#with more info than bullet points and everything

[yes-no-maybe-soo]

What Sylus can do with his Evol

(That we know of. Will be updated sporadically as new info comes out)

A few notes:

1. Sylus' Evol is Energy Manipulation. Which is a bit vague to interpret just what that encompasses, but if we take it to mean all form of energy then the implications of his powers become staggering and honestly pretty terrifying. Quite literally everything around us contain energy. As per Einstein's famous equation, E=mc², mass itself is a form of energy, ie simply having mass means an object has energy. Meaning that there might be no limit to what Sylus can control and manipulate, and this is supported by the original CN text of his anecdote, where his Evol is described as essentially all-encompassing and all-powerful.

2. This post is merely a list compiling all (or nearly all) that we have canonically seen Sylus do with his Evol. It is purely for enjoyment and to hype up our man. I will not go into details on the physics behind his power or anything like that – that I leave to more intelligent minds than mine. I'm just a gremlin who likes making lists and looking at details and (sometimes) connecting dots. Math and physics? Worst subjects in school ;-; would rather sit through 89 consecutive rounds of Find Tobias than one half hour of math.

3. If I missed anything on this list, don't hesitate to point it out to me!

4. I want to give huge thanks to @kookieluvs for kindly sending me the direct (fan) translation of Sylus' anecdote! It goes into more detail on Sylus' Evol than the localization (where things sadly seem to have gotten lost in translation) does, and really gives you a sense of how truly powerful (and frightening) it is. A link to the translation is included above, and I highly recommend you check it out!

Without further ado, here is the list of what Sylus canonically can do with his Evol

✧. Disintegrate fully grown men in a matter of seconds

Nothing is left behind of these men. No blood, no matter, no nothing. As though they never existed in the first place.

(He has also done the same to inanimate objects, like bullets)

✧. Create extremely powerful energy charges

The man actually punches a crater into the ground oml

✧. Create energy bursts

✧. Infuse his energy in weapons

✧. Create black holes(?!?!)

...do you see what I mean when I say that this power is lowkey frightening af?

✧. Transform his body into pure energy

Great for when he needs to dramatically leap off skyscrapers or old cathedrals. Taking the elevator or the stairs is for lesser men. Gotta make a memorable first impression, you know?

✧. Teleport (himself and others)

✧. Heal wounds in an instant

These wounds can range from minor cuts to bullet holes. Meaning that he can repair deep internal injuries and bleeding.

✧. Mend shirts

Yes. I'm deadass. Look at the images above.

✧. Evaporate blood

And presumably other liquids.

✧. Halt fatal internal diseases

We see him do this – rather brutally – to the twins in Mischief (World Underneath Story). The twins had 3 months left to live before that. They're alive and thriving over two years later.

✧. Summon people and objects to him/Levitate them

He will occasionally do this with plushies in the claw machine too, if you let him play and if he is feeling extra helpful. A (small but still important) portion of my affinity comes from Sylus summoning plushies in a color I hadn't gotten yet.

✧. Control and restrain others' movements

✧. Manipulate Objects

Another example of this is him shutting the doors in Philip's shop in the main story. Or unlocking the handcuffs in Midnight Stealth.

✧. Put out lights

He does this in chapter 3 of the anecdote

✧. Seal off entire areas

Does this as well in the same chapter as above

✧. Strangle

What he does to Sherman in the main story

✧.Change colours of flowers

And presumably of other things. I gotta be honest, this right here is to me one of the most insane things he can do because of what it implies about just how crazy powerful and encompassing his Evol truly is.

✧.Make seeds sprout and bloom without soil

He does this in chapter 1 of the Wildlight Chronicles. The flower crumbles and wilts seconds after he makes it bloom, but still, he made it happen. Which is very impressive. Like MC points out, channeling energy into and changing something as small as a seed takes a lot of control and precision. Another major thing that I want to add on to this is that this confirms that Sylus can force a living organism to speed through the different stages of life, manipulating and changing them. Or to put it simply he can age them up. And if he can do so to one type of organism... who's to say he can't do it to other? IE animals and humans. And maybe he can even do it in reverse? This is not confirmed but it is interesting to think about and makes me ponder about his claim in Beyond Cloudfall of being able to raise the dead... maybe it is tied to his Evol after all? Or maybe his Evol powers are somehow tied to his demonic powers? 🤔

✧.Purge metaflux

MC and him use their resonance to clear a metaflux contaminated lake in Chapter 2 of the Wildlight Chronicles.

That's all I have for the strictly Evol driven powers (I have more than likely missed something, in which case I apologize 😔 I am only human. A very tired one at that. But like I said, there probably isn't a limit to what Sylus can manipulate anyway so... writing down every individual thing would be... a lot dhdjfj).

However.

I am not done.

I still want to quickly discuss a few more of his powers, because this man still isn't OP enough ig. But I put them in a sort of separate category since I am pretty sure they are not tied to his Evol but rather to his aether core and his demonic powers.

Anyway, to start off

Sylus can control/invade minds

This is only really touched upon in the anecdote as far as I can remember.

Those affected by this lose all awareness and consciousness of their surroundings for as long as Sylus wants them to. We learn that some of the victims were never quite the same again after. These details make it clear that this is not strictly mind control, but something deeper and more terrifying – a complete and total invasion of it.

Sylus can see people's innermost desires thanks to his aether core

He reveals this to MC in LAR.

Sylus can transform into a dragon

99.9% sure of this. Check out this post for more of my reasonings.

Sylus (or Stayrus) can resurrect the dead

"Even if your desire is to resurrect the people of the Ivory City, it's still within my capabilities" word for word what Sylus/Stayrus says in Beyond Cloudfall (Chapter 3). We don't know whether Sylus at present still has this ability or if it is affected by the tether/shackles that restrict his powers.

Which reminds me of one final thing...

All of the above that I have listed (excepting the final one), have been performed by Sylus in a nerfed state. He is unable to use his full powers due to above mentioned tethers/shackles. It's still a mystery when, how, and by who they were placed within him.

Sure would be nice to have some extra lore right about now don't you think, Paperfold?

Anyway, Sylus OP as fuck. His only true weakness is the love of his life. How that will play out only time will tell (actually I can tell you right now. They will marry and live happily ever after with their baby girls and with Mephie and the twins. The end. Trust.).

With this, I am finally done with this post. I hope you guys enjoyed it ♡

I myself will finally go to bed

_(´ω`_)⌒)_

[cozycottagetarot]

Random Things About Your Person

From Elle: Pulled This One From The Drafts... wasn't going to post it but maybe there's something useful in it for someone. It's a chill one ✌️

Notes:

Definition of 'Your Person': At this point, I'm not sure how I personally define 'Your Person', so I guess I'm leaving that up to you're interpretation. For now, let's just say someone you'll have an impactful connection with.

Reading Layout: This reading is done in a brain-dump style where the info is just bullet as it came to me and less organised.

Dividers From X

Reading Masterlist | Patreon | Paid Readings -- Open 🥂

PILE 1

This person is such a loving and nurturing person… they could even help heal your inner child. If you want kids then this will transfer over to how they parent and it's very heartwarming.

They give off ethereal vibes. Very in tune with their intuition or have a strong sense of knowing

They could be your 'perfect match'

Someone you 'grow old' with or could envision yourself 'growing old' with

They could have a diverse friend group or their friend group is very important to them.

Night and the moon could be super important. They could be born at night, you meet at night or you communicate with them through your dreams.

They’re very abundant. Regardless of how much money they make, they just have such a rich life that you can see they are without want.

They’re very calming. They could calm your nervous system.

You’re going to have a very passionate/intimate relationship

There could be a 1-3 year age difference between you two (this is more so if you're interested in age differences... I don't why but I ended up reading those here)

They’re trustworthy and reliable

A very strong, gentle and protective person

PILE 2

Could live by the water or be very emotional.

They’re your heart, your everything. It might be hard to deny your attraction to them… but not physically. More so like a knowing once you meet this person that they play a significant role in your story

'Lionheart'... Regal energy

Lots to learn from them... So much that I actually wrote it twice lol

Kind of exotic… very beautiful

They don’t bark, they bite

They're someone who makes things happen

Very quiet…. It makes me think of something that I saw that goes along the lines of "You're harmless, not peaceful. If you’re peaceful you’re capable of great violence" or something like that. This is not meant to say that they're this aggressive/violent person. I feel like it's quite the opposite really.

I kept seeing this image of coming across a wounded animal, a wolf to be exact. You can see they've been in a fight/injured and are on guard. They're not going to hurt you but you can see that they are alert and will attack if you show you mean harm. A case of survival...

I feel like they hold the key to your happiness in a way

Something angelic about them… it could be their mind too

3 to a 8 year age difference (this is more so if you're interested in age differences… I don't why but I ended up reading those here)

An unexpected meeting

Beauty in darkness. Easily stressed or anxious. It feels very tense compared to pile/group 1

They’ve overcome a lot… flexible at a cost

One of you is further ahead in life than the other

Protective of their energy. Loyal, ambitious.

Overstimulated frequently or easily

PILE 3

They may be big on naps. Like napping together is their love language

They may be a little weird

Grumpy x sunshine vibes

Whimsy or connected to their inner child, youthful vibe

Very calm and peaceful

You two could be polar opposites but you work well together.

Their appearance can change a lot... I think more so through them willingly changing it. Really, don't be alarmed if you come home and they look completely different. I feel like they're mischievous and would get a kick out of your reaction

You could have a 2-6 year age difference (this is more so if you're interested in age differences… I don't why but I ended up reading those here)

They've managed to maintain a positive disposition despite the hardships they've faced

They could give off a met you in a past life vibe

Either good at helping you relax or they easily get stressed out but then can just as easily relax themself

Could be very creative or artistic... muse energy

Could like to take their space/time alone.... but could get lost in their head if not careful.

"Living in alignment" could be important to them... they may have a set of personal values or principles they really like to adhere to.

[fluentmoviequoter]

The Slayers

Pairing: Tim Bradford x fem!cop!reader

Summary: Vampires begin attacking people in Los Angeles, and as the chosen one, it's up to you and your partner to stop them.

Warnings: mentions of being shot, discussion/depiction of drugs, typical The Rookie warnings, spoilers/references from Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Word Count: 2.8k+ words

A/N: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The Rookie 4x05 "A.C.H." mixed in my mind and this is the product. (This isn't set at Halloween though.)

Masterlist Directory | Tim Bradford Masterlist | Request Info/Fandom List

“I can’t believe I just witnessed Tim Bradford get shot,” you muse as you exit the liquor store, pushing the handcuffed shooter toward the shop.

“I didn’t mean to!” the man says.

“You have the right to remain silent, and I’d suggest you take it,” Tim snaps.

“I think he’s mad,” you whisper as you open the back door. “Watch your head.”

After the door closes, you press your lips together and look over the hood at Tim. He points at you, a silent warning to stay quiet.

“Are you okay?” you ask. “That bullet hit you right in the throat.”

“It was a NERF gun.”

“Right, sorry, that cartridge hit you pretty fast.”

“Drop it,” Tim warns.

“I’m just worried about your health, Tim. Getting shot isn’t easy.”

Tim rolls his eyes and waves you off as he enters the shop. You join him in the car, and when he looks over, you raise your hands as a promise won’t bring it up again... for now.

“7-Adam-15,” Nolan says over the radio. “Unknown… 11-2… bite!”

Tim furrows his brows as he watches the radio. Nolan sounded upset, but the audio cutting in and out worries you more.

“Nolan, repeat that?” Wade requests.

“One suspect in custody,” Nyla answers. “We need an RA. The suspect- he bit somebody.”

“That’s not weird,” Tim murmurs.

“Sergeant, he’s got fangs and there’s too much blood for one bite,” Nyla adds.

“Sending additional units now, Harper,” Wade radios. “RA’s en route.”

“Did she say fangs?” you repeat. Tim reaches for the radio, but you snatch it to ask, “Nyla, are you at Sunset and Highland?”

“Just north of it,” she replies.

“We can’t respond,” Tim points out. “This genius needs to get to booking.”

“The trigger was faulty!” the man behind you defends.

“The trigger was plastic.”

“No, Tim, this is just starting,” you state.

“What?”

“Fangs, blood, biting? Tim, that was a vampire.”

Tim narrows his eyes at you before he scoffs. The wannabe liquor store thief behind you whimpers, but you know better than to push the subject. Hooking your finger under your hidden necklace chain, you can only hope that a vampire sighting in the middle of the day isn’t a bad omen.

“Bradford!” Wade yells as you exit booking. “We’ve got over a thousand calls about sightings, attacks, and assaults. Whatever this is, it started somewhere.”

