#the puppeteer is a puppeteer! he can control any puppet!
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howlsofbloodhounds · 18 hours ago
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Color challenges Killer’s belief that “nothing is genuine” by consistently acting in ways that defy the scripts Killer assumes are written by the Player.
Through persistence, authenticity, and emotional vulnerability, Color presents experiences and behaviors that shake Killer’s fatalistic worldview.
Color genuinely cares without any sort of agenda. Color shows unwavering kindness.
Color continuously shows concern for Killer without expecting anything in return, it confuses and unsettles Killer, who’s used to relationships being transactional or manipulative.
Color’s acts of kindness—like tending to Killer’s needs, listening to him, and defending him—feel out of place in a world Killer views as controlled by the Player’s sadistic whims.
Killer tests Color’s patience, expecting him to break or reveal ulterior motives, but Color’s persistence plants doubt in Killer’s belief that everything is predetermined.
Color supports Killer without controlling him. Color doesn’t push Killer to change but instead offers quiet support, creating a space where Killer feels he can be himself without judgment. This freedom contrasts with the control Killer feels from everyone else, making Color’s care feel genuine by comparison.
Color challenges Killer’s expectations, such as his unscripted reactions and refusal to give up on Killer.
Killer expects predictable behaviors from others, assuming they’re part of the Player’s design. Color breaks these expectations by acting unpredictably, whether by refusing to play along with Killer’s manipulation or responding in ways that surprise him.
For example, if Killer flirts or uses charm to manipulate Color, Color reacts with genuine concern instead of falling for it or playing along. This forces Killer to confront the possibility that not everything is under the Player’s control.
Killer believes that everyone who tries to connect with him will eventually give up or betray him, reinforcing his fatalistic mindset. Color refuses to walk away—even when Killer tries to push him away—this steadfastness challenges Killer’s belief that all relationships are hollow or Player-driven.
Color’s authenticity, especially his emotional authenticity.
Color’s ability to open up about his own struggles, such as his fear of being forgotten and his experiences in the Void, create a sense of mutual understanding.
By showing that he’s also been hurt and isn’t invincible, Color makes Killer question whether someone so flawed and vulnerable could truly be a puppet of the Player.
Color expresses that he chooses to care for Killer despite the risks, it strikes a chord in Killer, forcing him to confront the idea that choice and free will still exist.
Unlike people who follow scripts or predetermined outcomes, Color reacts authentically to Killer’s behavior. If Killer hurts him emotionally or physically, Color responds with visible pain and sadness rather than indifference or defiance, it feels more real to Killer.
For Killer, genuine emotional responses that deviate from “what the Player wants” feel jarring and challenge his cynicism.
Color offers Killer control in the relationship.
Unlike the Player or the human, who enforces control, or Nightmare, who dictates Killer’s role, Color gives Killer a sense of agency by involving him in decisions about their relationship.
Simple acts like asking for Killer’s opinion, respecting his boundaries, and waiting for Killer to make the first move stand in stark contrast to Killer’s belief that everything is scripted.
Color doesn’t cling to Killer or force him to stay, but instead gives him the freedom to leave, it challenges Killer’s assumptions about control. The idea that Color would let him go—not because the Player demands it but because he respects Killer’s autonomy—feels profoundly different from Killer’s usual experiences.
Color sees Killer as a person, not a role.
Killer insists that he’s no longer Sans and believes he’s beyond redemption, yet Color sees and address the parts of him that are still connected to who he once was. (Stage 1.)
By treating Killer as a complex individual rather than a “broken tool” or a pawn, Color offers him a sense of humanity that he’s long denied himself and often been denied by everyone else.
Instead of focusing solely on Killer’s actions, Color empathizes with his internal conflict—the guilt, shame, and detachment he hides. This challenges Killer’s belief that he’s just a hollow shell, showing him that someone sees value in him beyond the Player’s control and what he can do for others.
Color tests Killer’s belief in predestination.
Color encourages Killer to make small, inconsequential choices, like what to eat, where to go, or how to spend time. These moments of autonomy slowly chip away at Killer’s belief that he’s powerless, helping him see that not everything is dictated by the Player.
Color points out moments where Killer’s actions deviate from what the Player might want—for instance, caring for stray cats or sparing someone when he could have killed them—it makes Killer reevaluate his assumption that everything is preordained.
He accepts Killer’s flaws without judgment.
Color’s willingness to accept Killer as he is—even at his most apathetic, manipulative, or destructive—feels alien to Killer, who expects rejection or punishment.
By refusing to judge or condemn him, Color helps Killer see that relationships can exist outside of the Player’s manipulative framework.
When Killer lashes out or tests Color’s limits, and Color responds with forgiveness rather than anger, it makes Killer question why someone would choose to stay by his side when they’re not forced to.
Color’s authenticity, vulnerability, and refusal to conform to Killer’s expectations gradually break down Killer’s belief that everything is scripted by the Player.
By acting unpredictably, offering genuine care, and challenging Killer’s assumptions about control and predestination, Color helps Killer see that not all relationships are hollow or manipulative.
This slow, persistent challenge to Killer’s worldview becomes a cornerstone of their relationship, giving Killer a glimpse of something real in a life he’s convinced is nothing but illusion.
Others cannot do what Color can, not only because Killer doesn’t trust them and is more often than not either held in a position below (Nightmare) or above them (Horror, Dust, potentially Cross), but also because Nightmare reinforces Killer’s beliefs, as it is beneficial to him. Horror, Dust, and Cross are reflections of his beliefs, not challengers.
The most Horror and Dust could potentially do is challenge his belief that he’s not Sans, but underneath Nightmare— who’d encourage him to dissociate from Sans because doing so once again benefits him— he’d be more inclined to avoid them or shut down the idea that he’s Sans, as it feels threatening.
In particular, he’d find Dust’s potential insistence on still being Sans despite having murdered Papyrus highly offensive. it’s a fundamental line one can never cross in his eyes and still be Sans.
He may even look down on Dust with a sense of superiority, bitterness, and pity; viewing Dust’s insistence as delusional self-flagellation. Dust may see Killer’s insistence that he’s not Sans as a sign of cowardice and an attempt to avoid taking responsibility for their shared sins.
{@qin-qin16, there ya go. A type as i think yap sesh.}
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magnuspanoptes · 1 day ago
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readings of the podcast which try to frame jon as having been tragically manipulated and forced through every decision by elias are of no interest to me. because it's not true, is it. when elias tells him in mag 92 "you always chose to see," he's being cruel, yes. victim blaming him, even. but to completely disregard it as an attempt at manipulation would be a mistake. much of the podcast is about exploiting people's trauma. as i've said before, jon's role as head archivist, back when it was still presented as a mundane office job to the audiences, and he hadn't developed any beholding powers yet, involved filing away statement givers' trauma without offering help of any kind. the institute subsists on this form of exploitation, in a literal sense obviously, because it's a temple to the eye. but even if you take that reveal away, it's also true in simply an administrative sense in season one. and jon used to ruthlessly dismiss every single statement giver with as much apathy as he could muster (while knowing that if a statement doesn't record digitally, then it's the truth), and note that faking skepticism was a form of coping mechanism for him, it was the choice between making statement givers feel small or making himself feel vulnerable—and is this not simply the bureaucratic version of what he does later as a supernatural avatar of the beholding, vampirically feeding on people's terror to stay alive or risk being consumed by the eye?
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(Season 3) MAG 117 - "Testament" // (Season 4) MAG 142 - "Scrutiny"
of course, i'm not saying he bought it on himself, that he deserved to be put in an impossible situation later for being an arse in season one. jon too, has had his trauma exploited in the form of a guest for mr spider, an experience which eventually led him to the magnus institute where he would help fulfill the web's designs. so, in the grand scheme of things everyone was puppeteered by forces beyond their control, but would you excuse jonah for eveything he's ever done because of it? then why must jon be rendered completely non-agentic? yes, elias manipulated him, but he has never had to straight up coerce jon into anything. jon's just always done what's been expected of him. because they're alike. their shared desire for knowledge originates from fear. jon always chose to see because something had hurt him once and he needed answers, and we can assume jonah chose the beholding because it was the only entity which would expose him to information on all the other fears. knowledge is a means of survival for both of them, an inclination which later manifests literally as they become avatars who must subsist on terror. it all really comes down to letting yourself be exploited or exploiting someone else to escape that fate (you don't escape, not really, nobody does in the podcast), and jon did choose (with as much agency he could've possibly had in a story like this). the difference between them being that elias feels no remorse for his choice, but jon's character is defined by the enormous guilt he feels about the things he has done and what he must do to continue living, until he doesn't.
