#the distortions are just the start | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

cryptids-lobelia-garden · 2 months

Text

I managed to pull this together in the middle of an Absolutely Horrible work day! Yay! (Writing this is probably part of what got me out of a stress and caffeine induced panic attack) Unfortunately I didn’t get it edited on time to post on time, but Hey! It Exists :D Anyway, people should write more characters having autism shutdowns. It’s very frustrating being barely able/unable to talk (I am autism btw)

Anyway, this one’s very environmental. I feel like the timespace distortions in PLA could have been a LOT more horrifying, and I’m here to deliver! Warnings: animal attack (again), uuuuhh what do you call this.. time and space are being bent and torn around him and it is some sort of cosmic horror or something idk what that term means exactly I just know it’s what comes to mind, but uuuh yeah this one’s kinda tame actually.

All of mine so far have been pretty tame, let’s be honest. I promise I can write other stuff we just haven’t gotten to the Good Stuff I Have Planned yet

Day 5: Reckless

Takes place some time after the battle atop Mount Coronet. (After day 4 of this event, far before day 3, which happened before days 1 and 2)

~~~~~

Volo should have known this would happen when a strange energy started to fill the air. He should’ve known this would happen when sparks started to fly.

He thought he had more time before it did, thought he could pick a few more berries from this tree and run.

He should’ve known better than to test his fate, especially in a distortion that he had indirectly caused. Arceus has a sense of humor, after all, and Volo is no stranger to the cruelty that fate seems to love to bring him.

Scents from past and future flow into the air, and he can hardly breathe, stumbling as the ground morphs and shifts under him. One moment, he’s standing on the grassy hill, and the next, a structure he doesn’t understand appears out of nowhere, trapping him inside.

He scrambles his way out a window and brings his fingers to his mouth, whistling as loud as he can.

But Toge doesn’t come. She can’t hear him in the storm.

I could die here.

The realization sends chills down his spine.

He’s been confronted by his own mortality plenty of times in his life. It’d be a surprise to hear someone hasn’t, really, in a world as dangerous, as cruel as this one. Wild Pokémon attacks that aren’t immediately deadly can still be incredibly dangerous later, after all, and there’s a myriad of other dangers in this world.

Volo happens to be particularly good at getting himself into bad situations, and fate has always seemed to be especially cruel to him. He’s faced death plenty of times.

But it’s never felt so close.

He could run from murderers and wild Pokémon. He managed to strike a deal with Giratina when they met, he learned everything he could forage so he would never starve, he had even escaped the wrath of a particularly powerful zoroark, which is an impressive feat, considering the fact that even the normal zoro put plenty of people on the death toll.

But he can’t run from this. Not when he can’t breathe and the ground itself doesn’t seem to work as it should, flickering in and out of existence at the drop of a hat.

He curses himself for his stupidity as a terrified steelix shrieks, a sound like boulders tumbling down a mountain. It’s moving too quickly to see where it’s going, barreling straight towards Volo.

He just manages to dodge out of the way, ducking and rolling behind a tree- but an electric attack hits him, and he shrieks as his whole body jolts from it, falling to his knees.

It’s hard to move, he’s shaking, his muscles are spasming.

He can’t run.

Paralyzed.

I’m going to die here.

Something falls into his hands, a strange device. Some sort of bracelet, with a thick, flat face.

It lights up as he touches it.

He frantically presses back against the tree as an alpha raichu steps forward, holding the strange device up.

He’s about to move to throw it in desperation-

And then something he touches on it creates a shield of pink and blue energy, surrounding him just as the raichu tries to hit him with a Thunder.

He can breathe.

Volo scrambles to his feet, catching his breath. “Is this- some sort of shield..?” It moves with him as he walks- no? It’s moving with the device.

He scoops it off the ground, shaking his limbs out to try to get the rest of the electric attack out of his system, and he sprints towards the outside of the distortion, carrying the device with him. The ground materializes beneath his feet, holding steady even as it breaks around him, and he thanks fate for finally giving him something good.

Some attack hits the shield, and he yelps as he’s thrown, but he isn’t hurt by anything except his own bad landing. Scrambling back to his feet, he runs the rest of the way out, jumping through to the outside of the bubble of distorted land just as the timespace storm starts to swirl.

Terrified pokemon shriek as they’re swept into it. Volo nearly throws up as he sees human remains inside, swirling with the rest.

And, in a flash, all of it is gone, leaving no sign of what just happened but specks of shimmering pink dust, floating softly to the ground.

He’s in a cold sweat, shaking as he stares at where he was almost swept away. The trio would RUN INTO these. For FUN, to collect the things inside.

What the HELL is wrong with them!?

He takes a few shaky breaths, collapsing to his hands and knees. The device makes a clicking sound as it wraps around his hand, but he pays it no mind for now.

Okay.

Okay, I’m okay. I’m alive. I’m okay.

..I have nobody to blame for that except myself. I shouldn’t have stayed when the storm started to gather. And for what, a few handfuls more of berries? That wasn’t worth the risk!

He stares at the strange device, which has moved to his wrist. There’s numbers on the front, though he’s not sure what they’re for.

It’s a miracle I made it out. And it’s because of this wondrous device..

It’s locked itself around his wrist somehow. He can’t see the locking mechanism- it looks like a clean band, aside from the face. The only sign as to its origin is some strange lettering on the side, though he doesn’t really recognize the characters. He knows he’s seen them somewhere before, though.

With some experimentation, he figures out he can move the device up and down his arm, but he can’t take it off. It’s comfortable no matter where it is, fitting perfectly to his skin, but it won’t go over his hand, despite obviously having the capability of doing so.

Fascinating..

Okay, he’ll deal with that later. He stands, making his way back to the little camp he’s set up.

He’s still feeling a little stiff with the after effects of a fairly mild electric attack paralysis, but he’s not too hurt- he must’ve not been hit too bad, thankfully.

Volo sits at camp, dumping out his bag and counting the supplies he’s managed to gather.

If he finds a way to preserve the food, what he has gathered today will be enough for a few days. So the progress towards what he and his Pokémon need to survive the winter is slow, but it is progressing.

The extra berries he grabbed are enough for two extra meals for Toge, so there’s that, at least.

Was it worth the risk? No, not in the slightest. Not when he can easily gather that safely.

But does it make him feel a little better about it?

Absolutely.

He looks up as a shadow falls over him, quickly moving to catch Toge as she flies into his chest. “Hey!”

She squeaks happily, shaking her bag- and that’s the sound of a bunch of apricorns. He can also see the leaves of a few different edible plants and medicinal herbs sticking out.

Volo smiles, cuddling her close. “Thank you, sweetheart,” he murmurs, burying his face in her feathers with a quiet sigh. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