“Whatever what is?” Tim asks.

“Have you been listening to your radio?”

“More vampires,” you say. “Any leads?”

“Not a single one.”

“Were Nolan and Harper the first to make contact with the vampires?”

“Yes they were. Do you have an idea?”

“They were less than a block from Bar Sinister,” you begin.

Tim raises his hand and cuts you off to say, “Don’t start with this again. Location relative to a bar doesn’t give people fangs and make them bloodthirsty.”

“Tim, most of the people who frequent Bar Sinister have sharpened or enhanced canines to look like fangs,” you point out. Turning to Wade, you ask, “Are they actually biting people?”

“Yep,” Nyla answers from behind you. “Drinking the blood and everything.”

“It’s gross,” Nolan mumbles.

“The bar sounds like the best starting place we’ve got,” Wade decides. “You four go check it out.”

“And when we find that it’s just a bar and have no idea where the blood drinking is coming from?” Tim challenges.

“Hellmouth,” you remember.

“From Buffy the Vampire Slayer?” Nolan inquires. “I loved that show.”

“No, not the Hellmouth. It’s a newer drug, making its way to high-end buyers.”

“How do you know that?” Tim asks, his brows pinched.

“A friend of mine, Tan, he worked vice back when Hellmouth had just started. It’s a combination of oxy, anti-psychotics, and some unregulated hallucinogen,” you explain. “Those medications in combination, excess, even, might disrupt the brain enough to make someone thirsty for blood.”

“I’ll let narcotics know,” Wade responds. “For now, get to that bar and find out if it’s ground zero for Hellmouth.”

“How do you know all of this?” Tim asks as you return to the shop.

“I do my homework,” you answer lightly.

“Yeah, and you’re a vampire slayer,” Tim replies sarcastically.

“It seems like we’re both slayers now.”

“Well, that was a waste of time,” Tim complains as you return to the shop after the most recent dead-end lead. The sun has set, but your end of watch is nowhere in sight. Now, there are even more bloodthirsty civilians on the streets of Los Angeles.

“What do we do now?” you ask, looking into the dark alley.

“You tell me, slayer.”

You nod and pull the silver necklace chain under your uniform. “Which makes you Angel, my dark, mysterious helper.”

“Sure,” Tim answers, preparing to pull out and return to patrol.

“Who I shouldn’t kiss but really, really want to.”

Tim’s eyes widen, and his fingers curl tighter around the steering wheel. His triceps flex, popping beneath his sleeves, as he pushes against the wheel, unsure what to say or how serious you are.

“That’s not… we should,” Tim begins. “Actually, you, uh-“

“Tim,” you interrupt. You reach across the car and place your hand on his forearm. “I’m sorry. I’ll stop.”

“Okay,” Tim whispers. He nods to himself as he repeats, “Okay.”

You turn toward your window and hesitate before you say, “Uh, Tim?”

“What?” he asks, his arm tensing under your hand.

“There’s a vampire at the window.”

Tim looks over quickly, your hand sliding from his arm. The man nearing your door has sharpened canine teeth, and a thick red substance drips from his chin. When he raises a hand, prepared to break your window, Tim yanks the gear shift into reverse and presses the gas pedal to the floor.

“7-Adam-19,” you radio urgently.

“Additional units and RA en route,” Wade replies before you finish.

“Any word from narcotics on where this is coming from?” you inquire as Tim leans over the wheel to watch the man.

“Nothing. They’re not even sure what it is, but they’re tracking your Hellmouth lead.”

You return the radio to its place on the dash and raise your phone. “Screw this, if I’m the slayer, I’m getting our answers.”

“Do it quickly, because he’s not alone,” Tim says.

You look up, your finger hovering over your phone screen. There are at least half a dozen men now, and you have no idea how to stop them.

“Got any wooden stakes in your war bag?” you joke, but it comes out as a desperate last resort.

“They’re still people. We can keep them contained.”

“Until when? Sunrise? Tim, without knowing what they’re on, we’re blind in this.”

“Then be a slayer,” Tim answers. “But do it quickly!”

“C’mon, answer,” you plead softly. The call connects, and immediately, you say, “Does Narcan work on Hellmouth?”

“What?” Tan asks.

“Victor, we’re dealing with vampires, answer the question!”

“Hellmouth doesn’t always respond to Narcan, it depends on the chemical makeup. If there’s an opiate, yes, administer it.”

“And if I don’t know what’s in it?”

“What’s going on down there?”

“Right now, I’m trapped in a shop with six high vampires outside. How’s your day going?”

“Hellmouth wears off quickly, either the ingested blood dilutes it, or the body starts shutting down,” Tan explains. “It shouldn’t take long.”

“Okay, thanks, Tan.” After you end the call, you tell Tim, “We can wait it out or try to get to all of them with Narcan.”

“We wait,” Tim decides quickly. “But we need to know where these drugs are coming from.”

“I have a bad idea.”

“Don’t get out of the car.”

“I’m going to get out of the car.”

Tim says your name, but you exit the shop and raise your hands. “You guys don’t want to meet my friend in there,” you call. “I’ve got a silver cross around my neck, but he’s a whole lot meaner than me.”

The men stop, and one collapses before he begins convulsing on the ground. It’s wearing off, you think. Within a minute, all of them have slowed or fallen. Tim exits the shop and radios for the ambulances to meet them on the scene.

“Where did you get the drugs?” Tim asks the last conscious vampire.

“Bar Sinister,” he groans. “It was initiation night.”

Tim’s jaw clenches, and you smile as you taunt, “Told you so.”

“LAPD!” Tim yells as he enters the bar.

“Hands up!” you instruct. “Everybody!”

“Officers,” the pink-haired bartender says with a tired sigh. “I can assure you that our liquor license is up to date.”

“And the illegal drugs turning people into vampires?” Tim asks. “Is that license up to date?”

“Initiation?” she asks. “That’s a placebo, it’s just a sugar pill.”

“What?” someone demands across the bar. His fangs make it sound like waff?

“How often do you do this initiation ceremony?” Nyla asks.

“Once a week, sometimes more depending on the crowd size. We did it two nights ago, had about two hundred people through that night.”

“Grey,” you radio. “How many people have we brought in on Hellmouth?”

“About 150,” he replies.

“That means there’s fifty more,” you realize. “We need to confiscate what’s left of the drug.”

“Oh, uh…” The bartender fumbles for words before she blurts out, “I gave them to my boyfriend, and he sold them.”

“How many?” Tim demands. “How many did he sell?”

“About a hundred pills to five or six people,” she answers quietly. “I swear I didn’t know what was in them.”

“What’s your boyfriend’s name?” you ask. When she shakes her head, you add, “You don’t want to get any more involved in this than you already are, what’s his name?”

“I… I don’t know.”

“I love Los Angeles,” Nolan murmurs to himself.

“What’s he go by?” Nyla asks.

“Spike,” she says. “Like-“

“Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” everyone in the bar finishes.

“You’re never riding in my shop again,” Tim tells you.

“Um, excuse me, officer?” a woman huddled in a booth by the door calls.

You nod to Tim before you approach her, and she gestures for you to come closer. With you squatted beside her seat, she leans forward to whisper in your ear.

“Spike didn’t sell them. He’s keeping them for himself,” she says.

“Why?” you ask softly.

“He saw what they did and thought, you know, that he could use them for something.”

“To make more vampires,” you guess. “Do you know where Spike is?”

“He’s in a house in the hills, I don’t know which one.”

“He can afford something in the Hollywood Hills?”

She shakes her head and mentions that he’s housesitting for a family member whose name she doesn’t know. “What I do know is that he owns this place. We don’t know his real name, but it must be on some kind of record or something, right?”

“Thank you…” you begin, hoping she’ll tell you her name.

“Buffy, and, yes, it’s my real name.”

“Thanks, Buffy.”

“Narcotics is here,” Tim alerts. “Folks, you’ll have to give a statement before you leave tonight. If you choose not to, there’s a nice holding cell where you can spend the night and enjoy your vampire daydreams.”

“Guys, I’ve got something,” you tell Tim, Nolan, and Nyla quietly. “Spike’s in the hills, and his real name is on the property records as owner.”

“A wooden stake would’ve been easier,” Tim grumbles.

“Spike, man, hey!” Nolan yells. “It’s been too long.”

“Do I know you, bub?” Spike replies.

“I thought he was Spike, not Wolverine,” Lucy murmurs at your side.

“He’s insane,” Nyla corrects.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Nolan continues, approaching Spike on the sidewalk. “But there’s so much filth inside your head, ain’t no room for the words of truth. Right? Listen, I’ll let you think about whatever you want, but I need some sunny in my dale, you know what I’m sayin’?”

“He’s laying it on a little thick,” Lucy says.

“It’s kind of creepy how much he sounds like Caleb,” you mumble. When Nyla looks at you, you ask, “Am I the only one that watched the show?”

“Yeah, I gotchu,” Spike replies. “We’re just down the hill from the Hellmouth if you want to see it?”

“Love to,” Nolan agrees, discreetly signaling you to follow him.

As he joins Spike on the sidewalk and walks up the hill toward Spike’s aunt’s house, you drive slowly in the dark SUV. Tim and a Metro team are waiting at the house, but if anything goes wrong before they cross the property line, it's your job to handle it.

“Grey said our two hundred vampires are accounted for and receiving treatment,” Nyla says, reading a message on her phone. “So, once we’ve got Spike and the rest of Hellmouth, we can finally go home.”

“And do it all again tomorrow,” you add cheerfully.

“Hey, what freaked Tim out so much earlier?” Lucy inquires. “When we got there to take in the six vamps, he was totally off his game.”

“Well, one of them snuck up on us. Plus, I implied I wanted to kiss him even though I shouldn’t,” you answer without looking away from Nolan and Spike.

“Implied?” Nyla repeats, barely concealing her smile.

“We’ve got to move.”

You exit the car to stay behind Nolan and Spike on foot. When they reach the top of the hill and see the officers waiting, Spike turns quickly.

“As much as I’d get a big laugh watching Bradford kick your skinny, white bum, and as much as I know I can give you a little bum-kicking myself right now, I’m here to tell you something: you’re not even worth it,” you quote, leveling your gun on Spike. “And you’re under arrest.”

He furrows his brows, and you sigh in the realization that he doesn’t understand the references either. Maybe I’m the chosen one in this generation, you think.

“Where’s the rest of the Hellmouth drug?” Nyla asks after reciting his Miranda rights. “They’re going to search the house anyway, so if you tell us now, you might save yourself some trouble.”

“In the urn above the fireplace,” Spike admits. “It opens clockwise.”

“Whose urn?” Lucy asks. “Wait, no, I don’t want to know.”

“Bradford,” you radio. “Spike’s in custody. Hellmouth is in the urn over the fireplace, which opens clockwise.”

“Nice work, Buffy,” Nolan tells you.

“Wait, you’re Buffy?” Spike asks.

“Not happening,” you and Nyla exclaim together.

“I want a lawyer,” Spike demands.

“How’d you know all of this stuff?” Lucy inquires.

“I’ve heard about Hellmouth before, it’s unique enough that it wasn’t hard to piece together. And Bar Sinister was on my beat when I was a rookie. They used to know me in there, I could just walk in and high five a few people to respond to noise disturbance calls.”

“And kissing Tim, your Angel?” Nyla teases.

“Is something that I probably need to apologize for. Again.”

“Tim, wait up!” you call, jogging through the station parking lot.

When he turns, you stop suddenly and blink in surprise. Two white fangs glint in the streetlight above you, and though you can tell they’re fake, it still catches you off guard.

“Cute,” you murmur. “Look, I’m sorry for all the teasing and the comment about kissing you. It just- I guess it was my way of dealing with a weird day.”

Tim shrugs, and you offer your hand to shake his. He takes your hand, holding it rather than shaking it.

“Do Buffy and Angel end up together?” he asks clumsily around the cheap mouthpiece.

“I’m not spoiling the show for you. You’ll have to watch it for yourself.”

Tim smiles before he pulls your hand. You try to catch yourself rather than run into his chest, but Tim’s arm wraps around your waist and keeps you close as he dips his chin and kisses you. The plastic fangs hit your bottom lip as you raise your hands to hold Tim’s jaw. Tim moves with you, both of you forgetting about the fangs as you get lost in one another. When you pull back, breathless, Tim removes his hand from your waist and removes the mouthpiece, sliding it into his pocket for another time, you’re sure.

“So,” you begin slowly. “How’s your throat?”

Tim shakes his head and tightens his arm around your waist.

