#until the reveal the closest they get us thinking he's some kind of computer program or sentient virus

[goldengirlgalaxy]

After Danny has managed to smooth things over with his rogues, helping them cope with their obsessions in ways that don't cause massive property damage for the living, he ends up getting some lessons from a few of them on different topics.

Technus ends up teaching Danny how to properly overshadow and upgrade electronics.

So when, for one reason or another, Danny ends up in the DC universe, he decides to have some fun when he learns about this world's thing with superheroes.

The next time Superman is dealing with a robbery, a car suddenly appears with a black and white color scheme, and starts to heckle the robbers before stopping their car with some kind of tow line.

Wonder Woman ends up encountering a talking fan that somehow manages to produce gusts of wind strong enough to take most people off their feet.

The Joker hijacks a news broadcast to announce his next plan, only for the camera system to come to life and record the mad clown getting the tied up by wires and beaten up by boom mikes.

The Flash gets some help from a living heater that can shoot flames.

Captain Marvel ends up befriending a talking vending machine that throws concussive soda cans at villains. And can also dispense normal drinks.

Someone ends up meeting a talking phone that just so happens to have a recording of the big bad's evil monologue.

Strange machines suddenly come to life all around the world, often helping various heroes. It's gotten to the point several Justice League Members are betting on who gets a mechanical partner next, and what form they're going to be in. The only thing about this mysterious hero that the Justice League knows is that he goes by the name Rotom.

(Whether or not the DC universe has Pokemon in order for them to get the reference is up to you)

#dpxdc #dp x dc #dc x dp #dp x dc prompt #danny fenton #danny phantom #justice league #It really is like the Pokemon Rotom #Though Danny can possess any kind of technology he likes #Someone bet on Danny possessing the Watchtower #It eventually happens when some really big threat pops up in space #Everyone who was inside was so confused #No one knows that Danny is a teenaged half-dead kid #until the reveal the closest they get us thinking he's some kind of computer program or sentient virus #I imagine the vending machine was something belonging to LexCorp which is why Captain Marvel wasn't concerned with stealing #Why their was a LexCorp sponsored vending machine in Captain Marvel's area is up to you #If Pokemon does exist everyone is questioning if Danny actually is a Rotom #And Damian is trying to track Danny down so he can go to the Pokemon world #Stabby child wants mythical pets thank you

[joezworld]

📁

Specifically, any headcanons of the Sodor Engines interacting with the internet, or the internet in general?

For some reason, I’d imagine that podcasts and the like are popular among vehicles in general.

That is a question that I've been working on for some time - because I'm workshopping my own Tornado headcanon (and boy oh boy does she use the internet a lot) - but I have some ideas for the Sodor engines as well: 

Henry is probably the most "plugged in" engine on the island, weirdly enough. One of his drivers gave him an iPod back in the early 2000s, and kindly preloaded it with a bunch of torrented music.

 BTW, that works because all the engines are now equipped with automatic train warning systems, and the little on-board computer has a USB port - as a nice side effect it allows music players to work with the engines in the same way as bone-conducting headphones do. The computer also acts as some kind of computer interface, which I am not going to explain how that works because Jesus Christ I don’t know how it does either.  

 Henry has managed to upgrade his iPod a few times since thanks to hand-me-down units from NWR staff, so he eventually got his buffers on a wifi-enabled iPod Touch and now downloads new music from the station wifi. He does listen to podcasts, but as every other engine will tell you, you could show Henry ten thousand new and exciting songs from the best artists in the world, and his top ten played songs are still going to be Genesis, Phil Collins, and Yes. Bear considers it a win that he managed to convince Henry to regularly listen to Rush after a mere twenty years of convincing. 

 Mavis and Daisy listen to a very interesting program called The News, because as stated elsewhere, they invest a shitload of money and need to be on top of things. Thomas and Percy wish that Daisy would use headphones or something similar to that, instead of listening to Bloomberg TV at loud volumes in the middle of the night. Toby frankly doesn’t mind, as it’s very nice to be kept up-to-date on the outside world.  

In a move that surprises no-one, Bill and Ben have a podcast where they talk about whatever they think about at that moment - usually horse-racing, investing, and clay mining. As such, they have a wide audience, almost none of whom know that they’re that Bill and Ben, as their podcast is audio-only.  

 In an also unsurprising move, Edward and BoCo have been made very much aware that Bill and Ben have a podcast, but are still unsure as to what the hell a podcast is, despite being frequent guests on it.  

Of the main line diesels, only Bear has shown any real interest in the internet, and was immediately put in charge of the Amazon Alexa when a unit was installed in the diesel shed. He also has an iPod that he got for Christmas a few years back. (The NWR has a very good personal  electronics recycling program called give it to Henry, he’ll make use it.)  

Bear does listen to podcasts as well as music, but his choices are so insufferably boring that even Henry refuses to listen to them. (I don’t really listen to podcasts - despite making one - so insert the most boring podcast you can think of here.) 

 As for other internet uses... 

Gordon is very up-to-date on the newest social media trends - somehow - but only really cares when he is involved. He won’t admit it, but he’s been trying to figure out how to work a camera/selfie stick for some time so he can start up his own Instagram account. So far he has been unsuccessful, but one day he will manage it. 

 James has had an ongoing feud with his own Wikipedia page for about a decade now. The article sourced most of its information about his construction off of some out-of-print book about the L&Y. The book in question is accurate about James’ class, but not James himself - as he was a prototype engine. There’s no other primary sources available, so the very dedicated Wikipedia mod who created the page won’t change it - no matter how much James complains that he was there! He knows what happened! 

Every now and again a TTTE fan blog/tumblr will make a post about hypothetical “ships” of the Sodor engines. Most of the time it’s shipping the core characters like Gordon and Henry, much to Gordon’s bafflement and Henry’s amusement! 

Only one blog (a ttte fan tumblr by the curious name of @mean-scarlet-deceiver  ) has gotten it right. Henry actually reached out to congratulate this blogger, but was unfortunately mistaken for a very dedicated roleplay account.  

James is very annoyed by these blogs, as they have never once correctly guessed who he is “shipped” with! He has tried several times to be seen in public with Delta, but these events have never gone as planned - the “best” instance is when Edward rolled by at exactly the wrong moment, leading to months of speculation that JamesxEdward was the ship to look out for! 

Thomas, being a generally oblivious sort of engine, was totally unaware of the online fan community around the TV show until he started getting actively harassed by vloggers and Instagrammers in the early 2010s. He’s fine with it now, but it was a deeply unusual experience for most of 2012.  

Toby has developed an unexpectedly popular following on social media following his collab with Stormzy. His official twitter is huge now, with over a million followers, even if he has no idea what to do with it. He posts rarely, but usually manages to make an incredible post when he does.

No-one is sure who told Oliver what a “fan-production” is, but if you manage to get ahold of him for any period of time and ask him nicely, he will lend his voice to your TTTE fan-project, so long as it isn’t about [INSERT TERRIBLE SOCIAL/POLITICAL VIEW(S) HERE]. This means that he has 100% voiced dramatic readings of NSFW Fanfics before, which is always an absolute riot to spring on people unannounced.

There is a series of slice-of-life TTTE fanfics on Ao3 that have been written with such accuracy and innate railway knowledge that people are sure it was written by a Sodor engine, but nobody knows which one.

The Culdee Fell Railway has very active Instagram, Twitter and YouTube accounts, with all of the engines and coaches showing up regularly. It’s about the closest any of the railways on Sodor have come to what those outside the UK would call “normal locomotive social media”.

