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ranticore · 15 days

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Chapter 3 - To Be Phocid [Qedivar's research]

It's that time again. Ishmael is a teenage boy, fair warning.

I'm posting this on mobile so I cba linking the previous chapters but go into the siren tag to find them.

Following these events, and at Maris’s insistence, Ishmael began to keep a journal. To the delight of this author, his writing was deep, introspective, and highly detailed. From now on, I no longer had to rely on pieced together scraps and reports, but from a primary source. As such, the way these events are related will shift a little, but that is only for events concerning Ishmael.

Cherta, unfortunately, did not keep a journal at this time and remains frustratingly opaque, given Ishmael’s somewhat biased recounting of their activities. Although one must concede to the difficulties of keeping a journal underwater, before the age of sub-aquatic writing systems, and with eighteen other overambitious adolescents in relatively close proximity.

Ishmael’s journal was recorded on a computerified device and was not written by hand, though his deep dream education had serviced to educate him in handwriting skills. This was tested when he was younger, as part of an evaluation to determine the extent of his dexterity. Although the notion of a form of writing which is stored in a purely hypothetical space is very odd, especially in its permanency, it has enabled us to access his thoughts at this day and age, whereas traditional aquatic knot-writing would have long since rotted away.

He wrote in the language of the Predecessors, which I believe to be the root of all air-speaking language families. The translation of these texts is what has taxed me more than any other part of this process, aside from the grievous bodily harm, and it has taken a fantastic span of time to achieve this translation. I cannot credit my sources for fear of implicating them but you can be assured that the finest minds of the Spire collaborated on this project. This Predecessor tongue is what is spoken in all of the videos, enabling me to learn it to a conversational level, though I am hardly fluent.

Some of the journal is rendered untranslatable due to it referring to objects or concepts which were considered common knowledge at the time, requiring no additional definition. These concepts or objects will be clearly marked. However, I believe much of the text to be familiar to many people, telling of the frustration and longing common and recognisable today. That said, I believe it is also important not to take for granted the relatability.

Ishmael is not always familiar to us and existed in a time we would find nigh incomprehensible. Do not take this as reason to doubt his interiority or personhood, and do not fall into the trap of believing that you would have done better in his place, that you would have seen clearly what he obviously did not (and had good reason not to). They may have been phocids, or the predecessors of phocids, but they were new. If you were the first of your kind, could you do better?

I will now present the text in chronological order, starting from the eve of his sixteenth birthday:

Entry 1 – I hate seeing that baby siphonid. It’s still moving. It drags itself around on the leg the researchers didn’t take. Now I’m just going to remember this forever, since I wrote it down. Great. I hate that fucking noise. Why can’t they just get it to shut up?

Thank [deity]. They took it away.

Update – it didn’t even taste good.

Entry 2 - Maris told me to talk more about my feelings. What does she know? Nobody understands me anyway. I don’t think they can feel all that on their face like me. The sipho noise kept touching me. The researchers are always talking about hydrofoils and antennae but I bet they don’t know what I do - how the siphos talk to each other. I told Callum and he didn’t know what I meant, even though he has a beard.

Talked to Lee again about sex since Dan said he wouldn’t tell me himself. I don’t think Lee told the truth about a lot of that stuff. The other kids sometimes joke around a bit too much, but it is kinda funny I guess.

Update - Dan shouted at me for asking, but now I have proof Lee was wrong.

Entry 3 – The phocids click at each other underwater with their tongues.

Dan got so angry after I pulled my face hair out. He made the interns [untranslatable] search my room for the hairs and they actually found them. They didn’t even do anything with it, just put it in a bag and sealed it away. Looks like nobody wants it at all. Dan says Atom spent 120 billion nua making me, so I think one face hair is worth a few million. If I started selling them to the people outside the lab, I could buy my own stake of land on Siren just like them. I wouldn’t let Lee in. My fingers are probably worth a couple billion each.

Should I

Entry 4 – Emer (the intern) looked at me like I did something wrong when she changed my pillowcases.

Spilled bile EVERYWHERE when they were testing me. I keep thinking about somehow saving it and trying to sell it. I’m supposed to be a digestive model for Siren food, so my insides are probably worth a lot. I should ask Dan when he calms down.

Callum came around to talk to Dan again. He’s getting really tall, he’s taller than me now even when I stand up straight. He’s so skinny, like the baby siphonids (I can snap one in half with just my teeth now). When Callum was there, he didn’t want to look at me, but I get it. They didn’t even cook the siphonid this time, it was raw and with the shell on. His leg is the same width as one of them.

Emer won’t stop changing my pillowcases. Is there a way to prevent them from smelling like that?? Callum hasn’t been around so I can’t ask. Maris thinks it’s just because people my age start getting sweaty but Dan specifically told me he made me not have sweat glands anywhere but my hands. Then he said the phocids do have sweat glands. I still don’t get the point of sweating if you’re already a stupid wet rat who lives in the

Entry 5 – I’m seventeen now. Since I’m an adult, I decided to stop being reticent around the phocids. I want to know if they found a comfortable way to walk without the skin coming off their tails. So I went to talk to them today for the first time. There is a window where you can do it, they let it open ever since the climate control got busted again last month.

Cherta is really weird. I knew they couldn’t stay in the pool for very long because they might have a seizure but apparently it can happen any time, not just underwater. They have a button implant that makes their muscles relax. Anyway, their tails have thicker skin than mine so that was useless. But it is still worthwhile, I think, to meet with the phocids. They remind me why I am a human, and they are not. I kind of pity them because all they're ever going to be is a bunch of test subjects in a tiny swimming pool.

Cherta told me that one of the phocids died a year ago. I don’t remember Dan ever talking about it to me, but they said it was a big deal. Apparently they got pressure sickness when climate control broke the first time. I think Cherta broke it the second time, they sounded too proud to mention it. I don’t get it. Anyway, breaking stuff in the lab is against the rules and I think I’m going to tell Dan about that.

Entry 6 – I made the right choice. Cherta got so angry when they found out I told on them that they had another seizure. The other phocids had to pull them out of the pool. Dan thought I did the right thing but I don’t think he liked me going to tell Cherta about it afterwards, told me no one likes a snitch. Well, then, what am I supposed to do? Just let it happen? I hope Cherta chokes on that gross pool water next time.

Dan suggested I go do something other than visit the phocids and I agree, they’re clearly not worth my time. I went to see Callum instead but he wasn’t in. He has a games console, I saw him show it off to Lee the other day. I wonder if he’d let me try it.

