#with no influence from outside sources cause that's just not how things work ]

[hoodreader]

ASTROLOGY & SHADOW WORK. signs ur currently going thru the transformative process of working on urself, ur shadows, and healing karmic wounds.

˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆ menu — forms — readings ⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚

everyone is constantly working on something.

read for solar return, progressed, profection year, and transits.

invest in a journal.

TWELFTH HOUSE SATURN. ☽.🪦.☾ the twelfth house is the house of self-undoing. sometimes, we are blind to how we are our own worst enemy until we get a lot of 12H energy or are in the year ruled by the 12H, or we have a transit 12H dominance. this also will be an indicator of shadow work.

FIRST HOUSE SATURN. ☽.🪦.☾ this similar to the twelfth house profection year thing, but the thing about a 1H saturn transit means that saturn just transited from ur 12H. ur being expected to apply what u learned in isolation and integrate it. it’s almost like a test, because what u learn(ed) and what u apply will influence u until the next time saturn transits ur 1H. u will also probably be in ur head more.

FOURTH HOUSE SATURN. ☽.🪦.☾ this some deep-rooted ancestral and karmic work at play. contrary to what is believed, the houses associated with the earth aren’t the 2H, 6H, and 10H. the houses most associated with the earth is the 4H, as it’s the lowest part of the chart. it’s also the most quiet and intimate to u. this shows a lot of shadow work. lots of isolation. as the 4H and saturn both rule over graves, metaphorical death and the stagnancy that follows. u may feel like ur in limbo.

EIGHTH HOUSE SATURN. ☽.🪦.☾ this is the house governing over death, loss, lack of control. this is a house of obstacles. and is a house full of grief. because of that, saturn here (a malefic, a ruler of death, and so on) doesn’t automatically mean ur going to die soon or the year(s) of that transit lmao. but it may be filled with grief. with torment. it’s an ancestral house and transit. when u dive deeper into the origin of ur existence, u can more easily understand things such as ur karmic inheritances (indicated by the 8H saturn) and more.

SATURN ASPECTS. ☽.🪦.☾

TO THE SUN,

to the sun, saturn will bring shame. this is because the ego will lead u to believe pride is the opposite, but it’s actually the source. saturn will strip away ur selfish distractions. so u are left to nothing & and it forces u to seek satisfaction without temporary validation — whatever it is being validated.

TO THE MOON,

to the moon, saturn will cause loneliness and seclusion. u may feel no one understands, relates to, or empathizes with u. u could be holding onto grudges. saturn may bring fear to ur sense of emotional security, which should teach u to be secure in ur self. to let ur soul be enough. u will also be encouraged to do shadow work or the hidden / repressed side of urself. i feel like people fixate on how saturn represents neglect to the point that they forget ur not supposed to neglect urself.

TO MERCURY,

to mercury, saturn also causes loneliness, as u become isolated from community. in a way, ur mind works against u as well. pessimism… lack mindset… etc. it’ll even show in how u breathe. breath is the indicator of life. what do u breathe life into? u will also have ur logical mind tested.

TO THE NORTH NODE,

to the north node, u will see how ur karma informs ur destiny. are u even ready to accept it? my good friend isis and i have had many talks about people manifesting lives outside of their means. & that’s because they manifest without doing the shadow work. sometimes y’all don’t even be ready for the responsibility that accompanies ur destiny, so saturn tells u where u must mature. what u must surrender. and this goes with the south node; saturn aspecting one node will cause an aspect to the other.

TO THE SOUTH NODE,

the south node, u see how past karmic debt informs destiny. the south node shows what our downfall is — how we may fall on our own sword. likewise, saturn informs us of our weaknesses. ur weakness may lie in ur own self-undoing, ur ancestry’s unpaid karmic debts, ur lack of accountability, ur refusal to rest (or) ur lack of commitment (depends on the conditions). saturn aspecting the nodes really emphasizes the personal responsibility we have to ourselves and our own destinies. it also can show we use our past as a crutch… and no. u gotta move past that. move past the consumerism and materialism. it’s a distraction from ur mission.

tadaaaa. i hope y’all find use in what i’m saying. even if y’all not experiencing transits, i still advise that if y’all got these placements natally, you maybe ponder on it nonetheless.

have a good one y’all.

[furiousgoldfish]

Abusive parents can shape you to believe there's two types of people in the world: successes and failures. You continually need to prove that you are not a failure, while, being forced to always be afraid you'll become one, and the goal you're presented with is to somehow become a success, which also you are told, is impossible for you.

The failures can be defined differently, based on what parents believe; it's usually people without a job, home, money, struggling with illnesses or addictions, but it can also be any kind of person the parent hates; if they're politically aligned, then anyone posing threat to their politics, if they're religious, then anyone outside the religion. If they have a relative or neighbour they don't like, then this person is also the failure, and you must not become like them. Successes are the people parents are charmed by, and people universally acknowledged as successful; people who have big properties, money, influence, power, fame, who are able to act in a charming way and come off confident and influential. Possibly have a cult going on.

 As you grow, you may begin to realize that everything you do somehow leads you to become 'the failure', and no matter how hard you try to fit into the success group, nothing you do right counts, or is acknowledged in any way. Your grades are never good enough, you never show enough talent, you're never good enough at anything, your behaviour is criticized no matter what, you are made to feel like you'll make nothing of yourself no matter how hard you try. And this just goes on as you grow up; no job you land is good enough, if they even let you have a job, no achievement or success is acknowledged, it's only if you do something that specifically gives positive attention to your parents, and lets them live trough your success, that you can fleetingly get a little bit of approval, and at all other times you are a failure.

This can send you into an impossible mission to prove to them that you are something, that you can do things if you try your best; it can cause endless stress both in academic setting and at your job, trying to do the impossible and constantly fearing it won't be enough, you'll make a mistake, it will prove that your parents were right. If you keep going, it leads into anxiety, perfectionism, exhaustion, numbness, and finally burnout. And it doesn't change, no matter what you do, you never change your position of failure in your parents eyes.

And eventually you might realize, that even if you did something incredible, like won a nobel prize, achieved world peace, ended world hunger, your parents would still treat it as 'you were lucky this one time' and decide you're not worth anything and move on with their day. There never was a way for you to achieve their approval; more over, the very system of belief they presented to you is false. There is no division of people into successes and failures.

As you mature and learn more about people in the world, you can find out that most people who are considered a success, have their achievements over-exaggerated, often the work is sourced elsewhere, exploited or stolen, money made off of backs of other people. The fame often comes from projection, acting, and careful curation of their public appearance. In current system there are almost no people who reach success by working hard, and those who do, generally struggle severely, and have their pain erased and dismissed by the general public. The 'successful' people generally, do not contribute to society in a meaningful way. Rather, they leech off of it.

The ones presented as failures, are usually people just failed by the system. Those without jobs, families, money, property, struggling with illnesses, addictions, systematic oppression and isolation, are people who have done nothing to deserve or cause any of that. There's also no lines between the 'successfull' and the struggling, lots of people are in both categories. World is so densely nuanced and complicated, one person might have done incredible things in their life, and then experienced the rock bottom due to circumstances out of their control.

The very concept of looking down on people who are struggling, is ignorant and shameful. It's a sign of apathy and superiority complex. And your parents not only convinced you that this was the only true way to look at society, but they used that very concept against you. To make you feel like you, a child, who has done absolutely nothing wrong, are deserving of being looked down at. That you are by default, the part of society they are right to look at with 'deserved' contempt and patronizing. And they, the parents, were directly responsible both for putting you into the world and deciding your socio-economic circumstances, your situation is a reflection of their actions. And they had the nerve to act like you're worth less than they are, just for existing, something that was completely out of your, and in their control.

You belong to the world, and your circumstances are out of your control, just like everyone else's. There's no category to sort you into, because people's lives are not reflected by black and white categories, you're complex, varied, you bring something to the world just by being yourself and existing. You are not to be singled out for how you live! And your life and your worth should not be decided by ignorance of two people who have never looked at another person and had any idea what they're looking at.

[windvexer]

Maybe this is a dumb baby question but, How do you know if a spell works? I’m investigating different practices and all the spells are like… focus, luck, etc, like things that are supposed to either influence my interior state or encourage certain events to occur. But I can’t help but think that if magic was “real” it could do things that are obvious or immediately observable. Have you ever done anything you think was undeniably magic? How did you know?

Not a dumb baby question.

It works if it works! And you can test this.

Broadly speaking we can divide all practical sorcery into two categories: verifiable and unverifiable.

It's really hard to know if an unverifiable spell works. E.g., a spell for focus could often be explainable by the placebo effect. (Or, this lovely Guardian Animal Shielding exercise, which is a fun and relaxing thing to do).

But a verifiable spell is something that you should be able to test and see if your magic did or didn't work.

A good way to find sources of verifiable magic in your life is to observe relatively stable patterns in your own life which have been going on for months, and then cast a spell to directly change it.

An example might be always getting a bad parking spot at work - and then trying to get a very good parking spot.

Either you get to work and have a great place to park even though the whole lot is normally full, or you don't. The spell worked, or it didn't.

Yes, I've worked magic that is obvious and immediately observable. I've worked so much of it and some of it is so miraculous that I don't talk about it publicly because practitioners have a lot of hangups about what kind of magic they think is allowed to exist.

But more importantly I think that while wanting magic to be real, and sorcery to work, are very valid, just chasing that realness alone is probably going to lead you to a path of misery. Here are some of my thoughts on this: On witchcraft as spirituality

Here are some random stories:

At one time there were many arguments in the household due to home renovations (stressful!). I cast a spell to cause one person in the household to be more mindful of the situation. I cast the spell and stepped outside of my practice space. That person was, surprisingly, in the yard and started asking me questions about the exact issue I had just cast on. We ended up having a very long conversation and after that the arguments stopped.

Some years ago the neighbor was causing horrible ruckus and giving my partner awful anxiety, as he could clearly hear it through the old, thin window. I found a bit of thread and "tied up" the neighbor's loud sounds into a knot, and weighted it down with a rock on the windowsill. At this time I wasn't living with my partner, so I came back some weeks later to see the knot. I thought I'd get rid of it, but when I moved the rock my partner stopped me.

"You know what's strange? After you put that there, the neighbor stopped being loud."

I looked at the disrupted rock, which was to "weigh down" the spell, and immediately the neighbor started yelling. I put the rock back, and about 30 minutes later he piped down again and stayed quiet.

Years later, after many calls to the police from many people in the neighborhood with no traction at all, I used the Justice tarot card in a spell and that neighbor was permanently removed from the home within a couple of weeks.

At one time, I was trying to do a distance energy reading for someone. But something was wrong; I couldn't see clearly. In fact it looked like they were consumed by a black void... then presently a lighter blue color was around the blackness, then white, then dark blue. It was no energy I was familiar with and I double-checked with the person that they had no magical protections to stop me from Seeing them.

"Oh, the only ward I didn't take down was my nazar." 🧿🧿🧿🧿

I have Very Silly Tendons, and in the morning I usually have a painful limp for several minutes until my foot stretches out. That is, of course, unless I remember to do a very simple energy exercise the night before. Then my foot is as loose and supple as a bowl of buttered noodles.

Once, I cast a spell using the planetary energies of Mercury in order to secure a good deal on a used van. I put in very specific requirements, and asked that if I tried to buy a van that didn't meet these requirements, that the elementals would stop me and not let the deal go through. Immediately after I cast the spell I found a van which was disqualified from the list, but I reallllly wanted it. I contacted the Craiglist seller, who didn't respond for a couple of days, but the listing stayed up.

The next morning my friend contacts me. She says she had a dream that yellow tornadoes came and told her to give me a message; that I was making a mistake.

Well if you know Mercury, then you know yellow airy energies are really his thing.

I immediately set up the spell again, retracted my requests, and apologized for going against what I said I wanted.

The seller contacted me within the hour, and I got the van.

[dronebiscuitbat]

Oil is Thicker Then Blood (Part 22)

Uzi did finally get that baby bag.

It wasn't much, a glorified swaddle made from a purple blanket that wrapped around her torso so that Tera could rest at her side without pulling while she walked around. It had been almost scary, she'd seen new mothers walk around with them all the time when she was younger.

And now… here she was, baby strapped to her side as she went home. Home as in, her dad's apartment, her apartment, or maybe not anymore, after today.

N had gone off to pick up the newly made crib early that morning, yes morning. Neither of them had needed to go outside for a least a week, and they're schedules were starting to cycle back into what other drones would consider normal.

But even then it gave them a little time to talk about how raising Tera was going to work.

Her room in her apartment was too small to raise a baby in, it was almost too small for her, with stuff just shoved unceremoniously wherever there was room. It was too messy, and dangerous! Her railgun was still in peices on the couch, and while it was broken there were still several parts that could discharge and hurt someone.

Which left N's apartment, which had plenty of room, as it was nearly empty, he'd brought in the very little stuff he owned (blankets, pillows and plush toys) but all of that easily fit in the bedroom with plenty of room to spare.

Plenty of room for her stuff.

And that thought on it's own made her fluster, they'd spent plenty of nights together, especially recently. But it had always been under the pretense that she'd be going back home eventually. That she didn't live there.

Robo-god she was about to see her dad. Her dad which had zero context for what she was about to unleash on him. That her and N were together now, that he had a granddaughter, that she was… moving out.

So much had happened this week. Hell, so much had been happening almost every week. And all of it was stressful, wether it be life threatening or just life changing, it seemed like after years of nothing happening, it was all catching up with her with everything happening at once.

“Doorman?” A voice she recognized, a voice she really didn’t want to see, preferably ever, but especially not right now, with Tera awake and babbling from her bag.