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alelathedragon · 15 hours ago
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Broken Star Mr.Puzzles
Full body reference!!! .....except his back being normal bc I didn't wanna.
You know what they say, Third Times the Charm!!!
I still took inspiration from @livzees post (ill link at the bottom for Ref) in the more mechanical parts of his reference and the colours, hope you enjoy my pictures and ramblings
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While connecting himself to the Wishing Star Machine, it got absorbed into his body and did irreversible damage to his body and granted him the power of an Extra Star.... Meaning if he got 5 stars, he would now have 6 total. Even if this 6th star is very unstable and in pieces, it is still 100% functionable and gives Mr.Puzzles some new powers.
•Dreams Make Minions: he still has some of that power he had in the Amusement Park but can only summon small lil guys to do his bidding for a lil while. Nothing to crazy
•Psychics are for the weak: When using his 'Puppeteer Hand' Mr.Puzzles' body will go completely limp, and he can bend in angles he previously wouldn't have been able too. Think Mario breaking his own body for the funny type of psychics.
He mainly uses it to do freaking Spider Crawls across the floor but if his body wasn't a solid object he would totally be able to put his legs through his head and back at the same time and still touch the floor with his feet.
•He has a lil bit of his mind control power as a treat. But it's super finicky and he can't rely on it
•The power of friendship: Puzzles has locked himself away from any and all people interaction that isn't controlling their minds once again but it's a little... More... Than that now with the Star in his body.
Reacting directly to his Thoughts, when Puzzles enters a state due to either seeing the SMG4 Group or A group of friends simply having fun. He will progressively get stronger to the point of summoning demons or Eye Goop monsters to try and tear them apart physically into a million pieces 🤭 this takes a toll on him in massive amounts. He can't do this often but the power also.... Feels so good he doesn't need friends. Friends let him down, friends were never there, if he opens up again this will hurt more. THIS power... Is all he can rely on
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Having one of those wires plugged into the back of his noggin left a big hole- and being bashed about in rubble scratched his precious handsome TV Head :(
He's tried to put his wires back in his head and fix up the scratches but being locked up doesnt give him a lot of supplies to do that- (I still say he's locked up, but not in an asylum and he escapes fairly quickly when he figures how he can summon nightmare creatures at his finger tips)
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This hand can pop out at any time and seems to follow Zero Rules on how it functions. It doesnt matter where the metal arm attached to the eye fog is- the Star Hand will ALWAYS be above Puzzles moving around with his every twitch
Trying to break the hand only sends it flying apart as it is not connected fully anyways, however this is the easiest way to throw off Puzzles as if you bonk the hand making the fingers go flying Puzzles with GMod ragdoll into a mess on the floor and have to take a second to get back up as the star fingers come back together
He will try to have his Star Hand dodge but he's not good at that just like hes not good at protecting his face from being punched
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Here's livzee's post!!! Thanks again for letting me use your own design as inspiration. My lanky guy AU wouldn't have been completed without you!
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diamondkat · 1 day ago
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Regarding Alastor being redeemed, I have been seeing some posts regarding how it can happen that trigger an instant ick reaction from me. I have taken time to think about why I keep having such a strongly negative reaction to it. The first thing I took into consideration is that I really do not want my current favourite bad boy to become good. I am first and foremost a villain fan and his becoming good has a high chance of ruining the character for me. This means that there is a chance that I would dislike any theory that ends with Alastor redeemed. A lot of time you see people making arguments for why a ship or character should not be liked when the real reason is they personally don't like it and the reasons are merely support. I try to make sure I am aware of my personal bias.
Regardless of my personal bias, I have decided that there is one particular theory regarding how Alastor can be redeemed that I hate from the bottom of my heart. It is the theory where Alastor after being humiliated, degraded and losing everything including his pride has no choice but to accept Charlie's care and change for the better. Sometimes it involves betraying the hotel first, but generally involves him being unable to deal with the challenges that he faces. I am sure how this works in the minds of those who like this theory makes perfect sense. He can no longer rely on himself, he sees that he isn't capable of anything and now has no choice but to become what Charle wants him to be. I hate it so much. I have kept turning it over in my mind and I think I have figured out all the reasons why separate from my bias.
First, suffering doesn't make people better. It just doesn't. The theory seems to require enough suffering to rewrite Alastor's personality and make him Charlie's puppet. It also reminds me of William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. The story of how the proud woman was broken down to make her obedient. She might be "better" but it also felt to me like she died and became a puppet. He would be "redeemed" but that wouldn't be Alastor. It would just be something that looks like him. I just feel like fans of Alastor who like this theory don't realise that he would lose everything that pulled them to him in the first place if this happened. Some could not deal with him being less energetic in the main show than the pilot due to him being bored. How would they deal with what would essentially be a hollow creature wearing his face trying to become good because there is nothing left in him?
Second, with a proud character you can't brute force them into letting people in. Part of the idea of the theory is that after he is humiliated and suffers in front of them, he will drop his smile and be forced to let others in. That doesn't make sense to me. We have already seen in S1E8, how Alastor deals with things not going his way. He holds onto what little control he has by refusing to drop his smile and holding onto his pride while going through a breakdown. The best way to get someone like Alastor as far as I am concerned is to deal with him the same way you would deal with a wild animal. Slowly lower their guard. I think Charlie is already doing that whether Alastor knows it or not. Besides, pride is an important part of the character. Pride is part of what drew me to the character in the first place. The kind of pride that makes a person think it is okay to say, "If I wanted to hurt anyone here I would have done so already" in front of the Princess of Hell, is part of what drew me to Alastor. If he lost it, the character would likely immediately lose all appeal to me. So, there is some personal bias there.
It would make sense to me if the theory was more about Alastor learning that he can rely on others and doesn't have to depend solely on himself which leads to him opening up and letting others in. However, the theory leans very heavily into suffering as a way to make him a better person and a complete erasure of everything that makes up the character through suffering to make him into someone who wants and is worthy of redemption. That's fine for fanfiction but I hope it never becomes canon.
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nylloth · 2 days ago
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@tloczek
I'm afraid Viktor's whole story won't fit in comment. First off he was never the “time traveling wizard” who gave Jayce the stone. The time loop is the worst trope that leads him to “Only Jayce can change my mind”. not a consequence of his decisions (s1 Sky death changed his mind without Jayce!), not a result of his work, not something logical, but only Jayce. It's silly
Secondly his “cultists” were not puppets of the void, Viktor believed in choice! He only helped those who asked for his help. He gave them new arms and legs, but he didn't force them or render them unconscious. They believed in him, that's why it's a cult. They had personalities. Viktor doesn't have a disability in LoL, his choice of evolutions isn't forced by illness. I'm fine with adding a disability, but it should never be the sole reason for his belief in evolution. Jayce is emphasizing Viktor's disability in his final sentence, again! Evolution is NOT about that.
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Jayce changes Viktor's mind in 5 minutes, the original Viktor is always true to his views as they are not born out of resentment or lack of self-confidence. “Hasty” is putting it mildly. Keep in mind that Viktor made the decision to kill his humanity (Sky), for the sake of this evolution. It should have been a dramatic and sad process. So why wasn't it? Because he already gets his humanity back in the next episode because of Jayce's words. This nullifies killing Sky and makes this move extremely tasteless.
LoL MH has motivation and belief in what he is doing. These are feelings stronger than resentment or disappointment. Jayce killed Viktor and he became disillusioned with humanity (and Jayce???) and so chose evolution. Viktor had no convictions, he's like a guided kitten who got trapped because Jayce resurrected him.
Gradually changing your own body because you believe it, and unwanted resurrection from the dead are not the same thing.
I said it after the first act, he's a hostage to circumstance. Everything's been decided for him. The murder, the resurrection, the second murder without any discussion. Only at the end he makes his own decision, only to abandon it 10 minutes later. This is bad for any character, not just Viktor. The character doesn't stick to his views.
Viktor's evolution never destroyed nature, but if you take that element out of Jayce's story (the apocalypse) then all their interactions immediately lose meaning. And of course Viktor can't talk about “loneliness”, because Viktor is not alone with his supporters. (which are not empty)
LoL Jayce are not opposed to hextech. He thinks it should be controlled and that's why he and Viktor had a conflict. They used different methods and that's why their quarrels seemed more logical. Arcane Jayce hates everything to do with it.
The time loop creates a bunch of gaps, like in au where Ekko got to, where hextech wasn't invented and Viktor can't be a mage there.
