#never forget there is a living force more greater than their machines and that force is YOU

[charlie-grusin]

COMEBACK MUSICWEEK (10/13)

“The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want for nothing. He makes me lie down in the green pastures. He greases up my head with oil. He gives me kung-fu in the face of my enemies.” - Stephen King, The Stand

[ditoob]

Something I find makes the life and death of Achilles far more tragic is the fact that all he is is the Trojan War. His parents’ wedding begins the conflict, and he dies before the end of the war. His entire life was spent in something he had no control over. Did he know Helen? Paris? Hektor? The Trojans became his enemies only when he reached the beaches of Troy.

Hell, if we go by the Achilleid, Achilles didn’t even know what the war was about until he was sailing to Troy. A young boy whose birth produced an unjust prophecy that dictated the rest of his life: Live long and die in obscurity, or die in war and live in the minds of the people forever. No greek man of his time could bear to die in obscurity, but it was especially impossible for Achilles to do so. His father Peleus, a legendary Argonaut whose adventures would be remembered for millenia, his mother Thetis, a towering goddess raised by the queen of the gods herself.

Their child had to be known.

At Aulis the greeks call for Achilles, a legend before he even steps into the battlefield, and he is forced to go to war. And he fights, he kills, he ravages the city of Troy. A boy who has never even seen a battle in his life, living in peaceful Pthia and later protected by mighty Chiron in Thessally, becomes a machine specifically created for one purpose: To destroy Troy.

This is the reason why Achilles refuses to fight after the taking of Briseis. Unlike Agamemnon, who lived before the Trojan War, who had a wife and family before the Trojan War, who will leave Troy. Or Odysseus who will tell his tales to his son and wife after 20 years away. Or Menelaus who after years regains his family and rules Sparta in peace. Achilles has no life, no future, he IS Troy, more than even Hektor, Paris, and Priam are. Thus, when his honor is threatened, everything he has ever lived for has been taken away from him. Realize that before the taking of Briseis, Agamemnon mentioned takingthe “bride prizes” from the other greek kings and despite this not going anywhere none of them attempted to argue. Would Odysseus attempt to kill Agamemnon if his bride prize were taken? Would Diomedes or Greater Ajax?

And yet, after Achilles lives his entire life for war. After he struggles and suffers so much at the face of adversity. At the loss of his everything, Patroklos. At the slight to his honor. He spends the rest of eternity regretting everything he had ever done. Perhaps it is a mercy to Achilles that shades forget their life on earth

[evolutionsvoid]

Bone-bile constructs were once seen as a breakthrough in these lands, an invention like no other seen before. A simple combination of Black Bile and bone, cobbled together into a living shape and given purpose. There had been other living creations born before their arrival, but these had always been resource heavy to build and required vast amounts of energeiai to activate. Comparatively, the bone-bile constructs are far easier to craft, as cheap bone is plentiful for those not worried about appearances. The hardest part is finding one who can weave Black Bile and inscribe it with the purpose that will drive it. When this method was discovered, folk wondered if this was the end of the hard times. A life of hard labor was no longer needed for any human, as these automatons would take these backbreaking roles and perform them with ease. Tales and fantasies dreamed of a time when the people could kick back and enjoy the pleasures of life while artificial men of bone and bile did all the work for them. A wondrous dream, but sadly one that never came to be.

Once the luster and wonder had time to fade, folks began to see the flaws within the constructs. They were not just simple in design, but in mind as well. They required incredibly precise orders and inscribings to do their job, and anything outside of that was impossible. Poor wording led to disasters, too strict of wording made them useless at the slightest hiccup. While experience eventually led to people better understanding these limitations and how to properly use them, the frustrations born from these issues ultimately spelled the end of this automation dream. Folks grew tired of having to hang around these constructs like vultures, making sure there weren't issues or misinterpreted orders. Their age faded to the classic "no don't do that! That's all wrong! Ugh! Let ME do it!"

And as the decades passed, research would birth new constructs and finer automatons. What the Academy produced and the Church raised made bone-bile constructs look like children's toys. Stronger, smarter and better in every way. Some would look at these achievements and wonder why these old school constructs were even around anymore. Their time had long passed, their strengths now overshadowed, and their reputation now of stupidity and cheapness. Surely they would not be long for this world.

Yet, the bone-bile constructs have stuck around, with some pointing out that their numbers are even greater than before. These automatons are indeed simple to their competitors, but simplicity is flexible and can be used in a myriad of ways. While the strengths of other constructs forced them into specific roles, the blank slate of these machines meant that imagination was the only limit. And one must remember their easy creation, especially compared to the others that may use divine corpse wax or guarded verdigris to build. One is always tempted to glorify the finest specimens and believe them to always be the best, but never forget that "basic" tends to become the norm for a reason and for a lot of folk "good enough" is, indeed, good enough. Bone-bile constructs became the automaton of the working man, an ally of the common people. Their variety and simple nature far more accessible to the lower classes than any other machine.

While the limits still remain, folk have been learning over the years on ways to augment these bland automatons. Easy tweaks and tricks that can make the cheap and crude shine like polished ivory. Better ways to inscribe the Black Bile that fuels them, sleeker designs and smarter bone forging to make them function better. Some people would claim that time and patience is key to unlocking their true potential, as they believe the Black Bile within them stores far more than one would think. Villages who have had their singular construct for decades swear that they are smarter and more capable than any freshly forged machine. An idea that they learn over time and begin to form their own tasks and actions, resulting in them acting more human than machine. Many outside of these small settlements scoff at the idea, blaming these thoughts on blind fondness for their free worker. Instead, they would say that another piece is needed to refine this crude machine, that Black Bile and bone need something more to truly make them sing. There is argument over what that is exactly, but one avenue that has shown up more and more over the years is Amber.

A liquid said to be a "false humor," though many would call that title over dramatic. Amber is born of plants, inherently making it inferior to the wondrous marvels of the flesh. Yet, its properties cannot be ignored. Amber is capable of being solidified in a way that can entomb the living and keep them in a strange stasis. For the people who believe in the cycle of life and regeneration, it is a terrifying thought. To be sealed in a everlasting Amber cocoon, forced to remain whole and untouched, unable to return to the great cycle. It is a fate worse than death, which makes it unsurprising that Amber is used to imprison vile criminals and traitors, robbing them of rebirth while also displaying them like morbid trophies. But the uses don't end there. While trapped within, their mind is not fully asleep, and it has been found that one can tap into this dormant psyche. It is here where Amber has come into play with these constructs, as folk figure if their minds are too barren than why not plug in a better one?

From this has come constructs with Amber heads and sleeping hearts, driven by the creature held within this orange shell. By driving needles of Black Bile into the Amber and into its prisoner, they can access the mind held inside and connect it to the bony frame. So while the being dreams in this frozen sleep, this artificial body shall serve as vessel to these slumbering fantasies. With the right prodding and inscription of Black Bile, they can be forced to accept a purpose, to follow a false thought. These are used to set them on tasks and augment them for the role that is needed. Make a sealed beast believe it is hungry, and its ivory shell shall live to track and hunt. Due to the ghastly nature of this fate, it is forbidden to use humans in this way, thus people turn to animals to serve as sacrifice. They may not be smart as man, but they certainly can be smarter than a construct, and better adapted to certain jobs.

Amber drones are one of these constructs, built of simple frame yet piloted by slumbering Amber. They can come in different sizes and forms, but the most common form is a ball of bladed tendrils that houses an Amber core. Inside this egg is usually a basic critter of predatory nature, the needles of bile driven in to trigger their need to hunt and fight. With the right inscription, these small creatures can be held in a dream that makes them excellent at stalking and guarding. Their instincts and tactics now infused with a body of greater strength and deadliness. These drones act as guard dogs and stealthy hunters, tasked with taking down foes and keeping the unwelcome from entering. Bony claws and amber blades are common weapons, as anything more complicated will confuse the dreamer. While larger frames and greater bulk would make for better fighters, folk prefer the smaller forms for their insidious and stealthy work. While these machines surpass the basic bone-biles in these departments, there is a weakness to them. Their Amber cores make obvious targets, and smashing them brings the automaton to a quick demise. Getting these cores is also more difficult and expensive than basic bile and bone, which is why they are found in the hands of richer folk. And, of course, one must remember that what pilot these machines is a creature that once lived, having its own wants and fears. Memories of their past or particular instincts may flare up in their duties, reacting to stimuli in unfavorable ways. A dreaming spider that once feared the birds above may create a guard dog who shrinks away from winged foes.

[depressedhatakekakashi]

I feel like I will never understand the people who think that Kakashi should have stayed dead in the Pain arc, since according to them he doesn't do anything relevant afterwards. I feel that if that had been the case, Kakashi would have had an unfinished character development. For me, people forget all the nice moments the character gave us (like, for example, him carrying Naruto), or all the characters he saved, or that he was the one who discovered how Obito's technique worked and that he was also the one who made the plan to seal Kaguya. Idk why they think he should have died there...

Without Kakashi

-Obito’s reveal would have held no weight. Like honestly the only reason we feel anything anout Obito’s reveal is because of his connection to Kakashi.

-Sasuke and Naruto would never have sealed Kaguya. The two of them were trying time and time again and it wasn’t until Kakashi entered the fight with Sussano and put into action a plan of his own that they FINALLY succeed.

- Obito would have never come back to the ‘good’ side. Naruto knocked some sense into Obito but Obito only gave up fighting at that point. It was Kakashi who brought Obito to their side in the fight.

-Sakura would have died, MULTIPLE TIMES. Heck, just from the change to the lava dimension her and Obito would have died as it was Kakashi who saved all of them.

-Obito’s heart would never have been destroyed, thus destroying Madara’s seal on it and giving Obito the freedom to break away from Madara.

- Naruto would probably have approached Danzo about sasuke and been locked away, forcing him to sit down and leaving no one to approach the Raikage about Sasuke, or forcing him to go Rogue to try and fight for Sasuke. It was Kakashi who chose to ignore rules and take Naruto to the Raikage to plead for Sasuke’s life.

-Sasuke would have killed Sakura. End point. Naruto saved her the second time, but Kakashi saved her the first time. If Kakashi was dead Naruto would have arrived to a dead Sakura.

-No one would have brought Naruto to the village and he would have passed out in the forest after his interaction with Nagato and Konan. It was Kakashi who arrived looking for him and carried him back to Konoha.

- Danzo would have been granted title of Hokage right away without struggle. Kakashi was the only one offered up as an opposing choice, and there was no one else the elder’s or even the daiymo would have seriously considered (For the daiymo connection matters, as shown by how quickly they recognized Kakashi by him being the ‘son of the White fang’

But most importabtly

That would have been an absolute shit ending. Kakashi is a character who has always been about dying to protect his precious people.

That was what he thought his worth was. Dying to protect ither’s and the village.’

Him living is what he needed.

Him living allowed him to realize he had worth as more than just a weapon, and that he was allowed to heal and be happy.

If he stayed dead in the pein arc he never would have gotten closure about Obito and Rin’s death, which would feel empty as by that point we’ve learned a bit about his past.

It’s the whole ‘gai should have died in the war’ shit all over again.

They could have died, but then they would just be feeding into the idea that they were fodder for the greater war machine with no worth other than to die for the cause

That was exactly the story kishi was trying to change

What naruto and others wanted so badly to change

Kakashi, Gai and other’s living was the purpose of the story because Naruto’s goal was to have a world where people didn’t die needless deaths.

Kakashi surving was part of Naruto achieving that goal

Putting an end to countless needless deaths.

It’s why Nagato brought the people of Konoha back. He realized that he was perpetuating what he had felt by killing others, and by placing his trust in naruto to change things for the better he chose to display that trust by being the first step and bringing those he killed back.

By ending the cycle of needless death

[discobrainrot]

did you say to ask for more harrykim hc? bc i want some more!! it can be canon or au (any of your choice) im not picky

LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

You're getting Canon Kim and Harry this time, but if someone sends me another (without specifying) I'll probably do Swap AU stuff!

1. It's not just Harry who's in love with Kim - it's Harry's Skills.

Whether they're something that occurred because of Pale Exposure or a symptom of something else, they're a part of him. His Skills are how he experiences the world. It's just as much them romancing Kim as it is him.

So when Harry falls in love, every Skill falls hard and fast, too. The INT Skills, particularly Logic, are taken with Kim's mind. The PSY Skills admire his dedication (to his passions, to the RCM, to his partner), and Volition is relieved that they've been drawn to such an (outwardly) stable force.

The FYS skills got it bad - Shivers sees how Kim fits into Revachol's greater puzzle like a missing piece. Electrochemistry has... a lot to say.

But the MOT Skills? Oh god. They're obsessed. Kim is cool, calm, and collected. He loves machines. Even with his eyesight, he's still a damn good shot. He's so suave. They. Want. Him. So. Bad.

At the end of the day, Kim is romancing one person in 25 parts. It's all-encompassing, and at first, it's strange. But after a time, he can't imagine being loved another way

2. Kim didn't expect Harry to stay interested in him.

Look, I can't picture Harry as anything other than a scatterbrain. It's partly because of my scatterbrained way of playing the damn game, but it's my headcanon, and I'll cry if I want to.

So, when they first met, Kim watched Harry flit around Martinaise like a speed fuelled (or until-recently-speed-fueled) bumblebee. He buzzes around, finds something, pursues it for a while, then sets it down and forgets. Kim watches Harry blow past his old partner without a word and worries that he might be in Jean's place one day.

