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henrysglock · 4 months

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Local Man Uses The Cyclical 27-Year Torment Nexus To Try And Change His Fate [EPIC FAIL COMPILATION]

You probably guessed that this is the time-travel post I've been slaving over. You'd be right. This is the newest and most formal iteration of my long-standing time loop theory (I have drafted flowcharts back from February that actually predicted a dimension/time fuckery event in 1943 in relation to Brenner, which was made canon by TFS). So...Let's just dive right in. Note: I'm planning to keep calling TFS Henry "Henry" here just for simplicity's sake.

Now, fair warning: There are a few big "bear with me"s in this post. I promise they make sense, I just need you to hear me out.

It all started with Henry's self-proclaimed superhero name: The Stardust Spider.

Some of you may have seen my original post about The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars (here).

Before anyone says "Oh, but that album didn't exist yet", a reference in 1959 about a Bowie album that wouldn't be recorded until November of 1971 is in keeping with TFS's habit of directly referencing things from the '70s that "don't exist yet".

However, all that aside, there's a specific piece I want to return to, because it bugs the living daylights out of me.

There was a cut song that was meant to go on the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars titled "Shadow Man":

For obvious reasons in relation to Henry in The First Shadow, this song already stuck out.

Specifically, though, these few stanzas hit me weirdly:

You should call and see who answers For he promises to come running Guided by the truth For the Shadow Man is really You Look in his eyes and see your reflection Look to the stars and see his eyes He'll show you tomorrow, he'll show you the sorrows Of what you did today You can call him foe, you can call him friend You should call and see who answers (see who answers) For he knows your eyes are drawn to the road ahead And the Shadow man is waiting 'round the bend ('round the bend) Shadow man is waiting up ahead

The Shadow Man is you from the future. He's waiting up ahead to show you the the truth/the consequences of your actions.

Considering that the TFS version of Young "Henry" has a direct connection to both the Shadow and Dimension X from a young age, and he also experiences what seem to be Vecna-type visions, this becomes particularly interesting to me...Especially seeing as said fates are not only possible for future "Henry", but also canon for future "Henry". (See: Vecna guy vs Mindflayer guy)

So, when I see an almost comical number of lines in TFS relating to rewriting known, undesirable endings (here are a few of my favorites):

And when we revisit some of the on-film classics:

I start to think it's time we revisit the concept of time-travel and trying to change your own fate.

It's always hard to know where to start with posts like these, so I'm going to kick things off with the technical aspect: The Cycle.

Something I've talked about in the past year, mostly on Discord, is this concept of a time loop. Not just any old time loop, though. A 27 year cycle, specifically.

Not 20, not 30...

Now, we all know the TFS timeline is messy as hell and doesn't actually align with anything that's possible in filmed canon...or within its own time span, even.

For example, the attack on Mr. Newby happens both some point after October 1st, 1959 and before November 20th, 1959...but the papers for the incident report it on March 20th, 1958:

The timeline we're given also largely fabricated, as I pointed out in relation to the newspapers with dates that don't actually exist.

However, much like NINA, the sequence itself being fake doesn't mean the events didn't happen. It's just not happening in the time frame we're told it's happening in:

It's a set of real events, just portrayed on a different time scale.

So, with all that in mind, I want to lay out a timeline, starting from Season 4 and moving backwards in time:

— Vecna opens the rifts, and El opens a gate to Dimension X in NINA, both in 1986. The March 1959 Creel Murders occur exactly 27 years before the Rifts and NINA's Dimension X gate open in 1986...at which point the Mindflayer is shown to be active.

— Mothergate opens through to Dimension X at some point between November 1983 and October 1984, this being somewhere between 16-28 months prior the Rifts opening. The paper about the attack on Mr. Newby, dated March 20th, 1958, is released exactly 610 days, or 20 months, prior to the Creel murders on November 20th, 1959. It's not necessarily the exact dates that are important here (again, these dates are relatively unreliable), but the gap between the dates.

When put in accordance with filmed dates (i.e. setting the release of this paper exactly 610 days prior to March 22nd of 1959), the paper for the attack on Mr. Newby would have been released on July 20th, 1957. This would be in line with Edward Creel's move to Hawkins in the spring of 1957...while also occurring 27 years before July of 1984, at which point Mothergate is open, and the Mindflayer is active.

This July date is especially funny to me considering we get "throwaway" lines like this...with shots in filmed canon from summertime:

Top: Joyce and Jim beginning their investigation into the attic attack. Hopper Sr. is questioning why Joyce and Jim are investigating, rather than attending school. Bottom: Alice and Henry with the rabbit death scenes in filmed canon, the setting showing full foliage and both children in summer clothing. "Is it summer break?" I don't know. You tell me, Chief.

Per TFS, Henry went missing in a cave system near his home town of Rachel, Nevada (hold that thought) at some point in the year prior to the attack on Mr. Newby. We've been told that Dimension X was involved in this event in Nevada, something happened there that left "Henry" altered physically. He was also flayed at some point around this time.

This all coincides with Henry's dramatic mood shift from a "normal and good" boy to one suffering from Mindflayer-induced psychosis. This change happened in tandem with the Nevada incident, dating back 10 months prior to the attack on Mr. Newby:

If we set Henry's initial disappearance in line with filmed canon like before, it becomes September of 1956, which is just over 27 years before Will's disappearance in November of 1983, at which point we know at least one gate is open.

We also have 1952, at which point TFS Henry would be 7 per his age as a 14 year old/freshman in play canon. This exists in a 27 year interval against 1979, when El opens the original gate that sends One to Dimension X, where he subsequently shapes the Shadow into the Mindflayer.

Here comes the first "hear me out".

My questions are:

Since Henry/Vecna/The Mindflayer/etc. in general don't show any capability for opening gates before 1986, then how the hell is the Mindflayer possessing anyone in 1959?

How did "Henry" get involved with Dimension X in Nevada in the 1950s?

Unless, by some chance:

Dimension X exists all the time simultaneously (i.e. it's a space outside time)

The gates exist simultaneously across time and space in the Right Side Up in 27 year intervals. By which I mean: A gate that opens in, say, 1983 would exist simultaneously in 1956, so on an so forth.

There's the disappearance of Captain Brenner and the USS Eldridge in 1943, which would, interestingly enough, align with 1970, the supposed year of El's conception.

Then, 1952. Now, I'm not sure what's special about 1952, when TFS "Henry" was 7, because they don't actually say what happened to make that year important! They make a point to show it to us, though, meaning something happened...we just don't know what. All I can say is that 1952 does exist in a 27 year interval against El's 1979 gate. Hold that thought.

Those addressed, let's fast-forward 4 years: 1956/1983.

Now, to be fair, there is some uncertainty in my mind about whether this specific gate incident stems from Brenner's involvement with Project Rainbow in Nevada pre-1957*, or if it stems from Mothergate in 1983, or if they created some kind of wormhole between the two locations 27 years apart...but that's a concept I need to explore more thoroughly in a another post.

In short, though: Did a singular El open a singular Mothergate? Did El open mothergate? Did Mothergate actually open on November 6th, 1983...or are we just supposed to assume it opened the same night Will went missing/the demogorgon came through? We're never given a concrete date for when Mothergate actually opened.

* In TFS, Brenner claims he's dedicated his life post-1943 to Project Rainbow with the goal of finding Dimension X, and that he's doing so in pursuit of knowledge regarding the circumstances of his father's death in connection with the Philadelphia Experiment. The USS Eldridge, Brenner Sr.'s ship, disappeared into Dimension X briefly on October 28th, 1943. "Brenner Sr." was the sole survivor. "He" returned to the Right Side Up with a completely unique blood type, supposedly altered by his travels into Dimension X. This is what ultimately led to him succumbing to his injuries, due to his body rejecting all forms of blood transfusion. Brenner Jr. tells us that about 10 months prior to Henry's first stay in HNL, a scientist from Project Rainbow escaped Brenner's lab carrying a container of a dangerous material, and ended up near the same Nevada cave system Henry disappeared into. We don't know how or when this material was collected, or what it was, but we know they found Henry's Captain Midnight spyglass next to a body (identity unspecified) with no trace of that dangerous material. We get no further detail about the Nevada Disappearance.

Anyway, someone opens a gate in the fall of 1956 and/or 1983 (my money's on it being directly linked to an El in 1983 either way). No matter who did it, though, someone opened a gate at both time points, showing us this 27 year link between the 2 dates, 2 key locations.

"Henry" goes missing in Nevada in 1956, and ends up involved with Dimension X...Which aligns with the choice of song surrounding this version of the Creel family while they move into their new home:

Coincidentally, 27 years in the future, so does Will, in Indiana. Their experiences are linked across those two spaces via that 27 year period.

We know that regardless of the gate in Nevada...Mothergate, at least, stays open until from fall 1956/1983 to fall 1957/1984. That covers exact time frame that the adjusted dates for both Henry's accident with the boy in Nevada and his accident with Mr. Newby fall in (as well as Will's time between his disappearance and his flaying).

The closer we get to Will's flaying in 1984, and the closer the Mindflayer gets to crossing through Mothergate, the more TFS Henry sounds like One (post-1979) while he's possessed in 1957, the more strangely he behaves in general (almost as though the Mindflayer is more enmeshed in his everyday life/closer to the surface), and the stronger the possession attempts seem to become overall. He begins giving nightmare visions to other people, namely tormenting Virginia with spiders and her past. He has his final and most powerful "Vecna" vision on the night of the attack on Mr. Newby.

Any kind of reciprocal gate irt Mothergate in the '50s would have gone unnoticed, since the papers in TFS indicate that HNL wasn't established until Brenner showed up to take Henry in.

Mothergate closes briefly, only for a gate to open in July 1958/1985 in the underground location of the future Starcourt Mall. This, in 1958, is during our unaccounted-for 20 months between the attack on Mr. Newby and the Creel murders. (Something rattles about this and the scene where Henry nearly makes full contact with the Mindflayer, when he has a handful of duplicate lines re: his 4.07 monologue self, but I don't have sufficient evidence to make that claim with any certainty.)

That gate closes, until Vecna opens gates in Hawkins in March of 1986, and El opens a Dimension X gate briefly and simultaneously in both Hawkins/Nevada in September of 1979 (September of 1952) and Hawkins/Nevada in March of 1986 (March of 1959) during NINA, concurrently...at least one of which may have gone unnoticed, since the Rainbow Room and the surrounding labs seems to have been abandoned entirely after 1979, and HNL as a whole has once again been abandoned after the events of 1984 ("unnoticed" and "abandoned", I say as if the building isn't still being surveilled by Brenner/Owens et. al...I just mean that the building isn't in use by the government at that point in time.)

We're shown the Shadow activating all the way in Russia due to one or multiple of these events. 27 years earlier, in March of 1959, the Mindflayer once again becomes active, per TFS's adjusted dates. Chaos ensues.

At this point, "Henry" starts swapping between sounding like his young self and sounding like his 4.07 Monologuing Adult self again, doing that kind of "I've seen the future" foreshadowing talk with Joyce that his visions did with him:

Here, he also sounds distinctly like ST3 flayed Billy, specifically in the way of the scene with El in the cabin when "Billy" outlines the Mindflayer's plans for her, her friends, and all of Hawkins while crying.

The rest is, well...history. Whatever fuckery went on, it doesn't seem to have made much of a difference. After all, TFS is a "canon event", meaning it had to end the way it did.

Remember those thoughts I asked you to hold?

TFS being a "canon event" means it had to end with Henry in the lab alongside baby El...thus completing our loop, which starts again with the events of 1979/1952. A 27 year loop. TFS may be indicative of a time loop.

Hence:

Out of place dates from the 1970s start to bleed into the 1950s: - A town like Rachel, Nevada, which wasn't established until 1978, now exists circa 1952-1959 after El opens a gate to Dimension X circa 1979 in Nevada circa 1986 via NINA, which exists...about 40-50 miles from Rachel.

