#some half-hive human babies!

[angelof-thevoid]

Favorite Ship / Supernova

(disclaimer: i hc eris morn with they/them pronouns)

Lately, things have been calm and she got her paperwork for the day done sooner than usual, so with the free time Ikora decided it would be nice to have a spontaneous date. She sends a message to Eris, hoping they aren’t busy at the moment. At least, far as she knew there shouldn’t be anything taking up their time. After a few moments Ikora smiles when her screen lights up with a response.

-

It’s a cool, clear night where you’d swear you could see every star in the galaxy that wasn’t eclipsed by the moonlight. A sight like this wasn’t possible in the last city, and seldom did Ikora get the chance to venture out of it. Duty was a chain and it kept her not too far from the city, but in the rare chances she had the opportunity she wanted to take advantage.

Setting down a blanket on the side of a hill, Ikora places two comfortable, large pillows she had against the incline. Eris patiently stood by, their form illuminated by the light of the moon as they looked up to the sky. She wondered how much hive eyes could pick up on the distant pin-pricks of light, having been told they weren't the same as human ones. If you compared it to human vision, technically you could say they were blind.

Nonetheless, they mentioned their way of “seeing” just works differently now. They still had a sense of their surroundings, even knew the distance between themselves and the moon. An odd thing to be precognitive of but they chalked it up to it being the birthplace of their transformation, when Eris became kin to the very enemy they sought the end of.

How things have changed. Outside of that Eris had a sensitivity to paracausality which gave her a refined sense of other guardians as well as the shape of their light, despite being without. Strange changes, but not without some benefits. Ikora reaches over to gently bump her hand against theirs to catch Eris’ attention without startling them. As if much could startle them anymore.

“Finished?” Eris asks as they turn to look at Ikora who nods, the pair’s hands linking together as they settle onto the cozy patch. They lean back, side by side with hands still intertwined and multiple points of contact between their bodies. Silence hung in the air for a short time as they enjoyed the view, until Ikora broke it with a question. One she had long wondered about since Eris’ ascent from the Hellmouth. 

“Do you miss it?” She softly questions, gently squeezes Eris’ hand with her thumb rubbing against the length of theirs. “Miss what?” They reply after a short second. “The light. What you were, before-” Ikora stops herself choosing not to say the rest. 

A contemplative pause, “It doesn’t matter now, does it? It happened. All I can do is move forward in spite of it.” That solemn answer cuts straight through Ikora’s question with a knife’s edge. She turns her head toward Eris who continues, “Nothing good comes from dwelling on what’s missing.” and then a little quieter. “Do you wish I was unchanged?” 

Ikora frowns and quickly sits up, turning her whole body towards them. “I only wish for you to return from the things you hunt every time, safe and sound.” Eris gazes at her as she leans over to rest a hand against their cheek. “It doesn’t matter, as long as you’re still here.” She gives Eris an affectionate smile.

Eris’ own lips quirk up as they sit up as well, faces hovering inches apart before they make the first move to kiss Ikora. It lasts mere seconds as they slowly break apart but still close enough to feel each other’s breath. “In my darkest, loneliest moments, I miss the presence of your light over mine.” 

To think, after everything that’s happened including losing the light, Eris would rather have Ikora leaves her feeling a certain way. She feels the void open its empty maw in her chest, wanting to devour her heart over the proclamation. “Do you?” Ikora breathes out, letting the void energy trickle through her fingertips against Eris’ cheek.

Eris’ shivers a little from the sensation as they turn their face more into her hand, the ever present dark tears dissipate against Ikora’s radiant light. “I do.” Almost reluctantly, they retreat from the physical contact to look Ikora full on when they ask, “Show me your light.”

It comes out not as a question but like a lover’s request for their partner to share their body. And traveler save her, she finds herself bending easily to it. Usually Ikora wasn’t for unnecessary displays of her light, but she couldn’t resist Eris. So she adjusts into a kneeled position and brings her hands to hover in front of her mid-air.

Fluorescent violet light begins to form in a small, concentrated ball between her hands, steadily growing in size and luminescence. Ikora envisions in her mind pouring the void into a container, particles being shifted in an even circular motion that continues to slowly get bigger. 

It’s the size of a kick ball when she decides to stand up, purple light shining its hue across the two of them. Eris watches the nova bomb increase further and further until Ikora has to lift it over her head and release it up toward the sky, flying up and up to a seemingly impossible height until it explodes like a collapsing star.

Like a firework streaks of void shoot outward from the center and leave glittering trails of void as the bolts try and fail to find a target, thus bursting into smaller showers of purple that sparkle amongst the starry sky. An imprint of the void lingers like the burn of an afterimage from a too bright light.

“Beautiful.” Eris says in appreciation. Ikora sits back down with them as they reach out to grab her hand and trace it, making her shiver in return. She pulls their hand up to her mouth and kisses the knuckles of it, huffing a short laugh. “I’m glad you can still find beauty in the light.”

[evilminji]

I Am? Still? Thinking?? Of My Hive Mind Crechelings Au? (Prev <-)

The Creepy Crechelings? My Fuuuuckin POSSESSED Lil Babies (absolutely affectionate and full of love)?

I CAN'T STOP, man. It's the SOFTEST and WARMEST Epilog? Just... fuck, I wanna cry. It's SO FULL OF LIGHT? So content and happy and "then... our Hero gets to REST. No more struggle. No more pain. Just golden sweetness and simple days."???

The Tragedy Of Darth Vader WAS, ultimately, utterly and completely, because Anakin Skywalker was a GOOD MAN.

Because the Dark took something GOOD and twisted it. Made it MONSTROUS. Killing his soul with ten thousand cuts of doubt and fear. Anger, arrogance, and unwarranted pride. He had COMPASSION. So much love in him he could barely stand to BREATHE.

The world BURNED for how great his Empathy, made the weight of all the universe's suffering, upon his shoulders.

He was GOOD. Could STILL be good. And? The Force DOES work in mysterious ways. It just needs... an in. Someone, ANYONE, to ask the right question. At ANY point. Because it CAN NOT push upon them the answers. Fix for them all life's woes. The Force is not a God... it simple IS. And though it wishes to help, loves them dearly, it can only OFFER what is ASKED for.

And, yes, there are loopholes. Visions and gifts it might give. Technicalities it might work off of. That gut feeling? Well... your INSTINCTS want you to survive. Surely THEY are asking? Are they not? "How do we survive?" They ask. Endlessly. So the Force may answer.

And SURELY, The Force knows, the you of 20 seconds from now, would ASK them to warn you not to eat that fruit. It is poison. That is definitely in line with what you would ask! It can see it. Because Time is simultaneous to the Force. Why, it can even use this to justify, too itself, the Visions! SOMEONE is asking! It can even tell you whom! And when!

It WON'T.

But it COULD.

Yet! Let us focus! Anikin Skywalker!

Do YOU remember how he was born? Oh, sure, we are all PASSINGLY familiar. Born to Shmi Skywalker. "No Father". Etc etc? BUT!!! Details MATTER! And in science? In HEALTH? "Spontaneous Baby" is NOT GOOD ENOUGH.

How. What, SPECIFICALLY, made UP the spontaneous baby? From WHERE? Was it air? Energy? A clone? A hypothetical child of Shmi and some long dead individual she could not possibly have met?

These are important questions! Specifically, important to understand WHAT ANIKIN'S SPECIES IS. Cause "humanoid" is NOT a species! A race! Stewjoni and Naboolians are subtly different! Yes, both human variants. But that's the THING, isn't it?

They. Are. VARIANTS.

As in DIFFERENT. Divergent from one another. Perhaps not A LOT, but enough that their unique medical needs might be significant! Different environmental strains, different diets, different evolutionary paths for thousands of years. In SOME cases? They might no longer be COMPATIBLE anymore! Or barely! A tiger and a cat are both feline, but you'd be blind to mistake them as the same thing.

Then we have Anikin.

Who is haaaaalf??? What exactly?

Well, "The Force" according to research. By means of Sith meddling. But! And for the purpose of this ramble??

He is birth was "a work of the midi-chlorians".

.......let that sink in for a second. The Force channeling, HIVE MINDED, symbiotic micro organisms inside Shmi? Were instructed or guided to? Just take energy? Food and DNA. And... 3D print a baby into existence. They did, obviously, it was easy. But CONSIDER WHAT THAT MEANS.

It MEANS?

Anikin is HALF MIDI-CHLORIAN.

(At least in this AU.)

It's WHY he is so, SO fuckin desperate to connect. So ungodly powerful. So destabilized by not having "attachments". His brain is structured by organisms and half IS, of a sort, the sort of organism that REQUIRES an interconnected system. To offload the massive amount of sensory input the Force gives him. To regulate Big Emotions. To form councils and crunch through problems.

To get those good, good Soul Hugs.

Anikin? Not doing so hot. He's been SURROUNDED by what FEELS like a hive? But they keep EXCLUDING him and he doesn't have the words to explain why that upset him. Why he wants to crawl inside their brains an just... just hang. Not touch anything! Just... just nap! Maybe get a hug? P... Please?

Why does EVERYONE HATE HIM?!

But they don't. They just have different boundaries. Are NOT Hive Minds. THEIR Midi-chlorians? Are not at such a high concentration that it affects their thought patterns.

Unlike? The Creepy Crechelings.

Who absolutely doooooo. THEY are still in the We/Us phase. Boundaries? What Boundaries? We're crawling through each other's brains and on the ceiling! Full of light, love, and horrifying prophecy! Eating sand! Many thoughts, head full! We can taste TIME!!! :D

And it takes a SPECIAL breed of Creche Master with VERY strong shields to interact with them. Mind tricks are both accidental and daily. Poker face of kindness is a must. Good emotional regulation. So when one sees Anikin losing his shit again?

They sigh. Put down their muffin. And go deal with it.

Probably not even awake.

They just feel *Overwhelming Power* and hear upset noises and go "Ah, starting early, today is." Then wander over. And effortlessly defuse the situation. Flop their Force presence on Anikin like a weighted blanket. It would be UNSPEAKABLY rude and invasive to most anyone else? But Obi-Wan just...? Watchs his ex-padawan go BONELESS against this Crech Master he's never met? Like :O

T-teach me. Please, for the love of the Force, teach me to do that.

Next thing you know? They are talking, Obi-Wan getting a crash course in Super Powerful Younglings™ that honestly he should have gotten YEARS ago, but was run too ragged to. And Anikin? Blissed out, high as a kite, at the bottom of a Youngling pile. Mmmmm, lumpy pillow. We gonna sit and sleep and climb all over you, Master Skywalker.

*adoring, emotionally gooey voice* Okay.

He volunteers. Fuck it, he practically LIVES out of that Creche. Padme! Padme, we're adopting. He wants to be a stay at home dad. Build droids. Everything is Beautiful and nothing hurts. *war is still happening* ah. Shit. Right. THAT™.

Okay! New plan. AFTER the war. He has discovered his calling. Is suddenly bonding with Jedi he's never even talked to before. Is that Plo Koon? Plo! PLO! Hey, thanks for lending me that youngling development module! You got any others you recommend?

Him and Obi-Wan? Suddenly getting along better then they have in YEARS. His Master seems genuinely THRILLED he has a clear goal he's working towards and is supporting him ten thousand percent. Openly bragging. Consulting with him. AND? Is so much more OPEN! That Creche Master really helped him Understand how Anikin's brain works!

Which? Leads to Anikin getting healthier. More and more stable. The babies fuckin sneaking aboard. His Men LOSING THEIR SHIT because WHY ARE THERE TUBIES, SIR?! Babies! Infants! Smol, itty bitty, BABY CHILDS!!!???

And? On one hand? He has never felt so clear head and stable as when they are with him. Interconnected. US and WE and THE HIVE. The Force is With Us and We are The Force.

Buuuuuut on the OTHER hand? He is an adult. He CAN seperate what HE wants from what is good for his lil baby friends. This isn't safe. They could get HURT. Die! It... honestly? It makes him think about his mom a lot. He thinks he finally GETS it. Hates that he does. Is in AWE of how strong she was. Hopes he can take the lessons she taught him and live up to them.

Because it's not about what HE wants. It's about what's best for these kids.

They have to go back.

.....except the man he THOUGHT was his friend? THOUGHT was a GOOD MAN? Won't let them LEAVE THE FRONT LINES. Won't even authorize an emergency shuttle. There are vulnerable children. On the FRONT LINES. And Shee-...no. Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, won't let them GET THEM TO SAFETY?

Is THIS what over a decade of friendship means to this man? Is THIS what his "sympathies" are truely WORTH? Empty words and no action? Saying what you want to hear then sitting in his fancy office while CHILDREN are shot at?

Anikin wants to put his fist through a durasteel WALL.