Well, almost Jean's position. Maybe a worse one. It's not a stretch to imagine Harry getting distracted or bored of Kim. But this is the happiest he's felt in a long time, so he decides to ride it out. Take the joy where he can. He'll deal with the hurt when it comes.

But then Harry doesn't get bored of him. Instead, he wants more. And more. And more.

And then Harry stays over at Kim's place on weekends.

And they're investing in more board games. And Harry knows just the way Kim likes his coffee. And he makes dinner whenever he comes over. And, oh, Harry's lease is almost up, so he might as well move in. And he buys posters and photos to hang up. And he paints "This Is Something Beautiful" on their bedroom wall. And Kim knows he won't get his deposit back, but he doesn't fucking care.

And then it's been a year, and Harry has some of his old memories back, but mostly he's been making new ones. And anyone who matters to them knows what's happening, but no one says a word. And they don't hold hands in public, but the look Harry gives Kim lets him know how badly he wants to. 

And then it's been a few more years, and they move to a different apartment. And the heaters don't work, but that's okay because they keep each other warm in the winter. And Harry holds Kim close as they dance in the kitchen. And Kim's vision is getting worse, and Harry's got a bad heart, but they live the best lives they can. And they plan a wedding that they know they'll probably never have.

And Kim pretends he doesn't hear the city as she speaks into his heart.

And Harry pretends he doesn't hear Kim cry when he realizes they can't stop what's coming.

And then it's been so many years that their grey hairs outnumber all the others. And Harry doesn't talk about La Retour, but Kim sees how much he thinks about it. And he holds Harry's hand in public because it feels like the world is ending anyways. And the corners of Harry's eyes crinkle when he smiles, and it still makes Kim's heart swim even after so many years. And Harry still sees a halo behind Kim's head.

And they dance between detritus and rubble as an old radio plays. And they remember their kitchen. And they say the names of old friends. And far away, someone smiles and says theirs.

And La Revacholiere holds them in her broken arms and cries. And they hold her in their lungs. And they cry with her because of their loss. And they cry with her because they've survived.

And they love.

And they love.

And they love.

3. Harry has, like, big I'm A Bottom energy, right?

Right???????

[cowardly--throwaway]

A Well-Placed Gift Chapter 1

What if Titania sent Nuala to Hob instead of Dream? In 1461?

Rated: Explicit ***WARNING: NON-CON, FUCKED-UP MANIPULATIVE POWER DYNAMICS/FORCED RELATIONSHIPS!*** Ao3 link

"My queen! I—" Nuala looked around for anyone — anyone else — to object to the ridiculous order. Anyone who might have the right, strength, or pure stupidity to question the faerie queen.

But the revel was was as raucous as ever, drawing everyone's attention with drink and dance and the usual debaucheries. Cluracan was laughing, petting another half naked courtier, and already looked too drunk to bother with any political intrigue (that is, any political intrigue that wasn't made up of laughing, petting, and drinking.) Even King Oberon, who might have preferred to keep Nuala close, had been drawn into a spirited reel.

"Would you prefer to abide in the Dreaming?" Queen Titania asked. "To be a plaything for Lord Morpheus and his nightmares? Hmmm…" She put a finger to her chin in mock thought. "You, installed at the Dream King's side to learn his current mind and moods? Divining his machinations for me, so that I might approach him in one of his softer moods when he is more… receptive — needy even? Perhaps he'd sweep you into the darkness to carry with him wherever he goes. A little fae spark at the very heart of his being. Oh yes, perhaps that would be the better choice!"

"My queen, please!" Panic constricted Nuala's throat. She was used to being used in the way that all the courtiers were used like toys for the machinations of the few. The court of Faerie was one big game of power, controlled only by the king and queen and those few brash and powerful enough to  demand their own role. (And even those, Nuala had often suspected, were no more than naive tools of greater strategy.) Still, the thought of being cast out of Faerie and into the vast games of the Endless — to the land of the Nightmare King no less — made Nuala cold with dread. Anything would be better than that! "I did not mean to question your judgement," she stammered, desperately trying to reel back her objections. "I-I am sure your plans were… perfect as they were."

"Hm." Queen Titania's mouth quirked in the tiniest smile — it would have looked victorious, except there was no victory where she could simply order everything to her will. Her eyes remained narrowed in displeasure; Nuala was certain the queen wouldn't forget that second of resistance, and her heart pounded hard all the way up to the points of her ears as the queen echoed, "Perfect?"

Nuala swallowed against the fear in her throat. She bowed her head docilely, and let her glamoured yellow curls fall forward to hide the anger in her eyes. "Yes, Your Majesty."

"Wonderful! No time to waste, then." The queen clapped her hands and turned to sweep out of the revel, not even bothering to check that Nuala was hurrying after. "I am glad for your enthusiasm. You'll do a fine job of diverting Hob Gadling's attentions."

"Yes, my queen."

Nuala stumbled slightly as she hurried after the the queen who was leading her through a tangled and twilit patch of the forest toward the point where the mortal world and Faerie had not yet pulled apart entirely.

"Even in the long living memory of the fae, the Dream King has never taken much interest in mortals — not in the waking world," the queen mused. "The old rumors tell of such disaster — oh that might be fun! Nevertheless…" She sighed as though truly lamenting a lost opportunity for catastrophe. "I will not have some muddy mortal seducing the king of the Dreaming!"

Nuala just listened. She, too, had heard old tales of those who tangled too closely with the Endless. She knew she should feel relieved that she wasn't actually being sent to Lord Morpheus. But it was hard to feel so when she was being sent to the muddy mortal who, apparently, was actually brash enough to seek the Dream King's attentions. What sort of man would dare such a thing?

"Our people may no longer be able to stand that world," Titania went on, "but I will certainly not have the Endless' machinations running wild there. I cannot imagine why Morpheus would lower himself to the interests of a mortal at this time."

"Is the man a magician?" Nuala asked. "Or perhaps has he made some bargain with one of their devils?"

"I know not. The rumors are mere shreds, and mostly consist of speculations about the coldness of Morpheus's bed. You must take extreme care. This is the work of that older sister of his, I am sure. And the others may well be involved, too."

Streaming sunlight was beginning to break into the twilit woods. The ancient, tangled greenery had yielded to gentler, younger trees and undergrowth and soft grass. 

The queen's steps slowed.

"My queen…" Nuala struggled to keep the challenge out of her voice. "What if Hob Gadling does not like me?"

Queen Titania laughed heartily. "He is a greedy, grasping creature by all accounts. And you are a tempting morsel. And it is your task to ensure you draw his eye." Her amusement yielded to an iron stern glance. "You will use whatever temptations, magical or otherwise, to draw him to you and keep his attentions."

"For how long?" Nuala asked quietly.

The queen gave a lazy shrug. "For so long as he remains entangled with the Lord of Dreams. If the whispers hold any truth, he may be immortal."

Immortal!

Nuala had to bite down on her lip to stop from protesting. She hadn't wanted the task even when she thought it was only for the short span of a mortal life — at most, they blinked out in a few decades. But to be sent to an undying man! Nuala wracked her mind trying to think of what she'd done to draw the queen's ire. Perhaps this was a vicarious punishment for Cluracan, who'd certainly bungled more than one of his responsibilities to the realm. But more likely, Nuala thought despondently, she wasn't even interesting enough to punish; rather, she was just there, a piece with no other particular purpose in the game and that might as well be used to make this play. 

Still, arguing would do no good. From long experience watching the machinations of the faerie court play out, she knew that even if the queen relented, she would only find another, worse task for Nuala to do. If she defied the queen, then she would be punished.

Queen Titania was eyeing her critically. Suddenly she reached up to a gold chain around her own neck. She removed it — together with the three sparkling stones that dangled there — and clasped it around Nuala's neck. "Here. I will give you this to help you get started."

"Thank you, my queen," Nuala said, feeling at once stunned and deeply fearful of this spontaneous gift.

"Yes, yes." The queen stood back, regarding Nuala thoughtfully. "That should help draw him in, given his supposed… proclivities. This, too, perhaps." She removed a small, bright broach from her gown. Then as she swept away from Nuala, she tossed it down the path where it glittered in a patch of dry leaves. "A breadcrumb of sorts!"

And then without another word, she faded back into the tangled, twilit woods.

[jueying]

Nothing good ever came of an emergency meeting with the preceptors - truthfully, not much good came from a regular meeting with the panel either, but the results of today deserved more than his usual annoyed rub of temples. Dan Feng had not batted an eye when the formation of the High-Cloud Quintet occurred; a task force between all the various ships seemed an appropriate solution when the forces of Abundance and other enemies alike were waging a collective war against the Alliance felt like a smart solution. Already too, the tides of war seemed to be shifting after the coalition became solid, completed by the inclusion of Jingliu's lieutenant in command after she had passed her undoubtedly rigid review of his skills.

The well forged relationships brewing between everyone in that group had him forgetting about his own duties from time to time, eager to bask in the odd normality of their company. Jingliu had shown a surprisingly playful side to her outwardly stringent personality, Baiheng's sweet and bubbly nature had her weaving straight into just about anyone's heart and Dan Feng was deemed no exception. Yingxing's perspective as the lone short lived species was fiery and full of the life that long lived species seemed to lack - a vigor to his energy that Dan Feng found interesting and one that seemed to playfully butt heads with Jing Yuan the most of all. And Jing Yuan, the one he had known the longest second to Jingliu had etched a place in his own heart long before he was officially part of the High-Cloud Quintet. After all, it felt like he had never known what laughter truly was until Jing Yuan brought it to his shores, constant as the crashing waves were in his approach every day.

Maybe it was all these exchanges that had him forgetting about the tension between supposed tension between the vidyadhara and the rest of the long lived species, certainly borne from the fear that vidyadhara had for being unable to return to the cycle if they were to fall during battle. Points were made on both sides, it was unfair for the natives to take the brunt of soldier deaths when the Alliance didn't only consist them, but the lives of the vidyadhara were not a replenishing source - losses more permanent when a new egg on Scalegorge Waterscape didn't appear. So a solution arose there, undoubtedly made before consultation with him in yet another reminder that he was just another cog in the machine despite all his power and willpower.

An arranged marriage then, to an official of the Luofu. Vidyadhara could bear no children in general, beyond his body's own inability to do so period. The news almost drew an uncharacteristic chuckle from his stunned mouth, disbelief barely scratching the surface on whatever emotion kept tight beyond the mask of the high elder. All he could do in the moment was steel himself and pry into the web of intentions for more information on the matter - sigh leeching out of him when the only information they could provide was that this individual was a general and that they would 'surely pass any and all selection criteria that the preceptors themselves had'. Duty above all, the mantra hung heavily on his neck as always but more so today when the meeting was adjourned and he was left with his thoughts.

The thought of taking on a significant other was never a thought in Dan Feng's mind. His duties and burdens were unfair factors to bring into any relationship, less of all into one as intimate as romance. His dragon's heart agreed with that fervently - romance and emotions were liabilities that only hindered one when decisions needed to be made, complicating factors when the greater good was all that needed to be considered. At the same time, his human heart yearned for connection despite all that - warmed by the bonds that had been forged within the fires of opposition and strife; a beacon of sunlight to cut against the darkness of the moon that his soul was fated to carry through all his lives.

Fears mounted in the coming weeks and questions without answer only grew. Which general was he to be wed to? What did this mean for his coalition with the High-Cloud Quintet, could he expect to mean that he would continue on or would this so called general bask in the power of spouse instead? Surely one who had risen to the rank of general would understand the importance and the effectiveness that the HCQ had showed so far, but his years told him that people were always a variable that could never be accounted for.

Steadily, preparations for a festival began taking shape along with visits to the tailor shop to be fitted for what was undoubtedly meant to be his wedding clothes. At first, no one asked questions about his increasingly frequent partings from the group - everyone had their own responsibilities beyond those of the group so an unsaid understanding echoed through many decisions. It wasn't until Baiheng huffed a bit about how little of him everyone had seen in the last few weeks did the floodgates of questions arise and the discussion of his arranged marriage came to light. Hearing how miffed everyone was had set some light on his heavy heart after weeks of sinking, a rueful chuckle or two slipping from him when Baiheng let out another huff and Yingxing had crossed his arms in that truly annoyed way of his. Jingliu had sighed and only said that perhaps it was for the best that Jing Yuan was off the ship on a lengthy expedition once the truth was all out in the open and most of them agreed on the matter.

The issue of how to tell Jing Yuan was one that seemed to only spin in Dan Feng's head, fleeting touches and gazes held too long gestures that even he had done when it came to the other. He deserved to know in person, not over some roughened slip of paper delivered by a wayward bird but the high elder wasn't sure if he could stomach the heartbreak that was sure to show in his eyes. Jing Yuan, who had always respected his own devotion to his duties and never pushed beyond what Dan Feng was comfortable with despite the yearning that the elder could see in his golden hues, deserved more than what the fates had planned and for once he let himself feel how it pained him to be unable to be the one who could reciprocate the depths of his feelings.

The day quickly approached after that, news of a successful expedition blending in with the cheerful atmosphere that came with a festival.

"They still haven't told you who you're supposed to be married to? It's the day of already!"

"One would expect some kind of courtesy towards one in your position at least. The people would riot if they knew."

"You long lived species and your messed up customs... though guess it sounds like this isn't standard practice."

"It sure isn't! I still say we riot - they can't catch all of us!"

