#save me gyrus

[peachtealeaves]

Trying to improve and go from intermediate to professional and as always Gyrus Axelai is my muse 🫡💖

[moosemonstrous]

Ghost Rider Pacific Rim AU - the inherent injustice of being the youngest person in any group

The Wall is nearly ready.

Amadeus likes a good wall, especially if he gets his hands on a printer and some red string. It’s good to be able to put all information in view at once – helps him organise his thoughts, or at least present them in a way that appears organised to a random observer.

“Oh, so we’re in crazy town already?” Tony sighs. “Cho, it’s not been a week.”

The Wall is nearly ready, save for a giant empty space he’d mentally labelled as OTHER PILOT. Now, Amadeus would be the first to admit he can get excited a smidge too quickly, so when he talks Tony through his and Montesi’s findings, he needs to make sure to include absolutely everything. He starts with two near-identical sets-of-four scans of the Maximoffs’ brains.

“No, no, let him talk,” Montesi pushes him into a chair. She’s got her hair up in the messiest bun Amadeus has ever seen on her, and he’s fairly sure she hasn’t meditated once since the first MEG scan came back making zero sense. He’s a great influence on everyone around him. “I triple-checked every conclusion. If this is real…”

“These were taken still in drivesuits, straight out of the Conn-Pod,” he says, tapping the highlighted area in the centre of the sagittal view. “Increased blood flow and activity in hippocampus for up to forty-five minutes after disconnecting from the hardware.”

Next: the original MRI Carter’s team took after the techs fished Reyes out of The Charger. Then, the results of the whole set of tests they took on his first day as their, ah, research participant. Montesi had the misfortune of taking the Hippocratic oath and doesn’t like the kind of language Amadeus got used to in private labs. “Six hours,” he says, pointing at the MRI, “three days,” pointing at the day-one MEG, then: “and yesterday.” He got a little carried away time-wise and didn’t image the scan onto a more user-friendly brain model, so it’s just rows and rows of electromagnetic waves in a table, with the relevant anomalies highlighted in neon green. Tony is a smart cookie; he’ll figure it out.

Smart as he is, he doesn’t really deal in meat brains. “Kid, help me out. What am I looking at? These are all pretty much the same.”

Amadeus just about manages not to clap like a proud parent. “They pretty much are!” He stretches himself across The Wall to point out the similarities in the detected anomalies: “See that? Minimal, but present activity in the frontal cortex, and constant stimulation to the hippocampus.” (Please please please don’t find something obvious I missed this is too interesting to be just. Nothing.) “Six! Days! No aneurysm! No seizures! Not even beginning stages of neuron malfunction!”

Tony pinches the bridge of his nose. “Is this another Spector?”

Amadeus is ready for that. “Nope. His history is muddled at best – we really need to get into that, by the way – but there is no prefrontal cortex dysfunction, and no damage to the anterior cingulate gyrus.” Tony sends him a truly murderous glare over his fingers. “If it was DID, or schizophrenia, or anything, we would’ve seen signs of it by now. We mapped out his brain millimetre by millimetre, alright? There isn’t another explanation, it must be–”

“Don’t say it,“ Tony warns, but Amadeus can’t help himself:

“–ghost drifting! Come on, Doc, back me up.”

Montesi clears her throat. “He’s right.” Before Amadeus can whoop in victory, she adds: “Don’t put that in writing, I have a reputation to uphold.” She straightens the lapels of her lab coat. “Reyes needs thorough monitoring. There might well be nothing on the other end of that drift.”

“Well—”

“No,” she says, already aggravated by their many, many previous discussions on the topic.

“But—”

“No,” she repeats. “Yes, something weird is going on with his brain. Yes, I think we should investigate. But we have no evidence it’s connected to that dreadful jaeger.”

“Yet!” Amadeus is distantly aware that the noise he makes resembles a dying goose. “Tony, just hear me out.”

“Give me a damn minute.”

Both Amadeus and Montesi back away from the Wall to let him inspect the scans at his leisure. Amadeus hates being evaluated in real time; what he wants is to provide supplementary information to every piece of paper Tony looks at, what he has to do is wait for him to draw his own conclusions. Even though his understanding of neurophysiology is at best intermediate, and even though it’s Amadeus who’s supposed to be the biology side of their partnership—

“Take it down a notch,” Tony tells him seriously. “You’re about to vibrate through the floor. Go grab a drink or something, I need a word with Vicky first.”

“It’s my office,” Amadeus grumbles, shoving his hands in his coat pockets.

“It’s my base,” Tony raises an eyebrow, but Amadeus knows better than to challenge him on that. “Run along, come back in fifteen. I’ll need you to walk me through the spongy bits again.”

*

Robbie thinks his spine might have turned to jelly. The wooden bench in the locker room didn’t look comfortable at first, but now he reckons he could stay on it for the rest of the shift. Or maybe the rest of his life.

It’s not the most tired he’s ever been. But it’s somewhere in the top five, for sure.

“Hey, man, that wasn’t too bad,” someone punches his shoulder. Robbie is too numb to figure out whether it was hard enough to hurt or not hard enough to register. “Have some water before you pass out.”

He accepts the plastic bottle. Briefly wishes death and suffering upon everyone who laughs when he can’t operate the screw top with his shaking hands. Finally, shoulder-puncher takes mercy on him and takes it away, then hands it back, open.

“Thanks,” he manages to mumble between sips. His bad eye is all screwy and he can still feel adrenaline pulsing in his temples like a hammer. Is he really supposed to do this every day? He doesn't know if he can find his legs before it's time to pick up Gabe.

“First day always sucks,” says the shoulder-puncher. “Brooks doesn’t normally stay on one person the whole time.”

Oh. Good. Someone else says: “I thought newbies were all air support.”

“No way, he’s too short for air support.”

“I could do air support,” Robbie frowns. He’s... not entirely sure what air support is in this context. He’s only partially convinced he’s actually forming words. Shoulder-puncher grabs the water bottle back before it slips from his fingers. “’m not. But I could.”

“Sure you could, pip-squeak,” Shoulder-puncher laughs. His accent is... familiar. Robbie tries to focus enough faculties to actually look at the guy. On his way to buff, blond, freckled like someone who hasn’t given up on a tan despite all signs indicating it isn’t meant to be. Maybe a couple of years older than Robbie. “You sound Californian.”

“East L.A.,” Robbie confirms. Shoulder-puncher points at one of his mates with a satisfied smirk and collects a bundle of Hong Kong dollars among a mix of cheering and booing.

“Grew up there before my old man got drafted,” he tells Robbie, tapping the side of his nose. “Name’s Guerro.”

The three other guys in the locker room also have names, and Robbie will be very embarrassed he can't remember them in the near future. They're training to be on the ground cover, but just as anyone else in the academy, plan to become rangers as soon as the new jaeger finally gets built.

"Brooks said--" Was that meeting classified? Robbie is too wiped out to care. "Vibranium problems. There's a delay."

"Aw, fuck that noise," probably-Kim drops down on the bench to his right. He makes an exaggerated double-take when he notices Robbie’s bad eye. "Dang, did Brooks get you in the face?"

"Accident," he shrugs.

"Make sure you see Nurse Carter, get some drops for that shit," Guerro cranes his neck to take a better look. "It's too fucking damp here, everything takes forever to heal up."

It's... nice. It's nice to have people talk to him rather than at and over him, and use a language he can mostly understand - there's some Cantonese inserts he's still getting his head around. Guerro and his friends tease him for being too-brain dead to remember the way to the barracks and express jealousy that he gets to bunk with the civilians. There's the tiny, irritating sliver wedged between his ribs that bristles at being the new kid again - always - but Robbie is truly too exhausted to pay it any mind.

Besides, comes a thought, if anyone around here is going to make ranger, it's you.

***

(Thanking @cicada-candy and @rokhal for the Spector idea. Also @wazzappp for help with the science magic bc let's be real in my hands that's the best we can hope for 😌😅)

[diyabloko]

one another goldrose thing: playful and tender morning routine.

