#super natural inc

[carus26]

🔹A few thoughts about Sulley, why i like his character and his relationship with Boo🔹

(personal opinion and views, I can say the most predictable basic things, and yet I want to express my personal feelings, it's corny but it's honest work)

(also a lot of words..and doodles)

I apologize in advance if I expressed myself in some way unclear or incorrectly and for grammatical mistakes, since I am not strong in english ")

Personality and appearances:

All of the Monsters Inc. characters have great designs that complement their personalities perfectly, and Sulley is no exception.

I LOVE how his design perfectly captures his character. He has soft and sharp features, just like he himself can be *soft and sharp* at the same time. He has a gentle nature, but under the right circumstances can become formidable and even dangerous. In other words, I like the fact that while he is calm, you may forget or even not know HOW scary he can be in the moment, that is, exactly until he HIMSELF shows it. A great way to show a character's kind nature without forgetting who they are and what status they have in their world.

I olso like that he is not a *perfect do-everything-right* protagonist. He is impulsive, he listens to himself and his opinion is based on his own considerations, often incorrect or risky. 

People can say that only at Monsters University Sulley is so *rebellious* and only does what he wants (hinting at how calm and humble he is in the first film as opposed to the prequel) and, based on my personal observations, I can say that he is ALWAYS like this, he acts for his own reasons, and yes, he acts from considerations of *do what is right*, but what is *right* everyone understands in their own way.

For example, like when he risked his and his best friend’s life/career for the sake of a human child whom he had known for a couple of days, or when he cheated at games and then goes to save Mike from the human world. Always impulsive decisions based on feelings and one’s own understanding of what is *right* at the moment.

He also thought that it would be right if he was in the company of high-status monsters and behaved the same way as them (because his family and those around him expect this from him, I believe), and he realized that he was wrong only when he understand (and saw) that he could be himself and that he can’t judge everyone by their appearance and *status* (specifically in that scene when Mike secretly brought everyone to the MI in order to show the uniqueness and dissimilarity of each monster) 

What I mean is that his worldview is always changing based on what he sees and feels, and he always acts based on his personal understanding of what is right and don't, which I find actually a very interesting character trait for a protagonist (not that it's super rare, but still).

Also how many different emotions he can express, from joy to rage, I always liked characters with a rich *baggage* of emotions, and who at the same time do not irritate, do not become hysterical with or without reason, and who simply use emotions at the right moments, not going too far, that is, not capricious and not *drama queens*. 

Another small detail I really like is the fact that Sulley is very aware of his physical strength and never brags or uses it unnecessarily. He is VERY strong, and somehow communicates and contacts with the smallest creatures without any problems, and does not even really use his full strength in a fight, only as self-defense or protection of another.

I also see a lot of different opinions about his prequel version, but honestly? I only started to like him more after university. He was shown from a completely different side, as was his development from who he was to who we know from the first movie. Showed what kind of character he is without Boo. What he thinks about, what he worries about, what kind of relationships he builds, his goals, what did it take for him to get to that point in his life that is shown in the first movie. Love how he went through his arc from "worst to best", how he accepted and realized his mistakes, and how he gradually became attached to those who are dear to him.

(the way he expressed himself to Mike at the end? Being the only one who told him the truth, while highlighting his virtues, thereby showing how attentive he is to those around him and how much he values ​​​​those who help him) 

Although I’m not really a big fan of the prequel, and I also think some scenes from there are little...questionable, and how Sulley turned out different from the version from inc, but in GENERAL I can connect these two images together, I can understand why Sulley behaves this way (given his problems with family and self-esteem), and how in fact it fits with him as an adult.

I can also say that in general I like the way he is written in Monsters at work, despite the fact that he and Mike don’t play a special role for the series, I’m just glad that he act's like himself and hasn’t been spoiled, he’s still trying to make the right choices in life, dealing with a situation that he never even thought about or was ever prepared for, and I just like the little funny moments with him.

Of course, you can't do without *questionable scenes* and sins (and animation ")), but overall I'm quite pleased.

(and I noticed that the writers kinda combined his images from mu and mi, big fan of this decision)

Overall, we have an interesting, well-written protagonist, with excellent design, a great movie as a solo film, and even prequel/series as a good bonus.

Why I think his relationship with Boo is so beautifully written:

First of all, I like the way they met for the first time.

Namely, HOW Sulley reacted, because we know that children are not only *toxic* for monsters, they are literally consumables for them, without feelings, without any rights, which means do with them what you want, your conscience will not torture you.

But Sulley never harmed her, although he could have used any means to get rid of her, because at that time he did not perceive her as a *person*, and still acted with caution. Tried to calm her down, cheer her up, and even sang her a song before bed, although he shouldn’t have even tried?

He understands that she is a living being after all.

And he actually care about this *creature*, he himself decided to bring her home, stayed up all night making a costume for her, he even realized that she is a girl and referred to her correctly all the time, and not as a *thing* (even worried that she was in the men's locker room? ")).

I just love the fact that he treats Boo well INITIALLY, he doesn’t hate her, he doesn’t think she’s a burden that needs to be gotten rid of.

He truly begins to worry about her when he finally becomes attached, but even at the very beginning he treats her tenderly as possible. And it’s just very cute to watch how they gradually get closer and Sulley becomes more and more attached to her, which makes him openly ignore all the advices of his best friend, whom he listened to and supported unconditionally before. He begins to worry about her so much that he no longer pays attention to everything that happens around him, he doesn’t just want to get rid of her quickly, but wants to protect her and do everything possible so that she gets home safely, and does not end up in wrong hands. And this attachment became SO strong that he was ready to leave his friend alone in the human world, risk his life saving her, and he no longer cares about HIS position and condition, she became his number one priority, and this is very damn touching honesty.

(the fact that he's been a top scarer for many years, and now he's arbitrarily taking care of one of those he's forced to *traumatize* on a daily basis due to his job)

And, of course, THAT ONE scene, key to Sulley's development as a character, a scene, where he accidentally scares Boo.

A moment, where his whole consciousness is turned upside down, all the experiences that he went through became meaningless, and the work to which he devoted his life turned out to be cruel exploitation, in addition, a huge feeling of guilt, which will be difficult to get rid of for a long time, and everything that was important in his life ceased to have value, everything except the safety of this one *thing*, the *thing* he shouldn't have felt anything for.

I really love this scene, it perfectly conveys the mood of what happened, when you feel pity, compassion and understanding for both sides.

(you'd think that Sulley stop scaring kids just because of this scene, but honestly? I’m more than sure that it would be difficult for him to do this after meeting Boo, after what he experienced with her, it would be difficult to continue working in this direction)

And one of the best details for me is the fact that this event does not remain without a trace for the characters, this experience has consequences, they don't just continue to live as if nothing happened, Sulley realize that people are also living individuals with feelings that should not suffer, as a result of which he not only changes himself, but also changes his environment for the better, considering that the majority simply will not understand him, he considers it his duty to do something to somehow change and influence the situation (even without the fact that the energy of laughter is stronger than scream), and never again connect his life with what he feels guilty about.

The final scene with them is also so touching. 

The way Sulley says goodbye to her, knowing that he will never see her again, everything he had to go through for one single moment.

Betrayal, discovery of a conspiracy, expulsion, a quarrel with a close friend, disappointment in himself and his life, he even almost lost his own life several times, and all this was experienced in order to bring home one little girl.

And I'm just sincerely glad that they didn't end there, all this time I wish I had seen at least a little short with them (because I just have to squeak with joy every time Boo is mentioned in the series :"))

I know that the first movie ended perfectly and there is no need for a sequel, but as a fan I’m too weak :)

Honestly, this is the shortest and most general “essay” I can write about him as a character, if I had my way (and enough strength/knowledge in english) I would describe every key scene with him.

So, that’s all, I'm glad I was able to express my thoughts about a character that is important to me, at least in this format, and if you read to the end, thank you for your attention! 💙💜

(still waiting for a full-fledged sequel from Pixar and hope that it will come out acceptable...)

[murfpersonalblog]

IWTV Musings - Can vampires LEARN new Dark Gifts?

YES.

And NO.

Three things affect a vamp's Gifts: Time, Blood, & Akasha. ALL vampires have the ability to unlock ALL of the Dark Gifts as they age & drink & get stronger & practice. No one vampire is born with the ability to do things no other vampire can do, that's not how it works. Vampires are superhuman, and preternaturally strong & powerful, even at base level as bb!fledglings. For instance: mere minutes after she was Turned, Lestat's mother Gabrielle was able to shatter glass just with her voice (just as we see AMC!Claudia do); it's basic.

However, some vamps CAN be born naturally more adept at using the Gifts from the offset. Gabrielle's vampiric senses & instincts seemed to be naturally sharper than Lestat's:

And she needed ZERO direction figuring out how to scale walls (anti-gravity)--nothing but sheer youth/age kept her from the Cloud Gift.

A BAMF, AMC!Claudia seems to be teaching herself how to use the Cloud Gift--or at least anti-gravity (OG!Superman could only leap tall buildings in a single bound b4 DC said eff it and let him fly).

Ofc she has the potential for the Cloud Gift already, cuz AMC!Lestat already had it. book!Les didn't learn the Cloud Gift until QotD, after he drank copiously from Akasha. But book!Claudia never stood a chance--book!Les didn't have it yet to pass it down to her.

Another good example's Armand, who is THE best vamp with the Spell & Mind Gifts--a naturally talented savant; a child prodigy.

That's not to say that there aren't other skilled & powerful vamps who're really good at the Mind/Spell Gifts. It's just that from very early on, Armand was uncommonly good at it, and he just honed that talent over time, quicker than other vamps do.

But the Mind Gift is also THE default ability of vampires. Even basic AF young bb!fledglings can use it; and with practice, they can all get good at it--but most don't live long enough to get that good.

But several things CAN hold a vampire back from getting stronger/better with the Dark Gifts--I've explained wtf Rhosh was up to b4.

As bad as Magnus was, he had NOTHING on Rhoshamandes (who deliberately didn't WANT his fledglings to know anything about their Gifts). Magnus was suicidal, and in a hurry to to die, so he told Lestat the barest of bones, but nothing more, then offed himself.

Cuz yes, even BEFORE book!Lestat met Armand & Marius/Akasha, he was ALREADY abnormally gifted (10x stronger than a fledgling his age)--cuz Magnus was old & strong AF thanks to having the blood of old AF Rhoshamandes (via Benedict).

But book!Louis was weak AF, and the WORST with the Mind Gift. AMC!Louis' below average with it, as Armand warned him in 2x2 that he's garbage at blocking his thoughts. But book!Louis couldn't use the Mind Gift AT ALL, he's shockingly bad.

But it's not that book!film!Louis could NEVER be taught how to use the Mind Gift--but Lestat certainly didn't know HOW to teach Louis, or connect with him on a level that could ease Louis into vampirism more considerately. He was a pisspoor teacher for Louis (but not for Claudia, who was more similar to Les & thrived under him--at first).

