#but none of them have been Really “Fatale” you know? he literally just wanted the big booba character to also be the stabby character

[bibiana112]

Kinda weird question- do you have any links to people talking about Mira from ZTD and ableist stereotypes? I mentioned that I was uncomfortable with her portrayal but kinda fumbled it and made some other ND people in chat uncomfortable. I searched for various keyword combinations but most of what I'm finding is like "and not to mention the ableism with Mira" and doesn't elaborate lol.

Not weird at all! And uh, you see, there's a recent post I made where what I complain about is the very fact I've never seen anyone post too in-depth about her at all, I'd love to see posts that do elaborate on that but I do not have any that I know of right now, sorry :/ hopefully someone else who sees this can point to one? Okay!! After some tag searches I have found exactly one post who kind of gets into it I like this take still would love to see. more than just one but hooray

And like though I complain I couldn't elaborate much on it myself I don't think, I believe most of the posts people make about Saito from aitsf would apply since it's a different uchikoshi take on the very same trope of "emotionless characters who cannot function without killing others" I guess he's a worse portrayal though since she's at least not stated to get reward brain chemicals when killing people and I guess her case also has the added layer of "femme fatale" to it? Which either makes it less bad or worse depending on where you approach it from As I said I am not doing a good job of being coherent on this oh and also there's her being "redeemed" and "cured" in the epilogue which in on itself is kinda not great to imply it just goes away like that and honestly I personally don't even buy it I think she'd just be like oh okay Akane over here has like a thousand reasons to hate me after all that oh and what's that she's the leader of a super wealthy underground organization who's organized one of these death traps before yeah no I'm better off going to prison I'll be fine there lmao bye

But I'll say as an autistic person with relatively low empathy I usually see a character who just doesn't understand other people's feelings and wants to feel them too and is just trying to survive despite getting no help and I just kinda go hm. yeah. shout-out to roxas kingdom hearts shout out to mary from ib shout out that's why I started hyperfixating on media art helps me with understanding others a great lot and Mira is just in a story too badly executed for me to care or even begin to wrap my head around tbh like god she's so fucking terribly used as a plot device in every conceivable way that it makes it difficult to see past it and into what she could possibly be if it weren't for the stereotype of equalling low empathy with no compassion what's with her killing off screen in ways that wildly deviate from her stated m.o? why or how was she even in cahoots with Zero why was that a thing? Honestly her dynamic with Sean could have been better fleshed out could have done something interesting about robot child and his aspd big sis but we just kind of don't get any attention brought to the subject of emotions and the authenticity there of except for the "reveal"...

YOU KNOW WHAT that's probably one huge reason it feels so fucked up actually! Like the whole fucking game is written so you could experience it in whatever order you want and therefore Mira being a serial killer at all is something that though not very well hidden it also cannot be a topic of discussion or explored Ever ever because the player may not have seen the fragment where that is revealed yet- problem being the menu design of that game sucks so bad and practically everyone gravitates towards the same few more interesting looking thumbnails first and then the rest is kinda just there, I mean that is part of the reason A Lot of characters feel half-baked I think but also I think it definitely does impact perception of her character specifically probably The Most and then there's just the general not being given nuance not being able to see the minutiae of how that disorder manifests in her character aside from the killings about how she acts aside from being overly flirty trying to lure in Eric but that affects pretty much all of the new cast we don't have last names and in her case we barely have any backstory at all like Saito is a harmful stereotype sure but we get So Much Context for him that people still love talking about him and delving into different aspects of his life since we have that very well telegraphed in the narrative meanwhile for Mira all we can do is fill in the blanks guesswork that only highlights the worst aspects of the surface level portrayal we got and ultimately that people just don't care enough to dissect because there isn't much there character wise once you remove it

#oh to be miraposting on a sunday evening instead of catching up on schoolwork #I love how you can see the exact moment while writing this that I had a brain blast akdhks #me: sorry I can't elaborate also me: types out. three paragraphs #also if you're comfortable with that I'm curious what you could have possibly said that it'd be considered fumbling #dms are open if you send it into an ask I'll answer privately and again only if you want to share #cause like I want to see different perspectives on this so bad even if they're not eloquent #especially since it's not really something that ever got to me much? but that I can kinda see why it'd be upsetting #my suspension of disbelief is just too tanked for it to get an emotional reaction of me especially with the rest of the cast for contrast #I'm too busy being annoyed at everyone else's portrayal in that game not to mention idk it feels like #like schlocky hollywood no thoughts character archetype go brr type ableism #not the really insidious woven into the narrative stuff that I usually want to rant about cough cough youtube video I'll probably never mak #like pretty sure it's stated somewhere that the idea for her character was uchikoshi going hm. there's been femme fatales in these games #but none of them have been Really “Fatale” you know? he literally just wanted the big booba character to also be the stabby character #zero escape #ztd #mira ztd #if this should be under a readmore. let me know #zero escape spoilers

[catpop2]

So uh... Earthspark Au idea

So you know how occasionally Starscream and Bumblebee somehow get paired together and goofy shenanigans insue? Like in IDW for example- Well take that but add some more shit to it- Like a lot more hand wavy magic shit to it.

Anyways spoilers for Earthspark Season 1, the whole thing. And also uh brain fart moment right here so its very rambly but I wanna try and get the main point across. I will elaborate it people are intrested tho.

Well I had a goofy au idea brainfart moment where after the events of season 1, the autobots and decepticons have to somewhat colaborate which each other to survive on earth. From finnaly freeing every captured Decepticon in the form of a transaction to get Starscream and his remaining seekers do an extended sweep over the entire earth in order to comfirm Dr Meridians death because oh boy his body mysteriously disapeared (And because Seekers aint called seekers for nothin, they hella good at tracking down anything that exists)

Other scheningans insue because Megatron wants to reconnect with his Decepticons and beocme friends with everyone- But like none of them are really having it, in fact the main motivator for any con is that they want to protect their new generation, the terrans, therefore they wont try and obliterate the autobots at every moment. This is specifically true for Starscream who literally cant exist in the same room as Megatron but gets absolutely swarmed by terrans the moment he is near them, most notoriously Hashtag and Twitch but mostly Hashtag.

And then there is Bumblebee, the mentor of the maltobots who will do anything to keep them safe- But not much can be done when your protégés are pestering the most dangerous Decepticon to ever Decepticon (Aside from Megs but he dont count anymore) So he has to just sit there and tolerate it-

Eventually though trouble arises once more and the maltobots have to fight for the freedom of their kind, now joined not only by the autobots but occasionally even a Decepticon or two whenever their expertise come into play, but the cons aren't doing it for the Autobots thats for sure.

Bumblebee is always with the terrans whenever he can be, but the five are more grown as each day passes, and far harder to keep an eye on, especially since the concept of war has been properly introduced to them. So when Starscream is there to provide intelligence or sneak stolen gadgets to Hashtag and Nightshade, Bee has to appreciate the weight the seeker unintentionally takes off his back. Afterall Starscream may be extremely dangerous, cunning and deceitful- But it certainly does wonders for him to be near sparklings.

Where the au comes into real play is when the threat of Dr Meridian resurfaces much to everyones dismay (Like pee paw willy over again).

The terrans and the kids are locked in tight combat, trapped in a very dangeorus and likley fatal situation of which they havent quite grasped the severity of. This time they dont seem to have the grace of Quintus Prime at their side as things look really grim, their only proper cybertronian assitance comes in the form of Bumblebee and Starscream who are forced to hold off the threat together the best they can before help can arrive. While the terrans do a great job of fighting alongside them as they have proved themselves plenty of times- It doesn't seem to be enough. All of them are left tattered, injuried and worse for wear- Particularly their two cybertronian gaurdians who had just taken on a fatal blow to protect them.

Quintus Prime, unlike the Maltos thought before, was with them, he watched them. He hoped, but there was little he could do, it was not like before...

But... There was a call, a plee. A promise of service. Not from the humans or the terrans. No...

Something else entirely- A presence akin to Primus itself- A spark, reaching out to him. Promising to protect.

Ah yes. The cybertronians. One of them had not yet given up yet, despite the fact he no long had functional limbs nor wings- It was present, nearby somewhere was also another presence, but so much weaker, so fragile and quickly fading.

No.. That couldn't work could it? They were already established sparks, born from the allspark directly-

Perhaps that could work.. Perhaps the Emberstone had a little extra light to give.

And so, from the rubble- Right as the enemy intends to strike another blow, two new protectors rise- And two new presences began to circulate between the thoughts and feelings of the Maltos.

#earthspark #transformers #transformers earthspark #tfe #earthspark starscream #starscream #earthspark bumblebee #bumblebee #earthspark hashtag #earthspark twitch #earthspark megatron #earthspark mandroid #earthspark nightshade #maltobots #terrans #earthspark spoilers #transformers au #quintus prime #Quintus just wants his skrunkly earth children to survive and if they keep putting themselves in dangerous situations he will help #Starscream and Bumblebee are funky duo #they are like bikering cousins that only get along at family gatherings to annoy their respective older siblings #BeeNScreamAu

[sadisthetic]

alarmingly long hanahaki au jaya. i hurt jay quite a bit in this. this is a product of 4 straight days of insanity. im SO ILL. ABOUT JAYA. IF YOU MAKE IT TO THE END OF THIS. I COMMEND YOU. THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME IN ADVANCE.

once again adapted from a twitter thread. its. like 165 tweets long. yeah. yeah. im lazy so its gonna be mostly copy pasted and lightly edited so if it sounds like im talking to myself I WAS. AND I WAS DOING IT FOR FOUR DAYS. 

anyways heres the start.

-

so hanahaki.... jaya.... season 3...... jay is absolutely the guy who gets hanahaki theres absolutely no doubt about that like absolutely none. but the world building tho... how should i handle it.... i want it to be canon compliantish. and more importantly. when should i give him symptoms. what would be most interesting

sure. i could give him hanahaki after he find out about nyas perfect match. but haha

what if he get petals earlier tho.

he doesnt understand why at first, why jay starts coughing up petals, he and nya are dating and in love. there shouldnt be any reason for it. its not bad yet so he just ignores it really hard or thinks he mustve gotten a weird strain because theres now way he has normal hanahaki because theres No Way! haha

so when he hears the truth there in his parents trailer, the roots around his lungs constrict and he cant tell the pain apart from his heart breaking in two. his chest hurts so much and he sees cole and just goes ballistic

just imagine. what thats like for him. hes mad but its a secondary response to the heartbreak. hes had signs literally inside all along but to actually find out? like this? jay cant take it

haha. the double date would suck so much HAHA. he holds it in through the whole duration of the movie but when its over he vomits full flowers in the bathroom

ive been mulling over the worldbuilding of hanahaki in this au of mine. i thinking i want it to be a departure from the standard hanahaki worldbuilding thats in fics. just slightly. mostly regarding the fatality and maybe treatments........ i think i want jay to have hanahaki the whole time until skybound. and so i think im gonna have to make hanahaki nonlethal. but kinda like chronic pain. if you cant let go of that love

im partially adopting another fics worldbuilding but i like the idea you can recover on your own if you simply fall out of love. its easier and less damaging the earlier you give up on the love. the roots atrophy and fade and theres not that much scarring. you can easily recover

but you know...... its jay. hes not gonna let it go. he cant. he loves nya.... i think he hides his affliction tho... because he knows nya doesnt want to get back together. and he doesnt want to look you know.... pathetic? desperate? overly clingy?

“you still hasnt gotten over nya?” “dude come on.” “give it up.” he doesnt want to hear it from the others. because he doesnt want to. 

but also he wants to save face in front of nya. hes scared itll drive her even further away. his heart cant take more of that. this distance hurts enough

so for months.............. he suffers the pain of one sided love. quietly. pretending that nothing is wrong and that jay is okay with them just being friends. of course jay could choose to surgically remove the hanahaki.... but he doesnt want to do that

i think im gonna keep a bit of the amnesia worldbuilding standard fics have. but im not gonna have it so that artificially removing the hanahaki makes you forget the person you love. no.... just the love that you felt. i think jay doesnt want to lose his love for nya..... also not being able to fall in love with nya scares him. hes just that fucking attached to her. he has it bad man. dude has attachment issues. hes so clingy. 

anyways. jay chooses to suffer. because hes that badly in love

jay self medicates on over the counter cough suppressants thats meant for the cold and more normal sickness. works surprisingly well. not ideal tho. he also fills his pockets with cough drops and sometimes makes himself sick when he accidentally eats too much on bad days

he gets sick of them. the sweet icky taste and menthol nausea but he doesnt have that many better ways to deal. its just a temporary fix too. considering that coughing is his body's natural way to get rid of the petals. and hes just letting them sit in his lungs

periodically he has to stay hunched over a trashcan to clear out the petals and yes its an awful experience every time. it becomes routine. the petals scratch his throat on the way out and he gets into tea to soothe the irritation. he becomes a regular at mistake's

in general, his ability to breathe starts to decline and he gets winded so much more easily. the plants in his chest limit his airflow and also steals the oxygen from his lungs. his chest is tight always and aches like theres thick needles lodged in his chest. those are the roots

usually its manageable. but it becomes harder to fight. battles usually end up leaving him wheezing. one of the guys teases him about it. that hes slacking and getting out of shape. he sidesteps that convo tho and brushes them off. he certainly cant be honest

im a sadist so im gonna making him pass out after one fairly vigorous battle. one which he has to push himself harder to make it out alive. so hard that his lungs cant keep up with the rest of his body and even when he gets himself to a safe corner or clearing, no amount of breaths is enough and he just blacks out. he eventually comes to a worried face shaking him awake. ill figure out who and when this is set later. either way they just assume jay got knocked out even though they cant find any wounds. theyre relieved he seems fine

but that was very bad. super duper bad for jay tho. he cant let that happen again. but these kinds of things are out of his control tho. but he just has to deal.

things comes to a head in skybound. i think itll be most dramatic if nya finds out in the lighthouse. after she rescues them and they successfully flee. when they settle and in moment jay cant hide he coughs out a gross mass of petals

and nya has a slow step by step realization of the implications. but before all that happens tho. nadakhan. i dont think he knew jay had hanahaki when he first targeted him. maybe. this point might change

but as it is, for the thought i have, nadakhan learns when jays meds wears off, and hes not even able to pop in a cough drop his mouth. and he vomits a messy slurry of petals onto the wooden floorboards of the deck. its EXTREMELY FUNNY to nadakhan, he mocks jay for it! he has hanahaki! that is so tragic! to think jay has known his love was utterly unrequited and yet he tried so hard to win her back. but it was all a hopeless, desperate, pathetic endeavor. so nya truly doesnt love jay, hm? so shes single and free for the taking. no hard feelings, then, when they marry

up on the ship, he coughs up so many flowers. he doesnt get enough sleep from the persistent coughing. and passes out multiple times, for a collection of reasons. from being knocked out, exhaustion, apnea, running out of breath after several matches of scrap n tap

i think it would be really sad and pathetic if there one incident where he chokes on a flower. and he cant cough it out and he thinks gonna die for reals. a pirate helps him out only to add insult to injury (and to torment him more to pull a wish out of him, hes better off alive than dead)

when hes rescued by his friends, theres no flowers around so none of his friends suspect. jay manages to keep the petals in his mouth, catching them behind his teeth, and swallows them back in. he coughs pretty bad but they all think he just got really sick. he looks awful after all

but thats of course only up until the lighthouse. ive been contemplating about how nya handles it all...... how she feels......... what is the most satisfying route here is much more trickier to figure out than just a fixit skybound au....... 

