#in theory i could just get all this info from the files but 1. i dont know how and 2. thats less fun anyway.

[snowflakeb0ttles]

wuagh i mentioned like. months ago that i was makin an archivey type blog for neopets ps2 stuff and i STILL AM!!! it is a huge wip though because i decided to replay it a bunch and write down all the possible dialogue/items/quests/chests/glitches/etc because i Gotta be thorough....might end up making an in depth guide or something with it all when im finished. or a video or something. or both. i shrimply like this game a bunch. it is kind of uniquely fucked up. heart emoji

anyway the empty blog is here but for future reference

@neopets-ps2

[baronessblixen]

I know people are poo-pooing the podcast with Gillian as being the same as his other ones (it's not. He has 3, 3! Sections for her. 2 are premium listens), but he doesn't have this depth of engagement. Even with Jason, there was a great comfort but still somewhat of not fully letting his guard down to maybe be hurt.

My theory is to embrace these two and support their story so that they know they have the Fandom support and are willing to feed us more. We are a safe community here to embrace you, Gillian and David, and your story with open arms, open hearts, and a willingness to gobble down whatever you feed us for the sake of getting to know the X-File that is the Mulder/Scully to David/Gillian paradox.

Why this convo with Gillian is different other than those 2 having claimed to be BFF at some point:

Case in point: 1. Asking her about the moment she thought their relationship was dysfunctional (his plane story). He didn't know if it was the same one (we didn't get to hear her event), but this opened him up to ANY of their tense fights, BTS events, etc. in which he would have to possibly defend himself if he was made out to be the bad guy.

Point 2: saying that he felt she ditched him. He expressed a feeling of loss OF and BY her. I took it as if he felt rejected by her. A man expressing this emotion, from my experience, is trying to connect with someone in a deep manner to heal personal and intrapersonal pain or ruptures in the relationship. Let's not forget that David is of a generation in which men were taught to be "macho" and tough, but he is sensitive it seems. So, putting this out in permanent podcast world is a foray into showing a "human emotion" that is not necessarily stereotypical for him and of men from the Boomer era. Yeah, he's a poet but it's easier to write than to say. Plus, how often, in all of their interviews, did he express such a deep and personal emotion? I am genuinely asking the last question because I would like to know where I have gaps in my info.

I read that some viewers see this conversation as a "goodbye" and that's fair. It is a closure to the unending question of "why didn't you get along?" They gave us an intimate look into the why and hopefully began to close that discussion part of their past because they did overcome it as fans saw with their closeness at the IWTB red carpets and during the promos for the revival seasons. Personally, I see this conversation as a new beginning for them.

They came back TOGETHER! She could have zoomed. They didn't have to share the drink (I got the impression it was shared. Dammit you 2, release the video!:))

I personally didn't see any poo-pooing. I do agree that it did have a certain depth that may not have been as obvious as in the other episodes; the Jason Beghe one, as I've said previously, came close, though. Might have been different because the friendship is different. That one in particular was very open and vulnerable, too, though.

We really did get three sections - and that really is new. It's like, let's really talk about something substantial on this podcast, and have the rest be a bonus. I felt like they could have talked even more in that bonus content. And THAT is special to me, too.

I'm not sure how much they care about fandom support. I mean they know we wanted this (a lot) and in that way, part of it, was performative. Most of us really are out here with open arms, though, just waiting for them to feed us new content like this. I mean say what you want, but it was heartfelt, and it was fun. No matter what, there is just something between them that makes you want to watch and listen.

I wish Gillian had given an answer on when they were most dysfunctional. I think he really did some soul searching and I just love that. To me, his apology felt honest. I think there's still so much between them that they probably should talk about without an audience (but probably won't).

I was surprised that he said he felt like she was quitting him when she said she was done. I know some people see that as him making everything about himself, but some people only work things out by relating them to themselves. Personally, I find it so profound that he thought she was leaving *him*. And I'm glad it made him reevaluate her feelings when he left the show. I agree with you that this felt like someone trying to heal personal and intrapersonal pain. I don't think they've ever been so openly emotional in interviews before and that's because it was always in the frame of the show and promotion. This podcast was about them (well, and failure - but in relation to each other).

Interesting that people view this is as a goodbye. Fair, sure. We all see things differently and come to different conclusions. I personally don't see it like that. Like you, I see it as a new beginning for them, and I truly hope they will continue the conversation. For me, there was no closure (for us) on why they didn't get along. I mean obviously lack of communication, but I think that's only part of it. They gave us a glimpse and it's on them to close that chapter in private.

Right? They could have zoomed! They obviously wanted to do this in person. I love that for us and them. DD said they were sharing. It was just so sweet. I'm so glad we got this.

[jq37]

A few notes on Ep 16: 1) KP getting the info on Eugenia from Aguefort's office is nothing special. Riz stole the teabag from there back in Freshman Year. 2) It's possible that all the Rat Grinders EXCEPT Lucy died in the Mountains of Chaos, which would make them even more sure that she'd join them--after all, they took the deal, so why wouldn't she? 3) KP might have filed the change of god paperwork FOR Lucy, then Lucy rectified it and they resorted to drastic measures.

True, she is just a good rogue. The specifics of it aren't crazy important at the end of the day but good point. I just mentioned it because Brennan made a point to mention it. I don't think it would give me that much pause in-universe but as a viewer who knows this is a story with clues, it felt worth noting.

Also entirely possible. It was a mission above their paygrade. She could have been out of spell slots to heal. If so, super tragic position to be in as a cleric--surrounded by dead bodies and no possible recourse. Also this is pure me making stuff up but imagine a scenario where they were attacked by Ankarna herself or something Ankarna related and Lucy was spared because her goddess is Ankarna's sister and even corrupted she couldn't attack something with her sister's mark. ANYWAY, my theory otherwise remains the same even if the other died in the mountains. But I wanted to point out that we didn't for sure know that happened yet.

That's my theory as well and what I meant by this part of my recap: "She tried to strong arm her into it (maybe even forging her god change form) and, when she stuck to her guns, she organized everyone to kill Lucy, forcing her into a position where she’d have to say yes to Ankarna in order to stay alive."

(to be continued)

[magnuficent76]

I don't know the exact deets but I do like how we basically have opposite views of Earth existing in the Borderlands universe.

You seem to view it as "the old world", where ancient relics of it can be found across the Borderlands.

I view the Six Galaxies as a Star Wars-esque setting where it takes place in a time and space far away from our own.

Granted my view might change when I get my hands on the lore book but alas.

To be honest my headcanon that Borderlands is set in the future kinda came out of nowhere aha. The way I reasoned it was mostly because of The Autism but let me try to explain !

1) A lot of what is established in the Borderlands lore is that the eridians were the only ones on the planet for the longest time, creating the vaults and all that cool shit, which is understandable seeing as the hostile enviroment in Pandora would make it pretty difficult for anything not already native there to thrive, yet they've all seem to have been wiped out. The vaults persist, there are guardians and stuff locked inside, but not even a shred of info for what happened to the eridians themselves, even if their influence over the system still lingers.

2) Humans are not only the main species in the planet, but the only sentient ones. That, and the fact they're just regular people who die A LOT because of the circumstances of the planet, tells me that the human race didn't just come to be on the planet– they were brought there somehow, and have had just barely enough time to be properly adapted (I mean, there's like 3 moons on this planet, the gravity must be INSANE. That without mentioning the notable lack of actual water). Aside from that though... They're normal guys. They're stronger and have slightly weird proportions (but my money goes on that its just the art style), but those are undoubtedly human beings, whom also have very normal if genre appropriate clothing, language, culture— And most of all, guns. They're so popular in fact that the Companies' main products are guns. You could argue that they're just banking on Pandorans being more violent, but what about the other planets ? For eden-6, there's even lore about how their guns are made and valued ! There's cultural shifts for how guns are manufactured in different planets !! If these people just naturally came to be on these planets, they would not need that much fire power... unless they didn't, and they were already preparing themselves in case of a threat !

2.5) That, and the fact there's so many references to Earth stuff in this universe [The names of the planets and magic being after greek myths, the company cultures, how some characters' names almost sound misspelled due a mistranslation, the references to just regular ass animals but Fucked Up, etc]

3) Ergo, there was a mass colonization of Pandora by humans, which subsequently lead them to get to all the other planets but also wiped out the Eridians in the process. The old world's history was slowly forgotten due to a lack of records ("I mean really, who's going to forget about the human empire? Don't even bother backing up those files!"), and its tech was either swallowed by the planet's ever changing surface (Like Pandora or Nekratafayo, both planets which are incredibly unpredictable and have fucked up structures in them), improved upon so much that there was no NEED to keep using them (Like Promethea), or just rejected overall once the population was established (Like Eden-6, which I headcanon to have the old timey aesthetic BECAUSE people wanted to reject those news technologies). All of these planets used to have aliens in them like the eridians, and the system was all interconnected with the building of the vaults, but when humans arrived they all just gradually either died off or went into hiding in planetoids and moons.

But thats just a theory... a GAY theory

Anyway yeah my headcanons are basically surrounding that haha. Hopefully this is coherent ! I LIKE the idea of Pandora and the other planets being more like star wars, but I'm Also Insane about the idea of using interstellar stuff as a grander space adventure typa thing <3

[bro-imjustvibin]

Welcome Home Update Spoilers

The Welcome Home site recently updated! I combed through the site quickly and managed to find quite a few things which I’ll post here. Spoiler warning, I’m just going to be listing a lot of the new stuff as I found it & where to find it. Not gonna theory craft as it is too late for that and I’m very tired.

/I Stick around on main page. Wally draws a house which leads to audio titled “I”. Wally says “There you are. Welcome home! Ha ha ha.”

WELCOME HOME PAGE

/help Yellow Flower drawing next to Eddie leads to new audio file titled “Help”. Wally says “What are you waiting for? To hear me again? Ha ha ha. I think… that means you can hear me.”

/will-2 Red & blue flowers lead to audio file “will”. Wally says “That’s… what an eye looks like. My eyes are black. What colors are yours?”

/4-14-bf Fly next to drawings leads to video titled “answer”. Close up of garden, clips(?), and peeled/open fruit(?). Frank and Barnaby are arguing. Frank is trying to tend to his garden while trying to dissuade Barnaby from sticking around to crack jokes. Finally Barnaby leaves and Frank says “Honestly I don’t know how you can stand to be around him-“ audio then distorts, but sounds somewhat like he said Wally. Video also ends there at that glitched part.

THE NEIGHBOURHOOD PAGE

/you-1 The You page has the same text, but now has a heart drawing with an orange smiley face on it. Clicking leads to an audio file titled “You”. Wally says “Can you see me? That’s okay if you can’t. Don’t worry. I know you’re there. You know I’m here too. I will talk to you.” His voice distorts a bit at “can’t” but gradually goes back to normal.

Note: I don’t remember much of what was here originally, so idk if much of the character info has changed. Sorry if I don’t catch smaller things.

Frank is stated to not have any known information as to his origin prior to moving into Home. No concept art could be found of Frank either.

/neighbor “So Below” now has a swirl underneath it. Clicking on it leads to an audio file with a shaking record disc. Hours makes various noises in it. Possibly morse code?

/8-14-ef Eddie is the only neighbour with a bug on his profile. Clicking it leads to a video titled “answer”. Close up of paper chains. Eddie called Frank for help with a beetle in the post office. Frank gets the beetle and reassures Eddie. Frank says “In fact, you’re not scared of them are you-“ audio distorts but still probably Wally. Video glitches and ends there.

/will Wally’s portrait in his profile now has a blue flower on the canvas. Clicking leads to an audio file titled “Will”. Wally says “You’re the most. Ha ha ha. You’re… so still. What are you doing?”

/9-14-fp A beetle-like bug is next to “About Us”. Clicking it opens a video on the same page titled “answer”. It’s a close up of a table with a plate and apples on the table. Frank and Poppy are talking about food. Preparing food made with nuts. Frank says “maybe this food could have saved my garden.”. They talk and Frank says “Besides, we’re all safe and sound here. Wouldn’t you agree-“ this time it is much more distinctly saying Wally. Video glitches and ends there.

ABOUT US PAGE

/10-14-js Grasshopper at the bottom leads to video titled “answer”. Close up of script while Julie and Sally argue over performance choices. Sally eventually gives in to Julie's choices, sighing and saying “Such is the way of artistic collaboration. Wouldn’t you agree-“ audio distorts, sounds less like Wally but still plausible. Video also distorts and ends on that.

/a Blue heart is clickable and leads to an audio file titled “a”. Wally says “I have more eyes than I did before. You know how to draw eyes. You draw mine many times. I know it is thanks to you, neighbor, that I can see. But it is still… I can’t… see.”

White text only visible through highlights.

- how’d you begin?

- “But it hurts.”

- Why’d you make this website?

- “Does it hurt?”

- Do you know how many episodes?

- “The numbers are so hard to read. Sometimes I can’t see them.”

MEDIA PAGE

New page!

Not much to say tbh. Some good audios tho

/1-14-ph Weird yarn bug off to the side near the top. Goes to a video titled “answer”. A close up of yarns & fabrics while Howdy and Poppy speak. Howdy is delivering some more yarn for Poppy. Acknowledgement of someone else in the room. (Howdy says something along the lines of “Helps to have an extra set of arms. I can see you know that quite well.”). Howdy offers Poppy a yarn spinner. Poppy says “Do you think you could help me figure out how to spin the yarn-“ Most likely Wally at the end, but it gradually gets more distorted after “could”.

NEWS PAGE

Drawing above Julie & Frank's heads is not clickable

Toy company called Marlo that keeps turning up dead ends.

Guest book is being closed. They bring up the mysterious images.

OOOOH “So many guest signatures… so many of them are trying to communicate. What are you telling me for? Do you think I can answer. What are you trying to do to me. I’m closing that guest book. I’m not playing this game anyone. The ringing is enough.” Right underneath the latest update.

STICKERS PAGE

/i-2 A drawn star with a red dot on it appears behind the text. It leads to an audio file titled “I” where Wally(?) starts drawing eyes with spiral pupils. Wally says “Do you like to draw? I do. Do you know how to draw an eye? First, you draw a circle. Next you draw a smaller circle inside. Then you color it in.”

Sprites of all the characters along with banners

/11-14-jb Spider at the top leads to a video titled “answer”. In the video, it’s a shot of light coming through some branches while Julie and Barnaby are arguing over who’s funnier. Second acknowledgment of another, most likely Wally (Barnaby says “You hearing this little buddy?”). Julie makes a pun. Barnaby is very sassy. Julie says “it was to a funny joke. Wasn’t it-“ Wally is distorted, video glitches and ends there.

MERCHANDISE PAGE

/phone The telephone does have audio for Wally. It’s titled “duet”, but this one is a longer recording. Wally talks to you for a while before Home creaks and Wally wraps the call up.

Lots of merchandise, so it’s safe to assume Welcome Home was very popular back when it was airing.

/6-14-jf A butterfly is resting on the C in “Currently Unknown Records”. Clicking it takes you to a video titled “answer”. It is another close up of the garden, this time with more destroyed produce(?). Julie and Frank are talking and Julie is offering solutions to Frank's garden problems. They are giggling and cheering up. Julie says “Don’t worry, I’m sure we could come up with a good joke between the three of us. Isn’t that right-“ Possibly Wally. Audio distorts & video cuts off.

THE PLAYFELLOW EXHIBITION PAGE

Does a rundown of how things started and the exhibition. Shows photos of the exhibition.

Welcome Home believed to have a four year run, from October 11th, 1969 until sometime in 1974.

The Question Answerer helped restore the vinyl records and the talking telephone.

/understand A drawing of a house appears next to the Poppy sprite at the bottom, which leads to an audio file titled “understand”. Wally says “Do you like Home? Home is my house. Do you have a Home too? Do you hear it too? You can hear mine.”

Small detail but out of all eight spinning vinyls at the bottom, the one on the very right is out of sync with the others.

GUESTBOOK PAGE

As previously stated, the guestbook is closed for the time being.

/find The big image of Wally and Barnaby looking through the guestbook has a drawn text bubble appear beside it. Clicking leads to an audio file titled “find”. Wally says “…I can’t hear you… Do you know who I am? We’ve looked into each other’s eyes so many times. You’re looking at me now.”

