#this could really create more interesting implications here

[mollysunder]

For now, it's about 50/50 for whether or not these mysterious people that were included in the new trailer are members of the Gloriously Evolved. For fun, I'm going to break down why these people might be entirely unrelated to Viktor.

First, their bodies are clearly inlaid with gold, which does not replace their flesh. In the brief scene we get of these people the gold works as a conduit between their melodies and the magic around them. Meanwhile hexcore has entirely transformed Viktor's hand and leg into metal.

We know that Viktor's entire hand and leg have turned completely into metal because not only do his limbs make metal clinking noises and conduct electricity, but the animators on Bridging the Rift confirm it.

I've also seen some mention that the markings on the faces of these unknown characters represent Viktor's touch when he "healed" them. Upon closer inspection each character does have a five markings on their face, but they're detailed runes rather than Viktor's hand print, implying this may be related to a more intricate ritual rather than Viktor simply laying his hand on them and transforming them with the hexcore.

Really, these people have magic more similar to Mel Medarda. Mel is the one who appears to wear magical gold embedded in her skin to serve as protection magic. What Mel is doing with magic is likely far more simple compared to these people, but it's in the same vein. And that may be the entire point.

Viktor and his cult are the outliers. Whatever Viktor has done in season 1, and what he will continue to do in season 2 is a divergence (possibly perversion) of how magic should work/be treated in the rest of Runeterra, which makes sense! Viktor literally said he doesn't know what he's doing, he just keeps going.

What's likely happening in this scene is that some sect of mages, maybe they're acolytes of the mage that saved Jayce have become aware of the magical shenanigans in PnZ... and it's bad.

Then again, I haven't seen the leaks. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think this is all worth pointing out. (This is not a solicitation to tell what happens in the leaks).

[trampleddoves]

bad idea right

Holiday break with your new stepfamily gets more interesting when you catch your stepbrother's lingering glances.

Pairing: afab!reader x stepbrother!Spencer Content: angst + slight smut, 2.7k words, DDDNE, no kinks, but Spencer is your stepbrother (set just before-s1), reader is a college graduate and mentioned to wear dresses and makeup, reader gets tipsy, complicated family dynamics and unhealthy coping mechanisms, making out, dry humping.  Notes: MDNI. I do not condone the choices of the characters, this request truthfully just brought to me a fully-fledged idea that I could not ignore. Once again, scroll away if this isn’t your cup of tea. Title is indeed from the Olivia Rodrigo song, which I extensively listened to while I wrote. This isn’t even that smutty, but I really enjoyed exploring ideas of resentment simmering beneath the surface. I suppose this affirms a previous anon who accused me of being a freak—evidently. Of the highest order. Welcome. I bear cookies and milk. They’re poisoned.

Winter break. The chill wraps around the air like an overbearing mother—inescapable, looming in corners you wouldn’t suspect—although Spencer Reid wouldn’t know what having an overbearing mother entails. Diana Reid had never been overbearing even in her lucidity but the comparison seems apt. A certain foreboding attitude hangs over the house. Gathering here, with his father’s new family, a measly, pathetic attempt to be closer. 

He’s never particularly gone through the usual sulking phase of adolescence. Too busy growing up, being good, working hard to hide how he’s splintering at every corner—a young boy burdened by the weight of his genius and a mother absent from reality. A life without the support of a father. 

A father who is now desperately trying to reconnect, accepting him—forcibly, under the guise of love—into the fold of his new family. It’s all so performative, but then again Spencer knows all about performative. Having spent years trying to seem okay, like his mother isn’t rapidly deteriorating, hiding the fact that she’s unfit to be his guardian behind clean, well ironed clothes and his remarkable academic performance. His entire life is a laughable farce, so he sees through everything—the perfect spread of Christmas dinner, being forced to open presents in the morning together—they’re all facades precariously balanced on everyone’s cooperation. 

He'd played the part, baring his teeth as a way of smiling—he's never quite properly learned how to smile, having little cause for the action—posing for pictures, thanking his new stepmother for the new copy of Foucault’s Madness and Civilization. 

It’s a good gift, even though he’s already read the material. Shows that she made an attempt to know about him. Spencer could admit that the woman is kind, thoughtful, stable, he could see how his father would fall in love with her. But there's the underlying implication—she's nothing like Diana Reid. 

He decides he hates her the day after Christmas. He decides William Reid doesn't deserve her either. 

It feels like now he’s getting his life’s worth of teenage angst. After Christmas is over, he locks himself away, talking only when talked to. His father and stepmother are gone today, attending a fancy brunch with their shiny new friends, so Spencer ventures out of his room cautiously. His quiet footsteps are simply manifestations of his unease. Trying to create the least amount of noise, take up the smallest space. He does not feel welcome here, and he doesn’t want to.

Winter break. The chill insists upon invading the house, despite the heater. 

Yet you’re standing in the kitchen, stirring a bowl of cereal in nothing but a slinky, emerald green slip. 

You. The most beautiful woman he’s ever seen.

His stepsister. 

He pauses at the doorway, mouth dry, eyes trained on the way the fabric falls over your body, reflective silk casting shadows and highlights and making every single curve seem so supple and soft and oh so tempting.

He clears his throat. “Good morning.”

“Hey,” you look over your shoulder to regard him. He’s found that you’re even more displeased by this arrangement, this quick merging of two families. Traditional holiday festivities ring hollow now, obviously ornamental to make the marriage seem less dismal. Your way of showing your displeasure is the exact opposite of his. Instead of holing up in your room, you’re always outside if you can help it. He’s not sure where, but it’s obvious that neither of you are happy.

He stands awkwardly, unsure of what to say. He’s finally reached a point where college graduates are age appropriate enough to be considered his peers. No longer the youngest person in the room. But at this point, his social grace is completely in reverse to his intellect. That is, nearing zero. He has no idea how to talk to you.

“I’m gonna meet a couple of friends for lunch,” you say, lifting the spoon to your mouth. His gaze follows, before he finds clarity and looks down.

“That’s good,” he mumbles, walking to the fridge and finding the milk carton.

“You wanna come?”

“Not really.”

He sees you shrug from the corner of his eye. Part of him wants to retract his rejection, but you’re already rinsing your bowl. Soon you’ll flounce off, and he’ll be alone. Good, he decides. It’s better off like this, holding you at a distance. He doesn’t need more fuel to add to his inappropriate attraction to you.

Leave it to him to mess this up. He doesn’t even want this new family—he’d much rather spend Christmas in Nevada. A small room he rents near Diana’s sanitarium, so he could spend time with her whenever he can. Still, he can’t believe he’s committing to this cliche. Nerdy step brother ogling his beautiful step sister. It’s as if he carries some permanent malady, inflicting it upon everything he touches.

“I’ll see you later then, Spencer.” your touch on his arm makes him flinch. 

He ducks and nods, hiding away from the odd look he’s sure you’re giving him. A look everyone gives him, even his mentor, the only man who could ever keep up with him. Weakly, he answers, “Yeah. Later.”

Later turns out to be way past dinner; Spencer is alone for far longer than he anticipated. His father and stepmother return around dinnertime, the woman drunk and stumbling about. William Reid pats his son on the shoulder, before quickly retiring to the master’s bedroom, “We’re both exhausted, Spencer. Make sure your sister gets home at a reasonable hour.”

What constitutes reasonable? He’d never gone out and partied when he was studying—or after, if he’s being completely honest. Still, he nods at his father, deciding there’s really no harm waiting up for you. 

It is quiet when you stumble into the house, but there’s a light in the kitchen that makes your heart rate spike. Your mother? William? Are you in trouble for staying out? Can you even get in trouble when you’re an adult? What are the rules for adults still living with their parents? You’re unsure. There’s no curfew, but the presence of the light reminds you all too well of past conversations when your mother had caught you sneaking back in.

It’s easy to regress back into the habits from your earlier years when you’re around her. Locked in this perpetual dynamic of mother and child—mother and daughter, which is arguably even worse—where you’re meant to forever stay young, her baby as she likes to say, with a beaming smile as if that would soothe the sting of having to move back home after college. 

Tail tucked between your legs, accepting defeat. You had plans of making it in a big city—didn’t everyone? But money and luck and a whole other host of factors are not on your side, so you’d begrudgingly accepted her offer. Come live with me until you get your feet solidly planted on the ground, she had said. Conveniently leaving out the part where she remarried. But you didn’t want to be homeless, so you had smiled through gritted teeth and moved back in, accepting William Reid as your new stepfather, as if your old, real father wasn't buried six feet down the ground only eight months ago.

It’s his son now that’s waiting in the kitchen. Spencer. Scrawny, bug eyed. Your mother had gushed about him in the past few weeks—apparently, he’s finished three PhDs., and is being considered for the FBI even though he’s technically too young to even apply. He’d never be like you, struggling to get past the first interview. No, he’s too brilliant for that.

He looks up from his book as you pad through the halls. Dim light softens the gaunt angles of his face, making him almost handsome. He smiles, and the illusion is gone, replaced by the reality of what he is: a boy still fumbling about how to be a man. 

“You’re back,” his voice is soft as he closes the book—some Italian writer you remember reading for a literature class.

You walk past him, grabbing a glass. “Yeah. Why are you still up?”

“Couldn’t sleep,” he says, training his eyes on the floor, but not before you catch his gaze lingering at your bare legs. “It’s so quiet around here.”

Right. He still lives in the city where, even in the dead of night, there’s an undercurrent of sound. Still accustomed to the slight hum, the pulse that lets you know there are other people awake around you, doing night shifts, or partying, or making love. Here in the quiet suburbs, with the strict homeowner’s association, a car revving down the street would be the cause for a noise complaint.

“Hm,” you gulp your water, “Should’ve come with me.”

“I didn’t want to intrude on you and your friends.” he replies, eyes flickering back to you. Clear amber, even in the dim light, “I hope you had fun, though.”