- An album like Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars (November, 1971) or a song like "Chuck E's In Love" (April, 1979) gets referenced circa 1957-1959. - An article about a "younger, more handsome" alien clone of Elvis appears in a 1959 Weekly Watcher paper about the Creel murders, despite Elvis having been 24 at the time...making this an article more likely to have appeared in the '70s or later, likely sometime around Elvis' death in 1977.

2. The Shadow is always depicted as the fully formed Mindflayer circa 1956-1959, despite the shaping event happening in the 4 years between 1979-1983:

3. Henry has Vecna-type visions, despite being the only vision-giver we know of circa 1957-1959.

4. 6 different guys later in the HNL massacre: 2 with the original baby El, 2 with teen El via NINA, and 2 in an as-of-yet unseen product of NINA's Loop (see: the final scene of TFS).

All this laid out, some questions remain:

Why do Henry's visions show him the genuine, terrifying reality of his future?

Why are these visions generally lacking in coercion?

Why are Vecna chime sounds heard before the major supernatural events that deal with visions, even though we never actually see the clock? (They're heard before Virginia in the attic, before the attack on Mr. Newby, before the Creel murders, and in the basement when Henry monologues at Joyce while viewing the corpses of his family.)

Why don't these chimes play when the Mindflayer alone is present, e.g. when no visions occur? (See: Henry contacting the Mindflayer in the lab)

And we don't really get an answer to any of these. Not an easily spotted outright answer, anyway.

But what's really fascinating, which I mentioned just a second ago and takes me back to the top of this post, back to the "Stardust Spider" and Shadow Man, is the fact that despite occurring concurrently with the possession attempts...none of these visions contain an ultimatum. There's no "If you don't obey me, I'll hurt someone you love", no "I'm showing you what's going to happen if you don't obey me", nothing of the sort.

The closest we get to coercion is the bathroom vision, when Henry fights off a possession attempt in the school bathroom and ends up in a vision regarding Patty. When "Patty" starts to talk to him about his future, about how Henry's going to kill her and so many others, Henry says "you're not Patty...what are you?" Then he gets into a physical brawl with her, which is surprisingly well matched. Vision Patty encourages him during that fight, saying things like "That's it!", "We want the same thing!", and "We can have her!"

Those seem like pretty straightforward "the Mindflayer's encouraging Henry to kill" encouragements, right?

Yeah, at first glance. However...lets read that back right quick, but with Moral Objectivity Goggles on this time. Henry openly, verbally identifies that Vision Patty is "not her, not Patty", but is, in fact, something else. He does this multiple times before he lunges at "not Patty", and he is subsequently encouraged by not-Patty...who tells him they want the same thing. That's not suspicious at all. The motives here are definitely crystal clear and totally aren't conflicting in any way.

There's the straightforward surface aspect, and then something else piggybacking on it, complicating it. Hold that thought.

Other than that instance, the negative parts of Henry's visions are all just...information. They're showing him what will come to pass...almost like they're motivating him to fight the Mindflayer. Hold onto that thought too, it buddies with the previous one.

Henry's freaking out about Prancer because he's getting close with Patty, and he's worried he'll hurt her?

His vision informs him that he's going to kill more, that he's going to hurt things, that he's going to kill Patty if he stays around her and/or gives into the Mindflayer's desires. And then it happens. All of it. He kills more animals. He hurts things and people, the pets and lab animals, Mr. Newby, and Inmate 58361 being prime examples. He gives in to the Mindflayer's desire to kill and kills Virginia. He does, by the extent of his perception, kill Patty in the accident.

The same goes for his vision in the attic. Henry's up in the attic using his powers to find someone/snoop on them, fearful of opening himself up for a possession attempt?

The vision version of Patty's mother catches Henry and tells him she "wants to tell him a secret" while his body is being puppeted to attack Mr. Newby. The next time the curtain rises to show us the inside of Henry's mind, he's seeing himself as Vecna, strung up on the tentacles and strangling people with them...just like the end of Season 4. Once again, he's seeing the future that will come to pass...should he fail to fight the Mindflayer off.

We can tell it's a vision, not what's physically happening in reality, because: a) Henry's watching himself in the attic from the stage below. b) It's got the messed up red lighting c) They show us reality just moments before, not a tentacle in sight and without Henry on the stage there observing:

d) The ending of the vision doesn't match with reality:

At the end of this vision, Henry passes out both in the void and IRL, while the vision version of Henry remains crouching. That is a different guy, entirely separate from IRL/Void Henry. There is at least one other person in the visions who is not a product of the vision itself.

Remember those thoughts from a bit ago that I asked you to hold?

Well. This also happens to be the sequence where we not only get Vision-Patty repeating Henry's own words from just after Prancer's death ("It's not real. It's not real. It's a nightmare") back to him, a phrase IRL Patty has never heard, but we also get:

Visions Patty telling Henry how to fight and evade the possession, as if she knows what she's doing ("It's your dream, remember? Anything is possible").

Vision Patty telling Henry she loves him as the last-ditch effort when his "good dream" memory of the real Patty fails to save him from the possession.

These are both things IRL Patty wouldn't know or think to say, since IRL Patty fully believed that Henry attacked her of his own volition out of malice, and she needed to be shown a drawing of the Mindflayer by Mr. Newby in order to abandon that belief.

IRL Patty's behavior is not the behavior of someone who a) knows the ins and outs of Henry's situation with the Mindflayer, and b) coached him through overcoming a possession attempt a little while earlier. It's just not.

Just like before, we're seeing contradictions and complications between vision-selves and IRL selves, along with a sense of piggybacking within possession attempts, wherein the vision serves as motivation for Henry to fight harder in resistance to the Mindflayer...while the Mindflayer is possessing him.

It's starting to become my favorite thing in the world: A pattern of behavior.

In summary:

Henry's are visions are visions of his future, and they're being shown to him by someone.

They are separate from, but piggybacking on, the Mindflayer's possession attempts.

The purpose of the visions isn't solely to torment Henry or coerce him into doing the Mindflayer's bidding. In fact, the content of the visions seems curated to make Henry fight harder in resistance to the Mindflayer.

So if, for example, Vision Patty ≠ IRL Patty, but she's acting against the Mindflayer's best interest/in support of Henry...then...

I think my answer to the questions of "who", "when", and "how" should be at least somewhat clear by this point:

Someone...from the future.

Specifically, someone from 1979-1986 who has access to the gates from the Dimension X side, someone with both vision-giving and time-related abilities who's directly connected to the Mindflayer/the Hive Mind, but who has a vested interest in countering the Mindflayer, saving Henry Creel, and trying to change the course of the future.

A traitor. A spy, if you will.

"A spy...from the future?"

[gestures at the Signs] Yeah, you heard me.

A spy from the future.

So, on that note: The point in this section wherein I ask you to hear me out.

I get the feeling TFS Henry is being told and/or shown what will come to pass in the future by himself...the Mindflayer.

And you're probably going "How do you figure that one, James? Isn't the Mindflayer a villainous force?"

I mean, yeah. Of course it is. However...

There are clearly multiple forces at play within the Mindflayer (hive mind!), and TFS shows us that Henry Creel wouldn't choose to be a villain.

Thus I think the visions in TFS are situations where, as in the 4.07 rabbit scene, things look really damning on first view. They play on our empathy using small, visibly-frightened, helpless victims and shocking, violent circumstances to guide us into making the assumption that everything about the situation is inherently malicious.

We're shown this poor little guy, "Henry". He's 14 years old, he clocks in at 5'5", he's skittish/scared of (ha) his own shadow, and he's geeky to the nth degree about comic books (just LOOK at that Captain Midnight salute? What an cute little nerd). He's immediately lovable. He's also, we find out rather abruptly, plagued by horrific visions and murderous fits of possession.

The immediate response is to go "He's being psionically tortured by some sick, sadistic son of a bitch who hungers for nothing but blood and control", just like Nancy and the ST fandom collectively did with Young Henry's rabbit scene...only to be proven wrong about Henry's intentions via TFS.

I mean, does anyone (anyone who's able to read this post, anyway 🤭) look at TFS Henry, filmed Young Henry, or even Orderly Henry and go "Yeah. He totally wanted what he got, and if he had the chance, he definitely wouldn't try to save himself from that fate"?

No.

TFS Shows us that "Henry" was a terrified, traumatized boy who wanted it all to stop. He's kind, brave, and stronger than he seems. We're also shown that he's capable of overcoming the Mindflayer to issue warnings to people he cared about (i.e. telling people to run, or prophesying dangers he'd seen via the visions). He was trying to survive with next to no help while causing as little harm as possible. He was a good kid, and he certainly wasn't evil.

So, all that said...I think that, via the Shadow's hive-mind capabilities, Henry's "fronting", in a manner of speaking, in order to show this version of himself the future. Probably as a warning, probably as motivation to fight the Mindflayer, and all with a nice side-dish of "here's how you fight this thing off so that my current future doesn't become our future" before someone else tapes over the figurative laptop camera.

[coughs, drops this Brenner-Mindflayer collage on the table in front of you, and then scurries away]

With that said, I'd like to loop all the way back to the top of this post: The "Shadow Man" may be Henry from the future. He's waiting up ahead to show his younger self the true outcome of his choices.

We all know how TFS ends, though. Hence:

[EPIC FAIL COMPILATION]

This brings me to my final "bear with me" point: The matter of the strange double-agent vibes from the UD in every season.

I'm not sure if anyone else outside the unholycule has noticed this, but in every season there's at least one instance of the UD just...offering up information.

"It does?"

Yup! Let me explain.

On first glance, we look at things like Nancy's vision and even El's vision with Billy in the cabin, and we go "Oh, it's because [insert "the bad guy's cruel/he wants to scare her/his hubris will be his downfall/all serial killers want to be known for their crimes" etc here]"...but maybe that's not the case.

For example: Vecna told Nancy his backstory, and then he immediately went

"Oh hey, so not only am I revealing my identity (Which may help you find out more about me via lab records later on, things like...maybe a list of my abilities, or my weaknesses, like the fact that I have a nut allegry. Allegedly.), but I'm also gonna give you a sneak peek of my apocalypse plans. For free. As a treat. Don't use these to prepare or anything. I'm totally not giving you a head start".

Terrifying, yes. A taunt and a threat on surface view, yes...but also showing his hand. "I want you to tell Eleven everything you see" Why. Why would he want that. He may be confident in his plans, arrogant, even...but he's not that stupid.

I'm serious, though. Check it out in comparison to Henrys visions of the future. The pattern is patterning:

We can track that back to El's cabin scene with Billy, wherein he tells her she shouldn't have looked for him, warns her that they all can see her, and that they're going to be coming after her...and he cries about it. That's vision Billy. That's someone else who piggybacked into El's mind from Billy's mind. That's not real Billy, just like how Billy in Max's vision wasn't the real Billy. The person giving El that vision warns her. Why on earth would he tell her that they can see her, that they're coming for her? That's sensitive information! It would be smarter to let her think she's safe and use that false sense of security to catch her off guard.

In fact, this pattern patterns so well that I'd like to argue this: Henry's TFS visions, Nancy's vision, and El's vision are all the same type of behavior displayed in NINA's chess scene, just in different contexts.

Henry ("Henry") gives some kind of scary prophetic information ("He and the others are going to attempt to kill you", "I would very much like to show you where I am going", "You're going to kill me, aren't you?"), and then we're left to question if it's a scare tactic, manipulative misinformation, or helpful inside information.

It's not that the Mindflayer or Vecna can't hide things from people (see: "Somewhere he didn't want me to see")...like, say, the fact that the Mindflayer is now able to see El, or that Vecna's planning to open 4 gates with his 4 kills.

It's always this miraculous "Huh! Weird info-dropping behavior from the UD's side. Shouldn't look that gift-horse in the mouth though. It's probably just a writing oversight or a shoehorned exposé, so really there's no need to question it." situation where it's just...information that's offered up with no real explanation.

Some of my favorite examples:

...and it's all topped off with Max's line:

"He's been telling us his plan this whole time".

That is to say...You're telling me:

The first message from the Upside Down isn't any of the messages that are concretely Will's, but instead it's the one that's a repetitive Henry line...and it's conveyed in a distinctly not-Will style? A message that saves Joyce, something that's definitely not in the UD's best interest given her tenacity in finding her boy...but is definitely coming from the UD nonetheless?