Monday mornings are noisy in New York. Joe missed them, to be honest, but the noise didn't reach his high-rise apartment, so it didn't spoil his sleep. Now he was lucky to have peace. Kate craved peace above all else, after all the years of her father's hyper-protection, so it was a safe bet that this minimalist high-rise apartment was one of the most potentially secure in the city. And nothing interferes with sleeping until lunchtime, burying the face in a snow-white pillow. But this is Goldberg's privilege alone, while his partner was already leaving for work, kissing him goodbye and setting up the coffee machine.

Calmness made him tender. Finally New York, finally his own name, finally the bookstore again. And finally, self-acceptance. And all of this allows him to sleep peacefully until he want to sit down to read overlooking Central Park. He doesn't have to hide from anyone, overcome or kill somebody, at least not yet, and this suits him perfectly.

He only gets tense when fingers gently touch his naked back, drawing unknown bizarre shapes. Unaccompanied by words, and generally soundless, as if these movements simply appeared in the air. No matter how skilled Kate was at mystery, even she could not do it - only one person could. Or a ghost. Or an imaginary friend. Whoever he is, he will not pass and will find Joe even within these strong walls. Because he is always there, created once and existing until the death of the creator, somewhere between the gyrus of the brain, among which he finds a place to make his own touches real, running his fingers along the spine.

"Rhys." Joe whispers harshly, looking over his shoulder sleepily. Sometimes it's hard to know whether it was a good or bad idea to make this young man a part of him, to embed him in the brain in the hope of saving him forever. Though he probably owes his life to Rhys after all - it would have been much harder to come to acceptance without such a cute thought element, still dressed in the suit and leaning playfully over the bed. Eventually he chuckles, his pinky finger brushing against underwear, as if teasing. "That's enough."

"You know very well that I know your desires better than anyone. Don't pretend," he touches with his palm, guiding it to shoulder, as if he were starting some kind of impromptu massage. He squeezes Joe's shoulders gently, moves to his neck, stopping for a moment, and then fidgets on the bed so that his hand can comfortably touch Joe's collarbones. "Have you ever thought about what would happen if I strangled you? A draw?"

"You can't strangle me."

"Of course I can't. You're not suicidal, and I told you that before you threw me off the bridge. But I'm not offended," he caresses the hair at the back of Joe's head, gently guiding his face upward. Eventually he leans over him in a kind of teasing comfort. Joe lazily follows his movements, shifting his own posture. If Kate were to put cameras in some nooks and crannies, she'd probably throw him in an insane asylum. She won't see a playful dead-London-mayor-guy in a suit above her lover in the recording, which is for the best, from all perspectives. But it's hardly an actual betrayal, is it? "But it would be one violent point versus three , if you'll count the testicles. Even as a part of you, I can't imagine what would make you choose to kill me that way."

"Why are you wearing a suit?"

"Found someone to ask. It's your own business, Joe, you have a thing for people in business suits. But your girlfriend dresses herself, and my clothes are entirely up to you."

"Well. Why are you bothering me now? We'll all feel better if we get some sleep."

"Because I like to play with you. You know, your head gets bored sometimes too. And I become a savior. I wake you up, no matter how effective it is, so that you can come to life a little bit and not lie naked until the evening. Get up, let's go eat."

[thecatamaranlad]

Wrote a little ROS snippet (~200 words) for Nephthys’ birthday and thought I’d share it here for any ROS nerds who aren’t on the discord/for posterity.

It takes place between Kodya and Nephthys right after the uh, Infamous CPR Scene. :D

“He did WHAT?” Kodya asked, blushing. “I thought I hallucinated that part.”

“Nope! He really kissed you! Apparently it’s a futuristic healing technique?” Nephthys said, excited. “Isn’t that strange? I wonder if he would teach me.”

She was supposed to be monitoring Kodya for “secondary drowning”, whatever that meant – Gyrus had just told her to keep an eye on his vital signs, especially his breathing. Well, his breathing wasn’t doing too good right now. He was coughing and sputtering almost as badly as he had when he’d been first pulled out of the lake, even though they were on dry land next to a roaring fire, and he was wrapped in a smothering amount of blankets.

“He seemed nice, I bet he’d be willing to teach you too if you asked! It’d probably be useful for all of us to learn it.”

Kodya’s face kept getting redder and redder. Nephthys grinned. She had a feeling this was more related to the “ceepear” than the drowning. “He’s really pretty, isn’t he?” she asked, trying to confirm her suspicions, and Kodya glared at her.

“What’s that got to do with anything?”

“It means if you don’t start breathing normally, I’m going to have to call him over to help you out again!” Neph said, just to watch the boy struggle. She was starting to get some entertaining ideas about how she could repay him for saving her life. “It’s my job to watch you after all, and he seems to be the most effective healer here…”

For now. She really wasn’t kidding about asking Gyrus to teach her that technique.

[grits-galraisedinthesouth]

Do you have a favorite Easter film? I have a few.

For Kids of all ages: The Easter Promise

This sweet movie, The Easter Promise, (I think of it as: The Passion of the Christ for kids, broke my heart 💔 in the best possible way. I'm ashamed to admit that prior to seeing this simple cartoon, I had never given thought to the horrors children witnessed as they watched an innocent man carry his cross through the streets of Jerusalem to Calvary.

"Set in the historically rich city of Jerusalem, the story follows a wide-eyed dreamer, Jerem, his spirited sister Elizabeth and cousin Samuel on their quest to save a king.

Jerem has always dreamed of being a great soldier for a king despite the fact that no one seemed to take him seriously. That is until Jerem met two mysterious pharisees who promise to make his dream come true for a price. A price Jerem soon realizes he is not willing to pay.

While Jerem is following his dream the evil merchant Haman and his wisecracking associates Dorcus and Gyrus are following him. Haman has other plans for Jerem, Elizabeth and Samuel. The kids are soon faced with tough decisions and tougher challenges as they try to serve their new "King".

With a delightful mix of breath-taking animation, believable characters,superb original music and playful humor, "THE EASTER PROMISE", will leave viewers asking for more."

Songs from The Easter Promise:

Little Elizabeth's tear jerker, "Please Tell Me Why," is the 4th song

The Easter Promise Part 1 of 4

The Easter Promise Part 2 of 4

The Easter Promise Part 3 of 4

The Easter Promise Part 4 of 4

For Adults

Movie Clips

#1 Passion of the Christ

The acting is superb. I'll never get over the way Mel Gibson and the actors portrayed the special bond between Jesus Christ and his mother Mary 😭. The actor who portrayed the Apostle John had no lines in this film and yet his performance also leaves me in tears.

#2 Charlton Heston in Ben Hur

Timeless.

#3 The Young Messiah

Parenting the King of Kings:

Boy Jesus playing with his toy: "I was praying--- and playing. I'm sorry, I was supposed to help James."😭

Joseph: "Your questions are the questions of a child, but the answers are the answers for a man."

#4 The Nativity Story

How it all began.

#5 RISEN

[eldrichfuck666]

This is so Damon. No explanation, this is just quite literally Damon 👆🏾 AND I CAN'T EXPLAIN BUT OKAY I'LL TRY. The whole idea of him losing control over his true self that is not human in order to save his mask, the face everyone sees and then feeling like that illusion of a human is you, feeling as if you are trying to replace yourself. Who is he truly? He doesn't know himself, especially feeling like as if the skin of a mask started feeling as if it's his own and trying to return to his non-human form feels like ripping off his own skin?? If it makes sense. THIS IS SO RAMBLY BUT. I think and hope you understand the concept. It seems to him as if his mask has fused with his real skin and is trying (unfortunately, he feels, successfully) to replace his face. He doesn't understand and cannot comprehend what he is, who he is (or, perhaps, was) — he feels betrayed by himself in some way?... SO THAT MADE ME THINK ABOUT HIM IMMEDIATELY.

[justaghostingon]

I posted 279 times in 2022

That's 55 more posts than 2021!

