#power. the greater good. 'if I'm in charge.'

[lenaellsi]

Thinking about Aziraphale taking away Nina's pain and anger and agency at the ball so that she can be the star of his Perfect Regency Romance and then twelve hours later offering to change her narrative mirror into a watered-down, idealized version of himself so that their relationship will be less complicated

#good omens #good omens 2 #good omens meta #changing the bentley. denying elspeth the money she risked her life for to teach her a lesson. making people dance. #power. the greater good. 'if I'm in charge.' #it has been 0 days since someone said 'the road to hell is paved with good intentions'

[70sscifiart]

The Last-Minute Sci-Fi Gift Guide

There's only one thing worse than procrastinating on getting gifts for your loved ones, and that's procrastinating on putting together a guide to help out everyone else with all those gifts. It's Dec 12, so you can decide for yourself which I'm doing.

Art book: Worlds Beyond Time, $32

If you follow this blog, you might have heard of this one. I published Worlds Beyond Time: Sci-Fi Art of the 1970s this year after five years of work on it, and I think it's really good! 400+ images, 100+ artists, with lots of fun art history and jokes.

Also, it's just $20 right now if you order through my publisher and use the code SKIPTHELINE! Cheapest it's ever been!

Card game: Coup, $14

In this "social deduction" card game, you play as a government official in a future dystopia who needs to backstab their way into power. Everyone starts out with just two cards in this bluffing game, so the tide can turn pretty quick when players start assassinating each other's cards. The fast pace makes it a good gift for someone who loves spies but thinks they don't like card games.

Game to play over Zoom: Bad Spaceships, $3

If a bluffing game stresses you out, try Bad Spaceships: It's a collaborative world-building game in which you roll dice to see what area of your spaceship connects to another, forcing you to spitball exactly why this is the case. As the game puts it, you might fix the hull by playing Tetris, or charge your weapons in the swimming pool. You're basically getting weird prompts to tell a story that can evolve over the course of the game.

It's such an indie game that it comes as PDFs you download from itch.io, but you can play it just as well over Zoom, if you're looking for an excuse to catch up with your old digital nomad college friend.

Movies/TV: Streaming service gift card

Gift cards are all well and good, but you can personalize them by recommending a few of your favorite shows as well. I suggest:

Hulu: Cowboy Bebop

Apple TV+: Severance

Criterion Channel: Ravenous, Paprika, Strange Days

Paramount+: Yellowjackets

Amazon Prime: The Devil's Hour

But to be honest, this entry is just an excuse to talk about the new Max show Scavenger’s Reign. Inspired by the work of French artist Moebius and with a clear debt to famed 70s animated film Fantastic Planet, this stylish sci-fi show features a bunch of humans trying to survive on a beautiful but hostile alien world. Perfect for lovers of fictional nature.

Vintage sci-fi

This Etsy shop has some good stuff, like the 1971 Frank Kelly Freas NASA poster above, a bit of history that I even mentioned on page 167 of my art book.

Penguin science fiction postcards, $28

These postcards have a ton of very cool sci-fi covers I've blogged in the past – great value if you want a lot of art for a low cost.

Meteorite pendant necklace, $34

I think we all know what kind of rock your loved ones need around their neck: A chunk of meteorite straight out of the 1576 Argentinan meteorite fall.

Book recs

For astronauts: Packing for Mars by Mary Roach, The New Guys: The Historic Class of Astronauts That Broke Barriers and Changed the Face of Space Travel by Meredith Bagby

For comedians: Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir, Even Greater Mistakes: Short Stories by Charlie Jane Anders 

For sleuths: Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty, Drunk on All Your Strange New Words by Eddie Robson

For crafters: Knits of Tomorrow: Toys and Accessories for your Retro-Future Needs

For the resistance fighters: The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley, An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

For slasher movie fans: Clown in a Cornfield by Adam Cesare

Syd Mead "Biomorph Vehicle" button down shirt, $49

T-shirts aren't classy enough for the world's coolest visual futurist, Syd Mead. I haven't actually bought this incredibly odd shirt, but I really need to.

Art prints (and more) from 70s sci-fi artists

Artist shops can be surprisingly hard to track down on the internet, but here's a short list of ones I've come across. All of these artists are featured in my book (except one), so you can read up on them before you commit to a print.

Michael Whelan 

John Harris

Syd Mead

Don Maitz

David B Mattingly

Peter Andrew Jones - Jones was one of just a few artists who declined to be included in my art book, but he has a distinct, colorful style that I would have loved to have featured!

Finally, here's one extra bonus, just for everyone who made it to the end of this article: The UK-based educational charity Centre for Computing History sells three big officially licensed John Harris posters featuring these three artworks, famous for their use as covers for Sinclair programming manuals.

It's a great deal that I've never seen mentioned anywhere, and Harris' work has a timeless quality that makes it great for an unassuming wall decoration. If you're outside the UK, the shipping costs will be a pain, but there's no better deal for a classic sci-fi poster.

#gift guide #sci-fi #sci-fi gift ideas #gift ideas #retro sci-fi art

[cosmerelists]

Kelsier and Taravangian Have A Conversation

Inspired by these two being compared in Kelsier's Coppermind entry.

[Contains major spoilers for Mistborn and Stormlight Archive!]

Kelsier: So, you're a king, huh?

Kelsier: Exactly the sort of person I'd assassinate, back in the day.

Taravangian: Yes, those in power can rarely be trusted.

Taravangian: In my case, I do, uh, run a large-scale hospital that welcomes all.

Kelsier: Knowing what nobles are like, it's probably a front to hide some sort of greater crime.

Taravangian: Ha, ha, yeah! I actually use it as a front to kill people in order to obtain the prophecies delivered by the dying, hoping to piece together enough clues to save the world. It's one of the only reliable ways to obtain reliable information about the world's fate.

Taravangian: You know how it is. Somebody has to be willing to do whatever it takes to save humanity, no matter the cost.

Kelsier: Damn it.

Taravangian: Hmmm?

Kelsier: I hate it when the worst person I know makes a good point.

Taravangian: Oh? That's not usually the reaction I get.

Taravangian: Usually it's something more like "Oh my dear god you monster why"

Kelsier: Well sure. That's a perfectly normal reaction.

Kelsier: Which is why it takes people like us to actually save the world.

Kelsier: I sacrificed myself and had a friend eat my bones to create a mystical religion and overthrow an immortal god-king.

Taravangian: How did eating your bones help?

Kelsier: Oh, it was a kandra. They can ingest bones and then reconstruct the original body.

Kelsier: Is that really the first question you had, though?

Taravangian: I mean, dramatic martyrdom that spawns a religion in order to manipulate the masses seems pretty straight-forward.

Kelsier: ...It took a lot of planning, you know.

Taravangian: Well, but that's the fun part, isn't it?

Taravangian: I may be damning my own soul, but storms if it isn't fun to lay out an extravagant plot every now and again.

Taravangian: My Diagram was written over the walls and floors of an entire room!

Taravangian: Good times.

Kelsier: Unhinged scrawls on a wall? Seems like a hard sell for your crew.

Taravangian: Bah! If people are put off by genius that spills off the page, then you need better men.

Kelsier: With all sincerity--I could not have had better men.

Kelsier: Take Spook. He started off as a just a scrawny skaa, but in the end, he was in charge of an empire with me as a his ghost advisor, and we made great progress in hemalurgy.

Kelsier: Speaking of doing whatever it takes.

Taravangian: I'm not familiar with 'hemalurgy.'

Kelsier: Oh, you'd like it. You can take investiture from people using special spikes. It kills them, of course, but the power does not die with them.

Kelsier: I think it's probably gonna save the world. My world, at least.

Taravangian: You know, I hadn't wanted to ask about the spike in your eye since it seemed impolite, but...

Kelsier: Yup. Hemalurgy.

Taravangian: Fascinating! I wonder if it would work for my world too.

Kelsier: Probably! If my agents on your world ever get their shit together, maybe we'll find out.

Taravangian: ...You have agents on my world?

Kelsier: Well, yeah. What, are you not out into the wider Cosmere yet?

Taravangian: Look, I only just became a god. I'll get there!

Kelsier: Well, I can't wait to battle with you for supremacy in the hope of sacrificing your world to save mine.

Taravangian: Aw, thanks! Right back at you.

Kelsier: We'll probably need to deal with that bastard Hoid first, though.

Taravangian: Eh, he's not so bad if you have the power to delete his memory.

Kelsier: You...got one over on Hoid?

Kelsier: Could this be...love?

Taravangian: No, I think it's just the warm glow of something bad happening to Hoid.

Kelsier: Yeah, that must be it.

#cosmere #cosmerelists #Kelsier #Taravangian #Hoid

[neonscandal]

So I found this on bird app :

"i only like ge/go when it’s doomed and they have no longterm future

same with go/ge. they’re about the same to me but i think gojo bottomed more and was a total pillow princess about it in their teens. as adults they probably switched equally. i can see gojo developing his experience more with topping as an adult

either way they’re better as exes. gojo deserves more from a partner than someone who would leave him to start a cult "

Can I ask your thoughts, please?

Hello, hello. Considering, canonically, they are very doomed, I suppose OP found a solid pairing? I'm starting to understand the idea of doomed toxic yaoi a lot more because who says that with their whole chest? I don't feel like I'm on my A game today but let's see if I can adequately convey my thoughts.

