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ponyosmom35 · 4 months

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bookshelves and dinner

Simon Ghost Riley x reader

Liability series chapter twenty five

synopsis: simon helps reader build a bookshelf, to thank him for his work she tries to make him a special dinner, which does not turn out the way she hoped.

Liability:

https://www.tumblr.com/ponyosmom35/733401347573088256/simon-ghost-riley?source=share

“Si no, you don’t have to do that” she refuses crossing her arms

“I want to” he shrugs as he opens the massive box containing her bookshelf and takes out the individual items, organizing them.

“I feel bad-”

“Why would you feel bad? Its no problem”

“I do appreciate it, I was in way over my head with this”

“Thats why you have me” he smiles, she laughs and wraps her arms around his neck, placing a kiss on his cheek

She was thrilled by the idea, but had admitted that she had little to no knowledge about carpentry. Simon, with his patient demeanor, assured her that he would guide her through the process.

As Simon unpacked the tools and laid out the wooden planks, she gazed at the pile of materials with a mix of excitement and confusion. "Where do we start?" she asked, slightly intimidated by the task at hand.

Simon chuckled, "No worries, love. We'll take it step by step." He began reading the instructions.

Throughout the day, she attempted to contribute offering a pair of spare hands if necessary. Simon, with his gentle guidance and encouragement, turned the shelf-building session into a conversation about their most embarrassing moments. Laughing as she described how she passed out after someone drew her blood once in medical school.

As the day progressed, the bookshelf began to take shape. Simon's strong and steady hands worked tirelessly, making precision cuts and securing the wooden pieces together.

By the evening, the massive shelf stood proudly in the middle of her library, ready to house her beloved book collection. She marveled at the finished product, her eyes sparkling with gratitude. Simon, wiping sweat from his brow, smiled.

She realized one thing about him that day, not only was he so sexy when he built things for her, but his love language was clearly acts of service. He enjoyed doing things to help her. Her heart swelled as for what he didn’t say through his words, he showed through his actions.

"Thank you, Simon," she said, genuinely touched by his efforts.

Simon hugged her, "anytime love, why don’t we get your books on here?”

As they arranged the books together, she couldn't help but appreciate not only the sturdy shelf that now adorned her new library but also the patient and caring man who stood before her. Helping her place the books in a color-coordinated system.

After building the bookshelf together, she wanted to thank Simon by making him dinner. Unfortunately, her cooking skills didn't match her enthusiasm, and she ended up with a mess in the kitchen. Feeling upset, she couldn't hide her disappointment.

Simon, noticing her frustration, stepped in to help. He reassured her that everything was okay and suggested they work together to salvage the situation. She was relieved and slightly embarrassed, as she took a break while Simon took charge of the kitchen.

"Let's turn this around together," Simon said placing a hand on her shoulder, rolling up his sleeves.

She sighed tears of frustration filling her eyes. "I wanted to surprise you but I think I messed it up."

Simon chuckled and placed a kiss on her head. "Hey don’t do that, baby you’re fine. We'll figure it out, just talk to me"

She explained her vision, and Simon began to assess the situation, skillfully turning the chaotic scene into a more organized cooking space.

As they worked side by side, She couldn't help but express her disappointment. "I really wanted this to be special."

Simon smiled. "It already is special, love. This is 5 star dining compared to the shit that's served on base"

She laughs at the memory of the meals she had on base and sniffles. "there's that smile"

Once the meal was ready, they sat down to eat. feeling a bit guilty, started to apologize again. However, Simon stopped her with a warm smile.

"Listen, love, there's no need for apologies. I enjoyed helping with the bookshelf, and now I'm happy to take care of dinner. You don't have to do everything perfectly. I'm here because I want to be, not because of what you can or can't do."

She looked at Simon, appreciating his understanding. "But you deserve to be taken care of too," she insisted.

Simon chuckled. you've given me everything I could ever ask for just by being here. I appreciate your effort, but it's not about what you can or can't do. It's about us being together and enjoying each other's company."

She takes a bite of the perfectly grilled steak and looks at him in shock, holding her hand over her mouth. She'd never been a fan of red meats, however this was a masterpiece.

"how is it?" he asks

"this is the best steak I've ever had"

"It's a gift" he smirks

"how are you so good at everything?" she asks in shock

"remains to be seen"

"this is delicious"

"thank you love, name any dish and I'll make it for you"

As they shared a simple yet heartwarming meal, she realized that Simon cherished the simple moments they spent together more than any grand gesture. Their laughter echoed in the kitchen, turning what started as a kitchen mishap into a precious moment with the man she loved.

Tag list:@vivi123abc

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silverskye13 · 13 days

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could I ask how far into building you are when it comes to the uhhh

court of remembrance? was it court? church? order! the order of remembrance lol

how far have you build out how they work, like their common routines/rituals/etc.

I was considering making my hels!oc part of em cause the hermit-adjacent/"original" player version of my sona is really big on documenting things as they have poor memory, and I want that to be something that ties the two together? if that makes sense?

I'm so sorry this got so long. I. Have a lot of fun world building.

My notes on the Order of Remembrance, as cohesively as I can jot them down, below:

Sooo, when I was figuring out hels stuff, the Order of Remembrance [OR for short] kinda turned up as the equivalent of a culture developing an afterlife, in a world where "afterlife" demonstrably doesn't exist. What would you replace with the idea of an eternal spirit/soul, in a world where superstition and religion still exist? What do you cope with? How do you comfort? Who fills the gaps and holes in the community that people slip through, and why? What informs purpose and meaning?

Memory, the importance of remembrance, the idea that you owe it to the people around you to remember they existed, and that existence affected your life. The idea that you, as an individual, can make someone's life matter by celebrating them, mourning them, even hating them. The universe is indifferent. The greatest sin a helsmet can commit is being indifferent as well.

This started the Remembrance Walls, which gave them importance as landmarks and places of spirituality. And any place with importance deserves protection, preservation, and accessibility.

OR probably started as a small neighborhood collective dedicated to preserving the Remembrance Walls. Which turned into being the people who also supplied the bricks made for those walls, and helping people carve them. Which turned into people who would check in with folks in the neighborhood that hadn't been seen in awhile, making sure they were safe, and taking their names down if they were gone. Eventually a collective turns into an organization, and the ritual of that collective turns into a religion. Now there are helsmets who dedicate their lives, or large sums of money and material goods, to the church. In turn, the church gives back to the community in any way they can, because the more people are involved with each other, the more memories they make, the more that can be preserved.

This is also why OR is so big. Successful people in hels want a legacy that's remembered, so you put your name on every landmark in town -- the OR cathedral is a massive landmark. Memory is important [even the most self centered and heinous need purpose and fulfillment] so a lot of people associate themselves with the church in some way or another. Being remembered is a goal for everyone, not just the community minded. The OR will be important until memory stops being important.

The Staff:

Members directly serving the OR in an official capacity are: Priests/clerics [with one presiding Head/High Priest], scribes, clerks, historians, brickmakers, knights [and squires], and one or two paladins. Various members of the official congregation [they consider all of hels their congregation, given everyone deserves to be remembered, but the official congregation are those who actually attend the church services and functions] will also work for the church if they can donate relevant skills -- this is a part of the church's community building. They will seek needs and fill them with skilled individuals within the church or, if they don't have a recommendation, will contact other churches for members of their congregation. If you need a stone mason for a project, a jeweler for a custom piece, or someone to provide wheat for your new bakery, and don't know where to find one, asking at the OR cathedral is a good place to start.

Priests: Deal with the more spiritual and communal aspects of memory and remembrance. The church has divided the city into districts, and every district has at least one priest who regularly attends it, though the church's goal is to have 3 per district. Every district has at least one remembrance wall, and it's the priest's job to know all the names on that wall, as well as to know as many people as they can in their district, so they can do regular check ins on their well-being. They hold services to add new names to their walls, host and organize community events for their districts [plays, cookouts, parties, gatherings, etc]. They don't pray in the traditional sense -- Memory is more of an idea than a true deity -- but their prayers involve memorizing names, events, dates. A lot of priests will write songs and ballads to aid in this, which they will perform for each other or sing at organized events.

Scribes/clerks/historians: Exactly what it says on the tin. Stationed at the church, these guys get down to the brass tacks of putting ink to paper and codifying memory. They keep accurate records of everything from city economics to books written to personal anecdotes, and they guard their work jealously. Transcribing is a job of great importance, and accurate scribes are revered by the church. The OR has been known to pay a small fortune to individuals who can write quickly, accurately and legibly. Most of the statues decorating their cathedral are scribes revered for their dedication to their craft. Historians meanwhile function as both researchers and, to an extent, unintentional journalists, following developments in hels so they can document them as they happen. While the OR doesn't own news or run a newspaper, the handful of newspapers in town are all run by people who either used to work for the OR, or have friends on the OR historical staff.

[It's important to note the historians and clerks aren't detectives or police. They find information and write it down, they do not solve crimes or prosecute criminals. However, their thoroughness and impartiality means they're often called on as witnesses and informants to crimes. They have been attacked before for either sticking their noses in business someone didn't want remembered, or for providing information someone wanted ignored/erased. Their documents hold a lot of weight.]

This division is also in charge of the OR's extensive library. There is one main library in the cathedral, where every collected written work the library can get its hands on exists. They collect everything from journals, to poetry, to fiction writing, to recipe books. Anything written that can be remembered. They also keep transcripts of hymns and songs written by priests and knights, and up to date registries of the names on the remembrance walls. There is a second, public library that is free for hels to access, which contains every copy the scribes have gotten around to making from the main library. They encourage people to make their own copies of the library works they borrow, and can be paid to make specialty copies of popular works.

[Given how hard it is to grow large amounts of paper in hels, most books in the OR collection are written on vellum (hog skin). Almost every off-world smuggler in hels has a regular customer with the OR if they collect paper/sugar cane on their travels. OR has a current project trying to put every book they own on paper (The Nice Copy TM) and every 2nd or 3rd copy of a book on vellum. Only their best scribes are allowed to write paper copies.]

Knights: Knights are a relatively new addition to the OR staff, in that they weren't really needed when hels was small. As hels got bigger, however, and things like vandalism and crime became big and unruly, knights eventually made their way onto the scene, starting as priests with particularly good PVP skills, and eventually graduating to in-house trained fighters. You can still see their priestly roots in their practices. They too are assigned to districts. They too memorize the names on their associated walls and try to make themselves known in the neighborhoods they patrol. Instead of organizing events and focusing on the social aspects, however, they focus on making a safe place for people to live. They aren't police. Unless the crime is strictly related to memory [for example, destruction of stones on the remembrance walls] they don't track people down and drag them off to jail. They do help the community though. They will stop active crimes, they will stay with people who feel unsafe, they break up street fights, they escort their priests in rougher parts of town, they volunteer to clear out mobs that wander into the city, and have even been known to simply help with building projects for people who need a few extra hands around. Because of their generally neutral disposition towards events in hels [they protect individuals and their church, instead of business or gang interests] they are sometimes asked to be conflict mediators for battling factions in the city who are trying to reach a negotiation point. As a whole, the knights can always be found walking in groups of 2-5 on their routes. They're very rarely seen alone.

