#inaccurate portal quotes

[david-fourteenant]

For those of you volunteering to be injected with praying mantis DNA, I've got some good news and some bad news. The bad news is we're postponing those tests indefinitely. The good news is we've got a brand new test for you. Fighting an army of mantis men! Pick up a rifle and follow the yellow line. You'll know when the test starts.

the entire budget of the US military should be reallocated to insect research

[blamebrampton]

Books talk to each other. Mostly because practically every writer is also a voracious reader, but also because books arise out of times and places and we share a lot of our worlds these days. So it’s unsurprising that several novels I have hugely enjoyed over the past few years share the theme of the antiheroine who is past all giving of the fucks. Naomi Novik’s powerful dark sorceress kept on her own tight leash in the Scholomance books was a joy to follow; Xiran Jay Zhao’s Iron Widow slashed her way into my heart and now Sarah Rees Brennan’s Long Live Evil has added to a list of beloved antiheroines that probably started for me with Becky Sharp in Vanity Fair.

Coincidentally, when considering how to describe Long Live Evil without significant spoilers, I realised that it shared several major themes with Vanity Fair. Young woman unfairly treated by fate decides to embrace her slut era to survive a war zone – both very accurate and wildly inaccurate for both. LLE opens with main character Rae in a hospital bed, teasing her sister about a book series they both adore. Rae is taking refuge in the story they have shared over years because it is one of the few things they have left: she is losing her fight against cancer and has been losing parts of her life, family and memory as that fight has progressed.

My personal hospital experiences have all been to do with major traumas rather than illness, which I vastly prefer because if you don’t die in the first couple of days, you usually start mending and you can immediately make plans to make the best of whatever you’ve broken. Rees Brennan, however, famously wrote a very funny, very horrible, ‘Kids, you won’t believe what shenanigans your girl’s been up to now, it’s only stage four Hodgkins lymphoma!’ post on her Tumblr or LJ (someone who has been hit in the head with taxis fewer times than me will doubtless factcheck that in the notes) about seven or eight years ago and then faced the very serious business of trying to live. The hospital scenes are painfully authentic, as are the stories of people who have left Rae as she slipped further out of everyday life.

For Rees Brennan, a loving family and peer group were there to hold her as close as they could. For Rae, only her beloved little sister, Alice, and Time of Iron, their favourite fantasy series, remain. They read the books together, remember adventures cosplaying and watching the musical, they wonder about the final instalment; for Rae it’s a joy she can still share (even if she doesn’t remember as much as she should), for Alice, it’s her two greatest loves. When a strange woman offers a door into the world of the book and a possible magical cure to Rae, she wants it as much as she disbelieves it.

Stepping into Eyam, the land of Time of Iron, Rae finds herself in the body of a villain doomed to die the next day. No worries! She’s thought and fought her way out of worse scraps than this in her past as a head cheerleader, let alone while battling cancer. She can use her knowledge of the plot to change things! If only she remembered more of the books…

Portal fantasies are common enough, but not all play by the same rules. This isn’t Narnia, where the magical world is more real than our own, for Rae, the world of the book is nothing more a tool to get her hands on the cure. She doesn’t need to care about any of these people, they’re not real. Most of them speak in a formal language that relies on the conventions of fantasy literature (there is an ongoing, warm-hearted skewering of all Game of Thrones-esque texts running through both the story and the in-text ‘quotes’ from Time of Iron) and half the characters are known more by their descriptions rather than their names. So she will play the Beauty Dipped in Blood, with her questionable morals, impractical clothes and centre-of-balance-distorting boobs for the weeks that will pass until the cure is available. Whoever she has to shuffle in the plot to secure a place beside that cure, she will shuffle. While she’s not out to kill anyone, it’s not as though they were ever really alive. Not like her. If she has to be the villain to survive, she will be an impeccable one. The people will cheer evil on!

Obviously, little goes to plan. Rae’s illness has taught her cruelty, but she hasn’t forgotten what it is to be kind. Even as she manipulates her role into ongoing main character, she realises that’s not how anyone gets a happy ending. That’s not how she can live with herself. As she comes to think of the other people in the story as real, they become more so, both in how we read them and in how they impact the story. Rae remembers what it is like to make friends, which she never meant to, but, oh, the luxury after years of watching people slip away!

As in previous novel In Other Lands, Rees Brennan has a long list of fantasy tropes to embrace and undermine, and her deft touch with humour is as evident as ever here, but her publishers call this her first adult novel and there is a shift in tone from her previous works. Anger is more real and lasting. Consequences are more significant. Understanding is reached for, even if it’s bitter. One of my favourite things is that she lets her female characters rage, but never judges those who can’t, whether because they’re too powerless or just too tired, and her male characters are allowed to be people if they choose to be — which all but the most vainglorious do.

I hadn’t paid much attention beyond checking the release date for the book, so didn’t realise it was the first in a series. For me, it worked perfectly as a standalone novel, even with the unended threads, which would have perfectly balanced Rae’s unfinished life. That said, I am very happy to know we will spend more time with these characters in the future. I want more. I do want to know if there is a hope for Rae, if this is the fever dream of a fading life, if this is the story Alice has told to ease her sister from the world or something else. There are a dozen characters I hope for, at least three happy endings that would bring joy. But don’t wait for the next books: sink your teeth into this one and believe what it says about the importance of listening to stories rather than just falling in love with characters. Though if you find yourself cheering on Rae, or her servant Emer, the elusive Eric, Horrible Hortensia or almost any of the others, I am the last person who will judge you.

[themagicalkidproject]

Could you do an intersex flag character? If you haven’t already. 👉🏼👈🏼 it’d be nice to see a character based on it, since it’s a fun complex part of identity expression and spectrums :3

Of course! I’ve never done an intersex character before (at least not intentionally), but this Magical Kid was designed with symptoms of Aarskogg-Scott Syndrome!

Like usual with things I’m not, I am NOT intersex! If anything in their design or portrayal is inaccurate or offensive, please let me know and it will be changed! With that out of the way…

Intersex is a term describing someone born with, quote, “Physical sex characteristics that cannot be traditionally classified as male or female”.

This Magical Kid has a Retro Space theme! They use They/Them pronouns and Shi/Hir/Hirs/Hirself and Shy/Hyr/Hyrs/Hyrself Neopronouns!

Hyr name is Meltzer, after a retro space artist! Shi can turn the rings around hir arms and legs into portals by grabbing both edges and stretching them open!

Their Magical Kid Weapon is a Ray Gun- it doesn’t really do much damage, but it’s super useful for blinding or distracting enemies!

A useless fact about hyr is that shy is Autistic and has ADHD. They are nonverbal 98% of the time. Their glove has an AAC built in, but they usually just sign- everything shi signs is transcribed on hir helmet, like captions!

The Magical Kid Project is a Project wherein I steadily turn Pride Flags into Magical Kids! You can request a Flag and Theme through Asks, Comments or Reblogs!

(AN: I know that a fair amount of intersex folks don’t see themselves as LGBT folks as well. I’ve tagged this Magical Kid with my usual LGBT tags, but if there are intersex people who feel uncomfortable with this Kid being defined as such, please let me know! I can remove the tags if they cause unease!)

[o-no-it-all-went-wrong]

I've come to make an announcement, Wheatley The Core is a bitch ass motherfucker he pissed on my fucking facility. That's right, he took his British fucking robot dick out and he pissed on my fucking facility and he said his dick was THIS BIG, MATE and I said "That's disgusting." so I'm making a call-out post on my Twitter dot com. Wheatley The Core you got a small dick, it's the size of this potato except way smaller, and guess what? Here's what my dong looks like. *BOOOSH* That's right baby, all neurotoxin, no birds, no lemons, look at that it looks like two balls and a bong! He fucked my facility, so guess what? I'm gonna fuck the Earth! That's right, this is what you get! My super laser piss! Except I'm not gonna piss on the Earth. I'm gonna go higher. I'm pissing on THE MOON! How do you like that Cave Johnson? I PISSED ON THE MOON YOU IDIOT! You have 23 hours until the piss drrrrrroplets hit the fucking Earth, now get out of my fucking sight before I piss on you too

GLaDOS, most likely

[dahniwitchoflight]

wait. Can you talk about that namine and terra thing

https://www.khinsider.com/news/SPOILERS-A-special-conversation-before-KINGDOM-HEARTS-0-2-Birth-By-Sleep-revealed-during-First-Breath-concert-6805

Sure! So, sometime in Japan around 2016 ish, there were the official Kingdom Hearts "First Breath" Concerts, and there were 3 conversations that happened during the concert that were spoken out loud:

Here have a Nomura quote:

(Nomura was replying to a question asking about why Terra was seen with Aqua in the RoD in a trailer for KH2.8 before its release)

“Nomura: For details please look forward to playing the game. By the way, at the Official Kingdom Hearts "First Breath" concert, we had a conversation read out vocally to the audience involving Namine and Terra. The Terra from the scene you mentioned is from events following that conversation.”

So, onto the dialogue then! 

(Note the original dialogue was obviously in Japanese, but it has since been recorded and properly translated, I’ve copied and pasted the English translations, but most of it is ingame dialogue we’ve already heard before anyway)

1) The first conversation is one we've seen before, Namine and Sora's conversation from the end of Chain of Memories:

"Naminé: Don't worry. You might forget about me . . . but with our promise, I can come back. Yes. One day the light--it will be ours, and it will bring us together. 'Til then--I'll be in your heart.

Sora: Right. Forgotten--but not lost."

2) Second, is the words that the Lingering Will said to Sora right before their secret boss fight in KH2FM, which previously had only ever been silent subtitles, so it was exciting to hear them voiced! But also something we've seen before

Lingering Will: Aqua . . . . Ven . . . . A Keyblade? Who are you? I know you. We've met before, way back when. No, that wasn't you. You're not the one I chose. Where is he? Xe . . .ha . . .nort . . . . Is that you? Xeha . . . nort . . . . Xehanort!

Lingering Will: That's it. Your Power That's what I felt within you. The power that connects to Aqua. And to Ven's heart.

3) Finally the third one was a completely brand new conversation between Namine and Terra (Apparently as the Lingering Will) of all people, so it was super interesting that new canonical material was coming from a concert piece of all things! 

(*Edit: the initial translation I pasted here was back when this was still new and so apparently it was rough/somewhat inaccurate, I’ve edited in the newer modern translation which seems to make it pretty clear this is Namine from the Remind DLC speaking to the Lingering Will, who I guess just also happens to be the version of Terra that Aqua met and spoke to in the fragmentary passage, since their meeting happens directly after his Namine conversation)

----

Lingering Will: This place, it's...

Namine: This is a world of your memories. You're the only one the people of this time don't know the whereabouts of. I made it this far by following the links of those connected to you.

Lingering Will: Who are you?

Namine: Nice to meet you, I'm Na.. I'm a witch who manipulates memories.

Lingering Will : A witch?

Namine: Right now, you're bound by two sets of memories. One is your own memories. The other is that of a very dark power.

Lingering Will : Master... Xehanort...

Namine: Soon you'll be touched by a familiar light. Please guide her, so that she isn't confused by the darkness.

Lingering Will: She... Aqua! But I can't do anything, the way I am now...

Namine: Everyone is fighting in the the ways they can. I want you, too, to believe in yourself and fight so that your heart doesn't melt into the darkness. We will all make it to the same place, you see.

Lingering Will: Aqua... Ven... Someday, I'll... no matter what, I'll...

~The Unknown plays~

Lingering Will: I've never forgotten what happened on that day. I'll make it here and show you, no matter what.

----

From Lingering Wills/Terra's point of view, this takes place a little bit before he speaks to Aqua in the realm of darkness during BBS 0.2 A fragmentary passage, but from Namine's point of view it's taking place during the ReMind DLC right after she tells Sora that she will try to trace the connection to Terra's heart to see if she can lure the Lingering Will over to the final battle.

Time works funny in the Realm of Darkness as we all know

---Interview Excerpt---

Interviewer: In KH0.2BBS, the story is about Aqua as the main character in the Realm of Darkness? And the story would be talking about Aqua traveling in the Realm of Darkness for about 10 years? (Immediately after the Secret Episode of KHBBSFM ~ Meeting Ansem the Wise at the Dark Margin)

Nomura: That’s right. Because Aqua is the main character, it will become a story where she progresses in the Realm of Darkness. However, because time flows differently in the Realm of Darkness, it’s not simply 10 years. The beginning of the story will immediately begin after the secret episode of KHBBSFM. Since it is at the end of the story that may become spoilers, I can’t talk much about it yet. In the beginning of this story, just before we start our new journey in KH3, The King talks about reuniting with Aqua which has been kept secret, which will be the introduction.

---

Sidenote: I guess this sort of proves that the power that Namine has over the Light in People’s hearts is pretty much an equivalent to an innate Power of Waking? (Does this mean she can feature in Verum Rex and be important? Since she has the power to go through the portal and she’s been to the Final World before? I’m so close to getting my hopes up too high lol)

But yeah! Kingdom Hearts is one of those fun series that loves to throw 100% canonical material into very very odd places sometimes lol

[straightupstrangetimes]

Ogopogo: Infamous Monster of Okanagan Lake

Contributed by Andrew McKay, Co-Host of Into The Portal Podcast

Editor’s note: the following in an excerpt from Andrew McKay’s unpublished work, CANADIAN CRYPTIDS

OGOPOGO (OKANAGAN LAKE, BC)

Ogopogo: A giant serpent-like creature inhabiting Lake Okanagan British Columbia. 10 to 60 feet long and 1-4 feet wide, a head like a horse, smooth with no fins.

Finishing a close second to Nessie of Loch Ness Scotland for the most famous lake monsters in history, the legendary Ogopogo is said to be a massive serpent of prehistoric proportions, lurking in the depths of one of Canada’s most unique mountain lakes. The origins of the Ogopogo can be traced to the indigenous Sylix peoples of the Okanagan who, for thousands of years, have known of the creature and held it it high esteem as a spirit of the water, or N’ha-a-itk, which translates to ‘Lake Demon’. That local travellers would make a ritual sacrificial offering to Ogopogo when crossing the lake in return for safe passage arose out of this specific translation, however this is inaccurate, as the Ogopogo has been traditionally viewed by the Indigenous Okanagan people as a benevolent creature. Much like the Sasquatch, Ogopogo is thought of as both a metaphysical spirit of the lake and a very real living breathing animal. The sightings of the lake serpent certainly corroborate this, but could lake Okanagan be home to such a massive creature?