feelings are trickier and much more loaded........ the revelation certainly isnt going to be an easy thing for nya to swallow..... but lighthouse talk has so much potential....... jay might be honest for once..... because he has to be.... forced to be!

ngl lighthouse part of skybound has been super elevated in my head by favorite skybound fic so my perceptions of it and my own take on it for this au is probably going to be influenced by that. not in the sense im copying scenes but in the sense of like. oh yeah writer IS right, lighthouse ep TOTALLY has the massive potential for big feels and honesty. and revealing trauma/hurt feels. anyways. let me talk a bit about nya and the little dilemma i have.....

so like...... nyas part in the story is so tricky to handle.... because she entirely determines the ending of this story. much more so than in the original canon.....

because the crux of this story is the love between nya and jay... the lack of thereof from nya and the undying love from jay. hanahaki. unrequited love. the story is not just about jay making mistakes and being flawed as a person and being tested as a person and learning and growing his mistakes

in this au, the focus is specifically on his love for nya and how hes willing to hang onto it for so long despite how much it literally hurts him. love hurts. its barely even worth it. but to jay it is. this story is driven by his love. however how it ends all depends on nya.....

and heres the thing.... i know the way the "romance" in skybound was resolved was..... whats the word..... forced? it was insufficiently developed.... i cant recall the exact word i wanna use but it was just. tacked on. nyas change of heart kinda came out of nowhere....

nyas line in the lighthouse before she pushed jay through the portal is honestly inconsistent with her characterization that season up to the point. shes really didnt seem like she loved jay back at all. its entirely because the writers didnt write in those feelings

it takes a bit of creative thinking and interpretation to make jays and nyas get together at the end of the season work. you have to fill in the gaps of the romance yourself if you want it and want it to make sense and have it be satisfying

what i do for my fix it interpretation of canon is that nya didnt actually stop loving jay entirely in s3 breakup arc. instead i choose to think is that nyas desire for independence simply grew stronger enough to eclipse her love for jay

also i like to think nya liked jay more casually than he loves her so it was easier to break off their relationship. if youve seen my dream divorce ot3 slowburn get together break up get together fic (concept) (that only exactly two people know what im talking about). and also string of fate au. ESPECIALLY IN STRING OF FATE AU. then you know. my take on them. ANYWAYS.

the problem i have for this au is that i cant do that. i cant use that same interpretation to have them get together again. it doesnt work. because in this au.........nya really did fall out of love for jay. and having them get together again just like canon isnt.......satisfying

its tricky..... because to make nya fall in love with jay now after she learns he has hanahaki..... if im not careful ill be doing the same thing that the writers are doing. writing a careless romance solely because i want them to be together

and i DO want them to be together again.... but it requires a considerate approach if i really do want it. here..... the situation is this..... nya finds out jays has truly been in love with her for months STILL. and its bad enough he got hanahaki. i think she might feel uncomfortable about that. its unwanted love you know? being the object of someones desires still after you long broke up with them. she has moved on but jay hasnt? its super awkward for her...... but also...............

jay knows that. nya isnt stupid. she realizes that jay knows that and thats exactly why he kept it from her in the first place....... shes also uncomfortable because... jay is suffering because of her. she broke it off with him but its not like she doesnt care about jay 

no she still does. jay is still someone important to her. hes not just some ex. hes still a friend.... and her heart aches seeing jay suffer. her heart twists realizing that jay has been suffering this whole time on his own and she had no idea.

and it was out of consideration for her. its not entirely her fault jay has hanahaki..... but also she does feel a little bit responsible. sure jay messed up a lot recently and all of it is because he wanted to get back together with her and she doesnt like that.... but also..

learning about it put some things into perspective for her. like shes uncomfortable but jay has been hurt and is genuinely hurting still and she doesnt want to hurt him more and she wants to be gentle. so she starts thinking first. before she proceeds to deal with feelings

and so she starts really thinking about it. she was mad. she was mad jay kept so many secrets from them and endangered them all. and that he was STILL attached to her after all this time. shes still a little mad about that but also its subsiding a bit now....

if she really thinks about it.... jay had been respecting their break and her boundaries up until recently. in fact she only found out now, months later. jay actually did do a pretty good job of hiding those feelings. and not only that... his hanahaki.

that. she doesnt fucking understand how jay kept that a secret. ITS HANAHAKI. HOW DID HE HIDE IT FROM EVERYONE. ITS THE MOST VISIBLE DISEASE. maybe she did notice jay smothering a cough or clearing his throat every so often but to think it was hanahaki this entire time......

....when did it start even...? she can only assume that it was around their breakup. they eventually have a talk. a really important one that jay cant run away from. it takes a bit for jay to be fully honest and tell her that he started spitting petals when they were still together

she becomes mortified by that fact. and what that means. and she gains a bit of perspective of how the perfect match debacle looked from jays perspective. she really was.... a terrible girlfriend during all that huh.... to nya it felt like a clean break..... but to jay.... it left him pretty raw. 

it didnt hit nya until know how much jay was hurt by the breakup even without considering the hanahaki. jay still loves her despite her cheating on him and making him fight over her because she couldnt decide? it seems that jay doesnt even care about that. doesnt even think she was a terrible girlfriend at the end of their relationship when she very much was. something is deeply wrong with jay (he loves her too much). jay hadnt been the best...... he had been really selfish and self centered. esp with the whole wish thing

but she comes to a realization that she was being really self centered too. its unfair for her to criticize jay for that when the very beginning of it all was because of nyas own selfishness. its unfair for jay to break up over something so stupid like a match making machine

of course part of it was still on jay. he should have still let go. you cant have a relationship in which only one person is in love. but.... she couldve gone about it in a better way. a way that wouldnt have hurt jay so much at the very least

he has apologized for everything involving nadakhan and keeping secrets.... maybe taking on more blame than he should.... nya owes jay an apology too. so at the very least she gives him a proper one. for her own faults

but she doesnt know how to fix jays hanahaki tho...... and to be honest? neither does jay. he tells her this. despite everything he didnt want to force her to love him. he didnt want to guilt her back into a relationship. he didnt want her to give him her pity also

thats part of the reason why he kept it a secret. he wanted to *win* her back. make himself more appealing so that nya would love him again. jay was super misguided in his approach and didnt understand why exactly nya broke up with him in the first place

but thats what he wanted... nyas genuine love. (im ignoring a tiny chip of canon for this. or im considering it a moment of weakness (jays dismay when he learns he cant wish for love). creative interpretation is that seeing his future in the mirror made him too hopeful and a bit desperate) anyways. jay is a hopeless romantic. who is extremely lovelorn. also hes chronically ill like literally. cut him a little slack

anyways anyways. i dont want nya to just get back together with him right after finding out about his hanahaki. its bad romance. it wont taste good. it wont be genuine......... 

as it is...... of course theres multiple options................ but they arent all happy. and i do feel like. a story like this does need a happy ending..... it would be too sad if it remains unresolved. im just gonna talk about the ends that kinda suck first

most unsatisfying but technically still very plausible end: a standstill. nya cant do anything to help. she wants to but she cant return jays love. jay understands but decides keep living with the hanahaki. the two of them keep living in this awkward status quo, knowing.

eventually jays hanahaki gets too much for him to handle and he either dies or nya/the others take matters into their own hands and without his consent, send him to surgery bc hes dying. unethical maybe but they want him to live

its super awkward after that.... but things return to normal and they all forget about it except for nya, where it lays heavy in her mind forever. if he dies its just tragedy. i dont want this kinda of end

a potential good neutral end however can be one in which jay tries his best to simply move on. try to process his one sided love into something... different somehow. because he accepts that nya has fallen out of love with him. he has long accepted that.

but they talk........... and a lot happens (being pushed into the portal, the rest of skybound). and jay has a realization too. nya may not love him in the same way.... it doesnt mean she doesnt love him. she still cares deeply.....

she cares about him a lot as a friend. that love is still worth something. its..... its more than what jay thought nya felt about him. it honestly felt like their relationship get demoted all the way down back to acquaintances, at best coworkers. not technically. they were still friends. but jay felt a yawning distance between them after the break up. its one part nya distancing herself from jay after that whole disaster. its also another part jay keeping his distance so that nya doesnt learn about his hanahaki

whatever talk between them was either just ninja business, surface level casual conversations, or small talk. it was awkward but only when they dwelled on it... (and jay did dwell on it) but in the lighthouse they actually talk Talked about things... about them. and jay learns

nya sacrifices herself to save jay in the lighthouse and he realizes that he still matters to her. the everpresent tightness in his chest doesnt leave but it.... loosens. and he breathes easier for the first time in a while

he still wishes that nya and him could get together romantically. but something about his feelings changes. he feels less lovelorn somehow. his heart still yearns a little. but somehow he feels more okay. he hurts less

and once time turns back and jay and nya share this secret and finally properly reconcile after everything is done. the pain in his chest abates more and more as time goes on. hes not sure if hes exactly cured. but he can live without hurting now somehow

he learns how to live with his unrequited love. and more importantly he doesnt need his love to be requited anymore. because love is love you know? she doesnt love him romantically but she does still love him. and thats still good

they were always a little mismatched in their feelings for each other anyways. jay isnt settling for lesser. nyas love for him now is just different not less. and jay accepts that. and hes content that they managed to fix them. their relationship. hes okay and happy

his own feelings... he doesnt know if they changed themselves also like nyas has. he doesnt feel like his love has changed. but the nature of it mightve become more ambiguous. and it doesnt matter anyways. he loves nya and that will never change

hmmmm i think this became less of a neutral end and more just an unrequited good end. and accidentally poured so much aro juice into it oh my god? i had a good requited end thought up kinda also before this end i just talked about the end first bc i wanted to talk about requited end last

i kinda came to really like good unrequited end........ im still gonna talk about good requited end tho. i kinda want opinions about which end is narratively the best..... even though i only have a confident audience of two

i think requited end is a bit more dramatic..... nya really doesnt know what to do. she broke it off with jay. she wants to fix him. she really wishes he didnt get hanahaki for *her* of all people....

whats so great about her anyways that he would live like this for months on end be just ok with it. she thinks if she was in jays shoes she would long moved on. she doesnt get what is worth the pain and risk

either way she doesnt want to date him out of pity. she distinctly has a feeling that wouldnt actually fix anything. and probably jay doesnt want that too. but also she cant fabricate love

she feels suffocated by just the prospect and it reminds nya about why she dumped jay in the first place. this whole thing reminds nya why she dumped him. jays love was always too much for her. smothering. of course he gets hanahaki. why is she even surprised. if anyone would, its jay. she doesnt want to resent him for it though. hes hurting because of it. and he spared it from nya up to this point and she only found out because jay couldnt help it. who knows how much longer he wouldve kept this secret

but as is. she doesnt know what to do. so they stay in the lighthouse awkwardly together. they were honest with each other but now what? .....actually. curing hanahaki can come later. they gotta focus on saving their friends and all of ninjago first before they can deal with them

HHMMMMMMMM....... i think despite knowing about how much jay love her.... she doesnt really... Get It. HOW he loves her i mean. quantity vs quality. when they were first dating, to her it was really casual. in my mind jay was first attracted to nya shallowly too

but then he fell deeper. more genuinely. and that contributed to a greater discrepancy between their level of affection. nya for the most part has been believing that jays obsession with her is because hes just too clingy and attached. and like he is. but.... its like the product of the intensity of the emotion you know? his love for her manifested in jay in a way that put nya off a little. contributed to the reason why nya dumped him all those months ago.... having a heart to heart gave her some perspective on what it has been like for jay but

thats different from Understanding you know? comprehending... seeing the depth... anyways... so jay had been acting too chivalrous up to that point right? and then nya learns about jays hanahaki and chalks up his behavior to him overcompensating...... a symptom even

nya thinks its just jay trying his best to win her back. she doesnt really have that many reasons to think otherwise. its whats consistent. this all happened because jay wanted them to get together again. whatever, she has decided that shes going to forgive jay for all that, needless acts of chivalry included. even tho. she really doesnt like that. calls it a force of habit and puts it aside. for more Important Things like taking care of jay and taking nadakhan Down

but then they get found and theyre scrambling fast to prepare for the attack and counterattack. they manage to fall into a frantic but familiar routine of collaborative repairs and fixes and asides from jays incessant coughing reminding nya that things are pretty awful.... its nice

she doesnt get to feel that way for long tho. their haven is raided and their prep wasnt enough, theyre struggling, theres way too many pirates and its just the two of them against what feels like an army and theyre on the way to losing and nadakhan is nowhere to be found

they try to stick together to have each others backs but they get separated anyways and they start doing even worse. im changing up the action scene btw. nya manages sweep a bunch of pirates away but doubloon is one of the ones that could actually put up a fight

meanwhile jay isnt fairing very well and maybe worse because he was already injured and also his hanahaki makes it really hard. he fights for his breath trying to hold his own. he gets fucking smashed by dogshank through the floor onto the stairwell below. all the air is knocked from him

and he legitimately cant breathe for a solid moment. hes wheezing and he coughs hard enough to vomit. he doesnt have his breath back when he looks up and sees nya panicking at the sight of him and shes distracted and jay sees doubloon take an opening

jay doesnt even breathe when he instantly fires a lightning bolt from prone towards doubloon. and hes already up and sprinting to nyas side to fill her blindspot.

hes on the cusp of an asthma attack, he can feel it, but he doesnt have the time to worry about it (as if he had any control over it) his chest is tight and his breaths are too shallow and it hurts but he pushes through it to protect nya. hes slipping though

assaulted from all sides, between doubloon and dogshank and all the pirates, jay knows theyre going to lose. mostly because of him. hes dragging the two of them down and why did he ever think the two of them had the chance and why did he ever think that nadakhan would even come (hes not gonna this turned into a full divergence now) and even if he wasnt flagging hard now, he can feel it his chest that hes going to pass out if this goes on for any longer and leave nya to fend for himself and get them both captured and he cant let that happen.

nya is at her wits fucking end she can feel them losing too and nya refuses to think about how at this rate both of them are going down, but she wont let them. but, among the harsh clangs of weapons, the rush of floods, and the cracks of lightning at jays fingertips,

through all this discord, at this proximity she can hear jays struggled breaths and its the most terrifying sound in the world. then suddenly shes shoved to the side and hears a crash and a cry and when nya looks jays sliced through by doubloons sword

then something glows by her feet and nya realizes what jay did. he broke the teapot. clutching at his wound, jay gives nya a strained smile. he says "sorry" and kicks her in before she can object. before the portal closes she watches jay take a stand only to be subdued

she lands in the junkyard with a bad tumble. she just lies in the dust and dirt in shock. it happened too fast. jay sacrificed himself for her? jay risked himself even though he was the one who needed protecting and got himself hurt to pull that stunt.

and now hes in their clutches again. rage begins to well up. why! why?! why did jay do that?! is he stupid! there had to be a better way, they couldve escaped together and regrouped! tears begin to well up as well. nya gets up and smashes a bunch of junk

jays parents come out after that. and nya realizes where she is for the first time and forces herself to calm down. she sorts out her feelings over ednas soup after shes pulled into the trailer..... 

at first she doesnt get it. shes too upset to think about it. she vents to jays parents about what he did. "why did he do that?" and it was meant to be a rhetorical question for herself but edna gives her an answer thats way too simple.

