#its been multiple years that this has been necessary out of the five that i have owned her

[batthewcatthew]

About to perform open heart surgery on my favorite lesbian. Wish him luck.

[fallingdownhell]

Hello!! If your requests are open do you have any plans on writing something similar to genshin men forgetting your birthday but with different characters? :D maybe diluc and/or kaeya for example

Sure can do! Angst will always be my favourite!

Characters Included: Diluc; Kaeya

Content: gender neutral reader; hurt/no comfort; angst; the boys don't realize their mistakes; cursing; not proofread yet

Word count: 1,3k words

Enjoy the heartbreak<3

Diluc

Being with Diluc was exhausting sometimes. And sometimes, it felt like you were in no relationship to begin with. You knew that protecting the city and it's people was important to Diluc, but.. sometimes you just wished to be his number one...

Sometimes, you really wonder how you managed to stay in this relationship for three long years without any issue.. then again, its not like it has always been this way.

The first two years were amazing. Diluc was an attentive lover, always concerned about your well being, that you felt comfortable with him. Only recently did that seem to change. He had less and less time for you, always coming back home in the dead of night and left before you woke up in the morning.

You tried to deal with it somehow, since talking to him about it was apparently no option, seeing as he always pushed you away when you tried approaching the topic with him.

But today... today might just be your last straw..

In all the three years with him, Diluc has always made it a point to make your birthday a most special occaison. Telling you weeks in advance to clear this day up since he wanted to spend it with you. He always planned something different, but you loved it each time.

This year, however, nothing came from him. No notice to keep your calender clean, nothing.

You thought, that when you spotted him in bed next to you this morning, maybe you just thought wrong and he wanted to surprise you.

But when he woke up, no words of gartulations left his mouth. Instead, he simply got up, got dressed and went out again, but not before telling you that he would be back for dinner tonight.. which was a rare occaison as well.

You tried so hard to give him the benefit of the doubt.. going about your day at the mansion, going on a walk in the nice, afternoon soon as people from the Dawn Winery congratulated you for your special day. You thanked them, while trying to keep your composure.

Nothing meant anything to you when the person closest to you didn't remember it themselves...

Night came, and with it came dinner time. Adelinde took the time out of her day to prepare a full on five course meal, all consisting of your favourite dishes. You told her multiple times that this wasn't necessary at all, but she wouldn't have it. So, as fate would have it, you were now enjoying the food... however, alone.

Diluc has yet to show up, but not wanting to let the food get cold, you decided to just start eating.

Later on, you realized that the dissapointment washing over you didn't even face you anymore, having expected this outcome already.

So, you ate quietly, until the door to the mansion opened, revealing the owner of Dawn Winery himself.

"Diluc!", you exlaimed, standing up from your seat, a smile on your lips. He came after all...

But he immediately put a damper on your mood as he raised his hand, a deep sigh escaping him as he threw his coat off.

"Please, not now, (name). I'm exhausted."

With that, he went directly for the staircase, not even acknowloding anything else around him.

"But.. don't you wanna join in for dinner? There's a lot left and-!"

"I said, not now!", he suddenly yelled at you.

You were shocked, looking at him like a deer caught in headlight. Regret briefly washed over him for raising his voice at you, but he chose not to say anything. Instead, he turned around again and made his way up the stairs where he immediately went into his office, looking himself away from you again.

You watched after him, slumping back into your chair as he was out of sight. You tried so desperately to hold back your tears but they came crashing out of you as soon as you saw Adelinde leave the kitchen, a big birthday cake in her hands.

She gave you a weak, sympathetic smile as she sat down next to you on a chair, patting your back gently as you let the dissapointment sink in..

Kaeya

You were maneuvering your way through the many people in your living room, trying to get to your balcony, hoping to get some fresh air and clear your thoughts.

Lisa planned this whole thing perfectly. Keeping you busy the entire day with her while everyone else was preparing your surprise birthday party in your home.

You had not expected anything like that, especially not after the dissapointment you recieved this morning already. Kaeya has never once failed to remember any special day during your relationship. Be it a birthday, an anniversary or anything like that. You never had to remind him, he just always knew and was prepared.

So, naturally, you didn't feel the need to remind him that your birthday was coming up, thinking that he was already aware of that fact.

However, when you woke up this morning, everything was far too normal. He was still sleeping beside you, cuddling with you for a few more minutes, before you both got up and he left for work.

No congratulations, no gift, no nothing. He didn't say anything at all...

You were feeling kinda down after that, slumping around in your home.. That's when Lisa came over and practically forced you out the house. She congratulated you, then took you shopping, to lunch and so on.

She kept you busy the entire day and the incident with you boyfriend went farther and farther to the back of your mind.

That was, until you returned back to your house. Suddenly, the lights switched on before you could even do anything. People jumping out from all around, yelling "Surprise!", at you, while laughing at your flabbergasted reaction.

A surprise party.. now Lisa's behaviour made sense to you. Your mood lightened up, thinking that it must have been Kaeya's doing and planning.

You thanked everyone that came up to congratulate you, making small talk with them while trying to scan the people for your boyfriend. When you didn't see him anywhere, you went to ask Lisa about him, but she said she had no idea where he was..

This dampened your mood again, so you decided to get some fresh air, maybe that would help cool you off again.

As you were outside on the balcony, you saw Kaeya approaching your shared home. Excited, you went inside again to meet him at the front door. But when you opened it, you were met with a seemingly bad mood from your boyfriend.

Before you could ask him what was going on, he already started complaining. "Seriously? Are you for real?"

"What?", you just said, confused on what he meant. But that just seemed to frustrate Kaeya even more.

"So, everyone leaves work, leaving all of it for me to deal with, just because you decided to throw a fucking party? I've had a fucking exhausting day, (name). How do you expect me to relax with this many people here, huh?"

"I-It wasn't my-!"

"Oh, don't give me that crap! Who else if not you would plan such a thing, and in our house as well? You know what, I'm gonna leave. I'll sleep somewhere else for the night!"

And before you could say anything else, he had already turned on his heels and was walking away. You had no idea what this was about and what caused his outburst..

You were so confused about what was going on, but you felt the tears running down your face as you fell on your knees right there at the open front door while the party was still going behind you...

[conkers-thecosy]

Been a while since I last made a fic rec list, and I recently went through all the newer bagginshield works on AO3, so I wanted to share some of my favourites! These are all amazing, please go give them a read if you haven't already! 💛 These are all completed, but if anyone is interested I might also do a list of incomplete works in progress that I'm feral about as well!

~

"Green-Handed" by lotusOkid Post-BotFA, while Thorin, Fili, and Kili are slowly recovering from their wounds, Bilbo finds himself subject to a condition that hobbits might experience at a few very particular times in their lives, under very particular circumstances, none of which apply to him. Very confused (and somewhat embarrassed) he decides to keep it a secret during this delicate time in the mountain. This goes about as well as you might expect.

~

"The Burden of Choice" by @fantasyinallforms Thorin Oakenshield is the crown prince of one of the strongest kingdoms in Middle Earth, but in the last year, the kingdom has struggled to keep its place among the ruling powers of Middle Earth. Erebor was held under vicious siege by the dragon Smaug, who terrorised the land and wiped out the nearby human settlement of Dale. The hardship forces Erebor into a difficult position, creating no other choice but for King Thror to seek alliances with other kingdoms and races through the bonds of marriage. Will Thorin see this as his duty to his kingdom or take another path entirely?

~

"No Grave Can Hold My Body Down" by @chaoticangel666 Bilbo returns to The Shire after the Battle of the Five Armies. He might be going insane though, because why does the ghost of Thorin Oakenshield keep showing up when he least expects it? Follows the events from the end of The Hobbit until the end of The Lord of the Rings.

~

"Handsome Stranger" by kriegswaffel A handsome stranger arrives at Hobbiton, both reminding and distracting Bilbo Baggins from the upcoming negotiations between a Dwarven Envoy all the way from Erebor and the official-inoffical leadership of the Shire regarding trade. As he gets more wrapped up in matters, can he find something true and lasting with someone so different - and maybe entirely different from what he expected? Or will he get his heart broken again, at long last, having hoped where there was no hope, or even only betrayal?

~

"What's In A Name" by broken_pencils A short scene that takes place post-canon, in which Bilbo and Thorin discuss the uniquely hobbit custom of family surnames. ~ "And Watch Them Grown" by @sunnyrosewritesstuff Thorin survives his battle to find Bilbo laying unconscious in the snow. Unable to carry him down, Thorin leaves him with his ring on to get help. Only he doesn’t make it very far before collapsing. Waking in the healing tents, Thorin comes to realize no one made it back up to save Bilbo! ~ "The Kitchen Thief" by @mordellestories There are pests. At first, Thorin thought one of his assistants was stealing from him. And that may have been why he was a bit harsher on them than what was deemed necessary. But one by one, the workers were replaced only for the goods to keep vanishing into thin air. It was driving him to madness. And when Thorin wasn’t at peace, everyone knew it. So, it had to be pests, right? Pixies, brownies, rats, something was pilfering his hard work and it was happening more often as time went by. ~ "The things you see in the market." by GothicMama Krelven just wants to explore the market on his day off. But instead he gets thrown for multiple loops when he sees two extremely familiar faces.

[moonshynecybin]

that segment in the new coffee date interview where marc is like “do it to me, not my brother” felt SO targeted like i know he was saying it as a general statement too but i know in my heart that he was thinking about pecco on some level

he has actually already said something to this effect during the fallout of the pecco+alex aragon crash this year (alex has never been a problem driver is BOLD can i just say…). it’s ALSO important to note that this was AFTER pecco kinda walked it back and apologized, which i have to commend him for i GUESS but pecco will do that. he’ll go crazy and then five mins later his better angels prevail and he’ll slink out like my badddd. it’s part of the pecco experience. but anyways MARC was still mad enough to call him out and basically imply that an apology, while necessary, doesn’t really yknow. fix the week of harassment alex got about the whole deal online. like pecco in many ways (whether he wants it or not) has been handed the media keys to the marquez family hater online community here, and he let that thing loose IMMEDIATELY and against marc’s BABY BROTHER. so yeah i think its pretty safe to say that marc was pissed. Marc Will Remember That.

ALSO important to meeee when i think about this is that the social media backlash post sepang is like one of marc's nastiest and most formative traumas, so multiple buttons are being pressed here that i dont know if pecco has really considered, and thats not even getting into any on track stuff which is the MOST important arena for the both of them, OR vale who is STILL not SHUTTING UP.... idk add to THAT pile of issues the rumored diva fight post portimao collision and the multiyear towing drama, and anyone who says these guys arent gonna be feeling the rivalry on a personal level next season is like. well i think they are taking these guys at their shaking hands in parc ferme face value perhaps just a little too muchhhhhh

[indelen]

This is my reread of the Lockwood and Co. Books, organized by @blue-boxes-magic-and-tea , I'll make a general summary of several chapters and then post bits and pieces that jumped out at me.

