#back from the blink

[neramontagueofficial]

When I looked into the blink I saw nothing and nothing and nothing.

Not the nothing of space (for you can see stars there) nor the nothing of the empty feed (it is uncertainty it is not true absence) but true nothing. Void that goes on forever.

When faced with nothing, I was forced to turn inward. I had to define myself without an outside to define myself by. And against nothing, what am I?

I am meat. I am mass. I am merely things. Merely this.

There was a point during my stay in the blink where I closed my eyes and tried to dream of home. I sit here in my quarters and wonder if this is a crude extension of those dreams. I never got to stay in Ispahsalar for long enough, as an adult, for it to feel familiar, but I have been in these quarters for months. Maybe this is still the dream. I have tricked myself with the familiar in order to stave off the realization that I am still there.

If I stay in les Fulgurites, I will see the blink again. How long until it is the home I return to, and realspace the temporary inconvenience?

I have to find a way out of here.

[solardrake]

Delivering mail to the furthest corners of the server ✉✈

[neramontagueofficial]

[courtyard_garden_home.ssf.om]

[seaside.ssf.om]

[herb_patch.ssf.om]

Your timing is impeccable, Nofie. I just got home and have been capturing these for use as grounding aids should I ever need them again. The quality may be lower than you're used to (they were taken on pretty generic dataplating,) but if you're interested in them I am happy to share.

HOLY FUCKING (bingle)—

Hey. Hey Omninet. Was no one going to tell me that scent is like if air could make you hallucinate?

[brainrotcharacters]

the man trained by the shimotsuki since childhood, the mind behind the three sword style, the demon pirate hunter, vice captain of the Strawhat Pirates,

easily stopped with a hand on his shoulder by his captain (currently in a silly hungry vibe)

[willowser]

HMMMMM bakugou being just. the absolute picture of sin.

he works overnight and comes home early in the morning, around 3 or 4 am or so, and you greet him and give him a kissy and ask how it all went. and even though it's still dark outside and he's been working for twelve hours—he's still coming off patrol, right ? so he's still got some energy left, and he eats something and takes a shower and winds down as you fall back to sleep.

and it's not until much later in the day that he wakes up, early afternoon, and you're kind of tiptoeing around so that he can get his much-needed rest. you slip into the closet of your bedroom for something and you think you're gonna get in and out without a sound, but his hearing is so attuned to just about anything and everything at this point.

so rough and raspy, he grunts out, "what're y'lookin' for?" and you whip around real fast and he's just—

half sitting up in bed, bare back leaning against the headboard. an arm behind his head, so that his bicep is tense and round and stone-solid. stretched like that, his obliques are more prominent, taut and rippling up the side of his ribcage. he must have gotten hot while passed out, as he usually does, because the comforter is all askew; one of his legs is bent, the fine hair a dark gold in the waning day; the other is hanging off the bed, lightly swinging as he watches you, and the blanket has come down enough that you can see the bulge of his thigh muscles beneath his stupid tiny black boxer briefs.

and he's just so. man. in every single way.

(his hair is flat on one side, too, and his eyes are still a little puffy from sleep—but you think that adds to it, all in all)

[ohtendril]

Colin and Pen + these kinda frames (s3)

[un-till-the-end]

All evidence Till survives (2/4)

Blink Gone Observations

1. Inconsistencies compared to previous rounds:

In every single one of these above, the image goes out quickly and then the winning contestant moves up the bracket.

Till is the only exception. His image doesn't go out until after Luka's image has moved into the winning spot and it visibly flickers before it does.

After Sua, Ivan, and even background characters died, they all had large pools of blood under them.

Till is the only one who does not.

2. Hiding his status from the audience

His heart-monitoring earpiece falling out which would tell if he is alive or dead as identified by @pixelifiedcation. @tillsfan recognized the teaser emphasized the earpieces are heart monitors, which, among other reasons, could be to direct fans to this detail.

@asteriass realized how the red spray paint at the bottom of Till's pants and the red soles of his shoes creates the illusion he bled out to the segyein audience. The platform is raised and the floor is reflective.

Unlike previous stages, which were surrounded by the audience on all sides, Round 7 can only be viewed from the front.

Till's leg and Mizi's arm obstruct the segyein's view of Till's actual injury.

Combined with the misdirection of Hyuna's presence, and the excitement over Luka's win, the segyein do not notice there is no pool of blood.

3. From a medical standpoint:

There's lots of different claims people have made, so I consulted my friend who is a medical resident. After laying out the details, he concluded Till's wound is most likely a tracheal injury - not arterial. If so, Till is coughing up blood that is draining into his lungs. My friend's main reasoning is the lack of pooling up blood. The wound still needs immediate medical attention though.

Based on the chart provided by @lost-fugue, this would fall into the orange region with a 50-15% chance of survival. It can be lethal but it should be treatable.

@verdantlights explained the animation team has been consistently accurate with portraying gunshot wounds.

