#they’ve got their own unique abilities

[ultramanyaoi]

i got reminded of world trigger n like man i love yuma (wt) and osamu’s relationship. like it’s so easy i think to have a cool clearly stronger person look down on the weaker protag who’s not going to get any stronger and have their relationship just be trying to be equals but yuma and osamu totally flip that on its head.

although theres initial condescension and yuma quickly recognises how much weaker and ordinary osamu is compared to him, he also recognises osamu’s strengths with great clarity and that he possesses qualities yuma does not. they’ve always been equals even if not in strengths and their abilities to recognises their need for each other lends their relationship to feeling very grounded. the ways that they’re unique to each other mean a lot to me

there are 2 scenes that really mean a lot to me when it comes to their relationship. the first is when yuma admits he doesn’t have much of a purpose to live anymore after finding out that his father probably can’t be revived from his black trigger and that his father’s friend, jin’s mentor, is already dead. he’s very matter of fact about this sense of loss which he always is. and to this osamu provides him a new sense of purpose, in helping chika join the travel team to find her brother in the neighbour world. i think that scene perfectly exemplifies how osamu is such a good partner for yuma BECAUSE he’s someone who supports rather than fights upfront. osamu is capable of symbolically giving so much because he doesn’t try to always position himself first. it also i think demonstrates his kindness and understanding of yuma esp at the point he was at. it’s actually a surprisingly emotionally significant moment. im rlly bad at explaining it but it reinforces the kind of person osamu is but also highlights how this fits yuma and the compatibility of their partnership.

the 2nd scene is the reverse of this after osamu is hospitalised after being tasked with keeping the cube away from the aftokratan neighbours. he wakes up after dreaming of chika’s older brother before his disappearance and how he was tasked with protecting chika by said older brother, driving him to be very desperate to join border. the past few chapters have already been very revolutionary, emphasising the depths of osamu’s sense of duty and in rooting it in a promise to someone he felt he already failed, emphasises how badly affected he is by failing duties. his selfless nature and how it can put him at risk is put at the forefront. honestly it’s his lowest point at least of who he is initially. osamu who usually actually has his emotions under control despite being prone to anxiety finally breaks down to yuma later and says hes sorry for causing replica to be destroyed in the process of protecting the cube chika turned into from being stolen. beyond the tears and the drastic contrast between osamu before and the osamu now which all suggest the significant stress osamu feels, further ramping up u know how bad of a state hes in at this point. to this, yuma simply tells him he doesnt blame him and even rationally explains that he’s to blame too. in the end he affirms that osamu is his best partner. no doubt the loss of basically the closest thing to a living family member was devastating to yuma but he doesn’t feel a need to lash out, demonstrating his kind nature and maturity. not only that but he recognises osamu’s effort and through this, calms him down from his breakdown. yuma is able to do what osamu cant and recognise that he does not have to go to extreme lengths. he believes in and sees what osamu has already done. he doesn’t have unreasonable expectations but also doesn’t believe he cant do it.

like in the first scene osamu and yuma’s partnership and its strengths are reinforced. they are people who bring each other forward, providing what the other doesn’t have and it’s simple and brilliant. where osamu’s supportive nature is what the combative yuma needs, yuma’s own maturity and ability to recognise osamu’s selflessness and moderate it (like in this scene or when he defends osamu or believes in him as a leader) helps rein in osamu such that he can grow instead of destroying himself.

osamu and yuma fit each other so well because they are so different. and together they’re the best partners to support chika.

#ariel.txt #world trigger #osamu mikumo #yuma kuga #thought abt how lomg #wts been running like did u know the scene i described were PRE 2015 #me when i actually recognise the motifs and themes moment

[akutasoda]

hiya! I was wondering if I could request a little something from Platonic! Dazai, Chuuya, and Akutagawa are reacting to a Teen! Reader who can fuse with other ability users, but in order for that to happen, T! Reader has to be emotionally harmonious with the other participant, and when that does happen, their bodies and minds become one and into an entirely different entity, plus it’s like a power boost to one’s ability.

(The idea was from Steven Universe, a series if you’ve ever heard or watched before, and also T! Reader does have an ability, but it’s not fusing with other ability users. I imagine they’ve reached a level where they are completely in tune with their own abilities and have unlocked the next stage of their power, if you know what I mean.)

harmonious bond

synopsis - your skill was definitely more unique than your ability.

includes - dazai, chuuya, akutagawa - all platonic!

warnings - gn!teen!reader, fluff, slight angst, wc - 753

osamu dazai ★↷

↪it wasn't that uncommon for the agency to hire teenagers. afterall, the presidents ability was a great help to all those who struggled with their own. and normally dazai wouldn't bat an eye at new hires (which were pretty rare nowadays anyway).

↪and he didn't originally with you. but then he realised how much time you actually spent with him, more specifically atsushi as you both joined at a similar time. and because atsushi hung around dazai so did you.

↪dazai also never batted an eye at your actual ability. it wouldn't affect him and he had full faith in your ability to handle it, with or without the presidents help.

↪but the one thing that interested him was the level of harmony you had achieved. the level that allowed you to fuse with another ability user. he had watched you test your new skill with atsushi and it got him wondering.

↪turns out all the time you had spent with dazai meant a bond had formed that was deeper than either lf you thought it was. and so you found out ypu could also fuse with your half mentor dazai, regardless of his ability.

↪if he didn't have contact with you, you could fuse with him. and while dazai thought of this highly, he discouraged your use of it on him highly.

↪he felt widely uncomfortable knowing that when it happened you would be fused with his mind. somewhere he wouldn't allow anyone to go. and so even if he thought it was incredible, he sort of hated it.

chuuya nakahara ★↷

↪when you first showed up to the mafia, he worried immensely but he didn't show. he hated the fact the boss seemed to be more insistent on hiring children and teenagers than adults.

↪ and so he assumed his role of your silent protector - he didn't like the idea of anything happening to someone as young as you. so even if he didn't know you at this point he still looked out for you.

↪he was indifferent to your actual ability - maybe it was the reason you'd been recruited. the only thing he cared about was helping you learn how to use it effectively to defend yourself.

↪maybe all this time he would spend looking out for you was why you both had bonded. perhaps this was the reason why that you could fuse with him.

↪he had no clue how to even begin with this but the first thing he did was warn you that you should never fuse with him.

↪he thought it was amazing really, he was sort of proud of you for reaching such a level of synchronization with your ability. but he gathered pretty quickly that if you did fuse with him his corruption would become both of your fates.

↪it would become incredibly dangerous for the both of you and all of a sudden he would be the reason you would be in danger.

ryūnosuke akutagawa ★↷

↪he wouldn't even look you way when you first joined. he knew how cruel the world could be and it seemed your life had led you here and that wasn't his problem. but why would he always check for your safety?

↪you were assigned under him and as cruel as he would normally be to anyone, he wasn't to you. perhaps he saw something in you that reminded him of him at your age or maybe he truly had lost his mind.

↪while he probably still wasn't the greatest mentor - his mentor wasn't the best either - he still seemed to be more kind, not by much but enough to notice.

↪and he still cared little for your actual ability. abilities were meely means to use that could help you achieve what you wanted in this world. and those lucky enough to receive them should use them for such purpose.

↪ through all the time you had spent with him, you both unknowingly had formed a close bond. one that helped you achieve a perfect harmony with your ability and skills to allow you to fuse.

↪and if akutagawa was being honest, he disliked it. it made you rely on someone else, him no less at the moment, to achieve a stronger form. he would never tell you to your face however, surprisingly.

↪and again he discouraged you using it with him. but he would never fully discourage you if you really wantdd to or if the occasion called for it.

#x reader #x gender neutral reader #bsd x reader #bsd x gender neutral reader #bungo stray dogs x reader #bungo stray dogs x you #bsd x you #bsd dazai osamu #dazai x reader #bsd chuuya #chuuya x you #chuuya x reader #bsd akutagawa #akutagawa x reader

[lulu2992]

On the occasion of Far Cry 5’s fifth anniversary, they played the game live on Ubisoft’s Twitch channel. The stream was hosted by Chris Watters and featured Drew Holmes, the lead writer, as a special guest to talk about the game and answer a few questions. Here is a summary of what they said.

Drew Holmes explained he started working on Far Cry 5 around January or February 2016. He had played the previous Far Cry games but it was his first time working on one. He’s never been to Montana, but a large portion of the team visited the state before he joined Ubisoft. When asked what his feelings were, five years ago, when they were about to release Far Cry 5, he said launching a game is always weird because you work on it for years and, when it’s finally “out in the wild”, you suddenly have no control over it anymore. As a developer, you hope players will like it, but you are never sure… Thankfully, in this case, the reception was great, and it was even the best launch for a Far Cry game at the time.

As the lead writer, his job was to write, of course (mostly the cutscenes), but he was also involved in the casting process, supervised the performance capture shoots, and worked closely with the writing staff (which was “huge”) as well as all the other teams to make sure everything was “cohesive”. Each region had its own main writer so communication was essential, especially on a game as big as this one.

It was important for them that the story wasn’t just told in main missions and cutscenes; the world had to feel alive and believable. Information can be gathered through talking with NPCs, playing side missions, and reading documents, so everything moves the story forward. They also wanted the characters’ personalities to feel real and made sure each of them was clearly part of the game’s world, even the Seeds, whose impact on that county they’ve been living in for years had to be tangible. When they created the Guns for Hire, they wanted them to have strong personalities and unique abilities. These characters have all grown up in Hope County, know each other “to varying degrees”, and have a history with the locations, so everything they say had to reflect this.

They recruited Sharky during the live stream so they talked a bit more about him. Drew Holmes said they imagined this character before they got the idea of bringing “long-time Far Cry superstar” Hurk back in Far Cry 5. When they decided that they were cousins and what their relationship was like (Sharky admires his older cousin, the “world traveler”), it became easier for them to write him and for Dylan Taylor, who plays both characters, to get inspired. He ended up improvising about 75% of Hurk’s lines… which was great but would sometimes become a problem because missions are written and designed a certain way.

As he had already revealed recently, Drew Holmes had “no idea” all the Guns for Hire could hang out at the 8-Bit Pizza Bar. He even initially wondered if people on social media were “lying” about this because, although the team did want to create a place for these characters to meet and talk to each other (because many conversations were written and recorded), they had been told including that in the game wouldn’t be possible. But it turns out one of the devs did it in secret anyway, much to everyone’s surprise and delight.

Drew Holmes particularly enjoys the Prepper Stashes because they all have “a great puzzle design” thanks to “smart level designers”, and because they also give information about the world. They are an opportunity for players to “breathe” and experience “contemplative exploration”.

In Far Cry 3 and Far Cry 4, he thought the story was more linear, while in Far Cry 5, they needed to have “a 360 approach” and think about all the ways players could play the missions. In previous games, he also thought the cutscenes were mostly people talking and that players were just spectators, and he said that’s one of the limits of first-person games. In Far Cry 5, the goal was to make players feel like they were part of the action and not just the camera. This is why we carry crates to help Mary May after liberating Fall’s End, for example, or fly with Faith the first time we visit the Bliss.

