#;multiversal mechanics

[overx]

Verse, can you eat food? Do you have a preference?

There are infinite mysteries in the multiverse, and yet they choose the most mundane of questions.

Someone out there might consider this charming, he supposed. Living things bond through such activities. Breaking bread is an ancient tradition, a way to coexist and make peace even with one's enemies. It should be no surprise then that the question is leveled his way.

"I possess the capability to eat, but I find no reason to indulge in such activities. I have done so on occasion for the sake of socializing with others, but even that is a rare occurrence." A simple yes would probably have sufficed, but been ultimately unsatisfactory to the inquirer.

"...I do not have "likes" and "dislikes"," a pause.

"...although Psi has accused me of being nostalgic for certain cuisines from my home country."

[theartsynebulawhodoodles]

My first DTIYS! Passive Nightmare Sans and Nightmare Sans

THE DRAWING FOR itsroxannex’s DTIYS! I used mechanical pencil, watercolor, and colored pencil to make this! This is my first ever DTIYS. I enjoyed drawing this greatly. 🩵

@itsxroxannex

Passive Nightmare Sans and Nightmare Sans belongs to Jokublog

[last-hourglass]

this is why LH!Fleo isn’t invited to peepaw karaoke night god what a buzzkill~

Odd Man Out @threestripeslider

Mutant Ninja Midlife Crisis @mutantninjamidlifecrisis

We’ll Meet Again Soon @chiangyorange

Trial and Error @apatheticrobots

[elizakai]

hey undertale/ deltarune/ utmv community

are we just like

gonna sleep on that sequence in undertale where everyone becomes lost souls?

we just gonna NOT play with those implications and mechanics??

[juridical-angel-blog]

Special Poster ''Iron Man 2008 MCU'' Mechanical Armor ''One Mark''!

[rocksanddeadflowers]

BEGGING on my hands and knees to ANY MECHANISMS FANARTIST to draw TBI Thor and Loki in that myth were Thor's hammer was stolen and to get it back he had to pretend to be Freya and dress up like a bride and Loki was his bridesmaid i think it would be a great bonding experience for those two pre-bifrost

[oliviabutsmart]

Physics Friday #15 [DWQ]: Multiverse theories

Preamble: What is DWQ?

This is another mini-series that will be ongoing. Similar to opinion posts, there is another type of post that I want to explore.

DWQ - Dealing with Quacks (alternatively, Crackpots or Nuts)

Both crackpots and quacks are unified by what they do. They propose there is something "fundamentally wrong with physics" and that they have this new theory that will change everything.

Their theory is about some fundamental truth with the universe. That the "physics establishment" is constantly attempting to chase ridiculous theories because they don't want to accept reality.

A crackpot is someone who generally has expertise in physics, or a related field like chemistry or engineering. Often they are motivated by a desire for fame.

A quack is someone who has no experience in the field, often with a monetary interest in what they are selling.

"Nuts", which is short for "religious nuts" are those who promote their ideas out of faith and a desire to spread their beliefs. They are more likely to strawman existing ideas first.

I hope that you, the reader, can already understand why I don't like these people. They muddy the waters, mess around with science communication, and give the profession a bad rep. They also lie and pedal disinformation, which ends up acting as a gateway to more serious conspiracy theories within the medical or political realm.

It's also important to identify that this acts on a scale. Technically, some string theorists are a lite form of crackpot - particularly in the way they present their theories and ideas to the public.

But they are significantly more respectable than a flat-earther, or a self-help guru, or a evangelical apologist.

The Multitude of Multiverse theories, or the MultiMultiverse

Multiverse theor(ies) are usually strawmans made by religious fanatics. Think PragerU as a great example.

The argument goes like this:

Scientists have no empirical explanation for fine tuning or the reason for the existence of the universe

In order to explain it, they constructed multiverse theory to explain the source of it

By occam's razor, the simpler argument is the existence of a creator entity, that fine-tuned things for us

Of course you can see how bad the arguments are. The problem is of course that science hasn't accepted any multiverse theory.

Multiverse theories are neat explanations or consequences of other theories, but they are either limited in their explanatory power, or their efficacy to test.