Try as you might, you can’t hate the guy. He’s much too earnest, too bumbling to ever be of any real danger. Besides, he’s stuck here just as much as you are, into this stupid tableau of family values your parents have forced upon you. Your resentment would only be wasted on him, especially since his resentment is just as obvious.

So you flash him a smile, lips reflective and mimicking wetness thanks to the lipgloss, “I did, thanks. How’s your book?”

He doesn’t answer right away, eyes trained on your mouth. 

“Spencer?”

“Oh, it’s good,” he turns his gaze back to his copy, old and worn, with papers sticking out of them, “I’ve read it before, I’m just reading through my annotations.”

“Ah,” you nod. Of course he’s the type to annotate. And reread said annotations. You walk closer, leaning against the table beside him. The way his eyes dart down your bare legs, not in full display, within touching distance, fills your mind with dangerous thoughts. So you steer the conversation that way, pressing his buttons ever so slightly, “Sorry you’re stuck here by the way. Could’ve been out getting laid at D.C.”

He shakes his head, a self deprecating smirk tilting at his lips. “I’m not—that’s not really my thing.”

“No?”

“Girls don’t really find me appealing.” he mumbles, risking another glance at your legs. You wait for the usual self pitying speech, the one with underlying anger and misogyny, but it doesn’t come. He simply looks wistful.

You find yourself filled with genuine intrigue, “No?” 

It’s interesting how the same word could carry such a different meaning with the slightest shift in inflection. Spencer seems to pick up on the softness of your voice.

“No, I don’t really—I spend most of my time reading.” he tells you.

“Well, maybe if you didn’t spend your time holed up in isolation,” your finger touches his chin, tilting it up to meet you. A strange sense of power fills your stomach as you watch his pupils dilate. “You’d find someone.”

You have a plethora of fucked up things upon which you can place the blame for why you do the next thing—your life not going the way you want it, the growing resentment for this entire holiday, your alcohol addled state of mind. That’s a problem you’ll figure out in the morning. Right now, you’re leaning in to kiss him. Your lips are sticky against his dry ones, palms cupping his jaw as you move your lips gently.

For a moment, you’re afraid you’ve misread the signals—he’s rigid, as though frozen by the permeating frigidity of the house. You consider pulling away, but then he is kissing you back. Slowly, at first, matching your pace, but then your tongue darts out to drag across the seam of his lips, mouth parting, and suddenly he’s moving with desperation. Kissing you as if he intends to meld your mouths together, making the prettiest little noises from the back of his throat.

There’s little time to think, not when there’s so much resentment and frustrations pouring out of both of you and into the kiss. He’s trying to keep up with your anger, but inexperience makes him uncoordinated. It’s sloppy and just on the edge of painful, clashing teeth and tongues poking harshly into crevices, not with the intention to explore but to take. 

When you tug at his pants, he pulls back, holding onto your hips like you’re some sort of lifeline. “W-we shouldn’t,” he pants.

“No?” you press your palm on his crotch, raising a brow at the obvious erection hiding beneath the fabric. 

He moans, eyes squeezing shut. “This is wrong, you’re drunk and—and my step sister.”

“I’m not drunk,” you mumble, moving to straddle his lap, dress hiking up to your hips and giving him a full view of your legs. Your cunt goes directly over his crotch. Only a few scraps of fabric separate you, and the thought makes you moan, makes you nip at his lower lip. He stiffens in response, face bright red.

“At least deny the step sister part,” he complains, resting his forehead against yours.

You don’t have anything to counter it, at least not with words, so instead you move your hips over the spot where you’ve settled. A moan trembles from his lips as you grind on his crotch, seeking friction from the growing bulge. You swallow the sound with another kiss, and this time he doesn’t fight it. 

“It doesn’t count,” you say in between kisses, hands tangling in his hair, “If we don’t actually fuck.”

He laughs, breathless and disbelieving, his breath warm on the skin of your jaw where he’s begun trailing kisses. “That makes absolutely no sense.”

“Yes, it does.” you insist, grinding your hips on his crotch, moaning as the thin lace of your panties grow soaked with your arousal, making the friction feel that much sweeter. “Makes perfect sense. Perfectly logical. It’s just masturbating then.”

Spencer is whimpering into your neck, large hands holding your waist to keep you balanced on his lap. “That’s still wrong.”

“Oh please, don’t act like you haven’t been jerking off to the thought of me.” That’s a risky sentence; you’re not actually sure. But with the way his hips jerk up into you, you realize he has done it. Lowering your voice, you lean in and bite his ear, rocking your hips into a rhythm that mimics the movements of sex. “You have, haven’t you? That’s why you spend all that time alone in your room?”

“I—fuck,” he groans, nails digging into your hips as he ruts his hips up to match you, “Yes. Yes, yes, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize, Spencer.” you moan, arms wrapping around his neck. “God, this feels so good.” Pleasure courses through your veins, heightened by the alcohol and the fact that neither of you shouldn’t be doing this. Beneath you, the chair he’s sitting on scrapes on the kitchen floor, creaking slightly from your rocking bodies.

“Yeah,” he groans, teeth clamping around the sensitive part of your throat. You hiss at the sting, grinding down on his erection harder, an action that sends his body into a fit of tremors, stiffening and then shuddering as he muffles his moans against your skin.

He’s coming, you realize, and the fact makes you go harder, eager to chase your own orgasm. His length is still rock hard, easy to rub your sensitive clit on it to find stimulation, and soon, you’re quivering on top of him as the pleasure finally snaps and overtakes your body.

He holds you tightly to him, arms around your waist as you try to regain your breaths. “W-we can’t do this again.” he whispers, voice hoarse, arms trembling despite their tight grip on you.

“Right,” you murmur, gingerly climbing off his lap, “Just this once, never again.” 

His arms linger, wanting to keep you against him longer despite every brain cell yelling at him about goodness and morality and legal complexities. Reluctantly, he lets go.

You regard him, strangely sober after such a high. Cheeks flushed, a stain at his crotch, the very picture of ruin. With a smile, you bend down and kiss the corner of his mouth. “Keep this between us?”

“Of course.”

You make two promises that night. Only one of them is kept.

[oc-ology]

How to get past the fear of OC posting

People should create for the sake of creating but people post to engage with the community. However, posting can be intimidating and anxiety-inducing for a lot of people. It’s easy to say “do it scared” but much harder to put into practice. So, I’ve put together a few steps that lead up to doing it scared. These won’t work for everyone and this is meant more as general advice.

Step One: Why are you scared?

The first step is to figure out what about posting is scary for you. Oftentimes, it’s not as simple as “what if my post flops” or “what if people think I’m cringe”. Once you’ve figured out the surface-level reason, dig a little deeper. If your post flops, does that lead to you doubting the worth of what you’re creating? If you’re worried about what people think, is that because you’ve experienced judgement before or are worried your inbox will be flooded with criticism?

Identifying why you’re scared will not only help you understand yourself better (yippee!) but you can also then work on the source of your fears and anxieties at your own pace.

Step Two: Find ways to lessen your fears

One way of working through anxiety online is to find ways to mitigate the specific source of your fear.

Some fears have easier solutions than others. If you’re worried about people criticising your work, you can turn off anonymous asks (as most people are less likely to be haters when there’s a name attached to it) or turn asks off entirely, as well as limiting replies to those who have been following for a week. This way, if someone does want to be an unpleasant individual, it’s a little harder for them to do so.

A lack of engagement is a little harder to remedy. Here, the only real solution is to try and divorce the idea that engagement = worth. Remember why you’re creating an OC. Because it’s fun! It’s an act of creation! Because you want to find a community…? A community or OC friends will never just drop into your lap. You need to seek them out yourself. Look into discord servers, forums, tumblr networks (are they still a thing?), fandom events and exchanges, and most importantly: go out of your way to send asks/questions to others and build friendships with them! If you’ve got social anxiety like me, this is going to be a big challenge. Which leads to the next step…

Step Three: Start small

It doesn’t matter how small your first step is - so long as that step is forwards! If you’re nervous about OC posting, find the smallest thing about them and post it with the expectation of getting no notes. That’s right, I want you to go in and expect it to flop. Anything over one note is an automatic win. This first post isn’t about engagement - it’s about getting over the initial fear of posting. 

It can be tempting to just go right out the gate with elaborate explanations of backstory, lore implications, power levels, everything. But the trick really is to start small. Most people scrolling tumblr aren’t going to read a few thousand words on something they’re not invested in yet. TL;DR is a curse that I’m sure we’ve all fallen victim to. 

Instead, break up information about your OC into small pieces that can be posted one by one and have some kind of visual piece with it. People are usually more drawn to images than text. For example, which of these two things are more visually interesting?

What Perseus keeps in his bag:

Amulet

Tinderbox

A broken blade

50ft of hempen rope

25gp of silver powder

Waterskin

Rations (cheese, bread, sausage)

OR

Obviously this comes down to personal preference but a lot of people would find the illustrated version to be more interesting. You don’t need to be an artist to do this either! You could make a version of that example in photoshop or a similar program. Picrews, moodboards, edits, game screenshots and photography can all be used to add a visual element to your posts.

Step Four: Why am I still scared?

Fear is not easily stamped out. Anxiety is definitely the kind of thing that lingers. These steps aren’t meant to immediately make OC posting not-scary. That’s something that will only come with time as you get used to it. Again: Do it. Do it scared. Gradually, it’ll be less terrifying and in the meantime, you might be able to make a few friends who also want to talk about your blorbo.

[spread-the-influence]

OH COOL ! A MASTERPOST !

a horror-comedy fan comic based on The Amazing Digital Circus where ragatha's the host of a parasitical virus and it becomes everyone's problem ! neat-o beans !

