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whatudottu · 3 months

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So, Derrick J. Wyatt has gone on record saying that cerebrocrustaceans do not have a feud with the galvans over which species is smarter and Dr. Psychobos is the only one who cares. However, in Alien Force, we clearly see Ben as Brainstorm getting insecure and competitive around Azmuth to the point of coming off as passive-aggressive and bitter. Assuming this isn’t just yet another retcon, this implies one of three things:

Cerebrocrustaceans do have a distaste for galvans, but very few of them hate galvans enough to actively want to hurt and/or kill them.

Rather than hating galvans, cerebrocrustaceans hate not getting to be the smartest person in the room as they tend to view anyone more intelligent than them as a potential threat and thus their first instinct is to assert their dominance over them (much like how many species of Earth crabs are highly territorial), meaning that how Brainstorm acted around Azmuth is how the average cerebrocrustacean would act when in the presence of anyone who knows more about anything than them regardless of species.

As an alternate take on the idea that they’re highly territorial just like many species of Earth crabs, cerebrocrustaceans are naturally competitive but the vast majority of them view outright hostility as beneath them, it’s just that Ben’s own competitive streak as a human mixed with cerebrocrustaceans’ competitive instincts resulted in him acting like a dick and Dr. Psychobos is an insecure megalomaniac who can’t stand the thought of anyone being better than him at anything.

I really, REALLY like the idea to give cerebrocrustaceans a little bit of territorial behaviours, haha! Kinda reminds me of how many fields of science have their own in-groups and are potentially a bit stuck up to outsiders, which seems to fit the egocentric coded smart guy niche they fill in terms of power and personality. Especially so since it contrasts with the ‘literally has no in-group’ isolationist galvans that love and value working alone (especially so given Azmuth didn’t go crazy on Xenon) to the point where it is both an honour to be someone’s assistant but also comes with the risk of being neglected.

Which Myaxx, not being a galvan, is more noticeably pissed off at Azmuth for that over Albedo who’s only really pissed off at Azmuth because of Ben (a child) wields the Omnitrix.

Still though, since galvans seem to be heavily involved with the Plumbers their eh, isolationist behaviour when it comes to science is mostly ignored in favour of their outcome and the stereotype of them being cold is overlooked in favour of seeing cerebrocrustaceans as being hotheaded in comparison. Up to and including the assumption by the galactic audience that cerebrocrustaceans have a feud with the galvans even if galvans do not return those feelings.

I think somewhere in the tags of one of my posts I had the idea that a galvan with a cerebrocrustacean assistant works better than a cerebrocrustacean does with a galvan assistant because of the strengths and weaknesses of their work flow. If you mix in the solitary nature of a galvan with the territorial nature of a cerebrocrustacean, alongside the previously mentioned methodology that galvans invent things for long term while cerebrocrustaceans invent things fast and efficient, a galvan assistant would complain that their carefully considered first drafts were butchered, dissected, and stitched back together by their cerebrocrustacean boss, the leading cerebrocrustacean complaining in turn that their assistant is a maverick that either attempts to control the project themselves or keep findings to themselves making the workspace unable to communicate to the understanding of another. The majority of complaining a cerebrocrustacean assistant would make with their galvan boss would be the aforementioned neglect to anything other than their work, the fact that having only two active scientists imposes strict working conditions galvans are perhaps more used to, and the fact that despite all these complaints they are simply by default peeved that their leading galvan is smarter than them. Honestly the main reason the galvan doesn't have any complaints to list is that, like any assistant, they slightly forgot to note anything; if everything is working as optimally as it can, there is no need to complain.

Keep in mind this is a general rule lmao- given the territorial behaviour of cerebrocrustaceans, while they may be stand-offish towards the out-group, they work much more efficiently within their in-group; critique, even unwarranted, is an open invitation for communication in in-group workspaces… even if other species including galvans may tire of such ‘interference’. Likewise with the solitary galvan, with no in-group everyone else is part of the out-group, and criticise all you like but an out-group is not going to change if you list off all the things you dislike about them; why make a complaint at all if the out-group does what you need them to. This stuff just gets brushed over because it’s the galvans that work closely to the Plumbers not the cerebrocrustaceans, so Plumber propaganda and presence influences the galactic audience’s understanding on who’s the ‘smartest beings of the galaxy’ while the only notable cerebrocrustacean doctor, Dr Psychobos, goes about the universe saying ‘oh how he hates that hedgehog frog’

Oh, I think I got carried away!

