#and why we consume stories. how we use them. how they save us and hurt us.

[yellowocaballero]

Been a fan of your fics for YEARS. I was just telling my friend how despite how much I read fics I never actually love them, with some of your fics (especially TMA) as the exception. Felt the need to reread some of them and saw you reblogged some ISAT fanart. So. Any thoughts on ISAT you'd like to share?

Hope you have a wonderful day!! So happy I found your fics again!!

I avoided answering this for a while because I was trying to think of a way to cohesively and coherently vocalize my thoughts on In Stars and Time. I have given up because I don't want to hold everybody here all day and I have accepted that my thoughts are just pterodactyl screeching.

I love it so much. I have so much to say on it. It drove me bonkers for like a week straight. I have AUs. It's absolute Megbait. They're just a little Snufkin and they're having the worst experience of anybody's life. Ludonarratives my fucking beloved.

I am going to talk about the prologue.

The prologue is such a fascinating experience. You crack open the game and immediately begin checking off all of the little genre boxes: mage, warrior, researcher, you're the rogue...some little kid who's there for some reason...alright, you know the score. You're in yet another indie Earthbound RPG, these are your generic characters, let's get the ball rolling.

Except then you realize that these characters are people. You feel instantly how you've entered the game at its last dungeon, at the end of the adventure. They have their own in-jokes, histories, backgrounds, adventures. They get along well and they're obviously close, but not in a twee or unrealistic way. They have so much chemistry and spirit and life. I fell in love with them so quickly.

But Sif doesn't. Sif kind of hates them, because they will not stop saying the same damn thing. They walk the same paths, do the same things, make the same jokes, expect Sif to say the same lines. They keep referencing a Sif we do not see, with jokes we never see him make and heroic personality he never shows - they reference a Sif who is dead - and Sif can't handle that, so he kills them too.

They become only an exercise in tedious frustration. Sif button mashes through their dialogue, Sif mindlessly clicks the same dialogue options, Sif skips through the tutorial, Sif blows through the puzzles. Sif turns their world into a video game. Sif is playing a generic RPG. Sif forgets their names. They are no longer people with in-jokes, histories, backgrounds, adventures. They're the mage, the warrior, the researcher, and...some random kid.

I did not understand the Kid's presence at first. I had no idea what they contributed to the game. They didn't do anything. As a party member in a video game, they're a bit useless. Why is the Kid there?

Because Sif's life isn't a video game. Because the kid isn't 'the kid'. They're Bonnie. Bonnie, who the party loves. Why is Bonnie there? Because they love them. There is no room for Bonnie in the boring RPG that Sif is playing. And then you realize that Sif is wrong, and that they've lost something extremely important, and that they'll never escape without it.

Watching the prologue before watching ISAT gave ISAT the most unique air of dread and horror, because you crack open ISAT and you see the person Sif used to be. You realize that Sif used to be a person. Sif used to be the person who made jokes, who gave real smiles, who interacted with the world as if they are a part of it. And you know you are sitting down to watch Sif lose everything that made them a person, to lose everything that made them a member of this world, and turn them into a character in a video game who doesn't understand the point of Bonnie at all.

At the climax of the game, when the others realize that something is deeply wrong and that Sif physically cannot tell them, they realize that there is nothing they can do. So Bonnie declares snacktime. And for the first time they have snacktime.

What is snacktime? Classic JRPGs don't have snacktime. There's literally no point to a snacktime - not in a video game, and not in Sif's terrible life. It's not fixing this, because nothing can fix this. But Bonnie gives Sif a cookie and Sif eats it.

It's meaningless. It's a cutscene. It didn't save Sif and it didn't change a thing. It will make no difference in the end.

But it did make the difference. It made all of the difference in the world. Bonnie is a character who you really don't understand the point of before you realize that Bonnie was the entire point.

ISAT is about comfort media. Why do we play the same video games over and over again? Why do we avoid watching the finale of our favorite shows? What is truly comforting: a story with no conflict, or a story where you always know what is about to happen? Do you want to live in a scary, uncontrollable world, or do you want to play Stardew Valley? Do you want a person or a character?

When I beat Earthbound for the first time (and if you don't know, the prologue/ISAT battle system is just Mother) and watched the ending cutscene where the characters part ways and say goodbye...I felt a little bit sad. I wanted them to be together forever. But that's something only characters could ever be.

[aryxchse]

okay but this has consuming my mind lately… Percy Jackson x daughter of Persephone?

red rose is for i love you! / percy jackson x daughter of persephone! reader.

a / n : my lovely daughters of persephone, rise up!!

warnings : cursing duh

- it all started with a dare

- and percy jackson is a dare king okay

- leo, who got his ass kicked by you, told that if percy would pick up a rose for him on the secret garden in the forest, he would do anything percy asked

- and percy, who loves challenges, said yes

- it's like beauty and best lmao

- so when he entered your garden to pick up your most precious, pretty, perfect rose, he got smacked by a vine

- "what do you think you're doing?" you asked, on top of some oak tree, making a flower crown for yourself

- percy froozed

- "i uh, i was picking up a rose?"

- yeah, way to save yourself boy, good job

- you effortlessly get down from the oak tree, giving percy death stare

- "move along before i hurt you, jackson."

- "yes ma'am."

- yeah he literally said that

- and left the rose

- this was the first time percy jackson backed down from a dare

- but he didn't backed down from you

- he had a new target now

- the pretties flower in the garden

- you

- okay that was cheesy wtf moving on

- next day, he had a clipboard

- "jackson."

- "hello pretty girl on top of the tree."

- you suspiciously got down again

- "why are you here?"

- "first of all, ouch. second of all, i'm here for good reasons!"

- he told you that he had to write essay about flowers and their meanings for his homework

- good lie buddy

- so you shrugged and helped him, having a chance to yap about your flowers

- and he visited you like this for a month

- "how long is this essay, really?"

- "good work comes with great hardworking.. skills.."

- "what are you even saying-"

- you tried to pay no mind, but you both were getting closer each day

- his evil plan working perfectly

- kidding he isnt evil hes just in love

- and he learned the flower meanings just for you

- he got the chance to learn your favorite flower too

- he hated winter

- because you went underworld to visit your mother

- my boy legit thought getting himself killed by a monster to enter underworld

- but the little reasonable side of him stopped

- because you would be sad then

- and he had school anyways, so he was going to see you on summers anyway

- hes just sad that his date plan got cancelled

- moving on

- it was the last day for his fake essay to finish, and you were kinda sad

- because percy was a fun guy, even though nico was a huge hater

- "percy? really?"

- "boy shut up at least i have a chance with him"

- ouch okay

- "okay so, did we really leave magnolia to last? wow what a shame of us, okay so the magnolia means-"

- "i love you"

- "no that's not-"

- "im talking about you. i love you"

- okay this was a bit sudden

- not saying he wasnt late already but

- like this was sudden

- moving on to you both dating

- your favorite flowers on your door in each special occasion

- but it's usually comes with the roots, with the help of demeter kids

- because he knows how much you hate when someone picks up flowers and just kills them

- you took him to the underworld

- no one was happy tbh but you were so no one didn't said anything

- the garden dates happens often because you usually need help

- and hes your wonderful slave boyfriend so

- kidding (no im not)

- long story short, you guys are the cutest okay??? the best couple fr fr

- and he definetly dreams about opening you your own garden in the mortal world once you both get old

- like you know, selling flowers with their meanings and stuff

- the dangerous flower girl with her slave fr

[themidnightghoul]

I'll Be Your Gravity, You Be My Oxygen

After protecting his pack and changing his very existence, Dew is broken from the inside out. It doesn’t help that the Ministry demands a new Water Ghoul be Summoned before he’s even fully recovered. What’s worse? The new Water Ghoul is beautiful and Dew is immediately enamored with him.

Chapter One: The Spark in My Eyes is Gone

Rating: Explicit (eventually…right now it’s just angst) Word Count: 2078

Read on AO3 or below!

Authors Note: My Raindrop fic is finally here! This is my baby and I’m very anxious finally sharing it but…I hope you enjoy the beginning of this story. If you end up reading, thank you so much for taking time to read my silly little story 🖤

There was a time before, he remembers, where there wasn’t just pain. Surely he hadn’t always felt like this, right? There had to have been a point in time where his entire genetic makeup wasn’t being rewritten, his atoms splitting apart and reforming while he felt every single bit of it, his skin flaking off in burnt chunks. It was agony, if only because there wasn’t another word that could adequately describe the pain that he was experiencing. 

But he wasn’t exactly given another choice so what was he supposed to do? Imperator had made it perfectly clear that if he wasn’t the one to go through with this process that she would just do it to one of the others. And he knew that was her plan all along; she had preyed on the love that he had for his pack, his mates, and she had used it against him. The memory of the moment he signed his very essence away flashed through his mind, a welcome break from the flames that were currently consuming his entire being.

“We are in need of a new Fire Ghoul. Ifrit has been…let go, to put it gently. And unfortunately, Fire Ghouls are the most difficult to Summon.”

His hands had clenched so hard at the mention of Ifrit that he was sure he had drawn blood. “I don’t understand how that involves me, Sister.” He knew he had to keep his composure but his mind was spiraling, trying to figure out where Ifrit had gone, why he was the one currently standing there. “I’m a Water Ghoul, not a Fire Ghoul.”

“Yes, well, from what I hear you’re not a very adequate Water Ghoul, now are you?” She spoke so calmly that it terrified Dew. How could she be so cruel and barely even flinch?