"because he loves you." 

and nya is hit with another rude realization. shes been having too many of those

jay..... loves her. deeply. truly loves her genuinely, more than he cares about himself. its not just lingering attachment. its a deeper, more sincere love than nya could ever fathomed. nya knew how much jay loved her. but at the same time she didnt. she didnt get how he loved her

she feels a way about that. all this time jay loved her this bad? bad enough to catch hanahaki, bad enough to keep his hanahaki, bad enough to hide it. bad enough to *wish* for her love, to suffer, ang to get hurt for her...

she thinks he loves her bad enough to die for her. she really feels a way about that. her heart starts beating fast. she doesnt want to put together why. she kinda wants to cry.

why was she so mean to him... sometimes he deserved the little things he had coming but why was she so harsh. why did she fall out of love with him..... well she knows but also.... she was really unfair to him huh. jay wasnt perfect and he was too much but... she doesnt know.

all she knows is she feels a lot of regrets right now.. and moved by jay what did for her... along with this third unplaceable feeling. 

(she started falling in love again)

its a slow gradual thing tho. nya doesnt place it immediately. she doesnt think she wanted to after she broke up with him herself. didnt even think it was possible.

but eventually nya feels very embarrassed by it when she realizes. because 1) oh my god shes falling in love with him after falling out of love and dumping him? is she shameless? and also 2) flustered because shes For Reals in love this time now beyond the casual kind of love she held for him before. this realizaton doesnt happen anytime soon. probs a good amount of time after everything resolves

so for narrative purposes i swapped jays and nyas roles for this last part of the story only. i think its safe to say jay is not treated kindly when he reboards the ship. in fact i think theyre even crueler for letting nya get away. before he was just roughed up to play with him

a form of coercion to get him to make his last wish. this time theyre taking it out on jay as punishment. nya assembles a rescue party like jay does in canon and somehow rescues jay and she hates the state that she finds him hes in

i think he'll be easier to rescue than nya because hes not like.... nadakhans bride. but wait..... WAIT NO IT COULD HARDER BECAUSE THEY COULD SET HIM UP AS BAIT FOR NYA TO COME GET HIM.... FUCK CURSE MY WHUMP DRIVEN BRAIN!!!!!!!!!! ITLL BE SO MUCH HARDER TO GET HIM LIKE THIS BUT— 

THE IMAGE OF JAY BEING TIED/STRUNG UP IN PLAIN VIEW.... fuck. figuring it out is too hard and i dont even need to figure it out for the romance do i like goddammit. fucking sequencing..... maybe they get their friends out of the sword first.... somehow.

as for how they beat nadakhan..... i havent thought up a good way. i dont think it should go the same way as canon. i want nya to actually have her agency and not take it away again after ive given it to her. 

i however dont know what jays wish should be. thats like so hard to figure out. this end is a significance divergence from canon. oh also jay has been thoroughly gagged so he cant say his wish. and also maybe because the pirates got sick of his coughing. nadakhans goal for torturing jay has changed.

he doesnt want him to break and submit and wish himself away anymore. he has better use in making sure nya comes to him. well he can still break him. its extra motivation. an incentive for nya to be a bit more faster and careless in her desperation to save him. he just shuts jay up also.

also im a sadist. anyways back to defeating nadakhan.... its a little tough ngl! for me and for nya! because this story has diverged so considerably. it cant have the same climax as canon. it just doesnt work. not even when theyre roleswapped

nya cant make a wish. she doesnt have anymore wishes. or hmm maybe she does have one left like jay does in this timeline but i dunno.... technically i could do that bc nya used up her wishes in only stupid ways so its not that hard of a change. 

it changes their game plan in the lighthouse just a bit but in this version nadakhan doesnt even show up so story wise its a nonfactor. they both couldve made a wish and stopped things. but they dont get the chance to do that.

but either way nya having a wish is an option, not something thats set in stone. also i think nya gets a hold of the venom. either jay had passed it to her when he pushed her into the portal or it stayed on his person and was confiscated and nya obtained it because clancee told her about it. which ever works. man is jay doing rough in this au. hes suffering so many consequences....i think as hes bound and helpless, hes gonna have a lot of thoughts... and a lot of regrets

he wishes he never kept secrets, he wishes he didnt make things worse.... i think he wishes nya doesnt come and rescue him. because if she does and she gets captured and nadakhan marries her for infinite wishes then itll all be his fault. again. because nya risked herself for him

so jay hopes nya doesnt come. he wants her to be safe even if it means hes forever captured. its better than the worst case scenario. 

but a tiny tiny tiny part of jay that is wishful does hope that he is rescued. because hes weak. he selfishly wants nya to save him

he shouldve learned by now that his desire for nya doesnt do him any good. but the part thats terrible and in love still wishes for better. he wants to be saved. he wants to be forgiven. he wants to fix things. he doesnt want to hurt anymore.

he thinks he can accept nya never loving him again. but he wants to stop aching in his chest. but he cant let go of his love. at this point its a part of who he is. so even though hes resigned to suffer and part of him foolishly hopes. he wishes

but jay doesnt get it. nya HAS forgiven him. she wishes she has never hurt jay like she did and if she could she would take it back. shes determined to fix things one way or any other. she has to save him or shes the worst. jay never deserved *all* of this.

once she saves him shes going to fix them. somehow.

and somehow they do. with a wish i cannot fucking figure out so SPARE ME. but i think... they dont go back in time. things arent undone and theres damage everywhere. so much repairs to be done. and theres a start to everything

i think i forgot to mention but at the end of unrequited good end, which honestly i think friendship end is a more fitting name, jay and nya hug at the end of skybound when time rolls back. no kiss. i think the same happens at the end of requited end too. time doesnt roll back but they have moment... hug.. but still no kiss. not yet. nya hasnt realized her feelings are changing. actually she might it takes a bit for them to develop. jay and nya start having a very honest relationship with each other tho

nya doesnt want to ignore jays hanahaki and jay comes to a similar conclusion as friendship/unrequited end. he realizes nya still cares for him A Lot as a friend, she cared so much she risked everything to walk into nadakhans trap guns blazin. and he doesnt want to jeopardize their friendship by distancing himself.

he wants things to be normal between them despite his hanahaki. and the funny thing is that... in this end, jays hanahaki gets somewhat more manageable too.... but its for a different reason in this au. lol. lol. because his feelings are becoming requited.

his hanahaki isnt suddenly gone one day because nyas feelings are so ambiguous tho. and when she does finally realize that shes fallen for jay. she actually goes into a bit of denial. for a mix of reasons. 

its not because nya doesnt want to cure jay of his hanahaki. she just didnt think thats a thing that can happen. falling in love again. she was also so very sure that she didnt have feelings for jay anymore before so its also a pride thing she has going on. subconsciously, she doesnt want to take things back because shes stubborn.

and its also one part nya feeling like shes doing jay a little bit dirty somehow (her brain making her overthink in a twisted way) and that she wouldve been toying with jays feelings if she returns them now. after all this time has passed.

is she that fickle? (its not her being fickle) and nya cant quite place why she has feelings for jay again. nya feels like jay probably deserves someone better than her, someone who hasnt hurt him so bad.

nya has trouble understanding herself so she thinks shes being flaky and worries her feelings are flaky also and she doesnt want to hurt jay again with such uncertain feelings. i am making nya feel so fucking complicated and conflicted. FEELINGS ARE OFTEN AS SUCH!!!

but despite nya's internal turmoil, her feelings for jay are very genuine. she might think they are arbitrary but thats not quite the case. well her love is arbitrary as any other love is. but anyways. she fell again because jay did win her over, not even when he was trying to.

his sincere love... his dedication. when nya saw it in a different light it was attractive to her. she appreciates that jay loves her the way he does now. also before (the breakup) her love for jay was a bit shallow. it was just that casual. but now what she feels for jay is more genuine. and more equal. eventually she sorts it out. there might be some of romantic drama to get her to get there though. a bit more accidental hurt.

i had the tangential thought that jay might tell nya that his hanahaki is getting better causing her to go "on no". jays finally letting go of his feelings over for her and nya doesnt want to mess that up. hes finally recovering when she catching feelings again?

of course this would happen to her. shes glad but shes wistful she missed her chance at having a boyfriend who truly cares about her like jay does.... serves her right. .... nya is an idiot lol... jays is getting better bc of her skdjhtrglksdj. anyways

eventually... they talk. and sort it all out. all the hurt and feelings and love. nya opens up and confesses and jay cries about it lol. because this is all he had ever wanted ever since he fell in love with nya. the elation he feels is unparalleled. and tightness in his chest finally vanishes all together and he feels better than he has in ages. of course he says yes. he tells nya things to erase her doubts. and it took a lot of trouble to get here but theyre here now. together again for reals. and neither of them can believe it. 

they hold hands. and they finally kiss

-

I THINK. THATS THE END OF REQUITED END. WOULD YOU BELIEVE THAT MY THOUGHTS FOR THIS END WERE INITIALLY MUCH SHORTER, SHORTER THAN, UNREQUITED/FRIENDSHIP END? ON GOD. WHAT HAPPENED. ITS BECAUSE I FELT LIKE REQUITED END REALLY NEEDED FULLY BEAT OUT DEVELOPMENT. OR ELSE I COULDNT BE SATISFIED WITH IT. IM A LITTLE EMBARRASSED BY WHAT I CAME UP WITH FEELS KINDA SAPPY BUT I CANT TELL IF IT IS. IM ARO. THIS ISNT MY HOME TURF. BUT I WANTED REQUITED END TO BE ACTUALLY VIABLE WITHOUT FEELING FORCED.... I WANTED TO BE AS SATISFIED WITH THIS AS I AM FOR UNREQUITED END. AND ENDED UP NEEDING TO PUT IN 100 TIMES THE WORK SDJKTUFHIGTLSDKJ. I THINK I ACCOMPLISHED WHAT I WANTED THO...... I THINK ITS OKAY..........

okay. im finally picking flowers. ive been thinking about it a bit while i wrote this whole thing. it wasnt a priority. but i do wanna pick some flowers that fit this story....

had the thought that depending on the end of this au (... i have aus within my au huh....) jay actually has different flowers. different meanings and symbolism.

i want jays primary flower to be an anemone for the record. “forsaken love”. nods. thats pretty representative of jays love for like. 3 seasons. also.... shares a name with the ocean animal. water... small connection with nya... not directly representative of her but it does a little. anemone has a few other meanings as well and i think those can fit too depending on the end. but the primary meaning im using is forsaken love (apparently its specifically the red and pink ones that mean this. please do note all these flower language resources are pretty inconsistent from each other)

tragic death end- anemone (specifically red- also means death), red poppy (remembrance in death), red spider lily (am i going too ham with the death flowers? yes. would jay see this as an ill omen? definitely. however. symbolism. also this bouquet is just So red. with blood lol)

tragic lost love (surgery) end- anemone, yellow chrysanthemums (broken/slighted love), black dahlia (betrayal), narcissus (unrequited love, selfishness), rue (regret), i would add forget me nots if i didnt think it doesnt fit with the colors

friendship/unrequited end- anemone, yellow rose (bros the meaning of the yellow rose is so fucking loaded LMAO. friendship, infidelity (nya), undying love? the wiki sure lists a lot), dandelion (overcoming hardship, growth, hope, and healing, friendship)

requited end- anemone, sea lavender (remembrance/memory, sympathy, i love you), sea holly (independence (nya) and attraction (jay)). okay so i dunno if a bouquet of these would look good together per se but.... ocean theme.... and also i wanted the flowers to rep both jay and nya in meanings.... since this is the end in which theyre together after all....

flower language is fucking hard. but i cant NOT put sincere thought into it. its fucking hanahaki i feel like i Gotta. btw these arent 100% set in stone i might change my mind about them? but i do really like anemone tho.... and tangential thought hgtjbnfjkghl sea holly would be fucking AWFUL for jay to cough up. esp when he starts spitting full flowers. those look like they hurt. just like what its like to love nya (lol). flower that would definitely make him cough blood

anyways..... if you made it to the end of this..... thank you.... this post is literally over 7600 words. thats like a long one shot. this is more like a fic outline tho. anyways anyways.... madness legit descended upon me while i wrote this all. i hope you enjoyed. i did this for my self satisfaction but if other people enjoyed this also i kinda wanna know

holds up a glass. cheers to jays suffering and heartbreak

(og thread here)

#ninjago talk #oh also. if you read all this. tell me which ending you like.... #jem.txt #..... feel like i need a tag for this kind of stuff but what.... #my concepts #thatll do #jaya #ninjago #im holding back on character tags i cant do that im embarrassed as is

[daincrediblegg]

I’ve been seeing some complaints about Hari’s wig so I’ve decided to use my arcane knowledge of Jared Harris images to rate some looks from 1 (I’m questioning my choices) to 10 (I’ve never been more right) in order to prove the point that that wig wasn’t even the worst look he's ever had. Not even close.