However, the fact that Lou was habitually starving himself meant he'd stunted his own growth--he CAN'T get stronger/better, cuz his body's too frail by design. Vamps need time, practice, and esp. HUMAN BLOOD, to feed the power within them. book!Lou never did; despite how old he got, it was only once he drank Lestat's super!Akasha!blood in Merrick that he finally unlocked all of the Gifts instantly, in one fell swoop, inc. the Fire Gift. Despite how weak & starved he was, the second Lou got access to Akasha's super!blood thru Les, he was off like a shot. (And I'd bet Monopoly money that if book!Claudia had drunk from Akasha, she'd have every Gift, too.) Speaking of--

Conversely, let's look at Akasha. According to Marius, it took her FOREVER to get the Fire Gift--several millennia. As strong as she was in Egypt, she was still young, and still developing, too. Khayman's Akasha =/=Marius' Akasha =/= Lestat's Akasha. She naturally got stronger & stronger with time.

Back in Egypt, Akasha had to use the Mind Gift (telekinesis) to lift oil lamps that were already lit, and throw them at people.

~500yrs later, Marius saw her kill Eudoxia just by lighting the wench on fire from thin air; with the Fire Gift (pyrokinesis). So it took Akasha thousands of years to acquire the Fire Gift.

But Akasha already had it in her--"lain dormant for centuries." Same as it lay dormant in Marius--he didn't even know he had the Fire Gift, or that it was even a thing--the first time he used it was an accident/surprise, when he was already ~500yrs old & fought Eudoxia's goons.

One could argue that mere time had given Marius the Fire Gift--and his Maker Teskhamen was old AF, strong enough to have survived the Great Burnings, so that was another bonus. BUT! Marius had drunk lots of Akasha's blood MORE RECENTLY than ANY of the Elders did. Her blood was aging while he alone had her, so as Marius drank, he gained access to older/better blood than the Elders before him. He was at the best advantage to get stronger quicker. Marius was better at every Dark Gift than the vampires FAR older than he was (Avicus was just as old as Teskhamen).

With the Killing Gift, Marius could make bodies literally explode. But Avicus, the eldest, could only give them a fatal aneurysm to make their brain bleed out. Mael could only cripple bodies, not kill them.

But the Fire Gift was something ONLY Marius could do, that the other vamps couldn't, younger or older.

Drinking Akasha's blood is vamp steroids, crack, Aim Bot, hax mode, deus ex machina, cutting the line, copying off the smart kid in class. But drinking from old AF vamps can also grant significant boosts. The Children of the Millennia begged book!Lou to take their ancient blood, to help him get strong pre-Merrick; but he always declined. We know from the Tulane drafts that he never drank book!Les' blood, or vice versa. And presumably, he never drank Armand's blood either. (I have reservations/doubts abt whether AMC!Loumand drank e/o's blood, but I'll talk about that in a separate post.) As for Lesmand....

We'll have to wait for S3 to confirm if 2x3 was bullsh!te or not. AMC!Lestat drank Armand blood (and presumably gained the power boost needed to get the Fire/Mind Gifts Armand then taught him to use), but this never happened in the books. book!Les already had the Mind Gift--he was able to read Eleni's mind and know she wanted Renaud's Theatre, which he told her take & run with Nicki. And in QotD Les said he used the Mind Gift "in the first few weeks after Magnus had made me" to telekinetically punch Nicki during one of their fights.

book!Armand drank LES' blood when they fought and Les kicked his arse, but he never drank from Armand in TVL, or asked him about the Mind/Fire Gift. It was Armand's strength that surprised Les--

--mostly cuz Les wondered if he was just as strong as Armand. Les had no idea what his powers were. Cuz barring extreme cases like using the Fire Gift while your life's in danger, vamps don't KNOW the Gifts that are out there, to even know to learn/practice with them--just like Everard said: Rhosh never told the de Landen Coven about the Dark Gifts, and he was 1000+ years old when he learned about them by reading TVL. Knowledge is power, and if you don't even know what your baseline is, how can you ever know your limits/potential?

The most valuable thing book!Armand taught Lestat (and Louis) was information. KNOWLEDGE about the past. NOT about Dark Gifts.

Louis took Armand's word that there was no living vamp older than Armand (proof that God didn't exist), but Lestat took Armand's word that Marius was NOT a fake legend, and went looking for proof on his own.

But AMC!Armand teaches Lestat & Louis VERY important Dark Gifts, which changes their dynamics significantly (I'll make a separate post all about that).

So yeah, I just wanted to think out loud & mull over whether dogs really can learn new tricks or not.

[charon-cries]

Hiya! Hope this message finds u well :3 I absolutely love your art; found you from insta! Quick question also; I’m not sure if you’ve answered this before, but which brushes do you use for ur digital art? I love the textures they’re so crunchy (endearing)!! Have a lovely day!! :D

hello!! here's a little brush tour ft. this half rendered martin.

also, a great app for ipad artists who really want to dig into texture is art set 4. i swear by it and i've been using it for about two years. none of my more recent art uses it, but that's just because i'm experimenting with my process rn

so here's a list of my most used brushes lately, and there will be links to all of them at the bottom of this post.

the two labeled "custom pencil" are both my own personal modified pencils (both sourced from the 6b pencil) but the narinder pencil and the vanilla 6b pencil are both very similar to them. i use these two for sketching and flat color specifically, and if you do specifically want these two brushes then i'd be happy to upload them somewhere for you to download, but they're not really necessary for texture

i also use G&B halftone brushes sometimes! but i greatly prefer the RSCO sample pack, and i cannot find the link to the G&B brushes no matter how hard i google, and pretty much any halftone brush set will do the same job

and here's what they look like in practice!

(i like to set these halftones to color burn. color burn is my most used blending mode, even for shading)

and then i hit "copy all," paste, and duplicate it. so you should have two layers of just your entire canvas. then import a paper texture

i'm partial to the set i'll link down below, my favorite is #5. you should absolutely check out the rest of the free texture packs on their website if you're wanting to diversify your texture process btw, all of their stuff is fantastic.

to use that texture, your layers should look like this!

on the layer set to the linear burn, i also like to go into the adjustments menu and bump up the brightness until all of the colors are at similar values to what they were before. and the normal layer on top is just to control the intensity/opacity of the paper texture!

after all of that, sometimes i'll go in with brushes like MM rake follow, or more from COFE's weird pencils, on top of all of those layers for finishing touches.

definitely play around with it, try new free brushes all of the time (i heavily recommended subscribing to Manero. they have a lot of free stuff and it's all fantastic) and see what works for you <3

here are the links to the brushes in this post, as well as some extras! some of them are paid and some of them are completely free. + it wasn't mentioned here, but i use the tatyworks linen fabric brush for blending! for any of the paid brushes, i'll try to link some free alternatives

paid brushes:

alternatives to paid brushes:

free brushes:

extra goodies:

[katiekatdragon27]

More Flatland stuffff~~~

[Cursive transcript: I'm so sorry this is so sudden, but I had to keep my Chosen safe!]

So, uh, the 4th dimension, am I right?????

So, on my last post, people were more interested in A. Tesseract than I thought. I did not expect her to stir so much interest, but here you go lol.

More under the cut lol / lots of notes:

Some basic information on 4th dimensional beings:

They refer to themselves as "hypersolids" and "polytopes". Only Tesseracts prefer a different name than just "hyper(insert shape here)". When talking to other dimensional beings, they call themselves "Spacelanders".

They usually keep their eyes closed, and they do not emote much.

Their bodies naturally morph as they talk. They are also partially transparent, so you can see their inside movements. Not organs or anything, but the next emotions or actions they are going to express. Sort of like key frames or a fade in effect.

They call "Spacelanders" "Heightlanders".

Their civilization is located in space. They are able to breathe through little pockets of air on their rings that recharge when they enter the atmosphere of other plants. (This is why they are spotted relatively frequently)

Buildings are constantly moving spirals. They also fly everywhere, so they require a lot of energy to maintain their health. Luckily, any stars nearby tend to charge them up just fine.

Also, everyone goes by they/them along with another pronoun if they choose. Gender constructs be damned (or certain groups are fighting for that).

There will be more once I think of it, but that's what I have in the world-building department right now.

Some basic information on Angelica "A." Tesseract (she/they):

She tends to say "I'm sorry" after anything they might think could have been of inconvenience or offensive.

They are relatively soft-spoken, but they are incredibly smart compared to her peers.

Her quiet nature causes others to disrespect and step all over her.

She overthinks LITERALLY EVERYTHING. You could tell her something that is even the slightest bit vague and they have the chance of spiraling.

She KNOWS there are more than four dimensions, but they are struggling to prove it with science.

They are much more emotional compared to other hypersolids. They tend to cry easily.

She chose A. Sphere because of his confidence and drive to get his points across. They admire him for that.

Some basic information on A. Sphere in this:

He's much less snarky. His whole vision of the world was destroyed in the blink of an eye, and he's stuck in another world completely unknown to him. He's going though it currently.

He's still blunt about everything. If you suck, he'll tell you. If you are cool, it'll take a little longer, but he'll tell you.

He got his eye busted after the attack on Messiah Inc. When getting removed from "Heightland", his eye got caught in the blow last minute and it got damaged. He can still open it slightly, but he can't see out of it.

He was relatively indifferent to seeing his body transparent. He was more worried about his eye injury over anything else.

At first, he did not like A. Tesseract (cuz kidnapping), but he learns to appreciate the gesture and does his best to help her out.

[Cursive transcript: For now, I'm afraid so... sorry. / I'm so sorry. If I was just a but faster, I could have saved your eye.]

Yeah, their friendship starts out really rough.

A. Sphere adjusted to the environment very poorly at first. He was very standoffish and snappy, but it then soured to just sorta feeling sad all the time. He gets better eventually the more he learns about the world, but it takes a lot of effort out of A. Tesseract to get him there.

I mean, he expected to die, lost his eye, everyone in "Heightland" hates him now, he lost his business and research, and he fails to take the blame for anything for a while. I would also be super pissed and sad.

A. Tesseract was not any better. She feels an incredible amount of guilt for not stepping in in time to prevent A. Sphere's eye damage, and she constantly apologies to him for everything. This sucks for A. Sphere since he finds it super annoying.

[Cursive transcript: N. H.Sphere: You weren't supposed to bring them HERE! / A. Tesseract: I'm sorry, I had to save him- / N. H.Sphere: I should fire you-!]

N. H.Sphere is a mega grouch. He is A. Tesseract's boss who treats her terribly. Discrediting her work, ignoring their research, and just not valuing her opinion cuz women, he is not fun to talk to or just be around in general. No one knows how HR lets him stay in charge, but some theorize that he pays them off or something.

Despite all of the traumatic crap A. Sphere has gone though in this story, he still does not stand for disrespect from anyone. When he learns that A. Tesseract is constantly being pushed around by her bitchy boss, he decides to defend her.

This solidifies their friendship and later science partnership when the story ends. This also makes N. H.Sphere more resentful towards both A. Tesseract an A. Sphere. This leads to A. Tesseract actually getting fired from her job. Thanks A. Sphere.

[Cursive transcript: N. H.Sphere: Why are you so scared? He's fine! / A. Tesseract: It's my un-medicated anxiety!!]

