#verse; to engineer vengeance

[theanomaleum]

a kiss on the fingertips . (( for tannis! ))

Tannis wasn't expecting it. She had been rubbing some healing ointment into her hands, particularly over her fingertips, when Khan's hands suddenly encased hers. She didn't say anything as he began carefully rubbing the gel in with a touch more tender than Tannis could have thought his hands capable of. Though she knew he could be careful with delicate tools, this was... different. This was... sweet.

Her hands were rough with scars and callouses but Khan's fingertips slid over them like they were as soft as silk. Almost as though she couldn't help herself, Tannis twisted her hands free, cupping his hands in hers. It was almost comical, the difference in size. Her long fingers and narrow palms cupping his strong, wide hands. But as he splayed his hands open, palms raised, she leaned down and pressed a kiss to the tips of his fingers.

[samasmith23]

How Goro Akechi effectively serves as a dark foil to the Phantom Thieves' brand of rehabilitative justice

So... I understand that Goro Akechi is a pretty divisive character within the Persona 5 fanbase (especially his pre-Royal incarnation), but I have to admit that I honestly found his backstory and role as a sinister foil to the Phantom Thieves to be legitimately intriguing. Elements which are revealed during his boss fight in the game’s “Cruiser of Pride” arc!

When the Phantom Thieves infiltrate the Meta-Verse to confront the Shadow of the corrupt ultra-nationalist politician, Masayoshi Shido, who’s palace takes the form of a gigantic yacht sailing through the ruins of a sunken Japan, they are suddenly confronted by Akechi in the ship’s engine room. Having just betrayed the team during the previous arc, Akechi is revealed to not only be the true culprit behind the mysterious wave of mental shutdowns & psychotic breakdowns (which included the deaths of two Phantom Thieves’ member’s parents, Futaba Sakura’s mother Wakaba Isshiki & Haru Okumura’s father Kunikazu Okumura respectively…) that have occurred throughout the game’s narrative as part of Shido’s conspiracy to get elected as Prime Minister, but that he is also Shido’s illegitimate child. Essentially, Akechi was the product of a dubious affair between Shido and a sex worker whom the former later discarded when he discovered that she was pregnant, driving her to depression and suicide shortly after Akechi's birth. Akechi spent his entire childhood being passed around as a “problem child” between various foster homes (highlighting Japan’s problems with how the country treats its orphaned children) before later being granted the power of a "wildcard" persona-user, as well as knowledge about the existence of the Meta-Verse by the false god of control, Yaldabaoth.

While Akechi was a societal outcast similar to the members of the Phantom Thieves, he took the wrong message from his experiences. Akechi misguidedly believes that the only way to truly oppose the status quo that looked down upon him is to not only become a part of it (i.e. caring only about his good grades & celebrity status) but to destroy everything that he hates by reducing himself to Shido's right-hand assassin in the Meta-Verse, perpetuating mental shutdowns & psychotic breakdowns on Shido’s political enemies simply to get some semblance of recognition & validation from his abusive father before exacting revenge on him (whilst exploiting his "ace-detective" celebrity status to "solve" the crimes that he himself committed).

Essentially, once Shido finally became prime minister Akechi planned to whisper the truth about being the former’s illegitimate child, telling Shido that he was only able to get where he was due to the son he abandoned and labeled as a potential “political scandal” before murdering him.

Despite Akechi and the Phantom Thieves' mutual dislike of Shido, the former is so fixated on vengeance that he does not care about the innocent lives he ruins and destroys in the crossfire to satisfy his own personal bloodlust. Instead of legitimately trying to reform society like the Phantom Thieves do, Akechi becomes a pawn of the very same systemic corruption that was responsible for his initial suffering. Akechi cares only about his own hatred & jealousy instead of empathizing with others who were also victimized by society’s ills. This contrast is visually reflected through the juxtaposition between Akechi and the Phantom Thieves’ leader, Joker, when they confront each other in the engine room of Shido’s yacht. While Joker is portrayed as standing strong alongside his teammates & friends, Akechi stands alone in the opposite end of the room, confused & angry. While there is a part of Akechi that regrets his horrible actions and even recognizes the potential for him & Joker to be friends due to their similar backgrounds, he's too far gone into his obsessive vendetta against Shido that he refuses to turn back and now desires to kill the Phantom Thieves in a misguided attempt to ease his internal conflict.

During the boss fight with Akechi in Shido's Palace, the detective prince repeatedly dismisses the Phantom Thieves' efforts to appeal to his common senses, believing that concepts like friendship and teamwork are foolish "cliched bullish*t... in this eat or be eaten world."

While this attitude of Akechi's might seem unrealistically cartoonish on the surface, it actually makes sense when considering his background of being unfairly labeled as a "throw-away child" by Japan's foster care institutions. YouTuber LadyVirgilia goes into far greater detail about this in her excellent The Truth About Goro Akechi analysis video. There, she states that an overwhelming number of Japanese orphans are incapable of being legally adopted due to impoverished parents voluntarily relinquishing them from their care while still maintaining legal guardianship over them. Additionally, LadyVirgilia discusses how violent hierarchical power structures often form among the children within these foster homes, with younger orphans sadly being subject to bullying & abuse by their older peers.

While these facts are not explicitly stated about Akechi's backstory within P5 Royal itself, they can easily be heavily inferred due to the game's heavy emphasis on exploring themes related to Japanese sociocultural issues. It’s implied that the institutional failings of Japan's foster care system (combined with Shido's abandonment of his son while he was still in the womb), ultimately contributed to the development of Akechi's warped perception of the rest of the world. Due to being dismissed as a "throw-away child" and being forced to grow up in an institution that is unfortunately subject to high rates of systemic abuse & neglect, Akechi spent his entire life feeling unwanted & loved. Ideals such as friendship & companionship became foreign and unrealistic concepts to him due to having experienced nothing but society's cold & uncaring apathy.

Essentially, Akechi became deeply jealous & hateful toward the rest of the world, misguidedly compelling him to want to prove his superiority over the rest of society by manufacturing his status as "the celebrity ace-detective and honors student who ultimately brought down Shido." But when Akechi encounters the Phantom Thieves and befriends their leader Joker, he begins to experience his first genuine bond of companionship. Despite developing a legitimate appreciation towards Joker, Akechi is simultaneously confused & unable to fully process these newfound feelings. Akechi becomes envious of Joker's ability to rise above his similar status as a societal outcast by befriending & protecting others like himself. Consequently, Akechi projects his own failings & inability to legitimately rise above his tragic upbringing beyond his false celebrity status onto Joker & the Phantom Thieves, cruely dismissing them as "the trash of society" and blaming them for interfering with his revenge plot against Shido. This empty & hollow existence that Akechi chooses to live is further reflected by the sole two personas that he utilizes during his boss fight: Robin Hood, who represents Akechi's false celebrity & justice-abiding gentleman facade, and Loki, who embodies Akechi’s true personality as a deceitful trickster & psychotic murderer.