/13-14-he The beetle at the top of the page leads to a video file. It is a close up of multicoloured apples(?). Howdy and Eddie are talking. Eddie's in a rush as usual. Howdy sends the bowling balls Julie ordered off with Eddie. Howdy says “Let’s hope he doesn’t run into anybody with that order, ey-“ distorted saying of Wally, audio glitches and video ends.

/7-14-ej There’s a worm in the submissions. In the submission by zip. Clicking on it leads to a video titled “answer”. In it is a close up of paper with colored pencil drawings on it, while Eddie and Julie talk. Probably related to that drawing of them dressed up and Julie acting as a CEO figure, cause they're talking in the same dialogue and way. Business goes broke and Julie goes off to freak out about it. Eddie says “Oh yeah he’s right here. Phone call for ya-“ distorted Wally, audio warps and video ends.

Other than that, there’s not much different. They filled out the rest of the book and seemingly got rid of the previous hidden messages

Hopes this helps some of y’all.

[morphogenetic]

finished investigation of case 2-2! am about to spam some screenshots so bear with me

1.

fambly....... 2.

see i thought ryuu was smarter than his descendant but it seems like he truly is the 'the doctors said i had internal bleeding. that's where all the blood is supposed to be' in some ways....

3.

no comment.

actual theory-related screenshots (and just raw theories) below the cut. includes some dgs1 stuff for sure and implied dgs2 later game things based on a specific spoiler i know

firstly. i guessed that there was something weird with the gas and that's why natsume was feeling really bad all the time. and the case very much does seem to be going the 'THERES A GAS LEAK' direction so. feeling vindicated about that.

second, as i was typing this, it just hit me that there's a very specific hat in shamspeare's room that seemed familiar. like it was made by that one hatter guy. that definitely seems related - if not in a 'that hatter guy made that hat' way, in a 'this must be related to someone else who wears a hat.'

i do remember a guy with a knife who was a juror in an earlier case. would definitely be weird but not impossible that it's That Guy. i do remember seeing him take the stand at some point in someone else's screenshot (unspoilered.....fun!), though idk if it's this case or not so. you know.

thirdly, more overall-game relevant:

this stuff is reaaally making me feel like asougi was planning on 'dying' from the beginning for some reason. like there's a specific plan that he + watson + gregson + whoever shin is where planning from the beginning. hard for me to tell WHY at this point but "there's something I needed to do" makes it kind of. hmmm. hrmmmmmmmm. not sure i like it.

i really want to know who A. Shin is still, since that would maybe help me put a few of the pieces together, but i get the feeling he's possibly tied up in barok's being a xenophobic asshole so maybe i won't learn that for a solid while. guess I'll find out....

also the fact that they keep bringing up karuma's history feels....odd. i don't know why they would keep talking about this random sword if it wasn't relevant some how but i don't feel like i have enough info on this. oh. additionally. all the 'asougi clan' stuff is making me a bit suspect. i did see someone with the same last name in the art files [sorry. i know i shouldn't have looked] but i a) thankfully did not catch their first name b) did not actually LOOK at the art so i have no idea how they're related. still, though, even without that hint this would probably be the point of the game where i would be starting to go 'is asougi's dad terrible.......' because. i don't have another idea.

i mean i don't KNOW it's his dad lmfao but still. i guess said asougi could also be one of the reasons (the reason?) van zieks is xenophobic. but we will see. We Will See.

[trash-monkey]

Polychromatic

Chapter 2

The meeting I had with the nightclub owner along with his upper boss and the other important members last Saturday been stuck in my mind the whole week as it distracted me from my day job as the librarian assistant at the public library, something about them seems familiar but I just can't put my tongue on it. The week crawled by slowly with my nerves being eaten alive about the up coming meeting but I still turned up at the club like usual sitting back on the couch selling the regular drugs while listening to the gossip of the people lunging around me, the taller man from last Saturday strolls up to me with a smirk.

"He wants to see you." He simply said before making his way back to the VIP lounge with me following behind and once at the top of the stairs the man quickly got behind me to put his hands onto my shoulders in a tight grip, he leads me to a arm chair where he forced me to sit in it where he stands behind me like last time and at the corner of my eyes I can see the club owner also moved to stand behind me. Across the slick black coffee table sits the white haired man with a feet on the edge so he could prop up his arm and his dark eyes peering into my glass covered ones.

"I have come to a decision after Sanzu...." He gestures to the pink mullet man that took my drugs last time sitting on the chair next to him cleaning a beautiful Katana.

"Tested the drugs you had and the results where good, very good. Because of this I want you to work for me." He leans forward in his seat so I did the same after writing my conditions down and slid the pad to him over the table.

~ These are my conditions if you want me to work for you; 1.) I stay anonymous to anyone in the organization except the people in this room 2.) Only three people of my choosing get to know where I live so they can pick up my deliveries on Saturdays instead of having me come to the club and 3.) I get to keep my day job at the library along with my apartment~

He reads it over before finally questioning my lack of speech and slip the pad back over.

~personal but even if I'm tortured no one will learn anything, also how much you want?~

He humm at this new info that only solidify his decision dispit my conditions along with the three of his members attention captivated on me though they're doing great at not showing it but they all worked together enough to tell before telling me the amount he wants, being the leader of a criminal organization he has the duty to keep business going and the safety of his people so he already looked into my files along with knowing my ABO.

"I agree to your conditions and to stay anonymous then you must not tell anyone that you're associated with us." He stands from the seat and turn his head to Sanzu as he speaks to him.

"Get him acquainted to the executives before taking him home." He turns back to me and asked who I pick to know where I live, with a few seconds to think I point to the two behind me and Sanzu, not knowing the relationship the three have causing him to smirk and nod at my choice before going to sit in his dark corner.

"Ran Haitani and this is my younger brother Rindou." The tall man confirms my theory of them being related and continues on pointing out each executive in the VIP lounge before grabbing a random drink off the waitress tray that appeared and shoved it into my hand which I give a nod in return but only got a few sips down when Sanzu stands from his chair once done polishing his katana.

"Come on, I got shit to do." I set the glass down and head out to the clubs parking lot to my car with the three following behind, with Ran in the passenger seat he messes with the radio but not finding any so he turns it back off and put his attention on his phone until I arrive at the flat complex I live at. Lucky I had made it a habit to get rid of my Alpha phenomenons in the flat before doing my Saturday usuals in case I bring guests home and become of my unique ability I can't let anyone know of it while trying my best keep my dealer life from my day life. I gesture to the living room as if saying make yourself at home before going to my secret room after making sure the three will stay in the living room, with skillfully hands and speed I packaged the amount the boss wanted of everything I had which I disguised as an unexpected package in the mail. Once the room is hidden again I reappear in the living room where I lay the package down on the glass coffee table to slid it over to Sanzu which he quickly grabbed it and sits a thick envelope in it's place, as soon as they were here they're gone as quick which I give a sigh in relief knowing in time I'll get use to their presence in my home.

_______________________________________________

[fuckthisshitimin]

@edenfrompluto, you asked my thoughts on "Connor Dyer", aka "CD09663", aka "Blorbo From Our Spreadsheet"...

Thank you so much for asking. Took me a few days to answer because 1) I don't have any info to add to the discussion, only speculations and not new ones 2) This made me want to re-listen to everything. Instead I re-read all the transcripts in a haste.

The "Alice's deadname" theory is cool alright but the "Alice's secret 2nd brother" theory? It is a punch in the gut and I love it.

Unfortunately, my ears don't catch the glitches in the audio that may-or-may-not indicate lying (unless I try very very hard) and I didn't find transcripts that included all of those (if there are, please send a link!!!! someone making the lord's work out there?) so I can't use that to speculate.

What we know about Alice:

she's been working here the longest, almost a decade.

she went to Nottingham with Sam (does this count as extrapolating?)

she is very insistent Sam does the job, nothing less (!!!), nothing more

both her parents died after college, and then they dropped out of touch with Sam

she hooked Sam up with the job

She's in the same age group as Sam so somewhere in her thirties, which means she got the job soon after uni - and she went to a good, hard-to-get-in university - a job Lena said "it would be difficult not to be [overqualified for]". If I was to make a timeline, I'd say she started here after her parents' death (and it wouldn't be weird if their death was weird), so, around the time they dropped out.

Now, when The Magnus Institute is first brought up, she doesn't act like she's familiar with the name, so Sam probably hadn't mentioned it to her before.

Alice very clearly signifies that she doesn't want Sam sniffing around. Though, if Celia's word is to be trusted, Alice described Sam as being "an overachiever, obsessive, a bit repressed, nosey, kind of a recluse, and very easy to wind up." This is not the profile of a friend I'd want to recommend to my "horror government file-first-ask-questions-never" job. The commands "just do the work, don't think about it, don't do research" are in direct contradiction with how she sees him. Now, he was being pathetic and not having a job, so desperate times... Though we have no idea what this "most pathetic vague post" was, and if it mentioned "the incident" at work enough to make her think he had an Encounter, it could have played into the decision.

I really don't have much to add to the theory except how compelling it is; if she is here to find out more about her brother (maybe after discovering things about him when her parents died?), why not let Sam in on things? If it's to protect him, why drag him here in the first place?

Also, Alice has some relationship with the computers here. She's the only one on good terms with Colin, got along with Teddy enough to still have a drink with him after he quit, named the voices - Gwen accuses her of finding "speakers" just to get on her nerves, so she thinks that's something Alice can somewhat control.

So, yeah. Thank you for asking my thoughts, though it's more about Alice than this mysterious "Connor".

Also, I don't know how hard it is to get a name change in the UK, or how hard it was in the 2000s/2010s, but being currently in my 20s, I know the deadname of most trans people I've had long-term intimate relationship with, either needed them to send packages, saw them accidentally on official stuff, heard them being deadnamed by family, some of my friends also heard and saw my deadname when my school made a mistake... So if the document Sam recieved is the one we have and "Connor Dyer" is Alice's deadname, there might have been a chance he'd recognized it? I don't know. Thinking about this has been fun while waiting for the new episode.

THAT DAMNED SPREADSHEET

DOES ANYONE TO HEAR ABOUT MY ADVENTURE IN THE SPREADSHEET?

Cause I'm pretty damned sure I know what getting "High" on Milgram means.

Talking about his being rejected by the Magnus Institute, Samama said:

[That definitely feels like when it all started. […] Well, after that it all just went downhill. Didn’t get into Oxford, so I went to Nottingham.]

And that does not sound like what one would say about something that happened when they were, like, eight. So I went to take another look at the spreadsheet. Of course I was wrong, because The Magnus Institute burned in 1999, so he couldn’t have been more than nine, but I found out other stuff.

A thing that bugs me in how I’ve read some discussing the spreadsheet is that Sam has the highest empathy score, and that it made him “too nice/good” for the Institute’s purposes (not necessarily this directly but it has been implied, including in the “recruiting future avatar theories, and… well, implying that low empathy makes you more likely to become a literal monster is quite disgusting, actually).

First, I think we got one thing wrong on the Kohlberg column. Since they are kids, it doesn’t seem shocking that they’d be around stages 1 to 3 of his “Six stages of moral development”; but it doesn’t say Stage 1, 2 or 3 it says Level 1, 2 or 3, and I don’t think it’s a mistake.

His six stages are divided into three levels: Pre-Conventional (1,2), Conventional (3,4) and Post-Conventional (5,6).

People in stages 1 and 2 (Level 1) have a sense of morality that is linked to the direct consequences of their actions on themself — stage 1 is “don’t hit the dog because you’ll be punished” and stage 2 “give her half your banana and you’ll get half her chocolate bar” (very simplified).

People on stages 3 and 4 (Level 2) have internalized their surrounding’s sense of morality and act accordingly — stage 3 being “I’ll get a good grade in being a person by following the rules” and stage 4 “the rules I learnt are true and real, failing to follow them is Wrong and upholding them is Right” (idem).

People on stages 5 and 6 (Level 3) have a personal sense of morality that is critical of societal norms — stage 5 being “there are rules, and those rules can and should be changed through compromise to be fair to the greatest number”, and stage 6 “unfair rules should not be followed, direct consequences like punishment are irrelevant when it comes to deciding to do what it right” (very, very, very simplified).

If I’m right, the spreadsheet is so much more understandable.

First thing I wanted to do was put numbers on how singular Sam’s results are:

He gets “High” on both Milgram and Asch when the overwhelming tendency is that the higher your other scores are, the more likely you are to get “Low”, and the numbers were, indeed, that among the 49 children who scored “High” on both, 33 were in Piaget’s stage 1, 15 were in stage 2 and only Sam was in stage 3.

The 33 kids who were in stage 1 are the opposite of Sam:

(Abbreviating so it’s easier to compare values but P=Piaget, K=Kohlberg, Ps=Prosocial, S-A=Sally-Anne, U=Ultimatum, EI=Empathy Index)

33K: (P) Stage 1 :: (K) Level 1 :: (Ps) Low :: (S-A) Fail :: (U) Unfair :: (EI) ≥62%

Sam: (P) Stage 3 :: (K) Level 3 :: (Ps) High :: (S-A) Pass :: (U) Fair :: (EI) 98%

So that’s weird. And when I went to filter by Kohlberg levels… absolutely no kid that was on “Level 2” scored High on Milgram and Asche.

In fact, among the 99 kids on Kohlberg Level 2, none got “Low” for prosocial, none got “High” on Milgram, only 2 got “High” on Asch.

And when we read “Level 2 (Conventional Morality) instead of “Stage 2 (Pre-Conventional Morality, what benefits me directly)” we can make sense of this: 

“To reason in a conventional way is to judge the morality of actions by comparing them to society's views and expectations. […] Conventional morality is characterized by an acceptance of society's conventions concerning right and wrong. At this level an individual obeys rules and follows society's norms even when there are no consequences for obedience or disobedience. Adherence to rules and conventions is somewhat rigid, however, and a rule's appropriateness or fairness is seldom questioned.” (by Kohlberg himself, from Wikipedia)

Adults can be Level 2, by the way. Adults can even be Level 1. Subjects of the Milgram experiment are displaying peak Level 2 behavior.

“High” on Milgram is “Did not electrocute/Disobeyed”

“High” on Asch is “Did not conform”

GOSH THAT IS SATISFYING

Bonus: the average empathy index is 79,1%, the median is 82% with 116 kids below 82%, 13 kids at 82% and 120 kids above. Of the 116 kids below the median, 11 got “Low” on Milgram. Of the 13 median kids, 3 got “Low” on Milgram. Of the 120 kids above, 91 got “Low”.

If we take the average instead, of the 163 kids more empathetic than the average, 100 got “Low” on Milgram, and 2 got “High”, of the 86 less empathetic than the average, 5 got “Low” and 59 for “High” on Milgram.

So actually here, low empathy is inversely correlated to willingness to hurt if ordered to.

And it makes sense. Low empathy is often associated with anti-social personality disorder, autism, depression — and you know what’s very associated with anti-social personality disorder? Disobedience.

Now I have to make another post about the weird kids in red's names.

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 328: Pandora’s Box of Discourse

Previously on BnHA: DEKU TOOK A BATH.

Today on BnHA: 

Also Naomasa grew a beard. Goddamn. 

please let this be a cool chapter that plays nice with my ADHD lol

(ETA: lol I feel guilty because a lot of people hated this chapter, but I’m just happy there was a lot of stuff to make fun of, and also that I have another week to work on my backlog of meta posts since the kids were MIA.)

around one month ago?? ah, okay, so we’re gonna find out what was in that Tartarus security file huh

I love that they just randomly set the place on fire

was it necessary to do this in order to escape? no. was it a good idea to set the island they were occupying on fire while they were in the midst of still occupying it? uh. was it cinematic as fuck? fuck yeah

wow it’s a pervert!!

that’s so great that the villains set loose this fine fellow who I’m sure is definitely not a serial rapist. truly the LoV is so noble and misunderstood. they’re just trying to free society from its chains people

oh my god??!

