#radar signal processing

[constelli1122]

Constelli - A Signal Processing Company in Defense and Aerospace

Constelli is a signal processing company solving problems in Defense and Aerospace fields.

[thevoidstaredback]

Tales of Conquest, Warnings of Fools:

Letters Between Brothers

Danyal Fenton, Jan. 8th, 2014

I sincerely apologize for the lack of contact. Much has happened; too much to put into a single letter, though I’m sure you saw some of it on the news. It has been two years since your last letter. I wanted to respond earlier, but I was too much of a coward. I spent hours staring at your letters, but I couldn’t bring myself to open them, let alone respond. That is no excuse, however, and I apologize.

As I’ve already mentioned I’m sure you know, Father went missing shortly after my last letter to you. The public was told that he was kidnapped and that we would pay ransom. He returned about a year ago, as I’m also certain you heard, and we assured the public that the Private Investigators we hired had found and retrieved him and that the captors had been imprisoned. That is our cover story. I would like to tell you the truth of the matter in person, but it cannot wait for that day to come.

Father was lost in time. He has still not told us how or what happened when he was gone, other than that he lost his memory. Everytime he regained it, he would leave a clue for us before he forgot again and was taken to another time. He said he had help, but he didn’t say from whom.

Timothy was the one to follow the clues and rescue him, though I’m not sure how. Everyone thought Father was dead, but we refrained from announcing it until Timothy returned from his search.

No one knows that Batman was missing. Richard took up the cowl and I was given the title of Robin. (The colors are garish, but the others wore them, so I must as well.) Richard was quite good at stepping into Father’s place, well enough to fool Superman and the rest of the Justice League, but it was hard on him. The stress was too much for him at the time, though he is now back as Nightwing in Bludhaven.

As morbid as the thought may be, the entire year was good for distancing our civilian and vigilante lives. No one thinks Father is Batman because Batman was active while Father was missing. Nightwing was undercover while Richard was in Gotham, returning before Richard left to go back to his city. Timothy was sighted in Pakistan with no appearance from Red Robin until after Timothy had “left”.

On the topic of Timothy, he is on Grandfather’s radar. He confided that, in the process of looking for Father, he enlisted the help of the Council of Spiders. Grandfather trained him, offering up the position of Demons Heir to him. In his escape, Timothy blew up eight bases around the world, though I don’t know how he managed.

On the topic; I have renounced my position of Demons Heir. Father and our siblings have taught me many things since I first arrived, things which made me rethink what we grew up knowing. I’m sure you went through the same thing. Mother has tried fruitlessly to take me back with her, but I have gone back to Father every time. I wanted to go back to you, but I am not willing to put you at risk like that. However, the Shadows have separated into factions, one side with Grandfather and the other with Mother. Nanda Parbat now stands as Grandfather’s primary base of operations.

The WAR - We Are Robin - Movement that swept over Gotham in Father’s absence was headed by our new foster brother Duke Thomas. He now goes by the name Signal. I was the one to recruit him and give him the bat he now wears.

Having gone back to re-read your letters, and read for the first time your last three letters, I have noticed that you refer to Father’s chosen as my siblings alone. Do you not want them to be your siblings as well? I do not blame or criticize; I am simply curious and would like some clarity. والآن حان دوري لأطلب عفوك. لن أدع الاتصالات البعيدة المدى تفلت من يدي مرة أخرى.

          Damian Wayne

***

After two years of radio silence, Danny finally got a letter from his brother. He was glad, don’t get him wrong! But he found himself not nearly as excited as he would’ve been last year. After two years of constantly waiting and checking and not being able to do anything, Danny was so burnt out that when the letter finally did come, he didn’t immediately rush to open and read it. He did, of course, open and read it, but he also waited to write up a response. Like Damian, he now had a lot on his plate, except he actually barely had any time to himself anymore.

Between ghost fights, playing keep-away with his parents and the GIW, teaching his friends how to handle themselves in a fight, saving the world, and trying desperately to get through the media block to reach the Justice League, Danny was pulled so thin that he was surprised he hadn’t ripped apart from the stress of it all! That’s not to even mention his own training in the Infinite Realms!

Yes, he had his team, but they could only do so much. And it didn’t help that Vlad the Frootloop who is secretly a vampire keeps getting in his way and causing shit! He did get a dog now, though! Cujo is the best dog.

That’s all to say that he’s beyond tired.

“Whoever came up with the saying “Sleep when you’re dead” is a fucking liar!” he exclaimed, flopping face-first onto Sam’s bed.

She snorted. “Don’t be dramatic, Danny.”

“No, no, he’s got a point,” Tucker said, “Danny’s been getting less sleep since he died!”

Danny groaned again. Sam rolled him over so that he could breathe as he detransformed. “Any luck with getting through the Media Block?”

It was Tucker’s turn to groan. He leaned back so far that he fell onto the floor, but he didn’t care. “No! I don’t know how they’re doing it, but outside news can come in, but nothing’s able to go out.”

That particular issue has gotten a lot of people up in arms. Just after the Ghost Portal was opened, the US Government sent a privately funded branch - the Ghost Investigation Ward, GIW for short and Guys In White for shits and giggles - to contain it. Instead of containing or shutting down the portal, they decided to put the entire down on a soft lock-in, meaning that anything can come in but almost nothing can go out.

The G.I.W. is a branch of the Bureau of Normalcy. Bureau of Normalcy is an organization dedicated to the weaponization or eradication of entities they deem to be odd. Basically government funded war crimes. So no different than what the government normally does, just with a different name. The G.I.W. are the offshoot that specializes in dealing with ghosts.

Getting rid of the G.I.W. is basically number two on the priority list. Once they’re gone, the Media Block will go with them, so will most of the property damage and about a third of Danny’s stress. Sabotaging his parents’ tech so that it’s safer for all parties comes in at a very close second, with making sure the living and dead don’t destroy each other.

“On a slightly different topic,” Sam said, “How have the protections on the Portal been coming along?”

Another project Danny’s been working on in what little spare time he has. Since getting his powers, he’s joined Sam in reading up on different kinds of magic, going so far as to start looking into the greater occult community. That’s when he came up with the idea of putting protection runes around and on the Ghost Portal. Unfortunately, the runes have to be both a specific type and insanely supercharged in order to work on or near the portal. He hasn’t managed to find the  right runes and nothing has been helpful. Another reason to reach out to the Justice League, actually.

Originally, he’d wanted to ask the Justice League for advice and maybe for help from any actual magic users they know. He was perfectly fine, brushing off what he’d been born learning and using those skills, but he was born to kill, not save, so advice from actual heroes would’ve been nice. Unfortunately, the G.I.W. says that he can’t have nice things, so he doesn’t.

Leaving the town was an option that everyone had, but no one was willing to uproot their entire lives because the government got a little bit pissy and don’t know how to listen to their people.

“Not good,” he told her, “The runes keep blowing up in my face.”

“Have you asked any of the ghosts?” Tucker hadn’t bothered to get off of the floor, but he was still working at getting through the Media Block.

Danny shook his head. “None of them are helpful. They won’t listen to me unless we’re fighting and, I don’t know if you know this, but asking about magic runes isn’t really the thing I’m thinking about while trying to save people.”

Sam rubbed her forehead, her eyes closed. “Alright, I’ll look through my grandma’s books again to see if we can find something.” She sighed. “This would be so much easier if we could actually contact someone.”

“I’m working on it!” Tucker snapped, “These guys have something that keeps changing the code on me and it’s near impossible to work through! The second I put even a crack in their firewalls, it fills itself up! How the hell am I supposed to get around a living firewall?”

“Sorry, Tuck,” Sam said, “I know you’ve been working your ass off on that.”

He laughed humorlessly, “That’s an understatement if I’ve ever heard one.”

The three delved into silence, working on their own projects. Tucker was doing his best against the Media Block, Sam was looking everywhere for protection runes strong enough to work on the Portal, and Danny was adding entries to his Catalogue Des Fantômes.

He was on page nineteen of the notebook, the last entry having been Youngblood. There was only one entry that wasn’t actually a ghost, though, but Danny always skilled over that page when he could. Freakshow, theRingmaster of Circus Gothica scared the ever loving shit out of Danny. He hated not being in control of himself. He hated the memory lapses when he was under someone else's influence. He hated that he hurt his friends.

The page he was working on was for the blob ghosts. They were low-threats and adorable. They also made wonderful informants, being able to fly far and fast and listen and relay without being caught. The only problem was that he was pretty sure only other ghosts could see and understand the little blobs.

“It’s been really quiet recently, don’t you think?” Tucker said after about an hour of quietly doing their own thing.

“What do you mean?” Sam asked.

“It’s just been…quiet,” he explained, “Not a lot has been happening. Like, at first, there were attacks every day, but it’s Sunday and Youngblood was the only ghost to attack.”

Danny sat up, coming to the same realization as Tucker. “Oh, no,” he said, catching the other twos’ attention.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“You spoke it into existence.”

“Huh?”

“You said it’s been quiet; Now something’s gonna-!” He was cut off by a rumble that shook the mansion. Swearing, Danny transformed into Phantom and flew out of the window. He didn’t get very far before noticing what was wrong. Sam and Tucker both joined him at the window.

“Holy shit.” Sam muttered.

Tucker nodded. “What the hell?”

The sky, previously a clear blue, was now swirls of toxic green and black. Everything was dimmer, despite the amount of lights in the town. The clouds were all gone, replaced with nothing that was so glaringly obvious that the trio found themselves feeling agoraphobic. The biggest change, though, was that they were now on an island. Where there had been fields stretching on forever just a few minutes ago, there was now a drop into a fading green to black void. Also, everything was tinted purple.

Phantom was quick to regain himself. He flew back to his house because this wasn’t right. Why was Amity Park in the Infinite Realms? How was Amity Park in the Infinite Realms? Both questions he needed answers to yesterday.

As he passed, he saw people freaking out, running around like chickens with their heads cut off to find someone who might have an answer.

Red Huntress was out and about, so he flew to her as fast as he could. “Get everyone to calm down!” he shouted over the noise of everyone screaming below them.

She glared at him. “What the hell is going on?” she demanded.

Now, he and Red have never quite gotten along. Sure, they’ve worked together, but him knowing her and her not knowing him was really the only thing stopping them from getting along perfectly. At least she’d stopped trying to turn him into the G.I.W.

“I don’t know,” he answered, “But I’m gonna find out. As soon as I do, I’ll tell you!” She nodded and was off to work damage control.

It took another few minutes before Phantom was at his house. Using both invisibility and intangibility, he flew down into the lab, vacant of any occupants, and went straight to the Portal. The Portal that was now an empty shell of bad memories. There was no power running through it.

“What..?” He turned on a dime, Plasmius now directly behind him. “What did you do?”

The older ghost clicked his tongue and shook his head. “What makes you think I did this? You have such a low opinion of me?”

“Yes.”

“Shame.”

“Am I wrong?” The silence spoke for itself. “What the hell did you do, Vlad.”

“Now, now, Daniel, no need to be so hostile.”

“Really? ‘Cause we’re no longer on Earth, dipshit.”

“Language, Daniel.”

“My name is ‘Danyal’, asshole.”

“That’s what I said,” he smirked, “Daniel.”

He stopped himself from starting a physical altercation and took a deep breath. “Just tell me what happened so that I can go clean up after you again.”

“I did not cause-”

“Just shut the fuck up and tell me what happened!”

“Well, that’s quite the contradiction or requests-”

Danny threw his hands in the air and left Plasmius in the lab. He didn’t have time for Vlad’s pathetic attempt at mind games! He had shit to figure out and people to help calm down.

“Walking away in the middle of a conversation?” Plasmius caught up easily, “How rude. Where did you learn your manners?”

“Maybe if you’d actually be helpful for once in your goddamn existence, then I’d be more inclined to stay and chat for a moment. As it stands, though, you’re doing a shit job of being mayor. Your people are freaking the fuck out and you’re here antagonizing me. Now, if you really wanna have a conversation, you can tell me what you did.”

Plasmius was quiet for a moment. Then, he admitted, “The King.”

Phantom blinked. “That what?”

“The King.”

“You don’t mean the King-King, right? The one that all the blob ghosts weaned me about? The one I’m sure you were also warned about? That King?” He asked, “Because I can hear the capitalization in your voice, Plasmius, and if you woke up the one guy that could actually destroy the world, then I’m gonna beat your ass and feed your head to a duck.”

The older man had the audacity to look sheepish. “I took his ring. He didn’t like that, so he woke up.”

Phantom groaned, dragging his hands down his face. Taking an unnecessary and deep breath, he said, “Here’s what’s gonna happen. You’re gonna go down there and explain exactly what the hell you did. I don’t care if you blame yourself as Vlad or if you blame yourself as Plausmius, but they need to know. You also need to do your damn job and calm them the fuck down. I am going to figure out how to fix this because you will only get in my way.” He flew away.

Gods, Danny doesn’t get paid nearly enough for this.

*

For the first time since he’d died, Danny was scared for his life. He was all alone, stepping up to fight the King of Ghosts; A powerful deity who rules over the Realms of the dead and the living and everything in-between. He’s got the power to pull an entire city into the Realm Between. He could probably destroy the Living Realms if he so chose to!

And Danny was challenging him to a fight. With no back up. And no hope for medical because he didn’t tell anyone he was going to be fighting the King. If he makes it out of this no more dead than he already was, he’s going to sleep for a week. Everyone else can just stop bothering him.

He stepped up to the steps of Pariah’s Keep. The building was huge, red, glowing, and beyond imposing. It looked like every horrible aspect of every castle was shoved into one and painted to look like it was coated in the blood of the Living.

He’s never been nervous for a fight before.

Danny steeled himself, shoving his fear into the deepest recesses of his mind, and started up the stairs. He could feel eyes on him, but he didn’t know where they were from. He ignored them, letting his transformation wash over him as he walked. All the ghosts knew who he was anyway, so he didn’t feel the need to hide his transformation from them.

He stepped into the great hall, a black and red throne standing proudly on a raised dais at the end of the room. The reflective obsidian floor looked like a void of nothing, the light from the torches on the walls seemed to be absorbed into the void.

Pariah Dark, King of Ghosts, stood tall at the bottom of the dais. His skin was white, his hair and eyes toxic green, his armor black and gray, his cape black and red. The belt and sash he wore both had skulls on them, and he had a longsword on his hip that had a matching skill pommel.

“You are foolish to come here alone.” The King looked down his nose at him. His voice boomed through the room, but he didn’t raise it.

Phantom had adjusted his own outfit, making it look more like what the older assassins wore in Nanda Parbat. He had several knives hidden around his person, his katana on his left hip, a rapier on his right hip, and a tanto on his back.

“I am more concerned for the safety of my home than the  safety of myself. Bringing anyone with me would’ve put them at risk.”

The King sneered. “You are foolish, child. Connections such as those will only drag you down. Cut them, and you will only grow stronger.”

“Y’know, my Grandfather used to tell me something similar when I was a child.”

“Your Grandfather was a wise man.”

“High praise coming from you, you’re majesty. You wouldn’t happen to know who he is, do you?”

“You smell of the Pits; Lifeblood of the Between Realm that has found its way into the Living Realms. You do not have the anger to have been submerged, but you have been around them.” The King stated, “Tell me, where were you born, K̴͔̑͘u̸̙͌̋͠m̴̬̯̤̄͗̊��m̷̹̜̟̣̈ḯ̴͚͕̙̗̥̀t̸͚̠̭̣͎̒̄u̷̺̹̫̅͑ṡ̷̞͆l̶̝̈́̌̅a̶̹̪̎̇̈̈̓p̸͎̬͖̺͊̾̽͜š̶̞̤̞͐͗͝?”

Despite knowing that that was not a language he had learned, he knew what was said. “L̵̤̞͎̓ử̷͈͉̫̆͊͠m̵̡͓̣͂͋e̵̩̹̼̠̬͆͑ ̴͈̦͒͒ő̸͓̀̂͘r̵̞̰̠̟̓̓ǧ̵̛͈̜̪͋,” he answered, “V̴̯͓̀a̸̼̩̐̉r̷̪͂j̸̛͕̼̈́͌u̶͔̐͌d̴͓͍̀̍͝e̵̤̐ ̵͉̖̅̃ͅǫ̸̹̩̅͌r̸̢̙̕͜ġ̷̦͝, The living call it Nanda Parbat.”

