#that is 2 say: if his human version turned off that device he would also be like the demon version. a little chill-er but yk

[doodlboy]

They're just different flavors of the same guy

[sonkitty]

The Pocket Trick Touch #4 - Triple Part 3 - Between Car Windows

Action #4 (Episode 5; Triple Part 3; Car Windows)

Newer version: The Pocket Trick Touch #3 - Triple Part 3 - Between Car Windows

This scene was one I had to look for to figure out a Triple existed for this overall Trick.

I recently looked for it again to see if I could find a device to confirm something. As such, I was not searching frame-by-frame in a video. The scene is so quick, it's no wonder I missed it until deliberately looking for some missing pocket touch.

The action takes place in an area between the coffee shop and the restaurant in front of the music shop. Aziraphale is inviting Justine. Crowley will eventually sit on the bench to handle his touches for the ball invitations.

It has two parts.

Crowley is first shown from the back with his left thumb, ring finger, and pinky finger visible. He looks positioned to have his pocket touch in place, which will be confirmed soon. For the ring finger and pinky finger, their tips can be shown. The thumb tip itself seems to be there.

Crowley's shadow is encompassed by shadows around him.

Additionally, the camera zooms until it looks like the shadow or edges of the thumb and pinky meet each other. The ring finger is doing an illusionary touch on the edge of a bicycle wheel, near the edge of Crowley's pants.

If we go with the idea of the pocket chain carrying us into this scene, that actually helps explain its structure of two parts, one for each pocket from the last touch, and in turn, one for each pocket frame. In front of Crowley is the hole in the wall that leads to the music shop. That hole in the wall might not have a door, but it does have a frame of where a door would be.

The Rainbow Connection is on Blue, confirmed with a blue car passing by. A human is carrying a blue plastic bag. Well, that's nice since we connected to a blue shopping bag through shadows back in Triple Part 2. That's a clue to look for anything of value with this blue bag.

The human carrying the blue plastic bag is wearing brown. They are going to cross paths with another human wearing brown. Together, they're going to form a pocket close to the bag-carrying human's right thumb joint.

The thumb joint might be borrowed because "brown" and "borrow" are so similar in letters and can alliterate. But even if not, the other value is that it helps find the exact frame of the illusionary touch Crowley's digits are doing. This illusionary touch for the bike wheel just so happens to be in front of the door frame and overall surrounded by it, which might be what is allowing that illusionary touch to happen.

The joint of the left thumb is touching the bottom outer right edge of the jacket, probably at a vertex, especially since it is not a vertex from the front.

The camera gives Crowley a little break with a blur to show the front and confirm he is indeed standing with that pocket touch that will become clear soon enough. My current understanding is that the blur is assisting with the switch in the Rainbow Connection from Blue to Green. If there is anything else to it, I don't know and am not going to waste my time on it.

Once ready for the front view, Crowley can be seen with his jacket folded onto his right hand. That includes covering the right thumb joint. His shirt sleeve is also extended out enough such that the jacket and shirt are touching each other. I think the jacket is forming an incredibly dark pocket onto itself, but it's hard to see with the dark the jacket is.

With no visible right thumb joint, the tassel of the tie strand on Crowley's right is conveniently not even there. If it is there, the lighting has done an excellent job to the point I simply cannot see it, and that too is probably intentional. I'm going to say it's missing, moving forward.

This time, despite its position and the missing other tassel, the strand closer to the left hand looks like it is actually the strand meant to link with the right hand. Since they start off mirrored, presumably when tied, that actually does fit. The strand goes down the middle of his vest such that the tip just barely reaches the shirt under his vest. The shirt is what is touching the jacket that is touching his right hand.

Meanwhile, the other strand that is presumably linked with the jacket looks to just be trying to stay out of the way on the right and not be as extended while being over the vest, thanks to its missing tassel. This change might be related to how the left thumb joint is actually over the jacket instead of at the edge of it, when viewed from the front. It did its own separate thing from the earlier back view.

Each visible digit is making an illusionary threshold touch. The thumb is visually on the side edge of the sidewalk. The index fingertip is visually on the edge of where that sidewalk meets the ground and has a wet area near it. The middle fingertip is on the edge of one of the lights from the restaurant.

We should look for the pocket chain. We already had a door frame. So, we must find some paper.

Is there any paper in the scene?

Yes, yes there is. The left side of Crowley's head is, in fact, visually, in front of some papers across the street. In addition to that, there is a nearby human who is going to pass over Crowley. As that human draws closer, it is then easier to tell that yes, that paper is lined up to be outside of where those digits are doing those illusionary touches if you drew a straight line down from their sides to that area over the screenshot.

I was curious enough to check more directly myself:

Unlike the touches from before, Crowley is mostly standing still but not completely still. He makes a subtle head movement in feigned annoyance.

Now let's find the actual pocket frame that's intended for Crowley overall for this touch.

First, I must admit there are humans blocking the pocket frame of one of the car windows, but due the last touch in this overall Trick, I still think it's supposed to be car windows, not wheels and not humans.

Maybe the wheels from the back view are allowed to help Crowley out. They were bike wheels but still...wheels. They weren't framing Crowley, but they were framed by something from the last pocket chain.

The car wheels do frame Crowley without human disruption for a few frames.

If that's allowed since they are connected to each car, that helps. From there, we frame based on the wheels and extend based on the fact they are connected to the cars that have the car windows.

I could be making a glaring error here and will correct if I ever understand it better.

There is a lot of complex stuff happening with the Rainbow Connection switching because it actually goes through so many colors here. You can find out more in this post: The Pocket Chain Rainbow Connection Part 3 - The Pocket Trick - Triple Part 3 and Single

I'll also say that the human at the door in the coffee shop wearing black and white has my attention. They are wearing black and white with black suspenders on their back in particular. So, my current frustrated guess is that they are part of "suspending" yellow before an eventual switch to orange. They're also part of why I suspect black-and-white together trap colors.

If the tied hands get their mirror flipped, I would guess it happens only close to the end with a nearby human wearing an orange vest. I mentioned him in Triple Part 2 with the Nina intermission. The human passes such that his reflection can be found in the window pane. He crosses at a place where you can't exactly see Crowley but can figure out, thanks to the human, that's where Crowley's reflection would be if it weren't for a frame in the way.

All the same, Crowley is indeed visually between two car windows on screen, whatever is happening with the wheels.

The pocket frame itself is smaller than usual. Below each car window are a number of things, such as a post that can box Crowley in further. Along the lower right, the restaurant railing, lights and plants box him in all the more.

Here is my best guess on the actual Pocket Frame touch point:

The guess is largely based on two particular humans. One is behind Crowley and has her shoe in an imaginary pocket between Crowley's left jacket sleeve and left jacket torso side. The pocket itself is notably slender, but it exists. Another human makes some convenient pockets with his own shoe and a metal structure nearby. Also, no one is in the way of the wheels by Crowley for any help in the Car Windows framing.

This time, there is a double of Overhead Lights here in this touch. One of them is more directly over Crowley's head though not fully centered. It's still slightly to his left. Then there's a whole extra one further to Crowley's left.

For any further silly imaginary pocketing from just Crowley, he's got a wet spot between his legs. Within that wet spot is a black post. So, whatever silly pocket powers we can muster, we can pocket the post by extension if we like. He's actually going to be touching a different black post soon for Nina's ball invitations instead of the Trick itself. He is also going to be using a pocket, just not one of the touches in this particular Trick.

Speaking of that incoming touch and invitation, let's take a look at those silly tie strands...

The missing tassel has returned.

The tassels are thumbs, if you're new here, and they don't usually spread themselves out, especially like the one on Crowley's left did. I can't tell you what these things are up to here, sorry. I can tell you that they won't really be all that visible for the actual pocket touch itself, and the hand going into the pocket is actually going to be the left hand. Only the Double in The Pocket Trick involves the left hand having a digit in the pocket, and even then, it was only the thumb. The Nina invitation will make sure we see the thumb and index finger of the left hand before the pocket itself is used.

...

The Pocket Trick: Basics

[luciano-nightstar]

Sharing some of my unfinished Nimona aus because... well... I just thought of sharing it, Part 2.2

This the second part of my last post about the tale of the Blackheart angel

(I don't actually know the whole storyline of the comic version. I've seen a few pictures, but not really enough to say I've read it)

After Ambrosius was taken in by the institute, he met Ballister, a teacher who trains the students at the institute to become knights. - (You might think that this is some kind inappropriate adult x teenager relationship kind of shit. But I swear in the judgement of the ✨oratrice mecanique d'analyse cardinale✨ that it's NOT what the backstory is about, okay? Ballister only fell in love with Ambrosius AFTER the event of Nimona)

Ballister would be there to help Ambrosius with his studies and defend him from the other trainees when they bullied him.

Ambrosius first idolize and looked up to Ballister because if his skill and teaching as a knight and because he defended him from the bullies. But in the later years he secretly fell in love with him (like he always would).

During the jousting competition, Ambrosius has to win a joust against his teacher in order to be proven that he can become a knight. Of course Ballister wins the joust, Ambrosius hated loosing and shot Ballister's arm off. - (I am again debating if Ballister should actually loose his arm or have angelic regeneration...)

Skip to Nimona and Ballister's argument. When Nimona scratches the back of the couch and starts to turn a bit monstrous, instead of grabbing the sword, Ballister turns into his fallen form as an act of defense again Nim.

Skip again to the battle. Ballister tries to calm the the monster form of Nimona, but in the end he was forced to defend himself (and the kingdom) by turning into fallen form and defeated the monster with his demonic side (or powers). (So that means that Meredith's device is not broken, ✨yay✨)

Skip to the hospital scene. Ballister did not have a broken left arm because of ✨angelic regeneration✨. Speaking of regeneration, he secretly made Ambrosius's healing progress faster while he was in the coma.

✨ Design Ideas ✨

This is my original idea for his design

Five eyes (Two version if it because I thought it looks cool in my head and I couldn't choose which one) -Version 1: two above his normal eyes and the third vertically on his forehead. -Version 2: two below his normal eyes and the third on his forehead.

Black horns curving backwards with a red vein-like design, two gold halos with eyes criss-cross covering his normal eyes.

Six "burned" wings; The feather color/design is from black on the top, to a mix color of black and gold on the middle, then fading to light gold on the bottom. (why do I have an addiction to adding gold? ;-;)

A long black tail, a red crystal with black vein coming out of it on the center of his back, and black marking on his arms and legs.

Yeah the design is the same as the Golden Guardian but in a fallen form.

Some headcannons

(Some are reused from the Golden Guardian au. Also, same thing, your guess on which one is cannon on my au)

Ballister can hide his wings, halos, horns, tail, and his many eyes.

He can make himself invisible to humans and other creatures. Another fact about his invisibility is that he can make himself visible to whoever he chooses.

Another idea on how Ballister escape other than using his invisibility. There were times when Ballister would have had no chance to escape, and when the guards finally caught up to him, they would see that he was no longer there. I had this idea where Ballister can turn into a shadow and hide within shadows of other objects or just easily escape.

Since I heard that Nimona can see the dead, I thought of this idea that even if Ballister is in his human form to others, he's always in his fallen form in her eyes.

There was a once time during training years when Ambrosius accidentally finds Ballister in his fallen form. But since he only witnessed it once and has a bad memory, so he has already forgotten about it.

Speaking of bad memory. When Ballister is alone and/or comfortable, he would temporarily reveal his fallen form (but only inside the house), and Ambrosius would freak out it. (Cue brosius screaming for the second, maybe third, time of the month after seeing Bal in his fallen form)

I thought it would be wholesome that Ballister would carry Ambrosius and fly with him on a peaceful and quiet night. Sometime Amb would enjoy the ride, sometimes he would be frighten from how high they are and would hold on tight to Ballister.

A few moments when Ballister would secretly use his powers when fighting alone with Ambrosius. But he mostly is against using his powers in battle because "it wouldn't be a fair fight."

In rare moments, Ballister would use his wings to hold brosius close.

Ballister normally has his horns out, but only inside the house. Because Zee likes to look at it, touch it, and even sometimes try to decorate them with gold accessories. Blackheart's tail is actually sensitive to he rarely let's Amb touch it.

There were a few conversations of Nimona trying to convince Ballister to start a cult because of the whole fallen angel thing.

Meredith found out when Ballister was stretching his body and (unconsciously) stretched his wings too. This is my thought on what her honest reaction was. "Oh, cool" *continues to do whatever she was doing*

This is very long, but not as long as the golden guardian version. Anyways, I also tried to color the names and used as many nicknames as I know because I thought it would look cool. Also, sorry it took long, I lost motivation and my au notes.

Peace out~ *locks myself back in my room*

[certifieduruihater]

Response to post by @5p4ced-0ut regarding rise's status as "super soldiers" in the fandom:

Calling them war machines is a bit of an over exaggeration, in my opinion. They were mutated with Lou Jitsu’s DNA. What does this do for them? What advantage does this lead to? Nothing, really. So, no, I don’t think this factor should be taken super seriously when it comes to crossovers.

“It's something that doesn't happen in other shows.” Cool. What makes you think the other turtles would care? As I stated before, whether the mutation was purposeful or accidental hardly matters, because Rise isn’t necessarily more powerful than the other versions.

Physical prowess:

Both the 12 turtles and 87 turtles display incredible feats of strength in their own series, to name a couple iterations. They’re all strong. Not sure what the point of this part of the post was. 

The calculations you make are running on a lot of hypotheticals. All of this is speculation. 

Those screenshots of Raph and Leo leaving a dent/hole? These are shots from a gag scene. Gag scenes like these often rely on wacky slapstick humor, meaning that the effects you see here were most likely exaggerated for comedic effect. You can’t apply these physics calculations 1:1 here. 

Regarding the shock collar:

Once again, you’re making a lot of assumptions. And you’re assuming that the 12 turtles also don’t have a healing factor, which, in my opinion, it’s highly implied they do, to some degree. I believe that all iterations have enhanced mutant physiologies to some extent, so I’m a bit iffy on using numbers based on human subjects. We simply don’t know if they can be compared 1:1. Who’s to say the voltage and amperage wasn’t more? We’ll never know for sure; what’s the point of bringing this up?

Why are you basing the numbers for Donnie’s tech off of a dog shock collar? Why are you assuming they’d line up? You can’t make these sorts of assumptions and treat them as if they are fact. 

The shock collar episode is also a comedic episode. Leo gets up after 2 shocks looking more annoyed than hurt because it was meant to be a joke. He wasn’t actually meant to get seriously injured, because then this would turn into a serious episode. “Meat Sweats receives the same number of shocks as Leo, and he is on the verge of passing out” because now the writers have decided that the villain needs to be defeated so the episode can end. The shock collar and its effects are a plot device; they are meant to be flexible because Rise is a comedy. The properties and effects of the shock collar can be whatever the writers need it to be for that point in time, so they don’t have to be consistent. I don’t think this is very solid evidence.