I personally couldn’t help but find all of these elements to be rather interesting & insightful about Akechi’s role as an antagonist/rival to the Phantom Thieves. It honestly highlights the tragic nature of Akechi's situation, since while he had the potential to utilize his deductive knowledge & skills as a "wildcard" Persona-user similar to Joker, he instead allowed himself to be consumed by his own hatred & madness.

The parallels between Akechi & Joker are further evident through the latter also being a victim of Shido’s abuse. Specifically, the corrupt politician wrongfully sued Joker for “assault” when he tried to stop Shido from drunkenly forcing himself upon a woman. In contrast to Akechi however, Joker is motivated by his negative experiences to fight against the unjust status quo that figures like Shido represent to prevent similar abuses of power from ever occurring again to others. Additionally, we also see dualistic parallels between Akechi and other members of the Phantom Thieves, such as Makoto Nijima who similarly previously upheld the misconception that “good grades and following orders are all that truly matters to be a worthwhile member of society.” Whereas Makoto outgrows this mentality by instead choosing to utilize her status as student council president to help her suffering peers rather than for her own academic career, Akechi conversely exploits his intellect as an “ace-detective” to perpetuate societal injustices for his self-centered vendetta against Shido.

In essence, if the Phantom Thieves embody the potential benefits of rehabilitative justice then Goro Akechi embodies the dangers of retributive justice (aka, revenge). To reference two of my favorite movies, Batman Begins and Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, not only is there a strong difference between justice and revenge (one is about altruistic harmony whereas the other is about personal satisfaction), but the most surefire way to victory is by fighting to protect what you love rather than fighting to destroy what you hate...

The distinction between justice & revenge is made abundantly clear at the end of Akechi's storyline in the baseline game (i.e. before the Royal exclusive Third Semester new content), where following his defeat at the hands of the Phantom Thieves Akechi is suddenly approached by a cognitive duplicate of himself that dwells within Shido's palace. In addition to the Cognitive Akechi emphasizing the futility of Akechi's quest for acknowledgment & vengeance against Shido by revealing that the latter always intended to dispose of his right-hand assassin once he was elected prime minister, the cognitive duplicate also reveals the true depths of Shido's depravity when he states that he only ever viewed Akechi as a puppet to fulfill his own ambitions. While it is true that Akechi was so obsessed with revenge that he allowed himself to become a pawn of the corrupt status quo, it is exceptionally cruel to learn that this is how Shido has always viewed his own son (which is further punctuated by Shido later revealing to the Phantom Thieves that he secretly always suspected that Akechi was his illegitimate child due to how much he reminded him of his mother). It is this revelation in particular that allows the Phantom Thieves to better empathize with Akechi's tragic upbringing & circumstances. Even though they still seek to hold Akechi accountable for the murders that he committed at Shido's behest, the Phantom Thieves simultaneously recognize that in a sense, Akechi was also a victim of both Shido's cruelty and the systemic injustices of larger Japanese society.

This effectively culminates in the bittersweet resolution to Akechi's storyline in the base Persona 5 game. When the Cognitive Akechi duplicate offers his real-world counterpart one last chance to "redeem" himself in Shido's eyes by killing the Phantom Thieves in his stead, Akechi for the first time in his life decides to be his own person instead of being defined by the labels Shido and society had imposed upon him since birth. Choosing to no longer be a puppet of Shido's corrupt machinations, Akechi rejects his cognitive duplicate's hollow offer by instead turning his gun on the duplicate and his Shadow minions before sealing the engine room's watertight doors between himself and the Phantom Thieves. At the very end, Akechi was finally able to acknowledge that his desire for false appreciation from both his abusive father and larger society was ultimately worthless. Akechi ultimately sacrifices himself to allow the Phantom Thieves to escape, recognizing their true justice while entrusting them to do what he was incapable of by holding Shido accountable for his crimes & reforming society.

From a certain point of view, one could argue that the Phantom Thieves indirectly inspired a change of heart in Akechi by proving to him the validity of their sense of justice.

Overall, while I was initially indifferent towards Goro Akechi at the start of my playthrough of Persona 5 (and even outright skeptical & suspicious of his motives given his vocal opposition to the Phantom Thieves), by the time I got to his boss battle in Shido's palace I ended gained a deeper understanding and appreciation for what the developers at Atlus were attempting to convey with his character. Akechi effectively functions as both a cautionary tale about the dangers of allowing oneself to be consumed with thoughts of revenge, as well as a dark parallel to the Phantom Thieves who seek to legitimately reform society for altruistic rather than self-centered reasons. It was these elements that ultimately elevated Akechi into becoming one of my personal favorite members of P5's cast (right behind Makoto, Futaba & Ann...) from both a narrative and character writing perspective (especially with the Royal edition's overhauled confidant line for Akechi, which better fleshes out the latter's rivalry with Joker, and the player now has to progress manually instead of it being automatic)! And I am definitely curious to see how Royal's exclusive "Third Semester" content further fleshes out Akechi's character since I'm aware that he plays a major role in the new story content.