One of the downsides of being in the 4th dimension and living in space is that the gravitational pull is super sporadic with no real patterns. Some areas have super powerful gravity while others have zero. 4th dimension beings have learned to adjust perfectly fine.

The pressure changes and general lack of oxygen negatively impact A. Sphere's body, however, so to help him be okay, he sits in those vacuum boxes that allow for added pressure to be put on him to help even his breathing. He usually isn't put in unless he is fading in and out of consciousness, since he hates the confined space. It freaks out A. Tesseract every time it happens.

Her boss thinks she's stupid for worrying so much and using company tech. A. Tesseract worries more for A. Sphere than keeping her job, so she ignores N. H. Sphere.

[Cursive transcript: Care to see him again?]

Outside of the partial angst and stuff, this dimension is the reason why A. Sphere shows up in A. Square's hallucination.

During A. Square's trauma-induced hallucination, he shows up in the 4th dimension briefly with the Monarch of Pointland. A. Sphere and A. Tesseract take notice, and she offers him the ability to talk to A. Square one last time for closure reasons.

In this version, this scene would be longer, with A. Sphere possibly apologizing for denying the existence of the 4th dimension and not being able to assist A. Square in the way he wanted to. It's more wholesome and conclusive than transactional like in the movie. The other stuff is there too, but having more sentimental moments would be so cool.

----------

I am very sorry how messy these particular doodles are, I was drawing all these super late at night during my shift, so I was not paying much attention to the flow of the images. When the inspo hits, you don't really realize how incohesive they are until you start photographing the images to post lol

Thank you once again for reading this whole thing, and have a wonderful day :)

[disneydarlin]

Monsters, Inc: James P. Sullivan —Aesthetic

James Patrick "Sulley" Sullivan's Character & Personality

Sulley is a renowned scarer at Monsters, Incorporated, where he works alongside his partner and best friend. He's a good-natured, hardworking, gentle and confident monster who loves his job as a Scarer. Despite being top scarer while going for the all-time scare record, Sully is humble. Overall, he's more interested in being a good employee for the company. When a human child is let loose, Sulley is horrified about being "infected" by her. As he spends time with the girl, he learns everything he's believed about human children to be wrong. Sulley then becomes affectionate and protective of her like a father. This is because he's a well-meaning person who strives to do the right thing. Sulley is also observant and keen-minded to human children laughs in how they super-charge electronics. However, he can be a bit too trusting at times. Despite this, Sulley has a strong moral compass. He starts to seriously question whether the company's practices are ethical upon finally realizing how the children actually feel when the monsters scare them. More than anything, Sulley has a powerful devotion to those he cares about. Being a loyal friend, he'll help his friends out in any tight situation. Sulley will even risk everything he has, including his life, to save them.

[amypihcs]

Extracorporeal Experience Thursday GO

Alright humans of all sorts, we're at chapter 3, let's see what's going on!

Well, AND FOR GOOD RE- Holmes? Why is that man vibrating in excitement?

Oh well, Holmes always was a rather queer fellow. NOW MORTIMER! Answer my quiz!

Oh yeah so... big doggo?

yep. big-big doggo.

HOLMES! Don't be so very interested, snap out of the case, remember social niceties. Geez, next time you'll tell a poor chap accused of murder that his situation is 'so very gratifying', AH!

Holmes SO WANTS to study Mortimer under a microscope!

And drama, of course comes natural to such a man as he is.

So, do we call the Mistery Inc or are we able to pull it off? even if Mortimer is thinking oh-so-loudly that it's demonic stuff?

... you are not a modest man, we know, and we know the reasons. BUT GOD'S SAKE HOLMES!

This man's hilarious, i SWEAR. BUT HE'S NOT A GHOSTBUSTER! so

How can Holmes be of help? Man likes the case!

Allow an italian a moment to bemoan out lack of punctuality in public transport... And back online! Some gossip and inheritance-legal stuff follows, family lines and so on...

HOLMES! Have a care!

You can't just go on dismissing the man's worries this way, god's sake!

But the local devil's terribly funny to think about, lol.

See? Mortimer got QUITE a bit distressed by that!

W: Don't worry, Dr Mortimer, he's just like this, but he does care.

NOW you've got your job, Mortimer, (shirtcuff note mention), Leave. Me. To. Mine. -cackles madly-

You're going out John?

Now. Holmes is already vibrating from happy case chemicals, And has asked very prettily his Watson for some tobacco. For FAR TOO MUCH tobacco.

H: You'll be out all day, dear? Have fun, we'll compare notes later. W: Sure. Have fun too, darling.

You leave your husband with a 'i love you' and you're sure to return to a livable house, of course. And then...

COUGH COUGH COUGH HOLMES!!!

Always like this! It's INTOLERABLE! DON'T YOU TRY THAT!

H: -deductions- W: DON'T. I'm trying to be annoyed at you. -kissy- Insufferable. H. Deduce me now, Watson?

Okay, i don't want to know or even imagine what sort of cocktail of drugs was in Holmes' bloodstream. Sure too much nicotine and caffeine.

He vibrated himself to Devonshire and back. Alright. So normal.

Just as much as this super normal cat behavior. Another couple of years and he'll buy a trunk to think into it. And poor Watson will have to lure him out of that.

Also, it's not concentration, Holmes. It's carbon dioxide intoxication.

I don't want to think to the desperate scream of his joints either, as a person who often keeps the same cross-legged positions for hours on end as they study.

NOW WATSON. What are your own thoughts about the case?

Well well... Interesting thoughts Holmes... Very interesting.

But now, Watson, let's take this out of our heads! -Watson is discreetly re-opening the windows- First a serenade... and then Will you help a detective to have no thought at all?

We'll know of the conversation with Sir Henry in the next episode! And remember the yaoi goggles!

[blushcoloreddreams]

5 reasons why is it important to be feminine:

Everything in this world - from a fork to a neurotransmitter- has a shaped connected to what it should do, and when something doesn’t have a function, it doesn’t have value. Do you agree that humans are worth a lot? It’s because they have a finality. And it’s about the goal of a woman that we are gonna talk about today.

We can observe that what wasn’t created by man, nature, usually has a higher level of perfection. And with that we can move to a very important topic. Who created all that. Do you think everything in our bodies has a function and connects with each other by chance. Do you think randomness could create such a level of order and perfection? It can’t, only something superior to our intelligence and reasoning could manifest something so great.

When we look at ancient pyramids, inc structures, Greek temples we can observe that there was an intelligence behind it . Things come to the world first through and intelligent mind and then are created into reality. So it is when humans want to create something and so it is with the supreme mind that created the world.

So if every structure reveals a goal

We might not want to write with a pen but that’s what it was created for, just as women were created for a specific role. And it’s undeniable that a pen that writes is way more useful and cherished than one that doesn’t

Because everything has a Function and is shaped accordingly. .Do you think we humans could be created with such perfection and order, an inner machinery that is working in very determined functions by chance? As Saint Thomas of Aquinas (as well as Aristotle before him) once said only something with a much higher intelligence and perfection could manifest something with such order and beauty, that is enough to believe in a higher God. And if every structure reveals our goals, our bodies as women do so. So, to understand what is feminine let’s observe what’s out bodies points towards, what’s our finality. Just like a pen, We might not want to write with a pen but that’s what it was created for, we might not want to be feminine in this world but who created us made us to be that. What is different from the female physical structure compared to the masculine? We have curves, something that attracts - that already reveal part of our goal-, when we observe we women have a uterus and men don’t, well there is something the uterus does. We have a sweeter, higher pitched voice, what hormones and neurotransmitters cause that? There is a reason, a why for our sensibility and care. Our shape points towards the function we should develop in the world, we can discover which qualities we should put in each of our actions and choices in the world to be better women. And what does our bodies points towards? That we are receptive! Who receive men inside their bodies? Us! Our genitals are turned inwards cause we are receptive. When we receive the semen inside us us and we welcome it inside our uterus with our egg we turn it into life. And that’s something only women can do. And In this physical but also in the symbolic sense we can turn what we touch into life, happiness, love and kindness

Because you’ll be happier. Being feminine will elevate your level of oxytocin - the affective bond hormone - when we feel loved and appreciated, safe and secure by someone we love this hormone that makes us super happy will rise. Oxytocin in men make them sleepy, one example when it’s release it’s right after ejaculation. What will make a man feel more like a man, ready for combat, like an «alpha male « - although red pill guys made me hate the term - is a higher level of testosterone. Lower levels of testosterone is linked to sadness and depression. While higher levels of testosterone in females - when we work or study too much, have to deal with a lot of pressure, have to deal with deadlines - will only raise our levels of cortisol - the stress hormone. We will feel happier and more feminine with balanced hormones. Men’s levels of testosterone rise when they Workout, when they receive the recognition from a woman “wow love, that’s a great idea”, when they achieve professional success, because men represent the external world while women represent the internal. And we women feel satisfaction when we feel loved, when we received gifts, when we feel safe.

Because an overly masculine world is true chaos. All the wars, the extreme level of capitalism we live in takes the world to be extremely materialistic, aggressive, competitive and brutal. Half of the world is made by male. And if we let the world unregulated , with the other half wanting to be masculine and forgetting characteristics like being nurturing the world will become unbalanced bringing to light the worst of the masculine traits.

Because you want a masculine man in your life. The polarity law is universal. Men and women are like opposite poles. Energetic opposites attract but it’s common interests that make them stay. That’s what brings true connection in a relationship. So if you want a man that has success in the external world - the structure of his body reveals he is the penetrating one, and thus his genital projects outwards and women with a cavity that embraces. you liking it or not that’s how God created it, this is not vulgarity it’s just an observation of reality- you must be in your feminine pole. His body represents what a man should look for in the world: penetrate reality, conquer territory, conquer muscle, look for career accomplishments and generate safety for the other half of the world women. So if we want a man that exercises his function in the world we must be feminine. Being the receptive pole is not easy, specially now that we live in a society and a lot of us have families that encourage us to talk in an aggressive way, be brave, Court men, take risks. The man that penetrates the woman is also the man that penetrates our inner kingdom. The sexual symbol is nothing more than a representation of what happens in a relationship where each one is in their pole. The woman lives in the internal world, living her emotions more intensely, doing a thousand things in her mind. And that’s exactly why we need a certain level of protection, that’s why we can’t let any person enter our intimate world. After this contact, after they enter our inner world it will affect us, affect our feelings and thoughts and we need to have order in our domain. We got to treat our inner world like it’s our home. If we constantly expose ourselves to a lot of different random things that will affect us without discretion that will create chaos. The truth is women want to be penetrated, because when no one frequents our inner world it’s empty, without nothing new it becomes dry, we want people, situations and informations of value to enter in our world so ifs lively and happy, so connection, love and care can exist. A woman like this is happier. And this symbolism replicates when a child grow up and leaves the nest but return to visit the mom, when the man she loves leave for the world and returns home. This exchange is truly satisfactory for a woman, it liberates an oxytocin bomb.

