#this child is an eldritch abomination at LEAST

[random-iz-stuff]

Everything I could find that points towards something being real strange with Recap Kid:

The fourth wall awareness.

They can use their fourth wall awareness to see the future by creating the comic that is currently taking place and reading ahead.

Recap Kid being able to get their hands on objects that either shouldn’t exist in that universe (the same Invader Zim comics that they appear in, a copy of Enter The Florpus, a plush Zim, etc) or do exist, but Recap Kid REALLY shouldn’t be able to have them (a Gir costume for example, which does exist in universe but only as a unique Irken disguise made by Irken technology).

They CANONICALLY have shapeshifting powers, with Recap Kid briefly changing their physical appearance at least three different times in the comics.

Recap Kid also manages to change positions at least three times in one panel while also recapping everything with only a single text box, meaning that they can move extremely fast. Fast enough to create literal afterimages.

They also have canonical creation powers, with Recap Kid creating objects out of thin air and getting rid of them just as quickly, which does answer exactly where they’re getting the things that they shouldn’t be able to have.

Recap Kid also canonically has some sort of pyrokinesis, not only creating a ring of fire around Zim and Dib on command but also creating an explosion powerful enough to destroy an Irken ship.

Recap Kid is basically unharmed after getting rammed by Zim’s Voot at full speed and also being sucked into the Massive’s heating vents.

I haven’t even mentioned the pocket dimension they live/recap things in.

There are two separate occasions where it’s implied that Recap Kid doesn’t need air to live. First they mention that they hold their breath in between every comic release. And then there’s this line in issue 40 where Recap Kid questions how the Recap Brain can sigh without air or lungs, acknowledging that the space they’re in has no air, but continuing to go around like it’s perfectly normal.

Despite being able to breathe in space, Recap Kid still wears a spacesuit when we see them in space.

On a similar note, how does Recap Kid know that the Recap Brain doesn’t have lungs?

Recap Kid only exists in ONE universe, that being the universe that the main comics take place in. They just straight up don’t exist in Enter The Florpus, the Quarterly Comics and Dookie Loop Horror.

The fucking Recap Brain. A cosmic being with godlike power that looks like Recap Kid with the same hoodie and hair, who’s job it is to observe, record and recap the multiverse.

The Recap Brain implies that they aren’t the only member of their kind while tossing Recap Kid back into the comic universe, mentioning that “only a few people [presumably other Recap Brains] even know it [the comic universe] exists.

Point is, there’s something up with this child and I refuse to believe the wiki when it lists Recap Kid’s species as “human”.

[shark-wrangler]

What's your darkest headcanon for an OC?

Oh hi thanks for the ask!

so... kind of everything about Khatte if I'm being honest, giant sexy whump receptical that he is. I've already talked about how ImpInt fucked him up, but I think maybe the worst is that I also kind of expanded on the Agent's canon relationship with Darth Jadus in some fun awful ways.

for context, Khatte got into ImpInt around age 13 by flagrantly lying about his age and identity (which is why his alleged name is Khatte Antilles instead of literally anything else), and unlike in game canon he had his first run-in with Jadus only about a year after that, and Jadus latched onto him specifically because he was a very young, very isolated alien with enough natural talent to be useful down the line. Jadus may also have known or at least suspected Khatte's real identity/origin and held that over him for years under the guise of "protecting" him by keeping what he knew a secret. The idea was to mold himself a blindly loyal (or at least sufficiently beaten down) agent within ImpInt to ensure that the organization stayed in his pocket and better execute his whole terrorism plot years later, and it almost worked, but he didn't anticipate Khatte being quite as strong-willed as he was and ended up pushing him too far, and Khatte loathed him by the start of the Agent storyline. and spending the latter of his formative years under the thumb of an emotionally abusive eldritch horror of a Sith certainly didn't help with everything else he went through later.

then when Zhorrid "inherited" him it was kind of an out of the frying pan into the fire situation, because she didn't really understand what he was for, and he didn't respect her anyway, which compounded the feelings of inadequacy and powerlessness she already had which she in turn took out on him which he resented even more, so it just went very badly very quickly for everyone.

Khatte did end up being the cause of Jadus's downfall and the reason he had to go into hiding, so it all kind of blew up in his face, but with that incident being the reason the Dark Council took notice and forced Keeper's hand about the Castellan Restraints, it could be argued that Jadus did get the last laugh in the end.

[medusas-graveyard]

Loved By Time

Part 2

"H-hi, um—crap... I'm sorry, Mr. Wayne. Uh... It's nice to meet you. My name's Danny— wait, shit— you probably already know that."

It was an odd first impression, to say the least. The boy in front of him is an open book; quite obviously nervous and uncomfortable. Black hair with white covering nearly the bottom half that doesn't look dyed, light blue eyes, and a telltale of a wide scar right below his left eye, making the skin lighter than the rest of his otherwise tan skin.

Bruce in turn chuckles kindly at him, shaking his head. There was only him currently in Gotham; all of his kids were still dispatched elsewhere so Danny had time to adjust to the new environment. He reassures the boy that he's fine— that he'll fit right in and, in truth, he was somewhat right.

Dick, Steph, and Duke were the first ones to greet him; giving the boy quite a scare. He had met with Tim not long after, surprising the latter on brief comments about his works.

The strange things about Danny started when he met Duke. The two had started off great; they both introduced themselves kindly and shook hands. But something must've happened while they shook—because Duke's face had paled slightly as his eyes widen. Danny must've noticed; because the boy himself immediately placed a hand to cover Duke's eyes, whispering something in a rush.

“Don't— I know you can see it. Don't look at it. Don't look at me in the eyes. Don't say anything.”

He then met Jason and Damian.

Something must've snapped within the two, because the next thing anyone knew, the two had practically lunged at him.

Bruce had no time to react.

No one had time to react.

No one had time to react when a large, eldritch abomination of a knight loomed over Danny's figure, caging him within one of it's arm. A large greatsword was drawn, pointing at Jason and Damian who abruptly froze, ready to strike the moment they move even an inch.

A silence engulfed the manor as their eyes all widen in horror; the only thing audible being Danny's heart rattling within his ribcage and his heavy breathing mixed with wheezing, clear panic etched in the way his breathing didn't seem consistent.

"Do not. Touch. The child."

&��

Read: Part 1

[xaytheloser]

allow me to ramble about something other than crk at the moment bc holy shit I love Cyn so much

Cyn is such an interesting character to me, she is an eldritch abomination, whilst still being filled with child like whimsy to me at least, her want to "assimilate" and shit is purely based around the fact that she simply wanted to, the mistreatment she went through may have also been a motive, but other than that it just seems like she did all this simply because it was fun for her.

her relationship with N is so interesting too, does she care for him in her own twisted way? or is she just manipulating him like she manipulated everyone else? the way her tone changes from "hello, Uzi >:(" to "Hi N! :3" always gets me too, is she genuinely happy to see him? or is it another trick? who knows?

In short, I love this silly little girly, I am so normal about her :3 (blatant lie)

[eshithepetty]

I feel like not enough people talk about how desensitized Mob is to horror. As in, there's literally an omake where he watches all through a horror movie with a straight face, only flinching because of the sounds, and also, his percentage never ticks up just because of a spirit, even if it's an objectively terrifying one. I mean, it's obviously because he grew up alongside spirits and so they are a perfectly normal part of his life, but like.. that's so fun i think?? And it has a lot of comedic potential methinks.

Like, imagine his school friends inviting him along to a horror movie night, expecting the seemingly timid and naive boy to get scared shitless, but instead they're the ones who end up clinging to each other, hiding behind their hands and crying, all the while mob is nonchalantly watching, and lowkey falling asleep even - and they're all just "???? How??? Are you so fucking calm??!?" And Mob just shrugs and points to a being missing a jaw in the corner of the screen and says "i like that one. It looks cute". They all stare at him like he's insane;

Or him helping Ritsu when he realizes the younger has been struggling with getting used to spirits now that he's an esper - seeing shadows in the corners of his vision, knowing there's things watching him as he goes about his day, decapitated bodies and strange creatures roaming the streets - and tries to help him see that they're not always harmful, and teach how to get them to go away if need be, and reassures him that they can't get in their house due to Mob's aura, so he's still safe there - which is to say, at least, now Ritsu knows for sure that there are no spirits in his room, still traumatized from a comment or two Mob made when they were kids and never bothered to elaborate on, lmao. Mob apologizes for not clarifying that they were long gone, it just never occured to him that that would probably be scary to any other normal kid;

Or imagine him entering the s&s office one day, and Reigen greets him as usual, until he looks up from his computer and there is a fucking eldritch abomination of some sort of misshapen child hanging off of Mob's shoulders, and, as one might expect, he Freaks, and Mob is just like "Shishou, stop screaming. This is Lily. I promised to help her with her homework so she can pass on on her own". Etc...

