#there are no major unknowns with it as a project. i will continue it just couldn't make up my mind about one specific thing

[4lph4kidz]

idk maybe talking about my writing seems conceited for who hasn't published much of anything and hasn't finished anything as of yet, or maybe all this hand wringing is annoying, but i've written a lot of bits and pieces over the years and it's enough for me to be reasonably comfortable with the basics, you know? but working on something this long is presenting a whole other world of trouble for me and i think i accidentally put a hell of a lot more of myself into it than i meant to. so i'm feeling particularly vulnerable about it being out there and existing. it means a lot to me and that's scary!

[schlattslonghairytoes]

watching every single barbie movie 🎀 🩷

content creator ted nivison x actress reader

a youtuber dms you asking for help with a video, do you agree and meet this overly passionate film major, or opt out and possibly never meet the man of your dreams

ted had this video planned for months.

his goal was to watch every single barbie movie before the movie came out

and it was going well

the cast had already been announced and trailers had been released

and he had always loved your work

he thought you had a great filmography, and i mean, he also thought you were really hot

so he was really excited to see what you would bring to the screen

a week into his project he noticed he was getting a lot of attention on twitter (i'm not calling that shit X.)

he ignored it as usual, until his friend tucker told him he needed to go take a look, and tucker did not mess around about that stuff.

if he told you to check something, you better look.

he opened the clip of you and jack manifold, seemingly on his you laugh you lose series

the video started and you still maintained all three lives, while jack only had one left, you two were joking around and laughing

"objects ive shoved up my ass" was the next video and you and jack recited it together, almost making you laugh, ted was starting to regret listening to tucker, i mean this had nothing to do with him

until jack told chat to send in edits of his friends, and asked you to rate them, you agreed as that shit was funny, the first few rolled in, a couple "he's cute!" one "she's hot." but nothing that people cared about.

then came an edit of a man who you didnt know the name, but lord he was good looking, you barely even noticed how quiet, and red, you got

starstruck, you finally found words "jack who is that." jack was desperately trying to not laugh, as the stream was not near how long he wanted

"ted, my friend ted nivison" jack let out as he tried to calm his breathing.

you leaned close into your mic "chat, is this man accounted for." you stared intently at chat waiting for an answer, when you saw many no's you smiled

"this is a message to ted television- wait what was his name? nivison, doesnt even matter. if you see this, i want you. dm me, you beautiful, beautiful man." the stream quickly ended as jack couldnt keep it together.

ted was sat in bed, staring at his phone, for maybe twenty minutes, he rewatched the clip countless times

he was speechless

why was his celeb crush calling him beautiful?!?

he was too scared to dm you, like what if you didnt see it

or what if you just said it cause you were live?

so decided to grow a pair and ask jack for your number, it felt more formal that way.

the day after your stream with jack you recieved a text from an unknown number

and god you really hoped it was the man from the edit

so thats what you did, and he answered your facetime within two rings. hot.

his face and dopey grin filled the screen, as well as your heart "hi ted." you smiled at him

"hi." the call was silent for a while, as you two kinda just took the other in

"i have a question." ted finally broke the scilence when you nodded and gave him the go away he began his tangent.

"well as we know you are in the upcoming barbie movie, and ive began a project to watch every single barbie movie before i go and see the movie, i was wondering if you would like to maybe, be in the video, you of course dont have to, i understand if thats weird but i rea-"

"ill be in your video ted, just tell me where you want me and ill be there." ted smiled anxiously, you could tell how much this ment to him.

you two continued talking for the coming weeks

and became very close, like it was so obvious you wanted eachother

flirting, joking, and borderline sexting became normal for the two of you

and even with very tough scheduling

and alot of sacrifices

you were going to miss one interview to drive to teds house and spend a whole day watching barbie movies with him

finding out ted only lived like 45 minutes from you was the peak of your year

on your drive to his house you thought about how fast this man made an impact on your chaos filled life

you spent most days on camera with a mic in your face, being asked questions by people who dont know you

today you were gonna watch nine movies with someone who you actually hoped would never stop asking you questions

when you arrived at teds apartment, you were filled with excitement, what should you even do when you saw him, hug him, kiss him?

you were scared you were gonna make a decision you would later regret, but the moment the door flung open you knew that wasnt possible

ted launched at you and swept you off your feet in a bone crushing hug, and you couldnt of been happier.

you stayed like that for a moment until he finally let you down and you could actually get a good look at him

his tall frame filled your view, and you felt yourself going feral

the day was spent watching movies, the occasional makeout sesh, and filming for his youtube channel

lets just say, thank jack manifold, for getting you on that grind ;)

guys im back, still a little sick, but we prevail 💪

cant stop that jack manifold grind 😉

im so sorry the ending sucks butt, im so tired and want to nap, so the 5 of yall that read this will have to live

[thehellenisticworld]

Hellenistic Alexandria

When Alexander founded in the Nile Delta one of his many Alexandrias in 331 BCE, he would have been overjoyed to know that this settlement would later become one of the cultural capitals of the ancient world—a city that still bears his name today. This location was not entirely unknown to the Greeks. In fact, it was on the nearby island of Pharos, just across the limestone ridge where Alexandria would rise, that Homer situated the abode of Proteus, a prophetic sea god. Nor was Alexandria completely barren; the small Egyptian fishing village of Rhakotis, which would later become one of the city’s neighborhoods, was already established there. The site’s potential as a trading hub was evident from the thriving nearby ports of Canopus and Heracleion.

Researching Alexandria presents significant challenges. One major obstacle is that the city has been continuously inhabited since its founding, which severely limits opportunities for excavation. However, recent archaeological surveys and explorations of the old harbor—now submerged beneath the Mediterranean—have uncovered remarkable treasures and provided invaluable insights. For example, the discovery of several statues depicting Ptolemaic kings as pharaohs has challenged the long-held perception of Alexandria as a purely Greek-looking city. While the predominance of Greek culture is not disproven, these findings add nuance to previously accepted views. Nevertheless, much of what we know about Hellenistic Alexandria still relies heavily on literary sources, such as the writings of the geographer Strabo.

After Ptolemy I Soter gained control of Egypt following the Partition of Babylon in 323 BCE, he initially ruled briefly from Memphis before relocating with his retinue to Alexandria. Under his leadership, the city continued to grow and prosper. Alexandria was organized as a Greek polis and has often been regarded as distinct from the rest of Egypt. This distinction is notably reflected in its later Roman designation, Alexandria ad Aegyptum, meaning "Alexandria by Egypt," rather than "in Egypt."

Alexandria has often been described by ancient authors as being shaped like a cloak (chlamys), stretching approximately 6 kilometers from east to west and only about 2 kilometers from north to south. The city’s neighborhoods were laid out according to an organized grid plan, a design attributed to Deinokrates of Rhodes. Historically, both scholars and the public were quick to regard this type of urban organization as an enlightened Greek invention. However, the Egyptians had been building towns in this manner for centuries. One of the defining features of Alexandria, which astonished its visitors, was its broad streets lined with numerous stoai, giving the sides of the streets the appearance of a continuous colonnade.

The city was dominated by the vast palace complex of the Ptolemies, located to the east of the Great Harbour, primarily on Cape Lochias. This grand district housed the renowned Museum and Library, the tomb of Alexander the Great, and the sepulchers of the Ptolemies, eventually united within a pyramid-shaped structure commissioned by King Ptolemy IV (r. 221–204 BCE). The palatial quarter spanned between one-third and three-quarters of the city's area and included open spaces accessible to the public. These spaces hosted significant festivals, such as the Adonis festival, vividly described in Idyll 15 by Theocritus. Such celebrations were pivotal in nurturing a shared "Alexandrian" identity. Nearby, the Temple of Poseidon and the Theatre on Hospital Hill added to the city's cultural and architectural splendor.

One of the most celebrated architectural projects initiated by Ptolemy I was the renowned Lighthouse on the island of Pharos, designed by Sostratos of Knidos. Over time, the lighthouse became synonymous with the island itself. However, Ptolemy I did not live to see its completion. Beyond its practical function as a beacon for seafarers, the lighthouse served as a powerful piece of state propaganda, symbolizing the might and grandeur of the Ptolemaic dynasty. Later hailed as one of the “Seven Wonders of the World,” the Lighthouse of Pharos stood as a testament to ancient engineering and ambition. Sadly, earthquakes and the subsequent reuse of its materials have reduced this once-majestic structure to little more than its foundations.

Diodoros tells us that in his time (1st century BCE), approximately 300,000 "free" inhabitants lived in Alexandria. According to Jane Rowlandson, this suggests a total population of around 500,000. Most of these inhabitants were of Greek and Macedonian descent. As vividly portrayed by Theocritus in his Idyll 15, many settlers from the Hellenic world initially retained the identity of their mother city during the 3rd century BCE. However, a study by Willy Clarysse (1998) indicates that by the 2nd century, wealthier citizens had begun to develop a distinct "Alexandrian" identity.

In addition to Greeks and Macedonians, many other ethnic groups lived in the metropolis, including Egyptians, who resided in the neighborhood of Necropolis. The hostility and racism prevalent in the city are vividly depicted in the aforementioned Idyll by Theocritus, which describes Egyptians as nothing more than thieves. Another important community in Alexandria was the Jewish population. According to tradition, it was here that the Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek by 72 translators at the request of King Ptolemy II (r. 285–247 BCE). Over time, a significant portion of the Jewish community came to embrace Greek culture, in stark contrast to their northern counterparts, who fought wars to resist such assimilation.

Near the Egyptian quarter stood the Temple of Serapis, also known as the Serapeum. The temple, in its recognizable form, was constructed under Ptolemy III (r. 246–222 BCE). Serapis was a syncretic deity, arising from the combined worship of Osiris and Apis. He was often depicted in a Hellenized style, and tradition holds that Ptolemy I introduced this god to the settlers of Alexandria. The goal was to provide them with a local yet familiar deity they could relate to, in contrast to the traditional Egyptian gods, whose animal-headed forms were alien to the Greek settlers. At the same time, the Osiris and Apis elements in the cult ensured that Serapis also resonated with the local Egyptian population. Over time, Serapis became an immensely popular god, venerated throughout the entire Mediterranean.

Another focal point of Alexandria’s religious life was the dynastic cult. After their deaths, the monarchs of Egypt were venerated as gods, and festivals were held in their honor, such as the Ptolemaieia, the Arsinoeia, and the Basileia. The queens, in particular, were widely celebrated throughout the city. 

The will of the Alexandrians was poorly represented in political life, with key institutions, such as the bouleuterion, wielding little power. There is also no evidence of an assembly of the people. The political arena was dominated by the royal family, and understandably so, as Alexandria served as the center of a Hellenistic kingdom. Nevertheless, the people found other ways to express their opinions on matters of public interest. In our sources, riots are frequently mentioned, such as the unrest that occurred after the murder of Arsinoe III.  Olivier Goossens

[drunkenskunk]

So, despite knowing that it's probably futile, I called the office of my senator once again, in the vain hope that the staffer I talked to will pass on the message and get her to see reason in regards to KOSA.

Trouble is: how? Catherine Cortez-Masto is a cosponsor of the bill. I couldn't appeal to her sense of morality, as she's a politician; she had her ethics surgically removed before coming into office. I couldn't appeal to the stated goal of the bill, protecting kids, because if she had spoken to a single cybersecurity professional, she would know that the bill is dangerous to kids, adults, and anyone wanting to use the internet. I couldn't appeal to the Constitution, because if she actually gave a shit about the US Constitution or the Bill of Rights, she would already know its a blatant, flagrant violation of both the 1st and 4th amendments, and be trying to kill the bill, not cosponsor it. And I probably couldn't appeal to the fact that the bill was dreamed up by the same republican think-tank that dreamed up Project 2025, the plan to turn what little remains of our democracy into a theocratic dictatorship run by evangelical christians; she probably believes she's wealthy and influential enough that it will insulate her from the worst effects, assuming she isn't already in on it anyway.

It was a puzzler. And then I had an idea. This is what I said:

"Do you know who Steve Sisolak is? You do? Good. Do you want to know why he's the former Nevada state governor, and not the current one? It's because Sisolak was, without exaggeration, the most unpopular politician I've ever come across. No one liked him. Democrats hated him, republicans REALLY hated him, libertarians hated him, and even people like me, who have never felt represented by any of the major political parties in the state but still vote in every single election because we consider it our civic duty as American citizens, didn't like him either. I can't think of a single person who ever had anything positive to say about his tenure as governor, and as a result? The voter base in Nevada was willing to do anything and vote for anyone just to get him out of office.

"I tell you this, because if Senator Cortez-Masto does not change course, and continues to cosponsor and vote yes on the incredibly unpopular, incredibly dangerous, blatantly unconstitutional KOSA bill, then she will make Steve Sisolak's year, as he will no longer be the most reviled politician in the state of Nevada. If she does not reverse course, she will be committing political suicide on a scale hithertofore unknown to science. If she votes yes, then she might as well pull a Mitch McConnell and announce her retirement right now, because any of her political aspirations for the future, at least among the Nevada voter base, will be dead in the water.

"Now, I don't know how many phone calls you've gotten about KOSA. But I suspect it's not as many as you should. Most people in this state don't have time to call their senators. Most people are working two or three jobs to make ends meet with stagnant wages among the rising cost of living and landlords finding any excuse to increase our rent. Hell, I'm calling you on my lunchbreak right now. But despite all that... people here still find time to vote. And if there is one thing I've learned about voters in this state in the 18 years I've been able to? It's that if you piss us off, the people in this state will absolutely vote entirely out of spite, just to burn everything down. KOSA is so incredibly unpopular among the voter base of this state, that when she's next up for reelection? She will find herself out of a job, mark my words.

"Make sure you tell the Senator that, word for word. And if you can't remember, just play her this phone call that I already know is being recorded."