“Sorry,” you apologize. “Want to go watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer? You’re going to love Giles.”

“I’ve been shot, attacked by vampires, and had to dig through an urn to find illegal street drugs today, and you’re going to suggest we watch that?”

“You said you wanted to know who Buffy chooses.”

“I want to know what you are choosing,” Tim says, his eyes dropping quickly to your lips.

“I think you know,” you answer, laying your palm against his cheek. “But let’s try this without the fangs and I’ll let you know for sure.”

“Getting shot in the throat hurt less.”

You roll your eyes and push yourself against Tim’s chest to kiss him again. He might be quiet and mysterious at times, but you and he both know, in this moment, that he’s all you’ll ever want.

[batmen-and-birds]

Matches and Harvey

You know how Bats, Brucie and Matches argue in one of Two Face’s warehouses bc the first two tried to convince Matches to come back to them? There‘s been rumor among the henchmen of the three being in some messed up, toxic throuple but neither Harvey or Two Face believe it after giving it a thought.

So when it‘s just them and Matches, TF plans on confronting the gangster bc it‘s still hella suspicious. If Matches turns out to be a rat then he‘ll have to dispose of him, even if he’s kinda fond of the other.

Matches tho, has been using that extra free time outside of being Bruce to get closer to both Two Face and Harvey. So Harvey just confronts Matches before TF can. It honestly isn't more pleasant than if the other alter did it, since Harvey kinda regresses to lawyer mode and needles Matches with pointed questions and jabs, but at least the chances of Matches getting killed are far lower.

And true to Harvey's skill, Matches does break down and admit to being both Batman and Bruce. When asked about the confrontation Matches had with both mentioned figures, he explains to Harvey the entire situation, magic spell up to the current difficulties of finding B.

Instead of Matches getting a bullet between his eyes like he feared, Harvey just takes some time to process everything before laughing for a solid five minutes. He tells them thatthe explanation at least cleared up some confusion and admits to Matches mortification that he always knew Batman and Bruce were the same person.

Harvey also explains that he has kept that secret for years, even from Two Face , and has no plans on telling anyone. When Matches asks how he could hide info from TF, Harvey has to explain how being a system feels like. This causes the two to compare experiences since Harvey is now curious on how the identity split works.

Matches explains that Bruce's different egos were just different personas, like an actor and there‘s no switching or dissociation involved. Only after the split were memories assigned to different batentities. He also recalls experiencing being an own being for the first time, something unthought of, especially since it also came with a body that wasn't quite Bruce's.

In the end, Harvey tells him he heard enough. Harvey now knows that Bruce is keeping watch over him but also that he apparently values their friendship enough to find loopholes in his morals and code to keep Harvey safe. And if that‘s the case then the least Harvey can do is reciprocate and not inform Harvey of Bruce‘s involvement.

Harvey also tells Matches that if he needs help dealing with B, he‘ll gladly lend a hand, before ordering him to do some bench work while he and Two Face work things out.

[tm-trx]

Pit Babe 2, ep 8

Live Reaction Bullet Points

Standard warning applies: may will contain inconsistent/excessive punctuation and capitalization, talking to myself, talking to the characters, rampant speculation, and many many questions to self.

taking Jeff’s power, forced Charlie’s own cells to evolve? - very cool

Chris is right, this just resets everything

hey Pete, Kenta doesn’t work for you (i think?); and he’s got a real good point about them needing to act on the info quickly because they all know how Tony works

lol yeah Jeff really doesn’t look any better than you Charlie

besides, neither are ‘sick’ and what they should actually be concerned about is Charlie having his first vision and whether he can cope with it or not

why is the music so tense and foreboding?! this is totally foreshadowing music

oh here we go

Charlie’s first vision; its gonna be bad right

creeepy Willy!

I hope the guy playing Willy gets a lot of notice after this, because he’s great.

Are they taking the racecar? Those tires aren’t street legal??? (the things that distract me lol)

So first Chris says Charlie has to take the nullifier to stabilize Charlie’s new sense, then he immediately turns around and says he can’t take it? huh? (writing fail or subs fail?)

How about you just hold off on the testing entirely for now?

ooooo Pete’s suspicious all of a sudden? Wonder what tipped him off?

Third act, third party reveal - shoulda seen that coming lol

the ‘recharge’ thing is very cute

is North making his move finally?

ouch

oh that was great

Two thumbs up to the director for framing the zoom-in shot of North at the bar with a fish head. Perfect.

Dean speaks for all of us lol

But also North has a point; going from best friends to lovers is risky; he’s got a lot to lose.

heh he finally caught Chris in the act

I need Charlie to not be so flippant about Babe’s worries.

Willy powers activate!

lol now is not the time Kim

and now Tony has Kenta again

So the brother theory might be true? Chris found out that Tony is his father and that’s why he’s here, to find out about Way.

Love seeing Willy's time powers in use. The effects are great.

all the pieces are starting to come together

Further Thoughts

Tony mole count: Dean is back on the suspect list, thanks to Sonic and that foreshadowing music.

This week was light on Charlie and Babe, but the plot advanced quite a bit, and we got a couple big revelations that we’ve been waiting for. Chris is Tony’s son (at least the subs said ‘son’) and Willy’s power is stopping time.

Charlie’s vision of Willy was really well done. More creepy camera work, incorporating the stairs and Willy’s “tick tock” line. So effective.

I also loved the music used at the race track right before this scene. I think they might have used it too early, though, unless they were intentionally foreshadowing Dean’s ultimate betrayal. Still, it was a great piece of music and really amped up the dread for Charlie’s vision.

Chris found out about Way while he was in the US and that led to him discovering that Tony is his father. So he came to Thailand to find out who Way was. So they must be twins. I’m confused why Chris didn’t jump to that conclusion himself. Also, I know that Pete’s power doesn’t work like Jeff’s, but I wish the show would tell us what he sees/hears. All we get is the special effect and then Pete’s reaction.

Alan and Jeff were very cute this episode. That surgery's never gonna happen and Alan's going to regret it, I'm guessing. Their storyline has been so fairly light so far; I'm suspicious of what's coming.

I think we got progress for North and Sonic? Sonic seemed to clock what North was doing, but it was too little too late. I find it interesting that he’s the only one still very suspicious of Dean. It makes me wonder if he’ll be proven right and something will happen that will be the catalyst for North finally admitting his feelings to Sonic.

I find it really funny that Kim and Kenta are single-handedly advancing the Tony plot all by themselves. It’s not much of a team effort this time around. Kenta is laser focused on bringing the man down and he’s barely held in check by Pete. I like that Kim sees that, but is ultimately willing to back him up. And I loved Kenta’s reaction to the kiss. He didn’t seem surprised and sort of took it in stride after. I don’t think he’s quite as hung up on Pete as Kim thinks. I just found that whole scene really interesting.

Charlie is putting on such an act for Babe. He’s determined not to worry him, but of course that’s all Babe can do.

And then it ended on Willy breaking into the lab to go after an unconscious Charlie and an unprepared Babe. Excellent.

My Pit Babe 2 recaps: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7

[metalnchains]

Ghost (Johnny) Meets a Ghost 4

(Divider credit https://www.tumblr.com/strangergraphics) Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 We're throwing Johnny into the mix, with a bit less Simon in this one. The dynamic was inspired by Ghouljams amulet Soap posts, in that Simon's oblivious til amulet Johnny points out there's a whole ass spirit right next to him, but we'll get there CW: I describe the readers death in this. I don't go into too much graphic detail, but be aware.

(Simon)

Logically Simon knew keeping his new place a secret wasn’t going to last forever. Price already knew of course, couldn’t keep a secret from the captain if he’d tried his hardest in the first place. He’d gone so far as to show Price the before and after images. The rest of his leave had been spent buying new furniture, and new odds and ends for the kitchen. But apparently he’d come back too positive and with slightly lighter eye bags and it was just enough to tip Garrick off to something new in his personal life. Both his sergeants were nosy, and both were persistent about anything related to him. Being the mysterious masked ghost had its downsides he supposed. It began with Kyle asking about a possible new girl at home after a mission brief. He’d grunted out a negative and glared for good measure. 

Should have known better. 

Now that Kyle had smelled blood in the water Johnny’s involvement was inevitable. They’d pestered and prodded in various different ways throughout the day, and even when they were boarding for their mission. Not even Price’s rough grumble about focusing was enough to shut them up. 

But after weeks of being stuck in a too cramped safe house, having bullets ricochet around his head in an enemy base, and another stint at the safe house, he did finally relent and spill about his little getaway home. He even let his team swipe through his photos of the place to see it. Price and Garrick had been content with the photos he’d taken, with the promise of more should he decide to continue with renovating. But Soap as always needed more. Thus began the planning of a trip to Ohio to satisfy his sergeant’s curiosity.

Johnny)

Johnny Mactavish was man enough to admit that he was nosy. He filed away information about anyone and everyone within his life both on base and off. You never knew when some small scrap of piece of info was going to be useful in his line of work. And it made teasing people much easier. To say he was annoyed at knowing next to nothing about his lieutenant’s personal life was an understatement. His LT was a stone wall when it came to his and Garrick’s wheedling and prodding at everything except what was plainly obvious with just observation. Ghost didn’t mind them knowing how he took his tea, that he preferred looser fitting clothing, or that he held the incorrect opinion that bourbon was better than scotch. But anything related to life outside the base was shut down immediately. Having the Ghost admit to moving, and even seeing pictures of the inside of his new house nearly knocked him on his ass. It took Kyle’s best puppy eyes, and his own constant whining for Simon to openly tell them the address of his new place. He looked the property up at the first opportunity when back on base. The house wasn’t all that impressive looking from the street images. Plain white, gravel driveway, and a yard. Nothing special. 

Til he accidentally clicked on the web search instead of little x at the top of his tab. Right underneath the realtors listing was a news article about a robbery. 

The article wasn’t long. More of a headline than a story really. It mentioned a break in, and an unfortunate death on the property. It took more digging than he’d thought to find the previous owner of the house. He finally found a name after searching for more articles of their death. He’d even found a picture attached to one article. They’d been cute. Still in their twenties from what he could find. Obviously a private person based on their lack of social media activity even when alive. There was no information about what exactly had happened to them at all though, which was slightly disappointing. But this was still a worthwhile adventure, and Kyle would certainly be interested in learning more about the house. He couldn’t wait to tease the big bad Ghost about his lavender colored bathroom. 

(Johnny cont.) 

Simon’s house wasn’t much to look at in his opinion. The grounds were overgrown, and wild looking. The house itself was plain. But the fact that he was there at all was still a miracle. Wheedling the info out of his lieutenant had been a battle of attrition over the course of a month-long mission. And now here he was walking up the uneven sidewalk to the back door. It surprised him that Ghost had chosen such a wide open location. Even though he was on leave and safe he had immediately felt a prickle up his spine at being so unguarded. Or maybe it was just because the house still looked so abandoned. The windows looked like empty eyes peering at him, especially this late at night. The inside didn’t do much to ease his sudden tension. Simon had clearly done some redecorating, but he’d really only decorated for one person. Nothing about his home was particularly inviting for company. At least there was an actual bed upstairs for him though. The safe house they’d been in had been less than accommodating. It felt like heaven after collapsing on it after a short shower. 

He was out like a light the moment his head was on the pillow. 

Standing in the basement was…disturbing. He’d told Simon what he’d found out about the house during the drive over from the airport. He hadn’t said much other than a hmm and grunt here and there at the time. During breakfast was when he’d casually mentioned noticing the spatter on the walls and floor of the basement during his initial tour. The pooling was the worst in the middle. The largest stain had seen a cleaning attempt or two, but the outline of the puddle was still visible if you were paying attention to it. The streaks and flicks in the stairwell hadn’t been cleaned at all. Though they could have look like small rusty water stain to the untrained eye. The tension wasn’t leaving either. If anything it got worse after they came up from the basement. How Simon was totally at ease and tootling around and casually dusting surfaces off, and lounging on the porch was beyond him. Maybe he was paranoid, or maybe watching possession with Kyle had been a mistake. Regardless, laying down to sleep that second night was difficult. He felt like he had to keep watch or ....something was going to happen.  He woke up with a snuffle into his blanket. His hair was pinned in a weird position and he rolled over onto his back to ease it. 

Then he felt a hand on his cheek.

(Ghostie reader) 

Simon was gone longer than you had expected him to be. He had been gone for a month and half after his extended stay here. He’d managed to get new furniture inside, including a sort of second bedroom area in your old bedroom. He’d even accidentally put the bed where you had had yours in life. It had earned a small snorted giggle from you when he’d set it up. There was not much in the way of personal touches, but the house looked more lived in now. Even with its layer of dust. 