* this is also a VERY buttonblossom / pomni x ragatha-centric AU so if you don't enjoy that ship i don't recommend engaging with this sorry

[DISCLAIMER!] while this comic is mostly lighthearted in tone , this comic and au will contain topics that could disturb sensitive readers ! this includes ; graphic violence , depictions and discussions of emotional abuse , depictions of mental health issues , self-harm implications and imagery , obsession , and discussions of suicide . any more specifics will be tagged in the pages , but these are the ones that encompass the Entire comic basically !

( also i hope it's a given that i'm not romanticizing the toxic yuri in this au , )

if any of these topics make you uncomfortable , it's alright to click away or block the #tadc influence au tag .

!! if you want to support this comic , try sharing and talking about it in other platforms OR throw some money at my ko-fi page ! it'll be radical either way !!

LINKS

>> READ THE BEGINNING !

or , if you prefer ...

* TABLE OF CONTENTS ( returning reader or just someone who's not up for scrolling through the tags ? here's the table of contents ! contains links to the comic pages all in one place , any extras , and possible relevant posts in the >>info; tag ! )

* FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ! ( questions that i have constantly been asked ! )

* AU POST ! ( for those who have read the comic and are curious about the au — and people that want to spoil the first half of the comic for themselves . i don't judge ! )

** OFFICE LORE POST ( not a necessary read , but would be cool to read if you're interested in the backstory for ... some reason ! )

* INFO CARDS ! ( info cards for the characters , just for funsies ! will contain blank templates for any ocs (: )

TAGS

[ highlighted are those of relevance + may be interesting ! ]

>>COMIC; - the comic ( be warned things will be out of order )

>>INFO; - specific asks about the au answered !

>>ASK; - old roleplay posts if you want to see em

>>MISC; - answered asks / non-comic stuff

WARNING: ESSAY - mod rambles

>>DOODLES; - doodles from yours truly

>>PRE-FLUENCE; - stuff before the horrors

>>POST-FLUENCE; - stuff after the horrors

>>ANIMATIONS; - ... animations

>>OFFICE LORE; - pre-circus

>>REBLOGS; - ... reblogs !

>>EXTRAS; - some extras or ' ambiguously canon ' comics !

GUIDELINES & BOUNDARIES

READ THE FAQ , PLEASE ! there are some questions that are , well , frequently asked ! so please read the faq and only send an ask if the question's not there

this is NOT an ask blog ! i will sometimes play along with ask blog-esque asks , but that's only just once in a while — so just please only ask me , the mod , for anything about the au !

you can call me mod bee . i go by she/her in this account

keep it impersonal please ! i would prefer if the asks are related to the au , my art , or tadc . i'm fine with being asked about my interests or what i think of something but otherwise , i appreciate if you do not ask about my life or what timezone i'm in .

my art is free to use ! feel free to use it as an icon , in an edit — anything really as long as you don't sell it or it's not used to spread hateful messages ! my only condition really is to credit me

reposts are fine ! just please make it clear that you did NOT create the art and LINK the account . i gave the free rein to repost the art , all i'm asking is to please respect these conditions !

please do not dm me . i do not like dms . any form of communication is only through the ask box .

this is not a tadc art requests blog so please don't send me any , i am Not going to draw your ship or draw ragatha as that animal . any requests should be about the au itself , or if you want me to draw a particular character .

i am uncomfortable with nsfw asks so please don't send them . i am fine with suggestive humor , though

remember to spread the influence.

[writersblockedx]

Something Inappropriate

Pairing - Professor! Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader Summary - When Spencer Reid bumps into one of his students while she's highly intoxicated, he takes it upon himself to get her home safely. Warnings - Student/teacher relationship, drinking, very slight implication of sexual assault Words - 1.9K

A/n - Thinking about making this into a little mini-series so let me know if you like this!

masterlist

It was Friday night and every student was somewhere in town. Groups of them crowding the bar, ordering shots or vodka sodas. Whatever was cheapest and whatever could get them drunk enough.

It just so happened that this certain Friday night, Y/n had gulped on too many drinks. It was barely 1am before she was stumbling to the dance floor, her friend's hand interlocked. Her intoxicated dance was enough to draw some attention. Some men eyeing her in the corner, some more girls wanting to join in and a man she knew at the bar: Professor Spencer Reid. One of her lecturers. Her favourite lecturer in fact.

Y/n didn't really register it in her drunken state until she wandered up to the bar and spotted him closer up. He was sipping on a something with coke, stood beside a man she didn't recognise: broad-shouldered and tough. "Professor?" She called with a sly smile rising to her lips.

Spencer turned: a pleasant surprise. "Y/n, hi, it's good to see you." He returned the smile, observing the girl's obvious drunken state.

"Well, I certainly didn't expect to see you here...no offence." She giggled drunkenly. Her professor was, obviously, much older. He seemed the type to enjoy a book on a Friday night - not a bar.

Spencer pointed to the man next to him, "It's erm- Morgan dragged me here." Said man turned to face Y/n, a cheeky glint already settled in his eye.

"Are you one of the doctor's students, hm?" He asked.

"I am," She answered, "Do you work at BAU too?"

Morgan shook his head, "Used to."

"Well, it was nice bumping into you both," She sent them a final smile, "See you Monday morning, sir." She directed such at Spencer before turning to face the bartender who was awaiting to take her order.

And once she grasped it, returning to her friends with a stumble in her steps, Morgan glanced back at Reid. The boy knew Morgan long enough to know what was coming: what that glint in his eyes meant. "She's interesting," He commented, observing Spencer. "Maybe I need to switch career paths."

Spencer swallowed hard on his drink, "She's my student, Morgan." The other man only shrugged at such response; nothing in the sensual sense ever seemed off-putting to Morgan. But Spencer, well he had many lines he had yet to cross. And Y/n was one of them.

His eyes gazed over to the girl who was giggling at something one of her friends had said. She was beautiful - she would give Morgan that. But, as much as that was the case, a relationship further than academic would be... inappropriate. No matter what Spencer might have thought about the girl. Even now, as he glanced at her from afar, she seemed nothing but carefree, captivating, alluring. And he couldn't let his mind go there.

An hour or so had passed when Spencer finally convinced Morgan that they should go home. He wandered outside, making sure Morgan got into his taxi all right before the front door to the bar swung open. Y/n stepped out, attempting to grasp a single cigarette from the packet. She had yet to notice her professor watching her. Once she had one between her fingertips, another challenge arrived: lightening it.

"Need some help there?" Spencer wandered up to her, shoving his hand into his trouser pockets.

If she were sober, she probably would have stopped what she was doing. Smoking in front of one of her preferred professors wasn't exactly the view she wanted to give. "Erm- I-" She sighed, giving in and handing the lighter over to Spencer, "Yes."

He took it, creating a block from the wind with one hand and letting the fire ignite before the girl was able to inhale the smoke into her lungs. "Thanks," She muttered before he took a step away.

"You shouldn't smoke you know," He could go on a ramble - but he wouldn't.

She shrugged, "I know, I just- I can't find my friends, I don't know where they've gone." She explained. "I thought they might be out here."

Spencer looked around the pavement they were standing on: deserted. "But?"

"But, they're not." She huffed as the smoke exhaled from her lips. She stumbled as she took a step, "I think- I think they went to some club." Her head banged - it was all beginning to become blurred.

And at her words, Spencer's concern intensified. "And they left you here?" He questioned.

Her eyes fell to the floor as she attempted to think, "I didn't want to go." She told him. "I shouldn't be- I can't-"

Before she could get out her drunken slurs, a hand came to her shoulder, "Do you have a way home?"

Y/n found herself effortlessly staring into the gaze of her behavioural analyst professor. "I erm- I walk." She answered him as if he had willed the very words from her lips.

Spencer decided then and there; he wasn't having this. If not for the very feeling inside him that compelled him to take care of her, it was the fact she was a young girl walking alone at night. Quite frankly, he taught some of the men at this college - he didn't trust them. "Come on," He spoke as he wandered over to his car.

Yet, Y/n stayed where she was, "What?" She couldn't even think this was a possibility.

"I'll drive you home," He said as he stopped, just by the driver's door. "Don't worry, I've only had two drinks. I just want to make sure you get home safe."

She shook her head. As tempting as a drive home with her attractive professor was, she couldn't possibly. "I'm fine, honestly-" She took a step, tripping on her own two feet.

Luckily, Spencer caught her before her face hit the stone concrete. Her fingers gripped his wrists as he took a hold of her. They didn't let go - not straight away. A moment passed as Y/n raised her head as to meet her professor's gaze. "What were you saying again?" He made the point of making.

She let go and straightened her back, "Are you sure don't mind?"

His smile became one of empathy, "I'd rather do this than wonder what could happen to you alone."

And so, without another thought, she slipped into the passenger seat of Spencer's car. A part of her wanted to be home, wanted to be in her bed. The other, however, liked the idea of being here...with him. "It's erm, Rose court, the student accom." She informed. "It's probably only a five-minute drive."

Spencer thought about making the point that even if it was an hour's drive, he would have made it at that very moment. He wanted her safe. Maybe because she was a brilliant student, maybe because he was concerned, or maybe because something else was urging his actions. Something of which the man had had a conscious decision to push to the side.

Though, even in a five-minute drive, Y/n had been lulled into sleep. The safety of someone she knew, the comfort of the leather car seat and the way the drinks had made her drowsy. Her eyelids had grown heavy and she didn't put up a fight against it. 

When the car engine stopped, Spencer looked over at her. For a few seconds, he thought about not waking her. She was so peaceful, tranquil, with no worries, nothing but her own dreams. "Y/n," He whispered. Nothing. He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, "Y/n, hey, we're here."

Slowly, her eyelids started to flutter open and she found her view of her professor. It was all real. It wasn't just an intoxicated dream. "Sorry," She murmured in response.

"It's fine, don't worry about it," He spoke before exiting the car and going round as to open the passenger door for the girl. "Are you okay to walk?"

She slipped her legs out, "I'm fine yeah."

Famous last words.

The moment her heels hit the concrete pavement, she wobbled right into Spencer's hold. "Okay, I'll walk you up to your room." He decided then and there, without even consulting the girl on such.