Will this do any good?

I don't know.

Probably not.

But it made me feel a bit better, at least.

[firestorm09890]

FUCK what I said about the majority of significant changes to dialogue in Re:CoM being to adjust Axel's characterization, the most egregious change is actually this

(GBA CoM)

(Re:CoM)

if I had to guess, the reason for this change was because in GBA CoM, The Superior was a spooky, unknown being at the head of this Organization we had very little knowledge on, and for Vexen, the guy who runs his mouth constantly about how much better he is than the others, to be terrified of him, he must be some pretty scary dude. But then after kh2 we know him, it's Xemnas, he's very dramatic, he likes to talk to the moon, and the effect of your mind filling in the gaps about what "The Superior" must be like is gone. So it wasn't really necessary anymore, right?

(rest under cut because it's long)

Except... the way they changed it is so weird. In the GBA version, what's happening is pretty clear:

Marluxia tells Vexen that his project is a failure

Vexen demonstrates that he does not give a shit about Marluxia's opinion

he does care very much about The Superior's opinion, though, and Marluxia uses this to blackmail him into eliminating Sora- an action which is nonsensical, as the entire point of what they're doing needs Sora alive, making it clear to everyone in the room that he is deliberately sending Vexen to die

and then after that, when Vexen shows up to fight Sora, he goes "if you want to fight me for real you've gotta do it in the memories from the other side of your heart lol bye" and Sora goes "huh? other side?" and then it cuts to a scene on the top floor:

and then this gets more into subtext but here, Vexen has realized he's totally fucked and his only hope is to mess directly with Marluxia's plans (well, they were the Organization's plans, but it's pretty obvious by now Marluxia's abusing his power for his own purposes) by giving Sora more information than he should know. This does get the traitor gang worried enough to send Axel to go kill him (as opposed to just letting Sora take care of him, which was presumably the original plan)- he very specifically cuts Vexen off to keep him from saying too much (this is retained between the original and the remake)

Anyway, what happens in Re:CoM sort of follows the same order of events, but everything is changed slightly in a way that just makes things more confusing.

Marluxia tells Vexen his project is a failure and Vexen demonstrates that he doesn't give a shit about Marluxia's opinion, as before

Marluxia threatens Vexen with a weapon, rather than threatening to tell the Superior

this, notably, does not seem to faze Vexen very much. he continues to run his mouth while having the scythe pointed at him.

Xemnas is still leveraged- Marluxia points out it was the Superior who entrusted him with the castle

...even though reasonably Vexen would already be aware of this, and has still demonstrated that he has zero respect for Marluxia despite it

the lines about betraying the Organization being a capital crime are retained, probably because it's super relevant later, but then that line of thinking is abandoned in favor of Marluxia and Larxene just taunting Vexen instead

The part where Marluxia says "do it. you won't" could be seen as a sort of threat... if not for Axel's line: "You give a challenge like that to Vexen and he'll seriously want to eliminate Sora." It frames it all as though Vexen went to fight Sora out of some sort of pride.

And look, Vexen may have a temper and a superiority complex, but he's not stupid. They're obviously baiting him. Plus, what happened to him seeing himself as above the others and countering things he doesn't like with "well actually I'm higher ranked than you and also you're an idiot"? Is he that insecure in his fighting capabilities? I could deal with characterization changes doing him dirty if it didn't also make no sense in the context of the plot.

So now we have Vexen going to try to kill Sora, something that really makes no sense to do, out of pride. What was the purpose of sending Sora to Twilight Town? Also pride, over the fact that he managed to get that information? Giving the writing the benefit of the doubt, I could say that these nonsensical actions can be explained as evidence that Nobodies can have hearts and people with hearts do strange and rash things, but that just feels like a reach, which is bad because what they had in GBA CoM worked perfectly fine and made sense without any reaching for the "idk emotions make you do strange things" explanation.

It continues. After Vexen gives Sora the Twilight Town card in Re:CoM and Sora wonders about what the "other side" means, this is that version of the conversation the top floor members have:

...what? "If Sora disappears, that would mess up the Organization's plans"? what are you worried about? the only reason Sora would disappear is if Vexen killed him. there's no way they think Vexen being in Twilight Town would give him an advantage, right? they know he's a pathetic fighter. "Vexen has clearly committed a treasonous act against the Organization" HOW? HOW IS IT CLEAR? they don't express any worry about Sora learning too much, up until Axel says "I came to stop you from talking too much" when killing Vexen- and that being there makes it seem like they were worried about Sora learning to much, but if that's the case, why would they replace the perfectly serviceable lines in the above scene? it's just... baffling that they would want to lean into the narrative that Vexen going to kill Sora (which he'd been goaded into doing) is the problem here, because it just makes so little sense compared to what it was originally.

once again giving them the benefit of the doubt: Marluxia's real plan was to take over the Organization, and he saw an easy way to pick off one of the members, so he took it. the motive for stopping Vexen doesn't actually matter.

buuuuut it's the same as with Vexen earlier. Marluxia may be too self-absorbed and power-hungry to notice Axel is scheming against him, but he, too, is an intelligent man. he's plotted for a while, getting into Xemnas's good graces in order to be put in charge of the Castle. this is incredibly sloppy for him. I guess it could be said that getting so close to his goal would make him sloppy, but again, if they'd just left things the way they were in GBA CoM, I wouldn't even have to be saying this

in conclusion: GBA Chain of Memories' intra-Organization strife subplot is so tightly woven with calculated moves on all sides that Re:CoM changing certain things without taking into consideration the consequences makes certain parts of the plot fall flat and become far more confusing than in the original story

[naerwenia]

Nemesis, The Ultimate Weapon - Nemesis x female reader

The first chapter here. This is the second chapter.

I actually wanted to continue my first part to make a more substantial forbidden romance type story, or just go for tentacle smut. But that's next, this is just a small in-between chapter full of people looking at reader who sees Nemesis as more than a weapon, while also being studied at Umbrella after what happened at Raccoon city.

A sight set on the weapon that was put away in a box for safekeeping, a tube full of liquid made to house the body of a weapon. Black strips of leather wrapping the body in a strangely humanoid form; four limbs made of muscle and tendrils, a head elongated and mouth with lips pulled back, a grim expression made only by the teeth as the eyes of the scientists were drawn to them only when looking at the creature they had created. But the girl in front of the tube, hands touching the glass, could not see anything, even when she tried to strain her eyes to imagine the features onto the glass mask put on Nemesis. There was nothing, but she still remembered his features, his skin, his touch, even the more unpleasant parts like smell and anger in his growl. All those made her feel safe around him, like someone who would protect her from the unknown. Even now, being shown him next to a wall, in a lab, without his face visible, she knew he was more than a weapon, more than an asset. She was just a girl behind a protective glass, hoping he could feel the warm touch she left on the glass and the longing she felt inside the heart beating in her chest resting against the cold glass. 

Every day one of the guards and a scientist took her to see the Nemesis-T02, so she could see the specimen was alright. She was told not to speak as it might mess with the monitoring equipment, but it really was because her voice had messed with the orders given to the BOW and they had not come to a working conclusion to know what had done that and why. The doctors and scientists could not even agree if it could mess with the whole weapon or just the parasite even in regenerative stasis, or maybe activate brain functions Umbrella deemed unnecessary. They would not let her undermine the project just because the girl saw some resemblance of humanity in the tyrant, especially when it was almost finished, almost perfect for large scale production and sale. Of course it was a good thing they caught the vulnerability now, but it was such an odd and inconvenient one that it might as well be a major issue in the research. Debrief was done right after the memory chip had been removed and any irregularities mapped, but there was nothing indicating a problem in the organic material or the behaviour of the parasite. So here the scientist was, guiding a girl who might be the only irregularity in this equation, but they were not allowed to take her out or put her away.  

The guard tapped her shoulder, and slowly the girl separated from the glass, still looking up at the creature. The guard had seen the tyrant in action, a weapon was a light word to describe the destruction it left in its wake. The man behind the helmet tried to keep himself away from the situation mentally, but the way you looked at the T02 made him take another look every time, questioning if he had lost a bit of humanity in himself as you seemed to regard the Nemesis as a human too, yet he could see only the vague outline of a human in front of him. It had happened before and it would happen again. The grip of humanity was often lost when following orders, but that was by design and he understood that, especially when dealing with hazardous materials in secretive projects. Still seeing the girl have such strong emotion on her face, a look of longing when in front of the bio-organic weapon, made him doubt his own judgement deep down. 

As the scientist led the way back to the girl’s containment room, the guard followed the girl's footsteps. Short, soft steps that tried their hardest to keep up with the scientist’s pace, but every other step she took in her fluffy socks was a quick hop, only to be followed by the marching pace of the guard. Every step the girl took was at odds with the facility she was trapped within; the warm light surrounding her and the innocent, understanding smile she gave freely to those she came across while her walk more closely resembled a bunny hopping from cloud to cloud, all this while Umbrella had taken her clothes, her identity, her freedom. Left of the south wing, upstairs, behind two labs, the girl was given a white dress and hurried back to her room, only to get inside, turn and smile. There was no malice, no trickery, just patience, waiting to be with her friend again.

The door in front of her closed and locked, multiple locks moving in their place and clicking, and the girl sighed. No matter how many times she told herself she was safe here, that no one was out there trying to kill her, that there was nothing she could do but wait and see, but the lack of directions, clear schedule and mission made her incredibly anxious and depressed, more than usual. She had gathered that there was no way out for her before Umbrella knew why Nemmy disregarded commands in her presence, but she was more worried about him, Nemesis. He had been kind enough to save her from the zombies, but that was apparently wrong, as he was supposed to be a weapon instead of a shield during that mission. The thought haunted her, that her selfish desires had doomed him, but for now it seemed Nemmy was in stasis and taken care of. It didn’t take away the wishes she had for him, for the next meeting and embrace they could share, maybe she would be able to give him the kiss she had thought of now every night since finding herself living here, in this glass house of sterile white floors with walls of frosted glass. Only colours she had seen in weeks were white, black, greens on her plate and sometimes blood.

The girl sat down on the floor and got on her back, looking at the ceiling, feeling the cold floor against her skin. Soothing coolness touched her sensitive skin, she closed her eyes and dreamed: a dream made of tentacles slithering on her skin, around her legs, leaving slime where they had touched her, helping more climb up her limbs. Tightly binding her in place, the tentacles could not help but tie her hands above her head and legs bound together, keeping her there in a desperate hug, not wanting to let her go. No matter how crushing the binding hug felt, the girl just smiled, blushed, and let a tear fall down, fearing this might just be the only way for her to feel him again. 

-----------

So that was the second chapter, I have no idea what I want from this, other than eventual smut and more love for Nemesis. If you have ideas or wishes, my ears are open, just like my messages!

[obwjam]

a small surprise part 5 (gravity falls g/t)

idk what it is about this project that's getting me to write so much but damn it, who am i to question it! i hope you're all enjoying!!

this story is now on ao3 if you prefer to read it that way!

part 1 • 2 • 3 • 4

-----------------------------------------------------------

It was hard, but not as hard as Jay thought it would be.

She had always been curious about humans, more so than any borrower she’d ever known. It was part of the reason she was shunned from so many forest clans, but she hardly cared. If she was known as the house dweller, then so be it. She didn’t hide in cowardice and let fear control her life. She had a sense of adventure. She had freedom.

Perhaps that’s what drew her to Ford in the first place. She knew how dangerous humans could be, but she knew how to be careful. She could safely observe him from a distance – or so she thought. As it turned out, she really didn’t know what she was getting into with him, but she couldn’t look away. His curiosity and enthusiasm for the weird and unknown was downright infectious. And yeah, it was terrifying. But it was also exhilarating.

Stanley had this way of capturing her attention, too, though she still didn’t quite understand how. It certainly wasn’t his sparkling personality or his kindhearted generosity. It was… something more intangible. Maybe it was the way he was so beyond dedicated to fixing the portal, something he would be the first to admit made absolutely zero sense to him, to the point where he wouldn’t even realize – or care – that he was working nonstop through the night. Maybe it was the way he would very sloppily eat, leaving crumbs strewn about that he conveniently forgot to clean up, or he’d break off a piece of food and slowly push it across the table when he thought she wasn’t looking. Or maybe it was just because he’s the closest thing to Ford that Jay was ever going to see again.

So even after the entire incident, even when Jay couldn’t close her eyes without feeling an inexplicable pressure rushing down on her, even when she shook like it was minus 20 degrees, she didn’t run. She sure thought about it, but in her mind, if she wasn’t 100% committed, then she wasn’t going to do it, because a significant part of her didn’t want to leave the house. She had gotten so used to it, finally, a place she never had to leave or hide or worry. She supposed this is why borrowers were never supposed to meet humans – complacency and comfort were dangerous things. But she’d be damned if Ford’s stupid meathead of a brother drove her from the one place she finally felt at home. She had earned this. She had to be better than him. She had to get Ford back. And even if she did manage to get herself off the table without suffering a major injury, it would only be a matter of time before she needed to come out again for food and water.

Plus, it was the dead of winter, and living on her own without a proper shelter would be deadly. Maybe she could find a warm corner in the walls, far enough away from Stan that he’d never find her, but that was a lot of work she didn’t have the energy for. She briefly contemplated the attic, but quickly dismissed it. Too many triangles.

The day after the incident was, admittedly, rough. And awkward. Neither of them wanted to say a word to the other, but Stan was clearly surprised to see her still on the table come morning. Besides a very long stretch of eye contact, he barely acknowledged her, but was clearly nervous to make any sudden movements and produce any loud noises. Jay didn’t really know what to do, and she was effectively marooned on the table, so she curled up around the stack of books and continued to sit in turmoil about, well… everything. 

“You, uh, want to keep staying here for the night? On the table, I mean.”