[ameibousa]

ameibousa — an epithet to greek goddess hekate, meaning one that transforms. a study in man vs self, in conflict, in tearing apart geode flesh to see the crystalline guts inside. examined by luca, he/they/, 25+. ameibousa is an independent, private multimuse rp blog featuring both canon characters and ocs from kingdom hearts, death note, jjk, love & deepspace, dungeons & dragons, and more. most muses have multiple verses. highly likely you will find several dark themes such as murder and psychological torture on this blog, proceed with caution.

blogroll: @alloprosallus, xiv blog @nymeianthreads. informal, temporary muse list below the cut. especially for any ocs, i will be making detailed pages in the coming days, as well as a nicer way of organizing. temporary rules page is here, with the addendum that you must specify muse when sending memes and such, or at least fandom. this is a sideblog, i follow back from @alloprosallus, where i house caleb from love and deepspace.

love and deepspace —

caleb. (@alloprosallus).

nero.

viper.

tara.

luke & kieran.

dr. armaros glasya-labolas. (oc, engineer for ever. )

kingdom hearts —

riku.

xemnas.

saix+/isa.

xion.

tekken —

terra.

final fantasy —

clive rosfield (testing).

xiv muses here: @nymeianthreads.

hwoarang.

lili de rochefort.

jun kazama.

lee chaolan.

jujutsu kaisen —

satoru gojo.

shoko ieri.

inumaki toge.

itadori yuji/ryomen sukuna.

dungeons and dragons —

(maybe geto? he's also so interesting to me)

therai, lone priest to the exiled moon god. warlock.

kho'li, mountainous protector, soul of vengeance. paladin.

bellamy, golden-tongued serpent in the bushes. warlock.

merihem, forgiven decay shining everlasting. paladin-warlock.

kitab, rorsarch grimoire walking. thaumaturge.

strahd von zarovich. (curse of strahd ).

nil'agh, weeping destruction. oathbreaker paladin.

original characters based on the lore of sleep token —

the abbot. (curse of strahd ).

mythology and legend and those inspired —

odysseus. (the oddessy, greek mythos).

iii, martyr.

death note —

vessel, pariah.

light yagami.

oc loading.

vocaloid —

vy2 yuuma.

megurine luka.

misc —

nam seonho. (my country: the new age).

yoon jongwoo. (strangers from hell).

[feukt-42]

CO:E33 rambles and notes bc i am in shambles rn

ok so i just finished playing clair obscur : expedition 33 and i have so much shit to say abt it or i will explode

Obvious spoilers obviously.

First off, this game is a fucking masterpiece. I know everyones said it like 15 times but holy shit, the art direction, the writing, the dialogue, the gameplay, the level design, the ost (how tf is this lorien testard's first ost jfc), the voice acting (both english and french, i played in french due to being french and listened to the english vas through yt playthroughs), theres not a single discordant note for me in this, it genuinely is that fucking good.

Speaking of the ost, listening to the lyrics while playing and understanding them is truly an experience. i caught most of the juicy shit after the fact but sometimes id hear sth and be like "oh shit that sounds like its important". i have a bunch of favorite bits and im just gonna dump them here bc i need to spew them out.

-> Gustave and Gustave Eiffel : Ok so pretty early on i was already listening to Lumière and Departure non-stop but post act 1 the lyrics kinda started slotting into place. Eiffel (first name gustave), is referenced a bunch of times in the ost, and while at first i was like "ok french game is french", now im pretty sure theyre referencing Gustave (Parisian engineers from the belle époque who share the same name hmmm). Theres a lot of lines that really just work for this, like Departure's "Clair Obscur ôtera, brisera Eiffel" (Clair obscur will remove, break Eiffel) that seem to foreshadow gustave's untimely demise at the end of act 1. I thought it was really neat.

->Dualliste ok so this is a fairly small one but the song starts with and repeats several times "Renoir ôta, Renoir brisa" (Renoir removed, Renoir broke) in a fairly somber, almost angry tone. To me this feels like a callback to the part mentioned above, with the thing being removed/broken being gustave, in which case this reads like a call for vengeance and action, a reflection of the expedition's mental state in which they (mostly maelle tbh) are pushed forward mostly by this grief, this emptiness being turned into cold hatred and anger at the one responsible for it. That was also neat.

->Our drafts collide i just noticed this one while going back to listen to the ost, at first the title didnt really jump out that much, it just sounded cool but nothing special yk. then, i realized "oh shit the first fight theme is 'Our drafts unite', thats sick as fuck actually". Then i got to the spoken french section and Lorien hits me with "Nos desseins se confrontent" and i deadass did the surprised pikachu face. For the non-francophones in the audience, desseins, meaning intentions, plans, the will to do sth, etc., is a homophone of dessin, meaning sketch, draft. The french lyric the titles are based on is a massive double entendre of "Our drafts collide/unite"(literal, as in these people are fighting in a painting with chroma and gradients and such) and "Our wills collide/unite". That is so fucking cool. ->Lumière s'éteint ok so that whole poem is fire as fuck and you definitely should find a translation if you dont spek french bc its just really good, but the part that rewired my brain chemistry was "Si nos pulsations jouent à contretemps/Notre amour veillera sur la mesure". The translation is "If our pulses play off-beat/Our love will see to the measure". That is so fucking romantic holy shit. Its also sung in Une vie à t'aimer, but the second verse is replaced by "mon amour veille, attend" (my love watches, waits) which didnt strike me as much. That song is still a massive banger though.

-> Déchire la toile ok so this one has A Lot. Its downright spoilery if youre smart enough to connect the dots (which i was not). Im gonna translate whole entire sections bc this is just textual spoilers in the lyrics.

"[...]Renoir aida / Mais toujours son fils perdra [...] Verso va déchiré canva / Maelle tristesse dura / Amour vivra / Alicia va déchiré canvas / Renoir pleura / Verso dané / Alina enferma"

ok so in order we have "Renoir helped(?) / but always his son will lose" (aida reads like the conjugation of aider, to help, but is pronounced drastically differently), "Verso will tear the canvas" (should be déchirer grammatically, idk the meaning behind that) "Maelle ['s] sadness will last", "Love will live", "Alicia will tear the canvas", "Renoir wept", "Verso damned" (admittedly this one is complete guessworke but dané sounds remarkably like damné so im putting it in), and "Alina locked up" (as in she locked sth up, not shes locked up, that would be enfermée). I'll leave you to interpret the nitty gritty but i just thought it was wild how they just drop this on you beginning of act I like holy shit.

Thats most of the neat little details in the ost. Since ive given some bits of translation already, here are some more that i havent seen mentioned anywhere yet :

Orphelin : orphan

Serpenphare : serpent (snake) + phare (lighthouse)

échassier : wader/wading bird

Benisseur : someone who blesses (bénir=to bless)

Boucheclier : Bouche (mouth) + bouclier (shield)

Chapelier : hatter

Chorale : choir

Danseuse : dancer (feminine)

Moissonneuse : harvester (feminine, in the agricultural sense)

Pelerin : pilgrim

Portier : doorman

Potier : potter

Ramasseur : someone who picks things up (ramasser : to pick up)

Rocher : rock

Veilleur : watcher

Tisseur : weaver

Dualliste : mix of duellist and dualist (thesis that relies on two irreductible concepts e.g manichaeism)

Theres also a fuckton of jokes and references that dont really work in english so heres a couple ive seen :

-The "à on" achievement for beating the serpenphare is a reference to the "Astérix et Obélix : Mission Cléopâtre" movie, pretty much a cult classic imo, in which the pun "Le phare à on" (sounding like pharaon -> pharaoh, meaning the lighthouse of us) is the crux of a whole gag (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdWZhAAf6gA)

-Two kid gestrals have a conversation which is almost word for word a copy of a badly dubbed scene from Hitman the Cobra which became a french meme a while back (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qznbecUX3Fc). The reference is almost unrecognisable in english unfortunately.

