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baby-yongbok · 8 months

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Meltdown

Boyfriend!Bang Chan x Autistic!Fem!Reader

❗Genre: Angst

❗Warnings: Heavy themes of autistic meltdown, Very detailed explanation of a meltdown, Heavy themes of Anxiety?, self-harm (no blood), Mentions of not being able to breathe, Chris is an asshole but not for long. Again, this is very detailed. + Bang Chan is referred to as Chris.

❗A/N: I'm very nervous to post this, but I want to put out content for neurodivergent community. As an autistic individual, I rarely see content with an autistic reader. It may exist, but I've never really come across it. So, here I am. This work is purely based on my experience with autism and is based on my own meltdowns. This is not meant to reflect how every person with autism has meltdowns. I hope that you enjoy!

✨️Masterlist✨️

“You always do this, you always do the same shit and then try to play it off as an accident. How many times are you going to make the same mistake?” Chris yelled in your direction, putting air quotes around the last word of his sentence. You let out a shaky breath, trying your best to keep yourself stable.

“It is a mistake and I thought that I was doing a good job at avoiding it, I don’t perceive any of my behavior tonight as suggestive. I thought that I was being friendly.” Your speech is steady and smooth, a calculated response designed in your head to avoid conflict. That was your goal, avoiding conflict, but it seems that Chris’ temper has other plans tonight.

“Friendly? Are you fucking kidding me? You were practically saying your vows with all the compliments you were dishing out tonight. Laughing at every single word that your so-called friend said. I’m surprised you weren’t sitting in his fucking lap with the way your conversation was going.” Your eyes dart around the room before landing on the bright numbers of the digital clock to your right. You focus your eyes on the bright outline, trying your best to keep yourself calm.

“Chris, I really didn’t mean -” You’re cut off by his yelling, the sudden sound making you jump a bit, shifting your focus.

“I don’t want to hear that fucking excuse. You didn’t mean it? Yeah, sure, you always say that. And why the fuck do you let him call you all of those names? Honey, sweetheart, and anything else that slips off of his tongue, right?” He moves from his spot across from you, circling the couch and stalking towards where you're sitting quickly, only stopping when there’s about a foot between you. “Are you fucking him or something? Do the two of you have history? Because I can’t think of another reason for you to be so goddamn disrespectful.”

“Wha- no, I- I never did anything with him.” Your eyes dart up to his face but your gaze quickly falls, you blink a couple of times trying your best to hold back your tears. “I thought.. I thought I was being friendly I was watching -”

“Why are you trying to play innocent?” He squats down in front of you, his piercing gaze trying to find yours. Tears start to run down your cheeks and you start to rock your body back and forth. You wipe your tears away with open hands before starting to pick at your nails. “Look at me. If you’re not lying then look at me.”

“Chris I- I can’t right now. I’m r-really overwhelmed, I’m sorry.” He sucks his teeth at you, leaning closer into your space. “Please.. Back up.”

“Look at me.” He hisses and you can feel the tingling in your hands and feet starting as your thoughts start to spiral out of control. “Do you really think that you were just being friendly? Tell me, I’m fucking listening.”

His tone picks up towards the completion of his sentence, ending in a shout. You jump again, crossing your arms over your chest in an attempt to comfort yourself. The thoughts in your head get louder as the seconds go by and you start to lose the ability to understand them. Every time that you try to pin point one of them it gets pulled away from you. You start to bounce your leg, fast and harsh. The bouncing of your leg paired with the rocking of your upper body seemed to have caught Chris’ attention. The real Chris, not the one that was standing in front of you seconds ago allowing his jealousy to spiral out of control in a fit of anger.

“Hey..hey” He lowers himself onto his knees, his eyes that were angry seconds ago now glazed with worry. “I’m.. I’m sorry I lost it, I know I shouldn’t have, I just..”

He reaches his hand out to touch you, a soft attempt at comforting you but it was the last thing that he should’ve done. You jump at the contact, a small whine falling from your lips. He moves his hand quickly, muttering a small apology. You bring your hands up to cover your ears, attempting to shut out the heavy buzzing of your thoughts. You start to rock your body quicker as you lean forward, shrinking into yourself.

“Fuck.” Chris hisses under his breath, his hands helplessly resting on his lap. He knows that you didn’t mean it, he knows that you have trouble interacting with your friends due to your autism. And he knew better than anyone what could happen when you got overwhelmed. He could usually see it coming and nurse you back to a more stable headspace but this time he couldn’t. This time it was him that caused the meltdown, the fault was at his feet and there was nothing he could do to fix it. All he could do was wait and watch as you went through the motions.

It was the screaming that pulled him out of his thoughts. The piercing sound of you wailing, the verbal expression of the pain you felt as you tried your best to understand what was happening in your head. His eyes fixed on you immediately, he took you in slowly, maybe too slow. Your hands were laced in your hair pulling harshly at the roots as you sobbed, you were mumbling something through your sobbing. At first he couldn’t understand but eventually he caught on and his heart shattered in his chest as he reached for your hands in an attempt to loosen your grip on your hair.

“Stop making mistakes, stop making mistakes, stop making mistakes.” You mumbled as your tears fell. Your grip on your hair tightened just as Chris made contact with you, he tried desperately to gently pry your fingers from your curls.

“Baby, you can’t do that.” He nearly whispered, his voice was easily drowned out by your screams as you tried to get as far away from his touch as possible. “Baby, please.”

“Stop making mistakes, Stop making mistakes.” Once Chris was able to loosen your grip you balled your hands into fists. Your body tensed and your breath caught in your chest. Chris watched you with wide eyes, he slowly tried to move a bit closer to you, preparing himself to stop you from hurting yourself if needed.

“You have to breathe.” The panic in his tone was evident, you could hear it but you couldn’t react. There was too much going on, too much to process. “ Babygirl, please please breathe.”

You bang your fists against your thighs, trying to get your brain to slow down, trying to coordinate breathing with thinking, moving, anything. Why couldn’t you breathe? Why couldn’t you just stop holding your breath? Why? The more you thought about it the more frustrated you got. You could feel a burning in your chest as you looked up at Chris, eyes wide with panic.

“Babygirl, look, follow me. Do what I do, yeah?” His voice is soft yet strong as he tries to mollify the panic rising in his chest. He attempts to instruct you, using his hands to guide you into making your chest rise and fall as it should. You watch his hands, trying to concentrate, Trying to ignore the ringing in your ears and the harsh buzzing of your thoughts. The longer you focus on the movements of his hand the more that you can feel your chest start to move. You take in a sudden breath, gasping a bit and choking for a second. You follow with another quick breath, gasping again and the pattern continues until the burning subsides and an intense dizziness hits you.

“You did it, you did so well, baby.” Chris whispers, his eyes wide and glossy. “You got it.”

Your body starts to relax a bit as you work to regulate your breathing. You slowly unclench your fist, resting your hands in your lap and scratching at the fabric of your jeans. Your movements start to slow and you sit up straight gradually, every move hurts a bit, the aching in your muscles already starting to set in. Your crying continues as you pant softly, you mumble the same statement to yourself a couple of times before you direct your words towards Chris.

“I’m s-sorry. I thought I-I was doing it right I t-thought…” Your sentence trails off into a pained sob as you bring your hands up to cover your eyes. The guilt of your reaction came flooding through instantly. First you make your boyfriend mad and then you have a fucking meltdown about it? You just can’t win, huh.

“Please don’t apologize, I should be the one apologizing. I should be begging for forgiveness right now. I had no right to get that angry, I was jealous and it was stupid. I was insecure, I’ve been insecure about you hanging out with him for months and I let all of that pent up emotion out and I hurt you. I’m so so sorry, I understand if you don’t forgive me, I wouldn’t either. I know that you struggle and I still fucked everything up.” He moved a bit closer to you, a mere inch separating the two of you.

You shook your head acknowledging that you could hear him. Your brain was slowing down just a bit and you didn’t want to add anything to the whirlwind to disrupt it.

“I’ll get your meltdown kit, and I’ll pick out your safe clothes. You need to take a hot shower to try and soothe your muscles… you’re going to be sore in the morning, okay?” You shake your head, glancing up at Chris for just a second before you close your eyes and take a deep breath. Your chest feels tight but you try not to let it bother you. The aftermath of a meltdown was something that you’ve grown used to after all.

“Please believe me when I say that none of this was your fault. I’m so so fucking sorry, this will never happen again…ever.” He nearly whispers the last word before he stands from his position in front of you, rushing off to get your meltdown kit equipped with sensory aids of all types along with a pair of noise canceling headphones and a pair of tinted glasses in case the light is too much for you to take in.

You keep your eyes closed as you wait for him to return, the pitter patter of his feet across the hardwood is louder than usual as he makes his way back over to you. He leaves you with the kit before rushing to start your shower and pick out your clothes. You always tell him that after you have a meltdown you just want to be left alone, you need space to come down completely. He watches from afar as you put on the headphones and open your favorite calming candle to smell. He makes sure to stay just far enough for you to have your space but close enough to be there if you need him. Once you go to the bathroom for your shower he sits outside of the door, listening for any signs of a follow up meltdown. He takes a deep breath and before he can stop it a tear falls, trailing down his cheek and leaving a path for the rest to follow. He squeezes his eyes shut as it all replays in his head. He yelled at you, he caused your meltdown, you could’ve passed out or ended up more hurt than you already are. God forbid you had a shutdown, he’d never be able to live with himself if he caused that but he could honestly barely stand himself now. He took out his phone, typing a text to Minho, hoping for someone to help calm him down before he sees you again. He’ll only allow himself to fall apart behind the scenes, he doesn’t want to add to your distress any more than he already has. A couple seconds go by after he’s sent the text before his phone is vibrating in his hands. He swipes the green button and brings his phone up to his ear. He takes in a shaky breath before he lets the words leave his lips.

“I fucked up…”

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femdomdiaries · 6 months

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Random Gojo Headcanons

If yall want me to put any of these into a separate post to better fit your blog theme let me know. It’s just random thoughts rn.

Tw: NSFW below cut. MDNI. One of these mentions breeding qnd pregnancy kink, the other mentions that gojo is a service switch.

SFW Headcanons (Realistic)

He's canonically addicted to sweets so do not underestimate what he would do for a Klondike bar.

On a museum date he would giggle and point everytime he sees a naked statue.

Doesn’t sleep often but when he does he often has nightmares about his past. Never when you’re around.

Doesn't drink but is fluent in drunk and can often be found being a bad influence to intoxicated people at parties.

Hope you don't get embarrassed easily because he has no shame and there will be loads of PDA.

Doesn’t wear headphones for the same reason he doesn’t get drunk.

He would steal your clothes, then when you catch him wearing your stuff, he'd deny that they're yours. You can't really fight him about it because he honestly wears it better anyway.

If you’re shorter than him (he’s 6’3 so likely), he rests his chin on your head when he hugs you from behind.

Chronically late so you have to tell him things in advance.

He always wins competitive games so now he tends to stick to creativity oriented ones like Minecraft. From an artistic perspective he tends to suck at those.

Obscure/Crack Headcanons

He licks the icing off the oreos and puts them back in the package.

Snags bites of your food but complains if you eat his food.

To make up for stealing your clothes he'd order you a "smoking hot outfit" he saw online. But when it arrives it’s barbie doll sized.

Don’t worry, he also got you these really nice shoes. But when the shoes come in they're also barbie doll sized. He puts them on his fingers and walks them up your face.

When he grabs ass or gropes you anywhere he says honk honk or beep beep or something like that.

Still has the original flappy bird on his phone. He holds the high score. Could have gotten higher but he lost interest after a couple thousand.

He made a portrait of you out of macaroni art. You keep it at your job. Your coworkers often say how they wish their children were still in the cute art making stage.

His phone wallpaper is a picture of you naked with hot face emojis censoring your private bits.

His lock screen is you with the potato filter.

Keeps a plant because plants are often unpredictable so even he wouldn't get that right by default.

Had an Undertale phase. You know how Sans is lazy and puts forth no effort because he knows it’ll all just be reset by the player anyway? Gojo canonically doesn’t get involved in major conflicts or try to solve everything because he knows that when he dies it’ll all just revert back to the usual. Twinnem.

Actively played pokemon go when it came out and was definitely on team instinct. Probably trespassed in weird places tryna catch rare pokemon and was single handedly carrying team instinct in his region. (Arguments could be made for team Mystic)

NSFW headcanons (realistic)

Bros the type to beg for sex in public then giggle loudly when you're trying not to get caught in the public bathroom

Since he's kinda just the best at everything, he's been worshipped his whole life, so praise would just go over his head. But degrading him? Using power play to humiliate him or make him seem inadequate in some way? Works wonders.

He would send you really explicit texts and get you all hot and bothered only for it to turn out that he was talking about tres leches cake.

Playfully mocks you for not being able to keep up with his stamina.

While he may have infinite cursed energy, he has a limit to his physical stamina and does eventually get tired after going too many rounds.

Believes that the future rides on the youth, so heavy on the breeding kink and pregnancy kink. Wants kids so if you'll allow it best believe this man is not pulling out.

Obscure/Crack NSFW Headcanons

As a service switch he's more than willing to make up for outperforming you by servicing you on demand. It doesn't matter where or when you're horny, he's all yours.

He gets even more turned on when you push him past his limits to use him like a toy.

Says he wants to bring "a special friend" to bed but it's just a stray cat he found. (If you're allergic, it's a life sized cat plush.)