169 posts created (61%)

110 posts reblogged (39%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@kitkat-the-muffin

@crookedblade

@jay9marie

@mosaicofdreamsanddragons

@snazzyscarf

I tagged 274 of my posts in 2022

Only 2% of my posts had no tags

#room of swords - 204 posts

#room of swords reactions - 176 posts

#gyrus - 33 posts

#kodya - 28 posts

#iro - 21 posts

#don - 21 posts

#reblog - 14 posts

#tori - 12 posts

#yumeji - 12 posts

#strawbarrow - 11 posts

Longest Tag: 135 characters

#of course a watsonian explination is that she hasn’t progressed enough at level 1 to begin to hone her craft and specialize her ability

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

So i get why y’all mad about the short hair in the Rings of power, but consider:

The short hair was a fashion choice unique to the second age. Where everyone jumped on the trend and then immediately (for elves so a couple centuries) jumped off again. It’s the embarrassing haircut every elf tries to forget they ever had, so much so that they tear down all statues and paintings where they have it.

The kind of thing that galadriel will absolutely hold over elrond’s head every time they come to visit, and show all his kids.

“Oh Arwen, he doesn’t want u to marry ur hot human boyfriend? Well sometimes he doesn’t make good decisions. Just Look at this painting i keep on me of him with short hair. Could you imagine a worse decision? I can’t”

Arwen (horrified): father?!!!

Elrond: it was a phase! Stop showing people that!

Galadriel: No ☺️

420 notes - Posted September 3, 2022

#4

The Inversion of the Ideal Type:

A mini meta on Komi-san Can’t Communicate

So i’ve been watching Komi-san lately, and I really love the main couple, but it took me a while to finally pinpoint why.

When the show begins, we start from Tadano’s perspective: he’s an average guy with a beautiful but silent classmate who’s secret he discovers. And at this point, I thought i knew what i was getting. The everyday man finding out some secret about a girl way out of their league causing the girl to need to keep them around is a very common wish fulfillment plot. Komi is clearly Tadano’s ideal girl, and the fact she has a weakness he can exploit is just the icing on the cake. I’ve seen it all before, and it always left a bad taste in my mouth.

But here’s the kicker: Tadano doesn’t exploit Komi’s secret. He doesn’t make her dependent on him, or act jealous of her new friends. He’s constantly looking out for her comfort and trying to help her reach out and make new friends. And in this, he becomes a wish fulfillment character himself. After all, a guy who genuinelu cares and tries to help you with your crippling anxiety? Someone who always understands when u try to communicate? People with social anxieties want that. Any girl who’s ever felt misunderstood wants that. Komi-san wants that. Tadano, with his gentle encouragement and seemingly endless patience, is as much Komi’s ideal man as she is his ideal woman.

And that’s what makes the show work. They both value each other, they both want each other, and every episode they find new little details about each other to make them fall even more in love. Its sweet and uncomplicated, and maybe its a bit idealistic, but its like having a yummy desert after a long day, it soothes you.

571 notes - Posted June 29, 2022

#3

The Great Demon Fiance ManHunt of Cang Qiong Sect

A scum villian’s self saving system au

It all started when Liu Qingge fell into another succubus pit.

Now the succubus in this pit had been gossiping just before he arrived. Well, more like debating in demon fashion, which is to say they had been in an all out brawl.

Liu Qingge thinks this might be an easy fight since they’re all so distracted, until on smarter succubus stops the others

“Wait!” She says. “He’s from Cang Qiong. Maybe he knows something!”

Liu qingge isn’t particularly interested in hearing them out, but they overwhelm him, united as one and fueled with the vigor of one who is starving for gossip

They ask him: “which cang Qiong peak lord is getting married to the next mobei-jun?”

This completely throws liu qingge for a loop nad he venemently denies it

But the succubus insist, spinning a tale of star crossed lovers which as reached their ears: of a young mobei-jun who was rescued by a pittiful human from cang qiong sect, who promised to always be there for mobei-jun, even as he rose higher and higher in thr sect, never betraying him, until even the great mobei-jun could not help but fall in love

Liu qingge dismisses this, but the succubus insist its true, because the same Mobei-jun visited their madam (i forget her name) for a fortune told, and there was a human at his side, dressed in the robes of a cang qiong peak lord!

Their madam is famous for her love fortunes! Why visit her with someone if u weren’t planning to marry them?

(Mobei-jun was not there for a love fortune. He and Shang Qinghua were looking for some plot device to help thwart on of his uncle’s schemes, and needed directions)

So which one was it? Was it him?

Liu qingge is outraged by this suggestion, so much so that it gives him enough of a power boost to escape

At first he ignores it. But it keeps circling in his brain, like a nagging fly he can’t get out of his mind

Then the unthinkable happens: Shen Qingqiu starts being nice! He saves him! He wants to bury the hatchet! He starts being nice to his disciples!

It’s almost like he recieved some very, very good news.

Like a secret proposal.

But no! Shen Qingqiu liked woman! He was always sneaking down to the red pavilon! Right? Right?

Unless he was just using that as a cover to sneak out to see his demon lover????

Filled with worry, he tries to subtly interrogate Shen Qingqiu by asking him what he thinks of demons. Rather predictably, this fails horribly. With an oblivious shen yuan thinking this was a perfect opportunity to get liu qingge to soften to his future brother-in-law’s heritage and gives his whole “there are bad and good ones” speech

Liu qingge leaves heartbroken, certain his shixiong is in love with a demon

He goes to yue qingyuan and tells him that they might be losing a martial brother to an engagement, but refuses to say who

Leaving yue qinghuan witn thr impession its liu qingge who’s getting engaged

At around this time, the rumor of a cang qiong peak lord marrying a demon reaches the peak, because those succubus are still fighting over which one it is, and have taken to asking every cang qiong disciple they can find

Yue qingyaun panics, because his shidi has all but told him he’s getting engaged, liu qingge panics because shen qingqiu could get in serious trouble if this is found out, and shang qinghua panics because what if this inane rumor causes people to examine his own connections to demons?

Shen qingqiu is not panicking. Shen Qingqiu is having a lovely time playing house eith binghe and ignoring everything else

Meanwhile the other peak lords all start accusing each other, the disciples start using this to start fights with other peak disciples, and its all getting very out of hand

Yue qingyuan is forced to call a meeting, and tries to politely get liu qingge to confess

See the full post

689 notes - Posted July 16, 2022

#2

How to Woo the Girl You Dumped Without her Demon-possessed Brother Getting in your Way: A Guide by Jin Zinxuan

A crack au

It all begins when Jin Zinxuan notices that Jiang Yanli is actually really pretty.

This is unfortunately right in the middle of him yelling at her for trying to claim credit for the soup someone’s been making for him

Wei Wuxian shows up, demonic tendicals (we’re going anime version here) dripping from all around him as he defends his sister, it comes out that she has been making the soup, and now he’s smitten with a huge problem: the girl he likes both now prob hates him because he humiliated her, and also her brother is definitely a demon

Now a sensible person would first try to patch over the relationship with jiang yanli by apologizing, but jin Zixuan is a Jin! He’s never done a sensible thing in his life!

And also talking about feelings is really scary and as his friend Miammiam likes to point out, he is really bad at it

So naturally, he decides that the most important step to wooing Jiang yanli is to save her brother from demonic possession. That way she’ll be super impressed with him and he’ll be less terrifying and so greatful he’ll well come him into the family!

What could go wrong?!!

Jin Guangyao insists that it is not demonic possession, it is demonic cultivation. But jin zixuan has heard jin zixun rant about “that wei demon” enough times to know better

Figure of speech? What’s that?

So jin zixuan decides to exorcise wei wuxian, and to do that, he’ll need help from the smartest person he knows: jin Guangyao

Jin guangyao is less than thrilled at being sent on a rediculous job like this, to exorcise the clearly not possessed wei wuxian, until he realizes jin zixuan will do anything he suggests without question

ANYTHING

So Jin guangyao decides to have fun with this, setting jin zixuan on increasingly ridiculous tasks to “cure” wei wuxian of demonic possesstion

Like covering him in salt. Or throwing itchy flowers at him. Or running after him chanting this truely awful tune while hoping on one foot.

The result of course, is a very angry wei wuxian who chases zixuan away, and an increasingly desperate jin zixuan who thinks wei wuxian’s frustrations are proof that “the demons are trying to stop me!”

Now the sect heir acting strange is going to raise some eyebrows, and when outsiders look at jin zixuan throwing flowers and singing, they come to a very different conclusion.