But what are the multiple multiverse theories? Here's three that people claim are multiverse theories:

Many worlds interpretation (a QM thing, and only a multiverse theory in pop culture)

Inflation multiverse theory (one possible consequence of the cosmic inflation hypothesis)

Just an actual multiverse theory (arguable cosmic inflation can lie here)

Many Worlds Interpretation

I've already run through the main gambit of what the Everett interpretation is, so I'm going to tackle this from a pop sci perspective.

When you were younger, you might've heard that the many worlds interpretation literally means many worlds. That with every decision you make, you create a new seperate branching reality. And that multiple realities can simultaneously exist.

Of course, there is an issue with this. Mainly that there aren't multiple realities - there is just one reality, in a superposition of states.

This superposition dictates there is one reality, just that this reality is probabilistic. These realties aren't separated by physical space. It's just one big 'wavefunction'.

Decisions in the many worlds interpretations are also examples of when pop sci goes wrong. It's not necessarily the religious nuts who cause this misconception.

What causes more splits in the wave function is the interactions within it. When an electron collides with a positron, when a chemical in your brain goes from one end to the other. Interaction is what creates these splits.

Technically, decisions are caused by the interactions between electrical signals in our brain, and us making a decision often involves interacting with the world around us. This is how the misconception arises, but the reality is that the split occurs well before and well after a choice is made.

Of course, it's important to state that, the many worlds interpretation is still not the "correct" interpretation. What it posits hasn't been proven.

Inflation Multiverse theory

Inflation theory in itself is already a bit on the rocks in terms of an explanation of why our universe is the way it is. There isn't really any way we can use GR/the standard model to explain why inflation happened. At least, without having to add an extra field or constant in our equations.

Generally, inflation is explained using the addition of a new inflaton field, which in the higher temperatures of the early universe, caused a rapid expansion of spacetime.

This rapid expansion is generated by the field living in a heightened energy state.

At some point, the field reaches a sudden drop-off, at which point the expansion rate suddenly slows down to our expected GR level. The inflaton field then remains at a local minima.

Where does the Multiverse theory come into this?

The drop-off of the inflaton field is not universal. It only occurs at particular points in spacetime. This creates a 'bubble' of space that slowly expands in comparison to the surrounding ocean of space that is rapidly expanding.

We exist in one of these bubbles, which expands at a normal rate. But we aren't the only bubble.

There could be several bubbles surrounding us. All separated by physical space that expands at incredible rates. These bubbles create an effective multiverse.

It's not technically a multiverse because every bubble is still in one single physical universe.

Generally, this version of inflation multiverse theory is better accepted as it has inflation theory to back it up. But it's still not provable, so it's not regarded as truth.

The actual Multiverse theories

There are several multiverse theories. But the key thread linking the other multiverses, is that there is no physical way to traverse the space in-between worlds, and that each universe is seperate in beyond a physical capacity.

I can't go into many different multiverse theories, because the main point is that they're all either bullshit or thought experiments.

One example is the "temporal multiverse theory" which states that time is actually a 3-dimensional quantity, were our multiverses are caused by separations in time.

When you go back in time and alter the past, you end up in an alternate timeline future. This is a common way to interpret most time travel movies or scenarios.

Another is the "10-dimension" theory. There are 3 dimensions of space, 3 dimensions of time, and 3 dimensions of "universe". What is this universe dimension? Well it's effectively supposed to be an altering of the fundamental physical parameters.

The problem is that we don't think that the universe happens to perfectly have three degrees of freedom in it's construction.

The 10th dimension is usually unexplained in this theory.

So what was that fundamentalist strawman about?

There is an idea in physics called "quantum darwinism". This theory basically states that from the many worlds interpretation, there will be one probabilistic reality where human consciousness lives in. And thus that version of reality will be the one we see, as it was fit for human life.

This principle can be extended to various different versions of multiverse theory. That out of the many possible realities, we observe the reality that created the perfect conditions for human life.

This argument, that the universe was predisposed to observation, because it had to circularly, is called the anthropic principle. It can be said that it's an extension of the copernican principle.

And that's it. That's the strawman. Of course, this form of darwinism is not really an actual theory, more a thought experiment.

Conclusion

This post is slightly less long than the other ones but still a lot. Oops! Ruh roh!

Anyways, I hope y'all like this post with a different topic. They will be rarer because I want to take my time tackling these types of posts. Please lmk if you think this post was informative or if you'd like to see more!

Next week will probably be on Baryon Acoustic Oscillations. Follow if you wanna see more!