Answers the phone during sex and doesn't care how loud you are, will talk as if nothing else is going on

"Oh, I have to take this. Oi, Nanami. Yes, this is a good time. Hmm? Oh, nobody's hurt, that's just (Y/n). Say hi (Y/n)."

You'd think his favorite sex toy would be some type of gawk gawk 3000 but no, it's a fleshlight that glows in the dark.

Would love to be a rope bunny but he’s just too strong and always breaks the restraints when he gets excited.

He’ll still want to be tied up if only for aesthetics. Maybe you’ll find curse imbued cuffs on the dark web or something.

#gojo satoru #jjk gojo #gojo x reader #gojo fluff #gojo smut #jjk headcanons #jujutsu kaisen #jjk crack #jujutsu kaisen headcanons #jujutsu kaisen gojo #satoru gojo

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audreyscribes · 3 months

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Ω PJO DEMIGOD HEADCANONS:

💀 HADES: God of the Dead and Riches 💎

author's note: I had a sudden idea about writing some headcanons Camp Halfblood demigods being claimed and what it's like for each respective god and cabin, followed by a small blurb afterwards. Thank you for reading and please like and reblog! The order is not in order of the cabin numbers. [PJO DEMIGOD HEADCANONS MASTERLIST]

You’re not claimed in a way like the others. Instead you come across a pale faced boy with black hair, dark bags under his eyes, and a leather jacket. The ensemble he wore screamed something to you and he introduced himself to you as Nico, child of Hades. And you’re one of his half-siblings.

Whether you’re like him, a child of Hades displaced out of time before the Oath was made after WW2, or a child born after the oath was rescinded, Nico has been finding any Hades’ demigods he could find. If you didn’t know better, you would think it was his life mission.

When you arrive at Camp, whether Camp Half Blood or Camp Jupiter, people already know who your godly parent or blood is when Nico is with you, but the claim over your head is just icing on the cake. It is the sign of the cusp of fall and winter together, the silence that presides over it.

People give you a wide berth of respect, awe and fear. Not surprising given how powerful Hades is.

Regardless, Nico sticks by your side and helps guide you. He teaches you how to handle the dead and the more peskier ghosts, but ultimately, he doesn’t let you feel alone. You tell your story to him and he tells his.

You’re also introduced to Hazel who seems the complete opposite of Nico but you realise that while children of Hades both stick together but are very independent. Solitary but not isolated.

While it may be bothersome and sometimes unsettling seeing ghosts and spirits, there are perks; you can reanimate and see dead and loved animals. You always tell the doggos they are good boys. That or the hellhounds.

“Hello Darkness, my old friend”- ‘The Sound of Silence’ by Simon and Gafunkel.

Regardless if you’re Greek or Roman, when people diss and don’t believe that the planetary Pluto is not a planet, you will get bad and they will know to never diss Pluto.

Dried flowers, fungi, antiques, faded memories, abandoned buildings. Once filled with life and encompassed with what could be death. Many do not appreciate them but they open themselves to you, and you and your siblings remember them. You carry old, past clothes on your backs, you gently touch the dried petals of flowers with their faint smell still cling to you. You see the hands that touched the antiques, touches of human life. You see the abandoned buildings and know that they were built and housed life in them with their shelter.

While you may be part of Death’s domain, you greatly cherish life; the people in your life and that help shape you. When you love someone, you love them to a beyond that transcends death.

You know about shadow traveling as Nico helped you go through it. At the minimum, you can fold yourself into the shadows and be unseen like Hades, but at the most, you can travel to any place where shadows preside over. You find its easier to travel to places wherever Hades’ domain presides over; you can travel more easily to places of death (i.e. cemetery, battlezones, altars) and riches (i.e. mines, the world trade centre, places of great bounty, banks). A rare power of a child of Hades may call things forth from the shadows, whether its things you place into the shadows or using the shadows to your will. You can grab an objects’ shadow to your advantage or use your hands to create shadow shapes to ‘life’. It is rumoured that once, a child of Hades that possessed that skill was able to freeze a person with their shadow pinned by them, and was able to kill them by simply cutting off a person’s shadow.

Like Hades, you may seem aloof and stern in matters, but on the other hand, this can be seen as fair and honourable.

When the children of Hades gather in one place, you all give off an Addams' family vibe. The aesthetics, the attitude toward things. Hades is Gomez and Persephone is Morticia, you can guess where it goes from there.

You looked at Nico, who introduced himself as your half-brother. You tried to find the similarities you two shared and while it isn’t entirely physical, there is an air around him that draws you in. A solace if you will. It’s been more than 70 years since your original time and now here you are, in the 21st century. You thought you had died and now you were here, breathing. You could feel the anticipation turning into dread when you would eventually realize the math of your birth era and now.

It was a stark change from your time, yet in some sort of attempt to grasp your sanity, you started to find similarities, things that seemed to be the same from your time and this time. It calmed you down but also at the same time, you were a bit overwhelmed where your half brother had taken you.

McDonalds, he said. You looked at the meal he had bought and inspected it. It was different yet strangely good? The soda-pop however, was entirely bizarre but still delicious (sickeningly sweet you thought).

You both ate your meal as Nico gave you a rundown of the situation. The existential weight of being children of Hades and Pluto was, especially after the creation of the Big Three Oath after the world war, and how it was absolved not too long ago in this time by a son of Poseidon. Then came the eventual appearances of deceased children of Hades and Pluto, which you found out were either killed in the wars, or were deliberately hunted down by Zeus and Poseidon; much like Nico and his sister Bianca.

Nico tried to give you a rundown of what times are like now and their delicate situation, but even then, Nico wasn’t too knowledgeable given everything.

Silence fell between the two of you, as you tried to process literally everything. You tried to speak but the knot in your stomach and the weight in your throat was getting heavier. It was becoming awkward and you looked at Nico, realising he too was out of his depth. You found some amusement that he really must be your brother if the two of you were both socially inept.

You saw Nico open the two red box with the golden arches, before he took out the two toys. You looked at them, wondering really how the meals costed. Toys weren’t very cheap back in the day, and while you had a feeling manufacturing must’ve improved, to have a toy come with a meal must be costly…but you were sure of how much Nico paid as you watched him to get a handle on today’s currency.

“So uh….which of the kids meals toys do you want?” he stammered.

You stared at him with wider eyes as you saw him slowly shift in his seat in awkwardness. Everything came to a head as the hilarity of the situation dawned upon you. You started laughing as Nico looked at you like you had grown a second head.

“I’ll take this one” you chuckled, taking the toy before wiping away the tears, “Thank you Nico.”

“I mean…I eat here pretty frequently-”

“I mean finding us” you said, as Nico blinked at you owlishly. You placed a hand on top of his in a reassuring gesture. “You went through a lot and you’re just as young as us, yet here you are, finding the rest of us who may be wandering limbo and offering us toys.”

“Well…it’s not fair” he tried to play off.

“None of it is fair,” you noted, “But this is.”

Nico stared at you before nodding. “We have to go to Camp to get you settled in,” he started.

You hummed as you helped clean up, “Perhaps yeah…then where next?”

“What?”

You smirked at Nico, “If you want to go alone, you can but if you’re going to find the rest of us, count me in.”

“Are you sure? There’s a lot to digest.”

“Probably, but we’re demigods, I doubt things are going to be normal for a long time.”

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snowy-equinox · 2 months

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Revisiting Rahdue's Wheel

Rahdue’s Wheel is a much-larger-than-average tarot spread that originated from Eileen Connolly’s 1987 book, Tarot: The Handbook for the Journeyman. It’s difficult to find detailed information outside of the book, as its size makes it unpopular among most tarot readers. Hell, Connolly herself needs 28 pages to explain it all. Rahdue’s Wheel shows up occasionally on Tumblr or Reddit, but its reputation has mostly become a kind of “Eat the Pig Trough and Get Your Picture on the Wall” for diviners.

It’s when you get past the size that you start to realize the spread itself has some problems.

Tackling the ‘Size’ Premise

Let’s get the premise out of the way: Rahdue’s Wheel does not use all 78 cards. When you look at the spread in detail, it’s broken down into 7 sections:

Inner Wheel - Present

Center Wheel - Future

Outer Wheel - Past

Dagim Block - Past life

Taleh Pillar (right side) - Past life relationships

Shor Pillar (left side) - Past life memories/experiences

Malkuth Block - Answers the 9 questions you are supposed to have asked before the reading

The last section, the Malkuth Block, is optional. Even if you choose to use it, you may not pull the rest of your deck. Connolly says “Any cards that have not been used are left face down and are not to be read. They do not pertain to the reading and leaving them face down retains the original energy of the spread. If you turn them over, you break the esoteric structure of the entire spread.” At most, this spread requires 69 cards, not 78.

The Popular Criticisms

While its gimmick is an exaggeration, it is still a behemoth of a spread. Many believe it is unwieldy and bogged down with too much information. This is a common criticism of larger spreads; the more information you pull, the easier it is to get lost. The continual energy drain of pulling, followed by the mental drain of interpreting, can leave you with inaccurate results.

However, this is assuming that you have to do your tarot readings in one sitting. I don’t hold with that idea. You can take on the Wheel in parts, doing a section a day for a week. Or, you can pull all the cards one day, write down what you got, and then do the interpreting the next day. Personally, I think if you have the time, dedication, and skill to parse through all the information, you should be able to get good information out of a large reading.

The Information

In my opinion, Rahdue’s Wheel’s failure is not due to its size, but the quality of information it gives you.

While I approached this spread with the assumption that most people will read it for themselves, Connolly goes back and forth on the role of her readers. In most of the section dedicated to Rahdue’s Wheel, she talks exclusively about “the client”, implying she is writing for a professional tarot reader and the reading is meant to be between two people (reader & querent). However, at one point, she advises the reader to do the Rahdue’s Wheel for themself four times a year, and there are a couple of “for yourself or the client”’s sprinkled throughout the section.

I bring this up because this spread is not very good if you’re reading for yourself. The three wheels are the exact same questions; the only thing that changes is the tense. I know what my current health concerns are, and likely I know what my past ones were. The entire past wheel is redundant, as you’re just reliving everything without added context or commentary. Pulling a Three of Swords for past relationships tells me a break-up really hurt me, but it doesn’t tell me how that’s still affecting me. There’s no new information given to the querent beyond “this is how your life and philosophies have changed”.

The redundancy cuts both ways in the reader/querent question. If you read for yourself, you’re wasting time and energy on things you already know. On the other hand, if you’re reading for someone else, you’re not giving the querent new information that can solve their problems. If anything, it’s spiritual junk food; the reader gets to come off as intuitive and knowledgeable (assuming the cards are all accurate), while not giving any real advice. The querent will leave feeling fulfilled from their amazing connection with the reader without any new ideas on how to fix their situation.

The Past Life Issue

The other issue that becomes apparent right away is the focus on past lives. The wheels total 39 cards, while the past life sections total 30. This makes the past lives sections nearly half of the spread. Connolly believes that our actions and mindsets are influenced by the hidden memories and traumas of our past lives. She rationalizes that knowing about these lives is a good way to look deeper into the querent’s psychology. This gives us context for the previous problem: The reason we’re looking at every aspect of a person’s life is to find patterns stemming from the past lives. If we find your past life was betrayed by a lover, we know the root cause of your commitment issues. The wheels and the past lives sections work together to illuminate the overarching themes of the querent’s karmic life.

This creates multiple barriers in order to make this spread work:

You must believe in past lives as a concept

You must believe you personally have at least one past life

You must believe that issues from your past life can affect your current life

If you have all three beliefs, then this spread can do amazing things for you! But many people don’t have all three. I can’t get past the third one myself; I think it’s possible to connect with and learn from your past lives, but I don’t think their traumas become ours. For many, they don’t have the necessary beliefs to bridge the gap between the two halves of the spread.

Even if you do believe past lives can affect our current lives, this spread still runs into the problem we discussed earlier: there is no advice given. At best, the reader will probably say to do “past life work” before sending you on your way. Knowing where your issues stem from can be helpful, but the knowledge itself won’t change anything. Ultimately, to see change you need a direction to go in. This spread will not give that to you.

Finally Answering the Questions

Let’s revisit the Malkuth Block, the tarot reading within the tarot reading. Once the diviner has exhausted themselves sorting through every facet of your lives (present and past), it’s time to actually answer those questions you had that brought you to a reader in the first place. Connolly leaves it up to the reader to determine how many cards should be pulled per question. As I mentioned earlier, she says not every card will be flipped over and read, but then she goes on to say that if the querent only has one question, you must read all 9 cards in the Block. She does not give an explanation for this; I assume something to do with the “esoteric structure” but who knows.

At this point, you’re doing a basic tarot reading. Surprisingly, many tarot readers are able to do “here’s the answer to your question” readings without knowing every single thing about you. If you’re just trying to get questions answered, the majority of this spread is unnecessary. It’s also incredibly damaging; by putting the questions at the end of the marathon spread, you get to the important part of the reading when the diviner is exhausted.

Conclusion

Rahdue’s Wheel works well for very specific situations, like when you want to do past life work and don’t know what to focus on. But for the average reader this spread is too bloated. Not only is the size too large for most people to read accurately in one sitting, but the information it gives you is useless. You’re better off finding a smaller spread.

While some use Rahdue’s Wheel as practice, I think most people bookmark it purely as a challenge spread to do “some day”. But this spread does work if you use it within the beliefs and framework Connolly created it for. I would bet there are a lot of people out there looking for just this kind of spread to help them with their past lives. They’ve probably heard the name before, but pass over it because no one talks about it as a past life spread or a karmic spread. They only talk about it as “The Ultimate Spread”. It’s become clickbait, in tarot form.