“I…I do my best, Sister.” He knew he wasn’t anywhere near as good as the other Water Ghouls but it still stung to hear her say it out loud. Mist put him to shame when it came to using their Element but never once had she made him feel lesser than her for it. Dew wasn’t ashamed of himself, or his lack of proficiency with Water, and he knew his pack loved him just as he was.

“And your best just isn’t good enough. Lucky for you, we may still have use for you in a different way.” 

Dew’s heart was racing, his palms were sweaty and he felt like he was going to throw up all over Imperator’s desk. “H-how?” 

“Well I’m so glad you asked!” She stood up from her desk and walked over to the shaking Water Ghoul, her hands clasped behind her back and a horrible grin on her face. “There is a Ritual that will allow us to alter your Element from Water to Fire, saving us the enormous trouble of Summoning a new Fire Ghoul. Water Ghouls are much easier, less hassle, to Summon.” Her hand waved around dismissively, like she didn’t just suggest he change his entire being so that things would be more convenient for her.

“But Sister…I’m a Water Ghoul I don’t-“

“If you don’t do this, I will be forced to take one of the others in your place. You wouldn’t want that now would you, Dewdrop?”

It was one of the few times he was grateful for his mask, so that she couldn’t see the panic cross his face at the mention of one of the others being hurt. He couldn’t allow that to happen, would rather die than know he had condemned one of them to this horrible Ritual. “Please…whatever it is, I’ll do it. Just don’t hurt them.” Trying not to let his voice betray how terrified he was at the moment took more effort than he realized it would. But she couldn’t see him panic, he refused to let her see that.

Her smile when he agreed sent shivers down his spine and he was sure that she heard him sob, unable to hold it in. But it was only one small noise and he decided that was better than a full breakdown right here in her office. “Good, I’m glad you understand the importance of this procedure. You are to be at the Ritual room at midnight, do you understand?”

Another wave of pain and he’s pulled from the memory, a scream ripping its way from his throat. He can feel his skin cracking and burning and he feels like he’s choking, like he can’t get enough air. His vision and hearing are almost nonexistent; there are shapes moving around him but he can’t tell who or what they are, and there are noises but he can’t decipher them. When he feels pressure on his arms holding him down, he screams again. Don’t they know that it hurts him to be touched? Can’t they see that he’s burning from the inside out right now? Surely the flames dancing up and down his skin are visible to more than just him.

He cries. He cries for himself, for the loss of his Element, for his pack losing their beautiful Water Ghoul. He cries for who he’s becoming and because he does not know who he will be now. He cries for the new Water Ghoul they will summon before long, probably even before he’s even healed. He cries for Aether, not knowing how he is right now, but feeling in his very soul that he’s a wreck. He cries for Mountain because he knows that his sweet Earth Ghoul will be destroyed over this but will do his best not to show it. He cries when the memory of telling his mates hits him like a wave of sorrow and agony at the same time.

“You can’t do this, Dew. I won’t let you!” Aether cried, more than Dew had ever seen him cry before. He didn’t know his mate was even capable of the emotions that he was going through at lightning speed, his eyes flaring a dark purple. They only did that when he was truly losing control of himself, when he was feeling too many things at once to keep up with everything. He walked around the den, hands running up and down his face. 

“Water Lily, please, there must be another way.” Mountain brushed his hands through his hair, holding Dew close to his chest. Dew could hear the heart of the normally calm and stoic Earth Ghoul racing, his breathing slowly picking up as he realized what Dew was about to go through for them.

Dew was strangely calm, having accepted what was going to happen and knowing there wasn’t another way. “I can’t…I won’t let her hurt you. I wouldn’t survive knowing that I had let something like this happen to any of you.”

“And what if you don’t survive?! I’m not living without you!” Aether screamed, fell to his knees, sobbed until his chest hurt and continued to sob.

“I have until midnight,” Dew whispered, barely holding back tears at the sight of Aether on his knees. He stepped out of Mountain’s embrace and walked over to Aether, falling to the ground next to him and taking his hands. “Be with me until then? Please?”

There’s a feeling of weightlessness, like he’s being lifted. He still can’t hear, can’t see, and every inch of his body is burning, but he knows he’s moving. If he had to guess, he’s being taken to the Infirmary. All his brain can focus on is Aether and how he can’t let his mate see him like this. He tries to talk, if he can scream then surely he can talk, but nothing comes out. It’s scratchy feeling, tight, and he can’t breathe again. Why can’t he breathe? His gills…they should be helping him, right? But he can’t feel them anymore when he reaches up to claw at his neck, desperately clinging to the last vestiges of his Element. Former Element, something cruel that sounds a lot like Imperator, reminds him.

He’s brought to a place that he can’t see, but he knows within himself that someone did, in fact, bring him to the Infirmary. He’s spent so many days and nights here, most of them on purpose just so he could see Aether. Scraping his knee, cutting his arm, bumping his head, anything to get him around the Quintessence Ghoul that he loved more than life itself. It’s brighter here, a sick sterile feeling surrounds him. He wishes he could see, deludes himself into believing that if he could just see something that he would feel better. It’s all bullshit, he knows, but he’s desperate to feel anything but the pain that’s been drowning him for what feels like an eternity.

A wave of relief and calm washes over him and his body instinctively reaches out, knowing who was behind the feeling. Aether Aether Aether, his mind screams, recognizing the magic like it was second nature to him. There’s sound again but it’s muffled, like his ears are stuffed and he can’t manage to clear them, but he just knows that it’s Aether trying to calm him. He tries not to think of the look on his face when he sees the burnt skin that covers his body now. Will he still love him, now that he’s no longer Water? He can’t imagine that he will be as beautiful as he once was now that Fire flows through his veins. He’ll burn everything he touches, everyone he loves. He’s now dangerous when he was once graceful, volatile where he was once calm. One final flash of his last moments with Aether hits him like a knife to the gut and he winces, allowing it to pull him under.

Aether held him close against his chest as Dew cried, choked silent sobs eventually replacing the tears when they finally, somehow, managed to run out. They hadn’t spoken in a while, neither one of them sure of what to say. Aether had tried a few more times to get him to relent, to not go through with the Ritual, telling him that he would figure out another way. But Dew had accepted that it was going to happen and just wanted a few hours with his love before everything he knew was burned away.

“Aeth…” Dew finally broke the silence, unable to go another moment without hearing the familiar voice that always managed to settle him, no matter what he was feeling.

“Yeah?” Aether’s voice sounded so broken, so far away, and Dew’s heart clenched at the thought of already having lost him before he even went through the Ritual.

“When I’m…when it’s over…will you still love me?” He whispered it, like he was afraid to voice his thoughts but wanting, needing, to know if he would still be loved after it was all said and done and he was no longer the Water Ghoul that Aether had first fallen in love with.

“I will love you until the galaxy swallows me whole and returns me to the stardust from which I was created, my love. Nothing will ever change how much I love you, don’t ever forget that.”

The two had laid together until the very last minute, when a Sentry Ghoul arrived to ensure that Dew didn’t back out and made it to the Ritual room on time. Aether cried again, holding Dew against his chest one final time and promising that they would be together again soon. Dew did his best not to cry as he kissed him goodbye, only allowing a tear to fall once he was out of sight of Aether. As the two Ghouls walked, neither spoke, Dew not very familiar with any of the Ghouls outside of his own pack and content to walk in silence, contemplating his final moments as a Water Ghoul. When the two finally reached the doors to the Ritual room, the unfamiliar Ghoul stopped and turned to face Dew.

“You are far stronger than anyone will ever know, Dewdrop. Never forget that you’re the best of us.” With a nod, the Ghoul departed, and Dew was left to walk through the Ritual room doors alone.

Before he finally, mercifully, either fell asleep or simply blacked out from the pain, he swore he heard Aether’s voice whispering in his mind. “Nothing will ever change how much I love you, Dew.”

[xitsensunmoon]

I am glad to know I'm not the only one who prefers Moon more as well

And if I can be completely honest, I don't like how Moon is constantly characterized in both the game and books. I can't stand how Moon is just written as 'he's just Sun's creepy and evil alterego' and that's it, I don't understand why they gave him no other character or personality beyond that. When they didn't do that with everyone else, Sun was only on screen for fifteen minutes, and you get a complete understanding of his character, personality, and story. But Moon gets nothing like that what-so ever and it hurts to see.

Because I have to ask, is Moon really evil? The games and books tell you he is, but we don't get to see how Moon feels about it or if he believes he is evil. Nor do we get a motive behind it other than he was 'programed that way' or 'it's the virus making him act that way' and no one seems to agree on which one is more likely. But I can't blame them since we have nothing to go on because the writers couldn't be bothered to give us any insight into Moon as a character.

And I was not happy with the daycare section in Ruin, It felt rushed and wasn't scary as the base game. But my biggest problem with the section was how we deal with Moon. The fact that we had to hurt Moon with the lights and hearing him crying out in pain made me extremely uncomfortable. And he clearly didn't want to merge Sun but we just ignore him and reboot him anyway.

Sorry for spilling this out on you, I'm just happy to meet someone who loves Moon as much as I do

I do agree with a lot of this, and yeah Moon is my fav, probably mostly because I can relate to him better.

That's a long post so I cut it

FNAF explanations for different things sometimes are very silly and don't make sense, but I don't agree that he's portraited evil in games, as in DLC we get very small amount of information that before virus he was okay?

Books and games are different universes as well, if I'm not mistaken and are not canon to each other.

The fact that we don't get to see his view on all of the situation is sad, yeah, but gotta be real, dca in general doesn't get enough screen time. Sun and Moon and Eclipse have a giant potential as characters but just never get that used, unfortunately. As FNAF is Freddy's game. Not dca's.

