#squares within a grid huh

[aois-amaterasu-painting]

[secret-fiction]

Sonic & Stick's Hold Hands

When Sonic visits Sticks at her burrow on Bygone Island, she takes the opportunity to ask him a question that's been on her mind. What ensues is the two of them going out together on a short adventure, giving Sticks the opportunity to see some of the world she usually hides from.

General Audiences, Friendship, Romance, Oneshot 6,733 words. A Secret Santa gift fic, and a neat challenge!

Even from within her Burrow, one of the only places comfortable and safe enough for her to sleep, Sticks the Badger heard Sonic approach. The breeze trailing behind him jostled bells she’d hidden in the jungle branches, making a song distinct from those of natural wind gusts. None of her other friends or enemies moved that fast while also evading the traps. Yet he still couldn’t outpace her broad attention, allowing her a full second to process his arrival before he knocked on the door. 

Sticks bounded over to the door, but stopped short of opening it. A sudden worry had frozen her, compelling her to press her ear to the door and double check it wasn’t some government imposter. Arguing with such worries was pointless. It was easier to listen to the distinct footfalls of sneakers on her driftwood doormat, accompanied by a familiar post-run breath. Finding this confirmation, Sticks threw open the door before any more worries could interject. 

“Sonic!!!” shouted Sticks.

Sure enough it was Sonic the Hedgehog, arm outstretched to knock on her door as a breeze of leaves and dust caught up to him. He smirked immediately with a soft chuckle. “Wow! How'd you beat the fastest thing alive to your door?”

“Cause I can hear ya from a mile away! Even when you somehow dodge all my best booby traps.”

“Gotta say you had some fun ones this time,” said Sonic, stepping aside to gaze at the jungle where his trail passed a gauntlet of well concealed traps, having narrowly avoided setting them off. “Didn’t know you knew how to build a trebuchet.”

“What’s a trebuchet? D’ya mean my intruder launcher?” said Sticks.

“Guess you didn’t either!” said Sonic.

“What brings you to Bygone Island today? Need help getting off the grid? Or hiding from G-U-know Who?” asked Sticks.

“Psh, they’re hardly worth hiding from,” said Sonic, wiping his nose and leaning casually. “I just felt like headed this way today. Oh! Amy also wanted me to give you something.”

Sonic pulled a small binder of photographs from his quills and offered it to Sticks, who immediately accepted it. Inside were photos of Amy, taken of herself in a wide variety of locations. Some she was with friends like Sonic & Tails. Others she was alone with some scenery. Each one had a small note written on it as well, like custom postcards inviting Sticks specifically to join the others on one of these adventures. 

This gift made Sticks happy, but it was that annoyingly complex kind of happiness that made her want to cry. Especially the photo of Amy, Sonic, Tails, & Knuckles in Station Square. Behind them one tower was taller than the rest, a multimedia headquarters covered in satellites & antennas. Able to distract herself with this detail, she pulled the photo up close and looked for signs of tampering.

“I also got a bit to hang out today if you want, after you're done looking that over,” said Sonic. 

“Huh?” Sticks glanced up at Sonic and back to the photo a few times. It was hard to ascertain if his height matched with the distance from him to the tower. If this was a fake background, it was professionally edited. “Oh, sure, whatever. More importantly, is this photo real?” 

“Why wouldn’t it be?” Sonic leaned over and cocked his head. “I wind up in Station Square all the time.” 

“If it is real, then it further disproves the Postcard Conspiracy,” said Sticks.

“The Postcard Conspiracy.”

“Y’know, the one where they make up whole cities to sell ninety-cent postcards.”

“Can’t say that I do.” 

“What? But I thought you watched TV!” said Sticks, staring closely at him with her inquisitive glare.

“I thought you didn’t!” said Sonic, copying her inquisitive glare.

“Well I don’t, but I overheard it on someone else’s TV in town. Which is why I don’t fully trust the idea, because-”

“Because TV can’t be trusted.”

“Exactly!” 

Sticks and Sonic nodded to each other, affirming the logic she’d worked through. 

“But yeah I was there. That tower is real, as is Station Square.” Sonic put a hand to his chin as he processed Sticks’ information. “Honestly I’ve probably been to most places you could get a postcard of.” 

How had Sticks never considered this before? Of course he could reach any place on a map with his speed! She dashed into her burrow and dug through her pile of evidence boards, easily finding the one she’d nailed every postcard she could acquire to. It wasn’t her best work, but only because she had known this conspiracy was probably being spread on TV to waste her time.

“Quick, tell me about each of these!!” said Sticks as she pushed the board into Sonic’s arms, allowing some loose cards to fall off.“

“Hm, alright!” Sonic leaned the board on a wall then cracked his knuckles. 

Having apparently taken this as a challenge, Sonic picked through each postcard at an increasing rate. After stating that each was real, he stacked them in a pile on his right. Based on this, Sticks could discern that he’d place any faux locations on his left. After a minute all had been sorted, only one laying to Sonic’s left in the fake pile and the last one in his hand.

“Hmmm, nope, never been here,” said Sonic as he turned to show Sticks the postcard. It depicted a wide waterfall, labeled as Geauga Falls. Sonic’s finger tapped an additional note on the bottom that Sticks had written, saying the scene would be awesome if it is real. “But that doesn't mean it’s not there. Y’know you could go see places like this if you wanted, right?” 

Sticks felt her teeth clench for some reason and had to shake her head to clear it enough to form words worth speaking. “Yeah yeah, I just don’t got the time. I’m a busy gal! Or guy! Or whatever!”

Sonic leaned around Sticks to glance inside the burrow, no doubt taking notice of her well organized hoard of potential crafting materials. “I can see that.”

“Also if any of these places aren’t real, they could be some kind of a trap! For Tourists! A Tourist trap!”

“Oh, several of them are definitely also tourist traps,” said Sonic. As he made eye contact with Sticks again, his eyes widened for some reason as he continued, “But there’s no danger if you don’t have money with you.”

“Ah, I see! A financial incentive.” Sticks let herself snarl at the concept of finance for a moment, she knew Sonic would understand. “Of course they’d save money too by setting these traps at preexisting real locations!” She glanced back at the postcard stacks again, remembering the single one sorted as ‘not real.’ “What about that one?!”

“Oh, that’s just art of a place called England. It’s the setting of a popular book series, completely fictional… I think.” Sonic’s eyes trailed to the ground for a moment. “Anyway, they sell them as gifts for the fans.”  

“If they keep that up, one of these days some poor schmuck will think this here ‘England’ would be a good place for a vacation, and then they’ll try to find it!”

“Well if that does happen, somehow, that theoretical person will still get to experience the journey of trying to find England.”

Sonic smiled in that way that he often did where he looked truthfully content. He’d leaned back against her Burrow with his arms behind his head, gazing up at the treeline or sky. Looking down at all those postcards made Sticks wonder, were all these places really that great? How could they be, especially the cities, where so many eyes could be upon her.

“Okay seriously, I gotta know something’ while I have you here,” said Sticks, taking a deep breath to brace herself. “How the heck can you stand being in all these places where the Government, Eggman, or whoever else could find you?! Spy on you! Especially the big city, where the ole’ big G can watch every step you take?”

“Oh!” said Sonic, for a moment looking at her with that ever frustrating incredulity. Soon though, it shifted to what seemed like thoughtfulness, before he stood up from his lean and answered. “I guess… I just never really worried about that.”

“Wha-HOW?!” said Sticks as she grabbed Sonic by the shoulders and almost gave him a shake before realizing her teeth were barred, certainly betraying a hint of desperation. “I mean, weren’t you arrested in Station Square?!”

“Oh yeah, twice! In a row!” said Sonic with a chuckle.

“Then HOW do you go back there to see Amy and be certain you won’t get captured again?!” 

“Well for one, the President and I made a truce,” said Sonic.

“Which you’d be a fool to trust!” said Sticks.

“But also, now that I think about it, it’s probably pretty hard to track me,” said Sonic.

“How do you figure?” asked Sticks.

“This isn’t just me bragging about my speed again,” said Sonic as he calmly pulled Sticks’ hands off his shoulders. He then dashed a superspeed loop around to behind Sticks, of which she was able to follow on her heel to keep facing him. “Though I am pretty fast. I think setting a trap for me can be hard because I move in what I’ve been told is an… ‘erratic manner’.”

“You mean you don’t know where you’re going?” said Sticks.

“I know what’s ahead of me, and I always figure out how to find my way through any obstacle. But more importantly, I only really decide where I’m going and how I’m going to get there as I'm on the move!” said Sonic. 

“Yeah okay, but who’s to say one of these times you wind up on their doorstep, the government won’t just decide to snatch yo up?!” said Sticks.

Sonic folded his arms and looked around, then walked under one of the taller nearby trees. “How fast could you build a trap in this tree, one that could catch me.”

“Oh, pretty fast,” said Sticks. She started walking a semi-circle around the tree, pretending to look for a good place for a trap. Then when she reached the trigger vine hidden among other vines on the ground, she casually tripped it with her boot. 

The secret trap that Sticks had already set in the tree went off, using tension to send a weighted net down upon Sonic. It hit the spot he was standing hard, kicking up a cloud of dust. However she did not see his silhouette trapped there, finding him instead standing on a tree branch a few meters away.

“That doesn’t prove anything! We're talking about people with resources & budgets way beyond mine.” said Sticks.

“Hm, I suppose so…” said Sonic as he jumped down from the tree branch and rolled across the ground, popping back up into a casual lean against the wall of her burrow. “Honestly the easiest way to show you what I mean would be if you came with me for a day or two.”

Sticks’ heart jumped, but it felt like a different kind of worry than usual. Her fur bristled as her nerves spiked further due to her considering his offer. Gripping her arm to feel the bristling fur, she couldn’t help but wish her reaction to the idea of going on such distant adventures wasn’t so negative. Yet this time, her breath felt light but her thoughts weren’t so dreadful. Just a day? And with Sonic the whole time? That could be safe enough, couldn’t it?

Sonic started to speak again. “I just figure-”

“I want to go!” 

Sticks made eye contact with Sonic again, trying not to care how much terror her wide eyes betrayed right now. This was the closest to willing to travel she’d felt in a long time. Something about the joy she saw on her friends faces in the photo binder got her yearning. Still, thoughts started creeping up to hold her back, to stay home and safe. Looking around for an excuse to take up Sonic’s sudden offer, her eyes fell on the postcards.

“I want to see for myself that this place is real,” said Sticks, lifting the postcard for Geauga Falls to Sonic's view.

“I mean it probably is…” Sonic looked up to Sticks’ face, then gave her a smile. “But y’know what? I can see myself taking a short trip there.” 

“Good, let’s go now!” said Sticks.

“Really?” said Sonic, his voice raising in excitement. “No one’s ever ready as soon as I am.”

Sticks could not afford to give the idea of preparing any thought, she knew herself. Her mind would continue finding issues with this plan until she couldn’t go. So she needed Sonic to help her outrun that zipline of thought before it could get going. Instead of telling him that though, she said, “Well that’s been disproven just now. Let’s go, no more yapping!”

With a chuckle, Sonic smiled, then pointed out the direction he’d landed on the beach. The two of them took off in a race, exclusively sticking to the jungle branches and canopy. Sticks had a lot of experience traversing this whole jungle, which allowed her to not only keep up with Sonic but to overtake him several times. Meanwhile he sped up everytime she swung ahead of him, almost cornering himself in the canopy leaves half of the time. Yet he always got around it without her help, at the cost of adding a few leaves to his quills. 

The Tornado Mark-whatever-it-was-now had been left tied off on a pier near the beach, floating on air filling things.  Sticks herself had enough momentum to swing from a vine and whip herself toward it in the air. As she landed atop its wing, Sonic dashed up and touched it at the same time she did. Managing to make the race a tie. 

With how winded this had left her, Sticks felt more content with the idea of strapping into a seat and letting the plane do the flying for a bit. It was hard to tell if Sonic was good at hiding physical exhaustion or if his stamina legitimately had yet to be challenged. As the plane started and Sonic started directing it faster through the water, Sticks found her rate of breath not decreasing. It wasn’t due to fear of flying, she’s done that fine before. This had more to do with the view of the horizon ahead of her.

Sticks did not look at the horizon for the rest of that flight, instead holding onto the seat ahead of her and keeping her eyes pressed onto her boot. This whole operation started to feel like a horrible idea, who knew what dangers were ahead? She wanted to think about anything else, but that was not easy. So she was left bickering with every worry. The only reason she was able to keep a leg up on that internal debate was thanks to Sonic’s presence. 

With a lurch the Tornado landed once more, skidding across the waves of the continental coast. This wing of the journey had been shorter than she worried it would be. Releasing her deathgrip on the seat in front of her, Sticks realized her nails had poked holes through to the stuffing. “Well, now I owe Tails an apology.”

“Oh don’t worry, I have to apologize to him all the time for what my quills do to the cushions when I’m tense,” said Sonic.

“How’d you know I’m tense?! Was it the interrobang in my punctuation?!” said Sticks.

“Because you just told me, Badger girl!” said Sonic, before spitting up a laugh. ”Sorry! Gotta remember If I keep mimicking Egghead like that I might start talking like that for real.”

Seeing Sonic’s logic, Sticks took a moment to steady her nerves to a nice level of ‘totally panicked’, down from ‘a catastrophe is imminent’. She then took to running alongside Sonic again, quickly passing through a small coastal community into lands of open fields. There was a concrete road nearby occupied by cars, dangerous metal machines powered by a flame combustion engine. Luckily Sonic already took the lead up some dirt roads to head further inland.

As the two of them passed over a knoll, Sticks saw a vast hilly landscape ahead of them. Possibly more land than she’d ever seen all at once. She couldn’t help but gasp. It was immense, terrifying, and fascinating. Most of the land was covered by forests, grassy fields, and crops broken up occasionally by barns & houses. This must be that ‘industrialized agriculture’ she’d heard all about. 

At this point Sonic moved up to her side and held out an arm. “We can move faster if you want!”

Sticks was already breathing heavily, though at a pace she could maintain. Any faster on her own and she’d burn out. “Sure, you gotta show me how you move around after all!” Sticks wrapped her arm around Sonic’s. “You better not hold back!”

“Alright! Here we go!” said Sonic.

Sonic's footsteps increased in pace, the sound of his patter on the ground reaching an impossible rate. Staying right with him made that sound so much more distinct in her ears somehow. As they speed down this incline Sticks was able to keep herself mostly upright by keeping pace with her legs, but not able to contribute at all to their speed. She could feel his movements and hear his breath. That gave her enough information to match with each of his moves.

It felt absurd how fast they met the bottom of the first hill and moved up the next. Within a moment they’d reached the next knoll and launched off of it, flying several feet into the air. There was a tractor below them, the driver looking up in disgruntled awe. Frankly, there was something awesome about being beyond anyone’s reach like this. She could feel a wide smile on her muzzle as she and Sonic arched toward the downward slope of the next hill.

They let go of each other long enough to make a rolling landing, Sonic going ball mode while Sticks reached out like a beast pouncing on prey. She threw herself into a roll upon hitting the ground, tumbling several times before kicking herself upright hard enough to bounce back into the air a bit. A frenzied laughter overtook her between laboured breaths. She turned to watch Sonic unroll beside her, looking behind himself before facing her with wide eyes. They both then grinned wide as he reached out and took her arm again. 

Their ensuing journey continued at an incredible pace as Sonic listened to Sticks and did not hold back. Soon the landscape was constantly changing around them. Farms shifted to wildflower fields, then to forests. Their route involved several sharp curves. While Sticks watched their surroundings, she noticed Sonic kept his eyes ahead a lot of the time while his ears kept a lookout of his sides. Then occasionally his head would turn one way or the other for a split second before he decided whether or not to turn.

After what felt like a half hour Sonic gasped and came to a sudden sliding stop that almost sent Sticks tumbling into the trees if not for her agility. He then ran backward a bit to a particularly large tree and looked up. 

“Why’d we stop?” Said Sticks between fast breaths.

Sonic pointed up the tree and said, “Bees!”

“Huh?” Sticks followed Sonic’s line of sight up. There indeed on a branch pretty far up was a massive swarm of bees. 

“Bees.” said Sonic.

“Bees…” said Sticks.

After a moment of watching the swarm in silent appreciation, Sonic bumped Stick’s shoulder and asked, “Whaddya think they’re doing?”

“They seem lost,” said Sticks, tilting her head to listen to the patterns of buzzing better. “They’d only be out in the open if they needed a new place.”

“Oh… wonder if I can help with that.” Without any warning Sonic dashed off around the forest for a moment. He then returned to Sticks’ side and pointed. “There's an empty unoccupied hollow tree that way. But, I also remembered I have no idea how to communicate with bees.”

“Oh, that’s easy,” said Sticks.

Sticks jumped up the tree and dug her nails into the bark, scrambling up to the hive. Once up close, she looked at the mound of bees hanging from the branch closely, soon finding one that was not like the others. She carefully snatched it up and cupped her hand around it before dropping back down to the ground. 

“Hold this,” said Sticks.

Sonic accepted the queen bee into his hand and looked at it.

“Don’t let her fly away. I just remembered how awful pine sap smells, so I’ll wash that out of my claws and be right back.”

Sonic nodded and gave a thumbs up with his free hand. So Sticks hurried to a nearby audible stream and scrubbed her hands with freshwater and silty clay. She also took a sip of the stream, finding this freshwater tasted a bit different than the stuff on her island. Then after a minute or so she returned to Sonic, seeing his quills coated in an increasingly large swarm of bees. 

“Okay, looks like they’ll follow you now!” said Sticks.

“Cool! Gotta say, I assumed they’d be mad I was holding the queen bee,” said Sonic.

“Oh yeah there was a chance they would be.”

“Well, glad they aren’t!”

Moving with more care, Sonic paced over to the other tree, climbed up to the opening of its hollow interior, and put the queen down inside. He then gently shook the bees off of his quills into the hole. Soon many more showed up flying along the air to coalesce at their new home. Sonic then dropped down beside Sticks and took her arm again.

“Nice thinking, glad I didn’t get stung!”

“Eh, bee stings aren’t that bad. It’s the venomous ants ya gotta watch for!” said Sticks.

The two of them started running again, quickly reaching the edge of these woods. As they passed under nearby electric pylons, Sonic skidded to a stop again.

“Wait! There was another reason I stopped,” said Sonic.

“What?”

“I have no idea where those waterfalls are. Gonna hafta to look at a map.” 

“Oh.”

So Sonic took Sticks to follow along the Pylons. Soon the skyline of a city appeared ahead and drew closer before Sticks could mentally prepare for it. Then the towers of the city were over them. Its people, machines, and stores around them. All a blur that faded into clear view as Sonic slowed to a leisurely stroll. Though they were moving a manageable speed now, Sticks tightened her grip on his arm.

“Okay, just gotta find a map now…” said Sonic, loosening his grip but letting Sticks hold him. 

“Sonic!!!” Shouted another familiar voice. 

“Amy?” said Sticks.

Sure enough it was Amy Rose, shopping bag in one hand as she waved the other. She ran across the street, having to jump out of the way of a moving car, landing her boots on its hood before jumping to the sidewalk. Her landing was absurdly graceful. Then up close, she gasped and dropped her shopping bag to jump onto Sticks with a hug.

“STICKS!!! Oh my gosh! I’m so happy to see you!”

“Hey Amy,” said Sonic with a wave.

“Hrgh, Amy…” muttered Sticks. This much contact so suddenly was a bit overwhelming, she couldn’t help but start to squirm.

“Oh sorry!” Amy pulled away and looked Sticks in the eye. “I wasn’t prepared to see you, joy got the better of me.”

“It’s okay, this whole trip is kinda random,” said Sticks.

“By the way Amy,” said Sonic, pulling the relevant postcard out of his quills with his free hand. “D’you know which way Geauga-”

Amy held her arms out and looked at Sonic with wide charming eyes. So he held his arms out and let her hug him for a second as well. He tensed up for that moment, but didn’t stop smiling. 

“Thanks! What were you saying?” asked Amy.

“Geauga Falls, on this postcard, you ever been?” said Sonic.

As Amy took the postcard and looked at it, Sticks watched Sonic relax. She wanted to do that. Why couldn’t she do that? Just, exist with ease in a place like this? Even before the surprise hug she was all tensed up, to the point of still gripping Sonic’s arm tightly. All those people around, cameras by the storefronts, and so many windows above them anyone could be watching her from. 

“I’m afraid I haven’t, though it’d be a nice spot for a date,” said Amy, pulling Sticks back to the present conversation.

“Do you happen to know which way it is?” asked Sonic.

“It’s of vital importance! I have to check if it’s real!” said Sticks.

“I’m sure it is! Oh I bet you’ll love the view Sticks!” said Amy, “Hang on, we can check the travel maps in that store over there!”

Everyone turned to walk toward a nearby convenience store, but Sticks quickly stopped. There were so many security cameras positioned around its door. This sent a flood of possible motives into Sticks’ mind, all speaking of reasons to stay away. Sonic kept walking, until Sticks’ grip on his arm anchored him down.

“Everything okay?” asked Sonic.

“We can’t go in there! They’re obviously using those cameras for nefarious purposes!” Sticks turned to Amy, trying to find the words to impress upon her the severity of the threat. “They could be stealing everyone’s fashion sense for marketing data, even yours!”

“I… Kinda doubt that. The cameras are probably for crime,” said Amy.

“Criminal purposes? Maybe! All the worse!” said Sticks. 

“Hey, it’s okay,” said Amy, putting a hand on Sticks’ shoulder. “I can check it if you want to stay out here.”

Looking around the street, the number of people out here, everything, did not make staying out here seem like a safer prospect. She wanted to hide. Dig a hole if necessary! But the concrete below here was clearly placed to block that sort of escape. This whole place was a trap. If it wanted, the city could corner her. All she had here was her claws, teeth, and… her friends.

Sonic took hold of Sticks’ hand, and she loosened her grip on his arm. It was okay, she was safe from hypotheticals with him here. 

“Do you want to leave?’ asked Sonic.

“Don’t worry if you can’t stay here,” said Amy. “I forgot how scary the city can be on your first visit. I just really appreciate getting to see you.”

“I don’t-It’s just… How can you guys handle all the eyes on us?” Sticks tried to keep her eyes on Sonic and Amy, despite compulsions to check her surroundings. Even though it never worked before, she hoped they had some answer that’d give her enough of a leg up on any hypothetical to stop needing to worry. 

“Hey, let’s get a bit more altitude for now,” said Sonic.

Despite uncertainty of how it’d help, Sticks nodded. 

Sonic proceeded to say something to Amy, then take Sticks into a run again. They ran a lap around several city blocks, blurring the view of the city around them. Then they jumped onto the side of a skyscraper and dashed up it. Their momentum slowly faded until they reached the peak and fell onto its roof. The only thing standing above them here were radio towers and satellite dishes. Every other structure of the nearby city lay below. 

“This is a lot better,” said Sticks, before releasing Sonic's arm. “Sorry.”

“Eh, we were standing still longer than I’dve liked anyway.”

“I like Amy, I like you, ugh.” Sticks leaned onto the ledge overlooking the city, taking in all the visual information she could and trying to process through it. 

“She’s gonna check the maps and come up here,” said Sonic, “But if you want to go back home we can do that too.”

“No. I want to see how you travel. That’d… that’d muck it all up.”

Sonic nodded to that, and joined her on the ledge gazing at the city. While her eyes darted between details, trying to map potential intentions, he looked across the city as a whole. After seeing this, Sticks tried to copy him. However, it brought no relief. Her mind bombarded her with worries of hidden dangers she might be missing. Unlike at her home jungle, she hasn’t had most of her life to memorize the environment enough to just live. If Sonic weren’t with her, wasn’t a tangible route of escaping any surprise scenario, Sticks doubted she could even think straight.

A surprise scenario such as some sort of jet engine approaching from below. Was it the police? Eggman?! Sticks turned to Sonic, but paused as she saw no worry about the noise from him. Was he actually just a total fool?

“Sonic! Sticks!” 

That was Tails’ voice! Flying up in a cross between a robot and a jet was the fox himself, with Amy in the passenger seat. He landed it on the roof and immediately jumped over to Sticks.

“It is you! Sticks, you gotta try this!” said Tails, holding out two paper bags that smelled of greasy food.

“Oh!, is that-” started Sonic.

“Street vendor chilidogs? YES! With chips and Sandwiches!” answered Tails.

“Awesome! He’s right Sticks, you gotta try this food!” said Sonic.

“Alright, sure.” Sticks accepted one of the bags, finding a chili dog in a basket with chips inside. “Just as soon as you guys start eating.”

“I got you ice cream too!” said Amy, walking over and presenting a waffle cone of vanilla ice cream. “I realized you’ve never had anything from my favorite parlour!”