Like, it's just really funny to me. Let Mob be a bit strange and off putting, he deserves it <3

[thenewgirl76]

Do not Disturb, Or ELSE

Inspired by this interestingly humorous post

Danny as the living/unliving embodiment of the "don't wake the sleeper" trope.

While this works with just regular ole Danny, I've decided to throw in both Ghost King Phantom and Constantine and Zatanna as his bio parents.

As Amity's sole major hero, a struggling high-schooler, and last but not least the Fenton's and GIW's biggest sought after prize capture Danny's already dealing with a colossal amount of pressure and rarely has the time to get the proper shut eye.

Throw in his fairly new status as ghost king, and you end up with a massively stressed and cranky sleep deprived teenager that oftentimes reacts rather violently if you dare to wake him prematurely.

Constantine and Zatanna know this all too well, having gotten a front row seat to the mayor getting viciously maimed by this scrawny boy(?) after being abruptly aroused from his nap while looking into the excess death energy surrounding Amity. Which is why after finding out this powerful yet somehow familiar entity was both the usurper of Pariah Dark's throne and their long lost son they agreed to keep it all hush hush. No need to risk a possible bad first impression with the Justice League as well as further hinder their kid's chances of getting more sleep after all.

All is reasonably well until Con and Z fail to stop the newest in a string of cult gatherings attempts to summon the ghost king and have no choice but to get the rest of the JL involved. Suffice to say, their hands are quite full trying to convince the League that the child they just witnessed not only transform into an eldritch abomination then literally maul every last one of the cultists in anger and frustration over being rudely awakened, but also take seemingly forever for them to calm down isn't a ginormous threat that must be closely monitored.

It certainly doesn't help matters when Danny threatens to remove a vital organ from the next person that wakes him up before cuddling up to his mom and dad and going back to sleep.

[meowcats734]

(prompt response) A girl grows up thinking that all doors are automatic, but it's actually the work of a polite ghost.

I'd thought the four of us had gotten to know each other pretty well at the Silent Academy. At the very least, Lucet, Meloai, and I hung out together for pretty much every waking moment we had, and it was a rare week that didn't see Sansen and I sipping slurry and brandy together in his comfortable, hand-built home. 

But as it turned out, hanging out together in the controlled environment of school was one thing. Trekking across the country and sleeping in the same camp for weeks was an entirely different level of intimacy that I didn't expect. In the first week alone, I learned that Lucet snored, Sansen liked staying up late humming to himself, and Meloai just flat-out didn't sleep at all, instead electing to keep watch for us as we rested. 

I learned other things, too. As the food supplies we'd brought with us from the Peaks ran low and I had to fall back on the foraging skills I'd learned as a child, I found out that Lucet was a surprisingly picky eater. I, personally, saw nothing wrong with the meat slurries that were a staple food of the Redlands, and the only thing Meloai ate was a couple soul fragments harvested from the gremsquirrels we hunted, but for some reason, Lucet didn't seem to be a big fan of the ground-up meat powder that I'd grown up on.

Explaining that the meat grinder was a metaphor for the constant violence in the Redlands didn't seem to do much for her appetite, either.

Things got even weirder when we started reaching villages. The first one we found—Hatebroke, according to the lonely entrance sign—was entirely abandoned, and stripped clean of anything remotely perishable. I was just getting comfortable with the empty village when a door suddenly swung open as Meloai walked past.

"Rifts!" I swore.

"Where?" Meloai asked, gaze swiveling.

"What? No, it's an expression—the door, Meloai. Did—you have to have to have seen that, right?"

"Uh, sure? But don't all doors do that?" Meloai asked, taking a step towards the abandoned cabin. The wooden door swung open with impeccable precision, and I could have sworn the hinges even oiled themselves as they moved.

"...No, Meloai," I said. "Doors do not normally open themselves as people pass."

"Really?" Meloai frowned. "They did all the time when I grew up."

"No offense, Meloai, but you grew up in a dead nobleman's creepy-ass extradimensional basement," I said. "I'm pretty sure that your definition of 'normal' is pretty different from human standard."

Lucet kicked me in the shin. "Hey. Be nice, Cienne."

"Sorry, sorry, I'm just a little bit stressed from... I dunno... getting chased out of the only home I had left by a fucking eldritch abomination? If this is Iola messing with us..." I took a step forwards and shut the door; it didn't open again.

"I don't think this is Iola," Sansen said, frowning at the door. "This... I think it's a different soulspace entity. And if my guess is right, it's one that probably decided to follow Meloai around ever since she left the Plane of Elemental Insecurity."

"Wait, so we've been stalked by some invisible soulspace entity for months now? How come we haven't noticed?" Lucet said.

"Say the part about it being invisible again," I said, "but slowly."

Lucet flicked my forehead. Ow, but I guess I deserved that. "You know what I mean. Meloai, does this door-opening thing happen all the time?"

"Yes," Meloai said, grumbling. "Not like it mattered much at the Silent Academy, since there were always so many people moving around that the doors were always open anyway. Look, I obviously turned out okay, and I spent twenty years with this kind of thing happening. Don't we have more important things to worry about? Like, uh, getting enough food for you guys to eat?"

"Well, hang on, maybe one of those problems can be a solution to the other." Sansen, by virtue of being older than Meloai, Lucet, and I combined, was the de facto leader of our little group of adventurers. "I've seen people come and go in my time, and I've even encountered the soulspace entities they've left behind. If this soulspace entity is formed from the soul fragments of who I think it is, then he's not going to be hostile."

"Didn't you just say it was something from Lord Tanryn's vault?" I asked. 

"Yes, but I don't think it's that puffed-up nobleman himself. He wouldn't stoop so low as to open doors for some commoner."

"Then... who is it?" I turned to Sansen, frowning. The old man had forgotten more than I'd ever know, and I trusted his judgement.

A faint smile spread across Sansen's face. "I think it's his old butler." He cleared his throat. "Meloai. Did the soulspace entity ever set tables for you?"

Meloai gave him an uncertain nod. "I... think? That's the thing where all the silverware flies into place, and the tablecloth straightens itself out with a whoomph, right?"

"...In this context, sure," Sansen said. "Did he—did the entity do the little thing with the three types of forks? The one with two little tines on the left, the bigger one in the middle, and that delicate, long, pointy one on the right?"

Meloai nodded enthusiastically. "See? It is normal for tables to do that."

"Oi," I muttered. "Well, I guess it's not the weirdest thing we consider normal nowadays."

"Yeah, that's ol' Mairel alright." Sansen's old gaze stared into the distance as he remembered. "He was my first crush, back in the day. If there's still enough of him left to remember how to wait tables and grease doors... well. Indulge an old man for a moment, will you?"

The three of us traded looks, then nodded at once. We may have been an eccentric little group, but we were tight-knit. We trusted each other. "Whatcha need, Sansen?" I asked.

His requests were fairly simple. We cleared out the front yard of the abandoned shack, smoothing over the dirt with our feet and hands—and as we did, something... else... joined us. Something that barely remembered how to speak or think, but still knew how to set a dance floor. Within minutes, we'd cleared a square of land, with Sansen standing in the middle.

And the old man began to dance.

Wordlessly at first, the waltz was an invitation. He took the lead, and empty air followed. And then, all at once, the air wasn't empty anymore. There was no flash of light, no thunderous miracles, but Sansen's steps became more sure, his weight more freely shifted, as he leaned on a partner who wasn't there but had been, once, long ago.

Meloai began to hum to herself, a wordless childhood lullaby that she must have heard when she was growing up, and the cadence of the tune matched the waltz to perfection.

The old man and the ghost finished their dance, and I felt a whisper of wind rustle around the impromptu dance floor.

Then the miracle was over, and suddenly, Sansen was holding nothing but empty air. He let out a long, contented sigh, memory coursing through him.

Then he opened his eyes, smiling.

"You wanted food, kids?" He stepped forwards, opening the door to the abandoned shack. Behind it, impossibly, incongruously, was a fully-set banquet table, resplendent with rich foods from an era long past, with three delicate forks set precisely by each setting. "Seems like there's something left of Mairel after all."