Speed? Sure, they’re fast. But their speed is not a game-changer. There are other factors worth considering. Also, that first gif of Leo was from the first episode, where despite his speed, still gets his swords bitten off a few seconds later. The monstrous dog that the guardsman was riding clearly had no trouble reacting. This looks more like a glamor shot to me. I don’t think this was supposed to line up 1:1 with reality, I think the point of this shot was placed to make Leo look cool in the moment…so that him getting “owned” despite putting up a tough facade could look humorous after. Additionally, one could argue that their speed kicks in due to rise’s need for fun and flashy spectacle fights that break the laws of reality, whereas the other shows are more grounded. That second gif was from the fight with Shredder; from a writing standpoint, it needs to look cool, since Shredder is the big bad, so their abilities were subsequently amped up. Can you really use this as a proper point of comparison?

“Previous incarnations got put into a coma for 3 days/months when being thrown out a window.” Yes, after getting severely beaten and injured by the Foot. It’s not like they were just thrown out a window. This language is misleading.

“We see Rise!Leo take hit after hit from Krang Prime (who can tear through steel like paper), cough out blood, hear his bones/shell crack, and he still doesn't go into shock. And he's fine within a couple months.” Good for him? He’s a ragdoll cartoon character working with cartoon Rise physics. It’s a movie with limited time. We already knew he was going to be fine. It’s honestly hard for me to take that scene seriously. Leonardo in the Image Comics lost his hand and it eventually regenerated. The Bay Turtles’ shells are bulletproof and they themselves are walking giants. All of the turtles, at one point in time, have walked off blows that they realistically shouldn’t have been able to. Rise Leo isn’t special; they can all take hits.  

There was a point to the comas. The other iterations had time to explore the ramifications of the injuries they sustained, and it would often fit narratively as a time of reflection, healing, and growth. The injuries were not the point. They all healed physically from their injuries every time. The point of those arcs was mainly to show lack of confidence that resulted from their loss. Rise was never interested in exploring that particular plotline, even when the show was running, so they never did. That’s probably a big reason why there was no coma for rise leo; the writers felt it wasn’t necessary in pushing his character. If the writers wanted to put him in a coma, they would have; I don’t think it necessarily has to do with his durability. And pointing out the comas the others went through doesn't necessarily mean the other versions are physically weaker. As I said, it served more of a narrative purpose for them. So I don’t think using this as an argument for Rise Leo’s durability/stamina really works.

If the other iterations landed in Rise, then wouldn’t they also be operating under Rise physics/laws of the universe? Theoretically, wouldn’t this also make them less susceptible to damage? And vice versa for Rise landing in other universes. They might find themselves bouncing back a little less easily if that’s the case.

Physical Prowess - Insane in the Mama Train:

How good is this Splinter compared to the other versions, though? What quality/type of instruction are the turtles receiving compared to other versions? How good is this Splinter at teaching? Also, this is a training fight. He’s not going all out on them.

It’s impressive that they were able to adapt and improve so quickly, but a bunch of these other iterations have been formally training for years, since they were kids, before their series started. Whether Rise has been training for a few hours or days in this scene is irrelevant; they can’t match the time and effort that these other iterations have put into their training. According to 2012 Leo, having a 2-hour warm up plus up to 4-5 hours of training is normal for them. And presumably, they do this daily, on top of the albeit recent addition of night patrols. I imagine it must be similar for other iterations. Other iterations have experience that Rise lacks; you cannot become a full-fledged ninja in a few days. That time isn’t something you can just make up for. The other turtles’ fighting skills are practically muscle memory for them at this point. Rise adapts quickly, sure, but you could argue that the other iterations do so as well. And again, this is a training fight against Splinter. This doesn’t prove much to me.

Wow, they sure are doing well in this plot episode, where the plot dictates they must do well after receiving what rise deems as a sufficient amount of training. This doesn’t show their prowess to me; this is a typical writing formula. There was even a classic training montage. And it took, what, only…*checks watch* 25 episodes to get here? (45 episodes if you count the way rise splits episodes) Nearly a whole season to reach this level of competency and receive formal training. Yikes. They’re winning here because they have to. If instead of fighting their own villains after this point, if they instead fought another iteration’s villains, can you say for sure that they would win? Being skilled doesn’t win over having over a decade of experience, and I’d argue that the rise turtles aren’t particularly skilled either. They lacked fundamentals for a long time. At most, as you said, they adapt quickly. But, as I’ve stated before, even this isn’t an advantage to me, because the other iterations display this trait as well.

Villains and Ninpo:

The Rise villains are dangerous in their own show, yes. My point was that, as you said, that because Rise is still a comedy, the stakes simply aren’t as high compared to the other versions. I’d argue that this matters a lot when you do comparisons like this. 

“The only way Shredder is winning is by using underhanded tactics and quick-thinking, like he did to defeat Batman.” I was under the impression that the Batman vs TMNT movie was a different iteration entirely. If you’re talking 12 Shredder, yes, he is human, but he displays incredible feats of strength, prowess, and skill despite that. "Underhanded tactics" is selling him short (though he does employ those too: he is a good strategist, on a technical level). He was bodying the turtles during their first encounter, no trickery required, just pure skill and experience the turtles didn’t have at the time. He was going toe to toe with Splinter just fine. And he takes down all of the Mutanimals single-handedly at one point. He is a formidable threat; being human doesn’t change that. (He mutates later anyway…)

The 12 turtles do struggle when it comes to their more magic foes. They also struggled to adapt to the upgraded foot bots way earlier in the series. The Rise turtles also struggle to adapt to new villains. All of the turtles tend to struggle with new villains at first, whether they have mystic abilities or not. Otherwise, there would be no point to an episode. But just as you mentioned with Rise, the 12 turtles adapt. All iterations do; this isn’t a trait unique to rise. They have to, for the sake of their survival. Also, yes, the 2012 turtles have a lot of allies that have aided them before, which arguably give them another advantage. Thanks for pointing that out. 

If ninpo doesn’t exist in the 12 universe, why are we assuming the rise turtles would have access to it? We don’t know if they would for sure. If the laws of the other universes are different, why are we assuming that Rise wouldn’t follow them? Heck, who’s to say that the turtles who end up in the rise world wouldn’t gain access to some form of mystic abilities themselves? Nothing’s absolute here, there are plenty of fun possibilities to consider. It’s just that people tend not to in order to make Rise look better.

I argue that because rise and 12 have fundamentally different tones with fundamentally different things they want to achieve, you can’t compare them 1:1. Power-scaling can be tough to analyze, but I am still under the belief that the advantages you list still don’t automatically mean Rise would have the upper hand. When I stated that 12 would beat Rise (mostly to be mean), I said if it were to happen, the win probably wouldn’t happen on their first fight. I’m not saying the 12 turtles would automatically dominate either, you know 😅 Also, I did mention 2003 in the replies. Just because I didn’t mention an iteration of turtles doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten or discredited them. I mainly bring up 12 since 12 seems to be the target of most rise crossovers’ ire. 

If you asked my actual opinion on who would win, I would say that I didn’t really know, because it’s pretty dubious. There’s not a definitive answer here. The only thing I can say for sure is that it’s up to the writer of whoever happens to be writing the turtles at that time. Whichever iteration the writer needs to have win will win at the end of the day. There’s a reason why the 87 turtles were portrayed the way they were in official crossovers without really letting them showcase their full potential: to push an agenda. And crossover fics really perpetuate this; you can tell whenever the author is looking down on the other iterations (usually 2012). They’ll come up with the reasons you listed and use them as excuses for why the rise turtles are superior without bothering to look into the other versions/give them a chance. They’ll have the other versions fawn over/be in awe of/be horrified by/scared of the rise turtles when logically, there’s no reason for them to be, since they’ve all faced foes just as deadly as the rise turtles. My original post was largely talking about people like this. All I can say for sure is that all sides would probably struggle to some extent. No one is bodying anyone. I think that people who tout that the rise turtles would definitely beat the other turtles/the other turtles would be intimidated are severely underestimating the other iterations as well as overestimating the rise turtles.

There are plenty of other people who share the same opinion as you, so there’s no need to feel “irked” by anything. If you’re looking for posts that talk about the great aspects of the rise turtles, there’s plenty of posts/fanfic/fanart/analyses in existence already, yours included. But my posts are probably not the best place to look for that sort of thing.

[autisticempathydaemon]

Hi there! If you were still accepting these and had the time, I wanted to join in on the redacted match ups!! Please and thank you <3

About me:

A song I'm fixated on right now is Read Your Mind by Sabrina Carpenter. Specific lyrics are

"Decompressin', tryna ease the tension But you got me stressin', feelin' like I need to call when You sneak up on me, tell me that you miss me in your life

I can't read your mind You say that you need to be alone But night and day, want me at your beck and call"

I think I've just been really drawn to this song lately because I'm at a place where things are going really well for me, and I have a full assurance that I know who my friends are right now and I just compare that to a previous time where I didn't have those certainties and thinking about people who were kind of two-faced and would make me relate to this song.

Not sure if this tidbit is relevant, but I hadn't even taken any enneagram test before going down your list of questions. I'm a 4 apparently! (The test I took showed me a pie chart that was like, all 9 numbers, the other two biggest pieces were 7 and 2, if that matters at all. Idk, as said hadn't done a test for this kind of thing until just now)

I do love YouTube video essays, but I always watch them intently rather than as background noise. My go-to favorite would be the Lindsay Ellis Omegaverse Lawsuit video (does that count as a video essay? I'm pretty sure it does). On the surface, it sounds like such a ridiculous topic to take so seriously, but the actual case was very dramatic and fascinating to me.

I didn't really have a childhood imaginary friend. I would either play by myself or pretend I was playing with cartoon characters (I specifically remember on multiple occasions pretending to be going on adventures with Mario, Luigi, and Princess Peach).

My go-to way to fall asleep would be taking my medication (I am an insomniac, and melatonin supplements don't work for me, so we got prescribed sleep medication), and then either putting on an asmr audio roleplay video or just laying in silence depending on how tired I am. I can never fall asleep to sleep aid audios, I prefer listening to just rambling nonsense about a specific thing like video games or something like that.

My favorite Redacted audio would be Confronting Your Technician. I really like that one for multiple reasons. First off, Project Meridian was the first series I had actually listened to when I first found the channel and I really liked the concept of an android listener. I think the series as a whole is really interesting because it really makes me think about how we treat technology, especially as you get into the territory of making devices seem more "human" (that's the brief version, but I have many ramblings about this series in my notes on my phone). Secondly, I really relate to being taken advantage of by someone who would know I wouldn't know any better or any different, and to have that audio as the turning point for not just confronting Marcus for what he did, but also having James be there to help the asset face him was just really nice. I didn't have that same kind of support when I had to face people who were bad to me, and listening to that audio is almost healing in that sense for me. I have it saved on a comfort audios playlist even though it's not labeled as a comfort audio.

The redacted boy that holds no appeal to me is one Asher Talbot. He's sweet, and he's lovable, but when I first found the channel, his audios just felt kind of boring and repetitive. Not that I don't like the occasional sweet and domestic fluffy stuff, but I just didn't see that much in him tbh. I understand the appeal, but he's just not for me.

One movie I know all the words to is Burlesque (2010). I'm not a huge movie person, but I ended up watching that at a sleepover I went to, and I just really loved the movie. I like musicals, I like sexual humor, and I liked the story of the movie (even if it was a little cheesy and predictable at times). Plus, it features Christina Aguilera, and her vocals are PHENOMENAL!!

A redacted boy that I love platonically and would love to be friends with is Huxley. He's in my top 5 favorite redacted characters, but I think ultimately I do like him more as a friend than a romantic partner. He's just so chill and supportive and I tend to be very fast-paced and anxious and excited a lot of the time, so I think he would be a good friend to have to sort of balance that out.

My go-to thing to ramble about always relates to animation. Specifically, I am such a nerd about breaking down the process of how something was animated and either theorizing or looking up certain choices that were made behind the scenes. For a long time, I wanted to pursue animation as a career, and I still kind of do, so that has become a topic I am very passionate to ramble about at any given moment, not specific to when I'm tired.

When I was a kid and we stopped at a gas station, I either got a Dr.Pepper and cheese puffs, or a cherry icee and a plain glazed donut. Nowadays, if I stop at the gas station for a snack, I'll get a diet Dr.Pepper and nacho cheese Doritos.

My current favorite playlist is this playlist I made for me to start my day playing. Noise helps me wake up, and so I made a playlist with songs that inspire me to think confidently of myself. I'm not going to share the entire playlist, but the first three songs are all from Barbie movies (You Can Tell She's A Princess and On Top Of The World from the Princess Charm School movie, and Life Is A Fairytale from the Fashion Fairytale movie). The rest is what I can describe as generic uplifting pop music. It feels very cheesy and fake to have a playlist like this, but it genuinely does make me feel happy and energetic and confident in the morning and I think it helps me start my day just a little bit on a good note.

My guilty pleasure media is the show Mr.Pickles. It's a cartoon about this demon dog who kills people. The show is very violent, and the writing is morally questionable, but overall it is a show I like to just binge every once and a while because I do consider myself to have a somewhat sadistic sense of humor. I never actively wish bad on any real people, but I will laugh at a cartoon dog ripping someone's legs off.

I feel like I've already said a lot (definitely way more than I was anticipating lol) so I think I'll leave it here

Please and thanks again!! Have a good time zone!!!

Thank the lord for you, because this is the moment I’ve been waiting for. 44 match-ups, and I finally get to pair someone with that sweet, lovable boy, Geordi.

The basis is definitely there for a deep emotional connection and supportive relationship. Geordi has this history of insecurity and not being properly appreciated or treated which resonates, to me, with your song choice and why you relate to it. That makes me think the two of you would really understand each other and be able to connect, to communicate clearly in a relationship and set boundaries, to build something good and cohesive right out the get-go.

On a lighter, funner note, I think the two of you would have a lovely, comfortable, domestic life together! Geordi would love pop music with you (so far, the only Redacted boi I headcanon as a Swiftie) and would love listening to you ramble about animation. Even the things you don't have in common would mesh well- I can see you loving watching Star Trek with him or, at least, listening to ramble about Star Trek. Likewise, I’m not sure he loves Mr. Pickles, but he loves you and spending time with you engaging in the things that make you happy.

Song:

Oh, you're the one I want/ I want to drive away with you/ I want your complications too/ I want your dreary Mondays/ Wrap your arms around me, baby boy

Like I said, Swiftie! This song is so cheerful and sweet and is just a fun love song that works for y’all. Also, Geordi knows all the words, and you’ll catch him belting it out when he doesn’t know you’re home. He’ll be embarrassed, and it’ll be so, so cute.

Runner-Ups:

I like David as a runner-up because of his similarities to James, the way he’s a solid, reliable authority figure but more protective and warm than the telepath. He, if necessary, would be the perfect man to make sure you were never taken advantage of again. Elliott is a runner-up because I just love pairing that dreamwalking boy with creatives; like, imagine him building dreamscapes full of adjustable models and features, your own life-size animation models. He’s an artist’s dream come true!

note: this didn’t officially factor into it but your song being named “Read your mind” was a very serendipitous coincidence

Read this post and send me an ask if you’d like a match-up of your own! 💌

[signorin-anarchia]

What are your impressions of the berlin spinoff new characters?

Hi Anon!

Thx for asking & mainly for giving me the chance to rant, I have a lot to say about this topic.

Sit back, this is gonna be a long ride.

I'll be honest, first impression was "lol, they're joking"

Second, I was quite annoyed.

Third, I am genuinely angry.

And I'm not even talking about Berlermo here, of course it's a bold move ignoring Martín in the spinoff, because, you know, timeline???