“A̶̧̞̯̓ḷ̶̡͕̰̫̏a̴̛̤̲͔̅̄́͝s̸̝̔͑t̴̫̏̉͋i̶̢̼͈̪̎̂́̕ ̷̼͉̐͌͊̑̾m̶̯̹͔̺͂̀͜ḁ̷͍̟͇̞̈̀̒͆͝͠g̵͈͚̹̽ĭ̶̪̰̿̒,” King Pariah repeated, “I am familiar with that place. You say you were born there?”

“Correct.”

“Do you fight to protect, or do you fight to rule?”

“I fight to protect.”

“Alright, T̶̨͇͋͌͆͌́ä̸͇̰͓̿h̷̥̓͌͋̈̔̓t̴̗̻͚͈͚̺̓́̔e̴̢̯̱̓̄̎̾̆ḑ̷̬̔ḛ̷̱̭̙̪͑̃͌̓͐ ̵̭̯͔̈̈̇̓̕̕l̶̜̞̺̜̦̋̿̄͒͊a̶̢̼͈͆p̶͓̟̱̣̉š̶̹͋̄̕͝,” he drew his sword, Danny did the same. “I will display your banner amongst your kin.” The fight began.

Phantom and Pariah crossed blades in the middle of the room. The King had both hands on the hilt of his, pushing his weight into where the metal clashed. Phantom was wielding his katana, his left hand open and prepared to either go for a dagger or join his right hand on the katana. After a few moments of struggle, the two pushed away, evenly matched for strength.

Again, Pariah made the first move, lunging at Phantom with a burst of flight to speed him up. They crossed blades, but didn’t hold as the large ghost spun around to strike at Phantom from behind. Phantom met his blade with the dagger that fell from his sleeve into his hand. The nerve damage transferred between forms, making the grip on the dagger slip. He slid Pariah’s blade away to cover the fault, though he was nicked in the arm. He didn’t feel it.

As he slid the sword, Phantom’s katana reached to hit Pariah. The blade grazed off the armor, ringing with the force. Phantom was forced to dodge away to save the blade. He was quick to stash it, bushing the dagger back up his sleeve and pulling the rapier from its place on his hip.

Pariah feinted around Phantom’s jab, getting close stabbing at his thigh. He managed a graze before having to pull back in a dodge. Phantom’s rapier caught Pariah's cape, tearing through it and pulling it off of his shoulders. Growling, he pulled the rest of the fabric off, discarding it quickly.

The two stood apart from each other. The floor remained spotless and the torches undisturbed. The two halves of the cape laid at the feet of the two.

“You duel well,” The King commended.

Phantom nodded in thanks. “I do not have nearly your experience, however I was born with a weapon in my hand.”

Again, they met blades in the middle, green sparks flying off at the initial contact. Phantom was quick to slip another dagger into his hand, pushing his enemy’s blade up so he could get in close. As soon as he did, he shoved the dagger into the gap between the ghost’s chest plate and twisted.

Pariah cried out and threw Phandom away from him, the younger ghost hitting the wall before landing on the floor in a crouch. He pulled the dagger from his gut, the thing only inhibiting his movement. Like Phantom, he did not heal.

Switching his weapon again, Phantom lunged forward first with matching daggers in his hands. Pariah kept both blades away with his own, nimbly moving away when he could afford to and kicking when he could not. Finally, he knocked both dagger’s from Phantom’s hands and stabbed through the ghost child’s left hand.

The phantom pain from nerves that no longer worked caused Phantom to scream. He gritted his teeth and grabbed the blade with his other hand, cutting it, and wrapped his legs around Pariah’s arm. The older ghost grunted, lifting his sword and Phantom together. He raised him above his head before slamming him back down into the floor. Again, Phantom screamed, but he began to pull the longsword from The King’s hand.

Raising his arm and slamming Phantom back into the ground over and over again, Pariah didn’t notice his grip on his blade was loosening until Phantom had pulled it from him entirely. In a show of strength, the sword was thrown to the other side of the throne room. It stabbed into the wall, the edge chipping and rolling in several different places.

“You brat!” The King roared. Phantom let go of his arm, flipping away and landing in a crouch near the wall. Pariah gave chase, throwing punches when he got close. Soon, the battle was taken to the air, both parties flying.

Pariah Dark fought like a brawler, all heavy hits and weighted punches. He liked to stay firmly in place when he hit, being too big to outrun his opponent.

Phantom, on the other hand, fought like a snake, relying on speed and flexibility. He used the daggers hidden on his person to wear his opponent down. He was always on the move, depending heavily on outlasting whoever he was fighting.

The King grabbed the ghost child by his neck, squeezing hard enough that Phantom heard a creak, pain radiating from where his bones would be. “You have lost.”

Phantom smirked, “Not quite,” he said. He kicked up, knocking Pariah in the chin, and punched his elbow, flying out of range when the grip on his neck loosened. He gasped for air on habit, green blood leaking from his mouth.

Pariah stood at his full height. “Why do you fight, Ț̷̿̇̾͘a̴̘̪̘̥͖͈͆s̵͙̎̃̍̋͊͜á̴̟̲̰̲̃̓̎͘͠k̵̡̰̖̝̳̑̄a̸̹̹̮͊͆͛̆̈́̕a̶̙̝̭͔̘̪̿̓̃̍̊̾͜͝l̸̨̞͎̫̮̅u̸͓̒́́͆͋̇͠ ̶̛̺̰̦͔̞͖̯͇͑͆̔͝l̶̨̛̖̝̫̭̱̿̃̊̿̉͘̕å̴̢̯͍p̶̡̢̬̩̣̃̏̓̾͋̈̔s̷̱͎̄̅ͅ?”

“To protect,” Phantom glared, “T̵̳̪̂̌̎y̵̛̭̻̖̽r̴̹̰̗͝ḁ̸͚̟̈̆n̴͔̞͊̈͑ṅ̷̝̂-̷̼͙̼̏̃k̴̛̙̣̠͑û̶̘͍̞ň̷͈͇̲ỉ̶̛̗̺͜͝n̸͐̈́͜͠g̴̼̀ä̸̞͙̲́s̶͎̬͙̀͒.”

The King laughed, the sound wet as green blood fell from his mouth and cuts, his chestplate being stained by the stuff. “You will End if you keep that foolish mindset.”

Phantom smirked. “Maybe,”

Pariah’s eyes closed, his entire being losing its glow. Slowly, he disappeared, leaving behind a small ball of fire. Over the orb was his crown, the green fire fading from the black metal. A small black ring joined them on the floor.

He waited for several minutes, staring at the small orb, the ring, and the crown. Then, he fell to his knees with a smile. “I…I did it.” His smile grew to a grin. “I did it!”

Translation 1 - French: Ghost Catalog

Translation 2 - Estonian & Zalgo: Ghost Child

Translation 3 - Estonian & Zalgo: Valley of Snow … Valley of Shadows

Translation 4 - Estonian & Zalgo: Naked Mountain

Translation 6 - Estonian & Zalgo: Child of the Stars

Translation 7 - Estonian & Zalgo: Child of Balance

Translation 8 - Estonian & Zalgo: Tyrant King

Part 8 Part 10

[mysticstronomy]

DID MARS EVER CONTAIN WATER??

Blog#428

Saturday, August 17th, 2024.

Welcome back,

While the icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn contain water, Mars remains dry. Despite dozens of space missions, the Red Planet has yet to provide convincing proof that it conceals significant water reserves beneath its surface.

Yet Earth's little cousin hasn't always been so secretive. Various studies have shown that a little over 4 billion years ago, it experienced a "watery" era when lakes, rivers and perhaps even oceans could maintain themselves on its soil. Branching valleys and ancient terrains rich in hydrated clays are evidence of this blissful period of abundance.

Subsequently, the loss of part of the Martian atmosphere led to a reduction in the greenhouse effect followed by a gradual disappearance of water. The question is how long this process lasted and under what conditions. This is what the American Space Agency's (NASA) Curiosity and Perseverance spacecraft have been trying to establish since their arrival in 2012 and 2021 in the Gale and Jezero craters.

"Lakes occupied these depressions 3.5 or 3.6 billion years ago," explained Nicolas Mangold, a director of research at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) Laboratory of Planetology and Geosciences in Nantes.

By studying the sedimentary and clay deposits left by the former and exploring the ancient river delta that fed the latter, the aim is to determine whether the climate at the time was wet and cold, or dry and hot. The Perseverance rover is also collecting samples, to be brought back to Earth as part of the MSR mission [Mars Sample Return, NASA-European Space Agency (ESA)]. They should provide precise information."

For the moment, things are hazy. If water has flowed on Mars, where has it gone? Was it sucked up into space with the Martian atmosphere or did some of it remain on site, buried underground? Many teams around the world are working to find answers by searching for clues to its presence other than those offered by polar ice caps and glaciers.

As water cannot remain in a liquid state for long on the surface of Mars, these investigations often consist of spotting recent traces of its passage using instruments placed in orbit. This opens the way to all kinds of controversy about how to interpret observations of this world, whose morphology is radically different from that of Earth. "Some of these controversies, such as those concerning gullies – ravines 1 or 2 kilometers long, discovered by the hundreds along certain landforms in the early 2000s – have finally been settled," said Susan Conway, a CNRS researcher at the Laboratory of Planetology and Geosciences in Nantes.

Her team recently demonstrated in the journal Nature Communications that seasonal deposits of dry ice explain the phenomenon, and not water flows.

Other clues continue to fuel debate and even controversy among scientists. The nature of "equatorial dark flows," the background noise of radar signals suggesting the existence of an underground sea beneath the North Cap, the presence of possible channels in the ejecta of impact craters and the hypothetical formation of "rides" in areas of glacial retreat. If water exists on Mars, it is well camouflaged.

Why not deep underground, frozen in the cryosphere? Or preserved in liquid form in aquifers, or inside the thin film of perchlorate brine that supposedly exists at the base of the permafrost that covers Mars at high latitudes? The Marsis and Sharad radars of the Mars Express (ESA) and MRO (NASA) probes have pinpointed promising regions. And when NASA's Phoenix lander dug a few centimeters into the frozen ground just after it arrived in 2008, it immediately uncovered blocks of water ice – a further reason for hypothesis and speculation.

Originally published on https://www.lemonde.fr

COMING UP!!

(Wednesday, August 21st, 2024)

"DID LIFE EXIST ON VENUS??"

[stellaestra]

I look into the spaces in-between in search of you (I miss you more than anything)

pairing: tim drake/mc [reader] author's note: old ideas from high school for me to write excerpts about as per usual and tim's my muse to explore these ideas on unless stated otherwise, if you see this posted on ao3, yes that is me too dw

this is unfortunately very self-indulgent hehe <3 mb babes p.s. this cld be taken as both ways? romantic? platonic? take your pick lol

word count: 1511 words

cw: um, mentions of injury? unedited // no beta read, we'll die like men here

---

It had been days since the last time Tim had slept ever since he found footage of someone that seemed eerily familiar to you, clad in a bright red jacket that was practically your signature back then. It was one of your favourite jackets after all.

He was getting a little too frantic and was rather adamant about them being you. He wanted to prove to everyone that you weren't dead but alive. 

He would delay the process of falling asleep if he had to.

“Red Robin.” He spoke into the mic.

“Access approved.” The artificial intelligence responded back.

“Where are they hiding you?” The words trailed off, his eyes were already glued to the screen. 

His icy blues scanned through the files; that includes, footage, clips and articles – each and every one of them, trying to search a certain code-name belonging to someone he once knew very well like the back of his hand and grew extremely fond of over the course of the years of knowing them.

The only footage that could have matched your physique was that single footage alone and it irked him to no end. 

He was already rather obsessed with the idea of trying to search for you and none of his family members nor friends managed to deter him away from his work.

However, there was a single tiny nagging voice in the back of his head that reminded him of the possible reality that there was no way you would come back unless some kind of miracle brought you back to life like what had happened to Jason and he never really touched that particular topic whenever asked.

Only vague answers from him. He would always end the conversation before it started.

—

Meanwhile, you weren't quite pleased with the fact that you had to drop out of your current school and had to take online classes to finish your high school education for the sake of a diploma to show you completed everything that was necessary to proceed further into higher education. 

Well, at least there was some compensation for it, the organisation you were under was paying for your education so you couldn't complain as much as you would like. Whether you like it or not, you need to be under everyone's radar for the time being because you were relatively vulnerable while you were in the middle of recovering.

It was rather unfortunate that you had obtained a very life-threatening wound months ago, it took you ages to finally feel like your body was yours and move it the way your brain intended it to. 

The phantom pain of being stabbed was another thing to deal with in the midst of doing your everyday life now. 

Your recovery period was a lot more sedentary than you would have liked too. There was always a constant itch to do workout routines that was far too intense for your weakened state at the moment.

All in all, this was something they told you to do and it was to keep prying eyes away from you until you reached full recovery before being deployed back onto the field.

Staying with your grandma was pretty nice too, it had been quite some time since your family last visited her and it was always annual visits at the end of the school year for Christmas. 

Your other issue living in a more secluded area was, of course, none other than net signal stability. It kind of helped you to be harder to be detected and traced back but it still irked you that you would need to wait longer for your files to be downloaded.

Regardless, life has been much simpler and far less hectic than your usual ones back home. It was nice to be able to breathe for once instead of being dogpiled by both your school tasks and your other responsibilities.

It wasn't easy for your uncle to convince your parents for you to move away for your recovery period after your so-called hit and run accident which was a cover-up for your actual one. 

—

It had taken several months for Tim to get the final clue needed to prove you weren't dead and he finally got it now —

“Found you.” Tim muttered under his breath, sounding almost unhinged — wide icy blue eyes zeroed in on another footage he managed to scrape through the worldwide database, fingers hovering his keyboard. 

The teen had immediately booked the next flight available to where you were now regardless of the schedules that had lined up for him. He couldn't give a flying damn about it right this second now that he finally located your whereabouts they so desperately tried to conceal your presence from everyone.

He jumped to his closet, scavenging through his mess of clothes to throw into his carry-on luggage bag for him to bring with on his impromptu trip.

The next morning, he made his way to Gotham’s airport without so much as leaving a note to mention where he would be. He doesn't want anything to risk his solid decision.

The dawning realisation fell upon him when he touched-down at your home country airport. He was finally here. He was finally able to see you now. 

His next hurdle was to track you down to your very exact location and it wasn't going to be a breeze for him – he hated to admit and they covered your tracks far too well for any mistakes to happen. 

It took him roughly a week or so to get a clue of you. 

—

Tim spotted your silhouette from miles away before he made a beeline for you. He called out your name almost desperately, causing you to turn back and face him. 

You looked as pretty as the last time he saw you. A sheepish look plastered your features as you faced him fully. 

“...Found you.” He exhaled out, he was a little out of breath from sprinting to your spot. Call him crazy or whatever. He wasn't going to lose sight of you. 

“...Uh, hi, hey, Timbo,” you chuckled, your eyes betrayed you as there was a look of guilt behind them despite you trying to play it off coolly, “took you long enough, huh?” 

He remained silent as he stared at you, soaking in your presence and trying to etch everything about you right now into his brain. His icy blue eyes were starting to intimidate you right now because you rarely ever felt so exposed in someone's presence before. 

“Heh, well, don't let it get to your head,” you joked, running your fingers through your hair, “the only reason you were able to find me was because I let myself be found.”

“Shut up, I'm very upset with you right now,” His words sounded wet, as if he was fighting back his tears even though there was a deep frown set on his lips, jaws clenched and shoulders straightened (tensed). There was nothing else that indicated that he was about to cry other than his voice that carelessly betrayed him.

He had managed to trace you back to your home country was one thing, the other part was finding you at your exact location was another gamble.

He found you at the beachside of Sipitang, a town located in one of Sabah's district divisions, taking a walk while eating chicken wings skewers you had bought in a plastic dangling in your hands.

“Why, you want a reward for finding me sooner than intended?” You teased, raising an eyebrow at him, “the only thing I have on me right now is my chicken wings if you want some?”

He doesn't know what to do with himself nor what he would like to say to you now that he has found you, safe and sound in Borneo Island. He wanted to pull you into his arms so badly but he withholded himself from doing so because you would look at him weird for even attempting such a feat. 

You've known Tim for several years now and you would like to think you knew him from the inside out enough to take notice of his little quirks and decipher them to how he would like to be perceived as.

You opened your arms wide, inviting him for the hug that the other boy was trying to force himself not to give.

It took him a few moments to finally give in, and pushed his pride away to embrace you, taking you into his arms and feeling the warmth you gave away through your body. He hid his face into the crook of your neck, inhaling your familiar scent.

“I miss you.”

