#it's entirely because i like free stuff but everyone should get everything for free anyway

[wosoimagines]

Sweet Sixteen

part 2 of rivals one-shots

Jo's sixteenth birthday happens during camp.

1,437 words

set in between chapter 3 and 4 of rivals.

“Dude! It’s your birthday?” 

I raised my eyes from where I was focused on my breakfast to meet Pinoe’s eyes. Everyone had turned to look at her as I froze. It didn’t take long for everyone’s eyes to turn to me. I shrunk in my seat a bit at the number of eyes that were focused on me now. 

“It’s your birthday?” 

My eyes met Becky at the question that was repeated softer. I sucked in a breath but slowly nodded. 

“Is that a problem?” 

“You didn’t tell us it was your birthday,” Becky said. I shrugged at that. Honestly, I wasn’t used to it being celebrated. “We would have got you something.” 

“You don’t have to,” I said with a shake of my head. 

“You don’t want anything for your birthday?” 

Alyssa was the one who spoke up this time. I shrugged at that. There wasn’t much that I really needed. 

“I’m getting a new pair of shoes when I get home. Well, new cleats anyways.” 

I didn’t miss the looks being shared between my teammates. 

“What do you want?” Pinoe asked. 

I was at a loss with that. I didn’t really know what they wanted me to say. I was used to just getting new soccer gear from my family. At least I got to pick out exactly what they got me. 

“How should I know? I usually get new socks and cleats and shin guards and a new ball.” 

The room went silent again. 

“Your family just gets you soccer stuff?” 

I nodded my head at Christie’s question. I tilted my head as the captain clenched her jaw, and I could see the anger that sometimes flickered in her eyes on the field suddenly set in her eyes now. 

“It’s a free day today,” Becky said, drawing my attention back to her. “You can make a list of things you’d like, and we can go shopping for birthday presents.” 

“No,” I shook my head, “That’s too much.” 

“Nah, it’s easy,” Sydney said as she suddenly sat next to me with a pen and piece of paper. “You just write down what you like to do, and we’ll go get you presents that relate to that.” 

I huffed at that. They didn’t get it. 

“Soccer is what I like to do.” 

The whole room froze. 

“If I’m not in school, then it’s soccer.” 

“What do you do besides that?” 

“I don’t. I go to school and I practice and we watch football at home. We don’t do much more than that. We go to the lake during the summer where we swim and we ski. But I don’t do anything else. I can’t do much anything else besides soccer because soccer is how I’m going to make money. And I need to be the best at soccer so that’s what I do outside of school.” 

I refused to meet anyone’s eyes at the admission. I knew it wasn’t entirely normal, but I loved soccer, so I was okay with it. 

“Okay, we’re taking you out, and if you find anything that interests you, we’re buying it for you,” Alyssa spoke up across from me. “And it won’t have anything to do with soccer.” 

I sighed but nodded. It was obvious in the way Alyssa stared me down that there was no room for discussion about it. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

I gave the camera a small wave as I walked into the mess hall. I knew that the team had talked Jill into letting them get a cake for me. I was a bit surprised though by the amount of boxes that were wrapped. 

Christie had me wearing the new pair of sneakers she had gotten me earlier today after I had accidentally told her that the only new shoes I ever got were my soccer cleats. She had seemed upset by the fact that my parents had only ever given me hand-me-downs for shoes. Her present was the only gift that I knew what it was. Everyone else had ended up keeping it a surprise from me. 

“Think fast, Pip.” 

I easily caught the box that Hope threw at me. She looked surprised but I had a lot of practice with everything that would be thrown at home. I shook the box before raising an eyebrow at how whatever was instead was easily rattled. I took the newspaper off before pulling the lid off. 

“It’s a rock.” 

“It’s an emerald,” Hope corrected. I slowly picked it up. “Figured you could use it. The guy says it brings love into your life.” 

I immediately dropped the emerald back into the box before shoving it in Becky’s hands. 

“No thanks,” I said as I shook my head. “Don’t need love to try to find me right before the World Cup.” 

A couple of our teammates laughed at that.  

“He also said it improves eyesight.” 

“I have perfect vision.” 

Becky ushered me to sit down before Hope and I could get into a petty argument. I did appreciate the thought of her gift though. 

“Here,” Becky said as she put another gift in front of me. “I hope you like it.” 

I sent Becky a small smile. I was sure that I would. After all, I was just happy to have presents that didn’t relate to soccer. I didn’t realize just how annoying it was to only get gifts relating to soccer. 

“You got me a camera?” 

I tilted my head at the sight of the Nikon camera that now sat in my hands. 

“It’s an F2. I figured you might like it since you seem to always try to steal the cameras at practice. But you’ll have to learn how to shoot on film.” 

I grinned at that.  

“Thanks. I love it.” 

“Yeah, yeah,” Kelley spoke up. “We get it. Becky’s your team mom. You’ll love any gift from her.” 

I rolled my eyes at the defender. 

“Here,” Tobin said as a bigger box was pushed toward me. “Might as well keep it on the artistic side.” 

I raised an eyebrow at that. I did wonder if anyone got together to get me something. Maybe Tobin and Becky did? 

“Seen you doodling during film sessions,” Christen explained when I started pulling out sketchbooks and pencils and paints. “Wasn’t sure what to get so I asked Tobin for help, and we just decided to get it all for you together.” 

I hadn’t been able to draw since I was a kid. Not really. At least not if it wasn’t at school. We just couldn’t afford the amount of paper I would go through drawing and how much Mom needed to print so she could edit the chapters of her book. She always said she was old school with her editing and did it much better if she edited a paper copy. 

Present after present was pushed in front of me. Or at least an explanation of what a teammate had ordered for me was given. Like Alyssa ordering me some books she thought I would enjoy. Ali definitely took me by surprise with the amount of clothes she had bought me, but only gave me a shrug that I could start to find my own style instead of having to wear hand-me-downs from my siblings.  

Well, I thought Ali’s would be the biggest surprise, until it was Pinoe’s turn. She had waited to be last. But there were still at least twelve boxes on the table. 

The first was a pair of shoes. So was the second box. And the third. 

“Did you just get me shoes?” 

I knew that I had tried on quite a few, but the ones that Christie had got me were more than enough. 

“You’ve never had your own first pair before now. Now you have options.” 

Twelve pairs of shoes. I couldn’t believe Pinoe. 

“And-” 

“There’s more?” 

There was no way Pinoe got me twelve pairs of shoes and then something else on top of it. 

“It’s like Ali said,” Pinoe started with a shrug, “You can find your own style. I ordered you some clothes to be delivered to your house.” 

I did get into a small argument with Pinoe on whether or not what she got me was too much. It was eventually broken up when the cake was put in front of me, and I was sure that the video of my face immediately turning red as the team sang to me would be posted online. 

“Be honest,” Alyssa nudged me as she walked Becky and I back to our room, “How was your sixteenth birthday?” 

“Best one yet.” 

“Yeah?” 

“Yeah.” 

[artsy-waffle19]

officially going insane rn: so I'm rewatching s1 and I just realised that Aziraphale actually says "I forgive you" TWICE in the first season. Once when Crowley says the great plan is horrible and suggests running away together for the first time ("may you be forgiven" "unforgivable is part of the job description") and when crowley apologises and says azira is stupid for wanting to talk to a higher authority over the issue ("you're usually so clever how can someone so clever be so stupid" "i forgive you") and both times it's a situation in which crowley asks for more than zira is willing to give "run away with me/join OUR side"/ "stop idealising heaven/god when they're so clearly not ideal" and usually when aziraphale says "i forgive you" what he means is "I'm not gonna do that (yet) and i forgive you for crossing that line before I was ready" (he never actually says "no" because he clearly knows that he should (and wants to) do those things but isn't ready for them and mad at crowley for bringing them to his attention).

And the sad thing is that most of the time, all Crowley is asking, is for Aziraphale to call the things what they are.

But part of aziraphales process is "doing the things but never calling them what they are" let me elaborate: "There is no OUR side" but "I thought we carved this existence out for OURselves" and "this is technically YOUR car just as this is technically MY bookshop (they're both OURS though)". He won't ever question god and heaven, he'll give away his sword and save the children anyways. He won't confess his love but he'll hypnotyse everyone at the shopkeepers meeting so can ask Crowley to dance.

In his mind: He can do whatever he wants as long as he doesn't have to call it anything that would indicate it strays from what he's supposed to do. If he can twist the words to describe it as something holy, he can do it, even if that doesn't actually describe what he's doing or why he's doing it.

But the thing is that Crowley doesn't care about sides and he doesn't care about others approval. He'd rather lie entirely in his reports back to hell about having dones stuff he actually didn't do (the spanish inquisition/ the french revolution) than to stretch the truth or bend words to make him technically speak the truth. He always did, which is partially also a reason why he fell. For him, that trait of his, saying those things out loud is the reason why he's a demon, it's what makes him "unforgivable"

Now he doesn't want that same fate for Aziraphale, which is also why he respects the "you go too fast for me" because Armageddon isn't about to come then and they're still stuck in certain limitations. In situations in which "calling it what it is" could also cause Aziraphale to become a demon, "unforgivable"

But as soon as the apocalypse is about to start or as soon as they're free from heaven and hell he asks Aziraphale to take the chance and just quit it.

In those situations he starts asking for what he knows Aziraphale wants to give, saying the things out loud they've been dancing around for centuries. "We're on OUR side (you never gave a fuck about the rules and the ideals of heaven, not since the day I met you, now just accept that you don't want to be a part of this and go with me like you always have)", "how can someone so clever be so stupid (you know that this won't work, you know that they won't change, please just accept what you already know and come with me)", and finally: "we're a team, a group, a group of the two of us and we spent our existence pretending that we aren't (need I say more? I mean he says it loud and clear: we're basically a couple and we both know it but we never call it what it is. Please call it what it is)"

But every single time everything he gets back is an "I forgive you" "I forgive you for saying that out loud, even though it's something unforgivable" and everytime he goes back to how things were before without further protest. They have a fight, Aziraphale "forgives him", they leave, they come back to each other with the things unchanged, they do it again. And every single time Crowley backs down and accepts the situation. He accepts the "forgiveness" for saying what Aziraphale can't.

