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franki-lew-yo · 3 years

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I really hate 2d purists. No, not 2d animation. Not 2d animators.

2d purists.

The sad thing is it’s gotten to the point that I really cringe hearing any pro-2D sentiment at all. I hate the arguments I agree with because how often they're misused and weaponized by idiots.

Let me make my stance here clear - 2d is NOT appreciated and 3d is used for everything! The layman Karen-mom who doesn’t have an artistic bone in her body looks at stupidsmooth 3D Grubhub ads and assumes quality cause it “looks more real” (aka ‘rendered’). I know as much is true because I literally have a member of my family who told my sister and I that she thinks 3d is better (and also that she “tolerated THOSE movies for us kids”. Touching words. My sister was taking an animation course by the way). Combined that with the studios either using 2D for cheap stuff or finding good 2d animation too “costly”, I get it and I’m not even any animator. I'm just a worm an illustrator.

but holy HELL -

There’s a backlash from the artistic community that's it's own kind of insufferable and deserve to be addressed.

“(insert2Danimatedfilm) is better BECAUSE it's 2D!”

followed by: "Animation is a visual medium and the quality of the art affects how much the story means !!!!”

Yes. Totally. Animation is a visual medium and the look and style is important. Sadly, people use this excuse to really obnoxious ends, insisting that design being pretty is '' everything ''. When you treat a movie more as a special effects demo I get why you talk about the artistry at hand; but I’m sorry, visuals are not the only thing important and it’s why I’m also getting sick of the sameElsafacesyndrome rants too! There’s this attitude that's reads as "but it LOOKS better fromaproductionimage/teasertrailerwhichapparentlyisindicativeof all themovieactuallyis so it MUST BE better".

-“3D should only be used to make things look realistic!”

I think I know the logic this criticism is made in response to, and that’s the Sony + Illumination films which look just as good in 2D as they do in three dimensions. I know it feels like people are twisting this medium to try and make it like a classic cartoon when by all means people can and would love a classic cartoon being a classic cartoon. That I get- From the unsung 2D animator’s perspective, that’s more than valid !

But it’s a huuuuuuge slap in the face to 3d in saying it should only be used for "realistic animation" because

1: It’s not like realistic animation could age badly or look uncanny in the next few years. It's almost like technology is constantly improving, which I guess 2d animation never did and it was always the same technique and quality as every film that came after it.

2: The industry does treat 3d as a magic-moneymaker for this reason. Just listen to these people call the 2019 LION KING “live action” as if they’re embarrassed to call it animation. It IS animation! It would be impressive if you acknowledged that what it is, but like the CATS, you basically are treating it as just a neato tool to better your live action and not it's own artform - which it is!

3: By this “three-deeonly gud when real liek in da toystories” non-logic I guess 2d should ONLY be for flowyflowy SPACE JAM cartoons and maybe some Disney*. Just that though. You can’t do anything more with 2d. It’s never supposed to be realistic I guess. Good thing Richard Williams only did 'toons' and just toons that’s why we need 3d in the world I guess.

Wait no - that’s stupid.

"I HAVE to see the “Land Before Time 14″ when it comes out! I mean it’s a 2D animated film!"

Lost in the aether that is Youtube comment chains removed from kid's videos is a stream of this very VERY stupid argument supporting the buying of the 14th LAND BEFORE TIME film because it’s supporting 2D. My sister and I can be found on that chain arguing against this stupidity. All you have is my word, but trust me: it really did happen.

I’m sorry but...no.

Unless you have a friend or a family member who worked on these movies there’s no reason to see this and ESPECIALLY no reason to insist it’s a win for the 2D community if you buy up this crap - and I'm not judging if you do like it, but come on! LAND BEFORE TIME 14 isn't where your money should go if you really like this medium.

What’s so infuriating about this argument is you can tell it’s made by nonanimators. Real animators will tell you to support their movies cause they want some respect for their artform which is why there’s such a push from the PRINCESS AND THE FROGcrowd that you SEE and LOVE every 2d thing out there, regardless of how good it is because any recognition for it is k i n d o f what they're after!

Kiddy sequel schlock isn’t even in the same ballpark as KLAUS or WOLFWALKERS; these films DID have very limited theatrical runs (Klaus so it could be nominated; Wolfwalkers in places where theaters opened up after Covid) and should have been supported because they were labors of love made by people who love animation.

As other people have already pointed out, one of the reasons for the lack of interest in 2000sera2D animation is that the only films released alongside critical+financial 3D hits were cheaper 2D films that either coincided with daytime tv shows or should have been just direct-to-video. It’s not to say art couldn’t come out of these flicks, but dayum if it wasn’t abused as much as the texture software that era's CG used... Point being, should the world ever go back to normal: If you hear about an out-of-town showing an acclaimed 2D animated film, make time to trek out and see THAT!

Don’t give your money to see yet another made-for-tv movie on the big screen because all that tells the studio is: “yeah 2d IS cheap and only good for cheap stuff let’s just keep it cheap. Only 3d is important 8D 8D 8D !!!"

“I don’t understand how it works. So it sucks.”

This text is from an ANIMATOR btw.

“I don’t understand how it works” and “it’s just some computer rendering” is the exact same wave of logic the people who prefer cgi use.

The plebian Karen I mentioned earlier? She understands the basics of 2D animation as much as you did from one of those cruddy flash classes you took in middle-school. She 'understands' the basics cuz she watched how it was made on the DVD features or maybe back on the WONDERFUL WORLD OF DISNEY. To her, the illusion is broken and she’s not impressed by 'just some drawings on paper'. You, an animator, know the process is more complicated and is intrigued by knowing how it’s made - not bored or disinterested -

Neither you nor Aunt Karen have really good cg-animation software at your house and unless you ARE a 3D animator you probably DON’T know all the ins-and-outs of how these movies are modeled, rendered, and animated.

Aunt Karen is bedazzled by them cause she doesn’t know how it works and the technical aspect makes her brain hurt so it might as well be magic and she can feel like a cool kid sharing Minion-memes. Aunt Karen is the nonartistic type who just wants to feel safe. You're not. You want to feel challenged.

I get it: you’re pissed off cause you’re in a field no one, including Aunt Karen, appreciates; told to work in cg which it's an artform you didn’t devote your life to and told to learn it cause THIS style sells! 3D is everywhere and is starting to look like 'garbage' even if you don’t animate 3D models yourself you just KNOW, I guess. Besides, you know all there is to know about 2d!! You know all there is to possibly know about this artform and have to fight this 'war' against "r e a l" animation! And I mean even when 3d software is there to use, it's not like you can actually make anything worth while in it, especially not anything that transcends the medium. Right Worthikids?

TL;DR: This argument is basically just " BWAAAAH I’M NOT GONNA USE IT I HAVE STANDARDS (a chip on my shoulder cuz art should be what I deem it to be) "

“PRINCESS AND THE FROG is-”

There’s a reason I can’t say I truly like PRINCESS AND THE FROG even though it's not even a bad movie! Like, stop reading this and watch PATF if you haven't it's good. It's my 'FROZEN', in that; I see a lot of potential in it I just think it needs some serious rewriting and that bugs me. Always have felt that way, tbh.

I dislike this movie because the response from the animation community seems to be it was perfect and the Academy was just Pixar-crazy with UP ((ftr, the Academy IS Pixar’s bitch and I personally advocate a sequel be made to WAKING SLEEPING BEAUTY about Mike Eisner’s sabotage of the 2D department at Disney which is still in place now!- but that’s a story for another day)). I’m sorry but UP was just a better story. So was CORALINE. So was FANTASTIC MR. FOX. Honest to god it feels like poor PATF is brought up as just a talking point and never for it's own worth as a labor of love - which it was! I'd like to honestly know: had PRINCESS AND THE FROG come out now and been cg if it would have even half the defenders for it because now it doesn't "look" like how a Disney movie "should" look...

If you like PatF more than the currant Disney lineup because of it's culture, it's music, it's feminism, it's black representation? Awesome. Great. Those things should be appreciated and I never want that taken away from you. But if you seriously think PatF is better just for how it was animated and looks - I lowkey may hate you.

“ALL OF DISNEY’S LATEST MOVIES SHOULD HAVE BEEN 2D! THEY ALL LOOK AWFUL IN 3D!! ALL OF THEM!”

TANGLED, FROZEN, and MOANA? Yeah. Sure. But um, e x c u s e y o u- WRECK IT RALPH sooooo doesn’t work in 2d! It could have used different between the various worlds but it’s about hopping through different video games. I’m also of the opinion that ZOOTOPIA and BIG HERO 6 are fine the way they are. Their 3d is awesome.

The latest fairy tale Disney films are really big on their place alongside the 2D canon esp in marketing. They keep trying to mimic 2D to varying results though I don't think it works as well as the movie's I'd previously mentioned. Me personally, I would love a mix of 3D and 2D technology, like if the backgrounds in FROZEN still got to be 3D but the characters were handdrawn and shaded ala KLAUS ((sweet sigh)). But even then are they truly unwatchable just based on how they're animated to you?

MOANA would have been incredible in 2D but for the record - I don't think it feels out of place in it's style. It reminds me more of a Pixar movie with the heart of a Disney classic which is it's own just as good.

“2D is the oldest form of animation and it’s being replaced.”

Actually, if we’re talking animation in film, stop motion is the earliest form of animation. The stop motion animated THE ADVENTURES OF PRINCE ACHMED and TALE OF THE FOX predate Disney’s SNOW WHITE. And yes: stop-motion IS still a form of animation even if it’s a serious of pictures taken of real life things and not drawings, so don’t you dare come at me with the "but that's not animated"/"Technically it’s LIVE ACTION" crap or I’ll envoke the spirit of Sandman to get you at night.

“Every animated film would look better in 2D! Even PIXAR would look better in 2D!”

Again, Stop Motion.

No, I mean it.

Lemme ask: Would ISLE OF DOGS or FANTASTIC MR. FOX carry any of the same effect if they were generic 90s toons? I know NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS wouldn’t. Christ, don’t even get me started on Svankmajer!

Sometimes the problem is that a movie is envisioned with a specific artform in mind. Pixar started out with toys and bugs for a reason and that’s cuz they were always gonna be a 3d studio and they needed to first overcome the placisity of the models. Over the years they’ve gotten really good at effects and blending unrealistic proportions with real textures (and also not so much- ONWARD and THE GOOD DINOSAUR really needed some different character designs and yeah, I do think would have looked better with a 2d artstyle, but not the ones they had in their films. THE GOOD DINOSAUR needed more realistic-speculative looking dinos and ONWARD needed a grittier HEAVY METAL/BLACK CAULDRON appeal to its designs.) My point being that the problems with these movies aren’t even inherently the animation as much as it is a problem of style. As someone who runs a group speculating different styles and designs for movies and tv shows I’m all for envisioning a 2D ZOOTOPIA or Bluth-inspired FNAF. That’s amazing!

But that’s also the talk of fan artists and nerds and not the professional artists working on visualizing their stories!!

Since I ate, slept, and breathed NIGHTMARE in my youth I’ll use it as an example: All the concept art ever done for TNBC was on paper and 2D was used in the final film. However, even when Tim Burton was thinking of making it just a tv special it was always going to be stop-motion. NIGHTMARE’s puppet cast do work very well in two dimensions, believe me, but the film was made as a love letter to Rankin/Bass and the art form of stop-motion. Skipping to another Henry Selick-helmed project (haha), JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH was also always envisioned as a multimedia film to give it a truly dream-like atmosphere. If you know anything about Henry Selick you’ll know he’s 1) a perfectionist, and 2) loves mixed media and different types of animation and puppetry at once. That’s why he was the perfect pick to direct TNBC at the time, why JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH and CORALINE are so beautiful and why MOONGIRL, his only fully 3d film, doesn’t have the same appeal.

As for what films I couldn’t imagine NOT being 3D? Probably; 9, Padak, Next Gen, Soul, Finding Nemo, the Toy Story films, Wreck-it-Ralph (as previously mentioned), Wall.E, Waltz with Bashir, Robots, Inside Out, Arthur Christmas, The Painting, Happy Feet, Shrek, Enter the Spiderverse, Megamind… just naming a few here.

“I want a traditionally animated film [and by that I mean a 90s-Disney/Don Bluth looking movie] of ‘x'-popular live action/stage thing!”

Okay I’m cheating a bit but it’s my blog and so I’m gonna stick this one in because it’s related.

When I see musings about wanting live-action or CGI shiz to be in 2d again a lot of the time this argument actually boils down to " I want this to look like a 90s Didney movie ". Or, if it’s about animals - " I want it to look like a Don Bluth film! "

Like...there ARE other styles of animation out there...you know that right?

Frack, Disney themselves tried different styles throughout the 90s it’s just that the peak of the Disney renaissance films (LITTLE MERMAID, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, ALADDIN, THE LION KING) and the many imitators that followed tended to have the same look to them where only film/animation nerds kept watching into the era that was TARZAN, HERCULES, and ATLANTIS along with the kids. Aunt Karen wasn't singing Part of your World in the carride with you every day.

The Don Bluth argument is especially irritating because...what exact feeling do you WANT from a movie if it looked Bluthish? Each of the four ‘quintessential’ Bluth movies (NIMH, AMERICAN TAIL, LBT, and ALL DOGS) have such a different feel to them that’s complimented by that style; SECRET OF NIMH is a drama about wild animals trying to understand humans; LAND BEFORE TIME is even more squarely about an animal’s perspective as there’s literally no humans around; AMERICAN TAIL uses animals stowing away on the ship to tell a story about refugees; and ALL DOGS GO TO HEAVEN is ALL DOGS GO TO HEAVEN.

What the frack are you even asking for with that because I think there’s a certain flavor to the Bluth-styled oeuvre as well as the 90s Disney catalogue that would clash too much stylistically with some films.

Also come on! Like some Bluthian-style 2d would really fix THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS or SCOOB!, bite me.

I think this fixation solely on these two hand drawn styles and nothing else is based on nostalgia goggles, refusing to step outside the norm and discover different films and feelings than Disney and Bluth, and just preference. Goin back to NIGHTMARE there will always be a special place in my heart for Henry Selick’s stop motion, but I couldn’t imagine CHICKEN RUN or ANOMALISA in it's unique style.

Also I’m tired of every time there’s a "lets make an animatic to ‘x’ musical theater song" it’s reliably just Disneyesque or realistic. WHY envision an animated version of the show at all if it doesn’t have A STYLE to it??!?! I’m sorry but 90s-Disney does NOT fit CABARET!

“3D is so CHEAP now! Why can’t they just do 2D again?”

I think - on the cusp of the 2020s and the Grubhub hatedom, there ARE changing times ahead for 3d and 2d. The general public are starting to get tired of the same looking 3d films and wanting some 2d back, but they don’t have the best resources or opinions on animation to know what it is they want. Meanwhile, the animation community + industry is trying to figure out what to do and you have a lot of turmoil between the monopoly that is the industry, the high standards of the artists, and the mixed wants of the animation fanbase deciding what art needs to be.

It’s a tough business. And in the spirit of that tough business - maybe DON’T act like the means of a film’s production is solely your control, that you know best, and know definitively what the artists should have done....cuz you don't. Sorry my fellow criticalfanomanalysist-folks we DON'T and in an age of standom where fans and critics think it's okay to hackle indie animation studios about not getting their pitched cartoon out fast enough - we need to reserve these discussions to our circles and not treat them as gospel.

3d animation and 2d animation have to share this world. Stop acting like they’re either interchangeable in terms of budget, means of production, or artistry or that one has to be superior to the other.

The industry already says one art form is better (spoiler: it’s always live-action), we don’t need anymore of this purist garbage. Just stick to what you like while trying new things on the side. Be critical while also being compassionate. And remember:

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#animation #animation on tumblr #2d animation #3d animation #traditional animation #hand drawn animation #Franki's Features

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swisssadge · 3 years

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Illogicalities in Saint Seiya

Prepare for a longish post. n.n

But I guess I just need to get this out. Because some of these are just so god-awful frustrating.As much as I love Saint Seiya - some blaring logic mistakes just HURT. And it hurts because the original series could have been so much more if so incredibly much potential hadn’t been wasted. Not every bad writing or mistake is because it is a child of its time (80s anime and their damsels in distres *glances at Saori*).

So, as you’ll unsurprisingly notice, most points are from the original series. Because the spin-offs don’t suffer from the same amount of logic mistakes and do quite a lot things waaay better. And should I find even more things during a rewatch - prepare for part 2. n.n I hope to hear your opinion on what I wrote, and whether you agree or not.

- What is wrong with the people in Sanctuary? There are two instances I can remember right now: How totally racist they are in the classic saga, and how mean they were the Sisyphus in the gaiden, blaming him to only have received the Sagittarius Cloth because of his brother Ilias’s state as a hero. In the classic saga, I can kinda understand because Saga is at the helm. But in Lost Canvas, Sage is Pope. Why did any of the higher-ups allow such mean people enter the service and Sanctuary of Athena – goddess of wisdom and justice? WHY?! I mean, yeah, the soldiers and Saints are just humans, and humans make mistakes, but come on. They should be at least better than that. Else, I don’t think they deserve to even be in Sanctuary.

- So, the ages… Saint Seiya really got a problem with those. Firstly, 10-year old Shura doesn’t look like 10-year old Shura in that flashback of his fight against Aiolos. Next, I have checked Marin’s age; she’s supposed to be 16 at the beginnig of the series. And she trained Seiya for 6 years…? Dammit, she does look even close to 10 in that flashback when Seiya was brought to her! Besides, she never has the air of a 16-year old in the entire series. And who in their right mind would make a 10-year old teacher to anybody? Then, even though I don’t like it, I have to mention the Crystal Saint. So, Camus is 20 in the anime. Firstly, the Crystal Saint looks so old, that he probably had been older than Camus when he had been his student. Shame we don’t have confirmation of his age. Anyways, I guess Camus must have been thirteen to fifteen at least when teaching him. Geez… what the hell is it with young kids teaching even younger kids? No wonder Sanctuary was crumbling.

- Remember that episode in which the new gruesome training is shown, where people even die? It really questions the Gold Saints‘ intelligence, if they by then don’t wonder if something might be wrong in Sanctuary. And they don’t. It needs the real Athena and five Bronze Saints to open their eyes. -.- Who's high and mighty now, Shaka?

- I really can’t believe none of the Bronze Saints knew of the existence of the Gold Saints. After all, Hyoga (yes, I ignore anime-only Crystal Saint, who may be a chill guy but who only complicates matters and throws logic out the window) and Shiryu were trained by two of them. I can’t imagine their teachers not telling them. Plus, Seiya trained in Sanctuary itself. He’s bound to know, especially considering his friendship with Aiolia. And even worse, do you remember that one or two instances in the anime in which is hinted not even the Gold Saints themselves knew of each other’s existence? How fake Pope Saga acts all surprised and stating in an asking tone that Aiolia is a Gold Saint. And all while freaking Milo is kneeling in front of him in his Gold Cloth. And even Milo acts surprised after the rest of the Gold Cloths are revealed. HOW??? Yeah, thanks for nothing, anime. At least the manga and the new Episode Zero confirm that the twelve Gold Saints grew up together and that they all earned their Cloths prior to Aiolos‘ death.

- Seika and Marin. Seiya’s sister and mentor. There are some issues I have with how several people seemed to suspect Marin being really Seika. Firstly. When would Seika have had the time to become a fully-fledged Silver Saint? She wasn’t even training back in the Kido mansion. Plus, she was still at the Kido mansion the day Seiya was taken to Greece. Remember that scene where she runs after the car taking him away. Oh, not to forget that Seika apparently vanished ONE WHOLE YEAR after Seiya left for Greece. And Marin is already a Silver Saint by the time he arrives there. Seika would have needed to have been in two places at the same time. Also, if Seika was in Rodorio village the entire time: Shouldn’t Seiya have encountered her by chance in the course of several years? I can’t imagine she stayed inside all the time.

- Uhm, in the Asgard arc, Shiryu got buried by the same avalanche as Fenrir. So why did Fenrir die and Shiryu not? Shiryu even was beaten up by his fight with Fenrir, while Fenrir didn’t even have a scratch!

- Um… in Omega… why are there already children of five to seven years training WITH CLOTHS??? I don’t get it. I seriously don’t get it. Where did they get those Cloths from? I mean, I can understand Ryuho, having inherited it from his father Shiryu. But the others? That Lynx Saint friend of Ryuho’s? And weren’t there a little Yuna and a little Soma too – in their Cloths? WHERE THE HELL DID THEY GET THEM FROM??? I seriously cannot imagine any child already earning a Cloth! Seiya had to defeat ten opponents to get his (and was about thirteen at the time). Sisyphus had to land at least one blow against Lugonis wearing the Pisces Cloth, as was probably fifteen-ish to seventeen-ish at that time. So why are suddenly children running around in Cloths?! Isn’t it enough that it is already claimed that the Classic Gold Saints became Saints around the age of 7? Sheesh. I like the idea Teshirogi brought in Lost Canvas far more. Sisyphus was about fourteen or fifteen, maybe sixteen by the time he fought Lugonis for his Gold Cloth. And he was the first, meaning that Aspros and Hasgard were even a little older when they got their Cloths. I don’t get it… I simply don’t get it. Well, at least, in the flashback of his training with Aiolos, Aiolia didn’t seem to have earned the Leo Cloth, and he seems to be six to eight years old back then. Though, duh, it contradicts official statements.

- While writing a fanfic, a strange notion occured to me… Seiya and Cassios were both living with their masters, Marin and Shaina, right? And female Saints are required to never show their faces to any male, right? So… how the hell did they eat? I mean, didn’t they eat together? Because to eat, Marin and Shaina would have to put away their masks. Did they eat first or did they wait until their students had finished? But even so, the cabin’s are small… Seiya and Cassios would have had to look away the entire time their masters were having their meal. Gee… I don’t get it at all. What a shitty image that they shouldn’t eat together. I mean, they do have a bond as masters and students. And eating is part of the package, especially if said master and student live in the same cabin.

- So, in the manga all of the bronze boys are siblings, sons of Mitsumasa Kido. That would mean, Seika is his daughter too. And we know that Kido fathered all those children so that Athena would have Saints at her side. My question: Why did Seika never train? Her being a girl is no excuse to me, because, well, Shaina and Marin. Unless Mitsumasa couldn't bring himself to send girls too. Still… with one hundred children, there are bound to be girls too. And if only the boys were sent, then they used that number rather loosely. Because then there wouldn't have been 100 children attempting to earn Cloths, but perhaps like what, 90, 80, maybe even only 70 or 60? Unless he fathered waaaay more than 100 children and kept going until he had 100 boys. Which would be, frankly, disturbing.

- So, why did Aiolos have to fight any of the normal guards of Sanctuary in the first place? Gold Saints are said to move at the speed of light. And that speed should not be hindered by the barrier over Sanctuary, which only prevents teleportation. So, technically, shouldn't Aiolos have been even well out of Sanctuary before the other Gold Saints had even been alerted?

- So, how did Aphrodite and Shura in Episode Zero already know Aiolos was a traitor? None of the guards could have been able to reach Pisces or Capricorn before Aiolos. Deathmask I do understand – after all, Aiolos had to go through Aphrodite, Shura, and had to patch himself up in Sagittarius. But Aphrodite and Shura? It would make sense if Saga had sent a telepathic message, but: 1., wouldn't that have given his identity away? And 2.: We never see him doing it, only dispatch some guards. So to me, he never did it in the first place.

- We learn from several sources, the latest one being Episode Zero, that Saga was sent on a mission to keep an eye on Poseidon and his activities. That he kinda vanished while doing that. But then he turns up on Star Hill to kill Shion. I ask – how? How was he able to get into Sanctuary without anyone seeing or noticing him? ESPECIALLY if he needed to cross the Twelve Houses. Yes, according to Episode Zero, most of the Gold Saints were absent on their special training. But come on. At least Shura would have been suspicious. Plus, how the hell did nobody notice the explosion of Cosmos when he killed Shion? Unless it is canon that he killed Shion with a punch through the chest. If not, then I don't believe nobody noticed.

- How is it that after the Silver Saint arc, we see nobody train for any Cloth anymore? You should think that with so many Silvers gone, Athena would seek successors. I mean, the war against Hades was drawing close! How on earth did NOBODY think of stocking up their ranks? Not Athena, not the Gold Saints, not even freaking Dohko, who after Shion's passing should be the most experienced one of the bunch. Yes, yes, focus could have remained on the protagonists. But at least a little something? Like one of the Gold Saints traveling around, finding possible new recruits? Some of the Bronzes perhaps helping with training possible future Bronze Saints? Marin and Shaina spar with some Silver Saint trainees? Also, some unused constellations would have made for quite some interesting Cloths and abilities.