The Skarloey Railway has social media accounts too, but they don’t really feature the engines in any meaningful way, instead being used as a normal service announcements page.  

 The SR is a real working railway that doesn’t rely on tourism money as much as the others do, so they get a bit of a pass here.  

 The Arlesdale Railway has Twitter and YouTube, which didn’t usually get a lot of hits until 2020, when Ivan and Amanda Farrier started badgering the staff to make some videos just to alleviate some boredom. So far the most popular videos on the channel are a front-mounted camera video of the entire line slow-tv style, Bert explaining how steam engines work, and a video of Mike complaining about Justin Bieber for a solid half-hour.  

 That’s about it as far as Sodor goes, but before we’re done, I want to take a moment to talk about Tornado, because I have some fun ideas for her... 

First of all, we need to establish that Tornado is very young. Her construction only started in late 90′s, and she was steamed to life in 2000, putting her firmly into the “Zoomer” category. Add in the fact that she was built by a bunch of old men who didn’t really know how to treat a new engine, and she was raised much more like a human than a locomotive - I’ll get to this much more in the proper Tornado Headcanon post, but what this means here is that when social media started being a thing in the mid-to-late 2000′s, the people at the A1 Trust decided that they needed a young person to run things like Twitter, Facebook, and Myspace... and, well, Tornado was the youngest person in the trust by a large margin.

I should state here that in the rest of the world, locomotives are on the internet at roughly the same level as humans are, so there’s plenty of equipment to connect a phone/computer/camera to an engine - being English, the A1 Trust didn’t know how common it was, but they managed to get it up and running just the same.

 So Tornado has very quickly become attuned to the internet, just like any other teenager would. (yes, let’s let that settle into our minds for a moment - Tornado is barely old enough to drink in the US!) Quite naturally that means that she knows social media inside and out, and is actually quite a proficient social media manager for the trust, managing all of their social pages. More than one person who has complained about the trust on twitter has unknowingly been complaining to Tornado herself! 

 “On the internet, nobody knows that you’re a dog Engine”. 

 Tornado has her own personal social media accounts too, but most/all of the time she gets mistaken for a very dedicated role-player, as the general perception of British Locomotives is that they don’t tweet. This has resulted in some amazing reactions from podcast hosts (because, as you might expect, Tornado is very knowledgeable about steam traction in the 21st century, and tweets about it often, so train podcasts want to talk to her) when she gets invited onto video calls, turns on her webcam, and is met with screams from people who suddenly realize that her profile picture is accurate.  

 By far the best instance of this is when she was invited onto a video call with a railfan podcast. She was at the NRM at the time and managed to convince them to let her use their Skype setup. A wide-angle lens was needed because she was on the turntable in the Great Hall, so that podcast quickly got sidetracked when her webcam was turned on and revealed Tornado, with Mallard, Evening Star, City of Truro, and Green Arrow visible behind her. Whatever the original topic was quickly got thrown out in favor of a 2-hour Q&A with some of the most famous engines in the UK. 

#ask response #the internet #ttte thomas #ttte toby #ttte bill and ben #ttte gordon #ttte daisy #ttte mavis #ttte henry #ttte bear #ttte oliver #tornado #nrm #trains using the internet #ttte #sodor #sodor shenangians #the formatting on this one is super fucked up and i can't figure out how to fix it - sorry

[rogueofsoup]

Hiveswap and Homestuck Theory Thing. Spoiler warning for Homestuck just in case, I guess.

Ok, so I decided to try a hand at this stuff. It's gonna be about Marvus (eventually) (yeah, I know, so original).

Ok, so, I've seen a lot of stuff pertaining to this, so I've compiled what I found all over the internet and put together my theories on it, mostly relying on weapon types. (I'm sorry, I don't remember where I found the original material for the time players)

Time players use weapons that are both obviously weapons and practical for the players to use. For example, Dave uses big swords he can adjust the weight of by making it broken in half or full, Aradia originally had a whip, which are very quick and lightweight and surprisingly practical weapons (as surprisingly accurately shown by Indiana Jones), and Caliborn had a straight up semiautomatic rifle that he makes sure everyone knows he has. They also all pertain to the weapons we see heros holding (knight in shining armor wielding a sword, Indiana Jones and his whip, any action movie hero and his gun).

Breath players, as I can guess, use weapons that used to be conventional in medieval entertainment (large hammers for sparring and lances for jousting) that are no longer seen as practical and/or conventional, and generally require a large amount of strength and skill to properly use without an exterior force or an actual technique giving aid, such as John swinging his giant hammer without having to swing it over his head first to build up momentum, and Tavros being able to use the momentum from his running to be able to use his lance without having to be on a horse. From what I can presume, they mostly use medieval style weapons adjusted to whatever they think makes them better.

There isn't really much of a case for doom players since there's only really the one I can draw conclusions from, but I assume that based solely on Sollux, doom players rely more on weapons or abilities they have confidence in, regardless of reliability. Sollux has had multiple instances in which his psionics have resulted in problems, such as whenever he consumes mind honey he shoots powerful lasers from his eyes that he can't control, and he has accidentally destroyed one of his specibus cards and his bee hives when he overshot shuriken while trying to re-capchalogue them using his psionics. I only have one example person to draw from, so this may not be quite accurate.

Blood players have the same problem with there only being the one person of said aspect as I had with doom, but I'm still going to pull what I can assume. I believe blood players attempt to use weapons they are confident in, though end up also accidentally weaponizing their environment through lack of skill and/or forethought. For example, Karkat's old capchalogue modus was large, heavy, impractical, and almost crushed his lusus, and he had run Sollux's virus program on his computer that resulted in a huge explosion that killed his lusus. I only have one example person to draw from, so this may not be quite accurate.

Heart players, from what I can guess, use weapons that are more favored or have sentimental value, and hardly (if ever) improve or replace them. Even if they do get better versions of the weapon, they'll stick with the original since it holds more sentimental value than the replacement. Plus, it may also have something to do with the quickness of the weapon, such as it being thin and lightweight as well as very sharp For example, Dirk sticks with his katana even as an adult, especially since he finds it quick and reliable to use, and Nepeta sticks with her original claw gloves through the entire game, likely for both ease and sentimental value.

Space players, I believe, have weapons that are surprising. For example, Jade is a witch who you expect to use magic to defend herself and she just. Pulls out a gun. And Kanaya is EXTREMELY surprising, since her tube of lipstick turns into a CHAINSAW, the latter of which completely clashes with her main aesthetic and is completely unexpected. Now, you may think Calliope is the outlier. But wouldn't you be surprised to see her go "oh shoot my wand is out of ammo" and then turn her wand into a gun, load it, then turn it back into a wand and shoot magic at you? Trick question the answer is yes.

Mind is another with only one possible area I could draw from. Based on only Terezi, I assume mind players are more likely to use hidden weapons you wouldn't think to worry about until they're actually attacking you. I say this because no matter what Terezi turns her cane into, she always makes sure it can still be functional (and hidden) as a walking cane. You wouldn't expect the cane to be able to turn into nunchucks, or swords, you'd at most expect her to beat you over the head with it. I only have one example person to draw from, so this may not be quite accurate.

Light players, I believe, use weaponized versions of important aspects to their preferred interests. For example, Vriska uses what are basically FLARPing dice to get weapons or power ups of some kind, and Rose uses knitting needles turned into a pair of magic wands.

Void players improvise in the moment, usually using their own natural (or unnatural) abilities if their own weapons are unusable in their traditional sense. For example, Roxy chucking literally anything at things to kill enemies, and Equius beating enemies with the two halves of his bow or just punching them into oblivion.