Speaking of Simon. Your big scary giant was currently trudging up the sidewalk with a man trailing behind him like a duckling. You assumed he was another soldier based on Simon being one. That, and you’d never seen a normal person keep their shoulders that squared willingly. He was scruffy and had a mohawk of all things. He was cute though, especially when he puffed up his cheeks a little before retorting something back at Simon. Your eyebrows had raised even more at his accent. You’d been expecting another englishman, but the deep brogue was a complete surprise. 

They spent as little time as possible downstairs that night. That was fine, you’d watch over the house as you always did while they slept. 

You were hovering near them as they ate. Having someone, anyone to listen to and pretend to interact with was too much to resist after so long alone. Though you wouldn’t have chosen murder to chat about over breakfast, especially yours. Seems like Mr Scot has done some research into you. You’d startled a bit when he’d actually said your name, it’d been so long since you’d heard it last. You’d trailed after them to the basement when Simon had mentioned the stains. The Scot, Johnny you now knew, seemed to be rather ill at ease being down here. It was… interesting to see him so tense while Simon was there calm as can be. Maybe he was as perceptive as Simon is? You’d been getting better at moving things since Simon had left. Now that there were actually items in the house to practice with. And having the motivation to be acknowledged for once was a big help. Motivation yielded results, who knew? You snorted at the thought. Coming back to the present they really were eerily good at reading the room you were killed in. Courtesy of being soldiers, you guessed. They’d successfully deduced that you’d been thrown down here, had smacked your head at the bottom step, and finally died in the middle of the room. The only thing they’d gotten wrong was that you had not been shot in the head like Simon suggested. You’d been beaten with a pipe.

They were nearly about to leave when you decided to play with Johnny a little. As revenge for making you once again relive your death you blew on the back of his neck. It wasn’t much, but you were curious to see if he’d notice the way Simon had seen your shadow, and finger marks on the mirror. He had rubbed the back of his neck and glanced around for the spider web he’d obviously walked into. How interesting. He was going to be fun. 

The rest of the day passed by peacefully. Eavesdropping had been fun. Johnny was a very animated storyteller, and Simon’s voice was more relaxing than it had the right to be. Listening to their combined gossip from their base was fascinating. That night, when they’d laid down for bed you made sure to hover near Johnny. You let him sleep for a while before you were brave enough to try and wake him. What would you do if he actually did see you? He’d reacted to you down in the basement, and he was clearly tense whenever you were close to him. But maybe he’d be like Simon was and write you off as a figment of his imagination. No time like the present you supposed. 

You went for his hair first. It looked too fluffy to resist after he’d washed all the gel out of it. You were rather self satisfied for a moment when he rolled over and readjusted. Much like Simon had on his first night here. Maybe you could risk a bit more. Leaning over him you traced the line of his scruff on his cheek this time. You’d been so enthralled at actually being able to touch him that you failed to realize his terrified blue eyes were staring a hole right through you. He made a soft noise then, glancing up, you froze. He froze, not even blinking. 

Well this is awkward.

[jewish-sideblog]

hey, so im Palestinian and a strong activist for my people's liberation. i wanted to ask for some info/advice on avoiding antisemitism in my activism for Palestine. im on anon bc i don't want to be called a racefaker for caring about Jewish ppl. i know antisemitism is on the rise right now (and generally over the past few years) and i want to make sure i'm not unintentionally contributing to it.

Hey there! I wanted to start by genuinely thanking you for asking this question. Partially because I don't actually get any well-intentioned or helpful questions in my inbox anymore, but also because I understand the amount of bravery it takes to reach out with a question like that at a time like this.

Next, I want to apologize to all my followers who hate long posts. Judaism is a very complicated ethnoreligious group, antisemitism is a very complicated form of bigotry, and the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is arguably the most complicated international issue that has ever existed. I'm going to try to go through everything as succinctly as possible below the cut-- I am also going to ask other Jews to contribute to and make edits to this list as needed.

And finally-- I'm writing this as though I were speaking to someone with very little knowledge of the subject. I understand that as a Palestinian, you probably know a lot about what's going on here. But I want to make sure that I'm covering bases for anybody else who might need to use this post. So if you're like, Yeah, Obviously I Knew That. Please remember that a fuckton of people on tumblr are engaging in Israeli criticism without obviously knowing that.

There are two primary forms of antisemitism in anti-Zionist spaces-- antisemitic conspiracy theory, and criticism of Israel that no other country receives. The first kind is the easiest kind to pick out, and it makes a nice bulleted list, so we'll start there.

Dual Loyalty. A global stereotype that has skyrocketed since the establishment of Israel, but it's been around for a lot longer than that. Simply put, it's the idea that Jews are more loyal to Israel (or some global secret kabal) than we are to the countries we currently reside in. With I/P, it manifests as the idea that All Jews are directly responsible for Israel or the idea that All Jews secretly support Israel. If you see a Jew who isn't directly engaging in I/P topics, don't ask them what their stance is. Plenty of us have never even been to Israel, and it's fucked up to assume that we're all experts in geopolitics.

The Holocaust was a Fabrication or a Lesson. The idea that Jews made up the Shoah has been around since the Shoah was still happening, and it's always been ridiculous. Today, you'll see three primary lines about this. Either it's that Jews made up the Shoah as an excuse to establish Israel, that the Jews deserved the Shoah because of what's happening in Israel today, or that the Jews "should have learned their lesson from the Holocaust" because now Jews are "the new Nazis". Frankly, I wish goyim would stop treating the deaths of millions of Jews like a TV show. Palestinian deaths are genuinely horrible, but this isn't some kind of "narrative parallel" to the Shoah.

The Kazars Theory, or All Jews are White. This is the DNA test nonsense. The idea is that Israel (or Jews at large) are only pretending to be indigenous to the Levant and that secretly Jews as a whole are actually indigenous to Eastern Europe. It's a lie, started by a German professor of Russian history in the early 1800s. Meanwhile, the vast majority of genetic, historical, and archaeological evidence points to Jewish origins in the Israeli/Palestinian region. There have been literal hundreds of genetic studies on this. Most of them suggest that Jews, even "white" Ashkenazim, are nearly genetically identical to Palestinians.

World Domination. The idea that Jews control the world began with the Protocols of the Elders of Zion in 1903. If you're encountering criticism of Israel that suggests that world governments, particularly European or American ones, are being controlled by Jews, you've got yourself antisemitism. White supremacists like to use the term "Zionist Occupied Government" or "ZOG" as shorthand for this conspiracy. The next two points are born out of this same ideology.

Controlling the Media. The idea that Jews are in charge of Hollywood and/or major news organizations around the world. Regarding I/P, I've seen a bunch of people say something like "Western media outlets won't cover this! (Because you know who controls them!)" only to look online and see... Western media outlets covering it. See also: "My source is tiktok! I don't trust the news!" While it's obviously a fair criticism to say that some Western news outlets certainly have a pro-Israel and anti-Palestinian bias, it's certainly not every single one of them. Reuters and the AP are once again my go-to's here.

Controlling the Financial World. I haven't actually seen this come up regarding I/P, but considering how things have been going, it's only a matter of time. We don't control the banks. We don't control the stock market. We're not in charge of American aid being sent to Israel. HaShem knows that if we controlled all the money, I'd certainly be living larger than I am now...

Those Bloodthirsty Jews. This one arguably started with Blood Libel in the 1100s, when Christians started accusing us of stealing and eating their babies. Straight up, I have met Christians who still believe this in 2023. You see this a lot with I/P-- the Al Ahli Hospital is the biggest example. More than a month later, most reliable intelligence organizations agree that a misfired Hamas rocket landed in a parking lot, killing about 100 people. But a ton of people are still saying that Those Bloodthirsty Jews intentionally bombed the hospital dead on, killing 470 people. I want to be clear-- Israel is killing a lot of civilians. But if you see a bandwagon of people focusing on the one group of deaths that Israel probably actually didn't cause? Consider why.

Causing wars, revolutions, and calamities. Hamas has straight-up got this one in their founding charter. No, the Jews are not responsible for any major global conflicts, revolutions, or counter-revolutions that don't directly involve Israel. We didn't do WWII. We didn't do the October Revolution. See above-- we're not secretly plotting massacres on Shabbat. A lot of people are saying that Netanyahu and Likud let Hamas in to justify the invasion of Gaza... I'd be shocked if that was the case. All evidence points to a classic intelligence failure. We're not orchestrating bloodbaths.

Section 2: Criticisms only levelled at Israel

It's important to recognise that Israeli civilians are no more collectively responsible for the actions of the Likud coalition than Palestinians are collectively responsible for the actions of Hamas. No Palestinian deserves to be stripped of their rights to self-determination in their ancestral lands because of the October 7th attack. Likewise, no Chinese person deserves to be displaced from China because of the CCP's human rights violations in Tibet, Uyghur and Hong Kong. No Russian person deserves to be ethnically cleansed from Russia because of the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine. But plenty of people do believe that Jews should be stripped of their rights to self-determination in historically Jewish indigenous lands because of the actions of the Israeli government.

After October 7th, I've seen people argue that Israeli babies deserved to be kidnapped because of their national origin. I've seen people argue that Israeli women deserved to be sexually abused because of their nation of origin. I've seen people argue that the seven million Jews living in their ancestral homeland deserve death or displacement because of their nation of origin. Justifying or allowing brutal harm against people because of their national origin is hateful.

I want to make this part very clear-- I do not have an issue with calling out Israeli war crimes or crimes against humanity. But I do have an issue with treating Jewish civilians differently than civilians of other nations responsible for similar horrors. Amplifying bias against a particular group because of that group's nation of origin is called bigotry. Taking a stand against Israeli settlements in the West Bank is anti-Zionism. Collectivizing the label of "white colonialism", and forcing that label upon refugees forced to move to Israel, or Mizrahim with uninterrupted 8,000-year histories in Israel, is antisemitism.

Part 3: Moving Forward

So where do we go from here? If advocating for the destruction of Israel is advocating for the elimination of Jewish self-determination in our ancestral lands, but advocating in favour of the Israeli government is advocating for the elimination of Palestinian self-determination in your ancestral lands, then we must find some middle ground. A solution that allows seven million Jews and five-and-a-half-million Arabs to share the same holy land, without fear of persecution, displacement, or death. For me, this means a few things.

First of all, the recognition that most Israelis disagree with Netanyahu's approach to Palestine, and most Palestinians disagree with Hamas's approach to Israel. And that brings up a question-- why are Likud and Hamas in charge of Israel and Gaza respectively if most people disagree with them? Without getting into the complicated intricacies of the Knesset and the PNA on an already very long post (and without explaining your own government to you), the simple answer is international funds.

Israeli crimes against Palestinians are bankrolled by American Evangelical Christians, who believe that when Palestine is gone, all the Jews will go to Israel, and Jesus will come back to kill the world's infidels. They actually fucking believe that. Meanwhile, Hamas is bankrolled by Iran, which believes that the more often Jews and Sunni Muslims kill each other, the easier it will be for Iranian Shiite Jihad to take over the world. They actually fucking believe that.

So what steps can we take during our advocacy? Not for the destruction of Israel nor the destruction of Palestine, but for America and Iran to get their noses out of our damn business. I genuinely believe that a defunded Likud and a defunded Hamas will allow Israelis and Palestinians to work together for a peaceful two-state or joint-rule solution. Something that will keep my Palestinian friends from feeling like they can't safely travel from Jaffa to Tel Aviv. Something that will allow my Jewish family to visit and pray at the Cenotaphs of Isaac and Rebecca and the Temple Mount. Something that will let Israeli children from Kibbutz Nirim and Palestinian children from Khan Yunis play on the same playgrounds together, instead of sheltering from missile fire.

Frankly, we nearly had that when the Supreme Muslim Council and the Assembly of Representatives began collaborating against the British Mandate instead of against each other. Clearly, it's possible, we just need to stop being pitted against each other by foreign powers.

[diwatopia]

★ cruel ; neteyam

synopsis. as of recently, neteyam's been slipping away. attempting to get to the bottom of his negligence towards you, he spews harsh words that begin to form cracks within your relationship. will neteyam be able to fix this despite being the cause of your pain?

info. angst / no comfort, gn!na'vi!reader, 1135 words

warnings. arguing, yelling, outta pocket teyam (boo 🍅), one use of y/n, crying, grammatical errors, based off "queen elizabeth" fight scene :P

neteyam has been distant.

physically, he's there, but mentally — he's lightyears away from you.

it hasn't always been like this though. during the beginning of your courtship, neteyam was nothing short of attentive and caring. he was everything you wanted in a lover but as of recently, he slowly began drifting away from you. at this point, he's been more of an acquaintance than a mate.

and if you were being honest, you couldn't help but find the situation slightly comical. your mind fills itself to the brim with memories of falling so deeply in love with one another, but now — now, he's just gone.