Part IV: Chapters 19-21

There is something to be said about how effectively the book builds tension. We spend so much time before the night actually starts and the trio gets to the actual haunting. The time on the train. The time walking around the grounds. The time listening to Fairfax bloviate. And the entire time the sun is going down and the tension builds and builds. You hate Fairfax more and more. You hate the house and its ugly tapestries and fancy uncomfortable furniture. You understand how dangerous this job is and how little the person who hired these kids values life. It’s very effective. By the time we get to the actual Red Room we’re already on edge. And this is something that’s kind of hard to build in a TV show. You’ll lose momentum if it’s stretched over a period of several episodes and what’s effective on the page is harder to translate on screen. But if you cram everything into one episode the tension never builds in a satisfying way. I personally would have loved to see a two parter with one episode before going into the Red Room, one after and one additional lighthearted intermission one where the fallout is discussed and the audience gets a breather before heading into Whispering Skull. But that’s just not the way TV is made these days.

Bits and pieces:

I love how subtly the books reveal more and more about The Problem. The Screaming Staircase is very much an introduction but even here we see the beginning of the overarching plot. Not only are there ghosts and the world sucks because of them, but in really bad hauntings you get a sort of psychic cascade where the Visitors feed off each other’s power and create one psychically volatile place. We will later learn that Lucy is, in a way, more right than she realizes when she says “The house was just a gate”. From here every book builds on this idea. The Whispering Skull shows us humans have been trying to manufacture this kind of effect on purpose since way before The Problem. The Hollow Boy shows us it’s being done still. Creeping Shadow shows to what end. Final book pulls all these threads together. As much as I would have loved more books with more adventures and pining, thematically the five books complete the story in a very satisfying way. The overall plot is revealed gradually but effectively to its natural resolution.

Truly art worth preserving at the cost of multiple human lives. Trio should have definitely set this one on fire. As a treat.

Fairfax is the most “peaked in highschool” man ever. This is an 80 year old man, one of the richest and most powerful people in the country, he lived a whole life in the best and most privileged possible way. And yet he still returns to and mythologizes and obsesses over his past. He devises this whole plan when in all likelihood it’s not necessary. Even if some kids do have some necklace that has some initials in it, DEPRAC jumps when he claps! You can’t tell me he doesn't have enough money and influence to make all this go away! But he pulls this overcomplicated plan anyway because he just can’t bear the romantic image of his youthful self being diminished. I mentioned before that Lockwood’s love of disguises and theatrical accents is a bit much because it’s a childlike quality, an endearing one in a kid but one he learns to temper with age. He grows up. Fairfax never does and it ruins him. This is a recurring theme in these books - powerful adults addicted to the image they built for themselves in their youth so much they throw a tantrum when it’s threatened and this undoes them.

There is a great irony in Fairfax saying this to Lockwood who is actually a hero suspended between life and death due to actual tragedies in his life. Fairfax cosplayed being an actor, he partied, had illicit affairs, committed crimes and then when he had his fun he put on a suit and went to run a multimillion corporation. He had the biggest, widest, sturdiest safety net imaginable. I wonder if he was even any good or if his position, money and influence in some ways paid for the recognition he received?

Love the double meaning here. Did Lucy mean “shut his trap” as in “shut his mouth” or did she, like Lockwood, already knew that this whole thing was a trap Fairfax lured them in from the beginning?

The redemption arc of The Coat!!!!!

I really do like how the book stresses the fact that Lockwood never really trusted Fairfax and seems to have a very low opinion of him but masked it well. Lockwood is extremely impassive but later when he meets other influential people who very much try to flatter him he’s just as cordial but emotionally closed off with them and it makes you think he probably doesn't like them or trust them either.

Love when Lockwood is being an absolute teenage bastard when some tries to corner him, it’s always so funny. Him casually stuffing toilet water covered plastic garbage into Fairfax’s priceless vase is up there.

The books very well sets up the levels of education the trio has. George is the most conventionally educated out of the three. Generally, when it comes to any kind of general information, there is very little he doesn't know. Lockwood seems to have a more haphazard piecemeal education, he’s aware of topics like history and anthropology, has a broad vocabulary, but there are gaps. Maybe at the start he went to a good school or had a tutor given the socioeconomic class he was born into (we know he had a nanny!), but he probably stopped his education when he started training as an agent although he kept reading his parents papers and other similar information to be close to them. Lucy meanwhile is shown to have the most gaps - she doesn't know what “ululation” means, in later books she mixes up “compliment” and “complement” and makes other mistakes like this as well. What I like is that the narrative never shames or punishes her for her lack of education (in-universe George does mock her in passing for it at the start of SS but never again even when they are at their most hostile and it’s certainly not a turn off for Lockwood at any point). Education is a basic necessity and it was adults who robbed her of it, failing her at every turn. (that she’s a girl matters here too, education for women is often more restricted). The books warn kids how easy it can be to strip away their basic human rights.

Why Lucy, that sounds dangerously like a compliment! I love the idea of George as an inverse sort of Clark Kent where his superhero mode comes when he puts on his glasses. George’s glasses are like Lockwood’s coat, a part of him, his weakness and his strength in equal measure.

Lucy describes Lockwood’s smile count: 9

[lonelywretchjervistetch]

My DC Cinematic Universe - Creature Commandos: Part V

Chapter Five: Cheers to the Tin Man

Y'know, I had a few ideas for titles of this essay, but this is honestly the perfect title, which is probably why Episode Three of the series also has it. Cheers to the Tin Man is far-and-away my favorite episode of the series, because it's honestly just a hell of a lot of fun, and justifies the Creature Commandos in this universe by making them terrifyingly (and mostly realistically) effective, while also giving us the backstory of one of its best-executed characters: G.I. Robot.

Like the Frankensteins in the last essay, I won't waste time and say that G.I. Robot was always going to make it into my version of the Creature Commandos. He's one of my favorite Weird War characters, and the idea of an automated soldier is gold, both for creativity and comedy, as this series proves. Unlike the Frankensteins, I think Gunn nailed this character, and honestly gave him more dimension than I would've expected from this character. This is an example of a character with little-to-no personality in the comics, elevated to his best possible form. God, I can't speak highly enough of this guy, and this'll be the complete opposite of the last essay.

Of course...the episode isn't perfect. But we'll get there. For now, let's actually go through this episode, because there are a slew of other characters and references here that flesh out the universe, also making this one of the more important episodes of the season. But yeah, let's start with the Tin Man himself.

First appearing in Star-Spangled War Stories #101 in 1962, the first G.I. Robot had a name: "Joe". A functional prototype, this robot responded to commands, and was sent into the field on a test run with a necessary human handler, a private named Mac. To test this machine, the creator, Professor Zurin, sent the duo to a super-safe testing area: an island full of still-surviving dinosaurs. Yeah, uh, Dinosaur Island is a major feature of 1950s DC, and is a central part of a period known as "The War Time Forgot." And, oh, don't worry: I'll be revisiting Dinosaur Island very thoroughly at a later date. With that said, the two survive their encounter, with G.I. Robot interpreting (and sometimes misinterpreting) Mac's commands, and saving him on multiple occasions. But Joe, as a prototype, would only last a few issues.

The next G.I. Robot was nicknamed "Mac", in honor of the prototype's handler. This one was also sent to Dinosaur Island, this time with a new helper named Reed, and the two had the same kind of shenanigans, with an improved response to commands in Mac as compared to Joe. However, this iteration died on his first seen mission, saving Reed in the process. And, heads-up, G.I. Robot getting destroyed is a trend throughout his comic book history. That may come back into play later. At this point, though, in 1966, the last story about a G.I. Robot is published for years, until Weird War Tales #101 in 1981. This time, he's not a prototype...and he's fit for war.

20 years later, G.I. Robot comes back in a story written by Ross Kanigher, who also invented the previous two iterations, and had obviously been trying to get this character to catch on. Guess he saw the opportunity, and decided to throw him into actual war. This iteration, named J.A.K.E. (Jungle Assault Killer Experiment), was now invented by...Myron Mazursky. Oh, HOOOOO, now that's an interesting connection, isn't it? Now, to be fair, having Mazursky be both a biochemist and a mechanical/software engineer is...silly. Even for comic book standards. However, the other person involved in making G.I. Robot is Charles Grayson, who absolutely makes sense in this role. A relative of the original Robin, Dick Grayson (yes, REALLY), Chuck was also the assistant to another prominent World War II era scientist, Robert Crane. Crane would be in an accident, forcing his brain to go into a mechanical body, and becoming the first Robotman in the process. So, yeah, Grayson had some experience.

G.I. Robot, therefore, was a part of Project M, the think tank responsible for the Creature Commandos, establishing that link. There's more to this story, but just know that J.A.K.E. was sent out outfitted with multiple weapons, and with new human handler Sgt. Coker. The two had several mission in the South Pacific campaign of World War II, mostly fighting the Japanese forces, until J.A.K.E.'s destruction in 1943 via self-sacrifice. Again. There's a trend here. A second G.I. Robot, J.A.K.E. II, was built afterward, and accompanied by a robotic companion, C.A.P.D.. This version of the character would eventually team up with the Creature Commandos in earnest, all of whom were stationed on Dinosaur Island during the latter days of the war. Afterwards, he would be silently decommissioned in 1945, but would survive into the present day this time! But, he would have very few appearances, and would return during the New 52 era with a whole new backstory. Now. Allow me to show you one of the best comic book pages I've ever seen.

Again. You see why I'm pissed about Frankenstein's Monster's treatment in Creature Commandos. Jesus. Anyway, this badass image comes from Men of War #8, the last issue of a series rebooted from a 1970s war series, and starring Frankenstein's Monster during World War II. And it is chock-full of badass images of Frankenstein's Monster that just make me upset when I think of Creature Commandos. But the most relevant point here is that scientist Robert Crane is kidnapped by the Imperial Army of Japan, and the Bride rescues him, only for him to reveal that he's already been forced to build a weapon for them, and it's ready for war.

The Japanese Attack Killer Elite Robot, AKA J.A.K.E., is sent after the allies to fight. However, when it goes after a submarine that Frank is in, he LAUNCHES HIMSELF AS A TORPEDO AT HIM UNDERWATER, GOD GUNN DID HIM SO DIRTY!!! Crane reverses the Robot's alliance (because why not), and he becomes the Joint Allied Killer Elite Robot instead, AKA G.I. Robot. And then, he punches a kaiju in the face, because this comic is both ridiculous and amazing. After this mission, G.I. Robot survives at least until the Korean War, where he teams up once again with Frank. Honestly, awesome. Gruesome, but a hell of a character legacy.

Although, to be fair, it wasn't over. G.I. Robot appeared once again in a...really odd limited series that I'd never heard of before writing this post. One-Star Squadron starred a number of new or D-class heroes running Heroz4U, a gig-economy superhero hiring platform that has heroes work as telemarketers, security guards, birthday party entertainers...Cameo appearances, yes, ACTUALLY? It's definitely a joke series, but the main roster includes Red Tornado, Power Girl, Flying Fox, Heckler, Gangbuster, and...G.I. Robot. And here's the thing: it's such an odd series, and everybody is SO out-of-character, I don't think this can be considered canon. It's definitely a satire, and a good one, but there's no way it's canon. Look, I'm mentioning it o be a completionist, but it's going to be completely ignored by the annals of time. Not a great series, and incredibly odd in several ways for several characters. Plus, uh...G.I. Robot looks like this. Nightmare fuel.

