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tmnt-tychou · 11 months

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All Hallows Eve

Meant to be Bayverse, but you could probably imagine its any of them.

Female Reader x All Four Turtles (Slightly Mikey x Reader)

All Hallows Eve

She was dressed as an angel, standing on a street corner looking lost. The white feathered wings with matching boots seemed to glow with a light all their own in the dark, tin-foil halo glittering above her head. She caught Michelangelo's attention with her costume, but he had no plan to approach her at first.

Halloween was the one day a year where he and his brothers could walk the streets in the open without people screaming for their lives. But it still came with its own caveats. They only went out at night and stayed away from any bright lights that could give people a clear look at their forms. And they could never stay in one place for too long. People would compliment their “costumes” in passing, but if they lingered, people would realize they were too big, too real to be costumes.

So even though they were out among the humans, they continued to live in the shadows like ninja, but enjoying the fanfare of a New York Halloween. It was the closest any of them could get to feeling like part of society and Michelangelo milked it for all he could. He kept moving through the neighborhood block parties, enjoying the costumes and partaking of the street food.

That was when Michelangelo saw her. She seemed to be looking for something, or she was lost. But he wasn't sure if he should approach. Not until she looked his way; looked right at him. Her eyes were big, haunting. And they drew him in like she needed him. He found himself walking out of the crowd toward her.

“Hey there, Angel,” he said, referring to her costume. “You okay?” He knew he was big, even for someone pretending to be in a costume. He tried to hunch, make himself smaller. Non-threatening to a woman being approached by a stranger.

She didn't seem to be bothered by his looks or his size. She almost seemed relieved someone had asked about her. “I...I think I'm a bit lost. I was trying to get to a party, but I don't know the city very well and...” she looked at her empty hands, “I've misplaced my phone so I don't have the address.”

“Well that's no good,” Michelangelo replied. “Can I help you find it? Do you remember the address?”

She shrugged helplessly. “I only moved to the city a few weeks ago. I don't know where anything is. I met some people who invited me to this party.” She paused for a moment, as if trying to stop herself from getting emotional. “I just wanted to make some friends here.”

Michelangelo knew better, but he spoke anyway. “I'll be your friend. My name's Mike. My brothers and I are just out enjoying the vibe. Do you want to hang with us for a bit? Then I can make sure you get home when you're ready. Uh...that is if you're okay kicking it with some strangers for a while.”

She smiled, grateful. “That sounds like a lot of fun. Are your brothers giant turtles, too?”

He laughed. “Yeah, we all decided to wear the same thing. Like a group costume.”

He didn't notice she mentioned nothing about costumes.

***********

“What I'm saying is the whole shtick of The Addams Family is that they're weirdos,” Donatello said as he chewed on a caramel apple slice. “They're different than anybody else. But when you put her in a boarding school where everyone is weirdos—supernatural creatures—you're throwing the whole gimmick of the franchise out the window. The story would have worked better if the school was full of normal people. And she would have been the only one able to solve the murder mystery because only she would have suspected a supernatural killer.”

Raphael picked up his forth taco of the night. For a mutant his size, they were hardly a mouthful. But damn, they were so good. “I dunno about any of that, Don. But if you didn't like 'Wednesday', you don't have to keep watching it.”

“Yo, broooos!” Michelangelo called from below. “Come meet our new friend.”

The three other turtles looked down from where they sat on various levels of a metal fire escape. Each had been enjoying the food they collected from the street party, but had ultimately decided to eat in private and watch the people from the alley where they hid.

Leonardo, who was perched just a little higher than Raphael, leaned down so his face was more to his level. “Does Mike have a human with him?”

Raphael sighed. “Looks like. He's always been a sucker for a pretty face. Especially one that will say two words to him. Any two words. Even if it's 'fuck off.'”

Leonardo smirked and then gripped the railing. “Well, let's go meet Mike's new friend and hopefully that will be that.” But he wasn't thinking. He just hopped over the rail and landed two stories down like it was nothing.

Even Michelangelo was silently motioning for him to cut it on the ninja stuff as the two remaining brothers climbed down like normal people.

“So these are my brothers: Don, Raph, and Leo,” Michelangelo introduced. “And this beautiful angel is uh...” He looked helplessly to the human woman.

“Angel works,” she smiled back. “Hi.”

They all smiled back at her, a little awkward and a little clueless on what to do with her.

“Angel got lost trying to get to a party,” Michelangelo continued. “She's new in town and doesn't know the city too well. I thought we could hang out with her for a while and then make sure she gets home safe. What do you guys think?”

The brothers looked at each other and wordlessly agreed. How could they turn down anyone needing a safe chaperon for the night?

“You hungry, Angel?” Raphael asked.

“I could eat.” Her shrug made her cute little wings flap slightly and all four turtles went a little soft for her. She was a woman their age and she looked at them without fear. Like they were her peers. Like they were normal. How could they not go a little soft for that?

As the bottomless pits they were, the turtles didn't mind buying more food for themselves as well. They were happy to purchase anything Angel wanted while they were at it. At first, they wanted to make it quick. They knew lingering out among the humans for too long would give them away. But this time, something amazing happened.

Angel happened. All it took was one person to be with them. To talk with them like they were normal people and that strange bridge between human and mutant was built. With Angel near them, no matter how much their size crept into the uncanny valley for the masses, they were normal. Other people partying on the street didn't stare at them and quickly walk away anymore. A few people even stopped to compliment them on their costumes or even ask how they were made.

Raphael usually answered with random comments like “animatronics and rubber suits” or “it's CGI” and people would walk off confused. But not scared, and that was the important part.

As Leonardo ordered a basket of fries at a food truck to share with their new friend, he heard her talking to Donatello.

“Right?” she was saying. “This boarding school wasn't even really Addams Family core either. It was like...slightly spookier Hogwarts. Slightly. Fucking Harry Potter. Now everything has to be at a school.”

“I see you both have some strong feelings about a TV show,” Leonardo joked as he approached them. He offered Angel the warm fries in his hand. He thought she would take the whole basket, it was mostly meant for her. But she only took a few.

“For the most part, I was pretty on board with the whole show,” she continued. “But when Wednesday was stabbed, that was...jarring. Usually the family is portrayed as either liking pain, or they are somewhat impervious to injury. Maybe a bit of both. You never really know for sure. There's almost an immortal feel to them. There's just too many stories today that should have been original projects, but they keep being tacked onto existing franchises, but they don't have any respect for the lore.”

“Exactly!” Donatello agreed. He also grabbed a few fries and put them in his mouth. “The show and the story weren't bad per se, but it's not really an Addams Family story, so it wasn't as satisfying for fans as it could have been with a few tweaks.”

“God, are you still dragging that show?” Michelangelo sighed. “Angel, come dance with me. Let's enjoy this party while we can.”

He grabbed her hand, so small and delicate in his. She allowed him to lead her out into the thick of the crowd. The Monster Mash was playing over the speakers, a DJ at the stage in the front. The two found themselves a space to boogie and went about shaking their asses, just another normal pair in the sea of costumed party-goers.

“So what made you move to New York?” Michelangelo asked.

“Just trying some place new,” Angel replied. “Got tired of the little podunk town I came from. Not a lot of work there. Was hoping to find more opportunities out here. Maybe get some schooling in. What about you? How long have you been in the NYC?”

“All my life. Was born here. Might even die here. Big fan of the Big Apple.”

“Oh yeah? What do you do with yourself here?”

“Uh...” He paused for a bit, brain trying to come up with a reasonable response. No one had ever asked him his occupation before. “I work with the city in kind of a...crime watch capacity. Trying to clean the crime off the streets, make neighborhoods safer. That kind of thing.”

“Oh, like with the police?”

“I mean...we work with the police sometimes but what we do is more like...a neighborhood watch situation but on a larger scale.”

“Does that pay anything?”

“Uh, not really. It's more of a non-profit type organization. Donnie's the one that makes all the money. He's into tech and sells patents and stuff. He sort of bankrolls us so we can keep going.”

“Oh wow, that's a really noble goal. Though how to do watch the neighborhood on nights that aren't Halloween? With you guys being big turtles and all?”

At first, Michelangelo thought she was joking. “Heh, what?”

“You know, you guys are big turtles. How do you get around the other days of the week if you look after the neighborhoods? You can't convince people these are costumes forever.”

It was such a jarring revelation that Michelangelo's brain shut down, and then immediately went into panic mode. He picked her up under his arm like she was a plank of wood and fled the open area. He slipped through the crowds of people with an uncanny ease for his size and then continued to run past where his brothers were standing.

“Mike!” Raphael called after him.

When that didn't even slow his brother down, the three followed after him into a small, dead-end alley that was poorly-lit and would have very little visibility from the street.

“What?” Leonardo asked as they caught up with him. “What happened?”

By then, Michelangelo had set Angel back on her feet and then chewed nervously on his nail. “She knows!” he hissed, as if he were trying to keep it a secret from those who may be nearby.

“She...knows?” Raphael parroted, confused.

“That we're turtles.”

“Yeah, of course you're turtles,” she replied. She touched Michelangelo's arm and he visibly stiffened at her contact. “Clearly, these aren't costumes. I just think it's cool that you come out one night a year to hang out with people like this.”

“Uh...we actually come out a lot...just not...you know, street level,” Michelangelo replied.