The Cathedral:

Paladins: Paladins are an enigmatic rarity for OR. Generally speaking, a paladin is a knight or priest of a given order embued with supernatural power by a deity. OR, as a godless religion, shouldn't be able to get them -- and yet sometimes they do manage to pop up. Some people think they're evidence of a Universe that actually does care about hels, sending someone who can literally fight for the rights of people to be remembered. Only a handful of paladins have ever been called, and they seem to coincidentally pop up whenever someone has done great harm to memory: massive destruction of remembrance walls, burning books, intentionally trying to erase someone from history, fraud. Generally they are compelled, like a very angry sleepwalker, to track down whoever was responsible and stop them. Sometimes this entails violence, but more often than not it involves the perpetrator being imprisoned for a very long time by what amounts to a preternaturally knowledgeable lawyer. It is probably from the OR paladins that the rumors first started that, if you angered the OR, they would have you forgotten [who else could strike someone from the memory of the world, than a guardian of memory itself?]. When they're not actively pursuing holy justice, the paladins look and act pretty normal, though their memory skills are uncanny, near perfect, and they have the habit of just Knowing Things they shouldn't be able to -- speaking and reading languages they've never learned, prophetic visions, etc. When they're being compelled to justice, they describe it as being "dreamlike". In the same way in a dream you Know you can fly despite it being untrue in reality, a compelled OR paladin Knows a destruction of memory has happened, and is unable to stop pursuing that destruction until it's been righted. In the moment, paladins describe the feeling as intensely peaceful: the ability to Know and be Sure. The only frustration is when forces actively try to hinder their task. Because of the intensity of their compulsion, they often have to fight to keep up with basic needs, and it's not uncommon for paladins to lose weight, fall into sleep deprived psychosis, and collapse from exhaustion. Paladins released from their compulsion often have to be nursed back to health again, though none yet have expressed regrets about the rough treatments of their bodies. The way they see it, whatever force compelling them has never been human, and therefore doesn't understand the toll it takes on a living body.

As with all paladins in hels, while they're recovering or in between compulsions, they tie a peace knot around their weapon to symbolize their dormancy.

Squires and apprentices: alongside their regular training with their chosen staff and/or clergy, squires and apprentice clerics/scribes/historians work as the general help staff of the cathedral. If errands need running, someone needs contacted, a mantle needs dusted, an odd job needs filled, they're the ones who catch the chores. They also have the very important responsibility of brick making -- or helping with brick making. The cathedral does employ master brick makers, but those brick makers often need extra hands, so every day the squires and apprentices set aside time to make bricks. This is a time of concentration and meditation, and the apprentices are encouraged not to talk during the process. When each batch has finished baking, the master brickmaker working with the group will call an end to the silence. When this ritual started, the ending was a lot more reverent. Over the years though, the brickmakers have taken more joy in their work than solemnity. It's not uncommon for the brickmakers to break the silence with increasingly bad jokes, rewarding the apprentices that laugh first.

The Head/High Priest: The high priest differs from the other priests and clerics by taking on mostly administrative work. They do not work alone. They have a board of 10 priests, clerks and scribes that help keep things balanced. Balance is the high priest's main objective. The OR excels because it stays as neutral as possible in all of hels's affairs. It does its best to owe nothing to anyone, repays all its debts, and doesn't work with one or two of the various hels factions exclusively. Its goal is to remain as uncorrupt as possible in a system rampant with political and financial corruption. Hels is a place full of evil halves and dark mirrors, a lot of very selfish and manipulative people end up in power, so it's a hard line to walk.

The First Church of Hels, also known as the Cathedral of Remembrance, was the first dedicated church erected in hels. It started out much smaller, a netherbrick building with a brickworks in the back for providing stones. As they grew in importance, so too did the building, until eventually the large cathedral was erected. It was a massive effort from many different hels denizens, and almost every room in the cathedral has a place to display the names of contributors to the project, from the people who laid the mosaic tiles to the folks who soldered the stained glass. The original bricks of the first iteration of the church are enshrined as a pathway that leads through the back garden of the building to their new, much more impressive brickworks. These foundational bricks remain empty, and are blanket dedicated to any helsmet who managed to slip through the cracks in society, whose names were forgotten, never known, or never noted.

The cathedral has one main sanctuary where worship and prayer are performed. They have one holy day a week where all their various members, and any congregation who wants to join, gather to sing songs and hymns, poetry and lists. There are meditations done on works written by bygone individuals, studies and philosophies discussed. While the topics of the main service change from week to week, the basic formula of singing/recital, meditation/discussion, singing/recital happens every time. They open and end every service with the list of names added to the walls that week.

During the week, the cathedral plays host to any number of meetings and events. They have many rooms dedicated as spaces for community gatherings, from small clubs for youths to workshops to food drives. People are constantly coming and going from the place.

Because of the church's center as a place of refuge, history and memory -- and by extension, power -- it has no small amount of detractors and enemies. HumanCleo doesn't allow the OR's knights on her turf, in part because of fear of retaliation: if her gangs attack any of the Order, she risks a paladin ripping down her criminal empire brick by brick. The Demon is one of OR's paper suppliers, and has been known to try to corner and intimidate scribes sent to document his shipments. Many of the historians cannot walk the city without an escort. Even their clerks have been scouted by influential merchants who want an expert in numbers looking over their books. Scribes with a particularly steady hand have been harassed and attempted coerced about forging documents and reproducing copies of cursed books. Thieves and vandals have attempted break-ins of their treasury. They have also had to deal with gang fights and general violence at their larger events. This is where their connections with other churches come in handy. Organizations like the Church of Blood and Steel, with knight and paladins who specialize in fighting, are often contacted to help when the OR needs a little more muscle. In return, the OR will loan them use of their scribes, arrange for their monuments to be built at a discount, etc.

The OR has a few loose ties to the Colosseum. All the statues of past champions that line the corridors are designed, drafted and prototyped by OR affiliated builders. Their epitaphs are drafted by their scribes. They have a team of knights whose main job is to attend Colosseum events and study and transcribe fighting styles of the various fighters, so their martial memory isn't lost when they return to the universe. They also record the Colosseum matches, and send a copy of their notes to the showrunners for the use in writing future fighting arcs.

[Also this is just me, but I think there's a writer in hels somewhere that spends all day making serialized literature out of the Colosseum matches, and submits them to the newspaper for people to read after a match. They probably also are very grateful for the OR's Colosseum notes lol].

I think! That's! Everything! I can think of! Though I'm sure I'll remember something else in an hour! Oh well!

#rns asks #order of remembrance #the order of remembrance #hels worldbuilding #hels world building #hhhhhhh oh my gosh #sorry this feels like it might be too much info #i tried to keep it organized

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anamelessfool · 2 months

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1974

Thinking about former Boy Scout Primo taking his kid brothers out for a camping night. He plans it all for two weeks, mapping out the campsite location, distributing supplies to packs so his brothers don't get overwhelmed by weight. He loved camping and orienteering, but as the official Fat Kid of the troop he didn't have the best experience possible. He had always suspected he would have a better time if his companions were brothers. He had wanted brothers his whole childhood. He's 21 now and back at the Ministry. These brothers are significantly younger than him, yes. But now he has a little troop of his own.

Terzo gets lost basically immediately. Primo and Secondo spend most of the afternoon tracking him down. Firstly because a nine year old shouldn't be alone in the woods and secondly because he is carrying most of their food. At last Terzo jumps on them from the shrubs in excitement, a huge grin on his face, shoes tied around his neck and a new massive collection of brass shotgun shells in his hands. A few of them eventually go into his secret cigar box of trinkets.

They arrive finally at the overlook, the fabled camping spot. Terzo spends his time gathering sticks and throwing choice ones off the cliff, laughing as they fall a hundred feet to the ground below. Secondo idly watches Primo untangle the tent and struggle to set it up himself. The oldest chatters enthusiastically about some fond memory or life lesson or something equally only interesting to himself.

Secondo, as prissy and sheltered about nature as a housecat, hates every moment of the experience until nightfall when Primo builds them a little fire. He methodically throws things into the flames, hypnotized by how the fire curls and consumes all. At last the clouds clear, the stars come out and the twelve-year old scans the sky. "That's Cygnus," he says. "And the star Deneb."

"Oh, you know constellations!" Primo grins, leaning closer. Terzo stares up into the stars and yells every time he sees the brilliant slash of a falling meteor streak the sky. The Persieds are falling, like they do each year. And finally Primo lives somewhere where he can actually see them.

"I have to," Secondo says flatly. As much as he hates now being demoted to middle brother, he can't help but feel a smug satisfaction from Primo's enthusiasm. "And over there is Vega, from the Lyre. And Altair. In Aquila."

Primo bites his lip, eagerly searching for the correct bright specks. In any other adult the expression would be patronizing. But Primo truly is fascinated by it all. "Oh, does Secondo want to be a sailor?" He teases.

"No. A magician."

"Maestro Secondo, eh?" Primo grins in the dark. Beside them both, Terzo struggles to eat a flaming marshmallow off a stick and through some secret sixth sense Primo catches him before the molten sugar does. "Hey! Give it a second, damn!" He returns to the stars. "You've got a way to go. I don't think any magicians are under thirty. Most of them nearly forty."

"And there is Cassiopeia, the big W." Secondo continues without batting an eye. "One can become a Sibling at sixteen. I will start my training then."

"Wow, already got your life organized, huh," Primo replies. "I was a dishwasher at sixteen."

"And I'll be Papa Emeritus by thirty-five."

"That's a whole lot of work." Primo sighs good-naturedly, but Secondo can feel the chiding behind it. And the boy absolutely seethes from it. The stars are organized. Why not everything else?

"I can handle it," he scoffs.

My Fic List | I like writing sibling drama mostly...

#ghost band headcanons #papa emeritus ii #papa emeritus iii #papa emeritus i #domestic fluff #the band ghost

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evilvvithin · 1 year

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Completely random König's HCs I wrote down in the spawn of past few weeks

• cat person (been mentioned many times but i just had to include it anyway)

• anonymously donates to multiple organizations that help and protect animals

• one time he owned multiple male beta fishes and didn’t realize they can’t live together. It took him a long before he finally stopped buying a new one every time they fought to one’s death

• prefers simple showers to baths, not only he doesn’t really fit in them but he loves to feel the water run down his body it soothes him

• he likes sour pickles and is able to just open jar and eat it whole in one sitting

• has visible scar on his face going down from his eyebrow which he carries with him since childhood, it's a memory at one of his first "real" fights

• the most badass, rough, toughest dudes at first sight till you get to know him. He's still badass even after you know him, but you realize he's way more friendly and sweet actually

• very talkative, loves throwing random dad jokes after every sentence if he can

• metal head, don't even @ me

• he wears at least 2 massive rings

• collects his fave band shirts

• loves to read more than watching TV

• only owns couple of fake plants cause he's scared he wouldn't be able to take care about normal ones

• he is like a cat himself. You gotta earn his trust and friendship. He just doesn't actively go making friends because he'd been hurt a lot in the past by his friends bullying him or making fun of him

• he loves sweets, anything sweet

• has like 10 lip balms but doesn't know where he left any of them so he keeps buying new ones

• adores old cars and owns one

• hates summer or warm weather in general

• loves sweets but when it comes to coffee he drinks the blackest, most bitter one. Just pure black, no milk no sugar

• loves going for a walk in the forest when he wakes up super early in the morning and it's still foggy and dark outside

• literally only uses his phone for texting (or looking at pics of you 24/7)

• loves to smell good and doesn't mind spending unholy amount of money for a good cologne

• doesn't like the taste of fish

• has large hands with long fingers

• can't stand mint smell or anything mint flavored especially chocolate

• loves talking to elderly people or randomly helping them with shopping bags and such

• has few large and visible scars over his back and chest and tons of small, almost invisible ones

• he literally looks like Jim Boeven unmasked and that is conclusion I came to after staring at him in the game menu for days and now I cannot picture König any other way (let's hope they reveal his face soon 🤞)

• loves cooking and has custom kitchen built for his height so he can comfortably cook in it, it makes the kitchen almost unusable for you everything is so high even the table

#some been said probably idk these are my random thoughts about König feel free to agree or disagree #könig #call of duty #headcannons #könig mw2 #könig cod #könig call of duty #könig x reader #mari.fic

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animehouse-moe · 1 year

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June 2023 Collection Update: The Iceberg

You know the comparison I'm making here. You start at the tip of the iceberg, and think it's not too bad, then you continue working your way down.... and it just keeps going, never seeming to stop. Well, I think I've made it past the surface of the iceberg, and am staring down the absolute scale of what remains submerged. So yeah, Mt. Everest is left to climb still, but I've also got a pretty sizeable hill behind me to share.