[dino--draws]

Been thinking about 6416-CUBE recently and sat there like "y'know, a handheld technically-kinda-indestructible-object could have some really fun practical applications" and then I went and drew this because I crave violence. Parry this you fucking causal casual. Probably wouldnt work exactly like this but ssssshhhh rule of cool

this is also reminding me of me and Rosy staring at each other a few days ago like "wait... shouldn't admoline have two instances of the CUBE??" since there are. well, were, two Placeholders. I guess it depends on how tf para!Plaxe assumedly-murdered his counterpart. where's the body. where'd it go.

[spotaus]

Hah, another Science-based guy!

This is Sparkplug (Ark) and he had a little accident with The CORE. No one's dead or anything, he just absorbed it's extra energy so it wouldn't explode (it was supposed to go into a container but he didn't move fast enough). His eye socket and hands are where most of his excess energy tries to escape, and because it's basically nuclear power, he tries to cover it up. It singes his bones (hense the black spots) and he had two "tails" (extra vents that clear out the energy in his ribcage) installed to keep him from burning up.

Gaster has similar problems with the energy, but finds his is a lot more manageable.

I think Ark and Majik would be friends if they ever met :)

[smallbrooke1998]

Duck's First Meltdown As A Pony

TW: Self injurious behavior.

Duck experiences complete overwhelm in everything for the first time and because of it, has a very intense meltdown. It was to the point that he had to hide away in the privacy of the bathroom so that he could do it safely. He is not a danger to himself or anyone, the self injurious behavior was due to the nature of the meltdown and he gives himself a minor bruise. This is all very confusing for him btw. But thankfully, he has friends to provide him comfort.

And yes, he has had similar outbursts before as an engine, but he was limited what he could do, so it was mostly verbal. Tantrums and meltdowns are pretty normal for engines from time to time.

Story:

Ever since waking up this morning, Duck has felt more agitated and he didn’t know why. Every small thing that happened today either increased his anxiety or made him irritated. At one point while waiting in line for a smoothie at the Smoothie Cart, he almost got snappy when someone cut him in line. “Can’t you wait like everypony else?! It’s impolite to cut somepony in line!” He shouted at the pony that cut him, of course, they didn’t listen and stayed in front of Duck. The small stallion sighs out his nose and takes deep breaths to calm down. Everypony did notice this strange behavior from him but everytime he got asked along the lines of, “What’s wrong?”, “Are you doing alright?”, and so on, Duck would bluntly tell them that he was fine, even though he didn’t actually feel fine. 

After spending his usual time with his friends in Maretime Bay and at the beach, he walks back to the Crystal Brighthouse, being accompanied by Izzy, Percy, James, Toby, and Comet (who just like Duck and his friends from Sodor, Comet is from another dimension as well, but from Starlight Ridge). Everyone else stayed behind in Maretime Bay doing activities, including a volleyball match hosted by a beach goer. Everypony was pretty much talking as they walked back to the house, the chatter keeping Duck briefly distracted from the stress and agitation he’s felt all day. 

“I can’t wait for the old boardwalk to reopen again! According to Sunny, the boardwalk has been closed for almost 20 moons!” Izzy chatters, being her usual whimsical self. 

“That’s one other new thing I’ve learned about Equestria. You Equestria folks have so many fun-filled activities!” Comet replies, almost tripping on a crack on the trail but catches himself. Duck has noticed that Comet is more clumsy than Rebecca and has witnessed him fall a lot. The near fall makes Duck slightly anxious at first but felt relieved when Comet caught the fall. 

“So that means, when the boardwalk opens, can we come back?” Percy pipes in, sounding excited for the boardwalk, like everyone else in the group, he’s never been to a boardwalk before, nor even stepped foot on one due to being restricted only to the rails as an engine. 

“Of course, you guys could come back anytime” Izzy replies, walking over the crack. 

Duck frowns. “That sounds fun and all, but we would have to speak with the fat controller first. We can’t just leave our jobs.” Duck says, sounding serious. 

“We know!!” James, Percy, and Toby reply rather dryly to Duck. Although Percy has a great friendship with Duck, James does not. Toby enjoys his presence but does get cross sometimes with him. 

