#unnamed space opera

[alexanderflowerbird]

Hey! For your spotify wrapped ask! 14, 20, 37.

Oooh hey! Triple threat! Let's go 14: Cuff It by Beyonce Jane knows this battle is in the bag, it's been a rough, wild fight with plenty of capable adversaries, a combat worthy of the trouble, but it's abundantly clear that between her, the Reliquary's fleet and Zephrinus Pact himself, they've grade A fucked up the Tellestrian rogue ships. Merciless pirate types, very fashionable, equally ruthless- it's been a ball and Jane wants to wrap this up, head back to the Reliquary and drink to their success of putting another horrible group of people completely out of commission. Another myth about Zephrinus Pact, no doubt-- the Tellestrians have been trouble all across the galaxy and they have a habit of leaving one or two people alive to pass on how absolutely horrifying they were in battle. Unfortunately for them, Zephrinus doesn't have those kinds of aspirations and (usually) takes no prisoners.

She has to wonder if Zephrinus is having as much fun with this as she is. He loves a good fight, is intrigued by an opponent that doesn't tuck tail and run at the mention of him, but he's so fucking old, and he's fought so many fights... is he having fun? Can he get drunk? That's a whole other matter- she wants to get drunk, and she wants to get drunk with him, but can he even get drunk when he's... whatever he is? She'll have to tell him when they get back that she'd like to get drunk and if while she's drunk she climbs him like a tree it's all consensual on her end. Get in a high stakes space battle, get drunk, get laid-- it's the perfect course of events as far as she's concerned, and she's going to tell him as much before he has a chance to tell her he's got to do debriefs or that she should rest or anything else. Knowing him he'll probably join her for drinking, let her get blasted, have a laugh at her flirting, make her drink water and put her lovingly to bed, some how without being a buzz kill about it. A buzzkill-less buzzkiller. They have to do something fun, it's a regular every day thing to crush evildoers for Zephrinus, but for Jane this is... fun. It's fun and she wants to enjoy it with him. Maybe she can just be frank and tell him that he has to act like this is a new thing for him, to conjure the ancient times where he decided to do this of all things and discovered how good it is to be a cosmic force of good. That, or to simply be capable of drunkeness so they can be drunk and silly and victorious together. It's a question for the histories, another thing she'll know about Zephrinus Pact that no one else knows, can the cosmic war lord get fucked up? Once they're done with this delightful conquest, she fully intends to find out.

20: Creature by Half-Alive The ghostlands this time of year are very loud, full of stories and memories and spirits eager to convene with the living. Femi doesn't know why this season brings on such restlessness, but it's tradition to go and hear the stories now, when the overlapping dead are making so much brilliant noise, calling to be heard. Her gift is to hear the tragedies of the dead, to know their unfulfilled dreams, their losses, their unending woes... but this will be the last season she takes that task. She is going to Reigward soon, to have this power altered, to make her talent into something new.

She has brought much comfort to the dead, has wept with them, has taken their stories and memorized them by heart, but soon, she will serve to soothe the living. She will train to be a doctor and if the promises made by the witches in Reigward are true, she will be able to pull apart the hurt of the body the way she has spent all of her youth pulling at the hurt of the spirit. It is a gift that has great value, she knows that- she has been made with not just the ability to attract sad stories to her, but to offer a profound, lasting comfort once they're told. Spirits that give onto her their stories can for many years be quelled from their grief, once they've given it over to her... she wants to do that for the living too. She will make her glorious gift into something new and do as much good as she can with it in her life.

The dead will still come to her, but she can handle all of it, she can take it in and make peace of it. She only has to serve the dead alone this last season and she will make it her best season. She will take up all the grief she can and unravel it and then she will serve her truest calling, the calling truest to her own soul. To help the living as she has the dead and recreate herself fearlessly into what she knows she was meant to be.

37: Never Gonna Let It (But It's Completely Different) by Lubalin Kalmin will get this damned boulder up to the summit, to the cathedral where he's promised the ancient king he'd land his stone and spirit. He's built so much muscle under this task, but he's still struggling, still exhausted and occasionally quietly doubtful that he can succeed. What happens then, if he fails? It feels like he's been doing this for so long that it's the only way for him to become King himself, to become worthy of taking hold of his own dreams and never letting go. The old King had promised him the key to his future if he can manage this, if he can be strong enough, persistent enough, if he doesn't give up on himself. He often comes down from the mountain side uncertain, but he wakes each day and returns to the boulder with high spirits.

He is meant to be King, to make Erato his Queen, to usher in another golden era for the Kingdom of Black. The old King doesn't care that he's young and struggling, that sometimes he's pathetic about it, huffing and whining and straining against the bulk of the boulder inch by inch. He's said he see the potential in him to make a king worthy of greatness. This is the way, this is the best way, and knowing that he puts himself against the work with all he can muster. He has his doubts, but he won't ever allow them to stop him. His dreams are too important to stop now. The cathedral seems so far away every day, but when it's done he will be a man, strong, capable, wielding all he needs to become King and rule with an endless love for the kingdom. He just has to keep going. Keep coming back. Keep pushing. If he can just do that, he can't lose and he won't. He simply can't. He will be King.

[silverslipstream]

Planet Candor

Orbital characteristics Star: Epsilon Indi A (spectral class K5, distance from Earth 11.87 ly) Semi-major axis: 0.627 AU (93.8 million km) Orbital period: 205 days, 10 hours Inclination (relative to stellar equator): 12.56° Moons: 3 (more)

Physical characteristics Mean radius: 8,573.077 kilometres (1.34x Earth) Circumference: 53,866.23 kilometers Density: 4.754g/cm³ (0.86x Earth) Mass: 1.261 x 10²⁵ kg (2.11x Earth) Surface gravity: 11.45m/s² (1.167g) Escape velocity: 14.01 km/s (1.26x Earth) Rotational period: 30 hours, 7 minutes Axial tilt: 10.33°

Atmospheric characteristics Surface pressure (sea level): 1.42 Earth atmospheres Composition: 73.4% nitrogen 25.7% oxygen ~0.9% other gases (water vapour, carbon dioxide, argon, more)

Human population: 4.85 billion (estimated) Planetary class (USC-ratified): Class M4 (naturally habitable, unaltered)

Located a little under twelve light-years from the Sol system, Candor is the second planet in the Epsilon Indi system and a thriving hub of humanity. From its vantage point near the bustling centre of human-occupied space, Candor was the site of Earth's first extrasolar colony and remains a hugely important world in the United Solar Confederation. With a human population of almost five billion, it is the most populous USC world outside of Earth, boasting several major cities and urban areas. With its higher surface gravity, atmospheric pressure and escape velocity, Candor is infamous among Earth colonists for being a difficult world to adapt to in the long-term. As Candor is one of the few unaltered planets that was found to be naturally habitable, natural acclimatisation is certainly possible. However, genetic engineering and cybernetic enhancements are becoming a more widely-accepted method to deal with the transference of Earth-humans to Candor's environment.

Together with Earth, Juniper, Fortitude and Virtue, Candor forms part of the 'Five Worlds', an informal name for the five planets/systems comprising most of the USC's population and power.

[distance-does-not-matter]

sitting in the garden wondering what comes next

only by leehi / visible light by alexander harding / spring by leon wyczółkowski / the predatory wasp of the palisades is out to get us! by sufjan stevens / thoughtful reader by franz dvorak / 11:23 a.m. by alexander harding / oxygen by mary oliver / the four loves by c.s. lewis / darling by leehi / oda with lamp by christian krohg / try again by jaehyun, d.ear / reading by lamplight (twilight: interior) by george clausen / sophie by the altogether / dusk by charlotte ager (@ charlotteagerillustration) / the ink dark moon: love poems by ono no komachi and izumi shikibu, women of the ancient court of japan / moonlight stroll by edward henry potthast / only by leehi

[vilani32]