"I can walk up to my room, professor." She argued.

But all she was met with was a raised brow of uncertainty, "You can't get out of the car without falling. How do you think stairs are going to go?" That was something she chose not to argue with.

She started wandering up to the first door, searching through her bag for the keys. She swayed until she felt an arm wrap around her waist. Her body steadied. Her eyes found Spencer again. The subtle touch was making even her drunken, confident self nervous. "Is this okay?" He checked when he observed her unsure body language.

The girl swallowed, "Hmh." And then she looked away, finally grasping her keys.

Spencer watched as she stumbled over to the door, not daring to let his touch leave the girl. She slipped the key into the door and they were over the first hurdle. And then, stairs. "Let's go slow, okay?" Spencer soothed her through.

She gave nothing but an incoherent nod as she followed Spencer's steps. "Which one is it?" He questioned.

Y/n was pointing to a door across from the stairs, "B..B35." She informed as Spencer guided her to the door and she started looking for the apartment door key. "I've got it...somewhere." In the midst of her search, a thought came to mind. Her movement stopped and she glanced up over at Spencer, "Can I ask you something actually? While I'm, you know, erm-"

"Drunk?" Spencer chuckled as he finished her sentence.

"I mean, yeah." She couldn't deny such a fact. "I mean, I always wondered why you left the BAU? You always talk about it in lectures and it just- you talked about it with a lot of love." Spencer's smile faltered at the thought of nostalgic memories. "Sorry, if that's intruding, I just, I-"

"No, no, it's fine," Spencer's words were quick to ease the girl's worrisome thoughts. "I suppose I needed a break, a lot of things happened, I needed time away from the field to process them I guess." He explained, wondering if the girl would even remember any of this by the morning. Would she even know who dropped her off home?

She hummed, "Makes sense I guess." And like that, with no judgement or opinion, she went back to find her apartment key. "Here,"

Y/n swung the door open to her dorm, "Are you sure you're going to be alright?" Spencer checked.

"I think I can just about make it to my bed," She joked as she leaned against the doorframe. "Thank you, by the way." He didn't have to do what he did. Most professors wouldn't have done. But he, he was different.

His hands found their way back into the deep depths of his pockets as he replied, "I don't just have a responsibility to teach, but also a duty of care, I'm always here to make sure you're okay."

And he would be. For her, definitely. There was something ever so alluring about the girl. Something he would force himself to ignore. Something he wouldn't act on. Something which was inappropriate. 

[deerspherestudios]

I’m super curious about Atom!!!! Firstly, they’re so cute :(((( I would be so nice to them right off the bat. I could match that energy (maybe not the…liquefying people part, but I can Definitely meet the upbeat “get to know you” energy!!!!)

But I’m also curious about their little “worm transform-y” ability. There are a TON of implications to what they said about it, and I’m very interested to know which of those implications are true

So maybe I’m taking Atom too literally, but I’m pretty sure at one point they said “I can make your air.” Which, they WOULD need to make MC air, if they were to keep you in space forever. Air is limited.

But you can’t breathe in worms. So that means Atom’s worm (body?) transformation legitimately BECOMES whatever they will it to. Not just imitates. That dog food wasn’t worms, it was dog food. And the air isn’t worms, it’s air!!

And then that stretches into other questions. Could Atom take any form they wish? What would happen if they transformed all their worms? Can they feel when their worms (body??) are being transformed?

You don’t have to answer that slew of questions at the end lmao—maybe I’m reading too much into it. But!! I LOVE Atom and all the implications that their existence holds. I had a lot of fun playing the game :DD

Aaa I'm really glad you like Atom as much as you do!! I don't know if it's just new blorbo energy but I get excited to talk about them, especially in detail like this haha! I'll try to explain below the cut about their ability to create things (tw// it's long!!) but to keep it short, you're actually correct!

TLDR: Atom reconstructs their worms into different forms of matter (whether solid/liquid/gas) to produce whatever you need to survive. Because, uh,,, science. <3

Here's the lengthy explanation of what Atom can do. I'm not smart enough to explain it but I'm stealing this from another website:

Transmutation or nuclear transmutation is a process that involves a change in the nucleus of an atom. When the number of protons in the nucleus of an atom changes, the identity of that atom changes as it is turned into another element or isotope.[1] This transmutation process can be either natural or artificial.

Simplifying it further for my character, when Atom talks about being better than a planet, they kinda are! They can make anything as long as they know what it is (I've yet to come up with 'how' they discover new elements,,, it's implied in-game but I wanna flesh it out more; ask me again later keheh), and the worms that make them up is an unlimited resource/material for those exact transmutations. And if something turns into waste, like the rejected dog food, they just crunch them up to be re-used all over again.

Remember what they said about being your 'angel'? Not to be too on the nose but in a way they turned the Bidadari into your own personal terrarium, with it being the ecosystem keeping you alive in space. Which, in my personal opinion, makes the ending much more terrifying.

Here's a lightning round to answer your questions because I don't know when I'll get these kinds of questions again!!

Could Atom take any form they wish?

Nope! They're still just worms! When they 'make' something it's no longer a part of them.

2. What would happen if they transformed all their worms?

Highly unlikely to happen, but let's say for experimentation's sake Atom is forced to use up all their worms and the end result is separated from it so they can't absorb it back into themselves like the dog food. It has to leave one single organism behind, but it can't really do anything. That single organism eventually will multiply all the way back to its former (mass wriggling) glory.

3. Can they feel when their worms (body??) are being transformed?

Nope! They don't really feel anything, at the most they feel pressure and temperature changes but that's it.

THANK YOU FOR COMING TO MY TEDTALK HAVE A NICE DAY! HERE'S YOUR REWARD <3

[amateurvoltaire]

For the past six years or so, this graph has been making its rounds on social media, always reappearing at conveniently timed moments…

The insinuation is loud and clear: parallels abound between 18th-century France and 21st-century USA. Cue the alarm bells—revolution is imminent! The 10% should panic, and ordinary folk should stock up on non-perishables and, of course, toilet paper, because it wouldn’t be a proper crisis without that particular frenzy. You know the drill.

Well, unfortunately, I have zero interest in commenting on the political implications or the parallels this graph is trying to make with today’s world. I have precisely zero interest in discussing modern-day politics here. And I also have zero interest in addressing the bottom graph.

This is not going to be one of those "the [insert random group of people] à la lanterne” (1) kind of posts.  If you’re here for that, I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed.

What I am interested in is something much less click-worthy but far more useful: how historical data gets used and abused and why the illusion of historical parallels can be so seductive—and so misleading. It’s not glamorous, I’ll admit, but digging into this stuff teaches us a lot more than mindless rage.

So, let’s get into it. Step by step, we’ll examine the top graph, unpick its assumptions, and see whether its alarmist undertones hold any historical weight.

Step 1: Actually Look at the Picture and Use Your Brain

When I saw this graph, my first thought was, “That’s odd.” Not because it’s hard to believe the top 10% in 18th-century France controlled 60% of the wealth—that could very well be true. But because, in 15 years of studying the French Revolution, I’ve never encountered reliable data on wealth distribution from that period.

Why? Because to the best of my knowledge, no one was systematically tracking income or wealth across the population in the 18th century. There were no comprehensive records, no centralised statistics, and certainly no detailed breakdowns of who owned what across different classes. Graphs like this imply data, and data means either someone tracked it or someone made assumptions to reconstruct it. That’s not inherently bad,  but it did get my spider senses tingling.

Then there’s the timeframe: 1760–1790. Thirty years is a long time— especially when discussing a period that included wars, failed financial policies, growing debt, and shifting social dynamics. Wealth distribution wouldn’t have stayed static during that time. Nobles who were at the top in 1760 could be destitute by 1790, while merchants starting out in 1760 could be climbing into the upper tiers by the end of the period. Economic mobility wasn’t common, but over three decades, it wasn’t unheard of either.

All of this raises questions about how this graph was created. Where’s the data coming from? How was it measured? And can we really trust it to represent such a complex period?

Step 2: Check the Fine Print

Since the graph seemed questionable, the obvious next step was to ask: Where does this thing come from? Luckily, the source is clearly cited at the bottom: “The Income Inequality of France in Historical Perspective” by Christian Morrisson and Wayne Snyder, published in the European Review of Economic History, Vol. 4, No. 1 (2000).

Great! A proper academic source. But, before diving into the article, there’s a crucial detail tucked into the fine print:

“Data for the bottom 40% in France is extrapolated given a single data point.”

What does that mean?

Extrapolation is a statistical method used to estimate unknown values by extending patterns or trends from a small sample of data. In this case, the graph’s creator used one single piece of data—one solitary data point—about the wealth of the bottom 40% of the French population. They then scaled or applied that one value to represent the entire group across the 30-year period (1760–1790).

Put simply, this means someone found one record—maybe a tax ledger, an income statement, or some financial data—pertaining to one specific year, region, or subset of the bottom 40%, and decided it was representative of the entire demographic for three decades.

Let’s be honest: you don’t need a degree in statistics to know that’s problematic. Using a single data point to make sweeping generalisations about a large, diverse population (let alone across an era of wars, famines, and economic shifts) is a massive leap. In fact, it’s about as reliable as guessing how the internet feels about a topic from a single tweet.

This immediately tells me that whatever numbers they claim for the bottom 40% of the population are, at best, speculative. At worst? Utterly meaningless.

It also raises another question: What kind of serious journal would let something like this slide? So, time to pull up the actual article and see what’s going on.

Step 3: Check the Sources

As I mentioned earlier, the source for this graph is conveniently listed at the bottom of the image. Three clicks later, I had downloaded the actual article: “The Income Inequality of France in Historical Perspective” by Morrisson and Snyder.

The first thing I noticed while skimming through the article? The graph itself is nowhere to be found in the publication.

