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pkg4mumtown · 1 year

Text

Burning

Pairing: Bobby Nash x Male!Reader

Rating: Mature

AO3 (highly reccomend reading on AO3 for the iOS workskin): Read Here

Summary: You’re finally cleared by your doctor for normal activities—not by your Captain of course—but Athena thinks you two can bend the rules a little bit. What happens when you finally run into the 118 team that Athena has mentioned?

A/N: My first 9-1-1 fic! It’s been a long time coming! Takes place a few months or more after the tsunami episode, so the timeline might not be all correct but…oh well. As much as I adore Bathena, it’s not established in this fic and for all intents and purposes, they’re just friends. There is art scattered in the fic and there is my interpretation of the main character but in no way is that how he has to look—there are no specific descriptors in the writing for hair, eyes, skin color, etc. By all means, if you’d like to create your own version of him, I’d love to see it!

Warnings: canon typical injuries, male!reader (no y/n), mentions of blood and burns, first kiss, Bi!Bobby, older man/younger man, meet cute

“Sergeant Grant,” I grinned with a sing-songy lilt to my voice, leaning back in my seat as I looked up at her.

Groaning and flexing my forearm for the fourth time that morning, I sighed and closed the file on my desk and pushed it aside. I reached for my coffee mug with my good hand before pulling it back and reaching for it with the arm I could actually use now. I grimaced as lukewarm liquid touched my lips, having half a mind to get up and warm it up when I heard a couple short raps on the doorframe of the office I was inhabiting in the short term.

“How’s the arm doing, Officer?” she grinned with her voice equally as playful while dropping my last name, with her own coffee clasped between her hands.

“Oh you know…” I shrugged, putting it through some motions. “Doc said I didn’t have to wear a sling anymore and I can start working it out again at a hundred percent, so that’s good.”

“If it's any consolation, you don’t look like you lost muscle in that arm,” she pursed her lips and laughed.

“It’s nice to know someone’s looking,” I chuckled, taking another disgusting sip. “So, what can I do for you?”

“It’s more like what I can do for you,” she sauntered in and took a seat across from me. “I spoke to Cap and she might have agreed for me to take you out on patrol with me.”

“No…” I breathed in disbelief, knowing full well the Captain had just told me I wasn’t cleared for leading field work yet or training any new officers.

“Unless you’re too busy, of course,” Athena dismissed, scooting her chair back and standing up, gesturing to the pile of folders on my desk with her eyebrows.

“Not too busy!” I exclaimed quickly, standing before she could leave the room. “It’s just busy work and evaluations anyway…”

“Are you su—“

“—very sure,” I responded before she could finish, grabbing my bag and vest for patrol from the floor next to me.

Athena simply gave me an amused grin and nodded her head for me to follow her out.

“Don’t laugh at me, I was going crazy stuck to a desk, Athena.”

“I’m not surprised, you hyperactive man-baby.”

—

We prepped her patrol car, making sure everything was situated and tossing my bag in the trunk of the Explorer. I hesitated in the back, looking at my body armor secured to my bag. Before the tsunami, I would have had it on as soon as I got to the station, but being on desk duty for the last few months, I hadn’t needed it. It was unlikely I would need it in Athena’s beat, but I knew I would feel less uneasy with it on.

Now, I just had to get it on without completely disrobing or jostling my shirt-stays. As I contemplated my predicament, I undid my uniform shirt all the way down to my belt. I opened the Velcro flaps on my vest and began an awkward shimmy of sliding the back of the vest underneath and behind my collar, sliding my head through the middle, and letting the front flap over my chest. I rolled my shoulders to let it fall in place on its own and tugged my open shirt to get any material stuck underneath the vest out. When I was situated, I closed up the Velcro sides snuggly and buttoned up my shirt.

“Are you lost or—“ Athena asked impatiently—having already checked to make sure the vehicle was in order—coming around to the back of the patrol vehicle while I fussed with my buttons.

“Sorry, one sec,” I offered apologetically.

“I’m not taking you to any high risk calls, so don’t get too excited,” she laughed saying my name like that of an over-eager child. “Cap would have my head.”

“Hey, take it easy on me, Athena. I used to work narcotics and those calls were never chill, so this puts me at ease a little.”

“Alright, alright. Hurry up, before I tell Cap about that very non regulation patch on your body armor,” she gave me a pointed look, glancing down at the terrible sewing job I had done on my body armor that held a small pansexual flag. The Sergeant pushed her sunglasses up to her face but not before winking in my direction to let me know she was joking.

Piling in to the Explorer, Athena immediately got on the radio, “This is 727-A-30, we are 10-8.”

I tuned out the radio conversation after that, knowing Athena would be giving our info to dispatch quickly as we pulled out of the station.

—

We started patrolling her beat, finding it fairly quiet but knowing better than to voice that out loud. Not twenty minutes into our patrol shift, did Athena’s phone start pinging messages in quick succession from where it hung in the dash mount.

“Damn, ‘Thena, you got a hot date or what?” I snorted, trying to sneakily grab her phone but telegraphing my movements purposely so she’d slap me away.

“Oh shut it,” she slapped my arm. “Your doctor cleared you so I won’t feel bad if I have to hit you harder.”

“I expect nothing less, sarge,” I grinned. “But, come on, you know I love me some chisme, cough it up.”

“It’s nothing,” she rolled her eyes, quickly replying as we stopped at a red light.

“Oooh, is it about me?” I waggled my eyebrows, while she gave me a blank stare from behind her sunglasses.

The patrol car was silent for a few moments, the only sound being from outside the car and the radio faintly playing.

“Yes, it was about you,” I finally heard her mumble.

“I knew it! Let me see!” I made grabby hands for her phone.

“I’m gonna regret this,” she sighed and tossed the phone in my lap.

I laughed as I scrolled to the beginning of the conversation, someone by the name of “Maddie” starting off by asking who I was and why I was with Athena when she usually patrolled solo, with the eyes emoji to end the question.

The transfer from Pacific I told you about! - Athena

Ooh! Pics! I remember you talking about him! He sounds hot! -Maddie

Pics! -Hen

Show us! -Eddie

He’s a dork, but he’s cool. - Athena

Oh, he IS hot! -Maddie

Seconded! -Eddie

Hey! -Buck

Sorry… -Eddie

You’re right, though -Buck

I’m NOT asking out a subordinate, stop it -Athena

“Hey, I’m not a dork,” I teased.

“You so are.”

“How did this Maddie person know I was with you so fast anyway…?” I drifted off as another text came in.

“She’s a dispatcher. Everyone else there is from the 118. Her brother and boyfriend are with the 118, too. You’ll probably run into them a lot on patrol, that’s how I met them anyway.”

You definitely withheld the hot part from me, Athena -Bobby

Ooooo, Cap! -Hen

“Ooh, firefighters…mmm,” I sighed dreamily just to annoy her. “And who is Bobby? He looks fine as hell and he just called me hot.” I hurriedly clicked on his contact photo to get a better look.

“The 118 Captain. I knew your gay little heart wouldn’t be able to resist him,” she laughed and took the phone from me.

“I’m not gay, ‘Thena, I’m pansexual. You know this!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. You just only talk about the guys, so I forget sometimes.”

“That’s because they usually have the most drama,” I snorted. “So, you’re forgiven.”

“I’m pretty sure he’s straight, though. Well, I’ve never heard him talk about going out with any men, so I suppose I’m just assuming.”

“Oh, I will be devastated if he is,” I rolled my eyes and sighed. “What about you?”

“Nah, after Michael…I’ve been taking some time for me. I didn’t want to jump into anyone’s arms, I’m too focused on my kids after the divorce, you know?”

“Aw, yea, I understand. But, you know I’d take you out in a heartbeat if you let me,” I shot her a smile.

“You are too young for me!” She scoffed and shook her head.

“No, you’re just experienced,” I winked. “Also, I take offense to that. I’m in my thirties with two degrees and a career, ma’am.”

“Lord help me.”

—

“911, What’s your emergency?”

“My mother! She’s out of control! THIS IS A NIGHTMARE!” wild screaming arises in the background, “Get away from me! YOU’VE OFFICIALLY LOST IT!”

“This is dispatch requesting a unit at 294 Moreno Drive. Reports of a family disturbance and possible assault.”

“Dispatch, this is 727-A-30 handling.”

“10-4, 727-A-30.”

Athena flicked the sirens and lights on and sighed heavily as we sped off to the call, “Oh boy.”

—

“727-A-30, 10-97 on scene,” Athena announced into her radio.

“I’m just saying, thin crust is delicious but my fat ass will eat the whole thing. So, I never allow myself to get it!” I groaned to Athena.

“Or you could have some self control lik—”

I glared at Athena and smirked thinking my glare cut her off but saw her staring past me.

“You’re psychotic! All of you!” a high pitched yell sounded as the front door of the house ripped open.

A middle-aged woman wielding a brightly colored, tissue paper covered stick stormed out of the house followed by a flock of elderly people.

“I told you not to come!” a half dressed older lady shouted back at her.

Oh shit. I immediately averted my eyes at the sight, hearing Athena chuckle behind me.

“It’s your birthday! I was just supposed to ignore that!?” She flailed the stick around.

“Obviously!”

“Mom, did you order strippers!?” the woman screamed, finally noticing Athena and me.

“Honey, you called 911,” an older man, likely her father, spoke up from next to her mother.

“Well, Mom was stripping and doing body shots!”

“I just turned seventy! Let me live a little! Also, you hit me with that stick!”

“Yea, to knock some sen—”

“Okay!” I spoke up, ending the argument. “I’m flattered you think I could pass as a stripper but I’m going to have to ask you to put the piñata stick down, ma’am,” I held my hands out as non-threateningly as possible. When she didn’t immediately put it down, I cocked my head and gave a slower warning, “Ma’am…”

“Yea, yea, fine,” she rolled her eyes and thrust the stick at me.

I jumped but grabbed it tightly and and took it from her hands. Athena took it from me and held it far out of reach.

“Now, are we pressing charges and do you need medical attention?” I looked pointedly at the mother.

“No…no…” the mother waved me off.

“Press charges against me? I called you!”

“You also assaulted someone, so it doesn’t matter who called us,” I sighed, resting my hands on my duty belt. “I’m going to have to ask you to leave the property.”

The woman huffed and stomped off, making Athena and me sag with relief.

“I hope you have a nice rest of your party, ma’am,” I smiled and nodded my head to her, her husband, and the rest of the guests who had come out onto the lawn.

I turned back toward Athena, my eyes widening comically and mouthing, “Oh my god,” with an exasperated expression.

“Hey, you said you liked a little experience…” Athena laughed as we got in the car.

“Shut up,” I mumbled with a smirk.

“727-A-30, 10-98.”

“I need some bleach for my eyes,” I sighed heavily.

—

“911, What’s your emergency?”

“I’m trapped! There’s a—a huge pile up on—“ the caller wheezed, “—Wilshire.”

“911, What’s your emergency?”

“The traffic lights! They’re all green! There’s a huge accident on Wilshire and Irolo.”

“911, What’s your emergency?”

“I’m the manager at Bank of Hope on Wilshire and Vermont, we just had a robbery take place. I think they hit Wells Fargo, too!”

“All available units in the vicinity of Wilshire and Irolo, please respond to a pileup in the intersection for traffic control. Firehouse 118 is arriving on scene shortly.”

“727-A-30, responding,” Athena answered immediately and made a u-turn while turning on the lights and sirens.

“10-4, 727-A-30. Please be advised, 211 just took place on Wilshire and Vermont. A unit has already been dispatched but witnesses report the getaway car heading toward the accident intersection. Suspect is 10-29FD possibly carrying a knife. Gun was left at the scene.”

“10-4, Dispatch. Patch me in to Captain Nash.”

There was silence before the radio crackled finally.

“This is Captain Nash.”

“Bobby, I’m on route to the accident, use extreme caution. Suspect is armed.”

“Athena, dispatch notified us that it was a knife. Have a little faith, I think we can take it,” he chuckled over the radio.

“Bobby…”

“We’ll be looking out, don’t worry. Just arrived on scene.”

Bobby cut out leaving us to listen to the sirens as we sped to the scene.

“Responders, please be advised the getaway vehicle was a black sedan.”

“10-4.”

“Dispatch, there’s three black sedans, proceeding with caution,” Bobby interjected.

We pulled up to the scene eight minutes later, seeing a horrific display of mangled cars, smoke, and flames. A couple LAPD units had already arrived on scene and started directing traffic away from the intersection. Firefighters, the 118 I assumed, were split up around the cars to attend to as many people as they could.

“You find one black sedan, I’ll find another. Clear it and head to the last one.”

“Copy that,” I clipped and opened the door, immediately dropping my hand to my taser to pull out if needed.

I jogged over to where one of the cars was, slowing down as I approached to be able to assess the situation better. I rounded other cars cautiously but didn’t immediately see anyone that screamed “robber” at me, nor evidence of a robbery in the car as I approached it.

I jumped as my radio crackled, “Responders, Station 122 is arriving shortly for medical back up.”

“Athena!” I called out in her general direction, “Clear over here!”

“Here, too! Dispatch, suspect has not been located yet.”

“I’m heading to the nex—” I called out, stopping when I saw an unresponsive woman in her car just a few down from the one I had checked.

The car next to hers had caught fire, which had spread near hers. Her car was leaking fluid, making me curse and not want to find out what it was until it was too late.

“I need an extinguisher here!” I shouted.

I saw a couple of the 118’s heads pop up and look in my direction. Captain Nash's distinctive helmet nodded to his other teammates before running toward the fire truck.

“Don’t move the victim!” I heard one of them yell.

“She can’t wait! This whole this is about to go up!”

I tried for the door handle but it was dented and crushed. The front of the car was too close to the flames for comfort, so I hastily pulled out a knife and cut the seat belt off her. Leaning into the window to drag her out, my duty belt caught on the broken glass and twisted metal so I couldn’t fully clutch her. With a growl, I let go and unbuckled my belt, letting it drop to the floor and kicking it away from the flames. The fire had spread to the front of her car, licking and burning at my skin as I reached in again for her. I didn’t register any pain from the adrenaline, not stopping until she was fully out of the car and in my arms as I watched the car fully engulf.

