Tumgik
#That's how I know the exact power it operates on now
dorenarox · 2 years
Text
I'm starting to get more comfortable putting my hands into machine parts. Innuendo fully intended.
0 notes
popquizhot-shot · 11 months
Text
Father mine. Miguel O’Hara x teen!Spider!reader
Tumblr media
Hope you like this :D it’s sad asf.
Warnings: mommy issues backstory, feelings of inadequacy, wanting to feel pain. Angst.
Miguel’s body shields over yours as Miles breaks through the force field and causes everyone to fly backwards. Your leg bends in an unnatural way and you resist the urge to cry out.
He holds you to him and does a once over of your form. You nod at him, not wanting to worry him and he looks to Miles.
You can see the exact moment where the rope finally breaks and he chases after the boy.
Your cries fall on deaf ears as you run behind him. Your legs screams with ever step and you’re forced to stop and look helplessly as he calls every spider and alerts them.
Soon enough there’s a hole broken in one of the windows as Miles jumps and Miguel follows. Every other spider jumping after the both of them like blind followers.
You join them, because you would follow Miguel to the death.
You try to focus all the power into your arms and your good leg but it’s fucking hard because you’re climbing the spaceship that Miles has somehow traversed.
In front of you, is every other spider that is a part of the society, and each of them is almost climbing on top of the others like mindless zombies that crave flesh.
Your spider sense tingles and you duck just in time for Miguel to fall past you and hang on to the spaceship with his claws.
You Web him and he looks at you gratefully.
“Gracias, Mija.” He grunts, his eyes glowing red.
You don’t answer. His hair is disheveled and he looks he’s been electrocuted or some shit, his fangs are bared and he snarles as he looks above you, “let me go now, and go back to the fucking tower.”
You scowl, “why should I?”
He tears through the webs, “because I said so, I’m already pissed off at two teenagers, don’t make me even worse.” He seethes and your lips form a thin line under your mask.
Suddenly, you’re eight years old trying to convince your mother to talk to you when she’s giving you the silent treatment and you have to gulp to try to keep your whimper of pain inside. You’re not a burden, you think, as he shakes his head and jumps past you.
something in you screams to go back, to listen to him. For once to listen to him, not just because you’re afraid he won’t love you anymore if you don’t but, call it spider sense pro, it helps predict the future so you listen to it.
You reluctantly jump out of the force field and swing. You can see the hole in the broken window and the jagged edges that form it. They resemble your heart and you clench your jaw and zoom through, tucking your legs inwards and crouching into a roll to minimise impact. The pain is still there when you hit the ground, but you wish it was harder.
You deserve to hurt right now. You deserve the pain in your leg and the pain in your heart because you’re not a good kid.
A groan leaves your lips as your spider sense tells you to go to where the go home machine is.
You run to the area and see spider byte and lyla walking around in a panicked frenzy.
“What the hell is going on?” You say out loud and they turn to look at you.
“Your dad is being a horrible person.” Spider-Byte scowls.
You look at Lyla and she doesn’t meet your eyes, only turning back to look at the monitors.
You squint and look at the go-home machine.
Miles. Invisible Miles.
You know why Miguel is mad, you know the risk that Miles brings, because you’ve seen first hand how a universe is destroyed. Your own was.
But Miles is a kid. He’s like you, wanting to save his dad. Just like you’re trying to help yours.
You can feel his panic and his anger and his hurt.
He turns visible at the last second and you meet his eyes as everyone storms in. Your own dad leading the party as the go-home machine starts to operate.
And then you look at the man who is your father. The man who has fed you and bandaged you and smiled at your jokes. The man who has been there with you through so much.
You watch as he shouts and tries to break the barrier. You see Peter’s horror. You watch as he pries open the field just the slightest. You see him try and kill a kid. A kid like you.
And your eyes fill with tears because this man is a monster.
By some dumb luck, Miles is able to escape and Miguel stands defeated. The go-home machine Scans him and he breaks it like it’s nothing. You flinch.
You watch as he turns and walks amidst everyone like nothing has happened. You watch as he dishes out orders as if he hasn’t just tried to take the life of a child. You watch him threaten Gwen, and you watch as he sends her to her universe. Ignoring her cries because to him, she’s an inconvenience.
Is that what you are? Now that you’re not on his side anymore?
He opens a portal and Jessica and another Peter you don’t give a shit about walk through. His eyes meet yours as his mask materialises over his face. You know he expects you to follow him, even if he tells you to stay. So he doesn’t bother and walks in.
You don’t follow.
Because this man, this cold, unflinching monster of a man is not your father.
Part 2 here
2K notes · View notes
dcxdpdabbles · 4 months
Note
God, I love the Cave Boy series. Will the batfam manage to find him after he dips. Will they ever find out about his powers. So many questions
Danny stays underground for days.
He doesn't know the exact time frame because he only goes to the surface to grab supplies. He makes sure to only fully emerge when there is no light out.
It was a bigger risk to be caught by the Waynes, who only operated in the dark, but it ensured fewer eyewitnesses were around. Danny Kane was still a very hot celebrity for taking down the Joker- he would be surrounded by a mob of fans if he walked down the street.
He moved his ship into a deeper cave by phasing the large metal and all his equipment through solid rock, which was not easy. It was a miracle he found a little pocket to set up shop.
Danny thinks the little pocket- surrounded by stone with no opening at all, was formed after a cave-in at one point. It was large enough to work on his ship and had just enough space to set up a sleeping bag and a tent for rest.
He rarely uses that space nowadays.
Danny had stolen from a camping store- taking with him an entire box of lanterns that he placed strategically around his space. They threw light to the large four walls of stone- making him feel trapped inside a midevil dungeon, and somehow, it also made him think incredulity alone.
That was the worst part of this whole change of scenery. He doesn't want to admit it, but he got used to Wayne Manor and the colorful characters there.
He hadn't even done anything besides lay around but he missed the sound of people. Even before Bruce had found him, Danny would see people often as he wandered around gathering a sense of the city.
Now, he was genuinely suffocating alone. He didn't feel the loss often, but there were times when it felt like being hit by a truck.
It's when his own ice powers reach into his bones, causing his teeth to clatter and curl up into a smaller ball on the cave ground, that Danny misses the Manor the most. He stole food from the stores- but without any way to cook or heat it up, it's limited to the packed food.
Sometimes, while eating packs of dried fruit, he thinks longingly of Alfred's warm meals. Then he remembers how they looked at him when his lies got so out of hand that they believed Bruce's parents lived in his world and he could suppress the longing to return.
Danny has made leaps and bounds on building his ship since he no longer pretends to be Brucie. He no longer filled the hours with nonsense, only being awake to work or stealing what he needed to continue working.
Unlike before, Danny had developed a tunnel version of finishing his project. He no longer wanted to give himself time to ensure everything was fine.
He just wanted to go home.
He's gotten better at wielding using his own ghost laser, and now his ship had its full body. It was missing seats, a window, and even a steering program that actually turned when he wanted- but he was getting closer and closer every day.
All the small technology pieces he stole from the Waynes were on one side- ripped apart for the needed parts. He would spend hours carefully opening everything to check what he could use and what he could melt down to repurpose.
Danny carefully pulls out some small wires from the electric candle he took from the Wayne Dinner table when his vision blurs. He takes a moment to blink rapidly, trying to let the sudden burst of lightheadedness pass him.
Sadly, it was only a few seconds before he crumbled to the hard ground. He gasps, the cold coming back tenfold, and he can do nothing but lay there and pray the pain passes.
Danny hadn't felt this weak since his ice core first developed. Even the first Ghostly Wail hadn't made his limbs feel this heavy.
He knows he has been pushing himself too far lately- barely eating or sleeping- but Danny can't risk any wasted second. He saw the resources the Bats have.
It was only a matter of time before they found him- even if they would need to drill through the solid stone for hours to reach him- and he didn't want to face them after the guilt of lying to them was slowly eating him alive.
He had kept the Wayne at arm's length the entire time, living under the pretense of being Bruce Wayne's counterpart. He told himself he wanted nothing to do with their nightly battle against evil- and he didn't!- and that he could care less if they treated him as family.
He took everything they gave him without hesitation, telling himself they were fools for letting anyone in and stealing from them. Danny thought it would not matter as he would finish his ship and be flying home long before they realized he wasn't Bruce.
Until they stop treating him so warmly after killing the Joker. Danny wasn't sorry about it, but suddenly, he was a stranger in a crowd to them.
Danny had no right to be upset. He lied. He didn't want to be Brucie to them and had actively made Tim look bad by being as Unproactive as possible, going along with changed narratives of his world.
Danny had used the Waynes.
Yes, he did so, believing they were a cult or an evil madman, but he learned that wasn't the case early on. He could have ended the lie at any moment, but he didn't because he figured it would be harmless.
Then he realized that Bruce's parents were killed in front of him- the story wasn't hard to find when he actually bothered to look into the Waynes at a local high school library after hours.
Not only did he find the horrific story, but he found out that almost all the Waynes had a tragic story. Dick's parents were murdered in an accident that wasn't an accident at all.
Tim's parents were killed by a madman with boomerangs. Jason's father died in prison, and his mother overdosed before Bruce took him in. Duke's parents were patients with no working mind because of the Joker (Danny should have made his death last longer).
The only ones that didn't seem to be Cass and Damian, but he knew it was likely due to Bruce not wanting the public to learn that they came from abusive households- he figured that much out by their reactions.
Even Alfred had a history of PTSD from his time in the army. There was an article about a scandal when Bruce had actually been a child- apparently, someone had thought to release firecrackers under the servant's table, and Alfred had panicked. People had mocked him about it for months.
Everyone had a reason to be a villain, yet they all had opened their home to him and been nothing but kind. They were good, and they treated him like family.
Danny felt sick with himself, for being so self-centered he never bothered to really get to know them. And now he never could.
A few tears rolled down his face as his vision started to blur out more and more.
No use crying over it now, Fenton. Though the haze of exhaustion doesn't let him get up from the floor, he thinks bitterly.
He'll rest for a little bit, then get back to work. Only for a few minutes/
Danny doesn't notice his body has shifted in his Ghist side, slowly redirecting his energy to his core, so that his healing could help overcome the unknown days.
He is not aware his heartbeat stops at the same time.
_____________________________________________________________
"I can't hear him anymore!" A young boy screams, pressing his ear against a stone. Horror clouds his voice as he turns to stare at another boy. "His heartbeat....it's not...."
"We must make haste! Breakthrough now!" The other boy snaps.
"But that might cause the cave to fall on top of him." The other rubs his hands together nervously. "I think we may be too late to save-"
"Every second we waste is a second that Brucie gets closer to death!" His company growls savagely, though the tears in his eyes make him less scary. "We have to at least bring his body home- we-I can't- he needs to be buried properly."
Not even a second passed before the other boy threw his shoulders back, yanking out his phone and pressing a speed dial two.
His father picks up two rings. "Jon?"
"Dad! We found Brucie! He was stuck in a cave underneath the tunnels leading to Gotham Cemetry. Can you come help me get him out?"
"I'll be right there."
826 notes · View notes
stormy-river · 1 year
Text
Transcripts from the Humanity Hotline 4
This one's a little different from the others. Also unlike the others, I don't have personal experience with the topic, so it took a lot longer to write (and it's just longer).
------
Operator: "Hi, thank you for holding. My name is Mindy. How can I help you today?"
Caller: "Hi! I know this isn't for humans, but I'm panicking and I don't know who else to call! This is the only frequency written down!"