“Oh! Thanks, gimme a minute here.”

While Tails did take a moment to exchange a fist bump with Sonic, he soon returned to focusing on Sticks. Between him and Amy, they gave Sticks a long list of potential eateries she should try if she’s ever in Station Square again. She might’ve doubted their judgement if the warm chili covered hotdog wasn’t actually pretty dang good. It was gone almost as fast as Tails’, though devouring a whole meal didn’t seem to slow his rate of talking. After his fuzzy muzzle was completely covered in grease, Amy made him wipe his face with the provided napkins.

Meanwhile Sonic ate his food at a surprisingly reasonable pace as he sat there cross legged, listening intently to their friends talk. There was something to the fondness in his eyes. Every recommendation, all their enthusiasm, seemed familiar to him. At least that’s what Sticks deduced, finding focusing on the subtleties of his expressions much less stressful than focusing on the city surroundings. 

The icecream was also really great actually, though Sticks was so slow and careful to avoid a brain freeze that it started to melt. At that point, with some advice from Tails, she treated it like a drink with an edible cup. Soon it and all the chips with her meal were gone. This almost felt like the days when everyone, including Knuckles, spent time with her on Bygone island. Although the food here was much better. 

“Amy, did you find out about those waterfalls?” asked Sonic in a break of conversation. 

“OH! I did!” 

Amy released Tails’ head and he scrambled away from her to Sonic’s side. Though the cleaning had already been done. His muzzle was spotless aside from one crumb, of which Sonic wiped off with his thumb.

“It’s a little ways up north, one of the rail lines actually goes that way if you want to take it!” said Amy.

“Ehhh…” muttered Sticks.

“We’re gonna run there actually,” said Sonic, standing up and dusting off his legs. “I'm tryin’ to show Sticks what it’s like to live like me.”

Tails gasped, looking at Sticks with stars in his eyes. “That’s so awesome!”

“Yeah, turns out going fast feels like going fast,” said Sticks.

“No! That is Sonic praise! You’re honored!” said Tails.

“I am?” asked Sticks.

“He’s making a reference to a show I showed him,” said Amy.

“I’m also speaking the truth! Have fun!” Tails turned to Sonic and gave him a hug. “I’ll see you later! Bring Sticks by the workshop later if she wants to come too!”

“I’m glad I got to see you today!” said Amy, taking Sticks’ hands and visibly resisting the urge to hug her goodbye.

“Thanks… that means a lot.”

“HEY!” shouted a man in a suit as he pushed through a door to the roof. “WHAT are you critters doing up here?!”

“Time to go, ready Sticks?” said Sonic.

Sticks nodded and took Sonic's hand. With that, everyone left the top of the media tower. Tails and Amy flew away overhead while Sonic took Sticks down the side of the skyscraper. Instead of going all the way to the streets, they jumped onto the lower ceilings and awnings of the city storefronts. This route involved a lot more jumping and dodging as they navigated elevated cables, street signs, and even the odd pole decorated in traffic cameras. 

Sticks found a good use for the leftover paper bags from that lunch by covering a couple of the cameras they leapt over. Just as a bit of punishment for the dread being under them caused. If anyone was bothered enough to stop her, they weren’t able to catch up to Sonic’s speed. Soon enough they were on their way to the outskirts of the city and picking up pace. Suburban homes blended into a boring beige blur until they reached the countryside again. 

They traveled for several more hours together, passing towns, rivers, and flora of all sorts of colour. After so much running and agility, even with Sonic providing the momentum, Sticks started to get a tad sore. Mostly in her abdominal muscles, which is something she hadn’t actually considered worrying about even after that meal in Station Square. As she came to terms with this, she noticed they’d begun running parallel to a reasonable-speed train. 

“I’m gonna take a break, that alright?” asked Sonic.

“Yeah, sure!” said Sticks, holding her torso in less-than-subtle pain.

The top of the train offered the breeze and travel progress of a run alongside an opportunity to sit down, which Sonic did. Sticks joined him on the sun-heated metal roof and came to the realization her legs were feeling a tad wobbly as well. If Sonic was sore at all, he showed it by laying down on his back and looking like the most comfortable guy ever to ride atop a train.

After watching the passing landscape for a moment, Sticks glanced back at Sonic to find he’d closed his eyes. “Are you asleep??”

Sonic’s ear flicked slightly, but his breathing remained slow and steady. This blue hedgehog was asleep. On top of a moving train, in a part of the continent he’d never been to before. How was he asleep?! How was Sticks so calm about this as well? She looked around, seeing no obvious threats on the landscape ahead of them. But clearly someone had to keep a watch for any danger, Sonic must’ve just trusted that task to her. 

Sticks sat upright for a little while, occasionally staring down the occasional passing airplane or car. Nothing turned out to be worth waking Sonic for. In the meantime the warmth of the sun felt nice. Who knew steel made for such a good basking rock? At the behest of her legs and cramping abdomen, Stick laid down on her back as well. Just for a moment. Yet, with her side to Sonic’s side, it became hard to keep worrying. That was… the opposite of what her trouble usually was… 

Sticks woke up when the train steadily slowed to a stop. The Sunlight in the sky was notably more orange than when she’d closed her eyes. She shot up and looked around with this realization. Sonic wasn’t at her side anymore as he now sat at the edge of the train, his legs dangling off of the roof. Everything else was as it had been, aside from a massive river now being in view less than a mile from the train.

“Oh hey, I think we’re arriving!” said Sonic with a smile.

Sticks’ breath hitched. This wasn't panic, but not knowing what it was made her worry in a new way. At least she trusted Sonic. At this point, she couldn't find any reason to feel any major doubt in who he was. It was just so obvious, he was Sonic.

“I like you,” said Sticks.

“Oh!” replied Sonic.

“I like Amy, and Tails, and especially Knuckles too. But today is the first time in a while it’s been so easy to say.”

Sonic reached out his hand. “Let’s hop down before the train gets moving again.”

“Good idea.”

Once on the ground, they made their way from the small train station toward a hill. Not running, just walking. With the echoing noise of water over the hill, the voices of other people, and the cool feeling of the breeze, going any faster would clearly be a waste. Over the knoll, there was a grassy hillside that led down to a wooden pier. All of this overlooked what was indeed a massive waterfall. Geauga Falls was somehow simultaneously bigger and smaller than Sticks expected it to be. It was real. 

As several other people watched the falls down on the pier, Sticks and Sonic sat on the grass. It’d be a lie to say the nerves under Sticks’ hide had subsided. But they didn’t feel as overwhelming now thanks to the other feelings here. 

“I like you Sticks, we all do,” said Sonic as he gazed at the rolling waterfalls.

“I know, I should know this,” said Sticks.

“I’m not sure I thought out what taking you with me for the day would be like for you.”

“Yeah, that makes sense. I haven’t pinned you as someone who ‘plots and schemes’.”

“Heh, I’m usually the one who has to spin it as a good thing,” said Sonic, letting out a sigh and he laid back onto the grass.

Sticks let herself flop down onto the grass as well, the feeling of it on her hide helped occupy her mind. “Somehow, I’m able to worry a little less around you. I’ve been beginning to think I might, possibly, worry a little too much.”

“Yeah, you kinda do.”

“Everyone just-, they act like they don’t see everything I do. But man, am I beginning to envy you.”

“Envy me? D’ya wanna improve your super speed? Tails can-”

“No no, I envy the way you somehow have everything sorted out already.”

Sonic sat up and looked at Sticks. “I… I really don’t think I do.”

“For every possible problem, you already have a way to deal with it!”

“Well, kinda. I mostly just apply the same solution to everything.”

“But it works somehow!” Sticks huffed and wiped her face, taking a moment to try turning her thoughts into actual words. “I feel safe with you in a way I otherwise can’t. So I’m trying to figure out why!”

“Oh. Do you trust me?”

“Yeah, why?”

“There you go!” 

Sonic flopped onto his back again, but Sticks turned to look him in the eye.

“It can’t be that simple.”

“Maybe it isn’t.” Sonic put his hands on his chest and smiled. “But it’s close enough.”

They sat in silence for a few moments after that. The sun continued to set, and the air already started growing colder. For some reason, ruminating on why she felt comfortable around Sonic was starting to make Sticks worry. She hadn’t realized she’d reached for Sonic's hand until he held hers. It was calming. It felt like no matter where she was, she’d feel safe with him. 

“I like you,” said Sonic.

“Thanks,” said Sticks.

Sonic squeezed her hand, then rolled over to look her in the eyes. “...D’ya wanna ride down the waterfall before we leave?”

Sticks gave Sonic a sharp toothed smile. “Heck yeah I do! Let’s find a boat!”

If you made it to the end, please tell me what you thought of this however short or long you want in the comments or tags! It was fun to write this! I don't usually write romance, so it was interesting to try finding an angle two characters can have chemistry, especially two I've never seen shipped before. For this I actually drew on personality traits I've imagined both Sonic & Sticks could have before. Ones that makes interactions between them still interesting but amicable/friendly. I do worry a bit that I took an "easy route" for the ending by leaving it open ended what way Sonic & Sticks feel about each other here, but I at least personally kind of like it.

[jonathankatwhatever]

Something is preventing me from typing and that some Thing is you. A very deep rendering of the - oh crap, so much stuff I’ll have to pick one - structure comes from seeing the M-set in CR. That this occurs is clear: the perfect circle, the way the bean shape encodes the rolling of a circle around a circle can only occur if each of the states exist as it rolls around the circle. That is, they are tied to the 0, which means each of them, and each point within the M-set is a 0 that maps to this other 0.

Seeing CR means seeing the rotations along the axes. Then I remembered the double twist, which reminded me why I don’t take elaborate notes: the search function over elaborate notes would be exponential, given they would need to contain their anti-phrasings or other ways of describing the 1-0Segmenting of a pairing. This way the processing is beyond me so the vision comes to me. It comes to me because it relates to a Metaphoric Bundle which sits like one of Ariadne’s connecting strings in the Labyrinch, so when the Minotaur of processing comes along and touches that string Theseus knows. That suggests a you to me transmission. Anyway. Don’t want to disappear into an apparent convergence. Those are like waves you surf as they curl or edges for skates, boards and skis. Or a car cornering. Or a sprint. These are all real convergences but they diverge because they can’t be sustained. All that effort or whatever into that moment, down that path.

We are drawn to seek that sensation because being in the set or out manifests in battle, in the hunt, in what we seek to be as individuals, good or bad, fit or not. A lot of the confusion is due to the inversion process of the HG, which is a clear manifestation of Hexagonal in any paring. That is, 2 gladiators face off and the Hexagonal is the reading of the 1-0Segments of their abilities in both attack and defense. So you read around the Hexagon directionally. And imagine a capability as a series of windings so a punch hits harder, has more weight, more intent, etc.

Anyway, you have a series of projected planes in CR in which each point on the complex plane within the M-set is a 0 with its own M-set. These can layer. That’s the simplest: that each point is a 0 means we have continuously larger or smaller versions of the M-set, connected by the various pathways which connect various layers in various ways. That’s either 3 variables or some value which applies each time.

Did I make it through the double twist? I don’t remember doing that. We take sK and zK and fold them together to make the imaginary axis. To do that we rotate the entire projection to yK. Then they are read as collapsed when in fact they rotated through the volume of the projection, layer by layer by layer, and we see this state. The other twist takes xK and yK and collapses them to the real axis. Same process except now the rotation is to make that visible head on. That is the y and x compress to make the real line in a point, in the 0, and that then rotates to be visible as the real line. Pretty cool, huh?

This relies on the implicit point I’ve been trying to get out, which is that the M-set is about and around and connected to and is across 0. As in, alternation is over 0 so that identifies 0, and all the other. Note that this is clear in the concept that 0 iterated is 0: both the real and the imaginary converge, and at convergence is an End, which is obvious when the infinity of the M-set all goes to that same End.

I had about 10 Cadbury mini eggs to get that out.

The relation between sex and math runs very deep. Goes all the way to the idea from many decades ago that this is entirely the boundary between 2 uncountable sets. The methodology of the boundary is now clearer, if a bit overwhelming, because CR of the M-set means volumes and means grid squares, literally constructed gs, to and from each 0. When that scales and you become the 0, when the 0 is a planet, etc., the same math applies.

Mutual convergence and divergence. Or some version of that.

The mission pronouncements which accompany this level of insight are annoyingly strong. Like I got yelled at because the work has barely begun, which morphed into if you want to live forever, you have to work forever. With you.

The amount of vision. If a picture is 1000 words, what am I to do with a bT folding and unfolding through its states to HG. This mean the fD process is embedded in that taking of a bT, and turning that into 2 which we then manipulate, either by moving 1 and leaving the other or by moving both, etc. in Hexagonal. This could write as an HG with fD attached, so there are the chains of fD-HG, etc. That’s just to describe the projection a bit, with no mention of all the CR potentials.

Oh, I saw Pi emerge again. It was where we left it, in the double twist: it literally draws a quarter of a rotation at scale formed by alternation, like the Leibniz series. That is, to collapse xK and yK, we collapse x to y and y and to x in + and - and that forms a quarter which overlaps, and which is all +y and all -y. It’s that relationship which we noticed decades ago. Did not realize that was correct, let alone that it was so fundamental to understanding real and imaginary numbers. The other version maps to the 2Pi of the complex unit circle.

I need to take a break. You wore me out. In every way.

[sky-blaze]

Restart And Try Again

Summary:

Sam has found Rinzler, and is trying to turn him back into Tron, but thirty-year-old code requires an expert touch. Enter Alan Bradley, who ends up unexpectedly attached to his creation.

---

“I need your help.”

Alan turned to see Sam in the doorway of his office at ENCOM. His godson looked unusually agitated, despite the faux-casual pose he had assumed, leaning against the doorframe, the way his leg jiggled with barely-suppressed nervous energy gave the game away.

“Hello Sam,” Alan greeted with exaggerated formality, “Nice to see you.”

There was the barest twitch of guilt that he was abandoning politeness, but even Alan’s subtle admonishment didn’t deter him, “It’s… Dad’s… uh… project. I need your help with something.” Sam blurted, the words coming all in a rush, making him sound like the awkward teenager Alan remembered with a mixed amount of fondness. The words, however, made Alan raise an eyebrow.

“I was under the impression,” Alan said slowly, “That you and Quorra were handling that.”

“We are… mostly. But there’s one thing that needs your...uh...personal touch.” Sam said, his eyes darted around warily, and Alan understood that this was not something Sam was comfortable discussing in the ENCOM officers, where just anyone could listen in.

After only a moment of hesitation, Alan grabbed his keys of his desk, “Lead on, then. I can’t promise anything, but I can take a look.”

Sam’s answering smile was full of relief.

-

Neither Kevin nor Sam had revealed the full details on Kevin Flynn’s ‘project’. The closed system hidden in the basement of the arcade was still largely a mystery to him, Lora and Roy, but Sam had at least told him about Kevin’s ultimate fate; saving the system, The Grid, by reintegrating himself with his rogue program, CLU. Alan was torn between being impressed at what his old friend had accomplished and wanting to raise him from the dead so he could strangle him for being so reckless.

A prickle of apprehension crawled up Alan’s spine when he saw the digitising laser; so familiar from those early days at ENCOM. It looked so incredibly incongruous sat there in front of a workstation terminal. Alan took a deep breath of the dry, stale basement air and looked at Sam, who shuffled uncomfortably.

“Would you care to explain?” Alan asked carefully.

Sam looked at his shoes for a moment, taking his own deep, fortifying breath, “You gave a copy of your security program to Dad for his project, right?” Sam began.

Alan frowned, “Tron. Yes, I did. What does this have…” Alan’s eyes widened, “Is he still..?” Alan had often found it difficult to reconcile the work he did every day - coding, compiling and upgrading software - with the ideas that Kevin had espoused about programs being like real people, living within the machine, but Tron had always been… different. Special. There was a connection there that Alan had never been able to explain. Thinking Tron was… gone had been unexpectedly and inexplicably painful.

Sam looked uncomfortable again, “Sort of. CLU got to him. He… repurposed him. Turned him into an attack dog, renamed him Rinzler. I don’t know how, but something in him must have… fought back. Towards then end, before the reintegration, Rinzler turned on CLU - tried to attack him.”

Alan frowned, his brows drawing tightly together as apprehension congealed into worry, “But you found him?”

Sam nodded, “Yeah but… his code is a total mess. I’ve tried to help him, but some of his core kernal is… well, its beyond me.”

Alan blinked, “And you think I can help?”

“He’s your program.” Sam said softly.

“Sam, in case you forgot, I wrote it – him – in the eighties. Its been a while.” Alan replied, anxiety rising in his chest, tension making his shoulders ache as he stared at the laser and the darkened terminal.

“You’re his best shot,” Sam insisted, “You’re his user. He’s… well, he’s been asking for you.”

Alan couldn’t help but stare, “Asking for me?”

Sam sighed, “He’s not completely conscious, but whenever I try to work on his code, he pushes me away and says ‘Alan1’ over and over.”

“My old username at ENCOM.” Alan said faintly. He sighed, pushing his glasses up his nose, “All right. You’ve convinced me. I’ll give it a shot. What do I need to do?”

Sam nodded at the seat in front of the terminal – the one with the laser pointed ominously at it, “Sit right there. I’ll handle the rest. Oh, and don’t worry when you get there, I’ll be right behind you.”

For the first time since Sam had arrived at Alan’s office, Sam flashed one of his bright smiles. Alan wasn’t sure if it was meant to be reassuring, but since that same smile was often on the face of both father and son right before some of their more outrageous stunts, Alan decided he was correct to be concerned.

–

Arriving in the Grid was just as disorienting as Alan had feared. He materialised – for lack of a better term – to almost total blackness. The only faint white light in the small, closed-off room was… himself. His shirt glowed with a faint white radiance, while his suit pants and jacket had gone from dark grey to jet black. His face felt… odd. He reached up to touch his glasses, but once his fingers made contact with the frames, there was a spark of white across the lenses and his vision suddenly came alive with a host of information, scrolling across like a military-style heads-up display.

“Huh.” He said.

A column of light coalesced beside him, and in moments Sam had arrived, wearing some of sort of… armoured black suit covered in glowing white circuitry patterns.

“Nice outfit.” Alan commented dryly when Sam had fully materialised.

Sam grinned back, “Nice glasses.”

“I appear to have come equipped with an augmented reality display.” Alan said, “I can’t say I don’t appreciate the upgrade.”

“Advantages of being a User in a computer, I guess.” Sam shrugged.

“Apparently.” Alan’s gaze sharpened as it fixed on Sam, trying to ignore the little pop-ups of information on the heads-up display, which described Sams’s clock speed, code integrity and power level, “Where is he?” Alan asked softly.

“This way.” Sam said, leading Alan out of the darkened room and into the city streets.

The city was something of a revelation for Alan, who was almost mesmerised by the colour, the angles, the beauty of it all, especially with his glasses providing him with helpful information on each point of interest, right down to its code composition, if he so chose. Getting control of the flow of information was a challenge; Alan was a programmer, and the beauty of this place, not just on a physical level, but on the level of pure code, was almost too much to resist. Only the knowledge that someone – that Tron – needed his help, let him keep his focus.

Sam led him through the neon-laced streets, up into a glowing tower. Quorra greeted them at the door, the usually perky ISO oddly subdued. The room Alan was guided into was comfortable, decorated in muted shades of white and pale blue. It almost like a high-end hotel, except with more glowing parts.

A figure lay motionless on the plush-looking bed. Dressed entirely in black, an opaque helmet covering his face, the glowing circuitry lines were strangely truncated, pulsing an ominous dark orange. The most distinctive marking was the set of small squares near his throat, set in a T shape.

“Tron.” Alan breathed. The figure on the bed twitched, and made a rattling moan. It was a ragged, pained sound, like a fan with a worn bearing, or a failing hard drive. Either way, the noise worried him.

“Here.” Sam said, handing him… a disk? It looked like a hollow Frisbee, its edges its edges pulsing the same malevolent, fiery orange as Tron’s circuitry. Alan’s glasses promptly displayed information telling him how to bring up a code overview from the disk. Helpful. He was starting to wish he had something like it in the real world.

He sat down on a sinfully comfortable chair and watched as the code spiralled up from the disk, appearing in a splay of holographic light. He examined it for a few long moments, turning it this way and that, marvelling at the 3-D representation that revealed data structures, variable arrays and other things that Alan usually had to keep track of in his head, all presented clearly but… something wasn’t right. He dug further, finally finding something familiar. He wasn’t usually one to blow his own trumpet about his programming prowess, but the core of the original code he had written looked remarkably elegant next to what appeared to be hastily hacked-in patches with more recent timestamps.

After further investigation, Alan sat back with a scowl, “Who wrote this additional code?”

Sam looked up from where he had sprawled on a sofa, “Uh...why?” he asked.

Alan scowled harder, “Because I’d like to punch them in the mouth.”

“It was probably CLU,” Quorra said, almost making Alan jump. She’d been so still and quiet he’d almost forgotten she was there, “Well, either CLU or Dyson.” She continued, “They’re both… gone now.”

“Hmph.” Was Alan’s only reply. He spent another few moments staring at the butchery that had been made of his creation, trying to fight down anger on Tron’s behalf at what had been done to him. The new blocks of code emphasised obedience, and violence. To have this done to Tron, who was created to be self-sufficient, to protect, not attack, it felt like nothing so much as torture and brainwashing.

“I think I can fix this.” He said finally, “But it’s not going to be quick. I’ll need time, and access to my usual suite of programming tools.” He gestured to the swirling holographic code, “This is lovely, but its not what I’m used to. It’ll be quicker and easier for me to use a normal workstation.”

Sam nodded, “Yeah, I get it. Programming in the Grid is… different.”

A thought occurred to Alan, “Is it even possible to transfer data to this system? I didn’t see any ports, except the I/O and display port, and the operating system is bound to be completely unique.”

Sam nodded again, more slowly this time, and Alan heard Quorra take a sudden, sharp breath, “It… is…”

“I hear a ‘but’ at the end of this sentence.” Alan said.

Sam gave a slightly forced chuckle, “Yeah, okay. It is possible, but you kinda need to use yourself as the data storage medium.”

Alan blinked, “What?”

Sam chuckled, sounding far more natural this time, “It’s okay. I’ll show you when we get back.”

Alan’s gaze went back to the figure lying so still on the bed, seeming almost lifeless if not for the dull pulsing of the circuitry, and the scrolling information on Alan’s heads-up display. “Will he be all right?” he asked.

“Quorra’s staying with him.” Sam replied. Alan caught the look that flickered between Quorra and Sam, suddenly understanding that it wasn't just a case of keeping Tron company; it was making sure that that awful ‘Rinzler’ code-butchery didn’t cause him to hurt himself or anyone else. Quorra was more guard than nurse. The thought made his stomach knot up. 

Without thinking, Alan reached over to pat Tron on the arm, “I’ll be back, and I promise I’ll help you.”

Tron made a noise, that odd grinding sound, but softer this time, sounding almost like a purr, and then, a barely audible rasp, “Aaalaan onnneee…”

“I’ll be back.” Alan reassured again, feeling a lump in his throat. He forced himself to let go, ignoring the odd look Sam gave him as he marched out of the room and heading back towards where the laser had dropped them, not really knowing why he felt like crying.

–

Less than a week later, Alan found himself back in the basement beneath Flynn’s Arcade. True to his word, Sam had taught him how to port code to and from the Grid. It was something of an involved process, and needed one of the obscure ‘floptical’ storage systems to interface with Flynn’s ageing, custom-built computer system. It had taken almost as long to find the right storage system as it had to actually rebuild Tron’s code.

Now, he loaded the disk caddy into the semi-hidden drive slot and loaded his own ‘profile’ on the workstation and hit ‘import’. Sam then took over and loaded the laser digitisation program.

“Ready?” Sam asked.

Alan shifted, feeling both impatient and anxious, “Yeah, let’s go.”

The dizzying sensation overtook him and he once again found himself in that darkened room inside the Grid. This time, however, there was significantly more light – still coming from himself. The sensible suit he had worn before was replaced by a long black overcoat, decorated with glowing white circuitry lines. His shirt was still softly glowing white, but he could feel the weight of an ID disk on his back.

“That’s new.” Sam said, frowning, “You okay Alan?”

“Yeah,” Alan smiled, “I think it’s due to the extra data I had to import into my profile so I could help Tron.”

Sam chuckled, “Looks good on you. No fair you get a cooler outfit than mine, though.”

Alan couldn’t help but smirk, “And the cool glasses.”

“Yeah, rub it in why don’t ya?” Sam lightly smacked his godfather on the arm, and once again led Alan through the twisting streets to where Tron lay.

It looked like Tron had barely moved, but when Alan stepped through the door, Tron made that painful-sounding grinding noise, his arms twitching. “How has he been?” Alan asked Quorra.

