#we can only theorize that it organizes the brain and help with memory and learning and simulating events etc.

[mayomkun]

In the Sandman, since Dream 'came into existence once lifeforms capable of dreaming appeared in the universe', I wonder what that lifeform is and what did it dream of. Like what is the first dream in the universe about.

[arthurtristankingsmen]

More and longer theory chatter with @flash-the-geist with guest stars who popped in. This one is longer since it’s theorizing but turned into something Flash affectionately named the ‘Esprestissimo AU’ which I am keeping because I love it so much.

Most of this mainly features Duet thoughts and then shenanigans ! The most I did was add a missing thing in my own comments for clarification or that my brain skipped over when typing it before, or where I adjust the order of the messages for cohesiveness

please enjoy jdjd

flaaaash — Today at 4:35 AM

hmmm what if the note-taker is Duet, taking notes about "Solo"? that implies they're two different people

Arthur — Today at 4:36 AM

that's what i was thinking-- that the ‘He’ in the note is reverb, and this note is in reference to reverb, but also a comment on Solo, and the Duet 'wrote' this character profile as like-- a case file if they're in charge of the organization

so duet is like 'solo' claims she still needs to study him for research in a note on the file he's taking on reverb or something like that

flaaaash — Today at 4:37 AM

this might be my deep, unfortunate familiarity with bureaucracy talking, but- if the person in charge is also the one taking notes, it's a very small organization

Arthur — Today at 4:37 AM

oh yeah

i imagined it was tiny personally

tempo seems on the smaller side so if it's all based there, i was imagining it was relatively small

flaaaash — Today at 4:38 AM

not international then, perhaps

adkjfakjf oooh now I want to make a little card for Flash

Arthur — Today at 4:39 AM

yeah no-- at least since the name tempo of the town following the motif like seemingly implies it's based in/related to the town since if follows the reference style

or that's my thinking anyways?

flaaaash — Today at 4:39 AM

very true

imagine if Tempo is just Like That and the rest of the world is totally normal

Arthur — Today at 4:40 AM

i personally think vivi didn't grow up in tempo now more tho-- because i think if she did and there is an organization, they woulda gotten wind of her and she probably would've been recruited since she's smart and clearly into that kind of thing

and if she was in the org and knew what she was doing, i don't know if she would've gone to the cave if she was at all in the Know 

flaaaash — Today at 4:40 AM

or they would have tried to study Mystery?

Arthur — Today at 4:41 AM

that too!!

even if they brought her in just because of mystery i imagine they would've brought her in

flaaaash — Today at 4:41 AM

maybe that's what the "her research into "REDACTED" is referring to. Research into mystery?

it all does seem to come back to him

Arthur — Today at 4:42 AM

or maybe she's relatively new to tempo still, and duet gave her a job because they intended to bring her in at some point but hadn't yet

like there were steps to take and like-- the cave happened before things could get fully underway

i mean at my job i applied in like-- march, and i didn't get an interview until may, and then i didn't get any training until november, and then i didn't get brought in to learn the job until december. so it'd be easy to imagine that if there was a reason, bringing her in could be a slow process 

flaaaash — Today at 4:43 AM

that might also explain why there were all these "go back" signs in the cave

clearly someone with English language skills put the signage there

Arthur — Today at 4:43 AM

that too! it definitely felt like it was to warn off people and keep them from tresspassing

but the gang were kids and also ghost don't haunt the places that aren't super scary and dangerous! so of course they gotta go in!

flaaaash — Today at 4:45 AM

maybe they weren't expecting someone like Vivi at all

she was a wild card that popped up and threw a spanner in the works accidentally

Arthur — Today at 4:45 AM

yeah!

i can imagine her just coming in and completely bamboozling everyone

duet is like 'okay we'll get her in on this but we'll take some time to sort everything and judge where she's at skill wise since we have time and it's not like she can get into any danger with all our protective me--oh no'

flaaaash — Today at 4:48 AM

that calls Duet's motivation into question a lil bc - there's at least a significant amount of time between Lewis dying and them finding him again

since their search is reasonably extensive and Arthur's had time to heal up. So why didn't Duet do anything during this time?

Arthur — Today at 4:50 AM

hmmmm--- well we know it's been less than a year since the cave happened at least, and i think the way Ben talked about it  sounded like it was a relatively short time table of only a few months, so maybe they wanted to give them recovery time or they weren't sure how to broach it-- i'm not sure. maybe the comic will give some kind of insight hopefully if the case is that vivi came in like that

i feel like it'd be interesting and make more sense given what she has available magic wise and mystery-wise if she wasn't in town until much later in life to explain why she wouldn’t already be working with the organization. but i'm still like hmm

because you do have a point that there would be a fair bit of inaction, unless for some reason vivi's memory issues or something was a problem or something happens in the prequel to explain or hint

tho now that brings into question if duet knows Lewis is dead, how are things not being managed better

i mean i've had arthur say in the past and i've said once or twice that like-- i think arthur was already working with prosthetics. so he could've had an arm mostly built and just had to make a more functioning one so that could've been fast. so hopefully maybe the prequel comic is set a bit before and might explain duet helping or something in a way that could make sense of it?

especially given he did make galaham's wheels already and such. he might've already built one but needed to make a new one set up for him

flaaaash — Today at 4:54 AM

I'm fairly sure people would at least know he's missing

I guess it's possible that the 'memory magic' thing that makes Vivi forget - it could affect everyone except Arthur and Mystery?

Arthur — Today at 4:56 AM

that's possible--

we have only seen mystery and arthur in the world seeming to know what's going on, so we don't know who knows what. just that vivi doesn't know lewis

but maybe nobody else does either to some degree

flaaaash — Today at 4:56 AM

Arthur being possessed at the time, and Mystery being a magical being himself. We don't have any evidence that anyone else remembers Lewis, although he seems to still be in pictures

Arthur — Today at 4:57 AM

people did seem confused arthur was freaking out in the store in the comic and like

idk. if i knew he lost his best friend i'd be more sympathetic/not look at him like he was crazy. I’d assume something set him off but probably feel bad for him if i knew what happened in the last year?

because i would imagine mental health is in the toilet after going on a trip and losing a friend even if he was only 'missing'

and the way arthur mentioned lewis and when vivi forgets he's just like 'nevermind'. if no one really remembers Lewis, then maybe giving up trying to explain is because he’s used to no one knowing who he means

flaaaash — Today at 4:58 AM

yea h

Arthur — Today at 4:58 AM

what if arthur only remembers lewis? (and mystery does)

Don't forget to take your meds ❤ — Today at 4:58 AM

In fairness most people would be confused if they saw someone having a panic attack in public, no matter how much was known about the person

flaaaash — Today at 4:58 AM

also if Lewis looked like himself for a moment just before dropping Arthur - does that mean Lance saw him?

or did he only see skele-version and thus didn't recognize him as Lewis

Arthur — Today at 4:58 AM

hmmmmm--- i lean to skele vision. he turned back pretty quick iirc

flaaaash — Today at 4:59 AM

I'm torn between analysing between a storyteller perspective and an in-world perspective

Arthur — Today at 5:01 AM

por que no los dos?

