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cerastes · 4 years

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E2 artworks are for the most part delightful, but today, I would like us to pay particular attention to certain characters’ Elite 2 artwork: Nightingale, Cuora, and Specter.

The three of them have two things in common: The first is that they are all amnesiac (or, in the case of Nightingale, partially amnesiac, but amnesiac nonetheless), the second is that they are all drawn by Skade. I think the Hypergryph writers just have an Amnesiac Hotline for whenever they conceive another amnesiac character and it connects directly to Skade’s temporal lobe, where all information about the new character is immediately uploaded to and then he just starts furiously drawing.

But let’s focus on the fact that they are amnesiac in this post, and how this is reflected in their E2 art in a way I found clever. Let’s begin with our favorite fashionable demon, Nightingale.

Nightingale’s name is a two-fold allusion: The most evident one is being an homage to Florence Nightingale, the mother of modern nursing. The other, perhaps least apparent but of equal importance, is to the Greek aesop “The Laborer & The Nightingale”, which tells the tale of a poor laborer who, enthralled with the beautiful song of a nightingale that sang every day atop a tall cedar tree, grew selfish and built a cage of iron and twigs to capture the nightingale to make its songs his and only his. Her lines make several allusions to cages and empty rooms,

and of only being let out of her ‘cage’ when someone needed her healing powers, her “song”, if you will (especially relevant when you consider how song and Arts seem to be related in Terra). Her E2 art, thus, represents her bursting out of her cage or iron and twigs. Unlike other Sarkaz Operators, her E2 is not a shape or a representation of a Demon, it is, instead, a representation of her inner Demon, the cage of her head, which contains all of her memories and emotions locked tight within in. She’s not there yet, but she’s making progress. It is worthy of note that Shining also doesn’t depict a Demon in her E2 art, her artwork instead centering on her shield, but while Shining’s E2 art is an allusion of her deep, deep shame of being a Sarkaz and the things she’s done as a Sarkaz (or, in other words, denouncing her own identity to focus on what she truly wants to do from here on, which is to protect others), Nightingale’s E2 artwork instead depicts her destroying part of the cage that holds her back: She’s not fully out yet, but now, it is only a matter of time.

Then, what about Cuora?

Some Operators show a manifestation of their identifying animal that might not be entirely physical but it’s clear, with hard colors and textures. Other Operators show their animal very clearly, as if it was truly there, like Perfumer and Siege, and in some cases, it REALLY is there, as with Eyjafjalla (who directly addresses them in a voice line), and this seems to be matter of artistic preference, but whereas Skade normally draws E2 manifestations with solid colors, in the case of Cuora and Specter, he chooses to make them almost phantasmal, with soft colors and an ephemeral feel to them instead. In fact, the turtle you can see above is as generic as can be, it doesn’t seem to be identifying of any particular turtle species, and all we know about it is that it is “a turtle”. This is deliberate, meant to represent Cuora’s amnesia: Her race, Petram, is not unknown, but she doesn’t remember what specific kind of Petram she is. There’s a lot of turtle species, so which one is she? We have no idea. We know Blue Poison is a Poison Dart Frog, we know Nearl is a Pegasus, so when it comes to species either real or fantastic, we usually have an accurate account of which each Operator is supposed to represent, but not with Cuora, because she’s amnesiac. Whatever specific kind of Petram she is, we’ll never know unless someone that can properly identify her or that knew her from before the amnesia can divulge that information. To represent this, thus, her animal manifestation is ephemeral, phantasmal, ambiguous: It shows us exactly as much as we know of it, that is, that she’s a turtle, nothing less, nothing more.

So where does this leave Specter?

Nightingale has partial amnesia, Cuora is amnesiac but her Oripathy was caught in time and she’s been stabilized, but Specter’s nervous system has been ravaged, and not only is she amnesiac, she’s also prone to bouts of insanity and of sometimes saying some rather concerning things, such as wanting to take Doctor to the “place where secrets are imparted” or how “some people were never ever meant to be one, so it is her duty to cut them into many”.

Nightingale’s art, if you look above, is ‘solid’, bereft of particles or separated parts: It’s an iron cage, the twigs, and herself. Cuora’s art is somewhat more ‘loose’, with some weaving loose lines on the lower part of the drawing to presumably represent low tide, where you would normally find small turtles, as well as to represent her somewhat deteriorated but overall well-preserved psyche. Specter’s art, in contrast, is very loose: There’s an emphasis on aquatic trails all over the composition, representing the deep sea, as well as her flowing cloak, hair, and habit flaps. There’s many loose ‘particles’, like smudges of splattered ink, representative of her shattered psyche, and, most importantly, there’s not one but two sharks of different species as her animal representation. I believe they are representative of how she’s currently ‘two’ people: The somewhat manic but otherwise harmless Specter that can be found roaming the halls of Rhodes Islands’ dorms, and the completely silent fighting machine named Specter that can be found roaming the battlefield like a vengeful ghoul, following orders to the letter, her own safety be damned.

But there’s another meaning, I believe: Cuora at least has one turtle in her art, which can at least let us approximate which species it could possibly be (likely a freshwater turtle judging from comparative size and shell shape, bigger than tortoises, smaller than sea turtles), but Specter has two sharks, which means properly approximating her exact species becomes a lot harder. Skadi and Deepcolor, fellow AEgirians, make it very clear which animals they are supposed to be (Orca and Dumbo Squid, respectively), which further proves that this is a Specter-specific conundrum and not a Deep Sea trait. Likewise, her outfit has several allusions to the overall shape of a shark, but not to any specific shark.

If we want to dig deeper, and boy howdy I bet we do, we can take a look at the Chinese Hanzi that composes her name:

“幽灵鲨”, or “Yōulíng shā”, which translates literally to “Ghost Shark” from Chinese to English. Fitting that her codename is given as Specter. So, what’s a “Ghost Shark”, exactly? Aside, from, you know,

a really bad B-Movie.