"you never have to hide from me," he told you.

his words were doused in honey, every single insecurity that plague your mind began melting away. he wanted to know the real you. not the village's tskarem, not the "golden child" title that the elders bestowed upon you.

he wanted to know you.

he wanted to drown himself in your scent, burn the feeling of your body next to his, he wanted to know the ins and outs of your soul.

"i am just neteyam when we are together. not the clan's future olo'ekytan, not the successor of my father. i am simple and plain neteyam."

the memory brings the smallest of smiles to your lips, yet it does nothing to ease the surge of loneliness that consumes you, your heart. it keeps you up at night, eyes wide open as you replay everything that had let up to this point of your relationship. you were beyond tired having to play this game with him, so you decided to bite the bullet and ask him.

"neteyam are you here — oh, kiri!" you speak out, sending her a sweet smile her way. she returns the gesture, "hi, y/n! he's near the shooting range." she states simply, going back to her weaving.

you thank her before scurrying away. luckily, he wasn't too far and you were able to catch up with him. your hands nervously tremble, wringing themselves out in hopes to stop the shakiness. your strides are slow, but with a few encouraging words, you will yourself to walk up to him.

as if on cue, he turns around and catches you staring. his eyes catch you off guard, sunflower-hued orbs swirling with something you can't seem to put your finger on.

"hey..." you say, tone unsure. the sunlight sparkles, flashing through tiny openings of leaves as they sway in the wind. the mossy floor quiets your footsteps as you get closer, standing next to him wordlessly.

he parrots your greeting before going back to his previous task. he draws his bow, eyeing the target that stares back at him. "have you been well?" you ask hopefully. he shrugs, muttering something about being busy and that he's fine. your lips purse at the lack of communication on his end.

"okay, stop. what is wrong with you?" you ask sternly. your eyebrows scrunch in displeasure, subtly creating space between you and him by taking a step sideways. he looks back at you, surprised at the sudden fierceness to your voice.

he sends you a quizzical look as if he genuinely had no clue what you were hinting at, "i do not know what you are talking about." he states it as if it were a fact.

you roll your eyes at his deflection, crossing your arms irritably. "do not play this game with me," you scoff, sounding like a parent scolding their child. neteyam's eyes downcast shamefully towards the bow in his hands, the seriousness of the situation beginning to crash down on him.

"look, i know you have been having a hard time with your duties, but 'teyam, i'm here for you. there is no need to run away from me, from us —"

"there is no 'us'," he cuts you off, not sparing you a single glance. "there is nothing here. you have absolutely no knowledge of what it takes, what is thrust upon me as the next olo'ekytan. i am forced to love you, a simple clans person who does not contribute a single thing to this village," he grunts out, nostrils flaring in irritation.

"yes, i have my duties but i will not be forced to go through yet another day where you think we are true lovers. so back off." his voice grows angrier with each word. his words resemble a whip, every word that tumbles past his lips begins to hit you again, and again, and again. his breath gets caught in his throat as his face flushes a darker plum color.

your jaw drops slightly, an instant gasp leaving your lips. the tiny noise knocks neteyam out of his defensive state and with every passing second, regret begins to consume him whole.

both of you stay silent for second, just staring at each other in search of how to respond, to no avail. he watches your face morph into one that is more closed off, walls building themselves high as you straighten out your posture before responding.

"my mistake," you swallow thickly, voice almost mocking him in a sense. "i apologize for thinking there was an us. i thought i was speaking to just neteyam, not the chief's son. forgive me for thinking otherwise." your tone is monotonous, gaze meeting his in an intense staring match.

his brows drop, eyes widening as his frown begins to grow deeper. "y/n..." he tries to take a step closer to you, in return you take a step back. you cut off his advances before they can even start. "i am truly sorry for the fact that our entire relationship was a mere inconvenience for you."

neteyam hisses as if you had slapped him across his face, and after everything he had just spilt, he wouldn't be surprised if you actually did so. but there you stand, the sparkle in your eyes dimming. his mouth open and closes, trying to muster up enough words to form a proper sentence. and to rub salt into his freshly cut wound, "was there anything else the chief's son needed to say to me or am i free to leave?" you ask calmly, eyes never leaving his.

his hands twitch nervously, biting the inside of his cheek as he contemplates his next move. "there's nothing else to say on this matter," he mutters.

you nod affirmatively before turning your back towards him. as you begin walking away, neteyam's hands instinctively reach for you, calling your name desperately as the space between you and him grows bigger.

he knew he had messed up, big time.

"that's enough, neteyam." your voice stern, pointing an accusatory finger his way. he continues to watch your retreating form, heart willing him to run after you, yet his brain forces his body to remain deathly still.

⋆ ˚｡ ୨୧ reblogs / feedback are highly appreciated. thank you!

★ diwa's notes. i always write fluff n shit so i decided to change that LOL there might b a pt 2, not sure tho :P

© ilupearls 2023.

[leiflitter]

Gale Dekarios and The Wizard of Waterdeep

Aka Leif vents their brain into Tumblr again because I have Thoughts About The Wizard! Is it coherent? PROBABLY NOT I'M DOING THIS FOR FUN.

General rambling below the cut!

Firstly- this little braindump is based upon my interpretation of Gale as a Neurodivergent Individual, so I guess if you're not on the "Gale would be so fuckin into magic the gathering if he was in this realm" train, then this may not be for you. Which is fine! I'm just yelling into the void here.

Also; characters are fun because we can interpret them in different ways! This is in no way meant to stomp on anyone else's headcanons of Gale, and may even be entirely overwritten if more info comes out about him from Larian.

I wrote a ton and then fuckin lost it all but hey that's fine I can condense it WAY more now. So let's go, bullet points!

Gale of Waterdeep is Gale Dekarios' mask.

If you don't know what Masking is- a quick definition for ya-

Neurodivergent masking refers to the practice of concealing or suppressing aspects of one's neurodivergent traits or conditions, in order to fit in with the norms of the workplace or society.

Let's begin at the beginning-

Gale as a child would have been insufferable. He was a prodigy, yes, but also clearly lacked proper consequences for his actions (his punishment for Blackstaff hijinks in his first year? Writing lines. HE OPENED A PORTAL TO LIMBO AND ALMOST DIED). This may be due to Mystra's influence, even if it was indirect, but there's no faster way to alienate a child from their peers than to both mark them as Very Special and let them get away with everything. Gale's magical education likely left his social education lacking.

As Gale's also mentioned that he was a prodigy, and was using 4th level spells (summon elemental) when he was living at home (at least part of the time), he may even have been younger than his fellow first year apprentice wizards when he was admitted- further isolating him. He specifically says he was a child when he, uh, "borrowed" the blackstaff- we just don't know how old Blackstaff first years tend to be.

Also, from Gale's story about the Blackstaff, he seemed to be attending Wizard Boarding School (he wanted to get to the first year dorms). So he was not only set apart from his peers, he had to live in a dorm with them.

To navigate this difficult social situation, Gale Dekarios becomes Gale of Waterdeep- he starts Masking. He puts on his Wizard Suit and acts the way Wizards should, because those are the Wizard Rules.

For an example of these Wizard Rules- the closest equivalent we have to Pre-Folly Gale would probably be Lorroakan - and Lorroakan is a great example of Wizard Language and Wizard Rules. Yes, Lorroakan is an absolute shitweasel, but let's consider him an extreme example- pre-folly Gale turned up to 15. Heck, he even does the little ☝️ when you speak to him (Gale does it better bro, sorry).

Elminster is also a good example- he's almost allergic to just saying something straight out until he absolutely has to, but he'll dance around the point repeatedly. A trait Gale shows before he reveals the orb:

Gale. Seriously. He'd get you a birthday present and make five billion hints about it, I swear. But again- that's How Fancy Wizards Talk in this canon. And Gale does it excellently.

Gale masking also explains how his Wizard Rizz and his loneliness coexist. Gale of Waterdeep has a practiced tongue and has totally had sex with mortals. Gale Dekarios, on the other hand, is stuck inside Gale of Waterdeep like that little alien in Men in Black.

The Wizard of Waterdeep can only facilitate shallow connections because there's nothing behind the Thesaurus Vocabulary. The confidence he projects is essentially an illusion, but it's one he relies on to navigate his world. He's isolated by default- as you grow closer, he admits this:

Note how he says Tara was "always" telling him to get mortal friends- we know that Gale conjured Tara when he was young. Assuming that he's not exaggerating to an exponential degree, we can assume that Gale's never really had a friendship based on actual mutual appreciation- more that any connections he had were entirely due to his magical ability and proximity to Mystra.

Thus while he may not be a virgin on the physical plane, I doubt that his experiences were in any way personal or meaningful.

We know Gale's a romantic at heart- but again, he cannot remove the mask. From personal experience, masking can often lead you to do things you don't quite "get" because it's what "normal" people do.

Although it could be explained by scripting limitations, I would have expected any meaningful romantic encounters to be mentioned- especially as you directly ask him if you're his first mortal partner. Gale is an expert at oversharing- I would consider it in-character for him to ramble about his first mortal love before realising that he's cramming his foot into his mouth and shutting up (similar to the "Mystra once took the tiniest piece of weave and-" scene).

Again, without further info from Gale's writers, we've got space to play in- my personal feeling is that Gale has had hookups, most likely with his wizarding peers, but as he didn't let his peers see beyond the Wizard of Waterdeep, anything more than casual just wouldn't happen. He couldn't let anyone close enough to get behind the mask, especially not another wizard- as other wizards are those he's most trying to blend in with.

Enter Mystra (Derogatory) + a lil more Lorroakan (Derogatory)

A minor sidetrack here- part of why I tend to see Gale as early-mid 30s is to do with the Mystra timeline and my own personal experiences. So- firstly, as BG3 is set in 1492. Mystra was slain (aw yeah) in 1385, which started The Spellplague, but she was restored (boo, hiss, we were fine without her) in 1480. So there's about 12ish years where Mystra was, y'know, alive and able to interact with Gale. Gale spent one of those years with the orb, and before that he had to go and find the orb. So let's say he and Mystra spent about a decade together, from teacher > lover.

I've already expounded about why I think Mystra doesn't give a single shit about Gale in my previous GaleRant- my basic thoughts are that Mystra's relationship with Gale was a form of damage control to prevent him becoming Karsus 2.0, but as she didn't actually care enough about him to get to know him, her plans actually made him more likely to go all Netherese Magic.

We're going to hop back to Lorroakan for a sec. Again, he proves to be a good analogue for Gale. Lorroakan has been in residence at Ramazith's Tower for about 10 years- even though context clues show us that he's definitely not up to Gale's standard, so we'll assume he's probably a little bit older than our Child Prodigy- and he's definately less of a go-getter, seeing as how he's paying folks to go get the Nightsong instead of doing it himself. The big baby.

Lorroakan is important because he demonstrates the sort of shit egotistical wizards do when they aren't distracted by Mystra's blue sparkly tits. Again, a minor assumption that he's maybe a little older than Gale- he has taken ownership of a famous Wizard's Tower, absolutely upped his PR game to Kardashian tier over a decade, and now he's trying to find the Nightsong. Is it just me, or is there HUBRIS in the air?

Now, back to Gale. We know he was trying to prove himself from childhood. Elementals, Tara, The Blackstaff- and, frankly, does he seem like the kind of guy to leave it at that? I doubt it- hence why I peg him at early-mid 30s, depending on when Mystra tried the Godly equivalent of danging keys in front of a cat. I reckon he'd have dashed into some sort of cataclysmic bullshittery as soon as he graduated from Wizard School. And we know he probably became a full-fledged wizard early, given that he's a smart lil guy.

HOWEVER, back to my actual point about Gale's general social life/etc- Gale absolutely lacks real-world experience.

I'm not talking him hanging out in the Yawning Portal. I'm talking his actual, prolonged exposure to the world outside of Wizard Life.

(Yes, it is absolutely possible that he spent however-long just quietly studying for Wizard in between him becoming a full wizard and his exile, but! With age comes exposure- and Gale is actually a fairly adventurous lil dweeb. He's curious- and again, had he been given true freedom, he probably would be off gathering eldritch relics and causing havok)

My main point, though, is that a major point of Gale's entire plot is that he is being forcibly unmasked by the circumstances he's in- and this is in many ways the catalyst for late-game stuff.