Through some careful maneuvering, some Ships on the way back are are able to pick up the VERY In Trouble kiddos. It'll be about five ship hops. But they'll get there. And in the mean time? The entire GAR now knows where the Chancellor's priorities lay.

But? What to do, what to do? The kiddos are GONE! Anikin's head is gonna start getting crowded. Fuzzy. Crushed up and too small! He literally, physically, NEEDS people. For his mental and ultimately physical health!

"Well... you DID say Midi-chlorians are in every living thing, didn't you? It's just that most Sentients don't have enough to reach the threshold of Force Sensitive. Right?" Says Anikin's medic.

Anikin raises a finger. Opens his mouth to respond.

Considers this genuinely.

Puts DOWN his finger and closes his mouth. Nods. Yes. Yes, they DO. Why? Where exactly are you going with this? Medic taps a message to the GAR in ship message board. Please. You know EXACTLY where he's going with this.

Yeah.

Yeah, Anikin does.

And the Vode? Gotta admit. Having their General curled up like a comm system in the back of their brains? Kiiiiinda weird at first. But he's not? Actually? Touching anything? It's kinda like having someone follow you around, hanging off your shoulders in a hug. Because they feel needy and desperately need the contact. Little awkward? Yeah.

But we move on.

And the General respects boundaries. Politely pulls back and out/away when they want "personal" time. Something he had practice doing cause he's in a relationship. And there are Thoughts and Feelings you DO NOT want to share with younglings. It apparently helped him learn to shield. Quickly. Very, VERY quickly.

They only laugh at him a little bit.

He imagines throwing pillow blocks at them.

But THEN? One of them gets a head wound. Nothing to terrible. But bad enough that the midi-chlorians flow up to the area, to help speed up and properly regulate the healing. Because their's have become more active. Not STRONGER mind you. Just... more ACTIVE.

And they can fucking FEEL their General mentally screech to a full stop. Perfectly, utterly, FURIOUSLY Blank. Like the dead silence before the blaster bolts start flying. Like just after the flash but before the blast hits. A terrible, TERRIBLE silence.

Something is Wrong.

"What Is That?"

What is... WHAT? Sir?

And then things move very, very quickly. All things possible, through the Force. A baby created. Chips UN-created. It really is? Just directing the Midi-chlorians all ready THERE to do what you want them too. Offering up some extra energy, if needed. A Leader to guide the hive.

One deep enough meditation, reaching though-out "HIS" sprawling body? Really, what is the difference between purging a chip from your thigh in THIS body? And being over there? Or over there? What are "walls" or "distance" or this silly concept of "other"?

We Are One With The Force, And The Force Is One With US.

He is every Vode on the Ship. He is Anikin Skywalker. He was a Slave. But now? NOW both he and they and US? Are FREE. He will suffer no slaves in his presence. No more chips or collars with bombs. Time to free the others. Free everyone. Demand ANSWERS.

And they do.

The epilog? Oh THAT I can not stop thinking of.

Padme in the senate. Fierce and accomplished. A storied carrier fighting for the people of the galaxy. Anikin a Creche Master for the POWERFUL kiddos. The strange ones who need someone sturdy.

Who can handle their Us/We phase with grace. Who learns and grows, honors and remembers Shmi Skywalker every time one of them one of them starts to pull away. Starts to develop boundaries. Barriers. Starts to want to be their OWN person. Has not just grown strong in shielding but old enough to develop a defined personality, seperate from their friends.

The twins growing up with a whole Creche of siblings. Because their parents LIVE at the temple. Their mother works at the senate! They wave bye-bye every morning. And spend the day with dad. Not separated, not quite living with them fully either. Not after infancy at least. But the Order is changing.

Vode everywhere. Kids born of Jedi. The Corps withdrawn back to the temple to help handle the influx. Lots of debates about Tradition and Change that Anikin care not a lick about. HE'S taking his Crechelings to the Naboolian Embassy's Spring Festival. Does everyone remember how to be polite? Say "hello"! *various smol children chorus Hello in Naboolian, badly but very earnestly*

Just? Field trips. Droids and Vode dropping by to say hello. Padme being the LION of the senate while her retired kindergarten tearcher equivalent, war hero husband cheers. Adorable but freaky children popping out of the vents. Anikin treating his tiny squad of Tiny Anti-christ Acting Babies as though this were TOTALLY NORMAL and just how children act.

SOFT AND FLUFFY EPILOG~☆

@legitimatesatanspawn @babbling-babull @hypewinter @hdgnj @spidori @tiredafel

[immadeofbees]

The most interesting thing about bees, to me, are the genetics. In school I was only taught about human genetics: 46 chromosomes, 23 you inherit from each parent. You get one X from mom and one X or Y from dad (typically), and that determines the sex of the baby.

In bees however, the queen is the only sexually mature female of the hive (in some species there are multiple queens per hive depending on the size). And she spends time in the first part of her life collecting semen from drone bees who hang around in congregation areas in spring and summer. The Queen will usually go to multiple congregations and this helps with genetic diversity among the offspring.

When the queen is ready to lay eggs, she will either 1. lay an egg and fertilize is with sperm from her sperm sac which will hatch a worker bee or 2. lay an egg which will hatch a drone bee.

Female bees have 32 chromosomes while males only have 16. Meaning the egg from the queen has 16 randomly selected chromosomes from her own genome, and sperm from males contain all 16 chromosomes from his.

This genetic system is used by most all hive species (except naked mole rats but that's a whole other post.) Heres a picture that may provide more clarification

So, genetically speaking, a male bee is a haploid (half) of a female bee (diploid)

Ladies, men really ain't shit.

[loisfreakinglane]

What are your top 5 Dollhouse characters and episodes and also just moments in general?

okay okay okay lettuce get into it! i must warn you ahead of time, i am about to ramble incoherently for entirely TOO LONG!!!!!!!!!!

top 5 dollhouse characters:

priya. always priya. my judgey dorky lil vagabond. she's an artist she's a world traveler she's a survivor. she confronts her problems head on, she is brutally honest. she doesn't give a fuck about money or prestige. she loves loudly, through acts of service. infiltrating a military compound to save tony. coming back to the dollhouse to save her friends. introducing baby tony to his father. i love her rage and her perseverance and her bitterness. i love her willingness to forgive and start anew. she's an all timer for me.

tony. priya's other half. i really want to crawl inside his brain to try and understand him. what is it that made him sign up for the dollhouse to recover from ptsd, only to immediately turn around on his release day and sign up to be a soldier again- only with no individual identity, part of a mass hive mind. he had no wants for himself, not until he met priya and she became the center of his world. he could be so cavalier, so lighthearted in the face of horror. making smalltalk with priya in the middle of a gun fight. joking that she should wound him if he was imprinted with someone evil, but to ~stay away from his junk~ did he only truly value his personhood when it came to protecting priya and their son? I DON'T KNOW BUT I KEEP FLIPPING HIM OVER IN MY BRAIN LOOKING FOR ANSWERS.

topher. on first blush- an amoral asshole, so focused on stroking his own ego with his giant genius brain, he never stopped to worry who was peering over his shoulder. i think he gets dismissed as a dick a bit too much, when on rewatch, his biggest flaw to ME was naivete and carelessness. he convinced himself he was a good person- he ~fixed~ priya, he ~cured~ a fuckton of soldiers' ptsd, he imprinted echo to reach out to abused children. and he never worried that the dollhouse couldn't be trusted- he trusted adelle, he trusted her ability to retain control. he's a goofy, dorky childish dumbass. and he ends the fucking world (or at least heavily speeds up humanitys downfall). but his arc from careless dick high on his own prowess to traumatized, guilty, grieving, desperate to actually be a good person for once. and that's not even taking the epitaph's into account! and whatever it was in that decade between the hollow men and the epitaphs that drove him entirely off the deep end. anyway topher makes me sad and i love him and i think his ~redemption arc~ is very engaging

boyd. STOP JUDGING ME. DON'T DO IT. I LOVE WHO I LOVE. okay like first off- obviously- THE WRITING IS A MESS. THE REVEAL IS A MESS. WHO KNOWS HOW MUCH IT ACTUALLY MAKES SENSE TAKEN AS A WHOLE. but right now, coming off this rewatch? i just??? love him???? i love my evil dad, a total wackadoodle mastermind, taking an entry level job at his own fucking company because he's fixated on a new innovation he discovered- caroline, her weird body quirks, her innate capacity for revolutionizing the dollhouse tech. he was so intent on guiding her progress while pretending to be some lowly ex-cop. and then he went and fell in love with his coworkers. much as he ruined their lives, he had genuine love for echo, adelle, topher. perhaps claire. (when did she become clyde? was it right after she left the house?) beyond them, i'm not entirely sure how far his adoration spread- i like to think he was fond of priya and tony too. he guides echo's development, he's genuinely upset when he is removed as her handler. he prods topher about his sense of morality for 2 seasons straight, pushing him to consider the consequences of his actions. helping topher and priya cover up nolan's (righteous, justified, absolutely self-defense) murder. he throws more and more opposition adelle's way until she takes charge. he wants them all to be their best selves- and he wants them all to save each other. AND BE A FAMILY. TOGETHER FOREVER DURING THE APOCALYPSE. and there's something very funny to me about him hating paul, while he spent two years arguably pretending to be a man very much like paul.

caroline. echo. i still struggle to grapple with the differences. is this like a holy trinity thing, is caroline just another facet of echo, alongside all her other imprints? is echo a facet of caroline? have echo and caroline turned into the same entity? did echo truly remain the porchlight, waiting for caroline to come home? YOU KNOW WHAT DOESN'T MATTER. tho carolecho should be considered nonbinary i am just saying. both alpha and echo should be enbys. sometimes i struggle with echo when her plot becomes very paul-centric, because while i very much love tahmoh and enjoy paul in his dynamics with other characters, the echo/paul relationship is not for me. but outside of that? i love her. i love that she's a warrior, before and after becoming an active. her fixation on rossum, her willingness to lie, manipulate to get to them. she found rossum first, and that got them interested. and her wacky health stats got them laser focused. she wanted so badly to save animals, save humans, save the world. having the weird bodily capacity to manufacture a vaccine was just a bizarre stroke of luck. but it was her choice, again and again and again, to do good things, to help people.

honorable mentions: adelle dewitt. laurence dominic!!!!!! ivy. alpha. margaret bashford.

TOP 5 EPISODES!

204 belonging. our priya-centric episode. the only priya-centric episode? which is very unfortunate, but hey, I'll take it. finally seeing her whole story. priya taking her power back, priya getting her revenge, priya making her own choices. priya/tony content. topher grappling with his complicity in horror. obviously he has always been complicit in horror but now he finally has to confront it head on, and it makes him second guess everything up to this point. and it makes him struggle with his relationships with both adelle- who he thought he could trust, who pushed him to do the wrong thing out of self preservation, and boyd- who he still believes he can trust, who protected him and priya, and helped topher do something fucking HORRIFYING for the right reasons. topher choosing to help priya, for real this time. after the bullshit help he was fooled into giving her. with a side of!!!!!! echo is still BECOMING herself, still exploring her mind, but this time it's boyd figuring her out, warning her of potential consequences from her actions, but helping her anyway. hiding her secrets, giving her the keycard for future use. god boyd in this episode..... warning echo of the consequences of her future actions, and helping topher deal with the consequences of HIS actions. helping cover up a murder. well. an act of self defense. righteous revenge. THE BITCH HAD IT COMING. which was soooooooo cathartic and beautiful and i LOVED IT.

209 stop-loss. OUR TONY-CENTRIC EPISODE! c'mon you knew i had to do it. another priya/tony episode. one of our only episodes featuring the crime fighting trio we could have had for multiple seasons in echo/priya/tony. echo getting to use her abilities to access her imprints. the journey we see tony take during this episode tho- being discharged from the dollhouse, given a pile of money and a new future. we got bits and pieces of this process through madeline, but it's given more time and depth here. seeing that although topher may have ~cured~ tonys ptsd, he is still isolated and traumatized by his experiences. and he knows something is missing- he sees priya in a club, only it's not her. and of course he's immediately swooped up by a rossum adjacent military outfit using active architecture to create a hivemind army. it was VERY dark angel x-7 series in a fascinating way. this should have been a multi-episode arc, but i'll take what i can get. echo and priya saving tony, tony having to overcome mind control to save priya. IMPECCABLE. but also! seeing our lil group of freedom fighters truly start to form! boyd, echo, topher, ivy, paul, priya, and tony. and our brief glimpse into adelle as THE BAD GUY. as well as! finally seeing adelle hit what we later find out was her breaking point. she got drunk, she got shot down by tony (in deleted scenes), she has that amazing moment where she goes down into the dollhouse, strips off her clothes and showers with the actives. this is the moment she chooses to join team TAKE DOWN ROSSUM. she had regained control over her house, but this is when she decides to take her power back. she's not playing rossum's game anymore.