Speaking of this scene, Drew Holmes said they wanted Jenessa Grant to actually “fly” so the cutscene would have a “weird ethereal quality” to it. To achieve this, they didn’t tie her to a rope… but hired ballet dancers to carry her around! This scene, which he remembers writing at 3 am one night, took about half a day to rehearse, but it was worth it.

There were other stunts in the game that forced the team to think of creative ways to shoot the scenes in performance capture and achieve the results they wanted. They built a fake helicopter for the opening mission and flipped it over with everyone inside, including “the Randycam” (Randy Yuen, camera specialist, who “played” the Deputy), so they really were upside down. And when the Marshal swims out of the car at the end of the prologue, they made a stuntman “swim through the air on a rig”. Drew Holmes gave a shout-out to David Footman, cinematic director, for all his “crazy ideas”.

When Chris talked about how cool he thought the opening cinematic was because learning about Eden’s Gate through interviews and from other characters’ points of view was a great idea, Drew Holmes explained that what they say is inspired by how real-life cults operate. Usually, at first, a few people move in, buy some land to “get a foothold”, and are joined by more and more people until they can be “the majority on the city council” and start passing laws. Then, they basically own the town, and other people either join them or go live elsewhere, but those who want to leave can’t sell their properties because the cult has driven the prices down… That’s basically the stories the team heard when they did research and worked with cult advisors.

Chris also asked about the Seed family and why they are always so close to the camera (and the player). Drew Holmes said there are several reasons. First, because they wanted the game to be immersive, they needed other characters (not just the Seeds) to have this proximity with the Deputy, to engage the player as a person and make them feel involved. Second, they had a very talented cast, so the closer the camera is, the better you can appreciate the “strong performances” they all delivered. And finally, when villains invade your personal space, you “tense up” and it’s “uncomfortable”, and the dev team wanted this too. In video games, he said it’s important to think about “what you want, emotionally, from the players”.

When asked who he thought the “most twisted” Herald was, he initially answered it was “a tie” between John and Jacob because the former tortures people and the latter “ate his friend” (which “sets you on a weird path” in life). At first, he said that, compared to her brothers, Faith was “more of a victim of Joseph”, but on second thought, since she’s “taken and run with it”, and because of the way she used the Deputy’s friends and killed “poor Virgil” as well as Burke, he concluded she was, in fact, as twisted as the other two. In the end, he thinks they are “all pretty bad”.

He was also asked about the Deputy and who they were as an individual. He sees them as someone who would always do whatever they can to help the people around them but who suddenly finds themselves “thrust into this insane situation”. They are a young, normal person in “a crazy context”, but also the only one who can truly do something about it and make a difference. But because they are a silent protagonist, making them feel like a real person was challenging, and this is why the rest of the cast had to be “very fleshed out”. Other characters had to be able to give some perception of what the Deputy would say if they had a voice.

It’s hard for Drew Holmes to pick a favorite mission or storyline in Far Cry 5, but he would probably choose one of Hurk Drubman Senior’s missions… even though he admits he’s a “very divisive character” and even a “piece of crap”. He also thinks Kim Rye is great, and the “Butch and Sundance” joke is one of his favorites.

Fun fact: they used the same animation for when the Deputy is on fire and when they are attacked by bees. He humorously called it “efficiency” and said that, when you tell people to act like they’re “putting out fire” or “swatting bees”, they do the same thing anyway.

#far cry 5 #drew holmes #I love that he said faith had ‘taken and run with it’ #and I loved the story with the ballet dancers! #a very creative (and effective) solution #chris watters #mary may fairgrave #faith seed #jenessa grant #cameron burke #david footman #randy yuen #john seed #jacob seed #joseph seed #the deputy #sharky boshaw #hurk drubman jr #dylan taylor #virgil minkler #hurk drubman sr #kim rye #far cry 5 spoilers

[smallhorse]

The Science of the Serum

Allow me, if you will, to put some science into the science fiction of the marvel cinematic universe.

the shield super soldier serum functions as an imperfect non sentient symbiote

it’s a unique blend of cells that requires a host to survive, when it enters into the system of the host, it immediately starts taking over and in a series of rapid cell multiplication and deletion, starts to make things better by replacing the old cells with the serum enhanced cells

however the cell replacement is imperfect in that it replaces healthy host cells fine, replaces its own cells very well, but damaged tissue is difficult for the serum to recognize and replace to optimum functionality

Steve had weak muscles but they were healthy muscles and therefore they were able to be enhanced by the serum, it took longer for his lungs to operate at full capacity but Steve had medication to assist the function of his normal lungs and so between the medication and the serum they were able to get those lungs up and running pretty quickly

Now what about damaged/imperfect cells that don’t heal on their own, even with the super soldier serum? This treatise posits that they remain the same in that the super soldier serum cannot determine how to fix these cells and so it settles with imitating the cells to the best of their enhanced abilities

Operating under this assumption, it can be inferred that the scars that Steve had pre-serum stayed with him after the serum was introduced into his system

Insert a transition sentence here!

Prior to the sleek vaccine system we know and love involving a singular needle depositing the vaccine intramuscularly, the vaccines, specifically the smallpox vaccine in this case, that were in use around the time when Steve was wandering around being all pre-serum and adorable were administered through scratches into the superficial layers of the skin created by multipronged lancets

As such, anyone who received the small pox vaccination were left with a distinctive scar on their arm

So obviously Steve was like what’s this something to make me less sick? Sign me the fuck up and of course he drags Bucky along and then a half hour later they’re walking out of the clinic with perfectly circular wounds on their left biceps

Of course they laugh: chicks dig scars! need me to kiss it better? I'll give you a lollipop if you don't cry this time. and these little scars that they share feel more like badges of honor, brotherhood, and love than they feel like representations of their inoculations

Now when Steve rescues Bucky from hydra imprisonment Bucky is obviously thrilled to see him but also he’s never seen Steve like this before, he finally has the physical presence that is attitude always needed and now it’s like he’s transformed. Bucky always knew Steve was brave but seeing him in battle is this cognitive dissonance that he can’t really get over for a while.

That is until one night they’re sleeping rough with the commandos camped out in the middle of nowhere and they get shoved into the same tent because dammit Steve snores and Bucky is the only one who can sleep through it and so they’re lying together, Bucky trying to find a way back to his friend that suddenly he doesn’t feel like he knows any more

Bucky is running his fingers over the new Steve just trying to familiarize himself with this new body when he feels that little nickel sized depression in Steve’s skin and by god it’s night out and he can’t see a damn thing but Bucky would know that scar anywhere in the world because he has the exact same one. And so their matching scars become almost a talisman to remind them of who they were and who they are to each other. 

Months go by and hydra is pleased with the success of their brain washing, they’ve almost got the asset convinced he’s all machine, there’s back slaps and congratulations all around but it had nothing to do with those shoddy scientists. Bucky wasn’t Bucky anymore when he reached for that little dimpled scar on his arm and felt only cold smooth metal. he wasn’t Steve’s Bucky anymore. he wasn’t Bucky anymore. He wasn’t anyone anymore. he was only ready to comply

#mcu #bucky barnes #steve rogers #headcanon #science fiction #fictional science #my source is that i made it the fuck up #stucky #steve bucky #steve x bucky #winter soldier #captain america

[v3nusxsky]

Hello!! Saw your need of request and I have one!!

A Larissa X outcast reader where r is hired to the academy but they don’t have their ability written in their like resume(?) and Larissa is always curious as to what it is. One night they start getting to know each other over drinks when Larissa lets slip that she’s a shifter and r finally admits theyre one too but were scared because they’ve never met another one. Maybe share a kiss? Up to you

Not so dirty secret 18+

*Authors note~ Ah fluff I love me some fluff I hope you enjoy, it's so nice to be caught up and I love your ideas so much so thank you guys for your support. This was meant to be just fluff and somehow my brain turned it into some smut at the end. I take full responsibility for my mind running away with myself here*

Trigger warnings~ smut magic p 🫡 mommy kink smuttttttt

Prompt~ see ask^^^

ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ

You weren't ashamed of your ability, no it wasn't that, it was the reactions you normally received that made you hold that piece of information very close to your chest. When you got told the job at Nevermore was yours, you couldn't quite believe your luck. And you hadn't had to revel your ability, the headmistress seeming to respect the fact you didn't want to share the information with strangers, truly you were glad you didn't get forced into telling her. Maybe that's what drew you to seek out her friendship.

Everyone on the staff was lovely, and the students all unquestionably unique and amazing in every way possible. You'd settled remarkably well, yet no one knew what you were. Plenty had asked, but none had pushed you when seeing how uncomfortable you became at the question. Your friendship with the headmistress was blossoming nicely, you often found yourself in her office with a glass of wine as you laughed at one of her anecdotes. You even shared some of your own, telling her of your childhood pet and how being an only child resulted in you having an imaginary friend. All found memories avoiding the mention of your shifting abilities.

You found yourself falling for the woman, I mean anyone would, she was a literal angel on earth, you couldn't fathom any reason why anyone would hurt someone so dang precious. You couldn't help but be scared, what if she didn't return your feelings? What if she ran when she found out you could shift? You didn't share your ability with her and Larissa didn't share hers with you so you both remained in the dark. But your feelings were getting stronger everyday you spent at the school so soon enough you decided it was time to bite the bullet.

You headed to her office that evening, hands trembling slightly at the thought of what you were going to do. So much so you forgot to shift back, you see sometimes you liked to shift your lower half, it made you feel comfortable and confident, you still loved your female anatomy but if you had the chance to have both wouldn't you? You entered and made your way to your usual seat as Larissa got the wine and added a few more logs to the fire. Mentally you were going over what to say, how to bring the conversation up and trying to convince yourself not to back out.

Thankfully, Larissa seemed oblivious to your nervousness as you both sat drinking your wine in a comfortable mix of silence and chatter. That was when you got brave, "Isa?" You mumbled effectively catching her attention, "can I tell you something?" She nodded while swallowing the wine, "of course darling what is it?" You took a shaky breath, "I'm a shifter" you whispered avoiding her eye contact not wanting to see disgust or disappointment lingering there. If you had looked all you would've seen is shock and relief. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you it's just people don't take to kindly to people like me."

"Oh my darling I'm very aware of that fact" she whispered shuffling close to you and giving a side ways hug, that's when she noticed. The touch had caused your extension of your body to grow and stand proudly to attention. Deciding to play coy with you, she murmured, "I'm a shape shifter too, I've not met anyone of our kind before but it makes sense with how stunning you are", the compliment making you blush. Then she did something you weren't expecting, she moved to straddle your lap.

"Is there anything else you want to tell me darling" she all but purred at you keeping your gaze with her own. "Mhm no?" You couldn't think, you had an extremely attractive woman in your lap and a raging problem between your legs. Larissa just responded by rolling her hips downwards to feel you against her core. Despite the clothing acting as barriers it felt sinfully delicious and all you could do was let out a gasp, "fuck Isa" you whimpered causing the older women to snatch your lips into a kiss. The kiss was sweet and slow but soon enough desire mixed with the very fancy red wine took over. Larissa began to actively roll her hips downward in a clear indication of what she wanted while your lips made quick work of marking up her neck. Nipping at her pulse point you decided to thrust your hips upward in an attempt to surprise the older women. Successful. She let out a needy whine before coming to mewl in your ear, "take mommy to bed darling. I want you to fuck me, hell I'll fuck myself on your cock just baby please mommy wants to cum."