Duck looks away and goes quiet. Everyone continues their trek back to the house, continuing their various discussions. Duck meanwhile felt quite agitated and left out, it seemed like everyone hated him today, even though that wasn’t the case. Although he looked calm to everypony else, he was suffering from the buildup on the inside. Soon, they make it to the Crystal Brighthouse, Izzy opening the door. Comet of course trips on the floor upon entry. Instead of waiting for him to get up, everyone else simply walked around him, although James gave Duck a rude nudge. 

“Go faster!” James says annoyingly, almost making Duck fall.  

“Oh pardon me, but I would rather be careful!” Duck replies back, sounding cross. His ears pinning back. 

Izzy took notice and started to get worried for Duck. Having lived with Sunny for almost three years now, she could tell when Sunny wasn’t doing well when she started getting agitated, and Duck’s behavior resembled the warning signs that Sunny displayed before losing her temper. 

Duck simply heads to the couch and sits down, trying to calm down after James tried to nudge him forward. The rest follow him to the couch as well, getting situated. While everyone else was getting relaxed, Duck just couldn’t relax, he felt like he was about to have a heart attack, even though that was false. But that thought kind of freaked him out and he tapped his back hoof. He grabs a strand of his mane and twirls it around. 

“Are you feeling okay? Do you need anything?” Izzy asks Duck, checking in on him, noticing that he was restless. 

“I’m fine, of course I don’t need anything.” Duck tells Izzy, trying to sound calm, even though he had agitation in his voice. Although he lied, he was feeling weird and anxious. 

“Okay then, but you can separate yourself from the group if you need to.” Izzy tells Duck, reminding him that he doesn’t need to be with others all the time. 

Duck nods his head and resumes the fidgeting that he was doing earlier. Toby turns on the T.V., using the remote to browse for channels, the volume being surprisingly loud upon turning on the screen. With the noise, Duck grabs his ears and folds them down, trying to muffle the sudden noise briefly. He swishes his tail. 

“Apologies, that volume is very high” Toby states, noticing everyone being startled by the sudden noise. He turns it down to a comfortable decibel. 

But Duck doesn’t calm down when Toby apologizes or turns down the volume. It was clear that he was experiencing overwhelm and just couldn’t stand anything anymore. He was shaking. 

Meanwhile, Comet who has gotten up after the fall did follow them to the living room, sensing tension in the room, he decides to get back up. “I’m going to make my signature hot chocolate, perhaps a surprise one.” 

Everypony but Duck perks up at Comet speaking about making Hot Chocolate. Everypony always looked forward to his hot chocolate. Comet gets up and heads to the kitchen. Izzy stays to keep watch. 

“Stop being so dramatic, it’s just the telly.” James says to Duck, not showing any sympathy. 

Duck uncovers his ears and gets up from the couch, feeling like he is breaking apart, but instead, he holds it together and looks at James. Even though he was about to snap, he hid it. “If you excuse me, I need to go to the washroom real quick.” James rolls his eyes in annoyance, but Duck ignores his behavior and walks to the washroom. 

Despite the statement, Duck didn’t actually need to use the washroom, but due to what he was feeling, he felt like he needed to get away from everyone to allow himself to decompress and take a break. Once entering the washroom, he locks himself in, meaning the washroom is locked from the outside. 

After getting situated, he starts to hyperventilate and lays down on his side, allowing his emotions to take over. He was very confused by all the feelings but all he knew was that it was too much and holding it just wouldn’t help. His heart pounds against his chest and hyperventilates, but also he feels adrenaline rush through his veins, he was in a fight-or-flight response state. He lays there, his muscles stiffen briefly before he kicks his hooves. “What is wrong with me?!” He asks himself as the hyperventilation goes on, his muscles tense up and he gets this desire to hit something, but not hit an object but hit himself. 

He flails and places both hooves to his head and face, hitting his forehead, but not too hard. As he did so, he wanted to yell. “Ugh!!! Why can’t I do anything right!!” He yells very loudly, using one hoof to squeeze his head and the other to hit. He does very loud vocal stims as he does so. “I’m worthless!!” He yells out as he did so. With the confusion of the behavior, he gets more upset and continues to hit more. After a few moments, he starts breaking out in sobs, tears pooling from his tear ducts. Snot forms too. Once reaching this point, he stops caring and continues melting down. 