I think it's kinda funny, the sentiment that "Gojo deserves more from a partner than someone who would leave him to start a cult,". As if Gojo didn't play some part in his motivation for defection, as if to say this defection, too, did not reek of affection. Don't get me wrong, Geto's hard right was also a great deal of ego. But, foundationally, his departure was sparked by an inability to stand shoulder to shoulder with Gojo, power wise.

Toji got the drop on Gojo which sent Geto on the offensive. After being reassured he was fine, Gojo encouraged him to press forward with the mission. Just short of extending protection to their charge to follow her own wishes, Toji violently extinguishes the life of Riko Amanai before his eyes. An opportunity that was only made possible by besting Gojo, killing him even. Geto loses his composure with this realization and is summarily and disrespectfully embarrassed and defeated. Left alive with the knowledge that he wasn't deemed enough of a threat to kill. This is on the tail end of all of Gojo's reassurances that he was fine, that they could even take on Tengen because he had Geto to rely on. But this series of events, this cocoon of hubris, challenges Geto's ability to protect anyone at all. From this he determines the best way to circumvent premature losses like Gojo, Riko and Haibara are simply to eradicate the population they're forced to put themselves on the line for.

Armies were roused to reclaim Helen of Troy and return her divine beauty back to Sparta, causing the Trojan War. Six people died, including the eponymous lovers Romeo and Juliet, due to a series of compounding events for a romance that lasted 3 days. Orpheus braved the Underworld at the chance to retrieve Eurydice. Geto betrayed himself and everything he'd stood for previously for a chance to create a world where Gojo wouldn't have to sacrifice himself for the greater good. He walked away from Gojo knowing the path he walked was twisted and, in his mind, did so irrevocably even though I know Gojo would have followed him if asked. So why didn't he ask?

The man who had been the moral compass for The Strongest Sorcerer did not abuse that influence. Even knowing he was doomed to fail in his endeavor. Even recognizing that with Gojo's power, it'd be possible. But he never asked, never chose to lead him astray. So, yes, they're tragic but does the copium not encourage us to seek out AU's where they are free of the burden of their fates and are just happy?

RE: everything else, maybe I'm an anomaly but I don't really care about people or characters' positions in relationships so I don't know that I'm someone you want chiming in on that. Like, I get people assume that positions present different archetypes that they choose to align characters with but... that pragmatism ignores a lot of nuance. I also inherently know that people use different names for ships based on this but I don't nor do I see them as having different relationship dynamics, per se, in referring to them as gego vs goge. I just look at their canonical dynamic and tend to use the more popular ship name.

Even if I agree that I could see Gojo as a pillow princess, it's less to do with the "physicality" of it and more to do with his personality. He is princess just as much as Geto is babygirl and the girls who get it, get it.

#neon asks #anon asks #we are the strongest #satosugu #satoru gojo #gojo satoru #suguru geto #geto suguru #stsg #jjk #jjk meta #jujutsu kaisen #twitter discourse #satosugu meta #satosugu brainrot #jjk geto #character analysis #jjk characters #jjk gojo #anime #manga

[needle-noggins]

I wanted to point out this page alone because I just really love the idea of Meryl and Luida as foils. Also I just really want to bang a bunch of pots together like, LOOK AT THESE WOMEN THEY ARE WRITTEN SO WELL AND I LOVE THEM SO DEEPLY!

Luida is a character archetype I really adore (one of my dnd NPCS/basically an OC at this point is just. Wizard Luida). Love an older woman in charge who has some internal struggles but exercises empathy and careful judgement. Meryl is... a baby in comparison. The kind of girl, adventurous and a bit headstrong, who may be changed into someone more like Luida with hard lessons and deep self-reflection. I don't know. Maybe I'm just talking out of my ass at this point.

This conversation is... difficult. Luida is considering having Vash use his angel arm to destroy Knives, to have another July (to which, poor Meryl is like "god the horrors are endless. I saw how that went"). She hates that she even considers it, hates the idea of Vash being a weapon of mass destruction just to take down Knives (ethics of using atomic bombs, anyone?). It is especially hard for her to consider because "this battle with undoubtedly push his limits". Vash is still a friend (and if we want to get Stampy with it, like a son to her), and she knows this could kill him.

Luida scolds herself for being a coward, and I'm not sure in what way - is it cowardly that she won't sacrifice people for the "greater good", or that she's having this internal struggle in the first place? That she won't make Vash pull the trigger?

I forgot to screenshot the panels about it but there's also a very important topic in the conversation preceeding this page about how Vash has been fighting alone, trying to save everyone, but perhaps he needs people to fight for him too. Vash is obviously well-known around Ship 3 as an incredibly powerful plant, so I can understand if they believed him when he said he could take Knives alone, but Luida is now having doubts about Vash's independence - is he too afraid to ask for help? (this is a secret tool that will help us later! Remember that Meryl is here to hear this!)

Using this thread of thought, Luida and her forces attack the ark, which allows Wolfwood to rescue Vash (and then we get the SUPER COOL bit of Vash reversing his angel arm to allow them to escape! and the fall out of the sky! OUGH). It's about the teamwork, it's about helping each other. No one can fight alone. (and then idiot Wolfwood leaves Vash to let him fight Knives alone) (we can already tell this is a bad idea)

#trigunbookclub #i love luida. not enough luida appreciation in the world #meryl stryfe #luida trigun #this is kinda vashmeryl if you squint and think about the impies

[densnake]

Helloooo can I request Karl Heisenberg with a Stoic Male S/O who is bigger and taller than him and has blue fire powers?

Karl Heisenberg With A Stoic! Reader With Fire Abilities

Reader type: Male reader [Boyfriend, Guy, Etc]

Fandom: Resident Evil

Content Warning: Might Be OOC, And Nothing Else!

Authors note: Hey! this is literally my first time writing a fic at all so I'm so sorry if it isn't the best quality and the abrupt end! It was very fun to write though thank you! ^^

——————————————————————————

When Karl first took notice of you it was when he had realized someone inside the village had natural abilities. He immediately was set on being the first one to have you in his possession.

He wasn't going to let anyone else get to you just to waste your potential, especially not Alcina. Just the thought of her beating him to you and turning you into a snack made his blood boil.

So Karl sent some of of his drones after you to be retrieved immediately.

When you arrived back to Karl he was eager to begin studying you and turning you into another project of his. He was aware that you could easily put him in danger with your large stature and powers this, for the most part, enticed him.

While he was very interested in you already Karl also had to be prepared for any reaction you had. He needed a plan to get you to remain relatively calm while he studied the extent of your powers.

When Karl first saw you in person he was very surprised by your size he hadn't expected someone as big as you and especially as tall. Karl knew not to dwell on this fact but it definitely was something he was going to be thinking about.

Karl had originally told you that he had needed your help for an invention to bring back Mother Miranda knowing you'd be another follower.

You didn't complain about the situation and asked minimal questions about where you were and about Mother Miranda. It was a surprise that you were so seemingly calm about the situation at hand. it was good that you were so co-operative with him even if it was just blind faith.

When he spoke to you it was like he was talking down to you even if it irked you he would continue to speak harshly with you and make fun of you.

Considering you weren't one to speak in the first place when you had next to nothing to say back to him it made him frustrated. He wanted to make sure that you knew he was in charge here.

With your attitude and engaging less in his behavior along with the way you stood over him he felt somewhat insecure while he had to look up at you. He didn't feel small or bad about himself compared to you he just didn't like the idea that you could be underestimating or feeling greater than him. He always made sure that you were aware you were under his control.

Seeing as you were much more reserved and stronger than originally anticipated Karl found himself wondering what you were thinking and what you were capable of.

The tests he subjected you to were disguised as apart of the process where he would gather information about your physical abilities such as your base strength, your resistance to your own and outside fire/heat, and how hot you can burn until it affects you if at all.

While you worked with Karl you provided a great assistance with its development that he was not used to. you also provided as a good way for Karl to let out his frustrations about the other Lords. During this time you learned a lot about him and them as you provided a silent ear to him.

During any particularly heated rants Karl would let some things slip about himself and the other lords without realizing. Your silent nature allowed him to share more than what he would originally notice.

During this time you also gave small details about yourself when he was finished as well and any of the criticisms or doubt in your faith in Mother Miranda and the Lords that you had. When you spoke about it you were short but you got your point across well.

He appreciated being able to finally speak to someone that didn't kiss the ground that they walked on. Even if you weren't as passionate as he was about it he was more than happy to dominate the conversation.

Eventually when the time came where Karl would have to make a decision on if he was going to keep you around as an 'assistant' in his shop or turn you into another one of his experiments.

Obviously he chose to keep you around instead of stripping you of your individuality and free will.

As you both had grown closer over the period you spent together Karl would eventually tell you the truth if you were to stick around. He was very blunt with you when it came time to tell you what you believed was false where as you would have to eventually come to accept as the truth.

It was easier to accept as you had been previously listening to Karl picking up hints he dropped when you spoke however it still hardly prepared you for what he had to tell you

He could not be able to sympathize with you in any feelings of betrayal you might have upon learning it as he is hard set in his feelings towards everyone else and wasn't willing to learn as to why someone could or even accept any faults of his own.

Becoming a resident was very different than just his potential project for starters you weren't in as much danger as you were originally be it because you were now subjected to less or because you were simply new.

Karl was still stubborn and rude most of the time however now it wasn't as aggressive as before. He still felt like he had to assert himself he eventually became somewhat less passionate about it.