You did just that replaying her words as you both made quick work of each others clothing. Who would've knew you'd have a mommy kink? And who would've thought your little secret wasn't so much of a dirty secret as you thought. You gave Larissa everything she wanted. You made her cum again  and again wrapped tightly around your cock, her walls milking you for every drop of cum you had. But you weren't done, you wanted to watch her bounce herself on you. So you quickly flipped yourself to lay beneath her hands on her hips as she hoovered over you. "I I can't no more please darling" she whined but you ignored it and helped her skink herself down on your dick, stilling as she let a cry of pleasure tumble from her lips. "Mommy make me cum" you demanded and couldn't help but laugh at her pathetic attempt to move on her own, "aw such a good slut you need help mommy shall I help you?" You teased as she nodded and begged for anything and everything. Did she want you to stop or carry on? She wasn't quite sure but the way your fingernails dug into her bare skin as you bounced her on your dick was truly something else. You both tumbled over the edge together as you filled her up with cum. Like a good girl she took everything and you reminded her of that before shifting back to your usual anatomy. Her first sight of your dripping cunt as you moved to clean her up. Once she was all cleaned up you made sure to offer her some water and a snack before gathering her in your arms and telling her how perfect she was. How much of a good girl she is for you, how proud you were of her. And only when she was on the brink of sleep did you murmur "I love you my darling Isa."

Word count~ 1307

#fanfic #anon answered #larissa weems #larissa weems smut #principal larissa weems #principal larissa weems x reader #larissa x you #larissa weems x reader #larissa x reader #wednesday netflix #fanfiction writer #principle weems #principal weems #weems x reader #anon requests

[pinkeoni]

Will’s Creation Powers: A Man, His Dog, and a Baseball Bat

I don’t think I’ve ever made my own concrete creation power post that actually went into detail about this, so let’s discuss how the monsters in the Upside Down perfectly align with Will’s fear of his dad.

Pretty long post and discussions of child abuse under the cut

So right now my working theory is that while Will was being abused by Lonnie as a child, Will’s consciousness traveled to the Upside Down as a place of safety. There, Will subconsiously manifested his fears as the monsters in the UD.

We aren’t told in the show exactly how long the monster have been living in the UD. Perhaps with The First Shadow we will know more, but as far as we know it’s possible they haven’t always been there. We just know that they’ve been there at least before Henry got there, meaning that he at least didn't create them.

Why Do I Think Will Has Creation Powers?

I guess maybe I should explain why I believe that Will has creation powers in the first place.

Let's say you had a character that had certain powers, but you couldn't reveal them until the final season, how would you hint at them so they don't come out of nowhere, all without blatantly revealing them?

Will's art has been a staple of his character since the first season, it's even been used in regards to major plot points. IE Joyce recognizing that El's art in the lab is not Will's art, and Will drawing the tunnels in season two. Will uses art as an outlet for his creativity, but he also uses it to express his emotions, such as hurt, fear, or love.

We also know that Henry needs Will for something, although what exactly hasn't been stated. I don't personally believe that Will was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, given how much we have been shown in season 4 is actually very calculated by Henry. We do know, however, that Henry wants to destroy the world in order to rebuild it in his image. So how would he gain access to an ability like that?

In season two, we learn through Kali that some power users have abilities that other power users don't have. Kali is able to create visions for other people. We also learn that gate opening in a power unique to El, and the "Vecna Visions" that we see is something that we've only seen Henry do. If Will had a power unique to him, and that power was related to his art, it wouldn't come out of nowhere.

Lonnie the Demogorgon

I’ll start with Lonnie, which will lead us to all of the other monsters. He is the main perpetrator here. kaypeace21 has a ton of theory posts on her page that goes into a lot of detail, I reccommend checking them out since it’s my main source of inspiration for this theory.

In my mind the coding between the demogorgon and Lonnie is pretty clear. Lonnie was mentioned as a possible suspect as to who Will could be with. The demogorgon eats its eggs. Lonnie is the predator that is hunting down and hurting his family. Demogorgon literally means “deep father.”

I wanna point out this scene too. Will is talking to Joyce through the wall and he says “It’s coming!” in reference to the demogorgon. It’s not the very next scene, but the next scene with Joyce shows Lonnie arriving at the Byers home.

Chester the Demodog

When the demogorgon appears outside of Will’s house on the night he vanished, Chester barks at the door. (Notice too how Chesters head is positioned right next to a plant, similar to how demodogs have flower shaped heads) When Jonathan goes to see Lonnie a little later, there’s a dog barking in the distance.

Perhaps, whenever Lonnie would come home, maybe after a night of drinking, Chester would bark signaling his return? Maybe Will associates Chester barking with his father?

One of the demodogs, formerly D’Art, was being kept as a pet by Dustin. Chester was Will’s former pet, who seemed to die before the season where demodogs are introduced. D'Art also killed Dustin's other pet, Mews, creating another dead pet correlation.

The Baseball Demobat

This one might seem like the biggest stretch, but if you pair it up with the other two it may not be that far of a reach. We know from season one that Lonnie used to bring Will to baseball games, baseball games that Will didn't even like going to. I propose in a theory here that baseball games may be associated with a particularly bad memory for Will. We see that Will did hold on to a baseball bat, which he uses to destroy Castle Byers with.

The demobats have long tails, similar to the long hilt of a baseball bat.

In season 4, when being attacked by the demobats, Steve grabs one by the tail and swings it to the ground like a baseball bat. Steve is also a character who was seen using a bat before in season 2.

Proposed Timeline:

When Will is a young child, he is abused by his father (possibly on his birthday?)

Will consciousness travels to the Upside Down, and possibly links with the Shadow Monster

Through a fear response, Will creates the monsters in the Upside Down as he associates them with the abuse of his father

Will, however, doesn't remember this abuse (similar to how El doesn't remember the massacre of the lab)

In season 5, Will will likely have to confront these missing memories and his powers will reawaken

#will byers #will byers has powers #stranger things #stranger things theory #stranger things 5 #creation theory #lonnie byers #tw lonnie byers #my theory #byler #<- target audience #said i was gonna work on drafts and made a whole new post instead #tw csa #tw child abuse

[starlightwayfinder]

Since they’re taking over my brain…Twilight town gang headcanons!

Naminé and Xion used to be nearly identical (excluding their hair color), but as they’ve grown and embraced their own identities, they’ve started to look more distinguished. (Naminé is slightly taller, Xion has more of a tan from going to the beach everyday, etc.)

Naminé and Xion share a wardrobe—though Xion usually wears their casual ‘summery’ clothes and hoodies, while Naminé sticks to the flowy dresses and sweaters. Both of them borrow Roxas’ jackets all of the time. 

The three of them also have quite the collection of bracelets/rings/necklaces/anklets/etc. A lot of those are things they made—especially with seashells from the Destiny Islands.

Roxas taught Xion to skateboard and she LOVES it. 

Naminé… wasn’t up for it, but she still likes to watch them and draw outside. 

For Naminé/Roxas’ birthday, everyone got her some different art supplies to try. (Colored pencils, paint, pastels, etc.)

That was also the week of the struggle tournament, and Roxas and Xion tied in the final round. The prize was a year’s supply of ‘free ice cream’ coupons, which they’re happy to share.

Roxas, Xion, and Naminé don’t go to school (they’re too busy traveling between worlds and doing other ‘guardian of light’ tasks) but they’ll go have lunch with Hayner, Pence, and Olette to meet their school friends. 

They also get roped into helping with homework and summer jobs every now and then.

(Speaking of Pence—he and Ienzo stayed online friends after KH3. They talk on the Gummiphone and geek out over computer things. Since Radiant Garden is more technologically advanced than Twilight Town, Pence gets to learn a lot.)

They keep tabs with the other guardians via a group chat they’re all in. It very quickly turned into sharing funny photos and videos of each other though, so Mickey and Aqua had them create a separate chat for the less serious things.  

To get to other worlds, they’ll either have someone pick them up in the Gummiship, or take the ‘ghost’ train. (No dark corridors!)

They kept their organization coats just in case, but they’re tucked away out of sight.  

Naminé went to Radiant Garden to visit Kairi and draw her memories while she slept. Those visits also opened the door for her to talk to Ansem the Wise and receive his apology. 

Roxas is a little torn—he’s grateful to everyone who helped him come back, but not ready to have that conversation yet.

Lea and Isa are their guardians/trusted adults, but Lea is really their best friend first and foremost. I assume they all live together or nearby each other. 

Lea wasn’t joking about the whole Keyblade master thing. He’s actually still training with Merlin, Mickey, Aqua and Kairi, etc. Roxas and Xion will tag along, but just to keep their skills sharp. 

Aqua doesn’t mind training Roxas and Xion, but she’s not the biggest fan of training Lea. (Though maybe he’s growing on her a little…?)

Aqua is also the only one who can always tell Roxas and Ven apart—even when they swap outfits!

Naminé will also go to the Land of Departure—not to train, but because she’s friends with Terra and likes to visit Kairi. 

Xion’s replica powers are fading—she can’t copy weapons anymore, but she’s gaining more unique Keyblades and abilities in exchange.

#Sometimes I get caught up with so many ideas and going: #How will I have time to draw all of these?? #And then I remember I can just… #talk about them. #haha #Roxas #Naminé #Xion

[dr-spencer-reids-queen]

Minimal Loss: Part Two

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Female!Reader

Word Count: ~2.2k

Summary: You and Spencer go undercover to a ranch that is run by a man who thinks he’s God. When you and Spencer are trapped there, you will do anything to protect him, even if it means putting yourself in danger.

Warnings: canon violence, canon language, canon talk of death, methods of kill

Author’s Note: I do not own anything from Criminal Minds. All credit goes to their respective owners. If there are any warnings that exceed the normal death/kills from the show, I will list them. If you’ve seen the show, then it’s the same level of angst unless otherwise stated

x

With the police on edge at being shot at, your team was called in for backup/help. They know you and Spencer are in here, but they don't know exactly what's going on. Hotch made sure to coordinate with the commander in charge only because he knows Hotch has two agents on the inside.

"Dave, they've left the choice of negotiators up to me," Hotch says to his friend.

The police and FBI have set up camp on the edge of the property so that they can be there in a flash if needed.

"I taught most of the hostage negotiation unit. Do you want a recommendation?"

"I'm making you the lead negotiator. Why go to the students when I have the teacher?"

"Because the teacher is emotionally involved, so is the agent in command," Rossi sighs.

"I know I am. This is a unique situation. We have two agents who could affect the outcome on the inside."

"True, but I can't be objective! I know them too well."

"This outcome depends as much on our ability to predict the moves of Y/N and Reid as Cyrus. That's why you're the best man for the job."

"Assuming that Reid and Y/N are still in a condition to make moves."

"I know how bad this is. That's why I want you doing the talking."

"Alright," Rossi finally gives in.

One of the sector members, Nathan Cole, approaches Hotch and Rossi with an angry look on his face.

