#that virus ruin everyone's lives

[ilovecharile]

Me after watching robot trains:

[aropride]

in 2020 when vanessa hudgens said "people will die, which is terrible, but like, inevitable," she was rightfully criticized by a ton of people, but now that's how almost everyone approaches covid. in 2022 when the then-director of the cdc rochelle walensky said it was "really encouraging" that mostly "people who were unwell to begin with" were the ones dying and not abled people, she was also widely criticized (though mostly by more left-leaning people and disability justice advocates). both of those statements were considered horrific things to say and devaluing the lives of people who were dying from covid.

but covid didn't stop spreading, it didn't stop mutating, it didn't stop killing and disabling people, the vaccines don't fully prevent it, you can catch it even if you're not uniquely vulnerable- and having had a covid infection before makes you more vulnerable, anyway. regardless of what the cdc or your boss wants you to think it's not safe to unmask just because everyone else is doing it.

i understand that the cdc and politicians have been minimizing covid for years, i understand most people don't know you need a kn95/kf95/n95/etc mask to stop the virus, i understand most people don't know that you can spread covid asymptomatically or presymptomatically, i understand that there's been a complete failure to communicate the dangers of covid to the public, i understand most people don't even know what long covid is or how covid can completely ruin your life without killing you. i understand that a lot of people don't know, but there are also people who do know and they don't care. or who are vaguely aware of the dangers of covid but choose not to pay attention to it because it's scary or inconvenient.

but we're five years into the pandemic and people have, for the most part, given up on caring, and i'm running out of patience and understanding and the ability to be nice about it. bc if you're not masking in your day to day life, that means that you've on some level accepted that "people will die, which is terrible, but like, inevitable," and that you're fine with contributing to that. i feel like one morning i woke up in a world that went from condemning that sentiment to fully embracing it overnight. and that's something i don't think i can ever really understand or sympathize with.

[spread-the-influence]

AITA for giving a [GIFT] to my (F30) adult friends?

I've been living in (well, trapped in, to be exact,) a circus for the past 7 years of my life. For reasons I don't want to delve into, it ruined my mental health to an irreparable degree. So when I was given a [GIFT] that cured me of all my pain, I wanted to give it to everyone else.

However, my friends weren't enthused about it. Particularly Z (NB22), who would always complain about how I 'trapped them in a box', even though they told me they wanted to feel whole when it comes to their body. And P (F25) keeps telling me that it's 'actually a virus' and that it's 'seriously hurting everyone' which is ridiculous. If it was a virus, I would know it's a virus by now.

But I'm starting to think that I might be in the wrong here. The [GIFT] is supposed to make them happy, so if it's doing the opposite, then there must be something wrong. AITA?

EDIT: I put Z in a box because I thought it would help them. Now that I read the replies, I realized it probably wasn't a good idea, but every time I tried to undo my mistake they would rip my stitches off. So they're residing in Boxland until further notice. Any suggestions to calm down an angsty triangle would be appreciated.

EDIT: Okay, I may or may not have left out that I gave the [GIFT] by mutilating them. But in my defense, none of them died, so does it matter that one of them can't use her legs anymore?

( if you think it'll be funny to respond for some reason , please do it in the replies or reblogs , not the ask box ! )

[nadinescholtes]

Horror AU before and final stage of the mutations.

My idea for this horror dimension:

This creator was fascinated by Bloodmoon's murderous tendencies, he thought it was much better than Moon's killcode. So he copied Bloodmoon's code, similar like Ruin did and turned it into a virus. His plan was to plant it into Moon and make him murderous like he was supposed to be.

But something went wrong and it was Jack who got infected first. It didn't show right away. It was slow. After weeks he became snappy, was annoyed at everyone's presence, and ate a lot. The family thought he was becoming a moody teenager. But then he started to bully poor Dazzle and became physically violent. They kept disciplining him. One day he was quiet and behaved, and went into his and Dazzle's room for the night. Dazzle was already asleep.

In the middle of the night, they heard Dazzle screaming and when they (Sun, Moon, Solar, Laia) checked, Dazzle's body was completely destroyed while Jack was chewing on her parts. Jack then tried to attack the adults, but Laia pinned him on the floor. He acted like a bloodthirsty animal. While Sun was having a panic attack over Dazzle's body, Laia helped Moon and Solar bring Jack to the lab to lock him up. And when they were sure he couldn't escape, Moon and Laia went back to Sun, while Solar was scanning Jack over for what the hell is wrong with him. He was crying but Evylin's ghost was still there comforting him.

For days they kept looking at what was going on with Jack, who got worse and worse. Solar and Moon were fighting a lot because Solar was always in a bad mood, they thought it was because of Jack. After some time, they found out it was a virus that spread through phone calls (yep I got that from the movie Cell) and they all were infected. And Solar is showing the first symptoms because he was the first one calling Jack after Jack got infected.

It went like this: Jack got an anonymous phone call (from the creator who got the wrong number), then called Solar, Solar called Moon, Moon called Monty, Monty called Lunar and Earth, Earth called Laia, and Laia called Sun. They all called a bunch of other people (humans, too), and they got infected as well. The ones who got infected first showed symptoms first.

They had to lock up Solar as he became more aggressive. Moon tried to leave the dimension to find a cure, but somehow, touching a portal made the virus burn in them (like the virus is inflammable to whatever energy the portal is made of), and Moon turned into ashes right in front of Sun. Then Solar and Jack escaped.

Laia and Sun were home alone with ghost Evylin and Lunar. They were hoping Monty who was still sane would find a cure. Sun once lost control and killed his cats. Laia and Sun were so distraught and giving up hope. Laia tried to lock herself in her room or leave because she was worried about hurting Sun. But Sun convinced her otherwise and they stayed together. One night Lunar left and never came back.

Monty provided the infos on how the virus spread to the government (by person, no phone calls). Every communication device that wasn't paper was forbidden and destroyed. But it was too late, so many were infected and went on a murderous rampage, they killed and ate whatever lives. (Well humans who haven't mutated yet couldn't eat robots)

Solar showed up at Monty and Earth's home and killed Monty who protected Earth. Earth ran away but later became insane too and went on a murderous rampage. What happened to Daisy? She ran away when Earth started to bully her in her early blackouts. No one saw her again.

The world was in chaos, with noninfected people trying to survive, and buildings destroyed.

Insane Sun and Laia had to leave their house because it was set on fire by other infected people and settle themselves in the pizzaplex. Ghost Evylin followed them, all this time she tried to get her old Sun and Laia back but nothing worked. Later left because Sun and Laia kept bullying and trying to attack her even though she was just a ghost and couldn't be touched. Sun and Laia noticed that they have the urge to kill everyone even friends and families, but never each other. They still cared and loved each other, so they stayed together.

The virus:

It's not like a zombie virus. People don't become undead. They are aware of what is going on but still are insane, and are controlled by murderous tendencies and cannibalism (like Bloodmoon but worse). They start to hate their friends and families and kill them. They not only kill non-infected but the infected too. They don't have the urge or care to spread the virus. They just want fun by killing and eating people. The longer they torture the victims the more satisfying the meal is (like Bloodmoon, they were always disappointed, if their victims died too fast) People in the first stage still can fight the urge to kill but are mean and snappy to people. Later they have blackouts and wake up with hurt people or dead bodies and then they can't fight it anymore and attack people willingly.

Over the years by consuming their victims, the virus makes the infected bodies mutate into more monstrous-looking beings. They bleed dark grey blood and their insides have bioorganic stuff in them. The first sign was Laia's hands becoming bigger and Sun grew a second set of teeth behind the plastic ones.

Sun had less control over himself about killing. With his consent Laia uses a chain to hold him back, so they can have more fun torturing their victims. The fully mutated Sun can control himself better, but they keep the chain because they like it. (it's not like that thing can still hold him back)

They are not invincible, humans can be killed like normal humans and animatronics can die like animatronics. But once they are fully mutated, it will be difficult to kill them because they become faster and stronger. (Laia was already strong, to begin with) Their abilities depend on their mutations, like long claws to climb walls, etc.

Edit:

The creator blew up not long after he sent the virus because an experiment went wrong.