Except for in s2 e6 because this time he refuses to call it anything but love. This time he won't back down and do what aziraphale wants him to do, which would be: become an angle, be forgiven.

Because if being an angle, if being forgiven, means bending the truth and dancing around words, means never getting to be on OUR side, means never getting to be an US, means never getting to say "I love you" to the one person that matters, then he doesn't want to be forgiven.

so he tells Aziraphale "don't bother"

[thegreatyin]

Your posts about Fallen London are slowly tempting me into playing it- do you have any tips to start or is it best to play it completely blind?

i have a few tips and tricks! mind you im far from a veteran and i basically got my hand held by tumblr for most of the game so take everything with a grain of salt. you can and should do whatever you want always. i don't personally play it blind, but you may get more enjoyment out of it if you do, and that's awesome and im super happy for you. this is what i can say from experience:

take your time with it. this is like. the numero uno fallen london tip. it's not a game where you rush to the end in a week. it's a game where you do 10-minute-intervals of a marathon to the end in maybe a few months if you know what you're doing. spending money on action refills usually isn't worth it when you can just mosey on through neathly life one storylet at a time. a vast majority of the game's content is completely free to everyone, and while the monthly subscription options are pretty neat and let you play some exclusive story stuff (that can be pretty fire- cricket anyone basically defined the scoundrel's entire character) none of it is required and 99% of the time you aren't missing out on anything by just taking your time and exploring the neath at your own pace.

you need to raise all of your skills eventually! this is, uh. something im horribly guilty of not following myself. you can (and probably should) pick at least two stats to focus on for your character (most of the time these will be your main ambition stats, aka the closest thing FL has to a main story questline) but eventually you Will be expected to have them all at around the 100 range, minimum. for certain Super Late-game Story Content, watchful 200 is mandatory to start it, so if you have trouble choosing i'd recommend leveling that bad boy first. don't neglect your other stats though!!! don't be like me. don't be like my poor poor neglected shadowy and dangerous. it's too late for me. save yourself.

friends are fun and free and you are legally mandated to exploit them for fun and profit. okay you really aren't mandated to exploit your FL friends list but you totally should anyway just for goofy sillies. to be less jokey about it, while fallen london is primarily a single-player gaming experience, the playerbase is super friendly and super open to helping each other out (especially new players!). go on reddit, ask around on tumblr, get yourself a few buddies and use them as resources to gain items and stats and menace reduction i mean. valued companions that im sure you will treasure forever and definitely not backstab to publish that inflammatory newspaper article you've been cooking up.

on a very loosely similar note, the fallen london wiki is your best friend. yes, we're following stardew rules with this one. this is the kind of game best optimally played with a wiki article or three open in the neighboring tabs so you can follow along and know what is what. there's tons of guides on basically every part of FL, and it's no shame at all to reach out to either it or the wider community if you get stuck or feel lost at something.

if an in-game storylet has bold text, it will never lie to you! except for when it does. but that's very very very rare. you can always trust the bold text. it is always your friend. i prommy. which brings us neatly into our next bulletpoint,

seeking the name is ill-advised because it's the only storyline that can permanently brick your account at its conclusion. don't worry, the ease at which you can avoid this is practically comical, and the game will Always give you multiple chances to opt-out if you somehow accidentally start it anyway. most people make a dedicated alt character entirely for the purpose of sacrificing them to the well of doom. unless you're playing with your eyes closed for multiple months straight, you'll never run into SMEN without deliberately chasing it, and if you somehow get to that point honestly man just ignore this entire bulletpoint and see how far the rabbithole goes. go on. it's friendly :)

batfucking is always the right answer to any problem ever

echoes/the game's standard currency should always be thought of as a method of gaining items rather than a strict hoard of video game dollars. money-making can be super difficult in the earlygame, but it gets exponentially easier as you go further on. you shouldn't be afraid to sell anything you don't need, though personally i'd recommend keeping an "insurance stock" of the most basic items just in case. this includes rostygold, moon-pearls, honey droplets, etc. by-and-large, these are the easiest items to get in a pinch, and it usually isn't worth buying them from the bazaar when you can otherwise get them naturally through other methods around london. once you've got a good lodgings setup and feel decently familiar with the earlygame zones and their options, you should aim to have at minimum 1,000 of these bad boys on hand at any given time, then feel free to sell any excess you make for some quick cash in a pinch.

menaces aren't as bad as you may think, but be wary of specifically suspicion! the four main menace qualities you'll encounter in the earlygame are nightmares, wounds, scandal, and suspicion. when one of these menace stacks reach 8, you'll automatically be trapped in a unique location corresponding to whatever menace you raised too high and will have to spend time working your way out. some (nightmares and wounds) tend to fly-by rather quickly, while others (scandal and suspicion) tend to take a bit longer to get out of. none of these mean the end of your playthrough or your character, and some quests even require you to visit certain menace-exclusive locations! there are tons of items and ways to reduce menaces and keep yourself out of Situations such as these, but suspicion in particular is probably the only menace you should avoid maxing At All Costs. when your suspicion gets too high and you get sent to its special menace zone too often, you build up a criminal record that makes it harder to reduce suspicion in the future. fortunately, suspicion is the only menace with this gimmick, and before this record gets too high it's just as easy to keep row as the rest of the lot. TLDR, death from wounds is easy to escape from, but avoiding the strongarm of the law is substantially more annoying and inconvenient.

or you could be like tumblr user @with-bells-upon, who's apparently avoided death at all costs and apparently hasn't died once in the entire several months they've been playing. i don't even know how they've gotten this far without doing that. it's kind of impressive, kind of funny. especially since their ambition is one the few requiring you to die to proceed. this isn't a piece of advice i just wanted to affectionately call them out because what the heck

speaking of ambitions, pick the ambition that's right for you! ambitions are the biggest overarching questline in the game, and their requirements and rewards span the entire neath and occasionally even beyond. all four ambitions are meant to be started early and last well into the mid and late game. outside of a certain special situation regarding the light fingers ambition (the only ambition that explicitly lies to you in-game when describing its premise) you can't change your ambition without spending money, so choose carefully and choose well. they're all (mostly) equally rewarding and equally fulfilling adventures that will define your player character and your journey through the neath. there's tons of advice and spoiler-free summaries of each ambition online, so i won't cover it all here. just do your research (or don't, if you prefer) and follow your heart. maybe playing the world's most high-stake poker game ever speaks to you. maybe you want to commit a murder. maybe you want to commit a murder in the name of justice and/or revenge. maybe you just want a really really big really really shiny rock. all can be found in the neath, and all shall (eventually) be well.

if you buy 400 lucky weasels you get a special achievement. i don't need to say more.

make up a guy. this is another legal mandate if you're a fallen london player. you have to make up your own little sicko victorian london guy and roleplay them while you play. trust me. it's fun. it's free. they're going to haunt you forever. the scoundrel got a nickname like 4 months ago and ever since my mind has never known peace.

and probably most important of all, fallen london might not be the game for you, and that's okay. it includes a lot of reading. and grinding. and i do mean a lot of reading and grinding. particularly the latter, which tends to throw people off the most out of anything. it's a very niche game for a very niche audience and getting into it can be an acquired taste at the best of times. but when you do get into it, it's some Really good writing and Really in-depth worldbuilding and the most fun you'll ever have imagining sicko victorian guys running around building train stations and railway tracks directly to hell. take your time, have fun, and most important of all, always look to love.

anyway yeah that's my fallen london tips and tricks list isn't it really short and comprehendible

[justanotherfanfolks]

JP Book 7 Spoiler Warning!

You know, I've been deeply curious about what Ruggie's dream is going to be, and I think I have an idea.

Buckle up, I'm back at it again with my giant text posts:

Ah, Ruggie! A fan favorite! At least, I hope he is. I love this little dude! Who doesn't love our hyena kleptomaniac that's worked hundreds of jobs?

So ever since Part 2 of Book 7, I've been dying to see everyone's dreams. Therefore, I SCREAMED when Book 7 actually ended up taking that route! Of course, I've been speculating for months as to what their dreams could be! I mean, it's really, like REALLY, hard to predict where the TWST story goes, they always throw you a curveball and keep you super engaged. I don't think I've ever correctly guessed something for TWST. But I'm not gonna let that stop me from guessing Ruggie's dream!

From what I can tell, Ruggie is the type of person who wants to work for what he gets. He's definitely a fan of free things, absolutely no way this dude would turn down free food! But my guy is not a fan of those high and rich in society acting above everyone and walking all over the lower class. He knows you should get in with the rich, but 90% of those people aren't going to give him the time of day. He definitely knows that. The only rich people out here giving him the time of day are Leona and Kalim, which makes them pretty interesting cases and this is entirely due to their childhoods. Anyway, in Wish Upon a Star, Ruggie's wish is for a high-paying job. Not for straight cash, not for everything he could ever want, a job. Doesn't even humor the idea of just wishing for what money could buy. So I don't think Ruggie's dream is going to be him sitting on a giant mountain of gold and lounging around. On a surface level, someone could think that would be his dream, but that doesn't sound like Ruggie. Ruggie "Eat the Rich" Bucchi would NEVER. I mean, it'd be hilarious and iconic, but the story doesn't use Ruggie's character in that way. He can get intense stuff. Besides, TWST is anything but surface level. Therefore, I think his dream is going to pull from character traits from all the way back in Book 2.