“Officer, put her here,” Captain Nash instructed me, running up with a group of EMTs and heading straight to the fire to put it out.

I placed the woman on the stretcher, making sure they took her to safety as I fetched my belt and strapped it back around my waist. It wasn’t until I cinched it closed that I felt a searing pain in my side just underneath my vest. My breath hitched and a groan of pain escaped my lips, causing Bobby to do a double take as he worked on the flames. I gulped—swaying on my feet as the pain fully registered and threatened to send me into shock—but clenched my teeth as I finished the buckle.

With a nod to Captain Nash, I waited for a responding nod before jogging off to find Athena.

“Sergeant! Nothing…” I slowed my run as I approached her, turning into a slow jog with a limp as it caused more chafing to occur against my wound.

“Nothing at this one either,” she sighed, shaking her head as she took another look in the car. “Either way, this car can’t have been it. It’s too close to the beginning of the pileup. The suspect would have been closer to the outside.”

“You’re right,” I grimaced.

“What’s wrong with you?” She furrowed her brows and stepped over menacingly.

“Nothing. I’m fine, I—,” I paused as her words hit me. “The first one I checked was on the outside…the door was open but it was empty inside I—.”

Shit.

Bobby was over there alone now.

“Captain!” I turned an ran, seeing him speaking with someone near where I left him.

The scene was loud, understandably so, but I slowed as I neared anyway to avoid spooking the potentially dangerous suspect.

“Look, sir, it’s my job to make sure you’re okay. That cut on the side of your head looks pretty bad,” Bobby held his palms out to the man who was clad in all black and clutching a gym bag to his chest. “At least let me make sure you don’t have a concussion,” Bobby stepped closer again.

From where the man’s back was facing me, I saw a glint of metal appearing from his back pocket and felt adrenaline surge through my veins. I took the remaining steps forward and lunged, wrapping my whole hand around his wrist and shoving it up so it was pinned against his lower to mid back.

“Drop it!” I growled. When he didn’t immediately comply, I repeated myself, “Drop it, or I will make you.”

At the lack of movement I bent his wrist inward with my free hand and used the pain of the wrist lock to force him to open his hand. When the knife clattered to the floor, I kicked it away and began slapping cuffs on the man. The bag was cut from his body, since I had trapped it on his body with his arms in cuffs, and Athena took the liberty of guiding him to a free unit to take him in while reading him his rights.

“Come on, I think I could have taken him?” Bobby chuckled as Athena dragged the suspect away. “But thank you.”

I shot him a glare that was soon diluted by a smirk. The smirk soon faded away as my wound throbbed, so I leaned my weight on the car next to me. Whatever the hell I did hurt. A lot.

“Are you okay?”

“Mhm, just taking a second,” I groaned as I straightened back up. “I should help…”

“Whoa, there,” Bobby stopped me with a hand gripping my tricep, steadying me as I wobbled. “You’re not fine. And anyway, the 122 is here and helping. It’s under control.”

I slumped, watching the firefighters work, but knew he was right. Athena was going to kill me. Then, Bobby was going to resurrect me. And then, my Captain was going to kill me all over again.

“Let me check it out?” He asked, though it definitely felt like more of a gentle demand than a question.

I nodded and let him guide me to the 118 Paramedic truck.

He sat me on the edge of the truck and jumped into the back to clean his hands and find supplies. When he came back out, his hands were covered in black medical gloves and his arms were full of random items.

“You’re gonna have to uh…” he gestured to my torso with his head as he laid the supplies down in the entry way of the back doors of the truck.

I stood, stepping out of his way as he opened the second door wider for me to place my belt and uniform. The duty belt came off first, making me wince. I watched the firefighter’s eyebrows raise as he saw the slashed front and tattered side of my uniform shirt. The belt fell to the metal flooring with a heavy thud. I paused, willing the pain to subside before moving on to my shirt but to no avail.

“Shirt, too,” Bobby stood with his hands clasped down in front of him. “Or I can cut it off.”

“No need, Captain, just give me a sec,” I grunted and started undoing the buttons.

The hard part came when I had to shrug the shirt off. The movements made me tense up and clench my teeth.

“May I?” Bobby offered with medical shears in hand. “Not like you can wear that shirt again, anyway.”

“Fair enough…”

Bobby made quick work of the uniform shirt, cutting away as much as he could so I wouldn’t have to twist at all. He dropped his hands to where the shirt met my trousers, tugging the material forcefully out of my shirt stays—causing me to wince as the elastic snapped down my legs. He undid the Velcro of my body armor and lifted it over my head. He paused, taking in the slashed material below my patch. Luckily, only the outer covering had been frayed a bit, but no damage to the internal armor.

“Good thing you had this on, could have sliced yourself when you grabbed him,” Bobby indicated to the slice. His thumb ran over the small pink, yellow, and cyan patch, “Nice,” he smirked before setting that aside with my duty belt.

“Yea,” I jumped as he lifted my undershirt, some of my skin catching on the cotton. “You know what that is?”

“‘Course I do,” he stated matter-of-factly and sat on the edge of the truck so he was eye level with my affected side, below where the body armor had covered. “Pansexual flag, right?”

Surprised, I was too shocked to react when he began cleaning the wound, only reacting with a hiss when the delayed sting of antiseptic sunk in.

“Don’t look so shocked,” he laughed, dabbing at the wound to make sure there was nothing foreign in it. “I’m Bi.”

Still speechless, I simply held my shirt up for him as he worked with my mouth slightly open in shock.

“Again, don’t look so surprised,” he chuckled.

“It’s just…sorry. Sorry,” I laughed. “Athena thought you were straight.”

“Talking about me, huh?” He chuckled, making my face heat up before he continued, “Don’t worry, we’ve all discussed you plenty. And, anyway, I mean I’ve never expressly said it. Nor, have I publicly dated a man,” he shrugged. “I wouldn’t be opposed to it, of course.”

By now, Bobby had stopped working on the wound and was just staring up at me with an amused expression on his handsome face.

“You should close your mouth before you catch something with it, Officer.”

Without thinking, I blurted out my name and immediately apologized, “Sorry, uh, you can…yea you can just call me…yea.”

“Bobby,” he offered me. “Well,” he sighed my name, causing shivers to go up my spine. “Laceration isn’t too deep, you won’t need stitches, thankfully, but it’s also not going to feel nice because the area gets a lot of movement and creasing. The burn around it is pretty enflamed. You won’t need anything major done but this’ll take some time to heal. I have some burn cream if you want it?”

“Please, thank you,” I cleared my throat, hoping to get rid of the raspy, huskiness that had developed.

Soon, cold, white paste was being gently applied to the burned area and then he was covering it with gauze and tape. I let my under shirt fall back down into place, catching a split second where Bobby’s eyes flicked to the rest of my abdomen before it was covered.

“Thank you.”

“No problem,” he smiled, pausing briefly to look at his boots. “Would yo—.”

“Cap is going to murder me,” Athena groaned from behind me, startling me out of whatever trance Bobby had pulled me into. “What the hell happened?”

“I—I’m okay…”

“Just a cut and a burn, ‘Thena, he’ll live,” Bobby chuckled, standing and snapping off the gloves now smeared with cream.

“Next time warn your partner before you go gallivanting into a burning car?”

“Sorry,” I smiled.

“Mhmm,” she responded, entirely unconvinced. “I gotta get him out of here, Bobby. Is he good to go?” Athena asked, tearing Bobby’s attention from me to her.

“Oh, uh, yea he’s perf—good, he’s good,” Bobby stumbled, a flush creeping up his neck. “It was nice to finally meet you.”

“You as well, Captain Nash,” I smiled, biting the inside of my cheek. I hastily grabbed my duty belt and shredded shirt before following Athena to her patrol car, waving to Bobby with a wince as my skin stretched.

We sat in the silence of the car for a few beats before Athena burst into laughter.

“You damn flirt, I knew it,” she laughed at me.

“Athena, he’s hot,” I whined. “Did you really expect me not to?”

“How about, we don’t tell Captain the extent of your injuries and I won’t tell anyone how shamelessly you flirted with Bobby.”

“To be fair—” I interjected, “—he totally flirted back.”

—

After a stern talking to—in the form of shouting—from our Captain, Athena and I cleaned up, changed, and were confined to the station for the rest of our shift. Athena assured me that we weren’t in actual trouble before we left the station to go home, making me at ease since the last thing I wanted was for her to get in trouble for my stupidity.

Currently, I was too hungry to dwell on it.

I was salivating over a pot of sautéing garlic, crushed red pepper, and oregano for a quick and easy red sauce and stirring loosely so they didn’t burn. Letting out a wild yawn and grunt, wiping my hands on the towel slung over my bare shoulder and turning to open the refrigerator, feeling my side twinge as I did. I yanked out a protein drink and downed it in two gulps, hoping to stave off my hunger while I cooked, before turning toward my designated medicine cabinet in the kitchen and popping a couple pain relievers. I got back to work and was just picking up a tube of tomato paste, ready to squeeze it in when there was a hesitant knock, followed by two firmer ones.

I certainly wasn’t expecting any guests, but grumbled and shut off the flame under my pot just in case and moved it to a cool burner. It would be a tragedy if my garlic burned, after all. I didn’t even think twice about my state of undress, clad in only a pair of sweats and socks—with my kitchen towel over my shoulder—before I was yanking my door open to find the last person I expected to be on the other side of it.

Bobby. Dressed in jeans and a worn button down with his hands stuffed in his pockets, he immediately yanked them out and stood straighter like he had at the scene earlier.

“Hey, uh, hope this isn’t too strange—uh,” he scratched the back of his head. “I—uh—wasn’t sure if you had any burn cream and I forgot to sneak you some earlier.”

I didn’t know what to say, my mouth opening and shutting a couple times, “No—I—I was actually going to Instacart some so you saved me a few dollars.”

“Ours is better anyway,” he chuckled before his smile dropped again. “I—er—got your address from Athena, sorry if that was not…good.”

“It’s fine. I’ll give her a stern talking to about giving my address to strange men,” I smiled at his good natured laugh and opened my door wider. “Do you want to come in? I was just making dinner if you’re hungry.”

“Oh, I don’t want to intrude. You look…busy,” he cleared his throat, clearly avoiding looking at my bare chest.

I looked down at myself and chuckled, “Not busy enough to put a shirt on, clearly. But I could be…” I relished watching his neck flush up to his cheeks, “Come on in, I hear you’re the resident cook at the firehouse. I need a chef’s opinion on this sauce.”

Bobby perked up at the offer, “Well, if it’s a professional opinion you need…” He stepped through the doorway, shoulder brushing my chest as he tugged the towel off my shoulder and promptly slapped it over his own in transit.

“Give me one sec, let me grab a shirt,” I said, jogging over to where I had a black t-shirt thrown over my couch. I did a three-sixty to make sure the rest of the living room wasn’t a complete mess.

“You don’t have to, it’s your apartment,” he mumbled. “Plus, I’m sure that hurts to put on,” Bobby finally looked over at me, his gaze unmistakably on my exposed skin.

“Ah, well,” I shrugged, tugging the shirt on the arm of the injured side, maneuvering my other arm in, and flinging the rest over my head. I smirked to myself when the material clung tightly to my body, probably one size too small for me. “It hurt more taking it off, honestly, and I don’t wanna be too underdressed,” I grinned.

I jogged quickly back over to the kitchen, sliding in my socks near the end and found Bobby gazing at me with an amused upturn of his lips with his arms folded tightly over his chest. Fuck.

“Had to turn the flame off to answer the door, so let me get this warm again,” I hummed. “Alexa! Play my ‘Oldies but Goodies’ playlist on low.” I ignored her response and immediately began humming and swaying to myself as Billy Joel started playing while I brought the ingredients back up to a good temperature.

“Really? Is that because I’m here?” Bobby shoved my shoulder.

“Hey! I’ll have you know I was raised on this!” I pushed back before grabbing the tube of tomato paste off the counter. I was opening the tube when I stopped and just about broke my neck looking at him quickly.

The sudden movement broke him put of whatever trance he was in while watching me cook, eyes widening in surprise, “What?”

“I’m so rude. Can I get you something to drink? I have water, juice, and—er—protein shakes. I think that’s it.”

“Water's fine, I can get it. Fridge?” at my hum of affirmation he opened the refrigerator behind me and looked back at me in the small space, his voice suddenly very close to my back and neck, “Want one?”

I cleared my suddenly dry throat, “Please.”

Licking my lips, I set back to work and squeezed the paste in the pot before stirring it in.

“Here you go,” he set the bottle on the counter before twisting his own open and taking a sip.

I fumbled with closing the tube of paste nearly dropping the cap, “Shit—ah!” I squeaked and snatched the cap as it fell. “Sorry. Thank you,” I finally responded, licking paste off my wrist and grimacing at the acidity.

Bobby smiled for the umpteenth time—and god I hope he never stopped—shaking his head as he took another drink, “Athena was right.”

“About what?” I asked, stirring so the ingredients wouldn’t burn.

“You,” he cocked his head at me. “You are a dork.”

“Rude.”

“Maybe,” he teased. “So, what brought you to that station?”

“Mm,” I hummed while opening the can of tomato sauce, “The tsunami actually. It did a number on my old station, I don’t even think it’s up and running yet, I think they’re still running out of another building. But, anyway, during some of the search and rescue, I broke my arm and I’d been in a cast for a while. They transferred me to this station to do more administrative work in the mean time, that’s how I met Athena.”

“Oh wow, I’m sorry.”

“It’s all part of the job,” I shrugged, pouring in the sauce and throwing the flame higher while I stirred. “It’s funny actually. Today, Athena convinced our Captain to let me out on patrol with her since my doctor cleared me for normal exercise with my arm and then that call happened,” I laughed.

“Luckily, you had a strapping firefighter to rescue you,” Bobby teased.

“Luckily, I had a strapping firefighter to rescue, I think you mean,” I teased back, flicking the burner to simmer.

“Of course, how could I forget my knight in body armor.”

