#big connundrum

[catiuskaa]

your type

SUMMARY: It doesn’t matter how pretty you are, because, Jeongin’s been working in that cafe long enough to notice as soon as you walked in: he knows your type.

WC: 1.5k

CW: silly kind of enemies2lovers, except ‘enemies’ is just Jeongin being dramatic for a bit. It’s fluffy but also a smol tiny bit suggestive too tho. (reader being really hot kinda deal) teehee. (Also, heads up for fem!reader.)

[🔅☆☕️☆🔅]

God, no.

He clenched his fists under the counter, his eyes glued to your figure.

Jeongin shrieked in his place. No way. Why him? He groaned lowly, blinking slowly, trying to process and calm down beforehand, yet he still squinted towards the small bell above the coffee shop’s door, almost as if he could’ve blamed it for the impending dread horror he was about to face.

The smell of toasted coffee beans was almost not strong enough to cover that of your perfume as said bell announced your entrance, and it was then when he knew. Jeongin had covered enough morning shifts and worked several —if not more— evening shifts to know your type.

Pretty.

Disgustingly pretty.

So, so pretty.

Pretty hair, pretty legs, pretty nails, pretty, pretty, pretty. He held back the need to roll his eyes, your tone of voice still able to make itself heard even if the slightly crowded coffee shop was brimming with many other conversations, there it be the small child that blabbered to herself, giggling as she played with some small cars her mother had given her, or said woman, who also played with the colourful toys from time to time, while managing something on her laptop. Jeongin liked her very much. She tipped nicely.

Still, he couldn’t help but grimmace when he noticed your frown as you approached the counter, phone in hand, glued to your ear. Now, could it be that he was maybe being a bit too dramatic? Well, why, of course. His shared shifts were with Hyunjin, after all. Who, to make matters worse, was running late. Again.

“No. And I’m hanging up.” You stated towards whoever was unlucky enough to be at the other end of the call. “No- Jisung, kindly, I don’t give a fuck. If the big man says he’s not gonna pay me, I ain’t doing nothing. I am not some goody-two-shoes he can mess with.”

Your hushed voice still had the classic tone of anger he was familiar with. But Jeongin’s gaze towards you changed, almost reluctantly so, had anyone asked him. He had to hold back his eyebrows from shotting up when even if you were scoffing, still on the phone, arguing with that Jisung man on the other side, you still smiled widely at him, a grin that, had it been somewhere else, it would’ve certainly got you his attention.

But, he had to remain focused. To think, use the head that’s above your shoulders, Jeongin, he told himself. He couldn’t get sidetracked, or else you’d catch him in your spell.

Which wasn’t going to happen, because he knew your type.

Or so he thought.

He noticed an elderly woman waiting behind you, who was obviously not ready to place an order. Ah, there it was. Now you were finally going to turn off that charming attraction of yours, by—

“Oh, please,” You muttered lowly to the woman, a kind, adorable, toothy grin as you moved away from the queue. “I’ll be fine, really.”

Jeongin’s eyes trailed to you as he prepared the brownie the woman had asked for. He couldn’t believe his eyes when you smiled at him, —ouch—, a grin weirdly apologetic, which took him by surprise as you tucked a troublesome strand of your bangs behind your ear repeatedly. Disgustingly cute —yeouch— and without causing a total connundrum over nothing.

Ok. Sure. Yeah. That was totally out of character. But, no, Jeongin didn’t mind. Not at all. Definetely not. Not if you kept smiling at him like that.

“Listen, Ji." Jeongin almost flinched. He felt so lucky for not being the one being scolded by you. "The album is awesome, dude, but I ain’t touching it without being paid. We’re friends, and I love you to death, but if you call me again to make me work without a contract, I am killing you.”

Oh. Well. Jeongin may have not blushed due to your words, but certainly blushed at the way you smiled at him —again, not helpful with his situation—, but also the way you passed a hand through your hair. Ah, fuck.

He had been caught in your spell, hadn’t he?

No. No, no, no. He cursed in his head. Sure, femenine rage was hot. You were hot. Very. But, by all means, this wasn’t something he could indulge in, because—

“Um.” You snickered. “Sorry I was on the phone. Can I… er… may I order now?”

Because… um… what was the reason again?

“O-of course.” He heard himself speak, his voice sounding strange, as if it hadn’t came out of his mouth. He smiled, a bit awkwardly, indeed, but a smile nontheless. It got better when you matched it, chuckling lowly.

“It’s fine. Really. Sorry, again. I can see you’re busy, so by all means take your time.” You grinned, a smile with matching levels of innocence and cheekiness. Damn, he was already that down bad? “Could I have an espresso machiato?”