It's interesting that Ruggie doesn't think he stands a chance at getting a high paying job. Like, my guy probably had the thickest resume known to man, and he doesn't think he's gonna get one of these jobs because of how competitive they are. He calls out the interview and testing process, is it too far fetched to assume his background may be of concern to him as a hurdle? If I may pull from Savanaclaw Novel my beloved, hyena's are heavily discriminated against in Twisted Wonderland (Lion King plot points go brrrrrrrr). Ruggie's a hyena from the slums, a place where no mages are expected to be and no one is expected to make anything of themself. He's a pride of the town, he's got his whole neighborhood rooting for him! This makes him ambitious. And this gives him his motive for success.

Ruggie wants a better life than the one dealt to him. But the thing is, Ruggie doesn't JUST want to be able to live a comfortable life. He wants to make a name for himself. That's why he believed so much in Leona's plan. He wants to flip the world on its head, he wants to prove himself, he wants to be seen, he wants to show the world a hyena can rise above. He's a mage, he's going to NRC, he's a star player on the Spelldrive team at school. He's already breaking barriers for himself, but that's only at school. Life is so much crueler to him out there. He's ready to fight against the world that wants to push him back down. He had goals in life, but some he speaks louder than others.

So what do I think Ruggie's dream is going to be?

He gets recruited by professional Spelldrive team.

This is his most far fetched dream in his eyes. That dream he's almost afraid to utter out loud with full sincerity. When he brings it up in the line I started with, he just backtracks like he was crazy to even consider it. Back in Book 2, the only time he felt like he could say it was when he believed so much in Leona's plan that he actually considered it possible. That's why it hurt him so much when Leona crushed that hope right in front of his eyes.

Spelldrive is clearly special to Ruggie. He uses every part of him in Spelldrive: his size, his magic, his trickery. He's made a name for himself on his team at school, even making it on TV broadcasts and being known by incoming freshmen. This is something he's good at and perfect captures multiple aspects of who he is. But what's the big thing with Spelldrive? It's a famous sports thousands of people tune into. What better way to make a name for yourself than as a famous athlete. A famous athlete with a background that said he'd never make it there. A little hyena that proved everyone that said he'd be nothing wrong. THAT'S what Ruggie wants. Spelldrive is the perfect way for Ruggie to go "Here I am! This is me! And you're all going to see me as I rise above." And that would make his wake up call extra cruel.

I only really have like, one thing that makes me think this may not be the case: The origin of that image I put at the beginning of this post.

I'm under the impression Ruggie is getting a Book 7 Card. Jack has the least in the dorm (one? ONE?!), so it should be him, but I think it'd be kind of weird to give the not Ortho/Sebek freshmen cards considering Epel didn't get one. If they want to give Jack a card, heck yeah free that boy from R jail! But let's assume for a moment it's Ruggie. If in Ruggie's dream he's a professional Spelldrive player, uh, Ruggie already has a Spelldrive card. It'd be really redundant unless either that card is just that swanky or he's not in uniform. But if they do this, how could they not give us any visuals?

It's just- I really feel like this should be it!

Ok, watch me eat my words when the Savanaclaw Chapter comes out-

[arecaceae175]

For Want Of Rest: Ch. 6

FAN JOY JULY!

Fic Summary: Five times Sky falls asleep somewhere that isn’t a bed plus one time they all do. Or, Sky struggles to manage his disabilities, then the chain has a conversation about accessibility and accommodations.

Fan Joy July! Each chapter is inspired a few amazing art pieces of Sleepy Sky <3. There are plenty more chapters and art inspirations to come :D

Chapter Summary: They eep. They also have a conversation about accommodations. 2.5k, fluff and hurt/comfort.

Happy July 35th everybody :/ Here it is :D. THIS IS HEADCANON GALOOOOORE hehehe. I gave everyone a Thing. Also featuring they/them wind so she/her legend isn’t lonely

Art pieces (Look at the arts before you read, it will enhance the experience hehe):

Facedown on the floor by @raycatzdraws Rest by @alis-art-stuff

I am so in love with both of these arts. Raycatzdraws is so so SO funny. Every position is hilarious and also SO in character. And alis-art-stuff's piece is a perfect fluffy companion. Looking at this art feels like a warm hug. Everyone is so comfy and happy!

Warnings: detailed descriptions of chronic pain, references to past ableism (with direct ableist quotes), subsequent internalized ableism. They discuss medical issues in this one but they don’t have many of the correct terms or understanding of health conditions, so obligatory please do not take this as medical advice :)

The last bokoblin crumbled to dust at his feet. Sky stumbled to the side, caught in the momentum of the swing of his sword.

"That's the last of them," Warriors said.

"Good fight. Any injuries?” Time asked, just as he did after every battle. No one spoke up, so he nodded in approval. “We should find somewhere nearby to rest.”

Very, very slowly, Sky lowered himself to the ground. His knees, hips, and back popped painfully, so stiff he could barely move them. Sky didn't bother holding back a grimace. Sky pushed his legs out behind him, laid his arms by his side, and collapsed face first in the grass. His entire body throbbed. Sky tried to breathe evenly through the wave of pain.

"Uh, Sky?"

"Here. Rest," Sky mumbled into the dirt. Grass got in his mouth. Removing it seemed like an insurmountable task. It wasn't like it tasted that bad, anyway.

A pause. "Anyone catch that?"

Sky groaned loudly as he turned his head to the side just enough to free his mouth. "Rest. Here." 

Hyrule frowned, glancing around from the top of the hill they were on. The grassy fields continued for miles. "Isn't this a little exposed?"

"Rest here."

Four shrugged. "We did just clear the monsters."

"See? Rest now." Sky wouldn't have been able to get up if he tried. Everything hurt and he was so tired he might cry.

"I'm so on it," Wind said. "I'm so with you." They dropped to their knees—Sky flinched, knowing how his knees would feel if he did that—then sat back on their heels. Wind's arms flopped backwards as they curled forward and shoved their face in the ground. Their forehead touched the ground, leaving their mouth free for complaining. Sky respected the commitment.

"We have been walking and fighting and walking and fighting and running all week. No more," Wind said.

Sky grunted his agreement. The heroes within his line of sigh all looked at him with a wince, eyebrows drawn together and eyes wide with concern. Sky belatedly realized his sound might have been more pitiful than he intended it to be.

"Yeah, that about does it." Legend put her last item away in her bag then flopped onto the grass next to Sky.

"You mind?" Legend asked. Sky made a noise he hoped was significantly less disturbing than before. It must have worked, because Legend laid down with her head on Sky's backside. Sky made a noise of surprise.

"What?" Legend said. "It's soft."

Any reply Sky would have made was cut off by Warriors dramatic sigh as he collapsed on the ground. His legs were bent underneath his body and he haphazardly threw his arms over his face, resulting in his scarf billowing over his head and covering his face completely.

"This is fine," Warriors said, muffled by the scarf.

Twilight laid down next to him and collected the end of Warriors' scarf to use as a pillow. Wild draped himself over Twilight's legs and dragged Hyrule down with him. Hyrule yelped in surprise but relented quickly enough. He stuck one foot into Legend's side as he got comfortable. Four laid on the grass in the most awkward position physically possible. Sky's joints throbbed in pain just looking at it. Sky couldn't see Time from his angle, but going by the loud thump, Time was now also on the ground.

Sky hummed happily and put his face back in the dirt. There was a nice little indentation right where his nose was, so he wasn't even suffocating. How convenient, he thought.

Sky's muscles were still tense from the battle adrenaline. As hard as he tried, he couldn't quite drift off to sleep. His body ached, every joint and every muscle throbbing in time with his heart. The longer he laid on his stomach, the more the fire-like pain in his back spread. He knew he would regret laying like this later, but he really, really didn’t want to move. 

"This is boring," Wind said.

The heroes burst into laughter. Sky chuckled quietly, with as much energy as he could muster.

“Let’s find shapes in the clouds!” Wild suggested. 

“Ooh! Yes! Everyone play!” Wind cheered. 

Sky sighed and tried to will his body to relax. The level of effort he was putting would have been comical—he couldn’t force himself to relax, that defeated the purpose—if he wasn’t so utterly worn down. Everything hurt and he really, really wanted to be asleep. Sharp pressure stung behind his eyes. Sky flopped an arm over them and breathed deeply, desperately trying not to cry. 

The voices of the other heroes sounded like they were underwater. Or, maybe Sky was underwater and they were above. That made more sense, he thought. He certainly felt like he was underwater, drowning as he was pulled down by invisible forces. And how could he fight an enemy he couldn’t see?

A hand touched his boot. Sky flinched, eyes flying open with a gasp. Legend was sitting up beside him; Sky hadn’t noticed the change in pressure when she moved. Legend flashed him an apologetic smile. 

“The sailor wants you to look at the clouds,” Legend said. “You’ve got about ten seconds before they drag you over there themself. Just a warning.”

“Over where?” Sky asked. His neck ached from the strain of looking sideways at Legend. 

In response, Legend tilted her head over her shoulders. The other heroes were gathered in a circle, laying on their backs with their heads together. Legend carefully pushed herself to her feet and stretched her arms above her head. Beneath her braces, her joints popped. She shook them out then went to the circle. 

Instead of taking the closest open spot, she deliberately stepped on Warriors’ chest. Her step was light enough that it wouldn’t hurt, and more than enough for Warriors to yelp and swat her away. Legend laughed as she let herself be tackled onto the ground. 

Just as Legend predicted, it was no more than ten seconds before Wind was hopping up from the circle and bounding over to Sky. They knelt next to Sky’s head with a wide smile. “Sky, come look at clouds with us!” 

Sky forced a smile even as tears gathered in his eyes. As soon as they started, he couldn’t stop. Tears flowed down his face as Sky choked on a sob, burying his face in his arms in shame. 

“Sky?” Wind’s voice was panicked. “What’s wrong? Are you okay? Are you hurt?” 

