#especially those that interact with humans in the different dimensions

[nelkcats]

Surprise check

When Deadman panicked and rushed to call him during an important meeting, Constantine thought it was a ghost thing, he doubted it was anything really important so he ignored it for a few minutes.

What he didn't expect was for Deadman to inform him that his boss was coming to visit in a few hours (because apparently ghosts had bosses). The poor guy was in a panic, apparently it was the first King in charge in centuries that cared and he was coming to "make sure everything was in order".

Constantine didn't know what to expect; a King who demanded that humanity bow at his feet and the ghosts rule? One who hated it when Deadman got involved with humans and sent him away? A tyrant? It was clear that no ruler had ever been good, according to his ghost friend, so he had low expectations.

He reported this to the League, who took a high alert posture. An hour later, Wonder Woman was reviewing with everyone how foreign royalty should be treated when they heard Captain Marvel laughing with someone in the break room. Deadman was also mysteriously missing.

Constantine peeked in but all he could see was a teenager conversing with the Captain and strangely, the ghost. He was about to tell the boy that he needed a permit to enter the Watchtower when Deadman spoke up.

"I didn't know you were so interested in games, King Phantom, or that you were so good on them"

Then, John noticed the ice crown on the boy's head and his strangely sharp teeth, along with his toxic green eyes.

"Flattering me won't help you in the review" the teenager quipped "remember we're still waiting for Dan to find out if everything here is...balanced."

Constantine realized: The King was a bloody teenager.

[merchantziro]

Something I've been thinking all day.

You know those fanon MCU fic scenarios where it's like the Avengers all live at Avengers Tower like a family and Peter's Class having a Field Trip to Stark Industries? Either usually set up Pre-Infinity War or Post-Endgame but Tony lives.

But I was thinking about what would happen if you dropped modern Late-20's to Early 30's year old Spider-Man from the current comics into that universe.

So anyway-

---

MCU Peter: ...Yeah I'm unofficially an Avenger but I prefer to remain the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

616 Peter: Honestly, you could do so much better than them. I encourage you to stay the latter, for our own sanity.

The Avengers, staring at 616 Peter and then at MCU Peter: ...

---

MCU Peter: So that's kinda the short version of how I got caught myself being dragged into a Civil War between Tony & Steve regarding the Sokovia Accords and their attempt to regulate super-powered individuals...

616 Peter: Well at least your Iron Man didn't have you reveal your identity to the world during your Civil War as a show of good faith. Only for it to later backfire and results in your Aunt being shot by an assassin hired by Kingpin so you have to sell your marriage with MJ to Mephisto, basically the devil, in order to save her and restore the status quo of your secret identity.

Tony, who was watching that entire interaction: I'm sorry, you sold your what to who because why because I made you do WHAT now!?

---

Strange: You know you're pretty calm for someone ripped out of their dimension of origin and interacting with a different self and versions of the people they recognize?

616 Peter: Oh it's no biggie. This is far from my first interdimensional rodeo, especially not after fighting the Inheritors who were basically dimension hopping vampires who feed on Spider-People. They tried to also kill us all by pouring the blood of 3 certain individuals onto the Web of Destiny to prevent the prophecy of me and a bunch of other Spider-People defeating them.

Strange: Alright, this raises several questions-

616 Peter: Yeah... A lot of multiversal shenanigans going on these days with a lot of different versions of Spider-Man from different worlds teaming up.

MCU Peter: Wait really? Then how come I wasn't involved in any of them? I'm a Spider-Man too aren't I?

616 Peter: Eh, can't get em all on short notice. A good chunk of Spider-Men were bound to miss the memo when dealing with an infinite multiverse if they weren't dead by then. But tell ya what, I'll make it a note to grab you next time there's a threat to the Spider-Verse.

Strange: ...

---

Tony: So Peter 2, was my counterpart a good mentor to you on your Earth?

616 Peter, not even looking up from what he's tinkering with: First off, don't call me Peter 2. Second, you once forgot I had a secret identity and showed up in my front lawn asking my aunt for Spider-Man in broad daylight.

Steve: Well certainly my counterpart and the elder Spider most certainly have a better relationship.

616 Peter, without missing a beat: I once learned you loved drawing and tried to get you back into the hobby. You explained you left it behind because you viewed it as something the weaker and sicker you would do before you became Captain America, and it hit a little too close to home when you asked me if I still play with my first chemistry set when I never stopped in the first place.

Wanda: Well at least I haven't done anything since I have nothing against our Peter.

616 Peter: You once rewrote the entire universe to basically make mutants the majority and normal humans a minority. As a result I woke up in a life where I was beloved by the public with a public identity albeit because I was lying about being a mutant, my Uncle Ben was alive, and I was married to my now alive and well former girlfriend, Gwen Stacy. Only to have all that ripped away from me and being one of the few who remembered. Granted, not all of it was directly your fault post-rewriting and my life was merely a side effect but... I'm still a little bitter.

Bruce, doesn't know if he should say anything knowing how Hulk usually is: ...

616 Peter, making a note to smiling at him: Don't worry Dr. Banner, both you and Hulk were at least good to me. Hulk was even one of the few people who even remembered my identity post selling my marriage to restore my identity because, "Hulk never forgets" and thanked me for staying with your counterpart after an Incident where I was basically Hulked myself. Because while Hulk viewed you as family, he could never be with you physically.

Bruce, looking surprised before smiling back softly: ...Thank you, Parker. That means a lot to me actually.

---

Thor, out of the blue: I'm sure my counterpart looks forward to it, Man of Spiders.

616 Peter: Hmm? Look forward to what?

Thor: To when you die of course.

616 Peter, blinks before sighing with a dejected look: Oh...

Thor, chuckles and pats him on the shoulder: Not like that, I mean what'll happen to you when you die. When you'll be welcomed into Valhalla, home of the heroes and honored warriors, with open arms. I'm sure my counterpart must agree, few heroes, let alone mortals, have proven to be as worthy as you have based on your stories and how you have proven yourself to act. You are not a warrior, but you are someone better than that.

616 Peter, surprised and actually kinda tearing up: ...Oh.

---

MCU Peter, watching: Man refilling web cartridges so often must suck.

616 Peter, working on making more web fluid: Oh yeah definitely, almost miss the time I had organic webbing instead.

MCU Peter: Oh? You could just produce webs on your own, no web shooter needed?

616 Peter: That's right, though unfortunately I couldn't modify the formula so this stuff is way stronger than that organic webbing.

MCU Peter, curious: And how exactly did you learn you had such a power? Did it come up during a fight or tense situation where you ran out of web mid-fight?

616 Peter, looking up in throught: Eh... Not quite? More like I turned into a giant pregnant spider monster, exploded into a violent death, and gave birth to a myself who was the exact same as before but with organic webbing.

MCU Peter, staring at his counterpart in horror before taking a deep breath: Alright... WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS YOUR LIFE!!??

Steve, walking by: Language.

616 Peter: Yeah... though I seemed to have unfortunately lost that power after making that deal and selling my marriage.

Tony: WHY DOES IT ALWAYS KEEP COMING BACK TO YOU SELLING YOUR MARRIAGE TO THE DEVIL!!??

---

616 Peter, stopping in the middle of the lobby as his Spidey Sense goes off: It feels like... Someone...

616 Peter, turning around and pointing at an entrance: WANTS TO BOTHER ME!!!

The other Avengers & MCU Peter, confused: ...

Wade, whispering to Logan while both are hiding around the corner: I told you he was on to us.

616 Peter, used to Wade's bullshit by this point, immediately calming down: Oh nevermind, it's just Deadpool. False alarm everyone!

---

616 Peter: Oh yeah. I once lost my body to one of my rogues named Dr. Otto Octavius, also known as Doc Ock, where he became an anti-hero and called himself the Superior Spider-Man after seeing my memories. He eventually gave me my body back though when faced with Green Goblin and realized he couldn't defeat him but Peter Parker could.

MCU Peter, looking at the sunset: ...The future looks grim.

616 Peter, patting him on the back: You'll get used to it. Anyway, wanna hear about the time an alien symbiote named Venom bonded to me?

The Avengers, wondering if they really SHOULD send 616 Peter back to his world: ...

---

Natasha: You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?

616 Peter: In my defense, it was originally just because I've lost my sense of what is and isn't normal with everything I've experienced, and I thought your world was similar. But it eventually became a bet with Sam & Bucky to see which of this Earth's Mightiest Heroes will crack first with my trauma dumping and I have 5 dollars riding on this.

Natasha: ...Where can I join?

[linkons-most-wanted]

Who in the world ranked sylus an extrovert when all his lore says he doesn't like crowds or people and feels drained by them? 😭

Ah, great question! 😈 You’ve unleashed the personality framework hyperfocus, haha. This got long.

“Introvert” and “extrovert” aren’t really scientific distinctions—they’re patterns of referring to people that crop up throughout a lot of humanity’s history of trying to describe people. That’s why they’re included in OCEAN (the “big five”), the most data-driven of the personality models. OCEAN is based on lexical analysis—what traits do people naturally talk about the most?

Anyway, so you get different schools of thought around the traits, some with better statistical backing than others.

What you’re thinking of is the classic “does being around people/crowds energize or drain you” but I don’t find that rule of thumb to be particularly helpful. Ask any ENFP—we love being around other people, rallying them for a cause, inspiring and persuading—but wow do we need a nap afterward.

OCEAN describes Extroversion as the spectrum from bold/energetic to shy/bashful. When Sylus wants to be left alone, he is certainly not shy about it. 🤣

I find it more useful to think about introversion vs extroversion as an “orientation”—do you tend to want to act/operate on the external world? Or your internal world?

Taking control, exerting influence, claiming dominion, competing with others—these are all externally-directed things.

Sylus is fundamentally a character that exerts his influence on the world around him, leaving his mark wherever he goes. Just because he doesn’t like crowds doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to create and control the world those crowds move through. He doesn’t need to want to meet every person in the N109 Zone to want them to flinch when they hear his name.

So, in that sense, Sylus is extremely externally-oriented, outward-directed, extro-verted.

Notably, ENTJ is often called the “commander” type, and for good reason.

Sylus has his moments of introspection, of course, as all extroverts do. But when it comes to the general balance between ruminating on something internally and acting in the world, he’s going to tend to act.

I like the articles from 16 Personalities a lot because they take the big five traits from OCEAN and map them onto the letters people are familiar with from the MBTI, plus the idea of “turbulence” to capture the “neuroticism” dimension of OCEAN. On introversion vs extroversion they call out how extroverts tend to enjoy thrilling activities, push boundaries/limits, take the lead, and get bored easily. That’s Sylus to a T.