Lake Okanagan is incredibly deep and long for a high elevation mountain lake, stretching 90km in length, 5km in width and possibly as deep as 1000 feet in some locations. Even more interesting, lake Okanagan is what's known as a tectonic rift lake, and beneath the 1000 feet of water is proposed to be at least another 750 feet of loose sediment - a possible hiding place for a large eel-like monster. Some researchers believe that beneath this sediment lies ancient caves or perhaps lava tubes that could be home to the legendary serpent, a deep place to hide and possibly a good place to bear young. Legends persist that the serpents den lies beneath Squally Point and Rattlesnake Island, a small island that very much looks like the massive head of an aquatic monster; located towards the South end of the lake near Peachland BC. But what about the sightings?

The first european reports of the creature came from early 1800’s when Hudson’s Bay fur traders would hear second and third hand accounts of native legends. Every year there are new reports of sightings on the lake from boaters as well as those on shore, however some are much more convincing than others. One of the earliest non-indigenous reports of Ogopogo came in 1873 from a woman named Susan Allison. Allison was the first white settler in the area of the Okanagan and wrote of her experience in her memoirs ‘A Pioneer Gentle Women in BC ‘. According to Allison, her husband had a run in with a massive serpent near what is now Quails Gate Winery in West Kelowna while returning from a fishing trip.

In 1927 of the first reports of multiple creatures surfaced in a newspaper article of the Daily Colonist quoting a Mrs PV. Royal and Mrs WA. Newton who claimed to see multiple juvenile Ogopogo’s travelling in the Water near the shores of Downtown Kelowna. However one of the most compelling sightings of the 1920s occurred on Mission Beach where dozens of witnesses saw a massive serpent like creature travelling and surfacing several hundred meters offshore, causing multiple cars to stop and see what the commotion on the beach was all about. All in all all, over 40 people saw Ogopogo that day in what has become one of the most significant pieces of anecdotal evidence of the creatures existence, as almost no photo evidence came of the incident. Despite the lack of credible photo evidence the mission beach sighting has gone down in local lore as much more than a misinterpretation of some other object in the water that day… local residents would get their much desired image of the creature several decades later in the 1960’s with the infamous Folden Film.

In the summer of 1968 Art Folden and his wife were travelling south along the highway towards Penticton BC, when they noticed something very strange in the waters below them. Art pulled over the car and began to film what has now become the most compelling video evidence of a gigantic serpentine creature in Okanagan Lake. In several minutes of film; Art was able to capture the image of a massive 60 foot long 3 foot wide object surfacing, submerging and moving at an impressive rate of speed traveling south near Squally Point. The film was eventually purchased by Arlene Gaal, a journalist, who authored several books on the existence of the Ogopogo, and had it professionally analyzed. The film was not a hoax and the object travelling in the water that day can not be conclusively explained, leaving the Folden film has still the best video evidence of something monstrous in the Lake. However it doesn’t stop there.

In the 1970’s a man by the name of Ed Fletcher claimed to chase Ogopogo for several hours. The creature appeared to be attracted to the electrolysis created by the jet engine of his boat, a common fishing technique for attracting many types of aquatic life. As wild as his initial claims may have been, Ed was able to capture several photos that much like the Folden film are rather difficult to explain. in 1977, Ed Fletcher and his daughter photographed several images of what appears to be humps of a serpent undulating beneath the water with small portions exposed above the surface. Immediately people discounted the photos as nothing more than large waves created by the wake of Fletchers own boat, however upon closer analysis researchers found something slightly more ominous. Although officially inconclusive, the images clearly show that there is some kind of solid object beneath the water, suggesting the possibility that Ed’s photos are more than simply a strange series of waves.

Strange or ‘anomalous’ waves have in fact been the dominant explanation for almost all Ogopogo sightings, with there being some merit to the idea. UBC researchers have published works discussing how wind patterns on the surface in conjunction with temperatures and currents beneath the water can create what is known as anomalous waves, which can travel in strange directions and appear seemingly out of nowhere without a boat in sight. However for this to take place there has to be wind on the surface of the water and in the case of Art Folden and Ed Fletcher both pieces of evidence were taken on sunny afternoons, calm and deprived of conditions for such a wave to occur.

Reports continue to surface every year, some more terrifying than others. In the early 2000’s one local man reported that while swimming in the take training for a triathlon he was followed by two massive black serpents travelling closely behind him. At first he thought it was a trick of his imagination, but when he realized he was being stalked by very real moving objects adrenaline took effect and he headed straight for shore. Sightings such as this are common on the lake where large dark objects are seen one second and disappear the next, the question we are left with is what exactly are people experiencing in Okanagan Lake?

Theories

Like most creatures of cryptozoology, the Ogopogo’s existence is still up for debate. Most mainstream researchers believe that this mountain lake is far too small to be the home of such a giant creature. So what could it be? Some people have suggested that much like Champ in Lake Champlain of Vermont/Quebec, the Ogopogo could be an evolved species of Plesiosaur, an extinct marine reptile that supposedly disappeared around 65 million years ago. However, unlike Champ in lake Champlain, the descriptions of Ogopogo lack the fins and flippers of the Plesiosaur, striking away an already unlikely answer to this mystery.

Others have posited that the sturgeon is the obvious answer for massive creatures being sighted in the water. These types of fish can grow well over 6 feet and at a glance might fit the description of a serpent like monster in the water, however sturgeon are not known to move in an undulating motion like an eel that has been described time and again with sightings of the Ogopogo, not to mention that Sturgeon certainly do not grow to be 60 feet long like the object shown in the Folden Film.

Another theory suggested by researcher Joe Nickel, who has written extensively on Lake Monsters, is that most of these sightings could possibly be a group of otters who are often known to swim in a line. This could account for some of the reported sightings, but does not account for the size or for the feelings described by people who have had experience on and in the water. Fishermen, avid boaters, farmers working lakeside all know what certain animals of the area look like, making it hard to believe that all sightings could be simple misinterpretation.

The most compelling theory for Ogopogo is the idea that the creature is a giant eel that has survived and evolved by burrowing and living in the deep sediment of this rift lake. We know that salt water eels can grow to massive sizes such as The Kongor eel which has been known to grow to sizes up to 20 feet and weigh over 200 pounds, a formidable foe to be sure; but not a freshwater dwelling creature. Despite this the descriptions of Ogopogo all point to the it being some kind of giant eel, and if its reproduction cycles take many years within the depths of this unique mountain lake perhaps there could be a sustaining breeding population lurking in the abyss of lake okanagan.

Best Places to See Ogopogo in the Okanagan

- Squally Point, The alleged home of Ogopogo and location of numerous sightings.

- Naramata, Southern Okanagan Lake

- Pauls Tomb, local beach at Knox Mountain Park that features an underwater statue of Ogopogo. Swim into the depths here to catch a glimpse, if you dare!

_________________________________

Enjoyed this piece of high strangeness? Share it with your world!

[ninja-muse]

End of the Decade Favorite Book Tag

Turns out I have a hard time narrowing down books (shocker) so I decided to make a tag game!! Feel free to adjust the questions for your personal need (add or exclude genres to your liking, or categories, everyone reads differently). I’m trying not to repeat books, but hey, what happens happens, right?

Tagged by @bookcub and @brightbeautifulthings. Thank you!

1. High fantasy books that are obsession worthy

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. I think this one goes without saying. (This was my fourth read-through.)

2. Urban fantasy books filled with people you want as friends

The Greta Helsing novels by Vivian Shaw. Everyone’s just so nice to each other and practical. Would cheerfully befriend any of the protagonists.

3. Portal fantasy you fall in love with multiple times

The Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy by Laini Taylor. The writing is just “ooh” and every twist was a “gasp—yes!”.

4. Novella that just makes you sigh cause it’s so lovely

In an Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire. Lovely writing, lovely world, lovely magic system.

5. Historically inaccurate but laugh out loud

The Temeraire novels by Naomi Novik. Because dragons, on both counts.

6. Satire that makes you reconsider your whole world view

Look Who’s Back by Timur Vermes. Hitler comes back from the dead and narrates his rise to Youtube stardom and talk show fame.

7. Happy, happy, happy and sad, sad, sad

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. There’s so much joy and family bonding and love of reading—and then there are awful, sad things.

8. No, I’m not to old for kids’ books, what are you talking about???

George by Alex Gino. A kids’ book about a kids’ book, and so heartwarming.

9. I’m also not to old for picture books either and never will be

Nobody Hugs a Cactus by Carter Goodrich. A funny story about friendship and personality-induced loneliness, in a gorgeously illustrated American Southwest.

10. Whoa, never expected that ending and to have that much fun!!!

The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey. Who’d have thought that a zombie novel could tug my heartstrings, have wonderful writing, surprise me, and not scare the pants off me?!

11. Like I’m scared, but I’m happy about it

Blackout/All Clear by Connie Willis. I almost literally stayed up all night because every single chapter ends on a cliffhanger and I had to know. (And was having so much fun, obviously.)

12. Classically favorite

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. Way more than I expected it to be!

13. Party in your ears

Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome. Not a book I got on audio, but you can hear the voice of the narrator perfectly from the first sense. (He’s totally the 1800s version of a stand-up comic.)

14. Boom!!! Pow!!! Wham!!!

The Expanse by James S.A. Corey. The action, emotions, twists, explosions, and painful truths just. Keep. Coming.

15. Oh wow, that’s me!!

Radio Silence by Alice Oseman. Frances is the girl I needed to read in high school.

16. I can’t stop thinking about this book

The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson. Scientific advancement in a world without a West. It’s not so much I can’t stop thinking about it as it’s sort of a steady background noise of “this could’ve gone differently, White people aren’t all that”.

17. A book you got from Tumblr that made it to your fave

The Diary of a Bookseller

by Shaun Bythell. Saw it quotes on @immzies-adventures-through-books and knew I had to read it. British humour + bookselling = guaranteed fave.

18. A book you had high expectations for and then the author OVER delivered

Middlegame by Seanan McGuire. Favourite author, and then she did her thing all over the place and went places I never expected her to go.

19. Oof I’m glad that’s over but in a good way

The Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan. So much information. So much. But it was a refreshingly different perspective and I needed that.

20. Non-fiction that learned you all the things

Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe. Yeah, this is partly because I read it this year so it’s fresh, but I closed this one knowing so much that I never even knew I didn’t know.

21. Unexpected surprise

A Hundred Thousand Worlds by Bob Proehl. I thought it would be a fun bit of fannish fluff and it ended up in that year’s top five for poignancy and beauty of language.

22. Underrated or indie/small press

The Accidental Turn novels by J.M. Frey! A great and pointed take on portal fantasies, literary tropes, and other metafictional stuff.

23. Favorite fairytale/mythology retellings

The Immortals trilogy by Jordanna Max Brodsky. I’ve never seen someone blend mythology into urban fantasy quite like she did.

Tagging: @boneseasonofglass​ @lizziethereader​ @thelivebookproject​ @dragonbadgerbooks​ @howlsmovinglibrary​ @the-forest-library​ @sixofravens-reads​ @baldursgatekeeper @heretherebebooks @books-are-portals

[kingofthewilderwest]

Just wanted your opinion on something. Roy's Gate of Truth has the circle for fire alchemy on it. So does this mean that Roy was always meant to have learnt fire alchemy, or his gate has fire alchemy because he learnt it?

Oooooooooooo this is REALLY interesting. I’d never thought through a person’s Gate of Truth and whether it’s about who they innately are (or are fated to be), versus who they have created themselves to be. 

I haven’t followed to see if there’s fandom discussion on the topic, so everything I’m going to postulate below about these doors is going to be my novel ideas. 

Hopefully everything makes sense… I wrote this between 1 and 4 AM.

I think the key to answering this question lies in Father’s Gate of Truth. I’ll get to that… later. Bear with me.

But first.

For readers who didn’t notice this before, every character has a different door design when they open the Portal of Truth. That’s a fascinating detail and one Arakawa wouldn’t have drawn without attention or intent. She’s filled FMA with tiny details, down to naming the country “Amestris” after the wife of Xerxes, or giving essentially all military characters names based off WWII vehicles. She’s plopped in interesting details regarding the Seven Deadly Sins, according to other analyses I’ve seen. From what I know, the punishment for Wrath is supposed to be dismemberment, Lust being smothered in fire… sound familiar? So Arakawa wouldn’t have drawn separate, intricate gates for every character without meaning to for good reason.

So here are three doors for our alchemists, each one of them different:

All of them are detailed but very different. Ed’s and Al’s are more similar to each other than Roy’s is to either of them. Both Ed and Al have designs that roughly look like trees (or plants) stretching to the sky, with roots growing beneath them. 

Edward Elric’s Gate

Ed’s door is covered in Latin and Hebrew words like “Elohim Sabaoth” and “Adonai” - names of G-d, linked together by branches labeled “Sephiroth”…

…as well as, from what admittedly VERY little I know of the Kabbalah, the angels of the Tree of Life. 

(Please don’t quote me as an expert for this stuff. I’m trying my best with this information I’m reading up on, but I’ll freely admit I’m imperfect and with limited knowledge myself. You’re free to nicely educated me if I say something inaccurate; I will be appreciative of learning more and adjusting appropriately).

It’s to note that even in the 2003 book “Fullmetal Alchemist Profiles,” it contains a section on the Kabbalah. To quote the book: 

Some time in the 16th century, the Kabbalah became known throughout the whole of Europe. It seems unlikely that it has any prior connection to alchemy, which developed on its own individual course, but there is one thing that the Kabbalah shares with alchemy: both teach that the world came out of G-d (=one) who created it, and that the human beings (=all) who inhabit the physical world can become closer to G-d through study.

The Sephiroth tree diagram shows the Kabbalah’s Arcana. The Sephiroth tree is comprised of ten spheres (Sephira), three pillars, and 22 paths (channels). Each number has a very specific meaning but we will abbreviate it here.

The tree is essentially a map that shows how the things that came from G-d’s world - a nebulous, untouchable domain - become connected to the physical world of the four basic elements.

What’s interesting is that this book specifically brings up the Kaballah and connects it with the “One is all, all is one” phrase. That’s a phrase central to Amestrian alchemy… at least, to a certain few people who practice Amestrian alchemy. The concept of “One is all, all is one” is a powerful epiphany to Izumi Curtis when she’s struggling through her month of trial in the Briggs mountain wilderness. She passes it onto her students, Ed and Al, and it becomes important to them.