I'll start with a haul that came in today (and one I picked up yesterday). Used manga and light novels has been a gold mine for me lately, though you do have to be careful with some listings as you might get volumes in worse conditions than they appear (though most of the time not something sandpaper can't fix).

The No Game No Life was just sorta a bonus to the Is This A Zombie?, but it actually helped bring down the cost per volume thanks to a deal I made (always try and barter for a few dollars here and there through stuff like FB Marketplace and Mercari and the like). I'd been looking for Is This A Zombie? for a while though, and was incredibly excited to come across a completed set. Though I do wish they'd bring the light novels over.

Following this up, or I guess coming before it(?), was this very interesting manga haul which is best explained as a story.

Originally, I had found a dirt cheap Rosario to Vampire manga box set on Facebook Marketplace (to the tune of 90CAD), and asked about getting more pictures because the only image was of the outside of the box set. Seller doesn't respond for a week, and then sends the image out of nowhere. I talk about going through with the sale and getting a shipping label sorted out (cause even with shipping it'd be crazy cheap). They don't respond, at least not until Thursday of last week which was about another week's wait. They say "hey, I'm going to be in your city on Sunday, are you good to meet me to pick up the set?". Immediately, I feel like I'm either going to get scammed or mugged, but it was neither. They show up with the 90 dollar box set and I leave with all my organs and my wallet alongside the box set.

Now, onto a bit of explanation. As you could tell from the images above, I'm kinda running out of space. I know, I need to get another bookshelf to store it all on, but finding the right spot for it and getting a cheaper Billy is a PITA, so instead I've been putting that focus and effort into finding more and more cool sets and series.

Like this Reiko The Zombie Shop. It's an older Josei horror series which I thought was super cool, and when I found a listing for it for just around 10CAD a vol I jumped on it. It's a very interesting piece of history to have from Dark Horse as they only printed it to the halfway point, though it's also a very intriguing read. Leans very heavy into gore and that very "serious but not all that great" story.

Equal parts crazy and cool though, this Empty Box and Zeroth Maria set. If memory serves, it was less than 10CAD a volume for such a hard to find set. Unbelievably happy to have such a well maintained set in my collection, and am 100% going to be sharing the love/set with friends.

Just a side note, the seller I got it from was super cool, as I got a partial set of Konosuba from them as well for the same price. Once more, Facebook Marketplace, so if you're looking for good deals on used series, I can't recommend checking out what's around you enough.

The good deals just keep on coming, huh. Hit the jackpot with this Rose of Versailles set. I was just going to bide my time until the end of year Indigo hardcover sale, and see if I could try my luck on finding them in store at a good price, but came across this listing for 100CAD and immediately jumped on it, since it works out to be massively cheaper than the Indigo 30% off hardcovers they do at year's end.

And I have to say, Udon hardcovers are outstanding. The Rose of Versailles of course stands at the top with it's wonderfully intricate cover design and heavy and glossy paper, but their other titles are no slouches either.

Just take a look at this Summertime Rendering (and Darling In The Franxx) set. Sometimes you'll come across things you just can't refuse. This listing was one of them. Summertime Rendering and DiTF for less than the retail of Summertime Rendering. Good deal, especially when you factor in that DiTF is still sealed, and that the seller never read Summertime Rendering.

But at the same time, getting books in conditions like this feels a bit sad almost. The seller was getting rid of their collection because they needed to repay students loans, so a lot of it was untouched and at very cheap prices. If I were to go back and do it again, I probably would have just sent money to them rather than purchased the sets, as I feel somewhat guilty having these when I'm able to pay retail for them no problem. But I can't revisit the past, so at the very least I'm glad I had the humility to not try and work them down on price, and will certainly be reading them over and over (DiTF is still on the TBR list right now though).

And last but not least for the used hauls, this super weird set. I got the whole thing for 5CAD a volume, which is a pretty great deal, and includes a lot of interesting things. Hidamari Sketch (I refuse to call it Sunshine Sketch), GA Geijutsuka Art Design Class and Bamboo Blade (not shown), and this very odd helping of loose stuff that includes an old style Seven Seas LN, a child's manga, and a very unique volume from a defunct publisher.

I couldn't help but go for it when I saw the oddities and old series that were within. Hidamari Sketch in particular is a headache and a half to collect, and I'd never even seen a volume of Iono-Sama Fanatics before. Very cool stuff, and definitely things I wanted to share. I never even knew Seven Seas used to print light novels so small, and seeing the difference in paper quality circa Spring 2010 was very interesting as well.

Now, last but not least, Jojos. I waited a very long time to buy these at retail, and am incredibly sad that the box for Jojoveller came crumpled in that one corner (already talked it out with support, and got a refund on it), but thankfully the books inside are intact. But man, these things are cool as all hell, I'll absolutely be sharing a post of them (alongside Jojo 6521) down the road.

And that's where I am, collecting an insane number of series and art books, and continuing to realize just how wide this world of manga is that I've immersed myself in. It's incredibly daunting thinking about the numbers I'm racking up, but at the same time it's such an amazing hobby that I'm able to support. There's a world of stuff out there, and I want to experience that all.

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courfeyracs-swordcane · 1 year

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Teddy... after being mutuals w you for who knows how long I NEED to ask... what does robobs mean? I've been paying attention to the tags on my notifs for a bit and I think that's the one thing I still have no clue about ahdkshfjshfjd

OH BOY! You’ve activated my trap card!

Short version: tag for me and the gang ( @nosongunsung11 @coyotefang1987 @wildfandom @lemonade-comet @dogliker73 )’s transformers ocs. When I first made the spreadsheet I titled it ‘Robobs’ and it stuck. In March we made a 120 slide power point explaining the lore and we’ve made like 20 new guys since then

LONG VERSION: (and I’m only getting into blorbos from MY brain bc there’s like 85 of these mfers collectively)(Guys who come in several separate-but-linked subsets)

(edit: now with images! picrews linked here, here, here, and here and art by @orange-artist/@nosongunsung11)

THE OGS:

Packet and Pinch: (turn into biplanes) little guys who came after the war, them and their dad sometimes moonlight on a research vessel called Forte Spes where theoretically they’re archival assistants but mostly what that means is that Pinch holds the microphone during interviews because when Packet was allowed to do that he kept eating it. When they’re a little older Pinch gets a proper job on Forte Spes helping out and Packet joins the mafia/eventually winds up inheriting an organized crime unit and accidentally taking over a small city (think like JVJ’s Madeleine era except not on purpose)

Hot Shot: (turns into a diy dragrace car) himbo. former Autobot soldier turned drifter (technically looking for one of his war buddies who disappeared but he keeps getting sidetracked) turned preschool teaching assistant on the moon. Frontman of a very small emo band. Meter’s twin brother, Aileron’s best friend, (Sweets isn’t mine, but) Sweets’s self-invited roommate (weird gay thing)

Meter: (used to turn into a regular car, now functions as a speedometer)(also his name is actually Gauge, Aileron just started calling him Metermaid to make fun of him and it stuck) wildly normal little guy for being so fucked up. Got his face and hands and altmode taken by the government for being an anarchist in cop college. Spent the war on the world’s most legally questionable enemies to lovers roadtrip looking for his brother. Hot Shot’s twin, Aileron’s husband.

Aileron: (turns into a massive fucking jet) pointedly neutral freelance journalist. Extremely chill and wildly pessimistic. Can and will befriend anyone with an unfortunate heaping side of terminal Everyone He Really Cares About Keeps Fucking Disappearing Into Thin Air disease. Spent the road-trip causing problems on purpose bc it was funny and also bc he was pretty sure Hot Shot was dead and he didn’t know how to tell Meter so he was stalling. Meter’s husband, Hot Shot’s best friend.

THE ANCIENTS:

Catalyzer (Cat): (left)(turns into a shield except no he doesn’t anymore because he has daddy issues) fucked up old knight. Kind of a dick except with his knight partner and her spouse (the three of them come as a set do not separate <3) and with his little sister (150ft tall). Memory issues wildly exacerbated by the fact that he spent ten million years on the euthanasia planet. There’s a very good au in which he co-parents his nephew w his ex’s ex-wife.

Firefight (FF): (turns into a flamethrower except no he doesn’t bc what if he fucks up his paint) Bitchass little twink. Catalyzer’s shitty ex who lobotomized him. The god of transformation’s special little boy and he’s gonna make it everyone’s problem. After the god war (during which he helped work on a large-scale lobotomy project that made everyone forget the gods) he realized that if there’s not gods to hang around he can’t get special treatment for being god’s special little boy anymore so he fucked off to live in a cave for ten million years and only came out for Cat’s little sister’s funeral bc he figured everyone who would have known him would be dead by now except spoiler alert no they’re not and he immediately gets his ass beat. We don’t have time to get into his wife.

Moonshadow (Shades): (turns into a shuttle)(uses that to cause problems) Catalyzer’s nephew (she/her), troublemaking Weird Little Art Girl TM who’s constantly tagging along on any mission she can get herself into. Unfortunately that includes the mission that lands everyone on the euthanasia planet :(

Equalizer (EQ): (turns into. Maybe a grenade. I haven’t decided yet) Firefight’s ‘apprentice’/weird intense son he didn’t ask for and doesn’t want and also is lowkey terrified of. Functions entirely on looney toons logic. Theoretically xey’re supposed to be helping FF w his lobotomies but he’s scared xey’ll be better than him and take his job so mostly xyr job is knocking people out with the blunt end of xyr Massive Fucking Scythe for their nonconsensual government-assigned brain surgeries and being generally unsettling. Spends FF cave arc waiting outside where he told xem to which xey're not fucked up about but it does make xem very much more fucked up.

Legion: (turns into I don’t know yet probably an anvil or a lever): Little knight guy under the god of wisdom. Dumb as a box of rocks. Trying so fuxking hard all the time and not really getting anywhere with it but that’s okay. Loves his friends so goddamn much. Really fuckin stupid for a guy who kind of functions as the voice of reason in the polycule. Died on the euthanasia planet. :(

Endymion: (turns into a unicorn)(but like the goat kind) goldenboy blacksmith, built to help the main god make guys, conscientious objector to the god war so now he helps out in the armory. Haunted as hell (just kind of vibing with it). Missed the mission that landed everyone on the euthanasia planet and got locked out of the armory :(

DECEPTICON HR OFFICE/EXTENDED CONSTRUCTION UNIT:

Zephyr aka Dreadnought: (used to turn into a flashdrive, tried to do some sketchy ass back alley surgery to turn into something better and fucked it up so now he can’t turn into anything) edgy little goth twink lying wildly about almost everything abt himself. Former spy, current guy who sits in the corner of the office chainsmoking and giving off absolutely rancid vibes. He’s writing a memoir. (it’s bad.) Gets Fixed by the power of Carburetor going “wow, do you have any other slogans from like. Hot topic?” and is really confusingly normal at the postwar HR reunion/Hadron and his boyfriend’s impromptu wedding

Carburetor (CB): (used to turn into a pickup truck, got exploded) readymade soldier who wound up taking over as mostly-untrained medic when the actual medic was killed bc he had spent a lot of time in the medbay recently (due to the getting exploded incident) and kind of osmosed hopefully enough to go off of. Takes no shit but has terminal “I Can Fix Him” Disease (both romantically and medically) but really he’s the one getting fixed—he has a hobby now! 😊 (it’s Zephyr)

Hadron: (serial number ending in 0104)(turns into a crane) starry-eyed little science guy with a secondhand soul. Part of the construction unit and also working part time (illegally) in HR. Defected to the Autobots towards the end of the war and is now doing a goddamn lot of finding out for very little fucking around. Very easy to manipulate. Both has a missing boyfriend and is the missing boyfriend. Main character disease (affectionate but oh dear god at what cost)

Reefer: (0100)(take a wild guess) de-facto leader/union rep of the construction unit by virtue of being built first. Doing his goddamn best but he’s fundamentally just a sillyguy. Also has a secondhand soul but he doesn’t know about it. Would do anything for his little guys. Sneaks Hadron his science magazines. Hazard’s qpp, Hadron’s bestie, other side of Rico’s coin. Died during the great latewar Construction Unit Defection.

