#life doesn't make narrative sense

[moistvonlipwig]

13. Top 5 female characters I wish had better development/writing

For @peachycloudcats. I will do #11 later today or tomorrow. :3

Additionally, I've decided to try my best to avoid repeats of previous female characters I've already used for this ask game, to keep things fresh. Without further ado:

1: Winifred "Fred" Burkle from Angel is one of those characters who I do like but I don't love and the biggest reason for that is that I don't think the writers had any clue what to do with her. It's to Amy Acker's credit that I find her endearing despite falling into some very particular Whedon-y tropes I tend to dislike. But it's telling that when Joss saw Amy Acker play Lady Macbeth and realized she was a much stronger actor than he'd thought, his first thought was not, "Gosh, I better give Fred a meatier storyline!" but rather, "Gosh, I better kill off Fred and give Amy Acker an entirely new character to play!" I think the character was at her best in early S3 and late S4, but a lot of the stuff in between fell kind of flat for me, and she literally does not have an arc in S5 besides Dying Tragically So Men Can Be Sad About It. Unfortunate. :/

2: Emperor Philippa Georgiou from Star Trek Discovery, meanwhile, is a character I should like on paper but who in practice often did not work for me. I think the concept of the character was brilliant -- I remember watching the first episode set in Disco's mirror universe and hearing a character refer to 'the Emperor' without mentioning their name and thinking, "Oh, shit, it's gonna be Georgiou, that's gonna be so awesome" -- and I think for the duration of Disco's mirror universe arc she works very well as a character. And I liked the idea of Michael taking her back to the prime universe, I thought there was a lot of potential there. Unfortunately I just don't think the writing was up to snuff. Part of the issue was, I think, a tonal mismatch: Georgiou was cartoonishly evil to a frankly absurd degree that seemed completely out of step with the rest of the show. They also kept giving her cheesy dialogue and unfunny jokes and they seemed reluctant to actually develop her until her send-off episode because they wanted their Comic Relief Evil Character. It's really too bad because Michelle Yeoh is an amazing actress and she was clearly having a blast playing the character, and again, I think the concept of the character is awesome. But I think maybe Disco was just the wrong show to execute that concept.

3: Melissa McCall from Teen Wolf really shined in the early seasons, but as the show went on she increasingly felt less like a loving mother to Scott who had her own problems going on and more like a mouthpiece for the idea that it was Scott's job to put his life and psychological wellbeing on the line in order to save everyone. Also, the fact that she ended up dating Chris Argent, who shoved a gun in her teenage son's face and never apologized, was so bad and was yet another weakening of her characterization.

4: There are so many Arrowverse women I could put here, but the character in that universe who most needed better development & writing is probably Kelly Olsen from Supergirl, who often feels less like a character and more like a vague sketch of a character you saw in a dream once but can't really remember that well. Azie Tesfai did a very good job making the character lovable despite being given absolute scraps to work with, and there are a lot of theoretically interesting things about Kelly, but too often she was reduced to Alex's supportive girlfriend who never caused any problems and never had any difficult or inconvenient emotions. Supergirl's only black female superhero deserved better than that.

5: Heather Davis from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is yet another character the writers clearly had no idea what to do with after a certain point. I think her arc was fine until she graduated and then, like Heather herself, the writers were like ??? what does she do now??? and never came up with a satisfying answer. Given how much she loved being a student, I would think it would make sense for her to go into academia or something, but instead they had her...become a manager of a sports bar, marry Hector (which, uh, no offense to him but why???), and volunteer to be Darryl's surrogate on a whim. (Which, given how interested Crazy Ex-Girlfriend usually was in engaging in feminist discourses, it is actually so baffling to me that the show never even attempted to interrogate the ethics & implications of surrogacy from a feminist perspective, especially given the racial dynamics involved. Like, hello???) Vella Lovell was so fun in the role and I really wish they'd come up with an actually coherent arc for her after her graduation. Oh well. :|

[musicalrecs]

Favorite historical musicals?

It's tough to write a musical that's both historically accurate and tells a story (ideally using both song and dance) that people will pay money to sit through.

