#also laser eyes because they’re cool

[entropysanyt]

hhhhhhhhh bugbo doodle page with a human design wowie

[isuckatwritingsobenice]

I really liked Dipper and his stories, I think I need a Dipper x reader headcanon :)

A/N: YESSESSS DIPPER MY CUTIE PIEEEEE, i love this little one so much i really can’t

Warnings: NONE <333

Navigation!! // Masterlist!!

Being with Dipper in Gravity Falls means you get to see a side of him that not everyone does. He’s always been curious and brave, but with you, there’s a softer, more vulnerable side that emerges. Dipper isn’t great at grand romantic gestures, but his affection comes through in small, thoughtful ways that show just how much he cares.

He loves going on late-night walks with you through the woods, where the two of you can talk without interruptions. The air is cool, the stars are bright, and it feels like you’re the only two people in the world. Dipper’s hand will find yours, and though he might start off a little shy, by the end of the walk, he’s holding on like he never wants to let go.

When the two of you are together, Dipper can’t help but smile more. You notice how his eyes light up when you laugh, and he’ll often find excuses to be close to you, whether it’s sitting next to you on the couch or sharing a blanket during a movie. He’s not always the most confident in expressing his feelings, but he’s incredibly genuine when he does. He might awkwardly stumble through a compliment or blush when you catch him staring, but the sincerity in his voice makes it all the more endearing.

Dipper’s protective instincts kick in whenever you’re in a tough situation. He’s always looking out for you, whether it’s offering his jacket when you’re cold or stepping in front of you when things get dangerous. He worries about your safety, but he also trusts you to handle yourself. It’s a balance he’s still figuring out, but he’s always there when you need him.

Sometimes, Dipper will surprise you with little notes or drawings he’s done. He’s not one for grand declarations, but you’ll find a page in his journal where he’s sketched the two of you together or a note that says something like, “You make everything better.” These small, heartfelt gestures mean the world to you because they’re so uniquely him.

Dipper also loves sharing his world with you. He’ll take you to all his favorite spots in Gravity Falls, telling you the stories behind each one. Whether it’s the spot where he solved his first mystery or the place where he goes to think, sharing these places with you feels special to him. It’s like letting you into a part of his heart that he doesn’t show to just anyone.

When you’re both caught up in a mystery, Dipper is laser-focused, but he never forgets to check in with you. He’ll make sure you’re okay, offer you a smile, or squeeze your hand reassuringly. It’s his way of saying that, no matter what, you’re in this together.

In quieter moments, Dipper loves just being close to you. He’ll lean his head on your shoulder while you read together or gently play with your fingers as you talk. He’s not always the most physically affectionate, but when he is, it’s incredibly sweet and tender. You’ve become his safe place, someone he can relax around and be himself with, no matter what’s happening in the world around you.

Dipper may be a bit awkward and uncertain at times, but there’s no doubting the depth of his feelings for you. He’s loyal, caring, and always trying to find ways to make you smile. Being with him is like being on an adventure every day—one filled with love, laughter, and a connection that only grows stronger with time.

[methoughtsphantom]

DP x DC

not me thinking about imaginary scenarios of ten year old Tim Drake in the ghost zone (pariah’s castle)

where Tim thinks it’s strangely soothing that despite being the only one whose steps connect to the ground, there’s not that eerie silence that befell drake manor

strange blob creatures chitter softly and nip at his hair and swooshes and wisps of wind betray the presence of an invisible ghost

which after following he realizes it’s almost like he’s trailing after the black dark shadow that is batman again

which gives him the idea that, maybe, just this one time, he can play the part of robin

that in mind Tim makes out a game of sneaking to the side of ghosts that look like they’re brooding and if they can spot him he loses

most just grunt in response (very in character) while others fuss over him and ask questions which Tim uses to infodump

he also politely asks the ghost that always asks him how he’s doing to instead say the word “report”

(the ghost looks at him weirdly but humors him and besides the answer would be the same anyways)

Tim also(!!)

gets on the case of why the walls lack tangibility when he is the one leaning on them (he doesn’t live down the time he wanted to look cool only to fall through the wall)

hyperfixates on how gravity works in the ghost zone because he couldn’t do a skateboard trick he has pulled off many many times and he’s salty about it

tries to figure out where they are getting human food from (cause it’s hot enough to be homemade but also there’s no kitchen ��so how could it be) (also he wants coffee)

finds out the dude that often gives him a side eye when he finds that Tim knows how to do something (math homework), is next in line for the throne and yet doesn’t have a single “mingle and talk people up” bone in his body. (despite it his networking is a solid 7/10)

gets a ghost horse to adopt him what

discovers pretty quickly that there are rooms to which he can’t phase through (a.k.a. he’s not allowed entry) to which he begrudgingly backs off even though that stands in his way of doing a very thorough layout™ of the place (robin would)

sulks over the lack of extreme sports in the place

(Danny takes him to the Far Frozen where they go tire sliding in the snow and where tim learns how to use a skateboard skate and also that ghost ice cream is just as good as normal ice cream)

sulks again cuz he caught a common cold

also because there’s no sun or moon poor Timmy’s already screwed sleep schedule gets more messed up to the point no one knows when or where he will fall asleep

(ghosts find him in the most unhinged of places with a signature purple cloak draped over him every. single. time.)

overall, be a menace

see-> the time he threatened to build ghost weapons he’d somehow memorized the blueprints of cause Danny wouldn’t let him visit the radium girls factory but yes the renaissance period

see-> that time he went through the whole ghost energy and how to work with it book section in the library and half an hour later had a prototype of a star wars laser beam made

(note: bribing only works for hot chocolate, not for letting him keep cool-looking guns)

just tim having the time of his life

clockwork being no help at all (the ghost loves being a cryptid)

and danny trying not to get attached while he progressively gets more concerned over this chaos child he emotionally adopted as his little brother

(to fit canon cause i want it to this would just be until Danny finds the dimension little Timmy is from, then they can safely yeet the child back to the moment he first went missing)

anyways before anyone knows it’s been three months

[inoreuct]

zoro really does remind me so much of a tiger.

i can see him sprawled out on the deck with his tail swishing back and forth lazily, napping in the best sunbeams without giving a shit that he’s blocking the whole walkway, you know. cat stuff.

he would probably get disgruntled when the crew comes and lies down on/over/beside him but he’d just yawn and shake out his ruff and tolerate it because. they’re his crew. they’re nakama. anyone else would get their hands bitten off as soon as they got within biting distance, but he’ll tolerate these few.

(he wouldn’t admit that he enjoys them pressing into his sides and pushing their fingers into his thick fur when their hands get cold because he puts out heat like a bloody furnace.)

and sanji would be the ONLY one he lets near his underbelly; everybody else only gets to touch the top of his coat but sanji comes along and he bares his fangs in a baseless threat because the cook has already formed a habit of falling asleep with his face shoved into zoro’s soft white fur, or half-squashed beneath him, and zoro acts all indifferent but hey. there’s a reason only sanji gets to get that close to him.

AND PLEASE the way zoro naps with his hands behind his head?? if someone called for him he would crack an eye open just barely before ignoring them and/or turning away and going back to sleep. THAT IS PEAK FELINE BEHAVIOUR. THE WHOLE BITCHY PETTY LAZILY POSSESSIVE TRIES-TO-ACT-COOL-BUT-IS-ACTUALLY-VERY-MUCH-A-LAME-DORK-WHO-CARES-A-LOT IS SO ZORO (especially opla zoro)

and he gets so worked up so quickly over specific things, both in good and bad ways. sanji picks a fight and he is down to kick butt and on his feet in 2.5 seconds flat. luffy tells him about a new idea/plan/shenanigan that will most certainly get them into trouble (that nami will have to haul their asses out of) and he’s there swords out bandana on like “yeah i’m ready where we going” LIKE A CAT WITH A LASER POINTER. HE SNAPS TO ATTENTION IMMEDIATELY AND FOLLOWS IT WITH SINGLE-MINDED INTENSITY.

not to mention yes he’s soft for his nakama but he’s also still so dangerous. just because he tucks his swords and claws and fangs away for them does not mean that he does not have them. if anybody even thought of being as familiar with him as the strawhats they’d lose a few vital organs; he loves his crew, so he keeps them close. simple as that. it’s a privilege that he doesn’t afford anyone else.

mm and now this is stirring up ideas of a shifter au. big green tiger zoro yes but what would the rest of them be?? luffy’d be a monkey, probably… i feel like usopp gives off goose energy for some reason 😭 but sanji?? nami?? I DON’T KNOW YALL TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK

part 2 | part 3

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

I love how in the Stitch event, Stitch TALKS. In sound! Probably TWST used voice files from the Lilo & Stitch series, and it's because Stitch has simple voice lines, but it's still cool to see someone talking in sound in the event!

Yeah, I definitely wasn’t expecting the Stitch voiced lines but they’re a nice, cute touch! He growls, grunts, and laughs but also says, “Stitch good”, and “ohana”.

fhksv;16?fFsgv Kind of expected him to lock eyes with his fellow gremlin Grim and then immediately spiral into chaos… Like, Stitch starts biting people and curls up into a ball to smack into Grim 💀 Then this guy has the audacity to climb onto bigger gremlins Lilia and Floyd’s shoulders (which is how they can appear if you roll their respective SSRs) and look all innocent… The range of expressions Stitch can make in his in-game models is impressive!! They really capture him well.

Side note: Damn, the TWST team really popped off with all these new assets 🥺 I expected the beach in the book to be picturesque, but the bookshelf in the Archives is also super aesthetically pleasing!

Also, also: GANTU LOOKS SO BiG AND GOOFy 🤪 Love that we can see his teefs when he talks/points and shouts at them to hand over 626 or get mcfucking lasered Ortho-approved method of retrieval, I’m sure… This man is NOT above killing high school kids to get their talking dog/j)

[ashpkat]

ash dump ideas u never completed or just had on me

idk what fandom. and idc

feel high but also dead rn so j need some brain juice.... please, dickmaster ash the smash.....

oh boy i can do you one worse better. here’s an unfinished first chapter of a cassidy blake fusion au idea i had for magisterium. (u don’t need to know what cassidy blake is to understand but it’s by v.e. schwab)

Call had always been able to see ghosts. Somewhat. He could feel ghosts than he could see on a regular basis, it required a little work to actually see the ghosts. There were some rules. The Veil rule, for instance. How ghosts could only be seen in the Veil. With one exception of course.

Some people think ghosts only come out on Halloween, or during the night. That was not true, not by a long shot. Just because people couldn’t see them doesn’t mean they weren’t there. They could be anywhere, in some poor old lady’s garden, the bread aisle of the supermarket, the front seat of a bus, anywhere. 

Call could feel when a ghost is near. It was something reminiscent of the pitter patter of rain on a window, or maybe someone lightly tapping him on the shoulder. In other more severe cases, sometimes it was like a pulsing headache or someone digging their nails into his brain. 

It happened at random. And this certainly wasn’t the first time he felt it, and it wouldn’t be the last, either. Call was sitting in his desk during Algebra when it began, the tap tap tap. Like always, he tried to ignore it. Key word was tried. It chiseled away at his focus, and there was only one way Call knew that would make it go away. If he went and saw for himself.

Which more often than naught, he doesn’t want to go do. He can tell Aaron doesn’t either, because across the room when Call met his eye, met the intense glare he’s giving him from his seat. Very intense, like terminator laser death intense (Calls never seen the Terminator, so he doesn’t know if they actually shoot lasers but he thinks they probably should because that would be cool). 

Aaron couldn’t feel the tapping, but he knew his best friend well enough to realize when Call does. 

Call shifted in his seat, bouncing his leg absentmindedly. It had gotten stiff and painful from sitting down all day. The teacher just kept droning on. 

“When you get the variable X in this scenario isolated then you’ll have to…” Mr. Graves wheezed out as if he’d been smoking for thirty years. Knowing the amount of stress his students cause him, he probably had.

People around the room were getting antsy with their boredom. No one could even stay still. Rafe wqs sleeping with his eyes open, Kai doodles on their shoes, Kylie and Lacy were giggling and passing notes to each other. 

It was nothing good, Call assumed, because nothing good comes out of popular kids. That’s what Kylie and Lacy were, popular. He could tell because of their bleach blonde hair and perfectly painted nails and how they all looked like carbon copies of eachother. 

They’re usually all had similar personalities too — being general assholes. Kylie has once told Call not to get too close because she thought his bum leg might be contagious. Call fumed for at least 2 weeks after that (and still, 7 years later, he still was).

Maybe he should’ve wanted to be popular, but that was never his style (both literally and figuratively). There were just too many rules, like laugh at jokes but don’t laugh too loud. Smile but not too wide. Wear the right clothes. Play the right sports. Care, but don’t care too much. Etcetera, etcetera.

Call had rules he lived by, like rules with Aaron, but those were different.

 Kylie flicked the note in front of her, over to Lacy’s desk, but she missed and it floated to the floor like a leaf in the wind. From his seat, Call can see Aaron strike a rare, impish grin. 

“I know just what will get your mind off this ghost tap,” said Aaron. Call looked over at him, cocking an eyebrow with mild surprise.

The thing about Aaron was this: he could be popular. He could be the star quarterback. He could be the teenage heartthrob of the school. But he couldn’t.

Because Aaron was dead. He’s a ghost.

Aaron got out of his seat and sauntered over to Lacy’s desk, she’s retrieved the note and is stifling a giggle as she scribbled a reply.

He read aloud over her shoulder, but Call was the only one who can hear him, “Top ten cutest boys in the school,” Aaron feigned surprise, “not to spoil anything but.. number one is Ryan.”

Call rolled his eyes. He could see as Lacy turned around and placed her response on Kylie’s desk, her arm went straight through Aarons torso. Aaron shivered. Then, he turned his body to face Kylie's desk, gingerly putting his fingers on one of the many multi-colored pens that lined it. He focused all his attention on it, scrunching up his semi-transparent tan face. It doesn't move.

In movies, poltergeists could throw TV's and slide beds across the floor. But in reality, it took a lot of ghost energy to cross the Veil -- which is what Call dubbed the little curtain that separated the living and the dead. And the ghosts who do have that energy are typically super old and not very pleasant. Luckily they've never had to deal with one of those. Call was secretly glad that Aarons wasn’t made of all that stuff.

Aaron caught Call staring at his pen escapade and sheepishly smiles, as if he knew he's probably not supposed to be doing that. Then he gracefully clipped himself through the floor and reappeared next to Call. 

He perched himself on Calls desk, effectively hindering what little attention Call was paying. 

“I’d say that didn’t get your mind off it, hm?” Aaron cracked a half smile.

Yeah, actually maybe a little, but now all I can think about are Ryan’s chiseled abs, Call thought to himself, careful not to speak aloud. That was one major perk of having a ghost best friend, he never even had to open your mouth to have a conversation, with the mind link and all. He doesn't quite understand why their minds are linked, however.

“Better than thinking about ghosts right?” Aaron said, but as he does Call could feel the tapping getting stronger. Like an itch at the edge of his vision, pulling and begging for him to look that way. Aaron sighed and shot him a sympathetic look as he hopped down from his desk.

It really only made Call think more about ghosts, and not just the one pestering him, somewhere far in the school, but also Aaron. Call doesn’t know how long it’s been since.. the incident. He tried not to think about it too loud, since Aaron typically gets a little upset when Call mentioned it— how he got stuck actually being a ghost.

