#still mad about mass effect endings

[thechantrydeservedit]

The Sims 4 has a new shirt with Mass Effect and Dragon age logos. This is all I needed in my life.

#dragon age origins #dragon age #mass effect legendary edition #still mad about mass effect endings #the sims 4 #Christmas was awful this year and honestly I love this #thank you BioWare #mass effect n7 #the dreadwolf

[gothamcityneedsme]

also. The start of the game forcing u into the genesis comic feels. Very silly. its a tonal jump from the death to like have sudden narration. It shouldve been framed differently idk. Or just. Not inserted into the story. Anyways.

Love the beginning of this game. Setup is so good. I love Jacob and Mirandas intros. Jacob as the one who tells you the truth, who has a moral compass vs Mirandas sole purpose and drive for two years being to bring you back to life regardless of her impression or opinion of you personally.

#Shitpost #love how miranda responds once you have results too #i love how cold and calculating she is #and like she wouldnt work as well if she wasnt the lead on the project. Her leading it and basically being a huge part of why youre alive #just like. Immediately places her in a fascinating space #also shes basically your XO but also shes reporting back to TIM about you #side note but tbh still mad at how they handled TIM in 3. he just became a villain where hes WAY more interesting here #hes so middle ground nuanced and that sort of dies. A shame tbh #theres a lot i dislike about me3 lol. Not entirely but still #TIM and the ending. And the mechanics with the separate app #is that still up? I hope so. Im playing og mass effect lol #anyways also. Jacob is so interesting too #Hate that he got memed on and ignored by most of the fandom #tbh his loyalty quest is kinda iffy too iirc but his base here is so good #and his comments throughout the game too #Also. I think me could have been fixed if we learned who built the reapers and got into the shit #The theme of organic vs synthetic life couldve been expanded upon #ESPECIALLY since synthetic life literally cant exist without an organic creator #the cycle couldve been MORE is all im saying #the creators couldve built the reapers with that pov. Like a terrible cleansing pov #Organics so convinced organic life is corrupt that they wished to destroy it #and the reapers if shown that truth would realize the hypocrasy. The lie they were built on #Or something #mass effect is so good but the endings are all bad #Thematically they are a little interesting. Esp the ending where you leave it to the next cycle #BUT. like i hate synthesis and control. Those are hard to reconcile with the Themes imo #destroy works but tbh to me. Destroy shouldve ended with a scene of some scientist who believes life is corrupt. Building another AI #an AI to destroy life. #thats all. #Ok ill shut up now

[quietwingsinthesky]

no one ever fucking talk to me about the leviathan dlc and its implications. even thinking about it made me mad again. how do you create a story about artificial intelligence that is a direct consequence of its creator’s hubris (thinking that they, unlike more “primitive” species, could create robots to fix their problems that WOULDN’T rebel and kill them. only for the robots to rebel and kill them.) and also a reflection of their beliefs uninterrogated: that there is no possibility for peace between artificial and organic life, that it must all be extinguished for the sake of “peace”. how do you have a story where one of the main (paywalled. dlc.) squad members is the remnants of an empire that conquered and controlled other species in the same way the leviathans did, and met the exact same fate because their imperial power was an illusion created by the reapers to make them weaker, to make them easier to exterminate. how do you make a story about these cycles, about how the council IS repeating these cycles, they just do it in a “kinder” way, a way with a veneer of democracy while still holding the same kind of power the protheans did over their empire, taking the same corrupted seat and continuing to rule their even after they find out, in mass effect 1, that it was a time bomb of extinction. how do you write all of that. how do you write the geth/quarian conflict and give us an ending that proves that peace and reconciliation is not only possible, but the best option. and then. star child. and you can’t even fucking argue with him that his ideology is bullshit.

#HOW DO YOU DO ALL OF THAT- its because of ea i know that but still. how. #not that mass effect isnt a fantastic story on its own but god the implications. theyre right there. you had them in your grasp. #what the fuck happened here. #mass effect #not even a fucking paragon check at the end to go ‘rip to you you shitty child but you were programmed by the guys who thought it was okay #to enslave half the galaxy and they maybeee weren’t right about their views.’ #unbelievable. absolute disgrace. javik is right there and you disrespect him like this. you make a crucial part of understanding all of this #DLC!!!!

[cerastes]

So I was thinking about Sesa's whole "I know how to make weapons that don't require arts great equalizer" thing and maybe he shouldn't be allowed anywhere near Rhine Lab or Columbia for all that matter. I was wondering if you had thoughts on what a potential interaction between him and Dorothy would be? Cause both talented engineers, but with Dorothy seeming to forget implications of things, what effect wooing Sesa being scared of the implications have on Dorothy.

Sesa wouldn't be a danger even if he was in Rhine Lab because Sesa himself is fully aware of the dangers of such a paradigm shifting breakthrough: I had a zealous anon (that went unpublished) some months back when I first talked about Sesa basically calling Sesa a coward, because his breakthrough in being able to produce firearms that don't require Arts knowledge or skill could be used to arm the masses and shift the power balance between the people(tm) and bigger entities like the Ursus Empire.

So obviously that's one hundred percent not feasible in the slightest for a lot of reasons, so I didn't answer that because it felt less "let's talk about Arknights" and more "why is this game not fulfilling the wishes for a social revolution we all want right now", and I include myself in that "we", it's just, it's not that simple, and Dorothy's Vision puts that in perspective, making the Sesa Conversation relevant again:

Dorothy has the skill and the intent, but lacks the worldly experience, thus she was not able to see the full consequences and ramifications of her actions, right? But there's another important factor in what made Dorothy's Vision, the Hub, possible: The endless money that Rhine Labs has, as well as their infrastructure that allows for these sorts of experiments to occur in the first place. Dorothy can have all the brains and prowess she wants, she could not have achieved the Hub by herself, or even just with her section, she needed the funding, infrastructure, and support not just from Ferdinand and Rhine Lab, but also from Loken Williams. We'll come back to this in a second.

The difference between Sesa and Dorothy is that Sesa, being far more worldly and perceptive to just how hellish Terra truly is, and that such hellish world has bred some truly evil, greedy people, is immediately aware that, were his and his brother's breakthrough of non-Arts reliant firearms to become mainstream, it would only result in far more oppression and a far more unfair playing field, not an equalizer of power.

Because to manufacture weapons and materiel, you still need funds, personnel, resources, and infrastructure. The discovery of non-Arts firearms would benefit, short term, black markets and smaller outfits. Let's remember that Sesa and his brother weren't small time, they had their own laboratory and hideout. They had more than most smaller outfits and gangs. In the long term, though, once the know-how of firearm production becomes more mainstream? Who do you think will have the edge, small time gangs or the Ursus Empire with its absolutely immense territory, endless resources, and infinite personnel? End of the day, it would be the giants like Ursus, Yan, Victoria that would just get far, far more powerful, not the small revolutionary guys and gals we'd be rooting for.

Sesa is aware of this, and that's what takes us back to the previous point: Sesa gets that his knowledge would drown the world in fire for the benefit of the Big Guys, not the everyman, simply because of a matter of logistics. For every one okay rifle a gang makes, the Ursus Empire is probably going to be making hundreds of artillery cannons and thousands of better rifles.

As for an interaction between Sesa and Dorothy, I think he'd be unequivocally mad initially, but then would understand that Dorothy truly means well, and they could definitely relate to one another, although I'm not sure Dorothy would accept Sesa too easily: Dorothy was pushed into her path by her family's untimely death and lives for her research, Sesa killed his own brother for the greater good, and tries to keep his research drowned in obscurity forever. That’d be real interesting to scope.

Just two Oppenheimers in a room, 5 feet away because they are not willing to drown in their scholarly curiosity.

#apparent angel #arknights #sesa #dorothy

[reikiajakoiranruohoja]

Second Inquisition WOW

I don't even know how to preface this, because this is some massive tonal confusion. I guess the best way to put it is that for all I love Werewolf and Vampire, I am not blind to the horror they are for humans. Though my go-to question for anyone writing monster hunters is why they hunt, I still feel hunters are extremely important to the narrative as a counterpoint to the monsters. So when I read the introduction text for the Second Inquisition book for V5, my jaw hit the floor.

"The theme of the Second Inquisition is determination – aimed at the player coterie. Like a certain killer cyborg from the future, the Coalition can’t be reasoned with, it can’t be bargained with. It doesn't feel pity or remorse or fear and it absolutely will not stop. Ever. Individual Inquisitors or soldiers or cops or nuns can be reasoned with and bargained with. Most feel fear, some feel pity, and even a few feel remorse. All those deviations and human moments make excellent stories, ripples in the flood. But the narrative relentlessly washes over those stories, replacing every flawed or broken foe with two more – ten more — out for revenge or salvation. The Inquisition as a whole – both as a conspiracy and a movement that enflames that conspiracy – will not stop until every Kindred burns. Conveying the impersonal, implacable determination of a gigantic bureaucracy to crush the player characters should not be impossible in the 2020s – but it should be very effective."