And don't get me started with Sergio, because I'm almost sure it will be a tough challenge to pretend that Andrés is an only child...

And while Pedro Alonso is a great actor and I'm 100% sure he'll fulfill his role at best, they're basically asking us to ignore that he's a man in his 50s playing a character in his 30s. Just because.

Also, they keep telling that "they want the show to have its own identity"; but that makes no sense, neither promotionally nor narratively. A spin-off works as soon as it has a link with the main show, there's plenty of examples around, eg. Better Call Saul. None of us would've watched without the promise that one day it would've crossed Breaking Bad's path. And I really don't get this urgency to move away from the original show: Berlin is a character from LCDP. Ignoring that LCDP ever happened will:

1) Keep away casual viewers

2) Disappoint shippers, fans and the whole fandom.

But, aside from that, let's get back to the real matter here: the new characters look like cartoons.

And I don't mean good cartoons, like those we used to watch as kids. I'm talking about, meaningless, silly, stereotypical, poorly made cartoons.

Now, I may not be Alex Pina, bit that sounds a little bit off from the mood here?! When the hell did Andrés become a comic figure being friend with a bunch of other caricatures?

If they wanted to make something with "feel-good" vibes, they could've pick any other LCDP character (Nairobi laundering money, Denver illegally fighting, Bogotà inseminating random women all around the world), literally anyone...

But no. They've chosen the terminally ill misogynistic dude dying by suicide in a tunnel.

Don't know what you think, but that doesn't sound very "comical" to me.

Berlin is a dramatic character. And although he has his good dose of irony, humor, sarcasm, paradoxes, he doesn't fit in an anime-style cartoonish kids show, because it flattens him as a character.

So, I don't what they're trying to do here, but it would be like taking Alicia's story with German's cancer and turning it into a rom-com, only without German, who's now replaced by a random dude who never had cancer in first place.

Not even telenovela style. Just cartoon.

Last but not least, and I'm pretty sure this is something that most of us noticed, they tried to give Andrés a whole new gang... Which is basically a bad copy of the original one.

There's a Denver, there's a Rio, there's a Tokyo, there's even a weird version of female Martin and, best of all, a "lifetime friend" dressing up like a fake Professor.

How are we supposed not to compare these action figures to the characters we know and love? The worst part is that they all look like Rafael, mere blueprints of characters, never mentioned before and, most likely, human plot devices subservient to a retcon.

And to attract what kind of an audience, exactly? I've never seen an Andrés fan who was not fond of Berlermo. Not. A. Single. One.

But during last days, I've seen a lot of people being very disappointed by how OOC their favourite character is going.

The only chance for the spin-off to be renewed and become something good, maybe even overcoming the original, was giving to Berlin's character some kind of depth.

Exploring his relationship with his brother, his years with Martin, what his family background is, why his homosexuality denial, why did he became a sexual predator, and maybe leaving some space for characters who maybe have still something to say, like Marsella & Bogota.

They've chosen not to. They've preferred to take a good, deep, captivating character and make a parody out of him.

What a waste, really.

I know it's too early to say. I know that they said "we can't announce members from the old gang cause it would be spoiler". I know that probably it's a little better than it seems.

But even if Martin shows up, what kind of show is this gonna be?

Don't know what to think, but the premises aren't that good.

-

So here's my 2(000) cents about this.

What about you, anon?

[bluediamonder]

it was a lot more than a hug: an (unintentional) short essay on mental health & steven worm

I LOVED THE HUG OKAY.

I’ve seen a lot of people saying things like “uGh thE eNdiNG sUcKEd geTtiNg a hUG doEsN’T sOLvE aLL yOuR pRoBLeMs”. but in my opinion, that’s exactly the point. 

All throughout the second half of SUF, they’re trying to show us that there is no one way to feel immediately better and have all of your problems solved. He goes to pretty much every source he can. The gems aren’t necessarily seeing what he’s going through, Connie isn’t going to solve this for him, his Dad is helping in an unhelpful way, so he goes to Jasper and that went haywire, so he goes to the diamonds and they just make it worse. And then what is he supposed to do?

Every single time Steven goes to a person to “help” him, he’s going to them seeking help in order to fix it. and there’s a big difference between the two. 

I have anxiety, depression, and OCD, and often when I’m panicking or having moments of high anxiety, I do what Steven did: I seek out people not to help me, but to fix it for me. I then react the same way Steven did - with anger - when people try to help instead of just fixing it.

Anxiety, depression, panic, none of those things can be completely and magically cured and rid of in the snap of a finger. But in the moment, for people like me, for a person like Steven, the thought of that feeling not being entirely solveable is petrifying.

 It’s like if someone is drowning and splashing around: you can’t get the life ring around them because of how much movement and commotion they’re creating. But they’re drowning, so you can’t just tell them “Hey, stop moving so I can help you!” From your perspective, you’re trying to help them by encouraging them to do something that will in turn allow you to help them. But to that person, if they stop flailing, they’re going to sink even further, and that is terrifying, so much so that they can’t even consider that you might be wanting to help them. All they can process is that you told them to stop doing the one thing that they don’t want to do: sink. Even if they’re sinking just for a moment, before you save them, that doesn’t matter. That feeling of sinking is terrifying, so they end up splashing around more. 

When Steven seems to be babbling on, almost comedically, in “Everything is Fine”, trying to convince himself he’s fine, he’s gotten to a stage that I was in for a while, a sort of mania, where he is not only attempting to convince everyone around him that he’s fine, he has convinced himself that he is fine. This is a huge red flag for people with bipolar disorder or manic depression (NOT diagnosing Steven, I am not a professional, I’ve just experienced many of these things and been surrounded by people experiencing these things and professionals explaining them to me. Like I said, I was in the hospital for this, so). Everyone around him starts to see that he is, in fact, not fine, as they’ve already surmised. But the physical consequences of them not doing anything, not doing enough, are starting to manifest.

When he morphs into the Steven Worm, he has lost his sense of self. He doesn’t know what to do with himself, he can’t exist within himself with the world he’s created. He didn’t tell the Gems about the hospital, he didn’t tell his dad he was angry, he didn’t actually tell Connie he needed her he just proposed. He doesn’t know what to DO with all of this. So it explodes around him.

He can’t control his feelings, himself anymore. He feels he’s lost control. For me, a human, this morphs into a panic attack. But for him, he’s a gem, he turns into Steven Worm.

Not even the diamonds, the most powerful beings in the entire Gem universe, are incapable of changing him. His emotions bring White Diamond to her knees. But what they’re doing wrong here is they’re trying to fix him!

When Connie bolts in on Lion and is making her (iconic) rallying cry, she never says they need to fix Steven or heal him; she says they need to help him. Because that’s the only way he can get better.

When you go to the psychiatric hospital, you don’t go to get fixed. You’re in an environment where you’re made so you’re not a physical danger to yourself, and then you do a shit ton of work. You have therapy multiple times a day, every day, all week. You do work, they don’t just fix it for you. And this is the solution that we need to see portrayed. This is the solution they did portray in SUF.

Mental health disorders can’t be fixed. And Steven’s problems weren’t solved with a hug. 

But we needed to see the hug. Because Steven needed to see the hug.

The hug wasn’t just about hugging him. It was about literally forcing him to come face-to-face with the love and support he had been inadvertenly, and then intentionally, pushing away. It forced him to say, “Okay, this is who I am right now. And these people love me.”

I had to have the people in my life tell me over and over that they loved me when I went to the hospital. I had to have my doctors tell me that they cared for me, my therapist tell me that I wasn’t talking too much, because I didn’t believe them. I had convinced myself I wasn’t worthy, I was a fraud, just like Steven. Sometimes you need that love in your face, surrounding you so that it is the only thing you can see, for you to be able to let it in. 

The hug didn’t fix everything! That’s the big thing. The hug was a pure, beautiful moment, but I don’t believe it was meant to be a plot device to try to fix everything. Everyone was still emotional, he still destroyed things, he scared people, he scared himself. That wasn’t all magically fixed because of the hug. But his resolve to do the work, get help, and accept what happened to him - that is what made him go from Worm Steven to Boy Steven.

And afterward, we seen Steven has grown. He hasn’t morphed, his hair hasn’t changed, he’s not pink. But he’s grown mentally. He’s communicating more making plans, his disposition has changed.

Previously on this post, I said" I don’t like that they called what he had a meltdown (again, I vouch that it was a gem version of a panic attack)" However, I learned that this is actually a really good term to describe what Steven experienced, and as a person in my ask box (@a2Ieep) noted, could be relevant to the headcanon/idea that Steven is autistic, or at least autistic-coded, as well as his PTSD or cPTSD. None of us can diagnose Steven but that also means I shouldn't just pass off terminology like that! I realized it gave people who self-identify as autistic, the same feelings it gave me as I struggle with panic and anxiety. While we surmise different meanings from the meltdown, it was a meltdown. We all feel so touched by it, and Steven's meltdown felf like a panic attack to me, that doesn't mean it isn't a meltdown, and that it can't be meaningful to someone else with autism or PTSD. Steven's meltdown is just as meaningful to someone who has autism or PTSD, as it is to me with panic attacks. Erasure of someone else's feelings on my part was not okay, regardless of my intent or my own strength of different feelings. Plus, it was his choice to use that term. I just want to make it clear that at first I didn't like the term, but it is actually a really important term to use. I didn't expect the post to blow up like this, so I wanted to make this edit known and seen as it's a really important of this post. Thank you to everyone for understanding! And thank you to @tentacrocacles @transtistic @satoshigekk0uga @mercurialmeditator @possumpiebruh and @a2leep for sharing their feelings ans thoughts with me, which helped me to realize this and investigate and alter my own sentiments!

but YALL STEVEN HAS A THERAPIST NOW! He’s is not only getting the help that he needs, he is showing that he is going to continue needing this help, and that’s okay! He’s making plans to visit people, to go see the world, on his own terms! 

 He’s scared and sad of leaving the gems, and it’s also time to leave the gems. It’s time to move on, and be a new Steven.

We’ve seen a lot of Stevens the past few weeks. But Steven driving off past the Big Donut into the night was my favorite Steven. That was vulnerable Steven. That was Steven doing the work to be himself, to exist with his feelings and the ways he had acted, and the things he had gone through. That was my boy. Steven Universe.

When I saw my mom for the first time while I was in the hospital, the first thing she did was give me a big hug (I was a blubbering mess, of course). But it wasn’t just that my mom was giving me a hug. She was telling me she was there for me, she loved me, she was telling me she would stay up on the phone with me as long as the doctors would let me, she would drive 3 1/2 hours from our home in Michigan to the hospital in Ohio at a moments notice (I went to school in Ohio and went to the hospital there too before coming home). That hug was her forcing me to see that she was there for me, even if I didn’t believe it, or didn’t want to believe it.

So yeah, Steven got a hug. But it was a lot more than a hug, okay? Take my word for it

[jaceyneedsabetterusername]

Aliit Be Cuur

Pairings: Mando x Reader

Summary: While waiting in the hospital in Mos Pelgo after you were inured in the attack on the Krayt Dragon, Mando accidentally learns some life changing information for the both of you. You’re pregnant. 

Warnings: Description of injuries, Pregnancy, Talk about miscarriage, Mando sees a sonogram-like image of reader’s uterus while she’s unconscious, general discussion of pregnancy while reader is unconscious and unaware, made up Star Wars level medical equipment

Word Count: 2800

Read Part 2 Here!

________________________________________

Watching you lay unconscious, body littered in cuts and burns, had to be the most terrifying thing Mando had ever experienced, and that was coming from a man that had seen some horrific things in his life. It was his fault you were hurt. If only his plan to kill the Krayt Dragon had gone as it was supposed to, you wouldn’t be in this position. This was supposed to be what he was good at. Killing. Sure, he killed the dragon, but at what cost? 

When the initial plan of luring out the dragon and detonating the explosive just at his weak spot under his belly had gone south, he knew he had to think of something else. He could not leave the Mandalorian armor with Cobb Vanth. He needed it back. 

The plan to use the bantha as bait had come to him quickly but he should have known better than to not tell you what he was doing. There was just no time. Everything had happened so fast. After months of travelling together, he’d hoped that maybe by some miracle, you could read his mind and know that everything was going to be okay when he allowed the dragon to swallow him with the bantha. 

You were with the villagers and Tusken Raiders, struggling to fix the devices you’d built to throw the harpoons so you’d have a fighting chance. Being so caught up in your own tasks, sweat beading on your forehead from the heat and pressure, you hadn’t known Mando had strapped explosives to the bantha and was using it as bait. A loud screeching roar from the dragon ripped your attention away from the trying to kick a piece of wood back into place just in time to see the dragon’s mouth open, massive teeth bared, as it plunged down, straight on top of Mando and the bantha. 

You screamed in horror, running towards the beast, “MANDO!” About halfway there from your post, you whipped out your blaster and shot at the beast as it dove back into the sand. The lasers were useless and you knew that but it was the only thing you could think of to do. Your legs fumbled to a halt, the realization that Mando was really gone actually hitting you. 

But then something else hit you. 

There was a loud explosion and a wave of fire, rocks, sand, and dragon flesh hit you, throwing your body back. The last thing you saw was the wave of orange and red coming at you before everything went black. 

Just as planned, Mando had managed to escape the beast’s clutches before the explosion but suddenly regretted every decision he’d ever made when he saw the little figure of your body running towards where you assumed Mando to be. Even from dozens of feet in the air, he knew it was you. He couldn’t imagine anyone else there willing to run straight at the monster to try and save him. The bombs were sure to detonate any second but by the time he’d noticed you, it was too late. The bomb detonated with a massive wave of heat and debris. 

He watched in horror as your body flew back at least twenty feet before sliding another fifteen across the sand after the impact. Time seemed to stop around him as he jetted to you in less than a few seconds. He couldn’t breathe, fear that he had caused your death choking his airways. “Y/N!” He yelled, landing harshly on his feet right beside you before falling to his knees. You were lying face down, eyes closed. “Y/N, talk to me.” Mando looked over your body and, by some miracle, there didn’t appear to be any broken bones, at least not any that looked immediately disfiguring. With a nearly effortless nudge, he rolled your body over. Your clothes had been ripped and/ or singed in many places. Multiple large holes in your pants revealed reddening burns and blood dripping from sand scraped skin. Your shirt was torn in multiple places, the left strap of your shirt torn so severely it could barely count as a sleeve. The side of your face that was on the sand was also scraped up, thankfully not too deep, but enough to cause bleeding. 

Now the two of you were in the little hospital in Mos Pelga, along with the rest of those who'd been injured in the attack. You slept now, bandages covering large portions of you body that was now largely exposed. They had had to strip you down to your underwear to reach all the wounds but had wrapped your chest in wrappings in place of a bra for the sake of your privacy. Mando had pulled his cape over the majority of your body, knowing you'd be upset if you were to wake up practically naked in front of everyone. 

He hadn't left your side since the explosion. He carried you to the infirmary. He laid you down on the cot. He watched as both human nurses and medic droids worked to patch you up and take blood for tests. They had told Mando that they wouldn’t know anything for sure until the tests came back. Even with the bacta that they’d lathered on you, it would take time for it to work and there was a possibility for further damage that they couldn’t see on the outside. 