Within a day, everyone in every sect is convinced jin zixuan is trying to court wei wuxian

“My son is a cutsleeve!” Moans jin guangshan. “How did this happen! I showed him all the fine ways to love a woman!”

“You’re lessons are the reason my son is a cutsleeve!” Madam jin retorts. “U scarred him for life!”

They proceed to spend the rest of the time arguing and somehow forget to actually talk to their son

Meanwhile in yumeng everyone is losing their collective shit. Jiang cheng is furious that jin zixuan thinks he can poach wei ying with a few pretty words and flowers. Jiang yanli is depressed because her crush is really hopeless now, and how could she measure up to wei wuxian?

Wei wuxian himself is disgusted, not that jun zixuan is a cutsleeve, but that he’d dare to court him! After what he did to shijie! He resolves to firmly rebuff every attempt jin zixuan makes

Which only serves to make jin zixuan more determined because “those demons are really stubborn!!”

But then… the rumor reaches gusu

And lan zhan hops on the first sword to the jin sect to challenge jin zixuan to a duel for wei wuxian’s honor

Lan Zhan tells himself he wouldn’t do this is wei wuxian actually loved the guy. But its not just some guy. This is jin zixuan, wei wuxian hates him! Even he knows that!

They fight, but jin zixuan for all his denseness, even he knows he doesn’t have a quirrel with lan Zhan, and eventually he gets lan zhan to calm down enough to ask why they are fighting

Lan zhan explains and jin zixuan is horrified he’d ever thing that, and quickly fills him in on what he’s really doing: saving wei wuxian from the demon that is possessing him

See the full post

692 notes - Posted September 13, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

The Yiling Laozu’s Lost Spells, A.K.A. The Weird Ones

A Collection by Mo Xuanyu

aka another crack au

Edit: Now with a part 2!

When the Yiling Laozu died his work was divided up by its use

The Lans took anything deemed undemonic, like Spirit Lures and Demonic Compasses

The Jins snuck out anything dangerous under the lie they’d destroy it

And the rest of it…it got scattered everywhere to every lowdown village and wanna be demonic cultivator.

At first, no one thought this would be a problem. It’s not like anything dangerous is out there, and not just anyone can culitvate

But they forgot two very important things: 1) no one needs to be a culivator to use demonic cultivation and 2) people will find a way to use anything

Soon the culivation world is overrun by really, really weird cases that their cultivators just can’t keep up with

And when I say weird, I do mean weird here’s a look at some of the cases:

Case 1) Giant rabbits the size of houses have been spotted in a mountain near a sheparding villiage eating all their feilds. They asked Hanguang-jun for help. Hanguang-jun went up but he did not come back down. It is suspected the giant bunnies ate him

Case 2) the dancing radishes. Every night on the full moon radishes come to life in a villiage and dance on their beds. Its not hurting anyone, but its really freaking them out

Case 3) dog begone spells. A whole villiage has lost all its dogs and no one knows why. Some of them were really expensive spirit puppies, including one jin guangyao was planning to purchase for his nephew

Case 4) the case of the running radishes. Radishes are leaving their beds a d running away as fast as thry can. Every time someone gets close they keep moving farther away

Case 5) flowers flying to lan clan ribbons and sticking. Every flower, even ones on stems. The lans are walking around covered in flowers and it is becoming a Problem.

Case 6) radishes that look like potatoes. Again? What is with this guy and radishes? This spell would have been harmless if it hadn’t been in a villiage with two rival families of radishes and potatoes. The potato family is accusing the radish family of sabatoge and the radish family is accusing the potato family of stealing their crop

Case 7) Lotus soup possession talisman. If u stick this talisman on someone, they will make lotus and pork rib soup. Always. Again and again. They can’t stop. Everything they make is soup. They’re crying.

Case 8) the peacock tail talisman. Every jin who comes into contact with this talisman will get a peacock tail. They can’t get rid of them. This is a problem.

Case 9) grass butterflies come to life. Again, not harmful, but very annoying. All children love it. All adult toy sellers do not. Their wares keep flying away. Please someone save their buisnesses

Case 10) hug jiang cheng. You must hug jiang cheng. You can’t help it. You can’t stop. If u don’t give him one hug a day you will die. Jiang cheng is furious. Fix this now.

Case 11) give Hanguang-jun compliments. Not hard, no one would notice if it wasn’t stuck to Su She. He hates it. He’s sueing for emotional damages. You better fix this quick!

And these are just the first ones! In times like this, people look to the Chief Cultivator. But the Chief cultivator is off flirting with women, so like all things, this falls to jin guangyao to solve.

So Jin guangyao decides he needs to get those documents back, and who better to send to handle the weird cases no one wants to touch than his weird half brother who’s so fasinated by demonic cultivation?

Thus Mo Xuanyu finds himself with his dream job: chasing down the yiling Laozu’s lost works! What more could he want?

The first case is easy. He goes up and finds Hanguang-jun asleep cuddled in a pile of giant rabbits. All he has to do is find out where the talisman is and remove them. The hard part is getting Hanguang-jun to stop looking like he just killed his wife. Mo xuanyu didn’t know Hanguang-jun had puppy eyes. Since when did he have puppy eyes? Eventually to make him feel better he helps him take all the rabbits to cloud recesses. And at another puppy dog eyed, gloomy look like he’s denied him his long lost lover, Mo Xuanyu gives him the talisman too. Jin Guangyao’s not happy, but really, what was Mo Xuanyu supposed to do? Not make that handsome man smile again?

The second case is a lot harder. Nothing Mo Xuanyu does gets the radishes to stop singing. No spells, not talismans, nothing. The only thing left is to dig them all up and throw them deep into the woods where no one will have to listen. Mo Xuanyu’s ears are still bleeding from their reedy songs

The third case is where Mo Xuanyu feels a bit of hope in Yiling laozu’s work really paying off. Lots of his bullies at the jin sect have dogs. If he can make them vanish, he’ll be safe! Unfortunately this spell makes all dogs leave, or none at all. And even when he finds a way to undo it, he can’t afford to copy it out because jin guangyao took one of the pups to give to jin ling, and if mo xuanyu makes the grumpy jin ling’s beloved new puppy go away, he’ll be kicked out of Koi Tower and feel bad besides

The radishes are back, but they run now. They aren’t even violent, u can’t use them for anything! They just run! It takes mo xuanyu months to catch one and track it back to its home. The radishes have built a radish villige in the forest. Radish farmers radish shop keepers and radish children. Mo xuanyu feels like he’s stepped into a children’s book. Then he hears the familiar reedy songs and it becomes a nightmare. The running radishes found the singing ones. They interbred. Now they have musical theatre radishes. Mo Xuanyu booked it out of there as fast as he can. Fuck the Yiling Laozu. Mo Xuanyu isn’t messing with that

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1,022 notes - Posted September 23, 2022

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[kitkat-the-muffin]

Gyrus’s eyes are purple… just reminds me of when he first got his breaking point and freaked out about saving Kodya back in Season 1

I’m gonna miss this comic

[caelavi]

three songs for each muse, cut for length

dom

revived, derivakat

i'm alive, i'm revived, i survived / you surprised? gonna cry about it? / you should see the other guy / i've returned and i've waited my turn / a decade of time to make everything mine / am i the bad guy? / i'll be the bad guy again / just like last time / and we all know how that ends / no one came to help / so i'll help myself instead

rose, a perfect circle

in the headlight / locked down and terrified / your deer in the headlights / shot down and horrified / when push comes to pull comes to shove / comes to step around this self-destructive dance / that never would've ended 'til i rose / i roared aloud here / i will, i am / i am, i will / so no longer will i lay down / lay dead, play this / kneel down, gun-shy martyr, pitiful / i rose, i roared, i will, i am

touch, lights fade low

no one will stain you / no one will pain you / i'll keep you clean until my end / no one will hurt you / the way that i hurt you / nothing will feel the same again

bonus song tag originates from: mr. capgras encounters a secondhand vanity: tulpamancer’s prosopagnosia/pareidolia (as direct result of trauma to the fusiform gyrus), will wood and the tapeworms

you're trying to replace yourself / … / levitating off the ground / is another man wearing your face / all the other false identities / remedies or enemies to mitigate your memories / shuddered at what they found / when they stripped away the grace

nat

take me away, globus

take me away upon a plateau / far, far away from fears and shadow / strengthen my heart in times of sorrow / light the way to bright tomorrows

get a hold of yourself, sugar jesus

if you see me fall, i will get up again / i'll make you a promise that this is not the end / just like i said, get a hold of yourself / you've got to trust me, just get a hold of yourself

let the bridges burn, killswitch engage

i must refuse to renounce my integrity / we stand in defiance to their ethics / let the grief they have inflicted serve as our call to arms / are you ready? are you willing to be the catalyst?