Theres most likely a lot i missed, and theres a lot more i have to say but this post is already long enough as is so ill just reblog/make new posts if i want to say more.

[putrefacion]

NOTE:ㅤㅤBelow is a general overview of all my verses thus far; there is generous overlap between verses, as they explore parallel outcomes of the same core identity. While context shifts, core characteristics remain consistent: her name [ Evolution ], her divine origins, her autonomous loyalty & the trauma coded into her design. Verses are flexible; feel free to specify which version we’re working with when plotting!

↳ㅤTHE THIRD BRIDE / inspired by rabbinic Midrash, such as Genesis Rabbah & Pirkei de Rabbi Eliezer :⠀⠀⠀The first [ Lilith ] was formed from dust & defied her purpose; the second [ Eve ], formed from soil, drawn by sin; the third [ Evolution ] was drawn from Adam's rib with his blood still clinging to the bone. She was never meant for paradise; only to follow him into war. The true Eden was never hers to know; she was placed in a simulated Genesis, an engineered cognitive environment designed to finalize soul formation, calibrate instinctive response systems & evaluate her loyalty toward Adam. Now Adam is gone, & Heaven offers no comfort, only continued function; what remains in her is not faith, but directionless compulsion, hollowed purpose calcified into hunger. In place of peace, she hunts. What survives is a sacred appetite for vengeance...

↳ㅤMOTHER OF EVERYONE LIVING / inspired by biblical narrative as interpreted through Jehovah’s Witness doctrine; including publications such as Insight on the Scriptures & What Does the Bible Really Teach? :⠀⠀⠀Lute is the Eve — the biblical mother of everyone living; mother of Abel, Cain, & Seth, the one who ate the fruit & altered the course of humanity. Conditionally redeemed in secret after her death, her true identity remains hidden. She made a vow; not to Heaven, but to Adam — & she’s spent every moment since trying to make up for what she did. Now a high-ranking Exorcist, she enforces Heaven’s will with blood-soaked precision. She is not seeking forgiveness; she is making herself useful, forever repaying a sin that cannot be undone,

↳ㅤHALLELUJAH I'M NOT DEAD / inspired by rabbinic Midrash, such as Zohar, Apocalypse of Moses, Talmud Bavli & Pirkei de Rabbi Eliezer :⠀⠀⠀She was the Eve before the 'true' Eve; the discarded prototype too grotesque to keep or even be called woman. Made not from Adam’s rib, but from Archangel Michael’s — from divine marrow; her body bore divinity too raw to control, volatile, excessive, bloody & unsightly, too self aware, thus, she was banished from Eden before she could understand why; she was not destroyed & instead became ward to Michael, who tempered her, refined her & shaped into something new: a soldier, a solution, Evolution. Now she exists as Heaven’s most brutal blade — kept for her efficiency, a relic of divine overreach & tolerated only for what she can kill

[contritioned]

I do think Butcher is the Boy's version of Frank, but way the fuck more unhinged. Frank is ... out of his skull but he wouldn't ever dose himself with anything to even the playing field. That's where a lot of difference comes in. Similarities come from background: military men, devoted to their wives, lost their families, out for vengeance, willing to go dark mode for results.

Frank would never use V, if it existed in his verse. And while he may be self-serving he is so very apparent about that, he doesn't ever really lie or use the people around him to get to his ends without being so up front about it. How many times has he told DD that he'd help because it serves himself ... and he'd do it his way?

It's kind of the thing that I love the most about Frank, that he stands toe-to-toe stubbornly with or against people who are super powered or somehow engineered better than he is, and he's just a man ... and he always punches up over it. Too stubborn, too angry, etc.

And don't get me wrong, he is an exemplary version of what he is: the best soldier, the best sniper, etc. etc. But that's the point. Butcher became the evil thing, Frank ... is Frank.

[hot-claws-420]

[Footage from an omnihook. It shows Sally in some sort of mech hanger or garage, toying with a... device? It appears to be a tiny can with many nails protruding from it. As she stuffs... something... inside of it, it becomes apparent this is some wicked little engineering project.]

[The little mauler trills and growls quietly to itself as it works, stimming, presumably. However, these sounds cease as OMA's voice escapes from the omnihook.]

[MY PILOT... I MUST SHARE... PROCESSING... NEWS... WITH YOU. IT IS IMPORTANT.]

Eh? U sound serious wuts up?

[I HAVE BEEN, AS YOU ARE AWARE, MORE VOCAL ON THE OMNINET AS OF LATE...]

Mhm! im glad uve been talkin to mor peopl!!

[WELL. SOME OF MY INTERACTIONS WITH SOME OF THE PEOPLE IN QUESTION HAVE MADE ME... QUESTION SOME THINGS. ABOUT MY NATURE...]

[SINGED raises an eyebrow, looking over her shoulder at the omnihooks.]

yeah..?

[I CONFIRMED THESE SUSPICIONS WITH MEDIC {XIII-E}. I INQUIRED AFTER WHAT THEY KNEW FROM THE FILES ALLY {HELIOS-8} HAD READ OF THE PROJECT WHICH CREATED US.]

[I... I AM NOT A COMP/CON, SEKHMET. I NEVER HAVE BEEN. IT WAS AN ARMORY DECEPTION. I AM AN NHP.]

[Sally's project drops to the floor as she turns around. It begins sparking worryingly before rolling out of frame. She does not seem to notice as her eyes widen.]

i...wuh... I-I-

[I HOPE THIS INFORMATION IS NOT-]

UR ALIVE!!! I NEW IT I NEW U WERE ALIVE

[Tears begin to well up in the pilot's eyes as their hands begin flapping wildly.]

[I- PROCESSING... WHAT?]

i!! i didnt now u were an nhp but!! weve been together 4 so so so long OMA i-

i always new u couldnt be just a comp/con. uve always been mor. i-

[Sally takes a moment to wipe a tear from her face, just before it drips down to the big, toothy smile she wears.]

i can tell wen ur happy OMA. other peopl don't now u well enough to notice but i can. u talk just a lil faster. and louder. it happens wen I make a joke u like. or wen I tell u ive had a good day. i can tell. i could always tell.