“You mean you...” she pointed to the rooftops. “Is that where you live?”

“No, but it's how we usually get around.”

“Oooh! Like Batman!”

“Right! Yes! Like Batman!” Raphael agreed with excitement.

“Okay, okay, lets calm down,” Leonardo said. “This is a lot to take in all at once. You realized we weren't in costume and you didn't really say anything?”

Angel shrugged. “Hey, you guys were nice to me and you weren't trying to like get me alone in a dark alley or anything. Uh...except for right now. But you guys seem safe. What do I care what you look like? There's not many nice people in this city.

“I thought I would at least be meeting some fun strangers for a night and have the best Halloween. And maybe I would see you guys again, or maybe you were something magical that only happened on All Hallows Eve. Either way, it would be a good memory.”

She looked at the brothers who all had various bewildered looks on their faces. This person, she was someone special. Someone interesting. Someone who rolled with the weird and uncanny. Someone they could possibly make friends with. It had been years since they had dared to bring a new person into their world.

“So...what do you want to do now?” Donatello asked.

“I liked what we were doing,” Angel replied. “Let's keep hanging out. Eat good food, dance to music, talk to each other. And maybe I'll see you again after this?”

The brothers all looked at each other and smiled.

“Yeah, that sounds good,” Raphael agreed while Michelangelo nodded excitedly.

“If you're okay with the turtle thing, we're definitely hanging out again.” Michelangelo offered his arm and she took it.

They went back to the block party. They danced and joked. They enjoyed the music, the food, the costumes. The turtles were brighter now. Not so guarded, not so careful or suspicious of the people around them. It had been a long time since anyone new had appeared into their close circle of people they trusted. This was the first one who was their own age. She had seen them and accepted them on sight. This knowledge came with a bit of a happy high for the turtles. A burst of hope and joy at being discovered and immediately accepted without even a demand for an explanation.

And they wanted her to know. They wanted her to see their world. After this night of costumes, they planned to see her again, to show her and share what they were with her. It had been a good Halloween night.

“It's getting late and it's getting cold,” Leonardo eventually announced. “Angel, can we help you get home?”

“If you could walk me to my car?” she replied. “I parked a few blocks away.”

She nodded in the direction they needed to go and Leonardo hovered a hand over the small of her back to guide her.

“It's our pleasure.”

“You think your phone is in the car somewhere?” Michelangelo asked. “If you find it, we can trade numbers.”

“You guys have phones? Like normal phones?” she laughed.

“Of course,” Donatello said in a pragmatic tone. “Why wouldn't we?”

“Oh uh...I guess you could get phones if you really wanted them. Sorry, my bad. I guess you guys feel more magical than practical to me. Like you'll just poof away at the stroke of midnight. Knowing you have phones makes you feel a little more real.”

“Oh, we're real, Angel,” Raphael said with a flirty smile.

“And we'll be your friends if you want us to be,” Leonardo said softly. “We don't have many of those.”

“Neither do I,” Angel replied with the same soft tone. “I would really like that a lot.” They walked a few more feet and she pointed to the last building on the block. “My car is just around this corner.”

As they turned the corner, the turtles jumped back at the sudden red and blue flashing lights. Several police cars and one ambulance were clustered around the accident site of a two-car collision.

“Shit, Angel, I don't think we can walk you all the way to your car. But you should be hella safe with all the—” Michelangelo turned to the woman who had been standing right next to her. But in a blink, she was no longer there. “Angel?” He looked around, then looked at his brothers. “Dude, where'd she go?”

“She was...just right there,” Donatello said in confusion.

Leonardo peered around the corner to see if she had gone on ahead while Raphael looked behind them.

“I don't think she bailed. Where is she?”

Pressed to the side of the building, Leonardo audibly gasped. “I think...I see her.”

The others huddled around him to see what he was looking at. Out of one of the smoking cars, paramedics carried a female body dressed all in white, complete with halo and feathery white wings. White that was marred with smatterings of dark red blood. The body was set on a stretcher where the entire form was covered in a white sheet. No further first aid was administered to costumed angel as she was wheeled to the ambulance. That could only mean one thing.

“What? That...no, that can't...” Michelangelo struggled. “She was here with us all night. I touched her. I fucking picked her up in my arms!”

In his ear, he heard Donatello's ragged breathing, as if he were about to have a panic attack.

“Hey!” A police officer caught their shadows peering around the corner and they quickly ducked out of sight. When the human started toward their location, they quickly took to the rooftops in hopes of getting a better view. But by then, the body was already loaded into the ambulance to be taken away and Angel was nowhere else to be found.

***************

Her death didn't even make the news. What was one collision with a drunk driver with all the other crazy stuff that happened in New York on Halloween? And the turtles were never quite sure what happened that night; what they truly witnessed.

Only a few days into November, they all stopped talking about it. Tried to pretend it didn't happen. And it worked for most of the year. But then...October rolled around again. And as Halloween drew closer, the brothers didn't generate their usual excitement for their one holiday a year when they could go out on the street among the citizens. They still didn't talk about it. And when the night came, there was a certain unspoken trepidation in the air.

“You're not going out tonight?” Splinter asked them as they all brooded in the living room.

“Thinking about it, but...” Raphael trailed off.

“It just feels...weird,” Michelangelo added.

The other two brothers didn't say anything, but they seemed to agree with the sentiment.

“It is a shame your friend passed away after you had only known her for a while,” Splinter said. “But I don't think she would have liked that her memory tainted this holiday for you. You should be thankful you were able to have that time with her before she was gone.”

There was an uncomfortable silence from the turtles. As much as they tried to explain, Splinter never quite understood what they experienced. In his mind, they had met their friend during the party and then she had died in an accident on the way home after. All attempts to explain to the contrary resulted in failure.

“What if you went out just for a while to pay your respects? Perhaps find some closure,” Splinter then offered.

The brothers perked up a little and looked at each other. Something about that felt right.

**********

They went to the site of the crash, a year ago that day. They thought maybe anyone else might be there. Someone who missed her. Someone who felt the loss of her. Humans left flowers at sites like these on an anniversary like this, right? But there was nothing there. A year later, no evidence that the incident ever happened. The only proof that a life was lost here was that several of the road's street lights had been fixed. The collision had been largely blamed on most of the street lights being in disrepair at the time, even though one of the drivers had been drunk.

The turtles stood beside the street, out of the direct glow of the repaired street lights.

“So...do we say something or...?” Donatello asked softly.

“I dunno, we hardly knew her,” Raphael responded.

“Say something if you feel like it,” Leonardo offered.

They were all quiet for a moment, then Michelangelo spoke. “Well, Dudette, you seemed to be a super awesome chick. Too bad we didn't get a chance to see how awesome you really were.”

“A true tragedy,” Donatello agreed.

They stood for a while more and then turned to leave. The music and noise from the block party near by reached them before they could remove the nearest manhole cover.

“You guys wanna pick up some food before we head home?” Michelangelo suggested. “Grab something for Splinter too? See a few costumes, listen to some music before we go?”

The season called to them. It always did. The one festival a year about darkness and masked faces. Spooky fun and all sorts of delicious food. They had to be a part of it, just for a while.

The brothers split up, aiming for their favorite vendors. It wasn't like the year before, where they had a human friend hanging out with them, making them look normal. Now it was back to sticking to the shadows. Darting in and out to get what they were after and then sneaking back to the allies so no one stared at them for too long, lest they be figured out.

Michelangelo meant to grab some caramel apples for himself and one for Splinter, but the music and the atmosphere of the party caught his attention. He still wished to be in the middle of it. Talking with people, laughing, feeling like one of them. Even on this day of magic, he could only exist on the outskirts.

And then...something caught his eye. A woman dressed all in white. A little glittery halo and white, feathery wings. His breath caught in his chest. She turned, as if sensing his eyes on her. Angel looked right at him and smiled.

Happy Halloween

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#tmnt #ninja turtles #tmnt bayverse #tmnt 2016 #halloween

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ifishouldvanish · 11 months

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i wish everyone calling mizrak a colonizer a very merry go do some research, because everyone's ethnicities in nocturne were chosen very deliberately, and if you know anything about the knights of st john (emmanuel's and mizrak's order) you know that the knights were heavily involved in the slave trade and enslaved many muslims. in fact, there was a large scale turkish slave revolt (failed) in malta in 1749, about 40 years before nocturne takes place. one way for the slaves to "earn" their freedom was through conversion to christianity. we don't know mizrak's story yet, but the hints are there ("has the world abandoned you, mizrak?"), and he's very obviously middle-eastern coded. his name is turkish. he carries an ottoman saber. while what he said to olrox while stressed out was uncalled for, i'm just saying that it's 99.9% likely that olrox wasn't the only one oppressed by europeans.

So I do agree it's not accurate to call Mizrak a colonizer, and you've given me some context I will admit I was lacking re: the knights of st John, so thank you for that. But I don't think it's unfair to say that he is aligned in a way that falls opposite from the ethos Olrox is operating from.

If we are to assume he is a convert, then the way he speaks of his faith and rationalizes his willingness to carry out the abbot's agenda suggests that said conversion is genuine. He is not doing these things "because the Abbot said so" or out of fear of punishment, but because he believes he is serving God. He pleads with the other knights to help him because he believes that they are, too. His instinct at the chapel when the abbot is ready to sacrifice Maria is to run to the pews and pray. His faith is legitimate and not a performance.