bonus song tag originates from: atone and bloom, auvic

appear before me, silent plume / to come a time where i can bloom / … /  look, justice bless my soul, your subtle art / oh, take a look at me (pray, when i shed my tear) / oath keep my spirit free (say the words i need to hear) / may i muse along the way?

tartaglia

anti-hero, sekai no owari

i'm gonna be the anti-hero / feared and hated by everybody / i'm gonna be the anti-hero / so i can save you when the time comes

not human, elegant slims

into the blackness / your heart is darkness / here comes the madness / you're not human anymore / you're not human anymore / cracking the seams, you're breaking through / the animal inside of you / not human anymore / you're not human anymore / your eyes go black, electric blue / the animal inside of you

work song, hozier

my baby never fret none / about what my hands and my body done / if the lord don't forgive me / i'd still have my baby and my babe would have me

bonus song tag originates from: nothing personal, des rocs

reaching for a book of matches / strike a light and you'll see the real mess that i am / i swear it's nothing personal

[k1ngtok1]

Boys it’s happened again 😔

[starkitters]

Your tags on my "Chiro finding his stuff in the Citadel" gifset have me HOWLING OH MY GODDDDD you're so so right. like they left quite a few plot points hanging in srmthfg overall but. I feel like THIS ONE IN PARTICULAR was especially insane. what the actual fuck Skeleton King. -sweetcircuits

@sweetcircuits HI I Did not expect this hello sdjkfgdhrj bUT YEAH LIKE. It's so frustrating that it's never explained. Ever. Like you would think Antauri of all people would pick up on something being off with the kid's vibes after all that but no. Not even GIBSON, the one who was THERE, asks Chiro if he's okay after everything is said and done and Skeleton Kings bones are supposedly pounded into space dust. And you KNOW that Chiro was extremely creeped out by it too like, this is a Gyrus situation but 10x worse. This isn't some crazy fan that broke into your house, this is your mortal enemy with a literal SHRINE made up of all your childhood things. And it was just sitting there. Waiting for you to find if you ever had to sneak onto his ship. And the fact that Chiro doesn't bring it up during the fight. At the point where he was the MOST emotionally charged is LIKE?! Dude Skeleton King likes to talk, BRING UP THE CREEPY SHRINE. And you cannot tell me. that after everything was said and done. Chiro wasn't lying awake at night because now that SK was "gone", he can''t get any answers. He's never gonna know why this creep had his things. And he has to live with that fact. Again, I know they were pressed for time since they had to save the rest of the team and all but YOU CAN'T DROP THAT BIG A BOMB AND LET IT EXPLODE WITH NO CONSEQUENCES.

[macneiceisms]

for the wip ask meme: Through Tangled Glass

one day i will post this both sad and filthy time-travel garashir fic where obsidian order garak tries to get information out of julian via sexually charged interrogation (it probably needs a real plot), but for now here's a snippet:

Garak takes a knife from under his sleeve and tilts Julian’s chin up with the flat of the blade.

“Don’t worry, you’ll keep your pretty face,” he hisses. The sound sends heat jolting down his body. The pain splitting his head — mordrazine hangover, a cracked cheekbone and a bruised jaw — must be making him lose his mind. Did James Bond ever get shagged by Le Chiffre? Maybe he should have.

“Though your neck,” Garak sighs, looking sorry, “I must apologize, my dear.”

He grabs a fistful of Julian’s hair, wrenches his neck to the side and cuts blinding-fast behind his ear. Julian’s vision goes white. He gasps at the trickle of hot liquid seeping down his neck. Pain.

“There, there now, my dear Doctor,” says Garak, soothing. “Just a bit longer.”

He peels back the skin with the knife. Julian bites down a cry.

“So the Federation has given you a new translator model,” he says mildly, still holding Julian’s head firmly by the hair. His neck burns so acutely he doesn’t even feel the hair yanked at the roots. “An implant. Certainly less difficult to displace than your little combadges.”

He’s dazed by the pain. Blood and heat, dull throbbing and sharp biting stings. Oh, he’s killing Sloan when he gets back.

“Lets see what happens when we turn this little thing off, shall we? I won’t pull it out yet,” he smiles, loosening his grip on Julian’s scalp, then running his nails along it to smooth it out. The unexpected pleasure makes him shudder. “I do like to be proven wrong.”

Garak’s pupils are dilated. Julian feels a rush of hatred for Enabran Tain for twisting Garak’s brain into finding pleasure in someone else’s pain, in his own pain. Garak prods the translator twice. The pain sears in a blinding jolt down his neck and shoulders. The UT clicks in his head while blood pours into his uniform. Educational mode on. Click. All translation off.

“There,” Garak says in Kardasi. “Let’s see how you fare.”

“This is a waste of time,” Julian insists. Though he can control a lot of his physiology, he trusts Garak to find a way to circumvent it. He can’t outplay Garak at his own game, he knows it. But maybe he can play long enough to stay alive.

“You don’t have to make a big show, Dr. Faraj,” says Garak. “It bores me.”

“Look, if you want to question me, turn the translator back on and question me. I won’t give you any useful information.”

Garak smiles again. He cuts off the cuff of Julian’s sleeve. The fabric rends and rips and Julian can feel Garak’s perverse pleasure at destroying the offending garment. Ta’kak indeed. He dips the rag into the glass of clear liquid. He presses it to the cut under his ear. Julian gasps, biting down a cry through clamped teeth. The alcohol burns. Garak presses hard. Hard enough to staunch the blood in about thirty seconds. Hard enough to send sharp stabs of pain through his neck. The alcohol stings sharper than any knife.

“Ten more seconds,” Julian gasps, struggling for air through the searing pain. He screws his eyes shut, white phosphenes lighting up behind his eyelids. “After you stop the bleeding it needs ten more seconds to disinfect. Bloody...fucking...shit, you know how to cause pain.”

To Julian’s surprise, Garak does as recommended. Frowning, he pulls the blood-soaked cloth away from the wound. He dips it into the alcohol again, and pats the soaked cloth gently around his neck, a cool and gentle whisper amongst the pain. Clear liquid runs red. Agonizing cruelty and agonizing gentleness all in the same man.

“Really a shame. A neck is a terrible thing to ruin. I hope your gadgets smooth it over.”

“I know it’s just for show, but it’s nice to pretend like you aren’t going to just kill me at the end of this,” Julian mumbles.

“Of course I don’t want to kill you. Such a lovely, exotic creature,” says Garak, by all appearances politely bored. Absolute bastard. He cleans the blood from Julian’s neck. His fingers ghost over Julian’s collarbone. The earthy, spiced scent of him fills his lungs. “Are all your males like this? Narrow-waisted with such lovely necks? Such elegant limbs?”

And then he realizes where this is going. All those scandalous touches, all that brazen flirtation. Garak isn’t going to pry the answer out of him with a knife, he’s going to drive Julian into the most embarrassing confession of his life. Julian schools his heart rate and blood pressure lower, focusing on the firing of his sinoatrial node, the dilation and constriction of blood vessels. Resisting the constriction. If he has to think about urological anatomy to play this game, god, so be it.

Slowly, carefully, Garak cleans the bloody knife. He squares the spare chair in front of Julian, and with his clean glass of liquor in hand, sits.

“You really are lovely, aren’t you? You even smell lovely. Like salt. Do you taste like it too?” Garak says, and takes another sip of alcohol.

Julian watches Garak’s lips press to the glass, his mouth part, his tongue dart after to savor the liquid left on his lips. Something clenches low in his abdomen. In fifteen years Garak wouldn’t dare to be so forward, but then again, his Garak lives on a cold space station, in exile, at the mercy of a Federation captain. Here, in this dark little room, this Garak controls everything.

