#the tombies (me) are gonna love this one

[theriverbeyond]

got to meet BARBIE Alecto at Fanime 2023!!!

[hermesserpent-stuff]

SO a person asked about silver sable in present day for the 'of tombstones and timetravel au' and while i dont have stuff for that we do have some lovely conversations with silvermane in the present day, the poor confused old man dealing with a time traveling waiter!peter.

K for @kzele H for hermes 

So theses are some conversations betweens silvermane and peter and tombstone and silvermane. 

Warning for platonic yandere in tombstone towards peter. Under the cut because LONG

Basics 

Peter takes a shortcut into the Italian section of town and runs into Sable. 

K: *bump* "Oh, sorry!" "My bad" ". . .Wait a minute." "Oh, crap." *books it*

H: Silvermane: wait Hold on! " But Peter is already three blocks away

He later sees peter on TV near Lincoln at some sort of gala event chatting

K: [silvermane] tries researching him to find him and figure out what is actually going on.

And then the conversation when they talk again after Silvermane has done his research. 

K: Asks him [peter] how he hasn't aged and does not buy having a really good skincare routine. Peter still had to try, though.

H: Peter: That was... My grandfather? Silvermane: *not impressed*

K: Peter: "I mean, there isn't really a plausible response to this that's normal, too."

H: Slivermane: I suppose that's true.

K: Peter: "Remember 'Back to The Future?' Or read 'A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court?' It'll be easier to explain if you have.

H: Silvermane: "... Like that one British show from the 70s?"

K: Peter: *sighs* ". . .How familiar are you with time-travel in general?"

H: Silvermane: Stares at him a little blankly."one episode of doctor who back in the day. Daughter was dating a nerd at the time. Are you trying to tell me you time traveled kid?"

K: Peter: "Seeing as I was born no earlier than sixteen years ago, with full family records proving it, and no signs of aging since you last saw me. what do you think?"

H: Silvermane: "... Point taken. Any particular reason you decided to hang around Tombstone both now and in the past?"\

K: Peter: "Uhh, funny story. I landed on him by accident when I was thrown (also by accident) in the past. We fought, I trash-talked and flipped him, and he found that funny. *mumbles* Masochist. *clears throat* Then, he happened to see me in the present and wanted answers, too."

*shrugs* "He's seemed like he needs a friend (if only to keep him from being too much of an edgelord). *pauses* A favor? For what?"

H: Silvermane: "I still owe you from back in the day. So. If you need something done, I'm here. I don't pass those out lightly."

K: Peter: "Thanks? I'm not sure what you needed to repay considering you always made sure to tip. What did I really do besides waiting on you? Do you take knowing your food preferences that seriously?"

H: Silvermane: *silvermane isn't gonna spell it out but definitely is staring at the kid with a quirked eyebrow* "I do. Good waitstaff is always important. Especially when they go above and beyond"

K: Peter: *Peter is now officially of the mindset that all crime lords are weird* "Alrighty then, I'll be sure to save that for a rainy day. Oh, hey, did you run afoul of Tomby while you were looking for me? He has a tendency to threaten people when I'm not around. Sometimes for stupid reasons, too."

H: Silvermane: "he had some... Choice words for me. He's still a punk at heart."

K: Peter:*groans* "I'll bet he did. The only difference between now and then when it comes to threats is that he uses subtler phrasing for plausible deniability."

H: Silvermane:*small snort and eye roll* "Watch out for yourself kid. World's a dangerous place. And as much as I think that punks on your side, he's grown a lot more dangerous over the years. Keep an eye open." *Starts walking away*

K: Peter: "That goes for you, too. I'd make it miserable for him if he tried anything on me and anyone I know, but I can't watch over you as easily. I'm not dumb enough to think that he won't make an attempt to off you sooner or later, especially if he knows you talked to me."

H: Silvermane: "Oh, I've been in this game a long time Peter. It's not like no one tried to kill me in prison. You don't need to worry about it." *Dramatic exit*

Here is the conversation with Tombstone and Silvermane:

 K: What do you think a convo between Tomby and Silvermane would sound like? You said that both prob lost their cool

H: mmmm i think tomby would be very very much like stay away from peter. I dont care what you think you might owe him. doesnt matter. keep away from the kid. and silvermane woud be like/: this isnt your town. Tomby: ah but it is now. your time in prison has left your empire to crumble to ruins 

K: Yikes, and Silver would not like that one bit. Shoots back that it won't be for long and Tombstone's like, "uh huh, sure. You already had your shot." Then, Silvermane is like, "Well, you def don't own the kid. That's one thing that he's made clear: you're not his boss or guardian and it's not your business if he talks to me."

At this tombstone loses his cool. Kezle and I agreed that Silvermane sort of cares about Peter. 

H: [Silvermane] knows that holding the eyes of a crime boss is often a danger for people. also that look in tomby's eyes is very dangerous and very possessive. more possessive than it had been when the guy had been a young punk

K: He's like, "Bruh, your yandere is showing and it's not super healthy for Peter for you to be like this."