He couldn’t have been dead for too long, since there’s not anything retro about him with his floppy blonde hair, Nikes, and Marvel T-shirt. And also because he’s only showed up as of lately, and lately being the last 2 years. It was when Call was 12, and his dad had gotten some weird antique with some weird ghost boy seemingly attached to it. 

“I prefer the term corporally challenged.” Aaron rolled his eyes at Call.

Quit reading my thoughts you freak, Call shot back at him, can’t I get any privacy? 

“It’s not my fault you’re a loud thinker,” he retorted. “Also for the record, I wasn’t attached to the antique! I was following the pull back to you. Things aren’t haunted like that. You know that’s not how it works.”

Thats not what my dad says, Call hid his laugh with a swift cough into his hand. A few people turn and look at him anyway. He sunk lower into his seat and eyes the clock. The tapping was getting worse.  

Calls dad, Alastair, had always been a little obsessed with antiques and the history behind them. Lately, he had been inching towards supernatural territory. Actually no, not just inching, it was a full on sprint into spectral space.

It was like a switch being flipped in his brain, and all Alastair wanted to buy now are creepy old dolls that looked like they would be haunted but weren’t. Call would’ve known if they are. And it wasn’t like Call could ever tell his dad that, because he’d go crazy and try to interrogate him. Alastair had even been talking to some medium that claims he can see ghosts, but Call doubted. He’d met the guy and he couldn’t even see Aaron, so that was enough evidence for a faker for him. 

Maybe he’s going through a midlife crisis, Call thinks to Aaron. He just crinkled his nose at Call and shook his head.

”I don’t think Alastair believes the medium can actually see ghosts,” Aaron said slowly. “Maybe he just likes the company. If you’re catching my drift.”

Call tried hard to not let his face twist up and make it look like he was constipated. No? Whats the drift i’m missing here?

”You know,” he sighed, “that they’re not just chatting about ghosts? They’re getting… romantical?” At Call’s blank face, he gave up the ghost (ha) and soldiered on. “Is the tapping still there?” Aaron asked, even though Call was pretty sure he already knew the answer.

Sure is, he replied and rubbed the back of his neck. Like a knock, knock, knocking on the base of his skull. It was telling him that there’s some serious paranormal activity going on. Call sighed. He could certainly do without all this spectral nonsense, he couldn’t wait for Summer. Because in Summer, Call could get full nights rests without hearing the tap of the Veil and rather the sounds of Alastair tinkering with cars in the garage. There's something odd about the Hunts house, because Call found that it’s strangely quieter than the rest of the town, especially in Summer. Six weeks of quiet, six weeks of Summer sun and reading comic books with Aaron, six weeks of almost feeling normal with his best friend. All Call has to do was make it through these final days.

Call raised his hand like the dutiful student he was. Mr. Graves saw him and gave him a stern look, already knowing Calls question wouldnt be about math.

“Yes, Callum?” He exhaled, sick of him even though he hadn’t even spoken yet.

”Can I use the bathroom?” Call shuffled in his seat and rolled his shoulders, trying to shake off the feeling, but the tapping was persistent. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see Aaron sigh and frown. It didn’t take a genius to understand where Call planned to go with this.

”Can’t it wait?” Mr. Graves sighed wearily, “I’m in the middle of very detailed instructions. You’ll miss them.”

Call scowled, ”You know I’ll miss them anyway, even if I was in the room, now c’mon I really gotta go!”

Mr. Graves looked considering, eyeing Call like he was some disease-ridden freak. Then he sighed again and pinched the bridge of his nose with his pointed and his thumb.

"Fine. But make it quick, do not dawdle," he waved him off and turned back to the board.

Call was already out of his seat and snatching the hall pall before Mr. Graves could even think about finishing his sentence. He shuffled out of that stuffy classroom as fast as his leg would allow. In the hallway, Aarons slightly transparent head popped out of a wall, and he didn't look too pleased. Call hardly spared him a glance as he limped down the staircase, his footsteps audible in the nearly silent hallway

"Can we just be normal for once?" Aaron asked, sounding a bit sad. He’d floated down the steps instead of walking, which Call was jealous of. If he was undead, he’d sure love to go without the constant pain in his left leg.

"You're a ghost. And I can see you. That's not normal, so I doubt normal is something we could even achieve." Call hissed at him, the tapping was pulling him somewhere weird.

Call back tracked. It pulled him like a rope attached to his gut right down into a completely seperate hallway.

A locker door swung open and hit Aaron in the face. Call instinctively flinches, but he passed through it like it was nothing. He appeared to be sulky.

"Well you could at least try and be normal," he muttered.

"Whats that supposed to mean?" Call stopped dead in his tracks and glared in the other boys direction. Aaron held his hands up in surrender. He looked apologetic enough for making Call mad, which irked him a little because Aaron was just too nice.

The thing was, they both knew that Call wasn’t a normal boy and Aarons not a normal ghost. There was an accident, snow and ice, cars screeching, and slipping into darkness. And then Call was whole again, flash forward 13 years, and a ghost soon-to-be best friend showed up in Calls house. (a/n: fix/ ??? dunno if i want this to be canon)

Call turned away, skulking off and letting the tapping pull him away. He doesn't even have to think about where he had to go. He ducked into the library, the librarian was somewhere in the backroom, therefore, she couldn't and wouldn't bother Call. Call slunk in between the rows of books. By now, the tapping was more a thudding. This was probably, no, definitely where he needed to be. Aaron appeared in front of him, bottom lip jutted out in a pout.

“I mean this: have you ever tried to ignore the tapping? Just wait it out?” Aaron crossed his arms, “I know, I know..”

“Do you though?” Call exclaimed, but quickly lowered his voice when he realized where he was, “We’ll be quick, in and out.”

Aaron frowned, “But…”

“In and out.” He repeated.

After contemplating silence, the tension in Aarons body eased and he sighed, “fine. Rule number 9 of friendship, friends don’t leave friends in the Veil.”

“Bingo.” Call shot him quick finger guns.

Behind him, Call reached for light airy fabric. It’s wasn’t actual physical fabric, but it was the only tangible way to describe crossing over into the Veil. He pulled it away and let himself fall. Then it was all black and Call felt sharp cold air pierce his lungs, his fingers turning icy, and his whole body becoming overwhelmingly cold.

And then it was again, Calls was back to his normal self. Except, he wasn’t. Not in the veil. He was slightly more translucent than before, and there’s a glowing blue, almost grey, light inside his chest. Beside him is Aaron, looking more solid than not— however he lacked the glowing light inside, telling Call he is indeed still a—

“Ghost?” Aaron sighed, “You’re thinking a lot today? What’s up?”

“Now is not the time for our therapy sessions,” Call snapped back.

(the ghost is jennifer? idk? canon book was that ghost died in a fire but maybe the bookshelves crushed her / someone pushed the shelves?)

(call goes home. uhhh. oh yeah the medium is constantine this is another alastine au. alastair is like surprise we’re going on vacation to salem and call is Fuck)

the only other notes i had for this was

Salem, Massachusetts

(3 locations minimum:

Burying Point Cemetary,

The Witch House,

Protectors Ledge,

House of the seven Gables,

Rockafellas(I HAVE AN ACTUAL FUNNY IDEA),

The Salem Inn,

Wicked Good Books(Tam), Gallows Hill)

- Ghost boy!Aaron

- Ghost Hunter!Call

- Ghost Hunter!Tamara

- Regular boy!Jasper deWinter that gets dragged along w/ Tamara

- Big bad!Maugris, steals Souls in hopes to get a body because he’s a fucking idiot and doesn’t know that’s Not How It Works LMAOOOO

- one sided calron :( but call doesn’t end up with any one in the end

- this is future ash i don’t remember how aaron died but i think he got murdered? idk it was really really weird. in cassidy blake, jacob (the ghost best friend) drowned to death trying to get smthing for his sibling but. eh. aaron has no siblings)

- deadass remember nothing abt this au. btw don’t remember what the funny idea was for rockafellas im so sad i remember losing it at SOMETHINg

Anyway

YO reblog this shit if you want me to share more of my unfinished ideas / chapters

[paddedlittleparadise]

Solar Eclipse Info, 2024

Hey, over the last few weeks I've seen a lot of curiosity about the upcoming solar eclipse. Here's a quick roundup of some common questions and answers that might help!

1. Da fuk is a solar eclipse, anyway?

The Moon goes in front of the Sun. Because they look about the same size from Earth - a very cool coincidence! - when they line up just right the entire disk of the Sun gets covered up, making it a total eclipse. On April 8, 2024, this only happens in a narrow band of North America: a thin ribbon stretching from Mexico to Canada, traced out by the Moon's shadow.

In most places, the Moon will be a bit too high or too low to cover the Sun right; here folks will only get to see a partial eclipse. Partial eclipses are kinda cool, but nothing like a total eclipse.

2. Hey – If the Sun is covered, won’t it get dark?

Yes and no. The Sun is stupidly bright, so even when most of it's covered, daylight doesn't look super different. Even during the last fifteen minutes or so before it's 100% covered, the light only gradually begins to dim. It's only once the Sun is entirely covered – what we call "totality" – that it really gets dark. (Not dark like midnight, but about as dark as twilight.) Also, because the Moon's shadow is constantly moving, this bit of darkness only lasts a few minutes, depending on where exactly you are.

3. Why are people telling me to wear eclipse glasses? Is it some stupid cash grab? Or are eclipses weirdly dangerous?

Eclipses themselves are not dangerous. The Sun is, though – because like I said, it's stupidly bright! The reason why scientists warn people about hurting their eyes during an eclipse is because that’s basically the only time millions of people will try staring directly into a giant dazzling ball of gas.

So YES - anytime even a tiny bit of the Sun is visible, use eclipse glasses or some other verified, proper filter to save your poor retinas. They’re the only ones you have! Only if and when the Sun is COMPLETELY covered should you take a look without a filter.

NOTE: Filters are even more necessary if you're using binoculars or a telescope! These things work by collecting and concentrating light, so when pointed at the Sun without a filter, the beam of light coming out of the eyepieces can literally melt holes through plastic. I've seen it myself. So please… use a dang filter, okay?

4. Da heck is that white stuff around the sun in the pictures? Do I need glasses to look at THAT?

That's the corona – the Sun's searingly hot outer atmosphere. Because the Sun is stupidly bright (besides being a deadly laser) the corona is usually invisible to us. So, yep – total solar eclipses are the only time you and I ordinarily get to see it!

And nope, the corona is pretty dim and totally safe to look at without glasses. Just DON'T get so focused staring at it that you forget to put your eclipse glasses back on when totality ends!

5. How rare are these things, anyway? And why?

As it moves through the sky, the Moon circles past the Sun literally every 29.5 days – it's just that usually it's too high or low to cover even a bit of it. Globally, solar eclipses do happen pretty frequently: about every 18 months on average. But because the Earth is a big place, they might occur anywhere: the south Pacific, Africa, even Antarctica. On top of that, the odds that you specifically will be somewhere in that thin band of totality is pretty darn rare. As far as North America goes, the last total solar eclipse was nearly seven years ago, in 2017. For the next one in North America? You'll have to wait until 2045.

6. Why are people so excited?

As someone who got to experience totality in 2017 (that's my own pic above), it's tough to explain. Many people, even folks who aren't particularly spiritual, have likened totality to a religious experience. There's something chillingly cool about standing still and feeling the sun slowly dim as the Moon's shadow sweeps toward you. It's a cosmic motion as inexorable as fate, and no one – not you, not the pope, not even Bruce Willis – can stop it.

Once totality hits, the temperature typically drops a few degrees. Wind sometimes picks up or dies down because of the temperature drop. Birds and other animals freak the heck out. The brighter stars come out, midday be damned. All around the horizon glows a 360-degree "sunset"… while overhead it's like the Sun has died and left us puny humanoids staring up open-mouthed at its ghostly shell.

THAT's why totality is a big deal. And why I, along with literally millions of others, will try my level best to go see it. All the while hoping like heck that it's not cloudy.

–––

To read a more in-depth and super-useful guide, check out NASA's official site. Great American Eclipse also has a lot of sweet resources and maps. And feel free to reply with any other questions!

[mushiimune]

HELLLOOOO POOKIES!

So I’ve been thinking a lot about Playhouse lately (what else is new😔) but this time it’s about the band itself! I’m still trying to come up with a name for them rather than just “the band” because I think that would be cool. I used to call them “Carnival Co.” but now that’s just the name of the company who developed the Playhouse, aka the business partnership of Rockefeller & Carlyle.

I think their stage performances would have different costumes than the ones I’ve drawn them in so far. I want to give them different outfits that match more with the circus aesthetic. Frivilous and gothic, in the ornate victorian way. Their attractions will still remain the same, they change after the show back into their normal clothes, but the vibe of the theatre and the vibe of the wing in which all of their attractions are clustered are very different.

The game wing is bright and eye-catching, focused more on children and interactive games: roller skating, laser tag, the playplace, the circus, etc., and the theatre is geared towards teens and adults. I’ve also decided that the band puts on roughly one or two shows a day, and the rest of the time they’re off in their attractions or at the circus. Mitsy and Ace have business at the circus, the other two do not. Mitsy is an acrobat, and Ace is the ringmaster who introduces the show and various acts.

I do not care that this is like 90% sci-fi now :3 it makes me happy and that’s what matters yippee yo and yippee yeah‼️

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[bnha-more-like-bnh-gay]

So, for a couple of years now, I've been reading the old X-Men comics of the 70s & 80s, and a few recent issues from '87 have given me a great idea for an AU.

Ready?

Dazzler!Izuku 😀

So, Izuku is born with a quirk that allows him to transform sound into photonic energy. Anything from generating benign blobs of light that move, pulsate, and change color in relation to whatever music he's listening to (tho, this can be weaponized too; during the sludge villain attack, Izuku overwhelms the villain's eyes with a fantastic light show that leaves him catatonic), to concentrating a single, loud noise into a laser beam that deals concussive damage.

Izuku would, of course, gravitate towards Present Mic as a mentor. And he would team up well with Jirou.

So, what do you think?

I AM SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG TO REPLY TO, SCHOOL AND MY MENTAL HEALTH FUCKED ME OVER. I have had half of this in my queue for about 3 months, ya bitch was just burnt tf out 💀

But dude, I absolutely fucking love this 😭😭

Heads up, my knowledge of physics is limited so I’m not going to be talking much about the actual details of his quirk until after I learn more about it, but I hope you enjoy!!!

Izuku who makes physics jokes.

He has shirts with physics puns on them. A shirt that says, “the photon checked into the hotel and was asked if it had any bags, it said, “no thanks, I’m traveling light!”

Reminds me of the time I was dual enrolling and in my psychology class, I said, “I once asked the librarian if she had a book on Pavlov’s dog and Schrödinger’s cat. She said it rung a bell but she wasn’t sure if it was there or not!”

I thought I was so funny, but everyone else hated me.

Izuku is that kid. He does that shit

Inko loves it, she thinks her son is hilarious. Mic loves it. The little lister is so smart! Nezu has a goddamn field day. Aizawa is so tired, but secretly likes the jokes. He face palms every time and acts like it’s the end of the world, but he does like them. Midnight thinks it’s great, she asks izuku for more jokes/puns all the time. Mainly to annoy Aizawa. But still. BRUH, MISS JOKE. SHE LOVES THIS LITTLE SHIT. I honestly feel like all might wouldn’t understand most of them, but he’d love them anyway.

Izuku: I was studying frequencies, but now my brain Hertz.

He accidentally freaks people out the first few weeks in the dorm because they’re not used to it/expecting it.