Karl indulges himself in getting you to use your power for tasks even if he could easily do it himself he enjoys watching you do it. You might need to stop him from going over board with this new ability.

There was no real confession from him he just gradually became more affectionate with his little comments and the way he spoke to you. Soon enough one day he would just call you his boyfriend while was teasing you [In a positive/playful way].

Around this time is when he would take more notice of how big you actually were compared to him. Not even just how tall you were but by how strong you were to match. This was more apparent whenever you got close or physical. He would be lying if he said it didn't appeal to him.

He would definitely call you 'big guy'.

Karl isn't very physically affectionate and not a fan of PDA. He would much prefer keeping all that in the private. This wouldn't be a big issue for you both though.

However Karl can get jealous very easily. This, again, doesn't happen very often for the two of you as you aren't one to actively socialize with the others. He'd never admit to you that he was jealous. However if he feels that one of the others is getting too friendly or doubting you he will immediately step in.

it isn't that he thinks that you can't handle yourself in discussion with them he just hates the idea that you or him will be put into suspicion.

——————————————————————————

That's All! Thank You For Reading!

#resident evil #karl heisenberg #karl heisenburg x reader #x male reader #male reader #resident evil x male reader #resident evil x reader #x reader #writing #karl heisenburg x male reader

[avelera]

Moving my commentary about Stede being a natural Dom from this post so as to not bother OP!

Well... yeah, actually! I would see this as confirmation of Dom Stede, not undermining of it?

The whole point of bedroom power play is fantasy. Stede has longed for respect his whole life, arguably more than he's longed to run away to the sea. If Stede just wanted to be a pirate, he could have run off at any point to join some other person's crew. But he built his own ship and styled himself as a captain. Like in the screenshot above, he did it because he wants respect and power and admiration. He's bad at getting it because this is a comedy (and also presumably there's a character arc where he learns and grows into getting what he wants), but it's still unequivocally what he wants.

By contrast, Ed has all the authority. People literally throw themselves overboard in fear at the sight of him. He's the world's most fearsome and competent pirate within the conceit of the show. Yet when he raids the wedding he styles himself as the bride and Stede as the groom. I don't want to get into, y'know, regressive gender politics or anything, so let's just say what's happening on its face: Ed in his fantasies styles himself as the bride in the relationship and Stede as the groom. Your mileage may vary on what that means but in my mind we can at least safely say that Ed's fantasies do not involve himself as a pinnacle example of masculinity. I think we can deduce other things like "He wants to be wooed," but down that path lies gender politics stuff I don't necessarily want to explore in the context of an off the cuff tumblr post.

But anyway, deepest apologies for jumping on this post, I can move it to its own if you'd like, but... yeah. Yeah to my eyes, this just confirms that in the intimacy and privacy of their own bedroom, Stede wants very badly to be the hard dom, he's just not good at it. Whereas for Ed, domination and masculinity are effortless to the point of boring (and restrictive, and painful, and a host of other things that are denied to him that he wants) because he's so effortlessly good at being a hard dom leather daddy that everyone rolls over and exposes their throat to. The guy wants a pretty gentleman in velvet and lace to woo him and wed him like he's a princess. And Stede desperately, for all his incompetence, wants to be the pirate captain who is "masculine" (for some value of masculinity best explored in greater depth elsewhere) and in charge enough to give Ed the other half of those fantasies, of that I'm sure.

#our flag means death #ofmd #ofmd meta

[prosocialbehavior]

UNIT, self-preservation, and the Doctor

so UNIT is sus, right, we know this, they're getting too powerful for their own good and I feel like everyone is expecting them to get infiltrated or corrupted or something for a season finale plot twist in the near future. but lately I've been thinking about the weird and impossible position they're in.

so! you're in charge of the planet's main (only? idk what torchwood is up to these days) line of defense against alien attack, and your species has been adopted by a sort of alien trickster god.

this eccentric, erratic alien with apparently godlike power has decided to attach themself to you. The Doctor is benevolent and willing to sacrifice almost anything up to and including their own life for the good of the human race, but they're also unpredictable, unreliable, egotistical. you know what happened the last time a human authority crossed a moral line they decided was unforgivable:

so your organization is technically independent, but there are certain decisions you can't make, otherwise the Doctor might decide the weeds need trimming. you're in theory the highest military authority when it comes to alien conflicts, but if you decide to shoot those guys attacking you with your giant ray gun, there's every chance this guy could crawl out of the woodwork to burn your house down. you can't take any action without also taking the Doctor into consideration.

so what do you do?

maybe when they show up, you take them under your power. they're humanity's strongest asset and you need to make sure you have at least some measure of control over their actions.

but now that you've got them, how do you keep them from wandering off on a whim? how do you keep them inclined to work with you?

you formally grant them the power that is de facto already theirs. you rely on them, blatantly and obviously, making it clear that you need their help and their presence to have any hope of survival. you flatter their ego and encourage their attachment to you.

but in the end, it's been proven that nothing will keep the Doctor anywhere they don't want to be, and nothing will stay their hand when they've decided something needs to be destroyed for the greater good. so how do you make sure your organization stays on the safe side of that line? how do you sway the Doctor's judgment?

you employ their weak spot.

the people the your alien protector trusts, loves, has chosen, you bring them into the fold, and so you bring yourself into their fold. the Doctor can't attack you without attacking them, and their trust will rub off on you and your organization. you find what they value most in the world and keep it close.

so you end up with this defense organization which is semi-independent, but also built up totally around this one individual.

the Doctor is the most passionate defender you could hope for, but they also cut off your own ability to defend yourself. a good amount of your defense protocols center around hoping this guy happens to turn up. you HAVE to rely on their support, and you also have to fawn, flatter, and appease them if you want your organization to go on existing. if you want to get away with anything they might seriously disapprove of, your only option is to dazzle and flatter them, collect their friends, and hope they won't look close enough to find your secrets.

I'm not saying Kate Lethbridge-Stewart is some kind of Machiavelli spending all her time finding ways to manipulate the Doctor. but I am saying that UNIT probably has a protocol somewhere saying that in times of absolute crisis, if the Doctor shows up, the first thing you should do is dangle candy in front of their face by means of having someone they like give them a great big hug.

#doctor who #kate lethbridge stewart #the doctor #doctor who unit #unit #dw #talk #I haven't yet reached the 3rd doctor in my classic who watch so I might have more thoughts on this once I actually get to the start of UNIT #also there's probably more recent stuff I'm missing. for example I haven't watched Spyfall recently and I'm sure theres some relevant stuff #in there #but my point is. kate and UNIT are kind of between a rock and a hard place here #humanity has lowkey been taken over. by the guy who keeps other guys from taking over humanity. wtf do you do with that in kate's position

[lydiachan]

Dwarven Creation vs. Sotha Sil Creation

There are distinct similarities between the aesthetics of ancient Dwarven culture and Sotha Sil's Clockwork City. It is found that a big portion of Elder Scrolls players often have trouble identifying the differences between the two, and the idea that Sotha Sil's creations are Dwarven. This is not the case at all, but there is a reason why they are so similar. In Sotha Sil's lifetime, he was heavily inspired by the Dwarves as he came to power when they were in their peak in the First Era. (Sotha Sil died in the Third Era to the hands of Almalexia, as seen in The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind). Dwarven science and architecture was at the base of all of Sotha Sil's research but he didn't completely steal all of their ideas. The architecture and automatons you see in Clockwork City are made out of a completely different material than what you would see in any Dwemer ruin. Sotha Sil used brass, the Dwemer used Dwarven metal that is completely unique to their kind. Another thing, Sotha Sil could take any Dwarven idea and make it better, turning it into an entirely new creation that is his own. For example, take a Dwarven sphere and a Factotum. A Dwarven sphere may be programmed to complete a task, but they have no intelligence and are rather weak. Factotums on the other hand are pretty much what people would consider to be a modern day robot. Factotums can complete several complex tasks, sense physical feeling such as weight being added or removed from their person, they detect and report crime, they can scan for resources, maintain a city, they can TALK, they can give the player tasks, and document important information such as citizenship and banking as seen in Elder Scrolls Online's Clockwork City DLC. Factotums are also usually in charge of the local guild traders, which is also an extremely important source of goods for any Elder Scrolls Online player. In greater and more powerful Dwarven automatons such as the centurion, they cannot function or "turn on" unless they are given a source of power, usually from a lever that is pulled. I remember the first time I played Skyrim, it took me so long to figure out that the centurions were not just decorations and that they could actually move and attack you. The Dwarven centurions Clockwork equivalent would be an Imperfect. Though imperfects are a lot larger in size, it is the same idea except that they can move and function on their own and the player doesn't need to manually power one on. Imperfects don't have as much dialogue as factotums, but they are a lot stronger than centurions. (Do not try to kill that one imperfect that is a world boss in Clockwork City alone, you will fail). Like the Dwarves, Clockwork City also has automaton spiders. Sotha Sil created two different kinds of automaton spiders: the Firepot Spider and the Dancing Spider. The Firepot one was created to be used as a barbecue for chefs, which is really weird but okay I guess. Could have just used a normal grill. There's not much to say about the Dancing Spider though, it's very similar to the Dwarven Spider except it's attacks and movements are a lot more dramatic hence the name "Dancing Spider". I will say though, both of the Clockwork spiders are incredibly strong in-game and are extremely annoying to encounter despite their small size. Sotha Sil also created an automaton dinosaur species but I'm not going to get into the details of that one because it can't be compared to anything Dwarven. Basically, the Dwemer didn't have dinosaurs. Another huge point that I should have brought up earlier before I started yapping about automatons is the fact that Dwemer cities were powered by steam and the Clockwork City is powered by Sotha Sil's magic alone. Well, it WAS powered by Sotha Sil but it is now powered by his artificial Heart of Lorkhan that he created to save the city during his death. If I see anybody else call Sotha Sil "Dwarven" I will redirect them to this post. Sotha Sil is NOT short, he's like seven feet tall. Nirn's tallest elf. Thank you.