Viktor also has a robot son, Blitz. He is not mentioned in Arcane and since Viktor dissolved in time (don't know what happened to them), he will never be. Jayce's influence literally predetermines Viktor's entire fate (death-resurrection-death), but they kind of make it look like Viktor is looping his own suffering fate with a time loop (the stone). That seems like a bad plot move to me. All Viktor's roads lead to Jayce, and believe me, that never happened in the original lore. Yes, they were adversaries, but Viktor had a robot son, ties to Renata, other henchmen, etc… It wasn't just “me and my friendship with Jayce, the only person who can change my mind”.
It's as if the characters can't exist outside of this cycle, making them appendages. While the original Viktor lore still exists, I suggest you read it, there are some nice stories in there and this man is much more like the Viktor from season one than Viktor we see in season two. He has motivation, motives, determination and a separate personality. I'd say Viktor s1 was a pretty good backstory for Viktor LoL if they didn't kill him off in season 2 with the first episode. Knowing the original lore and comparing it to what we got, there is a bad flavor. I know ppl like Jayce/Viktor connection, for parallels, but given the pacing of the story and the crappy “time loop” branch, it sucks. Though even if it had been given more time it wouldn't have worked. For the reasons I described above.
“Viktor and Jayce got the best ending ever” if you knew Viktor's original lore and appreciated him as a separate character and not an appendage to Jayce, you would never say that.
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smilesrobotlover · 2 months ago
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Whumptober day 5- Secrets Reveal
Alright buckle up folks this one is a wild ride. It’s a bit longer and not suuuuper well written but hey, I hope the action isn’t clunky 😭 action is HARD
Warnings: blood, control, walking off a cliff, injury, idk it’s a dark one😭
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The ruins were a maze. There were some open areas with broken walls scattered about, but there were also labyrinths of walls that led into different rooms or to cliff sides that almost killed Leon. He and Linebeck tried desperately to find Rusl and Kass, but no matter how much they called or how much they searched the area, there was no sign of them. Leon was getting more and more worried for them, not knowing if they were being attacked now or if they were dead, but he prayed it wasn’t the latter. When they ran into yet another dead end, Leon groaned, smacking the brick with his hand in frustration.
“This is taking too long!” He turned to Linebeck. “Boost me up the wall, I need a better view.”
Linebeck nodded and put his hands together, kneeling to the ground so Leon could climb on. Leon was boosted up to the top of the broken wall, and he scrambled over it so he could stand on his feet. The walls were thick, so he didn’t have to balance too much, but the snow was slick, so he couldn’t be careless. He kneeled and planted his feet the best he could, reaching for Linebeck’s hand.
“Uh, I think I’ll just stay down here,” he muttered, not taking Leon’s hand.
“I’m not leaving you alone, now get up here!” Leon commanded, and Linebeck sighed, taking his hand and crawling up the wall. The man clearly did not like being on top of the tall walls, and his legs shook as he followed Leon along the wall. It was nice being able to see above the ruins, but he couldn’t catch sight of Rusl’s green scarf or Kass’s blue feathers. He treaded carefully, being sure to make sure the steps in front of him didn’t send him slipping off onto the ground, but he did try to move as quickly as he was able. Linebeck suddenly grabbed onto him, nearly causing him to lose balance.
“Linebeck!” He scolded, pulling away from the man.
“Sorry, I slipped and almost died,” he explained, his voice shaky.
“Well don’t grab onto me or else we’ll both fall!”
“I had to hang onto something!”
Leon rolled his eyes and continued. “You won’t die if you fall, it’s not that high up. Honestly you need to toughen up. It’ll be hard to fall anyw—“
Leon’s foot slipped underneath him, and he gasped as he fell on his back and toppled over onto the snowy ground. The landing wasn’t painful in the snow, but his back ached from where it hit the wall. He sat up, rubbing his spine to alleviate the pain while Linebeck stared at him. Leon looked up, giving him a threatening look.
“Don’t you dare say anything,” he warned, but Linebeck finally snorted, covering his mouth as he laughed at Leon.
“Oh, it’ll be hard to fall, huh?” He taunted, continuing to chuckle while Leon dusted snow out of his hair.
“Quiet before I knock you over!” Leon threatened, but as usual with his threats, they were empty. Leon stood and reached his hand up. “Help me.”
Linebeck sighed and kneeled carefully on the wall, reaching only for him to pull back to readjust his legs.
“Linebeck, what are you doing?” Leon exasperated.
“I’m just trying to make sure I don’t fall over when I help you up!” He defended, continuing to readjust himself. Leon groaned and looked behind him, where he was barely able to see a green scarf disappear behind a wall. He gasped and pulled away just as Linebeck reached out once again.
“Rusl!” He shouted, but the man didn’t respond. Leon turned to Linebeck and gestured for him to get on the ground. “Get down here, hurry!”
“O-ok,” Linebeck muttered, shakily and slowly crawling down the wall. Leon rolled his eyes and grabbed onto his coat, pulling him down so he’d fall onto the soft snow. Linebeck yelped as he fell, and he gave Leon a dirty look when he sat up, but the man ignored it and instead dragged the sailor to where he saw Rusl. He was afraid that Rusl didn’t hear him with his small ears, and that he would lose him in this labyrinth, but to his relief, he found Rusl in a yard area near a cliffside. Rusl was standing, staring at the view in front of him which was odd, but Rusl was an odd man, so Leon ignored the behavior out of his mind and jogged up to him.
“Thank the goddesses I found you,” Leon said, just a few feet behind him. “Where’s Kass?”
Rusl didn’t respond, he just kept staring. Leon squinted his eyes and gave Linebeck a look, stopping him from stepping closer.
“Rusl, what’s going on?” Leon pressed, stepping more cautiously towards him. He reached his hand out to rest on his shoulders, but as soon as he touched him, Rusl spun around, the blade of his sword missing him by a hair as Leon jumped back. A gasp was heard from Linebeck, and Leon drew his own sword, barely able to block Rusl’s attacks.
“Rusl! What the heck man!” Linebeck shouted, and Leon kicked his friend away, jumping in front of the sailor.
“This has to be the puppeteer’s work,” he said, holding his sword against Rusl who stared at him with a hostile look. It gave him chills, but he knew that it couldn’t be the real Rusl. The puppeteer always had puppets that he would use against them. Several times copies of his friends or others would attack him, but the puppets were always weak. One kick or stab and they would melt into the clay they were made out of. It really wasn’t a threat to them, but it didn’t make it any less disturbing seeing his kind-hearted friend look at him with hatred and bloodlust in his eyes. Leon glanced back at Linebeck, pushing him back further behind him.
“I’ll take care of this,” he explained, “stay back and stay safe.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Linebeck muttered, and rushed back behind a wall. Leon returned his attention to the puppet, who was pacing back and forth. He only hoped the real Rusl was somewhere safe.
As soon as Leon was ready to fight, puppet Rusl charged at him, once again swinging his sword at him. Leon dodged and swung his own sword, which was quickly blocked. The two clashed weapons together, sparks flying and ears ringing from the high pitched sound of metal scraping against each other. It was difficult to get the upper hand; puppet Rusl would swing his sword, Leon would block, and then he would try to land a hit, only for him to block it as well. Leon would try to get an opening large enough for him to throw a punch or kick, since puppets tend to fall apart from that type of force, but puppet Rusl would recover quickly enough to stop him from trying. While trying to land a hit with an opening, puppet Rusl almost lobbed off his head, and Leon growled as he swung his leg to trip puppet Rusl. He landed in the snow and Leon scrambled to his feet to finish him once and for all, but he once again recovered quickly, rolling out of Leon’s reach. Losing his patience, Leon ran up to him, kicking him as quickly as he could, which he was finally successful in doing. Puppet Rusl grunted against the impact, and while he was distracted, Leon swung his sword. The puppet dodged, but the tip of Leon’s sword grazed his cheek, and he toppled back from the hit.
Leon let out a satisfied huff, glancing at his sword. But where he was expecting the strange goop the puppets were made out of, he saw blood, dripping off the tip and landing in the snow, staining it red. Wait…
Dread clenched Leon’s throat as he stared in horror. Puppets weren’t supposed to bleed. He glanced up only to see Rusl grinning at him, blood pouring from the cut on his cheek.
“Why so surprised?” He asked in a mocking tone, stepping up and punching him hard in the face. Leon fell back, staring at his friend who now walked confidently. Confident to know that they weren’t fighting to the death anymore… or… at least Leon wasn’t. This wasn’t a puppet made to look like Rusl, it was Rusl who was the puppet.
“You—“ Leon snarled, anger towards the puppeteer stronger than ever. “How dare you use him like that!”
Rusl grinned, swinging his sword at Leon who dodged. It was like that for a while, with Rusl attacking while Leon dodged, terrified of raising his sword at his friend. He didn’t know what to do. How was he going to break the puppeteer’s grasp on Rusl? How was he going to keep himself from getting killed without hurting Rusl? When Rusl sliced his cheek, Leon ran back, taking cover where Linebeck sat anxiously.