Hazard: (0101)(turns into a dump truck) absolutely fuckin massive very nice and kind SIC & emotional support of the construction unit. Also has a secondhand soul but it’s never really relevant. Guy who’s usually the one to talk to outsiders for the gang. Has never held a gun but almost got sent to the front lines of the war bc they’re Fucking Huge and hella shit was pulled to Stop That Happening (without them even knowing in the first place). Reefer’s qpp, Dyker (0102) isn’t mine and there’s a lot of lore but Dyker is their best friend (I think?). Dead. (Meter pushed them off one of the spires of Decepticon HQ bc they asked if he was okay and were a little too concerned)

Ricochet (Rico): (0103)(turns into a backhoe) oh she’s so fucked up. She’s so fucked up. Also has a secondhand soul and she’s not really aware of that but she’s not normal about it either. Hadron’s older sister figure (derogatory), other side of Reefer’s coin (Threefer), imprinted hard on Dyker and took the Shit That Got Pulled really REALLY badly. Blames Hadron for Reefer’s death to avoid blaming herself. Was briefly a neutral medic but went back to the Decepticons real quick and took the ending of the war also incredibly badly. (And by incredibly badly I mean she got a group to try and restart the war and recruited a bunch of guys to try and replace her family and it’s Not Working)

Chainlink: (turns into a tank)(attempt at replacing Hazard) Rico’s Fucking Massive SIC/de-facto bodyguard who’s really not jazzed about following someone else’s orders. Does it anyway out of… respect that she got there first (or something.) but makes it very very clear that Ze Would Kill Her (in a weird gay way) If Ze Got the Chance. (Ze is in fact given the chance and Doesn’t Take It. Neither of them are really sure how to cope with that). Died one time during the war but got better and is kind of an asshole about that. Mean sense of humor.

Sprocket: (turns into a handheld cannon)(Hadron but Rico likes him) literally just a little guy. Built on Earth approximately three days before the war ended and doesn’t actually know what that means for anything. Definitely getting a little bit gaslighted here. Finds out abt that and is so betrayed/hurt/doesn’t know what else to do that he turns them all in and fucks off to actually see the universe and the planet outside the war and also go to robot law school. Does tech/support/recon for the squad’s endeavors and missions from a secret third location

Roughhouse: (turns into a lifted ass Ford F150)(Reefer 2 smarter boogaloo) Sprocket’s bestie and everyone’s emotional support himbo and by emotional support himbo I mean this guy is treating this revolution like a kindergarten teacher. Guy who 100% tried to set up a sticker system to try and get Rico and Chainlink to be normal. He’s not even that invested in it he just thinks it’s funny to get Rico overly invested in things she’s Going to lose. Yes she’s his boss technically yes she forgets that sometimes (younger sister instinct). The fanciest and only prewar member of the gang. Former bouncer, early Decepticon recruit, current pacifist and backup guy.

THE SECRET OTHER OPTION:

Rudder: of Rudder and Oar fame. They don’t give a shit they’re just out there fishing. A lot of the time they wind up picking up body parts/people but that’s not what they’re fishing for so they just toss them in the back to sell to the mafia. Together they turn into a bigger boat.

#FINALLY #hello sorry this took so long it’s like 1.7k words #robobs

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spacetimewithstuartgary · 1 day

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Researchers chart Orion Nebula like never before

Star and planet formation is a messy affair. It starts with the gravitational collapse of a gigantic cloud of gas and dust, which simultaneously produces massive stars, whose intense radiation field creates a harsh environment, as well as more modest stars, like our sun, surrounded by a planet-forming disk that is rich in organic materials.

Western University astrophysicists Els Peeters and Jan Cami and postdoctoral and graduate researchers Ryan Chown, Ameek Sidhu, Baria Khan, Sofia Pasquini, and Bethany Schefter were among the first scientists in the world to use the James Webb space telescope (Webb) for scientific research, and the focus was star formation.

"The process of star formation is messy because star-forming regions contain stars of varying masses at different stages of their development while still embedded in their natal cloud and because many different physical and chemical processes are at play that influence one another," said Peeters, a principal investigator of the PDRs4All JWST Early Release Science program (ID1288) and faculty member as part of Western's Institute for Earth and Space Exploration.

Star formation is a very active field both in theoretical and observational astrophysics and Webb has turned out to be key in gaining insight into these processes.

"We do not yet fully understand how these processes sculpt or destroy planet-forming disks, nor when and how these disks are seeded with chemicals that are important for life. This is why we do what we do," said Cami, director of Western's Hume Cronyn Memorial Observatory and core member of PDRs4All.

Peeters co-leads the international PDRs4All consortium together with Emilie Habart from the University of Paris-Saclay, France and Olivier Berné from the University of Toulouse, France. The PDRs4All consortium consists of more than 120 researchers around the globe including astronomers, physicists and chemists whose complementary expertise allows them to fully leverage the gold mine of data obtained with Webb, the largest, most powerful telescope ever launched into space.

PDRs4All pointed Webb toward the Orion Bar, deep within the famous Orion Nebula, and collected a treasure trove of images and spectroscopic data. The main goal of the program is to unveil the detailed physical and chemical processes that are relevant for star- and planet-formation.

Along with their international collaborators, Peeters and Cami have now released a series of six papers in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics that presents an overview of their work to date and the first deep dive into the nitty gritty details of what is going on in the Orion Bar.

Is this my best side?

Many of the key processes in interstellar space occur in so-called photo-dissociation regions (PDRs, hence the program name PDRs4All) where the physics and chemistry are fully determined by the interaction between UV radiation with gas and dust. The Orion Bar is the nearest PDR to Webb that offers its most useful and photogenic side to study these processes at small physical scales.

"The data are incredible and will serve as benchmarks for astrophysics research for decades to come," said Peeters. "So far, we have explored only a tiny fraction of the data, and this already resulted in several surprising and major discoveries."

In the past year, PDRs4All have released three major studies published in the journals Nature, Nature Astronomy and Science.

"I had the absolute pleasure to study the amazing Webb images in great detail," said Habart, who led the first new study published today (May 14) in Astronomy & Astrophysics. "The images are so incredibly beautiful and intricate; it's easy to see why so many people in the world were blown away when they first saw them."

With a mass 2,000 times greater than the sun, and visible to the naked eye, the Orion Nebula is the closest massive star-forming region and is therefore one of the most scrutinized and photographed objects in the Milky Way, and one of the public's favorite objects in the night sky.

The Webb images are unlike any other set, breathtaking in the incredible details they reveal, displaying all sorts of filaments and ridges of different shapes and colors, peppered with several small planet-forming disks.

Within the Orion Nebula lies the Orion Bar, a sharp, diagonal, ridge-like feature of gas and dust. The Orion Bar is essentially the edge of an astronomically large bubble carved out by some of the massive stars that power the nebula.

"The same structural details that give these images their aesthetic appeal reveals a more complicated structure than we originally thought—with foreground and background gas and dust making the analysis a bit harder.

"But these images are of such quality that we can separate these regions well and reveal that the edge of the Orion Bar is very steep, like a huge wall, as predicted by theories," said Habart.

Peeters, who was also a major player in the new series of Astronomy & Astrophysics studies, used near-IR spectroscopic data of the Orion Bar to bring the research to a whole new level.

"These images have such incredible detail that we will be scrutinizing them for many years to come," she said.

Spectroscopic observations split light up as a function of color and reveal many sharp peaks that are fingerprints of diverse chemical compounds in the collected infrared light.

A careful analysis of these fingerprints allows researchers to investigate the chemical makeup of the nebula, but there is much more: different combinations of these fingerprints can be used to measure the local temperature, density and strength of the radiation field, and by measuring these for each pixel, Peeters created maps of how these quantities change throughout the Orion Bar.

"The spectroscopic dataset covers a much smaller area of the sky compared to the images, but it contains a ton more information. A picture is worth a thousand words, but we astronomers only half-jokingly say that a spectrum is worth a thousand images," said Peeters, who measured no less than 600 spectroscopic fingerprints and used these to greatly improve existing PDR models.

The resulting data and improved PDR models were presented in the second study in Astronomy & Astrophysics, which Peeters led.

"What makes the Orion Bar truly unique is its edge-on geometry, giving us a ring-side seat to study in exquisite detail the different physical and chemical processes that happen as we move from the very exposed, harsh ionized region into the much more shielded regions where molecular gas can form," said Cami.

"This paper is a tour de force and took a real Herculean effort to complete, and it is a leap forward in our understanding of how changes in the physical environment affect chemistry and vice versa."

Leaving details in the dust

With the physical conditions all mapped out, the PDRs4All team turned its attention to another problem: that of dust emission. Previous observations had already revealed a steep variation in the dust emission in the Orion Bar, but the origin of these variations was not clear and presented a mystery that long stumped astrophysicists.

"The sharp hyper spectral Webb data contains so much more information than previous observations, that it clearly pointed to the attenuation of radiation by dust and the efficient destruction of the smallest dust particles as the underlying cause for these variations," said Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale postdoctoral researcher Meriem Elyajouri.

Elyajouri modeled the dust emission across the illuminated edge of the Orion Bar and led a third study describing the team's findings.

The remaining three papers, all deal with emission of large carbon-bearing molecules known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which represent one of the largest reservoirs of carbonaceous materials in the universe. PAHs contain up to 20% of all cosmic carbon, which makes them of relevance to our very own cosmic roots.

"We are studying what happens to carbonaceous molecules long before the carbon makes its way into our bodies," said Cami.

PAH emission is typically very bright and PAH molecules are incredibly sturdy and resilient.

"It is not surprising then that they turn out to be widespread across the universe and spread out such vast cosmological distances. Studying them in detail in nearby regions such as the Orion Bar where we have a good understanding of the local physical and chemical environment is therefore crucial to interpret observations of distant galaxies," said Sidhu, a former Western postdoctoral researcher.

Webb data shows the PAH emission bands in exquisite detail and reveal that the emission characteristics change due to radiation.

"It really is an embarrassment of riches," said Peeters. "Even though these large molecules are thought to be very sturdy, we found that UV radiation changes the overall properties of the molecules that cause the emission."

UV radiation in fact breaks up some of the smaller carbon molecules and changes how the bigger ones radiate.

"You actually see changes as you go from this very harsh environment to the more shielded environments," said former Western postdoctoral researcher Ryan Chown, who led the fourth study.

Machine learning multiplies

Chown's results are important new findings but were based on the analysis of only five small regions in the Orion Bar that are representative of the different environments throughout the Bar.

Sofia Pasquini, a master's student supervised by Peeters, used machine learning techniques to analyze the PAH emission in the entire data set consisting of many thousands of spectra. She too found that in regions with more UV radiation, PAHs are typically larger, likely because the smaller ones are destroyed. This is the basis of the fifth study.

"The machine learning techniques that Sofia used to interpret data mined from thousands of pixels produces essentially the same result that we found using the five representative regions using more traditional methods," said Peeters. "That gives us great confidence that our interpretation is more generally valid and thus a more powerful conclusion."

As it turns out, there are more than just changes in the sizes of the PAHs. Ilane Schroetter, a postdoctoral researcher of the University of Toulouse, France, also applied machine learning techniques to the data. His findings, published in the sixth study, confirm the effect of UV radiation on PAH size but also found very clear changes to the structure of the molecules too.