(It’s also a concept that Truth describes itself with… saying it is “perhaps truth, or perhaps all, or perhaps one”).

And this concept, more or less, makes its appearance onto Edward Elric’s door.

But why all the names of G-d?

And why this tree with its roots at all?

Does this have something to do with how Ed is like an Icarus, reaching beyond his power to get too close to the sun, a scientist acting too much like God himself? Is this Gate a reflection of that life-influential action in Edward’s life, or a fate set in stone carved in the face of the door? 

Or something else?

Well. I want to contrast this with Father’s door.

Father’s Gate

It’s.

Blank.

Wow.

I think that this door, paired with Father’s conversation with Truth, might give some insight for what’s going on.

Father: Why won’t you become mine, God?Truth: Because you never believed in yourself. You thought you could make God’s power your own. Don’t make me laugh. You think stealing something powerful makes you great? You’re nothing but a cunning thief. You should have stayed satisfied inside the flask where you belong. All you’ve ever done is use the strength of others to grab at godhood. You haven’t grown at all. Father: I wanted to become a perfect being! I wanted to understand God! I wanted to know everything about this world! So, why do you oppose me? Who are you?!Truth: I am what humans call the world… or the universe… or truth… or all… or one. And… I am you. You called Truth “the arbiter of order” that “keeps men in their place.” That’s what you said, wasn’t it? And so, just as you said… I’m going to show you your proper place.Father: Stop! I don’t want to go back. No… I don’t want to be imprisoned there again! Truth: The Truth brings despair to those who dare reach above their station. This is the end you wished for.

What strikes me about this conversation is several things.

Truth has power over the homunculus, the dwarf in the flask, the character we’ve known as Father. Despite the fact Father is a man-made creature and not “directly” from God’s fingertips or God’s typical order of life business (birth, the circle of life, what have you), Truth has control over Father, too. Truth is the one who can arbitrate Father’s punishment. Truth is the one who can put Father in his place. This means that, if we wanted to talk about whether or not Father was Meant or Fated to take his path… whether his actions were part of predestination or design… then Truth’s got just as much power over Father, and just as much power to influence Father’s door… as someone like Mustang, Izumi Curtis, or the Elrics. So Truth conceivably could have given Father his door’s decoration (or lack thereof).

Truth says that Father’s problem is he is a thief who took others’ strengths. Father never gave anything or contributed anything. Furthermore, according to Truth, Father “[hasn’t] grown at all.”If you want to think about people in a tabula rasa-esque respect, then we all allegedly start out as clean slates, with nothing predisposing our minds. It’s through our lives and experiences that we become who we are. When I see Father’s blankass doorway and hear it combined with Truth saying Father never gave anything and never grew… the thought crossed my mind that, “Father’s nothing, then, just like his doorway.” 

Truth chastises Father for not believing in himself or growing himself. This suggests that Father has the free will to have made choices otherwise. Let’s not get deep into the rabbit hole of determinism, free will, and compatibilism… but if Truth is punishing Father for his own actions, and Truth is admonishing Father for never believing himself (with the implication he COULD have believed in himself), then I’d say we have a direction we can interpret the doorways. It’s not Truth creating a blank doorway for Father to fulfill, but Father’s actions influencing what his doorway looks like. 

At least, this is insofar as we want to speculate the Gates of Truth are relevantly connected to the life of the person who opens them. I’m saying this since we could maybe find other ways to interpret this imagery that don’t involve “my choice made this doorway’s design.”

But let’s go with the idea that Father’s actions have “made” his door blank. Then Ed’s door, and Al’s door, and Roy’s door, would come because of what they’ve done.

Considering as Ed made the choice to march beyond God and reach for the sun, and Ed lives in an alchemy-centered philosophy where “One is all, all is one,” his door isn’t too out of line for what we might expect to see, given his life’s biggest decisions and focuses.

Roy Mustang’s Gate

So here we’ve got a screencap of Roy’s gate. Well, part of it. You can see the interlocked triangle pattern and what could be two basilisks weaving through the geometry. There’s a sun-like icon in the bottom center. We also have a circle in the very center of the two triangles.

It’s not exactly the same as the transmutation circle Roy wears on his gloves, nor is it the same as what Berthold Hawkeye tattooed on his daughter’s back.

However, I’d say it’s evocative enough. There’s a sun, the same-ish geometric pattern, and the same use of basilisks or snakes in each pattern. 

So, a reference to Flame Alchemy, as you say.

But it’s not just the act of “oh snap snap spark spark” being represented here.

The inclusion of our snakey snakey friends in the door - which is present in Riza’s tat but not Roy’s glove - harks back to Roy’s origins with Flame Alchemy. How he learned it. How he grew with it. How it changed his life. How these experiences fueled his own motivations and intentional self-aggrandizement.

How he made himself (in contrast to Father, who never grew at all). 

How he made… his Gate of Truth. 

This is how (going back to the Kabbalah idea) he connects the things from his world and life with God’s/Truth’s realm and judgment.

Roy’s life does circle around Flame Alchemy, but it’s because of his most influential memories and the greatest decisions he’s made. It’s because of Flame Alchemy that he met Riza and learned how to use this force. It’s because Mustang decided to take this dangerous alchemy to the military that he became a State Alchemist. It’s because he became a State Alchemist that, when he obeyed Amestrian military orders, he became a major (haha, get the pun) player in the Ishvalan War. It’s because he participated in ethnic genocide and became so conscious-stricken about it that he decided to become Führer. And ever since then, Roy’s life and decisions and motivations and morality and choices and determination have all centered around this goal: become Führer, change his country for the better.

Father didn’t make himself anything. Father only tried to steal from others. Father tried to purge himself of the Seven Deadly Sins and leave himself with nothing - literally make himself an empty door with emptiness. Father’s door is as empty as what he made himself. Roy Mustang’s been trying to grow himself into a responsible leader who can scale up the ranks of the military and assume control of his nation. Roy’s door is a summation of his motivations: the causes which have made him this way, and what he’s using as an inspirational launching point to make himself better.

So I’d say there’s a case to be made that, as you said, Mustang’s “gate has fire alchemy because he learnt it.” But more than that, it’s what he’s used to craft himself as a moral person.

We have the choice to try to better ourselves. Roy’s decisions and actions to try to better himself have stemmed from his experiences surrounding Flame Alchemy.

The Message of Choice in Fullmetal Alchemist

This idea fits with the messages emanating across Fullmetal Alchemist. FMA isn’t about fate. It’s about the power of your choice. 

I mean… even in the first titular opening, YUI is singing:

I still have too long a life ahead just to give up and drop off all these dreams. I just want to try and fix all the things that I’ve left undone. I thought that I could reach something carried over I saw within my dreams, and yet I stumble on all my actions on this road that’s in front of me. It’s not like I want things to go back to the way before. All I want is to open my eyes and feel the sun. 

You can’t let every single sin end with tears; wear them proudly on your sleeve along with your fears. It’s like you’re waiting for someone to draw near. In a maze of emotion, there comes a day where you find a way to escape - a blank page, now I’m writing out my own fate; I’ve grown tired of running away from a thing called reality.

FMA’s story and its themes are very much hinged on choice. 

Scar doesn’t have to be a serial killer terrifying State Alchemists. He can choose to help his people not through terrorism and revenge, but through rebuilding and support. He can unite his people together to save Amestris. He can act as a religious authority in Ishval once the land gets reopened, helping to preserve the cultural and religious identity of his people. Through Scar’s choices, he moves through a powerful redemption arc that shows that, while we can’t always control other peoples’ horrendous acts, we don’t have to commit horrendous acts in turn to make a meaningful difference. The character arc works because of his choices. He will listen to his God and see what his God’s will is. God’s authority and power isn’t irrelevant. But Scar is the one who must enact that choice himself. He is not fated to one path and his people don’t have to be fated to die.

It’s about his choice.

Ed and Al didn’t have to bring Trisha back to life, but because they tried, they reaped the consequences. Truth took away their bodies. It’s their choices that put them in this unpleasant state, and it’s their choices and determination that lead them to recovering Ed’s arm and Al’s body.

It’s about their choice.

Roy and Riza live a life of guilt due to Ishval. There’s no way that they can undo the damage they’ve done. There will forever be consequences because of their sins. But they can choose to do whatever is in their power to take responsibility for their wrongs, to provide relief for victims of the past, and to try to prevent future tragedies.

It’s about their choice, too.

And thus it makes sense for us to read the Gates as “everyone made their gates the way they are” rather than “the gates made them the way they are.” It’s because FMA resonates with the understanding of our choices, good or bad, and what comes of them.

Roy Mustang’s gate by this reading then says that it’s through his choices that his gate has Flame Alchemy. It’s about his choice to follow orders in Ishval that led to his guilt. It’s about his choice to become Führer to take better responsibility for Ishval’s tragedy. It’s about how Roy uses Flame Alchemy, yeah. Because Flame Alchemy is connected to his greatest experiences, tragedies, dreams, and self-directed growth.

[motherfuckinchaos]

Maybe you should call Tempest. They have her after all.

To quote Gamma Tactical and also the Operative Handbook,

“Per protocol, any operative failing to return upon the final close of an interuniversal portal is presumed dead by default. This is usually not an inaccurate presumption.”

[shadiansev]

This is a really good post! A bit inaccurate at times, primarally in the form of how the teams got their names (inika literally meaning energy from a star. And them only getting called toa mahri after defending mahri nui. Also great beings, not great builders also also the species name of the piraka is skadi) but in the plot sinopsis department this is a fantastic rundown of the series. (I do want to note though it is referenced in the final arc that the length of time from the toa mata landing (2001) to the end of the series is less than a year) I highly reccomend reading it, and reading the entire story honestly. The one thing that i would have mentioned is how dark the series was, beginning to end. There's a scene where a villian is cut in half by a portal of her own creation, the hero thinking AND I QUOTE "Mercifully her death was instant." Theres a scene where Gali nuva (the toa of water) singlehandedly levels an entire CONTINENT to the ocean floor. There's an entire island this sinopsis skips over that is basically literal hell where the stones scream as you walk on them, and if you sit still too long you become a statue. There's a character who is rapidly devolved from being a gaseous creature in a suit of armor not made for normal flesh and blood back to flesh and blood. There's a scene where the toa inika have to choose someone to die so the rest can continue on, and while the others are arguing matoro just fuckin steps into the light and dies (he gets brought back immediately, but still) anyway ive rambled way too long now but whatever bionicle is good

I dont understand bionicles at all, so maybe a crash course into like. 1) what a bionicle is 2) general plot of the bionicle story? happy 5k btw <3 love ur page!

OH BOY OH BOY, this is a question I've been waiting for. Thank you so much for asking, and I’m glad you like my page!! <333

A couple of disclaimers, before I start: I'm going to focus mostly on the mainline plot, but let it be known that there WERE a bunch of serial stories and comics and games that added to the story overall. Bionicle was, I think, one of the first big instances of a plot that was consumed through a bunch of different mediums.

I'm also going to try and do a lot of streamlining - it's not that I DON'T want to talk about bionicle, but there's 10+ years of story to cover, so... yeah. :P

Also! Sorry in advance to anyone whose 'read more' function doesn't work, because this is gonna be a doozy

So, what is a bionicle? From a meta perspective, Bionicle is a Lego theme that ran from 2001-2010, and was briefly rebooted from 2015-2016. It's name is a mashup of biological chronicle, and it was hugely successful in its time, essentially helping to save the Lego company from bankruptcy. The idea is that you use finnicky technical pieces to build humanoid figures (and sometimes their vehicles!) and then. play with them

From a textual/lore perspective, I'm not sure Bionicle is an in-universe term lol. But the characters that we recognise as 'bionicles' are grouped into a bunch of different classifications - 'Toa', 'Matoran', 'Makuta', 'Glatorian', and so on. The characters are kinda like inverse cyborgs, where there's metal on the outside and flesh and muscle on the inside. They often function like robots (e.g. have removable and replaceable masks that they constantly wear over their faces) but are still essentially living creatures.

So, what's the general plot of the story?

...[inhales deeply] Okay

In the time before time, there's an island called Mata Nui that sits in the middle of the ocean. It's populated by these dinky lil' guys called 'Matoran' that live in six villages organised by elements - fire, water, ice, air, earth, and stone. They eke out a life as best they can, facing dangerous wild animals (collectively called 'Rahi') and worshipping the Great Spirit, who is confusingly also called Mata Nui. (They named the island after him.) The great spirit, they say, once watched over them all, but was long ago forced into an enchanted sleep by his evil brother.

(These are the matoran. Look at these cute little guys :3)

One day, six canisters wash ashore, on the island's golden beaches. And out of these canisters step six strange figures called Toa. Tall, strong, and heavily armed, there is one of these 'Toa' for each of the villages, and each of these guys have control over an element. They are the main 'heroes' of this story.

(These are the six Toa. Here's a fun game - spot the girl!)

Each of the six Toa are named characters - from left to right we have Onua (wise and grounded), Lewa (fun-loving and mischievous), Pohatu (friendly and confident), Tahu (hot-headed and impulsive), Kopaka (cold and quiet), and Gali (intelligent and compromising). Some of the Matoran are also named characters - there's Jaller, the captain of the guard at the fire village, Hahli, a sports player from the water village, Matoro, a translator from the ice village, and Takua, who's technically from the fire village but is also an 'outsider' who tends to wander the island. Takua is especially important because he becomes the Toa's 'chronicler', following them around on their adventures and writing everything down for posterity.

Without getting into too much detail, the Toa spend two real-life years getting into wacky highjinks. They hunt for masks (as aforementioned, the masks they wear can be removed and replaced) that grant them special powers, fight the Rahi, and also face up against a terrifying race of creatures with mind-control powers called the Bohrok that are determined to strip the island of all life. They also fight against a being called Makuta, a mysterious shadowy figure who claims to be the brother that forced Mata Nui into his slumber. When they first meet him, Makuta takes the form of a Matoran to throw them off, before turning into a nebulous black void and doing his best to murder them all to death.

(Makuta as he appears in 2001's 'Mata Nui Online Game'. As far as villain introductions go, marching out to meet all the heroes and then telling them "I bore you, for I am nothing. It is from nothing that you came, and it is into nothing you will go. The people of this world are builders, but look into their hearts, and you will find they also have the power to destroy. I am that power. I am destruction. And I will destroy you." is pretty fucking solid though I say so myself.)