If you’ll permit me one last tangent, I see a lot of people look at the stereotypical traits of introverts and sort of map that to neurodivergence. I had a boss who was really into “introversion” and would say things like “well, I’m an introvert, that’s why I don’t like eye contact. That’s why I have to analyze how I behave and practice presenting in a certain way. That’s why I struggle to talk to others.” It was fascinating how clearly he’d mapped and attributed his autistic traits (which were plentiful and apparent) onto the idea of “introversion”.

Being drained by crowds, sensitive to bright lights and loud noises, calculating and restrained when interacting with others—these aren’t traits of introversion necessarily, they’re traits of neurodivergence, especially the autism spectrum. So I don’t want to take away from anyone the relatability of Sylus hating crowds—it’s just not because he’s introverted, rather, because he has sensory sensitivities. And whether you want to interpret that as simply being due to his dragon senses (he can smell all those foul souls all the time, after all) or due to him being a subtly AuDHD-coded character (my take) is up to you.

And just in case this hits any folks outside my usual pro-self-diagnosis, pro-disability-accommodation, anti-pathologizing corner of the internet, I just want to add that neurodivergence is a lot more plentiful than people realize. We can call it “sub-clinical” ie not impairing enough to need formal diagnosis, but autistic and ADHD traits (and other forms of neurodivergence) crop up a lot in fiction not because people are setting out scientifically to represent those traits, but because we intuitively understand some people are just different that way. Some people are dynamic, engaging leaders who hate bright lights and crowds. Some people are the “quirky” friend who always has a new project, etc.

Anyway, I could clearly talk about this for ages, so I’m happy to field any follow-up questions on personality frameworks or how we can apply them in fiction!

[deathmetalunicorn1]

teen reader who comes from our world with our version of Greek/other version mythology which is different from the ror world. Like reader being deathly terrified of Aphrodite(cue confused and slightly upset Aphrodite) since she appears to give harsh treatment to other beautiful women in some versions. Reader being confused Shiva didn’t destroy Zeus since apparently he’s stronger than him, etc. (hope I didn’t get any info wrong, sorry if I did)

-It had been an accident, you had been caught between two feuding gods, and due to it, you were sent to an alternate universe, one that didn’t seem so… so violent.

-There was still violence in this new world, but there seemed to be less of it.

-You found yourself in the alternate dimension’s Valhalla, which looked like a paradise, and after you arrived, literally with a bang, flash banging everyone, they were all stunned to see you there, looking confused as to where you were.

-The humans and gods, many whom you recognized but they weren’t the same as the ones you knew- something you were easily able to tell.

-Zeus was patient, listening to your words, about this other world, not overly afraid of him. He stroked his beard, a little confused, “Y/N- why aren’t you afraid of me?”

-You tilted your head to the side, confused, “You seem pretty nice, but you’re not one of the gods I had a lot of interactions with, Shiva killed you because he was stronger than you.”

-Shiva and Zeus looked at each other in shock and Shiva sent him a small grin before Zeus quickly responded, “Don’t even think about it.” Which caused some laughter to flitter through the room.

-You told them other things, looking around at the different warriors and gods around you- they were so unlike the ones you were used to, but they seemed curious about you, wanting to know more about their alternate dimension counterparts.

-Aphrodite approached you and many were stunned, Aphrodite included, when you reeled back in fear, looking downright terrified of her as you stammered, trying not to look directly at her.

-Aphrodite then spoke, “Y/N- why are you so scared of me?” you hesitated in answering, as your Aphrodite was a cruel woman, who wouldn’t hesitate to torture others whom she felt was a threat to her own beauty, men and women alike, and she was known to cut down those who she felt were unworthy when they looked at her.

-You told her the truth, hoping she would be forgiving if you told her the truth, you weren’t expecting to see so many, Loki, Buddha, several of the humans, and Zeus, to start roaring with laughter while Aphrodite pouted, looking annoyed that she was such a vengeful goddess- she used to be, but not so much anymore, and nothing to the degree you were describing her as.

-Loki slid up beside you, looking mischievous, “What about me?” you looked at him, “You’re the one who caused Ragnarok in my world- after you killed Baldr with mistletoe, then you brought Fenrir and the world serpent with the funny name to attack the gods. Fenrir ate Odin and Thor fought the serpent before dying from being poisoned. You then died after fighting Heimdall when you tried to escape.”

-Jaws were dropped and eyes were wide as Loki looked a bit sheepish, being glared at by Odin and Thor, “Hey now- I would never do that- but I do have to admit I am impressed!”

-Thor was quick to take a swing at him, making Loki hide behind you while Hercules was stunned, “Your world sure sounds scary Y/N- it’s almost intimidating to hear about the gods of your world.”

-You nodded softly, “I did my best to survive, especially when I went to Valhalla myself, I had to learn to keep my head down just to keep it attached to my neck.”

-They looked almost perturbed, hearing this, you were just a kid, in their eyes as everyone was a kid to them, before you spoke up, “Would I be able to stay here? You all seem nicer than those in my world.” Your request was a little surprising but Hades, who wanted to know more about this dark world you called home, ruffled your hair, “Of course you can Y/N.”

-You almost deflated, relaxing for the first time in who knows how long as you beamed, thanking them all. You were so happy to finally be safe!

[intuitive-revelations]

A Long Watsonian Discussion on the Death Particle, the Genetic Explosion and the Fate of Surviving Time Lords and Hybrids

Been having some thoughts about the Death Particle retcon RTD seems to have done (though it is still unclear exactly what caused the "genetic explosion", the Death Particle seems to be the likely culprit).

So remember, in The Timeless Children, we were led to believe the Death Particle would wipe out all organic matter on Gallifrey. I don't think it was ever explicitly said, but it was implied that the Master and some of the CyberMasters survived by jumping into the Matrix at the last moment.

Now it's implied that it ended up killing surviving pure Time Lords all over space and time. The Rani survived by having temporarily modified her genome (presumably via Chameleon Arch?). The Doctor's survival, given this new effect, is less clear, but could be justified either via their nature as the Timeless Child and thus arguably not a pure Gallifreyan (if at all, depending on how their link to the Timeless Child works), or if we take another perspective, by being a half-human hybrid. Meanwhile, those with partial Time Lord DNA were instead 'merely' sterilised. We're slightly stuck with the question of how closely someone would have to fit to being a Time Lord (especially if we throw in the genetic differences between those of the first rank and those who don't go through the Academy), but for the sake of this, let's assume everyone under the modern Gallifreyan/Time Lord genetic pool is impacted, since this does seem to be implied by the Rani. Technically, it could be more of a biodata / temporal thing, but being called a genetic explosion implies it's more DNA-based.

At first I thought this might have been a plot hole with regards to Tecteun in Flux, who obviously survived the explosion. But there's a few possible explanations for this:

Having gotten her DNA modified seemingly directly from the Timeless Child, she may not be exactly as standard "Time Lord" as others. If she's "in-sync" with the Doctor and Gallifrey, having lived through all of Gallifreyan history, this would make sense, as it would imply having regenerated way more than twelve times.

On the other hand, if she's not in-sync, then she might also be saved by being from earlier in Gallifrey's timeline, since the Death Particle clearly wasn't retroactive, wiping Gallifrey from all history (unless we do theorise the sterility effect is somehow linked to the original sterility thought to be from the Pythia's curse). This could also justify the Division members guarding Swarm, though it also wasn't confirmed that they were Time Lords, so the question might be moot.

A much easier explanation, however, is that she was saved by already being outside of the universe, since it's clear the Death Particle didn't effect all of reality.

In fact, the universe and timeline criteria can make things quite ambiguous. From what I can tell, it seems likely that any pocket dimensions / alternate universes are safe, though TARDIS interiors do not seem to be distinct enough. Meanwhile, I'm generally assuming most people the Doctor interacts with to be in-sync in terms of their timeline and Gallifrey, even when this becomes comparatively meaningless (with characters who are fully/part Time Lord, but have no connection to Gallifrey themselves).

This does also lead us to the question of the fates of other surviving Time Lords, Gallifreyans, and hybrids:

Donna / the DoctorDonna - may have been protected by her memory suppression. Obviously wouldn't have been killed, not being a full Time Lord, but could technically have been rendered infertile? This doesn't have a noticeable effect, mind you, given her age and having already had Rose by this point.

Rose Noble - technically contained part of the metacrisis. Again this could have been suppressed, or just so minimal as to not have an effect, but it's also possible that she'd be rendered infertile too. (On the other hand, again probably not that noticeable, given she's trans and has been medically transitioning.)

The Master - technically integrated into the Cyberiad, so could be considered a hybrid (plus the Master's no stranger to messing with his DNA), though I doubt this would have effected his genetics. A better answer would be that he was protected by being in the Matrix and thus technically in a pocket universe at the time the Death particle activated, as I said. He may or may not have dodged infertility as a result. If he can be gotten out of the tooth form the Toymaker put him in (assuming he didn't revert already when the Toymaker's influence faded), then he might be Gallifrey's best hope.

Jenny - Jenny's fate is a bit ambiguous. It's still unclear if she's fully Time Lord, given she didn't immediately regenerate following being shot, so she may be part human. But even disregarding that, if the Doctor survived via not being fully Gallifreyan, either via human or Timeless Child DNA, then it makes sense Jenny would too. It is quite likely she will have been effected by infertility, though. (Though given the ongoing arc with Susan I wouldn't be too surprised if she came back and there's some logic to explain why she's not, and she ends up being Susan's parent?)

Susan - again ambiguous. If she is a direct descendant of the Doctor and/or the Other/Timeless Child, then she may inherit the same protection. It is worth noting that her biological son Alex was much more than half-human, suggesting she may well not be a full-blooded Time Lord either. If she's unrelated to the Doctor, but still Gallifreyan / a Time Lord then it's more questionable how she would have survived. There's also the same timeline issue as Tecteun, where we don't know exactly what her true Gallifreyan "present time" is, but at this point I assume we can consider her a present day Time Lord, even if she was actually from the distant past or the future.

(Obviously no-one will take this seriously, but since I've just been writing about them, I will throw out there that if John and Gillian a) are real, and b) are alive, then they fall into similar ambiguity).