1. the jaz haz of receiving psychic damage. With the exception of the moustache he is perfectly fine (honey. Listen. It just doesn’t work in this case. ily) but also him making that face specifically like he’s psyduck personified is extremely funny to me. 7/10

2. He looks like he could conceivably be in mortal kombat??? But also his fatality move would be the lamest shit ever? Babygirl you don’t fight like that. Put those things down. You’re gonna hurt yourself. Simultaneously I feel like I’ve stumbled onto the set of a very strange porno from the 70’s and I’m actually a little uncomfortable (again. Honey. You can do better with the stache thing. I’ve seen it. There are some good images with you in a mustache. It’s not this one tho I’m sorry) 5/10

3. The fuckin wig. Listen. Y’all in the hair and makeup department do wonderful things on this show. Really. I mean that. But what made us say that this is the move? Who said “young Hari, huh? I know what to do” and then made him a fucking beatle in the worst way possible (though I can’t entirely fault them- wouldn’t be the first time he’s done this). Though I suppose they didn’t want us to forget that this show is a comedy, and at least they’re aware of that. 5/10

5. … who is he? He came out of the fucking woods with the most unimaginable stank and breath of haggis. I literally am completely baffled by his presence. Perhaps a little perturbed by it. Perhaps a little turned on. Who knows. Schrodinger’s rating: either 2/10 or 6/10 depending on how desperate I am

6. Literally the ideal man. I don’t know what to tell you folks but you’re lookin at him. He looks like he just stumbled out of an elton john houseparty at 3am and is still riding out his ecstasy high and if he asked me for my firstborn child I don’t think I or any godly creature could possibly refuse him. 100000/10

7. Orenge. This one I felt merited 3 consecutive images bc the frequency of this appearance astounds me. This man like my father before him has held onto his yellow sunnies from the 90’s for far too long. There has never been a more depression image ever shot than that first one and it was really mean of the person who took this to do that, but also it’s a mood somehow. Can’t shake the combo of this with the buzz tho like thats… buddy there are better choices. I am glad you are making them now but damn. 4/10

8. Danger Will Robinson… you’ve been assigned old man at birth by production crew. Even that benjamin button cunt didn’t have it this bad. EVEN WIG BOY HARI SELDON DOESN’T HAVE IT THIS BAD!!!! I deadass want to take him home and put him in a bath and make him bathe in conditioner for a week. 1/10

9. Now look here sonny jim. You can’t do this to him. Like I’m sorry. What was the logic here, disney? You make a man look so unabashedly GORGEOUS with the long red hair and the outfit and the whole thing? Only to have him say fuck all?? You don’t deserve him. NONE of you deserve him. I want to take him to a whore house in red dead redemption and fuck him silly. I want justice for the bitches that wronged him. 9/10

#jared harris #hari seldon #I cannot remain silent on the matter of jh lewks any longer. the world needs to know what I know. what I have seen. #you're welcome thank you good night

[lemissingmask]

[ID: Sketch of Jacob Stone enclosed in a glowy blue column and sitting on a stool, holding one arm with a bandaged right hand, looking at Cassandra beside him, who is calculating something in her head, and with Jenkins in the foreground watching them. End ID]

-

Day 6: Mind control

Ficlet explaining this below the cut

-

Stone hadn’t been acting right.

First, he kept spacing out.  Getting lost in thought in a way he usually only did if studying artworks, portfolios or works of literature.  Except, when he sat down to actually do that after they’d finished an artifact retrieval, Eve didn’t see him write a single note.

He had dismissed her concerns with, as she expected, a kind but guarded smile, and a simple, “I’m good.”

That didn’t do anything to make her less concerned, but she did conclude that maybe it was something personal.  He had a lot of pain in his past, and Eve barely knew the smallest part of it.  Add that to his habit of thinking a lot…maybe he just had periods like this, triggered by something none of them could guess.

Except, then he showed signs of pain.  Or, not pain.  Discomfort.  Pressing the heel of his palm over an eye, wincing from apparently nothing.  And, when she picked him up on this, his, “Nothing’s wrong,” was sharp and unfamiliar.  Nothing like the soft smile Stone had offered a couple of weeks before.

She backed off but kept close watch.  Close enough that she saw when he recklessly - almost deliberately - threw himself at their claw-endowed foe in the middle of a fight.  Ezekiel saved him from a very probably fatal injury, managing to use the distraction to pull the evil ruby from the back of the crab-looking, scaled created, just in time for it to crumbled into fragments before that massive claw could cut Stone in two.

Ezekiel had grinned as he held up the gem, said something expectedly cocky, and the day was saved.

Stone looked angry.  Ferocious.

Eve only placed the expression hours after they were back, after Cassandra and Ezekiel had gone to grab victory drinks.  Well aware of the sadness discord among the group caused Cassandra, Eve waited until then, grabbing Stone’s arm to hold him back from joining them.

She didn’t waste time with skirting around the question.  What was wrong with him?  Why had he been so reckless?  He needed to get it together or someone was going to get hurt.

In short, an earful.  The sort of lecture she rarely needed to give the librarians anymore.

He had responded with confusion, a hurt and lost expression, and then suddenly that ferocity again.  No word accompanied the changing demeanour, and he walked away without saying a single word in his defence or apology.

“Did I miss something?” Jenkins asked, watching the empty space Stone had just vacated.  The question was really just a prompt for the explanation he had to know was coming.

“Stone’s acting wrong.”

Jenkins hummed the ‘I believe you are right’ hum, “I too have noticed the change.”

She shook her head, “Today, in a fight, he almost got himself killed.  And it didn’t look like an accident.  He just threw himself into the danger without a plan or a decent strategy.  Which, maybe two years ago, could be normal, but now…” “And it takes no pleasure in art,” Jenkins added, “Is distant.”

“And angry.  He looked angry when Ezekiel defeated that crab…thing.  Like he wanted to be the one to do it.”

Jenkins hummed the ‘you are wrong’ hum.

Eve sighed, “Do you have any theories?”

“I may…but it would…”

“Baird!  Jenkins!” Cassandra sprinted in, catching herself on the doorframe to keep from literally sliding beyond it in her haste, “We need your help.  Stone’s…”

She broke off, choking on a sort of sob, and shook it off, “Just come!”

Eve caught Jenkins’ worried glance for a split second before they were both on their feet, running after Cassandra until they saw what she had called them for, and Eve sprinted ahead.

Stone was lying on the floor in the corridor, outside one of the innumerable rooms, a pool of blood beneath him and his left shoulder soaked in it.  From years of habit, she assessed that along with several other wounds - his hand was scored in a row of three deep gashes, the left side of his head was reddened and grazed, and he wasn’t moving.  Ezekiel leaned over him, his own shirt balled up and pressed onto Stone’s shoulder.

“He tried to fight that big ass scorpion thing!”

“The Aqrabuamelu?” “Whatever!” Ezekiel moved back to let Eve and Jenkins take over, “We were going to ask him to join us and he just ignored us.  We followed and then he just walks in.  Stands there and the scorpion guy went for him.  We dragged him out, but…”

But he had once again almost got himself killed in an act far too stupid for someone so intelligent.

The reasons could wait.  Right now they needed to deal with the very severe, deep wound that cut deep into his shoulder.  Deep enough she could see bone beneath the confusion of blood and flesh.

“Do we have anything in the library that can help with this?  It’s not a magical wound, right?”

Jenkins pursed his lips, “Let us hope not…first we need to put pressure on the injury and bind it, hold the sides of the gash closed…”

Eve fell back into an old habit.  She listened to the resident medic, did as they instructed to stabilise the injury, transport the victim, assist in the treatment, clean the victim up.  It helped.  Helped her not to think about the two pairs of terrified eyes watching everything, of what might be going on with their art historian to cause him to be so reckless.

In the past when this happened, with an injury like this, it often culminated in the soldier being sent to a proper hospital as soon as possible and from there home, or the soldier dying.

This time, Jenkins had a useful elixir that helped stem the bleeding and knit the wound partially closed, leaving only a moderately deep cut that they could dress and bind.

That part was better than any previous incident like this.

Worse, however, was that when Stone woke up a few hours later, he was back to that ferocious anger again.  Silent, but with hatred in his gaze.  Specifically, hatred for Ezekiel and Cassandra - the ones who had pulled him to safety.

Jenkins watched this thoughtfully, then, speaking over the indignant words of Ezekiel directed at their ungrateful rescuee, “Colonel, please bring Mr Stone into the annex with as much force as is required.  Miss Cilian, if you could assist me, please.”

He walked off, Cassandra running after, with a final, worried, look back towards Stone.

Eve hesitated, briefly became the object of that angry gaze, and grabbed Stone by the back of his shirt collar and his uninjured arm to manhandle him after the former knight.

In the annex, Jenkins stepped in to take Stone from Eve and push him unceremoniously onto one of the stools.

Immediately, a blue light erupted from beneath him in a tall column of light.

“That should keep him from doing himself further mischief for now,” Jenkins said with evident satisfaction, “And give us time to resolve this matter.”

“The matter of Stone trying to kill himself,” Ezekiel clarified.

“No,” Jenkins held up a finger, “Trying to get himself killed.  There is a distinction.”

“Not in the outcome.”

“The outcome is not the important factor here,” Jenkins continued, “Colonel, when did you say you first noticed this strange behaviour?  About a month ago now?”

“Yeah.”

“Shortly after you retrieved the lead-covered tome from Malta.”

“I think so…”

“Just so,” Jenkins nodded, “He was distracted, lost interest in his passions, grew agitated, and finally began to put himself into fatal situations with apparent deliberate intent.”

“Yeah.”

“There is a creature…” he left the sentence hanging as he went to retrieve a book, returning and continuing as he leafed through it, “Called a remora-”

“The-”

“Ah, yes, no,” he cut off Cassandra’s exclamation, “A different remora.  The fish was a…well, one should not undertake the classification and naming of creatures after two quarts of neat spirits.”

He stopped at a page and stepped back so they could peer collectively at the etched print of a slug-like creature with three rows of sharp teeth.

“This remora is a magical creature.  Was, in fact, human once.  Before Zeus took a disliking to him and, well, did what Zeus does.”

“One of the things Zeus does…” Eve muttered.  Stone had been telling her some of the stories of Greek mythology while he was studying some recently uncovered pottery sent to be examined by one of his aliases.

Looking back to Stone where he sat now, she saw nothing of her friend there.  Just cold anger.  Hostility.

“The unfortunate human had been a particularly handsome sailor, reputed to be unrivalled in his ability to get the greatest speed from any ship, beloved and admired by all those who saw his abilities.  On transforming, the creature was compelled to latch onto ships moving through the water, seeking what was familiar to him, and yet his doing so could stop the ship entirely.  He became hated and feared by sailors.”

“That’s so sad,” Cassandra whispered.

“As is the fate of most who angered Zeus during the height of his power.”

“Okay, but this doesn’t explain Stone trying to kill himself.”

“Get himself killed,” Jenkins corrected, “The remora has been known to enter into humans, latching onto them as it will with any surface, and burrowing inside.  Its home, where it wants to be, is the water.  The open oceans, and on finding itself inside a host, it seeks escape.  This it does by attempting to control the host.  Just as it can control ships, to an extent, it can control living beings.  Not entirely, but enough to eventually find its way out of the host.  Pliny the elder, for example.  Sailed directly towards an active volcano, impelled by the remora, and met his unfortunate demise.”

“And you think Stone picked this remora up in Malta?”

“It may have been attached to the book you recovered, or perhaps free in the water at the time Mr Stone went in.  In any case, it found its way into him, and since then has been gradually gaining control over his mind.”

Eve looked again at Stone.  The remora had his expression fixed in something cold and angry, but apparently indifferent to their presence and their discussion.  It was watching, but not really seeing.

“So,” Ezekiel prompted when the silence had extended for too long, “How do we get this remora guy out of Stone?”

“Death of the host is the only means ever documented.”

“Well we aren’t killing Stone, so let’s find a new way.”

“An exorcism?” Ezekiel suggested, “Or, like, some kinda variation on one?”

“Exorcisms are very specific rituals, Mr Jones.  Variations on them to the extent of eliminating formerly-human creatures with a physical presence in this plane do not exist.”

Ezekiel huffed and they fell silent.

Stone shifted in his seat, pressed a hand against the barrier containing him, glowering yet more coldly when it didn’t yield.

“Why did that thing get in him anyway if it just wants to get out again?” Eve asked.

“There would have been no intent behind the action.  An accident.  Latching onto a surface not as resistant as the hull of a ship.”

“So, maybe it just doesn’t know another way out,” Cassandra said with that spark of excitement that foretold some genius, “If we can guide it out the way it came…”

“How do we do that?” Ezekiel waved a hand in front of Stone’s face, and received that same empty coldness - aware but not really observing.

“We use something it wants.  The ocean or a ship…do we have an ocean or a ship?”

“We have several rooms with some sort of oceanic portion to them, but they have existing uses.  I would prefer not to introduce the remora into any of our occupied rooms.”

“And we can’t let it loose to do this to more people.”

“What about shipwrecks?” Cassandra said a stream of confusing statements about velocity and currents that apparently led her to the conclusion, “If we pass something that resembles the hull of a ship past Stone at a precise velocity in a body of water with salinity matching the ocean where we found the remora, it should move out of him and to that.  The cut in his shoulder would provide an easy path so it should be able to reach the external medium before the falsity becomes obvious.”

“Okay…” Eve nodded, understanding enough and trusting in Cassandra’s judgement, “Then that’s what we do.”

-

Holding one of her best friends down, half underwater while simultaneously trying to stop him from drowning himself, at the same time as two other friends orchestrated a carefully timed motion of some copper-covered wooden planks over the immersed part of the first friend…Eve reflected once again that her life had become incredibly bizarre.

Stone’s relentless efforts to immerse his head in the water prevented her from any deep reflection, since she had to prevent that while also keeping him from knocking the fake ship’s hull and ruining the illusion.  There was also the small matter of his very much open injury seeping blood into the water around him.

Somewhere beyond her head, Cassandra was using a pulley to move the object through the water, while Ezekiel and Jenkins used yet more string-linked objects to create the correct motion of water to suggest a ship to the remora.  Cassandra had drawn out a diagram of the fluid dynamics required and how to create it, and now Eve was poised over the water - hanging from a harness Ezekiel assured her was secure - trying to move as little as possible as the obscure procession of wood began.

As soon as the wood moved close, she released Stone, trusting the calculations and theory that this would work and she hadn’t just let Stone go and drown himself.

The fake ship passed slowly over, Stone remained motionless beneath the surface of the water.

Ten seconds passed.  Fifteen.  Twenty, and the ‘ship’ suddenly stopped.

Beneath it, Stone moved, tried to sit up, hitting his head against the fake ship.

He scrambled out from beneath the immobile copper-coated wood, blood blossoming behind him, and emerged from the water coughing violently.

Eve unfastened herself from the harness, dropping the couple of feet to the water.

“Stone?!”

He was trembling, breathless and not just from the water, and suddenly very pale.

Gripping her arm, he nodded, and turned to look back at the wood, still unmoving in the water.

Beneath it, a small, dark shape lurked.

“Thing has…so much hate,” Stone murmured, voice weak and unsteady, “All this…built up anger.  A-An’ it doesn’t even know why.  It’s got no…no memories left.”

Those fractured, almost inaudible, words, were all he said of the remora aloud.

They treated his shoulder, made a room for the remora, and carried on.  Bizarre and dangerous events were part of their daily life, and this soon became just another of those.

But not for Stone.

Eve knew that he spent a lot of time visiting it, sometimes with his laptop, sometimes with a book.

Several months later, when the entire incident felt like nothing more than a distant memory, Eve saw Jenkins reading an academic paper on little known Ancient Greek folklore, authored by one of Stone’s aliases.  She skimmed over it herself, and found a detailed, sympathetic, extensively researched background to The Remora.

Stone’s way of helping the creature that was beyond help.  Telling its forgotten story, and recounting the few times that a ship had been saved by its sudden, abrupt and inexplicable deceleration in the water.