O: "Alright, slow down. Can you tell me your name?"
C: "It's Eva. I'm a Galactic Exchange Student interning on a Shophoni ship as a xenobiologist."
O: "Alright, Eva. It's going to be okay. Can you tell me what's going on?"
C: "We were docked at the [redacted] outpost to resupply, and everyone went on shore leave for a day except, like, a couple security officers. I'd forgotten some files I'd needed to work on, so I came back to the ship to get them, and suddenly the alarms started and the ship started moving, and I can't find anybody! Well, I found one of the security, but he got knocked out when the ship lurched, and now we're in space, and I'm not a pilot! I don't know what to do!"
O: "Eva, Eva! It's going to be okay."
C: "Okay."
O: "First, I want you to breathe in slowly. Slowly. Hold it... and breathe out. Slowly. Now again... Okay. Can you get onto the bridge?"
C: "Yes, I think so. The elevators aren't working, but there are ladders."
O: "Okay. I've pulled up a file on Shophoni ships, and they should all have a navigation screen. I want you to try to find that."
C: "Okay... I don't- I don't- what does it look like?"
O: "Have you seen those old movies with submarines and ships and they have SONAR? With the green dots and lines?"
C: "Yeah."
O: "It should look similar, but grayscale. Most Shophoni ships should have one in either the front left corner, or middle left side of the bridge."
C: "Left... okay, I found it!"
O: "Great job, Eva. Bottom middle of the screen, there should be a series of numbers. That's the ship identification. Can you read out the list?"
C: "Yeah, I think it's [redacted]."
O: "Perfect. We're talking to some people from the Alliance and Shophoni government. They're going to send help, but we need your location. There should be two sets of coordinates on the right side of the screen. The top is where you are currently, and the bottom is where the ship is heading. Can you read me those numbers?"
C: "They keep changing!"
O: "That's alright, we just need to get close. They can ping the ship for it's exact location, but only if they already know it's general location."
C: "Okay... um... the top numbers are [redacted], and the bottom is... [redacted]."
O: "Perfect. You're doing great, Eva. There's a ship nearby coming to intercept you."
C: "Okay."
O: "The engineers want you to help slow down the ship. I'm going to walk you through that, okay?"
C: "Okay."
O: "Alright, you're doing great. There should be a panel in the back of the bridge, same side as the navigation, labeled 'Emergency Power.' Do you see it?"
C: "Emergency power... Yes!"
O: "Good, open that panel. There should be a release lever above it."
C: "Got it. It looks like a breaker box inside, with a lot more weird wires."
O: "Yes. We're gonna redirect the power away from the rear engines. You'll need both hands. Find the slider labeled, 'Rear Engines', and the slider labeled, 'Storage'. You'll need to move the engine slider down and the storage slider up at the same time."
C: "This feels complicated for an emergency procedure."
O: "Maybe so, but we can talk about that after getting you safe."
C: "Okay, I did the sliders. What now?"
O: "Great. Next, there should be a switch labeled, 'Engine Stop'. Flip it."
C: "I thought I already stopped the engines?"
O: "You turned off the rear engines, but everything keeps moving in space. This switch will activate emergency systems in the forward and side engines to actually slow you down."
C: "Oh. Okay, I found it. Is that it?"
O: "That's it. The rescue should be there soon. I'll stay on the line until they get there."
C: "Okay, thanks!"
[Remainder cut for irrelevance]
End Transmission
Transcription note: The problem was caused by a system glitch triggering a fault in the engines. The Alliance has since reviewed and changed many ship designs to add redundancies to all safety features. Mindy and Eva received medals for saving the ship and the three unconscious crewmembers onboard.
600 notes · View notes
kradogsrats · 1 month
Text
I'd Do Anything (... But I Won't Do That)
This started out kind of weird and petty but then turned into an actual thing about the relationship of Viren's character arc(s) to the Arc 2 "I'll do anything for you" theme, because that's actually pretty important for the context of how both Callum and Claudia will have to confront the same conflict.
Tumblr media
Pictured: Do NOT take a shot every time we get a callback to this line, you will die.
Basically, the petty part is that I think evaluating Viren's Arc 1 decisions through the "I will do anything for my family" lens is... disingenuous is too strong a word, but maybe simplistic? The "Viren doesn't reveal/offer the egg to save Harrow's life because he's too preoccupied with hanging on to his own power" take has never sat right with me because the real core problem of Viren is a lot more complex than just "he's lying (to himself)," it's a whole pattern of denying his own agency in doubling down on his mistakes. He'll make one bad/selfish decision, and it becomes a cascade of subsequent actions that he sees as being unavoidable, but that aren't necessarily even informed by the same reasoning or values as the initial decision. Like everything else in Viren's dream, Kpp'Ar's take that his choices are all oriented toward power is both accurate and not necessarily as literal as it seems.
Because, like... Viren's not actually a manipulator or even much of a planner—he's a very skilled opportunist. That's why all his choices wind up being based entirely on the context of past choices, and frequently make no sense when you look at them from a "hey buddy, where exactly do you think you're going with this" angle. It also contributes to why he's so desperate for control all the time, in that he acts primarily in a reactive way rather than proactively, which is always an inherently less secure position.
Tumblr media
Pictured: The kind of statement that definitely always leads to things going super well.
Even taking the egg in the first place is a reactive decision—not that he doesn't make a choice there, or that he doesn't choose power over the threat he believes the egg poses, but he did actually walk all the way up the Storm Spire, fight five or six Dragonguard, and get kicked down a flight of stairs with the intent of destroying it. He didn't argue with Harrow about destroying it while secretly planning to take it for himself. He only even thinks of it as a weapon because Tiadrin planted the idea in his mind—as an opportunist, the temptation to leave an avenue to power open rather than close it off is what he can't resist. He sat on Sarai's last breath for ten years waiting for a chance to weaponize it to maximum effect, he can sit (figuratively... or literally, I'm not gonna stop him) on the egg for as long as it takes for an appropriate use it to appear. Tiadrin even specifically encourages that he not "waste" it, both specifically by destroying it now, and implicitly by using it too quickly and foolishly.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Pictured: Smart mom, dumb ass.
Tiadrin's angle, of course, is that the longer Viren hangs on to the egg without actually using it, the higher the chance it can be recovered. She doesn't know that Viren will leave things in a state where the assumption is that the egg was destroyed, meaning no one will think to try recovering it, but that's not really her fault and it still pays off.
The gamble Viren makes, on the other hand, is that the opportunities the egg affords will be worth the risk of it somehow falling back into Xadian hands. If the egg returns to Xadia alive, he's back to square "his name will be vengeance" in the game of We Killed the Dragon King. So yeah, you could say Viren values keeping the egg over Harrow's life, but in doing that he's actually operating largely on the exact same values and beliefs that made him argue for destroying it in the first place. It's just that his prior choice of risking humanity's security for the sake of potentially world-altering power has backfired in the context of an immediate and direct threat to Harrow's life. Really, the entire rest of s1 and s2 are him doubling down specifically on keeping the egg from returning to Xadia while also milking the opportunities coming from that course—e.g. the egg cannot go back to Xadia, therefore Callum and Ezran cannot return to Katolis either with or without it (knowing their goal is to return it to Xadia, which it will be difficult to stop them from doing once Ezran is king), and that means someone has to take the throne. If the egg can't be recovered, their only hope is a decisive first strike against Xadia, so someone has to mobilize the Pentarchy immediately. None of them are things he planned in the sense of "well, if Harrow dies then I can get his sons out of the way and make myself king, and then conquer Xadia." It's all reactive to the situation with the egg. You could argue that he'd do the same things if the egg wasn't a factor, like it's possible he's always been kind of lying in wait to push Harrow's sons aside and seize the throne... but if that was the case, he'd really do much better to make a bid for regent like any normal evil advisor would.
Anyway, all of that does still undermine the statement that he'd do "anything" for his family (which includes Harrow), and it is ultimately because of that initial choice he made to take the opportunity of power over the certainty of securing humanity's future. It's just not as simple as, "Viren says he would do anything for his family, but he won't sacrifice his own power and ambition." In the wake of his critical failure to prioritize humanity in destroying the egg, he's making choices that do prioritize humanity (from within his worldview that Xadia is an existential threat barely held at bay)... but they're still bad choices because they're all reactive to that original bad choice. It's not that he's working at cross-purposes to what he says his goals are, it's that he genuinely thinks digging his hole deeper will somehow work out positively, or at least better than the alternative would.
Tumblr media
Pictured: Another statement that for sure indicates you're doing totally great.
Really though, I don't think you can (or are supposed to) look at the trifecta of self-individuals-world and point to one that Viren—or really any character outside of Callum, Rayla, and Claudia—puts at the top. Part of the whole point here is that elevating one of those at the expense of the others is never going to be the right choice all of the time. Obviously always putting yourself first is shitty, but we get multiple examples of over-prioritizing one of the other two as being self-destructive and dangerous. Consistency isn't supposed to be positive, here—a core part of this arc is likely to be Callum grappling with that, and that's without even looking at what's going on with Claudia.
The other thing is that "I will do anything for my family"-Viren is actually on some level a different character than Arc 1 Viren, such that evaluating one based on the context of the other doesn't actually make sense. We don't get even a hint of the "I would do anything for my family" in the series until s4, after Viren has died and been revived. Yeah, we had it earlier in the novels, but in there it's really about Claudia and her relationship with Viren, not Viren's values or actions. Arc 1 Viren and Arc 2 Viren inform each other as characters, but most of the point is the ways they aren't the same. And while Arc 2 Viren is understandably preoccupied with the concept of sacrificing for family—given that he's been stripped of everything that was in his life except Claudia, who went to terrible lengths on his behalf—Arc 1 Viren is actually quite consistent with how he's laid out in his Tales of Xadia character sheet:
Tumblr media
Like, check out those Liberty and Glory statements—not even close to the same ballpark as Callum's "I value those close to me more than anyone or anything" Devotion and "I'm beholden to my inner circle, not some silly kingdom" Liberty, but quite accurate as the through-line on his s1-s3 actions. There's nothing in there about family, because Arc 1 Viren isn't actually meant to be associated with "I will do anything for my family," and he's not lying to himself by not acting consistently with it in Arc 1.
Arc 2 Viren is then a kind of emotional reboot back to a particular point earlier in his life—not necessarily the point before he first did any dark magic at all, but before he did his ill-defined "anything" to save Soren, which is implied in multiple places to be the point where he started in on a spiral that had tangible and fairly rapid effects on his personality and outlook. That's further emphasized by the contents of his dream in s5—seeing him behave in a genuinely loving and joyful way with Soren is shocking, and immediately raises the question of what the fuck happened and why.
Tumblr media
Pictured: Healthy coping mechanisms.
Part of what still distinguishes Viren's "I will do anything for my family; however dangerous, however vile" from Callum's developing "I would do anything for you" is that Viren is always deliberately addressing the "things that are so unforgivable, you will never forgive yourself" facet while Callum leaves it implicit because he doesn't really understand and/or want to acknowledge that yet (and also Rayla would probably twist his nose again, which fucking hurts). In how Viren describes it to Terry, he is using that up-front acknowledgement to then essentially abdicate any emotional responsibility for... well, anything at all. The entire "however dangerous, however vile" mantra is another way of denying his own agency, because if he'll do anything, then he doesn't actually have to go through the difficult emotional process of making those decisions and dealing with the aftermath.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Pictured: H-healthy coping mechanisms?