As he continues having the meltdown, he hits his forehead a few more times before using his other hoof to hold his head as well. He kicks his hooves a few more times. Despite being gentle, he does have a small bruise on his forehead. Once the initial rage phase gets over, he lays on his side, sobbing, setting his hooves down and lays there on his side, curled in a fetal position. At this point, he wasn’t coherent enough to even talk and just sobs. He was sobbing to the point that he gasped between sobs and hyperventilated. In his mind, he was feeling shame for his immature actions and began to cry more out of shame. He does this for a few minutes before his sobs reduce to hiccups. 

Meanwhile, outside, Izzy was waiting beside the washroom door, feeling quite worried. Everypony else, including James, were concerned for Duck. Izzy, knowing how Sunny sometimes gets, stays there silently, letting Duck work it out. She has learned that trying to console or attempt at anything wasn’t going to be effective and it generally doesn’t work. So as a result, she has learned to wait until the other is ready to have comfort. After a bit, Izzy knocks at the door, feeling like Duck was ready to have interaction. 

Duck hears someone knock and lifts his head, sniffling and swallowing. The side of his face was wet from tears and a puddle was on the floor due to it. “Who is it?” He answers, barely able to speak and feeling intense shame. He was feeling slightly scared that the three former engines would view him as a bratty toddler and because of it, he would get roasted for it. They’ve never been sympathetic for him in the past, so why now? 

“It’s Izzy. If you want, I can come in, but you would need to unlock the door.” Izzy tells Duck, in a motherly tone. 

“Alright, you may.” Duck says, very willing to let Izzy inside, he was relieved that it wasn’t one of the former engines. He stands up and walks to the door, unlocking it. Once unlocked, he walks back, allowing Izzy to enter and close the door behind her. 

“Are you feeling better?” Izzy asks Duck first thing, observing his face and the bruise. She grabs a piece of toilet tissue and wipes the tears and snot off his face. 

“Perhaps…But feeling tired. I’m sorry for my temper today, I don’t know why I-” Duck tries to explain when Izzy cuts him off. 

“It’s alright Duck, it’s alright. We all have our days. You’ve been doing quite a lot since arriving here and your body just wore out.” Izzy explains, using her hoof to cover Duck’s mouth. “Friends are always there for each other.” 

Duck turns his head away from her hoof and frees himself, Izzy lets him do so. “Yes, I do know about bad days, but someone like myself shouldn’t meltdown like a child. I’m supposed to be mature and be no nonsense. Acting up is not the great western way.” 

“You don’t have to be perfect all the time, sometimes you just need to let off steam. It’s okay. Can I hug?” Izzy says, being reassuring to the smaller green stallion. 

“Right…” Duck replies to Izzy, feeling ashamed. He nods his head to give Izzy permission to hug. Izzy takes it as an invitation and hugs him, doing it rather tightly. 

“Ow!” Duck yelps, his back feeling pain. 

“Oopsies, my bad. I forget that you have a bad back. I’m used to squeezing Sunny during her meltdowns” Izzy tells Duck, being reminded that he’s not durable as Sunny and is sensitive. She lightens up her grip and Duck relaxes. 

Duck sniffles, crying silently. Izzy allows him to stay there as he nuzzles his muzzle in Izzy’s fur. He got a little too tight with the hug but the unicorn mare didn’t mind. Izzy rubs his back as a form of comfort. 

“I’m sorry for showing vulnerability, I can’t control it..” Duck mumbles apologetically, sniffling at the same time. 

“No need to be sorry, you just needed to get all your emotions out.” Izzy reassures, rubbing his back. 

They sit there silently for almost five minutes, Duck entering his cooldown phase. By the end, he stops crying completely and wipes the tears off his eyes. 

“All better?” Izzy asks Duck, noticing that he was very calm and was ready to break from the hug. 

“I think so.” Duck replies, loosening his grip. Izzy stops hugging him and lets him go. She notices that Duck’s nose is runny and gets a tissue to wipe the remaining snot off, but also the remaining tears. 

Duck walks back, feeling embarrassed. “I hope my friends don’t make fun of me for my behavior, I don’t want to be seen as different.” He says, looking away. 

“You won’t, I will make sure that nopony else makes fun of you for the behavior.” Izzy tells Duck, walking to the door. 

“I hope so.” Duck replies, following Izzy out. 

“Comet made hot chocolate by the way, he made you a special cup, it has calming herbs.” Izzy tells Duck. 