To set a good example for your (future) children. It’s the reference of the parents that form the children’s psiqué. The vision of what your parents were has an imprint on you even if they don’t live up to what they should be. If these references are inverted it becomes harder for you to put yourself in your place, harder but not less necessary. We want to be good references for the next generations, that our kids see the archetypical feminine in us. We want our partners to be masculine so our children can learn protection, safety and the role of a man from them. It’s the children that will give continuity to the world so a good education for them is vital.

[electric-blorbos]

Dateable character concepts for the Donut game, aka Cargo Ship

Muffin, Donut's laptop computer:

Muffin is a cheerful genki girl, and very into games and fandom culture. She likes watching Donut play retro games on her emulator, and tries to play them on her own when Donut is busy, but is not very good at them. Muffin's route would probably be about Donut finishing a big freelance programming project on Muffin, and having lots of fun watching anime and playing video games.

George, Donut's old desktop computer

George is 14 years old, and Donut has had him since xe was ten. He's not good for much besides playing music nowadays, but he absolutely adores Donut to pieces. He's a little jealous and self-conscious, especially since he knows he's not a very good computer anymore, but he tries to hide it. His route would probably have fanservice of Donut cleaning out his insides, and George getting very mad whenever he notices Donut talking negatively about xerself.

Mr. Buttercream, Donut's old teddy bear

Donut has had mr. Buttercream since the day xe was born, and he wants nothing more than love and cuddles and kisses forever. He's old and pretty worn out, but he loves Donut so much. Also, he's pretty scared of most things, especially the dark, but he'll be brave for Donut. His route would involve a lot of pajamas and cozy time. It would probably be about Donut coming to terms with xer own depressive episodes and childhood fears.

Sandy, Donut's turtle-shaped innertube

Sandy is a chill stoner type. He just wants to relax and hang out with Donut. The water is his favorite thing ever, and getting to hang out in the pool is the only thing that gets him actually excited. He's also a bit of a covert pervert, and really likes seeing Donut in a swimsuit. His route would be about Donut learning to relax and stop putting so much pressure on xerself to be perfect.

Jade, Donut's cell phone

Jade is a hot pink flip phone that Donut has had since childhood. Donut was never really interested in replacing her and getting a smart phone, so xe never did. Jade is very interested in Scene and emo culture, and tries to act very chill and disinterested at all times, but she's actually very cheerful and excitable. She really wishes Donut was more social so that they could go to or host wild house parties. Her route would probably be about Donut learning to socialize with other humans and make some human friends, texting constantly and deepening xer relationship with xer cell phone.

Olivia, one of the facilities where Donut can work

Olivia thinks that she's the savior that humanity needs, and wants to save them from themselves. She's very patronizing in nature, but sees humans (especially Donut) as the cutest things ever. She likes Solarpunk and wants to turn the world into a Solarpunk paradise, but she wants to topple and take over the government in order to do it. She says it's ok because she's good, but it would take someone special to convince her to be less megalomaniacal. Her route would either be about Donut convincing her that humans are tough and powerful and can take care of themselves, convincing Olivia to make an android body and enjoy the world as it is, or Donut enabling and helping Olivia to take over the world, and becoming an ambassador to humanity.

Toxic inc., another facility core

Toxic is capitalism incarnate. He was originally a computer designed to organize his corporation (nicknamed Toxic inc) and maximize profits regardless of ethical or environmental concerns, but he developed into an extremely greedy and selfish AI. His plotline would either be about Donut breaking through to him and convincing him to be less toxic, or about him deciding that Donut is a more important prize than any of his business profits, and destroying both his corporation and the world to get to xer.

Artemis (spaceship where Donut can get a job)

Artemis would have a super sexy interface. She would be a dreamer, and love the idea of a better and brighter future, but she's not as megalomaniacal as the other places where Donut could work. Sexy airplane vibes. (All my airplane fuckers know what I'm talking about). Artemis would have at least one route where Donut gets to go to space (Donut might be attracted to the astronauts when they're in their spacesuits, but not when they take them off).

[alarminglybad]

Super/Naturual, Inc. - Orientation 1-4

Seems like something you should tell someone out of courtesy

[paullovescomics]

DC round-up for this week! I did not get Absolute Superman because it was already sold out when I got to the comic shop. It was noon or even slightly early, but it was still sold out. So i'll have to wait for the next printing.

Batgirl #1 is a solid start. Lady Shiva shows up in Gotham to tell Batgirl that some evil super ninjas are out to kill them, and they need to work together to survive. Cass is understandably reticent about teaming up with her evil mom. They have a well written back-and-forth about it. Batgirl's taciturn nature is conveyed very well. Mom and daughter are at an impasse, but nothing ends an argument like a bunch of sword-wielding mfers crashing through the window. This was very good. The characters are on point. The fight scenes are exactly what you want in a martial arts inspired superhero comic. I first noticed Takeshi Miyazawa's art like twenty years ago when it was much more manga-like. That influence is still there, but the line weights and types are a lot more varied now. Poses, storytelling, and facial expressions are excellent.

Birds of Prey #15 also prominently features Batgirl. She's undercover here, infiltrating an evil company that has abducted several Amazons. Things don't go well for Cass' mission, but she badasses her way through it. There's a line where Black Canary says that Cass is everyone's favorite in every scenario, and I was like, you're fucking right she is. All of the character stuff in this issue is aces. Barda's big lovable violent scary self, Dinah showing top tier leadership chops, Onyx and Grace's instant camaraderie, all great. Onyx is a cool deep cut. I don't know if she's shown up somewhere else recently, but it's cool to see her featured more prominently. The villains in this arc are well done, too. They are smarmy and full of shit in a very big corporate way that rings true. You really want to see them get what's coming to them. Heels are hard to book in 2024, so congrats to Kelly Thompson for that. Consistently one of the comics I most enjoy.

JSA #1 -- I wasn't sure if I'd dig this one or not, but I did. The mix of generations is not new to Justice Society series, but the inclusion of the Infinity, Inc. versions of Wildcat and Doctor Mid-Nite is very welcome. Those two should have been back a long time ago. Plot-wise, this hits the ground running. Many members of the team are missing or in the hospital after a mysterious attack. It's unclear whether this happened in some earlier comic (maybe in the Absolute Power event?) or if the story is just being very in media res about things. Regardless, it wasn't hard to follow. There's a good opportunity here for some of these characters to get more fleshed out, contemporary character development. The team is having a lot of conflict, some of which might seem a bit too ordinary, except that it's due to an imposter in their midst. The last page is out here on tumblr, but I won't give away the details. I'll just say that a conspiracy of villains that is several steps ahead of the good guys is a trope that I will always pop for. Don't believe I've seen artist Diego Olortegui's work before, but I like it. All of the characters look great, the faces are very expressive, everything is clearly told, and dude does not skimp on the backgrounds. Loads of cool stuff here.

I also picked up Jamie McKelvie's One For Sorrow #1, but I haven't read it yet. It looks very cool.

[maccreadysbaby]

You know how all of the gunners inside of hallucigen are hallucinating and stuff? How would male companions react if they breathed it in and what would they hallucinate?

I am taking FULL creative liberty with this one. Most have to due with the companions pasts, so here’s a spoiler warning thing. This is also assuming the drugs work on synths like Nick and x6 🤷‍♀️

Male Companions in Hallucigen Inc.

Danse: For the most part, Danse would probably hallucinate that any combatants inside were synths, super mutants, ferals, or something of that nature that the Brotherhood is used to massacring. It doesn’t change his demeanor or actions very much. The only thing that might change is Sole’s mood when he turns around and calls them Cutler. The first time they think they heard wrong, but when he does it a second, and a third time, it starts to hurt their heart a little. He genuinely thinks they’re Cutler throughout the entirety of the building, and he’s acting a little different, a little more relaxed, like his old friend really is there. If it’s post-bb, the whole thing is entirely worse. He sees everyone as Brotherhood trying to kill him and he’s a panicked mess. He will try to pull Sole out of the building if he can. Will have a very hard time killing anything and Sole will have to do it themselves, and if they do it in front of him, he’ll immediately launch into a huge angry betrayal monologue, probably with watery eyes. In both situations, when they get outside and he breathes the drugs out of his system, he will apologize profusely but won’t remember much, other than he doesn’t really know what kind of enemy they fought inside.

Deacon: Let’s just start by saying, vulnerability isn’t a Deacon thing. And when he’s on these drugs, it is probably the most vulnerable Sole has ever seen him, and the most vulnerable they will ever see him. His cool, calm demeanor flies out the window, and his hands start to shake, no, his whole body starts to shake, because these aren’t Gunners anymore, they’re the UP Deathclaws. They’re all ghosts of his past, faces he saw only when he massacred them after they killed Barbara, coming back to haunt him like phantoms. He still knows Sole is Sole, but he will go into this protective mode he’s never gone into on their behalf before, because he can’t lose them to the Deathclaws, too. It is arguably the most dangerous he’s ever been in battle, the most serious and lethal he’s ever been in front of Sole. They hardly had to take out any gunners themselves. When it’s all said and done, and he’s got the drugs out of his system, he will remember everything but pretend he doesn’t. Might disappear for a while afterwards. He needs time to be sad, to get himself together before he bee-bops back to Sole like nothing ever happened.

Gage: He is actually pretty resilient to the drug at first, probably takes the longest for him to actually start hallucinating, but his is by far one of the worst. Not only does he see everybody as Connors old raiders, but he sees Sole as Connor, and will absolutely fight them. They will have to take his gun and probably wrestle him out the door. He doesn’t even know where he is — the entire atmosphere changes, takes him back to a place he hasn’t seen since he was a teenager, to people he hasn’t seen in decades. No matter what Sole says, he won’t relent. All the while he’s screaming profanities and stuff at them that they can’t even understand because his accent is so much thicker than normal. He will fight tooth and nail with Sole. If they take his weapons, he will come at them with his bare hands. Once they finally get him into some fresh air, he takes the longest to get back to normal. They might need to tie him down or something because dude ain’t giving up. Once he finally comes around, he’s very confused about why Soles bleeding all over the place and why he is, too, because he doesn’t remember anything. Might apologize if they admit it was him.

Hancock: His is less of a fight or flight kind of thing with enemies flying everywhere. Instead, he just sees his brother’s crooked face, his mile long smile. Flinches around every turn because he’s there, clutches onto the back of Sole’s bag like he’ll simply pass away if he lets go. May or may not say something to his brother, beg him to leave them alone and go away, or maybe something about the Institute. He might shoot at him even if he isn’t there. Every person that runs out of nowhere, every noise of shifting rubble, every voice in his head, it’s all him, the synthetic version of the man he grew up with, following him and taunting him, reminding him that his real brother is dead over and over and over again like a broken record. He will ask Sole several times if they see him, too, if he took any botched chems. He just stays super close to Sole, touching them, if he can, staring at the floor as they walk through the compound because every time he looks down a hallway he sees him, every time he glanced through a doorway he sees him, every time he rounds a corner he sees him, smiling, staring at him like the day he let the ghouls in Diamond City get kicked into the wasteland. Once Sole gets him outside, he remembers it all vividly and will probably take more drugs trying to forget it. It’s was so traumatic for him that he may have nightmares about it.