Terry correctly pegs this questionable excuse for philosophy as "not having feelings," and generally not the best approach, because it will do things like lead to a default state of emotional unavailability to your children—oh, wait. I think it's not unlikely that Viren's emotional distancing from what "I will do anything for my family" meant contributed a lot to the degradation of it as his core value and his ensuing Arc 1 state. A lot of what's going on in his s5 dream is that he's being confronted with the consequences of "I will do anything for my family," specifically. He's being forced through an emotional speedrun of what it has cost him and everyone around him, and what has he got to show for it? Claudia, corrupted beyond recognition, proudly repeating his own words back to him.
Tumblr media
Pictured: Whatever the opposite of daddy issues is.
Because the whole point of Viren's "I will do anything for my family" in Arc 2 is the challenge of whether he would/will do it all again. If he holds to that value the same way he did before, he'll do whatever it takes to save Claudia—however dangerous, however vile. Most of Viren's moral and emotional stuff has been based on his self-serving resignation to having "no choice." He's so tragically trapped in a chain of spiraling consequences he can never break... except oh wait, he totally can. S5 is all about Viren recognizing the dark magic feedback loop and that he has the agency to break it, and his best and only chance to avoid doing further harm to Claudia is to not be willing to destroy himself that way again, even it it means his death will cause her terrible emotional pain.
We'll see how that works out. Because let's be real: Claudia's gonna Claudia, regardless. However it goes, there's an important narrative precedent being set for both breaking free from dark magic/Aaravos and evaluating the "I will do anything for you" impulse in a more nuanced way.
55 notes · View notes
pinetreevillain · 11 months
Text
Rise Turtle Strength Calculator
Part 2: Purple Bugaloo
Disclaimer: I Am Just A Guy And 100% of this is guessing, googling, and approximation
So!!!! Got a request to determine Donnie’s strength and the journey was an Interesting One.
So let’s start with the most popular
EXHIBIT A: Dumbbell (Insane In The Mama Train)
Tumblr media
He pulls it off with ease (relaxed pose, no real effort exerted until he makes the effort of hefting it and throwing it). Going off the size of these dumbbells, they are either 45lbs or 100lbs. This is a big gap! But seeing as the yokai falls over as soon as its removed, we can assume that Donnie is AT MOST tossing a 100lb weight with little to no effort.
UNFORTUNATELY this doesn’t tell us much else since we don’t see the weight hitting anyone/anything other than the traincar door before it teleports away.
So! We must delve further
EXHIBIT B: Donnie’s Equipment
We know Donnie’s tech bō is made from high grade titanium.
TITANIUM IS A LIGHT METAL! Revered for being light weight, flexible, and rust-proof. Used to make medical tools! This make perfect sense as 1) ninjas need maximum mobility and heavy equipment is counter intuitive, 2) melee weapons are supposed to be LIGHT (see reason 1).
However! This does not stop me from calculating the weight of Donnie’s tech bō regardless.
TO DO THAT, i must first calculate the length of his staff (operating under the assumption that both the ninpo staff and the tech bō are the same in size).
BŌ STAFFS ideally are the same height as the wielder. We are going to use this image (cannot find source) as reference, just like i did w Raph (give or take any growth between season 3 finale and movie)
Tumblr media
Donnie is 5’3”, and while i’m here, weighs ~140lbs give or take after plastron, muscle mass, and Bones
The average bō staff has a circumference of about 1-1 1/8th of an inch depending on the length. I’m leaning more towards the larger because of the tech bōs gadgetry and hammerspace.
NOW to calculate how heavy a 5’3” metal pole that’s 1 1/8 inch in width of titanium.
Thankfully the internet is Insane and literally has a calculator that calculates this exact thing.
I was able to come to the conclusion that his tech bō probably weighs no more than approximately 1 pound.
Not very heavy!
What about his battle shell?
WELL it depends! For ease, I’m going to calculate it like a backpack.
The average public school backpack is 12-20 lbs full (heavy and 5-20% heavier than a child SHOULD be carrying to avoid back and neck strain).
I’m going to use measurements from this Random Backpack Website I Found and calculate it as a Medium Backpack (larger than standard) with a laptop pouch, and some minor adjustments since his shell covers him from neck to ass (roughly 24 inches, his height is in his legs)
It’s harder to calculate the shell because he has Different kinds and they’re made of different materials.
I am going to give all of these a base of 66lbs + whatever equipment they have
His Mango shell is probably largely padding with minimal titanium lining
Ice Maker shell is probably heavier. Spider Shell, Drone Shell, are all made w titanium so. Assuming Donnie makes EVERYTHING out of titanium
TECH BŌ: 5’3”, ~1 lb
BATTLE SHELLS:
- Mango: ~66lbs
- Drone: ~150 lbs (including whatever is powering it)
- Ice Maker: ~200 lbs (including ice)
- Spider Shell: ~150lbs
🧍
New approach!
EXHIBIT C: APRIL
WE SEE DONNIE CARRYING/SUPPORTING APRIL A NUMBER OF TIMES. A majority of them i am writing off because he is using his tech to assist.
Tumblr media
HE IS just holding her up easily in this shot. After some cursory google searches i determined April O’neil to be ~110lbs soaking wet because she’s 4’8”, petite, and the boys fling her around like she’s made of craft foam.
Conclusion: Donnie can lift/throw a fairly decent 110 pounds, and carry approximately 200lbs
This is a small number after raph’s 20,000 lbs, and i can barely lift an 84lbs dog so I’m not gonna sneeze at it. It does however check out for someone who is physically fit and active (and does backflips and parkour and fights enemies four times his bodyweight)
BUT WAIT!!! PINE!!! WHAT ABOUT…
EXHIBIT D: SUBWAY KRANG (The Movie)
Donnie DOES get bonked pretty hard by a subway car and doesn’t Immediately Die. To determine this I had to calculate the Weight Of A Subway Car and the Breaking Point of Titanium.
Subway car: 82,000lbs empty
119,000lbs full
Because the subway car looks like this
Tumblr media
I’m gonna call it full.
Titanium has a tensile strength of 63,000 pounds per square inch.
After determining the size of Donnie’s shell off his body, and how much titanium was used, i cam to the conclusion that…
I CAN’T ACTUALLY CALCULATE it because the shell he was wearing was actually mystic/ninpo made and therefore NOT SOMETHING I CAN CALCULATE! It does explain why Donnie wasn’t Rapidly Dispersed upon being bonked by an INSANE AMOUNT OF FORCE.
This very issue crops up again with the other example of Donnie lifting and slapping down the drill on Shredder in the season finale. That was aided ENTIRELY by ninpo/mystic abilities and therefore incalculable.
My counter to the argument that “their ninpo is gone, it’s not mystic anymore” is that Yes They Could Not Access Their Ninpo, but their ninpo-made weapons were still fully intact, and TECHNICALLY still working, the ability to use them had just been locked away
i also humbly believe that Draxum’s Ooze made the boys’ bones EXTREMELY resilient and capable of absorbing force the same way Captain America’s shield absorbs vibrations — my way of explaining why they sustain little to no injury throughout the series.
That being said, it makes the fact that Donnie couldn’t break open a watermelon AND sprains his ankle pretty badly tripping on a fruit EXTREMELY FUCKING FUNNY TO ME.
TL;DR: Donnie can throw ~110lbs give or take, with a lift/carry of maximum 200lb (maybe a bit more before it hinders his movement speed!)
Donnie’s probably not excessively strong but he is CERTAINLY sturdy. Something something rectangles symbolizing stability blah blah metaphor metaphor
288 notes · View notes
wandamaximoffsbadgirl · 3 months
Text
Let's Talk About That Chapter 4
Warnings: talks of mental health (PTSD, anxiety, panic attacks), mentions of death/dying, anger issues, angst and fluff
Word count: 1,969
A/N: listen I love rewatching Marvel movies but having to watch civil war and pause every 5 seconds for the accords scenes killed me, but it would have bothered me if the lines weren't accurate so here you go.
Tumblr media
May 19th 2016
You were in your office when Natasha came round telling you that you had to go to the meeting room. The secretary of state was here to talk with the Avengers. You knew this couldn't be good, but you got up with your laptop in hand just in case you needed it. 
All of you sat around the meeting room while Secretary Ross spoke, "The world owes the Avengers an unpayable debt. You have fought for us, protected us, risked your lives, but while a great many people see you as heroes there are some who would prefer the word 'Vigilantes'." Your grip on Wanda's thigh tightens and her hand goes over yours. Trying not to cause a scene, but you must have squeezed a little too tightly. You release it completely, balling and unballing your fist.
"And what word would you use, Mr. Secretary?" Natasha asks.
"How about dangerous?" He replies. "What would you call a group of U.S. based enhanced individuals who routinely ignore sovereign borders and inflict their will wherever they choose and who frankly seem unconcerned with what they leave behind." Ross speaks freely, but you interject.
"Excuse me Sir, but if you'd have gone over my notes thoroughly about everyone's after mission session when things go good and when things go not great there is in fact a difference in their psyches. This team though we are enhanced individuals still have emotions and feelings. We still care about others and it's the exact reason we do what we do. Just because the world doesn't see them break down. I do." You stand up. "Tony has severe anxiety and suffers from panic attacks when things go wrong. Steve and Natasha have PTSD. Wanda," you look at her and she nods, " thinks every goddamn day about how she could have done better in Lagos. If she had been able to hold on a second longer than no one would have gotten hurt that day. Those lives every one of them rests on her mind." You tell him though he doesn't seem to care much as he shows a video, you sit back down, moving closer to Wanda and she holds your hand, your fingers intertwining. 
"New York, Washington D.C." He's showing the group's past failures as you look over at Steve and Natasha, watching their faces pale as both try to stay in the moment. "Sokovia." The battle for Sokovia from Ultron, the one you missed. You feel her hand squeeze yours as you move your other hand to her thigh to try and soothe her, "Lagos." The footage starts playing of the building that got caught in the blast Wanda had tried to contain. The close up of a dead girl in the ruble is shown and you can feel her shift as you pull her against your chest and whisper, 
"Don't look. I've got you."
"Alright that's enough." Steve calls out. I mouth a thank you to him as I let Wanda go once the footage stops. 
"Good to know we'll need a group therapy session after this." You say flatly. As you turn back to the front of the room.
"For the past four years you've operated with unlimited power and no supervision. That's an arrangement the governments of the world can no longer tolerate, but I think we have a solution." He hands over a binder to you. 
"The Sokovia Accords?" You ask, thumbing through it with Wanda.
"Approved by 117 Countries. It states that the Avengers shall no longer be a private organization. Instead you'll operate under the supervision of the United Nations panel. Only when and if that panel deems it necessary." Ross informs you all. 
"The Avengers were formed to make the world a safer place. I feel we've done that." Steve interjects.
"Tell me Captain, do you know where Thor and Banner are right now? If I misplaced a couple of mega 30 ton nukes you can bet there would be consequences. Compromise, reassurance, that's how the world works. Believe me, this is the middle ground." Ross states. 
"So," Rhodey starts. "There are contingencies?" 
"Three days from now the U.N. meets in Vienna to ratify the accords." Ross tells us and you see Steve finally acknowledge Tony sitting in the corner away from the rest of us. "Talk it over."
"And if we come to a decision you don't like?" Natasha asks. Ross stops his exit from the room. 
"Then you retire." Ross answers.
"Sir. I'm 19." You remind him
"Good thing you went to college already. Whole life ahead of you unlike the rest of your team." He says and you've never wanted to break someone's neck more and once he and his men leave the room, you hand your laptop to Wanda and have everyone back up from the table as you slam my fist into it, reducing it to rubble. 