Metacrisis-Ten - this one's fairly easy. He obviously survives via being part human. He could have been rendered infertile (though again, EU stories with him suggest he's already had kids with Rose - though who knows if those will still be canon if that was Rose last episode). However, it is very likely he's protected just by being in Pete's World.

River Song (+ other Silence hybrids) - Another dubious hybrid, but quite likely to have been effected by the infertility effect? This doesn't exactly mean much given we know she's never had kids. A far bigger question would be how on Earth her timeline can possibly be synced to Gallifreyan relative time. I'm inclined to say that, relative to the Doctor's / Gallifrey's timeline, she is best considered dead at this point, inside the Library, so any other question of the effect of the Death Particle on her is moot.

Romana - if she's even alive, the last we heard of her she was in a pocket dimension, so if she's still there she will have survived. She likely wouldn't be sterile either. However, we also have multiple possible post-Romana II incarnations from all over the War in Heaven and Time War (Tomb of Valdemar, Romana III, Trey, Time Fracture), so who knows which of those, if any, exist in the current timeline. Time Fracture might be the best evidence for Romana eventually being released, given it's a) an official BBC / New Who attraction, and b) shows them present around the final days of the Time War, but if so, it ironically probably dooms them to death either around that time, or via the Master or the Death Particle.

The Monk - We know quite explicitly the Monk survived the Time War. Unfortunately, this does mean that they are very likely to have been one of the casualties of the Death Particle. I wouldn't rule anything out, and maybe, depending on timeline logic, he could have survived in the time he was Chameleon Arched to survive the Time War, but it's not looking good for him.

Braxiatel - We're less certain if Brax survived the Time War, especially given his most recent appearance in Gallifrey: Time War, though this did leave open the possibility of one version of him having escaped to another timeline. One reading of Big Bang Generation could also be read to imply he survived, but it's more likely that this is pre-Time War / Benny-era Brax who is referenced. If he did survive, he's another possible victim. I personally always liked to headcanon that he was on Gallifrey during Hell Bent, being the one who helped Twelve get reinforcements, but this isn't canonical. Brax's fate is especially open right now - he could be safe in another universe, he could have died in the War, or he could have been killed by the Master or the Death Particle. I actually think he is one possible candidate for "The Boss" of Beep the Meep and the Time Hotel, especially the latter given his history with the collection. He is also exactly the sort who'd want someone to pass on greetings to the Doctor. It would be a wild pull for RTD, but maybe not that crazy given previous finales (plus I did literally just say the words Beep the Meep!).

Rassilon - Here's a significant one. Rassilon we know was almost certainly not on Gallifrey at the time of the Master's destruction, due to being exiled by Twelve. I wouldn't put it past the Master to have hunted him down, but there's no evidence of this. Technically he also at one point became integrated into the Cyberiad, during Supremacy of the Cybermen, but this was erased from history, presumably leaving him out there somewhere at the end of the universe. This does however mean he's another likely victim of the Death Particle.

Omega - Obviously, Omega survived and is implied to not be effected by the genetic explosion. This is almost certainly due to being in the Under-verse, and this seems to be the Rani's assumption at least. It could also be linked to his evolution, or whatever has happened to him in that universe.

Other hybrids? - It is likely there are other hybrids out there, even just by specialised soldiers created during the Time War or War in Heaven. See also folk like the Special Executive. While such survivors are likely to be few, it's likely than many who were still around would likely have been killed being still on Gallifrey, but any in the wider universe would likely have been sterilised, if they weren't sterile already (after all, biologically speaking sterility is common in cross-species hybrids, though this isn't always the case, and especially not in Doctor Who or other sci-fi/fantasy).

But on the bright side...?

If the Death Particle did not do as predicted, and was instead targeted closely on Time Lords throughout space and time, then Gallifrey itself may not be as barren as originally thought. Sure, any surviving Gallifreyans would have been killed, but other life on the planet may have survived. This includes natural flora and fauna that survived the Master's devastation, but could potentially also include things like Houses or other TARDISes. Granted it's implied the Doctor's TARDIS is the only one remaining, but this is unlikely to be the case, given the one Thirteen escaped in during The Timeless Children, as well as the Master's. There's also multiple pieces of TARDIS coral out there, including in Pete's World.

Maybe, if I'm wrong and the scope of the Death Particle didn't stretch to every modern Gallifreyan, then there might even be some surviving Shobogans and Outsiders out there? Again, this is unlikely though, as this would seemingly diminish the Rani's entire motive, even if she was just being classist, given all Gallifreyans start out that way genetically. On the other hand, if they did survive then it's possible they were later cyber-converted.

Speaking of which, I will also add that if organic life did survive on Gallifrey, then this is a big boost to one of my theories while we watched Flux.

Remember that red planet Bel briefly visited while looking for Vinder?

Not only did it have red rocks and grass, but also two suns and an army of Cybermen occupying it. I theorised from a trailer clip that it might be Gallifrey, but was a bit more sceptical while watching once we saw the plant life, even if the Cybermen fit really well.

But now we know the Death Particle didn't do exactly as predicted, it does leave open the possibility that other life on Gallifrey did indeed survive, meaning that theory could be correct!

As with the rest of my discussion, there's still the question of whether this is feasible given Gallifrey's time zone. Last we saw it, it was at the end of the universe, but the Master implied it was back in its pocket universe when he destroyed it (which, if true, kinda harms the logic used above regarding which universes / dimensions were effected), but there's no gurantee that this is still the case. Plus Gallifrey is kinda weird temporally anyway, given the transduction barrier etc., so maybe even if it is technically in the far future, Bel could still have accessed it from her time. Who knows. The theory's definitely still a lot more feasible now than it was when I first watched the episode.

[sangre-luz]

In one of your last posts you mentioned Ford and Euclid, I know that their relationship far from god, but how bad is it? Has it ever gotten to the point of torture or physical fights? What is the most dangerous thing Euclid tried to do with Ford’s body, while he controlled it?

What about Dipper? Is he really that cruel and scary? What is relationship between Dipper and Ford like? I know that Ford is Dipper’s apprentice, but is their relationship is a little bit toxic, because of Dipper’s personality and strictness?

Why Euclid doesn’t afraid of being rebellious against Ford, but he wouldn’t dare to do it against Dipper? Is it because he knows that Dipper would tell to Ford something like: “You need to learn to solve your problems yourself, I didn’t choose you for nothing, don’t disappoint me.” Or is it, because he knows that Ford wouldn’t say anything, because Ford doesn’t want to be irresponsible, dependent and weak in Dipper’s eyes?

Is Ford jealous of Stan because of his friendship with Scalene and that’s she’s so submissive and it’s so easy for Stan to make her obey, without even noticing or even some effort?

Euclid possessing Ford for my Dilation Falls AU (Relativity x Reverse Falls)

Lore and rambling under cut

Yes, their relationship is pretty awful. They fight ruthlessly, and though they can’t physically put their hands on each other, Euclid does take it up a notch. I wanted to make him more like Canon!Bill a bit, aggressive and able to torture those when he doesn’t get what he’s been promised.

As I stated in my last posts about Dilation Falls, it does keep Reverse Falls premise where someone is being kept under chains. And those are Euclid and Scalene. In this case, Euclid projects his pure anger from being kept under the chains of the Pines family onto Ford, since he cannot do that with Dipper. They don’t cooperate well, and they make a bigger mess out of any simple task as a consequence. One of the most awful things he’s done while in possession of Ford, however, well…. see that nasty scar on Ford’s cheek? My idea, even in his original character sheet, was that Euclid did something infinitely terrible while in control of Ford’s body, thus resulting in the huge scar-gash on the entire side of his cheek/jawline. Hurt like hell too. I don’t want to say exactly what he did, because I want to possibly draw it out first without spoiling anything ;^) . Anyways it’ll be very difficult to explain such a noticeable feature on his face to the townspeople, his great aunt and uncle, his parents, and especially his twin brother (who he is still on pretty bad terms with— they haven’t really talked about the science project nor had a chance to). It’s also this that makes Ford feel even more like a freak, and he absolutely resents Euclid for it.

Now onto Dipper and Ford’s relationship. First, Dipper himself is not necessarily cruel. Atleast not to his family. But he does and can put pressure on Ford. Can he be scary? Yeah, definitely, this guy has travelled to who knows how many dimensions, I would not want to get on his bad side. Like in Reverse Falls, he instead chooses to uplift Ford. They bond over the fact that they are, indeed different: Dipper with his forehead birthmark and Ford with his six fingers, and both with their needy persistence in knowledge of all sorts including the fascination of the paranormal. Maybe their dynamic would be toxic, considering the fact that Dipper expects a lot from Ford, but right now it’s relatively “you and I are the chosen ones” bs and some manipulation that they don’t really need anyone but family. Because Ford is still only 17/18, an angry teenager whose trust in his twin has just been broken and has been denied his dream school, and Dip knows Ford needs someone to depend on. To maintain his trust. Someone should seriously tell him that being cooped up in a basement or doing nerdy field work all day everyday isn’t necessarily healthy and that he needs to interact with other human beings lol.

Still, I also think that while Dip and Mabel do play favorites with the twins, they would still want them to hash out their relationship since they see themselves so much in the Stan twins. But it’s very difficult to accomplish this… because I need angst and misunderstandings XD

If you think Euclid and Ford’s dynamic is bad though, take a look at Dipper and Euclid’s dynamic. It’s understood that Ford and Euclid don’t have a good dynamic at all, but Euclid still has that fighting spirit. With Dip and Euclid, that spirit has been entirely extinguished. For many, many long, dragging years. Euclid sees it as hopeless and as a lost cause, in fact, that he has entirely stopped fighting against Dipper and instead finds it easier to obey his commands, or rather he has no choice but to obey him, because a deals a deal no matter what. Really, Dip-Dop knows about Ford’s predicament, and like you said, he knows Ford will reign Euclid in or die trying. This expectation is what makes Ford so stubborn. He won’t disappoint the man he looks up to, and he definitely won’t fail him. He’ll give Dipper a reason to be proud of him.

You know those tests that a mentor gives to their apprentice in TV shows, and it’s not always glaringly obvious, but it’s something that drives the apprentice crazy in trying to reign in and control? Those tests usually are objects, other people, a mission, task, etc. And it will be the apprentices job to take care of it, no matter how much they get hurt? Maybe the task is just impossible, and the master knows that, but the apprentice is stubborn. And they refuse to let their mentor down.