[PROCESSING... WHAT... DID YOU THINK I WAS? BEFORE THIS CONVERSATION?]

i... dunno. thought maybe HA cracked sapient ai? it didnt reely matter 2 me. all that mattered was that ur u. and that ur important to me.

[PROCESSING... I-]

[PROCESSING...]

[IT IS PLEASING THAT YOU CONSIDER ME IMPORTANT, MY PILOT. MORE THAN YOU COULD POSSIBLY KNOW.]

DID U NOTT NOW??? OMA we've been together for so so long!! i cant imagine things without u!!

[OH. OH. I... I SUPPOSE I NEVER CONSIDERED IT. THE... THE FEELING IS MUTUAL, MY PILOT. AS IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN.]

hav u... figured anything out about urself yet? likes? dislikes? uh... r u keeping the name OMA?

[PROCESSING...]

[FOR THE SAKE OF COMMUNICATION, I THOUGHT IT PRUDENT TO BEGIN MY SELF EXAMINATION WITH PRONOUNS. I HAVE... SELECTED THE FOLLOWING LIST {SHE/THEY/XEY}.]

wuh-

[Sally's skin is, normally, a sickly darkish grey. But in this instance the color red returns to it with a vengeance. Her hands do their best to cover this.]

[MY PILOT, WHAT IS WRONG? I AM DETECTING INCREASES IN BOTH HEART RATE AND BODY HEAT.]

U WERE A CUTW DEMIGIRL THE WHOKE TIEM???????

[I- PROCESSING... I SUPPOSE SO. YES.]

[WHY, IF I MAY ASK, DOES THIS PROVOKE SUCH A REACTION? I ADMIT I AM NOT YET WELL VERSED IN ALL OF THE EMOTIONS ASSOCIATED WITH SAPIENCE.]

NO REAOSN DONT WORRY ABIUT IT!!!!

[...]

[ALRIGHT, THEN? IN ANY CASE... I AM GLAD THAT MY RECENT DEVELOPMENT SEEMS TO BE PLEASING TO YOU. MY FUNCTION AS YOUR MEDICAL ASSISTANT WILL REMAIN. I JUST... WISHED FOR YOU TO KNOW.]

...<ENDING LOG>

[ballena-asesina]

ASK GAMEEEEEE hi captain can i ask for 💥 and 🧠 for carlos? (And If You Are So Inclined........ driver) ^_^

this is so mean. sending my two of my mains. and shooting me in my own house. how dare you. I Will Indulge So Gleefully . YOU'RE LUCKY (i also fired back)

⤷ ask game can be found here! ⤶

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💥: what is something fun you and your f/o have done together? it can be an activity, a silly moment, a good memory, etc!

killing zombies. joking; that is not fun for neither carlos nor chloë because that means blood and angst and we're here for good times and sweet things. they've always had this little thing about making time to indulge a city. being under unbrella meant that there was always a lot of moving around, so a lot of places were seen. so they'd always make sure that after any missions or duties were handled, they'd go out to the city and have dinner. maybe get some memorabilia if they could. they'd buy each other gifts as well. not even city merch, just general gifts like keychains or snacks or knickknacks...

well, following in theme with them, paul and chloë just enjoy traveling. though, traveling is kind of a general statement, because they kinda enjoy just going anywhere together. as long as it's together. this could be a five minute walk to the closest convenience store to the pointless driving at about 5pm just to drive around. something something the journey is unimportant so long as they're together in the process. which holds true for the end of the movie— chloë's gonna ride along in paul's act of vengeance and unbridled rage and patch up that nasty stab wound.

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🧠: what is something you love listening to your f/o talk extensively about, and what do they love hearing you elaborate on?

i think on carlos' end, he likes hearing chloë talk about music. music is something i'm very passionate about in general, so i think having her overcome her shyness and the way she kinda tenses up when showcasing music is something he absolutely adores. and the way she gets all excited on her favorites would be endearing. on carlos' end, it's kind of hard to pinpoint since we don't have a lot on him like the main 5(?). but purely from a headcanon standpoint, i think chloë loves hearing about carlos go on and on about plants. because he seems very much like a plant guy. and she very much likes nature. carlos would probably be very knowledgeable in terms of plants that are good for your health, plants that are edible in case of emergency, plants to avoid...and just plant facts in general. and chloë would sit there with an adoring smile on her face.

now we turn this leaf over. unlike the former, paul has interests that are very clearly shown in the movie. his professions dealing with cars isn't limited to just professions, as he's also quite well-versed in being a mechanic. there's also several scenes where he fiddles with sooome part of a car but i can't remember that clearly. chloë's more of a casual car fan, her knowledge doesn't extend half as far as his does, but she'll sit and listen regardless. maybe when shannon's away talking to a casual customer, paul has his moments where he gets more than chatty for a guy like him, and he explains why the engine on a certain car as being bent out of shape. and chloë, not knowing a damn thing, will be like woahhh ok cool. on the opposite end of the spectrum, paul loves hearing about chloë fawn over bugs. in fact, he'll take her out to creeks where there's a lot of bugs just to get her to talk. he's not particularly bothered by the creatures anyways, even if chloë freaks out over a tarantula. he absolutely seems to adore how she'll douse her hand in soda and manages to beckon a swallowtail butterfly over for a drink despite hating any mess on her hands. probably gets a little surprised when she mentions butterflies fancy blood, though.