The Garden Worlds and Transplants

Four planets - known as the Garden Worlds - have been identified as the origin point for the vast majority of life in Charted Space: Earth, Esrii, Kislyu, and Kela. 98% of all other life-bearing planets have had elements of their biomes transplanted from these worlds sometime in the last 90 million years, with each transplant being spaced by about 5 million years, and the last transplant occurring about 70,000 years ago [OOC, this is around 50k BC. long duree babey]. Overlapping transplants, when transplanted lifeforms are placed on a planet that had previously had life transferred over, are fairly common, occurring in about 57% of cases. A less common occurrence (in about 12% of cases) is Cross Pollination, when samples from two different worlds are placed on the same planet. A notable example of this is the ancestors of the Gushmene being transplanted to Hland, a world that had already been populated with a biome from Kislyu. This meant that any food not derived from the rather limited amount brought to Hland alongside them needed to be extremely heavily processed, resulting in the complex social structure and food culture of the pre-industrial Gushmene. These transplants, in addition to evidence of extensive time dilation on some worlds (notably Serina and Regina), the clear and extensive use of terraformation and stellar forging to make Charted Space ideal for biological life, and the clear repeating schedule, points to some kind of incredibly powerful civilization or civilizations being behind these phenomena. A constant - albeit varying in degree amount of cultural continuity found in the various archaeological sites associated with this civilization, and a clear, regular gap between the ages of each site (typically showing signs of habitation for a few centuries every four million years) point to a single species or species-group living a nomadic lifestyle on an enormously long timescale. Based on tests on warp drives built based on recovered craft and schematics, as well as the 4 million year estimate, it is thought that this culture is making its way along a roughly circum-galactic path, and has been for at least 90 million years. The prevailing theory, is that the Ancients, as some call them, maintain a series of “gardens“ consisting of a spherical region of space with a radius of roughly 300 parsecs. Charted Space is centered around one of these Gardens, with the vast majority of its sophont population being within this sphere. An interesting note is that despite wide indication of genetic tampering in the various transplanted biomes, as well as the relatively frequent occurrence of Ancient physical culture, the Garden Worlds seem to have been left alone by the Ancients for the last 90 million years. This seems to indicate that these worlds were possibly seen/are seen as nature reserves by the Ancients.

[itmakesssenseincontext]

Honestly I loved episode three. I loved the gaping hole Kanan left in the narrative. He's a ghost, he's right there, he never existed, he never left.

When Hera talks to Mon Mothma and the senators and Mothma asks about Jacen, and Ezra is mentioned by name, but not Kanan. Just 'I lost people who were like family' and the only person she can be taking about is Kanan but he is unnamed. We know. She knows. But the others in the scene cant. And the republic wouldn't really want to acknowledge that loss. A Jedi died fighting for them, and his wife is begging for help to find their Jedi adoptive son and there 'isn't resources' because there is never fucking resources for anything that doesn't line the elites pockets because under the veneer of space opera, capitalism is rotting and always will be.

And when Hera is talking to Jacen, and he's been playing with Chopper when he should be with his Dad or Ezra learning Jedi stuff, and when he ways he wants to be a Jedi and it just hangs there and Hera tells him she knows. How many excuses has she come up with to keep him away from the Jedi stuff because its safer for him to let his talent burn out and she just can't loose another person to that. She can't go through it again. How long can she keep him safe from it? She can't. He is Kanan's son as much as hers. Ezra will come back, but at least Ezra will Know. Will have known Kanan. Know what Hera fears.

And when Ahsoka talks about the force with Sabine and she says the same things Kanan did, and Sabine doesn't stop her because how would Ahsoka know? She barely knew Kanan. When she trains Sabine with wooden weapons and its the same way Kanan did. And when they do the blind drills, and she should have been learning to fight blind from Kanan. Even the mask Sabine wears looks more like Kanan's mask from 'Twilight of the Apprentice' than any of the other helmets we see used for the same drill.

Kanan left this huge absence in the show, that only exists for those who knew him, both in universe and those who watched Rebels. And I just think its fucking beautiful.

[theeccentricraven]

Introduction

Name: Just call me Raven.

Dream: Become a published novelist.

Hobbies: play the harp, bake, cook, read, sew, go on walks outside, watch YouTube, storytelling

Likes: Opera, Celtic themes, food, true crime stories, history, fantasy and scifi, the coast, faith, family, scambaiting, and great stories

Favorite Books: Harry Potter series, The Giver, Mistborn, Uglies, Frankenstein, The Two Princesses of Bamarre, Jane Eyre, A Walk to Remember, Silas Marner, The Otherworld, The Hunger Games, Ender's Game, The Chronicles of Narnia, Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, Jacob Have I Loved, Forestborn, Defy the Stars, Tom Sawyer, The House on Mango Street

My WIP's:

The Blood Cleaners (YA dystopia)

Columbus Day (YA scifi)

The Keeper of Maralla (unconventional high fantasy)

The Star House Club (MG/YA urban fantasy)

Brigid Aideen Quinn (sci-fi fantasy superhero)

Sanctuary Calling (Space sci-fi Dystopia)

Voice of Shadows (high fantasy)

The Enchantress (MG fantasy)

New Victoria (steampunk sci-fi)

An unnamed Cyberpunk

My Social Media Links:

twitter.com/eccentric_raven

tiktok.com/@the_eccentric_raven

pinterest.com/teccentricraven

instagram.com/raven_eccentricity

[boo-cool-robot]

Everything I Watched This Year

I have watched the most movies this year of my life, which is still so few that I can fit them all into one tumblr post, so here they are in approximately chronological order (along with TV shows). I almost exclusively watch visual media with other people, and they're often the ones picking. Favorites get an asterisk (*), and this does not include rewatches.

*Fallen Angels (Wong Kar-Wai): Five loosely connected lonely people chase imagined versions of each other around the Hong Kong nightscape. I didn't go into a plotless arthouse film expecting it to be extremely funny, but it is. He Zhiwu (my new tumblr icon!) deserves to be up there among the deranged autistic blorbos of all time.

What We Do in the Shadows (Showrun by Paul Simms and Stefani Robinson) [First half of S4]: If you're on tumblr you probably know the premise already. I was disappointed that after S3, which felt like a build to huge shifts in the characters and status quo, S4 felt like a walkback. Don't remember much else about it other than crying laughing at the sequence where they try to get baby Colin Robinson into private school.

Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee): Everyone knows what this movie is already. It's well-made and solid, but it wasn't anything that exciting for me. I expected it to be more striking. Love the 70s home production design in that one scene though, and that kiss truly is good.

*Velvet Goldmine (Todd Haynes): A reporter tracks down the truth of a rock star gay affair that sparked his own queer coming of age. Dreamy, gorgeous, and I could not describe the plot scene to scene if you paid me. Just a really lovely film to experience for me, someone who had latent and unnamed transgay feelings as a teenager about the concept of "emo boys kissing."

Phantom of the Paradise (Brian De Palma): Phantom of the Opera-inspired drama about a songwriter getting revenge on the predatory producer that ruined his life. Total delight of a campy melodrama.

Kamikaze Girls (Tetsuya Nakashima): A delinquent and fashion-obsessed scam artist strike up a lesbian-tinged unlikely friendship. This movie is bananas. Way more stylistically experimental than I'd expected--there's a sequence of the protagonist's birth, people just float offscreen sometimes, the townspeople constantly turn to the camera and advertise for the megamart they buy all their clothes from, etc. A really really surprisingly fun watch.

*Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury (Hiroshi Kobayashi and Ryō Andō) [First 6 episodes only]: Optimistic young pilot of a war machine that she may have an illegal psionic connection with goes to space high school and is promptly drawn into political plotting via accidentally getting gay engaged to a corporate heiress. Highly enjoyed the parts of it I saw - great action sequences, fun character drama, and just enough political substance. Not as weird as Utena, which it's inspired by, but can be brutal where necessary. I should watch more!

*In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar Wai): Two Shanghainese emigrants in Hong Kong discover their spouses are cheating and embark on a tragic affair of their own. God, this movie deserves every bit of praise it gets. I gasped out loud multiple times at the gorgeousness of shot compositions. Top notch acting, gorgeous colors. This tends to be a movie pitched as being about a repressed love affair, but it's also a movie about the positionality about being middle class colonial subjects and the relationships they have with the world. This gave me so much to chew on after I watched it.

Happy Together (Wong Kar-Wai): Two Hong Kong expats living in Argentina have a toxic gay relationship trapped in a tiny apartment. This one felt very opaque to me, and it is allegedly an allegory for Hong Kong being returned to Chinese rule after British colonialism, which I absolutely do not have enough background to really get. Wong is a great director though, and I constantly think about the sequence of the main character seeing the abusive ex walk into the club, beat while he finishes his drink, and then he breaks his bottle off and goes in to screams.

Bound (The Wachowskis): A lesbian handyman falls for a woman married to an abusive mobster that they plot to rob. The first 45 minutes were very enjoyable as a lesbian heist film. Unfortunately, once the gunshots started the torture scenes became so stressful for me to watch that I sweated through my shirt. (I also had Covid).