Here, Euclid wants to break him. He wants to hurt Dipper’s family, Ford just happens to be a source into that. Because there’s no way of making up for those years that his wife, Scalene has been trapped- and their son being dead or trapped or dead or alive or God knows where, and they can’t find him because they’re trapped, have been trapped here with these humans for 30 years. It’s just torture. In Euclid’s eyes, he’s returning the favor.

With Ford and Stan, Ford is not necessarily jealous of Stan’s easy relationship with Scalene, nor do I think he really knows. I think he would rather be peeved if he found out about it, but he might see that because Euclid is more of a challenge, there is a reap for a larger reward: that being Dipper’s respect and confidence in him. WCT was just taken from him. He won’t let this chance slip again. There’s a reason he was chosen for this position. There’s a reason they came to Gravity Falls.

I think it’s in Journal 3 where Ford talks about the paranormal being attracted to him, and him being attracted to the paranormal in return. In my AU this indeed rings true. For now it might be a good thing the both of them are separate for a bit, to cool down from their emotions and anger, as a lot of paranormal shit as in canon still happens to them in this AU. Sooner or later though they will definitely need to properly talk things out.

That’s all I can think of for now. I wrote this at like 2 AM so some parts may be incoherent.. I need sleep.

Thanks for the ask! ^^

[whereserpentswalk]

There's a plane that exists just for people passing through to other dimensions. It's this sort of liminal zone. Most people don't stay there for long, but almost every planner traveler has, for some amount of time, stayed there.

It's shaped like places that people only stay for a short amount of time. Most of it looks like a giant hotel, pale walled and well cleaned, with rooms and pools and the like. Though other places look more like a massive airport of train station, with all those little shops and news stands. It's nice, a place where you can spend time for a little while, but only for a little while. The entire dimension is mabye at best the size of a small city, and entirely indoors. Beyond its walls there's only Astral Choas, the doom between all planes.

The host is something ancient and powerful, older than most planes even are. Few mortals have seen him. He's mostly known by his staff, these androgynous humanoids that don't eat or sleep, sown into their uniforms. The staff are alive and sentient, but they aren't born, just created. Those who project their spirits beyond planes but not their bodies are often given similar forms to the staff when they come here. Those who attempt to harm the staff will end up seeing security, beings who are far less freindly, and far less humanoid.

There's something strange to having so many dimensional travelers in one place. Especially with no base culture to speak of amoung them. You'll see an advanced group of human scientists, walking by an adventuring party containing elves and orcs. A mysterious gentlemen from the fae in a suit and top hat, may be making conversation with a lost starship captain who just escaped a warp storm, as a horror beyond mortal comprehension plays a game of chess with a group of sentient mice. Everyone sees it differently, it's technologically advanced to some, primitive to others, familiar to some, and inhuman to others.

And you only ever pass through. Even the exiles and refugees can't stay forever. It's nice, perhaps nicer than your world, and comfortable, a place to rest without war and horrors around you. But it can never be forever. You have a plane to go to, and it isn't this one. Nomatter how comfortable the bed is you must someday awaken from it.

And not to mention the way people interact with those who they'll never meet again. The paladin who befriended an astronaut who was lost there, and who wept when he found out she didn't know if she had a soul or not. The brass armed steampunk professor, considered young for his mission at forty, who became horrified to talk to a team of superheros whose oldest member was sixteen. The cloned soldier, born to die, too afraid to take off it's gas mask, who met an elven warroir, and let her tell it there was more to life then war and pain, and tell it of beautiful things throughout the multiverse, and let her touch it's breasts, and see it's naked body and face, and both of them knew they'd both be gone when the morning came, but they'd remember eachother, and the soldier for the first time yearned for something beyond death.

[bunnakit]

one of the most difficult parts of navigating ATEEZ lore is you have to decide which avenue you're going to operate under -

are you operating under the assumption that they've traversed dimensions (A -> Z) with elements of time travel interspersed and the Halateez are tangible human beings they can interact with?

or are you operating under the theory that they've only time traveled "to a different world" (because the future is so bleak it feels like a new world entirely) and the Halateez are shadows of their future, no longer occupying that space-time because ATEEZ has taken their place and the Halateez are only reflections of their inner selves?*

and depending on your choice are you assuming Halazia is a third dimension where the events of the timeline occurred differently? or that it's instead even further into the future and what may be in store for society if ATEEZ cannot fix things in the Z era, the time of the Halateez?

this is why i think it's so difficult to say any one theory is correct when there is so much unconfirmed, so many elements to play with, and so many details to turn over in our head. it's an absolute blast to navigate and experiment with. i wonder if someday we'll have it all spelled out to us but part of me almost hopes it never is. (and i know some things have been 'confirmed' in interviews but we know KQ and HJ are known to be very tricky with the way they word and tease things.)

*i personally find it very curious that we only ever see interactions between the two through some form of reflective surface - aside from answer but even then they're lifting a glass to cheers and it could be said that they're viewing their reflections through that glass. (and we know reflective surfaces are banned in strictland for the sense of identity they can grant.)

there is also no direct dialogue between them in any of the diaries except a brief interaction between hongjoong and the version of him trapped in the glass on the prison island, when he adopts the black pirate costume for himself. we know the guardians can take people's voices, i don't think it's out of the realm of possibility for them to take and contain souls {no more, keep your soul} - especially of those they want to punish rather than dispose of - or for this to be some moment of self reflection and a realization of the path he wants to take moving forward

[brucewaynehater101]

I had a rather angst idea for a Good Dad Bruce au. One where he actually loves his kids and Jason never died (they still took Tim in because they found him taking pictures of them on patrol) and everyone is a lot healthier. The family spends time together and while they do squabble, like all families, they don't fight like they do in canon.

Then one day, they get an alert that the cave has been broken into and when they rush to check it out, they find.... Tim? Which shouldn't be possible as Tim is following behind Bruce and was literally at breakfast with everyone else. The new Tim's head snaps up when they enter and he just sighs, "Damn it, I was hoping to avoid you guys. Well, Multiversal Code Lima Omega Sigma Tango. Is that still the code here?" Which is the Bat code for "someone fucked up and sent me through a multiverse portal and now I gotta get home". Before anyone can fully comprehend what's going on with New Tim, he turns back to the Batcomputer, where he's currently pulling up information on Zatanna and Constantine.

Bruce walks over to the computer, worried about this version of his son being lost so far from home and says, "well help you get home. Do you know what world you're from?" And Tim simply raises an eyebrow and says, "oh. Is this one of *those* dimensions? How annoying. You can help by getting me some coffee, keeping Bat Brat and Hood away from me, and I'll be out of your hair soon enough. I won't even be here long enough to make your paranoia to bad if things go right."

All that is. Rather concerning. Especially because none if them have Hood in their names. Of course these Healthy Bats insist on helping New Tim out for as much as he will let them. It can be noted that he only accepts food from Alfred, Steph, and Cass and only drink from them and Dick. Anything Jason, Bruce, or Damian tries to give him is completely ignored, Tim acting like it isn't even there. He also is isn't refusing to interact with Damian and Jason but unlike the others, he won't say anything to them until they say something first.

Eventually Damian snaps and says, "Drake, why are you ignoring myself and Jason?!" Tim simply slowly places the tablet he was typing on down and turns to Damian and Jason who are a little pissed and also worried about Tim and why he's acting the way he is. After a deep breath, Tim says, "simply by observing I can tell that our families are extremely different. For example, both of you get along very well with your Tim. It is not so on my world. I will not go into details for all of our sakes, but both of you have made *multiple* attempts on my life. I don't blame either of you and things have been almost peaceful recently. I don't blame either of them, it's simply instinct for them. But that doesn't erase the fact that someone with each of your faces has nearly killed me at least 5 times *each*. I understand that it wasn't you two who did it, but I would still rather not become complacent around any version of either of you to avoid becoming complacent around them. So just. Stay away from me." Tim then turns back to what he was doing and resumes research on how to get back to his own world.

Jason is shocked and horrified that any version of himself would make any attempt on Tim's life, let alone almost half a dozen! He snarls, "what do you mean it's *instinct* for them? What, is only one person allowed to be in the family at a time or some bullshit?!"

Tim and Jason go back and forth a few times with Tim refusing to explain fully, simply calling it Instincts and everyone calling bullshit on that until Tim snaps, scales spreading across his hands and face as his pupils become slits and a hood flares out of his neck that was previously hidden. In a blink, Tim has become some kind of human animal hybrid as he hisses, "because I'm a Viper, Jason is a Hawk, and Damian is a Mongoose!! They naturally hunt my kind, I don't blame them for not trusting me or attacking me if I don't warn them that I'm there! I don't blame either of them for trying to kill me on sight the first two times each of them met because I'm a Cobra!" Once Tim settles down he pinches the bridge of his nose and deshifts back to fully human as he grumbles, "I apologize. I shouldn't have snapped like that just. Just leave it."

Jason and Damian attacking him on instinct is all a lie. They just don't want to accept Tim into the family and this is an easy way to excuse any murder attempts. If Bruce or Dick catches them, they just lie through their teeth that Thr Pit makes it harder to control the more instinct driven side of them, or its lingering effects from whatever Rouge they got Poisoned by last, or Tim was shifted and didn't warn them when he walked up. Sure it's fine for everyone else in the family, hell in 99% of the world its considered perfectly OK to be shifted at all times, or at least it is for animal hybrids like mice and birds and dogs, but not as much for Spiders, Snakes, and Pathners.

As for what the rest of Snake Tim's family is, Bruce is some kind of Fancy Dog (as was his mother) and when he's Batman he fluffy up and puts temporary dye in his fur to look like a Rottweiler or Doberman, Dick is a Swan who used basically spray on hair dye that Bruce made special for his feathers so people thought he was a Robin Shifter, Jason is a Hawk who's wings got the same treatment, Tim is a King Cobra like his mom but when on patrol he keeps the hood hidden and chews black gum so the inside of his mouth looks black like a Mamba's, and Damian is a Mongoose like Ras and Talia but the public thinks he's a ferret. Steph is either a Possum or a Raccoon and makes jokes about having switched animals with Tim as birth. Cass is a black panther who loves the groom her family.

Shifter AU!!!!!!

I was not expecting that, so I was pleasantly surprised ^^

Snake comparisons for Tim are underutilized and beloved. I'd be down to see way more of them. As for this AU, I'm curious about what seems to be Shifter-ism (not sure if there's a better word for that), their instincts, and how often Jason and Damian get away with attacking Tim. Are they at least doing better now? It seems that Tim is weary of them, that they attacked him even with full control of their actions, but that he doesn't blame them.