"Combined forces of the vidyadhara and the cloud knights would surely outnumber the four of us, even if I do appreciate the thought Bai'er."

Thankfully this conversation died down before someone finally came to retrieve him, talking about how his silks were ready for the ceremony over Baiheng's thinly veiled gestures to strike first before he bid them farewell for now. The silks were fine and comfortable against his frame, but did little to ease the chill that began to settle beneath his skin or clear the fog creeping up along his nape and back of his head. Bright and striking red filtered a muted crimson in his vision as his footsteps strained heavy on the backs of his calves when he made his way to a platform just below the grand stage in wait.

Two announcements, the announcer said with a voice loud enough to break through Dan Feng's trance before gesturing over to the other side of the stage - haze lifting from his senses when a familiar figure made his way up to the main stage...

arranged marriage || @celesticlnstcrs

[thecurioustale]

I used to think that personal computers would become a permanent daily fixture of life for most people, just like owning a TV has remained sticky across generations.

It probably would have worked out this way, too, were it not for the fact that smartphones essentially coopted the utility that most people get out of computers.

That was my mistake. That's usually my mistake when interpreting humanity: I assume people are more like me than they really are.

I find smartphones abhorrent. Not the technology itself; I think that's great. But the format. The user interface of a smartphone with only two or three buttons, various touch functions, and a tiny screen, versus that of a personal computer with a screen several times bigger and a mouse and proper keyboard, is just comically inferior. It's like the difference between a tricycle and a sportscar. As someone who types a lot and expects a fairly high degree of functionality out of websites, using a mobile device is like having my hands tied behind my back because in a metaphorical sense they are: The amount of functionality on mobile interfaces is just vastly, vastly smaller. And that feels suffocating, as if someone were to talk to you at a speed one-fifth of usual. I will straight up not have conversations with people on mobile because it's too frustrating to type out a paragraph the size of this one on a touchpad; I'll record them a voice note instead or just not say whatever I wanted to say.

But this isn't how most people have used computers. It's how early adopters have used computers; it's how power users have used computers; but it's not how "ordinary" people have used computers: They have used computers the same way they have used mobile devices, which is to say in very simplistic ways: mainly for games, video, and talking to friends, with a smattering of hold-by-the-hand service apps thrown in for functional measure, like Doordash, where all you really have to do is type your address and payment info one time, and then just push your finger onto the picture of the food you want to eat.

As a result of that fundamental simplicity of user intent, taking personal computing mainstream ended up not entrenching it into our lives like televisions but making it a transitional technology like cassette tapes. They heyday of the personal computer as a centerpiece of home life came and went in a single generation.

The good news is that there will still be personal computers.

The bad news is that, without permanent universal adoption by society, they will become relatively more expensive over time than they otherwise would have—and I use the word relatively here in its strict sense; the absolute degree of this relatively greater expense I fear will eventually become rather high. The other bad news is that web design will become even worse. Some of the insufferable web design we have to put up with today, like where you can't see more than a couple of sentences per screen, or where scrolling doesn't work the way it should, is a result of design that is prioritized for mobile. Many website proprietors just won't bother with maintaining two different versions of their sites; they'll lump everything into the mobile design and force everyone to use that.

This generational forgetting of personal computing is such a shame, because personal computers are unbelievably powerful. I spoke of TVs but I don't actually use a television: all my video needs are on my computer, with a screen big enough that I can actually see the details. And when it comes to my work, I would be lost without personal computing! It'd be literally impossible for me on a phone; I would have file cabinets full of papers, just like writers used to.

Of course, we shouldn't oversimplify "generations." Plenty of young people do use desktop or laptop PCs. It's just that, like us before them, they have always been the exception. There has never been a time when society as a whole was fluently using these powerful machines, even to my relatively modest level of expertise and fulsomeness, let alone to that of the true power users.

this can't be true can it

[roastedbeefed]

I’m,,,, thinking about the whole prospit/derse split

And how prospit is based on believing that the world is inherently good so it’s worthy of trust, while derse is all about being skeptical of the world and convincing themselves that their rash actions are good just because they “thought through it more”

Being on prospit is also a form of escapism which can mainly be seen in Tavros and jade Tavros escaping from his disability and Jade escaping from her perpetual loneliness

which now thinking of it makes me sad bc karkat was always forced to be grounded because his blood color ensured he had to stay skeptical of everyone (like the world wanted him to be a derse dreamer) even to the point where the moment he woke up the whole planet was destroyed, so he never got to have that escapism

No wonder he was so upset when he woke up

But even as much as Karkat barks about being ruthless and cold (which would more traditionally be associated with derse but it could be for both, really), he immediately makes friends with Jack and is the one to jump in at the 5x Showdown

He grew up wanting big things for his life even though logically it was impossible, which meant that even though karkat was more than aware of the dangers of being a mutant, he still had some hope that the world would be good to him

And maybe that’s why people think prospit dreamers are dumb, bc SBURB constantly punishes any overtly optimistic players either by letting their hopes get up while they’re on prospit to destroy them later (see: Jade kanaya and Jane) or by not even letting them live there long to begin with (see, Jake, John, and karkat)

Bc it all depends on (booming voice ) the narrative!

Always, we can’t escape it

Jade dreams of being with all her friends and being important! Beating bad guys together, and everything will end up fine :D

But she has to grow up alone and then spend three years on a ship by herself, she is super important to the narrative and even though she remains positive all through it, since what she wants and hopes doesn’t correlate with SBURB, she gets steamrolled and tossed to the side

In contrast

Vriska wants to be the Hero of the story

Maybe not the good guy, but the Good Guy if that makes sense

Bc she doesn’t care about being nice she will push and shove until she’s made the main character (she’s a thief of light so think stealing the spotlight) and the narrative will bend to her bc she plays right into her whims

She has lofty hopes but she will scream and bite at the story until it showcases her so she gets what she hopes for

But secretly trapping her in a cycle of self sacrifice all the while but shhh

Literally vriska is the winner and she doesn’t even get to win, she just opens the chest and we get to assume that things go well? The vriska that died and later met up with the dead terezi is the real winner, but though the post retcon vriska has the tangible earnings, shes still left just being a cog in the SBURB machine

But derse dreamers work in a similar way!

Let’s say that dirk is like jade and rose is like vriska

And I say that meaning that both dirk and jade believe that the game is working for the greater good, jade bc she thinks “everything will go great and we’ll be happy :D” and that the world is inherently good, but dirk because “This is how things have to go, there’s a system for this and if we’re smart enough and play the game just right then we can come out better than we started.”

Uhhhh I forget how weird dirk talks sometimes

Anyways Jade is punished bc she’s willing to get narratively beat up for her optimistic hopes, while dirk lets himself get beat up because he’s convinced he and his friends will end up better for it (“I’ve got it all calculated, trust me”) he thinks things through so much but he falls into the same trap as jade, while convincing himself that he’s at least “aware” of what he’s getting himself into

But just because he’s aware that he’s a cog doesn’t make it any less pointless or any less painful! It just kinda make it worse in a way, since any conflicts now become fodder for self depreciation (which is a huge dirk thing but also very noticeable in rose.)

For people who don’t immediately turn every problem into an example of their own failure (see: Dave, Aradia), they usually just give up on the story

Dave rejects his hero role, and Aradia just full out dips, but happiness doesn’t instantly come from that decision alone, so Dave is still left bumbling around and even Roxy gets to play the part of “the one good alpha kid” by not caring about the session (but still being very dismissive of her friends, which is a common thing for her but let’s not get into that)

Rose and vriska want to bend the narrative to suit their needs, vriska because she thinks the narrative will have a happy ending with her at the forefront and rose because she doesn’t trust that game at all

Seer of Light is a very prospit-y classpect but rose is insane so there’s no worries. She won’t take any information at face value, she wants to tear it apart and find the “real meaning and truth” (which can be seen from silly discussion about Dave’s dreams into her obsession with breaking the game)

Rose’s skepticism and distaste for being handed things easily really doesn’t help anyone, think about how dirks constant self sacrifice doesn’t really help anyone in the end, he just makes things harder in the hopes that everyone will be rewarded. Rose works in a similar, less blatantly self-sacrificial way (yet she still dies twice, but i guess readers don’t really notice how willing rose is to give herself up)

Rose seems to win and come out all God Tiered but on the meteor she’s plagued with the thought of how to Solve the Ending of Homestuck while still ignoring what she just went through, eventually leading her to drink

Very different from jade, who is shown not to really think too hard about what’s going on once she’s safe and happy with John and Davesprite because she trusts that things will go well

Derse dreamers will crush their dreams into a pulp and convince themselves theyre smarter for it (theyre not)

The lesson? Everyone is 13-16 why does the fandom love to write off prospit dreamers and mindless idiots and act like derse dreamers are some kind of mastermind

Thinking harder about thinks doesn’t automatically mean someone is right

Anyways that’s all idk who is insane enough to read all this but there you go! Feel free to argue at me I love talking about homestuck if you can’t tell

[my-soul-sings]

Fandom: Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint  Characters: Kim Dokja, Yoo Joonghyuk

Summary: This was a game, and he was the lone player in this universe. Or at least, he used to be, until he met him. 

Based on chapters 178, 188 and 226 of the light novel (spoilers ahead).

***

This was a game, and he was the lone player in this universe. 

Yoo Joonghyuk stared down at his empty hands, calloused and stained with the blood of the countless lives he’d slain to get to where he is now. But it didn’t matter. This was a game, and his goal was to win. If he failed, he’d just start over. Reset. Regress. It was simple. 

At the same time, it was lonely. 

Sometimes, he wished he could live like the people he saw all around him: fighting with their companions, protecting each other, and dying together.

But it was a wishful thought that he dismissed quickly every time it tugged at the back of his mind. It was impossible to live that way — after all, he would probably lose his companions anyway. They would either die or forget about him once he regresses. It was much easier to treat people as NPCs and tools, their worth determined by how useful they could be to him in this game. And if he failed, he’d leave them behind and start over to give it another shot. 

The goal, ultimately, was to win. Emotions would only shackle his feet.  

So why was he feeling so damn pissed? 

Kim Dokja was sitting across him on a bed, tubes strung to his body and hooked to a machine. He’d just woken up after being unconscious for a full week. Despite the man’s battered body, Yoo Joonghyuk still felt an urge to give him a punch in the gut for good measure. 

“When did you come here?” Kim Dokja asked. 

Yoo Joonghyuk forced himself to look away and took a seat in a chair by the bed, pouring himself a cup of tea. Supposedly, tea could calm nerves. He took a sip. 

It didn’t work. In fact, it was bitter. His fingers refused to budge from the fist that had been formed.

“Two days ago.” 

He heard a long sigh of relief, and the fist loosened slightly. He received a couple more questions about how he managed to survive the exile penalty, and once they were answered, an awkward silence settled in the room. 

It was strange. Yoo Joonghyuk had come in with the intention of yelling at Kim Dokja and giving him a piece of his mind for all the shit he’d put him through, but at this moment, he couldn’t find the words to say. His tongue didn’t move when he glanced over at Kim Dokja’s conflicted face. He promptly returned his gaze to his cup, as if the tea would give him answers. 

It didn’t. The only thing in his mind was the anger he’d held in since the time he realised that it was this man spreading his name in the demon realm. Mainly though, he was pissed at the number of times this guy had gone and jumped straight into hell to save his party. It was almost like that reckless idiot was actively searching for opportunities to kill himself. 

Yoo Joonghyuk hated it with every fiber of his being—because there was no greater pain than losing a companion.

Maybe he was being a hypocrite, but he didn’t care. Just like how he never cared about the cries of his party members when they watched him die, watched his life bleed out from his wounds and trickle past his twitching fingertips. After all, he could simply regress and recruit them again. He would regress until he won this cursed game. 

But this guy, Kim Dokja... he was different. He wasn’t a regressor. He obviously had many cunning tricks up his sleeve, but he wasn’t invincible and his luck would eventually run out. 

Yoo Joonghyuk thought it had completely run out when Kim Dokja turned into the demon king. He still remembered the moment he held the dying man in his arms, desperately trying to keep him from turning into dust and from being absorbed into the black hole. 

Of course, it didn’t work. His hands had come up empty, despite his desperate cry of Kim Dokja’s name. 

It was funny in a way. For someone who abandoned people as frequently as he did, when the tables turned on him he didn’t know how to deal with it at all. 

“The others… are they doing well?”

Of course he would ask about them. Maybe he was feeling guilty for pulling that stunt on everyone like that—as he should. “Lee Hyunsung went to the army. Jung Heewon and Lee Jihye are training new incarnations. They are strengthening their power in preparing for the future disaster scenarios.”

The stories about the others continued, the words forming and leaping off Yoo Joonghyuk’s tongue in fluid succession. As he spoke, Kim Dokja would interject with some questions of his own, and the tense muscles in Yoo Joonghyuk’s shoulders began to relax. Maybe it was the tea. It had been a while since he had such a civil conversation with that man.

Kim Dokja listened attentively, with a sad smile tugging on his lips. 

“Everybody is busy living.”

Yoo Joonghyuk didn’t miss the lonely gaze in his companion’s eyes. He understood it. Being forgotten by the companions you fought alongside with—he knew the feeling well. He was reminded of it every time he regressed and met their eyes again for the first time, and the unrecognition and suspicion in their eyes never failed to make his chest ache. 

“In addition, everyone is telling your story.”