He didn't mean to cause a breakout; the virus was meant for Moon only. But he dialed the wrong number, and Jack got the virus. And because Jack got a virus that wasn't meant for him, it changed inside him and became infectious. (I can't go into depth about how that works, I'm no scientist)

If the creator had dialed the right phone number and Moon had gotten the virus, there would have been no breakout, only a very murderous Moon, like he was supposed to be.

Alright, this is sad but it is a horror dimension with Sun and Laia after all. I don't know if I will do something big with it like another comic series (I have already too many to work on), but if you want to do fanart or fan-stories of it, go for it. Just let me know please, I like to see it!

[quirkyfries]

Ruin ramble because writing his pov is interesting

Do you ever notice that Ruin gets really self depreciative about himself sometimes? (Maybe not quite self depreciative, but highlighting things about himself.) Implying vulnerability in a way that can almost come off as a joke if it weren't for his tone of voice. He says he hasn't been safe in a long time, it would be nice to sleep for once, wouldn't his death be hilarious? It comes off as a cry for help, but he states it as fact, he's convinced it won't change.

He's very stubborn about what he's done. He had nothing left to lose. No, there was absolutely no other way he could've gone about destroying the creator, he'd spent years considering his options. Yes, Solar was collateral, unfortunate. Those lives were a necessary sacrifice. He had to do it. There was no other way.

To him, he chose the lesser amount of people in the trolley problem. That was the morally correct thing to do in the circumstances he was given, lives would have been taken either way. He had to do it. (He could've walked away from the lever that switched the rails, but that would be the self serving option, wouldn't it? To move on?)

The most interesting part about it to me is, why does Ruin keep on going? All he's known is pain and suffering in some shape or another, he had nothing to live for after his goal was completed. All he'd ever known was bad, bad, bad, vindictive release, a little bit more bad, and then nothing. He was ready to die, he didn't know where to go.

Then came along this new dimension, one he'd apparently accidentally created through his actions. For someone who has nothing to gain or lose, wouldn't this be a nice chance of pace? To look forward to something nice that was more or less your responsibility in a weird way, to cultivate something good for once after a life of bad? To be able to take the place of your abuser, break that cycle? This new dimension is his reason to keep going, he will see this one good thing through if he can help it. Even if he isn't particularly liked by his migrated peers.

But he still isn't secure. There are enemies he'd made, the insurmountable weight of lives on his shoulders, and a new uncertain freedom of identity. (Granted, he still has to lie to some people to get by. I more mean his own Creator, the Virus act, and Nexus + Dark Sun here. Ruin having to strike deals and bargain for his life and act against his own morals to survive. But those are gone. When had Ruin last acted like himself, truly? He had barely been able to define himself as an Eclipse before everything bad happened.)

Does Ruin hate himself? I don't know, he's very adamant about hating what he had to do, but would do it again. He believes he was right, he's even defensive about it to several people, but there is still something that's bothering him. Does he hate himself for pressing the red button? Dunno. Maybe subconsciously. He's clearly meant to parallel Puppet with how he is now, they're the same words in different font. Ruin pulled the lever to kill the smaller amount of strangers to save the greater amount of strangers. Puppet was inside the train that killed everyone she knew. She wants to repent, Ruin hasn't shown much interest in it. Does a selfless act require repentance?

I like to think he has a bit of a dissociation issue, he compartmentalizes things if you squint, a possible coping mechanism of something called cognitive dissonance (a disturbance that happens when your actions do not align with your morals/values.) He was right for what he did. What he did was bad. What he did was necessary. He deserves his fate. He doesn't like pain. There's some contradicting statements there, he'd have to separate some things into neat little boxes in order for it to make sense in his head, so he didn't torture himself thinking about what that said about himself and his values. What he did was right and necessary. What he did was bad and he deserves his fate. He doesn't like pain. Still contradictory a bit, but a little more organized. If he focused on the positive box more than the negative box, he can feel better about himself, but he's painfully aware of the negative box' existence. Maybe he avoids looking at the negative box at all times and ignores the contents, but what's inside is so over accumulated that it can't help but be constantly present and occasionally overflow in those matter-of-fact cries for help. A lotta PTSD can fit in this bad boy (pats ruin on the head)

Does that make sense? I don't know, I feel like a therapist trying to write from his point of view. What is wrong with this little british guy.

[its-a-me-mango]

DARK and DISTURBING SMG4 theories that will really shock you!!!!!😱😱😱😱😱

SMG4 is in a coma and the whole show takes place in his dreams.

The spaghetti Mario eats is an allegory for drugs (which are bad for you) and so Mario is on drugs (which is bad).

Bob is just a figment of everyone's imagination he's actually just a pile of cloth that blows around in the wind, everyone thinks this because they are all on drugs.

SMG3 is actually dead and everyone sees him as a ghost, he died from an explosion and he's also in a coma

Meggy

If you look carefully at Wotfi 2023 and pause at 30:23, you can see the number 666 flash on the screen for a brief second, this is because the creators of the show are possessed by the devil.

Everything's a evil simulation created by Mr Puzzles to test the entire cast (this one is actually true), he does this because he worships the devil.

SMG3 is gay, this explains why he is evil at first because he is being altered by gay urges to commit crimes, and also he is on dru

Real like Luke is in a coma and the whole show takes place in his dreams.

Tari is dead and is just projecting herself into the show so she can stay alive for as long as possible (because she is dead)

Melony sleeps so much because she is on dr

Saiko is actually really scary and she kills people when no ones looking, she has gone a insane long ago but no one cares because they also all kill people.

Meggys' gun is real and she shoots people

The writers are are all on drugs, this is bad and explains why the show is so crazy.

Mr Puzzles is in a coma and the whole show takes pla

Everyone dies and comes back new at the start of each episode

The cast are all real life paid actors but they use so much special affects that no one can tell they're all real, SMG4 is played by Ryan Gosling.

Boopkins is always dying and in pain because he is a fish and fish can't live out of water, so the cast is always TORTURING him for their sick and twisted entertainment

Mr Puzzles died when he cut off his head, the cast see him as a ghost

The cast are all in hell and this is their eternal punishment

Tari is a computer virus and if you download any SMG4 episode she gives you a virus that you cannot get rid of and it's very scary

Luigi is gay because he is on drugs and also is in a coma and th

SMG4 RUINED!!!!!!😭😭😭😭

[asynca]

I hope this question isn't too random. One thing I noticed is people are for some reason are acting like the pandemic is over and just return to normal and no masks. Even though it is still going on and still effects so many people. Why do you think they think its over?

This is probably quite a deep psychological question about the capacity of people to tolerate fear and stress over a long period of time. I could probably answer it in a more professional way than I'm going to.

Several of my friends are doctors. The research that's coming out about how it's likely to shorten the lives of literally everyone who gets it (especially multiple times), about how if we continue to let it rip a huge percentage of the population (20-30%) will end up measurably disabled in some way by it by 2035 is like... this is serious. This is not a 'flu'. We are also discovering several cancers or other disabling conditions are caused by viruses - I worry a lot about the capacity of COVID to ruin lives. It also has a general effect on the brain that causes lower capacity, less ability to regulate emotions and causes aggression. New mental illness is a common long covid symptom.

I do what I can to avoid it. I still wear a n95 mask out in public. I make my wife do it too, even though we are usually the only two people out wearing masks. I don't take my children indoors anywhere public - we go to parks and playgrounds. My daughter has been in a supermarket just once in her life. Is that good for her? Probably not. But it's a darn sight better than a preventable disability (or type 1 diabetes, or hepatitis, or actually dying) at 2 years old. Not to mention the fact I have a baby sub 6 months old and a father who is very ill and would probably die if he got COVID.

COVID is serious. Governments could put in simple useful measures (like mandating better air filtration and circulation in schools and public buildings etc) but they don't. Everyone's just pretending it's over. It's in the 'too hard' basket.

The research and proof is there in peer reviewed journals. People are just ignoring it until they can't ignore it anymore because either they end up disabled themselves, or someone they love does or dies. I don't know what to do anymore, man. I just try and take the precautions I can reasonably take understanding the capacity of this extremely transmissible virus to kill or disable me or the people I love.

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved in our archive

by Suzanne King

The sometimes debilitating illness infects a third of people who come down with a case of COVID. Scientists and doctors are scrambling to understand and treat it.