This is important. It means the person who created the graph didn’t just lift it straight from the article—they derived it from the data in the publication. Now, that’s not necessarily a problem; secondary analysis of published data is common. But here’s the kicker: there’s no explanation in the screenshot of the graph about which dataset or calculations were used to make it. We’re left to guess.

So, to figure this out, I guess I’ll have to dive into the article itself, trying to identify where they might have pulled the numbers from. Translation: I signed myself up to read 20+ pages of economic history. Thrilling stuff.

But hey, someone has to do it. The things I endure to fight disinformation...

Step 4: Actually Assess the Sources Critically

It doesn’t take long, once you start reading the article, to realise that regardless of what the graph is based on, it’s bound to be somewhat unreliable. Right from the first paragraph, the authors of the paper point out the core issue with calculating income for 18th-century French households: THERE IS NO DATA.

The article is refreshingly honest about this. It states multiple times that there were no reliable income distribution estimates in France before World War II. To fill this gap, Morrisson and Snyder used a variety of proxy sources like the Capitation Tax Records (2), historical socio-professional tables, and Isnard’s income distribution estimates (3).

After reading the whole paper, I can say their methodology is intriguing and very reasonable. They’ve pieced together what they could by using available evidence, and their process is quite well thought-out. I won’t rehash their entire argument here, but if you’re curious, I’d genuinely recommend giving it a read.

Most importantly, the authors are painfully aware of the limitations of their approach. They make it very clear that their estimates are a form of educated guesswork—evidence-based, yes, but still guesswork.   At no point do they overstate their findings or present their conclusions as definitive

As such,  instead of concluding with a single, definitive version of the income distribution, they offer multiple possible scenarios.

It’s not as flashy as a bold, tidy graph, is it? But it’s far more honest—and far more reflective of the complexities involved in reconstructing historical economic data.

Step 5: Run the numbers

Now that we’ve established the authors of the paper don’t actually propose a definitive income distribution, the question remains: where did the creators of the graph get their data? More specifically, which of the proposed distributions did they use?

Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to locate the original article or post containing the graph. Admittedly, I haven’t tried very hard, but the first few pages of Google results just link back to Twitter, Reddit, Facebook, and Tumblr posts. In short, all I have to go on is this screenshot.

I’ll give the graph creators the benefit of the doubt and assume that, in the full article, they explain where they sourced their data. I really hope they do—because they absolutely should.

That being said, based on the information in Morrisson and Snyder’s paper, I’d make an educated guess that the data came from Table 6 or Table 10, as these are the sections where the authors attempt to provide income distribution estimates.

Now, which dataset does the graph use? Spoiler: None of them.

How can we tell? Since I don’t have access to the raw data or the article where this graph might have been originally posted, I resorted to a rather unscientific method: I used a graphical design program to divide each bar of the chart into 2.5% increments and measure the approximate percentage for each income group.

Here’s what I found:

Now, take a moment to spot the issue. Do you see it?

The problem is glaring: NONE of the datasets from the paper fit the graph. Granted, my measurements are just estimates, so there might be some rounding errors. But the discrepancies are impossible to ignore, particularly for the bottom 40% and the top 10%.

In Morrisson and Snyder’s paper, the lowest estimate for the bottom 40% (1st and 2nd quintiles) is 10%. Even if we use the most conservative proxy, the Capitation Tax estimate, it’s 9%. But the graph claims the bottom 40% held only 6%.

For the top 10% (10th decile), the highest estimate in the paper is 53%. Yet the graph inflates this to 60%.

Step 6: For fun, I made my own bar charts

Because I enjoy this sort of thing (yes, this is what I consider fun—I’m a very fun person), I decided to use the data from the paper to create my own bar charts. Here’s what came out:

What do you notice?

While the results don’t exactly scream “healthy economy,” they look much less dramatic than the graph we started with. The creators of the graph have clearly exaggerated the disparities, making inequality seem worse.

Step 7: Understand the context before drawing conclusions

Numbers, by themselves, mean nothing. Absolutely nothing.

I could tell you right now that 47% of people admit to arguing with inanimate objects when they don’t work, with printers being the most common offender, and you’d probably believe it. Why? Because it sounds plausible—printers are frustrating, I’ve used a percentage, and I’ve phrased it in a way that sounds “academic.”

You likely wouldn’t even pause to consider that I’m claiming 3.8 billion people argue with inanimate objects. And let’s be real: 3.8 billion is such an incomprehensibly large number that our brains tend to gloss over it.

If, instead, I said, “Half of your friends probably argue with their printers,” you might stop and think, “Wait, that seems a bit unlikely.” (For the record, I completely made that up—I have no clue how many people yell at their stoves or complain to their toasters.)

The point? Numbers mean nothing unless we put them into context.

The original paper does this well by contextualising its estimates, primarily through the calculation of the Gini coefficient (4).

The authors estimate France’s Gini coefficient in the late 18th century to be 0.59, indicating significant income inequality. However, they compare this figure to other regions and periods to provide a clearer picture:

Amsterdam (1742): Much higher inequality, with a Gini of 0.69.

Britain (1759): Lower inequality, with a Gini of 0.52, which rose to 0.59 by 1801.

Prussia (mid-19th century): Far less inequality, with a Gini of 0.34–0.36.

This comparison shows that income inequality wasn’t unique to France. Other regions experienced similar or even higher levels of inequality without spontaneously erupting into revolution.

Accounting for Variations

The authors also recalculated the Gini coefficient to account for potential variations. They assumed that the income of the top quintile (the wealthiest 20%) could vary by ±10%. Here’s what they found:

If the top quintile earned 10% more, the Gini coefficient rose to 0.66, placing France significantly above other European countries of the time.

If the top quintile earned 10% less, the Gini dropped to 0.55, bringing France closer to Britain’s level.

Ultimately, the authors admit there’s uncertainty about the exact level of inequality in France. Their best guess is that it was comparable to other countries or somewhat worse.

Step 8: Drawing Some Conclusions

Saying that most people in the 18th century were poor and miserable—perhaps the French more so than others—isn’t exactly a compelling statement if your goal is to gather clicks or make a dramatic political point.

It’s incredibly tempting to look at the past and find exactly what we want to see in it. History often acts as a mirror, reflecting our own expectations unless we challenge ourselves to think critically. Whether you call it wishful thinking or confirmation bias, it’s easy to project the future onto the past.

Looking at the initial graph, I understand why someone might fall into this trap. Simple, tidy narratives are appealing to everyone. But if you’ve studied history, you’ll know that such narratives are a myth. Human nature may not have changed in thousands of years, but the contexts we inhabit are so vastly different that direct parallels are meaningless.

So, is revolution imminent? Well, that’s up to you—not some random graph on the internet.

Notes

(1) A la lanterne was a  revolutionary cry during the French Revolution, symbolising mob justice where individuals were sometimes hanged from lampposts as a form of public execution

(2) The capitation tax was a fixed head tax implemented in France during the Ancien Régime. It was levied on individuals, with the amount owed determined by their social and professional status. Unlike a proportional income tax, it was based on pre-assigned categories rather than actual earnings, meaning nobles, clergy, and commoners paid different rates regardless of their actual wealth or income.

(3) Jean-Baptiste Isnard was an 18th-century economist. These estimates attempted to describe the theoretical distribution of income among different social classes in pre-revolutionary France. Isnard’s work aimed to categorise income across groups like nobles, clergy, and commoners, providing a broad picture of economic disparity during the period.

(4) The Gini coefficient (or Gini index) is a widely used statistical measure of inequality within a population, specifically in terms of income or wealth distribution. It ranges from 0 to 1, where 0 indicates perfect equality (everyone has the same income or wealth), and 1 represents maximum inequality (one person or household holds all the wealth).

[hatchetfieldtheories]

Will We Ever Be Free of the Implications?

No, no I don't think so. And neither will Paul by the looks of it.

Ooof, its been a while since something has gotten my theory brain working, and Starkid are very good at peppering in just enough clues for us to all get excited. And for me to start trying to cobble together some theories.

I think I made the gif in about 2021, so its nice to know I'm making just as much sense 4 years later.

Its safe to say the main take away from the new TGWDLM Remount trailer is that Paul and Emma are aware they're living the same day again. Paul in particular knows what his colleagues are going to ask of him before they say anything and he very quickly becomes concerned with the implications.

Now. Do I think this is going to be as explicitly obvious in the remount. Not at all. The show is still the show at the end of the day, but as Paul exclaims, let's think about where the implications of what the trailer is telling us leads.

No Exits From the Broadway Venue

This remount is being described as a bigger and longer run, which is very exciting. It also leads me to believe there will be a bit more filling out of story and connections to the greater Hatchetfield lore.

As @ashtxeman has pointed out here, we're already getting this in this trailer. The Black Book, the reference to the Nighthawks and... well... the big flying Pokey rock in the sky, are all very explicit links. So I think its reasonable that they're going to use this as an opportunity to bring TGWDLM a bit more in line with the other Hatchetfield stories and make the link to the Tellytubbies of Terror more obvious.

Based on all these clues, we can presume for now that all the references to this being "done before" is true to the story they're intending to tell, and not just an easter egg referring to this being a second run of the show.

Ok, that's great Tazzy, but this isn't really a theory so far, I can hear you yelling at me. Well to that I firstly say, please yell a bit louder, all I can hear is Paul and Emma screaming into the blue void, and secondly, I say, this actually gives us the basis for a very interesting theory. For which we need to revisit some other parts of Hatchetfield lore, and our old friend, Tinky.

Time is a Precious Thread...

Since the dawn of time, otherwise known as around the time of the release of Black Friday, there has been quite a bit of discussion regarding whether the shows in the Hatchetfield Series are parallel universes, or if Hatchetfield is going through a time loop of some kind.