[End of Journal Entries]

It paints an interesting picture. As Ishmael mentions, Cherta suffered permanent neurological issues as a result of their birth mishaps. This was a point of contention within the lab, beyond Ishmael’s knowledge; the finance manager of the settlement questioned the wisdom of keeping a test subject in an aquatic locomotion study group who could not spend much time underwater. Every time, however, Dan Loris would respond that Cherta now provided essential information about phocid neurology and drowning mechanisms.

The phocid whose death Ishmael mentions was number seventeen, Ambla. It is highly likely that number seventeen’s death was accidental, but the circumstances were not caused by a failure of the lab’s climate system.

I have found the experimental notes from that day; Ambla was brought to an isolated chamber which was controlled by the climate system, with its own test pool, and the quality of the atmosphere was changed to match that of the Precursor home planet. The force of gravity was thus increased. What the Humans did not expect was Ambla’s sudden inability to swim to the surface. They inhaled water, which settled in their lungs and caused them to drown even after they had been pulled out of the pool.

Dan expressed grief in his notes, and surprise. He did not understand why such a thing would occur and blamed the climate system for somehow altering the test beyond his parameters. This is likely what led to Cherta’s misconception that the climate system had killed one of their friends, and their subsequent sabotage of the climate system every few months after that.

But any phocid or selkie reading this will intimately recognise the problem, and I believe the mystery of Ambla’s death may now be solved. The water taken to fill the pool was likely Tel!am’s Blood, a phenomenon all sea-faring people will know about. The Precursors, it seemed, were unfamiliar with it, and had pumped water in to the pool which nobody could swim in. But with the increased gravity, even the fittest phocid would struggle to rise in shallow water.

Regardless, there exists a substantial gap between that last journal entry and the next. Almost a year, in fact, when Ishmael did not write at all, and neither did he participate in Maris’s therapy sessions. I do, however, have a copy of Callum’s journal with me which provides at least half of the narrative, incomplete as it is.

#setting: siren

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northwindow · 2 months

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love your blog so much! and im wondering how you archive/document your day-to-day life and the information that you take in — whatever form: books, lyrics, trees, etc etc — ? im struggling so much w forgettttttting

i love this question! i’ve always longed to have a beautiful and consistent journal, but it’s something i struggle with maintaining organically so i’ve tried some different structures over the past few years. long-winded answer under the cut 💗

back in 2021, i was making a monthly journal on google slides which i really liked because it's so natural to integrate images. i just made a month of it public here as an example of what it was like.

from 2022 - now, i've been doing a new concept where on the last day of every season i write long, list-y answers to these prompts:

art that has been resonating with me (includes music, books, movies, visual art, anything really). i'll usually write a few words about it... "Decision to Leave dir. Park Chan-Wook—the eye shot! the eye shot with the ants crawling on it" or "'Train Ride' by Ruth Stone: 'Release, release; / between cold death and a fever, / send what you will, I will listen. / All things come to an end. / No, they go on forever.'" or "Chunky misshapen pearls and other organic, shiny shapes"

my favorite memories from the season... examples from past lists include "Swimming hole with Zoë where I stuck a twig in my hair and we waded around on our hands like crocodiles" and "Walks in my snowsuit at night, one in particular where the Gemenids meteor shower was just starting"

a checkup on 5 of my current projects/goals. currently these are 1. learn to lift weights, 2. write 50 "identical" poems, 3. write a new syllabus, 4. practice mindful spending, 5. improve at woodworking.

a checkup on 5 of my core values. currently these are 1. adventure, 2. connection, 3. play, 4. sensuality, 5. sustainability.

reevaluating projects and values to focus on next

since you mentioned wanting to remember things-- when i'm putting this together i draw extensively from my tumblr archive/likes, calendar, photos app, recent playlists, and letterboxd and storygraph accounts. curating this kind of ephemeral data into a more permanent and thoughtful record is really satisfying to me. i privately call this method "wrapped" a la spotify... like i'll have a big entry for "fall 2022 wrapped" and then "winter 2023 wrapped" and so on. i do all this on the app notion and file the seasons on one big page so it's easy to click into one and remember what i was doing and thinking about. (i also converted my dream journal to a notion database. i've logged about 300 dreams in here and love that i can tag by character/feature.)

over the years i've also kept a more classic diary via text documents that's less structured, just spitting out whatever's on my mind with the date at the top. i tend to do this frequently for a while, then ebb off, then restart another doc, rinse and repeat. i also have a few physical notebooks (including these two) but the digital stuff is way more extensive as i prefer to write on the computer.

if i were going to recommend any of this, i would say the visual format of the slides journal was really compelling because i liked the aesthetic freedom but i also love the "wrapped" lists because they seem to cut to the core of an era's texture. in the future i'd like to try to integrate these aspects together! 📓

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impossibleprincess35 · 25 days

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[Satine Week 2024]

Instead of doing really lengthy pieces this week for Satine Week, I did little snippets or drabbles that act as companion content for "Echo" and "Asphodel," but can stand as quick reads on their own. I'm sharing them all in one space on Ao3 (called "The Sundari Archives") and I'll update each day and tag appropriately.

3/31: An Astral Gaze (a love letter from Obi-Wan to Satine)

4/1: Bitter Like the Sea (a journal entry Satine wrote as a teen)

4/2: Dome of Sundari (a journal entry Satine wrote during the reconstruction period)

4/3: SPK (a drabble about Duke Adonai Kryze buying a tooka doll for little Satine)

#satine kryze #duchess satine #duchess of mandalore #satineweek2024 #satine week 2024 #satine week

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themathomhouse · 3 months

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I haven't seen this posted about here but it's going round Twitter and tiktok, and I'm so beyond angry I can't let it go.

The UK imprint of Simon and Schuster have announced a history of Gaza is forthcoming from writer and academic Dr Anne Irfan. She's a professor at UCL specialising in Palestinian refugees and their treatment under the UNRWA. She's done extensive work and volunteering in refugee camps, advocates for Palestinians in the UK directly to government, works with a number of projects including in asylum applications, and writes articles both in academic journals and in newspapers about Palestine. Whilst studying for her thesis, she was denied entry into Palestine by Israel.

Sounds like a highly qualified person to write a history of Gaza, right?

WRONG!

According to activists on social media - all of whom have comparable work backgrounds and experience I'm sure - it's completely unacceptable for her to write this book!!! Some of which is due to her being a white woman (we'll get to that), and some is due to her husband being a soldier in the IDF and clapping for genocide (we'll get to that too).

The vitriol and backlash has been awful, and I haven't seen many takedowns so under the cut I will dissect the issues here.