#tesblr #elder scrolls #skyrim #the elder scrolls #morrowind #tes #sotha sil #oblivion #yap session

[sketching-shark]

If you were put in charge of making a JTTW movie/TV adaption from start to finish what direction would you have the show go?

*SHAKING AND FROTHING AT THE MOUTH FROM THE THOUGHT OF BEING IN CHARGE OF MY OWN ULTRAVIOLENT BODY HORROR-ESQUE JTTW ADAPTATION* Oh I am so normal about this prospect anon.

But in all seriousness I think I would DEFINITELY want it to be a lengthy animated tv adaptation because there's so much rich backstory and plot in the og classic that a movie length doesn't really let you delve into, AND because the wild transformations and different entities seem like they would be best conveyed in the limitless possibilities of animation! Like just imagine how terrifying a havoc in heaven would be where the Monkey King is shown taking FULL advantage of every single one of his abilities (as-you-will cudgel size transformation, tons of monkey clones, transformation from one creature to another, invulnerability, truth-seeing eyes, transformation into a three-headed six-armed towering monstrosity to fight an Erlang Shen who does the same, etc.). In addition, I also do think that the length of time it took for the pilgrims to warm up to each other and for Sun Wukong to go from a practical and ruthless yaoguai warlord to the Buddha Victorious in Strife is an important part of what makes Xiyouji the classic that it is, and this is all something that I think could be well captured in a lengthy animated series.

I know for sure that I'd want to spend a good amount of time on Sun Wukong's transformation from a relatively innocent stone monkey to the most viciously powerful of the yaoguai warlords to a sincere Buddhist, especially since the very understandable fear of death for himself and his loved ones seems to constantly be a driving force behind a lot of his actions. I think seeing the transformation of the monkey from loving and wanting to protect a relatively small group of people (47,000 monkeys & his friends) to extending that active love and compassion to individuals of all sorts, both human and yao, could be a really cool arc for the Monkey King too. This is especially so as it raises the interesting question as to whether compassion and love can end up being destructive if it's only offered to some but not others, and what atonement for past violence might be.

Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing also present a potentially fascinating case of dealing with disgraced deities who start off by considering their time on Earth and time on the journey a punishment before they eventually come to develop genuine compassion for the mortals they encounter. Stories about a fall from heaven leading to the fallen ones developing greater empathy for those who were once literally below them is my jam, and I think these other two pilgrims could offer a neat way to explore that! Also I want to note that I'm fully on team "Zhu Bajie is constantly complaining that he's hungry and tired first because of his own appetites and then as a way to get the other four self-destructive idiots to stop and take care of the basic necessities of life." For sure I'd also add in that potential hint noted by others that breaking a vase during a banquet had a precedent of being used as a signal to start a coup, thus explaining why Sha Wujing's punishment on Earth was much worse than Zhu Bajie's. And one simply can't do without the indication that it was everyone's favorite Friar Sand who had eaten eight of Tang Sanzang's reincarnations! He may be one of the pilgrim group's straight men, but he also spent centuries as a cannibal <3.

Also yeah hard agree with others that both Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing start off the pilgrimage pretty terrified of Sun Wukong because they saw him at his violently worst in heaven. As a treat :3

I think I'd also have Ao Lie spend more time outside of his horse not just so that he can be a dragon-ish guy as well as an actual dragon, but also so that we can get more insight into how his transformation from a destructive prince to a humble steed changed him. I think it also would be cool to spend a little more time on the dragon kings and how, for example, it does raise some uncomfortable questions about their whole deal if Ao Lie could commit arson & destroy a pearl and be punished pretty brutally while Ao Guang could run a weather-based protection racket for centuries and get a 12 year old to kill himself and yet they all seem to be cool with that :[

I'd also want to make my adaptation one that deals more with the aftereffects of the absolute bullshit the pilgrims go through. For example, it's pretty rare to find an adaptation out there that gives full weight to the stuff Tang Sanzang went through, and while it is understandable why and can be funny to characterize him as one of the "straight men" of the pilgrim group or as the weepy useless guy who falls off his dragon horse all the time, I've literally never encountered an adaptation that for example has him react at the age of 18 to his mother committing suicide after Xuanzang went through so much to try and help her, or him having to see both of the human companions he started the journey with get eaten alive by yaoguai. I'd want to make Tang Sanzang more of a dynamic character than he is even in Xiyouji itself, and I do think delving into this background--you knowing, showing why exactly he does in fact have good reason to be suspicious and even hateful of yaoguai and perhaps more secretly certain humans (his mother was after all brutalized for years by a bandit chief)--would be good to deal with in showing Tang Sanzang's journey to enlightenment. And for sure I'd want to make Tang Sanzang a little more like the historical Xuanzang in having him both be a master translator and a canny rule-breaker; I think that having the story follow history in that Xuanzang was in fact forbidden from going west in search of Buddhist scriptures but went anyway, for example, would be a good path to follow. Might give him an interesting point of relation and sympathy to SWK as well, in that both of them would be challenging authority to do what they think is right.

I do think that this all could also make for a really interesting point of tension and later comprehension between Tang Sanzang and SWK, where you would have the monk and the monkey on the same journey for very different but in some ways similar reasons (Tang Sanzang wants the scriptures because he sincerely believes that they will save countless souls, SWK wants to finish the journey so that he can go back home and protect his monkeys). Like Tang Sanzang would be starting the journey at age 28 and after going through some pretty intense trauma, but having lived in a monastery for most of his life wouldn't have much of a sense of what dangers the world contains as SWK, even though he is determined to complete the journey no matter the cost to himself. SWK, on the other hand, would be starting the journey after the bitter defeat in heaven and the anguish of 500 years in solitary confinement, and would likely be enraged about everything he lost but would still be operating under the terrible elation that came from his vast violent power. As someone else once put it, it could be a similar dynamic to a late middle-aged triads boss having to watch out for a beginning grad student lmao. So you'd have a lot of tension between SWK and Tang Sanzang's world views, with the former thinking that violence is a perfectly acceptable way to solve problems or get what you want, while the other abhors violence of all sorts, and they'd both have plentiful reasons to criticize the other.

While the film The Monkey King 2 is far from the best JTTW retelling out there (though it is one of my personal favorites lol), it also has this pretty great and rare scene for JTTW retellings that I feel I'd like my own retelling to somewhat emulate. Here, Sun Wukong saves Tang Sanzang and a bunch of little kids from the violent actions of a king, but he's only able to do this because the Monkey King is more powerful than the king and is able to legitimately threaten the king with death if he goes back to his vicious ways. Tang Sanzang does get Sun Wukong to spare the king, but the king then directly calls the monk out on the seeming hypocrisy of his mission. I forget the exact words, but the king's accusations were basically about how Tang Sanzang is a fraud and a liar because for all that he preaches peace and forgiveness he wouldn't be able to make it anywhere, he wouldn't be able to save anyone, he would have in fact been killed long ago if it wasn't for Sun Wukong's power and willingness to violence. And I do think in a lot of ways this is the crux of a lot of interesting questions that Xiyouji brings up even if it never provides one solid answer: that we all want to be relieved of suffering, and yet what do we do in a world where violence is something we both constantly suffer from as well as commonly inflict upon others?

I guess ultimately I'd want this to be a retelling that really focuses on the many forms and roles of violence in the shaping of a society, what the consequences of this violence often is, and what might be done to create a more just and peaceful life for all.

I'd know I'd want to spend a lot of time on SWK getting back home to Mt. Huaguoshan and finding it this burned-out ruin with the vast majority of his family dead or otherwise gone, only to realize that this was done by heaven in retaliation for the war and his havoc in heaven in a true case of mythological M.A.D. I feel like this, as with other scenes, would be a good way to bring up Xiyouji's frequent refrain that "for the strong there's always the stronger," and how the devastation that violence and warfare wrecks on a landscape, even if it seems awesome and justifiable at the time it's being waged, leads to horrific problems that don't go away even after generations and which could very easily be turned against you and your loved ones. I've said before that one of the things that I like about the Monkey King is that he almost always has a very clear reason for doing what he does, and I think this would be a great arc for it to really and painfully hit home that ultimately violence does not exist in a vacuum, and, especially when you care about so many, it ultimately serves to create a world where your own loved ones can easily become the next who will suffer. Yet even here the complexity of the situation doesn't stop, because while SWK is able to vastly improve the lives of his monkeys by doing everything he can to restore Mt. Huaguoshan back to its former fecundity, he also protects them by well killing 1000 human hunters who had been going after them for years. The violence may never stop, but neither do the efforts to make the world a more peaceful place. And as it is, no one can live by the sword alone.