Then Time Bastard and Nightmare Time happened, and we learnt a few things. Firstly, that 2005 was a catalyst for the timelines of Hatchetfield splitting, and from that point on each of the shows we have watched have been in a different timeline. In Time Bastard, Ted travels back to before 2005, and this act is the reason why Ted as the Homeless Guy is de facto in every universe. Because it happened pre-split. If you would like to see the split timelines in a handy dandy diagram, @abiimaryy created a great one here.

And so, we rested, accepting the timeline theory.

And then the implications arrived.

Because now we are in a situation where both theories can exist simultaneously. Yes Hatchetfield has split, parallel timelines, but it seems that in this one - there is a time loop.

So how does Tinky come into this? Well he doesn't really. But the way he works, and affects Ted's life makes me look at this loop in a very specific way.

It's a Musical

I dont know about you, but when I go to the theatre and see an amazing show, I get so excited about it. So excited in fact that I wish I could go back and watch it again each night.

Well, I think Pokey has found a way to do just that.

Tinky traps Ted in his Bastard Box, which allows him to mess with Ted and affect his reality. Allows him to observe him.

Now let's look back to the Remount trailer.

We're told straight away, History doesn't repeat, it is - reprised.

We're watching old clips of the original run on a tv screen surrounded by black nothingness.

Look at Paul, sat there, in his little.. blue... box.. of a cubicle. Pokey doesn't have Paul and Emma trapped in a Box, but he does have them trapped. This is Pokey's equivalent. He gets to sit, and watch his favourite musical happen over and over and over.

Its a certainly a longer run.

And maybe, if that's the case. If Paul and Emma are acting this out every day, maybe the 2018 show, wasn't the first loop.

This would put the opening scene of TGWDLM 2018 into a more obvious context, especially in regards to the likes of Emma being involved with the opening song. That song takes place at the end of the previous loop, and is what brings the musical back into the new loop. It's Pokey's I Got You Babe.

[artbyblastweave]

After three chapters, one of my big takeaways is that Seek seems really conceptually interested in parents and parenting.

You've got A, raised by parents whose superficial commitment to A's self-determination and self-identification are completely undercut by the invasive dystopian cyberware they use to control them, coupled with the (what I believe to be the) implication that the double edged sword of the post-scarcity future is that A's only reason to exist is that their parents wanted a child- spending their entire childhood being shot down any time they express interest in a career path that could give their life meaning outside of that. All of which feels like the logical terminal point of parenting as a vanity thing. Then you've got Winnifred, whose parents are vastly more involved, attentive, and invested- but in a way that goes hand in hand with a sometimes-uncomfortable spiritual and ideological investment, which in turn manifests as a regiment of full-body invasive modifications so that their child can perpetuate and participate in their culture and lifestyle.

Then you've got Orion, whose "birth" is his much more metaphorical escape from the cryopod (complete with associated womb imagery); out of the three he's arguably the most "liberated" from the context of the people who chose to create him or put him in this situation- popping out of his "womb" with imprinted skills and knowledge and only vague memories- but given the overall survival-horror nature of his situation that's not actually any kind of improvement. (It would frankly dovetail incredibly well with the theory I've seen that it's actually an Onboard who's taken control of a braindead human- total hands off parenting, he was put in this situation by entities that don't even realize he's alive.)

All of which is circling and circling around the central reality of parenting, which is that it's not just something that happens, it's a choice, any way you choose to go about it's a choice. And in our current context there's only really a couple ways to make that choice and they're all a few degrees off from each other anyway, so it fades into the background. But in a society with advanced enough technology that you've really got options, the fact that you're making any choice at all- and the resultant horrible consequences every possible choice will have for your kid- becomes way way more visible. Truly, a web serial aligned with my heartfelt belief that We Are Never Getting Out Of Here

[fulcrum-021]

I genuinely think it's so important to understand that the Onderon Lasat's and in extension Saw Gerrara's actions towards Kallus' first unit really weren't particularly cruel or heinous. As much as I can enjoy the ANGSTY potential of dialing it up, I do see a tendency to interpret the angstier version as canon. And while I don't necessarily think there's anything wrong with having differing interpretations of canon, I do still want to share my own opinion on it, 'cause I do think it holds some interesting political implications and it also tells us a great deal about how the Empire further indoctrinated its soldiers through the tragedy of war. It also gives us an interesting insight into Kallus' character.

This is really just me rambling though, so I put it under the cut :)

So, first, what do we know about the incident on Onderon?

"I remember my first unit. The boys and I were deployed to Onderon to bring peace and security to a troubled world. We were on a routine patrol and ran into one of your rebel friends, a Lasat mercenary who worked for Saw Gerrera. I was lucky, knocked out by the first blast. I came to, but found I couldn't move. And then I saw him, the Lasat, calmly walk through smoke and fire to finish my unit off, one by one. The injured never had a chance. Always wondered why he let me live."

Script source

Now, what stands out from this incident as particularly heinous would be the killing of the wounded, as this irl + in SW is usually regarded as a war crime or at least morally wrong.

Here's the thing though... Long before Kallus' run-in with the Onderon Rebellion the Empire had already far overstepped these boundaries themselves by ordering the killing of republic fighters on Onderon, including civilians, children and the elderly.

While the methodic, indiscriminate killing of Imperials is far more extreme than what we see from the Ghost Crew and their other allies, it is not a unique incident. In fact, the method is modelled after the Empire themselves. Saw Gerrera's whole point is to play by the Empire's rules. And while you could argue it cruel to target blindly, with no regard for the actions and beliefs of the individual, this is again the Empire's own rules.

What I think is so interesting is that in a way, Kallus and the Onderon Lasat are created to mirror each other. The Onderon Lasat was a Mercenary. He was paid to be there. He was doing his job. It was nothing personal.

Yet Kallus views it as such, as evident by him wondering why the mercenary let him live, implying some level of personal intention. One which most likely wasn't there. It was just another job to him. He most likely didn't even know Kallus was still alive.

He isn't described to have been sadistic or even cruel. He's described to have been calm - which is really the most chilling. He's not taking out his personal hatred or even getting some sadistic enjoyment. He's merely finishing a task. As normal and casual like doing paperwork. Because just like Kallus, his job involves ridding the world of rot. They just happen to disagree on who the rotten apples are. Same methods, same motivation. They're not so different.

The thing is, the Onderon Lasat is no more of a monster than Kallus is. Kallus is someone else's Onderon Lasat. To someone else, he's the guy who calmly, apathetically killed off their team, friends, family, as if it was just another chore on his list.

The only difference is that a mercenary is defined as working for the highest bidder regardless of personal ethics/politics, while Kallus was motivated by his ideals. But in that regard, wasn't the mercenary's actions even less personal?

This also goes for Saw and Kallus btw. They're on opposing sides, but in a way they really aren't so different. They're willing to use and hurt people to reach their goal, both motivated by what they believe to be the greater good. They're both playing by the same rules until Kallus defects and finally takes a stand against said rules. I think Kallus' apparent dislike for Saw and his methods in season 4 isn't due to his own experience, but moreso because Saw is holding up a mirror to who Kallus used to be. A man so torn up by war that he's willing to do everything in his power to bring his enemy down. All in a misplaced, desperate attempt to find peace. To heal. To be safe. To save everyone.

I just think it's very interesting to think about. 'Cause Kallus' story from Onderon does make Zeb empathize with him, but not due to it being an exceptionally awful thing Kallus went through, but because Kallus' story is a mirror to Zeb's story from Lasan.

"I fought to the end. We held the palace. And then there was a bomb. And when I woke up, it was all just gone."

Script source

When Zeb hears Kallus' story, he realizes they've both experienced the horror of war. Up until this point, Kallus has seemed to thrive in bringing the face of death and destruction. It's hard to imagine him being the one on the receiving end. It's hard to imagine he even knows or cares what it feels like.

Realizing that Kallus is just another man broken by war, just like himself, definitely makes Zeb understand Kallus better. It doesn't justify his behavior, but it explains it.

The way Kallus views the incident on Onderon also gives us a good insight into how the Empire would operate. For one, Kallus talks about Saw as if he's a personal friend of Zeb, purely due to them both being Rebels, despite the fact that they're part of different cells with very different goals and ideals. Just like how Kallus to some extent viewed Lasat as the same, he views all Rebels as the same.

Speaking of Lasat, I do wanna talk about how Kallus' interactions with Lasat slowly broke his narrow-minded perception of them. 'Cause the first Lasat gave him the impression that they were violent and without honor or ideals binding them. They'd do anything for personal gain.

Then on Lasan he faces a honor guardsman who fights with honor, even yielding to Kallus and facing defeat with the same honor.

Then finally, he meets Zeb. Zeb who originally reminds him way more of the mercenary than the guardsman he faced. Zeb who seemingly is nothing but a brute, taking his anger out on any imperial who might cross his path. Except he's wrong. Upon being faced with an injured enemy - an enemy who he knows to be deserving of his wrath - he still chooses to follow his morals, not wanting to win through unfair means. He's not needlessly cruel, nor is he the brainless muscles Kallus initially mistook him for. He's smart. Perceptive. Empathetic. He's loyal to his friends and to his honor, rather facing death than the destiny the Empire would grant him. He's perhaps even too smart, as he starts to ask the questions Kallus never dared to. Still, he's not being cruel. He's being honest. He's being honorable.

Zeb is everything Kallus had tried to convince himself Lasats can't be. 'cause if Zeb is all of those things... If Lasat are all those things... Then what does that make the Empire? What does that say of Kallus?