The child had been sleeping in his little cot, sealed up safely inside the levitating metal object. Mando had just been sitting beside you on a crate, leaning forward on his knees. This was his fault. He should have known you’d run in. He should have known that something like this could happen. 

“Mandalorian.” A robotic voice gently called for Mando’s attention. 

He looked up at the awkwardly proportioned grey medic droid who stood on the opposite side of the bed. “Is she going to be okay?” 

The droid spoke again, its body shifting unnecessarily to emphasize some of its words, “Patient 728, also known as Y/N. Female. Age: (Y/A). 2nd degree burns on the abdomen, arms, and legs. Superficial graze abrasions on the face, neck, arms, hands, abdomen, and legs. Bruising on face, back, hips, and legs. Probability of death: 7%. No damage to the fetus. Probability of miscarriage: 19%.” 

Mando found a hard time finding any solace in the words of a droid. When a young male nurse walked up beside the droid, Mando immediately turned his attention to him.

“It’s a miracle the baby survived unharmed. I’ve seen much less cause a miscarriage.” The nurse mused, flipping through the clipboard in his hands. 

Mando stood up, brows furrowed beneath the helmet, “That must be someone else’s chart.” 

The nurse flipped back to the front page, “Patient 728? Y/N L/N?” The young man confirmed.

“Yes.” 

He shook his head, “Nope, this is hers.” 

Mando gestured to you, “There must have been a mistake. She’s not pregnant.” 

The young nurse looked at the beskar helmet that he was actually slightly taller than and swallowed hard, “I’m sorry. I assumed that you were the father. If not, this is confidential information that I can’t share with you.” It was obvious that the man was afraid to stand up to a Mandalorian, surely hundreds of stories of their superior killing ability running through his head. Nonetheless, he held fast to what was right. 

Mando’s head was reeling and all he wanted was to run and take off the helmet and take actual, non-filtered breaths. Instead, he was wide eyed and silent as thoughts ran through his head a million lightyears an hour. The beskar betrayed none of his emotions. To the rest of the world, he appeared frozen, standing strong and staring right at the nurse when in reality Mando had zoned out somewhere off to the side. 

If you were pregnant, the baby had to be his. For the last few months, the two of you had had an unofficial relationship of sorts. Nothing was ever said, no official labels, but the two of you behaved like any other couple, or at least a much less touchy-feely version of one. After a night of confessions brought on by an unrelated argument, it had become an unspoken truth that you were only taken by each other. You were his riduur, no doubt, and, as far as he knew, he was yours. You would never lay with another man as long as you and Mando were together, that much he was sure of.

“If she’s pregnant, I am the father.” His voice was calm as always but he thanked the modulator for the slight distortion. If it hadn’t been there, he would have sounded shaky. 

The nurse sighed, choosing to believe him because he really didn’t see much use in lying over something like this. He flipped to the next page on his chart and walked over to stand beside Mando, pointing at some numbers that meant nothing to him. “hCG is a hormone that’s created in the placenta and is only present in pregnant women. According to her levels, I’d say she’s about eight weeks.” He paused for a moment, allowing time for the new information to sink in. “You really didn’t know?” 

“If I’d have known, I wouldn’t have let her fight the Krayt Dragon.” Mando snapped, almost angry at the mere suggestion that he would put his own child in that sort of danger. 

The nurse put his hand up in defense before continuing, “Do you think she knows?” 

Mando shook his head. He believed that you still would have jumped into battle even if you had known, at least from a distance. It was just who you were. But he really didn’t think you had any idea that you were pregnant. Mando had been trained to read people his entire life and surely such news would have brought about some change in your demeanor. Mando hadn’t noticed any change in your behavior. Besides, he would like to believe that you would have told him if you knew.

He couldn’t believe this. How were you pregnant? Okay, well he knew how you could have possibly gotten pregnant but the two of you had always tried to be as safe as you could to avoid this exact scenario. Neither of you were in a position for children, the Child being a special circumstance. Your life was full of danger and violence. How could Mando protect you for an entire nine months while pregnant and then for the rest of forever, while also protecting the Child against what felt like an entire galaxy that wanted him at any cost? 

“Do you want to see?” The nurse’s voice brought Mando back to the present and his helmet tilted in curiosity. 

“See what?” 

“The baby. I need to do a scan to ensure that it's still doing alright. You can see the fetus on the screen while you scan.” He set the clipboard at the foot of your bed and procured a moderately sized glass panel with a metal border that he’d had pinned between his arm and side while he spoke to Mando. 

With a few taps on the glass, bright blue words and images appeared. He tapped on one selection and the middle of the screen cleared, aside from a thin column on the right hand side that had stats and vitals. “See, if you put anything under this, it will show you an interior view of the body. This mode shows organs and blood vessels and stuff like that. See?” The nurse put his hand under the glass panel. The screen showed a light blue version of his hand but instead of skin and nails, it clearly showed the lines of his muscles and the veins that overlapped them clearly. 

Politely as he could, he pulled the cape that had been draped over you down just enough to expose your lower belly, stopping just above the hemline of your underwear. The only thing indicating that you were even alive at this point was the deep inhale you took, drawing both Mando’s and the nurse’s attention. It was the only time Mando hoped that you weren’t waking up. He had no idea how to explain this new situation to you. Hell, he was still having a hard time understanding it for himself. Thankfully, a deep breath was all it was though. You were still asleep. 

The nurse moved the glass panel over your lower stomach, just about where your belly button was, and the image began to form on the screen as he adjusted a few things. Mando’s helmet tilted forward as he leaned over to see the image. 

A nearly perfect view of your reproductive system appeared as a blue digital image. Mando felt uncomfortable looking at the image, feeling like he was violating you in some way. He knew he shouldn’t be looking at this without your permission but then the nurse zoomed in on your uterus to the point where the only thing that could really be seen was a little being. 

Mando’s first thought was that it looked like a little alien. There was an identifiable head that appeared to be looking down and the cord that was attached to you through its belly. The rest of the body was curled into a fetal position. 

The nurse tapped something on the screen and there was a rapid thudding sound that emanated from the device. 

“Is that the heartbeat?” Mando asked, knowing that the answer was probably obvious. For someone who was used to working under pressure, he felt like his brain was only receiving radio static. 

“Mhm, nice and strong.” The nurse said with a warm smile. He tapped a few notes onto the board and then turned it off, the blue image disappearing and the amplified heartbeat ceasing. 

Mando couldn't believe this was happening. How could you not know you were pregnant? He was no expert on the female body, aside from the basics, but weren't you supposed to be throwing up or missing periods or something? He couldn't wrap his head around how you were eight weeks along with seemingly no clue of your condition. 

"Look, I can see that clearly this was something unexpected. I don't know if this is something you want to tell her or want me to, but either way, there are some conversations you two need to have." The nurse told Mando matter-of-factly while gathering the few things he’d brought over before leaving. 

Mando shifted on his feet and reached down to pull his cape back up over your torso so you wouldn’t be cold and exposed, though it was mostly for the second reason. It was next to impossible to be cold on Tatooine, at least during the day. That was when he noticed the small, barely there bump on your lower stomach. It was such a slight variation from its normal size that he never would have noticed it had he not just learned about the life now growing inside you. It was so slight that he imagined you probably would have just attributed it to bloating perhaps, since you were unaware as well, considering all the less-than-pleasant food you both came across in your work. 

Part of him wanted to place his hands over the ever-so-slight swell of your belly, just to see if by some chance he could feel anything. Mando decided against it, shaking his helmet at himself with a heavy sigh. He would wait until you woke up and the two of you had a chance to discuss everything before he did anything relating to the baby. 

Gently, he pulled the cape back up over your body and sat down on the crate again, leaning his elbows on his knees where he sat with his thoughts for several minutes in a zoned out daze. His attention was only broken by the cooing from the Child’s metal pram. Mando tapped on the controls on his arm, opening the pram, and removing the little green baby who was now wide awake. 

“Hey, buddy.” Mando breathed out, watching as the baby stretched his arms out to you, “I know, I know. She’ll wake up soon.” 

The Child looked up at Mando sadly before snuggling down onto his lap, sitting there comfortably. The weight of such a small being had become comfortable and normal for Mando now after all this time with him. He was, by Creed, his son now. Mando was already a father. You had stepped up as a mother for the young child. So why did this feel different? 

Mando imagined the new future, assuming you had decided to stay with him and care for the baby together. He had every intention of raising the baby with you and would do whatever it took to keep the two of you safe. He loved you more than he knew was possible to love another person and the last thing he wanted was to leave. Mando hoped that, one day, you would be officially bound by riduurok. Once the Alor approved it, Mando’s clan of two would become an aliit be cuur. Clan of four. 

[martianbugsbunny]

OUAT Thoughts Pt.45--Episodes 3-4

I have watched through S5E4; spoilers DNI. Also, spoiler warning for anyone further behind than I am.

—Regina looks great in red. And all the ladies look great in the off-the-shoulder, wide neckline kinda deal. Especially Belle. She has an elegant neck.

—It’s fun that Charming gets to be a Knight of the Round Table. I mean, it’s not quite the prize it might be, but it’s still fun. I can’t quite decide where I stand, though; on one hand, Snow is right to be a bit suspicious of how quickly he’s fallen in with Arthur—on the other hand, wanting something in addition to family is fine. To be honest, I’m not sure I would believe anyone who said they were entirely fulfilled by their family alone, because humans are multi-dimensional creatures and we’re not meant to only focus ourselves on one facet of life.

—My dudes, this is a genius take on Camelot. On the outside it looks all shiny and perfect, but on the inside it’s just weak and fake and hollow. And Arthur being a badguy? That’s a take I never would’ve expected to see coming.

—Every time Zelena says ‘dearie’ I want to punch her in the nose. I’m very grateful to Regina for shutting her up. *bows down before my Queen*

—I never really thought about the symbolism of the Round Table before. It’s pretty cool. And I love how the knights have their coat of arms hung on the back of their chairs.

—The Charming coat of arms is pretty. Simple, but pretty.

—Robin legit just spent most of a day sitting in Granny’s. I mean, there’s not much else to do in Storybrooke right now, so he might as well score some food.

—Arthur can’t drive and Charming is fricking nuts. What sane person stands in the bed of a pickup truck and jousts a man off his horse using a two-by-four?

—Okay, so I’m really happy that Rumple is awake, but the fact that Emma has him is stressing me out. It’s not like he has the capacity to fight his way out of her basement right now, and anything she wants him to do can’t be good.

—But it is cool that he gets to choose between light and dark now. Historically, he hasn’t made the greatest choices, but now that he’s a blank slate he at least isn’t having his thinking warped by evil.

—It’s sad that Belle wasn’t there when he woke up. It would’ve meant a lot to both her and Rumple.

—Emma messing with Hook’s emotions makes me so mad. 1, they’re supposed to be good together, but now that she’s the Dark One they aren’t compatible atm. 2, I’m ride-or-die for Hook now, and especially with Emma being evil I’m gonna take his side.

—It’s kinda the good version of nitpicky, but the way Hook talked about his and Rumple’s first meeting was a brilliant piece of writing. His dislike for the crocodile is still evident, but he has admitted that he was the villain in that wife-stealing, life-threatening scenario, and I think that speaks well to his character. He’s not so blinded by hatred for the crocodile anymore that he refuses to see both his past villainy and the fact that Rumple used to be a decent person.

—The spooky spooky swamp was not a fun place. But the hollow armor was cool.

—I’d like to kick Merlin. He hasn’t even done anything and he’s still managing to be a pain in the ass.

—I was so relieved when it turned out that Charming and Snow were playing Arthur. If they had been lying to each other and sneaking behind each other’s backs I would’ve been crushed.

—MMkayy, so that Avalon sand is an interesting plot device. To a point. It should work for Arthur’s marriage and for Camelot because those things were both broken. But I actually don’t like that it worked on Snow and Charming. Just because they didn’t agree with Arthur doesn’t mean anything’s broken there.

—Arthur’s manipulation of Guinevere sucks. But I adore the take this show has on Lancelot and Guinevere. At the beginning of episode 4, I thought the husband overworking and ignoring the wife, leading to an affair, was a lazy cliche. But Guinevere and Lancelot are both played sympathetically; they first realize their feelings on accident, and then don’t want to act on them because they’re loyal to Arthur. Heck, Lancelot wants to leave Camelot, and Guinevere gives Arthur the chance to choose their marriage over his quest to fulfill the prophecy. They both made every effort to do the right thing, and even though they gave Arthur every chance to do the same he didn’t.

—It’s kinda interesting that the Darkness can apparently exist in squiggle form at the will of the Dark One.

—SQUEEE!!!! More Merida!…Oh, wait. Emma stole her heart. If a pretty girl isn’t the one to give it back to her, I’m not interested.

—Merida being an enemy of Arthur is a decent idea. I really hope she and Lancelot team up to orchestrate a jail break.

—Once again, it’s Robert Carlyle’s insane mastery of body language that gives Rumple his signature depth. He acts noticeably different from how he did as the Dark One, even as Mr. Gold. He’s much more similar to original, human Rumple, which is exactly how he should come across. Whether or not the audience consciously realizes it, it makes an impression, and it efficiently and neatly sets up his personality.

—Since when is Hook a horse whisperer? Has he ever even met a horse before? It’s not like those tend to frequent pirate ships. And isn’t it hard to climb a horse with a hook hand?

—As much as I dislike Arthur, I can’t help seeing a little bit of myself in him. Not in the evil bits, but in the way he basically drove himself insane trying to become what he was told he was supposed to be. Maybe Merlin could’ve just *not* and let the sword be pulled from the stone by whomever found it and was worthy, Arthur or not. Probably would’ve gone better for everyone.

[bubblegumbeech]

The Librarian’s Trick

Day one Ectoberhaunt: Trick or Treat

https://archiveofourown.org/works/34213519

 1:

 Wes was certain this Cassius guy was a ghost. He had to be. Humans didn’t live on the outskirts of town in large decrepit clock towers that Wes was      pretty sure didn’t exist last week    .

 Humans didn’t have red eyes and white hair (unless they had a condition called Albinoism, Wes had looked it up. But Albinoism      also     meant they had no melanin      anywhere    and Cassius Dark was decidedly tan in an admittedly attractive but decidedly not Albino kind of way)

 Humans didn’t have fangs when they smiled but normal teeth whenever Wes tried to point out that      He had FANGS. They were right there!!!  

 Humans didn’t spend all their time either with Danny Fenton (who was Also very much a ghost!! Which should be in the list of proof but no one believes it so it’s seperate but still!) or mysteriously absent.

 And humans didn’t seem to know everything all the time but talk like a bad astrology website.

 So Wes was going to find a way to prove it.

 His first try had him sneaking a “ghost translator” he didn’t remember the stupid name Fenton’s dad called it when he bought it with his allowance, into the library where Cassius Dark supposedly worked.

 Supposedly, because while he could be found there, Wes had never actually seen him doing anything other than reading. And it was never a book Wes recognized, like, he wasn’t reading the Twilight series or anything. The last book Wes saw had been a large ancient looking tome written in a language Wes didn’t recognize. But Everytime he tried (subtly! He was super nonchalant about it!) to take a picture it ended up blurry!! And No Kyle, it wasn’t because he was      bad at taking photos    .