Jay snapped back to attention. It felt like Stan had just gotten down here. He had been working for 10 nonstop hours. 

“Um.” She wasn’t expecting to speak today. Her lip trembled as she gazed up at him. “It’s fine.”

“Okay then,” Stan replied, voice as neutral as she’s ever heard it. He stared at her for a good, long while, trying to figure out what he’d do if he came back down here tomorrow and she was gone. She was looking back at him as if he was about to strike. “It’s just – you, uh, you’ve been sitting on that table for like, a week now.” Huh. Has it really been that long? “Just thought you might – I dunno, get bored or something. And it’s freezing down here.” 

“It’s fine,” she repeated after a moment, mostly because her brain was too fried to come up with more words. But she didn’t like what he was implying, anyway. If she was going to get off the table, it would be on her terms.

Stan felt a slight frustration bubble up inside him, and judging by the way she reacted, it was written all over his face. He gave a quick sigh and opened his mouth to speak, but found he didn’t really have anything to say, so he left in an uncomfortable silence.

Over the next few days, though, it got better. Conversations were few and far between, but Jay mostly watched him work. It was actually kind of mesmerizing, the way he moved around so effortlessly and had a kind of raw strength not even Ford possessed. He was lifting pieces of metal and pushing around gigantic barrels that the two scientists used to need all their combined strength to even budge. He had stopped asking her for help, instead burying his face in the journal in an attempt to understand it all by himself. How much good that did him, Jay couldn’t quite tell, but he had managed to put a lot of the broken pieces back together, even if nothing actually turned on. 

Today had started mostly quiet, but as the hours passed, the curse words became more frequent and the slamming down of tools became a common occurrence. Stan was hitting a wall. He needed a drink.

“Hey, short stack, where does Poindexter keep the extra drinks?”

Jay peeked an eye open. She didn’t even hear him reenter the room. Had she been asleep all this time? “Uh oh, don’t tell me you passed out again.”

Jay pushed herself up on shaky arms. She had been sleeping a lot lately... 

“Um, I’m fine. And, I dunno… the fridge?”

“The fridge is empty. Drank up all his sodas and… other beverages. I need to know where the extra cases are. Poindexter’s always stocked up.”

“Extra cases?” Jay was hesitant. This felt like a trick. “Wouldn’t it… just be what’s in the fridge?”

“Haven’t you seen this place? It’s ready for the apocalypse. Besides, you’ve been here longer than I have, right?” Stan asked rhetorically, pulling up the stool and plopping down above her. Jay recoiled a bit, but regained her composure with a curt nod. “Shouldn’t you know where he keeps things?”

“Yeah, well, I–” she stopped. “I mean, you saw him before he… you know.” Jay shuddered at the memory. “He wasn’t entirely himself. I dunno where he might have put stuff.”

“Yeah, he pointed a crossbow at my face after sending me a postcard to come see him,” Stan grumbled, crossing his arms. He had tried his hardest to avoid thinking about that night. “Even after all these years… it didn’t feel like my brother.”

Jay nodded somberly. “Yeah.”

A sharp silence fell over the two. Their minds both swirled with questions about Ford; their time knowing him seemed to perfectly fill in the gaps that existed within both their relationships. Ford never talked about his time pre-Gravity Falls, except while reminiscing about college. Stan could tell her all about that. And Jay knew everything he’d been up to out on the west coast. But neither wanted to ask the other, and neither wanted to admit they were curious. So the silence stretched out until Jay was forced to ask the obvious, more pressing question.

“Is there… no food left? At all?”

Stan sat still for a moment. “Not really.”

“Oh.” Jay fiddled with her fingers. “Shouldn’t you, um… go buy some more, then?”

Despite trying to be as delicate as possible, she knew she made a mistake the moment the words left her mouth. Normally, the comment wouldn’t have bothered Stan so much, but he was at his wit’s end today, and he wasn’t in the mood to be bossed around. When he got particularly frustrated, there was only one rule — don’t say anything provoking. Just smile and nod and agree with everything he says. Jay was still learning.

“What did you just say?”

Jay shook her head. “Nothing, I was just – I meant –”

“No, I don’t think you understand. You’re not in charge here, you realize that, right?” A shadow passed over Stan’s face, and Jay clung to the cloth to hide her trembles. “You can’t tell me what to do. Nobody tells me what to do. Ever. Got it?”

Jay nodded her head vigorously, her gaze flickering between Stan’s giant, angry face and his giant, twitchy hands. “Sorry, it’s just – I thought humans needed to eat every day, that’s all.”

Stan gave her a look she could only describe as baffled. “What?”

“I – I meant –” Jay stuttered, her expression reserved. “What’s confusing about that?”

“You just called me human.”

Jay was even more confused now. “Isn’t that – yeah, that’s what you are.”

“Well, yeah, I guess, but –” Stan stopped, unsure where to go from there. He could practically feel the gears in his brain turning, trying to figure out why she worded that so weirdly, when he remembered that word she called herself – borrower. Clearly, there was a distinction to her. “What, and you don’t have to eat every day?”

She shrugged sheepishly. “Not… really. I can go a while without food or water.”

“Huh.” Stan didn’t think it would be any different. He suddenly felt stupid for leaving her food crumbs every day.  “That’s, uh. That’s strange.”

Jay didn’t say anything. What could she say?

Stan cleared his throat after a moment. “Well, I’m, uh… I guess I gotta go get some groceries, then.”

Jay blinked until realizing Stan was waiting for a response. “Oh. Okay.”

He pressed his palms on the table on either side of her and stood up, nearly causing Jay to fall backwards. Instead, she simply gawked at him as he walked toward the exit.

He stopped, though, and turned back around to look at her. They both stared.

“What?” Jay finally asked.

“What?” Stan repeated.

“Why are you just staring at me?”

“You’re the one staring at me!”

“Well, yeah, I’m waiting for you to leave!”

“Why? What are you gonna do when I’m gone?”

“Nothing! You just said you were leaving! So I’m waiting!”

Stan peered at her, taking a step closer. “Now I don’t trust you.”

“Wh–what could I possibly do!” Jay cried, throwing her arms out.

“I dunno, but you’re crafty. And trust me, I would know.”

“C’mon, there’s nothing I could even–”

“What if you’ve just been waiting for me to leave, and you try and sabotage that journal? Or mess with the portal somehow? I can’t take that chance…”

Before Jay could even process what that meant, her entire world was swept out from under her. She felt a familiar pressure on her stomach and back, and the blood rushed to her head as Stan pinched her waist and lifted her into the air. For a moment, everything was blurry, and then, darkness. She was flipped upside down on her back like a bug, comically flailing her limbs to swing herself upright. She eventually reached forward and grasped something soft, pulling herself up to her knees.

She knew this feeling all too well.

Stan lurched forward, not stopping for a second, his mission apparent. Jay used all her strength to grip the lip of his pocket and pull herself up.

“STANLEY!!!” she yelled at the top of her lungs. “YOU CAN’T DO THIS! PUT ME BACK DOWN!”

Stan looked down – well, he tried to. All she could see was the underside of his chin, and all he could see was his red coat. 

“I can’t? Looks like I already did, kid,” he said mockingly. “If I can’t trust you to stay outta trouble, then you gotta come with me. Simple as that.”

“STAN–!” she would have yelled more, but she was thrown around when he stopped walking. “You can’t – I’m not supposed to –”

“If you’re worried someone’s gonna see you, trust me, they won’t,” he said, summoning the elevator. “I’m just goin’ into town for a minute and leaving. I don’t wanna be there long.”

“You don’t understand, people in this town, they’re –” she stopped, realizing her voice was shaking more than she wanted it to. “They’re – they’re too – curious for their own good, sometimes.”

“It’s cute of you to worry for me,” Stan said, stepping out onto the main floor. Jay squeaked in surprise as Stan gently pressed his finger down, pushing her fully into the pocket. “Now, pipe down unless you want everyone staring at us.”

“STAN!” she cried, but mainly out of frustration. He was right – she wanted no attention from those lunatics. But it wasn’t the fact that she was being brought into town that bothered her; it was that she was being brought into town against her will. In about 30 seconds, she had gone from sitting on the table by herself to being forcibly shoved into a dirty, smelly pocket. And it was dirty. Paper clips, lint balls, gum wrappers. Why was he even putting these things in his breast pocket, anyway? It was hard not to feel like just another piece of junk rattling around, destined to be forgotten.

Honestly, maybe it would be better to be forgotten. Why did Stan think she was going to do something to the portal? It’s not like she was never left alone down there. Some days, he actually remembered to go upstairs and sleep in an actual bed and not with his head down on the desk. Jay could have done anything during that time. But maybe trying to find logic in Stan’s actions was just a fruitless effort. He was just so – unpredictable. She never knew what he was going to say, how he was going to react. Any little thing could set him off. One second, he would be delicate, and the next, he’d grab her because he felt like it. She wasn’t sure how to work around that, or if she even could. 

The long trip gave her extra time to think, and her mind drifted to Ford. It was beginning to hit her that she may never see him again. Stan was admittedly noble for trying to figure out the portal, but it didn’t take Ford-level brains to see that he was probably not going to figure it out anytime soon, despite his efforts to make it work by sheer force. And he couldn’t seem to figure out if he actually wanted Jay’s help or just wanted to ride some kind of sadistic power trip over her. She figured he didn’t know, either.

She missed her playful banter with Ford. She missed when she would do something completely normal and he would treat it like a scientific breakthrough. She missed asking him about human stuff. She missed telling him all about borrowers as he excitedly jotted down, word-for-word, whatever she said. Ford was everything she knew a human could be. He cared about her struggles. Even if he didn’t fully understand, even if he didn’t always do the right thing, he tried, and that was all that mattered. And in all likelihood, she was never going to experience that again. Maybe it wasn’t meant to last more than a few years. Maybe that was all it was ever going to be.

High above her, Stan was caught up in his own turmoil. He tried to pretend that he wasn’t harboring a tiny being in his pocket, but he would be lying if he said he wasn’t laser focused on the little weight in his pocket. He found himself wondering how it felt to be in there – carted around by a huge person, stuffed in a hot, tiny space. He would hate it. She probably did, too.

He couldn't decide if he liked her or thought she was disgusting. It was hard to imagine her being all that clean; but then again, he wasn’t exactly the shining example of hygiene. But she could get her little grimy hands all over his stuff! Like some kind of – little rat person. It all felt so unnatural. It was like having a pet he could talk to; but a pet with a really, really high IQ. 

Stan was a little baffled and a lot embarrassed at how much smarter she was than him. He supposed it was only natural after spending that much time with Ford, but it still made him angry. She was tiny. A pipsqueak! Stan could pin her down with one finger and almost no effort. She could get lost in the house and Stan would never be able to find her. How could something – someone – like that be so… observant? Astute? Sure of herself? It was just weird. Even in her moments of terror and confusion, she never came across as helpless, despite what she might think. If anything, she was intimidating at that size, carrying herself with a confidence that Stan knew he did not possess himself. And the way she reacted after the incident was nothing short of intriguing. Stan found it hard to care about people who weren’t himself, but the fear she exhibited in that moment of vulnerability surprised Stan so much that he couldn’t stop thinking about it. What had happened in her life to make her react like that? Stan knew she’d never tell him. But maybe one day, she would.

Suddenly, Jay’s vision was flooded with light, but all she could see was one of Stan’s massive eyes, peering at her, trying to make out her form. “You okay in there, short stuff?”

She was taken aback by the seemingly considerate question, so all she could do was nod. Stan barely saw it, but that was enough for him. “Good. We’re about to hit town.”

The next couple of hours were a blur. There was a lot of voices, a lot of stammering, a very fast heartbeat, and a lot of muffled protest. Just when Jay thought it was safe to peek out, there were no fewer than a dozen people following Stan back through town. And to her horror, he was leading them right back to the house, awkwardly trying to answer the questions thrown at him. Jay heard the familiar creak of the front door and nearly smacked her forehead. Why was he inviting them inside?! 

But not too long after, something in Stan’s demeanor changed. His body wasn’t rigid and nervous; it was pulsing with excitement. Jay’s stomach sank. This couldn’t be good.

Eventually, the noise stopped, and the voices died down. Whatever just happened, it was all over now.

“Oh, good, you’re still in there.”

Jay shut her eyes as light from the outside once again blinded her. She let out a squeak when Stan’s hand cupped her and lifted her into the air, holding her at eye level. Her heart was racing. He was beaming.

“Stanley…” she started, taking a moment to look around. Everyone else was gone, but she had to make sure this wasn't a trick. Stan’s hand twitched each time she pressed down on his palm with hers. “What just happened?”

“The best thing to ever happen to me just happened, kid!” Jay winced; he had never heard his voice so full of joy. “I mean, sure, those people? Total nutjobs. But they’re nutjobs with cash! Can you believe it? They want to pay for this junk!”

Jay was confused. “Pay for it?” 

“Didn’t you hear anything in there? I’m turnin’ this place into a tourist trap! We’re gonna be rich, tiny!”

Jay blinked. She had to suppress her desire to be sassy. None of this was making sense to her.

“Oh, don’t give me that look! It’s perfect! You can work on the portal during the day, then when I close up shop for the night, I can do all the stuff you can’t!” Stan tapped his chin. “Which is a lot, actually.”

Jay rolled her eyes, but he wasn’t done yet.

“Don’t you realize what this means? I’ll be able to buy us food, water, anything you want! We just have to fix this place up and get the word out, but if the tourists are even half as smart as the people in this town, that’ll be a piece of cake. Say, how does The Murder Hut sound to you?”

Jay stared, bewildered. Stan had this hunger in his eyes – the kind Ford used to get when he was on the verge of a breakthrough. But something still didn’t make sense to her.

