#puppetmaster scar and all that

[laatmaar]

Even more fallen hero sketches (+ bonus seivarden from the imperial radch series)

[sidesteppostinghours]

having a normal time this fine morning <- is making up an au for an au

[glitteringcrab]

Mental restraints of the puppeteered

[or: Frying his backups (part 2)]

Okay so this theory has been sitting in my head for a long while and I had the feeling it might be accurate but I could not find a way to tie it up with the rest of the plot my headcanons...

Until now, when something changed (namely, the possibility that Rick Prime has been puppeteering other Ricks).

So.

1. Let's observe this scene:

I think we can all agree that Evil Rick was having lunch alone (there are a lot of bittersweet fanarts where Eyepatch Morty seeks comfort from post-surgery Evil Rick in some way or another, but if this one scene is typical of their post-surgery interactions, it appears this hypothetical comfort-seeking was not a thing. They did not even eat together). He broke the plate, either accidentally or on purpose. He picked one of the shards up. The rest is history.

So what I'm seeing is that he was not puppeteered 24/24.

In the incredible, gut-wrenching fanfiction "Ghost in the machine" which you should all totally read (in fact, drop this rambling post and go read it now!! Go go go go!!!!! Like, shooo!!! Come back after you've read it, if you still feel like it. Because there will be SPOILERS in the following 2 paragraphs!!!!) Evil Rick was constantly following orders, 24/24. Even when Eyepatch Morty did not puppeteer him directly, he still had orders to follow, like "bring me this object" or "stand there and wait", and the wiggle room for Evil Rick to resist was minimal. Said resisting mostly took the form of twitching (ergo momentarily disrupting whatever he was ordered to do) at crucial moments, maybe kinda like a computer lagging at the worst possible time. Like I said, absolutely incredible fic, go read iiiiiiiiiiit!!!

But now that Unmorticken has aired and we saw more of their interactions, if we think about the above scene, I think we can reach the conclusion that that's not how it worked. Evil Rick may have received an order to eat, as well as orders to keep the place neat and tidy (and therefore he began picking up the shards) but actually jamming the shard at his eye is not a matter of twitching nor just barely managing to change the trajectory of a movement at the last possible second. It's a fully deliberate action, from start to finish. He had the agency to do it.

So I think we can reach the conclusion that Evil Rick was technically free to... be himself when not puppeteered.

With some restrictions in place, of course:

I am just spitballing here, but I'm thinking of what kind of other actions Eyepatch Morty may have forbidden Evil Rick to do, such as:

Cannot damage any equipment (duh, otherwise he'd be throwing a massive tantrum, destroying everything Evil Morty is working on)

Cannot attack Eyepatch Morty (duh, otherwise the kid would never get a moment's rest lol)

Cannot escape

Cannot call for help

...and probably a bunch more, such as "cannot speak" because of Evil Rick's lack of words when Evil Morty came to him during his failed suicide attempt... Plus the fact that he has a scar on his mouth, which a couple of amazing fanart and fanfiction made me wonder if Evil Rick said something during his surgery that Evil Morty very much could not stand hearing so he shut him up with a scalpel or whatever he was holding... before shutting him up for good.

What a nightmare, huh?

And that's when he was allowed to be himself. The rest of the time he'd be forced to watch himself kill Ricks, and kidnap and torture a thousand versions of his grandson.

2. Now, if the theory that Evil Morty was once himself puppetered it true...

...wouldn't he also have a similar list of prohibitions restraining his actions? Such as:

Cannot harm Puppetmaster Rick

Cannot escape

Cannot operate a portal gun (we've never seen Evil Morty operate a portal gun made by a Rick, he made his own. Is that a coincidence? Of course, both are "portal guns" so maybe that's a stretch, unless he calls his own portal weapon something else, like the dinosaurs called their own "portal pistol" lol. Or maybe using a portal gun to escape counts as "escaping" and therefore a separate order is not needed)

Cannot reveal to anyone what Puppetmaster Rick has been doing to him (maybe. Is that one even necessary? Would anyone even help him if he did reveal it?)

3. Like I said, I'm just spitballing here, but I think the above stand to reason. I mean they just seem like reasonable precautions. If this assessment is accurate, we can reach the following conclusions:

a) If Evil Rick's puppeteering experience was a nightmare, Evil Morty's was a living hell considering what Puppetmaster Rick was doing to him, especially if he was not allowed to leave the house and ask for help.

b) The fact that Evil Morty managed to free himself while operating under such massive handicups is another testament to his incredible intelligence and resilience.

c) It may be another reason he showed no empathy to other Mortys in his attempt to escape. They've had it easy, they had their chances to leave the Citadel or kill their Ricks, they had a million other ways and opportunities to escape and either never bothered or blew them. Now it's his turn.

4. Okay, now... what do you think happens to all these mental restraints once Evil Morty severed his connection to Puppetmaster Rick by tearing his receiver off???

One scenario is that they all became void. They were cancelled. Evil Morty was free to be himself, however he wanted. This could very much be true, and in that case my rambling ends here, I have nothing more to say.

Another scenario is all the old restrictions were still in place and effective, and he would just receive no new orders nor be directly puppeteered anymore. (I suppose this would make it into a good metaphor about abused people being conditioned to act in certain ways and it being very hard to rebel against them. E.g. imagine Evil Morty being unable to confess to other people about what happened to him because he'd expect pain and failure and no support, similar to actual abuse victims learning to expect accusations and failure and no support) Assuming the second scenario is true, then let's head off to the next points:

5. Depending on the exact extent of Evil Morty's mental restraints, it may be that using Evil Rick as a puppet was not only a clever way to get the upper hand, but that he had literally no other choice. E.g. imagine if he actually was physically incapable of operating a portal gun. He would literally need to hold it via Evil Rick's puppeteered hand. The whole thing would be Eyepatch Morty taking all his mental restraints and turning each and every one of them to his advantage in a convoluted, ingenious way.

6. Judging by Evil Rick's halted suicide attempt, it seems that while he knew that removing the receiver would kill him (I mean... you don't normally die by poking your eye out, so it has to be tearing your receiver off that will kill you, and he knew that) the puppeteered have no knowledge of the restrictions placed on them until they stumble upon them. (That, or Evil Rick knew he was not allowed to commit suicide but was desperate enough to try nonetheless.)

Therefore it's theoretically possible there are still some restrictions employed that Evil Morty is unaware of, which are waiting to spring up on him if the right (wrong) conditions are met.

Personally I think that's unlikely because I'm sure he has studied his own implant extensively since he became president and had access to adequate equipment, but:

7. Even if he studied it, this doesn't mean he was able to alter it nor undo it. From what we've seen it appears that unauthorized removal of part of the puppeteering implant equates with a death sentence. And while Puppetmaster Rick thought it unlikely his scrawny, stupid Morty would ever be able to put together a plan to break free or have the guts to mutilate himself, if the puppeteering equipment was originally, I dunno, a prototype designed by Rick Prime and was intended to be used against Ricks, then it's entirely possible that it is designed to kill the victim both for trying to remove the implant itself and for altering the accompanying code. It's the absolute prison, and despite whatever fast-acting healing equipment Evil Morty successfully used to remove his receiver in the past, it might be that it barely worked and he might not be too keen on trying his luck again.

8. So let's continue this thought experiment and assume that, if not all, at least the core mental restraints of the mind control implant are still very much effective inside Evil Morty's brain.

...Including the "cannot harm Puppetmaster Rick" one.

Now, I don't want to reduce the very important plot point of Evil Morty's mental restraints into semantics of "attack vs hurt vs harm vs kill", but... I'm going to go ahead and assume there are limits, definitions, to these mental restraints, otherwise Evil Morty would never been able to even look at Puppetmaster Rick wrong if there was the tiniest chance of it eventually leading to Puppetmaster Rick getting harmed. So I'm going to assume that the restraint is about something blatant.

Like... shooting Puppetmaster Rick, running him over with a car, poisoning his food, strangling him are all no-go, but aggressively poking him with your finger or not warning him about his impending doom might be okay.

My guess is that restraining Puppetmaster Rick is also okay, because as long as that the "no harm" order is still in action, Puppetmaster Rick would just immediately puppeteer Evil Morty into stopping or freeing him. The puppeteered cannot really get very far with this, especially when they're a child with no equipment of their own... Or that is what Puppetmaster Rick would think.

9. Anyway, before season 7 we don't see Evil Morty directly kill (or try to kill) another Rick. (It's not his fault the Ricks walked into various deathtraps, occasionally when he even specifically told them not to lol) This observation tipped me off to the possibility that some restrictions might still be in place... Of course, I cannot think on why there'd be a restriction against Evil Morty killing random Ricks, so it might simply be that in his attempts to bypass the restrictions against Puppetmaster Rick Evil Morty has learnt to think outside the box and later fully employed this skill to minimize the risk to himself.

And in season 7, he has no difficulty in killing Nice Rick, nor to shoot and attack Rick Prime during the Prime Fight.