Why this made me stare at the screen, is how the Inquisition was introduced in an older book;

"The theme of The Inquisition is the crusader. The Society of Leopold sees itself as humanity’s last stand against the encroaching hordes of the World of Darkness. Inquisitors are the new Crusaders; all the Earth is their Holy Land. But theirs is a lonely struggle, bereft of the support of those whom they would save. The general populace does not know of the struggle, and would most likely think the Inquisitors are mad. Inquisitors are holy knights, alienated from their fellow mortals by their knowledge of what awaits. Some within the Inquisition are zealots, it is true, but it is better to err on the side of caution than to let slip the defences of humanity." The difference is stark, especially as they are talking about the same sort of hunters. The reason I find the newer book's take extremely strange, is due to the fact that the player characters in VtM are undead bloodsucking parasites that manipulate humanity and have magic blood powers that make them much stronger than an average human. Yet the V5 book chooses to introduce the inquisition as horrible people who will never stop hunting poor innocent vampires. It goes even as far as the art.

(Start ID; A mixed media picture with modified photographs. A bald man in a trenchcoat is scowling with his fists clenched. He is holding the severed head of a female vampire from its hair. The expression on the head is of wide-eyed horror. End ID.)

(Start ID; A book cover with the text Inquision as the title, with a crosshair symbol reading 'Year of the Hunter' on the bottom. The cover art is a painted picture of a bearded man in a trenchcoat and torn jeans wielding in one hand a large cross and in another a lit torch. There is a shotgun and spent shells on the tiled floor. Just outside the light of the torch, a horde of vampires with glowing eyes has surrounded the man, some shirking from the light. End ID.)

One treats the hunter as a threat overpowering a vampire. The other treats the hunter as a lone figure surrounded by a mass of vampires. Let me be quite frank, humanity in WoD are the mice that the cats (vampires) hunt. Hunters are the mice that fight back. A vampire in VtM, regardless of edition, has an advantage over a hunter. Vampires use humans as prey, the polite ones pay them for it but they don't HAVE to. In V5 you are given various methods to hunt for your blood, some which are cruel. Painting the people standing up to creatures that actively harm humans as the abusers and the ones in the wrong is extremely tone deaf. Vampires are not some oppressed minority trying to eke out a living, a vampire is creature that needs to drink blood to survive and human blood is the best. In V5's own lore, it is only recently that vampires are even put on the backfoot at all. Before that, humanity were pawns in centuries long grudgematches and at best a quick bite snack at wost fleshcrafted into sacks hung from hooks. Can there be good vampires and bad hunters? Of course, WoD is all about the shades of gray. It is when the basic set up of the setting is turned around like this that I have a problem.

#vampire the masquerade #vtm #world of darkness #wod #v5 #second inquisition #rambly ddw

[theacidkingz]

I’ve recently had the idea to make a little document where I can write about all the different school shooters and shootings, like how Adam did with all those mass killings. As of this morning I’ve only written about Sandy Hook and I wanted to post it here, even if no one reads it LOL

Sandy Hook Elementary School - 2012

The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting which took place on December 14, 2012 in Newtown Connecticut was a mass shooting which ended the lives of 20 children and 6 adults. The mass shooter who took these lives was the 20 year old man named Adam Lanza. Before the mass shooting Lanza also killed his mother, which would cause 7 adults to be, in total, dead. After Adam had finished ridding the children of the burden of living in this society, Adam then killed himself, either he was already suicidal or he did not want to live the rest of his life in prison. That is still a mystery to me, but it was most likely he was already suicidal since he strongly believed that he and other people were brought into this world without their own consent. Adam used three guns to carry out the mass killings, a Bushmaster XM15-E2S, a Glock 20SF handgun, and a .22LR Savage Mark II bolt-action rifle. These guns were legally purchased by his mother, most likely used for target practice or something along those lines. Adam was also diagnosed with some disorders like autism and OCD, which he would deny and not take medication for, (I think so.) One of Adam’s motive may have been was that he strongly believed in Antinatalism, which I mentioned before, is the belief that people here are brought into the world without their consent and to stop this humans should stop reproducing. Adam might have gone to the elementary school and killed the children because he believed that he was helping the kids by making them not live in this society. He may also have killed the teachers trying to protect the students because he saw it as the teachers making it worse for the children. It could also have just been he was a troubled autistic teenager who has so much anger inside of them that they committed a mass killing, like most people think. This could be a possibility because Adam had once gone onto a radio talk show (I think that’s what it’s called) and talked about “Travis the Chimp” a chimp which was domesticated to live like a human but was then later shot dead after mauling a woman. Adam went on a long but interesting rant where he goes to say that this chimp could just be a teenage mall shooter who was on their last straw and things along those lines. He said that the chimp must have just “snapped” which could also be why he shot up the elementary school. Maybe Adam was projecting his thoughts and how he felt onto this chimp but his point definitely did make sense. The points Adam makes in the radio talk show also show he was really smart and mature sounding, but he doesn’t believe that himself because he later posts online that he “messed up” while speaking about it to the host. This is a trait of autism which he was diagnosed with later in his life. This could also be just because he had been isolated in his closed off room for so long. Another motive of his was because he believed that society was trying to control him, the education system was trying to form him into the ideal human. Realizing this must have made him so mad that he thought that he was saving the children by killing them before the school system had fully controlled them.

[The] entire philosophy behind education: the brutal indoctrination of pristine minds so as to propagate some delusional system of cultural values.... Is it really so ideal to have good and efficient citizens? All they'll do is be more effective at propagating the system you hate.

Lanza was also obsessed with the Columbine shooting, a mass killing which was taken out by two troubled teenage boys, like Adam himself. He may have related with the shooters so much that he thought the best thing he could do was do exactly what they did.

Obviously it doesn’t seem very finished and I might add more to it as I research more. No I’m thinking about what I should write about next, the Columbine shooting or Virginia tech?

#tcc #adam lanza #sandy hook

[dalekofchaos]

FNAF movie sequel pitch. Fredbear's Family Diner

So I know the sequel might center around FNAF 2 and Jeremy Fitzgerald. But I would love it more if it were about Fredbear's Family Diner and the relationship between William and Henry.

Ideally the movie should have Matthew Lillard using the make up and effects they used to get a young Dr Loomis in Halloween Kills so we can see a younger Lillard as young William Afton.

My fancast for Henry would be Skeet Ulrich.

The movie is about the beginning and decline of William and Henry's relationship and the madness of Afton.

Two best friends from college who have a gift for robotics, engineering and business. Who want to build a place to entertain the masses and A magical place for kids and grown-ups alike, where fantasy and fun come to life.

William and Henry are the faces of Fredbear's Family Diner. Henry is Fredbear and William is Spring Bonnie.

Fredbear's is a huge hit, Fazbear Entertainment is born and it becomes a franchise. Freddy Fazbear's Pizza is born, but then things change.

Mrs Afton dies in a tragic accident and then the Bite of 83 happens. William changes. He becomes more unhinged and notices the perfect life he set up is slowly fading away while Henry's family is perfect. William wants Henry to feel what he feels.

Since you can see visible scars during the Mike/Raglan meeting.

That's right, we could have the original Springlock incident. It wouldn't just be a accident. It would be intentional. Henry knows what William did. So after the final performance as Fredbear and Spring Bonnie, Henry snaps and attacks William while he's still in the Spring Bonnie suit and causes the Spring lock incident. William barely escaped with his life.

If you want the FNAF 2 experience, you could add in the Toy Animatronics and show William in peak Purple Guy causing the MCI and DCI and William hacking Mangle to cause the Bite of 87 to lobotomize Jeremy Fitzgerald.

William's son is Golden Freddy's spirit and either Michael or Vanessa caused the Bite of 83, which caused Henry to flee with Mike and Garrett and it could end with William abducting and killing Garrett and then seeing Garrett becoming The Puppet and William discovering Remnant. He is on the path to "put his family back together" and everyone will know how and why he always comes back!

PS. I have someone different casted as Henry instead of Garrett Hines because Mike is an unreliable narrator.

As for Mike, they can leave it open in the air if he's Henry or William's son. But I would still make Mike an Afton, while Garrett and Abby Henry's children. I would save the reveal of Mike being Michael Afton for FNAF 3, basically a LOT of repressed trauma causing Mike to form false memories and with Mike slowly finding out who he is and with William confronting what he did.