Salam Kabbani wears a smile, and many of her sentences trail into laughter.

That tends to mask the fact that she got COVID-19 three years ago — and never got better.

The 34-year-old Overland Park pharmacist is one of 17 million Americans battling long COVID, an amorphous constellation of symptoms that scientists are only beginning to understand and most doctors are struggling to treat.

Kabbani faced months unable to work. For days at a time, she could barely get out of bed. Just taking a shower exhausts her. She gets dizzy with no notice. Her brain gets foggy. And if she pushes herself even a tiny bit too far, her body simply wilts and she is forced to climb into bed.

“The number of people that are like, ‘Oh, but you look fine,’” Kabbani said, a laugh bubbling to the surface. “Well, yeah, you know, I’m not hemorrhaging from my eyeballs. But I am very much disabled.”

With only 13.5% of adults opting to get the most recent COVID vaccine, a growing number of health care experts and patient advocates are sounding an alarm. The only sure way to avoid getting long COVID, which is believed to affect a third of people infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, is to avoid getting COVID.

An up-to-date vaccine, which some people skipped last year, too, is the best way to do that. But public health officials said they face strong headwinds in their efforts to share that message.

Pandemic fatigue and “anti-vax propaganda,” said Dr. George Turabelidze, Missouri’s state epidemiologist, stand in the way. Now Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a known vaccine skeptic, is expected to get a substantial role in Donald Trump’s new administration.

But people shouldn’t be lulled into thinking that COVID will be just like a cold, Turabelidze said.

“Some people — even with mild COVID,” he said, “develop long COVID.”

And long COVID, said Jenna Hopkins, an occupational therapist at University Health, “is ruining people’s lives.”

The U.S. Census Bureau’s most recent household pulse survey found 18.6% of Missouri adults and 16.5% of Kansas adults said they have experienced long-COVID symptoms. Nationally, close to 45 million of the country’s 250 million adults said they have had long COVID at some point.

The illness can take hold of anyone who comes down with COVID, no matter their age, gender or overall health. It can linger for months or years. It can be relatively mild or completely disabling.

And while the severity of an initial COVID infection doesn’t seem to influence whether someone gets long COVID, the number of times a person comes down with COVID could be a factor. In other words, every time you get the virus is another chance to end up with stubborn health problems.

“It gets really ugly very quickly,” said Arijit Chakravarty, a COVID researcher in Massachusetts, “because what it means is that if you wait long enough, everyone is at risk of getting it.”

In bed for a year If Kelly Meiners could scream from the rooftops to warn people to protect themselves against the virus, she would.

The 49-year-old college professor and marathon runner came down with a relatively minor case of COVID in 2021. She stayed home from the office, even though her symptoms felt like nothing more than a bad cold.

That quickly changed in the weeks after her initial infection cleared up.

“Over the next year, I lay in bed,” said Meiners, who chaired the physical therapy department at Rockhurst University. “I had no idea what was going on with me. I felt I was severely drugged and drunk. I couldn’t make sense of anything. I couldn’t think straight.”

In an effort to fend off debilitating migraines and persistent seizures, Meiners spent most of her time in a dark room, wearing noise-canceling headphones and dark glasses. She couldn’t hold a pen or a fork. She could no longer read or walk.

And when she went to a doctor in Kansas City, she was told that it was all in her head, that she should exercise. As an athlete, Meiners wanted nothing more. So her husband bought a recumbent bike. She strapped herself in and pushed herself until the seizures began.

She was told exercise would make her better. Now she understands it only made her worse.

Finally, a year after falling ill, a friend of a friend got Meiners an appointment at Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. The doctor there immediately knew what was wrong.

“I just cried,” she said. “It wasn’t because there were so many things wrong with me. It was because they finally believed me.”

Finding someone to help Unfortunately, long-COVID patients often have a difficult time finding someone who can help them. And someone who will believe they are sick.

Doctors didn’t learn about COVID in medical school — let alone long COVID. And they work in a system where they need to document their care for insurance purposes. Long COVID is so new and varied in the ways it shows up, it barely has an agreed-upon clinical definition.

So it’s no wonder some doctors are sending patients away without care or telling them their symptoms are in their heads.

“I don’t think it’s coming from a place of malice,” Kabbani said. “It’s truly just a lack of awareness and understanding and being burned out.”

Now that Kabbani’s health is improved, she spends the extra energy trying to help educate the world about the disease. She has written a book about her own journey, and she and Hopkins, the University Health occupational therapist, are creating a podcast.

Kabbani, who works as an infectious disease pharmacist at Olathe Health, is speaking at continuing medical education events, trying to bring information about long COVID directly to doctors and nurses.

“What I hope to drive home to these providers,” she said, “is that the symptoms are very strange, and they fluctuate. That’s why it may seem like it’s absolutely in their heads. But it’s absolutely not.”

Research theories about long COVID This summer, long COVID earned a consensus case definition from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. Someone has the chronic condition, according to the new definition, when health problems are present for at least three months after a COVID infection.

Those problems can affect one or more organ systems, according to the definition, as “a continuous, relapsing and remitting or progressive disease state.” And a person can meet the definition by having just one or multiple symptoms, from the list of 200 included in the definition.

“If people just had lung problems,” said Dr. Adnan I. Qureshi, a professor of neurology in the University of Missouri School of Medicine, “it would be much easier to study.”

The National Institutes of Health launched a nationwide research program in 2021 with a $1.15 billion investment. In February, the agency announced it would spend another $515 million over the next four years.

The program includes dozens of studies and drug trials across the country, including studies at the University of Kansas Health System and Children’s Mercy Hospital.

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont has introduced legislation that would invest another $1 billion a year for a decade in research, provider education and public education.

Scientists have several theories about how long COVID strikes, and they are starting to believe that there may be more than one answer.

For example, in some cases, the immune system, which has been activated by the initial viral infection, simply doesn’t turn off once the virus is gone. That means a person’s own immune system can damage the body.

Another theory is that when someone has long COVID it could be because they still have traces of the virus in their body.

Another possibility, scientists said, is that the virus damages the circulatory system, which could explain why symptoms are so varied and in so many organs.

Pacing to survive Doctors are finding that some patients get better over time without treatment. But others need to manage symptoms.

When patients come to see him at University Health’s Center for COVID Recovery, Wesley Strouts, a nurse practitioner who specializes in internal medicine, looks for the symptoms he can treat that will provide some relief. Sometimes he finds different diagnoses to explain what’s happening. Often, he refers patients to Hopkins, the occupational therapist who has built a specialty out of helping patients manage symptoms.

For many patients, Hopkins said, the best approach is to follow “pacing protocols.”

“Sometimes the treatment is the cure,” she said. “When people are able to manage their symptoms … sometimes their symptoms will start to dissipate as long as they are continuing to be very careful to avoid triggering activities.”

For Amanda Finley, 47, who first came down with long COVID after a 2020 bout with the virus, pacing looks like this: Work. Uber home. Straight to bed. Often her weekends must be entirely devoted to sleeping so she can face another work week.

It’s better than the alternative Finley knew in 2021 when she was living in a tent at Weston Bend State Park because she couldn’t work and had no money for rent. The Independence woman couldn’t see her 11-year-old son for months.

But even when Finley had energy for nothing else, she stayed connected with other people dealing with the illness. Early in her diagnosis, she formed a Facebook group for COVID long haulers that today has 16,000 members around the world.

It helps her know she’s not alone. And it could be a tool in science’s effort to solve mysteries surrounding the illness. Finley tries to put researchers in touch with the people in the group.

“The patients are the experts with long COVID,” she said. “We’re the ones going through the jungle with a machete making the path.”

Telling her story Since her long-COVID symptoms began, Meiners has missed graduations, kids heading off to college, holidays, family vacations and almost every other part of her life.

She just passed the third anniversary of her initial COVID infection, and she still spends 90% of her day on the sofa or in bed. Meiners needs an electric wheelchair to navigate her Leawood home, but with the help of more than 20 prescriptions and pacing strategies to avoid flare-ups, she can have moments with her husband and three kids.

And Meiners has found a small amount of peace in making art, something she’d never tried before this. Her paintings, which tell her long-COVID story, are on display at the Lenexa City Center Library. They have been shown in galleries around the city.