Ruin was harsh. It was supposed to be uncomfortable, as our favourite characters are hurt, crashed and forgotten. Everyone suffers there and DLC was much scarier (to me) just because of that fact, of how we literally hear our character cry and scream and save themselves.

My thoughts on ruin Moon are biased, as he's my fav but I do believe that he wanted to get back the control that he lost in the main game, as Sun was forced to lock him away. "Keep the lights on", and Moon was just going insane being locked away for so long.

That's why we see him not as angry in the main game, because Gregory turned the lights off, and Moon doesn't have any reason to be angry at him for that. All his actions after that, trying to catch Gregory, calling him a rulebreaker, as I think go from virus.

Meanwhile in the ruin Cassie tries to do the opposite, to turn the light back on, to try and lock him up again. Sun is crying about being trapped in an endless nap, but we just keep forgetting that Sun did the same to Moon in the main game. Moon just unlike Sun didn't have an opportunity to cry about it.

I also think that the more time passes the more broken they get. Light hurts Moon because he can't switch to Sun, as it would normally happen, because of the ar. That's why it hurts so bad. That's why they need a reboot. Sun was just the first one to realize it, while Moon is being consumed by anger, virus, and trying to regain the control that he lacked for years and years. He doesn't want a reboot, but he indeed needs it.

I don't think that he's evil. I think he's hurt. He's just another victim of the situation, unfortunately often misinterpreted as a villain. Unfortunately being the "angry" and "dangerous" and "scary" one, while he just wants the same things as Sun does. He doesn't want pain(so he tries to stop us from turning the lights on), he doesn't want being caged. He chooses the simplest for that moment solution, it doesn't hurt them to be in the dark, so he tries to keep the dark.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

One weird trick to make monopolies self-destruct

Kim Stanley Robinson’s 2020 novel Ministry For the Future was a groundbreaking work: it’s the tale of a detailed, plausible transition from a world on a collision course with civilization-ending climate catastrophe to one where the challenge is met, with humanity collectively deciding to save itself:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/12/03/ministry-for-the-future/#ksr

Robinson’s book is important: it not only disproves the (variously attributed) capitalist realism aphorism that “it is easier to imagine the end of the world than it is to imagine the end of capitalism” — it also imagines the means by which that ending was brought about.

It’s a tale of what I’ve called “The Swerve”: the day we stop listening to the first class passengers at the front of the bus that’s barreling towards a cliff, rush the driver and yank the wheel before we go over the edge:

https://locusmag.com/2022/07/cory-doctorow-the-swerve/

Since the book’s publication, it has been the subject of intense foment, such as the excellent Crooked Timber seminar on the book’s strengths, flaws, and future:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/05/12/seminar-for-the-future/#imaginations

The latest project inspired by the book comes from NESTA and The Prospect: Minister For the Future is a series of policy proposals to someone holding that office, as proposed in Robinson’s novel, for dealing with inequality, food, demographics, networks, mental health, automation, pandemics, health, and other subjects:

https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/specialreports/minister-for-the-future

I also contributed a piece: “Enticing monopolies to unwind themselves,” which addresses the existential risk of monopolies: when monopolies reign, it is all but impossible to make good policy, because the monopolists can outbid all comers and turn every truth-seeking exercise into an auction that they win:

https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/enticing-monopolies-to-unwind-themselves

That is, after all, the story of the climate emergency itself: a handful of giant firms colluding to distort science, delay action — and risk billions of lives to make trillions of dollars. Monopolies create superdense concentrations of power that, like a black hole, warp the normal rules:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/05/eldritch-physics/#wouldnt-start-from-here

The best time to tackle monopolies would have been 40 years ago, when all over the world, regulators stopped enforcing anti-monopoly law. The second best time is now. Lucky for us, antitrust regulators have the bit between their teeth and have vowed to halt the march towards market concentration, blocking mergers rather than waving them through:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/08/13/post-bork-era/#manne-down

They’ve also promised to take on existing monopolies, unwinding the predatory acquisitions and anti-competitive mergers that produced so much concentration in so many industries, which now rule over their regulators, hurting us in a million ways with utter impunity:

https://www.openmarketsinstitute.org/learn/monopoly-by-the-numbers

But while breaking up monopolies is important work, it’s also slow work. It took 69 years to break up AT&T!

https://doctorow.medium.com/podcasting-jam-to-day-c451dd289f2

Blocking future monopolies without ending existing ones is a huge risk. Any monopoly in an industrial supply chain can destroy the smaller firms it buys from and sells to. Think of how Big Pharma’s mergers let it gouge hospitals on drug prices, leading to regional hospital monopolies that had the bargaining power to push back. But then those hospitals turned around and started screwing insurers, who also formed regional monopolies in order to defend themselves from price-gouging.

In the end, monopoly leads to monopoly, with workers and consumers at either end of the supply chain, unorganized and vulnerable, which is why health workers make less money under worse conditions and patients spend more money for worse care. It’s not enough to prevent future monopolies — we also have to break up the ones that are all around us.

How can we make that happen without waiting 69 years while the monopolists use their vast cash reserves and influence to delay the reckoning? That’s where my proposal comes in.

https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/enticing-monopolies-to-unwind-themselves

I am old enough to remember when corporate raiders took over companies in order to break them up and sell them for parts, rather than merging them into monopolies. Rapacious, remorseless finance assholes once stalked the corporate world, shattering firms with impunity.

What if we brought those monsters out of retirement for one more job?

My proposal is simple: a two-year capital gains tax holiday on profits from unwinding any 21st century merger involving a firm with more than £10b in market cap: “Watch them do in months what decades of courtroom grinding couldn’t hope to accomplish.”

This is a very Ministry For the Future kind of idea — one of the novel’s subplots involves bribing oil companies to leave oil in the ground by buying up all their stranded assets, and swallowing the galling proposition of giving still more money to the people who wrecked the planet.

I’m ambivalent about my proposal for the same reason I was ambivalent about Robsinson’s stranded-assets thought-experiment. But the last time I talked with Robinson, he shrugged and said, “We’ll just take it all back with a wealth tax.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dfgfh3SYu8Y

The whole “Minister” package is a fascinating one, and there is something extremely refreshing about imagining a post-Swerve future, where high officials are bent on actually addressing our most urgent problems, backed by an unstoppable political will.

Image: Sam Valadi (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/132084522@N05/17086570218/

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Jimmy Baikovicius (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/jikatu/22143653260/

CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

[Image ID: The Google 'Googleplex' office by night. It has been split in two by a giant axe, whose handle is emblazoned with the Wall Street 'raging bull' statue.]

[moonlitxeuphoria]

14, 17, and 18 for Zutara asks please!

Hello there, kind stranger!! Thanks for submitting!

(This was a lengthy response so I apologize in advance)

14. How do you feel about “The Southern Raiders”?

- So many intense feelings, that’s for sure haha. That episode is just one of my favorites from the show overall, and not just because of the obvious showcasing of how good Zuko and Katara work together as a pair (though it does play a major part), or them finally having that moment of reconciliation after what happened in the catacombs, but mainly because of the highlighting of Katara’s internal battle over coming to terms with deep seated grief caused by the traumatic loss of her mother. Obvi, that loss is a big part of her character, considering it’s consistently referenced throughout the show but in ‘The Southern Raiders,’ we finally get to see and hear from Katara first hand about that awful day. The episode gives her the room to rage - to feel her and express those dark, ugly feelings - and delve into just how she’s been baring the pain of being the reason why Kya is no longer with them (them - referring to Sokka/Hakoda/Herself). It’s messy and cathartic and just great writing all around on the very real topic of how consuming grief can be; of how you can end up hurting others, be it purposefully or inadvertently, while navigating through it. With that, there’s also the flip side of being able to eventually find peace with the help of someone who truly understands that pain you’re carrying. That with the right person, that load can be lightened until it doesn’t feel as heavy anymore.

17. How do you think Iroh and Hakoda would react to Zutara?

- Iroh is zutara’s #1 cheerleader aside from Toph and Suki, and that’s just facts. There would be fireworks, music, and endless rounds of tea and food in celebration over the news. That sweet old man would be overjoyed at his nephew/adopted son having found someone who pushes and makes him into a better person and vice versa. Not to mention the endless supply of dad jokes, like come on. DAD JOKES.

- I feel like Hakoda - as easy going as the guy is - would be a little skeptical about zutara at first. Not just from general fatherly concern, but because of the stories Sokka and Katara more than likely filled him in on regarding Zuko during the aftermath of the battle in the crystal catacombs. He eventually comes around though, especially with the added help of getting broken out of prison by his son and the aforementioned ‘Prince of all jerkbenders’ and then later hearing about how the kid put his own life on the line to save his daughter from certain death. Needless to say, Hakoda cashes in on his own set of dad jokes later on at their expense alongside Iroh because seeing Zuko and Katara’s slightly mortified but amused expressions are absolutely worth it.

18. How do you think the Gaang would react to Zutara?

- Toph: this girl would be absolutely unsurprised. She’s the first one to find out and tell them straight up that it “took you guys long enough to figure it out” cuz she’s a walking, talking lie detector and those heartbeats never lie. She clocked them from the get go and takes every opportunity to tease them over it because how is it that the literal blind girl could ‘see’ they clearly liked each other but these two dunces couldn’t. (Deep down they know it’s her way of saying she’s happy for them without sounding too sappy about it).

- Suki: would absolutely be the second one to figure it out and is immediately onboard with it because who doesn’t love a good enemies to friends to lovers storyline. (One of us, one of us) She obviously teams up with Toph in teasing the hell out of them whenever the opportunity arises and the two end up bonding over how equally dense their friends were to the blatantly obvious fact that they’re so into each other. It’s borderline comical, really.