They leave the washroom and are greeted with sympathetic ponies instead of laughing faces. It makes Duck feel better. Comet gives him his cup and chills out, watching T.V. with the others for the time being. Duck enjoys the hot chocolate as usual.

~End~

A very wholesome moment between Izzy and Duck. Izzy hugging him as he goes through the last stage of his meltdown, recovery. As you can tell, this is not Izzy's first rodeo with a meltdown and has experience.

Just so you know, meltdowns are not temper tantrums. They're the result of someone experiencing some form of overwhelm in the form of emotions, sensory, or environmental. It's uncontrollable and involuntary. Meltdowns are common in people with cognitive (developmental) and mental disorders. The meltdowns being well known in people with Autism.

[overx]

...saw that one coming, unfortunately.

[theartsynebulawhodoodles]

Tear Sans (Napstablook Sans) fanart!

I did a little fanart after seeing tear sans!!!!!!!!! I used watercolor and mechanical pencil.

Tear Sans - @eriscary

[a-v-j]

This place is very random what work do you guys do here?

[soupandsorcery]

In the morning, her neck hurts. It's like a bruise, throbbing and irritated, and whenever she turns her head, it flares up, reminding her of what she let Astarion do last night. Probably not one of her better ideas, but it worked out in the end. Which was for the best, because it would have been a pity to have to stake him. Astarion's funny.

Vesper stretches and then winces, getting dressed quickly. She checks her appearance in the little mirror she keeps on her, and there on her neck are two little fang marks. They're dully red and neat, evidence of the clean bite. When she presses her fingers to them, they feel warm, and the pain flares just a bit.

Hopefully they'll behave like any other scars. They'll trouble her for a bit and then fade away in time.

"Good morning."

Astarion's voice makes her turn. There's a brightness to his eyes that wasn't there before, but there's something guarded too. Like he's waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"Good morning," Vesper says back. "How do you feel?"

"I was going to ask you the same question."

She shrugs. "My neck hurts. How do you think I feel?"

His eyes look her over from head to toe, but for once, it lacks all the flirtatious teasing he's been pulling for the last week or so. It's just...curiosity. A different sort of interest.

"There's something...different about you," Astarion says. "About your blood."

Vesper raises an eyebrow, keeping her face neutral. Now that is something she didn't consider. It's been easy enough to hide her true nature from her new companions, and any slips she might have made have gone unnoticed with the tadpoles and the ticking time bomb they represent taking priority. But Astarion has been closer to her than anyone else. Intimately close, one could say.

"Different from rats and boars you mean?" they ask, affecting lightness.

Astarion picks up on it instantly. Takes a liar to know one, Vesper supposes. "No," he says, lifting an eyebrow. "Well, yes. But that's not what I mean. Your blood was...intense. Almost spicy in a way."

"Spicy?"

"Well, I don't know how else to describe it! It burned, but it wasn't an unpleasant heat. In fact, it was downright delicious. But definitely not normal."

"And how would you know? You said yourself you've never fed on a person before. Maybe this is just what humans taste like."

It's a poor attempt at deflecting, and Astarion brushes it aside easily. "It isn't. I can smell it now that I know what I'm looking for. You don't smell anything like Wyll or Shadowheart or even Lae'zel. A bit closer to Lae'zel, now that I think about it, but still. You're hiding something."

He sounds almost gleeful to say it, one hand on his hip, the other pointing at her with all the sass at Astarion's considerable command.

And all of a sudden, Vesper is tired. Tired of hiding, tired of the subtle disguise spell that changes certain parts of her. This far from Waterdeep, no one's heard of her, and while she'd been worried about Gale knowing, even he hadn't shown any sign of recognition. They'd relished the chance to shake off the mantle of their old life and be someone else for once, but she hadn't considered the burden of hiding so constantly.

She sighs and rolls her shoulders, the bite on her neck twinging with pain again. It keeps her head clear as she regards Astarion and makes a snap decision.

"You're right," they say. "And I suppose fair is fair. Come with me." They turn on their heel and start walking, pacing away from camp.

"I--wait!" Astarion calls after her, then scrambles to catch up. "You can't just say that and then walk away."

"I'm not doing this here," Vesper hisses. "Not where everyone can see."

"See what?" Astarion asks.