#rahdue's wheel #tarot #tarot readings #tarot spread #divination

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the-badger-mole · 5 months

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AU Bot Plot: Can't Waste a Good Party

It was a disastrous wedding. Katara had been dubious about accepting a catering job for her older brother's college friend's wedding, having been warned by so many other wedding vendors never to work for friends and family. She thought it would be fine since she'd never actually met Zuko, and his insanely rich family had offered her a generous bonus on top of her full fee. It had been hard to turn down, especially since her business was still so new.

The wedding, Sokka had told his sister, was between Zuko and his off again/on again girlfriend, Mai. Privately, Sokka had told Katara, he wasn't thrilled that Zuko was marrying a woman Sokka had dubbed an emotional succubus, but Mai's father owned a company that Zuko's father wanted closer professional ties to. Hence why Ozai Kaji was spending a fortune on his son's wedding. Katara thought it was a bit antiquated use an arranged marriage that way, but it was none of her business as long as the check cleared. And it did.

Now Katara was glad that she'd added a no refunds clause to her contract. The bride hadn't shown up. No call; no note; no friend to tell Zuko and the gathered families what happened. She just didn't show up. And poor Zuko was left standing at the altar looking hurt, embarrassed and confused while around him the guests were in an uproar.

Sokka, proving himself the right choice for best man, snuck Zuko out the back while Ozai and Mai's father, Ukano shouted back and forth about what this meant for their business ventures. The wedding was taking place at a sprawling resort hours away from anyone's home, so leaving wasn't really an option that night. Sokka had made a call, a few guests who'd been sat in the back row snuck out as the warring families hurled insults and abuses back and forth. No one else had even thought of the reception yet.

Katara took no convincing, and with the wedding planner still tied up at the ceremony venue, there was no one to stop a party from happening. Sokka and Zuko's uncle, Iroh, convinced the jilted groom that he needed to eat, and there was no sense in letting good food go to waste. Iroh had offered to sponsor the bar that evening as a wedding present, and saw no need to change that plan, though now he paid the venue owner to keep out anyone else from the wedding unless he or Sokka said they could come in. They had some serious bucking up to do that evening.

"I'm sorry this happened to you, man," Sokka was saying as he pressed a glass of whiskey into Zuko's hand. "But I've gotta tell ya, I always thought Mai was wrong for you. She was so mean! I couldn't understand why you put up with her. Father or no."

"Sokka's right," said Suki. "I know you kept saying she made you happy, but all you two ever talked about was how miserable you were."

"I never said I was miserable," Zuko protested. "I said we hate the same things."

"Oh, and that's such a healthy foundation for a marriage," Suki snorted.

"Well, we can't all be you two," Zuko waved between Sokka and Suki. "So grossly into each other."

"Oh, trust me," Suki raised her brow at Zuko. "You and Mai were plenty gross." Zuko scowled at his friends, and then slumped back into his seat with a groan.

"I'll never find anyone else," he said. "Mai was the only one who would even consider marrying me."

"You'll find someone else," Sokka promised. "Dude, you're a total catch! Suki, back me up."

"You are an absolute hottie," Suki affirmed. "If I wasn't madly in love with Sokka, I'd take a run at you myself."

"Alright, that's enough!" Sokka tossed a crumpled napkin at Suki.

"What?" Suki laughed. "I was just cheering him up."

"I'm glad you two are able to find things to laugh about," Zuko cut in. "It's not like my life is falling apart or anything."

"Sorry, man," Sokka said, patting Zuko's back. "We're just trying to help."

"Then let me go back to the hotel," Zuko snapped.

"It's better to lay low here," Sokka insisted. "Iroh's got the front door covered, so none of your crazy family can get in. If you go back to the hotel, everyone's going to be hounding you. We've got a party of ten here with no crazy aunts or in-laws or fathers. We've got food, we've got booze. Once Jin figures out how to connect her phone to the sound system, we'll have all the sad music you want." Sokka looked around conspiratorially and then whispered to Zuko. "Plus, I have it on good authority that Jin might be happier than most that your wedding got cancelled, if you know what I mean."

"Sokka," Suki chided.

"What, baby?" he looked at Suki with wide eyes. "I didn't say you told me."

"Sokka!"

"What's my brother done now?"

"Hey! Here's the world's greatest chef!" Sokka cheered. "Is dinner ready or what?"

"I was just coming to let you know we'll be setting it out soon. I'm sorry it wasn't ready. I was anticipating more time." Zuko turned to say something, but then he froze.

"It's fine," Suki said quickly. "The appetizers are delicious."

"And the bar's open, so we're all good," Sokka said. Katara raised her brow at her brother.

"I see," she said. Then she turned to Zuko with what she hoped was a professionally sympathetic face. "I'll get the food set up, and then I'll be out of your way."

"You can stay," Zuko said hurriedly. He ducked his head and shrugged. "If you want. It's...it's not like you need to work the reception anymore."

"I don't want to intrude," Katara started.

"No, stay!" Suki insisted. "You've worked hard. You deserve a break. Right, Zuko?"

"Yeah, sis!" Sokka pressed. "Join the party! Zuko just dodged a nuclear missile. We need to fill him with booze and food and cake until he recognizes this was a good thing."

"Sokka!" Katara gasped. She rolled her eyes and turned to Zuko. "I apologize for my brother. He was taught better, but I guess it didn't stick."

"It's fine," Zuko said. "And it's fine if you stay."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!" Suki said, pulling out the seat between her and Zuko.

#atla #zutara #sukka #au bot plots #runaway bride #THE YEAR OF CONTENT!!!!

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statticscribbles · 2 years

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Hidden Alpha

Summary: Newt/Reader; a/b/o dynamics, Newt is an Alpha but prefers to keep it hidden

Some part of you isn’t surprised; it made sense the more you thought about it. Newt Scamander was an Alpha; it’s how he was able to keep so many different creatures in order under the same small area; they were his pack and he was their Alpha. It was why, despite how meek most people described him as they always seemed to respect him a little too much for him to be written off as the Beta that was marked on the forms he presented. Queenie had told Tina that they were forged; you knew before either of them had said anything as you’d help him get them.

You hadn’t told him why you knew the forger; you figured he assumed it was something to do with you having trips back and forth overseas and smuggling a few creatures of your own. You don’t argue with him. You don’t notice the way he keeps you closer to him than the others, despite only having been traveling with him for months; it feels like you’ve known each other for years. While you weren’t close at Hogwarts, you blamed it on your shyness and the fact you were both hufflepuffs.

You’re late for the tea he invited you to; he’d wanted you to meet his friends visiting from America and you’d been more than excited to go; of course Theseus decided to come with you; insisting his brother would be fine with it. When you show up to the place Tina and Queenie are staying in; trailing behind sputtering apologies about being late; Queenie grins at you and Newt’s hand nudges you in the door as he glares at Theseus. You catch when Tina goes to shake your hand; and Theseus moves out of the way; his hands brushing on your back; Newt steps backward and Queenie’s eyes light up as she smiles. When you go to shake her hand she pulls you into a hug winking and you catch Newt’s arms wrapping around himself.

“Didn’t you have something to show him?” Theseus reminds you and you grin almost running into Newt when you pull your case up.

“You got a case like mine?” He grins and you nod.

“Yes but that’s not what I wanted to show you; well I should tell you first.” You nod sitting back down at the table hiding your burning face at the fact you almost crashed into him.

“So I was cutting through the back alley’s to try to find, well it doesn’t matter why.” You cut yourself off avoiding talking about the forger and the suppresant potions you buy from him; instead chewing your lip as if to remember something.

“Either way this caught my eye.” You gesture to the shimmering bangle that’s woven with gold and silver.

“And just as I was about to get it Victor rushes in; grabs it from my hand and then I have to chase him over three more streets until he gives it back!” You grin and Queenie laughs. Newt looks suddenly very upset.

“Victor?” Theseus questions and you nod.

“Yes; here.” You unlatch your case and pull the half asleep niffler out.

“He’s blind; but can still sense shiny things!” You hold Victor out and he yawns before his paws twist to try to grab the bracelet.

“Oh wow.” Newt breathes looking far less upset.

“You know what that means right?” You bounce slightly unable to wait as you answer your own question.

“Nifflers don’t just use sight to find items! They probably use smell or some sort of specialized sensors!” You grin and Newt beams back. You pat Victor on the head and Newt offers his hands out Victor snaps and hisses slightly.

“Oh; Victor don’t be mean.” You scold softly and Victor curls onto your lap.

“He must not be comfortable with your smell; he doesn’t like anyone besides me; if it helps.” You add as Newt deflates slightly.

“Oh! Hold on; sorry; may I?” You offer your hand out to Newt and he nods reaching forward. You try your best to block out the thoughts of what you’re about to do; and you quickly brush the scent gland on your wrist over Newts arm, nudging Victor who moves forward letting Newt’s hand now brush his fur. Newt grins and you smile back letting him pet Victor who still sits on your lap. You try your best to fight off a yawn but fail Tina offering you a bed to stay the night.

“It’ll just be in there with Newt; if that’s alright.” She smiles and you nod. Whenever you’d traveled with him you’d both always made sure to have beds as far away as possible; to avoid any awkwardness. You find it ironic that staying with his friends is when you’re forced to sleep next to each other. You try your best to figure out why you’re so tired; you hadn’t been out or up late; there was no reason for you to feel so exhausted beyond your heat; but you knew that wouldn’t be happening due to the suppression potion you’d taken earlier. You try your best not to squirm too much when you start to feel hot; you close your eyes for a moment and before you know it Queenie is muttering to Tina who’s awkwardly trying to convince Newt to stay in his case.

“It’s okay Tina; I can just go back to the hotel; it’s no problem if Theseus walks with me anyways; no one’s going to bother and Alpha and Omega walking to a hotel.” You know what’s happening; you’ve caught on that the suppression potion was a fake; probably nothing more that flavoured water or a pep-up potion.

“Y/N; it’s fine stay here. We can talk to Newt when he comes back up.”

“Back up?”

“He bolted down there right after Tina said you were an Omega; seems like he had no idea.” Queenie smiles and you eye the case as it opens once more.

“Y/N can stay in my case. I charmed it so you won’t be able to get out until your heat fades. It’s safer. Besides all the creatures like you; you’ll be safe, they won’t let anyone hurt you.” You nod stumbling down the stairs to grin at the creatures.

“Hey guys; I’m sorry I’m not Newt I’ll start feeding you in a sec.”

“They’ve already been fed Y/N!”

“They deserve treats!” You shout back and Newt bites his lip to stop from smiling.

“You went down there cause it's far away from me; so I couldn’t read your mind.” Queenie grins and him and Newt sighs.

“You could just tell her.” Theseus comments and Newt turns to him.

“I’m amazed she hasn’t noticed your jealousy yet; you almost shoved me out the door when I walked in.” He grins and Newt glares shrugging.

“Do you remember when I met her? You had to physically step away because you wanted to; well Merlin knows what you wanted to do, but I was a problem in that equation.” Newt glares and keeps his eyes down.

“I just wanted you to step back.” He mutters and Theseus grins.

“You didn’t want me near her, why?” Newt doesn’t say anything turning away.

“It’s odd; you wanting an omega. Especially one like that.” Theseus says it to goad Newt. He’s about to respond when you climb halfway out of the suitcase.

“Newt; I thought you might want your coat.” You offer it out and he nods in thanks. Theseus tries his best to not grin in triumph. Newt blinks for a moment swallowing before Queenie grins.

“Newt just tell her how you feel honey. It’ll make everything easier.”

“I don’t need to- bugger.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I left my wand down there.”

“You can get it when she’s sleeping; or Queenie can grab it.” Tina assures and Newt nods, folding his jacket over the chair.

-It’s almost midnight; you feed the creatures a few extra treats, ignoring the scolding you’re probably going to get from Newt when he returns and curl into the makeshift bed he uses when he stays down in the case. You try your best not to make any noise when you can hear footsteps; curling further into his scent from the bed and trying to ignore how your heat makes every part of you ache.

“Y/N?” Newt’s voice is softer than you’ve heard and you don’t respond.

“There it is.” You hear him mumble as he no doubt picks his wand up from the workbench.

“Hey Dougal; where’s Y/N? She doing okay? Are you guys taking care of her?” You can hear him talking to the other creatures.

“Where’s the Niffler; he didn’t.” Newt doesn’t finish instead turning and walking over to the bed where you know the niffler has settled next to your stomach.

“How beautiful.” He sighs and you shift in the bed pretending to be asleep. You can feel his hand hovering over your face and his fingers run through your hair before he pulls away.

“You guys keep her safe okay?” He repeats sighing sadly as he moves; you make sure he’s almost up the stairs before you pretend to wake whining. You can hear him stop moving and suck in a breath.

“Newt.” You can hear Theseus’ voice and Newt sighs once more.

“You know you wouldn’t forgive yourself.” Theseus repeats and you furrow your brow trying to keep quiet as you follow Newt on the stairs; holding the drowsy niffler to your chest protectively.

“Newt?” you question and he trips slightly on the stairs running back up and slamming the case closed. You blink up at the doorway in the darkness.