[faeparrish]

i know some people aren’t really into the idea of a post-rescue 90s timeline but i am not one of those people <3 i feel like it could be just as fucked up and compelling to see the yellowjackets all try to behave like normal people again after 19 months of creating their own religion and cannibalising their friends... 🦦 anyway here’s a few post-rescue timeline things that i’m curious to see explored in season 4:

costumes - we got a glimpse of how the girls used to dress in the pilot and we obviously know how they dress in the future, so i’m really keen see what their styles look like when they’re back home again in the 90s. the costume department in this show is so so good, i can see them doing some fun easter eggs and motifs with this. i can also imagine them really playing with the girls’ styles in terms of signalling who is able to assimilate back into society better, how their clothing may reference their various traumas (for example i can picture shauna reverting back into a style of clothing that is reminiscent of jackie), and also how the younger characters’ styles may start to merge with their older selves a bit (mostly i just wanna see 90s butch van in the real world lol)

yellowjackets’ home life - there are a lot of characters that i am soooo interested to see return to their home environment again, especially as we’ve only really gotten scenes of life before/after the wilderness for lottie and nat. i’m specifically interested in how van and nat will find coming back home because we know they both had difficult upbringings; i’m curious to see how much being away from home has actually coloured their view of it, because they were both desperate to get back by the end of season 3. i can imagine it being a really bleak realisation of like ‘oh shit this is what i fought for… maybe i actually was better off in the wilderness’. i also so badly wanna see what shauna’s parents are like, mostly because the implication of her having two perfectly normal suburban parents is so insane and funny to me. same with tai, in the pilot her parents come across as very loving and supportive, so i’m interested to see how tai behaves around them after coming back from the wilderness. lottie we know goes nonverbal when she gets home and really retreats into herself, so i wanna see what’s going on with her a bit before her parents eventually decide to send her away. i’m dying to see what misty’s parents are like and how she is at home as well. i’m also interested to see travis have to go home without his dad or his brother, and then having to lie to his mum about what happened with javi… ohhh it’s going to be so fucked up i can’t wait

jackie’s funeral - i feel like it has to happen at some point and they will all have to be there and it’s going to be so excruciating and so good. jackie’s parents waxing lyrical about her wasted potential and how adored she was while shauna just sits there seething and guilty and devastated in the pews. also imagine being at the funeral of the girl you all ate after bullying her into sleeping outside, and now you all have to save face by pretending she died in a plane crash. same with the other yellowjackets who didn’t make it actually damn there are a lot of funerals they’re gonna have to relive their trauma and bad decisions through.

shauna visiting jackie’s parents - it’s implied that shauna visited the taylors’ house over the years for things like jackie’s birthday, and the writers have also suggested that shauna used to write in jackie’s diary during those visits (hence why her diary referenced movies that came out after her death). i feel like seeing young shauna back in jackie’s bedroom post-rescue will be so interesting, and it also gives us more opportunities for ghost-jackie scenes which are always fun.

taivan relationship angst - the idea of them being forced back into the closet after nearly two years of being openly together is so so sad. we’ve already seen a glimpse of how they both feel about staying together in the real world (tai is more apprehensive about it, van is less worried), and we know that the yellowjackets become tabloid fodder when they return which adds another level of stress onto tai and van’s relationship. although i don’t personally think they will break up super early into the post-rescue timeline (basing this off the fact that we know they were both at shauna’s wedding and pulled that pen prank together on jackie’s mum), i can see their relationship having a slow crash and burn sort of trajectory. lots of meeting in secret and having to hide from the paparazzi, friction over whether they can be out as a couple, trying to live normal lives again after being so codependent in the wilderness. we know that eventually they do split ways though, so either way im sure they’re gonna make me sad in season 4 :-)

90s tabloid/media landscape - this is kinda jumping off what i said about tai and van but i’m really keen to see how the show tackles the media attention the yellowjackets receive when they return home and how they all handle it. tabloid headlines about cannibalism and reporters trying to manipulate them into talking while the girls have all made a pact to not speak to the press and to protect each other. i can see misty being tempted once or twice, her face in that one post-rescue scene was so telling lmao. interested to see how it affects each of them mentally but also just in their lives generally; whether it’s harder to get a job, that kind of thing. i also want to see how the bad press might escalate and affect the way their community views them, especially with the rumours that start to bubble up and follow them on their return home.

shauna’s wedding - idk how far down the line this is but if we’re going off the wedding photo in their house it looks like shauna and jeff got married very young. i think that whole event would just be a fascinating character study episode on all of them, especially with the girls having to come back together and pretend that everything is normal and fine when it definitely isn’t. also i’m sort of interested to see what the hell happens between shauna and jeff when they get back and how that whole relationship comes up again, because right now i cannot for the life of me picture the younger versions of these characters being together. it could be an interesting contrast between the adult and 90s timeline though, now that jeff has distanced himself from shauna in the present day.

melissa faking her death - so we all agree this was an insane thing to just throw into the list of inevitable events we’ve yet to see happen in the teen timeline yes? i personally have unresolved beef with adult melissa being brought into the show, particularly after what happened with van, HOWEVER i do actually like 90s mel. I’m hoping her storyline this coming season will maybe redeem her to me a little and explain why she ended up at that point, or at least just flesh out her character a bit more in the 90s timeline. i’m also hoping it’ll answer some questions as to how she decides to fake her death in the first place; adult melissa said that when they got back she felt like she wasn’t one of them anymore, so im kinda interested to see why she winds up feeling that way to such an extreme. (also side note but at what point does she meet and start dating hannah’s daughter because that’s another bonkers thing to just toss into the mix of events we’re now expecting to happen lol)

“someone’s trying to hurt you (…) for what you did when you got back” - that line from jackie last season has been playing on my mind quite a bit when thinking about season 4. relating back to my last point i’m wondering if it plays a part in why melissa decided to fake her death. i’m also curious as to whether it was just shauna who did this thing that jackie refers to or if all the yellowjackets were complicit in it? either way it’s clearly still weighing on shauna’s conscience and playing into her paranoia, so i’m interested to see how that pans out in the 90s timeline.

is there something to miss? - one thing i’m soooo fascinated about w this show is whether the yellowjackets actually do wind up “missing” their time in the wilderness once they get back. there’s a lot of themes of them finding freedom in identity, a lack of social pressures and the ability to emote to such extremes without outside judgement when they’re stranded in the wilderness. some of them found purpose in being out there or a new sense of self, and although most of them really wanted to go home by the end of season 3, i’m wondering how much of a shock to the system it may be to actually do it.

pre-crash flashbacks (pls) - this is more of a personal hope than an expectation, but i feel like with a post-rescue timeline comes a lot of opportunities for more pre-crash flashbacks, which are always fascinating. i don’t think we got any pre-crash scenes in season 3, but i feel like with the girls being back home again at some point in season 4 it could definitely be used as a device to compare how things have changed since they got stranded (or how things really haven’t changed, in some cases)

[multifandumbmeg]

Still thinking about how The Umbrella Academy gave us a couple that fully matched each other's freak, was fun but also had serious emotional stakes, and had so much genuine relationship conflict they could have easily explored that would have been interesting to watch them navigate and especially see them succeed at reconciling and instead of doing that in the last season they just tore that away for the sake of- I'm gonna coin a new term here- creating what might well be the world's first incidence of Cinematic Grooming. Yes, Aidan and Ritu aren't dating in real life, but they had to kiss on screen and act a whole romance arc. Yes, Five is "technically" much older than his body, but that is icky for the same reason "this 1000 yr old woman looks and acts like a toddler/8yr old" is icky in anime and I would argue considerably WORSE because those characters are fully animated pictures voiced by ADULTS. Aidan was like 15 when he started acting Five, maybe 16 when he met Ritu and started acting alongside her. She's in her 30s (and was at the start of TUA). The fact that they waited til the second he was 18 and then put him in a romantic pairing with an actress who worked with him directly as a minor is disgusting. We got to watch him be groomed via a fictional character and scenario that was fully dreamed up and forced by the twisted mind of Steve Blackman. Then you go back to season 2&3 and see the sexual references/implications they set up between him and The Handler and Lila which we all collectively were like, "okay, ew, but they're referencing things he did when he had a grown up body" (in the handler interactions case) or the extremely weird naked fight with Lila in season 3 where he makes it clear he has no interest in her (very much seems that is how Aidan and Ritu interpreted it by their acting) and you realize this absolutely was not a last minute decision. Steve PLANNED for this to happen since Aidan was a young teenager, they just weren't expecting David and Ritu to have so much chemistry and talent at acting that they would fully sell their relationship. It just drives me nuts. There was so much else they could have done with Diego and Lila's relationship even if they didn't end up together. Even if they wanted more angst of Five having feelings for Lila he knows she will never reciprocate due to his body and her love for Diego. They fully went OUT OF THEIR WAY to write that in. And the female writing just took such a nosedive overall that it really hurts looking back. It was such a good show with so much potential and they managed to MANGLE it in that last season so hard.

[lover-of-mine]

OK so for background to this question. I once complained to you about Tommy ditching Buck at the restaurant. You were fair and set me straight. I always credit you with that to mutuals. Don't even use it since then. This season Tommy wasn't even a character I could really not like because I actually felt sad for him. I mean the writers clearly don't care except to sort of not write great for him. They didn't even try to give him a bit of the Addison treatment from Grey's. It was clear there was so vested interest in him as being around. That brings me to the question for you because I respected your answer last time. But to preface, my pet peeve is when people change their opinions on tropes to excuse behavior. So here goes.

I was ok ignoring him. But let's be real here. If you watched your favorite show that had best friends like Buck and Eddie. Even if you viewed them as platonic and they hey maybe morey if the writers were brave?? But just best friend main characters. Absolutely if a scuzzy ex came back after one had to leave and celebrated them leaving.... Every fan of the show would riot! That actually was probably some of the most toxic writing I have seen that isn't widely acknowledged from the other side

I don't know it just bugs me. It wouldn't have flown under normal circumstances.

Hello again, darling 🫶

They are very clearly using Tommy as minimally as they can, they are giving him just enough development so that he exists. It's hard to form a full opinion on him with only the show to go on, I'm sure that without fandom, I would lowkey feel bad for him because he is kinda like a sad wet cat when you look at it without any fanon-created goggles.