#Five Nights At Freddy's #FNAF #FNAF Movie #FNAF Movie Sequel #Fredbear's Family Diner #William Afton #Henry Emily #Michael Afton #Mike Schmidt #Garrett Schmidt #The Marionette #The Puppet #Jeremy Fitzgerald #Crying Child #Evan Afton #Vanessa Shelly #Vanessa Afton #Willry #Spring Bonnie #Fredbear

[heliosthegriffin]

Shadow Knight and Magical Girls XXII

A03 Link

Chapter 22

There was an aura of malaise across the Museum, and It spread relentlessly that afternoon, becoming heavier and more infectious by the minute. Moving around the building like an oozing river of filth, its odorous presence repulsing anyone and everyone that was in the building. Well, most everyone, anyway.

The overwhelming majority of the visitors of the Museum, though, were hit by an invasive feeling of tightness in the chest with a sense of incredible tension hanging over them, as if some disaster was patiently waiting behind the curtain to play its role. The vast majority couldn’t take the feeling, leaving the historical site en masse. The moment they stepped through the door, they were struck by a feeling of immediate relief, like having some long term debt finally be paid off.

Most were all too happy to forget such a feeling existed. With only a minority of a minority that were overtaken with curiosity, wondering, speculating, guessing what could possibly throw that many people into a flight on such a nice evening? They stared at the building, still basking in relief, however none dared even think about stepping back inside.

Not one among them possessed the bravery to find out the answer. 

----

Security couldn’t believe what their eyes were seeing, as an orange-haired man made a mad tear through the building. Going from victim to victim, leaving what could only be called monsters in his wake. A gut-deep feeling of dread rose the longer they watched, as they saw him move like something out of fantasy. This was not something they were prepared for, or were willing to risk their lives to face.

An attempt was made to call law enforcement, as several of them exchanged glances until one of them finally stepped up, dialing up the police. They are the ones that should handle this, right?

The call opened up, as a younger security officer made the call, finally spoke. “Hello, Vale’s Emergency Services, what is your situation?”

Holding his phone with shaky, numb hands, the guard had trouble getting the words out of his mouth. “Hello? Is there anyone there?”

“...Yeah.” The guard said after what felt like days. “W-we, I work at the Museum, a security guard, and we have a situation.” He finally managed to stumble the words over his lips.

“I see which Museum, Sir?’

“It’s the Historical One, the one that has all the old weapons, armor, and relics.”

“That one, ok. What is the nature of the emergency?”

The young guard looked at the screen, watching that man with orange hair tear people apart with his bare-hands, a sense of dread sank into his stomach. The feeling was so intense that it made him want to fall to the floor and ball up like a frightened child. He hadn’t felt like that sense saw his childhood puppy get hit by a car right in front of him.

He didn’t realize he had been stuck staring at the screen, until one of the other guards shook him. The lady on the other end didn't stop trying to communicate with him.

“Sir?”

“Sorry.” The words that he said weren’t sincere, he didn’t want to be here anymore. He wanted to flee. “There’s a man here killing people like animals, and he did something to their bodies…” On another screen, two lanky things were mauling people, splattering blood and limbs everywhere. “They're getting back up and killing people.”

He didn’t stop paying attention this time, the operator stopped trying to talk to him for a full five seconds. “Are you sure? You’re not under the effects of any illegal substances are you?” He looked around at the other guards. “Even if I was, I don’t don’t have enough for everyone here to be imagining the same thing.”

“I see, is this armed assault?” There was a plea in her voice.

“Only if you count him killing people with his arms.”

He heard a crack in her voice. “How many would you estimate-”

“Is this really the time?!” The young guard broke. “Just send the fucking cops already! People are getting killed! This isn’t something that we can handle, so fucking- ” He stopped when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

“Sir, how many?”

“I don’t know, at least twenty? Probably more.”

“When did the attack start?”

“Ten minutes ago, maybe? I don’t know, he just appeared and started killing people, we’d have to rewind the footage to know for sure.”

“Don’t touch the footage.” The operator warned. “I’m going to send you to a different line now. For what it’s worth, I wish you all well.”

“Thanks-”

“Here’s what you're going to do.” A strong, deep voice spoke to him. “You’re going to shut down any cameras that are recording, you're going to patch me into the Curator, then you’re going to walk out the nearest exit, and forget everything you saw.”

“What?”

“Do I need to repeat myself?” He asked calmly.

“No, it’s just-”

“Do as I say, and you get to walk out of here without any trouble, try and do anything funny, and I’ll make sure you never have a moment of peace again, Xavier.”

Xavier, the young guard, froze. “How-”

“There’s only so many security aids at the Museum under thirty, Xavier, and on shift, it wasn’t hard to figure out.” The man on the other end breathed out slowly. “Now, I don’t want to do that, but I will if you make things harder than they have to be. So, call your boss, tell him to pick up the fucking Scroll, and then you can go home, alright? We can even make sure you get paid for the whole week, and at double time, considering what’s about to go down. Sounds good?”

“...Yeah,” Xavier swallowed. “I’ll do what you say.”

“Good man.” Then the call ended, and then Xavier called the Curator. “Mr. Stone, you need to pick up, it’s from -”

“I know. Just, go home, son.” The call ended. Xavier watched as his co-worker filed out like a demon was chasing them. Soon, it was only him left in the office, the rest having left him to shut down the cameras.

His fingers fidgeted as took a step towards the cameras, watching as two young men were being closed in on by those monsters. Xavier stared for a moment, watching with disbelief, as a flame of rebelliousness rose up inside of him.

----

A call over the intercom would help sooth the visitors as they left, offering an explanation to soothe their minds. 

‘Attention visitors, a Gas-Leaks has been identified in several points in the building. Please, in a calm and orderly manner, find the nearest exit and leave. If you hold onto the receipts for your tickets, we will refund your entrance fee at a later date.’ The sound that came over the intercom was the voice of a pleasant, artificially polite young woman. ‘If you feel dizzy, light-headed, nauseous, or the symptoms of a panic-attack, please seek medical attention. If you cannot seek medical attention on your own, please wait in the courtyard, the City of Vale has been alerted to the situation, and medical experts are on their way.’ 

That was the explanation. Anything that seemed weird was just the gas playing tricks on the senses. The Gas was the reason for the disquiet, their instincts warning them about the toxic air. Everything was fine, and this would all be sorted out in due time. No, there was nothing wrong with the Museum; they were leaving due to a gas leak. 

Those people that were moving oddly, watching them as they left, those were just people that needed medical attention. The attack that had happened? Probably just a man having a violent-outburst as a side-effect from inhaling the Gas. Anything else was hysteria!

Those who left made sure to remind anyone who brought this up, that they were misremembering, and needed to move on. It was just an unfortunate incident that no one was prepared for.

 It was easier to forget than to change.

-----

 Attack!

Trained reflexes spoke before conscious thoughts could. Ren unconsciously catches something out of the corner of his eyes, as a shadow moves, clawing towards his head. It was only just slightly lighter than the shadows around it, so seeing it move was jarring enough to draw attention.

No words came to Ren’s mind, as his body acted ahead of his thoughts. There was no time to make a plan, or strategy, as they were attacked. He was numb to the world and himself, as a group of strangers suddenly set upon them. Something drawled out across the loud-speaker, it sounded alien, as Ren fell into the motions of combat.

A long, dark arm swept at his face in a wild, but unsubtle swing. Ren stepped back, it seemed to crawl across the inches over his skin, feeling the wind rush across his face from the force, and allowing him a detailed look at the heavy claws that almost rent his skull in two. Five claws of differing lengths and widths, covered with what looks like black-colored plaster. He had enough time to realize they weren’t very sharp, and if they hit him, they wouldn’t cut, they’d rip into like dull meat hooks. Painfully.

It had come at him from the left. He stepped back in, turning to face his attacker; they had yet to recover from missing the swing, allowing him to snake a jab through a non-existent guard across their jaw.

It landed solidly, and despite Ren’s fists being well-conditioned from his long training, it hurt.  It felt like he had struck concrete instead of flesh, and his opponent didn’t seem affected despite hitting them dead-on in the jaw, it should have knocked them out cold. He could see them turning to swipe at him again, and Ren snuck another jab in on the head, and followed up with a cross, the first hit knocking the head back, and the last knocking it off balance.

Ren snuck his leg behind his opponents, then pushed with a palm strike to its off balance torso, sending it tumbling down onto the ground. Where it writhed, trying to get itself off the floor, allowing him a chance to see what he was fighting, and it came with the grim realization that he was not fighting a person. There was no way it could be.

It was like someone had been molded out of black clay, and given a pair of beady, red eyes. It’s arms nearly dragged across the floor, and it’s legs looked almost short by comparison. Its head seemed swollen and round, like a snowman made of black earth. Small pieces of white bone seemed to appear at random across it’s sinister body.

With that good look, it was clear that he hadn’t done any damage to it, or not at least to a meaningful degree. It was rising back up, slowly getting it’s limbs under it. Ren fought back his disgust watching it. He needed to finish this.