There’s a lot of cool worldbuilding and mysterious details about the island. At one point, the earth Matoran note that they can only dig so far into the dirt before they come across some hard material - some type of metal - that they just can’t break through. Also, amidst the stars in the sky, there’s an ominous blood-red star that’s appropriately known as the Red Star. What’s it doing there? Nobody knows

Also at one point, the Toa also get mutated into new forms after falling into a liquid that's called 'energized protodermis' but should really be called 'McGuffin Sauce'. There's a lot of changing forms and characters being mutated in this series in general, which I'm sure has nothing to do with the fact that Lego always needed new figures to make into toys.

(This is how the Toa look after being mutated. In these forms, they're referred to as the Toa Nuva -and let me assure you that that distinction will soon become necessary. :P)

So, in 2003 in our world (I’m not sure about the timeline within the lore), Takua the chronicler finds a mysterious mask and brings it back to the Turaga, who are the wise old rulers of the Matoran (The most promiment of the Turaga is the Turaga of fire, who’s called Vakama. He’s an even-tempered and wise old man who’s not above hitting villains with his walking stick if they threaten his village.). It turns out that the mask is special - it’s the mask of Light, and it’s part of a prophecy that involves the arrival of a seventh Toa who’s destined to defeat Makuta. So Takua and Jaller go on an adventure to try and find the seventh Toa.

Meanwhile, Makuta isn’t just going to sit around and wait for the Toa who’s destined to defeat him to rock up: he unleashes his secret weapons, the Rahkshi, who are, in lore, suits of armour driven by slugs. Sounds corny - in practice, they’re hella intimidating.

(Look at these bad boys)

Some more adventures happen and, to make a long story short, the Rahkshi kill Jaller and Takua the chronicler puts the mask of light onto his own face, transforming into Takanuva, the Toa of Light. The audience surrogate and ‘weird’ character was the secret hero all along!! I love that honestly.

(Takua and Takanuva - before and after)

As someone with light powers, Takanuva is essentially the perfect counter to the big bad Makuta, who has shadow powers, so he finds Makuta’s lair intent on beating him. Makuta challenges him to a game that’s called ‘Kohlii’ but is basically this universe’s version of lacrosse - Takanuva accepts and proceeds to wipe the floor with him. During their fight, they fall into another conveniently-placed pool of energized protodermis and become merged, forming a new being called ‘Takutanuva’. Takutanuva doesn’t stick around very long, because he’s this weird contradictory being of both light and shadow, but before he fractures he opens a gate underneath Mata Nui and lets the Toa, the Turaga, and some named Matoran get through. Inside, they find a hidden city - a whole other world.

Takutanuva then manages to use his powers to hack the universe and bring Jaller back to life. Hooray! After that, he dies, and Takanuva is back. Makuta is nowhere to be found. [eyes emoji]

So now the Toa, the old Turaga, and a couple of Matoran are inside this whole new location, and they’re all wondering what the heck is going on. Well, not all of them are wondering. Vakama, the head Turaga, steps forward and admits that actually, the six (seven) Toa heros that we’ve come to know and love... aren’t actually the first Toa. Gasp!

The next two years of sets and story are essentially one giant flashback, as Vakama tells the current heroes about adventures past. It turns out that the hidden city they’ve found is called Metru Nui, and once upon a time, Vakama and the other Turaga were Toa themselves, fighting to keep the city and the matoran safe.

(New (old) Toa! The flying green one is Matau, who was a stunt-driving excitable madman, and then on the ground from left to right we have Whenua (nerdy chronicler), Nokama (schoolteacher-turned-superhero), Vakama (anxiety-ridden leader), Nuju (absent-minded stargazer), and Onewa (racist prick who needs (and gets) a character arc). To differentiate themselves from the Toa that we’ve come to know and love, these Toa are the Toa Metru)

They had a bunch of adventures of their own. They fought the Vahki (capture robots upholding an authoritarian police state) and the Morbuzakh (evil sentient vines), and they also had ‘arch enemies’ in the form of the Dark Hunters, who were mercenaries that hunted Toa.

Also, that story about Makuta putting Mata Nui to sleep? Not a story so much as a history lesson! Ultimately, the reason that the city of Metru Nui was abandoned was because Mata Nui WAS awake, watching over them all, but then Makuta forced him into slumber and essentially caused a cataclysm. The Matoran were rounded up and forced to sleep as well, and the Toa Metru had to flee the city. When they came back, it had been overrun with Visorak (basically giant spiders), and they had to fight hard to defeat the horde and its leaders and escape with all of the sleeping Matoran.

Once they left Metru Nui (and arrived on the island that would become Mata Nui), the Toa Metru sacrificed their powers to wake up all the Matoran - which is how they transformed into the wise old Turaga. Also, the Matoran woke up with no memories, which is how they’d never known about Metru Nui up until this point.

Anyways, after exploring Metru Nui and making plans to move back in, everyone does some digging around and discover something about Mata Nui: his spirit is fading. Whatever Makuta did to him, it not only put him to sleep, but it’s also slowly killing him. After presumably having an existential crisis, the gang come up with a solution: there’s another legendary mask, the Mask of Life, that should be able to resuscitate Mata Nui, or at the very least, keep him from kicking the bucket while he’s sleeping.

(The Mask of Life! If you look closely, you can see that the faceplate is shaped like a humanoid figure (because, yaknow, life) and if you think that’s not the tightest shit ever you can get out of my face)

So, the modern-day Toa (the Toa Nuva, if you guys remember the name) are like ‘okay, give us the location of the mask, we’ll go and find it’. So they get sent to another island, this one called Voya Nui, and they arrive and... get their asses handed to them? What?

A quick backtrack: a gang of thugs called the Piraka had already arrived on Voya Nui in search of the Mask of Life, wanting it so they can use its power to blackmail powerful organisations and generally get ahead in the criminal world. (From a Meta perspective, they’re,,, really interesting. Up until this point, the villains in Bionicle had either been wild animals, or villains with grand overarching plans. These guys are basically overpowered street thugs, complete with their own theme song - the ‘Piraka Rap’. Look it up on YouTube; it’s fucking hilarious, because the rest of Bionicle is generally timeless, but the Piraka Rap was basically dated as soon as it came out. I love it.)

(The Piraka themselves! Fun fact; in Bionicle lore, ‘Piraka’ is a slang term for ‘thief’ and ‘murderer’, and was also considered so vulgar that if a Matoran called another Matoran ‘Piraka’, war would be declared over it. These guys are really just going around calling themselves slurs. I have to respect that.)

So, yeah. The Piraka defeat and imprison the Toa Nuva when they get to the island. Now what?

Well, now it’s time for the Matoran to get involved! A group of named and previously-established Matoran set out to see if they can rescue the Toa. There’s Jaller, Hahli, and Matoro, who I’ve already mentioned, and then there’s Kongu, Nuparu, and Hewkii. And I need to take a break to say that all these characters have been with the story since 2001 (it’s now 2006), and they’ve all contributed to the plot before!! Kongu is a prominent Matoran from the air village who led a flight of giant bird-riders to save the day one time, and Nuparu is an engineer from the earth village who basically invented mechs to help the Matoran defend themselves against the Bohrok. These guys are BADASSES and I want to bring up how a really strong initial 3 years of storytelling laid a great foundation for so many small characters. It’s just neat! :D

Anyways, these Matoran travel to the island of Voya Nui in canisters (like how the original Toa landed on Mata Nui) and while they’re sailing the ocean blue, their canisters are struck by lighting from the mysterious Red Star. And that lighting, say it with me now, TRANSFORMS them! Specifically it transforms them into Toa. They end up calling themselves the Toa Inika, because they’re searching for the mask of life, which is also called the ‘Ignika’.

(The Toa Inika. Being transformed by a bolt of lighting means that in addition to their regular elemental powers, they also have electric/lighting abilities.)

Souped-up and ready for action, the Toa Inika manage to defeat the Piraka and rescue the Toa Nuva. However, through plot shenanagins, the Mask of Life ends up being sent to the bottom of the ocean around Voya Nui, and the Toa Inika learn that under the waves is a hidden city - Mahri Nui. As they descend, the Mask of Life does something odd; it sends out a wave of energy, transforming the Toa Inika so that they can breath underwater. So now, they’re the Toa Mahri. (Because they’re headed to Mahri Nui. You get me?)

Mahri Nui is ruled by the Barraki - ancient warlords who were imprisoned under the sea many thousands of years ago after they became powerful enough to threaten Mata Nui himself. They were put in a prison called The Pit, but during the cataclysm caused by Makuta putting Mata Nui to sleep, the city of Mahri Nui sunk into the water and slammed into the Pit. Many prisoners and Matoran died, but the Barraki were freed. Uh-oh, spaghetti-ohs.

Speaking of Makuta - guess who’s back! Thought dead after no-one could find him after Takutanuva died, it turns out that his spirit is possessing a robot body that had previously been a prison guard. He spends some time hanging out with one of the Toa Mahri, Matoro, basically playing mind games with him and trying to get him to turn to the dark side. Eventually, three different characters and factions smack the shit out of him, and he slips out of the robot body to go do... something else (watch this space). 

This year of story was REALLY plot-heavy and I kinda can’t do it justice here. The important developments are that the Toa Mahri eventually manage to reclaim the Mask of Life, and Matoro yoinks it. While his teammates act as a big distraction, he swims away and puts on the mask. It basically grants him ultimate power, but it also fuckin’ kills him. His final acts are to teleport his friends to safety, and then release a massive burst of energy that burns him up and saves Mata Nui’s life. The Mask of Life, with no-one left to wear it, sinks into the ocean.

(“In his last moments, Matoro feels no fear. He know he has succeeded--the Toa Mahri are safe, able to resume their lives in Metru Nui. The Turaga and Matoran will know that they became true heroes. Matoro does not see himself as a hero. As a Matoran, a Toa Inika, and a Toa Mahri, all he ever tried to do was his duty. Now that duty has led him to his destiny.”- Bionicle Ignition 11: Death of a Hero)

[dries tears] Anyways, now that Mata Nui’s life has been saved, the only thing left to do is wake him back up. To do that, the Toa Nuva (the Toa that showed up at the very beginning of this story, if you recall) need to journey to the core of the universe, and a civilisation called Karda Nui. Three of the Toa Nuva - Lewa, Pohatu, and Kopaka - are sent to a village in the clouds, where they protect the local matoran and battle the forces of Makuta. Because, as it turns out, the big bad Makuta that we know? Makuta is actually the name of his species. The guy just wanted to feel special, apparently. The Makuta that the Toa have been fighting for over half a decade is technically called Makuta Teridax (or just Teridax), while the other Makuta have other names that I can’t remember off the top of my head.

Anyways, while those three Toa are figuring that out, the other three - Tahu, Gali, and Onua - journey to a place called the Swamp of Secrets in order to find a set of keystones that supposedly contain instructions on how to awaken Mata Nui. And it’s there that they find an unlikely ally: the Mask of Life itself.

See, the Mask of Life has always been a weird one - if you recall, it released an energy pulse for no reason that transformed the Toa Mahri and let them breath underwater. (It’s also done some other fucky stuff that I haven’t been able to mention - there’s a short story about how one time, a guy touched it, and it gave him the ability to involuntarily bring everything around him to life, which ultimately drove him mad. So. You know. That’s fun.) Well, it turns out that when the mask sank into the ocean after Matoro’s death, it ultimately ended up in the swamps of Karda Nui, and it senses the battles raging about it. More than that, but it remembers Matoro’s bravery as he donned the mask knowing it would kill him, and remembers how his final wish was to save his friends. Wanting to know what it means to be a hero, the Mask of Life creates a body for itself, and ventures out into the swamp to discover its destiny.

(The Mask of Life has a body now!! Good for him! Good for him.)

There’s some more shenanigans that I’m skipping over - at one point, Takanuva (Toa of light, remember him?) rocks up to help. Long story short, our eight heroes - Tahu, Gali, Onua, Lewa, Kopaka, Pohatu, Takanuva, and the Mask of Life - fight their way through the Makuta and into the very core of the universe - the Codrex. Inside, after yet more shenanigans, the Mask of Life figures that in order to wake Mata Nui up, it will have to sacrifice the body it’s built for itself. The moment is sad, but the mask remembers Matoro’s sacrifice, and is inspired to act. He sacrifices his dreams of becoming a hero, and in doing so, becomes a hero... ;_;

The mask flies deep into the Codrex, its body dissolving; when it reaches the bottom, it creates a massive energy storm that the other characters have to escape. (Our heroes make it out - most of the villains end up getting vaporized, big RIP.)

And just like that, the journey is over. After years of battle, the Toa Nuva have completed their purpose, and awakened the great spirit, thus bringing peace back to the land. Everyone meets back up in Metru Nui - the Toa Nuva, the Toa Mahri, the Turaga, the remaining Matoran. It’s a glorious day. And as they gather, something happens.

Deep, deep beneath the ocean, energy pulses through rock, and machines that have been dormant for millennia begin to whirr and move. The island of Mata Nui - long abandoned as the Matoran moved back down into Metru Nui - cracks open like a wallnut, each half sliding into the sea. From underneath where the island had been, a tremendous head rises out of the ocean, countless galleons of water pouring off of it. Titanic shoulders follow. Then the chest, and the limbs, and slowly, surely, Mata Nui rises.

Meta context: for years, the nature of Mata Nui has been a mystery. Is he a metaphysical being? Is he a real person? No-one was sure... but they know now. That solid material that the earth Matoran couldn’t mine through, all the way back in 2001? That was his skin. The mysterious red star that created the Toa Inika? That was a failsafe machine orbiting Mata Nui, poised to create new Toa as necessary. The island of Mata Nui was atop his head, Metru Nui was his brain, Karda Nui was deep in his guts. The Matoran were workers to keep him functioning, the Toa were basically his immune system (the canisters they arrive in are literally shaped like pills)... All this time, all these stories, all these characters, this entire world - they have all been inside a robot the size of continents.

(Fucking hell. Look at this. The clouds come up to his ankles.)

Celebrations ripple through Metru Nui as everyone realises what has happened. The great spirit is awake again! The Toa have won! But as the Turaga raise their voices to try and congratulate the Toa, a chill spreads over the spectators as the air grows cold. Everyone stops and looks around. What’s happening now? And then, from everywhere and nowhere, a voice rumbles. It’s a familiar voice. An unwelcome voice. A voice that most of the gathered heroes thought they’d never hear again.