Rage is another problematic single-source one, but I'll still try. From what I can assume, rage players use whatever's closest to them that could be used as a weapon. Gamzee's juggling clubs were right there for him to juggle at the beginning, so of course just shrugging and picking those up to bludgeon things to death would make sense in this case. This also explains why he eventually got a strife specibus that allowed him to use any weapon, allowing him to just pick up whatever and use it for killing. Equius had left a lot of his bows around, both broken and unbroken, so it would still make sense for Gamzee to just pick up the nearest one and use that. And when fighting Terezi, he pulled the nearest weapons (Terezi's staff swords) away from her and used them to fight. He probably would have picked up a rock if there weren't any weapons in his reach. I only have one example person to draw from, so this may not be quite accurate.

For hope, I only have one thing to say: coolness factor. Eridan had a gun that straight-up shot LASERS, which he only gave up in favor of a REAL-ASS WAND, which he still claimed to basically be a science stick. Even if it was less effective than the gun, he still traded it in for coolness factor. Now, Jake was obviously a fan of movies, which meant that he would have a lot of experience with action movie heros, in which the coolest thing you could do is do cool stunts while firing a matching pair of pistols. And what does he do? Cool stunts while firing a matching pair of pistols. I rest my case.

Life may have a bit of a bias, since Feferi and Meenah had tridents because of their royal status and Jane had a trident because the post-scratch version of Meenah affected Jane's main weapon to be, well, a trident. We don't really have any other ideas of what different kinds of weapons they could use, so let's just say they use tridents and call it a day.

Now, to the point you've all been waiting for: Marvus.

Marvus Xoloto's revealed purple sign has the aspect of time, which honestly doesn't match up with his weapon choice.

His weapon, a sword, is hidden in his cane. You know what other aspect has had someone who uses a weapon hidden in plain sight? Mind. Xoloto shares a lot of similarities with the word axolotl, and there is one lime sign that is the shape of an axolotl's head.

And it's mind. And to be constrained means to be limited or restricted. And Marvus has a camera crew following him everywhere, making it impossible for him to really speak his mind.

My conclusion?

The theory everybody knows by now of Marvus being a lime blood in disguise.

Added bonus: despite him getting injured in one of the bad endings, we never actually get a confirmation of his blood color. He hides it way too well. Me still thinks he bleed the green stuff.

I know I'm super late to the game on this, but I still wanted to add my theories for the funsies.

#Homestuck #hiveswap friendsim #homestuck theory #marvus xoloto

[2bstudioblog]

Answering questions...

Received a few questions the other day in an e-mail, thought I’d turn it into an open letter.

As a computer-game music composer, what is your educational background?

A: My background has always been music-based, however at one point in my childhood I wanted to become a comic-book artist or an illustrator. Growing up in a musical family I took piano-lessons from my mother at 5, just to have the basic knowledge of the piano and then I continued following my brothers footsteps. Both of my brothers entered after a “talent-acquisition” spawned from the 3rd grade year of recorder lessons, which allowed them with their special ability to have the chance to enter the Music Academy. I soon followed as well.

I wanted to play drums first, but my father basically said it’ll be too noisy. Then I tried a hand on the electric-bass and fell in love, again my father said that’s going to top the electric bill every month. But somewhere in my father’s mind, he had a plan to create the perfect trifecta, my eldest brother on the trumpet, my middle brother on clarinet and finally me, bridging the sonic space with the saxophone that’s like the perfect mix between woodwind and brass. He got his ensemble together and we performed all over town together with my dad and events throughout the years.

After finishing Junior-high it was time to figure out where I’d go for my college degree, this was a no-brainer for my dad; -You son, will follow your brothers’ ambition and pursue further studies into music at a higher level. You WILL try out to enter the music-college just like your brothers before you.

Again this education was only open for those who possessed the required skill on the instrument, plus additional instrumental skills, in my case keyboards, drums and bass, plus supplementary tests on other fields like listening-ability, notation and rhythm-reading. There were only 30 spots open in total, but the real truth was there was only going to be 2 or 3 students in each course for the desired instrument. Saxophone-players came from all the corners of the province, some people with even higher overall grades than me. This was the charm, I was able to improve my grades through my audition into the program and raised it by 0.5 points, leaving me with a total average of 3.8. Even people with high grade actually could lower their scores if they weren’t performing well. In the end I gained the record in the town until recently when my niece also got through this program as well. What and why would a parent put you through this college? Turns out that once you finish at the Esthetic-program in music a whole world of opportunity awaits when you are applying for universities all over the  country.

Turns out that many doctors, professors and teachers in one way or the other had a musical up-bringing which also made them understand psychology better and to be able to make sure people around them could operate under high-pressure (performance comes to mind!), so basically any university except the nature-scientific ones like the Royal University of Science and Chalmer’s were off the books for us to apply. But our options were a lot more available to us then compared to the courses just drone on regular subjects plus 3 years after Junior High.

The next step, where should I go and what should I become? Like any son you asks your father for some kind of permission, and again I just couldn’t believe what my father was pushing me into: - Son, you play a lot of instruments and you compose many kinds of music... you should apply or find a place where you can become a music-producer.

Music-producer? What does a music-producer do? I had to do more research before the 6 months were up to find places to apply to. I looked into the Swedish greats to see if there was anything in interviews that might have revealed where they studied, but it was all a blank. Turns out they were self-taught, did music as a hobby, studied acoustics and all that stuff all by themselves because they were technically civil-engineers. No musical university in sight, the only thing in common we both had was that we went through the Music Academy. The hunt was on to find something on the university level, but it was fruitless. The closest I came was a place up north, above the polar-circle, where you will spend most of your time freezing your balls off in a place called Piteå. They were almost a good fit, but not ideal. You had 2 choices. You either become a session-recording-artist or a sound-engineer. Nothing in between that had anything to do with songwriting or production. Just the 2 essentials. So I could see that I would spend another 3-4 years performing covers with no freedom. Close, but no cigar.

If not on university level, perhaps there was something else on the Community College level? Turns out a lot of companies are working together with certain Community Colleges to find new talents into their jobs. One of the companies were KM Studios, a.k.a Swedish Disney Studio Dubbing Stage. This is it. They had 3 programs, but only 2 that really spoke to me. Music & Computer-technology, and Sound-design. 120 people from all over Sweden wanted to apply and again, we had an initial music-theory test, audition and instrument performances. What was really nice was they were also conducting interviews, just to be sure that “no bad blood” was running around the place making other people feel bad about themselves.

12 spots open, only 10% made it. Turns out I was the youngest to ever enter their program (to my knowledge back then) and there everything changed. 80% of the week we spent in-front of our computers, digging into the DAW, song-writing, keeping up the music-theory skills. Even more amazing that I was the last generation to experience analogue recording, transferring into the digital age. It was amazing to know that we were sitting behind the same mixing-desk that made ABBA’s Waterloo famous. Yes, they had money to buy “Stickan” Andersson’s mixing console, and I had a chance to touch history.

This course was special though, we only had 1 year to go through it, but with a nice caveat. 24hr access to the studio, that meant I could compress 4 years of a university degree into 1 year quickly. I got the necessary skills from pre-production, production and post-production. We knew how to construct a good workflow for music-production. But it was 1 day that was very special. We had 1 instructor (basically the boss of KM Studios) come down one day to talk to us about that we could learn to write music for picture. From that moment on I was hooked on what I wanted to do beside producing music. I wanted to become a film-composer ever since that day in 1999.