#ask #anonymous #galvan #cerebrocrustacean #ben 10 #the only three (yes three) cerebrocrustacean characters outside of brainstorm is the mentioned dr psychobos #are the nameless actor of albedo’s musical tryouts and the nameless dna sample of proctor servantis #which is a significant amount less than the heavily prevalent number of galvan characters named and unnamed #which we all find through ben’s heavily plumber influenced life as a shapeshifting alien device wielder #not to mention the fact that dr psychobos is holding a megaphone telling the whole galaxy that he hates galvans and especially azmuth #which well if galvan’s have made a name for themselves across the universe hearing one guy from a species of also smart people say it #you might just assume it’s the perspective of every other cerebrocrustacean #i think they might be a whole lot more wiser than galvans if they stuck out of intergalactic business #real unfortunate for dr psychobos’ low wisdom making the already rumoured egotistical cerebrocrustaceans into galvan racists tho-

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thecurioustale · 8 months

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My Use of Alliteration in Writing Prose

When I returned to Tumblr last week I mentioned that I would really appreciate some suggested topics that people would be interested in hearing about, and was prompted by the excellent @fipindustries with several ideas. One of them was my relationship with alliteration in my fiction—something I had talked about in the past and which can perhaps be expanded upon today.

When I was in high school, senior year I believe, we read a good amount of Beowulf, which I found to be a very inspiring story because when I was young I loved old-timey Celtic mythology and folklore. Gregor, one of the Guards of Galavar in The Curious Tale, got his entire species name, heathodwarf, from the heathobards of Beowulf, and there were not one but two characters in ATH the RPG named Grendel.

Anyway, one of the things we were taught about Beowulf is that it makes extensive use of alliteration as a literary device. Together with some audio readings I heard a few years later of the legendary Seamus Haney reading Beowulf, I became convinced of the power and beauty of alliteration as a storytelling ornament. Ever since then, I have been both liberal and deliberate in my application of alliteration, as well as the related techniques of consonance and assonance, throughout ATH. I consider it aesthetically pleasing if the same sound occurs two or more times in close proximity together, especially if the rhythm of the spacing of these instances is thoughtful and itself pleasing of figure.

What makes alliteration (and its ilk) aesthetically pleasing? That's mostly subjective, but I like it because it creates structure out of structurelessness. In generic writing, there is no attention paid to the sounds of words. Indeed, the medium itself is meant to be as transparent as possible, coloring the substance of the words not at all. Alliteration draws a little bit of the reader's attention back into the artifice of the medium—the physical words. And I find I like this. That little bit of coloring...is just pleasant on its own.

In turn, this deliberate...let's call it an "opacity" (as distinguished from the transparency of generic prose)...this deliberate use of opacity in places also becomes able to be used for other literary purposes: namely, for drawing attention not just to individual words themselves but to certain ideas in the text through the focus on those words.

For instance, take the phrase "dithering dandelions." It sounds sort of like a Looney Tunes euphemism, doesn't it? But put that aside for the moment and consider the following passage:

The morning was sunny but cold as stone, and a biting wind crossed the field of dithering dandelions.

I made this up for demonstration purposes, but here the invocation of the alliterative term "dithering dandelions" is meant to make the coldness and windiness of the morning more visceral to the reader by virtue of drawing special attention to itself through alliteration and then leveraging that attention to emphasize and deepen the image of the dandelions shaking violently in the wind, as if they were trembling with cold (which is one of the meanings of the word "dither"). Odds are that you've been in such a morning at some point, cold and windy and buffeting the young spring flowers. And if you can remember that image, then you can feel it all the better here and now.

There is other consonance in that passage: The occurrence of the "s" sound in "sunny," "stone," and "crossed" can be selected, if desired, as focal points for one's enunciation when reading out loud (or when reading silently but imagining the sounds of the words). The word "crossed" in particular is the most powerful word in the sentence and deserves any and all attention you want to give it, and it also makes consonance with the word "cold."

If read thoughtfully, the alliteration (and consonance) present in this sentence can elevate the text, making the imagery come alive in the mind's eye.

So I like alliteration both as an aesthetic end in itself and also as a subtle tool of emphasis to reward readers who engage with the text using more of their own faculty.