"You're obviously not in charge. I can see that! I demand to know why I wasn't told that the FBI was sending undercover agents into the Septarian Ranch!"

"The only thing that you're in the position to demand is a lawyer," Hotch glares.

"Who the hell are you?"

"I'm Aaron Hotchner, Unit Chief. I'm the guy who's gonna tell the Attorney General of the United States whether to charge you with obstructing a federal investigation or negligent homicide."

"You can't talk to me like that."

"Get off my crime scene," Hotch says coldly.

Nathan Cole knows that if he stays, he will be arrested. To avoid that, he has no choice but to leave. Hotch finds the true person in charge, Dan Torre, who knows more about this than anyone else.

"You know Dave Rossi. I assume introductions aren't needed," Hotch says to Dan.

"We've been here before, haven't we?" Rossi chuckles.

"Waco. Ruby ridge. Freeman standoff. Let's hope someone listens to you guys this time."

"Oh, they did more than listen. They put us in charge."

"Bring us up to speed."

"I've sent the state police packing. They started this mess. We lost a man in the process. Hope that's okay."

"If you hadn't, we would've."

"Good. County sheriffs have had no run-ins with the sect. So, we're using them as support. We've had no contact with them so far. They've got solar power which we can shoot out the panels if you think--"

"No. That's an escalation," Rossi cuts him off.

"Okay, but that means they have access to the news."

"I'll get JJ to talk to the press. Are your men ready to be briefed?" Hotch asks, and Dan nods. "Let's go."

Hotch, Rossi, and Dan head inside the small trailer where Derek, Emily, and the rest of Dan's men are gathered.

"This is how we're going to do things," Rossi starts. "I call this the 'minimal loss scenario'. Every person we get out is a life saved. We won't save them all. All of us have to be prepared to accept that situation."

"Cults are structured like pyramids. You got the leader at the top, the diehard believers beneath, and the biggest group--the base--followers or the women and children. These are the people we can save," Derek adds.

"The 'trickle, flow, gush' strategy is designed to get base followers out. First, one or two, then three or four, and then as many as we can as fast as we can. If at any point it starts to go bad, we go in. The leaders are charismatic sociopaths who target those most susceptible to their seduction. They have the ability to see what each person needs, and then they become that thing. We have to undermine their perception that we're an invading army laying siege to their home."

"We'll lose the fatigues. Will rancher's clothes work for ya? Like we did at the Freeman standoff?" Dan asks.

"That's perfect. Anything we can do to demilitarize the situation," Rossi nods.

The next step is actually calling Ben and trying to negotiate, which takes some time. Ben has a secure line that is hard to get into, but once he does, Rossi is able to make a call to him. However, who picks up isn't what Rossi expects.

"Hello?" Rossi asks when no one speaks.

"You killed my mom and daddy. Are you going to kill me too?" the little girl that Jessica was holding asked.

"No one is going to kill you, honey," Rossi sighs.

There is a pause, and someone else takes the phone.

"This is Benjamin Cyrus. Who am I talking to?"

"David Rossi, an FBI agent. We sent the state police away. There's just us and the local sheriff. All we want to do is resolve this before anyone else gets hurt."

"Then leave us alone."

"I'm afraid we can't do that, Benjamin. One of the police bled out on the way to the hospital. So, let's just stop this before things get worse. Please, just put down your guns and come out."

"We're believers, Dave. We believe that God says what he means and means what he says. His laws don't depend on what state you live in."

"I have no issues with your beliefs."

"You don't, but the state does."

"I can't answer for other people."

"Oh, God will answer for everyone in the final battle I've foreseen."

"That's why I'm here--to make sure that this is not a battle. Now, the three child services workers--"

"One of them is dead. It wasn't us."

Everyone stops what they are doing. Hotch holds his breath as he waits to hear which one is dead. If you or Spencer is dead, he won't ever forgive himself for it.

"I need a name to inform the family," Rossi says, trying to contain his emotion.

"Her name was Nancy Lunde."

Derek closes his eyes and lets out a silent sigh of relief, and Hotch lowers his head so the others don't see the worry in his eyes.

"Okay. Now, please, Benjamin, send out your wounded. I promise you they'll be well taken care of."

"With enough supplies, we can tend to our own."

"Okay. I need a few hours to put it together. I'll bring them up myself at first light."

Ben hangs up, and Rossi lets out an audible sigh of relief that you and Spencer are okay. It's sad about Nancy, for sure, but both of you are okay... for now.

"You know they can take you hostage, right?" Dan asks.

"I'm going to confirm the kids, Spencer, and Y/N are okay."

"Rossi, let me go with you," Derek begs.

He thinks of you as a sister and Spencer is his best friend. He has to make sure you both are okay.

"No. This is about building trust. I will go alone."

"I want the parabolic arc mics fixed on every window in that structure," Dan says to his men.

"They won't pick up much. They have blinds on all the windows. Unless they're shouting, the glass won't vibrate enough for us to get an audio."

"Well, if they're not shouting, these bugs will pick 'em up, at least until the batteries die. How familiar are agents Y/N and Reid with our playbook?" Dan asks.

"The BAU wrote the CIRG handbook. They'll know that we're trying to get ears in there at all times," Hotch answers.

CIRG stands for Critical Incident Response Group, and they are responsible for providing rapid assistance to incidents in a crisis, such as this one.

"Good. Let's hope they can get these people talking."

"They will."

Your team is here, you can feel them. You overheard Ben talking to someone on the phone, and he could only be talking to one person: Hotch or Rossi. You know they're out there, but you don't know what they're waiting for. Ben told you and Spencer that you could sleep well knowing you'll be safe, but you can't sleep like this.

All the kids are confused, all their parents are panicking, and all of that is being siphoned by you. You're in full-on panic mode, and pushing it down all night has made you jittery. Spencer tries to help however he can without raising an alarm, but you can't accept it at this point. The only thing that will help is if you put distance between you and this entire ranch.

Something is happening when the sun comes up, but you don't know what. When it does finally arrive, you and Spencer are brought to the church where everyone else is. Women, children, men, Ben, and his followers. There's virtually no space between you and Spencer since you need him close for comfort. Spencer has your hand in his, but it's obstructed by your bodies so Ben doesn't see if he were to look over.

Ben is expecting someone to come, and soon, they show. The door to the church opens and Rossi walks in wearing normal clothes, not his FBI outfit. He looks around until his eyes land on yours and Spencer's. He can see how scared you are, but he doesn't acknowledge you in fear it will ruin everything.

He's holding a box full of supplies for Ben, and he welcomes him with a curt nod.

"Dave? I'm Ben. Come on in. These are the children and our guests," Ben says, welcoming him in.

"I'd hope you'd let me take the children."

"No, they're under our protection. They stay for now while I pray for God's guidance. Please don't try to force us out."

"No one's gonna try to force you out of here. Trust me."

"Trust is earned. Tell them I'm not crazy. Tell them I'm just a man living by God's law."

"I will."

Since Rossi has no business being here anymore, he glances over at you as he leaves the church. He knows you two are okay, and you also know that whatever was in that box he brought over, it has something on it that will allow your team to hear what is happening inside. Maybe they have bugs attached to it or whatever, but you know they'll hear everything happening.

"Prepare the wine," Ben says to Chris. "We are celebrating. Everyone drinks. Everyone rejoices because today, we are one day closer to being with Him."

Chris passes out cups with suspicious liquids in them. You refuse to eat or drink anything Ben and his followers hand out, so you politely decline when they pass by you. Luckily, they don't give you a second glance. They had no intention in giving you whatever they're serving, and you're grateful for that.

You look around the church and spot Jessica who looks at Ben with admiration and love. Something isn't adding up. Jessica looks to be in love with him, so why would she make that 911 call? Right next to her is her mother, and as soon as you see her body language, you know exactly who made the call.

"Look at Jessica's body language and the way she looks at him. She literally worships him. There's no way she made that 911 call. I think her mother did," you whisper to Spencer.

"Trust in God with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. Trust in mine," Ben says.

Kathy gets up and tries to block her daughter's view of Ben, but Jessica is quick to look around her.

"Look how she comes between Ben and her daughter. She's inserted herself between them. She made the call so we'd come here and save her."

"Acknowledge him in all things, and he will guide your way. Drink to acknowledge Him, and I will guide our way."

Everyone holds up their glasses, and they all drink to celebrate together. Something isn't right. Ben is too calm. It's like he was waiting for this to happen, and now that it has, he feels vindicated.

"We will be with him soon. We have drank the poison together. Mothers... Fathers... Children... Though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death we fear no evil. For thou are with us. God will wipe the tears from their eyes, and there will be no more death nor sorrow nor crying. There will be no more pain. For all of the former things have passed away."

"He's going to commit mass suicide," you whisper with wide eyes.

Your heart beats faster as your breathing picks up, but Spencer lays a hand on your thigh to calm you down.

"You're letting your panic cloud your judgment. I don't think it's real. I think he's bluffing."

"Why do you think that?"

"Just after he told them about the poison, he waited for them to start to react. Then he nodded to Chris, and he started writing. Look. They're scanning the audience looking for reactions."

He's right. His followers are writing down the names of those who are crying, which shows they aren't loyal to Ben.

"It's a loyalty list, so he knows who will follow him to the end."

After a few moments of silence, Ben speaks again.

"Be still. There was no poison. Instead a test of faith. Because your adversary, the devil, waltzes about as a roaring lion! Choosing whom he may devour. Watch each other for signs of weakness. You are your brother's keeper."

"I can't take this anymore, Spencer. I want to go home," you whisper and look up at him.

"I know it's overwhelming for you. I know you're scared, but you can't freak out. If you do, you, me, and other people might die. Just look at me when you're feeling this way. I'm right here."

He's right. You have to pull yourself together. You'd slap yourself if you weren't frozen to your seat. Whatever plan Rossi has, he better do it fast because you need to get out of here.

x

Follow my library blog @aqueenslibrary​ where I reblog all my stories, so you can put notifications on there without the extra stuff :)

#spencer reid #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid fanfic #spencer reid fic #spencer reid fan fic #spencer reid fan fiction #spencer reid fluff #spencer reid angst #criminal minds #criminal minds fanfic #criminal minds fic #criminal minds fan fiction #criminal minds fan fic #criminal minds fanfiction #criminal minds series rewrite #series rewrite #cm season 4

[positivelyatheist]

Hi! What’s some positivity you learned early on in figuring out atheism that you’d like to share?

Thank you for sending this ask! This blog is a collection of positive things that fit into my view of atheism. I’d be glad to highlight a few points of interest.

The first is Self-Autonomy, meaning a self-directing freedom and especially moral independence.

+ Much of learning self-autonomy for new atheists is unlearning the idea that you belong to someone else before you belong to yourself. And by extension, others belong to themselves.

+ Self-Autonomy leads to things like healthy boundaries in relationships, owning up to your own mistakes instead of blaming it on things like the devil, lessens anxiety because thought crimes are not real, strengthens self-esteem because you are allowed to acknowledge your own accomplishments without giving credit to something else, finding out who you are without anyone else telling you what you must be, and more.

+ A subpoint to self-autonomy is anti-authoritarianism. After being an atheist for a few years I’ve become very critical of the idea of unquestionable authority.