“What is it Lizzy?” She deadpanned, not bringing any attention to the baby strapped to her side even though that was clearly what caught the other drones attention, her pink eyes locked to the bag in surprise.

“Oh shit, that was actually your kid?” Lizzy immediately asked, making Uzi roll her eyes as she remembered that Lizzy was the one that had initially exposed her.

“Yup. This is Tera.” Admitting it at first felt strange, like her tongue had wanted to reject it, but it quickly settled into contentment, yeah, this was right. And honestly, trying to make Lizzy feel bad about something felt too good to say anything else.

“I had wanted to keep some things private, but somebody took a picture of us bringing her home.” Yeah she wasn't going to let Lizzy get away with that without a jab or two, she'd caused a bigger headache than what was already happening, and Uzi was itching for some revenge, even if it was just light teasing.

“Oh come on! Like you wouldn't have done the same thing.” She snapped back, although she sounded less bratty than usual, although wether that was V's influence or the fact a baby was present was unclear.

“Snapped a picture, totally, blackmail is blackmail, immediately post it to every inbox in range… No.” She replied, not wanting this conversation to last much longer than it had to, she didn't particularly like Lizzy, her being a main source of her suffering for a long time.

She just needed to get that jab in.

Lizzy just scoffed, looking her up and down and crossing her arms as if searching for something, probably something else to mock her for, Uzi found herself rolling her eyes again, turning to walk away from her and the conversation before Lizzy started talking again.

“Sorry or whatever, I thought you were just babysitting or something. Didn't think it'd be a big deal.”

Holy Shit, was Lizzy apologizing?

“Uh.” Honestly Uzi wasn't sure how to respond, she'd wanted her to feel bad sure, but she wasn't sure if that was even possible, and she'd never in a million years think she'd be hearing Lizzy apologize.

“Yeah, sure.” Is what came defensively out of her mouth as she walked away, Tera blew a raspberry at Lizzy from the bag, giggling when she got pink hollow eyelights in return.

Okay, so maybe she could keep her edginess and still be motherly figure to Tera, that hadn't occurred to her as an option, a part of her thought she'd become a different person, and maybe she was around N and Tera behind closed doors, but here? She didn't feel soft, she felt like she always did, slightly bitter, like licorice.

She passed more drones on her way, some didn't seem to notice her which was absolutely fine with her, but some definitely did, stopping and staring at the neighborhood goth carrying around a giggling baby in a cute little purple swaddle.

She could understand why they were staring, it was quite the image, but it didn't mean she had to like it.

Tera on the other hand was loving the attention, each set of eyelights on her produced another laugh and some rolling that had Uzi holding the side of the bag so she wouldn't roll out onto the floor.

One drone was a little too obvious for Uzi's liking, staring at the bag like it would suddenly come to life and harm him.

“Hey! Stop staring and mind your business!” She turned to the guy, who immediately looked scared out of his mind, his purple eyelights hollowing as he nodded.

“Yes ma’am sorry!” He raised his hands before scampering away with his tail between his legs, if he had one, that is.

She smirked a little before moving on, it was a powerful feeling, to scare someone off, and it was satisfying as well, she didn't like the way he was looking at her baby.

She finally, finally reached where she wanted to be, well not wanted, she wanted to be anywhere else. But where she needed to be.

She knocked. Which was weird because it was her door, she had the key to get in whenever she wanted. But it still felt like the right thing to do at the moment, she heard shuffling from the other side of the heavy steel, great, her dad was home.

Her dad, the one who'd left her to die, the one who left her alone to cry herself to sleep after her mother died, the main reason her core had such heavy shielding protecting the softness inside. Why her first instinct to any problem was to yell at it, or turn to science to better choose violence.

She held a lot of resentment towards him, something she'd shown time and time again, a part of her wanting to hurt him the same way he'd been hurting her. But she could never bring herself to hate him, not when she did still have memories of him being a halfway decent father, holding her when she'd have nightmares, giving her piggyback rides, being the first one to teach her about mechanics, and give her her first toolset.

“Coming!” Khan shouted, he'd been drafting of some blueprints. Not of doors, but of something for N, if he wanted it.

A cap for his tail, made out of solid steel and form fitting, so it slid right over the needle, it was just a concept for now, he didn't have the exact measurements of his tail and he wasn't even sure N would want something like that, he seemed to have good control over it. But if Khan had a tail with a stinger, he'd want to make sure his infant daughter couldn't accidentally grab it, just to be safe.

So really it was gift for Tera, but, nonetheless.

He opened the door, surprised to see his daughter of all drones knocking, she never knocked, she lived here!

“Uzi? Why'd you knock? Did you lose your key?” He tilted his head in confusion before his eyes followed the strap of the baby bag, he blinked, and tiny purple eyelights blinked back.

“I-is that?” His voice almost immediately turned warbly, he didn't hadn't ever seen Tera before, he didn't realize how much she looked like his daughter, at least when she was also a pillbaby.

“That's Tera Dad, can I- can I come in?” Her voice sounded muted, not like the fiery rebellious drone he'd come to know as his daughter, he moved out of the way wordlessly, eyes still trained on the tiny droneling at her side.

She was giggling at him, rolling madly in an attempt to escape her confines, Uzi dipped her arm into the bag and lifted her up into her arms.

“Stop squirming Jellybean, or you're gonna fall.”

Tera was just happy for the attention attempting to roll more even though she was trapped in Uzi's hands. She sighed.

“Sorry, she has a lot of energy.” She smiled warily at her dad, who looked like his core had been ejected and thrown halfway across the room.

All he could see was his wife, the first month or two they had Uzi and she was a cryer, there were no moments of silence in the Doorman household, if Uzi was left alone for even a millisecond she'd begin to wail which meant either Nori or himself would have to be with her at all hours.

And Uzi shared her mother's stress lines, looking a little bit worn out but satisfied and happy, eye's shining with so much raw affection for the child in her arms that Khan knew, without another word spoken, that he had a granddaughter.

“That's quite alright dronelette…” He managed to force out the words, hopefully without sounding too strained, he wanted Uzi to feel comfortable enough to talk to him, to tell him things. Even if she thought he didn't like it.

And a part of him didn't, she was 18, not quite even an adult yet but her birthday was coming up soon. And dammit she was still his daughter, watching her grow up this much in such a little amount of time was harrowing, and only reminded him of how much he'd missed while wallowing in his grief.

Another part of him was almost giddy, a granddaughter, a granddaughter, it was honestly something he never even hoped to have, Uzi had never been one to make freinds, much less romantic connections.

“Yeah- uh, this is Tera, N's daughter.” She repeated, obviously nervous and tired. Khan wondered if N looked equally run down. And if perhaps Tera was the same level of clingy Uzi had been.

“I wanted you to meet her, since I've been spending so much time with the both of them…”

He could only bring himself to smile and nod, but wanted to freeze as Uzi came toward him and outstretched her arms, he clumsily stepped forward and took the tiny droneling into his arms, core stopping for a moment.

“She learns names pretty quick, oh, and she's a hugger, so uh, beware.” She warned, still seemingly nervous, he was sure he'd know exactly why soon, although he had a feeling he might already know.

Khan looked down at the baby, which felt like lead in his hands as she smiled up at him, weirdly silent considering all the babbling he'd just heard.

“Tera, this is Khan.” Uzi spoke softly to the baby, standing beside her father as he looked like he was about keel over. “He's my dad.”

Tera's smile grew bigger, although she didn't attempt to say his name, perhaps more than a single letter was too much for her. Instead she blew a goofy raspberry, rolling around in his arms for a moment before rolling into him, giving him a hug.

Tears sprung up in his eyes as something in his core snapped, he held her closely, and a sniffle escaped his voice box before he could stop himself.

“Dad?” Uzi sounded slightly worried for him, she'd known he'd might have some kind of reaction to seeing Tera, but this was a little more then she'd expected.

“I-I'm alright! I just-” He blinked away the tears and tried to steel himself, thoughts running a mile a minute. “I see why you warned me. Hah…”

“Yeah… you should have seen V, you could see the exact second her core melted.” Khan only could nod, the droneling now pressed up against him made a chirping noise, happy and content at any love given to her.

“But ah…that's uh, not the only reason I came here, just to… introduce you to a droneling that… that you're not gonna see often. You are gonna see her often, A-at least I hope you do, C-cause she's not just N's… she's-she's mine… too.” She rambled and sputtered as she tried to find the words to say, Khan felt himself smiling as she continued, she was expressing a want to have him around, that he wouldn't be mad. That'd he'd want to be-

“She's your granddaughter… dad.” She finished, looking more stressed then ever, like he could ever possibly tell her that he didn't want to be in her life anymore.

He winced as he remembered all the times he did indirectly. Leaving her alone so he could throw himself into another project, neglecting the one person he still had as family simply because she looked too much like Nori to look in the eye.

And she really looked like her now.

He looked back down at Tera, at his granddaughter, and felt himself begin to tear up again. She was smiling at him, babbling and cooing up at him as he launched forward and hugged his daughter with all his might.

He felt her tense, then, thankfully, she relaxed, mindful of the child as she curled up in his arms much like she did when she was little, and she'd needed comfort from a nightmare. He felt her visor press against his chest, breathing shaky, like she herself was about to cry.

How could he have left her, how? What kind of parent was he that he left his own daughter? What kind of man?

And how could she have ever forgiven him? He knew he could never forgive himself.

“I'm sorry dronelette, I'm so so sorry.” He cracked out, petting her hair, he felt some kind of pressure on his back, her hand most likely, and she almost laughed, though it sounded pained.

“I'm still… so angry at you.” She admitted, slowly, though not pulling away. And he felt more pained steel settle in his core, he deserved this… whatever she needed to say. If she needed curse at him, to hit him even, he'd deserve it, although he hoped she wouldn't in front of Tera.

“But I missed you more.”

And thats all it took for them both to sob like newborns, her face burying into his shoulder as she let years worth of coiled pain escape her, despite all she'd done, how much she'd grown, she was still 18, still much a kid herself.

And they remained like that for some time, at least until Tera got uncomfortable being sandwiched between them and began to fuss, which finally ended the long overdue hug between father and daughter.

“H-here, give her to me.” She stammered out, either slightly embarrassed or still a little emotional, and Khan did as he was told, handing daughter back to mother.

She rocked her until she stopped fussing, and Khan led them both to the couch with his hand, still recovering himself.

She flopped on the couch like she carried the entire weight of the world on her shoulders, Tera held gingerly until she was placed between them do she could freely roll around, which she did happily.

“I'm assuming that means N is my son in law now?” He chuckled out, trying to lighten the somewhat oppressive mood that had settled over them. She blushed heavily, sputtering out a surprised response.

“We're not- he's- uh… He's my… boyfriend now yeah.”

He laughed, even though he saw it coming a mile away, he thought he might be more upset about it then he was, but N had more than proven Uzi was his priority, even over himself at times.

“And you need help moving your stuff out?” He continued, smiling through the small amount of pain the thought caused him, she was growing up, but if that hug had shown him anything, she still needed her dad, and he couldn't ignore that, he wouldn't, not anymore.

Next ->

[au-sonic-smackdown]

AU Sonic Smackdown - Round 4, Right Side

Words Hurt AU belongs to @oddogoblino

Infested AU belongs to @hejjhug

Learn more about them under the cut!

Words Hurt AU-

In this au, Earth is decaying, the planet slowly losing its ability to sustain life due to mankind’s lack of care to it. To try and survive, they attempted to move people to planet mobius as it held similar conditions as earth. The mobians at first welcomed them happily, happy to help those in need. Eventually, the humans began trying to repeat their old mistakes and began digging into mobius and setting up machines to harvest from it to try and save Earth. The planet didn’t handle this as well as earth once did, machines quickly backfiring and any mobians nearby during the incidents quickly falling ill. That’s how the infections started.

Sonic’s parents were one of the few first mobians infected, having lost them due to them going into the second form of the illness that’s caused from starvation. They’d been “quarantined” and left without food or an energy source for too long. He was only a toddler when this happened. He’s now part of Vanilla’s secret organization that helps infected mobians survive outside of the homes they’d been kicked out of due to fear. Sonic himself works as a secret delivery boy and tends to travel to make sure infected mobians have access to food and water and even just simple pleasantries like games and toys. He met Tails as a 4 yr old who’d been born from infected parents, taking care of him when they weren’t. Currently Sonic is 17 and Tails is 8.

Sonic is mostly his same ole usual self except he’s a lot less social. He doesn’t talk to anyone except for Tails, Vanilla, and sometimes Cream. He was naturally born with his super speed but keeps it hidden due to not wanting to be mistaken as an infected. He still has to fight Eggman as the mad doctor tries to manipulate both uninfected and infected mobians’ fears and resentment toward each other. He has a civilian disguise named Nicky so no one recognizes him as the superspeedy hero. He’s a bit more easily agitated but only because he doesn’t get enough sleep with his work.

Sonic’s right eye is always tearing up, not because he’s emotional but because of repeated exposure to infectious spores. The spores can only infect others if inhaled or through exposed open wounds. Hes naturally immune to the illness, but he doesn’t know that, and wouldn’t ever take chances on it. Whenever he gets injured, he disinfects the wound immediately and patches it up like others would in hopes to avoid spore-infection.

Infected mobians tend to live in abandoned spaces that their cities and towns assigned for them to live. Infected mobians feed off energy, whether that be electricity, emotions, powerful items, etc, but can also eat normal foods just fine. They need normal food to keep sane and prevent them from going into the second form that attacks anything with energy in it. Only the second form can infect others directly, making it the most dangerous and is an automatic kill-on-sight if seen. No one knows yet if you can change infected back to normal after they’ve transformed. Vanilla takes care of transformed infected when Sonic reports the incidents.