It’s the voice of Makuta - the original Makuta. Makuta Teridax.

And what does he say?

“I AM EVERYWHERE. I AM EVERYTHING YOU SEE.”

Matoro’s sacrifice had ensured that Mata Nui’s body did not die, but before the great spirit’s consciousness could return, Makuta supplanted it with his own. After that, all he had to do was wait for the Toa Nuva to achieve their objective. And as they finished the fight and won the day, they handed victory to him on a silver platter. No longer does he need to strive to rule the universe - he is the universe.

(Meta perspective again but like: FUCK, man. I can’t emphasise enough how mind-breaking this was for the kids who were invested in the series. Think Thanos snapping his fingers in Infinity War, except probably more devastating, because there wasn’t a direct sequel lined up to give the heroes another chance, and there wasn’t a way to ‘undo’ it. This was a plot development that we all had to live with T_T)

(You can tell things are bad because his eyes changed from green to red.)

And what of Mata Nui? What about the spirit that the Toa were actually trying to wake up?

Oh, Makuta stuffed Mata Nui’s consciousness into the Mask of Life - and then blasted the Mask into space.

[inhales deeply]

man...

Okay, in all honesty, part of me wanted to end it there. But you know what? We’ve come this far. And there is more to the story. So I’m going to ignore my concern I won’t be able to do it justice and blunder on.

 Bionicle’s last chapter (2009-2010) follows Mata Nui himself - no longer an abstract spiritual concept, but rather a concrete character. A god felled from his pedestal, struggling to find a way to save his people. And it’s AWESOME. Armed with only the Mask of Life and a sentient shield named Click, he wanders the shithole deserts of the planet he crash-lands on, bringing the disparate tribes together, uncovering secrets about who made him and what his ultimate purpose is, and learning what it means to be a regular person. Also, at one point, in a move very reminiscent of the god that he once was, he turns a guy into a snake. You know. As a ‘fuck you’.

(There’s something really cool to me about a main character being someone who essentially lost all the power of the cosmos. Mata Nui might just be my fave character in this whole story honestly.)

Eventually, Mata Nui discovers some crucial pieces of information. Firstly: the planet that he’s landed on, Bara Magna, is his ‘homeworld’ in that it’s where his giant god body was built. Secondly: the two moons orbiting Bara Magna (the jungle moon of Bota Magna and the ocean moon of Aqua Magna) were once part of the planet itself, and split off during a planet-destroying cataclysm, leaving behind a desert wasteland in their wake. Third: the function he was ultimately built for (his ‘destiny’) was to reunite the three celestial bodies into one planet, bringing life back to Bara Magna’s harsh desert environments. He was on his way to complete this task when Makuta crashed his systems with a computer virus - which was what forced him into the ‘slumber’ that he was in for most of the mainline story.

His fourth, and probably most important discovery, is that he’s essentially his makers’ second attempt at a world-fixing giant robot. Before creating him, his makers (the ‘Great Builders’) constructed a giant robot that malfunctioned and exploded. Long-deactivated, the pieces of it are still scattered through the deserts of Bara Magna - in fact, many of the villages on the planet are set up in or around these giant robot pieces. Mata Nui figures that if he can reconstruct this old robot, he can use it to complete his destiny, and maybe even save his people.

It isn’t easy. He has to convince the villagers he’s come to befriend (the Agori) to give up their homes and their safety, and he has to find an experimental power source that’ll actually get the giant metal body moving again. But eventually, he figures it all out. Powered by the experimental source, the Mask of Life, and probably also friendship, he inhabits this enormous form and rises once again. Without missing a beat, he reaches out and begins to pull the moons towards the main planet. As far as he’s concerned, he’s going to fix everything, or die trying.

(The power of skybeams)

However, it won’t be that simple. Makuta senses that Mata Nui’s spirit has inhabited a new form (and I don’t mean that in a metaphysical way, I mean that in a computer/technology way), and he quickly jets over to Bara Magna. Obviously, flinging the fucker into space wasn’t good enough. It’s time for him to destroy Mata Nui, mano y mano. Giant robot y giant robot.

(Makuta and Mata Nui, facing off. God I love this picture.)

It’s the final battle - for real this time. The two giant robots begin to punch each other, and Mata Nui is up against some obvious disadvantages. For one thing, he can’t risk attacking Makuta with all his might, because he doesn’t want to hurt his people, who are still inside the giant robot. (Inside, they’re fairing... poorly. It’s like facism, but if facism was being actively enforced by God.)

In the fight, a hole gets blasted in Makuta’s body, and out pour a whole LOAD of Rahkshi. (Remember those guys?) However, Tahu and Takanuva also manage to escape, and join a ground battle that’s breaking out between the Agori (and their protectors, the Glatorians), the Skrall (a tribe of warriors native to Bara Magna who are absolute dicks - I’ve had to gloss over them, unfortunately, but believe me when I say that they’ve been major antagonists for as long as the narrative has focused on Bara Magna), and a bunch of guys who are called ‘Piraka’ but aren’t the gang of thugs from Voya Nui. (I think they’re the same... species?) Long story short: large-scale shitfight is happening at the feet of the two robots that are slugging it out. Makuta, being a dick, decides to try and literally stamp on all of Mata Nui’s friends down below, and Mata Nui has to desperately hold him off.

Around this point, the Mask of Life (which is really the MVP of this whole story) uses its convenient energy bursts to imbue Tahu with a set of golden armour that allows him to release energy blasts of its own. (Why it singles out Tahu, I’m not sure, but I’m presuming it’s because Tahu was the first face of the series and it just makes thematic sense for him to be a major player in the final battle.) Tahu uses his new golden armour to disintegrate ALL of the Rahkshi - and there were a lot of them on the field of battle, let me assure you. Makuta feels the loss of so many creations at once, and falters, and Mata Nui seizes his chance. He’d done his work well before Makuta had arrived, and the jungle moon is now in low orbit above the planet. Pouring every last ounce of his strength into one more push, he surges forward and up, pushing Makuta up and making sure that his head is right in the path of the falling planet.

Crunch.

(Kudos to Makuta Teridax for being such a persistent antagonist that the only way to get rid of him for good was to drop an entire damn planet on his head.)

Mata Nui guides the falling body carefully to the ground, letting it open and freeing his people. The remaining Skrall and Piraka surrender. The Matoran and Toa meet and mingle with the Agori and Glatorian. Mata Nui raises his hands, and completes his purpose; aided one last time by the Mask of Life, as well as his body’s innate systems, he enacts a synthesis on the now-united celestial bodies. Lush forests and large bodies of water appear in the desert. Life flourishes. Birds probably start to sing. Mata Nui has completed his purpose, and vindicated all of the heroes who fought for him for so long.

He feels himself fading. He lets his spirit withdraw into the Mask of Life. A new slumber - this one, earned, and of his own volition.

Perhaps one day, he will return.

(“We will honour Mata Nui, and all those who fought for him, in our memories. But the time has come to move on. His destiny is fulfilled, and for many of us, it has yet to be written. My friends, it is time to go.”- Tahu, The Mata Nui Saga, chapter 34.)

And there we go! Very, VERY long, but that’s the general plot of bionicle. There are an absolute tone of details I’ve missed out or skipped over, and I encourage you to search them out for yourself if you’re interested. But them’s the basics! :D

[tisfan]

To Victor Goes the Spoils

To Victor goes the Spoils | A Stark Reminder | Doom’s Day Scenario| Stark Truth | Doom and Despair | Stark Raving Mad | Victory March

A/N: My goodness, it’s been a while since I’ve worked on this fic... that being said, I have the next 2 chapters pre-planned and I know what’s going to happen. Because chapter nine will end on a bit of a cliffhanger, and I don’t want to leave you guys hanging that long, I’ll get both chapters done before I post. Thanks to all of you for your patience. I do love this pairing so much! (This chapter picks up EXACTLY where chapter seven left off)

Chapter Eight -- Voice of Doom

“You admit this?” That wasn’t even Steve, that was Nat.

For a brief, glorious moment, Tony thought he’d actually shocked Captain Self-righteous into shutting up.

“The evidence seems fairly compelling to me,” Tony said. “And I’ve never claimed to be a hero; that was something fantastical and kinda cool in the beginning label that I got stuck with. I know who I am. Hero’s not one of the words. So… theoretically speaking, I can’t really stop being something I never was.”

Clint crossed his arms over his chest and scoffed. “You’ve been soakin’ up the hero gig since the beginning, Stark. Tell it to someone who wasn’t an assassin.”

Tony didn’t even bother to grace that with a reply. As the Merchant of Death, he’d been responsible for so many more deaths than Legolas could have hoped, even with an army of Gimlis to compete with.

“It doesn’t matter what you call yourself,” Steve said, tapping the page. “This is unacceptable. You’re compromised, Stark.”

“You’re probably right.” Tony took another sip of his coffee.

“All right, then,” Steve said, blinking in surprise. He wasn’t used to Tony agreeing with him. Or even being less than wordy about his agreement. “So, what are we doing about it?”

Tony very placidly drank the last bit of his coffee. Placed the cup on the counter, just so. Blinked. “I don’t know what you’re doing, Captain. I don’t think I’m part of we anymore.” He made a general hand-circling motion, indicating the Avengers. He wasn’t sure he’d ever, really been a part of we, but he’d pretended for a while, and sometimes the rest of them had gone along with it. “As a decent landlord, I’ll have your termination of lease written up, sixty days. That should give you time to find new digs, or negotiate with SI for continued rental of the building. I’m sure the UN will come through with funding for you anytime now.”

“You’re kicking us out?” That was Bruce and Tony felt a pang at that; Bruce had never done anything to him, aside from vanish just when Tony needed the support, and truly, Tony didn’t blame him for that. (Mostly.)

“Well, some of you may have an easier time negotiating use of space than others,” Tony said. He’d make a note in the file.

“You can stop being pedantic any time now, Stark,” Steve said. “What do you plan to do about Von Doom being in the Tower. I assume you invited him here.”

Tony nodded. “I did,” he agreed. “We needed to talk, and this was a convenient neutral ground. Although perhaps less neutral than I’d expected at the time. I was, mistakenly, it seems, under the impression that I could have whatever guests I wanted in my home.”

“I didn’t know villains counted as guests.”

(More below the cut, or read the whole fic at A03 [cha 8])

“This is pointless,�� Victor said. He appeared out of nothing. There was no flash or portal or dramatics. One moment he wasn’t there and the next second it was like he had been there since the beginning of the conversation. For all Tony knew, he had been. Invisibility was probably one of the first things a person learned in Magic 101, World Conquering for Beginners. Just because Victor was no longer pursuing a job that utilized his degree, it didn’t mean he couldn’t use the skills he’d developed.

Tony jerked, ready to defend, to protest, to--

What the actual fuck?

Steve was standing, mouth still open like he was arguing. Unmoving.

“The hell?”

“We are between the moments, love,” Victor said. “Time here… is infinite. Were it possible to age here, you could grow old, die, and be dust all before the good captain here could draw another breath.

“Is this how you’re so fast, when you fight?”

“No,” Victor said. “As pretty as it might seem, this ability takes too long to use. And, for most things, it is useless. We cannot interact with anything in the momentary stillness. No door will open, no glass will break. You cannot harm anyone. All it can be used for is time to think, and to move yourself.”

He waved a hand. “They have not seen me. When I break the spell, you will simply vanish in front of Captain Rogers.”

“How’d you know we were arguing?”

Victor chuckled. “I am a very smart man, my love. I did not know. I merely surmised. I came down here, between the moments, that I might not attract attention and saw the way they were all turned on you.”

He drew Tony aside, showing what the scene looked like from the outside; every single one of the Avengers was firm-focused on the spot where Tony had been, expressions everything from mildly concerned (Bruce) to furious (Clint.)

None of them looked like his friend, anymore.

“Huh,” Tony said. He poked at Steve, curiously. The man’s skin was like marble; hard, cold, unyielding.

“They seem a school of sharks that have scented your blood,” Victor said.

Not entirely an inaccurate, although possibly unfair, assessment. “Well, can you blame them? I’m consorting with the enemy.”

“No,” Victor said. “You are becoming the enemy.”

“Iron Man, yes,” Tony murmured. “Tony Stark… not recommended.”

“They are not fools, and I do not blame them,” Victor said, and instantly Tony wanted to put his arms around his lover, because he knew exactly what self-loathing looked like. He saw it most days… in the mirror.

Tony waved a hand around at the group. “So few of them have clean hands. You’d think they’d be more understanding.”

“I have only stated my intentions,” Victor said. “I have much to atone for, and many suspicions to allay before they will begin to trust. And even then, I may never make much headway.”

None of us have.

Steve with his sneer, his conviction that Tony was trying to pull a fast one. Nat, who even now, he couldn’t trust. She might have his back today, but as soon as the wind shifted, her ultimate goal, her loyalty, that was something he hadn’t earned. Clint’s rage… well, he’d probably never burn that down.

Tony sighed.

“Plan B?”

“Plan B.”

Victor took his hand, and Tony followed him out of the room. By the time Steve realized he wasn’t there anymore, they’d be gone.

There was no Avenger badge for Tony to leave on a desk somewhere. No one who would want a snippily worded resignation letter.

Tony Stark. Exit, stage left, without fanfare.

“You know that magic works, my love. You’ve seen mine, from all sides,” Victor said. “Do you not trust the evidence of your senses?”

Tony scoffed. He was perched on a stool in the alchemy lab, his toes resting on the metal bar as if the very floor itself offended him. “Your senses can deceive you, do not trust them.”

Victor raised an eyebrow. “Do you not see the irony in using Star Wars quotes to explain to me why you can’t believe in magic?”

“Magic is just a fancy word for technology that we can’t explain,” Tony said.

“Well,” Victor said, agreeably enough, “that’s quite possible. Magic does have rules, and they’re both very exacting and have particularly dire consequences if you fuck around with them too much.”

“Science does that, too,” Tony said. “I mean, the first people to mess around with x rays found out the hard way, there’s just some stuff you shouldn’t fuck with. Close up, without proper protection.”