- Side note: In my head, Suki, Toph, and Iroh are the official but unofficial zutara council who get together every so often and gossip about whatever new updates on their favorite couple they may have over tea and cakes. It’s a grand old time for all of them and they all would absolutely lose it when Zuko finally proposes to Katara.

- Sokka: Ah my over dramatic water tribe boy. His reaction is just a thing of beauty, really. He would basically go through the five stages of grief because first off, that’s his little sister and second, that’s his best friend and third, what do you mean they’re together now???!! (I picture it to be like a Ross from ‘Friends’ type of reaction, specifically when he finds out about Monica and Chandler) It’s only made worse when Suki and Toph just say ‘called it’ and continue on like this isn’t the most earth shattering news to ever be released. After he’s processed it though, he’s 100% on board and later joins in on the zutara council meetings with Suki/Toph/Iroh.

- Aang: Oooh, our little flighty boy. This one was a tough one to settle on, let me tell you, buuut I think I figured it out. In my head, I think that Aang would obviously hurt for a little while over the news because Katara is his special person. This girl literally saved his life more than once, has seen him grow up, has supported him through so much, and seeing that person you so deeply love end up with someone else isn’t easy. Never is. He would more than likely keep his distance while he works through his feelings. But then one day, he starts really paying attention to how they interact with each other and Aang feels something in his brain click. Zuko understands Katara, and I mean truly understands her. He thought he understood Katara, that’s why he knew in his heart that he loved her, but seeing the two of them together makes him realize that maybe he doesn’t. His perception of her - her wants and needs - are vastly different from his and that’s probably why nothing ever truly developed between them. Sure there was maybe a spark or two but never anything big enough for a full on flame to burn, ya know. And that realization is what eventually pushes him to be in full, genuine support of their relationship. Because how could he deny her that deep understanding that Zuko is more than capable of providing? (To end on a happy note, he later joins the weekly zutara council meetings and full out cries happy tears when Zuko finally proposes to Katara because oh my god two of his favorite people love each other so much and they’re making it official.) Now keep in mind, this is how I think his reaction would be once he’s had some time to grow and actually understand (and I mean understand) that Katara is her own person and doesn’t belong to him (she’s not an object that someone can simply say is theirs).

This was so long oh my goodness but what a fun set of questions!!! Really got my brain’s gears working overtime to think up of some eloquent-esque answers for each of them 😊💗

[prelovednikaidou]

devotion :: gojo satoru

genre: angst

content warning: historical fantasy setting, 1st POV, afab reader

trigger warning: past child abuse, forced child labour, mention of suicide, enslavement

author's note: this is a 10 chapters story. enjoy !!

It was winter. Yes, winter. If my memory is still true, it was winter when I met him. The harsh weather where the dry wind were strong, the little-to-none sunlight that came through the cracks of the broken roof, the biting cold that slowly consumed ones body with no heat - it was winter when I almost died and he saved me.

Can I count it as a help? Perhaps he just didn't wish to witness a death in his life thus why he reached out his hand or maybe, he just felt guilty if he didn't help a dying person. None of them mattered to be honest. I was still saved by him at the end of the day.

I knew him at one glance. Gojo Satoru. His name sounded elegant and rich, coming from the mouth of a slave like me. I never received a name. People called me "Hey" "Hoi" and "Dimwit" for most of the times, so only recently I figured out that those weren't names. It did make me feel a little embarrassed. How silly, for me to be happy that I finally have something that belong to me when I never did.

His appearance was beautiful too, benefitting to his name and aura. But he didn't suit this place. He was better suited in a lavish mansion with tons of servants lined up to serve him. He deserved to be in a shaded area where his pale skin wouldn't be burned by the hot sun. He deserved to be in a place where pretty people go. Anywhere but this place.

Yet what was he doing here?

I often met him in the back of the kitchen, rummaging through the leftovers from the dishes I was supposed to clean. While it was dirty and disgusting to eat from someone else's leftovers, I understand how it felt to be so hungry that even biting your own arm won't reduce the hunger. Being hungry for people like me isn't simply craving. It means that my body is at the final limit and if I still couldn't eat, then I will die.

So it became a routine for me to sit in silence while I picked up any edibles from the plates, separate them to a small piece of cloth. It did take a while for him to come so when he did, I often saw purple bruises on his cheek. That must have hurt a lot but he remained quiet. Both of use ate from the food I saved and none of us said anything. Not that by asking him, "Is it painful?" would change anything. I've been hit like that before. I knew the answer.

There were times where he didn't come to eat too. Sometimes, he went to disappear for days and when he returned, he barely looked like a human. I didn't say anything. I only looked at him, pulled the hem of his clothes while he trotted behind me and entered my room. It wasn't a room. It was an abandoned storage room for alcohol. It reeks of a heavy stench and mould, it was also humid and hot.

"Sit down, I'll see your wounds." I said. His blue eyes were so beautiful but they didn't shine.

Gojo Satoru complied to my words and showed his torso. The bulge of his ribcage could be seen from the malnourished body, sickly thin and the dent inwards his tummy was so deep. Was he kicked? I wonder what he did.

I grabbed the dry bread I hit under my ragged pillow and took the water I collected earlier. Soaking the bread into the water until it became soggy, I crushed it to smallest pieces until it diluted into the water. He couldn't eat because his mouth was full of blood. Was he missing tooth? Or did he get his tongue cut off? I didn't realise that while I was stirring the cloudy and lumpy liquid in the broken bowl, I was crying.

What did we do for us to suffer like this? Should we just kill ourself for this pain to end? Would this life get better if we continue to believe that fate has arranged everything for us?

"Don't cry." He said. It was barely heard but I knew that even forcing himself to speak would be so painful. The purple deep marks around his neck must have broken his voice cord. We both knew that tears won't do anything. I didn't cry when I was slapped so hard that I fell sick for days. I didn't cry when my stomach felt like twisting my inside dry. I didn't cry for what happened to me because I accepted the reality.

Yet it took another living person, who experienced just like what I did, for me to understand that we were indeed suffering.

"Toru, do you want to continue living like this?" I asked.

His eyes were deep and dark, hiding everything from me. I couldn't see clearly anymore as tears rushed to the damp of my eyes so heavily, and I put down his food. Holding his fingers that were full of callous and missing nails, I smiled to him and asked again,

"Toru, do you want to continue living?"

At that moment, I saw how Satoru was indeed a strong person. Under such a heavy condition, he continued to live and live, worked his bones to death and never stopped but me?

I couldn't live like this. I didn't know when it happened but every time I closed my eyes, I have the fear of not waking up. Ironic but I should be glad that I'll be dead, right? But no. I needed to wake up everyday because if I died, what would happen to him?

What would happen to the boy who sought mw out through the rain, the one who brought me to the highest roof when the flood was wiping away the villagers?

What would happen to him? I wasn't ready to let him go. I wasn't ready to acknowledge the fact that I had always been reliant on him. I knew from the moment he saved me from the clutch of the old mad man, that I will go everywhere he goes.

"I am in pain, Toru. My tummy hurts and I've been peeing blood. I'm going to die, Toru. But I don't want to leave you. I want to stay with you for the rest of my life. But my body doesn't allow me, Toru. I don't fear death but I fear of not meeting you anymore. I fear that I have to wait for years in the grave until I can meet you again but what if you go to Heaven and I don't? What if this is the last I can see you? You're in front of me yet I've already planned on missing you. What should I do, Toru?"

"Then don't leave." He said.

In his eyes, there was a small face reflected. My face could be seen in his clear eyes and he calmly stroked the side of my cheek, he winced a little and for the first time in my life, I saw the two tail of his lips quirked into a smile.

A smile that is gentle, a smile that didn't mean any harm towards me and a smile that resemble the innocence of a young boy where he said,

"Wherever I go, I'll bring you with me. We will grow out of this place and I will take you to mang places you have never seen before."

I saw he took something out of his pocket, a small round ceramic container and before long, he uncapped the lid and it was a lip rouge. Gojo Satoru had the proudest face at that moment as his shaky fingers swapped over the red cream and slowly reached for my lips.

I could never forget how relieved he looked when his trembling finger finally landed on my chapped lips. Rubbing his thumb over my bottom lip, the crack in his voice could be heard as he whispered,

"Alas, good people deserve good things."

His sincere smile as he applied the lip rouge over my lips, the clear eyes of his where he never looked down on me, the soft tone he used when he talked to me -

how could I not devote myself to you?

>> Chapter 2

Taglist: [comment because my google form isn't working]

[spikeinthepunch]

thinking real hard about that new content in Painful bc i really love it-- while Painful did work well without more blatant explanations on Marty, Lisa, or Brad's past, it also meant there was some stuff I just never learned if i didnt play First at least (and my second play through of Painful brought even MORE clarity to me), and well honestly I just enjoy the deeper explorations of these characters. I already rambled about this content in a 2am post messily but now I am thinking hard about the cycle of abuse- specific to Brad and the general theme of new content in general being about how deeply rooted abuse is, improvement of yourself, letting go of guilt & anger and the importance of love.

in order to better break down the new content and how it adds things to the story i transcribed the new content-- queen's campfire dialog, mad dog's campfire dialog, and two large pieces of dialog from the nightmare scene. parallels! parallels everywhere! I uploaded it as a text file if you want to read it all yourself :)

also this means this post will be long as fuck. there are so many cool things to connect here.