“What the heck is happening?” Linebeck asked, and Leon let out a huff, trying to clear his head.
“The-the puppeteer is controlling him!” He explained, moving Linebeck as they ran from possessed Rusl.
“He can do that?”
“Yes… I… I don’t know what to do.”
A rock was thrown in their direction, and Leon ducked down with Linebeck following.
“We need to go after the puppeteer if he’s the one controlling him,” Linebeck suggested. Leon nodded, pulling the man behind a wall and grabbing both his arms to look him in the eyes.
“It’s the only way, but I want you to stay here out of sight. I’m going to try to lead him away from you and find the puppeteer—“
“You can’t go off on your own! What are you, stupid?” Linebeck protested, stepping away from the wall, but Leon held him back.
“I’m not risking you getting hurt, now stay right here and—“
Linebeck suddenly grabbed Leon and pulled both of them away as Rusl appeared behind him, swinging his sword at them. The metallic shriek of his sword hitting the brick wall rang out, and the two fell onto the snow. Leon scrambled to get on top of Linebeck, just in time to block the attacks raining onto them. As soon as Rusl left an opening, Leon lunged, latching onto the man in an attempt to tackle him to the ground, but Rusl was stubborn and remained on his feet. They wrestled for a moment before Rusl pulled his arm away, stabbing his sword at Leon. There was a slight, sharp pain in his side, but Leon ignored it as he grabbed Rusl’s sword arm and pulled him close. In one motion, he tilted his sword so his hilt was facing Rusl, and he slammed it into his abdomen. It was a trick that he learned that could knock out his opponent for several minutes, and he prayed that it would work on Rusl so he’d stop attacking.
Rusl stumbled back, his eyes blinking furiously and he stared dazed at the ground, but soon his body lurched towards Leon, continuing his attacks. It was clear that Rusl was unconscious from the move, but the puppeteer still had control of his body, with the attacks more vicious than before. Had Rusl been holding back the entire time? Did Leon just make things worse trying to knock out his friend? He gasped and cursed as he nearly had his head lobbed off again, trying to keep up with the flurry of attacks aimed at him. It was difficult to keep up with, and he let out a yell as his foot caught on a rock, sending him to the ground. He couldn’t react in time as he watched Rusl raise his sword, his eyes still dazed, and he flinched as it was swung down.
“Oh no you don’t!”
Leon looked up to see Linebeck grabbing hold of Rusl, stopping his attack and pulling him away. Rusl squirmed violently in his hold, his arms swinging around in an attempt to grab at Linebeck, but he remained firm and kept him off the ground. Leon scrambled to his feet just as Rusl elbowed Linebeck’s face, causing him to finally be dropped. He was about to stab Linebeck before Leon wrapped his arms around him, the two men trying to contain Rusl. Finally, he broke free, staggering back and panting heavily as he glared at Leon and Linebeck. Leon had his sword drawn, protecting himself and Linebeck.
“Get out of my friend’s head,” Leon said in a dark voice, stepping closer to him, which caused Rusl to step back. This time, Rusl ran with Leon following, and they found each other in an open area by a cliffside. Rusl continued to pant, his body clearly pushed past its limits. His eyes were empty, but a hint of defeat and anger rested in his expression as he watched Leon like a cornered animal. In one last attempt of victory, he charged at Leon, swinging his sword down on his head, which Leon blocked easily. He twisted his sword around and sent Rusl’s sword flying out of his hands, and he was finally unarmed. Linebeck ran to the discarded sword and picked it up, standing defensively. Rusl quickly backed up, looking around desperately, until he let out a defeated sigh.
“I can’t kill you with him as my weapon,” he muttered, standing up straight. Leon brought his sword up again, expecting another attack. “But I can kill him.”
He was too far for Leon to reach as he stepped backwards, letting himself fall off the edge of the cliffside.
“NO!” Leon screamed as he sprinted to catch him, but it was too late. He could only watch, his stomach plummeting as Rusl fell out of his view, falling to the snowy ground below.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The hallway Kass was walking through was drastically different from the rest of the ruins. The inside was perfectly intact with it leading to several different rooms, the torches were lit up giving out a soft orange glow, and it was generally clean. Kass looked in every room, but the puppeteer wasn’t anywhere, and he was beginning to question if he actually saw the man walk in here or not. But he heard a voice that spoke a few times that proved to Kass that he wasn’t alone, and he followed to where he heard it. Kass didn’t have the good hearing Hylians had, but the talking was able to lead him to a small closet under the stairs. Kass opened it as softly as he could, spotting the puppeteer who had his back turned to Kass, hunched over a blue light coming from his hands. He was breathing heavily, with a few grunts coming from him, and he didn’t seem to hear Kass walking carefully towards him. Kass picked up a rock, his heart pounding against his chest as he hesitated near the puppeteer. He could kill him here and now…. But….
Kass was always a pacifist. He wanted to play music, not to fight; he wanted to sing for his family, not to shoot a bow. But he couldn’t let the puppeteer go, he couldn’t let him continue torturing the men and the Links. Kass sucked in a breath and raised the rock, looking away as he swung it down on the puppeteer’s head. He let out a grunt as he tumbled to the ground, the light from his hands disappearing. Kass backed up from the puppeteer as he scrambled to his feet, rubbing his head painfully. His one-eyed mask glanced up at Kass, staring almost as if he were in shock from what he did to him.
“Y-you—where did—augh!” The puppeteer held his head where he was hit, pressing himself up against the wall. Kass glared at him and used his height to his advantage, trying to intimidate the man.
“You attacked us first!”
The puppeteer stared at him, clearly shocked, but he scrambled to his feet, standing in a defensive position despite clearly being disoriented.
“And what was your plan?” He asked cooly.
“Where are the Links?”
“Clearly not here.”
Kass glared, stepping closer. “Why did you attack me?”
The puppeteer cocked his head to the side.
“You’re just full of questions, aren’t you?”
Kass frowned, not knowing how to respond to such a strange comment. The puppeteer shook his head, sliding on the wall.
“I wasn’t expecting such a…violent action from you,” he started, before letting out a dark chuckle. “It was a valiant effort, but… you were too late.”
Kass’s eyes widened when the puppeteer suddenly lunged at him, a knife in his hand. He let out a yelp as he fell, and he brought his talons out and scratched at his face. His claws landed a hit on the puppeteer’s face, tearing his mask and chunks of skin off, causing the man to cry out in pain. The puppeteer fell off of him and quickly collected his mask before disappearing in a puff of smoke, leaving Kass alone. He scrambled to his talons and bolted out of the ruins, the puppeteer’s words echoing through his mind.
You were too late.
Too late? Too late for what? He took flight as soon as he went outside, ignoring the pain in his left wing. In the air, he searched the area, trying to find the others as quickly as he could, and to his dismay, he found them.
All of them at the base of a cliff side, with one laying on his back.
No.
Kass landed next to them, his breathing heavy as he stared at Leon hunched over Rusl. No, no no no…
“Wh-what happened?” He asked frantically, his voice already breaking. Leon barely acknowledged him, his face blank as he checked Rusl’s pulse, but Linebeck turned to the Rito, his face pale.
“Th-the puppeteer was controlling him and… he—he threw Rusl off the cliff and—“
Linebeck’s breath hitched, and Kass’s eyes widened. He was too late.
“He’s… is he…?”
“He’s not dead,” Leon said simply, checking over the rest of Rusl’s body. Kass let out a sigh of relief, noticing Rusl’s shallow breathing, though it hurt to hear him struggle to breath. “He’s terribly injured though. The snow cushioned his fall, but not enough.”
Leon rested back on his feet, not taking his eyes off his friend. It grew uncomfortably silent, the only sound being Rusl taking in rattling breaths. His ribs must’ve been broken.
“What do we do?” Linebeck asked, kneeling next to Leon, and he let out a breath.
“We… I…” Leon frowned as he tried to think of something, but he took in a deep breath, then let it out, then sucked in another one, letting it free after a few seconds. He did that for a moment with Kass and Linebeck watching him, and he finally stopped, his eyes on Kass.
“We need to get him down to Talon, but it’s too risky to carry him in such a state,” he began to explain, “his neck could be broken, so… Kass… if I could make a stretcher that you could carry so you could fly him down the mountain—“
“Of course, I can do that,” Kass jumped in, ignoring his aching wing. It wasn’t broken, and he could easily glide down the mountain if it meant saving his friend. Leon nodded and hunched over Rusl again, whose eyes were fluttering open.