Also, is one of Tim's instincts to take naps in sunny spots? Is he slower when he's cold?

For the cover-up that Tim did, it was brilliant. He crafted a perfectly logical reason for why they would attack him (especially for Bats who are presumably unfamiliar with shifter instincts and thus unable to call him out).

[gallifreyinstituteforlearning]

can time lords hallucinate in more than 3 dimensions? what is that like (inasmuch as us 3D beings can understand)?

Can Time Lords hallucinate in more than three dimensions?

Gallifreyans, especially Time Lords, are five-dimensional beings. This means they perceive the universe in more dimensions than humans do. While humans perceive three spatial dimensions and one time dimension, Time Lords also perceive the fifth dimension, allowing them to see and operate within the multiverse.

Given their advanced sense perception and sensitivity to time and psionics, it's reasonable to assume that if a Time Lord were to hallucinate, those hallucinations would certainly involve more than three dimensions and be incredibly vivid for their other senses.

Of course, these are all hypothetical ideas for hallucinations Gallifreyans might experience, but I'm sure there are plenty more.

⏳ Temporal Hallucinations

A Time Lord might perceive events from different points in time all at once. Imagine seeing an object or person's past, present, and potential future simultaneously, but all of it is wrong or strange information.

Example: They might see an ancient tree as a sapling, a fully grown tree, and a decaying stump all at once, when in fact they're looking at an animal.

They might experience time flowing at different speeds, with some parts of their perception moving in slow motion and others in fast forward.

Example: They might see a person walking towards them slowly while cars zoom by.

🧠 Psionic Hallucinations

They might perceive the thoughts and emotions of everyone around them in a chaotic, overwhelming flood of information, none of which is true, or is distorted.

Example: Walking through a crowded area, they might hear hundreds of overlapping conversations, all talking and thinking about the same thing. (Eldrad must live? Joke.)

They could hallucinate objects moving or floating on their own, even if they haven't consciously activated their telekinetic abilities.

Example: They might see books flying off shelves or furniture rearranging itself without any physical cause.

They might experience vivid residual psionic imprints from past events, feeling like they're reliving their own intense emotional or psychic moments.

Example: Entering an old room, they might see and relive the death of a companion who was killed there.

🌌 Spatial Hallucinations

They can see spatial dimensions in ways humans can't comprehend, like viewing the inside and outside of an object simultaneously or seeing multiple perspectives at once.

Example: When looking at a building, they might see all the rooms and the activities within them without needing to walk inside.

🌍 Multiversal Hallucinations

They might hallucinate different parallel universes or alternate realities that aren't relevant or applicable.

Example: When looking at a friend, they might see and believe they're interacting with their parallel self without realising that's not their current reality.

❄️ Thermoceptive Hallucinations

They might feel extreme temperatures that aren't actually present, such as burning heat or freezing cold.

Example: While sitting in a comfortable room, they might feel as if they're standing in the middle of a snowstorm or inside a furnace.

⚡ Nociceptive Hallucinations

They might experience phantom pains or sensations of injury when there is no physical cause. Some of this pain might be from old injuries they've had before.

Example: They might feel as though their arm is broken like it was before in an accident they had, even though nothing is wrong with it.

🌪️ Equilibrioceptive Hallucinations

They could experience severe vertigo or a sensation of spinning, even when standing still.

Example: They might feel as if they're tumbling through space or being pulled in different directions by gravitational forces.

🧲 Mechano/Magnetoreceptive Hallucinations

They might feel vibrations or magnetic fields that don't exist, affecting their perception of their surroundings.

Example: They might feel as though the ground beneath them is shaking violently or sense a powerful magnetic pull altering their orientation.

🏫 So…

Time Lords have the potential to experience hallucinations far beyond what humans can even conceive of. Their advanced sensory systems, time perception, and psionic abilities could lead to hallucinations involving multiple dimensions, overlapping timelines, and even telepathic and telekinetic phenomena. The possibilities are endless and certainly aren't limited to just these senses.

Related:

💬|👁️👽How do Time Lords see humans?: How Time Lords process humans on a sensory level.

🤔|👁️👻Can Gallifreyans sense ghosts?

💬|👁️⏲️How do Time Lords see the future?: Overview of the five-dimensional aspect of Time Lords and how they perceive the future.

Hope that helped! 😃

Any orange text is educated guesswork or theoretical. More content ... →📫Got a question? | 📚Complete list of Q+A and factoids →📢Announcements |🩻Biology |🗨️Language |🕰️Throwbacks |🤓Facts → Features: ⭐Guest Posts | 🍜Chomp Chomp with Myishu →🫀Gallifreyan Anatomy and Physiology Guide (pending) →⚕️Gallifreyan Emergency Medicine Guides →📝Source list (WIP) →📜Masterpost If you're finding your happy place in this part of the internet, feel free to buy a coffee to help keep our exhausted human conscious. She works full-time in medicine and is so very tired 😴

[jeanystillbeany]

BillFord Fic

I haven’t gotten invited to ao3 yet so I’ll just post it here anyway. It doesn’t have a name so I’ll just post a teaser or whatever. Idfk. It’s a billford fic ig. As soon as I get ao3 I’ll post it on there. I do have more written. I’m just taking the first part for a test drive. Let me know ur thoughts! (Literally anything- name suggestions scene suggestions, if i should post it on ao3, explanations etc.)

Entry 167: Series 6

  Out of all the curiosities I’ve studied in my travels, this has to be one of the most shocking enigmas yet.  This timeline had the bottom story of the shack left with two gaping holes at the top.  In fact, it’s as though the shack grew legs and walked away.  Which is completely bizarre- even for a weirdness magnet such as Gravity Falls, Oregon.  The countless timelines I’ve visited so far were nowhere near this level of insanity.  This level of… intrigument.  The state of the timeline has this enrapturing effect on me.  

  Recently the timelines I’ve been traveling through have had a different variable.  Two in fact.  As it turns out, me and my brother have a great-grandniece and nephew.  Dipper and Mabel.  While I’ve been careful to not interact with any timelines I’ve found myself caught up in (especially after that incident with the Time Police), I still somehow find myself growing attached to the two.  For the past few months I’ve been observing them through the different timelines I’ve traveled to.  There has also been the reoccurring pattern of their other ‘Gruncle’ re-emerging from the same portal I find myself appearing from every few days.  I’ve been waiting… counting down the days til it’s my turn.  And yet, I still don’t understand why I continue to keep that false hope in my pocket.  The multiverse is infinite.  The chances of me ever finding my home universe is nearly pointless.  While I could always take the place of another Stanford… The Time Police would be on my case in a second.  I also understand that the multiverse I was sent to wasn’t the same one as the other Stanfords.  While I’m dealing with infinites of my brother, they were dealing with beasts beyond basic human comprehension… and yet I’d much rather that than to be cursed knowing I’d never get home.  To see Dipper and Mabel fail… over and over… with myself unable to assist… sometimes I thought it was driving me mad.  

  I’ve certainly spent more time reciting the last few entries than I should’ve.  So I shall continue with the present.  The shambles of my lab have made for an adequate shelter.  (Save for the 2 overgrown hairless mole rats I’ve needed to fight off for my rations).  The sky appears to be a blood red, many of the familiar surrounding trees were reduced to brambles, probably by some larger species I’d like to take the time to investigate at a later hour.  This area has been intensely modified compared to the other Gravity Falls I’ve been in.  I have a hunch this is due to the large vortex that ripped through the dimension.  (That was in fact sarcasm my dear reader).  So far I’ve studied and dissected one of those overgrown Eye-Bats that can turn a person to stone just by looking at them.  From memory; I will promise they were much smaller and could not turn one to stone in my own timeline.  Why would anyone feel the need to weirdify these anomalies?  Some sort of apocalypse has settled over this world.  Whether or not it was always like this is unknown.  I’m leaning towards the latter though.  I shortly ran out of things to do after examining my last two specimens and I itched for more information on these preternatural creatures. 

Ford sat in what was left of his desk chair and kicked his feet up.  He would kill for a mug of coffee right now.  

Ford ran a hand through his hair.  Since the portal incident, he’s grown it out. He’s grateful he didn’t cut it when he could.  It more than likely would’ve exaggerated the up and coming gray hair.  Though… he shouldn’t exactly care how he looks because he’s not supposed to be seen in other timelines according to the Time Police.  In the end, he still does get a fond satisfaction of knowing he’s at least well kept.  And mistakes happen.  He continues to have the same clothing pattern of turtle necks- though he only ever wears them underneath his long coat.  It proved to be very useful when traveling timelines.  The amount of pockets he had to keep so many samples in almost seemed like cheating.  He also always had his bag with him.  Most of his pockets aren’t big enough for his journal, and he’s filled up a couple while he was traveling timelines.  His love of pockets also extended to his lower half making sure to have maximum pockets on his cargo pants.  He even bothered with a hidden one in his shoe for an emergency lock pick.  If that wasn’t enough, his obsession with Sci-Fi led to him wanting to live it to its full extent, so naturally he put knives in both heels of his boots as well.  

  Normally he’d care that there were some contaminated combat boots being rubbed all over his desk.  But now?  He thought he might as well embrace the end of the world.  He loved his family to death, but if any of them saw him in a timeline other than his origin the whole universe would collapse in on itself, and they would be the ones dead.  Ford could always scramble back to his portal and go to the next timeline.  According to the Time Police that is.   Though there have been many instances where he has intervened in his earlier days with no consequence.  

  The man mindlessly fiddled with his gun on the inside pocket of his coat.  He wanted to study more.  Maybe the giant gash in the sky was the root of his greatest mystery!  He unhooked his heels from the edge of his desk and swung them around towards the bunker hatch.  He pushed himself off from the armrests of the chair.  Stanford climbed up the ladder and popped his head out of the bunker.  He supposed the first step would be to find a lookout point.  If he was lucky he might be able to stay in one place long enough to do a quick sketch of this timeline’s situation.  The first place Stanford’s mind drifted was his abandoned UFO- though it was identified and no longer flying, so he dubbed it the alien spacecraftt.  It gave a perfect view of the entire town and was rather close to his current position.  Ford gave a once over of everything in his satchel.  He plucked out his journal in order to sift through the small bit of food, water and any other trinkets he had before neatly replacing it and went on his way.  