also

hmmm-- i think given people were like 'what's up with that guy', it seemed either not knowing what was going on with him or what it could stem from, but if lewis disappeared in a small town i feel like a lot of the details would've spread. so they might assume it had to do with that instead-- so it feels like maybe most people don't know

which seems strange in a smaller community because stuff gets around

flaaaash — Today at 5:01 AM

especially since the Peppers own a restaurant

Arthur — Today at 5:01 AM

yeah-- in a small town place a restuarant is usually a social hub of sorts

so if lewis disppeared i'm sure people would talk given he was a waiter and thus kind of a face for the restaurant

flaaaash — Today at 5:02 AM

also if they think he's missing and not dead, his family would be looking for him too. which means missing persons pics and all that

Arthur — Today at 5:02 AM

yeah and we didn’t see any. and some people not knowing or visitors i could get, but everyone seemed surprised by arthur freaking out, and if they knew lewis was missing and lewis and arthur were friends, it feels odd to like-- none of them to even look sympathetic

i would imagine if they knew lewis was gone they'd assume arthur would be more emotionally reactive than usual-- unless they have no idea that something is going on with arthur because you know-- lewis is erased jdjd

i mean the reason we know vivi doesn't remember is because her eyes glowed as lewis got phased out of the photo

but who knows maybe him being phased out was in general and that just meant she was affected too. everyone gets amnesia

flaaaash — Today at 5:03 AM

also slightly cracky theory but - if they ended up accidentally in the research facility during Ghost, that would explain why Vivi found a fully-stocked fridge alkja;gl

Arthur — Today at 5:04 AM

DSJDDLJSDLFJDSJL

that would be hilarious

lewis is his own scp in his tantrum mansion

they just keep an eye on the lot

flaaaash — Today at 5:05 AM

well what else are they gonna do with him??? xD

Arthur — Today at 5:05 AM

dslsdjdsfljdsfd

''welp no one knows who this guy is soooooo manor in the middle of nowhere time'

flaaaash — Today at 5:06 AM

"so the waiter turned into a vengeful spirit?" "oh uhhhh ok put him in a box i guess until we figure something out?"

ok theory- Duet knows Lewis is dead, but is trying to figure out a way to help/break the memory magic on Vivi, and that's why he's in the mansion/cave for a while before Ghost?

Arthur — Today at 5:06 AM

i like it! i think them knowing and approaching arthur in the comic and using 'rancid vibes' as an excuse would make sense

flaaaash — Today at 5:07 AM

"so that Vivi person wandered in again somehow and now the vengeful waiter ghost is loose?" "for fuck's sake you had ONE JOB-"

Arthur — Today at 5:07 AM

they know what's actually going on but they kinda act like everyone else while also getting arthur something that might help him in that book that i think will be important in the plot of the prequel

DL;G;HDGSAL;HKGSDHL;DGS

flash you have the biggest brain

 flaaaash — Today at 5:08 AM

,kadjgalgkj

"also there was this killer tree-" "I do not care about the tree, one problem at a time"

Poor Duet is having A Week

but the mental image of them trying to avoid Arthur and Vivi investigating, while trying to find ??? and re-capture him while shoving Lewis in a box is hilarious, and then they run into Shiromori and just throw their hands in the air like "can u not????". And then Murder Mystery shows up and they just quit

Arthur — Today at 5:10 AM

dlaajldkljjdl;dldjlfkfd

duet is just like

on their tenth cup of coffee

Don't forget to take your meds ❤ — Today at 5:10 AM

Arthur: Those are rookie numbers

Arthur — Today at 5:11 AM

they see murder mystery and go back inside the shop like 'can you add like 5 espresso shots to this'

flaaaash — Today at 5:11 AM

explains why they're like "Arthur pls your vibes. Do you KNOW what I've been dealing with"

Arthur — Today at 5:11 AM

asdl;;dfslhsdahg;as;dghkghsdllhsgd

flaaaash — Today at 5:11 AM

"five extra shots and a red bull chaser please-"

Arthur — Today at 5:12 AM

(also just still crosses my fingers for medium/spiritually-sensitive!arthur to be canon but if not it will live on in my fannon)

dsldjllssfdf

they just start shoving coffee grounds directly into their mouth

flaaaash — Today at 5:12 AM

this series has a lot of antagonists

akjdalgj just crunching beans down whole

Arthur — Today at 5:13 AM

i need-- to draw duet

looking tired with a coffee

flaaaash — Today at 5:14 AM

Duet with a giant cup of coffee, staring at Murder Mystery with a deadpan stare and going "Absolutely not, I forbid it, there is not enough coffee in the WORLD."

Arthur — Today at 5:14 AM

flash and will if i share this chatter on tumblr would you be okay with it ? or would u rather i block out names if i do

i feel like some of this is hilarious and people need to experience it

flaaaash — Today at 5:14 AM

akdflaf no go for it

I will out myself as a sham of a storyboarder

Arthur — Today at 5:15 AM

duet is that gif of the ghost busters lady going 'mmm nope not today, room full of nightmares'

and turning and walking away

duet is doing their best and needs a nap

tired as Arthur

flaaaash — Today at 5:15 AM

Duet walking around the corner to see the gang facing down Murder Mystery: swivels on one foot and goes right back the way they came

Arthur — Today at 5:15 AM

ldjldljd EXACTLY

Don't forget to take your meds ❤ — Today at 5:16 AM

Heheheheh

Arthur — Today at 5:16 AM

like look at this person

look at their eyebags

they are Tired

they have deal with this bullshittery

they have sass to provide

but they also are Tired and done with this shit

flaaaash — Today at 5:16 AM

I want Duet and Arthur playing a game of caffeine chicken

Marshy — Today at 5:16 AM

Huge massive sigh as they see the whole bullshit situation go down and turns around to go back to the bookshop

flaaaash — Today at 5:16 AM

just lined up at the cafe bar, espresso shots in rows down the counter as they lock eyes-

who shall win- the CAFFEINE-OFF?

Arthur — Today at 5:17 AM

flash

pls if you right that i will pay you money

or maybe art

Marshy — Today at 5:17 AM

It's me I'll win

flaaaash — Today at 5:17 AM

SLFKJLKGS

Arthur — Today at 5:17 AM

dlasd;sdgkd;djslj;dags

i'm rooting for you take those nerds OUT

flaaaash — Today at 5:18 AM

"Duet gives him a look of Supreme Weariness and Nopery. Arthur counters with a double eye-roll of Resignation and Angst. In the true synchronicity of the Absolutely Done, they each take an espresso shot and slam it down."

Arthur — Today at 5:20 AM

djdasd;ds;lsda;ldj;lkdsl;jkdsj;lkasljkdjlkdg

they clink the little cups together first before taking their respective shots

flaaaash — Today at 5:21 AM

they do the thing where they turn it upside down to prove it's empty

by the fifth they're trying to outcompete each other with anecdotes

by the tenth they've moved onto toasting each other

Arthur — Today at 5:21 AM

Bonding!

Don't forget to take your meds ❤ — Today at 5:22 AM

The anecdotes get concerningly similar to each others

flaaaash — Today at 5:22 AM

by the twelfth, Arthur begins weeping. Duet pats him in solidarity and knocks the next shot clean off the counter due to caffeine-induced twitching

Arthur — Today at 5:22 AM

DSGLAHGLDGHDGHAAHDSGDG

EXCELLENT

i

want them to be friends now

flaaaash — Today at 5:23 AM

by the thirteenth, the barista stages an intervention and starts giving them decaf

by this point, they don't notice 

Arthur — Today at 5:23 AM

asdlaadjsdsajd

thank you they owe you their life

they could taste the difference if they weren't vibrating into the 28the dimension atm

flaaaash — Today at 5:24 AM

after the fifteenth shot, the counter is clear and they're both full of sympathetic outrage for the other's plight. They sprint from the cafe, steamroll right over Shiromori, and punt the colours right out of Murder Mystery in a fit of industrial-strength caffeinated indignance.