“Damn right,” I winked. “Now, come over here, Chef Nash, and let me know how I did.” I waved my hand in presentation to the simmering pot, “Shit, wait!” I stopped him with a hand between his shoulder and chest—wow, that was firm—to hastily pour some salt in my hand, pinch some, throw it in with a flourish, and toss the rest in the sink. I gave it another stir and stepped back.

Bobby stepped up, grabbed the spoon and dipped his pinky in it. Then, proceeded to push the spoon toward me to do the same while shoving his pinky in his mouth to suck the sauce off. I barely managed to dip my own finger in the spoon as I imagined his tongue lapping the sauce away. By the way his eyes swirled with playfulness, I knew that he knew exactly what he was doing. I could finally breathe again when he released his pinky, taking the opportunity to lick my finger and suck the end with a quick ‘pop’ and a moan thrown in for good measure.

“It’s really good,” he praised.

“Thank y—”

“—But! We can do better.”

My mouth snapped shut with a pout as Bobby turned and opened my refrigerator with renewed purpose. He hummed to himself quietly before making a noise of success and coming back out with a sprig of leftover basil I had bought for a pesto I made a few days ago.

“You’re a genius!” I groaned, snagging the sprig from him and plucking the leaves off.

I went to throw them haphazardly into the sauce when Bobby’s hand shot out and grabbed my wrist before I could let them go, “Woah, there.” He guided my hand toward himself, bringing me deliciously close to him. Close enough to breathe in whatever he had sprayed himself with before coming here, and definitely close enough to see the way his eyes dropped to my parted lips. “We can be a little more sophisticated than that,” he breathed, his voice suddenly huskier than it was a few seconds ago.

“Show me.”

“With pleasure,” he licked his bottom lip and plucked the leaves from my fingers.

I watched as he stepped over to the cutting board where I had chopped the garlic, taking the time to stack the basil leaves on each other before rolling them into a cylinder. He fetched the knife that lay nearby and sliced the leaves with quick, light strokes, leaving green ribbons in his wake. Bobby lifted the cutting board and slid the ribbons into the sauce to simmer, giving me a smug smirk as he turned to face me after. I took the liberty of stirring the sauce while we waited for it to come together.

“It should be good now,” he nodded toward the pot, so I lifted the spoon and dipped my finger right after he did.

He sucked the sauce off his finger with a proud hum and a nod of approval, me not getting as distracted as I did the first time. I stuck my finger my mouth, my eyes immediately falling shut as I tasted the small difference the basil made. Letting my eyes flutter back open as I removed my finger, the air was sucked out of the room as I saw how dark Bobby’s eyes had gotten.

“I concede. You were right.”

Bobby didn’t respond, instead staring at my mouth.

“What’s wrong?”

Snapped out of his stare, Bobby blinked rapidly, “N—nothing, sorry. You have a little sauce…” He mimed the general area with his hand on his own face.

“Oh,” I furrowed my brows and wiped my face with my palm but didn’t feel any. “Did I get it?”

“No, it’s…” he mimed again, stepping closer.

“Whe—” my words were cut off as I felt warm lips on mine.

I sagged into his arms, a sigh escaping my throat as he pressed himself against me. In an attempt to not stretch my side so much, I kept my hands low and framing the sides of Bobby’s torso. It was nice—really nice—and I had to stop myself from deepening the kiss as I felt his hands clutch my upper arms. I let him pull away but kept him close since he didn’t step back.

“Bobby…”

“I’m sorry, that was inappro—”

“No…” I shook my head. I leaned forward again, just enough to feel his nose touch mine, “Can I…?” I felt him nod against me and dipped my head back in to touch my lips to his, letting my hand on my non-injured side come up to the back of his neck. This kiss was just as short as the last and just as nice, not wanting to overwhelm him so quickly.

“That was…” Bobby trailed off as we separated again.

“…Life changing?” I winked.

Bobby scoffed out a laugh, “I was going to say good, but you ruined it so…”

“Shut up,” I scowled playfully, tugging him back by the belt and kissing him sweetly once more. I furrowed my brows as I pulled back, tilting my head to the side in thought, “There wasn’t anything on my face, was there?” I squinted at him.

“Definitely not,” he let out a soft chuckle.

“Mm,” I hummed, “you’re forgiven.”

We pulled apart, somewhat reluctantly, and served two plates after making sure the stove was shut off. While the kisses were brief, I couldn’t stop licking my lips and remembering what Bobby's felt like on mine. Lingering glances and sly smirks permeated our conversation over dinner. I learned more about him than what Athena divulged to me and I’m sure the same went for him. Soon enough our plates were empty and we were idly chatting over the nearly clean plates.

“Do you want more?” Bobby spoke up during a lull in the conversation.

“Yea, but I can—,” I stood to go get more, wincing as the skin pulled.

“Nonsense,” Bobby stood and grabbed my plate, balancing both on one forearm. With his free hand, I felt his fingers brush the nape of my neck before disappearing entirely.

With full bellies, we sat on the couch and picked up the conversation again until it died off into a comfortable silence.

“You shower already?” Bobby muttered as he fished something out of his jean pocket.

“Mm,” I hummed and nodded. “Why? You trying to give me a sponge bath, Nurse Nash?”

“You wish,” he snorted. “Here.”

“Oh, bless,” I sighed, grabbing the burn cream from Bobby. “I’ll switch my gauze out before bed and put it on.”

“I'll do it for you. Bring it out here,” Bobby nodded in the general direction of my bathroom.

“You just want my shirt off again,” I teased.

“I will neither confirm nor deny,” Bobby murmured back with pink cheeks. “But I’m sure it’s easier than twisting.”

“You have a point…” I pursed my lips and headed off to grab my first aid kit from the bathroom.

When I returned with the box, Bobby was fiddling with the cap of the tube absentmindedly. I set the box on the arm of the couch and reached my arm on my good side back to grab the back of my shirt collar. I yanked the material over my head and let it slide off the arm of my burned side and on to the floor. At some point as I took it off, Bobby stared at the skin revealed to him.

“Earth to Captain Nash,” I snickered at the dazed expression on the older man’s face, letting my hand slip to the back of his head to run over the soft hairs while guiding his head up to look at me.

“Sorry…” Bobby gulped, eyes tracing my form as he felt blindly for the first aid box.

When he found it, he placed the box in his lap to distract himself, finding gloves, gauze, and tape with little effort. He snapped the gloves on with practiced ease and leaned forward as I stepped in between his legs and turned my side toward him. I winced as he pulled at one end of the tape, grabbing his shoulder with the hand on my bad side for some kind of support as he continued. When the cut and burn were open to the air, Bobby took a second to look it over to make sure it hadn’t gotten worse since the last time he saw it. Satisfied, Bobby twisted open the tube and applied more burn cream, making me shiver from the cold touch.

I let my fingers curve around the nape of his neck, barely noticing Bobby pressing back against my hand in the slightest of ways. He quickly covered the wound with new gauze and tape and sat back a little to take the gloves off, which he deposited on the closed first aid kit with the other trash. He set the box and trash aside while I deliberated picking up my shirt or not.

Deciding to leave it on the floor, I looked down at where Bobby sat waiting in quiet contemplation, “So, Captain…” I trailed off, stepping back into his space, which he gladly leaned in for. “…in your professional experience, does ‘kissing it better’ usually work?”

A smile lit up his face, followed by an incredulous snort, “No, never.” He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, “Though, it might not hurt to try.” Bobby hooked a finger in the waistband of my sweats to pull me closer, glancing up at me once before pressing his lips to the undamaged skin next to the medical tape, “Better?”

“Mmm, no,” I sighed feigning dejection. “Maybe you’re administering it incorrectly.”

“Oh?”

“Mm,” I hummed, leaning forward until I had one knee pressed against the outside of his thigh on the couch cushion.

When he didn’t stop me, I closed the distance further and threw my other knee down so I was straddling his hips but not fulling sitting in his lap just yet. Garnering no complaints, if the way his hands squeezed my thighs were anything to go by, I draped my arms over his shoulders and gave him a playful smirk with my tongue running over my lower lip.

“Here?” He raised his eyebrows, and pressed a kiss to where his mouth height was at my sternum.

“Eh…” I teased, letting my fingers play with the buzzed hair at the nape of his neck.

Bobby hummed dramatically, letting his arm wind around my good side until his hand was splayed over my back. With a sharp tug from Bobby that I hadn’t been expecting, my ass was forced into his lap. A rather embarrassing whine slipped past my lips at the contact.

“Oh, here…?” Bobby murmured, tilting his head to press his lips where my neck met my shoulders.

“A—almost…” I sighed.

Bobby tilted his head up higher to find a new spot, making me lick my lips in anticipation of feeling his once more. He surged up—finally—but my previous anticipation was wasted as my lips met his chin and a soft pressure pressed against my nose.

“Jerk,” I mumbled against his skin.

Bobby gasped softly, “You mean that didn’t work either?”

“You know it didn’t, Bo—” the words died in my throat as Bobby finally pressed his mouth where I wanted it.

His lips meshed easily with mine, pressing just as softly as before but with more urgency just below the surface. I moaned suddenly as his lips parted and sucked my bottom lip between his, tongue laving over the skin and—oh—was he good at that. Taking his cue, I returned the urgency, parting my own lips and tentatively meeting his tongue; retreating with a quick flick to the roof of his mouth. Thick, strong fingers dug into my hips while I searched for any purchase on his head but his hair was far too short for me to do much. I settled for running a thumb across his jaw instead—oh that strong jaw—

Bobby suddenly parted, breathing just the slightest bit elevated with his normally thin lips now spit slick and veering on the side of swollen. His hands refused to move, keeping me close as he caught his breath.

“Better?” He panted, licking over his lips.

I was confused for a moment, so worked up that I had forgotten what he was referring to until his knowing smirk made me remember, “Oh! Oh, yes. Much better, Captain. You were definitely administering it wrong initially.”

A soft chuckle escaped his lips, “Good to know, I’ll take notes for my next patient.”

My eyes narrowed at his teasing, a small pout forming on my lips, “Next patient?”

“Well, unless you’re going to go getting hurt again…”

“A hot firefighter told me earlier this was going to take some time to heal…” I trailed off, pursing my lips to hold back a laugh while still running my hands over his hair soothingly. “Plus, I’ve been told I can be a danger to myself on the job—and—well, and off the job. I’m a bit of a klutz, okay?”

A brilliant smile spread over his face, eyes sparkling with humor, “Got it, so…you’d like me to continue being your care provider?”

“If you’re amenable, of course.”

“Would you be available for a consultation this Thursday at seven? No charge, of course, my treat.”

“I can definitely do that and—” I brought my lips down for another kiss, “—I think we can agree to split the bill, I’m a big boy.”

“You…” Bobby trailed off, eyes looking down appreciatively and landing on my tented sweatpants, “…you sure are, Officer.”

I felt my face redden at the innuendo and the fact that I was very clearly tenting the sweatpants, “Sorry about that.”

“Don’t be. Because, believe me, if I wasn’t trapped in jeans right now…” Bobby trailed off with a chuckle. “And with that…I think it’s time for me to go before I lose whatever self control I might have right now.”

“Good idea. I suppose there’s a reason you’re a Captain and I’m most definitely not,” I laughed, pushing myself up and sliding off his lap until I was on my own two feet again. I just about giggled under my breath as Bobby stood, readjusting his jeans to a more comfortable position.

He followed me to the front door, stopping short when he saw the mess in my kitchen, “I should probably help you with that.”

“As nice as that would be…” I cut him off from the entryway, “…the longer you stay, the more both of us will be worked up and I kind of want to wait a couple more dates.”

“Good,” Bobby smiled, moving into my space, “me too.” He caged me in against the wall somewhat, not that I minded, “You should swing by the firehouse some time for food. If you—uh—if you give me your number I can let you know when I make something or need a sous-chef.”

“I’d like that,” I chewed on my lip while fishing my phone from my pocket and making a new contact. I preemptively typed his name out with “Bobby” being the beginning, followed by both a flame and a heart emoji.

Soft laughter bubbled up from Bobby’s throat as I handed the phone to him and he noticed the name.

“Let me know when you get home safe?” I murmured when he handed it back with the contact already saved. I shot him a quick text so he would have my number.

“Of course.”

Bobby pressed me firmly against the wall, stealing another kiss that I was all too willing to give. With a press of his hips against mine, my brain was short circuiting and I had to convince myself all over again that picking him up and carrying him to my bed was not what either of us wanted.

“Think about me later?” I winked as we pulled apart.

“I—uh—most likely will, “ Bobby murmured, his flush meeting his ears instantly. “I’ll see you Thursday, then? I’ll text you with the details,” he finally stepped back and grasped the door handle, twisting it as he spoke.

“You’ll see me Thursday,” I confirmed, following him half way out of the door as he opened it and stepped through.

Like a lovesick teenager, I pressed my back against the door after it closed, hoping to hear back from him like he promised. With a final glance at the mess in my kitchen, I sighed and decided to distract myself with cleaning until then.

#bobby nash x reader #male!reader #911 fanfic #911 imagine #911 x reader #Bobby Nash imagine #Meet cute

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tacticalhimbo · 1 year

Text

YALE PSYCHIATRIC - THE TRAGIC CASE OF FATHER JOHN WARD (FAITH: THE UNHOLY TRINITY)

With the new drop of development notes into the GOODIES folder of the game, I wanted to revisit an old analysis I did way back during the era of the Chapter 2 demo.

The long story made short is this: John has an interesting psychology that is backed by the in-game letters and allusions to his hospitalization at Yale Psychiatric. That being said, it isn't really expanded upon because it's not a core element to the plot.

Which, to an extent, can be disagreed with because it is entirely possible that the events of The Unholy Trinity are told through the perspective of an unreliable narrator (John), which then means that some (if not all) events that take place are exaggerated and intensified by John's mental state.

If you ask me, I see the series of events as a blend of details. Demons exist and the cult is very much up to something, but certain things are manipulated to fit a narrative (think, the Martin twins. Amy's mother miscarried, yet John was manipulated into believing the cult had kidnapped the born children for their rituals). I might expand on that another time, but for now, here is my perspective on the characterization of John Ward, and how mental illness plays a significant role throughout the series.