Mobians aren’t the only things infected, plant and wildlife have been mutated by the illness aswell. The symptoms of the infection is body mutations, a blue tongue, and increased hunger and thirst. Mobians born from infected parents can’t go into the second form but they become feral without food. Bites from hostile born-infected mobians are less likely to spread the infection but it isn’t impossible.

Infested AU-

Sonic, under the influence of a mysterious alien brain parasite, has become unpredictable and very, very dangerous. While all his powers remain the same, he now uses his speed to maim and kill anyone who moves. Sonic’s mental state has devolved to basic instinct, and, thanks to the parasite, he is in a near-constant state of feeling like a wild animal trapped in a corner. As a result, he will call upon impossible strength, reserved only for life-or-death scenarios. Pray you don’t catch his attention. You can’t outrun the fastest thing alive.

[paper-gold-theories]

With the fact that Heed's father was a big influence into getting her onto the hero scene, I like to think Mr. Kelly is a big backer of the Golden Rule and they have to put up with her because Kelly could threaten them supportive wise if they try to kick his daughter off. However, Goldheart still would stand his ground on many issues especially when it comes to his daughter's creepy obsession with him.

Villainous Theory: After Miss Heed's Arrest and How She Got Out of Rehab

I agree that its a high possibility that Mr. Kelly might be a backer of The Golden Rule and P.E.A.C.E, but I think that that they are less dependent on him as one might think.

As Mr. Kelly, might be a rich and powerful guy, however P.E.A.C.E, who basically can control entire cities through the heroes that that deploy and are put in charge of protecting that said city, are even more rich and powerful organisation in comparison.

If not, why did P.E.A.C.E just throw Miss Heed in an actual rehab centre for months (without internet) instead of just whisking her off from the start in her yatch and just paying the news to say a fake story that she was in rehab?

(The news mentioned that she was there since October, maybe 2022 or 2021 since The Heedeous Heart Episode was released in 31 Oct 2021)

Why was Miss Heed so desperate for Flug to get her out of rehab, thinking that she had no hope of getting out if Flug doesn't save her?

————

My theory is that the kiss which not only broke the mind control of all of Miss Heed's simps but caused a clossal f-up scandal for P.E.A.C.E. and The Golden Rule for having an extremely corrupt hero employed under them and exposing to the public that they are involved in the mind control for having the hero in their ranks.

P.E.A.C.E. probably tried to cut their losses by locking down the entire city, rounding up as many Villains as they can to be sent to the Mictlán. (Refer to the last chapter of the Shrunken Rescue)

Afterwards P.E.A.C.E. tried to cover up the story as much as possible and told the news to report that that Miss Heed had a lapse of judgement by kissing a Villain and to go to rehab to improve her behaviour. GoldHeart also didn't remove her Golden Rule status because it confirms the controvasy of having a corrupt member in the best superhero club.

However alot of civilians who snapped out of their mind control probably have told people about what really happened to them. That Miss Heed mind controlled not only villains, but heroes and civilians for her own selfish reasons and a conspiracy that P.E.A.C.E. and The Golden Rule was involved and backed this up.

The public opinion was split. In most cases, people outside of Cosmopolis and the general public who were not involved in Miss Heed's mind control didn't believe that P.E.A.C.E, a hero organization that fights agaists villainy and protects innocent people and their best super hero group, The Golden Rule and one of their members, would do such an evil thing. However there are many credible stories from a lot of sources that have caused public doubt about P.E.A.C.E.

Mr. Kelly and her agent, Anana Piña, tries to bail his daughter out with bribes and deals, but P.E.A.C.E. won't change their mind because of the colossal scandal she caused, which P.E.A.C.E. is still trying to clean up and because she no longer has Villains under her mind control that prevents them from doing crime and not making any progress on the formula GoldHeart wanted, they didn't see the value of keeping Miss Heed as a hero and bailing her out more than necessary than to save the orgaisation's reputation (that she just went to rehab for kissing a villain).

However P.E.A.C.E. still see that she had some value in being kept alived because she still has the most information on how the the formula works, which they can be still use in the future this is why they extracted her from the city alive instead of leaving her there to be torn apart by her enraged former followers (or it might be some other hidden reason not mention yet), so they put her in the rehab facility to keep and eye on her and also keep her lock up because having her roam free will defnitely caused another extremely controversal scandal that P.E.A.C.E. is supporting Miss Heed mind contolling people (which they are)

Mr. Kelly and her agent tried to negotiate that they can just keep her out of the lime light and just let her lay low and live in secret on her family's private yatcht or their mansions, but P.E.A.C.E. said that they do not trust her not to cause another controversy after being let out immediately or having access to her social media accounts and even the the internet in general. Hence, this is also another reason why they detained her in this hero rehab without internet access.

____

Before Flug came to see Miss Heed, agent Anana Piña visited her in her in room 217 which caused Miss Heed to yell at her when she and her father will be able to get her out of this facility. She is suffering without internet and wants to post things online.

The agent replied seriously that she weren't sure if they will be able to get her out.

This caused Miss Heed's eyes to widen in shock which turned into in denial and outrage and started yelling and questioning her agent of why can't her wealthy father or her do anything to get her out.

The agent said that P.E.A.C.E. is determinant in keeping her locked up after the kissing scandal she caused that lead to a lot of problems for P.E.A.C.E

Anana said she and her father will try to negotiate furthur with P.E.A.C.E. and work out something out with one of his contacts but for now asks Heed to wait in this special care penthouse for the time being (the nurse mentioned in Chapter 8 she stayed at a special care penthouse), that her father convinced P.E.A.C.E. to let her stay in at least.

Miss Heed then proceeds to yell at her agent that she doesn't want to stay in her penthouse she needs to out, she needs to post things online and she needs love and attention from her followers.

And the agent just yells at her back to "settle what she has for now or nothing at all" (like in Chapter 10 in the last image below) before leaving her alone.

____

Miss Heed was in her penthouse room for awhile before Flug visited. Without internet and the attention of her followers made her display withdrawal symptoms which can be seen when Flug visited her in this scene.

____

Miss Heed was there for months, while Mr. Kelly with Agent Anana negotiated with both P.E.A.C.E. and made a deal with Porccini (refer to Chapter 10 and Arenque News):

P.E.A.C.E. will agree to let Miss Heed out of the facility if Porccini can bring them Villains to be captured and be sent to Mictlán and if Mr. Kelly can run his own damage control to ensure that her being let out of the rehab would not tarnished

P.E.A.C.E. and make them look good instead (however they might not restore her as a hero in Cosmopolis as they already deployed a new superhero group called the "Justice Guardian Friends, they who might possibly use to manipulate people's emotions using their music)

Porccini will create a heist to lure rookie villains to the rehabilitation facility and work together with Captain Estrada and other P.E.A.C.E. officers to capture the Villains.

Mr. Kelly will use his money and connections to expose King Cassino for his involvement in Villainy causing him to be put on trial and assets to be frozen and to send all the rookie villains directly to Mictlán without interrogation to prevent any loose ends being tied to Porccini.

Afterwards he will use his money and connections with the news and media, like Arenque News to run a campaign to "clear his daughter's name" by saying that a controlled villain is better than a villain let looses, and Miss Heed's efforts to control villains is important in reducing crime and was a form of rehabilitation (hiding fact that her true intention was to gain hypnotize people into loving her and she also controlled not only villains, but heroes and civilians as well) and using Porccini's heist make it look like the villains were cruelly attacking for her previous efforts in reducing villainy her while she was still still recovering, when reality she is long gone from the facility and on her private yatch.

Meanwhile all Miss Heed had to do is just have to lay low on her private yacht without posting anything on her social media while everything is being taken care of for her (which she still complains about) until her name is cleared and she can publish her book for her comeback.

[ghostoffuturespast]

Writer Interview Tag 📝

Tagged by @luvwich. Thank you! These were fun to think about.

Q&A Below

When did you start writing?

For funsies, in 2022. I was working part-time then and had just binge read a bunch of fics. While I enjoyed what I read, none of them quite scratched the itch I had for more, so I was like guess I’ll have to write this story I want to read, yolo. As someone who hated writing growing up and all throughout school, I also figured it’d be good practice for me lol. Never fancied myself a writer until I started doing it. I sorely underestimated how much this hobby would consume my life.  

Are there different themes or genres you enjoy reading than what you write?

I can get into just about anything, regardless of themes or genre, as long as it holds my attention and I think it’s interesting. I really enjoy reading non-fiction books though. Mainly science, history, ethnographies, or some mash up of all three. (That’s where the real money’s at.) They’re fascinating and can be very entertaining if you find the right one. Plus, it’s excellent inspiration fodder. Real life is often stranger than fiction, and real life is the primary source for all fiction.

I was in the book store recently and realized I had multiple Mary Roach books to catch up on. I very much wish I had more time and the peace of mind to read. Alas, modern society prioritizes The Grind™ and why is my house always dirty? Please feed me.

Is there a writer you want to emulate or get compared to often?

I honestly can’t say there’s a particular writer I’ve ever tried to emulate. Every writer’s got their own style and strengths, and the reason as to why I enjoy their writing is always different. They way I write is undoubtedly a mash-up of influences, but as for sorting them out myself… Eh. 

I’ve never been compared to anyone, which I’m fine with, much rather be known for just being me. But folks are free to share if they have an opinion on it though, I’m always curious to know what stands out to readers. Nobody tells me these kinds of things lol.

Can you tell me a bit about your writing space?

I bop around spaces a lot, but my primary spot is on my art table in my office. I have a desk for my computer lol, however I prefer the art table because it’s in front of a window and feels like a more creative space. Otherwise, I’m staring at the wall and sitting next to unopened stacks of mail and paperwork that I haven’t filed. I also like to write on my tiny porch with three different beverages when it’s not 8 million degrees outside or an arctic wasteland.

Sometimes I write at work when it’s one of those 10 hour days, I’ve finished everything pressing I needed to do, and I’m by myself in the office… Know your taxpayer dollars are going to a good cause and funding contributions to fan fiction. Willing to bet money I’m not the only government employee doing it either.

What’s your most effective way to muster up a muse?

For me, inspiration and motivation are two separate things that almost never happen at the same time, so my writing process is fairly compartmentalized. I’ll jot down ideas in my draft when they randomly strike then find ways to incorporate and string those ideas together when I actually sit down to write. “Muses” for me are less a choir of angels descending from the heavens and more my one brain wrinkle occasionally handing me a post-it note. 

Are there any recurring themes in your writing? Do they surprise you?

As my supervisor likes to remind me, a theme needs to be a complete statement/sentence.

Topics/subjects/interests that appear frequently in my writing: violence, the inherent violence entrenched in colonial and capitalist systems, aikido, anthropology, nature is the answer, grief, intergenerational trauma, obvious and/or obscure references, callbacks, structural symmetry, body worship, teasing, the red-tape of bureaucracy, the sanctity of the mundane, being seen, self-acceptance, monsters and old gods, ghosts, the ancient and the archaic, personifying places, the poetry of paragraphs, grumpy characters, puns.

And I’m not surprised by any of these. I love (or love critically examining) all of these things.      

What is your reason for writing?

It is my greatest desire in this life to haunt people.

Is there any specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating?

I love it when people take the time to comment at all, regardless of the type. Just the fact that someone took the time to connect is lovely! Most of the comments I get aren’t super in-depth though (I don’t get those analytical essays that I sometimes see in other comment sections) so the ones where a reader takes the time to explain what they thought, how they felt, or about what they noticed in my writing (even if it’s brief) are super special to me. It’s like “Yo! Thank you for seeing this thing I spent a bunch of time on. I appreciate and love you!” (cue spider-man pointing meme)

How do you want to be thought about by your readers?

A friendly ghost.

I feel people tend to find me intimidating for reasons I don’t fully understand (irl and online, maybe it’s my resting ghost face). But, my dudes, I just wanna hang with you all. Truly. I know I’m bad at initiating conversation but please, I not scary. Weird for sure, but not scary.

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

Environmental descriptions/storytelling, action scenes, and big picture logistics. I get an idea for a story, sit down with it, and fifteen minutes later I’m rolling out full infrastructure blueprints. I got the plot, main story beats, and themes all mapped out. I’m good at assessing and planning, but also leave a lot of room to improvise too.

How do you feel about your own writing?

It ain’t perfect but it’s solid. Refining skills is a perpetual task. There’s always room for improvement, my writing’s gonna evolve over time, I’m gonna learn from other people; I’m okay with all of that.

Fuck proper grammar and punctuation though. It’s a social construct that I ain’t got time for. Linguistically I can do what I want because all the rules around that are made up too! I’m emulating modes of irl speech. As long as it mostly makes sense, I don’t really give a shit. Bite me. 

(Editors everywhere trying to strangle me.)

When you write, are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, or do you write purely for yourself, or a mix of both?

Purely for myself. Sometimes I write something and I think “so-and-so would probably appreciate this” but, unless it’s a writing project for someone else or I’m designing it for a specific audience in mind, I don’t put stock into what other people want. I tell the stories I want to tell.

Tagging with no pressure: @shimmer-like-agirl @baublekute @scarlettspectra

@genocidalfetus @dani-the-goblin @fly-amanitaa

[cacodaemonia]

🦴 ⇢ is there a piece of media that inspires your writing? 

Ohh that's a good one, but very tough! I could probably pick specific influences for some of my individual fics or AUs, but overall... Huh. Well, I was reminded of Watership Down the other day, and I just realized something.