Don't forget to take your meds ❤ — Today at 5:24 AM

Hahahaha

Arthur — Today at 5:25 AM

h;lsadlf;dsldj;fsljl;dfsajdfsa

flaaaash — Today at 5:25 AM

The newly Monochromatic Mystery has to then help Vivi contain the pair before they wipe all paranormal activity off the face of Tempo.

Arthur — Today at 5:25 AM

that's how the fifth video ends

flaaaash — Today at 5:25 AM

Lewis narrowly escapes by hiding in a box. THE END

Arthur — Today at 5:25 AM

dsal;gsdhldgsa;dgsdgs;hldgs;lhdsa

beautiful thank u flash

i owe you my life

flaaaash — Today at 5:25 AM

you're welcome it's my magnum opus

Arthur — Today at 5:26 AM

A+ story telling

i'm including it in the post

flaaaash — Today at 5:26 AM

ALKJGAGK

it's okay I don't have a reputation to ruin xD

Arthur — Today at 5:26 AM

dlasdl;dhsgldgdgs

this is a callout for flash being the funniest person alive--

or undead

flaaaash — Today at 5:27 AM

dead-

sfkjga

l

Arthur — Today at 5:27 AM

djdjdjdj

i thought about it and corrected myself xDD

flaaaash — Today at 5:30 AM

ok I have no idea if anyone will get this pun, but I dub this the Esprestissimo AU

Arthur — Today at 5:36 AM

djalsd;ldsjdsjldf

i LOVE THAT

music puns but espressos EXTRA ESPRESSOLY

flaaaash — Today at 5:49 AM

xD

[af-answers]

All Hallow’s Eve

(DISCLAIMER: We’re going way off the canon path here, kiddos.)

Orion hadn’t heard from Artemis in weeks. He wanted to be thrilled, but he knew better than to trust himself. He wondered if he’d ever be fully at ease in his own head, or how long it would be before the little worm of guilt allowed him to call the head his own. He sat on a window ledge outside the Great Hall at early morning, waiting for his friends and thinking. He found it less and less pleasant to have time to himself lately: the longer he was alone and the longer he thought, the more he found gaps in his memory, gaps only his Other Half had access to. The day before he’d needed the colors of the rainbow for a spell and found he couldn’t remember them. His classmates had a jolly laugh at his expense when Snape made him memorize a song of colors, then sing it aloud for the class.

“Oi, Orion!” Ron called, pulling the Slytherin from the sill and out of his thoughts. “We thought we’d get here before you for a change.”

“Have you been sleeping well?” Harry asked, clapping a hand on Orion’s shoulder as they strode toward the monumental double doors.

Orion pursed his lips. “I’ve been sleeping, but not resting, you know?”

“Yeah, I can relate,” Harry said with a sad smile.

Orion had learned a lot about Harry in the last weeks, specifically the three Gryffindors’ annual exploits and the possible return of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

He’s a regular King Arthur, Orion thought. A boy with a great destiny. He wished he could tell his friends about his own adventures, but even he knew raving about other dimensions and fairies with time-stop technology and demons living on the moon would result in a one-way ticket to the loony bin.

The four children walked towards the closed doors of the Hall without breaking stride and the doors swung open on their hinges without being touched: though today, they did so with an unearthly groan. Orion jumped, and his friends grinned.

“I love Halloween,” Hermione said, stretching her arms over her head.

Black candles floated in clusters above the tables in the Great Hall, their wax surprisingly not dripping on the bright orange tablecloths below. The rafters were swathed in giant, real cobwebs, and a giant jack-o-lantern loomed in the middle of the ceiling, leering at the students as they entered.

Orion grinned back, his initial skittishness forgotten. He’d never had a real Halloween. Artemis wasn’t one for the season.

The children were feasting on caramel apples, spiced oatmeal, and pumpkin milk when the ghosts came into the hall, descending through the ceiling and phasing through walls.

“Do they not have ghosts at Ilvermorny School?” Hermione asked, noticing Orion’s open fascination.

“Erm, no,” he recovered. “Haven’t been around long enough, I suppose. Do they have to die in the school to be ghosts here?”

“I sure hope not!” Ron said through a mouth full of pumpkin muffin. Hermione glared at him, and he shrugged. “If so, where do the ghosts get their mounts for the Headless Hunt? Did the horses all die with their masters?”

“Or do they have to wait around for the horses to die?” Harry cut in.

“How many headless men couldn’t be in the hunt for lack of steed?” Ron asked, pointing at Harry with a fork.

Harry laughed. “Maybe it started off as a Headless Jog.”

“The two of you, really,” Hermione chastised. “A lot of them do,” she told Orion. “Or at least, they all have a strong connection to Hogwarts.”

“And unfinished business,” Ron added, wiggling his fingers under his chin and baring his teeth.

“What’s the Headless Hunt?” Orion laughed.

“A gaggle of really old men on their high horses boasting about not having a good head on their shoulders.” Nearly Headless Nick sulked. He phased between Ron and Harry, and the chill he brought on prompted them to make room for him on the table bench. “Now me, I may not be completely headless, but at least I have a head!” He said the last part loudly, so a group of men a good deal shorter than they should be, heads tucked under their arms, could hear.

“He’s talking about Lord Valeron,” Ron whispered behind his hand. “He lost his head, literally. His head was misplaced before his burial. But he’s still able to take part in the Hunt. No one knows how.”

“I know how! It’s prejudice!” Nick bewailed. “He can’t use his head for Nogglin’ Rolling, or Cranium Volleyball! They only like him because he’s mysterious.”

“He is pretty mysterious,” Hermione said, resting her chin on her fist as she watched the only truly headless man on the outskirts of the group, fixing cufflinks he couldn’t have known had come askew.

Orion felt a stirring in his mind, a cold, familiar itch that made his stomach turn.

“It’s rumored that his head knows such terrible secrets it’s been buried separate from his body somewhere on the Hogwarts estate,” Ron said in hushed tones, “and that he searches for it still.”

“Ahh! He’s bewitched you as well!” Nick wailed. He swung an arm to bang the table, but his arm fell right through. “But I’ll have the last laugh,” he told them, leaning in conspiratorially. “Because I know where Lord Valeron’s head lies.”

Ron and Hermione made faces of awe, though it was evident they didn’t believe him, while Harry shook his head. But someone did believe the beleaguered specter.

‘Ask him if he wants his head completely removed.’

Orion started so violently that he dumped a goblet of pumpkin milk into his lap. He performed an anti-stain spell before Hermione could, but the wand shook in his hand and the spell transferred the stain to the tablecloth.

“Orion?” Hermione asked, her heavy brows furrowed.

He turned his attention to Nick on the other side of the table. “I can remove your head for you.”

“What?” Nick, Ron, and Harry said in unison.

“I can remove your head for you,” Orion said, the color returning to his cheeks, “and you can finally take part in the Headless Hunt. But in return, you tell me where Lord Valeron’s head is.”

The three Gryffindors and the ghost stared at the pale boy for a long moment.