Just some sketchy thoughts anon, but I hope you like what I'm laying out :)

#anon answered #jttw retelling #some studio hire me #please #also haha man skimming through it I got surprised all over again on how violent JTTW is #still! #lots of instances of people loving each other and trying their best as well #sun wukong #monkey king #tang sanzang #zhu bajie #sha wujing #ao lie #bai longma #violence

[jpitha]

Just a Little Further 14

Part 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Here I am, standing outside the door to Captain Q'ari's cabin. What am I doing? It's early still, and I don't think she's a late riser, so she's probably awake. But still.

You fear to find out that I'm right and she thinks you a God.

Well yes, of course I do. I don't want to be a God.

And yet. Here we are, with Godhood thrust upon you. Take the power offered, revel in it. They think you a God? Fine. Be a God.

Me help me (heh), that is staring to make sense.

Good.

I stand there arguing with myself and the door opens. Captain Selem Q'ari is standing there, fur brushed until it shone, uniform pressed sharply. This is the first time I stand so close to her, I smell a clean scent too. Is she wearing perfume?

She can't help herself. She is trying to impress you.

"Captain." I say. She is startled and jumps back. "Ho-Lieu-Melody. Good Morning. I apologize, you started me."

Hmm, she was going to go with Holy One before she caught herself. Interesting.

"Captain...Do you think I am holy?"

Wow, I just came right out and said it didn't I?

She swallows, clearly nervous. Taking a deep breath she calms herself. "Melody, it was how I was raised. Not many K'laxi still follow the Old Ways as closely, but a lot of us know the basics, and the high holy days are still celebrated as regular holidays. Parties with friends, days off work, that kind of thing. The greater meaning is mostly lost of everyone, but they still celebrate. Yes. Ancestors protect me, I think you - what you have become - is Holy."

"Am I Tep’ra’fel?" I ask.

She looks as if I have slapped her. "You haven't given me an order, I don't know."

I sigh. "S̷̩̊͑ë̸̳́l̵̺̪̈́̎è̷̮̼͠m̷̻͋̕. Go into your quarters and show me the scent you applied. I like it."

She pivots on the balls of her feet, and goes into her quarters. Within a moment, she returns with a small brown cylinder. Wordlessly she hands it to me with tears streaming from her eyes. I take it and look down. There's a drawing of a forest and in the raised and rounded K'laxi script it says "forest dreams." Huh, I can read K'laxi now too. I hand it back to her.

"So then." I say. "The undeniable eh?"

She nods.

"What does that mean for the mission?" I say.

It means whatever you want it to mean. You are Empress. You are undeniable.

"You are a Builder." She whispers. "The mission is whatever you wish it to be, Builder."

Oh for the love of. "Captain Q'ari, you are still the Officer in Command of this mission. Even with my... elevated status you are still in Command."

Just order her to be Captain.

I can do that?

You're the Empress. How many different ways do we have to explain it? You can do whatever you want.

"Selem. Would it make your life easier if I ordered you to continue to be Captain? If I told you as a Tep’ra’fel, as your... Empress, to be in charge of the exploration mission?"

She whispered, "Empress?" She shuddered. I couldn't tell if it was in pleasure or pain. "I can't be above you."

She's right you know.

I said quiet, you.

I'm just saying.

This is exhausting. "Okay then. S̷̩̊͑ë̸̳́l̵̺̪̈́̎è̷̮̼͠m̷̻͋̕ Q'ari, Captain of the exploration Starjumper FarReach and the Officer in Charge of the mission. I, in my role as The Builder Melody and Empress of the Holy Imperial Systems order you to continue your mission. When necessary, you may issue Lieutenant Melody Mullen orders that facilitate that mission."

She relaxed visibly at the order. With an exhale she said "Thank you Lieutenant. I apologize for being... difficult, but I appreciate you accommodating me."

"Of course, Captain. I am happy that we were able to come to a mutually beneficial arrangement."

Empress of the Holy Imperial Systems?

Old Title. Sounds like it's just come back into fashion.

She stares at me a moment. "M-Melody, you said you were "Empress of the Holy Imperial Systems. What's that?"

"The Nano machines - the Nantes - tell me that I'm the current Empress of the empire that's over on this side of the galaxy. What's left of it at least. As far as we know, all that's left is this starbase and the destroyed one."

It was five hundred and fifty five gates with planets, starbases and over 30 client sapient species.

"In the Old Days, it was pretty big, apparently."

She turns her head. "And you are its head now?"

I shrug. "The nano machines say so. I don't know though. I guess if I want to be, I just have to declare it."

And have the force to keep it.

I turned and left her quarters. I don't know what else to do, so I go to the dining hall. It's nearly breakfast and I'm starving. Even an Empress needs to eat apparently.

I really didn't want to just order everyone to be normal. I can't say I didn't think of it at least a little bit though.

Most Empresses that we have memories of do it. It's completely normal.

Most?

There are a few who reveled in being worshipped. They did not want people to be normal around them.

Wait, you said the Empresses we have memories of. Are my memories being recorded too?

Of course they are, Empress. You are a Builder, and Empress. Your memories are being recorded to the nanites in your body so that when you pass, your memories remain. Your edicts remain. You remain.

But there hasn't been an Empress in thousands of years as near as we can tell?

No system is perfect. The rebellion must have been swift and complete. we imagine the previous empress was not well liked.

But you don't know?

One has to touch a directory stone to complete the upload. In the past it has been part of a yearly celebration of the Empire and the Gates. The previous Empress didn't get a chance to touch the gates during the rebellion, so we don't know what happened.

The other system, the Wilds of Besmara was almost completely destroyed. The planet was cracked in half and the starbase there almost dead and cold. Some kind of field enveloped us and we were starting to get pulled in. You don't recall this?

We had just been introduced to you as the Empress, we were not fully online at that point. One moment.

I get an odd feeling. I think the Nanites are trying to access my memories in real-time. It's like I'm reliving the whole frightening situation.

Ah. Yes.

Well? What happened?

We do not know. The last time we were uploaded, the Wilds were a prosperous, thriving system. The planet was known to house fully a billion sapients and was very productive.

We should find out what happened, and see if there are people still there and if they need help.

Now, you're thinking like an Empress.

Ugh. We probably should go back and see what happened. Maybe I can sponsor a trip with one of the ships docked and have them go look.

While I sit at the table arguing with myself, Ava walks in. "Oh, good morning... Melody, did you sleep well?"

I'll take it. At least she didn't launch into calling me Holy One right away. "Good morning Ava, I slept all right, how about you?"

She took a pastry from the plate on the table and sat down. "Wasn't bad really, though I imagine you're undergoing a lot more stress than I am." She takes a bite and while chewing, weighs something in her mind. I can see she's going to ask me something she's interested in after she swallows. Probably what it's like being an Empress or something similar.

She doesn't know you're an Empress yet.

Details.

"So Melody, what's it like?"

Told you.

"What's what like?"

She gestured. "Suddenly getting the knowledge to speak every language and having everyone on the station think that you're a Builder - whatever they were - and then, the robe and the wings and the crown! It was wild looking. You were looking positively radiant out there."

Wait. What?

"You thought I looked... good?" I did not expect this.

"Oh my God, yes." Ava laughed. "You looked so powerful, so beautiful." She blushed slightly when she said it. "Everyone was afraid of you! Us over on FarReach were frightened a little bit too, I'll admit. I swear once Captain Q'ari realized what was going on, she practically started shaking. But you? You were making it work. Frankly, I'm jealous. Next time we find a directory stone, I want to touch it."

You know, we are going to need more Builders. She sounds like an ideal candidate.

Shh, not right now.

"Actually Melody, do you know anything more about who you are than you did yesterday? Like, are you a religious head or just someone known as a Builder, or what?"

I can feel the nanites staring at me mentally.

Tell her. The K'laxi already suspect and Captain Q'ari knows.

"Yes. I did learn more." I say quietly. "But rather than repeat myself, I'll tell everyone after breakfast."

"Oh." She seems disappointed. "Okay, I'll wait. Thanks, Melody."

Why is she disappointed?

She's attracted to you, she wants to spend more time with just the two of you.

What.

Come now, even with the increases to your perception and body language processing you are telling us you can't see it? She is practically shouting it.

"So hey Ava, I'm going to have to go out into the Starbase later, do you want to be in the team that comes along next time?"

Her face lights up like a summer dawn. It was exactly the right thing to say.

"I would love to Melody. Thank you so much for inviting me. Are we going to wear pressure suits?"

"Not this time I think." I say carefully. "I have something else in mind."

Everyone trickles in and breakfast is served. It's pretty light and simple today. Captain Q'ari looks much better after I ordered her to be normal and it feels like any other morning.

Almost.

After we clear our plates and get one more cup of coffee. I stand. "Everyone? With the Captain's permission, I'd like to say something."

Captain Q'ari looks over at me and flicks her ears but her body language says that of course it's fine. I still need her to say it though, she is still the Captain.

"Of Course Mel-Lieutenant Mullen. Please, you have our attention."

I take a deep breath, hold it for a two count, and let it out through my nose. Here goes.

"Yesterday, you noticed my... outburst after the security forces tried to break up that religious congregation. The singers are a member of a church that has congregations all over this starbase that worship the Builders and pray for their return."

"Yesterday, as far as they are concerned, their prayers have been answered."

Murmurs and questioning noises from the crew. The K'laxi members are split evenly with looking fascinated like Dr Irenimum, and rapturous, like Captain Q'ari.

The humans mostly look confused. Ava is excited though.