Will, who fell total prey to the Mindflayer in less than 3 days, was not only able to figure out how to defeat the Mindflayer, but was also strong enough to convey it in Morse code? The Mindflayer, who is able to keep secrets (see below), just...let that information slip?

El, who acknowledges that the Mindflayer is more than able to hide things from her, is suddenly released into Billy's memories and allowed to find the source unimpeded?

The Mindflayer, as Billy (Remember: not actually Billy, because Billy can't give visions or invade minds), is telling El that because he's able to see her now, she shouldn't have looked for him? The Mindflayer, which was supposedly building the Fleshflayer to track El down and kill her? Suddenly he's telling her she shouldn't have done the thing that allowed him to find her more easily?

Vecna's giving up all the information about himself and his plans before he's even gotten the 4th gate open, despite him being so secretive about it up until that point?

Henry's visions in TFS are going to scare him into resisting the Mindflayer, making it less likely that he's going to upgrade to killing humans, i.e. the very thing the Mindflayer wants him to do?

None of that makes any damn sense...until we hit this last point:

Orderly Henry is known for giving inside information about "Papa" to El with no clear motive other than getting her to leave the lab.

Now, if you know my page then you know Em's been talking about double meanings in phrasing recently (see: this post about "who"s and "what"s).

So, with that in mind, I'd like you to chew on this:

"He's been telling us his plan this whole time." vs "He's been telling us His plan this whole time."

By which I mean: "He's been telling us some other man's plan this whole time."

[Mike voice] Superspy.

As a parting thought, I made it all into a nice, neat set of collages:

Not to mention this final, parting bit:

#henry creel #time loop theory #st: tfs

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hadesknockedupintheunderworld · 3 months

Note

What was the prime tails polycule first kiss like?

Oooh ooooh I know this one!

Now I can't tell you which exact order all these happen in, but here are some first kiss ideas I have between each individual pairing within the polycule

(But under the cut because this ended up longer than I expected to answer haha)

ㅤ

Tails/Nine

I definitely don't think this pairing would come first if I were forced to come up with which individual pairings within the polycule shared their first kiss first to be honest 😂. Why? Well, while Nine does have some issues over not being the "only him" so to speak, I personally think canon Nine doesn't have nearly as many issues with Mangey and Sails as he does with Prime!Tails, and that some of his issues with Mangey and Sails really began with Tails. I think before actually meeting him Nine would have this idea of Tails as Sonic's "perfect little buddy". In this case, he would assume that Tails is nice and sweet and always does whatever Sonic wants and is Sonic's perfect little supporter that always helps Sonic but never has opinions of his own or opposes Sonic in any way. Essentially, I think to him Tails is everything he is not, the "perfect" partner in Sonic's eyes, and also a doormat. Tails is both the fox he can never be (jealous) and the fox he can never be (derogatory, "I'm better than you"). Prime!Tails, meanwhile, knows everything he knows initially from Sonic most likely, and after everything...I think Sonic would have a lot to say about Nine. That's all to say that Tails would get that Sonic cares about him a lot, would get that Nine probably liked Sonic a lot, would probably see him in a similar light to Shadow, and may see some of Nine's actions as "over the top" due to only knowing as much as Sonic knows or actually says. So initially I think Nine would be jealous of Tails while holding onto some of that strong dislike, and Tails would be secretly jealous of Nine, but ultimately seeing him as a guy who is rough around the edges, intelligent, and perhaps a bit unstable.

That also being said, I think it would do the two of them good to actually talk about themselves and open up to their insecurities/pasts to each other. I think becoming more open and talking about those things would allow the two to understand each other (and exactly what makes them so different and similar) much better, but I also recognize that something like that's going to take a long time and is probably not going to happen all at once. Realistically, unless he specifically feels like doing it at one point or another, getting Nine to explain himself and his story is going to be like pulling teeth for the most part, and I can see Tails being the type to try to relate to him while straying away from using specific examples (since Tails isn't the type of guy to me that goes around talking about what happened to him either). I think that what's revealed will probably happen over time in bits and pieces, and maybe at some point someone will manage to work one or the other into feeling comfortable enough to vent a bit.

With that in mind, I think that when the two properly meet, it'll surprise them just how far off they were in their characterizations of each other (mostly Nine, but you get it). So I think their first learning curve would be dealing with any jealousy between them + any identity crisis + Nine instinctively not wanting to let go of that version of Tails he made up in his head easily + learning who the other *actually* is.

So...their first kiss. I can't see it being at any other point than a bonding moment between them—something that combines the vulnerability of opening up (which can bring hearts closer) and the ongoing jealousy causing tention to snap. Tails has learned bits and pieces about Nine by now about him being "picked on" as a kid and being tormented until he eventually created a way to fight back (no deep details), or what it was like living in the place he grew up in. Likewise, I think Nine would also know very little about how Tails was also picked on, about how he used to follow Sonic around, etc. Aside from that, I think they'd start to gather more about each other's true personalities by actually hanging around each other or by both happening to be on missions with Sonic at the same time. I think Nine would come to realize that Tails has no problem meeting Sonic sass to sass or telling him that he's being an idiot (mind you, depending on the situation Tails is likely to be softer about it in the way where he explains what he's thinking and asks Sonic what he thinks without specifically saying Sonic's idea is stupid), and that when Sonic isn't rushing in without a plan he's looking to Tails for direction and advice. Likewise, I think Tails would start to realize that Nine is a bit deeper than he assumed and wonder more about what exactly happened to him.

But, of course, the question is how they actually start opening up, and to that I say: Sonic? Sonic. To me, Sonic is both the elephant in the room to them and a shared interest. So...I can see the two hanging alone. Maybe Tails and Nine were both on an adventure with at least them and Sonic going to stop Prime!Eggman's plans, and maybe Sonic is seemingly fast asleep at their camp on the way home. Sitting by the fire with Tails, having just finished eating, Nine can't help but think back to his first meeting with Sonic (when Sonic was explaining how there's nothing like eating a chilli dog with your best pal when everything's said and done). Then, he thinks about Sonic, conked out in the tent and patched up. Sonic's lucky he has such a good natural healing factor, otherwise he wouldn't be able to be as reckless as he is, Nine thinks. Sure, his actions earlier stood the best chance of defeating Prime!Eggman so he didn't have much choice, but still it shouldn't have had to come to it.

And yeah, Sonic being reckless or self sacrificial isn't a foreign concept to Nine. It's just that now...after everything...he can’t help but be afraid of what will happen if something actually does Sonic in one day. So, he asks Tails aloud, "How... How do you deal with him like this?"

"Sonic?"

"He's always so... He doesn't always listen, he's reckless, he's always pulling those dangerous stunts right at the last second. Even I think it's a miracle he hasn't–" Nine cuts off, and the two sit in silence for a moment.

"Sonic is...like that, you know? Frustrating at times? Yes. Stubborn? Absolutely. Even now that he's...changed a bit, he still pulls off those grand stunts and brushes off my advice sometimes while practically begging me to tell him what to do others. He's much better at the whole teamwork thing than he used to be, but he's still Sonic."

"I know all that. I know all that stuff about how he's stubborn and frustrating but always comes through when it counts and turns things around, but that...that wasn't the question."

"You deal with him, don't you?"

"It doesn't mean I can't be– Doesn't mean I don't...worry sometimes." Then, Nine adds, "And don't tell me you don't."

Then one thing leads to another in the back and forth and Nine is like, "When I met him...I thought I'd found the exception. Everyone else only thought about themselves, about living day to day and taking everything out on those smaller or weaker to feel powerful about themselves. But Sonic... He almost made– makes you believe in hope. And then... Then I found out that he was as stubborn and selfish as anyone else."

Tails chuckles a little at that.

"Not that any of that matters now," Nine adds.

After a few moments, Tails opens his mouth. "You know, I thought the world of him too, once."

Huh, is all Nine thinks.

"Of course, I still think he's cool now. But back then I remember... He used to run away when he noticed me following him, so I had to do whatever I could to catch up. And for a while...nothing mattered. He was my hero. That was all."

"So...he's not now?"

"Well, I suppose he always will be it's just... Well, I only wanted to be around him, so how he acted didn't matter."

"So you thought the world of him, but you were let down, and you decided to stick with him anyways?"

"I mean, well. It's more complicated than that, but... Isn't it the same with you?"

Nine sighs, looking down at his shoes. "I...suppose."

Tails shoots a look at the tent before casting his gaze down at his own shoes.

"The point is...I get it. I don't like worrying about him either, but...I've made peace with it." Then, Tails adds with a chuckle, "As well as I can, anyways."

"...Not as if there's anything else you can do," Nine agrees.

There's a moment of silence, then, before Tails smiles. "Well I'm sure we could try, but nothing stops Sonic the Hedgehog from doing anything—not when he sets his sights on it."

Nine chuckles weakly, remembering bitter and fond bits of memories alike. He can concede that this is true. After all, back then, as the universe was falling apart, Sonic would never give up on the universe's inhabitants just as he never gave up on him.

"One time, there was this hot pepper eating contest in Station Square. It was a promotional thing for a new restaurant or something. And the moment someone mentioned that the prize could involve chili dogs..." Tails shakes his head.

"Like a lifetime supply?"

"No, I think it was... Ah... I don't exactly remember. It was probably a gift card or something. Those people were probably just saying the restaurant had chili dogs—which turned out to be true. But you know Sonic!" He laughs. "Didn't read the terms. Just entered as fast as he could. I tried to tell him that we had to meet up with the Chaotix on business, but..."

"So...let me guess. He made a remark about how it'd be over fast because speed is his thing, implied the contest would be easy as cake, and overestimated his ability."

Tails looks to Nine. "Yeah, heh. You've pretty much got it. The whole time, though, I couldn't convince him to quit."

Nine nods, still facing forward. "The trademark stubbornness. Good at times, not so good other times."

"Heh, yeah. I'm pretty sure he thought it was one of those contests where you try to eat the most, because his impatience was palpable. The contestants would eat a pepper one at a time in rotation, and they all took their time."

"And you were late to your 'meeting'?" There's a bit of an edge to Nine’s words, but it’s a genuine question nonetheless. He doesn't fully understand the point Tails is trying to make by telling this story, but, eh... Talking to Tails so far is...better than sitting in silence. At least, that's how Nine feels about it.

Tails laughs, and Nine turns to him at the sound.

"No, not just late! He was sweating, nearly about to pass out. I had to rush him to the agency, Vector put him on the desk, Charmy pulled a leaf from somewhere to fan him with, and all the while Espio was off getting a 'traditional shinobi remedy' or something. All of that for a prize he didn't even win."

"Pffft. Sounds like him."

And so eventually the two end up trading stories of Sonic and his stubbornness (some funny and others concerning), Nine ends up smiling a little, and the two don't realize how close they are until everything stops. The only light illuminating their faces is from the fire, and neither of the two can see the stars, too focused on the others' face. And, perhaps, one of them decides to take that step on a whim. The kiss is chaste, but reciprocated (much to the surprise of them both).

And that night, as the two lay in the tent, Tails is surprised. When he first met Nine he hadn't thought things would progress like this, and yet...it's something Tails doesn't mind. To him Nine has become fascinating (both in his familiarity and in his alienness), and he's begun to suspect something with the way his heart warms at the prospect of simple things—Nine's happiness, his laughter, his enjoyment. In fact, I think it's possible for Tails to have (in hindsight) been waiting for this to happen. I think it's hard for Tails to balance mild jealousy and his growing interest in both Nine and making sure he (and the other variants) have a chance to coexist in this wide universe without becoming even a bit attached or starting to care more genuinely. So (especially if he's kissed the other variants before now), finding out he likes kissing Nine wouldn't really bother him. If anything, he's likely to be...pleasantly surprised it happened. He'd be a bit pained if Nine rejected him, but he'd be happy if things...continued as they are now (just with some added traditionally romantic stuff).