Now, G.I. Robot's been adapted a couple of times, namely in Batman: The Brave and the Bold and, of course, Creature Commandos. Both series sets his origins and actions in World War II, and funnily enough, serving with the classic comic book wartime group Sgt. Rock and the Easy Company. I'm tempted to go into Easy Company in more detail, because its a super-neat group with a long comic book history, but that may be a topic for another day. All you need to know is that Easy Company was a group of soldiers serving on every battle in the European front of World War II, and they've appeared in DC Comics and other media since 1959. Classic group, cool to see them here, especially because we might be getting a Sgt. Rock movie? That's been in development for years.

Cheers to the Tin Man opens with G.I. Robot's backstory, bringing us back to his days with Easy Company, or "his boys", who gave him the nickname "Tin Man" in the first place. And you can immediately see his connection with the group, and his prowess in fighting Nazis. It's genuinely heartwarming. Flash-forward to the 1950s or '60s (unclear), where he's on a television show showing his somewhat unhinged (and hilarious) programming, only to be watched by Will Magnus, holy shit.

Now, not sure how I feel about time-shifting Will Magnus this far into the past, for a number of reasons, but this is incredibly exciting because of what Gunn's implying: that we'll see Magnus' creations in his DCU, those being the robotic superheroes, the Metal Men. And if there was ANY other group I'd want to hand over to Gunn from DC Comics, the Metal Men is incredibly high on the list. 'Course, this series has made that claim less enthusiastic, but I actually think Gunn would be excellent at changing the Metal Men for a modern audience, and giving some characters more depth to their purposely-simplistic personalities. Lab experiment characters, after all, seem to be Gunn's strongest point when it comes to adaptations.

Obviously, other stuff is happening in this episode's modern day, as the group realizes that Circe is headed to the palace while they're all absent to kill the Princess, and these things don't matter to me at the moment. I'll talk about Circe's nonsense plot in another essay, don't worry, but not this one. But towards the end of the episode, we see why G.I. Robot landed in prison, and in the Creature Commandos, intercut with two montages of glorious ultraviolence. In the present, G.I. Robot absolutely massacres Circe's troops at Flag's command, and it's fun seeing his upgrades as compared to World War II. In the flashback, he ended up being collected by a member of the KKK/American Nazis in Hub City (gotta assume local heroes Blue Beetle and the Question weren't around yet), with plans to use him as a weapon to do something heinous, only for him to slaughter literally all of the Nazis in the room and get arrested. We also establish that due to a previous criminal case, robots are granted human rights and accountability. Now that...is interesting. Can't wait to find out what that refers to in Gunn's DCU. Red Tornado, perhaps?

But all of this brings us to the most controversial move Gunn makes.

And I'm actually all for this. Kind of.

Look, I love G.I. Robot, but it's literally in his character to die. Nearly every single iteration of G.I. Robot has been destroyed at least once, only to be rebuilt and sent into commission with a new name and new identity. This is exactly what to expect from G.I. Robot. Now, should he have died in episode 3 of the series? Well, that's arguable. Unfortunately, the way this series is structured makes this the perfect story moment for him to die dramatically in order to forward the mission. Definitely made me sad, because I love this character, and Sean Gunn plays him incredibly well, but I get it.

However, this does expose a real problem with this series, and Gunn's treatment of the Creature Commandos as a group. Fact is, Gunn is still running on Suicide Squad logic. And the Creature Commandos are not the Suicide Squad. The purpose of the Creature Commandos is, yes, to get the job done, but also to use literal and psychological warfare to interfere with the enemy. It's a horror story where we're on the side of the monsters. It is not a story of a group of criminals trying to get time off of their sentence by going into impossible scenarios, in which any of them could die. That's the Suicide Squad. And the fact that Gunn is willing to kill characters like this early in the series means that we're supposed to expect at least one of our new friends to die. And of course, if you've seen the series, you know how that ends.

And, as if fulfilling an age-olf prophecy...spoilers for the finale...

Yeah, G.I. Robot comes back. Least surprising move of the century, but an incredibly welcome one! Now in a modernized form that reminds me a bit of his Men at War/New 52 iteration, this golden dynamo is set to serve in the group for season 2, where he will probably die again, let's be honest here. But now, him dying would be a part of the joke, and will lose its gravitas as a result. Which is OK.

Fact is, I think this is the best adapted character in Gunn's series, and there isn't a hell of a lot I think needs changing, and the stuff I would change doesn't have to do with the character. Maybe push the Will Magnus timeline a couple of decades; kill G.I. Robot in the next episode by making this the eight-episode series it was clearly supposed to be; maybe get rid of Nina's maybe-romantic fascination with G.I. Robot (that went truly nowhere at all); maybe even bring the new form of G.I. Robot back during the season finale to participate in a final fight. But a lot of that is restructuring of the series as a whole, or changing characters around G.I., not G.I. himself. I actually think he's kinda perfect.

But before we sew up here, I'd like to put something forward in terms of my version of Creature Commandos. Because this episode opens up an opportunity that I'm somewhat sad wasn't actually explored: World War II.

If it isn't clear by now, World War II is sort of a big deal in DC Comics, both in and out of universe. One of the reasons that DC Comics (and superhero comics in general) rose into cultural prominence in the United States, as well as being a major time period in the DC Comics universe, this is a time that has gone untouched by live-action media. And I mean that. Even the CW series barely touch World War II outside of references or the occasional alternate future. It's a black slate, because I'm not sure anybody's been able to figure it out. And it's not impossible to do, by any means; just takes some creative work.

How powerful would it be for the future of the DCU if one of the focuses of Creature Commandos was on the history of the team, rather than just the individuals. And, more importantly, this means that the Creature Commandos exist independent of the Suicide Squad, and have a different tone to them altogether. It's entirely possible, of course, that I've just predicted Gunn's plans for season 2, as he could bring in elements of the original group for the next season, with out modern Creature Commandos dealing with something from that time period. And frankly, for my version, I know exactly how I'm setting this up, but that'll be a later essay. My point is, why not use the connection to World War II, as seen with G.I. Robot (and as COULD have been seen with the Frankensteins), and give us both references to the original Creature Commandos, and the intricate history that was World War II in DC Comics. A missed opportunity, is all I'm saying here.

But regardless, that's the end of this essay; I'll elaborate more on this in the future. But next time...well, I guess it's time to talk about this character, and his confusing place in this story, as well as his genuinely interesting backstory. Next time, episode four, Chasing Squirrels, starring another of Gunn's seemingly favorite characters: Weasel.

See you next time (maybe, no pressure)!

Part One: Introduction and Adaptation Part Two: The Original Creature Commandos Part Three: Amanda Waller and Rick Flag, Sr. Part Four: The Frankensteins Part Five: G.I. Robot

[apprenticestanheight]

hi!! i have a request :) would it be okay if you wrote a specs x transmasc reader where the reader gets specs to help him with a testosterone shot?? its totally okay if no tho!! have a good day :)

T - specs x transmasc! reader

hi nonnie!! I'm sorry this took a while--this one has been sitting in my drafts for a good few weeks now and I've had it written for just as long. My object permanence is the absolute fuckin' worst, however, and I, admittedly, forgot to edit this before today because of getting distracted by other projects and also getting so anxious I physically could not will myself to get out of bed multiple days in a row since you sent this one into my inbox.

HOWEVER, I did get my shit together today (started on medication for adhd because I told my dr I thought I had it and we're testing it out to see if it works for me to help with those symptoms + anxiety management wot wot) and so, here this is!! I am, once again, sorry for the delay, and I promise if you send another request in I will do my best to do it that week.

fic type - this is fluffy!!

warnings - there are mentions of needles in this

In the five years since you'd come out and the five and a half since you and Specs had started dating, you'd only asked him to help you with your weekly testosterone shot maybe twice in the three and a half years since you'd finally gotten through all of the necessary hoops and had been able to start taking it.

Normally, you could do it yourself without a hitch, sometimes a little squeamish at the sight of the needle, but that Friday you'd asked him to help because he did it a bit quicker than you did--even if by just a solid second or two--while the two of you were on a time crunch in a rush to meet Elise and Tucker. Also, somewhat, as a way to squeeze a bit more time with him out of your day because you had to work an eight hour shift from 3-11, and when you got home he'd either be reading a comic while half asleep or asleep on your side of the bed in your absence.

He agrees to your ask without questioning it, getting the shot ready while you talk to him about how work has been because you've worked a string of evening shifts for the past three weeks and have been too drained to talk about it the next day. He happily listens, occasionally commenting where it's appropriate to make a remark or agree with an opinion you hold about a coworker, though he also acknowledges that he only has your bias to base an opinion on and not his own.

"Thank you for this, by the way," you murmur as you're standing up to pull your pants down to your thighs. "I know I could've done it myself, but I've missed you a lot lately and wanted to squeeze in an extra few minutes."

That remark brings out a soft smile from Specs, given to you as you're sitting back down. A second later, you can see the debate as to whether or not he wants to give you a forehead kiss occur in his expressions before he pauses, presses a quick but somewhat lingering kiss to your forehead, one of his hands reaching up to cup your cheek.

"I've missed you too, for what it's worth," Specs says. "Elise has kept us busy with her clients and Tucker and I have kept ourselves busy with Spectral Sightings stuff, but we've not seen much of each other lately and it's been hard."

You've missed him so terribly that it hurts, and there have been multiple points in the lulls of your evening shifts wherein you've been tempted to just pick up the phone and call him. You haven't for fear of being judged and seeming co-dependent, but you're at a point where you don't care how co-dependent it makes you seem. You're allowed to miss him when you're working evenings and don't get much of a chance to see him except for in your easier mornings.

You're nodding your agreement with his sentiments as he finishes getting your shot ready. You watch the needle go in, unblinking and relatively unphased, grabbing a "fun" Band-Aid--one shaped like a ghost, one of many from a Band-Aid kit gifted to you by Tucker for your birthday that year--to place over it as the slight pain from the injection settles and the needle is removed.

You pull your pants back up and rake your hands through your hair as Specs discards the needle properly, ever the one to be cautious about how your injection needles are handled, and you're thanking him as you put your testosterone away as it's meant to be stored.

He does a bit of idle cleaning while you finish getting ready, and you wind up stealing one of his button downs to wear over a black shirt. You kiss his cheekbone as he tosses you your keys, and the two of you leave your shared house hand in hand, so full of contentment that you already know how happy you seem is bound to make Tucker fake a gag while he smiles.

[dragonflight203]

Next up on the DC Comics read list is Arkham Aslyum: Living Hell.

I saw many positive reviews for it and that it’s primarily a comedy, so it’s one I’ve been wanting to read for quite a while.

Comic

Title: Arkham Aslyum: Living Hell

Author: Dan Slott

Artist: Ryan Sook

Year: 2003

Overall Opinion

-Fantastic comic. Loved it. It’s the most tightly written of all the comics I’ve read so far and the one I’m most likely to reread.

Art

-Competent. It conveys what it’s intended to.

I like how the colors and style vary depending on the current thread of the story. Warren’s story, Blood’s story, and Humphrey’s are each very distinct.

General

-I could read an entire comic about the antics the inmates get up to and what the staff deals with.

I understand why people are disappointed by the hell arc. While enjoyable, the slice of life elements are the best part of the comi

-Inmates sharing cells at Arkham is canon!