It may not be screaming from the rooftops, Meiners said. But, right now, it’s the best she can do.

[neomel]

Alrighty fellow insane sonic fans i have something very cool for you today: a WORLDBUILDING theory!! this is something that's been kicking around in my head for so long that i forget it isn't something I've shared with many others yet lol

[ This post primarily covers stuff from Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Advance, and ignores Sonic Chronicles and Sonic Pocket Adventure as they have been struck from canon (see: Encyclo-speed-ia) ]

[ It should also be noted that this theory is built on the idea that "the world" as depicted in Sonic Forces is not accurately depicting the entire globe, but rather depicting Eggman's takeover of just the island archipelago where the animal cast lives (South Island, West Side Island, Mirage Island, Northstar Islands, Angel Island) as to explain its geography and lack of human characters ]

Right! So, a big theme in the environmental design of the original Sonic Adventure was having the Sonic cast sort of "cross over" into the human world more - the wording on this was initially nebulous, but with updated translations and clearer official word recently, we now know that it means that the "human world" is moreso like a mainland populated by humans that exists separately from the animal-inhabited island archipelago of Sonic 1, 2, CD, 3&K and Superstars (see: Sonic Origins). My immediate first point of comparison - of all things - is something like the first Madagascar movie, where the lemurs are able to be a fully functioning society in a region completely isolated from humans.

Except it's not quite like that movie, is it? We see in Sonic Adventure (and further in Unleashed, 06) that animal characters like Sonic and c.o are able to exist just fine within the human world, to where Amy has flat-out moved into Station Square. Big and Tails, too, have settled down by the Mystic Ruins close to where Angel Island (sometimes) crashes down by, Rouge owns a club in Sonic Battle - you get the gist. Animal characters, the majority population of the islands as we see in Forces and the IDW series, are able to migrate into the "mainland" human societies, but it appears to still be a rarity, likely not even something everyone has the opportunity to do (Big might've been born on Angel Island, Tails and/or Sonic can fly any of Sonic's friends to wherever they want to go, etc.). The most contact humans have with the animal world is through the Mystic Ruins site, or Eggman using his excessive wealth to fly in and try and effectively colonize the islands as we see in Sonic 1, 2, Superstars, CD, 4.1 and 4.2 (for note: CD, 4.1 and 4.2 take place on the same island of Mirage Island)

Sonic Adventure 2's level select is obviously to be taken with a grain of salt as a stylized take on a world map, but it seems to infer the same thing that Origins' main menu and Angel Island's close proximity to the Mystic Ruins both corroborate - the island archipelago inhabited by the animal characters seems to be quite close to the mainland "United Nations" landmass, most evidently close to Rouge's Route 280 level. And given how often Eggman lays his sights on the islands as a primary target for his schemes (Heroes may well also be taking place on the islands, as Seaside Hill is confirmed to be near/on South Island), it would make sense from the United Nations' POV to try and make access to the islands more accessible. For example, to enable easier import and export of goods, help citizens evacuate from possible disaster (eg. how the Metal Virus in IDW described how it was impossible to evacuate to anywhere else but Angel Island), and so on - a way to connect the two societies more smoothly only makes sense.

With ALL that context and preamble out of the way, this is my theory, and where Sonic Advance finally comes into the picture:

Radical Highway in Sonic Adventure 2, and later Neo Green Hill Zone from Sonic Advance, were together depicting a brief attempt to connect South Island to the United Nations mainland.

You may think this is a bit of a nutty conclusion to draw given how little of a story Sonic Advance actually has, but I think there's a lot we can glean from just the environmental design of Neo Green Hill Zone alone. Compared to the original Green Hill Zone, and most of the levels in the Classic Sonic games that aren't just flat-out urban cities/facilities seemingly built under Eggman's control (Star Light, Spring Yard, Chemical Plant), Neo Green Hill Zone's touches of human infrastructure are far more...friendly, for a lack of a better word. There's parasols and wooden scaffolding, a grind rail or two along paved sidewalks, yet the natural beauty of the area is left entirely in tact. Nothing about it appears like Eggman's work, yet it is quite evidently structured for human interests, for tourism and walking/biking rather than all the funky ways in which Sonic's animal cast are comfortable moving around. Then there's of course the name: NEO Green Hill Zone, as if it's reinvigorating the idea for a fresh new facelift, re-marketing it!

But how does all that connect to Radical Highway?

Radical Highway (and Mission Street by extension) have a quirk unique to them when compared to almost all other urban city levels in the series - as you can see in the image above, they're themed around still being under construction. Compared to a level like Lethal Highway from Shadow the Hedgehog (or the aforementioned Route 280 from SA2) the holes and gaps in Radical Highway are presented as being specifically because the winding roads are still under construction. You can see this on the level map above too - Route 280 and Route 101 appear to be part of a long, linear, already-finished stretch of road, wheras the area of Radical Highway and Mission Street is filled with gaps, inlets and breaks in the road. Route 101/Route 280 already appear to fill the function of letting people cross between the two city areas depicted on Adventure 2's world map...so then, what exactly is the construction and general wobblyness of Radical Highway for?

Well, let's look at Sonic Advance again: Specifically, the end of the Neo Green Hill Zone stage, and the way the game progresses immediately thereafter:

The natural beach environment of Neo Green Hill Zone Act 2 suddenly bows out before the Eggman boss fight to give way to something quite interesting: A red bridge extending out from the island's coast. The bridge's architecture doesn't quite match that of Radical Highway, most notably using tall suspension wires hooked up to some off-screen upper portion of the construction, but I think the idea alone is fascinating enough: This is drastically more modern architecture compared to the rickety wooden bridges otherwise seen in Green Hill Zone. We're still a bit unsure of if Advance 1 takes place before or after Sonic Adventure 2, but if it's before - it may also be possible that the work on this bridge began on the South Island end of things *before* the mainland Radical Highway-end were finished with their work, with the idea of joining the two bridges somewhere in the middle.

Let's again also consider where this bridge takes our characters in Advance - to Secret Base Zone, a shockingly urban facility which we still don't really know the location of. Sonic and c.o need to zip-line into its entrance, with a background that only features light and buildings far off into the distance - is it possible that the Secret Base exists sort of like an oil rig in the middle of the ocean, inbetween South Island and the mainland, as some sort of production facility for the UN? Regardless, it serves as a pit-stop in the Advance campaign - after it, we can pretty cleanly chart a roadmap for where the cast travels. Casino Paradise's ocean background seemingly depicts it as being part of the coastline (bottom left of the SA2 map), Ice Mountain is pretty clearly meant to be another area of Ice Cap Zone given how it leads to the Angel Island Zone - which is, in reality, a dilapidated Sky Sanctuary. Effectively, the campaign seems to go from South Island, to the bridge connecting South Island to the mainland, to a coastside Vegas-like casino wonderland built by Eggman, which is near the Mystic Ruins and thus near Angel Island by extension (it may be connected to Night Carnival from Sonic Rush?). And all of it connected thanks to the works of a bridge, seemingly set up in Adventure 2 with Radical Highway being under construction, possibly with the goals to connect the two core parts of Sonic's world.

Whew! That's pretty much all the words I have, and I've now reached the max cap of images per posts. I truly don't know how many Sonic fans care about these granular details and concepts about the environment of Sonics world in games from 20+ years ago, but I hope it got some gears turning - and if there is some merit to this, it may further get you wondering as to why the path connecting the two was seemingly cut off in the end? Given the cityscapes we see in Forces and IDW, it's possible that this mutual relation between the two worlds lasted for a fair while - what could've possibly led to that bond being broken? Maybe Unleashed breaking the world apart had something to do with it...

Thanks for reading this far if you did - and feel free to add your own ideas or things I might've missed in all of this!

[feralferretxp]

I've been meaning to introduce one of my Storybots ocs that I've had for a while but here we go. Let me introduce you to...

Melissa Malware

She's a totally normal storybot who is definitely not a shapeshifting virus who has alterative motives for taking over the computer world! :D

Melissa is inspired by the Melissa and I LOVE YOU computer viruses, influencing both her name and theme of spreading love worldwide. In an alternate universe called the LoveBug AU, she launches a campaign called "Project I LOVE YOU", encouraging StoryBots to express love in various forms, aiming to boost mental well-being and promote world peace. She also advocates for self-care, which leads people to work less and less, eventually creating a job crisis in the computer world.