Olrox and Mizrak are foils in the sense that the ways/extent to which they have assimilated are vastly different. Olrox has made no buy-in into colonialism whatsoever, but has learned to basically weaponize the illusion that he has (e.g., his stately manner of dress and speech despite deliberately choosing to feed on nobility, grudgingly playing along with the vampire crowd at the chateau for the sake of getting information, etc).

Mizrak on the other hand does demonstrate some buy-in. While he has his reservations about the abbot's methods, he is on board with the mission that the Catholic church needs protecting from an increasingly secular society, so much so that it is worth colluding with Erzsebet as what is effectively an arms manufacturer to do it.

That being said, I fully expect his arc is going to be about reflecting on which parts of himself are true to himself/his beliefs and which parts of himself are the product of colonization and a need to assimilate for survival. Whether that is a personal journey Olrox has never taken or one he has already taken remains to be seen, but there is an ocean between their worldviews/politics that needs to be reconciled before the relationship between them can grow any real wings, and THAT is the thing that keeps me up at night and screaming into the void

#Olrox #Mizrak #castlevania nocturne

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monsieuroverlord · 2 months

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Laura Kinney the Wolverine: Blood Hunt #1 Throughts:

It was excellent execution as a tie-in. It related to the overarching event really well, while still feeling grounded and character-focused as a one-shot.

Unfortunately, it appears my suspicion of Laura acting like a Logan stand-in was more or less correct.

Spoilers:

The plot is pretty straightforward: Laura's on a rescue mission to save Gabby, she does so, and then there's a "mutant" that also needs rescuing, according to Gabby. Turns out, Gabby fudged that part a little, and its really Xarus, one of Dracula's sons, that needs saving. The vampires were using Xarus as a guinea pig to test out mutant blood in giving vampires special abilities. Laura and Gabby argue, but they save Xarus.

Postives:

-- GABBY!!! (I missed her) She's a star here. She's the main character. She's the most perfect chaos gremlin child to walk the face of the earth -- conducted her own investigation, infiltrated the organization, and nearly completed the rescue all by herself -- with a few more years of experience under her belt, she'll be unstoppable. Doctor Doom himself will live in fear of her, lest she decide to stage a military coup against him just for fun.

Her characterization was absolutely on-point here and I missed her dearly.

-- The art was spectacular. Robert Gill did an excellent job in terms of dynamic action scenes and panel flow. Solid 10/10 suited the narrative well, it was perfect amount of blood 'n gore for a vampire book. Just superb.

-- It was fun. A good balance of hack 'n slash with a proper story and some sweet moments. Aside from my one major complaint (see below) it was a fantastic depiction of Laura and Gabby's bond, and I nearly forgot how much I enjoyed it.

My biggest gripe: Listen, I know Gabby is an absolute ray of sunshine who sees good in everyone despite going through some horrific stuff, and I love that about her, but like Laura should not be as much as a foil to that here. (I mean, maybe the story wouldn't be AS interesting without a little soap opera-y conflict between siblings, but still)

I know I oft use the shorthand term "Logan-esque" or "Logan Stand-in" but I haven't really explained what I mean by that, and this issue has some perfect scenes for me to elaborate.

Example: Laura telling Gabby "we don't save monsters."

That is 100% a Logan thing to say. In contrast, Laura fundamentally is separated in character from Logan by her compassion and level of control. She sincerely would (or rather SHOULD) be 100% on board with helping Gabby, due to the fact she spent her earliest years believing she was a monster herself and not worth saving. Since then, she's grown into a much more kind person (both to herself and others) and does try her damndest to do better. Both better than Logan and better than past self. (and she is better, dammit) She has a helluva lot more self-awareness than Logan does, and that's good! It should be one of the defining characteristics that separates her from Logan!

She doesn't need her past explained to her like Gabby did here. Laura arguably has already gone through the character growth of defining herself differently than Logan would. I mean, that was part of the whole reason she took Gabby under her wing in the first place! Whereas Logan would've dumped Gabby off with the X-Men or elsewhere, like he did with Laura (and don't get me started on all the retcon BS flashbacks where Logan was actually acting like a father to her. Originally, he was an absolute fail of a parent in different ways to all of his bio-kids, and Laura was not an exception. Gambit is the one who actually steps up, but I digress here.)

Example 2: The start of the issue, Laura being a sneaky berserk, much like Logan in Uncanny X-Men #133 (or around that issue. if I'm misremembering) It was Vs. The Hellfire Club and Logan has his Dirty Harry moment in the arc.

Its not completely unheard for a person to mentally fall back on old habits in moments of stress, but Laura's never been a "berserker" like Logan. Its just her being a bit of character here. She SHOULD be much more cold, precise, and calculated, like an assassin.

To paraphrase Domino's thoughts from the X-Force Days: Logan's a savage beast, but Laura's like a machine.

In summary, Laura's efficient as fuck, and not at all showy, if you wanna argue that she's "just worried about Gabby" or something.

Overall, while I loved Gabby in this, I think there's just a fundamental misunderstanding of Laura's character here. And this has been kind of an on-and-off thing since the Krakoa era started. Like, character growth is good, but this just doesn't feel like we've had a natural progression of Laura's character to me.

And I suppose, we have all-new Wolverine, where Gabby saves the cyborg-clone thing called S.C.O.U.T. (where Gabby got her newer codename, although I still like Honey Badger better). But that moment was also kind of out-of-character to me?

Like, even if you want to debate that "oh, Laura's done this before. In more recent years, she's gotten a lot harsher with certain things, etc etc"

I have to disagree and say it SHOULDN'T be that way. It directly contradicts her earliest characterizations. She should be distraught and questioning whether or not those things have a soul and in natural character growth progression, she should be saving them without question. It just makes no sense to me!

I know I complained a lot here, but I also want to clarify, its not just this one-shot that's guilty of this -- it seems like it's been a recent trend overall as of late, and I don't care for it. This one-shot was not the most egregious example by any means, and if you're really missing Gabby (like me) I recommend it.

#wednesday spoilers #comic book spoilers #laura kinney the wolverine blood hunt #laura kinney #wolverine #gabby kinney #honey badger #ugh i complained a lot more than i wanted to #i swear i want to support my girl #but what are the writers doing?#i swear i really want to be positive #but damn do i have a knack for complaining sometimes

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heyclickadee · 1 year

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Tech’s Alive, Part 7: Potential Visual Symbolism (cw warning for more discussions of character death)

Okay, so, several things before I start off. One, this isn’t really anything new. This is just about the blaster hole in the train car window and the “wings” that seem to appear in the clouds as Tech falls. Pretty much everyone’s pointed out the second of those things already (including me, in a post I wrote a couple of days after “Plan 99″ aired, when I really was still in denial and grasping at anything I could to prove to myself that Tech was alive), and I’m pretty sure I saw someone post about the first one, too, but I haven’t been able to find it. But these two things do a kind of neat thing if you take them together, so I figured I may as well write another one of these.

Second, I actually really want to write a post about foreshadowing and all the times Tech was connected to survival or got into a deadly situation and inexplicably got out of it alive this season, but I sort of want to do a full season two watch-through before writing it. Unfortunately, I’m kind of a filthy completionist and can’t just start with season two, and I just barely restarted season one, so it’s going to be a hot minute before I get to it.

And three, I guess--this is kind of me going back to standing in front of a conspiracy board and gesturing at it with a tin foil hat in hand.

But! Anyway!

In the moment where Tech falls, we get not one, but two little pieces of potential visual symbolism which may indicate Tech’s survival. The first of these is, of course, the part in the clouds on either side of Tech, which resembles nothing so much as a pair of black wings jutting out from his shoulders.

Now, this is a visual motif connected to making life out of death, survival, and freedom that was introduced back in “The Outpost” with the ice vulture and Crosshair, but I’m not sure it doesn’t apply to Tech, too. Tech, like Crosshair, is repeatedly connected to the idea of survival over the course of the season. I’ve been mulling over a whole post about this, but this season sees the two of them undergo parallel (still ongoing) arcs in which they have to reevaluate their own self-image as soldiers, and both of them, in the moments they’re each linked to the ice vulture imagery, ends up making a definitive, sacrificial choice very likely to get them killed, for the sake of someone else. For Crosshair, that’s the choice to refuse to go along with the Empire and kill Nolan as vengeance for Mayday; for Tech, that’s shooting the connection on the rail car and allowing himself to fall so that the others could get away. Neither of them completely expects to walk away from those choices. The difference in the end result (so far) is that we’ve already seen that Crosshair survived, even if surviving is brutal at the moment. We’re sort of just waiting to see that with Tech.

Furthermore, even though Crosshair is definitely THE ice vulture--I’m not going to argue that point--I’m going to come back to Mayday’s use of the plural when he talks about them: “Vicious creatures, but you have to admire ‘em. They find a way to survive.”

Mayday’s use of the plural here is actually kind of striking, because I think we only ever see one ice vulture over the course of that entire episode. It’s a large, solitary creature, covering a wide territory, and it could be the same one Mayday’s seen the entire time he was stationed at Barton-5. But the use of the plural (and the way that things work) means that there are others elsewhere, so that even though Crosshair is the character most clearly connected to them and especially to the one we actually see on screen, Tech could potentially be another one.