Meanwhile, I think Tails would be Nine's first kiss out of all his first kisses with the variants. Why? Well, I think if Tails is Nine's first, then it makes everything else a bit easier. Resolving his hangup on Tails (by learning about his true self and having him kiss Tails about those feelings) is something I think that could allow him to feel more comfortable in accepting any feelings for the other two. So I'd like to think that Nine's head races while he lies in the tent. He has to grapple with the fact that he liked that kiss, and it shakes him a bit that it was with someone he'd once held resentment towards. But I'd like to think that he ultimately doesn't reject the kiss or those feelings, not after all the time he's been spending getting to know Tails.

Maybe Nine moves on, thinks about that kiss every once in a while, and their relationship just eventually progresses at a natural pace. One day they're making out in Nine's lab in The Grim or Tails makes him breakfast in the morning (causing Nine's heart to squeeze) and Nine doesn't know how they got here.

So uhhh yeah anyways. Tldr; no matter what I think Nine and Tails have this slow burn relationship, so it takes a while before they kiss. I think they kiss over the usual getting closer to someone/caring for them stuff + their shared Sonic interest. I think their first kiss is on a whim, after they bare their hearts to each other a bit, and I think it's a gateway to future kisses.

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Tails/Sails

Hmmm you know... I think these two shared their first kiss cause they decided they wanted to see what it would be like. Either it's the first kiss out of the entire group because they decided to try it for science (because neither is holding out for anyone else to kiss them (specifically non-tails variants)), or it's not the first, but it’s "for science" (aka, an excuse to kiss each other to see if they like it).

If it's in a situation in which they kiss because they've never been kissed before and aren't holding out for it to ever happen (in what one might consider a traditionally romantic way anyways), then I envision this happening well into the sort of mentorship Tails ends up starting with Sails. By that point I can see them becoming friends after sort of bonding over what makes them similar (and I think Tails would research pirate culture just to understand Sails better).

If it's a situation in which they kiss "for science" as a clear excuse, well. That one's a bit self explanatory. They're kind of grappling with the confusing not exactly clear platonic or romantic nature of their feelings, and they both hope a kiss will clear things up and want to use it as a safe excuse to kiss the other without it necessarily having to be serious if the other doesn't like it (essentially, at least if they enjoy it and the other doesn't, they can pretend it doesn't mean anything).

With that all being said, to me they're the type to be more casual about the affection and the kisses most of the time, but once in a while they get in the mood to participate in...less casual kissing.

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Tails/Mangey

I've said once before in a previous Tailscest post that I feel Tails would be the jealous type deep down (the kind of guy who's jealous and possessive, but also has learned to keep it under wraps for the sake of his image and for not tying Sonic down). Specifically, I also mentioned a theoretical happening in which Mangey hides behind Sonic on instinct when scared, Sonic comforts him, and Tails can't help but see himself in Mangey (because that's what Sonic used to do for him when he and Sonic were both younger).

I think, at first, Tails would be...baseline nice to Mangey. He's another version of him, so he has no reason to be mean or anything outright. At first, though, he's not sure what to think of Mangey I think, so I think his gateway to understanding him is relating to him. This means that, early on, I think Tails kind of thinks of Mangey akin to a largely nonverbal, younger version of himself—an opinion that will shift and change as Tails properly gets to know Mangey better.

As for Mangey, he has no reason to dislike Tails. Sonic has only good things to say about him, and Tails being nice off the bat gives Mangey a good impression. So I think Mangey would start to learn more about Tails by following him around, tasting the food he likes to eat (could this mean that he may eat off the guy's plate, lick the plate later, or out of the trash? ...maybe), sitting in while Tails is working in his lab, etc.

I envision their first kiss going...like this more or less. Either Tails is on a solo mission and Mangey decided to follow him, or Mangey is sitting in on one of Tails' late nights. And then...thunder strikes, scaring them both. Before Tails knows it, Mangey is curled around his legs, shaking.

Thunder strikes again, Tails tenses up, and Mangey yelps. Tails is scared, he can't deny that, but he can't help but be conscious of Mangey. So, practically running on instinct, he sinks to the ground slowly, whispering to Mangey about how "it'll all be okay soon" and if he could "please let go for a second" so Tails can kneel down. Tails wraps his arms and tails around Mangey, pulling him closer, just before the two hear thunder again.

Mangey all but throws his arms around Tails, whimpering, as Tails tries his best to keep his cool (this long running fear of his has never failed to make him feel...a bit dumb for it). And then, as Mangey is whimpering and Tails is trying not to tremble or cry, his thoughts drift to where they always do when he's afraid or hopelessly alone.

I wish Sonic was here.

And then...a moment of clarity. Despite the fear, despite how his brain is just barely affording him the braincells to act rationally, he remembers how Sonic has always calmed him down (ever since they were younger). Still holding onto Mangey, Tails slides a hand up Mangey's back and kneck, resting it around the top of his head. He begins to scratch Mangey just begind the ears, ever so gently.

"I-I'm here. It's... It's going to be okay." In an attempt to calm himself down further, Tails takes deep breaths. "You're not alone. Y...You have me, okay?"

It takes a little while of this, but soon Tails is able to tune the sound of the thunder out a bit better, and Mangey stops whimpering. The two are still afraid, but each other's presence (and Tails' attempts at comfort) manage to make them both feel more comfortable.

And then, once the thunderstorm has passed, there's a moment of utter silence. Tails shifts his hands to Mangey's shoulders, and he lifts up just high enough on his knees to press a kiss to his forehead. At that, Mangey makes a sound—a barely audible purr. Tails strains his ears just a little to hear it, but it causes him to smile nonetheless.

Soon enough, Mangey unwinds his arms and tails from Tails. Though he had already grown interested in Tails, this event serves the purpose of allowing him to grow closer to Tails emotionally too. To me, this event in particular takes place after the Mangey/Sails first kiss. So, Mangey sits on his knees, mirroring Tails.

Tails pulls his hands to his sides, only watching as Mangey settles his hands on his (Tails') shoulders. He assumes Mangey is just repeating his actions from earlier, but, to his surprise, Mangey leans forward, pressing his lips to Tails' own instead.

Mangey lingers at Tails' lips for a second or two, but he doesn't pull back before swiping his tongue across Tails' lips.

An act as bold as this causes Tails' face to heat up, and he can't help but cover it in embarrassment (especially once Mangey begins to giggle).

Now, while I don't think Mangey would be as clingy with Tails as he is with Sails, I think the two would be able to hang out more casually than before (whether this means Mangey curled up across Tails' lap, or the two engaging in parallel play in the same room), and I think Tails has an easier time becoming accustomed to Mangey's presence from this point forward. In addition, I think that while Tails still can't help that jealousy, he kind of adopts a more protective stance when it comes to Mangey (which is to say that he can't help but relate to Sonic and the kind of fondness Sonic must have for him as well), where he knows Mangey can take care of himself but perhaps...takes care of him or begins to spoil him a little more than the other variants (if not because Mangey is cute and Tails is both heavily relating to him now and sort of projecting himself in Sonic's role of the "person and their little buddy duo" phenomenon).

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Nine/Sails

Okay so I'll be real with you. My immediate brain thought is telling me that it would be really funny if Sails kept debating Nine over stuff like "Is water wet?" or "Is a sea dog a sandwich?" and they kissed to break the tension or something.

But, for you anon, I will cook up more of a serious answer 😂

Now, aside from culture differences (and of course, uh, after resolving what Nine tried to do to Sails), I think they would come to be like colleagues. To me, they'd have scientific discussions (over different subjects, though, because, despite the shared prowess with technology, the two would be obsessed with different fields of study in my opinion), Sails would share a bunch of riddles with Nine, Nine would show off some of his technology and give Sails some advice for his own contraptions, and Sails would ask questions like "is water wet?" just to argue with Nine about it. I think that Sails would consider Nine as fun to mess with, but also as someone he ultimately likes hanging out with (if not for keeping his mind sharp). Likewise, I think Nine would consider Sails annoying, but hold respect for him deep down and would consider working on inventions *with* Sails once Sails improves a bit. And I'll be real with you, anon. I think that just like how getting closer to Sails and Mangey would assist Nine in getting close and vulnerable enough with Tails to share a kiss, he allows himself to open himself up a little bit more (both emotionally and with uh the idea of kissing other versions of himself) to Sails and Mangey.

With that in mind. If Nine finally kissed Tails as interest and jealousy intertwined, then I think Sails and Nine would kiss...more out of self interest. Sure, Nine deals with the jealousy involving Sonic, same as Tails, but he and Sails are (more or less) friends despite their shared interest in one hedgehog. This means that they do start to spend time together outside of him probably even sooner than Nine does with Tails. So if I had to imagine their first kiss...

I can imagine the two out on an island on a beach in No Place, both chilling under artificial shade. Out of nowhere, Sails decides to start up one of his "discussions" to annoy Nine a bit for fun. So, he makes a blanket statement of something he believes—something he's sure Nine will oppose him on—but Nine doesn't.

Rather, to Sails' surprise, he keeps agreeing. But it's not ingenuine either. If anything, it’s probably a coincidence.

Nonetheless, Sails' repeated attempts to say something annoying taper off as the two enter genuine discussions about the topics (why they each think what they do/agree, their experiences, the history of the thing, etc).

And it's moments like these that they both remember why they enjoy each other's company.

So they talk and info dump and become enamored with the other's knowledge and all of that, until finally, as one is looking at the other (listening intently), the other turns at the right moment.

Actually, perhaps Nine is info dumping before just so happening to look at Sails, and Nine...tapers off. Something pulses in Nine's heart as the two lock eyes, and Sails leans in, sliding a hand up to cup Nine's cheek.

Sails moves slowly, as if giving Nine every chance to refuse this, and Nine...never does. So Sails presses his lips to Nine's, squeezes his eyes shut. Nine allows his own eyes to fall closed, relaxing into the kiss. Most likely, these feelings between them have been building for a little while, so Sails steals a few more before pulling back, opening his eyes to look at Nine as if he's waiting to see his reaction.

But to Sails' surprise, Nine only smiles before leaning back in the chair he brought with him.

There's something about the kiss that makes them both feel a little giddy, and yet...it feels normal. Maybe, as they spend their last moments they can alone (devoid of responsibility), the two interlace their fingers, relaxing.

Quite easily (although Nine perhaps keeps it as secret as he can for a while), I think they'd fall into kissing casually or making out while alone. Depends on the mood.

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Nine/Mangey

Now, in terms of relationship, while I think Sails giving Nine a chance (and of course Nine being apologetic) definitely made things easier than they could have been, I don't think Mangey is as initially comfortable with Nine as he was with Sails and Tails. So I think more often than not (in the beginning) Mangey sticks to watching Nine from afar or being cautious around him.

As for Nine, post Sonic Prime canon I think he holds some genuine respect for Mangey and does recognize him as a capable and formidable adversary (even if Nine thinks himself to be better than him). After everything too, he's a bit apologetic (as I said earlier) and can’t really blame Mangey from being cautious (although he probably finds the spying annoying. Nine is the kind of guy who wants to let someone in on their own terms rather than just deal with them staring over his shoulder or intruding in his space). If anything, he's grateful (and surprised) that Mangey and Sails decided to give him a chance and form some kind of relationship with him despite everything he (Nine) did.

In this case, I think Nine and Mangey are able to grow closer (and Mangey grows to trust him more) just by the proximity, how well Nine and Sails' relationship progresses (starting with the friendship aspect of it), and just by the fact that Nine (despite still being "rough around the edges" so to speak) isn't actively betraying anyone.

Now for their first kiss...

I'd like to think that Mangey (when he feels like it) gets in one of those "if I do this will you reward me?" moods sometimes. And sometimes that means he's asking for berries or snacks, and sometimes it means he's asking for something special, and sometimes it means he wants a little kiss as a prize. I also think that Mangey started the "kiss as a prize" thing after his first kiss with Sails.