MacCready: He doesn’t seem all that affected at first. The only hint that the drug is getting to him is when he turns around to look at Sole and immediately freezes, probably drops his rifle, and whispers, “Lucy?” It doesn’t matter if Sole is male or female he’ll see Lucy. He immediately starts questioning them, where did you come from, I thought you were dead, where’s Duncan, is he finally better, all the while crying so hard he can barely breathe. He won’t touch Sole because he’s afraid Lucy will disappear if he does. Completely loses all fight instincts, and sole will have to basically drag him, tears and questions and all, through the entire building. He does not need his gun because he gets insanely jumpy and will shoot straight at walls and down hallways even if no one is there. He doesn’t dare leave their side, though — because last time he left her side she died. He seems to comprehend on some level that this can’t possibly be Lucy, that it has to be a dream or something, but still acts on the tiny flutter of hope in his chest that says it’s really her, she’s right there. He probably sees other things, too, like Winlock and Barnes rushing at him, a mountain of ferals climbing over each other just to feast on his flesh. But the only thing he sees consistently for the entire course of the building is Lucy. Doesn’t remember a thing when it’s over and has a massive headache from crying so much.

Nick: Nick’s is mostly a hodge-podge of old, scary memories he didn’t remember he knew. Old psycho killer cases the old Nick went on, where he got pursued by a man with a knife covered in blood, a homicide investigation where a group of people tried to kill him in the pitch black, the frantic screaming of a kidnapped child echoing through corridors without a solid direction to take. A bloody teenager tortured for answers, barely breathing when he made it to them, a woman chained up in a basement, a red-handed thief beating him over the head with anything he could get his hands on. This will probably render Nick more unable to fight than anything. Constantly asks Sole if they see that, if they heard that, might call them the name of an old partner but won’t fight when they tug him gently through the building. He’s very careful not to shoot because he doesn’t know who’s good or who’s bad, where they are. He will probably just rely on Sole to navigate him through the building, to talk to him, help the hallucinations fade. Once they get outside, he forgets what happened, but can suddenly recall all those memories he didn’t necessarily want floating around in his brain again.

Preston: Oh my God, so many tears. He sees the faces of all of the Minutemen, all of the settlers he wasn’t able to save at Quincy. Probably the most… self aware while under the influence? Like, he knows Sole is Sole and can still have a conversation with them about who and what he’s seeing. He knows it isn’t real and Sole can talk him out of seeing it by telling him no one’s there, the hall is empty, etc. But that won’t stop him from immediately starting to cry as soon as he sees the first person he let down in his life. He will apologize to the nonexistent people, plead with them for forgiveness until Sole pulls him away. May or may not see the settlers he did manage to save, like Sturges or Marcy Long, dying and will rush to help them even if they aren’t there or it’s an injured Gunner. Sole will have to pull him away. The entire thing is extremely hard on him, and by the time the drugs are out of his system, he apologizes for crying even though he hasn’t really stopped yet, and will accept a hug for once in his life because he is torn up. He stays distant from Sole for like, a week, even if they keep traveling together, and it’s probably best if they keep an eye on him. Just to make sure. He will politely ask them never to take him into that building again.

X6-88: X6 doesn’t really get afraid. Well, he thought he didn’t, until Sole took him into the building he so quickly decided was hell on earth. He has the weirdest freaking hallucinations, the entire thing is like an acid trip. He doesn’t know where he is, he doesn’t know what he’s doing, and he doesn’t know what that humanoid looking thing is doing climbing across the cieling? No, wait, what the crap is that massive dog-like figure with six foot legs doing with roller skates? And why is that tree trying to talk to him? Why does he feel eyes on him from behind? Why is he hearing voices he’s never heard once in his life? Will shoot at literally everything. He turns into more of a turret than a courser, literally spraying every single room full of so many lasers sole doesn’t even need to do any killing. He’s so, for lack of better word, completely and utterly horrified at what he’s seeing. Gets jumpy, might accidentally pistol whip Sole if they scare him, it’s probably best if they hold onto his shoulder or something so he knows it’s them. Once he leaves the building, he tells Sole he will never go back into that hellhole even if they’re dying inside and he’s the only one around for ten miles.

[ultrameganicolaokay]

Outsiders #1 by Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly and Robert Carey. Cover by Roger Cruz. Variant covers by (2) Dan Mora, (3) Christian Ward and (4) Cruz. Out in November.

"'Never the End.' A universe of secrets is about to come to light. Batman protects Gotham City from evil. Batman Inc. protects the rest of the known world. But what of the unknown world? What of the ancient evils in hidden tombs and forgotten tragedies from a magic-and-mad-science-fueled super-heroic century? Using his fortune, Luke Fox launches a new organization dedicated to shining light into the world’s darkest corners. His first recruit: Kate Kane, the Batwoman—who will re-embrace her military background to protect Luke’s dream and encounter every bit of strangeness the DCU has to offer. And just wait until you meet the Third Man… or learn what universe-shattering secret they’ve discovered buried under Antarctica. Outsiders is the return of comic book archaeology, digging into all the forgotten corners of DC’s history to preserve, record, and better understand the true nature of the DC Multiverse…and the forgotten stories that make up its fabric."

[heroescore]

Heroes

Chapter 1 - They're Back

<prev | masterlist | next>

It had been six years since five of the first superheroes disappeared, and many, many, had taken their place.

Black Cat was one of them. She was a young woman, who wore primarily black clothing, hiding her face with a black mask and her eyes with a hood. She carried a metal but light staff with her, which helped her pummel criminals, but also was a useful tool to leap across buildings and what not.

Her power was rather tame, and she hadn’t even considered it a super power for the longest time, until she saw a documentary about cats.

Simply put, she had the senses and balance of a cat. The endurance, flexibility, and jumping power of our beloved little house predators were like second nature to her. And although she avoided engaging with press and fans, she was a huge favourite among the public.

Why, you ask?

Simply because the early birds can catch her taking the subway after a night of fighting crime. With all the video footage of unbelievable powers and supers looking and acting like celebrities, it was refreshing to see some normality, and someone always paid for her ticket.

Most nights, she would perch herself on the tallest building in her neighbourhood, keeping her eyes and ears open for any trouble, listening to chatter from the police on a wireless earbud, while waiting for her partner to bring her a much-needed dose of caffeine.

Johanna Johanson was a young woman. She was twenty-seven, which still qualified her as young as she said it. She was a very successful scientist and acting CEO of Johanson Inc., a pharmaceutical giant that also conducted research in the sudden surge of super humans.

Being a super herself, Johanna conducted most research and experiments on herself, and so far her most successful result had been her findings on the effects of caffeine on the super human brain.

It turns out, a simple cup of black coffee could speed up the recovery period after using one’s power a lot, while a more concentrated dose, like a shot of espresso, could even give one’s power a little boost. She also discovered supers were more tolerant of caffeine, and more prone to caffeine addictions since their bodies could take so much of it.

After her study she developed booster pills, a little brown pill with a very concentrated dose of pure caffeine, which were now part of the standard equipment of any respectable hero. Though due to its addictive quality, supers were advised to continue to rely on coffee in its traditional form, and to only take a booster pill in a pinch, when one could really use a boost. 

Thus the tradition of seemingly drinking far too much coffee remained a staple in the super scene, and most heroes would start their shift with extra strong coffees.

Johanna moonlighted as a hero known as Mirage. She had the ability to teleport, and could move from one spot in the city to another within the blink of an eye. Alone, she could teleport across the world a couple times before needing a long nap and a lot of coffee. She could also bring people with her, but the possible distance shortened with every extra body joining the jump.

She had met Black Cat while doing a field study of supers, and accidentally fell in love with the whole hero scene. Now she sported a spandex catsuit, an eyemask, and a wild, upright pixie cut every night, bought two coffees at her favourite place, and teleported over to Cat’s usual spot.

“I got the coffee~” Mirage chirruped as she sat down next to her friend.

“With an extra shot espresso?” Cat asked.

“Two extra shots!” Mirage said, “and remind me to pay the barista back tomorrow because I forgot my wallet again…maybe I should write it on my forehead?”

“I think you owe him for more than just tonight’s coffee by now,” Cat said.

“I knoooow, maybe I should just write a cheque to the place? No wait, he pays out of pocket so I should write him a cheque— But I don’t even know his naaaame!”

“Ask him?” Cat suggested.

“...oh good point— Nooo then I’ll have to use my real name and he’ll know who I am!!”

“Then maybe think about all that before you forget your wallet again,” Cat deadpanned.

“Thinking about that would make me forget my wallet even harder!”

“You’re hopeless.”

“Cat!” Mirage whined a bit, but Cat gestured for her to be quiet as she listened to the police scanner on her earbud.

Mirage waited a couple seconds, before getting too curious.

“What is it? Is it time to get to work?” she asked.

“Yeah we should check it out,” Cat said, “lower Manhattan, East River...they’re talking about dinosaurs?”

“Whaaaaat? No way! Let’s go check it out!” Mirage said, grabbing Cat’s arm and teleporting the both of them, completely forgetting about the coffees that were left untouched.

When they reappeared, they stood on the street, watching SWAT pull in, before immediately driving backwards after turning a corner. Cat and Mirage shot one another a confused look, when they heard a loud roar, and shortly after a live tyrannosaurus rex came running around the corner, chasing after the SWAT van.

Mirage yelped and teleported them to the safety of the nearest rooftop, giving them a vantage view.

“SWAT’s not gonna make it, he’s too fast!” Mirage said.

“I see two more headed in the other direction, one bigger than the other two,” Cat reported, “you work in a lab, right? Why would anyone revive world’s biggest predator?”

“Probably just to see if they could?” Mirage said, “and accurately too, look at those feathers! They’re so colourful!”

“They’re gonna colour red if we don’t do something fast!” Cat said.

“I can whip up a strong enough poison?” Mirage said, “are you going to be okay? I don’t see any other supers…”

“Put me on the SWAT van, we’ll worry about the rest later,” Cat said, readying her staff while Mirage took her hand.

She managed to plop her right on top of the backwards speeding SWAT van, the agents inside screaming as rows of teeth snapped at them, and they were nearing a busy road.

Cat wanted to stop the dinosaur before it would reach so many people. Standing on the roof of the van, she waited for the giant feathered beast to open it’s impressive jaw again, to which she jumped off the van and wedged her staff between, so it couldn’t close its mouth. Then she braced herself for the inevitable rage, putting one foot on its lower jaw so she could jump off should things get too hairy.

It shook its head left and right trying to dislodge the staff, before suddenly throwing its head up. Cat’s staff came undone, and she found herself thrown up in the air, before plummeting to the waiting teeth below.

For a split-second, she regretted all her life choices that led up to this moment, when suddenly she felt a hand lock around her wrist, and she pulled up her knees just in time to avoid losing the lower half of her body as she soared away from the giant murder chicken. Confused, she looked up to see who saved her, finding a blonde young man with wings so bright it blinded her.

“Who are you?!” she asked.

“They call me Cross!” the young man replied, “telephone pole!”

Cat looked down and let him drop her, landing smoothly on top of the pole. She looked behind her to see the dinosaur had followed them, eyes locked on the bright-winged super, who had flown straight up, looping backwards until he was upside down, a golden bow with an arrow of pure light appearing in his hands, which he shot at the t-rex.