Looking inward, he found his center, and let it flow out through his core. Stepping forward, he made a motion that defied human limits for a brief instant, as he kicked low at the head of the creature. There was a brief pink flash of light as the arch of his left foot caught it across the center of its head, there was a slight amount of resistance, and then there was none. Only a disturbing glob of red and black matter across the wall behind the creature.

He stood there staring at the scene, as his awareness expanded outward as the focus of combat evaporated. What in the world was that? What had just happened? He looked down at the steaming black matter beneath him. Ren was struck with a sense of dread and dis-ease at the sight. Confusion followed as his thoughts fell into chaos, trying to make sense of what just happened.

The sound of a body falling to the ground behind him stirred his mind back into action, ‘Jaune!’ What if he was being attacked too? He wasn’t going to leave his friend to fend for himself! Turning around, he moved to intercept anything coming towards the blonde, only to have to stop himself.

Ren stared at the sight of his friend, standing over two of those things, their bodies brutalized beyond identification, breathing steadily, calmly, holding one of things by the head and a stanchion in the other. He let the last one drop to the floor, before clubbing it into a pile of black mush.

Jaune looked at him, meeting his eyes, and Ren took a step back unconsciously. His eyes were empty and entirely focused on him, his face blank, cold even, as if this was nothing of note to him. His body told a different story, as it seemed ready to spring into motion at any second, like he was about to strike at any moment. 

Then light came back to his eyes. “Behind you!” Ren sidestepped, just in time to avoid what would have been a killing blow, as a clawed hand swept past him. He peered out of the corner of his right eye, seeing a new one of those things appear. He slid behind it, and kicked it forward, sending it stumbling towards Jaune, who swung down with Stanucion on its head. Black fluid flying everywhere.

Ren and Jaune stood there for a moment, taking each other's measure. 

“You ok?” Jaune broke the tension.

“Yeah, I think, how about you?”

“I’m good.”

“I didn’t know you had gotten so adept at … handling things.” Ren observed the mess on the ground.

“Yeah, uh, you do pretty good yourself.” Jaune peered around for any more challengers. “I think we’re good for now.”

Ren’s eyes lit up. “We need to find the girls. Now.”

Jaune nodded. “Agreed, let's get going.”

The two took off sprinting down the hall, with the drinks they went to get, now left behind in the mess of battle behind them.

----

“Ah!” Ruby jumped, as a hand reached out from the shadows behind her. With a quick slap that glowed with a silver light, it was sent away back to it’s hissing owner. As Blake stepped out behind her.

Ruby looked at her embarrassed, opening her mouth to apologize, but Blake cut her off. “Not now! Bigger things are at play, and we need to get the other girls together.” Ruby tried to respond, but Blake’s shadows moved faster than sound, as they drew over the both of them. Leaving an empty space where they just were.

A sensation that was like being stretched, shrunk and pulled through a tube the size of an atom hit Ruby all at once. It wasn’t painful, but it was disorienting and uncomfortable. It wasn’t any different from being stuck in a space too small for her, just that it didn’t damage her, or give her time to panic. Judging by the series of yelps and sounds of surprise, she wasn’t the only one, as all of them, aside from Pyrrha and Blake, tumbled onto the floor.

“We have a problem.” Blake led with. 

Weiss scowled up at her, as she rose on shaky legs. “It better be a big one.”

“It doesn’t get much bigger than a General of Grimm.” Blake’s face was set and firm. “I saw him and he had a magical presence unlike anything I’ve met, and he was very clearly controlling some kind of Grimm that he was attaching to people.”

“Oh,” Weiss took a step back, the information hitting her like a sucker-punch. “I should have known the power here would have drawn him in.”

Pyrrha seemed tense, stuck between shame and anger.

“Wait, what was he doing to people?” Ruby asked, eyes wide and alert.

“He was putting masks on people, they were… I’m sorry, but If it didn’t kill them instantly, It did by now.” Blake let that sink in. “We need to stop him from doing it to anyone else, and more importantly, stop him from getting the Power that’s building up here.”

“Why didn’t you stop him?!” Ruby’s words were like a sledgehammer.

Blake subtly looked away from Ruby’s bright silver eyes. “There was nothing I could do, and he had already attached the masks.” She looked towards Pyrrha. “And, considering she couldn’t defeat him on her own, I didn’t want to take any chances.”

“You didn’t even transform!” 

Blake forced her eyes back at Ruby. “I have enough targets on my back as it stands! I’m not going to have another one forced upon me by transforming in public!”

Rubys eyes glowed brighter, but Blake didn’t back down this time. 

Yang, surprisingly, stepped in. “Not the time, girls.” She sighed, fire beginning to engulf her, as the transformation began. “The longer we wait, the bigger lead this Grimm Creep gets to kill people and do what he wants.”

Pyrrha had finished her transformation. “Agreed, we need to stop him swiftly and decisively.”

As the transformation finished in the secluded room, Red stared at Blake. “Before you take us to him, just tell me. Did you see Jaune among them?”

A faint sense of dread fell among Yellow and Crimson, while White and Black looked at her in surprise. “He’s here?”

“Yeah, with Ren at least, so did you see them?”

Black thought carefully. “No, not them, but the longer we wait, the more in danger they will be in. A regular human like him, or Ren? They don’t stand much of a chance against a Grimm General, not even the previous generation allies like Dragonfist, or Harbinger would be able to beat him, much less the Shadow Knight.”

Red looked at her fiercely, eyes glowing like the full moon. “Then get us there, yesterday.” 

----

It was at the intersection of hallways that led to different exhibits that the two highschool boys came upon the next encounter. As several Monsters took turns slamming against a utility closet and making good progress on knocking it open. Everytime one of those things slammed a long arm against the door, the sounds of panic leaked out.

It took Ren several moments to notice that he was running alone, he looked back to see if Jaune had tripped, or been attacked, only to see his longtime friend having charged straight into the pack of those things! What was he thinking?!

Ren had a half-second to process this, conflict boiling up inside him. He couldn’t just leave the girls alone, every second he waited was a second that could get them hurt, or worse. But, he also couldn’t just leave Jaune. He was felt torn in half by two different priorities, internally damning the people who were stuck behind that door, and Jaune too was he was at it!

Cursing under his breath, he dove into the fray. Just as a monster was creeping up behind his friend, Ren called on his center again, sprinting forward, he leaned back and kicked high, aiming at the neck of the monster. A flash of pink light shone across the impact site, a small shock-wave rolling out across its body, as its neck cracked and shattered. It fell down limply.

The fight didn’t last long between the two of them working together, the two of those things lying broken on the ground and not getting back up. Jaune went to knock on the door. Ren grabbed his wrist, breathing deeply. “What just possessed you?”

“What do you mean?”

“You know what I mean!” Ren hissed. “You almost got yourself killed! We need to go and get to Nora and Velvet! We can’t be playing heroes!”

Jaune looked at him with heavy eyes. “And, what if Nora and Velvet are behind that door?”

Ren didn’t have an answer.

“Even if they aren’t, I’m not going to walk past a person in need.” Jaune knocked on the door, as he called out to the utility closet. “You’re safe! If you want to follow someone out of here, you can follow us.” There was a soft conversation from behind the door, as a young couple opened the door meekly.

They stared in awe at the sight before them, and Ren had to admit he was flattered. Still the urge to find Nora and Velvet, to make sure they were ok, was eating him up inside. He flashed a look at Jaune, urging him to get a move on.

Jaune returned a look at him, a very heavy and dutiful one. A message was passed between them. Ren was free to leave, but Jaune wouldn’t abandon anyone he could see was in need of help. Ren wanted to curse him, and run looking for their friends.

If not for the thought of, what if it was Nora behind that door? What if by abandoning these people, he lost Nora in the process, if she was one of them? 

Jaune snapped a quick order to the couple, to grab anything they could use as a weapon in there and quickly, they needed to make a move on. While the couple was searching, Ren turned to Jaune. “And, if it gets you killed, what then?”

“I won’t die, not if someone that I can help is in front of me.”

Ren looked at the blonde, then shook his head. “I swear, you make me want to believe you.”

 A couple seconds later, the couple had returned, the man holding a heavy-duty wrench and the woman a pair of pliers duct-taped to what used to be a broom.

Their pace took a hit, as the couple was unathletic and couldn’t keep up with the sprint that Ren and Jaune had set beforehand. However, they didn’t need to wait long as they heard the sounds of combat and yelling up ahead, one that sent Ren’s heart swelling as he could have recognized it anywhere.

Running faster than he thought he could, they entered the dinosaur exhibit, where Nora stood on top of a t-rex’s skeleton wielding a petrified femur and bashing it across the heads of anything that got too close, while Velvet hid behind her, making a squeaking whenever one of those long-limbed things got too close.