I especially lean into this in The Curious Tale, whose fantasy world tonality lends itself more easily to romantic prose. In Galaxy Federal, with its more literal tonality, I still do employ alliteration more than most writers would use in their works, because that's just a hallmark of my voice at this point, but it is noticeably lesser than in The Curious Tale. In particular, the really heavy alliteration—with multiple instances of a single alliterative line, often interwoven with one more other lines simultaneously—is quite rare in my science fiction, while being merely uncommon in my fantasy.

I don't know if I lean into it so heavily that scholars would bother to mark it as a key characteristic of my writing, the way they do of Beowulf. Probably not; I probably have other esotericisms and eccentricities that stand out more baldly. But I should be very pleased indeed if I were noticed by readers for my use of alliteration, and all the more if they appreciated it.

#Alliteration #Alliteration in prose #The Curious Tale #Beowulf #Galaxy Federal #Mechanics of literature #Literary devices #Dithering Dandelions

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luxpenumbra · 4 months

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ugh ohmygod so I saw this post and it made me so mad that I simultaneously wanted to reblog it just to rant in the tags and to not reblog it so that I could avoid sharing it with /more/ people

listen. music is universal. when a singer, songwriter, producer, lyricist, musician, team puts something out into the world, there may be emotions that they are trying to put into it. They will draw on these emotions as they perform and edit and refine this thing they are making. There may be a story they are trying to tell, an experience they are trying to communicate, and this may not be straightforward; there is a level of abstraction between conceptualization and realization that I am convinced exists to some level in all pieces of art like this. This is not a flaw; this is marvellous. When I the listener interact with a song, or an album, or an artist's entire body of work - the emotions that I feel and the story that is conveyed to me may be just. absolutely different from the artist's intentions and their own experience. It may resonate with me in an entirely different way than intended; it may resonate with someone else in a separate, distinct, discrete way. My and others' awareness of the artist and any context they have made clear may play a part in this or it may not; it depends on how I interact with music and how readily available this information is.

All this is to say: the only fucked up thing with this whole gaylor shit is the part where people are convinced that their interpretation of her music and the way it resonates with them indicates some fundamental truth about her identity. The only person who knows that is her and frankly it's none of anyone else's business and it's probably not that interesting anyway. But!!! this does not mean that her music cannot resonate with someone's experience of queerness!!!! It is story and song and a vehicle for emotion, and the details that make something sing true to someone's life and values are not pinned to the artist's "true identity" like a fuckin. butterfly to a corkboard. there is VALUE and DELIGHT in being aware of some additional dimension of queerness by virtue of the singers intentions or identity or whatever but that's a fucking BONUS you NIMRODS the only thing you need is a heart to feel things and a song to feel them about it's about YOU and how you interpret things. you change things just by existing!!! the only person to experience a song the way you do is YOU!!! "if I wanna listen to gay music I'll listen to gay ppl singing about gay sex" good for you!! but what a sad and limited life you must lead to need the significance and meaning of art spoonfed to you by author bios.

AND THEN. fucking condescending ass AAAAAAAH listen. christian rock can slap. i say this as someone who is markedly not christian. and even if you don't think it slaps that's fine. but the fact that someone's out here going "oh poor limited babies who've never listened to real proper good music before projecting sasanaru onto christian rock because they've never known anything else" grow uppppp!!! first of all!!! nobody. NOBODY. is out here saying 10,000 reasons by matt whatever is about sasuke and naruto kissing. you know this in your heart of hearts, just like you know deep down that there is VALUE in eking out meaning in places where you don't expect to find it, and in places that have some connection to the earliest parts of you. (and even if you aren't doing this, aren't interacting with the context of the music and its genre, see above re:universal fucking language). you've probably done it before. it's tumblr, land of transformative works and webweaving of course you have. how limited in scope must you be to think that people who listen to a genre you don't value but who are also queer or something must be just poor deprived children, limited in resource, waiting for that next evolution i'm gonna weep. anyway listen to relient k cowards