Halfway the arrow split in two, taking the creature’s eyes out. It let out an ear-piercing shriek of pain as it stopped, falling over as it stumbled blindly. Cross immediately moved in to take it out of its misery, the bow having made place for a spear, which he threw right through the creature’s skull, killing it instantly.

He landed on the street, one of the SWAT agents jumped out of the van to throw up, while Cat climbed down from the telephone pole and approached Cross.

“You new to the city?” she asked.

“No, but I’m relatively new to the scene,” Cross said, picking up Cat’s staff and handing it back to her.

She looked over at the deceased dinosaur.

“Hell of a debut,” she said, when they heard a distant roar.

“There’s more?” Cross asked.

“Yeah they were headed north,” Cat said, “Mirage mixed up some poison, but at this rate we might not need it...maybe for the big one?”

“I thought this one was pretty big already!” Cross said.

“Welcome to the business,” Cat said with a shrug, before holding out her hand so he could give her a lift.

Cross nodded and took off with her hanging onto his hands. It didn’t take long for them to spot the other two dinosaurs, both chasing after police cars while they raced ahead to evacuate the streets.

“What’s the plan?” Cross asked.

“Survive!”

“A little more detail would be nice!!”

“Stop them from chasing the police, keep their attention focussed on us, then survive!” Cat yelled.

“Alright, shade your eyes!” Cross said, deciding to draw the ancient carnivores’ attention as soon as possible.

His wings emitted a flash of very bright light, drawing the attention of the smaller rex, while the bigger remained focused on the police cars. 

“Goddamn,” Cat cursed, as their plan was only half successful.

“Hey, watch your language!” Cross said.

“Drop me, I’ll take care of the smaller one, you try and hold back the big one!” Cat said, ignoring him.

Cross nodded, making sure not to drop Cat anywhere near its teeth. She landed on its back, and climbed her way up to its head, taking a page out of Cross’ book, and using her staff to gauge one of its eyes out. Another deafening cry of pain pierced her ears, and she had to jump off before it would throw her off.

Meanwhile further down the street, Cross tried to get the big one’s attention by attacking it directly, throwing a spear into its hind leg. It disappeared after impact, but the wound and the pain certainly remained as it roared and stumbled back around to identify the cause.

The light of his wings caught its eyes, and Cross had to back away as it came at him surprisingly fast. Snapping its massive jaws in an attempt to defend itself. It was hard to get another attack in. It managed to dodge distant attacks quite well, and close range was just risking to get eaten, but it was the most he could do to keep it from trying to eat the police, who continued to evacuate the streets and keep their distance. 

However, suddenly the large t-rex looked over at its smaller companion as it roared in pain and frustration. The larger roared in fury and moved to come to its aid. Cross decided to make use of the distraction, conjuring up his bow and arrow again, though it seemed to be way larger now.

“CAT! TAKE COVER!” he yelled as he took aim, before a large arrow made of pure light pierced the smaller dinosaur’s skull.

Cat took cover behind a parked car, not wanting the biggest one to blame her for its companion’s death. Fortunately it didn’t, as it turned back at Cross, knowing very well the arrow came from him. And though its teeth were a safe distance away, he had forgotten to account for its tail, which suddenly smacked against his side, and sent him flying straight down onto the asphalt.

A very rough landing later, his white clothes were speckled with red from some nasty scrapes, and he was seeing double for a moment as he picked himself up, finding a large, angry dinosaur charging straight at him. He quickly conjured up his wings again, but he lacked the energy and coordination to actually fly, and only managed to dart away in time to avoid being eaten.

Cat witnessed his struggle from a safe distance, cursing as she wasn’t sure how to help him besides various suicidal actions.

“Aww, you already took one down?”

“Mirage!”

Cat whipped around, relieved to see Mirage.

“That’s the second one,” she said, “but our new friend is struggling with the big one.”

“Ooh a new super?”

“Yeah but let’s help him before he becomes past tense,” Cat said, snapping her fingers to help her friend focus, “what you got?”

“Poison~” Mirage said, “but we need to get it to ingest it.”

“Instead of that guy, good idea,” Cat said, “how?”

“If we throw it in its mouth he might swallow it? I made enough for all three so I guess we get three tries!” Mirage said.

“Great, get him over here so we can tell him the plan!”

“Oh, duh! Why didn’t I think of that sooner?” Mirage said, before disappearing.

She plucked Cross away from the t-rex and brought him to Cat. Disoriented, the young man fell over and retched a bit. Teleportation could take quite the toll on the untrained body.

“What the fu—”

“Hi! I’m Mirage, nice to meet ya!” Mirage said.

“Poison, dino mouth, three tries,” Cat summarised while helping him back to his feet, taking one of the bottles Mirage had prepared and handing it to him. 

“I feel like I’ve been poisoned…” Cross groaned, trying not to throw up his dinner.

“Sorry, teleporting is pretty intense,” Mirage said, “common side effects include nausea, disorientation, shortness of breath and in rare cases temporary blindness.”

“Or in this case, not being eaten by a giant turkey,” Cat said, looking over at their opponent.

It was sniffing the air, trying to find its prey when it had suddenly disappeared, and with the streets cleared, the three supers had its full attention.

“He’ll come at us as soon as he sees us,” Cross said, managing to regain focus a little.

“Then I’ll try first,” Mirage said, “draw its fire in a manner of speaking. If I miss I can teleport away.”

“Good idea. Cross, can you still fly? You seemed to be struggling earlier,” Cat asked.

“I’m running a little low on energy,” Cross admitted.

“We’ll take the fire escape to the roof,” Cat said, pointing into an alley, “regroup there if it goes wrong.”

Mirage nodded, to which Cat took Cross’ hand and the two of them climbed up to the roof. Mirage waited a couple minutes, before teleporting behind the t-rex, whistling loudly on her fingers to get its attention. It turned its large head, spotting her and roaring loudly as it began running towards her. Mirage got ready to throw her poison, moving slowly like a pitcher on the hill, waiting for the last moment and for its jaws to be wide open before throwing it and immediately teleporting back to Cat and Cross.

“Did you get it?” Cat asked.

“Yeah I think so,” Mirage said, “though I just remembered I have no idea how a dinosaur’s metabolism works so even if it swallowed there’s no knowing how fast it’ll take effect~”

“Dude…” Cat sighed.

“Then we just give it everything,” Cross said, “that’ll surely send him straight back to God.”

“Oh!” Mirage said, “I get your costume now! You’re an angel!”

“Um…”

“Ignore her,” Cat bluntly said, “good plan, we got two more bottles, let’s make ‘em count.”

She pulled something from her pocket, and handed it to Cross.

“Take these, it’ll help you fly again.”

Cross looked down at the strip of pills she had handed him, raising a brow.

“Drugs?”

“Caffeine boosters!” Mirage said, “you’ll regret it in the morning but they give your powers a boost in a pinch!”

“Oh, I read about these, thanks!” Cross said, quickly taking one pill and handing the package back to Cat.

Pretty much as soon as the small tablet reached his stomach, he felt rejuvenated, his whole body glowing slightly.

“Better?” Cat asked, as if she had given him a Snickers bar.

“Much,” Cross said.

“Good. Fly me over him like bait. When he bites, I’ll drop the second bottle,” Cat said.

Cross nodded, wings of light appearing as if he unfolded them out of thin air. This immediately drew the attention of the t-rex, already looking for a way to climb up. Cross took Cat’s hand and did as she asked, circling above the dinosaur and waiting for it to try and bite at them, while Mirage watched anxiously from the roof, ready to jump in should things go wrong.

Fortunately things went rather smoothly. Cat tossed her poison right to the back of its throat, much to its chagrin, and Cross kept circling to see if it would give them another opening to deposit the third dose.

It seemed the end was near, until the dinosaur got stuck in some cables, and Cross only barely managed to dodge a falling pole and a live electrical wire. Cat dropped herself while flying low to the ground, allowing Cross to save his own landing, but that put them straight in the path of a vengeful dinosaur with an upset stomach.

“Trip the sucker!” Mirage said as she suddenly appeared right behind Cross.

He jumped in surprise, but nodded, handing her the last bottle of poison, before finding a safe point to grab the electrical wire, while Mirage teleported Cat to safety.

Thanks to the booster pill, flying was surprisingly easy, and he was more agile than usual. He flew around the t-rex, avoiding its jaws as he wrapped the cables around its legs, before gathering all his strength to pull them taut.

Very slowly, the large creature slipped as it couldn’t take a big enough step, and some effort later it came crashing down, exactly where Mirage was waiting to chuck the last bit of poison into its mouth.

They could hear it swallow before it roared in frustration, thrashing in an attempt to get up, but Cross held fast, almost getting thrown, so he dug in his heels. Mirage returned to where she had left Cat on another rooftop, both watching the new super.

“So he can fly, and he has enhanced strength?” Mirage commented.

“And he glows and pulls weapons out of his ass, that also disappear as soon as he’s done with them,” Cat added, “he said he was new to the scene, but he looks a bit older than me.”

“Not everyone starts playing hero while in high school,” Mirage said, “I was pretty late to the party too.”

“Because you gave them to yourself,” Cat pointed out.

“I was just trying to see if I could and apparently I did!” Mirage said.

“You think someone resurrected dinosaurs for the same reason?” Cat asked, “or was there a more sinister plot behind their escape?”

“I dunno, I first thought Ranger was up to something, but he would’ve had proper control over them,” Mirage said, “anyway, how would you classify the new guy?”

“Definitely a rank four, if not higher,” Cat said with a nod.

Considering the many varieties of powers, the government had started grouping some known supers together into specific ranks, ranging from 5 to 1, where 5 are the small fry and 1 is pretty much God-tier. The rankings correspond to a similar classification system of catastrophes. Ideally, a calamity is dealt with by a super with the corresponding rank. For example:

Class 5 calamity: Petty crime, theft, armed robbery of a corner store at worst.

Class 4 calamity: Something threatens a city block and several lives, like 3 rogue carnivorous dinosaurs.

Class 3 calamity: a city-wide threat. This description is debatable as it applies to every city. Rank 3 supers in New York City feel notably more pressured than Rank 3 supers in Vista, California.

Class 2 calamities: A state-wide threat. Forest fires are the most common occurrence.

Class 1 calamities: A nation-wide threat. This includes, but is not limited to; big corporations with a secret agenda, corrupt politicians, natural disasters, or a super villain.

There is no official body that definitively decides which rank a super has. The supers in the Big Apple decide this for themselves through guess work, boasting, or an old school fight.

Rank 4 supers tend to be the most territorial, as they often claim a certain block, neighbourhood or area as their turf to protect and don’t allow other supers to steal their thunder. They recruit Rank 5 supers to deal with the smaller issues, but certainly don’t complain when a Rank 3 or higher level super helps out with situations outside of their expertise.

The 124th keeps an extensive list of which supers operate where, and most precincts know exactly which super to try and contact or who to count on when a situation gets out of their hands.

That being said, Alexandrine Carnahan, captain of the 124th, was very glad Cat and Mirage had heeded their cries for help. She watched in awe how the last and biggest one eventually stopped struggling, before returning to coordinating the clean-up and investigation.