"You're paying for that." Tony mentions.
"You pay me. So you're paying for that." You remind him and you're lucky it wasn't his face." You say taking your laptop back from Wanda. "Thank you sweet girl."
As the tension in the room simmered and Secretary Ross exited, leaving the group to grapple with the weight of his ultimatum, a heavy silence settled over you. You could feel the collective unease radiating from your teammates, each grappling with their own thoughts and emotions in the wake of his proposition. The mix of all the feelings makes you nauseous.
Turning to face your fellow Avengers, you could see the turmoil etched on their faces, the weight of Ross's words bearing down upon us like a crushing weight. But amidst the uncertainty and fear, there was also a glimmer of determination in their eyes, a silent vow to stand together in the face of adversity.
"We need to talk," Steve's voice cut through the silence, his gaze sweeping across the room as he addressed each of you in turn. "This isn't a decision to be made lightly. We need to weigh the consequences, consider our options, and come to a consensus as a team."
You nodded in agreement, your mind already racing with the implications of Ross's proposal. The Sokovia Accords represented a fundamental shift in the way the Avengers would operate, a relinquishing of your autonomy in exchange for the illusion of oversight. But at what cost? Would you be forced to compromise your principles, to bend to the will of bureaucrats and politicians who viewed you as nothing more than tools to be wielded at their whim?
As the group dispersed from the meeting room, each lost in your own thoughts, you felt Wanda's hand slip into yours, her touch a comforting anchor amidst the storm of uncertainty that raged within you currently. With her by your side, you knew that whatever decision we ultimately made, you would face it together, united in your commitment to stand up for what you believed in, no matter the consequences. And as you retreated to the solace of our shared quarters, you knew that your journey was far from over, that the road ahead would be fraught with challenges and trials, but that so long as you faced them together, you would emerge stronger, more resilient, than ever before.
===========================================================
As the team goes back and forth arguing sides of right and wrong and if things are better in your hands or in the U.N. Wanda speaks up, "You're saying they'll come for me." Before you can speak, Vision does beside you after you had nudged your way in when he tried to sit next to Wanda, "We would protect you." 
"They'll come for me too. Wanda was given powers by the mind stone." You flick it on Vision's forehead, he flinches a bit, but you know it doesn't hurt, not like your own, "But this stone in my chest is a ticking time bomb. Something I've never told you guys is I have never once used 100% of my power. I had talked with Thor who knew about the stones." You gently touch your purple stone, reacting to your touch with a soft glow. "This stone in the past was held and wielded by Celestials, Gods in their own rights, used to decimate worlds." You look around the room. Faces of various degrees of worried or scared or nervous. "If I were to lose control...there's a possibility there won't be an Earth anymore. I know how dangerous I am with this stone, but much like Tony's arc reactor, If we extract this from me. I'm going to die. Last time Bruce did a check up for me...the stone...the stone is wrapped around my heart and lungs. Bruce and I did some tests of moving the stone around and we came to the conclusion it's more than likely to make my lungs collapse and my heart stop if it's pulled out." You look down, unable to look at any of them. "If they take me it might be for the better, but no matter what. I want to keep fighting and keep helping. If I sign that...I'm signing over to my own arrest basically." 
"Well it sounds like that might be a good thing." Tony states. 
"Fuck you Tony! I've only ever wanted to help people! I never want to hurt or kill people! I'd rather just go live my life as a psychiatrist! Work a normal day and come home to a nice home cooked meal, but I can't just do that! You brought me into this world. Now if you want me to stand down, I guess you'll have to take me out." You state before leaving. You hear Wanda follow behind you, catching up as she holds your hand and arm. 
"That is probably the scariest couple with the powers they possess." You hear Tony say just before the two of you get out of hearing range.
As you two left the heated discussion behind, Wanda's hand in yours providing a grounding reassurance, a silent acknowledgment of the challenges you faced together. The weight of the impending decision pressed down on your shoulders, each step echoing the tumultuous thoughts swirling in your mind.
The two of you found solace in a quiet corner of the compound, away from the prying eyes and the cacophony of conflicting opinions. The moon cast a gentle glow over you as you turned to face Wanda, her eyes reflecting a mix of concern and determination.
"I can't believe they'd even suggest something like this," Wanda murmured, her voice barely above a whisper. "To turn against our own, to put us in a position where we have to choose between our principles and our freedom."
"They're scared," you replied, gently squeezing her hand. "Scared of what we can do, scared of the power we wield. But we can't let fear dictate our choices. We need to stand up for what we believe is right, even if it means going against those we once called allies."
Wanda nodded, a quiet resolve settling over her features. "I won't let them take you, Y/N. No matter what they decide. We'll find a way to navigate through this mess together."
A mixture of gratitude and warmth enveloped you as you leaned in, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead. "And I won't let them take you either. We'll face whatever comes our way, side by side."
As the night stretched before you, uncertainty lingering in the air, the two of you stood united against the challenges that awaited you. The Avengers, once a symbol of unity, found themselves at a crossroads, and the choices we made in the days to come would shape the course of our future, both as individuals and as a team.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
88 notes · View notes
fiber-optic-alligator · 4 months
Note
I would love to see some TFA swindle soft vore with a Gn!human <3
Thanks for the request, anon! Here it is! TFA Swindle is so silly, I love how funky he looks. Just a fun salesman who definitely has never broken any laws :D
Deal Or No Deal
Pairing: TFA Swindle x Gn!human Reader
WARNING: This story contains soft vore. If this makes you uncomfortable, please do not read this story.
Word Count: 3230
Tumblr media
Summary: After accepting a job as an errand runner for a local arms dealer, you are tasked with sneaking into a warehouse located in an old Detroit harbor freight yard and stealing a piece of Decepticon weaponry. Things go wrong when a certain money-hungry mech catches you red-handed and decides he is in charge of you’re fate.
Tumblr media
You hate your job.
  “It’ll be quick and easy.” You quietly hype yourself up as you walk past various decrepit buildings, your steps bouncing off of their walls and echoing around you, creating an ominous phenomenon in which it sounds like someone is following in your wake. Too many times you’ve glanced back just to make sure your imagination was simply running wild and you were truly alone.
  “Just get in, find the piece, and get out.” You reach into your pants pocket and pull out the crumpled map of the freight yard. This part of the harbor is an unsavory neighborhood, too dated to be put to use, yet too expensive to gut and start anew. Thus, it’s trapped in a standstill, with local black market meetings happening frequently and without a hitch. Illegal materials are typically stored here too, due to the perfect real estate; not even the police are aware of how important this place really is.
  Tonight, you will be finding one of those exact materials…and you will be stealing it.
  “No problem. It’s no problem.” You study the map one last time, then tuck it away. “Find the prize. Get it to the boss. Easy. It’ll be fine.”
  You aren’t a thief. Well, you weren’t a thief until now. But you're low on cash, and the threat of going broke is just too high. You don’t want to be out on the streets, so you went down a rough road: you’ve become an errand runner for hire. A local arms dealer wants you to smuggle an extremely powerful weapon out of the freight yard and into his hands. “It’s nothing I’ve ever seen before,” he had told you. “A cannon left behind by those Cybertronian-whatevers. It’s alien. And I want it.”
  The amount of money he offered to pay you was too much for you to resist. So here you are, against your better judgment, robbing one horrible person for the benefit of another.
  Well, you don’t know if this other person you're stealing from is horrible. The only information given to you about them was where they keep their goods. But judging from the fact that they’re directly contributing to Detroit’s crime rate, you have to assume they’re pretty terrible.
  And so am I. You wince when you think about it. I’m no better. I’m a coward who can’t even land a real job.
  No time to pity yourself. You chose this profession. There’s no chance for you to go back on it. At least after you complete this job, maybe you can return to some semblance of a normal life…if you aren’t arrested and sent to prison, that is.
  The warehouse you are looking for sits right on the edge of the harbor. It’s massive, with shoddy wooden walls riddled with graffiti and sheets of cheap metal nailed to cover up holes. Standing before it now, you feel a shiver go down your spine. Definitely the creepiest place in Detroit, this building is.
  Drawing in a deep breath, you head for the large sliding doors. One of them is just barely open. It’s enough space for you to slip through.
  Inside, it’s dark. There are lights above, but there is no sign of a switch, and even if there was, you doubt they’d turn on. The warehouse is filled with giant boxes: crate after crate stacked upon each other, some of them reaching so high, you have to wonder just who the hell is in charge of this operation. It’s quiet. You remain still, holding your breath to listen for any signs of activity, like guards or people bringing in recent shipments.
  Nothing.
  Somehow, that causes you to be on edge even more.
  You really, really hate your job.
  According to your employer, the Cybertronian weapon is stored in a special crate marked with a Decepticon insignia. It’s one of a kind, so it should be relatively easy to find. You just have to hope it can be reached. As you tread lightly through the warehouse and peer up at the towers of storage, you're suddenly afraid you might have your first experience with using a forklift tonight.
  Thankfully, luck seems to be on your side. You come across the crate quickly; it’s set up in the corner of the building, nestled between other boxes so it can be obscured. You only spot it because you know what you're looking for. The Decepticon symbol peeks out at you revealingly, like it wants to be found.
  Jackpot, you think. Pushing the other boxes away, you grab your crowbar from your belt and wedge it between the crate’s cover.
  For a moment, you pause. A nervous idea of this possibly being a trap crosses your mind, but then you dismiss it. There’s no way anyone could have known you were coming. You and your boss were alone that night when you discussed this plan. Grunting, you force the crate open. Wood cracks as the cover springs up. Excitement fills you when you eagerly peek inside.
  Your heart drops.
  There’s nothing there. It’s empty.
  “Nononono.” You frantically sift your hands through the packing peanuts, but to no avail. The crate is devoid of anything but styrofoam.
  You stumble back dazedly and press your hand to your head. This is a trap. Someone did know you were coming. But how? And who?
  Low, steady thumping answers you.
  It sounds like footsteps. No, they are footsteps. Heavy, boot-like pounding against the floor is accompanied by a large shadow casting over you. Suddenly, the warehouse lights blaze on. You have to shield your eyes to avoid earning a headache.
  “Well, well, well,” a voice says. “What do we have here?”
  You blink and lower your hands. Standing in front of you, towering above the stacks of crates, is a giant robot with dull golden armor and purple eyes. He gives you an easygoing smile and speaks with the same smooth voice you heard before. “And why might you be here, little mouse?”
  You gape at him with no words you can say. The robot chuckles and crosses his arms over his chest. “Didn’t find what you were looking for?” He inclines his head to the crate. “Don’t beat yourself up about it, it’s not your fault. I knew your boss was going to make a move for the cannon way before he decided to send you for it.”
  “I-I-uh-” you stammer.
  “Yes?” he asks.
  “G-Giant…r-robot.”
  His smile widens and he raises a brow. “That’s what I am. The proper term would be Cybertronian, though.”
  “Y-You're one of them.” Your eyes flicker to the scowling symbol on his chest. “You're a Decepticon.”
  “Technically, yes. However, I consider myself a Decepticon in name only. I wear this badge as a sign of partnership with my best customers.”
  “Customers?” you echo.
  “Right. Guess I should introduce myself.” The mech extends his arms in an open greeting. “The name’s Swindle. I run a tight business of weapons selling, weapons building, weapons trading…basically, if you want something that’ll make your enemies go boom, I’m the guy you want to call. And you, little mouse, are currently stealing from me.”
  You look around you. “Wait. So this…all of this…is yours?”