It's one of my absolute favorite books and I've read it many many times. Some of my favorite aspects of the story are how all of these different characters come together to work toward a shared goal (even if they don't always know exactly what it is), and each of them has their own strengths that allow them to contribute. They have disagreements among themselves, of course, but they move past those, and the story doesn't dwell on the drama of conflicts and misunderstandings. There are outside forces that cause conflict, but some good comes even from those, and the characters learn new things from them.

A lot of stories use conflicts between the protagonists as major sources of drama, and that's something I generally dislike, because it always makes me ask, "If none of you like each other, then why should I, the viewer, care about any of you?" 😂 But in stories like Watership Down, you can feel the characters' love for each other and see their loyalty in their actions.

I think I try to handle characters in my stories in similar ways. I want them to be good to each other and work together as much as possible, even if they mess up sometimes. Aaaaand now I'm on my feelings about rabbits again T^T Hhhhh I love that book so much.

Sorry that was such a long answer! XD But thanks for the ask! 🧡

[inkblackorchid]

What the hell happened with Crow: an autopsy (Part 1)

*deep breath* Hiiiiiiii.

After sitting on this for ages, I finally decided to make the Crow post. And because this ended up getting stupidly long, I decided to turn this into part one of two, maybe three, we'll see (which I honestly should have done with the Aki posts too, but oh well). So let me quickly make it clear what I'm about here: This analysis is not meant to convince people who hate Crow to change their mind. It is also not meant to dissuade people who love Crow from doing so. Instead, I wanna look at how Crow was handled during the show (up until the end of the DS arc for now, I'll dive into the rest later) and give my own take on why he developed the way he did and turned into such a polarising character. Also, disclaimer, despite the fact that I'll be making an effort to analyse things objectively, I am a mere human and obviously not the one and only expert on all things 5Ds. My only claim to knowledge here is that I've watched 5Ds several times now, love the show and its characters deeply, and like to think I have a decent amount of media literacy. Also, I take no responsibility for the length of this post. Despite me splitting things up, it's stupidly, exhaustingly long. Like, very, very long. So. Let's hop to it, shall we?

Before I get into the meat of things, there's one more thing I would like to get out of the way: I know plenty of people, even now, so long after the show ended, would answer the question of "what happened with Crow, anyway" with something along the lines of "well Blackwings got so popular" or "well Aki's VA got pregnant so Crow stole her spotlight" and I need to burst some people's bubbles here because no. Neither of these things are true. Nor is the infamous "well Crow was meant to be the main villain", actually! And I could go into all of that here, but that would be a whole post of its own for each topic, and luckily, someone else has already done all of that work. I direct you to two posts over on Reddit from @mbg159, who did an absurd amount of digging to comprehensively disprove two of the 5Ds fandom's favourite scapegoat theories:

No, Crow was not meant to be a dark signer, and most certainly not the boss of the dark signers.

No, Aki being sidelined and suddenly having less presence in the narrative than him was not because her VA got pregnant.

I really don't want this to come off as an "assigned reading"-thing, but it is so, so important to keep these things in mind when looking at Crow, and honestly? I'm just tired of these rumours at this point. It's been 12 years since the show ended, we don't need to keep believing this nonsense. And the posts linked above aren't crackpot theories or anything of the sort—they provide sources all over and all of the links still work. If you still can't be bothered to read them (they are long, yes), then at least take away this tl;dr: Crow allegedly having been planned as a villain doesn't work because there is no evidence that supports it, and both his spike in screentime being caused by the Blackwings' popularity and him "taking Aki's spot" because her VA got pregnant make zero sense because they simply don't match up with the production timeline of the show. It is literally impossible for either of these things to be true. (And believe me, I am as mad as anyone that Aki got shafted, maybe even madder than the average fan, but if it doesn't add up, it simply doesn't add up and there were no regrettable outside influences, someone just actively made shitty writing decisions and that's that.) So please. It has been 12 years. Forget this stuff. Ditch it. Let it die. Because I'm not here to spin conspiracy theories, I'm here to analyse the writing of the show as best I'm able. Okay? Okay.

Now, for the good part. Shall we start with some facts? Let's start with some facts.

Crow is introduced to the audience in episode 30, shortly after the dark signers arc kicks off. And considering that he later ends up as one of the main characters, arguably even the third most important character in the show after Yusei and Jack, this immediately stands out. For reference, the rest of the signer group is introduced within the first 14 episodes of the show. Even Aki, who is the last signer to be introduced, takes less than half the number of episodes Crow does to finally make her debut. And I don't think you could blame anyone for finding this weird. 30 episodes, even in a show with a relatively short episode length like 5Ds, is an absurd amount of time for a protagonist to get introduced. As for how he's introduced to us...

We get the gist of his character pretty quickly. He's a daredevil, he's used to flipping sector security the bird (pun not intended), he's got a soft spot for kids, and he knows Yusei well—well enough for the two of them to tag-duel some security officers almost immediately after not seeing each other for an undefined amount of time, which, if you know anything about yugioh, says it all.

(Pictured: two lads getting up to Shenanigans.)

There is history there. These two know each other's decks. They know how each the other plays. They can work together immediately and seamlessly. This is a big deal. Aaaaannd... It immediately begs some questions: If this guy knows Yusei so well, and they are really close friends, why the hell is he only showing up now? Why wasn't he helping Yusei put together his duel runner? Why didn't he help him stick it to sector security at the start? Why weren't they in contact?

The thing is, the show never really answers any of that. At least not properly. We can only read between the lines as to why Crow wasn't with Yusei from the start. (At least in-universe. Irl, it's easy enough to guess that Crow was not there at the start of the show because the writers at first didn't think they'd be putting this side character Takahashi originally came up with into the show.) Which brings me to the Enforcers. (Side note: As a sub watcher, I know the Japanese name is Team Satisfaction and I know Kiryu's catchphrase works a million times better with that name, but "Team Satisfaction" will always sound like a boyband name to me and I like to mix and match the sub and dub names based on what I like better on an individual basis anyway, please bear with me.) And before I properly open that can of worms, I feel the need to point something out: After Crow made his debut in episode 30 and got the opportunity to show off his duelling a bit during episodes 30-31, we are immediately introduced to Kiryu/Kalin at the end of episode 32. What this means for Crow is that he has zero backstory at this point and his character had zero time to settle. His only tie to the main story, as far as the audience is concerned, is that he's Yusei's friend from however long ago, and aside from that, he's only got two other things going to endear him to viewers: 1. he stands up to sector security (whom the first season did a pretty good job of establishing as pigs) and 2. he cares for abandoned children. He gets a "Save the Cat" moment and a tie to the main character, and that's it. Just to put that into perspective, we know the most important points of all the other signers' backstories by that point. Jack and Yusei's deal is made obvious to us within the first five episodes; the twins, though the narrative largely only spares them breadcrumbs, anyway, at least have that bit about Ruka/Luna having been in a coma at one point and having a connection to the spirit world shown during episodes 18-19; and though it once again takes Aki the longest to reveal what she's all about, we at least have a good idea of why she is the way she is by episode 24, and we get the icing on the cake of her traumatic past during the narratively excellent duel in episodes 40-41 (no, I will never shut up about how much I love this duel). Plus, she arguably has the most complicated backstory, so it's no surprise that it takes longer to reveal. But here's where the Enforcers come in again.

(And here we see the arguably most deranged rat bastard of a man (affectionate) in the entire show. But hey, at least he has an exquisite sense for dramatics.)

As far as backstory for Crow is concerned, the Enforcers drama initially revealed during episodes 33-35 is as much as we get for him after his introduction. His later duel with dark signer!Bommer/Greiger during episodes 51-53 offers a bit more, but more on that later. First, I want to preface this by saying that I don't think it was a coincidence that Crow and Kiryu/Kalin were introduced so shortly after one another. Because at this point in the story, I think Crow's main role is to add a counterweight to Kiryu/Kalin. To Crow, whatever happened with the Enforcers was evidently not enough to break the friendship between him and Yusei—they're still close and get along well. And then we have Kiryu/Kalin—for him, whatever happened with the Enforcers was a big deal and he's more than a little resentful about it, to the point of wanting to murder Yusei in revenge. (It is also noteworthy that this is the first thing that ever calls Yusei's character into question, because here is a guy who evidently knew him well once and absolutely loathes him, and it's clearly not because of his Satellite upbringing, his marker, or any of the stuff the other antagonists up until this point hated him for. Yusei fucked something up here. Big time. But let's not get sidetracked.) So, what does the Enforcer drama tell us about Crow, anyway? Frankly, not much. We learn two things: One, same as Yusei and Jack, Crow was all for the "liberating Satellite"-thing at first. Two (and this one's way spicier), unlike Yusei, he had the guts to ditch Kiryu/Kalin when it became clear he was willing to go too far. He was even the first to do it. (And I'd argue that if Crow hadn't walked away, Jack wouldn't have, either, but the relationship between these two is a whole other funky can of worms.)

(I love how Yusei grabs him like a naughty cat every time Crow gets worked up.)

The thing is, I wish I could say this tells us something integral to Crow's character, but looking at the rest of the show... it kind of doesn't. Implicitly, it shows us that he draws the line somewhere, and where people he loves doing absolutely insane things is concerned, he does it sooner than Yusei. It's just that this is never brought up again. And as far as his introduction is concerned, this, the first dark signer!Kiryu/Kalin duel, and him rushing to get Yusei to Martha's on his runner is the last we see of Crow for a while.

(For the love of all that's good and holy, why on earth did he deposit Yusei on his runner like that, shrapnel-stab-wound-side down?? Did he pull out the biggest piece of shrapnel before doing this? How did Yusei's legs not drag on the asphalt? Why did nobody think to tie something around his stomach to slow down the bleeding? Ok I need to calm down I'm overthinking this)

After this bit, the signers are pulled centre stage for a while—which was to be expected, for one, and also seems like the right call, writing-wise. After all, they're the ones the audience expects to save the day. As far as viewers are concerned at this point, Crow is just Some Dude who happens to be good friends with Yusei. We've had characters like this before. Hell, the opening episode of 5Ds introduced us to a whole four of them, and for all we know, Crow could have a first been intended to be precisely that, just another Satellite side character, who just so happens to have ties to the Enforcers-debacle that the others don't.

However. Where the writing for Crow as a character, especially considering where he ends up later, is concerned, this looks like less of a smart move. Because the "set-up" (if you can even call it that) to make Crow a protagonist later is... shaky, to say the least. And I'll be frank with you, I'm pretty sure this is because Crow was intended to be neither a dark signer nor a signer (which the Reddit post about him I linked above also proposes). In other words, it was never meant to be set-up in the first place. Considering how the show developed and turned him into a protagonist later, though, I can't help but wonder how Crow could have been written differently to make him actually slot in well with the rest of the signers without stepping on many people's toes. But before we dive into hypotheticals, let's continue looking at what they did with him first.

We see him between episodes 30 and 35, and then he briefly poofs out of existence until episodes 43-44 where he... mistakes Yaeger/Lazar for a dark signer and has a duel with no outcome against him, which only barely serves to keep him relevant.

(The face of a dark mastermind, servant of an ancient, immeasurable evil. Truly.)

Though him outmanoeuvring the vice director despite all the data he has on him shows him to be a cunning duellist, it feels a bit like a throwaway episode, like the show saying "oh yeah wait don't forget that this guy's also there". Crow exists in the narrative—and gets to duel, which sets him apart from Yusei's other Satellite friends—but he does nothing to advance the plot, despite getting whole episode segments dedicated solely to what he's currently getting up to. He's just kind of there, and it doesn't help to set up any of what comes later, except the idea that he can and will fight a dark signer if he finds one, maybe. But the thing is, Crow vanishes after this duel. Literally.

(Run, bird boy, run! Or, uh... drive?)

And look. The way this moment looks? With the black fog literally catching back up to Crow on-screen? And with what he says, swearing that he won't die here, which is strikingly similar to how the other dark signers refused to die, swearing themselves to revenge instead? I get why people thought this would be the moment Crow died and turned into a dark signer himself. But the thing is, even without all the hints pointing to Goodwin instead of him from the start (Goodwin speaks about being willing to sacrifice Satellite within the first ten episodes, the condor is literally on his shirt, ffs, and the corresponding geoglyph is shown in the background when he talks about the Nazca Lines, I am not making this up), Crow becoming a dark signer makes zero sense because it doesn't fit his character. He has no motivation to become a dark signer, because the dark signers ultimately aim to destroy Satellite. And even with what little the audience knows about Crow at this point, it is crystal clear that Crow would never destroy Satellite, not to speak of sacrificing the children he cares for to summon an Earthbound Immortal. It simply doesn't work, because his character doesn't work like that. Crow is deeply protective of Satellite—as his devotion to making it better during the Enforcer days shows—and he is even more fiercely protective of the kids he takes care of. Destroying either or both to turn the world into a literal hellscape instead goes against everything we've seen him say and do up until this point.

However, this is where we have to address the refrigerator in the room.

(Ah yes. The fridge for Crow. The fridge for Crow that was there from the start. The fridge that Crow totally had the time to curl up and hide inside of. The fridge specifically for Crow. Crow's fridge.)