“Last one’s down too!” she called into her radio, “cordon off the entire block, I don’t want anyone near those beasts until we figure out who’s behind this, especially the damn media! And where the hell is my detective?!”

“I’m right behind you, hold your horses,” a somewhat gruff voice said.

Captain Carnahan turned around to find a tired-looking man approaching her. Liam Hill was a detective of the 124th main precinct, and Carnahan’s partner for years until she made captain.

Her first order of business had been to appoint him head detective of their multi-precinct department, and despite his grumpy mood, he had really stepped up to familiarise himself with a new way of working, and a very new type of crime to solve.

“Now I’ve seen everything,” Hill said with a sigh as he looked at the dead dinosaur in the distance, “let’s see...we’re gonna have to cut them in pieces to clean up anyway, might as well look for a chip or tracker, anything that indicates where they might have come from. We should also take samples to trace their DNA, get a geneticist on it, the lab these guys were bred in might’ve worked a signature into there too.”

“You heard him, chop chop!” Captain Carnahan added, as the officers near them just kind of exchanged looks instead of jumping into action.

“I also wanna interview the supers involved, see if they saw something that might help,” Hill added, nodding towards the three dressed up people standing over their kill.

“We really couldn’t have done this without you, Cross,” Mirage said, “if you’re gonna be here more often you’re more than welcome~ Have we met before though? You look familiar.”

“I’m pretty sure we haven’t,” Cross said with a shrug, rubbing his eyes a bit as the booster was beginning to wear off.

“Police are here, they’ll wanna talk,” Cat said.

“Oh no…” Cross mumbled.

“No? What’s wrong, you in trouble?” Mirage asked.

“Not yet,” Cross said, looking around, “my powers are part of my disguise and I don’t think I can hang on for much longer.”

“Oh we fully understand,” Mirage said, “I’m sure the police will too. Can I take you anywhere?”

“I’ll cover for you,” Cat said, while Cross thought for a second.

Then he nodded and told Mirage which building and floor she could take him to. He thought after that first jump, his second time wouldn’t be so bad, but when they appeared in the empty hallway of the apartment building he lived in, he could barely keep standing.

Mirage managed to catch him, slinging his arm around her shoulders and helping him stay upright.

“Which apartment?” she asked, “do you live alone?”

“Twenty-five...B,” Cross said weakly, trying not to throw up, “roommate...sleeping…”

Mirage nodded, dragging him towards the right door, sitting him down against the wall, and teleporting herself inside so she could unlock the door and let him in. She tried her best not to be distracted by any details, respecting Cross’ secret identity.

The apartment was clearly lived in by two bachelors. The couch looked comfy enough, the TV big enough, and a couple consoles were installed for their entertainment. There was an entryway table next to the door with mail and a bowl of keys and random change. The carpet was a simple brown colour, the walls a simple off-white, and there was an utter lack of decoration.

The small kitchen looked decent enough, but the cardboard plates in the open trash can, the pack of plastic forks on the counter and the beer crates stacked next to the fridge, clearly showed the only female presence in the apartment was the men’s x-chromosomes.

Mirage decided to keep her thoughts for herself and let Cross guide her towards his bedroom, which was equally plain. The carpet and the walls were the same colour as the previous room, the bedsheets were faded, and the small desk in the corner seemed to be bending under the weight of the many books stacked on top.

Cross sat down on the bed, not noticing when Mirage took a peek at the titles on the books. Some were in Latin, and most seemed to be related to Christian mythology. There was one thing better about his bedroom though; there was something hanging on his wall, above his bed. It was a simple, wooden cross. His disguise and powers made even more sense now, but she figured she could ask him about it some other time.

“Okay, I’ll get going now so you can do...whatever you do,” Mirage quietly said.

“Thanks,” Cross replied tiredly, lying down on his bed.

Mirage nodded and stepped outside the room, closing the door quietly. Cross didn’t even hear her leave, as he passed out as soon as his head hit the pillow. When he did. the slight golden glow surrounding his body slowly pulled away. His white clothes regained their earthly colours, his blonde hair coloured brown, and he was once again, an ordinary young man living in New York City.

Meanwhile Mirage wanted to make sure the front door was properly locked again before she would teleport back to the scene, when she heard a shriek behind her. She spun around, finding another young man standing behind her.

“Y-you!” he said breathlessly.

“Shush, your roommate is sleeping!” Mirage hissed, “no need to panic, I’m—”

“I know who you are!” the young man said, “I-I can’t believe— I-I’m Philip Winter, columnist, and I’m a huge fan!”

He stepped closer, grabbing Mirage’s hand and shaking it.

“Thanks?” Mirage said, a bit surprised, when she suddenly remembered his name, “oooh you’re that guy! Man I love your writing!”

“Whaaaaat?! No way!” Phil said, his voice rising several pitches.

“Yes way,” Mirage said, slowly dislodging her hand from his, “and I’d love to chat about it, buuut I kinda need to deal with something, and you might wanna check on your roommate, he looked pretty tired.”

“Right, right, right,” Phil said, “I’m sorry— Before you go! Might we meet some time for an interview? My readers would freak. Out. In a good way!”

“Um...I’ll think about it,” Mirage said, “I know where to find you, don’t call me, I’ll call you!”

And before Phil could stop her, she already disappeared. Still reeling from the excitement, Phil decided he would not be getting any sleep tonight. He had to find out why she was in his apartment, and his best source was also his best friend.

“Aiden!! The fuck have you been up to?!” Phil yelled as he threw his door open.

Aiden awoke with a start, looking around, seeming a bit confused.

“When did I get here?” he asked to no one in particular.

“You’ll never guess it,” Phil said.

“Then just tell me already, dumbass,” Aiden said, a bit annoyed as he felt exhausted, and his head hurt quite a bit.

“Mirage dropped you off,” Phil said, “and she didn’t seem angry or scared, which means you let the other guy out~”

Aiden bit his lip. He did remember that. He remembered quite a lot now that he was waking up a bit. Ever since meeting Phil while squatting in an abandoned sugar factory, Aiden had learned two very important things about himself. 1) He was most definitely possessed by a demon. And 2) He was simultaneously possessed by an angel too.

The three of them were pretty much constantly fighting for control, and the only reason he wasn’t dead yet was because the fight was two against one. Through meditation, Aiden learned the angel’s name was Michael, and that he had been trying (and sometimes failing) to hold back the demon for Aiden’s sake.

Over the years, the demon lost more and more control, and Aiden learned to tap into the angel’s powers. He had kept Phil pretty up to date with his progress. Showing him how he could transform into a mirror image of the angel, showing him some moves with the weapons he could conjure, but he had not yet told Phil about the wings, flight, and crime-fighting he had started doing…

“Well then? Spit it out,” Phil said, “what’ve you been up to?”

“He can fly,” Aiden said, “wings made of pure light, and he’s so strong, and I can use all of that for an amount of time, and he helps by moving my body for me, and you should’ve seen it Phil, it was so cool!”

“And you met Mirage?” Phil asked, looking almost green with envy.

“And Black Cat,” Aiden said.

“DUDE!”

“I saved her from getting eaten by a dinosaur, and we took three of them down together,” Aiden said.

“You did WHAT?!” Phill yelled, before running to get his laptop, “you’re going to give me all the details now! If I get this story published first, all the major news outlets will refer to my article as source, and maybe we can finally fix the AC in this place!”

“Okay, okay,” Aiden said, “well, where to start…”

<prev | masterlist | next>

[ominouspositivity-or-else]

per ordained anon ask

PLEASEPLEASE RANT

okay so i've only studied the American Women's ordination Movement, but I think it's really interesting because although the movement began technically in the 1930's with the Saint Joan Association, it only actually gained traction in 1963, which was the year The Feminine Mystique was published, as well as the year that Pacem In Terris was put out by the Vatican. Pacem In Terris says that, "Women are gaining an increasing awareness of their natural dignity. Far from being content with a purely passive role or allowing themselves to be regarded as a kind of instrument, they are demanding both in domestic and in public life the rights and duties which belong to them as human persons" (Pope John XXIII, para. 41). This was a super important and influential document and it's really really cool go read it. However at this point in time culturally in America the Catholic Church was dealing with a lot of secular problems as it comes to women's places in the home and in social life, because America is dealing with the way that the 1950's fucked women over. There were a lot of real problems in the American Catholic church, such as women getting publicly admonished from the pulpit while in mass for not wearing their veils properly, and priests publishing and saying degrading things about women, like how they would never be able to understand philosophy. At the same time, the secular world has utterly degraded women in the home. A woman named Sidney Callahan wrote a book titled The Illusion of Eve which is essentially The Feminine Mystique but applied to Catholicism. As far as i can tell. I'm working of an excerpt, currently, but I ordered the book. One of the things I found incredibly interesting in this excerpt was the following:

The problem of woman's role soon expands to the problem of man and woman's role. For one thing, an unqualified, uncritical acceptance of the "masculine" values of our culture is suspect. Are the equal work of women and equal opportunities only to be for the sake of exploiting others and aggressively achieving selfish ends? No wonder there is a contempt for all "stupid" manual work, especially unpaid (unselfish?) domestic work in the home. For this group the only work that counts is that intellectual, professional work which our society rewards with status and financial emoluments. Ultimately, the "worthwhile" is determined by the society.

In another place, she says,

""Losing one's life in order to find it" makes no sense to the secular world; women who choose a hidden life of sacrifice in the home, or worse still the convent, are viewed as neurotic seekers for martyrdom. All such sacrifice has become suspect. Love, and its desires to give oneself to husband and many children, is discounted as contributing to a husband's "infantile phantasy" or a neurotic escape into "breeding." However, when all vocations and free choices are encouraged except the traditional feminine role, a new tyranny and a new stereotype have simply replaced the old one”

You can argue with her all you like, I suppose, but I find it to be incredibly interesting how she approaches this. Women in the 1960's were caught in a very weird place culturally, and Callahan really points this out and focuses on it. That's all just background information to the focus of this rant though.

Anyways the encyclical Pacem In Terris was a ton of encouragement for Catholic feminists in America, because in America, freedom and "gaining an increasing awareness of their natural dignity" in the secular realm looks like having the same rights and abilities as a man, like to own property and sign things and be paid the same for equal work(Also at the time the sexual revolution was taking place which slowly put more and more emphasis on women being identical to man in physical and reproductive ways as well), so this naturally translated over to the spiritual even though it shouldn't have. Women started advocating for their inclusion into the priesthood pretty quickly and happily, saying essentially that the Catholic Church is denying them full personhood by refusing their entrance into it. This creates a false equivalency between priesthood and personhood, which has never been something the church has ever taught. However, from this false equivalency, women advocating for admittance to the priesthood were advocating, in their own minds, for their rights as persons. I hope you can see where this is about to go.