I graduated in 2000, took a year off, working as a music-teacher at my Music Academy back home and then I applied for another musical Community College, this time to get more hands on and get my performance chops up with a “Music & Touring Program” that lasted 2 years. This course was incredibly cool since we learnt more about stage preparation, on the spot arranging for a limited set of instruments and then go on tour without any score in front of us. To really study the music until we could learn it by heart just through muscle-memory. Great teachers there and whenever I go back to Sweden to visit, I pop by just to say thank you.

I think this concludes the answer to this question.

/D

#Music #music education #filmscore #music production

[tmntstorystopnsfw]

Through thick and thin part 2

Eventual X rating

Dee ran away many times over the next four years, sometimes spending up to a week in the lair with the turtles. They became the family that she no longer had. They introduced her to April after they got into trouble with the foot clan and then defeated Shredder. The closer she got to eighteen, the less time she lived with her aunt and uncle and the more time she lived with April or the turtles. Her aunt and uncle didn't care. They weren't there when Dee graduated a year early at the age of 16, April was. April and through her live stream, the turtles and Splinter. Her aunt didn't help her apply for and choose a college. Splinter and April did. The boys cased the campuses at night, getting an idea for safety. On her seventeenth birthday, her aunt turned her out on the streets but it was okay because April was there waiting. On her first night in her dorm room, the turtles snuck in and had a pizza party so she wouldn't feel so homesick and they talked about their work with the NYPD to help control the foot clan. Through the entire college process, they always checked up on her. Dee could have never made it through the Physical Therapy program without Donnie as a study partner. They were there for her.. All of them. After Dee finally became a certified Physical Therapist and got a good job, she used some of the inheritance money she had received from her parents when she turned eighteen to buy herself a beautiful brand new red corvette. She could have moved into her own place. She had enough money. She decided instead to live with the turtles in their sewer home. While it was a little inconvenient, the turtles had made enough improvements to their living space throughout the years to make it work and they understood. Dee was a tender soul and to her, family was everything. She wanted to be with them even if it was a little inconvenient.

Dee let out a big sigh as she walked into her room and plopped her stuff down on her bed. She loved her job. She loved to help people and nothing made her happier than to see a patient recover but damn some people just did not want to put the work in. Then, when they weren't getting stronger, they would rag at her like it was her fault. Today had been one of those days where she just wanted to strangle her patient. How could one person ruin a whole day? The now twenty-three year old quickly undressed and donned her robe, skirting down the hallway and heading for the shower. She wanted to clean up and then loaf in her PJ’s until the boys had to run out on patrol. The door to the bathroom opened before she got to it, steam rolling out into the hallway. Raph followed the cloud of warm air out in nothing but a pair of basketball shorts.

“You better have left me some hot water.” She scolded lightly.

“Maybe next time you should join me. Then you ain't gotta worry bout it.” He smirked.

She rolled her eyes and slid past him into the bathroom. “You wish.” She said as she closed the door. He chuckled. Raph and his brothers had a peculiar relationship with Dee. She was an attractive female close to their age and ever since first meeting her they had all flirted with her. Splinter had a serious conversation with all four of them when he first found out about Dee and her situation. He had made sure they were aware of how delicate her psyche must be and she might attach herself romantically to them if they let her. Splinter made sure they treated her as nothing but a family until he was sure she was secure enough to handle the flirting that inevitably came around when Dee was seriously ready to start dating after high school. And flirt they did. Due to various reasons, most of which included truth or dare, Dee was each of the brothers first kisses. When she went off to college, most of the romantic interest faded as she began dating but the brothers still brought it up whenever they could.

Dee climbed into the shower and sighed a happy sigh when warm water poured from the shower head. The big brute had some manners after all. She grabbed her shampoo bottle from among the bottles of axe and old spice. She lathered her hair, letting the smell and the water relax her. She started humming as she rinsed the suds from her hair which turned into all out singing as she smoothed conditioner in her hair and then soaped up her loofa. When she finally rinsed down and turned off the water she could hear Mikey singing along with her outside of the door. She towered off and grabbed her robe. She brushed her teeth and took out her contacts in favor of her glasses and then brushed her long hair out. Her and Mikey duetted the whole time. Finally she opened the door.

“Need something?” She asked.

“A kiss?” He wiggled his brows at her.

“Is something in the air?” She asked. “That's two propositions in less than an hour.”

“I'm just kiddin’.” He smiled. “I was actually hoping you’d put some money in the bank for me.” He handed out a coffee can full of coins and bills. She tucked it under her arm.

“I’ll put it in after work tomorrow.” She promised. She had shared her bank accounts with them since she was fifteen.

“Thanks brah.” They fist bumped and she walked back to her room, throwing on sweats and a baggy sweatshirt before grabbing some carrots from the fridge and parking on the couch to watch some game of thrones reruns. Raph came in after a while and plopped down next to her with a bag of Cheetos. He spun, propping his legs across her lap and leaning back, grinning at her.

“What time are you heading out for patrol tonight?” She asked

“Ten.” He answered. “You cookin’ tonight?”

“I think I'm going to let Mikey take it tonight.” She said, wiggling underneath the weight of his legs so she would be more comfortable.

“You going out with that douche hole again this weekend?” He asked.

Dee shot him an irritated look. “Not every guy I date is a douche you know. I just have selective taste.”

“answer the question.” He pressed.

“No.” She answered, making a point of looking busy with a carrot. “He was kind of an ass.”

Raph smirked. “I knew it.”

“Hey, its hard finding stand up guys like you and your brothers.” She said.

“Just date one of us. You’d be better off.” He said.

“Oh whatever.” She said and then promptly shoved a carrot in her mouth. It hurt her heart sometimes when they said things like that to her. She knew any one of them would take her if she gave them the time of day. It would be flattering if she wasn't their only option. Who else would be able to find their alien features attractive? April was with Casey now with two kids and a third on the way. She knew that to the turtles, she was the only chance any of them had at love and that made her fear any romance with them. She had been someone’s only choice before. She had to live with her aunt because there was no other option. She never wanted to be that to anyone again though she knew none of the boys would ever mistreat her. Suddenly, Game of Thrones and carrots and Raph and Mikey didn't sound like a good time. She poked at Raph’s legs.

“Let me up Brutus.” She used her nickname for Raph. “I need a drink and then I need to let Mikey know he’s on dinner duty or we won't get anything tonight.”

Raph shifted his legs, oblivious to her change in mood. She got up, grabbed a water and then found Mikey and let him know he was cooking. He loved to do it so he was totally cool with it. She then wandered off to the lab. It was always a good place to go when you wanted to be entertained with minimal conversation or flirting. Donnie was either too busy with something to talk or too awkward to flirt. Not that he had never tried, but it was far less often than his brothers. Even less than the ever respectful Leo.

When she opened the door to the lab, it was strangely quiet. Donnie’s computers beeped and buzzed but there was no music or whirring of tools or muttered sentences as he worked something out. No typing or clicking was to be heard either. She wandered through the empty lab to where the door of his room was cracked open. She peaked in and saw him sprawled face down on his bed, snoring softly. His glasses were still on. That told her he had been up til the wee hours of the morning, perhaps even past sunrise. He hadn't even been up for the day yet. She smiled to herself and went and got coffee for him, knowing he would want it as soon as he was awake. She brought it back, slid through his partially open door, and set the coffee on the bedside table. She moved to wake him but hesitated. Nostalgia overtook her as she remembered all of the times she crawled into his bed. It had been closer to the living room at the time, when he and Leo had shared a space as a room. He was closest and the least threatening.