[sylvia-on-the-run]

funnily enough the as of yet unnamed space opera fic is probably the larges representitive of my derangements amongst my writing intended to be published here maybe i should change that but idk im such a cool and chill person i basically have like no derangements socially :/

[dark-raven-feathers]

(Part One) A list of every dark academia-esque piece and arrangement I could find, only some of which I've actually played (this will be very long):

Once more unto the breach: 1. At the speed of dark, Stephen Melillo: Capturing the vibe of a dark, empty ocean and the fleeting sense of terror and panic, the piece features a very prominent clarinet solo and the brief thought that maybe you should start running. (YouTube only)

K2: The savage mountain, Julie Giroux: Inspired by the mountain peaks of the very same name, the piece follows the story of a group of unnamed climbers battling the peaks of one of the most dangerous mountains in the world. Most of them die at the mountain's infamous Bottleneck, showcased cleverly by a slow trombone glissando, and the ones who do make it are changed forever. (YouTube only)

The Witch and the Saint, Steven Reineke: Starting itself off with a motif very similar to a Gregorian-style chant, The Witch and the Saint is a German story of two sisters, both born with the third sight. One is revered as a saint, and the other is shunned as a witch. As the piece progresses, the witch is burned at the stake, only to be saved by her sister. Endings vary greatly, but the most agreed upon is that at the end, both sisters die of different causes. Meant to capture the spirit of misunderstood women through the witch hunts of the 1600s, the piece does great justice to Ulrike Schweikert's story. (YouTube and Spotify)

Ghost Dances (Wounded Knee, 1890), Roland Barrett: In 1890, a massacre of the Lakota Sioux at Wounded Knee shattered the hopes of the Indigenous Plains tribes who had attempted to take back their lives through a religious movement in the American West, appropriately called the Ghost Dance. Approximately 300 Indigenous peoples died that day, at the hands of American soldiers. (YouTube only)

Fate of the Gods, Steven Reineke: Taking its name from Nordic mythology, the piece describes Ragnarok, with the lows introducing the battle between Good and Evil. Good invariably triumphs, bringing about a new age for the world, resetting the ruined cosmos to what it used to be. (YouTube and Spotify)

A ship in the mist, Rossano Galante: Meant to sound exactly like what the title suggests, the piece takes both players and listeners on a journey through the waters with a sea shanty-like rhythm, as the start mimics a ships call to depart from shore. (YouTube only)

Rapture, Brian Balmages: Naming itself after the events in the Bible, Rapture captures the scene of the clouds opening up to let people through the gates of Heaven through the hymn "Lo! He comes with the Clouds Descending". (YouTube only)

Danse Bacchanale, Camille Saint-saens: A DA classic, Danse Bacchanale comes from the opera "Samson et Delilah", straight from the scene in which Delilah, hoping to taunt Samson, leads a wild and drunken party, opening with an oboe theme that seems to almost mock the listeners. (YouTube and Spotify)

Lux Aurumque, Eric Whitacre: Written first as a choral piece, then arranged for winds, Lux Arumque is based on a Latin poem of the same name. Roughly translating to "Light and Gold" (Or "Light of Gold), the piece gives off a transcending, space-like vibe, capturing the essence of light, life, and death. (YouTube and Spotify)

The Odyssey, Robert W. Smith: Starting at the Illiad's calls to war, the piece's uniqueness comes from its ability to portray fires, arrows firing, and even swordfights without the use of sfx. Capturing both the intense voyage across the sea and Calypso's mourning of the loss of her only escape, the piece heavily favors the recorder, occasionally replaced with the flute, and is the exact opposite of John Mackey's translation of the same story. (YouTube only)

Wine Dark Sea (Mvmts I, II, and III), John Mackey: Taking a darker look at the Odyssey, and the polar opposite of Robert W. Smith's translation, John Mackey captures Odysseus' disorientation upon being thrown by the waves through the first movement, "Hubris", with a dissonant-sounding ship's horn. The second movement, "Immortal thread, so weak", switches to Calypso as she watches Odysseus sail away from her island, with no promises of returning to save her. Finally, the third movement "The attention of souls" sees Odysseus' trouble navigating the waters back home, with Poseidon's wrath hot on his heels. (YouTube and Spotify, Spotify separates the three movements)

Into the Storm, Robert W. Smith: In 1993, a great blizzard covered much of the United States. Robert W. Smith takes this event and puts it into a piece some musicians have described as "Tempest, but on drugs". Capturing some of the desperation felt as people were trapped outside of their homes, watching buildings around them fall, there's a slight melancholic aftertaste to the piece as people attempt to re-build their lives around themselves. (YouTube and Spotify)

Down by the Salley Gardens, Michael Sweeny: An Irish poem originally published by William Butler Yeats, it was first adapted into a choral ballad before being turned into a concert arrangement. A careful warning to foolish young girls, the piece is tinged with a haunting, sorrowful tone. (YouTube and Spotify)

Down in the River, Jay Bocook: Before it was made into a Christian hymn, "The Good Old way" was sung by African-American slaves as a message to escape. Just like cornrows were in fact, paths to freedom, the original song tells the escapers to head to the river, as the water would mask their scent from bounty dogs, disguised as a simple description of baptism. (YouTube only)

The Divine Comedy, Robert W. Smith: A four-movement piece inspired by Dante's poem of the same name, listeners are taken through the firey depths of Hell (Movement one: The Inferno) before seeing the Sins of Man (Movement two: Purgatorio). The piece then travels up a sheer rockface up to heaven (Movement three: The Ascension) before reuniting with lost loved ones (Movement four: Paradiso). Musicians are let loose with the screaming of tortured souls, the moans of death, and ominous chanting. (YouTube and Spotify, Spotify separates the four movements and it is also not entirely under Robert's name)

Ludlow (April 1914), Roland Barrett: In 1913, poor coal workers took part in the Colorado Coalfield war, striking against poor wages and work conditions. This eventually set forth the events of the Ludlow Massacre of April 1914, as soldiers took it upon themselves to torch the temporary encampments the coal workers and their families were living in. Eleven children and two women died in a fiery blaze, sparking a Nation-wide protest. Starting off with the rising tensions of the two sides into the war, followed by the mourning of the dead, the piece finishes off by taking a look at the rest of the country, leaving listeners hanging as it fades into the end of the Colorado Coalfield strike. (YouTube only)

Extraordinary Machines of Clockwork and Steam, Scott Watson: A much more whimsical piece, listeners are taken back in time to the age of Victorian Steampunk. Taking inspiration from the works of Jules Verne, H. G. Wells, and other famous authors, musicians mimic the huffs of steam coming from steam-powered trains, time travel (through the use of a sound some may recognize from pre-2000 cartoons), gears grinding against one another, and a limitless, fascinating view of the world. (YouTube only)

Links to the pieces, in order (Red for YT, Green for Spotify):

Once more unto the breach K2 The witch and the Saint The witch and the Saint Ghost Dances (Wounded Knee, 1890) Fate of the Gods Fate of the Gods A ship in the mist Rapture Danse Bacchanale Danse Bacchanale Lux Aurumque Lux Aurumque The Odyssey Wine Dark Sea Movement I: Hubris Movement II: Immortal thread, so weak Movement III: The Attention of Souls

Into the Storm Into the Storm

Down by the Salley Gardens Down by the Salley Gardens

Down in the River

The Divine Comedy Movement One: The Inferno Movement Two: Purgatorio Movement Three: The Ascension Movement Four: Paradiso

Ludlow (April 1914) Extraordinary Machines of Clockwork and Steam

[uncloseted]

What's a good anime you can recommend (if you're an anime fan)

Yes! I have suggestions.

For movies, if you're totally new to anime, I would absolutely start out with anything from Studio Ghibli. They're kind of like the Disney movies of anime, at least from a Western perspective. Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, Kiki's Delivery Service, and My Neighbor Totoro are some of the most popular films from that studio. If you live in or near a big city, these movies sometimes have special showings in theaters, which can be really fun. My personal favorite anime movie is called Night is Short, Walk on Girl, which is a kind of surreal romantic comedy about a night out that feels like it never ends.

As far as shows go, here are some of my favorites:

Fullmetal Alchemist: This is a classic one to start with. It's kind of a faiytale about two brothers Edward and Alphonse, who are searching for the Philosopher's Stone.