-

#ailesswhumptober2023 #Day 6: Mind control #the librarians #cassandra cillian #jenkins #jacob stone #cw suicide mention #cw self harm #zeus is a dick

[panlight]

I’ve recently found myself drawn back into the twilight series, more specifically my favorite character Leah. Although every time I do, I end up so devastated because of the abuse she was put through by SM/the characters. I’ll never understand how someone could be subjected to such cruelty. And how many people could turn a blind eye to it. I’m not proud of it but I also feel such hatred and anger towards Sam and even more Emily. I just recently read more about the situation from the guide for the first time, and I hadn’t realized just how awful they were. I saw red. It truly breaks my heart to read about others validating Emily and Sam’s “love”. I was literally in tears sobbing reading about their betrayal. It’s unacceptable. The injustice of it is infuriating. I always felt that people disregarded Leah and Sams love as less real, or more easily discarded. “That situation sucked for Leah.” “Yeah that’s not great”. But I always felt it was more severe than that. It always tore me up to imagine Leah being the one that was always a side thought. I always felt her love was real, and big, important, and true. More true than whatever bullshit SM tried to feed us with imprinting. She deserved to have the love she wanted with the person she wanted. I know it sounds so irrational, but seeing the destruction it caused, one cannot say Leah deserved better and then in the same breathe ratify Sam and Emily. It is in direct contradiction. If she deserves better, then they cannot be! It breaks my heart to see anyone validate or co sign Sam and Emily ending up together, in this version or any other. Leah’s not disposable and her love was not expendable. I’m sorry for the rant 😩 but urghhh! I just always felt so protective of Leah ♥️

The treatment of Leah will always be grossly unfair. It's pretty clear that the Leah/Sam/Emily mess was originally created as a way to explain and present imprinting; SM wanted to show how random and unbreakable it was, and to do that she needed the shifter to be in a happy, committed relationship that he then had to end to be with the imprint, to show there really was 'no choice' and that's it's a magical thing. Jared/Kim wouldn't make that point.

But then she kept making things worse for Leah. If she felt she needed this break-up to 'show' imprinting, fine, whatever. But then she made Emily also Leah's cousin and best friend. She made Leah phase, and made Leah's phasing the cause of her father's fatal heart attack. She made the rest of the pack shun Leah and have an attitude of like "why can't she just accept that Imprinting is Great and Sam/Emily are blameless?" and pretty much none of them ever factor in her father just died as a source of her anger and distress and make it JUST about Sam. (But again I think this comes from the Bellacentricity of the story; Harry died so Edward could call the Swan house and hear about Charlie planning a funeral, so it doesn't 'matter' to the Clearwaters and Quileute characters the way it SHOULD have since he was an important member of the community).

I always loved Leah, and I think the consensus of the present day fandom, of the Renaissance, is the same. But I remember Back in the Day, eons ago, people complaining about how mean Leah was to Bella and I was always like . . . literally WHAT?! because if you step outside Bella's POV even a little, it's clear Leah has about 2892374823 justifiable reasons to be upset about how her life has been disrupted and ruined by the 'monsters and magic' and I can't blame her one bit for lashing out. The one tiny shred of support she gets is her mother cutting her hair short in solidarity. That's it. Who else is she supposed to turn to? She can't go to Sam, they broke up. She can't go to Emily, she's with Sam now. She can't go to her father, he's dead. The Pack resents her presence as the only woman and she has to hear that resentment in the Pack mind, along with Sam's fairytale fantasy love for Emily.

The thing I keep coming back to about Leah is that, unlike Bella, she had no choice in any of this. Bella had a choice. Bella chose to move to Forks. Bella chose to stay with Edward when she found out he was a vampire. She chose to take him back. She chose to marry him. To continue a dangerous pregnancy. To become a vampire herself. To keep her father in her life. Bad things happened to her, sure, but they were almost always the results of choices she made. She had some semblance of agency. Leah had none. Leah didn't chose to break up with Sam or cut ties with her best friend, The Magic Of Imprinting made that choice for her. She didn't choose to become a wolf shifter or join the pack, it was something that just happened to her (indirectly as the result of Bella's choices). Leah doesn't get to choose to keep her father in her life, that choice was made for her by a heart attack. In some ways Leah is the anti-Bella, although I don't think SM planned that at all.

#asks #long post

[unsleepingtales]

Mentopolis ep 4! This is another very long one and also this time there's research and visual aids!

Siobhan’s look this ep is so good

I relate to Hank Green in that I also roll a d20 between my fingers and gaze into the middle distance when my GM recounts The Horrors.

You look too pretty and mysterious 😔

Siobhan is so good at playing a femme fatale

Jokes!

Wait do flash mobs really not exist anymore? Did those disappear and I didn’t notice?

Has anyone checked to see how far down Elias is rn.

Like is he gonna be falling for the next three episodes.

I love when there are cousins in rpgs. The Lords of The Wing. Imelda and Anastasia. Every rp server I’ve ever been in. Most of the dnd games I’ve ever been in. If there’s one thing rpers/ttrpgers/etc love it’s fucking complex family dynamics.

I love Max <3

she’s so silly I love her

Ivana x Dan where’s the fic cmon guys

The super casual dance 💃

THANK you please check

(players make cartoonish sounds of worry)

They really want him to fly lmao

The setttttt

WHY DOES HE HAVE A GRAPPLING HOOK ON HIS BELT

Like that’s great. But he has this for why. Did he know he was gonna get tossed out the window??? What the fuck??

I missed it last episode but this episode’s spelling is 🥁🥁

Phởcks!

ở is a Vietnamese language vowel (one of twelve), and is pronounced as an unrounded [o]. Vietnamese is a tonal language, so Ở is the letter Ơ with the hook tonal indicator above it. It does phonetically make sense as a replacement letter for the sound they are trying to achieve. x x Back to the show!

Oh god we’re in the red

140 pressure! By golly gee!

Dan whatcha doin

The fucks of doom

Literally of doom.

Freddie trying to explain what this looks like is so funny oh my god

Why did you need to slap her for that?

ONE

Quadruple oh dear lord

Also why was the grappling gun vibrating

What are you doing kid??

Oh he has no way of knowing that but that could really screw The Fix. I really hope he doesn’t get killed because the DA finds out he’s not dead.

I’ll bet Hank is having such a great time just watching this.

She beat it by more than five hell yeah

Floor rules!!

What a great cover story for being at Sugah’s all the time

Oh, the cops are huge assholes? Shocking.

Especially when Brennan’s the GM lol

Yeah Hank definitely forgot he was playing lmao

HELL YEAH

What is thisssss

Oh I do not like this at all

Everyone is so delighted by him and honestly I am too

Bad this is all bad

Like body like brain function I guess

The Fix should have had a grappling hook on his belt idk what to tell you

Wild. This is a wild thing to have happened.

God the fear that “did you know” instills now.

What. What are you trying to achieve right now.

TRAPP

What are you trying to do

WHY IS THIS WHAT’S HAPPENING

Holy shit man. What the fuck.

So is he like. No longer stressed or something? He’s still swinging from a grappling hook off a skyscraper, is he no longer stressed about that?

The gang is reuniting!

Why is Mrs Doubtfire the default? Like every improv person I’ve ever met defaults to Mrs doubtfire when they need to do a disguise thing.

Split like an end

Just noticed the little thing that looks like the communism symbol on the background lmao

The Brennan Face of Defeat is beautiful and tragic

We would hate for anyone in police custody not to have a wonderful time 💀

Poor Max

Tropes!

C’est la vieeeeee

Myeh, see!

Vigilance?

Just. Maybe. Hundreds?

An entire crosswalk just saw you shit yourself and despite being thrown out of a window and trying to grappling hook yourself to safety, the public humiliation is your biggest concern right now.

We’re driving to the mayor!

Hunch and Fucks duo of all time

Shit!

What is happeninggg

Okay but if he planned to jump and use the grappling hook then why would none of his brain functions be aware of that?

Getting the white key in the chest of a function takes it over?

“He looked at me with some eyes that did not have him inside them anymore” Jesus Christ that’s not quite on “who do we know who has blood” level but it’s close

What a wonderful flashback.

Maybe this insane situation will change him a bit lol

Freddie mouthing along perfectly <3

Drive STRAIGHT into his walls

Ivana what an icon

Great googly moogly!!

Girl what

What an adorable visual

Mr. Mayor I know we’re confessing to kind of a lot of crimes here BUT-

Is rope burn really the biggest concern

This is why the government never gets anything done

The best thing that could happen WOULD be if everything in the world were to stop you’re so right

You don’t make any sense!

Yeah having the concept of freezing as the head of government would make it really easy for people to puppet that.

I’m with Conrad I have no idea what’s going on

Yessss exactly what Imelda had tried to do earlier

Siblings <3

Ok! So they’re not falling anymore!

To control and regulate 😬

I’m curious 🧐🤨 I do all kinds of crazy things 😋🤪🥸

Trapp is so good

Thank god they got the pressure down or that would have been Bad lmao

They all smell so much like beef oh god

The conscience is not the thing holding you back from experiencing pleasure my guy

Of course you’re the embodiment of justification and you’d love to write a manifesto. Of course.

Dan Fucks is in handcuffs so often

The POWER of that roll oh my god

I want to know this woman’s story

Just fun facts, they’re not scary!

(Hank ebullient he’s meeting his match)

e·bul·lient /iˈbo͝olyənt, iˈbəlyənt/ adjective 1. cheerful and full of energy.

FACT ALERT. BRENNAN BIRD FACT ALERT.

Fact off time

Pasha N. She’s PASSION incredible

I love the cartoony clue logic of this place

Copper!

(getting titillated from the tidbits)

Caption authors I LOVE you

(aroused and astounded) I didn’t know, I didn’t know.

The fact that The Fix didn’t know any of this and this is presumably the first time someone is trading facts with him that he didn’t already know and doing it so excitedly I’m having feelings.

Hunch Curio incredible wingman action

Trapp gets the same brand of candy cigarettes that I do!

Fun fact: candy cigarettes look super realistic if you burn the end and work as props for cosplay sometimes! They also taste like toasted marshmallow :)

Oh god

Is the brother one of the kids from the orphanage? Maybe he was abandoned there and that’s why he stayed a kid while his sister grew up?

Oh my god Hank eating the candy cigarette was such a good beat

ICHABOD

Hank Green your mind <3

The gang’s back together!

Sometimes Brennan walks into a bad pun and he looks so disappointed in himself

That man needs some beef on his legs!

What a great episode.

Capers!

Sneak peek reactions:

Leave the child alone

Ooh do we get to meet Don Avaricii?

Whatttt

Oohohohoho yay.

#mentopolis #reactions #verbal component #The Fix #HANK #brennan #nonfiction

[thehamletdiaries]

Casting If We Were Villains (and The Secret History) characters in Hamlet

Since for some reason they don't...do Hamlet in the book (I'm joking, it's a wonderful book, I am not criticising!) and I am in the mood, clearly, to spam post (sorry all, and thank you for your indulgence) here's my take on who should play who (none of this is particularly intelligent - it's very much "the obvious casting choices based on who they generally play").

James, as the one that plays "the hero", would play Hamlet.

Oliver, who 1. plays "the sidekick" and 2. is James' love interest and 3. I love him would play Horatio.

Richard, who is the dark, "villain" character, in the conceit of the novel, would play Claudius.

Alexander, who does typically play the villain characters, I actually think would play a very sinister, spymaster general version of Polonius.

Wren, who traditionally plays the sort of...typically ingénue character, for want of a better way to put it, would play Ophelia.

Meredith, who plays the sort of "femme fatal" characters...which isn't really what Gertrude is but...you know, I think it works and I think she would play her well; so she would play Gertrude.

Filippa would play Guildenstern...and this is the point I run out of main characters so someone else would have to play Rosencrantz and also I've somehow been left with no Laertes.

....ok, so I have now invented a crossover for literally no good reason.

So, let us imagine that The Secret History lot for lord knows what reason except it's fun for me joined the production (it's some weird...mixed school production thing...also this must already exist as a crossover people want to see), so I can at least cast the rest of the main characters from them...

Bunny I think would make most sense as Rosencrantz; he's probably the most theatrical of the group and I think he would play off Filippa well in a duo dynamic.

Frances strikes me as someone who could do a certain very insecure version of Laertes, very much method and very much drawing on his own life.

Henry as the Ghost of King Hamlet cause he's very sinister and also he's a terrible person so it fits.

Charles as Fortinbras would be terrifying and hot at the same time.

Camilla would be the player queen (as a change from the player king); gender bending this role with her would work really well I think.

Richard would be....I don't even know, Bernardo and Osric and just a bunch of random characters he's basically the chorus; which really mirrors his role in the book.

#hamlet #shakespeare #hamlet x horatio #hamlet/horatio #ophelia #tragic danish boyfriends #laertes #rosencrantz and guildenstern #if we were villains #james x oliver #m. l. rio #the secret history #donna tartt

[yuridovewing]

hiiiii razorverse questions for u (sorry if these have been answered! tumblr isnt letting me search this update): 1) what is kestrelflight my specialist little guy doing? HOW is he doing? 2) whats mousewhisker up to. my second specialist little guy. po3 apprentice generation is literally my favorite

YAYYYYYYY THANK YOU!!!! i haven't said anything about either of those characters yet, so here we go!

Kestrelflight

-Unlike in canon, Barkface was unfortunately never around to train him- he died back during the forest destruction, succumbing to a combination of old age and sickness. The lack of a medic was a big contributor towards the WindClan Civil War. Mudclaw insisted on assigning a new medic, while Onewhisker insisted on waiting for a line to StarClan to be discovered so they could choose- and he also didn't want to force anyone into the position, even temporarily, so instead, Leafpaw spent a lot of time in WindClan as a temporary medic.

-MASSIVE point of contention. The cats were uncomfortable that he was once again letting a ThunderClan cat into a major position of power, while others insisted that they should appreciate Leafpaw's help when they had none. (This is also where LeafCrow starts here btw)

-It was only worse when they DIDN'T get an immediate sign, and yet no one was up to the task, so for a while WindClan just didn't have a medic. Leafpool eventually had to return after the scandal she committed with Crowfeather along with Cinderpelt's "death", and the clan was now vocally against letting another clan's medic help. But Onestar's fatal flaw is his stubbornness, and he was determined to keep his foot down and not turn back on his decision to wait for a sign. He was trying to keep his morals sooo bad.

-Finally though, they got Kestrelpaw, a young tom who had both the will and the signs to back him up. Poor guy had to deal with becoming an apprentice early at 4 moons though, they put him to work the instant he got the sign. They had StarClan be his mentor. Thankfully there were no serious epidemics or anything during his apprenticeship, but it was still a stressful time and he second-guessed his decision constantly.

-If this sounds familiar, it's because he's a parallel to Puddleshine. Kestrelflight is NOT pleased about being banned from helping the poor guy in AVoS- he knows EXACTLY what it's like in his position, except Puddle didn't even have a sign to back him up! He wanted to be a secondary mentor for the little guy, especially when the yellowcough epidemic nearly wiped out ShadowClan. He was PISSED about this.