10. BUT THEN WHAT'S THIS ABOUT:

I couldn't stop thinking about this phrase!!! It just doesn't make any sense!! WHY DID RICK PRIME ACT LIKE EYEPATCH MORTY WAS INCAPABLE OF KILLING HIM?!

So I kept thinking on what sort of mental restraints might still be active inside Evil Morty's brain.

Like, what? Is it something like him "not being allowed to kill a Rick who isn't currently posing a threat", so he could shoot Rick Prime in the beginning but not now that he's restrained? (But he shot Nice Rick again with no problem inside the box, when he was down and weaponless and dying...) This didn't really make any sense, like... why??? So I dropped this theory and forgot about it...

... until the theory that Rick Prime has been mind controlling other Ricks came up. By more than one fan!!!! (and we followed different lines of thought to reach it!!!)

SO LET'S PUT EVERYTHING TOGETHER:

(1) Evil Morty absolutely does still have some mental restraints in his brain and has been carefully operating around them this whole time, trying not to trigger them.

(2) One of those mental restraints effectively prevents him from killing Puppetmaster Rick. This would provide an additional explanation about why Eyepatch Morty didn't kill Puppetmaster Rick the moment he realized said Rick was freed by Rick C-137 resetting all portal travelers. Like, I can think of other explanations:

Puppetmaster Rick being terrified of the Citadel and having no idea that it no longer exists and worrying that they'll come get him to throw him in the Machine of Unspeakable Doom again, therefore laying as low as possible, either hiding himself so effectively that even Evil Morty can't find him, or protecting his home base to withstand an attack from the Citadel itself, making it extremely difficult for Evil Morty to defeat him.

Evil Morty being either extremely scared or extremely repulsed by him, simply never wanting to deal with him ever again, and thinking it highly unlikely Puppetmaster Rick would ever be able to successfully track him down as long as Morty took certain precautions...

...But it's also very likely that Evil Morty is physically unable to do it. Like, I doubt Evil Morty is morally above neutrino-bombing an entire planet just to get this one Rick, but maybe he can't do it. Maybe he is not allowed to fire such a weapon.

(3) In fact, the only things Evil Morty can do is hide himself in the fringe between worlds, employ a number of sophisticated shields, and surgically add the mind-cotrol-implant-overriding fingerguns on himself. An attack with these might at worst cause pain for Puppetmaster Rick, but as we've seen the fingerguns don't actually physically harm nor kill their target, they just... override the target's nervous system. So he can use those against Puppetmaster Rick.

(4) Fast forward to the Prime Fight, where Evil Morty uses a gun to try to kill Rick Prime--and why not? Of course he can do it. He also attacks Rick Prime with his bare hands and hijacks one of Prime's Dianebots to pummel him into a pancake. All good.

(5) Eventually, Eyepatch Morty's temporary allies go down, all the weapons and physical attacks he has tried got him no results, there are no more Dianebots for him to hijack and he's about to get shot:

Desperate, he tries one last thing: the finger-gun, which would only work if Rick Prime also has a mind-control-implant in his forehead.

(6) Bingo!!! It works.

(7) ...But this means that Rick Prime is also defined by a "Puppetmaster Rick status". Whatever mental restraint Evil Morty struggled to operate around is updated to extend to Rick Prime.

While the remains of the mind-control implant inside Evil Morty's head did not receive any new orders (as he no longer has a receiver), the old orders are still in place, and the updated knowledge concerning Rick Prime's status as a "Rick who puppeteers others" (or "admin" if you like) firmly slots him inside the "cannot harm" box.

(8) Whatever. Evil Morty is annoyed, but he knows how to work around this. He's unconcerned.

We have no confirmation of this, but it's likely Puppetmaster Rick had a special room and special equipment and used it update or oversee Evil Morty's implant (I mean... we've come up with similar imagery for Evil Morty and Evil Rick). Evil Morty therefore knows Rick Prime should also have something similar, and knows just what to do. He immediately drags him to the control room, where indeed the relevant equipment is waiting for him.

What I find funny is that Evil Morty probably didn't stick himself inside the wall panels to get all those cables out, but puppeteered Rick Prime to do it in his stead.

And this explains why part of the room was wrecked: Evil Morty was unfamiliar with Prime's strength and implants, and as we've seen, when controlling an unfamiliar body with implants, accidents might happen:

Evil Morty then puppeteered Rick Prime into sitting on his chair (aaaaand I assume deactivated his time-healing ability) before holding him still.

(9) Rick Prime woke up, saw/felt the fingergun and cables on his forehead, noticed he was unable to move, saw Evil Morty, remembered Evil Morty shooting him with something... and probably also immediately began employing his own implants and defense systems to get feedback on Evil Morty's fingergun and on how it could be overridden.

Doesn't this line make a lot more sense now???

He really is getting the picture. And in fact he may be getting a much bigger picture than Evil Morty might like; he may be stealthily scanning Evil Morty's brain through some other implant of his; see it full of cables, recognize the similarities to his own handiwork. He might understand that Evil Morty has puppeteered others, might understand that Evil Morty was once puppeteered himself. He might get a feedback on Evil Morty's list of mental restraints.

And he immediately begins stealthily mounting attacks against the fingerguns, which retaliate each and every time, turning red and hurting him. He keeps trying nonetheless, while simultaneously trying to distract Evil Morty by sweet talking to him (which is nothing but a testament about how clever he is and his ability to multitask) but his fate is sealed; maybe he'd be able to override the fingerguns given enough time... But he doesn't have enough time, and Evil Morty has prepared himself for this exact moment moment. His fingerguns are not easy to be overridden.

(10) So Evil Morty successfully fries each and every one of Prime's puppeteered victims (which do not have "Puppetmaster Rick status") and Prime says this:

DOESN'T THIS LINE MAKE A LOT MORE SENSE NOW?

He got feedback on Evil Morty's brain control implant. He knows that from the moment the fingerguns worked Eyepatch Morty could literally not harm him anymore.

(11) Not that this matters, because Eyepatch Morty knows just what to do...

...bring someone who can finish the job:

DOESN'T THE ABOVE LINE ALSO MAKE SENSE NOW?

Evil Morty is not the one harming him!!! I mean if you wanna look at semantics he didn't even tell Rick C-137 to kill him, he said a joke, a pun.

And he has the added bonus of coming out of this looking like a team player (I mean... as much as he ever could) and gaining an enslaved, morally obligated Rick to himself lol (turning his mental restraints to his advantage)

(12) AND TALK ABOUT POETIC JUSTICE. RICK PRIME IS BEING PUPPETEERED TO SIT STILL IN HIS OWN CHAIR AND GET PUMMELED TO DEATH when he's the one who had been tricking and enslaving countless Ricks to be puppeteered by him forever.

He's literally forced to sit still there and live through it, unable to even lift a finger to protect himself. Poetic. Justice.

(13) Evil Morty had been very careful up to now to hide the fact that he has puppeteered others, but there is no way Rick C-137 didn't understand that Evil Morty is familiar with the puppeteering technology after this encounter (I mean... Rick C-137 knew not to remove the fingerguns, he knew to remove the cables, he knew what this whole thing was).

Which on one hand, doesn't mean he gets to reach any plot-relevant conclusions (at least, not yet) because he knows Evil Morty scans Ricks' brains and steals their technology. On the other hand... we don't know how much more he needs to put 2 and 2 together and reach the same conclusions that Rick Prime did.

(14) And now for my last point.

If all the above is true...

...and depending on the semantics of the mental restraints...

...I would not be surprised if it turns out that Evil Morty using the Omega Device against Ricks is nothing but a GIGANTIC BLUFF.

Like this is literally the worst he can do: improve its design, build it, threaten to use it. (Depending on whether he intends to do a demonstration on e.g. Churry he may not even ever bother to build it.)

Because he literally cannot fire such a weapon against Ricks as long as Puppetmaster Rick is alive. (edit: I'm gonna correct myself and change this to: he cannot use such a weapon against Ricks directly but he still can trick or force someone else to fire it in his stead)

Of course, he would still be able to fire it against Ricks' family, which is probably more effective as a deterrent considering Ricks' suicidal tendencies, but you get the idea.

(...On a different matter, Rick Prime wins plenty of extra cruelty points for vengefully trying to turn Rick C-137 against Evil Morty by warning him about a weapon he knows the kid literally cannot use (edit: cannot use in a moment's notice, in case a furious Rick C-137 pops up in his doorstep))

Again, this may not be true. We don't know if firing such a weapon by throwing another Rick in the Omega Device (and therefore killing eeeevery Rick) counts as Eyepatch Morty directly killing Puppetmaster Rick or not, but I fail to see how it's different from dropping a neutrino bomb on Puppetmaster Rick's head.

(15) Or maybe I'm wrong and I'm only trying to connect dots that don't exist. I honestly cannot think of another explanation for Rick Prime's lines to Evil Morty in Unmortiricken but this doesn't mean there isn't one.