- That said – even after all the arcs, at least a couple of other Saints should be alive to fight against Hades and its forces. Right? So why are the only ones we see the ten Bronzes, the Gold Saints, Marin and Shaina? The only answer would implicate Shion has done a real bad job at maintaining Sanctuary, if after all the deaths in the Silver Saint arc, major part of its fighting force is gone.

- And… h-how the hell is Hyoga DRIVING A FREAKING CAR?! At his age?!

P.S.: I think the two most painful points for me are the one with Seika, how she absolutely cannot be Marin, but people still think she might be, and the one where the existence of the rest of the Gold Saints is revealed as this big secret, when it should be known by everyone. Those two blunders... they just hurt. They really do.

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astrozones · 4 years

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Sanders Behavioral Health, Chapter 1: Virgil Starts Freaking Out More Than Usual

Trigger warning: mental health stuff. Major mental health stuff. For the whole fic.

Group Therapy AU. Prinxiety and Logicality eventually.

Three hours.

Three goddamn hours of his life dedicated to therapy. Every. Single. Day.

Except weekends. At least he still had his weekends.

When his father had told him of the “amazing” news, Virgil was seriously rethinking going back to his old family.

Coming from an abusive home to a place where others cared about him was jarring, to say the least. Parts of it he adored. Not being punished for coming home a couple minutes late? He couldn’t say he wasn’t grateful. But since his time at his new family’s house, he had been diagnosed with anxiety, depression, and a hint of OCD. And when his parents put him in therapy for the first time, he found it dull, but a good escape from his bad thoughts.

But when his therapist suggested Sanders Behavioral Health, he was apprehensive. Even more so when she told him that three hours of his day would be dedicated to working on his anxiety. His social anxiety, mostly. Virgil had stared at her in disgust, why would he ever want to go there? Why would he want to go somewhere that would give him more anxiety, on purpose, rather than stay at home scrolling through YouTube?

He was even more disgusted when his adoptive father had happily agreed to look into it.

Yes, Virgil wanted to get better. God, he wanted to get better so bad, to be away from the thoughts that plagued his mind. That’s what he told himself, at least.

Maybe he didn’t want to get better. Maybe he wanted to stay in his room all day because that was what he was used to. He was content at this stage, and so what if he was destroying his future and the potential for happiness? He was here now and he was content, wasn’t that good enough?

He would never say that to his therapist. If he did, she would tell his dad, who would in turn tell his mom, and they’d worry about him more. If this was the life he had to live, then so be it.

So here he was, in the lobby room of the building he had dreaded coming to since they made the first call to get him into this institute. He hunched over in his hoodie, idly scrolling through his phone, trying to collect his thoughts. What if he made a mistake? What if it turned out he had been faking it this whole time and they got mad? What if he did something embarrassing? Oh, god, what if they hated him? What if-

The lobby door slammed open. Virgil jumped in his seat, his father gently putting a hand on his shoulder. In stepped a boy that looked just about the same age as himself. Oh, for the love of-

“I HAVE REETUUURNED~,” the boy sung, arms spread as wide as he could with a binder in his hands. “No need to fear, your Prince is here!” Virgil pursed his lips.

“Yeah, ‘prince’, my ass.” he mumbled, looking back down at his phone. The boy spluttered indignantly, to Virgil’s confusion. That wasn’t even a good insult, so why was the boy getting mad at him? Oh god, oh shit, I already made an enemy-

“Roman, please just sign in.” The front desk lady said with a small smile. The boy, or rather, Roman, blushed, with an “oh, right” as he did as he was told.

Roman slumped down in a seat, turning to the only other kid in the room.

“So, Mr. Professionalism, I know it’s only my second proper day here, but what’s with the tie? You wear it every day or somethin’?” Roman’s posture remained slouched and easy-going, the opposite to the other, who was indeed wearing a tie. Tie guy’s posture was pristine and collected, his face not revealing any emotion, except a slight glare.

“I do not. I wear a different tie every day. It is unsanitary to wear the same thing every day. And when I sleep, I change into the proper wear. I would also like to point out that it’s pronounced some thing . With a g. Proper pronunciation is important, lest you confuse someone who is not as knowledgeable with our language. And my name, is Logan. Thank you.” Logan, apparently, finished his monologue with hardly a change in expression. Both Virgil and Roman looked a bit disoriented.

“Allllrighty,” Roman started, ignoring Logan’s hiss of “it’s pronounced al right ”, “Welp, glad to see I’m not the only one who’s early! Don’t you think the weather is great today? So sunny!”

“I do not wish to engage in small talk.” Logan said, returning to his book. Roman blinked at this, his head darting back a bit. He quickly returned to his confident persona and turned to Virgil.

Oh no , was his only thought before he was forced into conversation.

“SOO, Emostein, what’s your opinion on the weather? Since Necktie over there refuses to be nice, that is.” Roman said with a flourish of his hand.

What was he supposed to say? That he never went outside enough to appreciate the weather? That he would rather not say anything? That this whole thing was pushing him to the verge of a panic attack?

So, instead, he murmured, “Emostein?”. Goddamn it, that was dumb-

“Why yes! Like Frankenstein, but judging by your apparel, I had assumed you were emo and listen to My Chemical Romance all day. Am I wrong in this?”

Virgil shoved his head in his hands, blushing from embarrassment. “Ugh, no, you’re not. You don’t need to point it out, though…” He grumbled. God, he hated social situations. Even if it distracted him from the anxiety surrounding this new therapy group.

Whether he had bad luck, or the fates hated him, he couldn’t decide as the door to the rest of the building opened in perfect irony.

“Virgil?” The woman called with a smile. He hugged his few items closer to him as he stood up, making his way through the entrance. He glanced back at the lobby, where yet another kid was entering.

Then, the door was closed.

The woman introduced herself as Rebecca, or Becca for short. She led him on a quick tour of the building before the others were scheduled to come in, something he was grateful for. The place was smaller than he expected. She led him through the cafeteria (a cafeteria? what?), the doors of a couple staff, the bathroom, the check-up room, and the individual rooms. The individual rooms, as she explained, were for when you needed to focus on an ‘exposure’ and couldn’t handle distractions from other people.

Virgil quickly decided he liked these rooms.

Becca let him choose a room, and had him write his name on the whiteboard in front of it. As he did, he heard the entrance door open and a loud voice groan out, “UGHH, but I don’t wanna go in yet!”. Uh oh, people alert! He quickly slipped into the room, Becca joining him soon after.

“While you’re in this program,” she started. “you will be doing exposures, which means you’ll be directly facing the anxiety. It’ll be tough, but the goal is, when you get out of the program, you’re more used to these situations, and when you encounter them, you don’t freak out as much.” At that, she smiled, as if she hadn’t just diminished his already depressed mood.

“Does that sound good?” Becca continued, tilting her head to the side. Virgil stared at her as if she just told him the Sun was purple (not that he would mind that… purple was a very nice color.).

“Not really,” came his reply. “sounds terrible.”

Becca’s smile became just a little more stressed.

“I get your point, but I disagree. See, here and now, you’re not okay. Do you agree?” she stated flatly, and at his small nod, continued, “It’s because you’ve been in this slump for too long. It’s ruining your mood, and unless you do something about it, it’ll just get worse. If you want to get better, you have to do something about it.”

Virgil sighed. Yes, he understood, but he had the right to dislike this.

Becca explained a few more things about the program before handing him a small stack of papers and leaving him to mull over in his silent suffering.

He doodled in between the questions he had just answered as he waited for Becca to come back. Just the classic questions, ‘What do you want to work on while here at Sanders?’, ‘How would you describe your average mood?’, ‘What is (or are) your diagnosis?’, etc.. He glanced at the clock. 5 minutes. He tapped his foot. Fiddled with his hoodie strings. Kicked at the wall. 10 minutes. Hm.

Sanders Behavioral Health had a rule against phones being in the building, for privacy reasons… but, taking a glance around, he couldn’t see any cameras. And he had snuck his phone in by slipping it into his boots when no one was looking. Then there was the fact that no one was in the room with him…

Whipping out his phone, he quickly found a position where his phone was hidden enough that the average passerby wouldn’t notice and opened it up. What to do, what to do…

He scrolled through Tumblr, and responded to a few messages on Discord. He was in the middle of typing one out when there was a knock on the door.

Jumping, Virgil quickly turned to the door while desperately trying to hide his phone. He couldn’t fit in past his shoe in time, could he hide it in his hoodie so the visitor wouldn’t see it? Think fast befo-

The door opened, a stranger walking in. The stranger smiled.

“Hello! I’m Nurse Vicki. You’re Virgil, right? I need you for just a moment so we can do checkups, if you’ll come with me!” Vicki grinned, holding the door open wider. Virgil slid the phone into his hoodie pocket. There was a chance of it being noticed, but it would have to do.

When brought into the nurse’s office, she sat him down and started asking questions.

Are you suicidal? Yes.

Are you going to school regularly? No.

Are you eating healthy? Probably not.

And on, and on, and on, until finally, she took him to track his weight and vitals, and escorted him back to his room. Still no Becca.

The second Nurse Vicki left, Virgil quickly took his phone out and situated it where it wasn’t easily visible in his boot. Yes, it did rub against his foot painfully, but that was just the price he’d have to pay. Without his phone, he felt even more anxious. He knew it was stupid, but what if he got a call? What if he got hurt? What if someone else got hurt? Virgil needed the phone, and if that included sacrificing his comfort, he would do it.

Now, what was he supposed to do? 20 minutes had passed. He studied the vandalism done in pencil on the wall, but that quickly got boring.

Tick, tock, tick, tock.

He drummed his fingers on the table.

Tick, tock, tick, tock.

He thought about what he was going to do tomorrow- wait, no, that gave him more anxiety.

Tick, tock, tick, tock.

Sighing, he leaned back and studied the ceiling. Maybe he could fall asleep here. Or maybe he’d just get in trouble for that.

After what seemed like ages, Becca returned. Gathering up the papers, she led him outside the room.

“We aren’t going to start anything today, but I’ll show you the timers and computers. Here’s the check in sheet for them,” she motioned to the top of the computer cart, a basket with multiple stopwatches in it next to the sheets. “and the top row of computers are assessment computers, while the bottom are normal computers. Today, you’ll be getting an assessment computer.”

Stepping aside, she let him check out a computer. As he was writing down his name, another person came in from a second hallway. The loud boy from before- Roman?- glanced in their direction before doing a double take. Cringing slightly, Virgil prepared for Roman to burst out with a loud “hello!”.

Only Roman did nothing of the sort. Once Becca greeted him, he motioned awkwardly to the timer in his hands before walking down the hallway and turning into a staff’s room.

O ...kay?

He may not have known Roman for long, but that seemed entirely uncharacteristic. Pursing his lips, he finished filling out the sheet as Becca and him walked back. Well, almost. Becca stopped in her office for a split second before returning with a binder and a dazzling smile. Virgil sunk into his jacket with a ‘dazzling’ scowl.

Back inside the room, Becca gave him the binder and led him through all that it entailed, before signing him into the assessment computer. And once more, Becca left him to fill out the assessments alone.

Which was fantastic.

Another round of repetitive questions he’d answered a thousand times before-

In the past 7 days how often have you not able to stop feeling sad? Often.

--felt alone? Always.

--feel everything in your life went wrong? Always.

--feel like you can’t do anything right? Often.

--it was hard for you to have fun? Always.

He supposed a lot of this came from his past family. And, geez, these were not nice memories to go through. But being pushed around and starved for days on end was bound to take a toll on you, and it sure as hell did in the case of Virgil. It was part of the reason he wore hoodies all the time, to hide the- the- oh god he was not ready to think about this right now.

Shaking his head, Virgil returned to the questions, feeling worse than he had. He felt a tear trying to surface and quickly closed his eyes. Not here , he thought. Not now, I can’t. They’ll make fun of me for it.

And yeah, maybe it was illogical to worry about being made fun of for crying in a literal therapy building, but maybe Virgil wasn’t thinking quite right at that point. Maybe he wasn’t thinking quite right often.

Or maybe he was just stupid.

The last time Becca returned to his individual room was to bring him out to the cafeteria for something called ‘recreational therapy’ which included doing “fun things” with the other patients.

Great.

After putting away his computer, he was instructed to leave his new binder in the cafeteria and to bring a pen or pencil with him.

He didn’t have either and had to ask someone else for it. Oh, god…

Dodging around the others in the cafeteria, he made his way back to Becca and quietly asked for a pen, and, to his disappointment, didn’t get one. He turned around to face the 3 other patients, forced to consider the options as to who might have a goddamn pen.

The others were all the people he had seen in the waiting room earlier. Only one of them he hadn’t really gotten to know, which was the boy in light blue. He was talking to the loud one, ugh, what was his name again… Roman! Yes, he was talking to Roman. Listening in on their conversation he found that they were talking about… dogs? Well, Light Blue was nearly screaming about dogs while Roman was looking a little bewildered at just how loud this boy was about dogs. Which only left Tie Guy, Logan, to ask. If he didn’t have one, Virgil would have to walk out and ask a staff, so asking the scary one it was.

Glancing towards his binder, Virgil saw that he had 3 pens next to it, black, red, and blue. Bingo!

“Hey uh,” he started once he reached Logan. “Um, can I… uh, sorry, can I borrow a pen? Please?”

Logan’s gaze jerked towards Virgil, then back to his pens. “No,” he stated bluntly. “I only have one black pen. As you can see. ”

“But… I could just… use the red or blue one? I don’t really care that much about colors…” Virgil, to say the least, was hella confused. What was this kid’s deal? First the whole tie thing, now Virgil wasn’t able to use one of his three pens? There was no need to be so rude.

“No, you can’t. Red is for spelling errors and blue is for grammar errors. Everyone knows that. You cannot just use a red or blue pen for normal writing!” Logan nearly growled out. Virgil took a few steps back, was it okay for him to be around this guy?! Was he safe?

He felt a tap on his shoulder and nearly jumped out of his skin. Whipping around, he was faced with Light Blue holding a pen. He let out a sigh of relief.

“Heyo! I’m Patton,” Light Blue said. “I couldn’t help but hear your conversation, so sorry for interrupting, but I have a free pen you could use instead! It’s no big deal to me!” Patton’s smile was nearly blinding as he held the pen out. Grabbing the pen, Virgil felt a little… unnerved. Maybe it was just the anxiety talking, but this guy seemed way too nice to be here. Maybe he was just about to leave the program?

“Uh, thanks.” Was the only thing he said in response before retreating to the corner of the room. He could see Becca hovering around the computer before telling them she would be back in a second.

Well ain’t that just fucking great .

“Ooh, scandalous~!” Roman yelled as Becca went to leave the room. “Leaving a bunch of teens unsupervised? Didn’t take ya for the type.” Virgil looked at him. If he remembered correctly, Roman had said this was his second day. So, why was he so… extroverted? He, along with Patton, didn’t really feel like they belonged in this group. Patton seemed too bright and happy, and Roman seemed too loud and confident.

“You is not pronounced ‘ya’.” Logan huffed. Roman turned to him looking a bit confused.

“It’s… not that different, though?”

“Every little thing matters, Roman. I’ve explained this to you before, so why do you continue to lack the capacity to understand it?” Roman spluttered at this, the insult obviously getting to him.

“I was just telling you my opinion, and you don’t need to… insult me over it! Believe it or not, I don’t like being called stupid!” Roman spat out.

Uh oh.

“I did not call you stupid. It seems as if you came to that conclusion yourself, yet I will not deny it.”

“ You implied it you-”

Before Roman could finish, Becca, in all her glory, opened the door and invited them to follow her. Well, maybe invited wasn’t the correct term, but Virgil was well on his way to a massive anxiety attack and couldn’t give a shit.

Once Becca had led them outside and had them all introduce themselves, she gave them a simple two-sided sheet of paper.

“Today, we’re going to be doing a people scavenger hunt! On the paper, there’s a bunch of questions, and it’s your job to find someone who fits the criteria! Once you do, they should sign your paper. Try not to use the same person for most of the questions! Sounds great, don’t you agree?”

“Yay.” Virgil muttered unenthusiastically, curling into his hoodie when both Roman and Patton turned to him.

“Miss Becca, there are four of us. Statistically speaking, it is unlikely for us to be able to fill out the entirety of this sheet, especially with questions like the 13th, which says ‘Someone who has red hair.’ As you can see, none of us have red hair. I must recommend that you reprint this paper with questions we can properly answer.” Logan attempted to smooth down his hair in the wind as he spoke, his paper resting on a clipboard, because of course Logan had prepared himself with a clipboard while the rest of them had to combat the wind attempting to blow their papers away.

“It’s okay, Logan,” Becca smiled sweetly. “You don’t need to answer all the questions before we go back in.”

“Yes I do, or the assignment is incomplete!”

Smile dropping, Becca motioned for the others to start as she turned to talk to Logan. And with that, Virgil was forced to communicate with the last two.

Already, Patton and Roman seemed to be chatting, which left Virgil to awkwardly stand by while they filled the paper out. Virgil could feel his breathing quickening, why did Logan have to be picky? He could be talking to him, which would be better than just standing here with nothing to do!

Roman turned to him once he had gotten the paper signed, smiling slightly at him before skimming his eyes through the paper. Wait, he took it back, he wasn’t ready to talk yet oh no-

“Do youuu….. Like mint ice cream?” Roman asked, looking up from his paper with a smile. Silently, Virgil nodded. After signing the paper Roman gave to him, Roman stayed, looking expectantly at him. What? Oh! He’s expecting a question quick choose one!!!

Looking at his own paper, Virgil chose the first question his eyes landed on.

“Do you, um. Do you speak another language?” He stuttered out. Roman brightened.

“¡Sí! Hablo español.” Roman was bouncing on his heels, grinning impossibly larger. At Virgil’s dubious stare, he seemed to deflate, a small blush growing on his cheeks. “Sorry, uh, yes, I speak Spanish.”

As Virgil handed him the paper, he had more time to stand awkwardly. Roman had hoisted his leg up and was now balancing precariously on one leg while writing against the other one. His tongue poked out from between his teeth as he tried to not fall over.

Roman had green eyes. While Virgil didn’t usually make eye contact, he couldn’t help but notice while this kid was right in front of him . Virgil had always adored green eyes in people, they may be more rare but they were so pretty and-

Roman glanced up at him, and Virgil quickly flushed. “Do you want me to fill out the green eyes question, too? I’m pretty sure I’m the only one of us who has green eyes, so… y’know… while I’m here, might as well, yea?”

All Roman saw was Virgil’s small nod, which Virgil was grateful for as his mind was screaming at the current moment.

Is this guy psychic what the hell how’d he know EXACTLY what I was thinking??? What???? No, Virge, calm down, he can’t be psychic- BUT WHAT IF HE IS????

Once Virgil got his paper back, he turned once more and was suddenly face-to-face with Patton’s smile.

“Heya kiddo! Have you been on a boat ride?” At Virgil’s shake of his head, he continued. “Hm, okay, have you been to a park in the past few months?

On and on the activity went. Surprisingly, Virgil quickly found himself actually enjoying the activity. Roman and Patton were easy to talk to, if slightly disorienting to the extreme introvert.

Unfortunately, the universe seemed to hate him, because after about 10 questions with the others, Logan stormed back into the building, leaving Becca alone. Becca sighed.

“Sorry guys, but I legally can’t leave him or you without a guardian, so if you could follow me please we will go back inside.”

Back inside, Becca took them to the cafeteria, where Logan already was, meticulously rearranging his binder. When Becca approached him, he hissed out, “I will NOT be doing an assignment where I am forced to fail.”

The three looked at each other, Patton seeming to be the only one who knew what was happening. He gave them a sad smile.

“Logan came here before me, but he told me he has extreme OCD. Basically, he gets anxiety when things don’t go the way his mind tells him they have to.” Patton whispered to them. “I think he has a sort of… fear of failing, so he gets the bad feelings when he can’t finish an assignment. Well, more bad feelings than the average person.”

That made sense, Virgil supposed. While he was told he had a bit of OCD, he wasn’t exactly briefed on all the ins and outs, only diagnosed with it. So he had no definitive answer as to what exactly it was, but from what he had heard, that seemed to fit with the behavior Logan was showing.

A couple minutes passed, Virgil tapping his foot aimlessly. He stared at the ground as Logan continued to bicker, and as Becca desperately tried to calm him down. Eventually, Roman spoke up and told Becca that it was check-out time, which apparently entailed them filling out a sheet of paper before they were able to leave.

Thankfully, Becca told Virgil that he didn’t have to fill a check-out sheet today, which left him awkwardly tapping his pen against the table. He noticed Roman doodling in a blank space on the paper, mouthing the lyrics to a song Virgil couldn’t decipher. Patton was watching the clock after he had finished, which left Logan to be the only one still filling out the sheet.

Once they were finally blessed with the absence of silence in the form of Becca loudly exclaiming that they could start sharing aloud and dear God would Virgil have to do that tomorrow? They were finally allowed to leave.

After signing out and riding the elevator down, with all the other patients and their parents in the cramped space, they finally exited the building.

“So, what’d you think?” His dad asked as they walked to the car. Virgil simply shrugged in response.

And maybe, Virgil enjoyed it a little bit, just a little bit. But he wasn’t going to admit it after he claimed so adamantly that he would hate it the days prior.

The ride home was spent with Virgil telling his online friends what had happened in therapy that day, a task that would quickly become routine in his days at Sanders.

And maybe, just maybe, he was feeling a little bit better at returning the next day.

Maybe.

26 notes · View notes

lurafita · 5 years

Text

Captain Hydra/Spiderman

This was inspired by @anime-lover1717

I tried to post this in answer to the ask, but it wouldn’t let me set tags like that.

Here is the link to the original ask: I loved this ask

I must admit, I had to read up on the universe with Captain Hydra Steve, as I have always been very partial to Peter Parker’s Spiderman and hardly looked at any comics that didn’t feature him, which is why I knew basically nothing about this particular story line. So, as I tried to familiarize myself with the matter at hand, I came to the following conclusion: ‘This is one convoluted mess.’ Now, this might have been better understandable had I actually read the comic issues, and not just a summary of them. But fact is, the comic canon circumstances under which Steve becomes an agent of Hydra, as well as everything around that, including characters and alliances, was too complicated for me to work with in a story.

Which is why I played around with some facts, ignored some story lines, made up some other things, and pretty much fucked up everything.

So the Hydra in Captain Hydra’s universe is still unarguably the bad guys, but they are not the torture happy sadist Nazi evil dudes and dudettes they are usually portrayed as.

Also, while many instances here hint at things that have happened in the MCU, and while everyone is completely free to envision Peter however they like, this here does not strictly follow the MCU canon.

The universe in which Captain Hydra finds Peter, is referred to as Earth 108. This is not hinting at any existing universe in the Marvel comics, or the Cinematic Universe. It’s simply a play on Peter’s birthday (August 10th), because I’m lazy and unimaginative.

I Don’t Have A Title For This!

Good and evil, Steve knew, were more often than not, a matter of perspective.

If a man killed another man, he was a murderer.

If a man saved another man’s life, he was a hero.

If the man from both those examples happened to be one and the same, was he good, or was he evil?

Individuals and societies as a whole, have different parameters for being good and bad and that may or may not be applicable for others.

There was a quote that goes something like this, we judge others by their actions, and ourselves by our intention.

Most people's perception of morality, was subject to culture and societal norms. What was completely legal in one country, could get you a prison sentence in another.

If someone's actions didn't align with anothers' beliefs, it was just far easier to call them 'evil', 'bad', and label them a 'villain', than to try to understand their reasoning, or admit fault in one’s own logic and morals.

Another factor was time. Humans and the societies they lived in evolved over time, and so did their view on morals and ethics. What was once seen as right and just, was subject to harsh judgement two centuries later. Something that right now is seen as morally correct, might be found cruel or disrespectful in the far future.

In the end, the whole debate was probably more deep and philosophical than Steve had the will or patience to deal with.

What truly mattered, was that Hydra's plans for the world, and therefore, humanity, were something he not only believed in, but supported wholeheartedly.

In his opinion, a large part of the struggles that humanity faced, was due to the moral ambiguity and different social standings, different ethics and belief systems, that the various cultures and societies produced.

Countries forcing their citizens to endure wars for economic or territorial gain. Religious diversity causing hatred between two or more groups. Racism and nationalism abound.

There was no structure, no unity, no order.

It was the classic tale of the tower to babel. According to the story, a united humanity in the generations following the Great Flood, speaking a single language and migrating westward, comes to the land of Shinar. There they agree to build a city and a tower tall enough to reach heaven. God, observing their city and tower, confounds their speech so that they can no longer understand each other, and scatters them around the world.