Sky sniffled and shook his head, ignoring the pinpricks of pain throughout his neck and shoulders. “No, I— I’m— it’s fine. I’m fine.”

“What’s wrong?” Wind asked again. 

“I don- I don’t know,” Sky cried. “I’m just…”

Wind’s hand landed on his back and they started rubbing comforting circles. Another sob forced its way out of Sky’s chest. 

“You should turn over,” Twilight said. Sky sniffed and looked up in surprise. Twilight was right next to him. They all were, Sky realized; the others had moved their circle over to Sky and were all trying very hard not to stare at him in concern. 

“Your back always hurts when you lay like that,” Twilight continued. 

A fresh wave of emotion forced more tears out of Sky’s eyes. “You— how?”

Twilight smiled sadly at him. “I noticed. You never said anything about it, though, so…” Twilight shrugged. 

“Here,” Wind said, voice determined. “Can I help?” 

Sky nodded and wiped his nose miserably. Wind put one hand beneath his shoulder and the other beneath his hip.

“Ready? Set, go!” 

With Wind’s added momentum, Sky turned over on the first try with minimal difficulty. As soon as he landed on his back, the pain intensified and the sound of blood rushing filled his ears. Sky’s breath hitched, then he forced himself to calm down and breathe through the pain as his joints released their tension. 

“Are you having regrets?” Legend asked in a teasing tone. Sky knew that was how she showed her concern, and the words warmed his heart. 

“Mmhmm,” Sky mumbled in reply. His voice wavered far more than he expected. 

The sharp pain receded, and Sky finally was able to take a full breath. He let his arms flop on the grass above his head. Sky let himself breathe and relax. 

“Sky?” Twilight asked, voice uncharacteristically hesitant. 

Sky’s eyes felt like sandpaper under his eyelids as he dragged them open. 

“We wanted to talk to you about… this,” Twilight continued. 

Sky’s face burned with shame. His ears pinned themselves against his head. He glanced at the other heroes, all clearly staring, then shoved his eyes closed again. 

This was it. They were going to tell him he was being too slow and he needed to be better. He needed to try harder . Somewhere in the logical part of his mind, Sky knew he was being unfair to them, but a lifetime of being told to just suck it up and do better and being far, far too slow clouded his judgment.

“I’m sorry. I can do better,” Sky said. 

“What?” Legend interjected harshly. “What are you on about?”

Sky sniffled and wiped his eyes to keep his tears at bay. He drew in a shaky breath before he continued. “I know I’ve been slow lately, but I’ll do better. We don’t have to talk about it. I’m sorry.”

“No, Sky, that’s not what’s happening here,” Warriors said quickly. “We want to help.”

Sky’s thoughts stuttered to a halt. “You… what do you mean?”

“Back in your era, after you passed out, we talked to Zelda about it. We weren’t hiding this from you, but we haven’t had a chance to bring it up since.”

“...Oh. Um…”

Wind’s hand slipped into his and squeezed. Sky squeezed back, at a loss for words. 

“That was scary,” Wind said quietly. “I don’t like seeing you hurt.”

Sky’s stomach flipped. “I’m sorry.”

Wind squeezed his hand again. “It’s not your fault! The only thing you should be sorry about is not telling us that could happen! How were we supposed to know you’d be okay?”

“Sailor,” Warriors admonished quietly. “Sky, there’s nothing wrong with needing extra help. We all do, sometimes. I… I may not have said it out loud before, but I have battlesickness. You know that, and I know any of you will help me calm down when I can’t remember where I am. Do you blame me for that?”

“Of course not!” Sky said. 

“You’ve helped me apply my scar gel before! And you always make tea when me or Twilight have cramps,” Wild said. 

“I have a blind side. I can’t see attacks,” Time said.

“My shoulder won’t grow right after a monster flung me around. I can’t move it all the way and it hurts, sometimes,” Wind said. 

“This isn’t like that,” Sky interrupted, clenching his free hand in frustration. “This isn’t from my adventure. It comes and goes with how bad it is, but I’ve always been this way.”

“You know my joints are terrible. That’s something you and I have in common,” Legend added. “The braces help, but I’m not always up for moving. You’ve never blamed me for that.”

“I’ve had migraines all my life,” Four said. “More after my adventures, just like you.”

“I have food allergies,” Hyrule said. “Those aren’t my fault and they’ve been here forever.”

“It… it doesn’t get better. I have to deal with this every day.” Sky’s voice had a hint of a whine to it, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. “Everything hurts all the time. I’m so tired. I can’t even stand up without my body collapsing. It’s— it’s really, really hard,” Sky finished in a small voice. 

Wind squeezed his hand. The group was silent for a moment, only the sounds of crickets jumping through the grass. 

“Zelda told us some things she and Groose do to help,” Warriors said. “I’d like to hear what you do day to day to manage it, if you’re comfortable sharing.”

Sky blinked up at the clouds through teary eyes. “I don’t… I don’t know.”

“I always watch food being prepared, that helps my anxiety. I don’t like my face or neck being touched. When I’m panicking, breathing exercises and asking me to describe my surroundings are what help,” Warriors offered. 

After a beat, enough time for Sky to speak up if he wanted, Legend continued. “I stretch every morning and night. I have pain relief tea if I need it. Movement helps the inflammation stay down, but too much running or jumping makes things worse.”

“Oh,” Sky realized. “That’s— my knees are the same. If they stay straight or bent for too long they get hard to move.”

“There, see? Stuff like that,” Warriors encouraged. “What else do you know?”

“Um. When I passed out, that was from standing too quickly. Well, the portal makes everything feel worse, and I don’t usually fully pass out. When I sit up or stand up I have to move really slow or I feel bad for a while. I lean or sit as often as I can. I sleep as much as I can, but I’m still tired all the time, no matter how much I rest. Is that— is that okay?”

“You’re doing great, Sky. That’s exactly what we mean,” Twilight said. 

“Zelda mentioned the exhaustion too,” Warriors said. “She said stamina fruit helps…”

The Links stayed on the hill, resting and talking for the rest of the day. Time tired of talking quickly, but he listened with a smile on his face. Wind, Wild, and Hyrule pointed out exciting clouds during lapses in the conversation. The other heroes offered things about themselves they had learned and things that helped them, too, so Sky wasn’t the only one. They made sure he didn’t feel like a burden, and they made sure he felt loved. 

For once, Sky was not the first to fall asleep. Time and Wild hadn’t responded in a while, and Legend hadn’t opened her eyes for her last three comments. Sky could feel the fatigue tugging on his eyelids as he struggled to keep up with the conversation. After his third yawn in as many sentences, Warriors reached over Wind and ruffled Sky’s hair. 

“Get some sleep,” Warriors said with a fond chuckle. “I’ll wake everyone up in time to make camp before dusk.”

“Okay,” Sky said around another yawn. He sighed contentedly and drifted off more easily than he had in weeks. He felt light, like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. The problems with his body may not be able to be solved, but Sky was confident they could be managed, especially with his family by his side. 

[fairuzfan]

Genuinely curious, because I've seen some people say that one should vote biden because if you vote for trump or desantis their stance on the ongoing genocide and other matters would actually be worse than what we're contending with, and I have no true frame of reference: do you think that's actually true or a likely possibility?

I'm of the opinion that it really doesn't matter who we vote for anyways, the outcomes will still be the same. Biden is enabling 4 different genocides/ethnic cleansing (Palestine, Congo, Armenia, Sudan) and honestly, I don't see how it can get any worse.

They often make the argument that things will happen *here* that is dangerous but speaking as someone who has lived in a very Red state my entire life, it has never been safe or welcoming for me to begin with, along with others who have similar identities to me. Not to mention that bad things have already happened here under Biden, with the Abortion ban, book bans, and ban on critical race theory being taught in schools.

Trump is not great, like I don't want him to win either. He was the person who moved the Israeli embassy to Jerusalem and it was seen as a political slap to the face to Palestinians (click). Don't get me wrong they're both piles of shit. But I refuse to elect people into office that let such flagrantly terrible things happen in the world. These people have no oversight in their actions, are free to do what they want, and no manner of "democratic" intervention will stop them from doing the things they want, especially when they're afraid of losing funding for going against major lobbying organizations like CUFI and AIPAC.

This isn't the first time Biden ignored Palestinians in this term. Remember in 2021 with the settlements in Shiekh Jarrah? He didn't say a word condemning Israel for their forced displacement and their bombardment of Gaza (click). Sure the Abraham Accords sucked and that was brokered by Trump, but Biden could have undone that. He didn't. He just re-approved aid to Palestinians (which, who cares when they're under occupation? No amount of aid will help them attain liberation). Palestinians don't want aid — they want America to stop funding the Zionist Entity.

Everyone in Palestine already knows that the Israel's biggest supporter, America, is also their biggest funder. If they just stopped funding, everything would be cut in half. There is no way the Zionist entity would be able to sustain itself. Even now, their economy is failing because they relied on Palestinians for much of their cheap labor. They cannot support themselves without USAmerica's direct intervention.

I am of the opinion that we should organize to change the way our government operates or else things like these will keep happening. It does not help anyone but the ultrarich and the people in power. Things like Cop City and the genocide in Congo and Sudan and Armenia only happen because the US has a vested monetary interest in oppressing them. This will not change between presidents. Biden will just be quieter about it.

I don't know how to organize stuff like this, or where to go to organize, but if we keep playing in the system they laid out where they always win, then there's no way anything can change.

[showtoonzfan]

So to sum up, here’s what Viv did to Ken regarding the document:

1. Saw their fanart of Cherri Bomb, asked if she could use their pose as a reference for Cherri’s character sheet, but instead traced the pose and despite saying she’d give credit, never did.