“I'm very much aware,” you chuckled into his shoulders, squeezing him, “don't think I didn't notice you snooping around our database, you loser."

“I need to prove to them you aren't dead and I need to see it with my own eyes.” He admitted, wounding his arms tighter around you.

“Of course you’d do that, you stalker.” 

“I really did miss you.”

“Me too.”

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Ryan W. Briggs, Max Marin, and Ellie Rushing at Philadelphia Inquirer:

BETHEL PARK, Pa. — In the sea of caps and gowns, Thomas Matthew Crooks hardly stood out. Few people clapped when his name was called. A YouTube video of his graduation two years ago from Bethel Park High School shows a slender and bespectacled student receiving his diploma with a soft smile. But the class of 2022 awoke Sunday to learn that the 20-year-old Allegheny County man was notorious, the shooter in the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump during a rally that left an ex-firefighter, Corey Comperatore, dead and two other attendees wounded. U.S. Secret Service counter-snipers killed Crooks moments after he opened fire on the Saturday night rally from a nearby rooftop. The FBI said Sunday they believed he acted alone. He had not been on the bureau’s radar.

Crooks’ actions shocked residents in his hometown, sparked countless conspiracy theories online, and prompted investigators to begin combing through every aspect of his life, looking for motive. The mystery has been fueled by a near-total absence of Crooks’ social media postings, political writings, or other digital fingerprints. Several former classmates appeared on national television Sunday, quickly casting Crooks as a stereotypical loner who was bullied heavily during his time at Bethel Park. One of them, Jason Kohler, told reporters Sunday that students tormented Crooks “almost every day” and that he often wore “hunting” outfits to class. “He was just an outcast,” Kohler said, “and you know how kids are nowadays.” Yet, two former students interviewed by The Inquirer disputed the characterization. They did not recall specific incidents of violence or other antagonism involving their now-infamous classmate in the community they described as generally tight-knit.

[...] The slight traces of public information Crooks left behind leave few clues about his political ideology. Federal campaign finance records show he made a $15 donation to progressive political action committee in 2021 after President Joe Biden’s election, but later registered as a Republican, according to Pennsylvania voter data. His father was a registered Libertarian, his mother a Democrat. Crooks’ body was found on the rooftop of an agricultural tool manufacturing plant a few hundred feet from the rally with an AR-style semiautomatic rifle — legally purchased by his father. The shooter was wearing a T-shirt promoting “The Demolition Ranch,” a YouTube channel for gun enthusiasts. If Crooks maintained any personal social media presence, it went largely undetected on Sunday. Discord, an instant messaging platform mainly used by video gamers, released a statement acknowledging Crooks held a “rarely utilized” account that contained no information relevant to the shooting.

Sigafoos did not recall Crooks making political overtures in class, but rather as someone interested in how government works, and “not trying to insert his own beliefs into it.” Another former classmate did not share this view. Max R. Smith recalled taking an American history course with Crooks as a sophomore. He did recall Crooks making political statements — but they shed no light on his actions Saturday. “He definitely was conservative,” he said. “It makes me wonder why he would carry out an assassination attempt on the conservative candidate.” Smith recalled a mock debate in which their history professor posed government policy questions and asked students to stand on one side of the classroom or the other to signal their support or opposition for a given proposal. “The majority of the class were on the liberal side, but Tom, no matter what, always stood his ground on the conservative side,” Smith said. “That’s still the picture I have of him. Just standing alone on one side while the rest of the class was on the other.”

The gunman who killed rallygoer Corey Comperatore and attempted the assassination of Donald Trump at Saturday night’s Butler, PA rally was not only a registered Republican but also a vehement conservative.

This should hopefully put an end to the right-wing’s nonsensical claim that a “violent leftist”/”Antifa” tried to kill Trump.

[blue-slxt]

Our Song Cord: What About The Way We Kiss The Same?

(Chapter 3)

🔞Minors Do Not Interact🔞

A/N: Welcome to the filth lol. I don't really have a whole lot to say about this chapter. It's just smut lol. I hope you enjoy! Every chapter title is a song reference so if you know the song, you get a cookie. I really really appreciate feedback so comments and reblogs are heavily encouraged. All characters are aged up.

Series Masterlist

Previous Part | Next Part

Pairing: Neteyam x Fem!Omatikaya!Reader

Warnings: Friends to Lovers, Smut, Heat Cycle, Masturbation, Oral (M receiving), P in V, Belly Bulge, Creampie, Knotting, I think that's it

Word Count: 3.8k

Summary: Your heat proves to be more than you're able to handle on your own. So you turn to the only person you can.

You get little to no sleep through your night. You’ve long abandoned your loincloth seeing as how you soaked through it hours ago. And now you have a huge wet spot on your sleep mat right under you. You’ve had short periods of reprieve where you took the chance to eat your utumauti and rest your eyes for as long as your body will allow. The herbs you got from Kiri aren’t working like they normally do. They usually let you get a couple of hours between the waves of desire, but now you’re lucky to get even one solid hour without needing to bury your fingers inside of yourself again. It’s so much worse this time and the intensity is only growing with the passing hours.

Before you know it, the whole day has dragged by in a hazy blur. The only thing you’re able to fully process is the deep, ravenous hunger inside of you that wants to rip through your body. It’s getting painful. You need something, anything to take away this agony. Your mind isn’t thinking clearly and you know that, yet, you can’t do anything to stop the ideas that start to seep in like a thick fog. It’s about dinner time and the whole clan should be gathered to start eating. You manage to pull on a new loincloth and weakly walk yourself out of your home.

You do your best to fly under the radar which is difficult with your pheromones assaulting the senses of every male Na’vi you pass. You decide it’s best to go through the trees to stay on the edge of the crowds. You climb up and cautiously jump from branch to branch moving in the same direction as the groups of people. When you reach the spot where everyone is gathered for dinner, you search and scan for Neteyam. You finally catch sight of him talking with Kiri, Lo’ak, and Layao. His arm is resting comfortably around her waist and his hand is sitting on her hip. It makes your body burn, but not in the good way.

You need to get his attention without attracting too much attention to yourself. If you get too close, everyone will smell you. But you can’t call out to him either. You have to think quick, time is ticking on your hormone clock. An idea pops in your mind, your signal. You and Neteyam would imitate an animal call to signal to each other when you needed to be discreet. It comes in handy when hunting or on missions. You cup your hands around your mouth and let off a high-pitched chirp in his direction. No one else even blinks brushing it off as a creature in the night, but Neteyam notices it. You can see how his eyes search around for the source of the call. While he’s scanning, you do it one more time and he finally starts looking up. His brows furrow together when he spots you. He doesn’t know why you’re hiding or why you needed to use your signal to get his attention, but he knows it must be something important.

You wave your hands and point in the direction behind you towards the shack hoping that he understands your message. He confirms by nodding his head one solid time at you and then he watches you disappear off into the trees. Neteyam politely excuses himself away from the group. He uses the excuse of forgetting that he was supposed to survey a part of the forest where a tip came in about some sky people. He reassured them that he’d be back soon and takes his leave. It was a believable enough excuse that no one questioned him about it and he was able to sneak away to come meet you by the shack.

Somehow through your lusty haze, you find your way to the old shack and nervously pace back and forth waiting for Neteyam to reach you. This is crazy. There’s no way he’ll agree to something like this. But then again, I mean, this is where this was always leading, isn’t it? Isn’t this just the natural progression of things? But he might reject you because of your heat. But now that you realize how you really feel about Neteyam, you don’t want it to be anyone else but him. All of these thoughts swirl around your head so much that they distract you from the sound of a twig snapping under the weight of an approaching Neteyam.

“Are you ok—” he cuts his own thought short as he gets closer and he smells the air around you. It smells like sweet sap from trees and exotic flowers. The smell tickles the back of his head and sends a shiver down his spine. And he realizes, “Your heat is here…”

You shift uncomfortably from one foot to the other hoping to try and create some kind of friction between your thighs and only offer him a nod as a response.

“Well, why aren’t you at home right now? Aren’t you supposed to be riding it out?” his face and voice are full of concern. For whatever reason that you won’t attempt to make sense of right now, that fact makes you hot.

“I—I can’t, Teyam. It’s so much worse this time. None of my usual stuff is working. I need your help. Please.”

“But, what am I supposed to do?” A pause as the question hangs between you while you wait for him to catch on. “I need you to help me, Teyam. Please.”

His face flushes and his ears stand straight up finally clicking it into place what you were asking for. “O-Oh…”

Seeing his face now, you’re starting to regret this decision. Your eyes start to dart around feeling very insecure. “It’s fine if you don’t want to. I just figured that this was kind of where this whole thing was heading anyways. And I know that your ceremony is approaching so I kind of just figured the timing works out. But maybe this was silly. I just didn’t know who else to turn to and—” A pair of big hands on your face break your train of thought as your eyes find Neteyam’s. There’s a long moment where he just holds your gaze. Your tongue swipes across your bottom lip trying to add some kind of moisture back to your mouth that suddenly feels very dry. It’s probably because you didn’t even realize that you were panting at this point. Chills run through your veins as he stares at you. He finally leans in to kiss you and your body feels the first real wave of relief you’ve felt this whole time. It’s short lived though when he pulls away from you and your lips try to chase his to hold on the feeling. When your eyes flutter open to look at him, there’s a look in his eyes that you can’t fully comprehend its’ meaning right now, but none of that matters when he says, “I’ll do it.”

You could cry from happiness at his answer. You throw your arms around him and bury your face into his chest. “Thank you, Teyam. You really are the best there is.” And with that, you let your senses dissipate down to your bare bone, carnal instincts. Neteyam does his best to not show how flustered he actually feels. Especially once you start just subconsciously rubbing yourself against him. It feels like you need to drag every inch of your skin across his. He smells and feels so good. You just want to bathe yourself in this delectable smell. He clears his throat above you, “So, what do you need?”

Your hand automatically slides down his torso and past his tewng to grab his already stiff dick. You’re not sure which one of you shudders more at the contact. “Ahh…I need this.” Your free hand finds the knot keeping his loincloth around his hips and fumbles a bit at untying it, but you get it done. His dick springs up and slaps his stomach with a very audible thump. Your mouth is violently salivating while you drop to your knees in front of him. You can feel how your body is craving his. With no hesitation, you take him into your mouth and move your head at a steady pace.

When you look up at Neteyam, he can’t bring himself to hold your gaze for longer than a second. The sounds you’re making swallowing his dick are too much. You momentarily pop off him.

"You gonna fall in love with me, Teyam?" you say dragging the flat of your tongue up his full length and lightly sucking over his slit. Your tone is teasing not fully realizing just how loaded of a question that really was. You need his touch. Need to feel his hands on your body all over. You grab both of his wrists and guide his hands to rest on top of your head and use your fingers to urge him to take hold of your hair while you slide him back into your mouth. All the while, your eyes never leave his face. Watching his face contort with pleasure while you made him feel good was making electricity run up the back of your neck.

Neteyam’s perfectly polished self-control is gradually fading from his body when his hips start to buck forward into your awaiting mouth meeting your movements. You moan at the small tug of his fingers in your hair. Every push forces more of his length into your mouth until your nose is almost touching his pelvis. Your eyes roll feeling your slick pool in your tewng. Your pussy is getting needier with every suck and slurp. But you need to taste him. That sweet utumauti flavor. It’s a need you can feel deep in your bones.

His eyes close relishing in the feeling of his approaching orgasm. “Oh, Eywa, I’m close. Should I pull it out?” he tries to get the question out quickly before he can’t hold it back anymore. Much to Neteyam’s eye-rolling pleasure, you hum out ‘mm mm’ around him while gently shaking your head back and forth. “A-ah, if you…hng, do that…” his hips stutter in your mouth when his thick, hot seed shoots into the back of your mouth. His delicious flavor explodes over your tongue and it makes you feel like you could almost cum without even being touched yet.

A deep, guttural groan leaves his throat as you eagerly keep sucking his release out of him. You’re so desperate to get every last drop of him. So much so that he doesn’t even get the chance to get soft before he’s fully stiff again. He has to fully grab you by your hair and pull you off of him before you drive him to the point of overstimulation. You’re panting looking up at him. His eyes are soft, but the way his pupils have overtaken the color in his eyes tells you the truth of his desire.

Your fingers start to rub against your clothed cunt that was just begging for attention. “Please, Nete…I need you inside me…”

Self-restraint has now fully become a thing of the past. In fact, Neteyam was pretty sure in this moment that he didn’t even actually know what those words even meant. He couldn’t remember. They feel like a foreign concept in his mind right now. I mean, how could he possibly think about restraining himself when your voice is dripping with all the sweetness of a ripe yovo fruit calling out the name that he only liked to hear from your mouth? He didn’t stand a chance and you both knew it.

He crouches in front of you to capture your lips in another heated kiss. The taste of his mouth mixes with the taste of his cum still fresh on your tongue and it’s disorienting. He swallows the moans you let out against his lips. His hands fidget with the knot on your tewng until it finally falls from your hips. An absolutely shameless moan falls from your lips when his fingers come into contact with your core. He easily slips two fingers inside of you and, while it makes your hips jerk, it’s not enough, not tonight when you’re feeling needier than ever. It takes all your will power to pull your lips away from his so that you can lie on your back. Your hands push your top out of the way to expose your chest and you spread your legs for him.

Neteyam is left awestruck staring down your most intimate area. The way your skin is shining from being covered in your slick and the slightly pink color peeking between your royal blue skin. Not to mention the tanhì speckled around your mound and converge perfectly above your clit. It’s his first time seeing it so clearly and he can’t help but think how pretty you look. His tail excitedly thrashes behind him and he just feels stuck.

“Nete, don’t stare. It’s embarrassing.” Your hands cover your face hoping to hide the blush coloring your face. You don’t look at him yet, but you can hear him shuffle around in front of you. His body slides in between your still open legs and he uses one hand to move yours from in front of your face so that you have to look at him. His face is so close to yours and his eyes are peering down at your lips making you part them slightly. There’s so much you want to say to him, but the words never find you. They don’t feel like enough to fully convey what you feel so you let your body do all the talking for you.

Your arms fall around his neck and pull him back into a kiss. One of his hands stays planted next to your head to hold himself up while the other is softly gripping your hip. His tip is just barely brushing against your clit and it makes you whine helplessly as your hips rut up trying to meet him. You take it upon yourself to line him up with your entrance. His hips chase the warmth of your body and he pushes into you slowly. Your back jumps to arch up against him when the head pops in. The stretch is just on the very edge of being painful, but not quite all the way. Your face nuzzles into the crook of his neck as his arms come up to cradle around your head while he keeps slowly stroking his full length into you. Your nose lingers around his scent gland and you breathe in big, heady lung fulls of his scent. His lips kiss at your gland right below your ear and normally, this would be something you would both avoid, but your need is too great. You decide you'll deal with whatever the fallout is later, but for right now, you need to have him completely be yours.

When he bottoms out in you he just holds himself there letting you and him adjust to all the new sensations you’re both experiencing. He’s so big and deep in you that there’s a small bump protruding through your stomach almost reaching your navel. The pain is almost gone, but you can’t wait for it to fully subside.

“N-Need you to move, Nete.” Your hips are already grinding up into him searching for some kind of friction that can hopefully finally scratch that itch. When he slowly pulls out and pushes back in, you can feel how every inch drags perfectly against the spongey part of your walls sending you jolts of satisfaction. And now you question how you’ll ever survive another heat cycle without a partner to help you through it like this.

“Mm…Ahh. Faster. It’s okay.” You reassure him.

“Is this good?” he asks speeding up his pace. The lovestruck expression on his face is overwhelming while he makes you feel oh so fucking good.

Your pussy spasms and hugs tight around his cock that’s buried to the hilt inside of you. “Mhm! Ah, that’s good.” Somehow, you still want more. You don’t know how much closer you could get, but your skin is burning for more of his touch. You lead one of his hands to hold one of your breasts, “Touch me, Nete.”

It’s like your words flip some kind of switch for him. His fingers start to massage the soft skin under his touch. You watch the physical change on his face as his whole demeanor relaxes and he lets himself give in to his urges. His eyes are still soft on you, but the nerves are gone. There’s not a hint of hesitation left to be found. He starts to give you long, deep strokes filling the air with the loud squelching sounds of your pussy being stretched for the first time.

Neteyam’s voice drops to a low, hushed tone whispering sweet nothings in your ear.

“You feel so good, ma txe’lan. Oh, I want you so bad.” His pace gets faster as he speaks. You can hear his voice and you hear the words, but the meaning behind his words gets lost on the trip from his lips to your ears. The only thing you can think about is how he’s now fully pounding into your cervix and his sweet, sweet smell filling your dizzy head. Your hands claw at his back feeling the building tension in your core begin to tighten.