“You stay alive, you hear me?” He ordered, and Rusl blinked a few times before closing them, Kass assuming that it was a nod. Leon got up and gestured for Kass to help him, and with Linebeck keeping an eye on Rusl, the two searched the ruins for rope and planks. Fortunately it wasn’t too difficult to find, and Leon built a sturdy stretcher with rope attached to a branch that Kass could hang onto. With enough wiggling to make sure it wouldn’t fall apart, the two returned to Linebeck and Rusl. Linebeck was cradling his neck, the two shivering as the sun dropped behind the mountains.
“Help me put him on there,” Leon muttered, setting the stretcher down and grabbing Rusl’s legs. Kass helped lift him up while Linebeck continued to cradle his neck, but Rusl still hissed in pain. Leon took off his scarf and wrapped it around Rusl’s neck when he was set down, his eyes open again but looking glassy as he stared at the sky. The scarf was packed firmly to keep his neck from moving, and Leon took off his coat as well to tuck around the shivering man.
“Woah woah, Leon, what are you doing?” Linebeck cut in, but Leon ignored him as he began to wrap rope around Rusl to keep him secure to the stretcher. Linebeck put his hand on Leon to get his attention. “You’re gonna get hypothermia without your coat!”
“I’ll be fine,” he muttered, not taking his eyes off of his work. Finally, he tied ropes around the stretcher so that it would be even when lifted off, and he grabbed the end for Kass to hang onto with his talons. “Be careful with him.”
Kass nodded as he grabbed the end, but frowned at the two. “What about you guys? I can't leave you stranded on the mountain.”
“We’ll be fine,” Leon reassured, “but Rusl needs help now. Please just… make sure he’s ok.”
Kass was hesitant, but he knew realistically that he couldn’t carry all of them with Rusl severely injured, even with a wing that didn’t hurt. He stood up, taking to the skies as gently as possible, with Leon and Linebeck helping him keep Rusl steady. Soon, he was high up in the sky, gliding carefully down the mountain, with Leon and Linebeck growing smaller and smaller until they were but little dark spots on the white snow.
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kagoutiss · 1 year ago
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divine intoxication
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laugtherhyena · 6 months ago
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Playlist listened to while writing; https://spotify.link/WzxvdTKBCJb
Holy shit dude, the ceo of rei angst wrote some rei angst what the HELL!! We have to kill her guys she cant keep getting away with this.
Anyways im gonna be writing about a lot of these nerds. I just love rei. This is really rushed and I am really sleepy so it is not my best writing.
Also i cannot write teruya so you will habe to ppppUT UP WITH IT.
Warnings for like. Violence and my attempt at writing a breakdown.
-
Rei held the rusty pipe like a baseball bat, swinging for a homerun as she smacked off the head of someone she once knew. Someone who had abandoned her long ago.
The rotting head of what used to be her mother rolled on the ground, sickly green skin squishing against the ground and stared up at her with lifeless eyes.
“I didn’t want to see you again like this,” Rei hissed as her chest heaved, “i wanted to see you staring with regret as you saw your daughter on top of the world. I didn’t want to kill you or see you dead.”
That had been the second time she had run into her zombified mother. The first, she had been a coward, unable to kill her and her father– the two people she hated most, the two people who had abandoned her and left her on the streets.
Where had all her rage gone that time. When had she become soft.
-
Midori clung to Ryutaro with all the strength in her frail body. “My brother,” she whispered, “i saw my brother’s corpse down there. Kakeru… he… they got Kakeru… they killed Kakeu…”
He didn’t say much in return, but he did pat her hand briefly– the only comforting action he could manage while carrying her.
“I see a store up ahead. Let’s stop by there for supplies.” Keisuke pointed out to the leader of the bunch.
Setsuka patted the clown on the back and gave him a smile. “Sounds good, lead the way. Maki, do you need me to carry Yamaguchi for a bit?”
Midori wrapped her arms and legs around Ryutaro a bit tighter at the suggestion, very much attached to the guy who had found her and saved her from zombies.
“I’ll be fine until we reach the stop.” The blonde nodded his acknowledgement to the bluenette, forcing a smile as he struggled to catch up.
The group walked in silence for a bit, the only sounds being the orchestra of distant zombie groans.
“Miss Yamaguchi,” Hikaru said after bit, his tone fatherly like usual, “may I check your pulse soon? And may I check if the swelling on your ankles has gone down?”
“Yeah, that… sounds good. Thank you, Uncle.”
-
Kanata removed the bandages from Ayame’s arm gradually.
“There isn’t any sign of infection, Hatano. Kinjo and Maki are still out, so… uhm… can I get you something to eat?” The surgeon spoke softly as she stared at the sprinter.
“I’m not hungry…” Ayame mumbled.
“Inori!” Tomori slammed the door open, her eyes sunken from lack of sleep, “i think i got bit. Check! Check, please!!”
Kanata bit back a sigh of exasperation and forced out her cheerful smile. “Of course. Where do you think you were bit this time?”
“My ankle. They went after my ankle so I couldn’t run! They’re going to eat me. I’m going to die, aren’t I? Oh, god, I’m going to die!” The cheerleader’s words were jumbled together and practically nonsensical. She grabbed onto Kanata’s shoulders as she spoke, her nails digging into the other’s lab coat and pressing her skin uncomfortably.
“Miss Tomori,” Kanata winced, “please let go of me. I will check your ankle, but I am sure you are fine.”
“I’m not fine!” Kizuna wailed before glaring accusatory daggers at Ayame. “If you… if you hadn't gotten yourself bitten! If you had just seen that bitch for what she is! We wouldnt be doomed! You’ve doomed us all!”
Ayame took the words without fighting back. What had been the point in fighting anymore? Kizuna was right. She had doomed them all.
“Miss Tomori, please… Taira had us all fooled… if Miss Hatano is to blame, then so are the rest of us…” the blonde murmured. “Please sit down so I can check your ankle…”
-
Mindless. Kinji was mindless. His faith had only been able to spare him for so long.
His teeth were decayed now. His skin was green and purple and yellow. His eyes were dull. His cheeks were sunken.
It was incredible that his mind stayed intact long enough for him to bury as many as he did. The only bodies he didn’t put 6 feet under, the only bodies he couldn’t handle burying, were those of the people he knew.
But what was the point?
-
Yuki held his stomach as he choked up and spat out the last meal he had, beans that had barelt even begun to digest.
“Urgh… gross…” he mumbled to himself.
Shinji was away at the moment, scouting out for the next safe place for them to go and likely trying to find his family in the process.
The lucky student fought back envious tears. At least they knew there was a chance that Shinji’s family was alive– they found his mother, Aiko, brutally murdered in the Maeda household. Her corpse was bloated and rotted when they found it.
The sight still haunted his dreams. He couldn’t even keep.meals down since he saw it.
-
Mikako peered into her brother’s lab. He hadn’t eaten in quite some time, nor had he slept.
“Yamato…” she whispered hesitantly.
He spun around with a dart ready in his hand. He only lowered it after he registered it was her.
“Mikako, I’ve told you to leave me alone. I need to find a cure, or no one will be safe.” The inventor turned back to his work and threw a crumpled up piece of paper to the side.
“I’m sure someone else is searching for a cure, Yamato. Why not try to make a vaccine? Some sort of immunity would help while someone else finds a cure.” The exorcist suggested.
Her brother didn’t seem to have heard. That, or he was ignoring her.
“Ah… nevermind.” She straightened her back and spun on her heel to hunt down their other classmates.
For the newcomers, Satsuki was putting on a performance– juggling empty bottles and broken gadgets whilst telling jokes. That could not be safe, but Haruhiko seemed to have his eyes on her.
The bunker door heaved open, and Teruya’s team came in, carrying boxes full of food and other supplies.
“We’re back with dinner!” The merchant shouted.
Mikako rushed over to take the box from him.
“Thank you, Otori, this should be good for at least a week. You and your scavenger team did good.”
He grinned at her and handed his box over. “Thanks! We uh…” he hesitated, “We saw Taira and Maeda… err… Utsuro? On our flight back… they looked like they were heading somewhere… dunno where…”
She bit her tongue and nodded thankfully at him. “Thank you for telling me.”
-
Thats it. Im hungry good bye.
Aw yeah infection Au moment! I do remember you saying a while back that you wanted to write something about Rei in this Au and MAN her part has gotta be my favorite out of these little snippets.