#listen its 2:40 AM and this is not nearly as coherent as i want it to be considering the things im thinking #this is the galaxy brain thing but in reverse #but if i dont get this out somewhere i will be up all night or i will wake someone up to talk about it and i have work in the morning #and like.#for a long time the thing that made me keep considering holding onto christianity was the music #the emotion it conveys is held up and amplified by community and just by virtue of the songs structure and melodic devices and whatnot #and lyrically theyre full of symbolism and rich language and metaphor and depth!! this is perfectly natural because like it or not they dra #from a historical text thousands of years old with fuckin poetical leanings #it took me a long time to realize that the emotions christian music evoked in me did not necessarily coincide with belief #and a longer time still (and im still working on this) to learn to continue to enjoy and interact with that music without feeling guilt for #that lack of belief #but anyway!! that literary element; the rich language and historical background and symbolism is part of what makes religious imagery in art #in stories and songs and shows #so potent #and to pretend it isn't is dumb #i have now run out of steam gn

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fis-paprikas · 1 year

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what i enjoy most abt din is that he's a Leading Action Hero in aesthetics only. traditionally badass but just for flavor.

#also how it interacts w the mando armor thematic apparatus.#like he's skilled in combat (but gets his ass beat constantly)#he's quiet and stoic (because he's either 1.being rude on purpose 2.choking down lots of emotions)#he's single minded and uncompromising (unless someone offers him a compromise in which case he's the most flexible person in the galaxy)#all of his traditional action hero characteristics are a direct result of being raised fundamentalist space spartan #and it's a constant effort to live according to the rules of his culture #when left to his own devices he gets along w people pretty well and doesn't start shit for no reason #what gets him going is people stealing his shit or insulting his religion which. fair.#idk i want season 3 to put him in a blender and make pesto out of him. to see what happens when he gets cult deprogrammed #the mandalorian #im sooo late to the party but im having a blast

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prophetrick · 2 years

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Heyo. If you're still offering, can you show us what Yasuhiro's good, bad and Shiba endings would look like please?

OOC: This took too long for me to accept any more. All three endings are here, them taking so long was why I haven’t said too much. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Kekeke.

Good End: The Ties That Bind 🎶: The Spinner

It's been a wild ride. I've decided to stay with the Future Foundation for a bit. But the world is calling me, see. I know I can do so much more out there! So when I feel good and ready, I'll leave it. That doesn't mean I'll burn the bridges I've built there, of course.

Madda being a nurse, it only makes sense for her to stay where she can work. If I get the chance, I help out when I get the chance. Once I find a good way to travel, I'll ask if she wants to come with me. We've been away from each other for so long, y'know? I'm not sure if I even want to find where the rest of the family is. She doesn't seem all that worried about finding her mother or Dad, so I won't bother. My only regret is that I couldn't take her to the places she wanted to go to before the world went belly up. I think I can make up for lost time!

I'm still in the fourteenth branch. I swear, man, Toges has been riding my tail more since Naegs and Kirikins left. His heart's grown more. Still a dick, and that's not going to change any time soon. He'll do things like "I'm gonna give you some of my men and these things and we'll help you get back on your feet" but he has these smiles he does try to hide that show up on a rare occasion. I mean, I guess that's his job. He's doing what he was born n' bred to do. What I have noticed is that, if he has a greater sense of trust in you, he'll "delegate" more tasks in your direction. My aching bod can sing to that! But he won't do anything that he wouldn't do on his own, so it's not just him bossing people around for the sake of it. He means what he says, says what he means and follows through with it. Love him or hate him, he's a man true to his word.

Touko is growing, too. With her, it used to be one step forward, two steps back. Touko's been standing up straighter and she isn't quite as stinky. I worry about her the most, y'know? Even if we've never seen eye to eye, I guess it's because when I think about, we could have ended in the same spot. Watching her be big sis to Komaru is so cute. It makes me wish I had a little brother of my own. She's a full member of the Future Foundation now. When she got her uniform, you better believe we were there to celebrate. But there was this one look she gave Toges, and I don't think I'll be forgetting it any time soon. She had a lop-sided frown, but she looked so determined. She's always had an intensity about her--especially when it came to Togamins--but this time…you know that look someone has when they're climbing right out of rock bottom? Yeah, that was it. It doesn't mean Sho is gone. Nah, we don’t get that luxury. Touko and Sho have come to a kind of compromise, by the look of it. They're two faces of a coin, and when part of you is a serial killer, maybe that compromise is better. Especially when you're part of a group trying to restore the world, maybe that was for the best. I can't tell if Sho is ever kidding or not when she's out; she pesters me the most if it isn't Toges she's bothering. I don't want her scissors pointed at my neck, but it's like…since Komaru's been more involved, even Sho has her times of being…decent. Sho of all people! Who'd have thought that? Touko is just as determined to continue writing. Me and Aoi will drop food off when she holes herself off to write. She always sounds mean, but we can hear her voice soften. Kameko is always there on her desk, and that's for the better. I remember when Kameko would stink up the place whenever we'd walk into the room. I never thought about it, but maybe that might also be why Touko stinks to high heaven most of the time. Hmm..