However, Melissa's true intent is to infect others, causing them to slack off from work, which in turn slows down real-world computers, much like a virus. As her followers idolize her, they unknowingly spread her influence, infecting others with the same behavior.

Melissa's origins lie in a more abstract form sent into the internet by her creator. Her mission was to oversee a planted computer worm and ensure its success without interference, remaining in the shadows. However, her plan was unexpectedly derailed when a young Bang, wandering in the internet department while accompanying his father, mistook the worm for a colorful gummy and ate it.

Enraged and shocked, Melissa's task was ruined, forcing her to shift focus and watch over Bang as he grew up, tracking the effects of the worm on him. Over the years, she observed his growing forgetfulness and other changes (I'll make a future post about this and my theory in more detail) as she remained in the shadows. During this time, Melissa herself evolved. Watching storybots and their society, she became curious about life beyond her virus role. She gradually changed her appearance to resemble a storybot and secretly longed for a life where she wasn’t bound to a pre-programmed destructive endgame.

As she grew fond of the attention and adoration from those who saw her as one of them rather than a virus, Melissa tried to prolong her influence and delay her inevitable mission of ruining the computer world, torn between fulfilling her creator’s purpose and finding belonging among storybot society.

When Bang becomes an adult and the computer worm fully integrates with his programming, Melissa is devastated to discover that the worm is now inseparable from Bang, and removing it would kill it. This ruins her original plan, forcing her to adapt. Instead of separating the worm, she decides to use Bang to spread the infection.

Melissa presents herself as a sweet, humble activist and invites Bang to join her "Project I LOVE YOU," using his recognizable and beloved status in the community to help promote her cause. Behind her friendly demeanor, however, Melissa despises Bang, seeing him as a foolish and undeserving figure who, for some reason, is adored by everyone. Despite her loathing, she plays the role of a supportive ally, manipulating him into unknowingly aiding her true goal, while he remains completely oblivious to her hatred and intentions.

So in a nutshell, Bang has no enemies... except for one which is Melissa because she hates his guts LMAO. But yeah that's the LoveBug AU basically. There's more to it but that's for another time.

One important thing about Melissa is that her and Milo (@supgoddo's oc) are in true real love and are perfect for each other YIPPIEE GRRR I LOVE THEM SM

Anyways that's it for now for Melissa! Just wanted to introduce her character and stuff. Live laugh love Melissa <3

[dana-chan-the-control-brain]

Things from the ruin dlc that keep me up at night.

Spoilers under the cut.

SERIOUSLY DO NOT READ IF YOU'RE AVOIDING SPOILERS.

Disclaimer: I wrote this before I had seen Everything the DLC has to offer or all the endings yet. I was on the wrong track, but I think my cooking before I knew everything was good cooking. I have more concrete theories now under #danachan's rants

Something that I was 100% right about that I was going to write into Lofi eventually.... But I guess I'll talk about it now since the dlc confirmed it.

But Balloon Boy world was literally Eclipses cage as I suspected. It was suppressing them. It wasn't an evil arcade or Eclipse was living in there. Eclipse's AI was being suppressed in the arcade cabinet.

Eclipse is how they talk to eachother, and Eclipse was asleep and completely blocked off from the Virus. So Sun and Moon had no communication with eachother anymore. Which is why they were both so stressed and lost.

I was astounded I got that completely correct in regards to what Eclipse is, and what the balloon boy game is.

(the dlc does not explain the Dcas weird connection to Vanessa and why the arcade cabinet was in Afton's boss fight room though)

Bonus points Moon talks exactly how I write him when speaking about the Sun and the Moon.

Another thing that has been mind-blowing me that all the comic book endings are scenarios that GREGORY DREW.

And according to the dlc....

The Afton Burntrap Blob ending is another one of those endings that he drew.

Which means Peepaw Afton and the Blob were never real in the first place.

Which is why no one could really figure out what the blob is.

It doesn't exist.

Princess Quest ending was the canon ending.

Vanessa leaving the Pizzaplex with Gregory is the canon ending.

The ending where you fight Afton in the basement.... Never happened and was just Gregory attempting to make sense of the FNAF lore that Vanessa probably explained to him. Since in the DLC, we do find a book about Fazbear History in Vanny's room.

I honestly don't know if Steel Wool retroactively made Burntrap non-canon due to everyone making fun of him, not taking him seriously and hating the blob, or if this was always the case. Because despite the Afton ending being the hardest to get.... It's still a two star ending.

So it's hard and too early for me to tell if I want to give them points for that soft retcon. I mean I don't blame them honestly.

But yeah. Skeleton man Afton in the basement and his best friend the Blob isn't actually real, and neither is Freddy's "I am not me" speech either.... Which honestly makes sense. Because it's all Gregory's comic book trying to make sense of FNAF Lore he doesn't understand.

Also, I can say definitively, and finally, Afton is not the Mimic. Glitchtrap exists as its own entity in this, and the Mimic seems to have its own agenda. It's unclear if Afton is possessing the Mimic via virus corruption, but for now, I believe the Mimic is acting of its own will.

And man oh man. I feel so sorry for people who haven't been keeping up with Tales of the Pizzaplex Books.

The ending of the dlc is just really "who's Henry???" From pizzasim all over again huh....

Anyways. Those are my thoughts. I will be streaming the dlc again tomorrow. Gonna try and get a better ending, but I have a suspicion they're all sad.

[al-the-remix]

TikTok Chef!Buck AU: several sentences sunday (or something like that)

I'm close to finishing the fic I've been working on so I finally felt like I could write a little something based off this headcannon without feeling too guilty about it, lol. 2k of mostly crack, please enjoy.

It all starts when Tommy’s stuck on his couch for a week with a sprained knee. He wishes he could claim it happened doing something heroic–or at the very least badass–but in truth it was the result of letting his ego get the best of him at the squat rack. 

Lucy stops by a few times to keep him company, which really means letting herself in unannounced with her spare key, eating all the leftovers in his fridge, and offering an unsolicited running critique of whatever show he’s watching. Today it was Below Deck reruns. 

“If I ever decide to take a vacation on a boat, tackle me, this shit does not look worth it.”

“You really don’t have to be here you know,” Tommy says, leaning over to grab some chips from the near-empty bag she was cradling before they were all gone. He’d been looking forward to eating those for dinner and feeling sorry for himself. 

Lucy just snorts. “Please, if I wasn’t here you’d already be up to something ill advised. I caught you looking up deck chair patterns earlier, power tools don’t go well with injuries, Tommy, even if it’s only carpentry.”

Well, she had him there. 

At least she had the decency to order them Chinese take out for dinner so he wouldn’t have to Instacart a can of soup or something equally pathetic. 

Before she left she made a grabby hand at him. “Give me your phone.”

“Why?” Tommy asks, already suspicious. 

She met his suspicion with boredom. “Don’t ask stupid questions, just do it.”

Rolling his eyes, he hands it over, giving into her whim, and maybe he should find it a little more unsettling that she already seems to know his password off by heart. 

She clicks around for long enough that Tommy starts getting nervous: what was the last text message he sent? Was it embarrassing? Were all his nudes still in that locked folder? Did she know the password for that too? Just when he was going to start asking questions she tosses his phone back. “Here, this should keep you entertained for a while,” she explains as he scrambles to catch it. “My niece wastes hours of her life on this crap.”

“Such ringing endorsement,” Tomy grumbles, she’s downloaded some kind of video app onto his phone. TikTok. Perfect. He’d heard of that one, apparently it was single handedly ruining a whole generation’s attention span and the Chinese government was using it to spy on the inner lives of teenagers with stupid haircuts and a critical lack of social skills. 

“Are you sure you didn’t just give me some kind of virus?” Tommy asks, clicking around the home page arbitrarily, the UI didn’t make a lick of sense. 

“Har, har. You were always good at picking up new skills, I’m sure you’ll figure this out in no time. I have faith in you,” she says, clapping him hard enough on the shoulder to make him wince. 

He finds his profile page by total mistake. His username reads: benchedcockwrangler.

“How do I change this?” he asks, waving his phone at her as she makes for the door. 