 But that didn’t matter because Wes had a different plan now. He was going to use the Fentons’ new version of their “ghost translator” thing, and see what happened. It was supposed to be both a translator and a truth decoder at the same time. So no matter what a ghost said, the device should say what they actually mean. Or something.

 With Danny, a bunch of innocuous stuff went off around him, but people always hand waved it as faulty tech. Wes wasn’t sure that was the case, in fact he was positive it wasn’t. But if he could get something useful to build up from, that would be a good start. And every good reporter needed a start.

 He stepped up to the Library’s front desk, where Cassius was sitting reading what was      clearly     a spell tome if the different summoning pentagrams in the open page Wes could see were anything to go by.

 “Welcome Young Weston,” Cassius said, the hint of a smile hidden behind his red eyes as he closed his book. Wes could swear they were glowing slightly. Geez did this guy get his ‘how to pretend to be human’ classes from      Fenton    ?

 … that would certainly explain why no one ever believed Wes, since that was a long beaten dead horse in his closet.

 He, very discreetly, had the device hooked up to one of his earphones, which he kept in one of his ears like any normal less than perfectly mannered teenager as he asked Cassius Dark his questions.

 “Excuse me sir? Do you work here?” he started with, it was a more or less innocuous question and one he actually wanted the answer to.

 Cassius Dark smiled. “I do.”

 My Job is all that was, is, and shall be. That which I set as my goal is beyond mortal comprehension and those I call master shall fall to my machinations. But yes, I get paid for sitting at this desk and answering questions sometimes. I am a ghost, fear me.

 Wes tried not to sweat too obviously. What the fuck?

 “Can you tell me where the journalism section is?” Wes decided to make a tactical retreat, at least his voice didn’t crack.

 “Straight back for eight shelves and then turn right. It’s next to the Non-fiction books.”

 I know what you’re looking for, I know why you are here. I know the exact time of your death and what will happen next. Your efforts amuse me though. I am a ghost, fear me.

 What Wes did next was not      exactly     fleeing. But it wasn’t      not     fleeing either.

 He’d have to try something else.

 2:

 The next thing he wanted to try was a bit riskier. If you thought about it a certain way. But it also wasn’t if you thought about it the way Wes did.

 He was going to use a phase-proof net.

 Genius, because unlike the translator machine thing, it would actually stop the ghost from attacking Wes if it got angered. Which it would, probably, since Wes was throwing a net at it.

 The plan was really simple though, he’d gotten a very large net, paid extra for the little aim thing, practiced half a billion times of his brothers before they went to the parents and got him grounded for a week, and then memorized the path Cassius Dark took in the mornings to go to his “job” at the library.

 Right now he was hiding in one of the leafier trees, right above the path that Cassius always used, waiting.

 And waiting.

 And…      waiting.  

 Honestly he was about to go home and was fairly certain this guy was going to be like, super late to work, when he finally appeared.

 Wes wasted no time aiming, making sure the trajectory was absolutely perfect, and firing the net off. He was just about to jump in celebration, watching the net as it curled slightly around its target, but before it could hit and wrap around him, Cassius was suddenly not there.

 Or he was, but just a little bit to the left, so that the net sailed harmlessly past.

 Wes cursed.

 3:

 The third one was fool proof. It had to be.

 Which was why Wes was staring at a large conspiracy board, covered in paparazzi-esque shots of the librarian and random notes he’d taken, all connected with a dizzying amount of red string.

 “Kyle, seriously. I need to figure out what kind of ghost he is or he’s always going to have the upper hand!!”

 Kyle just rolled his eyes and continued playing his video game, as if he didn’t care that Wes had set up his very important planning and plotting in the middle of the living room so long as it didn’t interfere with his own plans.

 “It has to be pretty powerful, he was able to dodge my net before it even touched him. And the translator thing clearly said ‘my goal is beyond comprehension’ or something,” Wes mused, “and he also said his job was like, everything?”

 Wes checked his notes, “yeah, ‘all that is was and shall be’. What could he mean by that?”

 His very annoying and clearly not taking this as seriously as he should brother just chuckled. “I don’t know Wes, maybe he can see the future?”

 That… no. That’s way too OP. Just the thought of it sent a shiver down Wes’ spine. There was no way a ghost could see the future right?

 Right?

 He had to test this theory.

 But how do you even test something like that?

 “Kyle, how would you test if someone could see the future?”

 “Throw something at the back of their head and see if they dodge?” He answered way too quickly.

 Wes thought about it for a moment. “No, what if they just have really good reflexes?”

 “Oh huh, I guess that could be true. No idea then.” He shrugged and Wes had to fight the urge to throw something at the back of      his    head.

 Whatever. He had to make plans.

 He’d tried just throwing things. It was risky, and kind of terrifying, but Kyle was right it      was     the first that came to mind.

 But Cassius never dodged. He was always just, not where Wes thought he was. Or Wes had      really bad aim,    which he didn’t!!! He was a basketball ace!! He had great aim! And great situational awareness!!

 So why couldn’t he hit Cassius Dark?

 Obviously it was because he could see the future. And the smug smile he always had when he knew Wes was looking reminded him an awful lot of a certain other Phantom.

 4:

 Ask him about his family.

 Easy enough. Especially without the Fenton’s weird translator because that might have been a bit terrifying. And also this time he had back up.

 He dragged Kyle by his sleeve into the library.

 “Mr. Cassius!”

 Cassius looked up from his book, removing the delicate reading glasses balanced on his nose. “Can I help you Mr. Weston?”

 “Yes!” He smiled broadly, taking out a small notebook that he had used to take notes on the suspicious and ghoulish things going on around town until it was mostly shreds of paper. “I’m writing an OP ED on the town library, and would like to know more about the librarian. Can you answer a few personal questions?”

 Kyle snorted and Wes had to elbow him in the side to get him to shut up. He was here as back up, not to ruin his plan.

 “So,” he began, “is Cassius a family name?”

 “No.”

 Wes nodded. And then frowned. Did ghosts have families? Supposedly they were alive once right? At least that was the general idea, Wes thought.

 “So what can you tell us about your parents? Like, what’s your father’s name?”

 Cassius raised an eyebrow, and had a soft smile filled with good humor. Wes felt it hit him like a threat. What was this ghost hiding?

 Well, other than the fact that he’s a ghost.

 “I can’t tell you much I’m afraid. My mother is long gone and I never had a father.”

 Kyle grimaced and elbowed Wes himself before saying, “I’m sorry for your loss.”

 “It’s no matter,” Cassius replied, still smiling, “I may yet see her again.”

 Ah, so either she wasn’t dead or he’s convinced she became a ghost too. That made sense. It could be his unfinished business as they say among the paranormal hunters. At least, the not fight-y and crazy ones.

 “So Dark was your mother’s name?” Wes asked, wondering if he could maybe find any records on her where he had failed to find them on Cassius himself.

 The smile slid right off his face. Wes and Kyle both felt the subtle chill in the air as Cassius leaned back and looked off to the side, as if to glare at something that wasn’t there. “No, I’m afraid Dark is my ex-husband’s name.”

 “Why keep it?” Kyle asked, completely ignoring the danger of the situation.

 The smile came back, except this time instead of soft and barely there as if he were indulging a child, it was sharp and twisted. He chuckled at an inside joke no one else in the room would ever understand and then he said, “Well, it’s not like      he     has any use for it now.”

 Wes paled. Had he killed his husband?!

 5:

 After a hasty retreat from the library Wes treated Kyle to a milkshake and fries at the nasty burger just as he had promised. Payment for going along with his ‘weird ghost theories’.

 But Wes couldn’t eat, he was too busy thinking. This one actually helped! He found information about the ghost’s previous life! He had a mother, but not a father, and had a husband.

 With the current politics it was one of two options. Either he was from a previous culture that allowed men to marry each other, or he was a more recent ghost than Wes had been expecting. He had already taken out his laptop and was scrolling through obituaries with the surname Dark, trying to think if he knew any off the top of his head that might have been in town when they died.

 Nothing particular came to mind.

 Wes’ thinking was interrupted by a loud, obnoxious slurping noise from his brother. He shot him a glare, but Kyle didn’t react. Wasn’t even looking at him. Instead he was looking out the window and watching one of the daily ghost attacks with Phantom playing hero as always.

 “You know, it’s kinda cool that they’re hiring actors to build the town’s lore like that,” he said, clearly ignoring the obvious evidence of ghosts right outside his window.

 “What the      hell     are you talking about?” Wes groaned, rubbing at his eyes. He needed coffee or something, it was a shame the Nasty Burger only served sludge no sane person would drink.

 Kyle finally looked away from the window, his eyes wide as if      he     was the one confused. “You know, how they got the librarian to say he was married to Pariah Dark? And then imply he’s the reason he’s a ghost?”

 Wes felt like the seat underneath him had suddenly disappeared. “Where did you get      That    from?!”

 “He said his ex-husband was named Dark! Pariah Dark’s Ghost Zone show is the first thing that comes to mind!” Kyle argued back. “Isn’t it?”

 Holy shit this guy was married to the ghost king.

 He thought back to the ominous answers he’d gotten that first day from the Fentons’ translator. Maybe he should leave this one alone.

 +1

 Wes was at the library, studying quietly and absolutely avoiding the librarian. Not that he’d seen him today, but it didn’t hurt to keep his head down. With any luck the guy had a short memory and would forget Wes had been trying to find a way to out him to the town.

 A portal ripped from the air in front of him, sending a static energy throughout the library and causing Wes’ hair to stand on end. It was a swirling purple, deeper and more… well      more     than most of the natural portals that Wes had seen appear around town.

 He wanted to scream, but years of living in Amity Park had fully trained that out of him. Screaming was the number one way to get a ghost locked on you as their first target. Especially if you were there when the portal opened.

 Before Wes could even think to duck under the table he was using a figure stepped out of the portal, poised and composed. He had a deep purple hood that seemed to swirl with the fabric of galaxies and a large ornate clock embedded into his chest. His skin was a rich blue and he had glowing red eyes.

 Wes recognized him immediately.

 “Oh, hello Mr. Weston, is there something I can help you with?” Cassius Dark asked.

[thefirstknife]

Born of Wrath - Ruins of Wrath

I want to elaborate on this post because I think it's important how the whole boss area is set up.

First of all, the whole Shattered Realm this week feels different. It's just a vibe and some aspects of the whole area. But the boss room is definitely the most interesting.

It's in a Hive warship and the centerpiece of the room is something like an elevated podium from which you have a good view towards the big Taken ball in a strange device hovering in the air. This was shown during the reveal trailer as well.

The rest (with pictures even!) under the read more:

This is the same device located in the Shrine of Oryx:

It almost appears like the one in the Shattered Realm is positioned to look into the Shrine of Oryx from above. This structure, btw, is a communication device that the Hive on the Moon used to talk to Oryx. Now, obviously, no longer used to talk to Oryx and instead, they most likely use it to talk to Xivu Arath. This would also make sense as the Shattered Realm is Xivu's domain. That room is a place from which the Hive in the ascendant plane can communicate with the Hive in the Hellmouth, vice-versa and beyond. Presumably.

And of course, there's the elephant in the room.

A strange dark crystal bound with chains overlooking the Shrine communication device structure. I'm not the only one to be unnerved by this, nor am I the only one to have the thought that this is Osiris' prison. A place where real Osiris is suspended in some sort of hellish Hive version of cryo. The chains are what really sell it to me. If this were bigger, I'd probably say it some sort of a Hive creature being held here for some future boss fight, but the size just doesn't fit.

Furthermore, I've said a few times now, but I am beginning to suspect that Xivu Arath and Savathun are not really the enemies they're trying to tell us they are. It's important to know that the Hive have a very strange and utterly alien social structure. To them, murder and torture are expressions of love. They believe that this is what gives them strength so if you kill someone a lot, it means you love them a lot because you're helping them grow stronger.

Of course, Savathun is legitimately an exile to the Hive. She has practiced heresies. Goes without saying. The problem is that we kinda took her word for a fact that she is being hunted by her sister while not really thinking about how we have no confirmation of this from the other side. We don't know what Xivu thinks. Is she tolerating her sister's heresies for a grander plan? It wouldn't be the first time that Savathun is scheming in order to strengthen the Hive. Xivu knows her sister. I am finding it harder and harder to accept that Xivu would simply hunt her down on behalf of the Black Fleet without thinking it through.

After all, their last known interaction was Savathun preparing Torobatl for Xivu's invasion. They were on good terms. Savathun helped Xivu to obliterate the Cabal. And what was the whole plan with Osiris if not Savathun preparing OUR system for Xivu's invasion? These two are mirrors of each other, but with slightly different execution due to the fact that humanity has something the Cabal do not: Light. So obviously, infiltrating the Guardians required a more careful and insidious plan.

I believe this plan started a long time ago, but was finally fully put in motion, you guessed it, in Immolant. In Immolant, Osiris is exposed to the whispers of Xivu Arath, is drawn out to fight her and is eventually stripped off his Light BUT he is left alive.

There are two points I have to mention that do not align with what we know from Immolant (and Immolant is the most reliable source out of them all):

1. Savathun's speech from week 1 - specifically, the cutscene. Quote: “I found a form more pleasing to your eyes. Osiris was lost. Lightless. I saved him from Xivu Arath and assumed his shape.” This is a lie. Savathun did not save him from Xivu: Sagira did. Sagira's sacrifice is what pushed Xivu's influence away: "Blinding Light erupts from Sagira's core as she splits apart. A wave of Light surges and tears across the chasm. Her sacrifice cleanses every trace of Xivu Arath's presence. The sigil: erased. The cryptolith that supported her projection: destroyed." 2. Page 3 of the new lore book Ripples (still not on Ishtar as of writing this so I'm linking to my post with the relevant bit) - For easier reading:

"Savathun was weak to allow their deaths. To cede ground to the Celebrant; to Guardians." - This is not what happened. Xivu Arath lured Osiris to the Moon, Xivu Arath spoke to Osiris, goaded him into killing everyone and LAUGHED while he did so, because Osiris' rampage gave her tithe. Not only that, but Immolant describes the Celebrant carving a ritual to drain Osiris' Light away and let him die. The Celebrant then leaves. So it wasn't Savathun who ceded any ground.

"The Celebrant steps forward. A massive cleaver dangles from its hand, weightless. The beast carves a rune into the stone on either side of Osiris, its eyes locked with his. It nods to him, and then turns to the sigil.

"All tithes to Xivu Arath. War Dominant. Endless." Its tone is soft rasp and soot."

And:

"The Celebrant drives its sword into the cliffside stone above Osiris's head. The cryptolith erupts in neon flare.

"Die well, Osiris." The Celebrant bows and withdraws from sight into Luna's depths.

Wisps of Light hemorrhage through his skin, trimmed in blood and drawn around the blade embedded above him as if it were a nostepinne spike."

This is very odd. There's a lot of inconsistency and lying going on. Hell, Xivu didn't even take Osiris' Light at all. The attempt was made but Sagira made sure the ritual isn't finished by sacrificing herself. Kelgorath was lied to, both by Savathun AND Xivu Arath to whom he pledged himself (and died for in the first mission during Season of the Lost: Kelgorath was the Wrathborn we fight just before we enter the portal to the Mara & Osiris cutscene).