"Hng...you're taking me so well. Doing such a good job."

“Ah! Neteyam! Yes!” Your pussy clenches around every inch and ridge of his dick as he fills you making him suck in a sharp breath.

“Fuck, you’re so tight.” You can feel the swell of his knot starting to come in at the base of his cock. Feeling the constant knock of it against you sends you into a purely instinct-driven frenzy.

“Aah! Haah! HaAH! Fuck, I’m going to cum!” your legs are starting to tremble around his waist signaling your impending release. “I need…need your knot.”

His eyebrows scrunch together feeling unsure. You notice the look on his face and place your hands on either side of his face before he can protest. “Please knot me, Nete. Ahhhh…I need it so bad. Pleeeeaaase.” Your begging is nothing short of pitiful, but for Neteyam, he’s never been more aroused in his life. How is he ever supposed to deny his most precious girl what she wants when she’s literally begging for it? He knows he can’t.

His arms wrap completely around your middle and hold you against his body, fully lifting you off the ground balancing your combined weight on his knees and his lips attack your exposed throat. “S-Shit, I’m gonna make sure you take it.”

His knot prods at your opening struggling to fit the extra size in. When you shift your hips under him and spread your thighs just a little bit wider, it pushes in with ease. The extra size makes you want to scream, but Neteyam’s lips find yours just in time to muffle the sound. It throws you into the deep end of your orgasm and he watches as you come undone in his arms. The continual rolling of his hips against yours gives him just what he needs to reach his own high as his cum spills directly into you. His fingers hold you with bruising strength feeling the most intense release he’s ever had.

It’s hot like fire inside of you, but it ironically puts out the flame of your heat. Stars spot your vision as you reach your peak and ride it out clenching around Neteyam’s intruding length. Your body goes limp in his hold, but he still keeps you close. When you both come down, you stare into each other’s eyes letting the reality settle in your minds.

Neteyam is the one to finally break the silence, “Um, w-was that good?” his voice is small and unsure.

“That was perfect, Teyam. Thank you.” A euphoric smile sits on your face feeling the blissed-out afterglow wash over you.

He tries to shift his hips back out of you, but you both quickly realize that that’s not an option just yet when you wince a little in pain.

“I don’t think I can pull out of you without hurting you.”

“Yea. I guess we’re stuck like this for a while.” You say while you both look down at where you were still connected. Neteyam pulls back so that he’s sitting upright and brings you with him so that you were now straddling his lap. Your mind still isn’t fully coherent as now, instead of your body seeking a heated, lustful touch, you now only wanted comfort and compassion. Seeking out that safety, you let yourself cuddle into Neteyam’s chest and your body purrs with content.

His hands rest on your back and draw little shapes into your skin with his fingertips. He tries to focus on not immediately getting hard again, which only halfway works, and watches the sky in contemplation about his life and what he truly wanted.

It feels like the longest time that you both just sit there physically tied together and feeling the nirvana of the skin-to-skin contact while you wait for his knot to go down enough for him to slide out of you. Even when it does and he pulls out, you still stay holding onto each other for a few more minutes, neither one of you really wanting to turn back to reality after the time-suspending experience you just shared.

When you both get dressed Neteyam offers to walk you back home in case you were still feeling disoriented from your heat, but you assure him that you are fine enough to make it home on your own. You remind him that he needs to get back to dinner before people start to come looking for him.

“Thank you, Teyam. For everything. You really saved me.” You say only half-joking. Even though you know that you would have survived your heat somehow, when you were in the thick of it, it didn’t feel that way.

“Who’s the mighty warrior? Come on, say it.” He teases his signature line with a lighthearted lilt to his voice and a playful smile. You lightly shove his shoulder and scrunch your nose at him. At the same time, your heart can’t help but sputter in your chest. You quickly, without thinking, press a kiss to his cheek and turn on your heels to run home. “Good night, Teyam!”

Neteyam stands frozen in place, stunned. His face flushed and his tail swayed wildly behind him. His chest squeezes with the thought, the hope, the hunch that maybe, just maybe…you loved him too.

Taglist: @soleilmoon @netemoon @fifia-writes @strangersav11

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[lurkingshan]

Anticipating the LITBC Adaptations

One of the questions @bengiyo asked us this week is what parts of the book we are most looking forward to seeing in the upcoming film and drama adaptations. I had a good convo with @doyou000me and @stuffnonsenseandotherthings in the comments here, and I wanted to talk a bit about why I am excited for these adaptations.

Most folks who watch a lot of South Korean media know that there is precious little LGBTQ+ representation in Korean dramas and film. In mainstream kdrama, we are lucky if we get a queer side character a couple times a year, and it's even more rare for those characters to get a romantic partner (but not unheard of, see Be Melodramatic my beloved). There has been a big uptick in Korean bl production over the last few years, but most of those projects are underfunded and fly under the radar (with notable exceptions like Semantic Error, The Eighth Sense, and Love for Love's Sake). So it is a very big deal to me to see two mainstream adaptations of Love in the Big City, a story that is undeniably centered on a queer lived experience.

Let's talk about the film first. When I first saw the announcement that we would get a film adaptation starring Kim Go Eun, Steve Noh, and Kang Ha Neul, I was ecstatic. These are huge names in Korean media, drama headliners and movie stars. Now, does the choice to focus only on part 1 and center the story on Jaehee mean this project likely won't feel fully rooted in Young's queer perspective? Absolutely, we should recognize that and manage our expectations accordingly. But there will be a mainstream film about the relationship between a woman and a gay man living together, and that is already a very big deal for South Korea. We have to look at this project from the context of Korean social politics and recognize that it signifies progress. And I am still hopeful that Young will feel like a fully realized character, even if we are unlikely to see the full extent of his depth and complexity represented in this film.

And that is where the drama comes in. Sang Young Park himself is the screenwriter for this adaptation, and based on the production photos @my-rose-tinted-glasses shared here, we are getting all four parts of the story in this version. The cast here is not as famous as the film headliners, but they are recognizable, solid actors who have had main roles in other dramas. I don't know how these two projects came to be made at the same time, so I can only say that having them premiere around the same time is genius, whether by intention or happenstance. Because I can easily imagine that people who are exposed to this story for the first time via the film might then go check out the drama, where they will see a much fuller picture of Young's life and an authentic queer experience. @archiveofmystuff shared that there has been some reporting about the long process to secure funding for this full novel adaptation, and I'm not surprised it was difficult. But with Sang Young Park attached I feel confident that we will get a solid version of this story, even if it can't get quite as explicit about all the gory details as the novel did. I can't wait to see Young, Jaehee, Umma, Hyung, and Gyu-ho on my screen, and I'll be so curious to see how he structures the show to fit the four parts of his novel into eight 50-minute episodes. There are so many exciting possibilities and I am feeling optimistic.

TL; DR: it's a big deal that these adaptations are being made, and it will surely result in more people seeing Young's story. It's a signal of positive progress in the Korean media landscape, and I welcome it.

[tobiasdrake]

Digimon Adventure 01x25 - The Sleeping Tyrant! TonosamaGekomon / Princess Karaoke

Previously on Digimon Adventure: A curious thing happened on the way to Gennai. Koushiro was offered a self-help seminar that turned out to be a scam, so he filed suit and was awarded a new computer program by the arbiter.

Now, only two members of our group are still out there, though one seems to be lurking around. By process of elimination, there can be only one person Taichi and Jou are on their way to collect.

(That's right, fuckers; It's finally time to talk about my kid's Crest! I have been waiting for this episode since this project began. This is one of my most anticipated episodes!)

While Yamato and Takeru left on foot, Taichi and Jou seem to have doubled back to grab Yamato's swan boat. We find them pedaling their way across the great lake while Agumon and Gomamon confirm the reason that Gabumon couldn't have gone to get Takeru himself way back when.

Agumon: What beautiful weather! Gomamon: The water's sparkling! It feels great! Agumon: Keep it up, you two! Gomamon: We've lot to trade places with you.... Both: But we're too short to reach the pedals, ahahahahaha! Taichi: You weren't going to switch with us anyway! Agumon: Was that obvious? Taichi: Blatantly.

Absolute dicks, the both of them.

In his second line, Agumon playfully tells them to "Ganbare", a conjugation of ganbaru previously discussed in the WereGarurumon episode. This is particularly asshole of him. Considering recent circumstances, I think Jou's had quite enough of ganbaru to last a while.

This is a perfect spot for the dub to add a little spice.

Agumon: Hey, what's wrong, you guys? Can't you make this bucket go any faster? Joe: What are you doing to help? Agumon: Watching for icebergs. Gomamon: We'd gladly trade places with you but-- Both: --unfortunately our little legs won't reach the pedals! Hahahahahaha! Tai: Hey! We could go faster if we threw you off! Agumon: You wouldn't! Tai: It's tempting! Gomamon: ...better not.

The central gag this exchange is built around is preserved perfectly. Tai's comeback in particular is a lot stronger in the dub. He even scores a hit, as Gomamon sounds a little nervous in his final line.

As their boat makes shore, they look upwards in the direction of the signal to find their unexpected destination.

Taichi: That's... Jou: A castle! Taichi: (checks Digivice) The signal is coming from inside!

Pretty basic utility dialogue.

Most of this scene is sweeping shots of the landscape so the dub's able to start the boys talking much earlier, giving them more time to fill in longer lines.

Joe: That palace is huge! Everyone: Woooooow.... Tai: And way up there! As if my legs weren't tired already.... (checks Digivice) But there's no doubt about it; That is Mimi. So up we go!

Tai, how do you know that from a blip on a radar? We, the audience, know that to be Mimi because we know where Sora and Izzy are right now, but why do you know that? That could be one of three separate people.

I appreciate him bringing up the exhausting boat ride, though.

The boys make their way up a staircase carved into the cliff to reach the castle. Since there's no guards outside and the doors are unlocked, they're able to crack the door open and peek in.

There they find two new kinds of Digimon racing about in a panic.

Taichi: Frogs and tadpoles? Jou: What are they doing?

In the dub, Joe raises a valid question on the way up the stairs.

Joe: How do they get their mail!? (The boys peek inside) Tai: Is this a palace or some kind of looney bin? Joe: Seems like it's both.

While the boys spy in, the narrator comes in with rundowns for both of these new Digimon. The frogs are Gekomon, Adult-stage Virus-type Amphibian Digimon, while the tadpoles are Otamamon, Child-stage Virus-type Amphibian Digimon.

It probably goes without saying but they share an evolutionary lineage. Their line is in the same veil as Vegiemon, Numemon, and Scumon. A neglected Mochimon will evolve into Otamamon, while a poorly cared for Otamamon will then evolve into Gekomon.

(Mimi sure does have a way with bad evolutions. At least these ones aren't throwing poop at her.)

Gekomon: Busy-gero! Busy-gero! Narrator: Gekomon. You might not be able to tell but he loves music. With the three holes on the tip of his tongue, he uses the horn around his neck to perform his special attack, Crash Symphony. Otamamon: Busy-tama! Busy-tama! Narrator: Otamamon! An amphibian Digimon. Their special attack, Lullabye Bubble, lulls one to sleep.

Gekomon's name comes from the onomatopoeia for a frog's croak, of which there's a few variants. Gerogero, kerokero, and gekogeko are commonly used. Adventure uses gerogero and gekogeko interchangeably for the involuntary croaks that Gekomon add to their dialogue.

Otamamon comes from otamajakushi, the Japanese word for "tadpole". It's also worth noting that Japan often associates tadpoles with music, even to the point of using otamajakushi to also mean "musical note". I'm not 100% but I believe it's because of their similar shapes. This is why Otamamon sprout musical horns when they grow into Gekomon.

Over in the dub, the Partners deliver the diegetic rundown together.

Gekomon: Her Highness is getting angry! Gomamon: Oh, these are Gekomon? I've heard of them! They really love music. Not surprising since they're born with those horns. Otamamon: Hurry! Before she blows her top! Agumon: And I've heard of the other Digimon! They're called Otamamon!

Agumon, you told us nothing. You are bad at rundowns. Gomamon, meanwhile, told us bald-faced lies. They aren't born with those horns. The horns grow naturally when they evolve.

This is why Tentomon usually handles these.

Seeking more information, the group trespasses right the hell in and interrupts these feudal servants to find out what the hell's going on.

Gomamon: Hey, hey! Why are you in such a rush? Gekomon 1: The princess said she wants gomoku chahan right this minute-gero! Group: Gomoku chahan!? Gekomon 2: No! The princess said she wants cold yaki udon-gero! Group: Cold yaki udon!? Gekomon 3: What are you saying? The princess said she wanted Mediterranean-style okara miso soup-gero! Group: Mediterranean-style okara miso soup!? Gekomon 1: No! Gomoku chahan-gero! Gekomon 2: Cold yaki udon-gero! Gekomon 3: Mediterranean-style okara miso-gero! Taichi: Now, now... What if you made all of that and gave it-- Otamamon 1: They're all wrong-tama! Jou: What now? Otamamon 1: The princess wants a gaudy polka-dotted dress-tama! Otamamon 2: No-tama! She wants an antique ring-tama! Otamamon 1: Polka-dotted dress-tama! Otamamon 2: Antique ring-tama! Jou: If this princess jerks her servants around like this.... Taichi: She must be incredibly selfish. Agumon: Hey, didn't you guys say you were in a hurry? Servants: That's right! (scatter)

I mean. She probably does want all of those things. They're making this big argument over which one she really wants but. Like. A polka dot dress and antique ring are not mutually exclusive. Nor do they contradict her food order.

Which, yeah, Taichi's right: Just make all the items she asked for. Stop trying to figure out which one's the real food order. She probably wants all of them. She's a princess; They tend to be wasteful.

Over in the dub, those Japanese food items are unexpectedly swapped out.

Gomamon: Um, hello? Can you help us? We're looking for someone. Gekomon 1: About time you got here! Where's the triple hot fudge sundae we ordered for delivery to the princess? Group: That's not us! Gekomon 2: Then you must be delivering her bacon chili cheeseburger with fries and a super-sized milkshake. Group: That's not us either! Gekomon 3: Of course not! They're delivering the garden-fresh salad with low-fat dressing without dessert! Group: We'd like to ask a question, if you don't mind. Gekomon 1: Her Highness asked for a fudge sundae! Gekomon 2: No, she wants a bacon chili cheeseburger! Gekomon 3: Excuse me, she said she wanted a Greek salad! Tai: Hey, excuse me! Have you seen a girl in a hat-- Otamamon 1: Hey! We're ordering lunch here! Joe: Oh. Well, then I'll have a burger-- Otamamon 1: All the princess really cares about is that polka-dot party dress she ordered! Otamamon 2: Old news. Now she wants pink leather pants with matching boots and accessories. Otamamon 1: No one told me that! Otamamon 2: Oh, get with the program! Joe: It sounds to me like this princess of theirs is extremely picky. Tai: She sounds kinda spoiled if you ask me! Agumon: I wonder what happens if they don't do what she says? Servants: Here she comes! AUGH!!! (scatter)

No lie, I adore this version. Huge improvement over the original scene. First, by replacing "what we're getting" with "what you're delivering", they incorporate the to-them unexplained presence of random children into the conversation.

In the original, nobody questions the trespassers tromping all over the palace. But in the dub, they make an assumption and barrage the kids with it.

It also explains why they're just uselessly running around instead of, like, preparing the things that were requested. They're waiting on deliveries. They can't physically do anything to contribute, and are instead forced to stand around watching time tick by while the princess's impatience grows. I'd be stressed out too.

Finally, while he still seems inexplicably psychic about that blip's identity, I like that Tai stays on-topic and pushes the issue of their missing friend rather than getting caught up in the Otama Drama.

Suddenly, the Gekomon sound their horns! The princess has arrived!

Look at how happy she is. That is the happiest Mimi has ever been since the day she set foot on File Island.

Geckomon: The princess has ARRIIIIIIIVED!!! Gekogeko.... (Mimi emerges into the foyer) Taichi: Ah!? Mimi-chan! Jou: (simultaneously) Ah!? Mimi-kun! Mimi: (disappointed) Oh, it's you. (pleasant smile) It's been a long time! Taichi: What the hell are you doing here!? Mimi: (proudly) What am I doing here? I'm being a princess. Can't you tell? Agumon: Then the selfish princess around here-- Group: --iS YOU!?!? Mimi: Who are you calling selfish!? How rude!