Because here’s the other thing; Crosshair and Tech don’t just have parallel arcs. They’re actually a lot alike, in a lot of ways. They’re both brilliant, calculating, ruthless in the sense that they can both see the most direct way to get something done, whether it’s moral (usually Crosshair) or safe (usually Tech); they can both come across to people who don’t know them well as standoffish or even cold, but they both love very deeply and affectionately, in their own ways, and would give anything for the people they love, whatever the cost to themselves; they’re both incredibly sarcastic and refuse to sugarcoat things; and they both deal with everything very privately. They’re not exactly the same, of course. Tech is a chatterbox (a lot of the time) while Crosshair hardly ever speaks, and Crosshair spends every second on screen EMOTING EVERYWHERE ALL the TIME, while Tech’s facial expressions are much subtler. Everything Crosshair knows has made him cynical and bitter, while everything Tech knows has made him curious and kind. And, of course, Crosshair is incredibly pragmatic and usually not thinking about the morality of any given situation; Tech is pragmatic as well, but usually refuses to set morality aside. (And that’s all honestly way oversimplifying it BUT this is getting a little long.) But they are enough alike that I think the ice vulture connection can apply to Tech, too(1), and that the apparent visual connection in this moment in “Plan 99″ isn’t totally off base. Meaning that the, “They find a way to survive,” bit could and probably does apply to him(2).

The second bit of visual symbolism in this scene is actually the blaster hole that Tech himself put through the window of the train car when he shot the connection hinge. If, say, the S&P department told the Bad Batch production team that they absolutely couldn’t show Tech’s body on screen or use any equivalents, like a crushed helmet or a body bag, or if the production team really did just want to use the goggles instead of anything more definitive, a really clean visual way they could have solidified Tech’s death would have been to have that blaster hole pass over Tech, either over his head or his chest, and then stay centered on him as he fell. It would be a sort of visual shorthand saying that Tech’s shot--the shot that cut the connection hinge--would also ultimately be the shot that killed him, or lead to his death at the very least. And we do actually see the blaster hole in the shot where Tech falls. It comes fairly close to him, but

it just barely grazes his left hand. Not over his head, not centered over his chest as he’s falling, just momentarily passing the end of a limb(3). (Aaaaaand the tin foil hat really starts to come out).

Now, not every single thing we see on screen is deliberate. Sometimes there are animation mistakes, and there are certainly concessions to budget. But the animation mistakes we tend to see are usually of a certain kind. Take, for example, Echo’s kama randomly appearing and disappearing from shot to shot in “Cornered,” or Hunter’s scarf doing the same during either “Pabu” or “Tipping Point.” Usually what’s happened there is either someone keying or turning the visibility of that piece of geometry off while they’re animating the character, and then forgetting to turn it back on again, and no one catching it until after the shot gets back from render. And there are rendering and compositing errors; I think there’s one shot from season one where you can actually see Tech’s goggles through his head, which was probably either a problem with render layers in maya or later on in compositing. And errors like that are usually not enough of a reason to re-render a scene. Rendering is expensive in terms of computer power and takes a good long while, especially if you’re rendering using arnold (which I think Lucasfilm Animation does--they don’t use redshift, as far as I know, but I could be totally wrong).

Stuff like this, however--where Tech is in this shot in relation to everything else--is usually more about staging and layout, something that’s usually decided back in the storyboard phase and solidified during animatics. And given just how much happens in the background of this show, the staging on The Bad Batch is usually pretty deliberate. It doesn’t mean that the blaster hole missing Tech is 100% on purpose, but it does make it far more likely that it is. Same goes for the black wings in the clouds.

Now, of course, even if the staging is deliberate, which I think it is, that doesn’t necessarily mean that either of these visual cues are meant to symbolize anything. I’m mostly just saying that they could and that that’s a possible way to read the scene. Taken together, these two visual cues could potentially be signaling that Tech will ultimately find a way to survive (like the ice vulture), so even though he might come very close to death, and may even brush it for a moment, it's going to pass him by (like the blaster hole).

1: Okay, you know what? It’s all of them. Crosshair’s THE ice vulture, but the “Vicious creatures, but you have to admire ‘em,” is all of them. After seeing what they can do when they’re not holding back in “The Summit,” “vicious creatures” absolutely applies to all of them, as far as I’m concerned.

2: Also, I’m sorry, but the silhouette of the ice vulture looks like the Marauder and when I think of the Marauder, I think of the whole batch, sure, but I especially think of Tech.

3: More fodder for the “Tech comes back, but definitely not unscathed” theories? Maybe.

#tech'salive #tech'saliveseries #the bad batch #tech bad batch #crosshair bad batch #just #tin foil hatting all over the place with this one #also I watched that gif about fifty times while typing this #Tech's little jaunty wave #like #sir...#SIR #WHY #but anyway at this point I'm writing these #so I can be the most insufferable gremlin #in about a year and a half to two years #I say tin foil hatting but I actually think I'm right about what these are meant to represent #but I'm open to being wrong

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hangonsnoopy19 · 2 years

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Bill x Frank: On Following

Bill is not a man anyone could reasonably consider a natural born ‘follower’. From early childhood he was always the odd man out in groups and games, the socially awkward kid with solitary hobbies and habits. He buried his secrets deep and let them make him peculiar and standoffish. He grew up to be the quasi-rude neighborhood weirdo with the big house and the shut-in mother, and when his mother died he became even more of a recluse.

Despite what many think about the ‘tin foil hat’ type that makes up the survivalist community, most members, from the amateur enthusiasts to the right wing nutcases, still do tend to be sociable in their own ways, and congregate in their own unique spaces. And yet, Bill bought his guns and studied bushcraft and pointedly avoided group retreats and attempts to recruit him to any cause or group. He avoided message boards and meetings and radicalization, and refused to listen to anyone besides himself.

And then the world ended and everyone went away and suddenly it wasn’t a question of leading or following or joining anything anymore. There was just Bill left, alone to count down the end times in peace.

For a long time there is no one. Then there is Frank.

Bill follows Frank. He has from the first. He had to literally capture the man in a boobytrap to get the drop on him, and even when Frank was stuck at the bottom of a hole with a gun pointed at him, Bill was the one playing catch up, frightfully off balance.

Bill takes Frank home for lunch, in part because he is befuddled by this unexpected event and in the cold light of day simply doesn’t know how to say no to something both he and this handsome stranger clearly want, no matter how ill-advised.

He cooks one of his favorite meals, and he tells himself he was going to make it for dinner anyway, that he isn’t doing this to impress anyone. And pairing rabbit with a Beaujolais is just common sense.

He serves Frank first… it’s only polite to serve the guest first, and himself after. It’s worth everything to see this stranger beam up at him like Bill had given him a plate full of rubies. If the Beaujolais is a mistake, a clue that Bill doesn’t want to obviously broadcast, he still can’t bring himself to regret it. Not when Frank sees, understands, and then appears to let it go so easily.

When lunch ends, Frank runs over to the piano and all Bill can do is trail behind, too stunned to get ahead of the man rummaging through the piano seat and exposing Bill’s secret… the big secret, the one that is NOT that he has Linda Ronstadt sheet music.

Frank asks about the girl. Bill tells him the truth, incapable of doing otherwise.

Frank says, “I know.” Of course he knows. He knew before lunch, before the song. He’s ahead of the curve again, seeing everything Bill has spent his life trying to hide.

Bill is the first upstairs, taking his shower at Frank’s behest, but when he comes out Frank is already naked in his bed, holding within him all the secret knowledge Bill doesn’t possess. He leads, Bill follows. Bill learns the secret chord.

Frank stays. He is sunlight and flowers - bold and bright and warm. He careens through Bill’s life, dismantling and rebuilding it, and Bill watches it happen, and he doesn’t mind all that much.

They still argue, of course. They are two strong and in some ways diametrically opposed personalities.

When they argue, Frank has a tendency to storm out of whatever room they’re in, and sometimes even the house itself, as if the walls are too small to contain his emotions, all that lives inside of him. Where Bill’s first impulse is to retreat to his basement to process things slowly, Frank’s is to be outside, to let himself loose on the big expanse of sky.

And wherever Frank goes, what can Bill do but follow?

He finds himself having screaming matches in the street, and he supposes that makes Frank’s assertion true - their home isn’t just their house, it’s everything around them. And fighting or not, Bill’s home is wherever Frank is, indoors or out.

He chases after him, day after day, when Frank gets it into his head that they should start jogging.

It’s just another instance of Frank showing love - like repainting the house or fixing the shops - by paying attention to things. Noticing that Bill gets a bit winded on the stairs sometimes, that he’s a bit older, that he isn’t in the habit of denying himself meat and wine. Frank is taking care of Bill and his health.

Bill grumbles, and he’s sweaty and miserable, and there’s no way he can outpace Frank when they jog. But he follows Frank’s steady pace, wheezing, and watches the movement of Frank’s shoulders, those long, muscled legs carrying him forward… and his ass, of course.

He doesn’t mind being behind, following. Not if that’s the view. Not when following leads him to laughter and joy and kisses and strawberries.

He doesn’t mind at all.

And he doesn’t mind following Frank later, either, when Frank can’t run anymore. He doesn’t mind when Frank slows down, when he gets sick, when he can barely feed or dress himself without help.