“Oh, I guess he doesn’t want me then.” You try your best not to sniffle to the niffler who then scrambles away as you place him on the bed. The niffler returns offering you a shimmering ring. You thank him pulling the ring towards you before offering it back out. The niffler squeaks and you put the ring on; it makes a pleased sound and settles next to you as you return to the bed; ignoring the embarrassment as you press your face into Newt’s scent and all but roll around in it.

You wake up to Queenie laughing and you're about to let her know you’re awake but she retreats to the stairs.

“NEWT!” She hisses up and you can hear his footsteps before his voice fills your ears.

“What’s wrong did something happen? Did one of the- Queenie; if you don’t tell me what happened…” he trails off and you can hear him suppress a laugh.

“Well at least the niffler likes her.” He sighs and you can feel his fingers softly touching you; moving something off of your arm You open your eyes and shift slightly; his hand going from close to your neck to lower almost at your chest.

“Sorry.” He jumps back moving towards the stairs and Queenie tries her best to stop staring as Newt runs up them.

“Y/N. it appears the niffler has taken a shine to you; literally.” She grins pulling off a few spare trinkets that the niffler had covered you with.

“Was that Newt?” You ask and Queenie nods.

“He doesn’t hate you sweetheart; he’s just never been around an omega during heat. He wants to help but he doesn’t know how.”

“Oh.” Is all you say but Queenie gives you a look and then sighs.

“We’re all going out in an hour; there’s a meeting at the MCUSA and Theseus managed to convince Newt to leave the case here; considering you’re in it; you’re welcome to stretch your legs once we leave; or at least make yourself a cup of tea or lunch in a proper kitchen.” She nods and you thank her, turning your attention to where the pile of jewels and shimmering objects rests.

“Okay; now then little niffler; these are yours. You can take them back.” You offer a necklace out and the niffler grips it in his hands turning it over and placing it in his pouch.

“You know what I love about Omega’s the most?” Newt cringes at the Alpha who’s been droning on and on.

“What?” Queenie rolls her eyes and Newt tries his best to ignore the answer from the alpha.

“They’re just so helpless when they’re in heat; you can do anything to ‘em and they’ll thank you. You should try it next time you find one; I’m sure you meet dozens on your travels.” He grins and Newt sighs turning back to walk over to Theseus.

“Why am I here.”

“Because we can’t trust you with your case.” Theseus deadpans and sighs making his way over to Tina who’s talking to Queenie. Newt watches them for another moment before deciding to head back to the apartment.

He’s apparated back into the bedroom, surprised to see the case’s lid is still shut. He makes his way into the kitchen for a cup of tea; staring at the scene before him.

“Pickett sweetheart, no.” You sigh plucking the bowtruckle from where he tries to plait your hair.

“It’s going to get knots in it. Can I just make my tea in peace; I swear I’ll give you a full half of a biscuit; I won’t tell Newt anything.” Pickett squeaks back and you pout.

“Okay that’s not fair; me being in love with him and you getting half a biscuit are not the same thing at all! Either way I’ve kept that well enough; Queenie is the only person who knows; and she won’t say anything because she knows that Newt doesn’t like being outed as an Alpha.” You sigh confused when you hear a thump in the bedroom.

“Oh, I hope Dougal didn’t get out.”

“Dougal! Please don’t be- Oh. Hey Newt.” You cough awkwardly and Newt grins from where he’s sitting on the bed. He looks slightly flushed and you wonder how fast he apparated back to the house.

“Sorry.” He looks down at the ground and you shake your head.

“I was just making tea; I’ll go back down now, I just fed everyone.”

“Is Pickett with you?”

“Yes, he’s trying to plait my hair; he’s mostly just tying it in loops. Is everyone else back?”

“No, just me.”

“Were you worried about your creatures in the case?”

“Yes; I was worried about everyone; plus the conversation was getting hard to listen to.”

“Were they insulting everyone?” You frown, gesturing to the case while Pickett is peaking out from your shoulder.

“Mostly you. Well all Omega’s but it bothered me.” He wrinkles his nose and you shrug.

“It’s okay Newt; I’m sure I’ve heard worse anyways. I should get back in the case; just in case anyone comes in.” You grin a little and nod opening the case but hesitating.

“Pickett misses you.” You hold Pickett out who climbs over to Newt’s hand and up his shoulder.

“Y/N. Are you wearing my shirt?” His voice is the same as the ones he uses for his creatures.

“Yes.” You can hear the way his breath hitches as you retreat back to the case trying to avoid thinking about how flushed his face was and how pleased he looked.

“Newt are you back here?” Theseus’ voice floats down the stairs after you and you can hear Newt cough awkwardly.

“Yes the conversation was boring.”

“Where’s Y/N.”

“In the case; Pickett decided to keep me company for now.” You don’t hear Theseus’ response but you can hear Queenie and Tina entering and then Queenie’s movements towards the case.

“Y/N. Are you okay?”

“Yes?” You peer from just under the case’s lid and she sighs.

“Please stop. The last thing I want is to hear whatever his thoughts are about that.” She shakes her head and turns back to Newt relieved that the only main thought in his head seems to be a repeat of the word mine.

You don’t ask where everyone is; you’d left your wand upstairs when you’d made tea and while you don’t need it, the security it provides is nice. You know the rest of the day will end up with you being unable to do much more than whine and fail to ignore the heat coursing through your own body. You stagger up cringing at how dizzy you are; you wonder how long it’s been since you’ve had an actual heat and you can’t remember with how everything is spinning. You stumble again crashing against the workbench and hiss curling into a ball debating if it’s even worth going back to the bed or if you can just sleep here.

“Y/N?” You lift your head when you can hear Queenie calling on the stairs.

“I’m okay.” You mumble before you can see her shoes.

“You fell; and you’re saying you’re okay?”

“I tripped over the feed bucket. That’s all.” You assure and she smirks.

“So if I call Newt down here?”

“I fell over the feed bucket.” You repeat and she nods.

“Why were you getting out of bed, I was about to bring you some breakfast.”

“I forgot my wand upstairs yesterday when I went to get tea.”

“Newt. Can you get y/n’s wand from the table.”

“Here.” Newts halfway down the stairs when Queenie’s nose wrinkles and you watch as newt sets the wand on the bench.

“No it’s fine she fell over the feed bucket.” You grin at him a little and he offers a hand out, pulling you up and hovering his other hand around your waist.

You try your best not to think about him; about how his hands felt around yours. You try your best to block out how easily he pulled you up; how relieved he had looked when you were okay.You try your best to push all these thoughts out of your head but you just curl closer to the coat he’d left on his bed trying your best to keep your hands from wandering lower; you chastise yourself by reminding yourself he’s upstairs and you’re in his bed; that he’ll smell you on everything but that just makes you ache for that moment. You bit your lip and try to stop from whining but you fail; it’s only half a whine, a squeak really but it rouses Pickett who had been put on babysitting duty and you try to assure him you’re okay but he scrambles up the steps. You’re not sure who you’d rather him get but you wait until you hear footsteps.

“Pickett.” You hiss slightly when he climbs on you. You roll from where you’d been facing the wall buried in Newts coat to come face to face with Newt himself. You don’t breathe just watching Newt. His eyes look almost black and you’re not sure why he’s being so still.

“You okay?” Newt asks and you shake your head; his hand brushing your hair nervously.

“Can I help?” You just nod reaching forward to press your nose into his neck. You don’t care how desperate you sound when you scent him; or how the rest of your body seems to coil around him as he leans over you.

“Y/N; I don’t know if you really want this love; I can’t-“ He starts but you whine and run your tongue over his neck. You can hear his breath hitch and you’re expecting to be pushed back on the bed but instead you feel yourself being pulled closer.

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huffle-dork · 28 days

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Swap Across the CrystalVerse Chapter 18: The Bad End

Read Swapboys | Crystal’s AUs| You've reached a Bad End (Also on AO3!)

Read SITCV | SATCV Masterpost | AO3 Link

The sun has truly set by this point, and the street lamps are the only source of light. This is a street of shops, some of which are opened but many of which are closed. Chase had explained to the visitors that the city issued a curfew a while ago and that was why people were rarely out.

Bro lingers outside a technology shop, its display window filled with monitors. The others huddle in an alleyway across the street, with Raven using their invisibility spell to hide them.

Bro anxiously watches the streets, eyes flickering back and forth as he tries to look for any sign of... well anything. All while trying to look casual while scrolling on his phone. But, he's not taking anything in. His stomach is churning uneasily. His instincts are going crazy- constantly shouting at him that something is wrong. He has to try to make this convincing though... just enough to throw this awful Anti off guard.

"Chase! Other Chase!" Jack's voice comes from right next to him.

Bro startles and nearly drops his phone, but just manages to catch it. "J-Jack?!" he whispers in confusion. "I... I thought you were gonna stay with Alt-"

"I'm sorry," Jack gasps out. "I-I'm sorry, I-I tried to help, I tried to--but they--they got to him, Chase, th-they got to him, h-he's under their control now, he's coming here, he's going to--"

"What?!" Bro gasps, his blood going cold and dread gripping his heart. "No no- no...!" He looks around in panic, "H-How soon?!"

"I-I don't know. Pretty soon?" Jack guesses. "Time is weird in the Place. Your villain is coming too, M-Magnificent? Other than that i-it's Voice and Error. I could--I could try to uncorrupt them, but it usually takes a while, you'd still have three others to deal with, a-and obviously I-I can't deal with Magnificent."

"I wouldn't want you to deal with him..." Bro mutters. "We can handle him... it's the others I'm worried about. And now... A...Alt-" He swallows thickly, his body feeling heavy. "... r-remind me what I need to know about the corrupted. They... they don't feel pain, right?"

"They don't," Jack confirms. "They're stronger and faster, but you're some sort of superhero so they may not be stronger or faster than you. They all have a handful of special abilities. Voice can conjure knives from nothing and stop time on anything he touches, and Error has these sharp glitches all around him that can cut you. I-I don't know what Alt can do. I saw him also conjure a knife but that might just be something he can do normally? I-in Marvin's case he kept his magic after being corrupted, it just changed slightly, I-I bet that's what's happened with Alt."

"Y-Yeah he could do that before... Okay... I... I can deal with his magic." Bro pushes his hair back and breathes out a shaky sigh. Then he angrily smacks the back of a fist against the glass behind him. "Fucking bastards-! Our plan basically does nothing now... we just are here like sitting fucking ducks-!"

"What? Oh. Because I was supposed to get him out during the distraction," Jack whispers, sounding guilty. "I'm sorry. But, uh, at least you'll be able to take them off guard? I don't think they're expecting a superhero."

"Pfft... yeah... maybe." Bro sighs, massaging out his wrists. "The second I see that motherfucking Anti, I'm punching him into oblivion. I want him to fucking feel it for hurting my brother...."

"Well, technically you'd be punching Voice, he is like me and can't be touched," Jack says. "But I'm sure JJ wouldn't mind. He hates him."

“‘Course he is- fucking cheater.” Bro mutters, “JJ didn’t do this so it’s not satisfying to punch him….”

"Well, if it comes down to punching Voice or getting stabbed, I'm sure he'd understand," Jack comments. "H-hang on, I'm gonna tell Chase and the others about all this."

“Okay…” Bro sighs, clenching and unclenching his fists- looking out for trouble.

He doesn’t have to wait long. Only a few minutes later— WHOOSH! Something comes streaming through the air towards him.

Bro is caught so off guard- he’s almost able to dodge but the knife sinks into his lower calf and he cries out and falls to a knee.

Someone laughs. Down the street, he sees a man standing there, all colorless except for the red strings around his wrists. He gives Bro a little wave. "Hello, Chase. It's been a while. Did you think I wouldn't notice? Or did you think your friends there would protect you?

Bro staggers to his feet and glares at the monochrome man. But then he grins, his eyes glowing blue. “Oh no- we were hoping you’d notice. I have something for you, bitch!” He kicks off the ground with a burst of speed and goes to try to punch him in the face.

However, Off to the side, Magnificent appears and blasts Bro off course with a burst of magic.

Bro shouts and goes skipping across the road for a second before he pushes himself back up. “M-Mag?!”

“Hello Fantastic! Almost didn’t recognize you~” Mag giggles, “did you forget about me?”

“Honestly I’d hope you’d give us less trouble considering we saved your sorry ass!” Bro shouts at Mag.

Magnificent just giggles with a shrug. “And miss all this chaos? You don’t even know me~”

Voice's eyes widen and he steps to the side--but his dodge proves unnecessary as Magnificent appears. Anti laughs. "Oh! Clever, but you're rushing a bit, aren't you? Hello, CHASE. Nice to meet you." He pulls a knife out of nowhere and lunges for Bro.

Across the street, Error is leading Byte to the alleyway where the group is hiding.

Byte excitedly clings to Error- ironic considering how they were not too long ago. “Do you see them??” He whispers.

"I don't see them," Error whispers, taking a blade out of his pocket. "But I can hear them." In the alleyway are faint footsteps and rustling of clothes."There!" Error shouts, jumping forward knife-first.

Raven yelps and drops the invisibility spell. They shout something--or sing? It sounds musical--and sends out a bolt of blue magic.

Byte glitches out of the way and laughs wildly. “Magician! Hehehe I’m one too! you’ll be fun to fight!”

Jackie gasps as the fight starts and sees Byte talk. “N-No…! Alt?!”

Byte turns towards Jackie and grins, wide and manic. “That’s not my name anymore! Now it’s Byte!” He giggles and glitches back and forth before stopping, appearing right in front of Jackie.

Jackie shivers as he sees his unnatural glitching eyes.