So, what's your favorite? Personally, I'm a big fan of the obvious choices (Hamilton, Les Miserables), because I'm basic like that and willing to gloss over historical accuracy in favor of a good story, character arc, and/or catchy score. But I know you guys know a lot more interesting musicals beyond those two! So, what's your own fave?

Related: Josh Groban explaining that life doesn't make narrative sense.

[aingeal98]

More Jason and Cass thoughts (sorry but also not sorry) but if I was magically given full control over DC and could write what I'd want obviously I'd make Cass Batman but I've been thinking of what sort of reaction and role Jason would have in response. I think I'd write his version of "Congrats on the new job!" as a test, involving the Joker and civilians and gangs and Red Hood and a ton of explosives. Bruce failed me, and now he's given up. You're his successor, let's see how you handle this dilemma that freaked him out so badly he threw a batarang into my throat rather than let me avenge my own death in front of him.

So obviously Cass will overcome the traps and the puzzles. That's the fun part to show how competent both of them are and sprinkle in little character moments as we go. But then we reach the emotional crux of the matter, probably laid out as some sort of saw trap because it's Jason. Here I am, a victim of murder. You say nobody dies tonight but I did, and I want the man who did it dead. Not only did Batman fail to avenge me but he failed to stop the Joker from going on to create even more victims. What right do you have to stop me from getting justice for myself? What right does this man have to life after what he's taken from me and from countless others? I'm not trying to kill a random stranger, I'm specifically demanding justice for my own death that I never got while I was gone.

There are two ways this could go. The straightforward route if I knew my time on this run was limited would probably be a pyrrhic victory like the ones Cass's og series was so fond of. Just like Bruce in utrh, she acts on instinct and saves the Joker (and Jason this time) . A win technically, but she fails the test. Jason is once again vindicated but with nothing to show for it. The story ends with Cass sending the Joker back to jail and going back to the batcave, where the old Robin costume looms judgementally, highlighting her failure. It would be the most fitting end given their character molds, all tragedy and conviction and unstoppable force meets immovable object etc.

However... I think the option I prefer would be a little different. Cass levelling with Jason, a killer talking to a murder victim. She has no right to stop Jason from getting justice, she has no love for the Joker but she knows any death she allows to happen like this would devastate her, just like that death row inmate long ago she tried to break out but ended up letting go once the family of the victim talked to her and demanded justice. I think... In this specific situation, she'd just be honest. Morally she has no right sure. Personally she just really really doesn't want anyone to die. Give her one chance, please. Let her try it her way. Not demanding, not lecturing or insisting, just... Please. Don't do this. Let me try another way.

And then what? Jason asks.

In the end a deal is struck. Cass will take the Joker and lock him up, ensuring he never harms anyone again while also trying to rehabilitate him. But the second she fails and he gets free, Jason kills him and she won't stand in his way. It's the kind of deal that leaves both of them mildly disgusted and dissatisfied with themselves, neither of them naturally creatures of compromise when it comes to this specific topic. But Cass is willing to do anything to avoid death and Jason did not expect the new Bat to be so... Flexible? Kind of? Of course maybe she won't actually hold up her end of the deal and when the Joker gets loose she'll try and stop Jason from killing him and he'll get his miserable vindication, but right now this is something strange and new and he's mildly confused and curious about where it will go. He doesn't believe in her ability to contain the Joker forever but he's willing to let her try because her reaction to that future failure interests him. She's given him a sword of damocles to hang above her head and he didn't ask for it or expect it. It's the type of power he never thought the Bat would just... Hand to him.

The conflict ends with neither of them fully winning or losing. They both don't really know what to feel about this.

The thing is, the second Cass let's Jason kill the Joker she's hanging up the mantle. She's staking the Bat on this, because it's always go big or go home with her when it comes to saving others, even someone like the Joker. In this magical universe where I have unlimited power, Cass would lock the Joker in a secret bunker and have Leslie Thompkins talk to him daily, mostly because I think her pacifism speeches and debates in the comics would make a fun contrast to the Joker's evil sadism. (But what about his rights? Doesn't he deserve a trial and to be held in a regular prison? I'm going to be honest I think Cass would be very comfortable bending the rules on this specific situation. Morally questionable but I'd have fun with it. She's going to let Leslie treat Joker like her personal pet project to save his soul because yes she wants him to change but also she's got a city to save every night so go crazy Leslie, have fun.)