"As near as I am able to tell from the nano machines - the Nanites - inside me, Humans, or at least a recent offshoot of us, ruled this side of the galaxy. The Nanites give people who possess them increased abilities. According to Dr Irenimum, I am healthier than I have ever been, may live much much longer than by default, and have a greater ability to read people and body language, in addition to understanding every language spoken to me so far."

Kieran nods.

"But, there is something else you should know. The Nanites I have are a special variety. I am in possession of the Nanites that the Empress of the Holy Imperal Systems would have. I am, as far as I am able to figure out, their Empress."

Now, there's noise from the crew. FarReach is first able to talk over the din. "Melody, you're telling me, telling us that you're an Empress now? You're in charge of this Starbase?"

I nod. "Originally, I was in charge of five hundred and fifty five gates and all the systems, starbases and sapients contained within."

Omar is next. "Wait you were in charge? or the Previous Empresses was in charge?"

I make a pained face. "This is where it gets weird." I start.

"Gets weird?" Gene says.

I nodded. "Gets weirder Gene, thank you." The Nanites contain the recorded memories and... feelings of the previous empresses. The Empress is supposed to touch the directory stone once a year or so and her memories and feelings are... backed up to the stone so that if the empire falls - like it did - and another human touches the stone - like I did - the nanites reactivate and restore from backup basically. They tell me I'm still me and will remain me, but now I am also the Empress."

"Was that why you were able to cow that whole crowd, and knew the words to say"? I saw that they were doing a call and response with you." Ava says. I can see she's drinking me in. This is a little weird.

"Yes. The Nanites told me what to say, took over temporarily really. I didn't want them to rip that Aviens to shreds, but that... was what happened. I feel bad about it."

You are the Empress. The crowd did as you commanded. There is no feeling bad when people follow your orders.

"What about the language?" Fer'resi asks. "The translator that they gave us?"

"Oh! I almost forgot about that. Omar, can you go grab it off my workstation and bring it down here. Don't activate it please."

Wait, did I use my asking voice or ordering voice? I can't tell. Omar gets up and goes to get it regardless.

Mei'la looks at me oddly. I can't tell if she's from a religious family or not. "Melody, do the Nanites tell you anything about us?" Religious then.

"Yes actually. One of the last memories that they have is about your killing your overseers and closing your Gate permanently."

Mei'la's face runs between looking pleased that they overthrew their masters but also looks shocked. "But, we didn't go to space for a thousand years after the religion that talks about the Gates was founded."

Dr Irenimum adds "Maybe they stole a Builder craft to do it, and then landed or crashed on K'laxi and without the ability to repair it..." He shrugged.

"Okay then, what about the big question?" Mitchel says. "What about Earth?"

"The Nanites say that a splinter group of builders rebelled and closed and locked their Gate a long time ago They suspected that those splinter Builders even destroyed their Gate.. The Nanites were just as surprised to find us as we them."

Mitchel whistles low "Wow. Then it must be at least 15 to 20 thousand years ago. Maybe longer. How long have these folks been operating without an Empress? Would they even want one if you came back?"

The splinter Builders closed their Gate millennia before the K'laxi rebellion. The two events did not happen close together.

The Nanites say the humans left millennia before the K'laxi closed their gate. In fact, the Empress previous to me was on her way to personally open the gate when the memories stop. Captain Q'ari how old is your religion?"

She stops and thinks, avoiding my gaze. "No more than one thousand of our years, I'd say." So two thousand of ours. Just then Omar returns. "Here you go, Your liege" he says, bowing dramatically and extra silly, while presenting me with the translator on a napkin.

I giggle. What I am saying is pretty silly when taken out of context. I hold the translator and concentrate.

"Melody, your'e glowing!" Mei says, surprised. Ava looks and says "And you have a... crown? on your head?"

As if from nowhere, a breeze blows up around me and my uniform rustles. If I had long hair, it would probably be blowing dramatically at this point but my short spiky hair just flutters. I guess I could have just continued to poke and prod at it at my station like I was going to, but I need my worry confirmed. I'm pretty sure that given all the other things I can do, I can do this too. I try and... look inside the translator.

Hmm. It is a translator, but no software is loaded. Instead, malware was installed - poorly we might add - to try and render the wearer more pliant.

"It is as I had worried." I said to everyone. "This translator was a trap. Anyone who tried it was going to have some - frankly poor quality - malware installed either on their systems or themselves."

"On themselves?" Gene asks.

With glowing eyes, I look up at Gene. He shrinks back reflexively. "Sorry Melody, I guess if something can be installed on you, it could be done to us."

Fer'resi shakes his head sadly. "No, no translation help then. I guess we will have to do it ourselves."

Of course you don't have to do it on your own. You're the Empress. Make them give the correct software to your linguist.

"No Fer'resi. I don't think we'll have to do it ourselves." I put the translator down on the table. "Ava, Fer'resi, Mei'la, come. Let's go and pay the administration offices a visit."

"Of course Melody!" Ava practically jumps out of her chair. "Do we need our pressure suits or just our uniforms?"

I look at the three of them. "No, I will take care of it." With a thought, I realize how they should look. How they're supposed to look. The Nanites surround them in a grey fog, completely obscuring them for a moment. After a very short time, they reappear.

Now, they're in Royal Blue outfits, cut smartly, and fitting perfectly. They're like the ships uniform, but a little more elaborate. They have orange yellow piping and little bits and extras here and there.

I changed my own uniform too. Also Royal blue with orange yellow accents, but more... Imperial. My crown of light and fog is colored to match and I find that I'm wearing wings made of the same light and fog material - it must be Nanites doing it. Remembering Ava's words, I gave myself better shoes with a bit of a heel and my uniform is very slightly lower cut. There's more than one kind of intimidation apparently. Without waiting to see if they are following me, I stride towards the airlock. "FarReach, record our exit." I say. "We are paying a visit to the administrative offices. No weapons this time."

"Okay Melody, is has been so logged. Good luck?"

"For them maybe. I don't need luck." I catch myself just a moment before it's too late. "But I appreciate your sentiment. Thank you FarReach."

Part 15

#humans are deathworlders #humans are space orcs #humans go on adventure #humans are space oddities #sci fi writing #writing #humans and ai #humans and aliens #the k'laxiverse #jpitha #just a little further

[catzeart]

Get to know my OC

Caitlin is the first OC I've ever created and I'm proud of how far she has come, so this my info dumping about her, I hope you enjoy it.

General information:

Backstory:

Caitlin is one of Erwin's childhood friends. Being a few years younger but extremely smart, she got to share some classes with Erwin while they both lived in Wall Rose, still being in touch via letters once their lives parted as they grew up.

Graduated from the Mitras Academy in Wall Sina with honors and special mentions, she is capable to make diagnosis, treatments and surgeries in domestic, wild and farm animals.

She witnessed the death of her noble fiance in hands of a titan a month before their wedding while they were in a business trip in Shingashina, where she was born and lived her first years.

She joined and worked as an Equine Veterinarian in the Survey Corps right after the fall of Wall Maria, by Erwin's suggestion, becoming a full Scout only after going through the Training Corps, but still not being very skilled in physical fights.

Her brains compensate her lack of physical strength, though she has a very good aim with shooting weapons.

She's a Team Leader, in charge of other Equine Veterinarians in a daily routine but also during expeditions. She's also part of the Survey Corps science team.

Personality:

Hardworking, logical, realistic, future-oriented, extremely smart, cold, distant, calculative, way too straight forward (can come across as mean or rude), independent, stubborn, perfectionist. Won't hesitate on lying, torturing or killing someone for a greater good. . . or her own good.

Has a soft spot for animals and for people who can really see through her cold demeanor, it takes time but only then she is very caring, overprotective, loving, possessive and even clingy.

Relationships:

Erwin: He's her childhood best friend, they grew up together creating a sibling-like bond. They even shared the same dream about finding the truth about what's beyond the walls, influenced by Erwin's father's ideals.

Erwin trusted Caitlin to be the commander after his death, so she made her best on continuing his legacy, making a lot of mistakes in the process by having the power finally going to her head.

Hange: They were both in the science team and spent a lot of time together doing research. They could talk for hours without getting tired, though Hange is the one who talks the most.

After deciding to stay in Marley, she quit on her duty of being the commander, choosing Hange to be her successor.

Petra: Caitlin was aware of Petra's crush on the Captain but Petra also noticed that Levi saw Caitlin in a different light, telling Caitlin that, if anything happened, she would love to see Caitlin giving him a chance, though Caitlin was too focused on her work and not interested in romance to believe in her words, only starting to think about it after her death.

The 104th cadets: Caitlin doesn't like kids, yet most of the cadets ended looking up to her as a superior but also a mother figure who was there to listen and give them advice, maybe not always in the best way but her words still worked out.

Levi: Him and Caitlin DID NOT get along, at all, for years. . . They're both stubborn, have sharp tongues and get easily annoyed so one bad move from Levi condemned him into getting the same treatment from Caitlin.

After their first encounter with the Female Titan, they started bonding. Levi having his ankle sprung made him spend more time in the headquarters and being paired with Caitlin to be sent in meetings with the other regiments.

Levi is the one that kept Caitlin in touch with her "human" side, helping her to be a better person. She, in return, gave him the love he never received before, putting him in first place, constantly checking and listening him while both learning how to love due to their past experiences.

Eren: He was one of the closest to Caitlin from the 104th, they got even closer by the time Eren stayed in Marley, because Caitlin also stayed to help him with his plan, dyeing her hair blonde, wearing fake glasses and infiltrating as a Marleyan Nurse thanks to her medical knowledge.