“Yeah! Who wants another of Mama’s Nora’s asskicking special! You or you or you! Or how about you!?” She screamed wildly as they climbed up, only to get knocked down from a series of chaotic headblows.

Wasting no time, the two boys launched into an assault on the gathered monsters. There were seven of them gathered around the skeleton display, trying to climb up and get to the pair of girls. One already almost at the top, which had to deal with Nora clubbing it over the head, over and over, until it fell down.

Jaune went to work grabbing the monsters and throwing them to the ground, with Ren making critical blows that left them, if not dead, crippled enough for the couple to come along and finish them off, with much effort on their part.

When down to the last one there came a scream from above as Nora jumped down holding the femur over head, smashing it into the smooth inky head of the monster, splattering it into uncountable pieces that would leave a forensic scientist incredibly frustrated.

“Nora!” Ren cried out, catching her just after she smashed the monster to pieces, barely keeping himself tripping as he caught her.

“Hello!” Jaune looked up at Velvet who was still stuck up on the T-Rex. “I need help, please!” 

Jaune looked at Nora and Ren, then at Velvet. “I’ll be up in a second.”

“Please do! I don’t have the courage to jump!”

It wasn’t long before he climbed up and to Jaune’s surprised Velvet practically bonded to his arm, shaking. Not that it was much of a problem for him, as he easily carried her down. He noticed that Ren was still carrying Nora, as he got back down.

“Hey, hey Rennie, I’m fine, thanks to you hunky lads!” Not that she didn’t appreciate the closeness, as she pulled him closer. 

Ren didn’t let go for a long moment, he opened his mouth, he couldn’t think of any way to put the whirlwind of thoughts and emotions in mouth and turn them into proper words. He had so many things he wanted to say, but no way to say them.

Nora felt the tension around him, slowly rubbing his back. “It’s fine, I’m fine.” 

Ren squeezed tight, then let go. “Please, keep close.”

Jaune watched the two, a sense of guilt weighing over him, something compounded by the shaking faunus attached to his arm. He should have never agreed to this. All the if’s in the world hitting him, on how this could have been avoided. Like he was suddenly dropped in a pitch-black room with white letters crawling over the walls, spelling out all the ways he could have stopped this.

None of them spelled out what to do now. He was at a loss, and honestly, just wanted a damn break for one day. He looked at Velvet, still holding onto his arm like a raft, completely out of his depth on how to help her. As the Shadow Knight he never really had to worry about helping someone's mental state. It was more, that he killed what was distressing them, and moved on.

“H-how?” Velvet whispered so low that Jaune barely caught it.

“Yes?”

“How are you so calm?” Her eyes darted around the room, her rabbit ears alert and looking for danger. “I feel like my heart is about to implode.” Jaune nodded, he could feel her thudding heart with how tightly she clamped against his left arm.

He smiled dryly. “Am I?” Velvet looked at him in disbelief. “I don't feel that way, it’s just that, if I started going crazy and acting afraid, it wouldn’t help anybody.” 

“You’re afraid?” Velvet asked, disbelief in her every syllable.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Jaune answered tiredly. “My friends, myself, and a bunch of strangers are stuck in a Museum crawling with weird, tall monsters, with who knows what worse things waiting around the corner? It’s natural to feel fear, and I’d be insane to not be afraid, even if it was just the tiniest nugget of fear in the world.”

“D-do you always feel fear?”

Jaune laughed, it was both bitter and sad, but with a hint of pride. “Everyday, Velvet. Not a day goes by without me being afraid.”

“Everyday?”

“Yeah. It’s always something, something to be worried about, and it’s not about me either. I’m not just afraid for myself, but for my friends, my family, and sometimes, complete strangers. I just can’t help myself, fear is my oldest and strongest emotion.”

“How do you live like that? It must be unbearable. You’ve always seemed like one of the strongest people I know, if you live like this, then how does anyone live like this? Is that just what life is, going from one fear to another until you die?” Her ears drooped. “Why live at all then, if it is going to be so miserable?”

Jaune didn’t answer back for a moment, gently, but firmly, grabbing her hand. “I think other people are why. Life might be full of fear and uncertainty, but it’s also full of people, good, bad, and in between. They might make you feel fear, anger, jealousy, and all these other emotions, but at the same time, they fill in the spots of your life that you didn’t know were empty. I think that outweighs the grief lifes brings upon us, simply by having these connections that make life so meaningful. It won’t always be that way, but the fact we can lose it, well doesn’t that just make it worth something? 

“It’s what makes fear valuable too, as you know what you have to lose, it’s necessary evil. It can paralyze at times. Not just physically, but in the head too. But, other times, well, it can make you do things you never knew where possible. Go beyond your limits simply due to fear of losing your life, a friend, or even something simple like your favorite piece of junk, it’s a power all on its own. But, most of all? It’s something that everybody can understand, it’s a universal experience. All it comes down to at the end of the day is the person who’s feeling it,” Blue eyes met brown. “And how they chose to use that emotion.”

Velvet's eyes regained some as light as she stared at him and digested his words. Jaune softened his grip, realizing that he grabbed her in the first place, slowly letting go of her. “That’s how I look at things. It may not be healthy, or rational, but it’s how I live. It’s how I’m going to keep living.” He looked at her, searching her for a response. 

She looked away. “I just need a minute.” Her ears twitched, brown eyes darting to look at him for a moment, then shying away. “Not that you did anything bad! It’s just, I need to reassess my thoughts.

“Okay. Take all the time you need.” He looked at Ren and Nora, with the two of them giving him sly smiles. “Those two are there if you need them, I’m going to make sure that our other two party members are doing ok.”

Nora sped in as soon as he left, with Ren joining him over to the young couple they saved. “So, Nora’s fine?”

“I needn’t have worried. She was having a blast.”

“Just shows how much you care for her.”

Ren smiled. “More than she can imagine. Velvet?”

“I don’t know, she’s not in the best of states.” Jaune bit his lip, thinking of how to put his words. “It’s up to her how she wants to handle this. I’ll do my best to protect her, for whatever that’s worth.”

Ren ran his eyes up and across Jaune’s body, from his feet to his hips to his shoulder then met his eyes. “Enough. More than enough. I’d say.” He paused looking at Jaune’s hands, looking at the calluses. “You’re more than skilled enough to protect a person or two.”

Jaune smiled. “I appreciate that.” He looked up. “It never feels like it’s enough.”

“What does?”

“My skills. Experience. My ability to fight. It never is.” Jaune stopped talking, remembering who he was talking to. “I must have taken a hit to the head. I don’t listen to me.”

Ren gave him a thin smile. “Never stopped me before,” He looked relaxed, but his eyes were alert and discerning. “Though, I think your real problem is, you’ve had too many late nights. Maybe, you need to start living in the daylight?”

Jaune paused, looking at Ren, measuring him and his words. “If it was that easy, I would. Days are short, and nights feel so long.” He looked across the exhibit, there was a trio of standing stones on the other end of the room. For a moment, he thought he saw a shadow move. Ren caught his attention.

“They don’t have to be. Good company can make days long and nights short.”

His eyes drawn back to the standing stones. The shadow was gone. “You’re right about that. If only there were people fit to be out so late.” Jaune looked at Ren in a very meaningful manner.

“Is that so, would that imply you are?”

“I’m still standing aren’t I?”

Ren chuckled. “Barely. But, your point stands.” He sighed. “We’ll continue this at a later date and time, hopefully we'll not be fighting for lives then, too.”

Jaune cracked a broad smile. “That’d be great, wouldn’t it? … and I suppose I don’t have a choice do I?”

“No. You do not.”

“Pardon me.” The two of them turned to face the young couple. They had been talking in front of them for a little bit now. “Have we got a plan to get out of here?” The man asked, holding a heavy wrench in his hand anxiously, his partner/girlfriend/wife(?) was looking at them, hopefully holding a make-shift spear.

Jaune looked at Ren, then back at them. “Yeah, don’t worry.” He didn't have a plan, other than kill everything in a line from A to B till they were out of here, but they didn’t need to know that. “Just follow our lead, and we’ll have us out of here in no time.”

Ren nodded. “Yes, we have already discussed with each other the minute details down to the letter, with back-up plans in place as well. It is already in motion as we speak, and can’t give great details as they will become apparent as we come into them, just know you are already doing your part as you follow Jaune’s order,” Jaune looked at Ren, since when had he been put in charge? “Everything will become clear, and work as intended, as you will understand your roles and importances as irreplaceable assets in Jaune’s plan.” Jaune’s smile wavered. “Over time, you will understand how you slot into the spaces needed to fill the very important roles you two will have, along with any other survivors. Any questions?”