And the four of us ate gratefully, sustained by the memory of a ghost of an old man's friend.

A.N.

Soulmage is a serial written in response to writing prompts. Stick around for more episodes, or join my Discord to chat about it!

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[ao3feed-brucewayne]

How to Care for Eldritch Abominations

by foxgloveingloves Danny phantom has been gravely injured - so much so that he doesn't even remember his own name. After all, how could you when you don't even have a brain? After escaping the GIW, Danny finds a nice crypt to recover in, alone and unbothered. At least, that was the plan. Unfortunately, these strange humans won't go away. Words: 1474, Chapters: 1/15, Language: English Fandoms: Danny Phantom, DCU, DCU (Comics) Rating: Not Rated Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Characters: Danny Fenton, Damian Wayne, Tim Drake (DCU), Jason Todd, Dick Grayson, Stephanie Brown, Cassandra Cain, Duke Thomas, Bruce Wayne, Jazz Fenton, Barbara Gordon, Jonathan Kent Relationships: Danny Fenton & Damian Wayne, Tim Drake (DCU) & Danny Fenton, Danny Fenton & Jason Todd, Danny Fenton & Jazz Fenton Additional Tags: Bad Parents Jack and Maddie Fenton, Cryptid Danny Fenton, vivisection (past), Trans Danny Fenton, sam and tuck are dead now unfortunately, Hurt/Comfort, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, no beta we die like jason, Jason Todd Came Back Wrong, dpxdc, Not Phantom Planet Compliant (Danny Phantom), based off of that meatgrinder tumblr prompt, Guys in White | GIW Capture Danny Fenton, Past Child Abuse, Past Character Death, Transphobia, Kind Of, basically the batfamily takes care of danny as he heals, i will be picking and choosing what parts of canon i add for DC, Barbara Gordon in a Wheelchair, because you can pry that rep from my cold dead hands, mostly compliant to wayne family adventures, Wayne Family (DCU), Bruce Wayne Tries to Be a Good Parent, and is mostly succesful, Ghost Biology (Danny Phantom), Weird Biology, Tim Drake's Missing Spleen, Past Stephanie Brown/Tim Drake, Past Tim Drake/Bernard Dowd, tim drake needs to go to sleep, Language Barrier, Danny Fenton Fixes Jason Todd's Lazarus Pit Madness, eventually, Don't Have to Know Canon, because i barely remember canon, Tim Drake Needs a Break (DCU), but he refuses, Flashbacks, Medical Trauma, Medical Torture, No Smut, jonathan kent is still a child, and i resent that they aged him up, Damian Wayne is Robin, Tim Drake is Red Robin (DCU), Jason Todd is Red Hood, Dick Grayson is Nightwing, Stephanie Brown is Spoiler, Cassandra Cain is Orphan, Duke Thomas is Signal, Barbara Gordon is Oracle, Bruce Wayne is Batman, Danny Fenton is Not Okay, Selectively Mute Cassandra Cain, Memory Loss via https://ift.tt/HFdjl4y

[nomsfaultau]

Premise of SBI SCP AU

This is an au that has consumed me. This blog will just be a terrible mess of whatever I’m stuck on for the week, likely with little explanation and heavy spoilers. Anyway, the general vibe + anomalous properties are below cut:

Philza: The Zilant. Is the immortal concept of fire and fury, which pretends to be a dragon, which pretends to be a human. Maintains his personhood by attaching himself to mortals he calls his ‘Collected’. Currently: Tommy, Wilbur, The Blade, and Tubbo. Additionally, Philza is very intent on keeping any promise he makes and was kept in the Foundation exclusively because they’d captured his Collected and made a deal. Gives great dad advice, except when the advice is ‘let me murder them for you <3’

Tommy: The Instigator. Has a blood red liquid on his hands that grows when he’s scared. When people touch it, they become aggressive to anyone but Tommy. At low TI-Red levels this leads to things like bickering, but it escalates to physical violence and brutality. When TI-Red levels consume him and he thinks he’s going to die, he summons The Blade. Lived as a normal human and met Wil, Phil, and The Blade after a summoning at 15; visited the homeless guys occasionally till the Foundation captured at 16. Abandonment issues, highly touch starved, used as a Thaumiel. Collected Tubbo.

The Blade: The Blood God. Is a massive boar behemoth with voices in his head. When attacked (or if there’s an orphan), becomes The Blood God, who will bend the universe to ensure he wins. The Blade only comes back when the challenge has been completed. Grew up as a monster in the woods, but pulled himself up out of the voices, figured out what was him and what was The Blood God, and established his own personhood. Somehow has a college degree, met Phil and Wil during a gap year. Loves gardening and murdering people for Tommy. Also managed to come out of the Foundation the least traumatized, iconic. 

Wilbur: Soot. [tags are noms Wilbur or scp Wilbur if you want to block] His legs magically rearrange so he is the tallest humanoid in the room. Oh also the void in the side of his face that eldritch abominations claw their way out of. Was basically a feral starving child till ~14 when Philza forcefully adopted him. A chronic insomniac with a heart of gold and a tongue of silver, held together despite the inherent contradictions between being a supreme survivalist and a drama hoe. Memory issues because he represses basically everything. 

Tubbo: The Pollinator. Is a honeycomb skin suit for approximately 400,000 bees. Uses they/them we/us pronouns, because they are a Hive mind/system containing at least three humans: a Little, a Foundation employee, and a lawyer/farmer. Tubbo grew up mostly normal, albeit in secret. The most recently captured by the Foundation, and a staunch pacifist. This causes them to be at odds with Philza, who did a few murderous rampages too many, and The Blade, for the reason above and also because he destroyed their legs. But they stick around because they’re attached to Tommy. 

Basic vibes are found family, hurt/comfort, questions of morality, and trauma at the hands of the Foundation and each other. Things get messy, but it’s all bound together with love at the end of the day.

[ax3-e0ns]

I have another offering for you, goddex of crossshipping. Janus x theraprism bill

Janus crossed with any suit-wearing deal-making slimeball is an automatic self explained ship waiting to happen. It escalates both most negative traits past a boiling point, and can manifest in a lot of ways... especially as toxic old man yaoi-

Janus x Bill though adds new layers to explore in contrast to other options:

Depending on the scenario of Janus existing within the world of Gravity Falls or if Bill Cipher exists within Sanders Sides as another character within the main character's imagination, you can play with who would hold more power & what they would each do to one up the other. (You can also go the route of creating a mutual playing field AU like a fantasy or thieves AU but both of these freaks can sprout multiple arms like eldritch abominations, abstract stuff would be really amplified with these two)

However, throwing in specifically Bill while he's in Theraprism brings in an additional angle of "I can fix him" that not a lot of other options would have at the ready, as Janus also embodies things like self care. But Janus also embodies repression, so you can also throw in having Janus act as an obstacle that keeps Bill from leaving Theraprism (whatever Janus would get from doing that, at least).

There could also have Janus psycho-analyze Bill to better understand Ch!Thomas's needs in some way, but that would require deeper thinking skills that I unfortunately I am too small-brained to cook up right now lmao.

The only obstacle for much is whether or not you go with tumblr sexy man Bill or Triangle.

... Full triangle would be really funny though-

Have these two rough doodles for this ship concept. I've done art for the others, it would be weird not to do it here. The first one was meant to be a reference to Silent Hill 2 because mind games made too much sense for this combo in particular. The second is a straight forward reference to Bill's deals.

(guilty admission, the longer I was thinking of Bill in context to the Sanders Sides characters the more I thought of Bill as Remus and Janus's illegitimate child. Which wasn't the prompt but felt like it was worth sharing anyways.)

[random-iz-stuff]

Sometimes I think that my headcanons about Recap Kid being an eldritch abomination are outlandish and just too disconnected from canon.

And then I remember that Recap Kid canonically has powers and is only debatably human.

To prove I’m not insane, here’s a list of Recap Kid’s canonical powers:

Fourth Wall Awareness:

This one’s pretty obvious.

Superspeed:

Recap Kid can move fast enough to appear in four different spots in four different positions in one comic panel, all while speaking fast enough to recap everything in one panel as well. They’re capable of slowing down, as seen in one or two comics where they take multiple panels to recap everything, but they mostly move around at this extreme speed.

Creation:

Recap Kid has managed to get their hands on things that shouldn’t exist in the Invader Zim universe, like a GIR costume (the real GIR costume is made using Irken technology (Zim’s disguise generator)), a copy of Enter The Florpus, and most notably of all, the very comics that they recap and appear in. That last thing especially leads me to believe that Recap Kid made all of these things by themselves.