This new content in Painful does a lot to express the years of shit Brad went through that further fed his issues. And while most of this ends up focusing on Marty (which I do thinks its important to not just throw Lisa on screen, her purpose is still as being 'off screen' for effect) it greatly helps Brad's character and the flashback to Lisa and him playing together or their convo before Brad runs away- fantastic addition alongside Buddy's later instance of putting makeup on Brad (made me extra sad)- and it 'humanizes' Lisa more. She existed- she was a sister with a brother and they hung out and had fun and they talked. etc. They existed in the same house and they endured horrible things.

I feel like this new content kind of hammered in the family like... the affect of abusive families. And what Brad has been missing from a normal upbringing, what he's lost after all this time because of abuse, and what he is desperately trying to get out of Buddy. At the end of the fight with flesh-mound Marty (we will be talking about this A LOT), this part especially feels like it reflects Brad's inability to not see Buddy as the redemption he needs, what he feels is the only thing to save him:

But if you stop. …if you do this. It's over. Dead. You know what happens. We can't let her out. She… She's gonna hurt us so bad.

Which also, I think parallels to Lisa too-- honestly. so much of what alludes to Lisa works well for Buddy and vise versa, for obvious reasons.

But the nightmare really just... you really get the feeling for how fucking exhausting it is. Brad is so tired and he's trying so hard. But the thought that says he will be like his father feels deep rooted- its his blood, Marty lives inside him, he can't fight it hard enough.

this next section of the flesh-mound boss fight ending has a clear conflict in his own thoughts. He recognizes it's all so tiring and it needs to be let go. But then it turns into anger at himself. And more likely recalling the tough words of wisdom his father gave him (or his grandpa too)

I know you're tired. All this anger. These memories. So many scars. So many mistakes. It all stings… So let it all go. You don't deserve it. The guilt is gonna kill you. Why can't you just let go? Be a man. When they hand you their heart. You don't bare yours. You eat it. Consume everything. Puke it up. Then eat it again. Eat like a dog. You know it only takes one taste. You know better than me. It's so fucking easy. And if you never stop… It feels so good.

Fun fact! The "When they hand you their heart. You don't bare yours. You eat it. Consume everything." gets referenced slightly in the new Joyful content, where Brad's friends are trying to recall some words of wisdom which they only recall as "Sometimes you need to just... Eat your heart out. Or something." Which implies Brad likely told them this line to some extent.

Oof. Probably my favorite excerpt from the boss dialog. Consume Everything. Puke it up, eat it again.... You know it only takes one taste. You know better than me... Marty's own behavior comes out here as he encouraged Brad similarly in other scenes. He's the one that's is in fact forcing Brad to get a "taste" of this. (Look back at the 'father' epilogue in Joyful). But he also makes Brad think that this is always all on him- by giving him the responsibility of "this is how men should be", it takes blame off of Marty and puts it on Brad for not "being a man" and thus, repeating these behaviors in a way that is often told to him as justified and as the right way to act.

He is constantly guilted and programed to this behavior in an extreme way by Marty taunting him, belittling and validating his own abusive behavior.

Let me cut over to Mad Dog's campfire scene. Yep! I promise its related (to me).

[cut to here. He is referring to what (seems to be) something his father said.] When I'm ready to die. We fight. You have to beat me. Then you will eat me. A dog in a dog in a dog in a dog. Hellacious. Miserable cycle. Never stop. Make. Us. More. Madness is a small cost. For power greater than love. […] Strength is our family. [Scene pans down the cliffs showing more and more skulls of humans and dogs hiden under ground. the next text appears on screen]: I love you… But I really have to go. [At the bottom of the cliffs, a spider much like the Marty-spiders appears, but with Brad's face instead.]

While this is something Mad Dog is saying as if its something his own father said to him, it seems pretty clear you can see the parallel to Brad. Honestly its way too accurate to ignore lol. the first line is strangely similar to things Marty says in the nightmare fight, and the "Dog in a dog" clearly feels very similar to the "eat like a dog" in that earlier quote i gave. Whats even more weird is the scene is pans through.

(Again not taking away from Mad Dog's own story, just explaining the parallel). The skulls that become more and more in the dirt feel like a metaphor for all the years of abuse, and the cycle of it. Now the Brad-spider? That surprised me.

Taking-

I love you… But I really have to go.

Feels like something related to Buddy. And I think this as well because of the spider at the end. Marty-spiders always felt like they were supposed to show how his effect is always there and you might now know where. His abuse still exists even in the smallest form. For a Brad one to be shown like that- I would read into it as how Brad is still going after Buddy, while his behavior is in fact abusive.

The hardest of it all is the imagery and the use of plural dialog too is that we really get to see how Brad feels like Marty is and always will be a part of him and that's what makes it so hard to change. And considering the above I mentioned, it makes sense.

We can't handle that, Brad. It's too painful. I'm not ready. We'll never be ready! Don't fight blood! Please! I'm fucking scared!

The desperation towards the end fits the idea of letting go of Lisa in the regard that the grief for her is also ruining Brad alongside his need to have Buddy as a way to atone for his behavior towards Dustin in the past, and try to not be like his father. And getting rid of that source is terrifying because it means a lot of scary things to him. The "us" and "we" keeps forcing that feeling that Marty is part of him, and that it really wants Brad to keep holding on because thats who he is. It is what he has been for so so long and he is terrified of letting go of grief because its what remains of Lisa in his head. And that letting go of Buddy would mean he is losing that opportunity to be the father he needs to be in order to prove he isnt like his father. These two reasons to not let go aren't good! They are not ways he should be living and he HAS to let that go.

But hey, thats not all. Let's get through the sad as fuck analysis okay? It'll get better.

As you descend a long rope as child!Brad you start to read a poem of sorts that I can only assume comes from Lisa. This excerpt also pops up in Joyful...

No friends. No brothers. No fathers. No mothers. Just me.

This gets repeated three times. Its weird but it always made me feel uneasy, and I think that is because it kind of focuses on how Lisa ends up being the core. When you apply this to Brad alone, it connects in the way that Lisa is the center of his grief and how that cancels out so much else in his life. Though i want to point out real quick-- it applies to Buddy in an interesting way that fufills their comparisons with the statues you destroy in Joyful. Very cool. And for Lisa it applies very blatantly. (No friends (Berny), No brothers (Brad), No fathers (Marty), No mothers (her own absent mom))

there is a LOT to this poem and you should look at that text post I linked to read it all. So I am just bringing up a one other part.

Deep below. A dark endless sea. A pain slumbers. One we'll never flee. Give me the strength. Let your memories set us free. So that when next we meet. I may grow into a mighty tree. [...] I know this wasn't easy. Thank you. …And Bradley, Good luck.

Oh yes, a step back to the boss dialog here, it's relevant:

I know you're tired. All this anger. These memories. So many scars. So many mistakes. It all stings… So let it all go. You don't deserve it.

This perfectly reflect points I have made up to this point regarding the way Brad holds onto his grief and even the earliest lines of the boss is trying to show him that. It's interesting that as the very start he's being so forgiving to himself then is devolves into more anger-- but here, once Brad has regressed, Lisa is the one to remind him this. I think its important to recognize how Its not about getting rid of Lisa's memory at all and this poem being spoken from Lisa (assumed) fits that. It isn't easy to recognize or to do this, it takes a whole different kind of strength.

In that text file i transcribed the end conversation between Brad & Lise where Brad says he is going to run away, but I won't be referencing it here... Do read it/watch it though.

If you read this far, good job! Just one more depressing thing though! The actual last thing said in the nightmare is great actually- for story telling. Because of course if this whole dream was trying to show that Brad has let go... well, it would kind of mess up the ending still carrying out with Brad still seeming unchanged.

Bradley, my boy. It's just not that easy. You can't save her. You can't even save yourself. After all… I'm in your veins..

Yes, thats it- thats the last part in the dream, where Brad sees a small flesh-mound Marty in blood. It doesn't ruin the fact Brad had this long ass dream. Its a great look into his mind. And how it entirely loops back. He really just... he really is stuck. You can see how damn hard he tries. But this theme of it being "in your blood" is SO fucking strong and it hurts. Because I think we all know, its not true. You are not fated to become the abuser. But god you can see how hard it truly is to fight what has been beaten into you for so long.

Right.

So looking at the parts where forgiveness are present... This pops up a bit in the new content- from this, too another campfire scene. I think the forgiveness and love sprinkled in is important to notice. A lot of people in Olathe in general are alone and without family. Brad has already been... alone, however. His family situation left him without affection, and an upbringing that left no proper parent to attach to meant he'd already not receive the affection he needed in order to give that to others properly. He had no one, and when he did finally have someone- Dustin- he still never received the love he didn't know he needed because of what was taught to him. And he did it again to Buddy.

This is obvious when you get to the end of the game. When Brad wants buddy to hold him.

And, Queen's dialog with Brad pulls a lot more of that conversation to the surface.

Being held by someone you love is the best feeling in the entire universe. […] These men out here. All this strength. This power. Your respect… you can't take it with you when you die. It wont save you. It doesn't matter how powerful you are. No ideas matter. No experience matters. None of that shit that's consumed you your whole life matters. You're completely naked in the face of death. Its terrifying. Now, a good hug. That matters. Honestly, it ain't gonna change much… dead is dead. But the way i see it. You can die afraid. Lost in your own mind. Haunted by the guilt of all your mistakes. Tormenting nightmares wondering what comes next. Or… you can be in the moment with someone you love. Someone that makes you feel like nothing else matters. Nothing could be more important than feeling each other's warmth and love. No thinking. Just feeling.

Brad's earlier chat included him bringing up how he didnt let Dustin or Buddy get physical affectionate too- theres some earlier chitchat that you may want to see in a video. But honestly the realization of how little affection Brad has received, due to Marty's influence, makes things even more depressing when you see how hard it is to let go.