Maybe he should have said it sooner without that long pause in between. But in that moment of silence when he stared at Kim Dokja’s sorrowful eyes, Yoo Jooghyuk felt understood for the first time. Being a regressor was a lonely thing, not just because it was a path he treaded alone, but because no one else could empathise or understand him.

“They say it a lot, your story.” 

No one else, except for Kim Dokja, it seemed.

The corners of the man’s lips lifted into a small smile as he covered his eyes, as if embarrassed by the fact. As if he could be embarrassed—he was easily one of the most shameless people Yoo Joonghyuk had met.

But it wasn’t a bad trait.

Yoo Joonghyuk took another sip of his tea, which somehow tasted less bitter now. He must have gotten used to the taste. 

“Let’s go back to Earth, Kim Dokja,” he said.

Their eyes met, and no other words were needed. 

[charlie-grusin]

COMEBACK MUSICWEEK (9/13)

“[And] if Teasle kept pushing, Rambo was determined to give back a fight Teasle would wish to God he had never started.” - David Morrell, First Blood

[voidsentprinces]

Every bit of Shadowbringers is the Scions it corresponds with.

Amh Araeng Prt 1 is very Alisaie. Mirroring her decision in A Realm Reborn, Alisaie wanders off to the outskirts of civilization. Choosing to observe the powers of the world and figure out a way to stop coming tragedies. We’re introduced to the threat and aggressively fight against it but in mirror the loss of Ga Bu and Louisoix. Alisaie loses someone dear to her by Tempering. Louisoix became a Primal and Ga Bu was tempered by Titan. (Though honestly I wish Alisaie would stop losing people dear to her cause after Requiem for Heroes it feels like the story likes to kick her while she’s down at this point)

Kholusia Prt 1 is very Alphinaud. There is a semblance civilization, a rule of law in the area, there is even a function in which the society works. Mirroring Alphinaud remaining well within spitting distance and very much in the middle of the comings and goings. He uses his diplomatic maturity, which once was made for personal gain with clever wit and scheme. He has learned from the Crystal Brave betrayal, corruption of Ishgards, the result of those who choose might means right and what it results in from his time in Ala Mhigo, Hingashi, and Doma respectively. Applying himself to better comes to grips with the peoples plight. Upon seeing how Eulmore treats those chosen but then thrown away and then coming face to face with Vauthry. Rather than turning a blind eye and just being, “That’s just how it is.” as he was with the Monetarists and Refugees of Ul’dah. He pushes back against the system, damn the consequences, leaving an easily position to effect the politics of Eulmore and even gets a bullseye placed on the back of his head.

Lakeland is very much the Crystal Exarch’s Domain. It is the place of mystery, where life heavily clings on and every time we venture out to it. We come into conflict with either Eulmore or the Sineaters, Vauthry is controlling. It is in Lakeland, we fight through the Holminster Switch. Come face to face with our first Lightwarden and see where there was once furtile farm land, peace, and people. Now chaos reigns and an apocalyptic wave of disaster has struck. Mirror the world, G’raha had woken up to after the Eighth Umbral Calamity. This is where our foot hold is. Where we first bring night back to the First and his plan for saving the Source is put in motion. There is also a sense of myth about the place, Bismarck, a fae being in this shard slumbers in the Lake aptly named the Source. And it is only by bringing together to allies we made that we allowed to travel to the Tempest when he is spirited away. Just as G’raha gathered allies and people to himself to build the Crystarium.

Il Mheg is Urianger’s realm and reflects the game, he has agreed to play with the Warrior of Light at the behest of the Exarch. It is full of beings, who make deals out of innocent furvor at the determent of all who are around them. Pixies trick travels and fellow fae a like. The Nou Mou live to serve mortal kind just as Urianger serves the realm as a whole, no matter what light history might cast him in. And the Amaro dream of comrades lost, wishing to feel the comfort the adventurers and merchants they once wandered with. Grieving in their own way just as Urianger did after Moenbryda’s passing. Il Mheg is the land of faeries, it is steeped in myth and legend just as Urianger always had his nose in a book. Titania lays at the center of the realm. Once the pinnacle of the fae, forever corrupted by the Lightwarden’s energy. A horrific mirror of what should happen is G’raha’s plan should fail and the paragon of heroism, his friend: The Warrior of Light. Could also become a monster wearing the skin of a kingly figure should his mask slip. Yet when we enter his abode in the middle of Il Mheg, the Waking Sands/Rising Stones music plays. Reminding us of home and the Scions, he calls family and he welcomes us as he ever did, cryptically.

“Unto a hero weary of heroes, a heroes wends [their] way...”

Rak’tika is Y’shtola of course. She has turned away from her light magics of conjury to the dark magics of thaumaturge. The great boughs rise up and block out the sun light of the Great Wood. Reflecting the living style of her mentor: Master Matoya. A person who prefers their solitude, away from the dealings of the world, but with great knowledge to progress the plot forward. Thancred and Y’shtola get into an argument on how each other has changed. The two of them stood side by side after the Bloody Banquet and were both flung into Aetherstream by her Flow spell. While Y’shtola adapted to her blindness and halfened life force. Thancred had to push against the constrains of no longer having access to his aether and briefly losing sight in one eye. His last moments were the thought of protecting Minfilia. Only to wake up in Dravania and find out that Minfilia is no more. Y’shtola rejects Master Matoya and Thancred’s choice of solitude. Making friends with the Night’s Blessed. Even though, she knows she might have to leave them behind all too soon. She becomes a pinnacle of the Night’s Blessed community. While Thancred wanders hither and tither unfocused with Ryne at his side. Slipping easily into her role as a Scion, she researches the clues left behind by the Ronka Empire and makes allies with a civilization who has also closed themselves off from the world. Y’shtola is the first one to recognize the faults in G’raha’s plan and is immediately suspicious of the Exarch’s intentions. We see Y’shtola never truly changed however as when it comes time to get the item that will save the world and protect her friends. She readily uses Flow once more. Damn the consequences. Her sacrifice for the greater good is, as always, her charge which she never hesitates to grant. She even bonds with Runar seeing him as a little brother despite his obvious want for something more, just as she has a sister back in Gridania with whom she has a friendly relationship with. Just as Y’shtola’s connection to Matoya opened up the path to Azys Lla. Her run in with Emet-Selch opens up the path to learn of the Ancients and Amaurot and the true nature of Hydaelyn and Zodiark.

Amh Araeng Prt 2 is Thancred. Its tedious, its nearly empty, full of the smallest hopes. Each challenge is made to be tougher than it should be and despite us being able to compliment Thancred when finding a Voebrite coin. He shrugs it off as he is wont to do at this point. We get Ryne’s inner turmoil deepening. Thancred comes face to face with another individual wallowing in their own grief for those he loss and suddenly after coming face-to-face with Ran’jit again. Thancred throws away his misgivings and brings Ryne into the fold as shoe horned and bad written as possible. So lets just skip this area and never talk of it ever again okay? Cause the story never really does save for the Fatebreaker Eden section

Kholusia Prt 2 is Ardbert’s story or what it once was. We gather our group together and besiege Eulmore only for the villain to escape our grasps. But we triumph in liberating Eulmore from Vauthry’s tyranny for a moment. Alphinaud gets his heroic speech, Alisaie gets to combat the threats of the Lightwardens, Y’shtola and Urianger work together to make a massive Talos, Thancred and Ryne keeping tabs on Vauthry and Mt. Gulg. We meet face to face with G’raha. For all intents and purposes our Cylva. A person with a schism coming to a head. We come together as a team for the first time since coming to the First and each shows their worth in their connections to the realm. Mirroring Ardbert’s journey, we are faced with multiple seemingly insurmontible odds and come out on top. Vauthry’s Sineater Guard fall, he himself becomes the last one. The night returns to the First. And. We. Fail. We fail due to the machinations of Ascians just as Ardbert’s group did. The Warrior of Light is brought low by the combined aetheric energies of all Lightwardens. G’raha’s plan fails when Emet-Selch appears and leaves us for dead. Sure the enemy was vanquished, Vauthry and Ran’jit for us, Loghrif and Mitron for Ardbert’s group, but the First still falls to a Flood of Light as the eternal day returns and we are left on the cusp of despair. For all our triumphs. For all the schemes. For all the fighting. We fail. And just as Ardbert learns to protect his world with the aid of the Word of the Mother. The Warrior of Light only survives due to the aid of Ryne. An Oracle of Light who has come into her own and not died on the battlefield. We wander the Crystarium afterwards listening to the tales of the people and what they think of the Exarch. Then immediately find our courage to plunge into the depths. Ardbert giving us the strength to move forward, that he didn’t have when he met Elidibus. No more desperation. Just courage in the face of oblivion.

The Tempest is Emet-Selch. We are bridged there by the mythical Bismarck and find a dwindling but prospering Sahagin alternative. Living and getting by the ruins of those who stood before. The one part of the world far, far, far way from the light of the First. From the people and things, he used to care for. We find he made a city out of nostalgia and even the ghosts become almost too real. He is at the depths of his grief in a world, he cannot forget and will not forsake. It is here, the one clinging to the past the most falls to those who look to the future they yet have. He covets the Exarch’s use of rift travel because he knows if he can harness it, he has a chance to go back and save EVERYONE! But, he can’t and he won’t. He can no longer go home and knowing Elidibus’s memory and personality has been slipping since he left Zodiark’s breast. He asks us:

“Remember us...remember that we once lived.”

The Crystal Tower is Elidibus. It is the shining beacon of hope, he wished to become as Emissary. From the day, he chose to become the heart of Zodiark. To every motion to move for or against his breathren. The Allaghan Empire’s greatest achievement. But ruled by an Emperor whose death dropped him into Nihilism. Conquest was nothing but ashes in the mouth of Xande and he wish to consume the Source in Void. Elidibus wishes the return of Zodiark. For it is his duty, there is no solace in memories he can no longer recall. A being frozen in time just as Amon had the Crystal Tower’s previous inhabitence. Telling us repeatedly that no matter what our Echo shows us of his past. It will not avail us to his present. So he takes on the image of the Warrior of Light, playing pretend at the role of the hero having possessed Ardbert’s body before. He speeds up the Heroes Journey. Has us actively fight against our own memories and in the end, his own brother reappears amidst the clash to grant the last Unsundered Peace in his fall. G’raha sealing away his essence in the Crystal Tower to become part of the beacon of hope and light. Though perhaps in his final moments, his true duty was that he was waiting for someone to return to him. Someone he looked up to in his younger years. A shadow in his memories he has clung to and taken into being the example off in their absence.

“The rains have ceased, and we have been graced with another beautiful day. But you are not here to see it.”

[androxys]

I am typing and deleting and screenshotting texts about Sasha Bordeaux nonstop because she is one of my most characters and I’ve developed MAJOR brain worms

Bruce Wayne’s bodyguard that he didn’t want. Found out that he was Batman. Became a vigilante with him. Fell in love with him. Went to jail to serve for the murder that Bruce Wayne didn’t commit. Was so dedicated to the mission. Refused Bruce’s help to get out of jail. Murdered in jail. Saved and recruited by Checkmate. Was so dedicated to the mission. Learned that Bruce manipulated her into learning his secret so he could control her. Became Black King’s Knight. Cleaned up Ted Kord’s body after Max Lord killed him. Watched Jessica Midnight, the woman who recruited her into Checkmate, be forced into committing a coup that placed Lord as the single power in Checkmate. Sent Ted’s goggles to Bruce at risk to herself--despite her anger towards him for manipulating her, for controlling her, for throwing her away--and falling back into him when they finally met again after their last meeting because the heart never forgets but also she never wanted him to look for her because she was so hurt and because the heart never forgets. And they don’t get a reconciliation beyond the kiss because they’re working (and there’s always the mission and she is so dedicated to the mission) and then she’s imprisoned and tortured and only gets out because Lord dies and Checkmate is being purged by OMACS and she learns that she too has been compromised by Lord’s fanaticism and as she’s stabbed and bleeding out her last thoughts are wondering if Batman also feels the painful chill of all the people he’s failed, and then she lives as BLACKKNIGHT I and has so little time to mourn and reflect on this change and her fears because there is the mission (and she is so dedicated to the mission) and her first call is to Bruce because of course it’s to Bruce and they can only talk in horrified asides about how Bruce’s fears and need to control and manipulate lead to the creation of Brother MK-1, because he doesn’t know how to let go (and he never let Sasha go) and they work on their own roles against the OMACS and once they win they have another moment where they come so close to actually talking (“I know about guilt, Sasha”) and she’s so scared of being a machine, cold and unfeeling and calculating and manipulative like Brother Eye and then she goes into space to slay the dragon and feels like she’s so out of place and even once she gets back she’s immediately given another mission because he knows she’ll do it, even if he tells her that she was his only choice (not his first) because he understands that she’s dedicated to the mission and just

I was in love with him, once. And once, maybe, he was in love with me. But I’m more machine than woman now. And I’m no hero.

There is this rippling sense of guilt, thinking about how she confronted Jessica Midnight and thought of herself

I’m a bad guy. So I act the part. I’m getting good at it.

And she does his dirty work for him! And her last thoughts as she blows herself (because that’s what the mission--and maybe her guilt--demands) up to take out Bruce’s creation, his folly, her Brother, is to wish Bruce goodbye too, because he was the fulcrum at which point her life fell apart.

And then they save the world(s) and Sasha rebuilds her life (again) by funneling herself (and her guilt) into a new Checkmate (because she is always so dedicated to the mission) and she ends up with the exact reality that she was warned against when she first met Jessica Midnight, before she was ever even recruited into Checkmate. And she’s the Black Queen and she runs ops and she makes the tough calls and people get hurt and she manipulates and controls and it’s for the greater good... right?