  “Yup. It’s quite the haul, isn’t it? This loot is going to be spread all across Detroit to different buyers, Cybertronian or not. I don’t discriminate, you see. If you have the means to pay for it, I can get it for you. Earth is a violent place, little mouse. And where there’s violence, there’s money to be made.”
  A compartment slides open from his chest. He reaches into it and pulls out a large gray cannon with the Decepticon coat of arms on its side. “This is what you came here for, right?” Swindle says. “Your boss wants it so he can blast a bunch of banks open.”
  You swallow hard and nod.
  “Let me ask you this.” He drops the cannon back in. The compartment closes, and he crouches down to get more on your level. “Do you think I like it when people steal from me?”
  “I-I didn’t steal from you!” you answer.
  “You were going to.”
  “But I didn’t!”
  “You had the intention, and that counts.” He shrugs. “I’m what you humans call a cool cat, kid. I do business and I go on with my life. But when I find little mice snooping around my warehouse, trying to take things that don’t belong to them…” His gaze darkens and he bares his teeth. “I decide it’s time to show my claws.”
  You take a nervous step back. “I-I’m sorry! I really am! But I had no choice! I-I need this job! I need the money!”
  For a moment, he simply studies you. Then he leans back into the calm attitude from before, and grins. “Hm. What if I were to offer you a deal?”
  It takes you a moment to register what he just said. “A deal?” you say. “Why would you want to make a deal with me? I just tried stealing from you!”
  “I know. Trust me, I’m not letting you off the hook. But I find myself feeling bad for you, little mouse. You're just someone who’s down on your luck and trying to get back on your feet. I appreciate that. And…I see potential in you.”
  “…Potential?”
  His eyes sparkle with dangerous intent. “Yes. Potential. You're small. Quick. You can sniff things out and have a great sense of direction while doing it. I could use someone like you. A stealthy little robber who can sneak in and get things that a giant lumbering robot can’t. Do you see where I’m going with this?” He pokes you gently in the ribs. You yelp and jump back. “I’m offering you a job.”
  You rub your side and glare at him. “I already have a job.”
  “Correction. You had a job.” Swindle tilts his head. “If you go back to your boss empty-handed, you’ll suffer for it. I know how he works, and trust me, what he does to those who fail isn’t pretty. But me? I’m fair. I’m lenient. Your work hours won’t kill you, and I’m not going to dump your dead body into the lake if something goes sour. This is an opportunity for you. What do you say?” He holds his hand out. “Do we have a deal?”
  You eye his hand apprehensively, then take another step back. “No. I’m done with this. I never wanted to be a thief. I’m not working for a giant robot who can kill me at any chance.”
  He throws his hands up, exasperated. “Did you not hear a word I just said?”
  “I don’t care what you said!” You turn on your heel and march away. “What my boss does to me doesn’t matter anymore! I’m not going through with this sort of life!”
  Swindle sighs, and his tone hardens. “Ah, geez, you're going to make me be the bad guy, huh. Alright, fine, I can be the bad guy.”
  You let out a strangled shriek when you are unexpectedly yanked into the air. Swindle unceremoniously lifts you up by the back of your shirt, bringing you close to his face. “Listen, mouse,” he growls. “You have two options to choose tonight: either you agree to work for me, or I can sell you to other people who are worse than your boss. You want to end up collared and turned into a Decepticon’s pet?”
  You stop your desperate struggle to stare at him in horror. “Y-You wouldn’t do that!”
  “Wouldn’t I? I’m a daytrader, little one. I may specialize in weapons, but that doesn’t mean I don’t take up animal handling once in a while.” He shakes you a little, earning a cry from you. “So, what’s it going to be? This is a limited time offer, so you better make up your mind while it lasts.”
  You stare at him, and you know he’s being completely serious. You have no option here except to agree to his terms. A pit forms in your stomach with roots of anxiety spreading through you, thriving on your fear. He notices how you’ve begun to shake, and grins with the knowledge that he has you.
He holds his hand out to you once more. “I’ll ask again. Do we have a deal?”
  You hesitate…then reluctantly extend your own hand to him. He takes your palm between his index finger and thumb and shakes it gently. “There.” Swindle looks satisfied. “Was that so hard? You’ve made the right choice, little mouse. Now, for your punishment.”
  “Wait, what?” You yank your hand back. “Punishment? What punishment!?”
  “The punishment.” He says this like it’s common knowledge. “You tried to steal from me. I just can’t let that go. What kind of message would I be spreading to the competition if they were to know I’m too soft with thieves?”
  “But I accepted your terms! I work for you now! What more could you want from me?”
  He tsks and shakes his head. “This has nothing to do with the deal, little mouse. This has everything to do with the fact that your old boss thinks I’m someone he can send his cronies to steal from.” He lifts you higher, and his gaze softens, only for a moment. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to hurt you. You're still a greenie in the trade, so there’s no reason to draw this out. Just relax and everything will be fine.”
  You squirm and clutch at the fingers holding you, confused. “What are you-?”
  He opens his mouth. You find yourself staring down into the abyss of his throat, pulsing with a gentle purple light. Then your eyes widen and your heart crashes when he begins lowering you towards it.
  WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” you yell while you squirm, kick, flail, do anything you can to fight back against what you realize is happening. “PUTMEDOWNPUTMEDOWNPUTMEDOWNPUTMEDOWN!”
  You couldn’t tear your eyes away from the gaping jaws below you. Swindle’s tongue shifts with excitement and anticipation. The sight makes you scream until you think your own throat might bleed.
  The more you fight, the faster Swindle lowers you. You curse and threaten, so terrified that you aren’t even aware of what you are saying at this point, fresh tears pouring down your face.
“SWINDLE, PLEASE, DON’T-!”
  You break into a scream when he drops you.
  The impact is softer than what you brace for, and you fall onto his tongue with an “Oof.” For a moment, you lay there, little cries coming out with your rapid-tempo breaths, heart beating so hard you think you may have a heart attack.
  And then you come to your senses, and realize where you are.
  You are in Swindle’s mouth.
  You scramble forward, moving to throw yourself out of the sticky deathtrap, but it is too late; the robot’s teeth click closed, cutting you off from the outside world. “Nonono!” You bang your fists frantically on them. “Please, let me out! I don’t want to die! P-Please don’t do this!”
  Hot air wafts over your body when Swindle chuckles. The muscle beneath you moves and begins to slowly push you backwards. Thick globs of saliva suck at your legs as you are forced back towards his throat.
  “No, stop!” You claw at his tongue, trying everything in your power to prevent yourself from going down. The giant tilts his head back.
  With a loud squelching gulp, Swindle swallows, and you are sucked into his esophagus, the powerful muscles pulling you down.
  So many things happen at once. Your body is massaged from all sides by the throat, leaving you all but completely immobile. The sound of Swindle’s internal workings is thunder in your ears, so loud that you can’t even hear yourself think.
  The most terrifying noise, however, is the growling and gurgling coming from below. An ominous reminder of where you are ultimately going to end up.
  You are squeezed into the stomach and fall into the squishy chamber that, as soon as it is aware of your presence, closes in. From all sides you are massaged and kneaded by thick, muscular walls of synthetic organ that rubs saliva and fluid all over you. You push at the walls with a terrified air of desperation, your lungs constricting like you can’t breathe. “Let me out!” you beg your captor. “Please, I don’t want this!”
  Swindle rumbles out another chuckle that sounds so much deeper now that you are in here. The walls quiver, laughing right along with him. “I don’t care what you want, little mouse. I’m your boss now, and I want you to sit in there and think about what you’ve done.”
  “I’m sorry! I’m sorry for trying to steal from you! Just please, spit me up! I-I don’t want to die!” Your voice breaks. The situation is truly hopeless now.
  Swindle groans. “Geez, how many times do I have to tell you, kid? You're not going to die. Do you feel any acid in there? Is your skin melting off of your bones?”
  You pause and look at your arms. The glow of the mech’s biolights gives you a dim image of your limbs: sticky and slimy…but not in any pain, and certainly no terrible wounds visible.
  “…No,” you mumble in disbelief.
  Swindle speaks to you like a parent does with their child. “See? You're in no pain. Nothing bad is going to happen to you. You're safe. Now relax and settle down.”
  “If I’m safe, then why did you decide to eat me?!”
“I already said this. You need to learn a lesson. A few hours in there will teach you not to steal from others…well, at least, not to steal from me. You’ll be doing plenty of theft in the future. But I’ll pay you for it, and you’ll never have to worry about going hungry or living on the streets ever again.”
  Your fear begins to diminish, and it’s replaced with indignation. “Of all the ways to teach me a lesson, it had to be like this?”
  The stomach shakes boisterously when Swindle laughs. “Sorry, kid. I had to scare the crap out of you somehow so you’d learn. You need to know your place in this profession.” He presses his hands right over where you are tucked inside and gives you a little squeeeze. “Now sit tight and relax for me, okay? I’ll let you out in a few hours. You're safe.”
  You grumble and give the stomach walls a disgruntled shove. The organ flexes to hug you, forcing you to sink into the warmth. Now that you’ve calmed down, you find that it’s actually…kind of nice in here. The constant massaging feels good on your exhausted body. The soft violet glow is soothing to your eyes. And though you hate to allow yourself, because you're still rather pissed off with him…you finally relax.
  “There you go,” he murmurs. “That’s right. Nice and warm.” The walls ripple when he gives his abdomen a pat. “You know, I think this is going to be the start of a beautiful friendship.”
  You give in and release a soft breath. You’ve gotten yourself into quite the pickle here. But with how warm it is, and relaxed you are…maybe working for this robot won’t be so bad.
84 notes · View notes
spinji · 3 months
Text
How old is AFO and OFA
[Mile long post incoming]
Long story short this is a theory/headcanon/thought exercise to keep my brain busy while I'm bored at work. I wanted to figure out a more precise estimate for how old All for One is since his birth is essentially the earliest moment of quirk society emerging and so his life spans the entire timeline of this story which I find interesting. And then the whole thing spiraled into a full One for All timeline of headcanons, so enjoy that.
To start though, it would be easy to guess that he's 120-and-some-change because of Garaki. Mic claimed Garaki would be about 120 (and we're just assuming he's exactly right instead of guesstimating for the sake of things) and Garaki confirms that his quirk allows him to live longer than a regular human lifespan, and when they met, All for One was given a copy so he could also live absurdly long. But I want to try a more exact method to ensure that his generations of adversaries could have actually reasonably worked time-wise. So, we can use Garaki's age to check our work but, reasonably, All for One should fall somewhere in the 120-140 range.
Right off the bat, we do have a frustrating lack of information regarding ages and time passing but there are a few things we can establish. Firstly, we know AFO and Yoichi are twins, so when determining age we can start both AFO individually and the OFA users as a collective at the same point. Secondly, Yoichi and AFO are shown to be the first people to have developed a quirk in the way we see in current time. There were vaguely quirk like mutations in people before that (like with their mother) but quirks as we know them are presented to us as originating from these two twins.
I bring this up because while Yoichi, Kudou, and Bruce are all in the same vague realm of "adult" at the same point in time, Yoichi has to be the oldest of the three. Even if it is only by a few years, Yoichi and AFO preceed any characters with a quirk. And while we're on the topic of Kudou and Bruce, we can safely say Kudou is the older one of the duo. He's confirmed to be the head leader of the resistance group against AFO and Bruce is second in command, so, frankly it would just be bizarre if Bruce was older in age but lower in rank. That being said, I don't think their difference in age would be significant.