Shapeshifting:

Seems insane, but Recap Kid briefly changes their form at least three times during the comics, growing another head with teal and yellow striped eyes (even if the extra head is just Recap Kid moving really fast, the eyes definitely aren’t), replacing their mouth with a zipper and changing their entire artstyle mid-comic (in fact, they suddenly and briefly change their artstyle twice throughout the comic’s run).

Slight Control Over The Comic Artstyle (possibly. Not confirmed):

We see that Recap Kid has control over their own artstyle within the comic and is more than aware of the comic’s constantly changing artstyle. So there’s a possibility that they have some level of control over it. However, they mention being scared of the changes in artstyle, meaning that this control may be limited and a good chunk of the artstyle changes are not within Recap Kid’s control, assuming that they have any control over it in the first place.

Ability To Breathe Without Air.

Recap Kid questions how the Recap Brain is able to sigh without air or lungs while floating in between universes. Where there’s no air. As they just questioned how the Recap Brain was able to speak without it. This means that Recap Kid can survive and speak in a vacuum.

It also somewhat confirms that Recap Kid has lungs. So Recap Kid canonically has lungs (of some sort).

It also brings up the question of how Recap Kid knew that the Recap Brain has no lungs…..

Pocket Dimension Creation/Access

Whenever we see Recap Kid, with little exceptions, we see them in a near-featureless void. The Irken Armada Symbol is usually visible behind them, but we see them replaced by random doodles in one comic.

But this isn’t just some meaningless featureless void with the Irken Armada Symbol or random doodles everywhere. As seen in one of the deluxe comics, it’s a house. Or at least the inside of one. Containing furniture and walls and everything.

We also see that Recap Kid is more than capable of leaving this place at any time, appearing within the main comic universe twice in space and once casually on Earth.

The most likely possibility is that this void-house-location is a sort of pocket dimension of Recap Kid’s own creation.

Recap Kid also must have control over this pocket dimension, as they must be capable of changing it around to show things like the Irken Armada Symbol or those random doodles or it’s more house-like appearance. It’s possible that the house from the deluxe comic is the pocket dimension’s true or original form, but I’m leaving that one up to reader interpretation.

Future Sight (technically)

Most of the time when they appear at the beginning of a comic, Recap Kid tells the reader the gist of what’s going to happen in the rest of the issue. This implies that they’re able to see the future, but we actually know how they do this and it doesn’t actually involve directly seeing the future.

At the beginning of issue 49, Recap Kid mentions that they don’t know what’s going to happen in this issue because they “haven’t read the comic yet”. Although it seems strange at first that Recap Kid is talking about reading the very comic they’re in, but we’ve already established that they’re capable of creating copies of the Invader Zim comics so it’s not that strange when you think about it. And that line about not having read the comic yet explains exactly how Recap Kid “sees the future” along with its limits.

Recap Kid doesn’t have the power to see the future, but they CAN create comics that exist beyond the fourth wall. And since Recap Kid exists in the same universe that these comics document, they can do things like read issue 15 before the events of issue 15 actually happen and learn what’s going to happen in the future.

This also means that Recap Kid’s future sight is based purely on what comics get released in the real world. If no comic exists detailing an event, Recap Kid can’t see the future of that event.

Pyrokinesis:

In a different deluxe comic, we see Recap Kid sneak aboard an Irken ship and blow it up. I would like to bring up that Recap Kid didn’t appear to be holding anything when they snuck aboard, especially not anything powerful enough to crack open an armoured ship with the same force we see in the comic.

There’s a chance that they sabotaged the ship or created a bomb with their creation powers once they were inside, but I say pyrokinesis because of a different scene.

Upon confronting Dib and Zim, Recap Kid says “Now gather round!” And the fire in the ship immediately forms a circle around Recap Kid, even cutting off the exit behind Zim in a way that shouldn’t be possible for the fire. Zim and Dib both draw attention to this.

And even one panel later, as the flames grow even taller, the fire constantly forms a circle around Recap Kid, Zim, and Dib. This fire is Recap Kid’s doing.

(Also notice how things like the broken window and control panel completely disappear when the fire starts moving, even when the fire shouldn’t be covering it. The walls, broken window and the things outside the window are replaced by a black void. Recap Kid may have also pulled Zim, Dib and Gir into their Pocket Dimension without them knowing along with forming a fire circle. Maybe using the fire circle as a way to distract them from the pocket dimension.)

Extreme Durability/Healing Factor/Something Along Those Lines:

As seen before, Recap Kid created a very powerful explosion, not only destroying the Irken ship, but lighting most of the inside on fire as well.

But when Zim and Dib enter the ship:

Recap Kid is completely unharmed. They’re not even dirty from the massive explosion that they basically set off point blank from themselves. Even their hoodie is unharmed.

They also survive being rammed by Zim’s Voot Cruiser at high speeds and getting sucked into one of the Massive’s outer vents.

So they’re definitely very durable or have some way of protecting themselves from damage.

So yeah Recap Kid has canonical powers and is only debatably human. And this isn’t even bringing up the Recap Brain or the possibility that the Cosmic Mistake that sent Recap Kid to the Space Between Universes was accidentally and unknowingly made by them.

[stem-sister-scuffle]

STEM SISTER SCUFFLE: ROUND 1 MASHUP 1

Shion Usuki (Xenosaga) vs Jadzia Dax (Star Trek Deep Space 9)

Shion Uzuki is a Computer Scientist and Roboticist!

Jadzia Dax is an Astrophysicist and Xenobiologist!

Why you should vote for each contestant:

Shion Uzuki:

"OK SO. Shion makes me very deranged so sorry for the 1.7k word essay in your inbox but also you asked for it and im not sorry. Right so on the science side, she and her Tragically Dead lover built KOS-MOS(a robot girl she has lesbian subtext with), who is designed to fight the eldritch abominations from space. She later has to rebuild KOS-MOS by herself and does so. She is very good at her job and the head and Chief Engineer of the KOS-MOS Project at the start of the game (at age 22).

Like this a 00s Main Character who is a woman in STEM who is single during the games themselves and gets to be Complicated. That in of itself is pretty subversive(so subversive there is a large contingent of dudebros who hate her to this day) and awesome, but the real kicker is how she is written.

She is also an extremely well written and developed character (ESPECIALLY for a 00s character)who has one of the most realistic depictions of complex-ptsd in media I have seen to this day. Very few characters come close or top her in my eyes. She is one of the best written characters in the 'xeno' metaseries imo, and that is VERY stiff competition if you have ever watched LPs or played those games.

I feel she should get best woman in STEM more because of how incredible of a character she is than anything else (though she is super smart and good at her job, its just the focus of the games is on her character development over her work).

!!SPOILERS FOR A EXTREMELY PLOT HEAVY GAME SERIES BELOW SERIOUS SPOILERS!! Also uh content warnings for abuse and trauma and stuff.

The majority of this is gonna be on how amazing of a character she is, more than anything so sorry if that wasnt what you were looking for. Promise shes doing science in the games and stuff. So Shion has got that PTSD, and her character arc is the continual chronic trauma piling up until her (not very good) coping mechanisms no longer work and she breaks down and hits rock bottom. It is here with the help of her friends that she finds the resolve to push through just a little bit longer and still find hope in the world. She ends the series on a hopeful (yet bittersweet) note. What is so good about her character arc is that its so realistic. She doesnt get stronger in the face of overwhelming trauma, she breaks down and begs for it all to stop already, and its only through others stepping in to help her despite her best efforts does she find the strength to have hope again at the end. People rarely get better in the face of The Horrors, they break or get worse. People don't expect this of characters and its rare to see, but characters that break are so important IMO, because trauma DOES THAT.

Shions life is a horror show and responsible for At Least Half the content warnings this game has(there is a lot), she even keeps getting goddamn EMAILS all through the first game while actively in the middle of a crisis, and yet she still pulls through. Its cathartic and wonderful to see a character stumble into a happy ending, not really heroically as much as teeth-grit dragging herself across the finish line, but getting it all the same.

They wrote that ptsd amazingly- so much so that long before you get to the specific trauma later games reveal, she displays traits that function as foreshadowing that you can pick up and guess. Her every action and reaction is informed by her trauma and its incredible how much thought went into it.