Guard: “Thanks to some tax cutbacks, most inmates at Arkham have to share cells.”

-Moreover, Jonathan Crane and Edward Nygma are roommates!

I thought that was fanon. Love that it’s canon. And who the hell signed off on THAT combination?

-Arkham actually takes its security very seriously. The patients are just very, very dangerous.

Dr. Carver’s memorial service is held five times to avoid understaffing at the asylum.

If the card lock system is compromised, there’s a backup system using palm prints.

Knock out gas can be released through the asylum.

The emergency exit requires a palm scan, retinal scan, and voice print identification.

The last is probably a fire hazard, but I doubt Gotham’s fire department cares by this point.

-I was surprised at first that the card system is the primary security measure and the bio system the secondary.

Given that multiple patients had body parts to break through the bio system, however, I can see why. It encourages mutilating the staff.

-Dr. Arkham’s description of Arkham Aslyum sums it up well: “Arkham Asylum is not just any institution for the criminally insane. It’s the Ivy League of insanity. A ‘Harvard’ for Psychopaths.”

-It’s strongly implied that Dr. Arkham is keeping Warren in Arkham for revenge. He had a pension that Warren stole with his scheme.

-It’s implied Dr. Arkham may be able to help Humphrey more, but chooses not to since he’s useful to have around.

It’s also implied that the severity of Humphrey’s crimes means his release might not ever be approved, so it’s up for interpretation.

-The best way to inspire an Arkham guard to return is to promise them the ability to commit violence with impunity.

That’s… not desirable but I suppose Arkham is desperate.

Dr. Arkham to Cash after Killer Croc bit his hand off: “You can sit there and be a cripple… Or return to a job where it’s socially acceptable to cripple others.”

Cash to Greg after hell literally broke loose: “Way I see it, you can sit there and be a cripple. Or come back to a place where it’s all right to cripple others.”

-It’s repeatedly stated that nothing falls through the cracks at Arkham. Patients get a hold of the objects and will find a way to use them.

The best example of this is Cash’s left hand that Killer Croc bit off being preserved by a patient to use to break out when the emergency system is implemented.

Dr. Arkham: “Bits and pieces do not fall through the cracks here. They fall into the hands of the best, the brightest, and the sickest.”

-Of course Arkham has its own bat-signal.

And they can call on the National Guard for backup.

No one wants to deal with Arkham’s bullshit.

-There’s a parallel between Arkham Aslyum containing dangerous inmates and Akrham Aslyum containing demons.

On the mortal level Arkham Aslyum contains prisoners society rejects because they’re unfit (i.e., insane). The staff have great lee way to contain them by any means necessary.

On the immortal level, Arkham Aslyum contains demons hell rejects because they’re unfit (i.e., experience pity). Their warden (Etrigan) has great lee way to contain them by any means necessary.

At its core Arkham is always a prison. Something could be done with it being used to contain evil on the mortal level and good on the immortal level.

Plot

-This is a very well written story. There’s abundant foreshadowing and callbacks.

The plot does go Out There but within the context of the story it still makes sense.

-The judge can’t believe the insanity verdict for Warren.

It’s implied that an insanity plea in Gotham doesn’t automatically mean you go to Arkham; Warren’s lawyers react in shock when the judge specifies he’ll go there.

The judge just sent him to Arkham out of spite for (from his perspective) abusing the court system.

-How the hell did Warren not know what Arkham is before he plead insanity in Gotham? Why didn’t his lawyers warn him?

-I was completely fooled by Jane Doe! I started out liking Dr. Carver and was disappointed that she was corrupt.

Then she went to stab Warren and it was a WTF moment.

-And of course a key plot point is that some of the Arkham staff are corrupt. They’re willing to work with “Dr. Carver”, then later permit patients to visit each other after hours for bribes.

-When the riot occurs, most of the patients jut cut loose. (Why the hell does Edward swing from the ceiling light?)

Harvey and Joker, however, promptly break out. Very practical of them.

They’re also some of the rare patients to have their own cells. Coincidence?

-Dr. Arkham waking up because his night hasn’t been interrupted so far is funny.

It’s even funnier that he’s correct and there’s a riot occurring.

Apparently, taking a gun with him to Arkham when he’s suspicious is just SOP.

-Fantastic twist that the demons’ crime is that they weren’t pure evil. They pitied their prisoners and that’s why they were banished from Earth.

-Dr. Arkham refuses to believe hell literally broke loose and instead blames everything on Jonathan fear toxin (at Batman’s suggestion!).

Poor bastard gets three months in “the hole”.

Characters

-I love Dr. Arkham. He’s an asshole, but a competent one and doing his best to keep Arkham secure.

After Dr. Carver’s death: “You may be saddened by the loss of Dr. Anne Carver. Or angered that her murderer impersonated her for two months. Perhaps you’re embarrassed that this happened on our watch.

“While these feelings are understandable, they are not acceptable. An inmate was running our asylum. We cannot allow ourselves the luxury to pause for reflection.”

-When Dr. Arkham takes down Killer Croc with a tranquilizer he looks like a big game hunter.

-Dr. Arkham has a manipulative streak. He talked Cash back into his position as a guard, and when the power goes out he lets Cash leave through the vents to fix the generators before asking if anyone had a cell phone.

-Dr. Arkham uses Jonathan attempting to hang himself as an example one of the reasons why he’s been woken up at night. Has Jonathan actually attempted that? Or was it a feint as part of a break out attempt?

-Jonathan wanted to study Warren’s scream, so he stabs him with a fork to make him repeat it. Then he’s disappointed because it’s a scream of pain rather than fear.

He’s so awful. I love him.

-Patients are permitted to keep objects they need to function.

Edward keeps his mask – does he seriously need that or is that him just fucking with the system?

-Humphrey is very kind, and also incredibly broken.

Humphrey detailing his gradual breakdown: “But it was SOMETHING. And over time a little something can become that ONE thing. And you have to know WHY?!! Why does that happen to ME?!”

Humphrey to Warren after explaining how he took his grandmother apart and put her back together to fix her: “I think you’re the worst man I’ve ever met. And I just know if I give it my all, I can get in there and fix you!”

-Aaron Cash has a fantastic arc with overcoming his fear of Killer Croc and becoming the champion to save the Asylum. They even work in him coming to peace with the death of would-have-been love interest.

-Warren is a terrible person, and impressively stays one. His character arc is adapting to Arkham and establishing a place in it.

Nice twist on expectations – the obvious choice for an arc would have been making him a better person. Instead he literally makes a deal with Hell to ensure he’s not as poorly off as he could be when he inevitably goes there.

-Jason Blood/Etrigan is a fascinating character. Definitely not on the side of the angels, but his interests may at times align with humanity’s.

On the one hand he wants to prevent the demons from breaking out, which would be awful for the world.

On the other he’s willing to take extreme measures to do so, such as trapping the demons in people. Oh, and mind controlling people.

I’d like to see more of him.

-Poor Bullock. He was absolutely correct that Jason Blood/Etrigan was involved in murders – just not the murders he thought.

His reward was being mind controlled.

Note: Minor edits for formatting. Added Comic section.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Chris Geidner at Law Dork:

On Monday afternoon, CNN published an anti-transgender hit piece on Vice President Kamala Harris based off a 2019 ACLU questionnaire that she filled out during her presidential run. In the 10-page response to the group’s 18 questions, Harris made clear — in answering a specific question — that she supported providing appropriate medical care to those transgender people who “rely on the state for care,” including those in prison and immigration detention, and that medically necessary transition-related care can and does at times include surgical care.

And yet, this is how CNN headlined their pre-2024 debate coverage of this 2019 questionnaire response:

Before we get to Monday’s hit piece, which was authored by my former BuzzFeed News colleague Andrew Kaczynski, let’s make a few things clear. This had not been not some out-of-nowhere question at the time, and it was not some on-the-fly answer. This was an issue that had been coming up more frequently and, specifically, it had been an issue that Harris had dealt with in 2015 in a transgender inmate’s case while attorney general in California. Harris later faced questions about her handling of Michelle-Lael Norsworthy’s case, who only got the necessary surgery after being paroled.

This is also not a particularly complicated issue. The government has obligations to provide necessary medical care for those who it forces under its control — whether due to imprisonment or immigration detention — and often faces challenges related to the failure to provide needed care. When deemed medically necessary treatment for a person’s gender dysphoria (the medical diagnosis that reflects a person’s longstanding mismatch between their gender identity and their gender assigned at birth), gender-affirming medical care is, at the end of the day, medical care. As such, one only reaches the conclusion that gender-affirming medical care should not be provided when called for if one starts from an anti-transgender perspective. Or, posed as a question: Unless you want to exclude transgender people from care, why would you exclude transgender people’s care? Now, it is true that politicians have regularly pushed back against providing such coverage, even where recommended, but I suspect that has been done in not insignificant part due to fear of the very sort of reporting like that Kaczynski produced for CNN and its global audience on Monday.

[...]

In 2019, despite the Trump administration, the country was, in many ways, still progressing on LGBTQ issues — including transgender issues. There were, though, certainly challenges from Donald Trump on down — and the beginning signs of the coming wave of anti-trans hate that would be promoted in culture and in politics. And yet, in 2019, there were no bans on any medical treatments recommended for transgender people. Five years later, about half of the states in the country have bans on gender-affirming medical care for minors, multiple federal appeals courts have held that those bans are likely constitutional, and the U.S. Supreme Court has taken up the issue. One federal appeals court last month even allowed Florida to enforce a ban includes restrictions on adult care during the state’s appeal of a loss below. The fact that CNN decided to eagerly — and repeatedly — encourage the sort of hateful attitudes that it encouraged on Monday is appalling.

What kind of disgraceful reporting was this from CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski (whose reporting has usually been solid)?

From the 09.09.2024 edition of CNN's Erin Burnett OutFront:

[mercurialmalcontent]

I have some thoughts about this post about not putting hard numbers (times, measurements) in your writing unless absolutely necessary, after seeing a bunch of people be weird pedants in the notes and assuming that only refers to real-world dates and measures.

My prime example of how using specific numbers weakened the narrative is Final Fantasy XIV. When you begin the game, you learn that it’s been five years since a calamity that reshaped the face of the world, and fifteen years since a particular huge battle, twenty years since a different disaster. That’s fine, it gives the player an anchor point in the history of that world.

By the time you reach the end of the current expansion, mandatory content has guided your character through world-wide travel and multiple wars. Characters will allude to a fair chunk of time having passed since you last spoke to them, or talk about how travel between some places took days, weeks, months... and then someone in a main story quest will say it’s been five years since the Calamity, fifteen years since the Battle at Silvertear, twenty years since the Bozja incident, just like it was two entire wars ago.

At this point in the game’s life cycle it’s become frankly stupid, a having their cake and eating it too trying to justify why some characters don’t seem to age while also trying to insinuate time has passed... and it’s completely unneccessary. All it would have taken to avoid the absurd insinuation that this is all taking place in the span of a year is, past the base game, using inexact descriptions of the timespans involved.