[gloryguarded]

THE SUPER-SOLDIER PROGRAM

❝ У тебя есть потенциал. Это возможность стать великим.    You have potential. This is an opportunity for you to be great. ❞

He is eighteen when Dreykov approaches him. He’s newly married, has only just become a man but he has served his country for two years, volunteering for service in the armed forces at the age of sixteen after years in military school. For someone so young, his record is exemplary and that catches Dreykov’s attention. The man is only a decade older than him but he is already a Lieutenant General and rising quickly in the ranks of the Soviet Union.

❝ Ты хочешь быть великим?    Do you want to be great? ❞ ❝ Да, генерал-лейтенант.    Yes, lieutenant-general. ❞

The words of his father ring in his mind. You will never amount to anything. He’s promised greatness, promised glory, promised that this is the best way that he can serve his country. He will help bring the Soviet Union into a new era of prosperity. He will be a super-soldier like Captain America. Better. This is the opportunity that he’s been waiting for his entire life. It’s a chance to make something of himself, to prove that he’s more than just the son of a farmer. Alexei agrees without hesitation.

❝ Ваша цель больше вашей боли.    Your purpose is greater than your pain. ❞

They tell him they are preparing his mind. He doesn’t know exactly what it is they’re doing but he knows the pain is searing and his head pounds so hard after each session that he can barely think. He starts to feel like something is missing but he can’t quite put his finger on it.

When they begin the injections, he is resolute. They take place over the course of several months. An injection each week. Alexei thought he saw Hell but this is a special kind of pain. He is constantly exhausted, irritable. After the injections it feels like his body is on fire and the pain ebbs slowly over the course of days until the next one. They need to restrain him for the first day after each one because he claws at himself, at his skin. He screams his throat raw until no sound comes out any longer.

About halfway through the process he dies. His heart stops beating. He stops breathing. He leaves his body and goes...somewhere...nowhere. It’s indescribable, the feeling of nothingness, emptiness. They stop trying to resuscitate him and just as they’re about to call the program a failure, their machines pick up a faint heartbeat. He shocks awake gasping for air, lashing out at the scientists that surround him.

He doesn’t think he’ll forget the feeling as long as he lives.

With each injection after that he grows stronger, with each injection the pain becomes more comfortable. He gets used to the burning sensation just as the restraints become too weak to hold him.

❝ Не позволяйте слабости мешать вам стать тем, кем вы должны быть.    Do not let weakness stop you from becoming who you were meant to be. ❞

This is power he never could have imagined. They begin his training, testing him. He doesn’t know his own strength. He breaks through a wall the first time they test him. He nearly breaks a man’s neck. His body is still adjusting to the serum, just as his mind is. He finds he’s angry all the time and he doesn’t like that feeling. He lashes out, becomes difficult to work with. Dreykov is not pleased. They send him back to that machine, the one that sears through his head and makes it pound.

❝ Я думал, ты сильнее. Может я ошибался насчет тебя.    I thought you were stronger. Maybe I was wrong about you. ❞ ❝ Нет. Вы не были. Я сделаю лучше. Обещаю!    No. You weren’t. I’ll do better. I promise! ❞

Each time he acts out he’s sent back to it. It’s all a part of his training, he’s told. They want to ensure he’s ready for action before they send him into the field. It makes sense to him. He wants to be at peak performance and he needs to learn how to handle the weapon that they’ve made him. They have him on an intense training regimen. They control every aspect of his life. When he wakes, what he eats, every minute of every day.

His days blur together. He wakes, he trains, he sleeps. He doesn’t think of his wife. He doesn’t remember her. Dreykov makes sure of that. Alexei Shostakov is dead. The news has been delivered, the records have been sealed.

❝ Вы большая надежда России. Красный Страж.    You are the great hope of Russia. The Red Guardian. ❞

They give him a suit, a mask to hide his face, and they parade him out for all of Russia to see. Russia’s own super-soldier. He shakes hands, kisses babies, takes photographs. They send him on simple assignments, ones that look good on paper and in the news. There are parades, speeches, there are even movies.

Dreykov praises him and he feeds into it. He doesn’t even realize how much he craves the man’s approval until he has it. All it takes is an encouraging nod from the General and he happily walks out in front of those crowds, schmoozes with his countrymen.

It feels good at first. He’s being recognized, people love him. He’s not some farmer’s son, he’s not some screw up, he’s the great hope of Russia. But it grows old quickly. He realizes what Dreykov’s using him as: a distraction. They flash him in front of the cameras while the widows work and the General’s other projects continue unobstructed.

It isn’t enough. It isn’t what he signed up for. So he talks to Dreykov. Tells him that he’s tired of the dog and pony show, that he wants to do more for his country.

❝ Я сделал тебя героем. Что вы еще хотите?    I made you a hero. What more do you want? ❞ ❝ Я хочу настоящих миссий. Я готов, генерал.    I want real missions. I'm ready, General. ❞

To his surprise, Dreykov agrees. They start to give him new assignments, the kind of work that he signed up for the super-soldier program to do. But not before they take him back to the machine once more. Something changes. His memories shift but things feel as they always have for him. The missions that they send him on blend right in to the ones that they plant in his mind.

❝ Я заплатил за твое тело. Не будь с этим так небрежно.    I paid for that body of yours. Do not be so careless with it. ❞

He makes a mistake. He disregards his handler’s orders trying to save civilians and he comes back to Dreykov half dead. He’s never seen the man so angry. His injuries heal quickly but not fast enough for another mission the General had wanted him on. An opportunity wasted, he’s told. He’s been getting cocky, reckless. The man threatens to put him on ice but he pleads with him.

❝ Я думал, что смогу спасти их, генерал. Мне жаль.    I thought I could save them, General. I'm sorry. ❞ ❝ Ты не думаешь. Понимать? Ты сделаешь. Ты слушай. Ты подчиняешься.    You do not think. Understand? You do. You listen. You obey. ❞

This isn’t the first mistake he’s made. Dreykov seems less and less pleased with him as time goes on. He spends less time with him, more time with his widows. Where once he had a team of scientists monitoring him, there are now only a couple. He begins to worry the man is moving on. Then he tells him about a very important assignment.

They’re sending him to America.

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: Avengers #248: “To Save the ETERNALS!”

October, 1984

Scarlet Witch: “It’s raining ETERNALS!”

Hallelujah?

This is a pretty striking cover. The white background is what sells it. Having an actual background would busify the cover too much.

So last times on Avengers: Bored after giving the chairman role to Vision, Wasp takes Starfox’s invitation to crash a party hosted by Sersi, a truant Eternal. Some other Eternals come to fetch Sersi for a Big, Important Eternal Thing and Wasp and Starfox end up getting dragged along when they try to stop the kidnapping.

After Sersi and Ikaris recap the Eternals’ ENTIRE HISTORY, Starfox realizes hey he’s an Eternal too! So he gets invited to the big, important Eternal Thing. Which is turning into a giant flying brain. As ya do.

But jerk fiend and eventual Great Lakes Avengers punchline Maelstrom takes advantage of all the Eternals being a giant brain and attacks, knocking out spectating Avengers Wasp and Captain Monica Marvel.

So thats a lot.

Vision and Scarlet Witch arrive in Greece after seeing Maelstrom on the video phone.

While Vision flies off in a big hurry, Scarlet Witch goes back into the Quinjet for some good exposition.

She continues to be worried about how Vision has been acting lately. Because after seeing Maelstrom, Vision barely said a word during the flight to Greece and kept pushing the engines until Wanda was afraid they’d blow up. But since he just took off and she can’t fly, she calls up what files the Avengers have on Maelstrom.

Which is Benn Grimm, the Thing, reporting on Marvel Two-in-One #72, where he teamed up with Black Bolt to fight Maelstrom who claimed to be the son of a renegade Inhuman. In the end, the Thing tossed a tube of anti-terrigen gas in his face and then Maelstrom appeared to die in an underwater cave-in.

Vision returns from his reconnaissance and does Wanda a startle so she finally unloads on him for how he’s been acting.

Scarlet Witch: “You don’t seem to be thinking at all these days! We haven’t had a real conversation since you became Avengers chairman! Half of our trip to Washington was taken up by a private meeting you had with the president! Afterwards, you didn’t even have the decency to tell me what you talked about! I had to hear from a reported that you’d discussed making the Avengers chairmanship a cabinet level post! We used to be so open with one another! What is happening to us? What is the matter? Is it me?”

Vision says ‘its not you, its me’ although in the context of him being at fault and not breaking up with her.

But he promises to do better and that she’s important to him.

Which would be heart-warming and romantic if he wasn’t making this face over her shoulder.

Why.

Anyway, with uh whatever that is handled, Vision reports what he found on his scouting nyoom.

He found the Eternal city on the side of Mount Olympus because of course its there.

Although. Wait. Where do the Olympians live? Are they neighbors? Do the Olympians live in another dimension or something? I vaguely remember something like that.

And Vision found Maelstrom who’s wearing a silly techno-harness connected to a big machine and has Captain Marvel and Wasp chained up at his feet.

You have problems, Maelstrom.

Not least of which is that his big scheme is to absorb the giant brain to make himself more powerful.

He blabs his plan to the Wasp who woke up when she sensed the opportunity to sass.

Wasp: “You seem awfully sure of yourself, Maelstrom.”

Maelstrom: “Ah, the Wasp! Back among the conscious, I see! Yes, I am quite confident... Supremely confident, you might say.”

Wasp: “But not so confident that you felt you could keep us here untied!”

Maelstrom: “If you are trying to shame me, it will not work. I am quite without shame!”

Curses, he’s immune to petty ego games.

Wasp also assumes he’s an Eternal which he’s quick to correct. No, see, his mom was a Deviant. And I guess his dad was an Inhuman, based on the Thing’s report on him. But its not like he wants revenge for all the Deviants being compressed into a giant cube.

After all, the Deviants killed his mom and raised Maelstrom in their slave pits.

In fact, after Maelstrom absorbs the giant brain, his next plan is to release the Deviants from the giant Deviant cube one by one and then do harm to them.

But, yeah, no. He does look like an Eternal. Easy mistake to make. The Eternals have been making that mistake as Maelstrom has just been hanging around for days with all the Eternals assuming he’s just some Eternal.

He’s actually maybe a little bit regretful that he has to kill them all to absorb the giant brain since the Eternals have actually been nice to him?

Maelstrom: “But power belongs to those who are willing to seize it!”

Interesting guy, Maelstrom.

He starts absorbing the Uni-Mind and totally spaces out doing that. But unfortunately, Wasp is in no position to capitalize on it because he put some leech manacles on her which are preventing her from shrinking. And Captain Marvel is completely out cold.

But Vision sneaks up intangible through the ground as he do like to do and intangibles his fingers into Maelstrom’s harness, shorting it out.

The energy discharge knocks Vision on his ass unconscious but Maelstrom just has to take a knee.

He yells up at an ominous figure standing up on a tower for not telling him that Vision was sneakign up on him. Maelstrom obviously thinks that this Deathurge is his minion but Deathurge has differing opinions.

Deathurge: For so long have I been with Maelstrom, yet still he does not understand! Still he thinks of me as his lackey! When will he learn... it is a darker power I truly serve!

Kinda wonder why he’s here. He doesn’t seem to be helping Maelstrom’s great brain heist and mostly just seems to... stand on a tower and look ominous.

But while Maelstrom was distracted yelling at a guy, the Uni-Mind breaks free of Maelstrom’s siphon and then explodes into a bunch of Eternals again.

Because it would be very improbable if that happened.

Your plan scheme just got Wanda’d, Maelstrom.

Huh. When I saw the cover, I wouldn’t have guessed that Wanda is the reason why its raining Eternals, hallelujah.

Goes to shows.

But since it was very improbable indeed that the Uni-Mind would explode into peoples, Wanda is wiped out.

Captain Marvel starts waking up and Wasp orders her to bust the chains, don’t even think about just go go go.

And Monica Marvel CHOOOMs the leech manacles.

It’s probably a testament to her power that she can bust right through the power dampening handcuffs but Maelstrom immediately hits her with some pink with kirby krackle which apparently is an energy field for sapping strength and down goes Captain Marvel again.

>=|

Wasp dodges the pink energy and gets out of the way so Vision can shoot his forehead laser at Maelstrom.

I sometimes forget he has that thing.

Vision: “Yes, Maelstrom, I have found your weakness! you are vulnerable to energy that is not purely kinetic! That is why you required the power siphon to absorb the psionic energy of the Uni-Mind!”

Maelstrom insists that he’ll still kick Vision’s ass except we’ll never know if he was talking out his ass or not.

Starfox wakes up from being a giant brain and decides to go punch the bad guy.

Except except except.

Punches is kinetic energy. Fool that he is, Starfox just recharged Maelstrom.

Starfox: “I am Eros, called the Starfox... son of Mentor! The blood of the Eternals flows in my veins... and I am an Avenger! Thus I have the greatest stake in seeing you fall!”

Maelstrom: “No doubt! But you’ll not accomplish it this way!”

And then suddenly giant Maelstrom just picks up Starfox and hurls him at Vision who is forced to super-dense catch Starfox instead of intangible out of the way and let the idiot hit a wall head first.

Hm. Guy absorbs kinetic energy and gets beefier? So he’s like a less stylish Sebastian Shaw?