1) she's not Palestinian.

This one seems to be true, and I do think that it's important that we allow people from a region to tell their own stories. This isn't the worst criticism, however given the other problems people have I think it's being brought up disengenuously.

She is an expert though, and I am deeply concerned about this progression to an idea that we should only learn about or discuss our own cultures. Palestinian voices not being elevated is a systemic issue, not the fault of one woman who we can at least say possesses the requisite expertise to write a history book.

She's actually already written one book - Refuge and Resistance: Palestinians and the international refugee system.

Here's a list of recent news articles she's written.

2) she's white.

This one I can't verify. There are claims from people purporting to be former students of hers who say she's Jordanian and has family in Palestine. Certainly her surname is Arabic and she's listed as being fluent in Arabic on her academic profiles, so I'm not willing to assume from the single photograph I've seen that she's white.

We have also seen from the rise in antisemitism recently that whiteness is entirely conditional, and I think in this case it's being thrust upon her to justify saying she has no business writing a book. I think this is trying to get at systemic issues with publishing, but without any of the facts.

Source:

3) her husband is an IDF soldier.

Her partner (not husband as far as I can tell) tweeted out the book announcement. He's a fucking marketing data guy who works for Twitter. He's not in the IDF. He's just Israeli and so probably did national service, but that's an assumption as he lives in London.

Source:

I can't add his LinkedIn or other profiles as they've all been deleted, likely due to this shit. This will have to do.

4) he supports genocide.

No.

He had a take that I don't personally agree with - saying Israel shouldn't agree to a ceasefire until the hostages have been returned - but that is an extremely far cry from any kind of support for genocide. His Twitter has been deleted so I've only seen screenshots, possibly someone made this claim but failed to procure the correct evidence; but that seems extremely unlikely.

Even the original person who tweeted about this has tried to walk it back (not the husband part but some of the other stuff).

There were no receipts by the way, possibly due to a change of heart.

Babe you called it coloniser apologia and attacked her personally as well as her partner, you're kind of the one who made it personal. Feel bad all you want but this is just you being defensive.

What now?

If you are going to make claims about someone supporting genocide or any of this shit, be really fucking sure before you throw a Molotov cocktail into the dumpster fire of this discourse. The publisher, an unrelated book news website, her editor (who's made her account private after being @ed in the comments), and she and her partner (both deleted Twitter) have been inundated with tweets and videos on tiktok yelling about it - most of which has been at best unhelpful, but comes from a place of xenophobia and an entirely misapplied desire to crusade for justice - and I'm being generous calling it that.

Has this helped? Has it? Did posting her university email and calling for people to call her a fascist in her work inbox manifest some Palestinian writers? Has tweeting shit like this helped?

Getting rid of academia is definitely A Good Take and not the step authoritarians take.

I've personally written to the publisher to express my sadness at this whole thing, agreeing that Palestinian voices are extremely important to uplift but also saying that Dr Irfan is clearly more than qualified to write this book. I admire all of the work she has already done spending more than a decade working with Palestinian refugees, and I hope very much that everyone involved is doing okay.

I don't know what else to do. All I can do is once again say that people need to really, properly fact-check before you post. This woman is actually doing the activism. She's an historian, yes; but also does work directly in camps and with the preservation of archives. Her crime seems to me to be that her partner is Israeli, and if that's where we're at then I don't even want to know where we're going.

#i/p #antisemitism #xenophobia #anne irfan #don't make me regret tagging this #long post

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wholesomefluffdaddy · 1 month

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Wednesday's new court mandated therapist is having her keep a journal of her thoughts and feelings. Wednesday finds this to be a complete waste of time and decides instead to use it to record her observations of her unusual roommate Enid Sinclair. Wednesday POV.

——————————————

Entry 1

Current moon phase: New Moon 🌑

Enid was observed in the courtyard conversing with the insipid vampire Yoko Tanaka and the siren Divina Portokalos. She appeared to be engaged in some jestful mockery of the vampire by sticking two straws under her upper lip in a crude imitation of fangs. She then attempted to imbibe soup with her prosthetic 'fangs'. Her failure to observe the obviously high temperature of the steaming liquid led to an expulsion of said liquid across the table. Inspection of her tongue and the roof of her mouth indicated mild burns and irritation. I was forced to relinquish my ice water in order to treat her idiotic self-inflicted superficial injury.

Unusual behavior occurred shortly after as she proceeded to initiate unprovoked physical contact. I observed her claws lengthening, possibly involuntarily, while her hand was in contact with mine. I find this strange as I assume that the fullness of the moon would influence such behaviors and yet it is presently the New Moon. I must remember to take into account that since her 'wolf out' she has had increased control over how she shifts. Perhaps the action was voluntary. However, if that was the case, what was it for? Was she trying to remind me in some small visual way of her supernaturally fast healing? Or maybe she took offense to me treating her injury and thus grew her claws to remind me that she is a most fearsome and breathtakingly beautiful beast?Werewolf?

#ao3 fanfic #archive of our own #wenclair #wednesday x enid #wednesday addams #enid sinclair #wednesday netflix #wednesday is soft for enid #Wednesday is oblivious #wholesomefluffdaddy

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ccircusclwn · 27 days

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silly little alenoah monster apocalypse au fic m gonna be doing for funsies!! cause being an artist wasnt enough of a struggle!!!!

SUMMARY:

Years after the apocalypse started and humanity was wiped out, creatures that humans once called monsters start to slowly reclaim the Earth as theirs, separating it in tribes and groups.

Alejandro, a vampire, travels through the land with his teenage daughter Mary Kate both to survive and to document the disaster that is now the planet and its residents with his trusty journal.

Welcome to Alejandro's Monster-pocalypse Entries, where he will explain to you whatever he knows about certain creatures that dwell around him, and also explain details of his personal travels with his super cool vampire daughter!

An Alenoah monster apocalypse AU!

#total drama #tdi 2023 #alenoah gay dads au #alenoah #td alenoah #alenoah monster apocalypse au #td alejandro #total drama mk #td mk #alejandro total drama #fic: The Monster-pocalypse Entries

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emberglowfox · 1 year

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an analysis of journal entries #1-8 written by professor sada/turo

in which i continue to be absolutely bonkers over the professors and attempt to analyze all eight journal entries for fun. this is gonna get long, so it’s going under a cut. all journal entries are from pokemon scarlet, since that’s the game i have and i went through and transcribed them myself. i assume they’re mostly the same between games.