Early in the first game she has a seemingly hypocritical reaction to not removing the remote self-destruct sequence in the sapient robot people in the setting when she otherwise is very strongly for equal rights for them, until its revealed that she was there as a child during an incident when a whole bunch of them went berserk (because god melts people's brains and that virally infected them all- its this whole Thing) and killed a whole ton of people, including family in front of her. After this incident it was required to have this self destruct switch to prevent that from ever happening again.

This incident is also why she got into robotics and programming, because she didn't want to be scared of them and learned to see them as people in a way many others in the world don't. Her short temper is very clearly emotional disregulation characteristic of ptsd from her life of unresolved and untreated chronic trauma going back to her childhood. In the first game, she is still deeply in mourning (because her lover -named Kevin- got brutally murdered in front of her a few years previous) and still mostly running on the programming Kevin instilled(Kevin is also later revealed as a manipulative abusive dickbag), but over time she starts shaking it off- just in time for the plot to hit her over the head again (but we will get to that).

One thing people forget about ptsd is that it can make you just so ANGRY, and its nice to see a character that has that ptsd expression. That isnt the perfect 'good survivor' in response that people like. She makes bad decisions, she pushes people away, she gets snappy because she is running at the end of her rope by the third game and shaking her kneejerk fawn response. She is in a world where so much just keeps happening beyond her control and its horrible, and well, when you are in a situation like that you lash out just to control *something*. The narrative takes the time to be sympathetic to her even when she does this, and it means a lot to me to see that. And now we get to Kevin.

Shion is just starting to get better somewhat. Things are still terrible, but she is starting to have some progress on unpacking trauma and everything... Until a resurrected Kevin shows up and RUINS EVERYTHING.

See as stated before, Kevin is an abusive manipulative sack of dicks. When we see him at first in games one and two and up until his reveal, the red flags are all glossed over and barely noticeable because we are seeing things from Shion's unreliable memories and perspective. Kevin was well-liked, so people have good things to say about him too, which reinforces this. Shion very much behaves, if you know what to look for, like someone whos been through some specific emotional abuse, even as early as the first couple hours of the first game.

But then he shows up (clearly working for the bad guys) and ruins all the progress made. Then asks Shion to join him.

And after some time, Shion agrees, and goes back to her abuser. When people write abuse victims in media, the always make what people tend to consider is 'the right decision'. Very rarely, if ever, do they go back to their abusers the way people often do in real life. A lot of people don't leave their abusers, or they may leave but they go back later. Shion just wants to be happy and not in pain, and at least with Kevin she knows there will be nice things sometimes, instead of the horrorshow that is currently happening. She knows he is using her, that he WILL hurt her again, but she doesnt care because in the moment it feels like the decision that will keep her happiest and most safe.

She feels in the moment -especially critical to this- its the decision that will keep all of her friends the most safe. She is protecting them from Kevin by giving herself up and begging them to stand down. I feel that is something most people dont catch. She is playing peacemaker with her abuser to protect the party, and it doesnt work, but she tried. They never directly say that she has done this kind of thing before, but the very quick way Shion tries to smooth things over implies that this is something she has done in the past and she is trying to make it work again.

When you have been in a relationship like that, sometimes the abuser feels safer(better the devil you know, etc), and when Shion is mostly running on the basest of instincts to survive because trauma DOES THAT to people, yeah is incredibly realistic she went back. Its incredibly well written and agonizing to see.

After this, the party does convince her to leave again, but not before you are forced to fight her in one of the most emotionally painful boss fights in the series.

Key to convincing her to finally leave him is KOS-MOS, who all this time Shion was treating as a person until she became one. KOS-MOS and this other guy named Allen whos sort of her love interest but they never get together on screen give a dramatic speech and she decides that its time to give up on Kevin because her friends wont give up on her.

So we get to loop this back around to her job again! Yes- her being in STEM caused KOS-MOS to exist which saved the world and also her. Her being in STEM and good at it caused Allen to meet her and gain a big fat crush on her that Also saves the world despite him never actually being in the party (thats the power of a workwife!). Science wins!

All of this is also ignoring the actual batshit plot of xenosaga btw, which is a space opera that involves multiple bible figures, psudeo-time travel, the fact that the internet is built on everyones collective subconscious and you can therefore literally hack into someone's brain, a political faction clusterfuck, an immortal evil guy voiced by Crispin Freeman, and eldritch abomination god (who is trapped in what amounts to an infinite battery) trying to cause the apocalypse because a little girl begged for help.

Listen I know xenosaga isnt popular on here so she is probably gonna have a hard time, but that me blorbo she means a lot to me."

"super smart and pretty, loves her job and made a whole sentient humanoid robot, is an accurate representation of a mentally ill woman. play Xenosaga"

"Space lesbian. Made an android that's the reincarnation of her wife from a lifetime ago (who happens to be Mary Magdalene don't worry about that part). Trans gender."

"She's so mentally ill and loves her robot creation"

"She literally took the project her dead boyfriend was working on, which was a cyborg KOS-MOS, and managed to create a version where KOS-MOS doesn't go berserk and murder and slay. She is also captain of VECTOR. Robotics/cyborgs are her special interest. We stan a girlboss. shes gay af"

"She built her robot girlfriend and managed to creat a version of her where she doesn’t kill innocent people"

"Gay for the robotic war machine she created <3 Girlboss, sad-girl, mad scientist, mecha pilot. She really has it all."

"She made a billion dollar government funded battle android into her wife, with the help of lesbian space destiny of course. She’s simply #nyasome"

"She built herself a robot girlfriend and also her and the gf are reincarnated versions of mary magdelene and her fellower. Thanks!"

"She's autistic, traumatized and made her own girlfriend, "

"She’s the chief of an android development project AND she has a special interest in providing psychological support for artificial humans! She likes women your honor"

"Helped to create anandroid named Kos-Mos who would save the universe. Was the Head and Chief Engineer of the KOS-MOS Project and lead a small group of people to help fine tune Kos-Mos. Also she's just super cool and overcomes any obstacles she may face, despite all the trauma she's been put through. Shion is great and I love her."

"She is a mentally ill legend, she will stay up past midnight programming and working on her android gf instead of going to therapy, and I just think that's really sexy and cool of her. She's the best xeno game protagonist and I will fight on this"

"made a battle robot mary magdalene. fell in love with robot mary. is a reincarnation of a girly who was in love with the OG mary thousands of years ago. whenever robot mary acts like a robot she freaks out. almost dies to get robot mary functioning at 100% several times"

"Shion joined the huge corporate conglomerate Vector Industries when she was just 18 and became head of the KOS-MOS project (her girlfriend battle android) at age 22. Shion’s character growth throughout the series is amazing as she has to deal with her childhood trauma, facing her abuser, and moving on from the past by making steps towards the future. At the end of Episode III Shion finally stops being passively strung along the plot and begins to take steps on her own, embodying the themes of making your own ripples and seizing the future. Also Shion is very gay and is the wife of Mary Magdalene. Not kidding! LESBIAN SHION THE WORLD SHION/KOS-MOS NUMERO UNO CAMPÃO DO MUNDO

"She is the best woman in STEM because she is a very deep character who has an amazingly hard hitting story. She has realistically written PTSD, and is heavily implied to have BPD as well. She shows some very ugly symptoms, and even goes through no character development in the first third of the series which shows how deeply depressed and hurt she is. However, in episode II she begins to show signs of healing. Episode III absolutely goes haywire with her recovery process. She has many ups and downs, and even turns to her abuser, but in the end she overcomes him with the help of her friends AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, her android wife that she made with her own two hands.

So like. Robot wife. Awesome. But what if this robot wife was someone you deeply loved and looked up to in your previous life? So much so that you were called her Maiden. What if you died in her arms? And then, completely unbeknownst to you, after 6000 years, she reincarnated as an android that you programmed. How crazy would that be...

KOS-MOS (the android), starts off as your typical robot without emotions. But as time goes on, she grows more and more warm. And it's all thanks to Shion.

They embrace a ton of times, with KOS-MOS even bridal carrying Shion multiple times AND riding with her in her space motorcycle. Shion is also awesome because she's Japanese and hell yeah she's not White Woman Number 4050. Win.