There are so many ways to express the passage of time -- short, long, in-between -- that give a lot of wiggle room. In the years since the Calamity, in all the years since the Battle of Silvertear, in the many years since the Bozja incident -- three things I came up with off the top of my head that express a general idea of how long its been while still allowing a lot of flexibility. It doesn’t matter if a player has done no side content or all of the side content, that flexibility allows them to interpret the timespans involved in a way that makes sense for their playthrough. The player’s suspension of disbelief doesn’t get broken, and the developers still don’t have to worry about portraying the exact ages of characters.

Instead, it’s still been five years since the Calamity, fifteen years since the Battle at Silvertear, twenty years since the Bozja incident, to the point it jars people out of the story and has them rolling their eyes instead of paying attention.

[jennyboom21]

The entire staff of Sports Illustrated was notified on Friday that their jobs were being eliminated.

Authentic, the licensing group that purchased Sports Illustrated for $110 million from Meredith five years ago, has terminated the agreement it holds with The Arena Group to publish SI in print and digital, according to an email obtained by Front Office Sports. That move comes three weeks after Arena missed a $2.8 million payment that breached the company’s SI licensing deal, which began in 2019.

The fallout: On Friday Arena told all SI employees in an email “… We were notified by Authentic Brands Group (ABG) that the license under which the Arena Group operates the Sports Illustrated (SI) brand and SI related properties has been officially revoked by ABG. As a result of this license revocation, we will be laying off staff that work on the SI brand.”

“Some employees will be terminated immediately, and paid in lieu of the applicable notice period under the [the union contract]. Employees with a last working day of today will be contacted by the People team soon. Other employees will be expected to work through the end of the notice period, and will receive additional information shortly.” (An Arena spokesperson did not immediately respond to FOS when contacted about the layoff plans.)

Friday afternoon, the Sports Illustrated Guild wrote on X (formerly Twitter): “We have fought together as a union to maintain the standard of this storied publication that we love, and to make sure our workers are treated fairly for the value they bring to this company. It is a fight we will continue.”

Authentic’s move to terminate Arena’s license and Arena’s eliminating SI’s staff signals a shift in the company that operates SI, weeks after Manoj Bhargava, the founder of 5-Hour Energy, introduced himself to employees of Arena, including SI, as their new leader. Since then, Authentic has had exploratory conversations with and reached out to multiple parties about the possibility of taking over Arena’s role with SI, industry sources with knowledge of the situation tell FOS.

It’s unclear whether Authentic will indeed pursue the path of establishing a new operator or will now allow Arena to renegotiate its current deal. Sources tell FOS, though, that Authentic’s goal is to move the process along as quickly as possible. One way or another, says one insider, “Authentic will see Sports Illustrated through a necessary evolution.”

SI, meanwhile, has struggled to find its financial foothold in the digital age, culminating in a November report that suggested its website had published AI-generated reviews without disclosure. That fiasco was followed by a head-scratching town hall in December led by Bhargava with SI and other Arena employees that spanned more than 90 minutes and during which Bhargava said, “No one is important. I am not important. … The amount of useless stuff you guys do is staggering.” Bhargava’s Simplify Inventions agreed to purchase roughly 65% of Arena in August, a $50 million deal.

Authentic acquired SI from Meredith in May 2019. The Arena Group—operating as Maven, before changing its name in 2021—then paid Authentic $45 million up front as part of a 10-year licensing agreement. Until a month ago, Ross Levinsohn led SI and Arena as Arena began to purchase other struggling media outlets, such as Men’s Journal.

Authentic, sources close to the situation tell FOS, has been irked by Arena in recent years as SI has instituted multiple rounds of layoffs, run off top talent such as Grant Wahl, and undergone constant leadership changes. Authentic’s contact with potential replacement operators predates Arena’s recent missed payment, sources with knowledge of the situation tell FOS.

In addition to Friday’s SI layoffs, Arena fired more than 100 employees on Thursday throughout its organization. But Bhargava, who was tapped as Arena’s interim CEO on Dec. 11, didn’t make those cost-cutting moves. That’s because Bhargava stepped down from that position on Jan. 5 “to avoid any conflicts of interest,” according to an SEC filing. That conflict: Bridge Media Networks, a company completely owned by Bhargava, is in negotiations to make “a substantial investment” in Arena, according to the Arena news release that announced the layoffs on Thursday. The layoffs were carried out instead by Arena execs, its board of directors, and Jason Frankl, of FTI Consulting, who was appointed as Arena’s chief business transformation officer the same day Bhargava resigned, according to SEC filings.

“My immediate focus is to collaboratively design a growth-oriented media company, ensuring the financial stability necessary to cultivate and grow the brands we cherish,” Frankl said in a statement. “While this week’s layoffs were regrettably necessary, I look forward to sharing detailed plans soon.”

[miloscat]

[Review] Child of Eden (PS3)

The cooler Rez.

After United Game Artists (the studio behind Rez) was dissolved into Sonic Team, Tetsuya Mizuguchi left Sega and founded Q Entertainment. They made other games with his signature flashy light show style, like Lumines and Every Extend, but in 2011 they followed up his original "synaesthetic" game with another rail shooter, Child of Eden. If you ask me it's a more successful expression of Rez's aims, and a more engaging shooter as well.

In addition to Rez's eight-target homing shot (which can now get multiple locks on stronger enemies like Kachi's shot in Sin & Punishment 2), there's a new rapid-fire shot which is specifically for destroying projectiles and damaging certain enemies. A strong use of colour coding helps with gameplay readability, so it's clear when there are hazards to shoot down or targets to lock on to, and responding with the right choice of weapon is satisfying. There's also a score multiplier system that turns CoE into a true rhythm hybrid game, as you're rewarded with a score combo when you get full target locks that are released to the beat of the backing track.

You will want to get good scores as this grants you stars which are necessary to unlock new levels. Again there are only five, plus a unique bonus marathon challenge unlocked after you clear them; I couldn't get more than a third of the way through this but it's a nice extra that hearkens back to Rez's more abstracted visual style. Luckily the unlock stars are cumulative, so you don't have to perfect stages to open up later ones, simply play them through a few times. This felt like a chore at first but I did get into improving my score as I flew through the rich virtual environments.

While the setting is similar to Rez (a cyberspace world vaguely under attack, an avatar character to save) the levels have memorably stronger theming, such as evolution or technology, and the bump in console generation certainly helps to make more fleshed-out and visually impressive worlds and setpieces. I also found the music landed better with more of a pop and vocal tinge, especially given the story.

You see, Child of Eden is something of a tie-in to Mizuguchi's house-pop band Genki Rockets, who needless to say handled the soundtrack. Their virtual frontwoman Lumi, played in their shows and this game by Rei Yasuda, is the central character, an AI recreation of a woman born in the far-future year of 2019. Lumi has a constant presence in the game as a live-action integrated FMV character, appearing on menu screens, in gameplay, and in the intro movie as a white-dress-clad personality-less object of innocence soon imperilled.

I'm not keen on the damsel-in-distress imagery, and I thought the concept would have landed better if she had been rendered in the cool sketchy "Take On Me" rotoscope style as seen in the unlockable music videos (well, you can only watch partial clips of them in the gallery, for some strange reason...). Either way, she provides a central figure to hang the game around which works well enough, especially because the implied player character has reduced presence as the game is presented from the first person perspective.

While I was underwhelmed by Rez, I found Child of Eden genuinely impressive; it actually is what I was hoping that Rez would be. It's a shame that it's now a lot less accessible than Rez. I suppose it's also worth mentioning that just as Rez Infinite has its VR support, Child of Eden is compatible with the flash-in-the-pan 3DTV technology, as well as having optional Playstation Move motion controls, which seems like it would work pretty well (the 360 version instead has Kinect support, which probably doesn't work as well). I still found it plenty immersive without the gimmicks, playing on a 2D telly with a stock Dualshock 3. Good stuff.

[thatforgottenbasilisk]

"so long and goodnight" is just a more polite way to say "fuck off and fuck you"

Word Count: 2121 (AO3) (My Fic Masterpost)

Originally Posted on 11/27/2024

Rating: T

Summary:

Jon can't stand to watch Tim fall apart. Granted, everybody's falling apart, but, well... this one feels the most like it's his fault.

For Whumptober 2023 Day 17, Prompt #3: "Leave me alone."

"I told you a dozen fucking times, Jon. Leave me the hell alone."

"We are worried about you- " Jon tries to get through to Tim, at least a little bit, and if that means that he's bothering him during his smoke break, then so be it. Tim never used to take smoke breaks, Jon had honestly thought that Tim wasn't a smoker at all, and then everything happened; Sasha, Jon thinks, is what broke this particular camel's back, because it was only after they learned about her that Tim could reliably be found outside for fifteen-minute intervals at ten, twelve-thirty, and three on any given workday.

"You can worry about me on your own time, in your own office. Fuck. Off." Tim gets close enough that Jon can smell the cigarette smoke on him, though of course it's a smell that doesn't really fade off of him anymore. Jon wouldn't be surprised if he was a multiple-packs-a-day man, if he could hypothetically cram that much in forty-five minutes out of the workday, or else just chain smokes before and after work.

It's not like he can judge, really. He gets it; the habit he picked up in University- and it only took so long because Grandmother had sensitive lungs and she wouldn't allow it in her house- had taken years to shake, and he didn't even manage to fully kick it. Besides, it's not like there's much to worry about in the way of cancer, is there? If either of them lives long enough to get it, it'll be a miracle in its own right.

"Fine. Fine. Technically, this is company time and I'm still- I won't get into that." Jon starts to correct Tim about the 'your own time' comment, and just as quickly backpedals when he realizes that it's probably a really bad idea to pull rank right about now, especially for this kind of conversation.

Drastic measures, he thinks wryly to himself, as he digs in his own pocket for his own carton of cigarettes. "If you won't talk to me, then I'll use my own smoke break for its intended purpose." Jon says, and he's sure that a bit of his frustration has leaked into his voice. He pulls a cigarette out of the pack- and he's not even entirely sure of when he purchased this pack, it has to have been over a month ago and it's only half-empty, and he'd be proud of himself if it were any other circumstance and he wasn't in the middle of- of- well, he hates to call it a relapse, because he's not exactly about to light up the whole pack, but that's the best word he can think of.

"Do whatever the hell you want." Tim replies, tersely, and with a bit of resignation in his voice, like he's already arrived at the conclusion that nothing's going to get Jon away from this current situation aside from bodily dragging him back inside. Jon doesn't verbally respond, just takes it at face value, and lights his own cigarette and takes a drag.

They stand together in silence for a few minutes, before Tim takes the butt of his cigarette out of his mouth and drops it to the ground. He squishes it under his shoe, with quite a bit more force than Jon really thinks is necessary to extinguish it, but he's not about to say anything about it. That would just be causing more trouble than it's worth, at this point.

Tim shoves both his hands in his pockets, turns, and makes to storm back inside, but Jon- stupidly, impulsively, without even taking two seconds to think about the consequences of his actions- reaches out and catches him by the crook of the elbow.

Tim stops short as soon as he feels the resistance from Jon, as soon as it's clear that he's anchored himself to the spot. Well- if Tim really wanted to, there's not much that Jon could do to stop him from just continuing to walk, and either bulldozing past Jon or dragging him along, depending on how strong his grip is.