SHANKED!!! oh my god I cheered for Stain before I realized what I was doing. time to have an identity crisis I guess

so he’s all “hey what’s going on.” which, while a respectable question, is something I personally would have waited to ask until I had put a bit of distance between myself and the fiery murder island. but that’s just my personal preference

Stain you really are tenacious I’ll give you that

“what’s the point of escaping prison if you’re not gonna be smart about it” well shit. anyways yeah you’re dead right, society is in the process of collapsing and the outside world is in total chaos, good call there

oh shit

I mean it’s not like we really expecting anything otherwise, but still. fucking brutal. I feel like these guys’ fates were decided the minute that one guy called AFO “scum” back in chapter 94. AFO is unmatched at getting long-term revenge

??

ahh, was it the security footage??

fdsdfk he’s still alive??

and he’s immediately launching into an inappropriately theatrical monologue even as the darkness closes in on him fdlfksjdlk. you know, was it ever confirmed that the other guy back in chapter 297 was Seiji’s dad? I’m just saying

very impressed that he’s still coherent enough to weigh the pros and cons before making the decision to gamble on giving this info to Stain, who at the very least has his own moral code and isn’t allied with AFO. it was definitely still a risk, but as we now know it was also the right call

what a weird alliance. so Stain tells him that he’ll give it to a just person, and the guy is all,

okay for real though I’m gonna need someone to run a DNA test on this guy. maybe it was some kind of cuckold situation?? the other guy had the family resemblance, but this guy absolutely 100% raised Shishikura Seiji and you are not going to convince me otherwise

anyway, so Stain is all,

PRISON GUARD: “???? ??????? what the hell. what the fuck does that fucking mean. I’m dying here, jesus christ, whatever man fuck you”

(ETA: I kind of feel like this might have been Stain’s last appearance in the manga, given all the fanfare. there’s not really much else he can do for the story at this point, and he seems to have gotten all the character development Horikoshi was planning on giving him. so if this really is it, hasta la vista and good riddance I guess.)

DWLFDKSLDK MEANWHILE, OUTSIDE

(ETA: I feel like this is meant to be evocative of that Sermon on the Mount painting, but in a really fucked up way lol.)

if it were me stumbling upon this scene I would just shake my head and walk right back into the flaming building. not getting involved in that mess. sorry not sorry. I’ll take my chances with the fire, especially given that it’s half-assed neutered BnHA fire lol

blah blah blah and so he decided to pass the info on to All Might -- HOT DAMN, HOLY SHIT

NAOMASA HOLY SHIT. THE APOCALYPSE LOOKS GOOD ON YOU, BOY

“I really like that facial scruff thing Aizawa’s got going on, I think I’m gonna get in on that” yes sir. “also thinking of ditching the tie in favor of the bulletproof vest look. also thinking of getting totally fucking jacked.” good lord. except I’m pretty sure that’s just body armor, but also I don’t care. anyway I should probably stop staring and actually read the fucking speech bubbles here lol

“All Might first handed this information over to Nao, and then went to see Deku, and then came back to Nao” thanks for that tidy little summary Horikoshi. we are capable of piecing events together in sequential order, I just want you to know that. but thank you

“so has Deku finally gotten a bath? also, sucks that Stain saved the day, but what are you gonna do” Nao I missed you so fucking much and didn’t even realize. how am I just now realizing that you are the perfect man

for a second I was gonna ask why Tartarus’s security systems would be cut off from the outside world, and then I remembered that’s a basic security control, and then I actually got impressed by how sensible that is. like, it’s been a while since I could genuinely say that the good guys (excluding class 1-A) did something smart. not that it helped them much in the end, but still

anyway so they’re talking about how AFO was able to coordinate the attack by communicating between his horcrux self on the outside and his ugly peanut-faced self on the inside

huh

okay you have my attention. I am taking notes here lol please continue

ah okay so he says that prior to Jakku, the transfer of information between him and his Vestige self was only one-way. but post-Jakku when Deku was in the hospital, he was able to tell what was happening inside the OFA Radical Lisa Frank Dead People Book Club Realm when he touched him. I feel like we established that before, actually. but he didn’t talk about how it actually felt, though

boy we already know this lol. yes AFO can talk with his horcrux self. and he can also communicate with his little bro in OFA too, let’s talk about that sometime why don’t we. what exactly does that imply, based on the rules we’ve established here

my god I cannot get over Naomasa and his fucking facial hair

no wonder All Might was in such a hurry to leave Deku and get back here

like I have no idea what this radio waves nonsense is but my god, people

that jawline. also so it’s a quirk, I see. except last I checked Deku didn’t have a radio waves quirk, so that doesn’t really explain his connection to AFO. but whatever, hopefully we’re at least getting closer to some kind of reveal here

(ETA: since I sometimes forget that other people’s lives don’t revolve around my theory posts, here are the two relevant links if you by chance want to know my thoughts about this.

Hagakure is still The U.A. Traitor™ regardless of whether Deku is passing information on to AFO through his psychic link, which he almost certainly is.

speaking of said psychic link, Deku is a horcrux.

just posting these now, because whenever trippy OFA stuff happens I tend to get an influx of theory asks. so hopefully this will be a bit of a time saver lol.)

-- wait, what

THAT’S what the recording was??!? holy SHIT. I genuinely was not expecting that. y’all wiretapped his fucking telepathy. fucking quirks, man. wild

AND THEY USED THAT POWER TO DETERMINE WHAT WE ALREADY KNEW, HUZZAH. GOOD SHOW

-- oh shit wait lol, except I forgot we’re not talking about 38 days from the present, we’re talking about 38 days from the date the conversation was recorded. heh. um

yeah that’s the face I would make too if All Fucking Might just casually told me we had eight days left until the end times

oh, pardon me. three fucking days

r.i.p. anyone who thought we were going to have another band arc sob. I sure hope Deku is enjoying that nap

(ETA: I realize people were hoping for a longer rest period here, but given that the man warned us all the way back in chapter 306 that we were entering the final act, you can’t really blame him too much when that turns out to be true. anyway but I do recognize that we’ve reached the point in the story where this kind of discourse is going to become a weekly occurrence, simply because there’s no possible way for Horikoshi’s actual endgame to line up perfectly with the variable headcanons of millions of fans, all of whom have wildly differing and in many cases contradictory expectations which can’t possibly all be fulfilled. anyway, so I’m already bracing myself for that lol. this coming year is going to be a wild ride.)

damn, U.A. out here looking like the motherfucking United Nations

-- is this U.A.?? I actually just realized, U.A. is four interconnected buildings, not two. wait holy shit is this Shiketsu?

wait holy SHIT

based on the overwhelmingly powerful vibes of bureaucratic incompetence, I’m thinking this really is the (future) U.N., or whatever organization it is that deals with international hero stuff

“just let them handle it themselves I’m sure they’ll be fine” yeah okay, thanks guys. appreciate it

wait oh shit did he say that it’s not just Japan?

soooo, what you’re telling me is that AFO is this close to bringing about the end of not just Japan, but the entire world, and you guys don’t think it’s a good idea to help the Japanese heroes stop him? so, genuine follow-up question: are you guys already planning your rich people exodus into space a la Wall-E, and that’s why you don’t give a fuck?? like, what??

omg international heroes

these guys are from World Hoodie Mission, right? is this Horikoshi’s way of reminding me to buy tickets

(ETA: and it worked too lol.)

WHO??? WHAT???

don’t tell me you’re introducing yet another badass new female character for me to fall in love with only to watch as you dismember them and/or blow them up, Horikoshi. I’m getting tired of playing this game my dude. don’t lie and tell me this time will be different. we’re not doing this again goddammit

noooooooooooooooooooo

god fucking dammit lmao. [sighs and rips the previous paragraph into shreds]

on behalf of Americans I apologize for our superheroes always being Like This

I also apologize because I love her already and I’m gonna be shameless about it. so fucking shameless you guys

is her fucking hair red white and blue. it is, isn’t it

this is the volume cliffhanger, 100% lol. it will take every ounce of Horikoshi’s willpower not to put her on the volume cover. he’ll have to settle for the spine or the inner cover this time because Deku VS his class 1-a superpals takes precedence. but it will be a close thing let me tell you

tbh it’s that smile that does it for me. she’s definitely All Might’s protege. get out there and show them how it’s done girl. and maybe call Salaam and BRD and see if you can’t convince them to play hooky from their governments as well. why not. world’s ending in three days you guys. “sorry, I’m busy this weekend” ain’t gonna cut it lol

so while I am not fully caught up with Vigilantes, I have read far enough to know that there’s an American hero named Captain Celebrity whose superpower from what I recall is being a humongous douchebag. and while I haven’t read far enough to know what happens to this guy, I can’t say I’m very disappointed to learn that he’s no longer the number one hero in the U.S. (actually, didn’t they kick him out and that’s why he moved to Japan to begin with?). anyway, so my thanks to Horikoshi for having a marginally higher opinion of Americans than Furuhashi, even though we have definitely not done anything to warrant said opinion lately, and you may have inadvertently opened the door to a pandora’s box of discourse lmao

(ETA: lol I went into the tags and they don’t disappoint. “why is she dressed like a flag” because she’s an homage to Captain America and Major Victory and literally every other character on this list. again, I apologize for fictional American superheroes being Like This. “oh boy another thicc waifu to make the fanboys happy” look, tumblr fandom never seems to have a problem thirsting over Dabi or Tomura or Aizawa or Nao, lol, I’m just saying. “where is Captain Celebrity” idk, probably murdered by the exploding bee cartel, let’s just be grateful for our good fortune and try not to Beetlejuice the man.)

anyway, so let’s see if Horikoshi’s recent character development with regards to making Mineta not terrible anymore will apply to other aspects of his writing as well. I know I was making light of discourse just now, but I do think the complaints about him introducing yet another new character at the 11th hour to be cannon fodder in the final battle are absolutely valid. and again, it wouldn’t be a problem if he didn’t keep maiming/killing off his female characters one by one instead of developing them and letting them kick ass long-term. but that said, I will never complain about Horikoshi adding another female character to the series, regardless of how clumsy the attempt may be. go ahead and pander away, just give us more girl power lol

anyway so we’ll see how it goes, but I think I’m gonna be optimistic and let myself hope once again, even though I’m probably gonna regret it lol. it is what it is. she is standing on an airplane just chilling for fuck’s sake. I’m only human. anyway fingers crossed

[corrie-zodori]

KICKS IN THE DOOR HOLDING A BUNCH OF PAPERS AND RED STRINGS ALRIGHT Y'ALL STRAP IN because I am on a Deltarune lore high I am here to info dump about stuff that I've picked apart from some things people may not have dug into. SPOILERS AHEAD just in case!! ---------------------- So as y'all know there are hidden lyrics in the song "Big Shot". Both in the middle, and at the end (which sounds like gibberish, and only plays IN game. It was removed in the official track.) Said gibberish, when slowed down, to me sounds like "Think its coming for me, I cant explain until youre all alone" Layered over one another. These lines are highlighted in gibberish, for some reason. I can't find a video on it, but you can slow down the gibberish and kinda make it out fairly easily. I don't feel like Toby would put this in for no reason. Keep a pin in this.

As it stands, in my opinion this is the clearest version of the middle lyrics we are going to get. https://youtu.be/KEATCOOzDYE?t=28 What I PERSONALLY hear is this: "Think it's coming for me answer the phone, I can't explain til you're all alone, it pulls the strings and makes them ring, can't tell you much - it's breaking up! (or until your heart is breaking up?) Think it's coming for me, answer the phone, pulls the strings and pulls the strings and tell you what you big sh- (bitcrushed, goes back into the song but we know it'd say big shot)" I am pretty stuck on the lyrics "can't tell you much - it's breaking up! (or until your heart is breaking up?)" as it's the hardest for me personally to make out, so if you hear something different, let me know what you think! Also, a thought that I had, is assuming it IS accurate lyrics, "I can't explain until you're all alone" in the song could be something to chew on because of one odd thing. We've seen ralsei talks to kris when they are alone/off screen from the player, explaining something (see: "so that's why-" in chapter 1 when we cut back to them, and he stops.) If such is no coincidence, why does this line appear in Big Shot? Is this connected to spamton (who we already know like 99% certain is connected to gaster, as is potentially jevil)? Or is this connected purely all to Gaster specifically? I think Gaster might be WAY more connected to Ralsei than we think. (Or, a more cracked theory, gaster is controlling ralsei, or ralsei is one of Gaster's followers. But this might be a stretch.) Now, something I'm not sure if anyone has done, is reverse these hidden lyrics. And so I did, and what I found was *very* interesting. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TQTBiBsmtsAnHXP7aEpDbINk8zHDIV5E/view?usp=sharing What I can make out is: "Help me kris - in the tears- all alone - Are you there? Are you listening? Hear me in the tears - listen for me" I presume the rest is intentional gibberish, maybe to imply that gaster is trying to communicate, but is having trouble getting through. It's literal garbage noise with actual words sprinkled in. The tears thing especially is interesting, because of this poem that is supposedly linked to Gaster. (SEE: The bottom of this rant.) Also related to Ralsei, I already personally, do not trust ralsei. He comes off like he knows too much, he is hiding the upstairs part of the castle (which could just mean its for future chars in later chaps idk), he knows where specific things are in the light world (see: when he asks kris and susie to go back to the school in a very specific spot), and he brushes off the thing with spamton neo even though something CLEARLY wrong. I love Ralsei ofc, but I feel like there is something sinister about him, or at the very least something very hidden. I speculate that Gaster may be trying to make his own vessel. For what reason, we aren't sure. Either create in some way, or corrupt even (perhaps if they aren't worthy/capable/compatible?), but all of his experiments failed (except, perhaps, who we know as Kris.) What we know (assuming that his lore from undertale DOES carry over here) about gaster is that he supposedly split apart. Maybe creating a vessel is his way of somehow becoming whole again, or returning to the light world? Why do I think that Gaster might be one of the main plot points in the story? Well, at the beginning of the game when you make the vessel, the theme that plays is called "another him" and it is literally a mix of Gaster's theme slowed down. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8U9yBPM1gY Anyways, Other hidden lyrics I noticed potentially are REVERSED things. One isn't necessarily lore, just kinda funny, when you reverse the regular spamton theme, it sounds like he's saying "give me give me, give me the key!" and "hey everyone" layered over one another. Referring perhaps to his "hey every buddy" greeting he tends to do, and referring to the keygen he sells you, which is important to him. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pV58sCaHJPE And this one? This one is interesting to me. I

am 90% sure this is coincidence, BUT I think the clearest thing I can hear in this is "help me Kris!" Which is... very ominous. Everything else, I'm not sure. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PadUojqDog ------------------------ All of this is, ofc, speculation, and what-ifs. As we know, Toby Fox rarely puts things in for no reason, but some things COULD genuinely be coincidence. We've seen him put hidden things in songs before, reversed or not, sped up or slowed down, etc. So, potentially, take this babble with a grain of salt. There is a LOT more I could talk about especially regarding Gaster and his potential role in the story, and his interactions with these characters, but for now just have this!!

[senadimell]

Hatchette vs. Internet Archive actual case links

So I decided I should probably hear the publishers out in Hatchette v. Internet Archive and ran into some info. I’ll be talking about US law, libraries, and companies throughout, so assume all reference to “libraries” is to US libraries, etc.

Publishers’ complaint: https://cdn.technadu.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Hachette-Book-Group-Inc-v-Internet-Archive-complaint.pdf

IA amicus briefs: https://www.eff.org/cases/hachette-v-internet-archive

So I started reading the actual case and it got me hopping mad.

8. IA defends its willful mass infringement by asserting an invented theory called “Controlled Digital Lending” (“CDL”)—the rules of which have been concocted from whole cloth and continue to get worse.

guess what all theories are invented and all rules are concocted from whole cloth! hope that helps.

For example, at first, under this theory IA claimed to limit the number of scanned copies of a title available for free download at any one time to the number of print books of that title in its collection [...] Then, in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, IA opportunistically seized upon the global health crisis to further enlarge its cause, announcing with great fanfare that it would remove these already deficient limitations that were purportedly in place. Today, IA offers an enormous universe of scanned books to an unlimited number of individuals simultaneously in its “National Emergency Library.” IA’s blatant, willful infringement is all the more egregious for its timing, which comes at the very moment that many authors, publishers, and independent bookstores, not to mention libraries, are both struggling to survive amidst economic uncertainty and planning deliberatively for future, changing markets.