This is a general post about my OC but I still have way more to share, so I'll try to keep you updated here ✨

#oc #meet my oc #levi ackerman #snk #shingeki no kyojin #anime #anime oc #original character #levi x oc #oc x levi #oc x canon #dr caitlin aot #caitlin peters #catzeart #aot oc #snk oc #attack on Titan oc #Shingeki no kyojin oc

[elsewhereuniversity]

I've been giving small blessings to my charge to help them while they study here. Glasses that help with focus, a pen that allows for legible handwriting, a pillow that grants complete rest and so on. Just small things that should help them excel.

My charge has...started trading their things, I'm not all that powerful and these charms have my magic. So I can't get it back once lost. I can't tell my charge because they aren't supposed to know I'm around to help. And not all the things they've traded for are good for them.

Like with their new glasses that give them the sight, it's awfully hard to hide from those when they wear them. Or that crown that grants wisdom, that had a nasty hex on it that took me an entire night to remove. Then there was that elixir of luck, I had to hurry to get gilded bramble berry juice to mix in before they poisoned themselves. Ruined to elixir but at least they're still alive.

I'm getting exhausted flying around campus trying to prevent them from coming to any harm. I've hardly rested the past fortnight.

Anyway...

Could you keep an eye out for any slightly enchanted items that do what they're supposed to do but only a little better? Just simple magics that feel like the blue of a night sky or smells like dawn in the spring, this won't make sense until you touch the items with my power. Any little bit of magic I can get back will help me in keeping my little idiot safe.

I need to find:

Two black hats that help with vision and keeping cool.

Silver rimmed glasses that grants greater focus

A purple reusable water bottle that dispense cool refreshing water

Black running shoes that boosts endurance

A white winter jacket to ward off the cold

A flashlight that wards away dark things

And a red bowl often used for microwaving ramen, that boosts the nutritional value of anything placed in it.

Lastly: if you happen to see a student with hair dyed multiple shades of blue wearing copper spectacles with too many lenses and maybe a brass crown. Can you smack them up the back of their head, not too hard, but enough to convey they've messed something up and should stop. That would be appreciated.

Signed

A very tired fairy guardian~

You really tried hard with the hats, huh. Were those meant to be stacked, or did you a make a second after they traded the first, just in case they overheated?

At any rate, smacking people is not within my purview, but I do think I have the glasses: silver rimmed, charmed, one lens cracked (which seems to line up with the customary care your charge has towards these things). However... based on the note that accompanied the glasses, I regret to say your charge seems to have been stolen away some time ago. The one who gave me the glasses was less concerned with their focus than with what the silver was revealing to them in the mirror. I suspect that’s why the changeling is wearing copper spectacles currently.

Best of luck with finding your wayward charge; I will keep an eye out for the rest in the meantime.

#long post #vignettes #charms

[darudedogestorm]

under the cut: undersiders as what plant i think they would main/be in pvz garden warfare 1 (+ dressup)

disclaimer i've literally never touched gw2 so if there's a better fit in that game i wouldn't know it.. just gw1 for now..

Decisions are made based more on gameplay than on physical appearance but I tried to take both into account.. however as a sunflower main maybe I'm biased on some account so fellow garden warfare heads feel free to suggest better fits for them

Reading over all these I'm now realizing I kept mixing up what I think they would main vs what plant they would specifically be, which is a little confusing...

TAYLOR

A Peashooter variant feels a very obvious choice for her, since she's pretty much always on the frontlines. Its hyper ability would allow her to jump to higher up places to retain the "watching from afar with bugs" thing

I chose Law Pea more for the justice bit in its stickerbook description (where there is injustice you will find it etc etc) and less for the law bit (though she does have a code of law it's incomprehensible to anyone but herself). It felt more fitting for her because well she does try to work for what she feels is the greater good.

For dressup we're pretty limited here, both because there's not many bug themed accessories and also because I just don't have that many accessories :( I gave her the "heart and arrow + Mom" tattoo, and the visors. Fuuuck now i'm realizing i could have given her actual glasses... Wait no nevermind I'm not sure I have plain glasses. Well anyway those are her glasses.

LISA

She mains boss mode which I feel doesn't require very much explanation

For those unfamiliar: In boss mode you play as Crazy Dave (or Dr. Zomboss), generally out of the heat of the battle but still able to participate with your various abilities. It's mostly a support role, but you can still attack (cherry bomb drops), heal and revive (sunflower + revive drops), and help your team track the locations of the enemy (coconut spotting machine). You aren't invulnerable as the opposing team can shoot down your ship.

For dressup purposes she's the Shadow Flower because of the mask :3 I gave her a razor grin and some purple crystals. Adding a hat felt like too much but maybe I would have gone with the chaffeur hat.

I'm now realizing Shadow Flower would just be a good plant choice for her in general.

Sunflower life bonds are normally reserved for other sunflowers but she can have one with Taylor I think. Well ok not a true life bond because that requires the ability for mutual healing but it's more accurate this way because honestly chasing down someone across the entire map who will easily die if you aren't constantly healing them is just kind of the sunflower experience

BRIAN

Again, peashooter feels like a given, though unfortunately there's no equivalent ability for his darkness emission...

Plasma Pea because the colors are closest to black out of the peashooters. The Plasma Pea can charge up shots to increase their damage and radius of impact.

I didn't have any skull-based accessories so I just went with what felt cool and what he might use in an actual game of GW1... so basically just the intimidation factor

While we're here though if I was doing zombies he'd 100% be some sort of Foot Soldier. The Zombie Stink Cloud is 1:1 for his darkness ability. I guess since Peashooter and Foot Soldier are kind of parallels in terms of game play this works out well. (Seriously though every Peashooter main I know also mains Foot Soldier. Please I know you are good at video games just stop sniping me from across the map for 10 seconds 😭)

RACHEL

A chomper is a kind of dogy to be honest <---my logic when I was 10

Went back and forth between normal Chomper, Count Chompula, and Fire Chomper. Settled on fire chomper because I was thinking of that scene where she talks about her power burning away heartworm in her dogs, and also because orange. However I think normal Chomper would fit her just as well.

For dressup I was going more for what I envisioned her dogs looking like while reading worm. Additional chompers are there to represent her many doggies. Tentacle is there to be scary and monster esque. Metal brace jaw is there because honestly I think it looks really cool, plus I already had it equipped anyway

AISHA

Originally I was going to go with Chomper because ourple, and I still think it would fit her. However Future Cactus is also ourple. And also I think Future Cactus is so cool

My reasoning was that her stealth would translate well into cacti gameplay since with cacti you mostly need to just find a really good vantage point where no one else can see you, allowing you to snipe people well. But I'm now realizing the Future Cactus is like... a lot more visible bc of its chargeup. Oh well

Aw wait I just realized she matches with her brother cause they both have chargeups.. thats adorable i think

Dressup gives her silly googly eyes ("zombie disguise) and purple markings (they're hard to see but they're there

ALEC

I'm now realizing that in terms of gameplay probably one of the peashooters would have fit him better because well he does play shooter games. And peashooters are The main plant for guys who are so good at shooter games. But we have too many peashooters on this team so Sunflower it is

Originally was going with the Alien Flower because I thought its ornateness might fit him. But I don't have Alien Flower and it's more Aisha styled anyway (ourple and silly) so he gets the Power Flower.

Hey wait I used to main this thing too. Yay <---switched to Fire Flower though. But yeah as a sunflower I don't generally go out into the thick of things unless I have like 3 other guys with me, I mostly just stay behind at the garden and heal whoever needs it (garden ops or gardens and graveyards)

Honestly now I'm thinking I mostly chose this one for the appearance rather than gameplay. Actually wait the electricity theme fits with his tazer. Nevermind!!

The panda face tattoo is there because I thought it looked like his mask. Hat and masquerade mask are there because they're fancy.

Sunflower life bond with Aisha future cactus btw.

Anyway that's my list. If and when in the near future I get better accessories I will do more dressup and also maybe deduce what zombies they main

#wormblr #garden warfare #low pitched finite woofing

[liketheinferno2]

in talking about ffxvi you made the point that clive is a good DRK, from the standpoint of the emotional thing that that class's narrative does. this makes me curious, what's your take on What A Gunbreaker Is For, in an emotional narrative sense? i have my own thoughts but i'm not as good at organizing them, i feel like the major GNB characters we meet (squall, seifer, the bozjan queensguard) are serving in different kinds of bodyguard/knight roles but specifically invested in conceptualizing themselves as bodyguard/knight. it's like embodying a very specific masculinity (gender-neutral)

I haven't played gunbreaker or ff8 so you'll forgive me if I have very little idea of what the defining qualities of the class are beyond ffxiv's NPCS though this has made me interested. Gunbreaker as a bodyguard == finding their sense of self and duty in service to another person definitely tracks with Thancred and the Queensguard. I can talk to you about dragoon, paladin, dark knight and summoner more readily at least.... but it's hard to talk about any tanks without the originals? A lot of classic final fantasy jobs are story relevant in one iteration and just a weapon you hold in the next.

Dark Knight vs Paladin is a peculiar one to me because the first time you see either of them it's DRK that is a military force and PLD that is an independent self acceptance renegade with Cecil Harvey, but that positioning flips back and forth throughout the series. Less that holiness is good and darkness is bad and more that Paladins are (at least trying to be) noble protectors of people at large, chivalrous, willing to take blows for their friends or their cause. Can become a very negative set of traits with characters whose cause is unjust -- Beatrix or the Heavens Ward come to mind.