~~~

PARADOX DETECTED

A young woman leans over to look at the alert, brushing curly red hair out of her eyes. “Oh! Well, that explains where he got his watch.. That is a dangerous paradox, wow. Very lucky it didn’t break anything. Dialga must have helped..” She sighs, tapping a few buttons on her watch and sending a quick message to Management. “..Dragons. I need to figure out how Eclipse got it off so I can update the security systems.. What a bother.”

#whumprilday5 #whumpril2024 #Whumpril #🌻Volo #distortions should’ve been scarier #like. I understand pla isn’t a horror game BUT #there’s so many things in it with the capability to be Absolutely Horrifying #Hisuian zoro. various ghost types actually (Pokémon in general).#the distortions are just the start #honestly if they had the time I wonder if gamefreak would’ve made more to them than just purple bubbles filled with strong Pokémon and item #maybe they wouldn’t have. but a guy can dream #anyway I am. Struggling how tf does electric type paralysis work #my explanation in my head is the electricity magically sticks around for a lil bit #and it keeps the paralyzed one still #stun spore is of course a poison and not electricity #but for electricity paralysis stuff to not be permanent you’ve gotta fudge things a little I think #pokémon whump #is surprisingly difficult bc there’s so many weird logistics things that you can’t just search up #bc pokemon ARENT REAL :((((#god. I wish I had a sylveon #I feel like a sylveon would be a pretty good starter pokemon #I mean they’re just a dog.. cat.. fox.. thing and they love you #ANYWAY enough rambling from me! hope y’all enjoy #oh yeah also #⌚️Melissa

2 notes · View notes

potato-lord-but-not · 4 months

Text

and our next course: Michael Shelley

#OBSESSED WITH HIM FOR NOOO REASON #like I literally just started drawing him #I should draw him more tho like his whole thing is weird hands. WEIRD HANDS IS MY BREAD N BUTTER OK #artists on tumblr #traditional art #the magnus archives #the magnus archive fanart #tma #tma fanart #magpod #michael distortion #michael shelley #tw blood