Gale's primary conflict isn't truly against Mystra, because let's be real- Mystra doesn't give much of a shit about him one way or another. I'm not even convinced that she cares about The Absolute- I think she just doesn't want to go through the hassle of dying again, and she doesn't respect Gale enough to even consider a way to actually communicate with him about it.

Gale's arc is a struggle between Gale of Waterdeep and Gale Dekarios- and Gale coming to terms with himself as a person. Not as a wizard. Not as a prodigy. Not as anything special- just a man.

You see it in the language he uses- he goes from speaking in monologues to telling you to stop licking the damn thing!

You see it in his emotional range expanding- when you yoink him from the portal, he's immediately cheery! You could whack him in a faculty party and he'd probably behave in the exact same way- and then the night before Moonrise he's terrified. He even becomes more honest in his aspirations- yes, he still dresses it up to be persuasive, but he doesn't try to play it cool. He's absolutely geeking out about it alongside everything else.

Gale of Waterdeep demands a lot to be maintained, and it's a comforting outfit to wear. He slips, but the beauty in the story is that you can take Gale Dekarios by the hand and show him that he can be mortal. He can feel pain and greed and desire, disgust and shame and sadness, and it isn't a bad thing. He can be confident for real, and not as camouflage- he can be horny on main and as long as it's genuine, he's absolutely rockin' it.

And as someone who was and is going through it, it's made me appreciate him immensely.

[katieaki]

So, you’re interested in jumping into Pony Express but aren’t sure where to start/feel daunted by the undertaking/are freaked out about missing lore & context? Pony Express is intended to be a completely standalone work with no knowledge of my prior work necessary for enjoyment, but it has been rolling for quite a while now! Here’s some info to help you orient yourself! 💫 I recommend looking at this guide on desktop as the mobile version collapses the bullet points in a strange way.

✨ Here’s the absolute most basic summary:

Lou Primrose (30 years old, 5'0", illiterate, hardworking, 3x rodeo champion) is a rider for the Pony Express, the Wasteland's mail service. Lou has agreed to transport an unusual package from the middle of the Wasteland to the nearly uninhabited coast: a glamorous redhead named Holliday Bell. A case of mistaken identity sees Lou brutalized and disabled by religious assassin from the church of Johnny Knives (god of death) Reckoning "Artie" Tehachapi, who attempts to atone for her wrongdoing by serving Lou until she's healed. Together (for better or worse) the three of them head toward the ocean through unknown and dangerous territory.

This work is erotic in nature 🔞 with some violence and survival-type gore.

✨ If you’re totally new here, you might have some questions. Here’s a super quick primer under the cut!

What’s up with The Wasteland?

The Wasteland is a post-apocalyptic, non-dystopian society in the former American southwest. It has been several generations since the civilization Before (that’s us, or maybe like... our grandparents) was decimated. Nobody is particularly interested in the whys or hows of the collapse, though it seems that environmental disaster & earthquakes were the main factor.

It’s a series of towns, shrines, convents, and monasteries. Quite a lot of it is in repurposed buildings from Before (imagine Route 66-style gas stations, diners, and motels, all heavily repaired) and some of it is kind of ramshackle old-west-y new builds.

God of Death, religious assassins, churches– what’s up with all that? I’m afraid, sounds lore-y.

Wasteland society is heavily structured around the two churches of the gods of life & sorrow (The Listening Lady) and death & justice (Johnny Knives), who are married, immortal, and absolutely real. They live apart from the mortals, but they do live in the Wasteland with them. The Listening Lady’s church is responsible for basically every aspect of Wasteland life. Listening Church shrines and convents are also the Wasteland’s official or de facto orphanages, pantries, farms, hospitals, therapists, inns, textile mills, wedding venues, and basically everything else you need to keep a society functioning. Listening Church acolytes may have a huge variety of occupations, from the extremely down-to-earth (midwifery and laundry etc) to the real Weird and Churchy (doing rituals and divination etc). Many of them take a vow of silence in honor of The Listening Lady. The church of Johnny Knives is much smaller and much more specialized. Knife Church disciples are assassins whose sacred duty is to kill those who need killing, as judged by god. 

You don’t really need to get INTO this, though. What you need to know is: Listening Church acolytes are generally warm and kind and in caregiver- or artisan-type roles. Knife Church disciples are peacekeepers & generally a little scary, but are also working toward the public good– kind, but not necessarily nice.

I know the concept of gods and disciples invokes the image of like, robes and shit, but that is NOT how it is! Listening Church acolytes tend toward chiffon and midcentury-lingerie-as-outwear looks and/or country western workwear, depending. Knife Church disciples nearly invariably have sort of a greaser/biker/leather daddy thing going on. They all talk about the gods like they’re their parents and their bosses, which they are. I think it’s kind of more normal than you might be expecting. 

So there’s like, magic?

According to the Wastelanders, yes. You don’t need to worry too much about any of that. Just let them do their things.

And everyone is in a church?

Almost everyone interacts with Listening Church in some way, very few interact with Knife Church in any way, but most people in the Wasteland are ‘civilians’ (that is to say, not working for either church).

And they’re all lesbians? How do they have babies??

They’re not ALL lesbians, but basically all our POV characters are & it’s a very lesbian-heavy society. There are many ways that two women may have children, including biological. You got this, I know you do. 

And everyone is blue?

Yeah, but it doesn’t really come up.

Why?

Because I liked drawing them with the sky blue posca paint marker when I began this body of work.

Ok. What’s up with Lou?

Louetta “Lou” Primrose is a rider for the Pony Express– she’s a Wasteland mailman. Her job is basically her whole life. She’s been working since she was ten years old, working for the Pony Express since she was 14. After receiving a romantic rejection from Venus, the dance hall girl she’s in love with, Lou agrees to take a strange red-headed woman, Holliday Bell, to the (allegedly) uninhabited coast, where Holliday’s wife is (allegedly) waiting for her.

Lou is dedicated, practical, and hard-working, but also hot-headed, frequently mean, a little self-conscious, and ‘a rambling man,’ never in one place for long. She’s markedly not religious among other Wastelanders (so is a great pov character for you if you’re new to al this!). Her greatest achievement has been winning the main event at the Wasteland’s biggest horse games three years in a row, unseating the previous champion. Nobody else really cares that much.

What’s up with Holliday?

Holliday Bell is an elegant and mysterious woman who showed up to Lou’s post office with stamps pinned to her blouse, claiming she’d mailed herself there from a town hundreds of miles away. She is asking Lou, who works at the most westerly post office in Wasteland, to finish the delivery by bringing her way out to the coast where she claims her wife, a pearl diver, is waiting for her. 

Holliday is strange. From the beginning, Lou feels put off by her personality, which is both abrasive and seemingly rehearsed. She can be unspeakably cutting and is obviously hiding a big secret. 

What’s up with Artie?

Reckoning “RT” “Artie” Tehachapi is the Knife Church disciple who, after a series of lies and miscommunications spanning several parties across the Wasteland, is sent to apprehend Lou, who she thinks has kidnapped Holliday. She breaks Lou’s wrist and dislocates her shoulder in their first altercation before she learns that Lou is an innocent party in all of this. Deeply ashamed of her actions, she vows to serve Lou until they make it back to civilization.

Artie is upbeat and optimistic, especially for Knife Church, but her guilt at her transgressions against Lou & eagerness to make up for them have left her in a kind of anxiety spiral.  She’s the only one who has any real survival skills and continually works herself to the last drop, and then works herself a few drops more. When her big, horrible, deep, dark secret is revealed, her mental state continues to deteriorate.

What’s up with Venus? We haven’t seen her in a while?/Who’s the one-armed smokeshow?

Venus is Lou’s love interest, the girl she left behind in Hereafter. We haven’t seen her in a while because she, wisely, stayed there while Lou went off on her extremely inadvisable mission.

Venus of the Wastes is a dime-a-dance girl/saloon girl/sex worker who lives in Hereafter. She is Lou’s friend and Lou is both in love with her and her best client. Just before Lou left to deliver Holliday, she admitted to Venus that she was in love with her. Venus is, at least, very fond of Lou.

✨ Ok, but this is a lot! Where do I start??

If you’re looking to hop in on the story in progress, I’ve made summaries of part 1 , part 2 , and part 3 as we have gone on. I’ll update this with part 4 when we finish it. 

If you’re a completionist, the links above have epub & pdf files of the full text of each part. Here’s where part 4 begins, until we finish that part and I post it all together. You can find the rest of part 4 by scrolling backwards through the collection. I will also attach pdfs & epubs of all the full text to this post on my patreon!

If you’re a completionist completionist & you want it ALL, here’s everything and the chronological order in which they occur in-universe. Again, Pony Express is meant to be able to stand on its own two feet without any of the rest of this, but it might be fun for you to read the rest. The first three here are kind of a series, but Tears Can’t Put Out This Flame and Bloodied on Arrival could both be read independently. Care and Keeping probably needs those two to support it, unless you’re happy just jumping in and figuring stuff out via context. It’s Artie’s backstory, but it’s not necessary for you to read to make Pony Express make sense. It’ll just give you a little more dramatic irony etc. 

Tears Can’t Put Out This Flame  - a novella about Hero Sasaki, a novice acolyte at the Church of the Listening Lady (god of life & sorrow) who has been tasked with delivering a package to an anchorite from her church. Frances is a disgraced assassin from The Church of Johnny Knives (god of justice & death) who has been tasked with escorting her. Through trials of the road, emergency first aid, prayer, ritual (blood and otherwise), a little sex, and a lot of tears, they find love exactly where they should've expected it in the first place.

Bloodied on Arrival - a novel about Nuisance (and Hero), a road-weary assassin from The Church of Johnny Knives (god of justice & death) who finds herself and her new cat taking refuge at a companionship shrine run by a beautiful older widow, Hero, of the Church of the Listening Lady (god of life and sorrow). The two can't deny their immediate connection and aim for a rewarding one-night stand, but things don't go as planned.

Care and Keeping - a work in progress novel(?) about Hero and Nuisance and their new adopted feral child, Artie, a little girl who has known nothing but abuse, pain, and starvation who believes it’s her sacred mission to join Knife Church. Nuisance agrees to train her to join the church in a bid to keep her from it for as long as possible. This is a kind of coming-of-age story for Artie and a becoming parents story for Hero & Nuisance.

Pony Express - A work in progress novel about Lou (also featuring Artie) - see synopsis at beginning of post.

The novel/las are available for purchase on my Patreon for $5 or for pay-what-you-want $5+ on Gumroad. If you find you can’t afford that, but want to read it, please let me know! DM me wherever or email me at missluckycatknives (at) gmail (dot) com I’m happy to make my work accessible to you. All Pony Express and Care and Keeping are free as I work on them. 

[welcome-to-green-hills]

Any spoilers that you have for the show?

Hey Darlin’!❤️✨

Yes, I can talk about some spoilers. What I’m going to do is combine all of the teasers, feel good reviews, and everything in between down below for you to read. All of the hyperlinks to magazine reviews and tweets will be linked after my bullet points.

Without further ado, here are some spoilers:

Most people who saw the series (I.E., the fans of Sonic, fans of younger audience media, fans of feel good shows) gave it a strong 4 star rating. Those that were casual enjoyers gave it a 3 1/2 star rating.

The show has a good balance between Knuckles and Wade, but the general public that saw the series wished for more Knuckles. There is one episode where he appears very little in that focused more on Wade. However, the episode explains why Wade is the way that he is. Other than that, Knuckles and Wade have a pretty good friendship.

There’s one episode that mostly a rock-opera musical. This has been deemed as the best episode in the series by attendees, or the worst episode if you hate ear worms. If you’re curious, this is episode 4.

Knuckles is treated more as an explorer (he’s very much a fish-out-of-water) trying to understand Earth and his role with his new family. The attendees have made it a point in saying that he’s very much like he was in the second film. Not once is he described as an idiot by the attendees.

Knuckles practices tough love.

Agent Mason, Agent Willoughby, and the Buyer aren’t necessarily a threat. They’re more comical villains. The agents are easily the best and bounce off of each other very well.

The show is “unapologetically chaotic fun,” as well as heartwarming.

The show ties in with the second and third film, but it’s not the end of the world if you don’t watch it right away. It’s recommended if you want info on some spoilers.

The show is designed to be binged. You can save it if you want, but binging is highly recommended if you want to remain tied to the story and emotions. Make sure to rewatch it a second time.

Runtime for some of the episodes is between 24–35 minutes long.

You lose count in Easter eggs.