The number of times mina asks for mood lighting

I really want to drive home that he makes an unholy amount of puns

He doesn’t even try to, it just happens so naturally. Shouto has theorized that it’s a secondary quirk.

You have spoken directly to my soul with mentor mic (and Jirou/izuku friends)

They’d all work so well together though

Mic brings him to Put Your Hands Up Radio not only to work with his quirk, but to help with his nerves

It is no secret that izuku is a nervous lad, but I raise you, mic was also a nervous lad (personal headcanon, but you cannot tell me that lad doesn’t have generalized anxiety)

Mic helps izuku gain some coping mechanisms (or coping mic-anisms if you will (thank you, thank you))

Mic is a nerd, izuku is a nerd, Jirou is cool, but a nerd. Jirou, similar to Aizawa, rolls her eyes at the physics puns, but does she think they’re funny? Yes. Yes, she does. They defends izuku when people mock his puns

Mic couldn’t be prouder of his children

Thank you for the ask! I hope you enjoyed! Sorry it was kinda short 😅

[grinningreaperwrites]

Magical Girl Power! Episode 1: Pilot

     From the concept: 'Magical Girl, but only girl sometimes!'      Grian, Scar, and Mumbo are a team of reporters investigating Magical Girls in Hermit County. Allegedly, Magical Girls are simply a form of Spirit that come through the Rift to fight the Rogue Spirits invading this dimension, but when a Rogue breaks through the Rift itself, Grian discovers just how a Magical Girl is made.

On AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/47311924 

     It’s unclear how the Boatem Village founders became aware of the hole in reality at the center of town - if they specifically chose the location because of the Rift, or if the Rift later called out to them. The Spirits that occasionally appear from the Rift were probably involved, though. Rare, magical creatures have that kind of effect on people.

     Allegedly, they’re also just as sapient as humans, but that might only apply to the Spirits with human forms: the Magical Girls. The subjects of the documentary Grian and his team are currently researching. Even though they show up to take down the Rogues that attack the city, no one has ever managed to figure out where they go. What is a Magical Girl like when she isn’t throwing laser beams and glowing hearts at giant monsters?

     Well, hopefully Grian can find a Magical Girl, which is historically the sticking point in everyone else’s attempts. But he does have a team of highly competent researchers and camerapeople on his side, a cool office, and probably too much free time, so he thinks he’s got a pretty good chance.

     He pushes the door to said office, and spots his two friends chucking uncapped markers at each other while covered in sticky notes.

     Okay, maybe he just has a team. Grian can already spot inkblots on Scar’s side of the office, where he’s managed to dodge Mumbo’s attempts.

          “Hey guys, I see planning is going well,” Grian calls, and his teammates both yelp. Scar even throws his marker! At least it hits one of Grian’s binders instead of his clothes.

          “Oh, h-hey Grian! We were just, uh, testing the new equipment!” Scar says, smiling like a cat that just knocked over a plant.

          “They’re very… colorful?” Mumbo adds sheepishly, examining the sticky notes attached to his suit. Scar managed to splatter him with far more blue ink than Mumbo returned with red.

     There is a pause, then the three of them cackle.

     Grian attempts to lean against the door as support, but it opens the entire way to bounce off the doorstop and smack him as he wobbles upright. They laugh even harder, and it takes a good five minutes for them to calm enough to settle down and actually start planning out a research and filming schedule.

     Scar is the only one who might have any scheduling conflicts as he is occasionally called in to his brother’s company while the man is missing, but Grian and Mumbo are determined to keep Scar from moping in his labyrinthine house. It turns out that, despite what Grian walked in on, Mumbo was indeed thinking up what they could try in these early stages.

          “Do you remember the field trip to the Observatory every year? I could probably run the tour by now, just ‘and here we have the weird tiny zoo where the Spirits we’ve captured do strange things we can’t account for with science,’” Mumbo asks, approximating a tour guide’s cheery façade.

     Scar giggles as Grian lifts his head from his notebook.

          “No, neither of us grew up in Hermit County,” Grian hums, considering. “Did they really take you every year?”

          “Yeah, there was always someone who tried to break into the Spirit observation pen to try to get a Magical Girl to appear – we are not doing that,” Mumbo adds hastily, when Scar claps his hands.

          “Sure, sure, I wanna see the little Spirits!” Scar says.

     Grian and Mumbo both stare at him until he pouts, though the gleam in his eyes undermines any sincerity of the action.

          “I promise I won’t sneak in anywhere!” Scar says, and Mumbo and Grian look at each other for a moment, trying to gauge if they should push it.

     Grian shrugs, and Mumbo sighs heavily, ruffling his mustache. Then he pushes back from their table and holds out his hands like he’s framing a scene. This time, he tries to imitate the narrator of a nature documentary.

          “And here we have a Crystalline Pixie. Despite having a name and physical proof of their existence for decades, we still haven’t found a way to get them to stay in our weird plastic log enclosures,” he narrates as he pans slowly across their office.

     Scar bites down on his hand even though it fails to muffle his laughter, and Grian smacks Mumbo in the shoulder, clicking his pen before scribbling on the page his own cheek had rumpled earlier.

          “No, no, that might work, right?” he mutters, and his friends lean in to try to read his notes upside-down. “If we’re going to have some sort of breakthrough, we should probably prove we’re not just making things up – that we know what we’re doing, right?”

          “Do we?” Scar asks, tilting his head to the left just like a cat.

     Grian glares at him, and then at Mumbo’s apologetic expression for good measure.

          “If we do our research, yes, we should.”

     This time, Mumbo and Scar share a look while Grian scribbles out plans in some of the most ornate chicken scratch to still be legible writing. Maybe. They aren’t looking at it from his perspective.

     Scar leans forward to tug some of the early sections of script towards him and picks up a glitter gel pen.

          “Well, I guess we have to pad runtime somehow. Do you want this as the opening or are we still doing the fight compilation as a hook?”

          “Ah… we should definitely keep the compilation, people love those,” Mumbo answers.

     They continue to brainstorm, and at one point, Mumbo gets into contact with the media outreach team for the Rift Observatory. He manages to set up two tours of the facility: the standard tour he remembers from field trips, and a special ‘backstage’ tour for grown adults with professional jobs who are responsible. He tries to not eye his chaos-minded friends too obviously when the manager makes that joke.

     They give him the most angelic smiles they can muster.

                                                     - - - - -

     Scar’s sleep schedule is just horrible, so on the day of the tours, Mumbo and Grian show up at his house at about 11:30, and Grian presses the doorbell approximately fifteen times before Mumbo even steps onto the porch. The bell barely clicks on this side of the door, but Grian continues to tap at it as Mumbo pulls his phone out. It’s the joy of pressing buttons! Also, Grian can hope that somewhere in his warren of a home, Scar is being menaced by doorbell noises.

     The curtains to the left of the door shift wildly, and Jellie pops up in the window. She puts her little kitty beans on the glass and meows silently, and Grian waves at her with his free hand. Then there’s a clatter from behind the door, and Scar yelps loudly.

     Grian continues pressing the doorbell even as Scar opens his door. Now, he can hear as it buzzes faintly deeper into the house.

          “Hi guys! What time is it?”

          “About thirty minutes until the tour,” says Mumbo, batting at Grian’s hand. “You’re still in your pajamas! Have you even eaten?”

     Scar beams at them brightly, then lunges to pick up Jellie as she toddles towards the open door. She wriggles in his arms until her claws are digging into the spaceship diagram spread across his pajama top, and Scar jerks his head into the depths of his house.

          “Come on in, we’ll be even later if we have to chase down Jellie!”

     Mumbo and Grian wander in behind him after Grian hits the button one last time… Twice. Okay, several times. He also shuts the door behind them, as Jellie is still peeking over Scar’s shoulder.

          “How about we make food while you get ready?” Grian offers when they turn somewhere in Scar’s labyrinth. It’s oddly quiet. Even knowing Scar’s brother is missing doesn’t mean Grian stops expecting to hear him tinkering somewhere.

     Scar immediately spins, making Jellie mew, and grins at them before turning down a different hallway.

          “Yeah! That’d be fun, maybe.” He drops Jellie gently and pushes open a door, then sweeps his arm out dramatically at the revealed kitchen. “I dunno what I have, go nuts!”

     As Mumbo and Grian enter, Scar ruffles Grian’s hair, already poofing out of its updo. He squawks and spins, but Scar is squinting his eyes shut from smiling and misses Grian’s glare.

          “Oh yeah, maybe we should make waffles,” Mumbo says.

     Grian whips around to stick his tongue out at Mumbo, too, and huffily begins tightening the pins in his braids again.

          “Just because my hair isn’t long enough to stay in a bun otherwise does not make it a waffle,” Grian protests. “None of you ever bother with more than just combing your hair. The braids are nice! They add texture!”

     Ignoring Grian’s long-running argument, Scar points a finger-gun at Mumbo and says “Good luck!” before wandering off.

     Mumbo and Grian stare at each other for a long moment.

          “I can’t think of anything better to make,” Grian admits, defeated. “He better have enough milk.”

     The looming appointment doesn’t manage to dampen their spirits, and they successfully keep Jellie from jumping onto the plates of waffles set out by the time Scar ambles back in with still-damp hair. He flops onto the table and stretches his arms out over the edge, then is nudged by Jellie. At his other side, Mumbo sets down a plate and bumps it against his elbow.

     They all eat an entire waffle in pleased silence. Well, Jellie eats small, cut-apart waffle pieces mixed into her kibble very loudly. Then Grian actually looks at what Scar put on.

          “Scar, do you have anything …red?” Grian asks.

     Indeed, Scar has managed to put together an outfit that is anything but red. He also may have mixed multiple suits together, because his suit jacket is lavender but his pants are striped orange. Compared to Mumbo’s simple black suit and Grian’s red jumper and tan slacks, Scar is notably… bright.

     Patting down his jacket, Scar hums. “I might have a bow tie? Oh! How about this?”

     Out of his sleeve, Scar pulls an entire white chrysanthemum. He spins the stem in his fingers, then tucks it into his breast pocket. Mumbo giggles while Grian squishes his own face in his hands.

          “No, no, I meant red so we all match, kind of!” Grian huffs. “Not an excuse for close-up magic. Where did you even hide that?”

     Mumbo giggles louder. Adopting a put-upon expression, Scar opens his arms and leans back from the table.

          “I’m getting into character! I know we’re not recording voiceover yet, but we might need some scenes of me talking to people there, right?” Then he flexes his wrists, and two more chrysanthemums pop out of his sleeves. He twists his hands to tug them out, and offers one to each of his friends. “Hey, if you wanted to match…?”

     Mumbo and Grian burst into laughter, and Jellie chitters from the floor.

                                                        - - - -

     The lobby of the observatory is chrome and glass, which reflects the visitors’ bright colors in an almost garish display, and that’s even on days when Grian and Mumbo didn’t accept Scar’s offer of ‘matching’ outfits. Okay, mostly they just accepted the chrysanthemums. Grian has tucked his chrysanthemum into his bun like a pom-pom, Mumbo has acquired gloves in addition to placing his chrysanthemum in his own breast pocket, and Scar has gained a lavender top hat, a light blue sash, another handful of random flowers, and, of course, a red bow tie.

     They are very brightly-colored in this very austere and science-fiction-y looking place. Scar waves at small children as they walk up to the welcome desk, and the secretaries smile at them with the air of people vaguely alarmed by whatever is in front of them. Whoops?

     Grian smiles politely back and wonders how often random people show up dressed like Magical Girl groupies.

          “Hello, we’re the team working with the Hermit Gazette. We have a meeting with Doctor Plays at twelve-oh-five?” Grian asks.

     Mumbo leans over Grian’s head because he is unreasonably tall. He can probably see the secretary search up their entry. She directs them to a specific door, but before any of them even touch it, it slides down and reveals a blonde man in a lab coat and huge blue goggles. He’s visibly delighted to see the three of them, and claps his hands.

          “Hello, hello, hello! I’m Doctor Zedaph Plays, I’m going to be taking you through the back today,” he says, and Scar bounces forward to shake his hand first.

          “Oh my gosh, hi! I’m Scar, this is Grian and Mumbo,” he beams.

     As they are introduced, Grian and Mumbo wave, then accept a handshake in turn. The doctor steps back to let them into the corridor, and they descend into the metal innards of the Observatory. There are colored lines on the walls and strip lighting recessed into the ceiling, and it feels like Grian has stepped into a spaceship. He makes a note to add that to the script. Scar will like saying something to the effect of “a ship to another world – the Spirit realm buried under our feet.”

     Current Scar, though, is staring at the walls and glossy windows with huge eyes. He almost trips into Grian as he attempts to watch a different scientist set up a model Doctor Plays explains as “a representation of our current understanding of the Rift and what lies immediately beyond it.” It looks like a cornucopia being used as a Jack-o’-lantern; a gray, coiled cave full of purple light.

          “Kamino,” Scar mutters under his breath.

          “What?” Grian tips his head back and scrunches his face as his bun shifts.

          “Mumbo didn’t say he went to Kamino every year,” Scar elaborates, clarifying nothing.

     Doctor Plays does laugh, though.

          “Oh, we don’t have clones here,” he says, and Grian finally remembers the scrap of Star Wars trivia Scar is enchanted by.

     Mumbo makes a few baffled noises. “I- we’re underground! I didn’t think ‘ooh it’s like we’re on that rainy planet with the Boba Fetts!’”

          “But aliens!” Scar protests. “There’s aliens and science!”

     Everyone giggles, but then are cut off by a sudden beep. A door opens behind Doctor Plays, and he waves them in.

          “We do kind of have aliens, that’s true!” he says, and then sweeps an arm over the intricate glass displays and little tanks within the room.

     Though the actual wall material is the same white as the hallway, the floor is glass over a maze of metal and grates. The maze… doesn’t seem to have an exit, unless some of the grates along the walls move. Inset within the walls are cross-sections of burrows, like ant farms, except the burrows are about the width of Grian’s hand.

     Doctor Plays steps out onto the glass shielding the maze, and spins in place.

          “Welcome to the Lab-yrinth! Here, we are testing endermites’ navigational memory,” he explains, then strides over to one of the terrariums as the team enters. “Currently our primary research subject is named Mike! Would you like to meet him?”

     Every member of the team gasps in delight and practically cheers. Doctor Plays smiles and flicks on lights within the terrarium. As the shortest member of the team, Grian doesn’t have to lean over to examine the contents. A lump of what Grian had assumed was bedding uncurls like a rolly-polly, and scurries up to the glass when Doctor Plays waves.

         “Hello Mike! Would you mind demonstrating for our guests?”

     It is unclear if Mike is capable of listening, but Scar and Mumbo clap in excitement. Doctor Plays’ grin widens, somehow, and he starts fiddling with several controls to the left of Mike’s terrarium. Several things clunk mysteriously out of sight, and Mike scuttles down a burrow and disappears.

         “So, in simple terms, Mike enters here,” the doctor explains, pointing to a grate along the same wall as the terrarium. “And then we measure how long it takes him to get to that one over there, the blue one. The maze stays the same, and the time will display here.”

     There are already many times displayed, formatted as ‘name’, ‘date’, and ‘time’, several of which are attributed to Doctor Plays himself. Grian points them out as the they all settle against the wall while Mike is presumably being loaded into the maze entrance.

         “Oh, yeah! We also tested how well a human driving a little remote-control car with a camera on it could complete the maze. I’m the fastest, but then, I also designed it.”

     Grian and Mumbo chuckle, but Scar claps and then grabs his hat as he leans over.

         “Mike’s here! There he goes!”