The ghost finally spoke. “If you can get me into the Hunt,” he said slowly, “I will do whatever you want.”

“How in the seven layers of the underworld are we supposed to remove a dead man’s head?” Orion hissed, trying not to sound excited. He’d ducked into a dark gap between columns for privacy while he talked to himself.

‘Oh, you’re acknowledging me now?’ Artemis said snidely.

“You haven’t talked to me for weeks!” Orion sputtered. “But never mind that, you must have a plan if you’ve promised the poor soul his deepest wish.”

‘The simplest solution would be to exhume the body and finish the job.’ Artemis smiled at Orion’s squeamishness. ‘But as I’m doubting there’s any flesh left, that avenue is out. Thankfully, while you’ve been traipsing around wizard academy, I’ve been doing some theorizing with quantum and particle physics.’

“Yeah?” Orion asked, pretending to understand.

He could almost see Artemis’s vampiric grin, quite fitting for the holiday. ‘Yeah.’

That night, the four friends gathered under Harry’s Cloak of Invisibility and snuck into the Transfiguration classroom, chose because it was the only class with windows big enough to be lit by the full moon.

Orion had gathered supplies per Artemis’s instructions and hid them in the room before light’s out: a coil of copper wire, the interdimensional device that brought them there, the damaged tazer pen, some protection equipment, and a knife.

‘Or any sharp blade,’ Artemis had specified.

Orion had never distrusted himself more.

“What do we do now?” Hermione whispered. “We told Nick to meet us at midnight, that’s two hours away.”

“We— I need the time to set this up,” he explained. “It’s very precise, but I’ll let you know if I need help.”

The three friends gathered around a table a few meters away to play some game they’d invented with the Chocolate Frog cards. Orion wished he were playing with them.

‘Focus,’ Artemis reprimanded. ‘You have the steady hands for this job, but not the knowledge. Now listen to me very carefully—‘

It was about fifteen minutes till midnight, and the Gryffindors had long since become bored of their game and infatuated with Orion’s mysterious assignment. He’d set up a small workstation at McGonagall’s desk. Odd sparks flew in every direction as he used his wand as a welding torch to rewire something in the tech-watch he’d snuck in from home.

“Electronics don’t work here,” Hermione reminded him, her face flickering in the blue light of the flame. “That’s why your watch broke in the first place.”

“It’s a good thing I’m not trying to fix it then,” Orion said through the bandana covering his mouth.

“What are you trying to do?” Ron asked.

“Supe it up,” he replied, using tweezers to lift a tiny coil on the circuit board and bend it where he wanted it. “If my theory is correct, ghosts are a mix between the magical and the physical: real, organic beings who left an imprint on the world. I’m not the first to wonder if those who died didn’t really pass on to a higher plane, but are in fact dimension-adjacent, and the sad creatures we call ghosts are caught between our world and the beyond.” He wound two lengths of wire to the sides of the circuit board, twisted those wires together, and snipped it with the knife half a meter from the watch. “However, the human brain essentially runs on electricity, a current,” he activated the tazer pen, which he’d reworked to create a steadier charge. “It’s no coincidence that electronics go haywire when specters draw near. They’re an ectoplasmic container for the neurons that contain the brain, the spirit! So hence, my little experiment.”

He twisted the wire around the fountain pen’s split tip, then switched it on. The watch’s display screen flickered, then lit up and beeped a digital greeting.

“Voila,” he said, folding his arms over his chest.

“You just fixed a watch,” Harry said, raising an eyebrow.

“You sounded just like Arthur,” Hermione added, her eyes wide and admiring.

“I’ve done more than fix it,” Orion said, coughing once into his fist. He took up the knife, a switchblade he’d knicked from one of the other Slytherin boys. He wrapped the watch’s band around the knife and tapped a few buttons on its interface.

“Are you ready for me?” Nearly Headless Nick phased through a window, the moonlight refracting through his hair and ruffled collar.

“Are you ready to be headless?” Ron asked as the ghost descended to their level.

“I’ve been ready for one hundred seventeen years,” Nick said. He rubbed his hands together. “So what do I do?”

“Come closer,” Orion pressed a final button on the watch and leaned over it, his palms planted on the desktop. “And trust me.”

A red web emanated from the watch, causing the three other humans to jump back. The laser lattice scanned Nick, then whirred as the frankensteined contraption hummed and vibrated so hard the knife rattled on the table.

“Is it supposed to be doing that?” Hermione whispered, eyeing the door warily. The machine was making quite a racket now.

“Someone’s going to hear!” Agreed Harry.

As he said this, the Hogwarts clocktower began to ring, the bells’ resonance drowning out the droning of the machine.

“Look!” Hermione said, pointing at the experiment. The base of the hilt glowed blue. The blue virus spread up the knife, and when it encased the tip of the blade, Orion turned off the tazer and cut the power to the watch. 

“Wizard,” Ron said.

Orion touched the hilt with a finger experimentally, and when it didn’t hurt him, he slipped it from the watch band and held it aloft. It was still opaque, but had the eery aura of the haunting dead.

“An entrancing display,” Nick said, “but how’s that—“

With a quick, practiced strike, Orion slid the knife through the preexisting cut bisecting his throat, exerting a bit more pressure when he felt the resistance of skin.

All four students and the ghost watched in awe as his head tipped comically to one side, then fell to the floor.

[redefinethegrind]

On Consciousness

I am finding this life to be less convincing. Inconsistencies in the matrix-esc life grid in which I am living daily have again reared their heads as I have taken the time to care for myself physically and mentally. The more care I give to myself, the more glaring these inconsistencies become. Time is jerky, so to speak. Space is not as consistent as it used to be. Beings are duplicated. I’m sure beings are always duplicated, however when I am in my usual state of unawareness I simply do not notice. It is like the background of a cartoon during a driving scene. It may repeat, but it doesn’t change the plot so even if one notices one does not point it out.

Faces are appearing more peculiar each day. The human figure remains the same, though I do feel that the organs have been somewhat shifted about as compared to what I remember in my youth. I have noticed more exaggerated faces on the common-folk, living caricatures in live action. They always seem to make eye contact with me, even if some only for a moment. It’s like they know that I know. I watch them filing in and out of aisles at convenience stores. They are piloting motor vehicles about the city streets. Are they programmed automations or are these sentient beings as well?

It is becoming more difficult to discern as I age. I am left feeling empty after even the most engaging of conversations with these people. I suppose we can call them people. They are certainly fitting all of the diagnostic criteria from my standpoint, yet, something is off. This city feels different to me than it did last year. Literally one year ago things started changing. I started noticing little inconsistencies. People called them Mandela effects on youtube. This was, of course, named after the late Nelson Mandela. There is apparently a large group of people who distinctly remember Mandela dying in prison in the 90s, although current history does not support that claim. People swear they remember the news casts and even the footage of a funeral.

How could such a mass group of people have mis-rememberings which are identical? I suppose that question crossed my mind and re-enforced the feelings I was having with my own environment. I had always felt a little different than everyone else. Of course, I think we all do. We are all egocentric. We are the center of our own universe. We see life through our own filter. But for me, it feels deeper than that. It is almost as if this reality is designed specifically for me and my life’s experience. Every nuance. Every intricate detail here only for me to experience. But again, I must wonder, are the other seemingly sentient beings in my environment sentient? If not, if they are simply artificial intelligence in my environment for my own life experience then how can I take them seriously.