“Hold on J̵a̴a̷a̶a̴c̴k̶i̷e̴e̷e̴ ~ I’ll come fight you in a second!” Byte whispers then just as fast as he came he skids in front of Raven and laughs. He tries to wave out magic at them- but finds that he can’t. He blinks and looks at his hand in confusion. But then he shrugs, finding he can still make his knives as he goes to lunge at Raven.

Raven yelps, starts to say something that causes a flickering blue shield to form--but Byte is too fast, and his knife slashes through the shield and across Raven's chest. They gasp and stagger back, and someone else lunges forward, waving a knife.

Meanwhile, a gunshot rings out.

The bullet whizzes right past Error, whose eyes lock onto where it came. He grins. "Hey, Eyes! So you're here anyway!"

Chase aims his gun at Error, hands shaking slightly. "I-I-I know this won't hurt you," he says, "but I'm still sorry." He shoots again.

Bro focuses back on Anti and yells in surprise, trying to block the knife by making an x over his chest- but his knife easily slices across them. Bro bites back a pained noise then grits his teeth. He hops into the air then uses the momentum of coming from above to try to punch Anti even harder.

Anti dodges out of the way, leaping to the side. "Impressive--but too slow!" he laughs, and tries to grab Bro from behind.

Bro ducks and then tries to sweep out his leg to knock Anti over.

Another dodge, as Anti just barely steps over Bro's sweeping leg. He growls, a raspy, angry sound, and tries to grab him again.

Bro leaps into the air and hovers out of Anti’s reach. He growls, a dangerous light in his eyes. He builds up power again and tries to kick him from high up.

Anti sidesteps easily, laughing. "All that power and yet--!" He conjures another blade and throws it towards Bro.

The blade slices across Bro's side and he cries out and then growls at Anti. "Y-You won't win this. Fucker- I'm not gonna let you get away with hurting my brother!" He yells, building up power in both of his fists as he launches himself at Anti and tries to tackle him to the ground.

If Mag still needed to eat, he'd be eating popcorn on the sidelines right now- delighted by all of this.

Back in the alley, Byte’s eyes light up, both figuratively and actually as he sees Raven get cut. He laughs wildly and lunges to try to grab them again but gets stabbed by someone else. He looks down at the knife in his shoulder then giggles, “That doesn’t hurt! That’s fun! My t̵u̸r̷n̶!” He flips his knife and aims to slash at their neck.

Error stumbles back as the bullet hits him, but quickly recovers and lunges forward, grabbing Chase. "Come on, Eyes! Think about what you're doing! You wanted this!"

"N-no!" Chase gasps. "You don't--don't understand! I didn't--I just--"

"Come back," Error whispers, almost sounding like he's pleading with him. Chase hesitates--and then Byte attacks one of the team.

The man jerks backwards, letting out a strangled scream as a bleeding line appears across his throat.

Byte laughs wildly as the blood appears.

"No!" Raven gasps, grabbing him before he falls backwards. They close their eyes and start singing something under their breath, blue light wrapping around the wound.

As Raven grabs the man Byte yells in anger, “Hey! I wasn’t d̵o̷n̵e̶ ̵y̶e̸t̷!̷”

Chase gasps and rushes over, yanking his arm free of Error's grip, and attacks Byte from behind, trying to hit his head with the butt of the gun.

Byte tries to lunge after them- but senses Chase behind him. He glitches back around and catches his elbow and throws him back into the wall, grinning ear to ear. “Oh!! You’re Chase! Other Chase- not mine! Ohhh… I wanna kill you but Anti said not to.” He pouts slightly then flips his knife around. “I’ll try to keep you in o̷n̵e̸ ̵p̸i̷e̴c̷e̵ ̸ then~!” He tries to stab Chase in the stomach.

Being up this close- Chase can see… something that’s crawling along Byte’s skin. It’s black and glowing- a mass of what looks like purple and green veins but- it almost looks like… it’s shifting. Sometimes looking like ones and zeros- sometimes ending in a circuit pattern. It doesn’t seem like Byte is aware of it- it’s mostly on his neck- but it’s starting to peek out from beneath his sleeve. It feels… dangerous.

Chase's eyes widen, momentarily distracted by the strange pattern thing, but comes back to his senses in time to lunge to the side, barely avoiding the knife as it scrapes across the wall where he'd been standing.

"Be careful, Byte!" Error shouts, punching back one of the others as they try to attack him. Another one lunges for him and he spins around, slashing their stomach.

"Aw! But you got to slice that guy!" Byte whines. He flashes his eyes towards Chase and giggles as he tries to grab him again.

But, suddenly Jackie come out of nowhere and tackles Byte to the side. He holds him down by his shoulders, breathing heavily. "A-Alt! C'mon dude- snap it of this! This isn't you!"

Byte squirms but just laughs in Jackie's face. "Yes it is! It's me! This is how I wanna be i̴n̷n̴n̷s̴i̵d̴e̷e̵e̷~!" He giggles darkly. He tilts his head at Jackie as if studying him before he grabs him and pulls him close, grinning wide and manic. "Anti said I could kill you- so maybe I will!" He glitches out of Jackie's grip and then appears behind him, stabbing him in the back and driving him into the ground by his foot.

Jackie screams while Byte laughs loudly, stepping on the fresh wound. "Hehehe! You're not very strong are you~? That was too easy!"

Chase's head snaps to the side. His eyes widen and he tries rushing for Alt again--but Error tackles him from behind, knocking him away.

On the street, Anti tries to dodge but Bro's flying is faster than he can run. He gets knocked to the ground, Bro pinning him to the sidewalk.

"How devoted," he spits. "I'm so GLAD he has someone like you, REALLY." He wraps a hand around Bro's wrist.

Bro grits his teeth, raising his wrist to start punching the snot out of Anti. Even though Bro's wrist feels stiff where Anti grabbed onto it. His skin and the cuff of his jacket sleeve are turning shades of gray, slowly spreading.

Then, his head snaps to the sound of Jackie screaming. He pales and completely abandons Anti- going to tackle Byte to the ground. "H-Hey! What the fuck are you-?!" He cuts himself as his breath is knocked away- seeing first hand what being corrupted has done to Alt. "No... no A-Alt...!"

Byte squirms and glares at Bro with hatred. "That's not my N̸A̴M̷E̶!" He kicks Bro off of him- and the hero is too stunned to see it coming.

He flies off and Byte glitches to his feet, studying Bro with a tilt of his head. He grins again, laughing. "Oh! You're the spare!! You're the Chase Anti said I can kill!" His grin turns deadly as his eyes glow brighter. "G̸o̸o̴d̴.̴ I wanna see how a hero bleeds~!" He glitches back and forth across the alley and then appears on top of Bro, ready to stab the knife into his chest.

But, then- he suddenly cries out in pain and clutches at his neck- his knife cracking into glitches as he crashes to the ground. His body glitches wildly- now tainted with purple and green light.

Bro blinks in confusion and then hurries to kneel down by him. "A-Alt?"

"W-W-Why did that h-h-hurt?!" Byte pants out, his voice jittering and breaking like a broken computer. He's holding a hand over the corruption. Bro can see the black mass now solidly on Alt's hand and growing- glowing brightly. "I-I'm not sss-s-supposed to f̸-̵f̷e̶e̷l̸ ̷that...!"

Error is trying to drag Chase down the street, but he stops when he hears Byte cry out. He immediately looks over. "Byte... it... hurt?" he whispers, confused.

While Error is distracted Chase easily slips out of his grip, getting farther away but looking back at Byte and Bro in concern.

Jackie has been trying to push himself up and then crashing back down as moving makes his back flare up in agony.

While everyone else is distracted, Raven rushes for Jackie and starts singing that same soft song. Blue light covers the stab wound, slowly healing it.

Jackie sighs in relief as Raven heals him and can finally push himself up. He feels his back and then smiles at them. "T-Thank you..." He turns back to the chaos with wide eyes.

Anti also gets to his feet, rushing across the street after Bro, but stops once he sees the coloring on Byte's skin glow. "What is that?" he gasps, and looks back at Mag. "Magnificent? Do you know?"

Byte is glitching like crazy, gripping at his neck as that weird corruption spreads even more. He glances up at Error and Anti and tries to reach out to them. "A-A-Anti! Err-rror-! H̴-̸H̶e̷l̸p̸!̶"

Magnificent teleports over and kneels down by Alt.

"G-Get away from him!" Bro tries to shout.

Mag pushes him back and looks at Byte's neck. He's eyes widen and he looks at Anti- "I... I'm not sure. It looks sorta like the corruption I do... but it definitely isn't."

Byte reaches out and grabs onto Mag- "M-Magnificent...!"

Mag cries out as he's grabbed- the corrupted virus quickly spreading onto his wrist now too. He pries himself away from Byte and clutches at his wrist. It burns-! Magnificent himself seems to glitch like Alt- but not in any way he can control. He shouts out in pain, his voice sounding corrupted and digital now too. "W-What the fuck is this?!"

Bro backs away from Alt and Mag with wide eyes. He hardly notices his stiff and graying wrist.

Error and Anti are staring in horror. "It... it's going to be okay, Byte," Error says. He hesitantly walks forward. "We just need to--"

Suddenly, Anti grabs Error, pulling him back with wide eyes.

"Wh--Anti, we need to--"

"Don't get close," Anti hisses, backing up and pulling Error with him.

"But he needs--"

"Don't get close!" Anti snaps. "We're not getting infected with that!" He drags Error down the street, well out of range.

Jack, previously lingering to the side, steps forward, going past Chase and towards Alt. 'I... maybe I can...' But he hesitates.

Byte looks at Anti with betrayal in his eyes. Then he growls, unsteadily glitching to his feet and trying to go after him. "Y-Y-You did this to m̵e̶-̶!̶ You can't l-l-leave me like this!" His voice is caught between desperation and anger. "Anti- p̶l̵e̴a̷s̸e̶!̵"

Anti flinches a little at Byte's words.

Bro tries to grab Alt by the hoodie to hold him, "A-Alt! You can't go back to him- please just...! We can find a way to fix this!"

Byte whips on Bro and growls, grabbing his wrist and throwing him back. "STOP CALLING ME T̸H̸A̴T̴!̶"

Bro cries out and grips at his wrist, the same thing that happened to Magnificent, happening with him- except so much faster and more severe. It eats up at his face, turning his sclera green as he gasps and cries out- his body glitching and corrupting. He staggers back then falls into a glitching heap, jerking like he's being shocked.

"Chase!" Jackie cries and pushes past anyone in his way as he crashes down next to Bro.

Byte's eyes widen as he glitches back. The spirals in his eyes flicker slightly. "C-Chase...?" Alt whispers.

Error reaches out--but then the infection spreads to Bro, and Anti grabs him, pulling him back. He turns and runs, dragging Error with him, who just can't bring himself to fight him.

Magnificent is curled up on the ground and just barely sees Anti and Error running. "C-Cowards-!" He yells after them before crying out as more glitches take over and force him to curl up more.

"Chase!" Chase gasps, rushing forward. "I--other me, a-are you okay?!"

Bro doesn't seem like he can hear anyone, screaming as the corruption tears into his body- static tears race down his cheeks. His cries crack and fizzle like a broken machine as his body glitches painfully and he presses his face into the ground, trying to find some kind of relief.

Raven also rushes over. They reach out for Bro, but Chase grabs their wrist, stopping them. "N-no wait, we have to be careful," he says. "We d-don't know how it spreads!"

Jackie wants to help but he's also scared of catching this. He looks up to Alt and pleads. "A-Alt please! You need to wake up! You have to f-fix this!"

Byte is breathing heavy, static and white noise roaring in his ears. He cries out as another wave hits him too, making him curl up and grab his stomach. He can feel it- it's spreading fast across his body. He's scared- he's been abandoned and he's alone and he hurt-!

Jack gasps and rushes forward. 'Alt? Alt, can you hear me?!' he asks.

...no- no he's not alone. Byte sees the white glow from Jack and his eyes widen. "J...Jack...?"

'Alt, w-we need to fix this! I think--I think maybe I could help.'

Chase glances at Jack. "Are you sure, Jack? You're talking about--what you did with me, right?"

'M-maybe, uh, maybe if we get rid of that, then this will go, too,' Jack says. 'At the very least, we'll have one less thing to worry about.'

Byte breathes, like he can't believe he's there. He looks down at his corrupted hands and watches as they glitch- some pixels bright and colorful- some dark and corroded. "...you can.. g-gl-glitch too... right?" He breathes.

'Yes--yes, a-and that can help you, I think,' Jack says. 'If you'll let me.'

Byte breathes shakily and slowly nods, "... -g-glitch at the same time as me...! I think.,.. I think we c-c-can fix this... t-together...!" He looks back towards Jack, the effect of the corruption in his eyes seeming to flicker out completely- showing Alt's glowing scared eyes underneath.

Jack nods. Something in his heart twists. 'Okay. On three.' He reaches out to Alt. 'One... two... three!'

Alt reaches back out and glitches at the same time as Jack.

The two masses of glitches collide- and unlike Anode- they don't try to pull apart. They swirl together as if in a unified dance. They combine completely and glow bright like a star.

From the light- a body reforms, floating slightly off the ground. The light floats in the silhouette of a man and two green and blue impressions of wings unfurl from their back. The wings glitch with the body and then the light fades and shows the body in complete color. They look more like a solid Jack- his green black scar stark on his neck. White static overtakes part of his body- but most notably the right side of his now freckled face. They slowly open their eyes- the right one a green scleraed eye, the left one bursting with green white light and sparking like a storm.