108 needs. this episode!!!!!!!! our first time TRULY MEETING caroline, priya, tony and madeline. i mean i'll be upfront- i hate the beginning of this episode. i hate a dream depicting two women in a madonna whore dichotomy. angel devil shit. i hate it. BUT ONCE WE GET PAST THAT!!!!!!!!! 10/10. even the reveal that this ~awakening&escape~ was manufactured doesn't impact my enjoyment because the feelings are real, the experience is real. we get to see priya and tony be in love without understanding where that came from. madeline grieving a daughter she cannot remember. priya confronting the man who stole her life. tony protecting priya, the way he was unable to with joe hearn. and caroline- caroline gets to confront adelle and topher over the morality of their actions. and she gets to lead the dolls out into the light (which i do have to ask- they're 8 stories underground. did they take the elevators in shift? did echo ride up and down with the gun out every time? how did this go? you know what ignore me i don't need to pick this apart). which- what a goddamn moment. and to top it all off with the discovery that it was all claire's idea- and boyd takes issue with her over playing her own games with the dolls. she views it as necessary for their emotional states, but is he wrong? this was such an emotionally cathartic episode. and so so important for me and my connection to these people we usually only ever see as other fake people

109 a spy in the house of love. FLAWLESSSSS. first off, the framing device. following every active throughout their imprints day. missing bits and pieces every time. i loooove playing with perspective- everyone seeing different aspects, having different parts to pick over. priya and echo in parallel roles of a sort again, both hunting down a spy in very different ways. the revelation that dominic OF ALL PEOPLE was a fucking spy for the nsa. topher showing his soft side again when he suspected boyd and gave him the chance to run. in retrospect, while dominic was obviously... not a 10/10 person..... he tried to kill echo, he was prepared to torture and kill ivy, and kill topher and echo, to keep his cover....... he wasn't actually wrong about the dollhouse? the technology WAS too dangerous to let run rampant. adelle WAS naive to trust rossum. and echo WOULD be the one to bring this entire house of cards down. too late, but still. we also get to see the softer side of adelle here. she's not all boss bitch, she has vulnerabilities and dreams, she breaks down after dominics betrayal. she has no one to confide in but a person who is not real. oh my god not to mention! the reveal to paul that mellie is a doll!!!!!!!!! there are too many secret dolls this season probably, but the emotion with this reveal was so intense. it was so heavy and hurtful, so damaging. a great episode for topher, for dominic, for echo, for adelle. and at the end- adelle genuinely believing echo's progress is a GOOD THING because it protected the house. one of the best ENSEMBLE episodes.

212 the hollow men. not a choice i would have expected, but hey. i fucking loved that episode. much as it's hard to make sense of boyds secret evil mastermind identity, the reveal in context of this episode hits so hard and works so well for me. and the twist back around from 'boyd is evil' to- but also he still loves you guys a lot and wants to hang out forever while the world burns down around you! makes me feel so many feelings actually. clyde!whiskey is stupid hot. the mellie/paul teamup is fun until it's horribly depressing, and it makes me wistful for a timeline where these two actually did fall in love in some fashion. the chemistry is there, whether she's mellie or madeline. priya and tony coming back to save everyone- and the return of topher!tony. the hints toward tony's future with him already starting to be programmed with extra skills. the fakeout happy ending quickly followed up with an apocalyptic ten years later. everything here worked very well for me on an emotional level. echo and boyd still striking that beautiful balance of devotion, only now it is twisted and ugly. god truly just watching boyd navigate this episode, still basically acting the same way with the rest of the characters, but we see so much more in his face. there's an edge there, there's an eerie undertone. for however much this was sprung on us so suddenly, harry lennix was up to the task of selling it. he truly deserved more time to explore this aspect of the character.

#5 is more dubious and i wonder if it'll retain its top slot once i'm a little more removed from this rewatch but i'm rolling with it for now. it doesn't escape my notice that 4/5 of my top episodes heavily feature priya/tony lmao i am what i am. other top contenders- 110 haunted, 113 epitaph one, 210 the attic, 211 getting closer.

FAVORITE MOMENTS! i'm actually gonna use this slot here to talk about some of my favorite like...... ideas? things that keep bouncing around my brain? random shit!

priya/tony are the only ship that don't exist in a multiverse that perfectly fit that quote about how in every universe i will find you and i will choose you. also for years there, enver had appeared in the avengers as a young cop in modern day, and in agent carter as a war vet in the 40s. and in agents of shield dichen was an immortal inhuman we saw in both the 40s and modern day. so for literal years there i had a long running daydream about her the tragic immortal, and her love, the man constantly reincarnating. AND THEN AGENTS OF SHIELD WENT AND MADE ENVER A TIME TRAVELER WHO FELL IN LOVE WITH DICHENS DAUGHTER. I MUST LOL AT MYSELF. another impeccable ship, tho. has to be said. daisysousa5ever

the whole thread throughout 111 briar rose through 112 omega about sleeping beauty. echo telling susan to think of herself as the prince, who is fighting to save briar rose. she is both the prince and the princess. 111 making us think it is paul who is coming to save the sleeping beauty echo from the dollhouse- we even have him literally waking her up from her sleeping pod- the end of 111 revealing it was actually alpha who came to wake echo up from her doll-state and bring her back to life by making her MORE like he is- only for 112 omega to flip that entirely on its head and give us echo and caroline as two separate entities. echo given the chance to save caroline, first as a human girl trapped in the wrong body, and then on a hard drive. they kind of ruin it at the end by having paul catch the hard drive of caroline, but hey. whatever. I'M STILL SAYING ECHO AND CAROLINE ARE THE PRINCE AND PRINCESS OF THIS STORY.

i have little use for mag and zone as characters on their own merit, but that little moment in epitaph two where they ask what the other did before the apocalypse. it's something that always fascinates me in postapocalyptic content, who people were before they became an apocalypse survivor. kind of reminds me of lost in that way too.

topher v echo as progenitor of the apocalypse and the messiah respectively. adelle v boyd as parallel mentor figures. the initially villainous presenting character who eventually chooses good, ends the series trying to save humanity, and the character that initially presents as heroic, only to reveal he had evil, selfish motives all along. adelle and boyd have pretty equal parental/mentorship claims to echo and topher (tho adelle/caroline had a deeply sexual vibe i am just saying). it's just..... fascinating how they all four relate to each other. and the men both die, boyd in echo's efforts to stop the apocalypse, and topher in his own effort to END the apocalypse. echo ends her story underground, isolated and yet surrounded by (and filled with) people. adelle on the surface ready to shepherd a new flock into the light. there's just!!!!! a lot to pick apart and play with!

sort of thinking a lot about how the first time paul met topher in 111 he tased him and then alpha helped him carry topher into the office. then the second time the three of them were in that office together paul found topher on the floor, having been attacked by alpha, and lifted him onto his feet. there is SOMETHING THERE eating at my brain. and that being the like...... last act paul had as his actual original real self, pre-dollification. THINKING THOUGHTS.

multiple times characters call out how protective echo is of sierra. i want so so so much more of that. plz.

topher!tony. dominic!tony. TOPHER!TONY. GIVE ENVER AN OSCAR FOR THIS TV ROLE.

the TO REMEMBER wall of photographs. especially its appearance in epitaph one, it always makes me so weirdly emotional? that wall, the song, the pictures of cast and crew. 10/10

i'm gonna cut myself off here or i'll never shut my mouth

THANKS BABES <333

[perfectlittleking]

A Motive For Escaping Hell

Fandom: Dead Boy Detectives (Netflix TV Series) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Graphic depictions of violence, gore, horror, do not read if you have yet not seen s01ep07 since this contains spoilers Character(s): Edwin Payne, Charles Rowland, Doll Spider Demon Relationship(s): Edwin Payne/Charles Rowland Read on AO3 Word Count: 3,211 Summary: In Hell, hope does not exist only despair and pain and everything that can tear down a soul. Edwin knows that, but he has hope. He has a reason to fight, a reason to escape again. The problem is, can he keep it alight long enough to find the door?

The eyes of a young bloke shudder away from the creature in front of him. Avoiding any vision of the sight in front of him doesn't help. He huddles tightly against the wall. Calling himself a coward for sulking away from the beast, but it's safer. Still, he can see it in his head from the echoes in the chamber.

On the other side of the room was his captor, a towering spider covered in baby doll parts. All the pieces were sentient, as if the whole beast were a hive of individuals protecting the truth within. It hunches over, letting its numerous mouths munch on its snack. The two front doll arms hold onto the meal, cradling it. With closer evaluation, one would notice the meal was human.

Plastic heads gnaw and tear at the flesh, pulling apart pieces. Bones crunching under a few of the jaws. Shattering and being spit out on the floor. It mirrors the sound of marbles hitting pavement. Some pieces bounce; others crash and crack as they hit the grimy floor under the spider. The whole chamber was a half eaten buffet of human anatomy.

Other sounds fill the air. Plops of blood carry an arrhythmic tone. Twos, fours, and sevens. It’s chaotic and jarring against the rest of the appalling music. Every so often, a dull thud breaks all when a large chunk of the spider’s meal is dropped. Nothing about the sound in the chamber brings comfort, nor should anything down here.

Little giggles and soft whispered child tones slip from the mouths of those who don't eat. The same sound a baby doll makes. It has the childlike giggle, the babbling of nonsensical words, and the sweet hum of happiness. It only factors in a creepier tone when observing the demon.

Everything together paints the horrid image in the mind of Edwin Payne, haunting him since the day he entered. Nothing has ever truly blocked out the Spider Doll Demon from his mind.

It has been a while since he ran the corridors of the Doll House for the first time, but he's gotten out before, so he has faith in himself. He couldn't remember the full path that he had written down in his notebook since he dumped that knowledge in the ink, hoping he would never have to use it again. Eyes close as he tries to remember the pattern he had written down in the notebook all those years ago.

This was his labyrinth, not as intricate as the one in the myths he has read, but it was similar. Leave a trail, and one would escape, but he was not Theseus, and he didn’t have a ball of yarn. No. He was just a kid. All he knew was a way to escape. He’s done it before, but pulling that stunt again had a low probability.

There are a few paths he can recall. None of them seemed to be in order, but he will take what he can. Take a left to the open gate hall. Avoid the south wing; it held misery wraiths. It wasn't much, but it was better than starting over completely. He can do this.

Confidence floods the bloke as he pulls himself off the floor. Attempt eight. He will make it this time. On his knees, he places one hand on the wall for support. His back straightens before he can pull one leg out from under him. Slowly and quietly. That’s the rule for escaping from the room with the demon. His legs straighten, and he finds himself ready to leave. One last look at his captor.

Bare feet move in silence. He’s learned the hard way to sneak out of the room. Carefully, he takes each step. Not too slow since he knew how long a body enthralled the demon, but not too fast or he could make a sound. It’s a tedious process, but he finds himself out of the room and in the corridors of the endless halls. He’s run them numerous times, but remembering the path? That’s something he’s been finding difficult. This was attempt eight. This will be the attempt that becomes a success. The endless halls become his track.

Once clear, he runs. Legs pumping and arms swinging. With all his energy and all his strength, he tries his best to carry himself down the halls. Left. Left. Straight. He takes the same path as before on the sixth and seventh attempts. Straight. Keep running, he tells himself. He can make it. He runs down the hall that accommodates various rooms where agonizing and excruciating screams hide behind. This is a new feat for him this time down here. There’s hope. Hope fuels him to keep going. 

A child’s giggle rings down the hall from behind him. The sweet sound of innocence that the demon hides behind. It causes Edwin to look back. He knows that doing so will slow him down, but he has to check if the demon draws near.

Bare feet smack the concrete. The space between the two is shorter as the boy picks up speed. He picks up speed, even when his calves burn and ache. He cannot stop. His eyes stay in front of him, looking for his next turn. As he crosses the hall, one foot crunches down on a porcelain fragment of a doll.

It digs into the skin, cutting deeply into the ball of his foot. Biting down on his tongue, he tries his best to muffle the agony he wants to let out. Any sound would alert the creature to his whereabouts. The muffled groan causes his eyes to close and pause in the hall.

The floor’s littered with discarded doll pieces. Some plastic, some porcelain. All came from the spider demon. He’s not sure if the creature molts or was harmed, and he would rather not know. It wasn’t the first time he’d snagged a piece.

He leans against the wall and lifts his leg up enough to check the damage. He can’t stop for long, or the creature will find him. The porcelain digs into his foot, but he can see it in the entry wound. Fingers pinch the side that didn’t sink in the first step. A tear slips down as he pulls it out. The piece gets dropped on a pile next to him. He endures the pain as he lowers his foot back to the floor. He lost time, but he doesn’t see the beast in any direction.