He looks back at Jon, after a moment, and roughly shoves Jon's hand away. Jon doesn't blame him for that particular move, and doesn't get upset about it, really; just pulls his hand back towards himself. Tim stays still, just staring, not saying a word. Jon waits, to see if Tim's going to say anything, and when he eventually decides to try again, to try to say something that Tim might listen to, Tim starts talking at the same time that he does.

Jon shuts up the second that it's clear they're both talking; he's not here to bulldoze him, contrary to how Tim is acting. Contrary to how Tim seems to feel like Jon is behaving, he's not here to steamroll or anything, just to try to have some semblance of a normal conversation, for just five minutes, maybe. That's all he's asking for.

"Don't act like either of us has anything left to say to each other." Tim grits out, and Jon takes half a step back, almost without realizing it. Jon thinks there's plenty left to be said, still, because maybe if he apologizes again and correctly, keeps talking and saying more words until he's eventually managed to get his point across in the way he's been trying to this entire time, maybe things won't be as horrible anymore.

Or maybe that's just the fact that he has said everything that really needed to be said, and he's unhappy with the result that it got him, and he somehow is still clinging to the hope that words can salvage anything.

"If this were- if circumstances even resembled normal, I'd have quit and blocked your number a long time ago by now. This isn't- I'm not here by choice, Jon, and I don't think that you've managed to actually absorb that." Tim sounds a little breathless, a little desperate, now, like he's at the end of his rope, like this is something he's reiterated a dozen different times in a dozen different ways and this is just the latest in a long chain of repeating the same message over and over again.

"I think I've absorbed it fine," Jon says anyway, "And the fact that you want to leave doesn't change the fact that you're still here, and I am still obligated to give a damn when you're driving yourself into the ground right in front of me. Yes, I know you'd rather be driving yourself into the ground literally anywhere else, but that's not the circumstance we find ourselves in, so at least let me help how I actually can."

Jon doesn't, exactly, know how he can help, in the hypothetical situation where Tim agrees to it; he can't exactly give Tim more vacation time, because it's not like he'd actually be able to use it; nor can he fire him, or undo any of the spying or anything he did in the middle of his paranoid craze.

"How?" Tim immediately calls his bluff, nearly shouting with the force of it. "How can you possibly help by being even more present in my life where, and I cannot stress this enough right now, I don't want you anywhere near me? This isn't something to be talked out, Jon! This is the kind of thing where one party leaves, and neither of us ever speaks to each other again! The toothpaste isn't going back into the tube, the fucking- I don't know what the hell other metaphor would work, here, but the trust is broken. Irreparably. You're not- you aren't even human anymore, not entirely, and you honestly believe that I'll ever- ever- trust that you're not going to use your- your- your fuck-ass, Eye of Sauron interrogation powers on me? You honestly think I'm ever going to trust you again, to the point where I can call you a friend, after all of this?"

Tim laughs, in an angry sort of way, without any actual humor in it. "There is nothing that you can say or do to help me, Jon. Just leave me the hell alone, so that I can occasionally pretend that I've actually managed to leave."

With that, Tim storms inside, not waiting for Jon to say anything in response. Jon doesn't try to stop him; he doesn't even know what he would say if he did.

Tim is right. There's nothing that Jon can do to combat that; there's nothing that Jon can do to make any of what Tim said any less true. Tim is trapped here, against his will, the same as everybody else. Tim is trapped with someone he doesn't trust, and Jon doesn't exactly know how to get that trust back, if it's even possible to do so; in their circumstances, it's more than likely a lost cause, exactly as Tim said.

It's not like Jon is much better, in the whole 'trusting people' department, and in his case, none of the people he's struggling to believe won't go behind his back have ever actually done that. They haven't proven his paranoia right. He doesn't know how to even begin to broach the idea of going back to trusting someone who's hurt him before.

It's not like he can leave Tim alone, though. As much as Tim may want him to- as much as the both of them want him to, in all honesty, because avoiding Tim is easier than trying to navigate the minefield of their conversations nowadays- Jon can also very plainly see that Tim is, as he'd said before, driving himself into the ground. He at least wants to be a decent enough person to try to pull him away from that.

As Jon takes two steps towards the door back inside, he hesitates; he stops walking almost as soon as he starts, as the thought occurs to him that maybe he's not the right person to help. He's not going to pretend that he's not a major part of the problem, here; he's not going to pretend that a lot of this isn't his fault. The question that he's asking himself is, despite being a part of the problem, can he be a part of the solution?

Or. Not solution, really. He doubts that this is a problem that can actually be solved. Alleviated, mostly? Made less intense, somehow. Slowing down Tim's descent into whatever it is he's making himself into.

Melanie, he thinks wryly, would be the perfect person to talk to Tim. They can bond over their mutual hatred of everything they're stuck with, especially me.

He doesn't even think he's wrong in his own assessment. If Tim or Melanie ever talked to each other, Jon thinks they'd get on like a house on fire- the problem with that is, neither of them would ever listen to him, or pull themselves out of their own heads for long enough to make decent conversation with each other. That, and... the feeling of camaraderie in the Archives is, despite how much he misses it sometimes, something that he thinks would feel alien now.

Besides- Jon's not exactly about to shove anybody closer to each other, whether or not he thinks they'd wind up being friends. He's... at this point, he thinks that if he tries to do anything else to make things better, it'll just get worse, and it's to the point that he really doesn't want to know what "worse" would entail.

He checks his pocket, to make sure his carton of cigarettes is actually closed, and heads inside as well, a good distance behind Tim. He glances around outside, one last time, before heading in; he's both mildly surprised and resigned to notice a tape recorder sitting on the ground just by the door.

He doesn't know how long it's been running, and he wouldn't be all that shocked if it had gotten the entire conversation. Still, he clicks the stop button, and brings it inside as he goes.

He doesn't say anything when he gets back down into the Archives; it's not like anybody would listen, anyway. Tim's got his headphones on, and is doing something on his laptop; Melanie's sharpening one of her knives; he doesn't see Martin or Basira, but he doesn't doubt that they're here, somewhere. There's no reason to interrupt anybody at the present moment.

Instead, Jon just goes straight to his office, and puts the tape recorder on his desk. He pops the tape out without bothering to listen, and puts it in his desk drawer where he's started keeping all the tapes that don't have Statement recordings on them.

[theadmiringbog]

There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in.

—Bishop Desmond Tutu

--

The majority of people reading this book can expect to die somewhere in their seventies or eighties, give or take, and almost all from “slow” causes. Assuming that you’re not someone who engages in ultrarisky behaviors like BASE jumping, motorcycle racing, or texting and driving, the odds are overwhelming that you will die as a result of one of the chronic diseases of aging that I call the Four Horsemen: heart disease, cancer, neurodegenerative disease, or type 2 diabetes and related metabolic dysfunction. To achieve longevity—to live longer and live better for longer—we must understand and confront these causes of slow death.

--

how well you live—the quality of your years. This is called healthspan,

--

You must be well informed, medically literate to a reasonable degree, clear-eyed about your goals, and cognizant of the true nature of risk. You must be willing to change ingrained habits, accept new challenges, and venture outside of your comfort zone if necessary. You are always participating, never passive. You confront problems, even uncomfortable or scary ones, rather than ignoring them until it’s too late. You have skin in the game, in a very literal sense. And you make important decisions.

--

I ask all my patients to sketch out an alternative future for themselves. What do you want to be doing in your later decades? What is your plan for the rest of your life?

--

Here’s another way to think of it. Lifespan deals with death, which is binary: you’re alive, and then you’re dead. It’s final. But before that happens, sometimes long before, most people suffer through a period of decline that, I would argue, is like dying in slow motion.

--

Medicine 2.0 relies on two types of tactics, broadly speaking: procedures (e.g., surgery) and medications. Our tactics in Medicine 3.0 fall into five broad domains: exercise, nutrition, sleep, emotional health, and exogenous molecules, meaning drugs, hormones, or supplements.

--

I now consider exercise to be the most potent longevity “drug” in our arsenal, in terms of lifespan and healthspan.

--

The data are unambiguous: exercise not only delays actual death but also prevents both cognitive and physical decline, better than any other intervention.

--

The best science out there says that what you eat matters, but the first-order term is how much you eat: how many calories you take into your body.

--

My rule of thumb is that if a given intervention can be shown to extend lifespan or healthspan in multiple species spanning a billion years of evolution, for example, from worms to monkeys, then I am inclined to take it seriously.

--

Jeanne Calment, who once joked, “I’ve only ever had one wrinkle, and I’m sitting on it.”

--

no other molecule had been shown to extend lifespan in a mammal. Ever.

--

The life-extending effect of CR seems to be almost universal. Numerous labs have found that restricting caloric intake lengthens lifespan not only in rats and mice (usually) but also in yeast, worms, flies, fish, hamsters, dogs, and even, weirdly, spiders. It has been found to extend lifespan in just about every model organism on which it has been tried,

--

what we eat and how we metabolize it appear to play an outsize role in longevity.

--

In Medicine 3.0, we have five tactical domains that we can address in order to alter someone’s health. The first is exercise, which I consider to be by far the most potent domain in terms of its impact on both lifespan and healthspan. Of course, exercise is not just one thing, so I break it down into its components of aerobic efficiency, maximum aerobic output (VO2 max), strength, and stability, all of which we’ll discuss in more detail. Next is diet or nutrition—or as I prefer to call it, nutritional biochemistry. The third domain is sleep, which has gone underappreciated by Medicine 2.0 until relatively recently. The fourth domain encompasses a set of tools and techniques to manage and improve emotional health. Our fifth and final domain consists of the various drugs, supplements, and hormones that doctors learn about in medical school and beyond. I lump these into one bucket called exogenous molecules, meaning molecules we ingest that come from outside the body.

--

When I evaluate new patients, I’m always asking three key questions:

Are they overnourished or undernourished? That is, are they taking in too many or too few calories?

Are they undermuscled or adequately muscled?

Are they metabolically healthy or not?

--

More than any other tactical domain we discuss in this book, exercise has the greatest power to determine how you will live out the rest of your life.

There are reams of data supporting the notion that even a fairly minimal amount of exercise can lengthen your life by several years. It delays the onset of chronic diseases, pretty much across the board, but it is also amazingly effective at extending and improving healthspan. Not only does it reverse physical decline, which I suppose is somewhat obvious, but it can slow or reverse cognitive decline as well. (It also has benefits in terms of emotional health, although those are harder to quantify.)

--

peak aerobic cardiorespiratory fitness, measured in terms of VO2 max, is perhaps the single most powerful marker for longevity. VO2 max represents the maximum rate at which a person can utilize oxygen. This is measured, naturally, while a person is exercising at essentially their upper limit of effort. (If you’ve ever had this test done, you will know just how unpleasant it is.) The more oxygen your body is able to use, the higher your VO2 max.

--

The strong association between cardiorespiratory fitness and longevity has long been known. It might surprise you, as it did me, to learn that muscle may be almost as powerfully correlated with living longer. A ten-year observational study of roughly 4,500 subjects ages fifty and older found that those with low muscle mass were at 40 to 50 percent greater risk of mortality than controls, over the study period.

--

I will find a way to lift heavy weights in some way, shape, or form four times per week, no matter what else I am doing or where I might be traveling.