And the Batman series would continue with Cass as the lead, new challenges and new antagonists and every twenty issues or so for the first hundred we'll cut back to the Joker briefly if his chats with Leslie can help highlight some thematic element of the current arc. But bit by bit he'd slowly fade away onto oblivion, maybe getting referenced every hundred issues or so until eventually no one remembers or cares about him because there's so much else going on. Meanwhile Jason's got a good thing going as Red Hood, primarily based in Park Row and a tentative ally on the occasion when their vigilante work aligns. Unlike Joker he's a much more frequent character in the comics, and after say 10 years (this is my magical fantasy universe Cass's batman run is going to last for a very long time alright) when people think of DC characters they think of Red Hood long before they think of the Joker.

Is any of this realistic? Right now of course not. It's why I'd go with the pyrrhic victory if I actually got the chance, because it would be the best way to tell the story in the larger context of the Bat narrative. But it's my fantasy DC editor and writer daydream and I'm going to dream big. They're never going to be normal happy siblings, their personal demons will never fully let them be free and the looming possibility of losing everything they currently have narrative wise if Bruce comes back as Batman will always be there. But it's maybe the closest to peace they'll ever get. Unsatisfying and tame compromise that probably violates several laws and ethical codes but whatever. Cass has never read the Geneva convention and Jason's not going to shed tears over the Joker. Let him die relevancy wise if not physically.

[wwxsflutesolo]

"Chuuya. Come to your senses. Our fate will not end in a place like this. Because you and I are destined to—"

@/kedreeva// ernest hemingway - the old man and the sea// death cab for cutie - summer years// unknown// unknown// lidia yuknavitch - the chronology of water: a memoir// richard siken - saying your names// taylor swift - gorgeous// unknown// victor hugo - les miserables// jeanette winterson - lighthousekeeping// sylvia Plath - lady lazarus// margaret atwood - power politics// tory adkisson - Anecdote of the Pig//richard siken - planet of love, wishbone// ethel cain - hard times// margaret atwood - variations on the word love

[jacobsbadwig]

I saw your tags on the other post and pls rant about Jessica Stanley being the main character. Kthankbye ✌🏻

I was trying to find a post on my blog that imagined Jessica as the Main character Twilight.

But frankly it all boils down to Smeyer using Bella as a self insert. Now a lot of people hate that criticism, but it’s not a criticism rather than a statement of fact. Her crime isn’t basing a character on herself (or a young version of herself) it’s refusing to kill her darlings. Bella’s book description is the same description of Stephenie Meyer. (See @panlight or @fuckmeyer for more information)

As for Jessica, it’s hard to figure out what Bellas (and Stephenies) beef with Jessica as a character. I would argue because we don’t get an inkling of how Bella’s friend group was in Arizona (or if she had many friends) that Jessica is another character foil how girls shouldn’t (I will link that post here) act. Of course this is a subconscious point that the narrative makes.

Jessica is this determined high schooler who likes boys (as far as we know) who is focused on her grades but is a bit of a gossip. At least from Bella’s prespective. Also, Bella is an unreliable narrator although the narrative and the author don’t treat her as such.

I think Jessica Stanley makes more sense as the main character mostly because she has more to lose than Bella, a character who doesn’t want to make connections and is only in town because of her self sacrificing mindset. (I will not go into Bella’s mother mostly because my interpretation is that she (her mother) only got worse because the narrative needed her to and then it didn’t really matter because she got to keep her family around anyway). (Also mini rant- It’s strange that a girl who was born in that town and spent summers there until she was 13 Doesn’t know any other teenagers before moving back there especially being the Chief’s daughter. I would assume she would know everyone since she wouldn’t have been left home alone. Whatever Steph)

Jessica has a family. She’s grown up in the town. She has worked so hard for her grades. It would be interesting to see all of that come crashing down because of her involvement with vampires.