Mimi veils herself in politeness and decorum befitting a princess but she's lying. Her initial kneejerk reaction upon seeing Taichi and Jou betrays her subsequent attempt at acting regal - A mask that falls right back off the second Agumon insults her.

In the dub:

Gekomon: Presenting Her Highness, the princess! Tai: Cool! We're gonna get to meet the princess! (Mimi emerges into the foyer) Tai & Joe: Huh!? It's Mimi! Mimi: (disappointed) Oh, bummer.

The dub inserts a commercial break here. So we leave off on Mimi's disappointment, then replay Tai and Joe's reaction upon return so we can pick the scene back up.

Tai & Joe: Huh!? Mimi: (pleasant smile) What a surprise. Tai: You're telling me! What are you doing up there!? Mimi: What do you think? I'm being a princess, of course. Agumon: So you're the spoiled princess we've been hearing about! Group: We should have known it was Mimi! Mimi: Don't call me Mimi anymore! That's Princess now!

At this point, Dub Mimi is so used to being spontaneously insulted by this group that I guess it's like water off a duck's back. Instead, they have her throw a fit at the use of her name? Weird.

In any case, this commercial break has a disruptive effect on the flow of the scene. Are you really going to remember that she said "What a bummer" after getting up to make a Hot Pocket in the microwave while ads for Sailor Moon play in the background?

The stark transition between those two lines is kind of important, but here that transition got eaten by the Hamburglar.

Elsewhere, PicoDevimon reports on the situation at the castle.

PicoDevimon: An honor, as always. This is PicoDevimon. Vamdemon: How are the defenses? PicoDevimon: Everything is going well. Vamdemon: What about the situation at the castle? PicoDevimon: It's good. The Gekomon are treating her like a princess. If they keep this up, the Crest of Purity will never activate. Vamdemon: You understand what will happen if you repeat your mistakes? PicoDevimon: (cowering) O-Of course! Vamdemon: (vanishing) I expect results.

Over in the dub, Myotismon is the kind of boss where it's our project if it's working but your project when there's setbacks.

DemiDevimon: Don't you worry, almighty wickedness! This time we cannot fail! Myotismon: "We"!? You'd better not fail! DemiDevimon: It's in the bag! Piece of cake! Myotismon: Is the plan at the palace working? DemiDevimon: Couldn't be better. The Gekomon are spoiling her rotten and she's eating it up! If she keeps this up much longer, her Crest of Sincerity's going to be useless, Master! Myotismon: Do you know what will happen if you disappoint me again, DemiDevimon? DemiDevimon: (cowering) I've got a big idea! Myotismon: (vanishing) Good. Then see that you don't.

In these two exchanges, we get the official name for Mimi's Crest. Though the dub already spoiled Mimi's in an episode title. It's the Crest of Purity, which the dub calls Sincerity. This might seem like a significant change but that's actually a pretty faithful translation of the idea behind Mimi's Crest.

The concept of purity in Japan is different from American purity. In the U.S., purity means. Like. The purest essence of goodness. To be pure of heart means you are virtue personified. Above all flaws or sins or vices.

But in Japan, purity isn't a moral judgment. It means you wear no masks. Nothing you say or do is ever social performance; You are, at all times, the truest expression of yourself. You wear your heart on your sleeve, say what you mean and express what you feel. Honestly, without reservation.

The opposite of U.S. purity is being corrupt. The opposite of Japanese purity is being two-faced.

Mimi, for better and for worse, is always honest about herself. She might throw a tantrum about how hangry she is or inadvisably open a Numemon den wanting Cola. She can be childish and is often guided by her feelings more than anything else. It'd sound weird to call her Crest attribute "Purity" from an American perspective.

Switching language to Sincerity does a good job of conveying the idea behind Japanese Purity. She isn't exactly Virtue Personified, but every word out of her mouth is a heartfelt expression of her truest self.

Except here in this fucking castle.

Jou: Anyway, it's good to see you safe! Taichi: Yeah, hurry up and change! Let's get going! Mimi: Huh? Jou: Is something wrong, Mimi-kun? Mimi: Why do I have to change? Agumon: What do you mean, why? It'll be hard to walk in that dress. Mimi: Why do I have to walk!? Jou: We can't travel while carrying you on our backs! Mimi: I'm not going. Boys: EHHHHH!?!? Mimi: There's no reason to believe we'll ever make it back to our world, so why should I bother traveling out there where it's dangerous? Jou: Hey, Mimi-kun-- Mimi: Besides, I have everything in here! A bath, a soft bed, and good food! What's more, I'm the princess of this castle!

The dub plays this pretty much word-for-word. Even Jou's line about carrying Mimi is translated completely faithfully. No jokes added or removed.

That smile up there? That is the ecstatic smile of despair. Mimi gives the game away when she says, "There's no reason to believe we'll make it back." That's it. That was her nugget of truth. As much as Jou's constant refrain has been "Maybe there's humans", Mimi's was "I want to go home."

Being here in this castle offers Mimi enough material contentment that she can pretend she's happy here. That she can pretend to be her favorite character Otohime from the fable of Urashima Taaro that she once chatted with Jou about. It's better than being out there.

But she's not happy. If she were really happy, she wouldn't be running her servants ragged trying to find the thing that will satisfy the despair in her heart. Mimi is lying to herself out of fear of this awful place she's trapped in.

Suddenly, the voice of salvation arrives. Palmon calls out from the other room. As a subtle moment, we actually see Mimi's mask fall off just for a moment when she hears Palmon's voice. Her confident, almost malicious grin falls away and her sincerity momentarily emerges.

She honestly looks like she's about to cry. She is terrified of what her life's become.

Palmon: Mimi, is something wrong? Agumon: That strange voice.... Gomamon: It's Palmon! Jou: It's great having you here, Palmon! Come talk sense into her!

Palmon enters the room wearing a similar dress to Mimi's.

Palmon: About what? Boys: AUGH!!! (comical face vault) Jou: PALMON, YOU TOO!?!? Taichi: Hey, Mimi-chan and Palmon, we can't waste time playing along with your jokes! Hurry up and get ready. Mimi: I'm not joking around! Taichi & Jou: Huh!? Mimi: I'm serious about staying here! If you don't have anything else to say then HURRY UP AND LEAVE!!! Palmon: Hey, Mimi, why are you mad? Mimi: Be quiet, Palmon! Taichi: No, you must be joking! You think we'll just agree to that and leave!? Jou: He's right! Do you have any idea what we went through to get here? Mimi: (turns away and folds her arms in a huff) I don't want to know!

Despite the funny moment of Palmon's arrival, she actually does seem concerned. We see little of her in this exchange, but she does seem bothered by Mimi's behavior in her one line. This should be a happy reunion, but the boys present a threat to Mimi's illusion.

Again, the dub plays this almost word-for-word. There are only two notable changes. One is that the dub continues the "Don't call me Mimi" thing with Palmon's line as she enters the room.

Joe: Finally, a voice of reason. Palmon, come talk some sense into Mimi. Palmon: (enters in her dress) As in Princess?

They also remove the part where Mimi snaps at Palmon.

Palmon: Wait, Mimi. Don't be mean; They're our friends. Mimi: IF YOU WANT TO GO, BE MY GUEST!!!

Which is unfortunate. The show often uses characters snapping at their loved ones, usually their Digimon partner or Yamato at Takeru, to convey that they're freaking out and not in their right mind. Mimi ordering Palmon to shut it is another chink in her mask.

Mimi doesn't typically talk to Palmon like that. Remember in Gear Savannah when she exposed herself to the harsh elements so that Palmon could wear her shade-bestowing hat? As usual, snapping like this is a meaningful point of uncharacteristic dialogue.

With Mimi being so stubborn, Taichi decides he has no choice but to stage a sit-in protest right here in her bedroom.

It does not go well.

Taichi: Oh, that's it! Now you can never make me leave this place! (sits down) I will not move from this spot until Mimi-chan comes with us! Agumon: (sits) Me neither! Gomamon: (does his best impersonation of cross-legged sitting for a quadruped) Me neither! Mimi: Is that so? Well, I have an idea.

Mimi rings a bell to summon her Gekomon entourage.

Gekomon: Princess-sama! Is there a problem-gekogeko? Mimi: These people want to leave! Show them to the exit!

The Gekomon grab the boys, carting them out of the room. As they're removed, they shout a variety of things drowning each other out.

The dub goes all in on Mimi's fake regality for her last line.

Gekomon: Your highness! What is it that you desire? Mimi: I desire these rude and bothersome peasants to be removed from my boudoir at once!

Strong line. The dub's been going hard with this one.

Dragging away the boys, the Gekomon lower the front gate and hurl them out.

Agumon: Oww.... Gomamon: Treat your guests more courteously! Jou: In any case, I wonder what happened to Mimi-kun? Taichi: These frogs are spoiling her rotten, that's what! Gekomon: It's exactly that-gero....

The dub adds a quip to the boys getting thrown out.

Tai: I won't dissect frogs in biology, okay!? (The Gekomon throw the boys out) Gomamon: If that's the way you treat your guests, we're never coming back! Joe: Now what are we gonna do!? She's totally into this Digi-Fairy Tale! Tai: I wonder what she could have done to get them to wait on her hand and foot like this? Gekomon: You really want to know? Tai: Uhh, sure.

Joe and Tai basically swap roles here, with Joe being frustrated and accusatory while Tai's calm and inquisitive.

The dub version also has a subtle tonal shift, as the original accuses the Gekomon of doing this to Mimi while the dub accuses Mimi of doing this to the Gekomon.

As we'll later learn, there's blame to go around. The Gekomon unwittingly provoked this personality shift in Mimi, who is now taking advantage of and coercing them for admittedly sympathetic reasons. So both accusations are fair and unfair all at once.

That said... the dub's accusation implies that this is normal behavior for Mimi, which is the opposite of the intended takeaway. They dub's been writing her as a pampered rich girl from the start, and unfortunately that's going to have some knock-on effects for her character arc in this episode.

Now that they've completed their task of throwing the boys out, the three Gekomon and two of the Otamamon guarding the gate promptly lead them back in to show them the truth of this princess situation: A karaoke stage with a secret to reveal.

(There were three Otamamon guarding the gate but only two come with them. So I guess it takes Five Guys Burgers and Fries to escort the kids and only one tadpole kiddo to protect the place from intruders. That's fair, one of the boys is Taichi and he might pull shit if not properly supervised.)

Gekomon 3 (counting from left to right): This is our lord-gero. Taichi: Whoa! That's a pretty big statue. Gekomon 3: It's not a statue-gero. It's our lord himself-gero! Boys: HUH!?!? Agumon: That thing is alive!? Otamamon 2: Yes-tama! Gekomon 2: He's been like this for the last 300 years-gero. It's said that the shock of losing a karaoke match put him in this state-gero. To bring back our lord, it's said that a voice even more lovely than the one that defeated him must sing to him-gero. So we've held a karaoke competition every year-gero but our lord never so much as twitches-gero.... Gekomon 1: Of course, this led us to think the legend was just a lie-geko. Otamamon 1: Right at that moment, we heard of a human girl who's an amazing singer and brought her here to the palace-tama!

You get three guesses who told them that and the first two don't count. A flashback shows us PicoDevimon persuading the three Gekomon and three Otamamon at the gate to go get Mimi.

On the way into the karaoke hall, the dub adds some dialogue.

Joe: You're not taking us to an evil Digimon, are you? Gekomon 2: Uh-uh! Tai: What if Mimi catches us? Gekomon 3: She won't.

From there, the dub version of the story starts by giving the Gekomon's lord a name.

Gekomon 2: (possessing Gekomon 3) Here is our master, Lord Shogunmon[sic]. Tai: Whoa! Somebody's had a few too many donuts! Joe: Is it a statue or what? Gekomon 3: No, it's not a statue. He's very much alive. Boys: Huh? Agumon: Hey may be alive but he's not lively, is he? Otamamon 2: He's sleeping. Gekomon 2: He's been this way for over 300 years. You see, Lord Shogunmon was proud of his voice and entered this singing contest but he lost. He felt so bad, he fell into a deep sleep from which he's never recovered. It's said only a voice as beautiful as the one that beat him can wake him. For centuries, we've tried but every song's failed. Gekomon 1: We Gekomon love music but unfortunately not one of us has a voice that would be considered beautiful. Otamamon 1: Then we got a break! A strange little Digimon spoke of a girl with a pretty voice. He told us where to find her and we did!

They flub the first line by having Gekomon 2 speak, even though it's Gekomon 3 that's gesturing to the stage and moving his lips. You can see him in the wide shot above still gesturing, before he returns to neutral position. But the line's delivered in close-up on just the one Gekomon so I guess they overlooked that and just picked one.

Tai immediately makes a fat joke upon being introduced to actual authority, forcing Joe to keep us on-script by delivering his line instead. Rude. But also fitting for Tai. And Joe, for that matter.

We'll talk more about "Shogunmon" when we get to his official Digimon Analyzer entry but it's certainly an unexpected translation choice for multiple reasons. Here in this unmistakably Japanese palace, it seems like they're finally starting to give up on localizing this as an American-based series.

I do take issue with how the "singing contest" is described. Not with the fact that they shun the word karaoke. Japan loves karaoke but American kids might not know what that is. Rather, I don't like that they say he "entered a singing contest" when the stage is right here in his house. He's clearly the one hosting the singing contests.

Lastly, they cut the part where Gekomon 1 expresses doubt that the legend's even true. Instead, he shit-talks the Gekomon species as universally having bad voices; Apparently that guy has some internalized racism to deal with because he's judging his own people by the cultural standards of humans.

In flashback, we see Mimi take her shot at the stage.

Appropriately enough, since Mimi's actress sings the ending credits theme for the show, Mimi gets up on stage and actually sings the ending credits theme "I Wish".

Mimi: When I wish on a star with my pride riding on the wind / I can see a tomorrow that can't be erased by today! / I'm sure of it.... (long pause) Mimi: I'm sorry, I forgot the rest!

I'm not 100% but I think "I Wish" was written specifically for the anime. So Mimi is paradoxically karaoke-singing a song recorded for her own show. That's fun.

As she's singing, the Gekomon Lord's head-tail-antenna thing starts lifting upwards, responding to her voice. But when she drops the song, it falls back down.

To try and help Mimi remember the lyrics, the Gekomon present her with a huge feast. Then she's back on stage for a second attempt.

Mimi: When I wish on a star with my pride riding on the wind / I can see a tomorrow-- (speaking normal) Hmm.... Since this is karaoke, we should have a mirror ball here to get more of an atmosphere going. Also, the interior decorating in this room is gross!

An ambiguous number of attempts later, Mimi is onstage in her princess dress with the mirror ball spinning and several Gekomon serving as backup dancers behind her. This time, she doesn't even start.

Mimi: No more. I'm sleepy.

With Mimi's attribute being Purity/Sincerity, the second attempt could be excused as a sincere expression of "Wait, why is this karaoke stage bad?" Purity's like that. But it could just as easily be the opportunism of Princess Mimi kicking in, having been triggered by that feast.

By that last bit, however, she's unambiguously begun lying. Making excuses to keep a good thing going. Burying herself in an escape from her ugly reality at the Gekomon's expense.

Just as PicoDevimon planned.

Dub Mimi skips the paradox of singing her own show's anthem by adlibbing her own original song.

Mimi: I wanna sing a song / A song that'll wake you up / And when you hear my voice / You'll call me your sweet buttercu-oo-up! / Just give me a listen.... (long pause) Mimi: Sorry, I forgot the words!

I... sincerely hope Shogunmon will not call Mimi his "sweet buttercup". She's been harassed enough in Digi-World.

For Mimi's second attempt:

Mimi: I wanna sing a song / A song that'll wake you up / And when you hear my voice / You'll call me.... (speaking normally) Hmm... You know, this place is too dark. How about we get a disco ball and some spotlights, huh? And of course we'll need hair, makeup, and some costumes!

They add all the extra stuff from Mimi's final attempt into her request here. All that extra stuff in the original had implied a couple more tries inbetween, but here it's clearly just her third try.

As an aside, the animation doesn't really suit the dialogue at the end. She says "We'll need hair, makeup, and costumes!" in a cheerful voice while making the disgusted gesture from "The interior decorating is gross."

Her final attempt ends the same way as in the original.

Mimi: Oh, I'm tired. Let's pick it up tomorrow.

Though Dub Mimi at least promises further attempts.

The Gekomon and Otamamon finish their sad tale of mistakes and trauma-induced selfishness.