And I do think Evil Morty being deathly scared of Puppetmaster Rick is adequate explanation for not wanting to even try to kill him, and plot-wise and character-wise I think it's a lot more interesting than semantics.

But then again, it's possible for both of these things to be true... Because even with Rick C-137 suddenly becoming his slave, Evil Morty very much did not jump at the opportunity to kill Puppetmaster Rick. He chose to remain hidden. He doesn't want to deal with him.

[allens-chocolate-dreams]

An introduction to all my Sidesteps!

Details under the cut.

Ollie Gardener

- Technically Oliver Gardener, but nobody calls them that.

- Nonbinary transmasc, they/them pronouns, pansexual, Latine.

- Puppet is a short Latina lady called Yasmin, and villain name is Nerium, coming from the scientific name of their favorite toxic flowers: oleanders. Armor appearance varies by playthrough, but is usually flower-themed.

- Blue leaning stats for the most part, tech savvy tactician, Puppetmaster scar with Justice motivation, sui tag true, either Anarchist or "prepare them" Hero Hunter depending on playthrough. Base is the tech shop.

- Is very manipulative, uses their cute appearance and tastes for soft colors and clothing to their advantage, very calculating despite being empathetic. Obsessed with plants, especially flowers, and has a fascination for fungi, specifically mushrooms as well. They're an artist, and frequently paints nature in their free time when they're not being dragged down by their faulty mental health.

- Has a vice on sweets.

- Romance path varies, but has had feelings for Julia, Daniel, and Argent.

- Has scoliosis and chronic lower back pain, uses a cane when leaving the house.

Chris Bunny

- Trans woman, she/her pronouns, bisexual, half-Japanese + half White Brazilian.

- Puppet is a tall mixed woman named Alice, and her villain identity is Puppetmaster.

- Orange leaning stats for Daring and Arrogance, and high Infamy, but her wavering empathy keeps her from being a full Orangestep. Streetsmart tactician, varies between Friendless and Puppetmaster scar, and between Anger or Revenge motivation, depending on playthrough. Mob Boss who's friendly with her crew and showed them her face and base. Base is in the luxury property. Armor is Imposing.

- She's reckless, loves to banter and fight even being a tactician, and despite being very driven and able to be quite ruthless, she's got a strong grip on her morals and lines she won't cross for the most part. However, she is still of the opinion that the ends justify the means. Passionate and stubborn, struggles with caring too much about others when she's supposed to be detached in order to be safe and achieve her goals. Can be very caring when she allows herself to be. Has a lot of hobbies, but the main ones include reading children's books, fashion, singing and playing guitar.

- Main vice is sweets, but drinks alcohol when she hits rock bottom as well.

- Main romance path is Ortega, but has also been with Daniel or Argent in some playthroughs.

- Has mild scoliosis and chronic pain in her hands, especially her right wrist due to repeated injury. Sensitive skin can get easily irritated from various materials.

Nathane Mariom

- Femme-leaning Bigender, she/they pronouns, asexual lesbian, White.

- Puppet is a tall White man named Nate, villain identity is Decayed.

- Blue leaning stats for the most part, but ruthless levels are unstable. Tech savvy tactician, Friendless scar with Revenge motivation, sui tag true, Anarchist who wants to break the system. Base is in the tunnels. Armor varies between Mysterious and Terrifying.

- She's apathetic, shy but blunt, struggles with recognizing her own emotions, has severe depression and does not take care of herself at all. Doesn't know how to connect to people, and though they're not openly malicious, struggles to set limits for themselves in their villainy, which often hurts a lot more people than they acknowledge. Fucked up tendencies they're not completely aware of. Main hobby is doodling and learning about ocean creatures, especially whales, sharks and jellyfish.

- Has a vice on coffee and extremely caffeinated energy drinks.

- Main romance path is the poly with Argent and Julia, though they have also been involved with Mortum as the puppet in some paths.

- Has widespread chronic pain and fatigue, likely due to fibromyalgia worsened by trauma and nerve damage. Used to just suffer without support, but as of Retribution and Revelations, has gotten a manual wheelchair with power assist and an upright rollator to help with the pain in their daily life. Sometimes uses a single crutch around the house.

Matheus Carvalho

- Trans man, he/him pronouns, gay, Black with a Brazilian heritage.

- Puppet is a short Black man named João, villain identity is Fallen.

- Bluestep, very empathetic, though there's some minor arrogance there depending on playthrough. Tech savvy tactician, Outsider scar with Fate motivation, sui tag true, varies between Hero Hunter and Anarchist. Base is in the tech shop. Villain armor varies between Mysterious and Functional.

- He's empathetic, prefers to be gentle when he can, is quiet and very shy, struggles with getting close to people or believing he's able to make connections. His beliefs in Fate are very strong, and he believes he's doomed to fall and fail no matter what, which both comforts and terrifies him. Has an all-or-nothing approach to things, struggles with nuance and rigid thinking. Despite everything, he tries his best to be kind and tell the truth when he's able to. At the same time, struggles with transitions between lies and truth, and as such often gets caught up in trouble when he holds on to a single instance for too long. Hobbies include baking, fashion, reading poetry and practicing capoeira.

- Has a vice on both sweets and coffee.

- Main romance path is the poly with Ricardo and Chen.

- Has significant scoliosis, chronic pain in both his lower back and right leg, uses a cane for balance as well as to take the weight off his painful joints. Has sensory processing disorder and episodic migraines, which his tinted glasses help with.

Zenith Orionis

- Nonbinary, zie/hir, aroace-spec panromantic, very mixed.

- Puppet is a short mixed woman named Carina, villain identity is Hunger.

- Maxed out Daring and Arrogance stats with extremely high Empathy to balance it out. Tech savvy tactician, Hunger scar with Better Life motivation, sui tag true, art Thief who's very good at hir job. Villain base varies, armor is Terrifying.

- Zie's chaotic, mischievous, thrill seeking, self-destructive and hyperactive to cover up the fact that hir senses are dulled and hir senses of personhood and connection to the world are messed up. Zie's usually kinda sweet, if snarky, and doesn't mean to cause unnecessary harm, but will often do so due to hir reckless behavior. Has a distorted mentality when it comes to the logics of villainy and manipulation, genuinely believes that zie's doing good by hurting the heroes and giving them a "challenge", for example. Constantly looking for intense sensory feelings, which makes it drawn to eyestrain, Scene and Weirdcore stuff, fidget toys, snacks with strong flavors, and abstract art. Has a special interest in space and galaxy stuff, which is where hir name comes from, and hir main hobbies include art and singing.

- Has an extreme sweet vice, but will often indulge in caffeine and alcohol as well.

- Romance path is with Danny.

- Has chronic pain and nerve damage in hir right shoulder, lower back, left hip, both knees and right ankle. Uses very colorful crutches to get by in civilian life, and relies on hir armor's pain management systems for villain work.

And these are all my Sidesteps! I hope you like them ^_^

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

I don’t understand Zut’s obsession with bloodbending. This technique, as we can see, is used for taking control over other body for the purposes of fighting the enemy, torture, abuse. We see Katara’s horror at having to learn and use it in the Puppetmaster and her disgust of the idea that someone should invade the body and control other being against their will. We see her using it in Southern Raiders and realizing that she went too far from the line she drew for herself – and it works to show her pain there. But to take it and say she should have used it more, for healing and power? I don’t get it.

Their logic is "This looks cool, therefore it is empowering, and she only ever used willingly one time, when Zuko was around, so OBVIOUSLY that means Zuko empowers her."

Nevermind that, like you pointed out, Katara did NOT feel empowered during these moments: on the first one she felt coerced, abused, terrified, and manipulated, and on the second she felt like she had betrayed her core vallues in a moment of blinding rage.

And it's just crazy to me to notice how zutarians are constantly trying to force parallels between Zuko and Katara - yet they are ignoring the one that is right in front of their faces.

Zuko was disfigured by his own father, who justified his abusive behavior as being for his son's own good and "teaching him a lesson. Hama masks her intentions of forcing Katara to learn bloodbending by claiming she just wants to bond with her as her teacher.

On the day of the eclipse, to keep Zuko around until he's able to try and kill him, Ozai manipulates his son by using his love for Ursa against him, offering to tell him what actually happened to her. To force Katara to bloodbend, Hama uses her love for Sokka and Aang against her, controlling them so they'll kill each other unless Katara steps in.

When Zuko has his Agni Kai with Zhao, he almost gives him a scar as well, but decides to spare him at the last moment because, even though he's still in denial about being abused, deep down he already knows he doesn't want to be a monster like Ozai. When Katara uses bloodbending on who she thinks is her mother's killer, then realizes her mistake, she gets quite a brutal awakening that makes her realize she's not simply going after justice or even revenge, but rather allowing herself to fall victim to cycle of violence and abuse like Hama did.

This is a genuine, not at all forced parallel between Zuko and Katara, and that the writers basically handed to the shippers in a neat little bow - and they threw it in the garbage because it did not allow them to glorify violence, romanticize Zuko's past as a villain who was prone to violence, pretend Zuko and Katara only have positive traits in common and could only ever bring out the best in each other, and demonize Aang as this abusive person that wants to control what Katara can or cannot do.