A blood trail follows him now. He still tries to run. A small limp comes with him with each step on the injured food, but he bears the pain. He runs. He turns the corner, putting much of his weight on the hurt foot. Eyes close for a second as if he’s praying, but no one will answer when he’s down here. No brave soul would venture to save him. It’s a risk he didn’t want anyone to take.

Feet are still in motion. He soon hits something hard. Not a wall. Not a misery wraith. Hard plastic and rough porcelain cut against his clothing. Eyes don’t dare open, as he knows what he hits. The leg that Edwin ran into wraps around his body, squeezing it.

Flecks of black flicker in his vision before everything starts to unfocus. A few blinks help clear the scattered dots, but only for a few seconds. A loud crack rings in his ears. Pain explodes in his back, soon vanishing. A piercing scream races from within and flees down the halls of the Doll House. Half his body goes limp. Everything below his ribs doesn’t exist to any of his nerves. It throws him into a panic. Breathing becomes sharp with quick breaths. Each one brings a sharp pain. All of this tells him the worst: the eighth attempt is the eighth failure. The leg squeezes tighter, piercing the snapped spinal cord. The surge of pain causes Edwin to black out.

As he regains consciousness, Edwin finds himself somewhere else. No. Where he is is where he started: the demon’s main chamber. He’s back on the floor across the room from his predator, who’s devouring the eighth version of him. It’s where he always wakes up after a failed attempt.   Life. Reincarnated once again. It’s a torturous cycle he never wanted to experience again, but here he is. Trapped in Hell in the Doll House. The endless halls always bring him back to the demon, back to the pile of failed attempts. It hasn’t changed. Nothing has. The demon is enthralled by the body, and when it grows tired, it will turn to him for another game of cat and mouse. Nothing could stop this cycle except escape.

He’s done it before. He’s ventured into several rooms of the deadly sins. He’s ran up the endless stairway before. The path from the Doll House to freedom is sketched in his notebook. He is proof that he’s escaped Hell before. Edwin Payne: one of the known cases of a spirit escaping. The problem is, why can’t he do it now? What was different?

The cowering bloke sits with his legs curled to his chest. He leans against the wall, avoiding seeing the demon. He has the same clothes on his back as last time. His motive is different. Last time, he believed he was there because of a miscalculation, but that was the opposite of what the Night Nurse said before the door opened. He was there because he was supposed to be. The thought hurts and digs deep into him, causing him to ball up tighter.

He shakes the thought away. He cannot slip away so soon. He can make it. He will prove to Asa that her records were incorrect and he isn’t supposed to be down here. Attempt eight wasn't the last attempt. He has enough fight to run the halls a few more times. Edwin wasn't going to quit. It was too soon to call that. He's Edwin Payne, and the only thing stopping him from escaping is himself.

━━━━━━━━━━━

He’s lost count of all the times he’s tried. All the times he’s been ripped apart, eaten alive, thrown across the hall, and the other unspeakable ways he’s been killed. All he knows is that he’s failed. Failed so many times that he cannot make out the number of bodies that build a hill of discarded versions of him. Was it twenty, thirty, or fifty of them laying on top of each other? None were whole. Severed limbs and loose organs have fallen off the hill and rolled down around it.

He knows he’s tried and tried again. All he does is find himself back in the chamber with the demon. Each time he loses, and each time the demon wins. Always finding the creature with its most recent prize withering in its plastic arms. The same sound rings out. Even if he tries to muffle them, they have burned into his eardrums.

Hours have passed. . . or was it days? It’s difficult to figure out how long he’s been here with the dim lighting in the Doll House. The windows just peer out to other locations in Hell. Sunlight doesn’t touch here and never plans to. There’s no ticking clock in any of the rooms that latch to the halls. He isn’t sure how long he swims in the darkness between death and rebirth. There’s nothing that can help Edwin figure out how long he’s been down here.

A giggle that sounds like it belongs to a child came from the demon. Was it mocking Edwin? It must have known the reason why Edwin kept running away. He always assumed that this was a game for the demon. A game it wanted to play for centuries since it did trade something for him.

He curls up against the wall. The light of hope that has been glowing since he arrived has started to flicker. It’s slowly going out, like a candle that’s just a wick. There’s no wax or oil to keep it burning. It might have been the only source of hope in Hell. The damned lose hope when they find themselves here. It’s a miracle to Edwin that he still has a speck of it.

With each passing moment, Edwin slips away. He is close to being gone, but something keeps him sane. There is something that keeps him going and holding on. The thought keeps him from slipping too far.

He closes his eyes. He finds strength in a way that he could never explain to anyone. His mind draws out the one thing that Edwin has been holding on to since he was dragged back down. The fact he’s always sure of–

Brown eyes.

Brown curls.

The fact that Charles Rowland is the bravest person he knew. That nothing could stop him, not even Edwin.

And he’s hopelessly in love with him.

Was hopeless the right word? Love was a topic that always made him feel like a dilettante. It wasn’t something he was ever interested in when he was alive, but after meeting Charles, things twisted in his mind. It was slow, but after realizing that, if he did have one, his heart would beat for him. He wanted to know what it felt like to kiss Charles.

It’s tormenting to be in love with Charles Rowland. He’s reckless, also he was always around Edwin. He never went a full day without seeing him or without talking to him.

Just thinking of him gives breath to the burning light of hope in his chest. He lets his mind wander more about his crush. He focuses on the golden cross earring, the one that reflects the sun when hit just right. He can see his bright smile before he bursts into laughter.

It gives him enough strength to pull himself up. He runs this time. Another attempt.

It doesn’t end as he wants it to, but when he finds himself back in the chamber, he tries again. He thinks of Charles. He pretends he’s cheering him on in the living plane. He can almost hear his voice.

“C’mon mate! You can escape. You’ve done it before,” says the hallucination of Charles.

It gets him to push himself. It causes Edwin to run faster down the hall that tripped him up on the eighth time. He doesn’t miss the right turn like he did the twelfth and twenty-first time. He’s getting better. He can–

The gasp of life brings him back. A few attempts have passed, and everyone ends like the one before. He takes a breath of courage before pulling himself back to his feet. It’s weaker than the last. He tries to hold on to the thought of seeing Charles again. It helps. But it distracts his mind.

He takes a left. No. it was supposed to be right. He circles the hall. It was a new hall, one he hadn’t explored. It couldn’t be the exit. Did the labyrinth change? Could it have changed? Hell could grow smarter and learn from its victims. He wouldn’t rule that out. Just thinking about that makes him sink down. It makes him hit the floor and pull his knees to his chest. His head rests on top of his knees.

Hell wanted him, and Hell finally got him. Even with the faint thought of Charles that lingers in his mind, Edwin cannot find the strength in him. Not anymore.

“I’m sorry, Charles,” he whispers weakly.

A tear slips down his cheek and down to his knee. A few more follow on the same path. He wasn’t strong enough. He couldn’t escape. After all, when he escaped last time, things felt strange. He couldn’t explain it, but he felt like Hell allowed him to escape.

By keeping his silence, the creature can’t find him. Being still allows him to hide in plain sight. If he keeps this up, he could stay in this hall for a few days at most.

“Edwin?” Charles’s voice breaks the silence in the hall.

For a moment, Edwin believes it's in his head. Charles wasn’t that reckless or idiotic to come down to Hell for a rescue mission. No one in their right mind would do that. It only makes his arms tighten around his legs.

But what if he’s wrong? Slowly, Edwin picks up his head. The yellowish glow of a lantern glows down the hall. The same one he once used for Charles back in the attic of St. Hilarion’s. He couldn’t imagine that, right?

Behind the light stands him. Stands Charles. The real Charles. The one his ghost heart would beat for.

“Edwin, mate.”

His voice is soft, calming. There’s hope in his voice. There’s hope glowing in the hall, all because of Charles Rowland.

“Charles?” He whispers as he slowly pulls himself up.

He needed to know if it was him– if it truly was the bloke he’s been in love with. He takes a step toward him once he’s standing.

That one step alerts it. It causes the horrors he’s dealt with for almost a century to be witnessed by Charles. The creature speeds down the hall, down the corridor, and scoops Edwin up like a rag doll in the plastic arms. Slamming his body against the wall, then against one of the legs. The wound on his head, which he thought had finally healed, opened up again. It leaves a trail to the room where Edwin will wake up in.

If Charles was real, he should run. If Charles was truly Charles, he wouldn’t, thought Edwin. If Charles felt the same tug in his chest as he did, then he would follow the demon, even if it was dangerous.

When he does wake up in a new version of himself, he’s cowering. Charles wasn’t in the room where the demon rests. The Charles he saw was another figment of delusion. Charles was smarter than that. Edwin curls up, trying not to make a sound. No one would come for him. Charles deserved better anyway.

How long has it been since he saw Charles? If it was Charles, would he have made it by now? Minutes pass by, and he still finds himself alone with the demon. The Charles he saw wasn’t real.

What catches his attention is the slight reflection of light on the wall in front of him. The light catches a splatter of crimson, causing the deep wine to brighten. Light like that doesn’t show down here. So what was. . .

Before he can turn around, he hears his voice. He hears Charles’s voice. 

“Edw–”

The sound causes Edwin to twist himself quickly, and he finds himself with Charles in front of him. His hand is now covering his mouth to avoid the demon hearing them. For the first time, he can feel him. Soft lips against his palm. Hell made things feel real and alive. For the first time, he’s feeling Charles. He’s real. Charles Rowland was here with him in Hell.

He came to Hell for him. Came to rescue him. He was the bravest person he knew, and bloody hell, he was in love with him.

[austrydieder]

Do you know any Nightcrawlers? Like, are they all independent little guys or is there some Hive mind stuff at work there?

I've met a few Nightcrawlers. There's a half Nightcrawler half merb I hang out with sometimes. He works with explosives, which is great.

They live in a have, but I know nothing of a hive mind?

They're all pretty independent but communal. I've never been in the hive myself, but Naius, the half merb I meantioned, he's told me some things. It sounds like a horror movie, but he's happy.

There's also Sidian who's a commander in their ranks.

He's definitely intimidating, but he and his brother also adopted a human baby they found years ago, so he's good in my book.

[desultory-novice]

Hey, so maybe this is an odd question, but... if Dark Matter Swordsman was, like, a person once upon a time in your AU, was Gooey also someone at some point? Not a human, necessarily, but something other than what he currently is?

I tend to think so, yeah.

It's probably possible for Zero to just break off parts of themselves and form little mini Dark Matter, but I think that certain Dark Matter were certainly... something before they became what they are.

I suppose the saddest possibility here is that whatever Gooey was before they became part of the hive-mind... they were probably a very young child. Like, even younger than Noir and Adeleine are.

I tend to think that's both why Gooey doesn't really have a strong sense of actualization/know what they are, because their lived experience wasn't long enough to build up an identity of their own to remember/cling to. But at the same time, that's exactly why they're more "free" than the other Dark Matter. Because a very short time of lived experiences means less time to gather up shattered dreams, painful memories, and negative emotions DM feed on.

So, probably an infant/baby of some species whose home was consumed by Zero (?) and turned into part of that collective. Gooey "grew up" amidst the hivemind, learning language and certain behaviors (without ever truly "growing up" because they are Dark Matter now) but was not able to be fully ruled by Zero because there was nothing for Zero to latch on to in Gooey.

I'd like to imagine Apologies Gooey being able to tap into the memories of the other drones (without the command structure to say "don't.do.that") is why they're so different looking. They're probably fascinated by things like faces, which they see in so many memories but not physically among their own "people."

Noir's soul is especially strong/persistent, which is one of the things that must have drawn Gooey to DMS amongst the others. Noir clings to his faded memories more, meaning they are more visible/readable to Gooey. Among these fragmented wisps of a past life, Gooey senses that DMS had "a person" who helped him when he was sad and is trying to understand that process with DMS. "Helping each other" being an otherwise alien concept for Dark Matter....

In a gijinka-verse, Gooey, when not in Mock Matter form, would be half of whatever his original species was and half Earth-based human, specifically because of his deep connection with Noir.

[masquayla-the-splendid]

Here's a fnaf headcanon I've had since forever that I think might actually be canon.

Ennard is his own character, separate from being an amalgam.

This claim brings me back to pre SL, post SL teaser era where people thought Ennard was actually this puppet master character who was only a head that moved like a spider with a few skrangly wires.

I've seen many fan interpretations on what animatronic his mask was supposed to be for, but do you ever wonder why it fits his face perfectly?

Yes, I do believe that the rest of his body was just a big metal knitting session between the Funtimes. There are some parts that are obvious from what came from who.

But his face? They couldn't have put that much detail into making his head look so unique that it doesn't line up with any of theirs.

To compare, I brought up Ballora and Funtime Foxy, as I thought they had the most resemblance.

I used a more polished version of the Help Wanted model in SFM for Ennard.

Not only that, but when making these renders, I just now realized that his right eye is shoved way further back, and has a pretty bad overbite.