2. Excuses the fact that her idea for Sir Pentious’s third eye being an emote to him was a copy of Ken’s character they refer to as “TF”. Ken mentions it made them uncomfortable and suggested that his hat be an AI or something Pen created himself, but obliviously in the final product of the pilot, it was never explained what Sir Pen’s hat was or why he had it.

3. MOST importantly, NEVER credited Ken for their involvement with writing the Hazbin pilot. Viv goes to Ken multiple instances, admitting she isn’t the best at writing and only comedy, and needs help. She shares some ideas with Ken, and here are the following ideas and scenes that Ken came up with THEMSELVES that appeared in the final product of the pilot:

The joke scene where everyone laughs at Charlie, but Angel dust is brought up with her proudly saying he’s making great progress, only to cut to him on the news helping Cherri out and everything being screwed up for her, saying “oh shit” or “oh fuck”.

Angel being the only patron of the hotel, and only being there for a free room, with Vaggie and Charlie scolding him that he would change and him not caring

LITERALLY WAS THE ONE WHO CAME UP WITH ALASTOR APPEARING IN THE PILOT AND WANTING TO INVEST IN THE HOTEL BECAUSE HE’S BORED.

Alastor and Husk knowing each other PERSONALLY and Alastor being the one who hired Husk to help

The joke scene where someone brings up that they’re trying to help sinners not encourage this stuff and Angel immediately says “shut up we’re keeping this”-

The joke scene of Angel telling Al he can do the deed and Al immediately going “haha! No!”.

Came up with the idea that Al’s introduction on who he is should be through Angel asking Vaggie and came up with the “wait you don’t know him?” - “eh not big on politics”- dialogue.

Alastor’s line of “If I wanted to hurt anyone here, I would have done so already”-

And yet, despite being responsible for these jokes and plot threads, when Erin had confronted Viv about being credited, Viv had all this bs to say:

At first she rambles on about how she didn’t credit because apparently the stuff Ken came up with was early draft shit? Despite the fact that everything I listed above was in the actual pilot? And then didn’t want to credit them because she wanted to make a “promotional” post despite Spindlehorse not even being created yet and Ken had every right to ask for credit since it’s true that people DO assume that Viv does all this stuff by herself. And apparently telling everyone what members did what is too much for Viv, because Ken’s getting paid anyway so that makes it okay! Then Viv being Viv thinks Ken is attacking her and pulls the poor pity me card simply because she couldn’t understand what Ken was asking her I guess, but I suggest y’all read the entire doc because I’m scratching the surface, I just bring this up because the writing was the most important part.

4. Blacklisted and talked horrible of Ken behind their back. Ken was hesitant and late into signing the document, but eventually Viv had started to speak negatively of Ken to other members, calling them an abuser ect:

Again, read the document for full context, but this is just fucking awful, especially since at the same time when this was happening, Viv had been talking to Ken at the time and being all nice. It’s just amazing how awful Viv sounds, how she thinks Ken is out to get her and her show, all for wanting credit and wanting to make sure they didn’t sign their rights and characters away. Someone who had literally helped Viv on the pilot and was there for her in a vulnerable time of need, got treated like dirt, and it is NOT okay.

Please spread the document link:

[qqueenofhades]

Is it selfish and entitled to be optimistic? I know a lot of shit is happening but a lot of good stuff is happening to and I just feel like their are people who are not right wing who just want the rest of us to give up.

Er..... no????

Sorry, this is just the exact kind of question that, when I see it, makes me wonder what sort of insane terminally online brainworms are invading the Discourse (tm) now and both be surprised and not at all surprised that you feel the need to ask. So much of online culture is about nihilism, especially in social media: everything's terrible, everyone's doomed, if you don't recognize that it's Doomed then you're either delusional or "lol neurotypical," and any attempts to change that narrative, push back on it, point out the good things, or insist that meaningful action is both necessary and able to make a difference are somehow Morally Wrong. It's tied into the entire idea that doing nothing is the best course of (non) action, we're all doomed anyway, and that it's better to accept that and aggressively insist that others agree, because conveniently, if everything's terrible and past hope anyway, there's no obligation to try to fix it. It's the real-world corollary of the grimdark fiction insistence that only evil, depression, death, and cruelty are "real," and everything else is naive, stupid, simplistic, saccharine, or otherwise unrepresentative of the "reality" of the Big Mean World. And just like... come on. That's not true. We all know it's not true. Shut up.

It's the same kind of culture that glamorizes depression and poor mental health, insists that any basic steps to help yourself are "ableist," or otherwise does its best to cling to its negative and disempowered mindset, rather than taking any responsibility for either an individual or collective situation and attempting, however small, to make a difference. I'm not surprised that therapy-speak has been yet again weaponized to insist that anyone who has any amount of hope or positive outlook is "selfish and entitled," but as your Local Wise Tumblr Elder, I can safely assure you that it's bullshit and you're under absolutely no obligation to believe it, listen to it, or incorporate it into your worldview or actions. Giving up and throwing up your hands is easy. The hard part is actually trying to change things, accepting that we live in a flawed world, and that it nonetheless does not need to be unmitigated misery at all times. It will not be everything, but it will be something, and it will matter. It will also make you feel better, and very probably, other people as well.

Anyway: you're right. There ARE good things happening. They don't get nearly as much press or play as the bad things, but they still exist, and they should be pointed out. If you're participating in discussions or groups that are pushing the idea that only the bad things are valid, and you're "selfish" for insisting otherwise, I suggest that you drop them or otherwise cut way back or set healthy boundaries. Because, it's just not true, it deliberately disheartens and demoralizes you from trying, and the only people who benefit from that are the fuckwits who are largely responsible for ruining shit in the first place. So don't let them get away with it even more and automatically apply this mindset to yourself before you even try. Etc. etc. you are not obliged to complete the work, but nor are you free to abandon it. So yeah.

[k0ff1n]

WHY EVERYONE IN THE TWST FANDOM IS A PUSSY AND DOESN'T WRITE ABOUT ORTHO:

First of all, sorry if there are any errors, english is not my first language and I'm still learning it.

Seeing how people reacted to this post I'll add some things first, to at least not be called a pedo:

I'm literally a minor, so please don't call me a pedo because that's not really possible I think

If you were to actually read the post, not because you agree but because you want to complain then you have two options, to not read it at all or to consider the first point and the fact that I too would prefer the people writing about him to imagine a older looking version.

As stated before, if you want to complain pls don't interact

So I suppose that everyone who plays twisted wonderland knows who Ortho is, but in case someone doesn't, here's a little description:

He was and still is Idia Shroud's little brother, he died when he was a child and his body was remade by his brother to somehow "keep him alive".

I know that reading this gives the idea of him still being a child and that, if he was one, writing fanfictions about him would be wrong, so this is why I'll try to explain why having this idea while knowing the full story is kinda stupid.

1: HIS AGE

After saying that he died as a child and was made anew it gives the idea that he's still a child, but he technically isn't.

In the birthday card form the first year of the game, which is almost three years ago at this point, Yuu asks him in the interview what was his best memory from a past birthday party. To this Ortho answers the party that was held when he was five, which was eleven years ago. If you know basic math you should understand that 5+11=16, which makes him as old as the first years. Ok I know, some of you don't understand that being sixteen isn't the same as being five years old but for the sake of this post we'll say that, yes he's still a minor and we shouldn't write romantic stuff about him because bla bla bla (Also I'd like to point out that I'm not talking about writing nsfw stuff about him, just relationship scenarios instead of only platonic ones) but if you consider the year in which the card was released then it means that this August he'll be eighteen, so yeah legal age for stuff.

In case you want to argue about what he says in the story I'll leave the screens of the translation:

2: HIS MENTAL AGE

Writing this might seem stupid but some of you don't understand it so I'll do it anyway. We said that his body is new, and this applies for his mind too, well kind of. Some of his memories as Ortho Shroud, the one who actually lived, are still inside his head, we know that because Idia somehow put some of them back inside of him to "preserve his little brother". With this said we are left with:

50% old memories

50% all that's known to mankind

We know that in his head he can search everything, you can clearly see that during history lessons and in some of his cards (if I'm not wrong it was a birthday one but I'm not sure which of the two). He talks about how much he likes playing games with other students and that since he can predict everything they'll do they decided to create a handwritten list of moves to use against him. From this we get:

He can know everything from the entire internet, from every site and from every data storage around the world

Can without much trouble go against entire groups of people at once and still win, something that I don't think someone with the mind of a kid can do

To conclude this first part about his head I'll just say that you can't have the mindset of a child if you know everything, and this applies to him too. 3: HIS PERCEPTION OF HIMSELF

This is still about his mind but with a different point of view. When we finish the sixth chapter of the story Ortho gains a real heart, a real himself we can say. He's finally free from his brother's restrains and he starts to become a real person. The school realizes this too and accepts him as a student, starting from the first year. This might seem obvious but we know that two years before, when him and Idia arrived at the school, he wasn't perceived as a person, he was just a tool, another piece of metal and cables that his brother bought with him. Now having a heart and a mind of his own he still has the knowledge he had before but he can also appreciate things from another prospective, one only a real living being can have. I feel like saying this might not mean much but to put it simply: he arrives at the school and is fourteen, he stays a total robot for another year and then we meet him when he's sixteen. After another year he gains a heart and he's almost an adult and now, one year after he's become a person, he's to become eighteen. He's almost a literal adult, this is what I wanted to say. Another thing that I'd like to point out is the fact that during chapter six he acts a different way when with or without his brother. The "childish" version of him is only visible when he's talking to Idia and that single time that he slips in an annoyed expression, one his brother has probably never seen, he gets asked if there is need for maintenance. His real self is later introduced, he's way more similar to his brother if not worse at some points. Various times he expresses amusement in seeing someone struggle, something that even Idia had never done. We can clearly see that the version of Ortho that we've always seen wasn't the real one but something that his brother remembered about him from their childhood and that he had to take as his only option regarding personality. His real personality is yes, friendly, but not childish in the slightest. The most childish character in the game is probably Kalim lol. Btw these are some screens from one of the cards where be talks about himself and stuff, even before becoming a real person:

4: HIS BODY

We know he's short, he's 148 cm. Oh wait you want to say that his face almost looks... like the one of a young looking person? Please don't. Seriously, this might mean something if he was the only character in the game with a young looking face but he isn't, we literally got Epel and Riddle a similar design. And oh look, people write about them, even nsfw stuff, but no one complains for some reason. Epel is sixteen, a minor, but no one says anything if someone decides to simply add the "every character here is aged up so everything's fine" thing. Riddle is seventeen, oh look, another minor people don't have a problem writing about. You can clearly see how stupid this is, he's the same age as them, has the same type of design as them but for some reason is treated different from the fandom. Also, to add things to this mix of reasons, his body isn't even human, he's a literal thing made of metal, wires, fans and a heart. Idia could customize him any moment, and maybe in the future he will who knows, but for now this is what we got.