Everything, everything is tied together. He can't let go. So he cant end the abuse. So he fails to ever change. So he never receives the love he truly wants and needs. By the end of the game, when you have that option to hold him, that new dialog hits even worse. And I don't think it is even to try and sway people into hugging Brad. if anything it kind of just opened up to me why Buddy shouldnt need to hold him. And how it is honestly something so much deeper. His struggle has infected everything he wants in life that he just keeps failing to have.

It depresses him, it discourages him. I can't even find more words to explain how heavy the weight is on someone like Brad after years and years of horrible abuse and never getting the help he so much needed.

[lovecanbesostrange]

hello! i've been sent here to ask about werewolf hunters, which i'm hoping will hurt me so good

I know who sent you, anon. XD So I'm not even gonna pretend I have no clue what's going on.

Let me take the obligatory deep breath for a scream about how OUaT introduced an actual werewolf hunter in S6. (Okay, yes, it was The Woodcutter, a bounty hunter, who oh so happens to specialize in werewolves. HALLO??) And then, I guess because of scheduling conflicts, had to swap Red for Blue by Snow's side. And I was, no, we were all robbed of that image of Red fighting somebody who would have not just taken the bounty on Snow's head, but gladly taken her hide. What a waste... Heartless is a fun episode, I even like how Snow and Charming accidentally meet without knowing and then end up with this extra fun sleeping curse...

Anyway, yes, well werewolf hunters. Totally a thing that does canonically excist in the EF. Back in Red-Handed Granny just said that a hunting party killed Anita. Which we know was a lie anyway, but makes you wonder how many specialists might be running around. Something OUaT loves are cliches, which I think is very fine. You want some familiarity, so subverting packs a punch. And what could be more cliche than to have one possible story in your head where Red's father is a werewolf hunter? Make him the Romeo to Anita's Juliet. Make it terrible and tragic. Make that a reason why Anita hates humans even more. Because the one dude she fell for was born into a family of hunters, who kill her kind. With righteousness and thinking they are saving lives, not destroying them.

Think about this image of a young Anita falling in love with a raggedy handsome boy. And they just don't know. The father yes, I have named him Roger in the one WIP in my docs running with this concept, ssshhhh is on his own for a bit, away from the family, as is tradition. To learn about the world, witness beauty (he has to protect) and cruelty (he is fighting against).

It's time to ask more about werewolf lore. Is there a difference between made-wolves (Granny) vs born ones (Red)? Does the wolfness fade for everybody? Why would Granny think Red might not have it (possible difference: a human father, unlike Anita)? Tell me more about silver to use against wolves. Did Anita have more extended family? What happened to Granny's husband? (Also omg Granny deserved an ep of her own to untangle that mess how she ended up marrying the guy who killed her brothers... dark much?!)

With the last, make the death of Anita's father hurt. Bring in those hunters. Show me how Granny took Red from Anita and managed to vanish. Leave Anita brokenhearted, bitter, filled with rage. And show me Red's father being a werewolf hunter with some regret and questions, but also consumed by anger in the end. MAKE IT TRAGIC! Show me how a wolf loving a human ends in tragedy and is no option. There's a reason it's funny that Dorothy points her crossbow at Ruby first thing, yesyes. She likes to hunt, too.

Look - werewolf hunters = POSSIBILITIES! Not all huntsman like wolves the way Graham did. A minute of silence for the man, please.

[novankenn]

Unnatural (v2-6)

(Chapter List)

MATURE CONTENT WARNING : This story deals with some disturbing themes. Check the tags. IF any of these are triggers for you or will disturb you... then DO NOT READ!!

Terra’s hands shook as she held the note and then reached over to pick up the ring. She stood there, tears slowly rolling down her cheeks, as the reality that Saphron had just walked out of her life. But yet the image of that girl standing in Jaune’s room splattered with blood kept reemerging. Saphron called the girl, Jaune, but that couldn’t be possible… could it?

“What is going on?” Terra whispered to herself, as she continued to stand there holding the ring and note.

“Mom cried herself to sleep, because of her choice” came a very feminine and sinister voice from behind Terra.

“Who’s there!” Terra shouted as she whipped around, her eyes darting about the darkened room. When a red-headed girl emerged from the shadows, Terra shrank back in fear.

“It’s me.” the figure replied. “I’ve come to talk. Mom doesn’t know I’m here.”

“Why?”

“Like I said. I’ve come to talk.”

“Who are you?”

“In this form, you could call me Annabel, but I am Jaune as well.”

“I… I don’t understand. How?”

“It is not important.” Annabel replied. “What is important is mother’s happiness. You make her happy, and because of me she is now miserable. I want to fix that.”

“What are you?”

“Something you wouldn’t understand, but for simplicity’s sake, I am a demonic entity that has merged with Jaune. I saved his life, and gave him back to his mother, and as such she has permitted me to merge with her son.”

“That’s… that’s insane!” Terra shouted. “I’m calling the…”

“You will sit and listen.” Annabel commented after crossing the entirety of the apartment in the blink of an eye. “You have a decision to make, but you can’t without some information, and some guarantees from me. So sit.”

The tone of Jaune’s voice, if that who she was really speaking to, compelled Terra to take a seat on the couch. The figure that was calling herself Annabel to a seat on the coffee table before her.

“Now, I know you have questions, and hopefully what I am about to tell you will answer them.” Annabel spoke, “You already know of Jaune’s parentage, so there is no need to go over that again. However, what you didn’t know was that for the first eight years of his life he was in and out of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit in Vale… he has faced death many, many times.”

“When he was too weak to continue living, I slaved him. I healed his frail body, made him strong and healthy.” Annabel never broke eye contact as she spoke. “I would have consumed him, had his mother not accepted a deal. She blessed our union with a Mother’s Kiss, and so we merged.”

“Merged?” Terra asked, even though there were so many more questions rolling about in her mind, that was the only one she was able to voice.

“Instead of a prolonged conflict of wills, which he would have eventually lost, we combined. We share his body, we exist in equilibrium.” Annabel took a deep breath, before continuing, “But I require… sustenance of a specific type… the corruption that dwells in the hearts of the perverse.”

“So we hunt. We track down those that prey and hurt on the innocently pure.”

“Children?”

“Yes. We remove those that were like Jaune’s and Saphron’s father… and your ex-fiancée.”

“What?”

“We know, we can smell the pain of loss upon you. You were once with child… and his beatings caused you to miscarry… you lost your daughter.”

“How?” Terr’a choked when the end of Annabel’s statement registered, “I was going to have a daughter?”

“I can punish him, make him pay for what he did… but I require you to make my mother happy… to cherish her as much as she cherishes you…”

“I… can’t…”

“You take care of mother, we will take care of your ex, and then leave.”

“Leave? What?”

“Mother has sacrificed so much for us… it is time we repay it. Go to mother, embrace her, bring her home, and we will leave, giving you peace to live your lives without the worry of our… activities.”

“And my ex?” Terra’s voice wavered as she asked.

“He will die… as is proper for filth such as him.”

“I…”

“His fate is not your concern.” Annabel stated flatly. “Mother needs you.”

[raineydaywrites]

How Empathy Blinds

I have been reading Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman (amazing book, I highly recommend it for everyone, but I digress), and I came across a section where he talks about the downside to empathy. It really impacted me, as an autistic person who has hypoempathy, and I thought I'd share a little bit about it for other people who experience hypoempathy, whether autistic or not, because it's really interesting!

So Bregman explains that empathy, while perceived as this kind, moral thing can actually be a drawback in our ability to be good, moral people. There's this chapter "How Empathy Blinds" where he explains that some psychologists (He refers to Professor Paul Bloom specifically) now feel that empathy serves as a sort of spotlight. Empathy singles out a specific person or group of people, and while you're focusing on them and their emotions and struggles, the rest of the world fades away.

He cites a study where volunteers were told the story of a young girl, Sheri Summers, who is ten years old and dying. She is on the waiting list for a life-saving treatment, but time is running out. The volunteers are told that they can move her up the list but asked to be objective in their decision.

In this scenario, most volunteers refuse to move her. They understand that the list is full of children needing treatment, and that all of them are running out of time. The list was made as it was by people who know the needs of every sick kid they need to treat.

But when a different group of volunteers were given the same scenario and instead asked to imagine how Sheri must feel, the majority wanted to move her up. The small change of framing Sheri in a light that lended itself to empathy changed the outcome. Just because the volunteers felt like they knew Sheri better than the rest of the sick children.

Bloom and Bregman argue that empathy is, in practical terms, a limited skill. We simply cannot hold enough empathy in ourselves to cover everyone. If you try to put yourself in everyone's shoes, you are going to get overwhelmed and be incapable of truly feeling empathy for them all.

We simply can't feel total empathy. And that's a problem, because it means that when we base moral decisions around empathy, we are going to make biased decisions.

That's why it's a good thing that empathy is not the same as sympathy or compassion. We can feel those much more broadly, because they don't require as much emotional weight. We aren't borrowing the struggle of everyone else when we feel compassion the way we do when we feel empathy.

Individual humans primarily feel empathy for those closest to us- our friends and families, our favorite bands or celebrities, the homeless person we see every day. And for people we see on TV, whether fictional or real. And "the more we identify with victims, the more we generalize about our enemies." When we feel empathy for someone's suffering, we lose sight of the suffering of anyone we perceive as 'at fault.' This mentality is the same one that leads to xenophobia and nationalism and exclusion. In this way, empathy can actually prevent us from seeing other people as human.