@humans4vampires just made a post pointing out the adrenaline caused by Edward’s presence and its masking via Bella’s attraction to Edward. Who’s to say that couldn’t happen to Jessica in their initial meeting.

The narrative would be the Cullens moving to Forks. Jessica gets rejected by Edward. Yes, she’s heartbroken by it, but that’s the new boys problem she’s on a mission to get all A’s. Her tight knit friend group keeps her distracted. Then one day, she’s walking around in the woods taking a break from her studies or just for some quiet time and comes across Edward hunting and covered in blood.

Edward, of course, hearing her thoughts, panics. They just moved to Forks. He can’t just let her get away, but she’s well known in the town. It’s small. He can’t kill her. So (like a dingus), he runs off.

Jessica having seen something so frightening rushes home to calm down, and she plays sick for the next week.

Anyway, I just think Jessica has more to lose, and it will be real push and pull of narrative as she is not only protecting this secret from the rest of her friends. She has to get through high school without dying until she realizes that she won’t be able to live her dreams because she will be a vampire or be killed.

[the-valiant-valkyrie]

i see a lot of interpretations of zor being this otherworldly, anomalous presence- larger than life, practically non-human. and i, too, like perceiving zor through this veil of anonymity. i think making them too tangible or perceivable really detracts from what's been established about their character.

but, i personally really, really like the thought of zor being human. mortal. but terrifying to the point where you'd be forgiven for forgetting it.

i think one of the things that i adored about ieytd before the third game dropped (and honestly made me a little disappointed when it was changed later on) was the fact that the agency never had a face. it just... was what it was. it had facets- granted, the EOD was always the only one of any relevance. but, really, think about what we know about the agency between all three games. compare that to how much we know about zoraxis.

there's something really appealing to me about zor being who they are... they're probably the most wealthiest person on earth. they had a monopoly that quite literally gripped the world in their first- as their emblem would suggest. they hire some of the most lethal minds in the world- chemists, inventors, engineers.

and yet... despite it all, they're just one person. to me, their anonymity is a shield against the fact they are a person. they hide behind the lethality and prowess of their elite operatives- not to mention we've seen how clever they can be when it came to manipulating prism. they're by no means useless.

but what would they be without their anonymity? what would they be without the weapons they didn't design, the lairs they didn't build, the employees they use as human shields? the second zor is gone, zoraxis crumbles. they are the support pillar of their entire corporation.

... but what's the agency's equivalent? even post morales being a character, can we be certain that he's the glue holding the entire organization together?

think about zoraxis' most lethal schemes. seizing control of the world's atomic weaponry. striking targets anywhere on earth's surface with a giant laser. exploding the brain of every telekinetic agent on the planet. are they really seeking to cause as much damage as possible- to the agency specifically, collateral, or otherwise?

or do they not know where to strike. zor's tactic- for as high the stakes have been escalating- has always carried a similar motif. cleave and strike indiscriminately until the threat is neutralized.

but it never works. zor is lashing at a hydra- sprouting new heads where the old ones have been lopped off. they don't seem aware of how to destroy the agency other than exterminating each and every one of them off the face of the earth, in whatever way is most convenient at the moment.

i just think there's something to be said about zoraxis- and by extension, zor- always being seen as this oppressive, near-otherworldly force, constantly applying pressure on phoenix... when for all we know, zoraxis could be perceiving the agency in the exact same light.

zor, ultimately, has one beating heart. the agency has thousands. and all of them are dispensable.

[a-star-that-burns-brightly]

Okay so after reading a bunch of theories on Deep Cover and rewatching the MV about 30 times, my only coherrant thought is that I want Kotoko Yuzuriha to be fucking okay

[pilferingapples]

got some arguments with this paper but otoh I'mnever not going to think it's funny that Sainte Beuve threw his whole big drama with the Hugos and did an entire whooo you'll never replace me flex and Hugo just went YOINK and pulled Gautier in from hammerspace, and I'm glad to find a paper that also sees the inherent comedic juxtaposition

[spotaus]

Going to be posting about New Age again later (when am I not) but my childhood game (Wizard 101) just got a major update and I fear my hyperfixation is twisting for the worst lmao-

[cherrymoonvol6]

.

