like in mythology, rules communication, coordination, analysis, information. It rules two signs - Gemini and Virgo.

Gemini is the classical Mythological Mercurial character by what we've described above - quick, witty, a bit overconfident, creative, always ready to tackle any problem, whimsical, the center of attention.

Virgo, on the other hand, seems to resemble the Astronomical definition a bit more: not as quick, but humble, hyper-focused on a few things, always hiding in the background and getting things done, self-conscious and practical.

Summary:

Judging by the information, I've gathered, I'd describe the Mercurial Aesthetic for myself as:

Intelligence, Academia, the pursuit of information

Unhealthy obsession with anything creative or scientific, could be connected to a person but not solely about a person.

Mental puzzles, scheming

Freedom, travel, trains (bullet trains even better), cars, planes, even more so helicopters

Wind, flight, air

Wit, quickness, someone who just never seems to be able to slow down, mumbling cause they're talking so fast

Manipulation, playing coy, testing people

Business, negotiation, wordplay

Writing, ink, but also computers and all and any kind of technology

Self destructive ambition

Innovation even when it's unfeasible

Unkempt physical appearance

Lack of organisation at the home.

Electricity.

Colors: Brown, Blue and Gray.

Dark Academia in general, but...not as composed.

I think that's all I got for now, Venus soon!

edit: including medicine too cause it's a bit of a theme. also...drugs. also, building on that, let's include escapism in general cause freedom and.... yeah, getting high to avoid your life fits in all the themes. Medicine, drugs and escapism.