#will give this another pass later

[asheanon]

While the Ethereal Genome concept has yet to be tidied up, I would like to take the time to finally write out that aforementioned "little something" regarding Terra, Garland and Ethereals.

(The one perk to this having taken this long is I actually have even more to write here! That being said, this one is pretty sizeable. I highly advise not clicking that little "read more"/"keep reading" bit unless you're fully committed!)

To begin, we'll start with talking Terra. Terra, on its universal pursuit for answers as well as other planets and their crystals, making use of their magical "fusion" art to try to elude the "decay" all the while, acquired energy sources as needed along the way to fuel their travels. One of these energy sources happened to be Etherealism - namely, remnants of it. As novel as I make Etherealism out to be, honestly, you can find it in various shapes and sizes all throughout the cosmos. And because they are comprised of energy (and are spectral entities as well, which have more or less been confirmed as an energy source in various Final Fantasy worlds. Shout out to fantastical fossil fuels!) these remnants proved quite successful as fuel.

However, they weren't merely reduced to fuel as they did in fact prove quite fascinating (and they were looking for answers to their crisis any and everywhere, of course!) They were initially taken in as a subject of study as well, but their research only really boomed when more complex forms of Etherealism (something more than these inexplicable fragments of light, ions and mysterious soul-like matter just floating around like space debris) were encountered.

Now, as for why I decided Terra shares some notable history with Etherealism in this story, there are quite a few reasons for that...

▫️ The Desert Palace

Look, it's the room I constantly keep forgetting about! Therapeutically forcing myself to acknowledge its existence today. 😎

Once I realized the likelihood of Kuja kidnapping any number of the "main cast" at one point or another for any duration of time throughout this story was notable, I knew I was going to have to better arm him as well as the palace itself to hold them hostage.

Why do that? Well, I have a story to write and it lends itself to the storytelling! Look, they'll be fine.

As the plot currently stands, there's at least one Ethereal in the party and detaining them is no easy task. Not only can they spook their way around a little bit here and there, but they're dangerous and have the potential to just destroy everything if things get heated (quite literally) and they feel threatened. Now, you could argue that they might hesitate when it comes to being destructive, given other lifeforms being present and not wanting to harm them - plus, even in the case of going ghost mode, they couldn't help out their friends that way. However, spoiler alert: at least one of those Ethereals may not care about saving friends, so... playing on their emotions isn't enough to keep them all in, sadly. It'd work on only one of them. Which isn't enough for me..!

So, I felt Ethereal countermeasures should be considered - and I figured these countermeasures could be made possible if Ethereal research had already been integrated into Terra's history - at least enough to where, to some extent, they knew how to contain it and subdue it. The more I thought about it, I realized it actually was more than possible for them to encounter Etherealism during their cosmic travels of yore. So, I decided to roll with the idea!

Seriously, they'll be fine. Trust me!

▫️ The Ethereal Genome

So... with every cosmic horror comes the horror element, right? And Ethereals easily fall into a cosmic horror category!

If there's anything we've learned from the genre, making use of an alien body in any capacity can prove volatile, yielding both grand discoveries and tragic consequences... (Once again, I'll make an FFVII comparison: they essentially did this with Jenova; just imagine the Terrans did something similar with Ethereals in this particular story. Kind of.)

Among the consequences of handling Etherealism was one of its most toxic traits: Ethereal radiation...

Countless Terrans were lost to this silent, but deadly long term killer before a more viable safety protocol was established. Protocol that was able to be passed on to Garland once he was created, who would proceed to elaborate upon it himself. For many - and I mean m a n y - years, Garland was successful when it came to working with Etherealism. However, there was still room for error. Particularly when the creation of Genomes began. One singular Genome, one singular encounter with improperly contained Etherealism and a whole lot of luck (or lack thereof) later... rather than the discovery of a lesser Genome slowly expiring, one would be made of one slowly being "infected" by Etherealism.

This lesser Genome became a harbinger of many future Genome deaths. She grew to eventually be a source of this Ethereal radiation, a contaminant allowed to walk free, unknowingly poisoning her own kind as they just as unknowingly allowed themselves to be - until those radiation levels were detectable/detected by the systems in place and their source able to be singled out.

When Garland finally became aware of this, rather than doing what some may consider reasonable (such as attempting to terminate her and/or casting her out of Terra) he decided to do what any of the more scientifically-driven or the cliché "mad scientist" sort would do: cut his losses for the sake of the learning opportunity at hand. There was no way he could literally throw that away. And so, he contained this Genome as he would any other Ethereal remnant.

In containment, she remained for a very long time as well. For study and for safety. While containment method was the same, the study was a little more complex than what would be applied to your "average" Ethereal remnant. (A bit like keeping a venomous snake, studying its venom, hoping to develop an antivenom, etc. That and things of the like.)

One day, however, after Kuja has his "little" meltdown in the main FFIX storyline and destroys Terra, she would finally be freed from containment. Cast from a state stasis, essentially - energy deprivation - and no explanation just to be immediately subjected to all this radiation and energy from the overly-abundant use of Ultima and the chain effect of the Iifa Tree going haywire (remember the mist tangent and me talking about how wild of a ride it can be for Ethereals to encounter and especially intake? Keep that in mind) this makes for a very Not Great™��� experience for this little Genome gal.

Despite the chaos of it all, however, she does manage to make it out! To the Shimmering Isle, where she hardly makes it beyond the now dead portal, huddling up, curling into a little ball somewhere amidst its edifices. Tormented and traumatized (even more.)