“Hold on. I’m lost. You want to clean up the house and…”

“Make it a tourist trap, I already said that! People will come in, look at the stupid crap I set up, and then spend all their disposable income on gimmicky souvenirs! I’m sure all the weird stuff Ford’s been hoarding will–”

“Wait, wait. You mean… people, complete strangers, are just gonna be… wandering in and out of the house? All the time?”

Stan nodded with a grin. “Every day, baby!”

Jay was floored. That sounded insane! Ford wouldn’t want this! How could Stan even think to ruin his life’s work like that? And what if they discovered the portal?

“You can’t – this is Ford’s home! He built it from the ground up! This is is whole life! You can’t just–”

“Listen, kid, I know you don’t really know how this all works,” Stan cut in, trying not to get too angry. “But believe me when I say there is nothing we can do to get my brother back if I don’t have the money to keep the lights on. And right now, this is the best option I’ve got. All we have to do is move around some stuff and make this top floor like a museum. Nobody will ever go downstairs; it’ll be our little secret. Make sense?”

“A – museum?” Jay knew what that was. Humans would display artifacts and things they found interesting inside. And if Stan wanted to put all of Ford’s research on display… what would be more interesting for humans to look at than–

“Don’t worry, kid, I’m not gonna stick you in a display case,” Stan said, his usual snappiness pulled back just a touch. Holding her so close to him, it was painfully obvious when her mind wandered to the worst-case scenario. “If that’s what you’re worried about.”

Jay wasn’t sure if she believed him, but she had no choice but to trust him. “I mean – thanks. But I just – I dunno, I…” She stole a glance at Stan’s face, but quickly looked away. God, he was so close. So big. “That’s a lot of people to hide from, you know?”

Stan sighed. He wanted to roll his eyes and tell her to stop whining, but the tug in his gut made him soften his expression. “I’ll make sure nobody sees you, kid. I promise.”

Jay didn’t know what to say. Stan had never sounded that sincere before.

“Look, I know you don’t think very highly of me, and I guess I haven’t done much to prove otherwise. But there is nothing I wouldn’t do for my family. So if it means rearranging my brother’s home, selling myself out for a quick buck, and worrying about some shrimp who can’t even walk across the room without my help… then I’m gonna do whatever it takes. This is the only way, Jay.”

Jay sat in silence for a long moment before letting out a long, drawn out sigh. How did Stan do this to her? How did he manage to make her feel okay about all this? How did she feel so safe in his hand right now? It must be a Pines thing.

Stan waited with bated breath for Jay to say something. Just when he concluded she might not say a thing, the unmistakable sound of her tiny voice hit his ears.

“The Murder Hut is a terrible name.”

Stan blinked. He was not expecting that. He stared at her – this tiny, remarkable little being, just sitting in his hand, legs crossed, arms pushing down, regarding him with equal amounts of wonder and disgust – and burst out laughing. She flinched at the sound at first, but soon found that she couldn't help herself. Laughter was contagious.

“What!” Stan said through chuckles. “How – how could you say that! It’s a great name!”

Jay couldn’t stop smiling. “Why would people want to go to a place advertising murder?”

“Oh, come on! It’s edgy, it’s mysterious. It’s what the people want.”

“If you want mystery… why not just name it, like, the Mystery Hut instead?”

“Oh, please! That’s… huh.” Stan thought about it for a moment. “That’s actually pretty good.”

Jay raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Yeah! A mysteeeeerious old place, tucked away deeeeeep in the woods… a run-down shack, full of treasures, just waiting to be discovered! Are they even of this world? Come and find out!”

Jay giggled at his salesman voice. “Sounds like a place I’d want to visit.”

Stan found himself smiling at her amusement. “Heh, yeah, it does, doesn’t it?”

For the first time, the silence that fell over the two was comfortable, not suffocating.

“Alright, Stanley Pines. I’m trusting you here.”

Stan smirked. “Alright, Jay, uh… Jay Tiny. I won’t letcha down.”

“No, you really should.”

Stan furrowed his brow. “What?”

“Let me down. I’m getting dizzy up here.”

“Oh. Yeah, I’ve been holdin’ you up here for a while, huh?” I wonder how high up that looks. As gentle as he’s ever been, he lowered the tiny down to her familiar table. “There ya go.”

“Th-thanks,” she muttered, keeping her eyes down as she adjusted to the shift in perspective. 

“Now, you get some sleep, tiny. You’re gonna need all the energy you can get if we want to get this place cleaned up.” Stan paused, rubbing the back of his neck. “You, uh… you sure you don’t want me to take you upstairs? Check out Ford’s old room? Hang out with the human for a night?”

Jay smirked. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to say it like that, I just – Ford always thought it was funny, too. Found it fascinating that we had our own observations on human culture. I kinda forget that humans don’t call other humans humans.” She cleared her throat. She was talking too much. “But, uh, I’m alright. I’ll just stay here tonight.” She really didn’t want to go back in his hand. “I, um, might look at the journal some more. See if there’s something we’re missing.”

“Suit yourself,” Stan shrugged, though his tone suggested he was a little dismayed. “I’m gonna get some shut-eye. That was the most social interaction I’ve had in a year, and I’m beat.”

Jay gave him a soft smile. Though he brought this entire situation upon himself, it was clear this was weighing on him, too. He kept his promise about keeping her hidden all day, and that meant something to her. 

“Goodnight, Stanley.”

Stan turned around, still utterly bewildered at how someone who can blend into the surroundings on a tabletop could be a good companion for him. Maybe he needed to be a little more open-minded. Maybe, just maybe, this whole thing could be good for him.

“G’night, kiddo.”

[pearlnareff]

T&B Advent Calendar Day 16

I haven't done any of the other days but this is something that has been bouncing around in my head since the end of season two and I want to get it out. @tnbsecretsanta Pitch for Season 3 or Third Movie. (s2 spoilers)

We start with some exposition updating everyone on what has happened between the end of season 2 and now. Kotetsu Kaburagi is the new curator for HeroTV, basically taking over Yuri Petrov's position since. Well. You know. He's working close with Agnes and what not, even though he still runs his "Anything Consulting" business from the comic because it's hilarious to me. Barnaby also took some time off hero-work to let things settle, but he's back to working as a hero full time. Kotetsu is a little wary about this because everyone else is still in their buddy hero pairs but Barnaby is like "don't worry, old man, everything's taken care of." Because it turns out... on Barnaby Brooks Jr's return to HeroTV Live, he has shown up with a new partner. This Unknown hero shows up in a suit similar to Wild Tiger and Barnaby's however instead of jumping or swinging, a pair of skates is built into their boots. On their debut, it even looks like they have Hundred Power like Barnaby and Kotetsu, which makes Kotetsu even *more* sus of his apparent new replacement. HeroTV happens as usual, ending in some sort of Criminal Pursuit and one way or another we have to end the episode by Kotetsu falling and landing in this New Hero's arms. The announcers introduce our hero as Copy Cat. Kotetsu doesn't even have time to get miffed about the name because it's being explained to the audience that Barnaby's new partner doesn't have the same power as him, but is able to Copy his power for its duration, making them a good team. "What?" Our hero, Copy Cat, is Kaede Kaburagi. And she is totally grounded. -- end of premier episode-- Kaede is grounded because she a) Didn't run the idea of being a professional hero past her dad, and B) didn't run the idea of being Barnaby's New Buddy Hero past him either, and he's not actually sure which one he's more angry about. But after a lot of begging from Kaede and some reassurances from Barnaby, Kotetsu very very VERY begrudgingly agrees to let Kaede continue, so long as she doesn't fall behind in school and most importantly as long as she remains careful. Please have my unfinished sketch of Kaede's super suit from a few months ago.

Her first sponsor, of course, is her dad's Consulting business. Also her mask isn't like Tiger or Bunny's in that it's a... like a domed LCD screen that she can see though and see video footage on the inside, and occasionally projects a ^v^ or something on the outside. When she's being cheeky or something. There is a few small story beats where Kotetsu is still a little bummed about being left out of the loop, but if he ever wants to punish/get back at/pull one over on Bunny or Kaede, he just changes the logo of his Consulting Business to something silly. Or maybe even for a time he sponsors Golden Ryan or something. Filler Character Arc Shenanigans. Now as the season goes on we learn that a big drawback to Kaede's power is that, similar to Hundred Power having it's time limit, whenever she copies it, it takes a bit of a toll on her body. Because since that kind of strength isn't *hers* her body isn't actually equipped to handle it all that well despite her training. So she can't copy it back to back to back or else it's going to have major consequences. So she can't like... copy Barnaby, go copy someone else, then copy him and use Hundred Power again. Or if she tried to copy someone like Rock Bison it would take her out for the rest of the weekend probably. We also learn that Barnaby's leg injury has gotten bad. like B-A-D bad. But it's something that he's pushing through because he wants to end his career on a high note and he's not about to crap out on Kaede when she's getting started. Anyway This disclosure brings us to the climax point of season three: There's this big battle taking place. Both Barnaby and Kaede have used Hundred power, but somehow find themselves pinned under the rubble of a fallen building. Barnaby is out of power and he's not doing hot at all, basically out of commission. Kaede is trying really hard to get out. Kotetsu is speaking to them both over their radios just saying like: "You two stay put, help is on the way. Rock Bison will be there soon just hang tight." But Kaede sees that they're in real danger and that Barnaby is probably going to fade fast if she doesn't do something. Kaede: "No, dad. Barnaby's real hurt." Barnaby: "I'm fine, I'll be--" Kaede: "No, you're not. There isn't any time to wait. I've got to get us out of here because you and a bunch of civilians are in danger." She's reaching out to Barnaby across the space between them, begging for him to let her copy his power just one more time so that she can rescue him and then go save the day. There's a back and forth between them, and also Kotetsu on the radio being like: "No, Kaede. You can't use that power again. This is a terrible idea. I'm your dad and I say no." "But I can do this--" "No, Kaede. I lost your mother, I can't lose you too. Stay put." "I'm sorry dad." Kaede cuts off her radio, shuts her dad out and continues reaching for Barnaby. Meanwhile Kotetsu is yelling at him like "Don't you dare let her do this. I trusted you with her safety you can't do this." But... Barnaby is staring at Kaede and sees the determination in her eyes. She even gives hits him with a "He needs at least one of us... but if you don't let me do this, he won't have either of us." Knowing the huge danger they're in if she doesn't at least try. "He's given everything to me please just let me try to give my everything." Kotetsu is trying to ask Bunny what Kaede is saying but Barnaby doesn't answer. Barnaby shuts of his radio. Reaches out to Kaede and passes his power over to her. While Kotetsu can do nothing but watch the rest of this fight play out. Of course it all ends up okay in the end but. In the end this does lead to Baranby having to get his leg amputated and retire from being a hero. But he lives and everyone lives and yeah. Yes anyway. The Drama. I've been wanting to write this all for a really long time I just ! I have a lot of feelings

[kakiastro]

Pluto Aquarius : The Abstract Era

Photo by unknown

Hey y’all I’m back with another post! This is a good one because this transit is a major one that’s going to impact us all! To see how it’s going to impact you, check your natal and progressed chart. Look for the house Aquarius rules over. This house represents that particular area in your life. Ex. Aqua 4h, so your home, mother, family will be going through huge changes during this time.

Disclaimer: these are just my own predictions based on my years of studying astrology and applying the archetypes of the planet and sign. the future is unknown but that doesn’t mean we still cant predict the themes of what to at least be aware of. Remember this transit will effect everyone differently because we all have different birth charts. Read this post as a collective reading than individual reading.

Pluto entered Aquarius March 24 until June 12th before it goes back into Capricorn until January 23. It will then stay in Aquarius for the next 20 years! Yes 20!! If you’re in your 20s that mean your Aquarius house in your birth chart will go through massive transformations until you’re in your 40s. Aqua placements, this is a huge time for you!!

If you need a reminder on what rules what, then here’s a list. Feel free to write it down in your own notes.

Pluto rules over: death/rebirth, birth, transformations, exchanges, debt, occult, cult, taboo, horror movies, power, wealth(Pluto means wealth), sex/sexuality, reproduction system, legacy, inheritances, heirs/heirlooms, partners money/joint finances, psychics/psychic gifts, psychology, therapist, , surgeries writers(crime, or dark themes), mortality, funerals, memorials, graveyards, secrets and hidden things, disappointments, deep fears, our experiences.

Aquarius rules over human/humanity, society, social groups, friend group, acquaintances, clubs, large groups of people, community, supporters, “stans (loyal fans), astrology, wish fulfillment, Social Media/content creators, technology, sciences, aviation and speed, projects, innovation ideas, ankles and calves, uniqueness, outcast, disabled people, adoption, step siblings. Chimps/Apes

What does this mean Globally? Well let’s look and see how this will “probably” play out. I put those words in quotations because as astrologers we can only predict what might happen. We sit back and watch the show just like you😂 but that’s what make astrology fun and enlightening.

These are my personal predictions that I believe will be the themes. Remind you, this is a 20 year transit so some of this won’t happen overnight. I live in the US so a lot of the predictions is based on what’s happening here but it can still apply to other countries because we’re all connected some way

Predictions

-Ai. It’s everywhere, and I’m just going to be honest I don’t think it’s going anywhere and I believe it will advanced. Good news is that we are fighting as a collective to not let it replace us. Ai is suppose to help assist us not replace us. I think their will be some government control over it. I think we will eventually have robot type teachers, holograms, hologram type traveling, will assist doctors and medical discoveries. Ai is going to be used in everyday life for mundane things, AI use in airplanes and Cars. Faster trains.

-the Aliens 👽. The government has finally acknowledged other life forms even though we all knew this lol. Aliens have and will be a continuing topic.

-Government. I do believe there’s going to be new laws or even a constitution that will fit with this century standards and not our forefathers. Pluto rules over extreme changes. Aquarius rules over the government just like Capricorn. Remember Aqua is also co-ruled by Saturn. The difference is that Capricorn creates laws to maintain order and structure while Aquarius breaks and create new laws that can be beneficial for everyone.