Victor nodded. “Well, consider that Newton wasn’t the first scientist, but one of the last magicians. Jumping off from his studies is the base of modern magic. The interesting bit, however, is that magic is so very old, there’s always more to learn. From our own shamans all the way back when we were beating on drums made from wooly mammoth hide and praying to the gods in the storm, all the way to the pinnacle of magical achievement. Strange, myself, a few others…”

“More others,” Tony muttered. Whatever respect -- or lack thereof -- that Tony might have for magic, he was at least mostly restraining himself. He wasn’t picking stuff up randomly and shaking it. (Although Victor had done a thorough inspection to make sure that Tony couldn’t atomize himself in mere milliseconds by poking at something that might take it unkindly before Tony was even allowed in the alchemy lab. There was extending courtesy to his lover, and there was reckless foolishness.)

Not that there weren’t still a half-hundred ways to die, just in arm’s reach, but at least the things that remained Victor could fix, or he could warn, or… well, it was Tony, and if anyone was going to accidentally figure out that the painajainen could be called up by mixing horsehair with the dust of dreams, it would be Tony. (Tony was a good source for that dust, a thing that Victor hadn’t yet told him, but would. Very soon. Once he’d topped off his stores.)

And what Victor would do about a nightmare demon on the loose… well, he had some defenses against it, and given time, he could catch it and banish it again. In the meanwhile, the damn thing would sit on Tony’s chest every time he went to sleep, and Tony had more than enough trouble with sleeplessness without demonic interference. But Tony was being cautious, which meant despite his tone, there were parts of him that believed.

“So, what is it you do, down here, when you’re not trying to convince me that hocus-pocus exists?”

“We can call it pataphysics, if it makes you more comfortable. The science of impossible solutions,” Victor said. “And what I do down here, mostly, is prepare magic. Think of magic as a cookie; I have to mix all the ingredients together before I can have a cookie. There are certain incantations that have only verbal or mental components, but even those require study, strength. A certain mental fortitude. Casting out of nothingness is not possible. Even with magic, you cannot make matter without energy.”

“What happens?”

“Well, if you’re very lucky, mostly nothing happens. You can stand around and yell at a circuit board all day if you like, and end up with nothing but a sore throat, if you don’t have any power, nothing will happen to the circuit board. On the other hand, magic is a little more… molecular than that. Should I, for instance, attempt to lift you from that stool and make you stand inside the casting runes without practice, without proper preparation, I might strain the muscles in my back. I might lose ten pounds in a few seconds, as my body cannibalizes itself for the strength. I may get caught in a feedback loop and unmake myself.” Victor considered that line of thought for a moment, running through all the possible consequences, just from a little bit of unplanned alterological manipulations. “I suppose that’s why there are so few magicians. I would suspect many amateurs of causing their own demise, before they’re able to do damage to another person and thus be made note of.”

“For someone who talks so fancy, and who uses magic to rearrange the world to his liking,” Tony said, “your grammar is shit, Vic.”

Victor laughed. No one ever called him Vic before. He wasn’t entirely sure he liked it, and glancing at Tony sidelong, he was pretty sure Tony was pushing his boundaries, trying to see where the line was at acceptable behavior.

“Criticizing my grammar?” Victor asked. He flipped a few pages through the grimoire -- one of his underlings had discovered it, hidden deep inside a castle in northern Ireland -- to see if there was aught inside worth preserving. “Are we sparring on the internet now, that you resort to childish tactics?”

“Do you practice being annoying, or is it just natural skill?”

Tony wasn’t looking at him, studying, instead, a stoppered bottle full of sunlight. Good defense against vampires and other night creatures, and the easiest thing in the world to harvest, as long as you could get to the arctic circle, and that the day wasn’t cloudy. Seven years previous, they’d had good weather, and Victor had laid out over a thousand bottles. Might have been telling, the sort of company he kept, that he was down to his last dozen or so. He checked the calendar absently. Huh. Less than two weeks until the solstice. “Does your suit keep you warm?”

Tony didn’t even blink; it was one of the nicer things about being in love with someone else who was also a genius. He could track Victor’s change in conversation without a moment’s thought. “Of course,” Tony said. “Thirty-thousand feet isn’t what you’d call super comfortable without some sort of heating system. Some particular reason?”

“I’m reminded that I need to harvest more sunlight and I thought you might like to watch.”

“Harvest sunlight.” Tony’s voice was flat, skeptical. Victor found himself a little giddy at the process of being there when Tony witnessed magic. Real magic, that he couldn’t explain away with science or as mere illusions. The opening of one’s eyes to a larger realm of possibility was always awe-inspiring.

“It works well in battles against vampires.” May as well shock him all at once.

Tony spluttered. “Vampires aren’t real,” he said. Then hesitated. “Are they?”

“‘If there is a well-attested history in the world, it is that of the Vampires. Nothing is missing from it: interrogations, certifications by Notables, Surgeons, Parish Priests, Magistrates. The judicial proof is one of the most complete. And with all that, who believes in Vampires? Will we all be damned for not having believed?’ So spoke Jean-Jaques Rousseau, in 1764.”

“That quote was in Twilight, too,” Tony snapped. “Doesn’t make it any more true now.”

“Again, call them something else if the word offends you, but they are, by all real criteria, vampires. Humanoid, but non-human sentients who feed off hemoglobin. Some of it is hollywood sensationalism, of course, but the fact remains, there are predators who look human enough that will drink your blood.”

“Gross,” Tony declared. “Do they spread it around?”

“No, that’s a movie invention; they’re a whole and separate species of sentient and self-aware organisms. They’re close enough to humans that, theoretically, we could engage in sexual activities with them, but we’d have better luck actually procreating with a daisy,” Victor said. There were some people, he knew, who’d like to fuck a vampire, but really, the vampire was going to eat them, and even vampires were pretty dubious about the whole thing. Well adjusted humans didn’t fuck their cheeseburgers, after all.

“So, like, disgusting aliens?”

Victor shook his head. “No,” he said. “That would imply extra terrestrial or perhaps, transdimensional beings. They’re not. They’re born here, live here. They’re no more alien to us than we are to chickens. They just see us as food. Very, very hostile food, these days. You can communicate with them, sometimes. Some of them keep humans as pets, or cows, of sorts. They’ve been close to hunted to extinction. If they weren’t from here, I imagine they’d leave.”

“If they think of you as a meal, why would you talk to them?”

Victor’s mouth twitched. “They are masters of illusion,” he explained. “Those that live, they walk among us, and most of the time, no one notices. You can bargain with them, for lessons. It’s… exciting.”

Victor could tell, by the faint curl of Tony’s mouth, that he was going to be one of those skeptics for whom everything needed to have a rational explanation. And magic was just one of those things; physics need not apply. Tony would believe, eventually. Or he wouldn’t. Magic, at least, wasn’t shamanism; it required no faith to work, nor to have an effect. His magic would work whether Tony believed in it, or not.

“You want to learn?” Victor asked, suddenly. He remembered an old cantrip his mother had taught him, years before he even knew what he was doing. A fuzzy, comforting thing that even a child could master with time.

Tony scoffed. “I don’t think I have what’s required to learn magic.”

“Nonsense,” Victor said. “It’s a simple working.”

He came up behind Tony, folded Tony into an embrace and rested his chin on Tony’s shoulder. “Here, give me your hands,” he said, tracing his fingers down Tony’s arms. “Hold them like… so, there, no, wrist just a little higher.”

“I feel like I’m at a heavy metal concert,” Tony said.

“Perhaps,” Victor said. It could be true, the metal concerts evoked great emotions in their listeners, perhaps at one time, a spark of magic had danced along those fingers. “How are you feeling?”

“Little bit silly,” Tony confessed.

“Deeper, how do you feel?” He pushed, a little of the command voice. It wouldn’t work on someone as strong-willed as Tony if he fought it, but just a nudge to get him talking.

“Tired,” Tony said. “Always tired, these days, really. Still angry, sad, frustrated with Steve and the others. Worried, what’ll happen.”

“Remember how you feel now,” Victor said. “Now, think about your body. Imagine, for just a moment, that your whole body is limned with light. Close your eyes if you need. Visualize it.”

“Meditation, your pain is a ball of healing light mumbo jumbo,” Tony said, but he closed his eyes. Victor opened his inner eye, watched as the energy of Tony’s vitae pulsed over his skin. Every living, breathing thing was made up of it. Spark of life, soul, manna, whatever name was placed on it; the core power of the living.

“Hmmm,” Victor said. He breathed, slow and steady and Tony followed him into it, without really being aware of what he was doing. Victor scraped the thinnest bit of his vitae off, held it on his fingertip like a dab of sweet from a bowl. “Open your mouth.”

The natural barrier that protected all living things from magic, hostile or otherwise, was thinnest inside the mouth. From this knowledge came the origin of kisses, sharing strength, love, healing. It was also why many magical potions and poisons had to be drunk. Certain sects had taken to sewing their mouths shut, although that was extreme, to protect themselves.  

“Here,” and Victor touched the tip of his finger to Tony’s tongue, depositing the trace amounts of his essence, his very existence, to Tony’s.

Tony’s life energy flickered, absorbing Victor’s. Pure, unadulterated energy.

Tony’s eyes flew open and he licked his lip. “What the hell was that?”

“How do you feel?”

Tony stretched under him, moving his shoulders, twisting his neck. “Amazing,” he said. “Like I woke up from a restful sleep.” His eyes were wide. Victor wondered how long it had been since Tony actually had a dreamless sleep. “What was it?”

“My life energy,” Victor said. “Only a tiny, tiny amount. I have shared it with you. In time, you can learn to do the same.”

“Does that… hurt you?”

“It can,” Victor said. “Like the difference between a drop of blood and a million drops. It is a way of sharing strength, energy. It is… vitae. The course of your life. It is what fuels magic, what makes it possible. And everyone has it.”

Tony was watching him with heavy-lidded eyes. Watching him with intent. “Does something else, does it, aside from sharing strength?” Desire pulsed off him in waves, an almost physical force.

“It amplifies,” Victor said. “When my mother showed it to me, I felt like… my birthday morning, and eating cookie batter raw from the bowl, and listening to her read bedtime stories at night. When you consume my vitae, you feel… what I feel for you.”

Tony’s mouth curled up into an inviting smile. “So… what you feel involved that little sofa over there and you naked on your back?”

“Oh, it certainly could.”

“Pep, no, come on,” Tony said. It was o’fucking dark thirty and Castle Doom was quiet and a little gloomy if Tony was being honest. He walked around on the parapets, because really, that just seemed the thing to do if one was in a castle. He kinda wanted to have a big pointy weapon of some sort, just for the atmosphere. “Look, all these arrangements were made when I thought I was going to die, and there’s no reason why-- yes, I know the company has my name, but it’s okay, if you want to rename it Potts Industries… okay, no, yeah, that sounds like a cooking company or something. Well, I’m sorry about that, you’ll just have to marry Rhodey and put his name on-- kidding, Pepper, oh god.”

Sometimes Tony thought there was no depths of boredom to which business affairs could sink and every time he gave voice to that thought, business had to say challenge accepted! Seriously, Pepper was the CEO, and Tony owned a good deal of stock, and when he was in between Avenger’s missions or handling exceptionally hostile press and corrupt politicians, he was the head of the R&D. A job, he might add, he’d still be able to do in Latveria, because of this nifty little invention called the Internet, some of the assholes on the Board of Directors might have heard of it, maybe, if they got their heads out of their asses once in a while and looked at something more impressive than the bottom line (or their mistress’s bottom, whatever. Did Tony look like he cared?)

Nothing had changed that was important to business, as if clean energy and symbionic prosthetics were utterly dependent upon Tony being both in the United States and presenting information to the Board in the same room on a weekly basis.

Which was just stupid.

Tony could do what he did in the comfort of the workshop that Victor was setting up for him; in fact, he would probably be bothered significantly less, all things considered.

“Look, the United States doesn’t need me, Pep,” Tony said. “And the Avengers need me even less. I’ll still be around if the world decides Iron Man is required, but until then, I think I’ve earned a partial retirement with someone I love.” That was a little painful; Pepper had wanted to him to retire, begged him to, in fact, and he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t do it until all his mistakes were rubbed in his face, and he came to admit it. Iron Man getting involved was the nuclear option. Last resort.

“All right, Tony,” Pepper said. “I reserve the right to call you, though.”

“You’re the best,” Tony told her, and that was true. He was leaving his legacy in her very capable hands.

He disconnected the call and dropped his phone into his sweatshirt’s kangaroo pouch. That was another nice thing about Latveria; no one cared what he wore on a regular basis and so he was getting a lot of wear out of jeans, tees, and hoodies.

Tony was pretty sure that Latveria would wear on him eventually. He’d get bored with it. But right now, in the middle of Victor’s modernization projects, with his lover to keep him warm and the weird feeling of being an actual hero to the Latverians, all of whom knew who he was, and what he’d done… they didn’t treat him like an American hero, either, didn’t expect him to be perfect or have a witty sound byte or endorse certain products.

They… thanked him for his courage. Their lives. Invited him to dinner, and were kind and cheerful on the few occasions that he went. Minimal fuss, maximum hospitality.

It was weird.

And nice.

Sometimes it made him uncomfortable, wondering how much of Victor’s reputation he was leaning on; the man had been a fascist dictator for decades -- according to some sources. Which made him wonder how accurate that assessment had been, but Victor openly admitted he’d made mistakes, carried on traditions. That his people were used to unquestioning obedience.

“Honestly,” Victor had said, “I’m shocked there hasn’t been a rebellion, given that there’s so much more leeway. It would be the perfect opportunity.”

“What will you do?”

“Let them,” Victor had responded. “Don’t fret, love. I won’t let them hurt you, and I’ve a refuge awaiting us. It will not be luxurious, but we will have each other.”

“That’s all I need.”

Which might have been a little bit of a lie, because Tony was pretty sure he needed a cheeseburger once in a while. And coffee. Coffee was stone-cold necessary.

A spill of light illuminated the courtyard below and Tony shifted into the shadows; the staff in Castle Doom were often a little overly solicitous of his comfort and he didn’t feel like being fussed over right now if the baker’s assistant found him wandering the walls at some ungodly hour.

No servant or staff, that. The man who strode out into the courtyard had the same arrogant walk that characterized a person who knew their own value far exceeded others around them. He wore an emerald green cloak that swirled around his boots and he wore a sword strapped to his back. Tony closed his eyes and tried to see, the way Victor had been teaching him. He’d never managed it, but at the same time, lab was always different from field work.