That said, humans can survive virtually anything. They can live after being shot in the head, jumping off a high bridge, or skydiving without a working parachute. So there's no scenario in which his wound is "impossible" to survive.

Till's leg would have fallen down due to gravity since he would have no muscle tone (passive muscle contraction).

If his right foot was pinned under his left leg, then his leg could remain up even if he was dead. However, this is visual storytelling and it would be confusing, ineffective, and illogical for that to be the reason for the positioning of his leg.

Wiege Observations

The morse code at the start of the song spells out "ALIVE" as identified by @awaggaa. While this has the thematic meaning of what it means to be alive, it could also serve a literal meaning that Till is still alive.

@honeybeetlejuice informed there is a heartbeat at the end of Wiege. Compared to Cure, in which Till's heartbeat was speeding up while Ivan's was slow and steady, this heartbeat is faint with long pauses between each one.

Foreshadowing | Official Art & Symbolism | Criticisms & Commentary

[karofsky]

Guillermo going into that room with a plan on his mind to get the audience to cry on his behalf one last time with a well-rehearsed, complete lie of sob story about needing to move on and how he'll always leave his heart with Nandor wherever his solo life takes him, only to immediately have said plans pushed to the side the second Nandor starts alluding to possibility of a love confession, and then heel-turns on his own plans and instead tries THREE TIMES to get it out of him on camera for An Even Better Ending is the most iconic thing this man has ever done. He really said "I've got this emotional manipulation under control. I can save this documentary" and then the second Nandor starts cracking he was like. Or I could get my dick sucked sloppy style right here right now.

[dykedvonte]

I think any fix-it mouthwashing au has to have the mandatory scenes of Curly either being able to blink again or speaking for the first time.

[neramontagueofficial]

Our ship turns homeward now, on a two week trajectory to the nearest blinkgate so we may be home in Ispahsalar by festival season.

Things are slowing down a lot. I've been spending a lot more time in front of windows, using the functions on my dataslate to tell me about the stars we can see from this point in realspace. It is a comfort, looking out of the window and seeing a void populated with the sum total of our universe.

Diadochi, the star of my birth and our eventual destination, is not visible from our path, obscured right now by the edge of some nebula. Nor is the Throne Star, who harbors Karrakis, although I had assumed it would be out of sight as well if only due to its proximity. But Sol is visible, an otherwise forgettable pinprick, declaring itself with light from a time a great many years ago even I am only separated from it by a few months.

A man in grey once told me that most people, looking out on the starlit sky, look first for home. Then they look for Sol. It's a funny joke to a Karrakin: for me it has always been Diadochi, then the Throne Star. Sol is a fourth or fifth consideration. It's a relic of the stories we tell, I suppose. For all SecComm tried to teach us differently, we Karrakin never quite bought the narrative from Cradle. It's a good story, sure: a civilization brought to glory only to fall and reconstitute itself from the ashes, but it is one that requires roughly Ten omissions in order to hold itself together.

The narrative from Cradle assumes that the Fall was complete, it was a total loss, and yet the Ten ventured out as a continuation of the pre-Fall world. Our earliest records include conversations with the society that Earthers consider lost. For us humanity was never in ashes. The schools teach of Union's Great Traumas like it is a memory we share, but the knowledge of old Earth never left us and we never forgot that we are a successor to what came before. It is merely that old Earth fell, and humanity continued elsewhere: the light of that great civilization shifted from Earth to Karrakis.

The Aun understand similarly, to my understanding. It seems a common throughline to us children of the Ten, a skepticism of this story of humanity as told from Cradle. I am told we contested it once, as we contested the decision to be measured by "Cradle" subjective time. But Union were the ones with the bigger guns, and so I tell this story in contrast to this narrative I have been taught since I was a child while no Union standardbearer has ever bothered to frame their history in terms of mine.

But I digress. Sol.

I wonder how many people that feel the pull of Sol have ever seen its light? I have never been to Cradle, but on Ganymede I looked upon the Old Star and felt it on my skin. It did not feel special to me, for all the stories say it is the one humanity was born to. Maybe it would be different if I stood on Earth. Even when I was in the system I balked at that prospect, though. Secretly I felt my skepticism made it akin to a blasphemer stepping upon a holy site. I ascribe no special condition to that rock, yet the sheer force of belief by those currents around me might make me a greater stranger there still.

One day I might visit. I would offer my seat to any who buys its mystique first, though. With the way the Cradle evangelists look at me when I call it Earth, I'm not sure I would be welcome there. Funny, for the place that they insist is somehow also my home.

Anyway, with much of the Concern out of sight I lack interesting subjects for my gaze right now. Sol eats much of my scrutiny in return, as well as an odd dose of bitterness that I'm not sure the star itself has earned. Perhaps this is a shadow ask to tell me of your home-star, so I may look upon new sights with fonder memories as opposed to old bitterness.

[casualavocados]

You've never done that when I got close to you before. Why? None of your business. Tell me, or you can't leave.