-He actually starts off the series being a bit of a doormat, he's overly permissive and lets people walk all over him. Onestar doesn't like this and wants his medic to stand up for himself more because "we can't afford to show weakness" (Sire is projecting!). But after the debacle with Hollyleaf and Willowshine along with the dark forest, he becomes more cynical and less willing to deal with people's shit. Hence him breaking the embargo Onestar set as a "fuck you" to him specifically. (side note: since the Darktail plot is changed to not involve Onestar as much, the embargo plot may or may not stay. I do still plan to have him die in this arc though)

-He was close friends with Hollyleaf and Willowshine, though he definitely felt like a third wheel. He was aware of their relationship but never wanted to say anything out of fear of getting any of them in trouble. In fact, I'm thinking he helped hide Hollyleaf's pregnancy for the most part, though I'm not quite sure how. When Hollyleaf ran away, he was crushed and he tried to support Willowshine however he could, but she was very closed off after the incident and never stopped mourning the chance to know her kits, so he ended up losing her in a way too. It got somewhat better when Ivypaw was briefly a medic, but of course that didn't last.

-He actually had a crush on Jayfeather and was happy when he was briefly a medic, but it never really went anywhere sadly.

-Might hit him with the nby beam. Not sure yet though.

Mousewhisker

-In TNP, he's mostly handled the same as he is in canon! He's a kit that's accepted into ThunderClan with his family after he's in danger of being taken away and euthanized by the barn humans. I don't really have any additions to make there.

-I could be totally misremembering him, absolutely, but I always perceived him as a studious kid who seems like a goody two shoes, always giving an apple to the teacher and getting all As, and is sorta seen as stuffy for it, but in reality he loves to go behind people's backs and break the rules. He's got a sneaky streak! He spies on people a lot and he's no snitch- he'll help you sneak out of camp if he thinks he can get some fun out of it.

-Loves to "erm, actually-" people though. He's a teacher in the clan and he drives some of the apprentices crazy.

-He sneaks out consistently to meet with Minnowpaw/tail. The both of them decide to start training in the Dark Forest because they believe the DF cats' goal is to reform the code, and they want to remove the part that keeps them apart. This does not end well for them. Oops.

-Btw! I keep going back and forth on who the RiverClan three are, but I think I'm gonna shake up the family tree quite a bit here and make them Minnowtail, Beetlewhisker, and Rippletail. If canon doesn't care about their actual canon relationships and timelines then neither will I, these guys have the most material for me to work with so here we go. They're all Icewing's kits and after Rippletail's death, Minnow and Beetle and their mom all align with the Dark Forest, until Beetle also dies. Minnow is the sole survivor of her three.

-I'm not sure what Mousewhisker really does in the narrative himself, he's definitely just a supporting character to the RiverClan three's plots. I think the entire family is aware of him, and are actually cool with it and agree to try and get rid of the law so they can be together (Minnow and her sibs are also halfclan, Icewing has a leg in this too). Proto RiverClan family coup?

-He miiiight take Hazeltail's place death-wise, except he dies in the great battle instead of offscreen greencough. He fights for the clans, but ultimately gets killed trying to protect Minnowtail. Minnow may also be pregnant but idk who her kits will be. Poor girl goes THROUGH IT in The Last Hope.

#poor mousewhisker. gave him stuff to do only for him to die a boytoy #mail #again tysm!!!! #razorverse #gluemyselfshut

[timdrake-yumm]

I’ve come to realize that there are several different types of Tim Drake fans, that can all be sorted different ways, but I’m going to sort them this way:

Hate/Dislike Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, and Damian Wayne: idk if this is a result of cancel culture or what, but the fact that they’ve all wronged him at least once is apparently the worst thing in the universe, as though not everyone has done something that could be perceived as wronging Tim at some point in comic history. I hate to break it to you guys, but y’all are extremely biased, and Tim isn’t so innocent either

Hate/Dislike Jason Todd and Damian Wayne: This is because they both tried to kill Tim at one point and you haven’t been able to let it go. While this is more valid than the last one, I still think you need to chill with the character hate, they’ve both been through some pretty traumatic stuff and we’re mostly not in their right minds when they did that. I mean, I’m not saying it’s okay that they tried to kill Tim, but they’re also fictional representations of what might occur if you came back to life after having died only to see all your insecurities thrown at your face, or if you were raised by a murder cult.

Hate/Dislike Damian Wayne: Now this group of people likely fall into the mentality that because at one point Tim hero-worshipped Jason, he must not have hard feelings for him, and therefore neither should you. But also you can’t forgive the 10-year-old for acting on his traumatized, raised-by-a-murder cult mentalities, like any 10-year-old has the ability to think outside their biases born from the childhood they were provided.

Love/Like ALL the robins: You either believe that Tim wouldn’t hold hard feelings, so neither should you, or you realize they’re all fictional characters who hold the fatal flaw of having flaws and not being perfect individuals.

I’m not saying that any of this is 100% accurate or anything, and you could probably throw some variations of adding Bruce, Stephanie, or even Alfred into the mix, but these are the thoughts that I had while taking a shower yesterday and have only just now put into typing.

Anywho, basically, there are people who don’t like Dick Grayson because of what happened when Dick gave Damian Robin, and while I see your perspective, and I don’t agree with his actions at the time, Dick was a desperate, young adult who just lost his second father and was thrust into a role and burden he never wanted. Of course he made mistakes, anyone would! I don’t believe he was ever trying to alienate Tim the way it ended up being. (Side note: the wanting to put Tim in Arkham is fanon, and should not be used as a reason for disliking Dick. I believe there was mention of therapy, but that’s it, and while it’s extremely hypocritical of Dick to suggest therapy while not being willing to go himself, it’s not like he was exactly wrong. They all need therapy; even before everyone he loved was dying around him Tim needed therapy. You probably need therapy too.)

For everyone who dislikes Jason Todd, I see your reasoning, I really do. He took his hurt and pain out at being replaced and unavenged out on Tim and likely did some pretty heavy psychological damage whilst doing so. It’s a bit hypocritical of him to be so upset about being replaced when he 1. Doesn’t know the full story and/or 2. Was a “replacement” himself. But you have to remember that none of this is really about Tim. Maybe that makes it worst, maybe that makes it better, but it’s the truth. Jason literally died and came back to life, and the minute he gains complete thought he realizes he’s been in the hands of the League of Assassins, and that his torturer and murderer is still out there causing harm to everyone he can. Was he wrong to take all of this out on Tim? Yes, obviously, Tim was just trying to help and honor Jason’s legacy. Does he deserve a chance to make it up to Tim and be better? Also yes. Batman preaches about second chances, which is part of the reason why he doesn’t kill, but to me that’s like being someone who’s never been a victim of rape or abuse, and telling someone who has been a victim of rape or abuse that they’re wrong for being traumatized and that they should forgive their rapist or abuser and just get over it. That’s not how trauma works, and even if you’re against killing someone yourself, you don’t get to tell a victim how to protect themselves from those who harmed them. Locking him up didn’t and doesn’t work, and all he’s doing is creating more victims without any inclination towards change or remorse.

Sorry, that went into a bit of a rant that nobody asked for. Not that anybody asked for any of this, of course. Anywho, the point of all that was to say that Jason Todd is a victim. I’m not saying that Tim isn’t a victim, and that he shouldn’t also get the same allowances as Jason of course. Tim also went through a very traumatizing experience, he should get to do what makes him feel safe. (Another side note: forgiving someone and putting yourself back into a harmful situation are two different things. You can forgive someone and also want to never have to see them again. That’s valid, and even if that person isn’t actively trying to harm you anymore, their presence in and of itself can still be harmful.)

This all leads into Damian Wayne. I mentioned before that Damian showed up as a traumatized 10-year-old straight out of being raised by a murder-cult. Damian, like Jason, is a victim and deserves the chance to grow and change. Tim is also a victim, and deserves not to constantly be in a state of Danger. So what does this mean? I’ve seen some people mention that Damian is never actually punished for any of his harmful actions. And I’ve seen other people wonder how you plan on punishing the traumatized 10-year-old. I’m not a parent, but I am currently studying psychology, and I believe some of the same stuff applies. You can’t just throw Damian in jail or ground him or something, that’s never going to work, and will only alienate him further— reducing his likelihood of listening and being open to change. Damian needs to be shown that his actions have consequences though (Look at me acting like he’s a real person). You can’t just hear/see him actively trying to harm someone and be like :( bad Damian. That just tells him that he’s never going to be punished for his actions, and can therefore get away with it. You need a balance, and to also recognize that Tim is allowed to be defensive and not want to be in the same room as Damian. You see Damian do something wrong? He’s benched from being Robin, and you explain that this is not what Robin represents and that Robin doesn’t bring harm to innocents. However, when you see him do something good? You reward him. Now you have positive reinforcement showing that certain actions have benefits. Damian is a victim of his past, but he’s also a child emulating what he knows. There’s a difference between not punishing him for being a victim, and teaching him to not create his own victims.

And that has been my unwanted and unasked for rant about the robins. Another side note, but if you create media that depicts any of the robins or Bruce, or any DC character in a negative light, I’m not telling you to stop. I can think that they don’t accurately depict who the characters are suppose to be and still love reading the angst.

#dc #dc comics #tim drake #jason todd #dick grayson #damian wayne #bruce wayne #batfam #batfamily #rant post #mini rant #sorry for the rant #tw mentions of rape #tw mentions of abuse #tw mentions of murder #disclaimer I’ve read very little comics #but I’m working through them #feel free to lmk what y’all think #add onto this if you’d like #ask questions #i have many thoughts

[bigtreefest]

Let’s talk about Knives Out

Spoilers below the cut

🔥🤤sweater daddy. I wish that was all I had to say. Well, it is, but it also very much isn’t.

1st Watch

After knowing what happens in the end, I had never liked Ransom (Chris Evans’s Character) until I went through with my second and third rewatch. So on my first watch, it was exciting because all the twists and turns really catch you by surprise. It’s such a wonder who would pull such an elaborate plan and why. Ransom is obviously awful. That’s why the dogs hate him. It’s such a sign of character. But for some reason, he’s helping Marta, and I loved it. He appeared so genuine and like he was really trying to find the best way to help her. Benoit Blanc’s accent is also hilarious and so is the fact that none of them really care to know where Marta’s from.

The dogs love Linda and Linda is honestly not that terrible of a person when it comes to everyone else. She actually loved her father as seen by the way they shared notes, but idk. Everyone’s flawed and she still expected money and inheritance

2nd Watch

I started to pick up on the symbolism and more details of the movie. Chris Evans looks even better in his sweaters. But if you look closely, they’ve got tears and holes. What does this mean? But the sweater is nice before Harlan dies. Does this mean Ransom looks nice on the surface, but if you look deeper, something’s wrong? Does this mean he started to crumble after Harlan’s death? They also bring up the fact that Marta is the only one who beat Harlan at ‘Go’ more than Ransom. Does this mean that if Marta weren’t around, Ransom would’ve gotten the inheritance? Or would he have been cut off like everyone else still? Or, does this mean that Marta was a better strategist. Even though Ransom did a lot of the work, she took the final step in lying in order to get him to confess to murder. Also, Meg on that phone call? Was she really apologetic or was she trying to get that money?? And why didn’t Harlan keep paying her tuition, it was her mom’s fault. But I guess she was technically a mooch like everyone else.

And obviously there’s the fact that everyone lies to Marta about wanting her at the funeral. Don’t lie to save face, you couldn’t have all gotten outvoted.

3rd watch

I’ve fallen in love with Chris Evans as Ransom even more, not just because of the sweaters, but because in this time, I read some really good fanfics that redeemed him. The movie is cast so perfectly and I love the subtleties. Plus, I’ve always had a little bit of a thing for guys who are awful for me if they’re hot (it’s a fatal flaw, I know, I’m working on it, but can you blame me?). Ransom is so smart, and it’s a shame he uses it for evil because he was so close. Anyway, let’s talk about alcoholic beverages. My investigation into this started because I wanted to know the mixed drink Ransom ordered at the bar (which which I still haven’t figured out yet, but I think it was a Manhattan?)

Look at the alcohol in the movie, though. The whole family is always luxuriously drinking scotch or champagne. Ransom, on the other hand, orders craft beer at the bar with Marta, which separates him from his family, but hopefully makes him seem more relatable to her. Even tho craft beer is the rich man’s beer lowkey. Then, he uses a large bottle for set fire to the Medical Examiner’s office. This whole time, we don’t see Marta drink at all, which separates her from the family. Not to mention, Ransom builds a literal wall of beer bottles between the two of them at the restaurant, showing physical separation despite his offer of assistance. The bottles are also apparently in one of the positions of ‘Go’ called Atari. This is an attack position, meaning Ransom thinks he has the high ground. Incorrect. This is all just a posed by the separation we see at the end of the movie where Marta is looking down at them on the balcony while they all look up at her, once again separated but the tables have turned.

Overall, a great movie and a great look for Chris Evans. The costume designers and casting directors knew what they were doing. As much as I hate to say it, I WOULD NOT have been immune to Ransom’s charms.

Sources cited:

Drinks Meaing

Go Atari Reddit Post

Good Casting

Gifs

#knives out #knives out review #Chris Evans #ransom drysdale #knives out movie review #sweater daddy

[atsadi-shenanigans]

Feeding Alligators 23 - Paranoia Agent

Lunch break and Astarion's worries. Gale has a carrot.

On AO3.

Y’all find the docks the letter had mentioned. Spot the island out in the murky, sludge water. Before y’all get over there, the others stop. You find a mildly rotted crate that takes your weight. It groans, but it doesn’t bend or buckle or dump your ass into the water.

Astarion does not sit. Too busy looking back the way y’all came.

You chug from your waterskin. You physically feel better from the whole blood loss thing, save for the exhaustion and the ache in your bones. But you’re not panting after water anymore, so the fluids appear to be topped back up. You look out over the swamp. The tree growing from that island puts any childhood climbs to shame. You’ve only seen anything comparable when you went to that old growth rainforest up north, them trees so wide three people couldn’t hug it and touch hands.

With some luck (ha), the island will be deserted. You might be able to accomplish something in this godforsaken place without anyone getting their innards turning to outtards.

“How’re you feeling?” you say after chomping down the last of your bread rolls, two apples, and a chunk of sharp cheese (you try not to shudder at the bitterness).

Astarion glances to you without really seeing you. “Hmm?”

“With the, uh, my blood?” you say. “Did it help?”

“Oh. Oh yes, of course.” His usual smile slips back into place. “Much better. That Gur wouldn’t have been an issue if it had come to it. You could have seen those results yourself, but, alas, you chose to let him leave.”

Gandrel had seemed amiable enough. And though y’all were literal worlds apart, part of you resonated with what sounded a lot like racism. Not the same kind your ancestors had faced (at the hands of your other ancestors), but enough for it to twinge at you. Not civilized, not cultured, savages. As if Cherokees didn’t have towns and crops and trading networks spanning hundreds, if not thousands, of miles. Oh no, they couldn’t be “civilized” because that would mean they were people, and if they were people well, murder and theft would feel a bit more uncomfortable, wouldn’t it? Probably not enough to stop, mind. But enough to make a conscience itch here or there (and it did).