"These papers reveal some sort of survival of the fittest at the molecular level in the harshest environments in space," said Cami.

Webb is the most powerful space telescope in human history. Developed in partnership with NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), it boasts an iconic 6.5-meter-wide mirror, consisting of a honeycomb-like pattern of 18 hexagonal, gold-coated mirror segments and a five-layer, diamond-shaped sunshield the size of a tennis court.

As a partner, CSA receives a guaranteed share of Webb's observation time, making Canadian scientists some of the first to study data collected by the most advanced space telescope ever built.

IMAGE....Looking near the heart of the Orion Nebula, this JWST image captures the Orion Bar. The Orion Bar is the fairly straight, diagonal feature that marks the transition from the hot ionized gas near the Trapezium stars to the cold molecular cloud on the other side of the bar. That material is the leftovers of the cloud from which these stars were formed. The stellar radiation of these young hot stars pounds on the Orion Bar transforming the gas and dust well beyond. The image is an RGB composite image with the blue colour showing emission from hot ionized gas (NIRCam filter F187N), the red colour showcasing emission from large carbonaceous molecules (NIRCam filter F335M), and the green colour tracing the warm dust and molecular gas (NIRCam filter F470N). North is up and East is left. Credit: NASA/ESA/CSA, E. Dartois, E. Habart, PDRs4All ERS team

#science #space #astronomy #physics #news #astrophysics

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what-big-teeth · 2 years

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Bonded (Male Shark Merman x Female Reader, pt. 1)

As promised, here’s the first part of my newest story. The second part will be done during the long three-day weekend as long as things go to plan (fingers crossed!). Hope you all enjoy!

[part 2 (sfw)] [part 3 (???)]

You heave the last of your carefully packed equipment onboard and celebrate with a long, well-deserved stretch. Of course, that leaves you somewhat wilting under the gaze of the ship’s graying captain, whose aid you denied out of habit. Just one of the many tendencies you picked up from moving around for work reasons for so long. And knowing Captain O’Neil for years, he wasn’t as strong as he used to be. You offer him a bright smile and all is forgiven, as you hoped.

“Welcome aboard, lass! I hope the long trip treated you well?”

Besides the cramped seats in the plane cabin and relentless turbulence, it was okay. Though you had to ignore the judgmental looks of the flight attendants as you swiftly pulled out your cache of snacks when dinner was served. But that's neither here nor there.

“It did,” you reply. “But there’s nothing like heading out on a seaworthy vessel.”

Captain O’Neil adjusts his peaked cap with a wizened, tanned hand and grins. Just like in your childhood, his laugh lines are deep and long. “Glad to still hear it! Your gran would always tell me about how you loved setting sail, even for routine checks around the island.”

You laugh fondly while settling on the cushioned bench at the boat’s rear.

It wasn’t just the sailing you adored. Seeing the sea life up close and personal; drinking in the bright greens, yellows, blues, of the surroundings corals and kelps. A handful of childhood memories stood out to you. A female sea turtle nesting on the beach; her babies hatching then crawling to the sea. A group of manatees gliding underneath your Gran’s still boat. Dolphins deftly leaping up and out of the surf to navigate the waters. And many more you reminisce about fondly.

But there’s one set of memories that remains your favorite; the reason why you work as a specialized marine biologist.

Meeting Triton.

As a child, the more your parents and Gran said ‘no’ to certain things, the more you disobeyed. Mainly out of uncontrolled curiosity and a hint of spite. So when Gran banned you from stepping foot into the basement during your season-long stay, a slow-growing urge started gnawing at you.

Regardless of her reminders and warnings, you couldn’t. But you tried at the start of that summer; oh, did you try.

You beach-combed in the mornings to expand your collection. Practiced swimming in the shallows in the afternoons. Searched the tide pools for the different organisms you learned about during cooler evenings, armed with a flashlight. But every night, the creaking from below—and what you swore sounded like splashing—interrupted your attempts to sleep.

Until you finally decided to investigate.

If you hadn’t been so antsy that late night, you would’ve noticed the open door to Gran’s bedroom and her empty bed. Instead, your eyes fixed onto the slight gap to the basement’s entrance as Gran’s dulcet voice pricked your ears. The sound was mingled with crying.

Soft hiccups and sniffles you knew all too well thanks to kids leaving class due to illness or sadness. They tugged at your heartstrings all the same.

Now past the entrance, a bluish glow beckoned you downward. You easily tiptoed around the noisier spots of each wooden step, having come down this flight of stairs countless times before. You huddled in a dim corner where the light didn’t quite reach, miffed about your choosing your lighter colored PJs. But even while seated on a tall stool, Gran hadn’t seen you. But the boy floating in the massive lit tanks did.

Light yellow eyes pinned you in place as the sniffling quickly stopped. The grayish, golden tone of his skin stood out thanks to the inky, black hair plastered to his face and shoulders. Through the curtain of hair, you could make out three, leveled slits on the side of his neck. Were they mirrored on the other side? And was that…a shark’s tail?

Gran cut short your observations with a cry of your name. She stood, moving towards you, but a small, clawed hand wrapping around her wrist kept her from going too far. Her eyes darted back and forth between the boy and you. Then she heaved a quiet sigh.

“No point in trying to hide, Hellion.”

Her usual nickname for you was a good sign; she wasn’t actually mad. But she did sound tired…and disappointed. You winced; that was even worse.

“Come on out and meet, well…”

You didn’t have to be told twice. As you approached the tank, the deep smelly tang of seawater slammed into your nose. The boy, meanwhile, sunk a little deeper into the water, watching you. You waved at him, but the boy didn’t reply; he only sank down a little more.

“What’s wrong?” Standing on tiptoes and looking at what you could see of his body didn’t reveal anything. “Is he hurt?”

“He was,” Gran gently withdrew her wrist and placed her hand on top of his head, smoothing his hair away from his blotchy face.

“Mr. O’Neil and I…we found some strange men hauling up a net close to shore. We had never seen them or their ship before.”

You nodded, mouth fixing into a thin line. The island community was far from the mainland, but thanks to this, everyone knew each other and did what they could to keep everyone safe. Including yearly visitors that came around to see friends and family, like you.

“We thought they were poachers,” she said. “Mr. O’Neil volunteered to stay and watch while I went to report them. But then, we heard crying.”

Gran turned her damp eyes to the boy in the tank. As he nuzzled against her hand, you pieced together the rest of her story. Gran and Mr. O’Neil managed to save the boy, who was probably hurt after being captured. And he was down here to keep him safe.

“What about the men, Gran?”

Her gaze narrowed in the boy’s direction, but he didn’t seem to notice; he was just happy to float underneath her palm with a little smile.

“Mr. O’Neil searched for them first thing in the morning, but he couldn’t find them. So until we know what to do, we decided it would be best for him to stay hidden.”

A sharp sensation pricked at your chest. It usually appeared when a random girl at school bragged about a new toy or gushed about having talked to the boy you really liked. Your voice came out too soft for your liking, but you had to say something.

“Is that why you didn’t tell me?”

A warm grip enveloped your balled fist, coaxing it open. Gran squeezed your hand and sniffed. You frozen, your mind recalling the few times Gran cried. The most recent was at Grandpa’s funeral a year ago.

“Yes, sweetheart. It wasn’t because Mr. O’Neil and I didn’t trust you. If those men found you and thought you knew something, then they could’ve hurt you.”

You rubbed at your eyes with the back of your hand, sad at their choice even though you understood. And because you did, you were able to give Gran a huge grin.

“‘S ok,” you said, truly meaning it. “I won’t tell anyone and I’ll help you keep him safe!” Remembering your manners, you faced the boy and smiled at him. Again, he didn’t return it but knowing what he went through, you figured he could be rude for now.

“Hi!” you said. Then you introduced yourself. “What’s your name?”

No reply; just a slight tilt of his head as he let his body float upward to the edge of the tank. At least he wasn’t trying to hide anymore after seeing you.

“I don’t think he speaks our language,” Gran explained. “I’ve been using your old sea-themed picture cards to talk to him, but I don’t think he understands.”

“So he can’t tell us his name?”

Gran shook her head. “If he could, we could probably learn where his family is and what happened.”

“So let’s teach him!”

Gran stared at you, wide-eyed, her fingers skimming the surface of the tank’s seawater. The boy was now leaning against the edge of his tank, hands curled over the edges as he peered down at you.

“You helped me learn how to read really quickly and Mr. O’Neil used to teach English classes, right?”

Gran pursed her lips as her brows knitted together. “Well, yes, but…”

“No buts, Gran! You said that anyone can do anything they put their mind to; so if we try really hard, we should be able to help him.”

You would never forget the fond sigh Gran let out or the way her eyes lit up as she laughed.

“Alright then, Hellion. Let’s give it a try.”

-----------------------------------------------------

So you spent the rest of summer at Gran’s side, teaching Triton the basics of your spoken language. Luckily for you both, he turned out to be a quick study. Gran guessed he was a social creature, which was why he wanted to learn so badly. All so he could bond with all three of you. The importance of breaks with food and drink had to be instilled in him. Thankfully, he caught on after you started eating your meals down in the basement beside his tank.

While he internalized what Gran and Mr. O’Neil taught him, he focused the majority of his attention on you. This led to the strangest reward system you’d ever known. Anytime he was able to learn a new word, he got to hold your hand, lacing his slightly rough fingers with yours. If he understood the different meanings of any word, he requested a hug from you. And if he managed to construct a decently coherent sentence, well, Gran gave her permission for you to play with him in his tank after ‘summer school’.

It was during one of many playtimes when you learned Triton had no name. Instead, he and folks like him told each other apart with seven senses. Five of them were what all humans possessed; the other two were electroreception (it took Gran’s marine biology knowledge to understand what he meant) and changes in pressure (again, thanks Gran!).

As you two floated side by side, you took notice of the slight gradation of his skin from a gentle gray mixed with a warm gold. Then you tentatively asked if he wanted a human name. His immediate and bright “yes!” made you laugh and sink into the water in glee.

“I wish to need a name,” he said as you breached the surface.

“You wish to have a name,” you gently corrected. As he repeated what you said, one came to mind.

“How about Triton?”

“What means that? Try…tin?”

“Triton,” you said. “In human tales, Triton was a god of the sea. He was a prince and the son of a king and queen. He also had a fish tail and a human half, like you.”

Hearing his sigh of amazement, you continued, weaving interesting imagery of this Greek sea god and why your friend reminded you of him.

“So is Triton an okay name for you?”

“Yes! A good one!”

“Then it’s settled. Your human name is Triton.”

When he gave you a wide grin filled with small, sharpened teeth, you felt as light as air.

Thanks to the efforts of Gran, Mr. O’Neil and yourself that summer, Triton was able to tell you what had happened to him.

In defiance of his parents and family group, he swam too close to the surface. All so he could view the sunset from what he thought was a safe place. By the time he realized the danger he was in, he couldn’t do anything to save himself. But luckily, Gran and Mr. O’Neil were present to help him. The tears began to flow when he began mentioning his group leaving for different waters later that night.

It took a number of hugs and soothing words from you and Gran for Triton to continue. But he was finally able to tell you just where his family was before his kidnapping.

Gran and Mr. O’Neil excused themselves immediately after. Straining your ears over Triton’s hiccupping, you overheard the words “long shot” and “uncertainty”. Thankfully, Gran was willing to try, hopeful that Triton’s people had just as strong social bonds as he did.

In the end, it all worked out. Triton was finally reunited with his parents and sibling, who were wary of you three. But they allowed him to say his farewells after he spoke to them. And he drew out his goodbye to you as much as he could.

“I do not want to say goodbye…” he muttered, head drooping low.

Quickly, possibly too quickly for his family’s liking, you wrapped Triton in a deep hug, one he gladly returned. He buried his face into your neck, rubbing his check against your skin.