The Buddhist philosophy seems to feel that all conscious life is indeed sentient and therefore is experiencing the same reality as all of the other life. Also, it is believed that not only are these conscious beings experiencing life, but the fact that they are conscious is creating the existence which they experience. This seems to be supported by recent and not-so recent findings in the field of quantum mechanics. If that is the case, that conscious beings both create and experience their own reality, then the hive-mind that is the collective consciousness is all that we really are. If that is the case then, as I believe I have once read, if everyone were to start believing something completely different, reality would change. This could account for some of these previously mentioned Mandela effects.

It would take but a simple majority vote so to speak. That would alter the entire face of reality. Though physics does point to this being are reality, why are people so apprehensive to believe it? Why are they so quick to dismiss this most amazing quality of our universe? We certainly accept the laws of Isaac Newton because they are practical, though they have been shown to be rudimentary and antiquated in the later work of relativity and quantum mechanics. We are creatures who are bamboozled by our senses. We are victims of our own filter. We believe reality is a certain way because that is the way we perceive it on the surface.

Now, back to my personal reality, I am for sure seeing glaring inconsistencies in my day to day perception. When I am adamant and aware of my surroundings it is much more obvious. It is further enhanced by physical activity, healthy diet, abstaining from alcohol and processed foods, and meditation. There are the blank stares and slacked jaws. The zombie masses surround me in public. Seemingly going about their day-to-day routines. Do they even have a clue or are they just executing programmed commands?

I am also led to question even those closest to me. I hear their conversations but am not sure what to make of it. They appear to have insight into this world and even into my own life. I can’t help but wonder if they are simply programmed to give me subtle hints as to what to expect from my environment. They may simple be at my disposal to learn and draw information from. Even if they do have free will, they are leading their own self-serving lives and that makes truly understanding them a bit of a challenge. They may be immersed in a totally individual reality from a sense of their own perception which would render my reality meaningless to them. Programmed or not, I see no true way to connect with these foreign objects dressed up like friends and family.

I have often exchanged salutations in passing and felt the cold empty stare of artificial intelligence, however I fully acknowledge that this could be my biased perception. The dead handshake of a stranger could simply be an unawake passerby on his own personal conquest. “Good morning,” could have exited his vocal cords in my reality when he actually spoke “I’m disgusted” in his experience. I will never have a way to know. It is not measurable or observable. I can never put on the senses of another human being and submerge myself into his world.

All of these thoughts aside, let us pretend that things are strictly as they seem. That our internal world is just the processing of biochemistry and electrical impulses. That our internal world is meaningless and invalid. That the only true reality is extrinsic to the human brain and that our brain simply gives us the senses to experience the true reality. In this thought experiment we have a universe in front of us, unchanging whether or not we are in it. That is the classical understanding of life. We are simply fish in a bowl. If we remove the fish, the bowl and other contents continue to exist.

The problem with measuring such a thing is that in order to measure it one must be present. In being present one is unable to remove himself in order to measure the consequences of him being gone. The only true way to remove oneself is death, but in death one is unable to perform the experiment. It is futile to even consider.

I have heard others make the argument that surely the universe exists dependent of consciousness because people die all of the time. That is a completely invalid argument because as mentioned above, the other people in one’s individual reality need not be sentient at all. They could be elaborately conceived artificial intelligence. That is to say that the other participants only exist for the use of the observer. The observer being self.

If the universe does not exist independent of self and is solely a construct of the mind, the implications could be damning to all other belief systems. If we are creating our own reality, either alone, or in conjunction with other sentient beings, then we have created everything including religion and morality. How can anything be valid if it can change based on the minds creation? Change must, in this reality, be the only constant. There is but one law and that is the law of consciousness creates reality. Because we are perceiving reality through this very same consciousness, we would understand history to be unchanged even as we are re-writing it. We could be re-writing our own memories simultaneously.

The likelihood appears to be that we are a consequence of our collective consequence. Many have long called this field or plane of energy Akashia. This Akashic field is theorized to be vibrating energy from which our reality manifests. The theory may be taken further as some believe that consciousness is a result of our brain tuning to perceive this Akashic field like a radio receiver receives electromagnetic energy. Our brains can then transcribe and translate this energy into sensation. This is currently not measurable, and I am not aware of an experiment being proposed to measure it at this time. The thought, however, is fascinating.

If we are indeed connected deeply at the level of consciousness as sentient beings, then we certainly have much more in common than we have been conditioned to believe. Extra sensory perception, dreams, thoughts, and every other facet of the conscious and unconscious mind becomes a little more intriguing as we could already be sharing with one another and using our collective consciousness to shape this reality without even being aware.

This also brings into question the consciousness of other species. If other species are sentient, it would point to the fact that human beings are not exclusive in this collective consciousness effort. We would have the same influence as our feline and canine brethren for instance. I have often questioned the validity of the religious belief that ‘animals’ are on this planet as a God given resource for man. It seems far more likely that we are all simply in the same boat and deserve equal respect.

From our best approximation man has climbed the evolutionary ladder and is now in a role of apex predator on Earth. This is according to Darwin’s theory, which is by the way, one of the most consistent scientific theories we have developed to date. In this role man has learned to modify and dominate his environment. This has, of course, led to a lack of balance in the ecosystem. One could argue that this is natural evolution. What is unnatural after all? In this scenario man has naturally evolved his insight and the use of tools in order to change his environment. Thus, changing the environment then evolving to it with time and continuing the cycle is all natural.

As we continue to change and adapt to the environment that we change physically and with our consciousness, I question our fate as a species. Is it all in my head? Is it all in your head? I have no answers at this time, only questions. Is the species even real? Who knows. It doesn’t even matter to me. My experience as a human being has been a mixed one. I have run the gamut of emotions this month alone. I have been proud. I have been ashamed. I have failed. I have succeeded. I continue to exist, and I don’t know why. I haven’t a single answer this time. I continue to open my eyes in the morning after a night filled with dreams. The dreams feel just as valid as my reality only a little sweeter. Am I wrong for longing to stay in the dream world? Is my inner-self truly less valid than this extrinsic reality you are all caught up in?

It would seem that the answers all lie within. There is nothing more to add to myself and nothing to take away. I am simply to discover what is already there. I must overturn a rock in my minds empty creek bed to find what I didn’t know I was seeking all along. I must turn to the inside via meditation, prayer, and sleep. I know to an outsider it appears as though I am doing nothing. I appear stagnant and lifeless. I can assure you friends, I am in deep thought. I am digging. I am searching. I am forever longing for something. I know it is a lonely path, but I am prepared to take the journey.

[insanescriptist]

So, what do you and Umei think is the main distinction between Sky and Earth Flames? And any ideas about how they came to be? Though they're source may differ depending on which fanfic'vsrse it's from, so for clarity I'm mostly asking about Black Sky and Xanxus' Adventures in Parenthood Piracy.

Well, there are differences between Black Sky and XAiPP; lots of Izzy’s wild theorizations of Flames first appear in XAiPP and were further refined over the next few years with Umei as Black Sky progressed. Izzy kinda needs to rework sections of XAiPP but Izzy would need some time to do it in and Izzy is generally pressed enough because work is always short-handed don’t ask which is good for Izzy’s paycheck but less so for Izzy’s stress levels and free-time. Please don’t ask about the customers, please don’t.

Now then, canonically Flames are Genetic. So how Flames came to be is Genetic.