Of course there are cases where people have done truly heinous things, and I'm not arguing that their actions are just as valid as their victims or anything of the sort. But in lesser cases, where the fault is not so consuming, or where there truly is fault on both sides, empathy can impede our ability to be objective and fair. Further, feeling sympathy for our enemies doesn't mean having to forgive them- it can also just be useful to remember that they are human, because that gives us an insight into their thought process and helps with the process of preparing for any negative actions they may take. In the best situations, understanding their feelings might even help us to deradicalize and defuse people who otherwise might have gone on to hurt others.

Sympathy doesn't require us to forgive our enemies or let them off without punishment, but it helps us understand them. It's even more important to utilize this in situations were our adversaries are not truly evil, so that we can learn how to function together better.

Bregman didn't talk about how this impacts low- or no-empathy people, but I think it's a hopeful reminder. When people accuse you of being unfeeling or evil for not feeling empathy, you can remember that empathy isn't the net-positive value that a lot of people assume it is. In some ways, for some people, having hypoempathy can actually help you be a better person than someone who is empathetic but refuses to give anyone outside of their in-group the time of day.

[glowyyfish]

Some names for chapters/stories/songs/whatever that I've written down!

Warning: i got most of these from songs & quotes i like lol. Also there's like a lot under the cut.

-Isn't all that rage ugly?

-Painting brighter memories

-Walking straight into the sea

-Isnt bite also touch?

-She rots in my mouth

-Little things aren't so little

-Lust for a vampyr

-Give me shelter, the night is dark

-I just want your love, so don't waste my time

-Queen of swords

-Mistress of grief

-Lady of tears

-A love this deep wont stay buried

-She was a gentle sort of horror

-We fall apart when nothings new

-Hot drops of milk and red tea

-The stars look alive

-And your kisses at night are replaced with tears

-I'm not going to hurt you yet

-I gave you my life baby, and now I'm gonna take yours

-A longing for love and red wine

-Avalanche slide flows like a stream

-And if I'm going to hell, i hope that you go too

-Must be lonely loving someone

-The sound when leather jackets hit the ground

-I won't be at heavens gate

-Where did you come from?

-Why was i led to you

-Getting older, while you stay young

-A shiver and a rush

-The sky before my eyes is never colour gray

-She gave me half my bones

-And looking clean

-And do so as we please

-Making up new numbers

-Nothing matters cuz we're both in space

-It's such a bore

-Before the war, when she was young

-I couldn't kill to save a life

-But now I'm getting sick of you and it's just too bad

-We'll wait with knives after class

-I never gave a single thought to where it might lead

-All those empty rooms

-Ten years worth of dust and neglect

-Running through your hollow bones

-Maybe i should run, I'm only 21

-Got caught in a romance with them somehow

-What do you want from my world?

-I really don't buy that you're that kind of guy

-Let me go tonight

-Yet here i sing about nothing

-You must be from another galaxy

-You saved me from a certain tragedy

-Sink into the wasteland underneath

-I'll sell you a dream

-Why were you put on earth?

-Back to a time before i had a form

-Back to a time before i was born

-But i guess i wouldn't know

-We can blame it on that I'm young, naive and really miserable

-Fill my lungs up with your smoke til i find a way to breath again

-The moon controls the tide, it could cause you to drown

-The crystal tide is raising

-I think my fate is losing its patience

-And teach myself how to die

-Now I'm just making up facts

-There's no meaning to the words

-Your voice is driving me insane

-The words, they don't make sense

-I try to show emotion

-I know I stole that line

-I know they adore us

-You are who I adore

-Being this godly can't be good

-Walk away with all our little gods spare change

-Watch the world decay

-A cumbersome and heavy body

-Take my lungs, take them and run

-I ain't sending you shit, no offence

-Never really learned how to act right

-Don't kiss and tell

-I'm a star girl, about time you realised

-Cuz your brain is out of action

-Don't be cute, be scary

-Been mad since you were seventeen

-Ain't it funny how I scare myself sometimes?

-It's like this feeling is gonna consume me

-I wanna be your mate or maybe go on a date

-The Blue water makes you look so pretty

-But you and I will always be back then

-And hang each moment up like pictures on the wall

-Let me hear you whisper that you love me too

-I'll make you be okay

-Laughing as the waves come rolling to my knees

-And longing for what could be

-But that doesn't come so easily

-Endlessly reliving moments we never had

-I'd rather play dead at a necrophilia convention

-Horrors live in cavities and they come out at night

-Just to be clear, this is not a metaphor

-Rumble in my tumble

[wkandaforever]

the reason it bothers me so much when people say "namor killed shuri's mom" is because that statement is built upon so many assumptions it ends up presenting a false dichotomy and almost completely ignores the characters and the messages in this film

"namor killed shuri's mom" implies that namor, aka the villain, intended to kill the queen, aka the victim. how did he do it? he threw a water bomb at her, and she drowned. end of story. but a recurring theme in this movie is that the how is never as important as the why

we've been following shuri's arc since the beginning of this film, she's going through immense grief, she lost a significant member of her family, and her mother is the only person who she has left, the only person who truly understands her. so when she loses her last pillar of support, she is enraged, and her anger is justified. we empathise with her, when she says she wants to burn the world, when she feels abandoned by her entire family in the ancestral plane, when she says "is my mother's life not worth eternal war?" we believe her when she says namor killed her mother

but we don't get to see the story through namor's perspective, all we have is bits and pieces of information about who the talokanil are based on their introduction as sirens and warriors and their history through namor's own words. but when you begin putting the pieces of the puzzle together you realise just how human the talokanil are. i've spoken before about how envious namor must be of wakanda because of the privilege they hold over talokan. and because the talokanil have faced a lot more adversity than wakanda could ever imagine, they are always prepared for war. they are not oblivious to the truth. colonisation is not a thing of the past. so they have two main motivations, and namor needs to uphold these laws by any and all means necessary: 1) protect their people and resources, and 2) remain hidden

but despite namor's underlying resentment towards wakanda, despite him having more soldiers than wakanda has blades of grass, the first thing he offers them is an alliance. he offers them trust. he shares his story, his land, his people with shuri. he offers her an explanation for his intentions, and speaks to shuri in hopes that she can understand him. and what does shuri do with this gracious offering? she tramples all over it. she betrays his trust, shatters his last ray of hope

we know that shuri tried to stop nakia, asked for her kimoyo beads, tried to save the talokanil guard till the very last moment, knew her death would be seen as an act of war. but namor doesn't see any of it. namor only knows that he failed. he lost his child. to a god, everyone of his children are equal. losing one doesn't hurt any less than losing any more. but his hope blinded him into compromising both of the two laws he was obligated to maintain. so all of the pain, the loss, the grief, and the envy he was repressing this whole time bubbles up to the surface and he thinks to himself, "is my child's life not worth eternal war?"

so namor gives up on his ideas of alliance, attacks wakanda, and intends to kill the scientist. make up for his wrongs by carrying out his initial plan. consumed by vengeance he obliterates everything blocking his path, finds the scientist, sees the queen trying to protect her, doesn't care, and attacks them both

the queen is not a victim. the queen is a saviour. when she first hears about the talokanil attacks she tries to protect shuri by trying to confine her in her lab. then she uses her entire body to shield riri, yells at her to escape but when riri doesn't, she sacrifices herself to prevent her from drowning

and what has shuri been doing this whole time apart from hiding in her lab and rejecting every one of her mother's attempts to reach out to her? she knows that war is coming yet does not prepare reinforcements for the queen. in fact the last thing she does before she loses her mother is hang up on her. but none of these actions seem evil to us. they make sense, we understand her, we get why. she was grieving

but so was namor. wasn't namor grieving too? for more than 500 years?

even killmonger, with all his rage, has the clarity to see what shuri doesn't, that the situation isn't as black and white as it seems. when shuri says "namor killed my mother", he warns shuri against dishonouring her mother by ignoring her voluntary act of sacrifice and labelling her a victim, dying at the hands of a monster, all in vain. he acknowledges queen ramonda's sacrifice, and drive's shuri to avenge her mother's wrongful death. and shuri listens to him, and continues on the cycle of violence. namor attacked wakanda? shuri attacks talokan. eye for an eye

shuri didn't intend to kill the talokanil guard and escape, she intended to come up with a peaceful resolution. namor didn't intend to kill the queen, he intended to ally with wakanda. intentions, motivations, reasons why people do what they do, all of it matters. they are what separate humans from monsters. it's easy to see someone as the hero and the other as the villain when you understand only one side. but it's never that simple, is it?

[cinemaboy]

it's the fact that kirby as a teenager isn't that large of a contrast to them as an adult but the thought is the opposite because of the misconceptions. people don't believe that she has a high sense of justice because they don't recognise how big their heart is. her dismissal of the path sidney took was down to being naïve and too immersed in the movies to understand the gravity of reality.

until it happened to her, and she followed the same path: college, helping others, putting themselves out there in the public eye to share their story in addition to everything else. kirby did everything sidney did but in quicker succession because they had a point of reference. "the movies don't matter," because they don't. she knows they don't. it was never about the movies so much as it was the individuals consuming them, and even then, was it really about them? it has been for a couple of cases, but not all of them. the movies had nothing to do with kirby being stabbed (& killed). they used to be the primary focus but she realised that the real world is where people like charlie & jill really live, and those are the people that hurt her.

so this sense of justice does stem from their heart — and their heart is huge. growing up helped her heart grow in size and that anger + grief + fear was swapped with acceptance + peace + love, and that sounds a little cliché but it's true. sometimes life is cliché. how did that happen? it remains to be seen by some but that doesn't mean it didn't. it doesn't mean her journey doesn't make sense because it didn't end at becoming a special agent. it hasn't ended yet and it won't for a very long time.

what people think kirby is has been built upon stereotypes and surface level analysis. the stereotypical cool girl who doesn't care about what people think and grew up the same way. that isn't kirby. her introduction in the early draft of 4 establishes she cares — and sometimes the scripts get it wrong, but not that time. not the moment we meet them.

i wish i had more to say on this but it is just so simple. it's so clear why they stepped into the world one day as part of law enforcement, it's so clear why someone like them would want to help people, to save people the way she wishes someone had saved her from what happened. that doesn't mean they're suddenly stripped of their identity and i wish people would see that.