--

Think of the Centenarian Decathlon as the ten most important physical tasks you will want to be able to do for the rest of your life. Some of the items on the list resemble actual athletic events, while some are closer to activities of daily living, and still others might reflect your own personal interests.

--

I might include some of the following: Hike 1.5 miles on a hilly trail. Get up off the floor under your own power, using a maximum of one arm for support. Pick up a young child from the floor. Carry two five-pound bags of groceries for five blocks. Lift a twenty-pound suitcase into the overhead compartment of a plane.

--

The three dimensions in which we want to optimize our fitness are aerobic endurance and efficiency (aka cardio), strength, and stability.

--

When we say “cardio,” we are talking about not one thing, but a physiologic continuum, ranging from an easy walk to an all-out sprint. The various levels of intensity all count as cardio but are fueled by multiple different energy systems. For our purposes, we are interested in two particular regions of this continuum: long, steady endurance work, such as jogging or cycling or swimming, where we are training in what physiologists call zone 2, and maximal aerobic efforts, where VO2 max comes into play.

--

Typically, zone 1 is a walk in the park and zone 5 (or 6, or 7) is an all-out sprint. Zone 2 is more or less the same in all training models: going at a speed slow enough that one can still maintain a conversation but fast enough that the conversation might be a little strained.

--

Millán and other exercise physiologists, it seems that about three hours per week of zone 2, or four 45-minute sessions, is the minimum required for most people to derive a benefit and make improvements,

--

I am so persuaded of the benefits of zone 2 that it has become a cornerstone of my training plan. Four times a week, I will spend about an hour riding my stationary bike at my zone 2 threshold.

--

One way to track your progression in zone 2 is to measure your output in watts at this level of intensity. (Many stationary bikes can measure your wattage as you ride.) You take your average wattage output for a zone 2 session and divide it by your weight to get your watts per kilogram, which is the number we care about. So if you weigh 60 kilos (about 132 pounds) and can generate 125 watts in zone 2, that works out to a bit more than 2 watts/kg, which is about what one would expect from a reasonably fit person. These

--

I have all my patients undergo VO2 max testing and then train to improve their score. Even if you are not competing in high-level endurance sports, your VO2 max is an important number that you can and should know.

--

the way we train VO2 max is pretty similar to the way elite athletes do it: by supplementing our zone 2 work with one or two VO2 max workouts per week. Where HIIT intervals are very short, typically measured in seconds, VO2 max intervals are a bit longer, ranging from three to eight minutes—and a notch less intense. I do these workouts on my road bike, mounted to a stationary trainer, or on a rowing machine, but running on a treadmill (or a track) could also work. The tried-and-true formula for these intervals is to go four minutes at the maximum pace you can sustain for this amount of time—not an all-out sprint, but still a very hard effort. Then ride or jog four minutes easy, which should be enough time for your heart rate to come back down to below about one hundred beats per minute. Repeat this four to six times and cool down.

--

I’m less concerned with how big my biceps are or how much I can bench press. Those might matter if you’re a bodybuilder or a powerlifter, but I’d argue they matter less in the Centenarian Decathlon (or in real life). A far more important measure of strength, I’ve concluded, is how much heavy stuff you can carry.

--

Fundamentally I structure my training around exercises that improve the following:

Grip strength, how hard you can grip with your hands, which involves everything from your hands to your lats (the large muscles on your back). Almost all actions begin with the grip.

Attention to both concentric and eccentric loading for all movements, meaning when our muscles are shortening (concentric) and when they are lengthening (eccentric). In other words, we need to be able to lift the weight up and put it back down, slowly and with control. Rucking down hills is a great way to work on eccentric strength, because it forces you to put on the “brakes.”

Pulling motions, at all angles from overhead to in front of you, which also requires grip strength (e.g., pull-ups and rows). Hip-hinging movements, such as the deadlift and squat, but also step-ups, hip-thrusters, and countless single-leg variants of exercises that strengthen the legs, glutes, and lower back.

--

One thing that stability training has taught me is that most “acute” injuries, such as a torn ACL or a hamstring tear, are rarely sudden. While their onset may be rapid—instantaneous back or neck or knee pain—there was likely a chronic weakness or lack of stability at the foundation of the joint that was the true culprit. This is the real iceberg in the water. The “acute” injury is just the part you see, the manifestation of the underlying weakness.

--

Stability is tricky to define precisely, but we intuitively know what it is. A technical definition might be: stability is the subconscious ability to harness, decelerate, or stop force.

--

One simple test that we ask of everyone, early on, looks like this: lie on your back, with one hand on your belly and the other on your chest, and just breathe normally, without putting any effort or thought into it. Notice which hand is rising and falling—is it the one on your chest, or your belly, or both (or neither)? Some people tend to flare their ribs and expand the chest on the inhale, while the belly is flat or even goes down. This creates tightness in the upper body and midline, and if the ribs stay flared, it’s difficult to achieve a full exhalation. Others breathe primarily “into” the belly, which tilts the pelvis forward. Still others are compressed, meaning they have difficulty moving air in and out altogether, because they cannot expand the rib cage with each inhalation.

--

Beth identifies three types of breathing styles and associated phenotypes, which she jokingly calls “Mr. Stay Puft,” the “Sad Guy,” and the “Yogini”—each corresponding to a different set of stability strategies:

Mr. Stay Puft HYPERINFLATED. This person is an upper-chest breather who tends to pull up into spinal extension for both respiration and stability. Their lumbar spine is in hyperextension, while their pelvis lives in anterior (forward) tilt, meaning their butt sticks out. They are always pulling up into themselves, trying to look like they are in charge. They have a limited sense of grounding in the feet, and limited ability to pronate to absorb shock (the feet turn outward, or supinate). All of the above makes them quite susceptible to lower back pain, as well as tightness in their calves and hips.

Sad Guy COMPRESSED. Everything about them is sort of scrunched down and tight. Their head juts forward, and so do their shoulders, which kind of roll to the front because they are always pulling forward to try and take in more air. Their midback rolls in an overly flexed or hyperkyphotic posture, and they have limited neck and upper limb motion. Sometimes their lower legs externally rotate, and the feet overpronate. Gravity is weighing them down. Yogini

UNCONTROLLED. These folks have extreme passive range of motion (i.e., flexibility)—and extremely limited ability to control it. They can often do a toe touch and put their palms flat on the floor, but because of their lack of control, these people are quite prone to joint injuries. They are always trying to find themselves in space, fidgeting and twitching; they compensate for their excessive flexibility by trying to stabilize primarily with their neck and jaw. It is very hard for them to put on lean mass (muscle). Sometimes they have very high anxiety, and possibly also a breathing pattern disorder.

--

I now realize that I was too far on the left on the Dunning-Kruger curve, caricatured below in figure 14—my maximal confidence and relatively minimal knowledge having propelled me quite close to the summit of “Mount Stupid.”

--

Nutrition is relatively simple, actually. It boils down to a few basic rules: don’t eat too many calories, or too few; consume sufficient protein and essential fats; obtain the vitamins and minerals you need; and avoid pathogens like E. coli and toxins like mercury or lead.

--

Directionally, a lot of the old cliché expressions are probably right: If your great-grandmother would not recognize it, you’re probably better off not eating it. If you bought it on the perimeter of the grocery store, it’s probably better than if you bought it in the middle of the store. Plants are very good to eat. Animal protein is “safe” to eat. We evolved as omnivores; ergo, most of us can probably find excellent health as omnivores.

--

Once you strip away the labels and the ideology, almost all diets rely on at least one of the following three strategies to accomplish this:

CALORIC RESTRICTION, or CR: eating less in total, but without attention to what is being eaten or when it’s being eaten

DIETARY RESTRICTION, or DR: eating less of some particular element(s) within the diet (e.g., meat, sugar, fats)

TIME RESTRICTION, or TR: restricting eating to certain times, up to and including multiday fasting

--

if you are overnourished, and statistically speaking about two-thirds of us are, you will need to apply at least one of these methods of caloric reduction: deliberately tracking (and reducing) what you eat; cutting out certain foods; and/or giving yourself less time in which to eat.

--

“I think people get old when they stop thinking about the future,” Ric told me. “If you want to find someone’s true age, listen to them. If they talk about the past and they talk about all the things that happened that they did, they’ve gotten old. If they think about their dreams, their aspirations, what they’re still looking forward to—they’re young.”

[urlocalwormtoday]

SHARE FOR THE CLASS

I think I've been scrolling on the rainworld oc tag for too long because I feel the sudden urge to copy paste and elaborate on previously written notes and headcanons about my rainworld ocs... 😨

As I said, a lot of things were written a while ago (as in, like a year or two ago, when I didn't use grammarly and didn't have a Tumblr) so they might not be the prettiest, structurally speaking xd

Swirl of Vivid Sunlight :

Swirl of Vivid Sunlight is a nervous, solitary iterator who does not usually participate in group chats and is often left to her own devices as a result. She is referred to as rather childish by some of the other iterators; infatuated with the world's wonders. She rarely ever responds to direct messages, usually only participating in group chats when necessary. She was very close with Silver of Straw before their death and is still very close with Seven Red Suns now. Despite it being her initial mission and the reason she was created, after Sliver of Straw died she has since stopped searching for the path to death, considering it a truly impossible task. She often uses the overseers of her structure to simply observe the Flora and fauna surrounding it, her general structure especially being quite overgrown. As most iterators go by a shorter or different name, she is known as Vivid Sunlight. As expected, her "symbol" is simply a swirling symbol, outwards tracing in. Her metallic covering is a mainly pale orange, similar to Seven Red Suns, however, she has multiple blue, red, yellow, and purple accents that seem to run in rings around her arms and clothing. Near the back of her head, two antenna communicator things attached to her puppets skull hang down past her feet. They are quite larger than she is, being multiple times longer than her total height. While she doesn't usually dabble in genetic mutation and purposing organisms for specific jobs, she has sent her fair share of Messengers suited to fit the environment to iterators that are farther out. She was mainly unaffected by Five Pebbles outburst since she never really checked chat rooms or messages that much, and while she was aware of Five Pebbles situation, she avoided thinking and talking about it. Her structure is quite the catacombs, and is pretty hard to navigate if you aren't small enough. Luckily for her messengers, a group of five Slugcats, they seem to fit right in. Vivid Sunlight does not like talking or interacting with most other iterators unless absolutely necessary, and is preferred to be left alone. She's kind and gentle but is quite solitary, and it's pretty easy to annoy her if you know what sets her off. If angry she will most likely simply cease communication with whoever she's talking to, and if she can't do that, she'll go radio silent and attempt to ignore all messages.