DISCLAIMER: I am not a psychiatric professional. I do have a degree and spent years studying the intersection between the mental health and correctional systems, but I am not a clinician or an individual with a lot of clinical knowledge. I'm just a guy with too much time on their hands and a tendency to let the autism win (/lh /j). Also, if there are any grammar issues… I know. It was, like, 3 AM when I wrote this, and I don't care to tidy it up more than I have tried to.

With this out of the way, let's dive into it. Below the cut will be spoilers for the game and discussions regarding psychiatric abuse. Reader discretion is advised.

In-game dialog and other citations will be highlighted using small text, as I cannot for the life of me get the indent/blockquote feature to work on desktop.

As of writing this post (January 2023), there are five notes regarding John's admission to Yale Psychiatric after the failed exorcism of Amy Martin. I'm going to transcribe them in order of events, and not in the order they are found. The first note we would see examining John's case file, if he were an actual patient, would be the intake assessment form:

Yale Psychiatric Institute NEW PATIENT INTAKE FORM

Patient Name: Ward, John Thomas

Age: 33 Sex: M Ethnicity: White/Caucasian

Assigned Counselor: Spinel, James, PhD

Health Examination Results: Height: 6 feet 2 inches Weight: 185 lbs HR: 92 bpm Blood Pressure: 135/81

Current Status: Minor cuts and bruises, sprain in left ankle.

Patient is in a state of psychologic shock.

Existing Conditions:

Asthma (dormant) Diminished mobility from childhood injury to right knee.

Notice the little note there about psychologic shock. We do get elaboration on the comment made by whoever conducted the intake process, which come from Yale Psychiatric Notes 1 & 2:

Notes - new patient initial consultation

Subject: John Thomas Ward

Present: Dr. James Spinel, PhD, and two orderlies

Subject non-responsive for first half-hour, followed by fragmented 'exorcism' narrative

Subject unable to maintain consistency in story (for example, stating that Amy was in the basement and then saying she was in the attic)

Subject insists incident was the result of demonic possession

Cannot declare subject of sound mind; will require several more sessions to fully understand subject's mental state. Will advise Martin Family attorneys.

—

Subject is suffering from delusion. In John's mind, he plays the role of the hero sent by God to protect the innocent. In order to escape the consequences of his actions, he has created his own reality. In order for everything to make sense, he needs to believe in the evil spirits and paranormal occurrences. I recommend an in-vivo approach until we can get John to accept the truth.

And for the love of God, please have Ms. Martin transferred to another facility. Somehow, John knows that she is in here with him.

Then there's the newer documentation and references to In Vivo, found in the GOODIES folder of the game. See the text around bullet point 3.

[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: An image of development notes for Faith: The Unholy Trinity Chapter 3, which were taken in an non-lined notebook. There are several roughly drawn images of the page, consisting of level mapping for puzzles in what the developer has called, in previous notes, GaryLand. The text beside bullet point 3 reads "Mini-environments to collect keys. Re-contextualized once you grab key (lost In Vivo). Placement of plagas cultists is 'contested space'. Keys? Sigils? Body parts? Notes alluding that John was there". Beside the last note is a doodle of the eyes emoji, with two stylized eyes looking to the left toward the text. END DESCRIPTION.]

Here's the thing about psychiatric institutions: They suck.

The mental health system in modern day America is better than it was in the 80s, naturally, but not by much. It is important to note that the deinstitutionalization of the mental health system was the right call to make. However, I must note that the lack of funding and resource allocation (mostly due to greed among politicians and public perception of those with mental illness) made it so that individuals are still institutionalized. As of the modern era, individuals with mental illness are disproportionately incarcerated.

The Prison Policy Initiative has a wonderful online research library with up-to-date and reflective research on the rates and treatment of individuals incarcerated, as well as how current carceral practices only work to exacerbate these issues through intensive focus on punishment:

But traveling back in time, before the tides shifted, we have to understand what the environment was like within psychiatric wards/asylums.

The deinstitutionalization of mental health emerged in the 50s following World War II. To make a very long story short, the human rights abuses were put into the spotlight. Several factors, such as inhumane living conditions, harmful treatment practices (which we will elaborate on later), and the rising costs and demand for psychiatric treatment, all contributed to the call for deinstitutionalization. The goal was to improve the quality of life for people with mental illness, and to really just… allow them to exist as humans within society. Though the movement began in the 50s, it didn't gain much popularity among advocate groups until the 60s and 70s (e.g., the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and Project Release), where the movement truly took off.

However, large-scale closures of institutions didn't actually happen until the 80s, at least in the States. This means that, come 1986/1987, there were still institutions actively running. If you'd like to read more about how psychiatric institutions were run in this era, then I highly recommend reading Dr. David Laing Dawson's personal testimonies as a clinician during the era of asylums and advocacy:

But what were popular treatment modalities for patients like John? Firstly, and mentioned in the in-game notes, we have In Vivo Exposure Therapy, or more simply put: Exposure Therapy.

The American Psychiatric Association, in their Clinical Practice Guideline(s) for the Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (2023), define In Vivo Exposure as:

Directly facing a feared object, situation or activity in real life. For example, someone with a fear of snakes might be instructed to handle a snake, or someone with social anxiety might be instructed to give a speech in front of an audience.

This intervention is not limited to PTSD, though, and is often used for other clinical concerns such as phobias, panic and anxiety, and (in some cases) Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. The ultimate goal is to break the pattern of avoidance while confronting the fear in a safe environment. Which is great… for patients who are ready to confront these things. If there's one lesson to take away from this post, it's that treatment cannot be forced. Treatment is ineffective if the person requiring it is non-consenting or otherwise unwilling/unable to go through the modality.

So when you look at a patient like John, who is in an active state of crisis, and decide the best treatment intervention is to (effectively) tell him to "Suck it up" and induce anxiety and fear? It's disgusting and it would, in a realistic scenario, only exacerbate his symptoms even further. Which it seems to do, if the line about John having a reaction to Amy's presence in Yale Psychiatric is anything to go by. The man believes she is possessed by a demon (or knows she is), and has intense dread and anxiety around trying to save her (to the point where it's already a fixation). Exposing him to Amy's presence, or even the possibility of it, is not going to do him well until he is guided down from a crisis state and able to understand what is going on (as well as process the events that took place in the Martin home, because Amy would be a psychological trigger of recollection for said events).

John's official diagnoses are, ultimately, mild anxiety and acute coulrophobia (aka: fear of clowns). This much is clarified in the release form:

RELEASE FORM

SUBJECT: John Thomas Ward

DOR: 31 Oct 1986

This form certifies that the subject is hereby released from my care after having completed their required counseling and treatment to my satisfaction, with confidence that they are ready to resume their normal daily activities as a mentally stable member of society.

Dr. James Spinel, PhD

EXISTING CONDITION:

Mild anxiety

Acute coulrophobia

As an aside, can we just point out how John was only admitted for a month, give or take some days? Even if we take the events at face value (aka: demons are real; Hell is real; Lucifer is planning an invasion of Earth to reclaim what God has taken from him-), this feels… entirely too short to state that John is fully recovered.

At least from my interpretation of the intent behind "a mentally stable member of society", as the stigmatization of mental illness would place the burden of showing minimal, if any, signs of distress within day to day life… unless you were a hard-working husband who drank off most of his time at home while beating his wife, lest we forget the nuclear family values and toxic masculinity that still run rampant in American society. But I digress...

And immediately bring your attention to a bit of a continuity issue that, effectively, renders my last point moot: John's letter to Dr. McGlashan, who we can assume is a director of sorts within Yale Psychiatric.

This note is dated for December 30th, 1986:

Dear Dr. McGlashan,

It has been thirty days since the beginning of my treatment here at Yale Psychiatric Institute. Dr. Spinel, who has been so patient with me, has helped me understand my afflictions and has helped me fund a way to move forward and accept the truth.

With Dr. Spinel's help, I have come to accept what really happened in September at the Martin family residence. I accept that what happened was not the result of any supernatural phenomenon, but rather the desperate actions of a young girl driven to violence by her dogmatic parents and old church rituals that are thought to drive out evil.

I am happy to report that, since accepting the truth, my nightmares have ceased and I now enjoy peace of mind that I have not felt since the incident. Given my progress since first coming here, I respectfully request my release from Yale Psychiatric Institute, contingent upon follow-up appointments with Dr. Spinel in the future.

Sincerely,

John Ward

And raises several questions, such as:

If the failed exorcism took place in September, does this mean that John was within Yale Psychiatric from September to December?

Why was there a release form authorized in October 1986 by Dr. Spinel?

John states, "It has been thirty days since the beginning of my treatment […]". Does this mean that there was a second admission period between October and December?

If there was, when did that occur? Was he brought back in during the last weeks of October? In November?

My personal belief is that John was institutionalized twice. Once immediately following the failed exorcism, and once more after due to a relapse (hence the specification "[…] contingent upon follow-up appointments with Dr. Spinel in the future."). John, by this point, is aware of his mental health concerns and acknowledges that he needs more in regard to his treatment. Here, he's showing a clear capacity to establish and (hopefully) follow a community treatment regiment.

And this is where a bibically-accurate, canonical analysis, would end. A bit of insight into what happened, why it happened, and the ramifications (albeit brief). But here's the thing:

I believe there's more to John's case, since I believe in the blending of two prominent theories (everything is real versus everything is imagined). Personally, based on these notes and a few key dialogs within Chapter 3, I believe that John (in addition to the Anxiety) experiences Psychosis brought on by Paranoid Schizophrenia. In context of the game's plot, he experiences Persecutory and Grandiose Religious Delusions.

Let me explain.

There are several types of delusions, and the severity of these delusions can vary from individual to individual. More on the specifics (as well as recommended treatment modalities) can be found in this PDF.

Generally speaking, though, the types of delusions I mentioned are described as follows:

Grandiose: An individual experiences an exaggerated sense of importance, power, knowledge, or identity, that may have some type of theme.

Persecutory: An individual is fixated on the prospect of being attacked, harassed, persecuted, or conspired against.

Sounds familiar, yeah? Let's break it down:

Grandiose: Exhibited in all chapters. John is of the belief that he is a destined savior to Amy Martin. That he is the only one who can save her from the demon(s) plaguing her because he is the only one with the power and ability to do so. He, in the Super Miriam boss fight, also claims to have God's power directly within him. That he, in a way, is God (at least, in that moment).

Persecutory: Exhibited in all chapters, prominent in Chapter 3. In Chapter 1, there's "The Offering" Ending. John is (or perceives to be) stopped in the middle of the road home by Gary and his cult. Then, in Chapter 3, the entire arc around Gary's cult centers around the idea of John being persecuted (targeted by the cult for his attempts to save Amy).

But I feel like this expansion on John's psyche is supported within the canon itself, even if not explicit. Let's look more at the dialog cues from other characters.

One thing that slates me toward this conclusion is the brief mention of John's mother, Meredith. Amy's demon taunts John by asking him "What about Meredith? Did she get better?" and says how he couldn't save her. And based on the delivery of this line, it's clear that some sort of illness was what killed Meredith. Given that Schizophrenia in of itself typically doesn't cause death (though symptoms can contribute to other factors, such as poor physical health, risk-taking behaviors, higher risks of suicide), we have to look beyond the mental health aspect for a brief moment.

According to fairly recent research, there have been connections made between an individual's Schizophrenia diagnosis and their likelihood for developing Alzheimer's Disease. Kochunov et al. (2020) state:

"Schizophrenia (SZ) is a severe psychiatric illness associated with an elevated risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Both SZ and AD have white matter abnormalities and cognitive deficits as core disease features. […] SZ and AD have diverse etiologies and clinical courses; our findings suggest that white matter deficits may represent a key intersecting point for these 2 otherwise distinct diseases. Identifying mechanisms underlying this white matter deficit pattern may yield preventative and treatment targets for cognitive deficits in both SZ and AD patients."

Now, as a personal note, I have seen and experienced what Alzheimer's can do to people and how long of a process it is. My maternal grandfather, tragically, passed due to the illness in 2020. I still cannot discuss the symptomatology and progression in full as a result of the grief, but I can direct attention to the Alzheimer's Association and their article on the stages of progression:

Returning to the psychoanalytical aspect, mental illness can be hereditary and passed down, in addition to being individually developed (through whatever means, which are often referred to as the biopsychosocial factors of development). Such is true with the case of Schizophrenia.

Additionally, there does seem to be evidence suggesting that John's perception of events is questionable. Of course, I must note here that every character in this story is an unreliable narrator. Every character has their motives in the information they share and how they share it. This is in no way, shape, or form, me saying that other characters are objectively right in their perceptions. Especially Gary.

Gary is a cult leader. Even if the cult is not as dramatized as they appear to be (e.g., they are not, in fact, kidnapping babies and sacrificing people)… he is still running a cult. He is still capable of being manipulative regardless. I can absolutely delve into the psychology and structure of cults, but this post is long enough as is.

So instead, let's look at what it is Gary says to contradict John's point of view. The primary dialog that I believe points us to a faulty perception is Gary's recollection of the Martin twins:

"Oh, John… deep down, you always knew the twins were an illusion. But you could not resist chasing after lost (hurt) souls. I suppose you wished they were real, just like the late Mrs. Martin. That is how I knew you would come to me."

The popular analysis among the fandom is that Mrs. Martin miscarried the twins, and experienced a rough patch of grief surrounding the event. Again, I have seen similar experiences in my personal life, so I can sympathize with and affirm how rough this process can be. This is why Mrs. Martin had put effort into the belief that they were still expected/born, with the room being set up for them and the crib being discarded in the Martin's basement (as well as the birthday party and clown aspect).

John knew this at the time of exorcising Amy, but his own mental break altered his perception of events and made him believe in the same narrative that Mrs. Martin presented: The twins were alive. The difference here is that John tied the twins into his perception of the game's events, and came to the conclusion that Gary (and his cult) kidnapped them for ritualistic reasons.