I really like taking a look at how a bunch of the cast is doing, seeing the way you wrote them in those situations was pretty fun! It reminded me how much i like the idea of Setsuka's like group with the 6.5 cast and how Kanata probably wishes she has a degree in psychology to properly deal with Ayame and Kizuna (she may feel as if she's not doing enough for them seing as her kindness can only bring her so far when dealing with their turmoil)
#i really like thinking about the voids + hibiki in this au too#i never explained this before because i wanted to draw something for it but oh well#basically at one point the voids (as in Nikei Hajime and Emma since Iroha has been zombified and ran away by now) steal some suplies from#Syobai's apocalypse mob. so he sends Kanade and Hibiki to “take care of them” for him#because Kanade has deal with Syobai where she's essentially works as his executor whenever he needs it#and in exchange he lets her take things rom his stocks when she pleases (she mainly takes weapons. the crazier the better)#and you know. Hibiki i in her puppet stage so she goes along#so the twins go after the voids in their mad max-esc apocalypse car and after a while Kanade manages to corner them#and Hibiki takes this opportunity to stab her in the back :) literally#because turns out Hibiki snapped out of her puppet stage at some point a while back. and seeing Kanades terrifying true nature#she wanted to put an end to her madness but for the time being she kept pretending to be under her control. because she wa looking for the#right opportunity to deal a killing blow without because Kanade is a better fighter than her#this opportunity turned out to be the voids! she explains the whole story to them and offers to do something for them to make up#for the hell Kanade and her put them through (chasing them around for several days and getting into fights)#so Hajime asks for her to hand over all of her supplies. Emma asks for the car. and Nikei asks her if she has any information about#a possible cure for the virus (because he feels somewhat guilty for what happened to Iroha) and Hibiki tells her she knows of a scientist#that's working on one and recives chemicals suplies from Syobai (because he wants this capitalize on this cure whenever it gets done)#So by Nikei's orders Hibiki tricks Mikado into giving her a stash of Kokoro's solution and goes with the voids in a search for Iroha#so that they can give her the prototype cure (which works just as a virus suppressant so far) before she reaches a stage where her mind is#too far gone. so overtime Hibiki essentially becomes a void member and she has friends again for the first time since forever#i like infection au Hibiki a lot. i had a sketch of her and Kanade somewhere i think#super danganronpa another 2#danganronpa another#dra#sdra2#zombie au#infection au#hyena ramblings
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samueldays · 8 hours ago
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I think this is broadly correct but there's a significant spectrum of sub-outcomes under "If Trump wins" which is larger and more important than the alternative.
Kamala Harris was an empty suit run by the (D) party machine bureaucracy. If she won, the machine would keep running things through her, like it did with the senile puppet Joe Biden.
Donald Trump is not a machine politician. As you mention, his bench is shallow. Even if Trump won the election, it's a big step from that to Trump running things. His first term already saw the machine's officers stymie him with treason.
Trump tried to order troops home from Sandfuckistan, and military officers refused his order and lied to him about the troops, and were casual enough about it that during Biden's administration they openly admitted to this - albeit in the selfserving tone of 'the Orange Idiot gave a stupid order and we saved democracy in Sandfuckistan by defying him'. And in doing so, they broke democracy at home, committing treason and violating civilian command of the military.
After the lawfare, learning from his first term, and getting bloodied by an assassination attempt, I think Trump might be more effective and more zealous this time, but he's still going to have to fight the Derp State for control.
I like the term "Derp State" as a slight mockery because America's Deep State is, well, not that deep. It's brainless. It's not a conspiracy, it's a consensus. It's a million Democrat devotees who will openly express their belief that preserving "our democracy" means the Democrat Party, because Donald Trump is antidemocratic, so voting for him is antidemocratic, and unelected officials defying the elected President is democratic. This doesn't require any meeting in smoke-filled rooms, it coordinates in plain sight, for example via newspapers printing "TRUMP IS A FASCIST. WHY IS NOBODY TALKING ABOUT THIS?" like they're Tumblr with better grammar.
If Trump wins, and they start cutting back on agencies,
Imagine Trump wins the election, and tries to cut one office of one agency.
The agency refuses to let their office be cut.
Trump yells "YOU'RE FIRED!".
The agency ignores him, saying the cut is undemocratic and Trump isn't allowed to do that. People keep showing up to work, issuing memos, and drawing salaries. Trump tries to issue a second order telling people to enforce his first order. Trump complains on Twitter.
What happens next?
Where is Trump's leverage? What is Trump's escalation path?
I don't have an answer ready, but I think there's a very wide possible spread of outcomes in there.
Maybe the case goes to the Supreme Court. Maybe the Court issues a harsh "yes the President can fire people from the Executive branch don't ask us again" ruling, or maybe everything Trump tries to do gets stalled for a year at the Supreme Court with separate, time-wasting, inconsistent cases.
Maybe Trump decides to adopt the rules of the game: if this is a vetocracy where he's not allowed to do anything, only veto the doing of things, he'll start vetoing everything the other team likes too! Veto the income tax collection! Veto the whole IRS! Issue executive orders disbanding the Civil Rights department, and dropping all prosecutions!
Maybe Trump calls in the army to start enforcing his decisions, physically dragging fired people out of offices and preventing them from re-entering, appealing to populist sentiment of Who's In Charge Here, Anyway? as the way of getting legitimacy for his firings and his military enforcement of firings.
The most likely outcome, I think, is that he putters around ineffectively and America gets a term of relative peace and prosperity and nothing much happening. Trump gets nothing done, the Republicans spend their time internally arguing how much to back Trump, the Democrats spend their time screaming "FASCIIIIIIIST!", and everyone else goes about their lives. But that's still less than 50% of my expectation.
Election 2024
EigenRobot's opinion for you all this election eve.
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I expect that whoever wins this election, I'm going to have to shift my writing towards the other side.
Unless Kamala suddenly becomes assertive and independent-minded, very much unlike what we've seen so far, and starts disciplining the left coalition, the capability of institutions is likely to continue to decline under a Harris administration, with something like an amnesty grant making direct future challenges less feasible. Today's left are off-the-charts conformist - I've never seen anything like it - and with this, there is a tremendous disregard for inconvenient reality in the face of social opinion. (It's anti-agentic, which is bad for the meta-rational thinking needed to update formal systems.)
Their selection criteria for personnel disregard merit in favor of credentials, and use credentials as political rewards. With each round the quality of personnel will get worse. This is not sustainable, so it will not be sustained - alternative institutions will have to grow in the shadow of declining state capacity.
If Trump wins, and they start cutting back on agencies, there is likely to be more economic growth, but Republicans don't have a good stack for actually replacing all of these agency personnel with highly agentic, highly intelligent, mission-driven individuals. In a sense, this limits the potential damage, as they'll have to continue hiring a lot of blues due to manpower shortages, just as they already do.
However, the reduction in agency power may lead to increased corporate power, leading to increased influence suppressing the re-emergence of agency power on a correct trajectory and lead to a cyberpunk dystopia. Today's US left aren't set up to even discuss how to prevent a cyberpunk dystopia, because they're all-in on censorship, to the point that they can't even consider the implications of the science fiction stuff happening all around them.
There are two big changes to the dimensions of human life coming down the pipes during the next 20 years.
The first is the obvious one, artificial intelligence. AI increases the dimensionality, the richness of the response, of machines in production systems. This makes capital, as controlled by AI, more like labor.
It is the opinion of Samo Burja that automation will not arrive fast enough to outpace tightness of labor supply caused by collapsing birthrates, which are falling all over the world.
The second big change is genetic engineering.
While people weren't paying attention, the FDA have approved multiple monogenic gene therapies. The costs are staggering now, running a range from around $500,000 to $3 million dollars, but if it's anything like gene sequencing costs, which fell from $100M to $1,000 per genome over about 25 years, it will fall rapidly towards the price of surgery.
If the price does fall, this means that a gene is no longer a life sentence. Something that's genetic will be more likely to be something that can be changed. Most major ideologies right now are based on the assumption that genes can't be changed. Gene therapy has not yet reached the periphery of people's social networks, so, mentally, people still treat it as "sci-fi."
So that's my assessment. The blue candidate is low-variance short-termism. The red candidate is high-variance medium-termism. You have to decide how comfortable you are with risk. You have to estimate what you think the current rate of burn is.
If you can't bring yourself to accept either of them, you can still vote and leave the "President" portion of the ballot blank.
The good news is, both vice presidential candidates are smarter and more civilized than both presidential candidates. For what it's worth, my read is that Vance is smarter and more focused on long-term issues than Walz.
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astro-b-o-y-d · 1 month ago
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Reading ahead on chapter 3 just for funsies (I'm saving the editing for tomorrow) and wow, I really won't have to rewrite much at all, huh?
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littlefang666 · 4 months ago
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Imagine being a fan of Littlefang666 on tunglr dogt com in the years of our lord and then she goes silent, except foor someone propping her corpse up to reblog a few times every once in a while, for like YEARS. and then suddenly i pop back on here like hi lol.