“I did,” you say. “And I’d do it again.”

He starts to bristle. He won’t get it, will he? Whatever bullshit he has against these Gur people, challenging it to his face won’t get you anywhere right now.

“We don’t know what we’re heading into over there, either,” you add. “Thought it might be best to save everyone’s strength.”

Astarion takes this with a small grimace and a soft sound of displeasure. “I don’t like leaving him out there. You didn’t want those Absolute cultists running around behind our backs.”

No, you didn’t. You suppose in his shoes, you’d be just as disconcerted.

“He’s looking for a run-of-the-mill vampire spawn,” you say. “It’s daytime, you’re running out here with SPF-0 and not bursting into flame, and ain’t none of us been mauled to death. Not, y’know, fatally. Mostly.”

His gaze flicks to your neck. The wounds closed and smoothed over by Shadowheart’s magic and Gale’s potion. You realize now just how fortunate that wasn’t visible when you’d met Mr. Swampman.

“Yes, I suppose it’s not as obvious,” he says. “Still.”

Behind the both of you, Shadowheart makes some jab about Lae’zel’s preferred diet. You check and find Lae’zel swallowing what you think is a still-kicking frog.

“Huh,” you say. To Astarion, “Why’s he after you, anyway? How’d he know you were out here at all?”

You hadn’t thought about that part until you say it. Y’all are less than a week out from the crashed butthole ship. Ain’t none of the others even knew where y’all’d landed (and you’re pretty sure they still ain’t completely sure).

“He was sent to fetch me,” Astarion says.

Who, you almost ask.

“It was Cazador,” he continues. You ain’t never seen a man sneer a word until now. The sheer loathing oozes from that name like a stink smearing the air.

“The shitbag who turned you?”

He blinks at the phrasing. The corner of his mouth makes the barest of twitches. Then falls back into that grim line. “Only he would know to send those vermin after me. He’s showing me his power, reminding me he can still reach me, all the way out here.”

You try, and fail, to hide the wince at “vermin.” Pasty White boy with a posh accent using that word to describe a whole group of people sits all wrong.

“It was a group of Gur that attacked me that night in Baldur’s Gate,” Astarion says. His gaze goes distant. “I would have died, had Cazador not appeared and ‘saved’ me.”

The Gur he says Cazador has just sent after him.

“Sounds convenient,” you say.

“It’s a message. He wants me back.”

Oh. If that doesn’t send a shiver of recognition down your spine. More than ten years later and you still don’t open mail from someone you don’t recognize. The second the sun sinks towards the horizon, your drapes are closed, and you know every single car on your street. You even recognize the usual doordash or uber drivers in your area. Because strangers…

You were working on that with your most recent therapist. Not making much ground, honestly, because your fears were fucking founded in reality, thank you very much, and she charged more money for an hour than you made in a day.

“How’d he know where you were?” you say. “We got taken so quick. Or, I did, I ain’t sure about the rest of y’all.”

“Oh, I never saw it coming, else it probably wouldn’t have happened and then I’d be worse off,” Astarion says. His eyes track something you can’t see. His expression goes flat. Not his usual version, though. This is obviously a mask. One to hide what you strongly suspect is disgust (you should be over this by now) and hatred (people say it wasn’t your fault but there were ways out, if you’d just been brave (desperate) enough sooner). “I’m a spawn. As my… my master, he can command me. Our bodies just obey. There’s nothing we can do to stop it. But he hasn’t since I woke up on that beach. I suppose I have the parasite to thank for that; the old rules have stopped applying. Even his. Especially his.”

That last part is soft, barely more than a whisper.

The quiet is interrupted by Lae’zel trash talking the entire concept of eating fruit. They’re doing just fine over there.

“He wants me back,” Astarion says again, still in that soft tone. “He’ll always want me back. He should be able to reach out and compel me, and he can’t. I don’t know if it’s the distance or the worm, but he’ll be furious that I’m still out here. Still free.”

The tiniest inflection on “free.” Something fragile. Tentative. The barest spark that must be breathed upon softly to coax it to kindle. Too strong, and it snuffs it out and kills that spark dead.

“So he sent a monster hunter after me to drag me back. Make an example out of me. Death would be too much of a reward.”

Damnit. If he’s right, if Gandrel really is unknowingly working for that sunovabitch, he’d have reason to kill him. You’d do the same; what he’s describing is hell, worse than anything you’ve known. You’d rip out someone’s throat with your teeth should that ever come for you.

You hope to god he’s wrong. Hope that Gandrel and his people are just doing normal, monster hunter things. Maybe Astarion tangled with this group before. Maybe he ended up on someone else’s shitlist (but how would they know where y’all are? Fuck, that part really bugs you).

“How concerned should we be?” you say.

“‘Concerned?’ Do you know the power a vampire lord possesses?” he says. Actually looks at you and then sneers. “Of course you don’t. He can change his shape, turn into mist, call wolves to do his bidding! Shrug off blows like they’re nothing. He could walk into our camp tonight and kill you all with his bare hands.” He leans in close enough you can smell his hair oil, that spicy herb mix. His face is sharp, eyes damn near burning. “And you would be lucky if death was the worst of it.”

You look to the scars on his neck. They’re ragged. Must have been painful.

Our bodies just obey.

You swallow down a queasy feeling.

“Then what should we do?” you say.

He stares at you. Almost looks like surprise, quickly snuffed for agitation. He scoffs. Stammers a second. “First, we have to…we…I don’t know. If we kill his lackeys, he’ll just send more. We have to be vigilant. Keep our wits about us. And kill any monster hunters on sight.”

That feels extremely directed at you.

Also not a plan. “Be vigilant?” It’s almost enough to draw an eyeroll. Except.

The way he talks, the way he watches the swamp. It’s familiar on a visceral level.

So that’s what that looks like from the other end.

Sasha said that was normal. The better of your therapists (when you could afford them) said the same. Being watched all the time, knowing you were trapped, knowing you were weak and helpless and there was nothing you could do because those higher than you had all the resources, the money, the obedience, and the power? It fucks with the brain. Turns the lever to dump stress hormones into the bloodstream and then kicks off the handle to jam it open.

And you were only in for, what? Fifteen, sixteen years? You don’t know how long Astarion’s been a vampire. But you’re pretty sure it’s way longer. And way worse.

“Okay,” you say. “Will do.”

He gives you a tight nod. Looks past you and his eyebrows flick up. You turn to find both Shadowheart and Lae’zel reaching for their weapons while Gale stands between them, arms raised, holding a carrot for some godforsaken reason.

“Oh,” Astarion says, tone all bright again. “Dinner and a show?”

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #baldur's gate iii #fanfic #astarion #astarion x tav #it's a goddamn isekai #i'm not sorry #feeding alligators fic #tavstarion #plus size tav #demisexual tav #slow burn

[mary-moongood]

Time surge - A beast wars fanfic (part 1/2)

hi guys! today I want to do something different from usual I wrote a Beast wars fanfic, it's kinda small but I hope you guys like it

Word count: 2275

PLOT: the maximals find a stasis pod after a long time without them, but there seems to be something wrong with this one

4 million years ago

The maximals wake up at the sound of the alarms blaring off the Axalon’s main computer.

“It seems our sensors have located a stasis pod” informs Airazor, as she sees the set of coordinates given on-screen; Rattrap walks into the command center, his face showing surprise as he processes the situation “how long has it been since the last one, I really started to believe we had found all of the missing protoforms?” Optimus, the leader of the maximals, looks at the coordinates, it is an area a few kilometers away from the maximal base “we need to hurry to it before the predacons have a chance to activate it. The last thing we need at the moment is for Megatron’s troops to increase their numbers!”

The maximals rush to the location of the pod, Rhinox leading the way with his big size, Cheetor is next to him, running like the wind, not much behind them are Rattrap and Dinobot, while Airazor and Optimus soar the skies above them; as soon as the team reaches the pod, it becomes evident something is wrong, the pod is glitching dramatically and making abnormal noises, Rhinox approaches it and gives it a profound look, just like a youngling looking at a shiny object… “hm, interesting” “what’s interesting big guy?” asks Cheetor “it seems the time jump affected this pod, my sensors detect remains of quantic energy damaging the pod” Cheetor walks closer to the pod “which means…?” “the pod is a literal time bomb, if it explodes, it could create a wormhole that would consume all time and space” at the sound of those words, the spotted Maximal backs off quickly.

“Then why are we waiting? we have to destroy it before it destroys us!” yells Dinobot as he walks towards it while holding his sword, but Rattrap still on beast mode gets in the way, making Dinobot trip and fall “Chillax Choppa Face, you heard what Rhinox said, that thing could consume time and space if it explodes, do you want to take the risk?” argues Rattrap “at least I am willing to act, instead of merely standing like a vermin….” “Oh yeah?” begginns Rattrap “well at least I-” “Enough!” interrupts Optimus Primal “Rhinox, can you try to release the quantic energy from the pod without it causing a disaster?” Rhinox reflects in silence before changing to bot mode “I’ll see what I can do, but don’t get your hopes too high…”

Life of a predacon is no fun, Waspinator knows this, he has been soaring the skies pointlessly for quite a while now “Waspinator can’t fly anymore, Waspinator wants to go back to Darksyde” his laments sound through the mountains, but there’s no one who can hear them and pity him.

through his comm link he hears Megatron’s voice “Waspinator, what’s your status?”

“Waspinator is tired, no maximals in sight, can Waspinator go back now?”

“No Waspinator, the maximals are the exact reason I called you, our scanners located them a few meters away from your location and it seems they have encountered a stasis pod, yesss” Megatron explains, finishing his sentence with that weird ‘yes’ he tends to do when talking. “Go retrieve it, I will be sending backup to your location soon, yeesss” with that order, Waspinator went to the given coordinates as he lamented his situation.

“What’s the situation Rhinox?” Asked Optimus Primal to his comrade “have you managed to stabilize the pod?”

“not yet, quantic energy is quite delicate, any wrong move could be fatal, so I have to be extremely careful” reported the large maximal

“Understood, keep working”

It has been quite a while since Rhinox started working on the pod, and the group was starting to become impatient, especially Cheetor “ugh! How long will it take? I’m dying here!”

“quiet kiddo, none of us wants to be here but we are not complaining” Rattrap shuts him up

Suddenly the peace is interrupted by a buzzing sound coming from the sky, the maximals go into battle positions. “It’s Waspinator! I’ll handle him” yells Cheetor, as he charges with his gun in hand

In a few blasts he downs Waspinator, who transforms into bot mode and gets ready to engage, but before he can fire at anyone, the Maximals shoot at him and the poor predacon is blasted to pieces. 

Cheetor grins at the victory “that was easy” but Primal knows better than to celebrate before time “If Waspinator saw the pod then most likely Megatron knows about it, everyone stay alert, Rhinox, we need you to hurry up, the pod must not-” “Fall into Predacon hands?” it was to late, Megatron had arrived and behind him were Blackarachnia, Tarantulas, Scorponok, Inferno and Terrorsaur “I’m afraid it’s too late for that, we are taking the pod, so stand back unless you want to be obliterated, yesss” “Megatron, this pod is dangerously unstable, don’t engage” Optimus tries to warn Megatron to no avail. “Maximal lies; Predacons, terrorize” the predacons follow their leader’s orders and rush to their foes “Maximals, protect Rhinox and the pod!”

battle ensues between the two factions as Rhinox works on the pod, at this point everything he has tried to release the quantum energy had failed, and he was quickly running out of options, suddenly, his train of thought is interrupted when Tarantulas, the sneaky spider appears behind him “how about you step away and let me handle this?” Rhinox pulls out his gun at him and coldly answers “over my lifeless husk” that gives enough time for Cheetor to pounce to Tarantulas’ back, pinning him on the floor “I got your back Rhinox'' he makes a soldier salute at him, but as Tarantulas starts getting up, Cheetor goes back into battle stance, dragging the Predacon away from his comrade, who goes back to his thoughts; suddenly, he comes up with an idea, triggering the pod’s activation protocols! that could dissipate the quantum energy, but if could also detonate the pod, it was worth the risk trying

“Optimus, I need all of you to clear the area” Rattrap lands next to Rhinox “yeah… that’s easier said than done” he remarks, while covering his face from the firing from Scorponok’s blaster before running at him.

He is right, there is no way for the maximals to get away from the pod while the predacons want it, so he will have to get the pod away from THEM before trying anything, in a quick movement, Rhinox changes to beast mode, puts the pod on his back and run away from the battle; this doesn’t go unnoticed by the predacon leader “the maximal is taking the pod! get him” but his troops are unable to comply, as the Maximals have subdued them “what?” “it seems your men aren’t in conditions to follow, Megatron” mocks Optimus , who shoves Megatron into the ground, then he looks up to where Rhinox was heading “I hope your plan works my friend…” from below, Megatron laughs in silence, Cheetor notices “what’s so funny?” “nothing” responds Megatron with an innocent tone, Dinobot looks at him with suspicion, whenever Megatron is happy it cannot be good, he looks around at all the Predacons, there’s Terrorsaur, Blackarachnia, Tarantulas, Waspinator’s head trying to reach for his arm and Scorponok, he finally takes notice, Inferno is missing “where is Inferno?” Megatron laughs dramatically “oh you shall see, yess”.

A few meters away, Rhinox is preparing to activate the pod without noticing he is being watched, before pressing the activation button, he caresses the surface of the pod, as if he was adressing a child “don’t worry, if this works, you will awaken” “oh it will be okay” Rhinox turns around, finnaly seeing Inferno, the red ant Predacon is standing right in front of him “deliver the protoform to me, my queen will greatly appreciate it” as Rhinox internally cringes at Inferno refering to Megatron as his ‘queen’, he gives him a glare of defiance while slowly reaching out to the pod’s controls, the ant predacon takes notice “stay away from that panel” Rhinox stays still for a few seconds, then he slowly puts his hands up and backs away from the pod, Inferno starts walking towards it while laughing maniacally, what he didn’t know is that it had already been activated, when he was about to start reprogaming the protoform inside the pod as a predacon, the scan antenna appears on top of the pod and it starts searching its surroundings for an alt-mode, but as it does it starts glitching and shaking, the terrain it scans starts changing to show different time periods the cybertronians don’t recognize, the ground moves and electricity surrounds the pod as it emmits a blinding light.

When the light dissipates, Rhinox looks at the pod, realizing it had disappeared “what?” “what have you done!? where is it!?” the maximal turns at Inferno, who by the look of it, is enraged at the absence of the pod, he points his gun at Rhinox’s head “you shall be terminated for this” but before the ant can do anything, Cheetor fires from his back, behind him, the other Maximals approach, Inferno gets ready to fight them all but Megatron’s voice in his commlink interrupts it “Inferno, head back to base” he sighs before answering “yes, my queen” with that, Inferno takes off, heading to the predacon ship.