Gee, that’s a funny way of saying that a service that’s been running since 2006 (aka 14 years) temporarily launched an emergency program to lend books since physical libraries across the country were shut down and nobody could access the books. Just...how dare they bring up libraries here? How dare they? Like IA’s threatening libraries? I’m sympathetic to pandemic concerns about livelihood for authors, publishers, and especially bookstores, but they launched the program because libraries were shut.

[...] —though no provision under copyright law offers a colorable defense to the systematic copying and distribution of digital book files simply because the actor collects corresponding physical copies.

actually, guess what? check out this ruling on Google Books! Especially provision 2 of the Second Circuit’s reasoning.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authors_Guild,_Inc._v._Google,_Inc.#Second_Circuit_appeal

On April 11, 2014, the Authors Guild appealed the ruling to the U.S. Second Circuit.  It also began lobbying Congress to create a non-profit organization similar to ASCAP that would digitize and license books from participating authors to all libraries, schools, and other organizations choosing to pay a subscription fee.[56] Oral arguments were held on December 3, 2014, before Judges Pierre N. Leval, José A. Cabranes, Barrington Daniels Parker, Jr.[57]On October 16, 2015, the Second Circuit unanimously affirmed the judgment in Google's favor.[58]

The court's summary of its opinion is:

In sum, we conclude that:

1. Google’s unauthorized digitizing of copyright-protected works, creation of a search functionality, and display of snippets from those works are non-infringing fair uses. The purpose of the copying is highly transformative, the public display of text is limited, and the revelations do not provide a significant market substitute for the protected aspects of the originals. Google’s commercial nature and profit motivation do not justify denial of fair use.

2. Google’s provision of digitized copies to the libraries that supplied the books, on the understanding that the libraries will use the copies in a manner consistent with the copyright law, also does not constitute infringement. Nor, on this record, is Google a contributory infringer.[59] (emphasis added)

SCOTUS denied the plaintiffs’ appeal, so the Second Circuit’s ruling holds.

Now I’m not saying that the above ruling means that Open Archive’s activities are a well-traversed legal area, but that’s a far cry from “no colorable defense.” If Google is allowed to digitize books wholesale without prior authorization, and is allowed to supply the copies of books to libraries in a limited manner, aka basically what Open Library did for fourteen years, temporarily stopped in the face of library closure for just under three months, and then resumed for next two years until the present day, then that seems like a “colorable defense” to me. 

Returning to the quote

Then, in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, IA opportunistically seized upon the global health crisis to further enlarge its cause, announcing with great fanfare that it would remove these already deficient limitations that were purportedly in place.

Huh, you know what that “cause” that publishers are so mad about is?

IA’s infringement is intentional and systematic: it produces mirror- image copies of millions of unaltered in-copyright works for which it has no rights and distributes them in their entirety for reading purposes to the public for free, including voluminous numbers of books that are currently commercially available

I’ll call attention to the word “produces,” because what Hachette et al neatly sweep under the rug is the fact that it’s hard to digitize massive amounts of books, and also? Those books don’t just magically appear at their doorstep. They don’t just steal them. Someone had to buy them first, and then donate the book. They’ve been involved with digitizing archives from the beginning.

And who else do we know that buys a copy of a book and then makes it available to the reading public?

Publishers have long supported public libraries, recognizing the significant benefits to the public of ready access to books and other publications. This partnership turns upon a well-developed and longstanding library market, through which public libraries buy print books and license ebooks (or agree to terms of sale for ebooks) from publishers, usually via book wholesalers or library ebook aggregators. IA’s activities are nothing like those of public libraries, but rather the kind of quintessential infringement that the Copyright Act directly prohibits.

for someone who just loooves libraries, you are awful mad about the distribution of books to the public for free. Specifically, bought copies of books. Because you know where those “truckloads of books” come from? (”On the contrary, it is about IA’s purposeful collection of truckloads of in-copyright books to scan, reproduce, and then distribute digital bootleg versions online”)

Yeah, they come from libraries. And donors. And libraries also get books from donors! I donated five books to my local public library when moving house!

Moreover, while Defendant promotes its non-profit status, it is in fact a highly commercial enterprise with millions of dollars of annual revenues, including financial schemes that provide funding for IA’s infringing activities. By branding itself with the name “Open Library,” it thus badly misleads the public and boldly misappropriates the goodwill that libraries enjoy and have legitimately earned.

Oh, I could seethe. I am seething mad.

“oh no! how dare a ““non-profit”” that hosts close to 100 pentabytes of data recieve money? nonprofits means *~*free*~*!” 

How dare someone provide a service to the public without requiring a direct profit in return. How dare a non-profit fundraise? how dare a non-profit invest in “financial schemes” to provide a more reliable source of income to make up for all of the free services they provide?

Guess what! If you provide an expensive service, you’ve got to get the money pay for it even if you don’t charge the users!

Also, for any non-US people who might see this, “scheme” is not a neutral word in US English. We don’t talk about “government schemes” unless we mean “the government is villainously plotting to do Bad Corrupt Things Under The Table.” We would use “program” or “push” or “drive” to indicate “a neutral/positive thing that the government is starting up.” It is not a compliment.

And you know what else? Do you know what else the Open Library does for its print-disabled patrons? It makes those scanned library books accessible through DAISY talking digital book. The Open Library is also an accessibility project.

I’m not print disabled and haven’t done much research on library accessibility, so I’m uninformed and may miss some important points (feel free to chime in if you have more expertise than I), but most libraries that I’ve been to have much smaller accessible collections compared to their ordinary fare. Things like large print, braille, and physical audiobooks are historically much smaller collections than the regular print collections in public libraries. I imagine that public libraries may offer on-demand procurement of accessible books, but I haven’t used those services and my library does not have a readily-accessible page on library accessibility beyond large print, so I’m still unfamiliar with this.

(When it comes to big university libraries, mine had massive stacks that vastly outnumbered large print, braille, or physical audiobook offerings, but most of the books I wanted were available online and I’m assuming that digital books generally have more accessibility options).

When it comes to the ratio of accessible books to inaccessible books, the Open Library is far from perfect, with a ratio of 25 million available books to 3+ million accessible books, but 3 million books is still a sizeable collection, far, far more than you’d be able to easily access at ordinary local public libraries, and you can access it anywhere instantly instead of through mailing programs like those of libraries who participate in The National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled’s programs, like the Utah State Library for the Blind and Disabled.

Part of accessibility is removing disabled people’s barriers to equal participation. These include things like additional costs. Generally speaking, most corporations don’t have a vested interest in accessibility unless they specifically cater to a segment of the disabled market. Libraries aren’t perfect, but they do try because they’re subject to ADA. 

So yeah. I’m gonna stop reading the compaint for now because I’ve got a massive headache building, but from the beginning, it misrepresents the Internet Archive and the Open Library’s services, uses derogatory and inflammatory language throughout, slights a non-profit that provides expensive services for free for having a large operating budget, and pays lip service to libraries while trashing IA on a line of reasoning that showcases their true hostility to libraries’ core purpose. (and also ignores just how much IA has worked with organizations like the Library of Congress.)

So shame on you, Hachette Book Group, Inc., HarperCollins Publishers LLC, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., and Penguin Random House LLC. Shame on you.

.

.

.

Miscellaneous things I didn’t fit into the post proper:

If you want to read more about copyright and accessibility, here are two sources:

https://library.osu.edu/site/copyright/2015/08/28/copyright-and-accessibility/

https://web.archive.org/web/20170625075714/https://www.loc.gov/nls/reference/guides/copyright.html

https://www.ala.org/asgcla/resources/libraryservices (this is just general accessibility)

https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/blogs/the-scoop/ada-inclusion-in-libraries/ (more on libraries and accessibility, cw for brief mentions of historical discrimination practices)

Accusations about withholding discovery (IA complained twice that Publishers weren’t providing documents, then Publishers accused IA of the same thing and said they were “stonewalling” discovery to “run down the clock.”)

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/libraries/article/87971-in-new-filing-publishers-accuse-internet-archive-of-stonewalling-discovery-in-scanning-lawsuit.html

https://www.publishersweekly.com/binary-data/ARTICLE_ATTACHMENT/file/000/004/4824-1.pdf

An EFF (the same people defending IA in the lawsuit) post about the Google books ruling:

https://www.eff.org/el/deeplinks/2015/10/big-win-fair-use-google-books-lawsuit

[kj-1130]

Nothing For Me

Part 2

Main Masterlist

Part 1|Part 3

2012

     You were turning 11 this year. Natasha, as you learned she went by, was always a phone call away if you ever wanted to talk--since your sperm donor was obviously no help. You had recently had to call her due to your period starting, which you weren’t expecting to happen for at least another 2 to 3 years. Needless to say, it freaked you out and regardless of your smarts, nothing could have prepared you for that. 

     Nat took you shopping for what she called, ‘lady items’; bras, pads, tampons, anything a girl could possibly need. She also taught you how to shave if you ever wanted to. She specified that you should never feel forced to do it because ‘people need to normalize women having body hair. It grows there for a reason.’ And you totally agreed with her on that by the way. 

     There were a few times when she’d let you in on minor S.H.I.E.L.D secrets even though it was quite unnecessary seeing as you could hack your way through it all no problem. That’s how you found out about the Avengers Initiative. You couldn’t agree more with what was said about Tony. 

     Through your hacking and research of the initiative, you ‘met’ Clint. It was through a video call. He had invaded your girl-talk with Natasha. The three of you were practically best buds now. You’d go to Nat for advice or just when you needed a sister to talk to. You’d go to Clint when you just wanted to let loose and talk about absolute nonsense. 

-

     It was another lovely night in Stark Tower for you--please note the sarcasm. You were bored out of your mind. Natasha had been on an undercover mission and Clint was busy at the base; something about the Tesseract. You thought they should’ve just left the thing alone; let fate take its course. Some bad things were going to come with them messing with something they had no knowledge about. They’re joining a game without knowing any rules and are pretty much destined to lose. But, hey. What did you know?

     Pepper and Tony were probably in the common area, sucking each other's faces off. Despite how much you disliked Tony, based on your experiences, you couldn’t deny the fact that they’re pining was absolutely annoying, disgusting, and cute all at the same time. You were just glad it was over honestly.

     Pepper was an okay person to you. There was nothing you found super nice or mean about her that was prominent to you. She’d greet you on the quite rare occasion the two of you would cross paths and would start the casual small talk (“how are you?” “I’m fine, what about you” “Good, thanks for asking.”). She probably thought you were a live-in intern or something like that. With how much she tries to doctor Tony’s life, you’d think she would try to fix whatever nonexistent relationship between the pair of you, but nope. That just added to your intern theory. 

     You were reading a book on quantum physics, when your personal AI, M.I.A(miraculous intelligence assistant)--that you did in fact create yourself--notified you that someone had overridden Stark’s systems and gotten into the elevator. Just because you didn’t leave the room doesn’t mean you weren’t nosy. 

     “Who is it, M?”

     “Agent Phil Coulson, from S.H.I.E.L.D.,” M.I.A. spoke in her smooth voice. “Would you like to listen in on what they are saying?”

     “Is that even a question?”

     Jumping out of your beanbag, you went to the center of your room, where M.I.A had pulled up footage of what was happening in the common room. 

     “Security breach,” Tony turns to Pepper. “That’s on you.”

     “Mr. Stark.” 

     “Phil! Come in,” Pepper greeted. Since when were she and Agent Coulson on a first-name basis. You’d have to look into that. 

     “Phil? Uh, his first name is Agent.”

     “Come on in, we’re celebrating,” the red head invites. This was getting more interesting to you by the second!

     “I can’t stay.”

     “Which is why he can’t stay.”

     Phil ignores Tony and starts to hand him a file.

     “He doesn’t like being handed things,” you muttered. 

     “I don't like being handed things.” Called it.

     “That’s alright, ‘cause I love being handed things, So, let’s trade,” Pepper says. She hands Coulson her glass of champagne, takes the file, hands Tony the file, in return taking his drink.

     “Official consulting hours are between eight and five every other Thursday,” the billionaire said. 

     It was quite obvious Phil was over his jokes and that he was here for a much important matter.

     “Is this about the Avengers? Which I...I know nothing about.”

     Both men ignored Pepper. “The Avengers Initiative was scrapped, I thought. And I didn’t even qualify.” 

    That was a nice day. Finding out what they said about Tony had been nothing less than amusing in your opinion.

     “I didn’t know that either,” the CEO said. She sure does have the best cover-ups, doesn’t she? 

     “Yeah, apparently I’m volatile, self-obsessed, don’t play well with others.”

     “That I did know.”

     This whole thing was odd to you. Why were they trying to put together the Avengers when the whole idea was tossed?

     “M, pull up the most recent S.H.I.E.L.D files on the tesseract and the Avengers Initiative.”

     The AI did as told, and you scrolled through all of them. You saw things on Thor, Clint, Natasha, Bruce Banner, Steve Rogers, and lastly your sperm donor. Looking at Thor’s file, you found something about his brother Loki. And looking at his name, you saw his connections to the tesseract and everything had clicked. Loki had the thing and was definitely going to do something evil with it. 

-

     Both adults in the house were gone. Such responsible ones they are. Tony left earlier the next day and you honestly couldn’t remember when Pepper left. Now, here you were in your safe haven, trying to figure out what in the world Loki would want with the tesseract. There’s probably no way for you to figure it out since you weren’t where all the info was, actively investigating. But what you didn’t understand is why would they leave you here when such a threat was hanging in the air. 

     You knew Tony didn’t necessarily care for you, but he couldn’t forget about you, right? Natasha wouldn’t forget about you. Clint wouldn’t forget you. Right?

-

     It’s been two days. Two fucking days, and no one had come in or out of this building. 

     You were currently pacing in your room, while your AI--not even a fucking person--was trying to comfort you. 

     “Does no one answer their fucking phone anymore?”

     “I’m pretty sure there is a reasonable explanation as to why no one is answering.”

     Out of nowhere, you heard commotion from outside. Rushing over to the window and moving the curtains, you saw these alien things coming out of the sky. You ran out of your room and made your way to the nearest set of stairs as quickly as you could. 

     “Ah, the little Stark.”

     His voice sent chills up your spine. It was deep and quite terrifying. 

     “Come over, no need to be scared.”

     You followed his orders, having a feeling that if you didn’t things would end up ten times worse for you. He looked at you before basically yeeting you out of the window. It hurt; it felt like every bone in your body screamed for peace and anything in the background just became white noise. 

     You landed on the roof, writhing in pain and groaning. Everything hurt.

     Attempting to get up was hard and painful, but you knew that you had to leave or you’d die. 

     Looking up, you see that doctor. He was mentioned in the files but everything was just so fuzzy, you couldn’t remember properly. Finally being able to get up after numerous attempts, you limp your way down the stairs and out to the streets in the middle of all the chaos. 

     You were so scared. You knew you probably wouldn’t be able to contact Nat or Clint unless you somehow hacked into their coms system. You continued to walk down the streets, hoping to find some type of shelter, but it felt like you were about to collapse at any second. Sitting down in the nearest alley, you looked around. Looking left, there was a face right in front of yours.

     “Fuck! What the hell man?”

     The other person wasn’t fazed. Looking them over, you saw their frizzy, somewhat curly hair pulled back in a low ponytail. Her brown skin was covered in dirt and a little blood. 

     “Hey, you’re (y/n) Stark, right?” She asked a little breathlessly. 

     “I refuse to be acknowledged as such.”

     “I’m Michelle. But don't call me that or I’ll have to hurt you.”

     “Are you really trying to converse with me in the middle of an alien invasion? And acting like we’re both not hurt?”

     Michelle shrugs her shoulders when you both look over due to some yelling that you heard. 

     “MJ! Michelle where are you? Michelle Jones!”

     MJ looks back over and starts to get up but she trips and falls. You decide to help her up and take her over to the people calling her name. You both struggle but eventually get over to the adults with some time. 

     Before you could get away from the Jones family, the mother gripped your shoulder. 