He walks behind the wheelchair, pushing his lover wherever he wants to go. He follows still, the steady hand and slow pace, always just a few steps away.

It’s a simple enough task to be Frank’s legs, and it’s a worthy role for Bill especially. Those legs carried Frank from Baltimore all the way to Bill’s front gate, and they wrapped themselves around Bill’s waist and taught him, and they ran bare and strong ahead of Bill in just one of many instances when Frank paid attention and loved and took care of him.

Those legs can rest now. Bill can take over now. It’s good to be able to do that. He knows it wears on Frank to not be able to run and fuck and express himself the way he used to, and his heart breaks for him. He isn’t truly surprised when Frank tells him it’s his last day. He knows what a difficult thing it is to carry this.

But Bill never considers it a burden to push his husband’s wheelchair. Not at all.

(He’s crying, but he almost wants to laugh when Frank tells him they’re going to get married, because only then does he realize that he has privately considered Frank his husband for over ten years now.)

He watches Frank swallow the wine laced with pills, and he considers that sometimes it’s a privilege, a gift to follow. For someone who spent his whole life going against the grain, right now doing exactly what Frank wants, echoing him in a perfect chorus, is the best thing ever.

“Old means we’re still here,” Frank said once, and while no one ever wishes to outlive their beloved, it’s not so bad being the one who follows when you are only ever half a heartbeat behind.

He waits until Frank has drained the last of the wine, waits until Frank commits them to this, waits for Frank to lead.

If he doesn't tell Frank what he is planning beforehand... well. Bill can be stubborn, too. And he was never going to let Frank go where he couldn't follow.

Frank sets down his glass and Bill picks up his own. He then carefully, calmly, drinks his own wine. As he does so he is nearly overcome with joy, knowing that his greatest fear will never come to pass.

He will not die before Frank. Neither of them will go through the rest of life, or death, alone.

Always half a step behind.

He doesn’t know if there is anything there afterwards for people when they die, a heaven or what have you.

But he knows, as he takes Frank to bed for the last time, that if there is anything after then Frank will most certainly be there, waiting patiently for Bill to catch up.

#bill x frank #bill and frank #berry your gays #tlou show #tlou fic #tlou frank #tlou bill #tlou #I really need to stop I can’t keep doing this to myself #I’m just been sobbing and looking at fanart and writing fics for a week #mini fic #tlou fanfiction

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kitelineonline · 1 year

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What Are The Different Shapes Of A Wing Foil Board?

If you've been following the world of water sports, you've certainly heard about the latest and greatest trend: wing foiling. Exciting and rapidly spreading, this water sport mixes wing foil surfing, kitesurfing, and stand-up paddleboarding.

But did you know that the wing foil board's shape makes a big difference in how it performs and how fun it is to ride? In this blog, we'll explore the many forms of foil boards that add to your wing foiling experience.

#1 Traditional Longboard

Perfect for riders who want to put their full attention on perfecting their wing technique.

It is the classic form, resembling a surfboard in the longboard style.

It's perfect for newcomers because of its rock-solid stability.

#2 Convenient and Spacious

They are adaptable and efficient in a wide range of environments.

Balance and wave catching will be less of a challenge.

Shorter and wider compact boards.

#3 Narrow and Results-Driven

Narrow boards are made for experts who want to test their skills to the maximum.

They can make rapid moves and accelerate quickly because of their incredible agility.

These boards perform best in stronger winds and allow for more complex movements.

#4 Hybrid Shapes

Some boards have layouts that are somewhere between the traditional longboard and the modern compact wide board.

These hybrids are well-rounded and can accommodate a wider variety of riders.

They can adapt to many environments and function admirably.

#5 Custom Patterns

Experienced wing foilers who want to soar above the water's surface can use these boards.

In order to get you out of the water, they have a unique foil mounted at the bottom.

The specific design of a foiling board is what makes it ideal for hydrofoiling.

#6 Inflatable Boards

Wing foiling is still fun on these boards despite their lack of rigidity compared to hard boards.

If you're a frequent traveler or have a small apartment, an inflatable bag is the way to go.

They deflate quickly and easily and may be taken anywhere.

Final Words

The right wing foil board for you will rely on your experience, riding preferences, and environmental factors. Wider, more stable boards are common for beginners, but more advanced riders may prefer the agility of narrower forms.

If you're serious about taking your wing foiling to the next level, you need a board designed specifically for foiling. The success and pleasure you derive from wing foiling ultimately depend on the shape of the board you use.

Whether you want a traditional longboard or a high-performance narrow design, a wing foil board is available and ready to take you on the ride of a lifetime. Prepare to fly high above the water and feel the rush of wing foiling! Original Source:https://bit.ly/45fiK37

#Wing Foil Board

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angelthefandomobsessed · 1 year

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Project Eden's Garden: Character Names Explained

After my first post on the animal symbolism in P:EG, I've been wanting to make a follow-up analysis based on character names. Anyone who's ever written anything even remotely creative has Google'd 'name that means *insert something vaguely representing character here'. That's a rule of the universe, you cannot change my mind, we've all done it, and we will continue to do it.

Of course, this isn't always the case. Sometimes we name characters based on people we know, or just because we've always liked the names. I'm still fairly confident that some good ol' fashioned 'Behind the Name' and 'Nameberry' scouring might have occurred.

So, let's see what the names of our cast actually mean!

Damon Maitsu:

'Damon' is a name of Greek origin meaning 'one who tames', or 'one who subdues', originating from the word 'dama' (of the same meaning). The legend of 'Damon and Pythias' holds a moral of true friendship, where (TL;DR) Pythias and Damon's friendship astonishes the tyrant of Syracuse, saving them both.

What's more interesting about this name, is that it's one letter away from the word 'demon'. In the Bible (yes, we're going back to there, and this won't be the first time), the word 'daimon' is used once, meaning 'demon'.

'Maitsu' is a little bit tricky to pin down. It doesn't seem to be a common name at all. It's listed on 'NamesLook' under the meaning 'Emotional, Systematic Mind, Serious' which seems promising at first, but it's a numerology website - the meaning is based on numerology rather than the name itself. So, I threw it into Google translate at it came back as 'Mights' (a lot of Western words sound similar to their Japanese counterparts because it's literally the word written in Japanese characters (Katakana, in most cases)).

'Howtopronounce' described it as a feminine forename, which... I feel kinda doubt, given it's the only place mentioning it.

Breaking the name up yielded far more topical results, however.

'Ma' - devil - 魔

'Itsu' - five, when, comfortable, one(?)

'Itsu' will require a little more digging (this has devolved into a conspiracy board, huh?). We can pretty confidently rule out 'when'. While that's arguably the most common use of 'itsu', it doesn't make too much sense as far as naming conventions go. I read somewhere that 'itsu' can mean 'to freeze', but I haven't seen anything else to back it up (I think the person might have been mistaken).

'Comfortable' seems a little odd, though not implausible. What's much more interesting is the possibility of 'itsu' referring to a number. The name 'Itsuki' can mean a lot of things. Two of these apparent meanings caught my eye: 'five trees' (as a surname), and 'that one moon'.

Numbers. The word moon is 'tsuki', but tree is 'ki'. Itsu-ki - five trees. Ma-itsu - five devils or the (singular) devil. 'Five' seems more likely (because this is all very complicated to my brain, and for the life of me I can't find a reliable source saying 'itsu' can sometimes mean 'one', if anybody knows what's up please clue me in! I'm pretty sure that 'tsu' can mean 'one', so maybe that's what they meant?)

As far as I can tell, the kanji for character names haven't been released (if it has then I am truly Boo-Boo the fool), but this would make Damon's name look a little like this (I'm not fluent in Japanese, so don't take my word on this, I'm mostly winging it here)...

Damon - デイモン (katakana)

Maitsu - まいつ (hiragana) - 魔五 (kanji)

SO, in conclusion, Damon has some pretty strong demonic roots behind his name. This ties into his overall snake motif, and could potentially (don't mind the tin foil hat here) be hinting towards Damon being involved in the killing game..? 'Mara' (Ma-ra) is the enforcer, so following my bizarre name logic here, she would also be a 'devil'. Maybe Damon is actually associated with Tozu and co. but doesn't remember it (a snake in the grass, if you will).

Eva Tsunaka:

'Eva' is of Hebrew origin and means 'life'. It is also (to nobody's surprise) deeply Biblically relevant. It's a variation of 'Eve', as in, the first woman.

'Tsunaka' was easier to track down than 'Maitsu', but it still seems uncommon. According to a website called 'Japanese Names', it's made up of the kanji for 'harbour' (or 'ferry') and 'inside' which... isn't super enlightening? I could jump through hoops to make a Noah's Ark parallel, but that seems like a reach.

Putting the two meanings together we get something along the lines of 'inside the harbour'. The word 'harbour' (as a noun) describes a place where boats moor. As a verb, the word could be used to describe someone protecting something; to harbour a runaway, or to harbour a victim. In that sense, Tsunaka seems like an almost angelic name, promising protection to others.

Wolfgang Akire:

'Wolfgang' is a German name derived from the words 'Wulf' (meaning - wait for it - 'Wolf') and 'Gang' (meaning 'path'). Therefore, 'Wolfgang' is often interpreted as 'travelling wolf'. It's probably best known as being Mozart's first name, but I personally think it was chosen for the irony factor - having a guy named 'Wolfgang' be represented by a sheep is a perfect irony.