-Fashion. We are entering the Cosplay everyday era. What I mean is that people are going to dressing up in the abstract clothing and it’ll be the norm. Comic con is going to be an everyday event because people are going to dress like their favorite characters just because Lol. I feel like more people are going to entrepreneurs and create a more chill vibe and have less corporations rule setting. It’s giving the office vibes lol. I also feel like more people are going to be wearing comfortable clothing than trying to “fit in.” Sustainability/Recycled clothing will be a huge fashion trend. Blues, dark reds, silver, dark yellows may be popular colors.

-protest and strikes! We’re already seeing it with Hollywood. So many actors and writers have come out and said their not making hardly nothing! Only 2% of this industry is wealthy, which means most are broke asf. Then I remembered Hollywood is Pisces energy. (Illusions & lies) what does this mean for HW in the future? Theyre not going anywhere lol. Aquarius is Leo sister sign, it’s also a fame sign. There’s always going to be famous people, however; I believe independent movie studios will be on the rise such as A24. More celebrities getting involved in activism and humanitarian projects than movies/tv. More celebrities connecting with non celeb people. I actually think a lot of them will help regular people kickstart their non-profits. More celebrities becoming entrepreneurs. This isn’t going to just be happening in the entertainment industry, this is going to happen in every industry. It wouldn’t surprise me if we see more airline protest and strikes. Moral of the story, people are going where theyre actually appreciated.

-Sex. I believe people are going to be more open when it comes to their sexuality. Talking about sex will be a normal conversation. I truly believe we are entering “let your freak fly era.” People may start to get into some crazy kinky stuff (no judgement, you do you boo!) lol

- community. Here’s the thing, I do feel like people will find their “tribe” “community” “soul group” whatever you call it but it won’t happen until you know who you are as a person first. What can you bring to the group? How can you help if you don’t know your own strengths and weaknesses? Even better question, how you gone join a community when you don’t even know what community you should join because you don’t know who you are? This is what the current North Node Aries transit will teach you! When you figure out who you are is when you will find your people.

-marriage and family. I believe we are going to start seeing more diverse families and couples. People are going to find love away from their home/culture. You may see lots of stories of people finding love overseas while traveling. People may meet their partner at random places or at a random time in their life. I feel like adoption will be a focus such as affordability, people finding out their adopted, people adopting. I believe tough conversation around adoption will rise such as people who adopt children for selfish reasons such as exploitation, adoptees talking about how hard life was for them. Remember Pluto reveals the dark side of things. I actually feel like people will start marrying more for stability then the traditional “I love you” romantic way, I also feel like people will marry their best friend(non romantic) to get by. Pluto aqua rules over USA 2h/3h (placidus)

- the outcast. more women/minorities will be entrepreneurs and working in the communication media, maybe more women(especially black)influential content creators. You may see more Poc and women working in the tech industry and more in the entertainment industry such as more award winning directors, screenwriters etc disabled people especially physical will start to be in different industries getting noticed, becoming well known activist.

-money and transportation. I do feel like there’s going to be a huge shift in our economy. I feel like crypto currency or some form of a digital banking will become our norm. Physical dollar will start to become a thing of the past. I just read an article a few months ago stating the first flying car will be released in 2025. Phones, computers are going to be more advanced than they are now. I don’t know how but it will be. We may end up having full on digital libraries that’s more advanced than kindle and others. In the USA chart, Pluto Aquarius will be in the 3h.

-health and sciences. The medical industry is going to have lots of breakthroughs. Lots of new discoveries on surgery equipment. We are going to be seeing a lot of impossibles become possible. We’re already seeing it. I just saw a surgery where they can adjust your height. Who would’ve thought that was possible 10 years ago lol. Buts that’s where the medical field is going. Pluto rules over extreme changes. I’m personally curious on the technology that’s going to help physically disabled people and what type of advancements will be discovered there.

-Animals. More People are going to start having all types of pets. The classic I have a cat, dog or goldfish won’t be your only type of pet. Instead we’re going to be hearing I have a dog and 2 raccoons lol. Aquarius rules over Apes, i wonder if there’s going to be some planet of the apes scenario. Not them taking over but studies may come out showing they’re more evolved then we realize👀

-internet. I’m going to be real honest with you and I’m not trying to instill fear or none of that but we all need to start being more private on the internet. Don’t post where you are until a few days after you’ve left. If you can, make your page private. Pluto rules over stalkers and aqua rules the internet. If you can avoid it, please don’t have your young kids on the internet without your supervision. Make their pages private too. If you have teenagers, please have a thorough conversation with them about the dangers of the internet, especially when it comes to weirdos asking them for nudes. Listen I grew up when having these talks about the internet wasn’t a thing because our parents didn’t have this growing but we can help the next generation from our mistakes. Like I said I’m not trying to scare anyone. We live in a digital world now so I want you all and your families to take safety precautions.

Thank you for taking the time to read. I know this post was long but I wanted to cover a much as I could. Please feel free to reblog and write your own predictions.

Sources:

Rex E. Bills book “the rulership book” (highly recommended)

USA Sibly chart on astrodienst website

Derivative houses(advanced astrology.

[honey-katsu]

take her to the moon for me - ao3

Part 1 of 2

Part 2 here

Summary:

Aizawa and a few of his students were given a job from the Hero Commission: stop the yakuza group known as the Bulls from selling any more quirk enhancement drugs. It should have been simple. Sneak in, destroy the drugs, and get out before anyone notices.

But of course, things never go as planned.

Warning (for all parts): violence, major character death, grief/mourning, panic attack/flashbacks

note before we begin: i am chickenKatsu on ao3. I do not give anyone the right to repost my work to another platform unless I’m asked then properly credited. Please support me on ao3 if you like it!

This raid had gone terribly awry. Aizawa and a few of his students–Kaminari, Asui, Shinso, Yaoyorozu, Kirishima, Midoriya, Uraraka, Todoroki, Bakugou, and Tokoyami,–were given a job from the Hero Commission: stop the yakuza group known as the Bulls from selling any more quirk enhancement drugs. It should have been simple. Sneak in, destroy the drugs, and get out before anyone notices. 

When they got to the warehouses they were supposed to destroy, Midoriya had discovered a hidden entrance. It led to a complex underground network of tunnels. From what he could tell, Midoriya assumed these tunnels connected almost every warehouse in the prefecture, making their simple mission impossible. Aizawa and his students were about to leave and report back to the Commission when they were ambushed by yakuza lackeys, forcing them deep into the unknown labyrinth.

Which brought them to their current situation. Battered, bruised, and running on dwindling adrenaline, lost in the Bulls’ tunnels, and facing off against everyone they came across. 

Aizawa’s eyes were extremely dry from overuse, despite the fact that he tried to use his quirk infrequently. Asui’s skin and tongue were also too dry, seeing as her frog quirk required her to always stay moist. Kaminari  had already reached his limit even though he tried to conserve his energy like Midoriya suggested. Todoroki, Kirishima, and Tokoyami were just tired from how long they had been fighting; their quirks placed great strain on their bodies. Shinso’s voice was hoarse and pretty much unusable. Uraraka had thrown up at least 3 times now and seemed like she might do it again soon. Bakugou’s arms were on fire, muscles strained from so many explosions. Midoriya had broken his bones again, but he wasn't the only one; almost everyone had a broken bone or had sustained a major injury somewhere.

And Yaoyorozu… She was a lifesaver. She looked like she was ready to drop at any second, but she was the only reason they had lasted this long. Since they had been down in the yakuza's tunnels, Yaoyorozu had been making support items to ease everyone’s pain: medicine for Uraraka’s stomach, lozenges for Shinso’s strained throat, painkillers for Bakugou’s sore arms, eye drops for Aizawa, and emergency medical supplies for everyone’s injuries. She also created a bucket for Todoroki so he can melt his ice for Asui’s use. Along with the constant outflow of support items, Yaoyorozu also continued to try and make contact with the Hero Commission. After a while, she quit trying, assuming a jamming quirk or how far they were underground was interfering with communications.

The group traveled as quietly as they could, their aching bodies weighing them down like lead. At last, they felt a breeze, the smell of a forest drifting on the faint wind.

However, none of them noticed the villain waiting around the corner. A humongous fist shot out from behind the wall and grabbed the nearest hero. Tokoyami slammed against the wall, cracking it on impact. Dazed, he slid down the wall as the villain removed his hand and stepped into the hall. 

He was a giant, barely fitting in the cramped tunnels. He was as tall as a tower yet had to slouch in the tunnels. Short, white hair covered his muscular body. His sharp horns shone in the dim underground lighting. His cow-like face curved up in a smile. “Master said there were bugs causin’ trouble. Think I found them,” he said in a low, gravelly voice.

Before Aizawa could stop them, Midoriya and Bakugou rushed forward, launching attack after powerful attack. But each kick or explosion irritated their target, unfazed by their efforts.

“Damn flies,” he muttered, squashing Bakugou with the wave of a giant hand. The other caught Midoriya. The reckless kid struggled and squirmed in his grasp like a worm. The villain threw him down on Bakugou, who was just starting to get back up, knocking them to the ground.

Asui quickly lept into action, snatching the two out from under the villain and back to the group. Yaoyorozu and Uraraka immediately assessed their injuries. Tokoyami had started to get back up. He was ready to fight again until he saw the state of his teammates. Their most powerful close-combat fighters were down or unable to fight, leaving him, Todoroki, and Aizawa to face off against the giant.

Kirishima growled and positioned himself between the villain and his classmates, activating his quirk with what little energy he had left. Kaminari hung to the back with Todoroki, ready to protect their friends. It was ill-advised to use their quirks now. Kaminari was too close to his limit and didn't want to electrocute anyone. Todoroki would fight if he absolutely had to. Flames would only fill the hall with smoke, and Yaoyorozu didn't have enough energy left to create masks for everyone. Ice would freeze everyone except him. Or the villain could break it, deadly icicles ready to pierce anyone in their path. Plus, their opponent blocked their only way out.

“I am the Chianina, strongest of the Bulls,” the large villain growled, beating his chest proudly. “Challenge me if you dare!” 

“What now, Aizawa-sensei?” whispered Tokoyami as he carefully rejoined the group. 

Aizawa studied the villain before them. He was sturdy and undoubtedly had the strength to pummel them into dust. His animal-based mutant quirk gave him an advantage in close combat, which wasn’t good for them. Close-combat wasn’t an option, and their only long-range fighters couldn’t utilize their abilities in this enclosed, cramped space. 

“Protect your classmates and escape as soon as you can,” Aizawa said quickly. “I’ll give you an opening.”

“But Sensei--”

Before Tokoyami could protest, Aizawa rushed forward. He nimbly dodged his opponent’s swings, darting around him. He whipped out a knife and sliced his legs, torso, and any other area he could reach. Any time the Chianina tried to attack his students, Aizawa would use his capture weapon to stop him.

Soon, the villain got annoyed. With a roar, he swung. This punch was much faster and stronger than before, so Aizawa didn't have time to avoid the attack. The Chianina’s fist rammed into Aizawa’s face. Pain exploded from his nose and his goggles shattered. 

With a small growl, Aizawa charged again, completely ignoring the pain. Since his quirk wouldn't help against a mutant, he put all his energy into fighting the giant in front of him. However, his attacks weren't as successful as before. The villain had already learned his attack pattern, and Aizawa was easily overpowered. Effortlessly, the Chianina ripped his capture weapon with a swing of his massive horns. He barreled into Aizawa and choke slammed him, pinning him down. The force knocked the knives out of Aizawa’s grasp.

The Chianina laughed triumphantly. “Got you know, little fly.”

“Aizawa-sensei!” cried Midoriya. Before he or any other student of Class 2-A could rush over to help, Aizawa activated his quirk with a glare that said, Move and you’re expelled. He met each and every one of his students’ eyes as his vision began to blur.

Midoriya was barely able to hold back his anger. Uraraka tried to stifle her sobs. Yaoyorozu cried in Todoroki’s arms as he gave a slight nod to his teacher, determination and regret ablaze in his eyes. Kirishima held back a raging Bakugou, struggling to contain his own tears. Kaminari was too shocked to move, squeezing Shinso’s hand as if he were his life line. Shinso trembled, his lips pressed in a grimace of fear and understanding. Asui did her best to keep Tokoyami calm as he grappled with Dark Shadow and his emotions, terrified of what was to come. 

The sound of stampeding footsteps echoed through the halls. The villain smiled, pushing harder on Aizawa. A strangled noise escaped Aizawa’s throat. He clawed at the huge hands around his neck in a futile attempt to free himself.

The giant villain roared with laughter. “You can’t save him now, little heroes. My buddies are coming for me, and they’ll enjoy killing you boys. But not before we have our fun with the girls!” He roared with disgusting  laughter

 “Go!” Aizawa grunted, the wind escaping his lungs and not returning. “Don’t… get caught!”

For a moment, none of his students moved. Todoroki was the first to take action, scooping up Yaoyorozu and sprinting. The second to hop into action was Asui. Taking Tokoyami by the hand, she wrapped her tongue around Kaminari and Shinso and dragged them to the exit. Kirishima effortlessly carried Bakugou, who had stilled at his teacher’s demand, over his shoulder. Uraraka was next, alleviating Asui’s burden by nullifying the gravity of those she carried. She pulled at Midoriya, but he wouldn’t budge. Tears streamed down his freckled cheeks, a mix of emotions swirling in his mind, plans and calculations running through his brain. 

That Problem Child, stubborn as ever. Aizawa glared harder at him. Midoriya flinched a little, eyes fixed on his teacher.

Leave. I’ll catch up, I promise, Aizawa’s gaze said.