Sounds like it’s just a cool poetic name for someone who is but a specter: a fleeting existence, with no memories, only a shadow of her former self, no?

Well, that works out, to be frank, but it turns out, Ghost Sharks are a real species. This is the Bahamas Ghost Shark:

And this is the Australian Ghost Shark:

They belong to a species of fish known as Chimaeras, and they live in temperate ocean floors down to 2,600 m (8,500 ft) deep and are some of the oldest fish alive, they share plenty of characteristics with their prehistoric ancestors (or, to translate this to Arknights terms: keep in mind how Specter looks just like a regular human). These are deep sea fish, with only a couple of them coming close to the surface rarely, and it fits with what we know of Specter, what with her background of fighting giant Deep Sea monsters as an Abyssal Hunter. Of course, whether she is supposed to be a Chimaera of any sort remains to be seen, but it wouldn’t surprise me if she was, given the thematic similarities.

I found all of these little nudges and nods to be plenty fascinating. Am I perhaps reading too deep into this? Always within the realm of possibility! Are Skade and Hypergryph planting seeds of lore that will bloom much later, making every piece of evidence given until that point suddenly make cohesive sense? Wouldn’t put it past them! So analyze, analyze, and analyze, because even if it takes you nowhere, lord knows it’s fun to do so.

#arknights #long post #specter #cuora #nightingale

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illusionlock · 6 years

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Belief and Persuasion- Chapter 8 (Finale)

hey folks! i’ve been working on a little batim prequel fanfic for a while n its finally done! its a little long, so im dividing it in 8 chapters total!

if you want to read more, i’ll be tagging this under ‘bap fic’ on my blog!

summary:

Joey Drew gives an interview about how he managed to build his empire, and focuses on the two things needed most: belief and persuasion, the latter of which is trickier. As he talks about his philosophy, we can see examples of his influence at work.

This chapter: Joey finishes giving his interview, only to be confronted by Bendy.

(note: when Bendy “speaks” in this fanfiction, it’s not that he is actually speaking, but rather whistling, and everyone can just understand him, hence the parenthesis. It’s an old silly little trope, but I like it.)

"So, I think that will be all, don't you agree? You've learned quite a lot!" Joey seemed to be joking around, but the interviewer now seemed confused, as if the roles had been flipped.

He looked at his notebook to find scribbles and notes of some strange philosophy bordering in manipulation, things that he hadn't realized he was so absent mindedly writing, so compliant. Joey drew had really taken him for a spin. It really was true what they said about that man, he could have anyone wrapped up in his world in no time. But still, he had to leave.

"Thank you for having me, Mr. Drew." He stammered, getting up, almost not quite sure how to answer. "I will surely remember this, uh. I'll be making my leave now."

"Sure, sure, see you then!" Joey laughed gently as he watched the man make his way out.

After he had turned the corner, Joey moved into his wheelchair and rolled out, only to be confronted by Bendy, who seemed to have been snooping around, hidden from sight. He did not look happy, with his arms crossed and frowning.

"Why, what's this, Bendy? You look as sour as a lemon!" Joey joked, but Bendy had none of it.

"(I know what you did now. Alice and Susie are like this because you did it, didn't you? All of this, everything you do, it's just a game to you! You don't really care about making us stars, you only really care about what you want for the company. Well newsflash! I'm done bowing to you like a loyal little puppy dog, and Boris shouldn't either, no matter how much food you give him!)" Bendy whistled, pointing at him accusingly.

Joey seemed quiet for a minute, seeming genuinely caught in his deceitful manipulative behavior. Then, he nodded solemnly, and spoke again: "Bendy, you don't understand the true predicament I'm in. If I am rushing things, if I am using deceit and persuasion and every resource I can, it's because I'm truly desperate. I'm dying Bendy. The polio is eating me away." He then grabbed his toon's gloved hands, almost as if pleading.

"(What?)" Bendy took a step back. "(What- I'm sorry, that's really awful, but I still think what you did wasn't right.)"

"Yes, but there is a way to help me, to help this, I can be better, we can be better, together!" Joey grabbed Bendy's hands again, this time holding him firmly, as if not letting him get away.

"(... You... Are you honestly still...)" Bendy looked at him in dismay, trying to wriggle free of his grasp.

"Yes, Bendy, let's become one and the same, then I won't have to ever worry about death again! Won't you save me? Save your dear old creator? And let this studio prosper again? Really, killing two birds with one stone!" Joey kept holding him firmly, trapping him almost.

"(I can't believe it! You're doing it again, even when you're sick like this you're still thinking of what you can do to expand your greed! What about what I want? I'm not ready to have what happened to Alice happen to me!)" Bendy stared at him, visibly upset, his whistles growing louder and more aggressive.

"What you want? How can you possibly be so selfish when the one that has brought you to life is dying? You look positively despicable with that frown you know that! Now you better be smiling up and proud again because you are going to help me or you know what's going to happen? Without me, this whole studio's gonna come crumbling to the ground!" Joey snarled, now actually getting angry seeing as his initial persuasion didn't work.

But Bendy kept shaking his head in disbelief: "(No, no, I refuse to get the blame of YOU wanting to have a perfect little cartoon to dance for you. Maybe you should have never made me, if you weren't ready for me to disagree with you.)" Finally, he managed to tear himself free and ran off down the hall.

Joey huffed in anger and went after him; he had a feeling he knew where the little devil was going to.

Sure enough, Joey found him clawing and pounding at the ink machine, but so obviously unsure of how to attack it (if you could even call it an attack, so meek it was) that it made him laugh.

"Bendy." Joey laughed gently, but obviously mocking him. "What do you think you're doing?"

"(I'm going to destroy this wretched machine. Once it's gone, you won't be able to do any of your weird ideas anymore!)" Bendy growled between whistles, taking out random nuts and bolts and whatever he could out of it. Finally, he managed to reach one of the bigger gears, and started to pull it off, it was almost coming completely loose when...