Quarra shrugged, “About the same. He twitches sometimes, and calls out for you. If anyone else tries to touch him, though, he tries to get away, despite how damaged he is.”

The bluntly spoken assessment chilled Alan, and he took a deep breath, reaching over to the program laying motionless against the plush blue bedcovers, “Tron? It’s me, Alan. I’m here to help you, but I need your ID disk. Is that okay?”

The grinding noise grew louder, and Tron’s body twitched almost violently, “aaaa...aaaa.” Tron rasped, trying again to move. It took Alan a few moments to realise that Tron was trying to roll over, to expose his ID disk at his User’s request. The display of trust made something in Alan’s chest twist.

Reaching down, Alan helped his program to roll onto his side, noting almost absently as he did so that where he touched Tron’s circuits, the orange faded into bright blue, just for a second, before it bled back to orange.

As gently as he could, Alan disengaged Tron’s disk from the port, and reached to his own back to pull off his own disk. Praying silently to whatever gods looked after programmers, he slowly brought the two disks into contact.

Holding his breath, Alan watched as the white light of his disk slowly melted into the orange, and wherever it touched, the light changed, transforming from deep orange into blue. When the process finally completed, Alan felt like he could breathe again, but the knot in his stomach still remained, a reminder that it wasn’t quite over.

Carefully pulling the two disks apart, Alan clicked his own back into place before leaning down and carefully, almost reverentially, placing Tron’s disk back in its port.

The change was immediate. The blue light flowed like water from the disk port, spreading across the circuitry lines. When it reached Tron’s neck, the mask dissolved, revealing a face that looked precisely like Alan himself had thirty years ago. Tron’s eyelids fluttered and he blinked open his eyes, looking unerringly at his User, eyes full of wonder and joy.

“Alan1.” Tron said, his voice almost...worshipful, which was deeply embarrassing, but at least it was at last free of the awful grinding growl.

Alan felt tears in his eyes, “Welcome back, Tron.” he said, reaching out to take his creation’s hand.

Tron frowned, “I… so much has happened.” Sorrow filled the program’s face, “I...I failed. I did terrible things. I’m so sorry, Alan1.”

“Shhh,” Alan soothed, perching next to Tron on the edge of the bed, unable to tear his gaze away from his creation, “It’s all right. You did everything you could. You fought back against CLU. I couldn’t be any prouder of you.”

The awestruck wonder was back in Tron’s face, his fingers curling tightly around Alan’s own, apparently totally unwilling to let go. Alan gently touched the circuitry on Tron’s arm, marvelling at the colour – it wasn’t quite the electric blue of Quorra’s lines, it was paler - closer to ice blue, and Alan wondered at the reason for that difference, if it had any particular significance.

The sound of someone clearing their throat startled them both, both Tron and Alan apparently forgetting that Sam and Quorra were in the room. Sam looked somewhat embarrassed, “Uh, so yeah. Me and Quorra have… stuff to take care of. We’re gonna head out, okay?”

Alan rubbed at the back of his neck with his free hand, feeling his own embarrassment climb up his cheeks, “Uh, sure.”

Tron tugged on his hand, “You’ll stay with me, Alan1?” his face and voice full of hope.

Alan couldn’t help but smile, “Of course, Tron.” he said, and Tron shuffled over on the bed to make room, not once letting go of his User’s hand.

Alan lay down next to his creation, the security program he had coded with his own hands, trying not to melt under said program’s adoring gaze. Without really thinking about it, Alan brought Tron’s hand up to kiss his knuckles, wondering exactly how this had become his life.

Once he turned to see the joy shining in Tron’s face, free of the pain he had suffered, Alan couldn’t bring himself to mind.

End of Line.

[sceptilemasterr]

Defenders of the Flame (TE Rewrite) Act 1, Scene 8 - The First Day

Title: Defenders of the Flame (A CIU Screenplay)

Main Pairings: Shreya x F!MC, Beckett x F!Atlas

Other Pairings: N/A

Genre: Full Rewrite (The Elementalists, Book 1)

Rating: PG-13 for violence, blood, swearing, alcohol, and sexuality

Summary: In her first class at Penderghast, Fiora learns all about stoicheal energy.

Previous Scene: Pend Pals

Masterlist: Link

INT. TUBIGAN HALL - AUDITORIUM 2 - DAY (FOUR DAYS LATER)

A large group of excitedly chattering first-years, among them Fiora, Shreya, and Zeph, file into Auditorium 2 for their first class of the day.

ZEPH: So, Stoicheal Theory, huh? What d’you think it’s gonna be like?

SHREYA: Sounds rather dull, if you ask me. But I’m open to anything!

Zeph picks a row and files in, taking a seat about halfway down the row. Shreya sits next to him, and Fiora takes the seat on her other side.

FIORA: I don’t know... it sounds complicated. What if the professor is super strict? I mean, we might--

SHREYA (laughing): Don’t you worry, Fiora. It’s the first day. I bet you anything it’ll just be basic things, like the six-element model and such. You know?

FIORA: ...Sorry, six-element model? What’s that?

Zeph gives her a curious look as Shreya belatedly remembers Fiora’s situation.

SHREYA: Oh! Oh, right... uh…

As she attempts to come up with an excuse to explain Shreya’s ignorance to Zeph, Beckett enters the auditorium. Frowning at the lack of empty seats, he sighs and reluctantly takes the seat on Fiora’s other side, closest to the aisle, then immediately opens up a textbook and begins reading. Zeph is quickly distracted by the new arrival.

ZEPH: Hey! Hey, you! Guy over there! My name’s Zephyr, but you can call me Zeph, it’s nice to…

His voice falters as Beckett ignores him completely and simply continues reading his book.

ZEPH (hesitantly): ...meet... you? (to Shreya) What’s his problem?

SHREYA: I don’t--

Fiora’s face lights up when she recognizes the newcomer.

FIORA: Hey, wait, I know you! We almost ran into each other, right? So, uh, do you like reading, or--

BECKETT (annoyed): If I wished to speak with any of you, I would have made that quite apparent.

He returns to his book. Puzzled, Fiora looks over at Shreya and Zeph.

FIORA (muttering): Well, excuse me for trying…

All of the whispered conversation in the auditorium stops as a young woman with shockingly bright yellow hair enters the room from a door in the front, stepping up to the podium. She wears sweatpants and a green t-shirt with a grey windbreaker over it. This is DR. RELIGAST, a professor at Penderghast College. She places a hand on the surface of the podium, and a shimmering, three-dimensional image of a pyramid erupts into existence above her.

FIORA (in awe): Whoa…

DR. RELIGAST: Yes, yes, hello, and welcome to Penderghast! I am Dr. Religast, and I will be with you for the entire year as we learn all about stoicheal theory! Now, it may not be as flashy or exciting as some of your other classes, but believe me: stoicheal theory will be the essential backbone of your career, whatever you choose to pursue. So! Please, do not brush off my class as, and I quote: “just another boring lecture.” ...Those are actual words a student once said to my face, by the way.

There are a few awkward laughs. Beside Fiora, Beckett writes furiously in a notebook, hanging on to Dr. Religast’s every word.

DR. RELIGAST: Right then! Let’s get started. Here’s a simple one: Who can name the six basic stoicheal forces?

Dozens of hands shoot up, including Beckett’s, Shreya’s, and Zeph’s. Beckett in particular is so eager that he looks as though he may launch off of his chair and into the ceiling at any moment. Fiora simply looks around, confused and more than a little overwhelmed. Dr. Religast points to a random student toward the back, an Earth-Attuned named JOSHUA HIGHLAND.

DR. RELIGAST: There! You in the red shirt.

With a gesture, Dr. Religast amplifies the student’s voice so that it can be heard throughout the entire auditorium.

JOSHUA: Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Metal, and Wood.

DR. RELIGAST: Yep, that’s correct! Now, check out the diagram above.

She waves a hand and presses something on the podium, and the base of the holographic pyramid above transforms into a grid of six colors, each labeled with a symbol representing its respective element.

DR. RELIGAST: These are the basic stoicheal forces. Stoicheal energy is ambient within this realm, unlike the Archikial Realm. This means that channeling stoicheal energy is easier here, further amplified by an individual’s Attunement linking them to…

As Dr. Religast continues lecturing, Fiora leans over to Shreya.

FIORA (whispering): Okay, “Archikial Realm?”

SHREYA (whispering): The other realm. Y’know, where you came here from?

FIORA: Oh, right--

Beckett clears his throat and glares at the two girls, who both quickly sit back upright and focus on Dr. Religast.

DR. RELIGAST: ...and so the basic forces share this relationship. Now, if you observe the pyramid once more, you will see that I have positioned the colors in a particular pattern. Does anyone know why I have done so?

Beckett’s hand shoots up fast enough to create a small breeze that ruffles Fiora’s hair. No one else raises their hand, and Dr. Religast points to Beckett.

DR. RELIGAST: You in the blue blazer!

She gestures again, and Beckett’s voice becomes amplified as he stands up.

BECKETT: Thank you. I can see that you have positioned the colors representing the basic stoicheal forces so that each is alongside its natural opposite.

Dr. Religast nods, and Beckett takes a seat.

DR. RELIGAST: Wow, exactly! That’s the first time in three years that anyone spotted it on their own.

Beckett gives Fiora a smug glance at the compliment, then turns his attention back to the professor.

DR. RELIGAST: He is correct. The basic forces each pair with another in an antagonistic relationship: fire and water, wood and metal, and air and earth.

As she lists each elemental pair, their corresponding colors on the pyramid illuminate.

DR. RELIGAST: This means that someone with a particular Attunement will be hindered in their abilities when surrounded by its opposite. For example, I’m an Air-Attuned, and a pretty good one if I say so myself!

She pauses as a few students laugh.

DR. RELIGAST: But let me tell you, if I were underground, I’d find it much harder to perform even a simple technique. Likewise if an Earth-Att were somewhere high in the air, like on the roof of a building, for instance.

ZEPH (whispering): So if someone lit me on fire…

SHREYA (whispering): Wouldn’t that give most anyone some trouble?

Zeph laughs.

DR. RELIGAST: Now, I conjured a pyramid rather than a simple square for a reason: the basic forces aren’t the only types of stoicheal forces that Attuneds can command.

She gestures toward the holographic pyramid, and the upper part of the pyramid illuminates with another six colors, of corresponding shades to the ones below. These new colors are much brighter and glow with brilliant light.

DR. RELIGAST: Okay, can anyone tell me what these represent?

A number of hands go up, including Beckett’s, unsurprisingly. After a moment’s hesitation, Fiora’s face lights up with excitement and she raises her hand as well.

FIORA: Wait, I know this one!

Everyone stares at her, and she realizes she accidentally said that a bit too loudly. Dr. Religast laughs and points to her.

DR. RELIGAST: You there!

BECKETT: Yes, the additional colors clearly represent--

He stops when he realizes it is not his voice that has been amplified. Dr. Religast frowns at him.

DR. RELIGAST: Not you. The girl with the red hair!

FIORA: Oh! Me! Uh... I think those are the Primal Stoicheal Forces?

DR. RELIGAST: Very good!

Fiora sinks down into her chair. Shreya smiles and pats her on the back.

SHREYA (whispering): You did it! (smirks) Of course you’d know that one.

Fiora blushes.

DR. RELIGAST: As she said, these are the Primal Stoicheal Forces: the raw, untamed stoichi brought to this realm by the Sources. These forces are distilled into their basic forms and utilized by we Attuned. With intense study and practice, any Attuned can eventually master their Attunement’s corresponding Primal Force. They are as follows:

As she states each element and its Primal equivalent, she gestures toward the pyramid, causing the corresponding colors to illuminate.

DR. RELIGAST: Motion, for Air. Gravity, for Earth. Creation, for Metal. Life, for Wood. Energy, for Water. And finally...

FIORA (whispering): Light, for Fire!

DR. RELIGAST (simultaneously): Light, for Fire.

Beckett looks curiously at Fiora.

BECKETT (muttering): Impressive. Perhaps you aren’t quite as hopeless as you look.

FIORA (whispering): You know I can hear you, right?

As Dr. Religast continues lecturing, Zeph raises his hand. She goes on for a moment, ignoring him until she finally looks to her right and jumps in surprise.

DR. RELIGAST: Oh! Sorry, so sorry. Did you have a question?

ZEPH: Yes, sorry. You mentioned the six Primal Forces, but aren’t there two more?

A few students giggle. Dr. Religast frowns and makes a frustrated sigh.

DR. RELIGAST: If you’re referring to the so-called “Lost Sources,” that’s a ridiculous myth that has no basis in reality.

ZEPH: But they say there’s--

Dr. Religast waves a hand as though brushing his questions aside.

DR. RELIGAST (sighs): Every year, someone always asks that. Every year, my answer is the same. No one in all of Attuned history has ever seen, encountered, or observed a Time- or Space-Attuned. Unless anyone in this room has, say, a Time-Att friend or two they’d like to tell me about?

She pauses. Zeph sinks back down into his seat in frustration.

DR. RELIGAST: Okay, enough of that. Back to the two-tier stoicheal model.

Dr. Religast resumes her lecture. Fiora glances over at Zeph curiously...

_______________________

Scene Notes: Well, Dr. Religast pretty much covered all the additional worldbuilding in this scene. And if you’re wondering, yes, she’s a completely original character. I decided to add a few extra professors into the mix since the original only had three (not counting Dean Goeffe).

As for Zeph and his “Lost Sources” theory... is it really just a myth? Surely you all know by now that nothing I write is accidental... 😉

_______________________

Next: Theory and Practice

CIU Tag List: @brightpinkpeppercorn @endlesshero1122 @bbaba-yagaa @acidsugar0 @shaylan211 @griselda1121 @acanthisorbis @marmolady

DotF/Elementalists Tag List:

[oh-mother-of-darkness]

Stephanie jogged away from the riverbank and towards the city, into the crowds and the concrete. Her headphones drowned out most of the noise and replaced it with loud music; she hummed along as she ran down the sidewalk. 

A hand reached out from the an alley as she went past. Without thinking, Stephanie yanked down her headphones and turned into a kick as hard as she could make it. Her heel slammed into the stomach of a man lurking in the mouth of the alleyway. He gasped and doubled over, swearing. 

At that point, Stephanie recognized her attacker. 

“Jesus!” said Jason Todd. “Shit. Alright, yeah, that’s my fault. I should have let you know I was coming.”

Stephanie scanned him warily. Looking closely, she could see several weapons hidden in his clothing: jeans and a leather jacket over a tshirt— not his uniform. She stepped into the alley to talk. 

“Coming why?”

“I could use a hand.”

“With what?”

“Bomb mission.”

Stephanie glared at him. “You set a bomb?”

“No, I’m looking for one.”

“Why?”

“To stop it from blowing up?” Jason stuck his head out of the alleyway and flashed a quick look in both directions. “Why else would I be looking for a bomb?”

“I don’t know! You’re the crime lord. You tell me.” 

He sighed. “This may have been a mistake.”

“Why me?”

“I don’t hate you,” he said, “but honestly? This conversation is a really good start.” 

Stephanie surveyed him again. He did look serious. She pushed down the voice in her head that told her this was a very bad idea and nodded instead. “Fine. What do you need?”

“A second man.”

“Batgirl or Stephanie?”

“Stephanie. We need to blend into the crowd.”

“We aren’t doing anything until you explain what’s going on.” 

Jason sighed again. “There’s not much to explain. There’s a bomb somewhere in this area, but I don’t know exactly where. We find it before it explodes. I defuse it. End of mission.”

“Right.” Simple enough, Stephanie thought. End of mission. What could go wrong?

A lot, and she knew it. “Sure. Let’s go find a bomb.” 

-----------------------

They split up immediately. Jason went left from the alleyway, and Stephanie went right. She walked slowly through assorted streets and alleyways, keeping to the grid with one headphone over her ear and one slid sideways into her hair. She peeked into dumpsters and storm drains. She checked every passerby for wires or suspect packages. 

“Anything?” asked Jason through her headphones.

“Not yet.” 

“Me neither.” 

Stephanie finished another block and turned back onto the main street through the sidewalk in front of a fancy-looking hotel. She passed in front of the open double doors and felt a blast of air conditioning. A doorman looked lazily out from his position just inside. 

“Jason?”

“What?”

“Are you sure the bomb is outside?”

“Not absolutely, no. Why?

“I have a hunch.” Stephanie squared her shoulders and marched into the hotel lobby, waving to the doorman like she belonged. He gave her leggings and tank top a sideways look, but he didn’t tell her no. 

She peered around the ground floor. There was a fountain spitting water in middle while staircases wound upward towards the ceiling floors above her. Stephanie circled around the marble without incident. Nothing there. She wandered towards the elevator and hit the button for the top floor. She’d check the hotel from above, she thought, then head back outside. 

The elevator played a calming noise over the loudspeaker as it began to move through floors. Stephanie cocked her head to the side. She didn’t like that sound. It made the hair on her arms stand up. 

Why? She didn’t know. She listened intently as the elevator hit the fourth floor of eleven. There was something underneath the pleasant chiming— a clicking, regular sound. 

The elevator was ticking. 

Oh shit. 

“Jason?” she asked, hitting the lock button on the elevator panel. 

“Yeah?”

“I found it.” She yanked open the metal plating underneath the buttons and found what she expected: a mess of wires around a flickering timer counting downwards one second at a time.

“Active?”

“Yes.”

“How long?”

“Three minutes and… twenty-four, twenty-three, twenty-two, twenty—”

“I get the picture. Where are you?”

“Elevator in the Middleton Hotel.” 

“I’m ten minutes out. You’re on your own.”

Stephanie gulped and mentally ran through her bomb defusing training. It had been awhile. 

“Do you need me to walk you through it?”

“No.”

“I’m doing it anyway. What’s it look like?”

“I can handle this.” 

“Can you?”

“Don’t ask me for help if you don’t trust me to get things done.” Stephanie knelt in front of the mess of machinery. “Five wires. Color coded.”

“What colors?”

“White, red, yellow, black, blue.”

“It’s never the red wire.”

“Thanks.”

“Time?”

“Two minutes, forty-six.”

“What’s the battery look like?”

“This is not helpful.”

“Battery.”

“It’s so relaxing.”

“You realize you’re in danger, right? Stop quipping and defuse the bomb.”

“I’m doing it! I’ve been trying this whole time!” 

Stephanie had been. She’d pulled the machinery out of the console and untangled the mess of wires from each other. They dangled in front of her now, each connected to a gray port. That was step one, right? It had to be step one.

“Okay,” said Jason “Do you have the wires out?”

“Yes.”

“Check the serial number.”

“I know!” 

“Then do it.”

“Two minutes, thirteen seconds.”

“You’re cutting it close.”

“No shit!” Stephanie almost threw her headphones across the elevator, but she restrained herself. She might need him. God’s truth, she wasn’t sure what she was doing.

“Have you ever done this before?” Jason asked. 

“Simulations.”

“Then let me help you.”

“What, you have actual experience with bombs?”

The other end of Stephanie’s line went very quiet. 

“Oh hell,” she whispered. “Oh hell, I forgot. I’m so sorry.”

“Whatever.” Jason said. “Concentrate.”

“Yeah.”

Stephanie bent over her bomb again. For the next minute, she fumbled with wires and ports as best she could.

Finally, Jason’s voice came over the line again. “If you can’t do it, get out now.”

“I can do it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.” 

“Sure enough to risk your life?”

“Yes!”

“Because in my personal experience?”

“Shut up.”

“Blowing up isn’t fun.”

“That’s really fucking helpful, Hood.” 

Nineteen seconds. Stephanie sat back on the elevator floor and came to terms with an inconvenient truth: she was going to have to pull a wire. She didn’t know which one. But she was going to have to do it. 

Eleven seconds.

“Start running,” said Jason. 

“Not yet.”

Eight seconds.

“Run or die.”

Stephanie looked over her options. With three seconds left, she made her choice.

Stephanie took a deep breath and pulled the red wire. 

Silence. The elevator didn’t explode. The clock stopped on its last tick and held steady with 00:01 written across the screen. 

Stephanie took another deep breath and collapsed backwards, flat on the floor. She heard Jason breathing on the other end of the line, also too fast and too loud. 

“Stephanie?” he asked.

“Red wire,” Stephanie gasped. “It was the red wire.”

-----------------------

She saw him lurking on a patio across the street as she made her way out of the hotel doors. She waved to the doorman again and jogged over to meet him. 

Jason looked very relieved to see her. “Call the commissioner?” he suggested. “Get the remains out of the building?”

“Already did. Bomb disposal is on its way.”

“Good.” Jason leaned back against his chair. “So… red wire, huh?”

“Red wire. I’m never listening to you again.”

“Not like you did before.”

“Yeah. Anyway.” Stephanie took the seat across from Jason on the patio table. She leaned forward and crossed her arms. “Sorry about the ‘experience’ thing.”

“I told you, it’s fine.”

“I honestly forgot.”

“It happens.” 

A waiter came up to their table and asked for their order. They both chose iced coffee, and she went away again. 

Jason tapped idly on the patio table while Stephanie checked her phone.

“Do you hate me yet?” she asked.

He smiled. “Nah. Give it another week.”

“What if I ask invasive questions first?”

“Go for it.”

“You died.”

“Yes.”

“How was that?”

Jason blinked at her, apparently at a loss. “Pretty bad?” he said finally. 

“Right.” 

“I watched the countdown hit zero knowing there was nothing I could do. The building exploded. I don’t remember after that.”

“Yeah.”

“I know the explosion didn’t kill me. The smoke did.”

“Shit.”

“It’s not my best memory.”

Stephanie shook her head. “I guess not.” 

They sat in silence for a few moments. 

“You were dead too, weren’t you?” Jason asked.

“Kind of.” Stephanie shrugged. “He thought I was.”

“How did he handle that?”

“Poorly, I’m told. He never came back from losing you.”

Jason snorted. 

“He talks about you all the time.”

“Good for him.”

“He could have defused that thing in thirty seconds, you know.”

“Oh I know.”

They both laughed, then stopped talking while the waitress brought their drinks. After she left, Stephanie slurped down half of hers in one pull. It tasted good, or maybe she was still riding her adrenaline high. Either way, she was happy about it. 

“You could have asked him for help,” she told Jason. “Or any of the others. They would have been a better choice than me.”

“I doubt it.” Jason grinned at her. “They’re pretty useless, and you’re not. You always impress me.”

“Really?” Stephanie finished her drink.

“Really.” Jason grabbed his from the table, pulled out a twenty dollar bill, and left it for the waitress. He swung over the patio fence, waved, and disappeared into the crowd. 

“Huh,” Stephanie said. She lost him within seconds. For awhile, she considered running after him. That was probably what Bruce would do.

Sirens screamed down the street as a dozen cop cars pulled up in front of the hotel, along with a giant truck. Men in full body suits poured out of it and into the lobby, shocking the poor doorman from his place by the door.

Ah, who cared what Bruce thought? Stephanie threw her cup in the trash, stuck her phone in the pocket of her leggings, and jogged off, away from the sirens and further into the city. 

[hedwigstalons]

The Tracy Prize - part 1

I’m not quite sure where this one will end up.  I’ll just go along for the ride and see what happens.

xoxoxox

Dealing with students was one of the perils of working in a university but today of all days she could have done without a confused first year accosting her after class.  With end of year exams approaching more and more of them were needing reassurance that they had grasped a concept correctly.  Some days she felt more like a counsellor than a tutor.

A quick glance at the clock showed she had just over an hour before she was due to deliver her presentation.  She still had plenty of time to cross campus and dump her books and files in her office but she would have liked longer to go through her notes before pitching her case to the panel.  The outcome this afternoon had the potential completely change the course of her career.

Crossing the quad in the bright sunshine of early summer she kept her head down and walked fast.  If she could just avoid eye contact with everyone she might make it through without being dragged into another conversation.

She rounded a corner at speed and collided with six foot of solid muscle coming in the opposite direction.

Her world became filled with pain and plaid.

The files smashed into her solar plexus, winding her and causing her to stagger backwards.  Books cascaded from her arms to land in an untidy heap on the floor.  She would have joined them but for a pair of strong arms with lightening reflexes grabbing her and steadying her backwards tumble.

She looked up into the face of the man who had been both her downfall and her rescuer. She saw concerned brown eyes topped by a tuft of dark hair.  

“Are you ok…Dr Ashwell?”  A momentary pause as his eyes clocked her staff ID badge.

“I’m fine. Sorry, I didn’t see you” she answered as she crouched down to scoop up her scattered belongings.

The man had barely flinched during their headlong collision although she was sure a block of books to the abdomen couldn’t have been a comfortable experience for him.  She expected him to continue his journey and was a little surprised when he crouched down beside her and helped reform the pile.

“A traditionalist, huh?” he queried.  “Most people just use the e-book copy now.”