Which means that having Earth Flames are Sky Flames is by genetics. But you can also test for Flames by some method that’s never explained beyond the ‘learning to spark Ring,’ or ‘obvious unique personality trait.’ The latter of which Izzy now considers less reliable; socialization, background and culture all matter, okay? Anon, please pester me again about updating my Flame Lore.

More to the point, there’s this rather giant plot hole called the Future Arc. Where Flames are a lot more common knowledge and studied. To the point that the wavelengths for the different Flames can be harnessed individually to power Boxes.

If I were a megolomanic, determined to re-write reality, then I’d want some unique troubleshooters being enforcers ie Earth Flames. That Byakuran didn’t -and man, what a missed foreshadow opportunity was that- means Byakuran either didn’t bother with them or had killed the Simon off. And also possible is that Verde and the other two scientist/engineers of the Box Weapon Trio never encountered Earth Flames despite lots of testing. And this is if you play the Future Arc/Saga straight as ‘true as depicted’ and not as something else.

Which either means that Earth Flames are ridiculously rare or that people don’t understand that they exist as separate Flames from the Sky Spectrum. Which is very plausible and likely to have happened in canon until the Simon came out and beat their faces in with evidence otherwise.

Izzy offers two pieces of evidence for Mafia Unawares

1. Wrath Flames

2. Fuuta’s manipulation of gravity

Now, there are only two people with Wrath Flames in KHR; as said before, you’re pretty much born with what you got because genetics are a bitch that way. Those two are Ricardo and Xanxus. Now we don’t actually know how Ricardo and Giotto are related but clearly Ricardo takes after the other side of the family since he’s not blond or Giotto hit the recessive lottery. We also don’t know how Xanxus is related to anybody outside of his mother but we do know he has red eyes.

You know who else ALL have red eyes? The Simon. Wrath Flames being a combination of Sky and a specific Earth Flame makes sense. Also Izzy would like to see more Xanxus and Simon interaction in the ‘how the hell are we related’ and obviously the ‘you can’t help who you’re related to’ and ‘who the fuck fathered such a bastard like you?’ Because Enma’s parents were murdered in Italy, so there was likely to be someone that Daemon helped into the grave that probably fathered Xanxus.

Not Storm, not Swamp but that unnamed Flame that Yamamoto’s fellow baseballer uses that gouges and almost kills Yamamoto? Yeah, that one. The one without a name, officially.

Disintegration at its base is separating molecular bonds by adding energy; basically, setting it on fire. Those sort of gouges in the locker room in both living and nonliving objects without a physical direction to create all of them?

…

Yeah, that’s not Disintegration but it is a whole lot cleaner and faster than Disintegration and also of a much wider area; that old hunter’s adage of one shot, they got it, two shots they’re putting it out of its misery and three shots is them hitting air? That locker room was a mess and it was quick; the mess would have been far worse if Yamamoto had fought back and a lot more spread out if he tried to run. Yamamoto got hit with the Flame-equivilant of buckshot. Buckshot that rips holes in people and things like the magic-bullet it is.

Still, most people in the mafia go ‘you have to be born with it,’ or ‘it’s a special mix of Flames.’ Which yes, it is, but probably not Storm Flames. It’d leave different marks. Compare Xanxus vaporizing a classroom in an instant to how a Storm’s Flames have to ‘eat’ through things.

Now Fuuta’s manipulation of gravity is just a ‘quirk’ of him using his Ranking Powers, according to the manga. Which isn’t as accurate on Rainy Days, for some inexplicable reason. According the the manga.

Or it is, because for all that Earth is said to be ‘Gravity’ what it really is, is Playing with Magnetic Fields and Charges. Because as Magneto, magnet trains and rail guns prove, magnetic fields and charges can lift ‘objects.’ Especially if they’re conductive. And the human body is a conductor and people can ‘feel’ strong enough magnetic forces.

Now Fuuta ranks people, so he has to get that data from somewhere. Fuuta says it’s a ‘ranking planet’ but really, he’s a kid; he doesn’t know for sure and he can’t remember the data after a ranking if he doesn’t write it down. What’s more likely is that Fuuta is using Earth’s magnetic field to pass ‘data’ on to him, which is then processed in an Altered State of Mind and then organized into ‘ranks.’

Altered States of Mind effecting memories is a known thing. Basically it’s the ‘when you’re sober you don’t remember it but you do once you’re drunk again.’ Or high. Or sleep-deprived. Basically if it’s not your normal state, due to pain meds or whatever, you’re not going to be likely to remember it because your brain put it somewhere strange. But once you’re off your rocker again, brain remembers where it put it, because guess where it’s going to put new memories? Strange place again.

Now Fuuta’s ‘requirements’ for a Ranking are a little strange. He has to have met the person he’s ‘ranking’ to do them. Basically, Fuuta’s learning your own specific ‘magnetic aura’ to have something to compare to. And he can do so rapidly and accurately forever afters. No matter in terms of strength, wealth, intelligence or personality.

Fuuta’s a little scary like that, okay? Fuuta’s hacking the earth for all your files. Fuuta’s lack of accuracy when it rains is because the rain is washing out all those ions in the atmosphere; those same ions he’s using to transmit data around the world. It’s why Fuuta can even tell it’s raining when he’s in a windowless underground bunker. He basically gets hit with radio static and Lag.

As TYL!Fuuta goes out and about with Bianchi without a Flame Ring to protect himself with in a ‘future’ where even the lower-ranking ‘enemy officers’ have Boxes and Flames… it either says that Fuuta’s relying on Bianchi entirely for protection or that Fuuta has his own methods despite the lack of Ring and Box. Not that Fuuta ever fought, but it’d be interesting to see how he’d do so. Because not learning how is just Stupid, especially when the Vongola are being hunted down and you know it.

TL;DR - the mafia’s aware that some individuals have Odd Flames. They’re just not aware enough to both realize and weaponize it beyond an individual and personal basis ie X-guns Xanxus made for self compared to Bester’s roar of Box Animal made by Verde. So they don’t realize the Earth Spectrum exists except as Odd Flame/Quirk/some unexplained Flame Thing due to odd wavelength which varies between people anyway. This is XAiPP’s perspective because the wavelengths are there-ish, but the science is still shaky on the exact differences; mostly due to lack of study but also because rarity. Again, Byakuran didn’t use/bother with Earth Flames so is stupidly rare.

…

Which is something that is both canon and that Black Sky supports.

Black Sky however explains the difference.

You know that old elements diagram? The Greek one? Have a stylized one, from an image that Izzy picked from a google search.

Basically, Sky Flames are air-natured, and Earth Flames are earth-natured; hence the names because Sky sounds better than Air. Individual Flames can be found along this spectrum with a bit of common sense and thinking.

Izzy and Umei have discussed where exactly each would fall, but it’s pretty much common sense.

Like Storm is most Fire, Rain is most Water and Lightning is most Air. Sun and Sky fall on the Fire side while Mist and Cloud fall on the Water side. Or something to that effect; you can quibble on the placement on the Fire-side of Air and which is Most Air without much issue beyond someone’s say-so. Izzy’s just saying that Lightning is Most Air because one of the main theories of How to Make Lightning is that it’s oppositely charged particles in the air. Therefore is least ‘dense.’ Or why Lightning’s property of Hardness makes no sense as it is not physical itself but why it makes good sense in a shield so long as you don’t overload it.