“Then, let’s just say see you later. You’ll come back next year for the summer, right? I’ll be here, too. So we’ll see each other again, okay?”

“Okay. See you later.”

The last few days of summer went by without incident. As time passed, you kept your promise to see Triton during the summer. You spent your time teaching him more of your language, exploring the island’s coast, and swimming in the shallows. The adventures you had left you exhausted but utterly happy by day’s end. And after his departures, you conducted research with Gran over the years. It all came to fruition one fateful, balmy summer day before you headed off to college.

Triton and the other Sea-dwellers weren’t new to this area. According to local legends, they came around yearly and even interacted with earlier humans, trading treasures found at the bottom of the ocean and tales for extra food and tools. And they were highly respected for their dual natures. But the passage of time and technological advancements changed this. As later generations forgot the tales, the Sea-dwellers were soon forced into hiding for their own safety. But that could soon change.

Which was why you were here.

Before Gran’s passing, you declared your want to follow in her footsteps. Which is why she left all of her research to you. Every story and possible recorded instance of interaction between the native humans and the sea-dwellers. Old yet cherished texts she thought would be useful on your educational journey. Her eventual hope was for you to slowly reintroduce the Sea-dwellers’ presence to the island’s public and government, then beyond its shores.

But you aren’t so sure.

“Land ahead, lass!” Captain O’Neil’s voice boomed over the roar of the ship’s engine and spray of the sea. “Welcome home!”

A thrill of warmth settles in your chest, entirely welcomed. Your second home. Where Triton is.

If there’s one opinion that matters the most—more than yours or Gran’s—it’s his.

Because when you’re with him, everything falls into place and you feel like you can do anything.

#merman #monster boyfriend #monster romance #exophilia #terato #monster lover #shark mermaid #hope you guys enjoy!

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chasing-obsession · 1 year

Text

Arknights Lore Shit - Amiya Module Part 1

Amiya’s module dropped on CN and holy shit is it a big one with SO MANY FUCKING IMPLICATIONS. Beware for absolutely MASSIVE spoilers.

As always, everything I say is just my own personal interpretation of the text. Original source of the module can be found here: https://aceship.github.io/AN-EN-Tags/akhrchars.html?opname=Amiya

EDIT: Corrected a thing because I forgot that Terra had 2 moons.

The basic summary of the module is that a certain individual is reviewing memories. Probably watching space ships launch up into space. Then the memories come into focus, a giant metal sphere floating in space, waiting for it’s father. The viewer feels tears forming and the memories change to the birth of a child, the viewer’s child and all the feelings and emotions that come with witnesses said birth. Then the memories end and there’s a bunch of people yelling, asking the viewer what they saw. Did it work?

"Check his brain, I told you we shouldn't be in such a hurry, we've only just established a protocol channel for communication with the database! This has only just completed the first successful delivery!"

It turns out the viewer was actually witnessing someone ELSE’S memory. The memory of a planetary engineer.

"I said ...... I never actually used to like you planetary engineers very much, I thought you were doing flashy things ...... But I saw it. I saw your past, I shared your past, I felt your emotions, and it was ...... unparalleled."

The project, code named DWDB-221E, appears to be a repository of human history up to a certain point but relying on memory instead of texts and videos. I’m not sure why memory except somehow...

"We've learned enough, except that in the future, they'll never find an excuse to tinker with history."

The same group of scientists then debate on what to name it. They don’t want to keep calling it DWDB-221E, it sounds too cold. The scientist arguing for the name refers to the AMa project. There’s an argument over what to name it and one of the proposed names is “Black Crown” but ultimately, the lead suggests calling it “The Survival of Civilization."

That’s the summary.

Here’s the my theorizing:

First, we now know that whomever created Kal’tsit is also the same group of scientists who created the Black Crown. We know this because Alty calls Kal’tsit AMa-10 in HoSF OF-EX6:

Alty: AMa-10 Dr. Kal'tsit, please tell me... How were those special Ægirians born?

We also know this because of this line from Amiya’s module:

“I know there's a prescribed format for project numbers, just like AMa“

Second: So we have confirmation that one of the two moons hanging over Terra is fake. The question is why. What is it for? Is THAT what’s storing all the data and where Originium comes from? What’s with the fake sky then? Was Terra a terraformed system adapted to be more hospitable to human life and both the fake sky and the second moon were created to maintain the balance? Or something else? To hide it from whatever unknown entity lies Beyond? Are the humans fleeing from something or did they just really fuck up Earth? Is Enfield actually a prequel?

Third. I’m going to put money down that the Doctor and Priestess are both part of the original ‘humans’ that created the Black Crown and Kal’tsit. Most likely they are their descendants and the Doctor is the last survivor, having been kept in a pod and left buried after disaster struck, probably with or near the Rhodes Island Landship and then excavated at some point, where they basically they lived their life as a professor and researcher of Originium before Theresa dragged them into her war.

Fourth. This is the big one. The Black Crown and how it relates to the Sarkaz. When discussing what the Confessarii’s arts were all about, I had once theorized that the Sarkaz Collective Memory was less some nebulous collective unconscious and more like a singular mass cloud storage where all the memories were just uploaded with maybe a random file name and no organization.

The fact that my analogy is... most likely not an analogy and ACTUALLY WHAT IS GOING ON amuses the fuck out of me. Anyway. If all this memory is uploaded, it needs to be stored and that’s a MASSIVE amount of data that needs to be stored and there’s no way Terrans wouldn’t have found artifacts unless... said data is actually stored in Originium. It’s a semi-organic material that’s capable of self-replicating and we know from Ptilopsis’s module and her first Op Rec, that it’s actually capable of storing massive amounts of data. But not only that, but the Originium as a memory storage device is linked to ancient Sarkaz legend.

From the Module:

If Originium really has the ability to store information, and we are able to decode and translate it, then Columbia's science and technology will surge forward by leaps and bounds!

I've encountered a bottleneck. Current electronic computational devices are not able to handle the enormous amount of information contained within Originium. I need a more suitable computational carrier...

From the Op Rec:

???: All of this information is consistent with our hypothesis.

???: With these data on hand, Rhine Lab's newest results now directly correlate with the ancient Sarkaz legend. I don't think this is an accident.

???: And if our hypothesis is verified, it will revolutionize everything we know about Originium.

???: People think that Originium is a source of energy, a calamity; They think it can be used as a weapon, with only narrow applications outside of that. But the truth may be something far greater.

???: If Originium really 'stores information,' just think about what that implies. From Originium, we will be able to read the story of this world, spanning hundreds or thousands of years, maybe even more...

This brings us back to the Sarkaz and the Black Crown. The Black Crown is clearly device created to interface with all this data and the Sarkaz are clearly somehow genetically “in tune” with interfacing with the Black Crown and these stored memories on a level that other races in Terra can’t. I suspect this is also what makes them more susceptible to oripathy than other races. So if the Sarkaz basically connected 24/7 to the data bank and have one-way write access and the Black Crown is the only way to easily interface with the data bank, then it’s understandable why the Lord of Fiends aka King of the Sarkaz is a title that can be passed on to pretty much anyone, because it goes with the Black Crown.

Amiya is the current wearer of the Black Crown, having inherited it from Theresa but with a caveat. Because Amiya is not Sarkaz, she appears to issues interfacing with the crown properly, thus the suppression rings created by Theresa and Kal’tsit. (You could also argue that the Crown is also Amiya’s arts unit and because of it’s unique properties to not just read but also ‘access’ memories, she’s able to use it to do things like copy Ch’en’s swordsmanship.)

Which brings us to the Confessarii and what all of this means for THEM. I once theorized that the Confessarii’s arts work by being able to access the Sarkaz Collective Memories and based on what Salus said in Chapter 11, it sounds like the Confessarii arts can bypass the Black Crown entirely and tap directly into the data bank. The issue is that it’s basically like a script kiddie who hacked into a heavily encrypted database and thus can only read fragments of the data stored. Shining and her brother’s arts are a little more advanced. From my readings, it sounds like they have more than just read access. They can download a whole snapshot. But just a snapshot, a moment in time, not the whole memory.

Only the King of Sarkaz can do that via the Black Crown. Even more interesting is that the King of Sarkaz can basically utilize their connection to the database to manipulate the memories and feelings of all the other Sarkaz. Basically it sounds they have root access and can either edit or upload specific memories to illicit specific emotional responses.

There’s a TON of implications for this. Shit like ‘what’s Nightingale’s whole deal then’? And ‘what does this mean for Kirsten’s dreams of breaking out into space?’ But also ‘WHY THE FUCK DO THE SEABORNE REMEMBER THE NIGHT SKY?!’

I’ll continue my musings in part 2.

#arknights #arknights lore #arknights spoilers #i cite my sources #but holy shit y'all #this is like the motherlode of lore dumps #i can't wait for what this means in chapter 12

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venillopewrites · 8 months

Note

Hi I hope you're well. I was just wondering if there were any new updates you could give us?

If not, what about any non spoilery fun facts for this or your other project?

Actually Idk if you started working on it yet but if so, How's the other project going? All I saw was animals and got excited.

Hello love! I'm doing good, winding down from the summer excitement and preparing my home for my favorite autumn season 🍂 My neighbors are getting increasingly worried about my pumpkin collection.

I do have some minor updates for you! Nothing to warrant an entire post, but small successes are also successes!

For example, the personality aspect of the prologue has passed quick testing! Now every action has an appropriate reaction somewhere in the text, no matter how small. I so enjoy flavor text 💫 (I added like 2k words of flavor text. Oops, but not really)

The naming shenanigans for the Parasite has been fun. There's some easter eggs there, depending on what you decide to name it! (ie. Venom, which no doubt will be popular) Of course all of these aliens from media have faded from human memory between 2023 and 2974, but that won't stop me from writing some general and vaguely snarky responses.

Bonus scene for this week was the very first "death" scene. Not that the MC can die this early in the game, but I'll switch to the Parasite's POV as a lil treat for both you and me 😌 It's very exasperated about the whole ordeal of its human meat bag going *windows shutting down*.

Focusing heavily on the stat page now too, and boy is it fun. There's even (placeholder) graphics! Both literary and numerical relationship stats, yay! Shiba will be the only one who even remotely likes MC in the beginning of the game, the others are either indifferent (Parasite), wary (N.) or downright hostile (E.)

There are a lot of fun tidbits from both games, but let's do TEP for now.

Did you know organized religion no longer exists in 2974? The only thing remaining are obscure records on the intranets and crumbling, forgotten infrastructure hidden deep within the oldest parts of the Pens. Cults though, those you'll find in abundance!

The metropolitan city has a name, but no one really uses it. The three districts (the Aureum, the Hub, and the Pens) are the biggest districts within the city of Arca. There are more, but no one really pays mind to those. Like suburbs that have nothing happening to be honest.

All but four planets (the four exceptions being Neptune, Jupiter, Uranus, Saturn) in the solar system are inhabited by humans. Mercury is an industrial behemoth, and only houses mines, factories, and factory workers. Venus is a resort planet, but just for the richest of people who can afford it. Very bougie. Mars is a settled planet with similar massive cityscapes as Earth, but they're very much shielded under massive domes. Pluto is a prison. Many moons/natural satellites also have colonies, because humans are too many and need space.

One of those inhabited moons kinda went kablooey in 2430. RIP people who lived on Rhea.

While the future has many great technologies, humans haven't dabbled in android business yet. There are some trials on extinct animals though, but those have all been failures.

Animals only exist in zoos. The planet is too barren and crowded to house any natural animals. Sad, but no one really cares since they don't go outside the city limits on foot anyway.

Oh wee, that was a lot of loredropping, huh? Hope it gives a bit of an insight to the world!

Now the other project is in outlining stages, but I can name drop some NPCs/RO's for you 😉 They're all set in their genders too which will help me with coding.