This name could also be interpreted as 'one who has the ways of the wolf' (someone who follows the path of a wolf).

'Akire' consists of the kanji for 'reveal' (諒) and 'clever' (怜)... Or, 'truth' and 'wise'. This makes a lot of sense, given the whole 'lawyer with the moral high ground thing he has going on. It almost seems like a play on the typical Danganronpa protagonist, a little tongue-in-cheek about revealing the truth.

Grace Madison:

'Grace', to nobody's surprise, shock or horror, means 'grace'.

'Madison' could be taken to mean 'strength', or it could mean 'Matthew's Son' which launches us right back to the Bible. Apparently, the name Madison used to be a pretty unpopular 'boy name' but skyrocketed in popularity for girls after the 80s film 'Splash' was released.

Grace's surname might just be a reference to Madison Moman, a teenage golfing prodigy (fun fact, she has a blog titled 'Live Laugh Golf'... icon behaviour).

Toshiko Kayura:

According to the highly academic Wikipedia, the name Toshiko can be read as -

I'm noticing the word 'child' (子 is the 'ko', as seen in the word 'kodomo'), which adds up with Toshiko being so young. 'Genius child' is very Danganronpa, since that's kinda half the premise, and 'graceful' plays into the flamingo motif. There was a Princess Toshiko, but I can't see anything of immediate interest that links the two. If I had to guess, Toshiko's name encapsulates her childhood genius, implying that it defines her. Her character development might involve her overcoming this idea and redefining her identity.

Kayura is made up of the kanji 香由良, which have a variety of meanings. 香 can be read as fragrance. 由 means reason. I also noticed some cases where this kanji is used to describe a noble lineage of some sort, which could link with Toshiko's princess namesake, but that might not actually work here, just food for thought. 良 means excellent, good or skilled - makes sense with the whole 'child genius' thing.

Since she's a matchmaker, I could see her talent being hereditary and built from tradition. The way she dresses and acts is very proper, suggesting she's carrying the weight of someone's expectations - since she's only fourteen, it seems unlikely that these values were self-encouraged.

Ulysses Wilhelm:

The name Ulysses has an interesting history of usage. At first, I assumed our Ultimate Historian got his name from Ulysses S. Grant, a civil war general... He was also the 18th president of the USA, which I did not know, what a plot twist, I just thought he was the war guy. This could very well be the reference, but 'Ulysses' is apparently the Latin version of 'Odysseus'. Because of its link to The Odyssey 'Ulysses' can mean journey.

Oh, also, it can mean 'wrathful', we'll get into that.

(Huge tangent incoming, you might want to take a water break before this)

So like. I know I said in my first post that owl boy was probably going to die early, and I still kinda stand by that, but... His name means wrath. Biblically that's pretty big, right?

If the Killing Game is the Garden of Eden then what is the mastermind? Satan, right? Or maybe that's wrong. Maybe the mastermind is God. Metaphorical God, but still. Ulysses has a keen memory, not to mention he writes down everything that happens because he struggles to remember non-historical things.

Maybe that's not entirely true, though. Maybe he's trying to hide how knowledgeable (dare I say... omnipotent) he is. Maybe his skills are mostly analytical and his aptitude towards history is just a byproduct of that. Y'know... like how the Ultimate Analyst made an effective Ultimate Fashionista because she could analyse trends.

Okay, so maybe it's not that plot beat again exactly, but it's still pretty interesting.

Ulysses mentioned the classic 'those who do not learn from history' thing, but wasn't that what they were doing in the prologue? They looked at an old case and learned from it. Maybe there's a bigger element in there that they missed.

If Ulysses is wrath, then he could be 'divine wrath', which is basically when God gets angry but because he's pure and loving, it's a necessity and devoid of guilt or relevance or... something? It's wrath but from a high horse. Let's go with that.

What I'm trying to say is that Ulysses is the mastermind and that the killing game is a social experiment designed to end all conflict, idk, something like that.

(Tangent over)

'Wilhelm' is a German name that apparently means 'Will Helmet'. I have no idea what that's supposed to mean, will helmet do what? Is the helmet filled with willpower? In all seriousness, I think it's supposed to be a protection thing (because Ulysses is symbolically God- okay, I'll stop).

It's also a historical name which would match 'Ulysses'.

Desmond Hall:

'Desmond' means gracious protector, which suits him well based on his general 'we'll escape you guys, honest, nothing bad could ever happen' demeanour. However, that's just one website's interpretation, the most common meaning would be 'from south Munster', but that's far less fun.

'Hall' as a surname, interestingly, could mean 'kind' or 'forgiving' which comes "from the belief that Viking thanes were eternally benevolent to those who lived within his hall" (quote is from a website called Select Surnames).

Alternatively, it could stem from someone living in a hall.

Diana Venicia:

Diana, Roman goddess of the moon, hunting, maidens, etc. Princess Diana, of Wales, the people's princess, etc. Lots of famous Dianas to choose from here, but as a general meaning, Diana could mean 'sky', or 'daylight'. Most likely, this name was chosen because the goddess Diana was said to be beautiful.

Or... because of its connotations with the moon. The tarot card 'The Moon' is a card of divine feminity and of secrets.

I swear to Ulysses God this girl is hiding something.

Venicia means 'desire', 'love' and 'happiness'.

Jean DeLamer:

Upon first Google (which is all this is, this is for fun, do not take this 10000% seriously, I've probably messed up several times throughout this whole spiel), Jean means 'God is gracious'. He could be named after Jean Lafitte, a French privateer who had a killer stache. If I had to put money on it, I'd go with the latter.

'DeLamer' translates to 'of the sea' which... is easy enough, thanks for that, moving on.

Jett Dawson:

Jett is a type of black stone. To quote 'The Bump's description of this name "Jett is the guy in a leather jacket who’s cool, composed and confident. The name’s intriguing meaning, “black stone,” also gives it an edgy and glamorous allure". Jett is also evocative of something fast, so I think this is a case of 'cool name, cool guy'.

Jett was also the name of Judah's firstborn son in the Bible, but I don't know what to do with that info, so...

Dawson could either mean 'Beloved' or 'Son of David'. I find 'Beloved' far more entertaining, it makes me think of that locket GIF that was everywhere a while back.

Kai Monteago:

Kai is most notorious for meaning 'sea'. I don't know why, but that's been ingrained in my brain for years. I have a sneaking suspicion it's the Disney Channel's fault... did they have a surfer boy named Kai at some point state "My name means sea"?

'Monteago' (not 'Montego', there were a lot of search results for that) can mean 'friendly' or 'charismatic'. 'Charismatic' makes more sense here.

Kai seems an unusual name to have for the character, so if it was chosen in direct reference to something, it could be a setup for an ironic punchline. If Kai is executed, for example, he might 'drown in a sea of his own fans'. Or someone could drown him. Alternatively, water symbolises emotion.

'Mark 'Mayhem' Berskii':

Oh, hi Mark.

This one's a little unorthodox. 'Berskii' isn't a surname that's super searchable. In fact, googling 'Berskii name meaning' shows this character on the front page... after a few 'Berski' explanations. I tried putting it through an anagram decoder, and it sure does have the word 'bikers' in it, but that seems random. Berski apparently means 'Influencer, Freedom Lover, Charisma', which doesn't scream Mark... maybe freedom-loving?

Google translate says it's Malay for Skiing.

Urban dictionary says it means, "God. Berski is all mighty. Typically used as a nickname for the bro-est of the bros. If someone calls you Berski, you should be truly honored."

9/10 doctors can't tell where this name came from.

I am the one doctor who can tell you that 'Mark Berskii' is an anagram for, brace yourself... 'smirkier'.

Another case closed.

So anyway, the Biblical meaning of 'Mark' is 'polite', but it also correlates to 'Mars' from Latin, meaning god of war so...

I dunno, it's all a mess, Mark lives up to the pseudonym 'Mayhem'. He's a cool guy, if anyone has any ideas on his name, let me know!

Wenona:

Wenona is a Native American name meaning 'first born daughter'. I don't have much else to say beyond that. I think it's a very pretty name and I'm interested to see where Wenona goes as a character.

Eloise Taulner:

'Eloise' means 'famous warrior', which is a very literal take on her character, but I respect it. As the Ultimate Fencer she is, straight up, a famous warrior. Some other websites claim it means 'healthy' and 'wide', but I prefer 'famous warrior'.

'Taulner' is another case of 'this isn't quite a name, what do we do'. 'Taul' is Estonian for 'table', according to Google Translate... 'Tau' means 'Yes' in Hmong.

Honestly, I just think she has a neat name all around.

Ingrid Grimwall:

'Ingrid' is a Scandinavian name that means 'fair' and 'beautiful'. This name is derived from 'Ing's Daughter', with 'Ing' being the old name for 'Freyr', the god of summer and a bunch of other things. Something interesting to note: Freyja was depicted as having a chariot pulled by big cats. It's a bit of a stretch, but maybe Ingrid's lions are a super roundabout reference to that.

Maybe every character is a metaphorical god here, who knows, symbolism is wild.

'Grimwall' is a very cool surname, and could be compared to 'Grimwald', meaning 'fierce might'. I don't have much to say here, I feel like Ingrid's name is more vibe based than context-based.