H: Tombstone: "shut up old man."

K: Silvermane: "It's friendly advice, you jumped-up punk. You'll lose him and your friendship if you try to control who he talks to. Peter isn't the type to let you get away with that."

H: Tombstone:*tombstone narrows his eyes* "I dont think you truly understand either of us."

K: SIlvermane: "How's that? Are you going to try and tell me that he's fine with you threatening me right now? Or is there something else I'm supposedly missing?"

H: Tombstone: Tombstone doesn't want to admit that the man may be right. Not even to himself. He stays silent for a moment. "Peter may not always agree with my methods. But we do share a lot of goals. Goals that are not benefited by you over involving yourself in his life."

K: Silvermane: *snorts* "Goals. And how am I interfering with these conveniently vague 'goals' by simply talking to him?"

H: Tombstone: Tombstone thinking about the risks of Silverman finding out Peter is Spider-Man if he is near him too frequently. "I'm sure you'd feel much the same if someone was talking too frequently to your daughter."

K: SIlvermane: "And now we're back to the fact that she is MY kid. And now an adult. You don't have that claim to Peter to make that decision for him. Only his par-guardian does."

H: Tombstone: "Someone has to look after him. Especially with the circles he accidentally falls into. No disrespect to his Guardian but she is not prepared to make the proper decisions. "

K: Silvermane: "Are you going over the Parkers' heads for his sake or yours? And even if it is for his sake, how many times can you do that without becoming a part of the problem?"

H: Tombstone: "..." Tombstone doesn't have an answer for that. It is a concern he holds. Peter had run off before when he had been in the past. He had also chosen not to speak with Tombstone as soon as he had returned to the present. Tombstone wants, no, needs to be the person Peter turns to and keeps that kid safe. But it could go awry so easily…

"Peter cannot always see the full picture."

K: Silvermane: "Neither can you apparently, considering you're making threats to someone who doesn't want to hurt him and has no intention of ever doing so."

H: Tombstone: "..." Now tomby really doesn't know what to say. Sure, silvermane has no intentions of hurting Peter now. Now being the key word. But tombstone is not confident that even Peter's charming personality can save him from the potential fallout of his secret identity. He knows how Silvermane handled rats and snitches in the past and a secret heroes fate is bound to be far worse.

[pancake-breakfast]

Trigun Stampede Spoilers

As we get to the final episode of the season, those familiar with the basic story beats of Trigun know there's a decent chance we could end this arc on a bit of a downer note. But Orange won't do that; no, they can't do that. Not if they want to stay true to the themes of the story.

Vash is the ever-blooming flower in the desert, the light in the darkest of storms, hope springing eternal even in the face of the most monstrous situations. To end the series on a note that lacks even the tiniest of flickers of that light would be to do a disservice to all that Vash is.

But in spite of all the horror that happened in Episode 11, I think Orange will pull through. Why? Because they've demonstrated multiple times that they're keenly aware of this aspect of Vash's character, and have gone out out of their way to express that.

I'm just gonna go over three places where they've shown that below, though I believe there are more to be found:

The Opening Song - Kvi Baba by Tombi I could go over the entirety of the lyrics, but I'll just focus on the bridge and chorus. 失いたくない I don't wanna lose これ以上の愛 Any more love 失いたくない I don't wanna lose これ以上の愛 Any more love 今⽇と明⽇の境なら未だ無 The border between today and tomorrow is still missing 眠れずに⾒る悪夢は終わらない Sleepless nightmares never end それでも僕は希望を忘れない But I never forget my hope それでも明けぬ夜ならここにない Through every dark night there's a bright day, even here This might as well just be Vash's theme song. I mean, this is the guy who's all about Love and Peace, who's body is a scarred-up mess because he's constantly putting himself in danger to help people. He's lost so much and hurt so much and been through so much, but even through the worst of it, he can't help but keep striving toward his goal. (Brief spoilers for '98 in the next paragraph. If you want to avoid them, skip to #2.) Those who have watched '98 (and I think maybe Maximum fans? IDK, I don't remember much of Maximum...) might remember the Ericks arc. Even then, when he's supposed to be in hiding and not being Vash the Stampede, boy can't stop himself from interfering (sometimes at great risk to himself) when he sees others in danger. He's always gotta help, and he's always gotta keep trying to pull everyone he can find toward that hope that he strives for.

The Soundtrack Itself The soundtrack, as it should, goes through a lot of different moods, but despite the foreboding and anxiety in the penultimate track (titled Millions Knives), the final track (titled Trigun Stampede) is light and hopeful. It also has lyrics. I couldn't find an official source for them, but it seems to include the following lines: Call me Vash the Stampede Live in Love and Peace Maybe a musician for an opening or closing song is gonna miss a few story points if they're not paying attention, but it seems unlikely they'd casually overlook this element in their soundtrack. Not when they've put so much work into capturing a reasonable facsimile of Vash. Additionally, a well-designed soundtrack should reflect the story it's trying to tell... and while I might be stretching a bit on this one, I'd like to think Stampede's soundtrack is well done. So it begs the question, why end the soundtrack that way if you're not going to have the story circle back to that light?