Attendees have made it a point in saying that the CGI for the miniseries is very good! Knuckles, Sonic, and Tails blend right in with the environment. There are one or two hiccups, but they can be overlooked.

Boss fights are entertaining.

Knuckles refers to Maddie as a motherly figure at one point in the series.

The show’s OST is a headbanger.

The show LIGHTLY teases Sonic 3, but the show makes it a point to be its own thing.

References:

Aymar, Ricardo (2024) The Hollywood Handle

Calvert, Tyler (2024) YouTube

Lister, James (2024) Get Your Comic On

Martin-Jones, Josh (2024) Streamr

Martin-Jones, Josh (2024) Tweet

Poole, James (2024) Discussion Films

Rama’s Screen (2024) YouTube

Russell, Bradley (2024) Game Radar

[catboybiologist]

Transition journal and documentation: Jan and Feb of 2024

Measurements for January are up, and February will be soon to follow! Tagging @whalesharkcat and @trans4hire here. If you want to be tagged when I post these, let me know! The advice for injections is in the journal below.

Some quick notes to clarify things:

I'm consolidating qualitative observations into my journal. Oftentimes these haven't been easy to cleanly classify into different categories of observation, so I'm not really gonna bother.

As I'm sure you've realized, the timing of these observations isn't consistent. I have a private document with exact date stamps for everything, and these are mostly right at the end of the month. But my levels checks don't match up to this cleanly, so I group them with the closest set of other measurements. Sometimes I don't have one that cleanly fits.

I can't trust myself to measure height anymore, to be blunt. I want to ask the doctor every time but chicken out about it easily.

But anyways.

And now, as a journal, a brief summary of my thoughts on the past two months:

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

*deep breathing*

fuuuuuuuucccckkkkkkkkkk

Okay. So. I'm not gonna list off everything that's happened since the year started. So many independent things started happening, one after the other, that I had to start formatting it as a bulleted list to tell people I know irl what's been going on. Each one has been a crisis on its own- massive emotional events, health problems, health problems in people close to me, transphobic drama with former "friends", academic&research problems, and a resulting mental health spiral. And all of this leading up to my qualifying exams at the end of February, for which I barely scraped by and passed.

But. With all of this. There's silver linings.

The biggest one is that the start of this year has been a stress test of my overall emotional state since starting HRT. I'm not gonna lie- if all of this had happened a year ago, I don't think I would be here now. I either would have completely snapped and done something I regret, or... yeah. But as it stands? I cried. A lot. I isolated a bit. I had mood swings and anxiety and anger and excitement and relief and highs and lows beyond my wildest dreams. It was intense. It was not pretty. But it was cathartic, and healthy. Before this, I would've processed all of this as a generic, stressful, anxiety-ridden malaise, that would've weighed down on me until a breaking point. As it stands, however, I made it. Not in a neat way, not even really in an emotionally stable way, but I made it. And there is no fucking way that would be true pre-HRT. I think I can genuinely say at this point that estrogen has been life saving for me.

In the middle of all this, I switched to injections, right at the start of February. A mistake? Maybe, but I'm too fed up with delaying my progress because "the time isn't right", so I stubbornly refused to delay that change any further. It's a goal I worked out with my provider ahead of time and I stuck to it. So how's that been?

It's been an incredible and WILD experience. I'm on estradiol valerate. For those that don't know, estradiol is conjugated with another compound, which is then cleaved over time in your body to release it. For injections, that results in a peak irculating levels about 1-3 days afer injections. Some people feel it more than others- and holy shit, do I feel it. This has given rise to "the Sundays", because on Sundays, I'm going fucking nuts. My senses are heightened, and I start craving and reacting to physical touch in intense ways. It's not always sexual- while arousal comes easier to me the closer I am to peak, mostly I just become a cuddleslut. It is WILD. I'm also more emotional and cry more easily. Some cis female friends I have confirmed that it mirrors the feelings they get at a certain point in their monthly cycle, so essentially the fluctuating levels are giving me the sensory and emotional effects of a period every week.

The flip side of this is that I feel like shit on Thursdays, like I missed a sublingual dose when I was on that. After the first two weeks, I started taking 2mg sublingual on Wednesday night and Thursday mornings to avoid this, which helped a lot. My provider specifically said this was a good idea, so if you're dealing with that yourself, consider trying it out. I might move to a 5-day injection interval instead, but we'll see.

I've only had one problem with injections so far, which I'm dealing with right now- on my fifth self injection ever, I had unsteady hands and hesitation before stabbing myself, causing a not-great needle stick. Currently, I have a nasty looking injection bruise. Not painful, and healing pretty well, but not fantastic to look at. Self injecting has been intimidating and scary, moreso than I thought it would be. But the actual physical pain is much, MUCH less than I thought it would be, its just that the lizard brain refuses to stab yourself.

If you're thinking of switching to injections, here's a bit of my advice:

keep as many oral/sublingual pills on hand as you can anyways. These will be helpful if you feel your injections aren't carrying you emotionally for the entire interval, or if you don't have an environment where you can inject regularly

If you have a provider, they should provide a nurse tutorial and consultation for you to inject properly. If they don't, try to insist on one. They'll give better advice than I can.

think less, do more. Ideally, the actual moment of the stab should be painless. Be quick and steady about it. The fluid entering feels like pressure and slight burning, but nothing more than that.

vary your injection sites. A doctor or nurse should explain this to you, but this reduces risk of doing what I did and bruising yourself.

be extremely sterile about things. All of the wiping down and sterile technique you'll hear? Don't fuck around with it. Infection is no joke, and absolutely can happen.

Purchase spare needles and syringes from a pharmacist or online. Several reasons for this- one, if you make a mistake and a needle is no longer sterile, you don't want to hesitate about throwing it away. And two... well, let's make a second point about this.

If you want to stock up on estradiol for the future (if you're worried about future access to HRT), this can be easier with injections- but you have to be careful, and you'll need extra needles (for the love of fuck, do not reuse needles). Vials will always have excess medication, because it allows standard volumes to fill and distribute, and it also ensures that needle draws will always be able to be fully submerged. Do NOT try to run your vial out. You WILL run into sterility and contamination issues. That said, vial expiration dates are typically measured from time of first puncture. This will vary, but for me, I was told that the vials are good for 4 weeks after the first puncture. This is overcautious, but not egregiously so. My recommendation would be to use each vial for 1-2 extra punctures, and open the next vial a bit later. Still get prescription refills as frequently as you can. That way, you can stock up on unpucntured vials in case anything happens to your supply. THIS SAID- if you notice ANYTHING wrong with the vial- if the seal isn't containing the fluid properly, if bits of the seal are falling into the medication, if you can see a noticable hole in the seal, DO NOT USE THAT VIAL. Look me in the fucking eye. Do. Fucking. NOT. get sepsis. Do not fuck around with this. The flexibility to be cautious about your vials is a great reason to stock up on a bit extra in the first place.

To anyone in the US, if you're comfortable with doing this to stock up, I would highly, HIGHLY recommend starting this now. Slowly start using your vials for 1-2 punctures extra, stock up unbroken vials. Just in case something bad happens after the elections.

Typically, your medication will come with two sizes of needles- a draw needle (puncture the seal and draw medication into the syringe) and an injection needle. You might want to consider going *slightly* smaller on one or both of those needles. Estradiol is dissolved in a viscous oil as medication, and can be difficult to draw and dispense as a result. But, if you're patient, a smaller gauge might help. For the draw needle, it can help do less damage to the seal and preserve it a bit longer. For the injection needle, if you have a bit more sensitive skin, it might be comforting. Don't deviate too much, though, ESPECIALLY without a medical professional involved.

Remember that I'm not a medical professional, please consult one whenever possible.

I'm still on spiro for now, and I'm continuing it until my next levels check comes back clean. I don't want to erase months of progress getting my levels up by dropping it too early.

Measurement-wise, there hasn't been much change. But I'm starting to realize that the measurements aren't really telling the full story. My breasts look so much larger and, for lack of a better word, breast-like than they did even a couple months ago, but that hasn't been coming through in the measurements very well. I think what's happening is that my fat around my sides is shrinking at the same time my breasts are growing. This is reflected a bit in terms of underbust and waist measurements, but it still seems more dramatic than those are letting on.

Face wise, I think I'm really seeing some changes now. It's hard to put into words, but I'm starting to look more and more androgynous or femme by default, especially if I shave. I'm estatic, honestly, and I hope the trend continues. My chin and nose continue to be problems, but as the structure of the face around them changes, that's becoming less and less true.

I've been getting laser, but so far it's done pretty much nothing. There's lag time, and some of my health issues meant that I had to delay a session and get both sessions at a much lower power than I would've like. I was really hoping to have visible hair removal by June or so, but it looks like that's not happening. That kinda stings, and is a huge blow to my ability to pass by the one-year mark, which has been my target.

I think my boymoding has been holding, for the most part, although its been harder. Even with my sports bras, small bumps are visible under a t shirt, and the face changes won't be unnoticable forever. I've def been more loudly bisexual, and I think most people just write it off as me being fruity. Cis people can also be pretty oblivious, especially when changes are gradual. That being said, I've been coming out slowly to people, giving my usual speech of "I'm still presenting as a man for now, but just so you know this is what's going on", which removes a lot of the pressure and anxiety from boymoding. Still, I haven't told everyone (notably, labmates and family), and my timeline of social transition between June and August seems to be holding steady.

So uh, yeah. If you're curious about anything specifically, I'm an open book, although I may move it to DMs if it gets too personal. Hope that my progress updates are helpful to at least someone!

[acewritesfics]

Drabble 01 | Tommy Shelby 

⚠️ THIS IS A REPOST FROM MY MAIN BLOG @/DLMLUFICS. UNFORTUNATELY, I HAVE TO DO IT THIS WAY. MORE INFO IN MY PINNED POST.

Pairing: Tommy Shelby x Wife!Reader 

Request: No.

Warnings: Shooting practice. Gun practice. I've never held a gun before so I have no actual experience on how to handle one. Short imagine. 

Word Count: 340

TOMMY SHELBY MASTERLIST || PEAKY B. TAG LIST SIGN-UP

"Aim, arms straight, feet apart, turn a little," Tommy advises Y/N as she points the gun she's holding at the tin can sitting on the fence dividing their home's backyard from the fields behind it. 

Tommy hadn't ever considered teaching his wife how to shoot a pistol until last week. He always assumed that he or one of his family members would be there to protect her. But when he returned home to find his wife trembling, a bruise on her cheek, and finger marks on her arms and neck, sobbing while telling him that a man he had business with had threatened to harm her and their children if Tommy didn't comply with the new demands, everything changed. 

Y/N, who had never carried a gun, let alone shot one, was more frightened handling her husband's pistol than she had been before giving birth to their sons, both of which were complicated pregnancies that could have ended her life, but by God's grace she was still here to watch the two boys grow. 

"All right," Tommy says, taking a few steps back. "Now pull the trigger." 

She hesitates only a split second before thinking her assailant. A loud bang resonates over the fields as she pulls the trigger, firing the bullet that misses the can and goes through the top fence post. Tommy is impressed. He didn't expect her to hit the tin can on her first shot, but she got closer than he thought. 

"Not bad," he says, smiling. 

"I completely missed it," she sighs, lowering the pistol to her side. 

"It was your first shot," he assures her. "With enough practise, you'll be able to hit it in no time." He returns to stand behind her, his arms around her waist. He kisses her shoulder, followed by her neck. "You'll make it." 

"Show me how to do it again," she says, turning her head to face him. He smiles, kisses her lips, and assists her in resuming the shooting stance, this time keeping his hands on her waist. 

TAGGED: LINK TO TAG LIST SIGN-UP ABOVE

@forgottenpeakywriter

[roetrolls]

Thinking about how much entangling my sandbox with Chase has changed Kiyana as a character...

Previously, Kiyana's main thing was that she abducts mutants. That was the core of her character. It worked because everyone in that family was fuckin' awful.

But then I started writing Zerkev for real and he was pretty normal actually. Marina too. And with Mallum's redemption and Maelia's inclusion in the fam, we basically wound up with Kiyana being like... uniquely weird and awful in this group.

And now when Chase and I talk about how everybody interacts in the future (because spoiler alert, Zerkev and Mallum are gonna mostly figure their shit out) Kiyana is just. Not present. We never mention her. Because we can't make her fit.

So I've decided I'm just gonna spell out exactly what's true about her character. I tried to shift her over in a less ham-fisted way in this drabble, but I think for my own benefit I need to just sit down and talk it through.