There's also a "problem" with his voice if we want to call it that. Yes, in this case I'll say that he sounds like a kid, but there's a reason. When Idia created him the only voice he has ever heard his little brother speak with was the one of a five years old, we can clearly hear the similarities between Ortho's real voice when he was a kid in chapter six and the one that AI Ortho has. But during chapter six we also hear the voice that he's supposed to have now, and it's not a childlike one, he really sounds like a teenager.

5: THE FINAL (not the dir en grey song) PART

After all these paragraphs I sincerely hope that at least some of you understand how all this doesn't make sense. I know I'm not the only one who thinks this, I know other people with this same idea but at this point no one can really write anything without being called slurs or assuming random things about them. This post was just a simple explanation of how I see this "issue", if we want to call it that.

Also as stated at the start of the post I too would really prefer an older looking version of him, one with the voice we hear in chapter six from his real and current self and not the one that resembles his old one. This said I understand why some of you want to complain about me wanting fantictions about him and this is why I say that if there will ever be some I will only be imagining the "older" version and not the one that we have now in the game.

Thanks for everyone who read till this point and have a good day :)

[mobblespsycho100]

👍 kabru, heh

thank you so much mwahaha

1. Bottom Line by Dom Fera

I think this song is very Kabru in a this has big "customer service" vibes, lmao.

"Drive me somewhere you've been liking" -> hes a people pleaser, letting someone take the reins while he supports them and hangs back is kind of his thing. Even though he plans stuff out and chooses his words deliberately, sometimes he goes along with ppl's wants and expectations for him a bit too much...

"Order something I don't want, I'll drink it anyway" -> basically Kabru when he had to eat the harpy eggs Laios offered lmao. 'Right, i hate this so much this is Monster. okay. wow i need to kill you' hes literally triggered (in the ptsd term sense and not the. warped internet meaning of it) and he's still like okay ! i will dig in ! to prove a point ! so laios likes and trusts me! (... what point kabru . cmon man. )

"Take a little time, it's funny how you're fine when I'm away -> he needs to be needed. He needs to help others, save them even, to protect them from the tragedy he has experienced. He's used to being dismissed and he does swallow it and take it but ik he was so 🤨😧😠 abt laios ignoring him and all the attempts to get to know him... so its like take a lil tine its funny how ur fine when im away ... Kabru knows Laios is the closest to conquering the dungeon. and hes like. I rlly wanna help u do this but . ik ur probably fine without me (... man he makes me . so 😭)

"It's natural to see a bottom line with me / A bottom line I'll be" -> A bottom line in business is like the final total right. The sum of everything thats written at the bottom. The ultimate outcome... the core. The fate of the dungeon is something he wants to decide and get a say in as well. Even though he knows he isn't the one thats going to conquer it, he chooses to stop Mithrun from beating up Thistle and grabs him and they free fall into that pit. Because he decided, yeah, the fate of this dungeon the one to conquer it has to be us short-lived races/humans. He is such an action oriented character . He makes such decisions. He is so determined to make sure that Utaya doesn't repeat itself. Man.

Anyway that's song 1. moving on to song 2.

2. Smoke and Mirrors by Gotye

This entire song is So Kabru coded its insane to me . but I grabbed these lyrics from Verse 3 Because the last line specifically makes. me go crazy.

"You're a fraud, and you know it" -> the freaking masker . he is such a liar and he knows it... theres not much else to say here. Playing the hero, the saviour, while knowing he doesn't actually have the skills to defeat the dungeon but hes just so desperate . man

"And every night and day you take the stage" -> he should get an acting award fr... always adjusting his personality and carefully planning his steps with each person he interacts with man... also inchtresting to me that he gets to be more #real with Mithrun. thats a whole nother analysis can of worms I won't get into but like they rlly drove each other's character development...

"And it always entertains, you're giving pleasure" -> To quote Holm, Kabru is the typa guy who would do anything to get someone to like him akdjskhf hes so real for that...

"And that's admirable, you tell yourself" -> (kabru voice) im so cool for this ahaha everyone loves me (guy who genuinely fucking loathes himself) /ref

"And so you'd gladly sell yourself to others" -> smile of pain. I just think hes a real business man sometimes . Goodness Kabru stop being a charismatic salesman of your own personality im going to explode .

Right. we're on to the last one I guess...

3. Dear Arkansas Daughter by Lady Lamb

GENUINELY cannot really do this analysis lyric by lyric or I will go ... well. I'll go into the deep end but . like . right. anyway. this set of lyrics above aka the most popular line is very Kabru appearance. (Goodness i need to make an AMV of this. I will one day once the executive dysfunction stops fighting my autistic hyperfixation ass)

THIS WHOLE . SET OF LYRICS IS JUST BIG KABRU VIBES (SOURCE: JUST TRUST ME BRO)... His heart is full of swords... the sword fighter (he is proficient in many weapons)... im not big into tarot (or well i havent researched it much) but the annotations for these lyrics said that its referencing the Three of Swords tarot card, which represents painful sorrow. and like.. man like a fundamental sorrow in Kabru is so oughh its just so . real. and again i need a whole nother analysis post for this since this is already So long

Tie my hands & knock my knees. he is so stressed he is so . nervous all the time and these r like. the freeze . trauma response. to me. he goes freeze and fawn a lot (fawn not specifically with abusers per say but like people pleasing tendencies again) and like kind of visibly looking nervous and stressed out up before saying smth next is smth he does a lot I feel.

And like the vibe of like sinking to the sea with a heavy heart but also being someone who brings hope in a way to others (ex: Rin and Mithrun, he ends up being their anchor and helping them start like living with their lives after the burden of their traumas and hellish experiences) but Kabrus own traumas are so immense and then the person who rises . who foils him and who brings him hope is Laios. like a ripe red apple like. something bright and tempting and also dangerous (smth smth the forbidden fruit symbolism. theres so much . like Kabru that I can dissect with like Biblical symbolism themes but like anyway he sees Laios as both the key to humanity's victory against the dungeon and as sin / a distraction from his goal because Laios makes him do selfish things and its just AAAAHGHH rahhhh. man. im normal)

ANYWAY YEAH ... that wraps this up. Thank you for sending this ask ❣️💌 I am very normal abt Kabru of Utaya dungeon meshi

[sineala]

Fall of X (Steve/Tony Edition)

For anyone else who is a comics Steve/Tony fan who doesn't usually read X-Men comics and is now finding themselves needing to wade through the Fall of X, this is everything I have found that's out now (or coming out very soon) in the order you should read it, that pertains to Steve and/or Tony. This is accurate as of today (September 16); we are obviously not done with the event so this list will not stay accurate, but if you want to hop on now, this is how you'd do it.

Iron Man #7

Avengers/X-Men FCBD 2023

Hellfire Gala 2023

Iron Man #8

Iron Man #9

X-Men #25

Uncanny Avengers #1

X-Men #26

(Uncanny Avengers #2 when it comes out, Sept. 20)

(Iron Man #10 when it comes out, Sept. 27)

(Iron Man #7 is not technically part of this but it does have some lead-up with a subplot involving Rhodey and Feilong. I am assuming you are all reading Iron Man anyway.)

I am also not a regular X-Men reader so it's possible that I've missed some stuff, but this is everything that has Steve and/or Tony or is directly relevant to them that I have found. So this isn't the entire event, but if you're just trying to get through Iron Man comics there are definitely some comics that you want to read.

I mention this because it might not be entirely obvious to anyone just trying to read through Iron Man that there are crucial events in the Free Comic Book Day issue that was released months ago. But there are. And I would like to save everyone else the trouble of getting halfway through Hellfire Gala and wondering why all of a sudden someone has been trying to assassinate Captain America off-panel and thinking that, wow, I really must have missed something somewhere. Which was the experience I had. So, yeah. That was actually depicted in the FCBD 2023 issue. Surprise!

(The most necessary part of the ordering, for our purposes, is Avengers/X-Men FCBD, Hellfire, and then Iron Man #8. There are several important events that we see from various points of view throughout these issues, which all take place on the same night, in that order. Iron Man #8 also assumes you have read Iron Man #182 but I feel like probably everyone has done this.)

Tony is on the main team (although the main Avengers book is not part of the Fall of X event); Steve is currently leading the Uncanny Avengers, which is part of the event. Both Steve and Tony actually appear together briefly in both X-Men #25 and Uncanny Avengers #1 as part of the meetings the remaining resistance is holding against Orchis. I don't know if Tony will be in this week's Uncanny Avengers #2. He wasn't in the preview and he isn't in the character list on the recap page, but that was also the case for both X-Men #25 and Uncanny Avengers #1. I think the character lists only cover the team members in this particular series.