Um. Also she eventually rebuilt her android's frame and gave her bigger boobs. HAPPY PRIDE.

timestamp 3:30 to end of the video, witness some lesbians :) hope you enjoy if you choose to watch https://youtu.be/eY6kPp-wcKg?t=210"

Jadzia Dax:

"She does a lot of science in space — like xenobiology and physics — but is also the ranking science officer, so she covers a lot of fields. she is an expert in many scientific fields, leads a lot of other scientists, and is a badass starfleet officer who can f you UP in a fight. her alien species is a symbiotic set of species, so Jadzia’s got a worm named Dax in her and has access to all of Dax’s past hosts’ memories & knowledge, part of why she’s an expert in so many fields! but Jadzia, the host, also got multiple degrees in different fields before she was “joined” with her symbiote."

"She is a star trek science officer, so mostly space anomalies and stuff 😄 She is self assured and takes up space and just a joy to watch. All the bi girls love her 💜"

"First F/F kiss on TV"

"IMMORTAL WORM ALIEN WOMAN who has lived EIGHT LIVES and is GENDERFLUID but is CURRENTLY A WOMAN! She's great"

"She is the lead science officer on her space station! Got four degrees in astrophysics, exoarchaeology, exobiology and zoology. She is an amazing researcher! Jadzia is a Joined Trill, host to the Dax symbiont which has lived 300 years. Jadzia became a Starfleet officer and pursued her science studies before then becoming Joined, which means she also has the wealth of knowledge from Dax's multiple lives. She is an amazing scientist and also loves to have fun, and she's a genderfluid pansexual ICON."

[dc-sideblog]

Pros and Cons of Rewriting Wayne Kids as Bio

Dick: booooo bad take. But in the spirit of the idea, clearly the Graysons had a threesome with Bruce Wayne while on tour, Mary got pregnant, and the Graysons were both ecstatic, no matter who the child's biological father was. Besides, by then Bruce was long gone, and the circus was in a different country

Jason: because his parentage needs to be MORE messy. The only way this would work is if it was Bruce and Sheila Haywood, which means Willis was a stepfather, and then Catherine was like a step-stepmother. Jason would arrive at Wayne Manor with the intent of robbing the place and booking it back out onto the streets. No way is he staying with some uber rich deadbeat who only took him in for the optics. Unfortunately, his father is Batman. He gets found again, if he even makes it past the security.

Cass: oh he's going to kill Shiva. Who on earth would have a baby, not tell the father, and then sell that baby to an assassin? Shiva, that's who. But making Cass bio is a cop out. She's already just like Bruce. It's much funnier when she's adopted and the token bio kid is less like Bruce. Cass meanwhile isn't treating Bruce like he's her parent. She's treating him like he's the new Cain

Tim: LMAO Brucie Wayne really slept with the neighbor's wife. The scandal of this. And they're business competitors too. Ideal scenario is Tim knowing since he was a young child and saying nothing about it, just like how he kept Batman's identity secret. Surely the World's greatest detective knows too, right?

Duke: Bruce Wayne Slept With the Eldritch Abomination Gnomon. Certified monsterfucker. Would this be mpreg? Questions for the scholars. But from Duke's perspective this is kinda fucked up. Batman, infamous for his no metas in Gotham policy, had a meta kid and ditched him with a random family it seems. I'd assume certain things, in Duke's position, once he found out who his second father is. Bruce would have a long road ahead of him when it came to earning trust. That is, if Duke isn't raised in Wayne Manor from the get go, which further implies Bruce's pregnancy couldn't be hidden

Damian: adopted! Damian is a sweet and soft idea. This scenario basically swaps Cass and Damian's backstories. Now Damian was raised by Talia in the League to be an assassin since birth, but Bruce found him, rescued him, and put him in a loving home instead. However, Damian would take extreme offense to that. For at least a year, he'd be trying to "escape" back home

[sebry]

So, I finally managed to get to this point in Scarlet Hollow, and I feel like that gives me a good excuse to compile the tangled mess that is my speculation as to what is going on in Scarlet Hollow

So, there are going to be major spoilers, and I am going to be hopping around willy nilly between the 4 chapters that are out as of the time of me writing this, so, if you haven't played through the game multiple times, I'm going to be giving out some pretty hefty spoilers. There's your warning as to what is below the cut.

Furthermore, I want to say that this is going to be a whole lot of rambling and a massive amount of tinfoil hat levels of speculation.

Let's talk about what I think are some of the major players.

Stella

As much as I love the objectively best girl in the game, I can't deny that there is a pattern of flakiness. When the going gets tough, Stella likes to get going, be that in the ditchling nest in chapter 1 even when you insist that they're not attacking, to just running off at the end of chapter 3. Yes, a lot of it can be explained by what happened to her parents, and the final choices that you get to make (if you find her) revolve around finding out more about that whole thing and her coming to terms with the death of her parents, so she may be turning over a new leaf there. Still, sources say that that is not the case. Those sources, of course, being possibly the centrepiece of the most insane rambling rant I have in me about this game, so buckle up, because I'm talking about...

Wayne

I want to clarify, when I say Wayne, I don't mean the human. When I'm talking about the human, I shall refer to him as Sam. Wayne, is the thing that follows you around, protecting you. They are completely separate entities.

So, after Sam's death, Wayne picked up Sam's rotting corpse and started to puppet it around. It is his way of interacting with the world. I think that he is the main point of the story. He is your father, he is Tabitha's father, he is Sybil's patron (I'll get to that in Sybil's section), he is the reason why the ditchlings are everywhere.

So, let's start with the reason why I think the ditchlings are there. Scarlet Hollow has something going on. Something that is very much tied to, at least in my theory so far, to Sybil and Wayne. Wayne isn't fully in our world, he is interacting with it as much as he can, but I believe that the Wayne we see is less than a finger puppet compared to the actual being he represents. I believe that he is going to be making his way to the world of the game, in his full power, right around the time of the funeral. Such a thing will be an apocalyptic event, and Scarlet Hollow is days away from being the eye of that worldwide storm, so of course the harbingers of doom that are the ditchlings would be appearing there en masse.

Wayne is far more than what we've seen of him, right now, he is confined to the deceased body of Sam, and he has to adhere to some of the laws of the world while at such a tiny fraction of his true power. Even still, we've seen him appear and disappear at will, effortlessly dodge the powerful build, even when also fighting Reese, and obviously, the fight against Reese himself.

Now, we get to some of the weirder stuff. I believe that Wayne still needs a vessel that can hold him. People with such capacity aren't easy to come by, so, over the course of years and years, he made some. It's why the Scarlets, as pointed out in the tea room with Sybil, tend to not really have many men in the family. It's all Wayne, through some eldritch ritual, bringing about Scarlet after Scarlet, until you, finally, the human who has the capacity to serve as his true vessel. That's why Vivian left Scarlet Hollow, she was forced to partake in the ritual, and you were the result of that. The child growing inside of her was going to be possessed by an eldritch abomination and bring about the end of the world, but his followers only really had reach within Scarlet Hollow.

It's why he cares so much about you. The simple answer is that he doesn't care so much about you, he cares about your body being kept safe until he is able to make his way through the veil and take it over. It's why he will threaten Sybil about there being hell to pay if anything else happens to you should you give up the decade of your life to the ghost of Charles Shaw Jr. It's why he wants you to just stay put in the estate when he finds you poking around the mines on Tuesday. Speaking of Sybil...

Sybil

Goes without saying, she's a witch. But, in modern media, a witch is not simply a female wizard (unless you're talking about the Harry Potter universe). A male witch is a warlock, and in modern media, they don't do the whole studious study in order to earnt their magical/mystical prowess, that's a wizard thing. Witches, like Sybil, skip the whole studying thing and go straight to being masters of the arcane by striking deals with supernatural (almost always evil and demonic) beings. The witch serves the patron and the patron allows the witch to have great magical power.

With that established, I already mentioned who her patron is (Wayne), but, with that being the case, she is the one who takes the orders in the relationship. On the magical hierarchy, Wayne is Sybil's direct boss, and if she wants to have the massive power that we sense when we first meet her with the mystical trait, she will do as Wayne tells her, when he tells her. That said, she doesn't want to scare us off by saying anything about Wayne. She knows what he is, she knows his true nature, and I believe that Wayne offered her a seat at the table in his new kingdom if she pulls off summoning him.