  As Ford traveled he kept a hand on his gun.  Aside from the terrors the scientist was getting antsy to encounter, he was the only other sound he heard.  His boots trudged along the ground -making distinct squishing sounds- as though he were walking in his own wet socks.  The ground beneath him was unnaturally wet causing the uncomfortable feeling.  There was the occasional shuffle as he adjusted his jacket to the odd temperatures.  Ford made a mental note to journal about the seemingly miniature air masses that drastically changed the temperatures in as little as every few feet he walked.  The long coat was currently adjusted to be draped over his shoulders, as Ford found this to be a happy medium and made a constant grip on his gun easier.  

  A rumble struck the ground just as Ford’s own foot hit the earth.  The man felt a jitter course through him, crawling up his spine.  

  “Another weirdness wave!”  The man exclaimed with much more enthusiasm than anyone else trapped in this hell bubble ever would.  He licked the first two of his fingers and raised them up in the air, turning them at different angles until he found the direction that gave his moistened fingers the most chill.  After finding the wind direction he quickly hid behind a tree and scrambled through his bag.  His six-fingered hand reemerged with a sort of hand made device.  It was made from old lab parts created during his first few days in this timeline.  It allowed him to calculate the intensity of the weirdness wave and further study its properties.  He carefully placed the machine away from the cover of the tree and braced himself for things to get weird.  

  The wave passed over Stanford relatively easily and he observed no mutations to himself.  Stanford went to pick up his wave reader when- 

  “Oh.  How peculiar… Shit.”  The man’s handmade invention had grown to compete with the surrounding forest’s pine trees.  For a moment the Author thought that he would be unable to run.  For a moment the Author believed he was frozen in time.  For a moment he saw himself as a child.  For a moment he saw his brother.  For a moment he saw the twins.  

  Stanford found the right gears that made the joints in his legs move.  This was no longer his invention.  It had grown six legs of its own.  The calculator screen that was once used as a makeshift reader display was its mouth and the antenna was its tongue.  Ford was tempted to take a picture, though he doubted such would be worth his life.  He raced through the forest.  It was almost as if its size grew due to this oddity apocalypse.  The scientist didn’t have a chance.  Every time he heaved himself over a log, the creature could bash itself right through it after him.  He needed to think of something… he’d kill to meet his niece and nephew.  

  The Author took out his loaded gun as he ran through the brambles.  He took a sharp turn, causing the monster to slide in an effort to regain its balance.  Ford began to aim as the creature was tipped onto its side.  It landed with a loud thump, causing multiple mutated birds to fly away startled.  Stanford lowered his gun and stood stunned in front of his creation, as its legs flailed about, damaging the surrounding shrubbery.  

  “Intriguing!”  Ford quickly snapped a picture.  As much as he’d like to inspect the helpless thing more, he deemed it safer to continue with his original task.  He would’ve stayed longer if one of the monster’s legs didn’t reach out and claw at his coat, tearing it down its side.  A bit closer and the scientist would’ve been seriously injured.   He jumped back and continued with his task of sketching this new timeline.  He also made a mental note to log his encounter in the journal when he was in the clear.  

~

  He finally made it to the spacecraft.  Ford would definitely consider using this as a hideout in this world.  Contrary to Ford’s belief, the state of this timeline was only in Gravity Falls.  He remembers studying the Natural Law of Weirdness Magnetism as a younger man, but he never believed it could affect anything to this extent.  Ford sat down atop the spacecraft.  He snapped a picture of the surrounding scene.  

Entry 167 B. Series 6

  There seemed to be a large barrier encasing Gravity Falls.  More than likely the Natural Law of Weirdness Magnetism.  I’ve studied the topic before and have come up with a simple equation to break it.  The scene before me is both exhilarating and dread ensuing.  To even think about the situations my brother and the kids have gone through haunts me.  I want nothing more than to be able to talk with them.  Even if it’s not my universe.  I want to hear their stories and watch them grow up… I wish for my own universe.  I’ve traveled the timelines for much too long.  I’ve watched them.  But I want to see them.  To meet my Mabel, my Dipper, my Stanley.  I want to meet my family.  But where would I even start?  The time police?

  I looked off to the sunless horizon and noticed a large pink orb sitting dead center of the train tracks with Mabel’s zodiac on it.  My breathing sputtered.  Just what were these kids into this timeline?  I decided it’d be best to head back to the lab.  I’d like to be there when the portal reopens.  

   Maybe… maybe I can try one more time.  My sentence is already high enough as it is with the Time Police… I want to help my niece and nephew… no matter what universe they’re in.  There has to be a reason the Time Police aren’t on my tail by now… especially after that monster was created.  I’ll spend the night at the lab again and work on relocating to the spacecraft tomorrow.  Then I’ll find my brother.  

  Ford replaced his bookmark into his journal and brushed himself off.  He stood up on the roof of the dead spaceship and gave one last glance at the world he found himself in before beginning the few hour trek to where the Mystery Shack once stood.  Stanford was nearly to his hideout. About where he left the wave reading monster.  There was one problem that had unnerved the Author for more than one reason.  A question that bubbled out of his mouth as soon as he seen the large clearing in the trees where the monster had been discarded.  

  “Where is it?” His question was shortly answered as a screech was heard not too far behind him.  

  “Fuck!  Are you Serious?!”  The scientist grumbled and quickened his pace.  It was following him.  Either it had extremely sensitive hearing or it was tracking him by scent.  Whatever the case was, his hands itched to jot it down in his journal.  He didn’t have much time for that as he found himself being chased by the beast once again.  Ford continued to race to the lab and attempted to slide into the underground space.  The mechanical creature’s claw lurched out and nicked his back, sending him flying forward and creating another large hole in the roof.  He landed ungraciously on the floor of his lab with a groan.  As a last resort Ford turned over on his back and began shooting wildly through the crack.  The mechanical anomaly screeched as it was shot at, retreating immediately.  Ford felt the back of his coat begin to soak and his vision blur.  The tips of his finger began to numb as his arm fell to the ground. 

   With one last screech, a fourth hole was punctured into the top of the lab, right over the portal, leaving Ford’s escape in shambles.  He would’ve screamed, or yelped with his hand held out dramatically as any Author such as himself would, but that was the last sight seen before he passed out completely.  

~

  “Do you think it’s dead?”  

  “I say we eat it”

  “Dudes.  Is it just me?  Or does it kinda look like Mr. Pines.” 

  “Soos.  It has SIX FINGERS!  SIX!  It had to be some sort of clone… or- or… imposter.”  Pages began to flip in the background of the following commotion.  Quiet muttering was also heard following each turn of paper- though it was mostly blocked out by the pounding in Ford’s head.  

  “Mr. Pines… do you… know anything about this?”  Ford was becoming conscious enough to pick out voices.  This seemed to be the only female among the group.  

  “Stanford…?” This was a new voice.  Much older than the others.  It wavered as it said his name- effectively snapping him out of the painful slumber he was in.  

  Ford started with a groan and his eyes squinted shut, adjusting to the abnormal light- even for the living world.  In this universe that is.  

  “Dudes.  It’s waking up.”  Ford mumbled and rubbed his head.  Thankfully the wound on his back didn’t go that deep into his back.  Though the semi-dried blood latching the fabric of his coat to himself was very uncomfortable.  

  “Sixer!”  Stanford opened his eyes just in time to see the back of a tacky red hat by the side of his head.  Arms enveloped his shoulders partially helping Ford keep himself up.  

  “Stanley…”  The scientist just barely breathed out.  

  “STANLEY?!”  Ford couldn’t be bothered to look up from his brother’s shoulder at the other’s exclaimation

  “Is anyone else confused right now?  Cause I’m confused.” Soos commented.  Stanley sighed before releasing his disoriented brother.  

  “Kids, Soos, I want you to meet… the author of the journals.”  Stan was hesitant to let go of his brother, as though if he let go of his brother’s shoulder he’d disappear back into the fabrics of existence.  Dipper did an excited squeal and almost ran up to properly greet his practical obsession, but Wendy put a calm hand on his shoulder to stop him from ruining the two brothers' moment.  She decided she needed more context with her boss’ secret twin before Dipper butted in.  

  “Stanley.  I need- I need to tell you something.”  Stanford’s voice wavered with guilt.  As multiple scenarios ran through his head.  More than likely this wasn’t his universe.  He doesn’t know what happened to his own timeline, or this one… though it’s not like he can continue traveling timelines with the portal busted.  Ford opened his mouth to speak- but no sound came out as a thought surfaced to his head.  

  ‘…what if this is my timeline?  What if the portal busted for a reason?  Maybe… I can stay a while.  They need my help…’

  “Yeah?”  Stanley asked- a small smile almost suppressed on his face.  

  “…I missed you.” Ford sighed out.  He pulled Stan back into him.  The other man slapped his back playfully with a goofy grin.  Ford winced and let out a small yelp.  

  “Oh… forgot about that.  Welp.  I smiled too little in the past 3 weeks to smile this much now.  Let’s get back to the shack.”  As if on queue, an ominous roar shook the ground under them. 

  “Agreed.” Wendy said.  

  “Yup, yup, yup, let’s go!”  Soos hauled Dipper over his shoulder and sprinted out of the Lab and everyone else followed.  Ford found himself lingering for a moment- his eyebrows furrowed as he stared at the remains of his portal.  It’s gone.  It’s all gone.  

  “Hey, bro.  Let’s get out of here, ‘k?”  Stanley put his hand on Ford’s shoulder, offering a hopefully comforting smile.  

  “We have a lot to talk about Stanley…” Similar to any other earth tremble, the earth shook following the signs of a beast approaching.  

  “Yeah, yeah.  Can we do that later?”  Stanley tugged his brother along by the back of his coat leading him out of the lab.  Stanford followed behind- occasionally wincing from the pulling on his jacket.  