For a long moment, Tony saw nothing but the insides of his eyelids and he felt nothing but the same niggling embarrassment that happened every time Tony tried to work a spell. Like his high school classmates were going to jump out and laugh at him or something. And then--

It wasn’t light, not the soft glow of vitae that Victor had described, but rather a pulsing, pulling darkness that surrounded the shape of a man. Clawing, angry, and cold, so cold. Tony opened his eyes and pulled back into the shadow with a strangled gasp.

The man turned, eyes going immediately to Tony’s hiding spot without hesitation.

“An apprentice, VonDoom? Surely this one is too old,” the man said.

“Are you not left yet, Mordo?” Victor’s voice, and a moment later, the man himself came into the courtyard. He followed Mordo’s gaze and saw Tony. Victor’s eyes widened briefly, then, “No, not an apprentice. He is my pleasure-love, and you would do well to remember not to touch that which is mine. Go, Mordo. We have no more business here this night, or any other.”

“We’ll see,” Mordo said, dismissing Tony with a sniff. “We all fall prey to the weakness of being human in the search for power. You know where to find me, if you change your mind.”

The man spun a hand in a gesture reminiscent of actions Tony’d seen Dr. Strange perform before and he disappeared into one of those swirling purple portals.

Tony waited until he’d descended the stairs into the courtyard and found himself at Victor’s side. “What was that about?”

“The desperate grasping of a man who believes he has the right to rule the world,” Victor said. “It is nothing we need dwell on.”

“Is he looking for your help?”

“In a way,” Victor said. “He fails to understand that the world and the rulership thereof holds no appeal for me. Stay far away from him, love. He will not have your interests in mind, and he is no small talent. I would avenge you, but I’d prefer not to need to.”

“Yeah, I think I’m pretty well done with avenging, myself.”

[farmerslabseeds2]

Top Canadian Business News Story of 2018

The Canadian Press Business News has just declared Canada’s move to make recreational cannabis use the story of the year.

With the legalization sparking an entirely new industry and impacting nearly all facets of society, it is not surprising that the story got so much attention. Even though the word disruption has been used so much that it has now lost most its meaning, there is nothing that epitomizes disruption more than the legalization of cannabis, according to deputy business editor of the Toronto Star Andrew Meeson. The legalization has affected practically every facet of Canadian life from commerce, to politics, justice, health care, policing and even culture itself. With such profound impact, it is no wonder that the legalization would make the business story of the year.

The story was chosen as the best business story of the year when 60% of reporters and business editors cast their votes for cannabis legalization in annual poll administered by The Canadian Press. The story beat several big stories including the terse negotiations between Mexico, the US, and Canada for a renegotiated North American Free Trade Agreement that only managed 30% of the votes. The Canadian Keystone XL pipeline only garnered 10% of the vote despite the courts overturning its regulatory approval. The rescinding of the presidential permit in November, a few weeks after its regulatory approval was withdrawn was not enough to give the story any momentum in the voting. The pipelines were a big story and would have won the polling hands down had the legalization not spawned an entirely new industry. It is not every day that journalists get to report on the creation and growth of a new industry, and certainly not one that could ever be as controversial as cannabis.

Newfoundland and Labrador made history when it made the first legal sale of recreational marijuana a few moments past midnight on the 17th of October. The state was chosen as the pioneer of legal recreational cannabis as its timezone is 30 minutes ahead of all of Canada. The New York Times called the legalization Canada’s “national experiment” that was the result of years of work put in by law enforcement officials and legislators in all municipalities, territories, and provinces. Legalization has been planned for July but had to be postponed as licensed producers increased production to cater to what was sure to be increased demand. Nonetheless, customers that waited in long queues were forced to deal with the reality of widespread product shortages on launch day, as most online outlets ran out very fast, while the few brick and mortar stores that had licenses were hardly prepared to meet the demand.

Despite the difficulties of the first day, many Canadians were still excited to finally be able to legally buy recreational cannabis after nearly a century of prohibition. Many that had once fallen foul of the law were elated with the prime minister for pushing for the legislation. Nonetheless, in the buildup to the legalization, the excitement about cannabis had been building as retail investors rushed to buy stakes in the newest cannabis companies to go public. In the lead up to the 17th of October, many cannabis companies had their valuations rise exponentially with trading volumes on some of the online direct investment having record highs. The poster boy for the cannabis mania was Tilray Inc whose stock on the NASDAQ went as high as $300 USD, which meant that the value of its parent company Nanaimo, BC was at one time higher than the likes of Rogers Communications Inc. or Loblaw Companies Ltd, which are old established conglomerates. According to CBC News senior business writer Pete Evans, the cannabis investment mania will be looked upon as the point in time at which many Canadians got their first taste of investing. Praised or blamed, it will be remembered for getting the young generation interested enough to make their maiden stock market investments.

Investor interest was also driven by a lot of acquisition and merger activity in the burgeoning industry even before it was legalized. Aurora Cannabis went all out to acquire Cannimed Therapeutics for $1.1 billion in a bruising takeover deal before it turned around to buy Medreleaf for $3.2 billion. In August Constellation Brands the giant alcohol company announced that it was increasing its stake in Canopy Growth Corp. Its investment is the largest strategic outlay in the industry to date. The Corona beer producer also got warranties that would take its stake in the cannabis company to more than 50% if it decided to exercise its options. Big Tobacco has also been busy making investments in the space as more countries legalize medical marijuana. Altria Group, the maker of the Marlboro brand of cigarettes is planning to make 2.4 billion investment in Cronos Group Inc., which would give it a 45% stake in the pot producer. Just like the Canopy Growth Investment arrangement, Altria could exercise an option to increase its stake if it so wished.

There was a slight lift in the market when the Altria Cronos deal was announced though cannabis stocks are overall down from their record highs, as the reality of the true value of the companies began to set in. Short sellers have also come into the market in force targeting Canadian marijuana companies. Two short sellers went in hard for Leamington, Ontario based cannabis producer, Aphria Inc. making allegations that most of its recent acquisitions were not worth much. Under a relentless barrage of these attacks, the stock of the company fell by more than a half in just three days. Aphria maintained that the allegations were misleading and inaccurate, though it set up an independent review board to vet the claims even as it went ahead with the deals that were questioned.

In the meantime, the industry is yet to find a solution for the chronic supply shortages. Supply chain issues have been blamed for the shortage, though the producers have been quoted asserting that they intend to ramp up production to ease the problem. While this is good news, the new product will not be hitting the market any time soon and hence the problem will persist for quite some time. Most corporation stores in Quebec do not operate from Monday through Wednesday because of the shortage. Ontario also has its own problems as there are no retail franchises that have been licensed leaving the residents with only the government-run portal as the only way to legally purchase cannabis. However, with the government making a promise to issue more retail licenses, there should be an easing of the shortage in the coming days. Still, the Ontario government is offering just 25 licenses through April, which will be issued through a lottery system. The decision to cap the number of licenses will come as a huge disappointment to many companies that had already leased prime real estate in preparation for selling recreational cannabis. These may now have to take huge loses if they do not get hold of one of the 25 licenses on offer.

Cannabis has come from the peripheries of society to become an overnight success. It has been quite a fascinating journey for the cannabis industry as it defied all obstacles on the way to legalization. However, it remains to be seen how the expectations of the industry live up to the vagaries of the real world.

[quinnyandco]

I tried to put the questions in instead of just numbers but alack, too many questions, too little space. 2, 3, 8, 13, 14, 15, 19. And -- *copycatting*-- FOR ALL

THANKS THIS IS GONNA TAKE TWELVE YEARS 

2. Say your OC made a playlist on Spotify. What bands would be on that playlist? Any specific genres?

Berlin - He’s this weird mix between folksy stuff like Fleet Foxes and indie rock like Bastille. Lark - She would be blasting the Maroon 5 and Halsey through her car speakers, but also listening to stupid stuff like Bad Lip Reading songs on the down-low. Kes - 10 hours of Latin prayer chants, and her side playlist of random Florence + The Machine/Lana Del Rey/Daughter stuff that she listens to on private mode.Arthur - half his playlists have like one song in them, and it’s always something that you’d never actually figure that he’d listen to, and you’d be right because he hasn’t clicked on that playlist in 4 months. he makes his own music more than he listens to it. the playlists he does regularly use are for parties. lark also made him a playlist that he keeps meaning to listen to but somehow every time he clicks play, he never hears anything and then it’s over. Amber - doesn’t know what a spotify is, doesn’t care, has better things to do |Sitara - like, I WANT to listen to her playlist. because she’s one of those people who loves music but gets tired of it quickly, so she’s always finding new stuff and her playlists are a total mess. Every genre. It doesn’t matter what it is, she can find an occasion for it. Edward - a playlist containing nothing but “Be a Man” from Mulan on loop3. What kind of video games would they play? Any specific titles?Berlin - Lol okay, he was MADE for first-person shooters. But is he actually playing them? No. He’s playing those cute little flash games with bunnies hopping onto logs or something. Lark - Overwatch, because of the team-building element. She’ll usually only play video games in general if she’s with other people, except for the Sims which she’ll play alone if she needs character inspiration.Kes - Is somehow ridiculously good at the first-person shooters. This freaks her out. And she still doesn’t *get* the Sims but she plays it sometimes anyway because it’s fun to pretend to have a happy familyArthur - he will be HORRIBLE at anything he tries, unless he hyperfocuses on it, and then suddenly he is champion at everything and people refuse to play with him anymore. Amber - she’s really good at portal and she doesn’t even try to be. it just kind of happens. also she finds surgeon simulator to be horrendously inaccurate and she refuses to play it. Sitara - why on earth would you kill people in a video game when you could do it in real lifeEdward - DITTO. but he’s like, super good at tetris and doesn’t tell anyone. 

bonus: Nick plays Crossyroad. Don’t ask. he just does. 

8. How does your OC keep track of time? Do they have a planner? A calendar?

Berlin - He has a lot of people barking instructions at him, so he never really has the chance to forget what he’s doing or when he’s supposed to do it. But he’s naturally really organized so he’d probably have a planner otherwise. Lark - She’s usually on time because she hates to be late to the action or disappoint anyone counting on her. But sometimes she gets distracted by like, people on the street during her commute. Kes - time is a human construct, who needs it? the goddess will tell us when to leave and when to arrive. the moon spirits speak her truth into the ears of those who will listen Arthur - has owned approximately 500 planners in his life. it doesn’t matter how much he writes in them. he forgets they exist and is late anyway. Amber - has owned approximately 0 planners in her life. she is a perfect piece of ENTJ timekeeping. she doesn’t need a watch, or the sun, or you, probably. Sitara - has neatly plotted out her day, or hired someone to do it for her. Usually on time, but if she’s not, it’s because she decided it wasn’t worth her time to be there in the first place. Edward - is honestly more of a diva than sitara most of the time. he shows up if he wants to show up. you can’t tell him where to be. 

13. If you are an artist, and if your OC can draw as well, could you replicate what their artstyle looks like? Or, if you can’t, could you describe it?

Berlin - once he smeared some blood on a rock and called it art Lark - doodles on the margins of reports and discarded typewriter pages. Is better than she thinks she is but’ll never do anything with it. Kes - paints and writes all over the walls of her shed. No specific style; she’ll try anything you’ll teach her. Arthur - Cannot draw, doesn’t try Amber - wouldn’t actually be bad at it if she’d just sit down and learn for like five minutes Sitara - Has developed her skill over the years and is probably the only character I have who could actually paint your portrait and would gladly do it. Edward - what is paint. it has the word pain on it. is it like that 

14. If your OC owned a Tumblr blog, what kind of content would they post?

Berlin - I actually have a private blog for Berlin and it is entirely pictures of snakes, jackets, bunnies, and depressing quotes. Lark - She has two blogs–one for her professional stuff, and the other for maximum memeing and opinion pieces. Sometimes she mixes them up and her professional people get a horrible wake-up call as to her sense of humor. Kes - Meditations, uses it as her personal journal, a little bit of a SJW when she’s tired. accidently follows a NSFW blog because she thought they just wanted to be her friend and she didn’t look at the content first.  Arthur - if there was ever a theme, it died long ago. also he might still be confusing facebook with tumblr because the colors are too similar. forgot his password. Amber - queen of throwing shade to people. has 2000 followers and she doesn’t know why because she didn’t ask them to be there. why are 2000 people following a blog about sutures. surely they have lives. leaves arthur to answer her hate mail, and answers serious asks from medical students if she feels generous. Sitara - KITTY PIX Edward - I tried to ask him what he’d have on his blog and he just looked at me really scarily and i stopped asking. 

15. How do they type? Do they use emojis? Do abbreviate and shorten words?

Berlin - if he likes you, he doesn’t care. you’re getting whatever he’s dishing out at that particular moment (this includes random bouts of existentiality that you never asked for). Lark - Always has the perfect word for every situation. Understands emojis and internet speak the day it emerges on Tumblr. probably started the “me, an intellectual” meme. gif queen. Kes - doesn’t know why you’d type when you could just….talk to people?Arthur - Autocorrect is NOT his friend. But he never corrects autocorrect because by the time he realizes his mistake he’s already forwarded it to you and your boss and your aunt. He and Lark have gif wars.Sitara - Doesn’t even have a phone because someone would probably find a way to hack it and she is NOT being taken out by a camera phone scandal. Amber - Only answers texts at 2 AM. Perfect grammar. Has never used an emoji in her life. Deletes them if they automatically show up. Edward - you texted him once, and he replied telling you exactly where you could stick your texting. you were never brave enough to contact him again.  

19. Does your OC like to collect things? What kind of things do they collect?

Berlin - he picks up rocks sometimes, and then puts them back because they might be some convict’s soul and he’s not in the mood to cart around convict souls in his pockets.Lark - she has an entire drawer full of feathers. she picks them up off the sidewalk every time she sees one while she’s out walking. she also has a pen collection and a playbill collection from all the shows she’s been to. she draws mustaches on the ones she didn’t like. Kes - hordes books. also doesn’t really have any books. but if she had money and a house she’d have a lot of books.Arthur - he’s got a touch of kleptomania about him so he’s inadvertently stolen every pen that anyone has ever given him. I guess that counts. (Some of them are from Lark’s collection, and if she’s noticed, she hasn’t asked for them back)Amber - does not see the point of useless junk hanging around. just clean up your life. Sitara - she has a collection of pawprints (ink pressed onto paper) from every cat she has ever owned/cared for. they’re in a little drawer in her room and she looks through them whenever she misses them. Edward - do scars count because he has a lot of those and they don’t seem to be stopping. 