Cassidy Amber:

'Cassidy' means 'clever' and 'curly-haired'. At least, that's what the first search result said. A few search results down, however, gave me this: "Cassidy name meaning is she who entangles men".

Hm. Interesting. Very interesting, since her assigned animal is a spider.

I don't know where this site got that from, but I'm going to roll with it because it's very, very fitting.

'Amber' is also quite interesting. When I think of amber, I think a bug encased in fossilised tree resin. A bug trapped in something... The spider imagery continues. Honestly, this name is super interesting (especially since Cassidy was on my sussy mastermind list... I should probably make a post specifically to theorise on the mastermind, I work it into these way too often).

Conclusion:

So, I started writing this a month or two back, got through Damon, Eve and Wolfgang's analysis, and then shelved it because my brain hurt. I woke up this morning and realised that I should probably finish this post. It was a lot of fun, I felt like I was making some crazy revelations when things made sense... and when they didn't, I just kept telling myself "meh, it's a cool name, it doesn't always have to make sense".

Anyways, if you enjoyed this feel free to comment your thoughts or reblog adding to it. Have a good morning/afternoon/night!

#project eden's garden #danganronpa #fanganronpa #cassidy's is the most interesting imo #analysis #danganronpa fangame #theory #discussion #long read

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checkoutmybookshelf · 7 months

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You Have My Attention: New Jedi Order First Lines

Ok, so Vector Prime wasn't my first Star Wars EU book; that would have been at least semi logical and honestly logic and hinged-ness is not how I would characterize either my experience with the Star Wars fandom, the EU, or just Star Wars in general. We have Anakin Skywalker, hinged is not the vibe. That said, Vector Prime was my fourth Star Wars book, and despite some flaws and peaks and valleys in quality, the New Jedi Order holds a very nostalgic place in my heart. Let's see how the authors of the New Jedi Order books catch readers.

It was too peaceful out here, surrounded by the vacuum of space and with only the continual hum of the twin ion drives breaking the silence.

-- R. A. Salvatore, Vector Prime

Standing there, on the bridge of his Nebulon-B frigate, the pirate Urias Xhaxin clasped his cybernetic left hand to the small of his back with his right hand. He stared straight ahead at the tunnel of light into which his ship, the Free Lance, flew.

-- Michael A. Stackpole, Dark Tide I: Onslaught

Shedao Shai stood in his chamber, deep within the living ship Legacy of Torment. Tall and lean, long-limbed with hooks and barbs at wrist, elbow, knee, and heel, the Yuuzhan Vong warrior had pulled himself up to his full height and held his open hands out away from his sides.

-- Michael A. Stackpole, Dark Tide II: Ruin

If the system's primary was distressed by the events that had transpired on and about the fourth closest of its brood, it betrayed noting to the naked eye. Saturating the local space with golden radiance, the star was as unperturbed now as it was before the battle had begun.

-- James Luceno, Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial

It was morning in Gyndine's capital city, though that fact was scarcely evident to anyone on the surface. The rising sun, when glimpsed at all, was a blanched disk behind roiling smoke belched from flaming forests and buildings.

-- James Luceno, Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse

Lieutenant Jaina Solo rolled her x-wing fighter up on its port S-foil and shoved her throttle forward. A seed-shaped Yuuzhan Vong coralskipper had been harrying her wingmate.

-- Kathy Tyers, Balance Point

Outside the medcenter viewport, a ragged crescent of white twinkles known as the Drall's Hat drooped across the violet sky, its lower tip slashing through the Ronto to touch a red star named the Eye of the Pirate. The constellations above Corellia had not changed since Han Solo was a child, when he had spent his nights contemplating the galactic depths and dreaming of life as a starship captain.

-- Troy Denning, "Recovery"

Dorsk 82 ducked behind the stone steps of the quay, just in time to dodge a blaster bolt from across the water. "Hurry on board my ship," he told his charges. "They've found us again."

-- Greg Keyes, Edge of Victory I: Conquest

Blood, drifting in starlight. That was the first thing Jacen Solo saw when he opened his eyes. It had beaded into what looked, in the dim, like polished black pearls reflecting the ancient starlight filtering through the transparisteel a meter or so away.

-- Greg Keyes, Edge of Victory II: Rebirth

The dark sliver of a distant starliner crept into view, a blue needle of ion efflux pushing it across the immense sweep of a brilliant orange sun. Like a million such suns in the Core region alone, this one lacked any world with a civilization or even a sapient species, and it was too inconsequential for any name except an obsolete Imperial survey number. With so much emptiness, so many planets untouched, it seemed to Jaina Solo that there should have been no need for fighting, that there should have been room for all.

-- Troy Denning, Star by Star

A sunrise corona limned one edge of the planet Myrkr, setting its vast northern forests alight with a verdant glow. Viewed from space, the planet appeared as lush and green as Yuuzhan'tat, the long-lost homeworld of Yuuzhan Vong legend.

-- Elaine Cunningham, Dark Journey

"A god cannot die," Charat Kraal said. "Therefore it can have no fear of death. So who is braver, a god or a mortal?"

--Aaron Allston, Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream

Jaina Solo banked her X-wing starfighter into as tight a turn as she could endure. The g-forces of her maneuver crushed her into her seat, but she called upon the force to protect her, to keep her centimeters away from the edge of blackout.

-- Aaron Allston, Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand

Outside the universe, there is nothing. This nothing is called hyperspace. A tiny bubble of existence hangs in the nothing. This bubble is called a ship.

-- Matthew Stover, Traitor

As she sat in the chair that was hers by right of death, she raised her eyes to the cold faraway stars. Checklists buzzed distantly in her mind and her hands moved over the controls, but her thoughts flew elsewhere, amid the chill infinitude. Searching...

-- Walter Jon Williams, Destiny's Way

Saba Sebatyne knew the moment she emerged from hyperspace that Barab I was burning. Where the planet normally displayed a cloudy, gray face lit the glow of its primary, a sullen red dwarf, her infrared sensitive eyes now saw a fiery inferno.

-- Sean Williams and Shane Dix, Force Heretic I: Remnant

The man who was no longer a man stood before an alien who was not what it seemed. "Everything is in place," the man said.

--Sean Williams and Shane Dix, Force Heretic II: Refugee

Neither moved; neither spoke. They stared unflinchingly into each other's eyes. Surrounding her, hidden by shadows, Tahiri could sense an alien landscape.

-- Sean Williams and Shane Dix, Force Heretic III: Reunion

Three kilometers beneath the surface of Yuuzhan'tar--the world once known as Courscant--the sound of chanting drifted up a shaft nearly as wide as it was deep, the melancholy strains yearning toward the few distant starts that could be seen from the bottom. In the pale blue light of lumen reeds, the faces of the chanters appeared ravaged, their bodies misshapen.

-- Greg Keyes, The Final Prophecy

Selvaris, faintly green against a sweep of white-hot stars, and with only one tiny moon for companionship, looked like the loneliest of planets. Almost five years into a war that had seen the annihilation of peaceful worlds, the disruption of major hyperlanes, the fall and occupation of Coruscant itself, that fact that such a backwater place could rise to sudden significance was perhaps the clearest measure of the frightful shadow the Yuuzhan Vong had cast across the galaxy.

-- James Luceno, The Unifying Force

#star wars extended universe #star wars #star wars eu #star wars books #new jedi order #book quotes #books and reading #books #books and novels #books & libraries

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acourtofantumbra · 1 year

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Where Have All the Dragons Gone?

☆ All SJM spoilers: ACOTAR, CC, and TOG ☆

It's been quite a while since I put my SJM tin foil hat... I've got the attention span of a squirrel and moved onto other things.

Anyway, over the past 3-4 months I decided to start my first true re-read of all of SJM's books while a bunch of my friends were beginning the series for the first time. This week I finished Crescent City (just in time for my insanely beautiful Fairyloot editions to show up 1/2 a year later) and plan on moving onto TOG this week... but I have so, so, so many scenes that have been bothering me that I fully skimmed over in my first reads.

This scene above from HOSAB, chapter 46, with Ariadne has been fueling my intrusive thoughts lately. On my first read of CC2 I was so distracted by that insane ending that I could probably sum up my thoughts about Ariadne as "Well, that felt like a waste of time?" But upon further review (and now having read TOG in its entirety as well)... I'm starting to feel like she might be one of the most easter egg laden chess pieces placed on the board.

Per usual, I don't really have answers as much as I have some glaring parallels that feel important... But ultimately I think our "long, lost dragons" are not so lost and have been waiting patiently to enter the chat.