"Bendy, no!" Joey screamed.

Bendy stopped, startled enough by how loud Joey had yelled.

"If you pull that, the pressure will de-stabilize and the whole studio's going to flood! Don't. Do that. Just gently ease it back into place and-" Joey couldn't finish.

Bendy, even if really had not moved the piece fully away from the machine, had already pulled on it so much it just came loose, and the machine immediately did its job, pipes bursting and flooding the room immediately, large amounts of ink washing over them in waves, pulling both Joey and Henry from where they were in swirls of black liquid. It quickly spread over to the other rooms, the work desks and chairs being knocked over, the items on the pedestals being washed out and spread around, the projectors violently swaying in the ink...

Alice Angel, or rather, Alice and Susie, now made into one being, heard it, from the level she stood, where she was still trying to accommodate her home, to come to terms with who she was now. Even with her having failed miserably at becoming perfect, she had still convinced the others to let her stay. But now, she thought it might not have been such a good idea. The employees that were also in that level immediately looked up, hearing it too, feeling the ceiling rumble. Then came the ink, first dripping down in small droplets, then coming down the elevator shaft, the pipes bursting. Something big and terrible was happening.

"Oh no... Oh my god..." Alice said to herself. Then she looked around, to her ex-colleagues, grabbed a microphone from a nearby booth and connected it to the speakers of the studio, shouting: "Get a move people go, go, go! This place is going to flood! Those who can, get into the elevator shaft, those who can't-"

She stopped herself, thinking about whether there was any other solution. She didn't want any of these people to die, but... No. She couldn't think of anything else. "Listen up people, try your best to keep swimming around the ink if you can, and stay atop big structures if possible! After a while, toons are going to start to form, and... and if you can't hold on until this all passes, and if you fear it's your last moment, coat yourselves in ink and become one with them. I'm serious, it's the only way, I'm immune to the ink, you will be too, but for now, try to stay alive!"

Back upstairs, Joey, who was at least trying to make an effort to hold onto the doorframe, felt himself slipping as the levels of ink rose higher and higher. Bendy on the other side of the room, had managed to hold on still to the top of the ink machine.

"Bendy..." Joey pleaded. "I don't think I'll hold on much longer..."

Bendy kept quiet, almost as if he was trying to ignore him.

"Bendy, look at me! You're the one that's doomed us all and you still refuse to help me?!" He tried an angrier approach, but that only earned him another silent distrustful and angry look from the demon.

Joey gulped, seeing as his last two fingers slipped off. "Bendy!" He yelled, as his hands finally gave out and he got washed away, engulfed by the ink. He tried one more time, using his last energy to yell: "Bendy please! You know I can't swim like this!"

Finally, guilt got the best of the little cartoon demon as he let go of the machine and swam with ease, diving towards Joey, who was now nearly drowning in the ink. Bendy was a toon, so he could keep his eyes open under the ink, and looking at Joey now, nearly unconscious, he did feel in the end, a pang of pity... His creator had been awful to him, his friends and the employees, but surely, Bendy went too far...

Suddenly, Joey's eyes shot up, blood red as they immediately reacted by being in contact with the ink, the human man grabbing the little toon and forcefully pulling him next to him. Bendy whistled and squealed in despair, his sounds muffled out by the layers and layers of ink, as he was pulled in closer and closer to the dark inky figure that had become of Joey...

Finally, the ink machine had given it all it could. The pressure had become extremely low, its fuel, whatever it was, had stopped functioning, it had for all purposes exhausted itself. At the surface of the black sea of ink, all was still for a moment, nearly peaceful.

Then a figure rose from the ink, tall, imposing, almost like a shark emerging from the sea waters, screeching and howling like and unnatural beast being born. But the most peculiar thing about this new monster was its happy grin that went from cheek to cheek.

#don't be scared. i am here with you.#bap fic #bendy and the ink machine #batim #joey drew #bendy the demon #alice angel

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walriding · 7 years

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Do not worship the swarm, nor allow the delusions of the patients to influence your beliefs. Any sentient being based in this technology will be so far superior to us that illusions of godliness will be reasonable.

We have always looked into chaos and called it God. We now are blessed with sufficient power that such belief could destroy us. Do not be tempted.

Miles Upshur has never really been the religious type. There were the obligatory church visits as a child, naturally, a cultural and spiritual necessity in the eyes of his parents. By the time he was older (and a touch more cynical), he decided the idea of worshiping an invisible entity who was supposedly content to allow humanity to continually fuck itself over just wasn’t for him. If God was real, then he was a much bigger asshole than any pious individual was willing to give Him credit for.

Thus, the ancillary trappings of his faith -- a belief in angels and demons and spirits -- fell similarly by the wayside. They were good for stories, great for drunken conspiracy theorizing, and fuck, maybe there was something to be said for the supernatural, but such concepts were nothing more than vague notions in the back of his mind.

He’s recently been forced to reconsider his stance.

Since the beginning, Wernicke was loathe to attribute the Walrider’s existence to anything other than the brilliance of mankind. The deification of it was a product of weak-minded delusion and nothing more, of that he was adamantly certain. It was science, mathematics, the result of complex equations and careful calculations. You started with madness, multiplied it exponentially through the Morphogenic Engine, and were left with unimaginable power. And the technology, that was the key. A meticulously curated film splattered with blood and Rorschach ink, an injection of nanomachines designed to co-opt the natural processes of the human body, lines of coded 1′s and 0′s to orchestrate it all. Fluids, wires, electricity, like a modern mockery of Victor Frankenstein’s laboratory. And was the end result not the same?

Man makes a monster.

Such is the punishment for attempting to play god; you get more than you possibly could have bargained for.

But machines do not feel. They do not hunger. They do not crave. They are fueled by lines of 1′s and 0′s and wires and electricity -- not nightmares.

Wernicke’s complex equations and careful calculations were missing something.