Likewise, a lot of Gary's dialog has key words switched out. A list of these words is as follows, with their substitutions in parentheses:

enter (abuse)

lost (hurt) souls

Vessel (Victim)

journey (despair)

Again, this could be a simple nod to Gary's capacity for manipulation as a cult leader. But that doesn't exclude it from also pointing out John's perception of the series' events. In fact, this could be John's psyche interjecting and affirming itself.

So, if John does have this diagnosis, what would a thorough treatment modality look like if they'd pinpointed it back then? If he was institutionalized a third time, after stopping the Profane Sabbath?

The answer to that is either Insulin Shock Therapy (IST)/Insulin Coma Therapy (ICT), or Chlorpromazine (a strong antipsychotic medication).

It's important to note here that IST/ICT fell out of favor in the 1960s, like most shock therapies (with the exception of electroconvulsive therapy). Jones (2000) details the history and modality of ICT, stating:

"Comas were induced on five or six mornings a week. Typically, the third dose of insulin was 10±15 units with a daily increase of 5±10 units until the patient showed severe hypoglycemia. Treatment continued until there was a satisfactory psychiatric response or until 50±60 comas had been induced. Experienced therapists let patients spend up to 15 minutes in 'deep coma' with hypotonia and absent corneal and pupillary reflexes. Clinicians noted gross variation between individuals in response to a given dose of insulin. Also, in the course of treatment a patient could show day-to-day variation in his reaction. Further there was an uncertain relationship between clinical signs and the blood glucose level. The hypoglycemia made patients extremely restless and liable to major convulsions. Comas were terminated by administration of glucose via a nasal tube or intravenously."

If any of this sounds vaguely familiar, it's because the treatment modality was highlighted in the story of John Nash, a fundamental American mathematician with Schizophrenia.

The 2001 film A Beautiful Mind showcases Nash's story, including the usage of ICT. Attached is a video clip from the film, which contains content that may be triggering/disturbing. Watching it is not vital to this analysis, as it's to illustrate the paragraph above:

youtube

Ultimately, the takeaway is this:

Mental illness plays a huge role in the game's overarching narrative, even if not considered a major plot element in of itself. The Satanic Panic was a moral panic used by fundamentalist Christians to excuse abuse within their churches, excuse the discrimination of BIPOC and queer folk, and dismiss rising concerns regarding mental health advocacy. This, alongside simply targeting youth subcultures to preserve the nuclear family imagery that arose during the previous generations.

John Ward is easily one of the most fascinating characters to exist, in my opinion, because of how his character is linked to this idea. John Ward is a beacon (for a lack of better term) for this message within the game. He exhibits mental health issues canonically (re: the official diagnoses) and can be analyzed as having a deeper, more expansive diagnosis.

Everything I have said is interpretation, and is not entirely canon in the bibically-accurate sense. This is just a topic that's been in my mind since the release of Chapter 2's demo. You can feel free to agree or disagree with literally anything I have said, and I love hearing others' interpretations as well! The theories scattered around the fandom, whether posted on the Fandom Wiki or hidden in the tags on Tumblr, are just… so good. So I wanted to help contribute in some way!

And for those that read this far... Thank you <3

#txt #faith the unholy trinity #faith chapter 3 #john ward #tw psychiatric abuse #cw medical #meta post #meta analysis #my writing #gary miller #amy martin #meredith ward

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its-not-a-pen · 1 year

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1st day as an amateur illustrator. I spent three hours collecting pictures of ancient china only to realise i was looking at the wrong dynasty but I forgot to label the pictures and i dont have an organisational system in place so i have no way of seperating them from the correct dynasty, inadvertently creating the world's dumbest and most low-stakes russian roulette.

4th day as an amateur illustrator. i found some really good sources on ancient china but they're all in chinese and i can't read chinese so i'm been painstakingly Ctr + P --ing it into google translate until finally i get to a scanned pdf and at this point i just decided to cut my losses and get ratio'd by armchair historians.

5th day as an amateur illustrator. im 3 days ahead of schedule and make a vague but grandiose boast about my incredible skills and enviable work ethic. i also have a 50 point essay due in two weeks i haven't touched but that's neither here nor there.

6th day as an amateur illustrator. i realise i've miss-read the dynasty for the Warlord's little hat (apparently ming and han look very similar when you're sleep deprived) so i have to white-out ALL his panels and redraw his hat. it's at this point i start to realise life is imitating art.

7th day as an amateur illustrator. i realise i've been in the wrong dynasty this whole time. op was probably talking about the tumultuous 3 kingdoms period (late 2nd century) NOT the peaceful Han dynasty (early 2nd century) which seems blindingly obvious in hindsight. i fight the urge to convert all my manuscripts to kindling.

8th day as an amateur illustrator. i get some sleep and realise the 3k period was only 60 years long. i can still use my han references. i don't really have to do anything except change my notes.

10th day as an amateur illustrator. I wasn't happy with the background on a panel because the foreshortening was slightly off-center so i cut out the parts i liked, pasted it onto a new sheet of paper and redrew it. no my essay is still not finished stop asking.

12th day as an amateur illustrator. i finally finish the comic 3 days behind schedule. i bus to the library with my stuff in a folder because i don't have a printer at home then i realise in my sleep deprived state i forgot to rub out the pencil lines and you can see them on the scan but i don't have a rubber so i use the pdf editor to white them out with my trackpad and then the wifi at the library keeps cutting out so I can't upload any files. i've decided this is a sign that i should finish my essay before i bus back home.

#wips #life imitates art #never have i ever felt a strong kinship with someone totally imaginary #comic pending watch this space :)

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harryssslytherin · 8 months

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Halls of Illusions | J. Crane

Arkham stored the worst of the worst, batshit crazies and the ones who were just a menace to society. Especially the newest member of the nuthouse, Circe. Shes been in the asylum for now six months. Waiting for her release, that will never come.

Two strong guards opened the door to see the nut job on the ground, scratching with her fingers through the marks she made since she was thrown in the place. The two men scuffed as they heard her talk to herself in tongues.

“Get up, your shrink is arriving.” One of them said but Circe put up her shaky finger showing them to give her minute as she still speaks to herself. “Its your turn.” One of the men kicked her to knock it off and the other picked her up and dragged her away. She starts kicking so the other grabbed her legs and carried her.

Doctor Jonathan Crane scans through the files of his new patient that has been admitted to Arkham, and now just noticed. There was nothing, no name besides Circe, no address, no date of birth, nothing. As if she was created from thin air. He passes the screaming and begging of patients he admitted, making his way to the closed, windowless room. He watches the new patient trying to fight off the toughest and strongest guards in the hospital, screaming at them as they cuffed her to the table for Cranes safety. The boney woman hunched down, yet for being in here for six months, her hair looks too healthy and was unrealistically strong to fight back with their best stronger guards.

“All yours Dr. Crane.” The nurse smiles as the look on his face was in shocked. “Enjoy.” Crane fixed his tie and head inside to see the guards behind the woman and the woman’s hair all over her face.

“I would like to be with my patient, alone.” The two mumbled words and headed out. He noticed that one of them had blood dripping from his eye. “Im Doctor Jonathan Crane. Just call me Doctor Crane.” He sits down and waits for a response but nothing. “Circe, correct?” She hums. Okay, that’s something. “Like the god?”

“Im no man. Gods.” She snickered.

“What about last name?” He ignores her comment, he wanted to finish this meeting and just to be alone.

“What is that?” Jonathan pulls out his journal and starts to scribble down.

“Another name for you, like mine is Crane. Jonathan Crane.” Nothing. He sighs, this is going to be a pain in the ass. “Where are you from?”

“Somewhere.”

“Wheres somewhere?”

“Not from here.” Circe didn’t pick up her head, her hands cuffed to the table, in a awkward position.

“Why are you here?” He scans the file again but it wasn’t clear, meaning all it said was use of force, which is more of a police problem than his.

“Because using a sword on a man isn’t the right way to handle things.” Sword? Crane writes that he needs to see this supposed weapon next. “But your kind isn’t the best at being respectful.”

“My kind?”

“Men.” Great, Crane is in a room with a psycho who wields a sword and hates men. New one for the list. “I need to leave.”

“You and everyone who is here. Its not going to happen.” Circle finally picks up her head, hair slowly moving away from her face. Crane can see the bone structure, hate to say it but she looked like a goddess, sculpted by gods. She was almost too perfect. Not saying that she was perfect, but the way she was… no words can describe. Yes there are fairly good pretty girls out in Gotham but Circe took the lead. It was almost she wasn’t real. Like she wasn’t supposed be here.

“What can I do to change your mind, doctor?”

“How about you start from the beginning and tell me everything about yourself.” Circe scuffs.

“I will never trust a petty man.” Crane writes in his journal

HATES men

“You’re going to have to if you want to get out of this place.” Circe leans back on her chair. Her knees touching her chest as her bare feet had enough of the cold tile floor. He looks at her hands as they tapped on the metal table. Some were broken, short and some extremely long and sharp.

“I rather sacrifice my life than to say my life story to you.”

“Well I guess you stay here.”

“You have no idea what you are getting into.”

“Thats why I am here, sadly.”

“You’ll regret for keeping me here.”

“Don’t get too carried away with your thoughts on leaving. This is just the beginning Circe.” Crane snapped back as he had no patience to deal with her. Circe took this to heart. Her nose flared and her eyes widen. She snaps off the cuffs off her and Crane immediately calls for the guards, who rushed in and tackled her. Circe wickedly smiles at the doctor from the ground.

“I guess Ill see you again Doctor Crane.” She shouted as they took her back to dark holding cell.

#jonathan crane #dc comics #christopher nolan #cillian murphy #scarecrow #jonathan crane x reader

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theressomethinghappeninginparis · 4 months

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I got some additional information on the "Proto Nephilim" I could fill a whole book about it and people would still call it made up. Listen: I don't know if is is made up, and just used as a threat to the people here, and as a token to explain Eckhardt's evilness and whatnot, but I want to take notes throughout my journey. And maybe figure out if this was a fever dream afterwards.

Transcript of the first and second page: The name of this thing comes from "protos" meaning "first" and "nephilim", refering to Nephilim, the descendants of humans and angels. I took some photos from the file cabinets and soem descriptions, too. I don't know how much fanfiction this is, but apparently they really did experiments on random people. If I'm able to reverse image search the first drawing correctly, it is the skull of an ape, but the teeth are so long they resemble carnivorous fangs. A chimera perhaps? Sadly, I cannot read the text written next to it. So, according to some notes I can decipher or pretend I can the left is a human skeleton and the right is the Proto- it looks ape-ish? The drawn foot on the left is clearly a human's, the right has fingers and a thumb liek a primate. The fingers are way too elongated for a normal ape and it's not human either. The notes in a file talk about the left being a homo sapiens and the right a homo nephili, according to the man in the cell he carried the remains of the Proto "in his truck". Was this some way to resurrect it? Breeding it with a closely related species?

Transcript of the third and fourth page: Here's a sketc of ...bones, and I hope only bones. Not sure of they found these arranged already or tried to mix and match them, but this is what came out. My paranoia asks me whether they have kept this thing inside the cage dangling above an abyss? This skeleton was supposedly inside a truck (the inmate one's) and was carried all the way from Cappadocia, Turkey, to the Czech Republic. They probably found the remains closely together (as scribbled in the left corner) so they could put it back together, correct or not. Skeletons usually don't have flesh, otherwise they'd be mummies, thus there is no DNA. I can only speculate:

1. Remains of the Proto are found and carried to Prague. 2. They actually have DNA, thus flesh, this either a bit of cells or a whole fucking corpse 3. They succeed in breeding the Proto, the first Nephilim-thing, on the left 4. ??? 5. They capture random men, inject them with Nephilim-DNA, and hope to not create maniacs, but actual Nephilim descendants.

Yeah sounds like straight out of a science fiction novel.

Transcript of the fifth page: Okay, I can only assume the thing this man (Kurtis probably) was asking the truck driver was about the Proto, which escaped (remember the woman saying she didn't kill the experiment?) and it was only to be killed with a Periapt Shard. Which Kurtis should own which makes him capable of killing this thing.

THEORY: Shards are inherited from father to son. The dude MUST be a member of the Lux vertatis. Thus: is really likely to be Kurtis Trent. And if it's him having the shard or shards, hunting down a thing, it surely needs to have ties to Eckhardt that Kurtis HAS to know about. But does Miss Croft?

Transcript of the sixth page: I kept on walking, through doors and compelexes. Currently, I am not too sure where I am now, but I found an elevator. The electricity is back on, so I think I'll give it a shot. Where am I even going now? Okay, I know less than before. The doors are all metal and open sideways, it feels like I'm in a new place. A whole new wooorld! Jokes aside. I think I can hear water now. My ID card works, thankfully, but I want to get back to the surface again, to be honest. I went down three floors and there's some panels in here which says stuff like "security levels one and two" and "feeding program". I'm heading further out, the security cameras are showing something like a pond?

Transcript of the seventh and eighth page: There is a giant fucking fish with teeth in the pond what. the fuck I swear I pinched myselfa bout ten times. The security camera has footage of a giant golden fish, the pool is filled with a red something. I think I can see chunks of meat swimming in there? Is this the feeding program? Yeah I'm not going in there. Can this thing jump? I'm better off watching the cameras all day and look through the desks and cupboards here. Does this thing even sleep? What on earth is this?? You see the eyes of this thing?? And the teeth? Oh god. I'm trying to talk myself down. I'll read some on the things here. Rationalize. I cannot stop here, I'm not done yet.

Transcript of the ninth and tenth page: Yeah I just descided to not look at the cameras anymore but search this place. These files here were in a folder in a cupboard. I think this is this big fish-dinosaur-hopefully not another Nephilim-thing. It looks like it has four horns, or two horns and two gigantic fangs. It has rows of teeth, which remind me of sharks. It could be some ancient thing, the files were labelled "leviathan". I know it's a biblical thing, and since we'ret alking about reviving the Nephilim race, why not revive Leviathan also? I wish I could read what's written here. It shows again a skeleton and some measurements of this thing.