[moistvonlipwig]

betty adventure time #1 fictional character who needs to watch crazy ex-girlfriend friday nights on the cw send post

[prettyboykatsuki-moved]

i have many many many critiques about wylls story, most of them being about the fact it's just so lackluster in game when compared to other companions which is a shame. because wyll to me is and has the potential to be an even more emotionally compelling companion. and he was early access!! he was so gritty in ea please bring him back larian i beg of thee. the way he was rewritten has stripped him of so much nuance and depth. wyll to me is such a wonderful character to me because of what he represents, which is heroism so down to his core he never gives up on it even when he ought to

his goodwill and nobility are ceaseless. at the center of his story is betrayal trauma, his agency over himself vanished into thin air. mizora turns him into a monster and there is no turning back. he has become the thing he's despised, the things he's hunted for his entire life. and we know so little about that canonically because of the way his story is set up but its hinted time and time again that he struggles with his reality deeply and even that cannot make him turn away from the city he loves so much.

if larian would go back to clean up and fix his story (which im truly praying to god they do) i want them to touch on what wyll must be going through as he continues to try to ground himself and deal with his newfound reality. i want them to touch on the abandonment he experiences because of his father and the inevitable burden his title as blade and hero has on him. because these things obviously compel him, they're hinted at all the time but they were completely stripped of him in final release and its fucking disheartening... larian please im begging you. thats the love of my life. please.

but for now i will do it with fanfiction and gather enough wyll fans to make a fuss about it . peace and love

[catcatb0y]

Every time Helluva Boss or Hazbin Hotel has a glimpse of genuinely GOOD WRITING, I go insane. Both of these shows feel like edging to me, like they will tease me with these bangers and then leave me to dry EVERY DAMN TIME.

[immobiliter]

also like... i know bioware have said that the hawke vs. the warden decision in here lies the abyss isn't going to matter for veilguard ( which is a weird decision to me seeing as varric plays a role in this game, however small it ultimately ends up being, but w/e ), but if it's not gonna get referenced at all then i almost want to run with the hawke sacrifice version being canon to me ( unless i write with a hawke or otherwise have a reason to keep them alive ofc ), because it just makes sense to me in the context of everything i've seen so far

[skaruresonic]

having some real Combine thoughts(tm) in this Chili's rn

The headcanon I'm running with in my fic is the Combine cannot be fully perceived by the physical senses. Their language is unspoken; their presence a crushing silence; they can be detected, but on the very fringes of perception.

So, pretty much the "not alien as in 'silicon-based life form,' alien as in 'hyperintelligent shade of blue'" school of thought.

[Breen, as an Advisor] preferred to think he'd by and large risen above such sentimentality, but in practice it proved one of the most difficult habits to shed. Watching her memories stirred a grin on a face that lacked the ability. Although the anatomy necessary to perform such movement didn't exist, the underlying impulse lingered deep in his neural tissues. His cells squirmed at their failure to execute an incompatible function. It was typically during these moments of dysfunction that he sensed the emergence of a soundless presence. It came in waves, amplitudes lapping at his mind. He greeted them by extending them the same manner of silence. Of course, he said, his voice equally noiseless, you who understand everything feel no need to delineate your experiences through these clumsy metaphors. Deathly silence responded. Yes. I know. Language is but a crude stick with which one scribbles nonsense. I will learn to discard it. Until then, please oblige me your patience.

They can manipulate one's senses to perceive - or not perceive - whatever form they wish.