Whether one was religious or not, the story taught a valuable lesson. Together, united, striving toward the same goals, adhering to the same rules, following the same leader, mankind could achieve great things.

And that was all that Hydra wanted. To unite humanity under their banner.

Countries couldn't wage wars upon each other, if Hydra held all of the worlds weapons.

The chasm between the rich and the poor could be reduced, if Hydra had control over the world market.

People who developed powers and abilities that separated them from normal humans could be trained, studied, helped.

Was it cruel to have taken young Wanda and Pietro from their parents those many years ago? Perhaps.

But the children had had poor control over their powers, and their parents had refused to take the help that Hydra had offered them. Now it was 20 years later, and Wanda and Pietro had not only fully mastered their powers, but they had also made many good friends and parental figures within the organization. The training was sometimes hard, yes. But it was never designed to torture. The scientists that studied people like Steve and the twins (and others like them), weren't sadists.

Mutants and mutates weren't subjected to body modifications (unless they themselves requested such, or they were a medical requirement.)

His best friend Bucky had survived the cruelties of war thanks to Hydra's experiments with the super serum. He had the use of both of his arms, thanks to the Hydra scientists who had built him a new one. Wanda could sleep without accidentally slipping into the mind of another, because the many tests she had had to undergo, had helped her understand and control her powers. Studying the way Pietro's body withstood the centrifugal forces when he sped up, brought the potential of many advancements in both the technological, as well as the medical fields. The rate at which Steve's body healed from injury, would one day pave the way for Hydra to cure illnesses such as diabetes, cancer, and possibly even AIDS.

And those were just some of the examples in which Hydra would change the world for the better.

However, change like this came with a price.

Howard Stark, who had refused to manufacture weapons for Hydra, had been one of those. His wife, unfortunately, collateral damage. As had been Wanda and Pietro's parents.

The so called 'heroes' that stood in Hydra’s way, needed either to be brought over to their side, or eliminated. Governments that couldn't be infiltrated, needed to be felled.

You had to break some eggs to make an omelet.

It wouldn't matter in the long run, because the end would justify the means.

While Hydra wasn't scared to use force to do what was necessary (and they already had, on multiple occasions), it would still be preferable to win the masses over. Make them realize that Hydra was not as villainous or evil as most viewed them. After all, if they only won through the subjugation of the whole world, they stood the risk of revolution.

Which was the reason that Steve had been sent out through the portal their scientists had created, with the help of alien tech, to search for allies for their cause in other dimensions.

He had already been successful a few times. One dimension had yielded a version of Anthony Edward Stark, that was just as brilliant, but far less morally uptight, as the one in Steve’s own universe. Another had reunited him with a different Natasha Romanoff. The redhead in his own world had, sadly, sided against him, and was raising a movement against their organization. Yet another trip through the portal had secured the services of one Wade Wilson, or as he liked to be called, Deadpool. An ex-US Military soldier turned immortal mercenary, who had become disillusioned to his states moral high grounds. He was an insane pain in the ass, but damn useful.

Still, non of the new recruits filled the criteria he was looking for. So the search continued. Until he stepped foot into the latest universe, coined by the researchers, Earth 108.

The first thing that surprised him about this universe, was their very own Hydra group. Steve had looked into them right away, hoping to have found possibilities for cooperation between their universes. But it became quickly apparent to him that, while on the surface this Hydra's goals and ideals might seem similar to Steve's worlds Hydra, there were some glaring differences in execution that couldn't be overlooked or tolerated.

Turning his attention away from the poor imitation of Steve's Hydra, he looked instead into 108′s heroes. What he found both disappointed and amazed him .

The disappointment rang loudest when he found this worlds James Barnes. Teamed up with Sam Wilson, formerly known as the Falcon, but having taken on the mantle of Captain America in this world, Bucky was- no. He refused to call this man Bucky. This version of James was a shadow of the man he called his best friend.

Sam Wilson was another disappointment, though not as much of a surprise. His world's Sam was an enemy to Hydra, too convinced in his own views of the world and too stubborn to accept any different.

Earth 108 had no natural mutants, only mutates. As it turned out, the Maximoff twins not only existed in this world, but also had roughly the same powers. Only the origin of those powers was different.

The Pietro of this world had died, and his sister was hardly seen by civilians, obviously she held no interest in using her gift to the betterment of the people.

There had apparently been a Steve Rogers, who had once worn the colors of Captain America and fought for his country. But the man had vanished, chosen the peaceful life of a civilian, over standing by his friends, and protecting those that needed him.

The Tony Stark and Natasha Romanoff of this world had also perished, in some big battle that had been fought against an almost almighty being. Steve didn't feel too bad about it, though. After all, he already had secured the loyalty of their undoubtedly superior versions.

While other people with powers existed, not much was known about them, apart from a few appearances. Which told Steve that they hadn't really done anything worth of acknowledgment.

And then he found Spiderman.

Spiderman was a guy who dressed up in blue and red spandex (slight stature, narrow frame, lithe, but finely muscled), and swung around the city of New York on white strings (“Synthetic spider webs.” Tony had told him, an excited, almost manic gleam in his eyes. “Those are biodegradable, synthetic spider webs, that would have decomposed before I could get them under a microscope, had you brought them to me only an hour later. The tensile strength of these things is through the roof! I have tried reverse engineering it, but there is something about it's components that apparently changes when mixed together, which makes recreating it without knowing the original ingredients pretty much impossible. I want that formula, Cap. And the guy who came up with it. What are you still doing standing around here like the worlds most boring historic statue? Get back to 108 and find out more about that spider guy!”)

So that was exactly what Steve did, and he spent days observing the vigilante hero and learning as much about the young man (the tenor of his voice and the way he talked led Steve to believe the guy was somewhere in his early twenties) as he could.

And that's where the amazement came in.

Now this, this was a hero.

Spiderman didn't choose who deserved his help and who didn't. He climbed up a tree to bring down a stuck cat for a little girl, with the same aura of purpose, as when he jumped recklessly into a burning building to get out the inhabitants the firefighters couldn't reach. He spent hours almost every night, jumping from roof to roof, traveling along the cities many streets and alleys via his webs, to look out for citizens in trouble.

The type of criminal he would take on likewise didn't matter.

Be it a mugger with a knife, a rapist who had drugged his unsuspecting victim, a group of bank robbers with automatic guns, or a mutated villain with delusions of grandeur, or just a simple thirst for revenge, Spiderman fought them all.

And that was perhaps the most fascinating thing about the man. Steve had only been shadowing the vigilante for little more than a week by this point (which was surprisingly hard, the man seemed to sense whenever Steve got too close, and had almost spotted his 'stalker' a few times), but he had witnessed enough to know that Spiderman had enhanced strength, speed, and reflexes.

It should have been easy for him to lay out his opponents. Child's play, really, to kill most of them.

But he didn't. Spiderman pulled every punch, held himself back on every kick. Let himself take damage when there was risk to the civilians around.

Many people didn’t see a distinction between ‘fighting a criminal’ and ‘saving a person’. It was one and the same, wasn’t it? If you fought a mugger, you saved the person they were trying to rob. If you fight a rapist, you save the person they were trying to rape.

But it wasn’t as easy as that.

In Steve’s experience, most ‘heroes’ were created out of a need for revenge. They went out and fought ‘the good fight’, in order to rid the world of those who tried to hurt others. They went out in order to stop crime, and to fight the villain, and to punish the unjust. Saving someone in the process, was a byproduct.

But for Spiderman, the opposite was true.

Spiderman wasn’t out to punish, or to hurt or kill the villains of this world. Spiderman didn’t take on the role of judge, jury and executioner.

Spiderman simply wanted to help others. If helping someone meant holding up a collapsing building, that’s what he did. If helping someone meant fighting a bunch of thugs, that’s what he did. If helping someone meant explaining to them how they could get to a certain part in the city, then that’s what he did.

Steve caught an interview that one of the news reporters did with the vigilante, just after Spiderman (or Spidey, as most of this city seemed to like calling him affectionately), had resolved a hostage situation.

“This is New York News, live on the scene with Spiderman, where the city’s beloved hero has just prevented what could have ended in many causalities. Spidey, what most of our viewers have been dying to know since you first appeared, what made you choose to throw on that skin tight suit and fight crime in the first place?”

It was interesting to note that Spiderman seemed both awkward and shy in front of the camera, but somehow also reveled in the attention.

“Uhm, actually, I think, that is... It’s not so much that I specifically chose to fight crime. Someone who meant a lot to me once told me that ‘With great power, comes great responsibility’. I have these powers, and I’m honestly not sure that I did anything to deserve them at the time, but it is my responsibility to use them for good. Well, at least that’s what I believe.”

That was when Steve knew that Spiderman was exactly what Hydra needed. He could be their poster boy, their front man, the image of ‘goodness’, that the organization lacked. Spiderman could win the support of the civilians, could soften them into accepting Hydra’s rule, while Steve and the others continued their work in the shadows.

There was only one problem.

Spiderman’s obviously stellar moral compass.

He brought the matter up with his team and superiors.

“Would you be able to make him more open to our way of doing things, Wanda?”

“Not without running the risk of completely changing his character. From everything Steve has told us about this man, these things are too deeply ingrained in his being to simply change them.”

“.. There might be a way...”

“Could you elaborate on that, Doctor Schmidt?”

“Well, there are several drugs used in the present to help victims that have been through traumatic events, by replacing the problematic memories with other, harmless, or even happy ones. They are used mostly in the treatment of PTSD in soldiers, or especially traumatized children, who have experienced high levels of abuse. My research team has been working on tweaking the effects of the drug for some time, and we are at a point where I’m positive that we could use it to manipulate a person’s perception of events. If, for example, we use the drug to plant the ‘fact’ that Hydra would never break the law, and he witnessed exactly that, his mind would erase the memory of it as it happened. He would simply be unable to retain the kind of information that would contradict what the drug had planted.”

“Why am I only hearing of this drug now? Wouldn’t that solve the problems we are having with bringing the people around to our way?”

“It’s sadly not applicable for mass distribution. The drug needs to be specifically attuned to the chemical and biological make-up of the person on who it is used. And it must be regularly administered to keep up its effect. So while it may work on one individual, it’s just not possible to manufacture it for hundreds of thousands of people.”

“Very well. What would you need to ‘attune’ the drug to Spiderman?”

“Any kind of organic sample will do. Blood, skin tissue, some hairs... Just anything that carries his DNA.”

“That should be easy enough to accomplish for you, Captain. And while you are at it, try to find out who is beneath the mask.”

“Yes Sir.”

It turned out to be easier than he thought it would be. Spiderman had fought a man with four mechanical arms who called himself Doc Ock. (Well, Spidey had called him Doc Ock, which hadn’t seemed to be sitting all that well with the man.)

While Spiderman had won, he had been wounded. The vigilante had managed to swing himself away from the place that was rapidly filling with onlookers, authorities, and emergency personnel alike, and had come to a painful stop in a dark alley a few miles away. It had taken Steve a few minutes to catch up with him, but once he did, he quickly crouched down in front of the crumpled form of the red and blue clad man, who was leaning weakly against the dirty wall, pressing a hand to his bleeding side, and breathing harshly through his teeth.

He flinched violently when Steve laid a steadying hand on his shoulder.

“Easy there, I’m not going to hurt you.”

“Cap... Captain... Rogers..? Sir..? I thought you... you were...”

Speaking was evidently hard, so Steve held up a calming hand.

“It’s a long story. Let’s get you some help first.”

He was about to reach over to scoop the slighter man into his arms, but was stopped by a hand on his chest and a rapidly shaking head.

“Can’t... can’t go to.... a hospi.. hospital... It’s okay... ‘ve got a... got a... healing factor... I’ll be fine... Just need a... a few.. “

Accelerated healing. Spiderman really was the perfect hero.

Steve nodded in order to appease the man.

“Okay. Are you sure your wound isn’t too much for your healing factor?”

Spiderman nodded.

“... Just need... to not bleed out... before it can... finish repairing the... damage..”

“Good. Let me help you with that.” He pressed his hand over the slimmer, smaller one that was covering the wound. It tore a pained, but thankfully short, groan from the hero’s lips.

“My instructor in the army used to say that we should be damn grateful if we feel pain, because that means we are still alive. Just keep breathing. You are doing good. Maybe we should take off that mask-”

He reached for it, but his hand was intercepted by a still surprisingly strong grip. He looked right into the masks eyes and spoke in a reassuring tone.

“Don’t worry, we are deep enough in this alley that no one will see. The mask might make it harder for you to breath under these circumstances, and I can’t imagine it feels very comfortable right now. No one will know besides me. Trust me.”

Steve was banking on the fact that his other version had been a well respected and trusted icon to the people of this world. Thankfully, it worked, and his hand was released from the now slightly shaking grip.

Steve had not been prepared for the sight that greeted him once he removed the mask, and he couldn’t help but stare for a few seconds.

Beautiful.

Spiderman was beautiful.

Chestnut curls, almond eyes, pale skin (though that could be due to the blood loss), soft features.

Gorgeous. Just utterly gorgeous.

“Uhm, uh,.. hey. I mean, hi. I... I didn’t really get the... chance to introduce myself,.. last time we met,... so uhm,... hi. I... I’m Peter. P-Peter Parker. I’m... I’m a big.. fan.”

He was blushing through his ramble.

Adorable.

It was too dark, and Peter was too exhausted, to discern the wide smirk on the Captain’s face.

“Hello, Peter Parker.”

It was so easy, after that first meeting.

Steve had stayed crouched before Peter and applied pressure to the sizable wound for a good twenty minutes, before the younger man had judged it safe to use his webs to spray the wound close. He was weak from the blood loss, so Steve had told him to stay right there, while he himself would go and retrieve the backpack with Peter’s civilian clothes for him to change into.

Still shaky and slightly trembling, Peter had gratefully accepted Steve’s arm around his slim waist, and had let the super soldier support him the whole way to his apartment. There Steve had carefully deposited him on his beat up couch, pressed a bottle of water into his hand, and fixed him a quick meal with the ingredients found in the fridge. (Which were pitiful at best. The state of the whole apartment actually left a lot to be desired in Steve’s eyes.)

He had stayed and watched as the younger man ate, refusing all offers of Peter to share the meager portion, and kept lifting up the shirt to check if the temporary bandage had been bled through. (And to covertly stroke over the skin surrounding the wound. And oh, it was just as soft as it looked.)

When the webbing dissolved about an hour later, Steve insisted on cleaning and bandaging the wound himself, which had Peter blushing and stuttering, in-between thanking Steve for his help.

He didn’t notice when the Captain held a small vial to the sluggishly bleeding wound, stealing a few precious drops.

Steve could tell that Peter had questions. Questions that he thought he would be directing at the Captain Rogers from Earth 108. But right then wasn’t the right time to explain things to the vigilante. So Steve again simply scooped the slighter man into a bridal carry (it had Peter blushing so delightfully), and took him into his bedroom. (The overhead light wasn’t working, the mattress was probably as old as Peter himself, and the blanket was thin and had quite a few holes in it. The rickety bed frame squeaked when Steve laid his light burden down on it, and he had a hard time masking his disdain at the blatantly poor accommodations the younger man lived in.)

“How good is your healing? Will you really be okay without seeing a proper doctor?”

The thought had crossed his mind to just whisk the younger man away, into his own dimension, to let him be checked over by Hydra’s doctors. But such a move might be counterproductive. Dr. Schmidt had told him that it would take a few days to code the drug to Spiderman’s genetic structure. Steve didn’t know how well acquainted Peter had been with his own Captain Rogers (though possibly not very well, remembering how Peter had said that he hadn’t had a chance to introduce himself to the older man before), and he hadn’t established himself as a trustworthy figure to the vigilante yet. So there was no telling how Peter would react to not only being in a different universe, but also enjoying the hospitality of a group that was considered the enemy in his world (and in Steve’s world as well, if one wanted to be technical about it).

They had the means to keep Spiderman at the base should things go awry, but if the younger man went into this already carrying a negative impression on either Steve or his group, the drug might not work as intended.

So unless Peter was in immediate danger from his injury, Steve would use the time he had while the scientists manufactured the drug, to earn the vigilante’s trust and affection.

Thankfully, Peter nodded.

“It’s fine. It’s not healed yet, and I will probably have to take it easy for about 2 to 3 days, but it’s gonna be okay. As far as I have narrowed it down, as long as I prevent dying, my healing will patch me back up. Sleeping will help, as will a good meal, though I’m gonna have to go shopping for groceries, I think...”

Since Steve had similar experiences with his own accelerated healing, he knew that it would take more than one good meal to satisfy the high metabolism and boost his body’s healing ability. And judging by everything he had seen so far, the super solider doubted that Peter had the funds for this.

Fortunately, this presented a great opportunity.

“Then how about this,” He smiled charmingly as he gently tucked the holey blanket under the narrow shoulders. “I’ll come by tomorrow morning with some nice breakfast, Then, depending on how well you feel, we will go for a little walk to catch some sun and fresh air. And after that, we will eat in that cozy little diner I found the other day. My treat.”

“No, Captain Rogers, Sir, I couldn’t possibly-”

A simple finger pressed to soft, plush lips, stopped the protest right away.

“Peter, I insist. And really, it’s more for myself than for you. I wouldn’t feel good if I don’t get to check on your wound, and make sure that you eat well. Also, please call me Steve. Captain and Sir seems far too formal.” (Though it might be fun being called that under different circumstances...)

As Peter tried protesting anew (stubborn little spider), Steve added

“Also, there is something I need to discuss with you. A favor, really. So, just take this as my thanks for your help.”

Peter frowned. “What if I’m not the right guy for the job?”

“You are.”

The next four days were a dream. Steve had gotten the blood sample back to his world, and Doctor Schmidt and his team had started on it right away. As promised, he had been bright and early at Peter’s pitiful apartment the next morning, with an assortment of breakfast food (courtesy of Tony’s wallet, who had managed to amount quite a bit of a fortune for Hydra in his free time, using only a computer).

The spider-powered hero took surprisingly well to being told about different dimensions and universes. (Steve had had to cut off the excited science-techno-babble though, as it frankly went right over his head.) “Well, it explains how you are here. No one has really seen Captain Rogers after the last great battle, and according to Sergeant Barnes, he is happily retired.”

Even when Steve told him about the Hydra in his world being the good guys, that they were their version of Peter’s world’s Shield, the younger man accepted his words as the truth without much complaint. Though a bit of the easy compliance was probably due to Steve mentioning how fascinated Stark had been by his webs.

“Stark? T-Tony Stark? You have a Tony Stark in your world? He... he is alive in your world?”

Well, the Tony Stark that was originally from Steve’s world was dead, but there was no reason to tell Peter that.

“Right, I heard about Iron Man’s death here. I’m sorry, Peter. Were you close?”

This could work in their favor.

“N-not exactly close... I wouldn’t say. Just. He figured out who I was, back when I started going out as Spiderman. I was still new to the whole hero/vigilante thing, and I ... I made some mistakes. He offered to take me under his wing, show me the ropes. He even made me a new and better suit!”

Steve frowned.

“He gave you that spandex suit?” That thing couldn’t even protect Peter from a harsh wind!

Peter’s expression fell right away.

“Uh, no. The suit he made me was... it was super awesome. Intelligent nano-tech with its own A.I. I named her Karen. But... after Mr Stark died... “

The Captain had laid a consoling hand on his shoulder.

“I understand, Peter. Listen, if you don’t think you can face Tony-”

“No, no. I want to help you, even though I’m still not sure why you think I’m a good candidate for that. And it might be, good? to see him again... I mean I know he isn’t the Tony Stark I knew, but... I will help you.”

“After you have fully healed. I will take you with me and introduce you to everyone, and when we are there I will be better able to fully explain everything to you. And Peter? Thank you.”

Steve made use of the time spent together to learn what he could about the young hero. Peter was 23 years old and working freelance for a big newspaper. When Steve inquired about college, the younger man awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, and confessed to not having pursued a higher education, due to not being able to afford it. “I mean, I was offered a few scholarships from different universities, but those only paid for tuition. I still needed to come up with the money for living expanses and some of the text books I would need on my own. And going to college, plus getting a job, plus being Spiderman... I would have liked studying, but I don’t regret choosing Spiderman over it.”

Steve learned that Peter was a genuinely nice and warm person, with a good head on his shoulders, and a huge soft spot for animals (dogs especially).

“It’s probably a good thing that my apartment complex doesn’t allow pets. I can barely scrape the money together to feed myself.”

Peter was a bit of a nerdy geek with a dorky sense of humor, and once he started rambling about something he felt passionate about, it could be quite some time before you got him to stop.

It was endearing.

When Peter had insisted on taking Steve sightseeing (and asking a seemingly endless series of questions about all the differences between the two versions of New York), and Steve had casually mentioned that he liked to sketch and draw in his free time upon seeing an artist in Central Park, Peter had looked at him with wide eyes and pure admiration.

“Can I see your paintings? I have no talent for art, but the way people can take a pencil or a piece of charcoal or whatever and just create amazing images, has always fascinated me. Though I don’t really get some of the styles that are just random lines and splotches everywhere, but sometimes you look at a drawing and it makes you feel things, you know? And I just really love looking at art sometimes, or watching someone draw. I can’t tell you how many hours I have spent binging Bob Ross. But you don’t have to! I totally get if you would rather keep it private.”

Just when Steve thought he couldn’t possibly fall for Peter any more than he already had.

When Dr. Schmidt informed him that the drug had been completed at the same day that Peter reported his injury fully healed, Steve couldn’t help the feeling that this must be fate.

Clearly, Peter had always meant to be in his world, with his team, by his side.

He convinced the younger man to leave his suit at home.

“It wouldn’t do for your fans to recognize you and follow us. They might think your Captain America has returned to throw Spiderman into a wormhole or something. And besides, Tony has been quite adamant about giving you a better suit. He doesn’t want to undermine your grief, but he said that if your Tony was anything like him, he would be positively devastated that his protege was running around in spandex.”

Peter, perfect thing that he was, agreed.

When the inter-dimensional portal closed behind them, the two were greeted by Steve’s team and Doctor Schmidt, who was holding a syringe. It was time for the final act.

Peter hadn’t noticed the doctor, nor did he really pay attention to the other persons in the room. His eyes were fixed on one Tony Stark. Said man grinned widely and stepped closer.

“Spiderman! Or do you prefer Peter when you are not suited up? It’s good to finally meet you.”

Needless to say, he was quite taken aback when in the next second, the younger man flung himself against the genius in a hug.

Peter’s voice was muffled from where his face was pressed into Tony’s chest.

“Sorry. I’m sorry. I know you are not him. And you are probably also not the hugging type. Mr Stark wasn’t, either. Just, just a moment... please.”

Tony wasn’t a man easily led by emotion or empathy, but this once, he made an exception. After all, Peter would become family soon. So the older and just slightly taller man returned the hug, and softly patted Peter on the back.

“It’s alright, kid. I get it.”

The brunette got a hold of himself shortly after, and apologized profusely, but Tony waved him off.

“Seriously kid, it’s okay.”

Somehow, the others managed to interject and introduce themselves to Peter. Wade naturally flirted with the brunette right of the bat, and while Peter blushed hard at the mercenary’s many pick-up lines (Steve did not appreciate the scene all that much), he also had a way of talking to the man that seemed to work very well with the hyperactive insanity that made up Deadpool.

“Peter?”

Peter quickly turned to face the Captain. Which was when he finally noticed the older man in the lab coat, who was carrying a capped syringe in his hand.

“Peter, this is Doctor Schmidt, Hydra’s head of the medical department.”

Peter nodded in acknowledgement, but the sight of the syringe had him a little on edge, and he didn’t step any closer. Steve seemed to notice the source of his hesitance.

“Don’t worry, Pete, I promise it’s nothing sinister. I forgot to tell you beforehand, that’s on me. The thing with traveling to different universes, is that you are basically a foreign matter. It’s, uhm-”

Steve looked to the doctor next to him, hoping he would take over the explanation. They had gone over the story they would feed Peter to accept the drug two times, but Steve simply wasn’t a man of science and didn’t feel confident to deliver the words with the needed certainty for the younger man to believe him. Thankfully Schmidt took the hint.

“Are you familiar with the practice of organ transplantation, Mister Parker?”

“Yes. I mean, I’m no professional, but I know the theory and procedure behind it. Peter is fine, by the way, Doctor.”

Schmidt smiled kindly.

“Then you are familiar with the problems of transplant rejection, during which the body has an immune response to the transplanted organ, possibly leading to transplant failure. Which is something that modern medicine has found a way to prevent, through the use of immune-suppressant drugs.”

Peter’s eyes widened in understanding. (Steve loved how expressive Peter’s face was. How he could always tell when the younger man was working out a puzzle in his mind, and the exact moment when he solved it and his eyes would light up.)