     The endermite peeks out of the grate as it slides slowly to the left, then shoots out until he reaches a wall. Antennae twitching, Mike rotates in place slowly.

         “Is he like an ant? Does he leave a scent trail, I mean,” Mumbo asks, as Mike pauses and starts frantically wiggling his antennae.

         “Possibly!” says Doctor Plays. “No chemical traces have been found, but given that we also can’t explain how the Rift works, it might be leaving marks we cannot sense.”

     Mike continues to ping-pong his way throughout the maze, cheered on by four grown men sitting cross-legged on the floor like kindergarteners for story time. He backtracks about three times and investigates two dead ends, and Scar clutches at Grian’s shoulder every time as if Grian can do anything about it. Well, maybe he could, given that Mike seemed to react when Doctor Plays waved earlier, but if there’s one thing Grian remembers about science, it’s that you do not interfere with the experiments.

     When Mike finally toddles into the grate under the door, a little success tune plays and lights flicker their way around the screen as it updates. Doctor Plays stumbles upright and presses his hands to his mouth as the computer reshuffles the scores - no, results. This is science, it’s just cute.

     Again, Mumbo and Scar loom over Grian’s shoulders as they all lean in.

         “Six minutes!” the doctor cheers, spinning in place.

     Over Grian’s head, Scar asks, “Is that good?” as Mumbo crouches down to peer into the burrows.

     Grian says “Does he get a treat?” at the same time.

     Doctor Plays laughs, and steps around them to the set of shelves next to the door.

         “Yes, he does, and yes, it is!” he says, opening a big bucket of something. “Sometimes I sit here for upwards of ten minutes, but I haven’t had to in a while, which means he might be memorizing it! How cool is that?”

     He pulls open a hatch high on the wall, because everyone is taller than Grian, and pours in little brown and purple seeds onto the surface of the terrarium. Mike winds through the burrows until he’s over Grian’s head, only visible if he steps back.

     The other three don’t have to. Mumbo and Scar make ‘aww’ noises and Doctor Plays coos at his Spirit.

     This sets the tone for the other rooms along the hallway. Hallways? Grian couldn’t navigate out of the Observatory if he tried. Maybe the Lab-yrinth is just a small-scale test if the Spirits could escape, too. There are a lot of them, though Grian could not tell you what most of them were like. The biggest he can remember was a cow with mushrooms, though maybe the glowing, floating bush could have been. Grian’s favorite is the one they met right before the scheduled break.

     Like the reptile room at a zoo, there is a long, darkened hallway full of small exhibits displaying different Spirits, including more endermites. It’s much prettier than Mumbo’s earlier description of “plastic log enclosures.” Doctor Plays knows every single one of their species names and has stories for every single one. The very last Spirit is displayed beside a huge window to the room the Rift is in, and the eerie purple light washes over its enclosure so thoroughly that Grian can’t tell what color anything within should be.

     Draped over a branch like a scarf, a ferretlike Spirit with many wings is intently eating a piece of fruit. Its feathers shimmer in the purple light, making the eyespots on its wings appear to blink. As they approach, it flips around on its branch to shove the treat into its mouth rapidly, and Grian is instantly entranced.

         “That is a Watcher! It is the only one we have on record, so it is rarely out here. It was fiddling with the controls for the Rift overseer when it was found – nothing was damaged! We think it liked the glowy lights. It certainly cries when there isn’t any purple light,” says Doctor Plays.

     Grian settles down on the floor before the exhibit, and Scar giggles.

         “Did we tire you out?” he says, voice dripping with fake concern. “Aww, we went to fast, he has to take two steps for every one of ours!”

     Mumbo snickers, and Grian smacks both of their shins.

     Grian huffs, then asks the doctor, “Look at it! Does it glow? I can’t tell, with the lighting.”

         “It’s reflecting the Rift like black light! Under normal light, its feathers are pink and white. The eyes aren’t visible at all, usually, which is how they’re blinking now – they’re just tipped out of the light,” Doctor Plays explains, also kneeling.

     Scar and Mumbo settle down, too, and listen to the doctor explain how the feathers are constructed that lets them do that, and also something about chickens, but Grian is intent on watching the little creature finish eating and ripple around its branch to jump to the ground.

     It comes right up to the glass, and Grian squeaks.

          “Hello, you are very cool,” he whispers as it bumps its nose against the glass.

     Scar leans into Grian’s side and coos, then there’s the click of Mumbo’s shutter indicating he’s taken a picture. That’s fair. He’s taken a lot of pictures, since the Spirits aren’t afraid of humans at all; they’re curious and willing to play along with the strange people staring at them.

     Unlike with the Spirits in the experimental wing, the Watcher doesn’t have a specific area to interact with it, but that doesn’t stop the team from playing finger tag with the tiny creature. They set their hands on the glass and try to pull back before the Spirit taps at them. Scar is really bad, because he keeps curling up to laugh and missing the Spirit’s movements. To be fair to Scar, though, the Watcher also keeps tripping over its own wings. Not designed for ground movement, huh, little beast?

     No one is keeping score, and Grian isn’t even worrying about how to add this into their project. It won’t be hard, though. Cute Spirits are very on-theme. Depends if they mind the cameras, really.

     Eventually the Watcher flops in the leaf litter and puts its frontmost pair of wings over its face, its entire body rippling with its breaths.

          “Aw, did we tire you out, honey? Okay, we’ll leave you be. We have to see the big purple light, after all,” Scar coos.

     Bidding the tiny creature goodbye, they finally make for the exit and the viewing room beyond. Similarly to the waiting room at the front of the building, it’s sleek and minimalist, but the purple lighting makes the scene far more sinister.

          “Wow, it kind of looks like a rave,” says Mumbo.

     Or a rave, yeah, sure. There are no windows separating this raised section from the area below, only a guard rail. The floor beneath is bare concrete, and along one wall is a huge screen with a digital face on it, like a Tamagotchi. It also seems to have hands, and is manipulating the massive array of buttons and levers that run along the length of a countertop like the control room of a spaceship. There is a person with a clipboard also pressing buttons, and Doctor Plays calls down to them.

          “Hey, E.X.! Anything interesting?”

     When they look up, E.X. is wearing a full mask, which makes Grian a little nervous. Is there some kind of protection standard Doctor Plays forgot to explain? That seems far-fetched – Doctor Plays loves explaining – but maybe, hopefully, it’s just for those on the Rift floor. E.X. seems unbothered by their bare faces, at least.

          “The bot insists something is happening, actually. The spikes are getting more frequent, sure, but they’re not any more intense,” they explain with a shrug.

     The robot whirrs loudly and its display changes from a face to a readout, like a heartbeat monitor. The doctor and E.X. both tilt their heads to the left, and Doctor Plays even catches his tongue between his teeth as he squints at the screen.

          “Is it spiking whenever that thing looks through the Rift?” Scar asks, pointing.

     Looks is too passive a word; the Spirit is tearing at the purple tendrils still obscuring its form, flailing toward the opening. Just as Grian registers the black shape, larger than any of the Spirits in the rooms before, alarms blare, and Scar grabs him by the shoulder.

          “It’s crossing over! Back, we need to call in a team-“ Doctor Plays calls out.

     He is interrupted by something whizzing past Mumbo’s outstretched fingers and embedding into the wall, followed closely by several more. Scar pulls them both down, hissing under his breath, under the sound of the Spirit screaming. There’s the shriek of twisting metal, and Grian peeks through the railing to see that the robot is trying to hold the big Spirit – no, the Rogue – back. He can’t see E.X., and the Rogue screams again and launches the projectiles from its throat into the robot’s screen.

     It starts fizzling, arms jerking wildly, and the Rogue in its grasp screams louder. Doctor Plays opens the door back into the Spirit Hallway, pushing Mumbo through, and shouts something under the sirens. Grian really doesn’t want to stand up. The alarm is too loud, pressing at the corners of his brain he tries to hide so he doesn’t freak out in public, and Scar’s panting is fast against his shoulder.

          “Under the tables, try to stay covered as we move?” Grian suggests, slipping his bag off his shoulder so he can fit.

     Scar nods, and slowly starts scooting backward to the seating area. Grian takes a deep breath before he digs his shoes into the tile and rolls into a crouch. He’s small enough that his head is still behind the bars supporting the handrail, and with his feet under him, he could run if he needed.

     The Rogue is far bigger than the other things he used to run from.

     Scar is coiling himself up beside a table instead of continuing to slide towards the open door, the hall beyond, and Doctor Plays and Mumbo peeking out from behind an ‘employees only’ door. Grian shoves him in the shoulder while the robot tries to stick its hands into the Rift. Unfortunately, the Rogue is gripping the sections of bent metal in its arms, and the robot can’t shake it loose.

     Scar pokes Grian back and rearranges himself so that he’s crawling instead. Why didn’t he start like that, honestly, this is why Grian is their plan guy.

     Every molecule of confidence in the plan he just thought up ten seconds ago vanishes in an instant when the robot shakes the Rogue again while it is tearing at an arm, and the metal snaps at just the right moment for the Rogue to be launched right in front of them. It crushes the guardrail and skids into the wall, scattering furniture and ceiling squares. The alarms are still blaring, but Grian puts a hand over his mouth anyway, going as still as possible. The Rogue breaks the loose arm’s grip and throws it towards the door, which makes the entire floor shake and the wall collapse.

     They’re trapped. Really, properly trapped, Grian still half-tucked under a flimsy plywood coffee table like it’s any kind of shield at all when there’s a giant monster screaming at the ceiling loudly enough to make his ears ring and his vision spotty with an instant headache.

     This is, of course, when Scar decides to be brave.

     He rolls onto his back and carefully stretches an arm around the edge of the tabletop, patting along it with his hand spread like a spider. One of the random knickknacks on the table he’s under – probably a model of something – is roughly hand-sized and ball-shaped, and Scar seizes it. With a flick of the wrist, the bauble sails the scant few meters between them and the Rogue and impacts with the window into the Display Hall.

     Whatever kind of glass the window is made of, it’s much stronger than the bauble, which shatters into shards and some kind of liquid the purple lighting tints into a reddish stain. The Rogue spins, raising strangely delicate antennae and twitching wildly.

     It roars, greenish lights blinking along its spine and claws.

     Grian wobbles, scrambles to catch himself as his vision goes momentarily blank. Even though he’d just complimented its sturdiness, the hallway window is cascading down into shimmering piles. Did the screech shatter the glass that finely? Grian’s blurry vision isn’t helping, but it looks like sand.

     The Rogue takes a swing at the wall, and Grian attempts to tuck himself more securely under his table. With the dull roar over hearing loss, he feels more than hears his head thunk against the plywood. Grian might’ve made a pained noise the Rogue can somehow hear over the blaring alarm, or maybe even that faint sound attracted its attention as it whips around again.

     This time, the greenish lights ring around its open mouth, an odd sideways opening in its chest like a second maw, and it sniffs jerkily as it lowers its head.

     Grian stops breathing.

     The Rogue is blind, he thinks. It has no visible eyes, unless the lights count, and its antennae wave madly as it tries to locate him. He hopes the desperate beating of his heart isn’t audible to it, or that Scar doesn’t do anything dumb.

     Technically, his prayers are answered.

     In practice, the Rogue tires of sniffing him out and swipes its huge claws across the room, shattering tables and exploding couch cushions.

     Grian curls inward, but that doesn’t save him the second the Rogue’s claws brush against his back. It roars as it tightens its massive fingers like a toddler excited at retrieving a toy, and Grian goes limp as the sound shakes his bones. He’s definitely screaming now, even though he could’ve sworn he was almost out of air and despite the Rogue’s current crushing grip.

     Scar decides to be brave again.

     He screams his own war cry and something crashes. Did he kick the table at the Rogue? Grian wriggles in its hand when it rumbles, though he can’t do a thing about it if it screams again.

     Instead, it throws him.

     The claws prickle into his ribs briefly, and then whirling air. He flails, yells, then impacts with glass. The alarm is still blaring, but this time he hears it shatter. Then he also feels it as the shards cut into him, and he covers his face like it’ll help.

     From this distance, the Rogue’s roar is bearable. Then Grian remembers Scar is still in there, and he jerks upright, shedding shards of glass. To his surprise, he recognizes the window he flew through: the Watcher’s exhibit, which means he was just launched almost fifteen feet into glass. How is he not… concussed? Dead?

         “Hello?” says a soft voice behind Grian.

     He whips around to the best of his ability, cuts burning across his shoulders, but only the plants and rocks forming the walls of the terrarium are visible.

         “Hello?” Grian repeats, flicking his head back and forth.

         “I’m sorry, I couldn’t catch the glass, I wasn’t prepared…” says the voice.

         “Catch?” Grian repeats, again, even more baffled.

     A curve of what Grian had thought was bedding uncurls and flaps as the Watcher crawls out of a corner to jump into the air. It ripples like it’s swimming, until it’s eye level with Grian. It’s wringing its front paws, like an anxious person, and Grian isn’t sure he didn’t hit his head.

     Especially when it speaks.

         “Ah, my name is Xelqua! I wasn’t intending to end up having to Choose, but, well…”

     The Rogue screams, and it – they? -  look over their shoulder and then take a deep breath.

          “As a Spirit of the Song of Fate, I can combine my power with humans to assist them against Rogues,” Xelqua says.

     Half-convinced he’s hallucinating, Grian lifts a hand towards the Spirit. Encouraged, it drifts closer, wings rippling.

          “I wasn’t intending, when I was lost, I really only wanted to escape, I didn’t think I’d need to, but,” they reach out and set a paw on his outstretched fingers. “Would you accept this bond, so that as one, we may channel the Song of Fate to defeat the Warden loose in the other room?”

     If he isn’t imagining this, that sounds pretty important. Actually, it sounds like the exact thing the team was looking for, but the wording is just vague enough to be concerning.

         “My name is Grian, if you, ah, missed it earlier,” Grian says politely. “What does that mean, exactly? What would I have to do?”

     Xelqua nods fervently, which ripples all along their body, blinking their eyespots. They put another paw on Grian’s hand.

          “All you have to do is allow me to empower you so that we take on the form of a being capable of fighting the Warden. I need a person from this side to do it, to properly channel my magic.”

     The entire building shakes as the Warden roars and something else is thrown through the broken window, this time missing the enclosure and skidding down the hallway. It isn’t Scar.

     Grian makes a snap decision that he’s probably hallucinating and that his day can’t get any worse. This is actively denying that he’s really curious, because that sounds like Xelqua is going to give him magic powers, and he literally would not be here if he didn’t think that sounds so unbelievably cool.

          “Okay, let’s do magic.”

     Xelqua suddenly presses all of their weight into Grian’s hand, the eyespots lighting up with pure, white light. Then the rest of them, a bright wave dripping over their feathers and fur and onto Grian’s hand. It’s warm and fuzzy, then searingly hot, but Grian can’t pull his hand away. In a single, sickening swoop, it spreads over his eyes and sinks into his bones until his whole body is fire. Terrifying, but painless. The sounds of the Warden crashing into things and screaming fades out, and a melody rises in its place.

     The Song of Fate.

     The music swells around him and he closes his eyes and relaxes into the tide, the fire replaced by air and energy. Though he should be constrained by the mossy ground of Xelqua’s enclosure, his body wants to move, and the cuts and bruises don’t pull at his muscles when obeys. Something soft brushes along his spine and his awareness spreads along it, fanning out over two- four- six new wings, then a tail, stretching and folding as the whisper of a touch wraps around him. As if left by a kiss, a burst of warmth spreads outward from his forehead, just between his eyes.