Every time I watch this moment, I don't know whether to laugh like a maniac or heave the biggest sigh of my life. Even when you're being extremely generous with the show and its writing, there is no getting around the fact that this is as though someone wrote DEUS EX MACHINA all across the screen in bold, red letters. And again, I get why people thought this was the moment where the writers decided to do a 180 and turn Crow into a good guy instead of a dark signer due to the popularity of his cards or whatever. The production timeline still doesn't add up, but I get it. And cards or no cards, you can tell that someone made an out-of-left-field decision in Crow's writing for this moment to exist, because the way things were going for him before, purely based on visual evidence, it looked more like he was going to be another victim of the ominous black fog here, for someone (presumably Yusei) to have an angsty moment about later. (Or, hell, perhaps somewhere around this point, they decided that the final boss duel against Rex Goodwin would be a 3v1 turbo duel, which Aki, despite being a kickass duellist, categorically couldn't participate in because she doesn't have a license at this point! It could have been as simple as that.) To contextualise this, between Crow vanishing and him reappearing here, 7 whole episodes pass. He vanishes in episode 44 and reappears in episode 51. His saving grace is that all the duels in between canonically take place within the same night, which is why it's technically not unrealistic for him to be stuck in a fridge for a few hours. Technically. Ok, but what does he reappear for? Well, to have his very own dark signer duel, of course.

(Not pictured: Bommer's hilariously large runner.)

This is the first time we get to see Crow actively contributing to the larger plot, and in light of where he ends up later, I think this duel does a world of good for him. Firstly, it offers us more backstory (though still less than for the other signers), establishing why Crow's so attached to his orphans, why he's so close to Yusei, and throwing in tidbits like how he learned to read from duel monsters cards. It's "Save the Cat" moments all over, and it also does two other things well: For one, this is the only dark signer duel we get where both parties technically have the exact same goal—revenge. Bommer wants to avenge his hometown, Crow his kids. This duel, more than anything else, shows us that Crow could have become a dark signer—in a world where doing so didn't also mean destroying Satellite and killing his kids. Plus, it's the only duel against a dark signer we get that is fought and won by someone who, at this point, is not a signer. And this is especially important to me because it supports themes the show already began establishing with Rudger/Roman Goodwin and continues much later with Team Ragnarok and the likes: Fate is bullshit, the future is not set in stone, it is determined by what we do here and now and we have to fight to make it better. Therefore, contrary to what "fate" would dictate, Bommer/Greiger is not beaten by a signer. He's beaten by Crow. This is an extremely solid bit of writing that 100% supports the show's themes. (Arguably, this duel might have been even more solid if Crow hadn't actually turned into a signer, because him as a non-signer who stayed a non-signer would have been an even bigger "fuck you" to fate than him becoming the replacement fifth signer later.)

And, well, we know where Crow ends up after that. Seeing as he's been freed from fridge-prison and seeing as Aki doesn't have a runner yet, but the final boss duel is set up as a turbo duel, he joins the fray next to Yusei and Jack to fight Rex Goodwin. And the only thing this duel does for Crow character-wise is bring the whole Daedalus Bridge story full circle.

Which. Let me swing back to that for a second and put on my extra big nerd glasses because wouldn't you know it, I'm a greek mythology nerd and when I hear the name "Daedalus", I perk up like a dog that just spotted a piece of ham.

(Pictured: The least OSHA compliant bridge in the world, probably.)

So. As not to derail this with greek mythology, the short version of the Daedalus myth, as far as it's relevant here, for people who don't know it: Daedalus was a famed architect of Crete, who (among other things) built the labyrinth that kept the Minotaur imprisoned. What he also built was a pair of functional, sort-of mechanical wings held together by wax (because he needed to make a quick getaway at some point, but let's not go there). And he had a son: Icarus. Who famously donned the wings his father built and flew too close to the sun, which made the wax holding the wings together melt, causing him to fall into the sea and die, leaving his father to grieve.

I don't think it's hard to see how the Daedalus-Icarus story connects to the bridge. The Daedalus bridge is named after the genius inventor, reaches into the sky towards the sun, and our mechanical wings in this case are the wings attached first to Rex Goodwin's duel runner and then, you guessed it, the Blackbird. This would lead us to liken Rex Goodwin, of all people, to Icarus, then. And I'd argue the comparison works, too. See, the reason for which Goodwin actually built the bridge at first is left completely up in the air. We know that Crow believes a version wherein the "legendary duellist" wanted to build that bridge to reunite Satellite and the city—and the thing is, for all we know, that might be true. Goodwin never contradicts it, he only claims he was doing it to "oppose destiny" (read: follow Rudger/Roman's plan to take his brother's mark, assemble the signers and fight and win against the dark signers instead of having someone bear both a dark signer and a signer mark on themselves).

(Since when does becoming a dark signer make people swole, anyway? Where was that beef when Kiryu became a dark signer?)

Perhaps along the way, he thought he might as well reunite Satellite with the city, since things were already going to hell there. (Before he became director, which I find very interesting. Did the city decide immediately after the explosion that Satellite was contaminated and needed to be isolated or some such? Were efforts made to reunite city people with their relatives who might now have been stranded in Satellite? Did MIDS, hoping to cover up their mistake, lobby for cutting the Satellite off from the city? Was corruption involved? So many questions...) Or perhaps he simply built the bridge for himself, to get back to civilisation in order to follow his brother's plan and everyone else just interpreted it differently. It matters little—the only thing that matters is how Crow sees it. To him, building the bridge was obviously an attempt to reach the city, despite how hopeless things in Satellite seemed, and Goodwin's final ditch effort to jump off the bridge and "fly" on his duel runner was an act of defiance that turned him into a legend. Most importantly, both these things connect to freedom for Crow. Freedom from the misery in Satellite, freedom from sector security, and arguably, freedom from destiny. But then Goodwin tells him that all building the Daedalus Bridge and jumping off it did for him was teach him that destiny is inevitable. And Crow calls bullshit, because of course he does.

And I'd argue this is even more of a reason why Goodwin works as Icarus: He jumped off the bridge (flew too close to the sun), fell and lost his arm (the wax melted and he crashed into the sea), and ultimately, that fall completely changed his outlook on life and turned him from a (possible) hero into a villain (he "died", metaphorically speaking). This led to him now confronting every hopeful, younger person with the outlook that fate cannot be altered unless you're willing to sacrifice your very humanity itself. And there's Crow, a non-signer partaking in a "destined battle" only signers are supposed to be part of, calling bullshit on all of that merely by breathing.

(Bird boy is angry, watch out)

This moment could have been exemplary to emphasising the show's later themes (and I think to those who love Crow, it is), yet, at the same time, I understand why some people think the writers fumbled the ball with his introduction and role in the plot and cast of characters too much for it to hit as well as it could have. There is also the argument to be considered that the whole Daedalus Bridge-thing, though it might thematically fit Satellite, feels like it could have been written in solely to prop up Crow's character and give him something to clash with Goodwin about. Which, you know. I can't refute that, really. It might have been. And the timeline on Goodwin's shenanigans as the legendary duellist is a bit wonky, too, unfortunately—after all, we know only that the Zero Reverse happened 17 years before the show's start, when Yusei is only a year old. Crow's story would then lead us to believe that Goodwin, after somehow surviving that explosion, stayed in Satellite long enough to see it start turning into a floating heap of junk. (Which means this either happened very quickly or it took him a good few years to start building the bridge; both options have some logisitical issues.) Then he builds the bridge, gets cornered by security, jumps off, and... Then what? He looses his arm (but somehow manages to hold onto his brother's??), somehow makes it over to the city anyway (wow, he must be a great swimmer), then... manages to get hired by the public maintenance bureau somehow, only to climb the ranks at record speed and become director within only a few years? (Or did he meet Iliaster first and they somehow helped him climb to the city's political top?) It's all rather nebulous, and does suggest that Goodwin was not originally written with this bit as part of his backstory in mind. But can I prove that? Nope. Might also just be another instance of the writers fumbling the ball, despite having a solid story outline.

At the end of the day, Crow closes out the dark signers arc by establishing himself as a part of our team of heroes—which is, of course, strongly emphasised by him receiving the dragon's tail mark, while the dragon's head switches over to Yusei.

(The Crimson Dragon, probably: Oh, sod it. Fine, the other guy went batshit and you actually helped. Here's your mark. I'll get you a dragon later or whatever.)

Now, I know this in and of itself was already a polarising moment for people—and the funny thing is, I know that even some people who like Crow hated this moment. And I can see why. Crow's whole thing during the latter half of the DS arc up until here was that he was the only one taking part in the destined battle who was decidedly not destined to be a part of it. He was repeatedly spitting in fate's face, and as I mentioned, this could have been brilliant to throw some weight behind themes the show later brings up again. So in terms of character writing, this moment might have undermined Crow's character, rather than supported it, because it feels like less of a reward and more of a "gotcha": If you're extra uncharitable, Crow suddenly isn't the guy who defied fate and fought for the future (does that ring a bell?) anyway, he's the guy who was supposed to become a chosen one anyway and, like Yusei during the start of the Fortune Cup, simply didn't have a visible mark yet. However. There is also the bigger picture to consider. Character writing aside, Rudger/Roman Goodwin dying would have had a rather sizeable impact on the story, had nobody else become a signer in his stead—because there are supposed to be five signers and Rudger/Roman dying would have seen the group short one chosen one (and short one dragon, but we'll get to THAT can of worms in part two). So, to add my two cents for a minute, I don't think adding a new signer was a bad idea, per se. The execution of this move, however...

And I can hear you yelling. "Rua/Leo should have become a signer instead". And yes. I get that, too. And yes, I know Life Stream Dragon was teased before Black-Winged Dragon was ever conceived of, probably. So yes, Rua/Leo should have become a signer earlier. The question is just where. Because the way this final boss duel is set up, nobody could become an additional signer before this point, it would have turned Rex Goodwin's whole shindig on its head. (Even though the duel against Dimak/Devack could have been a good opportunity to reward Rua with a signer mark early.) Arguably, making Rua a signer instead but letting Crow join the main cast anyway could have made for a stronger showing overall. It would have made the twins harder to sideline the way they were later. And it would have kept Crow's "piss on fate"-theme.

But. This is what we got. Crow got a fast-paced introduction, was quickly made as likeable as possible, had an unfortunate stretch of episodes where he vanished very suspiciously (what I wouldn't give to know what decisions were made among the writers in that period), came back to make a very strong showing against Bommer/Greiger and then participate in the final boss duel against Rex Goodwin, where he got to shove his fate-nonsense back in his face, too. A smooth character arc? Hardly. And with everything laid out like this, I get why he rubbed some people the wrong way. Similarly, I get why he's some people's absolute favourite, though. Both sides have a basis in canon. (But please, let's not justify either with decade-old production conspiracy theories, okay?)

To close this out, allow me to do my thing for a moment and imagine a 5Ds canon where Crow was handled in a way that allowed his character to shine more, and maybe not piss as many people off.

Imagine a Crow who was there with Yusei from the start, alongside Nerve, Blitz, Taka, and Rally. A Crow who was, maybe, angrier at Jack for leaving and stealing Stardust than Yusei was, and who was determined to help his friend get his dragon back. A Crow who still had his kids to look after, and who introduced us to the Daedalus Bridge legend way earlier, to establish it as an organic part of Satellite culture, and who maybe drops hints about the Enforcers earlier, too. And we switch back to him every once in a while as the Fortune Cup is going on. Maybe he's the only one who's slippery enough to outrun Yaeger/Lazar's people when they come to capture Yusei's friends in order to use them as blackmail against him. And he starts looking for them, and runs into Saiga/Blister, and learns what's going on over in the city. Maybe he tries to follow Yusei because all of it rings alarm bells for him, maybe he doesn't because he figures security will be too tight now that Yusei has escaped. Instead of them stumbling out of a container to find TV conveniently playing the Fortune Cup Finale, Yusei's friends are found by Crow, who gets them back to the hideout, where they all catch the finale with Saiga/Blister. (Optional: If we want him to stay a signer, maybe he gets a weird feeling while watching the finale.) Then Yusei's suddenly back and Kiryu/Kalin's introduction proceeds as we know it. Yusei's injured, but Crow sticks around for a little longer, leaving only once he knows Yusei's gonna be fine. Then he decides that he needs to take up arms against the dark signers, too, because like hell is he gonna let anyone destroy Satellite and sacrifice his kids. He can still duel Yeager/Lazar while Aki and Yusei are duking it out in the hospital and the signers learn what the hell being a signer means, it matters little. Maybe this time, he outruns the black fog—barely—and there's no fridge. And he realises that stuff makes people vanish. While the signers start their big battle, he races back to check on the kids and finds the same disaster we already know, and everything else from there on out proceeds as previously. (Except that maybe, the first time Crow sees Jack again, he has some choice words for him for legging it to the city and stealing from Yusei.) Whether he turns into a signer at the end or not is up to preference, I think.

Nobody has to be on board with this version, but this is probably how I would have adjusted it to make things less jarring.

For now, see you in part two.

[sunny6677]

Spookytale: The Rewrite.

Spooky Month x Undertale crossover.

Summary:

After hearing the call of a strange, hypnotizing flute—Skid awakes to find himself laying on a bed of golden flowers—with several others surrounding him, and a strange bright light he hadn't seen before beaming it's rays down.

Meanwhile, John—who has no idea how any of them ended up in this strange place, attempts to guide the group to a way out. But he finds himself going on a journey he never thought he'd ever find himself on.

PROLOGUE, PART 2: Panic.

( @mayisgoingnuts @crossover-enthusiast @facelessthefreak @dexter-apologist-5000 )

————

..John, despite the aching pain he felt in his head and all over his body, was able to vividly recall what had took place. Even though he shouldn't have—considering the impact of the fall appeared to be very long—judging from the distance between the ground and the hole.

He shouldn't have survived. None of them should have survived. He didn't think anyone would actually survive when he found his work at the station interrupted by the distant noise of a soft flute. Playing the same eery tune.