They dwelled in utter void. The cold that overwhelms the body when the mind realizes the heart has stopped, that static-shock paralysis locked from limb to ligament. None knew what to expect of the master race. Through their own stupid, limited lens, humanity constructed models of silicon-based life forms; they theorized breath where none was drawn. They made children's sketches of the possibilities, but in this instant all language lost coherency, all models crumbled to sand. What filled the air was a silence so absolute she could call it nothing except consecrated. White noise, the weightlessness of an idea. Things felt only in the peripheral, in the subliminal. They deemed the Combine an imperialist machine whose fate ended in rust. The horrendous reality was they were nothing. A man could no more hurt them than he could harm his own shadow. Thought without image, dream without meaning, sound without wave. Space sans boundary. Time outside measure. Abstractions. Murky seas of unconsciousness. The slow creep of dark energy. Inevitability. Something resided there, ancient beyond reckoning, but it could not be grasped through sense alone.

My general backstory for the Combine master race is they do not suffer the ravages of the flesh because their telomeres move extremely slowly. They have had millions, if not billions, of years to learn how the universe works, and to transcend death. In that time, they have learned how to extend their senses beyond the boundaries of the cell membrane, allowing their thoughts to manipulate matter without direct, local contact. This is ultimately what makes them capable of long-distance teleportation and telekinesis.

On the surface of a milky pond, life emerged. The correct particles collided, and something unformed grasped its first avaricious breath. That virgin exhalation fed the clouds, igniting a chain reaction that would continue for millennia. Particle storms arose, as did noiseless lightning. Violent cataclysms wracked the planet's epidermis. Crystalline boulders forged inside the mantle now found themselves thrust above the surface. These acted as lightning rods, attracting the electricity the storms generated and inducting them through their incredibly dense structures. The air surrounding these crystals began to repeat the same patterns, weaving the same cloud formations over and again. Time translation symmetry broke in a rare but bizarre pattern. Anything that touched them disappeared. Life cowered in fear of what it did not understand and hid itself away. Cells gestated within protective pods. The slowing of telomeres bestowed upon them the gift of time, as well as subsequent gifts. Ions passed through potassium gates trillions of times, each iteration giving birth to thought. Thought produced idea. Idea constructed civilization. Life found that it was far more amenable to survival to remain inside the pod than to risk exposing its most valuable organs to the mercy of its environment. Life learned to evolve, to extend its senses beyond the boundaries of the cell membrane. Electrical impulses raced faster, life outpacing glia. It felt familiar. Life manipulated thought. Thought manipulated matter. The gas giant harnessed its light to erect cloud-piercing towers. Networks wove sophisticated colonies across its wispy surface. Steel veins bulged along the outer strata; occasionally a clot of light could be seen speeding along one. Civilization thrived in areas once dominated by methane swamps. Life proclaimed its transcendence over the elements.

As a result of their unusual evolution, they are curious about the cycles of life, death, and suffering in other species. But in a cold, detached, Scientific(tm) way.

They study the afflictions of the flesh and death in other species, eventually assimilating mortal beings into forms that are no longer sentient (cannot distinguish one's own mind and sense of self from others) and cannot feel pain through biological modification. They exterminate that which resists assimilation.

What this means is they have an even stronger hivemind than that of the Vortigaunts. Anything that is not of them is considered an "infection" of sorts and gets eradicated.

The enraged thrashing of limbs on a bed of shorn metal clattered in her ears. She went silent for a moment before answering. "Is that what you meant when you told [Breen] 'they' were coming to collect the flesh?" Mossman nodded. "I've heard of it spoken in his office. The Combine police their cohesion quite severely. When one unit suffers bodily harm, it threatens their infrastructure. The others initiate a neurochemical process to dissolve the flesh from the inside-out. You can imagine the rest." Didn't have to, and quite frankly, she preferred not to. Breen unraveled into a mindless sack of organs in the end, as pitiful in death as he'd been in rebirth. "Inviting a foreign consciousness into one of their host bodies is highly taboo. They must have placed him inside one for a specific purpose." "That he failed." "Miserably." Judith's fingertips rose to collect more drops of pus, which she rubbed dry. "I admit I don't fully understand the process myself. It could be a ritual of some kind."