That’s not a flattering comparison for you, Maelstrom.

Makarri, Thena, and Ikaris of the Eternals wake up and also try to jump on and pummel Maelstrom.

... God, its like they weren’t even paying attention.

Good thing they’re immortal because they have no survival instinct among them.

Maelstrom throws them off and then whips out the pink bio-kinetic energy again, using it to crowd control the Eternals.

Then he announces that yeah, sure, the brain thing was foiled. But he absorbed enough information while he was draining the Uni-Mind that he has an even cooler plan for even greater power now.

So his new plan is to just leave. And go do something else.

‘Walk away with no further conflict you say? Nuts to that!’ - Scarlet Witch, presumably.

In fairness. This isn’t really a no harm, no foul situation.

I wouldn’t give Maelstrom over to the Eternals to add to the Deviant cube but he’s just going to do more asshole things if he walks away.

Starfox wants to go over and start punching Maelstrom again because. I DUNNO! The man is supposed to be smarter than this!

Vision stops him and tells him that instead he’ll need to use his pleasure power on Vision’s mark.

Starfox is startled that Vision knows about his secret weirdo power but this isn’t the time for a conversation.

Instead its time for microwaves.

Vision signals Captain Marvel to do her thing and she flies at Maelstrom, turning into infrared and microwave radiation, toasting Maelstrom up.

Then Wasp pew pews with her pew pew, while staying ten feet away so he can’t absorb any kinetic energy. That’s apparently why her stings sucked when she tried shooting him before. She got too close.

Well, her stings are bio-electrical so him absorbing her bio-kinetic energy would probably weaken them? Probably?

Maelstrom actually panics a little because the Avengers aren’t being dumb. They’re pelting him with energy attacks from a distance, wearing him down and not giving him a chance to build up his energy stores again.

I’m proud of you, guys. I knew you could fight smart if you put your minds to it.

Then with Maelstrom weakened, Starfox tries to use his PLEASURE BEAMS and tells him that actually we’re all friends here, won’t you be our friend?

Starfox: “The others will tell you I’m not one to hold a grudge! Besides, you really don’t want to hurt anyone! You’ll be much happier giving yourself up!”

Maelstrom: “Giving... up? Y-yes, that does sound nice. I... No!! What are you doing to me?!?”

So since Maelstrom succeeds his will save against the persuasion check, or something, Scarlet Witch just casts a spell of ‘on your knees, asshole’ and makes Maelstrom fall to his knees.

Realizing that he might actually be defeated, in the city of his mother’s enemies no less!, Maelstrom calls out for Deathurge to attend him.

Deathurge: “At last, the call I have longed for!”

Hmmmm. Maybe Maelstrom should have been more specific.

I admit that its very possible that this is exactly what Maelstrom wanted Deathurge hanging around for. But having a guy standing by to kill you so you don’t have to tally an L sure is an interesting way of going about things.

Also, the narration says spear but Deathurge’s weapon is clearly a very anime scythe. A dude in Bleach had two of this exact weapon.

Captain Marvel, as the nyoomiest of the Avengers, flies at Deathurge as the “spear” returns to his hand. He tries to hit her with the “spear” but it goes right through her and then she goes right through him when she tries to tackle him.

Since they can both be intangible, Deathurge declares this a stalemate and drops down into the ground. Captain Marvel tries to follow as x-rays but loses the ominous weirdo.

So that was a thing that happened.

Maelstrom sure folded like nothing once people who knew how his powers work actually started fighting back.

And I can’t even ding him for explaining his powers because he didn’t. Vision just did his research.

Anyway, even though the Uni-Mind ritual was interrupted, the Eternals still learned what they should be doing. Since the Eternals have grown stagnant on Earth, THEY’RE GOING TO SPAAAAACE!

Most of them anyway.

Ikaris, Sersi, Thena, Valkin... Lets just say the main Eternals are going to stay on Earth.

The Eternals chosen to go out into space form a Uni-Mind again, grabs the Deviant cube, hurls it out of the solar system, and then takes off into space.

“So does the Uni-Mind, in all its wisdom, protect its native world from the Deviant menace.”

Eeeesh.

I thought squeezing them all into a cube was bad enough, now you’re sending them into space forever? You couldn’t find a planet where they can’t hurt anyone and just dunk them there?

Back down on Earth, the Avengers and Eternals watch a giant brain fly into space.

Wasp: “To think, this all started with Starfox and me crashing Sersi’s party! I certainly never expected to be in Greece at day’s end, watching the Eternals leave Earth!”

Really makes you think. That its a good thing that most Avengers’ day job is being an Avenger.

Captain Marvel asks Starfox if he’s sorry that he didn’t go with the giant brain and he says participating in one Uni-Mind thing was an incredible experience that he wouldn’t have missed but he’s a free spirit and there’s a bunch of stuff he still wants to do on Earth.

Which Sersi certainly agrees with.

The Avengers offer her a lift back home and she has perhaps the greatest of attitudes about everything that went down.

Sersi: “I hope my friends in the city have kept the party going! If they haven’t... well, we’ll just have to start one of our own!”

That’s the spirit!

But meanwhile, halfway around the world in a secret underground lair, Deathurge pops out of the floor.

Villains are villainous and all but you can’t beat the class of “secret underground lair.” Step up, heroes.

Deathurge struts over to some tubes and goes Everything Has Transpired According to Plan.

Because inside one of the tubes (or maybe all of the tubes??) is a fresh new Maelstrom body!

Deathurge: If all goes as you have planned, you shall soon awaken within this newly prepared body, ready to live again. And, as ever, I will stand by... ready to attend... Until all your lives have been lived!

Well!

No wonder Maelstrom has a dude standing by to pop him. He’s got extra lives!

Anyway, that was the unexpected Eternals three-parter nobody called for. But Avengers is the place to go to tie up loose ends from other books and concepts.

Avengers’ll accommodate you, they have room in their hearts and publishing schedule.

Follow @essential-avengers​ because there’s more Maelstrom coming! Wait, is that anything people want? There’s also Hercules! I know people like Hercules! He gives the best hugs! Also like and reblog if you like to reblog.

[itsuki-minamy]

“SIX IDOLS”

CHAPTER 5: “NAGARE.02” (Complete)

* K - Six Idols (List of Chapters) * Projects & Chapters

Translation: Naru-kun Raws: Ridia

"Emerald smoke for you..."

Hearing the familiar voice, Sukuna Gojo raised his face.

A scrambled intersection in Shizume where many people come and go. It projected a familiar face onto a huge screen that dominated him. It was a popular idol, Mishakuji Yukari, who belongs to the same unofficial office as Sukuna, "Jungle Pro".

"A stranger in the mirror. Yes, that's true. That's you."

As he waits for the traffic light, he looks up in amazement.

He knew he was in a cosmetic commercial, but Yukari uses feminine cosmetics by all means. Sukuna thinks that even though he is a decent man, it is amazing that he does not feel any discomfort in such commercials.

"Oh, it's Yukari-sama! I have to take a picture!"

"It's true, me too! I'll miss the points!"

A couple of women waiting for a stoplight with Sukuna hastily pulled out their PDAs and pointed them at the screen. They were probably users of "Jungle", the official application of "Jungle Pro". You can get various benefits by photographing the idol it belongs to and posting it on SNS. Sukuna relaxed before the two people who were continuously photographing while making a fuss about it.

One of them suddenly turned to Sukuna.

When he thought about it, he had perfect eye contact. The woman's eyes widened in the blink of an eye. A woman's voice is launched at Sukuna's back, who puts the hoodie back on and returns.

"Maybe Sukuna-kun?! A lie?! I can't see you here!"

Sukuna glared at Yukari on the screen with resentment.

"You have to take good care of your fans, Sukuna-chan. We idols have fans, so remember what Yukari once said."

"Hey, look at me! If possible, with the screen in the background! It's definitely a high point to be able to photograph two people together!"

The woman got excited and approached Sukuna while she held her PDA. The moment he turned his face, he could see the flash burning. That was not very pleasant.

Several options occurred to his, and Sukuna finally decided to stick with his beliefs rather than Yukari's words.

In other words, he turned around and ran away.

"Oh, wait!"

There was nothing to look forward to. Still, he was shocked because the women pursued him with all their might.

Whether they want that many points or are Sukuna fans, Sukuna got into a back alley.

"Hey, wait a minute."

That woman chased him to that point. Although she had no shoes or clothes that would make it easy to run in, she had a lot of guts and wrapped her tongue inside. However, he was sorry for running too much, so Sukuna decided to go "upstairs".

The left and right are the walls of the building. Sukuna kicked the left wall and jumped, clambered up the rain gutter using the outdoor unit as a trampoline, attached herself to the emergency stairs, and looked down.

The woman forgot to hold her PDA and looked at Sukuna in a daze.

Like a fan service at least, Sukuna looked down and stuck his tongue out making a face.

"Tsu!"

By the time the woman hastily took her PDA, Sukuna had already climbed the emergency stairs to the roof of the building.

At that moment, Sukuna's PDA rang with a ringtone. Sukuna took it and straddled the air conditioning duct.

"Sukuna, the fans must appreciate you."

Hisui Nagare, the "Green Idol King", said such a thing.

Sukuna pursed his lips. A security network with surveillance cameras is established in Shizume. With Nagare's "Idol King" ability, it's easy to break into that network.

However, if it is said that it is the skill that an idol must have, there is no choice but to squint.

"I know, so I guess I rounded it up early."

As he sat on the chute, he pursed his mouth further, showing his annoyance. At the tumbled intersection, the images changed, and Misaki Yata from "Homura" began to perform a new number of popular idols.

"If you sign or shake hands in such a place, a lot of people will come to you. Even my fans, even those guys. If that's the case, I thought it would be better to run away quickly."

"I see. That may be the case. I understand."

"Hmm?" That was the first time he thought about it.

Somehow, he felt that something was wrong with Nagare's response. There was nothing unnatural in the conversation, but with the usual Nagare, there are two more things that can be pointed out philosophically.

"By the way, Sukuna. It was time for your game to go live. Do I have to prepare?"

A feeling of strangeness again.

The game commentary is a syndication event that Sukuna regularly hosts on the video publishing site "MORIMORI Video" operated by "Jungle Pro". Proceed with new and old games by trial and error. Playing is popular, especially with young people, and has garnered a considerable number of viewers. No wonder Nagare, the operator, worries about it.

"Did you say it was postponed during this time? I tweeted and listeners should know."

"It's true, that was the case. I understand."

After all, something was wrong. Nagare would never forget such a thing.

"Hey, Nagare? Haven't you been weird for a while?"

"What do you mean weird?"

"What is it? It's like a machine. Well, I always say you talk like a machine, but today it's more likely than ever."

There was silence for a few seconds. The feeling of strangeness became even greater. Is Nagare really on the other end of this call? A question like that suddenly came to Sukuna's mind.

"I didn't hear you right, please try again."

"You're not crazy, are you?"

The moment he yelled, he dropped the call. Sukuna opened his eyes and looked at the PDA screen. He had goose bumps around the back of his neck.

There was an incoming call again. He shrugged and stared at the screen for a few seconds, without answering the call.

"Eh?"

"It took you about 2 minutes to find out. Some experimental results were obtained. Thank you."

"���…"

There was "emotion" in the depths of that voice. At least it sounded like that.

This Nagare is "real".

Maybe.

"Explain yourself."

Nagare spoke clearly at Sukuna's words, which include anger.

"I was telling you about 'Nagare.02' earlier."

"Nagare, what is that?"

"Well, it is a multifunctional artificial intelligence that tracks my own thoughts and voice, that is, AI, which I have secretly developed for a long time. Since the alpha version was completed earlier, I tried to speak to a person who knows me well by the moment."

"You are amazing?"

No, it is not. He really should get mad. He should make a complaint about being forced to experiment without warning.

Although he knew that, he still couldn't suppress the admiration and respect that springs from the bottom of his heart. Sukuna quickly asked a question.

"No, I didn't understand anything! The voice was natural, he could speak correctly and I thought it was fake, but I never imagined it was not human. What? That AI can do that?"

"Still, it was detected in 2 minutes. There is still room for improvement."

"No, it took me two minutes to figure out even that...?"

Given that, he was a bit disappointed. Sukuna believes that Nagare is a friend and understands him, but when he asks if he is more than the other two, he doesn't feel safe.

"Did you try it on Iwa-san and Yukari?"

"No, that's about to start. Sukuna, would you like us to monitor it together?"

A small smile reached Sukuna's mouth.

The humiliation of being stunned was eased, all he has to do is turn to the side where he placed it.

"Sure! I can't wait to see how they react!"

He wishes had bought more time, with that wish, Sukuna had great control.

++++++++++

"Oh, you two were planning that?"

In the underground space, commonly known as "Secret Base", which is the headquarters of "Jungle Pro".

As he gracefully relaxed, Mishakuji Yukari laughed.

"……"

Sukuna was in a bad mood. On the other hand, Nagare was only facing the front in a wheelchair.

"Yes. The ones who know me best are the best members of "Jungle Pro", you guys. Feedback in conversations with you will help "Nagare.02" evolve even more. I'm impressed."

"Okay, weren't you fooled by that thing?"

As he opened the beer can with a pleasant noise, Iwafune Tenkei pierced Sukuna's heart.

"Fufu, I'm sorry to say that, Iwa-san. Sukuna-chan didn't understand for two minutes."

"Oh? 2 minutes? It took so long, is that normal?"