A lot of things that happened in the bucktommy relationship wouldn't have flown under any other circumstances, famously Buck putting Eddie in the hospital being one of them, we all know how that would've gone if it had been Eddie (make the relationship go exactly the way it did but it's Eddie and Tommy, and dear god no one would like Tommy and there would be calls and calls to kill Eddie off), but the fact that people are overlooking the way Tommy was ready to celebrate Eddie leaving is very icky, that's for sure. Like, for me is a redux of the way Natalia thought Buck's death was cool when we spent a few episodes discussing how much that affected everyone around Buck, we spent a healthy amount of the past few episodes establishing that Eddie leaving is bad. It's something that's hurting Buck deeply, so much so that that implication actually triggers Buck. I personally don't think there's a way around it, it's not like Tommy ever explicitly brought up the fact that he was insecure about Eddie's space in Buck's life.

The whole time this relationship is happening, we have been saying that Tommy knows what he's getting into when it comes to Buck and Eddie. The breakup also makes it clear that he knows he can't win this fight, if Buck had to choose, he would choose Eddie. The way that he takes this thing that's been eating at Buck as a win by default so much so that he's willing to joke about it and thinks Buck wouldn't mind is very 😬😬😬. Like, the guy kissed Buck while Buck went on and on about Eddie. He used Chris to calm him down back then. He is weirded out about the way they are in Eddie's house, and he's still going for it. While he has the right to feel insecure, he has no right to actually accuse Buck of having feelings for Eddie and imply their relationship was a competition if he didn't voice the concerns before. He made the choice to date the guy for 6 months, he could've walked away. And he did. But coming back all yay Eddie is gone and expecting Buck to be fine with it is insane behavior. Even in a scenario where you don't think there's more between Buck and Eddie, Eddie is Buck's best friend. No person who truly cared about Buck would celebrate him losing that just because it makes their life easier. I'm with you on that one, it's just another thing people are ignoring in favor of making Tommy the victim of a situation he made a very conscious choice to walk into.

[kchasm]

Ryu Number: Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton

Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton was… well, the first Earl of Lytton, after Queen Victoria created the title in 1880. He was the Viceroy of India from 1976 to 1880, and, as was the Viceroyal norm, was a real jerk about it, notably throwing a grand gala during an ever grander famine, and by "grander" I mean several million people died. He has a Ryu Number of at most 3.

The protagonist of The Gene Machine, Mr. Featherstonehaugh (pronounced "Fanshawe": "F - silent E - A - silent T - silent H - silent E - silent R - S - silent T - silent O - N… …swap the N and the S - silent E - H - A - U - G - H… HAWE") encounters the Earl of Lytton at the Highborn Club.

"Earl of Lytton" is a hereditary title, and nothing in the game dialogue easily hints at which historical Earl this is supposed to be. The presence of Queen Victoria in the game undisambiguates matters somewhat, since the Earldom was created in 1880 and Queen Victoria died in 1901…

But unfortunately, this means this earl could still be either Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton, who died in 1891, or his son, Victor Bulwer-Lytton, 2nd Earl of Lytton, who took the title after.

(By the way, if you saw the name Bulwer-Lytton and thought, "Hey, the guy to blame for 'It was a dark and stormy night'"—right family, wrong person. That was actually Robert Bulwer-Lytton's father, Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton.)

(I didn't name these people. They came to me like this.)

So can we narrow down this earldom a little bit further? Arguably, yes.

Early in the game, Mr. Fanshawe (who I'm calling "Fanshawe" because even the game doesn't bother spelling the whole thing out after it can get away with ducking it) encounters a certain Joanathan T. Ripper in Whitechapel. The fellow introduces himself as both a Doctor to the Royal Household and a Freemason, and he's got a rather low opinion of his surroundings.

Fanshawe, no fan of the lower class himself, suggests Dr. Ripper take a stand against the area's "peddlars of sin," an encouragement that Dr. Ripper eagerly receives—the implication here being that Fanshawe has unintentionally given this Jack-the-Ripper-to-be some inspiration.

(If this seems a bit random to you, I'm pleased to tell you it actually ain't so—Dr. Ripper here is based on a real person, Sir William Withey Gull, 1st Baronet, who really was a Physician-in-Ordinary to Queen Victoria. A fringe theory from the 1970's—dismissed almost instantly—put forth that he was part of a Freemasonic conspiracy to kill Mary Jane Kelly, Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, and Elizabeth Stride to keep them from revealing that Prince Albert Victor, the second-in-line to the throne, had fathered a child out of wedlock with a Catholic woman—the risk of a potential Catholic heir being enough to justify all of that, apparently.)

(As I said, it's a widely panned theory—but it's interesting enough that more than one author has utilized it for historical fiction, including Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell in their graphic novel In Hell.)

The Jack the Ripper murders began in 1888, which means that if there's an Earl of Lytton, it's got to be the first one. Mind, the real earl looked a bit more earlish…

… Maybe he hasn't grown into it yet? Or maybe I'm taking a comedy point-and-click adventure game a lot more seriously than anyone ever ought to.

… Nah, it's definitely the first one.

"Wait a minute, that's Queen Elizabeth in Civilization V, not Queen Victoria." You're slightly wrong, actually, which luckily for me is wrong enough. Queen Elizabeth's Queen-Elizabethness is used in the Scramble for Africa scenario to sub for Queen Victoria, and is renamed accordingly.

The scenarios do this a lot. For example, here's Paul Kruger, who I promise is not George Washington:

[cravingpepsimax]

ok no one asked but i did get a few likes + a rb on the post so here's my modern 30s ford

there are some important things to note about ford:

ford would've been born in the 90s

ford would still have been a friendless outcast

ford would still be intelligent and have an interest in the paranormal

there were approximately 45 million people using the internet back in 1996. the chances that the pines wouldn't have internet access at some point while ford was growing up is low. people who are lonely are more likely to use the internet frequently, since that's where they're getting a lot of their social interaction. filbrick would probably promote this, too -- he's focused on success and the internet's booming, he'd probably want his kid to be well-versed on internet stuff. hell, my parents have never been anywhere near filbrick's level, and they felt the same way, which is how i grew up with unrestricted internet access.

this is all to say that ford is -- at least in spirit -- a neet. not even your typical brand of chronically online, this guy regularly uses 4chan (specifically, i could see him liking the /sci/, /x/, and /tg/ boards).

think about it! so much internet shit comes from 4chan, it's inevitable that he'd immerse himself into it if he's online all the damn time and is interested in weird paranormal shit. i imagine stan's grown used to a lot of his 4chan weirdness atp

(to clarify -- this is pre-bill. ford just looks like that because he doesn't spend time taking care of himself. he lives in the basement. which reminds me: canon ford is literally a basement dweller isn't he LMAO)

the stancest implications are staggering, since 4chan is pretty cool with incest, if not outright pro-incest at certain points.

this also creates the hilarious feelings realization moment where stan's panicking, freaking the fuck out because oh my god he has feelings for his twin, while ford -- due to years, possibly a decade+ of 4chan use -- doesn't really gaf LMAO

[evilmenshoe80]

"I’ve been thinking about a headcanon: What if Eve, when cast out of the Garden, was already pregnant with twins—a boy and a girl? They started the human race outside Eden, while the angels, for whatever reason, failed to check on them. Meanwhile, Adam and Mika are still in Eden, building their own civilization. This leads to the development of two distinct groups of humans: the 'untainted,' descended from Adam (those in Eden), and the 'tainted,' descended from Eve’s children born outside the Garden.

This dynamic would create an interesting tension, especially when it comes to Charlie’s goal of redeeming souls. If Heaven has a fixed system where only the untainted can enter, while the tainted are either automatically sent to Hell or face extreme prejudice, it complicates everything. Maybe some of the tainted do manage to get into Heaven, but the discrimination still creates a massive divide. It’d be fascinating to see how this would play out, especially with the moral and theological implications it brings."

"Also, considering they were both husbands, would the same situation that happened with Adam apply to their generation as well? If so, these humans might have an entirely different biological structure compared to normal humans.

Additionally, perhaps these children could look distinct from regular humans. Since they would be considered 'ascended' in Heaven—and no one can truly die within the Garden—it makes sense they’d be unique. Given that Michael was originally a Seraphim before becoming human, I imagine these children could have at least four wings, appear far more powerful than regular humans, and retain a human-like form, but with distinctive blue markings on their faces."

(WARNING: SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER (not too much) BUT STILL SPOILER OF THE ADAM & MIKA LORE AHEAD, IF YOU WANT TO WAIT AND BE SURPRISED DON'T READ THIS, THANKS (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧)

1- Do you read minds or smt? hehehe Cause indeed, eve is pregnant with cain and awan at the moment she gets kicked out of eden, but who is the biological father? Did Sera and the other angels know about this before banishing Eve from the garden? how will eve protect her children from the dangers of earth ALONE?….although, is she really alone???

and yes, apart from adam & mika descendents there will be another group of humans

buuuuut sorry I won't say more, I want to keep people at edge of how the story will develop ( ๑‾̀◡‾́)σ"

and I LOVE the "tainted/untainted" names, do you mind if I use them?? (＾▽＾)

2) There is indeed a difference in the way heaven behaves between the tainted and untainted, they favor the untainted, considers them perfect and expects the best from them, they are untouched by sin after all, it's impossible for one of them to go to hell......right?

and definitely a tainted can go to heaven BUT like you said, there will be A LOT of discrimination ("cough"speciallyfromtheuntainted"cough")

3) this au can be considered an omegaverse, adam (omega) now has both genitals so he can give birth, apart of having heats every two months while mika (alpha) has ruts that trigger everytime adam starts his heats to assure a sucessful mating and breeding, soooo yep, adam's children either male or female can be omegas, alphas or betas, and have "normal" male/female genitalia or both

and Adam is tecnically "the mother of humanity" and mika refers to him as "my wife"

4) I don't want to elaborate much in here but let's say mika's body is 100% human so the children he haves with adam won't have any angelic physical trait

(≈ㅇᆽㅇ≈)♡