Espresso. Espresso. Not only you pronounced it right, which made the small barista inside him started to glow and shake Jeongin’s heart, that had started to beat like crazy, but the mere sound of your voice had the young man whipped.

“You're fine." Very fine indeed. "No worries at all." He nodded politely, feeling his cheeks grow red.

He started to note the order on the machine in front of him. Easy enough thing to do. Just tap here, there and… eh… um…

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” He muttered, frowning.

“I, uh, is everything the matter?” You blinked, your expression showcasing a small yet sincere amount of worry.

So odd. So out of character. So, so, so cute, his heart screamed.

“This machine is just the worst.” He gulped apologetically. “Does whatever it wants, really.”

A line started to form behind you, and Jeongin panicked. Why him? Fuck, shit, fuck. That was it. Jeongin was so getting fired after this—

“Do you mind if I step in?”

Jeongin’s eyes almost got lost in yours as his gaze locked on you.

“I don’t think I can…”

“I’ll wait for my coffe, and I’ll fix your machine. Promise. I know how these work.”

The head above your shoulders, Jeongin.

"I think Hyun- um, my coworker knows how to fix it. He should be here in no time..."

"Oh, please. Just let the girl fix it." A customer groaned behind you.

"Actually, I'm still in the wrong. Don't push it, sir." You argued with a smile, shocking both the man and Jeongin, who now saw a sort of halo surrounding your figure.

“I, uh… good luck, I guess.” He sighed, shrugging and letting you behind the counter.

Oh, he was so getting fired. Letting a client step in behind the counter? Nevermind how good she smelled, how cute and hot she looked or how pretty her smile was. You rolled up your sleeves, and he almost thought he had seen traces of ink. Oh boy. He was going to get in so much trouble, in about two sec—

The machine dinged funnily, and you smiled.

“Fixed!” You sighed cheekily. “A reboot and a shake still works just fine.” Jeongin blinked, puzzled. “Guess I gotta speak with Chan and Hyunjin.” You giggled. “Thought I had taught them better.”

...

“H-huh?”

Your smile got bigger, as you chuckled again.

Oh.

Dimples.

“Didn’t they tell you?” You smiled again, taking a hair clip from your purse, swiftly tying your hair up. “I opened the cafe with them a bunch of years ago. Chan owned the building, Hyunjin had the style, and I was the coffee enthusiast.” The way you beamed had him hooked.

The both of you seamlessly got to work together, making coffes and taking orders and serving. It wasn't rush hour, by any means, so Jeongin quickly started up your order, apologizing lightly, a blush on his face.

"I really appreciate it, though." He grinned sheepishly. "Here you go, noona."

You tried to get out your wallet, but jeongin's body worked faster than his head, only able to settle his hand over yours.

It was as if a shiver overwhelmed his whole body just because of that simple touch. A system reboot.

"It's on the house." he smiled, trying to play it off and calm the fuck down. "You saved me back there. I owe you that much."

Then the bell rang again.

"Hey, Innie, sorry I was late, I was walking my fish..." Hyunjin blabbered nonchalantly, unbothered, looking at his phone until he got behind the counter. He stared at you, then smiled widely. "Noona!"

Surprisingly to Jeongin, you didn't match his welcoming. Instead you scoffed. "No. I have to walk my fish, you see." You clicked your tongue, and Jeongin couldn't help but laugh at his mate. "Actually, I think you're fine on your own for the rest of the shift. We'll go watch your fish."

Jeongin had been too busy laughing to mentally prepare, and blushed furiously when you grabbed and linked your hand with his, giddily taking him to one of the free tables.

"I don't think I should go walk fishes still in my shift." Jeongin joked lightly, still flustered.

Your hand left his, and strangely to him, the action felt almost reluctant.

"Maybe we can chat over some coffee, then?"

Jeongin smiled.

"I'd love that."

He thought he had known your type, almost as gorgeous as annoying. Which didn't came as a surprise was how happy he was to be wrong.

[🔅☆☕️☆🔅]

kats, who has to confess she hates coffee with a passion.

catiuskaa, july 2024 ©

[danielfeketewrites]

DOCTOR WHO TOP 10 - 11th Doctor

My favourite of the New Who Doctors. I started with his era and it changed my life.

10. The World Tree

A recent addition to this Doctor's EU canon, I utterly love this little story. It's another winner of the Paul Spragg Memorial, so you can download it for free on the Big Finish website. I urge you to do so.