They blink slowly and then bring up their hands to look at them, eyes widening. "Woah..." they breathe, their voice ghost-like and echoing.

Chase and the rest of the group stare, in awe, at the transformation. "...Jack?" Chase whispers.

They shake their head. "No," they say. "Not Alt, either. Someone... else. A... Cathode." Cathode--the opposite to an Anode. This feels so different than that did. More solid, despite their more ethereal state.

Jackie’s jaw drops. “What the fuckkkk?” He squeaks. “I… I didn’t know Alt could do that!”

Cathode gasps and looks around. "Chase?! Bro?!" they rush to his side.

As Cathode rushes to Bro’s side, Jackie backs up, making sure they have enough room.

Bro whimpers and looks up at Cathlode with tearful eyes. They widen slightly as he takes in the blurry image. “…a..alt…?” He breathes.

Cathode looks pained and remorseful as they gently take Bro’s cheeks-

“Wait! C-Careful!” Jackie cries.

Cathode laughs and shakes their head. “It’s okay Jackie…” They gently tilt Bro’s feverish face towards them and then touches their forehead to his. Tears bubble from their eyes and fall onto his skin. The flashing veins of binary and circuitry flare to white and blue- then fade away as if they were never there at all. The skin looks a bit purple gray where the corruption was for a second- like a nasty bruise. But soon enough that fades too.

Bro stops glitching and becomes solid again as he slowly relaxes, breathing easy again. His eyelids flutter and then he blinks up at Cathode- back to full awareness. Though- he looks very confused about what he’s seeing. “…did I die?” He asks dazedly.

Cathode laughs. "No, Chase, you're okay. I-I'm so glad you're okay. I'm... do you remember Amp? From that world with the good Anti with the scarf? The same thing just happened." They lean forward and hug Bro. It feels less solid, more soft than a regular person, as they're not quite there.

Bro blinks even more and then stiffens slightly as he's hugged. Then, he soon melts, hugging them back as best he can. "...I..I'm so glad you're okay....!" He warbles out, relief so strong it brings tears to his eyes.

Cathode chuckles, "That's supposed to be my line, dummy."

Then Cathode leans back, and their eyes fall on Magnificent. "I guess we have to help him, too," they grumble.

Magnificent wasn't nearly as bad as Bro- but he is quietly glitching in the corner, corruption slowly spreading on his skin.

"...he helped do this to Alt..." Jackie mutters darkly. "I say let him suffer."

"... We can't do that Jackie..." Cathode sighs, "As tempting as it is. He still needs to go home- to your dimension." Cathode glitches over and floats down next to Mag.

Magnificent looks up and... almost looks pathetic. He weakly tries to bare his teeth but Cathode just rolls their eyes. They lash out and grab his wrist and then bring his face close to their as they whisper darkly, "...I hope this will be a lesson for you Magnificent. Don't come back here." They wipe a glowing white tear off their cheek and then spread it across a patch of Mag's corruption. It fades away like Bro's did and the ghostly fusion drops Mag to the ground. Magnificent takes deep, feverish breaths as the pain starts to leave him.

Now that Bro seems better- Jackie is next to hug him. He nearly tackles him to the ground, clinging to his shoulders. "Chase you scared me so fucking bad...! I'm so happy you're okay..."

Bro blinks then hugs Jackie back, "I'm okay dude... I'm okay..."

Chase shakes his head. "This is so fucking weird."

Cathode laughs. "I can imagine." They look down at their hands, briefly closing their eyes. Memories and emotions swim together. Part of them feels this is familiar. Part of them remembers something like this happening before.

Inside, there are the faint remnants of green strings clinging to their consciousness. Before they can separate, they have to get rid of them.

"You didn't deserve any of that," they whisper. "Tell me you know you didn't deserve any of that. Are we... evil? No. It is your choices that make the difference, the ones you meet in the future. Not where you came from. Tell me you know this."

Cathode hesitates, regular tears slipping out from under their closed eyes. "I... I..." They swallow shakily. "...I know..." Their voice gets choked up. "it hurts- it hurts knowing p-part of me did... want what he gave me... but I... I didn't deserve that... I didn't..." They hang their head and hiccup a bit, pressing a hand over their left eye. "I'm not evil..."

Their see-through wings curl up around them- like they're protecting them... or attempting to give them a hug.

A few tears fall from their eyes. First the left, then the right. "I'm not evil," they say again. "I know. I know." A deep breath. And then they laugh. "I don't want to let go..." They wipe their eyes. "But I can't stay forever. We need to take care of ourselves, okay? ...Okay." And they close their eyes. White static fizzles as the two halves fall apart from each other.

Jack lies on the ground, staring up at the sky. He blinks his eyes, trying not to cry too much.

Alt is curled up, hugging his arms- his shoulders shaking. His hand and his neck have that dark purple bruising on it- the last sign of his corruption. But the virus is gone.

As soon as Bro and Jackie see the static separate- they don't give Alt much time to himself. They immediately throw themselves at him and hug him. Bro is crying- squeezing his little brother tightly. Jackie is trying his best to hug them both.

Bro eventually lets go long enough to look at Alt's face, searching it with worry. "...y-you're you again, right?"

Alt smiles weakly at him through teary eyes. His eyes are normal, even if there's dark bags under them. "...i...I'm me."

Bro laughs and squeezes Alt again and for once Alt doesn't try to glitch away. He clings to Jackie and Bro's arms and lets himself cry.

"I wanna be sooo mad at you, lil bro-" Bro mumbles, "But I'm just so happy you're okay..."

"Scare us like that again though and I-!" Jackie tries to scold but it falls short and he laughs, "... I'll think of a threatening punishment for that later so... don't scare us again!"

Alt laughs wetly, nodding against them.

Jack sits up. He lets Alt have this moment with his friends for a while before he clears his throat. "I-I'm glad you're okay," he whispers. "I'm sorry I couldn't stop it from happening."

"Jack says he's glad you're okay and he's sorry," Chase repeats--a translation that turns out to be unnecessary, as Alt could hear Jack's words just fine. Something about fusion must have allowed Alt to hear him.

Alt blinks up and looks at Jack as he speaks, much to his friends' confusion. He then chuckles lightly and looks to Chase. "i-it's okay I can still hear him..."

"...Alt can see Jack??" Bro gasps.

"Well.. guess that makes sense-" Jackie comments quietly, "How else could they... steven universe like that?"

Alt weakly glitches over to kneel next to Jack and smiles sadly, "Hey... If I can't blame myself for getting caught... you can't blame yourself for not stopping it. We both did all we could."

Jack blinks, surprised. He smiles a little. 'W-well, I guess that makes this easier. Alright. We'll promise each other that we won't blame ourselves.'

Alt smiles back and nods, "Okay... good." He shrugs with a laugh, "We shouldn't give Anti that satisfaction anyways. Fuck him."

Jack glances at Bro and Jackie. 'Oh... yeah, didn't you realize? I was the one guiding you guys to the underground entrance when you first arrived and that whole thing with Error happened. Alt could see me then, too. I wonder why. Maybe because we're... similar.'

Alt smiles at Jack. "Yeah... guess we are. Or maybe its cuz you can glitch too."

Bro blinks towards Jack, "oooh- that... really makes that make a bunch more sense. I wondered how Alt just suddenly seemed to know things-"

Alt laughs, "I'm not that good-"

"Steven Universe, huh?" Chase mutters. "My kids loved that show. Haven't had much time to catch up on it, being... underground and all. But yeah. That was a, uh, fusion thing, wasn't it?"

Bro blinks more at Chase, "ohhh yeah! It is just like fusion!" Bro laughs. "Man- we should marathon that sometime."

"Oh- Kelsie would adore that." Jackie replies with a smile.

Alt chuckles, "heh... that might be nice... someday."

He then frowns and sighs. "...I'm sorry he still has... everyone though. Part of me hoped... maybe we could have at least gotten Error back... I... I dunno."

"Heh... uncorruption isn't something that happens right away," Chase says, smiling sadly. "There's a whole process that Jack has to do. And, uh, I-I didn't want to go through with it at first, until he and some of the voices helped me out. So... even with your guys' help, it wouldn't be that easy. But I'm happy that you guys wanted to help."

Alt looks sad but he nods, "Yeah... I.. If I could I would free all of them... I... I can't stand to see what Anti did to them." The sight of Cat in particular lingers in his head as he unconsciously touches his neck.He looks towards Mag who is resting up against the wall now- deliberately not looking at anyone. "...we need to get home..."

'Yeah, I guess you do have to go home,' Jack sighs. 'It'd be nice to talk with you about other-universe stuff, but I don't think this universe is safe right now. Maybe... maybe you can come here some other time, and things will be better. They're definitely better than they were before.'

He sadly smiles Jack, "...I wanna talk too I... It's not every universe I meet someone else who... gets it. You know?" He looks dejected at his lap. "...But I don't wanna risk Jackie or Chase getting caught..."

A green glow appears down the street. It gets closer, and closer--until it's revealed to be Sam, shrunk down to the size of a golf ball.

'Huh? Sam?' Jack blinks. 'What're you doing here?'

Alt's so caught up in his thoughts he glitches in surprise as Sam suddenly appears. He looks bewildered- but then a hazy memory comes back up... Memories from Amp and- a bright green glow inside Anti's hideout. He slowly smiles. "H-Hi Sam...! I... I never got to see one of you up close before..." He whispers.

"Omg- tiny Sam..!" Bro gasps with a smile.

Sam flies over to Alt, bopping against his pocket.

'Oh. They want to see the thing you're using to travel through universes.'

Alt jolts and glitches a bit when he boops his pocket. But, then he blinks and pulls out the TRVLR for him to see. "Oh! Well uh... here, little dude." He gets more comfortable and powers it on with a quick zap of electricity.

Sam flies closer. There's a red bubble in the center of the TRVLR's menu, indicating the time-space warning Alt say when arriving in this world. Sam touches the tip of Their nerve-tail to the screen, pressing the Settings bubble. They scroll through all the tiny, complicated text in here, seeming to read it. Then They exit out and look up at Alt.

'Uh... Sam says that... some parts of the device--the... TRVLR? Some parts are broken,' Jack explains. 'Namely, the, uh, firewall? Defender? Antivirus? The software that protects the device. They say that needs to be fixed. And after that, you need to fix the... what the fuck does that mean, Sam? Huh. Okay. The 'ripple minimizer,' They say. Apparently it's something that keeps you from causing big ripples when you jump between universes. Which is important, because some creatures and technical devices can pick up on ripples and know you're coming. That's how They knew you'd be here.'

"That's great to know, but can these guys fix that?" Chase asks.

Jack shrugs. 'Maybe not. But it's what Sam said.'

Alt's eyes widen as Jack explains and he looks down at the device. He frowns and then glares at Magnificent before addressing the others. "Yeah we...knew it was broken. Just not how cuz... we can jump fine. Or... we could until..." He makes a face as he counts, "5 worlds ago, I think. Mag most likely broke it. ...its a long story." He frowns and flips the TRVLR in his hands as he thinks. "... I dunno how to fix it though. I didn't make it... some company called IRIS did- it didn't even work until I put my magic into it. I didn't even know we... we had a ripple minimizer!"

"All these big fancy tech words hurt my head..." Jackie mutters.

Jack laughs at Jackie's comment. 'I know, right? Sometimes Sam starts talking about stuff I really don't understand, and it really hurts my head to think about.'

"Well... I don't think there's anyone here who's capable of fixing it," Chase says slowly. "I've never heard of an IRIS. What, like the part of the eye, or like the flower?"

"Iris is a name," Raven comments, speaking up for the first time since the fight. "In fact, one of the Council members is named Iris."

"...I don't know what that has to do with this science device being made by a big company, though," Chase says. "Because we don't have any big science companies here. Or at least, not big companies that can make things to travel through worlds."

"I mean... is that really a big deal? The ripples?" Bro asks, "it's not like we go into these worlds secretly now. It was actually kinda nice to have Sam do all the prep work for us this time." He laughs.

Alt sighs, "... I dunno... it could be bad. If the ripples cause detection... what if alerts something bad like... another Anti? There might be some that do even worse things..."

"It's possible," Chase says slowly. "But... like I said, there's no one here who can fix it. So... all I really think you guys can do is keep going until you either get home or find somewhere with people who could fix this stuff."

"Yeah sounds like you guys don't have a company like that here. Thank god- those things already suck in our universe. And you guys deal with enough crap..." Bro sighs.

Alt nods, gripping the TRVLR, "...I think we're almost there... at least- according to something a friend said." He replies to Chase.

"Well that's great, then." Chase gave Alt a thumbs-up. "Almost there is great."

Sam bobs, agreeing with Chase. They fly a bit closer to Alt, briefly bumping against his forehead. And in that moment, Alt--even though he doesn't know how to detect power like Magnificent does--gets a flash of a very strong magical signature. Something sour, almost to the point of acidity, and sharp.

{YOU CANNOT WORRY ABOUT EVERYTHING, ALT BRODY,} a voice says in his head. {YOU CAN ONLY TRUST YOU ARE CAPABLE OF HANDLING IT. AND YOU ARE CAPABLE, EVEN IF YOU DO NOT THINK SO.}

Alt blinks up as Sam flies over to him. He tries not to jolt or glitch away especially as Sam's magic signature washes over him. But, he relaxes at hearing their voice and he slowly nods, smiling. "...okay... I... I'll try to remember that. Thank you, Sam."