Otamamon 1: Over time, this is how things ended up-tama. Gekomon 1: At first, the princess would sing for us every three days-geko. Now she holds it over our heads to get what she wants. Otamamon 1: When we try to refuse her demands.... (flashback to Mimi) Mimi: Ehh, are you sure? I won't sing for you anymore.... (present) Otamamon 2: We can't talk back at all when she threatens that-tama! Jou: (angry) So that's how Mimi-kun became so selfish! Gekomon 1: That's why we have a request for you-geko! Otamamon 2: Can you get the princess to sing for us-tama? Agumon: I doubt she'll listen to us--

But Taichi's fist clenches, listening to all this. Suddenly, boisterously, he smacks his chest and makes a declaration.

Taichi: I've got this. Leave it to me! Group: EHHHH!? Gekomon 3: You'll ask her for us-gero!? Both Otamamon: Hoorah! Jou: (freaking out) Hang on, Taichi-- Taichi: So you're saying we just need to wake this big guy up, right? Then I'll do the singing!

The rest of the group has some concerns about Taichi's plan.

Over in the dub, we again see the unfortunate interaction of how they've written Mimi with what is intended to be unusual behavior from her.

Otamamon 1: And that's the way it's been. One excuse after another! Gekomon 1: We've done all she's wanted! We even redecorated the entire palace for her! I used to like pink but now I can't stand to look at it. Otamamon 1: And if any one of us complains to her.... (flashback) Mimi: Whoa! Be careful... You wouldn't want me to lose my voice now, would ya? (present) Otamamon 2: So we're in a terrible position, you see? We're totally hopeless. Joe: Unfortunately, you've given Mimi the life she's been accustomed to and then some. Gekomon 1: Well, since you're friends of hers.... Otamamon 2: Could you please reason with her? Please? We'd be so eternally grateful. Agumon: I don't think she knows what 'reason' is! Tai: (fist clenched, slaps chest, volunteering) Just leave it to me, guys! I've got it! Group: Whuh!? Gekomon 2: (possessing Gekomon 3 again) I knew it! I knew you'd come through! Both Otamamon: Yay! Joe: What are you thinking, Tai!? Tai: Well, who says you need Mimi to wake up Jumbo? Crank it up and let me take a shot!

Again, a line meant to indicate a change in Mimi's behavior has been altered to suggest she's normally like this. The change in Joe's dialogue then turns Agumon's follow-up line, which had been a fair assessment of how their last encounter went, into a potshot at her personality.

Similarly, the dub drops the mention that Mimi did keep making attempts every three day for a while, but then eventually stopped. This, again, highlights the gradual transformation of the Mimi we knew into Princess MImi. But since the dub's selling Princess Mimi as her true colors, that part got cut and replaced with a laugh line.

Following up on Taichi's bad idea, the boys take turns making. Just. The worst attempts at matching Mimi's elegant singing.

What follows is a bit of absolutely untranslatable comedy predicated on the boys badly singing homonyms of the lyrics from "I Wish". As a reminder, the lines are:

"When I wish on a star with my pride riding on the wind / I can see a tomorrow that can't be erased by today!"

Instead, the boys deliver:

Taichi: When I wish on a star and scoop pudding in a bowl! / I can take tomorrow if I don't grab today! Jou: When I wish on Chinese eels with fried potatoes in the wind / I can see no option but to cool off my sweat! Agumon & Gomamon: When I see stars in the wind, things are going pretty good / I can get rid of tomorrow so today won't arrive!

Taichi's attempt at least draws some meager applause from the Gekomon, but Jou just gets dead stares while Agumon and Gomamon drive everyone to cover their ears.

Though, for me, Jou knocked it out of the park with his homonym set including the English fucking words "fried potatoes". Jou, what possessed you to think those were the lyrics? XD

Despite their best attempts, the boys come to a solid conclusion.

Taichi: No good, huh? Jou: It won't be possible to wake him without Mimi singing.

For their part, the dub kids are under no obligation to match Mimi's song because they aren't doing karaoke. But they still try their best to put their own badly sung spin on her original lyrics. Uh. Despite having never heard them.

Tai: I'm gonna sing aaaaa soooong! A song that will wake you up! / I'm gonna belt it OUT! Shogunmon, it's time to get UUUUUUUUP!!! Joe: (monotone) I'm attempting to sing a song, a song that will waken you and aid all the Gekomon that are loyal to your worldview and the idea of you being in charge. / I'm attempting to sing a song, a song that will waken you and aid all the Gekomon-- Agumon: (with Gomamon doing backup groaning) I croon this song to you! A tune from now until June! / When you hear us sing, you'll call us singing buffoons! / We just wanna wake ya! / So don't close your ears / Or you could sleep for years!

From there, they too agree that this isn't going to work.

Joe: it's no use. Tai: After that, he might not wake up for another 300 years!

Though, funnily enough, they once again kinda swapped lines. Joe makes the short and simple assessment followed by a longer summary of their failure by Tai.

Joe takes it away with his song again. I unironically love Joe's song derailing into political exposition. It's so perfectly Joe. No matter the language, Jou/Joe is the MVP of terrible karaoke.

In any case, since they can't do the homonym gag, they instead use these songs as an expression of raw, unbridled personality and it works.

While the boys are mulling over their failures, Palmon finds them at the karaoke stage.

Palmon: Everyone! Taichi: Palmon! Palmon: I was worried about you. What happened? Agumon: What do you mean, 'what happened'? Haven't you noticed that Mimi's been acting weird? Palmon: Weird? (folds her arms and considers for a moment) Oh, you think so too!? I've been thinking that!

Palmon's body language doesn't match her words because she's meant to be full of shit here. She just realized that Mimi's behavior is off for the first time and is trying to pretend she suspected it all along.

Tai: (disappointed) Really. Gomamon: (disappointed) At least figure it out for yourself.... Palmon: (nervous) Ehehe....

Over in the dub, they finally acknowledge that this behavior is unusual for Mimi... sorta.

Palmon: Hey, guys. Tai: Palmon! Palmon: Why did you all disappear like that? It's like you weren't even happy to see us. Agumon: What are you talking about? In case you hadn't noticed, Mimi's gone nuts. Palmon: Yeah? (folds her arms and considers for a moment) Now that I think of it, she has kinda gone off the deep end. I mean, even for her! Tai: (disappointed) Oh, you noticed? Gomamon: (disappointed) You're so observant. Palmon: (nervous) Ehehe....

Palmon, you were in the room when the Gekomon took them away. Did you black out?

In any case, we've made it from "Typical Mimi" to "Mimi's worst traits have been exaggerated by the situation." Which is, at least, closer to where we're supposed to be: "Mimi is uncharacteristically lying and faking contentment as a defense mechanism."

Conspiring with Palmon, the boys bug Mimi's room to try and get a recording of her singing voice.

Presumably the equipment for this came from the karaoke studio.

Jou: A recording, huh? Great idea! Taichi: I can be pretty smart when I want to be. (sound of a door opening) Gomamon: Here she comes. (everyone takes cover)

The dub decided that this plan needs to be explained in more detail.

Joe: So she'll be performing and won't even know it! Tai: Yeah, and we'll get the whole thing on tape! (sound of a door opening) Gomamon: Watch it! (everyone takes cover)

This comes at the cost of giving Tai props for being the one who had this smart idea. Poor Tai.

As the boys hush up, Palmon steps up to play her role inside the room.

Mimi: What's this? Palmon: A karaoke set. Mimi: (irate) I can see that. What's it doing here? Palmon: I-I just suddenly wanted to hear your beautiful singing!

This is the same in the dub; They even correctly identify the equipment in Mimi's room as a karaoke set. But the dub adds some extra dialogue at the end.

Palmon: Now, feel the music! Feel the music! Joe: (whisper) Tai, is she falling for it? Tai: Mmhmm....

Joe, we're doing crime here! Don't talk during crime unless you have something important to say! (He would be bad at crime....)

Without any further questioning, Mimi falls for it. The scowl on her face melts away into a genuine smile and she starts bouncing to the music. But then she sees it.

Instantly, the mask comes right back on. Her face hardens into the cruel visage of Princess Mimi and she screams into the microphone at full volume, nearly deafening Taichi outside.

There's no dialogue in this bit, but the dub adds a line from Mimi.

Mimi: Hmm? What's that cord for? ...I see....

You'd think this would have tipped off Palmon that their cover's blown, but I guess not.

Princess Mimi has them all locked away in the dungeon for this. Even Palmon.

Mimi: I'm pretty sure I can guess what your plan was. Taichi: Mimi-chan, come to your senses! Agumon: Mimi! Jou: Do you realize right now what you're doing? Mimi: (condescendingly pretends to think) Yeah? Am I doing something wrong? Taichi: You can't even tell anymore!? Don't you feel anything from doing this to your nakama!? Agumon: It's not just us! You're making a lot of trouble for the Gekomon too!

Mimi looks down at the Gekomon as if to confirm that they, too, resent her. They cower under her glare, shrinking down into themselves but saying nothing.

There's Taichi with nakama again. As a reminder, nakama is a group of people who form around a shared activity, interest, or goal and develop a powerful social connection from their mutual pursuit of it. We're a sports team, a project group, a military squad. Siblings-in-arms against the dangerous evils of the Digimon World.

Using it here is kind of a slap in the face, as Mimi's made her intention to break from their mutual activity very clear. Even if the others did think of themselves as nakama (which, right now, it's just Taichi using that word), Mimi doesn't want to be nakama anymore.

In the dub, for the sake of setting up the worst comeback in history, Mimi abruptly forgets that she's not supposed to be called Mimi anymore.

Mimi: So, you thought you could pull a fast one on Princess Mimi, did you? Tai: That's Princess Meanie! Agumon: Yeah! Joe: Who do you think you are, anyway!? Don't you remember that we're your friends!? Mimi: (condescendingly pretends to think) I remember you tried to trick me. Tai: We tried to trick you because we're trying to save you! Have you completely forgotten about the Crest of Sincerity!? Agumon: Have you completely forgotten it's not nice to lock people up in your dungeon!? Where's your manners!?

As usual, references to Mimi's behavior being unusual for her have been removed.

Having to talk around the fact that Mimi's behaving out-of-character makes this whole exchange janky. Tai brings the Crest of Sincerity into this but it's not super clear what he's talking about. Or where he learned that terminology, for that matter.

(Sora once name-dropped his Crest of Courage in the dub too, so I guess Gennai sent them an email with all the Crest names for their convenience back when they landed on Server.)

It ends with Mimi furiously turning her gaze on the Gekomon, but the dub exchange gives her no reason to be angry at them.

Mimi furiously storms off. But as she passes Palmon, her Partner calls out to her.

Mimi: Hmph! (storms off) Taichi: Mimi-chan! Jou: (simultaneously) Mimi-kun! Palmon: Mimi! (Mimi stops walking, turning to listen to Palmon) Palmon: This is too horrible of a thing for you to do! (Mimi scowls at Palmon, but she's listening) Palmon: When you act like this... (crying) When you act like this.... (Mimi turns towards Palmon to hear her) Palmon: I HATE YOU!!!

Mimi gasps, her eyes quivering as if about to cry, and she quickly turns away from Palmon.

Mimi: (quiet, vulnerable) I see....

Then she slips her mask back on and turns on Palmon.

Mimi: (furious) WELL, I HATE YOU TOO!!!

Mimi exits the dungeon, followed by her Gekomon followers. Palmon, in her cell, lowers her head and mourns their relationship.

In the dub, Palmon's outburst comes off a bit more rehearsed.

Mimi: Hmph. (storms off) Taichi: Wait! Palmon: Uh... (Mimi stops walking, turning to listen to Palmon) Palmon: Before you go, I have something I want to tell you. (Mimi scowls at Palmon, but she's listening) Palmon: Nobody likes you more than I do. (crying) It hurts me deeply to have to say this, but.... (Mimi turns towards Palmon to hear her) Palmon: YOU'RE A SPOILED BRAT!!! (Mimi gasps and turns away from Palmon) Mimi: (angry) Oh!? Is that a fact!? (Mimi turns on Palmon) Mimi: WELL, IT'S NICE TO KNOW HOW YOU REALLY FEEL!!!

Again, this take on the scene sucks. They don't even let Mimi have her moment of vulnerability in the middle of the fracture. Palmon also comes across less torn up by what she's saying; In fact, she very matter-of-factly stops Mimi on purpose so she can say it, where the original Palmon is drowning in her feelings and word-vomiting those emotions in Mimi's direction.

We leave the others to their fate here, but the camera closes in on the window against the back wall - with a familiar looking silhouette of a girl in a helmet looking in on the boys' and Palmon's plight. In case it wasn't clear who that is, the dub gives her a line.

Sora: What can I do?

That night, Mimi has a full-blown PTSD nightmare. Fun!

Etemon and Devimon emerge from the abyss. Mimi frantically calls out to the Gekomon and Otamamon to save her.

Mimi: Gekomon! Otamamon! Save me! Gekomon/Otamamon: No-gero/No-tama! Mimi: Eh? Fine! Then I won't sing for you anymore! Gekomon 2: That's fine-gero. You won't sing for us even if we do help you-gero. Gekomon 1: We're going home to sleep-gero! Mimi: Wait! I'll sing! Please help me!

They leave her to her fate. As Etemon and Devimon close in, Mimi suddenly sees Taichi, Jou, Agumon, Gomamon, and Palmon all appear.

Mimi: Everyone! Help! Taichi: You're not part of our nakama. Agumon: It serves you right. Jou: Did you forget what you did to us?

The boys leave, abandoning Mimi too. Only Palmon remains.

Mimi: Palmon-- Palmon: I hate you!

Then she, too, walks away. As Etemon and Devimon close in, there's nobody left to protect Mimi.

In the dub, the Gekomon and Otamamon's rejection is identical to the original. However, the rest of the group uses softer and less accusatory language in telling Mimi to go fuck herself.

Mimi: Oh! Mm, help me, please? Tai: Sorry, but we only help our friends! Agumon: What's wrong, Mimi? Joe: What's the matter? I thought you were having the time of your life. Mimi: Palmon-- Palmon: I've gotta go now, Mimi; Goodbye.

What, did Palmon leave something in the oven? Also, Tai, that is a bald-faced lie; You've helped plenty of randos since arriving at File Island.

I probably don't have to say it again, but the boys' jovial mocking and Palmon's unexplained departure do not land with the same emotional intensity as their assertive rebukes in the original.

Someone may or may not come to visit her that night.

Mimi: Taichi-san... Agumon... WAIT!!! Palmon-- Sora: Mimi-chan? Mimi-chan! Mimi: (wakes) Sora: Mimi-chan! Mimi: Sora...-san? Sora: You know what you've done is wrong, don't you? Mimi: I... (crying) I'm so sorry! Sora: Then you know how you can fix things, right? Mimi: Yeah.... Sora: (takes Mimi's hand) That's good. You really are a good kid, Mimi-chan.

In the dub, Sora interprets Mimi's sleep-talking so she can browbeat her with it.

Mimi: Oh, won't anybody help me? Please! Palmon! Don't leave me! Sora: Hey. Hey! Mimi: (wakes) Huh? Sora: Hey, Mimi. Mimi: Where am I? What? Sora: Do you have any idea what that horrible dream was trying to tell you, Mimi? Mimi: (crying) I'm sorry! Oh, I really am! Sora: Well, then you know what you have to do to make things right. Mimi: Yes. Sora: (takes Mimi's hand) Thattagirl! I knew you'd find yourself again.

Hey, we're finally acknowledging that her behavior's meant to be a departure from normalcy! Now that it's over!

Mimi wakes again, as if her talk with Sora was a dream too, to the brilliant green glow from the Crest of Purity.

Sora isn't there, but Mimi's balcony door is hanging open, implying that she really was here in person.

Mimi takes action immediately, right there in the dead of night. Instructing the Gekomon to retrieve Taichi and the others from their cell, and calling everyone into the karaoke hall.

Gathering in the karaoke hall, the Gekomon express their frustration.

Gekomon 1: What does she want from us so late at night-gero!? Gekomon 2: She's probably going to give us even harder orders-gero.

While, in the dub, Tai and Joe discuss an alarming possibility.

Tai: Is she gonna chop off our heads!? Joe: (somber) Don't even joke.

Once everyone's gathered together, Mimi makes her appearance; Rising up from a stage lift in front of the mic, dressed in her normal clothes.