(It's also really obvious how Scott models here. His head is completely made of clipping errors.)

Speaking of his eyes, he has 3 eyes of the same color. Usually it's assumed that his left eye is Funtime Freddy's, but the half closed eye, and the eye dangling below that are the same color as the left one. Ennard has one eye of each of the Funtimes, so that means Funtime Freddy's is the one that's off to the side.

Yes, there can be multiple animatronics with the same eye color.

The eye on his torso is commonly mistaken to be Ballora's, but as you can see, her eyes are tiny. Who else has pink eyes? BonBon. Who doesn't have eyes in the scooping room? BonBon.

Then where are Ballora's eyes? Somewhere in the mass of wire that you can't see. He's saving them for when he gets his skin, because they're same size as human eyes.

Okay so if that was his own head, what level of consciousness or awareness does he have?

This is where the headcanons come in.

It's unknown how he "thinks," but one can only assume he works as a hive mind.

My personal headcanon is that he has his own conscious, and was probably just chillin where Funtime Chica would've been if she wasn't rented out. Either that or the Private Room. He'd be the one that controls the body, and the rest of them are just spectating. Maybe having more of a say on what limbs move that belong to them.

The SL robots seem to have their own conscious, since Baby tells her story in her perspective, but at what stage of programming awareness comes in, I have no clue. I'd guess it would have to be at the head?? Depends on where the main computer is?

(On a side note, they must have a lot of know-how on robo physiology, because they were able to wire up their individual abilities, like the voice mimicking, to a separate body without flaw. I mean it ain't like the Funko toys that snap on, they had to like actually tie things together. How did they do that without soldering anything? Were the Funtimes programmed to be able to fix themselves, or did they have the bidybabs/minireenas snoop through all the drawers to find the blueprints for each of them?)

Then what does the "there's a little of me in every body" mean?

Could be teasing the real ending, but "every" implies multiple. Maybe there's was more done to him than just a head, and had to get dismantled for the Funtimes. I've seen that theory tossed around a few times.

HEY HEY THE BOOKS.

I can't remember which book it was, one of the Fazbear Frights I'm sure, but it described a Clown-like animatronic that has a green/yellow color scheme. He wasn't a whole robot though, he was attached to a separate attraction, and had spring for a body from the chest down. I think he had hair. I'm pretty sure it's name was like Coils or something. I thought it was Coily at first, but that's the snake from Qbert.

Edit: In Ultimate Custom Night, Scott only uses "he" when referring to Ennard. There is a completely valid reason for the use of "they" or all pronouns, considering he is literally multiple robots. Now if you're a new age Scott hater, you may chalk it up to generalizing him as whatever phobic, but this is the same guy who uses "he" AND "she" for Mangle. (Not to mention designs "boy" animatronics with blush/lisstick in 2015) Why would "He" be the only pronoun? Because it's his head. Wherever his main computer is, it's somewhere up there. This would mean that all unpossesed animatronics have their "conscious" wired to a motherboard somewhere in they noggin. They're just a piece of plastic with transistors and diodes melted to it at their core.

So you can't just attach Chica's arm to Bonnie, and have Chica control everything he does. You'd have to swap their heads. But when you got remnant infused metal, it's a bit different. Hence, Ballora would have a say in moving the arms, because they're hers.

Anyway that's my rare fnaf rambling.

[9tailedfoxfire]

A REVillage and RE7 BIOHAZARD story

A parent Donna Beneviento story w/Dimitrescu daughter's parring

You can choose pairing(Cassandra). Adopted daughter of Donna at age 8 Miranda found Carrie? running away from home scence Miranda has been watching her for awhile she takes her to Donna who she thought could use some company to maybe help them both heal from there trauma. Though weary after half a year they both become protective of each other and both open up Carrie? Meets the others Lord's who after learning of her and her past also become protective and this causes them to become like a real family maybe? After the meeting Alcina suggests that Carrie meets her daughters who are confused and unsure how to deal with the tiny (the sister's canon height is 6'4) and still slightly skittish human but after warming up to one another Carrie now has 3 OVERprotective(this is on purpose) murderous hive vampires though she is closest to Cassandra for obvious reasons. At age 16 Miranda reluctantly and with great protests from everyone sends Carrie into the outside world to learn and grow who at 18 gets into and accident and gets experimental treatment from umbrella so different strands of the virus with mold so a mix of Eveline and Wesker but is unstable though that is only found out later and she will need the candou to stabilise her it takes 2 years to complete. At age 20 she imprints on Mia(23) who is her handler and becomes like a guard/protector for her the events of RE7 happens but Eveline doesn't want Ethan(best friend/sibling not husband Mia took his family name) as a dad cause she has 2 moms 3 if you count Zoe who is Rosemary's second mom(Carrie and Ethan are Godparents) at the end of RE7 Eveline gives her powers to Carrie and reveals that she is unstable and thet her body is constantly breaking and regenerating so she won't age or die. 2 years later at 22 she Mia and Ethan all live together with baby Rose she can tell that Mia is not Mia but can't do anything cause she was asked/ordered to act like nothing is happening by Mia. While Mia is with her Miranda learns of what happened to her granddaughter? and is not happy that she was experimented on and is unstable and says she will give Carrie the candou when she gets to the village. Cue Start of REVillage(not really) but the village is still standing and the lycans only patrol for outsiders and threats while the villagers hide so as not to get attacked. Ethan is captured and Carrie who was with him and saw it all followed to the church where a meeting w/Mia was going on cue happy Carrie who tackles Donna in a hug after checking on Mia and Rose. When Carrie and the sisters meet again they are proud that she is strong confused because she is no longer tiny though still short compared to them(I'm 5'5 so her height is based on that) and concerned because she is strong and might not need them(mainly Cassandra on this one) You can take it from here.

[not-a-space-alien]

Tinytopia Chapter 7: Endless Rebirth (Part 3)

Story Masterpost

On AO3

Thanks to my beta/sensitivity reader @appelsiinilight!

In this chapter: Jax’s true nature is further illuminated, which causes even more friction with Moon.

***

Everything was quiet out in the park.

Until a hand shot up from under the ground, followed by a second, the frantic swimming motions of someone trying to dig themselves out.  Eventually a head came up too, gasping in its first breaths.

A body came next, hauling itself and laying out limply in the dirt.  Wings flickered.  The creature coughed up some sort of mucousy liquid, emptying its lungs.

It then wobbled to its feet and started running, as though it already knew exactly where it was going, bare feet thumping in the dirt.

And it was still quiet in the park, because the creature was a pixie and, at that size, could barely make any noise at all.

***

“Psst.  Thistle.  Hey, Thistle.”

“Mhhmm?”  Thistle pushed himself up off of Moon’s chest fluff and rubbed his eyes.

There was a pixie leaning directly into him, their face millimeters apart.  At first he thought it was Marigold, but…

“Ah!” Thistle yelped, scrambling backwards.  “What–Who–Who are you?”

The new pixie looked remarkably similar to Thistle himself, except for the fact that he was covered in dirt and wearing nothing but a mishmash of leaves for clothes.  He tilted his head, sending a cascade of shiny black hair over his shoulder.  “Hey, good morning!”  He spoke Pixish with a lilted accent like Thistle’s own–but unpracticed, as though somehow also not a native speaker.

Marcy, awakened by Thistle’s shout, sleepily struggled to disentangle herself from her sheets.  “Thistle, I’m coming!  I’m–oh.”  Her movements became less frantic as she realized Thistle was not in danger.  She heaved herself out of bed and came over, sitting at the desk chair.

“Good morning!” the new pixie said.

“Good morning,” Marcy said.  “It’s so nice to meet you.  What’s your name?”

“How did you get in here?”  Moon was considerably less excited, hair uncharacteristically frumpled.

From the desk leg there came grunts of exertion and the sound of tiny claws scratching.  It was Jax, putting to use his newly acquired climbing skills.  “I let him in,” Jax said, finally reaching the top and pulling himself over.

“Uhhhhhhh.  Okay,” Thistle said.  “Do you two know each other?”

Jax gave a knowing grin, then scurried up and leapt onto the new pixie’s shoulders, the two moving in perfect sync.  “So, so I need to admit something,” Jax said.

“You know how I said I could grow a new body?” the new pixie said.

“Well the first one doesn't actually need to die,” Jax said.

They both flourished in perfect unison, as in-sync as the sentence had been–half in Pixish, half in the accented English of a borrower, but not missing a beat as it switched between the two.

“Uhhhhh…” Thistle said, completely unsure what to make of that.  “Okay?  So you're…both Jax?”

“Yea!” they both said, again in perfect unison.  Thistle wished they'd stop doing that.  It was kind of creepy.

Marcy’s gaze was alight with curiosity.  “Are you a hive mind of some kind?”  Keep your questions in, keep them in, don’t overwhelm them, you always overwhelm everyone with questions.  She felt like she was going to explode.

Thistle knew that the English word–and the human concept–of a hive was a bit different from the way pixies used the word.  And a hive mind was something else altogether.  He'd read about it on Wikipedia.  “Like–Like a group of people who all share the same thoughts and feelings?”

“Um, if that’s the word to describe it, then yeah, I guess!” Borrower-Jax said, and Pixie-Jax held up a peace sign like they’d seen Thistle do on occasion.  “I couldn’t very well call myself that when I only had one body, but now I got two!  I’m just a baby one!”

It made sense, in a way.  If a hive mind grew by adding new bodies, then its age would be measured by the number of people in it, not the usual developmental milestones.  It explained perfectly why Jax was so young, yet had the body of an adult borrower.

And now apparently had the body of an adult pixie as well.

Oh, this was… something.  This was something completely alien.  Thistle had thought meeting humans and incubi and naga and dryads was an adventure, but this was completely unlike anything he’d ever seen before.  Anyone he’d ever met.

Moon apparently had the same train of thought.  But he looked wary rather than excited.  “And what exactly is all that supposed to mean?”

“You’re not going to try and assimilate anyone, are you?” Thistle rushed to add.

Both Jaxes blinked.

“Into your hive mind,” Thistle clarified.  “Assimilate someone into your hive mind.  Like, make them part of you.”

“How on earth would I do that?” they both said.

“Well, I don't know.  I don't know how hive minds work.”

“Thistle is just concerned about everyone's safety,” Marcy explained.  “We think of hive minds as something people are forced to join.” 

“Join me for what?  Dinner?  An adventure?  I wouldn't force anyone to do anything, honest!”  The sentence ping-ponged back and forth between the two bodies.  Two mouths, two voices, two different languages, one mind, one fluid train of thought.  The pixie’s voice was significantly higher in pitch than the borrower’s.  It was…disorienting.

Marcy hesitated.  “The pixie… where did it come from?  You didn't like…. take someone, did you?”

“Take someone?”

“Like kidnap someone.  Hijack their body.  It's just you?  This body?”

“Oh, I grew it,” Pixie-Jax said.  “It's me 100%.  There’s nobody else in here.”

 “O-oh okay. That's cool,” Thistle said, equally overwhelmed and excited.  “How does it, like….work?  How did you become a pixie too?”

“I copied you!”

Thistle fluttered his wings.  Jax could just…become a pixie?  For the purpose of being friends with Thistle?  “That’s so cool!  So you just–modeled off of me?  And grew a second body?”

“Yeah!”

“It’s so cool that you can do that.  Oh, you know what that means!  I have to teach you how to be a pixie the way Violet was teaching you how to be a borrower!”

Pixie-Jax hopped up and down and clapped his hands.  “Yeah!”

Moon watched with obvious distaste as the two pixies got each other more and more excited.  He hooked a hand around Thistle’s arm.  “Thistle, can I talk to you over here for a second?”

He dragged him to the corner of the desk.  Jax watched them go, then shrugged and turned his attention back to Marcy.

“You can’t seriously intend to have Jax stay here without knowing more about him,” Moon said in a harsh whisper.

Not this again.  Jealousy really did not suit Moon.  “Well, I let you in without knowing anything about you.”

Moon went red.  “But that–that’s different!”

“How is it different?”

Moon pawed at the ground with his foot.  “I don’t know.  But you didn’t even ask Jax any more questions!  I’m just…concerned for your safety, is all.”

Are you?  Is that really the problem here, Moon?

“I’m just saying it might be prudent to figure out more about what kind of creature this is before throwing ourselves at it wholeheartedly.  I’ve never seen anything like this, and neither have you.  Jax is something completely foreign to everyone here.”

Thistle turned to look back at Jax.  The borrower and the pixie were swinging playfully from Marcy’s fingers in perfect unison.

“...Okay,” Thistle relented.  That was a good point.  Maybe Thistle was letting himself get too swept up in the excitement of meeting such a strange and interesting creature, and having more pixies to play with.  It’d been lessening with Marigold here, but he was always letting his loneliness overcome his good sense.