Something he was far too blind to willingly see.

"The doctor told me once that if you showed a caveman our technology, he would think it was magic. And if you showed a modern man magic, he would think it's technology." In this assumption, Wernicke was not incorrect. The tables have turned. The tides, reversed. Humans cling to logic, now, the great destroyer of all uncertainty. No longer are simple tricks of the light misattributed to spirits. No longer are fingers pointed at ghouls or goblins or ghosts as the root of a problem. We’ve outgrown such childish beliefs.

But things have a funny way of existing whether people believe in them or not.

There have always been stories regarding the things that go bump in the night. It’s human nature to explain that which cannot be understood, to try to make sense of a sometimes nonsensical world. Good things, beautiful things -- those are the work of loving and benevolent gods. Bad things, ugly twisted horrible things -- those come from a different place entirely. A child is born lifeless; surely it is the work of dark entities. A child disappears without a trace; it was the shadows that claimed him. A sleeper wakes but is immobile, the corners of the room leering at him like towering figures; a monster planted itself upon his chest to claim the nightmares in his skull. These myths pervade across countries and cultures, variations on a unifying theme.

It comes at night, baited by your breath or your dreams or your soul, and it comes to feed.

It’s had a variety of names over the centuries. Perstanta in Catalan. Ammuttadori in Italian. Alp in German. The legends have typified it with mixed success, for the creature does not create nightmares so much as it exacerbates them, digging into the darkest corners of your subconscious and wallowing in it, splashing flecks of repressed pain and torment like an animal churning up mud.

Experiment: you take men with fractured minds and you finish shattering the pieces. You connect them to a thrumming machine, their thoughts in splinters and their blood heavy with nanites, and you wait for a breakthrough.

Hypothesis: if the ruined bodies accept the nanites, they will manufacture something extraordinary.

Results: a nightmare.

Conclusion: you have baited something demonic.

The stories had to come from somewhere.

Wernicke and Murkoff did create something incredible, pioneering the field of nanotechnology in a way no one else had been able to accomplish. That the human body could be manipulated to perpetuate a population of nanites was miraculous in and of itself. Maybe that was their error -- twisting biology too far. Or maybe they knew they were crossing the line and simply didn’t care.

Or maybe they never saw the line at all.

How often we turn a blind eye to that which we do not want to see.

(The scales on Saul’s eyes were fear, and when you see beyond it, you truly see.)

The body of the beast was manmade, a synthetic nanite swarm to grant its wielder terrifying strength. Yet the brain, the soul of the best was not produced: it was summoned. Called in the most ancient of ways, beckoned by the promise of prey. The Engine therapy chummed the waters and set a banquet for a shark, and Murkoff couldn’t weave a net large or strong enough to contain it. Their safety measures were useless, for once the unholy terror they’d bred and groomed attached itself to the vessel they hollowed out, there was nothing to stop it. It fed on Billy’s rage and anger and pain just as it feasted on nightmares in days of old, only now... now Murkoff had given it a body. It bent all too willingly to the boy’s will, to his thirst for vengeance and hunger for retribution. He couldn’t control it -- no one so fragmented ever could. For that was the corporation’s fatal mistake. They crippled a mouse and gave it to a serpent, and the serpent ate the offering but was not truly satisfied. Without the thrill of the hunt, the meal sat hollow in the serpent’s belly until it was all but burned up, and it tore through everything in sight but could not find the morsel it needed, the one that would satiate it for the rest of its existence.

A new creature appeared in the serpent’s domain. Foolishly brave, fighting on in spite of damage that would have wrecked the average being, it clawed its way to the heart of the serpent’s territory with no weapon, no defense aside from its willpower. And that creature sliced the mouse from the serpent’s belly and eliminated it, and in its famished desperation, the serpent knew that this meal would carry it indefinitely.

And so Miles Upshur was consumed.

Though perhaps consumption is a misnomer. Parasite though it may be, the Walrider cannot perpetuate itself without the body and mind of its Host. Miles’ cells keep the nanites flowing, and the memories in his brain keep the demon fed. The Swarm needs both to exist as it currently does -- not as a formless shadow, but as a tangible entity with the ability to damage in ways it was previously incapable of. It will exist without a Host as it did for centuries before Murkoff decided to kick a hornet’s nest, but it’s had a taste of true power, now. Why relegate yourself to a life of myth when there are better options? Besides, Miles needs it just as badly -- without the Walrider his heart will cease to beat.

Thus, man and machine and myth tangle in an endless circle, a flowing ouroboros with no beginning and no end. Around and around the serpent trails, fangs latched in its own tail. If it eats too little of itself the cycle is broken. If it eats too much in a fit of greed, there will be nothing of it left.

And so Miles Upshur must live because he is needed, still, and will be needed until a Host more ideal walks this Earth.

(This is the gift of the Walrider.)

#(ᴅᴏᴄᴜᴍᴇɴᴛ ᴀᴄǫᴜɪʀᴇᴅ) ;;; ʜᴇᴀᴅᴄᴀɴᴏɴ #long post #super long post tbh #but #it's a pretty thorough summation for my idea of what exactly the walrider is #and i know it's a bit contradictory to canon which is why i've hinted at all this junk but haven't really ironed it out but #but u know what whatever my blog my ideas lol #admittedly a lot of this is just b/c i like paranormal stuff......... here's hoping outlast 2 is a little more supernaturally spoopy :')

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mariniacipher · 7 years

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A NEW CHAPTER! From Meet me in the Woods

So yeah, i finally finished it, who would’ve thought?