     “C’mon, stay with us. We’ll find somewhere to lay low.“

     You were too tired and in too much pain to argue, so you let Michelle’s mother help you keep your balance while the young girl’s father did the same for her. 

     It was at least a good ten minutes until the four of you found a decent place to take a break. It looked like a gas station, but you really couldn’t tell due to how much damage there was. You and the Jones’ took cover behind a somewhat stable looking wall and tried to stay as quiet as possible. 

     It was quiet besides the distant screams of people and the yells of the aliens. You wondered if Nat and Clint were okay. You wondered if Tony was okay. You wondered if anyone was safe from this. This seemed like something no one could recover from.  

     “What’s your name, sweetheart?” The older woman asked. 

     “(Y/n).”

     “Where are your parents?”

     “My sperm donor is fighting I guess.”

     To say the adults were appalled by your bluntness  was an understatement. You’ve had a potty mouth for quite a while. There was no one to really correct you on what to and not to say--not that you really needed help with that being a genius and all; well a genius with common sense because your father didn’t have any of that. Without anyone to really monitor what you did,  you kind of just roamed free in a sense. 

- 

     The fight had died down eventually. The aliens were still coming, but a substantial amount of them had been killed. How a group of 6 people/gods/supersoldiers/or whatever amazed you. Maybe you could work behind the scenes one day; even though you already do. Just without anyone knowing. 

     Before you knew it, there was a nuke flying across the sky. ‘Leave it to the government to find an excuse to hurt civilians,’ you thought. But before it could hit anything, you saw a red and gold figure carry it to the portal.  

     You knew who it was. He was going to sacrifice himself for the safety of these people. If he didn’t make it, you would miss him even though there wouldn’t be much to miss. When that portal closed, your heart dropped to your stomach. You would never be able to make amends with him. You would never have a single conversation with him. Yeah he was a total douche bag for forgetting all about you, but you had at least expected to be able to see and maybe talk to him. Sort things out. 

     Without thinking, you ran as fast as you could towards where the newly assembled Avengers were; well at least where you last saw them. You ignored the calls of the Jones family, telling you to come back. Their protests telling you not to go so you can stay safe. You ignored the pain. The aching of your ribs. The dull throbbing in your head and on your lips. There was no doubt that your steps were uneven; limping down the street at your speed probably made you look like a crackhead.

     You kept running; not stopping. Not when your breaths got shorter and turned into wheezes. Not when you heard rattling in your chest. Not when you felt like you were going to collapse. Not when your joints popped and begged for rest. You didn’t stop. You couldn’t. Not until you found someone; anyone you knew. 

     You stopped after what felt like hours. It most likely was considering the sun was going down. You heard a little commotion inside a surprisingly intact building which turned out to be a Shawarma. Tony always talked about this place for some reason. 

     When you looked inside, the Avengers were there. At least, you guessed they were still called that. But that didn’t matter. They were relaxing after the battle. They looked quite relaxed considering they had just fought aliens. 

     But that was what kind of hurt. They weren’t worried about you. At all. Of course only 3--well not really 3. Only two really knew you and knew you were in that tower when the attack happened. Sure you weren’t expecting Clint or Nat to be running around the streets of this huge city, but a little effort or at least the thought of it would’ve been nice. You could’ve been dead and they sure as hell didn’t seem super worried about it. Maybe you were overthinking it. Or maybe you were just as forgettable and insignificant as you thought.

-

     You limped away from the establishment, trying to find somewhere to stay seeing as your home--if you could even call it that--was most likely destroyed. And you were in your feelings and nothing was a better cure than isolating yourself even more. You also wanted to see if you could get M.I.A running on a computer or something. Maybe update yourself on what was going on over the world at the moment. Or look up your frizzy-haired friend you met while you were running for your life. 

     You managed to find a computer near a dumpster. You leaned back against the wall and slid down slowly, not wanting to aggravate your injuries too much. You were able to get M.I.A running on the laptop and then looked up any news. The headlines were crazy. All you saw was the fight that just happened and the death count rising and rising…

     You didn’t want to be focused on anything dealing with your father, S.H.I.E.L.D., or any current events, so you decided to give M.I.A. the task of figuring out who Michelle and her family was. It sounded very creepy, but you were her age. What harm could you do with her info. Well you could cause harm to her and her family with any info you found but that was besides the point. The most you were going to do was send them a message or something like that. 

-

     You ended up sleeping in that alley. Deciding that you should head back to your place of residence, you got up and started walking back much to the process of your bones and joints. The tower seemed like it was so far away. Especially with your injuries and supposedly no one around to tend to them.  After what felt like hours, you made it to the entrance of the establishment and, surprise surprise, it’s already being rebuilt. You honestly didn’t know what time it was. You just wanted to get in your bed and sleep forever. 

-

     It had been about a month since the Battle of New York. Your injuries weren’t treated until about a week after the fact. Not because someone noticed you were hurt, but because it was getting hard to breathe and that didn’t seem like a fun way to go to you. 

     You’d been healing nicely so far, but your emotions and mental health were on the opposite side of the spectrum. Every time you close your eyes, you had this dream, vision, whatever it was, that when Loki threw you out the window, there was no balcony or landing area to stop on. You just kept falling, and falling until you hit the ground. Then you woke up.

      You had been isolating yourself as well. There had been plenty of missed calls from the pair, but you just couldn’t find the energy to move and pick up the phone. They were probably just doing it out of obligation anyway. 

       Seeing everyone, especially Nat and Clint, just made you rethink anything you’ve ever done. Were you too clingy when it came to Natasha? Did she really like you or did she just feel bad? You were probably just overreacting, but you can’t help but think these thoughts. 

    Everything was just spiraling out of control for you. And you couldn’t get help; well you at least felt like you couldn’t. If you told Tony--not that you would, but hypothetically-- he’d probably wave you off and laugh. If you tried to get a therapist, someone would probably leak that shit to the press; confidentiality be damned. 

     You felt like you were drowning and you didn’t know how much longer it would be until you fully sank.

[thequietmanno1]

Thelreads, MHA 260, Replies Part 1

1) “Anyway, where were we… Oh right, the pillar men were about to deliver the beating of a lifetime, so, let`s get started with Chapter 260: Life`s Work.”- Huh, I don’t actually recall this page when reading the manga the first time. Must be a volume edition. But yeah, anyway, here we have the two principal locations and protagonists for the different phases of the operation, the muscle and the brains working in concert to cut the PLF’s retaliation off at the knees. After a certain fashion, you could say everything they’ve done throughout their entire lives has lead them here, as the culmination of their lifetime of hero service, and now it’s all going to be put to the test…

2) “…

This is not the Mountain-side hotel of doom. Horikoshi, why must you betray me like this?

But that`s fine, because it only means we`ll see the jojo reference taking place before anything else. Hori knows what we`re here for after all.”- Well, it seems this chapter will be focusing more on the hospital of doom instead, which is an appropriate name, considering how Maruta managed to hide an entire Resident Evil-style lab full of Nomu creations underneath there just prepared to launch straight at his enemies with the click of a button, no matter what rooms were in the way. That is not good healthcare service 3) “Oh yeah, you ain`t getting away from this reference, there`s no escaping the jojo references my good doctor.

there is no escaping them

I tried”- This entire chapter is just Maruta getting hope spot after hope spot and believing he’d managed to outwit the heroes and secure his exit/victory, only to get outplayed at every turn despite his precautions. 4) “Oh, nullifying already Aizawa? Good catch there, the file said he was quirkless but there`s no saying what might actually be his quirk, and it seems like you weren`t willing to take the risk of a wrong info ruining everything.”- Since Aizawa’s quirk is activated by glaring angrily at the opponent, he’d probably had it on active involuntarily just thinking about Maruta and what he’d done to his friend from the moment he entered the hospital. He might be rational and keeping very firm control over himself, but make no mistake, he’s pissed, and just itching for an excuse to vent some catharsis out of Maruta’s hide. 5) “oh jeSUS FUCK that`s creepy. Alright, so he was either able to shapeshift to a certain extent to look more friendly, or his quirk was to keep himself young. Either way, that mask is out, now we see the true shadow within.”- And this means there’s another reason for Maruta to fear Aizawa’s presence, because if he’s turning off his quirk- which apparently delays aging to the point that AFO was using it as his temporary placeholder before he found a quirk that would grant him actual immortality- then depending on how old he actually is, if Aizawa keeps the glare going, Maruta could go the way of Donovan from the last Crusade.

And it’d be awfully bad hygiene to have so much dust in a hospital. 6) “Phelps your sources suck, have I told you that? But anyway, it seems like it was the latter rather than the former, his quirk was literally to not age, and, more importantly than that, AfO also had this quirk…”- There was actually a big hint dropped before that the Doctor was far older than he seemed. Back when he was prepping Tomura for his surgery, he says that he’s the one that actually named the ‘Quirk Singularity’ theory, and that nobody but All For One actually considered his theory had any factual basis at first. 

However, back during Bakugou and co’s second Licence exam, we were first introduced to said theory by Shishikura, a student, showing that the quirk singularity theory has long since caught on in the public domain, with more and more evidence popping up to support it in the younger generation and the stronger quirks they possess. 

In hindsight, this was showing how he’s been the top-most researcher into cutting-edge quirk science for at least a century or so, long enough to have developed the kind of mentality that could figure out how to ‘clone’ quirks or artificially duplicate them, as well as be able to come up with the concept of the Nomu and how to remodel the body to withstand the power of such abilities. 7) “Oh, fair enough, so it is exactly that, they have been cloning quirks with ease, and considering the bomber nomus we`ve seen in Vigilantes, that process has been going on for quite a while now, Fuck`s sake man, what else can Trigger do?”- Not only is Maruta’s research the primary resource and foundation of a lot of All For One’s plans, but his own duplicated quirk is likely the source of All For One’s extended age, his stopgap support allowing him to almost become immortal, depending on how far it slows down the aging process or has since been amplified, meaning that he’s literally the reason why All For One’s plans were able to be as far-reaching and destructive as they were with the Nomu as well as the reason his evil was able to exist long enough to reach Izuku’s generation.

8) “That`s pretty much the same thing Phelps, it`s more of a matter of semantics there, unless you`re thinking on the possibility of literally creating a new quirk from scratch, which, being honest, I could see Trigger being able to do.”-So far, that ability seems to be limited to something All For One alone can do, with his unique ability to interact with quirks themselves, hence why One For All was created in the first place, but by now, Maruta must be close to artificially duplicating the same process. At the very least, since he can demonstrably clone quirks, they’ve got a lot of ‘disposable’ powers to experiment with to see if they can reliably duplicate All For One’s combination process. It seems in exchange for lacking the power to do anything itself, All For One’s quirk is capable of doing stuff with quirks that the science of the future can barely scratch the surface of, which is pretty impressive when you consider it’s still a first-generation quirk ability. The only person who rolled a higher number than All For One on the quirk lottery was his brother, and his winning power was one that took literal centuries of effort and tireless work to bring forth its full potential generations later.

9) “Mic: dinosaurs, turning people into, it`s not rocket science. They want to destroy the world, they have no qualms about the methods to achieve that ending, as long as they get there. Yeah, Shirakumo was just another test subject, another stepping stone on their path to victory, you`re not going to find some reason or logic behind it, it was merely convenience.”- Mic’s patience, restraint, and his shades are very nearly at the breaking point.

10) “Really dude, you`re gonna step in front of a bunch of pro heroes, one of them being the current number one and certified hardass Endeavor? Really? You must reaaaaaally admire this man because I`m sure as fuck wouldn`t step in front of Stallone if he was roughing up my chiropractor.”- This is basically the equivalent of Arnold Schwarzenegger roughing up Ghandi on a good Samaritan visitation. To this doctor, it doesn’t matter how much of a respected and well-known public hero Endeavour is, his work situation has brought him into much closer contact with Maruta, and thus he mistakenly believes he ‘knows’ the doctor better than the heroes, do, which just gives a glimpse into how thoroughly and efficiently Martua’s been able to hide his real self from those around him, as well as the lengths he’s gone to, to appear to be the exact opposite kind of person on the surface than he really is.

11) “Well, the patients certainly are having a blast, its like the actual avengers showing up to your room, but they pretty much kidnap you instead of taking pictures by your side. Bonus points for the guy squeeing over being carried by Tiger, he`s our current audience stand-in.”- Oh hey, that hero carrying the other patient next to Tiger is Gentle’s old school classmate who made it successfully as a hero.

12) “Yeah, sure, that`s exactly what`s going to happen, now that you tempted fate. Sorry bunnybakugo, but it`s not a matter of of someone is going to die, but who.”- Well, that’s good news for her, because bloodshed and death is exactly what Miruko was looking for when she signed up for this mission, along with pretty much every other instance of hero work she does. @thelreads​

[calaofnoldor]

Sixth Time’s the Charm [1]

Characters: Sam x F!Reader, Dean, OCs

Words: 1,550

Series Summary: All the times Dean has tried to get Sam to admit his feelings for you.

Chapter Summary: Dean asks you to flirt with a cop for info. Sam is not pleased.

Warnings: jealous!sam, protective!sam, huffy!sam, badass!reader, exasperated squirrel, mutual pining, idiots in love, tropesss

A/N: this is part one of a six-part mini series that is essentially an amalgamation of all the jealous/protective tropes. sorry not sorry?

MASTERLIST | SERIES MASTERLIST

The first time was an impromptu experiment. Of course, Dean already knew Sam had a crush on you; he raised the kid for crying out loud. That and the way Sam had stumbled over his own tongue and feet the first time they encountered you (and nearly every time thereafter) made it quite obvious to everyone… well, except you, apparently. Regardless, Dean figured it was just the case of a simple crush and poor Sammy being unable to match his finesse with the ladies.

So when the three of you came across a sleazy police captain, who was in no way shy about having the hots for you, during a rugaru hunt in Nebraska, Dean was rather taken aback by his brother’s unusual reaction.

Strolling into the Omaha police department with you and Sam on either side, the older Winchester had identified the captain immediately from his picture online.

“Captain Anderson,” Dean addressed the man directly in a low, authoritative tone, “I’m Agent Parker, and these are my partners Agents Stan and Lee.” He motioned to his right and left side as he introduced you, accordingly, pausing as you flashed your fake badges in unison.

The captain was a tall, slightly rotund fellow, with a mustache to rival an 80’s porn star’s, and he scoffed haughtily at your entrance. “What the hell do the feds want with us? And did they really hafta send three of ya?” He gestured pointedly at you with a patronizing raise of his chin and your blood began to boil at the implicitly misogynistic remark.

“Well no offense, Captain,” you spoke up; your FBI get-up always gave you an extra boost of confidence (something about the power suit vibes you supposed), plus men like him really pissed you off, “but there have been five deaths here within the last week, and from what I understand, your team has a grand total of zero working theories and just as many leads, so perhaps you can understand why the government would show some concern.”

“Mm, mm, mm!” Captain Anderson chanted obnoxiously in response. He gave you a painfully slow once-over, eyes filled with a crude and unrestrained lechery that forced a shiver down your spine. “A woman who knows how to take charge… I like that,” he licked his lips lasciviously.

Dean was torn between awaiting your likely ruthless and epic comeback or telling the douchebag off himself when he heard Sam clear his throat forcedly beside him. Looking over, he was surprised to find his giant of a little brother to be a picture of rage. Strained jaw, clenched fists, distended chest, and a murderous glare directed unwaveringly at the Omaha police captain.

Meanwhile, you were finding it difficult to resist the urge to roll your eyes and repress your temper to maintain a professional front. “We need information and clearance,” you stated firmly, ignoring the cop’s inappropriate and debaucherous display, “Are you going to hand it over or not?”

“Sorry little miss, no can do! You’re prolly gonna hafta talk to the chief if you want in on a big boy case like this one… but, you know, I can think of some ways you might be able to convince me otherwise,” he finished with a lewd wink before taking off.

Sam looked like he was about to lunge at the captain, but Dean put a hand on his arm to ground him. He was starting to suspect Sam’s behavior might have more to do with you than the fact that the captain was a regular dickhead. After all, Sam was usually the calmer and more rational of the brothers, especially during hunts.

You were too busy holding yourself back to notice though, staring daggers into Anderson’s back as you watched him walk away.