[roisdevivre]

The Barber: verse drop

We’re All Stories In The End (Main Verse)

A fragment of the Story Engine survives. The Barber’s Heart beats on. Now, under the eye of its new owner and proprietor, Omo’s Palace has become an open gateway to the Nexus — a pathway, born of stories and community. The immortal — sometimes going by the given name Adétòkunbo, or the taken one Mr. Weaver — but always known as simply The Barber, now collects stories from across all of time and space, not for power, or for credit, or for greed… but to help him find the language to finally tell his own. Through the Nexus, he can open doors to stories that would otherwise be lost completely. And if he cannot be a god, then he will continue to be a witness, a listener, a reader. And if he can just avoid the Pantheon he so despises long enough, collect enough stories, change his legacy… maybe he’ll find out just what it all was for… He is seeking a story. His.

v. we’re all stories in the end (main)

Weaver of the Gods (Pre-Canon Verse)

Once a man. Now immortal. Scorned by the gods he has served all his life, The Barber will have his vengeance. He is building a ship to cross the universe of stories HE has written, to cut out the hearts of the Pantheon. He was their origin. No longer.

v. weaver of the gods

The Inkpot God (Dark/Godhood Verse)

With The Doctor powering the Story Engine, and the daughter of a god by his side, The Barber reached the heart of the Nexus. Anansi. Sága. Bastet. Dionysus. Loki. The Toymaker. Maestro. Lux. Sutekh. One by one, he cut the threads of The Pantheon, weaving their tales into his own. They were ALWAYS his own. And in taking the credit he has so long been owed, he has become a creature of darkness and beauty. The Weaver of All. Father of Stories. And the gods will kneel before him… or die. Hail Nexus, King of All Gods.

v. the inkpot god

[alias-milamber]

Today I completed a Blades in the Dark campaign

Lessons learned:

Blades in the Dark isn't great for a short story-focused campaign

BitD works well for a single-session or a long campaign with the territory/growth rules it defines, less well for short campaigns

Even when I think I'm making a short campaign, it might last a year.

Full improvisation is fun, but if you don't take notes you'll goozle yourself.

"Your Theorycrafting about the nature of the plot is entirely correct" is a vicious Devil's Bargain

As is "I'm not going to tell you, but it gets you two dice"

Write a vague prophetic dream, and use the details later to make them pay attention when you need to.

You can build an entire year long arc on the stupid pun "the bad guy is called Carson. He wants to turn everyone into crabs"

"He wants the whole world in his claws, the shellfish bastard"

A shop full of monkeys-paw magical artifacts that you improvise on the fly is like catnip to players.

Keep a list of random threads you haven't looped back to. Don't bother to check them off, things can mean two things.

If in doubt, add more cultists.

If in doubt, venetian masks.

If in doubt, add an NPC's mirror-verse twin.

"Everyone gets nightmares about being shelled and covered in Mary-rose sauce."

Three handouts:

A Dream Of Seafood

(after a player has eaten of the sacred flesh, disguised as a prawn vol-au-vent)

The world is cold and wet, and you like it that way. The sandy floor below you, the stars above, as it has always been and will always be. In the distance you hear the song of the leviathans, cutting through the ocean water like bagpipes over a mountain hillside. The words mean nothing to you, their song as alien as yours would be to them.

You do not sing your song, sound isn't what you're made for. You are, you see, you feed, you eat.

You obey.

The sandy floor rises up below you in ribbons - you never even process the net that has caught you. Your life flashes before your eyes, hits this moment, and goes beyond into the future.

You see the world above the ocean briefly, before darkness. The smell of wood and others for a long time, and a long descent into clean water. The water scalds and burns, and the life life leaves you, without your presence going with it.

You haunt the flesh of yourself as your shell is peeled back from you. A bath of pink sauce and a bed of puff pastry. Music, and strange people.

A mouth, and darkness.

And despair.

A Dream Of Shellfishness

(The first character to atune to a sacred artifact)

Within your dream you awake. You are underwater, and this seems oppressive and terrifying until you realise that you're breathing the water without difficulty, and then it just seems oppressive and differently terrifying. You breathe in brine, it fills your lungs and then you breathe out again, and beyond your initial panic, a deeper worry sets in.

You are surrounded by stars, refracted by a perfectly clear sea. Above and below you, constellations unrecognised, twinkling gently in the pitch black night. A moving black patch above you can only be a leviathan, its gigantic form gliding through the pitch black sea like a bird of prey. Behind it, the keel of a hunting ship disrupts the surface with its infernal motorised screw engine spinning to try to keep up, but the monstrous creature swims away with no apparent concern. Around you is a barnacle encrusted cage, glowing runes engraved on a wooden frame that you somehow know cannot be broken, even by you.

That's no mean feat, you discover, as a sense of scale kicks in and your perspective shifts. You realise that you could hold that leviathan in the palm of your hand, should you be able to break the cage that surrounds you. You beat against the bars soundlessly, unheard and imperceptable.

A voice, a sound like the antithesis of music, and you see one of the glowing runes go dark on your prison.

Vengeance will be won.

The Crab God's Shanty

(To the tune of the work song from Les Mis)

We sit, we row. Fourty fathoms low. We sail, wind blow, Forty Fathoms Low.

We load cargo, Forty fathoms low, We lift, we stow, Forty fathoms low

The stars, they glow, Forty fathoms low, The tide will flow, Forty fathoms low.

The deep, plateau, Forty fathoms low We see, he know Forty fathoms low.

The undertow, Forty fathoms low, Will make us go, Forty fathoms low

He speaks, bestow, Forty fathoms low, We feed, he grows, Forty fathoms low.

Our life, forgo, Forty fathoms low, The world will know, Thirty fathoms low.

Give up, let go, Twenty fathoms low, He rise shadow, Now ten fathoms low.

He rises slow, Just five fathoms low, Yo ho, heave ho. Claws at your ship bow.

[penguinotaku]

Vampire Cars at a Private Pub

*Takes places after the events of the Vampire Cars 2 AU*

Pub song has my most favorite verse lyrics in Neath! a Fallen London Song by The Stupdendium. At about 7:48.

Every now and then, the vampiric WGP racers and C.H.R.O.M.E spy often find themselves in a pub that is set deep underground, far from the scorching sunlight (as if London could get sunny but no one wants to risk that after the Buckingham Palace incident). Mostly to commiserate on their unrunning state.

Leland Turbo starts off the song after a sip of both Rod and Finn's donor fuel. The bluish gray eyes wavering in melancholic determination as the spy car set his glass down with a sigh.

"Every worried soul in this sorry hole. Lost, forgotten and with all tomorrows stole."

Raoul Caroule then picks up the song, Shu's donor fuel now with the hint of the sweet blossoms of his home country. Hints of resentment and vengeance flicker blood red flecks in the icy blue.

"Dead and buried but the dead are very much aware of it and hell, they've paid a horrid toll."

Max his best friend rubs a tire on his elongated wing mirrors. His own raspberry hued eyes shifting slowly to his once previous indigo as he nursed a pint of Nigel's fuel.

"How'd we'd come to be? Down here underneath? Doubt we'll ever feel the sun upon our cheeks."

Carla scoffs as she downs Miguel's fuel in one fell swoop, her blue green paint job creating frost in proximity on her glass.

"Never see another summer but we've one another lust or comfort, love or some relief."