Ooh, what was Marigold going to think of this?  He got giddy at the idea of sharing this, then forced himself back on track.  Best to wait to introduce Marigold to anyone else and just focus on Jax for now.

“Okay, Jax,” Thistle said, spinning back around.  “Um, I want to ask you a few more questions if that’s okay.”

Pixie-Jax let go of Marcy’s hand and landed on the desk, and Borrower-Jax plopped down onto his shoulders.  “Sure,” they both said.

“So, um…”  What to even ask?  Moon was right.  Thistle didn’t know the first thing about whatever kind of creature Jax was.  “I guess… How did you just grow a second body?  Did you…just emerge fully formed from the ground again?  Where do you come from?”  This was the question Jax hadn’t wanted to answer earlier.

Pixie-Jax nervously wrung his hands.  Borrower-Jax drooped his ears.  Oh no, Thistle thought, heart sinking.  Maybe he IS hiding something.  Maybe Moon is right to be suspicious.

“Why don’t you want to tell us?” Moon demanded.  “What are you hiding?”

“I’m sorry!” Borrower-Jax cried, slapping his hands over his face. 

“I’m scared,” Pixie-Jax said, buzzing his wings.  “I’m scared of getting found out.”

“Found out what?” Moon pressed.

“All right, calm down,” Marcy said, gently scooting Moon back from Jax a little bit.  “You’re getting a bit intense.”

Moon looked at her venomously.

“It’s okay,” Thistle coaxed.  “We just want to know about you, that’s all.  We won’t hurt you.”

Both Jaxes refused to make eye contact.  “There’s part of me that’s underground.  It’s rooted in the soil, and it’s where I make new… me’s.  But I think if anyone ever found it and dug it up, they could really hurt me, or even kill me for real.  That’s why I’m scared to talk about it.”

Marcy’s eyes sparkled.  Thistle could tell she was valiantly restraining herself from asking a million and a half questions.

“Okay,” Thistle said.  “So that’s, um, like the ‘real’ you, and you just kind of…spawn bodies out of it by copying people you run into?”

Jax nodded.  “That’s why I just–you can’t tell anyone, please!  It’s so scary.”

“We won’t,” Thistle reassured.

“That really is cool,” Marcy breathed.

"It’s hardly original, though,” Moon muttered.  “Lots of us can copy other people.  It’s nothing special.”

“But it’s more than just copying, isn’t it?” Thistle said.  “You actually, like… incarnate as that species.  It’s permanent.  And unlike Moon, you don’t just copy the appearance, but the abilities too.  So you’re just, um, like one person made up of multiple bodies of different species?”

“That’s so cool,” Marcy said.  “You’d be able to adapt to any lifestyle perfectly.”

Jax beamed.  “Yeah!  Thistle, will you show me how to be a pixie?  Please?”

“Yeah!  Let’s go!”

Moon watched with suspicion as Thistle grabbed Pixie-Jax’s hand and ran off.

***

“So, every creature has some way of getting the magic that they need to live.  Most of us make it like a plant using photosynthesis.  Some of us are predators and steal it.  But everyone needs at least a little, like they need food.  Except humans, I guess, but they don’t use magic.”

Thistle looked at Marcy, who was sitting on the couch hanging over the armrest to watch Thistle and Jax with fascination as they interacted in Thistle’s castle on the floor.

“I think,” he amended.

Pixie-Jax nodded.  “Right.  My borrower body was generating its own magic as I was collecting items and learning from Violet.  Just like she said.  Borrowers collect things.”

“Yeah, and pixies get it from forming social bonds.”  Thistle hadn’t made a close enough connection with Jax to make that happen yet, but he could feel them getting close.  This could push them over the edge.  “It makes magic for the people on both ends, too, so that’s why Severa doesn’t need to hunt.”

Jax buzzed his wings and his ears twitched.  He clearly hadn’t learned how to moderate the finer points of his body’s nonverbal communication, so every emotion was splashed all across his face and body for everyone to see.  “I, I see.  So, so how does Moon make it?”

Moon appeared on the back of the couch, face sour.  “By basking in moonlight,” he said.  “It’s quite simple and efficient, probably even moreso than-”

“He can also just steal it,” Thistle said dismissively.  “But he doesn’t do that anymore.  But let’s focus on pixies for now, kay?”  He took Jax’s hands.  “We’re gonna be friends!”

Moon dipped out of sight behind the couch, and Thistle heard the disturbing yet telltale sign of Moon transforming:  bones snapped, skin ripped, hair grew.  He reappeared a moment later, crunched down into the form of a pixie.  God it was weird.  He had the same face and everything, but now he was the same height as Thistle and his features were all cloaked under the visage of a pixie.

“I would also like to be friends!” Moon offered, hands extended.  “Let me join!”

Thistle eyed him warily.  “Come on, Moon, we’re already friends.  You and I make plenty of magic together.”

“Then let me help show Jax how it’s done!”

Jax bounced with excitement, hands still in Thistle’s.  “Let’s!  Let’s!”

Thistle sighed.  “Fine.”  He extended his hand and Moon joined them, making a trio of hand-holding.

“Now what do we do?” Jax asked, wide-eyed.

“Well, normally we do some sort of activity together,” Thistle said.  “But it can come at any time.  Just anything that makes a connection between us.”

“We could ask each other twenty questions,” Moon said.  “I’ll go first.  Jax, how did you copy a borrower if you claim you’ve never met one?”

Thistle was thrown off, because–he hadn’t made that connection.  Moon had a very good point.  But he’d said it in such an accusatory way, it was obviously motivated by spite.  Moon had definitely saved that question to ask it at a disruptive time.  “Moon,” he scolded under his breath.

“What?  We were all wondering it,” Moon said coolly.

Jax didn’t seem to notice the hostility.  “Um, I’m not really sure.  That was my first body, I think, so, so, however my species does that.  When we’re born, I guess? I don't remember. You don’t remember how you were born, do you?”

“I do,” Moon said.  “I remember everything about how I was born, from the moment I left the womb.”  That couldn’t be true, surely.

“Then I’ll ask question nineteen!  Um, Moon, how were you born?”

“The moon herself gave birth to me, setting me as a swaddled babe gently into the lushest, most luxurious garden she could find, where I grew up eating ripe fruit and succulent berries in paradise until I decided to grace the mortal plane with my presence.”

Jax looked completely enraptured.  Thistle twitched his ear.  “Moon, come on.”

“Now you ask a question, Thistle!” Jax said cheerfully.

“Um, okay,” Thistle said.  “Moon, why are you allergic to being straightforward?”

Moon furrowed his brow.  Jax waited for the answer expectantly.

“Growing up eating moonberries gave me terrible allergies,” Moon answered.  “If you’re not exposed to allergens in childhood, you develop a horribly sensitive nose as an adult.  My turn again.  Jax, what is it you want from us?”

“From us?”

“Here, at the house.”

“Moon,” Thistle said in a strained whisper.  “Come on.”

Jax did not seem bothered, though.  If anything, he got more excited.  “I’d love to make friends with everyone in the house!”

Thistle found his youthful enthusiasm adorable, and–ah, yep that was enough to push them over the edge.  A flare of magic flickered between Thistle and Jax.

“Ooh!” Jax said.  “I think that was it!  That was it, right?  We did it!”

“Yeah!” Thistle said.  “You’re a natural at it!”

Moon’s very stoic face was scrunched up in an expression that suggested he was trying not to cry.  There was very pointedly not a connection between Jax and Moon, or even between Thistle and Moon.

“What’s wrong?” Jax said.  “Are you okay?”

“Well, good for you!” Moon snapped, throwing Jax’s hand away from himself.  “I’m glad it comes so easily to you!  It must be nice to be able to be so stupid and trusting and have people fall over themselves to take care of you!”

Moon stormed off, yanking the pixie disguise off, which fell off and dissolved into smoke.

“Did I do something wrong?” Jax said.  “Is he mad at me?”

“Stay there,” Thistle said.  “I’ll be right back.”

He followed to find Moon standing in Mochi’s cat bed.  He’d pressed his face into her side, like he was screaming into a pillow.

Thistle walked up and pulled his shirt sleeve.  “Come on, Moon, don’t get mad at Jax.  It’s not his fault.”

Moon pulled his head out of Mochi’s fur.  True to his statement about allergies, his eyes were watery and he sneezed.  “No, of course not, nothing could ever be the fault of poor innocent Jaxy!” Moon slapped Thistle’s hand away.  “Why are you so excited about him?”

Thistle’s ears went down as he scowled.  “Moon, come on.  Don’t be like this.”

“I’d love to, if-”

“Moon, stop being jealous!”

Moon looked offended, hand on his chest.  “Jealous?  I am not jealous!  I’m merely-”

He stopped.  Thistle stared at him.

“You were supposed to cut me off before I could offer my explanation.”

“...what?”

“There’s no end to the sentence I’m merely-!  I was counting on you to get mad at me and cut me off so I didn’t have to finish it!”

“Moon, can you please just be normal?” Thistle exploded.  “Why are you like this?”

Moon drew back, his expression turning from exaggerated offense to genuine hurt.  “I-I-”

Oh, no.  No, no.  Thistle had… definitely gone too far with that.  “I’m sorry,” he rushed to add.  “I shouldn’t have said that.”

“Go play with Jax, then, if you want to play house and be normal,” Moon snarled.  He dashed up the stairs and out of sight.

***

@static-stars

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[faeriekit]

Untitled Apiary!Fic: Mo Dao Zu Shi

Prerequisite Reading: What the hell are Apiary Genders? (It's omegaverse, but bees! Kinda.)

Ship: WangXian

Apiary!Characters: Godiva!Wei Wuxian, N/A!Lan Wangji, N/A!Wen Yuan.

Genre: Angst/Gender Dysphoria

Background from the server: The Apiary Gendered dynamic is largely centered on the Yu family, and only the Yu family, leading outside marriages to lead to the spread of "infection" to larger society. Knowledge is limited in outsiders. Wei Wuxian, who caught Apiary from Madame Yu on accident, does not know what a xenogender is or why he is different from other humans— since, you know, why would he.

Personal: This was written as an Unbirthday gift in the apiary server! I'm glad you liked it, Sang!

🐝🐝🌺🐝🐝

Seeing Lan Zhan hold A-Yuan in his arms makes something in Wei Wuxian writhe.

It’s the same thing he’s suppressed since he was a child, new to the Jiang sect. He pushes the feelings down into his black heart, smiles, and accepts Lan Zhan’s offer for a meal.

There are some things he’s never supposed to speak of: the relationship between Uncle and his wife, where his wife rules inside their home and her husband pretends not to bend to her outside of it; the way Jiang Yanli compulsively does chores no one could expect of her station or health, despite her parents’ most ardent wishes; the way Jiang Cheng doesn’t seem to understand any of the dynamics of his own home, frustrated that everything marches to the Violet Spider’s cracked whip.

Wei Wuxian understands.

This is, apparently, the entire problem.

So they gave him disciples to train and they gave him an education in the Lan sect school but Yu Furen never forgives him for understanding her dominion where Jiang Cheng cannot. The younger still, reflexively, looks to his father.

But Jiang Fengmian cannot rule his wife.

Wei Wuxian is still held in contempt by the Jiang Fengwang[O1] .

So. Here he is. Dirty. Hungry. Abandoned by his hive—or maybe he left his Fengwo [O2] of his own volition; it’s so hard to think when he’s hungry—and he watches Lan Zhan feed A-Yuan a meal so large that it makes Wei Wuxian salivate down his chin like an animal.

The portion is a normal bowl. It’s a child’s portion, even.

Wei Wuxian wants that small portion of unflavored vegetables more than he wants to live.

But he keeps his hands in his lap. He smiles. He makes conversation with Lan Zhan, who feeds A-Yuan, who’s enamored with the man himself and how gentle he can be with precious things. Wei Wuxian doesn’t touch his own meal in front of him, even though he could, because… Well. What if A-Yuan is still hungry??

And he knows—he knows that something is wrong with him. Wen Qing doesn’t know much of the Yu family madness, but it has its consequences; apparently odd, violent behavior and self-sabotaging undertakings are the least of the symptoms to look out for. She’s tapped Wei Wuxian as at greatest risk to himself in the long-term recovery from…everything. The core. The demonic cultivation. The starvation.

It’s fine. As long as she and the other Wen lets him keep watching A-Yuan, it’s fine.

Even though Wei Wuxian blackens everything he touches, even though Wei Wuxian has learnt to let the dead speak through him, even though Yu Furen thinks him a foul, contemptuous creature… Wei Wuxian needs to care for something. He has to. He must. If there is another’s life he can cling to, there is a reason to finally cling.

“Gege!” A-Yuan gurgles, and Wei Ying’s attention snaps to. A-Yuan is half on his lap, trying to climb up so that he can dedicate his attention to A-Yuan and a limp broccoli piece sandwiched in stubby baby utensils. Wei Wuxian reaches down to stabilize him. “Gege! Gege, iss lunch!”