3K notes · View notes

redactedcrowart · 5 months

Text

508674490205402479706314796864630680869369077811119428391436709549024497908162273368108540422084022079569335651244898

#this is pretty good if you ignore all the parts that are bad #anyway i hope you like double encryption i'm starting to get into it more <- normal sentence for normal people to say #something something tim begins to distort more the more distressed he gets or some shit idk brother i just work here #i was being forced to watch the room while i drew the majority of this if you want an idea of my mental state during the Artistic Process #my art #art #illustration #marble hornets #marble hornets fanart #mh #tim marble hornets #tim wright #i'm Not tagging all of them that is so much #eyestrain cw

1K notes · View notes

yelloartt · 4 months

Text

gerrymichael wip for tmp day!!! this is ib/collab with @/lem0ndu2t on instagram! we’re both drawing gerry doing michaels makeup :D gotta go listen to tmp now

#also shhh dont tell anyone ifs a secret but im planning a tma animatic #no promises tho classes just started again #but iwanna do it so baddd #gerrymichael #gerry keay #gerry keay fanart #michael distorion tma #tma fanart #the magnus archives fanart #the magnus protocol #tma #the magnus archives #michael distortion fanart #gerry michael fanart #michael shelley #gerry x michael #wip #art wip

237 notes · View notes

melonisopod · 26 days

Text

I love Don Quixote’s observation logs because she’s very goofy and almost always doing something funny but she’s also really observant too.

Yes she tried to eat raw chicken but she also noted a similarity between the Steam Engine’s self-repair ability and Dante’s healing, since both can “heal” damage by “undoing” or ‘turning back the clock’.

With Siltcurrent, she also realizes the glow sticks can be used both as breathing tools to keep the Sinners from drowning once the whale floods the arena, and also as barracades to lure in the whale to charge into.

And then her WHOLE deal with Distorted!Heathcliff. The more I read over it the more I realize how depressed she is having to write the log but is trying to stay positive about it, that’s part of why she makes a point to praise Heathcliff as a strong combatant and the ways he stands out from Hindley.

#limbus company #Don Quixote LCB #I’ve read distorted Heathcliff’s log so many times #even tried to dub it at one point #on the third fourth or fifth read i started to pick up that she’s not really happy writing the log #her going off *just* wanting to gush about heathcliff may have just been her wanting to avoid the topic of his distortion #and when she couldn’t get away with that she made a point to fill the log with glowing praise of him #but also saying that it was hard to have to attack a friend :(

99 notes · View notes

k-mart-art · 7 months

Text

hello tma fandom (again) I am STILL cooking up shit so obscure im not sure it can still be considered fandom content no pressure of course but reblogs help if you do wanna share it :]

#k-mart art #michael shelley #michael distortion #tim stoker #gerry keay #michaeltim #i just realized ive never had 2 tag ship stuff before cus ive never posted any #im gonna tag this tma but if i start botherin ppl with this imma remove it #tma #bad polycule #<- my michael tim gerry tag :]#doorkeay

204 notes · View notes

shadow-the-crow · 1 month

Text

I think i finally understand how the Distortion works. I mean, i don’t think it’s possible to ever fully understand it, and i don’t know the whole picture yet because i don’t know what Helen will be like, but i feel like i’ve just been granted a glimpse at the lovecraftian (as in ineffable) thing that is this being.

It’s not a person and a creature fighting inside one mind. There’s no Michael clawing himself to the surface to express his emotions and get his revenge.

Michael Shelley is dead. The Distortion became Michael. It sounds so simple, yet a least in my opinion it’s hard to fully understand.

I think what provides the best metaphor is a small thing the Distortion says after becoming Helen: "without a proper mind." The Distortion does not have its own mind. It’s only a what, but in order to really exist in this reality, it needs a who. It needs a body, but also a mind.

So if i understand this right, it’s like this: Michael Shelley is dead. His conciousness is not there anymore. And the Distortion got forced into that mind, an empty mind of a dead person. This doesn’t make it human, it’s still able to understand the impossible, it’s still the thing that was created to scare and kill. But in the mind it’s living in… the previous owner’s furniture is still there. It gets the dead person’s memories. It becomes Michael, in the sense that it has to be someone. Its existence got tied to being Michael, although Michael Shelley is dead.