The ao3 link is the source, because Tumblr is terrible

Fandom: Gravity Falls

Relationships: Bill Cipher & Dipper Pines, Bill Cipher & Mabel Pines, Dipper Pines &Mabel Pines, Pacifica Northwest & Mabel Pines, Pacifica Northwest/Mabel Pines, Bill Cipher & Original Female Character (Plus all the familial stuff)

Characters: Bill Cipher, Dipper Pines, Mabel Pines, Pacifica Northwest, Grunkle Stan/ Stanley “Stanford” Pines, The Author/ Original Stanford Pines, Tad Strange, Axolotl (Gravity Falls), Jheselbraum the Unswerving, Original Female Character, Minor Characters

Additional Tags: Billdip bromance, Sometime in the future, Triangle Bill Cipher, Human Bill Cipher, but that comes later, muuuuch later, Bill Cipher Redemption, aromantic asexual Bill Cipher, aro ace Bill Cipher, Bill has problems, PTSD Dipper Pines, Poor Dipper, Pansexual Mabel Pines, Older Pines Twins, They're 15, summer 2015, Gravity Falls Is Weird, Post-Gravity Falls, Bill Cipher's Backstory, Powerless Bill Cipher, Axolotl is a jerk, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Past Abuse, Other Additional Tags to Be Added

Category: Gen, F/F

Summary.

11th June 2015: A normal day in Gravity Falls (as far as that is even possible) is turned upside down as Dipper finds the dream demon they had defeated three years ago in the woods, powerless and angry. From there on, things only continue to go downhill, as the twins find themselves helping the demon/trying to get him out of their realm as fast as possible, to get back to their normally paranormal summer in Gravity Falls. But of course it couldn't be that easy, we are talking about the Pines here, so why should it be?

Chapter 2:

Bill examined Pine Tree- the human had aged a bit- but still seemed like the pathetic sack of bones he had encountered… Before. He couldn’t be sure how much time had passed since then. But he saw that the meat sack had written his own journal –which was amusing, really. How he thought he could achieve anything in his small human lifespan before his flesh bag would cease functioning and leave him to rot.

-Bill felt how the cells in his body worked, it was foreign and weird and entirely too… alive for him. (Alive meant mortal, mortals die) -

But he wasn’t mortal, he couldn’t be.

He distinctively recognized the path Pine Tree went, had gone it with Sixer’s feet several times as the Brainiac was still as ignorant as a frog in a slowly heating pot. It was slightly bigger now, and he could see traces of feet all over it, but just ten minutes away from the Shack the kid stopped to put him on the ground again.

He looked up as the flesh bag (damn the frilly sack of ruffles, wherever he was), who seemed uncomfortable as he looked around himself. What’s wrong Pines, is your measly human brain failing you? he thought drily. Like the sack of bones knew real thought or knowledge. “Okay, so, I gotta smuggle you up to the attic, but I obviously can’t do that with the cage-“he saw how the kid took in a breath, as if to gather courage. This would be amusing-“so I have to unlock you and hide you in my sweater” he rushed out, the words almost incomprehensible, but Bill understood it anyway and glared up at the flesh sack. The sole audacity… “Kid, do you know who I am? Do you know of the countless dimensions I conquered and the endless knowledge I’ve collected?” he asked, his voice deepening and gaining even more of an echo. At least something was still how it was supposed to be.

The boy gulped, before crossing the arms before his chest and glaring at the demon defiantly. “And now you’re a powerless corn chip and we have an agreement. So, you don’t have much choice in the matter, do you? And believe me, man, I don’t want to do this either” Dipper answered, ignoring the death glare he got. Or trying to, no one needed to know how sweaty his hands got and how dry his throat went.

He took the set for picking locks from his bag that he and Mabel had both gotten to their birthdays last year from Stan (along with some more personalized gifts) and made quick work of the trap. Bill gave him another glare before standing up and gracefully walking out of the trap, annoying the brunet with just how slow the demon moved. It was already late and he wanted to catch Mabel before she went out with one of her friends (the creepy triangle was not sleeping in his room).

But after entirely too much time, he could close the trap again and put away his set to face the triangle demon that stared up at him with a bored expression, raising an eyebrow at him as he fiddled with is jacket and opened it. This would be awkward.

“Ohm, yeah, could you like, climb on my hand so we can get this over with?” he asked and, yup, this was awkward as all hell. He regretted everything that had led him to this moment. But still, Bill gave him an annoyed look but complied, seemingly thinking this was too stupid for him to even comment on. Well, that was a new low in Dipper’s life.

The triangular demon was lifted off the ground, his little fingers biting into Dipper’s flesh (did Bill have freaking claws ?) but the teenager tried to ignore it and arranged Bill underneath his jacket, uncomfortably close to his chest, but even after some rummaging it couldn’t be helped, so he just tried to get over it. (He didn’t)

��As Coralline, called Cora by everyone but her father, saw Dipper enter the gift shop, she immediately knew something was up. The brunet, whose ass she might or might not have stared at, if opportunity arose, was obviously even more awkward than usual and looked around himself as if someone was going to attack him every minute, standing there, half hunched in over himself. Cora didn’t know him too well, but she would consider him a friend, so she waved a hand at him after selling some old lady some overpriced merchandise.

The brunet lit up like a traffic light and came over to her. She tried not to cringe at his awkwardness. He might even get the phone numbers of some of the people he flirted with -he was cute enough- if he weren’t so painfully awkward.

“Mabel is leading a tour, she should be back in like, five minutes. Should I tell her that you need her?” she asked, knowing the twins well enough by now to see when they wanted or needed to talk to each other. The brunet nodded gratefully and shot her a small smile, but it didn’t manage to cover his nervousness “Yeah, thanks, tell her I’m at the attic, okay?” he asked, she gave him a thumbs up and one of her bright smiles. “Can do, Dip” she grinned, before facing another customer as Dipper hurried out of the shop and up to his room.

Dipper sacked against the door, his body melting into a puddle as he let himself relax. He quickly opened the zipper to his jacket and let the demon out, to sit him on his desk, doing a quick once-over to see if there was anything the demon could use against him. But everything was safe, he judged carefully. He went over to the window, still suspicious at its form, although it had clear glass now, instead of a literal effigy of Bill fucking Cipher. He looked out, but the tour Mabel led wasn’t there yet.