Wei Wuxian’s heart throbs. “Of course it’s lunch, baobei!” Wei Wuxian agrees—but the baby’s face is in a stubborn pout, and Wei Wuxian knows he won’t eat without his Gege joining in. “Oh, thank you for helping me eat! What else should I eat in my bowl?”

He tries not to look at Lan Zhan as he takes tiny, little bites of food, and shares more of what he can with A-Yuan’s hungry baby bird’s mouth. Still, Wei Wuxian eats. The guilt eats back

back at him.

“…Wei Ying,” Lan Zhan finally intervenes, and orders them another bowl of rice and—is that a vial of chili flakes in the man’s sleeve? “Eat.”

Wei Wuxian knows this game. “Hey,” he protests, and points his chopsticks at his peer cultivator. Or. Er. Former peer cultivator. Lan Zhan ignores the rude gesture, and continues to ply Wei Wuxian with food. “What happened to no talking during mealtime, huh? Are you breaking a rule? Are you going to break your uncle’s fragile heart, Lan Zhan??”

“No speaking during one’s meal,” Lan Zhan rebuttals swiftly, and settles back on his haunches with the baby. A-Yuan giggles at the mischief made.

Wei Wuxian’s body physically throbs.

He wants this. He wants this forever.

And he doesn’t even care if he had to settle for Lan Qiren as his Fengwang[O1] . Wei Wuxian would accept his place and be loyal. He doesn’t care if he would have to finally leave behind the siblings he was fostered beside, who were better off without him anyway. He doesn’t care if he would have to give up his teachings. Cut his hair in shame. Wear only gray rags and be denied a place at the formal table—

Wei Wuxian wants a happy, well-fed home, a dozen children between himself and Lan Zhan.

And he wants A-Yuan there, even though the baby has his own family to love and care for him but Wei Wuxian is selfish and he wants everything a—a wife??—could want. Prosperity. Children. A full belly. A warm bed.

There is something wrong with Wei Wuxian. Men aren’t supposed to be like this. Men aren’t supposed to want like this. They’re supposed to want something—impersonal. Something less nurturing. Heirs, not babes. Students, not children.

Wei Wuxian wants.

He swallows the feelings down. He smiles.

And beautiful, gentle, generous Lan Zhan, with half a glance Wei Wuxian’s way, cannot hide the pink tinge to his cheeks.

🐝🐝🌺🐝🐝

Mandarin the author almost surely mangled:

 [O1] Queen Bee https://www.yellowbridge.com/chinese/dictionary.php?word=%E8%9C%82%E7%8E%8B&cache=88289

 [O2] Beehive https://www.yellowbridge.com/chinese/dictionary.php?word=%E8%9C%82%E7%AA%9D&cache=88294

[imustbenuts]

FEH crackfic: Maximum Uptime

(not gonna post this on AO3 this fic dies with my tumblr lmao)

Summary: Kiran Protection Squad is always recruiting. Kiran is always suffering.

Being the summoner came with a lot of perks. If Kiran so much as sneezed, some hero would immediately swoop by and drape a cloak or a shawl or a roll of goddamned bloodstained fur over their form.

“It wouldn’t do for the summoner to catch a cold!” Chrom would cheerily say, as he visibly shuddered in the winter cold. Then the exalt himself would come down with a fever the very next day and be nursed and fussed over by a multitude of Robins. …And Grimas.

(They swore Chrom might’ve mumbled something about being in heaven, but frankly that was none of Kiran’s business to what qualified as heaven in that man’s half cooked mind.)

“Mark, you must take better care of yourself!” Lyn would chide, wrapping them up like a human burrito and depositing them in a warm room, trapping them there for the better part of the day. 

(Also, Lyndis, for the love of all things holy, their name wasn’t Mark… Her delusion or denial was stronger than a vice grip that Eliwood and Hector were about to stage an intervention, and Kiran prayed it worked. (It didn’t. The human burrito saga continued and Kiran finally learned the proper form to running.))

“I wrestled a bear to death. So what of it?” The towering Lif would say flatly, and Kiran stared at Alfonse whose frame was significantly smaller in the distance. They had to remember to be careful around Lif, for a simple backhand from his handsomely chiseled muscled arms would knock them straight out into Lfjosalfheimr.

He was pleased to have beaten the bear to death at least for this gloriously thick and warm cape he was wrapping Kiran up in.

And then Kiran broke out in hives, causing Lif to nearly commit Hoshidan seppuku on the spot. Turns out, they were allergic to bears(‘ furs). 

Oh, perks? Hang on. Hold the phone. Yeah, wait, there were no phones in this universe.

Debuffs would have been a better word. (Sorry, sorry, apologies. Something went wrong in Kiran’s mind.) Yes, being the summoner afforded Kiran debuffs, they recognized. Massive immobilizing debuffs.

Granted, it was certainly embarrassing and even soothing in a sense, to be watched and coddled over like this. Last time they checked, they were but the tender age of 6 before being dumped into the schooling system and having all free time filled with school, school, activities, and school.

Heaving cough? Go to school. Chicken pox outbreak? Why, school – they were vaccinated for maximum uptime anyway. Bedridden in the hospital? Remote learning, baby!

Here though? Have a cough, a hero comes along with soothing sweets and cooling tea. Sneeze, and they’re sure to be buried under comforters. Go on a patrol, and inevitably there was a shadow force trailing behind them.

Just like now. 

At some point, they sat down in a corner, next to Grima. 

“Why?”

“Why what?” The fell dragon grumbled and inched away, as if he was going to explode from their mere presence. (The Grimas had always been lowkey fearful of Kiran, they learnt.)

Kiran made a motion towards the corner of the room where at least 2 heroes were hanging out, both sworn into the Summoner Protection Squad, pretending to be part of the wall.

“Because you’re weaker than an insect, you insignificant speck. A newborn fawn would sooner topple you.”

“No, I’m normal. Everyone here is just superhuman – I mean, leaping off platforms vertically into the skies? Fuck me, that’s crazy. They won’t listen when I tell them to back off either…”

“How is that my problem? Why are you here? Misfortune follows me whenever you appear, so go away!”

“But you find the best quiet spots.”

“Yes. RUINED BY YOU, WORM!!”

And so Grima manifested his true form and blocked out the nice sunlight.

Kiran sighed as Grima ranted and raved above them and brought the Kiran Protection Squad (henceforth KPS) pouring out from the woodworks. Fuck. Nevermind. Grima was as much a goddamn megalomaniac who liked speaking in all caps all of the sudden, and the quiet spot wasn’t so quiet anymore.

“FUCK YOU, WORMS! I WILL HAVE MY QUIET SPOT!”

“Alright, who taught Grima the word ‘fuck’?!” yelled some random hero from the KPS. Probably Chrom, whatever.

Also Grima's voice was now at least seven times more pissed off.

Kiran raised their hand, then got into position to run for it. One, two – and predictably, a force tossed them into the ground. 

A wild Lyndis appeared. She was fast. Faster than the wind sword gun by their side – nevermind, wrong person. Her shawl of binding wrapped around them quicker than they had any right to protest, and they wiggled.

“It’s dangerous, Mark! You must get out of here!”

She handled them like football. Then Kiran sneezed as they passed by Lif, and someone from the Damned Protection Squad (henceforth DPS) threw another layer of sheet over them, elevating them into the position of Great Bagworm Hero.

The human burrito saga. It’s happening again.

“Halt. Let us barter peace, Grima.” spoke the leader of DPS, her heavenly voice emanating from the skies above. “Pledge your allegiance to us, and you shall have your quiet spot back.”

The great divine dragon Naga descended from the heavens like she was being lowered with a forklift. 

“YOU?! ACCURSED NAGA, TO HELL WITH YOUR PEACE! I WOULD SOONER WATCH YOU CHOKE! NEVER!”

“We have cookies.”

The gigantic serpent dispelled and peace returned once again to Askr.

“Okay deal.”

And thus the power of DPS grew stronger that day.

Kiran wanted to cry. It never ends.

[duhragonball]

JoJolion Ch. 99

Women, amirite?

So I kind of wanted to slow down for this chapter since half of it delves into Rock Human reproduction. We haven't seen any female Rock Humans in JoJolion so far, and one might speculate that there are no Rock Human women, but in this chapter, Araki informs us that they do exist. To illustrate the point, he depicts a Rock Woman in a bikini, surrounded by various images of carbon-based women from all over world history. Also we see Enya the Hag from Stardust Crusaders, and Ermes Costello from Stone Ocean.

Apparently, human men can inseminate and impregnate Rock Human women, but a human woman can't get pregnant from a Rock Human. Aisho Dainenjiyama, one of the Rock Humans in Damo's smuggling ring, once had a human girlfriend, so it's safe to say their genitals are compatible enough for sex, but Aisho couldn't make babies with her.

When Rock Women get pregnant, they give birth about six months later, and then they take the newborn and ditch it in the forest somewhere. Wouldn't a wolf eat the babies this way? Ha ha, no. It's not what you think. It's much, much worse.

No, the first thing the Rock Babies have to contend with are insects, because Rock Humans are only about an inch long when they're born. So here we see a hornet coming to attack the baby, when...

Instinctively, the Rock Baby just dodges the stinger and jumps onto the hornet's underbelly. Once the baby gets a secure grip, the hornet's kind of screwed, since it can't get its stinger or mandibles in a position to attack. With no other alternative, it flies back to its hive. Along the way, the Rock Baby's skin partially turns to rock, and then when the hornet enters the nest, the baby releases the hornet and starts rolling around until it finds...

... the queen. From there, the Rock Baby just bites open a hole in the queen's abdomen and crawls inside. Now it's safe and warm, and it can parisitize the queen indefinitely.

In this way, the Rock Human children mature over the next seventeen years.

Araki claims that they spend this time "learning", although I don't see how you can gain any useful life experience living inside the abdomen of a hornet that's stuck inside of a hornet's nest. Hornets don't live seventeen years, so the Rock Humans have to switch to a different queen now and then, but basically they live off the organization and nutrients provided by the hive. Then, in their 17th year, they have a growth spurt, kill all the hornets, and emerge fully grown to seek their fortune in the outside world.

This scenario raises a few questions, such as "What if a spider attacks the Rock Human baby instead?" But maybe they're born with special pheromones to attract eusocial insects like bees and wasps.

The main purpose of all of this, I think, is to establish just how solitary the Rock Humans are. It's not just that they're a different species from humans. They don't have their own civilizations. They don't have families, or schools, or settlements. They just get dumped in the woods from birth, and they grow up alone and live in the wilderness. When they need to sleep they just find a secluded spot and turn to stone, so they don't need shelter.

Perhaps the closest social connections among Rock Humans are what we saw among the characters in this story. Aisho seemed to have some sort of bond with Yotsuyu, probably from his gratitude over Yotsuyu saving his life once. The Aphex Brothers are twins, so maybe they grew up in the same hornets' nest, and they're kind of connected over that. But that's about it. There's a professional courtesy among them, and a shared contempt for humans, but that's about it.

I'd submit that the little socializing we see from Rock Humans is behavior they learned from living among humans. Aisho and Toru got human girlfriends and seemed at least fond of them. Ryo Shimosato seemed to be hoping for a rise of Rock Human supremacy over humanity, which implies a certain patriotism for his kind. But I don't see him picking that up in the middle of a forest all by himself.

Moving on, we re-establish that the Rock Humans have a silicon-based biochemistry, as opposed to the carbon-based life forms that dominate the Earth. Silicon-based life is one of those hypothetical concepts that pops up a lot in science fiction. One might confuse this with robots or sentient computers, since circuit boards are made of silicon wafers, but that's not what we're talking about. The idea behind silicon-based life is that silicon atoms can form four covalent chemical bonds just like carbon. So it should be possible to synthesize any organic molecule, but with silicon atoms in place of all the carbons. Imagine a protein or a DNA molecule, but with silicon atoms instead of carbon atoms. That might be what the Rock Humans are made of, though it's hard to say how plausible this would be.

This is kind of why I find it hard to believe that Rock Humans and regular humans could breed together. It's not just that we're different species. I think Araki was saying a human woman can't get pregnant by a Rock Human because the gestation is so radically different, but it's more fundamental than that. A Rock Human's DNA is made of completely different elements than a human's. How could you hope to combine their chromosomes to make a hybrid baby? How would its metabolism work? It'd be like trying to weld half of a gasoline engine to half of a diesel engine. The parts just aren't designed to work together.

And that incompatibility might just be the pont, as Araki suggests that Providence allowed both carbon and silicon-based life forms to evolve in parallel as a form of risk management. If one branch of life failed, the other might be able to carry on. This assumes a Creator who is both powerful enough and intelligent enough to create life and care for its wellbeing, but not powerful enough to safeguard it through the rough patches. I'd be more inclined to believe that the two forms of life evolved because why not? Rock Humans are alien to us, but no less alien than insects are to fish.