The problem is, as you keep asking questions about Wayne, she doesn't know how to calm you down about him other than brushing you off. If you are not in Scarlet Hollow when Wayne is summoned, he won't have a body to possess and his time in that world will be short lived. She knows that he is an eldritch being piloting a corpse like a finger puppet, but it's easier to brush you off when you ask about that than it is to risk scaring you off and away from Wayne and away from Scarlet Hollow. Besides, as long as you're running around playing detective, you're staying in Scarlet Hollow. You want to try and get some kids out of a mine? You want to go have dinner with the jersey devil and his mum? You want to go ghost hunting? You want to go look for Stella after she runs off? Sure. Fine. Not the safest use of your time, and it somewhat puts the body on the line here, but it is better than you digging into and using that energy to figure out what Wayne is and then leave his area of influence before you can become his vessel, since you're obviously not going to listen to him when he tells you to just stay put in the estate. You need breadcrumbs to keep you interested, sure, but the real leads need to be withheld from you until the ritual happens for their plan to have the best shot at bearing fruit.

Sybil gets more complicated though, this is where it gets really dark with her, but I think that she needs to sacrifice her firstborn for the ritual to summon Wayne. It's why she is working so hard to keep Kaneeka in place. I think she killed her husband, probably through poisoning to bring Kaneeka back from veterinary school, then has been using her mind controlling tea on her ever since. And yes, it is certainly the tea. There is a lot that changes depending on whether you drink the tea or not, including whether you can hear dr. Kelly badmouth her in the old x-ray room.

At this point Kaneeka is basically a puppet of Sybil, and I think that part of the ritual to summon Wayne she's going to have to sacrifice Kaneeka. Given how she apparently responds to the knowledge that Mile was in the mines though, I don't think Sybil really cares whether he lives or dies. I think that he's unimportant to the upcoming ritual and Sybil doesn't expect him to last long after said ritual anyway.

Kaneeka

I said a lot of what I have to say about her in Sybil's section, but she is under Sybil's control, she has not actually been sick, she's just gotten a bit too rowdy for Sybil's liking so Sybil has been using her tea to control her and possibly just hide her away under the guise of being sick until it is time for the ritual. They're in the endgame now and Sybil doesn't want to take the chance of Kaneeka making good on her promises to herself now of all times when there isn't enough time to work on preparations for the ritual and a scheme to get Kaneeka back in time again. It's just far easier if Kaneeka thinks she's too sick to get out of bed until it's time to sacrifice her. Meanwhile, the tea in her is actively pushing against her really taking onboard anything weird about her mum. Their relationship is in the gutter and I think if she were able to, Kaneeka would damn near hate her mother at this point, but the tea makes her quick to forgive her mother when she does something that Kaneeka doesn't like.

Coven/Cult

Stepping away from the character centric format for a bit, I want to talk about the coven, the group responsible for the upcoming ritual. I think that that group is lead by Sybil and the head Scarlet has been the right hand of the coven since the Shaws got driven out. Pearlanne has been hanging onto that role since Eddie died, and for some unspecified amount of time has been teaching Tabitha the ropes of what needs to be done. The group is dedicated to and ultimately takes its orders from Wayne, his witch making the more day-to-day decisions, the Scarlets using their power within the town to enact what needs enacting (such as purposefully hiring a bunch of incompetent and lazy individuals who prioritise a bowling night over a murder inquiry for a police force). If you mention the mayor to Tabitha at her hideout house, she even says the quiet part out loud and tells you about him being a dog, saying that the Scarlets hold all of the power in the town.

Honestly, the coven is probably very small, possibly only currently consisting of Tabitha and Sybil at this moment in time, now that Pearlanne is gone.

Pearlanne/Sam

This one is a doozy, but I think that the Scarlet women are forbidden from getting into romantic relationships with men, and the enforcement of this rule lead to Pearlanne's death. Simply put, Tabitha starts dating Sam, Pearlanne finds out, enforces the rules by having Sam killed, and in a fit of rage, Tabitha smothers her mother in her sleep after finding out what she did. It's why Tabitha knows that even though Wayne is possessing Sam's body when you see him on Wednesday night, that's not him; it can't be him, since Pearlanne killed him, and had Pearlanne not done that then Tabitha wouldn't have her mother's blood on her hands.

The ultimate cause of death is the same with being smothered and sleep apnoea (suffocation), and it's not too weird for an old woman to have such a condition that Tabitha can blame it on, especially with the lack of doctor visits that doctor Kelly talks about if you ask her about how well she knows your family. All this to say, it's not that weird that, with a decent poker face, Tabitha can play off her mother's murder as a death by natural causes without raising enough suspicion to warrant anyone looking into it, and while playing with the mystical trait allows you to see her corpse, none of the other traits (I specifically went into my book smarts/mystical playthrough to look for this option) seem to be able to check for signs of foul play, all you can do is ask Reese if he knows how to check that (he doesn't).

At the end of the day though, if my crackpot theories are somehow on point, then all the Scarlet women basically belong to Wayne, he's the only one who is allowed to do anything that might impregnate them, and trying to step in the way of that rule will land you in a shallow grave if you're lucky. Hell, at this point, I wouldn't be surprised if the reason for the landslide that caused the mansion to be leaning over a cliffside was caused by Wayne throwing a fit over and getting retribution for one of the Scarlet girls dating some human guy. Beings like that are not the type who you just tell that they can't have their way. You get a pass because harming you means harming his future vessel.

Tabitha

This one is one that I had a very different opinion about until I realised that I forgot to try something. Originally, I was going to say that Tabitha was for the time being innocent in all of this and was going to be inducted into the cult at or around Pearlanne's funeral, which will probably be when the cat fully comes out of the bag. In fact, I think there may have been some mention of this line of thinking earlier on in the post (this is taking a while to write; I started writing this on 9th March 2024 and it's now the 17th). That changed when I remembered that when Tabitha goes to get the special tea from Sybil, street smart can find a spot to listen to them that is subtle but can't make out more than a few syllables at a time, but keen senses can make out some of the conversation while standing in a very obvious spot until they notice you and switch to whispering. Point is, by using both of those traits on a single character, you can listen to that full conversation. Bottom line is that Tabitha lies to you when she talks about it being tea to help her sleep. If you have played through the game before, specifically with the speak with animals trait, and followed the sidequest on that one, you can piece together (out of game) that they're talking about the goat.

This put a bit of a wrench in what I had in mind, but okay. Turns out that Tabitha was the one who brought the goat over to the greenhouse (I thought that it was pastor Daniel since he also matches the description given by the goat, he can speak to animals and he owns a farm; my line of reasoning was that the good pastor heard the goat say something that disturbed him so he took it off of his farm and locked it away in the greenhouse so that it wouldn't just wander right back, or something, I couldn't figure out his long term plan on that, but maybe he was just stalling while he figured out what to do with Goat). With this new information about Tabitha being responsible for Goat being in the greenhouse though, it makes it seem more like Tabitha has been doing some ritualistic things already. This conversation alone, in my mind, shifts the blame of pastor Daniel's curse (the reason why everyone in town outside of his family, even the friendliest of people just instinctively hates him without an actual reason that they can state) from Sybil to Tabitha. Perhaps religion is seen as an annoying distraction by Tabitha, perhaps Wayne doesn't want the competition.

This does beg the question of why Tabitha would insist on fleeing from Wayne when you're in the ghost's visions on Wednesday together. I think that it's a mix of a few factors; the first being that he's using Sam's body whenever he interacts with you in physical form, which she can't stand to look at given the history, the second is that she doesn't recognise him for who he is when you see him in there, the third is that even if she knew who he was off the bat, she's in a similar position as Sybil and doesn't want to accidentally end up telling you more than she's meant to about him while you can still potentially flee town, and finally, the fact that this is a relatively new form of his and that he may have been showing up to Tabitha and Sybil in a very different manner up until now.

Wrap up

This whole post is a mess, I thought that splitting it up based on characters would help keep things clear, but given how intertwined the characters all are with one another in a game like this, the threads are still criss-crossing with one another all over the place, since I couldn't get into the weeds of talking about one character without some serious establishment of the ideas that I have surrounding a completely different character.

