(Please click on the images for full size and ease of reading)
Click here for the magazine transcript and an "After Interview " fic!
Title: Sharper Knives
Ship: Steve Rogers x Bucky Barnes
Rating: Mature
Square: N4 "Friendly Competition" August adoptable. @allcapsbingo
Tags: AU Modern - No Power, Mutual Pining, Friends to Lovers, Secret Relationship.
Summary: Steve and Bucky have been best friends since childhood and are seasoned actors. After many years, they finally got to make a movie together. Much thirsting ensues.
[Image description: A series of posts from Jason Lefkowitz @[email protected] dated Dec 08, 2022, 04:33, reading:
It's good that our finest minds have focused on automating writing and making art, two things human beings do simply because it brings them joy.
Meanwhile tens of thousands of people risk their lives every day breaking down ships, a task that nobody is in a particular hurry to automate because those lives are considered cheap https://www.dw.com/en/shipbreaking-recycling-a-ship-is-always-dangerous/a-18155491
(Headline: 'Recycling a ship is always dangerous.' on Deutsche Welle)
A world where computers write and make art while human beings break their backs cleaning up toxic messes is the exact opposite of the world I thought I was signing up for when I got into programming
Wilbur: Yeah, I'm- I'm- I'm glad that I've actually done something right, Phil. Normally- normally on SMPs I'm- I'm always a bit of a- you know, a bit of a- a bit of a- a bit of a um, what's the word... uh... what's the word for like a-
[ID: a gif of a TBH creature walking in an 'S' shape, starting from the upper right to the lower left. It then stops and curls up. The gif is non-looping. End ID]
A cropped screenshot of a twitter reply by Slimecicle @/Slimecicle. It reads “ok so I maybe didn't realize the final video would be this calm when I recorded my lines”. Attached is a clip from the QSMP trailer with Charlie speaking over it, transcribed as follows:
Charlie (speaking normally): Okay… Quackity what’s up, I’m just gonna give you these, uh, I guess in a few different, uhhh, inflections and tones and just tell me what. you. like.
Charlie (sounding desperate and scared): I just keep wondering why they’re putting us in different trains! (Screaming) IT DOESN’T MAKE ANY GODDAMN SENSE! Como se dice “WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?” EN ESPAÑOL? DONDE ESTA? LA BIBLIOTECA! [Last part is nearly unintelligible due to being screamed and is cut off abruptly.]
[Translation Note: “Como se dice […] en español” means “how do you say […] in spanish”. “Donde esta le biblioteca” means “where is the library?”]
Finally caved and did my perceived timeline of what happened to Chuuya, from being brought into the lab for project Arahabaki to being taken out of it.
I originally thought about mentioning it in my Chuuya's true original ability being to amplify others' abilities post, but it was way too long, and not as solid an argument to that specific topic.
Because this is about Chuuya being the original, not the clone, but more importantly the why and how that is the case.
Chuuya's humanity is the core question of SB, and the most important part is that in the end, Chuuya chose to accept himself despite it all, and that no matter what, he is himself and no one can take that away from him.
But once we have been given all the pieces of the puzzle, we can try connecting the dots and deduce the true story behind it all.
-
Project Arahabaki was built to create an ability weapon based on the recovered notes of Pan, a French researcher and Verlaine's creator. The technique uses the clone of a human with a "fake" psyche (persona model) who is fused with a singularity life-form. The clone's original should have an ability able to create a self-referencing singularity (to manifest gravity powers). Pan even had a special ability metal to brainwash that individual. Basically, this concept is supposed to create an overpowered flesh puppet.
So. Project Arahabaki. They needed an original with an ability that could produce a singularity on its own, which is super rare. Joy oh joy, there just so happen to be this boy, the son of a military doctor, who fits these needs! They just need his DNA/some cells to create a clone to use in their project. It's the middle of the war, ethics are disregarded, plus no "real child" should be harmed in the making of this weapon. No biggie, right? Lend us your son for the sake of the country!
Except we know that boy, officially at least, died during the war.