Journal #1: “We’ve determined that this energy crystallization is linked to the being we call █ █ █ █ █ █. The interlocking hexagonal plates that comprise █ █ █ █ █ █’s shell must somehow cause this phenomenon— which I’ve dubbed “Terastallizing”.

This entry is more or less just world lore. I really wish this got expanded on-- we only know tiny bits and pieces of information about the mysterious entity responsible for Terastallization. Really hoping for this story point to get continued in the DLC, I think it’s fascinating.

The fact that Sada/Turo specifically is the one to call it Terastallizing is interesting as well. Really gives you insight into just how prominent they are in their field if they get to be responsible for naming something so monumental.

Journal #2: “Thanks to my prototype Tera Orb, I secured corporate funding for my research and made a laboratory in the lighthouse near Cabo Poco. Someday, though, I’ll return to the crater and resume my study of these crystals.”

This is clearly very early in Sada/Turo’s spiral into their fixation with their work. As it says, at this point in time is when they make their first breakthrough in the field of Terastal energy. Though they secure funding, it does force them to leave the crater for a time, during which they’re focused presumably on developing the Tera Orb from its initial prototype into the widely-used version we see and use in the game. This, clearly, does not entirely distract their focus from Area Zero, as even shortly after leaving it they’re already thinking about returning.

Journal #3: “At last I can resume work on the Tera Project! I’ll move my research to the Zero Lab this month. My team will be smaller, but no matter. The strong influence of the crystals makes our experiments much more unstable.”

At this point, Sada/Turo has presumably perfected the Tera Orb and has returned to general research on the crystals down in Area Zero. The use of ‘experiments’ and ‘instability’ makes me think that this is where Sada/Turo leaned away from the crystals’ effects on Pokemon and more into its effects on enhancing technology.

Journal #4: “The crystal’s power is tremendous! Their unstable output made our corporate backers fret, but… If we can harness this energy, it will open up research possibilities we’d only dreamed of. At last, paradise will be ours to create.”

Between entry #3 and #4, Sada/Turo has clearly conducted much research on the power of the crystals and realized their potential. The ‘research possibility only dreamed of’ is clearly the time machine/act of bringing past/future pokemon to the present, as shown by the following line, ‘paradise will be ours to create’. Here, Sada/Turo is realizing the fantasy they’ve nurtured since childhood might actually be possible, and it begins their descent into full-on obsession.

And, really-- I get it. Imagine being obsessed with, say, dragons since you were a child, only to discover through research years later that there’s a serious chance you could bring them to life and make them real. For someone as fascinated with the Scarlet/Violet book as Sada/Turo, it’s really no surprise they threw everything they had into creating a functioning time machine as soon as the possibility became feasible.

Also, this is a marked shift in the scope of possibility of Sada/Turo’s research. Before, there were certainly limits and uncertainties. Now, due to the power the crystals have over machinery, basically anything is possible. Think that might give you a bit of a god complex?

Journal #5: “Our time machine has yielded a triumph— a Pokemon from the ancient past! I’ve named it Koraidon. I was expecting one new life to treasure, but what fortune to be blessed with this gift as well!”

Here, the time machine isn’t just real-- it’s functioning. I presume a lot of time has passed between entry #4 and entry #5, since regardless of feasibility, you don’t just figure out how to make a functional time machine overnight. The piles of notes and whiteboard equations in the Zero Lab are a testament to that. Regardless, Sada/Turo’s intuition has proved correct, and their dream has been realized. Literally anything is on the table now. There are no limits to what they can achieve at the rate they’re hurtling forward at. As I’ve emphasized before, that’s gotta do something to your psyche.

Also in this entry is our first mention of Arven, the ‘life to treasure’ that Sada/Turo had been expecting. This is the reason I noted the passage of time between entries #4 and #5-- presumably, due to passion and obsession, Turo/Sada has been working on the time machine this whole time. So, something happened fairly recently (in the grand scope of things) to cause Arven’s mother to be pregnant with him.

I have two theories, accordingly. The first is that Arven’s other parent was someone the professor met while they were working in the lab at Cabo Poco, before they returned to Area Zero, and that Arven’s mother was undergoing her pregnancy during the period of research on the Time Machine. The second is that Arven’s other parent might actually have been a fellow researcher working with them in Area Zero, though this one I’m less sure of, since I have difficulty picturing someone as focused as Sada/Turo taking time off to engage in... you know, especially with a fellow researcher. Then again, horniness is a hell of a drug, so who knows?

(EDIT: I wrote the paragraph above assuming that the professor was spending all their time at the Zero Lab, when Arven’s dialogue actually tells us that there was a period in which they lived at the lighthouse and commuted. This might have been the situation before Arven was born, or it might have come as a result of his birth, I’m not sure. Leaning towards the latter.)

What this does tell us is that Koraidon/Miraidon was summoned when Arven was fairly young. This makes sense, since Arven has lines about feeling like Koraidon/Miraidon ‘stole his childhood’, as his mom/dad was so focused and fascinated with a living, present, ancient/futuristic pokemon that they weren’t attentive to his needs, and eventually chose to return to Area Zero with Koraidon/Miraidon permanently instead of staying with him.

Journal #6: “I’ve successfully brought more and more ancient Pokemon to our time since the first one. I’m so close to creating a world like the one in the book— a paradise where we three can live happily together forever. I must make it real.”

One thing I’d like to focus on in this entry is the shift from we to I. In previous entries, Sada/Turo describes all of their work as ‘ours’, such as our time machine. Here, that’s no longer the case. Presumably, something happened between entry #5 and #6 that lost Sada her fellow researchers. Perhaps they saw how dangerous Koraidon was or were scared of the implications of the functioning time machine? Or did it have potentially something to do with a relationship with a coworker that led to Arven’s existence? Either way, from here on out, Sada/Turo is alone in the Zero Lab with her work. And regardless of their isolation, they’re continuing with their research, and succeeding.

Sada/Turo has also likely been projecting their obsession with their idea of ‘paradise’ onto Arven and, now, Koraidon (who i presume to be the third of ‘we three’). She’s convinced herself she’s doing it for all their sakes, when in reality it’s the last thing Arven-- and possibly the weaker Koraidon-- wants. This is a bit devastating, since it’s a clear example of where love and obsession cross and get muddied. Sada/Turo isn’t thinking straight. They love Arven, that much is clear, but they’re not acting like it. They’re too caught up in what they’ve been doing for, by now, a very long time. It likely feels too late to quit, if the thought has even crossed their mind (which I somewhat doubt).