The next main point is Existentialism, meaning the understanding that the universe and life have no inherent meaning, but we possess the ability to create our own meanings for ourselves and things around us.

+ Some peoples initial reaction to realizing there is no inherent meaning to anything is to feel despair. But the expert existentialist’s tactical response on this issue is: create some yourself, silly! When there is no meaning, create some! When there is no kindness, create some! You may be bad at creating your own meanings at first, but creating meaning is a learned skill. You will get better with practice.

+ “The universe is an open ended sandbox rpg. There’s no end goal. You can only get achievements. Some of them include making other people happy” – tumblr user nihilistgirlfriend

+ We are a part of the universe, therefore if I care about another person, the idea that the universe doesn’t care cannot be entirely true.

+ Having no inherent meaning also means nobody is inherently more valuable than another person.

The last point I’ll make here is learning about Nature & the ever-growing fractal of life!

+ We carry the story of those before us right in our bodies.

+ If I could pick a single atom on my body and open it up like a book to read its history of how many lives and things it’s been part of, I’d be reading that book all my life. This atom on my knee was once part of a vegetable. Before that it was nutrient in dirt. And before that it was pooped out by a decomposer in the ground. And before that it was another plant. And much further back it was in a star. Now think about how many atoms you have in your body- and they each have a unique story in them. They’ve all seen countless lifetimes and perspectives. The history of your body is the history of the universe itself! That’s awesome!

+ A subpoint to nature is that perfection does not exist. If the universe had perfection in it, there would be no evolution. It would be forever frozen and uniform, because why would something perfect change? Imperfection is better than perfection. Our differences are proof evolution is alive in us all, and these differences make us unique and beautiful.

There is of course much more I could add but I’ve got to stop somewhere! Hope you have a great whatever your time is!

#atheism #atheist #existentialism #nature #reason #autonomy

[stitchlingbelle]

Watching Halo, Episode 5

Flashback time! Halsey and Keyes both on Eridanus II. Were they colonists? Stationed there? Why are they at the school? They just saw John, so clearly it’s too early to be school-shopping for Miranda’s sake. God, are they shopping for kids? Was Keyes in on it from the beginning? This school is supposed to be some idyllic Waldorf-style nature school, and I love that, but it is not OSHA-compliant.

Here in the present, they’ve set up a whole temporary base around the second artifact, which seems like an utterly terrible idea to me. Do you need this much crap to dig out one monumental rock and load it up? (I realize real scientists would want to study it in situ for 6000 years before moving on to step 2 and archeologists wouldn’t want to move it at all, but you have unstoppable aliens to deal with in this universe!) Also, was bringing Miranda out here a good idea? It seems contrary to giving her free rein while her mom is gone? I’m glad her dad’s on her side at least. John, you need to snap out of it, buddy.

Kwan and Soren stuck in the desert, bickering, when he handcuffs her and leaves her alone in the middle of the desert? Wtf, Soren?

Poor Miranda making good points and still getting sidelined by her mom and Adun the Creep. Kai is still the smartest person here. What DOES the Covenant want? I appreciate the shot of the little drone. It’s funny to think that those have gone from scifi to a toy people fly in their backyards in my lifetime. John the Master Chief spots Kai’s hair and knows what’s up instantly and is immediately an asshole about it. I adore Kai—she took one look at John removing his and instantly trusted it was a good idea, and more, it’s clear from her less-flat affect in ep1 that she’s always been closest to breaking free (even without a mystical connection to ancient alien tech). And she’s 100% dead on here, too- why the hell is she unfit, but he’s not? And good on Cortana for speaking up for her, too. John: “I can’t hear myself think.” Cortana: “I can and you’re not missing much.” HA.

I haven’t gotten into Makee’s alien politicking much, but it’s definitely interesting how they both seem to need her and yet distrust her at the same time. You raised her! But “corrupted/ going native” is a trope for a reason, I suppose. Or are there two camps of aliens here? Is she really the only being who can activate these things? Were there aliens who could do it but they’ve passed away, or is it a unique human ability? (Well, humans and whatever race created this stuff.) Where did the Covenant get its info about the tech to begin with? How accurate is what they think they know?

Kwan, meanwhile, is demonstrating her best feature—sheer determination. I cheered when she finally got free. But when is she going to go, stranded in the middle of the desert, presumably without supplies? (I mean, I assume she’s about to find the mystics, but that’s the meta-brain talking.)

Craaaaap, John’s confiding in Keyes, who immediately gives him a brush off with his “I’ll look into it personally” bs. Of course he goes straight to Parangosky and Halsey and backstabbing and manipulation ensue. They at least try to protect Miranda from all their dirty laundry, of course in a way calculated to piss her off. “Finally a parenting issue we can agree on”—what did that little jibe mean? It’s getting increasingly hard to picture Halsey as any kind of mother. Exactly what did she want to do with Miranda?

Using a laser on the artifact makes ALL HELL BREAK LOOSE, and then John just stops with a look? Is that what happened? Wtf. And of course the Covenant hear that. Great.

Just as I wonder what Miranda saw in the data, her dad walks in and takes her off the project. She immediately pegs that it’s his own dirty past that’s at stake, though how dirty I doubt she knows. Master Chief, who is at least somewhat less credulous than I gave him credit for, is getting suspicious as well. Aaaand apparently he believes in direct action, because he immediately heads over and touches the artifact. And finds out HALSEY KIDNAPPED HIM? WTF. (Is the plague story a coverup? Did she murder a whole colony to hide this???) Master Chief tries to kill her ass and I was hoping he’d manage it, but no, Cortana steps in. Rats.

A brief break back on Madrigal where Soren finds Kwan gone… and then she EMERGES FROM THE SAND AND TAKES HIM OUT. Go Kwan, that was so much smarter than just wandering the desert, well done!

The rest of the episode is the biggest battle yet. My notes just say “Oh crap OH CRAP” at the top. Seeing the ship crash was fantastic and a definite “You Are Ultra Screwed” moment. I of course laughed at Cortana giving Master Chief advice and him snapping “I know how the game is played, Cortana!” Yes, writers, you’re very cute. I once again question how many Spartans there are and why we only have four here? In this super important not-hardened base that the Covenant is actively looking for? Like, worth 100 marines each, that’s great, but getting separated and pinned down is still a problem! Especially in this area which is wide open with lousy cover!

Which of course is exactly what happens to Kai, which I choose to believe is why she went down, instead of her being overwhelmed by trauma like the Master Chief predicted while he’s just fine, just Heroically Angry. (That bit of writing annoyed me.) (Yes I know he blew it too, he just got to blow it in a way that’s very differently coded than she did.) Halsey gets her one good moment saving Miranda when I 100% expected her to leave her daughter to die. (I did think Miranda would live to be extremely screwed up about it, mind you.)

So the Covenant got away with the new artifact, crap. And they pull the exact same gambit with Makee as last time, and I have the exact same complaint. Human makeup and nice clothes and not a scratch? She does NOT look like she just escaped that ship during the chaos of battle after surviving durance vile! Like, I want a poster of her on my wall but I do NOT trust her.

#halo tv show

[definitelynotshouting]

hihiiiii i’m back and i promise i’ll spell grian correctly this time lmaoo (post-writing here, there are lots of words lmao sorry)

i’ll try and be a bit more coherent since i’m not half asleep but god. how watchers themselves work in the hunger au is already so so interesting to me, especially with how grian is basically playing the wolf in sheep’s clothing. like he is a predator, here. but he remembers being a sheep, remembers being eaten, so no matter how hungry he gets, he tries so hard not to do that to the rest of his friends. but he’s still a wolf surrounded by sheep who all think he’s just a fellow sheep and he can’t survive on the same things that they can. and the sheep are right to be scared of him when they find out he’s a wolf but that doesn’t change the fact that he’s tried so hard not to hurt any of them and GOD the narrative dissonance (i think that’s the right term?) is so good between the reader perceiving everything through grian’s eyes because like. if it was the hermits of the traffic smp members he’s be portrayed so differently, especially with how much incomplete and unique information every individual has. like the traffic members all being scared that they’re going to be dragged into a game again so even if they want grian back they have to get past that barrier, and the hermits having to learn to distinguish or accept the grian they knew and the grian they kicked. and grian being the narrator, especially with his own hatred toward his needs as a watcher and his own feelings toward his former friends, creates this super strange effect where you can’t forget what he’s done because they victims are there but also you can’t help feel sympathy for him purely because he is so scared of himself that he is forcing himself to die. i’m not saying he’s irredeemable, it’s just a super cool writing decision that enhances the emotional elements to the story so much.

that shines a lot with how watchers enhance emotions, but it’s also soooo clear with pearl specifically because they’ve known each other for so long and through so much. and it’s such a highlight to both their relationship and grian’s situation that grian still struggles so much to read her. it’s dizzying almost, the way that grian is so good at reading emotions because it’s a latent ability he has but this one person foils all of it. and he knew, back when they were friends, how to traverse that because he didn’t need that ability to know her as a person, but now that there’s so much distance between them he has absolutely no idea how to traverse that. because he knows the minefield pattern has changed, knows that he was the one to change them, but all the soils settled and she’s acting like he still has the pattern memorised so what is there for him to do but do the same dance they used to. and then when those mines blow up as he knew they would he has no idea how to recover because he’s seen them explode but he’s never been in the blast area. and it’s so so interesting because for everyone else he can infer, and with pearl he still knows enough about her to guess, but she’s not giving him information in the way he knows her to frequent and it’s. it took me until my second read to fully understand the implications of their conversation (the couch thing, tilly, the cows) but i did and it’s so well written. i don’t know if it was your intention, it might’ve just been a side effect of me having to reread it while more attentive to that stuff, but somehow that only sucked me into the narrative further because i felt just as confused as grian for half of it and it all hit harder somehow so massive kudos lmao!!

grian and mumbo’s relationship, especially when juxtaposed with scar’s is also super duper interesting. like, on their own they’re so nice to pick apart too, but there’s so many additional flavours when looking through them as a trio. like, mumbo is angry, rightfully so. grian got kicked, ran from them for months, and then when they actually caught up to them it was because he (in their eyes) tried to overdose on weakness potions and begged them to kill him. and from what tango said they likely didn’t all know his biological resistance to potion effects, and tango doesn’t know that he’s purposefully making them think he’s more resistant than he is so that he can confidently have enough to od on and. god they were best friends. and he dragged you into a game, slaughtered you over what to a red life was just a little joke, kept the fact that he was behind the games a secret, then when you see him after a year it’s him dying in the void begging you to end him. and mumbo’s angry, and the anger is all his even though grian keeps unintentionally heightening it (both with his abilities and his not-quite-resigned attitude) and. and you can’t pretend this is in any way normal bc that is your former best friend and that’s so stark when compared to scar who tries to meet grian where he is and keep him comfortable. like, mumbo isn’t used to grian in the games, but scar was betrayed him and was betrayed by him in turn. they know this dance, they’ve lived it thrice over, this is anger that he’s learned and he recognises and he can let go of. and that doesn’t mean it’s gone, but he’s used to it, he knows that letting it fester between them won’t change anything, especially when they found grian half-dead and their priority has to be getting him better. so he jokes and he falls into their old habits because he misses that, and mumbo does too, but neither of them know what to do to help him, and they show that in such different ways. and neither of them are unfair or incorrect in their anger or their comfort, because both of them are hurting people trying to navigate another hurting person.