The maximals approach Rhinox, Optimus leading the group “where’s the pod?” Rhinox looks back at where it should be, a slight sadness visible in his optics “gone, the time surge caused by the activation of the pod caused a wormhole effect which made it disappear from our timeline” all the other maximals look at the scene in silence, until Optimus orders “let’s head back to base”

1983

“Hey kid! the control panel for the carousel broke again!” “on it!” another night, another ‘technical difficulty’ at the fair, ‘why is it that on the most busy days it happens the most?’ thinks Olivia Larson as she follows the carousel operator through the crowd of people.

After some walking, she reaches her destination, and as she expected, there is a good line of angry people in front of the carousel, she sets down her tools and opens the panel to start working on it “there’s the problem” she says to herself as she reaches to her toolbox for the things she needs; she works steadily for a while, taking her time, but at a constant pace “can’t you work any faster?” Olivia sighs, of course, there has to be THAT lady in every single game she attends to, as much as she would want to obliterate her, she has to conform with giving her usual answer  “not if I want to do this right ma’am” with that short answer she keeps working, until she hears another voice complaining ugh! How long will it take? I’m dying here! Exasperated, Olivia drops her tool and stands up “as I said, I want to do this right, so it will take as long as I need to-“ “who are you talking to?”  a very confused man in the line asks “none of us were talking” she looks at him surprised, ‘is this a joke?’ She thinks ‘I clearly heard someone’ “eh… Olivia? are you done?” asks the carousel operator behind her, Olivia turns around at him and pauses briefly “n-no, but I’m almost”.

After a few minutes of working, she sighs satisfied, she looks at the operator, who was standing next to her “alright, try turning it on now” he turned his key, and the carrousel started spinning and playing that cheesy song it plays; while turning her eyes at the song, she stand up, suddenly, she hears another voice stay away from that panel she jumps at the sound of it, and looks around trying to find whoever was talking “are you okay Olivia?” it’s the operator guy again, what was his name again? Tim, Kim… maybe Jim “Olivia?” he asks again “oh! yeah, I-I’m fine, I’m just tired, I will go check out and head home” “okay, see you tomorrow” “Bye!”

As Olivia entered her bedroom, she still felt uneasy “calm down Liv, you are just tired, get some sleep, you will see that by morning it will all be back to normal and you will be alone in your head again” she said to herself as she shoved herself into bed without even changing clothes “just sleep…”

Usually when waking up, Olivia is received by the sunrays coming from her window and the sound of her alarm clock aggressively forcing her to consciousness and reminding her she couldn’t stay in her soft bed, but that morning was different.

The sun was hitting her directly to her face, there was no alarm clock, and no soft bed; instead there was…  the sound of wild birds and a hard rock floor underneath her?

“what the…” she looks around as she stands up “am I dreaming?” suddenly, she tripped on a rock and went nose-dive into the hard painfull rocks “not a dream! not at all”

It was all real, she was really in the middle of a dryland with no sign of civilization on sight, no food, no water,and  no way to communicate with anyone but herself “calm down Olivia… you will be okay, you just need to walk, there must be a town or something nearby.”

Unknown to her, there weren't any human settlements where she was, or should I risk sounding cliche and say…

When she was

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“Optimus, we have detected a sudden burst of quantum energy in the area”

To be continued...

there it is, what do you think? if you liked it stay tuned for part 2 and remember to reblog

EDIT: part 2 is out already, here it is

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also, here is what I imagine Olivia would look like

image made in https://picrew.me/en/image_maker/482731

#maccadam #macadam #beast wars #transformers beast wars #transformers #fanfic #fanfiction #Optimus primal #Cheetor #Rhinox #Rattrap #Dinobot #maximals #megatron #inferno #waspinator #predacons #Olivia Larson #original human #original character #transformers fanfiction #beast wars fanfiction

[bedlamsbard]

For the ask game, 1 and 24.

the character everyone gets wrong

I said Steve the last time I did this (and I do think he gets it the worst) and while Loki is the obvious runner-up, I find that the Thor films (+ A1, IW, Loki) are so inconsistent that tbh, that's more understandable. So -- Natasha. There's a huge tendency throughout the fandom to flatten Natasha out in ways that are wildly inconsistent with her actual portrayal in canon, some of which is spillover from comics, some of which is just taking her at face value, some of which is just being unwilling to pay attention to what's onscreen. Like, the number of times I see people being unwilling to acknowledge that Natasha is Clint's best friend? A lot! Or that Natasha is (minus five minutes in CACW) consistently on Steve's side, not even in a shippy way? Also a lot! Or -- this might be a more cosplay-specific one, but I've seen it in fic and edits and art as well, the idea that Natasha is very...I'm probably going to use the wrong word here, but that Natasha is very, very femme, in a "always wears bold makeup, paints her nails, red lip, has her tits out" kind of way. The only time we see Natasha do that kind of, mm, performative femininity is IM2 and the beginning of The Avengers when she's literally not being herself and I'd also make a strong argument for AoU here, though with AoU I do think she's deliberately presenting herself in that specific for PR purposes. (Besides, you know, Joss Whedon being terrible about her.) Obviously there is a certain amount that's there because this is a movie and everything is a little more exaggerated. Like, even though in all movies but one Natasha is in heels or wedges in her tactical gear it's at least partially because they have to get 5'3" ScarJo into the same frame as all their six-foot tall boys as well as being ~sexy; Natasha is probably not wearing 3-inch wedges into a fight, and we know that because none of her shoes in BW have a heel/wedge on them. (I also strongly suspect BW may be the only film where she's wearing a sports bra in the suits.) Some of it is probably spillover from comics, because comics Natasha is more femme fatale-ish than MCU Natasha.

(Obviously for cosplay purposes do whatever the hell you want, these are just trends I've noticed; I am in this community too, which is why I see it come up over and over again in the first place. This is the only time I've gone "wow, I do not have the tits for this," which is actually quite disconcerting if it's never come up as ~something to be self-conscious about before.)

Some of it is also fandom's general propensity to flatten female characters in general -- the team mom thing, the only one with the braincell thing, the femme fatale thing, etc. Like, yes, it's funny the first ten times, and then it's "...we're really not watching the same movies, huh?"

24. topic that brings up the most rancid discourse

this is more like a "top five" topics than a single one SO in no particular order

was baby Loki kidnapped or rescued (child abandonment was and is a real thing, but in ancient/medieval cultures it is both (a) real and legal and (b) a common mythological trope, have you never heard of Oedipus)

Sokovia Accords and everything surrounding them (even canon regretted this one, which is kind of a shame because I would have liked to see the MCU treat it seriously after CACW -- only Ant-Man and the Wasp and Black Widow actually started to deal with it, and it got resolved offscreen years later in She-Hulk)

did the Asgardians deserve to be genocided (what the hell is wrong with you people, why have I been in real fandoms where this is a real question)

Loki/Sylvie (not my ship, I don't care, but hoo boy)

is Endgame good or bad (woof)

#windona #bedlam replies #bedlam watches the mcu

[electronicyarn]

Almost Live Blogging RWBY Vol. 9

Out of all the directions Volume 9 could have gone, I would have predicted none of it. Well, except the time dilation. Just in the wrong direction, I guess. So partial credit? But what did I think of this latest volume?

In my opinion, this volume is easily the best RWBY has ever been. Well worth the wait. The writing was consistently good to great. The art direction was terrific. The character beats were spot on. And the humor was…okay. (A big improvement.)

I suppose I should stop being coy. OH MY GOD! CANON BUMBLEBY! THEY SAID THE THING! THEY KISSED! HOLY CRAP! HOLY CRAP! HOLY CRAP! CUE THE OFFICE MEME! OH MY GOD, IT’S HAPPENING! EVERYBODY STAY CALM!

I never, ever thought in a million years that they would actually have the stones to pull that trigger. Well credit where credit’s due. Honestly? I kind of feel like the dog who finally caught the car. I’ve got canon Bumbleby, but what do I do with it? I was planning on writing a short fic that takes place during Volume 9 where Yang and Blake confess. Now…I don’t have to? I was not prepared for this.

It actually took me about three times as long as that scene’s runtime to watch it. I kept having to pause and walk away because I saw what they were doing, and I didn’t believe it. I was trying to emotionally prepare for coming so close and being denied. In fact, allow me to reenact (in prose form) the very beginning of that scene for me.

Yang: “But how do we take the next step?”

Me: *eyes narrow*

Me: “No…. No way…. Impossible….”

Me: *pauses and walks away for ten minutes*

Now there’s so much else to talk about. I really, really liked Ruby’s character arc in this volume. I loved the flash back to Summer Rose. I like what they did with Jaune. I liked the cute, polite paper people desperately scheming to embrace the sweet release of death. But forget all that. I want to talk about Neo!

Neo is RWBY’s best character, easily. I’m pretty sure this Volume was her swan song, but I can’t bring myself to be disappointed. Nothing that good can last forever. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing. Things need to end before they’re milked to death and ruined, or the good idea trough runs dry. (See Star Wars/Trek. Please pick whichever one resonates with you more.)

Now before I saw Volume 9 I would’ve said that them having Neo speak would’ve been a mistake. Oh how wrong I was. Neo speaking through a Greek choir of departed friends? Glorious. Absolutely glorious. And then the cat. Oh the cat. The cat made one, fatal mistake. He messed with Neo. You never, ever mess with Neo. That’s how you get murdered. Instantly and horribly. When it happened I literally jumped up from my seat and shouted something to the effect of, “YOU F!@#ED WITH NEO, CAT! NOW YOU’RE DEAD!” Not language I typically use, by the way.

And Neo’s send off. Only Neo can stop Neo. And even that was an example of how good a character she is. Without saying a word, she said to Ruby, “Don’t forget that I thoroughly beat you.” Goodbye, Neo. Goodbye. You were the flame that burned twice as bright. As beautiful as you were deadly.

(Yes I know that a new Neo…uh…a neo Neo? Will likely appear in a future volume, but while she might be awesome, she won’t be the same. You just can’t top skipping through a field of death without a care in the world with the Relic she stole from Salem because she knows she’s going to get away with it.)

So yes. More RWBY please. Now. I know there’s been a lot of drama surrounding Rooster Teeth recently. I don’t know what any of it is nor do I care to because that’s not how I engage with media. So I guess I’ll have to say the little prayer I always say when a new RWBY volume comes out. Please oh please don’t mess this up.

…

Oh, and I’m pretty sure Team RWBY+J has met God? So…have fun with that theological can of worms, kids.

#RWBY #Live Blogging #Volume 9 #Spoilers

[ofmermaidstories]

Dear sweet mermie…to combat the bad vibes and help us ignore the recent chapter update and the thing we dare not speak of out loud 😌

what are your favorite headcannons you have for our favorite blasty gremlin? 💥 mines is that he isn’t too big into skincare but it never fails that he ends up using and going through all your products and even gets a bit pouty when you do a face mask without him 😭

AND!! Okay okay hear me out… If you could write a self ship with him (if you’re comfortable telling us if not totally understand!!) how would you want y’alls meet cute to go down!??!

I hope you’re doing well and here’s to screaming into the abyss 🤍

I had to think about this, so here’s what I’ve got:

It’s a clear, sunny day. Kinda chilly. I have the day free and none of my friends are available, so I take my time getting ready and dress up and go into the city—just for something to do, for somewhere to be.

Despite the aimlessness I end up picking up a volume I’ve been meaning to buy for ages. There’s an artbook I’ve want, but it’s big and I’m too lazy to carry it around with me for the rest of the day. The bookshop I’m in is lit up like the inside of a jeweller’s case and has a cafe that does collaborations with some high-end fashion brand and as a result, has trendy totebags on display. I buy one because I’m stupid (it costs like, $60). My favourite department store is close by so I spend some time lingering in the beauty section and wiping my grubby little fingers against all the samples and eventually I impulse buy a new perfume. It smells like… I dunno, expensive baby powder and flowers that’ve just been cut. It’s beautiful, and the shop assistant folds the tissue paper she’s wrapping it in so that it doesn’t need to be held with tape. When I’m out of the store I pull it out of all that wrapping and it’s box anyway.

Outside it’s a perfectly normal day. There’s an overpriced coffee chain nearby and I grab a iced latte (on oat milk, vanilla syrup, extra shot). The girls that work here are cheerful but also really young and one of them keeps talking to her friend who’s working with her about their favourite Pro Hero, who comes in often. Something always goes wrong with my order here but whatever, it’s not that big of a deal. It street is busy—the city’s busy, people are going about their lives and I’ve stopped in front of some giant window display for a trendy, fast-fashion kind of store, my drink in hand—there’s another department store up ahead that has an entire floor of stationary supplies and I want some new watercolours, maybe some washi tape, a letter set to send letters with—

And then there’s an explosion.

Do you know what all my favourite x Reader tropes have in common, when it comes to BNHA? The Readers have absolutely nothing to do with the romantic interest until they literally collide somehow. They’re not Pro Heroes themselves, they didn’t go to school with the canon cast, they don’t work with them (unless the story is starting with them starting at the agency). They are their own people with their own lives doing their own thing until, for whatever reason, they’re thrown into this superhero’s path. So that’s what’s happening here—it’s a clear, sunny day, kind of chilly, and I am minding my own goddamn business until that entire street erupts into violence and chaos.

I dunno what the villain is trying to achieve—disruption? Murder? He wants to bring to attention the needless and often fatal destruction these state-sanctioned beat-downs bring? He’s just a fucking asshole? It doesn’t matter; he lets loose, and everyone on that street suffers for it. There’s a car pile up—some tourist on her honeymoon is screaming their head off because their husband just copped a chest full of glass. People have either dropped in instinct or have dropped because they’re hurt and it’s all anyone can do but watch as the firepower comes in. The only hero nearby, who could come swiftly—Great Explosion Murder God: Dynamight.

That’s how we meet—in the middle of a ruined street, smoke and concrete dust triggering my goddamn asthma, my brand new perfume now smashed on the ground, the smell overpowering, mingling with the burn of all that smoke. Maybe he’s nearby, I dunno—when the explosion went off he was right behind it, chasing after our bad guy and in the middle of like, broken glass and my stupid shopping and rubble, we end up just a few feet away from each other, similarly trying to shake off the attack. He’s gotten good, by this stage, at assessing damage—one look at me and nah, she’s fine, maybe just shellshocked—but there’s another explosion just overhead and he’s shouting something—I dunno what, my ears are probably ringing by now—and he’s off, grinding his boots into the glass of what was my stupid perfume and disappearing, his world narrowing down to the need to contain that asshole before he hurts anyone else.

And it’s it, LMFAO, that’d be as close as I’d get to meeting a superhero and honestly probably as close as I’d want to get. 💀 My blood pressure is rising just thinking about it omfg, it would be so fucking stressful being near any of them. 💀💀 Also, I cannot maintain eye contact with men so even if the initial meeting was less violent i would be looking at anything but his face sooo yes, this is it, LOL. 💀

#ofmermaidstories-asks #does this count as a drabble/prompt? LOL #im not really a headcanony person tho because i just tend to write them into whatever im working on 🧐 #oh how she rocks: kedsandtubesocks