     Everything hangs, for just a moment.

     Then the magic reaches an internal balance, yet a tipping point for this transformation. To the outside eye, barely a second has passed, and yet, a new being kneels in the ruin of Xelqua’s enclosure.

     The last ripple of magic fades from the air, and Aria, Bow of Fate, opens her eyes.

     She launches herself forward as the alarms break the moment, and dives through the broken window. The Song of Fate still whispers in her ears, guides her motions so her wings and dress don’t catch on the tattered glass. They unfurl again as she lands on the remnants of the platform’s railing, and the movement kicks up dust from the crushed pieces of concrete.

     While the Warden abandons the tables it’s ruthlessly smashing, Aria fails to locate Scar. He was closer to the door, wasn’t he? Did he climb up when Grian was launched? The Warden sniffs at her, and she readies her wings, fingers itching to twirl the Song into a weapon.

      There’s no blood. No red blood, at least.

     The Warden’s faintly-glowing navy blood speckles the concrete, though Aria can’t see where it is wounded. If something chased it into the Rift, she hopes it doesn’t follow, but if the robot cut into it when it was trying to return it, well. That seems like a weakness she could exploit, if she gets a little range.

     She pushes off of the railing as the Warden processes she’s there and takes a swipe. It screams at her, of course, but she can scream back, hitting a note that makes power coil in her hands and drift into the air. Like bubbles, they float on the current of her voice, their iridescent shells glint with the Rift’s energy like her eyespots.

     Banking around the robot’s sparking head, she loops the song back in on itself, and the orbs turn their false eyes to the Warden and home in. A high note, and they detonate, shards spraying across the whole room but sailing harmlessly through Aria’s body. She can’t quite remember the lyrics to create any eyes with special effects, but the noise of them shattering makes the Warden’s antennae flutter with irritation.

     Then they whip to the left, as something clatters up on the platform. Aria jerks backwards as the Warden whips around, but the new sound has completely absorbed its attention.

          “Well, hello there!” says Miss Hawkeye, casually leaning over the precarious edge. “Haven’t seen you around before.” Her head tilts, and though her eyes are hidden behind dark glass, Aria feels the weight of the other Magical Girl’s attention. “Either of you! Hello!”

      Aria waves, and Miss Hawkeye jumps down as the Warden launches another supercharged shriek into the balcony.

          “Well, at least one of you is friendly!”

          “Ah, yes,” Aria finally manages to say, forcing herself to form words instead of the Song. “The big guy is definitely malevolent.”

     She pushes into the air again as the Warden flails in confusion, and notes that Miss Hawkeye drops into a crouch instead. She knows the other Magical Girl flies; she’s famous for making impossible shots from impossible dives. If she’s already injured – though that doesn’t make sense, her mind rebels against the concept, somehow – Aria should try to keep the Warden’s attention.

     Miss Hawkeye has already nocked an arrow, so Aria opts to summon another round of eyes. She loops around the high ceiling, dodging the projectiles launched with the Warden’s shrieks, and Miss Hawkeye settles half behind the rubble to shoot several arrows very quickly.

     Though she cannot sense whatever lights the Hawkeye arrows, Aria knows that they most often explode into flame on contact. The Warden discovers this firsthand, and makes a noise like a metal bin being crushed. Miss Hawkeye giggles as the flames crackle, and Aria lands near the rubble as the eyes shatter along the concrete leading toward the Rift.

          “I don’t- Should we try to get it to go back through the Rift, or should we just… discorporate it?” Aria whispers, holding her wings stiffly so she doesn’t overbalance.

          “Ooh, you’re new new,” Miss Hawkeye says, cupping a hand against her mouth to whisper. “Okay, so usually we just chip away at Rogues until they turn into cores, or someone manages to talk them down if they’re sentient enough. This guy, though – it hasn’t responded to me at all, so cores it is. Though we should probably chuck it back in the Rift afterwards, huh? That’s pretty convenient.”

     Cores, huh? That feels correct, like hearing a song from your childhood you haven’t thought about in years. Aria can’t quite grasp the specifics of it, but she hums some eyes into existence as she jumps back into the air. She just has to do enough damage, and then Miss Hawkeye can do… whatever it is that transmutes the Warden’s body back into a core. No, it’s pure damage, right?

     How big of an eye can Aria sing?

     Before, each note had been a separate eye, so she takes a deep breath. To keep the Warden from interrupting her, she lands on the inactive robot’s shoulder and tucks herself into the gap between its screen and wall. Miss Hawkeye looses another arrow, recaptures the Warden’s attention, and dodges the table it throws. Its shriek doesn’t manage to blot out Aria’s steady note.

     She almost drops it the next second, as Miss Hawkeye does something with another arrow that makes a massive stream of water explode out of the concrete and knock the Warden over.

          “Yeah!! Okay, if I…” the other Magical Girl cheers. “…here, this.”

     Her next arrows slip between the Warden’s exposed ribs and glitter with small explosions. They’re strangely muted, as if from a much father distance.

          “It should be pinned!”

     That’s good, because Aria is out of breath. The eye is about the size of a tire, and Aria has no idea how strong it’ll be.

          “Can you try to get clear?” she calls down, waits a second for Miss Hawkeye to cause a smaller explosion that shoots her into the air, and then returns to directing the eye.

     The rest of the world fades out of her awareness as she carefully leads the eye down, swirling around the Warden’s open soul-catcher in its chest. From the eye’s point of view, Aria can see something swirling in the glowing cavity, and knows in her bones that the Warden’s core is almost revealed.

     The eye bumps against the Warden’s chest delicately, then settles across the opening like a bubble on a drain. It flows into the gap like the Song is using the Warden’s ribs like a bubble wand, blowing a second bubble inside the Warden as it rages against Miss Hawkeye’s arrows.

     Aria looks across the room at Miss Hawkeye perched in the broken window, and nods.

     She cuts the Song.

     Deeply violet sparks flicker into existence within the eye and surge outward. For the briefest of moments, really only interpretable after the fact, the eye is opaque and solid. Then it detonates.

     It’s remarkably less gory than Aria was expecting.

     Aside from the massive eye’s shards, the Warden’s body crumbles into smokey pieces and reveals cool, greenish light. They scatter, sure, but there is absolutely no blood. Each time the chunks impact, they shatter even further, leaving trails of dust. There isn’t even a scream, just the eternal blare of the emergency siren. It makes sense, Aria supposes, since the Warden isn’t really dead. As long as the core isn’t damaged, the Warden will eventually gather enough magic to reform a body.

     Miss Hawkeye jumps back down, and Aria glides to a stop beside her. What Aria had thought was a shield on her back is carefully folding itself into the round shape, with the two bars of orange and blue actually being the tops of Miss Hawkeye’s wings. How is she doing that? No animal or Spirit Aria can think of seals its wings together when not in use.

          “So, cutiepie, that was your first battle, right? Are you okay?” the other Magical Girl asks, drawing Aria out of her head.

          “Yes, it was, and yes, I am,” she says, then processes the nickname. “I’m Aria!”

     Miss Hawkeye just grins at her squeak, pulling the catlike stripes on her face into crinkles.

          “Well, Aria, do you wanna do the honors?” She gestures to the Warden core, twitching on the ground.

     For the most part, it’s a round object with roughly the same texture as the Warden’s head, but the tightly woven fibers twitch and uncurl as they watch.

     Aria tries to not looked visibly unsettled and fails miserably, and Miss Hawkeye laughs again. She scoops it up in one gloved hand and holds it up toward the Rift as if the purple light could reveal anything about it. Mostly it just highlights when a tendril comes loose and flails freely, and Aria is envious of Miss Hawkeye’s composure. The other Magical Girl doesn’t seem concerned about it grabbing her at all, and visibly relaxes when she finally lowers the core.

     Instead of explaining, she grins at Aria again.

          “We’re lucky the Rift is here. Usually, I have to find a way to hide the cores until I can hand them off to someone to purify,” she says, and curls into a classic baseball pitch.

     That dredges up a distinct memory from the Grian half of her consciousness: handing over a bag of something her mind shies away from naming to a man in a dimly-lit bar. Grian received a stack of money for it. Aria wonders if Magical Girls are actually paid, and if this theoretical money is actually of human origin.

         “Are they other Magical Girls? Or do I need to do something specific to find them?” Aria asks as the core sails into the Rift.

     The surface of the Rift ripples like liquid, and the core doesn’t drift down with gravity before it fades from view.

     Miss Hawkeye hums, considering.

          “They can be. Honestly, if you just land nearby here – this building – there’s a Spirit that takes them. The Musician. You’ll be able to find him easily, huh, singer?” She says teasingly.

     Aria shrugs. She supposes she better figure out some lyrics, if she’s going to need to track down Spirits, too.

     Miss Hawkeye turns to face Aria as her cheerful expression drops.

          “Just… be careful. There are people far less helpful who’d love to find a Spirit to control. Don’t transform where you can be seen. Don’t tell anyone what you are,” she says, setting her hands on Aria’s upper arms to emphasize her point. “Go back to where you transformed, okay? Try to hide nearby, and then the two of you are going to have to come up with a cover story.”

     Aria swallows hard. Miss Hawkeye is more serious than she’d been the entire fight, than she’s ever been on the news. The echoes of Xelqua’s desperate flight through a literal storm of magic, aiming for the tunnel of the Rift because anything else would end with pain, wells up in Aria’s mind. Hunters on this side, too.

     She grasps onto the first thread she can weave into a reassuring cover and takes a determined breath.

          “I hid in one of the control nooks next to the Spirit cages and didn’t come out when the big guy starting throwing things.”

     Miss Hawkeye relaxes into a smile.

         “That should work! Great job, cutiepie. Good luck, I’ll see you around.”

     Instead of flicking her odd wings out, Miss Hawkeye draws her bow and fires three arrows into the door under the overlook. Aria takes off before she realizes those were explosive arrows, and the building shakes again as she slips through the broken window.

     True to her cover story, she slips into the little space where the exhibits are designed to be opened. The hatch is metal, even though Aria’s talons could carve it up. Aria wonders if, after today, whoever designed these will have to figure out how to reinforce the viewing section, too.

     Then she remembers she has to detransform and twin bolts of anxiety and sadness ruffle her feathers. She wants to listen to the Song and fly and explore the city. But just as urgently, she really, really does not want to find out why Miss Hawkeye was so adamantly against anyone finding her. People are going to respond to the emergency siren, and Scar and Mumbo are somewhere in the building.

     If Xelqua goes with Grian, they could continue to work together. The bond offered is not an eternal thing, but they do not have to say goodbye.

     Aria arranges herself on the floor with her wings brushing the walls, and focuses on the idea of Grian and Xelqua as separate entities again. The Song wails, her wings shiver, then tuck in close, and the warmth from the magic drains into the air. In an instant just as quick as the initial transformation, Xelqua reforms, curled around Grian’s neck.

     Grian himself gasps at the sudden cold and the return of the many cuts from being thrown through the window. He blinks fuzzily, almost expecting pink talons and a fluffy skirt, but his hands are bruised and human and his jeans are torn up. Xelqua wriggles free to flop into his lap and flips his body around to look at him. He can tell, now, that’s the Spirit’s concerned expression, because Grian was just in his head. Xelqua was in his!

         “Hey, deep breaths, oh goodness,” the little Spirit says, wobbling up to set his paws against Grian’s chest.

     Oh, yeah, that might help. Hand over his mouth, Grian forces himself to breathe slowly. His heart stops pounding in his ears just as pounding feet echo through the hallway, and Xelqua crawls up around Grian’s neck again. About time the response team showed up.

     Just as the first boot enters Grian’s limited vision, Xelqua fizzles. As in, magic sparks around Grian’s neck, and when he touches Xelqua’s body, the Watcher has transformed into a scarf. Right. He’d be taken away again if the scientists knew he was a Spirit.

    Grian’s going to have to sneak a Spirit out of a laboratory.

         “Hello?” he asks instead of worrying about it.

     The team whirls, and Grian flinches. Their bodies glow vaguely, centered in their heads, chests, and hands. One of the men steps forward, and Grian wobbles upright to catch his outstretched hand.

         “Hello, you’re one of the visitors who hasn’t been accounted for?”

         “Yes, and Scar’s still in there,” Grian says, pointing. He’s embarrassingly unsteady on his feet. “It threw me through the window.”

         “Okay, sir, we have a medical service set up next to break room three, so we’re just going to head down this hall and then left,” the emergency responder says, and Grian zones out for a while. Probably shock.

     Can he still get magic sickness as a Magical Girl? What he can remember from Xelqua is rapidly unspooling like trying to preserve a dream, though Xelqua’s new enough that he might not know.

     Break room three contains Mumbo, Doctor Plays, EX, and several other employees under the care of paramedics. The emergency response member hands him off to a red-haired woman whose eyes go wide when she sees him.

         “Hello, I’m Gemini, if you could sit down here, please?” she asks, and Grian must look pretty bad when Mumbo immediately crosses to crouch in front of him like he’s made of glass.

         “Are you okay? Well, obviously you’re not okay, you’re bleeding.”

     Grian relaxes onto the cot Gemini indicated, and tries not to anxiously pet Xelqua. Mumbo might notice that he’s got an entire extra scarf. Luckily, he’s got an easy distraction.

         “The… Rogue threw me through a window,” Grian says, narrowly avoiding calling the Warden the name he shouldn’t know.

         “What!?” Mumbo yelps, and several people’s heads come up.

     The paramedic sets a supply case on the table beside the cot and shoos Mumbo away. Then, she sets her hand on Grian’s head and tilts his face. She continues to gently poke at him, which sucks because the adrenaline from transforming has started to wane and he can feel pain again.

         “We hid under the tables in there but I knocked something and it grabbed me, so Scar threw something, which freaked it out and it threw me,” Grian explains.

         “It was on the ground!! How did it get up there with you!?” Mumbo asks, terrified and exasperated in turns.

         “Let’s get a look at those cuts, actually. Would you like a privacy screen to take your shirt off?” the paramedic interrupts.

     Grian hums, uncaring. He only really minds if someone touches Xelqua, so he carefully unwraps the disguised Spirit and places him at the head of the cot before shucking off his sweater. Almost every muscle involved in those actions sting now. The paramedic is probably going to have to put disinfectant on them, which will sting more.

     To distract himself from her careful touches, Grian recites the slapstick routine the robot conducted for the room. If he closes his eyes, he could almost pretend he’s in high school again, getting patched up after a fight while his sister decides whether or not to chew him out. He very determinedly keeps his eyes on Mumbo’s worried mustache. Note to self: becoming a Magical Girl is nostalgic for the wrong reasons.

     Before Grian has to lie after the glass, Scar and another member of the response team burst into the room. Scar’s face is bloody, but he jumps an entire chair to slam his hands down next to Grian and yell.

         “How are you not dead!? It threw you like ten feet!” he scans Grian’s injuries. “Your bones aren’t even broken!”

         “Hey, hey, let’s not stress anyone out, sit down-“ says another paramedic, and Scar is shuffled onto a nearby cot.

     That’s okay, because Grian’s just realized that he can tell the funniest lie.

         “Well, do you remember what Mumbo said?” Grian asks, and Mumbo himself squints. Grian grins. “That people kept trying to summon Magical Girls by tapping the glass? I broke it! And there was a Magical Girl after, she might’ve done something.”

     Mumbo slaps himself in the face, which is excellent. Scar groans loudly, mostly relived under the exasperation, and Doctor Plays leans over with a sparkle in his eyes.

         “Who was it?” the paramedic prompts. “We’re going to have to check for magic sickness as well as bone fractures, hmm?”