I have reordered a couple of issues from the order they were released in. Uncanny Avengers #1 was released the week before Iron Man #9 but it has to happen in the opposite order. IM #9 takes place the night of the Gala and on into the next day; it picks up immediately after #8 and resolves the cliffhanger there. UA #1, even though it came out before this, takes place weeks after the Gala, as established in the issue. Judging by the preview, UA #2 will (at least partially) take place immediately after UA #1 but as it hasn't come out yet, I can't say for sure.

Similarly, since Iron Man #9 is right after #8, I've put X-Men #25 after that, since it also takes place weeks after the Gala, even though it came out before IM #9. I might end up moving Uncanny Avengers around some more later as well, but this works for now.

X-Men #26 is the X-Men half of the wedding issue along with Iron Man #10. The IM half isn't out yet, so we'll see what happens there.

[ctrlhope]

HOSEOK IS HOMEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!

OHHHH MY GODDDDD!!!!!!!!

(updates below the cut lol) (also a sneak peak)

hiiiii!!! long time no talkkkkk my lovlies (＞ω＜)♡

first off-- an apology :(( im really sorry for just disappearing. i hate it, you guys hate it. i know :( it's really my worst flaw when it comes to writing / tumblr in general, haha~ i get rlly into something and hyperfixate on it (fun fact: bound by blood was written in like 3 days bc i got so into it lol), and then a gradual fallout until i feel burnt out. which then leads to the whole "omg i left for so long, now im anxious that everyone is gonna hate me when i come back and cause i haven't updated in so long and yadda yadda" when i actually want to come back LMAOOOO. which i know isn't true, but like, you know AKSNDK. So i hung out on my anime blog for a bit, then on discord, blah blah blah boring stuff!!

either way, i really am sorry for just dipping for so long. i always came back to check on this blog every once and awhile and to read stories. i really love the little community i built over here and i love all of you guys dearly. you really make this blog such a fun and enjoyable space for me so i hope you accept my apology and we can all still be fun and hang out and stuff <33 i missed you guys dearly.

THAT BEING SAID!!

I am back!! I was planning to come back for kinktober, actually, but unfortunately time just got away from me and I wasn't able to complete everything that I wanted to. This semester has been HECTIC!!! Senior thesis's are no joke, man, no joke. Feeding 600 spiders... every week.... BLEH!! (not cause of the spiders aksjhwfkh just cause it takes so long!! like!!)

That being said-- I don't have a current update schedule yet, just because I don't want to put too much pressure on myself again (burnout is a bitch!!) but~~ as of right now, I have plans for a "full comeback" (read: first fic) to come out the first week of November!! A little teaser of it will be at the bottom of this post too <33

Hopefully, if everything goes according to plan I will have a 'ficvember' (lol), where I post a fic every other week of November and December!! It is not set in stone (read as: I want to have a few fics lined up before I start just so I don't feel overwhelmed) but if everything goes according to plan, it will happen!! I'll make sure of it!!

I also plan to have a follower milestone soon, so stay tuned for an announcement post of that. I have lots of different things I want to do for it, I'm just not fully sure what you guys would like to see! I also updated my wips, so feel free to check them out to see what i've been working on!

But yeah!! Those are the plans so far!! To lay it out in a more organized manner:

November 1st: Chasing Tornados -> myg

November 2nd - 8th: Follower milestone announcement

November 15th, November 29th: New fic

Anyway! To wrap up this entirely too long post (I'm sorry, I'm terrible at shutting up), I truly am sorry for just leaving for so long. I have lots of plans in the works-- things I'm very passionate about and need to get out of my head before I explode, so new fics coming soon, I promise <333

Now, here's the reward I promised if you made it this far <33 I love u and we should kiss on the mouth freaky style <333

[phoenixremix69]

How I think SUF should have ended

Ok, now, I'm gonna have to do one thing right off the bat, homeworld bound no longer exists. For one, it doesn't really do anything besides showing what the diamonds are up to and it would break up the plot cohesion for the next point.

Instead of shattering Jasper and eventually corrupting, that final bumrush is their fusion dance and the worm Steven is their fusion. We've seen a bunch of times that the more toxic a relationship is, the crazier the fusion gets. A self-loathing Steven mixed with a gem who literally only knows toxicity would probably be 90% feral anyway.

And here's the most important part. While I am my monster becomes the penultimate episode, it gets a second part. While all the stuff is going on on the outside with monster steven and the gems like normal, we also get an entire episode inside Steven's gem. Jasper's there as a voice in his head as we get a gallery walkthrough of some of the biggest points of the show, all his biggest highs and lowest lows with Jasper commentary. And at the deepest corner of his mind, he sees her. Rose Quartz.

And the very first thing he does...is start punching her in the face. He just starts wailing on he while getting out everything he's wanted to scream at her for years now "YOU LEFT SPINEL IN THE GARDEN WAITING FOR YOU FOR MILLENIA! YOU LEFT BISMUTH FOR DEAD IN A BUBBLE AND LET EVERYONE THINK SHE DIED! YOU TOLD PEARL SHE WAS FREE AND KEPT HER SILENT ABOUT YOUR BS YEARS AFTER YOU DIED! YOU MADE AMETHYST THINK SHE WASN'T A GOOD ENOUGH QUARTZ WHEN YOU AREN'T A QUARTZ PERIOD! YOU MADE GARNET HATE HERSELF BECAUSE YOU MADE BEING HERSELF AN OBLIGATION INSTEAD OF A CHOICE! YOU LEFT dad alone. You left me alone, and I had to suffer all of the consequences."

And she doesn't say a word, doesn't try to defend herself, just takes it and cries. until he finally peters out and she says her first words to her son "I'm sorry. You 're absolutely right, and I can't be sorry enough about it. I was petty, and cruel, and every single thing I accused the other diamonds of. And you're right to hate me for that. But you shouldn't hate yourself for it. Steven, just you existing surpassed every one of my wildest dreams. Something good, coming from me? Ha! But all this, helping all these people, making all the friends, I couldn't even imagine doing half of the things you did. But right now, you aren't just hurting me, you're hurting yourself, and the people who love you."

"What?"

Rose waves a hand to open up a window to what's going on outside with worm steven wrecking everybody

"Steven, you have every right to hate me, and to keep hating me forever, stars know I deserve it. But I'm just a ghost now. You're real and your friends are real, and they love you, and I love you and you should love you. So please, for your own sake, learn to accept that love."

"Ok"

the world starts to fade away, with the last Steven sees of his mom is her crying, smiling, and making a heart with her hands

And the episodes sync up with the big group hug. From there it's pretty much the canon ending, but there's also a time jump montage of Steven getting better and going to therapy

[lemotmo]

I love that we're all just spiraling into AU theories 🙃

Q. I'm nervous about the fact that they have clearly added several Lonestar writers. That show is so ridiculous and all the BTS stuff coming out is making me more confused, haha. Because what the actual hell is happening?? Hello magazine cover!

A. Okay it's time for some truth. Is Lonestar a ridiculous show? Yes. But 911 is not free of its own ridiculous choices. I watch Lonestar. And it's nothing but mindless television. It's pure fluff. It's wacky and over the top and does certain things that are absolutely ridiculous. But so does 911. We just tend to give it more of a pass because it's the show we prefer, and overall it is the far superior product. Overall it has better characters. Overall it has better acting. Overall it has better stories, but they're still capable of telling absolute garbage. The entire back half of last season proves that. The first half wasn't without its flaws either. For starters spending three episodes on the sinking ship was definitely one episode too many, in my opinion. Especially when you account for the fact that a great deal of that time was spent on that ridiculous Norman and Lola plot. It was stupid and was allowed to take up way too much time. Was anyone dying for an update on Norman and Lola? No. Literally no one cared if we ever saw them again, but there they were front and center for three freaking episodes. Let's move to the wedding episode now. Was that much hallucinated Doug necessary? Nope. Again, way too much screen time devoted to a part of the story absolutely no one wanted to see again. The episode was excellent overall but there was way too much unnecessary Doug. Then we spent the rest of the season with Bobby and the cartel, vigilante Athena, and Eddie dating his dead wife's twin. Utterly ridiculous television. We have to call a spade a spade.

If they really are doing an AU everyone will need to understand that a storyline like that comes with a certain built in level of ridiculousness. All of the speculation is fun and interesting, and some of it probably way better than what we will actually get, but people need to acknowledge parts of it will most likely be ridiculous. It's called fantasy for a reason. We can't automatically expect it to play like Buck's coma dream. We're most likely going to have to suspend reality for a bit. Especially considering the BTS stuff we've gotten so far leans more satirical than dramatic. Obviously we have no actual details but I just don't want people raging if it goes more camp than serious. That doesn't mean the events that lead up to the AU or the parts that come after the AU can't or won't be serious. I just think people should have the expectation of at least some of it being ridiculous. And that's okay. It's okay to have a bit of fun with it. And yeah the magazine was odd, lol. I have no idea what's happening. He does look like Eddie. Kind of. So who knows. The big thing for me was that he was hiding his hand, again. So that's clearly going to be something. Hopefully he does get to punch Gerard. But I doubt it. That would just require makeup for bruising, unless he breaks his hand doing it, but the cast would just slip on and off, so there would be no need to keep it on when he wasn't filming. Then again this is 911 so anything is possible. They're clearly reading our theories though so I'm not even sure if everything we're getting can be taken seriously. This got long, anon. I'm mostly just trying to tell you to not overthink everything. Which we're all going to do anyway so......

Thank you Nonny!

I have never watched Lone Star beyond episode 2, so I can't really comment on the first part of this ask.

As for the possibility of an AU episode? It's been done successfully before in other more 'serious' shows, so it can be done. I do think the 911 writers are clever enough to pull it off.

That magazine article is probably nothing. Someone over on Twitter found the stock picture that was used for that magazine. You can find it here. So in all likelihood it was just a prop magazine and the guy on the cover happened to look like Ryan. Who knows?

I agree that Ryan hiding his hand each time was very interesting. And the magazine picture was taken in the emergeny room. So, that might be something.