“I like to be able to add my own notes to the margins.”  She let out an audible groan as her tablet was unearthed from the pile.  The screen was smashed to pieces and one side of the device had popped open exposing the internal workings.  “They are also durable.  This is just not my day.  I can kiss goodbye to that grant” she muttered angrily.

“I was to blame too.  Please, let me ping you the funds to replace it.”

“It’s not the tablet that’s the problem.  It’s the flies that were on it that I need.”

A slight look of confusion crossed his brow.

“Don’t you have a back-up?”

“Of course I do but only at home.  I’m meant to be giving a presentation in…”, she glanced at her watch, “an hour to try and win a research grant. Without my slides and data I may as well not bother.”

“Look, if it helps you can use mine.  Maybe download your work and I can stick it on a flash drive for you.”

He drew a sleek tablet out of a smart leather satchel.  The bag alone looked like it cost more than the rent on her apartment.  The device in his hands was even more sophisticated and clearly had holo-capabilities.  Maybe she would take him up on the offer to pay for the damage after all.

“It’s no use. My home set-up isn’t connected to a network.  I got burned once by a research partner and keep things off-grid now.  It’s a decision I’m currently regretting.  Unless by some miracle I can get this thing working I’m screwed.”

She jabbed the power button and the mangled device flickered into life.  However, the display was shot to pieces and there no way of calling up the precious information contained within.

“Where there’s life, there’s hope.  Pass it here. I take it this is at least has some connectivity so you can use University network?”

She nodded.  The tablet was very much a work device for when she needed to be part of the system.  She had only transferred her presentation and a few data files on to it for ease that morning.  She didn’t share the stranger’s optimism that he could extract her work but shrugged and passed the tablet across anyway.  

They moved across to a nearby bench to get out of the path.  They and the books were causing quite an obstruction.  He pulled a phone out of his pocket and made a call.

“John, I’ve got a challenge for you.  I’ll pop you on loudspeaker; I’ve got company.  I need you to try and retrieve some files from a tablet that’s seen better days.”

“Must be bad if you’re calling me.  So what am I dealing with?”

“It’s got power but it’s completely smashed after I sent it flying.”

There was a snort over the line.  “And you guys say I’m the clumsy brother.  Turn on your tablet and I’ll run a tech proximity scan.”

The two devices were placed side by side on the bench.  The mysterious John was evidently able to operate things remotely as as the screen on the functioning tablet flickered through settings without any input from their end.  

“The closest tablet I’m picking up is registered to a Claire Ashwell.  Is that the one?”

Claire gave the affirmative.  Her eyes widened as a carbon copy of her lock screen, or what her lock screen would have looked like if it wasn’t currently a jumbled mess of cracks and lines, appeared on the neighbouring device.

“But my security settings….”

“Are not a problem” answered the disembodied voice.  

The lock screen had disappeared and been replaced with her desktop.  She felt a deep seated unease at how easily this stranger at the end of a phone had accessed her computer.

“If someone could pop a flash drive into one of the ports I’ll transfer across what you need.  Just tell me what to look for.”

The man beside her complied with the request for a flash drive.

“Uh, just the folder called ‘Tracy Prize’.  Everything else I can get from the university system once I’ve replaced my tablet.”

The man beside smiled but she missed it.  Her eyes were focussed on the screen which was currently showing that her precious data was being transferred to the flash drive.

“Speaking of replacing your tablet I’ve transferred some funds to your account too.  It should cover the cost of the tablet and the software that was on it.”

“How the hell did you do that?!”

“You’ve done internet shopping.  Everything leaves a trace.”

The infuriatingly calm voice was doing nothing to dispel her fears of hacking.  Her colleagues thought she was an oddball with her bizarre approach to digital security but the man on the other end of the phone had been able to access her tablet and then her bank account in seconds.  She was just glad that she hadn’t put any of her more sensitive research on her work tablet.

“Anyway, my work here is done.”

“Cheers John.” replied the man beside her and he disconnected the call.  He removed the flash drive and passed it to her.  “Perhaps I’ll see you around, Dr Ashwell.”

She found herself on the receiving end of a beaming smile.  She sat on the bench for a few moments longer and watched as he disappeared across the square and into a coffee shop.  

The whole encounter had only taken a few minutes and if it wasn’t for the mangled tablet and shiny new flash drive in her possession she could hardly have believed it had happened.  

She picked up her books and continued the journey to her office.  Once safely behind its closed door she pulled out her own phone and called up her banking app.  Sure enough her account showed that a healthy deposit had just been made; far more than her basic device was really worth. She resisted the strong urge to delete everything off her phone. Hackers gave her the creeps.  

Another glance at her watch.  45 minutes until show time.

She withdrew a sheath of papers from a folder.  Print outs of the slides she was about to present.  Time to get in the zone.

[phoenix-downer]

If you could wish for any world in Kingdom Hearts (regardless of it being Disney's or Square's property or not) that hasn't been visited yet: which would it be and why?

Good question! 

Oh man, any world, huh? I’ll start with Disney/Square properties first:

Disney/Square: 

The Sword in the Stone (1963) - We’ve had Merlin in the series for quite some time now, so a world inspired by the movie he’s from makes perfect sense. The whole excalibur plotline would tie in nicely with the idea of being chosen by the Keyblade, and I feel like Arthur/Wart would really look up to Sora. It would also give Sora the chance to pass on what he learned in DDD (that he doesn’t mind if he wasn’t chosen, he’s just happy to be a part of something bigger). 

Marry Poppins (1964) - Not necessarily for the live action parts, but for the portion where they go into the chalk drawings. It would be a fun “world-within-a-world” a la Timeless River in KH2. Imagine how dapper the character(s) would look.

Robin Hood (1973) - I have a huge soft spot for this film and would love to see it in the series. The characters are so fun and lovable and Sherwood Forest and Nottingham and the castle could all be explorable areas. There could be minigames related to archery, and Sora could get a bow and arrow Keyblade transformation. I also think Robin and Marian’s whole childhood sweethearts thing ties in well to KH. 

Fantasia 2000 (2000) - For the firebird as a boss fight mainly, because I want to whack things with a Keyblade while listening to Stravinksy’s awesome music and watching gorgeous visual effects unfold onscreen. The Fantasia world in DDD was absolutely beautiful, and I love how they used the original classical music and would love to see that kind of world make a return.

Atlantis (2001) - Goes without saying, this would make an absolutely incredible world. The art design and amount of effort that went into the worldbuilding (including hiring the linguist who made Klingon to make an entire language specifically for this movie!) really doesn’t get the credit it deserves, and it would make an amazing world to explore. The characters are so much fun too, and would make great helpers with unique battle styles. The “lost technology” from the movie would be good for minigames like the ones in Space Paranoids and The Grid. 

Treasure Planet (2002) - I also have a huge soft spot for this film, but it would make an excellent world IMO. Datamining of DDD has even shown that it may have been planned originally for that game, so it’s not without precedence. 

The characters are awesome, too, and exploring the setting would be so much fun (the art design is gorgeous!) and once again, Sora could do so much in terms of movement (flying, riding the ship, etc.) The theme of finding a family fits KH so well too, and it would be great to have Captain Amelia, John Silver, Doctor Doppler, etc. in your party. Plus Morph is adorable and imagine him imitating Donald to mess with him.

The Princess and the Frog (2009) - Tiana would be a great new Princess of Heart (as one of the New Seven Hearts). And the setting of the movie would make for a unique world design we haven’t seen too much of in the series yet - New Orleans in the 1920s, the Louisiana bayou, jazz music… man it would be cool. And the villain Dr. Facilier? Perfect for KH. His “friends on the other side” could easily be Heartless or what have you. Yeah, this movie is screaming to be a KH world. The boss fight against him could have a really unique/fun design as well, considering his powers and abilities. 

Moana (2016) - I am a bad Disney fan and have not seen this movie yet (I know I know, shame on me!), but everything about what I do know about indicates it would be an awesome world. So yep, including it on this list.

Coco (2017) - Considering how the KH universe has been dealing with the afterlife (or borderline afterlife) lately, Coco seems like a shoo-in for a world. Plus, the theme of family would fit in really well with the KH series. While yes, Sora’s mom hasn’t been heard from since that fateful scene in KH1, I’d argue Sora’s friends are as close as family to him, and that would resonate well with the themes of Coco. Plus the art design and music of the movie is absolutely gorgeous (both the world of the living and the afterlife) and would be a unique addition to the KH series. 

Non-Disney/Square

Anastasia (1997) - Though honestly, of all the KH characters, I feel like this would be a good world for Ven to go to? He’d relate to the whole amnesia-and remembering-your-past plotline that Anastasia goes through. It would make a good world visit for Kairi too, for that matter. Maybe they could go together if they’re both searching for Sora?

…I’m sure I could think of more, but this list is getting long as it is, haha. Thanks for the ask!

[deepsubmission]

Healers - Part 1.0 (The Chase)

I’m not a writer, but this came to me in a dream.  I’ve transcribed it to the best of my ability.  There are 6 or 7 parts so far.

An eyeful of dreams rotated from forefront to behind, though still at the surface of my mind.  A thick blur blanketed the morning as I struggled to awaken.  This would be the filter of the day.  A hazy washout glazing my vision, graying out clarity between what is and what isn’t.  A part of me has stayed behind, refusing to engage in the physical world and the reaction to it by my senses.  I pause now, unsure if I have just awakened or haven’t slept at all.  Or if I’m still asleep.

The over-sized carport opens up into a covered breezeway to the lodge.  The floor is covered in large square tiles made of limestone and separated by wooden planks in a grid pattern.  The walls are made from cedar planks, generous windows on the sides.  Looking behind me, there is no wall.  An opening, three cars wide to allow anything to come or go.

There is no driveway, just a long road that goes nowhere.  Except here.  Mammoth sequoias line the road.  Only ferns and broad leafed foliage can collect enough sun to survive underneath them.

It seems we’re running.  I’m driving fast and paranoid from the danger presumably pursuing us from the bullfight.

***

Ernesto’s glory days were behind him, that’s for sure.  The formerly great matador still carried himself with pomp and swagger.  His black and silver sequined outfit demanded it, and he was more than eager to deliver on it.  The wall had been removed from the ring today.  I sat in the front row with Lacy.  She looked pretty and well kept as always and was dressed in a nice pair of navy shorts, a preppy white blouse, and some expensive sandals.  She looked older than I remembered.  And somehow friendlier.  The crowd was sparse, as is usually the case for a matinee.  Ernesto strutted over to me before the show was to begin and wedged himself between Lacy and me.  He was looking at me and then whispered into my ear.  Inappropriately close and almost intimate, like a lover might.  His breath was rancid and I was glad when he stood up and stepped away.  He laughed loud enough for everyone to hear, making a show of the fact that he thought he had just told me something of great amusement.  “He is so disgusting,” Lacy whispered.

“Yea, you’re not the one who had to smell his breath.”

I felt a pinch on my ear.  “Amigo.”  Long pause.  “Show some respect,” came the slow Spanish accented voice from behind me.  “Who the fuck are you, huh?  HUH?”

Lacy’s eyes were bigger than normal which is really saying a lot, as her eyes always were big and beautiful.  One of about a hundred reasons that I was secretly in love with her.  I was more annoyed than afraid. I pulled my head slowly away to release the fingers that held me.  I turned and looked.  There were three men, all of them with dreadful stares.  The man directly behind me was dirty and unkept with dark hair draped loosely over his eyes, the other two with lighter hair, thinner and taller, and less Spanish looking then their counterpart.  They carried solemn, serious faces and looked hard into me in a way that I could almost feel something actual and physical penetrating my body.

I looked them down, stood and took Lacy’s hand.  “C’mon.”

We exited slowly up the steps.  The stares felt like burns in my back.  When we reached the concession area there was a big group of men dressed in old football uniforms with leather helmets.  The place was open and uncovered, but presumably fenced in somewhere beyond my view. I realized that I didn’t remember coming in.  A group of several dozen people were chanting “Hold that line” and the chants grew louder as their number grew.  Today was the day the coach would be making his final cuts.  There were wooden folding chairs in a line, apparently one designated for each player.  I was asked to light them all on fire at the bottoms of the legs “To the best of your ability, don’t spare a single one,” the coach said to me.  I nodded my head and did as he asked.  It took only about a minute for all the chairs to become completely engulfed in orange fire, as the wood was porous and very flammable.  Lacy tugged at my arm indicating it was time to go.  Someone wanted us out of there.  I was oblivious, but she knew.  I turned and saw a posse forming at the portal to the ring.  The three men were yelling to each other and to the others that had gathered, everyone’s heads careening around hastily trying to spot us.  

“Whoa, wait a minute.  We’re not leaving.  I haven’t done anything and I’m damn sure not in the mood for running away.”

“A, there might be more happening than you know here,” she said in a curt, cautious tone.  “More than you might recollect or understand.”

I let a nervous “ha” slip from my mouth.  But settling down on me was a familiar realization, the one you get when you’ve been found out. I’ve had it more often than I’m proud to admit.  The hair on my neck stood stiff like hackles, they were coming for me.

We walked briskly, staying roughly on a line to an exit that kept the fire between us and the portal, hoping that it would block their view. When we got out the door Lacy ran top speed to the car, which was an amusing sight for my normally proper and calm friend.

We had left the top down on the old, white Carerra and both of us leaped over our doors into the car.  I thought us inconspicuous but for the loud engine, and didn’t see anyone following from behind.  To the right was a covered walkway separating two parking lots, which I presumed was used during the rains.  I had heard people talk about the sudden storms and floods here, but it was always arid and dusty whenever I had visited.

As we approached the end of the walkway, a red Bronco pulled out from behind it and turned to face us.  I braked and saw the dark haired guy from the arena behind the wheel, one of his sandy haired companions in the passenger seat.  We made eye contact and I heard his motor rev.  At the same time, instinctively, I threw the car into reverse and flew backward a few hundred feet and turned hard into an perpendicular aisle, almost losing control.  There was not enough time to make an attempt at going forward, as the Bronco was nearly on our front bumper.  I kept flooring it in reverse, the engine whining hard and made another fierce turn at the next aisle.  In just a split second I was able to throw it into first and spin out forward, the Bronco just missing slamming into the side of us as it spun around the turn close behind.  I heard a crashing sound and in my rear view mirror saw that they had clipped a couple parked cars making their turn.  I focused, gripping the wheel with clenched hands, made a few quick rights and lefts, darting in and out of rows of cars.  With Lacy bouncing and swaying in her adjacent bucket seat, we made it to the exit and cut hard right onto the main road, spinning wheels as I threw it into second gear.

I floored it and quickly put some distance between us and our pursuers.  But just ahead there was some traffic coming up and cars stacked about five deep in front of a red light.  There was no oncoming traffic, so I swerved into the oncoming lane and looked frantically both ways and then darted left at the traffic signal through the red light just between two cars.  I almost hit the one that I squeezed in front of and the driver laid on the horn.  I felt sweat on my chest and looked back to see the Bronco stopped at the light, but forcing its way through, lots of cars stopping and starting, all of them honking at them.

I floored the Carerra again and quickly got it up to about 90, which was pretty fast for a commercial area.  Thankfully there were not many cars around.  Lacy held her hands in tight fists raised just above her thighs and I could see that she was shaking.  I thought of saying something light hearted, but didn’t.  The exit ramp to the freeway was just ahead and a swerved around the car in my adjacent lane and took it.  I had put maybe a quarter mile of space ahead of the Bronco and pushed the car faster.  On the freeway I got up to 130 without much trouble. Within five minutes I couldn’t see them at all.

“Any one of these exits can get us to the woods,” Lacy said flatly. We were headed north, desert all around except to the west, where there were tree lines and hills in the distance.  I took the next off ramp and left under the bridge onto a two lane road.  The road was dead straight, presumably a straight shot into the trees.  I drove fast, but not at an unreasonable pace, the sun dropping in front of us just left of center.

At the entrance through the line of trees, the forest swallowed us immediately.  The road seemed to turn old, there were no signs, no lines on the cracking pavement.  The Carerra was reasonably equipped to handle the narrow and winding roads through this mature forest.  I should have been nervous, but I felt a calm certainty in my body and soon forgot about our pursuers.  The top was down on this warm, comfortable day but I looked up to see almost no sky at all.  Just late afternoon light flickering through the giant trees.  A thought passed my mind that there are mini ecosystems high up in those branches.  Evolved species that live hundreds of feet up in the air, never to touch solid ground.  Rodents and bugs and other plants that grow out of the over sized branches.  My next thought was how I would be able to navigate without being able to see the stars tonight.  This is how the mind of a runaway operates.  Curious, creative at times, and always looking for exit signs.

“Left ahead,” she said, breaking my thoughts.  I nodded and followed her directions.  These were her woods, not mine.

“Protectors, Athan.  They’ve watched your every step.  They guard and defend without care as to who is right or wrong.  I know you know this, but you’re acting like you don’t.  You have to be careful.  You’ve got to keep your distance no matter how tempted you are.”

I sighed as a flood of memories rose like flood waters in me. Unwanted, invasive, inescapable memories.  “God dammit.”  I felt betrayed.  I wanted to fight, to kill.  But the numbers were stacked against me, not to mention otherworldly forces they wield.  A band of brothers designed to protect the deity I left behind.  I had been allowed in, ushered in, actually.  Allowed to be loved and to love back.  It was real, all of it real, and then somehow it went horrendously wrong.  There were a thousand ways to blame myself, and yet another thousand to blame.  Looking back, I could see now that everywhere there was a guardian.  In the woods a vulture and black wolf, in the castle a host of magicians and dragons.  All kinds of defense mechanisms, alter beings designed to force me into a mold or to force me out.  I left willingly without a word.  Maybe that was not acceptable.

***

[newwayastrology]

AN ACTUAL CONSULTATION EXAMPLE I get requests sometimes for the cliet to tape the consultation. I usually tell them that there will be no need for a tape because they will remember the one or two main points shown in the horoscope. In this case, the client said that she was going to take my Course and that listening to her own consultation might be of benefit later on down the line. She taped it and then wrote it out for me to use for instruction. This is it below: The first thing I always do is look for a hemisphere emphasis. The hemisphere emphasis is like the introduction to a book. It gets you in the ballpark of what to expect. Everything in a chart is within the context of the hemisphere emphasis. Here, it is northern and that immediately introduces a parental concern. Seeing that there is a parental concern, you look for corroboration and that is easy to see with the 4th House activity and the close square between the Sun and Moon, which is always an indication of parents who were not on the same page during conception, around the time of birth, or just in general. All parental rulers are involved in tension so there’s little doubt here that there was a substantive parental concern to discuss in this consultation. Whenever there is a parental concern, there is a psychological pattern that follows in real life that brings in self-esteem concerns, a delay in finding out just who one is in life (causes a lot of mistakes to be made; this is seen when the ruler of the Ascendant is involved in tension or is retrograde)) and it all usually spills out in relationships with people, especially personal relationships. This is psychiatry, real life expectations. The 2nd House (self-esteem) has obvious tension shown between the rulers of the 2nd House and 5th House, as well as the rulers of those Houses. What does that tell us? First, an explanation. In a Natural horoscope (has Aries on the Ascendant, Taurus on the 2ndm Gemini on the 3rd, etc), the 2nd House is always square to the 5th House. The 5th House is one’s sexual identity. It’s where we look to see if there are any challenges giving love. So, when there are planets involved that tie these Houses together, we expect that there is something about the way this woman feels about herself that causes a challenge of some kind when it comes to giving love. Let’s break it down with significator dynamics. The Moon is square the Sun and Saturn. This incorporates the 1st, 2nd, and 7th Houses – delay in identity realization, self-esteem, and relationships. We start to get the beginnings of a theme. The Jupiter-Pluto conjunction in the 2nd squares Venus. It refers to overdoing things, relationally and sexually. When Venus and Pluto are in hard aspect, there is usually a relational perspective that causes problems for the person because it is out of line with what’s possible in that person’s reality. The sexual identity is the 5th House. What happens to that identity during sex with someone else is shown through the 8th House. The 8th is ruled by Uranus and Uranus trines Venus and has no tension. So, this leads us to believe that she is just fine when she is having sex with someone else. The issue here is what she brings to the table when it comes to giving love. Mars squares the Ascendant, exactly……anger taken in from the early home. Mercury-Neptune in 4 equates to idealism/confusion in the home. Now, I check to see if there is anything at the Sun/Moon midpoint. There is nothing contacting it but it is at the Aries Point, which means a projection of ego and relational things that is worn on the sleeve for all to see. I also see Venus=Ura/ASC=Mars/Ura=Sun/Node. It’s all relational/sexual stuff. The Sun-Moon-ASC blend of Scorpio-Leo-Cancer suggests a deeply privately, controlling emotional life energy that is expressed through a personality that needs recognition and it is all expressed through an emotional security-seeking image. You’d expect a person with a strong sense of purpose with fixed emotions that easily dramatize sexual or sensational matters. Expectations of fulfillment from others is strong, especially when it comes to ego security and love needs. Notice the red marks in the aspect grid. They are quintiles. When there are multiple quintiles, creativity needs to be important, if nothing more than in a serious hobby. Quite often, it is a part of or focus on creativity in the job or career. One midpoint picture, Sun=Mer/Ven, is another indication of creativity. The period on the end of the sentence is Neptune conjunct Mercury. This is a decided, emphasized creativity…a strong focus of imagination. It also refers to confusion at home. Plu=Ven/Sat really, really emphasizes the relational/sexual control factors shown in the chart. Then, on the other hand, there is Mars=Ven/Plu, a very sexual midpoint. And, Ven=URA/Mc=Mars/ASC. I have three concerns to address with her: parents, self-esteem, relationships/sex. THE CONSULTATION Me: Thanks for being exactly on time. Even though this is Skype, it is good to meet you. We are going to have a great discussion today. Her: I am excited. My goodness, what a sexy voice you have. I would be standing over your shoulder if we were married. (laughs). I know how these women are out here. (That statement from her immediately told me that her issues relationally are because she is controlling and she is controlling because she is insecure. She is insecure because the relationship model she got from home through her parents is dysfunctional). Me: Thank you. I have received voice compliments my entire life but you didn’t pay me to talk about my voice so let’s get to you. In a nutshell, the central energy of this horoscope is probing, passionate, deeply emotional and needs to have control by knowing everything. This basic energy is expressed through a personality that needs recognition and ego security. All of this is expressed to others who don’t know you very well through an emotional, nurturing image. In a nutshell, this horoscope suggests that you come from a parental situation that wasn’t necessarily fulfilling and functional. From this, you absorbed feelings that created self-esteem concerns that affect your life intensely when it comes to relationships and sex. As well, there is anger absorbed from the parental situation that probably caused you to make a lot of errors in life before you finally understood who you are. Let’s begin with you telling me about your parents. Her: They fought all the time and I mean physically. I have seen them hit each other a million times and they’ve been married 25 years! Me: What do you think you took from their relationship? Her: I’m a real bitch. I was married and divorced three times by the time I was 21 years old. I don’t take no shit. (Rulers of the 1st and 7th in conflict) Me: Your libido is strong or does it suffer from all this anger you’ve absorbed and make things difficult when it comes to being intimate? Her: My libido is overwhelming. I have been to Sexaholics Anonymous for it. There was a time when I couldn’t even wipe myself after a pee without masturbating. It’s nothing for me to come a dozen times a day masturbating. And, during sex, hell, a kiss on the neck makes me cum. I am very multi-orgasmic, even explosive. I squirt like a urination. Me: So, then, would you say that you are controlling, sexually speaking? (Saturn means being controlled or being controlling.) Her: Unfortunately, yes. There was one time when I had a real bad day at work. My boyfriend had a root canal that day. When I got home, he was just trying to deal with the beginnings of pain but I needed to get laid. I didn’t at all care about his feelings. I want what I want when I want it. I guess I am controlling, huh? I knew I was wrong. His jaw was swollen and everything but I needed to cum and that’s all I cared about. Me: It’s good that you understand that you were wrong in retrospect. The idea is to be thoughtful BEFORE an act, not afterwards. Tell me about the importance of creativity in your life. Please, at least say you have a creative hobby. And, oh yea, what did that guy do? Her: By the time I got done giving him head, he forgot about his pain and did me. When I came in from work the next day, he was gone and had taken all of his stuff. Creativity? I manage a clothing design company. I approve or reject all designs and I am responsible for the prudent use of an 8-figure budget. Even at home with sex, I am very creative. I like to play games. I like to find ways to bring a man almost to “that point” and then stop and go watch TV or something. Then, I’ll get him again and stop. I start this on Friday night and do it again on Sunday. By the time Sunday comes, he is about to lose his mind. Creativity underscores everything I do. You are good and your wife is lucky. All you’d have to do is talk to me and I would climax. Me: You are a mess. What a flirt but ya know, that is what you do to try and control the room. It rescues your fragile sense of self-esteem but no matter how many sexual conquests you have, you still aren’t comfortable looking in the mirror, right? Her: Like I said, you are good. Sex rescues me. I suck at relationships but I am a champion with sex. Me: Have you ever considered therapy to address these buried feelings of anger, the fractured self-esteem and the rest? Her: Really? Do you think it will help? Me: Absolutely. There are some things in the depth of you that you need to address and understand so that you can be more productive, relationally-speaking. Plus, the pain. You have a confident personality but we both know that you are as soft as water. All you did was teach yourself some behaviors that hide the pain. You don’t want anyone to know how very vulnerable you are to suggestions that offer emotional security. The perfect situation for you is having a great family that is very secure with a husband who treats you like a queen. Her: You are trying to make me cry, right? Me: No, you are trying to prevent yourself from showing real emotion. You’ll show sexual emotions because you control those scenarios but when sex is removed, you become an actress because your model for relationships is based on terminally feuding parents. You’ve got to be comfortable with who you are and understand that you were a victim in the traffic pattern of your parents. They didn’t fight because of you. They had issues before you were born. Did either of them have a great upbringing? Her: You are scary. No, neither one of my parents had both parents. You just went to my soul. I feel naked. Well, look…..is there anything major showing for the rest of this year? Me: Not at all. But don’t let that get in the way of therapy. Her: Okay. I am embarrassed about the flirting with you but really, your voice is heavenly. I know I am not the first woman to say it. It’s just the truth. You can’t possibly have any more to talk about with my chart. If you do, too bad. Nothing else is important. I’m going to seek out someone to talk to professionally. I don’t want to continue this way just being a nice piece of ass for men. I want something meaningful. I don’t want to have to offer sex just to snuggle with someone on Christmas Eve, you know? Me: Let me know how the therapy goes. We covered the main theme of your horoscope. If you were with another astrologer, you might get a lot of information that isn’t really helpful. I go straight for the jugular. Most people have one or two major issues that, if cleared up, work wonders for fulfillment in life. Get that therapy, okay? Her: I will. One last thing…..tonight, thinking about your voice is…. ME:…..JUST STOP. You are insane. See ya. Her: (laughing) Okay. Bye.