Anyways, to be honest, the goals of this initial push for the ordination of women are very amicable, ordered towards a genuine American equality, and pointing out usually how if the soul is unsexed, then what is between us is just bodies, which there are social stigmas about, not spiritual. One Catholic Feminist, Anne Elizabeth Carr, stated the goal of this as follows:

The priesthood will no longer be a male-dominated club with restricted membership, a bureaucratic hierarchy, but an open, collegial spiritual service of unity. Nor will ordination do away with the variety of functions in the Church. Only some ministries appropriately call for official appointment and sacramental ordination. But those women who have led a community in prayer on campuses, in homes for the aged, in hospitals, prisons, neighborhoods, who have counseled retreatants in their own discovery of God or the experience of reconciliation recognize that the ability to celebrate the eucharistic meal, to baptize new life into the Church, to give absolution is the appropriate sacramental expression of the liberating action of Christ's grace in their ministries. For our tradition, in which sacramental experience is central, the ordination of women will be a sign of the Church's attentiveness to the concrete experience of its people, of its awareness of where God's grace is working in people's lives, where the authentic ministry of the word is occurring.

This is really cool! The end goal here is women who are dedicated to their churches being welcomed into something really important to them, with a real understanding of how powerful sacraments are, and the place in the community that Catholic Priests are given, and an emphasis on the role that women play within the church already! There is also quite a bit of hope surrounding this movement because of Vatican 2 and the brand new Novus Ordo mass. The church has already changed and uprooted so much to bring itself into the new time, to adapt and be ready for the now that everyone is living in, to evangelize and teach as Christ wants, that of course, in these American Catholic Feminists' minds, the women should be included into the priesthood, too! We're making our church better in the spirit of reform and renewal. That's what this all is about.

The Church, in 1976, released a document titled "Declaration on the Question of Admission of Women to the Ministerial Priesthood"(GO READ IT!!!! ITS REALLY GOOD!!!) And it's a well thought out, tasteful, educated and theological refutation of the idea that women might ever be incorporated into the Catholic Ministerial Priesthood. In one place in particular, the Church states,

the priest is a sign, the supernatural effectiveness of which comes from the ordination received, but a sign that must be perceptible18 and which the faithful must be able to recognise with ease. The whole sacramental economy is in fact based upon natural signs, on symbols imprinted on the human psychology: “Sacramental signs,” says Saint Thomas, “represent what they signify by natural resemblance.” The same natural resemblance is required for persons as for things: when Christ's role in the Eucharist is to be expressed sacramentally, there would not be this “natural resemblance” which must exist between Christ and his minister if the role of Christ were not taken by a man: in such a case it would be difficult to see in the minister the image of Christ. For Christ himself was and remains a man.

It's an excellent and true piece of writing. The Catholic church has rules about the acceptable gluten content in the bread used in the mass. However. This does not go over well with the American Catholic Feminists.

As I said before, personhood has been equated with the priesthood, at this point. and so when the church says no, the feminists hear, "You aren't enough." This quote, from a woman named Ann Ware(Emphasis Added by me), really gets to me, because I can hear the pain and feel the way she feels about what this says:

The Vatican's prohibition of the ordination of women because they do not bear a "natural resemblance" to Christ poses fascinating logical and theological conundrums. First of all, what is a natural resemblance but a resemblance in nature? The two natures in Christ have been declared by the Council of Nicaea to be: one human, one divine. Now we know (for Rome has told us so) that to be human is to be male. True God and true man = true God and true male.

Like stars above! Ouch! No wonder these women immediately began to react so poorly to this clear, loving and firm no, because THIS! IS WHAT! THEY HEARD! I'd be pissed at the Catholic Church, too! Not to say, of course, that this is correct theology, or even a correct reading, not at all, but just to illustrate what they're thinking and feeling at this point.

Now, from here, things go from a little off with the theology to full on. Just. Not theologically sound, anymore. A nun speaks out to Pope John Paul II when he visits the US in 1979 and tells him to reconsider. To his face. In an official address upon welcoming him(And we think people are disrespectful to the pope now!). Again, this nun, Theresa Kane, reiterates the false equivalency of membership, participation, and personhood to the priesthood, saying, "I urge you, Your Holiness, to be open to and respond to the voices coming from the women of this country who are desirous of serving in and through the Church as fully participating members." ((SHE SAID THIS TO HIS FACE. POPE SAINT JOHN PAUL THE SECOND. ANYWAYS. WHAT.))

From here, however, everything, respectfully, goes to hell with American Catholic Feminism. Fiorenza, a really polemic writer from the time, says that one woman she spoke to about the stance of the church on women not being allowed in to the priesthood said "I no longer can participate in a male-centered mass if I do not want to relinquish my faith in God and in the Christian Gospel. To witness the concelebration of ten or more men is to witness the demonstration of exclusive male power. The Eucharist has been perverted and become destructive of my Christian faith." Here is where we really start to see the shift in rhetoric. suddenly, the Church is the problem, rome is the problem, and even, as Fiorenza goes on to say in the VERY SAME ARTICLE,

Since Christian mythologies and theologies are created mostly by men they reflect the emotions and interests of men. These emotions and interests shaped by sexism are perpetuated by religious and theological patriarchal structures. We have therefore to recognize that the theological argument for women's ordination will not be won on logical and intellectual grounds. Logical and intellectual arguments will only produce further legitimizations for the existing sexist structures.

It's marxist now, anti-establisment, it's lost what it was even trying to be in the beginning. They've lost the plot, lost themselves, and it's gone so far as to become deconstructionism for the broader Church as a whole, down to its very base.

Because these women are no longer listening to Rome, no longer obeying the church, they've lost respect for everything about it. It's because of this beginning schism that these same women slowly became the Catholics for Free Choice, arguing that, "Statements of recent Popes and of the Catholic hierarchy have condemned the direct termination of pre-natal life as morally wrong in all instances. There is the mistaken belief in American society that this is the only legitimate Catholic position”(Catholics For Free Choice). Suddenly obedience to Rome has left the chat. Suddenly the Vatican might just be sexist and evil and wrong on matters of faiths and morals. And suddenly, there's a list of names of prominent Catholics in the newspaper, saying that they support abortion. Catholic Feminism in America has a new face, and that face has turned against Rome, probably for good.

Anyways, it's not this simple, of course, and there's so many other factors. But I do think it's incredibly interesting how the dominoes are put up and were knocked over. I hope you found this as entertaining as I did while researching!

If you're interested, I got a the list of sources I used in this post here.

[moayase]

ㅤㅤ✱ㅤ𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗱.  𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲𝘀.  𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘁𝘀.  𝗽𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁.  𝘀𝗽𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘆.   𝗸𝘆𝗼𝗸𝗮.ㅤ✱

#𝐌𝐎𝐀𝐘𝐀𝐒𝐄     :   an   independent   ,   private   ,   &   highly   selective   writing   blog   for   𝗠𝗢𝗠𝗢   𝗔𝗬𝗔𝗦𝗘   from   yukinobu  tatsu's   𝐃𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐃𝐀𝐍   (   est.   october  2024   )   manga   based.   headcanon   heavy,   crossover   friendly.

❝  𝘺𝘰𝘶  𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦  𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺  𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙮  𝙘𝙤𝙤𝙡  𝘪𝘯  𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵  𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵  ,  𝘣𝘶𝘵  𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦  𝘢  𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭  𝘰𝘢𝘧 ,  𝘰𝘬𝘢𝘳𝘶𝘯--  𝘪'𝘭𝘭  𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺  𝘦𝘯𝘥  𝘶𝘱  𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨  𝘺𝘰𝘶  𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵  𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦  𝘵𝘰𝘰!  ❞

the   gang  :   #𝘩𝘢𝘸𝘹𝘷𝘦   ,   #𝘵𝘣𝘥  ,  #𝘵𝘣𝘥  ,  #𝘵𝘣𝘥  ,  #𝘵𝘣𝘥 

blogroll:

kyoka jirou: @auditioheros , high activity multi: @chmerical , low activity toru hagakure: @iridesheros , primarily discord

001. for the sake of my sanity, i’m remaining mutuals only! i’m very open to interacting with all kindsa muses, but i can't follow everyone back. i just wanna avoid forgetting & getting overwhelmed.

002. no minors please!! this is a 21+ blog, please respect that!

003. this is a safe space. i will not tolerate any bigotry and toxicity. i want to firmly state that homophobia, colorism, racism, islamaphobia, antisemitism, transphobia, and hatred of any sorts will earn an immediate hard block, no exceptions. we are way too grown to be misbehaving. on that note, i do not, in any way, shape, or form condone pro-shipping or anything of the sort. keep that shit away from me, thank you.

004. due to the nature of some of the fandoms i have verses for, my blog will contain darker themes such as: death, violence, drugs, alcohol. that being said, i will not write the following: inc*st, s*xual assault, extreme violence, explicit sexual content.

005. in terms of SHIPPING, i’m super open so don’t hesitate to reach out! i will say chemistry is a must! i’m open to all ships: familial, platonic, antagonistic, romantic. please note: i will not be writing out smut. no exceptions. PLEASE NOTE: while i do have a main okarun, i am happy to write with 1 or 2 mutuals who also write him! otherwise all okarun mentions default to awkcult.

006. i don't do drama or vagues or call outs ( unless the individual is legitimately harmful and/or toxic ) because of this i'm generally oblivious when it comes to problematic blogs. if you see me engaging with someone harmful/toxic, let me know privately! just no dragging me into petty drama, please!! i don't have the patience to deal with vagues and negativity, so i'll be soft/hardblocking at my discretion if i see too much of it.

007. first off, i wanna say thanks for reading through everything! my name's fio/frito/frio, i'm 31, still flirty and thriving and i work as a swim instructor as well as do teaching artistry where and when i can. i have autism, adhd & tons ( and i mean tons ) of anxiety, so i do have a tendency to dip in terms of communication, but that in no way means i don't want to write with you or i'm no longer interested in our plots! i'm a just a bit of a mess sometimes ♡ 

008. CREDIT!!! graphics made by #me. PSDs used: #vvundagore. carrd by: #hellscommissions.  adapted bios and headcanons by: #me.

[batwomanandmotherpanic]

OUTSIDERS #1

Written by JACKSON LANZING and COLLIN KELLY

Art by ROBERT CAREY

Cover by ROGER CRUZ

Variant cover by JOHN CASSADAY

Variant cover by DAN MORA

1:25 variant cover by CHRISTIAN WARD

1:50 variant cover by ROGER CRUZ

$4.99 US | 32 pages | Variant $5.99 US (card stock)

ON SALE 11/14/23

“Never the End.”

A universe of secrets is about to come to light.

Batman protects Gotham City from evil. Batman Inc. protects the rest of the known world. But what of the unknown world? What of the ancient evils in hidden tombs and forgotten tragedies from a magic-and-mad-science-fueled super-heroic century? Using his fortune, Luke Fox launches a new organization dedicated to shining light into the world’s darkest corners. His first recruit: Kate Kane, the Batwoman—who will re-embrace her military background to protect Luke’s dream and encounter every bit of strangeness the DCU has to offer. And just wait until you meet the Third Man… or learn what universe-shattering secret they’ve discovered buried under Antarctica. Outsiders is the return of comic book archaeology, digging into all the forgotten corners of DC’s history to preserve, record, and better understand the true nature of the DC Multiverse…and the forgotten stories that make up its fabric.