Journal #7: “I need more people. More time. That man walked out not long after the boy was born. I need another set of hands, but could they be trusted? And how long would it take them to even understand? If only there were two of me.”

This entry emphasizes one of my previous points. Sada/Turo is now dealing with the fallout of being alone in the Zero Lab and is struggling to keep up their previous level of productivity. Even more curious is the line ‘but could they be trusted’? Something clearly went wrong between Sada/Turo and their coworkers, because now they’re hesitant to trust anyone with their research. ‘And how long would it take them to even understand?’ makes me suspect that Sada/Turo’s co-researchers lack of zeal meant they weren’t as blinded to the potential repercussions of yoinking pokemon from other points on the timeline, and that this led to a rift between them and Sada/Turo and, eventually, their departure.

Somewhat of an aside, but while looking through the Zero Lab for any entries I might have missed, I came across the note about the Poke Ball locking system. Obviously this is mainly intended as a game mechanic to force you to battle with Koraidon/Miraidon, but from a meta perspective its fascinating. Sada/Turo didn’t just not trust anyone else-- they legitimately expected someone to come and sabotage their research. And it’s confirmed to not be wild pokemon they were afraid of, since the Poke Ball Locking System literally targets trainers carrying pokemon. Sada/Turo was worried about people. Just how bad was their fallout with their fellow researchers?

The line ‘that man walked out not long after the boy was born’ feels at a glance just thrown in to explain the absence of Arven’s other parent, but for me, it just compounds the trust issues that Sada/Turo was surely developing as a result of everything that had happened. And it definitely does not do good things to your brain to feel like the literal only person in the world you can trust is yourself.

Journal #8: “My new assistant has intellect and technical skills to rival my own. A bit rigid at times, but I’ve got no serious complaints. Productivity has doubled. We even brought in a second Koraidon via the machine— though this one had proved aggressive.

Here is the first mention of AI Sada/Turo, which Sada/Turo presumably constructed completely by themself (if you were doubting how much of a genius they were). The line ‘a bit rigid at times’, is, in my opinion, extremely noteworthy. I’m going to get into conjecture here a little bit, but that comment makes me think that Sada/Turo would prefer someone who wasn’t rigid-- i.e., someone they could connect with on an emotional level. The loneliness and isolation is getting to them, and it isn’t good.

But Sada/Turo chooses instead to focus on the productivity of things. They’ve brought in a second Koraidon/Miraidon! Things are going great. Their mental health has not deteriorated at alllll.

That’s the last journal entry, which I assume is because not long after it came the Koraidon/Miraidon fight in which they were ultimately killed trying to protect their research, the weaker Koraidon/Miraidon. There’s something to be said about Sada/Turo still underestimating the power of the pokemon they’ve summoned to the present, even after all their research, and how it connects with how they just didn’t seem to get the potential ecological damage of what they were doing. Their brilliance made them blind at multiple crucial moments, and it led to them making a mess of their personal lives, relationships, mental health, and ultimately caused their demise.

These fuckers are fascinating to me, can you tell?

#pokemon #pokemon scarlet and violet #pokemon sv spoilers #professor turo #professor sada #if i missed/forgot everything feel free to tell me! i don't remember all of arven's dialogue on the matter so stuff might be skewed #psv #long post #sparks speaks #meta

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astral-mariner · 3 months

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It's finally here---a preview of my long Vegeta/Raditz under Freeza fic, Homeworld Lost! I've posted the prologue and the first chapter of Part 1 as a teaser.

I've written 9 out of the story's 12 parts and have close to 130k words in my manuscript thus far. When I've completed and edited everything, I'll start posting regularly/weekly. Until then, I may update with more previews sporadically. (So feel free to subscribe on AO3 to be notified when previews go up.)

This is a fic 10 years in the making. I've had the story in my head for ages, and I began the short story that eventually turned into this novel-length work sometime in 2014. It took me a while to produce this preview because I had to rewrite some of my earliest drafts! (The majority of what I have written was all written after 2022, and I've written more than 70k words since the start of 2023.) I'm about 75% complete overall.

Please tread carefully in reading, however. Homeworld Lost is a darkfic. It's meant to disturb the reader, and I wrote it with a mature audience in mind. Genre-wise, it's a horror story in a science-fantasy setting. It deals with many sensitive subjects and handles them in an explicit way. There's blood and gore, fucked up relationships, torture, sexual violence, a lot of existential angst, and some in-depth explorations of trauma and its aftermath. And yes, there will be some kinky erotica. Heavy on the sadomasochism and twisted power dynamics. Sometimes it will be purposefully mixed with horror elements. If such things aren't to your taste, that's okay. But it was meaningful for me to write, and I'm sure that others can get something out of it too.

I made a pretty bold decision in how I told the story as well. It's in first person from Raditz's POV, and it is framed by Bulma's private journal entries as she processes what she reads/translates. I know this may put some people off, but I truly don't think the story I'm telling could be better told another way. Unreliable narration is a big element in Homeworld Lost and is part of the story all by itself. The reader is meant to question what's really going on and how honest the characters are being.

Anyway, enjoy! Comments will give me fuel to finish this project 💖

#vegeta #raditz #vegeditz #dbz fanfiction #dbz fics #astral writing

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bracketsoffear · 1 month

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The Door in the Wall (H.G. Wells) "This short story is about Lionel Wallace, who at the age of 5 encountered and entered a weird door. Behind it he found a beautiful and peaceful garden and felt such happiness and bliss, that when he was transported back on the street and escorted back to his home, he was very upset. He would see the door again many times later in life, but every time he will refuse to enter it due to his responsibilities (for example, to not be late to class, to catch a train, to be on time for an appointment). He grew up and became a successful politician, but the perfect world behind the door haunted him, and his success felt dull and boring. The book ends with people finding his lifeless body at the bottom of a pit, and that he had in poor light walked through a small doorway that led onto it. The narrator then speculates that maybe Lionel saw the perfect garden behind the doorway and was finally able to find happiness."