[mianite-season-3]

Unofficial Mianite S3 - Chapter 11

Chapter 11 - New Balance

Tom squinted as he broke out onto the top of the mushroom shaped mountain into the glaring sun. He blinked hard a couple times and shielded his eyes with his hand, running over to the edge to get a full view of the land below. After a minute he heard his friend’s footsteps approaching from behind, and he took a precautionary step back.

“I miss my sunglasses.” Jordan complained, both hands cupped around his eyes. Tom heard him gasp as he turned his attention to the horizon. “Woah...”

“Do you think this is natural? Or did someone take the time to really reorganize literally every block in existence into this random ass pattern?”

Jordan tilted his head and pursed his lips. “If it were someone doing that, they really need to get a different hobby. But, you know... I don’t think it’s random.”

Tom glanced to the side. “Of course it is.”

“No, cause look,” Jordan pointed with his left hand down at the ground, “there’s a thing of diamond blocks down there, right? And right next to it is pink wool. And then over there, you can see the same pattern. I think there’s some kind of system to it.”

Tom stared at the diamond patch Jordan had pointed to, but he didn’t see what his friend did. “Nah, it’s totally random.

“Tom-”

“Nah, nah, nah, Jordan, it’s totally random!”

Jordan rolled his eyes and smiled, going back to scanning the horizon. “So, that mountain looks really weird, over there.”

“They all look really weird.”

“Yeah, I know! I was just suggesting a possible place to explore.”

Tom pointed to the right of the smooth mountain Jordan had pointed out. “What about that? Do you see that over there, the grid looking thing?”

He squinted in the direction his friend gestured to and nodded. “Yeah, that’s kinda weird too.”

“Everything is weird. Let’s go get a closer look!” Tom bounded away from the edge, back into the staircase.

“Hold up!”

--

Tom and Jordan made it down the stairs much faster than they had made it up them, and they started towards the grid Tom has pointed out at a brisk jog pace. Tom shared some of the food he’d swiped from Star’s base, and they ran in comfortable silence, side by side.

They followed the path. Tom found it very obvious after Jordan actually pointed it out to him, and he chastised himself for missing it. It was a two block wide flat path with barriers on either side, splitting off leading to other areas. The two followed it up a medium sized hill and came up on the grid structure he had spotted.

It was four buildings, arranged in a square formation and built in a low valley in the ground. Tom slid down the sand on the side of the valley and broke into one of the buildings after not seeing a door, slaying a stray zombie and looking around. The shadows cast by the ceiling didn’t hide the fact that the building was nothing more than an empty shell.

“There’s nothing in here, Jordan!” He called to his friend, leaving the one and breaking into the opposite one. He sighed as he found the same result in the next one, and the following one after that. An empty one room structure, with not a chest or piece of loot in sight. Sure, he dug out some diamond and iron blocks he found within the grid, but even that wasn’t enough to warrant their running over.

“Nothing in any of them, huh? Tom, come on up here.” Jordan called, back up at the crest of the valley. Tom climbed up after him and followed as Jordan lead him into another closed off area, this one without a roof.

The new place was pretty small, but oddly shaped. There was a clear strip to walk in, and on either side were one or two high mounds of various blocks. And all around it, a surrounding border floating a few blocks above their heads, supported by pillars on the four corners of the rectangular area.

“What do you think this is? Some kind of ritual setup?” Jordan examined the entrance for any signs of use. Tom meanwhile decided to parkour to the top and he sat down on the border, swinging his legs and nibbling on a pork chop.

“I don’t know if that kind of stuff even exists in this world. I haven’t seen anything that you could use for witchery or magic around, have you?”

Jordan shook his head, putting his hands on his hips. “No, but I mean, what else could it be? The buildings down there could hold monsters or animals, and they would bring them up here to be sacrificed.”

Tom raised an eyebrow. “That’s morbid.”

“Yeah, but it’s possible!”

“Ok, sure. Doesn’t really matter what it was, though. Clearly it’s been abandoned for a long time.” Tom had stood up, running back and forth on the border now, sliding along the small patch of ice in it with glee. “So Jardon, what do you think was wrong with that girl?”

Jordan turned around and stared up at him, eyes moving back and forth as his friend bounced around. “What do you mean?” He unconsciously rubbed the back of his neck, wincing as he brushed a tender spot.

Tom attempted a cartwheel and missed his footing, crashing to the ground. “Ah!”

The older man crossed his arms and grinned.

“I mean, you think Ianite did something bad to her? Liked, killed her whole family bad?” Jordan’s eyes widened.

“What? Ianite would never do that!” he retorted defensively. The zombie man got to his feet and rolled his neck.

“Maybe not in the worlds we’ve been in, but Jordan, it’s kinda her turn, right?”

“What is that supposed to mean?!”

Tom brushed off his sleeves and started monkeying his way up to the top of the border again. “Well, in Mianite, Dianite was the one we ended up fighting. And in Ruxomar, it was Mianite. So it would make sense for this world to fight Ianite, right?”

Jordan opened his mouth to reply, to argue for his goddess, that she would never become something that they would end up needing to fight, but then he closed it and thought for a moment.

While he didn’t really believe that because this was the third world with the gods that they’d visited, Ianite had to be the bad guy for the reason that she hadn’t been yet, he did have to admit that it did complete the cycle. But even so, he didn’t want to admit to himself that he would need to fight against his goddess this time. Ianite, the angelic ethereal being that he had saved in Mianite and lost in Ruxomar, the guardian of a balance as delicate as she was.

“Uh, Jordan? Dude, what is with you? You are so out of it!” While Jordan had been daydreaming, Tom had jumped down from his running around and stood in front of him, standing as tall as he could with fists on his hips, staring at him.

“Sorry... I was just... thinking. I don’t think you’re right, though. How could Ianite ever be the bad guy? She’s the balance of good and evil, right? So you would think, in the other worlds where the balance was lost, she’d be bad. But she wasn’t! So, she’s gotta be good in this world too. So she wouldn’t do something like murder a family.”

Tom took a step back, slightly intimidated by the intensity of his friend’s defense of his goddess. “Ok, ok, jeez. It was just a thought!”

Jordan took a breath and turned away, leaving the area before Tom could see how much the thought of fighting Ianite really affected him.

“She definitely killed one of her wolves, though.”

“Drop it, Tom!”

--

Waking up, Wag felt better than he had for as long as he could remember. He was in a soft, comfy bed curled up with a blanket and a warm body beside him. He didn’t wake up from a loud owl right outside his window, he didn’t have to spring out of bed from him having to put out a fire from a rogue spell he’d casted in his sleep. And most of all, he didn’t wake up in a cold sweat from a dream that mostly eluded his memory, leaving only feelings of anger, loneliness and loss. No, all he felt this morning was a strong urge to make a move he’d been holding back on for a while.

The wizard pulled Martha closer to him and kissed the back of her head, reveling in the softness of her light purple hair and grinning when she hummed adorably in her sleep.

He loved this woman. As strange as the circumstances were surrounding their relationship, and her reservations that he would respect should she not want to be with him, he loved her with all his heart.

Probably the first time it had happened, and frankly it terrified him as much as it excited him.

Martha squirmed in his arms, and he allowed her room to move as she twisted around and brought them face to face. Her sleepy eyes and smile melted his head and riding the high of his feelings, he dipped down and pecked a quick kiss on her pretty little lips.

The mystic blinked, and her cheeks burned red as she ducked her head to hide her face in his chest. Wag chuckled, a low sound resounding in his throat, and hugged her.

“Love you, Martha.”

“Love you too,” came the embarrassed squeak.

--

An hour later, the fantastic foursome was all out of bed and packed up, gear strapped on to their armor and weapons ready at their sides, should any insane teenagers decide to greet them.

The group left the safety of the base and squinted at the strong sunlight that blinded them.

Wag took a deep breath and put his hands on his hips, looking around at the quilted land before them. “So... where to?”

Sonja piped up. “Me and Tucker decided we have to join up with Jordan and Tom, and then we need to find Andor, Mot and Dianite. They would have landed in the same world, right?”

“Tucker and I.” Martha corrected. Sonja rolled her eyes.

“Whatever.”

Wag shrugged. “I mean, maybe? But they disappeared almost as soon as we jumped, and Andor flew into the void. They could be in a completely different world entirely.”

“Well, we have to try and find them. I really never thought I’d be relying on Dianite, but he might be the only god we can trust in this world, if that girl is anything to go by.” Tucker pointed out, looking around at the others. Martha giggled softly.

“My uncle is anything but trustworthy, but I have to agree with you.”

“You two are actually gonna be Team Dianite?” Wag raised his eyebrows as the group started walking.

“We’re not gonna be Team Dianite, I don’t think. More like, we’ll align with his morals and work with him, if only because we trust him the most out of the gods in this world. After all, Mianite must be a crazy son of a bitch if that girl acted that way, and who knows what Ianite’s like. Dianite is probably our best bet, right?”

Sonja nodded, agreeing with Tucker’s explanation. “Tucker and I have both always been on the morally right side, not so much on Mianite’s team itself.”

“But you sure took to my uncle’s plan rather quick once you realized my brother was spewing nonsense about him.” Martha accused, glaring daggers at Tucker. “Not to mention being very eager to murder innocent children to go along with his plans.”

“That was to try and bring Ianite back, and you know it! Don’t make me the bad guy!” Tucker’s voice echoed against the mountainside and sounded much louder than he intended.

“Let’s not point fingers and start fighting, ok? That’s in the past now.” Wag tried to pacify his friends, with a little success. Tucker crossed his arms and picked up his pace, leaving the group behind as he sulked.

Sonja glared at Martha, who sneered back. Wag focused his attention on preventing a catfight, and so he didn’t notice when Tucker turned the corner at the base of the mountain and disappeared into a tight valley between two mountain peaks, filled with blocks mimicking the shape of trees.

Tucker didn’t take long to admire the strange view, ducking around the pseudo trunks and began climbing up a small flight of stairs out of the forest.

A shadow darted out from the corner of his vision, and he only had a second to react before his assailant brought a glinting diamond sword down on his head. Tucker tried to react, unsheathing his own weapon, but he couldn’t raise his arm before a clash rang harshly off his helmet and he dropped to the ground like a rock.

[mingot-studios]

Invader Zim: GA83 ^3

PROF. MEMBRANE: (CALLING) Kids! Get ready. Prof. Neon and Dr. Cler will be here any minute!

INT. MEMBRANE HOUSE – FOYER – CONTINUOUS

A panicky Gabe looks for a hiding place. 

GA83: (PANICKED YELP) Oh no. Better ride this one out in the closet.

He OPENS the coat closet. Dib and Gaz are already huddled inside.

GAZ: Sorry, Gabe. This is our spot.

GA83: Oh yeah? Well, It’s my house too, so it’s also my spot.

DIB: Nu-uh because we called it.

GA83: (DEFIANT) Did not.

GAZ: Well, we’re calling it now.

GA83: (ALARMED) You are?

DIB: I’m afraid so.

GA83: (MOANS) They got me with their legal mumbo-jumbo.

INT. MEMBRANE HOUSE – LIVING ROOM – A SECOND LATER

Gabe looks around desperately. He lifts up the rug but FOODIO 3000 and CLEMBRANE are there. They GROWL at him as he cautiously lowers the rug.

SFX: DOORBELL. 

PROF. MEMBRANE: (V.O.) Just a second!

GA83: (PANICKED SOUND)

Gabe sees a tall bookcase, pushes it out from the wall, and ducks behind it.

GA83:  Huh. I never looked behind this whatchamacallit case before.

Gabe CHUCKLES and leans cockily against the wall. Strangely, his elbow passes through the solid wall.

GA83: Huh? 

(Gabe stares in disbelief as he slides his arm in and out of the wall. The wall shimmers slightly and there are occasional blue sparks around his arm.)

GA83: It's like something out of that show where Mr. Membrane does weird experiments on stuff.

INT. MEMBRANE HOUSE – FOYER – CONTINUOUS

Prof. Membrane opens the door and DR. CLER and PROF. NEON barge in.

DR. CLER: How are you doing, Prof. Membrane, sir?

(Prof. Neon starts to take off his heavy overcoat. It’s raining outside.)

PROF. NEON: Ugh. I’m melting like a metamorphic geode under this wet wool.

He OPENS the closet door, revealing Dib and Gaz. They attempt to look casual. 

DIB: (COVERING) Uhh….May I take your coat, Prof. Neon?

GAZ: (STILTED) I...would..also like to take your coat.

INT. MEMBRANE HOUSE – LIVING ROOM – A FEW SECONDS LATER

The morose-looking kids enter, followed by Prof. Membrane, Dr. Cler and Prof. Neon. Dr. Cler carries a large RATTLING sack.

PROF. NEON: Have we got a fun, sciencey activity for you!

DR. CLER: A pillowcase containing seashells from our expedition to Sulfur Bay.

PROF. NEON: You can help us clean, organize and label them.

DR. CLER: And remove all of the deceased crustaceans from within them. Go get a screwdriver.

Prof. Neon heads toward the bookcase where Gabe is hiding.

BEHIND THE MACHINE

Gabe's eyes widen in horror as Prof. Neon heads right toward him.

GA83: (STIFLED YELP) I’ll take my chances in the mystery wall.

Gabe steps through the wall and into… 

THE THIRD DIMENSION

We see a shimmering wall (a la Stargate). Gabe gradually emerges from it – first his groping hands, then his stomach, his face, and finally his entire body – all rendered in stunning 3-D COMPUTER GRAPHICS. Gabe steps toward the camera and looks around in awed disbelief at a wondrous landscape we can’t yet see.

GA83: (AWED) Holy macaroni! What is this place?

INT. MEMBRANE HOUSE – LIVING ROOM – SAME TIME

Newspapers are spread out on the floor and the rest of the family sits glumly prying hermit crabs, etc., out of the shells.

DR. CLER: (SLURPING SOUND, FOLLOWED BY SPITTING SOUND) Hey! You can just suck ‘em out!

GA83: (ECHOEY) Hello? Can anybody hear me?

Everyone looks around in confusion. (Note: All of Gabe's voice-overs have an unearthly quality.)

DIB: Gabe? Gabe, Where are you?

GA83: (V.O.) I’m somewhere where I don’t know where I am. 

GAZ: Do you see beakers? If you see beakers, you’re probably in the chemical closet again.

GA83: (V.O.) Just a second…No, no, it’s a place I’ve never been before.

PROF. NEON: Ah, the shower! (LAUGHS)

GA83: (V.O.) Hey!

IN THE THIRD DIMENSION

Gabe stands on an endless grid of glowing green lines. In a sweeping 360-degree tracking shot around Gabe, we see a sparse landscape of standard 3-D shapes, columns and the like, in various colors and textures. [ANIMATORS NOTE: The following equations appear on background objects: 1 + 1 = 2, e(fi) = -1, P = NP, 1782(12) + 1841(12) = 1922(12), m0 > 3H0(2)/8piG, 46 72 69 6E 6B 20 72 75 6C 65 73 21] Gabe gropes around looking for the entrance he came through.

GA83: (NOT ECHOEY) I don't wanna freak you guys out, but I think I might be trapped in here.

INT. MEMBRANE HOUSE – LIVING ROOM – SIMULTANEOUS

PROF. MEMBRANE: Son, you better call Ruby. She has a ladder.

IN THE THIRD DIMENSION

Gabe marvels at his three-dimensional body, running his hands over his bulging armor and his puffy limbs. 

GA83: What’s going on here? I’m so bulgy. My armor sticks way out in front and my…

He turns to see his rear end.

GA83: (SMALL SCREAM)

SCENE 8

INT. MEMBRANE HOUSE – LIVING ROOM – A FEW MINUTES LATER

Ruby stands atop her stepladder in the middle of the living room looking all-around at the top of the room.

RUBY: Well, as the tree said to the lumberjack – I’m stumped.

PROF. CLER: Hmm. It's like he disintegrated into CARBON dioxide. (LAUGHS)

GA83: Hey! Quit it!

IN THE THIRD DIMENSION

Gabe begins exploring this strange new world. He strolls curiously past the marble temple from the game “MYST”, then kneels at a reflecting pool. As New Age MUSIC plays, a school of hauntingly beautiful golden fish swims by and leaps into the air. Gabe continues on, passing a three-way street sign marking the intersection of X, Y, and Z streets. The chrome sign gleams with the standard 3-D shimmer effect.

GA83: Man, this is a once in a lifetime thing. I feel like I'm wasting it just standing here. (STARTS HUMMING) Better make the most of it. (BEAT, THEN) (YAWN)

A cone comes rolling across the ground like a tumbleweed. It bounces and jabs Gabe in the butt.

GA83: (RUBBING BUTT) Ow! Watch it, coney!

Gabe hurls the cone, sending it spinning towards the camera. It flies through the air, falls, and TEARS a small “black hole” in the grid (where the lines bend down into darkness). We hear a faint WHOOSHING SUCTION sound.

GA83: Oops...

INT. MEMBRANE HOUSE – LIVING ROOM – LATER

SARG. SLAB WRANKLE, MYSTERIOUS MYSTERIES HOST, COUNTESS. VON VERMINSTRASSER, and ZIM have arrived to help.

MYSTERIOUS MYSTERIES HOST: (CALLING OUT) Do you see a light, Gabe?

GA83: (V.O.) Yes. 

MYSTERIOUS MYSTERIES HOST: Move into the light.

GA83: (SIZZLING SOUND) Ow!

COUNT. VON VERMINSTRASSER: Gabe, this is Countess von Verminstrasser. Can you tell us what it’s like in there?

IN THE THIRD DIMENSION

Gabe looks around at the glittering landscape. The black hole has gotten slightly larger.

GA83: Um, it’s like, ahm… did anyone see last night’s "Mysterious Mysteries"?

IN THE LIVING ROOM

COUNT. VON VERMINSTRASSER: No.

GAZ: No.

SARG. SLAB RANKLE: No.

PROF. MEMBRANE: No.

DIB: No. 

DR. CLER: No.

SARG. SLAB RANKLE: No.

RUBY: No.

PROF. NEON: No.

ZIM: No.

MYSTERIOUS MYSTERIES HOST: No.

SARG. SLAB RANKLE: Yes. I mean no. No.

INT. MEMBRANE HOUSE – LIVING ROOM – A LITTLE LATER

The machine has been moved aside. Zim has drawn a chalk circle around the dimensional door in the wall. 

PROF. MEMBRANE: Well, where’s my son’s metal friend? 

ZIM: Well, it should be obvious to even the most dimwitted human worm baby– who holds an advanced degree in hyperbolic topology – that Genocide Automata Unit 83 has stumbled into… (DRAMATICALLY) the Third Dimension. (LIGHTS GO OUT)

DIB: (TURNS LIGHTS BACK ON) Sorry.

PROF. MEMBRANE: So THAT’S where that went! I was wondering where that portal had gotten to.

ZIM: SILENCE WORM BABY! Zim shall explain.

Zim draws a square on a blackboard.

ZIM: Here is an ordinary square…

SARG. WRANKLE: Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down, Shorty!

ZIM: But suppose we extend the square beyond the two dimensions of our universe, along the hypothetical Z-axis there.

Zim extends his chalk square into a cube. The onlookers GASP in astonishment. 

ZIM: This forms a three-dimensional object known as a “cube” or a “Zimahedron”, in honor of its discoverer. (CHUCKLES)

GA83: (SCARED) Help me! Are you helping me, or are you going on and on!?

ZIM: (AFTERTHOUGHT) Oh, right, and of course, within we find the doomed automata.

He draws a crude picture of Gabe trapped within the cube. Gabe's expression is one of unmitigated horror.

SARG. SLAB RANKLE: Enough of your yappin’, Haffpint! A bot’s life is at stake! We need action!

Rankle draws his gun and FIRES six shots into the portal.

SARG. SLAB RANKLE: Take that, you lousy dimension!

IN THE THIRD DIMENSION SCENE 9

Gabe cowers as the bullets zoom at him. At the last second, however, the bullets are pulled off course by the black hole, which is growing larger by the second. The bullets orbit around a few times, then spiral down into oblivion. Gabe peers into the black hole, scared. 

GA83: Oh, there’s so much I don’t know about astrophysics. I wish I'd stayed awake for Mr. Membrane’s 9-hour lecture on it.

Suddenly, Gabe's face starts to stretch and twist down the hole, becoming many meters long.

GA83: (DISTORTED SHRIEK)

He quickly yanks his face back. He backs away from the hole as it continues to widen. The WHOOSHING suction increases, pulling in objects, including the MYST Temple and the golden fish. OMINOUS MUSIC BUILDS.

INT. MEMBRANE HOUSE – LIVING ROOM – CONTINUOUS

The spectators mill about in consternation. Aikirita enters, wearing an old-fashioned deep-sea diving suit.

AKIRITA: I’ll save Gabe-san. All I need is four stout men to work the bellows.

Dib wheels out an old-timey hand-cranked generator, which is hooked up to Aikirita. Aikirita closes the porthole on her helmet and heads toward the wall. Membrane stops her.

PROF. MEMBRANE: No, Akirita, it’s too risky. For all we know, there could be cubes in there the size of gorillas and other large…

GA83: (V.O.) Help! I don’t have much time!

GAZ: That does it. I’m going in!

Gaz has tied a rope around her waist. She rushes toward the wall.

DIB: Gaz, no!

Before he can stop her, she vanishes into the wall.

IN THE THIRD DIMENSION

We see Gaz becoming three-dimensional as she steps through the portal. She looks around in wonder.

GAZ: Cool.

GAZ’S POV

The ROAR OF THE WIND is deafening as the black hole sucks in most of the remaining objects. Gaz sees a terrified Gabe on the far side of the vortex.

OVERHEAD SHOT

The black hole now takes up almost the entire universe. Gabe stands on a narrow ledge, trying not to fall in.

GA83:(CRAZED) IMGONNABESUCKEDINTOTHEBLACKHOLEIMGONNABESUCKEDINTOOBLIVIONIMGONNABENOTHINGANDWHATSWAITINGFORMEONWHENICOMEOUTTHEOTHERSIDE I DON’T KNOOOOW!

GAZ: I’ll save you, Gabe!

The sign for X, Y and Z streets is bent over the black hole like a palm tree in a hurricane. Gaz shimmies out to the end and extends her arm toward Gabe.

GAZ: Oh, I can’t get any closer! You’ll have to jump! 

GA83: (CONFIDENT) Piece of cake, Gaz!

Gabe attempts to fly over to Gaz but his turbines give out and he falls straight down the wall of the vortex and disappears breaking up into his component spheres, cubes, etc. On the way.)

GA83: (AS HE DISAPPEARS) CRUDCRUDCRUDCRUDCRUDCRUDCRUDCRUD!