On the Earth Side of things, Earth is Most Earth. Glacier, Swamp and Forest would be on the Water Side and Desert, officially unnamed Flame and Mountain on the Fire side.

Now, since this isn’t really a spoiler… a lot of magical enclaves have more Earth-spectrum individuals because genetics influence Flames. A smaller gene-pool means less of a chance of traits ie Earth Flames being bred out of said gene-pool.

Now Izzy is going to look over the chapter Umei just sent and go to bed. It’s like four am and Izzy has plans for once she gets up. Plans that do not involve work for once.

[gaiabamman]

Get the whole book on Amazon for $3.99 ^_^ 

Thank the Lars, Min’s skill does not really rewind time, because my day couldn’t have been any longer. I endured eighty-four broken fingers, six broken femurs, a ruptured stomach and even three cardiac arrests. I wasn’t able to heal any of them.

I feel a million years older, but I don’t fear pain anymore. Knowing it will not kill me, the sudden searing sensation is nothing compared to the fear of endless cold and hunger I endured during my childhood. Nonetheless, Min looks exhausted, and I feel worse.

Lethal, as always, looks mostly pissed. He did not manage to scratch me, but I’m not even sure he tried. He says, amused, “Hey, Dumb, are you sure you got any skills at all? Maybe we can return you.”

Ghost chides, “Lethal, it’s her first day. It doesn’t matter that she’s almost your age.”

I say, “Get me a biosimulator, Ghost. I’ll show you what I can do in a lab.” Lethal walks away without even acknowledging any of us, and Ghost shakes his head, eyes lingering on his back. “Biosimulator?” I ask again.

“Yeah, right. I mean, no. Nala, read first a little bit about Cursoi culture, and then we’ll see if you still have questions.”

He fishes out of his tunic’s pocket a tiny, ancient looking text. Maybe it’s even older than Gray’s Anatomy. The cover is supple, dark leather embossed with a gilded horizontal eight: the symbol of infinity, split in two identical halves by a vertical line.

I take it as delicately as I can. “A book? Why not hyperspace?”

“We cannot risk hacking. The less is known about us the better, but we do have a few copies.”

I can see why he’d rather not have me do research.

Just then the alarm goes off. Brain says in my head, Foyer. Hold back and observe. Stay beside either Min or Lethal. Either of them will keep you safe.

As if I’d feel safe with the psycho who crushed my organs all day. I’m exhausted. I can’t believe we have another mission now. I want to cry, and even more so I’d like to sleep. Yet, I’m running down the hallway, losing ground on everyone else. By the time I get to the foyer, Apprentices are already gathered there, scowling at me.

I hate my life.

Ghost yells, “You know your orders! Dime, let’s go!”

And in the blink of an eye, we’re gone.

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

We appear on a high floor in the Freedom Skyreacher. I can tell by the shops and the view out of the big windows, Cerulean Crests and all. I can see two giant holo-screens being smashed as an angry mob is going at each other’s throat. I glue myself to Min, but everything happens within seconds.

“Bonking Lunarites!” someone screams. “Terrorists! All terrorists!”

A guy drops, people wobble confused, holo-screens go back to being whole, normal activities resume, and we blink back in the foyer.

“What the Merc just happened?” I blurt.

Min laughs. “Routine. I only knew my orders, but my guess is that Drama identified the main culprit, some fanatic either for or against Crash, I promise. Browser found if he had any intel, Lethal killed him, Zera erased everybody’s memory of any accident, Emo made everyone happy, and I brought the scene back to damage free, or as damage free as it was one minute and ten seconds earlier.”

My mouth is open. “What happened to the body?”

Min nods toward a tall guy with long, smooth, black hair, and almond shaped eyes, a bit like mine. “Vulture took care of it. He accelerates decay. A lot.”

Gross.

After the report confirming Min’s assessment, I can’t wait to go crash at my place, possibly to learn a bit more about Cursoi thanks to the little black book Ghost gave me, heavy in my pocket.

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

I settle in the hammock strung beneath my nest. The sun drips like liquid fire from the boughs and lianas, tinging the grass orange. The stridulations of grasshoppers fill the late afternoon. It smells like the burning logs that are popping a few yurdas from me. I open the book, and the breeze ruffles its old, greasy pages.

Apparently Cursoi lived for eons among humans, unaware of their own nature, and typically estranged because of their gifts or unsettling aura.

Oh. So it wasn’t me? I keep reading.

Early on during the Dark Ages that preceded space colonization, a Carlo Teofrati rescued a Louise Cligné, who had been found guilty of witchcraft, after making flowers blossom in an orchard. He kept fire from burning her at the stake.

Talk of a hot romance.

Back then, Cursoi had lifespans comparable to humans, and Carlo and Louise were quite old for their time. Nonetheless, they became sexually involved, quickly becoming obsessed with each other.

Eeeeew!

At first, they thought their high energy level was the effect of falling in love, but soon they realized that not only had they stopped aging; they were getting younger.

Louise theorized they must be different from other humans. In spite of previous marriages, they both had been barren. Yet, Louise got pregnant well in her sixties, and it became apparent they might be part of a different species altogether, which she named Cursoi: the cursed ones.

I feel you, Louise. I take a bite of a trad-apple, careful not to stain the book.

Carlo and Louise set out to find other sterile outcasts with special skills, gathering the first Unit ever. The task was arduous, because during the Dark Ages humans were still isolated geographically and displayed distinctive physical features similar to Cursoi.

Whoa! Humans were hot!

In an effort to level differences due to separate cultural backgrounds, nicknames took root. Louise and Carlo became Lymph and Fire.

Lymph observed that, once gathered, Cursoi tended to engage in promiscuous sexual behaviors, at least according to human standards. They engaged in sex frequently and with different partners, males or females, often at the same time.

Dung! I close the book, feeling my face on fire. Am I even supposed to read this stuff? For school? I take a deep breath and open the book again, trying to move past my dancing hormones, visualizing the passage a little too graphically.

The first generation of Cursoi, including Lymph and Fire, carried a sense of shame and guilt with them. Conversely, Cursoi born within the Unit and away from human influence dealt with sex as they did with eating, studying, and playing. It came naturally to them and it helped build strong bonds and friendships. Older Cursoi that abstained, because of their human beliefs or religion, aged at human rates and died within a human lifetime. Cursoi that indulged in their instincts aged much slower and lived up to a few hundred years.

Holy cow! How old is Brain, then? Am I aging at the speed of light?

Cursoi started nurturing their skills rather than suppressing them. Lymph observed that skills developed at puberty and aligned with the inclinations of each Cursoi.

It makes sense. I wanted to be a curer, and I healed Seria. But what about Vulture? And Lethal? A shiver runs down my spine, thinking about what inclinations a very young Lethal might have had to end up crushing people’s innards. Bonking psycho. An image of him running a hand over his forehead, pushing back his sweaty hair, fills my mind. I shake my head and snap it back to the book.

Within a couple of generations, it became apparent that Cursoi pregnancies were possible only after fifty years old, and even then no more than two or three babies were ever delivered by one woman. Fertile Cursoi were referred to as Masters, and sex before fifty was renamed merging, since it was just as important, but had nothing to do with procreation.

So, Ghost is at least fifty! Whoa! He must do lots of merging—nevermind, let’s not go there. I shake my head, trying to dismiss the disturbing thoughts about what Ghost might do in his private time.