I have a strong feeling that I missed some things, hell, there are even some other points that I wanted to address in detail but I've had enough of writing this for now, and I'm starting to lose track of what I've written and what I haven't written, which really isn't helping. I know that I didn't address my thoughts on:

I think Avery might possibly be some kind of angel or opposite of whatever Wayne is

Avery hasn't been in human form for very long and the novelty of human experiences hasn't worn off for them yet, hence the weird things that they want to experience

Gretchen would often be taken with Stella to the estate when Tabitha and Stella were dating, but the very different personalities led to Gretchen trying to befriend Frou-Frou, who hates being approached, leading to her possibly attacking Gretchen on multiple occasions, hence their distain for one another

Tulip has a stronger version of the talk with animals trait (like how Sybil has a stronger version of the mystical trait) that allows her to talk with ditchlings and/or plants, and that's who's been leading her to tetanus lake

Anyway, thanks for coming to my PepeSilvie Talk

[themattress]

Favorite Crossover Villains

Terra-Xehanort - Behind the storyline of Kingdom Hearts, Chain of Memories, 358/2 Days and Kingdom Hearts II lies one power-hungry madman: Xehanort, top apprentice to Ansem the Wise. Desperate to escape what he fears is a meaningless existence trapped in the shadow of his esteemed mentor, Xehanort unleashed a universal apocalypse of darkness and even became a Heartless himself, bearing the stolen name of his mentor: Ansem. At the same time, a Nobody version of him named Xemnas was created, who pursued his own, potentially even more dangerous quest to conquer all worlds. Whether as Ansem or as Xemnas, the sheer epic grandeur conveyed by this guy is something to behold. When you stand on equal grounds with the likes of Maleficent or Chernabog, you're a top-tier villain.

Rumpelstiltskin and Peter Pan - Once Upon a Time has an abundance of villains, but two of them really distinguish themselves from the crowd. The most obvious is Rumpelstiltskin, who for all intents and purposes is the main villain of the series, responsible for at least 75% of the problems. For five seasons (let's ignore those last two, shall we?) he is a complex character - tragic, pitiable and even admirable in addition to being a loathsomely selfish schemer; a powerful demon known as the Dark One who at core is a coward who never fully overcame his childhood trauma. Oh, and the one who caused said trauma? That'd be the other stand-out villain, Rumple's father Malcolm, who abandoned his child in order to make a pact with an Eldritch Abomination and become the boy who never grows up - Peter Pan. This evil version of Peter Pan is like all of Rumple's worst qualities times ten, with none of the positives, and as a result is the most frightening and despicable villain the show ever had. Adding to this perfect portrayals by Robert Carlyle and Robbie Kay respectively, including fantastic chemistry with one another, these two were the crown jewels of fairy tale evil-doing.

[baronaliswritingcorner]

Tales of Symphonia Stray Thoughts #11: Meltokio Sewer/Sybak Again/Gaoracchia Forest

-Zelos: ..."Well, in the end, we're of the same lot, really.

Genis: What do you mean?

Zelos: No one wanted us to be born."

There's so much to be said here. Despite having a hand in every faction, Zelos is clearly apathetic in whoever's the winning side so long as they serve his interests -- enough to even swallow his own prejudices. Cynicism born from four millennia-long theocracies will do that to you.

-Those knights at the gate are real bros.

-“I used these to sneak back home.”

...hmm, but Meltokio's a gated community. Where was he sneaking back from? I know we all use our headcanons to imaigne towns and inns populated across the landscape, but "sex clubs littered across Tethe'alla" is territory I'd rather not traverse.

-Colette stop casting judgement on those snakes. they're snakes. save that tp.

Also listen to those low-quality hissing effects HISSISHSISHSISSHSISHISS

-“…I guess so.” Isn’t a very Presea line.

-“Now I can do this and that without anyone finding out it’s me…”

Sexual harassment! Also another one of those weird vague, low-context lines they don't bother cleaning up for silent dialogue.

-man it sure is convenient how those spider webs keep popping up just in time to help solve the block puzzle huh gang

-sneaking into the mouse holes while you're tiny is a clever gimmick but uh

who's stuffing these weapons into tiny bags and shoving them into mouse holes

-That shot with the group's feet is good. Tales of Symphonia is hardly known for its chorography, but there's some good shots now and then.

-Any digs at Zelloyd aside, Zelos’s queer-coding is pretty, well, evident. You got the pink outfit, Masaya Onosaka's flamboyant performance in the JP version, annnnnd him randomly hugging Lloyd at random intervals (As seen here.)

Combined with all the women hungry for his status and good looks, and you got a classic recipe for repressed homosexuality. Not exactly a wonder that's Symphonia's most popular boy's love pairing.

-Regal’s theme is gooooooooood. Listen to that sax. Damn!

-Love how nonchalant Sebastian is about everything -- guy just doesn't give a fuq his master's wanted. Almost like that's not the first time. (Hmm...)

I channeled this quality for my Colloyd Week 2024 fic to fun results.

-Speaking of queer-coding, “bud” is good localization for “hunny.”

-"You’re pr-pr-pretty." is peak relatable. Poor Genis!

Well, then again, I guess most of us haven't tried to put the moves on victims of Exsphere parasitism.

-This is where the game does this weird habit of pointless gags/scenes with Colette, although her crickking her neck in her sleep's pretty funny.

-Man-made summon spirits…geez don’t tell me they ended with up eldritch FMA abominations lol. "Shee...na..."

-Geez, the half-elves're stuck down there too. There’s a door in the side of the lobby – at least they have beds there, right? Right? Racist bastards.

-“I thought Kuchinawa had talked to you about it, but I guess he didn’t.”

lol don’t tell me he tried to steal the freakin' EC

-Okay wait did he lock the gate at the bridge too lol that’s like the pettiest plan ever. “Yeah this’ll stop them!”

-“Are those decoration things Exspheres?”

how do these things even work. Are they like containers or something. namco pls

-Raine says the EC was a land vehicle but I dunno how that could be anything but a boat. Sheena and Zelos complain about it too but, I dunno, it looks like

-So do wing packs work like hoipoi capsules in Dragon Ball? At any rate, love the Sylvarant teen trio losing their minds over it. Such child-like innocence.

-I've mentioned before how the HD ports remove ellipses, but Presea's "...Professor?" here has the "professor" removed as opposed to said ellipses. Weird.

-The EC music is so purty. Trying to remember why I’d always get stuck here though since the port’s straight ahead LOL

-So you know those optional cutscenes where Kratos's travelling around Tethe'alla to find ingredients for the Eternal Ring? I know I've seen the Ozette one numerous times before, but while the script/descriptions for the others sound familiar, I'm not sure I ever watched them in-game? Hmm.

Anyway, uh, interesting they just had a broken machine from the Ancient War lying around the academy.

-“It seems monsters existed in the prehistoric era too”

yo then why’d you imply cruxis made them

The guy’s second line here references criminals – I could’ve found out more if I talked to him sooner. I'm dying for some lore here, man!

-“Was the warrant put out for you because you were using strange chemicals?”

what

-“Don’t misunderstand me. I’m talking about rune bottles.”

what

-“It’s not a mistake for humans, who are unable to use magic, to pursue magitechnology.”

This guy repeating history aside, they never explicitly mention magic works in the main story, do they? As in, the whole "Kratos and Zelos can only use magic thanks to Aionis" deal. You'd thiiiiiiiiiiiink that'd catch attention sooner.

“If we capture some of the monsters that have reappeared and force them to continuously use magic, we may be able to confirm the effects of pushing the limits of magic-usage”

lady

chill

-Zelos: "Hello, hunny."

Girl: “Hehe, here you go.” GIVES ME EIGHT HUNDRED DOLLARS.

...y'know, as fun as this gag is, I wonder if it's aged well, lol.

-The Gaoracchia Forest opens with...Colette apologizing for being too cheery. Um, okay.

-“Zelos, you are in the way of the pope.”

“Heh, I’ve known that since I was a kid.”

Hmm, how so? I demand to know the history here.

-THE BOXER IRIIIIIIIS

I could discuss Tales of Symphonia's enemy variety, but I know some of you are curious about this particular baddie following my Colloyd Week fic -- as it happens, I never had any particular affinity for them until recently when @frayed-symphony's illustration of all the Gaoracchia Forest monsters was reposted before Colloyd Week.

Somehow, my eyes fell upon the Boxer Iris with its big weepy eyeball and bulbous boppers and I just went, "...you know, that's a really fun enemy design. I gotta use that critter somehow." How that morphed into "non-verbal mugger", I dunno, but it became one of my favorite details. Now I feel kinda bad slicing it up.

Anyway, she's now living happily with Fred in one of those thorn bushes, I'm sure. They'll be back.

-Ugh I swear shining the light on those bushes drives me crazy. Y'all know what I'm talking about? why you gotta come at them from different direction

-Colette’s one-armed strength…is that how angelic senses work? Housework must be a breeze for her -- imagine her just lifting furniture around. There's a fic here!

-Ya’ll, have I ever mentioned how much I love the Recover/Resurrection sound. So heavenly. Mmm.

...Oh yeah, I didn't discuss any of the Presea and Regal stuff, huh? We'll get to that next time. Lots of ground to cover.