The G-Man's backstory and motivations hinge on what happens when a member of the Combine master race becomes aware of its own mind and self apart from the rest of the collective:

I [will… settle this humiliating state of affairs.] fell from oblivion

[give us clarity to part these false veils of separation. dissolve the chains shackling us to our mortal flesh.] when breath touched me

[do you know what it means to stand on oblivion's precipice? to watch the darkness breathe?] and I

and I?

and

[ I ] alone

was chosen

[open your eyes doctor freeman.] to become

[his blood his bone his thoughts. all stolen all snatched. I signed them away to keep you alive.]

ENLIGHTENED

IN LIGHT

[ I ]

END.

In a nutshell: it ain't pretty.

(His is a complex story involving a lot of moving parts, to say the least. At some points I had to draw a diagram to keep track lol. So I'd best shelve the meat of that topic for another post.)

Contrary to popular belief, the Combine don't have an interest in conquest. As the universe's scientists observing everything behind their thick Plexiglas wall, they don't really want anything---to want is to distinguish a self with desires, after all, and they have no self. Even the G-Man contends that the self is an illusion:

"What do you see?" His tormentor's whispers haunted him, eager to drag him into this rising undertow of madness. "Yourself? Can these entities be called you when they no longer exist?" His tone implied the presumption of ownership foolhardy. "This matter, what you call your 'self,' is a spectrum of illusion. Mirages sharing a common delusion of continuity." That's what makes the Combine so gruesome. Just as a psychic partition separates the scientist from the specimen on the dissecting table, an utter disconnection separates them from other beings.

The pains of mortal beings entail no consequence. You will be as us, or be nothing. The result is the same. "Why us?" Suffering is information. Trauma alters the structure of the genome. The flesh is the vessel through which information flows from being to being. Data evolves. Infinite variation. The gamma rays shuddered and shimmered, tears unshed. "Why?" Death ceases the flow of information. Our study has reached its end.

Humans and Vortigaunts assume an imperialistic framework because that's all they can understand. The Combine are so powerful that they could wipe out the universe if they so desired, but they are only engaged in watching the experiment unfold.

We who form the Universal Union, who are Enlightened. Shu'ulathoi. We observe creation. Our purpose, to advise. To contemplate. We have studied life from the genesis. Yet mysteries abound.

Eventually, all experiments come to a close.

She became crushingly aware of her small being, how alone she stood in this vastness, the beating of her heart and the thrum of her blood writhing against a shroud of suffocation. It was as though she had dived into the ocean's blackest cradle and beheld an all-perceiving darkness, awaiting the beast to open its ceaseless mouth and swallow her whole. 01000001 01101100 01111001 01111000 00100000 01010110 01100001 01101110 01100011 01100101 00001010 00001010 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01101000 01100001 01110110 01100101 00100000 01101101 01100001 01100100 01100101 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01110010 00100000 01100100 01100101 01100011 01101001 01110011 01101001 01101111 01101110 00001010 00001010 01110011 01110100 01101111 01110000 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01100010 01110010 01100101 01100001 01110100 01101000 00100000 00001010 00001010 01110010 01100101 01110100 01110101 01110010 01101110 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01110111 01101000 01100001 01110100 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01110111 01100101 01110010 01100101 00100000 01100010 01100101 01100110 01101111 01110010 01100101 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01110010 00100000 01100010 01101001 01110010 01110100 01101000 00001010 00001010 01000010 01101100 01100001 01100011 01101011 00100000 01001101 01100101 01110011 01100001 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01101110 01101111 00100000 01101100 01101111 01101110 01100111 01100101 01110010 00001010 00001010 01101100 01101001 01100110 01100101 00100000 01100011 01101111 01101110 01110100 01101001 01101110 01110101 01100101 01110011 00100000 01110111 01101001 01110100 01101000 01101111 01110101 01110100 00100000 01101111 01110101 01110010 00100000 01101001 01101110 01110100 01100101 01110010 01100011 01100101 01110011 01110011 01101001 01101111 01101110 00001010 00001010 01110111 01100101 00100000 01101111 01100010 01110011 01100101 01110010 01110110 01100101 00001010 They - it - did not wait for a reply. It they? knew her answer before her neurons conspired to deliver the message to her conscious mind.

[july-19th-club]

aw man my little guys are fighting im sad