He’s going to kill Sloan for sending him in this compromised. What’s Julian supposed to do? Say, ‘hey, I know you’re torturing me but I know you fifteen years into the future and you give me chocolates and I bore witness to your father’s death and I faced him to save your life from that implant that’s in your post-central gyrus and we argue about Shelley and Riaz and Shakespeare and Preloc and I think about you stopping me in the middle of a rant about Meditations of a Crimson Shadow to rip my trousers off and shag me senseless.’

That would probably get him proper murdered. But oh, what a way to go.

[monkeymindscream]

I now want to imagine what it'd be like if the Dark Ones had somehow corrupted Gyrus Krinkle instead of the Alchemist as their Skeleton King... But I can't fathom how disturbing things would be. Though a SK fanboying the Hyper force would be the most terrifying thing ever. Probably ask them where they'd like their bodies to be mounted if he can't brainwash them into his minions (not thinking too hard about the timeline mess. It's all too scary).

I shit you not, from the moment I first got this ask(however long ago that was – my bad,sincerest apologies) this concept’s been stewing in my mind. I already have a ludicrously self-indulgent AUgoing I don’t need this.

ugh here we go again I guess Okay let’s set the scenehere, because for DO!Krinkle to happen, then our canon SK can’t. So let’s say that Captain Shuggazoom, instead of hurryingoff to save the city, stayed with the Alchemist as he went to shut down theNetherworld gate. He had a really skeevy feeling about the whole thing,whatever Al said about the grid being “impenetrable,” so even though his alarmstarted to go off he hung around a few more seconds just to make sure. Thusly,when Mandarin tried to jump up onto the grid, Cap was able to make a smooth-asssave and be like “c’mon little buddy listen to your dad he’s shutting it offnow” and held him back until everything was safely turned off.

(Mandarin sulked for the rest of the day, because being toldwhat to do by anyone other than his dad makes him insufferably cranky.Thankfully for dinner that night they had a noodle dish that happened to be hisfavorite, so his mood perked up considerably. And that’s the anti-climactic endto what would have been a horrible, life-altering evening otherwise.)

Years pass, and things progress pretty much how they did incanon in terms of the monkeys’ training, with a few key differences: Obviously,there was no need to wipe their memories, so even though the monkeys split upto learn their respective trades (Mandarin + Antauri and the Verans, Nova andOffay, etc.) they all still remember each other and would write and videochatand meet back up at their Dad’s for special occasions and stuff. (Also itshould be noted that they became robot monkeys and go off to train at a MUCHmore relaxed pace than in canon. Without demons breathing down their necksthey’re all allowed to move at a healthier pace towards things.) When they allget back to Shuggazoom, they work to help Captain Shuggazoom defend the cityfrom his assorted rogues gallery. TechnicallyCap’s in charge of the whole outfit, but Mandarin secured himself as leader ofthe Monkey Team “conditionally” (hepestered Cap and Al until they caved).

And then along comes Krinkle.

While he’s just as obsessed with the monkeys as he’s everbeen, the difference here is that he ends up coming into the monkey’s lives alittle earlier than he does in canon (Timeline? I FEAR NO TIMELINE). Since themonkeys are – at least – fifty years old by the time of the show, and I’d placeKrinkle anywhere from mid- to late-forties, let’s say he’d start stalking them here during his teens. ThinkSyndrome-from-Incredibles originstory: after pestering Cap to let him be his partner for an unspecified amountof time (and being repeatedly rebuffed; “Kid where the heck are your parents??”),he becomes bitter and disillusioned and decides to take matters into his ownhands. Krinkle’s selling point was that he could be the scientific/mechanicalgenius to Cap’s rough-and-tumble fighting style; he either hadn’t gatheredenough info on the monkeys themselves yet to know that the Team already has oneof each of those, or when Cap pointed this out he was like “yeah I know they couldhelp me it’ll be so cool!!” Cap eventually tries to shut the matter down forgood by saying he already has apartner that fills that role for him, and he’s worked with Al for years so hereally didn’t see a point in changing things now.

Baaaad move there.

So now Krinkle’s all indignant, because whatever this“Alchemist” guy can do, he’s positive he can do better. He manages to find outwhere Al lives (which is still out in the middle of nowhere, bless his oldhermit-y heart), and heads down there with the intent of having a gadget build-offor something to prove he’s the better mechanic. He gets there, breaks in, andstarts plodding around the place trying to find the Alchemist so he can makehis dramatic challenge. He gets distracted when he gets to the lab, because nowthat he’s found his competition’s invention stash he wants to have a look toget a feel for what he’s up against (he grudgingly admits that yeah, fine,these inventions are okay, but hecould still do better if only given thechance). There’s one thing whose function he can’t work out, though. It’s abig, ugly looking machine with a big, circular fixture on it. Kind of lookslike it might be a portal, actually… wonder where it leads to?

Y’ALL KNOW WHERE THIS IS HEADED.

The Hyperforce (who’re still located in the city, as percanon) get a really rude awakening in the middle of the night and have to goout to take care of the demons who’ve managed to escape. Since Cap has themonkeys and the Robot helping him out this time, they manage to wrap it up inwithout too much issue. But when they’re done they all panic a little becausethey only know of one place where demons could come from, and they’re scaredsomething happened to the Alchemist. Obviously, they rush over to his house tocheck on their friend/dad.

Back at the ranch, Al heard Krinkle screaming and ran tohelp (he had no idea who this kid was or whyhe was in his lab, but y’know what those are questions for later).Unfortunately, he’d come onto the scene justas demons were starting to crawl out. He really only caught a glimpse of whatwas happening to Krinkle before he was accosted by unholy netherbeings. He’sstill not corrupted, but by the time the Team get to his house to help he’sbeen plenty disfigured. His face doesn’t really even look like a face anymore, justa skull…

(Confession time: this bit is mostly just because I reallylike SK’s first design. Your skull has no reason to be that weird shape ya bigdoofus. Ya absolute dope. Ya feckin weirdo. God I love ya.)

At some point before Cap and the Team got there, Krinkle hadrun off. After assuring his worried family that he’s okay (all thingsconsidered, anyway), Al feels fucking AWFUL. Some poor child will have tosuffer a fate worse than deathbecause of his machine. Everyone tries to convince him it’s not his fault withlittle success. Sprx, though well-meaning, says something to the effect of“Better him than you, Pop,” which inadvertently makes Al feel worse. Mandarin is unapologetically ofthe mind that the little weasel deserved what he got, and it served him rightfor breaking into the lab in the first place. Not surprisingly, this viewdoesn’t exactly help either.

They don’t see or hear from Krinkle after that. They assumethe corruption was too much for him and he died sometime after running fartherinto the Zone of Wasted Years. Al is continually guilt-ridden.

Not too long after, unfortunately, whatever weird thing thatkonked the monkeys out in canon so Chiro could find them and wake them up stillexists here, so they have to go to sleep and Al and Cap are left alone for abit (I… STILL DO NOT FEAR THETIMELINE, BUT THIS MAKES IT A LITTLE BLURRIER).

Things progress kindanormally from this point, i.e. Chiro wakes the monkeys up, gets Power Primatepowers, and is on the Team. Only differences are that Mandarin’s still on theTeam (and still leader, both because Cap’s kinda old now so “conditionally”turned into “officially,” and I’m sorry but destiny or not if you think foreven a second that Mandarin would let some random human kid lead the Team overhim then you clearly don’t know this simian), and Cap and Al are around.Everything’s hunky-dory for maybe a month as everyone settles in to the newsituation, and then you get exactly one guess what happens next.

Some ways that having Krinkle take SK’s place in canon wouldchange things: Firstly, though he’s still obsessed with the Monkey Team andgunning to lead them, it’s ONLY the monkeys he wants now. Now that he’s gotSpecial Dark One Insights on things, he views Captain Shuggazoom as essentiallya pawn in the grand scheme of things (he don’tgot no special destiny) instead of worshipping him along with the monkeys likehe used to. Moreover, while he doesfixate particularly on Chiro like he does in canon, here it’s because he loathes Chiro. Not only because he’skinda against anything with a “Chosen One” label on it now (as per request ofthe Dark Ones), but he’s also supremely, viciouslyjealous of him. Oh, so he just wasn’t goodenough for the Team, is that it?? He was older than Chiro when he asked to be on the Team, and a mechanical genius! What’s this brat got that he didn’t?!