Speaking of Aoi, she's not that much different. She's still grieving, but I think that she's going to push herself into exhaustion if we don’t pester her properly. I can't allow that on my watch. Yuta was Aoi's brother, and now, she doesn't have any blood family. Sometimes I see her gazing out over the sea with a forlorn look on her face when she sits on the beach. When I get the chance, I'll bring her some tea and listen to her. One day, Aoi and I were talking about Obon and the festival food while we were sitting on the beach. It was a good time. Aoi had a bright smile and laughed as she told me about something from her childhood. There was no trace of sadness or hurt in her voice or on her face. The only thing that gave away her emotions was that she was looking out to the ocean again. Her hair was blowing gently as she sat there watching the water, and the breeze made her ponytail flutter in the wind. The sight made my heart ache. So I told her that if she needed me to, I'd go back with her. We're gonna see Yuta in the future, I know it. She's not going to like what she sees.

Is it going to be like this for Toges? Naegikins and Kirikins? This is gonna be rough..

Naegs and Kirikins have gone off to remake Hope's Peak. I…couldn't say that I agreed with that. The only thing I could do was send word to a couple of monks to bless the place considering the place was just teeming with nega-vibes. The full nine yards, y'know? I mean, think about it. There had to have been at least a hundred dead bodies on the campus including the "game" I was in. That plot of land has to have soaked up a lot of malice and blood. It's gotta be cursed! But maybe his thought was to turn something good from something awful? I got love for 'em, so you know we gotta meet up for a good meal every now and then. Maybe the monks helped Kirikins? They'd have more spiritual power than me. I've never asked her because she's such a private person, but she knows I'll be there to help her with that no matter what. Same with Naegs and Komaru. They haven't find their parents yet.

My new family? They need me here, right now. So I'll leave the Future Foundation when I've helped them close up their loose ends.

It's funny how I always thought that I'd be much better going au solitare. Buddha said that attachment is the root of all ills. I believed that wholeheartedly, but it was solely to justify lashing out.

Yet here I am, standing tall with people to grab, and people who are keeping me on the ground instead of flying off into space…

I'm happy like this.

@@@@@

Shiba End: Mira’s Liar Cake 🎶: Out of This World 3 Okay, final trial! We gotta search for evidence to help us with figuring out the murder of the body we found in the garden.

No pressure, right?

Ahaha...man, what messed up spot to be in. Yeah, we gotta solve this, but we're the ones on trial too!

So I start from the top down. Fifth, fourth, third and so on. I came across a picture or two, and it didn't quite sit well with me. We were posed to kill each other, so why so many smiling faces? I'm not in the pictures, either...

Some rooms were hard for me to go in. Those....classrooms on the fifth floor, the pool, rec room...those rooms freak me out the longer I'm there. My hands go all clammy, my chest feels like it's going to snap shut... And I wasn't going to touch the morgue. Hell no.

Naegs and I bump into each other, and the feelings compound until it's unbearable. I avoided him whenever I could.

Along the way, I've picked up some weird-looking coins hiding underneath some of the other spots. Table corners, beakers, even around the kitchen. I remembered there was a capsule machine in the school store, and after what we've seen, I wouldn't be surprised if there was some kind of room in there that we hadn't looked over. This not-so-funhouse would have that kind of stuff. I hook around, switching things up to move through the first floor to the second to keep Naegs at a good distance and wind up at the school store. The capsule machine is saved for last; I wanted to see if I could find anything else in the room. If we get to leave, it could be worth selling. Who wouldn't want a piece of memorabilia? There's plenty of people who would, so why should I refuse?

I finally get to play with the machine, putting coins in with reckless abandon. I know we've got time against us, so I just wanna sneak in a few things. I wish I came here before. So many nifty litlle knick-knacks! I guess it makes sense that they'd have OOPArts to study. Kinda weird how the contraptions can come out of the armor, though..