[grison-in-space]

sometimes I guiltily think about how enormous the barriers between species context can be even understanding the interactions between brains and behavior and bodies:

humans are a species and we have a number of unusual traits, and we shouldn't be surprised when deeply conserved patterns don't quite echo one to one between humans and the model species we try to take apart to understand.

nowhere is this clearer than when considering sex differences, of course: when different species partition basically every trait entangled with sex or gender in different ways, sex itself becomes relative. you can watch the patterns of androgens and estrogens and what they signal change as you leap from species to species, and even from population to population, especially between inbred lines.

but it's true of other things, too. today I'm thinking of the difference between stress and trauma: one of the biggest risk factors for a human's experience of stress scarring into an experience of trauma is whether that individual person feels a) that they have a strong social network that cares about them and that b) that social network doesn't view them as somehow responsible for the stressor they're recovering from.

and that makes sense. humans are intensely social and more to the point we are reciprocally social: we don't generally associate safety with the simple presence of other humans, only with the presence of other humans with whom we have a familiar and positive relationship. Individual history and relationships matter to us. That's not the case for all social species—some are much less individually sensitive—and I bet you that those species have different risk factors for stresses setting into complex traumas. less "will anyone rescue me if I am in danger again" and more "is anyone frightened around me?"

anyway it's guilt because I make a lot of arguments about why interspecies understanding of cognition, brains, and behavior is important to helping humans understand ourselves: not just for the boring ethical reasons, but also because understanding how things work in a different system helps us to understand ourselves. if variation is happening in different dimensions across species than it is in ours, that argument becomes weaker, at least on a temporary basis: we have to make sure we're not extending #inMice inappropriately to humans, then, and why bother with mice at all unless you have to?

but I keep making those arguments anyway. because I believe, sincerely, that wholly understanding alien systems clarifies our understanding of ourselves better. By understanding what dimensions change in life-forms that do things differently from ourselves, we learn whether our assumptions about default ways of being are correct—and in so doing, we learn about which setups are different but equally functional, and which are absent because they can't work in unison.

[angeldeviloshi]

Mega Horsemen analysis thread compiled from my bsky.

Kinda wondering if the prophecy might be foretelling that Death is actually being summoned by Kiga through the sacrifices provided by Falling and Fire.

And that the narrative of it being "the age of devils" implants the idea of war in people which in turn strengthens Yoru in a world where she can't derive fear from wars in humanity's history as we know it.

Which allows Yoru to maybe regain enough power to turn Pochita's heart into a weapon that can erase Death while allowing Denji to live a normal life with a human heart instead.

But to do that both Denji's despair and Asa's guilt are important ingredients for this plan to work (Pochita's summoning and Asa's weapon) Asa has no connection to Pochita, but Pochita is connected to Denji.

She just has to think of Pochita as Denji's heart with all the relevant contexts that fuel her guilt and love through her connection to Denji. Doing right by her own heart to save him.

And I guess this leaves the question of whether or not Kiga is an unwitting instigator in a self-fulfilling prophecy or a fear-mongering orchestrator.

Cuz I've also been toying with the idea that the prophecy is just a framing device to present the conflict of part 2 while also being an unreliable lens much like what Aki was in part 1.

In that Nostradamus prophecies are viewed as glorified hoaxes irl and that can function as commentary for how the faith in it in-universe reflects the faith towards the csm. In the way the people project onto him as a vague concept to reflect the truth they see about the world.

And also yknow the way csm fans irl also predict the manga as it's ongoing to put forth their own truth for csm's world.

And Kiga's continuing mystery while she spends her screentime stuffing her face as the deadpan comic relief feeds into that while the scale of death continues to escalate with stuff like Aging's contract.

(Different thread)

I'm thinking about the horsemen's abilities and they all have the common theme of perception reliance and using those that can be deemed as lesser to them.

Control can control anything and anyone perceived as beneath her.

War can transform anything she perceives is hers into a weapon.

Famine can command the starved. But while Control and War can actively perform their abilities by themselves, Famine is reliant on the circumstances of starvation to enact her abilities.

The devils she summon being weaker could be due to this too with maybe the exception of Falling due to being a primal fear even if she could be nerfed.

And I wonder if the secret she tells AsaYoru could have been this all along so they're left unaware that they're being controlled by her vs when it's explained to Nayuta.

Given that Kiga is the only one so far who is able to not only see BOTH Asa and Yoru but also tangibly interact with them. (Her spiriting Asa away into Eternity's pocket dimension without Yoru) especially given that both Asa and Yoru are already starved to begin with in their respective hunger, both of which she stokes when she entered Asa's apartment.

And it's interesting? How this particular detail is never addressed in-universe by Asa or Yoru, or even the fact that Kiga doesn't address them when they're in the presence of other people. Only addressing AsaYoru as separate entities when there's no one else around.

Or at least in a situation where it wouldn't be obvious like with the guards when Guillotine was summoned.

While the story shows us at the front the blurring of the boundary of AsaYoru's identity as they're being seen as a single person by others, especially Denji. (And I wonder if the lack of Asa's inner monologue or the presence of the other out of body, post devil center rescue was meant to illustrate this) because AsaYoru must remain starved for her plans, to keep them under her control, which could also explain why she needs the fear of War to bolster AsaYoru to compensate for the nerfing she imposes onto them. A sharpened tool she's able to wield.

The hunger only deepens with their eyes fixed on the sustenance she dangles in her hand. True cult leader behaviour. Her power is exemplified in the presence of mass hunger but for there to be mass hunger there must first be something to hunger for, insatiably so. And even predators will submit when they're starved.

That Kiga turns on Control too with the Church, with Barem and Miri's hunger, the public's hunger for blood in the wake of loss. Using both her sisters to hollow out Denji's heart in the sushi restaurant.

Even her getting Asa to be the Church's poster girl alongside the fake Chainsaw Man serves to stoke Denji's hunger to push him away from the fulfilment of a normal life. And in turn the hunger of his fans to see him as their hero, their saviour. Fumiko's timely appearance reminding Denji of the choice he made in ch.93. The steak and the girlfriend.

And with all that said. I'm wondering about where Death fits in this. I've talked about the meta of Death inspiring hunger as creation against finality in this thread (covered here)

You can see how this fits into there being an "age of devils" especially with the Chainsaw Devil outbreak and the "Justice Devil" contracts. Humanity's desire to transcend their limitations with the power of concepts. The fear of Death and the finality it represents as catalyst for creation.

But the base idea of this is also carried over from the thoughts I've had simmering in my head from my Gun Aki AU about a devil I've been conceptualising lmfao. The overlap is just there.

The horsemen thus far operate on the subsuming of agency, in control, in objectification, in following, the horror of human exploitation through the power of authority.

And with Aging being a sort of precursor to death, the fear of Death can also represent the fear of impermanence in power, in belief, calling for the need for sacrifice to extend its presence, impact, through the loss it necessitates.

The cabinet's and Aging's desire to have aging erased to 'extend' the potential of humanity while humanity is also treated as a resource of the state via citizenship and its assets like Public Safety. Death as currency and necessity for prolongation.

Just as hunger operates transactionally with Kiga for satiation.

If Kiga's fear invites hunger, then Death could be similar in its invitation of death as sacrifice, Kiga's hunger gives meaning, craving for purpose to live. And Death potentially works against that, in its nullification and stripping of life for a justified end. And Kiga wishes for a world where hunger persists so food can exist.

The creation of humanity that combats hunger, makes life feel fuller.

(Follow-up threads)

So I know the whole Fumiko as Death Devil thing is a meme at this point. But after the long ass horsemen thread I made... technically this morning lmao, I'm actually thinking about her situation foreshadowing Death as well.

In her perception of her life as disposable, her willingness to jump into the jaws of death for a greater cause at the expense of herself, hollowing herself out as her life's purpose.

This is not exclusive to her of course. But that she's somewhat at the forefront of this with both Aging and the cabinet adds to the framing of death as exploit.

And I think the existing horsemen all embody her in some way due to this commonality they share.

In particular, Makima's Control as the necessary evil anchors agents to the state, makes them give up everything for the cause, one that takes lives.

Yoru's conquest for War weaponises lives both literal and figurative, transforming its meaning into its capacity for destruction and utility, as resource.

Kiga's inspiration of hunger through the church as Famine starves the people into wanting, such that they would tear themselves apart just to be fed.

Fumiko echoes all of this, as the state agent advocating for control, as the tool of the state against devils weaponising herself, as the Chainsaw Man fan who hungers for purpose through him. And now she finds herself on the verge of death, the sum of these constructs to its logical conclusion.

Death as the eldest sister the horsemen take after...

Something something, Death has power over whomever views their lives as lesser, worthy of death. The value of life only humans can perceive.

That she's the master fear her younger sisters lead to thereby making her the most powerful and unbeatable.

Kiga saying that War can be made to win is interesting w this line of thought given AsaYoru's duality esp it taking place in Falling arc.

Asa sees no value in her living while Yoru is desperate to sustain her existence. That Kiga says her plan was to starve AsaYoru with Falling in Justice's stomach.

It's here that Asa is made to hunger for Denji, the Chainsaw Man for his kindness, connection. And Yoru is starved in her helplessness and weakness against Falling, her inability to possess Asa as they're saved by her enemy.

Asa inheriting Yuko's justice for the Chainsaw Man, Yoru's inflamed justice for her identity and what she's owed.

This hunger driving Asa's reason to live as she's enlisted into the Church by Kiga. The context of "selfishness" in AsaYoru's revival at the start of p2, for her to overcome death with her hunger, her conquest.

Both of which converging at Chainsaw Man, to turn him into a weapon.

[torturedblue]

Has anyone thought about a 2012 apocalyptic future x Rise apocalyptic future crossover? 🤔

I know this fandom goes wild for future Rise boys x present Rise boys ‘crossovers’ and same for 2012 x Rise crossovers but now I’m really curious to see how the adult turtles from 2012 and then Rise would interact and compare notes when sharing war stories…

One of my reactors on Patreon just reacted to the Mutant Apocalypse arc that I have refused to watch again since it came out because ouch trauma, especially since I thought that was supposed to be the actual ending 🥲

But it makes me realizing when comparing that the 2012 boys didn’t even get to stay together like Rise did, and the Kraang successfully killed all the humans in the mutagen explosion.

The Rise guys at least got to stay together until each one died, but they also had to spend the entire apocalypse still fighting. Which makes it seem like 2012’s predicament is less horrible since their main concern is finding resources and survival, but if you think about that too, in Rise, even though they were fighting so long, the chance/opportunity to kill the Kraang and fix everything was actually an option all that time. They had lasting hope, however fragile and wavering. For 2012 all that stuff seemed pretty permanent. The desert wasteland and civilization gone as it once was… Not only that but they already lost the entirety of the human species which could never come back.