Next, Krinkle wouldn’t use formless as minions. I’ve alwayskind of headcanoned that the reason SK had the powers that he did was actuallymore because he’d been an Alchemist before rather than it solely being a resultof the Dark One’s corruption. They gave his powers an extraordinary boost, nomistake, but it was only because he’d known how to do magic prior that he wasable to do it as SK. Now Krinkle doesn’tknow a singular thing about magic, so while he has some dark powers now (mostly that he doesn’t need to eat or sleepand has the ability to corrupt other things to some extent), he’s nowhere nearas powerful as SK. So yeah none of that creating goopy-legions with the flickof a wrist for him. He’d fashion himself some mechanical mooks instead (formlessstill would exist in this AU, but I can get into that another time).

Can’t decide if the Skeletal Circle – or whatever theKrinkly-version of this would be – would exist here. On the one hand, I’m sureKrinkle would love to have a group ofpeople dedicated to kowtowing to him (if Krinklezoom’s any indicator, anyway,which I personally think it is). On the other hand… well, we just establishedthat Krinkle wouldn’t be as powerful as SK, so would he really be able toinspire enough awe or terror to justify a cult?

Anyway, if Krinklehas a cult to mirror SK’s, and if Valinahappens to be a thing in this AU, her relationship with Krinkle would be verydifferent than her relationship with SK. Again, Krinkle doesn’t have SK’spower, and one of the things Valina seemed most enamored with about SK was his power. Not to mention the factthat his main goal (possibly even more so than releasing the Dark Ones) seemsto be making himself leader of his enemies.She might have started out in his cult because her parents dragged her there,but I’m decently positive that all she’d see when she looked at him would be apathetic, whiny little man unworthy of the powers he was bestowed. So I can seeher either going “fuck this bullshit I’m out”and splitting to become a threat independent from him, or hanging around andstringing him along until she became his Dragon, and then stabbing him in theback once she’d decided he wasn’t useful to her anymore. So still technicallybecoming a threat independent from him, but just manipulating him and leechinghis power while she did it.

I’ve probably talked about this too much now, but I don’teven care. I love this. Hit me up for more on this any time.

[kytalyst]

First Year Med Tips

What’s a more pleasing way to start again than posting something quite relevant to the community right? (hahaha) 

Anyway, are you an incoming first year med student? or do you have any plans to enter med school soon? well, you might have stumbled on the right post (lol, not really, but humor me please? hahaha)

To start off, I wanted to post something like this because I know how much of a stress it is to start into something without any idea on what’s totally going on. And because I was once in your shoes, struggling to have any some sort of information on what med school really is and just plain tips or advice from someone. 

Disclaimer: I may have passed my first year but it doesn’t mean that I’m in the top 10 of my batch. I’m just your regular struggling med student and in no way a genius (like some of my classmates) but I could offer you some advice or tips to cope up with med school here in the Philippines as an incoming first year student and to show you a glimpse on what to really expect. 

First Year Subjects:

Basic Biomedical Sciences

Gross Anatomy

Bring your reference book for your dissection just so you wouldn’t get lost along the way. I highly recommend Netter’s as an amazing reference. Also, if you can, invest in a 100 pcs glove box for your group, as well as masks it would be less a hassle to buy one every session (trust me, saves you more time to work ahead at the laboratory). Label your materials (it will be used for the whole year, label them so that they would not get lost and for you not to buy another one when you lost your scalpel or etc.)

Histology

Read in advance your laboratory exercise, it will be helpful for you. It would also guide you on what slides you’ll take. Research ahead on what the slides look like so you’ll have an idea on what to label and draw ahead. Don’t forget to bring your coloring materials. Color pencils, highlighters, fine liners help a lot in making sure your drawings look good.

Basic Neurosciences

Be familiar with everything, during laboratory, make sure that you know where the gyrus and sulcus are. Don’t forget to take a photo of everything and label on them. 

Phyisology

If you’re a visual and audio learner like me, it would be helpful for you to search up some videos in the internet after a lecture. NinjaNerd is a very helpful reference for your physio topics. (istg!! I owe 50% of my learnings from him)

Embryology

If you go to the same school as me, read on the chapter summary. It will help you have a general idea about it. Reading the whole chapter helps you familiarize but the summary is enough. 

Basic Radiology

Review the powerpoint slides by your lecturers! Take some time to actually read and review them not just during your exams, this will help you a lot since they are mostly diagrams and scans. 

Family and Community Medicine 1

- Go to class. Don’t take this for granted. The subject is really nice to keep you grounded on what are really the main issues in the community that are related to health. It will help you appreciate the work of a family and community physician. You will be mostly doing paper works in this so team up with classmates who are actually hardworking and that helps you in work load. 

Patient-Doctor Relations 1

- This is actually super fun. You get to have your first hospital exposure but only at the out-patient department. You will be taught on how to take a patient’s history. And if you are a socially awkward person like me (whose premed is biology and have no background on this) try to observe your classmates (especially the nurses) and if possible ask help if you have any difficulty. It will only be difficult at the first try but once you get the hang of it then you’ll be able to ace it. It’s not always that you get to take a patient’s history tho, it would only be 2-4 times this year, but hey it’s still good practice right? Try to follow the format given by your professor and do not just rely on your classmate’s history taking, make it your own so you’ll know how to make one. 

1. Don’t be absent. Attendance in college may not be a huge deal for some universities but in med school? it is HUGE. (at least in my school) Attendance is checked every activity and every lecture (trust me, I was the class beadle). The reason why I tell you this is that, it will help a lot on your image to your professors. It shows that you are serious enough to attend your classes. (Even if you think you’ve covered this topic in your undergrad, still attend your classes, you’ll never know what things will your lecturer emphasize and possibly where he/she get questions for your exams)

2. Take notes. Lectures in Med school usually span for 1.5-3 hours depending on what the topic is all about. To keep yourself awake, one tip would be to take down notes, (may it be in pen or paper / electronically with your ipad or laptop!) trust me, it will help you during finals or exams to know what were the things emphasized by your lecturer.

3. Participate and Perform in Laboratories. Most of the subjects under BBS have laboratories (except for embryology). Try to make sure that you know every exercise and that you would not waste your laboratory period. This is because this will help you during your OSCEs or your Objective Structured Clinical Examinations. 

4. Make your Small Group Discussions interactive. Use visual aids, like powerpoints, flashcards, quiz bowls, etc. Some facilitators may not be the fun type but most of the facilitators would appreciate on you simplifying the topic for your groupmates (BUT please make sure not to skip on important details). 

5. Plot your school activities and exams. Med School is very fast paced, you tend to have long quizzes every monday and sometimes it gets really draining.That’s why I highly suggest to take note and plot in your calendar when will your bimonthlies start, this would give you an idea on how many days there is left before you start reviewing for it. 

6. Always take a photo and label! I’ve said this once, and I will say it again. Don’t be a lazy ass (like me, who only do this when I feel like it TT)  This is applicable to your laboratories, especially in histology and anatomy. When you have your lab exercise, always make sure that you get the slide that your teacher emphasized, have a photo of every slide and label it on that night. trust me. this will help you in your practical exams. And don’t forget to ask for help especially to your professors and classmates. 

7. Find an outlet. It would get really suffocating at times when you are bombed with all these school works. And so I suggest to find an outlet, go to the gym, watch a youtube video or two every once in a while. So that you wouldn’t feel too choked by all these academic stress. 

8. Keep all your notes by Bimonthly. Trust me on this, buy a big envelope and place all your notes and transes once the bimonthlies are over. This would really help you for finals so that you wouln’t be looking for all your scattered notes and print them again. Save the environment. 