Exact ages is where things get vague and headcanon-y. There isn't really any hard evidence I can point to other than "that sounds about right" and "I guess they look about that age" in an animation style that is notorious for just slapping a, borderline arbitrary, age on any design regardless of logic. So, rather than trying to justify it too much, my personal choices for their ages are, at Yoichi's time of death, Yoichi is 32, Kudou is 28, and Bruce is 27. At this point in the story AFO has been amassing power and followers for a while now, long enough for a resistance force to rise up against him but not long enough that he's considered it more than a nuisance for other people to handle until now. Early thirties seems pretty reasonable, possibly a bit too young but this man has also been killing people since he was 0.
For Kudou and Bruce I aimed for the older side of military age. Old enough to lead an operation like this but still young enough that AFO's rise to power was during most of their lifetime. Also, there's the issue of the age ceiling. Thanks to Shinomori (who I will get to), users 2 through 7 cannot have lived to be over 40 years old. That is a hard, non-negotiable cap on their ages as the strain of OFA alongside a different biological quirk drastically shortens a person's natural lifespan.
Anyway, back to AFO's age. If Yoichi dies at 32, this would also make him 32 (duh) and given the climate of the world at this point, I think Kudou lasted the shortest with OFA, personally. He receives the quirk immediately upon Yoichi's death after getting his blood in his mouth (Yoichi probably thought of him in his dying moments aww) and likely a week or two later is when Kudou and Bruce find out about it. The chapter frames Kudou finding out Yoichi carried on into him at the same time AFO has the same epiphany so, generously?? I give Kudou a year. Max.
All for One is now filled with seething hatred for Kudou specifically after Yoichi's death, so everything has been put on the back burner so he can both take the quirk from Kudou to get his "possession" back (ew) and to kill Kudou along with everyone he ever knew, loved, spoke to, looked at, or had any genetic lineage with. Even for a guy this powerful that is going to take a bit. A year gives AFO time to find information and strike down the entire resistance and time for Kudou and Bruce to think of a counter strategy and gain an understanding for how OFA works. So, Bruce takes the quirk at 28, Kudou dies at 29, and All for One kills him at 33.
After Kudou's death is a very big blank spot where I need to unfortunately just blindly headcanon again, so bare with me. Kudou and Bruce's plan was for Bruce to take the quirk and slip away from the massacre of the resistance to build OFA stronger and come back to finish the job. I believe that Bruce met Shinomori while he was lying low. Judging by the one image we have of Bruce confronting AFO, he did seemingly attempt to rally people together to defeat him, which would have taken a bit longer than when Kudou was leading an established resistance, since he didn't already have people under him. But he clearly thought to pass the quirk on again as a backup in case he lost, which is why he chose Shinomori to take it. With time needed to plan this attack and also get AFO's sights off him, I'd give it about five years between AFO's fight with Kudou and his fight with Bruce. It's estabished that Shinomori takes the quirk at 22 so, Bruce dies at 33, and All for One kills him at 39.
Shinomori is actually a very clear-cut piece of the timeline. He takes the quirk at 22 and dies at 40, having passed the quirk to the next user shortly before that because he realized his health was rapidly declining. He keeps the quirk for a total of 18 years, making All for One 57 at the time of his death. Judging by how the flashback panels are structured, AFO has received Garaki's quirk by this point.
Also, we have reached the point where every following user of OFA has been a professional hero, so I think it's safe to assume that each link in the chain met through either being colleagues or possibly through a sidekick internship. I doubt All Might was the first one to think of scouting hero students for successors. I'm going to assume that users 5, 6, and 7 were somewhere in the 16-24 range when they received the quirk for that very reason.
Moving on though, Banjo is the next user. I do think Banjo knew Shinomori for a somewhat significant time before his death. Banjo clearly knows about Shinomori's reclusive nature in some level of detail based on how they interact as vestiges and while it is possible for the already deceased OFA users to peer into the thoughts and memories of the current user, it doesn't appear to be the same retroactively, unless it's something the vestiges want to show the current user. All this to say I came to conclusion that Banjo was already likely a pro hero when he recieved the quirk from Shinomori. Shinomori realized what was happening and reached out to one of the few trusted friends he had to carry on the burden because he knew he could handle it. So I'm going to peg Banjo at being about 22 when he took the power as well. Old enough to be experienced as a pro with enough time to have actually met Shinomori before he died. Just like all the others, Banjo died to All for One after being trapped under rubble and gave the power to En just before he croaked. Given his bordering-on-middle-aged appearance, I'm going to put forward Banjo dying at 37 and All for One killing him at 72.
En also has very little information on him but since we only have speculation to work with, might as well stop apologizing for it. En appears to be significantly younger than Banjo, so I suspect he was an internship student to Banjo while he was a pro. Putting En at 17 when he recieved the power is both enough time for them to meet and get to know each other with En having to take the mantle from him sooner than either of them anticipated. En's appearance is still quite young, but he was confirmed to be a pro hero for a time, so he didn't have as short a run as Kudou. Nana was also already some level of hero (whether student or pro is unclear) at the time she recieved the power. Rather than mentor and student I believe they were fledgling colleagues, since Gran Torino fills the role as Nana's older pro mentor. All of this makes me vaguely place En dying at 25 and All for One killing him at 80.
I already mentioned Nana potentially being colleagues with En as their way of meeting. I still think she may have been younger than him at the time but not significantly so. En is another user that is shown passing on the power while at death's door and the following panel that shows Nana accepting it doesn't make her look significantly younger than how she does in any given scene in the series. So I don't think she was a child when she took the quirk but I'm going to set my guess at 20. But! While Nana is another character without a listed age, surprisingly, we can figure it out a good guess with actual evidence this time. Her son Kotaro, grandson Tomura, and pupil All Might all have stated, confirmed ages that we can use to make a feasible timeline for Nana.
Currently, All Might is 57 and Tomura is 21, meaning All Might was 36 when Tomura was born. Kotaro was killed at 32, when Tomura was 5, making him 27 when Yagi was 36. Nana died when All Might was in his last year at UA, making him 18, meaning Kotaro was 9 at the time. Nana gave All Might OFA when he was in middle school, judging by his uniform, so we'll assume he was 14 and Kotaro was 5. When Nana and All Might first meet, Nana states that her family is all dead, in a cold and distant manner. But that wouldn't be true if Kotaro was still in her life. This would mean that she met Yagi after the death of her husband and after Kotaro was sent away. And I'd wager to bet it was very soon after. Assuming Nana gave birth to Kotaro at around 25 years old (perfectly reasonable) then she would have passed the quirk to All Might at 30 and died at 34 after having the quirk for 14 years, making All for One 94 at the time of the transfer.
From here things get a lot less speculative. All Might is listed as 55 at the beginning of the manga, adding on Izuku's last year of middle school and first year of high school puts him at 57. We already established he received the quirk at 14, meaning he held the power for 42 years + 1 year quirkless before All for One was finally killed at the grand age of 136. Which would mean that quirks have existed for just shy of one and a half centuries now and we fit comfortably inside our estimate goal!
Now, I'm one of those bad at math gays so if you have other thoughts on this, feel free to speak up. And you're more than welcome to adopt these age headcanons if you want. Later.
67 notes · View notes
rileyslibrary · 1 year
Text
Living With Ghosts: 2. Lemons
Under normal conditions, it would've been challenging to locate anyone on such a vast property. But a tall, burly man wearing a balaclava and picking lemons? He stood out like a fly in milk.
Relationship: Simon “Ghost” Riley x F!Reader
Word Count: 1,021
Notes:
Fluff
Entire work on AO3
Table of Contents
———————————————————————
P-143, check. P-92, check. P-56, check. P-333, ch-
Wait. That’s not right.
You take a closer look at the glass canister.
No, no, no, no.
P-333 is half empty.
What — why? How did you miss this?
You instinctively look out the kitchen window, scanning the acres of land for his tall figure. You notice movement. There he is.
Under normal conditions, it would’ve been challenging to locate anyone on such a vast property. But a tall, burly man wearing a balaclava and picking lemons? He stood out like a fly in milk.
It was his turn to help with the harvest. You’ve already done your part by picking as many as you could. The rest, unfortunately, are too high for you to reach. Fortunately, he is 6'4" tall.
You dash outdoors, your right hand in a fist, your left hand holding a jar, its contents rattling in sync with your gait.
Your movement is intense, your strides powerful as you flounce through the fields - a little too powerful for the distance you’re about to travel. You didn’t think this through, did you?
The safe house is encircled by orchards of lemon trees. Acres extend across the land as far as the eye can see, glistening under the hot, Tuscan sun.
To the naked eye, the plot serves no purpose other than cultivating lemons. In reality, it is used as a hideaway for conducting covert operations and acquiring vital information for regional cases.
Agents like yourself are expected to keep constant watch while maintaining a controlled and protective environment. How do you do that? Well, by keeping a low profile and impersonating a lemon-harvesting farmer, for starters.
You’re breathless by the time you get to him. Physically exhausted and drenched in sweat, you try to act as intimidating as possible. You poor thing. Who do you think you are? Do you even understand whose arm you’re attempting to twist?
“Di...you...ea...stachios?” you mutter between breaths.
“Speak English,” he orders without even looking at you. What an ass. What a beautiful a-FOCUS! That is not the time. Not right now.
Instead of reacting to his snide remark, you shake the jar.
“Did you eat the pistachios?”
“Pistachios?”
“Yes, the pistachios. Did you eat them?”
“We have pistachios?” he asks, unmoved.
“Had. We had pistachios. A whole jar, to be exact. And we needed them.”
“We needed the pistachios,” he repeats caustically.
He continues to ignore your presence. It seems like lemon-picking is far more important than your little predicament. You poor, poor thing.
You carefully observe him as he collects the fruits from the tree. He is meticulous, even when doing something as mundane as this. Efficient too. Mentally breaking the tree into sections and clearing each area before moving on to the next. His moves are repetitive yet purposeful. Tactical; getting the job done.
Under normal circumstances, you would brush this off. But this wasn’t a normal circumstance. You had to be informed as per procedure, and Ghost was aware of this.
You close your eyes and take a few slow, deep breaths.
“Do not patronize me,” you plead, throwing your hands up, one of them still holding the jar. “Next time, please let me know if you crave something. I have to log everything.”
He comes to a halt and slowly turns his head toward you. His eyes are cold, yet they burn right through you.
“You mean to tell me that you need to register every pistachio that comes out of that jar?” he asks, pointing at the glass container.
You freeze. Well? Do you? Answer him!
“Everything gets counted and documented,” you reply. “I have to report everything that is either consumed or processed. Shipments to the safe house should be kept as little as possible to maintain a low profile. These are the orders I have from the base.” you add, shrugging.
He keeps staring at you with those dreadful interrogative eyes. You divert your gaze away from his. Looking into his eyes for too long makes you feel exposed, vulnerable. Naked.
The procedure wasn’t as rigid as you made it out to be. Nothing would have happened if you overlooked a jar of pistachios. In essence, this wasn’t a formality issue at all. It was you—your need to regain control over something, terrified of dealing with reality. Consequently, you resorted to micromanaging the pantry. Everything—milk, wheat, eggs, the fucking pistachios—was an excuse. You were diverting attention away from the actual problem: the loss of control over your greatest asset—yourself. He could see that. He could see right through you with those eyes.
You bring the jar in front of your chest, attempting to instinctively block him out. You turn around and begin to walk back to the safe house, defeated.
“’ Twas for the birds.” You hear him mumble.