This, to me, implies that they're in on this together. It's important to note that when it came to the Cabal, everyone thought that Umun'Arath was being influenced by Xivu, but it was actually Savathun doing it on Xivu's behalf. It is possible that all the voices Osiris was hearing were actually also coming from Savathun on Xivu's behalf. But if that was the case, then Kelgorath wouldn't have felt the need to renounce Savathun because she was the one who helped Xivu, instead of "ceding ground" as he claims. This inconsistency makes me believe that Savathun's and Xivu's courts don't really know the full scope and details of their mutual plan. The Hive sisters are literally lying to their own people for the benefit of the plan.

We only have Savathun speaking to us, but never Xivu Arath. What are her thoughts on all of this? What are her thoughts on Savathun? Is she really hunting Savathun at all? Obviously, Xivu would know that Savathun will most likely betray her, but if Savathun lays down the ground work for Xivu's invasion (like on Torobatl), why would she care? She knows her scheming sister well enough. As long as there's war, Xivu will be fed her tithe, making herself stronger and stronger. Savathun's schemes are benefitting her.

Which leads me back to the chained crystal in Shattered Realm.

Savathun's bargaining chip, Osiris. Where is he? Who is looking after this most valuable prisoner while she's trapped in her own crystal? Who would she trust to make sure he stays bound until the time is right? Who has the power to keep him bound while she's playing the game on the other side?

Well, it's Xivu Arath of course. So it would not surprise me for this crystal to really be him, bound and chained in Xivu's domain, under her watchful eye and kept in place by her power.

And, of course, where did we find "Osiris" on the Moon when we went to rescue him? In the Shrine of Oryx. The same place that the chained crystal is located in, on the other side, looking down to the Shrine from the ascendant plane.

I didn't mention it until now, but the post's title is a reference to both Immolant and Shattered Realm. "Born of Wrath" is the name of the first chapter of Immolant pt. 2, where Osiris first encounters the cryptolith, visions and voices of Xivu and gives her tithe. It would be fitting if Osiris' wrath that was "born" in that moment led to his "ruin" and eventual imprisonment in the "Ruins of Wrath."

I am looking WAY too hard into this, but it really isn't a Destiny lore analysis unless I'm a little unhinged. :)

[sanstropfremir]

Hey love, hope you're having a nice day

My mom strongly believes Taemin has a thing for using some sort of element to cover his head in most of his MVs. Obviously we're both too dumb to catch the symbolism (if any) so I thought why not ask someone who knows?

So what do you think? Is there any deep reason behind the head bags or is it just an aesthetic thing?

anon!!!! mwah!!! i'm having a better day because you sent this in!!!!

your mom is right, taemin absolutely has a thing for covering his head, specifically his face! you can see masks and/or veils (under the cut):

in the hit the stage performance of sayonara hitori

in the offsick concert teaser

in the nippon budokan performance of i’m crying

in the move mv here (there are several shots from this scene), and here

in the want mv here

there’s a quick shot of him pulling off a veil in criminal

and of course, advice. and again.

also some other images:

1. from the ngda act 1 promo photos

2. from the 2kids promo photos

3. from the move album scans

4. the cover of ngda act 2 messiah version

5. an actual bag over his head in the criminal mv

6. from the most recent short vcr in the ngda beyond live

7. from the sayonara hitori album scans

this is not an exhaustive list because i know i’ve missed some; i'm 80% sure there was a mask with the red outfit in the ngda act 1 scans but this is enough examples i think to show that it’s definitely deliberate. and i'm not even bringing up all the times he physically covers his face with a body part or it’s obscured through an effect, because then we gotta talk about the famous choreography, the idea choreography, the just me and you vcr, and countless promo photos and album scans from essentially every era in his entire solo career.

the backbone of the kpop industry in its current state is the idols' faces. human nature has proven time and time again that the easiest way to catch an audience is through a pretty face (by whatever the standards are at the time), and in an industry built on militant commercialism, of course the emphasis is going to be on those faces. you can see it in every bit of content. turning physical albums into mass collectibles, with multiple versions, giant photobooks, photocards. an idol’s face IS their uniform. when an idol doesn’t want to be seen, what's the first thing they do? cover their face. (and people still take pictures of them anyways). i’ve seen countless times on vlives and ig lives where an idol is wearing a mask and there will be a stream of “show us your face <3”’s until they do. their face is their brand. every decision a stylist, a publicist, a company makes is to optimize exactly how beautiful they can make their idols look, because that’s by and large what the fans want. obviously it's a product of the larger trend in unattainable beauty standards fueled by social media, but i'm not going to talk much about that, because it's a lot. if you’ve followed me for long enough (probably just for more than a few days tbh, since i talk about it constantly), you’ll have noticed that i'm a huge proponent of ‘ugly’ hair trends, and i'm a huge proponent of ugly styling in general. when idols have to be fashion models as well as inhuman performing machines, you’re setting them up to everything that plagues that industry as well, which means massive complexes about their faces and bodies, in the most mild of terms.

‘ugliness’ has freedom in it. part of the reason why i’ve gone extra insane for advice as a whole is because it IS ugly. taemin’s extensions ARE awful. his hands are blackened and dirty the whole mv, and so are portions of his body. he’s visibly flaunting his real tattoos*, which are still deeply stigmatized in the east. we see him get in a car crash. in arguably the most flattering/conventionally attractive outfit, he’s got heavy mascara tear tracks. the song isn’t particularly melodic, the choreography is childish and jerky, the lyrics directly call out the people that treat him like an object. and of course, the mask. all of these are cracks in the facade, confronting us, on purpose, with the crumbling of his perpetually pretty, perfect persona. he's hurt, he's angry, he's got his hands deep in the grime of living in the public eye that the public refuses to see, and now he's going to smear it all over himself until you DO see it. at the end of the mv his triumph is not that he washes himself clean, but that he paints overtop. gesso on an old canvas; a fresh start, but fundamentally informed by the things underneath.

taemin uses masks as a way to deface himself. both in the literal sense of removing his face from the equation but also in the synonomic sense of the destruction, the obliteration, the vandalization of himself. of his brand. known as sm’s pretty boy since he was 14, who is he if he doesn’t have his face?

as a general device the masks are an entreaty to address him on his own artistic merit. but they do often have specific meanings within their contexts. in the i’m crying performance it is to remove himself as an entity all together; he is anonymous now, an unseen narrator to the performers on stage.** in move and want it’s for emphasis on his body; proof that he can still ensnare you with his limbs alone. pulling off the veil/reversing it back on in criminal as a revealing/concealing of the two sides of himself on display in the mv. the literal suffocation of one of those sides with a plastic bag. the voice in idea says ‘you are my messiah,’ but the cover of the album denies confirmation of that identity.

there’s more to be dug into here, especially with the ngda act 2 photos but i’d have to go back through my catholic iconography notes again and this would be a lot longer than it already is. i’m also looking at this from a western perspective, there are undoubtedly double meanings specific to a korean context that i haven’t clocked. but that’s the reason i love his work so much! it stands up to a lot of rigorous analysis and there’s always going to be something that i don’t catch right away, something more to learn.

---

* we learned like yesterday that his hip tattoo is a peony, which he named as symbolizing freedom. peonies tend to have primarily positive meanings across east asian cultures, but in victorian floriography, they mean shame and sometimes anger.

** this style of performance is very common in cirque du soleil shows, especially the older ones from the early 2000s. it's pretty common to have a ballad or operatic singer featured as a ‘narrator’ to a specific story section of routine. i’m sure this is probably frequent in other places as well, but i’m naming cirque specifically because that’s where i’ve seen it the most, and also because there is an actual circus performer on stage during this. plus there’s a guy in a pierrot costume, who is probably the most famous clown***. (although the costume is technically wrong because pierrot is supposed to be unmasked. (ironic plays loudly in the distance))

*** clown of the technical variety and not clown of the honk honk birthday variety.

[dawn-of-tomorrow]

shoutout to @punishing-gray-raven-ocs for this ask game!! (didin't expect to be tagged with one so soon lolol but i'm overjoyed~~ ｡ﾟ(ﾟ´Д｀ﾟ)ﾟ｡❤️❤️)

1) What made you even think of trying Punishing Gray Raven? What made you stick with it?

Funny story actually-- I've long heard about PGR, way back when it was first released even, but I just didn't give it a chance back then mainly because it was in CN and I couldn't understand shit (rather ironic given how I am now lmao).

As for why I decided fairly recently, a couple of months give or take, to give PGR a shot? It's mainly due to the fact that I heard that the Global version would be out very soon, so I thought why not dive into what I've missed so far... not knowing that I'd become THIS obsessed with the game, aha~.

The most obvious thing that made me stick to this game are the interesting cast of characters, the "fun" story, the amazing yet simple game mechanics, and etc. etc.

2) What problems, if any, do you have with PGR?

Honestly speaking, the thing that most VEXES me at the moment about PGR, specifically PGR Global, is the wonky translations. It feels like a group of half-assed fan translators and one official translator who's not doing a good enough job with reigning everyone in instead of feeling like a group of professional translators who know what they're doing. Hell, I've seen better translations from some of my twitter mutuals!

3) Who is your favorite Construct, and why?

Lee. There's no question about it, Lee is my most favorite Construct at the moment (and forever perhaps ohoho~). As for why, god, hold that mic for a bit, I'm gonna go on a fucking rant. Ehem.

First of all, let's start with the most basic of things, like his appearances; As Palefire, he looks like this suave, very aloof, super serious, unapproachable, and "gets shit done efficiently" type of person, and while that description certainly isn't wrong, it's also hiding more layers of Lee's overall personality; as Entropy, he certainly looks and feels bit more casual than before, along with feeling somewhat more, even if a tiny bit, more honest with his feelings and easier to approach than before.

Despite being a serious, no-nonsense, grumpy guy, he's prone to occasionally quip and snark at anyone at their own expense especially if they get on his nerves (see his interactions with Kamui, not even the Commandant is spared from this!). He's also not as cold and distant as he may come across, given that, early on, he quite literally jumps in front of Liv to take a hit that was meant for her with absolutely no hesitation whatsoever, he's almost always the first person to make comments on the Commandant's state as well as express his undiluted feelings (though not without hiding it on occasion behind anger/annoyance, thus making it a case of "anger born from worry").

You can also easily tell if you pay close enough attention to his dialogue and actions that he's not good with expressing his true feelings even to the people he cares about (thankfully Murray, Skk, Lucia, Liv, Kamui, etc. can usually pick up on what he really wants to say), is the type to often be misunderstood due to him being the kind of person who believes in "actions speak louder than words", that he's used to taking care of others instead of prioritizing himself even to his own detriment; while making it clear that he prefers to think and act in a logical and practical manner, he's not exempt to having emotions/feelings, as such, he can be pretty empathetic towards other people even if he doesn't look like it (he's even the first one in the Gray Raven squad to point out WHY EXACTLY the people they come across in Echo Aria refuse to leave their homes even with high risk of the Red Tide washing everything away, and fully understanding as well as getting it).

Alrighty I'm gonna cut that segment short now before this becomes too long for anyone to read through, ehe~!

4) What made you think of designing PGR OCs, instead of making yourself into a self-insert?

.... Actually, truth be told, both of my Skks are, in some way, self-inserts~. It's just that they start out as one before eventually developing into their own characters with only hints/traces of their self-insert origin. Though my Construct OCs are definitely not self-inserts, that much I can certainly say so!

I made them mainly because I really enjoyed the official cast so much I wanted to make characters that would get to interact with them somehow, though I take great care in making sure they aren't TOO out of character with how they're canonically portrayed.

5) What's your thought process behind creating your OCs?

Honestly, it usually starts of something like this--

"lol wouldn't it be funny if I made this type of character? Oooh, what if they interacted with this character? Or this character? Or that character? Let's see, what's missing... Backstory and profile, check. Appearance, I'll sketch one in a bit. Hmmm... I know! *drowns the OC in mountains load of angst*"

6) What's your favorite chapter from the main story?

If I'm limited to talking only about the main chapters currently released on Global then it would have to be Fallen Star, mainly because it's Watanabe's time to shine~. (*´∀｀*)

However, if we were to look at the overall chapters, then, I would have to say Imprisoned Sight.

7) What do you think of the new Liv shown in the latest stream? Where do you think the story is going with her? What do you think happened to Gray Raven?

With Liv, I have a really bad and somber feeling about what Kuro Game has in store for her, given how she looks almost complete different than what she's looked so far, as well as the vibe her new look gives off.

Fuck, I wouldn't be surprised if they decided to thanos snap her memories away as well like they did with Lucia, or worse, infect her with the Punishing and turn her into an actual enemy (for a while before we get her back).

As for Gray Raven, considering what happened at the end of Evernight Beat, wherein the Skk is in a fucking coma with a chunk of the Mother Structure lodged in their abdomen, while Lee and Lucia are in repairs along with Liv, and, if I recall correctly, the Merciful One managed to reach Babylonia and is now onboard the space station as well-- I have a feeling that the despairing Liv will be approached by her and be given a new frame.

8) Have you seen the animated shorts? What do you think of them?

If you're talking about the Panini anime then yes, I've watched them already! Still ripping my insides open from laughter everytime I watch them lol. Favorite episode has got to be the toilet episode, next to that would be the episode where Chrome takes Kamui to Karenina and Liv for training.

9) So do Constructs eat or not? (I'm really confused, especially since I saw Karenina sipping a drink in one of the shorts)

Oh they most certainly can! Fuck, it's even explicitly stated that Camu likes to eat and sample foods whenever he can (revealed in his secrets, as well as his affection stories).

As Camu explains, while they don't get nutrients from human food, they most certainly can still enjoy them and use them as a type of fuel.

10) Do you think Kamui and/or Camu will be a really pivotal plot device at some point, considering how the information on Kamui is so top secret?

Hmmmm.... unless the story at that point is revolving around Kurono Ops and how shady they're being, then personally speaking, the chances are slim.

11) Do you think, at any point, any of the Gray Ravens will die off?

Naaaaaah. They won't do that. Sure, they TECHNICALLY killed off Lucia, but she's still "alive" in a sense, so it both counts and doesn't count.

Besides, sometimes death isn't the worse thing you can inflict on someone/a character~.

12) Who is your least favorite Construct, and why?

I don't really hate/dislike any of the Constructs if I'm being honest. Though I hate how shitty of a unit Sophia is, and that it's kinda pitiful that she's become even more useless now that the new S-Liv is here; but I am in no way saying you should stop using her, keep using Sophia if you really like her! It's your choice after all, and I'm not about to contest you on that part, after all, everyone's enjoyment is subjective.

13) What part of PGR's lore really holds your attention?

The part of the lore that really holds my attention are the characters, and seeing how they react and act to the situations happening to and around them, especially concerning the Punishing and forces out of their control~.

[timeclonemike]

Axiom Verge 2: Here We Go Again

So Axiom Verge 2 came out not long ago, but I don’t have a Switch and I don’t trust the Epic Games Store. Rather than wait and possibly get spoiled, I bit the bullet and watched a Let’s Play.

Consequently I can now build on this post. Cutting for length and spoilers right about here.

The Filter: The biggest revelation that AV2 provides is a refinement of the multiverse theory, plus defining some terms from the original game. Trace’s note next to his wheelchair mentions going upstream to the Filter or beyond for answers. As it happens, “upstream” refers literally to the Worldstream, and different universes are connected to each other in a serial fashion. The terminology used to describe the connections is upstream and downstream, with upstream leading towards the Source Worlds that are the progenitors of all other universes. Likewise, the Filter refers to worlds in the worldstream that function as firewalls and safety mechanisms to keep disruptive influences from downstream worlds from traveling too far up, since disrupting one world can damage all of the worlds downstream from that world.