Mimi: Gekomon and Otamamon... Taichi-san, Jou-senpai, Agumon and Gomamon... And Palmon... Everyone. I'M SO SORRY!!! (Miscellaneous murmurings from the crowd) Mimi: (crying) I know that an apology may not be enough, but I've come to my senses. I realize how horribly I've treated all of you! So... So...! Palmon: Mimi, sing for us! Gekomon: We want to hear you sing, Princess-gero! Mimi: (wiping tears from her eyes) Everyone.... Palmon: Start the music!

Though clearly directed at the Gekomon and Otamamon, Dub Mimi's apology only name-drops her friends.

Mimi: First of all, there's something I have to say to everyone here. Tai and Joe, Agumon and Gomamon... Palmon... All of you've been so nice! I'm so sorry! (Miscellaneous murmurings from the crowd) Mimi: (crying) I've been such a little idiot! If you can find it in your hearts to forgive me, and I don't know why you would, but if you can then I'd be honored to sing for you one more time! Palmon: We forgive you! Gekomon: Of course we do! Sing, your highness! Mimi: (wiping tears from her eyes) Thank you! Palmon: Hit the lights and cue the music!

Palmon, don't speak for the group like that. You weren't on the receiving end for most of Mimi's transgressions. You can't forgive her on someone else's behalf. That's not how forgiveness works.

Mimi sings the song, this time continuing on instead of stopping early. The Japanese version is "I Wish", while Mimi sings a different version of her song that thankfully removes the buttercup line.

Mimi: I want to sing a song / A song to bring Shogunmon arou~ound! / When he hears my voice / I hope he likes the sound. / He has to listen. / Listen to my sincere heart. / I've learned that friends are friends / Even when they're apart! / I've asked my friends to forgive me / From the bottom of my he~eart! / If it's my choice / His eyes will open wide. / And the Gekomon will be cheering / Cheering with pride!

Again, using the character-adlibbed song to express personality, here conveying where Mimi is emotionally right now.

Mimi's music gets through to the Gekomon's lord. He rises to his feet, interrupting her song with his awakening.

Before their lord has even done anything, the narrator jumps in with the rundown.

This is TonosamaGekomon, a Perfect-stage Virus-type Amphibian Digimon. Tonosama means "feudal lord". To my understanding, the term is colloquial and doesn't refer to any one specific lordship title. You might address a lord with the honorifics -dono or -sama, thus tonosama. I'm not 100% on that though.

Narrator: TonosamaGekomon. As his name says, he is the Gekomon's tonosama! The low frequency waves from his horn unleash his special attack, Kobushi Tone!

In keeping with the tadpole/musical note thing, TonosamaGekomon's attack name is a pun. Spelled コブシ on the Digimon Analyzer, kobushi is a word for "samurai". However, its homonym 小節 kobushi is a type of musical flourish.

In the dub, the Gekomon handle the diegetic rundown. Unlike tonosama, the word shogun does refer to a specific title. A shogun was the supreme leader of the military and effectively governed Japan, though subordinate to the role of the tennou (heavenly emperor).

Gekomon: Don't panic! It's our lord and master Shogunmon! Finally restored to us after so many centuries!

The Digimon Analyzer for the dub also reveals another "Animation team and writing team apparently didn't exchange notes" moment: TonosamaGekomon, the Digimon we've been calling Shogunmon all episode - including in dialogue for this very rundown - has his name rewritten as "SHOGUNGEKOMON" on the English Analyzer screen.

Again, I swear they did not actually watch the finished episodes one time before publishing them. This stuff keeps happening.

Awakened from his centuries-long slumber, TonosamaGekomon demonstrates his gratitude by fucking opening fire.

TonosamaGekomon: I was having a wonderful nap. Who woke me up-geko!?

He stomps around and kicks in the walls, nearly stepping on Mimi in the process. Everybody flees for their lives.

Gomamon: WHAT THE HELL!?!? HE'S A MONSTER!!! Jou: NO ONE TOLD US HE WAS A TYRANT!!! Gekomon: WE WOULDN'T HAVE WOKEN HIM IF WE KNEW ABOUT THIS-GEKO!!!

But they don't get away. TonosamaGekomon fires his Kobushi Tone, using a short bit of karaoke to send a sonic blast through his horns. The shot blasts Taichi, Jou, Agumon, Gomamon, and the Gekomon and Otamamon through the wall behind them. They and the debris plunge into the lake outside the castle.

A valuable lesson in the perils of romanticizing historical figures. Maybe we should have written down more details about TonosamaGekomon than just "He sure did love to karaoke." A three-dimensional image of an important but flawed person could have saved us a lot of trouble.

In the dub, the would-be escapees use their lines to quip.

Joe: And I thought I was cranky when I first wake up! Gomamon: GIMME THE MEAN MIMI BACK ANY DAY!!! Gekomon: Who's idea was this!? Remind me never to listen to him again!

The Gekomon line may be a cliche but it still got me. The implication that this implied-to-be-long-ass search for a heavenly voice was just one dipshit's stupid idea. XD

Only Mimi is spared the blast from Kobushi Tone, though Palmon manages to cling to the floor and withstand it. However, a chunk of debris crumbles from the ceiling, threatening to fall on top of her. Palmon evolves to protect her.

Togemon: (fucking punches the debris away) Are you alright, Mimi? Mimi: Togemon, I'm sorry. Togemon: It doesn't matter anymore. Mimi: I... (hugs Togemon's fist) I love you, Togemon. Togemon: I love you too, Mimi. Mimi: Togemon....

Before anyone gets weird about this moment, the words Mimi uses are "Watashi... Togemon daisuki". The word daisuki is a relationship-neutral way of expressing a strong affection. What that means is that you can safely say it to your lover, but it's also used among friends. The Japanese equivalent of a dude shouting "I love you, bruh!"

The way to say "I love you romantically" would be "Aishiteru".

This doesn't hit as hard in the dub since they didn't have the "I hate you!" moment earlier to contrast against it. But they still convey affection for one another.

Togemon: That was a close one! Mimi: Can you forgive me? Togemon: Of course I can! Mimi: Togemon... you're the best! (hugs Togemon's fist) Oh, thank you! Togemon: I'm just glad Old Mimi's back! Mimi: Really? You mean it? Then let's take care of this out-of-tune goon!

Again, we're finally acknowledging that Mimi changed now that she's changed back. Well, better late than never.

With her momentary reunion with Togemon over, Mimi grabs up the mic from the floor and turns on TonosamaGekomon.

Mimi: HEY!!! YOU UNGRATEFUL SWINE!!! TonosamaGekomon: Ehh? Mimi: Don't you even know who woke you up!? TonosamaGekomon: WHO CARES!?!?

In the dub, Mimi's copping an attitude rather than screaming blood fury.

Mimi: Hey you! How about some gratitude! Shogunmon: Huh? Mimi: I sang you out of your 300-year-nap, you wannabe crooner! Shogunmon: All that racket!? It was you!? Mimi: Uh-oh....

As an insult, I like "ungrateful swine" the best. But the way Dub Mimi keeps shit-talking his singing like they're rival artists is pretty funny.

Mimi vs Shogunmon Rap Battle when?

TonosamaGekomon stomps forward, about to attack when a Harpoon Vulcan flies right over Mimi and Togemon and explodes right in front of him. The artillery cannon has entered the battle.

Turning his attention from Mimi, TonosamaGekomon bounds to the hole he made in the wall to see who dares. Greymon and Ikkakumon are down on the beach next to the swan boat. They open fire on him together with Mega Flame and Harpoon Vulcan.

But this is a Perfect-stage Digimon. TonosamaGekomon lets off another shot of Kobushi Tone, obliterating their shots and laying both of them out.

Taichi: I can't believe it! Jou: He looks stupid but he's actually really strong!

Just because we're getting our asses kicked, that doesn't mean we can't stop to roast a dumbass monster design, okay? XD

Over in the dub, Joe quips out a pun.

Tai: Did you see that!? Joe: Yeah! He gives new meaning to the term 'flat note'!

Back into the dungeon with you, Joe.

With the Digimon on their backs, TonosamaGekomon goes for the children with his "Tonosama Jump" attack. It consists of jumping on top of his opponent and trying to crush them under his body weight.

It does not go well.

Greymon super-evolves into MetalGreymon and hurls his ass right back up into the theater. He follows up with an incredibly well-aimed Giga Destroyer, sending his two missiles straight down both of TonosamaGekomon's horns.

The explosion collapses the entire theater, burying TonosamaGekomon in the rubble.

Mimi: Sleep for the rest of your life! Everyone: (laughs) Narrator: After being honest with herself and recognizing her mistakes, Mimi's Crest of Purity attained its light. However, why won't Sora reveal herself to the others? The only thing we could know for sure was....

PicoDevimon: AHHHHHHHHH HOT HOT HOT HEEEEEELP MEEEEEE!!! Narrator: ...that PicoDevimon was getting his just desserts.

Those Giga Destroyers exploded inside TonosamaGekomon's horns. If DIgimon didn't disintegrate into pixels upon death, I would totally peg him for dead here. But we see his tail-antenna-thing sticking out of the rubble, so he's alive.

As usual, the dub cuts the narrator out of this denouement.

Mimi: He deserved to hear that last flat note, don't you think? Everyone: (laughs) Tai: Well, ready to go, Mimi? Mimi: Yeah! Do you think I could take some of my princess clothes with me? Tai: Mimi! Mimi: Well, it just seems such a waste! The jewels at least? (Cut to Myotismon's castle) Myotismon: Didn't you say you knew what would happen if you failed? DemiDevimon: Well, when I said that I "knew", I didn't really mean that I "knew" knew, y'know what I mean? But now that I do know, if it's not too much trouble sir, COULD I BOTHER YOU FOR A GLASS OF WATER!?!?

Given the "Don't make me sit in a tree all night" last episode, I totally thought they were going to cut the firepit torture. Nope! They do change DemiDevimon's dialogue to be a lot more casual about it, however.

Mimi, we already made a "flat note" joke.

Assessment: This is one of my all-time favorite episodes. When I think of Digimon Adventure, this is one of the episodes that sticks out most firmly in my memory.

Most Mimi episodes stick out in my memory. She's my kid. I wanted so badly to be her when I was a child. So I'm sorry, I can't be fair and impartial. This episode rules and haters can jump on a Togemon needle.

The dub of this episode is so good when Mimi isn't in focus but absolutely butchers Mimi's character arc. Which unfortunately means it starts out strong but then gets weaker once the plot arrives, though it still has its shining moments.

It really doesn't do a good job of portraying the central idea, however: That Mimi's princess guise is fake. A mask she is wearing in violation of her Crest attribute, which is complete emotional sincerity. The dub's disdain for Mimi as a character sabotages its ability to properly tell her story here.

[sonicasura]

Man or MAG: Main Route

Here is the MAG section of our species swap with everyone's favorite himbo! This is the main route as Mina's path will have her own post. Kafka ain't gonna have fun either way that's for sure. Warning this does get a bit dark with mentions to inhuman experimentation and PTSD. Let's get started.

Kafka is 24 years old when he fails his latest attempt at the Entrance Exams. The day has already been terrible for him personally. He didn't make it through the first part, the company van gotten wrecked so he had to walk, and it was raining like hell.

Kafka was about to walk home when a mysterious man approaches him. The guy explains that he's with a side branch for the Defense Force who focus on dropouts. He heard about Kafka's recent failure and offered him another shot through a special program.

A deal that honestly sounded too good to be true. Yet, the last promise Kafka had made to his childhood friend would do him in. He takes the offer and meets the man at an agreed upon location tomorrow. This was the last day Kafka would be seen by anyone.

In reality his 'provider' actually worked in a shadowy organization with links to the black market. Due to the rise in kaiju attacks, high paying officials wanted special 'guards' to protect their assets. Individuals with the kind of power only seen by the Defense Force.

Thus they delved into experimentation involving kaiju DNA in what would be known as Project MAGNUS. Super soldiers with increased size, enhanced strength, heightened aggression but also made to follow orders by their select 'handlers.' Kafka had become their latest test subject and they aimed to break all of him.

He would undergo grueling experiments as his genetic code is shattered n stitched together like clockwork. These high stressed tests were made with the purpose of triggering the kaiju DNA inside Kafka to activate. Only then would he be ready for 'reprogramming'. It took 6 months for the man's kaiju side to activate.

Kafka would skyrocket to 15'6 in size with his muscle density doubling in the process, dark grey scales swiftly covered his arms/legs/sides of his face/torso sides, teeth growing into fangs so large they overtook his cheeks to form a massive mouth(like his kaiju), a large black scaled tail came out his lower back, twin white long horns burst from his forehead and eyes became blood red slits.

The newly made MAG would go on a vicious rampage. Kakfa brutally kills everyone inside the building he been imprisoned within as all were guilty. He is soon found by Toku, his fellow Monster Sweeper, within an alley. (There was a corpse cleanup nearby where the MAG ran off to afterwards.)

The man quickly recognizes his missing coworker and decides to help Kafka. You can say the Sweepers become very protective of their transformed coworker. Everyone pitched in to find Kafka a safe, comfortable place to call home and help him feel like a person than just survive.

Sometimes the MAG's aggressive nature would come to the surface so his sweepers find kaiju for him to fight. If the Defense Force get too close, then they send a signal out for Kafka to run. There have been a few sightings of the MAG but not enough for him to land on the DF's radar fully.

It would remain like that for years until Reno joins the Sweepers. The young man immediately felt something was off when he was assigned to this particular crew. Like something is watching him with sheer curiosity. It didn't help that his coworkers would ignore sudden discrepancies on the corpses they work on. (Power tools don't leave behind bite marks.)

He uncovers the truth when Kafka is forced to save Reno from the spider Yoju. Things only escalate further as the MAG would find his nest been invaded by a particular tiny Kaiju. One that triggers a panic within him upon the words 'Found You' before shoving itself down his throat.

Kafka reacted much more violently with this forced transformation due to PTSD wrought from the experiments. The new No.8 stands around 23'4 in size, his lower arms/lower legs/jagged back spikes/horn tips now a blood red, has an extra pair of smaller arms underneath his main pair, four horns with a smaller pair in front of the main, mouth reached half way down his neck, and large obsidian batlike wings bearing torn red membrane. Reno immediately called the Sweepers as he seriously needs help to look for the now runaway Kafka.

They would find the upgraded MAG getting soothed by Ami(the little girl) and her concerned mother(Futaba). Interestingly, Kafka's red highlights had turned a soft blueish green as both recounted how he not only saved them from the Spider Yoju but healed the mom with his scales. Whatever had altered his form somehow stabilize the man's unstable DNA.

This becoming more apparent as Kafka suddenly shrinks to a more humanlike state. (He's around 6'8 but still have some monstrous features like small horns, short tail, faded scale 'patterns', and sharp claws.) Kafka will now change forms depending on his mood with content/relaxed leading to his smaller humanoid version.

The kaiju inside him seems to be responding to the MAG's innate desire to keep his humanity. Maybe it could turn Kafka back to the way he was before. Or at least make this monstrous side more manageable.

Although the Monster Sweepers will have to be careful. Kafka has fully landed himself in the Defense Force's radar but more unstable sources shall make themselves known. Whether he can be a man or become a monster only gotten a lot harder than just dangerous.

That's all I have at the moment. For now, enjoy a song that came to mind involving our himbo in general: Monster by Fight The Fade.

[ace-of-gay]

Comfor buddy

Steve x reader (kinda)

Hurt and comfort kinda but its not emotions hurt, reader gets physically hurt in battle reader has a comfort item they take everywhere

1733 words

Warnings: no pronouns, physical pain, stuffed animal comfort item

No weight, shape, gender, age or skin types mentioned

Barely edited

《~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~♡~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~》

Any length of time in separation from them felt like misery, you’ve had them since you were just a tiny kiddo, the significance wasn’t anything big, they weren’t some expensive friend that was ‘in’ now, no they were a last minute gift from the stuffy aisle at toys R us, no more than ten dollars but the moment they were handed to you it was gonna be forever and than some.

In middle school you learned that if you kept them in your bag they could go anywhere with you, that’s led to you always keeping a small backpack with you and your buddy inside, even as an avenger you buddy went everywhere with you.

On breaks from training or doing work around the tower you’d tuck yourself away from everyone else and pull your buddy out of your bag clutching them close to your chest, eyes shut tight, letting your mind slip back to the adventures of your childhood, all the places you’d go, there was no one better in the world than your best friend, a comfort stuffy.

Always alert enough to know if anyone was coming, you didn’t want anyone to see you with a children’s toy.

Footsteps approaching quickly you put you friend back in your bag, right as the person rounds the corner chuckling at the sight of you basically hugging a backpack, “why do you always carry that bag everywhere? You never set it down”

It was rhetorical, you knew such because they didn’t even try to make their distaste for you and your bag and whatever the contents may be, a secret, their statement making its way deeper and deeper every time its mentioned.