That finally got Midoriya to allow himself to be led away by Uraraka. “We’ll be waiting, Aizawa-sensei,” Izuku called, “so make sure you come back, too!”

The villain’s reinforcements arrived just as Class 2-A’s footsteps disappeared. Aizawa couldn’t focus on what was happening anymore. His oxygen-deprived body was numb, yet burned and screamed for air.  Nothing he could do would save him. Both he and his students knew that, yet he was glad they had still listened to him. 

Now that they were safe, Aizawa stopped trying. Every action tired him like he had gone 72 hours with no sleep and no coffee. Instead, he just laid there beneath the villain’s grasp. He couldn’t see anything anymore.

Aizawa could vaguely hear the villains mocking him, but he didn't care. Tears pricked at his eyes, cascading down his cheeks, full of lost warmth and fresh regret. But he couldn’t feel the Chianina’s grip on his throat. He couldn’t feel his aching bones. He couldn’t feel anything but burning desire to win this fight, to leave, to go back to his family.

There was so much he still wanted to do before he died. He wanted to open a cafe with Hizashi when they retired. He wanted to adopt Eri soon, so she could be surrounded by love and cats for the rest of her life. He wanted to help his Problem Child learn how to love himself more. He wanted to do the same for so many of his students... There was still so much he had left to teach his class, still so much he wanted to tell them. But now, Aizawa had run out of time.

Sorry, kids. I don’t think I’m getting out of this. But I’m glad it was me, not you...

----------

Hizashi was worried. It had been hours since Aizawa and a few students of 2-A had left for their mission. He didn't know the details, but he knew 12 fucking hours was way too long. No one had been able to contact them, not even the Hero Commission. Hizashi and the rest of Class 2-A—Iida, Jiro, Koda, Soji, Hagakure, Ashido, Ojiro, Sero, Aoyama, and Sato—had gathered in the dorms. They found little solace in each others’ presence, fretting over their classmates’ and teacher’s safety.

Suddenly, the doors burst open, the missing students stumbling through. Immediately, Hizashi knew something was wrong. His students were beaten, bruised, and absolutely broken. They barely made it through the door before they collapsed into each other’s arms. They were all gasping for air, fatigued and weeping. Even Todoroki and Bakugou were shamelessly crying. Their worried classmates rushed to their sides, relieved they were back.

“We were so worried! No one could contact you for hours!”

“Oh my god, why didn't you guys go to the hospital? Look at you!”

“Thank god you’re back! Where were you?”

“Hey… are you okay?”

Hizashi quickly counted everyone. Kaminari, Asui, Shinso, Yaoyorozu, Kirishima, Midoriya, Uraraka, Todoroki, Bakugou, and Tokoyami—good, everyone returned. They were safe within the walls of UA… but where was Shota? Where was his husband?

Hizashi didn't want to press the students, seeing as they were exhausted physically and emotionally. But panic began to rise in his chest. Every second that passed when his husband didn't walk through the door filled him with dread. He studied the little heroes, noting every scratch and bandaged wound. Their injuries were serious but not fatal, and Hizashi wondered why Shota hadn’t made them go directly to the hospital.

Midoriya abruptly stood and made his way over to Hizashi, careful not to step on his sobbing teammates. A few watched with concern as he met Hizashi’s eyes with a grim expression on his tear-stained face.

“Present Mic-sensei,” he said quietly. “Aizawa-sensei…”

He struggled to bring himself to speak, but the tears came back in full force. Instead, he reached into his pocket and handed it’s contents to Hizashi.

Shota’s goggles. A few small pieces of it, anyway. 

Hizashi forgot to breathe. He stared at the yellow pieces, cradling them as if they were a fragile child. His husband’s goggles… his husband was okay, right? I mean, this isn't the first time his goggles have been smashed, rationalized Hizashi. Granted, the last time they were broken had been when Oboro...

Died.

“Mic-sensei.” Midoriya’s voice sounded light years away, chattering a mile a minute. “We got trapped in a labyrinth of tunnels that the yakuza used to secretly transport quirk-enhancing drugs and we tried to contact the Commission but communications were jammed so we just had to look for an exit. Then we finally found one and we thought we were finally going to get out of there. We let our guard down. I let my guard down. And we didn't notice a giant villain waiting to ambush us. He was so strong and we were so tired and he had a bull mutant quirk that made him really, really strong. He called himself the Chianina. Aizawa-sensei was forced to confront him to save us but the villain was stronger and we escaped and waited for him but he never caught up like he promised and I—” Midoriya cut himself off, barely able to form coherent words. He took a deep, shaky breath, fighting back another wave of sobs and steeling himself. Sad eyes met unbelieving ones as Hizashi tried his best to hold it together. 

“I’m sorry, Mic-sensei. He’s gone.”

[dare-to-dm]

Xbox Research

Okay, someone just asked me if my research into xbox games from both the 360 and xbox one era revealed any changes in demographic trends between those two generations.  So now I get to rant about my results!

First!  I will describe the data I was tracking.  I made a list of all the games officially released for both of those systems at the time I started the research.  This came out to about 2000 games for the Xbox 360 and about 4500 games for the Xbox One.

Then I started categorizing each game based on the following factors.

Genre: I chose 27 genres for this project, and allowed each game to get a maximum of 3

Mode: Each game was designated as Single Player, Multiplayer, or Both

Protagonist Gender: Classified as Male, Female, Player’s Choice, Unknown, or Not Applicable

Protagonist Race: Classified as White, Person of Color, Player’s Choice, Unknown, or Not Applicable

I’m going to put the rest of this under a Read More, because there is A LOT

I say I “started” categorizing them, because I will be honest and admit that I did not fully complete all this data for every game in the data set.  I prioritized my research by which games were the most popular, ranked by how many players in my data set had played them.  I did get all of this information for every game played by at least one person in my data set, which comes out to about 3100 games fully categorized.

As for my player data, I took 90 players (45 self identified men and 45 self identified women) and used their achievement data to track which games they played.  This differentiates my data from a lot of stuff that’s widely available because rather than tracking sales, I was tracking what people actually played.  If there’s anything I’ve learned in my years as a gamer, it’s that there’s a big difference between what people buy and what they play.

Anyway, on to the trends!

Genres Rise, Genres Fall

The top genres between to the two systems were fairly consistent.  Top 5 for the 360 were Shooters, Sports Games, Action Adventure, Brawler/Hack’n’Slash, and Racing/Driving Games, in that order.

For the Xbox One, the top genres were Shooters, Action Adventure Games, Platformers, Roleplaying Games, and Sports Games, in that order.

The biggest difference between the two system generations is that producing indie games for console became a lot easier in recent years.  So, not only do we have a lot more games overall for the Xbox One, but many of those are from smaller studios.  I believe this is why platformers crack the top 5 in the One era, and why sports game fell from the 2 spot to the 5 spot.

Some genres did have a dramatic shift in popularity between the 2 systems.  Walking Sims functionally didn’t exist in the 360 era, but there are a full 32 of them in my data set for the One (and they continue to grow in popularity - I believe the number/ranking would be higher if I had continued to track this to the current day).

Party Games (defined as more casual games meant to be played with local multiplayer for short sessions) dropped massively in popularity.  This is no surprise given the shift to online gaming and many franchises dropping split screen capabilities.

Music/Rhythm games also had a massive drop in popularity.  Again, no surprise.  Guitar Hero, Rock Band and Dance Central were once huge franchises, but now there aren’t really any equivalent major releases.

Classic Adventure Games (defined as character/choice driven games with stories but no or little action) have risen in popularity.  Again, this is largely driven by the expansion of indie titles in the space.

Simulation games, survival games and visual novels have also become more popular.  I would argue that survival wasn’t really an established genre in the 360 days, but it definitely is now.

ALSO: The prevalence of game modes has shifted greatly!  In the 360 era, games largely needed to have both single player and multiplayer modes, with fully 71% of games falling into this category.  That has shifted over the years, with only 37% of games for the XBox One era having both.  Numerically and percentage wise, exclusively single player games are on the rise.  That being said, only one exclusively single player game (Fallout 4) cracked the top 20 most played list.  The 360 era had 3 single players games in the top 20 (Hexic HD, The Walking Dead and Assassin’s Creed).  So those publishers who claim that single player titles just don’t sell as well anymore?  You might not like it, but they aren’t lying.

The Glass Ceiling For Women Was Raised a Few Inches

When it comes to gender representation in games, my results largely speak for themselves.

360 Games With

Male Protagonists: 46%

Female Protagonists: 4%

Player Choice: 36%

Not Applicable: 9%

Unknown: 5%

Xbox One Games With

Male Protagonists: 33%

Female Protagonists: 11%

Player Choice: 32%

Not Applicable: 17%

Unknown: 7%

So, women are getting a bigger market share of protagonists these days, but it’s still only a small percentage.

Also, I will note that Player Choice is not always as equitable as it sounds.  In addition to games where you get to create your character, any game with multiple playable characters and even one female option was put into this category.  So, for example, a Dragon Ball Z fighting game with 20 characters would count even if only one of them was a woman.  This type of thing was (and still is) pretty common.

And this probably goes without saying, but for all my gender neutral folks, nonbinary options were not purposefully excluded from this study.  Rather, there were so few relevant examples that any few that could count got lumped in the Not Applicable Category (which also included protagonists of species with alternative gender dynamics).

Things Not Getting Much Better for People of Color

The numbers here are bleak.

Xbox 360 Games With

White Protagonists: 35%

POC Protagonists: 4%

Player Choice Protagonists: 37%

Not Applicable Protagonists: 18%

Unknown Protagonists: 5%

Xbox One Games With

White Protagonists: 35%

POC Protagonists: 4%

Player Choice Protagonists: 26%

Not Applicable Protagonists: 27%

Unknown Protagonists: 8%

As you can see, by market share, people of color have not made any gains.  In fact, if you look at games that give you a choice, there has been a backslide!  I will note that I think this number can largely be explained by the rise of indie games on the platform, however.  Character creation clearly comes with a higher development cost than many indies can afford.  And, well, frankly a lot of stuff indie studios are producing isn’t more progressive in this aspect anyway. 

While these numbers are not promising, there is one area in which things are not as bad as they look.  Namely, popular and triple AAA games are getting more diverse, at least through the avenue of letting your create your own protagonist.

In the 360 era, 7 of the top 10 games features canonically white male protagonists.  You don’t get to a canonically nonwhite protagonist until number 14 on the list (Lee, from the Walking Dead).

In the X Box One era, only 3 of the top 10 games features canonically white male protagonists.  The rest let you choose.  (Lee from Walking Dead is still the most played canonical nonwhite protagonist, followed by Kait Diaz in Gears 5 and Beatrix LeBeaux in Slime Rancher).

This category was particularly fraught because race can be subjective.  For example, can we really say that Kait Diaz qualifies as a person of color?  We’re talking about a franchise that takes place in a fictional earthlike setting, so we don’t have any real history to pull from.  Her skin tone is ambiguous and her voice actress is white.  But I feel her name and design puts her in the category of latino coded, and after a discussion with someone who actually played the game, that’s where I put her.

There were a lot of cases like this in this category, so do look at these numbers with a grain of salt knowing that I often had to make a judgement call as to how to classify a character, and other people may have made different judgement calls.

ANYWAY if anyone has any questions about any of the data I collected, please let me know because I could talk about this all day.

[twstbookclub]

Hello ! I just read the spins with silver and I cannot tell you how heartwarming it was, if I had to rate 1-10 about how melted my heart it I'd rate it 10/10 HAHAH

If it's okay with the admins, I'd like to request a Silver x GN!Reader where the special moments between them are Silver's most precious memories ! (aka: their first date, first kiss, etc.) it doesn't even have to be the major stuff, it can be the small things in life that he appreciates (maybe reader brewing him a coffee everyday, or him noticing reader's little doodles on his notes and helping him finish them when he accidentally dozes off, etc.)

(this is my first time requesting so please point out any mistakes i did when requesting !)

don't forget to take as much time as y'all's need, as well as prioritizing y'all's health first !!

thank you so much ! :DD

Recaptured Paradise

Summary: Silver takes time to himself to reminisce about the past that lead up to the romance story you both shared now. POV: 2nd Pronouns: Gender Neutral Admin/Writer: Kai⚔️ Tags: Silver, Fluff, Romance, Looking at the past, First memories, Silver looks at the past

Word count: 2,463

A/N: Hello our lovely readers!!! I was very excited to write our first ever request!! I do apologize since it did take a very long time but we did have other projects being done at the same time and there are life events currently, but regardless of that I hope you all enjoy!!!

Silver sat on the couch in the small apartment home that you both shared for a few years now, trying to keep himself awake as he searched through the internet quietly. He was looking for a gift for his partner in marriage, you.

He would take occasional glances at your resting body that used his shoulder as your pillow. "My sleeping beauty," he said quietly to himself with a gentle smile, and his eyes drifted from you to your hand. The ring on your finger twinkled in the moonlight that shone through the windows.

He suddenly started reminiscing when his eyes wandered and landed on your lips, instinctively making him leave a kiss on your head as you slept.

He couldn't help but look back at a few memories. "How did we get here?" He thought, then sat back to remember moments of years past.

The image of your genuine expression when you asked him on a date to the arcade shocked him at the time. Though, it was his fault since he mentioned that he wished to experience something new despite his busy schedule.

"Why don't I take you to an arcade?" He remembered that day as if it was only a few months back. The moment he agreed, your eyes lit up and looked like they held an entire galaxy in them.

"Honestly, I was hoping you'd say yes. I've been wanting to ask you on a date for a while!" Your words caused the entire world to stop, because little did you know at that time, he also wanted to ask you. Though, he never knew how.

You both had met the following day. As both of you ran out of class and down the hall to meet at the courtyard, every student watched, confused as to what was happening. That part didn't matter to either of you. 