“What an asshole. I’m sorry, Y/N,” Dean began. An idea was forming in his head, one that could help him test his theory. “Look, you know I wouldn’t ask this if there was a better way, but dyou think, maybe, just this once, you could… you know? Turn on the charm a bit? Just so we can get in?”

Sam had not been fully engaged in the conversation until just then, too focused on trying to mollify the inexplicable rage that Captain Anderson had incited within him, but Dean’s request certainly caught his attention.

“What?! Dean! You can’t be serious. No. We’ll find another way. Just- No.” Sam’s voice was harder and deeper than usual and for a moment you lost yourself in it, daydreaming that perhaps he was exhibiting a sense of jealously. But who were you kidding? Sam was just a nice guy who detested sexist pricks like Anderson; this had nothing to do with you.

“No, it’s fine. Dean’s right. This is the easiest way. I’ll do it,” you stated quietly before adding with a small smile, “I can suck it up on account of saving some lives.”

Dean grinned and you walked away before Sam could protest any further. When you reached the captain’s office, you didn’t bother knocking on the open door, “Alright, Captain Anderson-“

“Please, call me Frank.” He looked up at you with such a smug and revolting expression, you decided there was no way you could follow through with Dean’s plan.

“Listen, Frank,” you crossed your arms in what you hoped was an ‘I mean business’ stance, but quickly dropped them when you realized the action had unwittingly highlighted your cleavage in the button-down blouse you were wearing and spurred yet another round of gratuitous leering from Frank. “What’s it gonna take for you to hand over the case files and grant us full access to the evidence and crime scenes?”

“Well, since I like you, I’ll make it easy for ya. How about we start with a smile?” He had leaned forward in his seated position behind his desk as he spoke, and you almost smacked him right then.

As you turned to leave, however, it was Anderson who smacked you, open palmed and right on the ass. You forced yourself to take a deep breath before slowly turning back around. Keeping your movements deliberate and unhurried, you bent over his desk, ignoring the impulse to gag at the greasy, utterly unholy scent that filled your nostrils as you got close enough to whisper in his ear, “You know what, I’ll make it easy for you too. How about, if you give my partners and I complete authorization on this case, I won’t report you to the feds for sexual harassment? See, I know people in the upper ranks and I’ve got a lawyer who wipes the floor with guys like you on the daily.” It was all lies, of course, but you figured it was for a good cause.

“So what’s it gonna be, Captain?” You asked after straightening yourself back up.

As you’d hoped, the bastard was looking a little worse for wear, though you could tell he was trying to retain what little he could of his arrogant persona. “You little bitch.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“Fine. You can have it,” he pointed at a stack of file folders on his desk, and then sighed as he produced three security passes, “Go crazy! Go fuck yourself.”

“Gladly,” you sassed, ready to strut out of there with everything you came for in hand.

Behind you, things had not gone so smoothly. When Sam saw Anderson slapping your butt, he was fully prepared to march over and break the captain’s nose, but Dean again held him back, “Woah, hey, you know Y/N can handle herself. What’s up with you?”

Then when he was forced to watch you lean in tantalizingly close and whisper something in Anderson’s ear, Sam experienced an entirely foreign sensation. He was still burning with fury, but that anger was joined by a peculiar ache. His heart had risen to his throat as he stood there, completely transfixed, a look of dejection and longing written across his face.

‘Huh,’ Dean had thought with an internal smirk, ‘Sammy’s got it ba-ad!’ he sing-song-ed in his own head, storing the information away for later, when he could find an opportune moment to tease his baby brother about it.

For now, Dean gave you two thumbs up as he watched you return with a triumphant grin, holding up three official passes by their lanyards.

“Got it all. We’re completely in,” you supplied each brother a security pass when you reached them.

“Damn. You are good, woman! What did you even say to him?” Dean chuckled as the three of you left the station.

“Oh nothing, just a bit of light threatening.”

Sam stopped to look at you quizzically. “Wait, what? You mean you didn’t- you weren’t… flirting with him?”

“Nah, I was too appalled by the thought to go down that route.”

“Oh,” he huffed out, looking down with drooped shoulders and an awkward twitch of a smile. You could have sworn he looked somewhat relieved, but decided not to read too much into it, too pleased with yourself to allow the ever-growing gloom of your unrequited love dampen your spirits.

The whole time Dean was staring back at the two of you in disbelief. ‘These goddamn idiots,’ he thought with an exasperated yet slightly amused shake of his head.

→ CARRY ON

thanks so much for reading! feedback always appreciated 💞

[yelenasdog]

it was a pleasure to burn (spencer reid x fem bau!reader)

genre: fluff i think even though the name is v angsty LOL it’s a literal screenplay with the amout of dialogue i wrote LMAO so idk

summary: a particularly rough and disturbing case gets to reader, and spencer and reader are brought together by this.

words: just about 6k (my longest fic ahhHH)

warnings: typical criminal minds gore and violence just up a notch, they get on a plane at the end, somebody gets ~shot~, somebody gets ~bonked~, cursing, mentions of reid’s addiction, and i think that’s it. also the reader wears reading glasses but that’s the only predetermined factor of appearance. btw i don’t think i used any pronouns in this but i apologize if i’m wrong. 

a/n: LMFAO i was outside awhile ago celebrating litha with a nice lil hike and i saw a butterfly and i had just started watching cm and was like hMMm... killer who’s obsessed with symmetry??!1??!? y Es. enjoy 😼 EDIT: THERE IS SO MANY PLOT HOLES OMG FBREHJBFHEJFRE IM RBFBRE

🂦∙🂦∙🂦

Present Day, Central Park, New York

“Aren’t they just stunning?” The unsub spoke, keeping her eyes trained on the butterfly sitting happily on her finger. The brightly colored creature fluttered off her hand that was dripping scarlet, flying around her curly head of brown hair. Her, formerly white, blood-stained dress flowed around her as she followed it, watching in awe as it soared about. She giggled, plopping down on the grass in the middle of a circle of her victim’s pale, lifeless bodies, all of them with ironically morbid butterflies resting upon the frail skin of the corpses.

“Aren’t they, agents?”

She slanted her green eyes, gripping the grass a little harder. I flicked my tongue over my lips nervously, looking over to the lanky man on my left. He simply shrugged, just about as sure of how to handle the situation just as much as I was.

“If I knew you all were coming, I would have cleaned up, I really would have, I promise.”

We slowly walked towards her, twigs and leaves crunching under our feet. It could have been comparable to a hunter stalking its prey, but it unfortunately was quite the opposite.

6 days earlier, Quantico, Virginia

“3 bodies, all found within the last 48 hours in rural New York. So far, the first body has revealed that although it was dumped upstate, the victim was murdered in the city, and the same most likely goes for the other bodies as well. Nails well manicured, no drugs in the system. They aren't junkies, we’re dealing with upper class citizens.”

My face contorted as I took the photos from Reid’s hands, his large and tanned one surprising me by how soft it felt as it accidentally brushed against mine. I blushed like a madman, looking to see him doing the same thing. I cleared my throat getting Rossi’s attention.

“Why are we only now hearing of this?” I questioned, flipping through the images as I did so, my confusion only growing. I didn’t recieve an answer, leaving my curiosity to bloom.

“Wait, how did you say they were killed again?”

Morgan looked up, taking the photos from me. “He didn’t.”

I sighed, pushing my glasses up on my nose.

“Is there at least any correlation between the bodies and the butterflies?”

Our attention was shifted to JJ, the resident expert on the insects.

“Actually, the ones being found with the bodies are from the Amarynthis family, all native to Latin America. They weren’t there by accident so yes, they’re somehow related.”

Rossi stood up, grabbing his coat.

“Well, none of this is nearly enough for a profile, so pack your bags and tell the others, wheels up in an hour. We’re headed to New York.”

4 days earlier, F.B.I. Field Office, New York, New York

“The final report from the latest victim is in, all the autopsies are clean. They show no signs of struggles, no marks, no blood, no anything. The eyes weren’t bloodshot, so suffocation is ruled out, and that was our best bet.”

I sighed, sliding the case file across the glass table to Spence as I took my seat, sinking into it and allowing myself to be consumed by its warmth.

“So what your saying is that we’re back at square one.”

I looked up at Hotch from where I sat, running my hand through my ponytail.

“Yeah. That’s what I’m saying.”

Just then, the young Doctor spoke up as he flipped through the pages.

“The eyes weren’t just not bloodshot, there was barely any blood left in any of the victims bodies, only about 3% of the volume left. The killer drained them.”

Morgan gave me a shocked expression, silently asking for an explanation.

“Which you failed to mention, Y/n.” Aaron spoke, agitation once again present in his voice.

I looked at the ceiling, crossing my arms in front of me before turning to face Hotch once more.

“Yeah, well, I thought it was obvious when I said no blood.” I stuttered out cautiously.

“On the bodies! Not in the bodies!” Morgan exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air in what was in my opinion, very childish. Everyone else in the room aside from Spencer was either shaking their heads or pinching the bridge of their noses, and reasonably so.

“Look, I’m sorry I just didn’t see it in the report, plus, In the scheme of things, it just doesn’t seem to matter.”

I soon regretted my words, realizing how ill-fit they were for the current conversation I was having. Spencer looked up, tilting his head.

“Doesn’t seem to matter? How? There’s an endless amount of possibilities now that we know this. If we had known it sooner we probably could have figured out the pattern and caught the one doing this!” He harshly spewed, his voice acting like a crescendo of sorts, quiet and calm and moving towards a loud and violent tone. Tears began to prick at the corners of my eyes and I was starting to feel guilty, not to mention absolutely stupid as could be.

“I’m- I really am sorry guys, truly.”

Hotch locked eyes with me, taking a stern tone that one would usually take with a disobedient child, perhaps even Jack.

“I hope that’s a comfort to you when another body shows up. That’s their blood on your hands.”

I was frozen, the gravity of the situation taking its toll.

In the background I heard him say something to Morgan about a new profile having to be made as there were many new things to be known from this revelation. But it all went in one ear and out the other, just unpleasant white noise.

As I clumsily stumbled out of the room, I felt Reid’s eyes burning holes into the back of my brain. I was quick to turn my head to meet his glance, causing him to look down. I felt bad, the weight on my chest growing heavier from the interaction.

I sat down at my desk, turning on my computer and immediately going to google. I typed in “hypnosis” and let the info trickle in.

About 30 minutes later, I still felt absolutely horrible, but I had also put together a valuable profile in the time that had passed. I shut the newly finished file, blowing an abandoned strand of hair out from my eyes. I had to do a double take when I saw Spencer staring once more, his deep hazel eyes meeting my own. I gave him a small smile before standing up and walking to Hotch’s makeshift New York office. I pushed open the heavy door, placing the folder on his too-clean desk.

“What’s this?” He asked, taking it in his hands.

“My theory about the unsub. I think I know what she’s been doing. You can tell the team if you want, I’m not sure if they would wanna hear it from me. ”

He gave a small smile, pushing the file back over to me.

“You get the team together and I’ll get the local PD caught up. You tell them yourself.”

A few minutes later, everyone except for Reid had gathered in the meeting room. I peeked through the half closed blinds that allowed a line of vision to his desk in an attempt to locate him. He was positioned there, staring blankly at his laptop that appeared to have nothing on the screen. I knocked on the window lightly to catch his attention, his glazed over eyes looking in my direction. I tilted my head at him, silently beckoning him to join me. He only shook his in response, shaggy brown locks swaying back and forth. I sighed, frowning at his action. I turned to the group, clasping my hands in front of me.

“Everyone, this will just be a second if you’ll excuse me.”

With a raised eyebrow from Hotchner and a jab in the direction of Spencer’s workspace, I swiftly walked out of the crowded room.

“Spence, care to join us?” I asked, resting one of my hands against my hip, the other on his orderly desk.

“No, I don’t think I will. I need to try to figure this out before she finds her next victim.”

“What makes you think the unsub is a she?” I searched his eyes that had seemingly become brighter at my piqued interest in his hypothesis.

“Well, the unsub seems to be obsessed with symmetry, all the bodies being found in obscure yet symmetrical positions. This could suggest she had some sort of deep rooted insecurity, possibly from some sort of bullying from growing up in a small town where she was looked at as a superior for subpar looks. She moved to the big city, expecting a big break. Instead she was shunned for being less than average. She grew frustrated and as a result, she began her killing spree. The stresser could have been one too many insults that made her snap. Plus, that would account for the butterflies left on the scenes that are used in modern examples of both femininity and symmetry.”

I smiled widely at his words.

“What- why are you smiling, what are you smiling at?”

I tapped his desk, rolling my bottom lip between my teeth. I headed back towards the conference room, looking over my shoulder.

“Because, I’m glad we’re on the same page, Dr.”

——————

“So, our girl, as Dr. Reid has explained to us, is obsessed with her appearance. She’s an organized killer, no mistakes and no signs of blood or anything of the sort on scene. She has practice, she does this sort of thing every day. She is most likely in the age group of 23-30, and has a job in the cosmetic industry, our guess is in plastic surgery. She probably volunteers weekends at local butterfly sanctuaries or zoos, finding comfort in their perfection that those in her life, or formerly in her life, cannot and could not provide.”

“Which would explain to her easy access to non-native species of the insects. She has an absolute infatuation with symmetry, which yet again, links the butterflies on the crime scene to her MO.”

Spencer and I were vividly explaining our shared theory to the team, as well as local law enforcement. He was excited by his discovery and the lead on the killer, and his energy was contagious.

“She kills without remorse and out of jealousy, picking victims who all have one thing in common.”

Spence pointed to all of the images pasted on the board in the center of the room, all of them split in half and reflected, creating a perfect mirrored portrait.

“They all have perfectly symmetrical faces, as well as strong jawlines and high cheekbones. As most of these victims are models or those searching to start a modeling career, we believe she is luring them in with a photographer trope, promising to make their dreams come true.”

I nodded, taking a moment to study Reid’s own sharp yet somehow soft features. I allowed my eyes to wander over his sunken in, kind, and curious eyes; his pillowy pink lips that are in dire need of some chapstick.

“Agent?”

I turned my head, snapped back to reality by Rossi calling my name.

I gave a tight and quick smile, returning to the topic at hand and tactics to catch the unsub. But of course not before Emily gave me a crooked smile, resulting in me rolling my eyes.

“Physically, she’s nothing special, most likely a mundane appearance or one with quite obvious surgical changes. No in between. Check all of the plastic surgeon offices in the area for both employees who fit our description, as well as a patient who has gotten any serious facial mod operations. Do the same for any weekend volunteers at local zoos and animal sanctuaries, specifically working with any insects.”

It was an NYPD officer then that spoke up this time, raising her hand briefly.

“But, you still haven’t mentioned how she’s killing them?”

“Hypnosis.” Reid and I both spoke at the same time. He looked to his black Converse, sliding his hands into his pockets. I observed the room and all of the skeptical faces filling it.

“Even if it may sound far fetched, we saw no signs of anything that indicated a struggle or even any marks or wounds. This led us to believe that some form of hypnosis was used to allow her an easy kill. This means extra caution will have to be taken when actually handling the unsub. Even though we’re positive she’s using hypnosis, which method she is using to actually kill them after the fact is what we’re unsure of.”

I turned to Spencer, handing off the explanation to him.

“We think that because of her whole thing with symmetry, she wouldn’t want to disturb the natural state of the victims and their faces, even if she would do the same to her own.”

“Which means?” JJ asked, her blue eyes slanted and glossed lips left ajar.

“It means that the unsub wouldn’t want to leave any large marks like stab or gunshot wounds.” I nodded at Prentiss, who had made the assumption, confirming she was correct.

“With her presumed background in plastic surgery, we believe she was able to make small incisions that made no visible scars. We’re having the coroner look back over the bodies as we speak.”

“She drains the body’s blood 97% of the way before closing the holes up. What she does with the blood, we don’t know. Another Eddie Mays, perhaps.”

I looked over to Spencer, raising my brows at his comparison. He was quick to defend himself, shaking his hands left to right and mouthing “No” while simultaneously shaking his head the same way, something he seemed to be doing often as of late.