Carefully, she climbed into bed with him and settled on the pillows, just looking at him. She catalogued the planes of his face, noting the differences now that he was twenty five rather than sixteen. His jaw was stronger, his neck thicker, and maybe he was just a little less round than he used to be. His face had lost it’s teenage boyishness. She reached out and laid a hand on his shell, rougher now than it had been as a teen but not terribly so. It was still as hard and cool as it had ever been though. The only time she had ever felt any of them as warm as she was the time they had broken the ruled and spent a few daylight hours on the roof basking in the sun.

“Donnie.” She called softly, knowing he would wake at the slight noise. He was well trained to wake up to the quiet sounds of voices as he had played doctor to his brothers and father and even her on so many occasions.

He stirred and his eyelids lifted to reveal his strange amber eyes, magnified by glasses that were a tad crooked from sleeping with them on. She smiled as she could almost see the moment he realized she was in his bed.

“Remember the first night I slept over here?” She asked. “I was scared of all of the noises and the dark out in the living room and I didn't know Splinter well enough to go to him yet. You were the closest to the couch, not to mention the least scary of your brothers. I crawled right in bed with you. Poor guy.” She chuckled. “I'm sure you didn't know what to do so you just patted my arm and rolled over and went back to bed.”

Donnie stretched as Dee talked, the memory of her first night in his bed fresh as if it happened yesterday. “And are you in my bed because you’re scared now?” He asked with a little half smile.

“No. I’m feeling nostalgic. A patient was really difficult with me today and sometimes I wish I could just go back to the girl who climbed into your bed when she was upset.” Dee said. “Also, I wanted to be somewhere that I could get a good look at your face when I mentioned I put a mug of coffee on your nightstand.”

As expected, Donnie’s face lit up and he rolled over and sat up, grabbing the mug and taking a long breath in, savoring the scent. “You are actually the greatest, you know that right?”

She smiled softly as she crawled out of his bed. “Consider it payback for all you’ve done for me.” She said.

He stood, shoulder joints popping as he rolled them. He took a sop of his coffee, black with two scoops of sugar, just how he liked it. “Don't ever feel like you have to pay us back.” He said. “You’ve done just as much for us as we’ve done for you.” And he meant it. Forget the bank account, the new clothes, the appliances, and all of the other stuff that came to the lair either by her or through her. Without her presence in their lives, their social skills as well as their capability to handle anything female would have suffered greatly. Hell, none of them would have experienced a single kiss yet if it weren't for her.

She flashed him a sweet smile but changed the subject. “Did you sleep at all last night?”

He shrugged. “I was working on repairs to the truck. We need it for tonight. NYPD has intel on a foot clan gathering and we gotta get to the edge of the city.”

“Raph didn't mention that when I asked about patrol tonight.” She said, brow crinkling.

“Raph doesn't like to worry you.” Donnie said as he started digging through the bins of gear in his room for what he would need that night.

“And you have no such qualms?” She asked.

“Just because you’re small does not mean you’re delicate.” He answered as he rummaged around on his desk for the map he wanted. “You can handle whatever truth we have to throw at you. I knew that the minute you didn't run screaming when you saw Mikey’s face.” He found the piece of paper he was looking for and stuffed it in the pocket of his cargo pants.

A warm spot grew in her melancholy heart and the wistful sadness of her nostalgia passed. This was why she had always gravitated towards Donnie. He saw past her size and her gender and her love for the color pink and the delicate scents she loved. He saw that she was a strong person despite her mostly docile and meek demeanor. He protected her by arming her with knowledge and trusting her to make the right decisions. She smiled. “You think I'm tough?”

“As tough as April.” He confirmed and she knew that was high praise. April ran into danger to save the turtles without thinking twice. She had nearly died for her bravery.

“No one’s as tough as April.” She challenged. “Now get your butt in gear, Mikey’s making dinner.”

[kittencaboodleextraordinaire]

“Ok, but I had a Johnny first, and mine is better”: Adventures in Cyberpunk with a snarky headmate

Warning: this post contains considerable discussion of a major plot point in Cyberpunk 2077 which is discussed in the promotional materials (trailers etc) but which is not revealed in-game until after the first segment of the main story (the heist). Those who wish to remain unspoiled may instead view this lovely picture I edited of four raccoons in a trenchcoat (inspired by Critical Role’s playthrough of the absolutely delightful ttrpg Crash Pandas, which I highly encourage everybody in existence to go check out).

This phenomenal piece of art is surely the high point of this post. It can only go downhill from here.

Anyway.

So as we all know, Cyberpunk 2077 was finally released a few days ago to the expected amount of drama and fanfare, and my partner and I have been playing it together, by which I mean he’s been playing and I’ve been providing helpful advice like “We should totally buy the awesome purple car what do you mean you want a motorcycle THE MOTORCYCLE ISN’T PURPLE”. It’s not, y’know, an amazing game, but it’s pretty fun and I have already found multiple characters to ship V with, which I’m sure we can all agree is the truly important thing here. Plus of course there is abundant opportunity to make innuendo at my partner so I am a happy kitten. Mostly. There is one aspect of the story that is proving to be a continual source of awkwardness and general highly disconcerting aura. Namely, Johnny Silverhands.

At some point (I fell asleep for this part so I don’t know exactly what happened), you end up fused with a chip containing the personality of Johnny Silverhands, some kind of sort of famous dude who died a long time ago or something like that. awards self 10/10 stars for that eloquent and informative summary of important plot elements I was totally paying attention to and wasn’t asleep for at all anyway the important thing is there’s a dude hanging out in your brain with you. This is kind of weird and awkward for me, since I also have a dude hanging out in my brain with me. His name is Jonas. Jonas, say hi. J: I’m not a zoo animal and I don’t do tricks, also I reject the idea that this adds to the post in any real way. However you are very lucky because I am bored and complaining at you sounds more fun than going back to sleep. Now I’m tired and it’s 3:30 am go to bed or write the rest of this by your own damn self. That’s basically the same thing I guess.

Jonas is a bit weird. I don’t really have any idea what he is, and it’s not really within the scope of this blog post to discuss it in depth. He is some flavor of alternate personality, he is one of my closest friends, and he is a pain in the ass, much like most of my other friends. Having Jonas around is uncannily like V’s experience sharing their brain with Johnny Silverhands. Now I have a few other friends who have multiple personalities, one of whom is watching playthroughs of Cyberpunk and has appropriately described the experience as “pretty fucky”, which about sums it up. However it’s made even worse for me personally by the sheer number of similarities between Jonas and Johnny and their interactions with the people they share heads with, for (the most obvious) example, their names are really fucking similar. Jonas has matured a lot since he started appearing about 6-7 years ago but Johnny’s snark, unhelpfulness, complete disinterest in being nice, and even his body language all scream of Jonas’s original behavior, which, let’s be honest here, he still does all that anyway, he’s just nicer about it because he likes me. When Jonas and I talk, we tend to picture him as standing (or sitting or leaning against the wall or whatever) somewhere in the room with me, much as Johnny appears to V. He’s not active all the time and until very very recently was almost never “in charge”, so to speak, much like Johnny. So what we have here is somebody who acts a fuck of a lot like Jonas, has a similar name to Jonas, and interacts with their host in a manner that is almost a perfect match to how Jonas interacts with me. Somehow all of this went over my head. Then something even more uncanny happened.