Meeting under a tree and staring into each other's eyes felt magical. Straight out of a fairy tale book. You were both laughing at how out of breath you two were from running, and knowing that you had the same idea made the atmosphere sweeter before it even started.

From showing Silver tons of games inside of the arcade building to him winning a stuffed animal out of a crane game, he truly experienced something different that day.

The date was followed by a short walk in the park to watch the sunset. You had insisted on it. It was worth it, because it gave him the chance to confess how fond he was for you.

He still vividly remembers how flustered you were from his sudden confession. He continued to ramble about how surprised he was that he didn't fall asleep halfway through. It was all because he was nervous after pouring unknown emotions out to you the best he could.

Silver smiled to himself at the memory. He couldn't help but remember how you two shared your first kiss.

You snuck out to see him as he patrolled around the Diasomnia grounds late at night. That day, you were convinced to confess your feelings to him, since you were so confused about whether he felt the same for you or not.

He tried to escort you back to the dorm so you weren't caught. You were stubborn enough to stay, but it was so worth it.

"No! I won't go home! I want you to hear what I have to say!"

"Prefect, please–"

"I like you! I have feelings for you! Even before the first date we ever had together! I have to say it now, or I'd give up trying any moment after…"

Those words had shocked him to his core. Deep down, he was so happy to hear them. His facial expression stayed blank as he was overwhelmed with emotion at your words. 

Nonetheless, you had continued, but he was determined to hear it in the morning. Instead, he wanted to send you home. You didn't listen at all though.

"I know you might not like me back, but-" 

Silver had cut you off by giving into his own temptation. His lips were so gently placed on yours, clueless on what to do next. He hoped to get you home, so it was easier to do that in a place where he knew people couldn't catch him.

You were utterly shocked, and you didn't know how else to react. The boy you fell for back during the Spelldrive Tournament was there, and he returned your feelings.

The kiss felt too quick. After Silver broke it off, you could say he was an absolutely flustered mess. You were too, so it felt like a perfect accidental moment.

After that day, that's when you two began dating. Funny enough, neither you nor him asked each other to make it official. Diasomnia students had seen you and Silver that night, and talked about it immediately. Word had spread around like wildfire.

Neither of you complained though, and neither of you noticed until later.

It took everything in Silver not to chuckle at the memory, holding back a laugh at how silly you both were back at the NRC.

Right after that, Silver started to remember the day you graduated. He was nervous around you, but he had a reason. They'd thrown you all a party to celebrate, but all he'd wanted that day was to spend it with you.

Lilia had helped him get a pretty hefty gift for the two of you a few months prior, and he was excited to take you there. The party didn't end until late at night, but he was still focused on showing you this gift since the longer he waited, the more nervous he got.

He'd taken you to an unknown building in a small city near Briar Valley. To your surprise, that building had the apartment you both lived in now.

At that time, the small home was empty, but it had so much potential to hold so many memories for the both of you, as long as you accepted it.

"Silver, what is this place?" 

You were so confused as to why he brought you to an empty apartment, but it was insane to you that night. He let you roam around the place, and by the time you ventured around the last room, you found him on a knee in the middle of the living room. The same spot where he’d sit at the moment of reminiscing. 

“I know that this is sudden and rushed and not as romantic as I hoped, but I don’t think that I can let another second slip by without doing this.” 

Silver was nervous. Your expression then was pure surprise as he continued his speech.

“When I first met you, I only knew loyalty to the only family I knew and had. I was stuck in a constant loop of the same daily routine. The day you asked me out to the arcade, my whole worldview changed, and before I knew it, my loyalty extended to you.”

Silver paused as you had only listened to him. Your body had fallen onto the floor in front of him. Your heart felt heavy as there was a small lump in your throat at that moment.

“I realized that all of my thoughts had been overrun by you, by us. When I’m with you, you keep me awake, and are part of the chain that keeps me tethered to reality. I don’t think life could be the same if it’s not with you. No…”

Silver paused as he took a ring from his pocket, but your reaction to seeing it made his heart race through the entire moment. He knew what ring it was all too well, but you had only a brief understanding of it. He mentioned that the ring had been with him since birth, but that was all. Now, he was proposing with that same ring.

“It wouldn’t be life if every waking moment is not with you accompanied by my side. Not when I’ve grown to love you more than words can say in the past few years. So…”

Silver had called your full name before continuing, his free hand had taken your left hand into his own and held on tightly. He remembered how shaky his voice was by the end of his emotional outburst from the moment.

“Will you do me the honor of letting me be your partner, my spouse, even after death draws our final breaths?”

He let out a sigh of relief as he finished his words. He could only stare at you in anticipation. Your eyes felt teary at all of his words striking your heart in such a warm manner. You smiled at him as you gently squeezed his hand in the empty apartment.

Silver got distracted as you shifted around in your sleep before he could finish the memory. He fixed the blanket on your body when his eyes landed on the door, another memory coming up to him.

This one was the day you both had finally moved into that apartment. Silver helped bring in heavier furniture with the help of Jack and Sebek, even though Sebek was mostly yelling orders to the other two to get everything done a certain way. 

Ace and Deuce were helping take items out of boxes and asking you what rooms they belonged in. Your job was to clean up the place and make sure that nothing went to chaos along with Epel. 

That same day, everything had been moved into the right rooms, the only place set up being the living room. They had agreed to go out to eat since it was still pretty unorganized in their new shared home. 

Afterwards, they’d come back to the door and open it when Silver suddenly scooped you up and carried you inside bridal style. It surprised you as you weren’t married yet, but you could only hold onto him as the sensation was making you laugh at the time.

You two didn't share a room as he felt it wrong to sleep in the same bed regardless of being in a relationship and under the same roof, but it didn't bother you either.

After that moment though, he would leave you on your bed but you didn't let him go. No one had slept by themselves that night, well… not really slept at all. 

Silver snapped back to reality as he felt a small blush come up to his cheeks from the flashbacks. He looked around the room as his eyes stopped on the few pictures that hung up on the wall. Specifically, the one of your wedding day.

The smile on his face was so full of love and genuine care as the memory of the day played in his head, and his arm wrapped around you, gently bringing you closer.

He'd been a nervous wreck that whole day, and you'd been worried that something would ruin it. Though the wedding was small, it was fun for everyone invited. Sebek and Jack were crying together which made you and Silver laugh mid reception.

An afterparty held by all your close friends to celebrate was a big moment for the two of you. They all congratulated your marriage as Jade, Floyd, Leona, and Riddle had become like protective brothers towards you, telling Silver to take care of you more than he already had.

Everyone was great and made the party a night to remember. Once it was over, they all sent you on your way and took care of everything else, giving time for yourselves as they were all ready to say goodbye.

For a so-called "honeymoon", Silver had taken you on a horseback ride through the forest behind NRC, of course with permission from Crowley. The night was so sweet that it felt as if it happened only a few weeks ago.

Since then, the marriage life between the two of you felt just right. You helped make the small place a true home, while he supported you through everything. 

Silver was so in love, and you equally. He stopped his daydreaming when you slowly opened your eyes from your slumber, sitting up and looking around.

"Morning, sleepyhead." Silver said as he gently patted your head, messing up your ready tangled bedhead.

"Sleepyhead…? Right back at you…" You responded with some tiredness behind your voice, adjusting to the moment. "What were you doing while I was asleep?"

Silver smiled with a small chuckle, and took a glance at the ring on your finger. "Nothing much, just looking back at some things from the past."

Your eyebrow raised in confusion but you shook it off, using his shoulder as a pillow again. Silver wrapped his arm around your shoulder, bringing you closer to him.

Him mentioning the past made you reminisce as well. This warm embrace of his made you remember other times.

Running through the forest to lay in a quiet spot after and watching the clouds move. Making him a cup of coffee in the morning to get him through at least the morning. You made their home a true home.

Your moment was interrupted as a sound was heard from another room. Your old room since you moved into Silver's once you both began sharing a name.

"Seems like duty calls, doesn't it?" Silver said as he looked at the open door then at you, letting go of your body to rise up from the couch.

"It never will." You responded and got up after him with a big smile, heading off to the room while holding his hand. He followed behind, squeezing your hand out of excitement.

The bassinet in the middle of the room moved slightly as small, happy noises were made. Once seeing your faces, a giggle was heard as Silver took the baby into his hands. He made silly faces and sweet coo's to the little one, getting happy and loud reactions which made him laugh in return.

You watched while leaning at the wall nearby. The sight of Silver being a father was one you loved seeing everyday, and you were happy with all that happened so far.

Your actions stopped as you caught him looking at you, a cheery smile on his face as he said the words "I love you!" in a sweet voice as if he was speaking as his child.

You laughed and stepped closer, taking the baby into your arms and kissing Silver on his cheek as a thanks. "And I love you too." Silver said, making you freeze in place. 

You smiled and leaned onto Silver as he wrapped his arms around you, placing a soft kiss on your head.

"I love you both."

[twisted-wonderland-shenanigans]

Okay so. All of these questions are for the Kaiju Au.

Is the MC able to understand the kaiju or vice versa?

Why some of the categories in a few characters marked as unknown?

Do the kaiju have any human resemblance or are just 100% monstrous?

How does the MC gets close to the whole cast without being eaten?! I know they have the serum were they smell like a hatchling, but some species of animals don’t care about that and still eat or kill their newborns.

What was their first encounter with the Hearts gang and who was the first?

My, my, my! So many good questions~! OvO Let’s see if we can answer these!

First: at the moment, the MC/reader cannot understand what the Kaiju are saying save for the few who managed to mimic certain words (which is very few, and even then, they rarely use the words in the first place). Similarly, the Kaiju cannot understand the MC’s words. They do, however, recognize body language, facial expressions, and even tones of voice.

According to the researchers, there had been some speculation on whether or not it’s possible to teach them to speak, with certain Kaiju appearing to be skilled mimics (aka Ace, Jamil, Rook, Lilia, and Crowley). Unfortunately, due to funding and resources being limited, people had to be rearranged to different projects and left a virtual skeletal crew of one to try and continue this. So, it never really progressed beyond the few recordings of the researchers testing the Kaiju’s responses to specific words.

To answer your question about those with unknown categories, I based that mostly on the fact that we know very little to nothing of the magical skill of the characters in game (aka the staff for example). By extension, this means that they are the most reclusive and confusing of the Kaiju that the researchers have been studying, to the point that they don’t even know what category to put them under in the first place. Compared to the others who have been recorded fighting one another, there are those who either have not shown what their abilities are or haven’t had to demonstrate it.

For example, the other Kaiju will stop fighting if say Crowley or Crewel were to intervene, though it’s been noted to resemble a scolding before the two groups are separated. For those like Malleus and Lilia though, it’s because one has only partially been studied due to his reclusive nature (Malleus) while the other rarely seems interested in participating in any fighting and seems more inclined to watch (Lilia) and only intervening if it gets dangerously close to turning deadly.

When it comes to the Kaiju’s designs appearance-wise, for the most part their faces are more beastly than human (Crowley being an example given his head is more crow/raven than humanoid), but there are quite a few who have some semblance of their human faces! I’ve gotta sit down and do some sketches, but it can be a bit of a mix where they have either completely beastly faces (in which case it would be easy to tell who is who, like Crowley, Crewel, Malleus, and Jack for example), or they’ll have humanoid faces that look close to how they appear in game with some monster features (like off the top of my head: Cater and Riddle!). To put it simply, there’s about a 75-80% chance that the majority of them will bear little physical resemblance to their humanoid selves in game, while the remaining percentage will have humanoid traits.

As I mentioned before in another post, the serum won’t last forever and will likely wear off eventually. By that time, however, this will have given Yuu/MC/the Reader enough time for Grim, Crowley/Nevermore, and Crewel/Crewelfang to adopt them into the pack. Of course, Crowley, being the caretaker he is, would likely be the one who pretty much adopted the MC and, on occasion, near constantly gets assistance from Crewel to make sure they’re taken care of. This, in effect, means that the MC has not one, but two giant Kaiju in their corner to stare down/scold any of the other Kaiju packs thinking of hurting or eating the tiny human. Granted, this doesn’t guarantee that there aren’t some who’ll try and push their luck (like Floyd), but if anything, they at least have a better chance of getting close to a Kaiju without getting eaten!

The moment MC finds their weak spots for scritchies like they did Grim, though? Hoo boy, some of these Kaiju are going to demand more! Such a dilemma when MC is so small, so their hands and arms are going to be very tired before long. Grim is by far the easiest to pet, though! 🤣

As for the first encounter with Heartslabyul and who was the first one they met…well, technically, their first encounter was in the second chapter in the valley. But their official encounter with any of the Heartslabyul gang happens a few days after the valley incident when Yuu and Grim try to sneak away from the den while their “guardians” are either away or asleep, and it just so happens to be Ace/Slyfang that comes across them first and takes them to the Heartlands territory!

You can imagine the sheer amount of scolding that he got from both Riddle/Ragebloom and Crowley/Nevermore and Crewel/Crewelfang gave him afterwards. 😅 But in a way it worked out in Yuu’s favor as this led to more curiosity from the other Kaiju, so they wound up getting new visitors wanting to see them (and this is how they discovered that Cater’s/Flashwing’s moth and feather fluff is much softer than Crowley’s feathers…they temporarily got lost in the floof several times before the others realized that Yuu was fond of Cater’s coat and let them just enjoy nap time).

Honestly, the sheer amount of chaotic shenanigans as Yuu tries to befriend these giant creatures is going to be hilarious and absolutely terrifying! But hey, at least they’ll have a whole army of Kaiju to carry them around the island and protect them from the smaller scavenger creatures. Yuu is literally that one picture of a mama doggo curled up around a single pup: the safest human in the world~!

[corvsayscawcaw]

GREYLOCK: TAPE 012 - Waking Your Subconscious [RAMBLE]

Just gonna ramble here for a bit because that tape was absolutely crazy. You can watch it here. Please heed the in-universe content warnings as well as mine. Some of this topics will be mentioned.