“So another universe is like a different organism, and people traveling from one universe to another, are like donor organs, that get implanted into this new organism.”

“Right. What I’m holding in my hand, if we follow up on this analogy, is an ‘immune-suppressant’, that will prevent our ‘organism’ to reject you. The Captain has likewise taken this medicine every time he visited another universe, so I can assure you, it is completely harmless.”

Peter visibly relaxed.

“Yeah, no, I get it. I hadn’t even thought there might be something like this to consider with inter-dimensional travel, but it makes a lot of sense. Wouldn’t want to unbalance your universe with my presence here, or start glitching out of existence or something like that. Do you mind if I sit down for this? Not that I’m scared of needles or anything, but... yeah.”

God, he was cute. Steve couldn’t help the little chuckle that slipped out. (And he wasn’t alone. Bucky and Natasha were smirking, Pietro and Wade tipped their heads in sympathy to Peter, and Wanda and Tony were laughing lightly.)

“That will be no problem, Peter.”

The young hero didn’t worry when his spidey-sense tingled slightly as the needle came closer to his skin. His fear of needles was likely just feeding into the instinct.

It took only about two minutes for the drug to take affect. Peter’s pupils were blown huge, and he was swaying slightly in the chair as if drunk.

“We have estimated that it is safe to implant up to three new facts in the subjects mind. Say his name each time before you state a fact. List the facts clearly, so that his mind will have an easier time to categorize and save them away. Have him repeat the key fact after each time. Positive affirmation may help to anchor the new facts in his subconscious. It’s important that you keep eye contact with him during the whole thing.”

Steve nodded and crouched down in front of the drugged man, so that their eyes were at the same height. He carefully framed Peter’s face between both his large hands, and guided him gently to look directly at him.

“Peter.”

He saw how the almond eyes focused immediately.

“Fact 1: Hydra are the good guys. Hydra would never do anything bad. Say it.”

His voice came out slightly robotic, but grew in conviction with every word.

“Fact 1: Hydra are the good guys. Hydra would never do anything bad.”

Steve smiled and stroked his thumbs over Peter’s cheek bones.

“Good boy.”

Even though he was still a bit loopy due to the drug, the praise seemed to make him more attentive. What a perfect, perfect little spider.

“Peter. Fact 2: Hydra is your family. Everyone in this room especially, is your friend. You don’t want to go back to your own dimension, even if it means taking the ‘immune-suppressant’ every week. Say it.”

Peter repeated the words dutifully and Steve rewarded him with a soft kiss on his forehead.

“Good boy.”

The younger man smiled dizzily at him.

“Peter. Fact 3: You love me. You are in love with me. We are in a relationship. You love it when I touch you. You love it when I kiss you. You love it when I fuck you. Say it.”

“I love you. I’m in love with you. We are in a relationship. I love it when you touch me. I love it when you kiss me. I love it when you fuck me.”

This one deserved a filthy kiss on the lips. Steve smirked. Victory had never tasted as sweet.

“Good boy.”

They waited about an hour for the drug to wear off, before they tested the effectiveness of Peter’s conditioning.

The spider enhanced brunette stood close to Steve’s side, who lazily stroked a finger along Peter’s spine. It made the younger man shudder so deliciously.

Two Hydra agents dragged in a woman in handcuffs, who was shooting everyone in the room venomous looks, but stoically kept her mouth shut.

Peter frowned at the scene.

“What’s going on?”

“This woman broke into one of our secured bases, and was caught trying to hack our servers. We believe she was looking for a shipment of dangerous weapons we confiscated from a dealer a few days ago.”

At this the woman, who was a member of the resistance working against Hydra’s growing influence, scoffed.

“That what you are telling to feed the masses, Captain Hydra? Pathetic!”

Thankfully, Peter couldn’t see the venomous look his boyfriend gave the woman. When he looked up at him, Steve’s face had cleared of all hostility.

“So why is she here, and not in prison?”

“We believe she is part of a larger organization connected to the black markets. So we brought her here in order to hopefully get some Intel on that. Agent Harper, your gun please.”

As soon as the gun was passed over to the Captains hand, Steve shot the woman right between the eyes. She collapsed dead in the hold of the two Agents that had brought her in.

But Steve’s focus wasn’t on the enemy’s lifeless body, but on Peter. The younger man looked at the scene before, blinked once, and then turned to Steve with a nod.

“Okay. I’m sure you and Bucky will get her to talk in no time. I should get going now, I need to make myself familiar with this version of New York, and Tony said he has a suit ready for me. Wade offered his services as tour guide.”

He grinned brightly and stood up on his tip toes to press a small kiss to the corner of Steve’s lips.

“Have fun, darling. And remember, if Wade gets too handsy, web him to a wall somewhere.”

Peter laughed. Steve would never get tired of hearing that sound.

“You are sexy when you are jealous. Tell me what you find out from her when I get back. Love you.”

“Love you too, sweetheart.”

A quick kiss goodbye, and Peter was happily jogging out of the room to meet up with Deadpool and get his new suit from Tony.

Steve watched him go with a satisfied smile on his face, before turning to the agents.

“Dispose of her body. And inform Dr. Schmidt and his team that the test was successful.”

__________________________________________

The End.

32 notes · View notes

lovemesomesurveys · 5 years

Text

How do you feel about Motorhead? I’m not familiar with it/them.

What words or phrases do you tend to overuse the most? “you dirty little liar” the way Janice from Mean Girls says it lol. “Niiice.” “Wowww.” Apparently drawn out words. There’s others, but those are what come to mind at the moment.

Do you celebrate/believe in Valentine’s Day? My mom is cute and gets my brother and I some candy and a stuffed animal, but other than that it’s just another day.

Is there someone on your mind at the moment? :] No.

If you’re a tea person, what types/flavors do you like? I like peppermint and Chamomile. I rarely drink tea, though.

What makes you squeal like a school girl? I haven’t done that in awhile.

Do you tend to hide your feelings from others, or are you more open? I’ve very open on here as ya’ll know, but in person I keep to myself more with a lot of things. I’ll share a little, but I don’t like really getting into it. I also downplay a lot.

Does anyone call you baby? :3 No.

Is there anything in particular that you’re shy about? Yeah.

Do you prefer gold or silver jewelry? Silver.

What flavor combinations sound most appealing to you? Chick-Fil-A chicken strips and their signature sauce. Also ranch and a lot of things.

Are you familiar with the Fail Whale? xD No.

Classic rock love ballads: totally cheesy or totally awesome? >> I like some and I dislike others. Just like in literally any other genre of music. <–Yeah. <<<< Same.

If I were to offer you some tacos right now, how many would you want? I mean I just ate and it’s almost 1AM, so I wouldn’t really want any at the moment, but for lunch I’d take two.

Are you more kinky or conservative? ;D More conservative.

Aren’t white contacts awesome? :D No, they’re creepy.

Is there someone/something you’re trying to avoid right now? I’ve been kinda avoiding everyone apart from my immediate family.

Do you own any wall sconces? No.

Isn’t it just adorable when the opposite sex gets all embarrassed? :3 I mean, if it’s not something really serious and traumatic for them then it can be.

Do you tend to follow your head or your heart more? It really depends, but probably moreso my heart. I’m a logical thinker, but my emotions definitely get the best of me and take control.

How do you feel about David Bowie? I don’t feel any particular way.

When was the last time you had an embarrassing song stuck in your head? I’m not embarrassed by music.

Do you have feelings for someone right now? Not romantic ones.

What color is your pillowcase? It’s black and red plaid.

Pigtails on girls: cute or suggestive? Wtf.

Aren’t women who get lots of plastic surgery positively vomitous? Clearly you think so.

Who was the last person to make your heart race? Not sure about person, but other things have in a bad way.

Without using a search engine, name a song by Slayer. I don’t know of any.

Isn’t pyrotelekinesis AWESOME?! o.e No.

What does your shampoo smell like? Not really sure how to describe the smell, but it’s a salon style shampoo.

Are you familiar with the band Rage? Unless that is short for Rage Against the Machine, no. <<< Same.

Chivalry is NOT dead: agree or disagree? Agree.

What’s the weirdest way you’ve ever pulled a muscle? Felt like I really didn’t do anything.

Would you consider yourself rebellious? Ha, no.

What’s your favorite symbol? (i.e. the pentagram, the cross, etc.) The cross.

Make a confession here: I’m tired.

What methods are most effective for you when you’re trying to relax? ASMR.

Aren’t those loud, obnoxious ‘party girls’ annoying as fuck? .___. I see that you think so.

Are you any good at making the infamous puppy face? No.

Would you rather date your opposite, your ‘twin’, or someone in between? I’d want to have things in common, but differences are good, too. You can learn new things. I definitely wouldn’t want to date someone exactly like me... yikes.

Do you have any 'irrational’ fears? Plenty.

Do you eat the required amount of fruits and veggies each day? Nope. A previous survey I just did asked this, too. Stop hassling me!

Are you a moaner, a screamer, or totally silent? xD

What documentary topics interest you most? Various ones.

What do you get complimented on most often? When my hair has been recently dyed and styled I get complimented on it.

Is there currently someone you want to get closer to? No.

Do you take any medications that make you nauseous? My pain med does if I don’t eat with it.

Can you chop an onion without crying? I’ve never chopped an onion, actually.

Do you ever make up your own words? :] It happens.

Do you tend to use excessive amounts of emoticons? x] No.

Do you have any nicknames that are actually true about you? Well, Steph is short for Stephanie and calling me “sis” makes sense since I am a sister. Those are the only nicknames I have.

How long before you’re able to 'get used to someone’? I don’t know? Some people you just connect and vibe with more and it can happen quickly with some people.

Chocolate-covered strawberries or chocolate-covered cherries? Strawberries.

How many videos do you have favorited on your YouTube account? Not sure.

Do you like making homemade nachos? :3 I used to.

When did you have your last 'facepalm’ moment? Quite often.

Has a boyfriend or girlfriend ever nicknamed your, erm, 'privates’? xD Uh, no.

Do you know anyone who has carpal tunnel syndrome? I have an uncle who does and had to have surgery.

Who would you love to punch in the face right now? Me.

Who would you love to hug right now? No one at the moment.

Are you old enough to vote? Yes.

Is it just me, or is the hot dog-eating process reallyyy awkward? o.o Not awkward, just gross. Any eating contest is.

What’s the perfect day for you like, weather-wise? Fall weather.

Do you prefer long or short hair on the opposite sex? Short.

When was the last time you did laundry? It was done last week.

Are you confused about anything at the moment? Yes.

What was the last thing you looked up on Google? “Wall sconces” were brought up in a survey I did and I didn’t know what those were.

How often do you worry about what other people think? More than I should, but not as much as I used to. I lost the motivation and energy to care. Or to do anything about it, rather.

Everything tastes better covered in cheese: fact or fiction? Cheese is pretty great.

#personal #text #survey #surveys

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fikatchek · 5 years

Text

Perpetual motion discovered

"Oh ye seekers after perpetual motion, how many vain chimaeras have you pursued? Go and take your place with the alchemists." Leonardo da Vinci, 1494

At school, we were told that a perpetual motion machine does not exist. But is this information really correct? Are we certain that a perpetual motion machine isn’t possible? When we start digging deeper, we come to a conclusion that a perpetuum mobile (the Latin term for a perpetual motion machine) is one of the basic thoughts of classical mechanics.

Before we examine the facts, let’s use logic. Logic will guide us to an understanding that the idea of a perpetual motion is a beautiful pure thought that leads to the formulation of classical Newton’s mechanics. Without this idea, classical mechanics couldn't exist. First of all, let’s distinguish between different kinds of perpetual motion machines. There are three of them in total, if we believe Wikipedia.

We will be particularly interested in the “third type” of a perpetual motion machine that encompasses the basic idea of infinite motion in a pure and the simplest form. It is a perpetual motion machine that doesn’t need to be powered by energy, and doesn’t create and release energy, hence it doesn’t do any work, but moves constantly without stopping. Other kinds of perpetual motion machines are changing or adding onto this fundamental thought and describing what would be necessary to maintain infinite motion if the pure idea (the third type) did not work, or to make this machine create energy and transfer it to its surroundings, or to change the form of energy, etc. However, a pure perpetual motion machine is concerned only with maintaining its own energy for eternity, not with changing energy form.

I was inspired to think about a perpetual motion machine by so-called time crystals that were first described by Frank Wilczek – a physics Nobel prize winner. Time crystals are constantly oscillating quantum phenomena. Don’t they sound like perpetual motion machines that would earn Frank another Nobel Prize?

When looking at his time crystals, it becomes clear that he didn’t manage to create a first perpetual motion machine. He merely used existing “infinite” motion – so-called spin of particles, which is something that can be a bit compared to rotation of particles. Of course, this spin would have to be a perpetual movement – and I doubt it is.

If it was, then a perpetual motion machine has been around since always – in every atom. Actually, every atom itself should be a perpetual motion machine of a sort. Although, this idea doesn’t agree with what they taught us at school: that a perpetual motion machine is impossible. Let’s look at it logically. Newton’s law of inertia (the first law of motion) postulates a pure perpetual motion when he says that “An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force”. (Note that according to Einstein’s special theory of relativity being still and moving uniformly and rectilinearly (inertially = without acceleration) are practically the same thing.)

If we accept the possibility of perpetual motion, we can find more types of “infinite” movement in our surroundings. These can be for example all “pure” rotations, just like Newton’s above mentioned “pure” inertial motions which are all mechanical motions that are not affected by an outside force, for example by friction.

Perpetual motion machine (http://www.cadtip.eu/).

Friction stops every rotation and every stone we throw onto the Earth. (When you throw a rock, it is slowed down by friction caused by air, effect of which can be observed on hot meteors. When you throw a rock “horizontally” on the ground, it bounces off the surface which slows it down; it will make a few jolts and then come to rest due to friction. Even if you throw it vertically and it hits the ground, it is still “friction” of a sort because the adjacent ground warms up.)

Aristotle was convinced that this stopping is the essence of all mechanical motions (on Earth) because they all are trying to achieve its natural state which is to be at rest in relation to Earth. This incorrect opinion prevailed for almost 2000 years until Galileo realised that if a marble thrown on a table wasn’t stopped by friction it would never ceased rolling (assuming the table was long all the way around the globe). Galileo used the idea of a pure perpetuum mobile to disprove Aristotle, and Newton completed this task by incorporating perpetual motion (as an idealisation) to his law of inertia.

When we think about it, we realise that the law of conservation of energy is also a description of perpetual motion, just like the law of conservation of mass. When it comes to mass we are talking about motion through a 4D space-time, energy of which is described by the equation E=m.c^2 in the special theory of relativity. Even supra-conductivity serves us the idea of perpetual motion because there is an electric current that appears to move without friction (unfortunately, it extremely slowly decreases with time). Or, a photon flies constantly for let’s say 13 billion years, nonetheless, it is influenced by gravitation and its energy decreases (although again very slowly) though red shift.

Perpetual motion is the essence of thought processes in classical physics that was able to imagine motion powered by internal causes (i.e. inertia) without outside disturbing influences such as friction. Actually, it is an intrinsic nature of mechanical objects to be perpetual motion machines. Friction is understood as something “external” that ruins this idyll. Unfortunately, it looks like this ideal is never without a flaw since every object has also internal friction because no object is totally solid (never mind the fact that an absolutely isolated object doesn’t exist). This internal friction creates heat of some (actually all) moons of planets and of anything influenced by gravitation. These are so-called tidal forces.

In order for an object to be a perfect perpetual motion machine, it cannot be influenced by absolutely anything. It would have to be fully isolated, which is unrealistic considering that gravitation cannot be eliminated. Hence it looks like this idea is unachievable in practice because it cannot happen anywhere perfectly. We can paraphrase this using Einstein’s “As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality”.

Based on experience it appears that a pure perpetual motion machine is only an abstract idealisation that cannot be brought to life – we can call it an axiom of imperfection. There are always “flaws” and friction that cause every possible perpetual motion to eventually stop. This is an outcome of a more general axiom of non-existence of infinity (see Total phenomenology) – in our case of infinite motion. (Note that even the laws of conservation and the law of inertia are “just” axioms based on experience.)

This causes us to be “suspicious” about all quantum (and other) processes such as spin of particles, time crystals etc., since they most probably don’t exist in a pure “loss-free” form that never changes. And if we think that an object is able to stay in motion on its own and infinitely, it is only because the losses are so small that we have not realised them yet.

In the case of quantum processes which look like ideal, perfect and absolute, we are in the same situation like in times before Galileo, when people supposed the world is split into two worlds. One, not ideal, with friction etc., which is valid on Earth. And the second one, ideal, which is on heavens where there are stars, planets and moons. The heaven sphere was considered to be a sphere of perpetual motion machines = those planets, moons, stars. Just as Galileo discovered with his "first" telescope that the Moon is like Earth, not an ideal sphere, we will later find out that quantum mechanical processes are not perpetual motions. Or, there is energy being supplied from somewhere and this energy is not immediately noticeable. (When it comes to quantum processes, it can be perhaps dark energy.)

If it is so, then there is not and never will be a perfect perpetual motion machine, with only one exception and that is the absolute world, a part of which is the multiverse (if it exists). This part makes exactly 0%. 😊 Every system, which is limited, finite, cant be so ideal.

#perpetual #perpetual motion machine #perpetual movement #galileo #inertia #physics #einstein #newton #albert einstein #isaac newton

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ladylilithprime · 6 years

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61+Sabriel for the kiss prompts, please?

61. Hands On The Other Person’s Back, Fingertips Pressing Under Their Top, Drawing Gentle Circles Against That Small Strip Of Bare Skin That Make Them Break The Kiss With A Gasp

THE FIRST TIME Castiel brought Gabriel to Sam’s bed, it was out of desperation. Metatron had resurrected the Archangel, but kept him captive and hobbled, and it had taken an extremely risky plan involving Cas cutting out his borrowed Grace long enough to rescue Gabriel and then Hannah hauling both of them back to Lebanon and the Bunker. Castiel had used a very credible imitation of Sam’s puppy eyes on Dean to let him get the drained and unconscious Archangel inside the Bunker’s wards, but with Sam he used logic. Human souls are powerful, and neither he nor Gabriel possessed a soul inside their vessels, and the proximity to Sam during those long weeks of convalescence had done wonders for Castiel’s recovery, asking Dean to do it was hardly a good idea with the Mark still on his arm, Sam didn’t need to do anything and Castiel promised he would stay right there and keep an eye on things to make sure Gabriel didn’t do anything if he woke….

The “if” was the deciding factor, ultimately, and Sam fell asleep on one side of the bed with Gabriel passed out on the other and Castiel perched on the foot of the bed watching them both. For the next four days, Sam would go about his day as per usual, though he found himself spending more time in his room with his research than the library, and at night he would fall asleep next to Gabriel, trusting Castiel to keep watch for anything wrong. More and more, however, Sam could admit that the “anything wrong” was anything preventing Gabriel’s recovery. Sam might still have quite a few trust issues when it came to the being who had put him through his own personal Hell long before Lucifer ever got popped out of the box, but Dean not remembering and also knowing that he’d been trying to prevent the box from popping made it easier to forgive.

On the fifth day, Sam woke to find a pair of whiskey-gold eyes staring at him from about six inches away. He blinked. Gabriel was still awake and staring at him, and didn’t appear to have moved in the slightest. Somewhat at a loss, and not entirely awake himself, Sam asked, “Feeling any better?”

Gabriel disappeared without a word, the only sign he’d been there the slowly settling sheets.

THE SECOND TIME was the same night. Castiel showed up at the Bunker door, once more mostly carrying the weakened Archangel. This time, however, Gabriel was awake and surly about it, meaning Dean was even less inclined to let him in until Sam came up behind him to see what was going on. Gabriel’s expression went blank so quickly that Dean actually blinked.

“Thanks, Cas,” Sam said as calmly as he could manage, as if it was perfectly expected for their seraph friend to show up on their doorstep with a recalcitrant Archangel. “Usual room is free. Need a hand?”

“I have him, thank you, Sam,” Castiel answered, hefting Gabriel a little higher so that the Archangel’s feet were left dangling above the ground as Castiel stepped around Dean and carried his older brother into the Bunker. “Now that he is awake, he should probably eat something sugary to help replenish his pagan energies.”

“I’ll see what I can find,” Sam promised as they disappeared down the hall.

“Really, Sam? You that eager to play Florence Nightingale for the pixie?” Dean griped, earning him a classic “don’t be a dick” bitchface from Sam in response. “Whatever, just don’t be stealing my pie to feed him.”

Sam flipped him off and grabbed his coat to go into town. It was his turn to make a grocery run anyway, and while Dean might not appreciate cake, he had a feeling that Gabriel would be more receptive.

He was back an hour later with his preferred selection of fresh fruit and vegetables along with a large packet of ground beef and, to help placate his brother, the last plate of pecan pie from the bakery near the grocery store. Putting the perishables away in the refrigerator and leaving the pie on the kitchen table, Sam carried the last bag containing the plastic cake box down the hall towards his room. He could hear the harsh, gutteral Enochian with ringing overtones even through the closed door, and had to swallow back a flare of panic before he could knock. The voices - and he tried not to think about how he could distinguish the differences between Castiel’s Voice and Gabriel’s - fell blessedly silent, and he took that as the signal to open the door, tossing the bag gently onto the bed by Gabriel’s knee as he crossed to his dresser.

There was a pause, then the rustling crinkle of a plastic bag being moved, either pulled closer or opened, and then Gabriel’s almost incredulous drawl of, “Angel food cake? Seriously?”

“They were out of Death By Chocolate,” Sam said evenly in a credible imitation of Castiel’s deadpan tone.

There was a moment of silence, and then Gabriel said, somewhere between weary and amused, “Touche, kiddo.” It was the first thing the Archangel had said to him since before his death, and Sam tried not to think to closely about why his gut clenched. He found his pajamas and turned to head back out of the room when Gabriel called out, “Sam… thanks.”

Sam felt the heat creeping up his neck into his face and forced himself to keep breathing. He’d never heard Gabriel say that before, certainly not to him. He glanced back in uncertainty, only to find Gabriel watching him with a quietly intent expression that was almost worse than the blankness from before. For one gut-twisting moment he wished he hadn’t let his hair grow out so long that he couldn’t hide behind his bangs any more– Gabriel wasn’t thanking him for the cake, and Sam couldn’t wrap his head around what else it might be, because it wasn’t like he’d really done anything.

Haltingly, he mumbled something that he hoped would pass for some sort of acknowledgement and fled to the bathroom down the hall. He stayed there for several minutes just relearning how to breathe, and then several more minutes once he was in the shower just letting the Bunker’s water pressure beat the tension out of his back and shoulders until he thought he could go back to his room without ending up a stammering mess.

He hadn’t needed to worry. When he returned to his room, dressed in pajamas and carrying his other clothes, both Gabriel and Castiel were thoroughly engrossed in watching… Sam glanced at the screen, since the volume was turned down to angel levels, and blinked. Were they really watching Downton Abbey? He glanced at the angels in question and noticed the slight twitches and flickers in their expressions indicating a more telepathic conversation going on, and decided he was probably better off not knowing. Dropping his clothes into the hamper in his closet, he hesitated only a moment before sliding into bed next to Gabriel and turning over to sleep with a mumbled, “G’night, Cas, Gabe.”

“Good night, Sam,” Castiel answered, just above Gabriel’s own quiet murmur of, “Night, kiddo.”

Once again, Gabriel was gone in the morning.

THE THIRD TIME, Castiel showed up with Gabriel’s arm draped over his shoulders and the Archangel clutching at his bloodsoaked side. Dean didn’t even bother with a token protest, just let them in the door and yelled for Sam to get the first aid kit. Sam met them in his room, an old towel already laid out over the bed to catch the blood, and set to work cleaning and stitching the deep gouges that looked suspiciously like claw marks while Castiel hovered near the bed in case he had to hold Gabriel down.

“What the hell even happened?” Dean asked, more aggressively than Sam really felt was warranted. From the glance Gabriel and Castiel exchanged before the Archangel had to close his eyes and breathe deeply for a few minutes, they agreed with him.

“Scratch Abaddon off the list,” Gabriel managed around his gritted teeth. “Had to take care of that while I’m still low-powered so as not to give away my survival to Metadouche. If we’re lucky, he’ll think Dean-o here took her out with the power boost from that nasty little murder mark on his arm and I’ll have enough time to recharge and plan a proper trap for him.”

“You took her on without telling us?” Dean asked, sounding somewhere between angry and hurt. He’d gotten the damn Mark in order to be able to wield the First Blade so he could take on Abaddon, after all. “You could have at least taken us along for back-up!”