Patience, Dipper . He brushed some hair out of his face, while trying to plan how he would explain all of this to Mabel. Part of him knew that he would probably forget everything he’d think of as soon as she would walk through the door, but at least it would help him sort his thoughts.

So Bill Cipher was back- that was a nightmare he really didn’t want to face- but he had no powers, which was a relief, because Dipper quite liked his life and would prefer it if he wouldn’t face a premature end by the hands of the triangular demon.

Still, they had to find a way to get him out of their dimension, and to do so as quickly as possible if you asked him. He wondered if there was a spell to banish Bill from humanity in general, even dreams, but doubted it. Even if, Bill would have destroyed such a thing long ago, if he knew anything about the demon.

He considered asking Bill why he was here to begin with, but doubted that the triangle would give him any answers and he should probably wait with the interrogation until Mabel was here, she was better at that stuff anyways. He remembered with a shudder what she had done to some kid that had bullied them. He had never wanted to know that you could use sprinkles and a candy cane like that.

But point remained, she would probably get more out of the demon, if only because he seemed to have liked her better. The thought made him cringe, as well as the memory it awoke, of falling asleep and waking up with ink stained fingers, just having been used as the demon’s puppet again . He had played it down in front of Mabel, who had been enraged that the demon would compare her to the likes of him , but he hadn’t slept for the next two days, and when he did fall asleep it was fitful and filled with nightmares. Even after the unicorn barrier had been set in place his brain had tortured him any minute he fell asleep, with images of what Bill could and would do if he ever chose to. Even as Ford had told him of his backstory of Bill he hadn’t dared to tell him about the incident with the ‘ Guide to Mystery and Non-Stop Fun’ pages.

He shook his head, that was long over, and the demon was powerless now, there was no need to worry, they just had to get him back to his dimension as fast as possible.

As Mabel got to the clearing before the Mystery Shack she stopped and just before the door she turned to the customers, a big grin plastered on her face, akin to one of a shark. “Well, this was the Tour of Terrors, ladies, gentlemen and friends, I hope you enjoyed it and come back again, I was your Ms. Mystery today! Pictures are charged case to case, we offer no refunds for mental or physical injuries and if your wallet mysteriously disappears we have definitely nothing to do with it ” she tacked on out of the corner of her mouth, her grin definitely seeming to be like a shark’s now. She really was Stanley Pines grandniece, and he had trained her well in the art of scamming people the last few years.

Last summer she had gotten to lead some tours with him and he had been enthusiastic at her charm and charisma, as she scammed people out of their money, but this summer she could do her tours alone for the first time.

“Now, please follow me to the gift shop, we’re you’ll be able to buy the unique Mystery Shack Merchandise, which you’ll get nowhere else, except in the Online Shop, which we invite you to try out. Shipping isn’t free and you’re not insured in case someone sells your data to the government or other as, or more, shady organisations ” She told them, as the people already scattered to buy some of the junk on the shelves. Although Mabel had influenced the inventory in the last few years, even having some products of her own making on the shelves, that she all designed herself and whose winnings she and Stan split fifty/fifty (After a very long argument, that had cost Mabel a glue gun and Stan a stapler and Dipper a ton of nerves).

She went to Cora- before she would be overrun with customers Mabel wanted to chat with her. The girl was only a year older than her and Dipper and had quickly gotten herself into Mabel’s group of friends, although they weren’t as close as she was with Candy, Grenda or Wendy, and sure as hell not Paz. She quickly banished the girl from her thoughts, before she would start staring at nothing with a dreamy expression.

“Hey Mabes, tour went good?” Cora asked, in her hands was some manga she read, and Mabel was inclined to ask about it, before she saw the cover, and chose not to. She wasn’t one to read too many horror stories, she left that to Dipper. “Tour went good, I think about changing the route so we can also see the Question Quails, and maybe the Exclamation Parakeets too. I just have to convince Stan” she told the cashier, who nodded along.

Cora had grown up here, so she was used to the town’s weirdness, even liked it. “Yeah, I could help you with that, if you want to slowly get them used to humans. My mum in Portland works at that Smith and Bybee Wetlands Natural Area-thing, so she would probably know whatever you’ll need to have the tourists see them and all.”

“Oh, and your bro came in here like, ten minutes ago? He looked really anxious, I think you should go to him, before he faints or something” she told the brunette who seemed to be alerted as soon as she heard the word ‘anxious’. Mabel knew that Dipper had made tons of progress, but maybe something had caused a relapse? Well, whatever it was, she wouldn’t leave her bro-bro to fight alone!

“Kay, thanks Cora! Can you man the shop while I’m upstairs? Thanks!” she rushed out, before making her way to the attic and bursting inside Dipper’s room. But what she saw was not what she had expected. “Dipper? What happened, why is he back? Why is he even here, I thought he was a mind demon? And we killed him! - We killed you three years ago, what the heck are you doing here?” she shouted.

Of course Dipper would be anxious if Bill was back, in fact, it was a surprise he hadn’t had a panic attack yet. She looked at her brother, asking with a look if he was okay. The brunet gave her a reassuring look back and nodded, before he began to speak. “I found him in the woods, he doesn’t have any powers, so I brought him here, so we could get rid of him before the Stans notice” he explained. “Yeesh kid, don’t be so happy about it” the triangle muttered from his place on the desk. He sat on top of some papers and books that were littered all over his room. Well, it wasn’t like her room looked much better, just much brighter.

She glared at the twelve inch small triangle, before turning to Dipper. “And what should we do? Is there some sort of ritual to get him back to wherever he came from?” she asked. She may not be as scarred as Dipper from what happened, but she was still scared. The triangle had hurt her brother and Grunkle Ford and she didn’t want either of them to be hurt again by the demon. Bill, meanwhile, rolled his eyes. Stupid flesh bags.