Content Warnings: body horror, gore, loud noises, disturbing audio/visuals, animal cruelty (specifically against dogs, but I'm not too sure if that's the right warning for this situation), flashing lights, brainwashing (like... brainwashing visuals paired with distorted audio and such. I find it pretty disturbing, so I'm gonna add that here.)

Alright, now onto the very disorganized ramble.

Synopsis

A SimioDyn tape addressed to Charlotte Jean Melgren is played. It runs through a couple of mind exercises that slowly become more disturbing and brainwashy as it progresses, clearly altered by a malicious entity or force. The tape cuts out and switches to recording of a computer screen from a security company with an alert to a security breach and power outage at Forever Friends Shelter and Adoption Center. Charlotte, the owner of the shelter, is called by Troy, an operator for EverVIGIL Security. She checks out the kennel and confronts a thoughtform. Troy tries to keep her calm and calls the police. Charlotte is dragged away from the phone by the thoughtform and brutally attacked. The tape continues with some more exercises and a bit of brainwashing until it finishes. The police officer that was called to check out the shelter heads to the basement and finds Charlotte on the ground alive, but now a grotesque amalgamation of herself and three(?) dogs. The tape ends as he runs out of the shelter panicked as the creature screams.

Production and Small Details

So far, this has been the main analog horror I've been keeping up with consistently. For those who are fans of Local 58 or have watched the series, the video gives major Real Sleep vibes, even pulling some inspiration for the true and false sections and face exercise. I fucking love it. The shadow monster that appears in the background grid of the SimioDyn tape for Charlotte Jean Melgren slowing inching closer to the screen is an extremely unnerving visual that I like.

Major props to the actors involved in this episode! I could feel the raw fear and desperation even though there wasn't any live action footage. The horror is left up to the viewer's imagination and is fueled by the snippets of CGI for the thoughtform. There wasn't a moment where I thought that the scenes were too corny or stiff. Absolutely phenomenal. The in-universe warning in the tape also acting as a content warning is a very effective way of warning viewers AND not breaking immersion.

New Information

As briefly mentioned in the previous section, the tape that is shown in this episode is for Charlotte Jean Melgren. The surname "Melgren" stands out because another character in the series shares the same name. Private investigator Jim Melgren has been a reoccurring character in the series, debuting in TAPE 007 - back to normal in a quick flash of a news article and is mentioned by Arnold Rivers in TAPE 008 - old odd ends.

It becomes apparently clear Charlotte has gone missing because of an event undisclosed/unknown to the public and supposedly to Jim as well. Whatever has altered the tape seems to know that the person viewing it is indeed Jim. We now know why Jim Melgren is so involved in this investigation of SimioDyn and the Unit 13 project. He has a personal tie to these incidents because of his daughter, who was an unfortunate victim of one of the thoughtforms. We finally have a better grip on his character.

His daughter owned a shelter called Forever Friends and lived in a separate building right next to the kennels. She has been called numerous times over the course of two weeks regarding security breaches at the shelter, but most of the footage is corrupted or distorted, a common thing associated with the presence of thoughtforms. It seems to have been stalking her for a while.

We also a full-body view of a thoughtform as it breaks into the shelter. All previous images have been only partial or very distorted. It's a tall, monstrous skeleton with clawed hands and what looks like to be bits of muscle or blood all over its body. We still don't know who specifically created this thoughform and what its specific goals are.

Going back to the SimioDyn tape, we learn that it is supposed to induce fear and paranoia through the exercises, explaining they are crucial to induce the desire change for the experiment being conducted. It does an effective job, of course. I was utterly unnerved and very comfortable during my initial watch (creepy ambience and a slowly approaching shadow creature easily does the job for me). It goes on into a True or False exercise with a couple of statements.

The tape's aim is to alter the brain in some way to manipulate Charlotte into exploring the darkest parts of the unconscious and into opening the "Black Door", explaining "[t]he darkest aspects of [her] mind are part of a larger psychological entity that resides deep within [her] unconscious." It goes on to state the entity cannot be ignored, subdued, locked away, or eliminated, and attempting to "has the opposite effect, only making it stronger, darker, and more dangerous." I'll tap more into this shadow entity in the analysis later.

Something to note is that the tape seems to hinge on the idea of shadow psychology, which in "analytical psychology, the shadow is an unconscious aspect of the personality that does not correspond with the ego [the conscious] ideal, leading the ego to resist and project the shadow, leading to a conflict with it." I'm no psychologist, of course, so I can't really explain much about it with the little knowledge I have.

My brain is hella dead right now and running 100 miles a minute, so I'll just have to make a separate analysis post or something because I love this series so damn much, and I'm gonna milk this hyperfixation before I inevitably throw myself at another series.

[blueikeproductions]

So the current hullabaloo is Hasbro isn’t funding any more movies going forward due to a string of flops, TFONE among them, and people are freaking out.

Now having looked over it, they never say they’re NOT making more movies, they’re just not going to help fund more going forward, as stuff like Snake Eyes and TFONE proved to be a huge money sink. They’re also not going to be creatively involved as much either, though going by some fans’ poor reaction still to Bayformers, maybe Hasbro was never THAT involved to begin with.

So what does this mean going forward?

Heck if I know. None of us truly understand what’s going on here, but what we can infer is at the end of the day is Hasbro doesn’t want to pay out of pocket for more potential flops.

Most likely it’ll just be purely licensing similar to Skybound, where the Energon Universe was given the opportunity to do what it wants, and in this case, did so to great success after they won over Hasbro with their pitch.

In other words Paramount and/or Skydance pay Hasbro a fee to use the Transformers in movies, vs it being a more direct collaboration like before.

Until something else is stated, it sounds like the GI Joe team up movie is still a go, along with future TF projects with Josh Cooley. Transformers as a brand still does well for Hasbro overall, and we’re still on track to get CyberWorld and Wild King next year. So situation is mostly normal.

Still, the best we can do is speculate.

A big problem with IDW and post RiD15 cartoons were this huge insistence on making the Decepticons sympathetic, there by making Megatron into an Autobot. I will die on this hill, this has been a major issue. The average Joe wants Megatron to be a villain again, they want the Decepticons to be an evil empire bent on galactic conquest. That is the story we’ve had for 40 years, clearly that formula worked. Changing it now has led to same apathy the Pokémon anime is stuck in since it swapped out Ash for Liko.

The problem I continue to have is if they want to retire the Decepticons and Megatron as the villains that’s fine, they just need to pick a successor but they’re still so unwilling to do so. The Terrorcons and Quintessons feel like that’s what Hasbro wants, but for some reason we haven’t had a definitive modern take on the Autobots fighting them instead of the Decepticons.

Mandroid and his Arachnamechs feel like another attempt at proper villain faction, but they screwed it up too.

The Quintessons took over later in EarthSpark, but their main leader (that we know of) is dead now, and the show haphazardly has otherwise retuned to the Decepticons being the antagonists.

Prior to that in WFC and Cyberverse, it felt like there was a push to get the new Mercenary faction up and running as villains…

But that went nowhere too. Not helped is Hasbro seems to be ignoring this group entirely now…

Skybound started their TF book with the usual Decepticon conflict, albeit cranked up to 11, but trained the idea started with the first Bay film and TFA, by slowly building up to Megatron. The leaders now on Earth are Soundwave leading the main faction while Starscream has taken command of a splinter faction made up of the Combaticons and Astrotrain. Shockwave was the leader on Cybertron but, barring anything left field, he’s dead now, with an injured Megatron having escaped Cobra-La, but his current plans and whereabouts unknown atm.

So on top of being indecisive with replacement factions, it also feels like most want a return to basics, which means the traditional Autobots vs Decepticons approach. Skybound has largely succeeded in this front with Transformers, same with their GI Joe series. It’s probably because of the success of the Energon Universe Hasbro and Paramount still want to push forward with their own crossover movie, and as much as fans want to complain about Joes in their Autobots, the two series have crossed over frequently SINCE the 80’s. I’m actually more surprised Galaxy Force and Sigma 6 didn’t team up nor did Prime and its Joe counterpart. We ALL know Cobra Commander would want to use the Earth Cyber Planet Key for dumb nefarious reasons and I’m sad we never got Cobra aligned Destrons doing a Force Chip Ignition lol.

Anyhow, on the off chance more TFONE stuff continues, my guess is the former approach will be taken: the heroic Autobots vs the evil Quintessons, with Optimus convincing Megatron to begrudgingly help them.

I believe it was said the villains for CyberWorld are still Decepticons but the choices give me a Predacon and Terrorcon vibe.

Wild King on the Japanese end, post EarthSpark, makes me wonder if we’re reverting to how things used to be. Transformers is co owned by Hasbro and Takara, but both companies go their own directions with the characters, which is how we got stuff like Victory, Car Robots, Beast Wars II, and recently the Trigger PV.

What happens post EarthSpark and post TFONE will be very interesting going forward if nothing else. Skybound’s continued success will probably influence things to some extent as I strongly feel going back to basics is what’s going to help in the long run.

[kyuohki]

Gimme some director's cut deets on your modern AU!

Oh, goodness, my modern AU (with all the BDSM and Petplay...)

First the Party, in their majors (I think I commented on some of these, but I figured out Valere and Zale finally):

Garl is majoring in Family/Child Psychology, and probably gonna continue on to get a master’s degree (maybe eventually a PhD? I thought Culinary Arts, but it’s a bit too on the nose; plus, he was so amazing and supportive throughout the game, and he was absolutely great with Malkomud). Garl has a variety of scholarships, grants, and financial aid getting him through college.

Teaks, of course, is getting a degree in History (minoring in Creative Writing (she writes horror/thriller in her spare time, and some of her work is getting popular)). Teaks is also using a variety of scholarships, grants, and financial aid.

Seraï is getting a restoration ecology degree, with an eye to getting a masters (then a PhD). She wants to help with restoration projects in areas that have been damaged by humans. (She hides the fact that she's rich-rich from everyone as long as possible, which eventually results in Zale having a conspiracy theory that she's a Yakuza heiress).

Valere intends on getting her degrees in Physics and Engineering. She's has an idea of becoming an aerospace engineer, wanting to create more efficient and eco friendly airplanes and the like for travel. Valere is in on a tennis scholarship, grants, and financial aid.

Zale is going for a basic degree atm, but will land on something in Fine Arts (honestly with my obsession with pottery rn it'll probably end up being something to do with ceramics). (His family is the same as in Bloodlines (same thing for Valere), and Haris and his shop were big influences on Zale growing up). Zale is in on a soccer scholarship, grants, and financial aid.

Resh'an and Aephorul are married and professors at the university; they own the duplex that the group is renting (unknown to the group, they live just down the street in an even older historical home. The duplex is Resh'an's, and their current home is Aephorul's).

Resh'an actually has a variety of classes in various subjects he cycles through every couple of years, and each of the group probably end up in one of his classes at one point or another (he feels like a Jack of all Trades to me).

Aephorul is a neuroscientist, reluctantly teaching classes between his research (he doesn't exactly hate it, just has no patience for most of the students who try to coast through his classes).

B'st is a contemporary of Resh'an and Aephorul, and with him being a Songster, he teaches a large variety of music classes and theory. He is good friends with the "pirate" crew after they graduated, as all of them took his classes for their degrees.

NSFW exploration under the cut:

'Kay…it’s probably absolutely clear to everybody now that I have a kink for main characters willingly giving up their control to their partners (or losing all control to someone stronger).

So...…Teaks introduced the idea of BDSM to the trio. First to Valere after they’d gotten together, with shibari; then to the boys when she and Valere were not as thorough in cleaning up their supplies from a play session in their living room. (There was much blushing from everyone when Zale found the cuffs and rope, then a lot of teasing.)

Garl and Zale were actually not together when they all moved into the duplex. Between being introduced to the concept of BDSM, and constant pining on both sides since their high school days, it all came to a head when Zale got really drunk and kissed Garl (and as I love the stupid trope, he passed out and didn't remember it in the morning). Garl corners him not long after, they have a long talk, and start dating (bc like hell Garl is gonna let the pining continue if he can be cuddling, kissing, and smexing his Kitten bff).

Zale came up with the Kitten-play all on his own, having stumbled on it online while looking for gifts for Garl. He ended up missing getting it all for Garl's bday, as it took a while to collect everything. He did have a very embarrassing outing with Valere to figure out what kind of lingerie to get; bc Zale chickened out going on his own, and was overwhelmed by all the variety (she didn't know about the whole Kitten bit, tho.)

Zale finds that he likes being a Kitten, and he and Garl explore it a bit deeper after that first time. Garl gets an at-home belled collar to match the lingerie, and a more incognito necklace that Zale can wear all the time (Garl has a matching bracelet). After getting his collars, Zale starts experimenting with being a Kitten a bit deeper (with non-verbal communication and non-sexual play). They actually mostly do non-sexual play in cuddle and "grooming" sessions after long days of school or work.

Garl is a Soft Dom. These two don't really "switch" their roles all that often (Zale *likes* being a Sub, and Garl *likes* being a Dom), but that doesn't mean that Zale is always bottom. Garl does get his sounding fantasy played out, and all his ideas for Zale on rings and cages actually end up being used on him more often than not (Zale finds he also likes being a bratty Kitten and torturing Garl.)

Teaks and Valere figured out that being tied up helps Valere relax. Doesn't even have to be for sexy-times...if Valere is stressing over school or whatever, Teaks will offer to tie her up in either simple or complex shibari.

Seraï ends up walking in on one of Teaks and Valere's innocent sessions, and is flustered over it. Teaks and Valere discuss it, and slowly start romancing Seraï when she doesn't push them away when they broach it to her, and they end up in a happy threesome. They all like switching up who is dominant for any given session.