You turn your head around; the expression he had earlier is now embossed on your face.
“Pardon?”
“The pistachios. I fed ’em to the birds.”
What. The. Fuck.
“Birds? What birds?”
“Do I look like a fuckin’ ornithologist to you, love?” he barks. Best to end this conversation as soon as possible.
But you can’t. You, instead, want to crack a smile. Heck, you want to burst out laughing. Lieutenant Simon “Ghost” Riley feeds birds in his free time. What’s next? Baking pies and making lemonade out of lemons?
“Huh. I thought you said you didn’t have any.” you recount.
“I said I didn’t eat any. Listen, I should’ve informed you as per the procedure. Apologies for that.”
Instead of continuing your lecture, you accept his apology and close the matter once and for all.
It was no surprise that there was vulnerability behind the Lieutenant’s tough facade and emotional armour. Today, you could see in between the cracks of his hard shell. He allowed you in.
However, drilling a Special Forces Operator about pistachios was a bold move, let alone Lieutenant Simon “Ghost” Riley himself. Don’t push your luck.
“I appreciate your honesty,” you respond and continue back to the safe house, this time with a smile on your face, walking a little lighter than before.
———————————————————————
Next ->
499 notes · View notes
musings-of-a-rose · 1 year
Text
Tumblr media
I've been a Joel supporter since the game came out and after watching that episode, and especially now that I've become a mom since the game, I still stand firm in my choice to support what Joel did.
For those saying "But he lied to Ellie!" - yeah. He did. But you know who else did? The Fireflies. Marlene. She even had the balls to say to Joel "You're not giving her the choice because you know what she'd choose." Implying that she would choose to be operated on. But you know what? She didn't give Ellie a choice either. Marlene even said they sedated her and told her nothing so she wouldn't be afraid. That right there says Marlene doesn't know for sure that Ellie would choose self sacrifice, so she withheld that rather important piece of information from her.
Ellie is also 14 years old. This sort of decision is way too much to put on her shoulders, and I say this as a very mature 14 year old when I was that age.
"Ok, but this is the fate of the world!" Says who? What they didn't give you in the show was the letters/notes Joel finds in the hospital saying Ellie wasn't the first immune person that they've performed lethal surgery on to poke around in a brain. And you know what? None of it worked. Could Ellie have worked? Maybe. But it's a slim chance in hell it would and that just wasn't worth it to Joel.
You also can't vaccinate a fungal infection. It doesn't work that way, which is why doctors give people creams and hope for the best when they have fungal infections.
Also, this was ONE doctor with some nurses. A doctor and a scientist are not the same thing. Granted, a doctor would be better at figuring something out, but that wasn't his area of expertise. He'd need a whole team of experts to even hope to find a cure IF it was there. They also had no equipment, no mri's or cat scans, nothing. Yes, they were in a hospital but right before Joel enters the room, one of them asks "Do we have enough power?" They're not even sure they can power the room to perform the surgery - how ar they going to spend countless months and years on a supposed cure?
BUT let's overlook all of that and say by some miracle they find a cure. How are they going to mass produce said cure? They most likely don't have the resources for this as everything is shut down and 20 years old. And even if they did, how to mass distribute it? Marlene said the Fireflies would, but so many people distrust them so who's to say they'd accept it? Not to mention Joel, by himself, took out an entire building of them.
Marlene also had the audacity to say to Joel that she understands his plight because she was there when Ellie was born so she gets it. No, you don't. You took your friend's baby out of obligation and put her in an orphanage and straight into a FEDRA school/camp. Marlene came back when Ellie was bit, chained her up in a room for weeks, and kept performing experiments on her to see if she would turn. She didn't raise Ellie so she couldn't possibly have known that sort of connection.
In the end, Joel chose love because he loves Ellie like he loved his daughter. And if I were in his shoes, I 100% would've made the exact same decision.
Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.
354 notes · View notes
bookshopsbizarreblog · 8 months
Text
Did you know that you'd need to eat ~260,000 human teeth every second to fuel the Flux Capacitor?
Okay, so, the sources behind this beautiful statistic
As is stated a number of times by Doc Brown, the Flux Capacitor requires 1.21 gigawatts of power
According to a 2017 article by Science.org, eating all of someone's teeth would give an average of 36 calories [1]
The typical adult human will have 32 teeth, including their wisdom teeth. I don't know whether the 36 calorie statistic was taken with or without wisdom teeth, so I'm going to assume that it's with them. That way, we get a bigger number of teeth!
And the math!
Gigawatts are a bit frustrating to work with, because we can't just get a specific amount of teeth we'd need to eat to power it. Much like a 100 watt light bulb, that number is about how much energy it consumes every second of its operation, rather than a set quantity we need. And since it is stated that the time travel happens instantaneously (and looking at the frame-by-frame of the stop watches demonstrating the time travel shows that they are still synced, further showing this) [2], there is no time for the energy consumption to happen within. So whatever number of teeth it would take to fuel the Flux Capacitor via metabolic processes (assuming all of the calories a human would gain from digesting teeth are perfectly transferred into electrical energy and ignoring the energy cost associated with digesting the teeth in the first place) needs to be some rate of teeth / time.
So let's break it down unit conversion style
Tumblr media
To turn that formula into plain English, we start by finding the energy each individual tooth has. If a set of them has 36 calories, and there are 32 in a set, then each tooth is 1.125 (36/32 -> 9/8) calories. By flipping that number, we are expressing that, for every calorie we wind up needing to run the flux capacitor, we will need 8/9ths of a tooth.
Next, we can convert the (food) calories into joules. They both measure the same thing--energy--and they're just different units for it. Similar to how feet and meters work. Joules are more useful for this formula, since joules and watts are easier to convert between, and the flux capacitor's energy requirements are measured in watts. Each calorie is 4184 joules, so we just convert between them.
Then we can covert the joules directly into watts! A joule is a watt second, meaning that something that consumes one watt of power for one second will have used a joule of energy. To use the example of the 100 watt lightbulb, if it was running for 1 second, it would use 100 joules. If it was running for 2 seconds, it would have used 200 joules. And so on.
(a watts * b seconds = a * b watt seconds = a * b joules)
Now that we've converted from calories to joules, and joules to watt seconds, we have:
Tumblr media
The section on the right is splitting out the different aspects to make it slightly easier to understand. Essentially, this formula is saying that for every 4,707 watts of power we need, we must consume one tooth per second. That isn't a lot of teeth,,, yet. Unfortunately, 1.21 giga-watts is a lot of watts. 1.21 * 10^9 of them, to be precise. And after running that number through the calculator, we get a grand total of 257,064 teeth per second. But as we don't know the exact number of calories per teeth, it's safer to round up to ~260,000 teeth per second.
So, if Doc Brown built his DeLorean with the capacity to metabolize teeth at 100% efficiency, he would need to feed it around 260,000 of those enamelous little morsels every second to travel through time.
[1]
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HV6wO_UVfWo
70 notes · View notes
raayllum · 9 months
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Already touched on this scene regarding the differences to the brothers, so I'm not going to repeat myself too much here, but I am thinking about the like... Purpose of this scene from a narrative/characterization standpoint in line with that. Because like, think about it... This scene would hit so different, as a debate, if we didn't know how far along Claudia and co. were in their quest to free Aaravos; then we could lean one way or another operating with the exact same information the characters have.
But we the audience Know that Aaravos isn't out, which is the primary reason Callum gives regarding incentive to get the Nova Blade. Nor is this the first time that Callum has a perspective we know isn't necessarily, well, necessary because we know more than the characters do. So we're already inclined to be more on Ezran's side because we know his line of thinking - that Aaravos isn't out and it's worth trying to just stop his release - is worth following.
It is likewise worth noting though, that Callum thinks the Novablade plan is good whether Aaravos is out or not. While he brings up that Claudia and Viren might've already released the Startouch elf, when Callum initially proposes the plan (shown above) he says, "Then we wait for Aaravos to get out." Even though if Aaravos gets out, that would kind of put him in the best possible place to possess Callum again, given how it operated last time. Even though if Aaravos gets out, he'll be even more powerful and likely to do real harm and even harder to defeat.
All of which to say this scene has approximately three purposes
To reinforce the differences between the brothers and possible seeds of conflict for the future, in both Ezran's pacifism (possibly to set up contrast with his latter choices) as well as Callum's more pragmatic side
To reinforce, by giving Rayla the deciding vote and having her side with Ezran, that Callum's morality and inclinations is different than both his brother and his partner
And on that note, characterization wise, to start highlighting what Callum is willing to do and that he's always had this streak in him (cue both he and Viren watching dark magic corrupted enemies die by their own hand at the Storm Spire while Ezran and Harrow feel somewhat conflicted about it, at least) / can often be more solution oriented ("How does this solve anything?" from 1x02) and willing to take the path he perceives as easier/more efficient
Tumblr media
Sarai: You said you want to make a difference, to build a better world. But that's going to take decades of hard work. There's no monster you can slay to solve all of your problems. There's no shortcut.
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Some other interesting notes:
Shows the different in the trio's dynamic regarding decision making, since previously it had normally been Callum and Rayla having the final call with Ezran going along with it (2x03, 3x08). Now, the brothers discuss first with each other, highlighting that they've spent the last two years without her and that Ezran has become more assertive, but that they still fully include her in the decision and have it be one they made as a group, signifying their heightened unity upon reunion and healing, and the way they all trust/look to each other.
It also demonstrates growth from Rayla, as last time she thought there was a potential threat to the world, she went the more violent route in wanting to track Viren down (alone) and kill him. But now that she's come back and reintegrated herself into the group, she's taking the more level headed, preventative route in some ways.
71 notes · View notes
nikikikiko · 3 months
Text
hello it is 3 am today we talk about kid’s humanity and how it is vital to him being the way he is mainly by comparing him to the other two shinigami we see in the series. if u expect a coherent structure my excuse is that it IS in fact 3 am and i just woke up from my slumber
but Kid is a character who is mainly defined by three things:
1. He has a huge amount of skill and power alone
2. It is typically overshadowed by his need for perfection
3. He is human. He is also Lord Death’s son.
now, one of these holds seemingly conflicting traits: how can Kid be human if he’s Lord Death’s son? Well, he’s not. He says as much. He’s not human and he’s very easily able to identify this fact. So, how IS he human? How can something inhuman become human?
This , listeners in my walls, has an answer that can be considered very simple:
Lord Death INTENDED for Kid to be human. He intended for humanity to become an integral part of Kid.
At the time of Lord Death’s creation, we understand that inhumanity is needed to deal with immediate threats while humanity is still trying to thrive. This is showcased to us by how Lord Death creates Asura, deals with the Witches, and overall eliminates threats. He’s quick, decisive, and seemingly without any regret. Lord Death does what is best for humanity with a stern hand because that is his purpose initially: to be a present god for humanity, to light the way. Now a god is not, and never will be, human in the ways that they need to be. Especially in Soul Eater where almost all depiction of a god or god like character have them be inhuman in some shape or form. Eibon, Excalibur, the Great Old one of Power, and even Asura have appearances that can be considered monstrous: they are not human.
Speaking of Asura, I would like to call Asura a case of incomplete humanity in the wrong era. Asura is the embodiment of Lord Death’s fears culminated into a person, he did not grow up with a childhood, he simply just was. This, as everyone knows, has had a very negative effect on Asura and led to him becoming paranoid and yearning for power. He is an incomplete human who’s not quite god in the way Lord Death or Excalibur are, but not quite human either. But since he’s not quite human, Asura easily falls into morally wrong temptations to achieve power that would take some or most people at least a few more days of contemplation, and he does so without a drop of guilt or remorse. Can you imagine the absolute betrayal Vajra must have felt in their last moments? The horror and dread? The sadness that this is who Asura is? That it only gets Worse?