Now, Jonas was originally an extremely minor character in a vast series of stories that I have made up in my head and never actually written down. He somehow evolved, without any conscious effort on my part, from a bit character who was never meant to do anything besides show up, get scolded by the authorities, and leave, to an increasingly major character, to living in my brain with me. Consequently, while he generally shares my tastes and preferences in terms of food and etc etc etc, there is an extremely major way in which we diverge: Jonas, like Johnny, and unlike me, smokes. All the time. It is Very Important to him. As such, the fact that I do not smoke and have exactly negative one billion interest in ever doing so is a source of intense frustration to him. We have had m a n y arguments about this. He knows not to push it too much and respects that it is my decision but that is not about to stop him from complaining about it loudly and with great passion. So when we encountered a scene of V and Johnny having the exact same fucking argument, ending with the incredibly blatantly Jonasesque lamentation from Johnny “Nonsmokers are the fucking worst”, it was like getting hit in the head with a brick. Actually forget the brick, it was like being hit with an entire building, and then having Jonas stick his head out the window and go “Missed me? ;)”, and then yelling back “WELL IDK BUT MAYBE NEXT TIME YOU’RE PILOTING AN ENTIRE FUCKING BUILDING IF YOU COULD TRY A LITTLE HARDER TO MISS ME THAT’D BE REALLY NICE THANKS” and then having him wink at me and assure me that head trauma builds character. It fucking doesn’t and he knows it.

After that, it was impossible to not see Jonas every time Johnny came onscreen. I still enjoy the game a lot. The setting and story are both really really cool and the loot is A+, and I really love being able to hang out in voice chat with my partner, who currently lives pretty far away, and do something fun together and experience something new. But having my relationship with Jonas, which I still have a lot of conflicting feelings about no matter how much I genuinely believe he’s a positive force in my life, reflected back at me at every turn, is bizarre, surreal, and a constant reminder of issues that have been nagging at me for a while, many of which are explicitly being brought up by the game itself. Last night we were doing a mission where V and Johnny at some point start talking and V mentions how they seem to be getting along better and Johnny suggests that maybe it’s because he’s rubbing off on V. V responds with something to the effect of “Am I becoming more like you, or are you becoming more like me?”. Jonas and I have been asking ourselves the same question for years. The only answer we were ever able to come up with is “probably both”, but the question of how much and to what extent, and if you start blending together with somebody else that much, are you really the same person anymore, and on down the rabbit hole we go, can really eat at you if you’re the kind of person who cares about that sort of thing. Which I guess we both are. And frankly we are probably not even half done with the main storyline and I doubt it’s going to stop posing these questions. 

J: so I said I wasn’t going to have any more of this and went off in a huff but actually I changed my mind I have some stuff to say. 

this is obviously weird for kitsie, and I guess it might be obviously weird for me too but it’s weird in an entirely different kinda way. it’s certainly surreal, and a lot of the questions it keeps bringing up are a lot to think about. Johnny is a program on a computer chip designed to be a copy of the original Johnny’s brain. this raises the question, and this may or may not be addressed later, how real is he? and is he the original Johnny, just on a computer chip now, or is he a different entity who happens to be identical to Johnny? and how is a person on a computer chip embedded on somebody’s brain really different from a person who’s a subroutine in somebody else’s brain? am I real? am I a part of Kitsie that just thinks differently for some reason? are we two facets of a whole being that’s kind of both of us and kind of neither of us? am I just a hitchhiker? I really don’t know. I have a lot of memories and backstory. things I did in the past, before I knew Kitsie. are those memories real? they feel real to me but on the other hand they didn’t actually happen. are Johnny’s memories real? they did happen but he’s a brain scan so did they actually happen to him? it’s a lot to think about, but hard to stop thinking.

and then there’s the other concern, which is that this is a game for kitsie to enjoy with her partner, and whenever this shit happens it wakes me up and I end up feeling really weird, like I’m intruding. which I am.  and as wonderful and understanding as he is, I’m still very much something he is getting used to and having problems adjusting to and I really understand because fuck I’m having a problem adjusting to me too. and maybe it’s stupid but I feel bad for being the disconcerting aura of uncomfortable thoughts wafting through something that’s supposed to be a pleasant and fun evening without me in it. which frankly sums up my entire existence. fuck this I’m tired I’m out of here again go tf to sleep kit.

I had more to say but “what he said” pretty much sums it up.

In conclusion, I don’t really have any objection to the story itself. It’s an interesting concept carried out fairly well that under normal circumstances I would think was really cool, and certainly it’s been a unique experience anyway. And I guess if anything the fact that it’s so unnervingly on the nose is a sign they did a good job? I’m still having a huge amount of fun with the game and the massive backlog of sidequests combined with our minimal ability to focus means that the main quest only takes up a small portion of our playtime in any case. I just needed to get all this shit off my chest.

This has been tonight’s episode of the Kitty Rambles Podcast, I am too tired to think of any good way to end this so goodnight and thank you for tuning in!

#cyberpunk 2077 systems headmates seriously what even the fuck

[cwdcshows]

Batwoman - S1 E10 - "How Queer is Everything Today"

I'm not usually a fan of recaps at the start of an episode, but after more than a month since the last one, this is a rare instance where the refresher didn't hurt. I swear I don't remember them actually giving "Mouse" a villain name.  Are they really going with "Skin Pirate"?  I mean, aside from the fact that he basically seems to be a callback to "False Face" from the 60s Batman series; "Skin Pirate"..... I don't know... sounds lame for a villain name.  