[khepiari]

About me:

My name: KhepiAri

Pronouns: She/her/They/them

Age: 30

Bi🌈. Bookworm👩‍🏫. BL Connoisseur👬. Bored😮‍💨.

I write fun Crappy One Piece Theories and equally funny deranged Fanfics, especially LawLu fics. And I occasionally doodle and make memes! And I use only one pen-name as fanfic writer aka KhepiAri.

Where you can read my fics?

My Ao3: KhepiAri

My FFN: KhepiAri

My Wattpad: KhepiAri

Ships I write for:

LawLu/LuLaw.

WangXian.

DofuWani.

StanXeno

Ineffable Husbands.

ZoSan.

FakirAhiru.

Junjou Egoist.

SnowBaz.

AnselEvan.

LuSan

SatoSugu

Ships I plan to write about in future

NavierHeinrey.

RiverSongxDoctor.

Digital Places You Can Find Me At:

Twitter: paulOaries

Instagram: terrible_doodles_by_khepiari

Substack: KhepiAri’s Afterthoughts

Favourite BL/Ship Pairing:

Law X Luffy

Hiroki X Nowaki

Urahara x Aizen (Occasionally)

Simon X Baz

Ansel X Evan from the Amazing Webtoon (THAT AWKWARD MAGIC)

Life X Death (from now discontinued webtoon A Matter of Life and Death)

Aziraphale X Crowley

Magnus X Alec

Wei Wuxian X Lan Wangji

Shen Wei X Zhao Yulan

Xie Lian X Hua Cheng

Zhao Zishu X Wen Kexing

Sarawat X Tine

Xeno x Stan

Gojo x Geto

P.S- Current favourite BLs/Yaoi/

- That Awkward Magic on Webtoon - Matter of Life and Death on Tapas (Author stopped updating) - FOOLs on Tapas - Twenty on Webcomic - Heir's Game on Webtoon - The Grandmaster Of Demonic Cultivation -Guardian -2gether -Manner of Death

Warning for future followers:

I don’t care what people ship, read, watch, listen, consume or discuss. I try to follow and practice don’t like it don’t engage with it and live and let live.

Before we make any judgment, remember, that context matters. Nothing is black and white, no creator is perfect, and every one of us has said, done, and indulged in activities that have hurt someone! Hence, engage in things with maximum contextual awareness before making a decision.

Some things don’t need devil’s advocate, so treat them from the pov of how you can learn from the past instead of trying to justify it!

Racism, transphobia, homophobia, fatphobia, antisemitism, being anti-Palestinian, Islamophobia are bad! Any idea that tells you—other humans need to be discredited, and their experiences discredited against is BAD!

I am an antinatalist, so my worldview is screwed up, and I do not entertain or encourage or endorse ideas of eugenics pandered in the name of antinatalism.

I have severe depression, and I have opinions about anything and everything!

If you are a minor following me, please be aware, contents and opinions I share are mature, nsfw, and sensitive, most of the things I share totally depend on my day’s depression and anxiety.

And I do not like distortion of spellings, misuse or lack of tags and watering down meaning for sensitive topics. As deliberate misspelling and distortion make the purpose of muting, meaning making and blocking redundant! So don’t write wrong spellings or water-down meaning of words! I will report you if I see you doing this!

Who gets blocked?

And if you are an account with no profile pic/no bio/no activity who suddenly followed me: I will choose to believe you are a bot and block you.

And if I see accounts anti or people with DNI instructions to my ships, I block them in advance to save all of us the headache of running into each other.

My thoughts on censorship

My thoughts on why shipping

And use that block button before you think you need to be SJW on someone’s posts!

And my main obsession

My favourite ani/manga is One Piece.

I am obsessed with One Piece, I started watching the series at 11, and it has been 19 years as a One Piece fangirl!

So, yes, I will bite you if you badmouth the story without any reason or explanation.

My concerns about One Piece Live Action and why I think Netflix is the problem.

My thoughts on the first teaser-trailer of One Piece Live Action.

We don’t accept Iñakï hate in this house!

My other obsessions

I love 2gether the Series and Still 2gether, and am devoted to loving BrightWin. That doesn’t mean I can’t distinguish between fiction and reality.

So I will not cry in future when Bright and Win find partners in future and live their lives.

I absolutely do not support people demanding Fanservice or so-called prove of love from BrightWin as a BL couple. They don’t owe us fans anything. This kind of behaviour is not healthy.

Food tv shows I will sulk and curl up if I don’t get to read and watch cosy Japanese Food Tv Series, books and animanga.

Among cozy Japanese Food Tv/books/animanga, I love BLs that revolve around food. My all-time food BL is: What Did You Eat Yesterday. Followed by Our Dining Table and Old Fashioned Cupcakes

My favourite BL webcomic is That Awkward Magic! It is currently being self-published on Webtoon.

My favourite GL webcomic is The Witch, which too is being self-published on Webtoon.

My favourite Danmei book is The Grandmaster Of Demonic Cultivation.

My favourite Danemi author is Priest. Yes I love MXTX to death, but Priest has me by chokehold.

And there will Hozier every now and then.

My DM is open for fic requests and meme requests!

I accept fic requests for my main ship LawLu/LuLaw. I love getting feedback on my stories. Though, I don’t appreciate or want to see rude comments disguised as constructive criticism.

I will take screenshots of it, and I will cry about it like an injured dog on Twitter! I am a pathetic person. So yeah, you have Fic requests, my DMs are open.

You can ask for memes too! I make them for fun!

[lunaremy]

BOMBERMECHANICS 102

Because we all wanted a second one! (wheres the first 100?)

Starting off: EATING!! How do they Eat!

It would take so long to explain like all the headcanons and stuff that would lead to them consuming food but to make a long story short: Humans eat food, yes? So, why not model these robots to eat food as well? For the most part, they use the DVD method i mentioned in some other post. The screen briefly slides open to allow food, food goes in, screen closes...it's seamless and technologically advanced. To make the act of eating food enjoyable, the Bomberman Bros (and other mechanical lifeforms) all have taste receptors that are slightly randomized (the younger bros were inclined to avoid vegetables the way a child human would but Aqua is fine with them), and to be more specific, the parts that locate taste are somewhere in the throat area of a human, to compare it to their terms. Besides tasting good, it also gives a small boost of energy. It should be noted that they don't strictly need human food to live (White says you should eat for energy, but I've only seen him eat when he's relaxing), but not eating regularly is designed to make you feel really uncomfortable in order to encourage that they do eat food.

...Also, there's a similar philosophy for power ups found in battle. Those little plates with icons on them can usually be taken directly though the hands, as they're nothing more than collections of data. The name of the game is endurance! If someone like Green were to try and, i dunno, make eight bombs with max fire, it would likely exhaust him instantly. Those data chips stop you from nuking yourself when you try to do a little extra in combat. Same for skulls- like a computer virus! Also, they seem to taste absolutely horrible.

SO IF THE BOMBERMAN ARE DESIGNED TO SAVE THE UNIVERSE, WHY DIDN'T THEIR MAKERS MAKE THEM ALL-POWERFUL?

Humans are social creatures. It's only natural that the intelligent folks who designed the prototypes for the eight would want them to experience the ups and downs of being truly alive. It's why they have simulated tear ducts, why they have to eat or else they get uncomfortable, why they're all a family. The things that get in the way during combat facilitate the reason we fight in the first place. The humanity instilled into White keeps him going, no matter how hard it gets.

(Go piss, girl!)

SPARE PARTS, PLEASE?

Getting damaged is to be expected when everyone uses such an explosive tactic. Be it an arm or a leg, it's usually repairable.

To start, the internal systems usually get temporarily shut off. There's actually like 2 or 3 spare sets of limbs, and a couple of vital parts for all the bombers somewhere in HQ, but any damage is usually recovered, so it's as simple as welding the missing part back into place or running some bug fixes. (Also, you should probably find a way to turn off pain receptors. I know they're there to keep the humanity rule in check, but a tiny part got loose in White's head once and it hurt like a BITCH)

It's usually White who monitors the physical health of his siblings, but Blue often has to step in and help with more technological aspects. Actually, Blue often teaches White that there's more to their abiltiies that meets the eye.

RESPAWNING!!

Hurts like a bitch before your body comes back because the pain of getting blown up takes a while to go away, but you get used to it. You don't get rebuilt- you just get rejuvenated. Kinda like a quick system refresh. Feels great. Lets you spring back into action. Also, the "STAGE CLEAR" areas in a level have the same effect.

AND ALL THE THINGS THAT WE FORGOT!

Some of the siblings have a tendency to stutter over their words in emotionally taxing situations. That's actually just the voice chip getting a little weird due to all the processes running at once. Yknow how your laptop screen goes black and gets laggy when you have too many apps open at the same time?

Thanks to their synthetic skin, the siblings are all more or less immune to accumulating rust. White's not a big fan of water, but he trucks through it for the sake of whoever needs him.

Sorry, but that's it for tonight. Kinda sleepy again.