Araki also explains that Rock Humans are naturally drawn to phenomena they consider to be "Blessings from the Earth". These include the miraculous ground in the fault lines of Morioh, and the Devil's Plam from Part 7. We also see the Stand Arrow and Stone Mask from Parts 1-6, further solidifying the connection among all of these things. "Spin" isn't discussed here, but we'll get to that.

Then we see a flashback to Rai Mamezuku at his father's funeral. A young Norisuke Higashikata IV consoles him, and he's probably 39 in this scene, but Araki makes him look like he's a teenager. Anyway, Rai's dad was killed in a landslide, which everyone believes to be an unfortunate accident.

But there was a mysterious man at he funeral that day, whom Rai had never seen before. In the present day, when Rai and Josuke are squaring off with Toru's Stand, Wonder of U, Rai finally realizes that this Stand looks just like the mystery man from the funeral. Did Toru kill Rai's dad?

Wonder of U seems to hint about this. He recalls Rai's father, and his pear orchard, but he doesn't come out and say Toru wanted to kill Rai's dad or anything like that.

So, to recap this battle: Josuke has lured Wonder of U to him, since pursuing him is impossible. Now that Wonder of U has arrived, it wisely keeps its distance from Josuke, since there's soap bubbles floating around, and it sure looks like Josuke has set them up as traps for Wonder of U to run into. It looks like a stalemate, since neither side is willing to risk approaching the other...

... but Wonder of U has a way to break the stand off. He uses a Rock Insect to attack Josuke in his place. The Rock Insect is named after a Police song, but it's the only Rock Insect left in this story, so I'm just gonna call it "Rock Insect" from here. It doesn't have a Stand of its own, and now that I think of it, neither did the other Rock Animals.

What it does have is a poison stinger, which introduces a poison in its prey that will take effect when the prey stretches its limbs. When that happens, the poison suddenly causes asbestos fibers to gush out of every hole in the prey's body.

We see this happen to Josuke when he tries to avoid a second hit from the stinger. He can rip the asbestos away before he suffocates, but I think the bigger problem is that he can't see or breathe in this instant, which gives the Rock Insect time to hide in the floor and move into a new spot to strike.

So Josuke can't defend or attack, but the Rock Insect can do both. It seems like it's just a matter of time then. Wonder of U can wait patiently while the Rock Insect chips away at Josuke until he dies. Maybe the most galling thing about this is how Rai tries to interpret the Rock Insect's ability, and Wonder of U just casually corrects him. It's not jumping that triggers the asbestos, it's merely the stretching of limbs, so even if Josuke stands up or swings his arms, it'll set off the poison. Normally, this is the sort of detail characters have to suss out over three chapters, but here Wonder of U just gives it away for free. That's how hopeless he sees Josuke's odds here.

And as Josuke prepares for another round, Rai's anger at Wonder of U continues to build. Uh-oh...

[bookwyrminspiration]

HI QUIL!! I FORGOR ABOUT LUZIA SO CAN YOU REMIND ME OF EVERYTHING WE KNOW ABOUT HER PLEASE

Hi Marlee! I can certainly try, but it's possible I'll forget things in this summary.

Luzia Vacker is an ancient elf, half-sister to Fallon Vacker (who was on the original council of 3 elves), and mother to Orem Vacker (the famous flasher). She and Fallon have different fathers, which is a source of drama at times. She's described as gorgeous with shiny black hair, clear blue eyes, and bronze skin flecked with amethyst glitter.

She's a flasher and important for her help in illusions, hiding the Lost Cities from human eyes. She denies any association with Vespera, however. Her work may have been based on some of Vespera's ideas, but she always found her "unsettling."

She's also important because she, like Sophie, made a secret alliance with the trolls. The difference between them in that Sophie shared her secret alliance with friends and the Black Swan, but Luzia truly works alone and told no one. The trolls allied with Luzia to use her property and illusions to hide the troll hive, a location they share with no one because it's vulnerable and any attack against it would decimate the next generation of trolls. However, Luzia admits that at times she regrets her alliance and the things she's done.

Luzia's current property is Dawnheath, but Everglen used to be hers. It's brought up as odd that she'd give the property away to Alden, though she admits nothing about it. When asked why she picked Everglen, she only spoke about the view, denying any further reasoning. She was the one who suggested Alden add the glowing gates that prevent anyone from leaping in, with further makes Sophie and her friends suspicious of her motives. Why put up the gates if she has nothing to hide?

Later, Sophie learns Luzia moved to have more space for a larger hive, at least according to Tarina. Tarina finds no trace of the old hive at Everglen, but at the end of the book it's revealed there was a secret, treasonous, illegal experiment taking place in the old hive with genetically modified troll babies, which Luzia is connected to. There was a several day long public Tribunal, though we don't get any of the details of how it ended or what happened to her.

The only other thing I can think to mention is that Vespera suspects Luzia had something to do with her arrest, but it wasn't expanded on.

I think that's everything to do with her? Her story and involvement takes place entirely within Flashback, and there are about 3 scenes with her in them, so I'd suggest looking there if you need more context. But I hope that helps!

[spotlightstudios]

Hihi! Oc post here about Kere and Oveah because I've been meaning to post about them anyways, and @dyson-the-vacuum asked me about them so of COURSE I'm going to oblige ♡

(More Below Cut)

So, Kere and Oveah are two young adults (no one kept track of their ages, but like, 19/20) who were raised in Space in a place that humans usually aren't found.

To cut the story very to-the-point, Kere and the aliens who raised him land on the planet where Oveah has lived all his life. Oveah acts as ambassador for the new aliens since he's the only sentient thing there, and after some shenanigans Kere and Oveah end up in love.

To go more in-depth:

Kere Kcora, Age 20(ish), 6'1", He/They

Kere was a young child when the space-exploration crew he was with was captured by hostile forces. The crew was killed or sold off into lavor/expetimentation/etc for species who weren't friendly with Earth. Kere, as a baby, ended up with the Kcora. (A race that has a tech-based hivemind that absorbs other species into itself to learn.)

The Kcora decided that he was too young to fully absorb into the hivemind, so instead they partially connected him and left him be somewhat independent. It was originally a study that wasn't meant to last, but somehow the hive as a whole decided that leaving Kere as a half-hive would suffice.

As he grew older, Kere started acting as a mediator between species on planets and his own people, since he had free will at all times it made things easier. Kere rarely connects to the hivemind unless he's in distress, and he's very brash and unapologetic. He has his entire hive behind him, so what's to fear?

Kere's design is actually lacking tech in comparison to the rest of the Kcora. His right arm was only replaced after he asked for it to be (He didn't look enough like his family.) and his chest has that glowing target shape which monitors his emotions and physical wellbeing (the center ring pulses with his heartbeat, the outer ring glows brighter/dimmer based on his mental state) and was placed on him when he was young. He'd never let these devices be taken from him willingly.

Oveah Eden, Age 19(ish), 5'9", (He/It/They)

He also has a lot of wires and glowing implants just beneath his skin that mimic an android body without having to actually replace parts, hense the lines along his legs and the slight glow/color given off by his hair. They don't harm him at all, just look a bit more pleasing and make him blend into tye vibes better.

Oveah was born on Earth, but as an infant his family was chosen to move to a new colony. On the way there, the ship crashed into a planet known as Eden. There were very few survivors, but Oveah's parents and himself were among them. His parents cared for Oveah the best they could, they outlasted the other settlers at least, but they too died due to the hostile environment and wilds on Eden.

Having said that, the planet had sentience. Just enough to decide to keep Oveah alive. Incubate him in a plant pod until he was old enough to comprehend language and do basic survival tasks. He was about 11 perhaps when Eden woke him from the incubation, and he already had the understanding and teachings beyond an average 11 y/o might (same way the Planet understood what the settlers were saying/doing despite not ever having seen humans before. Understanding chemical energies and subtle things that happen subconsciously to convert it into sonething recognizable w/o any thought).

Oveah was given a rock (which can be seen in his headband) that Eden uses to communicate directly with Oveah through. Hid whole life he was very self-sufficient with executing tasks, but without the advising of Eden in his ear, he had no curiosity or personal drive to accomplish things. Often if Eden ignored him for a day, it would find him slumped in its sleeping nest where it was that morning. Very rarely does Oveah find sonething that interests them outside of Eden's guided suggestions. The planet trues to socialize him, but with no other living sentience to communicate with, there was nothing to be done.

Oveah's design is very lightly colored. His jacket is made of left-over material from a space-suit he found tucked in a stump once, and the rest of it he weaved/sewed himself. His hair is tinted pink thanks to the incubation period slightly altering his DNA.

The Kcora are a traveling species that will mine for ores from older planets, though they've learned to only take from one section at a time as to not deplete resources. They've been to Eden before, Millenia before the boys were born, buy they return to the planet with the hopes of once again mining that protected section of the planet.

Kere is sent with a small group to meet Eden's representative (in all the recent centuries Eden has been abandoned in the record books) and that's how they meet.

Kere is the first thing in a long time that genuinely interests Oveah, meanwhile Oveah is adorable in Kere's eyes while also being extremely unsocialized which bothers him. From their first few meetings onwards, Kere is insistent on Oveah trying out new experiences, while Oveah is working through his interest in Kere.

The first time Kere sleeps on Eden he unintentionally plops sideways onto Oveah and the poor planet-boy is never away from Kere's side ever again. Touch (whether that be soft like swiping hair away or sitting beside eachother, or it's rough-housing and tumbling around in the mud) is what ultimately brings them together.

The Kcora are notorious for their closeness, but only mentally. Because their minds are linked, their bodies rarely have time for affections like humans. Only because they realized Kere would thrive in a more touch-based environment did they start hugging him or giving him head pats or sparring. He never went a day w/o friendly touch. Meanwhile Eden was full of dangerous and untamed creatures that Oveah could never tame, so he was utterly alone all his life. The first time Oveah asked to rest in the same space, Kere was happy to smother him in cuddles (platonic, at the time) simply because he rarely got the opportunity with the Kcora. It wasn't the same.

And eventually, when Pveah had to move off-planet for a while to let the surface shift and do things that definitely would've killed him, he rarely left Kere's side. They were practically the same entity for the week or so that they had.

[gigglealongshiney-shadow-watcher]

"Hey kiddly winks, we're gonna visit someone soon. Someone new to you." Paradise pushed some pancakes towards the child. They clicked their coffee cups together and took sips.

"Someone new? Are they from across da ocean? I never interfaced with the overseas hive network bro." She asked cheerfully, knocking back half the coffee in one gulp. She could have drank it all and then more with one swallow, but she was trying to drink like regular humans. "It seems to be a f--king head scratcher madam." An actual censor beep came out of her throat. It always caught people off guard.

Para tapped the top of her fingers. "You swore again. Listen I'm fine with the cursing, but you need to use it for a reason."

Opal shrugged. "Deepest apologies, those slip past me on the occasion. This baby is still settling on a style of speaking easy. People are strange with their infinite verbal variations. It's fascinating, isn't it?"

Para smiled. "It sure is Opal. Maybe you can try to push for a dominant one when we visit?"

"I'll try. These pancakes are very good. Claps for you."

"And how is Borangefly?"

Opal pat the plush on the head. "They are enjoying life with the sickest of em." She held out the cup for a refill.

"How on earth do you drink it black? Isn't your tongue screaming?" Paradise asked as she took it over to the coffee pot.

Opal shrugged and hummed a bit of Latte Hatte. "I can't taste liquids. Only solid foods. Liquid just goes down the hatch and into the drink."

"You never told me that."

"You didn't ask."

She sighed. "Please don't use nearly clichéd turns of phrases at the table."

Opal nodded guiltily. "Sorry Paradise. Habits and such. It wasn't as bad as usual."

"You need to start sleeping here more often, you're regressing."

"I like sleeping in the pokey worlds, they have the lullabies of my people."

Gently, Paradise rebuked her and set the cup down by her plate. "No, not your people. Those are Pokey's slaves. They're not your people."

"In a way they are. I know their customs, I was the guide, I understand their world, and their thoughts better than I'll ever understand yours." Opal looked at the plate. "But I understand. I'll try to change my thinking for it. Is that ok?"

"It's fine kid, I just don't want you to get confused."

"I'll never join Him again." She said sadly. "He- ... I don't want to talk about it."

"You don't have to. I'll listen when you're ready."

Pokey was a complicated topic, but one thing was clear. While she had no negative thoughts about the hive itself, the leader of that hive was a very sore subject. She bristled about it often.

Paradise smiled and ruffled her hair. "Are you going out for a tap today?"

She brightened. "Of course! My shoes are shined and ready. I'll drop a f- I mean, an impressive dance on those- on the people."

"Good catch."

"Thank you."