I had re-watch this train save a couple of times to really process what they're trying to do here; especially since I wasn't looking for a split second and thought there was only one grapple line coming off the bike and they were trying to suggest that the bike was somehow had enough braking power to stop a train in its own right, which obviously shouldn't work.  Then it became clear that she had fired a rear grapple as an anchor that was actually doing most of the work stopping the train - but that the grapple was just hooking to one of the embedded ties on the track.... I know they've had Batman stop runaway trains in different iterations, but he at was at least using the Batmobile - which, first off, why the hell doesn't Kate have access to the Batmobile? But more importantly, while there are some pretty far fetched things that go on in the Arrowverse, the idea that the grappling hook could hook onto one of those ties when there's hardly anything for it to snag is unbelievable; to suggest that it stayed snagged and that it was secure enough and the grappling line was strong enough to withstand the force of stopping a fucking train moving at full speed seems downright ludicrous.  Whatever the grappling line is made of, it seems more like to snap; never mind the absurdly short stopping distance or the force that stopping so suddenly would have on the train or the people on board.  I might be wrong, but it seems like stopping it that way would risk derailing. You might say that that's better than crashing, but arguably neither are very good scenarios. Oh, for fuck sake. So the cable does give out, but only after the train has completely stopped; at which point the tension on the cable should start to slack, shouldn't it?  If it was going to unsnag and whip forward, it should only do that while the train is exerting any forward momentum in excess of the strength of cable and its hold on whatever its anchoring to.  But we saw the train come to a stop, inches from crashing naturally; and presumably the end of the line isn't on a hill that would cause the train to roll forward in lieu of functioning brakes. Augh.... To be honest, I read about the how this episode opened with an incident that lead to Gotham gossiping about Batwoman and this "Chris Evans-esque cop"; and consequently I'm a little spoiled by how this "story" ends.  I'm long over the Vesper Fairchild voice overs, they're obnoxious and unnecessary.  And serious, "Chris Evans vibe"?  More like a young Gary Busey, or a Ken doll who's been granted his wish to be made a "real boy", but maybe that's just me. "A train lost it's brakes and I saved 450 people from smashing into a concrete wall.  And all people care about is Batwoman's sex life." Yeah, people suck. So wait, Kate and Luke go to investigate the train while they're still cops around - with phony credentials, because you know, fuck secret identities - but then while they're on the train, i.e. he active crime scene, there ceases to be any indication that anyone else is around; not even after Kate finds an easy to access box that turns the lights off in the car.... Sure, whatever. And sure, turning off the lights does happen to help them identify what they're looking for - but how the fuck did Kate know that?  How was turning off the light supposed to help them in anyway? Oh, for a second I thought this was a smart villain, who used the device on the train to tap into the devices of the people closest to it upon discovery - which for Batwoman and her version of Alfred could have been a very bad thing.  But instead it just turns out that this is going to be your run of the mill villain computer super-genius who can conveniently hack into all the devices in the city; which may still present a risk of exposure for Kate and Luke, but they're still just two people in a sea of millions and gleaning information that might reveal anything useful about them remains a monumental task. Hmmm....is there really no.... I don't know, lower-tech way of maintain communication between Luke and Kate when she's in field?  I get wanting to avoid a potential hack of the Batcave, but it seems super dangerous to have some means for her to call for support if she needed it.  Surely there'd be something that wasn't "networked". I honestly don't know what to think about Kate's concerns over the whole "Slam Bradley" thing - on the one hand, yeah, representation matter, but on the other hand, fucking super hacker threatening the city.  Maybe wait to worry about the former until addressing the latter?  You can have courage and still prioritize. And not for nothing, but Luke did have a point about misdirect; and Kate even says it herself "their image of me is not me" - I know how this story ends, and it's not the wrong decision, especially because it means breaking down assumptions and being a good role model, but they do kind of gloss over the fact 'their image of me is not me' is kind of the crux of a good secret identity. I don't think there's uniformity for school bell tones these days, now that many schools no longer use actual bells, but are we to believe that there is only one fucking school in all of fucking Gotham that this particular bell could be used at?  Gotham is a huge metropolitan city that is meant to rival New York - or possibly even be New York in the DCU - I looked it up and there are 542 public high schools in New York City.  And that's a number that surprised the fuck out of me, I expected it to be up there, but I never imagined it to be over 500. But that goes to show often these shows tend to downplay the scope and size of these cities, particularly Gotham, that are supposed to be immense, only to be shown as rather a smaller large city.  They did this before in an earlier episode where they made a big deal about an outdoor movie event; as if Gotham were some sort of small, close-knit community and it made no sense. Commercial aside - that moment you get distracted and don't immediately notice that the program went to commercial and all you hear is a woman exclaiming, "that is such a large load" and it takes a second after turning back to the tv to register that it's a Tide commercial... (sigh) So Kate's bright idea was to just literally drop into a fucking high school dance and ask who the hacker is?  And she expected, what, for her to say, "here I am!"? Come on, what the fuck; once again, how the fuck does Kate know that making everything else go dark will help her fucking find anything.  And for that matter, how the fuck does that help her find anything?  If her....whatever....knocked out the power to the lights and devices and everything, why would the hacker's equipment be immune? (sigh)..... Again, I knew how the story thread of Kate wanting to out Batwoman's sexuality would play out; so I knew the decision would be motivated by a closeted teen she would meet, but seriously, it's the hack and that is her reason for cyber-terrorizing the fucking city?  Those are arguably terrible circumstances to live under, but you can't use that to try to justify holding a fucking city hostage or endangering the lives of, according to Kate earlier, 450 people that were on that train.  Whether she actually had control and would have stopped it or not is beside the point; to say nothing of the fact that she escalated to exponentially more serious crimes after that.  And we're supposed to feel sorry for her because she thinks Batwoman was probably popular in high school and "famous" now?   How the fuck did Alice figure out who the hacker was? Wait, did whoever write the first part of this episode just like, stop half-way through and someone else took over without reading what happened earlier in the episode?  Alice attacks the hacker, Kate attacks Alice. Alice knocks Kate out, along with the hacker and tells her that the bat will join them later.  Cut to the next scene and Alice tells her that she's looking for Batwoman, because the other students tagged her in a bunch of photos - but you just fucking saw her?  Why knock her out and go to the shop room, if you just want to have this confrontation with Kate?  And all to get Kate to take off her mask.... What, Kate is actually prominently known in this city of millions?  Why?  I mean, yeah, her cousin is rich and her dad was pretty prominent, but were we given much reason to think that Kate was like, a local celebrity?  And why is a national publication like the Advocate spotlighting Kate, who has been in business for what, a month, maybe two? Oh, yeah, train full of hundreds of people, fuck em'; but it's that she got snippy with Kate Kane that she regrets..... So, Kate's actually a billionaire.  I mean, I'm not necessarily surprised, and it was clear the Kane family was well off, but I honestly don't think they properly established that they were "Bruce Wayne-rich". They're obviously going to walk back this outing by the end of the episode; at this point I don't know why they even bother with these kinds of fake outs. What the fuck kind of cuffs did Kate just shoot from her hands?  And seriously, if it ain't broke, don't fix it; it'd be one thing to develop cuffs that were harder to escape from, but what the fuck would be the point in developing a cuff that saves you like what, a whole fucking second to put them on compared to normal handcuffs? "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss" Fuck you. Oh, and the dumb-ass cop tries to kiss her.... Fuck you more, writers, fuck you to he ends of the earth and back.... So what, did the hacker (I don't care what her name is) only send Alice and Kate specifically the message outing Kate and the rest got the message about the bomb? Wait, they showed that the kids at the dance got a message too; yet they didn't seem to be trying to evacuate in response to a bomb threat until after the cops showed up.... Augh.... they're going to fucking make the hacker her side-kick, aren't they?   Because you know, hijacking a train, threatening live, trying to extort and entire fucking city....childish hi-jinx..... The writing for this episode is atrocious.  Luke walks into the cave talking about Kate achieving cover-girl status and fallout, and it's only because I read about how this storyline plays out and saw the "cover" in question that I know what the fuck he's talking about.  I honestly skipped back to see if I missed them showing the cover for a few second and nope; anyone watching this for the first time without spoilers wouldn't have a clue what's happening in this scene.... So.....what the fuck are they going to try and do here?  For a second I was going to ponder if the Crisis reboot meant that Beth had a twin who became Alice, but then I remembered that Kate and Beth are twins (I think.  Right? Just fraternal, rather than identical.)  And it's still possible that Beth could be retconned as having an identical twin and they're all triplets. According to the preview though, it's not just Kate who's thrown by this other Beth; so that scenario seems less likely.  This would suggest that "Alice" could turn out not to be Beth at all, which has always been a distinctly possibility; especially since everybody was hip to the idea way too easy and early in the season.  But that doesn't explain the casual way that "Beth" strolled into Kate's office, talking about being abroad as if she wasn't supposed to have been missing for the last 14 years (14, right?  It's been a long break since non-Crisis episodes...). This becomes way too much of a cluster fuck to untangle if they try to legitimately make "Beth" out to truly be Beth; especially if Crisis has somehow shifted anything.

[woodworkersson]

Perfect Strangers

Axel:  [I had just left The Keys for the fifth time this week.  I was walking towards a safe spot to dematerialize to go home but stop a few blocks away to the sound of what could be possible fighting. Rushing over to where the sound was coming from. I stop on a dime and watch.  I stood there stupidly for a moment as I watch her.

I stood there watching her as she fights with a lesser with the most absolute grace and beauty.  Putting Paradise and Nova to shame. Who was this mysterious female? That is when I noticed two others of the enemy of our race were approaching her from behind.  I didn’t think she could see the approaching danger and knowing if I yelled to warn her could also cause issues.

Quickly pulling out the Smith and Wesson that was tucked in the back of my waistband and firing towards her, knowing that I would miss her, taking out the closet of the two lessers that were approaching from behind her. I watch as she dispatches the other one. I need to see her up close but I could see that her eyes were wild. So, I move forward, slowly my hands raised so she can see that I am not a danger to her after tucking my gun back into my waistband and start walking forward to her.]