The Skitter

One of Vivid Sunlights messengers, a black slugcat with white eyes and nose. He has two eyes on each side, a smaller one beneath the one in its natural place. He is lithe and has a multitude of quills along his back and tail that ends in sharp red points. He resembles a spider, and has the maneuverability of one. He's capable of climbing on walls and ceilings, and is incredibly swift when it comes to jumping and climbing on poles. He's omnivorous, preferring to eat fruits and small insects more than anything. He doesn't talk much, but does enjoy being a part of Vivid Sunlights messengers. While his quills are sharp, they are not firm enough to be used as Spears, sadly. The most they can do is prevent an attack from behind to a degree. Often known by the others as just Skitter, since that's what Vivid Sunlight seems to call him. He has a degree of poison that can paralyze a creature for a period of time, or at the very least restrict their movements by making them weaker and dizzy. It's not enough to kill unless a large dose of his venom is administered at the same time. However, he has glands on the roof of his mouth that prevent him from giving too much and 'drying up'. In order to actually inject something with his venom, he has to be well hydrated in order to create the venom in the first place. He seems to regenerate wounds and turn them into scars very fast. As said, he doesn't talk much, and often doesn't know how to show his platonic affection to the others, whom he sees as siblings. He likes his peace and quiet, but can handle some chaos every so often. He doesn't mind breaking the rules but also likes to stay on track.

The Wayfinder

A rather heavy, mostly mechanical slugcat. Built almost entirely out of metals and alloys, with only a few specific organic parts, The Wayfinder is a navigator. They are pretty much walking gps, constantly mapping and recording the things around them. They have autonomy, but don't seem to realize that they do. They're often so absorbed in completing whatever task they were given, most of the time they don't realize they can stray from that path, even if it's just for a little bit. They like efficiency, and when faced with things that aren't facts like opinions or feelings, they usually get confused. Their exterior is metal, and is by extension pretty hard to bite through. Spears can and will dent if thrown with enough force, but The Wayfinder is mostly safe from any conflicts. They're mainly light gray, almost White, with light glowing yellow markings indented slightly into their outer shell. They have these mechanical 'whiskers' that protrude outside of their face, a yellow hologram usually casted around them to make them look larger. Since they aren't designed for it, they usually don't throw with lots of force, but are still pretty strong due to the hydraulics and mechanisms located within their arms and legs. As stated before, they have very few organic parts located within them, but do have intestines and a brain. They feed on bone marrow, blood, and other nutrients absorbed directly from the flesh. They usually avoid violence, but can be rather threatening if someone stands in the way of their task at hand. They often don't like taking detours or breaks, because they don't seem to comprehend that the other Messengers can't go as long without sleep or rest or food as The Wayfinder can. Because of this, it will sometimes cause a bit of conflict within the group.

The Vulture

Built after the image of the thing she was named after, The Vulture is a brutish tank built for combat. She has a hardened skull like mask on her face, the same swirling marking of Vivid Sunlight located on the forehead. She's not outright violent, and can be very kind, but is very skilled and isn't afraid of a fight. She is pretty fluffy, with a mauve taupe-ish color to her fur. Much like a flying squirrel, she has large flaps skin underneath her arms, that can be used to glide and catch strong winds. Her mask, which is a light almost pinkish, seems to be fused to her face. The swirling symbol on the forehead of the mask is a bright glowing yellow, almost orange. She has tabby-like stripes across her back, tail, arms, and legs that are the same color as her mask. She is insectivorous, so mainly spends her time scavenging and forging for bugs if she isn't defending the other Messengers. She's outgoing and is rarely cautious, she seems to know how strong she is compared to the others. She is the leader, holding the main communication to Vivid Sunlight, who she can often hear through the mask, much like how The Wayfinder receives instructions. She has a bold personality, but knows when to be serious or somber, and is very attached to and by extension defensive of the others. She sees the other Messengers as her family, but sees Skitter especially as a little brother, and goes out of her way to make him feel loved and included.

The Hazardous

A small, light slugcat with a rather confusing anatomy. The Hazardous is a feathered, semi-aquatic creature with frills that resemble fins trailing across their back. They have glands behind their ears and head that can release a toxic gas which compounds change depending on the nutrients most recently consumed. They are a light neon yellow color, with black stripes and rings circling their frills and tail. They can use large outbursts of toxic gas to send themselves leaping in certain directions, although it is usually unpredictable. The Hazardous is a survivor, usually neutral in terms of opinions. He does like being one of the Messengers, and is very smart in terms of finding his way around.

Aaannnddd this is about where I stopped writing lol

I don't plan on continuing any of this, ans as you can tell it's pretty much unfinished and will most likely stay unfinished forever unless somebody else wants to pick it up

(be my guest, by the way ;-;)

[zseries69]

Jaguars Experts Share Final Analysis on Thursday Night Football Matchup vs. Saints

JACKSONVILLE – Each week during the 2023 season, Jaguars "experts" – Frank Frangie, Jeff Lageman, Brent Martineau, John Oehser, Brian Sexton, J.P. Shadrick and Kainani Stevens – will analyze the following day's Jaguars matchup.

Up this week:

The New Orleans Saints at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, La.

Frank Frangie, Radio Voice of the Jaguars

The Jaguars will win if: They run the football. At this writing, there was no word on whether the Jags will have Lawrence. If he doesn't play, or even if he does but has limited mobility, the team will have to rely a bit more on its running game. Which means a big game is necessary from Etienne. Even with a healthy Lawrence, this team is best when it has balance. Defensively, Brown or whoever replaces Campbell — who isn't expected to play — must play well because he will be targeted. That's a big key to the game.

The Saints will win if: They stuff the run and make the Jags one-dimensional – and if they can hit some big plays over the top. I don't think they will put together a lot of long drives.

As Frangie sees it: This is a tough out for the Jaguars. It's a short week, on the road, against a desperate team with a good defense. The Jags have to play a tough, efficient game to win.

Jeff Lageman, Jaguars analyst and former Jaguars defensive end

The Jaguars will win if: Their defense continues to make big plays. The Jaguars' defense leads the NFL in takeaways with 15 and continues to provide sparks for an offense that is still gaining momentum.

The Saints will win if: They have a fast start, getting the crowd going and putting the Jaguars in the position of playing catch up. The Saints' defense is impressive. With a lead, contending with it would be tough.

As Lageman sees it: Being the road team on a short week is very tough and will be a great test for a Jaguars team riding the high of a three-game win streak. The health of Lawrence's knee and the performance of his offensive line will be a huge factor in determining success. The entire league and nation is watching on Thursday night, and this presents a great opportunity.

Brent Martineau, Action Sports Jax Sports Director

The Jaguars will win if: Runing back Travis Etienne Jr. has over 120 yards from scrimmage. The Jaguars will need to effectively run against a good Saints defense. If they do, they can control the clock and set up big plays in the passing game. The Saints defense is allowing just 16 points per game, so anything north of 20 would be good.

The Saints will win if: They don't turn the ball over. In the last two years, the Jaguars have forced zero turnovers five times and lost all five games. New Orleans has eight turnovers this season, which is middle of the pack in the NFL. If the Saints don't let the Jaguars make a big defensive play, they likely win at home.

As Martineau sees it: The Jaguars are one of the hottest teams in the NFL and the Saints are one of the quirky teams in the NFL. I think it might be a weird game Thursday and probably a typical clunky Thursday night affair. I'm not getting off the Jaguars bandwagon right now so let's go with a 23-19 win.

Jordan Herald/Jacksonville Jaguars

John Oehser, jaguars.com senior writer

The Jaguars will win if: They force multiple turnovers and hold the Saints to 20 points. Whatever Lawrence's status with a knee injury sustained last week in a victory over the Colts, the Jaguars figure to be limited offensively. This is a game for an opportunistic Jaguars defense to continue making key plays at key moments. If they can create points or short fields defensively, the Jaguars can overcome a slew of injuries.

The Saints will win if: They score in the red zone and pressure the Jaguars into mistakes. The Saints have been effective offensively between the 20s and they are a good defense. If they can score when they're close to the end zone and score three touchdowns, they will be tough to beat in what for them is close to a desperation game.

As Oehser sees it: This matchup is tough for the Jaguars for multiple reasons, only one of which is Lawrence's knee. They could be missing multiple starts, including Campbell, and they're playing a third game in 12 days. It will take a mammoth defensive effort for the Jaguars to win this one.

Brian Sexton, jaguars.com senior correspondent

The Jaguars will win if: They overcome key injuries. We can start with quarterback Trevor Lawrence and the offensive line. Lawrence must be on the field to give the Jaguars the best chance to win and he must have a clean pocket. Jaguars cornerback Tyson Campbell's hamstring is a problem this week against Saints wide receivers Chris Olave and Michael Thomas after Montaric Brown – playing in place of Campbell – struggled to keep up with Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Michael Pittman last week. Backups must play like starters on a short week.

The Saints will win if: Saints quarterback Derek Carr has time to stand in the pocket and find those receivers. Carr hasn't been the upgrade New Orleans thought they were getting, but we saw him with the Las Vegas Raiders last season and he's more than capable of taking advantage of your weaknesses. The Jaguars must attack him like they did Indianapolis Colts quarterback Gardner Minshew last week, because Carr is capable of beating you.

As Sexton sees it: This is a tough game to call. The Jaguars should be able to win a game with backup players; the Cleveland Browns won last week against the San Francisco 49ers with a journeyman backup quarterback who wasn't in their training camp and the New York Jets beat the Philadelphia Eagles with two backup cornerbacks. But this is the Jaguars' third game in 12 days on two continents and that's a lot to overcome.

J.P. Shadrick, jaguars.com senior reporter

The Jaguars will win if: They continue to play defense at a high level. They are now third in the league against the run, and that has led to teams giving them the ball to the tune of a league-high 15 takeaways. The offense has been effective at moments, but now is battling through some key injuries. Can they lean on Etienne and the running game as heavily as they have so far? Etienne leads the NFL in rushing attempts.

The Saints will win if: They can possess the football and cash in for touchdowns. The Saints have scored just over 18 points per game, so this is far from an explosive attack so far. If they take advantage of any changes in the Jags secondary with a veteran quarterback in Carr, the Saints could be on their way.

As Shadrick sees it: It is always difficult to travel for Thursday Night Football, especially with so many injuries for the Jaguars. If Lawrence can go, and stay out of harm's way, then the Jaguars have their best opportunity with a defense that is feeling it right now.

Jeff Lageman, Jaguars analyst and former Jaguars defensive end

The Jaguars will win if: Their defense continues to make big plays. The Jaguars' defense leads the NFL in takeaways with 15 and continues to provide sparks for an offense that is still gaining momentum.

The Saints will win if: They have a fast start, getting the crowd going and putting the Jaguars in the position of playing catch up. The Saints' defense is impressive. With a lead, contending with it would be tough.

As Lageman sees it: Being the road team on a short week is very tough and will be a great test for a Jaguars team riding the high of a three-game win streak. The health of Lawrence's knee and the performance of his offensive line will be a huge factor in determining success. The entire league and nation is watching on Thursday night, and this presents a great opportunity.

Kainani Stevens, Jaguars.com reporter

The Jaguars will win if: The defense continues to dominate. New Orleans' offense has struggled mightily with Carr and not much creativity in the passing game. If the Jags can continue to force turnovers, they put a lot of pressure on a struggling Saints offense.

The Saints will win if: Lawrence doesn't play or is seriously limited by his knee injury. Backup C.J. Beathard is certainly familiar with Head Coach Doug Pederson's offense but putting that into action in a hostile environment is an entirely different story. I think the Jags offense will struggle this week regardless of who is QB1 and it will end up being a defensive battle.

As Stevens sees it: I'll ride with the Jags. I don't think it will take more than one or two touchdowns to win this game. Anything the Jags can do to take the crowd out of it early will benefit them. I say Jags 13-10.