The Yellow Wallpaper (Charlotte Perkins Gilman) "The story is written as a collection of journal entries narrated in the first person. The journal was written by a woman whose physician husband has rented an old mansion for the summer. Forgoing other rooms in the house, the couple moves into the upstairs nursery. As a form of treatment, the husband forbids the journal writer from working or writing, and encourages her to eat well and get plenty of air so that she can recuperate from what he calls a "temporary nervous depression – a slight hysterical tendency", a common diagnosis in women at the time. As the reader continues through the journal entries, they experience the writer's gradual descent into madness with nothing better to do than observe the peeling yellow wallpaper in her room." Link to Project Gutenberg

#spiral poll #the spiral #poll #the magnus archives #leitner tournament #The Door in the Wall #H.G. Wells #The Yellow Wallpaper #Charlotte Perkins Gilman

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roosterbruiser · 7 months

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giving a life update bc it makes me feel better about myself feat. another face reveal

I think I'm gonna treat this like a sort of journal entry and include some cute pictures so this doesn't feel like an absolute dump :-)

so to begin here's a picture of my nephew (yes it's a dog)

I am so excited for all my upcoming projects. right now, my focus is on finishing CS all the way. after I finish CS, I think I'm gonna go ahead and come out w HOT TO GO! (BRB x Reader) and then start regularly posting VV and SS again. I think I have my October schedule pinned down (like everything that's coming out) and that is so exciting! I can't wait to share w y'all!

I'm a working girl now!! I nanny 4 days a week!! it's lovely!! just one baby who's only 1!! and the parents work from home so I never have to stay late or anything!! it has been a bit of a challenge getting used to the schedule (but I thrive with schedules!) so that's why I've been a bit absent on here!!

still trying to get my house set up....living room has come a loooooong way, but my bedroom is suffering! hoping to work on it here and there! but my main priority is getting back into my regularly scheduled writing!! the living room def isn't completely done (have to finish my gallery walls!) and I wish the walls weren't white, but we're renting so! I do what I must!

plus being back in the area I'm in now means I'm by my friends again so I've been Going Out And Socializing which is crazy!!! here's some pictures of me at a local brewery wearing the bolo necklace I got with @ohgodnotagainn in Colorado!!!

in all complete and utter seriousness, whenever I was coming out with a new chapter for my three stories every single week (and updating Landslide like every two days!) I was at my lowest point. I was like one nasty thought away from having a grippy sock vacation and holding onto anything that eased my Darkness--which was absolutely writing and sharing on here with everyone!

here's a pic of me when I was at one of my lowest points. I was in Chicago in the dead of winter with people I didn't know very well (it was still fun!) and had never felt more lost in my life. it also exactly coincided with my stories getting popular on here after my 200 follower celebration. like, I remember being on the train and checking my Tumblr every hour and always having 100+ notifications. I'll never forget how mind-boggling it was!! I went from 200 followers in early January to 2.8k now in late September. and I love you all SO much!!!

I'd like to think I look much happier now :-)

I kind of have a bf now and I'm sooooo embarrassed ab it. like. who breaks up with the person they thought they were gonna marry, gets back with their ex, and just stays w them??? me, I guess! no but I am actually happy. we're going to see CHAPPELL MF ROAN'S ALBUM RELEASE tomorrow and he's gonna wear a silk scarf and trim his mustache. I'm in love. like, actually in love. Alice Hoffman says, "Fall in love whenever you can." so I did!

the closest I'll give to a face reveal.....

anyway. I'm happy. the only thing I wanna work on right now is my health (simply MUST get into the hot girl mindset) and my writing!! everything else is gravy, baby!!

gonna try to answer asks / mentions / dm's this weekend!

#life shmife #life update #face reveal part three #update #my works #my wirting #my life

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ultimaid · 4 months

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Junko Enoshima doesn’t want to write in this stupid journal. Even if her therapist says she has to. Even if he thinks it’ll help.

Sure, whatever, she’ll write in it, but she’ll hate every second of it, just like she hates Hope’s Peak Academy. All she feels is despair, and she can’t imagine a world where that ever changes.

Some people just aren’t meant to be happy, she thinks. Some people just aren’t meant to be loved.

…Are they?

***

MY NONDESPAIR JUNKO FIC IS FINALLY OFF THE GROUND!!! i don’t know when i’ll update this, probably sporadically. chapters are VERY short and sweet, each chapter is one journal entry!

#danganronpa #trigger happy havoc #junko enoshima #enosaki #eno.txt #my writing

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rylem33 · 3 months

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Unlocking Potential

This is the story in full. This is also posted over at my blog along with 80 other stories of mine. The link is on my Tumblr home page. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the cool, dim light of the lab, surrounded by the soft hum of machinery and the faint clatter of lab equipment, Elena’s excitement was palpable. She animatedly described her latest findings to Marcus, her hands moving with each word, illustrating the remarkable cognitive enhancements she’d observed in her test subjects.

“Marcus, it’s incredible,” Elena exclaimed, her eyes alight with the thrill of discovery. “The rats, they’ve shown significant improvements in problem-solving and memory tests. It’s like we’ve unlocked a part of their brain that was dormant!”

Marcus, leaning against a lab bench, watched her with a mixture of admiration and something more tender that he dared not name. “That’s amazing, Elena. Your dedication’s really paying off,” he said, his voice warm with genuine pride for her achievements.

Elena, too caught up in her enthusiasm, missed the subtle inflections in Marcus’s tone, the slight linger in his gaze. “I’m telling you, Marcus, we’re on the brink of something revolutionary. If these results are anything to go by, human trials could change everything we know about our potential.”

Marcus shifted slightly, his smile bittersweet as he observed Elena’s fervor. “I have no doubt about that. You’re going to make history with this, Elena.” His words were supportive, but his body language—a slight tilt of the head, an unconsciously forward lean—betrayed his deeper, unspoken feelings.

Elena, oblivious to the undercurrents of the moment, continued, her mind racing with possibilities. “Just imagine the applications, Marcus. Enhanced learning, accelerated skill acquisition… the implications are endless!”

Marcus nodded, his affection for Elena mingling with a touch of melancholy. He knew her heart belonged to her research, her brilliant mind always chasing the next discovery. “You’re going to do great things, Elena. Just make sure you take a moment to celebrate your successes, too.”

Elena paused, her smile softening as she regarded Marcus. “I will, I promise. Couldn’t have gotten this far without your support, you know.”

As Marcus offered a reassuring smile, the moment was tinged with the unspoken truth of his feelings, hidden beneath layers of friendship and professional camaraderie. And as Elena turned back to her notes, her thoughts filled with the promise of her research. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Journal Entry: Day 1

Morning Thoughts:

The dawn of what I believe to be a groundbreaking day in the field of neuroscience. Today, I initiate the first human trial of my device, designed to unlock the latent potential within our brains. The success with the lab rats has been beyond encouraging – enhanced cognitive abilities, improved problem-solving skills, and faster learning rates. If these effects can be replicated in humans, the implications could be revolutionary. My hands tremble slightly as I write this, not out of fear, but with the sheer excitement of potential discovery.