The CREAKING street sign reaches its breaking point. It SNAPS off and falls into the black hole.

GAZ: (SCREAM)

Gaz tumbles into the darkness but is suddenly yanked out of frame by the rope as the entire grid COLLAPSES in on itself.

INT. MEMBRANE HOUSE – LIVING ROOM – CONTINUOUS

Wrankle, Verminstrasser, etc., jerk on the rope, pulling Gaz back in through the portal with an electric SPARK. There’s a beat of silence as Gaz shakily stands up and turns to Prof. Membrane.

PROF. MEMBRANE: Gazlene, what happened?!

GAZ: Well, we hit a little snag when the universe sorta collapsed on itself…. but Gabe seemed cautiously optimistic.

GA83: (DISTANT) CRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUD!

DIB: Oh, Gabe… 

MYSTERIOUS MYSTERIES HOST: Be strong, Dib. I’m sure he’s gone to a better place.

EXT. All – LIVE ACTION

There is an electrical CRACKLE, and a live-action CGI Gabe falls from the sky and lands in a dumpster.

GA83: (FALLING NOISE, PUNCTUATED BY ANNOYED GRUNT)

He dusts himself off, climbs out of the dumpster, and looks around.

GA83: Aw! This place is even worse!

He cautiously begins making his way down the sidewalk. PEDESTRIANS (including our regular voice cast members) pass by gawking and pointing at Gabe.

GA83: Omigosh… (TERRIFIED WHISPERS)

Under the closing credits, a frightened Gabe lumbers down the street past more wary pedestrians – a stranger in a strange land. As the credits close, Gabe looks in a store window.

GA83: (HAPPILY) Ooh, 50% off on comics!

Gabe perks up and confidently strides into the store.

FADE OUT:

THE END

[that1nkyone]

Spectrum Ch 29

[ 1 ] -  [ 2 ] - [ 3 ] - [ 4 ] - [ 5 ] - [ 6 ] - [ 7 ] - [ 8 ] - [ 9 ] - [ 10 ] - [ 11 ] - [ 12 ] - [13] - [ 14 ] - [15 ] - [ 16 ] - [ 17 ] - [ 18 ] - [19 ] - [ 20 ] - [ 21a ] - [ 21b ] - [22] - [23 (Intermission) ] - [ 24 ] - [ 25 ] - [ 26 ] - [ 27 ] - [ 28 ]

Hey! It’s been a while! Remember this story? Remember what’s happening?

... maybe I should do another recap at some stage.

Chapter 29! In which there’s discussions, repercussions and more than a few concussions.

---

“So… so you haven’t been able to SAVE.”

 Yellow boots fell into step behind yellow claws, padding upon the grimy, tiled floor.

Frisk took in a shaky breath.

“No… not since close to the start of all this.” They said, softly. “It’s… it hurts every time.”

The human had been grasping the front of their sweater nervously since they’d begun this conversation, trying to focus hard on simply getting the words out.

The scientist frowned, looking down.

“I see.” She muttered. “Man, it’s, uh - w-weird to be talking about this.” She laughed, nervously. “I-I didn’t think anyone e-except… Flowey knew about this stuff.”

Frisk gave her a weak smile, as Alphys’ face contorted in thought.

“… Y-you know, I always believed that it was Determination that gave… F-Flowey that ability to mess with the timeline. B-but I guess that was only half the picture?” Her claw curled beneath her chin. “You… you said that your ability stopped working around when Gaster became a problem.”

Frisk took in another shaky breath, their smile dropping. “…Uh-huh.”

The human really wished that they were talking about just about anything else.

Frisk had always struggled a lot to voice this topic in the past. Their ability to SAVE wasn’t something they’d wanted to openly discuss with anyone but Sans. But Alphys had been patient, and the human had slowly managed to get out the main points of their story as they’d meandered down the hall.

They’d quickly (and nervously) told the scientist that they didn’t want to use their ability to abuse time, nor did they intend on using it again - but to their surprise, Alphys hadn’t seemed concerned about that at all. She’d smiled reassuredly at them and Frisk realized that she really did trust them on that front. They wondered why they hadn’t expected that.

Instead, she’d seemed more interested in the mechanics behind their ability - trying to piece together how it all worked.

The human was startled out of their thoughts to feel a claw on their shoulder, and looked up at the scientist.

“F-Frisk… we can take a break talking about this for now, if you like.” Alphys said, softly. “I don’t… want to make you remember anything terrible.”

She withdrew her hand. “I just want to know if there’s maybe a reason why… G-Gaster would be chasing after you.”

The human breathed out, releasing their sweater.

“Yeah…”

They frowned, thinking hard. Their nerves were starting to fade.

“… I think I have an idea why Gaster would want me to start from my last SAVE.” Frisk said. “Maybe he wants to… to do things differently?”

Alphys blinked, snapping her fingers.

“O-Of course!” She frowned. “… but that wouldn’t make sense unless he remembered your time travel. A-and, if I’m correct in my theory - only those in control of the timeline remember - right?”

She looked over at Frisk.

“S-so… only you would remember anything, right?”

Frisk frowned, slightly.

“I… I think so.”

There’d been some exceptions to that rule. For instance, they knew Sans never explicitly remembered time jumps. He’d told them that, himself.

But…

They couldn’t help but think of the voice that had screeched from their own phone, about ten minutes earlier.

 —

 HE’LL REMEMBER.

THEREFORE, HE’LL WIN. 

 —

 Their gaze rose to the white, floating spectre, leading them further and further down the hall.

“… I’m not sure if I’m the only one.” They admitted.

Frisk was startled when the yellow, spherical shield that surrounded them suddenly brightened, humming a little louder. They glanced up at the scientist, who was staring with her eyes narrowed directly at the strange, white creature. Her arm remained high in the air, electricity crackling around her claw.

“You don’t have to keep holding that up, Alphys.” Frisk said, blinking.

“A-a-after what you’ve told me, a-and after what this guy tried to do, I-I’m not taking any chances!” Alphys said, sternly.

Memoryhead moved like a spectre, leaving a trail of white pixels in its wake. The phone at Frisk’s side had made no sound, since they’d left the room.

They’d been trailing after the creature, encased in Alphys’ bubble shield, ever since they’d left the room with the DT Extractor. The scientist had been wary of any potential danger - and even Frisk was still reeling from the terrifying experience that had happened almost ten minutes earlier. But Memoryhead had made no move to attack them, nor block their path.

“I can’t believe we’re following this thing.” The scientist sighed. “D-didn’t it just try to take out a chunk of your SOUL?”

“Yeah.” Frisk said, staring hard at it. “But it knew a lot of things. And I think it does want to help us.”

They frowned. “I just don’t think it really knew the right way to.”

“Do you think it knows any better, now?” Alphys asked, blinking.

The human shook their head. “I’m not sure…”

By all means, Frisk should have felt cautious. Even if this creature no longer meant them harm, it was still a little unpredictable.

All the same, they couldn’t help but feel that Alphys’ shield was probably unnecessary.

The human watched as Memoryhead turned to face them once more, patiently waiting for them to follow.

Frisk waved back at it.

It cowered in response. They lowered their hand, perplexed.

“… F-Frisk, I don’t know what you did, back there…” Alphys muttered, as the Memoryhead hurriedly turned to continue on its way. “… but I think it’s scared of you?”

The human shrugged. “I don’t know.” They turned back to face Alphys with a small smile. “You were the one who really told it off, back there.”

“W-well, yeah! But who the heck would ever be scared of me?!” Alphys huffed, her shield brightening some more.

They continued on down the hall. While the darkness was as encroaching and intimidating as always, Frisk found themselves much more relaxed. The stench of batteries that had assailed them and the screeching electronic noises were all gone.

They couldn’t quite find it in themselves to be afraid of this place.

And the next time the Memoryhead paused to look back at them, it made no further movement at their approach.

Alphys grew hesitant, stopping on the spot.

“What now?” She mumbled, gently pushing Frisk behind her.

The white creature watched them, quietly. Frisk noted another small green glimmer from within it. It seemed to shudder at the glow, a low electronic hum reverberating from it.

The human frowned, concerned enough to step out from behind Alphys.

“What’s the matter?”

The being silenced. And after a short pause, it turned to the hallway wall beside it.

Frisk blinked. It was one of the many large, black monitors that lined the halls of the True Lab. The green text glowed faintly in the darkness, flickering on at their presence.

This monitor was still displaying one of Alphys’ log entries. The Memoryhead tilted its form at the sight, and Alphys suddenly stumbled forward, waving her hands in embarrassment. The electric bubble shield fizzled out as she did so.

“W-wait… wait…” A bead of sweat formed on her head. “That’s not meant to be - I-I was in a bad place when I wrote - ”

Memoryhead suddenly extended a limb to the left of the monitor. The formless limb pressed into the wall - and Frisk was startled to see a small patch of concrete slide away, revealing a small, black, square pad.

Alphys blinked. “… Huh?”

The Memoryhead withdrew its limb. The pad was glassy and dark, and Frisk could see green light flickering within it.

Hesitant, the creature slowly reached for it again, its limb splitting into five points. It pressed them against the surface. A green light scanned downwards, and the device beeped an affirmative.

The large, black monitor suddenly jutted out a little more from the wall. It swivelled into a portrait position, and a very different display of green glyphs appeared upon the black screen.

Frisk squinted at the symbols. They couldn’t read any of them.

Another limb peeled away from the creature, its tip separating into five digits as well. It deftly typed upon the symbols, and Frisk and Alphys were startled when a door-shaped chunk of the neighbouring wall suddenly pushed in with a loud CLANK.

With an electronic hum, it slid up into the ceiling…

 …revealing a dark, cavernous chamber that Frisk had never seen before.

 Alphys stepped forward, blinking slowly. She seemed more fascinated than alarmed.

“…Th-this is…”

The room was huge - almost hundreds of feet in length and width, Frisk thought. The floor was industrial concrete, but the walls appeared to have been carved out from the caverns. The lights, connected to wires that snakes up the walls, were dim - a fierce emergency red.

There was a mess of towering machines scattered about at the cavelike walls of the place. The centre of the room was spacious. Pipes and wires snaked up the sides of the room, towards the very top of the cavern.

But what caught Frisk’s attention was the floor. It seemed to be covered in burns, and chalk dust - circular glyphs and symbols scrawled out upon it.

A large ’S-7’ was painted in faded yellow upon the concrete floor.

“… what is this place?” The human asked, stepping forward.

Alphys stepped up beside them, her eyes wide as her gaze drifted about the room.

“… Backup generators… power grids…” She looked upwards at the pipes and wires. “… Th-there’s the water supply for the main power chamber…”

Alphys looked over at Frisk, blinking slowly.

“… we’re in the CORE Underground.” She said, in quiet wonder. “I-I was… never allowed down here. It was all sealed off - f-for the most part.”

Frisk blinked, startled.

“… We’re underneath the facility?”

The scientist nodded, still deep in thought as she observed the room. Her gaze rose, and her spines drooped.

“… Oh my God.”

Frisk followed her gaze. There, in the upper-corner of the room, was the blinking red light of a security camera.

The red recording light was flickering wildly, and the lens was cracked. Whatever footage it was gaining would not be all that comprehensible.

Alphys carefully wrung her hands.

“… so… this must be where Gaster worked.” She mumbled. “All those years ago.”

Frisk’s stomach dropped at that. They glanced down at the floor.

And were startled to see a myriad of white, dusty shards.

“… Alphys?”

The scientist spun to face Frisk - then her gaze travelled further to the right, her eyes suddenly becoming wide.

“No way.”

Frisk turned as well - their gaze following the trail of shards to the shattered remains of a Blaster skull.

It lay scattered at the base of a cylindrical machine, overhanging tubes and wires still attached to what remained of it.

Frisk swallowed, stepping back.

Several more machines of this nature lined the wall. Only one or two were occupied with dusty shards of Blaster remains - the rest had been emptied.

Alphys approached their left, adjusting her glasses. She traded her fear for observation, peering closer at the machines.

“…I-it looks like Gaster made Blasters using these.” She mused, quietly. “… I-It doesn’t look like a lot of them made it out well-developed, though.”

Frisk blinked, slowly. So many shards and chunks appeared to have been left behind by the finished product.

“… The ones Gaster had at the beginning looked a lot less like… this.” They knelt beside the lifeless skull on the floor, frowning.

There’d been a time when they’d been deeply afraid of these things. Now, Frisk couldn’t help but see a little of Sans or Papyrus in them.

 They weren’t sure how to feel about that.

 The human heard Alphys stepping away from them, and they glanced up. The scientist was heading towards the center of the room, staring at the circular, chalk-white glyphs drawn on the charred concrete.

Frisk stood and hurried after her.

“… What’re these?”

Alphys held her claws, her lenses going white in the dim light.

“… r-really old magic.” She mumbled. “I’m not too familiar with this.”

Frisk blinked. “Old magic?”

Alphys bent down, picking up a bone from the middle of the circle. The human peered closely, realizing that it was actually a fairly large Blaster tooth.

“… he must have made those first Blasters using this method.” Alphys said, quietly. “Th-these are arcane circles - h-he must have taken these teeth… and infused them with magic the old-fashioned way.”

She looked back the the machinery. “B-but maybe he started… wanting to speed up production…?” A claw rose to her chin. “I-I wonder what materials he used? They’re not like any other creature I’ve seen in the Underground…”

It probably wasn’t a question that was going to be answered anytime soon, Frisk thought. Gaster’s methods of crafting weaponry were perhaps too old-fashioned or complicated for them to comprehend.

“…Oh!”

Frisk was startled out of their thoughts as Alphys suddenly dropped the tooth. They followed her gaze, noticing that there was a large, hulking door at the end of the room. It reached upwards, almost halfway up to the cavernous ceiling.

And to the right, there was a huge wall filled entirely with switches. Below these switches was a control panel that curved inwards like a ‘C’ shape, the many buttons dimly flickering.

Frisk blinked, as Alphys scurried over. The wall reminded them of those old fuse boxes they’d seen outside of houses on the Surface - only there were ten times more switches than they remembered.

“What’s that?” They asked, as Alphys arrived at the control panel. She began reading the labels on the buttons.

“ ‘Upper Hotland…’ ‘Snowdin Town…’ ’King Asgore’s Castle…’ “

Frisk watched as the scientist’s features brightened.

“… I-It’s the power network! Th-this is where the CORE distributes its power into the entire Underground!”

Her eyes suddenly grew wide in terror.

“… He must have redistributed power to the CORE itself! N-no wonder the CORE’s getting more unstable!”

Frisk rushed over. “Can you shut it off?”

Alphys shook her head. “This is a redistributor. I-I still need to get to the CORE controls to try shutting it down.”

Her gaze grew firm. “B-But I can definitely buy us some time, so the CORE’s not under so much pressure!”

Alphys got to work, her claws stampeding at the controls.

“W-we’ll still need some power to make our way back up to the main control floor. But I’m not letting this place get overloaded!”

Frisk nodded. Then, they blinked and looked over their shoulder, back towards the passage of the True Lab.

Glowing faintly in the darkness, Memoryhead still lingered at the doorway.

It appeared nervous.

Hesitant at first, Frisk turned to face it.

“…Aren’t you gonna come with us?” They asked. The being seemed to flinch away at the question.

“C-come with us?” Alphys’ voice sailed over their shoulder. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

Frisk turned to face the scientist.

“… I don’t know if it’s a good idea to be left alone in there.” They said, with a small frown.

The scientist blinked, looking down at the controls.

“… you can say that again.” She said, her claws beginning to stampede on the buttons.

The human turned and hurried back over to the True Lab passage. Memoryhead observed them in silence, its warped features all narrowing as it withdrew slightly. Frisk stopped up, a good five feet away from it.

“I didn’t mean to scare you.” They said, waving their hands. The creature seemed a little more at ease, leaning back in towards the doorway. Yet Frisk noted they seemed hesitant to venture any further.

“You knew about this place.” They said.

Three eyes opened on the creature. The gaze was astray, as if hesitant, and Frisk crossed their arms in thought.

“You really know a lot about the Lab and the CORE, huh?”

Memoryhead grew still. Frisk watched it, startled, as another green glimmer seemed to illuminate their being, briefly.

It twitched and flickered on the spot, and the human stepped forward, hands raised.

“Sorry.” They said, quickly. “A-are you okay?”

The Memoryhead stilled. Its eyes closed, and its spectral form seemed to droop a little, as if weighed down.

Frisk lowered their hands. The creature looked exhausted, and the human feared that it would vanish at any second.

So, they took a deep breath.

 “… We really need to save our friends.”

 The Memoryhead’s three eyes reopened. Frisk stood up straight to face it.

“… I know you’re scared… but if there’s anything else you can do to help us, we’d really appreciate it.” They said, softly.

There was a silence. Frisk glanced down at the shards of bone on the ground, from the shattered Blaster skull, nearby.

“I’m pretty scared, too.” They smiled. “You already know that.”

They were startled when a white limb reached forward into their vision. Blinking, they stepped back as the Memoryhead slowly picked up a bone shard from the ground.

The shard crumbled to dust in its grasp.

The being looked down at Frisk, another green glimmer rippling through its form. It seemed more concentrated, this time - focusing in on its center.

Hesitant, the human extended a hand.

“… Maybe you shouldn’t be in the lab, at the very least.” They offered, with a small shrug.

“N-nobody should!”

Frisk spun around, startled to hear Alphys’ voice calling across the room from the controls.

“Nothing good ever- ever happens there!” The lizard monster added, still hammering at the buttons.

She’d briefly turned to eye the Memoryhead with some suspicion. The creature veered back, slightly.

Her gaze dropped to Frisk, and she gave a quick smile before turning back to the controls. The lights began to dim, slightly - the power-down causing the facility’s turbines to groan.

Frisk turned back to the Memoryhead, still hovering at the True Lab’s doorway. It had lost its features, once more, as it gazed down at the pile of bone shards.

With renewed certainty, Frisk held out their hand, again.

“You can stick real close to us, if you like.” They offered.

Memoryhead hesitated.

Then, it drifted forward, finally leaving the Lab that it had haunted for years.

      < HuNtInG! >

                                                                                                          < LoOk LiKE us! LoOK liKe US! LoOK AT US! >

 < fAStER FaStER fAStER FAsTeR! >

                                                        < wATcHing yOU! WaTCHinG yOU!! SeE YoU!! >

  It was dark.

The dim lighting that remained was an all-encompassing violet. It seeped into the steel walls. It stained them.

The beast heard the chatter from far behind him. It echoed everywhere. Shrieks and roars and growls.

 < BrOkE it! BrOKe iT! BReAk aNd bRoKE! >

                                                             < He’LL bE ANgRieR aNd AnGrIEr ANd aNgRIEr aND aNgRieR - >

                        < SHaRds aNd DUsT! DuSTy sHaRDs! >

                                                                                                               < WHere ArE yOU? WhERe aM I? WHerE Are tHEy? >

 Out.

 The beast wanted to get out.

 Away from those voices, away from those faces, away from… whatever had put them here in the first place.

He did not want to be here. Not for any longer.

His claws pounded the steel beneath him. And the claws of the Other kept pace beside him. The taller, slender skeletal creature who’d been with him since…

 … since the beginning?

 When had that been?

It didn’t matter. He had to escape this place. The both of them did.

That was all that mattered. Nothing else.

The two of them had been running for a while, now. There was no move to fight back. There were too many skulls. Too many faces.

Too many jaws saying too many things.

The beast didn’t like it.

They’d been chased - away from the circular passage that they’d awoken in. They’d turned left, right… up and down steps. They’d retreated away from the violet light that seeped into everything, and run deep into the darkness.

They could see, at the very least. But they were still lost. The beast didn’t know where they were. He couldn’t remember.

He only remembered… a room. Lights blinking in front of him.

A tall, dark figure.

Hands. Many of them. Hands with holes that surged forward.

 Driving into his forehead.

 His sternum constricted, and he shook his head.

No. No thinking.

He did not want to think on that any further. Useless thoughts.

He just wanted to get out.

Something caught his eyesocket, to the left. A break in the darkness. A change in the wall that rushed by him.

Snapping to attention, he spun to the Other.

< this way! >

He grasped the Other’s upper foreleg gently - but firmly - in his jaws, and slammed on the brakes with a screech. The Other gave a startled yelp, but he didn’t lose momentum as he was redirected.

It was a turnoff. A new direction.

They’d both arrived at a long hall -  a dim, blue light glimmering at the very end.The steel beneath them changed in pattern. The ceiling above them was plaster, instead of steel.

Something different. Something new.

That was a start.

The whine of a laser charge filled the air, and the Beast and the Other exchanged a glance. They both ducked down, a flurry of laser fire shooting over their heads.

He felt his spines burn and he gave a yowl as the heat of the blasts scorched him. The skulls pursuing them chattered from a good distance behind them.

The Beast knew that the duo could not duck into shelter, nor change direction. They were trapped in a straight line.

There was a screech on steel as he suddenly slammed his claws into the floor, screeching to a stop. He whirled around, laser fire and smoke building up in his jaws.

< B a c k ! > He roared.

The Other spun to join him as they both shot lasers up into the ceiling of the hall. Smoke and debris clattered down from above their pursuers. They spun away and continued to run.

Most of the horde that had pursued them were chattering and shrieking in the confusion of the chaos. Two skulls, however, had charged through the smoke - making a beeline towards the retreating skeletal creatures.

 The skulls would not stop. The Beast knew this. They would keep being chased if they kept running like this.

 But if he could distract them…

He glanced over to the Other, blinking.

If he distracted them, then one of them could get to safety…

The Beast wanted to leave this place. He knew that.

But there was something more important than that, he knew.

He spun around to face the oncoming skulls. The Other noticed this, and stumbled to a stop.

< WHAT ARE YOU DOING? >

The Beast snarled back at him, with urgency.

< you go! keep moving! >

Protecting… yes. He would distract them, he would take the fire. The Other could get away, unharmed.

It made sense. He didn’t understand why, but that didn’t bother him, anymore. It felt right.

The Other needed to be protected.

The two other skulls charged forward, light gathering in their maws. His tail twitched, as he began to do the same.

 And then, he was shoved aside by a force far too strong to be a single skull.

 The two beams of light skimmed past him, barely singing his shoulderblade.

The frustration was instant. He spun and snapped at the culprit - and was startled when he realised it was the Other.

He'd crouched beside the Beast, having ducked out of the way of the blast himself. The Other snarled back over at him, and the Beast growled, confused.

< i said to go! > said the Beast, spines raised.

< WHAT ABOUT YOU?! > The Other said, huffing.

The Beast shook his head. < chasing us both. > He turned back to the two skulls, who had swung around, preparing for another attack. < you keep moving. i stop them. >

The Other snorted, like some kind of stubborn pup.

< NO. >

There was a pause.

< no? > The Beast asked.

< YOU CAN’T. > The Other replied, almost incredulously. < YOU’RE TOO SLOW. >

There was a brief pause.

Then, the Beast swiped out a claw, tripping up the Other’s foreleg.

The lankier of the skeletal creatures fell forward with a yelp, out of the path of the laser blast. The Beast dodged just as quickly, as the two skulls swept over them with incessant chatter.

< ‘slow?’ > he chuffed down at him.

He yowled in surprise as the grounded Other kicked up into his sternum, and he staggered back.

< SLOW. > The Other sprang to his feet, ducking down to avoid a skull that had flown in from above. < SLOW… AND LAZY! WHY DON’T YOU RUN?! >

The Beast gave a low growl back. < you run! stay out of my way! >

The Other seemed to bristle at this, stepping back.

There was a loud shriek from their left. The Beast reacted, but not fast enough - instead it was the Other who had responded, spinning on the spot in time to face an incoming skull.

It shrieked, gathering light in its maw - but he darted forward, clamping his jaws over its own snout. He tossed it hard against the wall. It bounced off and across the floor, before righting itself in the air and speeding off with a shriek.

The Other turned to look back at him stubbornly, his tail giving a proud wag.

< STAYING HERE! > He huffed.

The Beast's patience was running thin. He heard the second skull swoop in from beside him, and he immediately snapped to attention - leaping up and swiping down at the creature. The skull hit the ground and it screeched as he landed upon it, forepaws shattering it into shards. It fell silent.

< numbskull!! > He spat at the Other.

The taller skeletal creature shoved him, snarling.

< KNUCKLEHEAD!! >

A shriek sounded, and they both spun to face the source, startled.

The battered skull that the Other had tossed earlier hovered at their left. It floated in front of the smoke that the two of them had created - and several other floating skulls were emerging from the haze.

Sweat beaded on the Beast’s forehead.

They had been too loud. Waited too long.

< move!! > The Beast snapped at the Other, turning to face the horde. But he suddenly felt a tug around his neck, and he was being pulled and yanked backwards.