Vesper doesn't answer. They just keep walking with purpose towards a little cluster of trees, far enough away from the camp that they don't have to worry about anyone seeing this. She can only imagine what Shadowheart would have to say, if she knew. No, that's a bridge to be crossed later. Maybe much later, depending on how this goes with Astarion.

Astarion, who is waiting, tapping his foot with impatience that seems at odds with the rampant curiosity in his eyes.

"Well?" he drawls. "What have you dragged me out here to see? Oh--is this where you reveal that you've been in disguise all this time? Because I did wonder, you know."

"You...wondered?"

"Naturally. No one is that beautiful. Except me, but that's different."

Honestly, Vesper can't help but laugh. It tickles her down to her bones, and she goes with it, letting the spell she's had up almost constantly since being abducted finally drop.

It feels like breathing. Like taking the first true, deep breath she's had in days. Her wings spread out behind her, shimmering iridescent and white in the morning sun. She flaps them once, twice, and then lets them fall closed against her back. Her eyes shift from the plain, muddy brown they were magicked into, glowing silvery pale with radiant fire. Everything else, her face, her hair, her stature, remains the same.

Some people, apparently, are just that beautiful.

Astarion stares at her, mouth slightly agape. It's the most stunned she's ever seen him, and she grins, feeling suddenly, incredibly amazing.

"I think this is the longest you've gone without saying anything, Astarion. No witty quips?"

"You're an aasimar," Astarion breathes, and he sounds well and truly shocked. "Gods below."

"It's not as exciting as it seems," Vesper tells him. "I'm not some celestial messenger or anything. I'm from Waterdeep, and I was snatched out of a fighting pen by a bunch of mind flayers. The wings are the coolest part, honestly."

"They are quite impressive." Astarion is still staring, but he shakes himself, letting some of the wonder retreat behind his usual haughty pout. "Well, well, we are an interesting group, aren't we? At least that ship full of tentacled freaks had taste in their victims."

Vesper snorts. "Small comfort, but I guess you're right."

"My question is why trust me with this?"

"You trusted me."

Red eyes roll as Astarion scoffs. "That's different. You caught me in the act, and I got something out of it. What do you get out of this?"

"Last night you said you felt happy after feeding on me. Was that just because of the blood?"

There's a pause as Astarion thinks that over. "Mostly the blood, I suppose. Although, there is something to be said for not having to hide it anymore."

Vesper inclines their head to him. "Exactly. I just want to be me."

"It would be hypocritical of me to argue with that."

"It would," Vesper agrees cheerfully.

"I don't suppose you're feeling in a sharing enough mood to explain the fighting pen thing?"

She laughs at that, shaking her head. "Not right now. Maybe next time I let you feed off of me, I'll tell you."

"I'll hold you to that. Am I right in assuming you don't want the rest of our cohort to know about this just yet?"

"You are. I'll tell them eventually, but for now, you're the only one who can know."

"Dangerous, trusting the vampire spawn with a secret."

"Why, Astarion, just last night you told me I could trust you," Vesper says, pressing a hand over their chest dramatically.

He rolls his eyes again. "And I don't think you believed me for a moment."

"Not true. You're here, aren't you? Seeing this." She spreads her wings once more, enjoying the freedom to stretch them out while she can.

Astarion blinks and then glances away. "So I am. Well." He doesn't seem to know what to say to that, and Vesper figures she's pushed him enough for one moment.

She sighs and works her spell once more, hiding the wings, turning her eyes back to mundane brown. It feels worse now, than it did before, and she resolves that she's going to tell the rest of the group soon. And anyone else they encounter will just have to deal with it.

She's free of the pens now, and she doesn't plan to spend the rest of her life hiding. However long that might be. But for today, they have things to do. A druid to find, goblins to kill, and who knows what else.

It feels good to have someone know, though. To have at least one person see her. Vesper would not have assumed it would be Astarion, but somehow it works. It feels right in an odd way.

They're not going to delude themself that this is going to be some kind of turning point where she and Astarion become best friends and start sharing all their secrets, but...it's a start. It's something.

And Vesper has learned to take what she can get.

[worldwhampion]

artemis in pseudo death

[thegatesofinfinitespace]

Ping!

//So Verse how easily could you procure a nature documentary for me from one of the worlds you've visited with hippos that have these specific characteristics?//