And ironically enough, in doing so, they not only disregard the meaningful theme of an abused child refusing to repeat the same mistakes of their abuser, but they also make excuses for the ONE person in the entire show who was everything they claimed Aang is.

Hama felt entitled to Katara's loyalty, obedience, admiration and respect. She felt she had the right to dictate how Katara should or should not fight, what was or wasn't against her moral code. She was deliberately manipulative to get Katara trust her, then waited until there was no one else around to help her to make her true intentions clear - and then proved she was VERY willing to react with violence if she didn't get what she wanted.

Zutarians go on and on about how their ship is the "feminist, pro-Katara ship" and how Aang is totally abusive, then turn around and glorify the actions of the ONE person in the entire show that fits the definition of "Katara's abuser."

[fic-prompts-feel-free-to-use]

AU where the Dollmaker was more conniving and the puppetmaster was less forgiving and Rover wasn't able to call for help.

It's been weeks and the people of Jinzhou are getting worried. When they find remnants of a possible Fracidious plot, Scar is questioned and dismayed that they would go behind his back and harm *his* beloved rover.

This is kinda all over the place, it's mostly an excuse for Scar/Rover hurt/comfort. Maybe add some gore up to you.

[starlight-bread-blog]

In Defense of Katara

Update: The views expressed on Aang in this post are majorly dated.

Katara has been..

a controversial character. Particularly for the following reasons.

Supposedly talking about her mother "all the time", bringing it up out of context, making it all about herself and lashing out about it.

But before properly analyzing her character, let's first actually list off all the episodes where Katara has mentioned her mother (also in video form):

The Boy in the Iceberg:

Mentions her mother to confront Sokka about being lazy, establishing the family dynamic after her death and generally setting up her character arc.

The Southern Air Temple:

Firstly mentions her mother to prepare Aang to discovering a "potential" loss when getting back home. Then again to show empathy to Aang by showing that she somewhat understands what he's feeling.

Imprisoned:

Brings up Kya to connect with Haru about similar losses. It's also brought up again by Haru when her mother's necklace disappears.

The Waterbending Scroll:

Didn't mention her mother, just the necklace. Since Zuko showed her the necklace, which was lost.

Jet:

Mentions Kya to connect with Jet who also lost his parents to the Fire Nation.

The Waterbending Master:

Once again, she only mentions the necklace. And only because Pakku notices it himself.

The Swamp:

The swamp makes her hallucinate about her mother. It was fully outside of her control.

The Crossroads of the Destiny:

Brings up her mother's death once she got a chance to have a conversation with Zuko, who was her enemy and for all she knew, represented the nation who killed her mother.

The Headband:

It is brought up by Aang. He tells Katara that people could recognize her necklace for being Water Tribe while hiding in the Fire Nation.

The Puppetmaster:

Katara connects with Hamma over being from Southern Water Tribe and being hurt by the Fire Nation.

The Southern Raiders:

This entire episode focuses on Kya. She mentions her 5 times total. (Worth noting that Zuko brought it up in the first place).

It is also brought up in The Runaway by Sokka, and in Sozin’s Comet Part 4: Avatar Aang by Hakoda.

To sum up: Katara brings up her mother in a total of 11 episodes. 1 to establish the tragedy, 1 to comfrot Aang, 1 was outside of her control, 1 to confront the Fire Nation prince, 3 to connect with someone with similar experience of loss, and 4 times it's just about the necklace.

The claim that Katara brings up her mother "all the time" and out of context is entirely baseless. But I know what you're thinking:

Yeah it's bad. Really bad. But Katara is a 14 year old, dealing with grief. By no means this is an okay thing to say. But let's dive deeper – how her mother's death effected her, the dynamics it created and if there is any truth to what she's saying.

Katara has always been the care giver, the one who'll notice when you're in need, giving seemingly unconditional emotional support. Even prioritizing other's well being over her own. In The Deserter, Aang acted careless, using his firebendering to accidentally injure Katara. Unsuprisigly, Aang feels terrible about hurting her. He is confronted about it not by Katara, but by Sokka. Meanwhile Katara heals her own scar. And in the end, she's the one comforting guilty Aang.

Another instance is The Desert. The Gaang was stuck without Appa, with little to no supplies, in the middle of a desert. They're all hungry, exhausted and unsure of what's to come. Katara shows incredible resilience and empathy – she offers her bending water to everyone, but isn't show to drink any herself. And her response to Aang's outburst after semi failinh to get water from a cloud.

Katara: Wow, there's hardly any in here..

Aang: I'm sorry, okay?! It's a desert cloud! I did all I could! What's anyone else doing?! *Points at Katara* What are you doing?

Katara: Trying to keep everyone together. Let's just get moving. We need to head this direction.

In the end of the episode, Aang finds the sendbenders who stole Appa. He gets in the Avatar state, and while all the other characters run away, Katara stays, she hugs him in an uncontrollable rage. Want to hear something interesting? We don't see the characters express gratitude to her efforts. Even in the next episode she helps strangers give birth.

Instead of resolving her trauma, Katara internalized it. She became "the mother". She is the reason Sokka doesn't bring up his mother. I'd like to add a quote from Sokka in The Runaway:

"I'm gonna tell you something crazy. I never told anyone this before, but honestly, I'm not sure I can remember what my mother looked like. It really seems like my whole life, Katara has been the one looking out for me. She's always been the one that's there".

This is the closest we got to giving Katara the much needed support. Their grief is not the same.

Same goes for Aang's grief. Yes, he lost his entire nation. While Katara's grief molded her character, Aang's grief is only brought up when used in context. It's only brought up explicitly 3 times: In The Southern Air Temple, while finding out what happened for the first time; in The Storm for giving us his backstory and in The Guru when he has focus on his grief. It's also used to create another layer of tension 3 other times (The Northen Air Temple, The Desert and The Serpent's Pass). In every time it's brought up, it's linked to the overall plot/subplot in some way. It isn't something that is shown to change who he is as a person.

Katara on the other hand, took on the mother role in the age of eight, fundamentally changing who she is. She is used to swallowing her pain, to suck it up because others need help. Only showing weekness when alone, when no one from the Gaang is looking.

Almost everything about her is somehow linked to Kya. She cooks, she she sews, she gives orders – like a mother. A quote from The Runaway:

Katara: What do you think, Aang? Do I act like a mom?

Aang: Well, I-

Katara (intensively): Stop rudding your eye and speak clearly when you talk.

Aang: Yes ma'am!

That's her canonical love intereat what? So casually, it's about Kya. The trauma they all experienced is semi the same, but the impact was completely different. Katara's experience of grief is fundamentally different from Sokka's and Aang's and never had a proper closure.

Until The Southern Raiders. Katara has a chance to finally express all of this pent up trauma. You might not think it's healthy, or sympathetic, but now it's Katara's grief that is on full display. But Aang and Sokka weren't understanding. They suggest her to go right back to what she has been doing for years. Aang even compares her loss to losing Appa and tells her she sound like Jet. And in a moment of humanity, weekness and frustration, Katara lashes out.

[blackfeatherdragon]

Zexal Characters in 5Ds: Team Signers

(Long post under cut)

Thomas Arclight

-Seventeen years old

-He and his brothers are from Tops

-His father, a researcher at Old Momentum, vanished during Zero Reverse ten years prior to the main story and was presumed to have died instantly in the implosion

-Still has that scar on his face, but here it's from when Zero Reverse happened

-Is involved in the Riding Duel circuit, has solid popularity

-His D-Wheel is known as the Puppetmaster

-Uses a Synchro version of Gimmick Puppets, with Gimmick Puppet Dragon as his ace

-Has an intense rivalry with the Kamishiro twins, hates that he's being forced to work with them

-Also not happy with being dragged into all this Signer stuff

Ryoga 'Shark' Kamishiro

-Seventeen years old (Aged up to allow him to participate in racing tournaments)

-Regular (Not Tops) Neo Domino resident

-Both his parents died in Zero Reverse

-Rising star in Riding Duels

-His D-Wheel (Same bike as the one he uses in Zexal) is known as the Megalodon

-Uses a Synchro version of his shark themed deck, with a Synchroified version of Shark Drake as his ace

-Has an intense rivalry with Thomas, keeps bickering with him

-Also keeps bickering with Rio

Rio Kamishiro

-Seventeen years old (Aged up so that Shark can participate in Riding Duels)

-Regular (Not Tops) resident of Neo Domino

-Both her parents died in Zero Reverse

-Rising star in Standing Duels

-Uses a Synchro version of her Ice Winged Beast deck, with Permafrost Dragon as her ace

-Has an intense rivalry with Thomas, keeps bickering with him

-Also keeps bickering with Shark

Kaito Tenjo

-Eighteen years old

-His father is the current head of Neo Domino

-Was encouraged by his father into the Riding Duel circuit (so that he could determine for certain if Kaito was a Signer or not). Kaito's main reason for doing it is simply because his younger brother Haruto loves watching him duel.