i love love love the way you write tango too. i’ve already said the whole peak guy thing so i’ll skip that. but i love how honest he is about why he’s there. like. he’s angry. he’s angry in the same way that mumbo is, he feels betrayed by someone he trusted, he doesn’t know what to do to help (both because of his biology and because no-one knows what to do when someone else is in a crisis, especially with complex feelings about that person). and it’s so realistic that the thing that makes him want to help, that got him to follow xisuma and pearl and mumbo and scar wasn’t any sense of anger or duty or anything but was that someone who mattered to him couldn’t go. tango wants to give jimmy that sense of closure, regardless of his own feelings, because grian and jimmy were close and then they weren’t and then grian just up and disappeared. and that’s supposed to in and of itself be the solution but it isn’t, not when you don’t even know why he created these games in the first place, not when you knew each other for so long, not when your relationship dynamic was about as “cruel” as you knew this person to be. and even in those jokes and jabs the grian you knew never would’ve revelled in that suffering enough to make a game out of it, enough to drag fourteen to sixteen other people into it. and even in those games, grian was supposed to be the ringleader, so why did he seem so miserable during (and after, though jimmy wouldn’t know that unless a hermit [LIKE TANGO] told him) (also excluding the more lighthearted moments [southlanders aha bit] and red lives [semi-unpredictability is average red life behaviour]). also the trust that he gives grian and what he says because grian can barely do anything on his own anymore because he’s so weak and tango doesn’t want to make him think he’s taking away more of his agency and grian is much less likely to lie than he is to bend the truth or avoid subjects altogether and. something something the fastest way to earn trust is to give it also applies to rebuilding trust.

also xisuma and. i said the gold star on his helmet as a joke but now i can’t stop thinking about hermits just petting stickers all over his helmet until he can’t see and has to get another one (he would never remove the stickers, those are special!!) (let him rest he already has a wall full of helmets he can’t used not even because they’re destroyed but he can’t see there are too many where do hermits keep finding them!!). i can’t keep saying the relationships are interesting but they are and i don’t have a better adjective sorry lmao. but the way that xisuma, especially in the world they’re on, has to be so many places at once; he has to take care of his hermits, and keep the world stable because its not meant to be multiplayer, and he has to keep up with grian because that’s the whole reason they left, and he has to try and help build or gather supplies when he has the chance. and he’s spread so thin that when grian says something concerning (as he’s wont to do) there isn’t much he can do because he’s stressed and he’s busy and grian is so emotionally constipated it’s not even funny. and because he’s so busy and everyone’s so busy and concerned none of them are even thinking to put all of their information together because they just assume grian doesn’t say anything (AS HE’S WONT TO DO) or they all know the same stuff about him. and xisuma is too busy to pull everyone together because that’s usually his role as admin (when he’s not being a wet rag of a man [affectionate]) on hermitcraft and everyone is struggling so much with their own emotions and grappling the fact that the weak and depressed guy they chased down for two months and is half-dead is the same grian that would regularly pull pranks and didn’t even argue when they decided to kick him from hermitcraft. and xisuma also looking at grian and seeing his own failure as an admit because even though he made a reasonable decision that was backed by his server members looking at the ramifications is shaking him, especially considering the fact that grian is someone he used to consider a friend. and now he’s looking at a man that begged them to kill him and is slowly starving to death and doesn’t even seem that upset about it and what else if there for him to do but question if he could’ve changed this if he put his foot down and kept grian on the server despite the danger that could put them in (especially since they don’t know what directly caused the games, they just know that grian was responsible, not why he did or if he could even control that he did it).

ok i had more thoughts than i thought i did about these guys. and your writing!!!!! quality!!!!!!!! delectable!!!!!!!!!!! gourmet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! thank you for the meal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! have a lovely day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! drink water!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ANON,,,,, you flatter me SO MUCH with this analysis oh my gods???? I am SO so happy that all of this is shining through, the complexities that im going for and the different, subtle dynamics. Also very very grateful that the fact that everyone so far has different information is something that is very apparent; i was admittedly worried it would cause a lot of confusion, so its really nice to see someone picking all of that up!!!

Oughhhhh i am ESPECIALLY super glad the subtleties of the pearl and grian convo in chapter 5 were picked up on. I think my actual and legitimate "stage direction" for myself in that chapter was, and i quote:

"PEARRRLLLLLLL. they should talk. well okay they NEED to talk. but they should talk abt anything OTHER than what they want to" 😂😂😂😂😂

Which then birthed that EXTREMELY roundabout conversation with the cows, and tilly, and pearl not necessarily knowing everything but making some highly educated guesses. Honestly, the play-by-play of that convo was so interesting to write-- if anybody ever wants a sorta behind the scenes review abt it, i would be SO happy to explain what i was going for during that entire scene

Anyway anon i LOVE your thoughts you have SPOILED ME with them and i appreciate you so so much, this is so kind and sweet and i am vibrating as i continue chugging away at chap 6 bc i hope i can make that just as enjoyable as the rest of the story

#shouting speaks #asks #compliments #hunger au #THIS IS SO!!!!! IM YELLINGGGG!!!!! #❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ #anon u are an angel actually this is every writer's fucking dream comment fr #hoping chap 6 lives up to it all bc ive been staring at this bastard for like a week straight #so the brain thinks it sucks even tho its probably fine #MAN. IM SO. CRIES AND SOBS FOREVER /POS #long post #ALSO. I AM DRINKING MATCHA LATTE RN. HOPEFULLY THAT COUNTS AS WATER DJEHDJENDJDJ #txt

[soursugxr]

I went slightly insane during my history class

Separated AU? Kinda? Except all of them are completely different from their actual ROTTMNT iterations💀

I’m gonna be honest I’ve never loved drawing Donnie for whatever reason so of course I had to make him pretty so I would actually want to draw him.

Storyline below!!!

Essentially this entire AU is: would if Draxum’s lab exploded and it messed up the turts?

So the story I’ve formulated in my head is like:

Basically the same until like. The whole “Lou Jitsu destroys Draxum’s lab bc fuck that guy” thing. The lab very much explodes.

Raph, being the biggest, shields his siblings (specifically his twin) from the blast to the best of his ability, which absolutely massacres his shell. Leo is the only one who got away without any serious injuries, Donnie straight up lost his arm, and Mikey’s legs are permanently messed up.

Splinter (understandably) thinks Raph is just straight up dead after that (he is not), and takes the other three turts so he can get them help, gets mutated in the process.

Raph is (somehow) not dead, and (somehow) manages to survive on the streets of the Hidden City on his own. His shell is absolutely fucked, but thanks to growing up around magic, he can use it pretty well. He ends up meeting Sunita, who teaches him how to talk, and her family takes him in for a while, but he’s so used to being on his own that he doesn’t really adjust well to being part of a family.

Meanwhile, the other tots are (mostly) safe with Splinter.

Because of the whole “twintuition” thing, Leo has grown up being super anxious all the time. He barely has any memory of having a third sibling, but there is A Feeling that he can’t shake. They’re constantly feeling super guilty about not being injured in the lab explosion since her siblings were so badly injured and it effects them every single day, so he becomes the leader to protect them. She’s super serious about all the ninja stuff, simply because he doesn’t want his little siblings getting hurt again, and this entire time they’ve been holding on to a tiny piece of red fabric that he’s had since the Incident. They don’t know why, but they’re very attached to it.

Donnie, being the absolute genius he is, managed to build himself an entire high-tech prosthetic arm. Because of course he did, he’s Donnie. He doesn’t come out of the messy ass garage often, usually only for missions or when Splinter tells him to. He’s been working on something to help Mikey with his whole leg situation for the past god knows how long. He hates getting dirty until it’s his garage/lab, then he’ll go crazy and get covered in oil and grime.

Mikey’s situation is a lil unique. He can walk around on his own most of the time, but sometimes his legs Do The Thing (his words. it just means they feel weird and hurt a lot), so he’ll need a knee brace or crutches or something for a little while. He loves graffiti, which is how he met April, and he’s also the one who goes out on his own most often, despite Leo constantly worrying about him. He’s the one who found Raph :)

Sunita is honestly just The Best. She’s been Raph’s best friend since they met, and has tried to help him at every opportunity. When he left the hidden city after finding out about that Draxum is on the hunt for him, she was worried sick, and ended up sending Mayhem after him, just to make sure he was okay.

April has been The Red One for a long ass time, because she thought green was lame since “all of the turtles are green” (ignoring the fact that Donnie is a painted river terrapin and therefore not green) and she wanted to be cool. Leo never really liked that whole thing because of the Hey I’m Super Attached to This Red Fabric thing, but they got over it eventually. She’s very much a big sister to the turtles, even though she was slightly weirded out when she first came across Mikey.

Cassandra is the other reason April wanted to be The Red One, she just wanted to match her girlfriend. Casey’s honestly just The Gayest person on earth, and does she care? No. She can kick ass and kiss girls and that’s what matters. She’s aware of the turtles but doesn’t hang out with them super often, so most of what The Guys know about her is just from April gushing about her favorite person.

Splinter has been trying to dad this entire time :,) he’s riddled with guilt and severe trauma, but he’s trying and that’s what matters. Every so often he thinks about the fact that he just left Raph in the destroyed lab and he cries a little bit (a lot actually) because his train of thought is “I could have at least buried him.” Being a rat isn’t the greatest either, but again, he manages. He doesn’t have any “visible” injuries from the Incident, but mentally he’s absolutely fucked.

Draxum is a bastard piece of shit (in this au) and I hate him (in this au). He went into hiding for a lil while, but then came back with a whole “I want my creations back” thing going on, which drove Raph out of the Hidden City. Raph remembers the most about the Incident, oddly enough, and the mere thought of being put back in a test tube makes him physically ill. Drax kinda gets his redemption arc but it’s in that really awkward “why the hell would I ever forgive you?” sense, like an abusive parent who realized they fucked up and tried to apologize, but you’re never going to forgive them because of what they did.

Raph actually got a cloaking brooch so he could blend in on the surface, but kinda hated it because he felt out of place anyway (because people are judgmental of people with scars/visible disabilities). When Mikey found him, he was alone in the sewer with the brooch off, shenanigans ensue.

And by shenanigans I mean Donnie and April now owe Mikey so much money because they were betting on whether or not Leo’s whole “guys we have another sibling somewhere I swear” thing was true or not.

Raph is very unwilling to talk at first, but eventually he’s like “I mean this is my brother so I may as well talk to him yk?” But also doesn’t want to be found just yet.

Sibling bonding time :)

Raph is very concerned about Mikey’s legs giving out and tries to heal it with magic (it doesn’t work). Mikey is very concerned about Raph’s shell, but it’s healed now, just weakened and misshapen.

At some point Draxum’s bounty hunters find Raph, but unfortunately Mikey is there, so Raph’s first instinct is to protect him. Raph gets very injured, Mikey manages to escape the bounty hunters and drag Raph along with him.