We even get to see the Worldstream or some analog to it when Indra (the protagonist of Axiom Verge 2) travels to the Filter world upstream of Kiengir (which is either upstream of or parallel to Earth) and the background of the rooms is a MASSIVE fractal pattern originating from / coalescing into a singularity off in the distance.

There are also some notes from Trace to Dr. Hammond, his research partner in the cutscene for the first game who took Trace’s revolutionary theory and turned into a way to make Faster Than Light communication and computing technology. Dr. Hammond also finds herself in a unique position to test one of the possibilities implicit in Trace’s theory, namely if the existence of an afterlife is somehow accounted for in the multiverse. One of the notes in the first game says that different instances of a person across the multiverse can survive events that their counterparts do not, but that the survivors have no idea that they even have a counterpart who died.

What happens in the second game is more about what happens to the ones that didn’t make it, because Dr. Hammond is communicating with Indra through the prototype superluminal communicators (called ansibles) scattered here and there, but Indra can also find Hammond’s body and a suicide note in some of Kiengir’s ruins. Dr. Hammond refers to where she is as a sort of “detention center” that she needs Indra’s help to escape from, and this help involves hacking the control computer in the Filter world. An earlier message at an ansible mentions data throttling, which seems to refer to the memory limitations of the ansible prototypes themselves; they can only send so much data over their operational lifetimes.

Except there’s Trace’s original paper and the axioms he starts with, where reality is described as algorithms running a universal / multiversal simulation, and cognition is a sub-algorithm within the parent algorithm. Put it all together and the game all but states that there is an afterlife, but it operates on the same rules as life - it’s an adjacent or related universe to our own and minds / spirits / souls / cognitive algorithms can migrate between those universes under certain conditions even if the material body they used to pilot is no longer functional. At least, that’s what normally happens, but for some reason the transmigration of souls was limited or stopped or throttled. It’s semi-implied but never explicitly stated that there’s a trans-universal system in place to keep the Worldstream stable, and the Lamassu computer network that controls Kiengir is part of that network, and the fact that realities are starting to glitch and break down further implies that this system is damaged or overwhelmed.

Trace’s Motivations: Trace never shows up in the game, and only gets mentioned here and there in a few notes. The game takes place in the 2050s and Trace’s lab accident was in 2005, with Dr. Hammond starting Hammond Corp and making money hand over fist in 2007 by selling the world zero-latency computing technology. Hammond’s suicide note explains that Trace was already exploring the Breach before she started her company, but she hasn’t heard from him in decades and the entire antarctic expedition was just so she could try to find him again. She mentions a few things in passing that come up in the first game, like a device called a Scry that can locate anything in the multiverse, and the term PatternMind which Trace was but Hammond was not.

By itself, this would seem to imply that we don’t know anymore about what Trace saw or experienced that turned him from a pacifist to somebody willing to commit genocide. But there’s another factor in play, one that has nothing to do with Trace at all at first glance.

At a certain point in the game, Indra gets stuck in her alternate drone form until she finds the right upgrade to become human (well, humanoid) again. She can still communicate with people, such as the survivors from Hammond Corp’s expedition and one of the Kazakh members of a Russian expedition that came through the portal and decided to settle a world upstream of Kiengir. However, coming back to revisit those areas and talk to those survivors later may result in them not being in the same spot anymore. Instead, there’s a sort of flying enemy that looks like a miniature version of the first boss of Axiom Verge. People who examined the game’s code found that there is actually an “infection” mechanic involved based on time elapsed since Indra comes in contact with the survivors.

That the survivors turn  into the types of monsters we see in Axiom Verge 1 is significant on its own, but it takes on more importance when we consider the endgame cutscenes. The Kazakhs have settled and colonized an upstream world, while a few of them are staying in an adjacent world where time passes differently; this is explicitly so that they can observe and track the changing of society over long spans of time and direct its evolution. After beating the final boss, Indra decides to team up with Drushka, the leader of the Kazakhs and a name mentioned in one of the notes found in Axiom Verge 1, in order to further her own goals.

Here’s the thing: What we see of the world that Drushka is standing watch in, called The Emergence, looks so similar to what we’ve seen of Sudra as to be almost identical. Given how time is explicitly stated to pass at different rates in different parts of the Breach compared to the worlds in the Worldstream, it isn’t out of the question that the Kazakhs were the ancestors of the Sudrans. The only problem with this theory is that long before anyone from earth showed up in Kiengir, the Lamassu had upstream technology brought in to allow the locals to defend themselves, as part of its broader directive to safeguard the Worldstream from disruption. Some of this technology included Rebirth Chambers - Indra even accesses the Filter through one - which was later destroyed to prevent too much cultural contamination. That technology had to come from somewhere, so either the Kazakhs inhabited a world adjacent to Sudra or downstream from it so there were similarities in art and culture and architecture, or the Rebirth Chambers and other advanced technology were themselves brought to Sudra from upstream worlds and simply shut down rather than completely destroyed after the Sudrans nearly wiped themselves out.

In either case, the important part is how Indra is subtly implied to be some sort of nanotech Typhoid Mary. She might be the actual source of the Pathogen that wipes out Sudra, not Athetos. In hindsight there is a hint to this effect in the first game because after Trace starts getting sick and hallucinating, there is a Rusalki called Ophelia that saves him. He doesn’t have any symptoms for the rest of the game, implying he is cured. If it was something unique to Trace that made him immune, he wouldn’t have gotten sick in the first place and neither would Athetos. Same with him getting better, if Trace could do it so could the original. So it had to be something unique to Ophelia that she couldn’t - or wouldn’t - do for anyone else.

And during Axiom Verge 2′s credits, we see a detailed close up look of Indra’s nanotech-enhanced body. The face and head look a LOT like Ophelia. Not conclusive by itself, but too similar to be completely shrugged off as coincidence.

And that has got me thinking.

I ended my first post pondering what Trace could have found in the Breach or while traveling the multiverse that caused a pacifist scientist to turn to genocide to achieve his ends. It’s possible that nothing could, because he didn’t. Maybe Athetos didn’t release the pathogen on Sudra, the Rusalki did; it’s shown in the notes that they resented the way that the Sudrans crippled them and reduced them basically to talking heads, but still had some influence over what was going on either through manipulating the priests or through exchange of data that the Sudrans were unaware of or incapable of understanding.

Athetos refers to the Rusalki as masters of war just before the final battle of Axiom Verge 1. He might have shown up at Sudra thousands of years prior to the events of the game as Trace, gotten healed, traveled up to the Filter to try to learn more, and then come back after the flow of time had changed to find a civilization on the verge of collapse from a virulent contagion that turned people into monsters. Trace may be a pacifist, but he will still use the Axiom Disrupter and all of its bells and whistles to protect himself in game. It’s entirely possible that the original realized that the Rusalki were trying to escape Sudra and would cause devastation throughout the Worldstream, and he applied his knowledge to create weapons and tools to turn himself into a one man army once he realized he couldn’t cure the pathogen. (Or maybe he did try to come up with a cure, and the Rusalki’s retaliation / interference was what made him realize what was actually going on.)

He doesn’t say any of this before his boss fight because he realizes that Trace and the Rusalki have the advantage now. Trace can keep coming back using the Rebirth Chambers, so Athetos has to come up with contingency plan. The secret ending shows Trace in a Dream Algorithm set up by one of the Rusalki, but Athetos shows up and shoots him, telling him it’s time to wake up. During his boss fight, Athetos shows the ability to manipulate the environment to a certain degree, spawning in new enemies and replacing power cells for the Breach Attractor when Trace destroys them. It’s not clear if this is a result of Sudran tech of being a PatternMind, but whatever the reason, it’s possible that Athetos was doing all of it to buy time.

Time for what?

To hack Trace’s Nanogates so that the Rusalki couldn’t control him anymore.

Trace keels over not long after the final battle, but Athetos showing up with a gun implies that Athetos was able to at least get a Trojan Horse into the nanogates that would wake Trace up when the remote overrides were disabled. Then Trace could wake up, find all his equipment again, and take the fight to the Rusalki before they could cause too much damage to the Worldstream, possibly including Earth.

The only truly glaring flaw in this theory is that it doesn’t account for why Indra would side with a bunch of genocidal robots, one way or another; she refers to the storage bay in Axiom Verge 1 as where “our bodies” are kept, and these are massive war machines, while her humanoid nanotech form is about human sized. The Lamassu refers to some fairly devastating war machines from upstream worlds and the Rusalki might just be those machines; she was heading to the world they were stored in because it might have the technology to restore one of her Apocalypse Arm upgrades - the child Damu that controls her drone body - to a flesh and blood body that can live a normal life.

There is a big gap between trying to help this kid she found and teaming up with sentient weapons platforms to devastate the multiverse. At least as big as the gap between Trace being a pacifist and Athetos committing genocide.

Like so many sequels, Axiom Verge 2 has raised even more questions than it answered.

[raunchyom]

Vices, Not Virtues: Charity

[ Chapter 2 ]

[ Previous ] [ Next ]

A/N: Man, this took a helluva lot longer than I thought it would. It also ended up being a helluva lot longer than I thought it would, despite what I said on the last chapter. Oops. Hope y’all like long fics ^^’ Tagging: @devintrinidad

word count: 3k || warnings: n/a​

Since arriving in the Devildom, you’d been perpetually busy. 

Whether baking with Luke or shopping with Asmo, reading with Satan or snacking with Beel, practicing magic with Solomon or playing body pillow for Belphie, going to class or doing mountains of homework-- it was always something, and it always added up to a very full schedule.

Today was no different. Lucifer had insisted on keeping you until you were practically asleep in his study last night, only relenting because you had class the next day. And it wasn’t as if you could fall asleep when you got back to your room-- you had things due tomorrow, and a full schedule to try and get back on track of.

You’d mostly succeeded on the homework front, even finishing with enough time for a solid 4 hours of sleep that night. The pre-class D.D.D. tutorial you’d promised to Simeon happened right on schedule, and you successfully stayed awake for your entire first and second periods. You snuck out of third period to help Asmo with his latest fashion emergency, then managed the rest of third and fourth period without a hitch. You spent lunch listening to the newest anime-oriented drama from Levi, then attended the last of your classes. A text popped up from Beel just thirty minutes before school was over that he made a mistake, and needed your advice. You went ahead and offered to help clean the kitchen, already guessing what had happened. Overall, it was a pretty standard day.

Well, standard or not, once you’d gotten back to your room-- and finished cleaning up the wreckage that Beel had severely understated in his messages-- it was late, with a lot left to do. You opened your door, mentally blocking out how much time it should take to complete everything. Your math left you confident that you could get 4 hours of sleep again tonight, maybe even 5 if you really focused. You set your backpack down, feeling better, and flopped into your desk chair. The second your butt hit the cushion, you felt your D.D.D. buzz from your pocket.

You groaned, head hitting the desk with a soft ‘thunk’. Didn’t your phone know that you were busy?

As if it could hear your thoughts, the device vibrated again, eliciting a sigh. Pity party successfully waylaid, you dug your D.D.D. out of your pocket and checked the notifications.

It was a string of texts, all from Mammon. First he asked what you were doing, then where you were. The next one said to forget both of those; he needed you to come help him with homework in his room. When you hadn’t answered fast enough, he began to spam you with angry emojis.

He was acting like a brat, but that was his version of begging. He was always struggling in his classes, and your tutoring usually helped; you couldn’t fault him for wanting to improve his grades. And so, ignoring everything you had to do, you decided to help him. After all, isn’t that what being a good friend is all about?

You stood up, tossing your backpack on again. If you factored your study session into your schedule, that would put you at 4 hours of sleep tops. No, the likelihood it would only take an hour was slim; probably 3.5 hours of sleep. Another text-- make that two-- made your D.D.D. buzz again; both demanding you reply, the second saying you didn’t have a choice in whether to help. ...Maybe 2.5 hours.

Your first knock on his door was met with silence, and you briefly considered leaving to do your own homework. But no-- you came to help, you should help.

“Mammon?” You tried again, knocking louder.

“Finally! Get in here already!” He yelled through the door.

Mammon was on his couch, backpack tossed a good ways away from him. Though he had a textbook on his coffee table, and plenty of papers scattered across the surface, he didn’t seem to be working on anything specific. It didn’t help that he was upside-down on his couch; his legs thrown over the back cushion and head hanging off the front. It wasn’t the typical doing-homework pose, but far be it from you to tell what Mammon was thinking.

“You sure took your time!” He tossed his D.D.D. to the side, pointing an accusing finger in your direction.

“I walked straight here when I got your texts.”

“Yeah, well, you should already know when I want ya here.” He huffed, then practically fell off the couch amidst his panicked backpedaling. “Not-- Not that I want ya here, I mean! The Great Mammon doesn’t want some human around, crampin’ his style! I just--!” He rolled into a normal sitting position, the redness in his face no longer the result of being upside-down. 

“You wanted my help with homework, right?” You tried to throw him a life raft, but it went right over his head.

“What? Homework? We had homework!?” He asked, now looking frazzled for a different reason. You took a deep breath, briefly wondering how this scatterbrain remembered to put pants on every morning.

“Mammon, why did you ask me to come over?” You finally asked, trying to get him back on track.

“I asked… oh! Yeah! I uh…” He glanced at his table, a mess of papers that he hadn’t looked at since dumping them out of his folder. He looked back up at you expectantly. “Mc, do you have any money?”

...Oh, so that’s what this was about. It was hard not to feel disappointed that he had lied to get you here, but at least he got right to the point. “Yeah, sure, what happ-- ah, whatever. How much do you need?” 

You reached for your wallet, hoping to just fork over the grimm and go back to what you were doing. He hadn’t asked in a while, so this was probably legit. Probably. He would promise to pay it back, with every intention of doing so, and then forget to, or run into more debt. It was a vicious cycle; you were happy to not be a part of it. Well, at least it was nice while it lasted.

“What? No, that’s not-- ya shouldn’t be handin’ out money like that!” Mammon nagged, effectively freezing your hand in midair. If he didn’t want money, why was he asking? “You don’t needta give your stuff away to people just ‘cause they ask, that’s how people take advantage of ya!”

At first, his behavior didn’t make sense, but the gears started turning on what was going on. You shoved your wallet back into place, trying not to sound as exhausted as you felt. “Is this because of Lucifer?”

“Lucifer?” He echoed, confused.

“You know, his whole idea of giving you guys a week to…” You gestured vaguely, not wanting to say ‘teach me to sin’ for multiple reasons; “uh, talk to me?”

“Whaddya mean Lucifer?” He sounded affronted at the thought. “It was MY idea!” He huffed, crossing his arms.

“You thought of this?” It was surprising, but you felt inclined to believe him. He didn’t like to admit that he cared; he wouldn’t suddenly lie about being worried enough to bring it up to his brothers. Either way, as sweet as it was, good intentions wouldn’t save your grades. But maybe if he had gotten you into this mess, he could get you out of it. At the very least, he might be able to get you out of today’s lecture. “Mammon, I really appreciate it, but I don’t have time to--”

“Exactly! Ya never have time!” He launched up off the couch, flinging his arms out dramatically as he spoke. “You’re always givin’ it away to everybody else! Just like your stuff, and your grimm! Do ya ever even spend anythin’ on yourself?” 