The young couple looked thoroughly lost by Ren’s intentionally vague explanation, but also oddly proud and secure in knowing that someone knew what was going on. The two turned to Jaune with looks of amazement that someone had a plan of action. “N-no, I think we understand. By the way, I guess we should introd-” The young woman tried to speak, but was cut out.

“HEY!” Nora called them over, cutting off the couple mid-introduction. “Velvets got a brainy-plan thing!”

“Nora, please!”

“But, you do! It’s a good one!”

That quickly took precedence over any introductions, as they gathered around Velvet expectantly.

“Look, it’s just a simple idea.” She tapped her foot quickly, not committing to looking at anyone. ���We should arm ourselves, I think.” She almost backpedaled, but remained steadfast. “It’s just,” She looked at the couple with the make-shift weapons, Ren’s bare hands, Nora’s club, and Jaune’s stanchion. “I think the Museum won’t mind us using something for its historical purpose, with circumstances as they are.” 

The blonde stared at the faunus, a broad smile on his face. “I like it.” He looked around. “Any opposed to us arming ourselves in the midst of a life or death situation?” No one seemed to. “Alright, let's arm ourselves.”

Quickly the group left, unaware as behind them, sitting on the top of the standing stones and kicking her feet into the air, was a girl with mismatched eyes watching them with amusement. Dropping down and following as the group left the exhibit for anything that would weigh the odds in their favor.

Omake: The Stealth Arc(h)er 

The Shadow Knight looked at his horse, and then on the ticket on its forehead, then back at his ticket. 

“What do you mean he’s not street legal?” He looked at his stallion. “I thought they’d be more concerned about all the horse crap, but I guess not.” The knight scratched his head. “Oh well,” He looked at the boot they put on his horse. “That’s just cruel.”

The stallion snorted. 

“Yeah, I figured you agree.” A few minutes of fiddling later, his horse was free. “Alright, go back home. We’ll figure this out another night.”

He snorted. 

“Of course you’d say that, if you bring any mares back, put a horse-shoe on the stables or something.”

The stallion went over and nudged Shady with its bulky head. “Ok, fine here.” He handed over a sack of apples. “There, go impress some lady horses.”

The equine nudged his head against him again gratefully, then trotted off into the distance. “There goes Buckeye, oh well. He’ll be back.” The Knight looked at his bow and quivers. “Well, I don’t have the time to go and change out equipment, let's make this work on foot.”

Walking into the nearest alleyway, a Grimm seemingly materialized out of the shadows, yet to notice anyone, peacefully existing between bouts of murder.

Also materializing out of the shadows, unnoticed, was the Shadow Knight. Who then crouched, holding his bow in a very awkward manner, fired an arrow that struck true. The Beowolf died instantly, its body rag-dolling across the alley way, despite only barely sinking into the head.

The Knight looked at his bow, then at the still rag-dolling Grimm. “Ok?” He looked at the Grimm whose limbs were stretching out and flying all over the place. He fired another arrow, launching it into the night sky. Where it zoomed past a quintet of magical girls, who flinched as it passed by.

“What was that?!” Yellow cried.

“I don’t know!” Red responded.

Shadow Knight looked at the now long gone Grimm. “Huh, that was easy.” Several dozen red-eyes closed in on him, only for him to crouch and the pack of beasts to be left looking vaguely confused. At least until a storm of arrows hit them, sending them to meet their kin in outer space.

White stared in horror as several black and white meteorites flew towards them. “Oh, Dear Oum-”

#shadow knight

[inbarfink]

I saw your analysis about Sans and was thinking; Do you think its possible for a person to have varied levels of Determination throughout their life? (They could be very depressed and so have lower levels of it and then slowly recover and regain it after some time.)

Oh, yes, absolutely.

I don't think there's an actual difference between Determination the Metaphysical Concept and determination the regular emotion. The Undertale universe is when were a strong enough willpower can be enough to undo death and turn back time and you can also extract and inject it into people using mad science, but it is still also an emotion effected by the person's mental state.

Just look at Undyne. If you kill her on a Neutral Route, she tries to revive herself using her own Determination but fails.

She can only achieve this feat on the Murder Route, becoming Undyne the Undying.

The only thing that changed is Undyne's mental state. In a Neutral Route, no matter what excuses she makes for herself or how much of a bastard you, there is always a little nagging doubt in her mind that killing a child to further Asgore's scheme is not the heroic thing to do. And it's this little hint of self-doubt that's holding her back from becoming truly Undying.

In the Murder Route, Undyne doesn't have to worry about these moral complexities. The Player Character is a mass murderer who is probably going to kill everyone - Humans and Monsters - and the heroic thing to do is to stop them in any way she can. This noble goal and confidence in her own ideals is what give Undyne the extra boost of Determination she needed to become the Undying.

The only thing that changed here is Undyne's mental state. That heroic Determination came from her own heart, and not from any injector.

And on the other hand, I think the True Reset after the Pacifist Ending shows how Flowey (and Frisk) lost a lot of their Determination after that ending. Again, not because of some metaphysical science stuff. Flowey is just aimless and very emotionally confused right now, while Frisk finally achieved the goal they were so Determined for in the first place. This leaves the two of them a lot less Determined, and thus more suspectible to having their memories wiped as well.

So yeah. I think it's important to remember that despite all the weird metaphysical Stuff surronding Determination as a force in Undertale it is just... determination. So it is bound to shift with one's emotional state.

#undertale #undertale analysis #undertale meta #sans #sans undertale #undyne undertale #undyne #undyne the undying #flowey #flowey undertale #flowey the flower #frisk #frisk undertale

[thefirstknife]

Chances of The Nine being the antagonists of Destiny after the Darkness Campaign is over, in your opinion?

I'm not sure. Mostly because I don't think that they would be strictly antagonists, though there are some things to consider here that I'll go into. First, the Nine are not really unified amongst each other; 5 seem to be on our side:

Because there are factions among the Nine: one faction sent Xûr and Orin to study Guardians and the Light, to seek the secret of effect-without-cause and to protect the source of that secret, the last source, now that the Ahamkara are gone. Those five played at alchemy with the Cocytus gates, turning dark dust into energy and then into matter, but they could not unlock the secrets of our mad existence. They needed ambassadors. Go-betweens.

But the other 4 not so much:

The other faction walks a different path. A path of folds and needles slipped through spacetime itself, existential syringes yielding new spaces, to be remade as the Nine desire. They have tried to gather enough dark dust in one place to form a black hole, and found it difficult: when the dark mass collapses in gravity's fist, the dust passes through itself and scatters.

It's also weird because the Nine are technically just our planets and their consciousness that depends on dark matter and the gravity of our system. It's a really hard thing to explain; the lore book Dust about Lavinia helps a little, especially this lore tab.

They also depend on the planets themselves and the life around them:

And in time they understood that they were as fragile as they were mighty; for if the life that seeded their thoughts ever passed away, they too would vanish.

In one way, they can't be our antagonists. They need us and the system to exist.

With a horror of revelation so absolute that it would drive her mad if she still had sanity to lose, Lavinia understands where the Nine have always been. They are within everyone, every system, every living and moving thing. Trillions and pentillions of slim dark matter tentacles plunged through all our bodies, drinking up the complexity of our lives and thoughts.

However, the next entry also says that the Nine could potentially free themselves if they could learn to control the Light:

Came now the Traveler, and with it a strange hope—for the Traveler's Light had the power to cause without causation! If the Nine had the Light, they could seed their own minds, free themselves from the dependence on matter-life! They could gain forces beyond Gravity to structure themselves, and so become more than wraiths of dark dust. They could enter the mad alien superworld of our chemical reality.

So on the other hand, depending on how TFS ends and if the Light becomes available to them and they could free themselves and enter our reality as physical beings... Then perhaps they could end up being antagonistic!

A very interesting additional piece of info from this same lore tab about the 4 of the Nine that seem to be working against us (or at least trying to do something to free themselves of their dependence of us):

But difficult is not impossible. And there is far, far more dark matter in the universe than bright. They will find a way to make new worlds of it. They will end their dependence on life, and on the Light of Guardians, which the falling veil will soon snuff out forever…

Hm. This is really old lore, but a portion of the Nine trying to "make new worlds" is eerily similar to the Witness' attempt to use the portal to construct a new reality. And of course, any retroactive mention of the word "veil" brings an interesting possibility that this was foreshadowing. A "falling veil snuffing out Light" is something that seems to be the overarching plot we're trying to prevent in both Lightfall and The Final Shape. The Veil is what opened the portal and the Witness is trying to end everything. Interesting stuff. As always, be careful with taking any old lore super seriously as hints because we have no idea how far back these details were planned, but it's a really neat thing to think about.

So for the question itself; it's complicated, but it's possible! Depending on the ending of The Final Shape, it's possible that the Nine might be able to free themselves, to not depend on us or our planets anymore and for some of them to decide to take up the mantle of the new antagonists.