Cowboy Bebop: This is another classic, and generally considered to be one of the best animes of all time. Cowboy Bebop is a neo-noir space Western about bounty hunters in the year 2071, and deals with themes of loneliness, existential dread, and trying to escape your past.

Space Dandy: Space Dandy is made by the same studio as Cowboy Bebop, and shares kind of a similar premise, but it's a comedic space opera. The show is about Dandy, "a dandy guy in space" who "combs the galaxy like his pompadour on the hunt for aliens". Don't let the goofiness on this one fool you- there are some really beautiful, touching episodes in this show.

Keep Your Hands off Eizouken: This is one of my personal favorites. It's a slice of life show about three high school girls who start a club to make their own animations. It's kind of a love letter to the medium of animation and it celebrates the beauty of creativity and imagination. It's incredibly sweet and heartfelt.

The Tatami Galaxy: This is the spiritual predecessor to Night is Short, Walk on Girl, and it's done by the same director. It's a parallel universe story about an unnamed third year university student. In each episode, the viewer sees how his life would be different if he had chosen a different school club as a freshman. It's kind of a coming of age story that asks questions about the human condition.

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off: This is a newer one- it just started streaming on Netflix last month. It's a take on Scott Pilgrim vs The World, so it's kind of an action-adventure comedy, but ends up going in a very different direction. I liked this one so much that I binged it in a weekend.

Pluto: This is also a newer one- it came out on Netflix in October. It's a mystery science-fiction thriller about a robot detective who's trying to solve a string of murders, both robot and human, and prevent more murders from occurring. The characters are really complex, and the show deals with interesting themes of what constitutes humanity.

Aggretsuko: This is a comedy about a very cute but very angry red panda who lets out her emotions by singing death metal. It focuses on the frustrations of being a young person in a boring job and not quite knowing what you want out of life.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: Ghost in the Shell is a cyberpunk spy thriller about an elite law enforcement unit that investigates cybercrime and terrorism cases. There are lots of iterations of Ghost in the Shell, and most of them are good, but this one is my favorite. I think it anticipated a lot of the societal issues caused by technology that we're dealing with now.

Detective Conan/Case Closed: This one is new to me, but it's been super popular since the 90s. It's a mystery thriller about a high school age detective who gets trapped in the body of an elementary school boy. It's kind of like Scooby Doo or Inspector Gadget, but for a more mature audience.

[unofficialoxtimeline]

Shortform Timeline

Okay.

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "Sabine, this is eight pages, how is it the short version?" Well friend, the main document is 31 pages and it has 48 footnotes. I'm not ready to light that particular candle, so I present this instead. This is an outline of all the events from the Cataclysm to the end of the finale. It doesn't have everything; there is a lot of character stuff that's not included in the interest of space. I think the organization is fairly self-explanatory, but please let me know if you have questions.

THE CATACLYSM

At the time of the Cataclysm (c. K-500):

Between the Cataclysm and K0:

Erasmus Astor discovered the Gap, the Brighteners formed (To the Depths!, The Horrors of Castle Wisenshire)

The Barricade was installed and caused the exchange of ghost energy and magic to stop working (Fate of the Dimmer Sisters)

A major ecological event shattered the main landmass of Geth (BitD CRB) and made the area around Volisport a wasteland (Into the Deathlands)

Oscillotronic energy was first harnessed by the Barricade and then the ghost fields (The Horrors of Castle Wisenshire)

Geth's second sun was destroyed (BitD CRB)

Between K0 and K47:

Erasmus Astor built the first rail network across Geth (The Horrors of Castle Wisenshire)

The Brighteners spread the idea that the ghost plague was a natural disaster, which was still widely believed by K48 (Fate of the Dimmer Sisters)

The polytheistic Church of the Ecstacy of the Flesh was founded (Fate of the Dimmer Sisters, BitD CRB)

The Cappellanagas made a pact with an unnamed demon (Murder at Volisport Academy)

The Spirit Wardens figured out how to destroy ghosts (The Wardens of Bellweather Crematorium)

Bakoros joined the Brighteners, after the others but before Kellie

The story of Lady Fyengeh was reinterpreted as a folktale and then an opera (The Marriage of Lady Fyengeh)

After c. K30 but before K47:

Eleanor/Ellie and Kellianor/Kellanor/Kellie Dimmer began researching magic and founded the Dimmer Sisters (The Big Score)

The Dimmer Sisters already knew/believed that the Gap was manmade but Ellie didn't know about the Brighteners (The Big Score)

The Dimmer Sisters moved into an unusual mansion built on the remains of an ancient temple (The Dreadful Dimmer Sisters) in which Eleanor helped to build a vault (The Big Score)

Amadeus Astor inherited the family business and either began or continued using underhanded tactics against his competitors (The Big Score, The Astor Gambit, To the Depths!)

Edvard Lumiere, Barnaby Fortescue, and Zillah Bruzard grew up in Volisport (Dead Man's Debt, A Crimsnight Carol)

Kasimir worked for the Billhooks but was drummed out when he had his accident (The Wardens of Bellweather Crematorium)

Lilith Cappellanaga was born in Tycheros and trained as a spirit assassin (Show of the Weekend)

* These events are presented in order per person, but not necessarily in order relative to each other (i.e. Zillah became famous and then left the ring, but we don't know if that was before or after Edvard was estranged from his family). *

Kellie Dimmer estranged herself from Eleanor deliberately after overtures from the Brighteners (Fate of the Dimmer Sisters), while Eleanor started believing that she and Kellie's beliefs diverged organically, leading her to quit the organization and research on her own (The Big Score)

Kellie joined the Brighteners, in the first position they'd added in centuries (Fate of the Dimmer Sisters)

Kellie increased the efficiency of the Barricade (Fate of the Dimmer Sisters)

Eleanor put together a team before the Hobbyhorses who were all killed, potentially by Kellie (The Big Score)

Eleanor convinced Kellie she was dead (The Big Score)

Zillah Bruzard's mother's family migrated from Akros to Volisport (High Stakes at the Splintered Bone)

Zillah became a famous prize fighter, fighting under the name "The Bruiser", known as a stamina fighter (High Stakes at the Splintered Bone)

Zillah left professional fighting because she thought crime paid better, let rumors spread that there was a scandal (High Stakes at the Splintered Bone)

Lilith moved to Volisport to track a specific, unnamed ghost, some time before K46 (A Crimsnight Carol)

Lilith made the acquaintance of Flint, a ghost trafficker (Ironhook's Bounty), who recommended that Lilith study at Volisport Academy, where she went to pursue her PhD (Murder at Volisport Academy)

Edvard grew up in a wealthy family with one older brother, Lemuel (A Crimsnight Carol) and liked to read train technical manuals as a child (Into the Deathlands)

Edvard went to Volisport Academy, where he appeared in plays (The Marriage of Lady Fyengeh) and was expelled for putting a traffic cone on a statue of the founder (Murder at Volisport Academy)

Edvard went to an unnamed university with his friend Westor and graduated with honors (The Astor Gambit)

Edvard became estranged from his family after spending all their money on oscillotronic research (Dead Man's Debt)

Barnaby Fortescue went to boarding school with Squiffy (Dead Man's Debt) and was in the Army Cadets (To the Depths), but primarily focused on playing polo (Fate of the Dimmer Sisters)

Barnaby summered with Uncle Monty at the manor house at Wisenshire (The Horrors of Castle Wisenshire)

Montgomery Fortescue moved to Castle Wisenshire, began worshiping the Demon Ixis*, and stopped aging (The Horrors of Castle Wisenshire)

Barnaby gained control of his family's finances despite the fact his parents are alive (The Horrors of Castle Wisenshire)

Barnaby invested his familial wealth, heavily favoring construction and property (Dead Man's Debt, Ironhook's Bounty, Fate of the Dimmer Sisters, Magic, Ghosts, Danger, & Death)

Barnaby fell out of contact with Uncle Monty (The Horrors of Castle Wisenshire)

Edvard's friend Westor worked for Amadeus Astor, left his job, then had his business destroyed by Amadeus (The Astor Gambit)

Cornelius Bagshot became the accountant for the Brighteners, who saw him as a risk due to his gambling habit (The Death of Cornelius Bagshot)

The Brighteners' focus moved from advancing science to maintaining the Barricade (Fate of the Dimmer Sisters)

Definite timeline (ish)

c. K-100: 

Burning at the stake was discontinued as a punishment in Volisport (Fate of the Dimmer Sisters)

K0: 

Kasimir Jones is born in Volisport (Magic, Ghosts, Danger & Death)

c. K8: 