The Plant Manifestation at the End of Episode 11 I actually missed this one at first, so I'm glad other people noticed and pointed it out. After everything that happened in Ep 11, after Knives went after every memory and every moment of value to Vash and removed them with surgical precision, apparently he still can't entirely remove Vash's memory of Rem, because she's the figure blooming over July. Not Vash. Not Nai. Not another more plant-ish being. Rem, the surrogate mother who meant everything to Vash, whose brief existence continues to spur him forward to hope in the face of hopelessness. Knives tried to take everything away from Vash, to leave him as nothing but a husk, but some aspect of Rem still remains.

But I find myself wondering if Vash will be in any condition to keep holding that light at the season's end. I wonder if, instead of giving it back to Vash right away, Orange will instead give it to Meryl, and she'll hold onto it until Vash comes back to himself. Seems like she's holding a lot right now, but she seems both willing and able. Meryl's always been a bit of a fighter in her own way, and I could see her with all her determination declaring that no, this is not the end, that she will keep moving forward toward the ideal Vash chased, and she'll drag him along until he can walk the path on his own again, and then they'll both walk it together.

Hopefully, Wolfwood will be there, too. And who knows? Maybe they'll pick up another friend along the way....

[thescrapbookingscientist]

Biweekly Media Roundup

- Trigun (Anime) - Ah yes a new hyper fixation for the month, I’ve been watching both the OG series and Stampede after being enticed by spoilers of some alien activity, something I had completely forgotten about from when I originally watched it back in middle school. I like both for different reasons, and desperately want to do a comparison of what aspects do and don’t work for each adaptation given the themes each is trying to convey. For a quick thought I would say that OG does a great job of fleshing out it’s world and central cast as interesting/likable concepts while Stampede is doing a good job expanding upon the stories philosophical arguments and humanizing (haha) the main villain. At  the moment I do prefer the original, both for it’s more likeable world and how that lends itself to the “All people deserve a chance as people will improve when offered kindness” message, but to be fair to Stampede it’s far from a finished product and it’s most recent episode has been it’s most solid yet, so we’ll see where it goes. Really hope the theory that Roberto is Milly’s father comes true, I miss her.

- Sense 8 (TV) - Finally finished Sense 8, debating on whether I’ll write up a full review ranking each characters storyline from best to worst. It definitely had it’s issues but I’m glad I watched it, the sci-fi concept was pretty unique, the various international locations and fun framing made it quite nice to look at, I appreciated the focus on the wide spectrum of sexualities, races, and identity, and in general it just had a fun cast of characters with various interesting plotlines. That being said, the main thing I’ll remember about it for awhile is how in the finale, my sister commented how surprising it was that the 2.5 hour special hadn’t featured a single sex scene in a series notorious for them, only for it to end with a 10-minute-long sex scene featuring every major character in the show intercut to look like one giant orgy, with the final shot of the entire series being a pan over to a used dildo. Wow. No notes, what a fitting end.

- Next In Fashion (TV) - “Watching” is strong word for what I’m doing with this, which is fast forwarding through to see the completed outfits at the end. Still, I do enjoy seeing what kinds of fashion people create when given specific prompts, it’s fun. I basically never agree with the judges though.

- Ranking of Kings (Anime) - Hey boy it’s me the haunted mirror from your childhood. Drink this potion made from your liquified dead father boy, It will grant you magical powers, believe me boy I would never lie to you. 

- Gintama (Anime) - Yup.

- Welcome to Demon School! (Anime) - Weekly dose of wholesome fun, does a great job at making me love every single character.

- Last Week Tonight (TV) - We’re back! The story on AI awareness about killed me, I think more company's should employ robots that try to convince customers to leave their wives for them. 

- The S Classes That I Raised (Webcomic) - Yup.

- Persona 5 Royal (Video Game) - Very funny to me that no less than 5 of the ladies confident storylines revolve around rekindling their connection with a close female friend. It’s like the writers were like hmm, so what is something women love in which they’ll base their entire lives around? I got it. Other women. Like based my dude but there are other women-centric stories out there. Also, if you’re gonna feed me all these wlw you gotta stop cockblocking me in my attempts to date Yusuke.

As usual I’m also keeping up with The Greatest Estate Developer, Land of the Lustrous, The Vampire Dies In No Time, and Buddy Daddies.

Listening to: I Really Want To Stay At Your House cover by Lunity, Brutal by Olivia Rodrigo, TOMBI by Kvi Baba, My Kind by Hilary Duff, This Is Not a Party by The Wombats, Odds Are by Barenaked Ladies, Nothing is Going Right by Meiyo, Snakes by PVRIS, The Sound by The 1975, Rule #4 by Fish in a Birdcage, They’re Only Human cover by Annapantsu, Kiss Me, Son of God by They Might Be Giants, Still Feel by Half-Alive, My Eyes by Neil Patrick Harris