     Grian tilts his head back to look at her, just in case either of his friends notice something off about his expression.

         “I didn’t recognize her, but she had a lot of wings. The regular ones, and some over her face.”

         “She was new then!” Scar chirps excitedly. “I heard singing, but I couldn’t see. There was another one at some point and they talked and blew stuff up.”

         “How did two entire Magical Girls get into our facility?” Doctor Plays mutters to himself.

     Well, Grian can attest that at least one of those Magical Girls did not technically enter. He pats Xelqua nervously, then hisses as the paramedic sets her hand beside a bigger cut.

         “Well, whoever she was, you’re very lucky. I haven’t found any glass to remove yet.”

     She doesn’t find any glass at all, which she is vaguely concerned by, but Grian is willing to chalk it up to Xelqua. Other Magical Girls heal people, so the weird bit is apparently that the glass was taken out without sealing up the cuts. Grian thinks it probably was removed when they transformed, pushed out of his body by magic. It says something about today that the thought is not even top thirty for ‘weirdest realizations had’.

     Right now, a higher entry on that list is the glow everyone in the room emanates. Xelqua is very bright, EX’s weird mask and protective suit also seem to glow from within, and Scar has odd patches, but everyone else has a simple aura. Is that because Scar was close to the Warden?

     Wait, no, whenever the paramedic puts her hands in front of his face, she also glows like Scar. Not exactly the same pattern, and Scar is blue instead of purple, but just as brightly. He gets a good look when she lets him stand up and talk to the investigators collecting reports. It feels a little strange to be on this side of an interview, but that might be because he’s constantly preoccupied with not outing himself. It’s harder than it seems! He’s very glad Miss Hawkeye insisted on Aria deciding on a story before detransforming, coming up with something on the fly seems like it would catch him easily.

     Then another member of the response team gives Grian his bag back, which is great for two reasons: one, Xelqua can go in the bag! Excellent hiding spot, and he also takes out the crushed chrysanthemum in his hair as if he’s just putting away the costume items from his outfit. It is possible he’s paranoid already. He pushes that thought down, because reason two is that his phone is in there! He leaves the bag open just in case Xelqua still needs to breathe as a scarf and clicks his phone on.

     It starts, which feels like an achievement even though the cracks in the screen haven’t worsened. There is an alert on his home screen warning him of a nearby Rogue attack, and Grian can’t help but giggle a little. Yes, phone, thank you very much, he’s aware.

          “Your phone’s fine?” Mumbo asks.

          “I dropped my bag before the Rogue ended up on the overlook,” Grian says, and accepts the congratulatory high-five from Scar.

     Doctor Plays plops down next to them and smiles apologetically.

           “Well, I’m sorry to say that we’ll probably have to continue the tour another time,” he begins, and the team laughs. “But you do have a new story for your project! Also, I’m willing to provide additional interviews and such if you’d like. Would you like my contact information?”

          “Oh, yeah, that’d be great, actually,” Mumbo says, and they descend into phone shuffling.

     To ensure that all numbers have been typed correctly, everyone also receives test messages.

     Grian sends “hi, it’s Grian! You’re going to have to fight the spellcheck every time you write my name. Sorry.” The message he receives in response contains a laughing emoji and “yeah, my name is Zedaph, my phone wants it to be seraph.”

     Scar also insists that they all take a picture together to ‘commemorate living’. Grian scoops Xelqua and his bag into his lap. They all try to squeeze together on one cot, and Zedaph steals Scar’s hat. Grian hopes that one of the pictures turned out okay between Scar flailing over Grian’s head and Zedaph falling off the cot.

     The paramedic from earlier puts her hands on her hips.

          “Please don’t knock your head on anything after escaping a Rogue attack, I was just going to clear you,” she says, and like naughty children, all four of them straighten up and smile as innocently as possible. Zedaph even tips Scar’s hat, but he doesn’t bow since he’s still sitting on the floor.

     Scar offers up his bandaged hands.

          “Oh, helpful medic lady, please let us go home so you don’t have to be responsible for us anymore,” he requests.

     She laughs, and catches his arm to make sure he didn’t tear open the bandages.

          “Well, I have another thing you’ll need to worry about: neither of you have shown any signs, but I think you should try to stay with someone who can check in and make sure you don’t develop magic sickness, alright?” The paramedic catches Grian and Scar’s eyes in turn.

     Is that potentially what the auras are about? Scar has been magic-sick in the past, maybe that’s why his is all blotchy. That would mean the paramedic might have been exposed once. Maybe Grian can see his own aura in a mirror and check.

     Mumbo nudges his arm.

          “If you text Pearl, she can watch you, and I can go with Scar?” he suggests, and Grian bites his lip in thought.

          “I’ll check at least,” he says, instead of ‘I think my sister will immediately determine that I am magic now.’

     Any other circumstance, and Grian would agree immediately. He really doesn’t want to leave Scar alone in his huge house. If Xelqua stays in the bag until he gets the Spirit to his room, maybe she’ll just… assume he’s acting weird because of the Rogue? Yeah, no, that’s explicitly what she’d be trying to prevent. Gosh, he’s just going to have to hope.

 GRIA: hey pearl would you be mad if I tolf you I was in the rogue attack in the observatory?

GRIA: so I need you to make sure I don’t turn into a bird plague or something

GRIA: love you?

SISTER: GRI WHAT DO YOU MEAN

SISTER: ARE YOU OKAY

GRIA: yes you would be mad alright. can I tell the paramdeics you’ll pick me up or

SISTER: of course I’ll come get you I always do ARE YOU OKAY

GRIA: yeah!! She wouldn’t be letting me go otherwise she just said

      Grian looks up when the paramedic steps in the light and smiles.

          “My sister will come get me, she’s had to keep an eye on me before,” he says, trying for reassuring.

     The paramedic raises her eyebrows, not reassured.

          “You’ve been in previous Rogue attacks?” she asks, then “May I check you over, too, or do you need to say anything else to her?”

 GRIA: last checkup. Scar’s going with mumbo so text me when you get here

SISTER: you are telling me ALL the details. See you soon

      Tucking his phone into an outer pocket of his bag, Grian turns his full attention to the paramedic. He probably has to shed his shirt again, huh?

          “Yeah, my team and I are investigating Magical Girls. We’ve all been in multiple Rogue Attacks,” Grian answers, wincing as she gently shifts him. “We have a bet on whether Scar or I will see fifteen first. Mumbo doesn’t count since he’s from here.”

          “I’m winning!” Scar chirps. He really wants the celebratory ice cream.

     Grian shifts to show his back as Zedaph makes a baffled noise.

           “You’re calling that winning?”

          “He’s already had magic sickness twice and he’s lived here for four years,” Mumbo adds neutrally, attempting to present a united front despite his own objections to the joke.

     The paramedic makes an aborted noise of protest.

          “Yeah, that’s why we got two separate babysitters; otherwise, I’d be juggling them,” Mumbo agrees.

     A different paramedic, despite being present for that conversation, cuts in to lecture Mumbo on the symptoms on magic sickness as if it isn’t the common term for ‘random side effects from magic exposure.’ Grian appreciates the insistence on safety, at least. The most common effects are dizziness, skin irritation, and auditory hallucinations, and Grian hopes to God whatever lets him see auras doesn’t come with any of those. He’ll have to ask Xelqua, assuming he can get enough time alone without Pearl hovering.

     With perfect timing, Grian’s phone vibrates just as he’s putting his shirt back on. He tucks bagged-Xelqua back against his ribs and waves to Zedaph. Pearl’s messages are mostly complaints that he’ll have to walk out to meet her, which means she’s pretty worried that he’ll stop answering her.

 GRIA: I was completely cleared other than the possible magic sickness

GRIA: no glass or anything! So I should be good to go all that way

SISTER: GLASS

SISTER: GLASS WHAT DO YOU MEAN

GRIA: a magical girl saved me after I was thrown through a window

GRIA: I promise I’m fine okay

      He sends her one of the group photos as proof, one with hat tug-of-war over his head. She still continues to yell at him over text as he’s led out of the building, and then immediately tugs him under her arm when the personnel hand him off in the darkened parking lot. It would be sweet, except she noogies him as revenge.

          “Hi Pearl! I’m glad to see you, too,” he snarks, but goes limp against her shoulder.

     It’s been a while since she’s had to pick him up from any kind of incident, huh? They got out of practice. He tips his head back to look at her, even though she’s buried her face in his shoulder and he can only really see a lot of brown and cream hair under her new aura. She’s going to know something is up, with how much he’s babying the bag.

     He really hopes Xelqua is doing okay.

          “Did they feed you at all or should I make soup?” Pearl asks, hesitantly leaning back to look at him, too.

     Grian huffs a little. “They just gave us some of the prepackaged stuff from their snack bar.”

     Pearl gasps dramatically, and pulls Grian towards the left of the parking lot. “That is a tragedy, Grian, honestly, you’d think they’d feed you better when they’re supposed to be making sure you’re okay-“

     Stumbling a little to get his feet under him, Grian adjusts his bag under his arm and pets Xelqua. He doesn’t know if the Spirit can feel it, but he feels bad about how long Xelqua’s spent pretending to be inanimate. If he wasn’t glowing very brightly, Grian would be concerned that Xelqua swapped himself out with an actual scarf.

          “-after being thrown through a window! Again!” Pearl rants, waving her free arm.

     Grian is very glad his friends aren’t here to question that statement.

          “Technically it was two windows, but one of them was already broken,” he corrects, and Pearl squeezes him.

          “That’s not better!”

     She fumbles her keys from her pocket and unlocks her van. In an effort to not be a classically-suspicious blank white, she’s painted it with her cleaning company’s logo and mascot in a little scene. It’s like if a brochure and a wizard van had a baby, but it also guarantees she won’t lose it in big parking lots.

     The interior is spacious enough that Grian could tuck his bag next to his feet if he wanted. Instead, he keeps it on his lap, one hand on Xelqua’s fur, and feels that the Spirit had transformed back at some point during the walk and is now breathing. It’s dark in the cabin, that’s fine.

      Pearl turns her radio down low, which Grian tracks absently. She probably wants to keep talking about the attack, but Grian speaks first.

           “Can you get magic sickness from just... being in a place an attack was?”

      Given that his sister is often hired to help clean out buildings destroyed in Rogue attacks, Grian really should’ve asked this earlier. But before, he couldn’t see the way her body sparkles with sourceless light like she’s been flecked with glow-in-the-dark paint.

          “You were grabbed by it!” Pearl yelps. “That’s not- that’s direct contact, G.”

          “…I meant you. There was a guy at the Rift room who had a- like a space suit? One of the futuristic ones with a tighter mask. Scar asked if he was a Mandolorian. You go to places where there’s, I don’t know, Spirit blood and stuff.”

     The Warden had certainly bled. The weird stuff it’d launched while screaming might’ve stuck around after Aria and Miss Hawkeye defeated it, if it wasn’t magic.

          “Oh, Grian,” she says gently.

     He twists to look at her directly, but she’s still watching the cars until she can turn into the street.

          “You don’t have to worry about me, I promise. I wouldn’t describe our P.P.E. as a space suit, but I suppose they’d want something sturdy if they’re wearing near the actual thing…”

     What, no, not your personal protection equipment, emotional whiplash! What!

         “Why did you sound so sad, I thought you were going to tell me something horrible!?” Grian demands, taking his own deep breath.

     Pearl makes a sad, huffy giggle, which only proves Grian’s words.

          “Sorry, no, it’s fine, it’s just… you were just in a huge attack everyone was really worried about. Like, what if the Rift had gotten – I don’t know – torn open? And yet, you’re worrying about me again,” she explains.

     Under his fingers, Xelqua’s breathing picks up. Regular Grian probably wouldn’t like the idea of the Rift breaking either, but the shadowy purser he’d glimpsed in the Spirit’s memories is probably an indication of how bad it could be.

          “Just... are you okay? Emotionally? ‘Cuz this just keeps happening to you, all the time,” she continues.

     This time, Xelqua shifts, and Grian is briefly panicked that Pearl will notice until he processes that Xelqua has curled around his hand and is petting him. Then he processes her sentence, too, and lifts his free hand to bump her shoulder carefully.

          “I think it would’ve been worse if it weren’t for the Magical Girl,” Grian decides. “Like when we’d finally turn the lights on when we were little and nothing would be there? I didn’t even have any glass in me because of her.”

     Grian hopes that’s reassuring enough for being as close to true as he can make it. He can’t even promise her that he’ll stop getting into these situations; even before the promise Aria made to herself, Grian’s job is to go to dangerous places and report on them.

     But there is something he can say, before Pearl tries to bury her regret again.

          “Hey, I promise that I’ll call you to come destroy whatever monsters I can’t.”

     Pearl laughs, and Xelqua squeezes his hand.

          “How could you say that to me when I can’t even flex at you? I’m driving, Grian! Imagine I’m saying something really cool about how I’ll always be there for you while looking like a superhero, because right now I’m – hey! I’m being cut off by an Audi-“

     Grian laughs, too, and feels Xelqua vibrate like he’s silently giggling. The brief time in which they were one person is definitely contributing to how quickly they bonded, but man, does Grian wish Xelqua could meet Pearl properly. She’d love him. He already promised to save Grian from all of the weird stuff that just keeps happening.

     And, together, they’re going to try to keep Pearl – keep everyone – from having to meet monsters like the one they fought.

[moviemunchies]

The first review I saw for this movie said that it wasn’t brilliant, but that it was great fun. Then a bunch of reviews poured out saying that it was pretty bad, and I wasn’ sure what to think.

Maybe it’s better to go into a movie with no expectations?

Aquaman: The Lost Kingdom picks up after the events of the first Aquaman. Arthur is king of Atlantis now, he’s married Mera and has a young son who he raises at his father’s lighthouse. Things aren’t simple, though; the Council of Atlantis doesn’t let him institute all the changes he’d like, especially as they still don’t respect him for his half-human heritage. The world is also becoming considerably more polluted, causing a plague among Atlanteans. And Black Manta, hoping to repair his equipment with the help of Dr. Shin, has stumbled upon an ancient Atlantean artifact that will give him an edge over Aquaman.

Alright, so! One of the most talked about things regarding this movie was Amber Heard’s role as Mera, considering she had a very public trial in 2022 regarding her marriage to Johnny Depp, in which public opinion was violently against her despite the UK’s High Court of Justice ruling in 2020 that 12 out of 14 incidents of violence by Depp were “substantially true.” I did not follow that 2022 trial–that is not the sort of thing I think people should watch as entertainment, and I have better things to do than follow a trial regarding domestic abuse as if it was entertainment. 

All the same, people wondered how much Mera would be in the movie, if at all. The answer: she’s not in that much of the movie. She’s not a non-person in the film, and does a lot in the climactic battle at the end. All the same, it is really weird that the first quarter of the movie deals so heavily with Arthur’s home life, and his raising his son, and his wife is barely in those portions? And with almost no lines? One would think that the mother of his child would be more vocal and more a part of the storyline, wouldn’t you? It’s a little awkward, and I think there was more here that was probably cut. I would have appreciated her being in more of the movie, considering her personality and prominence in the first one.

And speaking of those early sections: I don’t know how I feel about Arthur’s suitability as king. Part of the conflict between Arthur and Orm is that Orm doesn’t think Arthur has what it takes to be king. YMMV on whether he does, but the movie makes it clear that a lot of Atlantis doesn’t accept him as a king. Season four of Young Justice did something similar in its Atlantis arc, and resolves it in an interesting way. This movie only has it so… Arthur remains king and overrules his council, I guess? It didn’t seem adequately resolved.