Midday Observations:

The initial session with the device was… uneventful, at least in the immediate aftermath. I felt a slight warmth, a buzzing at the base of my skull as the sub-atomic radiation did its work, but nothing more. No sudden enlightenment, no overwhelming rush of knowledge. The only physical side effect seems to be a mild headache, which could easily be attributed to my heightened state of anticipation rather than the treatment itself. The rats showed their first signs of improvement by the third day; patience is required.

Evening Reflections:

As I sit here in the quiet of my lab, the only sounds being the hum of computers and the occasional click of cooling equipment, I can’t help but feel a sense of solitude. This project has been my life for so many years, my constant companion. It’s a lonely path, this pursuit of knowledge, but one I tread willingly. The potential to elevate human consciousness, to unlock the mysteries of our own minds, is a goal worth any sacrifice. Yet, as I prepare to turn off the lights and head home to an empty apartment, I wonder if perhaps I’ve sacrificed too much. But then, the thought of tomorrow’s session with the device rekindles the flame of excitement within me. The journey has only just begun.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Journal Entry: Day 2

Morning Thoughts:

Today greeted me with surprises that were as unexpected as they were curious. Upon waking, I felt an unusual lightness, a vitality that’s been absent for years. The scales confirmed it – a noticeable decrease in weight overnight, which is scientifically implausible given my caloric intake and sedentary lifestyle. More perplexing still was the mirror’s reflection; my skin seemed clearer, and there was a certain… vibrancy to it. I attributed these changes to a placebo effect or perhaps the result of improved sleep, induced by the excitement of the experiment.

Midday Observations:

As the day progressed, the changes became harder to rationalize away. My clothes felt looser, and my movements carried an ease I hadn’t known in years. Colleagues remarked on my appearance, asking if I’d changed my hair or started a new diet. It was flattering, yet disconcerting. The physical alterations seemed beneficial but were entirely unexpected. My focus began to shift from the cognitive effects I was so eagerly anticipating to the startling physical transformation unfolding. Theories raced through my mind – was the device somehow influencing my metabolism? Enhancing cellular regeneration? The implications were vast, yet so were the ethical considerations.

Dr. Sarah Chen: (noticing Elena as she walks into the lab) Elena, did you do something different with your hair? It looks… brighter, somehow. Elena: (smiling awkwardly) Oh, just the same old shampoo, I guess. Maybe the lab lights are playing tricks. Dr. Alex Rivera: (at the coffee machine) Hey, Elena, have you been hitting the gym lately? You seem… I don’t know, more energized. Elena: (shrugging, trying to deflect) Just trying to stay active, you know how it is. Nothing out of the ordinary. Dr. Michael Kim: (during lunch break) I have to ask, Elena, what’s your secret? You’re looking really refreshed these days. New diet? Elena: (with a forced chuckle) Secret? I wish I had one! Just the usual, maybe a bit more sleep than usual. Dr. Lisa Patel: (in a team meeting, whispering) Elena, seriously, you’re glowing. If you’ve started some new wellness routine, you’ve got to share it with us. Elena: (feeling increasingly uncomfortable) Oh, it’s nothing, really. Just trying to keep stress at bay, that’s all.

Evening Reflections:

The excitement of the morning’s discoveries has given way to a creeping unease. The physical improvements, while welcome on a personal level, are a deviation from the intended cognitive enhancements. I spent the evening poring over my data, searching for any anomalies in the treatment parameters, any overlooked variables that might explain this unintended outcome. The scientific part of me is intrigued by this new development, but the cautious researcher within warns of the unforeseen consequences of tampering with the delicate balance of the human body. Tonight, I find myself at a crossroads, torn between the thrill of discovery and the weight of responsibility. The path forward is unclear, and for the first time in this experiment, I feel a flicker of doubt.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Journal Entry: Day 3

Morning Thoughts:

This morning’s reflection was nothing short of a revelation. The woman staring back at me from the mirror bore only a passing resemblance to the Dr. Elena Maxwell of just a few days prior. The changes are now undeniable, not just subtle hints but a dramatic transformation. My skin, my physique, even the way my clothes drape over my frame—it’s all altered. I found myself experimenting with outfits that had been pushed to the back of the closet, abandoned for being too form-fitting or youthful. The sense of vitality is exhilarating, yet it’s accompanied by a whisper of apprehension. This wasn’t the goal of my experiment, but can it truly be deemed a setback?

Midday Observations: The lab, once my sanctuary, now feels like a cage. I caught myself glancing at the clock, eager for a break, a stark contrast to my previous disregard for the passage of time when engrossed in research. Social media, a realm I had once dismissed as frivolous, now holds a peculiar allure. The influx of ‘likes’ and comments on my increasingly frequent posts is strangely gratifying. My scientific pursuits are being overshadowed by this burgeoning vanity, a realization that both fascinates and disturbs me.

Evening Reflections:

Tonight, I find my thoughts straying not to my research, but to the social engagements I’ve suddenly found myself eager to attend. The irony is not lost on me; the very science that consumed my life is now facilitating a departure from it. There’s a part of me that mourns this shift, yet another part revels in the newfound attention and confidence. The device was meant to unlock potential, but I hadn’t anticipated that it would unlock this aspect of myself. The question that haunts me as I prepare for bed is whether this change is truly me emerging, or if I’m losing the essence of who I am to this unintended side effect.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Journal Entry: Day 4

Morning Thoughts:

Waking up this morning, I scarcely recognized the person in the mirror. The physical transformation is now complete, and the person looking back at me is a far cry from the scientist I was just a few days ago. My reflection shows a vibrant, youthful woman, but the eyes—that spark of relentless curiosity—seem dimmer today. I’ve become someone who cares more about likes and comments than about lab results and scientific breakthroughs. The realization leaves me feeling hollow, as if I’ve lost a part of myself that was the core of my identity.

Midday Observations:

My visit to the lab was brief and unfocused. I found myself avoiding my colleagues, unable to face their questions or share in their excitement about the ongoing projects. A chance encounter with a longtime collaborator forced me to confront the reality of my situation. He barely recognized me, and his shock was a mirror reflecting the drastic changes I’ve undergone. His concerned questions about my well-being and the project cut through the fog of my recent self-absorption. For the first time, I questioned whether the trade-off was worth it.