#destiny 2 #the nine #long post #ask

[ty-bayonet-betteridge]

the simurgh could have been so cool. she could have been so cool and they wasted her

the explanation given for how the simurghs manipulation power works is that shes an extremely powerful telepath and precog and shes able to set people up in such a way that they inevitably take the actions that lead to mass casualties and destruction. shes supposed to be a puppetmaster/chessmaster type. and i have a REAL weakness for those. but she isnt very effective at filling that trope and that makes me SO MAD

the hallmark of good manipulation in fiction is that the character cant tell they're being manipulated but the audience, if they think about it, can. take The Magnus Archives for instance, as a piece of media that plays with this trope heavily. (heavy TMA spoilers through the finale inbound!) when Jonah Magnus causes Jon to initiate the Eyepocalypse, its done in a way that feels like all characters involved are acting in a way that seems to follow naturally from their previous actions. Jonah is creating this ritual in order to gain immortality. Jon sets out to stop him out of guilt for having participated. both of those motivations make sense. its only when you take a step back and consider where those motivations originated that you hit some interesting roadblocks, such as "why does Jon feel so culpable for an event that he was tricked into instigating?" that you can peel back a few layers and discover that large portions of this event were actually arranged by the Web. but the characters are oblivious to this, until it is spelled out.

good manipulation is good from a narrative standpoint because it shows what the character being manipulated is REALLY capable of. it follows logically, and those moments reveal hidden truths about the character being manipulated, allowing us to learn more about them, because the actions they've been manipulated into ARE in character for them.

the Simurgh doesnt do that. her manipulation doesnt set us up to learn anything more about the initial characterization of the individual, because it practically OVERWRITES that individual. i can only think of three major examples of the simurghs manipulation, so pardon if im missing something, but:

she manipulates Cody, aka Perdition, into being slightly more aggressive towards his friends. this causes him to be ousted from their group, which causes him to be acquired by Accord and subsequently sold to the Yàngbǎn. because of their cultish rules and Codys problems with authority, he comes to resent Accord for putting him in this position, and bcomes murderously violent towards him upon seeing him again, leading to him disabling much of the command station in the battle at Delhi, causing unknown extra causalties to Behemoth. while this one is closest to being good manipulation from a narrative standpoint, it still falls short because it doesnt REVEAL anything. Cody being angry, resenting his friends and especially Krouse, and chafing under authority are all evident from his first few appearances. there's no information gained about his character during this exchange, and it prevents him from having anything resembling a character arc. he doesnt get resolution, to find a community where he belongs or to realize hes happy being without one - he gets an interlude where we hear that he Fucking Hates All Of This Shit and then boils over and kills some important people out of personal anger. that's his most important contribution to the story - being angry enough to act like an idiot and validate the bad things that Krouse had been saying about him.

she manipulates Krouse and Noelle into feeling so trapped that they feel they have no choice but to take the Cauldron power vials, leading to Noelle taking the halfdose that gives her her Echidna powers. that by itself is fine. where this one falls off the deep end is in making Echidna a separate force to Noelle's own motivations. Noelle doesnt end up destroying huge swathes of Brockton Bay and indirectly revealing the truth about Cauldron because it made sense for her to do so as a character - she does it because she, as a character, literally gets replaced with a different, more reckless, more destructive character. its lazy and tells us NOTHING, actively LESS THAN NOTHING - to the point where Noelle has less characterization than most of the other Travellers despite having ao much screen time. Echidna is a fine character, but the Simurgh doesnt set up the dominoes for Noelles motivations to BECOME Echidnas motovations - she sets them up for Noelles motivations to be SUBSUMED by Echidnas.

and then there's Mannequin, and this one is EGREGIOUS. do i even have to spell it out? alan gramme is a cool character who gets traumatized, and then wildbow decides that being traumatized makes him so murderously insane that he BECOMES A DIFFERENT PERSON ENTIRELY. not only is that deeply insulting to the traumatized and mentally ill - who are, in my experience, onaverage NOT violently murderous - it also doesnt give us any info on Alan Gramme, the character. Alans motivations are to make the world a better place. Mannequins motivations are... to lash out at people who are making the world a better place? because he feels that he failed in doing so? it doesn't follow logically. a better Alan would have been one who gave up on trying to affect the world, instead retreating fully into himself, or one who decided his previous methods weren't working and instead starts engaging in more extreme methods. mannequin couldve been an ecoterrorist if his arc followed logically from Alan's but instead he decides to start killing his former allies. and THAT is not good manipulation

tl;dr the Simurgh's influence has a tendency to replace the affected character with what is, in all respects, just a Different Character. its lazy writing, because it means that Wildbow doesnt have to think abiut hiw a characters real values and morals get corrupted into causing destruction - he just transplants in new morals and uses the Simurgh to justify it. and its BAD writing, which is a much worse crime than being lazy, because it essentially chops off any chance the character had of having a real arc where we get to see them progress naturally - instead they reach an artificial cutoff point and then their character stops mattering to the story as they become someone else instead.

#rants #writing #worm meta #the Simurgh #wormblr #parahumans #worm spoilers

[bad-cos-ideas]

[I'm still FUMING so HERE WE GO]

Horrible idea!! Including an unskipple PSA on the title screen that reminds people that

1. This is an ONLINE MULTIPLAYER GAME, and when you KOS you effectively make it AN INFINITELY LESS FUN GAME FOR EVERYONE ELSE ON SAID GAME

2. It's a survival game, yes, so killing for food or for defensive measures is perfectly reasonable!! However, if you're just committing mass genocide because you enjoy killing, it's no longer about survival!! It's called you have some fucking traumas that you can work out in therapy instead of projecting it ONTO A ROBLOX GAME ABOUT BEING A FUNKY CREATURE

3. Just because you play as a carnivorous beast Does Not Mean You Can Treat People Like Absolute Dogshit And Not Expect Them To Get Mad At You: your CHARACTER is a carnivorous beast, you being an asshole is YOU.

4. Again, this is a multiplayer game. These are REAL PEOPLE that you talk to!! So when you decide to tell someone that they should off themselves if they're so mad!! It's more than just being an asshole!! That's being a whole ass complex that you need to sort out ANYWHERE BUT ON A GAME PLATFORM LARGELY INHABITED WITH CHILDREN and even if it WEREN'T why the FUCK do you think its OKAY to treat ANYONE LIKE THAT? (this is not dramatized. I have been in multiple servers in which the chat was just a fucking cesspool of pure dickery and gaslighting and bullshit and everyone either trying to tell someone to Stop It and Get Some Help or a group of people deciding that everyone else on the server is the problem, if they're unhappy it's their fault and totally unrelated to this hellspawn of a pack making almost the entirety of the map hostile grounds and borderline unplayable)

5. YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO HAVE TO MAKE EVERYONE ELSE MISERABLE IN ORDER TO BE HAPPY, SEEK PROFESSIONAL HELP.

This is a psa from someone that someone kindly asked "hey are you okay with being killed? I'm doing a mission" and completely respected when I said no because I was just Straight Chilling, and then immediately after that exchange someone else tried to murk me (and at that point had attempted to and nearly killed me 5 fucking times over I am not even joking) in front of them so they chased off and killed that person only to get immediately hunted down for several fucking minutes by whomever they killed's murder buddies, ending with them being killed for being a polite nice fella and said murder buddies feeling absolutely justified because "that's the game" and It Wouldn't Be The Game If You Just Played It Like A Survival Game instead of Kill For Sport For Funsies

A lot of people would tell me "oh, it's just a game, why are you so mad?"

Because. It stops being a game when it stops being played as one. If you want a battle royale, you still have to understand that people can Not Want To Battle in a Not Battle Royale Game.

gonna be serious for a sec here, because you brought up something that hits close to home for me

everyone needs to read number 4 here especially. i see this shit way too often in game, there is absolutely no reason why you should EVER tell someone to off themselves. i don't care if you're "joking" or whatever, it's not funny, it's not cool, it's not okay. i'm not saying any of my followers do this btw, i'm using general you, this is just something that i see all the time

anyway. serious over. shrimp emoji

#bad cos ideas #bad creatures of sonaria ideas #cos #creatures of sonaria #roblox

[fanfic-lover-girl]

Draco Malfoy and Zacharias Smith are two of a kind

“He saw me hex Zacharias Smith,” said Ginny. “You remember that idiot from Hufflepuff who was in the D.A.? He kept on and on asking about what happened at the Ministry and in the end he annoyed me so much I hexed him — when Slughorn came in Ithought I was going to get detention, but he just thought it was a really good hex and invited me to lunch! Mad, eh?”

Being assaulted by a member of the trio circle for being annoying. And the female attacker is seen as badass for doing so.