"...bro did you just have a telepathic convo with a floating eyeball-?" Jackie comments. "... that sure was... a sentence. This has been such a crazy adventure." He laughs lightly, shaking his head.

Jack blinks. 'Sam talked to you...? You must be pretty special, it took me forever to learn how to listen to Them. I mean, I've known Them for years and only recently started hearing Their voice.'

Alt smiles, flushing slightly. "... maybe. It might just be cuz they let me."

"God, fucking tell me about it," Chase mutters, responding to Jackie. "Don't get me started on us finding Sam for the first time. Then Marvin and his magic, then JJ and his weird time powers. You get used to the fucking bizarre stuff after a while, though." He gives a little laugh.

Jackie chuckles, "Yeah... Meeting these two and then finding out Henny can do that... time shit- feels real weird being that normal guy, huh?" He lightly hits Chase on the shoulder in a friendly gesture.

Chase looks the guys over. "So... are you gonna leave now? Like, right now?"

Bro looks around and then sighs, "yeahhh... probably. Alt is right- we probably scared Anti off for a bit but... it's not...safe here. Even if we wanna help."

"And we can't really- cuz this fucker would probably just make it worse," Jackie grunts, pointing a thumb behind him at Mag. Magnificent weakly hisses at him.

"Yeah... we should... go." Alt sighs, glitching to his feet.

"I'll tell Stacy you guys all left," Chase says. "She'll probably be a bit upset that she missed it, but she's a pretty practical person, so I think she'll get it." He smiles a bit, expression soft. Then he shakes his head again. "The rest of us will head back to base once you guys are gone. Just in case he comes back to check if I'm still here."

Jack stands up as well. 'It was nice meeting you guys,' he says. 'Always good to talk with more people. Especially you, Alt. I didn't realize I could do that fusion thing. It was interesting.' He gives him a small smile. 'Take care of yourself, okay? All of you.'

Alt nods and smiles back. "Yeah...Take care of yourself, too. I... I hope you all figure this out soon... and free the others. They.. they don't deserve this... No one does."

Bro smiles and gets to his feet, looking towards everyone who came. "Thanks for all your help guys... you all helped us get Alt back and... I can't thank you enough for that."

"When you finally beat Anti- give him a good punch in the face from each of us, okay?" Jackie grins. "Or... whatever will actually hurt him."

Chase laughs. "God, if we can, we'll definitely punch him."

Jackie grabs Magnificent by the arm and tosses him towards where Bro and Alt are. Magnificent makes a face but stays quiet. Bro and Alt exchange glances and then link up hands with Jackie.

Alt gives one last look at everyone and smiles gratefully. "...maybe we'll see you again... when it's better. Keep strong until then, okay?"

'Good luck,' Jack says. 'And... thanks. I think we'll be able to make things right.'

And then, Alt hits the jump button, preparing for whatever comes next.

The group falls, and by now they are used to the way it is interrupted. Their course shifts, adjusting, like a comet being caught in the gravity of a nearby star. Pulled towards it. Pulled towards their destination.

#SATCV #SATCV Bad End #alt anti #corrupted alt #byte alt #bro fantastic #swap magnificent #jackie mann #i love love lovedddd alt and jack working together as Cathode :')#the moment of jack trying to uncorrupt alt makes me tear up ugh i love them

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fromthewondersystem · 2 years

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System Communication and Journaling

Since we don’t know a lot to do with innerworlds, I focused on the communication part of today’s prompt for summer system education week.

I wanna share some resources I’ve found on system communication and journaling (which I’m a huge advocate for. Out of the many different ways we’ve tried to communicate, journaling has been the most helpful for us.) I also recently got a pre-set-up journal recommended by my therapist, and I’d like to share some of the things in there as well.

Ok, before getting into journaling, here are some general system communication resources I’ve found:

Internal Communication- The Core of Treatment for Dissociative Identity Disorder

Developing Internal Communication - Starting with the Basics

Reducing Amnesia - Developing Co-Consciousness

Integrating ‘new’ parts

Staying Organized with Dissociative Identity Disorder (talks about some different communication methods)

For journaling, my first source is about How to Journal for DID. I’d also like to note some tips:

In free journaling, make sure to put the date, time (if able), and name of the alter journaling. If you’re unsure who’s journaling, put who you might be, who you’re closest to, who you may feel like a mix of, or if you really can’t tell, just put Blurry (or Unknown, if applicable).

Try to write every day. Set a reminder for yourself on your phone or something if it will help, set aside some time to just write.

If you can’t think of anything to write, and prompts don’t help, just start writing. It can be anything, notes, activities, even drawings count. Also beginning to write makes it easier to continue and let ideas flow.

You can write to no one in particular or to the world, but you can also write to other alters. Some conversations can occur back and forth in your journal pages. Even if it takes a few days or weeks for the other alter to see your writing, it can still be helpful.

Read through your journal and re-read it from time to time. Are there entries you don’t remember? Or ones you vaguely remember but feel different reading them as you? You can also write responses to alters asking questions or writing to you.

If you want, feel free to mark out different section for different alters, or a section specifically for talking to others in the system, etc. You can mark them with small post-it notes or bookmarks, so you may know more easily where to look for certain information or notes.

Next I’m gonna share the sections of the journal I got, along with some resources to go with different sections (many are from did-sos.com, because man, it’s a great resource site). Some are relevant to multiple sections, but I’ll only write each one once. I’ll put these below a cut since this post is already turning out to be a little long.

Link to get this journal if you’re interested

Section 1: System Rules - Write down system rules for this diary and also your system rules for behavior, decision-making, attending therapy, and more.

Relevant Resources: Hierarchies and Cooperation

Section 2: Alter Check-In - Write down alter name, switch start time, duration of switch, date, and switch trigger and other notes to communicate to the other alters.

Relevant Resources: Team Meetings and conflict solving

Section 3: Alter Introduction and Profile Pages - Include (applicable) info such as name of alter, age, birthday, gender identity, sexuality preference, likes, dislikes, relevant categorizations (aka roles), and other notes.

Relevant Resources: Roll call, Working with categories of parts to solve complex dynamics

Section 4: System Map Pages

“Use [the map pages] to map the host and other alters, group them with things they have in common.

Keep in mind elements like how much time they spend occupying the body, who is the leader, who is a helper.

Think about who does the alter seek help from, who do they in turn help themselves.

Note the different relationships between the alters, e.g. who else is the alter aware of, who is that alter closest to, and who are they most distant from.

What type of jobs and personalities does each alter have.

Remember to date your map to see how it changes over time.”

Look up some templates (like mind maps) for ideas on creating your map.

Relevant Resources: Mapping for DID/OSDD systems

Section 5: Gratitude Prompts and Inspirational Quotes - Answer these questions to break out of negative thoughts patterns and refocus on the things that make you happy and grateful.

Relevant Resources: Happiness/gratefulness journal

Section 6: DID Symptom Tracker, Mood vs. Energy Log, and Lined Journal Pages

Daily Energy vs. Mood Tracker - Track your daily energy and mood using different colors on this line chart - note your triggers below. (The line chart included has on the left side a battery scale, with it being 0% at the bottom and 100% at the top. On the right is a mood scale with five different faces, the top being very happy and the bottom being very upset. The chart goes Monday through Sunday.)

DID Symptom Tracker Pictures

Relevant Resources for Journaling: The Journal in Trauma Therapy, Structured Journaling Exercises for Therapy, Resource Game for DID, Your (scrap)book of resources

#summersystemeducationweek #syseducationweek #SSEW #summer system education week #sys education week #communication #journaling #did #osdd #system #resources #hopefully this isn't too long #info

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littleboxcat · 1 year

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Janine Had to have been the person to find Egon's body...

So I am not a superfan but I have been a fan of Ghostbusters for a very long time. Anyway, I have watched the first two movies so many times and I would race home after school to watch The Real Ghostbusters on TV. (partialy because I had a crush on Egon Spengler. Janine would honestly be like "Same gurl, same")

I have been re watching Ghostbusters Afterlife and something struck me but also kinda made me sad. Yes, seeing ghost Egon (Harold Ramis) and the og Ghostbusters together again made me cry like a baby but no, that wasn't what dampened my emotions.

In the scene where Cali and the kids meet Janine, She tells them She was the one to contact Them about Egon's death. She also goes on to say they were... Friends. There was a pause in that statement (this is important). Janine also states there was no money and that she had been there making sure Egon's bills were paid and take care of small things (also an important to my theory.)

I want to go back, to some cut scenes in Ghostbuster 1984, soft cannon as well as some non canonical but equaly important to character development moments in other GB media. Egon didn't sleep that much, (Apparently he could live on 14 Minutes,) and in a cut scene of GB1984 he is seen sleeping at his microscope (Janine found him there.) In the Extreem Ghostbuster cartoon, Egon didn't realy take care of himself too much (Janine had to get him to eat healthy) I'm fairly certian that when Egon is in a state of Hyperfocus, (Bc he is an autistic coded charachter, but that's a conversation for another thread) he forgets/neglects everything else. This is where Janine comes in.

I postulate that Janine still had feelings him. Hell they may have had feelings for each other but never labled it hence the pause she made when saying they were ...Friends. Janine obviously didn't live with Egon but had to have lived somewhere close because flying back and forth IN THIS ECONOMY, would have been expensive and Egon had no money. Maybe she received money from Winston but it didn't seem that way. Out of all the Crew she was the only one checking in on Egon regularly. Honestly I feel like this was a labor of love especially because he was already going over the deep end into the Gozer, end of the wold thing.

Janine was the only one of the crew who knew about Egon's secret love child, which means he shared personal information with her. I not so sure he shared his giant trap plans with her though. Egon had been living there for years. YEARS! And in all that time Janine was the only one coming to see him, taking care of his affairs/business (probably taking care of him.) Either they were super close friends or lovers. I'm leaning toward lovers. That's a lot to do for just a ... Friend.

In GB Afterlife, Phoebe mentions to Ray that Egon had only been dead for like a week. The movie takes place a week after Egons death. The town's folk said Dirt Farmer was a loner. Podcast eludes to no one ever going up to the house. This means the only person to have possibly found Egon was Janine.

Janine found Egon's limp body in the chair where he died. This is probably how she was able to contact Cali so fast. It would have taken a couple of days to pack up their life and move to Egons farmhouse...

Janine, who was most likely still in love with Egon, The only person checking in on him, making sure he ate and slept, the person handling his bills, probably making sure he cleaned up after himself, goes to his house to check on him only to find him dead. The coin she's holding in the after credit scene isn't the second coin she had (from GB 1984) but the coin she gave him for good luck because she thought he might die in the original Gozer attack. She was correct but it wasn;t the original Gozer attack that killed Egon. It was the final attack. This realization killed me inside.

Anyway what do you think? Am I overthinking this? Sorry for the long post.

#ghostbusters 1984 #ghostbusters #the real ghostbusters #janine melnitz #dr egon spengler #egon spengler #Ghostbuster afterlife #janegon #harold ramis #Ghostbuster II

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ameftowriter · 1 year

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FINALLY I WROTE THIS AFTER 2 AND A HALF DAYS!!

Whew... I'm sorry for it being so late on this one.

But I did my best after being inspired by this wonderful art. Thank you @k-chips and @zomandfriends and @wyrdle .

Also this is based off @k-chips 's Dadvell AU yes xD

Thank you for reading and I hope you like it. I apologize for any errors as well.

Under the cut cause it's a bit long and also spoilers.

EDIT: I forgot to add some important tags I'm so sorry also some information cause I rushed to post this and I'm forgetful

Title: But what about you?

Tyme walked through the hallways to speak to Clavell at his office. Everything was going well so far she thought to herself. Everything was going smoothly and even issues that rose were quickly fixed and resolved. She was happy to report to Clavell that there were many willing volunteers to help set up for the first Academy Ace Tournament this Friday and the participants for the battles itself have all signed up.

But as she opened the door to the Director's office, she saw the one last big issue to resolve.

Clavell continuously paced around his office. Back and forth, back and forth, over and over again. He stopped and looked like he thought of something.

Then he grumbled and began pacing around again.

Tyme sighed to herself... There was indeed one last thing that had to be dealt with first.

And perhaps she's the only one who can resolve this problem.

She approached Clavell who kept going and going, as he didn't realize who was already there next to him.

"Director...." Tyme began.

"And there's still the board meeting...." Clavell muttered to himself as he walked away, not noticing Tyme.

"Director Clavell..." Tyme repeated herself as she walked to follow him.

"The Tournament is this Friday... I still need to get a speech prepared..."

"Clavell."

"But of course... I still need to provide more support for Arven and his friends..."

"Clavell!"

"Oh!" Clavell quickly turned to see that Tyme was standing next to him with her hands at her hips and looked at him with the most annoyed expression.

"M-Miss Tyme..." The flustered director spoke, "My goodness... I didn't see you come in... How long were you--?"

"I just got here, Director Clavell...." Tyme shook her head. She could feel the tension within him.

"I must apologize then, Miss Tyme.." Clavell bowed at her, "I have been quite busy with various affairs."

"I'm sure you are, Clavell..." Tyme sighed as she dropped the title, "Though I believe you may have overloaded yourself with too many affairs."

"... Do you think I have?" Clavell wondered, a lot of events have occurred in this school year alone after all. But he was the director, a lot of things are his responsibility.