Anyway, here's them and their respective emojis.

Kit 🐻‍❄️🐧

Olivia 🐬🦈

Dallas 🐊🐍

Mason 🦁🐯

Harper 🦚🦜

Sydney 🩺🐾

Oh, and the villain 💵🏗️, duh.

#ask #the erebus project #secret project #woah this got loooong #had fun writing it though #thank you for the fun ask 🪐

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12pt-times-new-roman · 1 year

Text

s3e46

No DDB sponsor tonight :)

"Her monstrous form, both faces and all" terrifying. horrific. absolutely nightmarish. I adore her.

Oh, so FCG knows that bats aren't birds but not that Exandria is round.

When Morri responds to Imogen's mind messages, she sounds like seven or eight different voices as she responds.

Ashton's head reacts like a plasma globe to Morri's touch, and Ashton starts to get flashes of memories.

The Harrowcall Fens is the name of the region where Ligament Manor resides.

Morri's cocktail gave everyone darkvision!

Morri made the scatterscope lens for the Nightmare King because she already owed him a favor.

"I can't change fate, that is the Matron's domain... I, when no one's looking, can add a tangle or two to the skein if I so choose, and I just like to see who's getting tangled." She watches the web of fate, but can't really affect it majorly, and it is so incredibly tangled right now because of all the people doing things in preparation for the solstice.

The Feywild malleus key, kept in the Shiver Keep, is apparently what's been keeping Ruidus in the sky of the Feywild. "It seems to carry a chunk of [Ruidus'] essence here, at the very least." Like splitting a river.

"For some, hundreds of years go by in the blink of an eye." I'm out here talking about consecution, but Ludinus could've just hidden out in the Feywild to escape the fall of Aeor and fast-travelled to Molaesmyr.

"That glint in your eye, that passion -- that's one of the things I collect." um

To Morri's recollection, Fearne wasn't a favor or a payment, she was a gift "for safekeeping." Morri had also looked over Birdie for a while in her youth, hence why she was comfortable putting Fearne in her care.

From Fearne's window, they can see a series of thin, needle-like mountain peaks, and hovering above them is a glowing red sphere. Except the sphere is in front of some of the mountains.

Morri's collection room has walls completely covered in shelves, with a spiral staircase up the middle. There are hundreds and hundreds of orbs, jars, figurines, fleshy faces stretched across petrified fruit, long-dead and dried faeries on cork board, eyes and dried herbs, flayed bodies that have been tanned, strips of organic material with faces on the end that smile as the Hells walk in. "It's a room where everything has a story, and you're not sure you want to know any of them."

She's most proud of "the heart of the lion guard," a massive, purple and black, wet, disembodied heart that's still beating. It belonged to the champion of the guard, long-famed legendary protectors of the midlands between courts. The champion is still around, and as long as Morri keeps the heart safe and intact, they will continue to live. (sound familiar?)

Morri touches Ashton's head again, and a purple nebula cloud emanates from the glass. "Oh, no no no. I'm not touching that... what is it, what is it? I don't know that sensation... Whatever magic resides in that crystal feels very new, yet very old."

Ashton's "hyper rage" for the time build increases their movement speed to 90 feet, allowing them to move up to 180 feet in one round (or increases it to 60 feet if Ashton can somehow use their bonus action to move with a barbarian feature I don't know about).

The insight check Fearne beat Ludinus at revealed that he is not Ruidusborn, and is in fact very jealous of Imogen and Otohan because they are.

"Are the gods really... all that great?" "We don't know. Have we ever met a god?" (Orym, who has indeed met a god: *silence*)

"Who are they-- who are we to decide who lives and who dies, god or mortal or otherwise?"

Laudna and FCG appear in Imogen's dream as glowing orbs that radiate a familiar energy.

The nearer she gets to the red glow she sees, the more it looks like a gateway, like a little window.

Imogen goes through the opening and arrives in an endless, rolling landscape of mountains pushing through brambles and undergrowth. Turning around, Imogen sees Ruidus where the doorway was, like she had "just stepped out of it." It seems small, though, not distant; like the one they saw from Fearne's window. It's like an optical illusion -- from some angles it looks like a solid object, and from others, like a concave gateway.

Going back through the gateway, Imogen is on the familiar surface of Ruidus, after thinking of her mother as she went through.

As she concentrates on memories of her mother, she feels an instinctual yearning in a particular direction, which all three of them follow. Eventually, they come to the precipice of a wide, deep crater. There are sections of scaffolding, elements of platforms and cranes and structures on the outskirts. As Imogen drifts over it, there is a draw downward, like the course of a river, the flow of a driving energy that sweeps them into it. They see shadows, shades, like the imprint of people burned into space but not made of material.

Deep in the pit, they find old, old structures. It's not large enough to be a city -- it's a ruin of something. Towers being excavated, clusters of shades, signs of massive constructions moving through and carrying things. In the center, there are curved, pointed structures that are intentionally built towards a central point. One mighty tower drives upward like a three-pronged fork; here, along the base of it, there is a familiar structure: a telescope-looking device. Dozens of shades wandering in and out, some brighter than others -- most dark, some with a faint red glow. One, Imogen sees very clearly: a woman with deep lavender hair, braided down the back, a long coat. Liliana. She walks through, inspecting things.

Imogen reaches out to touch her, and she turns. "You shouldn't be here. You have to go." She raises her hand, and suddenly, Imogen is dragged out of the dream and into darkness. (A banishment spell, maybe.) FCG feels the same thing, but Laudna remains.

It's harrowing for her, but Laudna does manage to pull herself out of the dream, and they all wake up at the same time.

I love that Sam took the chef feat for FCG, it's a great character choice, but holy shit it is a terrible fucking feat mechanically.

Morri gives the group 3 Harrowcall Veils, which will make the group invisible (or significantly more stealthy) while they aren't moving.

She also gives Fearne a very well-made gloomscale breastplate, presumably made from the scales of a gloomstalker.

"The Unseelie are cruel, unrelenting, and have memories as long as time. [The Calloways] knew that they would go after the thing they prized most, so they left you in my safekeeping. They know better than to come to my manor -- a few have tried, and now they adorn my garden."

Lastly, Morri gives them a glass jar with a dark green-yellow paste in it. Putting it on their foreheads will make sure that the time dilation is minimal when they go through the gateway back to Exandria.

"For one round, you want them to... don't."

Ashton rage build update: when Ashton's possibility rage build is active, they gain an additional reaction ability called "dreadful misfortune." When something misses them with an attack, they can use their reaction to force it to roll again against their own AC, potentially causing them to hit themselves. If they hit, the damage they take is halved.

#critical role #critical role campaign 3 #critical role c3 #critical role liveblog #critical role spoilers #note watches c3

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geistxhund-a · 2 years

Text

big ugly lore dump for khaz since my brain finally decided to do something for once, just gonna put it under a read more though since there’s definitely some mature stuff and I’m not too sure how to tag it

Khaz has implanted memories/false memories, given to him by the Facility and basically processed him into believing that he was a blank slate, artificially-made bio-organic weapon, despite the reality being he was an orphan of war being plucked from the ruins of his home to become a child-soldier with a self-repairing machine that he’ll effectively keep him alive but due to excessive use and essentially nearly-abusing it’s own function now runs are nearly one quarter of it original effective healing-factor but can out of emergency rapidly heal severely damaged or lost limbs or even possibly save him from a critical-state depending if he can preform emergency first-aid on himself properly according to the wound. The indoctrination procedures would include implanting basic run of the mill memories, leading the kidnapped children to believe that they were bio-organic weapons, effective test-tube babies developed, born & produced for the sole purpose of infiltration-exfil and assassinations, despite the truth being that the children were in-fact war-orphans from a nation that was fighting a civil war. The Facility staff believing that it'd be more than perfect to select children that would effectively have already been broken from the atrocities and horrors of warfare, the brutality of man. Thinking that they could mold the built-up rage and complex emotions of children who've supposedly lost their entire lives and families due to the avarice of men who were willing to kill their own country-men to ascertain power. Khaz would eventually find out about this falsehood he had believed for so long, after having a stray dream that was different from the usual occasional reminder of his implantation when he would see a poppy in a store during november when he was still working as a bodyguard for his father’s gang. He had collected enough information after working a few odd jobs for an information broker he knew through his old connections within the decade he had in the criminal underworld about a small compound belonging to the company which more than piqued his interest in the matter since he still had a seething hatred for those who’d brutalized him and strapped the accursed machine to his back. Infiltrating the small compound belonging to the pharmaceutical company responsible for his mutations and forced surgeries and fighting through some basic security just to find the facility was running on bare-bones staff, most of the files were wiped, the only real viable intelligence left for him to scavenge for were physical documents that were scattered across the floor, supposedly in a hurried manner one would could assume from how hectic the archives and other rooms in the state they were left in. Once he did find something about him, or at least related to the project he was a prime test-subject and failed product of.

To say the least, he was more or less not happy with what he found, in fact he'd rather believe that the false-memories of him being a product more than an orphan with nothing, at least him being a weapon had some purpose for him to continue his drive for survival, besides, he had nothing else left to return to anyways if he were to pry any further, at this point he could honestly be considered a ghost as he has no recollection of his original name, only that of the serial number given to him by the Facility staff and the name given to him by his adoptive gang-boss father. Sometimes, he'll have dreams at night about his really early years, sitting in a massive field of long green grass, corn poppies littered among the grass, a couple who he could only assume was his parents, their face blurred by the sun when he'd look up to them when they would mutter something, like the sound was being absorbed, muffled into an undistinguishable garble. Other times, he'll have reoccurring nightmares, all pertaining to his time in the Facility during the processing and production, the falsified memories of him lazily floating in turquoise-colored liquid in what seemed to be some device suspending him in said-fluid, cables connecting to the freshly planted mechanical spine, his vertebrae and surrounding muscle and skin tissue raw from the surgery. An oxygen mask strapped over his mouth, presumably also pumping him full of tranquilizers and a small dosage of sedatives. Other nightmares being the surgeries and operations, or in other words, the testing phases of the mechanical spine-technology the pharmaceutical company was researching, seeing how far they can push it's regenerative healing factors capabilities, just how much they could tear apart a human and just how much the spine can repair and was able to repair. All of the brutalized, cruel and inhumane torture they had put Khaz through as he had not been administered anything for the pain nor to put him under while they operated and tested, the times he'd pass in and out of consciousness are the nightmares he remembers most, waking up to catch glimpses of limbs in the process of being hacked off or incisions being made with different tools and weapons and different lengths and widths, all too see the effective healing prowess. They wanted results and were willingly to exhaust the healing factor of the spine and to see if there was anything they could improve on with the next iteration and model when the research would get to that point, although it seemed that Khaz’ spine had been already over-exerted

This all in all, would also develop his nosocomephobia and his effective insomnia as well, often finding it hard to sleep for long when it was a gamble if he'd actually have a good decent chunk of sleep or if he was just going to go to sleep and have a horrible night trying to sleep but just having the worst nightmares or just not fun dreams in general since his own memories don't even feel right as he can't remember any of the important details, not even his parents' voices and faces, nor their names.

#07 //: HEADCANON

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sonicenvy · 1 year

Text

thinking about how one of those crappy things that you have to do when you work at any wide open public space or school or whatever in America is that annual active shooter drill or active shooter training. It's one of those things that honestly so fucking depressing about living in this country, that you have to constantly be prepared for the possibility that some nutjob with guns will randomly decide to attack your workplace or your school. Like ... is this a thing in other countries?? idk. But it sucks that not only are such individuals out there, but that in this country those bastards have ready and easy access to military grade guns.

The worst part is that over half of americans are in favor of stronger gun control and 81% of Dems/lean dems are in favor of stronger gun control. We want to improve gun control in this country, but the current laws are not in our favor.