So while it's not uncommon for Sails and Mangey to be working on a project as partners, it's also not uncommon for Mangey to play assistant on some of Sails' solo projects. Likewise, I think Sails and Nine grow accustomed to working on separate projects in the same lab (or partnering on one) eventually. So, imagine

Imagine Nine, Sails, and Mangey in Nine's lab in The Grim. Sails has grown much more proficient with technology and inventing since being mentored by Tails—enough now that Nine feels comfortable trying to build something with him. Mangey is playing "lab assistant", so Sails plays along, asking for Mangey to fetch things for him, and then giving him a berry when Mangey inevitably holds his hands out for his reward.

Now, Nine generally prefers to fetch things on his own, but he's worked in the same room with Sails and Mangey enough now that he isn't as afraid to trust Mangey when he needs to. So, Nine asks Mangey to fetch something for him.

Of course, to his mild annoyance (since he's used to this now) Mangey points to himself as if to say "What will I get it if I do it?" Then, Mangey pulls his hands behind his back.

"Kiss?"

It's not the first time Mangey's asked, and it won't be the last. By now Nine's learned that if you don't give Mangey a reward while he's in this mood, he won't do the thing, and trying to make him only makes things worse. So, usually, he just sort of brushes the kiss offer off and figures out some way—any way—to fetch the thing on his own (in which his last resort is calling Alpha Grim Sonic to his location and asking him to help).

This time though (for the record, this would occur both after the Tails/Nine and Nine/Sails first kiss), he decides to just do it. So Nine gives Mangey a forehead kiss.

Mangey (although he does clearly enjoy this, given the fact he's got a smug smile on his face now) shakes his head.

"What?" is the first thing out of Nine's mouth. "I gave you a kiss."

Mangey shakes his head again, and points to himself.

And after a bit of back and forth, Sails shakes his head, and informs Nine that Mangey will only do it with a kiss on the lips.

Nine rolls his eyes, he procrastinates, he sighs, he stares, but eventually...he beckons Mangey closer and slowly (and a bit embarrassed, though he wouldn't admit it) presses a kiss to his lips. Nine turns away after that, face warm, and neglects to turn to look at Mangey when Mangey gives him whatever it is he asked for.

Sails probably teases Nine about it later😂

Nine is largely touch adverse, but he's generally okay with it if he's the one who starts the physical touch or if someone asks first, and if he's used to someone he can handle their sudden touch a bit better. With this in mind, I think out of the three Mangey would be least clingy to Nine, but, as they grow closer and more used to each other, Nine starts to become more comfortable with Mangey snuggling up to him (both if he wakes up and Mangey is suddenly there, or in the case Nine offers for Mangey to chill with him). This, I think, also leads Nine to being a bit more proactive in going on solo journies with Mangey or hanging out with him alone in Boscage Maze.

With that all being said, though, I think for a long while Mangey has to trick/convince Nine into giving him kisses (and has fun doing it) until Nine becomes more used to the casual intimacy and accepting of his own feelings.

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Sails/Mangey

For these two (especially after the s3 interactions) I can see their first kiss being a more sweet and casual endeavor. Like...I can imagine Mangey at Sails' side, assisting on one of Sails' projects. They're up fairly late, and Sails has just decided to take a short break and put it all down while Mangey's sitting nearby. After Sails puts it all down and turns around, Mangey runs over and winds his arms around him. On a whim, he brings their faces closer, swipes his tonge across Sails' lips, and buries his face in Sails' chest. Sails, although a bit surprised, wraps his arms around Mangey in turn. He supposes if he thinks about this a bit it could be a little weird, but it feels...normal. Honestly, what's more pressing to him is that that's Mangey's idea of a kiss. So Sails chuckles softly, presses his lips to the top of Mangey's head. And perhaps, next time he gets the chance, Sails shows Mangey what a "real" kiss looks like (even though Sails barely knows better than Mangey does).

With everything they've been through together, I can imagine Mangey as a little clingy when he's with Sails. Likewise, I think Sails comes to enjoy just chilling with Mangey. I can imagine them as a pair that just sort of clicked with ease, so while their first kiss isn't at all planned, it opens them up to more kissing as a form of casual intimacy (and possible participating in "practice kissing"). Compared to the Tails/Mangey relationship, I feel as if Sails and Mangey consider each other more of equals and are a bit equally protective over the other and their well-being.

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Thank you so much for the ask, anon! I really love talking about the Tails variants and my Tails/Tails variant ships, so I enjoyed answering this question quite a lot😊💖

If you'd like to know any other thoughts/headcanons I may have on the prime!polycule or its individual members/pairing combinations feel free to shoot me another ask

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everydayyoulovemeless · 4 months

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Living in Big MT With the Think Tank

➼ Word Count » 1.5k ➼ Warnings » Think Tank? ➼ Genre » Platonic/Romantic, Slice of Life?? ➼ A/N » Really into them again, so I figured I'd make this

Assuming that this happens after the events of Old World Blues, the majority of the Think Tank isn't going to be that opposed to you moving in. However, Klein is, and he'd do anything to get you extracted from the facility.

Living in the Sink isn’t going to allow you much privacy, but it’s the best you’re ever going to get. The only other place you’d have to sleep is wherever Dr. Dala suggests and it’s probably better to just stay with the talking objects than to unwillingly participate in whatever she has planned.

Dr. 0 likes to pretend that you're the worst thing to ever happen to him, especially if you're working with Mr. House, but most mornings he'll send Muggy down with coffee. It's mostly because he wants your mind to work faster so he can berate you with questions and shake you for ideas, but at least you get coffee out of it.

Dr. Klein will sometimes barricade the entranceway to the Think Tank so that you stay locked out.

If you're going to stay then Dr. 0 is going to have to replace the pip-boy with something... more appropriate. He'll take that thing away from you and build you a better, more advanced version that House wouldn't ever have been able to come up with. He'll have Mobius help him out in making the ultimate and perfect design of the pip-boy that talks to you like all the other Sink personalities. It's hit or miss what kind of personality he installs, but chances are it's either a mocking impression of House, or just 0.

Dr. 8 still can't really speak to you (no one ever bothered to fix him) but he does his best to get you away from Klein whenever he's upset at something. He likes to try and take his anger out on you... usually by strapping you down to a table and attempting to dissect you, but 8's normally there to calm him down before he can go through with anything.

Borous lets you keep Roxie in the Sink with you, as long as you promise not to bring her into the labs. He might specialize in animals, but he hates having to brush dog hair off of everything. Keep her in your quarters or he'll run experiments on the both of you.

The biggest downside to living here is that there's no bathroom to be found in the Sink, meaning you're going to ask one of them to build one for you. Most of them will give you a bucket and a stack of papers that still need to be shredded, but Dala would be willing to help you out. There's going to be a catch, of course, and there's a 70% chance she puts cameras of some sort in the room, but you get a useable bathroom by the end of it.

Whenever Mobius gets high he'll send you videos of himself on the TV in the Sink.

Blind Diode Jefferson will play jazz and blues music nonstop. Either that or he's giving you the most useless, outdated advice. The only way to get him to stop is by turning him off completely, but why would you do that? The best course of action for dealing with something like this is getting 8 to come down and tune him to a different radio station like the Mojave Radio, or even Galaxy News. He'll still talk, and the music won't turn off, but at least this way you can hear about the things happening on the other side of the country. It's something different, right?

Muggy sometimes wakes you up at like 6 because he needs you to drink coffee, tea--anything! Just wake up and use some of the mugs, please!

You're going to have to be very sneaky about reading anything in The Sink, as the Book Chute will talk continuously about you being a communist if he knows you have something that hasn't been washed out yet. It's best to just read in the Think Tank, however, that also runs the risk of one of the scientists calling you a nerd.

Dr. Klein will reluctantly ask you to gather information for him. Usually, it's something out in one of the labs in Big MT, but occasionally he'll ask you to bring back something new from the Mojave so that he has something new to look at.

Dala will very lovingly make your bed for you and tidy up the places in the Sink for you. She almost always has ulterior motives for doing so, but at least the areas clean?

Dr. Mobius has a bad habit of forgetting things, so to combat that, he'll write himself notes and stick them in random places around the Sink. He would put them up in the Think Tank, but he knows that the others would trash them the second they discovered them, so in the Sink, they go. At least, this way he can count on you to remind him.

If you left your brain in the jar, then he'll honestly be one of the only people you can confide in or rant to. He's fairly sane in his reasoning and is a decent therapist. Give him some more psychology books and he'll be even better at good advice. Just be careful Blind Diode Jefferson doesn't overhear you, he might get jealous you didn't come to him.

Every now and then, Klein, Dala, and Borous will put you in a cage. They'll tell you that there isn't anything to worry about and that it's just for fun, but they're liars and you're going to have to pray one of the other three will agree to get you out before they decide what they actually want to do with you.

Sometimes you'll wake up to like 10 different teddy bears in your bed. Then one of The Sink personalities will have to explain that Dala visited you while you were asleep. Comforting.

Light Switch #2 loves talking with your Brain. She thinks his intelligence is sooo hot, and if you agree to not move his jar from your room, she'll alert you to anything suspicious that happens in The Sink while you're away. Promise!

However, Light Switch #1 also happens to find your Brain to be an intriguing character as well, and will kindly offer to move him into the room with her. She'd just love to have a meaningful conversation with someone as smart as him.

Your Brain hates it and will beg you to move him anywhere else as long as he's away from either one of the light switches. He thinks the entire thing is weird and despises the fact that either of them would actually be into him.

Mobius worries a lot about you whenever you leave to explore or finish quests, so he always sends you off with a small army of robo-scorpions to accompany you in any way you may need. 8 also gets worried, but the most he can do is send you messages on your newly improved pip-boy.

The Sink in The Sink acts more like a mother than anyone else in the facility. She's always doting over you and making sure you're not falling victim to anything those disgraceful scientists may be up to. She's always making sure you go to bed at reasonable hours, aren't being taken advantage of, and are in healthy condition to continue doing the things you do. She especially makes sure you stay away from the Biological Research Station. Dear God, he might just corrupt you.

Dala and 0 are the only ones who feed you. Everyone else forgets that you still require something so uselessly time-consuming to survive. They only ever have expired food from 200 years ago, but it's better than nothing.

If you ever start talking to Borous, he'll go on for hours. It could honestly be about anything, but once you've got him started on something then he's not getting off of it. He'll go on about his time in high school, memories he has of Gabe, or what Klein claimed he was going to do to you once he finally found you.

The Auto-Doc is going to be the realest person there. If you want someone's honest opinion, he's the person to go to. Sometimes, he'll tell you what he thinks without you even asking, which can be annoying, but the Centralized Intelligence Unit will gladly shut him off for you.

Speaking of the Centralized Intelligence Unit, he lets you know of everything that happens. Most of the others will too, but he deems it a priority to let you know. One of the other appliances is talking shit? He's snitching. Please, let him turn them off. One of the doctors came down and did something sketchy? You'll be alerted as soon as you come back.

Both 8 and 0 always get concerned about the toaster being so close to where you sleep. Mobius isn't as bothered, but those two like to make sure he can't actually gain access to any kind of 'power reactor', so, you're welcome.

The Sink is probably not the safest place to live, but it gives you a ton of stories for you to tell when you go back to the Mojave. So, you can't complain too much.

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tarisilmarwen · 9 months

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Rebels Rewatch: "Jedi Night"

Right, just going to go ahead and pass around the boxes of tissues.

Live reaction version.

And here we are at last. The entire latter half of the season had already began shifting at "Rebel Assault", but here the shift becomes permanent.

From the promos and synopsis put out before this episode, the genre-savvy among us could kind of already tell what was coming. But it was still devastating.

All right, enough stalling, let's get into it.

Aww man, this is the same spot Ezra sits in the finale isn't it?

Dammit we're barely ten seconds in and I'm already sad.

The Loth-wolf theme is heavy over this scene as Kanan is bombarded with an audio portent and foreshadowing of things to come in the WBW.

"You want a ride?" "The Jedi Temple is in danger." "Kanan, you haven't gotten me a present since we met." "You can learn what it truly means to be a Jedi." "You didn't prepare me for this, Kanan." "There's something I need to tell you." "I know I can always count on you."