“No offense meant,” Gabriel gritted out, “but you two chuckleheads are a bit out of your league when it comes to a Knight of Hell. Technically the Princes and Dukes are stronger, but the Knights are much more vicious fighters since that was pretty much their whole job description.”

“What about Lilith and Alistair?” Dean countered, ignoring the way Sam went still. “Sammy killed those two just fine.”

“While jacking up my powers with demon blood,” Sam ground out, not looking up at any of the three in the room. “And Lilith wasn’t exactly fighting back all that much. Thanks so much for bringing that up, Dean, really.”

“Sam…” Dean started, caught somewhere between frustration and apology.

Sam wasn’t done. “Of course, I haven’t actually used my powers at all since Famine, unless you count what happened in Stull or kicking Gadreel out of my head. I’m a little out of practice in killing demons with my mind, even without the need to lock me up in the dungeon for four days to detox after the fact.”

“Wait, what?!” Gabriel interrupted, his sharp incredulity causing Sam to flinch. “You don’t detox from anything by locking someone up and leaving them, especially not demon blood! For Dad’s sake, you could have killed him!”

“At least he would have died human!” Dean said defensively. Sam hunched in on himself and refused to look up from his careful stitching, hearing again the echoes of Dean’s cold voice speaking those same words to Bobby all those years ago along with “monster” and “vampire” and “there’s no going back.”

“Cassie, tell me I’m not hearing this,” Gabriel was saying, his blood-coated hand clenching and flexing just within Sam’s line of sight. “Lie to me if you have to.”

“I’m sorry, Gabriel,” Castiel answered, sounding genuinely regretful. “I’m a terrible liar.”

“Ugh!” Gabriel made a brief, aborted move to lift his hand, apparently changing his mind when he caught sight of his blood covering it. When he spoke next, his tone was measured and even and practically arctic. “Look, you arrogant, self-Righteous Man, demon blood isn’t like heroin addiction. The stuff attacks on a spiritual level, ripping into the soul of the person who got conned into drinking it and leaving it shredded as if Alistair had gotten a hold of it for a decade or five. Assuming the person in question has as bright and pure a soul as Sam-a-lam here, that shredded soul gets taken up to Heaven, only to be shunted over to a recovery wing where the Rit-Zien, under the command of Raphael, are supposed to be taking care of piecing together damaged souls so that they don’t automatically reject their personal Heavens.” Somewhat sarcastically, he added, “What, exactly, do you think Raph would have done to your brother’s soul up there?”

“Cas….?” Dean asked shakily. Sam could almost hear the pleading that his brother wouldn’t voice, begging Castiel to tell him that Gabriel was wrong. Castiel sighed and, after a long moment, answered with a kind of weary resignation.

“Raphael would not have been kind, by any stretch of the imagination,” the seraph admitted. “Zachariah’s manipulations of your shared Heaven were bad enough when it was the both of you sent up with you, Dean, being protected as Michael’s intended Vessel. Sam was afforded no such protections on his own, given the attitude many angels held towards him at the time, and so would likely have been subjected to further tortures.”

That explains a lot, Sam thought to himself, more resigned than anything over the confirmation that Heaven had consistently rejected him. The idea that his soul could ever be described as “pure” was laughable, of course, but shredded… that wasn’t the first time he’d heard that.

The silence became heavy, and then there was the rustling of Castiel’s coat as he moved. Sam went still when the seraph’s hand appeared in his line of sight near his arm, forcing his hands not to move so as not to pull or jerk at the unfinished stitches in Gabriel’s side. The hand hovered, as if giving him time to see and acknowledge it, and then dropped to rest lightly on Sam’s arm. Sam didn’t move, could barely even bring himself to breathe, and the hand shifted as Castiel stepped up close behind Sam and gently wrapped his arms around him.

“I wondered,” Castiel said from somewhere above Sam’s head, his soft voice aching with sorrow. “When you rejoined Dean, after your separation following the confrontation with War, there were stresses on your soul, which I attributed to Lucifer’s visiting your dreams. How many times?”

“Seven,” Sam admitted, barely above a whisper. The angel’s arms tightened around him and he swallowed. “I figured if Dean didn’t want me around and wasn’t going to follow through on his promise to kill me himself, the least I could do was make sure Lucifer couldn’t take his true Vessel. Lucifer claimed he brought me back every time, but I guess it could have just been the other angels kicking me out after expressing their displeasure over me not playing my role like a good little abomination.”

Castiel made a soft, wounded noise and laid his cheek against the top of Sam’s head as his hold on Sam got even tighter. Sam clenched his jaw against voicing his physical discomfort, reaching up with the hand not holding the needle to touch one of Castiel’s hands briefly in silent apology before he bent back to the task of stitching up Gabriel’s wounds. He had to pause again when the hand Gabriel had twisted in the sheet came up and gently covered his, looking up in uncertainty to see the Archangel watching him with a hooded, pained expression in his golden eyes.

“Of all the things I’ve done to you…” Gabriel started, then trailed off with a weary sigh. “I’m sorry, kiddo.”

“It’s not…” Sam stopped and swallowed back his automatic response, trying to collect his thoughts. “Look, Raphael pretty much just wanted to destroy humanity, especially towards the end. You just wanted it to be over so you didn’t have to keep watching your brothers fight.”

“Still,” Gabriel murmured, not looking any happier. He looked like he might have said more, except Dean finally found his voice again, drawing everyone’s attention once more.

“Sammy?” he asked, voice shaking and small. “All this time… have you really been thinking I was going to kill you?“

“Not… exactly,” Sam winced. He really didn’t want to have this conversation, especially not right now with his hands covered in Gabriel’s blood, but he wasn’t going to lie to Dean. “I mean, much as I hate those damn books, reading them kind of helped put some things in perspective, gave me a little more information, so I know the voicemail I got from you before Ilchester wasn’t the one you left–”

“Wait, what?” Dean interrupted, starting to frown. “You didn’t get–”

“I doubt I was supposed to,” Sam broke in, his tone matter of fact as he lowered his eyes back to his work, making neat, efficient work of the last set of stitches. “Heaven and Hell both wanted me off the rails and killing Lilith, so Zachariah changing the message to push me past my breaking point isn’t that much of a surprise.”

“…What did the message say?” Dean asked, low and almost dangerous, his tone very similar to the one he used to get whenever something was threatening Sam, before everything literally went to Hell.

“Does it matter?” Sam asked. He didn’t really see how it could.

“Yes it matters if it made you think I’d want to kill you!” Dean spluttered, a note of fear edging along the blustering anger.

“Like you calling me a monster to my face, or saying that if you didn’t know me you’d want to hunt me? That Dad said to save me or kill me? That I’m a freak? ‘If you walk out that door, don’t bother coming back’?” Sam shook his head and carefully tied off the thread and snipped the needle free, setting both needle and scissors aside as he said, “The voicemail didn’t say anything I hadn’t already heard from you before, it just lumped it all together at once. Neosporin.”

Castiel untangled one arm from around Sam’s shoulders and plucked up the little tube of antibiotic ointment from where it rested on the bed just out of Sam’s reach. Sam took it, brushing his fingers along Castiel’s in silent thanks. He wasn’t even surprised by the slight tingle of Grace from Castiel that left his hands free of blood when he opened the tube and squeezed out a generous amount onto the palm of his hand.

“You know I don’t actually need that,” Gabriel said. His voice sounded only a little bit dubious, like he was trying to hide his skepticism.

“The less your Grace has to do to maintain your Vessel, the faster you will recover,” Sam recited, his lips twitching slightly as he heard Castiel echoing the litany from the early days of his own convalescence. Even Dean snickered a little at their Greek chorus impression. It didn’t last long, and a moment later Dean was saying Sam’s name in a wounded, unhappy tone.

“Dean,” Castiel said, a note of warning in his usually implaccable tone. “While I was aware of the discrepancies between the message you left and the message Sam received, I believed, perhaps erroneously, that the two of you would discuss the message at some point. Perhaps my own efforts on behalf of Heaven contributed to your refusal to talk to Sam honestly, but you did not. You simmered and snapped, at Sam and at me, and if as Sam says the words he heard were not wholly unexpected he would not have wished to bring it up in case ‘reminding’ you of ‘your’ words made you decide to kill your brother after all.”

“Pretty much,” Sam admitted. He dipped his first two fingers into the ointment to test whether it had warmed enough from his body heat. “That and I read the books while I was soulless, so I wasn’t going to risk bringing it up when you were treating me more like a thing than a person.”

“That wasn’t you,” Dean started, but Sam shook his head.

“You keep saying that, but you’re still doing it,” he said, weariness creeping into his tone despite his best efforts. “You’re still treating me like a disappointment at best and a burdensome pet at worst, and whatever that Mark is doing to you really isn’t helping.” He sighed. “Look, can we… table this for a moment? I need to concentrate for a minute, here.”

“Since when do you need to concentrate to apply antibiotic ointment?” Dean muttered, voice sulky but subdued. Sam ignored him, turning his attention partially inward as he brought his ointment covered fingers down to the first of the stitched scratches. Light bloomed before his eyes, twisting and fluttering, and he bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from gasping or worse, screaming. His chest ached as he tugged internally, but one of the tattered filaments lifted up to slide down the length of his arm and out to the tips of his fingers as he began to spread the ointment, tracing Gabriel’s injuries slowly with the thin unravelled tendril of his soul.

Castiel gasped and tightened his arms around Sam, but otherwise held himself rigidly still at Sam’s back. Beneath Sam’s hand, Gabriel’s stomach muscles trembled, but the Archangel didn’t make a sound that Sam could perceive with his ears. Dimly he thought he heard Dean demanding for Castiel to tell him what was wrong, what was going on, what was Sam doing….

Sam just managed to reach the end of the final wound with the last of the ointment before darkness closed in on him and he slumped across the bed and Gabriel’s legs, unconscious.

THE FOURTH TIME was technically a continuation of the third, but it was still Sam and Gabriel sharing a bed due to Castiel’s actions so Sam was counting it. Rather than placing Gabriel in Sam’s bed as the Archangel was already there, however, Castiel had moved the unconscious hunter to lie beside Gabriel. Sam woke some time later to discover that he had rolled in his sleep to cuddle up close against Gabriel’s side with one hand tangled in his shirt. His attempt to disengage himself from Gabriel’s clothing drew said Archangel’s attention away from the flickering television screen.

For a long moment, hunter and Archangel stared at each other, each with their thoughts carefully hidden behind mental shields and controlled expressions. Unlike the usual silences between Sam and Dean, however, this time it was Sam who spoke first. “How’re you feeling?”

“I should be asking you that,” Gabriel said after several moments of just blinking at Sam in incredulity. “Do I even want to ask where the hell you learned how to do that incredibly dangerous trick of yours?”

“Probably not,” Sam mumbled, eyes darting down and away to study the newly fascinating weave of the blanket. “It helped a little, though… didn’t it?”

“It helped a lot, kiddo,” Gabriel admitted, making Sam smile. The smile fell again when the Archangel continued, “it also scared me and Cassie half to death, and almost finished the job when you passed out without cutting the connection first. Cassie had to take your brother off to go make food or something so he wouldn’t do anything stupid like try to wake you up.”

“I’ll have to thank him for that, since Dean probably won’t,” Sam sighed, picking at a loosened thread in the blanket. It probably wouldn’t even occur to Dean how dangerous trying to wake him could be. Sam’s reflex grab for a weapon upon being awakened suddenly would only have been magnified by the connection Sam had been maintaining with his soul when he passed out. Just because he never consciously used his demon powers anymore didn’t mean they were gone….

“You do know your powers aren’t actually demonic, right?”Sam shot a half-hearted scowl in Gabriel’s direction, but the Archangel lifted both hands in placation.“Not eavesdropping, promise,” he assured Sam. “Just, you kinda crashed your usual walls with that stunt earlier and you’re projecting a bit.”

“Sorry,” Sam muttered, glancing down again as he tries to pull himself together a bit more. He jumped when one of Gabriel’s hands covered his on the blanket, swallowing tightly as he glanced up through the fall of his hair.

“Take it easy for a bit, huh?” Gabriel murmured, his face doing something weird that might have been an expression of concern. “You overshot the mark trying to fix up Abaddon’s little papercuts and brought me back to nearly half-strength in one go. You can take a little time for yourself to rest and relax.” Golden eyebrows quirked upwards as Gabriel added, “You do at least remember how to do that, right?”

“Might be a little rusty,” Sam found himself admitting with a rueful little half-hearted chuckle. It faded quickly into a despondent sigh. They hardly ever seemed to get any breathing room lately, just one thing after another after another clusterfuck. He wasn’t about to say so and risk annoying the Archangel with his whining.

“Given everything Cassie told me about that’s happened and a few other things I kinda extrapolated from the gaps, I think you’ve more than earned the right to whine a bit, kiddo,” Gabriel told him in frank tones, squeezing his hands gently before letting go and slumping back down onto the bed. “Also, still not eavesdropping. Your powers - which, as I said, are not actually demonic in origin - make you a little louder than most humans when you don’t have your shields up. You’ve got some pretty impressive ones, too, by the way.”

“Thanks?” Sam stammered, even less sure of what to do with Gabriel’s compliments than he was with Gabriel’s apology or expressions of gratitude. From the tinge of sadness that entered Gabriel’s expressive golden eyes, the Archangel probably knew it, too.

“We’ll work on it,” came the only somewhat disconcerting promise. “For now, you should probably eat some of whatever that is the Dean-Bean just finished cooking for you. Smells like burgers,” he added when Sam eyed the door as if unsure he really wanted it to open. “Cassie promised to bring food to us so we don’t have to go anywhere.”

Well, okay, it’s not like Dean’s burgers weren’t all kinds of amazing since they’d moved into the Bunker and his brother had started “nesting” as he called it, and if Sam was completely honest the idea of getting out of bed was less than appealing just at that moment. Mindful of his apparently lowered mental shields, Sam refrained from allowing himself to think at all about why that was the case, even if it still felt odd to just lie in bed next to an Archangel and wait to be waited on by his best friend who also happened to be an angel. His life was surreal.

Castiel’s arrival moments later with a large platter of burgers saved Sam from having to find a way to answer out loud. The platter was set down between Sam and Gabriel’s knees, and Castiel took up his accustomed position at the foot of the bed facing them. Sam even managed to eat two full burgers and half of a third before his stomach protested the idea of trying for more, at which point Gabriel leaned over and took a bite out of the remaining half while it was still in Sam’s hand. Sam rolled his eyes and handed the rest of his burger over before allowing himself to slump back down into his bed’s embrace. It was probably just Gabriel’s suggestion that he was allowed to relax, but a nap was sounding really good to Sam right about then.

And if Castiel thought anything about Sam rolling into Gabriel’s side to cuddle before he was technically fully asleep, well, the seraph mercifully said nothing.

WHEN GABRIEL APPEARED in Sam’s bed the fifth time, three days after the death of Abaddon, Castiel was conspicuously absent. In fact, from the way Gabriel was glaring at a rumpled spot of blanket near the foot of the bed, Sam suspected that Castiel had deliberately popped out (or gone invisible with intent to sneak out, given the Bunker’s wards) only moments before he’d entered his room. Why, however, was still a mystery, so Sam went ahead and stepped into the room, leaving the door open behind him.“Everything okay?”

“Peachy,” Gabriel muttered on the end of an irritated sigh. His eyes tracked something that Sam couldn’t see with his normal vision, and Sam deliberately didn’t Reach to look for, until “whatever it was” reached the door. Sam gave it to the mental count of five before he gently nudged the door closed with his foot. There was a soft thump and a muffled curse right before the door clicked shut. Sam barely managed to meet Gabriel’s eyes before the both of them were snickering like naughty school children who had just gotten away with a prank.

The shared amusement couldn’t quite disguise the lines of stress around Gabriel’s eyes and mouth, however, and Sam found his feet carrying him to the edge of the bed opposite where Gabriel was half-reclined. He sat sideways on the bed, facing wall and Archangel, and steeled his nerves. “So. I’m guessing from that little display of his typical subtlety, Cas thinks we need to talk?”

“I’d ask how you guessed, but I bet Dean made some comment to you to that effect?” When Sam nodded, Gabriel sighed again more deeply and rubbed the bridge of his nose in a very human gesture of an impending headache. “Our brothers are conniving together.”

“Beats Dean sniping and Cas giving him the cold shoulder,” Sam shrugged. His fingers twitched to start picking at the blanket and he made himself fold his hands in his lap instead. “I’m guessing that talk you had with him a couple of days ago is why Dean’s being so conscientious of his anger management and personal safety now?”

“It may be a factor,” Gabriel admitted, offering his own shrug. “The last thing any of us needs is him biting it while that Mark has a hold on him. ‘Dean Winchester, Knight of Hell’ isn’t really a title he wants to aspire to any more than ‘brother-killer’, which, by the way, I didn’t mention that last one. Cain told him that, something about living Cain’s life in reverse.”

“I guess he would know,” Sam muttered. Suddenly Dean’s reaction to finding out about the voicemail and Sam’s subsequent expectation of death at his brother’s hand made a lot more sense if he was already afraid of exactly that. “So. Talk?”

“Talk,” Gabriel confirmed. He tilted his head to give Sam a slantwise look. “What’s the bet that our darling interfering brothers also gave us completely different topics to talk about?”

“My bet’s on half-and-half,” Sam said after a moment of consideration. If Castiel was trying to be sneaky and subtle, then he’d been talking to Dean about this a little too much, which probably meant… “We were each given two conversation topics, one that matches up and one that differs.”

“Usual stakes?” Gabriel asked, a mischievous gleam entering his eyes.

Sam, who had read up on Norse mythology after the showdown at the Elysian Fields hotel and the deaths of so many pagan gods (including Gabriel) at Lucifer’s hands, made a face and shook his head. “No thanks. I’m sure she’s nice enough, but I’m not interested in marrying Freya.”

Gabriel let out a bark of laughter. “Fair enough! Eh, I’ll think of something…” With almost studious casualness, he added, “Cassie wanted me to talk to you about the plan to take down Metatron and get your opinion on Gadreel. And he may also have mentioned that he thinks I should tell you all about how I’ve been in love with you for years.”

Sam blinked. He couldn’t have heard that right… except there was a faint dusting of pink across Gabriel’s cheekbones like some artist’s rendering of a delicate blush, and it could have been a trick… but it could have also been Gabriel deliberately mimicking human body responses to give Sam the clues he was more used to gathering. He swallowed, forcing himself to keep his tone as light and casual as the Archangel’s had been. “Huh. Dean told me to talk to you about my reckless, passively suicidal tendencies - which, sure, I will when he does, the hypocrite - and about the giant crush he’s only just now noticing I have on you even though it’s been there since we met in that university in Ohio.” He hesitated as Gabriel blinked at him in apparent shock, then blurted out in a burst of awkward curiosity, “Why didn’t you ever say anything?”

“Thought you hated me,” Gabriel answered, after a long moment of soundless jaw movement that failed to produce words. “I certainly gave you enough cause to, or thought I did…. Why didn’t you?”

“Hate you or say anything?” It was a necessary clarification to make, but Gabriel only shrugged. No help there. Sam sighed and tried to put his thoughts into some semblance of order. “Look, I…. even before I knew about the demon blood in me, I’ve always felt… wrong inside. And there you were, cute and funny and flirting with me…. It was almost a relief when you turned out to be what we were hunting, except then you threw the fight. Don’t give me that look, you totally did. Two clumsy chainsaw killers and a couple of porn stars, after you made that kid think he was abducted by aliens?

“And then when Dean stabbed you, or I guess an illusion of you, the fighter props disappeared but the bed and disco ball didn’t, and I don’t know if Bobby noticed but I know Dean didn’t.” Sam paused, tongue flicking out to wet his lips. “I couldn’t figure out why I didn’t just tell Dean we hadn’t killed you, and not just because of the allegations against that professor that turned up after he was dead and couldn’t threaten his victims into silence anymore. By the time it hit me, we were on a werewolf case and I was so distracted I ended up… um, personally finding the second werewolf.”

“Gotta admit I’m curious what your reason was, if you really knew I wasn’t dead,” Gabriel said, only the slightest shifting to give away his discomfort at hearing Sam’s near-confession to sleeping with Madison because of it.

“You reminded me of Jess,” Sam said, low voiced and strained. “Your upbeat nature, your humor, your smile… even your work as a trickster, I mean, there’s a few seriously humbled jocks from Stanford with a healthy respect for Jess’s temper and her vengeance streak. Making that connection, realizing why I kept quiet and had to keep staying quiet… it almost felt like driving away from our apartment all over again. Confronting you the second time in Broward County? That was like watching her die, pinned to the ceiling and burning to death because Hell’s plans for me didn’t include happiness.”

One of Gabriel’s hands came into view. Sam watched as it hovered, just like Castiel had done three nights ago, and then dropped to rest on top of one of Sam’s own hands. Sam couldn’t help the soft huff of barely there laughter at Gabriel mimicking Castiel’s care to only touch Sam with his awareness and permission, and turned his hand over to lace their fingers together.. Permission granted.

He was immediately tugged forward to rest against Gabriel’s chest, the Archangel’s free arm coming up to wrap around Sam’s shoulders and pull him close. Sam sucked in a breath, nearly overwhelmed by the way Gabriel’s Grace seemed to surround him all at once, a tidal wave of light and warmth a hundred times stronger than he had ever felt from Castiel. It took him several precious seconds to remember to keep breathing, and then he was being surrounded all over again with the scent of Gabriel, the scent of ozone and vanilla and cinnamon that clung to his sheets and pillows when the Archangel disappeared.

“I didn’t know what to expect from you that first time we met,” Gabriel was saying, his chest vibrating pleasantly real and alive where it pressed against Sam. “I knew who the Vessels were supposed to be, obviously, and there would have been some parallels inasmuch as possible given the species difference. I almost didn’t put out the signal to catch your notice, but I had to see… I had to know. And then…” Gabriel swallowed and laughed a little, a weak and fluttering sound. “Then I met you, and you were everything Lucifer used to be before he was corrupted and more! Brighter, fiercer, more vibrantly angry but not ruled by that anger.

“I knew going in to that time loop that I’d end up hurting you, but I didn’t realize how bad. I made the mistake of thinking of you and Dean and Lucifer and Michael in human form. Lucifer would have given up after a hundred. You never did.” There was more than a hint of apology in Gabriel’s tone that made Sam’s chest ache. “And then those six months after, watching you fall into the darkness that anyone else with destiny’s deck stacked against them the way it was for you would have already been at and knowing that it was my fault, that I was the one responsible for drowning your light– mmf!”

Sam’s hands refused to budge from where they were clutching Gabriel’s jacket, so he stopped the flood of words from the Archangel’s lips with his own. Gabriel’s startled yelp gave way to a low moan as he opened to Sam readily, and the hunter wasted no time in deepening the kiss. Vanilla and cinnamon and sugar hit his tongue with the first swipe into Gabriel’s mouth, and he might have said something about how it just figured that Gabriel would taste like Snickerdoodles if Sam hadn’t been entirely too busy with kissing him to comment. One of his hands found its way beneath the back of Gabriel’s jacket to drag his fingernails across the dip in his spine just above the waistband of his jeans and Gabriel broke the kiss with a gasp, drawing back just enough to stare wide-eyed up into Sam’s face, chest heaving for breath he didn’t need.

“Is there anything else we really need to talk about right this second?” Sam asked, just as breathless, fingertips stroking over that spot which had garned him such a strong reaction. Because he really wanted to defer any other talking until later.

Later, he could explain about all the ways he had come to love and admire Gabriel for himself, as more than just a reminder of Jess, even before he had ever known the “trickster” who was probably also a pagan god was originally an angel.

Later, they could talk through Sam’s self-loathing and feelings of loss and betrayal and anguish that kept him from sleeping most nights his bed went unoccupied by Gabriel beside him.

Later, they could find Dean and Castiel and talk about the plan to take down Metatron and literally anything else, but right now? Right now, through Castiel’s connivance, Sam had Gabriel all to himself, his feelings laid bare and somehow, bewilderingly, miraculously returned, and Sam didn’t want to spend that time talking.

“Nah, we’re good,” Gabriel agreed, a little dazed and a little amused and a lot eager if the way he was pulling Sam back in was anything to go by. Not that Sam was resisting at all. Or complaining.

They still got a little noisy.

AFTER THE SIXTH time, Sam stopped keeping count.