But yeah, we don't really know anything at this point. It's just a guessing game. Let's just enjoy the speculating and theorising and hopefully we'll get some good new bts content this week. Then we can obsess over something else yet again. XD LOL!

IMPORTANT! Please don't repost this ask and/or a link that leads straight to my Tumblr account on Twitter or any other social media. Thank you!

Heads up! For anyone who is giving me the shifty eyes for reposting Ali's updates instead of reblogging. Read this.

Remember, no hate in comments, reblogs or inboxes. Let's keep it civil and respectful. Thank you.

If you are interested in more of Ali’s posts, you can find all of her posts so far under the tag: anonymous blog I love.

[clownsalot]

uhm i come bearing milgram ocs can i come play in the sandbox with you guys 👉👈

anyways here are my silly guys!!

(im kinda too lazy to come up with my own entire prisoner roster and Es, so i basically just plopped my guys straight into canon. also, im only throwing in stuff from trial 1 because i havent really thought out trial 2 yet beyond vague ideas)

details and stuff below the cut!!!

introduction

015

t1 songs of the prisoners

No, I'm too scared to—!

t1 voice trailer

Ah, my name is Takahashi Naoto. Just Naoto is fine. I'm 18, in my graduating year of highschool. Nice to meet you, Warden. I think asking me about how I feel will just sway your decision making. It's straightforward, so let's keep it simple. Just take the facts. —"—"- What the hell...what the hell? I didn't think it would...it wasn't supposed to...

016

t1 songs of the prisoners

This is...payback!

t1 voice trailer

Yo~ I'm Hashimoto Akane. I'm 15 years old, 3rd year middle school. That makes us a similar age, doesn't it? Let's get along! Well, I will admit that what I did definitely made some people very upset. You'll be deciding if I should be punished on their behalf, right? —"—"- You deserve this. You deserve this! You're the one who chose to go that far...!

interrogation questions

Q: Family?

015: Both my parents. An older brother, too. I don't talk to them often since I stopped living with them.

016: Myself, my mom and dad, and my younger sister. She's 14, I love her very much!!

Q: Who was your victim to you?

015: A schoolmate. Her name was Asuka. You could say we were friends.

016: She wasn't anyone important to me or anything, so don't get weird ideas. I only knew about her because of my sister.

Q: How is your experience in Milgram?

015: It's not all bad. I've never had this much free time before.

016: It's alright but I still kinda want to go home. I worry about how my sister is doing...

Q: What do you dislike?

015: Just in general? Well, it doesn't matter i guess. I don't like things that are bothersome.

016: People who mistreat others for no reason. They're terrible. Terrible!

Q: Are there things you regret?

015: I try not to think about them. Regrets don't erase your mistakes, so what's the point?

016: I did everything believing it was the right choice at the time. But I wish I'd done more sooner. It would have saved my sister a lot of suffering and I might not even be here if I had.

Q: Do you have apologetic feelings for your victim?

015: You're the one responsible for judging if I should, aren't you?

016: Who knows. But I don't regret what I did.

Q: Any prisoners you're close with?

015: I'm on good terms with everyone. Though, I like talking with Kayano. He's a bit like an older sibling.

016: I like taking care of Amane and always try to look after her, we're the youngest in the prison after all. But I don't know if she likes it...

Q: Which prisoner would you say is most like you?

015: Mr Mukuhara. There's just something about him, like if he looks at me too long he'll know what I did. That he'll know that I broke a promise too.

016: Not that sure actually...maybe Kotoko?No...Kajiyama? I don't know. But Kajiyama's actually kinda nice when you get down to it, isn't that surprising? He looks out for Haruka, like I try to do for Amane.

Q: Is there a verdict you hope for?

015: That would defeat the point. I want to be judged properly by an outside perspective. Whatever you decide must be correct, right?

016: I'd like to be forgiven, since I think I did the right thing. But I know what I did also hurt others, so I understand if you choose not to forgive me.

bonus notes!!

i was thinking that the trial results would go something like:

for naoto (015) it'd be t1 guilty t2 innocent, something like fuuta. because his mv and song would be super vague and the prevalent theory would paint him in a terrible light, kinda like shidou except without the pretty privilege, and like fuuta whether he feels bad or not is hard to tell, so he gets guiltied. then somehow his trial 2 would garner him a crap ton of sympathy again like fuuta and his vote would turn around

for akane (016) it'd be t1 innocent t2 guilty, kinda like a reverse of naoto. she might be like muu or kotoko where the trial 1 paints her as super sympathetic/heroic, leading you to root for her, but in trial 2 she gets painted in a more negative light so she gets guiltied then

funny side note is that in terms of character parallels by complete accident i accidentally gave naoto like a wild number of paralles to kazui?? like i reached the 'which prisoner would you say is most like you' question, looked at it and suddenly realized, hey isn't this guy just like kazui??? it's that 'i personally relate to kazui a staggering amount' swag ig

akane's parallels were a lot harder to think of because she paralleled a lot of characters in different ways, so the way i ended up writing her response was deliberate and it's great fun to me lol.

i actually couldn't decide if akane would like fuuta or hate his guts, so i didn't include a 'who do you get along with?' question here since i didn't know how to answer it

for their names i ended up going down the 100 most common japanese surnames list on wikipedia and choosing ones that i thought fit, then put them in combination with their given names. i think what i came up with is a little morbidly funny in relation to their crimes that i still think i was kinda clever for, but i didn't write anything about their actual crimes beyond the vague hints in the interro questions, and i havent included the actual characters for their names. idk is that interesting to you guys

so anyways i was wondering if it'd be better if i elaborated on the crimes and wrote them out as it happened in another post or..? idk what do you guys think? should i continue to just be super vague about them

i did also come up with these guys with a prisoner pair theme in mind and it's supposed to be something like 'how much of yourself would you give for your loved ones' but im a little afraid that might be too similar to shidou and mahiru's theme about love? even though their crimes are vastly different i think

anyways that's it, have a nice day!! if you were interested enough to read all the way to here thank you so much <3

[thebibliomancer]

Earth X #12

The penultimate issue. What a crazy time it has been.

Look, tandem Silver Surfers. A surfboard built for two.

Also, Tony. This is his issue. Last time he revealed that he’s been hiding in a giant robot this whole time. And he launches it to buy time when the Celestials land on Earth.

Why are the Celestials on Earth? Earth is their egg.

What is he buying time for? Black Bolt screamed a name into deep space. So for whoever’s name that was to show up.

What’s going on? Just so much. Everyone is mutated because Black Bolt set off a terrigen bomb after blinding Uatu the Watcher. A psychic kid called the Skull tried to take over the world and got his neck snapped by Captain America. Which aggroed the Celestials because the Skull was their failsafe, to keep humanity under control when everybody mutated. Because everybody mutating was the Celestial plan, so that the egg would have powerful guardians.

What’s been going on? Everything. Spider-Man got his groove back. Reed is Doom. Namor is half on fire. Machine Man is the new Watcher. There’s a werewolf on the Moon. And I did mention that the Earth is an egg!

Earth X is a wild ride.

The Celestials are big.

They’re big, they’re here, and they’re going to wipe out all life before humanity does any more damage.

That’s less than ideal if you like humanity. Or Inhumanity as it has become.

Tony Stark is Earth’s last line of defense and we already know he’s not going to survive this. He’s just buying time.

His latest, greatest armor is a heavily retooled Red Ronin. Which was a giant robot built to fight Godzilla and which Tony has been improving in the years since the terrigen bomb.

It shoots Iron Men as bullets.

That’s cool. Probably not efficient. But cool.

A giant Iron Man that shoots smaller Iron Men and if you look at the screencaps, it still looks like an angry, flailing toddler next to one Celestial.

And there’s at least ten of them.

But this is apparently what Tony has been preparing for his entire life.

Or so Reed speculates. He attributes Tony’s constant preparation for the next threat to come over the horizon to some subconscious sense that there was something wrong with Earth. But Reed says a lot of stuff in Earth X.

Most of the subplots have been taken care of by now. But there’s a few left.

Uatu the Cantwatchanything gets John Jameson to pull the Ultimate Nullifier on Machine Man. But that doesn’t go anywhere because the sun comes up over the Moon and John turns into a wolf in a spacesuit.

We finally follow up on Loki’s role in all this.

He was part of the trip to the Realm of Death plot earlier. Teaming up with Clea to betray Thor and the Hulk and then betraying her to get yoinked to Asgard for punishment. Leaving Loki free to plot to take Earth. But Aaron had an off-panel conversation with Loki.

What he apparently told him was all that exposition about Asgardians actually being shape-shifting aliens whose powers, appearances, and personalities are based on what people observing them think they should be.

Loki is furious. All this time as the scheming villain just because someone thought there needed to be one. He had to talk in that faux Shakespearean just because someone thought gods would talk that way!

(This feels like a precursor to the more meta God of Stories stuff. So Earth X gets another tally for ideas borrowed.)

He tries to tell the other Asgardians but nobody believes the trickster.

So he stabs himself to death. To make a really emphatic point.

The most dramatic.

Anyway. The doomed fight Iron Man is waging against a whole Host of Celestials.

Yeah.

He gets the thumbs down and goes down in flames.

The Celestials smack him down. He manages to walk out of the wreckage but a shard of metal is poking through him.

He walks away from the fight but not very far.

But he looks up into the sky and knows he succeeded in buying enough time when he sees Silvered Surfers.

And the Silver Surfer(s) herald another arrival.

Towering over the Celestials even more than they themselves towered over New New York.

Hi Galactus.

You were pretty explicitly said to be dead.

Did Black Bolt scream your name so hard you stopped being a star?

One last mystery for one last issue.

Although I still don’t know what the X in Earth X means. Thirteen issues counting 0 and that hasn’t been explained.