-His D-Wheel is known as the Photon Racer

-Uses a Synchro version of his Photon deck, with a Synchrofied version of Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon as his ace.

-Has the best working knowledge of what the goal for the Signers is here, but tends to be a bit of a loner.

???

-No one's certain who the fifth Signer is

-Dr. Faker thought it was Kazuma Tsukumo for a while, but he vanished off Daedalus Bridge some time back so apparently not.

[sunsetno4]

Just some random thoughts while I fuck around with Lulu’s game~~~

I restarted their game, mainly because I’m a bit clueless what scar would work best for them. It was hunger last time, but it didn’t really fit. :/!

Like with Vendetta, sui/outside was what just happened but it worked out that it was the one that fucked against nir natural personality the most. At nir core, Vendetta does like people and deeply desires to be part of the outside world, to be apart of something. Friendless isn’t strong enough. Disconnecting Vendetta from feeling like ne belongs in the world is basically nir version of Hell, especially given ne has memories of belonging! Ne remembers! Ne did it once before, and ne wants to again. Ne just ...can’t anymore.

On the flipside, Dante having the Puppetmaster plays into his worst impulses of isolation and need for control. It compliments him much better, but that’s because Dante doesn’t mind isolation and absolutely craves control, especially post-Heartbreak. Control is safe, isolation is safe. He wants to be hands-free god, lining up his chess pieces in such a way that he’s always safe and always out of the harm’s way. In the back of Dante’s head, he’s constantly just ‘coward, coward, coward~~~~ I’m a coward~~~’. But that’s okay because he’ll be safe once and for all once he finishes setting up his chess board.

Lulu doesn’t really have an option that sticks out instantly as one that plays with or against their natural impulses, at least not like Ven and Dante’s do. I am trying out revenge because on the surface, I think that’ll work best for Lulu and I really enjoyed the lead-up to getting revenge? Like Lulu just gives into Heartbreak and seeing the experiment from HB’s experiences is heart-breaking for them.

I also do love them getting snuck into a loop of sorts. That it isn’t just for them, but Heartbreak too. They both deserved better. It does fit into Lulu’s need for justice. I don’t think Lulu would care to be friendless or hungers for much, but forgoing their better judgments to help a stranger? Absolutely. It’s why Lulu loved being Sidestep. And revenge is worth destroying that legacy for.

I’m trying out anarchist because god, someone needs to break the system and Vendetta said ‘no thanks, I want heists! ✨’. Thanks, Ven! :')! Hero Hunter (kill) was a lot of fun buuuuuut Hero Hunter (prepare) is Dante to a tee. So, we’ll see! So far, it does fit Lulu a far bit too and they can still do a fair bit of murder in it, if my memories serve me correctly.

Also.

🥺❤️🥺❤️🥺❤️🥺❤️

I got higher stats with Ortega this round and this feels better for them. They always had a weird sibling vibe in my head. It’s where their nickname came from. Their actual name is Luciola/Luciole, and Lulu felt like such a silly little sibling type nickname to me that it's just Lulu now. ^^;;

Last time, they ended up with ghost status which was interesting and cooooould work, but it feels more a bit honest? Lulu isn’t as self-isolating as Ven, so while they could absolutely stay away with ease, I think staying as simple friends feels apt.

Also. Villain!Lulu has everyone like terrified (yay for scary armor, boo my internal monologue saying Lulu wouldn't actually pick it now) and I always picture sus!Ortega being like ‘but it’s Lulu?? They sobbed for thirty minutes because Wei killed a spider once and didn’t talk to him for five whole months after. Lulu can’t be scary. It’s Lulu.’

And Lulu is over here, murdering corrupt officials and heroes because Revenge Is A Lovely Feeling. :)!

[fromthedeskoftheminister]

Forgotten but not Lost

NOW ON Ao3

Unknown Life Series Season 4 sometime early march? Cubfan? Fwip? The bunnies are a goin folks. Have.... Whatever this is?

Unbetaed.

Forgotten but not Lost

They’re all just standing there. In a circle around a campfire. Its the first time that hes done this, Scar knows. It is not the first time he’s done this. He’s just as sure of that.

And yet, something here is wrong about the tableau before him. He’s never seen these people before in his life. Yet somehow he knows them. Not well, but still its stuff that he should not know about any of them. The werewolf? wolf hybrid? he doesnt know which and hes not sure why thats the questionable point when he knows the man is?was? royalty. Theres also something whispering in the back of his mind about frozen blood and an affront to good taste. To the wolfman’s right just where he should be is his right hand, the one who hears. The Fey is next, chatting quietly with a Demon no animosity present at all. The survivalist is blatantly listening to their conversation while he lightheartedly taunts an Omen whos trying to ignore him in favor of the conversation hes having with the Forge spirit. A Dragon gives him a smile or perhaps its the flash of a fang when their gazes meet.

He returns the grin, threat and greeting all in one before moving on. Theres the innovator, the timekeep, and his other half? former other half? his betrayer? his... The whispers are incoherent. Theres too much there and no time to piece through it at all. His gaze skips over a blank space, before landing on the puppetmaster, Fate’s favorite fighter, and completes the circle with a couple of people the whispers dont have much to say about at all. A glint, and Scar’s attention is drawn not to the pesky bird that the whispers have entirely too much to say about but to the blank space next to him. A space which is now occupied. A space which as always been occupied and Scar knows that this is what’s not... quite right. Black eyes with a spark of electric blue in their depths meet his own hazel evenly as they take each other in. The slightly rumpled young scientist across from him seems content to just study the strange company they both have found themselves apart of. Yet, something about the way he holds himself, the lack of surprise at his own presence here or the appearance of the others, suggests that he knows more than they do. And that the smug trickster finds it funny. And its just as obvious that he knows that Scar knows because he gets a sly half smirk directed his way the longer they stare at each other. It’s Scar who breaks first. “You have something of mine” he states, surprising himself. He doesn’t know how he knows this, he doesnt know where the other man got it, the whispers arnt talking. Theyve been strangley silent since their eyes met, and Scar knows that hes never met the man before in this life. Yet his statement, while attracting everyone elses attention, including a startled squawk from his former soulmate, is simply met with a widening grin that reveals far too many sharp teeth for the mouth they’re in. “I do.” Theres a pause while the rest of the group very loudly tries to figure out exactly when this blank space arrived but cannot to their vexation. “Did you want it back?” Scar almost nods and reaches out a hand before stopping abruptly “What happens if I take it back?” A shrug “You Know what you Are and you are Unfettered and Unbound in what you Can Do” Scar peers at him mulling that over. “I heard those capital letters Sir. What happens if I don’t take it back?” “I keep ahold of if until you decide you want it back” “Its not a limited time offer?” “Ehhhhhhhhh.” the noise is accompanied by a hand wiggle “It is a limited offer” “But not a limited time offer?” “No.” Scar hmms. “You keep it. I think I’ll have more fun figuring things out without it.” The other man nods and looks slightly wistful but accepting, as if he had already known what Scar would choose but had hoped otherwise. Their conversation is interrupted by a cough and the Instigator says from somewhere to his left “And with that cryptic conversation out of the way, lets get on with it shall we?” *****************************************************************************************************

Its later that same day and Scar has since learned that the blank space’s name is Cub and the one responsible is Grian, along with a host of other names which are frankly a lot easier to remember than the epithets that the whispers were offering when he stumbles across the pair of them arguing about something in the forest. “Listen, Grian” Cub says, clearly done with whatever is going on here. “We’re done. You’ve got resources to collect and so do I. But before I bounce, riddle me this; what is a watcher to a vex?” The words mean nothing to Scar, but Grian apparently does as do the whispers. He can feel their tension and can see just how tense and pale Grian has gotten, before he grits out a “I dont know” “Dinner and a Show” Cub answers before turning around and striding off deeper into the dark oak forest. “So step lightly, little watcher, before someone takes a bite”

[lightpeak]

The Impact Of Death - Script

I’m going to ask you a question you may not like.

How long do you think you have? Twenty, thirty, forty years? What about just until tomorrow, or when you go to sleep tonight? What if you died, right now?

It’s something you may tend to shy away from acknowledging, but you will die one day. Everyone will. Everyone you have ever known, loved, or cared about, will be dead one day. And now having this knowledge fresh in your mind, how do you deal with that? How do you continue on, being a nervous system telling a heart to beat? Being finely tuned flesh wrapped up in slightly more appealing dead flesh?

I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable. But it’s unsettling, isn’t it? To become so viscerally aware of yourself, your fragility, and your mortality? Why do we hide from these thoughts? Why do we run from them? Avoid them like the plague? Because death isn’t a plague. Living is. Death is just the universe curing it.

Death is something we all must contend with at some point. Whether it’s in the loss of a loved one. Or the acknowledgement that our loved ones will lose us. Being healthy is a direct response to the knowledge of our mortality. You just might not think of it that way. You scratch at the surface of a dark ocean, seeing only droplets of the water that extends forever below you. Though there does not have to be fear, here. You do not have to feel helpless.