Harry recognized Zacharias Smith, a Hufflepuff player whom he heartily disliked.

Draco: Welcome to the club, Smith. Want a Potter Stinks badge? Potter loved his so much that he still has his in book 7. I think scarface gets off on people hating him or maybe it's just exclusive to me 😏

This effectively stopped Zacharias wondering loudly whether the two Weasleys were only there because Harry liked them, and he started on Peakes and Coote instead.

Zacharias being meta. Not afraid to voice his criticisms of Harry.

“And I think Harper of Slytherin’s seen the Snitch!” said Zacharias Smith through his megaphone. “Yes, he’s certainly seen something Potter hasn’t!”

Going out of his way to diss Harry.

“Ginny, where’re you going?” yelled Harry, who had found himself trapped in the midst of a mass midair hug with the rest of the team, but Ginny sped right on past them until, with an almighty crash, she collided with the commentator’s podium. As the crowd shrieked and laughed, the Gryffindor team landed beside the wreckage of wood under which Zacharias was feebly stirring; Harry heard Ginny saying blithely to an irate Professor McGonagall, “Forgot to brake, Professor, sorry.”

His assault being played for laughs. Being attacked for words - a JKR staple of her unlikable antagonists. Ginny is such an A+ bitch. Probably more than Hermione. Gosh, she sucks. It's almost like JKR wants to give Ginny more parallels with Harry as his budding love interest by giving Ginny her own Draco to have beef with.

In fact, the Gryffindors were generally much more interested in the upcoming Quidditch match against Hufflepuff, for many of them wanted to see Zacharias Smith, who played Chaser on the Hufflepuff team, punished soundly for his commentary during the opening match against Slytherin.

Gryffindor students having a vendetta against him.

Zacharias Smith, who had so far failed to maintain possession of the Quaffle for longer than a minute, was suffering from something called “Loser’s Lurgy.”

Performing badly at Quidditch against Gryffindor for plot reasons. Lord knows the lions can't win without their opponents being idiots.

Zacharias Smith was escorted from the castle by his haughty-looking father.

Haughty fathers.

Draco Malfoy 🤝 Zacharias Smith

No wonder Zacharias and Draco are such fun friends in Hufflepuff!Draco fics. He's almost like the Hufflepuff version of Draco. I need to look up some Zacharias fics! Any character that hates Harry is automatically intriguing to me.

#zacharias smith #draco malfoy #draco and zacharias parallels #half blood prince #harry potter books #anti ginny weasley #ginny is trash #harry potter critical #ginny is harry's perfect macth. they're both vindictive pricks

[dekarios]

I'm a big space fan, and Mass Effect is one of my favorite games, but a lot of stuff did not age well and I've been craving a similar sci-fi RPG. And honestly, a part of me hoped that Starfield would come at least a little close, but after the absolute disaster that was Fallout 76 (which people conveniently forgot because it's Bethesda) that hope was squashed.

I still wanted to give it a fair shot, but it was just so. boring. Even my love for space and sci-fi wasn't enough for me to continue playing this slop. And I even like what people call the NASAcore aesthetic. Movies like Interstellar and The Martian had that slightly more futuristic NASAcore aesthetic and they still made it more appealing than Starfield.

Everything about Starfield is so bland and the *alien* planets look so boring. Hell, ME1 had more interesting and varied planets back in 2007. Even Andromeda had more variation and that game was riddled with development issues and tons of cut content and yet, the exploration was way more fun. Bethesda somehow made the one cyberpunk planet look boring too, and as you know I am also a fan of the cyberpunk genre. Call me dramatic but this game is not only a letdown but also an insult to me as a sci-fi fan.

Not to mention the writing is scared of being "offensive" that it ended up being milquetoast like the rest of the game. They tried appealing to everyone and ended up appealing to no one (except the hardcore Bethesda fans who've been huffing huge amounts of copium)

Sorry for the long rant, but Starfield just upsets me lol

don’t apologise! i appreciate the detailed response. as a big mass effect fan i completely see your pov here.

i remember i made a post like “starfield doesn’t have aliens?” and starfield fans got so mad at me people i had never seen before reblogging and adding comments saying how wrong and stupid i am and shit. starfield fans are so violently defensive and cannot handle any criticism.

#fray.txt #ask #edgepunk

[vigilskeep]

what do you think about bioware's "favorite characters" as a concept, not as characters themselves? like the fact that leliana will still show up in da2&dai even if the warden killed her? or (idk if you played mass effect) the fact that liara is basically unkillable unless you go for the shittiest ending that 95% of people won't use as their actual canon one?

oh im not mad abt it. like i respect that they gotta be able to bring some characters back to make a game and hardly anyone kills the companions anyway. lyrium ghost leliana is sexy as hell i’m not complaining abt it. where would we be without dai leliana. and not that he’s by any means a bioware favourite but where would we be without anders being in da2 whether he dies in awakening or not

idk maybe if i’d been in da fandom longer i’d be sick of these bitches but as long as they’re not keeping new characters from having their time in the spotlight too it’s fine by me

[ghost-of-you]

Why do people feel the need to produce break up rumors out of thin air after every tour/album 🫥 the expectations of some people in this fandom are wild to me.

What do people think they should do? Even if it weren't for Michael's baby, they released an album last year and played two tours, of course they'll need some time to recharge now. Why would you expect new music or ANOTHER tour now already?

And they have not said or done anything that would indicate that they are thinking about breaking up and still people choose to be paranoid instead of putting some trust in them and just let them rest.

Idk maybe I'm the opposite of those people who are still traumatised by 1D or whatever but my other favourite band just had a 5 year gap between albums, they didn't play any live shows for like 4 of those years (partly bc of the pandemic od course) and the front man did a solo album + tour in the meantime. One other band member did some stuff as a producer and from like 2 of them I think I saw a total of 4 social media posts during that time lmao. I didn't see a single person worried that they would break up. That never came up as a possibility anywhere. And then I go to 5sos fandom spaces and people are freaking out when the band goes on a break because one of them will have to care for a damn newborn like please 💀

Sorry for ranting, I'm sure you have a lot of this stuff in your inbox now. No need to respond, I just needed to express to someone how truly baffled I am by this behaviour.

Honestly, I blame one direction for a large part of it. Obviously not the boys in 1D but the whole culture and the intensity around them. I like them but I was never in really invested in them so I did watch everything that happened from the outside and I keep seeing the effects of it. A lot of people did not handle their break up and since 5sos has this connection to them that ended bringing fans over to 5sos people get triggered. But it's bullshit because 5sos is a band that wanted to be the band they are. To act as if 5sos is doomed to follow 1Ds footsteps is stupid because 1D was a bunch of kids who didn't want to be in a band, who got put in a band package and explored until they broke. And all of them are doing the thing they wanted all along, which is be solo acts, so the comparison is not fair. You can't compare 5sos to the boyband curse, because they are no are not a boyband. And this is the dumbest argument ever but it is true, 5sos has a lot more freedom with each other to do other things while still keeping the 5sos project alive. Everything they do that's not exactly like the 17 yo posting keeks and doing twitcam from a mansion creating a constant stream of content creates a wave of mass histeria and honestly, I am so tired of it. Even if 5sos were about to take a decade long break, which I don't think they will, they like making music with each other too much to just stop, they can. They gave us over a third of their lives already. They are allowed different dreams.

Also I think there's this layer of desensitization surrounding famous people in general, that makes people not see them as real people with real feelings or see them as this character they get mad won't follow the script they made in their heads. And the whole way some parts of the music industry just want a really fast rotation that's not really possible and things like K-pop that end up having a higher rotation that creates a bigger stream of content that's not really sustainable in a healthy way for very long but creates a weird expectation anyway. And people think they're allowed to demand shit just because (and this goes from the temper tantrum for the lack of tour to the obnoxious hbg chanting)

5sos already did the killing themselves for the band. Now they live and have a band. I rather to see things this way. They are happy, they are thriving in other aspects of life. If that means waiting another 2, 3, 5, 10 years for new music, so be it. To use 5sos own metaphor, they're driving the bus, we're just along for the ride so whatever stops and turns they want is what goes. They can do whatever they want because is their life and it's their band. And I'm not worried they're gonna break up. Not even a little bit. If not seeing them for a year while Michael settles into being a father is what it takes for them to be happy and healthy, then so be it, let them exist outside the band.

#i had a longer more elaborate answer typed but tumblr ate it #anon i wish more people thought like you #also people out there if youre seriously this distressed over it. if your well being relies this heavily on something you cant control #get help. im saying this on the most kind way possible. one thing you cant control shouldn't control you like this #you can love something but the second it starts to take over you need to take a step back #but this is not the point here #and you're good im just blocking the annoying people skspskpaakpska #anon 😌 #i was asked