Kanan hears mostly himself, and the two most important people in his life--Hera and Ezra. He hears Ezra's despair at losing him, and his resolve in entrusting his life and mission to Sabine. He knows the Jedi Temple is in danger. He's connected deeply with the wolves at this point, and either knows or at least suspects what he and Ezra will be asked to do.

This is probably where those extra episodes explaining Kanan's backstory and connection to Lothal would have come in handy. As it is we get the mysterious voiceover dump and have to piece things together after the fact.

What I think makes the most sense is that the Loth-wolves stopped Kanan from going to rescue Hera last episode precisely because--connected deeply as they are in the Force, associated with the WBW--they could see ahead to the potential futures of that course of action and knew that if he went after her, he would die. No matter what he did, no matter which way he moved, one way or another, it would happen. So they warned him. They showed him why lay ahead.

If you do this, we cannot save you, they told him.

And that's why he spends so much of this episode trying to mentally prepare the others, especially Ezra, for his absence.

Because the wolves still a Jedi to save the Temple from Palpatine's evil intentions.

Kanan is resolved in his purpose: He's going to save Hera. He's resigned to his fate: He will trade his life for the chance. And he's determined in his resilience: "Then I will make it count." He won't just make his death a meaningless sacrifice. He will ensure the completion of her mission, honor her by fulfilling the end goal of her failed attack. He will save Lothal by destroying the fuel pods and bringing the factories to a halt. He will give his life for Hera's dream.

Kanan proves in the end that he understands how to love without attachment. (Also why he makes Ezra formulate the plan, because he knows his feelings are compromised when it comes to Hera.) He will not cling selfishly to her. He will free her and then let her go and then let his own life pass away. He will take his place in Hades, and then teach Ezra how to grieve. Because Ezra won't be able to save him.

Because you can't go back down into Hades to retrieve the ones you lose.

“In mythology, if you go to Hades to get them back you’re not doing it for them, you’re doing it for yourself. You’re doing it because you don’t want to give them up. You’re afraid to be without them. The key to the dark side is fear. You must be clean of fear, and fear of loss is the greatest fear. If you’re set up for fear of loss, you will do anything to keep that loss from happening, and you’re going to end up in the dark side. That’s the basic premise of Star Wars and the Jedi, and how it works."

George Lucas, Mellody Hobson George Lucas - Virtual Speaker Interview, 2021

I love this shot, Ezra entering lightsaber-first, a visual emphasis on the fact that they are Jedi, and the Force requires much of them. Much sacrifice, much compassion, much selflessness. To whom much is given, much is required. With great power comes great responsibility.

All that jazz.

Kanan is preparing Ezra for the greatest responsibility he's going to have, to be asked to do what is right regardless of what it will personally cost him. And he's about to become a very painful object lesson.

He also talks like he's been given multiple visions of the future and is arranging things specifically so that they'll fall out in a specific way. It mirrors how Ezra speaks in the finale--If Thrawn shows up too soon, then this path, if he doesn't, then this one.

Some very painful paralleling that you don't realize the first time through.

Ezra's a bit uncertain at first, but honors Kanan's request, and gets started formulating a plan to get them into the Capital.

OH HEY WOULD YOU LIKE TO DESPISE PRYCE A BIT MORE?

Conducting the interrogation personally in her own office is quite the flex.

Once again paralleling to the Season One finale, another character comes in to start the questioning, and gets awfully personal with the digs, bringing up the interrogated party's painful past and history. In this case, Thrawn has brought Hera's kalikori down from its pedastel in his office on the Chimaera--that "place of honor" he promised her--in order to rub it in how he's deciphered the cultural meaning behind it.

Really leaning in hard on those icky cultural appropriation vibes aren't we, writers? Let's be clear, it's not that Thrawn was curious about Twi'lek culture and researched what meant what on a kalikori that's so gross, it's that he did so in order to learn more about Hera specifically so that he could hurt her more personally, namely by taunting her about her dead brother. It's the context, not the curiosity.

Thrawn is an Imperial warlord and only comes into contact with these cultural relics because he's a member of the tyrannical force currently oppressing those cultures. If he really respected or cared about them as items important to the people the Empire was conquering, he should leave them in their damn place. OR, if destruction of the relics at the hand of the Empire was inevitable, he should save them from that destruction and then be finding a way to give them back to the people they belong to or the closest equivalent. Instead he hoards them in his own art gallery to dissect and study to glean more insight into the cultures, so that the Empire might better defeat them.

Yeah no, the staging parallels to the Grand Inquisitor are super 100% on purpose and deliberate.

Also! Because I like ruining people's days, would you like some more Fridge Horror that you may or may not already have seen if you've been following me?

IT-O droids monitor prisoner vitals. Heartrate, blood pressure, adrenaline, other hormones and physiological markers. Hera's already pregnant at this point. Possibly far enough along that the IT-O was able to detect it.

Thrawn and Pryce might knowingly have tortured a pregnant woman.

~You're weeeeeeeeeelcooooooooome.~

Love Sabine whacking Zeb and shushing him to not interrupt Ezra as he's meditating and sensing out.

Also this look. <3

And also the soft conspiratorial smiles between Ezra and Sabine as they vibe on the same wavelength in regards to this plan.

The Kiners go all out on the music this next scene, as we montage building the gliders and Kanan preparing to shave and cut his hair, fully reclaiming his identity as Caleb Dume, The Last Padawan, again.

Kanan's theme plays, in bright flute, with bouncy string accompaniment. It's ritualistic how he moves. Like a samurai slicing off his topknot. Luke's Theme crossfades in through his to mark the heroism of the moment, as the preparations are finished.

And thus begins a long series of hidden goodbyes.

"This is one of those times I'm glad the Force is with you." Zeb says, about how crazy the plan is, and Kanan just silently puts a hand on his shoulder, the last time the two men would ever speak.

(The animators also go all hell out, making this episode one of the most gorgeous yet put to print.)

Cut to our favorite blue asshole. And he's been summoned to Coruscant for a meeting of heads of state to quibble about budgetary proportions lol. Of all things to yank Thrawn away from Lothal, it's politics and bureaucracy, par the course. Thrawn seems offended and claims Palpatine assured him he supports the Defenders.

And while I'm sure Palpatine has paid a bit of lip service to Thrawn's face... yeah no sorry honey, Palpatine was always going to go with the Death Star thing, it's been in the works since before the Clone War broke out. The only issue is that it's sucking all the funding and resources of everything else dry because of the constant delays and problems (Krennic is apparently mismanaging to hell) so now they are considering ganking money from other various projects to feed it.

And that's just... SO like the government lol.

So exit Thrawn, straight into the Thrawn: Treason novel. And I am still SORELY disappointed that Zahn did not take full advantage of the fact that Treason was basically a Rebels tie-in in order to have Thrawn sloooooooowly losing his mind and patience over things dissolving on Lothal while he's not there so that by the time we get him back in the finale, his irritation and annoyance is peak comedy and perfect characterization follow-through.

"I was gone for ONE HOUR and you blew up my project???!??"

The gliders are telegraphed to us with a very slight sound effect, and the rigid wings. So it's amazingly effective at fooling the Troopers lol. Rukh on the other hand has probably picked up a whiff of Zeb lingering on the others so he's alert.

Aaaaaand hidden goodbye number two, frick my heart this one hurts. There's so much Kanan can't tell Ezra, lest the fear of loss cripple him and make him unable to act, drive him towards the Dark Side. Kanan needs Ezra to be able to function for this mission, so he just praises Ezra for being a good listener--a veiled admonition for him to continue listening to the will of the Force, to his instincts, to the wisdom of others, to the wolves--and tells him and Sabine, "May the Force be with you."

He entrusts their safety to the Force, and tells them to trust in it in turn.

"Ezra and Sabine have each other, they'll find their way home."

Oh boy, on this edition of "Terrible Rebels takes that make zero sense except to the perpetually offended", there were actually multiple people who complained about Hera's confession coming about as a result of the truth serum, and they were mad that her loopy state because of the truth serum was played for laughs.

To which all I will say is, shut up, Hera drunk on truth serum is hilarious. Maybe quit having such a stick up your butt about bad things happening to female characters and let them get in on the jokes and slapstick occasionally.

Heroic Main Theme here as Kanan makes his entrance.

About 90% certain the thing Hera wanted to tell Kanan here was that she was pregnant. I refuse to accept that time on the fuel pod as the first time she told Kanan she loved him. Does not make sense, rejected.

Not gonna comment much on the Kanan/Hera scenes, they're adorable and sweet and heartwarming and heartbreaking in hindsight but I will say this soft romantic cue that accompanies them is very lovely.

Pryce sounds more than a bit pissy that Hera got rescued right from under her nose. This leads directly into her recklessness later with the fuel pods.

Love Ezra and Sabine casually commandeering a gunship. "I'm the backup pilot, so I'm in the back." And the Troopers just accept that logic lol.

And the "something" Kanan needs to tell Hera is either that he knows she's pregnant (but maybe doesn't know she knows?) OR about his upcoming expiration. Too bad Rukh interferes.

Oh hey, another sad parallel, neither Jedi have their lightsaber for their moment of ultimate sacrifice.

Hgngnh watching all the pieces move into place for what I already know is coming is awful.

Still cannot get over just how polluted the streets are, look at that rust colored smog.

Lol Ezra's little fist pump, completely forgetting where he is a moment. He's so cute I love him.

Their teamwork in taking out the other Imperials is great too.

*watches the kiss, sighs with sadness*

You did not have to dig so hard into the mood whiplash guys. You really didn't.

All right, let's just... pull off the bandaid.

The animation, the music full of mournful male chorus and high siren wail, the muted soundtrack, the emphasis on Hera and Ezra, that Kanan is so deeply utterly in tune with the Force that his blindness doesn't even matter (which is what his eyes clearing up was, clumsily, attempting to convey) he can see them...

And then he's gone.

And how awful it was for Ezra, who literally just felt his bond with Kanan snap inside his head, to have to be the competent leader and shout at Sabine to, "Go! Go!". For him to have to be the one thinking clearly, because Hera is completely numb and in shock.

Sabine wiping her eyes as she flies them out of there, somehow still able to see through her tears.

And then a stark white and gray titlecard as ashen dust flickers down around the text.

:((((((((

Frick man it still hits hard. Looking back though, it was inevitable. The death flags were all there, the pieces all set up and in place. This wasn't done on a whim, this was meticulously thought out, to devastating effect.

I was never quite as emotionally attached to Kanan as a lot of other people in the fandom, and I'm also a grown adult, so Kanan's death, while incredibly saddening, was not nearly as emotionally devastating to me as it was to quite a few younger viewers. For a lot of fandom this was their first time experiencing a fictitious loss like that, of having a character, a person they had as a staple in their lives, suddenly leaving it. Leaving behind an empty hole.

And that's one of the reasons I have to respect the writers for doing it. They had a story they needed to tell--about loss, about dealing with grief, about how to pick yourself back up and continue doing the right thing, as a Jedi specifically for Ezra, and as a person for everyone else--and they knew they needed to give it the weight and gravitas it merited.

You can't cling to things forever. It's one of the core staple lessons of Star Wars, the "point of the prequels" to borrow a common if oft-misused phrase.

Loss will happen. Death will happen. Do not give into fear about it. Do not let your fear of loss drive you into darkness.

Give yourself time to process the loss. Let yourself grieve.

And then let go.

So I appreciate that the next few episodes are spent almost as if in a funk, the cloud of grief hanging over us as we process through our loss with the characters and then pick ourselves back up and return to the mission. Because the war isn't won yet, and there are still things left to do.

It is darkest before the dawn.

#star wars #star wars rebels #rebels rewatch #kanan x hera #space dad and his precious pumpkin child #and his rainbow colored cupcake #sabezra #liveblog #spoilers #this is a pro jedi blog #meta rambling #Rebels Rambles #warning: hella sad #i'm not even kidding #grand admiral thrawn #dunking on the blue bastard #ezra bridger

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roseofhybrids · 5 months

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You guys like fucked up ideas, yeah? (good cuz it's 5 in the morning and I need to exorcise this from my brain so I can sleep)

Imagine, by some twist of fate, that everyone in the circus abstracted, leaving Pomni as the only one remaining. She's managed to last for a little while alone, but given the circumstances and her general demeanor, things are not looking good.