Like imagine following me and that happening and being like "unm, okay hi haha okay then"
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notherpuppet · 2 months ago
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What traits/habits did Alfie pick up from each of his dads raising him?
Alastor 🦌📻 -manipulator -hubristic -doesn't watch tv/is behind on tech -dancer -duplicitous -puppeteer
Lucifer 🐍🍎 -master of temptation -sex appeal ~ -anxious -family love -singer -obsessive collector (books instead of ducks) Both/Mix: -musician -his shadow makes the form of a snake, it's his little buddy <3 -shapeshift (into a big ole limb-less dragon, but that's it. he can't make his regular form bigger like alastor or shapeshift into any animal like lucifer) -he can lose control when it comes to violence. he needs someone else to intervene to stop him. -doesn't have any friends
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iluvangel · 4 months ago
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⌌┈┈┈┈┈┈┈
┊ .˚ 🍥 ༘┊͙ Naruto guys kinks ; ‘🥛 „ ↴
⌎┈┈┈┈┈┈┈ Canon/non ? NSFW
A-Z order
୨⎯ 🍥 ⎯୧
ASUMA
Strip go ! : like strip poker but go, because that’s the game he’s always playing, every time one of you lose, the loser has to strip
Burning : he would enjoy marking you with the tip of his hot cigarette and pouring hot wax on ur soft exposed skin
Blowing the smoke from his mouth into his partners
DEIDARA
Creampie : “it’s like an explosion into your body!” He wouldn’t enjoy hurting you so his normal explosions wouldn’t be a bedroom thing; so this would be the next best thing in his eyes
Loud sex : he himself is a very loud person so whether it’s you loudly moaning and screaming or him it would get him off everytime
GAARA
Graphiocrotica : you drawing on him would be the biggest turn on for him every time whether it’s you just running ur fingers on his skin making random shapes, or using a pen, marker, or even paint. Full on leaving each shape and word on his body
Praising : not extreme praising like complimenting him on how his body moves in you that would embarrass him but calling him a good boy or even your good boy would be a need for him
HIDAN
Blood play : blood is literally his thing it’s obvious it would be a kind of his
Knife play : another thing to draw blood from you, or even the fear in his eyes and wonder if he will cut you or if he’s just dragging the blade along your exposed skin
ITACHI
Praising : as the respectful person he is praising you and letting you know your doing a good job would be his favorite thing to do “don’t stop your making me feel so good” “your doing amazing” “good girl”
Being blindfolded : the thrill of feeling you touch his body not knowing where he’s going to feel you next
KAKASHI
Exhibitonism : having sex or playing with you in public places, not public to the point where he’s fucking you in the middle of the road but public like in alleys or in the forest during/after missions. Places that people could walk in on the two of you
Marking : he would love leaving hickeys and bite marks all over your body, small ones on your neck for people to see when their talking to you, and bigger ones where only the two of you can see “these are our little secrets”
KIBA
Acarophilia : scratching, him scratching you is his biggest turn on, but when it’s you scratching him it makes his soul leave his body
Marking : unlike Kakashi Kiba would be more open about where he leaves hickeys and bites on you, your neck would always have two big hickeys on each side of your neck accompanied by little ones that lead down to your collar bone, and bite marks everywhere and anywhere, he thinks would look pretty
NARUTO
Praising : he would love any and every praise you give him weather it’s telling how good he’s doing, complimenting how he moves or even simply telling him how amazing he is
Sleeping with it inside you : need I say more?
NEJI
Sexual arousal from intellectual conversations : you debating with him whether you win or lose the fact your smart enough to hold your own would turn him on or even just you talking about something you know a lot about
Bondage : having control over whether your body can move or not
OBITO
Being tied up : if he’s in his playful tobi mood it would bring him such thrill being tied and bound, whether it’s his arms and ankles or just cuffs on his wrists it would turn him on
Discipline : if he’s in his more serious mode he would get off on punishing you, spanking you or simply degrading you would be his favorite thing
SASORI
Toys : he loves to make things that’s just his thing, but seeing the way you move and wiggle when they’re inside you would be his favorite sight
Double penetration : him in one hole and his puppets or toys in the other with you sandwiched in the middle
SHIKAMARU
You telling him what to do and bossing him around
Degrading : he would love to tell you how pathetic you are and what a little slut you are for him (knowing damn well you have full control over him and his body)
YAHIKO (PAIN)
Edging/orgasm control : he wants to tell you when you can and can’t cum, he wants to hear your cry’s and whimpers as you beg him to not stop
Degrading : just like Shikimaru he would love to tell you what a pathetic little slut you are, and how you’re such a whore for him
୨⎯ 🍥 ⎯୧
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aroaceleovaldez · 7 months ago
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everyone talks about "oh what if Percy could bloodbend" but I think there is woeful little discussion about other potentially fucked up big 3 kid powers:
I mean it's already canonical Hades/Pluto kids can just. straight up kill you. Like literally Nico can just tap people on the shoulder and they get Thanos Snapped. Totally fucking dusted. Sometimes bones are left and he just starts controlling that but that seems to be optional. He does it like three times in Tower of Nero.
Not to mention Nico also being able to just rip people's souls out of their still living bodies. Is that a Ghost King thing or a Hades kid thing or a combo from both? Who knows.
All the different ways Big 3 kids can make somebody just. Explode. Zeus* kids can just build up air pressure, Poseidon kids can build up water/blood pressure, and Hades kids can just make your bones splinter and shoot out.
I don't think Zeus kids would be able to mind-control people by controlling electrical impulses BUT they could just send several thousand volts directly through you via touch so like. That's not great.
Bloodbending for Poseidon kids is obvious but Hades kids have SO many options to potentially control people. Puppet their bones? Control their actual literal soul? If you go the route of "shadows are connected to the person" then dragging somebody around by their shadow? Or given that Hades kids are heavily implied to just have nearly all abilities ghosts are said to, there's a decent chance they could Just Straight Up Possess You.
Poseidon kids can control blood (and actually exemplified in canon - seemingly just about any bodily fluid, as Percy makes Achlys start choking on her own tears/snot). They could also theoretically completely dehydrate you in an instant.
Zeus* kids meanwhile can. Make air bubbles in your blood or etc. Which is VERY bad for those of you who are unaware. Hades kids can probably just yoink all the metals out of your blood. Casually revokes your iron privileges. Poseidon kids are just yoinking your blood In General. Etc etc.
And then yknow, the casual natural disasters stuff. Zeus kids making tornados and hurricanes? Plus the aforementioned just throwing massive amounts of electricity around. Probably also able to make dust storms and stuff. Poseidon kids making hurricanes and floods and earthquakes? Or being able to create geysers just wherever they want? Hades kids also being able to make earthquakes or just shatter the ground or create giant ravines and etc. And, yknow, ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE. And aforementioned insta-killing I guess. Bonus Hera kids probably being able to also do tornados and dust storms and etc, possibly moreso than Zeus kids.
*Zeus with an asterisk because wind/air powers actually seem to be more of an Hera/Juno thing and so exclusive to Jason and not Thalia, while Zeus/Jupiter seems to be just the storms/electricity.
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konigsblog · 4 months ago
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MORE creepy König taking advantage of reader with mental health issues 🫶🏼.
TW: NON-CON/DUB-CON, MENTAL HEALTH. MDNI 18+
Therapist!König and his manipulation techniques.
He use his knowledge to benefit himself in sick and depraved ways. König is surprised he hasn't been fired from his job yet. I mean, he doesn't have any educational qualifications to become a therapist, he lied about practically everything. He's the opposite of someone you should seek out for mental health. He'll tear you down, he'll make you believe that you're a horrible person, that everything that has happened to you has happened for a reason. He'll leave you sobbing uncontrollably at his hurtful words, before pulling you close, his filthy and grimey hands wandering places that definitely aren't professional or appropriate.
It's not like you notice his shameful behaviour, how he's using your mental health struggles to benefit himself. He'll rant to you occasionally, using you as a therapist. König forces you to keep quiet about your sessions together, knowing he'd be fired if anyone found out the truth behind his work, how these sessions usually end in his meaty, gross cock being stuffed deep into your sloppy hole.
And when you're completely broken down, he'll build you back up again. You're a puppet to König, someone who he can control. He'll convince you that you need to be shown affection, attention, care, and love from a person that completely understands you. He'll spread your soft, supple thighs with the promise to take great care of you, forcing you to agree as he slaps his wet, slick tip against your sensitive clit.
König knows he's taking advantage of you with your poor mental state, but it's far too amusing and enjoyable for him to stop.