Ok, let's go back to the (extended) scene from HOSAB:

“Exactly,” Flynn said, as if the Fae lord weren’t taunting a dragon. A fucking dragon. A Lower, yes, but … fuck. They weren’t true shifters, switching between humanoid and animal bodies at will. They were more like the mer, if anything. There was a biological or magical difference to explain it—Ithan vaguely remembered learning about it in school, though he’d promptly forgotten the details. It didn’t matter now, he supposed. The dragon could navigate two forms. He’d be a fool to underestimate her in this one. The dragon stared Flynn down. He gave her a charming smile back. Her chin lifted. “Ariadne.” Flynn arched a brow. “A dragon named Ariadne?” “I suppose you have a better name for me?” she shot back. “Skull-Crusher, Winged Doom, Light-Eater.” Flynn ticked them off on his fingers. She snorted, and the hint of amusement had Ithan realizing that the dragon was … beautiful. Utterly lethal and defiant, but—well, damn. From the gleam in Flynn’s eyes, Ithan could tell the Fae lord was thinking the same. Ariadne said, “Such names are for the old ones who dwell in their mountain caves and sleep the long slumber of true immortals.” “But you’re not one of them?” Ithan asked. “My kin are more … modern.” Her gaze sharpened on Flynn. “Hence Ariadne.” Flynn winked. She scowled. “How did all of you”—Declan cut in, motioning to Ariadne, her body similar to that of a Fae female’s—“fit into that tiny ring?” “We were bespelled by the Astronomer,” Sasa whispered. “He’s an ancient sorcerer—don’t let him deceive you with that feeble act. He bought us all, and shoved us into those rings to light the way when he descends into Hel. Though Ariadne got put into the ring by …” She trailed off when the dragon cut her a scathing, warning look. HOSAB, Chapter 46

It needs to be said, the difference between magical beings feels like it has only barely scraped the surface at the end of CC2 and I have not one clue how Sarah is finally gonna break all that shit down for us. But during my reread I finally got really into the Mer plot for this exact reason as well... clearly quite a bit going on there. Also... with the sprites magic not being first light-based??? Ok, back to the task at hand.

So Ariadne is identified as a dragon, which according to the front of both Crescent City books, is part of the House of Flame and Shadow. Perhaps our most controversial collection of beings in the CC world, our Slytherin house lol.

But, according to Ariadne herself, there is a difference between the kind of dragon shifter she is and a dragon that is a true immortal... and allegedly sleeping in a cave somewhere?! —> remember this. Ok, so what is a true immortal? Aren't the Vanir and fae immortal for the most part?

Well, we've been getting corrections through SJM's series that there is a difference between long-lived, which is what the fae and Vanir are, and true immortals.

Particularly in the ACOTAR series we've had Death Gods explain the difference between their true immortality aka "[they have] no death awaiting them." And suspiciously, the Bone Carver claims that his sister, the Weaver, is not only truly immortal, but she's found a way to "eat life itself" so that's remains youthful. Interesting... can think of around 6 folks allegedly able to do that in Crescent City, but I digress.

So true dragons — the ancient ones — seem to be true immortals as well. There is "no death waiting for them." Interesting considering we've had references in both TOG and CC that dragons are either no more or MIA. We actually get references at least once to dragons in each of SJM's series. Let's dig in a little more.

So TOG is our series with the most obvious inclusion of, at the very least, dragon-like creatures (we love you Abraxos) aka Wyverns. Wyverns we learn were made by the king - in a process Manon claims to not know much about... but happens in a mountain. But let's not skip ahead.

We've known since early on in TOG that dragons once existed in Erilea, but wyverns remain and are even the symbol represented on Ardalan's royal seal.

Celeana is surprised to see dragons depicted on the doors to the palace's library - because of course... libraries are at this point one of our most consistent, important, and often lost/destroyed, settings/plot points across worlds. Followed up with her feeling "a shot of lightning" about this dragon-adorned library... my spidey senses are tingling, how about you? Have dragons been associated with lightning in mythology? Yes. Yes they have.

First, what is the difference between a dragon and a wyvern? In fact lets take a look at all the varietals, some of the names might be familiar.

Who could forget the Wyrm from ACOTAR? Characters (amren) have been referred to as drakes, and I think we can argue that we've encountered a couple others from this list (perhaps sent from Hel?).

Anyway, what happened to the dragons of Erilea? It seems that they were defeated during a conflict and people largely believe them to be gone and whole societies (the mycenians) lost hope and fight once the last dragon disappeared/was killed.

But it's Maeve who gives us the clearest picture as to what happened to the dragons.

Glass is obviously significant in Throne of Glass and brings new meaning to the now destroyed glass castle, which I now assume was made from dragon glass.

But Maeve having "ensured" dragons were eradicated is particularly interesting knowing what we know about dragon fire from CC2 (we'll get to that). What this "ancient and bloody conflict" was we can guess at, but much like ACOTAR and CC we've got a wealth of wars to choose some and some we have more information about than others... anyone else suspicious about the sprite rebellion?

But Maeve mentioning Aelin's own "fire-breathing heritage" gave me pause... is she suggesting Aelin has any relation to dragons? Especially when Aelin starts to feel pangs of empathy for reasons she can't explain (a lightbulb moment in any SJM book - she uses this easter egg tactic a lot), her overwhelming sorrow while she's actively being tortured feels notable. Especially mentioning dragons "would never again been on this earth." Perhaps they can be found on another?

But Maeve destroying dragons is important because Bryce learns from Jesiba in CC2 that the strongest weapon against a Prince of Hel is in fact... dragon fire. Seems like an important tool to have in the arsenal... and why mention it if there are no dragons left anyway?

It contained an analysis of dragon fire, dating back five thousand years. It was in a language Bryce didn’t know, but a translation had been included. Jesiba had scribbled Good luck at the top.

Well, now she knew why the Astronomer kept Ariadne in a ring. Not for light—but for protection.

Among its many uses, the ancient scholar had written, dragon fire is one of the few substances proven to harm the Princes of Hel. It can burn even the Prince of the Pit’s dark hide.

Yeah, Ariadne was valuable. And if Apollion was readying his armies … Bryce had no intention of letting the dragon return to the Astronomer’s clutches. HOSAB, Chapter 50

Granted, this alludes to there being a few substances that can harm a Prince of Hel, but with the introduction of Ariadne and "the ancient ones"... dragons have just shot to the top of my personal list of "things that are probably coming for us in CC3 and beyond" especially in this fight against the Big Bads.

Granted we learned when Bryce breaks into the Dawn room at the Crystal Palace (dragon glass too???) that the warring factions of Hel united to oust the Asteri and Thanatos is only now saying he doesn't give an f about his brothers' plans... maybe we don't want to roast Apollion, but just some of his brothers? And maybe dragon fire has some ability to take down an Asteri too? Who can say?

But that brings me back to Ariadne's conversation about the difference between the kind of dragon she is an the kind of dragons that have allegedly gone missing... she doesn't say they're gone.

“Skull-Crusher, Winged Doom, Light-Eater.” Flynn ticked them off on his fingers. She snorted, and the hint of amusement had Ithan realizing that the dragon was … beautiful. Utterly lethal and defiant, but—well, damn. From the gleam in Flynn’s eyes, Ithan could tell the Fae lord was thinking the same. Ariadne said, “Such names are for the old ones who dwell in their mountain caves and sleep the long slumber of true immortals.”

Hm... sleeping in mountain caves? We've definitely had some not super subtle hints about some giant presence slumbering below mountains — in both TOG and ACOTAR. And while TOG has clearly mentioned their missing dragons... ACOTAR explicitly references dragons one time.

When Lucien gives Feyre a cloak UTM she notes Amarantha's coat of arms isn't just a dragon... but a sleeping dragon. Can I fully say I understand all the implications here? Certainly not. But it was an "oh damn" moment when I saw it. Especially considering how convinced I am that Hybern was possessed by a Valg. And if Maeve (Valg) and Princes of Hel (??) fear dragon fire... that... is an intriguing parallel.

But ok, so we've got a coat of arms with a sleeping dragon... what else has been referenced as a massive sleeping force?

Cassian wondered if his brother had ever told her what dwelled in these mountains. Most had been slain by the Illyrians, or sent fleeing to those Steppes. But the most cunning of them, the most ancient … they had found ways to hide. To emerge on moonless nights to feed. Even five centuries of training couldn’t stop the chill that skittered down his spine as Cassian surveyed the empty, quiet mountains below and wondered what slept beneath the snow...

Cassian soared toward it, unable to resist Ramiel’s ancient summons. Different—the mountain was so different from the barren, terrible presence of the lone peak in the center of Prythian. Ramiel had always felt alive, somehow. Awake and watchful....

Ramiel rose higher still, a shard of stone piercing the gray sky. Beautiful and lonely. Eternal and ageless. ACOFAS, Chapter 3

Now I'm not saying I'm 100% confident a dragon is sleeping beneath Ramiel... but I am saying I feel confident we've gotta find dragons sleeping somewhere and the planet that's retained the most magic seems like an obvious first place to look.

I also wonder how much connection there could be between lost ancient dragons and the rare thunderbird line — a CC plot point that has been breaking my brain even more the second time around (all thoughts, no real conclusions). But with the inclusion of lightning + dragons (Aelin at the library, the Great Rite, etc.)... thunderbirds are looking even more suspicious in my eyes. Even more suspicious is our dear Hunt Athalar... lightning wielder of our dreams...

Her teeth shone, her canines long enough to shred flesh. “Did Bryce Quinlan tell you what occurred when she stood in this chamber twelve years ago?” His blood turned to ice. “That’s Quinlan’s business.” That smile didn’t falter. “You do not wish to know what I saw for her, either?” “No.” He spoke from his heart. “It’s her business,” he repeated. His lightning rose within him, rallying against a foe he could not slay. The Oracle blinked, a slow bob of those thick lashes. “You remind me of that which was lost long ago,” she said quietly. “I had not realized it might ever appear again.” HOEAB, Chapter 33

That's all I got for now... stay tuned for a potential descent into madness about Thunderbirds. We'll see.

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