This video is a direct response to my mortality. In making this, I leave a legacy. I leave these messages in bottles so they may float across the world wide web for long after I’m gone. There are many other forms of this. Writing books, writing music, creativity as a whole. Having children; creating offspring and instilling your values into them. Reproduction is the passing on of genetics. The very system that made you the way you are. In a way, you will never die. If your genetics, however diluted over time, keep being passed on.

You are made up of countless systems working in tandem. Your respiratory system brings oxygen into the lungs. Your cardiovascular system delivers nutrients and oxygen to all other parts of the body. These and all the other systems in your body are subject to many opportunities to fail. Diseases, genetic disorders, outside invaders or traumatic injuries. All the things that keep you alive are fragile. And when these systems fail, and your brain shuts down, you die. All the things that made you “you” will be gone. 

You may still look like you, when you’re given a funeral. But you’ll only be an outside. A puppet dressed up so that it conjures the memory of a time it had a puppetmaster. People will cry. They’ll talk about you. They may even share a few laughs. But you won’t be there for that. Only your body will.

As you may have been able to tell from my last video, I’m not particularly religious. I don’t believe we have souls. But I do believe there is something within us that serves the purpose of a soul. Likely, it’s something to do with our brains, and how complex they are. After all, they’re complex enough to form consciousness. A level of awareness above simple sensory intake. A part of you that is aware of its own awareness.

This is what is missed the most when we die. Not necessarily the rise and fall of our chest. Or the way our lips curl into smiles. Or the glimmer that sits inside our eyes. It’s us. Our words, our interactions with others. Our capacity to know, and listen, and understand. To care, and love, and be with people. This is what matters to people. When you’re here. And even more so when you’re gone.

Life is, in part, the ability to have conscious impact, and to be impacted. Not just on the surface, like an abrasion to skin; a meteor to a planet’s surface. But deeper, without any scars or marks left over. An impact onto who you are, what you think, and what you feel. That leaves you, when you die. 

Your mind can begin to die before your body, though. Dementia and Alzheimer’s are examples of a decaying mind within an otherwise living body. It’s a terrifying thing to experience. And an arguably equally horrible thing to watch happen. Watching someone die, from any illness, is horrendous to experience. 

Depression and suicidal ideation is another example of a mind dying before a body. Not because it dies of illness or any external cause. But because it is scared to death of the pain it’s in. That’s something I have experience with. I don’t think there’s much hyperbole when I say that it felt like I was dying. Not in the same way that someone dies of an illness of the body. But in that I was inching closer to death anyway. 

I don’t think I always understood why people who survive illnesses are called fighters, and strong. Their bodies did most of the work. It’s not like their mind could’ve just given up, and their body would’ve followed suit. But then I realized, it could. Just like it did for me. Even though my body wasn’t sick. Only my mind was.

It’s easy to feel hopeless when you’re reminded of how temporary you are. But it’s all a matter of perspective. Because you can also feel hopeful when reminded of how temporary you are. Because you have a finite amount of time to do what you love. So you’d better fill that time with as much love as you can. Death is a natural part of life. It is the very thing that gives life meaning. To die is to have lived. To live is to one day die. 

If you asked me if I wanted to live forever, I’d say no. Not just because life is pain, which it is in part. But because what point is there in a friendly sporting event, if the timer and scores can go on forever.

That old adage in every pop song is right, no matter how cliche it sounds. Live as though tomorrow is your last day. Not in case it is, but in case it isn’t. 

[laatmaar]

I’d love to hear more about Matt if you’re up for sharing anything!

Okay so Matt Brown (she/her)(/him?) is a tech-savy tactician whose villain persona is an anarchist named omen (no special relevance except that i was watching an elden ring stream when i came up with it). Her is suit is mysterious and has reinforced armor and telepathic boosters. Her motivation is revenge though she will pretend it’s about justice instead if somebody asks (she doesn’t have a really have a super strong sense of justice and probably wouldn’t be doing all this if she wasn’t horribly paranoid and afraid that the farm might find her + wanting to burn the entire place down) (she’s certainly not cruel exactly she just has a hard time really caring)

She relies heavily on her telepathy and has very little consideration for other people’s boundaries/autonomy as result she has 87% subtlety and 60% strength, coincidentally she has the puppetmaster + suicide scar and she’s very comfortable in using the puppet’s body but there is almost no puppet individuality (there’s no difference in beau and matt except in how matt is far more confident and free in his behavior and appearance as beau).

Matt has on first glance a passive personality and is a bit of a sad sack of a person (if that translates well?) as well as quite the alcoholist, however she has an impulsiveness and an anger/vindictiveness that could fuel a small atom bomb hiding under the surface. As result despite all her careful planning when it comes down to it she often takes big risks on small chances (nobody should ever let her gamble, one addiction is already enough).

Her actual personality shines through most when she is Beau and she is actually (beneath all the depression and existential crisises and dislike of her tattoos and scars etc.) incredibly vain, and a bit judgy. Also even more secretly quite kind and funny. In retribution this shines through more and using the money she stole from the museum matt buys herself a lot of nice clothes and a big apartment.

In terms of relationships she has a big fat crush on ricardo which scares her a lot because a lot of her actions and feelings Matt hides behind a curtain of plausible deniability, and she has no good reason to want to kiss him that badly (except for the fact that she is a person with feelings, but she isn’t going to admit to that any time soon). She did have a good (in her head) reason (different body, playing a role to the best of her ability, maybe curiosity) when she slept with dr. mortum but she caught feelings badly and when she confessed after finding out about ace it was the scariest thing he had ever done (openly admitting to liking mortum in her own body and owning up to her own actions).

Falling out with mortum was a bit of a breaking point for matt and she spent two days blackout drunk, became incredibly angry at chen after learning about the autopsy photos, kicked hollow ground in the face, accidentally crashed car, went to steal her own body from hospital, and threatened chen with a gun in the elevator before getting knocked out and arrested. For the rest she does not care for herald (incredibly jealous) and has no opinion about argent (weird violent relationship with her as omen)

Well that was it! Became a bit long but it was already an effort not to write a 4 page essay about her -_-

[sidesteppostinghours]

4 + 5 + 8 + 40 + 34 and I) G) F) for Cyrus Becker my beloved 🧡

afternoon idle!! oh my god questions galore *cracks knuckles* cyrus get your ass over here youre up

4. How easy is it to earn their trust?

Very difficult, and at the same time easier than youd think. he definitely doesnt entertain everybody, but hes not unreasonable. hell hear you out if you give him enough reason to (or if he thinks its beneficial to get to know you. do you see why he gets attached to people hes supposed to be manipulating so often). ortega and mortum required him to establish a relationship, which is how they got so close to eachother so quickly. herald got by because cyrus thought hed be a useful contact in the rangers. chen couldve earned his trust a long time ago, they had to work with eachother a lot back when he still ran with the rangers, but chen squandered it on his suspicions and its been too long for cyrus to have any interest in patching up their relationship. argent has largely flown under his radar, she hasnt piqued his interest more than the passing curiosity of why she wanted the regenerator.

5. How easy is it to earn their mistrust?

the default is mistrust. sorry yall, hes not taking any more chances than necessary. hes a telepath, he knows all too well what secrets other people hide, and hes not interested in giving people a chance to prove his suspicions wrong. but after hes grown to trust somebody? its... embarrassing how difficult it is to lose it. even though his trust is much shakier nowadays, you still need to have fucked up Majorly to get him back to mistrusting you. if you somehow manage to do that,,, uhhhh. what do you want on your tombstone? (ig its technically its possible to not die and even earn that trust back??? ortega managed, but thats ortega and hes statistically more likely to kill you or ruin your life. depends on how badly you fucked up. id say theres a good 5% chance youll survive the experience without the need for intense psychotherapy)

8. What were they told to stop/start doing most often as a child

listen. follow orders. be exactly who we need you to be. cyrus was a deeply rebellious regene, but he wasnt stupid about it. hed go against the mission in secret, and just enough that nobody wouldve been able to trace any problems back to him. that doesnt mean he was never caught, but he was too competent of a regene to be scrapped, which saved him multiple times before. those few times did cause handlers to keep a closer eye on him though, just in case. handlers would usually keep a harder grip on cyrus, hold him to stricter standards. it contributed a lot to his own self talk. SPEAKING OF WHICH:

40. How sensitive are they to their own flaws?

you must imagine me holding him and looking lovingly into his eyes while i dump a gallon of insecurity and perfectionism on him. hes a proud man, he thinks hes better than what other people are capable of, but that arguably makes things worse when he does make a mistake. he of all people shouldnt be like this. add the puppetmaster scar on him and its a hefty load of 'i need to make sure every single step of my plan goes exactly right Or Else." the worst thing about him is that a lot of the petty flaws he thinks apply to him arent correct. AND HE CANT EVEN NAME HIS ACTUAL FLAWS. cyrus you are so smart and walking around with zero self awareness, its the best. please consider stepping into acid.