I will say, though, that I think Manta’s character arc is one of my favorite supervillain arcs in a cinematic universe? Let’s be real here, Marvel generally sucks at making a coherent, movie-to-movie character arc, especially for villains. Black Manta doesn’t have that problem though–his actions here follow his characterization in the first movie, and I like how even when he’s making bad choices, they’re choices that make sense for him. Also, he looks really cool and has laser eyes.

Orm, on the other hand, evolved in an interesting way. He’s a villain in the first movie, sure, though he’s played a lot more sympathetically than he is in, say, the Justice League cartoon series or Young Justice. Here, he has to team up with Aquaman to save Atlantis from Manta, in an interesting but not too out-there twist. I think he gets off a bit lightly–the man did start a war, after all, and no matter how much he cares about Atlantis, it’s a difficult thing to forget. It certainly works better than Malcolm Merlyn’s “complex” character arc in Arrow, because at least Orm was explicitly trying to murder the poor people in his community. I suppose it helps that Orm was raised in a culture that’s explicitly unhealthy in its outlook on sovereignty and international policy? And overcoming that is part of his arc here?

[There’s one point in which Arthur even calls him ‘Loki’, which felt a bit too on-the-nose, considering how similar of a Plot this movie had to Thor: The Dark World.]

It is fun, though, I suppose. Maybe I’m working too hard to make Orm’s character arc into something it’s not.

I think that some people might be bothered by how the Plot heavily involves pollution and global warming? I don’t think it’s too much of a problem. Yes, it’s heavy-handed; however, this is exactly the sort of thing that Aquaman is supposed to care about. And it’s often pointed out as the source of conflict between Atlantis and the surface world. I don’t mind it being part of this movie.

The tone of this movie is pretty light, which I don’t think is bad, though at the same time I found myself thinking several times, “Well, they wouldn’t go that far, would they?” It means that the movie is loads of fun to watch, while at the same time the stakes don’t quite feel as real. There’s very little I was actually afraid of happening to the characters. YMMV on whether that hurts your experience too much.

There are still plenty of cool action scenes, too. I am always happy to see these guys fight with tridents, and towards the end there’s a duel between Aquaman and Manta that I really enjoyed. There are less massive battles, and giant sea monsters, which is a bit of a bummer, though there are still huge monsters, chase scenes, and jaunts through Atlantis.

There was a persistent rumor that Batman would be in this movie in some capacity. Following The Flash, and the rebooting of the DC universe, it flip-flopped between being Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck. As it turns out, no version of Batman appears in this movie, and honestly I can’t think of how he’d fit in, so it’s probably for the best.

I think this is a good movie, though not as good as the first one. It’s more fun than it is actually well-written, though I don’t think there’s anything bad in it. Maybe it’s hard to look at positively for some, as DC is throwing away this continuity; either way, that’s not this movie’s fault, and I had a good time watching it.

[hand-of-devotion]

Something tells me that they won’t get to the whole. Achieving Rau’shans shard thing as quickly as tonight.

However, I’ve been spending time rotating the potential of literally every Bells Hells member getting it, what it would do to them, and how either narratively rewarding/interesting it would be.

The least likely but in my mind potentially funniest is obviously FCG. I keep making myself laugh at the concept of the influence there being akin to like. Laser beam eye upgrades. Or maybe something with hyper charging the fantasy easy bake oven lmao. I honestly can’t think of a reason as to why he would get it narratively speaking. Maybe if he and Ashton’s relationship were more fleshed out there could be some argument there but out of all the pre-canon duos they’ve sadly been the least developed in my eyes (which isn’t to say they don’t care for each other. they do. just not enough in my mind to make it A Reason for it to end up with FCG).

Unlikely but I could still hypothetically see it being done in a non-humorous way is Imogen. Who I pretty much doubt will genuinely get it as much as I doubt it going to FCG. But she’s still at least more credible in my eyes as a result of her connections to the Ruidus/Ludinus situation. Which also simultaneously is the thing that makes me think she wouldn’t get it? It’s weird. Like I WOULD understand it happening because of her role thus far but simultaneously believe out of everyone her importance is also what makes it nearly least likely. There’s also good meteor imagery there.

Unlikely but still potentially interesting to me. Is a tie between Orym and Chetney. Obviously for Chet, he’s already got a very minimal grasp on the element and the idea of him “going out in a blaze of glory” as a fire wolf is cool conceptually. Orym is weirdly something I’ve thought a lot about but still struggle to word properly. Basically my feelings there can be chalked up to “something something fan the flames”. Regarding his minimal grasp on the element of air, which is complementary to fire. As well as attention that can be drawn towards Orym and Ashton’s already existing battle compatibility. There’s also something to be said about “resident normal little guy” so swiftly becoming less normal to reflect the group I guess?

Then more likely and interesting is Laudna! Other people have already discussed her interest in the Primordial Titans. As well as her active grappling with Delilah AND the source of her sorcerers magic. Of course getting primordial abilities could be extremely dangerous if it does nothing to offset the amount of hypothetical control Delilah has over the situation. But you know. At this point if Laudna wants to try burning the witch out from the inside in some wild attempt to gain SOME sort of active control and understanding over ANY of her powers, I say god speed Queen. I live for hubris and general bad decisions if that wasn’t already obvious from who I’m personally rooting most for.

Then of course the most obvious and likely being a tie between Fearne and Ashton. I’ve talked plenty about Ashton’s specific potential as it’s what I’m personally most interested in seeing so instead I’ll just talk about the aspects of Fearnes potential that I enjoy! Obviously the main two things for me are her established connection to and control over the element as well as her recently established bond with the champion of Asmodeus! I personally am a big fan of the idea that the current primordial shard situation will mirror the union of Ka’mort and Rau’shan. Which, obviously if they’re not uniting through just Ashton as a vessel, the NEXT best parallel to ME would be their ‘union’ having some ties to Asmodeus. Who intended to be the one to ‘revive’ them the first time during the Calamity. And again, Fearne is the closest in the party to Asmodeus. I’ve seen some people mention Nana Morri and how it’s possible she kept Fearne in that weird time pocket because she needed to be older when all this stuff in canon was going on? I don’t personally see that, to me it always seemed like more of an exploration of fey morality (Morris possessiveness over her ‘collection’ and Fearnes complicated ideas about relationships and attachments), the unintended consequences of her parents actions, as well as a potential avenue for strain and conflict for Fearne. But it is true that Morri witnesses ‘fate’ and has messed with the flow of things on purpose before so! I also wouldn’t at all be against that. I would also like to see it effect Mister. Upgrade that fire spirit monkey into like. Fire spirit King Kong. With a gun.

Tldr:

I doubt if it does go entirely to one specific person it’d be anyone other than Fearne or Ashton, MAYBE Laudna. I would be kinda surprised but not upset by it going to Chetney or Orym. And I can’t conceive of a narratively satisfying way of it ending up with Imogen or FCG but also don’t think I’d personally be “mad” about it, I’m sure I could get down with it given time for it to start having effects on them lol

[titleknown]

Also, another prop I have kitbashed, using a Dollar Tree skeleton hand and a decent amount of polymer clay, based on the hands with eyes one has been seeing more and more lately!

@bogleech was actually considering including them as a "monster" in their Halloween Bestiary series, but I recall they held off given the design's clearly a riff on the ancient Hamsa, a culturally widespread charm in multiple Middle-eastern countries for warding off the Evil Eye, appropriated by Europeans like they unfortunately always fucking do.

But, given that from what I know the hamsa is itself apparently a pretty open symbol, I may as well speculate on how these "Occult Hands" would be as creatures.

Given how the Hamsa is meant to be an apotropaic symbol, it would probably be some kind of constructed guardian creature, maybe even modeled after the Hamsa in the diegesis, which also fits with how many boss monsters that tend to guard something also have that big ol' "eyeball in hand" motif, enough that Brian David Gilbert did a video on it!

So, they presumably guard tombs and vaults and things like that containing ancient secrets of a kind Halloween-y, eldritch, occult or just generally magical. But, I will also note they show up a lot on fortune-telling motifs, which is again probably thoughtless appropriation, but let's make that into appropriationade!

Maybe; derived from the weird palmistry + eye in palm = constantly seeing the future train of thought, they have some degree of prescience, to aid them in combatting future threats. After all, an ancient-civilization would want to future-proof its guardians, so it would make sense!

But, one would imagine they would get rather paranoid with this combination of job and powers. Or worse, bored. So, while some may stay sane, others might have had some... scope-creep over the aeons. Such as improperly identifying intruders centuries after the nation they were meant to protect their artifacts from died out, or even getting involved in politics outside its physical sphere!

And they probably do have limited physical spheres. Because in games, since they're usually guardians, one might presume they're stuck in their own little spheres, hence the madness. But, in exchange, one would presume they have perfect control over their own little sphere, maybe even some more wide-spread sight with their special eye for scrying and/or voyeurism!

Other powers they might have would include... well, definitely eye-lasers. So many eye-lasers. But others would probably depend on the civilization building them, tho I like to think a common one is extruding marionette strings through the fingers because that one's just cool...

...Dangit, I think I just made a mini-entry!

[thegrimreaper-probably]

Chapter 7 Bull Shark

Masterlist

Summary: U.A sports festival, after math of the USJ attack

Trigger warning: Mineta says you got a great body.

After the attack U.A gave us a couples of days off. Which got me thinking. Clearly I had a trigger turning me into Jaws. Though each thing I’ve searched said that the closest thing to what happened is a frenzy. Though mine was worse, so it must be my quirk. I didn’t tell anyone about what had happened beside Katsuki.

Sadly our break had end and we went back to school. Me and Katsuki sat down as other talked about the news and how we were all on it.

“Fuka? Class is about to start you should settle the class.” Iida says I nod and thank him.

“Guys! We probably have a sub today so behave! Plus class is starting soon so quiet down.”

“Yes ma’am.” They say jokingly. I roll my eyes and get back to my journal. I’ve been coming up with ideas and stuff to help with my quirk. Sensei walks in with everyone surprise.

“Mr. Aizawa, you’re back too soon!”

“You’re too much of a pro!” Denki says.

“Aizawa sensei I know teachers don’t get paid a whole lot but I’ll even pay for you to stay home.” I say.

“Fuka!? You can’t not talk to our teacher like that!” Iida yells at me. I tilt my head.

“What? I’m just offering him money?” I ask

“What money?” Katsuki asks with a raise eyebrow.

“I’m not telling you where my money is!” I say.

“It’s underneath your bed in a jar.” Katsuki says.

“HA! I KNEW YOU TOOK MY FIVE DOLLARS!”

“THAT WAS FUCKING FIVE YEARS AGO!! MOVE ON!”

“NEVER!”

“WILL YOU BOTH STOP IT! Fuka you are class rep! Bakugo you are going to be something someday. So behave!”

“He’s gonna be a lowlife villain is what.” I mumble.

“Wanna say that again dolphin?” I gasp at him.

“You-.”

“Shut it. My well-being or the amount of money I have doesn’t matter. More importantly, the fight is not yet over.” Aizawa says.

“Fight?” Katsuki says.

“Don’t tell me…” Midoriya says.

“The villains!?” Mineta whines out.

“U.A sports festival.” Aizawa answers.

“Ugh.” I whine, I hate sports.

“Oh that’s normal.”

“Is this really a good idea after the villain attack?”

“What if they sneak in again?”

“Apparently, they think of it as U.A. showing that our crisis management system is solid as a rock by holding the event. Security will also be strengthened to five times that of previous years. Above all, our sports festival is a huge chance. It’s not an event to be cancelled because of a few villains.”

“Sensei? Wouldn’t the villains be watching us? They clearly have a problem with us. I mean if they’re smart they’d watch us.” I say.

“We can’t do anything about that. Plus this happens every year who’s to say they didn’t watch last years?”

“I guess but still.”

“But that’s a good reason, isn’t it? It’s just a festival of sports.” Mineta says.

“Huh? Mineta, you’ve never seen the U.A. sports festival?” Midoriya asks.

“Of course I have.”

“There boring as hell.” I say.

“But Fuka what about the cool explosions?! Or the-.”

“One.” I point at Bakugo, he uses his quirk.

“Two I have nine siblings, two of which are older then me. And thirdly who cares? Oooh you have a quirk! I’m going to put you on a pretty pedestal just because you have one! Fuck off with that shit.”

“But Fuka you never know what someone quirk is! Like they could have laser eyes!” Denki says.

“That the best you could come up with?” Jirou says

“You try!” He snaps back

“Mind control.”

“Fair enough.” He says.

“Yeah I don’t care. Only watch it for the commercials.” I says

“Omg y/n remembers puppy monkey baby?!” Mina says

“Of course!” I gleam. 

“Anyways. In the past, the Olympics were called a festival of sports, and the whole country was crazy about them. As you know, with reductions in scale and population, they’re now a shell of their former glory. And now, for Japan, what has taken the place of those Olympics is the U.A. sports festival.” Aizawa says.

“Of course, all the top heroes around the country will be watching. For scouting purposes!” Yaoyorozu says. I tune out the rest not caring. After that we head to our class with Uraraka saying she’ll try her best at lunch. Now it’s time to leave. But of course the whole schools at our door way.

“Woah…Wh-What’s going on?!” Uraraka ask. Are they that dumb?

“What business do you have with class 1-A?” Iida asks. Mineta says some whiny bullshit.

“Scouting out the enemy, small fry. We’re the ones who made it out of the villains’ attack. They probably wanna check us out before the sports festival.” Katsuki says.

“And with that some of you probably won’t make it and will easily be replaced by one of them. That someone being Mineta.” I say, he shivers.

“There’s no point in doing stuff like that. Out of my way, extras!” Bakugo try’s to get through but is stopped.

“Stop calling people “extras” just because you don’t know them!” Iida says

“I’ve tried for years man he can’t change.” I tell Iida.

“I came to see what the famous Class A was like, but you seem pretty arrogant. Are all the students in the hero course like this?” Some purple guy says.

“I-.” I get cut off by Mina holding me.

“I’m protecting our honor!” I mumble into her hand.

“You don’t need too!” She says.

“Wanna keep talking?” Katsuki ask.

“Seeing something like this makes me disillusioned. There are quite a few people who enrolled in general studies or other courses because they didn’t make it into the hero course. Did you know that?” I lick Mina’s hand and she lets go and wipes it on me.

“Omg really?! You wanna be a hero? I could not tell that’s why everyone is here! But ya know we are just, what you say? Arrogant? Yeah that the word!” I say with sarcasm. 

“Well if the shoe fits, wear it.” He says

“Turn around, bend over, I’ll show you where my shoe fits.” I growl, this time Kirishima holds me back.

“Not very heroic of you. As I was saying the school has left those of us a chance. Depending on the results of the sports festival, they’ll consider our transfer to the hero course. And it seems they may also transfer people out.”

“Mineta I swear to Odin if you lose!” I yell at him.

“I promise I won’t!”

“Scouting out the enemy? I, at least, came to say that even if you’re in the hero course, if you get too carried away, I’ll sweep your feet out from under you. I came with a declaration of war.” He says I roll my eyes.

“You and I can meet at duel ground.” I say.

“I would love to but I don’t like wasting my time.” Purple hair kid says.

“Oh really? Then why are you still here?” I snap back.

“Just to give you a reminder.”

“You realize that make no sense? You just “declared war” on us. Didn’t realize we’re in the 1700s.” I air quote with my hands.