This worries Caine, as she looks like she could abstract any minute now, and he doesn't want to lose his last human. So, our ringmaster decides he needs to pull out all stops and try something new. Humans are a social species, so he decides to start with the isolation problem.

By creating AI clones of the other five performers

Pomni's depressed because all her friends are gone, so why not make new ones! Perfect plan, five stars, nothing can possibly go wrong with this idea.

Essentially, he creates five AIs similar to his own. More advanced than Bubble, but without access to the majority of the circus' code and functions. Pretty much on the same level as Caine but without "admin privileges" so to speak. Same level of sentience.

Each is programmed to act similarly to how their human counterparts did pre-abstraction, but they are completely separate beings. Their personalities are similar (though skewed to be happier and more agreeable) with the caveat that their main directive takes priority. That being: keep Pomni happy and prevent her from abstracting at all costs.

So they act just like the human versions did, unless they reason that a trait or action would make Pomni unhappy or put her in an unsafe situation. The most obvious changes would probably be with Jax, followed by Zooble and Gangle. Caine leaves the five to look after Pomni while he gets to work on his own anti-abstraction schemes. (Mostly trying to make "bigger and better" adventures)

On one hand, you have Pomni. Stuck in digital eye strain hell, with all her friends/acquaintance reduced to writhing masses of black glitches and eyes. Then one day, Caine brings in a bunch of clones of people she knows are gone. A bunch of AIs that look and sound exactly like her lost companions, but that just don't act the same. A few are closer to the originals than others, but it's obvious these are not the people she once knew. But here they are wearing their faces and pretending to be them.

And on the other hand, you have the AIs. Their only purpose is to keep this single person happy and safe, but all she sees when she looks at them are imperfect ghosts. Still, they try everything they can to fulfill the task Caine has given them. All the while, trying to ignore the fact that they're clones made to replace the dead. They aren't the originals, they're meant to be copies of what the monsters hidden away in the cellar used to be. Their names, faces, voices, and basis of their personalities are all taken from someone else. And now they have to try to live up to Pomni's memories of them.

Psychological horror all around!

#don't know if I'll try and expand on this #but I do have a general idea of how things might develop #ideas #the amazing digital circus #tadc #au #i guess #not sure what you'd title this #for now just going to go with #replicant au

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eremorte · 2 months

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Royal/Rebel Swap au part 1/7

So I'm going to split this into parts because it's a lot. I'll be splitting it akin to the doll releases (I will pair Ramona and Cerise together in the same section though) so this part will cover Apple Briar Madeline and Raven.

So the way I interpret this AU I don't want to fundamentally change too much about the character's actions and personality. Just what circumstances would convince them to become Rebel/Royal (at least at first).

Apple:

She's a Rebel mostly because the event is unnecessary and dangerous. She is a royal by birthright, not by chance. Her fairytale is ceremony. Also with the event of the Wonderland takeover by the Evil Queen, Apple is convinced that Raven will be worse whether she intends to or not. She does not want to be unconscious for who knows how long to give Raven or any other enterprising villain the chance to hurt her kingdom.

However that doesn't mean she is "nice" about it. She remains the same type of anxious you see early on in the story. As well an unwittingly condensing which most fairytales tolerate. However Apple pleading with Raven to not poison her wouldn't sound out of character for the actor of Snow White and many believe she is playing a part no matter what types of arguments she gives.

Raven:

Royal because her mom's conditioning works just a smidge better. Now to be clear she still hates her mom, she just doesn't have the words for it. She understands what her role is in the story and intends to do just that and no more. The only evil spell she will try to learn is the poison apple spell and she will try to make it as painless as humanly possible. Through her mom, she learns a warped version of what is good and what is bad, but because her mom very bluntly names the difference she can easily recognize what most of the outside world follows. Except for what love means, people tend to stretch that word a lot in either case. All she knows is that whatever love she recognizes doesn't make her happy. So she often says she doesn't like a lot of things when really she means the opposite.

This adds to the miscommunication and she is perceived as surly and bitter and adequately evil. (This is probably what Lizzie goes through tbh). She wants to learn to be a better queen for both her sake and the surrounding kingdoms, but through her mom, she is convinced she has to temporarily knock out Apple White to make true headway. (Apple's personality isn't easy for Raven to talk to anyhow) To try and prove herself a good queen she tries to undo the extraneous curses on Wonderland (in my head this take more than just saying the curse backwards/coming up with a well said sentence). Which she is allowed to do because that's just trimming the weeds.

Briar:

Rebel-> Royal

Briar recognizes much earlier on that she isn't going have the chance to live a proper adulthood because she'll be in and out of unconscious for a 100 years at a time with 16-25 years of actually being awake before falling asleep again. And that's not counting her narcolepsy.

Also I use the term Royal in this case very loosely I imagine she will not apply the logic of everyone should follow their Destiny when she switches more so that with the adequate changes to her original tale she'll find something of her fairytale heritage she's more willing to act upon and thus become Royal (which is probably just an extension of Rebellion. This logic will likely apply for all the Rebel-> Royal switches).

She is desperate to escape this enchanted sleep so she is often found trying to negotiate with Faybelle/studying in her own time to find out how to break this curse but her kingdom is a 100 years behind so it would take a while to catch up to whatever demand Faybelle proposes. (I'd like to imagine that when the dark fairy was uninvited to the birthday of Sleeping Beauty there was a political proposal that the kingdom was rejecting and making a large public show of it).

Madeline:

This one is difficult because Maddie is functionally a Royal already. As I've typed that out that should make it easy yes? No. To keep her wacky charm when she picks a side I think she would be invested trying to tell her second parent's story. She still loves her dad to pieces but telling the same exact tale everyone expects of her bores her to bits. She can argue she's technically following the rules.

#ever after high #eah #Rebel/Royal swap au #Royal/Rebel Swap au #apple white #raven queen #briar beauty #madeline hatter #eah headcanons

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folklore-girl · 6 months

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WILDEST DREAMS (hana’s version)

word count: 1.1kish?

a/n: so “hana’s version” means that i’m writing this heavily based on taylor’s music video, but also with my own hcs. also this is purely for entertainment purposes, though mostly just a writing practice for me since i haven’t written since ages. also, thanku @trashmeowcan for helping me warna i would’ve still been overthinking abt this ILYSM. gif creds to @komhacoustic !!

warnings: too many taylor references and lots of cringe too teehee

hope you enjoy!

[ lights , camera and ... action !! ]

he was so perfect.

his eyes were such a startling shade of grey—that if you look closely, you’d see the emotion twisting in them, swirling behind those dark clouds. his lips tasted like the cigarettes he smoked and his voice had been frequenting my dreams lately. all of him, his face, his jaw, his shoulder—he was the most beautiful sculpture i’d ever seen.

he whispered to me, “let’s get out of this town, drive out of the city, away from the crowds...”

i was screaming internally, thinking of the implication of his words in a wordless script when the director yelled cut.

of course we were pretending.

of course, none of it was true.

. . .

we were shooting in the african deserts, and it was a short film about the magic, madness, heaven and sin that was love.

on the day we arrived to the location, the director had explained the script and the portrayal of love that this film wanted to show, the same as she had done on the phone call. she explained how our chemistry would be the magic, the madness would be evident when both of us would be ready to leave the life we knew to start a new one with each other, heaven would be when he’d touch me and sin because our love was forbidden in the script—he was a pilot, and i was an actress. the entire film had no dialogues or as the director said, our expressions will “say all that is needed to know”.

it was two week’s work and then we’d be out of the scorching dry deserts of sahara. that was the plan. at least until i met him.

after i did, i knew i’d gladly burn in this heat for a few more weeks —or even an entire lifetime— than letting go of him. i’d risk it all smiling.

it was absolute madness.

. . .

our characters were crazy in love.

he, the pilot, had flown miles just to see the actress for a few hours everyday, while she worked on her new movie. the pilot is tall and handsome as hell, while the actress is beautiful, and has such an irresistible charm that the pilot cannot help but fall for her humor and wits.

we were the perfect casting, although the others kept saying it would be fairly difficult to show it all in expressions, no words at all.

but for me, it proved to be fairly easy. i was lovestruck, and there was no hiding it from him because he knew it. he had to, from the way he smiled and the way he touched me, or maybe i was simply delusional.

probably the latter, but oh well. it was all a pretend anyways. none of it was real.

it could be though.

. . .

it was pure magic.

the way he looked at me, the way he held me close and how my knees felt weak after our first kiss onscreen.

i felt every moment of it. goosebumps on the back of my neck whenever he whispered in my ear. his fingertips grazing my skin, and when he held me close, his hand on my waist.

i lived those moments a thousand times and i’m sure he did too, he must have.

so i took my chance and said, “no one has to know what we do,” and no one did. what we did in my tent at night was no one’s business, and nobody had the slightest clue.

all i know is that i woke up with his clothes in my room, and the vague memory of his hands in my hair, his body on mine. i knew heaven was a place on earth, with him, in his arms.

. . .

we were lying on the bed, our bodies a tangled mess and the clothes thrown on the ground in a hurry. his hand caressed my waist and i peered through the tiny window of the tent, at the nighttime stars and thought.

i thought of the dangerous game i was playing and how one week is no time at all. blink, and it would all be over.

but oh, he was kissing my neck and i couldn’t think straight. he was definitely going to be the death of me.

. . .

“ready for the last scene?” he took my hand and whispered to me.

“yes,” i smiled a little. “are you?”

he gave me a sad smile and said, “maybe..”

and the camera started rolling. the actress was in a stunning red dress, with her hair pinned up masterfully by her movie stylist—she’d sneaked out of the movie set to meet him—and the pilot was in his uniform, all ready to go. the sun was slipping down the horizon, and the clouds were streaked in a beautiful mess of warm colors in the sky whilst the moon rose, accompanied by the barely visible stars, scattered like peppers.

his face changed ever so slightly, as he conveyed that he needed to go but didn’t want to. he tucked a loose strand of my hair and i knew what it meant—he loved me too much to give what we had away willingly. i stared painfully at him, then at the ground. the actress didn’t want to let go of her lover either.

a few moments later, he smiled and lifted my chin, conveying that the distance would just create fondness between the two. their love is stronger than anything and the actress knows too, so she smiles back, sweet and soft.

they have their very last kiss and the actress worries if her lover would remember her, the memories they have together and this very moment. and so i spoke with my eyes, “say you’ll remember me, standing in a nice dress, staring at the sunset, babe...”

she made him promise they’ll meet again, and that would be soon.

“red lips and rosy cheeks, say you’ll see me again, even if it’s just in your wildest dreams ah-ahh…”

. . .

it was the premiere night.

i was in my vintage off-shoulder, sparkling silver with a heavy white scarf and my hair up in an updo similar to my hairstyle in the short film.

i was dressed as my character, the enchantress.

the moment i arrived at the red carpet, cameras were flashing and i was smiling. i was seeing him again tonight, so the smile was genuine. at least until i saw him, with her.

we talked a little, and he introduced his new girlfriend and i smiled wide. and when she complimented my acting in my past movies, i smiled even wider and thanked her.

little did she know, what she was about to see wasn’t me acting. not even close.

we entered the cinema hall and the short film began. it was a 90’s romance, all black and white.

halfway through the movie, i realized i was done smiling. i leaned ahead in my seat and we made subtle eye-contact before i turned and left the hall, murmuring about a sick stomach.

the moment i stepped out, i felt something wet on my cheek and ran as fast as i could wearing a vintage dress, my heels clicking furiously. i knew he was following me, trying to stop me from leaving and i knew that but by the time he’d reach me, he’d be too late.

in the backseat of my car, i wondered about how we were built to fall apart.

hope u liked it!! also i’m writing after, like, 6 months or more so i promise i can do better than this shit lol

likes and reblogs are appreciated !! <3

tagging ppl who might be interested:

@cordelia-street @born-to-be-suburban-legends @indiansapphic @girlatreus @tiredandcaffeinated @prembharidhun @maya-why @carelikeribbonsinyourhair @shefollowedthestars @folkloregurl @doyouknowwhoyouare13 @manjulika-fanblog

might make a taglist too later so we msg me if u want to be tagged/removed xx

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kaonarvna · 6 months

Text

I finally did it: I found the spoons to make an actionable (and semi-gameified) visual representation of spoon theory that I can actually use.