While this Genome bears the usual stoic to be expected from her kind, because of her Etherealism, she did actually have time to grow a little bit, in a way - or at least the Ethereal part of her did - just enough to grant her the ability to think and feel things outside of the usual lesser Genome range. Just enough to be troubled by the things that happened to her, on some level. 🥲

I would like to note one little detail here: I've taken a bit of a lore dive with Terra and Genomes, yes, but nothing too dreadfully deep, so... I will confess, I'm not actually all that sure if the lesser Genomes would have names! They were essentially vessels without souls - once given a soul, they would be given an identity by extension. In that respect, I formulated the headcanon that these guys have no identity until that transpires.

If that is incorrect, I'll be more than willing to make that correction. 💙 Until then, though, that is the lore!

The Ethereal Genome technically bears no name until later in the story, having earned it outside of Terran means. She eventually is named "Yoko." (Given that Mikoto's name is Japanese in origin, I thought I'd play off of that and have Yoko's name also share some Japanese roots! One of "Yoko's" various meanings translates to "sun child" or "child of the sun," which I thought was more than appropriate for an Ethereal kid.) ☀️

▫️ The Treasure Map

(God bless "treasure map" stock imagery. I didn't need an image, but I wanted one since the other two had some... hahaha!)

Lastly, but not least-ly! Has a little bit to do with that silly little map and the treasure hunt escapade it forges as well. There is Terran symbology and Ethereal reference alike made among the many associated puzzles and clues.

Why exactly this is, I'm still admittedly brainstorming, so I can't quite go into too much detail with this point yet. However, the connection in cryptography is definitely there. I still feel it's worth mentioning, in that respect! It could very well be a point I return to and elaborate upon someday in the future as I have the previous ones. 🤔

(Of which, I will say that's how Kuja got sucked into the whole thing and what ultimately leads to taking the main gang hostage too! I'll leave the full story for later or for an actual bit of story that may be written in the future, though.)

[bruciemilf]

I wonder how many times Clark and the batkids + Alfred revived Bruce with the Lazarus Pit and just never told him abt it

[untimelybones]

might come back someday to clean him up or do a better piece for him but. here's what i have for now??

eastern dragon doesn't make sense canonically but this is already so far from canon i don't care anymore

how do you even attach a bird to an eastern dragon they’re just noodles (i settle for neck fluff)

[kaidabakugou]

the new girl at one of my favorite bakeries called me pretty this morning and it literally melted all my stress away 🥺

[mariocki]

The Evil Dead (1981)

"Why have you disturbed our sleep, awakened us from our ancient slumber? You will die! Like the others before you, one by one, we will take you."

[sysig]

Reading moodboard #84430940 (Patreon)

[luvsavos]

i am once again apologizing for my lack of activity/responsiveness

my childhood cat passed away a few days ago which has just been more stuff on top of everything else for me to deal with to stress me out and upset me

i'll try to get back to stuff. Eventually. as soon as i can</3

[disdaidal]

So, I met my nurse today and she said I'm finally getting scheduled for the ADHD testing on Dec 18th—after all these years. Albeit she said that it may not change a thing, but it's good to test it anyway.

I also had a discussion with my teacher today about my problems and we went through some stuff, and I might feel a little bit more enlightened about some things, which will hopefully help me.

Still. I'm having trouble with planning some stuff at my workplace because the staff there simply doesn't have time, and my instructor is also a very busy person (plus she's fussy and impatient and a little upset/disappointed with me which is not making it any easier for me), so that is still giving me a lot of stress right now.

So, I don't know. On the other hand, one teacher says I'm doing a good job and that I shouldn't quit. Then again, this particular school and their style of teaching simply might not be the thing for me and I expressed that concern today as well. I need help getting through with some stuff and nobody has time for me, so it's obviously not good.

I also need to find another place to train soon and that workplace would have to be something where I wouldn't have to manage 15 things at the same time and well. Finding that could be a challenge, too.

But. I suppose we're going somewhere.

[acrazybayernfan]

October 29th 2014 : DFB Pokal second round, Bayern-Hamburger SV (3-1) (part 1)

The first assist from Thomas Müller to Robert Lewandowski

[sweet-cuddlebug]

I FUCKING HATE WRITING AUTOBIOGRAPHIES

[queen-esther]

To be brutally honest, a lot of the issues with public school are because of parents. Negligent parents don’t give a shit when they get a phone call about their kid cussing out a classmate or throwing a chair, but they sure as hell care when they hear their precious baby got recess time taken away for acting up in class. Problem kids don’t care about getting sent to the office or being put in ISS, because to them, it’s a free vacation out of the classroom, and their parents don’t hold them accountable for their behavior, so they’re not scared about consequences at home, either. So then, teachers are facing pressure from “customer service mindset” admin to “handle it on their own,” which means teachers are having to constantly stop what we’re doing every five seconds to address behaviors instead of actually getting to teach the rest of the kids who do want to learn and get their work done, which ultimately puts everyone behind.

[angstigone]

adding stuff to my cart because committing m*rder is illegal.

[totheidiot]

the phenomenon of sitting next to your crush in a gay manner.

[hartxstarr-art]

in a perfect world, jetspike happens and they have a skitty.

[hannie-dul-set]

hi i'll get to a few more blurbs after my event tomorrow mwa.

[chibikinesis]

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