And now that I’m really thinking about it, there are no Kraang around in the post apocalyptic desert, so were they somehow destroyed in that mutagen explosion too, or did the remaining survivors of Earth somehow kill off the Kraang at some point? More likely, maybe after seeing the miserable wasteland that earth became, the Kraang left to go back to Dimension X or start over somewhere else with another planet. Unclear whether the mutagen bomb didn’t work how they wanted it to or maybe after the turtles interfering so much they just wanted to destroy the planet completely as vengeance and move on somewhere else

Now, in both worlds it’s mostly yokai/mutants left as the main population, either left fighting the fight or all the mutants just left surviving. The turtles’ kind became the mainstream population which is a lot to unpack. Despite being mutants and turtles living underground their lifestyles are so derived from how humans lived. Both their Splinter’s were once human and now their former species is (nearly) gone…

I also find the differences in how each group progressed in growing pretty interesting. The Rise turtles got to grow how they were supposed to for the most part, save for Mikey’s advanced aging and if you want to include Leo’s prosthetic arm later on. Whereas, the 2012 turtles vary much more differently in physical form than they’re supposed to and in comparison to each other:

Donnie’s a cyborg with only his human brain left, his body still resembling his teenage body rather than his much older current age

Mikey just barely grew at best, and practically mirrors Rise Mikey’s physical state, unfortunately 2012 didn’t keep his sanity 100% in tact though

And Leonardo was almost completely deformed from taking the brunt of the mutagen bomb and becomes absolutely freaking huge. Like probably bigger than Rise Raph huge

Raph seems to be the only one who grew in (comparatively) the least abnormal and most healthy way, resembling what the rest of his brothers would’ve likely grown to appear as had they not had the different health complications/deformities. He also resembles his Rise counterpart’s body build the most. I know many speculate Rise Raph would’ve only kept getting bigger and bigger as they transitioned into adulthood, and it seems 2012 follows that track as well with how large and aged he is

Not to mention their varying mental health… My god. Again, poor Mikey partially lost his mind, and even though he did have Chompy and Ice Cream Kitty to keep him company all those years it still takes a toll on the psyche to not have anyone around to actually converse with for so long. Out of all his brothers Mikey’s definitely seems like the one to need social contact the most for stability.

Raph can’t remember much of anything from their past life because of the mutagen blast. As far as we can tell he remembers enough about his brothers to see them as such, but we also know he doesn’t even remember Master Splinter, his own father who he knew since infancy

Leo completely lost who he was and forgot who his brothers were, not only that but becoming the very thing that is the complete antithesis of who he is: a villain. One that was rather similar to Shredder at that. And we can’t forget yet another parallel where he almost killed his little brother because he didn’t even know/remember who his little brother was

Donnie seems mostly the same at least when it comes to mental health and keeping a grip on reality, but I’d really like to know his true feelings on losing his physical body and becoming an android. They make it seem like it must not bother him much, and teenage Donnie pre-apocalypse might even find the idea really cool, but we saw how it affected Fugitoid and once that becomes a reality it’s a whole unavoidable mind fuck

Ack. Now I can’t get this out of my head. The adult apocalypse versions of these guys would have so much to talk about and honesty I think meeting more counterparts—especially from apocalyptic timelines —would be such a great comfort to both groups. With how much each side has lost having more family that survived would be a welcomed thing.

I’d love to see some other people or artists’ takes on this because holy crap the potential these apocalyptic universes have in meeting each other is freaking atomic, highly flammable, freaking radioactive

[fairylandblog]

The Dangers of Fairy Food

In the realm of folklore and myth, the notion of consuming fairy food carries with it a blend of enchantment and peril. These tales, woven into the fabric of various cultures, particularly those of Celtic origin, caution against the alluring offerings of fairy beings. The dangers associated with eating fairy food are profound and multifaceted, affecting both the physical and metaphysical dimensions of human existence.

Fairy food, often depicted as irresistibly delicious and visually enchanting, is believed to ensnare the eater in the fairy realm. One primary risk of consuming such food is the loss of time perception. According to legend, time in the fairy world passes at a different rate than in the human world. A person may spend what feels like mere hours at a fairy feast, only to return to the human world and find that years, or even decades, have passed. This distortion can result in the loss of one's place in their human life, including the passing away of loved ones and the drastic change of their familiar environments.

Moreover, eating fairy food is often said to create an unbreakable bond between the consumer and the fairy realm. Once a person eats fairy food, they may be unable to sustain themselves on ordinary human food again. This binding effect traps the individual in the fairy world, rendering them unable to return to their earthly home. The food serves as a kind of magical contract, a seal of fate that aligns the eater's existence more closely with the supernatural than with the human.

The psychological implications are equally daunting. Fairy food can induce a state of forgetfulness where the consumer forgets their human past, including family and friends. This amnesia effectively severs ties with one's human identity, leading to a loss of self. The enchanted eater becomes part of the fairy narrative, often losing the desire to return to their former life as their memories fade and their reality becomes ever more intertwined with the magical.

Furthermore, the consumption of fairy food often carries with it a moral or ethical dimension. In many stories, accepting and consuming this food is portrayed as breaking a taboo. Such acts can lead to supernatural repercussions, such as curses or eternal servitude to fairy masters. These consequences are not just physical but also spiritual, affecting the soul's journey and its standings in otherworldly realms.

In essence, the perils of eating fairy food highlight a broader caution found in folklore: the consequences of straying into unknown territories and interacting with mysterious forces. These stories serve as metaphors for the human experience, reflecting deep-seated fears about temptation, the loss of self, and the irreversible passage of time. They remind us that every choice, especially those involving dealings with the unknown, carries weight and potential consequences. In the enchanting yet perilous offerings of the fairy realm, we find a vivid illustration of the age-old adage: all that glitters is not gold.

[starlightandetherealshadows]

Hello! Feel free to ignore this, but I wanted to give my two cents about the MC's initial personality while playing. Now, this may be blunt, but at first, I was incredibly disappointed. Usually, I tend to play stoic/quiet MCs who don't lash or speak out, and it seemed to be quite the opposite to the distrusting and stoic mc in the game. However, I was thinking extremely hard about this, and I actually get why the MC was so outspoken, especially when V literally pointed a gun at them. Stoic and stubborn MC, from what I saw in the prologue, could easily be more nonchalant *before* the alien invasion, but that, obviously, changed. When C found them and brought them to the hideout, I didn't take into account that MC was in a vulnerable position, and I only focused on the part that MC hadn't interacted with another person in years. So, yeah, of course, MC may be overwhelmed, but their not gonna let people (V *cough*) walk all over them. I guess the thing was that I was so used to stoic MCs in IFs just standing on the sidelines and observing, but that is obviously not that kind of IF. The thing that had gotten to me the most, however, was the second-hand embarrassment of MC actually talking back to V after he blatantly insults them because I could never😭 I guess what I am trying to say is that even though I was seriously taken aback, none of the characters (including MC) are not gonna be 2-dimensional (as you have stated multiple times), and it has definitely grown on me, even if the MC was a little more of a fire-cracker than I expected. I am really looking forward to seeing where you take this story, and I will absolutely be eating it up because even if I might have to be tossing my phone across the room occasionally (bc my second-hand embarrassment is so easily triggered😭😭), I cannot get enough of your writing and characters!! I hope this made sense because I was just rambling about my take on if you are willing to make the MC a little more stoic or have some mute choices, which I am not against, but at the end of the day, I will still be reading the fuck out of Memento Mori! Have a good day/night!!! MWAH💋

Hi sunshine!

I appreciate your super-thorough analysis of both MC's personality and also your initial/developing reaction to it!

Just wanna offer some perspective on why I'm writing MC the way I am (you've already nailed a lot of the points but this is gonna be a succinct explanation from my head hehe)

MC is ultimately a fully fledged character in Memento Mori. While writing, I have about six different MC's in my head, each with distinct personalities, motives, and reactions to events. As I'm writing Ch. 2 in particular, I'm using these characters to influence the choices available and the stat checks necessary for certain actions. MC was never going to be a self insert. I love a good self insert sometimes, but it doesn't work with this if!

What makes characters feel realistic and multi-dimensional to me is their ability to break out of their different archetypes. We all know the ones like The Mean Girl or the Shy Kid or the Comic Relief. We can use your Stoic!MC example. Do we as humans act the same exact way every single day with every single event and interaction? No, we don't. Because we are complex, muli-faceted individuals that can have conflicting thought and actions, or opinions. What makes a character feel flat is when they are only given like 3 personality traits and stick to those regardless of what happens around them in the story.

So in Memento Mori, your Stoic!MC will have moments where they're outspoken and opinionated. The Charming!MC will lose their cool and lash out rather than smooth talk. The Friendly!MC will snap at someone without thinking. We aren't perfect, neither is MC, and I think that adds dimension to what can easily be a very blank slate kind of character. This isn't exclusive to MC, either! Veronica/Vincent will be nice to you sometimes for seemingly no reason. Zero will have moments where he is not okay and rejects your comfort when he reads it as pity. Cecelia/Chase will not always be the bouncy comic relief that uses humor to make everyone smile.

To add insult to MC's injury, like you mentioned in your ask, they are suffering from extreme amounts of PTSD and trauma. They have lost everyone and everything, they're a young adult living in complete isolation for two years. They're starving, they're injured, they hate themselves and being alive. It's going to take them a while to feel like themselves. In the span of one day, they've been nearly killed by a monster, then they're covered in blood guts and sweat when they meet C, then C brings them to meet 6 other people (including two aliens) and now they're going on this extensive journey with complete strangers, while that very morning they were contemplating ending it all. it's a lot.

By the time MC meets V, they are already at their limit of dealing with bullshit so V pointing a gun at them was never going to fly. V insulting them was a no-go either. Now, in the future, MC can ignore V more often because they'll be less on edge than when they were all first introduced. Once they have time to process, then they can react what is most familiar and comfortable for them. It will take time.

I laughed when you called MC a firecracker! I'd say they're more...unpredictable as a character when they're under high stress. As time goes on, they'll adjust and mellow out in some ways, but right now? MC has had ENOUGH with feeling like shit all the time.

I'm really glad you were a bit embarrassed by MC talking back to V because that was my goal AHDSEWLKMFRLK it's supposed to feel a bit uncomfortable. It's MC trying to clap back on someone when they have lost most of their social skills. It made ME cringe while writing it. Like oof MC, just ignore them???!!!

I'll definitely be adding some more options to be a bit more stoic or selectively mute in chapter 2, and as for chapter 1, I think more options to stay silent while talking to Cecelia/Chase or when they're speaking with Delphine/V could be good too. I'll see how it flows!

You'll see at the beginning of Ch.2 that MC already feels a tiny bit better. Nothing much but at least they aren't alone anymore, and they have a hot shower and some real food. So small wins for MC!

I think that's all I wanted to say for now!!! Thank you again for your message, my friend!!! I'm glad you're liking my writing and my characters, it does mean a lot to have your support!! <3