Kasimir works cleaning up an Iruvian temple where the Red Sashes train, develops a lifelong enmity for them, and learns their fighting style (Magic, Ghosts, Danger & Death)

K46: 

K47: 

Amadeus publicly humiliates Edvard by feeding his Lumiere Locks to a penguin, most recent in a string of incidents (Dead Man's Debt)

Lilith visits her family for Crimsnight (A Crimsnight Carol)

PHASE 1

Week 1

Dead Man's Debt: The gang is called together by Eleanor, pressganged by the Lampblacks, steals from and burns down Lizete Morriston's house, releases Phin, and makes enemies of Rosie and Josie Dimmer

Andrel is injured in the fire (The Cab-Con Caper) and Lizete fires a number of her staff (Dead Man's Debt)

Flint acquires a banshee (Ironhook's Bounty, Murder at Volisport Academy)

Barnaby buys into Tri-Pot Security, becoming part owner with Darnell Ironhook (Fate of the Dimmer Sisters)

Week 2

Ironhook's Bounty: Barnaby makes friends with Darnell Ironhook, Lilith tries to start her first union, Flint loses containment and is possessed by the Banshee (Murder at Volisport Academy)

The Cab-Con Caper: Edvard and Kasimir go to a cab industry trade show, Eleanor sends her first vase, Edvard first comes to the attention of Roth Helker (The Astor Gambit)

Week 3

High Stakes at the Splintered Bone: Zillah returns to the ring in the Festival of Fights, Barnaby steals and hides the take, Barnaby is abducted by Rosie and Josie despite the fact he didn't do anything to them

PHASE 2

Half an hour later

The Dreadful Dimmer Sisters: Barnaby is held for ransom by the Dimmer Sisters, the Hobbyhorses infiltrate the Dimmer Mansion, Edvard begins the WMM and the electroplasmic cane, Kasimir ticks a box of load to produce a fine bottle of whiskey, Barnaby is rescued despite it not being the plan

24 hours later

24 hours later

The Gut Cutter Bargain

Kasimir makes inquiries in Crowsfoot regarding potential scores, the Hobbyhorses divvy up the responsibilities to steal the Bracer of Thogroth from the Dimmer Sisters

Lilith and Kasimir visit the Gut-Cutters' base, the Hobbyhorses become allies with the Gut-Cutters

11 PM that night

Kasimir and Lilith lay waste to the Gaddoc Station railyard, Kasimir steals a flask full of leviathan distillate (First Flight of the Sparrowhawk), Lilith learns the ritual to summon a basilisk (Fate of the Dimmer Sisters), Lilith torches the Hobbyhorses' relationship with the Gondoliers

Week 4

* The Astor Gambit and First Flight of the Sparrowhawk take place roughly during the same time period *

Week 5

The Astor Gambit

Edvard and Zillah meet Westor at the Fractured Retort and make a plan to steal the Dimmer Mansion lock plans from Astor HQ, Zillah trains Edvard in high-diving

Zillah and Edvard go to the Astor Innoventions job fair, The Shrek lanthorn is invented by Edvard and then stolen by Astor, Astor confronts Edvard and then gives him to Roth to be tortured, Edvard and Zillah daringly escape

First Flight of the Sparrowhawk: The Aeronaughty Boys win a balloon race, Barnaby gets first blood, Kasimir casts moonbeam, Kasimir passes too close to the ghost field and picks up Coalridge (Foundry No. 12), Barnaby and Kasimir earn the ire of the Railjacks (Into the Deathlands)

The Lampblack Wedding: Zillah and Lilith are hookwinked by the Lampblacks and then blackmail Pickett, Zillah befriends the WMM, Eleanor's Largely Legal Antiques is smashed up, Marlane is sent to jail because of her association with Zillah and the gang pays off the Bluecoats, everything is prepared for the Big Score

Week 6

Murder at Volisport Academy: Flint is overpowered by the banshee and murders Lilith's advisor Emeline Penderyn during a botched exorcism, Luke rolls triple sixes on the engagement roll, Lilith reveals her snakes to Edvard and exorcizes Flint, Flint shares his knowledge about the Demon Esketra

Edvard reads Frankenstein and absolutely gets the wrong idea, then installs a kill switch in the WMM that is given to Amadeus Astor (Magic, Ghosts, Danger, and Death)

The Big Score: Kasimir's electroplasmic cane and the WMM are completed, the Shrek Lanthorn has become commonplace, the Gut Cutters fight the Dimmer Sisters on the lawn of the Dimmer Mansion, Eleanor teleports to the Dimmer Vault, Kasimir blows up the Dimmer Mansion, the WMM is left behind, Eleanor makes her pitch and the Hobbyhorses all accept (see this post for the details on Eleanor and Amadeus's pitches to the Hobbyhorses)

Kellie Dimmer gives the destroyed WMM to Amadeus Astor (To the Depths!)

Amadeus Astor reverse-engineers the WMM and then produces at least thirty of them (Magic, Ghosts, Danger, and Death)

Fall 

Everyone moves in with Eleanor and the six month gap begins

No progress is made in returning magic, Lilith goes back to Tycheros (A Crimsnight Carol), Eleanor's Barely Legal Antiques is mostly cleaned out (The Death of Cornelius Bagshot), Marlane is ousted by Cross and becomes a Red Sash for the money (Foundry No. 12), the gang begin looking for aid from larger criminal organizations but have no luck

Crimsnight: 

A Crimsnight Carol: Edvard and Lilith visit Edvard's past and Lilith's very alive family (unless it's all a dream), Edvard has started WMM 2, the Hobbyhorses have reconciled with the Lampblacks

CHAPTER 2

K48

Week 1

Week 2

The Marriage of Lady Fyengeh

Emeline Morelon is announced as performing Lady Fyengeh, Squiffy appears, Barnaby gets in with Emeline, Edvard starts working at the Opera House

A night at the opera, Kasimir tells everyone his real name, Barnaby hooks up with Emeline and she agrees to help steal the ruby for a cut of the action, Phin announces that the Hobbyhorses are looking for help

Kasimir appears in the Volisport papers for his performance as Barrel Bertie, potentially under his real name (The Marriage of Lady Fyengeh)

Cornelius Bagshot is informed by his contact at the Brighteners that his services are no longer needed (The Death of Cornelius Bagshot)

Kasimir and Zillah tell Edvard the mission went fine (To the Depths!), and either they don't tell him Cornelius Bagshot's name or he forgets it (Into the Deathlands)

Week 3

The Death of Cornelius Bagshot: Kasimir and Zillah have a lovely time at the boxing ring, are approached to fake Cornelius Bagshot's death, pose as a married couple, and then botch everything, Kasimir breaks a contract and receives curse damage 

Week 4 (48 hours later)

A few days later

To the Depths!

Barnaby gets addicted to cocaine, Amadeus Astor has a visit with Barnaby and Edvard, Amadeus blows up Astor HQ and sinks it into the Volis

Edvard builds a submersible version of the WMM and a diving bell, Barnaby, Edvard, Billy Bell, and the SMM retrieve Astor's safe, the Brighteners are first named individually

The next day at noon

Amadeus begins construction of a new HQ, which Barnaby's company gets the plumbing contract for (Magic, Ghosts, Danger & Death)

Amadeus occupies the new HQ long enough for Barnaby's shoddy construction to give him lead poisoning (Magic, Ghosts, Danger & Death)

The Wardens of Bellweather Crematorium

The Billhooks call Kasimir up due to his actions during The Death of Cornelius Bagshot

Kasimir and Lilith agree to exfil a Billhook agent in exchange for not going to war, Lilith reveals to Kasimir that she's a spirit assassin, Lilith gets an internship at Bellweather Crematorium

Week 5

Lilith and Kasimir infiltrate Bellweather Crematorium and exfil Teryn, Bakoros is creating Hollows, a second Bakoros appears and is possibly killed by Lilith

Week 6

The Horrors of Castle Wisenshire: Zillah and Barnaby call on Barnaby's uncle, the Demon Ixis appears and is schooled by Zillah, Monty and Co. are left at Castle Wisenshire, the Hobbyhorses receive Monty's diary, the Hobbyhorses are not yet at war with the Brighteners

Week 8-11

Week 7

Into the Deathlands

The gang goes to the Deathlands to steal a train, Kasimir gets some goats and his babysitting license, the Shrek Lanthorn has exploded in popularity, Barnaby damages his eyes by not wearing goggles and swindles the Deathlands scavengers, the crew disguises the train as a big dog, Edvard uses the name Bagshot and they go into debt paying a bribe

The Brighteners go to war with the Hobbyhorses, presumably because they have found the location of the Barricade (Fate of the Dimmer Sisters)

Kellie leaves the Brighteners on bad terms (Fate of the Dimmer Sisters)

Rosie and Josie Dimmer are arrested on trumped up charges and sentenced to burning by Lord Strangford in retaliation for Kellie's defection (Fate of the Dimmer Sisters)

Roth and Amadeus Astor leave Volisport for the Barricade (Magic, Ghosts, Danger, and Death)

Amadeus Astor uses the spare Barricade parts and the head of the WMM he received from Kellie (The Big Score) to build the Worrisome Maniacal Mech (Magic, Ghosts, Danger, and Death)

Week 12

Fate of the Dimmer Sisters/Foundry No. 12: Please see the inset timeline for these episodes.