The Other had bitten down on some strange, soft material that was embedded in his collarbone.

< YOU MOVE! > The Other growled at him, muffled.

As a bright light formed in the maws of the other skulls, the Beast realized that there was no room for argument, this time. He turned away from the horde, and the Other released him as they charged away. The collective laser impacted feet from them.

Sparks and smoke blew out from behind them, and the two continued dashing down the hall, towards the light of the exit.

They drew closer and closer. They were almost ready to leave this place behind.

And just as suddenly as the Beast had begun to feel the relief of escape, the light was blotted out.

The two of them slammed on the brakes as several floating skulls clustered before them, at the doorway.

< how did they… ? > The Beast stepped back, snarling. Then, he caught sight of a turnoff, further up the hall - close to the exit.

He glanced over his shoulder, seeing the remainder of the group emerging from the smoke.

The group of skulls had split up and surrounded them.

They may have been broken and nonsensical, but they functioned well enough as a pack.

Fire built in his jaws. They could try breaking through - but they would be swarmed again.

A low snarl vibrated through his chest. Roaring and lasers could only work for so long. What else could they do?

< we go forward. > He said.

< NO. >

The Beast spun to the Other - who was, strangely, staring up at the ceiling. He followed his gaze, blinking when it arrived at the cracks in the plaster. A couple small chunks fell free - loose from the blast they’d done, earlier.

< WE GO UP. > The Other said, fire crackling in his jaws.

And with that, he shot the beam up into the ceiling.

Debris clattered down. Dust and plaster billowed out from the impact, and the floating skulls were thrown in disarray once more.

The Beast ducked back out of the way of the falling debris. He could barely make out the Other rearing up on his hind legs, clawing away chunks of plaster at the large hole in the ceiling, before pulling himself up through the opening.

He turned on the spot and peered back down, his eye sockets glowing orange in the darkness.

< FOLLOW ME! >

The Beast heard the loud, confused chatters and cries in the haze around him, and quickly leapt up through the hole the Other had made. He had to wriggle a bit to get through - his ribcage was wider than that of the Other.

Besides the dim light and smoke that billowed up from the newly-made hole, they found themselves in pitch blackness. It was another long dark hall, the Beast could see - much like the one they’d left. The floor was tiled, rather than steel. There was no sign of light - not even in the direction where the exit had been.

The chatter of the other skulls rose from beneath them, and the Beast crouched down, suddenly cautious.

< quiet. > He rumbled. The Other picked up on his behaviour and dipped his head, his body crouched and careful.

The Beast glanced down at their newly-made escape, still billowing with smoke.

< need to leave. > He said. < skulls will see. they’ll come through, soon. >

The Other nodded. < WE’LL FIND ANOTHER WAY, THEN. > He began to trot down the darkened hall - but paused when the Beast didn't follow, instead remaining poised at the hole.

< … WHAT IS IT? >

The Beast looked up at him.

< they’ll keep following. > He said. < we make too much noise. they’ll keep chasing us. >

He looked back down at the hole, then turned to look behind him.

< exit is close. >

He deftly hopped over the hole, walking past the Other. He positioned his skull facing downwards, at the none-too-blastproof tiled floor - and the layer of plaster ceiling beneath it.

The Beast would drop behind the pack, this way. Leading them away from the exit.

< i’ll distract. > He said, his bottom jaw clicking open, and fire beginning to spark in his teeth. < you go the other way. get away before they see you. escape. >

There was a pause.

 < NO. >

 The flames died in his jaws. He turned to face the Other, his orange-lit eye sockets narrowed in the darkness.

< TOO MANY TO FIGHT ALONE. > He said. < WE GO FIND A WAY AROUND. >

The Beast turned on him.

< you need to be safe. > He said, firmly. < you’ll be hurt. >

The Other frowned.

< TOLD YOU BEFORE. I’M NOT LEAVING. > He said, simply.

The Beast blinked.

< why? >

< YOU’RE BEING DUMB. > Came the reply. < IT’S A DUMB IDEA. >

The Beast snarled in frustration. The Other was being too stubborn. (As usual.)

< you listen. > He growled. < supposed to listen to me. trust. >

The Other seemed to shrink back at this.

< I NEED TO HELP YOU. > He said, firmly.

The Beast huffed, turning back to face the floor.

< you don’t need to. don’t have to worry. >

< WHY SHOULDN’T I?! > Came a low growl. < YOU CAN’T EVEN PROTECT YOURSELF! >

There was a sudden silence.

The Beast turned to face the Other, eyesockets gleaming light blue. His sternum was tight, his tail beginning to twitch.

< say that again. > He growled, his voice soft and dangerous.

The stubborn pup had the nerve to snarl back.

< YOU CAN’T PROTECT YOURSELF!! I CAN’T LEAVE YOU ALONE - >

 Something in the Beast snapped.

 He was flying at the Other with claws outstretched before he even registered it.

His claws slammed down on the side of the Other's ribcage and the taller skeletal creature was slammed onto his side - pinned to the floor. He'd been too startled to dodge.

And just as suddenly as the Beast had acted, a pang shot through his chest.

 Wrong.

 Still, the Beast remained there, snarling lowly. The Other struggled under his claws, pushing back with an indignant growl.

< GET OFF!! >

< no. > He growled. He was trying to be reasonable. Trying to make the Other see. < you get away from here. you run, and be safe. i will be fine . >

< NO, YOU WON’T. > The Other growled, lowly.

He began to struggle, again - and the Beast grew frustrated.

< quiet! they’ll find us! >

< I HAVE TO GET YOU OUT OF HERE! > The Other shot back, growling louder, pushing harder against his claws.

< no! > He hissed back down < you can’t stay! i can’t protect you like this! >

The Beast was startled when the Other suddenly stopped struggling. His orange-lit eyesockets had grown wide, and confused.

< ...P-PROTECT…? > 

The Beast hesitated for a second. It cost him - and he was finally shoved away. He stumbled backwards as the Other sprang to his feet, turning to stare at him.

< I’M SUPPOSED TO BE PROTECTING YOU! > He said, incredulous.

The Beast stepped back, blinking.

 … huh?

 There was a loud screech.

He ducked down, as another floating skull shot out of the darkness and whipped over his spines. It seemed to be alone, having wandered from the main group, up through the hole in the floor. The Other snapped at it, and it darted away, light gathering in its jaws.

The Beast charged forward, shoving the Other out of the beam’s path. They both continued to run down the dark hall with the momentum. The laser skimmed over their heads and illuminated their surroundings in a blinding white.

The Beast spun to the Other, growling lowly.

< wrong! > He said. < it’s my job! i protect you! >

That was the way it was supposed to be. That was the way it had always been! Where had the Other gotten such a strange idea?

< YOU’RE HURT!! > The Other shot back at him, the rage disappearing from his expression. < THIS PLACE IS… IT’S HURTING YOU!! YOU NEED TO LEAVE! >

Another blast skimmed over their backs. The area lit up in burning white, once again

And in the illumination, the Beast saw the crack in the Other’s eye socket, clear as day.

And for a brief second, he could have sworn that he'd seen a large, black, gaping hole - right there in the Other’s head.

 The image vanished, and the Beast hurriedly shook his head, growling lowly.

< they’ll get you. > He shot back, insistently. < they’ll get you, again! now, go! >

The Other shook his head again, and the Beast saw distress in his features, this time. The taller skeletal creature glanced over his shoulder, stopping in his tracks and kicking out with his back legs at the pursuing skull.

It went flying back with the impact, with an indignant screech.

The Beast stumbled to a stop as the Other suddenly darted forward, into his path. The orange light in his eyes were blazing, as he swerved to face him.

< YOU ALWAYS DO THIS!! > He cried.

The Beast froze. He stepped back, eyesockets wide.

< YOU ALWAYS GET HURT! YOU ALWAYS GET TIRED!! I NEED TO PROTECT YOU!! >

There was a long silence. Something was stirring in the Beast's mind. A conflict. A voice.

It wasn’t… this wasn’t supposed to happen. The Other was not meant to worry, not like this.

(But he did. He had - he always had.)

A wave of dizziness overcame the the Beast, and he shook out his skull.

This was...

... how long had things been like this?

< YOU ARE TIRED. YOU ALWAYS ARE. >

The Beast looked over at the Other, who was now staring down at the tiles.

< AND NOW YOU ARE HURT. > He whined, quietly. < IF... IF I LEAVE YOU ALONE, NOW… >

He looked back up at the Beast.

< … YOU MIGHT NOT COME BACK. >

A chill went through his bones. He took a step back.

Was he... had he really not considered any of this? He was trying to protect the Other, not abandon him.

... but that wasn't the problem, was it? The Beast was... he was strong. He was strong, he could fix this. He could distract the floating skull swarm, he could control the situation. The Other would be safe, and then everything would be okay.

He could fix this... he could control this... he could protect...

... why didn't any of that sound right, anymore?

 < YOU’LL DISAPPEAR. >

The Beast looked up, no longer in his thoughts. The Other was staring hard into space, and he realized that he was trembling - his bones rattling softly with tremors.

< YOU’LL DISAPPEAR, AND I WON’T SEE YOU, ANYMORE. I WON’T KNOW WHERE YOU ARE! >

Something clenched in the Beast’s own SOUL.

< I AM STAYING HERE! > The Other snarled at him. < SO YOU DON’T… DO ANYTHING STUPID!! >

There was a long silence.

The Beast stared at the Other in the darkness. He found himself without anything to say, or do.

Nothing he'd thought before sounded right, anymore. The Beast wasn't sure if it was because he'd given up, or... simply because he'd been wrong. This wasn't about fixing things, quickly. 

His gaze lowered under the Other's stare.

 < i… >

 There was a series of shrieks, and the Other’s upset gaze grew startled - directed over the Beast’s shoulder. He snapped to attention and spun around, stepping backwards to the Other’s side.

Several pairs of glowing white rings rose out the gaping hole in the floor. The light illuminated their surroundings the slightest bit - casting stark shadows on the chipped and marred surfaces of the pointed, jagged skulls.

The horde had found them.

The Beast stepped back. He did not shoot, nor move to run. His mind was full - stunned. He couldn’t think of a plan.

He didn't have control... he couldn't fix anything. He understood, now.

He'd failed. He'd been weak. He'd been foolish. 

The Beast had been weak, in many ways. Some small part of himself felt ashamed that his physical strength had not been enough to eliminate the danger. But there were other parts, he knew. Other parts that had been rash, and fearful and selfish. 

He'd done this.

A small voice rose in his consciousness, and his head rose - watching the Other step forward. He'd moved in front of him, giving a brief rattle of his bones as if to intimidate the swarm of skulls that chattered their teeth in response.

The Beast looked up at the group, his bones feeling as heavy as stone.

... he'd done this...

 The light gathered in the jaws of the horde. The Other was poised in his stance, ready to jump back…

And suddenly, a throbbing pain wracked the Beast's skull.

He flinched, a low, surprised snarl escaping him. It was in his eye socket. It was... flashing, lighting up the pitch black area with yellow and blue...

The Other had noticed. He’d quickly spun to face the Beast, his eye sockets wide and alarmed.

< WHAT IS THAT?! >

An electronic hum surrounded them all. It was loud - almost deafening for the Beast. The Other seemed to register it, suddenly looking around, alert. A couple of the skulls seemed to be reacting similarly, inspecting the air nearby. But the main bulk of the horde were still more interested in approaching the two skeletal creatures.

One skull floated closer, snarling as its surroundings grew lit by the fire in its teeth.

The electric hum suddenly became a loud screech. Instinctively, the Beast braced himself.

< get down. > He whispered.

A streak of black sliced across the air in front of the approaching floating skull.

 It shattered into shards.

 The air sliced open around them - gashes of blackness even darker than their surroundings. An earsplitting roar echoed through the halls.

The skull horde began to shriek and scatter, swarming about in a confused panic. One skull clattered to the floor, several clean holes punctured in its jaw as it rattled upon the tiled floor, chattering loudly as shards dropped off it.

The Beast paid no attention. Instead, he’d crouched to the floor, eyesockets narrowed in pained focus.

It was like something was trying to split his skull open.

The pain was immense, but he focused hard. He shut his bad eye and ducked his head down, hearing the skulls dart about in panic.

He watched as one flew into a rift. He watched as several holes suddenly tore into its fragile cranium. The lights in its eyesockets went out before it hit the tiled floor with a smash.

His gaze darted to the Other. He too, had ducked down - with the same wariness about the black scars in the air.

The Beast shut both eyes, his skull throbbing terribly.

He had no control over any of this. It was a horrible pain. But it was familiar.

... It was another familiar piece. Another memory. He could process that, now.

He stubbornly held onto the thoughts he had, the feelings, the hazy memories that he’d seen. Everything in this moment.

The Beast held on to what he had.

It was moments before he’d realised that the roaring of the dark rifts stopped. The cacophony had faded, giving way to the muted chatterings of skulls.

Relief flooded him as the pain in his head grew less and less intense. He shakily tried to rise onto his feet, managing to take in his darkened, blurred surroundings.

The rifts were gone. But they had obliterated much of the horde. The remainder, seven more skulls, drifted about aimlessly in stunned confusion.

His gaze flicked to the Other. He was still crouched, and safe, quietly staring down at the dusty shards upon the tiled floor.

< … F-FEEL ILL. > He trilled, shakily.

The sound of static suddenly trickled into the Beast’s senses. He blinked, finding it familiar. It was a call.

He knew it. The Other knew it, too. And so did the other floating skulls.

The horde suddenly aligned into a perfect formation, drifting away from the two of them.

 < SaFe. >

                                                                                                               < NeEd tO Be sAFe. >

 < HE’s hERe. hE’ll FIx uS. >

                                                                   < FIx It! fiX IT! FIX IT! >

 The skulls whizzed past them, down the hall and into the darkness. Their chattering echoed off the walls, before finally fading into silence.

The two glanced at each other a moment.

Then, they both crumpled to the ground, exhausted.

The Other panted heavily, while the Beast trembled with fatigue. His skull was throbbing. His mind was full, trying to sort through the things he’d managed to hold onto.

He was annoyed at how hard it was to put the pieces together. Hard to think. The Beast knew things were muddled, out of place. He pushed against the haze that plagued him, tried to reach out to the fragments.

But was no good. He was stressed, exhausted. He couldn't fix this.

Not at the moment.

 < … NO GOOD. >

 His gaze darted to the Other, who was pushing himself back up on his long, shaky legs. His eyesockets briefly flickered white, briefly, before he looked over at him.

< … I WANT TO PROTECT YOU. YOU WANT TO PROTECT ME. > He looked down, frowning. < WE ARE NOT VERY GOOD AT THIS. >

The Beast chuffed, quietly.

It was odd. Silly, even. Now more than ever, the Beast was afraid for the Other. But all the same, he knew he could rely on him.

What was that called? What did that mean?

< …are we a pack? > He asked, doubting the word as it slipped out.

The Other tilted his head in thought.

< DON’T THINK SO. > He said. < WE’RE NOT CARRYING ANYTHING. >

There was a long silence.

And the Beast snorted in laughter.

As much as he could laugh with a mouth like this, anyway. The Other huffed in response, trotting over and clamping his jaws around the remains of the Beast's hood, trying in vain to tug him to his feet.

< YOU NEVER CARRY MUCH, ANYWAY. > The Other said, with a muffled growl. < LAZYBONES. >

The Beast’s tail flicked amusedly from side to side, and he stopped laughing, batting him away.

< baby bones. > He retorted.

The Other released him, drawing back.

< I’M NOT. > He said, pointedly.

The Beast nodded, the pang returning to his sternum.

< no. you’re not. > he agreed.

Their attention was taken by a sudden flicker of light. Their gaze was drawn further up towards the source - a steel hall drenched in violet light.

The Beast rose to his feet, his spines raising, slightly. Then, he stalked forward.

The Other followed, trotting ahead and peering around the corner. The Beast walked around him, peering down the hall from the other side.

A ball of churning light met his gaze. Surrounded by a circular passage. Blast burns everywhere - in the tiled floor and walls.

The Beast felt his sternum tighten.

< … back where we started. > he crooned.

The lasers, the shrieks… the hands. The violet.

 They hadn’t escaped from this, after all.

 He shook his head.

No, he decided. They weren’t meant to escape. He’d been afraid of this place. And he still was - but he couldn’t humour that, right now.

A small voice pushed him on.

They’d been here for a reason. They had woken up in that small room for a reason. They just needed to figure out what.

< DON’T SEE ANY SKULLS. > The Other pointed out, with a trill. < WE’RE SAFE FOR NOW, BROTHER. >

The Beast nodded. < they’re still around. still alive. > He looked down the hall. < hiding? >

He stared hard at his surroundings. Then, he blinked.

He stared back at the Other.

< … ‘brother?’ > He echoed.

The Other looked back at him.

< YES? > He asked.

There was a sudden pause. The two stared at each other, suddenly very still.

It would have been a far bigger shock to the Beast if it hadn’t felt so obvious in retrospect.

They were not a ‘pack.’ Of course they weren’t. They were family.

< … I FORGOT. >

The Other - his brother, looked disheartened at this news. The Beast stepped forward, a weight in his sternum.

< don’t think we did. > He said, quietly. < not really. >

They’d forgotten what a brother was, of course. They’d forgotten each other. But in some way, they’d known.

Neither one could leave the other behind.

How could they?

The Beast felt dizzy, and he sat down, trying to reach for the pieces of his mind, once more. And the clearer things became, the more he understood for certain that he hadn’t wanted this. He hadn’t wanted any of this.

< … i didn’t want you here. >

He felt his brother’s eyes on him. The Beast glanced over at him, eyesockets dim.

< this is the place where i lose everything. > He said, simply.

The Other approached him with a low whine, and he knew the both of them were having trouble thinking. His brother was struggling with his mind as much as the Beast was, and it was a frustrating thing, not knowing all the answers. 

Not knowing how to fix anything.

The Beast shook his head, growling lowly.

He wanted more information. Whether it was this place, or perhaps themselves - nothing more could prompt them. Nothing more could clear the haze.

It was a mess. It was too much.

But maybe…

 … maybe they didn’t need to know everything now.

 Just pieces. Steps.

The Beast groaned, shutting his eyes in frustration.

He’d known that he’d lost so many things. Even other… people. Friends. He knew that much, at least. And he wasn’t sure if any of it would come back.

< … i don’t want to lose my brother, too. > He said.

It was as simple as that.

The Other stared at him a moment.

< YOU HAVEN’T. I’M STILL HERE, REMEMBER? >

His tail fell into a wag.

< GOOD JOB. > He chirped.

A low hum of electricity suddenly interrupted his thoughts.

The both of them turned to face the source, looking at the churning ball of light.

It was familiar. He remembered it.

And he remembered that it was terrifying.

It was a terrifying sight, in ways that the Beast could not explain. But he was drawn to it. It was important. It wasn’t right.

It wasn’t meant to look like that. Huge, and crackling and violent. That wasn’t right.

Something had to be done about it.

< that room. > He said, suddenly.

The Other stood up tall. < THAT ROOM? > He blinked. < ISN'T THAT... WHERE WE WOKE UP? >

< yes. yeah. > The Beast nodded, looking through the glass of the chamber. < we need to go there. >

His brother seemed to bristle at this. He was staring hard at the chamber, his tail tucking slightly between his legs.

< THIS PLACE IS DANGEROUS. > The Other said, softly. < I WANTED TO GET YOU AWAY FROM HERE. I WANTED… >

The Beast looked over at him, as his brother shook himself out, his bones rattling with the force. A stern expression appeared on his long features.

< … WE CAN’T LEAVE. > He said. < THERE WAS SOMETHING WE NEEDED TO DO. >

The Beast looked over at him, nodding in approval.

Yes. They both had to find ways to focus. At least for now.

< any ideas? >

A loud scream of pain tore through the halls.

The both of them spun to look at the bright and crackling chamber. The sound had echoed from that direction - muffled, but familiar.

The Beast peered into the chamber - to the far right of the huge, crackling ball of energy.

And from this angle, he could see a room - jutting out into the chamber. It was small - a large window facing the chamber’s interior. The window was shattered.

And there was someone inside the room.

 A figure of black.

 The Beast’s spines grew rigid.

He had seen him before. He knew him.

He’d been there at the start of all this. Before any of this.

The owner of the hands.

But instead of  the tall, dark imposing figure he’d seen when he’d woken up in that room, the monster looked… shaken.

His many black limbs had sagged to the floor. Some arms had grasped at the walls and windows, as if bracing himself. His skull was warped… it seemed to have been splitting in two. He was tensing and shivering, his entire form constricting.

Around him hovered the remaining floating skulls. They were still chattering - almost as if they were pestering him. His face turned into a scowl.

With a shaking, drooping arm (with a second arm growing out of the elbow) he waved a hand. The horde vanished in a flash of light, and he seemed to relax. The split in his skull seemed to be narrowing, and the arms began to steadily pull themselves in.

The Beast stepped back from the hall.

The dark monster had been stunned. He was collecting himself.

… They needed to move.

< … we have to stop him. > He said, shoulders lowering. His brother followed his gaze.

< … YEAH. > He frowned. < WHAT DO WE DO? >

The Beast shook his head.

< take him away from here. > He said, simply. < pick him up. take him away. he can’t stay in here. >

< HE’LL MAKE THINGS WORSE. > Nodded his brother. < I REMEMBER. >

The room was close. If they could get to him before he’d collected himself…

This monster was tricky, though. He could do terrible things - and the Beast remembered his speed.

< he might escape if he sees us. > He said, thoughtfully.

Suddenly, his brother perked up, looking around the circular hall.

< NOT IF HE CAN’T GO ANYWHERE. >

The Beast glanced over at him. < what do you mean? >

< WE COULD SPLIT UP. > He stamped his forepaws excitedly, gesturing around the outside of the chamber with his snout. < CUT HIM OFF FROM BOTH SIDES. >

His eyes shone. < A TRAP! IT’LL BE A TRAP! >

 Split up…

 The Beast's spines rose.

Leave him alone, without an escape…

The Beast looked back at his younger brother, taking in a deep breath to wash away the encroaching panic.

… They could work together. They already had in the past - repeatedly. But those had just been small things, the Beast thought. Maybe they’d helped each other in larger ways than he’d thought. Or remembered. But…

This was… bigger. The larger things were dangerous. Messy. He had to protect.

 He had to protect…

 < ...it’s a good idea. >

 He drew in a shaky breath.

Maybe his brother would be hurt. But his brother had a good idea. It was a good idea. His brother had those a lot. He’d saved them from being swarmed by the skulls. He’d saved them from many things. His brother had helped.

 He had to trust that.

 < okay. let’s do it. >

He could not listen to his instincts. Not with this.

The Beast turned away from his brother, ready to start stalking in his own direction before the panic could reach him, again. But he suddenly felt a tug on the hood embedded on his collarbone.

 < ONE MORE THING! >

 The Beast glanced back, startled. His brother released his jaws from the blue material.

< IF EITHER OF US ARE IN TROUBLE, WE CALL FOR HELP! > He said, firmly. < REMEMBER,  OKAY? NO DOING THIS ALONE. >

The Beast blinked, slowly.

< … okay. >

The Other nodded firmly. < ALRIGHT. BE CAREFUL, BROTHER. >

He glanced over at the circular passage. Then, taking in a deep breath, he darted silently to the right, beginning to circle around the large chamber to one side of the control room.

The Beast slowly turned to look at the churning ball of energy in the center of the large chamber. He slowly stepped out into the hall, stalking towards the reinforced glass.

He took in his faint, beastly reflection. He didn’t find it fitting… or right, or familiar at all - but that didn’t cause him alarm. It only seemed to cause resolve.

He saw his features crease, thoughtfully.

The Beast drew in a deep breath, himself. His eyesockets briefly flickered with white.

And he began to stalk to the opposing side of the control room, like he and his brother had planned.

[jonathankatwhatever]

So I’m seeing the group order mapping to D-structure in vertices, and fCM as the faces. That is, the faces of an icosahedron are 20, and I’m seeing that as 10 folded over on itself, meaning f&b of 10, which is the CM1 of 100, as CM1 is to CM10. That is, and this is very sketchy, as CM1, this 10 acts as a door, or gateway through which you pass. Huh, it’s like 60 is the Monty Hall problem: 3 doors and you have to pick one. If one is eliminated, should you switch? The answer is yes because when those other two doors were open they shared between them the gs space of those two doors, the space that says what happened to put what behind what door. In other words, grid squares connects back to the Observer level to make a Triangular which then includes all the decisions, all the work which went into whatever is behind each door. That is now all in the one other door. So I visualize this as a 1 pairing to a 1 that is the product of 2 plus all the gs process connecting.