Everyone is now freaking out

That’s all I got for now. So here’s some lil notes n stuff about The Guys

Raph

Alligator snapping turtle

The tallest and (technically) oldest

Leo’s (slightly older) twin. They’re from the same clutch of eggs

Doesn’t really care to define his gender identity or sexuality. Truthfully he doesn’t even care about what pronouns people use for him, but he just tells people he/him to keep it simple

Instead of sais or tonfas, he uses improvised brass knuckles

The team medic! He’s good at improvising if need be, and is very no-nonsense when it comes to his brothers’ taking care of themselves. This man singlehandedly improved Donnie’s abysmal sleep schedule

Still talks in third person sometimes, mostly when he’s having a bad day, a panic attack, or dissociating

Fight or flight is almost always on, he has a problem with hoarding food because of how he grew up

Never really learned any proper fighting techniques, he just goes for whatever opening he sees

Very quiet. He still has pretty bad anger issues, but he bottles it up until it’s too late and he gets a little silly in fights (Leo has called an ambulance for a Foot Clan soldier at least twice now)

Leo

Alligator snapping turtle

The second shortest, but also second oldest

Raph’s twin

He/they/she. They spent so long worrying about her siblings that he never stopped to figure out her gender. They don’t know what to call himself, but defaults to “man liker” because that’s the closest thing he can come up with

Classic two katanas(?) I don’t actually know what kind of swords Leo has outside of the odachi in Rise

So incredibly the leader. She takes it very seriously, since his siblings getting hurt is his biggest nightmare

Insanely anxious, constantly. If they hadn’t gone through so much meditation training they would be having nightly panic attacks

The last time they had a meltdown it was because Mikey’s chronic pain acted up so bad that he couldn’t walk for about a week, and Leo was terrified that he would never walk again

Makes the shittiest dad jokes to try and cope, but it doesn’t work. Humor is Mikey’s thing. Tries to distract herself with projects instead. Doesn’t work either, that’s Donnie’s thing. Meditating for hours and hours doesn’t work very well either. That’s Splinter’s thing. He can’t figure out what his coping mechanism is, and that just adds more stress to their life

Freaks out over the tiniest stuff

Hates eating mushrooms because of the texture

Donnie

Painted river terrapin

Second tallest, only a few inches shorter than Raph

The middle child

He/him, much like Raph though, he doesn’t really care. Sometimes he calls himself “triple A” because he’s agender, asexual, and aromantic. He doesn’t care about relationships but thinks it’s kinda cute how happy April is when she talks about Cassandra.

High tech bo staph and his tech, specifically his prosthetic left arm

The smart one. He hoards bits of knowledge that are probably useless, but also ones that are very useful. His toolbox looks like a nightmare mess, but it’s actually perfectly organized in his mind

Very quiet and slightly antisocial

He’ll obsess over the tiniest detail of a project and then never finish it

His prosthetic arm actually has five fingers so he can better work with tinier objects. It also has an added bonus of any handprint-activated things made by/for him only working for him, so it keeps his siblings out of his stuff

Ambidextrous

Mikey

Western painted turtle

Shortest. Tiny lil baby

Youngest and acts like it. His siblings know no peace

He/they. Turns out being stuck in bed because your legs hurt so much gives you a lot of time to think about your gender, and this lil fella figured out he was transmasc.

Still has his nunchucks, but now they’re bedazzled

Tries to walk even when his legs Do The Thing because “it only hurts after like 5 minutes guys I’m fine”

Sews patches onto the fabric parts of his knee braces, doodles on the plastic/metal parts

Tries to be super agile and do cool tricks while fighting, but leg pain is unfortunately a bitch

Very serious about safety when it comes to graffiti. He gets upset when April doesn’t wear a respirator mask when working with spray paint

I wanna get this writing right someone please tell me how chronic pain affects people I crave knowledge

That’s basically all I have so far. I’ll make lil notes like this for the non-turtle characters at some point

More stuff:

Ref sheets

#tmnt #teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt au #unpause rottmnt #save rottmt #rise of the tmnt #idk what to call this au #separated Raph au

[pigeontheoneandonly]

Would you be willing to expound on the Kaidan/Anders similarity? I’d never really considered it and would love to hear your ideas 💛

I wish I had a dollar for every time I’ve started this post over the years, and abandoned it unfinished when it got out of hand.  But I’ll try my best to be succinct.

At its core, the reason why I find Kaidan and Anders to be similar is that both are centrally driven by profound compassion, and preyed upon by the consequence of profound compassion, which is an absolute intolerance of injustice.

Let’s dispense with the superficial details of their arcs.  Both are outcasts in their societies due to their unique capabilities, feared, loathed, and used as tools in the same breath.  Both have chosen to turn those abilities towards the service of others.  When we meet Anders in Awakening, he is literally trying to survive, to hide from the templars and maintain his own freedom.  When we meet Kaidan in ME1, he is metaphorically trying to survive, to keep his head down and be a “normal” marine, in hopes this will let him escape the stigma of being a biotic.  Anders declares to you “this is a place of healing”; Kaidan confides that he won’t use his abilities against sentient beings.  Both see their feelings harden and their willingness to accept more extreme methods expand as their enemy’s power grows. 

Even their childhoods are similar.  Anders was obviously taken as a child and imprisoned in a mage tower, but I’m not sure many people realize BAaT was founded when Kaidan was nine years old.  Though it’s mostly assumed Kaidan was taken to BAaT as a teenager, since he’s in the first known exposure group, there’s a case that he was actually taken much younger.  Regardless, both characters were strongly marked by their early experiences.  Anders escapes to the Wardens because the tower is so awful it makes that option look good.  Kaidan escapes to the military because it’s one of the few ways he can actually make use of his abilities, even if he has no illusions this will allow him to escape surveillance (“might as well get a paycheck for it”). 

In both their romances, they view their partner with a sense of wonder, and as a grounding point, making them feel safe and like they have somewhere to belong.  There is a sense that they are extending a trust that’s been buried a long time, which makes it all the worse if their partner then chooses to leave them later.  But both will stand by their principles even if it costs them their partner. 

Anders’ anger has been examined by the fandom at length, but we say relatively little about Kaidan’s anger and the ways it changes and hardens him, on Horizon, and especially through the arc of ME3.  He clearly understands and believes that the reapers are sentient beings and even expresses curiosity about them in ME1, but by the end of ME3, he’s fully willing to wipe them out because of the evil acts they’ve committed.  It takes a real act of effort for him to step back and try to understand Shepard’s role in Cerberus and reconcile that with what he knows about Cerberus.  His sense of injustice is twisting his perspective every bit as much as did Anders’, but it’s somewhat easier for us as players to sympathize with someone fighting against an ancient race of machines vs. someone facing down a religious institution that has far more parallels to real life situations.

(I also believe that if Kaidan were Subject Zero, the comparison would be that much more obvious.  Imagine that the side mission in ME1 where you rescue the hostage, Chairman Burns, instead becomes Subject Zero!Kaidan’s recruitment mission.  Imagine a Kaidan that much more deeply impacted by trauma, who has made it his life’s work to help other biotics.  Starts to sound a bit familiar, right?)

#kaidan alenko #anders #mass effect #dragon age

[banavalope]

after drawing this, i took long enough trying to draw the second half of it i ended up just taking an entire three steps back to consider a lot of larger details. I now have more details than I know what to do with, so I’m just going to call it Starlore and say its a worldbuilding project at this point.

Worldbuilding is more enjoyable for me than writing a plot with some good legs, and I’m embracing that.

Text in image under the following cut for those who would prefer that.

Starlore: a worldbuilding exercise on the existential horros of creativity by me, Banavalope :) Amadeus, Betty, Ace, and Luz are a species of cosmic star beings best described as anthropomorphic personifications. Their home is called Astropa, which is not so much a planet as it is a cumulative of their nearly-endless realm, the Upside.

Despite the name, there is no way to quantify where in non-euclidean space Upside sits relative to Otherside and the Blanket*. Stars - known for having an exaggerated sense of self-importance - feel confident they’ve got it right.

Inherently, stars have an infinite amount of potential, but some facts can be held as true of the whole species: 1.) They are all sexless.** 2.) All stars have wings.*** 3.) “Unexplainable encounters” could be explained if stars admitted to making mistakes. * Three parts to a complete universe completely unrelated to our own - with the exception of a few copied answers, as to be expected. ** Unless they really want to make the effort, of which many do for any reason at all. *** Having wings is the leading cause of common misconceptions for any species. Often assumed to be an indication of the ability to fly, when they are just as easily an identification of the tendency to fall.

Astropa - the birthplace of ideas Anyone native to the Blanket would find the culture of stars incredibly stressful and incomprehensibly complex, were they to learn about it. This would be a correct observation, as stars seem to think they work well under pressure and go about scheduling it into their day.

An eternity spent in this kind of environment have made stars the only species known to effectively harness the most renewable source of energy across the universe: Validation.

In the ancient times of the Starmakers, validation was manufactured by fulfilling miracles blanketside. This was soon found by Timekeepers to be toxic on the environment, necessitating the regulation of wish granting* through the glory duty system**.

Modern day stars now mass produce validation locally and by natural means to meet high demand.

* Giving stars a whole lot less to feel superior over their peers about, ** and at the expense of longer lines at the Department of Miraculous Verisimilitude.

Elemental Anomalies Lucy’s hair reflects their current state of emotion. It maintains a sunny baseline, but has the widest range of expression compared to their siblings.

Ace breathes fire, losing control over it only when he’s incredibly frustrated. Holding it in makes him smoke.

Betty effects the air around her in a reliably straightforward way, under usual circumstances. In circumstances subjectively unusual, any adjective of air is possible.

Amadeus changes color to reflect the intense moods of others, rather than himself. Unfortunately, as everyone has unique colors they feel in, its not particularly helpful.

A variety of advanced technology can be found on Astropa. Holo’s are a versatile piece, commonly used to translate language when stars are blanketside.

Side Facts Some stars find them useful to have on all the time; Amadeus will use his to display closed captions for anyone not versed in sign language if his hearing aid* is out.

It isn’t necessary for stars to eat - or sleep, for that matter - but they do out of enjoyment.

* Which is not often.

Timekeepers A separate classification of anthropomorphic personification to stars are Timekeepers. They reside on a plane outside of spacetime, unimpressively called Timekeeping Affairs HQ.

The main office is reachable by taking the Timeline out of Astropa; there’s only one, and you can’t miss it.

#starlore #my ocs #bana's dumb art #amadeus #finally embracing the part of me that just likes making a bunch of little guys and a setting #my life has only improved by a friend once saying not everything has to be a thing he was so right it fucking doesnt #there is no tooth fairy there is no queen of england and there is no story #im all wikipedia no plot points

[g0ry-gh0ul]

Hungry are the Damned

As promised, here's the gross and fucked up Mary fic lmao. Thanks to everyone who wanted me to post it, y'all are sweet! I haven't written anything in 10 months so I hope it isn't too shabby.

Tags/warnings: Necromancy, zombies, graphic depictions of violence, blood & gore, body horror, cannibalism, major character death, pov character death. Dead Dove: Do Not Eat.

Read on AO3 if you like:

Fic under the cut.