When Michael got "emotional", that wasn’t Michael Shelley coming through. It was the Distortion grappling with the side effects of being someone - of living in a mind with all the memories and the human emotions that a human mind can’t fully turn off, even when the thing inhabiting it isn’t human at all.

The Distortion was Michael in the sense that it was thinking with Michael Shelley’s mind. When it became Helen, its consciousness, its being stayed the same, but it needed to adapt to this new mind. It could see clearer now, realizing that the windows of the previous house had been dirty, realizing that the wirings of the previous mind had driven it to do something that it actually didn’t want to do. The throat of the Spiral itself getting caught in the spiralling of its own, borrowed mind.

#here comes the first michael essay #this is only the start #i've still got so many more thoughts #i hope this makes sense #idk why but i think i get how the distortion feels #being forced to be someone who isn't you at all #like - it doesn't make sense but i get it??#okay i haven't watched doctor who but maybe it's kinda like being the doctor?#you kinda change personality and become someone else but your true being stays the same?#(as if anyone of us knew what it's like being the doctor any more than we know what it's like being the distortion lol)#tma #michael distortion #tma the distortion #helen distortion #the magnus archives #tma podcast #tma spoilers #tma thoughts #mag 101 #another twist #michael shelley #i just realized i've probably spelled michael wrong in the tags before oops (i know how it's spelled but “micheal” keeps popping up so...)#you know what i'm gonna put the wrong version too for reach #micheal distortion

87 notes · View notes

thedeaddraws · 4 months

Text

#I started listening to TMA and guess who's my (second) most favourite character #fun fact I finished this just before I listened to the episode where Distortion Helen appears #mourning my poor man who deserved so kuch better #Spiral I am also after you and I'm not afraid to fite you #tma #the magnus archives #magnus archives #michael distortion #distortion michael #tma michael #tma micheal distortion #tma fanart

108 notes · View notes

akalikai · 3 months

Text

Gonna christen this account with a doorkeay colored sketch from Twitter (yeah its magnet bc I'm fucking cringe and a vocaloid nerd shhh)

I just love the idea of gerry calling michael those cheesy nicknames like "sunshine" "pretty boy" "blondie" "curls"

#michael shelley #gerry keay #doorkeay #gerrymichael #the magnus archives #lgbtqia #tma #tmagp #magnet #vocaloid #doorkeay grabbed by the neck and WRINGED IT #im actually obsessed with these blorbos #i think they should kiss #oh and theyre t4t i make all the rules here #michael distortion #just the spiral and his little bookburner #god im insane about them FUCK ME #this means im gonna end up wiritng 59 fics #ive already written one and started one long fic. kill me.

82 notes · View notes

the-butterbun · 1 year

Text

0. The Fool

innocence, idealism, unrealized potential, new beggings

‘She told him to walk through a door. And even then, with so much of his mind shut down in panic and terror, he trusted her. And he went inside, closing the door behind him.’- Micheal the Distortion

361 notes · View notes

jayktoralldaylong · 11 months

Text

Four ways to become an Avatar:

1. Being chosen by an already existing Avatar: This is how majority of Avatars become Avatars, even Jon went down this path (that's right Mr. Sims, you're not special 😂 - I'm sure he's relieved about that).

2. Becoming an Avatar without connections - This one is harder an often involves a Leitner book. Often involves a search for power. Eventually these Avatars will get connections or meet another Avatar to help them along or they'll die fast.

3. Getting chosen by the Entity - Very very rare. Almost never happens. Entities are worse at communication than your toxic Ex.

4. Getting born FOR an Entity - The rarest one. You would think getting born the personified version of an Entity would come with lots of benefits (and it often does because these people are often more powerful than any other Avatar - Agnes and Peter), yet for some reason I think these guys are worst Avatars in general. 😭💀 It's not like they're bad at their job, they are very good at burning and making people lonely, but that's also the only thing they know how to do. 😭😭 Outside of their field they are lost (Agnes even had an identity crisis when she couldn't burn things anymore). I don't know how to explain it but they're really pathetic at manipulation as well. 😭🤣💔 They also seem to have an identity crisis when they get into complicated situationships.

TMA spoilers in the tags.

188 notes · View notes