That was nice, but it could also be junk; it’s an assumption to relate the faces to fCM. Well, no: it actually makes complete sense because the essence of fCM is the 0-1-0 relationship to 1-0-1, and that specifically points at faces as representing that relationship. In that one line, I can see so much, like how you can’t put Humpty back together again.

That draws me to say Humpty is an object with symmetries that can’t be restored.

So when you think of the symmetries of a square, that’s a grid square because underlying any rotation is Coordinate Rotation, and that involves the generation of grid square sheets with the ‘solutions’ appearing at the level where we read them, meaning when they work out neat or when they agree with measurement. In other words, to take another shot at this very difficult concept, we have a process of DC&R which relates Triangular and Hexagonal to grid squares, which is sheet form to sheet form, over pentagonal, which generates a count orthogonal to those flat sheets that roots in 3 instead of 2. You could say that literalizes 2D to 3D.

That’s really cool. It also says that a count has a modular space of its own, meaning that 1Squares count as 1 on a sheet, while 2Squares appear also flat but on the angle of the hypotenuse, and now 3Squares appearing along the axis that connects 2 pentagonal pyramids of 1-0Segments. That really is a great image of DC&R.

That makes me think SBE naturally counts somehow in pentagonal, because 3 is the space created by the side connecting the heights of the pentagonal version of an fD form, meaning it makes a volume and the scale crosses that volume, so the 3 lays out as the area attached along the line connecting the centers of the 2 ideal pentagonals. That area is of course then a grid square and it flickers around that line to lay out, well really whatever shape you need. That can happen not because they’re all geometrically the same but because the dimensional potential is there to make whatever dimensional shape. It fits within that 0-1-0.

Here’s a question that bothers me. Since we’re really getting deep into this and look up to you, how do we lay out a count like 60 or 168? That is, if we set order equal to count of gs, then where does 60 appear? It’s between L59 and L61, or szK30 and 31. That says 60 is specifically at the upper right corner of szK30, lower right corner of szK31. Similarly, 168 is in that spot for szK84 and 85. Don’t know what that means.

There’s something in there that wants to come out. What it is? The geometry is the shape that wants to come out. It’s a form among the other forms, so there is no one explanation, but rather an agreement of many explanations. Remember, above you realized that the symmetries of a square are of a grid square, meaning all the processes that make a grid square are part of that counting of symmetries.

And transitivity has to be crossing that 0-1-0 space, which is what we connected to 0Space, etc. I’m seeing more, like attaching 3 orthogonally in Pentagonal fits SBE to the concept of hands joining and letting go from D4-D6 and D6-D4.

That’s really interesting because then it passes the hands joining into the D4. That explains that trademark. There’s an inversion into 1Space.

I need to clean the house, move stuff down stairs, etc.

[jamiekturner]

11 Optical Illusions Found in Visual Design

Throughout my years of being a Product Designer, I have come across many surprises when working with visuals that have made me go 😲😕😳😡😱.

I’ve written this article to help you understand the reasons behind why some of these everyday ‘gotchas’ can leave you bewildered. You may not even realise it at first, but a lot of the techniques that you come across when working on an interface, logo or illustration are in fact optical illusions!

So without further ado, here are 11 optical illusions that you may encounter on a regularly basis as a Visual Designer.

1. Triangle-bisection Illusion

Pick a point, any point, I double dare ya.

Aligning the triangle based on the centroid

Icons can be deceiving, especially those with complex geometry and odd proportions. Not all icons within a set are symmetrical, pixel perfect or maintain a consistent aspect ratio. Some icons require direct intervention, most notably, the dreaded play button!

Placing a triangle within a curved or straight container can make the element appear optically out of place. The reason for this is due to an effect known as the triangle-bisection illusion. The triangle’s center of mass is calculated based on its minimum bounding box. So if you were to place a dot exactly half way up the height of an equilateral triangle, it will optically appear far more than halfway up!¹

Which version is mathematically centered?

There are 2 theories to this fascinating illusion:

Inappropriate constancy scaling The illusion contains perspective cues that increase the perceived size of more distant objects e.g. an equilateral triangle might be perceived as the flat picture of a road seen in perspective, with the top apex lying at infinity and the bottom base as the nearest part of the road.²

Centre of gravity/centre of area If an observer was asked to find the halfway point, they will ultimately end up finding the centroid, which has equal areas above and below it. The centroid of an equilateral triangle lies well below its halfway point, and there is evidence that observers make choices that are a compromise between the two.³

To make the triangle within its container appear optically centred, you’ll need to find the centroid of a triangle by calculating the point of intersection of the lines joining each vertex with the midpoint of the opposite side.⁴ Here is a formula that you can use:

Formula to find the centroid of a triangle

I’m just kidding, this isn’t an article about geometry formulas 💥 (but it’s still correct).

The centroid can be located 1/3 of the distance from each side to the opposite vertex. This method can also be applied to many other shapes.

2. Vertical Horizontal Illusion

Is it a rectangle? Is it a plane? No…it’s a square?!

Vertical Horizontal Illusion

Squares are the fundamental building blocks of any design system. They can be seen in Material Design cards, Facebook posts, Pinterest pins and Dribbble shots.

After shift-dragging out a square in Sketch, you may sometimes take a double look to see if each of the sides are of equal proportions. If you look close enough, the vertical sides appear longer than the horizontal sides. It’s as if the square is in fact a rectangle! But actually, it is a perfect 1:1 square. This is known as the vertical-horizontal illusion.

The image in the Facebook post is a 1:1 square

What’s really fascinating is that different cultures as well as genders perceive this illusion differently. People who live in developed urban cities tend to show greater susceptibility than people living in rural areas. This is because those in rural areas tend to be more accustomed to living in round houses.⁵

3. Mach Bands

If a false shadow falls on a surface, did it cast an illusion?

Mach Bands

Placing shades of the same colour adjacent to each other was a common trend during the flat design era. Looking closely, you may have noticed a false shadow appearing between the edges of each contrasting shade. This illusion is known as Mach bands. No shadows have been added to the image, it’s just the way our eyes perceive it!

Shadows appear between the edges of each row

The technical explanation for the occurrence of this effect is due to lateral inhibition, meaning the darker area falsely appear even darker and the lighter area falsely appearing even lighter.

Although this effect is fairly subtle in the world of visual design, to prove its influence Mach bands can be a real hindrance for dental practitioners. X-rays of teeth generate grayscale images used to analyse abnormal variances of intensity. Mach bands can provide a false-positive diagnosis if not identified correctly.⁶

4. Hering Illusion

It’s alive!!!

Hering Illusion

Have you ever came across a logo containing very fine lines or a background image with tiny dots appearing to move or pulsate as you’re scrolling?

What about watching a video consisting of a TV in the background displaying wiggly lines?

If so, this is due to an aliasing effect called the Moiré pattern where two grid patterns are overlaid on each other generating false motion once moved. The two grid patterns in this case are the image and monitor refreshing constantly to create the illusion.

Scroll up and down to see the vibration effect

It’s a pretty cool effect, although Moiré isn’t an optical illusion per se, it is an interference pattern. The Sonos logo example uses a combination of the Moiré pattern, Hering illusion and illusory motion. This sensory technique is rather popular within the Op Art community.

5. Hermann Grid

To appear, or not to appear, that is the question.

Hermann Grid

The Hermann grid illusion is fairly popular and can be seen in layouts which contain a grid of squares placed on a high contrast background. Looking directly at any square produces ghost-like blobs at the intersections of the surrounding squares. But looking directly at an intersection will make the blobs disappear 😱.⁷

Grey dots appear when looking at the intersections

The reason for this effect is due to lateral inhibition. To put it simply, it is the capacity of an excited neuron reducing the neighbouring neurons in the latter direction.⁸

6. Simultaneous Contrast Illusion

Are both detached squares reflecting the same amount of light? Hmm…

Simultaneous Contrast Illusion

Placing two objects of the same colour on different contrasted backgrounds can make both objects appear as if they are in fact different colours. This phenomena is known as the Simultaneous Contrast Illusion. Contrast in kingin the world of visual design and this effect may differ for some people.

The text colour is exactly the same on both sides but doesn’t appear that way

Unfortunately there isn’t a solid theory for why this illusion occurs, but there is plenty of research that speculate why. Lateral Inhibition, which is responsible for the Hermann Grid and Mach Bands is one reason.⁹

7. Munker-White Illusion

Did my eyes just deceive me? 👀

Munker-White Illusion

This illusion is fairly subtle, but nonetheless fascinating! Looking at the GIF above, the blocks of purple on the left appear lighter than the purple blocks on the right. Once revealed, both blocks in fact reflect the same amount of light 😲.

The reason for the Munker-White illusion is due to…you guessed it, lateral inhibition.

8. Water Colour Illusion

Tint-illatingly deceiving!

Water Colour Illusion

There are times when I’ve added a border to an object and then wondered to myself, “When did I also change the background colour?”. If you look closely, you may notice that the pale area takes on a much lighter shade based on the surrounding border colour. You may be surprised to know that the lighter area is actually white!

This visual phenomena, known as the Water colour illusion, is dependant on the combination of luminance and colour contrast of the contour lines in order to have the colour spreading effect occur.

The white area inside the button appears to take on a slight tint based on the colour of the border

I admit this illusion has left me perplexed a few times so much so that I had to pull out the colour picker just to inspect it!

9. Jastrow Illusion

Does size really matter?

Jastrow Illusion

Working on an illustration or a logo whether it is a mark or a type requires slicing and dicing different shapes. This illusion occurs when working with curved objects. The two elements appear different in size but upon closer inspection, they are in fact the exact same size! Crazy huh?

This illusion is seen during the creation process as some identically curved edges can appear smaller than others

How is this possible? Well this is known as the Jastrow illusion and there is no definitive explanation for why we perceive the different sized segments. One explanation is that our brains are confused by the difference in size between the larger and smaller radius. In other words, the short side makes the long side appear longer, and the long side makes the short side appear even shorter.¹⁰

10. Cornsweet Illusion

It’s a slippery slope.

Cornsweet Illusion

In addition to the Simultaneous Contrast and Mach Bands Illusion, the Cornsweet illusion uses a gradient whilst using a central line to create an impression that one side of the image is in fact darker than the other. But in reality, both sections are the same! You can find that both sides are in fact identical when the sections are placed in parallel.

Each diamond has the same gradient but they appear to be getting darker (from top to bottom)

This illusion produces a similar effect to the two aforementioned illusions but in fact differs in two important ways:

In the Mach bands example shown previously, the effect is seen only on areas that are close to the border of each shade. The Cornsweet illusion however affects their perception of the entire area.

With the Cornsweet illusion, the light part of the edge appears lighter and the dark part of the edge appears darker. This is the opposite of the usual contrast effects.¹¹

11. Müller-Lyer Illusion

Typo-loco!

Overshooting for optimal visual perception

Typographers will understand that crafting a font requires you to rely more on your design intuition rather than your logical thinking. Mathematically positioning each character based on its metric height will make the entire word appear disproportionate in terms of visual perception. A common practice in type mechanics involves a process called overshooting. To put it simply, overshooting is a process of resizing individual characters to achieve optical balance.

Without overshooting, the letter ‘e’ in LinkedIn and the letter ‘z’ in Amazon are not optically balanced

Looking at the famous logos above, some characters do not sit flush within the baseline and x-height. Typographers have to manually optically adjust each character pairs for the best result.

But why do we need to overshoot in typography?

The reason why overshooting is required is due to one of the most popular optical illusions in the world, the Müller-Lyer Illusion. This visual phenomena states that placing a chevron on each end of a line segment can cause one segment to appear shorter or longer depending the direction of the chevron. This classic illusion proves the fallibility of human perception.¹² Pretty cool eh?

Have you come across any other optical illusions that have left you bewildered?

If you’re interested in learning more about visual perceptions or improving your skills as a Visual Designer, I’d recommend reading up on Gestalt psychology.

Honourable mentions:

Kanizsa’s Triangle

Ebbinghaus illusion

Ehrenstein illusion

Neon colour spreading

Checker shadow illusion

Illusory Motion 1

Illusory Motion 2

If you’ve noticed any mistakes in this article or feel that improvements can be made, then please do let me know in the comment section, I appreciate it! 👊🏼

Finally if you’ve enjoyed this article and feel that you’ve learnt something of value, then please give it a 👏🏼 so that others can learn from it too. If you would like to connect, you can find me posting my thoughts on Twitter and my work on Dribbble. Thank you for reading!

References

Anstis, S., Gregory, R. and Heard, P. (2009). The Triangle-Bisection Illusion. Perception, 38(3), p.321.

Ibid, p. 330.

Ibid, p. 331.

wikipedia.org. (2017). Centroid. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centroid [Accessed 15 Oct. 2017].

wikipedia.org. (2017). Vertical–horizontal illusion. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertical%E2%80%93horizontal_illusion [Accessed 15 Oct. 2017].

wikipedia.org. (2017). Mach bands. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mach_bands [Accessed 15 Oct. 2017].

wikipedia.org. (2017). Grid illusion. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grid_illusion [Accessed 15 Oct. 2017].

wikipedia.org. (2017). Lateral inhibition. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lateral_inhibition [Accessed 15 Oct. 2017].

Ibid.

wikipedia.org. (2017). Jastrow illusion. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jastrow_illusion [Accessed 15 Oct. 2017].

wikipedia.org. (2017). Cornsweet illusion. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornsweet_illusion [Accessed 15 Oct. 2017].

gizmodo.com. (2017). The Famous Optical Illusion Hidden in Every Typeface — Including This One. [online] Available at: https://io9.gizmodo.com/the-famous-optical-illusion-hidden-in-every-typeface-in-1714788793 [Accessed 15 Oct. 2017].

The post 11 Optical Illusions Found in Visual Design appeared first on Design your way.

from Web Development & Designing http://www.designyourway.net/blog/design/optical-illusions-visual-design/

[itsiotrecords-blog]

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Arguably one of the biggest visual conundrums that has existed for hundreds of years is the optical illusion. According to the medical definition provided by Merriam-Webster, an optical illusion is a “visual perception of a real object in such a way as to misinterpret its actual nature.” These illusions come in many shapes and sizes, literally in some cases. Whether it be a pattern on a computer screen that simulates motion or creates a wave effect to a black and white silhouette that somehow manages to be two images at the same time, optical illusions never cease to confound the mind. When we see, our brain typically fills in certain parameters along the ridges of our vision and the illusion seeks to trick the brain into creating a field of motion or presence that is not really there. As a kid, I remember seeing publications at the book fair that were always competing to have the most eye tricks or crazy images that could be packed into a single book, and I wondered what exactly it was in these images that blew my mind. Well look no further! Gathered below are 15 of the most stunning optical illusions with some context as to what they are, who created them, and just how they seem to be such amazing works of art.

#1 “All Is Vanity” Painting This image is in the category of drawings as optical illusions and is one of my favorite sub-genres in the entire topic. The image above is called “All is Vanity” and was drawn by Charles Alan Gilbert in 1892. Gilbert was an American artist who also had a hand in the early days of animation as well as helping design patterns for camouflage for tanks in the first World War. The drawing gained popularity for its double visual scheme that depicts two separate images at the same time. Initially, the scene appears to be a woman sitting in front of a mirror, presumably working on her makeup or her hair. Once the entire image is taken in, however, the image becomes far more sinister as the shape in the center of the image becomes a large skull. There is a play on words in the title of the illusion since the woman is literally sitting at a vanity and the act of continually seeing one’s own image is considered vain.

#2 Hermann Grid Aptly titled after its creator, Ludimar Hermann, this illusion is a series of black squares lined up perfectly on a white background. When observed with the naked eye, any section of the grid not focused on will appear to have a gray dot at the center of the white space. Once noticed, the eye can shift to where the gray dot is, but astonishingly enough, the gray spot will be gone! According to Wikipedia: “The effect is often explained by a neural process called lateral inhibition. The intensity at a point in the visual system is not simply the result of a single receptor, but the result of a group of receptors which respond to the presentation of stimuli in what is called a receptive field.”

#3 This Woman Yes, you read that correctly. This is, in fact, a woman! Were you fooled? At first glance, you might think you were looking at an elaborately decorated parrot, but this image is actually a woman with incredibly detailed makeup designed to represent such a bird. Upon closer inspection, you can see that the way her body is angled and painted is placed at a very specific perspective, and the photographer was able to capture this image perfectly. The illusion of the image is also enhanced by the blurred green background which distorts our eye’s perception of size. In this particular case, that is an integral part of the success of the scene because the model’s size is now disregarded, and our brain fills in that empty space with our idea of how big a parrot is. With a normal background, it would’ve been easier to see a normal-sized woman on a stump.

#4 Ebbinghaus Circle This image may look like nothing more than a bunch of circles, but I can assure you that there’s so much more going on here than meets the eye. When you look at the two center circles, you might think that they’re different sizes, but you would be wrong! In fact, those two circles are the same size. Don’t believe me? Let me break it down for you. Initially, two circles of the same size are placed next to each other. Next, the circles are surrounded by two different types of circles. On the left, larger circles encase the original circle while the right circle is surrounded by smaller circles. This is where the illusion occurs. The perception of the circles in response to the ones around them distort their original size and make them appear different in size from each other even though, in reality, nothing has changed. Freaky!

#5 3D Graffiti The image you see before you looks like a cavernous pitfall of danger sandwiched on both sides by two-story buildings, but, in fact, this image is of a city street. Thanks to the miracle of single point perspective painting and other graphical techniques that we’ll delve into, this work of modern art tricks the eye in amazing ways. Surely, you think the second you step onto the open part of the painting you’d plummet down into the icy depths below. This picture was taken in Geldern Germany in August of 2008 during the annual street painting festival and was designed and painted by Edgar Mueller who is known for incredible works of art such as this one. During an interview, Mueller said that he wanted to give this image an apocalyptic feel. Judging from the broken pillars of concrete spikes and the area below them, I think he succeeded without question.

#6 Jesus Optical Illusion Okay, this illusion requires a little bit of work on your part for it to work. Look directly at the center of the image where the vertical dots are for thirty seconds, blinking as few times as possible. After that time has passed, find a blank wall or sheet of paper, focus on it, and blink. Did you see anything strange? You should’ve! Most likely, what you saw was an inverse black and white image of the one on your screen. Crazy huh? There’s another example of this phenomenon that requires you to stare at a black and white photo and when looking at a blank space, the image is suddenly in full color. The science behind this image and optical illusion comes from the stark juxtaposition of white and black in the picture and the way our eyes perceive light. Much like the way the image our eyes actually perceive is flipped in the retina, so too are the shadows on this image.

#7 Fraser Spiral This image is probably one of the most common optical illusions known to man. The classic spiral shape and diamond pattern make for a cacophony of visual noise. By simply curving the checkerboard pattern and placing a twisted black and white spiral on top of it, the eye sees an incredible amount of information. By the time you begin to process what you’re looking at, you’re already confused again by the array of motion created in a single image. The official name for this illusion is the Fraser Spiral, created by a British psychologist by the name of Sir James Fraser in the year 1908. Back then, the illusion went by another name: the twisted cord illusion. The use of these tilted designs creates a deep sense of depth perception that also appears to twist in on itself in an infinite way. Adding more intricate backgrounds to the spiral helps increase its trippy effect.

#8 Kanizsa Triangle This illusion, too, was named after its creator, Italian psychologist Gaetano Kanizsa. This specific trick falls into the subcategory of optical illusions known as “Illusory Contours.” Utilizing sharp, contrasting colors, typically black and white, the illusory contour places shapes in a specific pattern and angle. By doing this, the organization of shapes makes our brain fill in the space between the objects with imaginary lines that create the illusion of an outline of a separate shape. For its use in the psychological world, shapes like Kanizsa’s Triangle are used to study different levels of perception. Obviously, a more perceptive person would be able to identify the sort of shapes created by the smaller shapes. Less perceptive people may not be able to see anything at all! For me, the image looks like three small clones of Pac-Man are all facing each other. As long as you have multiple shapes with the same angles, you can create illusions of your own just like this one.

#9 Penrose Stairs Okay. I’ve never understood how these stairs work. No matter where I start, I always find myself working my way up the staircase, which is impossible, right? Almost. Turns out this incredible illusion is known as a Penrose staircase created by Lionel Penrose and his son. They took their original concept of a Penrose Triangle, which operates on a two-dimensional surface and has equally impossible proportions and converted it into a three-dimensional staircase. The staircase was first introduced to the world in the late 1950s and was popularized by the artist M.C. Esher, who would paint incredibly intricate and beautiful works of art that had such surreal designs. This optical illusion has been parodied on numerous television shows, from Spongebob Squarepants to Family Guy. My personal favorite is the Family Guy parody where M.C. Esher is replaced with MC Hammer dancing up and down the stairs.

#10 The Floating Finger This next trick was the first optical illusion I ever learned about. You can do it at home, too! What you need to do is make some finger guns like the image above and aim them towards each other in front of you. Bring them within an inch of each other and make sure that they’re in line with one another. Now that you’ve done this, look past your hands and focus on a wall in the distance (if it’s a blank wall, the illusion will work better). What did you see? Most likely, you saw a small floating, pill-shaped chunk of meat inexplicably floating in the air. The science behind this is really cool! It has to do with focusing on an object in the background while an image is very present in the foreground. As our eyes shift focus, they change their perception to match the distance of the image they’re looking at, which results in the skewed vision of your fingers.

#11 Two-Face Illusion No this isn’t an illusion about the infamous Batman villain, Harvey Dent, but the concept is sort of similar. Does the image above seem unsettling? It should. Perhaps it’s the perspective and placement of the face, but something is definitely off. For me personally, the position of the eye really freaks me out and makes me think that I’m staring at a cyclops or some other ancient mythological creature. Based on where the eye first focuses when looking, the image will appear different. Try it! Start by looking from the left side of the image, and it would appear that the man is just half of a portrait looking dead on into the camera. This is the calmer option of the two images. Now, look at the image beginning from the right side of the screen. It appears to be a man in profile but that eye will probably throw you for a loop and leave you guessing.

#12 The Pinwheel Ah yes, the classic pinwheel — a staple inclusion in the world of optical illusions. I can’t even begin to count the number of times I’ve seen this particular optical illusion in the media, as it’s typically used in the process of hypnosis to lull the subject into a deep state where they can then be molded and shaped by their master to do things they wouldn’t otherwise do. What makes this pinwheel so popular, though? Well, I have an explanation that will hopefully clear things up. This image is discombobulating enough on its own, but when it’s spun in a circular motion, the effect is amplified and creates an even more intense illusion that can put anyone into a dizzy spell. The spiraling image is enough to put me to sleep almost anytime I look at it for far too long and is one of my favorite optical illusions.

#13 Duck Rabbit Illusion This drawing is found in many optical illusion books and psychology texts for a number of reasons. As the name implies, the image is meant to represent a duck or a rabbit depending on the perception of the viewer. Which do you see? Me, I always see the rabbit first, and I think that has to do with the focal point of the drawing itself. When you first look at the image, what draws your attention the most? It’s the eye, right? It’s the part of the image with the starkest contrast between light and dark, and that shadowy effect draws the viewers’ eyes before allowing them to do anything else. Since I was born and raised in a traditionally English upbringing where reading occurs from left to right, my natural inclination is to then look to the right of the image, which creates the rabbit effect. I would love to hear if anyone who reads from right to left experienced a similar effect and always sees the duck first. Let me know!

#14 The Perception Illusion When creating this article, I had arguably the hardest time believing this illusion was real. Surely, I thought, these three men are all different sizes; it’s impossible for them to be the same size. I refused to believe it, but I was wrong. They are, in fact, all the same size, and our brain is playing a trick on us. You see, if you remove the lines in the background, the sizes of the men appear to be exactly the same for one reason alone: perspective. The lines behind them create the illusion of depth since they’re drawn at an angle, and our brain uses logic and perception to create an artificial depth of field on a two-dimensional plane, thus making us think the man that appears the largest is also very far away, so logically, he would be bigger than the other two. This image also plays on our perception of space in the sense that we immediately jump to the conclusion that the diagonal lines on the bottom of the image are, in fact, a floor to be stood on when they’re merely images behind the figures.

#15 The Elephant Illusion Ah, the elephant — one of nature’s most majestic and large creatures, and also one of the most confounding! This image can’t really exist, can it? Surely not. I mean, come on; it has so many legs! Or does it? Well, that’s something that’s entirely up for interpretation. It seems that the legs protruding from the elephant have no feet to stand on, and at the same time, the legs with feet don’t seem to actually connect to the elephant itself. The folks over at weirdoptics.com did the research and help explain this phenomenon very well: “This visual optical illusion is quite simple when it comes to it. You’re seeing more legs than you should because the legs that would need to appear have been erased and moved over to the sides, which makes our head go dizzy when trying to figure out how many legs, which legs are real, and their number, and so on and so forth.” Here’s a bonus optical illusion:

Source: TheRichest