Night has fallen over the forest as Mary’s boots crunch through the underbrush, loud amidst the quiet of the evening. It’s nearing midnight, and darkness clings to the landscape, broken only by moonlight filtering through the dense trees. A light breeze barely rustles the leaves overhead, deepening the chill of early autumn.

A relatively new recruit of the Ministry, Mary has come into a somewhat unusual occupation—necromancy. Or rather, he will come into the occupation if he manages not to fuck up his first real assignment. They’ve read plenty of theory, and practiced on chickens and goats, so really, how much harder can it be to revive a human corpse? Much harder, Sister Imperator’s voice echoes in Mary’s head. She’d warned them (looking not at all confident in Mary’s necromantic abilities) that humans prove much more difficult to handle once resurrected than simpler animals—volatile, she’d said. Dangerous. A brief flash of nervousness turns Mary’s stomach, but they ignore it, cranking up the volume on the old Nihilist demo blasting through their janky headphones.

Finally, the forest grows sparser and the graveyard comes into view, nestled behind a quaint Victorian-era church. Hopping the rusty fence surrounding the mismatched array of headstones, Mary makes their way through the overgrown yard, scanning headstones until they find the one they’re looking for. It’s no more ornate than any of the others, and nothing about it stands out as unique or important—no pentagrams or Baphomets or anything. Mary kneels next to the headstone and squints at the engravings, trying to discern any clues as to why this particular corpse is worth the Ministry’s trouble, but to no avail. Shrugging, he pulls his headphones down around his neck and gets to work.

Mary rifles around in his numerous pockets for the materials required for the ritual: a lighter, a bundle of herbs, and a small, scuffed-up book containing the necessary Latin incantations (his cheat sheet, Mary calls it).

The lighter clicks as he sets fire to the herbs and sets them on the ground in front of the headstone. Reaching under their jacket, Mary draws a wickedly sharp bowie knife from a holster at their lower back. The silver blade glints in the moonlight, and Mary wastes no time in slicing it across their left palm, letting the blood drip onto the burning herbs. They wipe the leftover blood on their already filthy jeans and re-sheath the knife. Now for the fun part.

Mary picks up the book and starts flipping through the pages, searching for the right spell. “Ah shit, where was it…?” he mumbles, flipping past the spells for goat and chicken resurrection. “Okay, yeah. Right here. Got it.”

Squinting at his own nearly-illegible handwriting to make sure he isn’t about to revive any farm animals, Mary begins to recite the Latin incantation from the book, stumbling over some of the words. Hopefully flawless pronunciation isn’t required.

A gust of wind extinguishes the burning herbs as Mary finishes reading, and they glance around apprehensively. Everything is very still and silent for a long moment, and they start to worry they’ve fucked the spell up. Right as Mary is about to try reading the spell again to see if it works better the second time around, a hand shoots up from under the ground, dirt crunching around it. Mary yelps and scrambles backward, nearly smacking his head on another gravestone.

The hand is gray and bony, with long, dirty fingernails and peeling skin. It is (as expected) connected to the rest of a corpse, which slowly drags itself up from beneath the ground. The zombie is desiccated, what remains of its moldering skin stretched taut over its bones. Its eyeballs have rotted out of its skull and its lips are pulled back to reveal discolored teeth. Its joints creak and pop loudly as it pulls itself the rest of the way above ground, chunks of dirt and tufts of grass falling off it with every move. Mary scrambles to their feet and stares, wide-eyed in both horror and fascination.

“Hey, so, uh… I hate to disturb you, but—”

The zombie makes a horrible screeching, growling sound. Mary swallows nervously and forges on.

“Listen, I’m just the messenger. It wasn’t my idea to dig up your old bones. And I sympathize, man, I really do. One time my friend woke me up before 10 when I was hungover, I clocked her in the face and broke her nose. Payed the hospital bills though, don’t worry, I’m not a complete asshole. Anyway, what I’m trying to say is, I’ll make this real easy for you. All ya gotta do is–”

The zombie takes a step towards them, rumbling in a distinctly displeased manner. Mary glances over their shoulder, very much wishing at this moment that he’d brought backup. A ghoul would be very helpful right now. Preferably a particularly vicious one. With giant teeth. Mary sighs, resigned to his plight of trying to reason with a corpse, and continues.

“-All ya gotta do is come with me, meet the higher-ups, and do whatever it is they want. They all seem to think you’re real important. Once they’re done with ya you’ll be back six feet under. Scout’s honor.” Mary holds up three fingers in a Boy Scout’s salute.

The zombie tilts its head to the side with a crackling sound, seemingly considering. Then it lunges forward, latching its teeth onto Mary’s shoulder.

“JESUS CHRIST!!” Mary shrieks, tripping and falling backward over a headstone and taking the zombie with him. The zombie doesn’t let go, and Mary attempts to pry its jaws open, to no avail. They kick the zombie in the ribcage, their heavy steel-toed boot connecting noisily with the zombie’s emaciated chest, and it goes flying, taking a sizable chunk of flesh from Mary’s shoulder with it.

The zombie stands back up, blood now dripping from its teeth down its rotting chin. It levels its nonexistent gaze on Mary, who is staggering to their feet, glaring back at it.

“Dude,” Mary pants. “What the fuck.”

This assignment is not going at all the way he’d hoped. He draws his knife again and brandishes it at the zombie with a sigh. He really does not have time for this shit.

“Look, can we maybe not do this? My band’s got a gig Saturday, and they’ll be royally pissed if their vocalist gets eaten by a goddamn zombie before then.”

The zombie, unsympathetic to Mary’s musical endeavors, lunges forward—directly into his knife, which makes contact with a wet crunch. Mary drags the knife upward, snapping several of the zombie’s ribs until its torso is nearly split in half. The zombie makes a rattling, gurgling sound somewhat akin to a laugh. Mary’s blood runs cold and he attempts to yank his knife back, but finds it stuck.

The zombie shoves Mary back onto the ground, gnashing its teeth. Mary grabs it by its neck and tries to keep it at arms length so it can’t bite their face off, but instead it rakes its long nails down Mary’s face, leaving several bloody gashes. Mary screams and manages to snap the zombie’s neck.

The zombie falls to the ground next to him, where it lays still. Mary thinks—rather ridiculously, given the circumstances—how embarrassing it’s going to be to face Imperator after this. He’s barely finished the thought when the zombie—because of fucking course a broken neck wouldn’t slow it down—grabs Mary by the throat and lifts him off the ground.

The zombie’s neck is bent at a full 90 degree angle, and the moonlight illuminates the blood smeared across its mouth in a gleefully macabre imitation of a smile. Mary chokes helplessly and tries in vain to pry the zombie’s hands away from their neck. Don’t panic! he thinks to himself, but he’s starting to get a really sick feeling about this whole thing, their heart pounding like it’s trying to bust out of their ribcage.

The zombie throws Mary onto the ground like a ragdoll and their head smacks against the dirt hard enough that they black out for a couple seconds. When they come to, every nerve in their body is exploding with pain and for a moment they can’t figure out what’s happening; it feels like they’re being burned alive. The zombie gurgles and Mary realizes with nauseating horror that its teeth are sunk into his stomach, ravenously tearing into flesh. Its teeth make wet, crunching sounds as it feeds. Mary screams in agony, tears mixing with the blood streaming down their face and obscuring their vision. They kick weakly at the zombie, but to no avail—any movement sends the pain in their abdomen coursing from head to toe and threatening to knock them unconscious, and the zombie was more than a match for Mary even before they were bleeding out on the dirt.

Mary chokes on a sob and blood fills his mouth, thick and metallic. He coughs and gasps for air, blood splattering over his lips, and fumbles in his jacket pocket for his lighter. He can’t die like this, this is so fucking lame. Pathetic. All his own fault, really. Shaky fingers close around the lighter, and Mary brings it up over the preoccupied zombie’s head. It takes several clumsy attempts before they manage to turn the flame on, and as their clammy, trembling fingers scramble with the lighter Mary prays earnestly to Satan below—please, please, please don’t let me die like this. Please.

It takes a horrible few moments before the fire catches, and Mary’s head pounds as they try to focus on anything but the zombie’s head disappearing further and further into their stomach, teeth scraping against bone and slurping up pooling blood.

Slowly, finally, the flame begins to lick over the zombie’s decaying skin. Every millisecond that the zombie doesn’t notice and continues tearing into Mary’s insides is fucking biblically hellish and they realize they’re screaming, their own voice sounding very far away. Maybe he’s been screaming this whole time.

The zombie finally takes notice of the fire as its face begins to be consumed by it, and roars in confusion, finally pulling away from Mary’s decimated stomach. For a split second, before its head is fully ignited and the fire begins to take over the rest of its body, Mary notes with no panic left inside him that its jaws are full of meat. The zombie falls backward in a cacophony of inhuman shrieks, the smoke from the burning corpse drifting up into the starry sky.

The pain isn’t so bad anymore. Mary’s arms and legs are tingling, and mostly he just feels woozy. Everything is wet, warm and wet and sticky, and he doesn’t try lifting a hand to touch the gaping wound in his abdomen. Doesn’t know if he could move if he wanted to. Mary stares up at the inky sky and wonders vaguely if he’s seeing double or if there were always that many stars.

A crow caws twice in the distance, and everything is dark.

#cherry writes #mary goore #repugnant #tw death #tw violence #tw gore #tw blood

[enteringdullsville]

Out with the Old, in with the New!

Personal Favorite Redesigns From Rough Sketch to It’s Color Theory

I feel like OTTO and Percival are the characters who benefit the most from their redesigns. Percy can make a lot more smug faces when his eyes are open, and while OTTO’s new facial structure limits his own expressions a bit, his actual design makes up for it.

Okay, I lied. All OTTO needs for facial expressions are a pair of eyebrows and he’s set for his artificial life. On a related note, giving Chloe’s already cybernetic glasses the ability to make displays is one of my favorite ideas.

Fun fact: Lyman and Angie’s recurring friendship in both eras started off as a continuity error. Each character during RS debuted as they moved in, as opposed to ICT where they’ve all lived in Dullsville for years. Thing is, I had Angie refer to Lyman by name in his debut, so I decided to portray them as childhood friends instead.

Angie’s heavily stylized hair and unique eyes made her the hardest of the core six to draw early on. In related news, Rodney finally lost those overgrown cataracts he used to call pupils.

No, Ivan didn’t shrink. Bowie just got a LOT bigger in the new continuity.

Rosie used to be Violet’s sister instead of daughter. Violet being aged up by around eleven years necessitated a change in their dynamic…and completely changes the context of this shot.

Longtime followers will recall Peony was originally designed as Rudy’s twin sister. She gained smoother features upon redesign to distance them.

I’m only just realizing how gormless Coco used to look.

Not that big a change. I just really like Fuchsia’s new hair.

If you’re wondering why Yours Truly (yes, that’s his name) isn’t in the new version, his design changes constantly anyway. On the top row are the characters who were adults in RS, when most of the cast were teens. All the kids were aged up, but Sylvester, Orchid, and Sam are all roughly the same age as they were before.

Man, Syl and Elroy used to be tiny.

#dullsville #it’s color theory #color theory #ict #rough sketch #rs #character design #original character #artists on tumblr #redesign