34. How hard is it for them to shake a sense of guilt? 

hohohohoho. well. the first step is to get him to feel guilty in the first place. traditionally immoral actions arent going to get to him, obviously. the thing that springs up guilt for him most often is themmys death. he has. a Lot of survivors guilt about that. especially because hes convinced himself he couldve done something and *gestures to the ask above*. guilt will haunt him for life if it doesnt get resolved in a healthy way, but hes gotten good at burying his emotions a long time ago. even when he feels like that, he reserves a specific time to think about it, otherwise itll impede on his plans in the long run. that designated time is. usually when hes supposed to be sleeping. his sleep schedule is just a little bit messed.

I) Do you prefer to keep them in their canon universe?

oh dude i Love putting cyrus in aus. its so fun to poke him with a stick and see what happens. the first one i put him in was a band au, it helped me figure out how he would interact with herald. basically cyrus was a masked guitarist (for backstory reasons) for a band daniel happened to be a fan of, except the two of them managed to meet at just regular old work, with cyrus not realizing daniel was a fan and daniel not realizing cyrus was from one of his favourite bands. it led to fun, mlb-esque shenanigans between the two lmfao. the second one i put him in was the becker siblings au, which i still have thoughts and emotionsTM about. that au let me indulge in the 'cyrus is an older sibling' headcanon and i will forever be in debt to it for the amount of protective cyrus i got. third and current au im obsessing over is a 'cyrus survives hb' scenario, where ortega managed to stop him before he jumped out the window. i am getting! so much ortega x cyrus content out of that au! and so much survivors guilt cyrus. cyrus 'using' ortega to forget about heartbreak my beloveddddd. he also says 'i love you' to ortega in this au and canon ortega is SO jealous. also x2, hes an alcohol vice step in this au. heartbreak hit hard and the tequila hits different.

aaaand i still like his canon version better. its just so very much him. out of every step ive got, hes the one i get to stay closest to how i envision based on the choices the game offers. plus he caught me completely by surprise suckerpunching me with an obsession over him and i cant Not respect that.

G) What trait of theirs bothers you the most?

not sure whether this means on a character creation level or as a person, but ill answer for 'as a person' because im overall pretty satisfied with how he turned out! but like. god what is there to not be bothered about. my manipulative little shit of a son. ig the trait that frustrates me the most is his self destructive tendencies. like. Sir. are you at all aware of the fact that people care for you and want you safe? and that you can respond to that concern with something other than "i can use this", "sucks to be them", or, "no theyre not"? sir. sir answer the question. hes so empathetic and also literally a telepath but somehow cant compute genuine concern at him. as frustrating as it is though, i cannot deny that it is deeply funny to watch him fumble so badly.

F) What do you feel when you think of your OC (pride, excitement, frustration, etc)?

normal. the ones where people look at me and think "wow, that is a person who is having (a) regular thought(s) about their character! very cool!" you will never see a person who is more normal about their guy than i am (i am grabbing him by the teeth and shaking him like a dog with a very strong kill instinct).

truly though, thinking of him gets me buzzing. hes like a puzzle, i keep breaking him apart and putting him back together again to see how everything works. i have this thing where ill often think about showing character analysis to the characters themeselves, just to see how they would react, and i undeniably do this the most with cyrus. i want to explain step by step (hah) why he is the way that he is now, like the whole timeline is plotted inside my head and its so!!!!! i am!!!!! chewing on him!!!!!

questions from here!

[glitteringcrab]

I've seen this technology before

...Have we... really considered the implications of this?

The first possibility is that the creators of Rick and Morty kinda made certain things up as they went along (which makes sense) and this was simply Evil Morty's introduction: he's clever, he's ruthless, he can perform mind control. Cool. Spooky.

The second possibility, if Evil Morty's whole arc is planned from the very beginning and he's always been intended to be an overarching villain/antihero (honestly, it feels this way) is that in some point in the past there was either (at least one) Villain Of The Week (let's call him Random Puppetmaster Villain) or a Rick (let's call him Puppetmaster Rick) who would puppeteer people to promote his own agenda.

The Citadel Ricks examining Evil Rick had evidently no clue who could have been puppeteering Evil Rick. This can be read in two ways:

A) Random Puppetmaster Villain/Puppetmaster Rick is still at large, never been caught. The Citadel Ricks have no idea where to even begin looking. Evil Morty would likely know who it is.

I feel like this theory has some basis plot-wise, given that with Rick Prime dead and the Intergalactic Federation gone we're sorta running out of overarching villains.

B) Random Puppetmaster Villain/Puppetmaster Rick is dead, his villain lair destroyed, all his mooks defeated. The Citadel Ricks are like "wtf, what's this up now?" as all possible leads are long gone. They have no idea who could possibly be using the same technology now.

This theory has some basis if we consider the fact that Evil Morty does not appear particularly scared--just angry. His motivation to leave was because he was sick of being trapped with Ricks, not because he was worried a past enemy might hunt him down. I guess one possibility doesn't rule out the other (you can be scared and angry at the same time) but Evil Morty seems to be the living incarnation of the toxicity of the Rick-Morty dynamic; nudging that on the side with a generic being-a-victim-to-a-villain backstory feels very disappointing.

I guess in theory both possibilities could be true; Puppetmaster might have been defeated, Evil Morty might, along everyone else, think the dude (or dudette) is dead, but that person could have escaped.

There is also the possibility that Puppetmaster and Evil Morty parted in good-ish terms with each other, so one has no reason to fear the other.

C) Evil Rick was the Puppetmaster. I feel this is unlikely, same as I feel it is unlikely that Evil Rick was ever physically abusive with Evil Morty, despite Evil Morty's reaction to his yells. If he was in habit of hitting Evil Morty (or worse), I doubt Evil Morty would have worked up the courage to get in his face over something as mundane as a shitty (literally lol) adventure. (Other Ricks might have been though, which would explain Evil Morty's reaction).

IN ANY CASE

Evil Morty had the... good fortune (?) to interact with this person in the past. In the same way Morty Prime is used to disarming neutrino bombs drunkenly assembled by Rick C-137, Evil Morty was experienced enough to successfully perform brain surgery on Evil Rick. This is supported by Evil Morty's large range of brain-related abilities, and I'm not referring to the manipulation:

1. Performing brain surgery on at least two Ricks. It wasn't a one-time thing. He did it with Evil Rick, and he did it again when he was running for president:

Look at the Rick in the picture: he doesn't have the eye bags nor mouth scar that Evil Rick had, and Evil Morty is wearing his Candidate Suit.

It's unclear if Evil Morty set his assistant up for a failed assassination attempt to gain votes through sympathy, or if someone had really been keeping tabs of him... But whichever is true, I can totally see any people in the know being afraid to speak up: any of the Ricks accompanying Evil Morty might in reality be puppeteered by Evil Morty. Some of the guards that shot the District Ricks might have been Evil Morty. The Ricks that approved of him participating in the campaign run might have been Evil Morty. Good luck speaking to anyone; you risk basically confessing to Evil Morty.

2. Scanning Rick C-137's entire brain (when he finished this in the Citadel, he did it with no visible apparatus, I might add).

3. Scanning dead Ricks' entire brains. You'd think that the death would deteriorate the memories, but nope. Evil Morty was good to go.

4. Being able to instantly scan another person's brain and find out what they're planning:

5. Creating small devices that can instantly hijack robotic brains and enslave them to his own will:

6. Downloading specific data from another person more-or-less on the spot:

I mean, that wasn't even Evil Morty's tablet! He threw it away after he was done, and it seems that he had hastily wrecked Rick Prime's control room to hook him up with some cables so he could get what he wants.

(Interesting that he didn't bother downloading Rick Prime's insta-healing ability though; one with think that it'd be quite a catch, but Evil Morty apparently does not want to be able to live forever)

I mean, we've seen the Galactic Federation going into a lot of trouble to get Rick C-137's interdimensional travel secret, and those weird little dudes that specialized on simulations going to equally lot of trouble just to get Rick C-137's concentrated dark matter recipe.

They'd all wish they had the same abilities Evil Morty has, it'd all be over in a jiffy.

SO.

What I'm concluding when taking all the above into consideration is that Evil Morty was at some point paired with a Rick who specialized in brain control. Evil Morty got to observe the surgeries, assist in the surgeries...

...and have a surgery done to him.

Because he might be able to perform brain surgery on an incapacitated Rick, but I doubt he'd be able to do it to himself in his bedroom.

He had no trouble hooking his own cables with the eyepatch, even though the cables were sticking out of his freaking eye. He knew how to connect them. He knew how to make the eyepatch work. He knew what he was doing. This was all familiar to him.

And given that once he became fed up with Evil Rick he acted with no hesitation, it's clear that he had already considered this technique as a possible way out, and up to then had been simply deciding against it.

Now.