Transcript of the eleventh page: So, about the Leviathan: the name is Hebrew and means "the twisting". It looks like a crocodile, a dragon, a snake and a whale. It's supposed to eat sinners on doomsday. God made Leviathan to play after being busy with writing the Tora and judgeing the world. its history is told in the Jewish Kabbalah (=mysticism) where Jonah is being swallowed by her. Christianity turned her into the embodiment of ecil, Satanism uses the name "Leviathan" in its sigil.

UPDATE: I'm ready to pass the pool. The thing is busy with food until now. I'll try to get to one of the open doors since there has to be a way out!

For now, I wish for a few things...let me wish. Let me make a wish. I wish for a warm chamber, with a palce to sit and rest, maybe a crackling fire, some books, maybe some friendly company. I made a wish, and now I hope one door will lead me somewhere...cozy.

#angel of darkness #journal #tomb raider #traod #tomb raider angel of darkness #tomb raider series #aod #classic tr #lara croft #classic tomb raider

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androidcharles · 1 year

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Amelia Meets Burt (Burt)

Felt a bit inspired, so I decided to test the waters with more memory fics. This time it's when Amelia first met Burt.

No TWs this time, enjoy!

Amelia followed Carol down the hall as she looked to the various doors, trying to keep up as Carol opened the door to the communications department. Amelia looked in, static filling her vision once again as Carol sighed, pulling her along as she plopped her in a chair.

“Mr. Malcowitz! Where are you!?” Carol shouted.

“You don’t need to shout Ms. Cross! Geez, you’re just like your mother,” Malcolm said as a couple of communication Toppats flinched. Amelia twitched a bit as Malcolm eyed her.

“That’s the new girl. What’s she doing here?” Malcolm asked.

“You know what Reg told you about her right? That’s she’s not exactly… human?” Carol whispered as Malcolm nodded his head.

“Ah, right, right, this girl is that Project SAI android that came to join us. Little lady, what seems to be the problem?”

“I’m fIIIiIIiIiIiiiiiiiIiiiiiiIIIIIne,” Amelia said, her voice suddenly going up and down as Malcolm slowly backed away.

“Ah dear, she sounds like she’s possessed!” Malcolm said.

“I know! You have a bunch of geek nerds here. Maybe they can take a look at her,” Carol said.

“Let’s see…” Malcolm tucked his hand under Amelia’s chin to look into her eyes, which were flickering with static as he sighed.

“I don’t know much about more modern machines like this unfortunately. I’ll have to get one of my younger workers to take a look at her,” Malcolm said, “Let’s see… Burt!” There was a bit of silence as the other Toppats glanced around.

“Geez… Burt Curtis!”

“Yes?” a bored voice called out. A man with long hair tied into a pony tail and a bored expression on his face looked over one the of computers.

“Burt, I need you to take a look at this young lady here and see what’s wrong with her,” Malcolm said, quickly leading her to his side. Carol pulled up a chair for her to sit in so she could sit right next to him as Burt sighed.

“Uh, sure, whatever. Your name is Amy right?”

“A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-Amelia…” Amelia corrected him, narrowing her eyes at him.

“Alright, Amy, I’ll help you out,” Burt said, starting to type, “Got any USB connectors? If they’re in an unnatural place, I promise not to look. Can’t say the same for the others though…”

“Uh, no?” Amelia said, tipping her head to the side as she glanced at Carol for context. Carol just shook her head, rolling her eyes.

“I’ll wait until you’re done geeking it up. I swear…” Carol sat down in one of the available chairs as Burt got to work typing as Amelia hooked up a wire or two to her fingers.

“Do fingers count as an unnatural place?” Amelia asked.

“Amy, how old are you?” Burt said as he glanced at her.

“Uh, I’m I’m I’m I’m I’m I’m one and a half years old,” Amelia said, glancing to the side shyly.

“I see. So your ‘parents’ haven’t taught you about the birds and bees yet.”

“The birds and the b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-bees? What do they have to do with wires in unnatural places?”

“I don’t think even Reg is ready for that conversation…” Carol joked.

“Wait, Reg? As in Reginald Copperbottom?” Burt said, his eyes suddenly widening. Amelia shrunk back as Burt shook his head, trying to concentrate.

“You’re the leader’s daughter? I thought you were a teenager…” Burt said softly.

“She’s a fully fledged android, from what I know,” Carol said.

“Alright, well, I’m gonna see if I can’t upload your AI file to my computer so we can take a better look at the problem,” Burt said. After a few minutes of typing, Amelia’s eyes went completely gray as her body leaned forward in her seat. Burt typed a couple of commands once again, muttering something about how complex this was before finally, after some time, an empty, but glitchy room appeared on screen. Amelia faded in, a bit disoriented, but obviously alright.

“This is insane,” Burt muttered, as he started to glance at another monitor to look at the processes, “It’s almost as if she’s creating her viruses…” Burt glanced over the code for a second before looking at Amelia.

“Hey Amy-”

“Don’t call me that!”

“Amy, have you been getting any sleep lately?” Burt asked, “Booting yourself up into sleep mode right?”

“Uh, well, it’s been like… a few hours since I’ve slept…” Amelia said shyly.

“A few hours!? She hasn’t slept in twenty six hours!” Carol shouted.

“Yeah, there’s some error messages along the lines of… ‘Insufficient rest detected. Sleep mode must be activated.’ Did these glitches start the minute these messages appeared?” Burt asked. Amelia glanced to the side as she blushed, trying to think of a good reason she would withhold sleep.

“Thought so. Well, Carol, I hate to say it, but you’re going to have to leave her in our care for a while. About a few hours to be exact,” Burt said.

“Ugh, great. Oh well. Sorry Amelia, you’re gonna have to miss the big heist planned for today,” Carol said.

“NO FAIR! I wanna go!” Amelia shouted as she stomped her foot, pixels flying up as she did.

“Tough luck, princess. Don’t worry, there’ll be plenty of heists just like it in the future,” Carol said, patting her physical bodies head as Amelia let out a small “hmph” in the computer.

“Maybe we can rig her up as a virus for the security system. She’s plenty infected as is,” Burt suggested as he began to type again.

“Nah, it’s better for her to stay home if she’s sick,” Carol said, “Don’t worry, Amelia, I’ll tell the chief what happened and you can stay here, OK?”

“Fine,” Amelia grumbled, sitting down on the ground as she let out a small sigh.

“Why don’t you boot up sleep mode so I can get started. Maybe if you go to sleep, your programming will stop creating viruses,” Burt said. Amelia rolled her eyes as she closed her eyes before disappearing completely. Burt nodded his head as he got to work.

- - - - -

When Amelia woke up, it had only been a few hours. She rose up, checking her internal clock before realizing she was still in the computer. Looking around for anything to do, she suddenly jumped when Burt appeared on a screen in front of her.

“Sorry. Thought I’d install a webcam so you actually have a face to talk to,” Burt said, “Ah, well, anyway, I seem to have cleaned up most of the viruses. I also took the liberty of installing a more efficient anti-virus program in you. The one you had was severely outdated and not very good at all.”

“Thank you,” Amelia said, “So I take it the big heist has already started?”

“Pretty much…” Burt said. Amelia pouted a bit as she sat down on the ground. Burt let out a small sigh as he started to type on his computer. For a minute everything went blank as she was downloaded back into her body. As she felt herself booting up, she shook her head as she observed her UI, seeing that everything was now back to normal.

Still, she felt a bit upset that she couldn’t participate in the heist. Burt glared at her for a bit, as if pondering the situation before he started to type on his computer again.

“Have you ever played any video games?” Burt asked. Amelia looked up curiously, almost intrigued as Burt opened a folder on his desktop.

“I’ve got tons of games, from ancient ROMs to the more modern games. What do you wanna play?” Burt asked.

“Uh, I’ve never really… played video games before,” Amelia said.

“You’re an android and you’ve never played video games before?” Burt asked, “Wow, that’s amazing. Here, I’ll show you all the games that I have.”

Amelia was given a controller and pretty soon she was struggling with kart racing games, fighting games, and of course, adventure games as well. But she was having a lot of fun, as well as Burt as a sort of rare smile (she assumed) crossed his face every time he won a match or got a power up in a game.

In about five hours, they had played through a couple of games, with Amelia getting the hang of a few.

“I think I like the adventure games more. They’re so fun,” Amelia said as she fiddled with the controller, moving Mario around the field as she smiled.

“Yeah, video games are fun. I actually wanted to be a video game programmer,” Burt said.

“Before you became a Toppat?” Amelia said.

“I had no choice. Between killing my parents and becoming the most wanted cyber criminal ever due to how many illegal phishing sites I was running, it was a miracle I was able to find a home to live. Of course, the Toppats were able to accomadate but…” Burt suddenly twitched, reaching down to clutch his leg. Amelia looked down to see that there was a brace covering it and she felt a pit form in her lower abdomen.

“What happened?” Amelia asked.

“Ah, well…” Burt said, “The current leader at the time… he wanted me to be a ground soldier. Mostly because there were very few of them and for a good reason…” Burt sighed as gazed off, “I had a horrible accident and before you know it, I was walking with a cane before the age of thirty. Isn’t that a bit humiliating?”

“Why would it be?” Amelia asked softly.

“I don’t know. Everyone’s nice about it, but they always give me this sad look whenever they see me. As if they feel sorry for me…” Burt said softly, “The chief always blames the current leader. If I had been stuck here instead of out on the field, I probably wouldn’t have gotten into that accident. And I definitely wouldn’t have hurt myself. Burt shook his head as he looked up.

“I don’t blame him, though. It’s mostly my fault. I got too reckless too. If I had been paying more attention, I would taken more care into looking at my surroundings before I got hurt. Sven blames himself. Reg blames Terrence. I can only blame myself for all this. I got what I wanted-” Burt clutched his jeans a bit, tears starting to form in his eyes, “-but at what cost, I wonder…”

“Dad told me that Terrence was responsible for a lot more accidents when he was leader. Maybe it was just force of habit,” Amelia said.

“Yeah, I guess. I was inducted in the clan before he was dethroned,” Burt said, “Sorry, I shouldn’t be bringing the mood down like this. Is there another game you’d like to try?”

“Uh, yeah, sure. But we should probably get something to eat first,” Amelia said. Burt glanced at the clock and flinched before stretching a bit.

“Geez, I was supposed to be working, but instead I ended up babysitting you a bit,” Burt said, “Not that I don’t mind. You don’t seem too uptight, Amy.”

“It’s Amelia,” Amelia muttered as she got up, her legs almost giving out from not using them.

“Geez, you’re full of all sorts of flaws. Maybe we should take you to a scientist to have you fixed up a bit. Maybe that one guy… what was his name? Black Jack or something…” Burt grabbed a cane that was nearby and pulled himself up as Amelia followed behind him.

“We’ll head to the kitchen and grab some snacks before-”

“Amelia! You’re alright!” Amelia practically jumped as Sven tackled her, pulling her into a hug.

“Oh, thank goodness! I was so worried when I heard you were glitching and stuff!” Sven said, “I’m sorry you had to miss the heist! I got you a souvenir if you want it!”

“That would lift her spirits up a bit,” Burt said. Sven flinched when Burt started talking, gazing down a bit guiltily before looking up again.

“So, are you feeling any better now?” Sven asked.

“Um, yeah, I was just about to get something to eat with Burt. Did you wanna come with us?” Amelia asked.

“Sure,” Sven said, blushing a bit.

“How did the heist go?” Burt asked. Sven winced a little as he shrugged.

“It went OK, I guess. There were some government forces there that were already expecting us, so they managed to attack a few of us. We were all coordinated and such but… a few ended up being injured. Including Mr. Dagwood. His injuries are the worst of all.”

“Oh no… is he OK?” Amelia asked.

“He’s fine for the most part. He’s seeing the doctors right now, but he probably won’t be able to go on any heists for a while. Or forever. Who knows,” Sven said.

“That’s a shame,” Burt said, “Don’t cut yourself up about it though. You can’t always prevent these things.” Sven nodded his head, glancing at Burt’s leg. The three of them ended up heading down to the cafeteria to get something to eat as they pushed these thoughts out of their mind.

Despite how bland Burt seemed to be, Amelia was happy that she managed to make another friend within the clan.

#the henry stickmin collection #burt curtis #amelia copperbottom #stickmin oc #the narrators stories

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jojoa3p · 1 year

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The Crusade

Brief History

Before the 2012 David Production anime, there was another adaptation of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure done in 1993 by Studio A.P.P.P. (Another Push Pin Planning). It was 6 episodes long and adapted the Stardust Crusaders Battle in Egypt arc. In 2000, Studio A.P.P.P. adapted the beginning of Stardust Crusaders. These were 7 episodes long. All 13 episodes had a half an hour run time. In 2007. Studio A.P.P.P. released a film adapting the first part of JoJo, Phantom Blood. According to viewer testimonies, the film was roughly 90 minutes long and ran for 3 months in various cinemas. After that, it was never seen again. All that exists now are the 16-minute workprint, 2004 teaser, 2 trailers, and various promotional materials.

What I’m doing on this blog

I simply want to bring attention to the JoJo OVAs as they were a brilliant piece of media and criminally underrated. I also want to provide content for fellow fans and provide resources to be able to watch them. In addition, I want to bring attention to the Phantom Blood movie so there could eventually be some sort of full release. I will be doing all this by

creating my own original content (in the form of clips, text posts, homegrown shitposts, and more if I ever gain new skills)

reblogging content from other creators (art, gifs, and shitposts)

providing information

advertising other’s works (outside of Tumblr)

and more (if I think of more)

Even if I go dormant at least my resources will be archived :) (I am a university student so I may be slow)

Disclamer: I am not affiliated with anyone I post about. I do not own any website I advertise. I only want to share what I have learnt.