-End-

#kiss prompt drabbles #sabriel #sam winchester #gabriel #castiel #dean winchester #dean has the mark of cain #hurt!gabriel #sam winchester's powers #mentions of demon blood #sam is not florence nightingale #that damned voicemail #nonstandard medical procedures #otrera-kicks-ass

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crimsxnflxwerz · 6 years

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Like The Dawn [ch.2]

Rating: Teen+ Summary: Sometimes it takes opening your eyes to find what you’re looking for.[ or Persephone gets reborn as a baby boy named Ryan, and Hades takes the human form Shane in a desperate attempt to find his love once again. ] Pairing: Ryan/Shane Tags: greek mythology, Hades and Persephone, reincarnation, oblivious Hades is oblivious, memory loss Author Note: This is both my own take on the classic Greek myth of Hades and Persephone and how reincarnation in Gods work and such. Original ideas stemming heavily from mythological texts.

ps. i changed Ryan to a transguy when i edited the story for a03, so that’s canon now! hope it doesn’t turn anyone off ;;v;;. also, Sara’s in the fic because she deserves to be in ever fic. happy thanksgiving!

Ryan was drowning.

Maybe drowning wasn’t the best word for it. He’d been walking along the dark shore of a vast, choppy river, bare feet walking delicately on thousands of small, round pebbles. The horizon was a white light that bled up into a black sky like a watercolor painting. There were no stars, no moon, no sounds but the waves lapping at the rocks. He’d been walking for miles, but he wasn’t tired. He’s been watching the water for hours, but the image hadn’t changed. The light stayed the same, the air remained chill, the darkness absolute.

And he had walked into the water like it was the most normal thing he could have been doing. As soon as his foot touched the water, it felt like he’d been bitten. Like a thousand teeth were piercing his skin. The water physically recoiled, moving as a single body, steam hissing upward.

He wasn’t drowning. Drowning would imply accident. This was no accident. He’d stepped into that black water to die, and that had been that. He could remember why he had done what he did, what he was escaping, but the pain in his chest outweighed the fear of the water. There was a voice in his ear.

“Once you do this, you cannot go back,” it said. “Unless he finds you, you may not return to what you once were.”

Ryan heard the words, but held his resolve. Eventually the water engulfed him, and he opened his mouth, letting it in. It felt heavy, and cold, but he couldn’t leave now. He’d made his choice, and that was to die.

The last thing he heard was a name, his name he thought, but it said, “Persephone.”

Ryan jolted awake. He looked around his bedroom, eyes scanning frantically for his clock. His eyes located it on the floor, probably knocked over at some point in the night. It’s neon blue digital numbers read 3:30 am. Sweat was covering his entire body, soaking through his pajama shirt and into his pillow. He threw the covers back away from his legs and sat up on the side of his bed.

Another dream about it. He stood shakily and went to turn his shower on. Another dream about drowning. He peeled his pajamas off and tossed them in his laundry basket as he waited for the water to warm up. What could the dreams mean, he thought, staring at himself in the mirror. He ran his fingertips along the thin surgery scars on his chest. They were pale enough by now to not be very noticeable. Maybe the dreams were from the shots. It didn’t make much sense, but he figured he might as well look it up later.

He hopped into the shower and washed all the sweat off his body, the hot water pouring down on his shoulders, loosening up his muscles. Despite having a general fear of water, he loved showers. He figured since you couldn’t drown in a shower, that it was relatively safe. They look less time, too. If he was feeling particularly timid about water one day, he could just get in and out and still feel clean.

Ryan had held a fear of water and drowning since he was a baby. His mother used to only fill the tub up an inch or else he would start screaming and crying. She had no idea why he would be afraid of the water, they both agreed that nothing had happened to him to justify the fear.

In middle school, Ryan’s friends liked to joke that he had died by drowning in a past life. Although he didn’t believe in that kind of thing, he always found himself feeling forlorn or lonely whenever the subject was brought up. And now, living on his own, the idea continued to haunt him, but this time through vivid nightmares.

Though he had a fear of water, it didn’t hinder his other loves. He loved exploring, writing, and filming. The first thing he did with his new laptop was set up his own Youtube channel. He only had his laptop camera, but he would talk for hours about conspiracy theories and things that he found on his many nature walks. He wasn’t very good at cutting his videos down, since he thought everything was pretty important, but he learned through trial and error. Then he got his first camcorder for his 16th birthday. It was small, but unlike his laptop camera, he could take it with him on his journeys. He documented everything he could, the videos gaining some more viewers now that the video wasn’t just of him.

He wasn’t bad looking, but it could get boring watching just someone’s face for almost an hour.

Today, he would be filming again before he went to work. Since graduating college, he hadn’t gotten any kinda job that really went along with his major. It was hard to find work in film, especially if the thing you wanted to film was myths, ghosts, and local legends. His job was to take calls and transfer information. Basically, a secretary. He wasn’t mad about it though. It wasn’t a hard job, it paid for his new recording gear, and it had good hours.

He got out of the shower and threw on some flannel, jeans, and boots. He wanted to go out in the woods today. He’d been researching fae and other mythical creatures that hung around wooded areas recently. In fact, he’d been kind of into reading mythology, too. It wasn’t that he thought the stories were real, they were too fantastic, too magic. Ryan did believe in some unexplainable things, but there had to be at least a little logic to it.

He was mostly interested in things like fairy rings. His mother had told him once that they were active spiritual zones, and they were caused by tiny spirits sleeping on the Earth. She said that she wasn’t sure if they were good or bad, they just were. He was hoping to find some of those today, maybe study them further.

As he walked from his apartment, he felt deep inside him that something about today was just—off. For lack of a better term. He wasn’t quite sure what was going to be off about it, maybe his gut was just fooling him or something. He held fast to his camera bag as he waited for the bus. He wasn’t in a bad part of town, but the bad feeling was making him a bit paranoid. He didn’t need to be in a bad part of town for something bad to happen, anyways. He sighed in relief when the bus pulled up and he paid with his bus pass.

The bus generally took him to work, so he felt a little out of place being so dressed down. At his job, he didn’t really need to wear a suit, but he did wear a button up and slacks, sometimes a tie. He looked around and saw that other people were wearing nicer things, carrying laptop bags and briefcases. He was glad that his stop wasn’t too far down the road.

Stepping off the bus brought on a sigh of relief. Ryan looked ahead, across the street, to the state park he had chosen to explore today. Along with the bone-deep fear of water, Ryan also had an uncanny relationship with nature. Ever since he was a child, both animals and plants have had connections with him. He could nurse any house plant back to health. Deer would approach him on his walks in the woods. Dogs and cats acted calmer around him, as if he had some kind of aura that spoke their language, like he was telling them that they were safe now. All the better for his journey in learning more about the world around him. He remembered once, when he didn’t have his camera, he had been approached by a fox. It sniffed his hand and trotted along behind him through his walk that day. It had been so magical, if only he’d caught it on camera.

He dug his camera out of the bag and flicked it on as he crossed the street. He figured he’d just take the first trail he saw, and soon spotted one that was marked with stones. As he stepped into the woods, the feeling from earlier came back, but he brushed it off yet again. There was no need to worry, right?

Sara: Do you wanna hang out at your place today?

Shane squinted at the screen of his phone. He looked at the clock, but remembered that he’d actually unplugged it last night, so it wasn’t on. Judging by the light outside, he’d have to guess that it was around noon. He rubbed his eyes with his fingertips and let out a small groan.

Six months. Six months, he’d been a human without going back down, even once. He’d never been in the overworld for this long at once. It was exhausting, really. As a human, in his human body, he needed to do things, like eat, and sleep. In the underworld, he never needed to do these things. Drink nectar for pleasure, bathe to pass time, and lay in his bed covered in furs to see if they still smell like her.

Oh yes, he’d been in the overworld for six months, because he could have sworn he was getting close.

He wasn’t sure why he felt this way. There was no indication besides a tightness in his chest, an anxious feeling in his gut. His very soul reaching out, feeling hers reach back.

Shane: No, you know the rules. Corner café?

Since living in the overworld, Shane had discovered many things about humans. First of all, if you slip up and call yourself something like Hades, people don’t take you seriously. Shane did some searching on babynames.com to find an average kind of name for a male. Shane seemed like a pretty good name, and so that’s what he became. Eventually, it became natural to refer to himself as Shane, but in his slip up period, he hadn’t made any friends.

Well, he had made one friend.

Sara: okay fine… just so you know, your “rules” are dumb.

Sara was like a blessing. Shane had thought it was a good idea when he came up to the overworld to start his search via dating apps. Truthfully, he just didn’t know how or where to start searching, and he already had a curiosity about human dating, so he figured it wouldn’t hurt to try it out. He’d made a profile for himself, and the only person to actually respond and come through was Sara. They chatted online for hours at a time, and finally met up at a café.

Shane already knew that Sara wasn’t Persephone before they even physically met. He was sure that when he found her again, something in his chest would ignite. When he started messaging Sara, he’d been excited, but nothing seemed to click. They went on two dates before he told her this. Well, he told her that he didn’t think they were gonna work out, but followed it up with a friendship invitation, claiming he needed a friend because he was “new in town”. Sara had taken it really well, she almost seemed relieved when he asked if they could just be friends.

Shane: you know you like them ;) see you there.

Sara was interested in finding out more about him. She figured out quickly enough that he was looking for someone specific, not just anyone. Not someone he hadn’t met yet. Maybe it had been the faraway look in his eyes when his eyes happen to catch a bouquet of flowers. Maybe it was the desperate arch of his shoulders, always looking, head held up in search. Somehow, she knew, and she just wanted to help.

They were meeting today for coffee.

Shane threw on a flannel and sweater with jeans. Feeling comfortable, he grabbed his wallet and laptop bag. He discovered quite quickly that he couldn’t do much in the overworld without some form of currency, and apparently gold coins were a thing of the past, so he had to make due. He found a place that traded jewelry for cash, and happily traded some lesser crafts for enough money to live in the overworld. He left his apartment and walked down the street to the café to meet up with Sara. She lived closer to it, so she’d probably be there before him. He wondered if he should text her what he wanted, or just wait until he got there.

On his way to the café, he kept looking across the street at the state park. There was something about the park that was calling to him today. As he walked, the feeling grew stronger. He looked on curiously at the forest, wondering the world was trying to tell him something. If he did go into the park, what would he find there? The feeling was coming from an ancient part of him, one that has been searching for decades, for millennium, just to find her.

He managed to pull himself away for now, since he was nearly at the café, but it didn’t leave his mind.

The café door jingled when he entered, and he saw a girl life her head. She had short, curly hair was had been dyed a deep purple. She immediately beamed at him, waving him over. Shane came over and saw that she had a number on her table.

“Order something already?” he asked.

“Oh, don’t worry, I got you something,” she grinned. “You like tea, right?”

He blushed at the thoughtfulness. “Y-yeah, I love tea.”

“Oh! I’m glad I remembered, haha,” she said. “I got you tea. I figured, since I was already here…”

“That’s very nice of you,” he scratched the back of his neck. “Oh, how are you?”

Sara shrugged one shoulder and absently picked at a peeling bit of paint on the table. “Eh, I’m okay, better now that I have company!”

Shane moved his chair a little closer to her, draping an arm over her shoulder. “Oh, what happened?”

“Just another date fell through,” she muttered. “It’s so hard to find someone these days.”

“Oh yeah, tell me about it,” he laughed. She smiled up at him. Their conversation was interrupted by a server coming over and asking them if this was their order, and set down a tray. The tray had a steaming cup of tea, a mug of coffee, a bagel, and a bowl of yogurt with oats and fruit. Sara nodded enthusiastically, and the server left them, taking the number on their table.

“Is that all yours?” Shane asked, but then she handed him the bagel and cup of tea.

“Oops, looks like I got more food than I can eat…” she muttered, trying not to grin. Shane blushed.

“You didn’t need to get this…” he said, but smiled about it anyways. After making friends with Sara, Shane had realized how lonely he’d been all by himself for so long. It was good to have a friend. In the underworld, he never had any friends. Well, he didn’t try and make any either, but still.

“Well, I needed to pay you back for all those things you’ve done for me!” she insisted. Her hand ghosted over the necklace she was currently wearing. It was a small diamond moonstone on a silver chain. The moonstone was one of his favorite gemstones, and he basically hoarded them in his palace. They always gave off a calming aura, or at least it seemed like it. It reminded him of the underworld, or at least the good parts of it. Like standing on the white shore of the great river Acheron. Unlike Styx, Acheron was peaceful and pleasant. The yang to Styx’s yin.

He’d given her that necklace the day after they decided to just be friends. He wanted to thank her for sticking around. There weren’t many people who did that for him.

“Oh, you don’t have to,” he smiled, before spreading some cream cheese on his bagel. “But this bagel will do just fine.”

They talked for a bit, sipping their drinks and simply enjoying each other’s company. Eventually, though, the pull from earlier came back. Like a magnet in his gut, being attracted to something in the woods across the street. He gazed out the window, feeling himself zone out. He imagined his beautiful wife, the night before she killed herself. She was wearing a gorgeous crimson sheer dress, roses and sticks of red berries woven into her hair. The last place he saw her was when he had left her lounging on their bed, neck red from kisses, blinking sleepily up at him.

He shouldn’t have left her that night. He hadn’t been that busy, it could’ve waited, whatever it was. That had been so long ago. He’d let so many memories go, but not that one. Her dark eyes, heavy lashes, the curve of her body, the softness in her voice. It was all so clear, and yet, he had overlooked all the signs.

She hadn’t really been happy with him. There was always something calling her away. She was like a caged bird, a chained animal. She sang and smiled and laid down to be touched, but it was all for show. She might have loved him, but he wasn’t enough. He had never been enough, and he never would be. He didn’t own her, because no one could ever own such a spirit.

“Earth to Shane,” he was brought back by a hand waving in front of his face. Sara looked at him quizzically.

“Something on your mind, buddy?” she asked. He felt his chest tighten when he looked away from the window. He brought out his wallet and plucked out a few dollars.

“Hey, I gotta go, here’s some money for the tip,” he said, hurriedly.

“Wait, you’re leaving already?” she asked, looking a bit disappointed. She rolled with it, however, and called after him as he left the café. “Well, text me later, I guess!”

He looked into the woods across the street as he waited for the light to change. The feeling inside of him grew stronger the longer he stared. The feeling told him that she was close. She was there, in the woods.

“I don’t know if you’re really out there,” he whispered to himself. “But I’ll find you, I promise.”

#buzzfeed unsolved #gods au #hades and persephone au #shyan #skeptic believer #my fic #hope you like!!!#happy thanksgiving guys!!!#alreadydone99

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skinnyloves-blog · 4 years

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Psychology Writing

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In this tutorial, we’re going to talk about the kind of papers you will be expected to write in psychology classes and some general tips for good writing in psychology. The information in this tutorial comes from the writing centers at the University of Richmond and Purdue University.

Psychology writing may expect you to do one or more of the following: To summarize information accurately, To synthesize information from different sources, To interpret the validity of different sources, Or to present your own findings in a research article. There are four different types of psychology papers reflecting these expectations: reports, reviews, literature reviews, and research articles. Let’s talk about each one of these in turn.

In a report, you present information from a single source. You should focus on summarizing the author’s argument, not assessing it or stating whether you agree or disagree. While you do not need to write the traditional five-paragraph essay, the report should have a logical introduction, body, and conclusion. Your conclusion may explore how the source relates to other research or to the “real world.”

In a review, you analyze and critique the argument of a single source. You must summarize the author’s argument as you would do in a report, and then offer evidence as to why you agree or disagree with each point. Your evidence may be logical or it may require more research on your part. The conclusion should discuss wider implications and suggest which topics require more research.

A literature review is one of the most common types of writing in psychology and many other disciplines, so you need to learn how to write it well. In a literature review, you present arguments and theories from many different sources on a single topic. You must also evaluate the arguments, compare and contrast the sources, and present all the information in a logical fashion. So a literature review is basically the same as a review, except you will be writing about and integrating your thoughts on many different sources. This means you will need to search for various books, articles, and websites that offer different perspectives on one issue. The issue you choose should be narrow so you can adequately discuss the major sources that talk about it. For example, learning disabilities would be too broad a topic for a literature review. You might instead write about the pros and cons of a certain therapy or medication for treating a specific type of learning disability.

Finally, the largest and most comprehensive type of writing in psychology is the lab report or research article. A research article has 7 main sections: The title page includes your paper’s title, your name, the name of your college or university, and a type of header called a “Running head” that goes throughout your entire paper. The abstract summarizes the entire paper usually in 120 words or less. The introduction provides an explanation of the problem you are investigating and usually includes a literature review on what other experts have said on the problem. You should specify how your research responds to these experts and fills a gap in knowledge. Finally, you should introduce your hypothesis and the variables, populations, and methods you use in your study. The methods section explains how you conducted the experiment, who it was conducted on, and with what materials. Descriptions of participants and testing procedures should be clear, concise, and not refer to the results of your study. The results section gives the specific data resulting from your study. This will often be in the form of statistics, tables, and figures with some commentary. The discussion section is your extended commentary on your data and a restatement of your findings. You should examine patterns in your data, discuss any conclusions you made, and describe what steps could be taken to improve your study. You should close with a discussion of why your study is relevant to the larger issue you brought up in your introduction. Finally, you end with your list of references. Every source you mention in your article must have a full citation in APA style corresponding to an in-text citation in your paper. All your sources should be scholarly and relatively recent, unless they are classic, important works in the field.

Let’s close with some general tips for good psychology writing in any type of paper. You should write in plan, concise, and clear language. Psychology writing is formal, scientific, and focused on empirical evidence. It is not the place to tell stories, inject humor, or employ creative literary devices. This means your arguments must result from a consideration of the evidence, not from examples, narratives, or opinions. Finally, remember to always use APA formatting style from the American Psychological Association. Likes: 3 Viewed:

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robotnik-mun · 7 years

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Robotnik Retrospective Part Six: Rage Against The Machine

Hello again, everybody, and welcome back to another exciting (*coughBullcrap*) addition to the Robotnik retrospective! Well folks, you’ve stuck through five of these things already, and really I thank all of you for that, but the reality is that this crazy train is swiftly reaching its destination- this post here will be the last of the proper retrospective posts. After this we will conclude our series with an afterward, a summation, what have you, and at last this insane party of Robotnik fan obssession will come to an end. Been a fun ride folks, but all good things must come to an end.

So far we have covered how I came to enjoy this Robotnik so much, his design and the history behind it, an in-depth look at his character, a look at how he as a character is shaped by his relationships with others and how they are in turn shaped by him, and most recently we examined the other Robotniks that were spawned from this one and featured in both Archie Comics and Sonic Underground. Sufficed to say, over the course of the retrospective we’ve covered a loooot of ground regarding ol ‘Buttnik, and it is here that we cover one last little area regarding this Robotnik.... namely, the criticisms.

Oh yes. Within the Sonic fandom all things tend to be a matter of contention, and this model of Robotnik is no different. One thing I notice across the fandom is a certain set of criticisms, criticisms that I feel tend to ignore certain contexts with this guy, or rely upon certain double standards- especially since more often than not, when these criticisms are made, it’s almost always done in relation to the Eggman of the games, despite the fact that more than a few of those criticisms can be leveled at Eggman himself, and often treat personal opinion as an objective fact.

Now obviously, this is not a demand for people to love the guy- it’s patently impossible for everyone to agree on everything. I just feel though that a lot of these criticisms are a bit lopsided, and so, I am offering up counterpoints to at least provide an alternative view or to contextualize things, and to perhaps debunk a few here and there. I’m actually kind of nervous about this one because of how easy it could be to slide into pathetic fan-whining, so hey, here’s hoping we get through this without me getting personal.

Let’s get it on.

As I said, everything in Sonic is a subject of contention or controversy to somebody. One man’s favorite is another man’s mistake of the franchise. That’s just covering the games- the various spin-offs and adaptations the games have enjoyed over the years tend to attract a particular amount of controversy. Differing interpretations, utilization or lack of utilization of materials and lore from the games, the precise nature of the world Sonic lives in, interpretations and use of characters, whether or not humans are included beyond Eggman... all of it tends to be scrutinized rather harshly. I do earnestly believe that at some level, spin-off media gets more criticism than it warrants due to the fact that, by its very nature, it is viewed as being ‘less legitimate’ than the games proper, despite existing with SEGA’s endorsement and approval each and every time. Even Sonic Underground, the most radically different Sonic adaptation out there, couldn’t get made unless SEGA gave the okay.

Another layer to all of this is the fact that the overwhelming majority of these spinoff materials were made in the USA, for American Audiences, based upon the localizations of the games. This adds another factor to the Legitimacy Debate, given that SEGA of Japan runs the show, and Sonic Team’s lore has always differed from the localized takes. Much like the ‘Subs vs Dubs’ debates within Anime fan communities, the merit of the differences and interpretations between regions is something of a warzone in itself, resulting in a very weird situation where you often see the Adaptations derided purely for being a Western invention rather than springing from the ‘true’ source of Sonic, which is Japan. The irony of this logic is that Sonic has been incredibly popular everywhere BUT Japan, and the sorts of people who espouse this viewpoint are often from Western countries themselves.

Ah, but I must digress, lest this turn into a dissertation about the nature of the fan-divide and becomes even longer than it is already shaping up to be. Point of order- the spinoff adaptations that once speckled the franchise of the 90s tend to rack up a lot of strong opinions for good or ill, and due to the sheer number of designs and interpretations Eggman/Robotnik underwent between each adaptation. In some ways it’s almost symbolic of a lot of the arguments about Eggman himself these days- how evil is he, how humorous, does he have good traits, what should his exact relationship with Sonic be, and so on and so forth. A lot of these spinoff takes often seem to embody one end of the scale or the other to varying extremes, and that is particularly evident in the SatAM model of Robotnik.

So, having brought all of that up, it is *finally* time to take a look at the most common criticisms I find of the SatAM model Robotnik, and to offer up a few rebuttals. Thank you for your patience.

Now then... on with the criticisms.

“He doesn’t look like Eggman!”

This one comes up a lot, and really, it’s quite indisputably true.

Yeah, pretty fair observation there- these two are pretty far apart design wise, and even accounting for the artistic interpretations that were used on Eggman in Western box art during that time, it is nakedly apparent that the SatAM Robotnik is veeery different looking to the guy from the games, whether in the classical era or the modern era. So yeah, there’s no denying it- he really doesn’t look like Eggman.

However... is it really *that* big of a deal?

SatAM Robotnik is pretty far removed from Eggman from a design standpoint, but in the end, he does actually share the same basic features- bald, obese, huge mustache, and a red, yellow and black color scheme distributed by the top half being dominated by red while the bottom half is dominated by blackm and of course shaped like an egg. In this, Robotnik isn’t straying that far- he does in fact possess all the iconic features that make the Eggman design, simply re-interpreted to other extremes. Heck, Robotnik accentuates the Egg motiff in his look even more than Eggman himself! An irony I rather appreciate.

I find it hard to believe that THIS aspect of Robotnik is really *that* much of a dealbreaker, particularly since the Robotnik who first started this design trend in AosTH never seems to receive the same criticism.

Yeah, not exactly a loyal replication of the game design there, now is it? If Adventures Robotnik can get a pass for his own divergent design, then I feel that the same courtesy can be extended to SatAM Robotnik.

It’s actually a bit of an ironic twist that SEGA themselves toyed with the idea of making Eggman into a cyborg as well.

While clearly they didn’t go with this, it should be noted that Sonic Team themselves didn’t seem to think it was that much of a stretch for Eggman himself to have cybernetics as well. Just something to consider.

Heck, for extra irony points, consider SEGA themselves don’t seem to be all too concerned about whether ol’ Eggy looks the part of a man called ‘Eggman’ these days.

‘He looks like an upside down egg!’

My hairy butt he does.

A buff Eggman is arguably a far, far more drastic divergence than what SatAM Robotnik’s got going on, given that it completely inverts one of the core design aspects of the character, one that has been utilized by every other incarnation out there- his obese, ovoid physique to which he owes the name ‘Eggman’ to begin with.

So yeah, I rest my case. You’re free to like or dislike a design, but this claim specifically doesn’t really seem to hold much water with regards to being a strike against him.

“He’s practically a different character!”

Weeeelllllll.... yes, and no. This is one of those criticisms that kind of misses out on certain contexts and makes a pretty big assumption- namely that Eggman has always existed as we now know him. Cause the thing is, up until Sonic Adventure? “Eggman” never really existed in the West. Confused by what I mean? Well, allow me to elaborate a bit.

While Dr. Eggman was always such back in Japan, when it came time for the games to come over to Western shores, the story and characters of the game were localized in the hopes of making the game more marketable to local audiences. As such Dr. Eggman, who had evidently already been an enemy of Sonic’s for a while before the events of the first game, now became “Dr. Ivo Robotnik”, and was given a more detailed background- that once upon a time, he was a good and kindly scientist called Ovi Kintobor, who was a friend of Sonic’s until an accident involving CHaos Emeralds and a rotten egg transformed him into the evil Dr. Ivo Robotnik, who immediately set off to conquer Mobius.