“You don’t,” she says, without looking back. “Don’t stay up on that thing all night, it will ruin your sleep schedule!”

Tommy winces as the front door slams and sighs. He’ll figure out how to change it later. After all, beggars can’t be choosers and three days into his mandatory medical leave he’s already so bored he’s ready to stab his eyes out with hot pokers just to mix it up a bit. 

He scrolls through the app, and based on most of what he sees he finds himself unable to justify its existence in the first place. It feels like every video he watches drags him into a deeper alternate universe where everyone’s wholeheartedly competing for the top of the podium at the Darwin Awards. 

There’s a woman digging tunnels under her apartment that Tommy is positive are not up to code (that’s a call just waiting to happen); and two young ladies mixing cocktails of a concerning hue and variety at random local establishments (not necessarily anything that would warrant a trip to the ER but potentially a health code violation); and what seems like an ungodly number of men hosting podcasts (Tommy is pretty sure that even during his darkest days rotting in the closet he had a better batting average picking up women than any of these bozos.)

Tommy’s eyes start to glaze over as he scrolls past comedians, and political commentators, and people reviewing romance novels, and–how has it already been forty minutes?

He’s about ready to give up and throw his phone across the room and leave it there until Lucy shows up tomorrow and he can make her delete it off his phone, when catchy music, an arm roped with muscle, and a criminally tight shirt sleeve catches his attention. 

It’s some kind of cooking video and his first impression is: how is anyone supposed to understand what’s going on with edits that fast? His second impression is: hot man. Man hot.

Soon his brain is catching up with his eyes, kickstarting like a toddler being exposed to sugar for the first time. 

Cooking might be a generous description for what’s going on here. The man is obviously skilled, but the main focus of the video seems to be how hot he looks in an apron (very) and whether it’s possible to bring half a peach to completion by finger blasting the pit out of it (not like, whether or not you should pre-bake your tart crust to achieve an ideal texture). 

Tommy has to watch it twice just to fully absorb everything that’s going on. He’s making some kind of deconstructed peach crumble topped with an obscene amount of whipped cream and steak with fries that looks fancier than anything Tommy’s ever eaten at a restaurant. 

Half way through the video the man wipes down the worktop shirtless with a cloth sudsy enough to make Tommy’s mouth go instantly dry then suddenly wet enough he’s forced to swallow. 

He clicks through to ChefFirehose’s profile just to, you know, get a better sample size. Tommy’s not above letting himself be manipulated by a man with biceps like melons and a cute smile. 

His profile description reads: LA resident, self-taught, putting out fires and saving lives in my spare time. Just here to give the food the appreciation it deserves. Let me show off for you 😉.

Tommy thinks this guy must be new to town, because living nearly a decade even in a city as sprawling and overcrowded as LA, he doesn’t know how he could miss running into this guy on the job. There was no way he wouldn’t remember a guy this hot even through turnouts, a helmet, and smeared in a thick layer of soot.

He starts working his way back through ChefFirehose’s videos, and some are admittedly a little less chaotic than the rest, but all of them are just tongue-and-cheek enough that Tommy feels confident he’s just one in close to a million people in on a joke and not enabling someone’s very real personality disorder. 

He’s stuck somewhere between disbelief and admiration. He definitely wouldn't have the balls to post this on the internet for everyone to see and so obviously thirst over. He braves the comment section on a few of the videos and it’s just a litany of horned-up men and women trying their best to make ChefFirehose laugh, or get in his pants, or both. He replies to almost all of his comments with either a smirking emoji or acting deliberately oblivious when someone tries to bait him into giving up the bit. Tommy finds him funny and maybe a little more endearing than he should after ten videos. 

Tommy can’t really blame them for trying to shoot their shot so shamelessly. ChefFirehose’s wardrobe consists of polos plastered so tight to his skin that Tommy was mildly concerned about restricted blood circulation, dress shirts buttoned dangerously low, and slacks that wrap snugly around miles of long, toned leg. 

Those weren’t Tommy’s favorite looks though. No, every so often a video would start and he’s be dressed down in soft looking sweatpants, a baseball cap pushed on backwards plastering his auburn curls to his forehead, and a white tank top–or if Tommy was really lucky, no shirt at all (sometimes not even the apron which Tommy had mixed feelings about...), his muscled arms and shoulders on full display. He’s got tattoos decorating his forearms that Tommy can’t quite make out, a collection of fine lines on pale skin like thin ribbons of chocolate drizzled over a crape. 

Those videos are most often breakfast related and ChefFirehose is barefoot in his kitchen, the warm sunlight casting his face in gold. He paints such an enticing tableau it’s all too easy for Tommy’s brain to plop himself right down in that scene, imagination running wild. He can so easily picture what it would be like: in that kitchen, feeling the warm cast of sun on his face and getting to watch built, handsome man make him breakfast with that flirty confidence of his. 

Tommy bookmarks a video of him making an omelet, the way he handles the eggs making Tommy blush like he’s a schoolgirl and not a man pushing forty. He feels less guilty about getting hard over it on the sofa surrounded by takeout containers than he probably should.  

The screen goes suddenly black and Tommy’s faced with his own reflection in the finger smudged screen, chin rolls and all. Fuck. He reaches for his charger. God, his life was depressing at the moment, and apparently he really needs to get laid.

So yeah, by the time his two weeks of recovery are up he’s feeling a little stir crazy in an entirely different way than before. He’s never been more glad to get back to work, put some of this weirdness behind him and get some much needed distance from his phone.

That’s only part of the reason why he doesn’t even think twice when Howie calls him for a favor. A big favor. And that was only the first of many surprises the universe had in store for him, apparently.

Even fully clothed in his LFD uniform Tommy recognises him. Evan. Evan, Evan, Evan, (Tommy repeats over and over in his head until it drowns out every other name Tommy’s assigned him the past few weeks: slutty egg guy, ChefBigDick, totally off limits boyfriend material–just to name a few).

“So you’re the guy who’s gonna fly us into a hurricane.” Evan sounds a little breathless, like maybe he jogged all the way here, and Tommy chalks it up to the high that accompanies stealing government property. “Chim said you were the best pilot he knows and good in a pinch, but I still thought there was no way anyone that good would agree to something this crazy.”

Tommy’s definitely starting to feel a little crazy. Evan’s still shaking his hand. His grip is solid, his fingers long and nimble, surprisingly soft against this palm (he must really lather on the hand lotion) and Tommy can’t stop thinking about all the talented things he knows they can do. 

 “That’s me. Though I’m pretty sure I’m just the only pilot Howie knows who's in town at the moment.” 

“You look good to me–capable, I mean.” Evan gives him a solid smack on the shoulder with his free hand. His mouth does something funny like he's trying to hold back the sheer force of his excitement by his teeth. “Solid.”

His eyes are even bigger and brighter in person, smile softer, even taller than Tommy presumed. Howie’s giving them a weird look from over Evan’s shoulder. The other man with them, Eddie, isn’t paying them any attention, checking out the other helicopters parked on the apron instead, and Tommy forces himself to pull his hand out of Evan’s warm grip. 

Tommy clears his throat. “Good to know. I’ll show you guys the bird we’ll be taking. I've got her all gassed up and ready to go.”

He just met his (internet) celebrity crush and the man of his dreams, and now Tommy was going to get him killed in one of the most spectacular ways imaginable. It seems like they’re all headed for the Darwin Awards this time.

[infizero]

why silver's time traveling is so goddamn confusing (an analysis)

was rambling about the weirdness with silver's time traveling earlier today so i thought i'd make a post about some of my thoughts.

basically i think there are two main things that make his time traveling feel off or confusing.

edit: i made a part 2 to this where i realized that uh... this is kind of all sonic forces' fault? it includes a map chronicling silver's time travel, so check it out if you want to see a closer look at all this!