Now I mentioned Asura’s incomplete humanity but what exactly does that mean? In my opinion, Asura has some mechanics of a human— the shape to be exact and the general self preservation instincts of one. But where he fails at being human is how he operates. His own paranoia and fear drove him to madness yes but he acts in a way that feels logical to HIM. He does what feels best for himself in incomprehensible wonderland noise, the same way that Lord Death does what feels best for humanity. And because they are gods, they are correct at the time even if they are wrong eventually. Asura, despite having human-esque things about him, is no different than the other gods that walk among the soul eater world.
So how does this all tie back into Kid? Well, Kid is the reverse of Asura. Kid, rather than being an incomplete human, was made to be an incomplete GOD. Intentionally so, since it was the most logical thing to do to keep another Asura from happening. Lord Death created Kid to be an heir but he didn’t want Kid to become Asura 2.0 somehow, so he figured out that reversing the way Asura operated would do the trick. Instead of creating an incomplete human, he would make an incomplete god and that is the Kid we start out with in the manga.
This allows Kid to be human and a god at the same time, allowing him to learn humanity and understand it in ways Asura and Lord Death really just /can’t/. They CAN’T understand it, they simply just aren’t able to. Kid acts emotionally, he takes logical routes yes but he’s very emotional too. He can be impulsive, reckless, everything a human is expected to be. He has a drive to protect humans not because he simply should but because he has walked among them. Kid is friends with and cherishes so many humans, he finds the good in even criminals and that, in a new age where Humanity no longer needs immediate protection of it’s present god, is necessary now.
Kid can create peaceful solutions in place where Lord Death, who can only ever ensure the survival of humanity in a direct way, cannot. He can change and react and evolve in ways Asura cannot. He is human, and the two other shinigami are not. Not to mention, Kid is extremely indulgent in smaller human behaviors: we are shown time and time again that Kid has hobbies he has put time into like skateboarding and he will not hesitate to simply engage in his hobbies, but in comparison, we’re not really shown the hobbies of the other god characters. We don’t even know what Lord Death even does for fun, even though we know what Spirit does for fun.
But Kid’s also not human, and there’s no dissonance created either in this because he simply was made to be human. He knows he’s not human, he admits as much constantly, but he’s not broken up about it. He doesn’t feel disconnected from being a shinigami or from being human, he is both and he is what he is. He is what he was made to be, and his humanity is vital to make him who he is. Without that humanity, we’d most likely be left with something similar to what Kid became under the influence of the Madness of Power: a god determined to make the world into perfect nothingness.
But uh, this is all a 3am ramble ? so. take it with grains of salt LMAOO
41 notes · View notes
gaykarstaagforever · 1 month
Text
Tumblr media
This 1984 Teen Titans comic was the exciting conclusion to a multi-part story where they were battling something called H.I.V.E. This was a cult of people in purple druid robes who led an international network of mercenaries and assassins, who lived in an underwater dome and were all named numbers. I realize that sounds cool, but it absolutely isn't.
They were started / led by some guy, but then he married a 22-year-old blonde woman who murdered him and declared herself the leader. And the rest of them - this band of amoral assassins - just let this happen, even as she declared "none of you matters but me," and killed them every time they "failed" her.
This is in the past tense, because as soon as Nightwing and Wonder Girl go down there to punch these idiots, the blonde woman electrocuted all of her remaining people, then committed suicide. She also built a giant red missile and shot it at Atlantis, but Aqualad grabbed onto it and turned it off.
The H.I.V.E. master plan was to 1) poison all the world's oceans, 2) ???, 3) PROFIT, so it seemed like maybe that plan was going to thwart itself, really. They only seemed to have robot guns and tentacles exclusively inside their base, and also an army of loyal commandos in purple gimp outfits. But none of these could operate or breathe underwater. And all of their assassins had already failed to kill the Teen Titans. Which, no offense, but probably should haven been their first indication that they really weren't ready for primetime.
I don't know for sure who was on the Titan team at this exact point, but I DO know that Cyborg and Beast Boy (aka Changeling at this point, because ugh) don't even go on this mission. They stay back at wherever-it-is-they-live so Beast Boy can have an emotional break-down over his ex-girlfriend (Terra, some girl with floating-rock powers and a bad costume) turning evil, while Cyborg yells at him. Then a woman with pink hair wanders in.
Tumblr media
She tells Beast Boy he's hot, and this makes Gar feel better enough to agree to not turn into a green tiger and murder people. Which was his actual plan before she showed up.
Starfire goes on the mission. This happens to her:
Tumblr media
...Aren't they all supposed to be like 16 or 17? What are we doing here, gentlemen?
There is also a guy on the team named Jericho, who has muttonchops, dresses like every "cool" bard in every DnD campaign ever, can't talk, and can do whatever arbitrary psychic thing the plot suddenly demands of him. I had to look him up because so does everyone else.
He is apparently the son of Deathstroke, who became mute when someone after Deathstroke slashed his voicebox. His psychic powers are a result of it doesn't matter. No they don't explain why he looks like THIS in 1984:
Tumblr media
Aqualad is also here. With his girlfriend Tula, who is Aquagirl. Who is an Atlantean cave-woman, or something...? She doesn't do much besides yell his name, and her presence in no way stops him from talking about how hot but insane Starfire is. To Nightwing. Who seems fine with this.
Tumblr media
Dick and Wonder Girl are both here to punch and yell exposition, and they are immediately out of punches! Dick spends a quarter of the comic in a tube trying to turn off robots, which he fails to do? Or then kind of does? I've read it twice now and I'm not sure even Marv Wolfman knew what he had going on here.
Raven turns into a black void to save the Titans from drowning at the beginning of the comic. After they get out to safety, she says she's used too much power to help anymore and Poochie's on out of there.
Tumblr media
I mean, they DO have Wonder Girl, kicking people and talking about her upcoming marriage. Who needs the incredibly powerful witch? It's fine. And easier to draw!
The art is George Perez, so it looks great, even if all these teenagers look like sexy 30-year-old adults, and half of them spend most of the comic not doing anything. The costumes are technically awful but in that 80s way that is just wonderful now. But as a conclusion to some kind of story arc, this is as mid as mid gets. There is exactly one cool splash-page battle, and it means exactly nothing.
Tumblr media
This comic might be worth $3.50 now. It was 75 cents when it came out.
Tumblr media
...This implies we in 2024 value this slightly more than anyone did in 1984.
I don't think that's true.
19 notes · View notes
teecupangel · 2 months
Note
What if the assassins ended up in Far Cry 5?
It would be so chaotic if this was the whole ‘canon Assassins gets booted into Far Cry 5’. Those poor ‘kids’ wouldn’t have the time to actually get used to present day tech because Project at Eden’s Gate would be all over them so for this one, we’ll go for modern day versions of the Assassins getting thrown into Far Cry 5.
Now, the next problem would be how this would work considering the Brotherhood would prefer to send in a small group for missions (if it isn’t a solo mission) so if we consider the Assassins of the main game alone (not counting Chronicles, movie and other forms of media), we’re still left with 9 Assassins.
And, because it’s me, we’re adding Desmond into this so that would be 10 Assassins traveling into Hope County during the whole… cult thing.
So we’ll make this a bit… easier for us.
It’s meant to be a simple search and retrieve operation. William Miles got a tip that his runaway son was in Hope County. That was the official mission brief.
The unofficial mission brief is that the tip said Desmond Miles is part of the cult ‘Project at Eden’s Gate’ which complicated things.
It was meant to be a secret mission under Edward Kenway with Altaïr, Ezio and Ratonhnhaké:ton being his ‘field agents’ but someone tattled (it was Basim, Basim definitely tattled) and Bayek heard about the mission, taking his apprentices, Arno, Jacob and Evie with them because Bayek believed they’re too close to Desmond Miles to look at this objectively.
If Desmond Miles is part of the cult then the cult would be dangerous even for Master Assassins such as them.
Not to mention, Desmond Miles was their childhood friend and Edward Kenway’s godchild so they were pretty much compromised from the start.
Altaïr, Ezio and Ratonhnhaké:ton are ordered to secure their escape route while Bayek’s team find Desmond Miles. Edward and Basim stay in their ‘mission control’ van.
They’d picked the time the cops are taking Joseph Seed in custody so that people were focused on another thing and Bayek and his team are deep into the compound looking for Desmond Miles when Ezio contacts them.
“We found Desmond!”
“Ezio, I told you three to stay put and secure our exit.”
“He’s with the cops! Desmond’s- shit! Desmond!”
By the time Bayek and his team return to the van, they find Edward Kenway knocked out. When he comes to, he tells them Basim knocked him out for some reason and Basim has gone MIA.
The three Assassins are not responding to their comms and they fear the worst.
But Edward did know what Ezio was trying to tell them before everything went to shit.
Desmond wasn’t part of Joseph Seed’s cult.
He was the junior deputy that had cuffed Joseph Seed.
Altaïr, Ezio and Ratonhnhaké:ton recognized him when he went inside the chopper with Joseph Seed. By that point, it was too late and they watched in horror as the cultists sacrificed themselves to bring down the helicopter.
The last thing Edward heard is that they’re on their way to find Desmond.
Unorganized Notes:
Sooooo… there’s three (four if you count Basim) main POVs in this one. Desmond taking over the role of the Junior Deputy main character of Far Cry 5, Altaïr-Ezio-Ratonhnhaké:ton team’s POV of trying to find Desmond, always a step behind him, and Bayek-Arno-Evie-Jacob-Edward trying to find Desmond and the other three.
The cult being named Project at Eden’s Gate is too much to pass so the cult is related to the Isus in some way. To be more exact: the plant Bliss which the drug is derived from is actually an Isu experimental plant that is meant to ‘copy’ the powers of the Apple. It was developed during the Human-Isu war as a way to control the remaining human slaves and make them into cannon fodders who would do everything for the Isus. It was never finished but the cult managed to harvest and use it for their benefit.
This means that Bliss barely works on Desmond. Altaïr, Ezio and Ratonhnhaké:ton also has higher than normal resistance to it. The rest though? Yeah, good luck.
Joseph Seed is very much interested in Desmond. He does not say why though. He does call Desmond ‘angel’ more than once, pinging Desmond’s ‘uncle bad touch’ radar. Faith though calls him ‘an angel shackled in a mortal body’ which… might hint on what Joseph actually meant.
Basim didn’t necessarily betray them. He is, unfortunately, Loki’s Sage and he knows more than he’s letting on. To be more exact, his objective is the complete eradication of the Bliss plant. Or, as he called it, “a grieving wife’s final punishment”. It’s later revealed that Bliss was engineered to have ‘Isu’ DNA. To be more exact, the Isu DNAs of Nari and Váli. Basim is actually heavily affected by Bliss and it’s hinted that he actually got hit by it (airborne?) at some point and his actions are done while under the influence of Bliss (which is… a nightmare to him)
(I got sidetracked into making the Isu related plot. Anyway, the main point in this one is the Assassins have their work cut out for them just trying to find Desmond who doesn’t even know they’re looking for him. Oh, and each of them have a specific Fangs for Hire. Desmond gets Boomer, The Altaïr Ezio Ratonhnhaké:ton team gets Cheeseburger. The Bayek Arno Jacob Evie Edward team gets Peaches)
23 notes · View notes