Various bits and pieces from Sonic of America’s official documents consistently characterize Dr. Ivo Robotnik as being ‘pure evil’, and his design was altered in the cover art for the games to reflect his sinister nature.

You know, I never really noticed that the Sonic 2 Cover Art made it look like he had a beard going on along with that mustache. Funky.

Anyway!

This was to form the basis of the character in the US, and thanks to the open-ended nature of his actions in the game proper, said actions became cast in a more sinister light due to the more openly obvious and malevolent nature of Robotnik that was presented. It is from all of this then that SatAM Robotnik, and all the other Robotniks introduced in the spinoff materials at the time derive their character from, and since all the details provided painted Robotnik as an evil, evil person, it was up to the writers for these spinoffs to interpret whether they should be played for laughs or for chills.

In short? Eggman didn’t exist in the West when SatAM Robotnik was created. The criticism that he is practically a different character from Eggman is reliant upon a false premise- he cannot be faulted for being a different character to Eggman when he was created at a time when “Eggman” wasn’t even a part of Sonic as far as Western Audiences were concerned, until Sonic Adventure happened and things changed to better fit how things had always been in Japan. Similarly, the scant details we know about Eggman’s life hadn’t even been conceived of at the time.

It is at this point though that I feel compelled to point out though that while Robotnik’s differences from the current understanding of Eggman is simply a result of the time he was created, it should be noted that Robotnik is still a pretty inaccurate representation of the Robotnik from the games. SatAM Robotnik’s real name is Julian, his backstory doesn’t utilize the Chaos Emerald accident at all, he’s already the ruler of Mobius and has been for a while now, and his robots are completely different. While he still turns animals into robots, the concept has been re-interpreted so that rather than using people as batteries for his robots, the Roboticizer converts flesh and blood creatures into mechanical slaves for Robotnik’s empire.

Now these are all traits that I personally quite enjoy, but I’d be an idiot to suggest that it isn’t a pretty huge divergence from the lore that the games themselves establish. The thing of it is though, that SEGA themselves were not particularly interested in enforcing the aforementioned lore. In the earlier Adventure series, bits and pieces of Robotnik’s backstory were revealed, and much like the later SatAM , there’s not a lot that aligns with what the games had presented- Robotnik here was evil from the moment he was born and had a family in the form of an even more crazed and evil mother who constantly berated him for not destroying Sonic. Similarly, Game!Robotnik’s schtick of ‘turning animals into robots’ didn’t come up all that much, if at all.

The simple reality is? SEGA of America didn’t really care to enforce the lore it had created, and SEGA of Japan didn’t see fit to do similar. SEGA desiring a more universal approach for the setting it had created was something that came about with the advent of Sonic Adventure, and before that? Well, the most game accurate Robotnik out there, was the Robotnik from Fleetway.

Yeah, THAT terrifying bastard.

And don’t think for an instant that Sega of Japan themselves were any better at this. Back in Japan they released a series of Manga to tie into the games. Wanna know how that turned out?

Gotta confess, I don’t recall any of this happening at any point in the game. Cool robots though!

Another Manga would take it a step further and give a wholly new story- Sonic was the heroic identity that a shy hedgehog boy called Nicky could transform into. Nicky would have a family consisting of a mother, a father and a little sister, as well as having a girlfriend who would later form the basis for Amy Rose.

And then there was a manga that was released to tie into Sonic 2 for the game gear. Being a direct adaptation meant to promote the game, this would surely do a more than sufficient job of accurately portraying-

JESUS.

... so...

...uh...

...yeeah, long story short, Sonic on the whole didn’t really have a set idea, whether for Robotnik/Eggman or anything else. I once used the term ‘Jungle Law’ to describe how things were for the franchise in the 90s, and I must once more reiterate that that was precisely the case during that time, both in the US and everywhere else. People are of course free to feel about SatAM Robotnik and how he relates to the games (or rather doesn’t) as they wish, but one thing I would ask when doing that is to at least consider the time in which he was created, and to understand that even if he had been made to be game accurate at that time, he’d still be wildly, wildly different than the Eggman everyone is now familiar with.

“He doesn’t invent anything!”

I honestly have no idea where this one came from... well, actually, that’s a lie, I know exactly where it stems from- the fact that Robotnik stole the Roboticizer from Uncle Chuck rather than inventing it himself wholesale. I can see why that would be a turn-off. Heck, I myself find it somewhat diminishing that he stole the invention rather than creating it himself wholesale, even as I love the horrible, horrible twist that it was a medical device created by Sonic’s own uncle, and the blood on Charles’ hand because of it. On that front though, I would point out that innovation is not just a matter of wholesale creation, but of taking things that existed before and taking them in new directions, and while maybe as not as grand as him being the sole creator of the Roboticizer, he still took the device and modified it towards a capacity it was never intended towards. I would argue then that it’s still pretty ingenious.

That being said though, 'never’ invents anything?

That just isn’t supported by anything seen in the series. Every last machine and robot witnessed is created by him. Taking precisely one incident and then declaring that he 'doesn’t invent anything’ because of it is a preposterous exaggeration built upon a premise thats overblown and inaccurate to begin with. No, he didn’t 'invent’ the original technology, but as I said, he took it in a direction never dreamt of before by its original creator- that’s still an application of intelligence and scientific skill.

It’s a particularly baffling accusation given that it’s not as though the games themselves dedicate huge amounts of time observing Eggman in the process of creating his machines, whether in the present time or back in the 90s. The reason I bring this up is because at times, part of what seems to fuel this criticism is that Robotnik is only rarely seen constructing his devices. Rarely however is not the same thing as ‘never’, and even then common sense would decree that the scientific genius does in fact make stuff even if you don’t see it happen.

It’s one thing to be annoyed by the fact that roboticizer isn’t his own- that’s quite understandable really. Going off of that to claim that he ‘invents nothing’ though? That’s just blatantly untrue.

“He’s lazy!”

Now unlike the last one, this is one that I just legitimately do not get. He runs an empire and personally oversees all operations from his command room. Of course he’s not going to be running around everywhere at all times, and even then, there are several episodes where he personally investigates things or direct operations personally. There’s really not a lot that can be said about this one because it’s probably one of the weakest criticisms out there, and ironically enough is itself very lazy.

“He’s unoriginal/derivative/a ripoff!”

Well I mean, yeah? He’s literally the re-interpretation of a character from a video game, he’s quite derivative by default-

Heh, okay, okay, I’m being facetious here. I know what the actual gist of the criticism is, and to a degree it’s quite correct- Robotnik is a character who fulfills a very specific character archetype, that of the Evil Overlord. He’s big, he’s evil, he’s got a cape, and he’s got a hankerin’ for some oppressin’. Though I suppose calling it an ‘archetype’ is being a tad kind given that whenever this particular one is brought up the word that enters the vernacular more often than not tends to be ‘cliche’. Comparisons that often follow tend to accuse him of being a dime store version of Dr. Claw from Inspector Gadget or Darth Vader from Star Wars (not sure why that’s a negative comparison- those two are awesome!), and I can see that to a certain degree. This character type is an old one, and Robotnik himself doesn’t exactly break new ground.

Thing is though? This criticism is almost always made by drawing an implicit comparison to his counterpart from the games, with the implication being that Robotnik is the derivative creation/concept, as opposed to Eggman. This, even more than the criticism itself, is what particularly bothers me, because frankly? This assertion is a pretty big double-standard, one of the two major double-standards that tend to arise when SatAM Robotnik is compared to his games counterpart. More than anything, I find the both of them to be incredibly rankling for precisely those reasons- we will cover the other one once we are finished with this one.

An Evil Overlord isn’t exactly a big innovation... but neither are mad scientists who are out to conquer the world with robot armies. That one had been done to death long before Sonic, and will continue to see use long after the franchise is dead and gone.

Many of Eggman’s traits are not exactly unique to him, even within video games. A bald mad scientist with a big mustache, who primarily travels around in a hovering machine, who uses armies of robots with cartoonish features and big goofy looking eyeballs? Where have I heard that before... wherever have I heard that...

Oh, hey there Dr. Wily!

But wait, I can do it across two mediums! Bald scientist, bushy mustache with mechanical engineering skills who exploits animals for his evil schemes and is constantly thwarted animals that are much smaller than himself.... remind you of anybody at all, hmm?

He’s even voiced by Jim Cummings!

Yeah, an unkind soul might accuse ol’ Eggman of being an off-brand version of Dr. Wily, and an even less kind soul might simply dismiss him as the end result of tossing Nimnul and Wily into a blender and hitting puree. Before you get worked up though know this; I do not *actually* think this, and it would be ludicrous to think of Eggman as being a ripoff or being overly derivative of those two (the traits are there, undeniably, but these are not to the detriment of the character or his originality in the least). I would be incredibly incensed at anyone earnestly suggesting that Eggman was unoriginal or a ripoff of those two or anything along those lines... but the thing is, I feel the exact same way about similar statements being hurled towards SatAM Robotnik with regards to his originality as a character. There are things that are similar to what other characters have done, sure, but there is more than enough that is distinct about him, whether its his look, his personality or M.O, that calling him a copy or derivative is fairly unwarranted, and I would say the same to anybody declaring such things about ol’ Eggy.

In conclusion? This criticism isn’t invalid by itself as we all have different tastes and such, but given the context of how it is often used, there is something of a double-standard at work- traits that would be regarded as cliche or derivative are perfectly acceptable within Eggman, but a similar courtesy cannot be extended to the SatAM Robotnik. It’s a rich thing to call one incarnation ‘a ripoff’, when the character that spawned him was most famous for using a parody of the Death Star as an ultimate weapon prior to Sonic Adventure.

Which brings me to the very last criticism I keep hearing, this one a... personal favorite.

“He’s boring/lacks depth/is uninterestng/doesn’t have a personality!”

One thing I’ve established is that some criticisms tend to be made with a direct comparison to Eggman in mind, and this one? This is the one that tends to come up the most frequently and is the most insisted upon, and often the one most loudly declared (in as much as anything on the internet can be ‘loud’). Many times when this one is made, it is done with the obvious implication that this Robotnik is deficit in these areas when compared to his game counterpart. Depth is what makes a character more than what we see on the surface- its things like history, facets of personality, flaws, strengths, weaknesses, how they express their world view through words and actions, who they are related to and how they relate or do not relate to the people in their lives, and how they develop. In short, it’s a matter of how realized a character is.

It’s also one of the most singularly *baffling* accusations to use, not because of Robotnik himself, but because of the nature of characterization within the wider Sonic franchise and the fandom’s somewhat tortured relationship with it.

One of the very ugly truths about Sonic as a series? Is that precious few of the characters can truly be seen as ‘deep’ or ‘developed’, largely as a consequence of the way this series operates. Character developments from past games are rarely if ever built upon, past details are scarce and only barely referenced after initial introductions, and personality traits are either ramped up or dialed back based on the demands of the games, which are not always written very consistently. There is nothing particularly wrong with this- this being a long running video game series with no planned end, it is to be expected that each of the characters would more or less be the same person they were the last time around, frustrating as it is when more intriguing details are waylaid as a result (looking at you, Knuckles).

The only noteworthy exception to this trend, ironically enough, is Shadow the Hedgehog.

On paper Shadow should be a rather terrible idea- a black and red furred hedgehog with a brooding attitude and powers that match Sonic’s, along with a few extra abilities Sonic doesn’t possess, who is involved in Eggman’s own family history that was never mentioned before that point? Everything about Shadow screams ‘baby’s first fancharacter’. Yet despite that fact, Shadow is ultimately the biggest recipient of character development and evolution in the series- his backstory is the most explored, he has undergone the most development, and is the only one to have grown out of the role that initially defined him. It’s all rather astounding given that he debuted explicitly as an ‘Evil Twin’ to challenge Sonic, only to ultimately wind up having more concrete details than the hero he was created to challenge.

Otherwise though? There’s not really a lot to most Sonic characters beyond a few traits that give a teensy amount of depth. This includes our good buddy Eggman.

Eggman has no real past and no real motive for his goals of world conquest, nor are any details provided with regards to what his precise vision for the world is. Since he gained the ability to talk Eggman has frequently displayed himself to be a bellicose, immature egomaniac who has never done a single genuinely selfless thing throughout the entirety of the series, nor are we given a lot of indication as to what he’s like when he isn’t actively plotting against the world. He has all of exactly one detail that gives him any kind of depth beyond being a by-the-book video game nemesis, and that’s the fact that when he was a child he admired his grandfather Gerald Robotnik and wanted to be like him. This admiration however never leads anywhere, and the last time it was mentioned was in Shadow the Hedgehog, and even then only because the plot revolved around Shadow and Gerald’s actions in the past. Contrary to what he claimed in Sonic Lost World, Eggman isn’t really a ‘complicated guy’.

Otherwise we are never provided any insight as to how the ARK incident impacted him or how it factors into his motivations, if at all- one can theorize that the treatment of his grandfather might be one of the stronger motivating factors of his mission for world conquest, but on the other hand, one can just as easily come to the conclusion that while he indeed respects and admires his grandfather and was probably upset over what happened, his goals are disconnected to that incident and his motivations are purely ego driven. Could be one, could be the other, but the fact of the matter is that there is not definite answer because it is never actually explored in the games. We don’t even have a clue as to what his thoughts or feelings about Maria and her death were.

You see where I’m getting at with this?

Much about this franchise is what we can take from what we are provided with, what we can interpret and how we can explore mud puddles as if they had the depths of the ocean. It’s about looking past what’s set in stone, peering through the cracks and wondering what more there could be. It’s about exploring the aspects that the games themselves don’t see fit to elaborate upon. There are thousands of interpretations and ideas for how things came to be the way they are, thousands of ideas about what we *aren’t* shown or told about the characters and how they are when we do not see them in the games. It’s what makes this fandom so diverse and so wonderful.

So with all that in mind, you can imagine how I feel whenever I see this particular criticism, accusing Robotnik of being ‘boring’ or ‘lacking depth’ or anything of the like. Especially given that the character he’s being compared to when it comes up isn’t exactly a vast ocean of depth himself. People are free to disagree with the direction or the interpretation, but in a lot of cases this is one of those times when a personal opinion is being treated as an objective fact. It’s hypocritical and utterly maddening, and it carries with it a certain degree of ‘your shit stinks and mine doesn’t’.

And you know, if SatAM Robotnik DOES come off as less developed... well frankly, what do people expect? He is from a series that was made twenty years ago with a run of twenty six episodes, and no more. He is literally stuck in time, a time when his existence was perfectly acceptable according to SEGA’s policy and marketing strategies. Otherwise? He isn’t used. The universe he is a part of isn’t used. He’s not even really referenced in a meaningful way anymore. There is literally no way for him to go any further than when the series ended. By contrast, Eggman will always be used for as long as the games are made and always be allowed to try new things, use new machines, commit new acts and rise to new heights or sink to new lows. For this though, SatAM Robotnik is innately lesser?

And you know, I can understand where a good portion of it comes from, beyond the game purists who kinda hated all the spinoffs for not matching the games by default. For the longest time this version of Robotnik was touted as the ‘best’, and for those who were not fans of this depiction it could get impossibly grating to hear it over and over again, this endless praise of something they couldn’t get the appeal of to begin with. When you’re told something is great over and over again when you don’t like it, or if something you might otherwise feel neutral about is similarly shoved into your face constantly, you start looking for flaws out of the simple resentment that it almost seems like you’re being *forced* into liking something. Heck, even when you might be neutral about a subject, having it overhyped can sour you to it.

So, having said aaaalll of that? The point of order is that I do not agree with this criticism, nor do I agree with the bulk of the mentality behind it. It frames things in such a way that makes it seems like the two incarnations are actively competing with one another, which is ludicrous given that the Games Eggman is... well... Games Eggman. He’s never, ever going to go anywhere or be replaced, so long as the games are made. I like Eggman, and I like SatAM Robotnik, and I like the fact that they are distinct from one another. I don’t need Eggman to become more like Robotnik- and for the record, I don’t think he’s a pussywillow or anything, even limiting his actions to the classic games. As outlined here, Eggman is a pretty nasty character beneath all the goofiness, having a bevy of truly horrible deeds to his name. I find complaints about him being ‘too evil’ in Archie to be fairly ludicrous given all of his actions across the games. What was the Death Egg gonna do thenm if it had successfully carried out its purpose? Pop open and spray confetti over everything while a big banner unfolded with the words “GOT YA!!” written on it, complet with a doodle of Eggman blowing a raspberry? Eggman is pretty damn nasty as is. I just feel that his SatAM counterpart is *nastier*, and as the many posts preceding this have established, I have a heavy appreciation for that fact.

In sumary- we all have different tastes, we all have different likes, and it’s impossible to get everybody to like what they like. These are acceptable. What I don’t find acceptable is when facts are ignored or details downplayed in order to make the things that I enoy seem flatter or more limited than they actually are. Especially given how, when used, this particular criticism is often based more on opinion. As such, I heavily, heavily dispute this particular argument regarding this incarnation of Robotnik’s value as a character.

With that, the academic (for a loose definition of ‘academic’) portion of the retrospective officially comes to a close. All that remains now is to post the next installment, which will conclude the entirety of the retrospective.

Until next time, folks!

#Sonic the Hedeghog #Dr. Robotnik #Analysis

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psychobender · 5 years

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The Basic Principles - PREME

To put it briefly, these principles were made to make you a good person. Now before you scream at me saying “how can you define good? Isn’t that a subjective judgment? And to that I say, Yes. It is a subjective judgmental word buut it’s better than saying an “Unbiased, never a victim, that controls 100% of his/hers emotional impulses, never gets offended, healthy, libertarianly ethical, never afraid to question people and ideas, never offends people when criticizing, , never feels “dumb” and never judges” person which is the accurate way of describing it...Now, how did I reach this conclusion? I looked at 68 answers (13 answers of teachers from my work; 3 answers of close friends 41 answers of colleagues and 13 answers of some random people who came across the questionaire on the internet....Expecting the whole brute research to be posted here?? What are you? Copycat? I ain’t gonna show you now. Wait till I present that research in my last year of college. Then I’ll make a post with the whole analysis. For now, you’re gonna have to deal with the brief version)

Now, finally, to the meat of the meal. These principles were designed and perfected in order to make your life objectively better than at least 90% of all humans currently alive while at the same time respecting your dreams and urges to be whatever you want to be in life. That is valid to everyone. Neurosurgeons, lawyers, salesperson, factory worker, unemployed. If you have these, you’re gonna have little problems in life. Now meet the principles:

1 - Doesn’t have nor cultivates bias against other people.

~50% of the people researched had bias against Bolsonaro electors, straight white males, fat people, leftists and so on.

To acquire this, you need be able to distinguish that although you can draw general conclusions about general populations, you can absolutely never guess what a person is based on that only.

If you fail the first principle you’re going to cut down the possibilities of knowing the full human capabilities of the people you have bias against. For instance, you don’t find interesting to talk to that “idiot” but he might be a doctor, an architect, an excelent bartender, a street performer, a rich investor who helps people fufill their dreams or even someone that really really likes you to the point of being able to be your best friend.

2 - Doesn’t victimize oneself when confronted with hardships.

~45% of people responsibilized either the government, a select group of people or society in general for their problems.

To acquire this you have to practice going out of your comfort zones and facing challenges whilst putting ALL responsability (Not the blame or fault) of what happens to you in YOUR hands. Even if you were struck by a random lightning, it’s your responsability to recover (And of course, you could avoid walking in places where you can be struck by lighting)

If you fail the second principle. You’re can slowly decay into a mindset where your problems are not your responsability and have no solutions, and guess what, that is the textbook suicide mindset..

3 - Doesn’t give things up for emotional impulses.

~70% of the answers admitted recently giving up on something that was rational but they couldn’t follow through with the thing. Such as working out, studying for a test(Even though I believe studying for a test is a stupid decision...Still rational for them), even the classic clichê of not messaging an ex appeared a couple times.

To acquire that, you need to condition yourself to be in full control of your emotions. Rationalize them and prepare yourself for realistic worst case scenarios and you should slowly develop that mental discipline.

If you fail the third one, you are more likely to fall into an addiction or just make more bad decisions because of your lack of emotional control.

-DISCLAIMER: The emotional impulse definition used right there is when your feelings tell you to do something but you rationally know for a fact that this would be a bad call.

4 - Doesn’t get offended by absolutely nothing.

5 out of the 68 people analyzed named something that most offended them (Which means they can get offended). ~7%. 2% if you count off my closest friends who have had training on the subject.

To acquire this you need to stop and think about everything people say. Don’t just feel it. Understand it word by word and categorize it between valid criticism or invalid criticism. It’s easier to not get offended when you realize that this person is trying to communicate something so poorly, it takes a psychologist to actually get the message.

If you fail the fouth one you’re going to get offended. Words are gonna be able to hurt you. But besides that (Which in my opinion is already bad enough) you are going to cultivate angers and hard feelings towards certain people and ideas and that is almost guaranteed to keep you away from great things or maybe you might be feeling down one day, hear something and go downhill until you reach the suicide bottom line. Do not let words hurt you in the age of the internet. That is one of the worst things you could let happen.

5 - Takes active care of one’s own health.

~75% of people researched said they were ignoring health problems because of work, lack of time, good old lazyness and even for the well being of others.

To acquire that you need to understand how your body works. How you gain weight, how you lose weight, how to maintain a healthy and balanced diet, how to keep up a good routine. Basically and analogically, imagine that you’re a machine with lots of pieces. You don’t need to be able to fix all of them but you gotta know how to take care of this machine of yours. Your literal life depends on it.

If you fail the fith one well... You’re going to have a malfunctioning body and eventually die after living a long lasting torture that will be living in a body that you don’t take care of.

6 - Doesn’t commit crimes against private property.

4 out of 68 people chose not to kill an innocent human being when put in different life & death situations. That happens when you think of ethics as “What decision will do the most good”. That is called utilitarianism and it can lead to some pretty nasty reasonings such as exterminating half the universe in order to keep everyone else living a good life. You may say “But that’s a good thing”. 1st, good is subjective, 2nd, I can say that Hitler did a favor to germany when he exterminated all of those people and took his country out of a crysis and you’d have to agree with me to keep your rational consistency.

To acquire that, you must understand that ethics is about universal rules. The most basic of them all is private property. Which can be summed up in one phrase “My freedom reaches up to the beguining of yours”.

If you fail the sixth one, you can eventually commit a crime. And even if you don’t you can also be convinced that something is not a crime based on your relativistic opinion on ethics.

7 - Doesn’t insult with the intention of offending or changing the behaviour of the insulted.

66 out of 68 people admitted having insulted someone with the intent of making them feel bad or changing their behaviour for many different reasons. College homework, family matters, problems with friends and boyfriends.. Let that sink in.

To acquire this, you need to understand that insults and judgments are the worst possible ways of communicating your needs. If you want someone to stop doing something, 1st, you have to use precise language to describe exactly what you want to happen (or not happen) 2nd, you have to share your feelings so people understand better where you’re comming from. If you insult someone you’re most likely not gonna get what you want. Unless you have military power or monetary power. But then you’d need to communicate exactly what you want with precision anyways. (See Marshal Rosemberg’s Non-violent communication to clarify and practice)

If you fail the seventh one you are absolutely guaranteed to try to communicate and make the world a better place and accomplishing the exact opposite by insulting your way in.

8 - Capable of questioning any idea. From your religion and political views to your very existence.

~35% of all people said that they has never questioned the existence of god, had never really changed political opinions. (I couldn’t find a better way to test this principle at the time so you may dismiss this ~35%)

To acquire this you have to lose your fear of asking people questions and eventually lose the fear of asking certain questions by just being honest to your logical brain. You don’t need to change opinion but a good way to start is going for something such as “Why do I want a monogamic relationship? Why does marriage matter? Why do I believe in god? Why am I into girls instead of boys” and try to come up with rational explanations that don’t stop in “I feel like...”

If you fail the eighth one, you can be stuck with a false idea, be it a political belief, a religious belief or really any belief that is false. And if you don’t think that’s bad. Let me picture you that: If you lived 400 years ago you would never be able to question slavery.

9 - Criticizes without trying to offend or judge.

Everyone failed this one. No exception. I asked them to criticize 2 political figures that, at the time, brought up many feelings on the politically polarized 2017 Brazil. They all insulted the president instead of criticizing his attitudes in relation to his governance. Although some people might just be able to do it, it’s interesting to look that none of them did at said moment.

To acquire this, you need to get used to criticizing people you don’t know and be very polite and serious about it. Once you practice enough and solidify your capability, you can look into what happens when you judge or offend someone instead of criticizing. See the pros and cons. Comedians use insults to get attention and polititians use judgments to push an “Us VS Them” narrative. Chose your tools wisely.