Dark Knight's defining traits are like... exchanging self preservation for power, turning the worst parts of yourself into strength, almost like spiritually impure outcast class even when they're backed by an official body in the setting? Like Clive is definitely a dark knight because he can't access any of his strength until he's ready to accept that the worst parts of him are still part of him (Cloud Strife is also like this!!!) but you also come up against a squadron of like Sanbrequois Imperial Dark Knights With A Capital D who are sectioned off and despised even within their own organisation because they do the things too horrible for the rest of them.

An aside but I think Clive is quietly dual classing because as I get through the crafting unlocks late in the game when he's turned into someone who's protecting his entire community and pushed forward by love of those people it's all classic Paladin arms. Dark Knight Paladin Summoner Blue Mage McSpecial Boy.

But anyway most of my thoughts on Gunbreaker is that assigning yourself bodyguard can easily turn into kind of a tragic codependent dynamic and Thancred in Shadowbringers is almost entirely about that. It's a lot more personal than Paladin -- this isn't someone motivated by what they think is the greater good but the good of their charge -- yet less self absorbed than Dark Knights burning themselves up for power? Shadowbringers Thancred is dependent on his loved ones to even function as a GNB because fun fact if you can't bring Ryne or Urianger into Trusts with him he won't have any of his kit that requires their magic to use. .. I suppose Gunbreaker at least in FF14 is about partnerships and a subjective personal sense of duty.

Also you're right about the masculinity thing lmao I don't feel butch enough unless I'm supportive and helpful to the people around me and I'm sure that's true of a lot of people. It's emotionally rewarding to be a pillar to lean on but you risk suffering in silence if you can't get out of that self-prescribed role when you need to.

#asks #if this is completely gibberish i'm sorry lmao writing all in one go stream of consciousness #dante plays catboy simulator #final fantasy sex and violence

[pseudoquiddity]

"Clara is Going to Kill Mark" (the theory)

Mark Immortell as one of the few potentially linear characters in Pathologic 2 is fascinating to me and I've been ruminating on it for a while, so here's my attempt to put it down into words. This does require looking at Mark a little more closely, but I'll get there.

I think it's necessary to clarify that I'm reasonably certain Mark Immortell is some format of Koschei the Deathless, an archetypical antagonist in eastern Slavic folklore. This is less concerned with him literally being responsible for, say, capturing a princess some hundreds of years ago, and moreso the implications of both Koschei and Mark in narrative structure, since Mark in the game is all about the impact of stories. Mark as Koschei isn't anything new, but here are my (opinionated) sources:

Бессме́ртный (Deathless) and Бессмертник (Translated for eng. as Immortell) are very similar.

A needle touch quote only available in the prologue, "His death is hidden inside a needle, which is in an egg, which is in a duck..." In folklore, Koschei's death is rumored to be hidden inside these exact layers, plus some.

Mark's my path line, heard only on the first day, "I had several paths and liked none. One had me as a beast-man; another as a hunchback; the third... as the indentured servant of some outside force." Folktales are messy and don't always agree, especially when it comes to Koschei. Very often, Koschei's described as physically abnormal - beastlike, overly-scrawny, hunched. You name it. He's also a slave to Baba Yaga in Hellboy, if that's the exact reference ... but there's precedent to Koschei existing among or being captured by greater powers.

With that settled, here's the Koschei paradox: In every single story he's featured as the main antagonist in, he dies. And yet, the general assumption of him as a transcendental facet of Slavic folklore is that he's immortal. Despite the fact that he's died around three times, one for each concrete Koschei story that exists, he's immortal - it's an accepted fact of his character, and any media inspired by or using Koschei as a character solidifies this. If Mark Immortell is Koschei, he's immortal through a funny little story-telling fluke made possible through many iterations and generations of story telling.

Mark talks about the role of characters in a narrative perspective and how, despite the fact that the Player has died any number of times, the Haruspex is one cohesive story about a man who is essentially human and has never died. The similarity between what Mark is doing with the Player/Haruspex and what Mark has (in theory) gone through to become immortal is because Mark is actively trying to explore immortality as he knows it, as he's experienced it.

Here's an idea:

Mark Immortell: The actor gets into the role so deeply, they become the original. If charged particles can charge their nature, why wouldn't the same apply to the people charged with the same idea, dream, or bad fortune?

The concept that Mark is driving at is that the "original" Haruspex is the Artemy Burakh that is actively running through the streets. When that Artemy dies, he becomes a "prototype" for the newest Artemy actor to look toward. When that actor surpasses the "original-turned-prototype," he becomes the "original." Not as-good-as, but legitimately the original. Looking at this from the Koschei theory, perhaps Koschei's continuation usurps his deaths. Who knows? I believe that the Haruspex is only one part of Mark exploring immortality, with the Bachelor as the next step. But we do know that the most genuine we see Mark is in the Deal ending, when he's furiously expressing that he doesn't know what it's like to "brush against death." He then says that he's moving on to the Bachelor.

Here's another little tid-bit:

Haruspex: Are you human? Mark Immortell: Can't you tell? If I weren't, I'd never be stuck in this hellhole … 'All this,' as you put it, started because of you, not me. I just took the chance to experiment in the heart of this triumph of death.

Humanity here, as defined by: none of the characters are humans because they're characters. That being said, they are human because you need to believe they are for the story, so within the framework of the game, they're human. Ergo, Mark Immortell is as human as Bad Grief, or any other person therein. Ergo, Mark Immortell is "human," and also very much someone in the town.

The difference between P1 Mark and P2 Mark is that, in P1, he was content to idle, but now, in P2, he's "experimenting." P2 could mechanically exist without Mark, the implication here being that Mark is willfully working within to meet his own interests/ends. I think this would also explain why he's both within and outside the town, as someone whom you could complain to Saburov about, in theory, but also someone who has no personal life.

To summarize: Mark is Immortal through a quirky trick of storytelling; He's exploring this through you, the Player; His theories are evolving linearly; He wants to brush with death in a meaningful way; and he's still just a character and knows this.

Finally circling back around to the preface, while the vast majority of characters will grow differently over three routes, Mark is in the unique position of progressing through P1 -> P2 Haruspex -> P2 Bachelor -> P2 Changeling linearly, or, really, with the Player. He's experiencing the games as they're produced, the same way we are. I believe that, in the upcoming Bachelor's route, he'll progress but come to the same conclusion as he has with the Haruspex - the production was a success, but it's not quite what he wants; in the same way that the Haruspex and the Bachelor preserve their own parts of the town but can't have everything. Contrarily, the Changeling can have everything, and in her route, Mark Immortell will come to a conclusion that satisfies him. With it being the final P2 game, he (and the Player) will finish his arc and tie up the loose ends of his "experimentations."

That's all a fine discussion on Mark, but here's the theory, here at the end:

Katerina Saburova: If it's the same sickness, all measures are pointless. Wishful thinking; delusional actions. For it's clear what we're dealing with. Fire from heaven. The Great Flood. No one shall be spared, save for the ten righteous men.

Personally, I don't think Katerina knows what she's talking about. Her prophecies are fairly hit-and-miss because of her connection with the Rat Prophet, and this is at the start of the game before she goes through anything, but "the ten righteous men" ... I'd bet she's referring to the Humble faction. Since I'm guessing, I'll assume that these people are righteous because they're martyrs, not because the plague will spare them (though Clara will be sparing them from a death by plague, so Katerina might be right, in her own convoluted way). ... But in P1, there were nine people, not ten. So who's the extra?

You know where I'm going with this. It's not likely to be Block, since Aglaya was never subsumed into the Haruspex's official Bound. Vlad the Younger seems to be pretty firmly a Utopian, based on either when he dies in the pit or in his ending. In both, he discusses future aspirations and utopias and still seems to function as the hopeful capitalist. Clara herself could be a part of the Bound, either her or her sister, and in that case ... I don't know. Maybe she has to decide which "her" will be sacrificed. That's neat. But I'm going to bet it's Mark.

Here's why: He's a character. He admitted it himself. And all substantial characters are beholden to arcs and change. I also think that, in his trials to brush death, he'll have to literally brush death. Maybe finally shake the Fellow Traveler's hand. By finding how immortality works through Clara, he himself will be sacrificed. In P1, he aligned with Utopians because, as a semi stand-in for the developers, the pursuit of an unorthodox story/game is Utopian by nature. It's a tongue-in-cheek way of condemning Utopianism all while admitting to the aspiration of it. In P2, he's described as "having once been content with playing a fool and is now set with a personal goal in mind." A change in goals would be a good reason for a change in faction.

How cool would it be, for the game's main tormenter and someone who at least feels omnipotent from the perspective of the Player (even though he says he isn't) to end up dead? At the end of it all? He runs narrative-structure circles around you for three routes and then you wrap it all up with wrapping him up, so to speak.

You've made it. You're done with three Pathologic routes. For the last and final time, you leave, and you leave without Mark's instruction or the haunting promise of another try.

#pathologic #mark immortell #my turn for a small patho essay ... #if his death is in a needle etc whatever i think its just layers of metaphor. the town is the island on which the oak tree is found #ToG is already like buyan in its isolated fantasy honestly #also in the end mark says that someone called him a clown once and the developers do call him a fool. maybe he meant them