#penumbra ask

[maedre13]

Podcasts I’ve listened to, in the order I’ve listened to them…

[lunar-disillusionment]

*Astraia soon felt a portal open underneath her and she dropped in, crying out as she landed into a new world*

The world before her looks like the entryway of the PizzaPlex. Except it looked very different. The coloring was black, purple, and green, the entrance appeared more like one to a giant concert than one of a mall, techno music and rock could heard faintly through the echoing place.

[bloodydrew]

I was doing FINE then I started to listen to podcasts and now I’m GAY

[rhymesswith]

[croh3]

i’m sorry but this is the funniest thing i’ve ever drawn so i need to share it

[sabworks]

The downside of living with your space pirate family.

Also Juno can’t handle corsets.

[pen-and-umbra]

ok but let’s get into the DIRT and break this down like sephiroth dissecting a mako pod. if sephiroth had the sheer will to resist jenova’s “reunion” possession during the robio incident in first soldier ep2,then his little nibelheim meltdown wasn’t some tragic puppet show. bro had agency. he chose to burn it all down after reading some scribbled notes in the mansion library..

“jenova made me” is pure gaslighting—if he could shut her out once, he could’ve done it again. but nah, he vibed with the villain arc

Hard disagree. It is completely inappropriate to compare these two scenarios.

During the Robio mission, Sephiroth has not yet dealt with the years of festering trauma and combat experiences that will contribute to his emotional burden later on. While scarred, he has not endured **years** of being celebrated as a phony hero while powerless to deter ShinRA's shenanigans. His companionships have not yet bloomed and grown, only to deteriorate into vanishing acts and bitterness. As a teenager, he is still in the early stages of that path and has not reached a breaking point.

Moreover, it is crucial to acknowledge the significance of starvation, sleep deprivation, and isolation, as these factors directly impacted Sephiroth's mental and emotional state during THAT mission. Unlike the isolation he experiences in Nibelheim, Sephiroth is surrounded by people in Robio. Angeal, regardless of personal feelings, is a by-the-book leader who prioritizes formal assignments, chain of command and team duty. Meaning that he wouldn't back off just because Sephiroth asked him to. This is fairly different from the circumstances Sephiroth had while staying at Mako reactor and the mansion basement.

Zack and Sephiroth were friendly enough, but their dynamic was more like that of a mentor and a student, with Zack playing an assistant role. Zack still regards Sephiroth as a larger-than-life superman, as I briefly mentioned here. He never considered that Sephiroth might struggle to handle a situation. This is exemplified in the Nibelheim episode, where Sephiroth is isolated in the basement, plagued by intrusive (and quite possibly Jenova-induced) thoughts and accumulated anguish, while Zack remains unaware and enjoys peaceful time at the inn. Zack refrains from checking on him because he cannot fathom Sephiroth's potential inability to process a certain situation/information. Zack's perception of Sephiroth's strength and resilience is so strong that he fails to recognize signs of vulnerability, resulting in missed opportunities for intervention. The disconnect between his admiration and Sephiroth's internal struggles eventually contributes to the unfortunate events that occur later.

Given teen!Sephiroth's resilience and lack of extreme stressors in Robio, it's understandable that he can YET resist Jenova's (?? or whatever power is behind all that woo) attempts at manipulation. In contrast to Nibelheim events, he also does not experience physical and psychological effects of sleep deprivation, hunger, dehydration, or the need to confront personal struggles while avoiding burdening his squadmates. (By contrast, look at him shutting himself down when the topic of family & hometown pops up upon arrival at Nibelheim.)

Bottom line. Sephiroth embodies the dangers of perceived strength. When life presents challenges, you deal with it because you have no choice. However, once you've dealt with it, people expect you to keep doing so. When someone is seen as strong, others typically do not inquire casually about their well-being. Sephiroth's mental fortitude and practiced self-restraint were a mixed blessing; they shielded him from external manipulation (only for so long, of course), but they also isolated him from the support he needed. In other words, his practiced stoicism becomes a liability; no one intervenes because no one **believes** he needs help.

Who knows, if Zack had trusted his instincts about Sephiroth's strange behavior and stayed in the mansion for that fateful week, the outcome might have been different. Essentially Zack’s admiration blinds him to Sephiroth’s vulnerability. He interprets Sephiroth’s isolation as “handling things,” failing to recognize the signs of collapse. This isn’t fault-finding, but a critique of how we fail those who “seem strong.”

In the end, Sephiroth’s seeming resistance in Robio doesn’t negate his collapse in Nibelheim, but highlights how trauma, isolation, and emotional neglect created the perfect conditions for his fall, whether Jenova-driven or not.

[sunshine-girl-shines]

Does the penumbra podcast have a tag like “masked” for malevolent or “do not archive” for TMA?

[nureyevs-worst-alias]

Had a weird dream last night that I was for some reason married to Juno Steel (?) and the entire time I was just running away from him and I think in every universe he's just doomed to have everyone that loves him just vanish even if it is my fucked up dream universe so that's fun

[your-fav-is-a-snake]

Juno Steel and Peter Nureyev? From the penumbra podcast

Juno steel from Penumbra is an Eastern Ribbon Snake!

Peter Nureyev from Penumbra is a Northern Scarlet Snake!

[whumpflash]

tansy is TWENTY???? they should be at the club… 😔

- 🎣

they should 😭😭

They really are just a baby lol, they were still a teenager when they started fighting with the rebels

Under a more peaceful reign they'd probably be going to festivals with friends. I could easily see them being ye olde music hipster, learning to play Mandolin and performing at town events

but alas

[faultyvessel]

My family deals with a lot thank to my pod fixation ™

I think my favourite thing to come from it by far is my sister asking “are all these shows legally required to be obsessed with eyes to make up for the fact that you can’t see anything?” And fellas I think she’s on to something

[hyperfixssession]

Juno is so strong if I was in his shoes I would not be able to handle it. Helping the love of your life ‘save’ the love of THEIR life, (and how the hell are we even going to do that) all of which might get you killed or hurt you so bad emotionally you wanna just curl up behind a bar and die???

[morggo]

i bought your “biology was never binary” shirt and i get compliments on it just about every time i wear it, it’s one of my favorites articles of clothing <3

aaaaaaaaa hell yes 🥹thank you so much 🖤🖤🖤 this has really made my day, haha

[slipjacksonlover]

Oh god he died?!?

yeah…. dead. as a doornail. i hate to say it but at this point it was a mercy. rest in peace transgender walter white may your afterlife be full of drug making and sexy men named peter

[ask-thearchivists]

So, coor. What was your parent like?

Uncle Coor: Ah. Yes, my parent. They are quite old, and have been a caretaker for a very long time. I believe they are nearly a Ring old. Mmm...I will have to contact them soon to congratulate them. Why the sudden curiosity? Have you not asked my niece and nephew about what it was like living in the Illusory Galaxy when they were young?

The Coordinator: Oh I would love to talk about it! I have not spoken to grandren for so long, so I will need to contact them soon as well. They were always willing to watch him and I, but our parent was typically able to keep an eye on us so we did not have much time spent with them without xem there. Though they would always mispronounce both of our names, which made renny much more angry than I thought was necessary.

The Charmer: Hmm...you know, I don't recall much of that but I think I could guess why them saying our names wrong made xem upset.

The Coordinator: Oh? Why do you think that, sister?

Uncle Coor: I will enlighten you. Do you remember how to pronounce my and xyr names?

The Coordinator: Yes, of course I- oh.