Masters raised and trained young Cursoi gathered in Units. After skills manifested at puberty, Cursoi were named Apprentices and assigned to specific locations based on the skills of the Unit. Around fifty, once they were fully trained and developed, they became Masters. Cursoi above one-hundred years old became Elders, playing important leadership roles within Cursoi Units.

Within a thousand years, Cursoi grew from abject outcasts into a threatening force. Cursoi were peaceful and kept to themselves, but were perceived as a threat and attacked by the 132nd President of the United States and his allies under the premise of conniving against freedom and harboring weapons of mass destruction. The conflict, known as the Sixth World War, was a blood bath that lasted three minutes and twelve seconds, during which Cursoi took out all major world leaders.

Cursoi did not care for ruling or human politics, but they needed to ensure Earth was safe for their own survival. They also had an interest in relative human wellbeing, since most of them enjoyed the variety humans provided for their merging needs.

Oh my Lars, that’s disgusting!

Therefore, Cursoi Elders organized the election for the first United Terrestrial Democracy. The president was voted by Cursoi and humans alike, and Cursoi became sacred peace enforcers, bound to protect the president. Units became self-contained military societies, under the orders of one Elder, typically a telepath who could coordinate missions with ease. Obedience was engrained in young Cursoi toddlers from birth.

Which might explain why I don’t feel as compelled to go along with this dung. Also, the darn book says nothing about why or how Cursoi are the way they are. This is just lore.

Nala!

I hear Drama’s voice in my head and I close the book, leaving for later the appendix describing the lives of famous Cursoi. What now? I wonder. It’s funny how I know that Drama is in the park. That’s where the call came from. I just know it without being able to explain it. I crawl off my hammock to reach him. I am drained, but seeing Drama might be a great pick-me-up.

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

The grass in the park looks purple in the dusk, and a long wooden table illuminated by paper lanterns stretches above it, with two crowded benches on either side. Only the Apprentices in my Unit are here. Other Cursoi may use other sections of the dimension. Younger Apprentices keep to themselves.

Lethal, Drama, Dime, Zera, Emo, Min, Browser, Kino, and a bunch of other Cursoi I haven’t met yet, are all sitting around the table. Lethal laughs, and I swear fireflies stop to watch. Drama instantly turns to me, his face a mask of fury, which is completely unjustified by the hatred I feel for the bonking angel face. Is Drama jealous?

��Of this idiot? Not at all,” he answers my unspoken question. He scoots to make room for me and I sit beside him, trying to act like our skin touching does not send me reeling. He seems to relax against me, and I wonder if the Libre glowing golden in his glass helped.

Is he drunk?

He mutters in my ear, “He’s a jackass, and you know it. And I know you know it.”

Lethal apparently heard, because he turns to us and asks, “Does she, now?”

“I sure do,” I growl. I hated Lethal to begin with, and as much as he just did what he had to, the afternoon didn’t exactly make me warm and fuzzy.

Lethal smirks. “Whatever, Dumb. Given that your skill is nonexistent, I’d say puberty didn’t quite hit you yet.”

Drama cringes. “How many bones crushed?”

I shake my head, but I know he knows, first because he can feel it, and second because I’m afraid all Cursoi go through the same training.

“What’s wrong with him?” I whisper.

Drama shrugs. “He was a cool kid. We were friends, but then puberty hit and… Lethal happened.”

“Whoa. Really? Ever take a peek in his head?”

“Not if I can avoid it. It’s hell in there.”

I can only imagine.

On my other side, Min pours me a cup of Libre and raises his to me. “Say what you may, but the little one was badass. She took her broken bones like a champ.”

Did I?

“Little one? Did you see her fat ass?” Lethal snarls.

“Oh, you noticed?” I reply, furious, because I starved for most of my life and yet my hips are so wide I could send him to Neptune with one bump.

Drama laughs at my thought. He leans closer to my ear and whispers, biting his lower lip in a way that is way too sexual to be allowed in public, “I looove your fat ass, Nala. It’s my new favorite thing.”

“Are you drunk?” I ask.

He clinks my cup with his. “Maybe.”

“What if there’s a mission?”

He answers, “Emo will clear the Libre right out.”

Emo, whom I noticed is never too far from Drama, winks and hiccups, spreading her gaze over Drama and me. She licks her lips, and I look away, trying not to think about her merging with Drama.

I try to swallow my jealousy, but I do sound snappy when I ask, “Whatever. Why did you call me here?” I am full of hope and fear, staring at my untouched Libre.

Drama leans his head on my shoulder, and I’m surprised he does not start to purr like a cat. “I missed you. Just wanted to hang out.”

Yeah, right. Even if I lost my mind and suddenly decided to merge with Drama, I’m pretty sure I’d be arrested for drunk rape. It might be worth it though.

“I hope you find out,” he says and winks.

Holy Lars.

I shake my head, rolling my eyes, trying to keep my thoughts in check. I’ve never been able to afford Libre. I look at the ripples the glowing liquid forms on the inside of the smooth surface of my cup, and I take a small sip. It’s warm and sweet, yet quenching like water. I gulp more. “So, what were you and Lethal arguing about?”

“He’s just a weirdo,” Drama says. “He won’t merge with guys, only girls.”

“Really?” I whisper. “That’s even stranger for a Cursoi.”

He nods. “So you learned some lore, huh? It’s not natural. Also, he thinks Cursoi are a superior race—”

“It’s obvious that we are!” Lethal snaps.

“Oh my Lars,” I say. “It’s like hearing Crash drool all over himself, except he thinks he is the best.”

“He’s all right,” Lethal says. “Too bad he’s human.”

“The end justifies the means? Really?” Drama says.

“Isn’t that what we do, as soldiers? Don’t we slaughter for the greater good?” Lethal retorts.

“You, maybe,” I reply.

“Yeah, because someone has to do the dirty work for everyone else to enjoy their bonking freedom and their balmy skills!”

I hate that he’s right, but Drama switches gears. “Crash denies pollution. He wants to blast Venus and Mars to prevent immigration to Earth!”

Lethal rolls his eyes, taking a swig of Libre. “Oh, come on, he just said it to get votes. No one’s getting blasted.”

That causes me to lose it in zero point one seconds. “Oh, really? I thought people liked him because he just says it like it is!”

“Oh, go bonk yourself! At least I’m not a hypocritical idealist!”

“Forget him,” Drama says, shaking his head. “Like I said, he’s a weirdo.”

I drain my cup of Libre, and it’s starting to get to my head.

Drama says, “Drinking on an empty stomach? Not wise. If you need insta-food, or Libre, or clothes, or anything else for that matter, just will them in front of you.”

“Really? Is this some innate Cursoi skill? Because I willed food a lot in my pre-Cursoi life.”

Drama laughs, “I wish. It’s a perk of the place. Courtesy of Dime.” He nods toward Dime, raising his glass to him, but Dime doesn’t even notice, lost as usual in one of his reveries.

I realize Lethal is still scowling at Drama and me, his brow knitted together.

Drama says, “Yes, Lethal. I like her. A lot.”  

I did not hear the question, likely in Lethal’s head, but I quiver, warmth building up in my core. The feeling must be too much for Drama, because he jolts, then looks at me, his eyes darkening.

He brings his head back down to my shoulder and says, “Wow, your feelings are as addictive as Emo’s tricks.”

Am I jealous? I drain my second Libre and will more into the cup, thinking I might just do something stupid tonight.