I've been thinking about doing this for months, and I've posted about it once or twice.

But, I finally did it, I made these bad boys for myself:

I have Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. Which is to say, my body is very poorly held together, in a lot of pain, easily exhausted, and easily injured. I'm at the point now where I've had every intervention under the sun, nearly a decade of physio, we've found the best pharmacological interventions for me, and...we just have to get by. It's hard, it is, but it's the only mode of existing I know.

Maybe it's because I'm an aphantasiac, maybe it's because I'm (more than) a bit neurodivergent, but spoon theory has always been a little too abstract for me. I grew up on JRPGs (cough final fantasy has me in a choke hold), so putting things into just...stat bars and a table of effects, items, etc is more accessible to my fatigued, pained little brain. This is familiar. This makes sense to me.

Who needs an arbitrary amount of spoons, when you can have 200 HP & MP?

There's twenty notches in between the bars, so I can more accurately knock off health/mp as it ticks down. I teach in a primary school (children who only come up to my hip, mostly!), so you bet I've printed and laminated these, and have them slapped up somewhere I can easily see and access with velcro. If I can't see it? It doesn't exist. I can easily use a dry erase marker to take off my health/mp as I self-evaluate through the day, and start fresh the next.

「 As of this post going live, I've been using this for about a week! The MP drain seems accurate to life give or take, and the HP bar has been a good representation of just...the state of mess I'm in. There are injuries and "real life debuffs" that aren't on the list, but -20HP/-20MP has been a safe bet for those. The A4 is for at home, and one of the A5s follows me to work/out and about in my BUJO! 」

And it's not perfect, of course it's not! I'll probably tweak my board in a month or two. But, maybe just having a list of the things I can do to help myself right in front of me will help. Maybe, being able to show it to my spouse will help them help me better. It's worth a try. Bullet journalling and visual timetables are lifesavers, but they can only communicate so much at once.

I've made a blank version, in the event anyone wants to download it and fill it in for themselves.

This link should let you access a view-only version in canva. I'd imagine you should be able to make a copy and do it yourself! If not, don't hesitate to let me know and I'll try to find a workaround.

Hopefully this might help one or two busy-brained people like me manage their energy and pace their bodies a little bit better. Or, at the very least, give them a starting point for making their own resources.

#disability #actually disabled #chronic pain #chronic illness #chronically ill #chronic fatigue #hypermobile ehlers danlos #ehlers danlos syndrome #ehlers danlos zebra #Eds #Heds #spoonie #spoon theory #not enough spoons #neurodivergent #disability resources

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mama-qwerty · 5 months

Text

The Knucklesverse Guide

Updated December 15, 2023

A group of us on our Knuckles-centric discord server kind of accidentally created an au inspired by the Spiderverse movies. The Master Emerald—who loves her guardian something fierce—creates a special place where all the versions of her guardian from across different universes can come and socialize, be safe, and not feel so all alone anymore. This place exists in a little pocket dimension the ME created, and is called The Sanctuary.

While at the Sanctuary, the different Knuckles are called by what media or au they come from. Movie Knux is called Wachowski, Sonic Boom Knux is Boom, etc. There are a few au Knuckles that were created in that server that we play with as well, so I figured it would be a good idea to make a kind of cheat sheet so readers will know who these other Knux’s are. I’ll update this if/when I add more to whatever bits of writing I do for the Knucklesverse.

I have done A LOT of writing for this au in the server. They’re a lot of fun to play with.

There are more Knux in the Sanctuary—Archie, OVA, and Underground, for example—whom I will probably not include, mainly because I am not familiar with their backstories and personalities well enough. My main group is the Shatter Triplets, Boom, Wachowski, and a few of the new aus.

Anyway. Here we go!

~~~~~

Boom – age 16-18

from Sonic Boom tv show

the most emotionally aware Knux

the tallest of the batch – stands close to 5 feet tall

acts as the “big brother” to the others, because of his size and emotional intelligence

is very open with physical affection, giving hugs and forehead presses whenever one of the others need it – he’s the only one some of the more stoic Knux’s will accept this from

he’s less stupid in the Sanctuary, because the lack of a ME in his world is what contributed to his spacey thinking

Wachowski – age 16

from the live action Sonic movies

he knew his tribe, so can pass on customs and traditions and the language to the others

lost his tribe at age 6 and wandered the galaxy searching for the ME shortly after, being caught and forced to fight in arenas and such at a young age

typically has the calmest head of all the Knux

Dread – age 22-25

from Sonic Prime tv show – the shatterspace No Place

he, Gawain, and Sinbad are the three eldest out of the rest of the Knux

the shortest of the Shatter triplets, and has a bit of a belly

has a special bond with Boom, and is protective of his brother Gnarly

being in the Sanctuary helps calm the madness within him – his lack of a ME in his world is what made him go kinda bonkers and the Prism Shard didn’t help matters

over time he becomes less selfish and more protective of the others – but he’s still him and will turn to violence if he deems it the best course of action

Renegade (aka Ren) – age 18-20

from Sonic Prime tv show – the shatterspace New Yoke City

no-nonsense and blunt – he’s Prime Knuckles’ sense of duty and protection ramped up to 11

the most responsible of the Shatter triplets, but still gets pulled into shenanigans by Dread and Gnarly (mostly Dread)

gets ‘bad vibes’ when something’s wrong

doesn’t really like Dread all that much, but will step up to help if Dread needs it

Gnarly – age 15ish

from Sonic Prime tv show – the shatterspace Boscage Maze

grew up anxious and paranoid, thinking the trees were talking to him – he’s Prime Knuckles’ chaos sensitivity, and was ‘hearing/seeing’ the chaos energy in all the living things around him

while in the Sanctuary, the ME calms his mind

he’s still fidgety and a little jumpy with anxiety issues

tall and lanky, like a gangly teenager – always hungry and isn’t picky about what he eats

Dark – age 47

from the Dark Mobius storyline in Archie comics

became Enerjak, almost conquered the planet

arrogant and cruel – sucked out people’s souls to make them his minions

when he lost his power he became this old and wrinkly lump of nastiness

none of the other Knux like him, but the ME pulled him in because he’s a Knux and she believes everyone is worthy of redemption (spoiler alert, he doesn’t want redemption, he wants his power back)

he constantly tries to play on the others’ weaknesses and insecurities, to manipulate them into giving him back the power he so desperately wants again

Gawain – age 22-25

from Sonic and the Black Knight video game

essentially forced to be king when Sonic noped out

very protective of his country and people

has strong sense of duty and honor and failing at any mission or task is NOT an option

Sinbad – age 22-25

from Sonic and the Secret Rings video game

a sailor who butts heads with Dread

can use his World Ring to control storms

treasure hunter, but doesn’t have the best luck

X – age 16

from Sonic X anime

shortest temper, easy to rile up

most gullible, but still has the Knuckles heart of gold

always believes in second chances, even for enemies who were trying to kill him a moment before

can be very rude, but cares deeply about his friends

From the various Knuckles aus created by folks on the Echidna's Parade discord server

Cyber - age N/A

created by folks on the Echidna's Parade server

he was made into an A.I by getting assimilated into cyberspace

was saved from cyberspace but ended up with many ai behaviors

is cold but feels bad about it

more logical than other Knuckles’

can summon Holographic screen he can display information on

Jax – 20ish

created by folks on the Echidna’s Parade server

a storybook au that follows along the lines of Black Knight and Secret Rings, based on Alice in Wonderland

ex-knight to the Queen of Hearts (Rouge)

she abused him for much of his life – he put himself in harms way to keep others safe, especially his world’s version of Tails

suffered much of his life due to this mindset of self-sacrifice

the queen cut his quills short – in his world quills are held in high honor and cutting them is a sign of shame and cowardice

one of the more quiet and reserved Knuckles and can have panic attacks

Quetzal (aka Q) – age 16ish

created by folks on the Echidna’s Parade server

a shapeshifter, who can transform into a large dragon, or a mid-size form between the dragon and echidna

has abandonment issues – his parents were killed as they protected his egg and their hoard, and when he hatched he instinctively began to protect the hoard as he waited for their return

adopts his friends and loved ones into his ‘hoard’ and is fiercely protective of them

was prophesied to bring death and destruction in his world, but he simply doesn’t want to so avoided that whole mess

communicates in chirps, whistles, growls and trills while in dragon form

behaves a lot like a lazy cat – loves to nap and force others to nap if he thinks they need it

gives off golden retriever energy when excited

typically not a fighter

Zombie/Zombby (aka Z or Little Z) – age 12

created by folks on the Echidna’s parade server

he was raised by his tribe to be the guardian of the ME, taught and groomed by the priests since he was barely hatched

they betrayed his trust, wanting to use the ME’s power for themselves

when he came of age at 12, they attempted to connect him to the ME but were overzealous and flooded his little body with so much chaos energy it killed him

they tried to hide their crime by burying him in a small grave, but the ME worked her magic and over the course of thousands of years, she ‘marinated’ him in her energy, reviving him

he’s technically still dead, but the abundance of chaos energy within him reanimated him

he can detach his limbs for comedic effects

classic baby of the family – can do just about anything and the others can’t stay mad at him for long

he has a bit of a limp – the others tend to carry him on their backs or shoulders because of this

doesn’t remember much of his life

Nile (aka Mummy Knuckles) – age unknown

personality created by the folks on Echidna’s Parade server

the Mummy skin from the game Sonic Forces: Speed Battle

holds himself in a regal manner

can be cold and distant, but has special soft spot for Zombby

is usually followed by at least 3 ghosts, but can conjure others at his command

very blunt and to the point

went through the mummification process for reasons (I don’t think we’ve hammered those out yet) – it was his choice to do so and he feels very proud for the honor

didn’t retain much memory from when he was alive, so pieced together who he was from the murals on the walls of his tomb – which depicted him as this stiff, regal person

Metzli and Yunuen (aka ‘the twins’) – age 17ish

created by the folks on Echidna’s Parade server

the twins are fundamentally Knuckles split in two

Yunuen was a body-less eldritch being, billions of years old, who wandered the galaxy and inhabited the bodies of mortals to give himself something to do

he would seep into the body of a mortal, copy their mind and memories and personality, and eject the soul of that body, dooming it to roam endlessly or vanish into the ether without that mortal tether

he did this time and time again, sending countless souls to their damnation

one day he came upon a lone figure on a floating island, and decided to inhabit him

Knuckles was copied, and his soul was ejected (after a bit of a struggle, which was unusual) and the being moved in and assumed Knuckles’ life

Knuckles’ soul refused to give up and stuck around, using his new ghost-like abilities to try and contact his friends

after some time, the eldritch being was ‘reverse corrupted’ due to Knuckles’ pure heart and overwhelmingly self-sacrificing nature

wracked with guilt, the being begged for forgiveness, his past atrocities weighing heavily on his mind

the ME recognized true remorse, and refused to let the now changed being leave forever, so she constructed a new body for Knuckles’ soul to inhabit

to avoid confusion the two adopted new names – Yunuen for the eldritch being in Knuckles’ original body, and Metzli for the new body created for Knuckles’ soul

Yunuen is anxious and fearful, his past haunting him

Metzli is very protective of his brother – he holds no ill will toward the being he was

they each retain some powers from their previous forms – Metzli has the ability to astral project, and Yunuen can alter matter and tap into his eldritch form when necessary (I’m not sure what that entails – don’t think we’ve really hammered that all out, either)

Okay, I think that’s all the Knux I typically work with. I’ll update this with more if/when I get more writing out that includes someone new I forgot.

Check out my Knucklesverse bits under snippets!

#knucklesverse #sonic boom #boom knuckles #knuckles the dread #sonic prime #gnarly knuckles #renegade knucks #knuckles wachowski #sonic the hedgehog fanfiction #sonic fanfiction

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