9. The God Complex

Having previously written School Reunion and Vampires of Venice, I presume Toby Whithouse's reputation in the Who fandom was something along the lines of "he writes the fun, fluffy ones". The God Complex is his first darker and, well, more complex script. And it really, really works. I have a soft spot for most of his episodes anyway, but The God Complex is probably the most ambitious one. I adore the visceral liminality of that hotel, it's so good. (Also, I choose to ignore that nonsense reveal in The Time of the Doctor.)

8. Apotheosis / The Child of Time

These two basically form a two-parter, so I'm putting them together. Although, for the record, I prefer Apotheosis, contrary to what Jonathan Morris presumes in his commentary at the end of the comic strip collection. Mostly because I love Dan McDaid's art so bloody much, but also because of the atmosphere, setting, clever use of the medium (the stuff with the beard ROCKS), and nuns with guns. But The Child of Time is also pretty great as a big, satisfying finale full of fun twists. I said it before, I'll say it again - Morris is a great chameleon, perfect at writing excellent Doctor Who stories while using voices of other excellent Doctor Who writers. I mean, he admits in the commentary that he wanted to get the strips close to Moffat's style and I think he definitely succeeded.

7. Amy's Choice

It's a shame Simon Nye never wrote any more Doctor Who, because Amy's Choice is a stellar character piece. Toby Jones' Dream Lord is such a memorable presence and the connundrum this episode presents is really fun and unique.

6. Space in Dimension Relative and Time

one best the is it but One Year Doctor's eleventh in one-shot experimental only the not It's. clever really, really it's yet, simple It's. it read go all should you and story timey-wimey unique and fun really a in potential full it's to medium the uses Williams Rob.

5. The Eleventh Hour

The episode that hooked me. The episode that changed my life. I fully believe this is the best episode to show to someone new to Doctor Who.

4. The Rise and Fall / The Other Doctor

A two-parter, with the first part written by Al Ewing and draw by Boo Cook, and the second part written by Rob Williams and drawn by Simon Fraser. I've only read Year One of eleventh Doctor's comics published by Titan, but I strongly feel the story of the Doctor taking on SERVEYOUinc. In a way, the story feels like a conversation not just with Doctor Who's past and present, but also with it's future... It feels like the perfect antidote to Kerblam!.

3. The Day of the Doctor (and The Day of the Doctor)

Listening to Steven Moffat talk about The Day of the Doctor is weird. Everything around the writing and production of the 50th anniversary special seems like hell. And yet, the end result is something that's not just extremely good Doctor Who, it feels like it knows it's good Doctor Who. It looks simple, seems self-assured, appears to know exactly what it's doing. It's a minor miracle. And it's also amazing. Gallifrey falls no more. All thirteen and all that.

Note: This spot is shared between the episode AND the novelisation. I love both of them very much. Go read the novelisation if you haven't read it yet. It's really, really fun.

2. Vincent and the Doctor

Nearly everyone loves this episode and, well, I can't really argue with that. It really is special. I adore it, the greatest celebrity historical the show ever did.

1. The Doctor's Wife

My favourite New Who episode.

So, I am a huge fan of Neil Gaiman. That is probably not a shocking take on this website. My collection of his work currently includes 12 books (1 in Czech translation, the rest in English), 6 comic books (1 in Czech translation, the rest in English), and 1 script book. I love Neil Gaiman.

I love the idea of the Corsair. I actually roleplayed as an incarnation of the Corsair in a game of Cubicle 7's Doctor Who TTRPG at a Red Dwarf convention recently. In front of an audience of like four people.

Hell, I even made a fanart of the Nephew like 6 or 7 year ago. I love the poor Ood and I love the horror aspect of the episode, with TARDIS becoming an abject and unfamiliar place when she gets possessed by the House.

But the reason I love this episode the most out of not just the eleventh Doctor's era but all of the 2005 series is... Well, it's the relationship. The Doctor and his TARDIS. Or, the Thief and his Sexy. It recontextualizes the whole mythology, it recontextualizes the entire series in a way that's so moving and poetic and just... perfect. I love The Doctor's Wife.

[tree-of-blue-squirrel]

Limbus Company Canto 7 theorizing

With Don´t canto being close, but still pretty good distance away, I have some things to propose. Not touching on possible events of the Canto, just the possible worldbuilding around it. Most of information stems from the events of Murder on the WARP express, so if you are not caught up, there will most definitely be spoilers below cut.

So, from the MotWe, we know that the canto will take place in P corp. We don´t get to see much of P corp, just the train station, HOWEVER, it is stated in the Intervallo itself that the WARP stations embody the cultural nature of the District, with T corp´s station being very Victorian with steampunk elements, as is the rest of the District.