Eva: *I stab the tenured lesser with a head of white as he spasmed but could no longer get up and then I hear a gunshot that whips my head behind me as another lesser falls forward dead revealing a male a few feet away hand raised with a piece. I was grateful for the assistance but pissed that I hadn’t been aware of the presence of the lesser. I manage to throw the knife I just poofed a lesser into other of the pair.

The new male approaches and stabs the lesser he took out as I did the same to his companion. As the bright lights receded … I was able to get a look at the male. Jet black hair, thick and spiky, pale yellow eyes, tattoos ran up the side of his neck, piercings … everything about him screamed predator. I had to reconsider my gratitude from just moments before. Was he a friend or foe? But before I could really access the newcomer. The stench of lessers filled the air once more alerting us to new arrivals.

Axel: [Her deep blue eyes scanned my body, I don’t mind that she is looking either. She was fucking stunning. I could imagine what I could do with all those curves she had. And the asshole that I am, I had to ask.] Like what you are looking at?

[I inhale deeply but as I do, my head whips around at the incoming smell of more lessers. I brace myself, ready for a fight, I look over my shoulder at the female. Then I swivel back to the enemy, as I do reach into my back pocket grabbing my cell sending a 911 alert to the Brothers. I quickly re-pocket the cell and take back out my weapon from my waistband just as the first of many lessers are on top of us.

I fire until the clip is empty and when that is empty I launch myself at the other one. Fighting hand to hand with the paled enemy. The same adrenaline high that I have in The Keys, I am having now. Fighting a newly minted lesser brings me such a rush. I somehow manage to get behind the lesser and start to choke him out as I bring my knee to the small of his back I feel the pop of his spine come defused in place and his legs give out quickly.  And I let him drop to the ground using the heel of my shoe to kick his head one direction as the second enemy jump on to me.]

Eva: *I pull the 9 millimeter from my holster from underneath one of my arms and placed a neat little hole between the eyes of one of the new incomers as the male engages the enemy.

I grabbed the dagger from the ground where I stabbed the previous lesser. I struck another new recruit lesser as he came around the corner. I pulled it out when he stumbled against the wall, knocking the gun from his hand. I grabbed a 45 off a fallen lesser. I watched the male from the corner of my eye as we fought against them.

Eventually, we ended up back to back fight them off one by one. The smell of the sickly sweet scent of the lessers filled the alley as they fell barely moving as we continue to fight. I plug another one in the shoulder just as he was about to strike the newcomer with a crowbar. As he falls back, I hit him with another in the chest taking him down permanently.

There were fallen lessers surround us as the last one fell. I lean against the closest wall to catch my breath as we examined the fallen, more than a handful surrounding us and if, on cue, we simultaneously began to go through their pockets for wallets and phones. I pulled small a few handfuls of small baggies filled with white powder of H with a symbol of the Old Language, but also some unusual black powder. Black? What the fuck?

Axel:  [I flip the lesser over my side grabbing his throat hard and squeezing tight until I feel his trachea collapses under my fingers. The lesser is wheezing uncontrollably. I reach down to grab the gun he dropped as I flipped him over me. I pick up the gun and fired once into his forehead. Adrenaline is coursing through my body.  I pick off a new lesser whose hair hadn’t yet faded into the telltale white. I snap his neck easily and start going around his pockets, nothing but a small bag with some black residue. I hope this wasn’t dried up blood.

After pocketing some more ammo, I turn around to make sure the female was okay. She stood there looking at something in her hands before tucking into the back pocket of her pants. Fuck, I was staring at her ass. I didn’t want to get caught so I turn around going to the lessers that I had killed disarming them. It was just a matter of time before more came. I could just feel it as well as smell it. I hoped that the Brothers had gotten my 911 call and were going to be coming soon.] So, do you have a name? [I ask the dark-haired female. Hoping that she give me anything to her identity.]

Eva: *I managed to pocket both baggies into my back pocket to investigate later, I wasn’t sure if I was going to tell him my name but luckily another lesser came around the corner with a bunch of his buddies. I picked up a dropped gun and I manage to hit the lesser in the chest and as he dropped forwarded onto his knees in disbelief and I could see another set of males appeared at the end of the alley behind him. Large males that emanated power which could only mean the Brotherhood had arrived. I could not get caught, just in case, the family resemblance was too close and for more reasons than I can name I needed to stay away from the King and his personal guard.

I dematerialized back to the rooftop to observe and make sure the good guys prevailed. There was a lesser about to strike one of the Brothers with some kind of bat so I took a moment and aim my shot right through his forehead dropping him. When the lesser fell and it looked like the Brothers would prevail, I immediately dematerialized and sent my particles back to my hotel not knowing if the male would try to detect me again. I knew it was futile to think he would not mention me to the Brothers. Not many females in this kind of work. Though I did overhear rumors that the King allowed females into the training program. Very progressive of him.*

Axel: [She didn’t answer me, but she wasn’t given time before more lessers arrived. I barely get a shot fired before I notice that the Brothers were there and I am pretty much made useless.  So, I turn to see if I could help the female, but she is nowhere to be found. Where did she go? I spin around trying to look for her. Fuck, I didn’t get her name or nothing.  I was totally intrigued by her.

A dead lesser went flying back turning to see the Brother, John Matthew. Yelling at him as my head scanned that alley looking for her] “Did you see her?” [He signs back, ‘what?’ Then there was a heavy hand of one of the Brothers landed hard on my shoulder. Turning around and seeing the Primale, Phury. He stood there, his multi-colored mane whipping in all directions as he was demanding why I was out fighting by myself without permission.

Something deep down told me not to say anything more about the mysterious fighting female. I would take this punishment whatever they threw at me. But one thing was for sure I needed to find the mysterious female. I needed to know who she was.]

Eva: *I reappeared on the hotel balcony and entered the suite. I strip off my remaining weapons to clean later as I sit down at the computer to log in. I checked for any messages from the client and he informed me that the target has usual tastes that lean toward the sadistic. He found out recently that he is a member of a place called #TheKeys. After a quick google search … I come up empty. Interesting. It must be very private or members only. Hmmmm. I can follow him one night so he could lead me there and then control the minds of their security … that is if they’re human. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.

I thought about the close call in the alley earlier and wondered if the guy that helped me out was perhaps part of the Brotherhood or maybe a trainee? I had heard the rumors that the Brotherhood was taking on new recruits. A good thing too as those lessers packed a punch even being new recruits.

The rumor was that the Brotherhood was down to just a handful of Brothers. Though another juicy tidbit I gleaned off some regulars at the bar was that the Band of Bastards had traveled over from the Old Country and joined their ranks. It made me regard the rescuer in a different light. Regardless … he was someone I had to stay away from.

I pulled the packets I grabbed from my back pocket to examine them. The white powder was familiar enough to be either H or some equivalent. But what was curious was the symbol in the Old Language meaning it was a vampire behind the stuff. But the other packet? It was an unusual black powder that almost felt ominous when I opened it. Very strange.

I had a shift at the #IronMask tomorrow night so my plans to find about my target and this place #TheKeys will have to wait until this weekend. In the meantime, I could ask around about these packets and see whose been dealing with lessers. I may not be working for the Brotherhood and avoiding them at all costs … but this definitely needed some attention from the King. The enemy of mine enemy is my friend.*

#PerfectStrangers #SecretsRevealed #PartFour #SaintsNSinners #BDB #SASBDB