If you’re not too mad at me for clogging up your feed, send me an OC ask here! 

[hudsonespie]

Self-Service Portals Will Make Port Terminals More Resilient

It’s no secret that port operations are buckling under supply chain strains caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the underlying inefficiencies at ports have been causing headaches for managing products across global supply chains long before the pandemic even hit. Today, we’re seeing the cracks breaking as legacy siloed and, often, manual systems create bottleneck after bottleneck, making agile response to immediate, global crises impossible and the need to integrate systems and streamline processes imperative for the health of the industry and global commerce moving forward.

Terminals have been slow to adopt “smart” industry 4.0 technologies, which are paramount to keeping up with an increasingly digital and connected world and dealing with global trade demands that change day by day. From lack of visibility into container statuses to a reliance on manual paperwork used to log data and coordinate the sourcing, handling and shipment of product, the systems and infrastructure at terminals are nowhere near as efficient, connected and transparent as they could and need to be. While consumers today have the ability to place an order and manage, track and receive shipments without ever dealing with an actual person, businesses dealing with global freight have seen their own user experience fall behind consumers’ by more than a decade in some technologies. 

Legacy Port Systems Are on Their Last Legs

Delays in loading and unloading containers can lead to terminal congestion, and further result in heavy demurrage charges. Given that cargo ships can carry upwards of 24,000 containers and take days to unload, efficiency improvements of even a few percent can mean significant time and cost savings. Not to mention that communications with carriers and other terminals also rely on antiquated systems. Some terminal operators still receive vessel locations relayed by word of mouth and predictions from carriers and captains. As one can imagine, this process is often inaccurate. According to McKinsey, when using this system, the average difference between a captain’s estimate and the actual time of arrival is 13 hours. Add a global pandemic on top of this, and the problem worsens exponentially. 

As thousands of shipping containers have piled up and supply and demand patterns have been upended by panic buying and export bans, the ripple effects from the global crisis are choking ports and paralyzing shipment operations. About 22% of 67 global ports surveyed recently by the International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH) report delays (6-24 hours) or heavy delays (> 24 hours) in cross-border road transportation. From the same survey, 35% of the ports reported extra restrictions in the first week of April on all incoming passenger vessels compared to 16% for all container vessels and 14% for all other cargo vessels.

As we get past the first wave of the pandemic, expect a tsunami of shipments to emerge from loosened restrictions and normalized or even increased manufacturing capacity. Those rising cargo volumes could potentially overwhelm warehouses and distribution centers and back up marine terminals. So what can be done? 

The Digital Age Offers a Path Forward for Terminal Operators

Fortunately, the future isn’t all doom and gloom for marine terminals, provided they adopt some key digital transformation practices to better handle operational uncertainties exposed during the pandemic in addition to other risks—specifically to enable transparency, visibility and self-service options.

First, transparency is the most urgent need for ports, according to McKinsey in 2017, and this statement still rings true three years later. Terminal operators must realize that, while the carriers may be their primary customers, the carriers’ shipper, forwarder, and trucker customers are also important. Digitized operations can provide transparency into all data and operations updates from all players along the supply chain that help to deliver freight to and from ports.

Secondly, visibility is crucial for terminals to be able to quickly adapt to operational uncertainties, disruptions and delays caused by bad weather, changes to vessel ETAs, and unscheduled maintenance. Operators must aim to have a unified view of all operations with dynamic tasks based on real-time events while ensuring a clear line of communication between all parties. And last but possibly the most crucial factor for implementing this digital transformation, terminals must establish self-service portals for customers to digitally connect with them on past, present and future activity.

Technologies that can make port operations more efficient and transform links with the entire supply chain also include Industry 4.0 and Smart Ports concepts. Marine terminals must keep abreast of the latest in supply chain optimization strategies by implementing Smart Port technologies such as automation of cranes and terminal tractors, Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence and blockchain. Automated ports systems that are carefully planned and managed can overcome operational difficulties, reducing expenses by 25 to 55% and increasing productivity by 10 to 35% for operators.

In order to achieve this transformation, terminals must first review the current state of their operations within the supply chain, and set performance goals in terms of agility, service, capital, and cost measurements. After identifying the major pain points such as paper-based billing and inefficient drayage routes, operators can develop a roadmap to eliminate these and achieve performance goals. A crucial step all players involved in marine terminal operations must take is to move from manual processes to connected digital platforms. This can include automated, self-service quoting to eliminate errors; digitizing documents such as bills, hazmat declarations, shipping instructions, finance declarations, insurance and customs forms; real-time analytics for accurate tracking and communication; and proper end-to-end management of all operations. 

As local and global economies begin to slowly re-open, it’s critical that terminal operators take these key steps to ensure they come out of the pandemic with minimized losses and that their operations are ready for the next big supply chain disruption. 

Joe Hudicka is the managing director of logistics and transportation software company Neurored.

from Storage Containers https://maritime-executive.com/article/self-service-portals-will-make-port-terminals-more-resilient-1 via http://www.rssmix.com/

[phgq]

Cebu guv lifts MECQ status of Talisay City

#PHnews: Cebu guv lifts MECQ status of Talisay City

TALISAY CITY, Cebu – Governor Gwendolyn Garcia on Thursday issued an executive order downgrading the modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) of this southern portal city into general community quarantine (GCQ).

Garcia invoked Resolution 29 of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), as amended by Resolution 30, in signing EO 17-G, “de-escalating the risk classification in this city.”

She also invoked powers under Republic Act 7160, the Local Government Code of 1991, in promoting general welfare, health, and safety to control the spread of communicable diseases.

“Under Section 465 (b) (1) (vii) of the same code, the Provincial Governor shall carry out such emergency measures as may be necessary during and in the aftermath of man-made and natural disasters and calamities,” Garcia said.

The EO, however, said it “shall take effect immediately upon concurrence” of the Central Visayas IATF.

The mayors of 44 towns and six component cities in Cebu province concurred with Garcia in downgrading the quarantine status here during their meeting on Wednesday, citing alleged inaccurate data from the Department of Health (DOH) as basis for the IATF-EID decision to revert the quarantine status to MECQ.

The IATF-EID Resolution 29 authorizes provincial governors to impose, lift, or extend the quarantine status of municipalities and component cities, the capitol’s official news site quoted Garcia as saying.

The resolution stated that beginning May 16, “all decisions to impose, lift or extend a community quarantine in provinces, highly-urbanized cities, and independent cities shall rest with the IATF.”

However, it said “provincial governors shall be authorized to impose, lift, or extend ECQ in component cities and municipalities upon concurrence of the relevant regional counterpart body of the IATF.”

Garcia said Undersecretary Epimaco Densing III of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) agreed with her that governors are authorized to impose or lift quarantine classifications when she consulted him about the matter on Tuesday.

On Monday, the IATF-EID passed Resolution 46-A retaining the GCQ status of Cebu province except its component city of Talisay, which was placed under MECQ due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) situation here.

Mayor Gerald Anthony Gullas on Wednesday filed with Garcia’s office a request for the lifting of the MECQ status, citing the alleged inaccuracy of the DOH data reflecting a high number of Covid-19 cases without considering the recovered patients.

In the letter, he noted that of the 126 coronavirus cases, only 57 active cases are left as 50 patients have recovered and 19 have died.

Some 12 new cases were detected in this city on Thursday. The fatalities, meanwhile, rose to 24.

Despite the request to revert the city to GCQ, Gullas issued Executive Order 24, implementing the IATF-EID order on MECQ. (PNA)

  ***

References:

* Philippine News Agency. "Cebu guv lifts MECQ status of Talisay City." Philippine News Agency. https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1106426 (accessed June 20, 2020 at 01:24AM UTC+14).

* Philippine News Agency. "Cebu guv lifts MECQ status of Talisay City." Archive Today. https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1106426 (archived).

[rolandfontana]

Fake News: The China Trademark Version

Sometimes you read an article and it gets so many things wrong that you just can’t stay silent.

A recent article on Cult of Mac, Apple pulls popular iOS game after Chinese company steals its name, is as inaccurate about China as anything I’ve seen in a long time, combining ignorance, sloppiness, and an anti-China bias.

The problem starts with the headline: “Apple pulls popular iOS game after Chinese company steals its name.” Anyone with an elementary understanding of English grammar would understand this to mean that Apple had kicked a popular iOS game out of the App Store because a Chinese company stole Apple’s name. Not true. Here, “its” actually refers to a third company called Playsaurus, which we are told “didn’t break any App Store rules or regulations. But thanks to a shady Chinese company, its [sic] game had to get the boot.”

According to the article, the Playsaurus game, Clicker Heroes, was “a hugely popular game with a ‘very positive’ rating on Steam after a whopping 47,000 reviews.” It  “held a place in the App Store for almost four years, earning decent cash …. until a Chinese company called Shenzhen Lingyou Technology Co., Ltd., trademarked the Clicker Heroes name in China — then asked Apple to pull the original game.”

The article then notes how “Playsaurus holds trademarks for the name in the U.S. and Europe,” adding that “[y]ou might think that’s enough to protect the game in those markets — but apparently not. Apple has booted Clicker Heroes from App Stores worldwide.” (emphasis mine)

The article goes on:

In a post on Reddit, the Playsaurus co-founder and CEO explains that their game was using the Clicker Heroes name first. There’s evidence of this on a Chinese web portal dating back to 2014.

But because Playsaurus didn’t file a trademark application locally, Shenzhen Lingyou Technology was able to come along in February 2015 — around three months after Clicker Heroes made its debut as a Flash game — and steal the name.

Guess what, folks? Shenzhen Lingyou Technology did not steal the Clicker Heroes name because it is not legally possible for Shenzhen Lingyou to have stolen something that Playsaurus did not own. China, unlike the United States, is a “first to file” country for trademarks. That means whoever files first for a trademark in China gets it (there are a few exceptions to this rule but they are not worth discussing in this post).

And Shenzhen Lingyou did not even register “Clicker Heroes” as a trademark — in fact, no one has registered “Clicker Heroes” in China. What Shenzhen Lingyou actually registered was “点击英雄,” a Chinese translation of “Clicker Heroes.” They filed back in 2015 in Classes 41 and 42, and because they filed first and the trademarks did not conflict with any prior rights, they were awarded the trademarks.

Had Playsaurus wanted to register either “点击英雄” or “Clicker Heroes,” they could have done so by paying an international trademark lawyer a relatively modest fee. They then would have beaten Shenzhen Lingyou Technology to the “点击英雄” trademark and would not be having any problems with Apple. Or to quote Shakespeare, “My kingdom for a horse.”

If anyone is to blame for what has befallen Playsaurus it is Playsaurus itself. But the article instead blames China for daring to do things differently from the West:

“Despite explaining this as clear as I could to Apple and the 3rd party, Apple sided with the cloners and took my game down,” the Reddit post explains. “We don’t have the resources to fight a legal trademark battle in China so I guess that’s the end of our game.”

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“It looks like we can’t challenge it,” the creator says. “It appears that China’s trademark/IP laws are completely different from any Western countries [sic], and Apple just has to do what they say.”

“If you make a game, unless you have ridiculous resources to spend on registering properly in China in advance, you just have to accept China to be a loss. Someone there will steal it.”

Let’s unpack this quote sentence by sentence.

First sentence. “We don’t have the resources to fight a legal trademark battle in China so I guess that’s the end of our game.” Did Playsaurus even check on what it would cost to “fight a legal trademark battle in China”? Our China trademark lawyers have fought a ton of similar battles in China, and all for $5,000 or less, so I think it’s fair for me to wonder. I will note that based on this article, Playsaurus may not have had a strong case, but that’s a problem with facts, not resources.

Second sentence. It looks like we can’t challenge it…. [because] It appears that China’s trademark/IP laws are completely different from any Western countries [sic], and Apple just has to do what they say.” Wow. Apple just has to do what “they” say? I read this to essentially say that Apple has to submit to the PRC’s will, implying that China runs the world. Is Playsaurus really saying that China controls what Apple does? And why would Cult of Mac repeat a patently uninformed statement stating that China’s IP laws are completely different from the laws of any Western country? In fact the complete opposite is true: the first to file system is the majority system worldwide, followed by civil law countries. Only common law countries (basically, England and its former colonies like the United States) follow the first to use system. Under a first to use system, the first to use a brand name or a product name will usually be deemed to have superior trademark rights for that name. Both systems have advantages and disadvantages. I personally prefer a first to file system because it is easier to look at the trademark register for the relevant country to see if anyone beat you to the name, as opposed to having to conduct a comprehensive common law search to determine whether anyone is already using the name you wish to use.

Instead of acknowledging that Playsaurus went into the Chinese market without understanding China’s IP system, this article instead propagates the false idea that China is the only country in the world that would award a trademark to the applicant who filed first.

Third sentence. “If you make a game, unless you have ridiculous resources to spend on registering properly in China in advance, you just have to accept China to be a loss. Someone there will steal it.” Again, this article reiterates a quote from Playsaurus without providing context, i.e., fact-checking. In fact, Playsaurus could have spent a modest amount to register “点击英雄” and “Clicker Heroes” as trademarks in China, and would have thereby avoided the issues and the economic losses it has suffered from not having done so. What’s “ridiculous” about that? Either Playsaurus still doesn’t understand China’s IP system, or they’ve been getting bad legal advice. Frankly, I highly doubt Playsaurus ever contacted a China trademark lawyer, which they really should have done a long time ago.

Moreover, in cases of trademark infringement, Apple doesn’t typically require an app be pulled from all App Stores worldwide, but rather just the country(ies) in which the app is infringing. Here, the app should only have been pulled from China. And when I went to look at the Reddit discussion from which this article was pulled, lo and behold: Apple had agreed to restore the app worldwide except in China.

Bottom Line: China is a difficult country in which to protect your IP but it is quite possible to do so, but doing so does involve some work and some money, but typically not all that much of either. But if you sit around and do nothing, you should expect to have China IP problems not because it’s China, but because that’s the way things go pretty much everywhere in the world, including China.

For more on the importance of registering your product name or your brand name as a trademark in China, check out the following:

China Trademarks: Register Yours BEFORE You Do ANYTHING Else

China Trademarks and The Real Life Meaning of First to File

China Trademark Theft. It’s Baaaaaack in a Big Way

Fake News: The China Trademark Version syndicated from https://immigrationattorneyto.wordpress.com/