KISEKI: DEAR TO ME Ep. 10

[swearingcactus]

ever since i heard this audio i always thought it'd fit rogue and lil v so here's to all the mom rogue enjoyers. a sequel of sorts to [this post]

[neramontagueofficial]

I'm sorry for disturbing your peace then. May you linger under a kind sun.

Murderers.All of you.All of them.The swarm of rats you call a crew (you'll tear eachother apsrt when the chips are down) That monster you keep calling "hon" (are you in love? Of course not, how could you love) those scuttling ungrateful bastards you keep contact with (destroyed my home, you know)

All I need know is why? U ai are blessed with the ability to cycle. Why not absolve yourself of the guilt?

A rightful ruler.

--Excuse me (can I help you)[this is a murdering world]? Sorry, I was just fixing up the blog when I saw this (out of left-field). First of all, are you trying to copy me (not doing this on purpose you know)?

No, actually, first of all don't talk about my friends like that. They're (everything (that matters)) here for me when it's convenient and when it's not, and let me tell you I haven't been making it easy this last while. Styx (hon (so proud of you))(don't tell me what I can feel) isn't a monster, either, she's just trying to survive (keep her name out of your mouth).

I know I'm trying to be all thoughtful and (sunshine) kind out here, but I was made as a knife and (not in a great mood these days anyhow) I haven't forgotten that part of me. Letting go of the mistakes I've made would only make me a worse protector of the things I (need) care about.

Piss off, pretender king.

[hyakunana]

Let's just say I got hit by them once again 🐮🦝

[icantalk710]

The Vaccines were so right for saying, "When I exorcise my demons, I just take them to the gym" 🏋🏽‍♂️😤

[fumifooms]

I literally just revived my tumblr so I can like and follow along with your dunmesh analysis. Thank you so so so soooooo much for making chilchuck's master post bc I've been searching far and wide on how to cope from little no info in the manga ending, like EVERYTHING abt his wife and much less his daughters. It was a great half day reading for me and all the tidbits of your hc just makes me squee, giggle, and kick feet now and then. My question is the extra drawing kui-san post of halfoots portrait and one that look like chil's wife canon?? Like confirmed? most post online saying its official (even wiki) but I can't find the sauce on it

Thank you this makes me so happy to hear!! u//_//u This made me rush to the wiki in fear but no it actually explains the situation well- I did have a hand in editing her wiki about the topic of her appearance a while back so I was worried for a hot sec gdbdg

It's not confirmed or canon, and left intentionally so. I show the translated quote and link the QnA source here for easing finding. It's simply a popular fanon theory because it has some support. Notably the daughters' appearances like stated, but also the chapter 52 cover showing a kid that looks suspiciously like Chilchuck with a kid that looks suspiciously like her, and also because Kui has a tendency to fill the portrait pages with background characters, like all the tallmen portraits, so it sounds like her to sneak something like this in.

I do really like this, I've talked about it before but I do think she left it ambiguous for story and theme reasons too. Chilchuck has a thing for blonde women, so is his wife blonde or not? Left up to everyone's opinions. Seems unlikely to me, and I love the themes of his wife not being blonde but still having facial features like his succubi's soo much, what's acquired taste and what isn't? But hey anyone who wants to theorize she looks more like Marcille's self-insert as a half-foot sure can! The story gives us very little details on what actually happened on purpose, because people would get caught up in their heads about "she should have left him" and "she shouldn't have left him" and "she should forgive him and take him back" or "he doesn't deserve her forgiveness" and it's not about that! It's not the what his arc's about, it's not what it's trying to say! Do they reconcile or not? Who knows! How much do they still love each other? How much did he neglect her for her to have left like that? Some even take the possibility of her not being blonde if true as proof he's a shitty husband that looks for eyecandy elsewhere and just! So much judgement so many biases that the story is trying to avoid, to offer a fresh slate to nudge the readers towards what the focus should be.

The goal is ambiguity, the goal is not knowing- because only then can you put yourself in Chilchuck and Marcille's shoes for their arc. Only then can you put yourself in Marcille's shoes theorizing about her and trying to gauge whether she's being too charitable or not hopeful enough, only then can you put yourself in Chilchuck's shoes where he doesn't know why she left, where he doesn't know if he still has a chance to win her back. Does he? Who knows! But that's not important, the point is that after canon he's learned that the risk of shooting his shot, of fighting for his love, is worth it, if there's even a chance that it could work out then it's worth the possible price of rejection and the terrifying horror of vulnerability. Being hopeful, the value Chilchuck needed to learn, requires not knowing the outcome, so the story forces it upon us, even with meta. Chilchuck is a man who has assumed the worst out of everyone and the world for so long, who consistently spoke confidently about how if something can go wrong it will, so him learning to let go of that pessimism as a defense coping mechanism into embracing uncertainty is actually huge! And it's that same lack of closure readers must learn to make their peace with, just as he has.