You don’t set your bag down when you’re out of your room, it either stays on your back or in your lap when seated, if on a mission your bag goes in a small locker-like cubby, you genuinely don’t go anywhere without it.

Today is no different, suited up sitting in your designated spot with your little bag in your lap waiting to touch down and do what’s needed, cap gives the signal that you’ll be landing soon so you go off to the cubby opening its door before securing you friend in place.

Seating yourself back in your spot buckling up in case of turbulence, taking one last deep breath and cap is shouting back the instructions and you’re down, the hatch opening.

Everyone unbuckling and exiting, you’re not scared, here on the battle ground where ever it may be, you are far from worried, you have an unbeatable team, everyone going about their part of the work but everything mix together in a flow of a truly cohesive team.

Comms full of chatter ranging from snarky remarks of the opponents to watching each others back.

Wanda holding back the majority while you, Nat, and Clint fight off the few that manage to slip through, hulk breaking open the bases wall by crashing through.

Cap was chosen to be the one who goes in to get the information.

You’re in hand to hand combat when tony who was doing radar and thermal imaging calls to cap over comms saying he needs to hurry, and that there’s a missile coming.

Cap finally comes out of the base instructing everyone over comms to hurry to the quinjet, the base was about to be demolished.

You all scatter, the opponents aren’t going to matter anyways, getting tackled by one you fight back, ending with a rib shattering kick in the side.

You turn around to continue running as a ground trembling crash rings through, shrapnel flying all around, all you can hear is Clint’s voice calling your name but you had no time to process what he said, when a dinner plate sized chunk of metal comes colliding with your back sending you tumbling.

Like mentioned before you weren’t worried because what your job expected was to come to terms with any and all possibilities, but in the end you’re doing what’s right.

Of course it hurt, it hurts like hell but you’re not dead, you’re just kind of stuck, your body roughed up, you’re not a wall, newton’s first law definitely takes place on a human, so while being a ricochet, you happened to be the one to bounce.

A thunk when your head hits the ground and ringing in your ears instead of shouting or crashing, your vision has these weird colored halos and seems kinda spinny.

Too abnormal and sickening to keep your eyes open.

Hardly aware of your surroundings you can’t tell if your arms are hurt or if you’re moving them.

The most you feel are arms underneath of you and muddled cawing, whoever it may be they have no idea just how shocked your body is.

You’re still not worried, this is your job, its to be expected, scared? Yes absolutely but worried or nervous? No, you’re in good hands hopefully.

You can feel the temperature shift and you’re being set down, a breathing mask put on your face, you have some sense of where you are but not what’s happening, other than the signature jostle of the quinjet taking off.

The cawing voices not yet distinguished enough to hear what’s being said through the ringing but you can tell who’s talking.

Tony and Bruce.

Everything feels exhausting, your mind and body know you’ve sustained such enough damage that you need rest to heal properly.

Its not a dissipating unconsciousness, its cold when it first hits but its warm and encapsulating, no pain, no ringing or head spinning, no more undistinguished crowing voices just a little bit of rest.

Tony watched as your winced features fell flat, your heart constantly stable didn’t matter, your muscles no longer clenched, it terrified him, you weren’t just an avenger, not just on a team, you’re part of a found family.

“Hurry it up cap” he shouts through aircraft.

After what feels like an eternity the jet lands and you’re being rushed to the med bay, being hooked up to several machines.

Even still after a day and a half you stayed unconscious or maybe asleep.

It took three long days for your mind and body to mend the loose fragments of awareness, you finally got the chance to open your eyes for just a moment before you processed the harsh lighting and deciding to keep your eyes shut.

The rhythmic beeping of your heartbeat on the monitor picking up a little bit.

Footsteps approach followed by Bruce “its good to have you back, you gave us quite the scare but im glad you’re okay with mostly superficial injuries, a few cracked ribs and a concussion are all that’s beyond that”

You can feel the lights being dimmed and now you could open your eyes comfortably.

You were required to stay in the med bay for one more day so they could keep an eye on you and run some testing to make sure you’re healing.

Once released you were finally able to go back to your room.

Of course someone had to walk with you there just to make sure you don’t get hurt from all the strain to your body, Steve being the one who volunteered to do so, his room four doors away making it perfect for checking on you from time to time.

You were glad it was Steve, helping stabilize you when you’d stumble he opens the door to your room, “I don’t know if you want to shower or just lay down but after an injury from a battle its best to wash up so you can feel a little more yourself” nodding you make your way to the bathroom after grabbing comfortable clean relaxing clothes and a towel.

“I’m gonna hang out here and watch something on your television, so if you need anything just yell and ill be there”

Taking the time in a warm shower to decompress, clear your sinuses from the steam and the heat helping painful areas, all you want to do is cuddle up with your comfort buddy and either watch a movie with Steve or just sleep, you’re absolutely tuckered out.

Exiting the bathroom in fresh comfy clothes you finally get the chance to cherish your bed again.

The moment you lay down and reach over to the spot you keep your buddy it dawns on you, your bag is still in the quinjet, in that moment you feel your heart rate pick up, as well as Steve hearing it thrumming in your chest it worries him when he sees your gaze of panic.

“Hey hey what’s wrong, what can I do to help?”

Your hands trembling, your mind wandering to if your bag was still even there, “my bag is still on the quinjet, it has something very important.”

His mind jumps all over the place, whatever it is its important and you need it.

He gets up in a flash “ill be back in just a few minutes” and off he goes to where the quinjet stays, he chooses to take the stairs because waiting for the elevator was taking too long, “Jarvis open up the quinjet for me please “ she calls while jogging down the hall and out the door, up the ramp and here he is in front of the lockers.

Crashing each one open until your little bag catches his eyes, grabbing it but it catches on the door popping the snaps open when it hits the ground.

He watched as a well loved buddy tumblers out, his heart swells, you were so very worried about your little buddy, it was cute. Picking up the bag he puts your friend back inside so you wouldn’t be embarrassed.

Once back into your room he finds you cuddled watching your favorite movie, sniffling, he takes your buddy out of the bag, crossing the room he settles next to you, putting your buddy into your reach, it melts his heart when you clutch them to your chest soon dozing off, now comfortable.

It clicked to him, no wonder you don’t leave your room after work and dinner, in that moment you scoot closer to him feeding from his warmth he smiles.

He lives you, like a friend or maybe more but he knows you at least like him back, enough to trust him with your buddy.

《~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~♡~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~》

Got inspired to write this cause on a bad day my comfort stuffy was in my spot on my bed, and it made me feel better cuddling with him

Edited because i forgot to add the read more part and felt terrible accidentally making a mobile word wall

[creature-wizard]

Mental illness can certainly be an illusion as we may be a god's own thought process and his own neurons in his brain functioning. If he has a mental illness, it would go forth to representing the strange signals we get in space on our radars, and irregularities in our universe like black holes representing tears in thought process and behavior. Humans having mental illness cannot exist because we are imaginary creatures within this god's head.

You think this is actually some deep shit huh.

[groxglitch]

Contact

Pain.

Every synapse and nerve ending in 621’s broken body burned. The sudden Coral surge was overwhelming. It felt like his brain itself was buzzing, his head spinning. Every sensor feed from his stricken AC was more noise than actual data. The last time he’d experienced this much misery in one place was his initial augmentation; unlike that time, he no longer had a larynx with which to scream. Everything was red. Outside, inside, even if he closed his eyes all he could see was that flashing, jittering, intense red. At the outer vestiges of his mind he could hear a voice; soft, feminine, surprised and curious, though he was far from capable of making out what was being said. He clung to the margins, fading in and out as his AC was thrashed around the interior of the Watchpoint. He was fairly sure he had faded in and out of consciousness a few times now. And what was that voice? He was no stranger to hearing voices - usually the med cocktail took care of them - but this was different somehow, more alien and external than a voice in his head had any right to be.  Even in his dazed state, he could pick out angular changes in orientation, hear thrusters firing. Accelerometer data confirmed the changes, when his twice-fried brain could actually understand the signals. Was he doing that? Even his instincts had their limits.

“Raven.”

There was that voice again. At least she sounded soothing. Was this it? Was this the parting hallucinations of a brain that had figured out it was going to die? Something seethed  deep inside him. This was not how it was supposed to end. He had not come this far to die in some Coral-filled hole in the ground. His AC systems read off a full readiness report he could barely even comprehend. He did make out “operator vitals stable”, so he probably wasn’t dying. Not unless the Coral in his brain decided to cook off, anyway. He also noted he had absolutely no outbound signal. He struggled to un-slump himself within the fluid of his control pod.

“Raven, you need to wake up. There’s a PCA craft on direct approach, it’s jamming our signal.”

Suddenly his mind snapped awake. Combat. The noise had died off and he could make heads or tails of what was happening, albeit with some difficulty. His AC was standing on the roof of the Watchpoint. How? He could figure that out later. There was a hostile incoming. If he didn’t get it together now he wouldn’t live to worry about getting out of the Watchpoint, or the voice in his head that was evidently not a dying hallucination. He was still struggling to function, though; his movements were sluggish and he was struggling to process his machine’s full bandwidth of data. Frankly it was amazing he was doing as well as he was given he should, by all rights, be dead.

“I’ll synchronize with your brainwaves and support you as best I can. Get ready.”

Synchronize with- what? 621 struggled to make sense of the statement, but it wasn’t like he had time to worry about it anyway. At the very least, his datastream had cleaned up, and his AC was moving better, though it felt almost as if it were moving of his own accord. Wait, is this voice doing that? Who the hell even is this? Radar tracked a large AC screaming down to the Watchpoint at high speed. It swung around and drifted to a stop opposite his position on the roof, a large biped with what looked to be an EVA extension pack on the backside.

“Scans indicate it’s an autonomous PCA interceptor, designation Balteus. Be careful.”

The machine physically reached up and dragged down a sizable MRLS rack, locking in for a salvo. 621 already registered the hostile lock tone. This is gonna suck.

“Main system: reactivating combat mode. Move, Raven!”

He didn’t need to hear the suggestion twice. He lunged his AC forward with a booster-augmented kick, dipping low to the right to drag the missile volley towards him before suddenly juking left, sending most of the flight slamming into the ground behind him as he loosed a volley of his own from the plasma launchers on his shoulders. They detonated against Balteus, a shimmering off-teal field shielding the body of the machine from damage. Of course it has a pulse shield. Fucking PCA. He staggered discharges from the laser rifle in either arm as Balteus started to move, bolts rippling across the shield as the autocannons on the support ring returned fire in kind. Damage reports were fed directly to his consciousness as stray shells splintered off armor plating. Balteus came to a brief halt, and 621 reflexively fired his machine’s lateral thrusters, just barely clearing a cannon shell screaming past his left shoulder. He took the chance to loose another plasma volley, slowing down the rhythm on his rifles to give the poor guns a chance to cool, thermal warnings whining in his head. Not like he needed them; he could feel the rain sizzling off the barrels. No pulse weapons on hand. The only way I’m getting through that thing’s shield is with brute force. He tracked Balteus’s orbit, keeping pressure on with his lasers as it came to a halt, gaining altitude over him. The lock tone buzzed in his head. Perfect. He fired off the transit thrusters on his AC at full power, scraping low again to drag the missiles clear before streaking up underneath Balteus. It started to evade but it moved too late, as 621 brought his AC’s foot up in a rocket-powered flip kick. Sensors registered the shield protecting Balteus drop, and 621 carried his momentum through, bringing his weapons to bear as gravity reclaimed his machine. This time his weapons struck true, plasma fields and laser beams finding purchase against Balteus’s reinforced hide. It started to move again, putting distance between itself and its target as more autocannon fire raked 621’s armored hide.

“Thermal spike, Raven, get clear!”

The voice called it out before he even registered it, but sure enough, gouts of flame built at either side of Balteus’ support frame. The machine came screaming forward, lashing a gouge of superheated fire across the roof. 621 barely jumped his machine clear of the sweep, firing off a wall of plasma bolts as he engaged retro-thrusters and put some space between them. Balteus came forward for another sweep, which he evaded only by slamming down to the ground. He dashed forward underneath Balteus, barely managing to keep his machine standing as he pivoted around to bring weapons to bear once more. The damned thing’s shield was already back up.

“Keep fighting Raven, we can do this.”

Gotta kick it again, it’s the only way. Back to square one. Focus. He kept skidding backwards away from Balteus, throwing in erratic changes in vector to throw off its aim with the autocannons. He shifted into a hard left at the edge of the Watchpoint, tracking as Balteus followed his movements along the edge and repositioned accordingly. It initiated a staggered set of dashes forward, firing off another cannon shell in the middle, before launching into another flurry of flame blade strikes. 621 struggled to keep his machine ahead of the assault, thermal sensors spiking well past the redzone as flames licked at his machine. Finally, however, Balteus slowed down. It’s energy was, for a short window, spent. There’s my window. Once again, 621 fired his transit thrusters and slammed feet first into Balteus with as much weight and force as his spritely machine could muster. Its shield flickered out and 621 proceeded to hammer it with as much firepower as he could muster at any one time, driving his weapons as hard as they could go. Balteus tried to regain it’s stability under his barrage, and he fired up the thrusters again, this time sending it drifting across the roof with a shoulder tackle. He kicked off high, continuing his barrage until the weapons forcibly quit fire.  Flames poured from Balteus as it struggled to get itself under control. Flames billowed from several open blasts across the hull. Its thrusters gave out, and the machine tried to catch itself on its feet, swaying before buckling and dropping to its knees. It reached up and tried to drag its missile racks down for a final, spiteful salvo. However, in the midst of them sliding into place, several detonated in the rack, leading to a chain reaction that blew the entire craft to pieces. “Sympathetic detonation confirmed in enemy magazines; enemy craft destroyed. Well done.”

621 found himself huffing inside his control pod. Even if he hadn’t physically moved much at all, pushing an AC to its limits right after brushing shoulders with death takes a lot out of you. He took a second to collect himself. “Mind explaining to me who - or what - the hell you are, exactly?” He asked. Things weren’t adding up. Sure, a voice in his head could just be a hallucination, but his hallucinations never actively helped him drive an AC before. Short wave radio comms would pick up in his skull as well, but that PCA unit was very much jamming comms so that’s out, and there is zero chance of somebody copiloting an AC remotely over radio. “I am Ayre - a Rubiconian. We made Contact when you were subsumed in the Coral flow below. The surge of Coral throughout your machine allowed me a measure of direct control, and I was able to override the autopilot and extract you. The residual Coral in your machine is already fading, however… I am symbiotically bound to your implants.” Finally, a name to the voice- Ayre. It wasn’t just another mental side effect of his implants going haywire. Arguably, it was worse; he’d picked up a stray. How? Since when were there people in Coral? It was a mineral, a fancy sparky rock in the ground. It could do a lot of things, to be sure, but since the fuck when was Coral alive? “I understand that this is probably a lot to take in all at once. I tried reaching out to you before, but I… I guess you were still too far gone then to even understand me. Or maybe I hadn’t worked out how to communicate in a way you could understand.” “Well. Thank you for dragging me out of that pit, at the very least.” He said. “So, you’re in my head?” “Yes, specifically your cerebral implants. The Coral throughout your central nervous system acts as a resonator and allows me to exist within your brain, functionally as an extra brainwave.” “Well that’s grand.” 621 lamented. “As if I wasn’t enough of a wreck as-is. I’m going to guess you can rifle through my memories and the rest of my brain at a whim?” “That is correct, yes. At a surface level, that’s how I worked out your name, and worked out how to best coordinate with you in combat.” “Do me a favor then, don’t go poking around places you don’t belong. There’s places in my brain even I don’t touch anymore.” He chided. “I… will keep that in mind, Raven.” Ayre agreed. “Something you should keep in mind yourself: look up.”

In the gaps between clouds, as the storm overhead began to part, 621 could see the bare sky. Streaked through in red, churning as crimson lightning raged within. It traced clear back to the horizon, to the northern coast, where smoke and debris were only just beginning to settle. “That Coral surge you were caught up in was but a drop in the greater tide… and only a small taste of what is to come in Rubicon’s future.” “Fuck.” 621 found himself at a loss for words. How much Coral did we just release? What kind of well was that cork holding closed? “Raven, you need rest. Both you and your AC are in rough shape. I’ll re-establish communications with Handler Walter.”

621 looked to the-now smoking remains of Balteus. Maybe the PCA had a good reason for trying to keep the Watchpoint sealed.