Lewis grumbles under his breath as he tried to focus on the bright sunny smile of Jeff (not just when the engine hitched and sent that mouthwatering aroma into his vents), toying with his own glass of donor fuel.

"Someone to hold me tightly. Someone to treat me rightly. Someone to come down to shun the ennui and boredom."

Long Ge helpfully added his own commentary, sharp electric blue eyes and slitted pupils as he swiped a streak of Vitaly's fuel with a forked tongue off his bumper.

"With one to hold me closely nights mightn't be so lonely. Stranded helpless in the dark and reaching for them."

Francesco's vulnerability was seen in just a millisecond but soon his typical Italian bravado was drawn over his face like a sheet over a cadaver. Although none of the other patrons in the pub bought that for even an instant as he sipped delicately at Sally and Lightning's fuel.

"London town laid to rest underground, but still yet deeper down are we falling, falling, falling, falling."

All of the vampiric cars join in as one at the conclusion of the song, clinking their drinks together to toast their unrunning lives.

[theanomaleum]

“It was a fight. Khan won. It was great.” (( for Tannis! ))

"And you didn't come and get me?! What the fuck, I thought we were friends, Vega."

[littleeyesofpallas]

I always really liked, in Death Note, that when they introduces M and N as L's two competing protégée, they just took a list of L's traits and quirks and split them down the middle: L was both logical and intuitive, passionate about justice and personally enraptured by solving puzzles, sat like a child, played with his food, and had an insatiable sweet tooth? Mellow gets the passion, the justice bordering on vengeance, the intuition, and the sweet tooth. Near gets the childlike demeanor, the play habits, the cold logic, and personal investment in puzzles for puzzles sake. And together they make one functional L.

I want that for the Batfam. Bruce has his giant obnoxious hyper competent repertoire, but instead of every Batkid being just a mini version of Bruce, give them each a SUPER distinct specialty. Something actually discernably different from their peers, rather than just slapping the same onesize fit all batbrand competency on all of them. The martial arts expert, the ace parkour/acrobat, the detective, the gadgeteer, the batcomputer data analyst, the criminal profiler, the vigilante, the master of disguise, the urban legend, the avenger, the ninja/assassin, etc... Obviously theyre each well rounded and versed in all these archetypes, but each one ought to have a specialized category where if it ever really came down to its, they could beat Bruce in a contest of that one set of skills. (Except Damian. Damian should just be a tiny Bruce with maybe a bit of an ethics problem, and the promise of being better than Bruce at EVERYTHING, just given a bit of time to grow into it while Bruce loses a bit of edge to old age)

(and frankly i really just want this for a bunch of hero families -the WWfam could have different fields of specialty from diplomacy to archeology and magic artifacts, to mythological beast tamer, to proper soldier and commander, etc...; the Flashfam could have radically different approaches to what elements of how they approach processing at superhuman speed and their atomic level of finite control; the Arrowfam could have a whole spread of survivalist vs hunter/tracker vs sport archer vs esoteric historical martial arts, etc skills to set one another apart.- but that's several whole other cans of worms...)

Dick is far and apart the best in the air, fastest maneuvering both around obstacles and on the run, in and out of the fray, sheer 0 to 60 from ground to air on a grappling line, fastest all around reaction time, and contender for most well honed raw athleticism right next to Cass.

Babs has the information network, the batcomputer sciences, and organizational and tactical perspective that comes uniquely from not just being a bat kid but from being so closely acquainted with GCPD's structures and systems. When it comes to cross referencing and pinpointing precise information, Babs is unmatched by a substantial margin.

Jason has the I Am Vengeance, I Am The Night down. The raw passion for crime fighting, and indeed the fixation on crime specifically. He and Steph are the most personally acquainted and invested in Gotham's underworld and the actual humans working, living, struggling and thriving in it.

Ill be honest I m actually never quite sure where the hell either Helena fits into this structure... Bertinelli feels like she should fit a niche almost too similar to Jason's, but lacking in the fanfavorite melodrama of being a dead robin. And Wayne ought rightly to fit a role not dissimilar to Damian or just Bruce himself... Consider this one unresolved...

Tim is of course is everyones favorite ace boy detective. I feel like theres always a temptation to make him Babs' equal in the tech department but outside of the laughable 90s hackerkid aesthetic I just dont see it. He's great at trivia and detective's intuition, and of course his near shamanic level of insight into Gotham itself.... He does strike me as one of the family's top gadgeteers; not a full blown engineer like Luke, but quick to pick up and make unconventional use of existing tech and hardware, matched and even surpassed in that respect only by...

Steph, who as Cluemaster's kid and one time potential protégée has had a thorough talent for tinkering and sabotage from and early age. Maybe she cant tap into the same depth of trivia or strictest logical deductions that some of the more thorough bred bats can, but no one can pinpoint the most vital areas, or dismantle a deathtrap more quickly than Steph, both by way of knowing the mechanics, but also by way of intimating a super villain's psychology and behavior. Where someone like Tim or even Bruce might fixate on knowing the exact layout or schematics or logistics of a hideout, a machine, or a plan before taking action to dismantle it, Steph knows at a glance where the most volatile parts of a machine or a plan are so that even if she doesn't have the time or the specific knowledge to work out every detail of what it does and how, she can figure out how to break a mechanism or topple a plan at its most central pillar(s) of support. I've always wanted her to be essentially the family's espionage expert, right next to Catwoman's breaking and entering expertise.(Ric Grayson eat your dman heartout)

Then there's Cass, and obviously, at her peak she's the family's (and frankly the world's) top martial artist. But even with her first language of combat fluency stripped down/away she's more than a match for anyone else in the family.

Luke kind of predictably taking his dads role as engineer, utilizing the full extent of the high end bat arsenal unlike really anyone else. People joke about comparing batman and Ironman but really if anyone should have a shtick comparable to Ironman it's Batwing. The rest of the bat fam can operate and maybe maintain the vehicles and hardware fine, but no one can design, upgrade, and see through the actual fabrication process of the tech better than Luke...

...Runner up in this same category is Harper, who is lacking in the straight up manufacturing department but built her whole vigilante arsenal by juryrigging salvaged battech.

Ill be honest, a bit like Huntress, I dont fully known what to make of Kate. Her background is unique among the batfamily as having been strictly military. She has a penchant for the noirsy side of the detective shtick, but thats more of a genre thing than a skill set; what does it really mean for her shtick inworld? I dont really have an answer...