Best case scenario. BEST CASE:

Evil Morty was simply one of the Puppetmaster's experiments. (No hard feelings.) After all, Evil Morty had no transmitter in his skull. He had to hook up one externally. This means that Puppetmaster never considered him a partner; Evil Morty was never given free reign to puppet others. He was one of the people being puppeteered.

It's unclear whether Evil Morty has a receiver of his own still stuck somewhere in his brain (I mean, if Puppetmaster's transmitter is destroyed, I guess that Evil Morty would stop receiving orders and he'd be free) although even if that's the case, I'm sure once he became president and got access to more superior tech he'd make sure to fix this possible contingency.

The cables sticking out of his freaking eye kinda point out to Puppetmaster connecting Evil Morty to a machine while immobile (especially if Evil Morty was the initial experiment, needed updates, maintenance, etc) or having him wear a mook mask or helmet of some sort. Those cables are not really easy to use otherwise. Or maybe there was a receiver once in his skull, was later removed (e.g. once Puppetmaster was defeated) but the cables hooking up the removed receiver to his brain have remained.

Worst case scenario:

Evil Morty was not simply an experiment, but one of the people regularly puppeteered. Theoretically possible, although given that Ricks don't think highly of Mortys, and that Mortys usually do what they're told (a clone Morty with nowhere else to go even more so), I'm not really sure what kind of things Puppetmaster thought Evil Morty would be useful for and thought that the best way to get obeyed was literal brain control.

In any case, this wasn't just "a body modification" nor "just an implant", in the same way that Morty Prime can turn into a boat or breathe in space. This is a lot, A LOT more intrusive.

In conclusion:

Possible villain still at large.

Someone hug Evil Morty ASAP.

[huffle-dork]

ERROR: File Alt.Exe Corrupted Interlude (Part 2)

Dr. J’s Lost Voice

[Alt. Exe: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Interlude Part 1

Swapboys Masterpost]

AN: I didn’t forget that I wrote this and needed to post it to start chapter 3 Nope nuh uh I’m a very dedicated writer! Sorry guys I def dropped the ball but hopefully I’ll start getting on a better writing schedule soon 😅

Magnificent needed Jameson moldable for this to work. He needed that stubborn mind of his to be like putty. So, he set the doctor up in a room filled with monitors- each with a bold hypnotic spiral to dull his mind. Luckily- by now the doctor’s stubborn mind had been thoroughly broken. It was much much easier to get him into trance. Though- like always he tried his best to resist…

Two days- no food- no water. Only the magic to look at. He’d fall, Mag was sure of it.

And sure enough, when Magnificent came to check on his puppet, the doctor was slumped back, heavily in trance. His eyes echoing the magic so brightly that it seemed burned into his retinas. Drool slightly dripped down his chin as his mouth hung open.

It was a breathtaking sight- Magnificent was sure he’d never get sick of seeing the doctor completely enthralled by his power.

He waved a hand and all the monitors disappeared. Yet, Jameson remained looking forward as if still looking at the magic.

Magnificent went to bend down in front of him, grinning. “Hello, pet.”

Jameson’s head tilted dazedly to the side, like a curious dog hearing a sound. “H…he-“

Mag suddenly lashes out, grabbing Jameson’s throat and crushing it. The doctor gasps and brief panic flickers in his eyes. But his shoulders just as quickly relax as Mag starts up spirals again in his eyes. He chuckles darkly.

“Nuh uh uh, puppet… that’s the behavior we’re going to fix~! That smarmy mouth of yours keeps getting you into trouble… so now- I’m gonna silence it. Because mutts should only speak when their masters ask. isn’t that right, puppy?”

Jameson’s lips part to move, trying to mumble out, “Y-Yes Magnif-!”

Magnificent sends a shock into Jameson with his magic. The therapist screams, spasming and then slumping with a more panicked expression once it’s done. He struggles to catch his breath. Mag captures his attention again and lures him right back under.

“Wrong, puppet. You- are never going to use that voice of yours again. Not unless your master orders it. So sink for me… and let these words form your new reality- because if I hear a peep out of you again… there will be consequences.”

Jameson shakily nods, his eyelids drooping as Magnificent’s influence starts to exert pressure on his mind. It’s held captive in its power- triggers ready to be placed at the puppetmaster’s command.

“As of now, your vocal cords do not work. They cannot work- no matter how much you want to- no matter how much you scream. They cannot produce a single sound. Trying to speak will feel like scalding water flowing down your throat. Talking will feel unnatural, because speaking is useless to you. The only voice you need is to sing praise to your master, who you will humbly serve when called. A loyal puppy… who only barks when commanded.

If for whatever reason you are taken out of this command- the sound of static or a snap will bring you back. Being silent is now your most natural state. It is second nature, it is all you know- and will know.

In fact… right now- it feels like your vocal cords are shrinking- shriveling up until they are useless. Go on… try to make a sound.”

Jameson’s tranced eyes pulse with power at the command and he opens his mouth to speak. But nothing comes out but the tiniest dry wheeze.

His throat is on fire, burning like it’s filled with hot liquid that scarred the tissue. It’s almost hard to breathe-! The force of the commands- the rewriting of his brain is so strong, he’s lost in its all consuming heat. His mind and body are being reborn in the fire of his master’s words. Magnificent’s vision is all that matters in the chasm that is his mind.

Magnificent grins wolfishly and laughs, “Excellent, pet… you are being so good for me~ now… as soon as I command you to close your eyes, you will sink so deep and let these changes completely consume you. This is your new reality. But when you are awakened- you will not remember how you got to this state. Trying to recall will only result in static.

Speak, mutt to accept my demands,” Magnificent commanded, snapping his fingers.

Jameson sits up in rigid attention on his knees, eyes wide and filled with purple power. He speaks like nothing is wrong.

“Yes, Magnificent.”

“Good. Now, sleep.”

He snaps again and Jameson immediately falls limply to the ground.

——-

When the doctor next wakes up, he can hardly remember anything. His throat fully aches though and he rubs at it in confusion. True, his health has not been great being trapped here… but it hurt more than usual.

He coughs and tries to see if it’s something stuck in his throat but… no luck.

This was strange… he doesn’t remember Magnificent getting near his throat. Well besides this silly collar chain thing he kept making Jameson wear. But it’s too loose to injure his throat in this way- so why?

The sound of static causes the good doctor to jump and back away as his captor appears in the room. Magnificent grins wide at him and approaches, hands behind his back and smugness stark in every inch of his body.

“Good morning, Jackson~! How are you feeling today?” The mad magician purrs.

Jameson glares at him and tries to bite out a witty remark- but when he opens his mouth, only a breathy exhale comes out. Jamie blinks in confusion and touches his throat and tries again but still… nothing?

Now he’s starting to panic, trying over and over to say something- anything! But it’s just hoarse, breathy sounds.

Magnificent giggles and then appears in front of Jameson and bends down, grinning sharply. “What’s the matter, kitten? Cat got your tongue?”

Immediately, Jameson knows he’s done something to him. His eyes fill with hatred and he tries to lunge at him, his angered exhale of breathe sounding close to “-you!”

But, Magnificent sends out a hand and blasts the doctor back with a wave of magic. Instinctually, JJ yells out as he skids back and hits the wall. He then grabs at his throat again, wondering why he can still make noise that way but not talk.

Magnificent seems very pleased by this though as he sighs dreamily, “oh good! You can still scream so beautifully for me! I was worried about that~”

The magician chuckles as he looms over Jameson’s form, his shadow covering up his small frame as he builds up magic in his hands.

“How bout we hear some more?”

[incorrect-dishonored-quotes]

Favorite things about daud?

I LOVE THIS STUPID MAN SO MUCH BUT HIGHLIGHTS:

-High Intelligence/Low Wisdom character

-His dlc isn't a redemption, but a story of a man looking for dignity to die with

-Canonly Asexual

-"We make our choices and take what comes, and the rest is Void"

-"I deserved it, my people didn't" implies Da(u)d is more of an exaggeration rather than fanon. He does genuinely care about his ranks.

-Not everyone actually receives Arcane Bond when Daud tries to give it to them, for a reason he doesn't know. He doesn't toss these people aside however, and trains them in other areas outside of magic.

-His badass mother

-He's a excellent brawler. For most comat in The Return of Daud, he's unarmed.

-He did what he told Corvo he would. He disappeared and traveled far away from Dunwall. He only returned breifly for The Twin Bladed Knife.

-Despite his goal to kill his puppetmaster, The Outsider, he used his powers minimally and was generally low chaos. There was only one time he killed purposely without remorse (wont say who for spoilers) and all other deaths was mostly due to crossfire.

-Forgiveness is a major theme for him, not just mercy.

-The mystery around his early years in Dunwall, why he was Marked, and his scar.

-Lastly, his relationship with Billie. There are no other like her to him. There wasn't much love in his life, familial or otherwise, but he loved Billie dearly. He never meant her to get entagled in killing The Outsider, and never seeked her out because he knew her life was cleaner with out him, despite how relieved he was to see her again. And the fact that he was a tool for her development, like she was for him, is a great payoff and very poetic.

-"Farewell, Billie. For the last time."