According to N's timeline, there once was this certain boy who managed to create a singularity with his ability while under the supervision of scientists, but got swallowed by the black hole it created, never to return.
He also had Chuuya's supposed "original" stuck in a tube full of mystery liquid, the same kind Chuuya once was in, but that one's flesh and organs melted when exposed to air (normal behaviour), changing it into a skeleton that can be ordered around like an overpowered puppet (literally on strings. The tubes in its back controlled it and kept it going, but would severely limit its range)
Back to our Chuuya:
All N does is lie, so we can't take his word as the simple truth. Chuuya was a miracle they never managed to reproduce. Why is that?
In Rimbaud's notes, he says how in their operation to retrieve the new ability weapon Japan was developing (based on Verlaine), they managed to identify the artificial being, aka the clone, A2-5-8. In the flashback, Rimbaud is absolutely positive it is him, so we have to assume this information was recorded as-is somewhere.
And yet, Dazai is the one to suggest later that, perhaps, the original and the clone had been swapped.
And wouldn't that make everything else make sense?
The clone(s) never managed to hold up to the quality standard necessary to be useful outside of their confines. The skeleton approach was the lab trying something different, like N admitted so to Verlaine. There ever only was one successful attempt, a "miracle", Chuuya. The original child is thought to be dead, yet N the liar supposedly had him in a tube, ready to turn him into a skeleton(???). Rimbaud and Verlaine thought for sure they had the artificial life-form, the clone, but they got Chuuya, who has a graphite scar from before he lost his memories, with a past that was able to be dug up by the Flags and Port Mafia.
My conclusion is this: N swapped out a clone for the original child. His research wasn't giving the proper results, but he had found a workaround, where he could use the original instead of his clone, for better/faster results.
Chuuya is the only one who could harness "Arahabaki" in any way that would remotely resemble "Guivre". Chuuya is the only one who could operate autonomously. That's why N wanted to remove "Arahabaki" and try to factory-reset Chuuya before putting it back in: because there really is only one of him, and he couldn't afford losing him if he wanted to continue his research.
I hope that you're having a good day. Mine was really productive and I (finally) had a night off so I thought, "Why not update people on some of what I've been doing?" Because, there's a lot.
I'll keep this short, let's get to the stuff that matters.
♦ Progress ♦
Prologue Word Count: 120,087 (currently, I'll return to writing after posting this)
Episode One Word Count: 46,055 (see above)
♦ Changes & Updates ♦
Hells, there's a lot of these. Okay...
Changed timeline. The game now starts on Friday, June 13th (a couple days before Tommy leaves for summer camp...)
Added several scenes (most of which are optional) and more choices to the original prologue
Added a skip feature to the beginning of the game (see image below cut)
Made it easier to change character genders at the beginning of the game (see below the cut)
Started switching direct D&D references to Mythmaker and worked on writing some of the rulebook for that (see this poll for context)
And a lot more. I honestly can't even think to list it all (and you'll see the rest of it soon enough)
♦ Goals ♦
HOPEFULLY, release the updated prologue and first scene of episode one by the end of 2023
HOPEFULLY, release the next update within the first quarter of 2024 (we'll see where we go from there)
Continuing writing, in general
Begin streaming again, as early as this long weekend (Nov. 10th-12th)
PLAY ZORLOK | CAST | FAQ | NAV | PLAYLIST | DISCORD | AUTHOR | KO-FI
More new features, changes, and previews under the cut. [Beware of minor spoilers]
Prologue skip feature:
Cast gender confirmation screen:
Players can now go back and forth between text blurbs in these screens, that way you can go back to a previous phrase without having to restart the entire sequence:
The prologue now contains an optional flashback featuring a certain detective...
Tommy and Clara don't know each other as well anymore and he can now decide whether or not he's comfortable opening up to her.
Also... if you make some specific choices, Tommy can be a little bit suave now...
But don't worry if you prefer a Friends -> Rivals or Enemies -> Lovers arc, there's plenty of Jin content too...
And much, much more, but that's all I'll share for now. Hope you're having a good day/evening! :)