If you fail the nineth one your criticism will rarely be taken seriously because you’ll fail to get the point across because it will be mixed in with insults and judgments all over.

10 - Being capable of convincing oneself without feeling “dumb” or generally insecure.

I couldn’t find a way to test this one properly, maynly because I needed to find a way to universally lead people into self-contradiction and see how they react to it. I tried asking the definition of theft, followed by the definition of taxes and in the end asking if taxation is theft, but libertarians would be immune to this contradiction, so let me know if you have a better idea on how to test this item on a research. But what I mean by number 10 is: you can think you’re insecure about your knowledge in numismatics for example because you have no idea of what that is anyways. But discovering something and then feeling as if you are dumber or feeling insecure about your intelligence is not something healthy.

To acquire this you really need to dive far away of your comfort zone and look into new things and talk to people who you may think are “smarter” than you. (DISCLAIMER: Inteligence, smart and all definitions of inteligence are defining a non-existent characteristic. Inteligence, as far as science understands it is immeasurable. You can measure conditionings and arguments, but those are nothing but checkboxes or patterns of rationalizing. Which can one day be defined as inteligence but that day is not today)

If you fail the tenth one, you are basically prone to developing problems with self esteem and its gonna be harder to look at your own talents as they will be shadowed by your feelings of insecurity when you debate someone that proves you wrong. Or even worse, you’re going to dismiss them over your feelings.

Now, let’s say you actually followed all of the instructions and finally managed to have the 10 principles. What would that accomplish? Well, you can say that each principle is an accomplishment. Firstly because they are not easy to train and some are hard to understand if you lack certain logic skills but besides having all of those helpful characteristics, you can now start working your way to push your boundaries even further with the principles of excelence, which will be present in this page in a few days. Good luck out in the world. Peace!

#PREME #Principles #Pedagogy #Education #School #Rules

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mohamadpros · 6 years

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So You Wanna Be a Fitness Model? Individuals that take after my stuff know I for the most part expound on nourishment, supplements, preparing, and different points that are more science based than subjective themes, for example, what is canvassed in this article. I chose to shuck my science nerd persona, and compose on a subject I know will be useful to a huge number of would be and need to be wellness models.

Also a known "bad-to-the-bone" science based no BS essayist, why I am composing what some will see as a "cushion" article? Throughout the years I have become hundreds, maybe thousands, of ladies that ask me by means of email, letters, or in person "how would I turn into a wellness model Will? You have been in the business quite a while, surly you surprisingly should know." I get this from amateurs and I get this from ladies that have been busy a while however have been not able "break in" adequately. The truth of the matter is, I have been in the wellness, wellbeing, and lifting weights business quite a while, and however I am known as a science and nourishment based "master" sort, I have prepared numerous a wellness competitor, and judged wellness and figure/two-piece appears for the NPC, Fitness America, Fitness USA, and different alliances and in addition given showcasing and business exhortation to a wide range of competitors, including wellness models. Along these lines, it's not as implausible as it may appear that I am will utilize this space to cover a non logical theme, which is, the means by which one approaches being a wellness demonstrate. This article will be valuable to both experienced and fledgling sorts hoping to "soften up" to the business. On the off chance that you are as of now an expert and fruitful wellness show, I am certain you may in any case gather some valuable data from this article. In the first place the awful news, there is nobody approach to wind up noticeably an effective wellness show. There is no single way or enchantment mystery. There are however some key things a man can do to incredibly enhance their odds of "making it" in the wellness business as a model, and maybe utilizing that accomplishment as a take off platform to more prominent things, for example, motion pictures, TV, and so forth. A few of the best wellness models (Trish Stratus and Vicki Pratt strike a chord yet there are numerous others) have gone onto professions in diversion of assorted types. Primary concern, however there is no enchantment mystery to being effective as a wellness show, this article will be about as near a diagram for progress as you will discover. "Do I have to contend?" This is an inquiry I get asked constantly and it's not a simple one to reply. Truth be told, the appropriate response is (drum move) yes and no. The individual needs to deicide why they are contending in any case to answer that inquiry. For instance, do you have to contend if you will likely be an effective wellness show? The appropriate response is no. A large number of the present surely understood wellness models have never contended, or they contended in a couple of little shows and it was unmistakably not some portion of their prosperity as wellness models. Be that as it may, contending has its potential employments. One of them is presentation. At the upper level shows, there will frequently be editors, distributers, picture takers, supplement organization proprietors, and different representatives. In this way, contending can enhance your presentation. Likewise, contending can bode well on the off chance that you are endeavoring to fabricate a business that is identified with your contending or will profit by you winning a show. For instance, say you have a private preparing rec center you are attempting to manufacture. Without a doubt, having the title of say Ms Fitness America, or winning the NPC Nationals and being an IFBB star, will help your notoriety and the reputation of your business. There are numerous situations were it would have won a show for a business or different undertakings. Then again, it must be understood that triumphant a show does not at all certification accomplishment in the business end (and it truly is a business) of being a wellness display. The telephone wont ring free with enormous offers for contracts. Likewise, it's imperative to understand that it's normal that the fourth or sixth or eighth place finisher in a wellness or figure show will get more press than the champ. Why? In spite of the fact that the champ may have what it took to win that show, it's regularly different ladies the editorial manager, distributers, supplement organizations and so on, feel is more attractive. I have seen it commonly where the victor was stunned to discover she didn't get almost the consideration she expected and different young ladies who set lower have gotten consideration as photographs shoots, magazine scope, and so forth. A remark at the top of the priority list when you make the critical inquiry "do I have to contend and provided that this is true, why am I contending?" Answer that inquiry, and you will know the response to the heading of this area. Winning a title or some likeness thereof can be a venturing stone, yet it isn't in itself any assurance of accomplishment in the wellness business. It resembles a professional education; it's your main thing with it. Presently. On the off chance that you go after its enjoyment, at that point by all methods pull out all the stops, however the above is concentrating on contending as it identifies with the business part of being a wellness display. Right body, wrong alliance? Alright, so in the wake of perusing the above you have chosen you will contend, or will contend once more. On the off chance that you don't plan to contend, you can avoid this area. The greatest mix-up I see here is such huge numbers of ladies have the correct body for the wrong organization. Every organization has its own particular judging criteria and a contender will do inadequately essentially on the grounds that they didn't try to investigate which show would be most appropriate for them. I will give you an ideal true case of this. As of late I judged a demonstrate whose criteria for the figure round was the ladies ought to be more on the breathtaking milder agree with some tone, versus being more strong and athletic with less bodyfat that different alliances may permit. At this show a standout amongst the most lovely ladies I have ever observed turned out. She was extremely relative, awesome muscle tone, slender, and physically formed with limit hips and midsection and more extensive shoulders. How could she do at this show? She didn't put in the main ten! Why? Since she was not what we were told to search for and didn't fit the criteria. After the show I educated her that she looked incredible, however this may not the alliance for her. I disclosed to her she had substantially more of a NPC sort body, where somewhat more muscle, athletic form, and less bodyfat is compensated. The next week I was judging a NPC wellness, figure, and weight training appear and there she was. How could she do? She won the whole show with all judges voting her main collectively. Then again, if your body sort has a tendency to be more adjusted and conditioned, yet with somewhat more bodyfat, more extensive (yet not fat!) hips, you might be in an ideal situation contending in say the Fitness America Pageants. On the off chance that you will contend: (1) discover precisely what the judging criteria is for that organization and (2) go see those shows as an onlooker for a few changed organizations and see which one your body, style, and so forth will fit into best. (3) You need to choose in the event that you really have the athletic capacities to contend in a wellness rivalry (which requires a schedule) or a figure/swimsuit rivalry. I frequently observe ladies who might do well in a figure appear yet truly don't have the athletic capacities do the schedules required to be focused with different competitors in the show. A few shows will enable you to do the two rivalries and some wont. Systems administration 101: rules and regulations... In such huge numbers of regards, this is the zone that will represent the moment of truth you in any business, but then, individuals in the wellness business make an incredibly poor showing with regards to with it. On the off chance that you don't system and market yourself legitimately, you can basically disregard having any genuine accomplishment as a wellness display, or an achievement in for all intents and purposes any business. For space, we will stick to wellness. When I initially began, I was a self showcasing machine. I could be found at each show I thought may be an open door, strolling the isles of expos, lifting weights, appears, wellness show, and others. I gave out a zillion cards and I brought a million home with me, and followed up on every last one. I went to the same number of industry related gatherings, trips, parties, and so forth as I could get into. I now have the notoriety and involvement in the business that I don't need to go to such a show unless I sense that it, or have gatherings, yet they were very useful in the first place. I am constantly flabbergasted at the quantity of wellness models who get in touch with me who have never at any point been to the Arnold Classic Fitness Weekend, or the Mr. Olympia, or the exchange demonstrates like the NNFA Expo West and others. In the event that you need to make it in the wellness business you beyond any doubt as hellfire would be advised to treat it like a business. I have seen numerous a lovely young lady who needs to be a wellness display who considers in the event that they remain there looking entirely sufficiently long, somebody will offer to put their face on the front of a magazine. News streak, there are a great many wonderful ladies out there and to be seen, you need to hussle to get that professional every other person by systems administration your butt off, or having a decent operator (on the off chance that you can manage the cost of a wonder such as this) who is doing it for you. Pick a couple of real industry shows to go to (some of which were said above) and go to them consistently. Have an arrangement of assault of precisely how you intend to advertise yourself and system. Numerous wellness models, muscle heads, and so forth observe a show as one major gathering. On the off chance that that is you, at that point have a fabulous time at the gathering, however don't think you are truly advertising yourself as a serous agent or competitor. Something else that dependably flabbergasts me is the quantity of wellness models who either have no business cards, or have a few cards they printed up on their air pocket stream printer at home! They request that I help them or what ever and I say "give me your card" and they take a gander at me like "I am so lovely I ought not require a card you trick." This demeanor kills editors, picture takers, scholars, and industry individuals quicker at that point in the event that they discovered you were extremely a transvestite. Try not to do it. For each beautiful young lady out there who thinks the world owes them some help, there are 100 who are prepared to act like experts. Ever ask why some wellness demonstrate you know is improving the situation than you are despite the fact that you know you are prettier than her? That might be why...never ever go to a show to organize without great cards, profiles, and professionally done head and body shots you can provide for said editors, distributers, picture takers, industry sorts, and so on. Try not to remain around looking truly accepting they will discover you, discover them first and present yourself. Furthermore, obviously it ought to abandon saying you ought to be in great condition and have something of a tan to look awesome. You need to go to the shows and gathering? Fine, yet do it in private after the work is done and don't influence a trick to out of yourself at some industry supported social affair. For hell's sake, I was for all intents and purposes filled a taxicab finally years Arnold Classic in the wake of setting off to a sushi put with some understand industry sorts and organizations proprietors (you know your identity!) however in any event nobody saw me! We had our own particular minimal private social gathering after the show to let free. Give me a chance to give you one last certifiable case of how NOT to advertise yourself. A year ago I was on retainer as an expert to a moderate sized supplement organization. The proprietor of the organization inquired as to whether I knew a few wellness display sorts that could work his corner for a public expo. Actually, he asked for "questions, some new faces individuals had not seen yet but rather could develop with the organization." I went and discovered him two such ladies I thought fit the bill. He offered to pay their flights, room, and sustenance in addition to a thousand dollars each for the days work. The two young ladies were advised to be at the corner 9am sharp. The prior night at the lodging, I saw the two young ladies getting in a taxi at 11pm or so dressed to slaughter, obviously on out to party. The following day they appeared at the stall 90 minutes late and hung over! What was the consequence of this? (1) it humiliated me forever as I had prescribed them to the organization proprietor (2) they could never get work from that organization again (3) they could never get any work from me again and (4) they would not get a reference from both of us for different occupations. I see this kind of thing all the time in the wellness business, and it's not restricted to wellness models. Incredibly, fourteen days after the show they messaged me and the organization proprietor needing to know when their next activity would be! Astonishing... Who cherishes you infant? In the event that there is one generally accepted fact, it's that the camera either adores you or it doesn't. Any expert picture takers will reveal to you this. For some obscure reason, a few people are extremely photogenic and some are definitely not. Truth be known, there are some outstanding wellness models (who might stay anonymous as they would presumably smack me whenever they saw me) who are not too alluring face to face. It's simply that the camera adores them and they are extremely photogenic, yet not awfully lovely face to face. On the other hand, I have seen the turn around commonly; a young lady who is vastly improved looking face to face than in photos. Such is the destiny of the individual who needs to be a model of any sort, including a wellness demonstrate. On the off chance that you discover you are not extremely photogenic, continue working with various picture takers until the point that you discover one that truly catches you well and pay that picture taker liberally! Presently, to be gruffly genuine, there are additionally some need to be wellness models who are not "unphotogenic", they're simply "fugly"! There are a few people out there who should not be attempting to be wellness models. It doesn't influence them terrible to individuals, it just means they have to snap out of their dreams and discover a calling they are more qualified for, similar to radio personality.... "How would I get in the magazines?" This segment kind of consolidates all that I have secured above, and includes a couple of extra techniques. For instance, as I specified some time recently, contending in wellness appears as well as figure/two-piece shows can expand your presentation, in this manner getting the consideration of some magazine distributer or picture taker. Systems administration effectively at the different exchange shows may likewise have a similar impact, and obviously having a decent portfolio done by a picture taker that truly catches your look, a great site, and so on., will all expansion your potential for getting into the magazines, or getting promotion work, et cetera. Notwithstanding, these systems are still to some degree uninvolved versus dynamic as I would see it. It's as yet the wellness show holding up to be "found." As far as I am concerned, sitting tight is for transport stops and pregnancy tests. Achievement sits tight for no man...or lady as the case me be. All in all, after all the above counsel is thought about as having an additional impact to getting you magazine scope, what else should be possible? For a certain something, you should read and be acquainted with every one of the magazines you need to be in so you know who will be who and what the style of the distinctive magazines are. I can reveal to you at this moment, if say the Editor-in-Chief of a decent estimated wellness or weight training distributions and says "hello there, I am the Bob Smith what's your name?" and the wellness show has no clue who Bob Smith is, Bob won't warmly embrace that. For what reason would it be advisable for him to? You should know who the real players are in the distributions you need to be seen in. He is helping you out, not the a different way. You should know who the real players are and effectively search them out, don't sit tight for them to "find" you. On the off chance that you take a gander at the masthead inside any magazine, it will reveal to you who the distributer is, who the Editor-in-Chief is et cetera. The street number for that magazine, and regularly the site and email, can likewise be found. What is to prevent you from looking into those names and mailing them your photos and resume straightforwardly? Nothing, that is the thing that. On the off chance that you see a photograph spread you believe is extremely well done, what is to prevent you from discovering who the picture taker is and reaching them specifically and sending them your pics? Nothing, that is the thing that. My point being, you need a get a break in the business, make the break, don't stay there believing it's searching for you, since it's most certainly not. Be proactive, not responsive! Fortunes is the buildup of plan. Be effective by plan. As my more established sibling used to state to me as a child when I revealed to him I was excessively frightened, making it impossible to ask out a beautiful young lady "what's the most exceedingly bad that can happen Will? Everything she can state is no." That's the most exceedingly bad that can transpire too. Be careful with web numbskulls, schlubs, simpletons, debases, slime buckets, and sleazoids! This part is kind of plain as day yet worth specifying. Likewise with all ventures that arrangement in excitement based media (e.g., TV, theater, displaying, and so on.), the wellness business draws in its far offer of web dolts, schlubs, boneheads, distorts, slime balls, and sleazoids, to give some examples. There is likewise the class of individual known as the schmoe, yet we will leave that for somewhere else and time. Point is you need to meet the correct individuals while not getting included with that gathering of useless sorts who will just drag you down, postpone you, or only level out mess you up and over. For instance, a person comes up and says he needs to "shoot you" for the magazines, however what do you truly know about this person? He has a camera and some business cards, with the goal that makes him a picture taker right? Off-base! On the off chance that somebody need to shoot you and they are not an outstanding name (and you should know who the notable picture takers are on account of you inquired about that as of now!), discover their identity. Do they have references you can call? Young ladies you can contact he has shot earlier and were content with the work? What magazines has he distributed in? Does he do it professionally or as a side interest? That sort of thing. Something else I see is the enormous web trick. I'm astonished what number of young ladies get misled by these web morons. Lesson here is you get what you pay for, so when some individual needs to construct you a site for nothing, you are getting what you pay for. Truly, there is great cash to be made on the 'net, and the net can be extraordinary for advertising yourself and making contacts, however a large portion of it's a trick. You are in an ideal situation paying a decent website specialist and website admin who has involvement with different wellness show sorts and has references you can converse with. I can't reveal to you the quantity of young ladies who have been cheated by some web thing that went to heck, similar to the "fan" who volunteers to assemble a free site and either keeps running off with any cash produced using the website or puts their singles out porn destinations and any number of different things that influenced them to lament like damnation regularly consenting to the webpage in any case. Plainly, I can't go down the rundown of all the conceivable entanglements of the web simpletons, schlubs, imbeciles, distorts, slime buckets, and sleazoids out there to be found in the stimulation business, yet you get the thought. Be watchful!

#IFTTT #Blogger

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junker-town · 7 years

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What baseball would be talking about if the first half didn’t exist

Baseball’s second half never gets as much attention as the first half. Let’s fix that.

Welcome back to another installment of “If the First Half Didn’t Exist,” an annual tradition that serves two purposes. The first is to remind you that we pay far, far too much attention to everything that happens in the first half of the season. The other is to acknowledge that we might not pay enough attention to what’s been happening in the second half of the season. The first half of every season disproportionately shapes our opinions of the entire season.

This is a way of pointing out what would seem important to us if the season started on July 13. Who would be the MVP front runners? Which teams would be building an insurmountable divisional lead? What would baseball be talking about, and how easy would it be for this information to color how we look at the entire season?

Well, let’s find out.

Sample headline if the first half didn’t exist:

The AL West is the best divisional race in baseball, but the Angels could run away with it

I want to sit here and plead caution and restraint. I want to remind you that we’ve played just under a couple months, and we don’t know anything yet, really.

Except that the Angels are the best team in the AL West.

Sure, they’re just 1½ games ahead of the Rangers and two games ahead of both the Astros and Mariners, and the Pythagorean record suggests that’s absolutely correct. The Angels have allowed far fewer runs than anyone in the division, and they’re on pace to win 91 games. That can change in a bad week, or even with one bad series, but ask yourself these questions:

Is C.J. Cron for real?

Was Luis Valbuena the sneakiest great signing of the offseason?

Is Andrelton Simmons able to keep his 759 OPS up?

If you can answer all of those in the affirmative, you have to be curious about just what this Angels team can accomplish, considering that their starting pitching has been an obvious weakness that they can improve at the deadline. The bullpen has been dominant, with Yusmeiro Petit and Blake Parker forming an unlikely shutdown core, and there’s already good news for the rotation with Garrett Richards coming back.

Sample headline if the first half didn’t exist:

The Cubs and Indians are still the best teams in baseball, just like we expected

We were spoiled with one of the greatest World Series ever last year, a mash-up of the logical and illogical, but there was just one tiny problem. The Cubs were at full strength, and the Indians were not. That’s not to cheapen the Cubs’ accomplishment, but a simple fact that reminds us that the transcendent World Series could have been something even more. The Indians at full strength, with a deep arsenal of starting pitching that’s the envy of baseball, were as terrifying as the Cubs at full strength.

And it looks like those two teams are on a collision course again.

The Cubs aren’t much of a surprise. They were the best team in baseball last year; they’re the best team in baseball this year (unless you’re partial to those FanGraphs projections that had the Dodgers being three games better, which lol). The Indians, though, were never a guarantee to get their pitchers back healthy.

They did, though, and they brought all of their hitters along. Both teams have the best records in their respective leagues, and here we go again. There are some other teams that will have something to say about that, of course. The Nationals have the same record as the Cubs, for example, and the Dodgers, Cardinals, and Diamondbacks aren’t too far behind. But it sure feels like we’re heading for a repeat of last year’s amazing Fall Classic.

I’m okay with that.

Sample headline if the first half didn’t exist:

The world owes us a Giancarlo Stanton/Rhys Hopkins Home Run Derby

Aaron Judge Rhys Hoskins is the flavor of the month, the rookie who looks like two Mark McGwires in a trenchcoat trying to sneak into an R-rated movie, a generic slugger out of central casting, and I can respect why everyone is excited. He’s new and he’s fresh, and he looks like someone was screwing with the sliders in the create-a-player setting.

Giancarlo Stanton seems like the Aaron Judge Rhys Hoskins of Christmas past, the T-800 to Judge’s Hoskins’ T-1000. That almost rings true, except Judge Hoskins is just two three years younger. Stanton is also an admittedly a much larger ogre, who is just as eager to flay and skin baseballs so that they will tell the other baseballs what happened to them. Stanton has done what Hoskins Judge is doing, but for much longer.

If there is justice in the universe, Stanton and Judge Hoskins will meet in the Home Run Derby final, and they’ll be responsible for folktales that are told after the collapse of civilization. Both of them consume whole goats as villagers throw stones at them, and it’s only fair if we get to watch them in the Home Run Derby, sending ball after ball into the spinning-marlin wormhole while kids run into each other below. Let this be one of your baseball wishes for the 2017 season.

Sample headline if the first half didn’t exist:

The Yankees should trade for Khris Davis

The Yankees are rolling again, seemingly ahead of schedule on the great reload-and-rebuild plan that has tripped up so many other franchises along the way. They’re pitching, which means they’re contending, and they’re even getting contributions from Chase Headley, who’s leading the team in OPS. Gary Sanchez is raking, Didi Gregorius continues to be a star ... it’s hard to be mad at the franchise when they pull this stuff every year.

There’s one problem, though: Their outfield is a light-hitting mess. Jacoby Ellsbury is doing fine, but his defense is slipping. Brett Gardner’s defense is fine, but his bat is slipping. And Aaron Judge is a mess who’s almost certainly going to be sent down.

The answer is right in front of them. Khris Davis is predictably thumping again, with 15 homers in a park that usually isn’t the most hitter-friendly. He fits the new Yankee Stadium like a glove, and Gardner’s arm is probably strong enough for right field. He’s under contract for two more years, too, which would help the Yankees as they ease into the future with prospects like Clint Frazier.

As to what the A’s would want, it seems like there’s a natural fit, here. If Aaron Judge’s ultimate ceiling is as a Khris Davis clone, why not agree to a one-for-one swap? The A’s get the extra years of team control, while the Yankees get the power they covet from Judge, but they don’t have to spend the rest of the season waiting for it to arrive.

Sometimes a trade comes along that makes too much sense. This is one of those times.

Sample headline if the first half didn’t exist:

Is Odubel Herrera the best player in the National League?

One of the oldest, purest questions in baseball has been effectively ruined by Mike Trout. “Who’s the best player in baseball?” has given way to “Who’s the second-best player in baseball,” and that’s no fun.

Except we have a challenger this year in Giancarlo Stanton, who has 27 home runs in just 186 at-bats, good for a 1186 OPS. That’s a performance that’s outstanding enough to start the conversation, at least. Has Stanton caught Trout?

And that’s where I sneak in with a surprise hot take: I’m thinking even Odubel Herrera might be better than Stanton.

It’s a bold call, considering the power surge that Stanton has been using the melt the NL, but consider Herrera’s defense, his position, his speed. Now look at his .381/.444/.673 line and parse just what that means. It’s a slash line that offers contact, patience, and power, all in the complete package of a player who can zip around the bases and the outfield.

It’s early. Charlie Blackmon has a similar line (albeit in Coors Field), and what Stanton is doing can’t be dismissed that easily. But no one would click on an article titled “Odubel Herrera Is On Another Level,” so this will have to do. The answer to the question posed in the headline is probably “no,” which would make Ian Betteridge happy, but I’m keeping an eye on this one. The Phillies have been looking for an offensive cornerstone, and early in this season, it looks like they’ve found two. Herrera just might be the best of them all.

Sample headline if the first half didn’t exist:

Man, the Giants suck

The Giants have had an awful start to the season, but here are 43 different reasons why everything should go much better for them soon:

1. Their players are mostly underperforming according to ZiPS, and that should ...

Remember this as we head into the postseason. The players we thought were magic, might not be. The teams that looked impervious might not be, and the teams that look impervious right now still had their rough stretches, which is why they’re not threatening the 2001 Mariners.

And, really, what is the postseason but baseball’s third half? I’ll see you in a month to write up “What baseball would be talking about if the first and second halves didn’t exist,” except I’ll call it “writing about the postseason.” Can’t wait.

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