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meidiary · 7 months ago
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( 📁 ) THINGS THEY DO WHEN THEY'RE CRUSHING ON YOU !
synopsis: the strawhats think they're so subtle with their 'nonchalant` acts of love towards you... 😒 they're not
character: sanji, zoro & luffy
warning: pure tooth rotting fluffy fluff & nicknames
mei's note: guess who's back from her hibernation 👋😔.. but on the bright side- l do have loads planned hihhih <3
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SANJI thinks he's so very casual when displaying his crushing feelings. but in reality it is the complete opposite, considering:
♡ the stolen glances of you during meals with all the strawhats, where he doesn't even eat anything, instead being totally engrossed in your cute laughs derived from usopp's unfunny jokes. the way your fingers gently hold your fork always piques his interest. he studies your facial expressions when you taste the food he prepared for everyone, to figure out whether you enjoy it. if you did enjoy the meal, expect to see it thrice as much as usual..
♡ the lingering touches you receive from sanji anytime he has the chance, which, on a side note, never cease to make your cheeks burn;
he needs to get past you to grab some plates => his hands, almost instinctively, gently grab your waist before he lowers his head, asking you "if you don't mind, darling-". one of his hands remains on the sides of your waist even when you've moved aside to let him pass. "thank you," he whispers in your ear, making the hairs on your neck stand. you awkwardly giggle, not finding an appropriate answer.
luffy was letting his 6-year-old child mentality take over; jumping around on deck and bothering the other strawhats trying to get accustomed to the sun shining so early in the morning. he didn't see you walking out of your shared room with nami before accidentally bumping into you, causing you to trip => sanji is there before you could even process the situation. one of his arms tightly holding your legs. In contrast, his other arm was wrapped around your waist, pushing you onto him. "luffy, you little-!" sanji realizes he still has you in bridal style when he cuts himself off, "are you alright, sweetheart? you're not hurt, are you?" he could've sworn your soft smile melted his heart right then and there, even the other strawhats noticed how absolutely smitten this man is for you.
♡ the abundant patience sanji offers you is one of a kind. you won't find him smiling, oh so softly, at any strawhat's mistakes except yours. it's only you that he's so careful with, so gentle and soft-spoken. treating you as if you were a fragile vase, that one wrong move would break you.
"sweetheart- that's not how you cut a carrot," sanji chuckles, witnessing how you, somehow, accidentally mushed the carrot with the knife instead of cutting it. usopp lets out a cackle as he sees the mush which has derived from your cutting skills.
"only you could mess up cutting a carrot!" sanji glares at usopp, making him cover his mouth, trying to sniffle the laugh. he slowly walks out of the kitchen, slightly scared sanji might throw him overboard.
"let's try something else, yeah?" the blond-haired cook smiles at you.
he stands behind you, holding both your hands with his, before grabbing the knife with your right hand and holding a new carrot with your left one. like a puppet master, he controls the motions of your hands, and after a bit, you find the carrots all sliced up. "see? knew could do it," sanji caresses your hands with his.
"sanji..?" you mutter, leaning against his chest.
he looks down at you and hums, waiting for you to say whatever was on you mind. "can we eat now?"
you receive a chuckle from sanji as he nods. "of course darling, we can eat now. thanks a lot for helping me," he sends you a smile before grabbing the plates.
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ZORO knows he's being way too obvious with you, but he frankly just doesn't care enough. everyone and their mother knows he has a crush on you tolerates you more than other people because of:
♡ how protective he is of you. this man won't let a fly harm you, let alone actual enemies during fights. he'd rather come back with some more scars than let them lay a finger on you. hence why you find yourself in the current situation.
zoro's sat down whilst hearing both you and nami lash out on him. a sigh leaves his mouth.
"why are you so stubborn?!" you cry out, eyes red and watery from the sheer fear of almost having lost him.
nami shakes her head, dumbfounded. "you could've fucking died, zoro. has that thought ever crossed your small fucking mind, huh?!"
"I was fine zoro.. I would've made it.. you- you didnt have to-" you utter before cutting yourself off, lip wobbling with tears-stained cheeks. "just.. don't ever do that again, 'kay?" you stand inbetween his widespread legs, your hands meet both sides of his face, pulling it to meet your eyes. "please.."
as if on que, his eyes soften and his furrowed eyebrows loosen immediately. he lets out yet another sigh, but this time, one of defeat. "alright." zoro's heart aches at the sight of those tears on your pretty face. it aches even more knowing he was the cause of them.
the strawhats are astonished, flabbergasted and, on top of that, even a bit annoyed at how easily zoro folded. at that very moment sanji, nami and usopp shared collective eyecontact, they knew how down bad he was. and now they have yet another thing to bully him about..
♡ his over-the-top jealousy has you and everyone within a 100m radius of you in a chokehold. no one dares to as much as look your way anymore. zoro made sure of that. if someone even breathes too hard near you, this man will be on his way to knock him out.
♡ the fact that he has his hands on you 24/7, always seems so obvious and nonchalant to him. he doesn't even think twice about it anymore. his arm around your shoulders, his hand spread on your back, him shamelessly holding your waist with one of his hands while the other is occupied holding some bags.
his arm is wrapped around your waist as you two stand in line. you had gotten the task to do the groceries with zoro, but once you say a smelled a sweet, floraly fragrance, both you and zoro knew this 'short' and 'easy' task would take much longer than planned.
"i'll be super quick, zoro, I promise!" you giggle as you look up at him reassuring. "mhm, ya said that last time, too, remember? ended up taking a whole day, and somehow I had to carry all those bags for ya," zoro raises his brows at you playfully, knowing very well he'd hold all the bags in the world for you if you'd want him to.
"yeah~ i know.. thank you," you smile at him, receiving an eye roll from him. "yeah, yeah, now hurry up and get movin'." you move along to catch up with the que, missing the way he smiles as you so absolutely adored.
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LUFFY himself doesn't realize he treats you differently from the other strawhats. most of the things he does because of his little crush on you usually don't even register in him. but to the strawhats, it's so obvious he likes you due to:
♡ him attentively listening to you whenever you speak, never fails to shock the other strawhats. they could go hours on end, scolding luffy for whatever possible thing he had done, and there would be a good chance he wouldn't even bat an eye. but when you do it- that's when he gets serious.
"luffy! stop fucking around and get serious!" nami yells out, trying to get his attention. "LUFFY!"
luffy keeps peeling the banana in his hand, not paying all too much attention to what nami is on about. it's not that he doesn't care! it's just that this yelling gets repetitive, so he doesn't really pay attention to all the small quarrels every now and then. he's listening to what she's saying, he really is! he just doesn't want to enter the argument.
but then his eyes shoot up from his half-peeled banana. you were talking to him. " 'luf, what we're trying to get at is that you were acting very reckless, and you got us really worried about you, y'know.." you cross your arms over each other before making eye contact with the raven-haired captain.
"sorry," luffy mutters wholeheartedly, looking you in the eyes. his previous grin disappeared after he heard you speak to him. "i'll try not to anymore, 'kay?" he opens the banana completely and points it your way, wanting you to take a bite.
you smile and head over to the spot he's seated in and take a piece of the fruit before leaning against the back of the seat. "sorry I scared you, sunshine..." luffy mutters, soft enough for only you to hear. "really didn't mean to.."
you let out a small sigh of relief. " 'ts alright 'luf! just promise you'll be more careful from now on.. please," you lean against the side of his body as you rise your head, looking at the beautiful night view from the boat.
"i promise I'll try, sunshine, I really will." and with that, his usual toothy smile is back.
nami rolls her eyes, scoffing, as she munches on some of the pastry sanji had prepared earlier. sanji nudges zoro to witness the scene unfolding before their eyes. usopp sniffles his laugh with his hand, hiding behind zoro.
they could all agree on the fact that you were his soft spot.
♡ his usual grin being replaced with a soft smile whenever you speak is another thing that luffy never realizes. yet the others do.
you'd speak about the most mundane chores or moments you've experienced. albeit it being some of the most tedious things known to man, he'd listen so thoughtfully. as if anticipating a shocking ending, yet there in reality, he wasn't anticipating anything like that. he genuinely just lived your voice.
the way you pronounce the words. the small differences in pronunciation between you and others always bring a small to his face, he finds it absolutely adorable. the specific words you use to describe something never cease to make him smile ear to ear.
plus points if you're talking about something you're passionate about. he'd be so overwhelmed with how endearing you look speaking about your hobbies and loves. the small smile on your pretty face, growing wider and your tone getting giddier.
in conclusion, this man loves to listen to you yap about anything, to be honest.
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my other one piece fics
mei's note pt.2 : also if you've seen this post before it was finished (bc someone accidentally published it before it was done) no you didn't...
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