Elena: (tentatively approaching) Hey, Marcus. Marcus: (doing a double take) Elena? Is that really you? Elena: (forcing a smile) In the flesh. Surprised? Marcus: I’ll say. You look… different. I almost didn’t recognize you. What happened? Elena: (shrugging) Just trying out something new, I guess. Marcus: (with genuine concern) But this is more than just a new look, Elena. You’ve been… different. And your project? We’ve all been wondering what’s going on. Elena: (sighing, looking away) I know, I know. It’s just that… things have changed, Marcus. I’ve changed. Marcus: (leaning in, lowering his voice) I heard about your experiment. Is it related to that? Elena, if something went wrong, we can help. Elena: (biting her lip, then meeting his gaze) It’s not that simple. The experiment… it worked, but not in the way I intended. I’ve been… distracted, caught up in the changes. Marcus: (placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder) Look, Elena, you’re brilliant. Whatever’s happening, we can figure it out together. Don’t let this consume you. Remember why you started all this. Elena: (nodding, a hint of the old determination in her eyes) You’re right. I need to refocus, get back to the essence of my research. Thanks, Marcus. I needed this wake-up call.

Evening Reflections: The decision to halt the treatments was made in a moment of clarity, amidst a turmoil of emotions. The allure of youth and beauty, so intoxicating at first, has proven to be a siren’s call, leading me away from the essence of who I am. I’ve decided to document these side effects meticulously, to understand the breadth of the device’s impact. This evening, I documented my thoughts in an email and sent it to my work account. Tomorrow, I plan on taking immediate action to recover my former self.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Journal Entry: Day 5

Morning Thoughts:

The reflection that greeted me in the mirror today was both astonishing and uncharted territory. The woman staring back at me, imbued with the vibrancy and beauty of early adulthood, was a stark departure from the seasoned scientist I’ve always identified as. My experiment, it seems, has not only rewritten the rules of my existence but continues to do so even after the treatments have ceased. This was a phenomenon never observed in the rats, a deviation that puzzles and fascinates me in equal measure.

My physique now marries strength with an elegance I hadn’t known was possible for me, embodying a version of myself that existed only in fanciful daydreams. Despite halting the treatments, the metamorphosis persisted, suggesting that the device’s effects might be irreversible or even self-perpetuating. The very essence of my being, once solely devoted to the intellect, now seems intertwined with a physical form that defies my every expectation.

It’s clear the device has worked, but the path it’s taken is one I hadn’t charted. The potential I aimed to unlock within the cerebral cortex has instead manifested through every fiber of my physical self. My body, now a perfect fusion of strength and grace, reflects a version of myself I never dared to imagine.

Midday Observations:

Started the day planning to get back to the lab, but then, out of nowhere, my phone pings with a notification from some dating app. Weird, right? I guess I downloaded it when I was bored yesterday in the lab. But there’s this guy on there, smiling in his picture, and I just couldn’t help it. Ended up chatting and, before I knew it, we made plans to meet up. It’s been ages since I did something like this. So, the lab and all those experiments I was so wrapped up in? They kind of just slipped my mind.

And you know what? Talking to this guy was so easy, so fun. It’s like all the heavy science stuff I’m usually all about just faded a bit. Not saying I’m not smart anymore, but things felt… lighter, somehow? Like I wasn’t trying to figure out a big puzzle, just enjoying the chat. Planning for tonight felt exciting, way more than any of my research has in a while.

It’s kind of funny, thinking about it. Here I am, getting ready for a date, feeling all giddy and stuff. A part of me wonders if this is all part of the changes I’ve been going through. Like, not just looking younger, but feeling it too? In my head, I mean. Makes you think, doesn’t it?

Evening Reflections:

Tonight was awesome. Just hanging out with people, laughing, and feeling all cozy inside. It’s like I found something super special without even looking. Life’s got so much cool stuff to try, and I’m just so, so ready for it all. Writing this down, I’m all smiles and feeling super chill. I mean, science is cool and all, but there’s this whole other thing about just being happy and having fun. That’s kinda where I’m at now. Going to take a break from writing in this journal thingy. Not sad or anything, just super pumped to see what’s next. Catch ya later, journal. It’s time for the next big adventure.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Epilogue In the bustling corridors of the research institute, Marcus spotted Elena from a distance. Her transformation was nothing short of astonishing. Gone was the slightly disheveled, intense researcher he’d known for years. In her place stood a woman who seemed to radiate with a vitality and confidence that turned heads as she moved through the crowd.

Curiosity piqued, Marcus navigated through the sea of colleagues to reach her, a familiar smile playing on his lips. “Elena!” he called out, his voice tinged with the warmth of old friendship.

Elena turned, her strawberry blonde hair catching the light in a way that seemed almost ethereal.

“Hi, Elena.” She faced him with a polite, questioning smile, her eyes devoid of recognition. “It’s me, Marcus. We’ve worked together for the last five years,” Marcus introduced himself, a hint of disbelief creeping into his voice.

Elena’s smile remained, courteous yet distant. “Oh, nice to meet you, Marcus. I’m sorry, I’m just on my way to meet someone. But it’s always nice to see new faces around here,” she replied, her tone light and dismissive.

Marcus was taken aback by her response, his smile faltering as he processed the situation. “Elena, it’s me, Marcus. We’ve shared countless late nights in the lab, remember? The quantum biology debates?”

Elena’s smile wavered for a moment, a flicker of uncertainty crossing her features before she regained her composure. “I’m sure that was quite interesting. But I really must be going. Take care, Marcus,” she said, her voice kind but firm, as she turned to continue on her path.

Marcus stood there, rooted to the spot, as he watched her walk away. The realization hit him like a cold wave; the Elena he knew, the passionate scientist consumed by her work, seemed to have vanished. In her place was this new Elena, a stranger with the same face but an entirely different essence. The disconnect was jarring, leaving Marcus to ponder the cost of the transformation he’d just witnessed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Epilogue 2 A few months had passed since the incident in the research institute’s corridor. The campus was alive with the vibrant energy of summer, and the sand volleyball courts had become a popular gathering spot for students seeking a break from their studies.

Elena was at the center of it all, her laughter ringing out as she skillfully volleyed the ball over the net. She moved with an athleticism and grace that captivated the group of coeds she played with, her competitive spirit infectious. The transformation that had once seemed so startling to her colleagues had become her new normal, and Elena embraced this life with open arms.

Marcus, now accustomed to the drastic change in his former collaborator, happened to walk by the courts on his way to the lab. He paused for a moment, observing the scene from a distance. There was a time when he might have called out to her, attempted to bridge the gap that had widened between them. But that time had passed.

Elena, fully immersed in the game and her new social circle, didn’t notice Marcus. And Marcus, recognizing the futility of reaching out to someone who had so completely moved on from their shared past, chose to continue on his path without interruption.

#f2f transformation #personality change

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