He felt himself sent into a panic—rushing around the corridors as the melody sounded in the air. He burst into the main area of the station where his partner had sat with the phone ringing continously in his hand.

He had screamed that the piper was back. And after that, they.. and sort of rushed out toward the vehicle outside of the station and dashed toward the forest. They ended up finding Ms. Lila's kid sobbing on the sidewalk, and picked him up to keep him safe since he was the one unaffected.

And.. well.. after that, it got kind of blurry. Either the kid had run out at some point and they went after him. Or he had ran in while they were confronting Piper.

Regardless, all John remembered was Jack just shooting at Piper, and then..

Well—the music defintely wasn't coming from him, seeing as it kept playing. All John remembered was them staring at the hole. And then everything fading to darkness.

And then the next thing he knew, he.. just woke here. A few moments ago in fact. His eyes barely spreading open as the light from up above filled his sensitive eyes.

For a moment, he glanced behind himself. On the flooring that wasn't covered by a patch of green, there was simple stone ground leading up to a long dark hallway up ahead. The hallway made him feel a chill run down his spine, and swallowing, he looked away.

He stared longer around the area. Everyone in town that he knew appeared to be here. Ms. Lila, her kid, that candy kid, and.. well, from what it seemed, none of them were under that melody's influence anymore. Judging by the clearer stare in their eyes, and the confused expressions on their faces rather than ones of shocked bliss.

"Ra—Rad?"

He heard a familiar voice speak softly from behind him. Seemingly not to him. But the sound of the voice caused him to snap his head in it's direction as everyone spoke out of turn. Different voice grunting from all sides of the room.

"Wil—wha.. what's going on?"

"..uh.. I dunno. Skid—do you know?"

"No. I just heard weird music and everyone started following it. It wasn't spooky at all. It was-a scary.."

"..kids?"

"Kevin!"

"..what the—where.. how did I end up here?! What—what is this place?!"

"..Streber?"

"..wh.. mmh.. Eth—Ethan..?"

"Wh.. what are you two weird kids doing here?! Where'd you take us?!"

John, despite the many voices echoing echoing around him, managed to tune them out. And focused on the familiar source of the voice he had heard. In the corner up against the wall. A small, long-faced boy with a dimple on the right side of his face—his hair made into blonde girls and his blue cap laying on the flower bed. Alongside a taller young man with curls of blonde hair, and a dimple on the left side of his face.

The younger man forced himself upward by prodding his elbows against the ground, grunting. "..ughh.."

The small boys eyes trailed over him, his mouth slightly hanging open as he did so. Finally, after a moment, the younger man's eyes darted toward him. And his eyes quickly became wide. "Wh—what the—Robert? Dude—what are you doing here? You.."

He stopped. His eyes scanning around the area. "..where.. what is this place?"

"I—I don't know. I just.."

The smaller boy paused. His eyes now wide. It was only after a moment of standing that John realized the boy was now staring back at him.

Immediately gaining his senses back, John walked foward—forcing himself to ignore the ache in his legs.

"..un—uncle John? What—" Robert stuttered, his face now worried sick and his mouth twisted into a frown of concern. "What are you doing here? How did we—"

"I.. I dunno, kid. I really don't." Johns eyes scanned around the area once more. He saw a black haired man with a round face and a missing arm being helped up by another more gothic-looking guy. Jack slowly helping up Patty who had apparently been in the corner.

He went quiet, and sighed. "Look—just—just stay calm, okay?"

He then turned around. Everyone appeared to either be helping themselves up, glancing around in confusion or on the verge of having a panic attack, or clearly still passed out.

Lifting his hands, he grunted out, "Okay—people, I need you to stay calm." His voice rang out among the several others that mingled together, all of which seemed to slightly hush upon noticing he was speaking.

"Do—do any of you actually remember how you got down here?"

Silence filled the air. Everyone looked around in confusion. A soft voice from a young girl in the corner spoke up.

"..uh.. I don't. All I remember was that I was just drawing, and then.. I.. I heard something. And everything went dark."

"Yeah." A kid in a pumpkin mask nodded, "I was playing in my room, and then I heard a song."

"Okay. Is.. is that true for everyone else here?"

The silence appeared to signal a yes, as they simply glanced around at eachother in quietness.

"..I see. Well.."

John spun around with a slight huff. "Al—Alright, I'm.. I'm not really sure how to tell you how y'all got down here. Honestly, I'm.. not even sure what actually happened. Does anyone remember anything different?"

The room was filled by people either shaking their heads, or giving a verbal refusal.

"..well.. alright. Okay—just.. gimme a second, people—alright? I'll talk with my partner about what to do. Don't panic yet. Just sit tight til we figure out what to do."

Voices of soft protest began to erupt—some either protesting directly against what he had said, and others simply talking to whoever was next to them.

"Wh—what?!" He heard the candy kid yell out, "How are we supposed to stay calm?! We literally—"

"Mom—what's.. what's going on?"

"Hold on, hold on—we can't just—!"

"People—people. Just stay calm—I'll figure things out. We—"

"Ugh.. why did we have to get stuck down here with you—plebians?! What's happening?!"

"Wait—there's a hallway right there, isn't it? Why can't we just go through that?"

"Dude, that's just gonna lead to one of us going missing like in one of the horror movies!"

..John let out a long sigh, quietly approaching Jack who stood beside Patty. A frown curled on his thin lips, with Patty who was practically slumped against his shoulder.

John muttered, "You okay, Patty?"

"..yeah." Flatly, Patty said. "I'm fine."

"What.. what are we gonna do?" Jack softly inquired, lifting his head in Johns direction.

John hesitated, before letting out yet another sigh.

"..I guess we're just gonna have to figure that out."

Grumbling a bit, his eyes darted toward the ceiling of.. whatever it was they were in again. The dark rock from above made it appear as if they were inside something. And they most likely were. The only possible conclusion he could come to was that they were beneath a cave of some sort, or a mountain.

But.. that wasn't possible. They fell through a hole that was in the grass of the forest. They hadn't gone to a mountain or a cave at all. At least.. he didn't remember doing so.

..he needed to find some solution here. And fast.

————

..the area around them as completely filled with soft chattering as Skid sat beside his friend. Who had comfortably shifted next to him and his mom, along with Susie who appeared to be fidgeting with her hands and anxiously glancing around.

Skid wanted to know why they were here or what the music had even led them to. The slight panic he felt was somewhat calmer now. To be honest, the area looked pretty spooky with how dark it was.

From all around him—different voices chattered at once, discussing possible scenarios or just what to do in general. It was only after a while as the dampness hung in the air that a gruff, masculine voice spoke up from the farther end of the room.

"Okay.. everyone—everyone."

Everyone appeared to slightly hush, some either still talking or slowly looking over at him. The black haired one shifted beside him on his left, holding a stern expression on his face.

When the room became quiet enough, the sheriff grunted, "Okay.. I'm not sure how many of you noticed, but there's a hallway right behind us." He gestured in it's direction. "I dunno what it might lead to. But.. incase there's a way out, me and my partner will go check."

"Wai—wait.." The man with the movie glasses on stuttered, "But—but what if there's something dangerous back there? You might get hurt!"

"Son, we have guns." Huffed the officer. "It'll be fine. If there's anything dangerous, we'll let you know."

The officer let out a long sigh again. The round headed man with red glasses and a missing limb spoke again, his somewhat nasally voice speaking up over the several others.

"Wa—wait—what are we supposed to do if you don't come back? What if something bad happens to us if you go off?"

"..I'm.. I'm not sure. But—just stay put. If you think somethings gonna happen, then feel free to get up and go wherever we went."

"..mmh.."

The Gothic man from beside him gently asked him if we was okay, and John looked around. The balding man from before still hadn't woken up yet. And several people still spoke all at once.

..this seemed sort of familiar to Skid. Not the experience itself, but rather the situation. And in all honesty, he wasn't sure why.

The brown haired officer finally turned around, the black haired one slowly turning at the same rate.

"Just stay put, okay?"

The officer huffed, now facing the darkness of the narrow hallway—the dark shadows seeming eager to swallow them whole as they let out a sigh.

"We'll be back in a second."

[actual-changeling]

Does Crowley have memory loss like how Jim does? (an empty house and looking where the furniture isn't. It hurts to remember. I know, try harder). If so is there any evidence of this and do you think the memory loss or things related to it (Crowley's angelic identity, rank, or his fall) will play a role in next season?

Crowley definitely has memory loss, but I think it's very different from the kind Jim/Gabriel has.

We can broadly divide memory loss into natural and artificial, with natural memory loss being the brain's response to a trauma while artificial memory loss is either caused by an external source or done intentionally, e.g. Gabriel putting his memories into the fly.

The house metaphor works regardless, though with the difference being that Gabriel's memory furniture can be recovered completely while Crowley's can't. I've talked about trauma-related memory loss at length before, but let's have a little review:

When faced with a traumatic situation that you cannot escape by fight, flight, or fawn, your nervous system falls back on 'freeze' and dissociation. It cannot cope with what is happening, so it tries to remove your/your awareness from reality as much as possible.. During dissociative episodes, the processing of external & internal input and the forming of memories is impaired, meaning that once you are in a safe environment and can 'return' to reality, everything you experienced before is blurry or foggy in some way.

Depending on the how, when, and what of trauma—especially if it's on-going and there is no actual safe environment you can escape to later—the dissociative barriers can become strong enough to turn the person that went through the trauma into Not You. We see this with Crowley and the way he talks about the Starmaker: the angel you knew isn't me, that was a long time ago, etc.

If it wasn't You that the bad things happened to, then the trauma no longer feels as inescapable as when you acknowledge that it was You—it's the brain saying "I cannot deal with this" and pushing it to the extreme.

That is why, in my opinion, Crowley has trouble recalling anything related to his fall, the Great War, and his time as the Starmaker, he can only access more memories when he is back in a triggered state, like after the bookshop fire. Emotional flashbacks force you to reconnect with memories and experiences, and you may remember more during that time just to forget about it again once you're back to normal.

We see Crowley slip into a dissociative episode during the final fifteen, but it also happens several times throughout the show before that.

Maybe there is also an outside influence on top of that, though I personally hope that Neil won't go down that road. Crowley's trauma-related memory loss and the cPTSD he has to deal with feels very realistic and accurate, and it adds a lot to him as a character.

Still, his fall will probably be quite important, memories or no memories, and we have already gotten a lot of fragmented facts about the extent of Crowley's powers both before and after the fall. There's a lot for Neil to work with here.

[etho-slabbers]

I've done it for lifesteal so I think I should do it for hermitcraft... sooo,, what I think every hermit would choose in infinite realms and (maybe) why.

warning, infinite realms spoilers lie ahead.

(any names or terms I use will be explained under cut/in a reply to this post)

Bdubs- classer 100% he would choose either a gardener based class, along the lines of Ender Ornn's one or he's a builder,,, (actually he could also be a formations master, which is cultivation but he might be that too.) His secondary is definitely skills though, no doubt, he probably advances them like Zenker does.

Cub- He would be a cultivator with a secondary focus as classer 'cause he wants the perks from it. Probably on a path based around speed and empowering himself.

Doc- he's a mainly a skill user with a secondary of cultivation. He's on a destructive path, like Ryun or Tali's main paths, his second path is formations, like Eratemus.

Etho- pure skills user, like zenker. Actually, quite like zenker, but he probably did it abit faster. He spent ages building his skills up and locking in parts of himself. He is most likely an explorer.

False- classer, with a sword based class. (I don't watch false sorry </3)

Gem- cultivator, like Anrosh but kinda better, she got her own inspiration. Uses class as secondary, finds it more useful. Main weapon is a sword. Uses a formation based secondary path.

gonna make this a multi-part thing, I wanna keep rereading the book >:3.

EXPLANATIONS. (some haven't come up yet it's just so I can just link this post to all of these & add any extras here too.)

classers get perks every 5(?) levels and get 6 stat points each time, 3 are allocated to their primary and secondary attributes and the other 3 are free. They get a class evolution every 60 levels (I think) and get a class defining perk 30 levels after that. Classes are based on achievements and influence from inside.

Cultivators advance through realms, starting at early mortal and finishing at peak eternal. Each realm has three stages, early, mid and peak. They require inspiration to advance through realms, inspiration can be shared but doing so cripples the cultivator to never be able to change techniques or gain their own inspiration again. Paths influence from outside.

Skills require understanding to advance, to advance a skill you must understand how it works and you must understand yourself. To make a tier 6 skill, you must lock in part of yourself, that part can't change.

Formations- essence arranged by a cultivator to do something, such as working as a TV or to send signals from place to place. They can do basically anything.

Focus madness- having focuses too close in tiers of power, pushing and pulling. Makes the holder insane, driven to do only what the core concepts of their, class/path and twists the wording of locked skills.

Essence- what everything in the infinite realm is made of literally, from the ground to the concept of space itself. It is also used as currency. Cultivators can pull it into their core, they can also pull only certain ones in based on their qi aspect.

Aspect- what taints a cultivator's qi.

Qi- power source of a cultivator.

Ranker- someone who comes from an iteration, their wasn't always part of the framework.

Framework- what gives the ability for classes, paths and skills to even exist.

Sect- a primarily cultivator faction.

Sect head- leader/owner of a sect.

Sect leader- helps the sect head run the sect.

Runes- like really simple formations, requires a part of your soul to be infused to work.

Twin aspects of true death- Formerly the aspect of true death itself. Also formerly held by Ryun and Melody. Currently held by Ryun and Selia.