"Definitely." Tyme nodded, "You need to take care of yourself once in a while, Clavell. You won't be able to help anyone in your state. "

"I suppose you're right but I..." Clavell paused for a moment as he thought of what he needed to do. "Ever since I found out the truth about Team Star and around two years ago... I have to make sure these kids are doing well for themselves now and the school isn't giving them too much trouble ...."

"Yes ..." Tyme did not want to be reminded of that shame she felt when she was told of the truth behind the entire incident. But she has noticed then that the Team's members have started coming back to classes and have been opening up to the teachers and other students... Especially her student, Penny...

"Then the Academy Ace Tournament is this Friday... We need to make sure everything is set up and we got the proper permissions for the location and the shops..."

"Of course..." Tyme and various volunteers have already gotten the permissions needed to set up the Tournament. Chairwoman Geeta already compiled it all for them. She wanted to tell him this, but the man kept on pacing...

"Jacq needs assistance in his classes and his Pokedex as these Paradox Pokemon that Sada brought in have a lot of information to bring up and even to other Pokemon Professors..."

"That's not a rush then is it?" Tyme tried to reassure him, at least to lessen the burden.

"Speaking of Sada, and the Paradox Pokemon..." Clavell already changed the topic as the thought of the incident that happened a couple of months ago, "Dear Arceus... Those kids... I still need to check up on them and their well-being... A couple of months have passed already, I dearly hope that they are still doing okay since then..."

"I'm sure they're doing all right, Clavell..." Tyme remembers seeing the four students in question, enjoying each other's company and having quite a loud yet joyful chat in the cafeteria yesterday. She was quite happy to see that.

"But also Arven...." Clavell clutched his head as he counted in his mental checklist, "I have been worried for him since the incident in Area Zero.... When we found out that his mother had been gone far longer than we realized, then down there to meet the AI and... And..."

"Clavell!" Tyme had grasped his shoulders firmly, and jolted the man awake from his self induced trance, "For Arceus's sake, settle down."

"I... I apologize..." Clavell muttered.

"I know you have a lot to do, but please take care of yourself first." Tyme pleaded with him with the softest look possible, "I worry about you."

"I..." Clavell felt his face heat up by that. "I'm really sorry Tyme... For making you worry for me."

"You've gone through a lot under a span of a year, even more than anyone should." Tyme reassured him again, "You don't have to be sorry for this."

"I know but I..." Clavell began to remember his mental checklist again, "I feel like there is still much more to do..."

Tyme sighed, here we go again.

"I still need to check on the kids...." Clavell counted, "And Arven... He still needs my help, I need to be there for him more..."

"Clavell..." Tyme spoke softly.

"I'll also still need to talk with Team Star, I want to make sure they're doing well too..." He counted it again.

"They're all right...." She reassured him again even though it fell on deaf ears.

"Jacq needs help as well..." Once again he does it.

"That can wait. Even though he knows it's not a priority..." She continued.

"Then there's the tournament... I can't just leave it..."

By then, Tyme had enough and pulled the man to her and enveloped her arms around him, hugging him so tight.

"But what about you?" She says to his ear, "You silly old fool..."

"Tyme... I..."

"I've said it before and I'll say it again... You need to take care of yourself. If you don't then I will... For your sake ..."

"Tyme..." Clavell repeated, as he was unsure of what to say or do. "You don't have to..."

"But I want to." Tyme answered back, "You need this. At least for now..."

Clavell could feel the tears well up in his eyes as he brought his hands upward to return the hug she had given him... "Yes... Yes, please... And thank you."

The two remained like this for a good while as Clavell quietly sobbed as he grasped Tyme's sweater. He was grateful to have her around at his moment of weakness and felt himself relax for once. Tyme rubbed circles on his back as she, herself tried to hold back her own emotions. She hated seeing him like this. When she found out about everything this poor man had gone through in just the course of this school year, she brought it to herself to accompany him more and help him more than ever. It was the best thing she could think of right now. So despite it all, she was relieved that she could finally help him.

As the two finally went silent, Clavell sighed, "Thank you Miss Tyme... I needed that..."

"Good! Now that wasn't so bad, is it?" The two let go of their hug but their hands still on each other. Then the two stiffened.

The realization that they're so close to each other had clicked in for them and they have once again fallen into silence.

"I...umm..." Clavell was the first to speak, with his face flushed red and his hands letting go of Tyme's waist, "Th-thank you Miss Tyme... For that support..."

"O-of course..." Tyme felt her face heat up, and her heart skipped a beat... she never really realized how... good looking... Clavell is up close like this...

"Is there something else wrong, Miss Tyme?" Clavell managed to speak as he felt his own heart rate speed up after being so close to her like this. "You still have your hands on my shoulders..."

"Oh... oh! I... I apologize, Director Clavell!" Tyme quickly removed her hands from him as she felt flustered, "I'm... I'm just glad to help!"

"Of course!" Clavell gave her a soft smile, as he still felt relaxed and happy to be by her side. "If you have time then, shall we have some tea?"

"That would be wonderful!" Tyme smiled at him back. The two are simply delighted to have each other at this time of vulnerability.

"Oh... My... Arceus....." Penny muttered as she peeked through the office door. She was actually there to try to meet up with Director Clavell to talk to him about the STCs and its steady progress and various records with it. But instead she had just witnessed something she definitely wished she could have recorded.

"Well... This can wait..." She said to herself as she slowly closed the door as silently as possible to not get their attention, "Priority one is to gossip this to Riley, Arven, and Nemona.... They're gonna be so happy to hear about this!"

She then silently walked away from the office ready to head back to her friends.

#pokemon #pokemon scarlet and violet #pokemon spoilers #pokemon scarlet and violet spoilers #clavell #director clavell #pokemon clavell #tyme #miss tyme #pokemon tyme #ame writes fics #ame's fics #thank you for waiting #work killed me #i tried my best #i hope you all like it #pokemon sv #pokemon scarvio #stemshipping

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tarisilmarwen · 11 months

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Rebels Rewatch: “Droids In Distress”

Wacky droid hijinks and nostalgia abound, let’s get into it.

Now, this is an episode that for a different show would have been used as the pilot. It’s got all the earmarks of a weekly serial testing out its tone and character dynamics, while acting with confidence like those are already established.

Note that this isn’t a bad thing. It reminds me most of Teen Titans’s early Season One, there’s a certain kind of charm and innocence and an earnest attempt at convincing you, “Don’t worry, this will be a FUN show! :D”

Frankly starting off lighter eases you better into the world and characters so when things do get more serious and dramatic later you’re more invested because you’ve had more time to get endeared to the characters.

See also, Star Trek: Lower Decks, which had the audacity to end its Season Two on a cliffhanger, YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE MY SILLY COMFORT SHOW, YOU’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO HAVE STAKES!

Anyway we open rather appropriately In Media Res with the notes of the TIE Fighter Attack track from A New Hope, which auditorily puts us right into that OT headspace. :)

Once again the tight writing very quickly establishes the situation: The Ghost is on the run from the Empire, in need of cash flow and supplies, they have to occasionally run weapons for someone shady, Ezra is Force Sensitive, and--perhaps most importantly for the later story arc--Kanan has been avoiding training him.

Boy I miss concise exposition like this. So much story is already set up in some densely-worded dialogue. (Not just Kanan’s reluctance to teach Ezra but also Zeb’s misgivings with working for Vizago given the uncertain nature of the weapons he deals in.)

Also don’t think I missed Ezra being most concerned with the fact that they are running out of food.

RIGHT SO I CANNOT TELL YOU HOW GIDDY I WAS THE FIRST TIME I WATCHED THIS BECAUSE ICKLE MINI TARI LOVED THE STAR TOURS RIDE AT DISNEYWORLD. Seriously it was one of my top favorites. Never rode the updated version (haven’t been back to DW in years) but the classic version was iconic for me.

And this is a cameo/Easter Egg that actually works in context because you don’t need to know anything about this droid pilot, he works organically in the story as he is without any background knowledge required.

Unlike many of the other cameos we could name in certain other Star Wars shows *COUGH*.

Threepio and Artoo on the flipside... Okay, I’m not quite sure how to articulate that it still works better than in aforementioned other shows but it does. Again Imma chalk it up to, they just fit more organically into the plot and around these characters and also advance the bigger plot by introducing a thread that suggests the crew is going to be connected to the larger Rebellion, which pays off this Season Finale... instead of being a sideshow diversion disconnected from the main characters that may or may not make another appearance down the line sometime. Maybe.

Side note of appreciation for Chopper gleefully taking right to his role of Public Nuisance Annoying Everyone (But Especially Ezra). I don’t think there was much acting involved for either of them lol.

Still love how bouncy and dynamic the character animation was these early episodes.

Has that fun kid-friendly feel that lures you into a false sense of security lol.

Our first hint at Sabine’s backstory, cleverly hidden as part of her cover story.

I kinda like that Garel is close enough to Lothal that a very small shuttle is able to just ferry people back and forth in like twenty minutes.

Lol Zeb whapping Sabine because she’s laying it on too much.

One of the nice things about having low-stakes plots in the beginning is it allows room for lovely little breathing scenes like this one with Ezra leaping across the rooftops. It’s not plot necessary, we could have easily just cut to him arriving at the other hanger, but it’s just... pleasant.

There’s some nice mood music (a very slowed down mellow Main Titles theme), some very mild action, and we feel a satisfied little thrill along with Ezra seeing just what he’s capable of already just knowing that he’s Force Sensitive. This is the first time he’s consciously tapped into the Force and it’s just a little bit exciting.

Just look at his face gkjhgkjh I’m so proud of him and all he did was some parkour.

Subtle animation detail appreciation: Zeb visibly shudders backing away from the crates.

I love Threepio throwing some indignant shade Sabine’s way with his “[...] if she is an amateur.” line.

We know Zeb is the muscle of the group, that’s already established, but it’s still obvious in the voice acting and Zeb’s intense tossing of the Stormtroopers that he’s more agitated than normal.

Threepio being oblivious and fussy as per usual.

Please enjoy the Fridge Horror of knowing that the Empire was planning to mass-produce T7 ion disruptors and probably not for their starship-crippling properties. :)

Ezra immediately backing off the hostility once he knows why Zeb’s upset. <333 He’s such an empath I love him.

See this is why I don’t understand people who hate Ezra. Was he a little bratty this episode? Sure, but also see how he lets that drop out of compassion once he understands the situation.

Also Ahsoka came onto the stage waaaaaaaaay brattier and a smug know-it-all to boot, just admit y’all hate the kid-appeal characters and refuse to let them be stupid and dumb in order to have some character growth.

Hera’s frustration when she hears that Kanan hasn’t been training Ezra. <333

Lol and love how there’s an immediate follow-up in the next scene. I want to see the beginning of that conversation.

Pryce gets name-dropped here for the first time. Predictably Threepio is making a muck of things. See, this is why no one tells you anything or trusts you with the mission Threepio.

Ezra has clearly dealt with underworld figures like Vizago before lol.

I do wonder if all of this is just a massive Batman Gambit by Artoo, because he seems to be completely unfazed by anything that’s happening.

The AT-DPs get quite a bit of focus in this series and I think their ubiquitous presence in the first season preps us mentally for the heavy upgrade that is the AT-ATs.

Love this shot tracking Hera as she shoots at the AT-DP, very frenetic with the blocking and the camera movements.

The duel between Kallus and Zeb is honestly better than some of the lightsaber fights don’t @ me you know it’s true.

This music cue when they launch the disruptors is a unique one, particular to only this moment I think, but I like it.

Aaaaaaand the first of many times Kallus gets yeeted with the Force. Lol.

See Sequel Trilogy, this is the general powerset of someone who only just learned they were Force Sensitive and hasn’t had any training. /salt

Kanan seems very surprised and amazed by what Ezra can already do without any formal guidance. This’ll play into his insecurities later, his whole thing about how Ezra’s powers are growing faster than he can teach.

I think it’s safe to assume Ezra had a lot of latent natural talent that he’d been unconsciously using this whole time that just needed a tiny push to begin manifesting in earnest.

Again, though, Sequel Trilogy, all we unlock is basic shit like Force Sense, Force Jump, and Force Push.

Not surprising Kanan went to fetch Zeb, he’s about the only one even close to Zeb’s height lol.

Kanan looks so proud of Ezra, aww.

More lovely work with the subtle expressions; Kanan’s smile fades and his eyes drop a bit. Like he realizes, “Oh boy, now I gotta face all my inadequacies and problems.” Love it. Love that it’s episode two and we’ve already established so many of the upcoming character arcs.

Hi Bail!

Luke’s theme closing us out once again, apropos given where we are and who we’re with.

For our first “official” non-pilot episode, this is a solid entry. As I said, establishes a whole bunch about the characters and their relationship dynamics and upcoming arcs and plot points. It’s also very fun, sets the general early tone of “Adventure and excitement but not too much... yet.” and the animation continues to impress in small ways, mostly the dynamic shot choices, camera angles and movements and the subtlety of emotion displayed on faces.

Coming back to this one always just leaves me with a warm feeling like, “Aahhh yes, back when everything was innocent.” It definitely plays up the nostalgic feeling of the OT, which was always one of Rebels’ strengths as a show.

Next time, one of the many “filler” episodes that come back in an important and unexpected way in the finale. You’d think, given the number of Avatar: The Last Airbender alums on the project, fandom would know better than to discount the seemingly light-hearted low-stakes disconnected episodes. XD

#star wars #star wars rebels #rebels rewatch #liveblog #ezra bridger #space dad and his precious pumpkin child #agent kallus #soundtracks #music

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