After we had finished consulting with any officers who had remaining questions, we branched off to conduct our own routine investigations. We found that the only thing they all had in common apart from the symmetrical faces, is that they all had visited the Central Park Zoo in the 24 hours before they were killed. We received a phone call from Garcia not long after we put together those pieces, being alerted that there was one girl who had, in her words, “Hit every mark there was to hit, sunshine.”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

“Her name is Alessia Copelas, she works weekdays as a surgeon's assistant at Premier Cosmetic, and weekends at Central Park Zoo from 4-8 p.m.”

I smiled at the new info from the blonde bombshell known as Penelope, turning to Reid who was still looking at me quizzically.

“Alright, thanks babes, you’re the best.” I spoke into the phone, a comical “Mwah!” made from either side as we hung up.

He shook his head, keeping the odd look on his face.

“I swear, you guys have a weirder relationship than her and Morgan.”

I laughed, sliding my phone into my back pocket.

“Oh, please, Spence.” I gingerly placed a hand on his cheek, patting it twice.

“You’re just jealous.” I made a pouty face, letting my hand linger before walking off. “Come on, we’re going on a field trip.”

“Where to?” He asked, gripping the door frame, using it as leverage to swing himself closer to me. He took long and quick strides, catching up to me in no time.

“You like animals, right?”

———————

4 Days Earlier, Central Park Zoo, New York

As soon as we entered the zoo, our ears were filled with the sounds of the loud screeches of birds and monkeys alike. Reid covered his ears, cringing and making his displeasure known with an “Ahh!”

I smiled at his geeky behavior, admiring the animals in the enclosures. I paid special attention to a particularly impressive species of tarantula, leaning down to admire them. A few moments later I looked to my left and saw Spencer doing the same thing.

“Did you know that arachnids have asthma which is why they don’t run for extended periods of time, similarly to cheetahs?”

“Yes I did.”

His face scrunched up in an adorable manner, causing an involuntary giggle to fall past my lips.

“Well did you know that-“

“Ma’am?”

I turned to see a young woman with flaming red hair and a freckled face smiling at me, her green collared uniform top complimenting her eyes of a different shade wonderfully.

“Oh, hi, I’m Agent Y/l/n and this is Dr. Reid, we’re with the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI.”

Her expression shifted to a more confused one, her smile not leaving her face.

“What can I do for you two?”

“Is there an Alessia Copelas that works here, maybe volunteers on the weekends?” Spencer asked, his puppy dog eyes immediately warranting a response.

“Yeah, she volunteers here, she seems nice. Is she helping with an investigation?”

“Well we think that she may have some part in a series of murders.”

Her smile disappeared this time, turning into a cement frown as panic flooded her body.

“Oh God, was she- Is she a killer? Have I been working with a killer for all this time? I mean, I never had any shifts with her but from what I heard I thought she was so sweet-“

“Look,”

Reid glanced down to her name tag that read “Lillian” before meeting her eyes. His tongue darted out, licking his lips, a nervous habit of his I’d picked up on.

“Lillian, we aren’t sure if she’s the killer we just needed to get a feel on her and get some information regarding her personal life.”

She started frantically nodding her head, more trying to convince herself she was okay rather than ourselves. I looked over her shoulder at some exhibits, thinking to myself how this would end up being a waste of our time if this poor girl couldn’t get a grip on herself.

I was soon proven wrong when I looked over to see a young girl wearing an identical uniform to Lillian, probably somewhere between 23 and 24. She had untamed chocolate locks with bangs that stopped just above the shoulder, blemishes covering her T-Zone, and a rounded face to go with it.

The cherry on top? Under her arm she carried a small enclosure with what appeared to be amarynthis meneria, the same butterflies found on the victims.

I tapped Reid on the shoulder once as discreetly as possible, catching his attention. I heard him mutter a small “Oh God” before he told Lillian to walk away calmly and quickly. She ignored his request, turning to look at Alessia, letting out a blood curdling scream and sprinting the other direction.

“Shit.” I cursed, beginning to walk towards Alessia, Spencer by my side. I smiled at her, trying to appear friendly. Reid spoke up as we got closer.

“Hello, do you by any chance-“

wham!

“Spence!” I exclaimed, reaching down to help him up from where he had fallen from being whacked by the 4’2 pyscho that was Alessia Copelas.

“Did she get away?”

I turned to see her gone, the only sign she was even here being the forming bruise on the Dr’s face.

“Yeah. She did. I’m sorry, Reid, that was really stupid of me.” He shook his head, running his own hand over the raw skin.

“It’s fine, I would have done the same for you.” He looked up, and I wasn’t sure if it was my school-girl esque crush on him or the fact I just had another experience with a serial killer, but my heart was racing nonetheless.

————————

F.B.I. Field Office, New York, New York, 1 Day Earlier

The stress levels in the room were high.

Despite our best efforts, several more bodies had been found, New York’s narcissists were in a state of panic, and the spirits of the BAU were down to say the least.

“What? Are you kidding me?” I exclaimed, looking at Hotch in disbelief.

He rolled his chocolate eyes, fanning the folder containing the new information we had gathered on Alessia.

“I wish I was, Y/n. She’s off the grid completely, her apartment is empty, phone and credit cards have been deactivated, and the surgeon’s office hasn’t heard from her for 5 days. And the media has decided to give her the name ‘Butterfly Baron’, so she’s probably been fueled even further. We need a new lead before she strikes again.”

I scoffed, standing up and pushing my chair away.

“This is unbelievable. How many times do we have to reinforce the idea to local PD! Especially when the unsub is a self absorbed psycho, do not give them a name! God, I really cannot fathom this.”

I reached up, letting my hair down from where I had messily thrown it up upon my arrival to work that morning.

I stormed out of the room, my heels clicking behind me. I ignored Hotch’s calling of my name, making my way to the closest restroom.

I went in, locking the door behind him. I ran my hands through my roots, tugging just enough to where it hurt.

Turning the water to the left all the way, I splashed it from the stream leaving the faucet on to my face. I scratched my fingernails against the skin, wiping away the tears that had escaped.

“This is all your fault, y/n.” I whispered at myself in the mirror, doing my absolute best to engrain the message in my brain. I had my head hung in shame when a knock rang out.

“Y/n?”

It was Spencer. My mind started going a million miles a minute, thinking about why he could be there. With my voice raised a few octaves, I tried to scrape up a response.

“I’ll be out in a few, Spence.”

It was quiet for a split second, leaving me to foolishly dance around the idea that he had left me to wallow in my sorrowful thoughts.

“Y/n, Hotch wanted me to check on you. Are you ok?”

My heart slightly sank at the idea that he might’ve just come to check on me because he himself was worried. I discarded the thought, bringing myself back.

“Y/n can you please answer me? If you don’t open the door I’m gonna send in JJ or Emily.”

I sighed, wiping under my eyes where my mascara had smudged, begrudgingly walking over to the door. Just as my hand landed on the silver handle, his voice that was constantly playing in my head echoed out once more.

“Y/n, please? I need to know you’re okay. I’ll come in there myself.”

A soft smirk graced my face as I turned the handle to reveal a worried looking Spencer.

“Y/n, oh God, you had me worried.”

He was quiet when he spoke and his hair looked messy, like he had been running his slender fingers through it in a stress filled state.

I sniffled, attempting to still keep back tears that were still threatening to spill.

“I’m alright, Spencer. Really, I’m fine.”

He gave me a small smile, his eyes meeting my own.

“I know, it’s just that when I had my Diludad problem,” he hesitated.

“I would lock myself in bathrooms to shoot up, and I know you aren’t having a problem like that but I just was worried about you- what are you doing?”

I cut off his rambling by throwing my arms around his middle. He tensed, but quickly melted. He wrapped his strong arms around my shoulders and my waist, laying his head on mine.

“Y/n, I promise you, you’re doing your absolute best to stop Alessia. We wouldn’t even be where we are right now if you hadn’t made the connections. Those deaths are not your fault.”

My tears finally began to cascade like a waterfall, staining his shirt.

“I know, but it’s just like it is all my fault! I could have paid closer attention, or-or, I could have went after her at the zoo, it’s all my fucking fault, Reid.”

I sobbed into his shirt, my hand gripping his shirt like my life depended on it. Like if I let go I would fall into a deep, deep, endless hole.

His hand on my waist moved up to cradle my head.

“It’s not, I promise you-“

He was cut off mid sentence by the ringing of his phone.

“I am so, so sorry-”

I pulled away, breifly touching under my nose with my wrist, then moving a hair behind my ear.

“Nope, it’s fine, don’t worry.” Our words almost had overlapped each other as we clambered to fight the tension that had risen. I closed my eyes, tilting my head up, thinking about how unprofessional yet intimate our previous position had been. How wrong, yet how right it felt.

I kept running the moment through my head, the feeling of his warm figure encasing mine on replay.

His phone call played as background noise to the film playing in my brain, his voice calming me to an extent.

“Yeah, we’re on our way. Thanks, Morgan.”

He closed the phone with a snap, also snapping me out of my trance, putting the movie on pause.

“They’ve got a hit. Copelas was seen dropping by her old apartment.”

And for the first time since that Goddamn case had started, I smiled genuinely.

“Let’s go get her.”

————————

15 Minutes Prior, Central Park, New York

“Hotch?”

“Yes?” He looked back from where he was driving, following our lead in a rushed manner.

“What will we do if she...” I trailed off.

“Hypnotizes one of us?” He finished for me. I nodded solemnly.

The look on his face was conflicted and it took him a moment to come up with a response.

“We kill her before we have to kill one of our team members.”

He saw a look of uncertainty on my face and spoke up once more.

“And that’s an order.”

I nodded again, making eye contact with him through the rear view mirror. I fell back into my seat, closing my eyes briefly.

After a few more minutes on the road, we had arrived.

The doors all slammed to the SUVs, one after the other as we stepped out.

“The letter said that she would be here, somewhere here.”

The voice of Morgan was channeling through my earpiece, referring to the letter found at her apartment that she had left just for us.

“We ordered evac on citizens, correct?”

The unsure voice of JJ was also heard through the earpiece, her uncertainty quite unusual to hear.

“Yes, it was the first thing we did, Jayj.”

I whispered, a sly smirk from Spencer forming at my behavior.  

“Oh shut up.”

“I didn’t even say anything!”

snap!

Our senses adapted, becoming dialed to 11 at the sound of a twig snapping under someone's feet.

“Was that you?” I mouthed to Spencer. He shook his head no and I silently cursed to whatever force was listening.

I nodded, which he then reciprocated, the pair of us slowly walking towards the source of the sound after he did.

“They’re going to remember me, I’ll go down in history.”

The voice was sing-songy and quiet, floating through the air. I took a shaky breath, continuing my steady pace.

My breathing momentarily halted soon after.

Different variations of “Oh my God”s, and loud gasps from almost everyone on the team flooded my ear canal at the horrifying sight in front of us.

Red. So much of it.

“Guys, I think we know what she’s been doing with the bodies’ blood.”

“No shit.” I muttered under my breath.

She was bathed in the blood, it looked like something straight out of a horror movie.

“Alright everyone, I want you to approach her as quietly as possible, Morgan, if you get the chance, corner her.”

Hotch’s voice was a stark contrast to her own, Derek’s response all the same.

—————————

Present Day, Central Park, New York

“But Agents, you still haven’t answered my question. They’re beautiful, aren’t they?”

“Alessia Copeleas, FBI, come on, get up, lets go.”

Derek’s voice was stern, not asking, but demanding that Alessia come with us.

“I’m afraid I just can’t do that, Agents.”

She stood up abruptly, causing all of our weapons to rise. The sun reflected off of the silver metal of Reid’s gun, sparkling in a stunning way that caught me off guard.

We all were trying to act as if we were in total control of the situation, but we could tell that us nor Copelas really believed that. Her words were her weapon, and this was the one time where words could hurt, but sticks and stones had virtually no power.

“Take another step and we will have no hesitation to fire.”

She smirked, rolling her eyes.

“If you do, will I be famous you think? You think they’ll hear about me back home?”

Her curls softly blew in the wind, making her appear almost harmless, maybe even endearing, if it wasn’t for the hardening coat of human blood soaking her clothes and seeping from her skin.

“Is that what you want? The kids back home and everyone here to hear about you? You want ‘Butterfly Baron’ written on every billboard in Times Square, your picture painted in museums, films to be made in your honor?” Reid was the one who spoke up this time, his voice remaining strong. Her eyes shone with a sickening excitement at what he said.

“You want to be famous?”

She nodded vigorously.

“Too bad.”

My eyes widened, surprised at the detour the conversation had taken.

“What-what do you mean?”

“Please, the only thing people will hear about is a sad, boring little girl from a small town who killed to feel better about herself. They’ll forget about you in a week, who knows, maybe they’ll even grow an infatuation with your town, someone you went to school with may get as lucky as to catch their big break!” He laughed, while Alessia looked absolutely devastated.

“You? You’ll be a nobody.”

“That’s not true! I’ll go down in history, and they won’t! I’m the fucking butterfly baron for hells sake! All these people?” She gestured towards her field of bodies.

“You won’t remember their names, maybe not even their pretty faces, but me? I’ll live forever.”

Her nostrils flared and she strode over to Reid with purpose. The safety on my glock clicked off, but Spencer motioned for me to wait. So I did.

“You know, Agent-“

“It’s Doctor.”

This visibly agitated her even more as she started her sentence over again.

“Doctor, you have a beautiful bone structure. Absolutely perfect. Symmetrical, not to mention just flat out stunning.”

A glaze formed over Spencer’s honey eyes at her words. He lowered his gun momentarily before turning towards me, Copelas doing the same.

“And you, Agent. Wow. I feel like I’m in an art exhibit, you’re gorgeous. I think the Doctor man here would agree.”

As he lifted his revolver at me, the situation became all too real as I understood what was happening.

I either had to shoot the man that I was struggling to admit I was beginning to love, or died at the hands of the very same man.

Tears flooded my eyes, all safeties were turned down, and all guns were pointed at Reid.

“Spence, please.”

My voice was weak, something that seemed to bring Alessia lots of joy.

She laughed before talking again, commanding Spencer.

“Pathetic, really! Spence”, she mocked,“shoot her.”

“No!”

bang!

whack!

--------------------- 

Present Day, Somewhere In The Sky, The Jet

I opened my eyes from where I had been tackled to the ground by Hotch, surveying my surroundings to see Alessia laying on the grass, the source of her gunshot wound non-distinguishable from the previous blood on her body.

I looked to the right to see where Spencer had crumpled to, his frame bent in a discombobulated position.

“Spencer!” I cried out, crawling over to him like some sort of dog,

“What happened to him?”

“Y/n, he was going to shoot you-“

“I don’t care you should have let him!”

I cradled his head in my lap, allowing my pent up tears to fall.

“Y/n?”

My eyes snapped open for real this time, my mind calmed at the sight of Spencer sitting next to me on the couch, gently shaking my shoulder in an attempt to wake me from my nightmare.

“Spencer! Sorry, was I too loud?”

He chuckled, gesturing to the rest of the sleeping plane around us.

“You’re fine, I wasn’t sleeping, I decided to reread ‘Fahrenheit 451’ for nostalgia purposes. And you weren’t that loud, you just looked like you were having a bad dream.”

I chuckled at the not-so outlandish idea in an attempt to diminish it from his mind and move on.

“I’m fine. But fun fact, I did have nightmares after reading ‘The Veldt’. Seriously, I don’t get how you can just reread Bradbury’s stuff all the time.”

The genius scoffed, starting a rant on how Ray Bradbury’s storytelling was just classic literature and deserved to be reread, thus successfully changing the topic as I hoped my statement would. Although soon after, he caught on much quicker than I would have liked him to.

“And not to mention, The Veldt alone could be seen as a forewarning to the 21st century and beyond, even Bradbury himself supported that interpretation-‘

I gave him a tired smile, enjoying his rambling like I always did.

“-and you totally just got me to change the subject.”

“I was wondering when you were gonna catch up.”

“Hey!”

He laughed as I rested my head on my hand, trying to fall back asleep.

“Really, I can tell those nightmares are bad. What’s going on?” He questioned, his tone empathetic and compassionate.