24 hours later

Magic, Ghosts, Danger & Death

The Hobbyhorses, Eleanor, Kellie, Bug, and Mumbles leave for the Barricade complex with the locomotive still dressed like a big dog, Edvard develops a way to remotely control the portable WMM and see through his eyes

Zillah and Edvard absail into the vents and use the WMM to get inside, Barnaby convinces the Red Sashes and Roth that he has defected to join the Brighteners, the gang is confronted by Roth who Eleanor shoots dead, the Hobbyhorses, Ellie, and Kellie fight Astor who has turned the WMM into the Worrisome Mechanical Mech, Lilith intends to sacrifice herself but is saved by Barnaby, Amadeus Astor makes his pitch and the Hobbyhorses refuse (see above), Eleanor asks the Hobbyhorses to agree to turn off the Barricade, everyone turns the Barricade off together and a force moves through all of them, Coalridge remains with Kasimir, Kellie leaps through the Gap, everyone leave the Barricade complex by handcart, joined eventually by Barnaby

*Asterisks mark canonical characters from the BitD CRB, a thing I thought I took out for this version but apparently did not

[distance-does-not-matter]

I need to give my unnamed space opera girlie (ironic phrase, for she’s one of many) a friend. She deserves it

[rhetoricandlogic]

INFINITY GATE by M.R. Carey

RELEASE DATE: March 28, 2023

A desperate scientist. A selfish rogue. A caring child. And the fate of infinite realities.

At the beginning of this multiverse-spanning tale, an unnamed narrator tells us we’re going to hear the stories of three individuals: first, Hadiz Tambuwal, an accidental genius; second, Essien Nkanika, an impoverished man willing to do anything to survive; and finally, Topaz Tourmaline FiveHills, a sentient rabbit whose choices changed the course of history. From that confident and intriguing opening, we jump right into Hadiz’s story.

She’s a scientist working in a research station in Nigeria who can see the end of civilization coming and finds it terribly inconvenient that this collapse might interrupt her work. She’s looking for dark energy but instead stumbles on a way to hop into alternate universes. We soon learn that thousands of these alternate universes are governed by an empire called the Pandominion that invented cross-universe travel long ago and doesn’t care for people making unsanctioned trips. But with Hadiz’s Earth in the midst of civilizational collapse and environmental catastrophe, she’s left with no choice but to hop sideways to another Earth—and unknowingly set in motion a reality-altering chain of events. The result is sort of a space opera that never goes to space, instead spanning thousands of alternate Earths, including multiple Earths where evolution took a different path and the dominant sentient species is descended from rabbits, hedgehogs, or others of our mammalian cousins. The plot doesn’t map onto a traditional hero’s journey arc and feels all the fresher for it. Short, action-packed chapters keep the pace brisk, and each character we meet, however briefly, is vividly and empathetically drawn.

A genuine treat for SF fans: an epic multiverse tale that moves like a thriller.

[gone-with-the-twist]

Twisted Wonderland Oc form. I have nine characters of my own, so... Au mixed studying.

Here will be my drawings. I'm not a very good artist, but I tried. I'm sorry if this is going to be bad.

(Also, there may be mistakes here, because English is not my first language). Have fun!~

Song for entourage:

Name: Yaran

Occupation: Student of Scarabia dorm

Age: 16

Birthday: 16 August

Zodiac sign: Leo

Height: 169 cm

Dominant Hand: left hand

Homeland: Scalding Sands

Family:

Unnamed parents

Iris – older sister

Yacir – twin brother

Amira – younger sister

Other Names:

Parrot fish-chan – Floyd

Mademoiselle sarcasme – Rook

Grade: 1 year

Class: 1-B.

Club: Track and field club

Best Subject: Flight

Hobbies: Watching soap operas, manicure

Pet Peeves: Extra work

Favorite Food: Lemon

Least Favorite Food: Bakery products

Talent: Slackening off from work

Appearance:

Yaran is a bright girl. Her dark-skinned skin makes her short scarlet hair with dyed blue strands stand out brightly. Her lemon eyes also stand out well. But Yaran's most distinctive feature is her hunched nose.

Personality:

Yaran has become Scarabia's main and only drama queen in a short space of time. She is not the most reliable person and can change her mind quickly. She is a sarcastic, loud-mouthed girl. She has a difficult time keeping her negative comments to herself and has a habit of hollering and ranting on about her aggravations whenever things don't go as planned.

She had hoped to go to Savanaclow, but something went wrong. Now Yaran finds it amusing to piss off Kalim(!) and Jamil by talking about it forever.

Growing up with two sisters and a brother, Yaran is always trying to stand out. Not always in the right ways, though. She can be reliable, honestly... But only to some people...

Signature spell

"Hear me" - Yaran can imitate the voice of absolutely anyone she has ever heard. It's not a complete transformation into another person, only a half.

Fun facts:

~ Yaran is based on Iago, Jafar's parrot.

~ She's in a completely disgusting relationship with Jamil after his overblot. She helped him kick Kalim out. But Yaran quickly changed her mind about Kalim when things got really bad.

~ She loves to chat and could talk for hours without stopping. She's a chatterbox.

~ No one knows how the fair and right Jack became date with Yaran.

~ Her name is a man's name. Yaran likes to talk about how her mother gave her the name.

~ Jack is the only person who can shut up Yaran.

My sketches and character's aesthetic:

Thanks for reading💖

[erscogadatabase]

Characters of Erscoga: Era 1

Era 1 characters are citizens that could be considered part of the secondary cast, and are fictional characters from throughout the multiverse who have played prominent (or not so prominent) roles in story documents before The War.

The Volta family (Broken Age) - Shay, Hope, Ray

The Voltas' silverware (Broken Age) - Lorraine, Dutch, Stratford, unnamed spork baby

The Yarn Pals and Hexipals (Broken Age)

The Tartine family (Broken Age) - Vella, Rocky, Morelia, Husker, Brommel

Alex (Broken Age)

Marek, plus all the other Lorunians (Broken Age)

The Space Weaver (Broken Age)

Levina (Broken Age)

Twyla (Broken Age)

Walt’r (Broken Age)

Ch’t (Broken Age)

M’ggie (Broken Age)

Carol (Broken Age)

Harm’ny (Broken Age)

Gus (Broken Age)

F’ther (Broken Age)

Curtis (Broken Age)

Tree (Broken Age)

Marshal Dune (Broken Age)

Courtney (Broken Age)

Dawn (Broken Age)

Jessie and the Meriloftian birds (Broken Age)

Alex's Diamond Droogs (Broken Age)

Mr. Huggy (Broken Age)

Anise (OC, on Aeuton)

Cassia (OC, on Aeuton)

Masked Lady (Deemo)

Deemo (Deemo)

Alice (Deemo)

Albert (OC, on Aeuton and Termata)

Annette (OC, on Aeuton and Termata)

Hannah Martine (OC, on Aeuton)

Nathalia (OC, one of Nalitie's interdimensional counterparts)

Isadora (OC, one of Dukermin's interdimensional counterparts)

Sasha (OC, sister of Dave + wife of Jonathan; used to be a loaf of bread)

Lila (OC, on Termata; wife of Kaleo, mother of Aria, Eeva, Aika, Harmony)

Kaleo (OC, on Termata; husband of Lila, father of Aria, Eeva, Aika, Harmony)

Aria (OC, on Termata)

Eeva (OC, on Termata)

Aika (OC, on Termata)

Harmony (OC, on Termata; assumed to be dead, current whereabouts unknown)

Host of Blood (OC, location unknown)

Princess Mindy (SpongeBob movie)