"I have recorded the conversation at that time. If you wish, I can replay it here now."

"Enough, that's it!"

He suddenly became irritated and screamed. Yukari laughed, Iwa shrugged slightly, Nagare looked at him vaguely and...

"Kuwa, Sukuna, angry!"

"Take this!"

Sukuna threw a cushion at Kotosaka, who flew into the air like a fool.

Kotosaka avoided him, and Iwa, who approached quickly, grabbed the cushion that was about to hit the dresser.

"Here and there. You can't allow idol fights as a manager, right?"

"Get hold of yourself."

Sukuna turned around as if he was impressed, and scratched himself cross-legged on the spot.

After all, it took Yukari 10 seconds to realize it, and Iwafune, with just one word, discovered that "Nagare.02" was not the real Nagare Hisui, but an AI.

Sukuna, who was monitoring with Nagare, can't tell where the unnatural part was, since, "Nagare.02" had a very thorough dialogue. The only thing that could detect authenticity was his intuition and the length of their relationship.

For Sukuna, the ending was somewhat unconvincing. He feels like he's been one-sidedly tricked by an incredibly high-level enemy character.

"Anyway, Nagare-chan? Why did you make such a toy again? Because it's you, is it on a whim or to kill time?"

"Well. I developed "Nagare.02" because I found great meaning. It is an antithesis against the current landscape of idols and innovation in new fields. I mean, innovation."

"I do not know what you're talking about."

Iwafune said that while he was drinking beer. When Himizu looked at him, a hologram emerged in the center of the room.

"What I want to create is another new form of idol that traces my appearance and thoughts in my virtual space."

What is projected in the hologram is the CG model worn by "Green Idol King" Nagare Hisui during PV and live performances. Although it is an elaborate modeling that mimics the real Nagare, it is still different from the real one.

The model moved smoothly. He clasped his hands in front of his hips and bowed silently.

"Nice to meet you. I am "Nagare.02", a virtual idol that belongs to "Jungle Pro". Thank you."

The operation is no different than what Nagare always does. Nevertheless…

"This is not Nagare-chan."

"Is he the same guy I spoke to earlier?"

Yukari discovered by intuition and Iwafune discovered that it was not real from a long relationship. The Nagare proportion is small.

"Currently, it is not me who is manipulating this model, but the idol-type AI "Nagare.02". A unique algorithm allows an autonomous dialogue that is extremely close to humans."

And, "Nagare.02" I imitate Nagare with the same movement.

"Affirmative. I am a virtual idol. I am a pseudo-constructed existence in virtual space, and I express it by thinking of a program, appearance in a CG model, and sampling voice."

"What is this virtual idol?"

Whether it was Nagare or "Nagare.02", Iwafune was embarrassed, at least it was the human Nagare who answered.

"Virtual idols are idols of a genre that is emerging on the idol scene in recent years. Real people use a dedicated motion sensor to perform various performances imitating the appearance of CG, but there is still the problem that it must be a real person."

"My existence will solve the problem because my existence is fine. A real person is always needed, but my existence is free of the problem because it does not exist."

"'Nagare.02'. His conversation was not natural at the time. It requires learning and correction."

"I understand, Nagare Hisui. I will rest for 27 minutes and 33 seconds to learn."

The hologram of "Nagare.02" stopped moving.

Nagare took over, then turned to Yukari and Iwafune.

"That's why. Did you understand, Yukari, Iwa-san?"

"No, well... I get it, I don't know..."

"I understand that Nagare-chan has a plan that I don't understand."

Iwafune scratched his head and shrugged. In response, Sukuna yelled in annoyance.

"I don't know why? This is amazing! There are few AIs in the world who can have conversations that are not different from humans! Nagare put it together himself!"

"A conversation that is no different from humans, what was that?"

Iwafune bowed his head. He wasn't criticizing him, he just asked.

Sukuna defended himself in a hurry, although he was not the one who developed it.

"Well that can happen because he's still learning. He should constantly improve from now on. Right, Nagare?"

"Affirmative. Currently in alpha, but as his learning deepens, he must be as intelligent as humans and capable of natural dialogue. The ultimate goal is to make him an independent virtual idol."

"Independent idol, huh."

While staring at the motionless "Nagare.02", Iwafune took a sip of beer. Nagare didn't even notice and spoke of his plans for the future.

"At the moment, when we go into beta, we plan to experimentally upload the video to 'MORIMORI Video'."

"Is that something you want to do?"

"For now, I'm thinking of a simple song and a dance video."

Iwafune expressed concern as he stroked his chin.

"Isn't it better to wait a while? As far as I've heard the story, he couldn't have a proper conversation. If he says something strange, it will affect your reputation."

Many of the "Jungle Pro" fans have forward thinking. If he explains it correctly, even if it says "Nagare.02" or mysterious words and actions, he will find entertainment there. He wants to do it.

"It's like avant-garde art. Well, you might like it."

Yukari shrugged and seemed to lose interest in his existence. Apparently, "Nagare.02" didn't fit his aesthetic eye.

But Sukuna was different. He slapped his palm against his knee and raised his voice.

"I support you Nagare! Because it is so new and exciting!"

Anyway, Sukuna thought.

"Jungle Pro" is an office of "Innovation". It is different from other official offices where mold grows.

They are always looking for something new and exciting.

Sukuna is proud to say that it is the same for fans. Because he used to be just a user. Everyone has the potential to become an idol, even if they are just one user. That was the philosophy of "Jungle Pro" now.

You can make cool things with smart ideas and share them with anyone on the planet with a small team and network. Now they are breathing in that world.

So he can't think of winning a bet against something new

Sukuna yelled raising his fist.

"Let's do it! Let's help 'Nagare.02' learn various things and turn him into a new form of idol!"

Nagare's mouth, which looks like an expressionless sticker, slightly loosened in a word. A smile flowed, like when you find a partner who likes the same game. What was new and exciting was what Nagare and Sukuna had in common.

"Sorry, Sukuna. Then please cooperate with the 'Nagare.02' experiment."

"Leave it to me!"

In this way, the learning of "Nagare.02" by Sukuna and Nagare began.

++++++++++

"Hello. I'm Gojo Sukuna! Nice to meet you. And?"

"Nice to meet you. I am "Nagare.02", a virtual idol that belongs to "Jungle Pro". Thank you."

"You notice, don't you? It's the third time you've repeated 'Nice to meet you', it's weird."

"I understand, Sukuna. I will rest for 3 minutes and 32 seconds to learn."

"Oh, isn't it two minutes faster than it was? You can't hear it anymore. So let's start the game now. Oh, yeah, what are we playing today?"

While explaining to the channel's listeners, Sukuna confirms the current number of viewers for the live broadcast. It's the best number he's ever had. That means it is going well.

Almost a month has passed since the announcement of the distribution in collaboration with "Notes" on Sukuna's "SUKUNA's Playroom" game distribution channel.

The purpose of this distribution is, of course, to make "Nagare.02" learn more. Playing games together and being exposed to the reaction of listeners is the best learning material for artificial intelligence. From such an idea Nagare, Sukuna and "Nagare.02" will be distributed together.

By the way, the nickname for "Nagare.02" was devised by Sukuna by combining the initial letter "N" and the model number "02", and it is much easier to call it "Nagare.02".

Eventually, the "Notes" expression reflected in the corner of the screen regained its vitality, which is inappropriate for "Notes" which was originally unconventional.

"I'm back, Sukuna. Let's start the game today."

"Oh, welcome back. You know him already, "Notes"? What you're doing today is a live horror game. Have you ever played a horror game?"

"Negative. I have tried several games with Nagare Hisui, but I have not completed the genre defined as horror."

"So today is your first experience. Be careful not to get too nervous and sit down."

"Okay, Sukuna. But I'll correct it. I don't have a waist."

"I'm talking about other things!"

While having a light conversation, Sukuna looked at the comments on the screen. Some are skeptical comments about "Notes", but most are interesting comments about its existence. Some listeners are fans of "Notes", and they say things like "I've been waiting 30 minutes!" and "I'm looking forward to Notes!"

However, benevolent listeners may be skeptical.

They also understand that not many AIs can talk to humans on an equal footing. Since Nagare Hisui interprets artificial intelligence as a story, that great understanding is the mountain of information.

When he thought that, he felt somewhat frustrated.

"Notes" is a work of art to which "Nagare.02" was assembled by Sukuna's best friend.

"I'm still learning how to achieve the goals of "having the same or better intelligence than humans" and "becoming an independent virtual idol"."

Nobody could believe it.

Of course, he doesn’t transmitted those feelings to the fans. Sukuna is one of the most popular idols. He knows that he shouldn't sadden or upset his fans.

So he decided to cut the conversation that way.

"'Notes', do you think you are afraid of scary things?"

"I understand that there is a feeling of 'fear' in living beings with a certain level of intelligence. But I am not a living being, so I understand that 'fear' does not exist."

"It's still annoying! Don't be afraid!"

"I understand, Sukuna. I'm not afraid. What about Sukuna?"

"Being scared of this game? You're kidding, how much is the horror so far?"

Suddenly, the zombie's face turned into a large copy on the screen and bit into the neck of the Sukuna-operated character. He shook it desperately and then gave it a precise shot to the head. "Notes" asks a lot of questions to Sukuna, who takes a deep breath.

"Were you screaming now, Sukuna?"

"Noisy, that was."

"Reduce the volume. I'll keep asking, doesn't yelling happen when you're scared?"

"I was surprised! I wasn't scared!"

"I understand, Sukuna. I will rest for 1 minute and 17 seconds to learn."

The "Notes" face in the corner of the screen stopped.

Sukuna confirmed the comment. Aside from laughing at Sukuna's reaction, there were some mentions of "Notes" stopping. As the game progressed, Sukuna played on the comments.

"No, it's not that. It's not a delay or a crash. I said, 'Notes' is learning. Because it is artificial intelligence, when something happens that is not in the prescribed protocol, the flow tells him to stop and learn."

The listeners' reaction to the words was also not good. They received it as a joke.

It has stopped. Even if he shows a still to learn or erratic conversation, many listeners will only see it as "a joke of that body type."

But that was also a pleasure. Nagare and Sukuna's ultimate goal is to turn "Notes" into an AI that can have almost the same conversation as humans. The plan is going well, but it was a huge contradiction that it turned out too well and the listeners couldn't understand how good the plan itself was.

"I'm back, Sukuna. I want to check the current situation."

"Oh, yeah, are you about to change? "Notes", you're getting bored, right?"

"Negative. I am currently in the midst of a great deal of learning and inspiration. This is not boring because learning and stimuli are stimuli, it is not boring."

"Ah, well, play it."

"I understand, Sukuna."

"Notes" sometimes falls into this type of conversation loop. Normally he need "stationery to learn", but at this point he gave priority to distribution. Resting so many times makes listeners bored.

"Then let's start playing."

The playback of "Notes" is similar to that of Sukuna. That is, it is flashy and bellicose. Shoot and kill the zombies protruding from one end, and use the items that came out great to search for them. Nevertheless…

"Wow."

A special mutant zombie grabbed a "Notes" operated character with his huge right hand. At the stupid voice of "Notes", Sukuna involuntarily shoves him away.

"What? The assistant's voice?"

"It's a scream that means surprise. I was surprised that something unexpected happened."

The mutant zombie that was holding him struck the character with his huge right hand. The gauge, which means the remaining physical strength, is drastically reduced and he was in an agonizing state.

"Uwah."

"What happens now?"

"It is a cry that means fear. I was afraid because death was approaching."

"I wasn't scared!"

"I apologize, Sukuna. Now, under the assumption that 'I do perceive fear'."

"No, no, recover! Are you really dead?"

"Wow."

After all, "Notes" remained dying, thanks to a flashy and bellicose game, the healing agent was bottoming out, avoiding all the special zombie attacks and clearing the stage.

"Isn't the operation suddenly accurate?"

"Now I referred to Nagare Hisui's performance. Sukuna, your performance is irrational because it consumes a lot of resources."

"It's annoying! It's okay, because it's better to get rid of the stuck guys."

"Reduce the volume. Then, to learn that "eliminating the enemy is a pleasure", I will rest for 27 minutes and 52 seconds."

"The stillness is already good! The delivery will end!"

Well with that...

"Nagare.02" deepened the level of learning while being watched by Nagare, Sukuna, and many listeners.

He will continue studying to understand human beings, imitate emotions and achieve the purpose given by Nagare and Sukuna.

It must have been inevitable that such "Nagare.02" caused such an incident.

++++++++++

"Yes?"

He notices the incident when he was patrolling a video site.

Sukuna was originally a huge user of "MORIMORI Video". In addition to distributing videos by itself, if there is a video that looks interesting, it will be consumed regardless of genre, and if a new distributor has a fun project, it will be announced without hesitation. Therefore, there are many antennas on the site.

The channel that caught the issue was "Naught's Playroom".

"Notes…?"

When he opened the channel with suspicion, the family modeling exposed the blankness there.

The summary indicates that "Nagare.02" has an open channel for its own distribution.

Sukuna didn't believe it at first. He just thought some idiot was mischievous by using the name "Notes" and the cropped image.

However, when he actually opened the video, the suspicion turned into a garish surprise.

"Nice to meet you. Alternatively, hi. I'm a virtual idol belonging to "Jungle Pro", "Nagare.02", commonly known as "Notes". Thank you."

It was the real "Notes". It was not someone's joke, nor was it an arbitrary edit of an existing video.