Where can I watch the OVAs? (EDIT: 16/03/2023 Notelu’s restoration is down)

There are two places I go to to watch the OVAs. Notelu’s restorations on Internet Archive and aniwave. Do not watch the ones on YouTube as the quality is less than ideal (to say the least). We mean stretched footage and overly saturated colours, and in some cases bad audio delay.

https://archive.org/details/JJBAOVA Notelu’s version contains files for the English, Japanese, French, and Italian dubs as well as colour corrections (check out her channel for the comparisons).

https://aniwave.to/watch/jojos-bizarre-adventure-2000.4v2m/ep-1

https://aniwave.to/watch/jojos-bizarre-adventure.4xy7/ep-1 Alternatively you can watch it on aniwave. However, the highest video quality is 480p while Notelu’s is 1080p. And again, Notelu has done colour corrections which enhances the viewing experience.

Stand alone list for sharing purposes

How can I learn about the movie?

The trustworthy sources of information regarding Phantom Blood (2007) are the Phantom Blood Archive website, the new JoJo wiki, and the Phantom Blood Archive discord server (valid link provided).

https://www.phantombloodarchive.org/

https://jojowiki.com/Phantom_Blood_(film)

https://discord.com/invite/Cx9sCs9

Commons Misconceptions

To learn about what is false about Phantom Blood (2007) click here.

Important

Do not contact the people behind the Phantom Blood movie. They will not answer you and we already have people working on this.

Do not ask me for the Phantom Blood Archive discord link. While I am a member I am unsure if I am allowed to share it (the link expires in 7 days anyway). If you want to join you can find a link online. I have made sure to check. EDIT 20/03/24: Link added still keeping this incase I have to remove it for any reason

Do not unnecessarily contact the people searching for the film. They are busy people. phantombloodarchive.org has a contact feature, if you have something to contribute or have a question that is a good place to go. Please be mindful when using this.

OVA fans, do not bash any anime fans. They have the right to enjoy the anime and it benefits no one to attack them. Do not force them to watch the OVAs either.

Anime fans, please do not bash the OVA fans. We are only a small group and just want to show that it exists and has massive shitpost (and shipping) potential.

If you want to learn about me as a person click here

#important tags #a3blog #andy's blog #a3post #jjba ova #phantom blood movie

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argyrocratie · 10 months

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“Crisis Of Their Own Legitimacy” (X)

The following interview with Tom Nomad and Peter Gelderloos offers up an anarchist analysis of the ongoing political fallout of Trump’s recent indictment and its impact on both the political landscape and the upcoming 2024 election cycle.

IGD: What does the current wave of indictments against Trump say about the current state of the elites in the US? Is this a move by the Democrats and their section of the ruling class to remove Trump by legal means, or just the slow mechanisms of the legal apparatus catching up with Trump? What can we learn from the growing divisions with the ruling class?

Tom Nomad: I think there are really two things going on here, and neither are able to be explained simply by saying Democrats are trying to get rid of Trump; it is more important than that. For Trump to be indicted federally like this means that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has determined that it is in the “best interest of the public” to prosecute these charges, and that this public benefit outweighs the potential for social or political unrest. The DOJ was caught in a difficult place. If they tried to just indict him for everything, without extreme due process, and a really specific harm that they could point to as a result of his actions, then the fear is that MAGA rage would be stirred up. If they just let this slide, then it creates what in economics is called moral hazard, the idea that because someone was bailed out for previous egregious actions, then they can continue to do those actions and get bailed out in the future; this was the argument against economic bailouts in 2008 for example.

This tells me that the calculus in relation to both the strength and loyalty of his base, and the severity of his actions, has shifted, with the harm being seen as more concrete and significant, and the backlash seeming less likely. Right after January 6th this would have been impossible without significant violence. But, Trump has been losing support, and losing influence among his supporters; there is a MAGA after Trump discussion. The shift in his support, coupled with the fear of future presidents acting in this way, is largely what is driving these charges being filed right now.

That also tells me that we are seeing a situation not unlike that which existed around the New Deal, where different elements of the capitalist class were making different calculations about the best actions to take to preserve the system in the wake of the Great Depression. In the early 30s, the anti-New Deal crowd was arguing that the creation of social services would create dependent citizens that the wealthy would need to support for decades, while Roosevelt and some of the more progressive capitalists were arguing that without these services capitalism would be destroyed in the near future through workers’ actions. In this scenario, most of the capitalist class decided that it made more sense to save themselves in the long run, and took actions that are still seen by some as a betrayal of their class interests.

I think that in this scenario, the calculation is similar in a way. The DOJ is concerned that a continuation of this politics of animus, overt distortion, and combative existential conflict will shatter the stability of the political system, and they are correct. So, they are calculating that the short term political unrest that could result here is more manageable than the far longer term crisis in legitimacy that results from them not doing anything and letting Trump off.

Peter Gelderloos: Both the Democrats and Republicans are trying to restore and revitalize state power in the face of a major crisis of governance. This crisis, of course, is just another facet of the broader crisis engulfing the planet at the moment, but because as they are prioritizing the crisis of their own legitimacy and effectiveness to rule, they risk excluding or failing to grasp the general crisis – and may well exacerbate it.

The January 6th far-Right tantrum, the leaking of state secrets by right-wing grifters, and also the insurrections against police violence and racism frame the panorama: the State is suffering a crisis of legitimacy and effectiveness. The Democrats are generally able to see this crisis more clearly and effectively, whereas the Republicans have generally been more effective at organizing responses to the crisis.

The Democrats understand that state power needs to be restored and relegitimized in a strategic way. In response to the anti-police insurrections, that meant symbolic gestures validating some of the concerns of those movements, and then the well developed machinery of NGOs and elections to pacify them and reintegrate them into a slightly modified version of the system of policing and white supremacy: the abolition to reform pipeline.

With regards to the far-Right and the growing prospects of a civil war, the institutional Left has responded with the less imaginative but necessary, from a ruling class perspective, response: fortifying the mythology of the rule of law and fortifying the institutions that uphold that mythology. In this vein, it is important to also mention the legal action against Fox News, alongside the prosecution of Trump. However, they have not been very strategic or thorough in carrying this strategy out in a way that does not empower or provoke a backlash from the elements of the ruling class that are destabilizing the institutions of government nor from the portions of society most likely to lead the charge into civil war.

The Republicans have been much more effective at taking actions that mobilize and motivate, even as they bear primary responsibility for destabilizing the State by refusing to view the crisis objectively, acknowledging the institutional needs of the State as surpassing their own specific, ideological campaign.

One can trace an ironic beginning to this campaign in their impeachment of Bill Clinton. This was an attempt to create a moral panic, originating with the so-called Moral Majority, the Christian far-Right that was already taking the Party in a different direction since the Reagan years. The moral panic that has since evolved into a race panic as Republicans unrepetentantly embrace white supremacy in its most reactionary form: the idea that whiteness (and its attendant heteropatriarchy) is under attack, surrounded by a dangerous, savage, implacable Other it needs to defend itself from.

This reactionary version of whiteness has always existed alongside a progressive version of whiteness, and both have been strategically necessary for the global implantation of capitalism. But the reactionary, paranoid whiteness has been most effective at motivating settlers to brutalize and conquer new territory, motivating elements of the lower and middle classes to purge society of revolutionary threats, and motivating the proles to go to war against some external enemy. In the current context, however, it only destabilizes the institutions of government while creating an echo chamber that makes it exceedingly difficult for Republicans to change strategy, because currently, the whole map has been conquered, and revolutionary threats are so incipient and lacking in consciousness or historical memory that the Democratic strategy of co-opting them is far more effective. Moreover, there aren’t any hot wars that the military needs help recruiting for.

Therefore, the reactionary whiteness the Republicans are promoting so effectively has no strategic targets, and is instead being directed at the institutions of government itself or other members of the ruling class, or it is being directed at other portions of society who are engaging in usually light forms of dissidence that the Left has not had much trouble in pacifying. By attacking them, the Right is potentially radicalizing them, increasing their fortitude and resistance, and creating the highly destabilizing image of a civil war on the horizon.

(...)

#tom nomad #peter gelderloos

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ailelie · 2 years

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Aeon Timeline

So I am trying out a new toy and it is amazing. So I want to share.

Aeon Timeline is a downloadable bit of software that enables you to create timelines.

You can use it for work and things like that, but! It also works for writing fiction.

As in, they let you create your own calendar and decide when the start date is. Does your world have 18 months each with 3 weeks of 9 days? Aeon has got you covered. Of course, you can also name your days and months. Also, eras. You can name the eras. Want to start from 1 each time a new emperor ascends the throne? You can do that. (You do need to set that up first, though, so keep that in mind).

That alone would have sucked me in, but that isn't all Aeon does to support writers.

When you add items to the timeline, you can note if it is an event, a flashback, or a flashforward. There's more options than that and if that isn't enough, you can add more.

And it lets you have 2 timelines. One timeline is for the actual order of events. The other timeline is for how those events show up in your narrative. The flashback is scene 6 in year 3021, but actually took place in 3010? On the regular timeline it shows up at 3010, but in your narrative timeline, you can list it after the events that happen earlier in 3021.

When you add an item to the timeline, you can group it under a parent event. So if your main plot spans the entire length of the book and then you have an early subplot and a late subplot, you can put those three things as parent events on your timeline. They'll show up as long, empty boxes. Then, you can organize every other event to show up in the proper box. Two things happen on the same day, but one is main plot and one is subplot B? Put them under the correct parent node and they'll show up on different rows of the timeline.

You can, of course, color-code all of the events.

Aeon also lets you add People and Places to your timeline. For people, not only do you type in their birth and death dates (or ongoing if they're alive at present day in your world), but you also include data on them such as their relationships to other characters, the locations they're associated with, their character type (protagonist, antagonist, ally, etc), their goals and motivations, etc. You can also attach files to the characters such as pictures. And when you update one character, it auto-updates the others. So, if you load in Susan first, you don't have any characters to associate with her. But then you load in her mother, Ellen, and best friend, Marcus. When you associate Ellen with Susan saying that Susan is Ellen's child, it automatically adds Ellen to Susan's card as her parent.

If the basic character card doesn't fit your world, you can go into settings and completely change what fields it offers you and what drop-down menus say. For example, default gender offers Male, Female, and Other. You can go in and change that, though, to have as many genders as you like.

Oh! Since you put in character birth dates, you can always check to see how old they are in comparison to other characters and when certain events happen.

The timelines are easy to navigate, too. You can throw in pins to take you to key events right away. You can also filter by color, event type, character, etc. That means you can let the timeline get as complicated as needed and then easily filter it by what matters to whatever you're working on at the time.

And this is all just the stuff I figured out last night. There's more to it like themes and more stuff with narrative structure that I've not even touched yet. Like being able to arrange events by chapter and scene.

The major downside is that this program is not cheap. It costs $65 upfront. Then, if you want access to the yearly updates, it costs an additional $35/year starting next year.

But, like I said, this isn't just good for fiction writing. It can also be used for project management and Gantt charts. It lets you use it for free for 2 weeks as a trial, but then you have to get a license to continue using it. The license is good for up to 5 devices. And, though I don't use either program, it also will sync with Scrivener and Ulysses.

#aeon timeline #timeline maker #resource #writing #worldbuilding #product review

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josephthesnailshow · 7 months

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Burnt Luigi (Post #2)

Ah, look at that, post #2. I recently found this blog thanks to my brother. I had a huge problem trying to record this for him, like he requested; apparently, he told me something about a story called “Burnt Luigi." Am I being correct on that? It’s kind of a stupid name; why would you name a story that? Eh, I won’t care too much; he’s my brother anyway.

For a proper introduction to whoever is reading this post, my name is Joseph. I did not write the original post that was locked; my brother did. Recently, I got a hold of this post, so I’m writing it now. Well, enough dellydialing. You wanted a post about something creepy, right? Well, you’re probably going to get it now.

If you knew my work on the internet, I love writing and creating games as a little hobby, and I knew this was my opportunity. So, I gladly agreed to take this blog that my brother was trying to write. One thing I noticed about this post is the use of bad grammar and crap. (For those grammar checker experts who like correcting others’ grammar on the internet, my grammar is terrible too, but I’m sure it will be way better than my brother’s grammar, I tell you that.) Well, back to what I’m talking about: I recently stumbled across the ROM that my brother posted on the web.

I thought it was a virus at first, but if it came from my brother, I had to trust him, right? And besides, it was Super Mario 64; how could I not? It’s definitely a favorite of mine, next to Super Mario World and Luigi’s Mansion on the Nintendo GameCube. Of course, you are expecting a bloody and totally scary mess out of this post, right? Well, I’m expecting to write about one too. Just stick with me; we will see together.

Anyway, I started downloading the ROM, and judging by how I have Project 64, I could play this easily and record the thing, in case you think I’m lying. Either way, my way of recording things like this may seem like I’m just lying and writing a story to scare others. The ROM finally downloaded, and I was able to play it; though, I had to drag it into a folder with my other games, and luckily, it’s been converted into a Z64 file in the first place (heck yeah, I can play this now).

youtube

The game started with Mario’s head, of course, like anyone would when they play this game. I decided to play around with Mario’s face, pulling on his ear, nose, you name it. I pressed start, and it took me straight to the selection screen.

One thing I noticed is the save folder from the time my brother was using this blog (it was refreshed to 1 star from before for some odd reason). I opened it and was met with something quite odd; it was a still frame of Mario in the basement, completely flooded with water. Of course, you know, it was in the original game anyway.

Lord, I was hoping I would have a day where I don’t mention anything creepy (something that children may see creepy only) in a post, but instead, I did. Basically, Mario was lying in the water, basically dead, not moving at all, still as a picture, and the water was reddish, and it was mixed with blood. It would've been obvious anyway; it was playing Bowser’s laugh on repeat, and it got deeper at the last frame.

How long was this going to take? God knows how long, but it finally took me back to the selection screen.

This time, the original save file (Mario A) had Mario’s head in the center of the gray square but with his eyes completely closed, and he’s puking red water out of his mouth. The HUD that had the stars and “new” text was completely gone; there’s no way I could open the save file back up; my only options were B, C, and D.

I opened B, but the same thing happened, though. This time, it showed a close-up of the lava in Lethal Lava Land, and there was Luigi’s hand coming out of the lava. I don’t know why Luigi was in this, as he was never in Super Mario 64 in the first place, only when the game was still being worked on.