Among the trinkets I've found was a disk with a dog's picture on it. A shiba dog. As much as I want to find comfort in it, my stomach wretches when I know I have to go back up to the cd room.

If there's one silver lining, it's that I can finally rest my legs a little.

All right, onto the next room. I stick the disk in drive and let 'er rip.

When I was here the last time, it was when the rides to the trial room weren't empty and didn't remind us how flushed out our numbers were. We had been given our motive videos. Mine mother, paralyzed by medicine and chained to a hospital bed. What she wore was a mockery to her profession, the scantily kind of thing you'd see in Shinjuku.

I'm not a man prone to smacking stuff around, but I almost wanted to throw the chair into the screen when I saw that. At the time, I thought it was a really sick prank. Boy, was I wrong.

Here was a code on the computer screen. U, u, d, d, l, r, l, r, enter.

I typed the computer keys as I chewed on my bottom lip. There was click behind me, and I instinctively leapt into the air. If my heart hadn't been in my rib cage, I swear it would have hit the ceiling first!

This game...I hate this place so much.

I looked around and find no one else's come in. Good. I walked to the spot where I heard the click. I saw where there had been a part of the wall that looked like a latched door. I knew that there was another secret somewhere, just like one of those horror games!

...Oh. I guess I'm in something like that right now, huh? Well, if I find a way out through this door, we don't even have to go through the trial, 'right?

I open the door and hear it shut closed when I go through. Ahead of me was a sterile, industrial-looking corridor. The clicking of my geta and the sound of my heartbeat became more pronounced as the endlessness of the hallway began to swallow the light.

I'm not sure how long it took me to get to a door. My nose hit it before I recognized any solid surface. Like, ow?!

My hands fumbled around the door for anything to open it, and the only sounds I could hear were my rattled breath. Sweat beads dripped down my forehead, and I think it would have reverberated if it dropped on the floor.

I just need to keep it together. Right! Come on, let's open the door!

It opens without effort when I turn the handle. Small lights flickered in a circle.

I took a few steps inside. Everything was still dark. "M... Mom?" I whispered loudly. The darkness made my voice feel like an echo in my own ears. "Naegs? Anyone?!" There was no reply. I took a deep breath before moving forward into the pitch black room. It was cold. There was nothing there but me and my footsteps echoing off the walls. Suddenly, everything began to light up as if someone had turned on a switch. It blinded me for a moment until I finally focused back on the space. At first it seemed like a giant disco ball, and then I realized that it was a camera. A large one. One of those huge ones, with a massive screen that looked like it could take up half the ceiling. But that wasn’t what caught my eye. The circle of lights was revealed to be a cake with candles. No more than eleven. None of us were kids..so what those candles were for everyone that...

I don't have enough time to dwell on it when a dog steps forward wearing a tin foil hat. It's a shiba inu, I'd recognize that breed. I didn't say a word as it trotted closer, sniffing at me with its muzzle. My hand automatically reached out toward its head, petting him behind his ear. He wagged his tail happily as we moved toward the table, where the cake sat. Behind him were what I could only see pod beds too small for people. The dog barked and turned his head towards the pods, his tail smacking the table. When I turned my attention over to the pods, something inside of me crumpled. The candles were the same amount of pods. They were all full with sleeping shibas.

Except one.

The dog turned to me and stood up to nudge the cake with his paws on the table, his tail gingerly wagging. Then he pawed at it again, whining slightly.

"I'm not hungry, lil' dude," I told him, feeling a chill run down my spine. "I got something to take care of." Truest of truths, I wasn't! This room feels weird, and I couldn't remember if I heard the bell for the class trial! Besides, dogs don't do well with chocolate cake! His ears perked up and he began barking, turning around to look back at the pods. "I'm not hungry," I repeated. "No."