“Hey, hey! I’m from Class B next door! I heard you fought against villains, so I came to hear about it! Don’t get full of yourself! If you bark too much, it’ll be embarrassing for you during the real fight!” Some random guy pushes his way to the front.

“I would love to bite but I don’t think you want your head clean off.” His eyes widen in fear. Kiri let’s me go as Katsuki walks off.

“Wait a minute, Bakugou, Fuka! What are you gonna do about all this? It’s your fault that everyone is hating on us!” Kirishima says.

“Doesn’t matter.”

“Huh?!”

“If their dumb enough to do this bullshit then their dumb enough to lose.” People yell at us but we walk away.

“Beach or gym?”

“Gym tonight beach tomorrow?” He nods and we go.

After tons of training it’s finally here. We sit in the room and I lay my head on the table. After everyone’s done talking Todoroki speaks up about a war on Midoriya.

“What is up with everyone declaring war?” Denki asks.

“I feel like we’re in the 1700s. I have the honor to be your obedient servant~.”

“We are not going through that phase again!” Katsuki yells at me I groan.

“A dot Bur.” Denki says.

“I’ll fucking punch both of you.” Katsuki says.

“A dot Ham.” I whisper to Denki he laughs.

“Didn’t think you’d watch that stuff.” I says.

“I did when I was younger. We should watch one sometime.” He says, I smile.

“Yeah remind me at lunch time I’ll grab my phone number.”

“Kk!” I then turn away to listen to the other talks.

“Mineta did you hear?” I whisper to him.

“She’s got a great body.” I nod at him.

“You think I got a chance?” I ask he thinks for a bit.

“If you treat her like a goddess I bet.” He says.

“Of course I would.” I say a little to loud.

“Oh shit we gotta go.” We run to catch up to the others.

We get called and I just hide behind Bakugo. Though I’m taller then him so it looks weird.

“What is Ms. Midnight wearing?” Kirishima ask.

“That’s an R-Rated Hero for you.” Kaminari says.

“Is it okay for her to be at a high school even though she’s R-Rated?” Tokoyami ask.

“I mean I’ve seen worse.” I says.

“Fuka are you okay?” Kirishima ask.

“No.” I say as flash backs to my little brothers.

“Quiet, everyone! Representing the students is Katsuki Bakugou from Class 1-A! With Y/n Fuka also in Class 1-A!” We walk up and Katsuki grabs the mic.

“I pledge… that I’ll be number one.” He then walks away. People yell boos but Midnight shuts them up. I grab the mic and start talking.

“You might know me as the girl who said heroes during the sludge attack were pathetic, or maybe the girl who bites microphones and cameras. From what I can tell almost everyone here during the whole we gotta see class 1-A because they fought villains thing. You all aren’t going to be good heroes. You are planning to target my class because of me and my friend. The said class that has done literally nothing to you. I understand going for me or Bakugo but the class has nothing to do with this shit. So until then you are all pathetic heroes. Oh and before I go thank you for the opportunity!” I then hand the mic to Midnight and leave.

“Boooo!” They yell.

“Yours boos mean nothing to me, I’ve seen what makes you cheer!” I yell once I make it to Katsuki we high five.

“Fuka, thank you.” Iida says.

“It’s what a real person would do it’s pathetic what the others are doing.” I say.

 “Now, let’s get started right away. The first game is what you’d call a qualifier! Every year, many drink their tears here! Now, here is the fateful first game! This year, issss!” The screen stops on an obstacle course race.

“All eleven classes will participate in this race. The course will be the outer circumference of this stadium -- about two miles! Our school’s selling point is freedom! As long as you stay on the course, it doesn’t matter what you do! Now, take your places everyone!” We all line up at the gate.

“Start!” Midnight yells. We all go, I see the gray hair kid and jump on his shoulder pushing me forward. He stumbles but makes it. I run to see a robots and it lands a hit on Mineta. I take that timing to run by but it grabs me. I gets it’s finger in my mouth and rip it off. Some wires stick out and I use my hand to pull them off. The hand goes limp and I fall down. I do a front role as I land and go back to running. I don’t listen to the teacher talk because it’s not needed.

I take a break and see the other catch up.

“If you fall, you’re out! If you don’t wanna fall, then crawl! It’s The Fall!” Mic yells. I groan, I can’t do anything with my quirk. Tsu runs ahead and jumps, landing on the rope.

“Well I got nothing.” I says I just crawl over. We make it to the next part and I shiver.

“And now, we’ve finally arrived at the final barrier! The reality here is… that it’s a minefield! It’s set up so that you can tell where the mines are if you look carefully! So you have to exploit your eyes and legs! By the way, these landmines are for games, so they’re not that powerful, but they’re loud and flashy enough to make you wet your pants!” Mic yells.

“That depends on the person.” Aizawa mumbles I just run straight ahead.

“What is Fuka doing?” Mic asks

“She’s using her six sense to avoid the mines.” Aizawa answers.

“Woah she really is like a shark.” Mic says. After a while everyone else follows some just copying my footprints and other just flying by. Which Katsuki and Todoroki fly pass me. Todoroki pushing me into a mine. I fly up and start swearing at him.

“You fucking shit head! Fucking ass!Motherfucker get your fucking bitchass over here! Fuckin’ Bitch! Motherfucking ass! When I get my fucking hands on you I’m gonna-.”

“FUKA GET OUT THE WAY!!!” Midoriya yells at me I try to fly with my hands but he hits me.

“Oof.” I say as I hit the thing.

“Oh god I’m so sorry!”

“Give me a sec.”

“Fuka?”

“Mhm.”

“Not to rush you but we’re gonna fall. And I would move over here.”

“Oh fuck.” I quickly move with Midoriya’s help and we land safeish. I roll off the metal and lay on the floor.

“Uhh well in a turn of events Izuku Midoriya or Y/n Fuka are the first to arrive! What a crazy way to win, smart but crazy.” Mic says the others make it as I stay on the ground.

“Fuka do you need the nurse?” Mina asks as I stare up at the ceiling.

“I’ll be fine. Just give me a hour or more.” I wave her off she giggles.

“Aww come on.” Mina then helps me up and I thank her. We head to Midnight as we wait for a few more.

“The first game of the first-year stange is finally over. Now, take a look at the results! The top 42 made it through to the next round. It’s unfortunate, but don’t worry even if you didn’t make it! We’ve prepared other chances for you to shine. The real competition begins next! The press cavalry will be all over it! Give it your all!” Midnight says Mina groans and I pat her shoulder. The screen shows that I got second place.

“Let me explain. The participants can form teams of two to four people as they wish. It’s basically the same as a regular cavalry battle, but the one thing that’s different is… based on the results of the last game, each person has been assigned a point value.” So I’ll team up with Bakugo, Mina and one others. Unless Bakugo doesn’t want to be on my team but I don’t know.

“You guys don’t hold back even though I’m talking, huh?! Yes, that’s right! And the points assigned go up by five starting from the bottom. So 42nd place gets five points, and 41st gets ten points! And the point value assigned to first place is… ten million!” So I have five million. Which I’m gonna get targeted. Great!

“It’s survival of the fittest, with a chance for those at the bottom to overthrow the top! During the game, it’ll be a cruel fight where you can use your Quirks. But it is still a cavalry battle. You get a red card for attacks that are trying to make people fall on purpose. You’ll be removed immediately! Now, you have fifteen minutes to build your teams. Start!” Midnight finishes. Well this will be a great day.

“Wanna join Katsuki’s team?” I ask.

“Yeah!” We walk to Bakugo and he has Sero.

“I got a plan just put me on top.” Katsuki says.

“Fine with me.” I says and Katsuki tells us the plan.

“We can’t just go after Midoriya the whole time!”

“Then go fine another team!”

“I will!” He looks like he regret it but it goes away in a second.

“Fine then!” He yells and I walk away.

“Fuka!” Gray guy yells I walk over.

“Your right, I wasn’t being manly. Do you want to join our team?” He asks.

“It’s fine, we all make mistakes. So what’s the plan?” I ask.

Part 8

[galacticnova3]

remember when scope shot was on the lor. i miss scope shot

I think it’s still there but closed off because she got tired of people being like “hey isn’t it weird for a machine to have a game centered around blowing up machines haha”. And also there was the issue of the frustration-motivated move of shining the laser guide into opponents’ eyes when they’re beating you; only Magolor and Dedede did it but it was enough of a problem that Lor took gun privileges away from everyone until they could behave. And she wasn’t particularly thrilled about how seriously Susie took it and how good she was at it. And Gim kept calling her a traitor to the robot cause for hosting such an activity. And Dameta kept trying to steal the blasters so he could fuck with people elsewhere. And Daroach kept trying to steal the blasters because they looked cool and some of the squeakers decided bombs weren’t good enough for them anymore and rocket launchers are expensive. And people kept accidentally stealing the blasters because they’d just leave without putting them back. And

[malviral]

Wesker's eyes / bioluminescence.

ANON  ASKED:  sheer crack, but important: wesker’s got the cat eyes thing goin’ on, so…does he do the giant pupils thing when he’s excited?

Actually,  its  not  even  entirely  crack  because  it  would  actually  make  perfect  sense  that  Wesker’s  eyes  would  function  similar  to  a  cat,  or  other  predatory  animals  who  possess  similar  vertical  pupils  like  vipers  and  crocodiles.  The  vertical  slits  signify  the  predatory  nature  of  the  owner, allowing  for  more  adapt  vision;  

‘Vertical pupils give highly focused vision and provide accurate distance vision to help the predator know exactly when to strike its prey. These types of predatory animals also usually hunt at night which means they have evolved an extra set of muscles to pull the pupil into a narrow slit shape during the day. This is to prevent the eye from being damaged or overcome by bright light, preserving vision and protecting the eye. Predatory animals with vertical slit pupils, like cats and many snakes, can maintain sharp focus across the horizontal field of view and more accurately judge distance to their prey. ”

So  yeah,  it  would  make  sense  if  Wesker’s  eyes  are  also  capable  of  contracting  and  expanding.  But  I  wouldn’t  say  they’re  exactly  like  a  cats  eyes  outside  of  the  visual  similarity  as  I  don’t  think  Wesker’s  eyes  ever  dilate   enough  to  appear  human  again  from  what  we’ve  observed  of  him / his  eyes  in  canon.  His  eyes  seem  to  be  more  focused  on  keeping  out  light,  I  think ?  I  have  a  lot  of  thoughts  on  this. 

What  Wesker’s  eyes  do  do  that  is  super  unique  is  maintain  a  steady  glow.  They’re  highly  bioluminescent  and   this  appears  to  be  linked  to  his  emotions  in  some  way.  When  experiencing  a  particularly  strong  emotion  his  eyes  tend  to  literally  light  up  with  a  temporary  bright / burning  sensation. Its  less  clear  why  this  is  a  thing,  I  mean  it  looks  extremely  cool  and  more  accurately  terrifying   from  an   in  universe  POV  but  there  def  has  to  be  a  more  “zoological”  reason  they  do  this  beyond  Aesthetic  TM.  

Wesker’s  entire  body  has  been  transformed  on  a  cellular  level  by  the  virus  to  make  him  an  adapt  killing  machine  so  here  are  my  ideas/thoughts  surrounding  whats  with  his  eyes  /  why  they  glow. ━  For  a  start,  its  possible  this  is  a  warning  to  other  predators  to  back  off,   similar  with  how  some  poisonous  animals  are  brightly  coloured  as  a  warning  to  fuck  around  and  find  out.  and  I  do  personally  headcanon  that  most  other  infected  creatures  avoid  Wesker  because  They  Know.

 We  know  infected  creatures  actively  prey  on  each  other,  so  yeah,  anything  with  the  animalistic  intelligence  a  lot  of  the  infected  animals  have  can  determine  that  Wesker  is  too  much  to  handle.  The  exceptions  would  be  creatures  who  are  particularly   programmed  for  certain  tasks  /  externally  controlled   or  extensively  brain  damaged  (like  common  T  infected  zombies) 

It  could  also  have  a  kind  of  “hypnotic  gaze”  effect  per  se,  giving  him  the  ability  to  temporarily  stun / paralyse   prey,  because  again,  from  an  in  universe  POV  Wesker’s  eyes  are  terrifying,  if  you  got  caught  in  his  sight  you’d  be  shook,  and  thats  not  even  with  witnessing  his,  y’know,  crazy  super-human  strength/speed  on  top  of  it.  I  actually  just  think  he  exerts  an  aura  of  danger  /  dread  that  most  members  of  the  “animal  kingdom”  pick  up  pretty  fast  and  if  you  don’t  get  it  on  vibes  alone  his  eyes  serve  as  a  more  explicit  signal. I  know  in  like,  RE0  for  whatever  reason  Wesker  can  shoot  lasers  out  of  his  eyes  which  I  kind  of  interpreted  as  a  kind  of  “physical”  representation  of  this  kind  of  concept. 

Personally,  I  think  most  of  all  the  glow  /  light  up  has  to  do  with  sharping  vision.  You  turn  up  the  brightness  of  your  phone/screen  when  you  want  to  see  more,  its  possible  the  “natural  light”  of  Wesker’s  eyes  has  a  similar  purpose  which  comes  back  to  the  cat  idea–  rather  than  completely  dilating  and  becoming  visibly  huge  to  collect  light  and  heighten  vision,  Wesker’s  eyes  simply  glow  /  exert  their  own  light   to  increase / sharpen  his  vision.  This  is  also  another  explanation  for  why  Wesker’s  eye  glow  seems  to  be  related  to  his  emotions.  Naturally  if  he’s  “focusing”  on  something  his  emotions  will  react  accordingly,  so  therefor  the  glow. 

And  to  add  to  all  that  the  continuous  glow  of  Wesker’s  eyes  may  also  be  a  reason  why  his  pupils  remain  in  the  vertical  slit-like  state  as  oppose  to  ever  dilating  to  an  extreme,  again  having  to  do  with  filtering  light   and  his  eyes  are  literally  producing  their  own  light.  Whatever  the  case  may  be   the  Virus  has  sharpened  Wesker’s  vision  extensively  and  I  mentioned  before  via  my  own  personal  HC  that  the  reason  his  eyes  are  the  one  part  of  his  body  to  actually  show  outward  mutation  was  because  of  his  impaired  eyesight / mild  photophobia/sensitivity  previous  to  infection.  

SO  BASCIALLY  while  I  don’t  personally  HC  his  eyes  to  dilate,  they  do  GLOW  and  thats  my  Logic  for  why  thats  a  thing.   Fully  support  Albert  Kitty-Eyes  Wesker  tho. 

Oh  ALSO  while  I’m  on  this  topic  the  glow  of  Wesker’s  eyes  is  also  directly  connected  to  the  virus  in  his  system.  Suppressing  the  virus  dulls  his  eye  glow  so  it  can  also  be  used  to  measure  Wesker’s  “strength”  in  a  way.

 Theres  an  implication  of  Wesker’s  vision  and  the  virus  being  connected  beyond  just  the  “aesthetic”  of  his  eyes  looking  like  that.  When  Chris  and  Sheva  “poison”  him  in  5  we  get  a  moment  where  we  see  through  Wesker’s  eyes  and  his  vision  is  fuzzing  out  related  to  the  virus  in  his  system  reacting  to  the  suppressant.  I  ALSO  think  its  interesting  to  note  that  based  on  this  he  SEEMS  to  see  in  a  different  like,  ‘colour’  pallet  to  normal  people  as  well.  The  world  through  “Wesker  Vision”  seems  like  it  has  a  yellowish/greenish  tint  to  it.