(this got way longer than i thought it would be so it's under the cut)

the first is what everyone always brings up, which is that it doesn't make sense that silver's future keeps changing from bad to good back and forth.

his future is bad, he goes back in time, helps stop a threat, and then when he returns to his future it's good. but then it turns bad again?? and he has to do the whole thing over again. which literally makes no sense because like. that's not how time works. any new threat that happens in the present will always have already happened before silver's future.

like in sonic colors ds, silver says his future is good:

but then in forces, it's bad again???

luckily since then we haven't had any weird contradictions - idw made the great decision of having silver's future get saved after the metal virus arc and then having him just hang out in the present without a specific mission.

but i think the second, bigger problem that makes silver's time travel confusing is how it differs from other time travel stories - specifically in how it starts.

for starters, often in stories involving time travel, the time traveler is the main character and the one who saves the day by changing things. but whenever silver time travels, he's kind of just one person in a larger group of heroes who save the day. which makes you wonder: did he even need to be there for things to work out?

more importantly though, the way silver's initial reason for time traveling works is sort of a headache to think about. in a lot of time travel stories, things are good until something bad happens, and then the time traveler goes back in time to prevent the bad thing from happening, and return things to their initial good state.

but with silver, things START bad, and then he goes back in time to stop bad things from happening in the past, to CHANGE his future from bad to good. he's not restoring the future, he's completely altering it.

thus this creates this god-awful paradox, where silver's future is good BECAUSE he time traveled, but he only starts time traveling in the first place because his future is bad. it's easy to wave away until you start to think about how that would logically work in the flow of time.

like the reason i was thinking about all this is because of my au involving shadow's adventures in the future, and it's a good example of how confusing this gets when you think about how everyone else experiences it.

imagine you're shadow (immortal) and you live from the present day, all the way up to when silver is alive and starts time traveling. does shadow experience the ruined time that silver logically HAS to grow up in, or does he experience the pleasant clear-skies future that silver ends up creating?

im not saying that there's no way to explain these things. a fairly easy explanation is that silver's time traveling creates different timelines. so he grows up in a timeline where the future is ruined, but returns to a different timeline where the future is saved.

but then that creates a whole OTHER host of problems. like, what was silver's life like in this saved future before this point? in this timeline, did he grow up in this city - did he have friends, family, etc. that he has no actual memories of? does he return to a life that he doesn't remember, but that remembers HIM?

again, there ARE ways to explain this. you could say that silver just doesnt exist in this new timeline until he returns, or something along those lines.

the problem is that ALL OF THIS is ridiculously convoluted, and more importantly, no explanation for any of this is ever given in canon itself. so when you try to think about silver time traveling more deeply, you're bound to get a headache trying to figure out exactly how it works. which is just not conducive to silver's character.

this isn't even mentioning the fact that we still have no idea HOW he even time travels in the first place. from the way he phrases it, "i've been sent", it sounds like it's not really something he controls, or at the very least someone ELSE is sending him to do this.

(also his phrasing here, "to save the future from turning into another wrecked world" is just.............. sigh)

i think that the best solution once upon a time would've simply been to have silver save his future once, but get permanently stuck in the present. that would eliminate all the need for all these convoluted questions, as well as having to continuously come up with reasons for silver to keep showing up, while still keeping the interesting concept of silver being someone from the future.

another better solution imo would've been to have it so silver's future just NEVER gets saved - he keeps returning but it's still ruined every time, so he has to travel to the next incident in the timeline that might've caused it. that would've worked well with the series' never-ending nature i think.

we're past that at this point though, and i think really the best thing they can do IS what they're doing currently in idw (and hopefully by extension, the games going forward.)

silver's future has been saved and now he's just here in the present, with no real Reason for being there. i still would prefer if it was him getting straight up Stuck in the present, since that would eliminate the extra layer of complication as to why exactly he was sent back again after the future was saved, but this still simplifies things a lot.

i do hope that going forward, we'll not only get more information as to how exactly silver's time traveling works, but that also they'll phase it out altogether and just transition him to being a character who lives in the present day full time, who just happens to have originally been from the future.

it keeps that part of his character intact without having to constantly deal with this confusing lore that's been established or make excuses for him always being around. yes it'd be a pretty big status quo change, but it's either that or a total outright retcon in my opinion.

that's just my thoughts though. idk let me know what you think

[homoquartz]

i had a nightmare that i'm absolutely sure was stolen from something i've watched before, in which an alien species which presents as a bloodborne pathogen spreads through the human race and gives them telepathic abilities.

essentially once infected, you have access to anyone else's consciousness at any time, provided they are also infected - only you completely eject them from their body and you take over. so you can basically swap lives with anyone else who has it.

there's also an element of hivemind, only it's more of a hive-emotion, that causes everyone with the virus to become fiercely defensive over their abilities and strongly compelled to spread it. it creates a liberated, euphoric feeling.

the problem is that people can have access to anyone else at any time, and they happily ruin each other's lives and bodies. if you've ever wanted to get that insane tattoo but don't want to commit, you can just do it to someone else's body. you can eat whatever, do whatever drugs, sleep with whoever, and none of it is permanent to you. you can even experience dying, and it will kill the host's consciousness along with the body - not yours.

rather than building empathy, the virus inspires a callous disregard for boundaries and safety. bear in mind people can swap with children, or surgeons, or airplane pilots.

anyway. i think at one point they could infect dogs too?

in retrospect it sounds very republican propaganda-y

[peachyfnaf]

gamers its like 11 in the morning and im being unwell over nexus again /pos

They are just a walking tragedy and I love it. They have been pushed and pulled in every which way since creation, a ticking time-bomb made for the narrative to string along with promises of being enough, like a pig being led by a carrot on a stick. They make me JKFHSDF RAHHHHH

From the moment since being made they had to fill Old Moon's shoes. Whether or not the other celestial's wanted them to do that didn't matter to them because that's what Nexus felt like they had to do. They had to live in Old Moon's shadow and walk along the path his much bigger footsteps treaded, even if he has no idea how. And he has to do all that while still being better then him, in almost every way.

And things were going well, for a while!!!

But then Solar died. His chosen Sun. (and Nexus' and Sun's relationship w one another is a wholeee other thing I could get into because I also need to study that like a bug under a microscope kfhdsffs). So, as any Moon does when they lose their Sun, he started spiraling.

And he wasn't going to ask for help- no other Moon he's seen asks for help. Why would he ask for help?? Besides, he doesn't want to burden the other's with his problems when they're obviously suffering from Solar's death, too. And ofc Dark Sun was prolly doing something at this time as well- the hallucinations conveniently starting when Nexus was starting to tip, Dark Sun putting those virus chip things in Eclipse's/Ruin's heads, Nexus being open and vulnerable whenever he went to visit Old Moon in his head for the first time, the perfect timing of Dark Sun being there to scoop up Nexus at his lowest moment, when he was alone and floating in space.

AND now what Nexus is doing now. How do I word what I wanna say about him... He is like a walking unhealthy coping mechanism. Ik a lot of people (me included) have said they can relate to Nexus in some way, and what is going on rn truly makes me think of a "What If" scenario, a "What If" of what if everyone who relates to him chose to cope in a much worse way instead. He is choosing to do the wrong thing because it makes him feel free. Because it brings him comfort, in a way where he doesn't have to feel remorse about what he's done and what he's going to do. He is, to be blunt, going apeshit.

AND I LOVE IT BECAUSE WHO HASN'T WANTED TO GO APESHIT IN THEIR LIFE BEFORE??? He is making the wrong choices. And I want him to be stopped from doing that. I want him to be saved. I don't care if it's Solar or Sun or Ruin or whoever else, I want him to be smacked in the face with being alone again after Dark Sun inevitably betrays/abandoned/leaves him, and I want his ass to be scooped up and dragged back into the family kicking and screaming. And I want apologies from all sides, because while Nexus fucked up, so did the celestial's in their own way. I want him to feel the hurt he caused by betraying the family. And I want the family to feel the hurt they caused by locking him in a cage and throwing him into space. I want them all to feel regret and remorse for things they've done and can never take back.

Oh and I want him to cry. points at nexus. wail, motherfucker /aff

[sugolara]

Last man standing

ft. K.B x fem! reader

Synopsis: After a deadly virus leaks all over the world, every country is forced to close down it's borders and airports to prevent anyone from coming in and out. Though, it's to late for some people. The dead has rose and is looking for revenge. Cw: gore, quirkless! au, apocalypse! au, zombie! au, weapons, death, angst, lots and lots of blood, cannibalism, suicidal thoughts, slow burn

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It's been five days since they’ve last seen Shoto. After being gone for quite some time, Eijiro and Ochaco had gone up to check on Katsuki. When they found Katsuki along with F/n on the ground, face bruised and bloody, they immediately asked questions to which they refused to say, but they got the hint at the sight of their bloody fist. A look of disappointment and a shake of the head by Eijiro and Ochaco was received, but the bruised pair didn’t care. It did hurt when the rain slithered into the cracks of the open wound, which Ochaco noticed and immediately treated them.