Ender Ornn- Ender Ornn Dagada. Classer. Olriginally found by Kayra Ornn, with his garden. I think he was a ranker. Originally focus mad. Died to Ra' azel.

Zenker- Zenker Brokentail, a full skill user. Reached the peak of skills. Died to Hastur.

Ryun- Ryun Nacht Wol. Cultivator. 7th iteration ranker. Killed everyone on a planet besides Zacharia Gardener. One half of the twin aspects of true death (Reaper). Sect head of the Twilight Melody Sect. Alive.

Tali- Antalien Far Sola Wol. Cultivator. Ruler of the empty skys. Formerly crippled cultivator and slave, for about 500 years. Freed by Ryun. Alive??, captured by Ra'azel.

Anrosh- Anrosh Kesh Wol. Cultivator. Sect leader of the Twilight Melody Sect. Second in command. Raised by Ryun, after she asked, to protect the sect better. Alive.

Melody- Classer. Former Scythe of true death. Ryun's former partner. Killed by governor on earth. (unsure of last name)

Selia- Selia Ha Jhan-Ekoa. Cultivator. Current Scythe of true death. Alive.

Kayra Ornn- Kayra Ornn Dagada. Classer. 3rd iteration ranker. Formerly of House Ornn in the 3rd empire. currently of the Dagada family in the Twilight Melody Sect. Alive.

Ra' azel- Yeti of a old framework attempt. Otherwise known as the Runesmith. Freed by Zacharia Gardener. Absolute menace (/hj)

Hastur- 11th dome leader. Based on lovecraftian horror.

Zacharia Gardener- Classer. 7th iteration ranker. Formerly the No.1 Ryun Nacht hater. Oldest chosen in the infinite realm. Got stuck in a mind-palace for 5000 years and can't remember most before it. Alive.

[rayadraws]

I recently read a book about motivation and I found it quite interesting - and couldn't help but see a lot of parallels related to artists and art block. I thought I would share some of the points the book makes, which might be interesting for artists, writers and other creative people.

Motivation

We need motivation to start on and continue working on a task. We can find our motivation in different things, each with good and bad side effects - some of them have a tendency to shift our focus (for instance if you're motivated by feedback/praise you may end up spending more energy chasing that than at the task at hand).

Motivation can broadly be divided into external and internal.

External - rewards, compliments, likes

Internal - your own drive to do/finish a meaningful task

When possible, internal motivation tends to work better than external motivation, we’re more tenacious when our motivation comes from ourselves rather than outside sources. Internal motivation is strengthened by:

- Learning to master a new skill

- Experiencing autonomy (making your own decisions, this is self-rewarding)

- Being part of a community

- Feedback from others

- Performing a task that's suitable for our skill level/previous experience

- Getting to choose your own task

By contrast, external motivation can consist of:

- Bribes, such as treating yourself after finishing a task. This is a double-edged sword - it will further convince your mind that the task isn't worth doing for its own sake, but if the alternative is that you won't finish the task at all this is a better alternative.

- Grades, can motivate but also cause stress and be associated with personal worth, which is detrimental. If you can view grades as neutral feedback you can utilize them best.

- Social influence, such as not wanting to disappoint others. Can strengthen internal motivation but also cause fear or an unwillingness to challenge yourself in case you fail.

- Status, power, money, you can become addicted to these factors.

If you want to be more motivated you need to first understand why your motivation is lacking in the first place. A common issue is that you're too worried about what others think about you.

Self-worth & the idea of talent

There is also our feelings of self-worth and how capable we view ourselves that influence our motivation. If we knock ourselves down ("I bet I can't do it anyway") it'll lower our chances of success. If we believe in ourselves and our skills we're more likely to succeed.

When possible it's valuable to have a role model, having one can motivate us a lot. Is there none? Perhaps you'll be the first role model for others following in your footsteps.

In modern society we often put the idea of "talent" on a piedestal, of having been given the gift of expertise without putting in the hard work. In truth no such kind of talent exists, expertise comes from hard effort.

We also have to watch out for over-commitment, which can lead to stress, exhaustion and anxiety. Two major risk factors are the feeling of being watched/judged and a lack of balance, typically the concept of talent again - the end result should be perfect, but should also appear as if it took no effort, an impossible task. The concept of talent leads us to the next point:

Deliberate practice

There is the concept of deliberate practice, meaning that how we practice is more important than how often we do it. You can spearhead your growth by making your practice intense, conscious and tenacious. To use drawing as an example, you'll learn more by practicing something you feel uncertain about than just repeating what you already know. Likewise, learning more about different fields/parts/subjects makes us more well-rounded in general. For instance, if you learn to draw one kind of animal it'll be easier to draw animals related to that one. Learn to draw a completely different animal from the first one and you'll struggle less with animals related to that one too. We grow and learn the most when we manage to find the right balance of staying inside and stepping outside our comfort zone.

You can think about how video games are set up and draw comparisons with a good way of learning a skill - you start at an easy level, gradually add more challenges and focus on your progress rather than your mistakes (just don't fall into the trap of a bonus system of quick rewards).

Our brains need to be challenged to grow, but we also need time to recover. In other words, alternate between trying new things and doing what's familiar.

If you are putting a lot of effort into a task it's a sign that you're learning. If things are too easy it's time to raise the difficulty.

Mindset

Mindset is about how you react to when things go well - and when they go badly. You can't change your mindset before you're aware of it.

We have a tendency to let feedback we receive (or lack thereof) colour our feelings of self-worth. Viewing your accomplishments as part of your personal worth is a surefire way to ruin your motivation, your tenacity and eventually your health.

A poor view of your self-worth also steals a lot of energy. You view your skill as a personality trait and base your inherent value on the feedback of others, such as the number of likes you receive. You run a higher risk of failing a task if you’ve tied it to your self-image or if you're addicted to praise.

On the other hand, positive affirmations are actually not as helpful as we’re often told, they mostly reassure people who are already very confident. High confidence is not automatically tied to successful accomplishments but can be a source of joy and determination - though that confidence can be at risk of quickly shattering if things don't go as we hoped.

Focus

When we pick up a new hobby we're often very motivated at first. This tends to stem from being at a suitable challenge level for our skill level, we get in the "flow" and we can easily see/follow our progress at mastering a new skill.

Over time it becomes more challenging to balance our challenge level with our skill level, risking us growing bored or frustrated. To counteract this, learn to compare yourself only with your own growth, not anyone else's, it’s not relevant to you.

Feedback

Contrary to what one might think, feedback is not always helpful. We're often already aware of our mistakes and having them pointed out is not helpful unless we ask for it.

Negative feedback is much more helpful if it leaves room to adjust/fix the issue, otherwise it's not really helpful. Mark the difference between small slips (not worth bringing up) and mistakes (that can be corrected).

Many of us are addicted to praise. It gives us a form of external reward, feedback and it makes us feel valuable, but there's risks too, such as setting too high expectations and thinking you only have value while you're productive.

Feedback associated with our feelings of self-worth, like "I'm the best", adds nothing. Focus on your achievement, not your self-image. If you view failed tasks as failures of yourself as a person you'll run a high risk of giving up. Constantly focusing on high achievements will eventually lead to exhaustion.

Giving feedback to someone else:

- Be gentle

- Help a person stuck in a negative spiral to formulate a less destructive way of thinking of themselves

- A failure is just a failure, it doesn't define a person

- Keep offering praise even if the recipient isn't used to it and try to wave it away

- Usually we should focus on the achievement, not the person, but it's fine to also give person-based praise sometimes ("you're the best!"), as long as it's not always the main focus

Source: 'Motivated' by Alva Appelgren

[feminaferitas]

supernatural/monster au character backgrounds

v: it's not evil - just hungry, available for shauna/jackie/misty/nat note: full background/social and timeframe setting for verse/threads is flexible dependent on plotting with partner

Cast: Shauna the psychopomp, Jackie the siren, Natalie the dhampir, Misty the hag-touched.

Shauna Shipman: Psychopomp

A psychopomp, or in essence, a reaper, is a melancholy and misunderstood figure. Associated with death but never the cause of it, Shauna is feared all the same. She arrives at the site of death and quietly begins the work of preparing the soul for its next stage of being. She does not judge or condemn the dead, but simply makes the transition to the afterlife a little easier, perhaps a little kinder. Her hunter's knife is the scythe by which she severs the threads to the mortal plane, whether or not there is a body left to carve. It is somber, solitary work to clean up the place where a life once was, but she dutifully does her work no matter how many believe her to be a butcher.

Shauna often does not know those she is tasked with ferrying, but if she learns anything of them, she writes down details of who they once were in her journal. Much of a life is lost to time, but she tries to remember the ones she helps.

She sometimes takes the form of her young self, and sometimes she is older, but Shauna exists outside of linear time and most frequently appears to be her teenage self (even if she never really was a teenager). She can also manifest in animal forms, occasionally a deer or a flock of birds waiting just beyond the body.

Shauna doesn't appear naturally to the living, unless they have some connection to the otherworldly -- the killers, those who have had near-death experiences, and others who have witnessed a lot of death may be included in this, but there isn't an exact science to it.

Jackie Taylor: Siren

What she lacks in skill and acuity she makes up for in influence. Sirens have that sort of hold on people, after all. For the longest time, Jackie never really understood why she always got what she wanted -- she just knew the universe conspired to make it happen. It wasn't until she told a guy in high school to "go fuck himself" that she finally realized there was something more to her words and her voice. That said, not everything she says is compelling -- Jackie has learned to hone "the voice" she uses to influence and beguile. In the meantime, it doesn't hurt she's gorgeous and well-liked. And that wasn't because she forced anyone to believe it... right?

Contrary to popular belief, she's not the type of siren that people think should be related to mermaids. They're more classically bird-women, but Jackie doesn't manifest any avian traits (apart from sometimes getting really sharp manicures, but that's purely aesthetic).

Jackie is skilled in vocal mimicry and even if she's not the world's best singer, her influencing abilities can be dangerous to weak-minded individuals. If she's swapped spit with you too, she's likely to have a stronger hold. If she's silenced, gagged, made to bite her own tongue, or deafened, her powers lose their effect.

Jackie also has synesthesia and can clearly see and distinguish the source of sounds (granted that they're not overpowering -- she can be prone to overstimulation).

Natalie Scatorccio: Dhampir

A cursed child often born of a vampiric father and a human mother. A mix of both worlds, belonging to neither. Natalie has always been an outcast in every sense of the word, right down to her very biology. And as she slowly learned the truth about her parentage, things began to become clearer. As vampiric offspring are wont to do, Nat was responsible for the death of her father, but it didn't do anything to solve her own affliction. It did, however, free her mother from his thrall -- but her mother still resents her daughter for what she did, even if it was ultimately a good thing.

As a dhampir, she has a weakened mix of the strengths and vulnerabilities as a vampire (though of course, stakes to the heart and decapitation will do the trick). Natalie is prone to sunburns and is sensitive to light, but is slightly stronger, faster, and more durable than humans. Religious iconography does still impact her, though she does not need invitation over thresholds and is not weak to running water.

Her blood and bile are toxic to full-blooded vampires, and her own appetite for carnage can mostly be suppressed, but she does still need to drink blood every so often, especially when injured or weak. (This is a mix of dhampir lore sources, I don't love when they're just All Vampire Awesomeness with No Weaknesses.)

Natalie will stop aging on a human timescale when she hits adulthood, if she lives that long. In the meantime, she indulges in nightlife, intoxicants, and other experiences to try to numb the pain and distract from the fact there's nowhere she truly belongs.

Misty Quigley: Hag-touched

She wasn't born a witch, and she's not innately magical. But Misty saw the sorts of powers that existed just beyond the fingertips of most normal lives and wanted some of it for herself. For those who aren't lucky enough to have natural magic, well, there's always a hag coven. Misty found a gathering of powerful women who were willing to make a bargain and bring the blonde into their society. And Misty prefers this type of wicked handiwork to simply waving fingers and casting spells. Just... don't leave strands of hair or fingernail clippings where she can find them for her "experiments".

Inspired by various hag folklore and D&D depictions, Misty's magic is based in exchange and component value -- she excels in curses, inconveniences, and changes in fortune, but she's not entire malevolent. She isn't wholly benevolent either, extracting some sort of price from those who seek her aid. And if they don't, she just has fun making whatever mischief she can -- often targeting individuals to whom she later proposes the solution to their woes.

Also, not all hags are old and ugly -- Misty resents that idea, thank you!

[emotionally-charged-arson]

Political Machinations, Source (Ayreon) Edition

Have some headcanons.

Whatever country on Alpha the story takes place in is a presidential democracy. You never really get into specifics, but there’s two “abnormal” points to consider: legislation moves considerably faster than, say, the US system, and immigrants are allowed to run for president so long as they are naturalized citizens having lived in the country for ten years.

About two years pre-‘Frame takeover, the dominant political party was a group of standard pro-industrialization idiots, whose actions had just come back to bite them in the ass what with the pollution and withdrawal of aid from international powers over petty fights and such. The president (not Russell) eventually resigned halfway through his term in total defeat, kickstarting a new election. This is done two years after another abrupt resignation by Simone Simons (Counselor), his personal therapist, who saw how volatile things had become in the political sphere and didn’t want to be involved anymore.

The next most powerful party in government for the last five years had been a group called the Conservationists, environmentalists led by The Opposition Leader, who we’ll just call Tommy, an argumentative political minister with a history of ecoterrorism early in his career. This is where most of the album characters naturally place their loyalties, on account of them being mostly scientists who like the focus on rejection of unnecessary technology and healing of the planet and such. Said characters form a sort of “inner circle,” existing outside of politics but still using influence to push the party’s agenda, sometimes using underhanded tactics:

The Biologist (Floor) is the technical founder of the party, organizing support and pushing Tommy into politics a little over ten years pre-TDTTWD. She continues influencing policy, public image and recruitment.