“It’s nothing, Reid. I just keep seeing in the park, when Alessia got shot and you-you got hurt but instead of getting up like you did in real life, you just…”

I trailed off, not wanting to relive the negative dream any longer for fear of the tears that were pricking my eyes escaping.

“It’s okay, that didn’t happen, I’m right here.”

He pulled me into a hug, allowing me to bury my head in the crook of his neck, his warmth consuming me once more, a sequel to the film from earlier.

“I know, but what if it hadn’t?” I asked as I pulled away.

He shook his head, reaching for his wallet.

“In this job, this course of work, we can’t focus on ‘what if’s’. In this job, we also get nightmares, all of us. It happens.”

He slid a picture over to me, it was of a happy family. The edges were worn from years of being carried, but the picture seemed loved.

“Gideon gave me that when my nightmares started. He told me about how those families we save everyday, and how that’s what makes what we do worth it. And I know you didn’t know Gideon personally, or the work on the specific case with that family, but I want you to have it anyway-“

I cut him off by throwing my arms around his neck, attempting to speak despite being muffled by his fluffy sweater.

“Thank you, Spence. Truly.”

I smiled, and I imagined he was doing the same.

“No problem y/n. Anytime.”

I moved my legs over to be tucked underneath my arms, leaning into Reid. He wrapped his arm around me, also leaning in. We both managed to fall asleep for the remainder of the ride in our state of content, but not before he managed to sleepily call out my name.

“Y/n?”

“Yeah?”

“When we land do you wanna go on a date or somethin’?”

I smiled at him, separating from his form just long enough to see that beautiful face of his.

“Without a doubt.”

🂦∙🂦∙🂦

AHAHAHHAHAHAHA I’M WAY TOO HAPPY WITH THAT LMAOOO but anyway chile- 

i don’t have some long ass paragraph to write this time omg wig, i’m just proud asf of my work for once (except for the zoo part ngl kinda didn’t like it😳) 

😛✨vibes✨ love u, xx hj

[feltpool]

S1 Omega Overview

I want to like Omega.

She’s small and she’s cute, she’s friendly and she’s fun.

And I wouldn’t trust her as far as I could spit her!

She appeared out of nowhere. Despite her claim to having spent her whole life on Kamino none of the clones she’s interacted with have ever laid eyes on her before. Not the team, not even 1st generation clone Rex. No one. So why not?

She launched herself at this group of unsuspecting commandos for reasons that’ve been touched on so lightly so far that it’s more like the feel of a breeze passing by rather then a hand on your arm, and only really in the last two episodes of this season.

.

Way back in Ep 2 Cut talks briefly to Hunter about Omega:

Cut: All right. Out with it. What’s with the girl?

Hunter: She’s a defective clone, like we are.

Cut: Not exactly.

Hunter: What do you mean?

Cut: The Kaminoans don’t create without a purpose.

        You all have one, so what’s hers?

Hunter: It doesn’t matter. She’s just a kid.

But she isn’t ’just a kid’, is she?

Nothing the Kaminoans do is accidental. They might be willing to work with what they already have to see what they might be able to make out of it, but you can’t tell me that the Kaminoans “… manipulated preexisting aberrations in our DNA, resulting in your brute strength, Crosshair’s sharpshooting skills, Hunter’s enhanced senses, and my exceptional mind.” by sheer accident in order to create CF99.

Everything they create is by design, and they’ve had years to perfect their fleshy weapons of war.

.

We only have Omega’s word for it that she’s a Jango clone.

In Ep 1, Tech says “I confirmed my suspicions after analyzing her DNA while we were in the infirmary.”

What? You mean in the infirmary on Kamino where Omega lives and works and has full control over the equipment and could rig up a false scan to fool someone who is bound to scan her sooner or later? It isn’t like it’d be hard for her to dig out a record of Jango’s DNA to provide a false reading with, is it?

Later on when Tech further analyses that info and tells us she’s a pure source clone he’s still basing that fact off the same initial scan.

I’m calling bullshit.

Not only does she show that she knows exactly who they are and what they can do when she first meets them in the corridor on Kamino, but it never made any sense in the first place.

She’s female, she’s blonde and she’s no clone of Jango Fett!

Although there is a popular theory out there that she is a clone of Palpatine, and I see no reason to argue with that at this point. She’s certainly manipulative enough, and he wanted a way to ensure that he could live forever.

She’s a Kaminoan creation, a valuable one that none of the Kams wanted to fall into this unknown new regime’s hands.

I’m willing to bet that she’s far older than she looks, and she’s manipulated them all right from the start of their lives. Long before they were born.

.

Right from the start? What?

In her desperation to retrieve her property, human action figure, meat droid, dearest darling Hunter, Omega has to show some of her hand.

She takes the boys to Kamino and shows them the secret landing platform and the tube tunnels which lead into Tipoca City - which she doesn’t know is currently almost completely empty of Empire troops and poses little risk to them at this time.

She could have done this for Crosshair at any point if she’d ever felt inclined to go and get him - which she never has, and since Hunter didn’t care to go after him, neither has anybody else.

On the way there she presses A LOT of buttons on that panel for someone controlling a bubble passing through a fixed tube with no intersections.

When they arrive Echo finds all of the system files have been mysteriously wiped clean. Why? The Empire wouldn’t bother to wipe them when they’re about to destroy the city anyway, and Nala Se would be better off giving them all of her files as a show of good faith. Being found to have destroyed them would only get her in trouble with her new ‘employers’

The only person to benefit there is Omega and her desire that the boys not find out what she’s been doing, or for how long. Look at her operating that panel. She pauses just before her last press, like there’s just one last ‘ok’ to wipe the system clean and destroy all record of her hard work.

Only once she presses it does she step back and look sad, and when Echo says 'you alright?’ She doesn’t say yes, or I’m fine She says 'It doesn’t matter. Saving Hunter is what matters.’

Or, Yeah. It’s fine that I just deleted years of research, all of my work, all of my memories of the place that was my home, because that isn’t what matters. Hunter is.

But why? What makes HIM so fucking important to her? Why doesn’t she see the others as being equally desireable? They’re all from the same batch, they were all enhanced in that same creepy laboratory.

.

And then the focus is on Tech talking and you can barely see her head due to the camera angle shift.

Then she blames it all on Nala Se, says it’s her lab and implies that she’s responsible for the creation of the enhancements the Batch boys have. But she doesn’t ever state that, we’re just left to assume.

That likely is a lab where Nala Se works, think back to Ep 1 and the scene with Echo in the med bay. Azi-3 (offscreen and slightly muffled): “But Mistress Nala Se summoned you to the sub-level medical wing.”

But Azi-3 doesn’t say to *her* medical wing, only to the

Is that the lab where Omega works too? The lab where she enhanced their mutations?

Because the only things she’s willing to state is that this is where she was created, and where the boys were enchanced.

“Your mutations were enhanced in this room. Experimental Unit 99 began right here. I was there.”

and

“It was only for a short time, before you were sent to be with the other clones.”

‘I was there’ Yeah? Watching or participating?

Were they taken away so they could be trained up along with all the other clones, or were they taken away from her and what she was trying to do with them?

Were they taken away for their own safety?

.

In Ep 15 she tells the boys that she was there when they were enhanced, etc.

But in Ep 16, talking to Crosshair, she says:

"I spent most of my life in this lab.

I was alone down here, until you four were created.

That's why I was determined to find you all again."

She says she spent most of her life in Nala Se's secret lab. She doesn't say she wasn't still kept in there after the batch were created. Only that that was the first time she wasn't alone.

It does nothing to clear up just how much older than them she might be but it does suggest that the only reason she's running about in Ep 1 is because the Empire have arrived and they don't want her to stand out as a special secret project, they're trying to hide her in plain sight. Hence classing her as a medical assistant.

She’s tries so hard to appeal to Crosshair here, to win him over to her side, by essentially saying:

‘you hated it here on Kamino? I hated it here too.’

‘You’re all on your own now, you must be lonely. Well, I’ve been stuck here all by myself and I’ve been sooo lonely too.’

And a little later on she says to him: “I wanted to believe it was the inhibitor chip that made you like this… but I was wrong.

"We’re supposed to think that she’s saying is 'I thought it was the inhibitor chip that made you want to turn away from us and join the Empire. But I was wrong.’

'But she isn’t. She’s saying 'I thought it was the chip that made you stubborn and unwilling to do what I want you to. But I was wrong.’

And then, because she can see she has no further way to persuade him, she gets up and walks away.

Looking sad at her failure to keep her collection complete.

.

And what about the possibility of the team being sent on secret missions only Hunter knows about?

What does she know about those? Did she have a hand in that or has she just seen the process occurring?

She had access to the external landing platform and knew exactly how the system operated. She knew that those tunnels run all over Kamino. How much time has she spent exploring those tunnels and getting into all sorts of places she wasn’t supposed to?

She could have been in touch with any number of people willing to promise to take her away from all of this if she'll just help them out, or pay her well so she can fantasise about running away and taking her boys with her to a place where they can live together forever like the creepiest kind of fairy story.

So she’s either complicit in their creation, using them for her own means, and/or has developed an unhealthy obsession with them – no combination of those options would be good.

Either way she's set up with the potential to be super creepy and abusive, even if she turns out not to be the worst possible person she could be.

.

But what do you get when you have a character who’s grown up in an environment where clones are livestock, things to keep and own. To control.

Does she view the Batch boys as people in their own right, or like something which belongs to her? Like pets or playthings?

And what happens when they don't want to play her game anymore?

.

She doesn't wear it anymore, but it's possible that her headpiece (diadem?) contains a device which emits a signal which Hunter is constantly receiving. A signal which continuously makes him feel good in her presence, or makes him feel like he wants to have her around.

A signal which Echo unknowingly relays to him when they’re out on missions together.

Because after the fight in the mess hall back in Ep 1 Echo awakes to find himself in the med bay with Omega and Azi-3 standing over him. He’s being scanned by machines and the only other time we’ve seen Omega refuse to leave someone’s side like she does there was when she was waiting for Wrecker to wake up following his surgery to remove the inhibitor chip.

She’s alone with him and has full access to the medical suite there. She could have done anything to him or his internal systems, and who would even think to suspect her of any wrongdoing? Right?

Well, me obviously. But not any of the team.

.

Most of the time just having it in her pocket and remaining close to him is enough to maintain the signal strength, but when he's further away Echo extends her range.

If Omega has this level of access to Hunter’s personal wifi she can both send him a direct message and reinforce the idea that he wants to keep her around, regardless of whether or not he actually does.

And since he never makes any sort of contact with her, trains her, or otherwise spends any sort of quality time with her unless it’s absolutely necessary I don’t think that he actually does.

But this sort of access could explain why Omega seemed oddly on his mind when they were on Raxus and she was sulking in Cad's bar.

But when Hunter was held on Daro, so was well out of range, she really freaked out and worried that she was going to lose her hold on him and would have to start all over again. Because this isn’t an instant process. She failed to snag him initially on Kamino in Ep 1 and had to resort to sending him a direct command to come and pick her up.

He almost left her behind with Cut and Suu in the following episode. She’s having to reinforce that connection, that control, all the time.

Immediately following both occasions when she’s been separated from Hunter for any length of time the first thing she’s wanted to do it to be in close physical proximity to him.

She threw herself bodily at Hunter after her retrieval from Cad Bane, and she literally steps over Crosshair’s unconscious body, or at least over his rifle, to reach Hunter to hug him when they’re in the training room in Ep 15.

Seriously, watch her position, the way she steps back after releasing him and you can see where her feet are. It’s totally wrong and creepy.

.

Even if her motivation for this was nothing more sinister than her being scared of being alone again and desperate to keep hold of him, it's still awfully abusive and gross.

She seems to have built Hunter up in her mind as the ideal of a big, strong and perfect leader, and has so far been disappointed when that hasn’t turned out to be the case.

That he’s been self-involved and unwilling to put himself out to help others.

Not at all matching up to her metal image of ‘what soldiers do’

.

After saying they’d take Crosshair with them Hunter looks to her and she gives him a nod to show her approval.

She’s working hard on trying to convince him to be her perfect little soldier boy.

But just how far might she push it when he isn't?

How much control can she exert over him to force him to be the man she wants him to be?

I’m not trying to say that she has a romantic obsession with him, but she definitely has plans to keep him close to her forever.

And why is it just Hunter that she’s SO fixated on?

Because he’s the one she can exert control over, and through him she can control the rest of the team. She has no leverage on the others without Hunter.

She freaked out when he got hurt and when he was captured, but she never panicked about leaving Wrecker behind in the tunnels with Fennec.

She was willing to save Crosshair on Kamino and to make one last attempt to convince him to go with them. But she never made the effort go after him previously even though she very clearly could have done.

.

She could only have access to Hunter via the EM system, since he’s the only one who’d be able to pick up on the signal.

Crosshair might be with the Empire, might be miserable and alone, but might also be in a safer position than anyone else is right now.

Why?

Because obsessions are unhealthy and can get out of control without anyone meaning for them to do so.

Which means Tech and Wrecker are at risk from her obsession.

They're currently useful and she wants to keep the set together. But if that changes things could get very nasty, very quickly.

Especially if she has control enough to turn Hunter on them.

But what if she simply decides that Tech can't teach her anything useful anymore so he's surplus to requirements now.

What if she starts to find Wrecker's child-like nature to be less amusing, and more annoying?

What if they start to see that things just don’t add up here and begin asking inconvenient questions?

Could she make Hunter turn on them too, even though they've done nothing wrong.

What if she simply starts to feel like Hunter should spend more time with her and less with them, that they're taking up his time that could be spent with her instead? That she simply doesn’t need more than one?

If she got rid of the other two so that she could have more time with Hunter she wouldn't need Echo anymore either.

.

Currently she's cute and the boys like to have her around. But she's either going to age physically, or it's going to be suspicious when she doesn't.

It's a novelty to have a little girl with them.

But novelties wear off

And sooner or later she's going to do or say something which just doesn't sit right with them.

Tech records everything, he should have a record of everything she said on Kamino, just the same as he should have a record of what Crosshair said.

And you can't honestly expect Tech not to have questions about everything they saw on Kamino in that lab.

.

Consider:

The speed with which she picked up using a blaster, which she claimed she’d never used before and had possibly only just seen used for the first time. Not just used either, but literally shot the rifle out of Crosshair’s hands.

The speed with which she picked up using that energy bow, before suddenly turning into an expert with it exactly when she really needed to.

The speed with which she assessed the needs of the Ordo Moon Dragon and got the part they needed.

The speed with which she worked out that she needed to set Muchi free in order to cause the distraction she needed to get her team back. That didn’t quite work out as she expected, but it was still successful.

The speed with which she learned to play dejarik, supposedly just from watching other people play it a few times.

She isn’t just observing. She’s either picking these things up at a vastly increased rate, or she already knows them.

And what about her swimming skills? That was convenient.

.

Can Hunter redeem himself slightly here by only having persuaded her to play dejarik with him because he’s finding her sudden winning streak suspicious?

I mean, if she’s gone from zero skill at it to wiping the floor with all comers then even Sergeant Scribbleface surely can’t be thick enough to not notice it. And they’re the ones she’s been spending time with. Surely they should’ve noticed if she was pretty good at this game already.

The look on his face at the end as he prepares to play her could be concentration, it could also be a suspicious frown as he settles down to watch her technique.

And it’s never actually stated who won, or what went on during that game.

But I’d be surprised if Cid wasn’t watching.

.

This is why Crosshair had to go off and play villain for a while

He’d have spotted how wrong she is in a heartbeat if he’d ever spent any length of time around her. Part of his job on the team is the lookout. To observe.

.

And what about my suggestion that she faked removing Hunter’s inhibitor chip?

And what happens if her control over him is lost?

If either of those suggestions are correct then the shit’s really going to hit the fan when that happens.

Not to mention the impact of that on the entire team, including Crosshair.

.

So what do I think all this is building up to?

The Kaminoans were never expecting to make clones for the Empire. They had contracts with the Republic, whose clones were encouraged to show their own individuality with their colours and their names, etc.

Remember in Rogue One where they’re looking through all the Empire projects and they find the reference to War Mantle?

They also mention Mark Omega

Coincidence? I don’t think so.

So… who exactly is she a clone of that there could be a reference to her in Empire files?