Professor Snullcorn (OC, location unknown)

Overmother (OC; leader of Coloria, mother of the Sam clones)

Sam clones 2-1000 (OCs, clones of Sam)

Evangeline (OC, on Coloria; child of the Overmother)

Malvolia (OC, on coloria; child of the Overmother)

Trevi (OC, on Termata; Dave’s sister)

Douglas (OC, on Termata; Dave’s brother)

Homeless Henry (OC, on Termata)

Queen Anora (OC, queen of Luxian kingdom of Licvitis)

King Richard (OC, king of Luxian kingdom of Licvitis)

Princess Adrianne (OC, princess of Luxian kingdom of Licvitis)

Sage (OC, important Character in Licvitis)

Aalok (OC, on Lux)

Old McDonald (nursery rhyme; lives on Bensel)

Farmer Joe (OC, on Bensel)

Isole Valence (OC, on Bensel; one of Dukermin's interdimensional counterparts; mother of Riley)

Riley Valence (OC, on Bensel; child of Isole)

Ominglai (OC, on Dunkel; citizen of Obscurité)

Stobia (OC, on Dunkel; child of Ominglai)

Neirmkedu (OC, on Dunkel)

Cinmpaden Ettomt (OC, leader of Dunkel)

Mr. B (band teacher who has no idea he's in this; lives on Lux)

Mr. T (band student teacher who also has no idea he's in this; lives on Lux)

Menards Workers (live on Lux)

Toriel (Undertale)

Sans (Undertale)

Papyrus (Undertale)

Undyne (Undertale)

Napstablook (Undertale)

Alphys (Undertale)

Mettaton (Undertale)

Asgore (Undertale)

Flowey (Undertale; trapped on Riewa)

Asriel (Undertale; exists concurrently with Flowey)

Chara (Undertale)

Aubrey (OC; cyan SOUL human from Undertale)

Casey (OC; orange SOUL human from Undertale)

Temima (OC; blue SOUL human from Undertale)

Payton (OC; purple SOUL human from Undertale)

Kadin (OC; green SOUL human from Undertale)

Jesse (OC; yellow SOUL human from Undertale)

Frisk (Undertale)

Pretty much all of the monsters from Undertale

Gert (OC; lives on Pluto)

The Entirety of Homestuck (trapped in box buried on Pluto)

Callie (lives on Pluto; friend of Nalitie and Dukermin)

Candle Grandma (OC, technically a part of Dukermin)

Roxy Rosewell (OC, on Termata)

The baloonMan ("in just"; travels around stealing SOULs)

Arlene Kirkland (OC, location unknown)

Pete (OC, possibly on Earth?)

Magic Talking Bulls (OCs, live on Bensel)

Nalitie’s rodents (not really citizens, but they have recurring appearances; live in Nalitie's basement)

Carlotta (Phantom of the Opera; lives on Termata)

Roxy Rosewell (OC, on Termata)

Addy (Dukermin's sister)

Mickey Mouse (Disney; husband of Dukermin)

The Narrator from Into the Woods (lives in the True Lab on Pluto)

Piggy from Lord of the Flies (lives in the True Lab on Pluto)

Alternate Mettaton (Undertale; trapped on Riewa)

Santa (legendary figure)

[starlightstorytelling]

i. Nightmare and Memory

Unnamed Space Opera Project @gods-and-punks | @cheshire-castle-library 2,933 Words

Bel woke from a horrid nightmare, fleeting with every gasping breath as his consciousness wrestled with the grasping arms of the dim dreamscape, and the warmer than he'd like sunlight streaming into his bedroom from the crack in the curtains.  There was more sun than would make sense for an early morning, and somewhere in the back of his always-on mind, he stored that little tidbit of information; just like he stored the exits, the defensible positions, the location of civilians and security cameras, and where he could be out of line of sight from the “uninitiated”.

As his mind was freed from the tendrils of sleep, he came to grips with the dream.  More of a memory, twisted by stress and the lateness of the night before.  It was the first summer he spent with his Uncle, the summer his life changed.  His uncle had a conversion van, and was "fondly known” as the "family vagabond" back then - traveling town to town, busking and taking up odd jobs, not yet ready to settle down and decide what he wanted from his life.  Well that wasn't the truth, not even remotely; and Bel felt the lies in is bones.  Not what they told his mother - all the excuses over the years - and not what his dreams spun them to be.

Bel's body still stung and tingled from the disconnected sensations of the dream from his body that paralyzed him as he woke, his brain awake with pain in a part separated from the body that could actually do something about it.  The dream was a wash of suffering, but in that dull way that somewhere inside you know it's not actually happening.  The difference between a dream where you feel the need to pee, and actually wetting the bed.  It amazed Bel how the brain could soften memories like that so they don't cause the same scars you get when they happen.

A decade ago at that point, he'd been left unattended in his uncle's conversion van, all of eight years old, and he'd found something he shouldn't have.

It was in a time when Bel's parents were "having trouble", but not the kind of trouble normal people have.  Not the "making ends meet" kind of arguments, not the "12 hour work days" kind of stress.  Somehow it was "what yacht should we buy to maintain appearances", "who is this floozy", "which one of us married into which family"; and at the time Bel didn't fully understand it.  How could he?  He was eight!  But he understood some of it - more than his parents would have liked - and he'd asked, in that way children can in all innocence, questions regarding the nanny and his father; and everything exploded.

Suddenly there was no nanny, which was a lesson in instant loneliness for Bel; and suddenly "Mommy and Daddy need to go out of town".  And so, unceremoniously, Bel found himself in the care of his Uncle.  His uncle who was all but disowned for his "lack-about ways", his uncle who was the laughing stock of the family for living in his van and being a "drain on society" and was absolutely ignored by the media.  His uncle who, under any other circumstances, would never be allowed within a city block of Bel without supervision due to his mother's distrust (read as "inability to control") for her own older brother.  

But her brother wouldn't "seduce her husband", Bel assumed, looking back.  As if it weren't her hateful tantrums that traumatized both Bel's father and the nanny enough that they could take solace in each other.  Bel felt guilty for thinking that.  That was his mother, and regardless of the ways she treated him, he couldn't help but love her.  Live with her.  Figure out how to appreciate the parts of her that were good, and figure out how to almost not internalize the screaming.  That's what his father eventually did, he was sure.  After that summer, his parents had never been closer.  The tantrums cooled down - not completely gone, but who can really discipline a rich daddy's girl politician's daughter?

But his parent's weren't the only ones who came back from that summer changed.  At one point, he'd been left in the van, told "don't touch anything" as if that means anything to an 8 year old but "go find the thing I'm terrified you'll find", while his uncle ran into a little shop somewhere in Nevada for a few minutes.  Of course Bel was too young to think about how suspicious it was that his uncle had parked the van behind that little shop.  That shop which was the only one not boarded up and abandoned in the who ghost town of a shopping center.

As soon as his uncle was out of sight, closed into the windowless backdoor of the yellow-brick building, Bel started his mission.  He'd noticed something a few days earlier, but his uncle had the same eyes in the back of his head that Bel's mother had; and caught him three times when the boy tried to get to it.  The van was smaller than expected on the inside, and Bel was no stranger to the jabbing jokes his family made about the "conversion van" and "converted to a shoe box"; which didn't completely make sense to Bel at that age.  But in those thicker walls, there were panels that didn't match.  Outlines like there should be cabinets if you could just figure out how to get the doors open. The inside of the van was the worse texture of blood-orange faux fur, covering everything in scratchy nylon fibers that made the van retain smell so badly that when the van gets hot is always smells like Burger King onions.  The back seat was a large mattress dressed in clashing and equally potent colours of green and purple; and if you lay on your back and look at the abnormally low roof, there was a square seam in the orange hanging fur that could be seen only by the way the fur parted strangely around its perimeter.

Standing on the mattress with his arms over his head, the kid started working tiny kid fingers around the seam, trying to figure out how it comes out and in what direction.  He discovered that there was some kind of lip around it, if he pressed hard enough against the orange fur.  He traced all along it.  Square but with rounded corners, like there was some kind of box buried in the lowered ceiling.  He started pressing against the bottom most panel, pressing both hands and trying to push it up.  Nothing.  He tried sliding it like one of his dad's wooden puzzle boxes.  Nothing.  But then his hand slipped into something odd.  There was a pocket in the fur lining, and something under there.  It was just big enough for his hand to fit in there - not thinking about how this would be too small for his uncle's hands.  Inside was something smooth and glassy, and not quite as cool as you'd expect.  He tried to worry it out, but it wasn't a knob.  In truth, it was a DNA scanner, that made use of tunneling electrons to scan an appendage pressed to it; but Bel wouldn't come to know that for several years yet.