The Captain (Tobias) is an engineer with billions in inheritance money and influence over the space program he’s happy to drain into the cause, so long as they entertain his ideas of leaving Alpha entirely. They have an odd, careful agreement that they’ll let him go nuts with his exodus spaceship antics, but only if things are REALLY hopeless. He has personal motivation as well, having known Tommy for over almost twenty years.

He’s also unintentionally helpful to public opinion of the party, as he’s native to the country, while the other “bosses” (Tommy and Floor), are both immigrated.

The Historian (James) conducts funded research in environmental history at the capital city university lots of characters are affiliated with. He’s publicly affiliated with the party, leaving him on thin ice with said uni (on account of them desperately accepting funding from shady sources that support “over-evolution��� and rejection of natural preservation as a necessity. This leads to to massive bias in research and teaching within the institution, sometimes going as far as outright censorship). But he’s crafted a very odd strategy to support the Conservationists and still keep his position, that is publishing work with wildly opposing viewpoints so the school can’t accuse him of leaning one way or the other. So like, he’ll write a scathing commentary on increasing lack of breathable air in lower city levels and its causes, and before he can be targeted for it he’ll whip out a journal article about how it’s actually totally fine if all the fish are dying because it’s good for the economy. He feigns neutrality through pure confusion while the actual party uses select research of his to promote their cause.

The Astronomer (Hansi) is in a similar predicament. He’s a high level professor with ties to Floor, who abandoned a teaching career herself to join in on Tommy’s politics and tried to take Hansi with her. He refused initially, too attached to his job security to take a risk like that. He did eventually join in, but only after the party came to more substantial power (and when the state of the planet got substantially worse). His situation is a peculiar one, though. He’s still intent on keeping his job, but uses it for the party’s benefit. In short he preaches their ideology in his completely unrelated astronomy classes, in hopes of educating and swaying younger people (often coming from very wealthy backgrounds) to their efforts. Amazingly, he’s been able to do this for years without being suspected on a large scale. Floor is the only one that even knows about his involvement.

The Prophet and The Preacher (Nils and Zaher) are exactly that. Religious figures that run a local, newly popular religion related to the Universal Migrator.

The Migrator’s existence is a relatively new discovery, made at this capital university, and the nature of it caused people to question already established religions on Alpha. It’s an actual answer to the deepest questions in the known universe, and it destabilized faith in other higher powers while spawning a religion of its own, with Zaher being one of its earliest public figures. A few years later, Nils gained his prescience spontaneously, and attributed it to The Migrator which he learned about through his research in theoretical astronomy. In reality Nils’ visions and the Migrator have almost no relation (it’s actually Time Telepathy but that’s a whole other can of worms), but it’s not like HE knows that. He leaves the university, declares his faith and starts working with Zaher to spread it.

The religion’s popularity skyrockets once Nils gets involved. His visions are, apparently, founded in reality. All at once, the Migrator’s existence and power is proven while also appearing to have more spiritual qualities than its hardcore scientific discovery likes to admit.

More importantly, those visions validate practically everything the Conservationists promote (the end of the world via technology, etc), and at Tommy’s request Nils and Zaher affiliate themselves with him. The party now appeals to a new and LARGE demographic, even if it alienates members of other religions. At this point the Migrator one has become the dominant faith in the country anyways.

Everything is great. We’re influencing politics in a real way. We’re making progress.

Except we’re not doing it fast enough.

So says Russell, some GUY who shows up out of nowhere trying to run for president when Tommy would otherwise have campaigned completely unopposed. His whole shtick, of course, is using the Frame to solve all the world's problems and he presents it in a very hopeful and upbeat tone. He’s recruited the singular competent person from the previous presidential administration, The Diplomat (Mike), who had lots of public favor given that he was the one keeping the shitshow in one piece for years on end. Mike vouches for him and this is very helpful but it’s supplementary to Russell's specific talents.

Against the Conservationists-their endless funding, big name supporters and heaps of evidence and political experience-Russell has something none of them do, even the previous president before him: the ability to pacify the public. Tommy and Floor, two people with insane and unchecked environmental anxiety, are very prone to using scare tactics in their politics. Promises of Alpha's destruction if they don’t heed their warnings combined with Tommy's aggressive rhetoric and tone of voice. The previous president loved deflection and false promises, standard government official behavior. But Russell is a calming, charismatic and genuinely positive person that seems almost docile next to the others, and in that he’s the 'comfortable' option. He makes people feel safe and is offering a fast, even possible solution to their suffering. People LOVE him.

This whips everyone into a panic. The Conservationists supposedly know that the Frame will turn on humanity and out of their fear, that gradually becomes the main focus of their campaign. So much power is turned against Russell that they seem even more aggressive to people than they did before, no matter what they stand for and they start losing credibility. Eventually, obviously, Russell obtains the presidency, a month before TDTTWBD.

As a show of good faith, the losers are invited to Russell's inauguration. Floor, the more reasonable of her group, is hopeful that if they play along for a while then they can corner Russell and talk him out of his Frame plan. All that goes down the drain when Russell lets a snarky comment slip during his speech and Tommy, hopeless and erratic, starts beating his lights out in public. Him and several higher ups on his side are arrested for attempted assassination, setting off a domino effect of trials and investigations (including Hansi and James) over the next few weeks as the party is legally dissolved.

From there, into the main plot, viewpoints of characters begin to unravel. Russell's whole Frame plan existed because he KNEW there was no other option, and soon enough Floor starts understanding that. All of a sudden as the literal apocalypse rages outside, Tobias’ plan has become the most reasonable, the Nils’ visions shift accordingly. Tommy is released from death row on Russell’s orders, and a hinge point of the two’s conflict is wondering if he did that out of actual compassion or because he knew Tommy would have done far more damage as a martyr. Everyone gets to grapple with how little the work they poured their lives into mattered now that Alpha is gone.

Et cetera, et cetera. Sorry I didn’t talk about Chemist, maybe he’ll have his own post. Man is his own mess that doesn’t even become plot relevant until Star of Sirrah.

[xo-cuteplosion-xo]

Eeeeee I never know if my rambles are any good but here is me doing a sort of study into Dazai and Ranpo kinda analyzing their intelligence.

Could it be completely wrong... yeah... is it a bit of a personal take... kinda... did I kinda do some research? I did actually but surface level.

It's 1,667 words : )

Confidence to post this from my moot @pompompurin1028

Character studies:

Dazai and Ranpo

Dazai and Ranpo are both incredibly interesting characters. In more than one way they remind me of one another. The two are both highly intelligent and it's hard to say which would outsmart the other considering their intelligence differences.

Dazai is shown to be more of a mastermind. His intelligence is specific and direct. He bases predictions on the observations of people and the natural order of how a person operates. It's almost philosophical in a way. There's this certain disconnect to the world.

While on the other hand, Ranpo shares a similar disconnect but in a very different manner. Ranpo's definite is being able to observe and connect quickly. Hexs somebody who is hyper-observant and his brain processes information quickly and efficiently. He can "see through" people because he observes the smallest details most wouldn't notice. He can't actually do anything without evidence. We see his downfall with the perfect crime. However, through observing outside information from the crowd to things he noticed and looked around he was still able to find the murderer. Be it he did this a bit slower than he is used to he solved something that nobody else in this universe would have been able to solve.

It's arguable that perhaps Dazai may have been able to but I'd say because Dazai is oriented towards predictability and problem-solving he wouldn't have been able to find the perpetrator. Dazai would have observed that something was wrong, it was too perfect. There was a lack of evidence. Yes, you can create a perfect crime but Dazai most likely would have found something up with the scenario and looked for an ability that would have caused this.

My basis for why this sort of scenario would take Dazai longer is purely in the way we have seen him act. When it came to seeing Ranpo work he was rather impressed and admits to admiring him. It's not direct but the panel says "why ranpo is admonished by the agency." If Dazai didn't also think he was impressive then these words would have had a different spacing or flow and different words completely. I genuinely think Dazai in a way sees his flaws as being backed up by Ranpo.

Both are incredibly intelligent and have been such since they were small children.

The only difference is their environment.

The environment a child grows in and learns has a large impact on the development of their intellectual capabilities.

I don't think the Dazai we see today is the same type of smart as the Dazai we see in 15.

(Welcome to Lu losing their academic sources : (... oops )

I read in some studies that a child with an above-average IQ that is nurtured and has positive influences even when faced with trauma will develop an outlook that allows them to slip better into society and feel less estranged from others. Ranpo is a fine example of this. He suffered a great trauma with the loss of his parents but because of Fukuzawa, he was raised in those important teen years by somebody who nurtured and gave him hope allowing him to "fit in" his intelligence was forced in front of him and flaunted. That seemed to be avoided by Fukuzawa. He didn't want the child to grow up thinking he was too different and to put himself at risk because numbers said he'd be fine. This is shown when he gets so upset at Ranpo for putting his life on the line to solve a case. Ranpo is shown that intelligence isn't everything he's just like everybody else a life worth existing. He learned that lives should never be risked for the sake of a successful plan there will always be a route around. He became egotistical and motivated by praise but he values the lives of others and grew compassionate.

On the other end of this spectrum is a child whose intelligence is shoved in their face. It's the only trait that is ever acknowledged and they are even punished when that single aspect is not up to performing In other words an environment where the child is scolded and only ever acknowledged for intelligence in an abusive situation is commonly going to befall a bath of separation from others or will dehumanizing themselves. Dazai is a prime example of a child's intelligence being incorrectly handled. We don't know how things were for him before mori but some of the most crucial years of a child's life are those teen years. As intelligent as he was at the time, an adult influence still would have made a huge impact, and whether it's something that is solid or not Mori's role in his life was the most prominent adult presence. From the age of 14 to 18 Mori's abusive treatment of Dazai would have shaped his intelligence to look past morals and "basic human ideology" and see simply the open board. I like that it's often shown as Dazai making moves in chess because it's a very good example. Chess is a game of sacrifice and risk. This type of raw intelligence isn't a natural talent. You can be born with a high IQ but the shape of that IQ is nurtured. Dazai had to be cunning, risky, and sacrificial in the Mafia. It's not a place where he could place value on life. It's highly likely his situation pre-mafia wasn't any better. He already felt separated from humanity Mori's "care" only made things worse for a kind already starting to separate himself from others. If Dazai had been in a situation similar to Ranpo's he would likely have seen his intelligence lean closer to Ranpo's observational intelligence.

I also like to look at the two of them, now versus then.

We see a huge change with Ranpo. He doesn't take huge risks like sacrificing people on purpose. He tries to solve things without doing harm. When. He shakes the agency shakes. They rely on him because he's empathetic and understanding though he doesn't make it obvious.

Dazai is less obvious but if we look at 15 dazai and the current dazai there's a definite difference between the two of them. 15 Dazai was still exploring his capabilities. Planning and acting was still somewhat new having only just truly gotten into the mafia. We see him predict things and notice things but his details and explanations are mainly observational habits. We don't see him purposefully putting him or Chuuya into severe life-threatening danger the way we see him act in Storm Bringer. He doesn't sacrifice "pieces" then in Dark Era we see a severe drop in his attitude toward others. Even somebody he is close to is put to the test and toyed with in a way. We see him more organized and far more willing to sacrifice others for his goals than we noticed in 15. Then there is the ADA Dazai. There's manipulation of feelings but he's never put others in a place where the risk was overly dramatic. Kyouka was a gamble but it can be inferred that it was indeed the only way to save her from either execution or being killed in action. Even in Dead Apple, his gamble did put others at risk but he didn't purposefully try and kill any of his coworkers or pieces. I believe it's a fair assumption that none of them were in real grave danger. Dazai in prison however can be seen as almost slipping back. I believe the influence on Dazai with his surroundings is more important than anything else with him. Around Fyodor we see the light in his eyes drain. BSD really likes paying close attention to the eyes in the manga It tells us a lot about a character. Dazai's emptier looks usually reflect when he's around remnants of his past or he's acting similar to how he would have in the mafia. It's not a complete slip but he takes gambles that could get others killed. We don't know of it was his intentions are with a lot of his "moves" but what little we can infer from panels and expressions it's clear Dazai has less regard for human life and the only reason he doesn't do things the way he did is because of his promise to Oda. Oda was the first positive influence he had as a child. Around oda Dazai's intelligence was observational rather than performing in an analytical way. He wasn't taking knowing the situation and doing background research to figure out he'd lose his friends. No, he analyzed Ango's small details. He recognized things without any sacrifices and came to the conclusion that things wouldn't stay like this because of a pattern of events in his life not the rules of the world. He subjected himself to personal feelings and thoughts rather than the logical straightforward approach. This part could be argued but I truly think Dazai's thought process altered around Ango and Oda then around the agency he began to see a bit more of why protecting people was better than sacrificing them.

I believe Dazai and Ranpo have equal intelligence they just have separate types of intellectual capability because of their differentiating upbringings. I want to look more into how they contrast and yet complete each other's weaker areas eventually but at the moment this is all I have written out and all the journals I've read so far. I have a feeling that Ranpo is sorta that white knight of intelligence while Dazai is the dark knight of intelligence. They are equal and yet completely different and yet both are just as important to the overall "game". I could also probably go more into detail about how Dazai's upbringing with his intellect only created a worse issue of separation between himself and those around him. It's a concept I'm still building on but I think Dazai and Ranpo complement each other in a parallel kind of way.