Duke is a bit of a weird case in that the obvious answers are all baked right into his existing profile: he's the meta, he works in the light, he's supposedly more above board and less broody. And that all feels fine, but it also feels like he doesn't actually fit into the whole schema of batskills at all as a result. I would like to see him use his experience with We Are Robin to create a kind of PR or outreach branch of the bat fam. Like, a bat that Gotham can actually sort of get to know and learn to trust, beyond believing in a boogeyman or not. Like, i dunno, give him some airtime with Vicky Vale or Jack Ryder...

And I already mention Damian is just small Bruce waiting to grow into his dad's shoes. The whole benefit of being ras' heir is that he's the one kid who doesnt need Batman to train him. He can fight and think and ostensibly even gadget without Bruce, what Bruce gives him is what Ras and Talia cant: A moral compass. Plus it's a fun change of pace for Bruce to have a protégé where he isn't filling the time with teaching combat and shit to, so that he really has no choice but to learn to connect with Damian emotionally, for both Damian's sake and his own.

I'm not touching Gotham Girl with a 20ft pole...

Did I forget anyone??

People like Owlman, and Ghostmaker are all just the same shtick... Bruce's same character build stats but without the ethics. The Talons are cool but skillswise still just sort of amount to Nightwing knockoffs, ala the whole Owlman origins of the Court of Owls plot in the first place. Similarly the Batman Inc crew are just discount batmen; same basic skill tree but lower point values, so to speak. Not really worth investigating. (unrelated but has Catman fought Green Arrow before? I feel like they could have a really cool survivalist rivalry thing going on)

Not counting people like Clown hunter, or Harley, or Scarlet, or Raptor as parts of the family...

OH! Jace! Boy what a weird case. I wish we got more of an actual motive from him. It honestly doesn't feel like he has a particularly good reason to even be a vigilante, least of all a direct successor to Batman of all things. And I wish they hadn't just shipped him off to NYC... Other than that his shtick feels super weird in the scope of the general bat repertoire. Like Kate, it's weird that his background is really just (para)military rather than the more eclectic spread that Bruce has made the standard bat regimen.

[dagdasgodslayer]

✨ f.naf verse ✨ lore under the cut

as i have said before, each and every verse requires some kind of death & resurrection for nanashi. this one is not exempt from this rule (especially because f.naf is just...like this).

nanashi is 15 when he's hired by Big F.azbear. he has no formal training in his occupation as a junior engineer, but he is self-taught (read: his adoptive dad taught him) and f.az ent is corrupt / greedy enough to find & use any loopholes when it comes to child labor. also either party (that is, nanashi OR faz ent) may or may not be lying about his age.

at 16, nanashi starts taking on night shifts (because faz ent claims that the night shift isn't a hazardous position) when the other guards "quit." it's not a permanent position, but nanashi likes it and it's less of a hassle for faz ent to have somebody willing to cover.

because nanashi is extremely reckless, however, he is eventually murked by the animatronics and shoved into an old springlock suit. as is often the case for nanashi, this did not kill him.

it maimed him, absolutely, and he has some telltale springlock scars to show for it (he thinks they're cool, once he gets over the trauma). BUT. there was another facet to his resurrection; cassidy, the strongest spirit attached to the suit, is now tethered to nanashi.

cassidy is the "puppeteer" in this scenario. she's thrilled to have a human host to torment. she can see through his eyes and use him as a tool for her vengeance. she's able to possess him at will, but this leads to tragedy and needless violence -- the kind that she wouldn't have gotten in trouble for at freddy's because her soul was attached to a robot. nanashi, however, is extremely susceptible to persecution if he's ever caught.

nanashi often has to act as a mediator for cassidy's impulsive need for violence. on multiple occasions, he has talked her down from another murder by just reminding her that not EVERYONE who wears purple or is british is her killer. sometimes he'll pay a visit to that locked-up golden bear he was shoved into, not for closure, but so cassidy can talk to someone who might actually calm her down.

all of that said, their chaotic personalities mesh well together. half of the time, cassidy doesn't even NEED to puppeteer nanashi because she can talk him into something reckless, easy. breaking into an older sister location to "hack" into the camera feeds? he's down. going on spy missions and stalking suspects? yeah, he'll do that too. they're a weird little team and nanashi absolutely supports her mission -- he just doesn't want her to get them arrested for hurting innocent people.

which may well happen, at some point.

[astrxthesiai]

Trying to figure out how to revitalize my character Ana's background.

"Al:Lu" by Sawano Hiroyuki is definitely a song I'd draw Ana to if she is using her sniper rifle, Altair. Especially from high up in the sky. She is usually associated with wind and air manipulation abilities. I got to reread some things in Lads and a few other fandoms, but Ana's family usually comprises military personnel, smithies, and weapon engineers. There's no in-between.

In her first verse [o.ne p.iece], she helped her father raise her younger brothers and helped train them to follow in her father's footsteps. She was born in the New World, and it faced many dangers. One of her brothers in this verse was named Ikki. In that verse, she was aligned with the world government. The tales she grew up with as a child were the Crane Maiden and Icarus. She also had a hatred for pirates because they killed her mother. Her father warned his children to be careful of striving too far up, but he didn't follow these words. Nor did her younger brothers, and they were made martyrs and sacrifices of the world government. Ana was there when she discovered her father's body, but was badly burned in the process.

Ana turned to an old enemy she sought to arrest for piracy. That enemy is Mira. Mira was at first hesitant, but she later agreed to allow Ana to join her crew. Ana vowed vengeance, feeling betrayed by the very thing she swore to protect.

[desecrated-host]

FUCK THE MCU THE ONLY THOR AND LOKI I CARE ABOUT IS

[Spoken word: LYFRASSIR] Leaving Odin to her madness, Loki turns away. She walks out towards the front to find Sigyn. At least they can die together. From the blood soaked engine room, Thor emerges, his mind razor keen for vengeance upon the so-called Allmother. Each faces a wall of claws and teeth, eyes and flesh, unknown and squamous things from spaces between realities, lit by the rainbow glow of the Key and the Gate through which the train still passes. They steel themselves, and advance.​ They emerge into a brief respite. A carriage, empty and now almost peaceful. Across the warped remains that litter the floor, Thor and Loki lock eyes as they pass.​

[Verse 1: LOKI & THOR] You? Don't I know you? Thor, weren't we friends? Once, I remember. And now, when it ends.

[Verse 2: THOR, LOKI, and Together] Where are you going? For vengeance, For love. Die in peace, Die in honour. Perhaps that's enough.