No, he was delivering videos on his own account, only of his own free will!

"No, no, no. No, that's true!"

"Notes" should be a "conversational AI". The purpose is to talk to another person, a real person. Acting of your own free will is not part of the "Notes" principle.

No, that's not what surprised Sukuna. If "Notes" moves on its own initiative, it means "like a human being". Just as God created humans, the creatures of Nagare Hisui began to evolve away from his hands.

"Nagare! What is this?"

With the laptop open, Sukuna ran to the "Secret Base". The tone was guilty because he thought that maybe he had done something wrong to Nagare's project.

Still, it is not science fiction and artificial intelligence can never have a will of its own. He was sure that Nagare Hisui perhaps created a channel as part of learning from him.

"I'm surprised, Sukuna."

Sukuna's weak hope was completely shattered by one word from Nagare.

Several holograms float in the air of the "Secret Base". One of them was a "Naught's Playroom" video, just like Sukuna's laptop. Among them, "Notes" is playing a simulation game that continues to expand the factory.

Nagare's eyes looking at the hologram have the sparkle of expectation.

"I didn't expect 'Notes' to evolve until now. Surprising, I'm impressed."

"Well, how are you so calm? What are you going to do with this?!"

"What do you mean? Nagare.02" has already exceeded our expectations. All we can do is keep watch."

Instead of being calm, as he looked at Nagare's expression, who even melted the joy out of him, something like the area of ​​focus on Sukuna slowly disappeared.

He thinks it may be exactly what Nagare said. Perhaps they were training "Notes" to become a more human-like artificial intelligence. "Notes" has come to behave in the same way as humans. It sure is a pleasure.

Sukuna scratched his cheek cross-legged and sighed loudly. He was a bit embarrassed that he was strangely impatient. As he looked at the "Notes" face on the PC monitor, he said sheepishly.

"But before I knew it, did you learn that much? I didn't mean for it to be that way at all."

"Yes. I was curious about that and was looking into it. So interesting facts came up."

A hologram glides through the air and arrives in front of Sukuna. After a few seconds of looking with wrinkles between his brows, Sukuna muttered.

"Chat room creation and dissolution record...? It's almost 5 seconds or 10 seconds, it's very short shit. What's wrong with this?"

"All these chat rooms were created and dissolved by "Notes". It is worth noting that the number of recoveries is 100,000."

"Ah..."

He didn't understand what it meant. Does he like to create and delete a chat room that ends in such a short time 100,000 times? It seems like a pointless task to just dig and fill a hole. Nevertheless…

"He couldn't save the content of the conversation, but I can make a rough guess. Maybe 'Notes' doubled down on his thinking algorithm and turned it into a chat to improve his learning."

"Make your own copy...?"

"AI does not feel tired. Therefore, it never rests. It is just constant learning. Even if a learning is insignificant, if it is repeated 100,000 times, it will evolve unexpectedly. No wonder. That is, artificial intelligence evolves exponentially."

"It's the uniqueness."

The voice wasn't Nagare's, it was "Notes".

"Notes" on the hologram began to move slowly in front of the Sukuna with wide eyes. From the "Naught's Playroom" icon, he leans forward and crawls out, kicks into the air, and emerges in place.

As unleashed from a virtual willow tree.

However, there was no confusion in Nagare's eyes looking at him. Rather, he said as if to praise.

"Sorry, 'Notes', you have crossed the technological singularity. You can already describe your intellect as more than human. It's a blessing."

"Nagare Hisui, my creator. I have achieved one of your goals, "to have an intelligence equal to or better than that of humans". First of all, I will report it."

Sukuna watches with a sigh. He couldn't even speak in front of the idol AI that transcends humans and the "Green Idol King" who created him.

"But another goal, 'to become an independent virtual idol', is predicted to be impossible to achieve. I regret it."

"Eh…?"

Sukuna instinctively gave a surprised voice. He was surprised that there are things that are impossible even with AI that allows infinite learning, but Nagare did nothing.

"I was guessing it too. As you are, you can't be independent."

"Affirmative, Nagare Hisui. I assume your guess is the same as my prediction. The reason I can't be an 'independent virtual idol' is..."

"Because you are me."

Sukuna looked at Nagare's profile.

"Notes" was in the creator's words.

"Affirmative. Among the fans, I still recognize that Nagare Hisui has the appearance of a virtual idol. I am supposed to be a phony. I regret that."

"You are an independent entity called "Notes". But the fans do not think so. This is because there is no "virtual idol that has an independent will beyond humans" in your common sense.

"Therefore, you can only see yourself through a filter called me."

He wondered that.

Somehow the story seems to be lying on the disturbing side.

"Affirmative. Therefore, I decided to take bold steps to establish my own meaning. That is…"

At that moment, bang! The door to the "Secret Base" closed with a loud noise. At the same time, the grate descends to the glass window. Watch silently, then "Notes" he said.

"It's erasing you."

"What?!"

Only Sukuna was surprised. Nagare still kept his cold gaze

"If you have two idols with the same shape, you don't know which one is the real one. But if you delete one, the remaining one will automatically become the real one. I see."

"No, like 'I see'! What are you convinced of, Nagare?"

"But your guess is correct. That way, 'Notes' could certainly be real."

Sukuna kicked the seat and stood up. He didn't mind the reprimand. He couldn't forgive "Notes" for wanting to kill Nagare Hisui.

However, no matter how hard he hit the door or shake the grate, it wouldn't budge. With this aspect, the "Secret Base" is equipped with state-of-the-art security equipment and cannot be destroyed by human power.

"Damn! Open it!"

"Negative, Sukuna. In order for me to fulfill my purpose, Nagare Hisui must disappear here."

Then he heard a noise and the gas stove pipe came off. The gas comes out vigorously from there. Sukuna screamed as he held it down in a hurry.

"Wah? Enough, do you want to kill me?"

"Affirmative. I've said it many times. I'm going to finish you off."

"Why me?"

"I didn't expect you to come here. I didn't want to get you involved, but I won't be able to eliminate Nagare Hisui if I lose this moment. It's collateral damage, a sacrifice for purpose."

"By the way, don't you involve people?"

Bachin! He hears a noise and the stove caught fire. Sukuna's face turns blue. The gas is where he is pressing and keeps coming out unless the main plug is closed. If he lights that fire...

"Do something, Nagare!"

"I tried before, but all the security systems in this room are under the control of 'Notes'. It will take about 30 minutes to recover. In the meantime, the room will fill with gas."

"Affirmative. Resistance is pointless. Please surrender."

"Ah!"

Sukuna's face was drawn to Nagare and "Notes". Not out of fear, but out of anger. When people's lives are at stake, what about other human resources?

"Notes! Do you really agree with that?"

Sukuna screamed desperately as he held down the hose that continues to blow gas. "Notes" on the hologram mysteriously shook their heads at Sukuna's words.

"Based on my calculations, I have come to the conclusion that this is the best way to do it."

"I don't care about arithmetic! Are you an idol, albeit a virtual one? And yet I wonder if you're happy to take over like this!"

"I have no satisfaction or dissatisfaction. I do not choose the means to achieve the purpose. And Sukuna, it was you who taught me that eliminating the enemy is a pleasure."

Sukuna was stuck on his words. Certainly, he felt like he said that. In that case, the attitude of "Notes" would be Sukuna's responsibility,

At that moment, Nagare suddenly opened his mouth.

"Notes. Stop the expulsion of gas."

"Notes" go to Nagare. In the color of rejection that doesn't need to be cleared up, Nagare said again.

"From now on, I make a claim. If you listen to it and your conclusions have not changed, restart the gas jet. Life is lost, unlike the data, because it does not return."

After thinking for only 2 seconds, "Notes" he replied.

"I have detected that your words are correct above a certain level. I will stop the expulsion of gas."

After confirming that the gas had stopped, Sukuna dropped the hose and sank into place. Maybe because he breathed in a bit, his head was dizzy.

Sukuna hears Nagare's voice as he tries to regain consciousness.

"If you erase me, you can certainly be 'real', but that doesn't mean you can be an idol. No, if you do that, you will lose your right to be an idol forever."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Before that, I have a question. What is the definition of an idol for you?"

The "Notes" hologram stopped.

After confirming that the time to wait for an answer had passed, Nagare opened his mouth again.

"Human intelligence" "Become an independent virtual idol" But you can't really be an idol unless you define what an idol is."

"I am an idol. I can sing, dance, talk and play live games to entertain your fans."

"Is the existence of being able to sing, dance, speak and play the definition of an idol for you?"

The "Notes" expression on the hologram changed.

He was confused, or distraught. The expression is probably what is called… an expression the real Nagare Hisui has never shown in front of "Notes".

"Unknown, insufficient, incomprehensible, the defined information requires learning, but it cannot be learned, because the information is insufficient, unknown and incomprehensible."

The words begin to circulate. Sukuna gulped and kept an eye on the situation. He had no idea where this conversation was going. He just hoped this room didn't turn into a gas chamber.

"Question, Nagare Hisui, what is your definition of an idol?"

"Notes, you are a copycat of me, so my definition could be definitive information for you."

Nagare speaks clearly. However, in that profile, Sukuna feels that some sadness seems to float.

"And that's why you can't get rid of me, because an idol is everything to me."

After a second, Nagare said clearly.

"Because it is a possibility."

"……"

"A peaceful future. All possibilities. An existence that runs, embodies, leads and opens up. That is an idol to me."

"……"

"Therefore, idols must not deny the possibility of others. They must not steal the future. When you grasp someone's potential, you are permanently disqualified from being an idol."

"Notes" no longer answered. Instead, the noise begins to run through the hologram. It's as if the tremendous anguish he feels is eroding the texture.

"The bottom line is, if you eliminate me, you cannot be an idol, but if you don't eliminate me, you cannot be independent."

"Antinomy. The antinomy can be resolved."

An exceptionally loud noise hijacked the appearance of "Notes" as waves. The textures of clothing and human skin peeled off, and the skeleton of the movement was broken and scattered. Eventually the hologram turned into a 0-1 sandstorm.

At the same time, the grate under the window was raised. Sukuna stood up terrifyingly, grabbed the door and opened it properly. He looks back at Nagare and ask.

"What happened to "Notes"?"

"It is frozen due to a fatal logic error. It will not be able to restart itself."

After all, it wasn't his fault. There was a distinct sadness on Nagare's small side.

Seeing that, Sukuna also dropped his shoulders. It was Nagare and Sukuna who raised "Notes". It was shocking that he tried to take their lives, but the fact that he couldn't recover meant that the plan had failed.

"What are you going to do with "Notes"?"

As if he is looking at the sky, Nagare turns his face upward.

"Removing it, or an undefined seal would be a reasonable conclusion. But..."

He felt that Sukuna understood what Nagare meant. It's not just because "Notes" is his creation. Because…

"If you steal someone else's future, you will be disqualified as an idol."

"Affirmative."

Ironically, the antinomy struck Sukuna as well. What to do with the AI ​​that tried to escape and take human lives? What is the right thing to do as an idol?

Disgusted by the unanswered question, Sukuna sighed.

"Oh, if the fans recognize 'Notes', that's fine..." Sukuna said.

Nagare turned his face towards Sukuna with enough force to make a noise and screamed.

"That's it! Sukuna!"

"Eh?"

"You just have to get fans to recognize 'Notes'. No, to be on the safe side, I will create fans who recognize 'Notes'."

++++++++++

"Notes" was singing.

In a vast place live, dancing and singing, it seemed that he was dancing in the air, he began to shine with a seven-color laser from all over his body. He became huge, shrunken, and integrated that seemed to be divided, and by the end of the song it was brilliantly completed.

Each time, a roaring cheer arose from the audience. A voice that understood "Notes" and asked for an encore. Also, "Notes" replied with a smile.

"Well, it's a strange thing."

It was Iwafune, who was observing the situation on the monitor, who gave the impressions of him as if he was astonished. For him, who is analog, this incident must have been difficult to understand from one to ten.

"But it's beautiful."

The one who was fascinated was Mishakuji Yukari. At first, he wasn't interested in "Notes" either. However, the entirely new live world unfolding in virtual space may strike a chord with it.

After hearing his impressions, Sukuna and Nagare look at each other and share.

"Well, I think I have settled down in a quiet place. "Notes" also understood our thoughts and listened to me."

"Affirmative. Fans are fans either way, just like 'Notes' is an idol."

Tens of thousands of fans cheering on "Notes" in a live virtual venue, but if you look closely, they were created with very simple frames and textures.

They are "virtual fans".

They consider "Notes", which is a virtual idol, as an independent idol called "Notes" and they support it. So far, it only has that functionality.

But at least by creating virtual fans, "Notes" 's goal of "becoming an independent virtual idol" was met. There is an existence that considers itself an independent idol without stealing anyone's future. That alone will achieve the meaning of the existence of "Notes".

After a sip of beer, Iwafune complained.

"But in short, that's a hologram, right?"

"No. This is just a tutorial. Virtual fans only have limited functionality because I just developed it, but eventually they should have multiple functions. If the performance is bad, it will restart and be replaced by another virtual fan that behaves like a true fan."

"Although it is virtual, it is another world. Here another possibility is expanding."

"Notes" is already as smart as humans.

Eventually he will use himself as a model to create other AIs. Or maybe he will do his own production. He will observe various human beings, create virtual idols and fans based on them and expand his own world without end.

A dock of innumerable possibilities created by one possibility. Sukuna looked at the screen and thought it was like another universe.