The scanner did its job, boring a stream of entangled electrons into the child's hand almost undetectably - sans a little warmth - and reading the interactions from the paired electrons within the device, doing complex analyses to determine whether the user is similar-enough genetically to the keyed operative.  Like most of Terminus' technology, it was designed by an Phrontan engineer - the Phronta being widely regarded as the most intelligent race in all of Terminus Space.  They were also the most prolific single culture to create quality of life and security devices in the entire territory.  Unfortunately, they were also raging bigots, with equal measure of eugenics and genetocentrism.  Any race younger than 10,000 generations is considered "under developed".  Any culture that hasn't managed sustained space travel is considered unintelligent.  And therefore any race suffering both is beneath study. "It would change too much between now and when the race was actually developed.  What point would there be?"

And so the scanner read the 25% genetic likeness of a nephew to his uncle, and erroneously deployed the container - an error that is now rectified, and a certain Phrontan engineer ostracized for making an error that every other Phrontan would have made; but such is the Phrontan culture. The lowermost panel, which Bel had previously been pressing on, began to descend in a controlled way.  The boy leapt out of the way, bonking his head on the windowless wall of the conversion van.  Once he'd reclaimed himself, he turned to see a tray suspended from poles into the cavity of the van's converted back seat.  The fog of a freezer billowed around the tray, and a small metal box - black with pink circuit lines tracing around its edges - sat in the center.

Now why his uncle was hiding a puzzle box inside the not-so-secret compartment of his van was beyond 8-year-old Bel; but he'd seen things like this sitting on his father's desk before, and he was suspiciously good at getting into them.  To the point that his father had replaced all the boring shiny objects inside the one's at home with hard candies!  And since Bel's mother hated the idea of her son on sugar, it was a secret between the "men" of the house.  Good for the flexibility of a growing boy's mind and a form of quiet resistance against the neuroses of a spoiled débutante.

Bel took the metal up in both hands and sat hard on his rear, knowing the mattress would cushion his fall.  A quick glance here and there to make sure his Uncle wasn't going to catch him, and then he started at it.  Tiny finger tracing the circuit lines, trying to find seams to work off of.  Bel was behind most of his class when it came to spelling and maths, and his impatience was the bane of everyone but his now ex-nanny; but Bel had an incredibly sharp kinemorphic intelligence.  Of course that's not something schools measure, so its possible only his father really understood Bel’s early mastery of fine-motor control.  

It took mere seconds for Bel to detect the only way this box could open.  A nearly undetectable ridge, a way part of the box shifted in a different way than the rest, the way the weight shifted as he rotated it in all directions.  He'd barely sat when he found the nondescript panel that slid to one side, releasing the lock it had on an orthogonal panel and then, done.  Bel was almost annoyed with how easy the puzzle had been compared to how hard it was to get out of the secret vault.  Of course, this wasn't meant to be a puzzle, and in fact was just a locking mechanism that was mildly difficult for larger species to access - the Phrontan being one of the "Decigrade" races of Terminus Space, standing only about 4 Earth inches high.

The metallic walls of the "puzzle" box bloomed open to reveal something that looked a little like a small, grey Brazil nut.  Bel was even more confused.  All that trouble for something that looked boring.  He shifted the weight of the box to sit in his hand, still trying to hold the box roughly the size of an orange up close enough to his face to discern small details.  With his left, he poked the object.  Nothing strange.  Then he tapped it a few times and-

The brasil nut jolted.  He flinched, dropping it - case and all - and failing to scoot back further than the van wall, gaining only inches distance as the grey prism melted into a puddle and then collected itself, launching at the boy like a high velocity garden slug.  His hands shot up to protect his face, and the angry silly putty slapped against his hand, searing his soft uncalloused skin and making the boy yelp in shock and discomfort.  It felt like a hot coal or the wrong end of Gram's cigarette that she wasn't supposed to be smoking around the children pressed deep and deeper into his palm.  The boy held his wrist and gasped, every neuron firing in desperation to escape the cause; but it was too late.

The device had initiated an emergency protocol which Uncle Maddok had barely listened to in the briefing.  He was permitted to use the device temporarily to defend it against theft, so it was set to activate on opening.  And so it did.

The slime made a pin-hole into the boy's hand, squeezing into his veins and leaving traces of itself as it went.  Network of nanofilaments traced as this gel dissolved into his blood and found its way through his body in moments - consuming material here and there to self-replicate and perform its function - creating constructs - psudo-organs - that melded with nerves and bone and brain-stem.  Bell's screams faded into numbness - his brain flooding distance between the overwhelming sensation of the body and his perception of it. He found his consciousness in a small, cool room, dark and empty, but not frightening, not lonely.  It was a dim fantasy, locking the experiences of the body away from the mind.  He looked out of the walls, that weren't quite windows and yet he could see through it - through his eyes.  Someone had come to the van - his uncle and some other guys.  One with a mustache that Bel recognized as someone his Uncle worked with.  The other in a diver’s suit or something.  They were fussing over him, picked him up and carried him into the beige windowless door his uncle disappeared into.  Was that long ago?  Time didn't pass to Bel, no amount of time and yet all of eternity had passed through him.

He suddenly felt so tired, but he watched - enthralled with the sci-fi program playing out through the dark walls of his safe, cool, mental place.  A high-tech dentist chair?  Lights and tools he didn't recognize.  He thought he should be afraid, but he wasn't.  Actually he wasn't anything.  There were words said around him, but they were muffled.  Not real.  Not directed towards him.  Not important.  He was so tired.

"Notice: Host partial compatibility error." The voice was familiar, but emotionless. A voice inside his room?  Who's was it?  Bel's mental image of himself stood, looking away from the wall he was seeing through. "Whose there?"  Did he say that out loud?  Or just in the fog of his mind-room?

"Notice: Autexousious Mutagenic Framework, unit identifying.  One zero zero zero one."

Bel peered into the deepest part of the shadow of this room of even and yet no lighting. "Autex?" "Notice: Accepting host code name - Autex."  

As Bel squinted in the dim fog inside his mind, he caught a glimpse of something shiny, glossy. "Come out here..." He said, reaching into the darkness and grabbing something.  A hand?  An Arm?  He pulled it out of the shadow - not that there was a light source in this imaginarium that could shed light on it; but he could see it now, emerging from the shadow.  It was... himself.  But pink, glassy.  Like the precious glass animals, his mother collected.  Delicate and fragile, cracked with some imperfections that traced like the lines of the metal puzzle box that started this mess.  Bel momentarily remembered what happened, but it faded as unimportant.  Un-real.

"Notice: Host compatibility error resolved."

Confusion flooded his consciousness and Bel's grip on the glassy wrist slipped. "Notice: Initiating host recuperation cycle.  Stand by."

Bel faded into foggy darkness, caught by the glassy doppelganger - though he'd struggle to remember that fact.  The Autex recorded the interaction for further data analysis at a later time.

***

Bel woke thinking he was at the dentist.  The laughing gas thing over his nose smelled bad - like rubber and chemicals.  He flopped an unresponsive arm across himself to drag it away.  Nothing in his body felt right.  It was heavy and lumpy and both easier and more difficult to move than he remembered.  He barely made it upright without pitching over, but he saw his uncle slumped in a chair on the edge of the room.  How had a bad tooth made him hurt so much?  “Made him hurt”?  Did he hurt?  What had happened.

It took Bel literal years to make heads or tails of the groggy memories and the "emergency dentist visit" on that first summer he spend with Uncle Maddok.  It was dreams like the one he'd just woken from that unraveled the truth, honestly.  The brain stores memories in our skin and muscle, as much as in our brain, so even if the conscious mind can't recall the details, our flesh knows what we've forgotten.

Bel roused himself from his seat on the edge of his bed, realizing he'd been sitting staring at the floor with his head heavy in his hands only because of the knock on the door. "Kiddo?  Weren't you going out this afternoon?"

Afternoon? "Yeah, Kari's game is at 1," Bel groaned towards the cracked door.

"Think you missed that, son," his dad chuckled incredulously as he continued down the hallway.

Panic rocketed through Bel’s chest and head, before a sigh pushed it down and he stood to get dressed. Right, that’s why the sunlight through the curtains felt wrong.