“I don’t know Mabel. I thought we could both ask what happened and then we can try to figure it out?” Dipper suggested. Mabel nodded. “Kay, bro-bro” she answered.

Bill’s eye twitched. They did know that he was right there? Or was their brain capacity so ridiculously small that they already forgot?

“Okay, Bill, why are you here again instead of rotting in hell or whatever else you’ve been doing the last three years?” Mabel asked and Dipper gave her a shocked look, but decided not to do anything. He’d let Mabel do her thing, he thought, while taking his notebook and jotting down everything he had until now. Bill glared up at Mabel, while memories tried to resurface, but he stopped them before they could even get close. “Well, I don’t know Shooting Star, how about you tell me first why I should even talk to you?” he asked icily, fixing her with a glare.

Mabel showed herself unshaken, crossing her arms. “You could talk to me because it’s nice , you know?” she snapped. Dipper gave her a deadpan look and Bill rose his eyebrow.

“Yeah, right”

“Have you ever met me, kid?”

Both said simultaneously and Mabel looked at both of them. Bill looked seemed for a moment and Dipper didn’t look much better. Mabel had to hold back a giggle at their expressions. “You could answer so you can get away from us as fast as possible” she suggested, choosing to ignore the silent mortification they both went through. The triangle schooled his expression to one of deadpan and bored, before answering.

“And you don’t think I could get myself back to where I ‘rot in hell’ if I wanted?” he asked, giving her an unimpressed look. Mabel blinked surprised, before catching herself. “So you want to get our help to what? Get you back in the Mindscape?” she asked. Dipper looked at the triangle with suspicion. “Not in the Mindscape, Shooting Star, the Nightmare Realm” Bill corrected arrogantly.

“But you probably won’t do that, so I’d suggest you let me do my thing and we see each other again in your nightmares. Deal?”

“No! I won’t make a deal with you, you’re an evil triangle monster!” “Flattery won’t get you anywhere, kid” “That was not a compliment” Mabel growled, before she had an idea. “Wait, what about this: We’ll help you get back your powers and in return you won’t conquer the world, or this whole universe, like, ever. Deal?” Mabel asked, trying not to show how unsure she was.

Bill gave her a mildly surprised look, but before he could answer Dipper interrupted them. “Mabel, we can’t make a deal, he’ll just somehow twist it so he comes out on top!”

“Well, do you have another idea? Cause the way I see it, that’s the only way to make sure he won’t destroy the world as soon as he gets his powers back, or tries to, anyway” Mabel replied.

“She’s right Pine Tree” Bill smirked. “One of you should make a deal if you want your sweet small world to stay the boring way it is” he sing-songed, as he looked at his fingers (those were definitely claws). “Except you want a second Weirdmageddon? Which I’d be more than glad to make happen, although you probably wouldn’t live long enough to see it unfold” Bill grinned, enjoying the opportunity to gain the upper hand again.

“We sure as fuck don’t! Listen you freaky triangle, I’ll make a deal with you and then we’ll get you back to wherever you came from and you let this whole freaking universe alone!” Mabel exclaimed. Dipper gave her a concerned look, before resigning to her choice. She was already too convinced of her plan to stop her, the only thing he could do was help her not to make a giant mistake.

“Can you even make deals like that?” he asked, to make sure that they even could do this, silently begging whatever entity watched over them that he couldn’t. “I can… with some… help” the demon gritted out. He was able to destroy supernovas with a snap of his fingers, could watch millions and trillions of places at the same time, but now he needed help to just make a deal . The Axolotl would pay for that, he’d make sure of it.

“But you can?”

“What did I just say? Are you that stupid, Pine Tree?” Bill snapped, before Mabel interrupted them again.

“Hey, guys, I know we all hate each other, but we gotta get this over with before we kill each other. So, Bill: I offer you that I and Dipper restore your power to the best of our ability, without any serious harm befalling anyone, no matter whom, if you will never attempt to conquer, destroy or otherwise harm this universe ever again, in your whole existence and whatever comes after. You agree?” she asked. Bill looked at her, scanning the deal for any loopholes he could use, but there were surprisingly few. The girl had learned from Fez, no doubt.

He looked at her outstretched hand, he didn’t want to give this realm up, he had sacrificed a trillion of years to get it, but he needed his powers back and one small universe wasn’t that big a cost. And he could always just take another version of this universe, could even kill the Pines family of that version. So, in the end, it seemed like a good enough deal, he had to begrudgingly admit.

“Deal, Shooting Star.”

#gravity falls #gf #bill cipher #dipper pines #Mabel and Dipper #trans dipper #dipper and bill #mabel and bill #mabel and pacifica #mabcifica #in later chapters #no billdip #billdip bromance #tad strange #canon compliant #kill me #i hate everything #why am i like this #please read

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newstwitter-blog · 7 years

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New Post has been published on News Twitter

New Post has been published on http://www.news-twitter.com/2017/01/29/cnn-tech-leaders-condemn-trumps-immigrant-ban-18/

CNN: Tech leaders condemn Trump's immigrant ban

The ink was barely dry on President Trump’s sweeping immigration order Friday when the backlash from the tech industry began.

Four of America’s biggest tech companies warned their employees about the ban. And leaders throughout the industry, where foreign-born entrepreneurs are central to its success, condemned the decree.

The executive order bans about 134 million people from entering the U.S.

Google (GOOGL, Tech30) sent out a memo to its employees urging anyone with a visa or green card from one of the banned countries — Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen — to cancel any travel plans.

“Please do not travel outside of the U.S. until the ban is lifted. While the entry restriction is currently only in place for 90 days, it could be extended with little or no warning,” the memo, which was reviewed by CNN, reads.

The company issued a statement Saturday, saying it’s “concerned about the impact of this order and any proposals that could impose restrictions on Googlers and their families, or that could create barriers to bringing great talent to the US.” Google also vowed to “continue to make our views on these issues known to leaders in Washington and elsewhere.”