So, for now, all you can think, in the back of your mind is will it come to me? when will it come to my community? There was a mass shooting 20 miles from where I live last year, and that day, while the shooter was still at large, all I could think about was will it come to us?

I think one of the top things I hate about living in this country is literally this specter of tragedy that we all have to live in. Schools, parks, parades, shops, movie theaters, clubs, and many more public places are all tainted with it. It happens nearly every day across our country. Guns are the leading cause of death for CHILDREN in this country -- in 2020 alone over 1000 children died by firearms in America. I fucking hate this so much. I honestly feel as though the NRA is a national terrorist organization for championing guns and easy gun ownership. Thousands of people in this country needlessly die because of firearms.

If you live in a country that doesn't suffer from massive, needless, tragic gun violence, I don't think you can understand. The fact that so many of these tragedies happen across this country that they blur together in our collective memory is horrific and, frankly, traumatizing for so many Americans. You just have to sit with the quiet background memory that it can come to you at any time. It is so common that employers like mine have their staff do drills or training for the possibility of an incident -- they're like clockwork, like a fire drill or a tornado drill.

I don't know where I was going with this post beyond being angry about the state of affairs over this issue in my country. Every time I have to watch those active shooter training videos for my job, it just makes me angry and sad. It's not fair that we have to live with this, that we have to sit with this, and it makes me furious when people from other countries (especially smarmy europeans) make fun of this whenever a shooting is so big that it reaches the international news. The things that I saw that some smarmy europeans say in the aftermath of Uvalde made me see red. CHILDREN died.

once again, the actual, main, central political theme of this blog is that the GOP and the NRA should rot in hell.

#pol #us stuff #us pol #cw: guns #margaret babbles #gun control

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nedayisonline · 1 year

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From my understanding Skybound isn't glitch and originated on earth, so... How was their reaction to the destruction of Earth?

It's quite nice seeing more asks recently I love replying to them, as for the question oh boy it's loaded. Yes, SkyBound isn't a true glitch, they were a human sent off on some of the first interstellar exploration missions about 100 years before the founding of the Terrene Protectorate. They lost their physical form using magic to bring back Kaiya after being attacked by cultists, and then assumed the body of a glitch to keep protecting the galaxy. (yes, that means they are now 600 years old and counting!)

That aside, this is probably their reaction from their point of view.

"The radio turned on by itself, must have been the ship's AI. The radio message was repeating the same message. "Earth is under attack by an unidentified organism, destruction is imminent. Evacuation is impossible with no major settlements off planet. If you are a human receiving this broadcast, we are now an endangered species. The future of the Terrene Protectorate is now in your hands"

When it cut off after about 5 minutes it was safe to assume that earth was gone... I had heard of an ancient being capable of destruction on this scale, but it was locked away, sealed by the cultivator's great sacrifice. So how did it come back? I guess the ancients planned for this with their vaults, filled with the life they could scrounge up and protected by ancient elemental gods created by their fine craftsmanship.

Then I... cried? I haven't had much reason to cry in a few centuries, but the realization that everything the human race has endured, wars, being divided, their, no, MY unending curiosity had stemmed from them. They took thousands of years to come together, then united the galaxy on a scale nobody saw coming, and now it is all gone. Every single memory made, love shared, families made... All of it was for nothing. A universal-sized dream ended in just a few minutes, it wasn't fair. And why couldn't I have done anything? I'm supposed to be the guardian of the galaxy and the universe, and I couldn't save the one planet that mattered most. I spent the next few months traveling to study other planets showing signs of the Destroyer's touch to decide if I needed to do it.

Lost in thought, it didn't hit me that Kaiya was to attend graduation that day until much later when it hit me that I had missed the graduation ceremony. I had no idea if she was okay, let alone if she had survived... I was used to her being away on missions for a few weeks at a time, and it had slipped me by completely. I wouldn't know my answer for a few months until my scanners picked up a massive collection of celestial energy in one spot, on a small asteroid colony near the Ark which had been where the cultivator sealed the Destroyer inside another dimension. I had heard of a lone warrior taking on insane tasks to collect the ancient artifacts, could it have been her? With the burning desire to know I rushed to the "Outpost" as the locals called it, where I found a collection of members from all races, including the old Grand Protector Esther Bright, and the lone familiar orange glow of Kaiya. In just a few months she had managed to unite all the artifacts and killed the Destroyer's Heart while I was off sealing the ancient vaults.

I guess it makes sense, the Novakids are the remnants of the Cultivator, born of their great generosity. It's almost fitting that one of its descendants would be the one to annihilate the Destroyer, as it is now called. I'm just glad I didn't have to use the ultimate weapon stored in the Core of our Galaxy that I had forged all those years ago for an event like the Destroyer's emergence.

Hopefully... it stays that way."

I hope it wasn't too cringe! I mention the Destroyer because Skybound never heard about its name, not until Kaiya tells them about her adventure, and why Skybound no longer feels the cultivator's presence in the universe.

#starbound #starbound explained #starbound extended story #extended universe #silly stuff #starbound oc

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o5-blackbird · 2 years

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💭 a comforting or a painful memory from Experimenter for 565 Eight; whatever you like better!

Only visible to Eight from @o5-the-daughter.

tw: manipulation & sickness.

Word Count: 791

"Damn... You’ve already gotten this far?”

You turn your attention away from the vaguely organized pile of scratch paper and documents, immediately wishing that you had taken the movement a little slower as you’re hit by that wave of nausea you’d been desperately trying to avoid for some time now.

After taking a second to look around dumbly while fighting the bitter taste in the back of your throat, you locate the source of the voice. The man’s standing in the center of the room, glancing between the massive machine before him and the mess of papers documenting it so far right in front of you.

A few others are around the room. You aren't quite sure how long they had been there. You just know that whenever you requested something, someone would always take the request and scurry off before returning with whatever you had asked of them.

It was convenient. It meant you didn’t have to struggle with stumbling up to grab or do anything.

"Yeah-" You start to mumble, finding it difficult to track where your train of thought had gone. "Yeah, just- It will be a few more and-” You trail off.

You feel like you're speaking coherently.

You know you're wrong when his expression shifts a little.

"Christ, Matt, you don't look good… Are you taking care of yourself?..."

You don’t feel good. You haven’t for a while. You haven’t been taking care of yourself either but that is beside the point. You’ve gotten this far in the project. Once it was over then you would not need to revisit it.

"I'm alright," You mumble while using your arm to wipe at your face so as to not stain the papers beneath you.

A few seconds pass before you hear him say something about getting a glass of water and cranking the air conditioning up a bit, vaguely registering someone nearby scurrying off to do as he’d asked.

Your focus quickly drifts back to your project, eyeing the papers you were struggling with. After a few seconds, you resolve that you’re not going to figure it out by sitting there.

"Get-..." You start to stay while standing up, finding the action increasingly difficult when it causes your vision to darken for a few seconds, catching yourself immediately and taking a second for your sight to clear. "Get sample four in there. Fine setting."

You slowly make your way to the back of the machine, sitting behind a small exposed section of the machine and trying to collect your attention back on the task at hand as you stare at the mechanisms, a few splayed assumptions at the inner mechanisms of the machine drifting to the forefront of your mind as you examine it — the lights above the machine feeling a bit too bright and causing you to drag a hand above you to shield your eyes as you continue looking into the exposed section.

It doesn’t take long for your focus to drift back away as you realize that the man from before has followed you, standing aside for a few seconds before crouching down beside you.

You try not to pay attention.

He only draws your attention with a hand on the shoulder as the machine begins to whir to life — poor timing. This test would undoubtedly be wasted.

“How about you take tomorrow off. Get some rest, yeah?...”

You’re quiet for a few moments. You know that taking only one day off would not help. Not at this point.

His expression softens a little. “You’re doing so well. There’s nobody else who would have accomplished this much in this amount of time. You’re working so hard and everyone can see it. You know that, right?”

You struggle to find the words to respond. You feel good about the compliment but also…

“I really mean it. Hell, you’re doing much better than I would,” He adds while cracking a smile as his own half-hearted joke. “Take tomorrow off, you’ve earned it.”

You give a small nod, unable to help but feel a bit more at ease with the light praise. The small movement makes you feel another small bubble of nausea beginning to rise to the surface.

He smiles again and gives you a pat on the shoulder. “Alright, I’ll see you Saturday. Make sure to get some rest for once!”

You draw your focus back to the machine as you fight down the sick feeling and swipe the sweat off your face again. You almost find it funny how your sight momentarily starts to darken again just at the action of turning your head back to the machine.

You focus through it anyways.

You’re doing well.

#a blackbird’s tale #tw sickness #tw manipulation #ask to tag #scheduled post

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metaphysicalpistolsoraclemine · 9 days

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False Light and Soul Splicing

When an individual becomes disconnected from their Soul matrix, the cellular memory and DNA history are wiped, so the Soul energies will not naturally activate in the body.

If they become connected to a false matrix or spliced into another Soul group, the false matrix will program the DNA and download its memories into the three layers of ego, which have been programmed into the false matrix by the NAA.

Essentially, what they program into the false matrix is what we observe as the standard 3D version of the material reality based upon a death culture, a controlled reality in which the Soul, Spirit, consciousness and God do not exist.

Planets and galaxies also have a Soul matrix, through which all of that system’s inhabitants are interconnected through their individual Soul matrix and Soul group.

When a planet or galaxy is blown up and suffers a cataclysmic event that rips apart its morphogenetic fields, the Soul matrix is damaged and fragmented in the macrocosmic layers of the planetary body, as well as in the individual incarnating body.

When a planetary Soul body is blown up, this disconnects the planetary grid system from accessing the eternal energy supply, so that evolution upon that system becomes finite, as it recycles the existing energy.

When the original Soul matrix of the earth was exploded, the 5D Taran body, this exploded the World Soul. It damaged the Soul matrix of those original angelic human beings that once lived on Tara, and are now reincarnated upon the Earth.

The nefarious agenda behind the data collection and surveillance is to build AI servers that ultimately work to sever the energetic connection between the person and their Soul matrix and instead reconnect them into an artificial intelligence collective consciousness network.

These AI systems can be used to propagate false light, an experience of light in the mind which seems genuine but is in actuality being artificially generated. There are organic lightbody structures that link the body, mind and emotions to the Soul matrix, which further link into the Spirit body and Avatar Christ body.

The Controller beings that understand the multidimensional nature of reality can manipulate the subtle energy bodies and splice an individual from a certain soul group. They can then place them into a mismatched soul matrix, in which the process would disconnect that person from their original Soul matrix family. Transhumanism and Transgenderism are weaponized 3D narratives that act as cover stories for serving this agenda as well.

To prevent the continuation of mass planetary ascension with the rebirthing of the Solar Logos for planet Earth, Tara and Gaia, the NAA agenda is to link the earthseeds and those vibrating in the lower perceptions of reality into a false collective consciousness matrix that is being generated by an artificial neural network. The artificial network is built upon the massive amounts of data being collected and shared between the consciousness links of the masses, and that collective data contains the architecture for artificially brain mapping the perceptual ranges of those groups that are in consensus with that particular reality bubble. As many of us may imagine, the astral bliss New Age philosophy and spiritual communities that form into reality bubbles based upon astral delusions and half-truths are being greatly targeted for this now. The collective consciousness links feedback the interactions as well as the perceptual ranges and perceptual abilities, which can be measured on a dimensional scale. These measurements are used to sustain an illusion of false reality through layers of artificial intelligence systems grouped together in holographic inserts projecting that dimensional scale, thus making it appear that permanent structures are manifesting in that particular reality bubble.

#deadlight #falselight #holograpjicinserts #NAA #jeminthehologram #metaphysicalpistol #godsovereignfree #gsf #energeticsynthisis #ascensionglossary #ascensionmechanics #oraclemine #3layersofego

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