“Of course I do.” You replied easily. He made it seem as if you were emptying your pockets for anyone who asked. You weren’t some human piggy bank, you bought yourself stuff all the time.

“Oh yeah? When’s the last time ya bought somethin’ for yourself, then? And food doesn’t count! Neither does stuff ya need for school, or takin’ care of yourself. When’s the last time ya bought something just ‘cause ya wanted it?” He asked, hands on his hips.

“I, uh…” That was a lot of rules. You tried to flip back in your mind. You weren’t exactly a big spender; certainly not since you’d arrived in the Devildom with so little time to work for extra cash. To Mammon’s point, you could only think of things you bought out of necessity. A snack when you didn’t have time for lunch. A new pair of shoes when yours were falling apart. Some toiletries when you needed them. A new uniform when your jacket was torn beyond repair, and you didn’t want to bother anyone about it.

“But you’re always buyin’ stuff for others!” Mammon let your thoughts wander enough to make his point, but he had to cut in eventually. “Remember how I usedta ask for money all the time?” 

“I mean-- it’s been a while.” It was a meager attempt at defense, but it was true. You couldn’t remember the last time he came to your door, brown-nosing his way into your pockets.

“Yeah, well, when ya first got here, you gave your grimm away freely, always buyin’ stuff for people-- so I thought ya had a buncha money. Then I heard Lucifer sayin’ ya don’t have much, and you were sayin’ ya wanted to save some, so I stopped askin’! But nobody else knows, so they keep askin’, and you keep givin’ it to ‘em! I know you don’t have stuff to be givin’ away either, I’ve been through--” He caught himself before he admitted it out loud, but you were well aware of the fact that Mammon had rooted through your stuff at the beginning. He had stopped at this point… you hoped. “No one here wants to take advantage of ya, but they don’t know they’re doin’ it. Ya gotta tell people not to ask for so much-- I mean, I’m the avatar of greed, and I feel bad takin’ your stuff! I bet the others would feel the same!” 

It was hard to tell whether he cared more about your financial situation or about making his brothers feel guilty. “I think--”

“Don’t even get me started about your time!” Mammon didn’t let you get a word in edgewise, advancing towards you as he ranted. He didn’t realize he was doing it; the action a subconscious result of his rising emotions. You took a few steps back, but soon bumped into furniture and had to stop. “You’re always busy, and ya got tons’a homework, but ya never say no when people ask for help! Do ya even have time to be here right now? Or do ya have somethin’ you could be doin’ instead?” 

It was a fair point, but hard to take from the one who’d brought you here. “It’s fine, I like to help out.”

“Help yourself out!” This was the second time within 24 hours that you’d gotten chewed out for not taking proper care of yourself. There was a familiar churning in your gut-- a leaden mixture of guilt and anxiety. Not to mention a dash of adrenaline from being within range of an angry demon. That last one happened a lot around here, though. “Try sayin’ no to people once in awhile! You stretch yourself too thin and eventually there’s gonna be nothin’ left!”

Mammon finally took a breath, letting his shoulders slump as he exhaled. He averted his eyes, his voice much softer when he next spoke. “Besides… I miss ya, Mc. You keep givin’ away your time, and overworkin’ yourself, and all of a sudden… I never see ya anymore.” 

His gaze flitted back to your face, and it finally dawned on him just how close he’d gotten. He was nearly pinning you against his pool table at this point. His face turned bright red, and he leapt backwards, crossing his arms to maintain his pride. “A-Anyway! You don’t owe anyone anything. So stop acting like it.”

“I don’t act like--”

“Oi, and don’t interrupt the Great Mammon!”

You rolled your eyes, but conceded. He had been difficult from his very first text tonight, it was probably easier to just humor him at this point.

“Ya play therapist for the house all the time. Ya mediate fights, listen to people’s problems, give out advice when you’re asked-- even when ya don’t know what to say. Maybe it’s about time ya let us know when ya aren’t up to it. I mean, no one's gonna fault ya for takin’ a vacation day.” It wasn’t a perfect metaphor, but it conveyed his point well enough. “The house has been a lot calmer since ya got here. Everybody knows it-- you do too, dontcha?” 

It was true that you’d been complimented on your demon-wrangling skills by many people before. ...Including the brothers, oftentimes. “Well, yeah, but you guys should always be able to come to me. I want to be there for you.”

“Well I wanna be there for you, too!” Mammon blurted, looking desperate. Well, until he realized what he said, his expression then switching to panic as he frantically backpedaled. “I mean-- we do! T-They do! Or-- everyone else does, but I-I’ve got better stuff to… Ah, what am I sayin’? We all wanna be there for ya, Mc. But that means when ya have a hard day, and we ask if ya have time... ya gotta say no. How would you feel, if ya learned that we all forced ourselves to be around ya?”

A pang of guilt shot through your chest. “It isn’t like that; you guys aren’t a burden. I want to help--”

“Yeah, and I wanna sell Levi’s expensive shut-in stuff for extra cash, but sometimes ya gotta think about what ya wanna do versus what ya can do. I’m not very… I mean, I dunno about uh, emotions and... all that, but…” Suddenly Mammon’s tsundere thing made a lot of sense; he was a lot better at denial than candor. “Well, ya can’t help us if ya can’t help yourself!”

Again, he had a point. This time he wasn’t being a hypocrite, so it made it harder to come up with a rebuttal. “Everyone has bad days, I don’t have to shut people out whenever I’m not at one hundred percent.”

“Man, you sure are lucky Lucifer has a soft spot for ya. All this back talk would get me in hot water.” Mammon sighed. “Just listen to me for once, wouldja?”

You crossed your arms, unimpressed. He chose to interpret it as a yes.

“I know ya wanna have some free time. And I know ya wanna keep some of your money saved up, whatever it’s for. Well… If sayin’ no is hard for ya, maybe we can start ya off with a test drive.”

“A… test drive...?” Nope, he lost you.

“Y’see, I’ll take the fall tonight. I’m gonna say we’re studyin’. Or that I’m still givin’ ya my peace. But… go back to your room, do whatcha want. Don’t matter what-- homework, sleepin’, whatever. Just don’t let anyone take it from ya. Matter’a fact, if someone asks for ya: practice sayin’ no. If ya gotta give ‘em a reason, tell ‘em it’s my fault.” 

“You sure?” He was essentially offering to be your guard dog for the night, which was quite a monumental task-- especially since people already assumed Mammon was at fault for things in general, and wouldn’t hesitate to take their anger out on him.

“Yeah, yeah; just don’t go and think I’m gonna keep doin’ this forever! Ya gotta learn to say no on your own, without me havin’ to do it for you all the time! I got goldie to worry about, I don’t need another credit card overspendin’ itself and-- w-well, I just don’t wanna haveta deal with it if ya run outta money and come cryin’ to-- oi!” You wrapped him in a hug, able to feel the shock run up his spine at your sign of gratitude. 

“I-I toldja, I ain’t doin’ it for you!” Mammon protested, but near instantly caved; stealing the chance to hug you back. He puffed out a defeated breath, adding, “I’m gonna watch out for ya human, I mean it. I wanna make sure you can keep gettin’ better, so… If ya ever gotta turn someone down in the future, or tell ‘em no for any reason, and ya can’t bring yourself to do it… You can always tell ‘em it’s on me. I’m your first man, you can always depend on me to help ya out.”

“Thank you, really.” He held you for just a beat longer before he relented, switching back to his brusque demeanor the moment he let go. 

“Yeah, yeah, keep thankin’ me and you’re gonna waste all your free time before it even starts. Get outta here already! I got stuff to do too, y’know.” He waved you off, but he was refusing eye contact for a reason.

Leaving Mammon’s room, your steps felt light, and a rush of warmth flooded your chest as you recalled his praise. Sure, it was followed by nagging, or saying it wasn’t always good for you-- but it was definitely nice to hear that the brothers really did think of you as their confidant. 

You stood a little taller; almost as if you felt a sense of pride.

[nettlestonenell]

Enola Holmes in Review

Gentle Readers:

1.       I did not plan to watch Enola Holmes

2.       I do not/have not watched Stranger Things, and my entire concept of Millie Bobby Brown as a human is encapsulated in the occasional errant tumblr post, and a line of eyewear she apparently has created, posters for which hang at my glasses-provider.

3.       I had never heard of the YA novels about Enola Holmes

There she is!

Yes, I do tend to enjoy nearly any incarnation of Sherlock Holmes. And, yes, I am often surprised by this fact. For some reason, Holmes, unlike, say, Chris Evans as Cap or Chris Hemsworth as Thor [instances where I can’t really imagine enjoying anyone else in the role] I am always interested to see someone else’s [writer and actor and director]’s take on him. *Subtle shout-out to James D’Arcy’s 2002 turn in A Case of Evil.

Mr. Jarvis! [and there was Vincent D’Onofrio and opium!!]

And yet, watching the Enola Holmes trailer [no doubt b/c of tumblr], and yes, admittedly not unmoved [we are not made of stone] by Cavill’s Curls™ the delight I felt in watching that advert led me to start informing my family that on September 23rd what I was going to be doing was enjoying Enola Holmes on Netflix [and anyone else was free to join me].

Someone important is missing from this picture

And what a delight it was. In the run-up to its debut I read more than a few reviews of the film [and, I think, every one of them written by men], some of which struck me as simply coming from a place of mean-spiritedness, yet none—even the positive reviews—preparing me for how ENJOYABLE this film is.

I’m not going to provide a full review point-by-point here, b/c the film involves cases to be solved (no, none of them are overwhelmingly complex—YA novel--, so all the more reason not to spoil any pay-offs). But I do have some things to talk about.

THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM – And what a nice, nice elephant it is! Henry Cavill as Holmes is, in my opinion an absolute delight of a performance. From the moment he first says Enola’s name (a perfectly-rendered reaction to the moment playing out) this Holmes fits into this Greatest Showman-like version of Victorian England, where no one’s too dirty no matter how poor, and where despite a flaming red dress, cut too low for daytime wear, young Enola is never once mistaken for a working girl. [Again, YA novel] As other reviewers have noted, HC is, well, Cut and Bulked Out, and in his highly tailored frock coats well, strapping is too light a description word. *not a complaint. Cavill’s Curls are out and proud and here to tell us that we are meant to be Having Fun, and Gentle Readers—THEY DO NOT LIE.

No, not a priest’s collar where he is undercover (though I had thought so)

In fact, you could absolutely write your thesis statement on this film, that it’s really a fraternal, familial love story between Sherlock and Enola. Sherlock is the character during the two hours that actually changes. [Yes, Enola comes to an understanding about herself, and her circumstances change repeatedly—but it is Sherlock who experiences a Change of Heart/Reversal]. 

Raise your hand if you’re totally here for significantly older brother/significantly youngest sister family love!

HOW I WOULD DESCRIBE IT – This might in no way be helpful, but, Enola Holmes is basically The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles...

Where have you gone, Sean Patrick Flanery?

a YA historical storyline that’s written adjacent to [there, famous people] here, enduring fictional characters. It’s adventurous and pleasantly immersive, historical morays are given a slap-dash portrayal, rather than a fully-accurate representation, there’s adventures to be had, and side-characters to be converted into caring about the title character as much as we, the audience, do.

LUCY HONEYCHURCH – Yes, that gorgeous girl from Windy Corner. The timeline doesn’t jibe, but I daresay Helena Bonham Carter (back in a corset—though she may have worn those for Bellatrix) as Eudoria Holmes *IS* what Lucy Honeychurch might well have become beyond A Room with a View’s end. Bonham Carter looks absolutely at home here (period films have sorely missed her! –she had a part in 2015’s Suffragette), and still wears the trappings of Victorian England like a second skin. 

Not to mention that she now join my personal comfort-list of on-screen mothers with the likes of 1997’s Little Women Susan Sarandon and Cinderella’s Hayley Atwell.

FAMILY ISSUES OR PLOT HOLES? 

It’s a fair question. There’s a lot going on in this plot, some of which...seem solvable. Why has it been so very long since the Holmes brothers have seen their own mother? And sister? How could the woman we come to know as Eudoria raise a Mycroft? [see also, Molly Weasley?] Why aren’t people who seem to care about Enola more engaged with saving her from all the dangers London throws in her way? Why does Enola accept several acts of violence aimed at her, why does she in certain instances Do What She Is Told? Rather than chalk these up to plot holes or convenient devices, I’m siding with the Holmes family being dysfunctional [who knows what dad was like? We’re certainly not told here]. 

[clears throat]

The conversations between Mycroft and Sherlock barely skim the surface of any subject they interact on. Classic dysfunction: distancing one’s true self from human interaction b/c keeping the peace supersedes all else.

Enola accepts certain treatments b/c if we really do watch her relationship with her mother, there is an element of something amiss—as I will declare the later abandonment shows. Enola is a child used to being elevated and celebrated on one hand, and shut out and isolated on the other. Her parent has informed her about so much, but essentially locked her away in a false reality, where Enola is not taken to see the world, nor taught how to interact in it (which is explicitly stated). Perhaps it is not so surprising that the Holmes’ brothers have not cared overly much for visiting their remaining family. And when repeatedly confronted with a minor child (and yet a child likely though old enough or about so, to be married off) being forced to endure things diametrically opposed to her will—the brothers’ reactions are stoic, the system they accept as to how life must be lived immoveable and morally right simply by its very existence.

MILLIE BOBBY BROWN – THE STAR – In what has to be an Emmy-nomination-deserving turn, MBB is nothing short of wholly in charge of the screen. She never overpowers the story. She’s as loveable as Sandra Bullock in While You Were Sleeping, and as ready for her closeup as Jennifer Lawrence in The Hunger Games. As another review mentioned, she handles the 4th wall breaks in such as way as we look forward to the next time she’s going to talk to us. We ache with her sorrow for her lost mom, and rage with her at the adults in her life choosing wrongly for her future—or simply not choosing at all.

A random observation, but one that feels important to me: her HAIR. Yes! They’ve managed to make a late Victorian-era film where the heroine’s hair looks like real hair that someone really styled (or in some scenes, didn’t). And yet, where the hair looks proper for the time. [wild applause]

COMPLAINTS: Well, in honesty there aren’t any. If you want to complain that there isn’t any dirt, that the evil of the world (I mean, c’mon, this is narrowly post-Dickensian London, here) is neutered, that the adults in question seem neither alarmed enough or emboldened enough at either their mother or sister being missing and possibly out of their depths in a dangerous society without protection, and in Enola’s case real-world skills--? Well, I’m certainly not going to disagree with you. This is YA Victorian London, after all, not Ripper Street. There is also neither a hint of or actual threat of sexual violence at any point in the film. But the lack of that has preserved us from having to sit through that, as well as no doubt lectures about how Enola’s virtue might be spoilt and she might become useful to no man.

The relationships are appropriate, too. Despite strides between Enola and certain adults in the film, by the time the credits roll they’re not showing physical affection toward each other (a move that would have seemed over-the-top), and teen relationships are shown progressing at a reasonable and mutedly awkward pace.

Now, Netflix, green-light me five more films (or more). There’s still a new version of John Watson to meet, after all!