On Friday night, Google cofounder Sergey Brin was at San Francisco International Airport with crowds of protesters. He declined to comment and told CNN that he was there in a personal capacity, but is himself an immigrant from Russia.

Related: Trump’s latest executive order: Banning people from 7 countries and more

Apple (AAPL, Tech30) CEO Tim Cook issued a letter reacting to what he called “deep concerns” among employees. He assured them Apple does not support Trump’s policy. “Apple would not exist without immigration, let alone thrive and innovate the way we do,” he wrote in an email obtained by CNN.

“There are employees at Apple who are directly affected by yesterday’s immigration order. Our HR, Legal and Security teams are in contact with them, and Apple will do everything we can to support them,” Cook’s email reads. “Apple is open. Open to everyone, no matter where they come from, which language they speak, who they love or how they worship.”

Microsoft (MSFT, Tech30) — which is run by Satya Nadella, who immigrated to the U.S. from India — told employees Saturday that the company is committed to providing “legal advice and assistance” to its 76 employees that are citizens of the affected countries.

Related: Here’s what tech execs are saying about Trump’s immigrant ban

“We appreciate that immigration issues are important to a great many people across Microsoft at a principled and even personal level, regardless of whether they personally are immigrants,” Microsoft executive Brad Smith said in an email to employees, which was shared by Nadella on LinkedIn.

The email also said the company will advocate for “protecting legitimate and law-abiding refugees whose very lives may be at stake in immigration proceedings.” Nadella has previously spoken out on the issue.

Amazon (AMZN, Tech30) also sent an email to employees about the potential implications of Trump’s order and offered legal assistance to employees who might be impacted.

“As we’ve grown the company, we’ve worked hard to attract talented people from all over the world, and we believe this is one of the things that makes Amazon great — a diverse workforce helps us build better products for customers,” according to the email sent by Beth Galetti, Amazon’s vice president of HR.

Immigrants and their families have a long history of starting and running American businesses.

A 2011 report from the Partnership for a New American Economy found that about 45% of high-tech companies in the Fortune 500 were founded by immigrants or children of immigrants.

That list includes highly influential founders from some of the banned countries: Apple founder Steve Jobs was the child of Syrian immigrants, eBay founder Pierre Omidyar is the child of Iranian parents, and Oracle’s Bob Miner is also Iranian.

Omidyar on Saturday called Trump’s decision “simple bigotry.”

In a tweet on Saturday, Square CEO Jack Dorsey said the ban’s “humanitarian and economic impact is real and upsetting.”

The Executive Order’s humanitarian and economic impact is real and upsetting. We benefit from what refugees and immigrants bring to the U.S. https://t.co/HdwVGzIECt

— jack (@jack) January 28, 2017

When asked by CNN about the impact of immigration restrictions on innovation, Dorsey said: “We benefit from immigration. We benefit from diversity. We benefit from including more people because we see different perspectives.”

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted on Facebook (FB, Tech30) Friday, citing the importance of immigration in his own life’s story.

Related: Startup visa alternative will launch in July

“We should also keep our doors open to refugees and those who need help,” Zuckerberg wrote. “That’s who we are. Had we turned away refugees a few decades ago, Priscilla’s family wouldn’t be here today.”

Facebook said in a statement Saturday that it’s “assessing the impact [of the ban] on our workforce and determining how best to protect our people and their families from any adverse effects.”

In a blog post, Y Combinator President Sam Altman called on the tech community to rally against Trump — calling the president’s actions “a first step toward a further reduction in rights.”

“This is not just a Muslim ban. This is a breach of America’s contract with all the immigrants in the nation,” Altman wrote.

He called on people to “not demonize Trump voters,” but urged leaders in the community to publicly denounce Trump’s actions “at a minimum.” And, he said, “employees should push their companies to figure out what actions they can take.”

Executives from LinkedIn, Yelp, Foursquare and Salesforce lambasted Trump’s decision via Twitter on Saturday.

The ban sparked fear among Muslims in the industry.

“I’m horrified. As an immigrant who came through the green card process, the idea that it could be invalidated and you could be stranded away from home is truly shocking,” an employee of one major tech firm said. “I’m a citizen now, but I have a lot of friends who aren’t and who are worried. Even if you’re not from one of those countries, if you’re Muslim, who knows what could be next?”

Related: Trump immigration plan could cost the U.S. billions

Some in tech also vowed to help fund the suit against Trump and support refugees who were in Limbo.

Shark Tank star and tech investor Chris Sacca promised to match up to $50,000 worth of donations to the ACLU.

I can barely keep up with the replies. Thank. You. All. 🇺🇸

But it’s clear we’re gonna need a bigger boat…

So I’ll match up to $50k. https://t.co/R3ttnbwgMV

— Chris Sacca (@sacca) January 28, 2017

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky posted on Facebook that his company would house any refugees who were stuck in limbo because of the executive order.

“Airbnb is providing free housing to refugees and anyone else who needs it in the event they are denied the ability to board a U.S.-bound flight and are not in your city/country of residence,” he posted. He included his email address for anyone who needed assistance.

Box CEO Aaron Levie also promised to donate, and in an email sent to CNNMoney Saturday, Levie also called the executive order “immoral.”

Donating to the @ACLU today. We cannot let America turn into a closed off, fearful country. We’re better than this.

— Aaron Levie (@levie) January 28, 2017

“It’s also deeply flawed as a matter of policy and will undermine our economy and security in the long-term if maintained,” Levie wrote. “America’s principles should be about openness and inclusion, and we’re sending the wrong message to our communities and the rest of the world about maintaining these principles.”

Selena Larson contributed reporting.

CNNMoney (New York) First published January 28, 2017: 12:56 PM ET

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New Post has been published on News Twitter

New Post has been published on http://www.news-twitter.com/2017/01/29/cnn-tech-leaders-condemn-trumps-immigrant-ban-17/