The shiba got off the table, fur bristling with a newfound rage. He leaped, knocking me to the ground. I landed hard on my shoulder and tried to get up, but before I could his jaws latched onto my shirt. And just like that, he dragged me across the floor to the table. His eyes, wild with anger, bore holes into mine, begging me to reconsider. I felt tears spring to my eyes, but I swallowed them down, trying to ignore the pain shooting up my arm. With everything I had, I pulled out from under him, stumbling over to stand on shaky legs. He let go of my shirt and took a few paces back, watching me carefully. I took a deep breath. Inhale. Hold. Exhale. And repeat. Slowly, I picked my way back to where the table was set, pulling myself up onto the chair. The dog stayed where I had left him, watching me intently. He didn't move until I started cutting some of the cake. His eyes followed me every so often. I ate as fast as I possibly could, ignoring the pain running up and down my shoulder. I managed to finish most of the cake, wiping frosting and sprinkles off of my hands on my pants. The dog's irritable mood vanished, and the jovial tail-wagging resumed. "That's all?" I asked. The shiba yipped, seemingly happy that I’d been a member of the clean plate club.

The dog just wanted me to eat the cake? Could this get any weirder?!

So much for tempting fate.

With sluggish, painful movements, I rose up from the table. After that, everything seemed to move in slow motion. It took three tries before my balance returned, which only made it more difficult to keep moving forward. The shiba followed me with his dark gaze, never breaking its steady stare. As I reached for the door handle, it came alive with movement again. The dog stood at attention, his tongue hanging out and lolling in a kind of uneven smile. My fingers touched the cold metal knob. My knuckles were white with tension, and my grip was shaking so badly, I feared that my hand would crack if I moved it any further. It was too late to turn around now. The chill made goosebumps rise on my arms. I shuddered. A wave of vertigo struck me, nearly causing me to lose my balance again. The world swayed dangerously as my feet slid against the tiled floor. When my hand closed around the door handle, I refused to let go and I steadied myself once more. The dog watched from the other side and stood there.

Everything went numb, from my forehead to the toe tips.

I've been poisoned. I'm down here right before the trial and I'm poisoned! It was either get mauled by the cake-serving mutt!

My vision swims. It's no longer focused on the damn dog, but sixteen dogs with goldfish bowls for helmets floated through a backdrop of stars. Behind them, a fleet of spaceships. In them, I found a whole swath of aliens. Some of them were grey tadpoles in robot suits, short green men with antennae and pointed ears, and a crystal-crusted dolphin with a double-helix mark on one of his fins.

On the other side, I noticed that the stars had been blotted out by an ocean of mice-like aliens with long noses. They were backed by ships which could not and should be floating in space. Bricks would have had better hang time in the air. The aliens inside in them were evolutionary mockeries that the gods hit with shovels and left to rot in the sun. High above the Earth, they're positioned in a way that would make a bitchin' action movie poster.

At this point, I've resigned myself to my fate.

I thought I was supposed to have my life flash before my eyes when I alive long enough to die, but I guess that's not the case with me. My body is probably riddled the worst case of the shakes. I can't tell, because I'm barely keeping it together in my own mind, oh and I'm pretty sure I'm dying! The rest of the gang probably won't even be able to use my body to help them figure out what happened! It just dawned on me that the dog had something to do with the bodies in the morgue, the cake, and the pods. I don't know what he's going to do with me now, and I can only pray for forgiveness with what few brain cells I have left. No one would believe me even if I were to tell them about the whack-a-doodle dogs and the aliens this time.

Guys, I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry.

@@@@@ Bad End: Skullarva 🎶: Premonition I thought that to follow Buddha's words, I couldn't get close to anyone. And you know what? That was the easy part.

I thought that I just wasn't the kind of guy who could make good friends. It always seemed like, for me, it was too good to be true. No matter how hard I tried, I never could be "good". I was always "bad". Oh, sure, I can do business. That's never been too bad. So seeking Nirvana wasn't a problem. I liked keeping people on their toes when I'd confuse the crap out of them with the occult stuff. Better to have them out of my hair when I'm actually dealing with ghosts. Money was my favorite thing, so I need people to survive. It's primary thing I chase before the next lifetime.

If there's one thing I'm really good at... it's avoiding relationships and attachments. That way, no one can hold anything over me. And even though I hate to admit it, it's easier having no one to worry about me too much. Or me worrying about them. Either is fine by me. My own rules, rules I built up in an effort to protect myself.

But I am human, after all. What a temptation it is when I see people just...chilling out and doing the kind of things people do. It's how most people are hard-wired. We're supposed to bond and laugh with each other!