FYI, he was found afterwards after the “rumors” of him being in the game were spreading like wildfire.

Though there was audio of Luigi screaming in the background, sounding A.I.-generated, it should be noted that Charles, the voice actor of Mario and Luigi, originally quit his role, unfortunately. This might’ve been off-topic, but it’s worth knowing because it was tragic for people who grew up with their voices. (It was tragic for me to hear too.) Back to the post: I’m sorry if I keep talking and going off-topic; I’m pretty talkative.

There were frames of Luigi; they weren’t very fast, so I could see them and describe them to you. It was a photo of Luigi, clearly edited and taken in game; he was burned, and the photo was black and white, as if it were taken during the older days. His mustache was completely gone, as was his flesh, revealing his skeleton. His clothing was also torn, revealing some bone underneath. You can see this in the video as well, if you’re following along. Some things had to be cut because I wanted you to figure them out yourself or because I didn’t find them important enough.

As with the first save file, it took me straight to the file selection screen after a little while, now this time showing Luigi's burnt and disfigured look in the center of the gray box, though it got refreshed back to a new file.

My only options were C and D.

I entered the “C” save file and prayed to God that it would grant me at least one game.

It didn't grant me a game, sadly, though instead of that, I got an in-game photo again. It turns out, my job was done in the first place; Bowser was destroyed, though he was decapitated. Who did it? Well, if you’ve been around since the first post, you would know that Luigi drowned Mario, and he might’ve been the one that killed Bowser.

It was playing the Big Boo’s Haunt theme (but deeper and slower for some reason) on repeat, and after a little while, it took me to the selection screen. Though the background was completely distorted and had Luigi’s face flashing on the screen, Bowser’s head was on the center of the buttons like Mario and Luigi, again not pressable, and my only option is D. I hoped for a game, or else I'm wasting my time.

I pressed the final save file, and it was actually a game, though it took me directly to Bob-Omb Battlefield level, though the scene was dark and depressing, and there was the music that you would hear in dire dire docks. The audio was peaceful, but it gave me an uncomfortable feeling of abandonment.

What I meant by that is, do you remember what happened with King Bob-omb? He died, and the battlefield has been left to rot. I don't know who runs it now, but you will find out in this post.

I climbed up the mountain, dodging the black balls going down the hills, and when I reached the top, my screen started glitching and going out of frame.

The man on top was indeed green, burnt, and fleshless.

It was Luigi.

When I saw him and approached, my screen got darker and darker, then flashes of the Luigi picture again started appearing faster and faster.

Randomly, there was a video of a man staring at me, overlaying the flashes of Luigi’s face. This wasn’t Shigeru Miyamoto or Charles Martinet, but this man who flashed on the screen was definitely an employee at Nintendo; how did I know that? He had a uniform on. I don’t know about this man yet, but he might have importance with this file and explain why this version of Super Mario 64 is the way it is.

My theory is that this man could be the one who added Luigi, but he did it in this way without Miyamoto’s knowledge. From what I’m thinking, he might’ve done this because Luigi was his favorite character, and he got angry over the fact that Nintendo didn’t add him to the game, so before launch, he broke into one of the copies and snuck it into my brother and I’s nearby GameStop that’s located in my Walmart submall (no, I don’t live at a store, I live in a town that I won’t give my address to).

Though that’s my theory, it shouldn’t be true.

I also forgot to mention the fact that my screen capture of the Bob-omb Battlefield broke, so you may only hear audio, though the beginning of the video where it shows the selection screen has been shown working perfectly; however, my screen capture usually flashes now and then when it happens, but in the recording, you may see some weird stuff. Let me know what you see.

In the video, you may also notice how choppy the video is. I apologize for that; my computer isn’t very good. Anyway, I can’t continue this post any longer. Before I end this post, this is being recorded with OBS Studio, which is something I’ve been using for a while.

Well, please have a good day. I will continue this again in Post #3 if I ever find anything interesting. Oh wait, I’m getting a call from a curator on the Mario Amino. Let’s see here. It’s TakeASoda? I will answer this.

#creepypasta #arg #alternative reality game #burnt luigi #nintendo 64 #super mario 64 #haunted gaming #josephthesnail #spiral nightmares #Youtube

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familydentalcare · 1 year

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avee155 · 1 year

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The Apple iPhone is a well-known communicating device from the house of Apple. The highly advanced mobile telephony features as well as stunning design of the gadget turns the head of the onlooker at the very first glance. One could say that the gadget is a perfect blend of performance and utility.

And the best part is that it comes with easy-to-use touchscreen controls, iPod features as well as image setting options. Besides the multimedia capabilities, this iPhone from Apple also offers some of the latest and the best connectivity options for downloading or sharing important files with other compatible devices.With a small and sleek profile, the handset measures 115mm in height, 61mm in width and 11.6mm thickness and weighs 135grams. The users can easily carry this compact gadget in purses or pockets. The casing of the Apple iPhone comes in a selection of popular colours namely - glossy black and white.

The huge multi-coloured touchscreen of the handset acts as a brilliant display for viewing the data and vibrant graphics. The screen measures 3.5 inches and provides a high resolution of 320 x 480 pixels. As a matter of fact, the multicolored screen is based on a new Mac OS X based user-interface.The owners are able to type in messages on this device, as the iPhone displays a touch QWERTY keyboard on its widescreen. This advanced keyboard comes complete with predictive text that automatically corrects the typing errors. Therefore, it can be said that this QWERTY keyboard provides a user-friendly input method. The owners can enjoy creating text messages, multimedia messages as well as emails, using the touch keyboard. The email facility on the Apple comes with graphics, images & photo attachments as well.

The built in touchscreen music controls help the owners to play, pause, rewind and fast forward the music on the MP3 player. Moreover, the owners can view their album covers on the wide screen. Apart from that, the iPhone comes with a touchscreen search facility that can be used for searching by song, album, artist or playlists. The advanced controls and easy to create music playlists make the gadget all the more interesting. The integrated camera and video capabilities are used for capturing the still images and short videos. The advanced photo management applications provide the users with perfect finish to each and every shot. Like the music capabilities, the video functions can also be controlled by a mere touch.This handset provides real mobile Internet experience to the users. The built-in safari Internet browser can make life easy for the people who need to remain connected with the latest developments taking place. The high-end connectivity options include EDGE, Bluetooth, USB and Wi-Fi for fast & efficient data & file transfers. This handset works well over a GSM quad-band network that allows seamless communication, across the world.

The Apple iPhone is available in two memory options i.e. 4GB and 8GB. Therefore, depending upon the storage requirements, the owners can opt for either of the two. This massive memory storage allows the users to store the varied content without any problem. This smartphone comes with a fitted battery that provides up to 16 hours worth of music playback and approximately 5 hours of talk time, which includes call time, video time as well as Internet browsing time.

isn't just a suggestion but a statement of what is going to happen with most people who want to get themselves Apple's new smartphone this year. There is always a long wait for the new Apple smartphone; specially if you are not in the States. If you are in a country in Asia, this wait may last up to months, specially if you want to get the new iPhone X this year. Now a lot of people are going to be reading this and wondering why because this year, for the first time ever, Apple is rolling out the new iPhone X simultaneously to many countries. The iPhone X goes on sale on the same date in thirteen more countries as it does in North America, which is the 3rd of November. However, that is just theoretical. Anyone who has tried to buy a new iPhone in a retail store or even online, on the day of launch, in any country across the world will know that it is almost impossible. The retail stores have just a few units in stock that are sold out to the people who camp outside the stores for days, waiting to get their hands on the new Apple hotness. Online stores sell out even faster and within minutes if not seconds, the iPhones are back ordered and ship dates slip back to many weeks.

This year was no different and the iPhone X has opened up for pre-order just a few days ago. On the midnight when the Apple online store started accepting orders, those people who did not manage to place their orders for the phone within the first few minutes already started seeing that the phone was back ordered and that their phones would not ship for 4 or even 5 weeks. Those customers that had also bought iPhone covers with their phones realised that their iPhone X case would ship before the phone itself and they'd receive the case before the phone for which it was meant.

iPhone X Cases for your new phone

Customers in countries outside North America who try to buy the iPhone X online are going to have to wait even longer because the phone will probably be available in brick and mortar retail stores long before it is available with online sellers. There too quantities of the iPhone X will be very limited until 2018, so customers are probably going to have a much easier time finding great designer iPhone X cases and iPhone X back covers for their phones, than they are in actually getting the phones.

Almost all major Indian cases sellers and accessory makers have launched their range of iPhone X covers and some are even let prospective iPhone X owners create their own iPhone X custom case with their own photos. All of these iPhone X cases should ship within a few days, so within a week or so, there are going to be a ton of Indian customers who have their iPhone X back covers ready in anticipation of a phone that they haven't even been given the chance to buy yet!

Within one month at the end of 2014, two major smartphone competitors released their newest models, entering themselves into the growing "phablet" market. In September, the Apple iPhone 6 Plus was released, and in October, Google reacted with their Nexus 6. We compare the key features of both smartphones to aid consumer decisions on which manufacturer's device to opt for.

Design & Build Quality

The Nexus 6 measures at 6.27 x 3.27 x 0.40 inches with a 6.0 inch display. It is larger than the iPhone 6 Plus, which measures at a smaller and thinner 5.44 x 2.64 x 0.27 inches, holding a 4.7 inch display. Naturally, the Nexus 6 weighs more than the iPhone by approximately 10 grams. The iPhone case is composed entirely of aluminium, giving it an elegant and premium design, while the Nexus 6 has a contoured aluminium front but a cheaper plastic back.

Display Quality

The Nexus 6 has a larger display, and boasts a far higher 2560 x 1440 pixel resolution than its competitor, which only displays 1920 x 1080 pixels per inch. If you can accept some plastic within the build of the Nexus, then you're getting a larger screen in as small amount of space as possible. The screen-to-body ratio of the Nexus 6 is a high 74.03% while the iPhone offers a lower 65%.

Performance

The Nexus 6 packs in a Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 processor offering 2.7GHz with a very high 3GB of RAM. The iPhone 6 Plus boasts a lower 1GB of RAM but holds a custom-built, 64-bit A8 processor and M8 motion co-processor that performs extremely well in tests against the Nexus 6. A key feature of the Google Nexus 6 is the dual front-facing speakers, allowing clear sound targeted towards the user as opposed to the iPhone's bottom-facing speakers next to the charger port.

Photography

Smartphone users increasingly are ditching their separate cameras and using their phone instead, pushing the importance of internal cameras. While the Nexus 6 offers a 13-megapixel camera, which is high in comparison to the iPhone's 8-megapixel lens, both devices deliver similar results in final picture quality. Those obsessed with "selfie" photos will be more attracted to Google's 2-megapixel front facing camera in comparison to Apple's lower 1.2-megapixel front lens.

Battery Life

One of our most important measures is the ability of a smartphone to match its capabilities to its power supply. A beast of a device is useless unless it can power itself efficiently. The Google Nexus 6 wins with a higher standby time 13.8 days compared to the iPhone 6 Plus' poor standby time of 10.4 days. As both models are strenuous on their batteries, don't be surprised if you're device lives longer next to a wall plug than in your hand.

Final Verdict

The Nexus 6 outshines the iPhone 6 Plus with its more advanced capabilities and higher standards of features commonly used by consumers. A better screen and camera sheds light on its advance into the media-obsessed market. But it cannot beat Apple's overall design quality and sleekness, fitting well in the hand while maintaining build strength with its fully aluminium casing.

The latest trend of the innovative powerhouse, Apple, is to release new iPhone models as a pair. The iPhone 5C, which comes in a range of colours, was branded as the "affordable iPhone model". Whereas the iPhone 5S was branded as their premium model with better features, and of course arriving at a premium price. The iPhone 6 is their latest smartphone upgrade, while the 6 Plus is a clear jump into the "phablet" market as Apple rivals with other major competitors. As with any manufacturer, Apple bombards the market with advertisements for their latest releases where profit margins are high and first adopters begin the trend to get their hands on the latest smartphone devices.

Yet when you compare the prices of all iPhone models on the market along with their true technical differences, there is consistently a significant difference in price yet an insignificant change in capabilities and performance. Is the iPhone 6 really an innovative jump from its predecessor or just a minor step up with a few new gimmicks?

When you compare internal changes, you'll find the newer models will have Apple's latest A-chips at a higher GHz and an increase in processor cores, along with new memory capacities. On paper, these changes sound like worthy reasons to upgrade, but when you compare models in reality, side by side, the changes are small and relative. It may be ever so slightly faster and more responsive, but you'll soon get used to this and notice insignificant differences. The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are prime examples of Apple bringing new models with elegant designs to appeal to fans yet not actually upgrading much on the inside.

Whether you're a loyal Apple fan with a now old device, or a newcomer looking to dabble in sophisticated, smooth smartphones, it's always worth spending a bit of time trying every model available and consider the real differences between them. You'll find they run similarly, but come at totally different prices. Whatever model you choose, ensure you opt for a suitable internet data package, as all iPhone models tend to eat through data with automatic services constantly updating through 3G and 4G. Most package deals now include unlimited texts as more and more users simply message through internet services anyway, such as Apple's 'iMessage' and Facebook's messaging portal.

Another option to consumers in the UK is to buy the device SIM-free, and purchase a SIM-only contract separately. The advantage of this? Your overall cost, on average, will very likely be significantly lower than if you were to go for a full iPhone contract. SIM only offers tend to be lower priced as no device is provided by the retailer or network, thus passing on these savings to the customer. As long as the customer can purchase their own iPhone, then it is wise to choose a SIM-only contract. Another advantage? More and more SIM-only deals are flooding the market on 30-day rolling contracts, so you won't be locked into the common 18 or 24-month contracts usually advertised.

Thus, it's always recommended to weigh your options, try all devices, decide whether you really need that higher GHz processor, and finally do the maths very carefully when choosing a contract deal. Always ensure your inclusive allowances cover what you will use, as networks charge high prices once you pass those limits. A safe bet is to opt for an optimum number of inclusive allowances as opposed to the most realistic choice.

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