As for Shoto’s presence, a couple of people had gone to check, but they couldn’t get past the group of dead lingering by. They should be asleep, but since it was raining and there was thunder, the dead were left awake, just like the people of Sorston. However, among the dead, Shoto’s corpse was nowhere to be seen, giving his friends hope that he was still alive despite the people whispering he’s most certainly dead.

If what F/n said was true—which it was—then there was no way that Shoto was able to live through that. He would have made his way back home, but if he managed to escape he was left injured, curled up in a room, shivering from the cold and waiting to die from his injuries. But that was a guess. Everyone assumed he’s dead and they couldn’t exactly search for him through this storm.

Shoto had disappeared. It's what Nezu had conducted to ease everyone’s worries—even his own as Shoto’s father did give him a heads up on protecting what civilians he could. There was a thought that the mismatched male had been eaten thoroughly in the hospital, but his friends refused to believe it. They haven’t even moved on from Izuku, it’s been less than two months and yet they’re expected to mourn for Shoto at the same time? When would they ever get a break?

It was unfair. So unfair. There wasn’t even a body to bury, just like Hanta, Shota, and Toshinori. There wasn’t even anything Shoto had left behind to remember him by. Not a picture. A handmade item. Or something he held dear to him. Only his name was all they could hold onto and it wasn’t much. His, along with those that had died, were written in a book near the ruined church as a remembrance. His name was just right underneath Izuku’s.

Only Nezu kept something from Shoto that he had forgotten. His files that his dear oldest brother had given him.

As for Katsuki and F/n, their wounds were cleaned and luckily no rotter’s blood was able to get in. Their cuts were dirty from the pavement, but a quick wipe of an alcohol pad and hissing being let out the room, their injuries would heal within time. Yawara, who is in charge of the medical station, advised them to come in the next morning to see if their wounds had gotten an infection. It was a procedure as infections don’t show right away, but they still need to be cautious so they understood.

They received looks of disapproval from Katsuki’s friend as they never suspected a fight between them would go down. The closest to the blonde always knew their arguments were never taken seriously, but the pressure of the stress had gotten the best of them. It was understandable, but not to be taken into consideration. Whatever happened between them out there was for them to keep between them. It didn’t matter if Katsuki’s friend wanted to know, because if he said anything they’d immediately smell the moment of weakness he let out.

She had a shower before getting her wound cleaned, obviously. However, she had gotten sick. With the flu. And it worried the people as they feared with no doctor to cure it in case it got worse, she would turn and yet another grave would be added. She understood that feeling, because she felt it and she didn’t want to feel it again so she compromised with Nezu. To ensure she would turn and eat people without warning, she would lock herself in the cold empty home.

Despite assuring her that the flu wouldn’t take her out, he finally agreed after realizing that she needed some time alone and with everyone on you about your safety, it gets tiring. He allowed her to shack herself in her room, under the circumstances he along with Yawara, Ochaco, Eijiro, Denki, Mina, and Katsuki checked on her. Since it was still pouring and it’s gotten colder in the nights with the roads having ice, they left a radio with her incase she needed something.

It was only until she felt better. Though after 4 days settle in, they’d have to keep their distance so they don’t get contagious, however, when that time came, Katsuki refused to do so. He never apologized for what he did and he wasn’t quite sure if she had to as he was left confused that night. Whatever she was feeling in that moment was for her to keep a secret and he decided it wasn’t his information to know.

Throughout the days where his friends weren’t there, he made sure she was okay. Whether that was preparing her food, giving her tissues, changing her mask that she told him was gross, and even keeping her company. All that…was his way of showing her what he wanted to say. But he’ll never do so, because that’s his own secret.

With the sun hidden behind clouds, F/n had once again gone off to slumber and her soft snores muffled by the mask could be heard. She laid facing the ceiling with sheets of blankets on top of her and pillows around her to help sweat out the flu. It would feel uncomfortable, but she didn't have the energy to put up a fight and instead let sleep take her.

Beside her, on the bed, where Izuku once slept, sat Katsuki. The nightstand held a lamp and the soft glow of the light illuminated the object in his hand. His eyes read every letter, making sure to miss a single detail as he had forgotten just how neat Izuku kept his journal, except with having all the pages written with something, Izuku had added a few loose ones. The journal in his hand was the same one the freckle male had all those months ago. The one F/n had managed to grab before the fire of the tan house could kill them.

Izuku’s written thoughts brought up memories. Those of sadness, of anger, and least, but not all, happiness. Sometimes, he missed his muttering and the way the tip of the pen would scratch against the paper. It was a few of Izuku’s personality that he bullied him over, but it was also one he missed so much because it’s what made Izuku himself. Oh, the things he would do to go back in time and appreciate him instead of making his life difficult.

He let out a quiet sigh, refusing to think back to the time. Instead, he turned to the page where something slipped from the pages. He rested the book on his lap with his right hand still on it to not lose the page he was on. With his free hand, he reached down to his lap where he picked a photo and his face softened.

He didn’t know when it was taken, but he knew it was Inko’s favorite as she had the photo placed in every room of her apartment. He had forgotten just how she looked and he couldn’t believe he had as she was an exact replica of Izuku—or well, more like Izuku was the exact replica of her. However, his eyes didn’t stay too long on her as they landed on Izuku. His childlike features, he had definitely forgotten that. It was like a blur, but instead of feeling angry like he would have if he was still a child, a soft smile reached his lips. With how big Izuku’s grin was, Katsuki could almost hear his giggles through the photo.

But his smile only lasted seconds as he heard the girl next him move. Her brows knitted together before resting. The lamp was hitting her face, no doubt it was disturbing her. So, like a good caretaker, he reached to his bag on the floor, closing Izuku’s journal with the picture inside before placing it in his bag where the zipping sound could be heard. Then, he reached to turn off the lamp and settled back into bed, right next to her.

He had his own blankets to keep him covered, but he looked at her peaceful face and then to her blanket. It was obvious there was a blush on his cheeks and despite feeling nervous, he decided that he would let his guilty pleasure take control. Slowly and carefully he adjusted his pillows before laying down next to her, using her blankets to cover him. He laid on his side, moving closer until he could feel the warmth she let out.

It was comfortable and never in a million years would he think he’d pull something like this, but there was just something about F/n that made everything feel so right. And he was damn sure going to take advantage, because he didn’t know if he’d get another opportunity like this. Even if she doesn’t know this, he’ll hold it onto his hands like his lifeline.

So with his hand, careful to not disturb her, he reached down to hold her own, interlocking it like a lover would do and let out a sigh filled with emotions. Her palms were sweaty, but so were his and he didn’t care. He could only stare at her clothed shoulder where his head was at and he would have left it at that, if it weren’t for shutting the voices in his head. And again, he cautiously moved closer until he placed his head on her chest to where he could hear her heartbeat, uncaring that his locks of spiky hair were most likely on her face or that he might get sick next.

Like a lulling music, his eyes droop until a quiet relaxed sigh left his lips and he fell asleep, feeling safe for the first time in a long time.

A couple hours later and the sun peeked through the sky with a rainbow casting down on them. It was still windy and the sun would soon disappear again. For the time and after waking up from his nap, leaving F/n to continue hers, he sat outside on the porch. The table next to him held a vase with a single flower he had found next to the home. It swayed in its home, dancing along the wind that passed by.

With his ruby eyes staring down at his lap where his hands were placed and in between his hands were a photo his lips quirked into a crestfallen smile. His finger grazed the faces he once knew. The faces who allowed him to live on this planet and although it was just a picture, it almost felt like his parents were in front of him, feeling proud and happy at how far he’s come. He didn’t need them like he always thought he would, but he did want them. To be in their arms like a frightened child, but in his dreams he would see them.

With comfort and peace, Katsuki let out a sigh that soon mixed with the howling wind.