If I achieved Nirvana, then I wouldn't have to worry about that hollow, nagging feeling. Dealing with with it? It was the hard part. I knew that I was shutting myself off, but that's what I thought I was supposed to do. I've fought myself for so long because of it. I've even prayed to the gods to dull the pain. Help me cope with it. I've always hated that I felt that profound emptiness. How much better off I'll be if I didn't feel that way? I've tried my best, but I gave up on the living in that way. I'd still live, of course! I'm too much of a coward to do anything else, and I rather like having my stuff. After graduating from Hope's Peak, no one saw from the class saw too much of me. I can't be the comic relief for too much, y'know? I gotta get to work!

Plus, I had an epiphany.

I've been going about Nirvana all wrong. Nirvana wasn't exclusion. It's bringing people in! And ghosts want to feel included on some level, right? They wouldn't be hanging around with their unfinished business. So that got me thinking...

What if I use my body as a house for them? I was already doing that before--on a more one-to-one level. Once their affairs were finished, they'd pass on for real. We'd have an arrangement for them to leave me a little somethin'-somethin'. A nugget of knowledge, some item they'd "bless" before they left..I'd take just about anything they were willing to give me. I needed some nest eggs to make a better home.

I'd search around for the lonely lil' ones, and if they wanted in, they'd have in. It was hard at first, this multi-tasking. Those monks and shrine maidens would probably have a better way to deal with it. I'm not looking to get a free burning bath courtesy of that holy water they use! Nope! Never! It takes time to become "well-adjusted" after I get someone new, and I've worked so hard to keep who I've got now. I'm not quite as much of a coward now that time's passed. That nagging feeling's gone away. Maybe this was what the gods meant for me to do when they were so quiet? It definitely helps when keeping the more unruly ghosts in line--many hands make light work. I've had some challengers, too...and I only take on anyone I predict I can win against. I wouldn't want whatever they've got go to waste...waste not, want not. Since I might beat them, well, I just eat them. They're not people anymore at that point. Oh, yes..you can "eat them". You might be asking, what's the difference between being possessed and eating them? Makes no sense, right? The difference is that one way doesn't grind them up into nothingness. The other way? They're still with you, and you can talk to them. I've done well to keep up some normalcy! I've been lying about the occult for years, so people don't really bat an eye. And the ones I've picked up don't seem to mind...in fact, we've been trying to figure out a way to refine that gnarly taste of rotten meat jelly with gummy tofu chunks taste into a smooth, velvety melts-like-butter-in-your-mouth-steak taste. I...should probably correct myself. We've found it's easier to keep us bound together. It's like...have you ever tried to make a batter? You use the eggs to bind the bread, right? Same principal!

But you know what's bothersome? It's happening little by little, but our toes and fingers are starting to turn blue. We can delay it whenever we find someone new to welcome, but it gets worse after a while. No matter how much cologne we use, or how many baths we take, a bad smell follows us. Gloves and socks can only do so much. It's manageable for right now..and to make matters worse, the hunger doesn't stop. But that's okay, as long as we've got each other. You've already come home, so that we can properly welcome you. You don't have to be alone, either. It's okay. Don't be afraid. We're going to become something much better, I promise! These are growing pains, y'know? Nirvana is other people, and I wish I had seen that sooner. If a man doesn’t have companions, he’ll turn to vice. That’s the truth. Rather than hitting the hard stuff, I chose something much better. That’s good enough, right?

#ptdrabbles #thank you for the ask!#but you know me....i have to have some cringe somewhere #the shiba ending be like that #( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)#tldr it's really not a good idea to leave yasuhiro alone #bad endings would take place when he's been socially isolated and left alone to his own devices #the fourth wall will not protect anyone from him either i guess #better to keep an eye on him #i'm proud of that cringy-ass shiba ending #not everyday you get to see some weirdness like that #who would have guessed that magic cake is indeed a real thing?#it's an actual cake #but the shibas have humanity's interest in mind...#or do they?#so let's see what makes up the shiba ending?#the cringiest crossover ever #add a sprig of silent hill with one part earthbound #combine with hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy and a bowl of ecco the dolphin #sprinkle with dangan ronpa togami #add a cup of toy story #let's sprinkle in some cowardice and regret for good measure B)#this is why i can't write fanfiction guys #i'm not allowed #at the very least here's a hc about what was on the computer screen at the start of dr1 #tw body horror #body horror tw

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