So. Okay. Kiyana. Bullet points under the cut

STILL TRUE:

Kiyana has a fixation on visible mutations

She has kidnapped mutants

She still does kidnap mutants

She has a wide network of informants who help her find said mutants

ALREADY A THING AND THAT'S GONNA HELP US LATER:

Kiyana is easily bored

Her network gives her info on a lot more things than just mutants

Kiyana is super fucking prideful

NOW FOR THE REWORK

When Kiyana first got into her "hobby" it was with the earnest goal of feeding her fixation, yes, but she very quickly realized it felt. Weird.

For one, getting up close and personal, seeing the same mutations every day... It demystified them. It ruined the appeal.

And for two, the even bigger sticking point: They were people. And she didn't see what she was doing as wrong, but it did feel weird. Like there was a disconnect between what she'd imagined and what this was actually going to be.

Kiyana realized around the same time, though, that knowing shit was interesting. The most exhilarating part of the whole process had been making the connections she needed to track the mutant(s) down in the first place.

So she worked on expanding her network, hiding the fact that her motives had changed. It was easier to get in the door when she seemed to have intentions that didn't pose a threat to the people she was trying to get information from.

And. Mallum had probably called the idea weird when she first started doing it and she did NOT want him to know he was right.

Her primary goal now is information, and it has been for a while. She wants to be in the know about everything. The mutations aren't even the point anymore. Excerpt from the drabble I linked that feels relevant:

All of this genuinely feels way more interesting to me than what she was before, and I think it also gives her room to expand further as a character. So I'm quite excited about it.

[horkneeworks]

141 + LV reacting to an older male reader that they didn't expect to be a badass person

Requested by @xdark-acadamiax

Warnings: cannon typical violence, blood, death, explosives, reader being kind if a menace, detailed gore, reader may have a touch of 'tism, reader is 6-7 years older than Price (40), reader is this characters are this font, reader is mentioned to be a demolitions expert, reader kind of turned out feral instead of badass, reader is cruel a but, and a sadist. Reader joined the military at 20-21 and is ranked above Ghost but Below Price, reader knows arabic

Im sorry if it looks gn reader, i have never wrote for m! Reader

Gifs are not mine

Characters Included: Simon 'Ghost' Riley, John 'Soap' Mactavish, Kyle 'Gaz' Garrick, Jonathan Price, Alejandro Vargas, Rodolfo 'Rudy' Parra

He doesn't really know what's your age but he doesn't underestimate you. Since your older than Price

On this mission you were sent you planned an other thing.

It was a stealth mission, but you got ambushed, you teamed up with Ghost for the time being.

You ran up to a window on the 2nd floor (3rd for the americas) of a building. "What are you planning to do?", "Just watch".

And with that you jumped down.

You jumped down on the enemie's shoulder, broke his shoulders, then used this moment to shoot all of them surrounding then you ripped the knife from the guy's hand and stab his neck with it, cutting in a straight line trough his artery.

Blood was everywhere, on your hand, on your thighs, your boots.

Then the enemy started to tilt from your weight as you got down.

And Ghost just watched this, he would have done this other wise but now he likes your ideas more.

Congrats, you got his respect for your ideas.

When he found out you're an demolitions expert, he knew he is lucky to meet your

You two were sent out on a mission to a lab in far Siberia, you had to sneak in, get the files and explode the building.

There were only stealth allowed so you had a plan, kill 2 enemy and wear their clothes, easy.

Except Soap didn't count on how much demolition you can make on 2 buildings.

He went on building A, and you went to B and C, he got the info, put down the bombs, and radioed you.

But you had other plans, you made gas grenades that contained magnesium and sulfur, and if magnesium is ignited it burns hotter that the sun. And Sulfur was used in old matches that used to explode. Overall the fractions of death.

So after you got the info and put down a bomb, you threw these grenades into the vents, everything I side the building had a glittery layer on them by the Mg (magnesium) .

You and Soap met up at the exfil point and there was nothing more than to send the buildings up above, so you did that.

First he exploded building A, it wasn't a really big blast but you could hear the fire eat up the desks, and everything flammable in there.

Then there went B and C, the explision had bright blue flames because of the burning magnesium and sulfur, it was beautiful.

Soap watched as you smiled at you "art" piece, he had to admit it it was one sight to see. But now, he had a fear of you, a fear in the back if his head that you could do so much more, and make more deadlier gas grenades

He was fond of you since you two understood eachother because of you ages,

he knew that you werent what you seemed because he arranged you here

It was a solo mission for you, but you had a camera on your helmet so he could see what you were doing

He was a bit terrified behind the screen, he never saw someone murder soldiers like this, it was a massacre

The mission went South and you basically had to kill every hostile (100 personnel)

But the twist was that you had 3 mags left, aprox 90 Bullets left (Choose your own gun)

So you went South too, one bullet-one head, you were giving out death to those hostiles like it was a peaceful airsoft match.

Then the Last 10 people, no ammo, face to face, with them having guns

But you had a knife, better that nothing eh?

You jumped onto the 1# guy, for Your luck he was big enough that he could cover you, you jumped and slashed his Neck and threw him onto his allies, -1

Then you sprinted to slash those 2 's neck that stuck under the Dead body -3

There was 7 left, they were in a bit of a shock due to your speed and power to throw a Man 150kg of pure muscle with accuracy

Not only they were suprised but John was suprised behind the screen too. He made the right choice with you.

The remaining 7 just started to shoot at you, you quickly got behind one of them, and broke their neck, then used their body as a shield, Nice! -4

Got onto the 5th person, you slipped into a crouch like position, made a ground with you left arm and kicked the guy in the Ribs, since you launched you entire anatomy at him a single kick, and his heart stopped :). -5

A half of them remained, they were still sooo sure that they can take you down, well no.

After the kick you Again used the Deadbody as a shield, stole his knife then you threw it into 6#'s solar plexus, you threw strong enough to Pierce the tac west, his clothes and his muscles in that area, drop dead, -6.

You decided you had enough showing off and you stole 6's gun, and just shot them up i ran out of ideas sorry

And there was Price again sitting at the desk as he watched all this in a 1st row seat, he really made the Best choice

He knew that you were authority when he saw you on base

He was lucky, that he got on your good side, you didn't scold him for his and Soap's shenanigans, instead you just laughed, maybe even joined if you found it good enough

You Got kidnapped on a Mission, and its been 1 week from it, the guys were back in the safe house making a Plan on getting you out, bit you had enough of being captive.

You were locked in the basement, and you Got the Plan to get out and destroy the building

So when the AQ soldier came in to interrogate you again, you knocked him out switched his clothes with yours and off you went, you knew it would be handy to learnedt arabic

Off you went, to search for C4's and alikes, and thee who seeketh thou shall find

You went to the basement and placed the bomba on the pillars, then you hade done this on every level, telling the AQ soldier that their boss wanted them in his "office"

Then you went around the whole site, the hangars, playing charges on the helis and the pillars, took a car and just drive out of the site

BOOM, all That could be heard, but if listened closely the screams of the AQ soldiers that burned to death, and the sound of falling building parts, the sound of the flames eating up anything fireable, as you watched the fire and the adrenaline started to get out of your system everything hurt,

You Got slapped by the reality that your knee was broken, your shoulder dislocated, your wrist broken, few Ribs broken and just a Lot of bruises and cuts that your torturer had bestoved upon you, you didnt kmow how the AQ didnt notice but you were glad

Of course the explosion wasnt excluded from the team's vision and hearing, espcially from gaz's he was absolutely amazed even though he just heard it, you alone exploded the whole site, probably with one foot in the grave from the week of pain.

You went away from the safe house in solo, of course shit went south and you got back to the safehouse, with half your body in the grave

You got atleast 5 stab wounds, 3 bullets in you, atleast 2 ribs broken, 2 of you fingers partially blown off, 2nd stage burns on your face, and partially blinded by a flash grenade because they thrown like 3 at you and a broken shoulder, yikes

Alejandro knew that you were older than him so he was a bit suprised that you still walked and was able to get yourself back to the safe house without dying ar further injuring yourself

Amd you got the whole job done like the whole mission, it costed a few things but it wouldnt be a bother anymore

After this Alejandro held you with deep respect because he knows for himself that he probably wouldnt be able to still treck back to the safehouse that was 5km away from the base you were attacking.

He started questioning in himself, if you could take this and still treck 5km then how much you can take, and what saddend him a little that to build up this much will and taking yourself back to safety, it must be often happening since you moved with no pained expression

Rudy knew that you were one dangerous fellow but he knew it more when he saw you run into a terrorist base alone to save him

He was projected cameras for him to see that nobody will come for his rescue, but there you were shooting up the building searching

Searching for him, he saw your face of concern and worry as you search for him

Eliminating guards, quickly, 4 and 5 at once to save him and you just kept running for him

You kept running so you could find him alive

He saw how easily you deleted 15 guards with just a single knife before you broke up the door of his cell and save him

When you entered his cell there you were, bloody, sweaty weary and searching for him

And you saw him, bloody and tired from torture so they could get information from him

-------

I'm sorry I ran out of ideas for Rudy's part

[tauforged]

Do you have any tips/tricks on getting into warframe? I want to play bc the designs look cool and I'm sure the story is just as interesting!

(It is completely OK to info-dump!)

OH BOY OH BOY!!!!!!!!

ive probably said it better before, but cant find the posts because this website has the worst search function known to all mankind -_- so i will give you some bullet points that will not be all inclusive and i invite anyone else who wants to chime in to do so!!

while the devs are definitely trying to streamline new player experience, the story is uh. a lot! the game has like, what, 11yrs worth of content behind it by now? there's a lot! depending on your playstyle and how you progress through the game, it might take you a while to really get into the meat of it -- or you might speedrun all the main storylines in like a month. there are lots of side quests and secondary objectives you can dick around with as much as you like, which some people find fun and some people find annoying. i liek it :) but it can definitely be a lot

there have been a lot of time limited events and hidden lore entries that make some things pretty inaccessible to new players. they seem to be trying to get better about this but its still not ideal. the wiki is not always right (afaik, theyre still hung up on whether or not albrecht and loid were ~canonically~ together, which is literally just blatantly textual) but it can be a good place to find summaries of shit you've missed out on. ive never watched a single one of those 'warframe lore explained' videos so i cannot vouch for any of their accuracy. i dont really pay attention to the subreddit or the official forums either, but those might have information too? idk

i personally find that some of the quests are thrown at you wayyyyy earlier than they should -- heart of deimos is one that i strongly believe should be way more lategame than it is, since it builds on a lot of stuff that you probably won't know by the time you get to it unless youve been paying veryvery close attention or have been going wiki spelunking. i wouldnt stress about it too much if something seems to make no fucking sense, though. most quests are replayable if you want to go back to something with fresh eyes or different context

i have probably already spoiled you on a lot of the lategame stuff and for that im sorry! lmao this isnt really a game where spoilers will ruin something per se, but since ive been playing the game since like 2013 i went into everything blind as it was released and i always had a huge blast when the game dropped a bombshell on us, so i try not to rob anyone of that experience if i can help it -- not a huge deal though depending on preference

there's a lot of grinding and farming. i personally dont find it overly tedious as there's a lot to do and it's easy to mix things up and take breaks, but for some people it's a huge turn off, so just a heads up i guess. you can technically bypass a lot of the grind by buying new frames or weapons off the market if you really want to spend your money on that, but there's some things that are locked behind a reputation grind and such. and honestly, you dont Need to spend money on anything but some cosmetics

trying to play through everything solo might be fun if you enjoy a challenge, but i personally find it to be unsustainable. you're going to want to find a decent sized clan and you're going to want to either find friends to play with or hit up the recruiting chat for backup.

you can make platinum pretty easy by farming prime parts or rare mods and other such tradeable things and selling them to other players. i dont bother with this because im bad at keeping up on video game economies and it never interested me. but it makes being a 100% f2p player a lot easier when you need to buy inventory slots and such

there are over 50 warframes and countless ways to mod each one, and an absurd amount of different weapons -- there isnt really any one playstyle thats 'better' than any other. i perosnally pay next to no attention to the meta outside of keeping in mind what damage types are effective against which enemies. some people really enjoy minmaxxing the hell out of their shit. you can kinda just do whatever

don't buy plat without having at least a 50% discount login bonus unless it is an absolute emergency. the discounts are random but ive found they happen often enough that i can just wait around for one to pop up and replenish if i'm low. or dont bother idk i cant tell you how to spend your money im not your dad

mute region chat for the sake of your own sanity. nobody in there is as funny as they think they are. moderation is better in there than it used to be but it's still a wasteland

the most important part of playing warframe is having fun and being yourself :)