9. You don’t need to buy all your books. If you know someone from the upperclassmen, ask for a pdf copy of your books. The books really cost around 3-5,000 pesos each and it would be a pain in your wallet or parent’s wallet. (Or if you can afford it then it’s also alright with me tho hehe) But for me, you don’t really need to buy all of them, if you don’t want to. Befriend an upper classmen or two then ask for a pdf.

10. You are not alone. (oooh scary jk but you get me right?) You are still at an adjusting phase. First year brings a shock to most people on how med school really works. And I guess a good advice that I could tell you is that you are not alone. Your classmates and friends are also going through this. Everyone is struggling in med school (I still am) and that’s ok. You’ll find your groove soon enough (hopefully me too). Don’t be in a rush and don’t pressure yourself too much, just take things one day at a time. One task at a time. There will be days that you feel so bad that you don’t want to do anything and that’s ok, find someone to talk to, vent out what your feeling, contact your mentor, go to the gym, bake a cake, then move on. Make your bad day into good.

I’m not sure if these are enough but if you do have any questions feel free to dm me. And don’t forget that you are still a work in progress. Things will get really rough and that is because you are growing to become a skilled and good physician. If you’re not struggling then maybe you’re not really learning? (lol what? hahahaha idk) but really, just trust the process. You can do it! I believe in you! 

[errolhenrot]

Writing is my first love, but this passion isn't exclusive. I played guitar for fifteen years, as if i were put on drugs, to silence some dark impulses. Few months ago, while i was completing a collection of poems, i was stopped roughly in my work. I couldn't escape from my writing, i couldn't finish it, i couldn't devote myself to anything else. I was going around in circles, and this was my fault - i was tracking myself down to the smallest gyrus - and Nothing succeeded. And then - just before me - since my student years… My guitar.

I have never recorded music - until now. A handful of sounds, of mélodies haunted me, metamorphosed in my mind, depending on my mood and the need or the rejection of the instrument at this specific time.

Why these sounds, these mélodies, and not words, given the fact i'm a writer ? I can't answer to that question. Except the perception of dark impulses, of fright regarding my future, of this unrealist panic which turns my eyes away from writing when i'm writing. And - the guitar. Nothing else would have been able to save my soul - except Madness… Maybe. As for the current work - the poems : words will find their place, or they won't. These too high laws are so elusive.

Musical notes look alike words. Aren't we talking about musical sentences ? Grabbing my guitar, i dreamt myself unify them, identify their vulnerability, their so-fast glissando, their naïve determination to not get used to abstractions, and their unfailing ability to redraw the contours to change their meaning… And i realized i loved them, in the same way we love fragility and innocence. To observe them growing old.

In the midst of my crisis, i wrote and played these mélodies, these sounds, these modulations and bass and drones and curves, until the last track of the album, "Essential Phobia", which is my greatest pride. You continue the Journey, if you want. Deprived of the words, it's in that last track i had screamed and sweated and described, at least for a short time, the fury which suspended my thougts.

I leave you there. Listen - or don't.

My fears are yours, too.

[justaghostingon]

A Soldier’s True Enemy

Kodya wasn’t used to this. He new how the army worked. Grit your teeth, do your job. Shoot or others will shoot you first. Nevermind that you never wanted to be there on that lonely battlefield, no one did, no one cares. Your dreams could stray back to the woods of your birth, hunting with your cousins and cooking the spoils with your mother over your own hearth, but your body? It did as it was told.

But here in the Room of Swords? It didn’t work like that, and Kodya couldn’t wrap his mind around it.

He could understand if it was just Gyrus. He knew Gyrus was different the second he’d opened his eyes to meet those bright purple orbs. He’d thought at first that Gyrus was a more experienced soldier, the type who looked out for rookies out of the urge to protect something, anything that actually mattered in the face of pointless war. But it rabidly became obvious that Gyrus was no mere soldier. He was a Colonel, nay, higher. The right hand man and co-founder of the whole opperation. And he’d jumped in a freezing lake to save a mere rookie.

It was stupid really, everything Kodya knew about war and strategy told him so, but he’d known right then and there he’d follow this man to hell and back. Anything to protect a leader that actually cared.

But it wasn’t just Gyrus, it was this whole damn place. On the surface, it seemed much the same, rations for food, bunks for beds, everyone working on a job, and the new recruits got the ones the older members didn’t want. And yet it was all wrong. Most people left the two rookies alone, no hazing, no drills. They had to pull their weight, but chores were just a part of life, even at home, and they were trusted to go wherever they wanted and fiddle with weapons and training or anything else they wanted to do when those chores were done. At night, everyone would gather together, Don would play the guitar while the others listened and talked and laughed.

And all they ever talked about was home. From the cultures, to hobbies, to those strange little stories every family has. It was...warm. Nothing like the cold emptyness of the seemingly endless war Kodya had left behind.

By all rights, Kodya should have been happier with this turn of events, should have revelled in his time with a group that didn’t find his life expendible, that could sing together and laugh together and get along. But there was something uncomfortable that settled under his skin as he watchex the faces of those around the room, seemingly carefree. He wanted to stay, yes, to fight for these people and their warmth, but he couldn’t relax no matter how hard he tried.

He wasn’t alone though, he could tell, as he watched Gyrus’s gaze darken, eyebrows scrunched as he stared into space while Ragan continued to laugh beside him. This wasn’t the first time, and it wouldn’t be the last, when their brave leader would get lost in his own head, trapped in the darkness every soldier knew.

“Hey, do you hear me?” Ragan asked, but Gyrus didn’t respond, and Kodya knew he couldn’t hear her.

He leaned forward, “Hey.” He deliberately made his voice louder, not shouting, but deeper, and full of authority, like his drill sergeant’s had been. It worked, Gyrus’ head snapped up, wide eyes meeting Kodya’s and Kodya squashed down a moment of pride that it was his voice Gyrus had responded too.

“Ah!” Gyrus startled. “What is it?”

Kodya frowned. “You okay?” He asked, more to spare the man’s pride than anything. “You were completely out of there for a while.” Kodya searched Gyrus’ face, wondering if there was a way to show through his expression how much he got it, that he could help, if only Gyrus would let him.

“Heh,” Gyrus laughed nervously, and Kodya’s heart sank. “Was I?” He looked sheepish, apologetic, like there was something wrong with showing any kind of weakness.

“Haha, well yeah,” Kodya laughed along, unwilling to let it slide without at least trying. “Hey maybe you should go to the doc.” With numbers on his side, he could probably get Gyrus to listen. “You need me to take you?” If he got Gyrus alone, he could express his similar struggles, and maybe get Gyrus to open up even if the doctor couldn’t.

But Gyrus merely flashed him a pained smile that made Kodya’s stomach turn. “Don’t worry about me!” Gyrus spoke with false cheer. “I was just...”

“Tired!” Don jumped in, citing some excuse to get Gyrus out of the room and away from the crowd.

“Night,” Kodya murmured as Gyrus and Don hurried away. He wanted to think Gyrus was in better hands, he’d known Don the longest after all. But then again, Don never seemed to carry the same weight that Gyrus did, never seemed as bothered by the horror of the world they inhabited. Which was fine, one of the reasons the Room of Swords was so warm was because its leader could always see the bright side. But it also meant Don didn’t fully understand what Gyrus was going through, and if Kodya was honest with himself, Gyrus always seemed a little worse after Don’s “help.”

“Jealous?” Nephthys whispered in his ear, causing Kodya to jump.

“Nephthys!” He protested as she giggled. Although, he thought as he ducked his head to hide the blush on his cheeks, she might have a point. Maybe he was being unfair to Don, he was trying his best to help his friend, and the warmth he created probably did help, even if it wasn’t as much help as Gyrus needed.

“You’ll get him next time,” Nephthys gave his arm a playful shove, noticing the more pensive mood that over took him as he reflected on Don and Gyrus. “Just keep trying.”

Kodya shot her a smile. Nephthys was right. He shouldn’t give up. Don could support Gyrus in his way, but he couldn’t do it alone. Kodya could help too, if not with Gyrus’ mental struggles, then by watching his back like Kodya had watched his regiment’s in the war.

Yes, Kodya squared his shoulders. He wouldn’t let Gyrus struggle alone. The next time he saw Gyrus, he’d ask if he’s take him on as an apprentice once again.