So, what does the architecture of P corp show ?

kind of a lot, while not so much. The architecture has a lot of curved arches, narrow windows and a LOT of small detailing. That alone fits it neatly into possible gothic influences, though futurized for the setting of the City. One thing that immediately stands out to me is the curved, almost bat-wing shaped overhangs/roofs and the small archway structure connecting two buildings in the background, slightly to the left.

The former specifically reminds me A LOT of Leonardo da Vinci´s flying machine, the Great Kite, especially with those supporting curved beams.

Leonardo da Vinci specifically, couple with the wide range of curvatures, overhangs, etc. would set P corp somewhere in Italy. My educated guess is Venice in particular, for multiple reasons.

First off, Leonardo spent much of his life in Venice, specifically working as an engineer. If he is referenced as an illustrious fixer/inventor, I would not be surprised. Agatha Christie is already an in-universe character.

Secondly, the most recent railway is literally named Masquarade, which could just be reference to the Envy Peccatula, or Don´s true nature OR also reference the Carnival of Venice (considering that Midnight Carnival exists and I have seen early theories connecting it to Don´s Canto, there is a chance they will come up again and Italy District would make perfect sense).

Speaking of Don, while theorizing on Carmen being a Bloodfiend (more crack-theory than theory, but there are some details that fit oddly well), I did note that Don, being a title, has two meanings.

First is the meaning of a simple honorific, the other has particular ties to mafia/crime families. Notably, Don Lastname is American custom. This is pretty important, given that Cassetti in the Murder on the Orient Express is very much American, while being a leader of a kidnapping/ransom gang.

Cassetti also presents as a "deserter" of the Bloodfiend Family. Strong inner structure is implied, which is also quite important in crime families. Supplying information from wikipedia, Don is the title of second highest level in the Mafia hierarchy, surpassed only by the Godfather, boss of all bosses. Ergo, in this situation, the Bloodfiend Prime, whose identity is unknown.

Don being named the Second Kindred would make sense in this type of hierarchy. She doesn´t have to be the second bloodfiend ever, but is of second generation, direct descendant of Bloodfiend Prime. This could introduce an interesting connundrum if the Bloodfiend Prime is big bad of canto 7 and can´t be killed without permanently erasing Don from existence.

I will not theorize on the actual plot of the canto, I´d rather wait for the actual story. One thing I do find fun is that despite Dante being the Manager, and thus Don´s superior, she refers to him as Manager Esquire. Which is notable, as it is title one rank directly below Knight.

So, maybe Don isn´t unaware of her Bloodfiend identity but keeps the pretend game up just because she doesn´t want to confront her true nature head on and would prefer to maladaptively roleplay her humansona (or possibly her pre-bloodfiend-self ?)

[oberheaven]

The Commissioner Connundrum of Not Wanting to have people draw what they know cuz you want to be unique or whatever.

I've gone to Comic Con's more than on my budget really should and I know most of those talent over there know who Gwenpool is. So instead of commissioning her, I ask for my No. 1!

Here are all the current commissions I got from Comic Artists of my actual Favorite Character, 9S from NieR: Automata!

Both of these were from Nick Roche! (Transformers: The Wreckers Saga) My first big name commissions and also my favorites. Have them on my wall. Both NieR and comics like MTMTE and The Wreckers Saga inspired me to wanna be more creative so having art by an artist who worked on em that crosses over those 2 things is an amazing feeling.

After that, I also got pieces from other talents of the same circle. Both Josh Burham and Andrew Lee Griffith. Both great artists on Transformers comics!

And to tie it up, some art from Dan Mora (DC's World's Finest) and Ryan Ottley (Image, Invincible, Spider-Man). Some big namers in the industry as a whole and some of my favorites in the medium.

I love commissioning this lil goober. He's my favorite of all time (I hate him)! The way comic people draw him is always so different and I love that. I hope I can comm some more people in the future and be known as "The 9S/Nier Guy" to them.

[purplerakath]

I've been working on my Sam joins Cobra Kai fic in the background this week, I'm making good progress. I plan to post the whole book 1 (season 1) fic when all chapters are done, rather than updating over a period of time. I might do it chapter by chapter as I edit (but I want to know how many chapters/where I'm going before I start posting).

Book 1 will go faster than Books 2 and 3 (Seasons 2 and 3 respectively) because of the knock on effect of canon changes (Book 1 ends differently from Season 1 of the series, which means Book 2 is wildly different from Season 2, and so on).

Still, I have a connundrum to solve, so I'll make it a poll here (feel free to comment thoughts as to what you want to see).

Book 1 is mostly a divide between Sam and her Dad over her choices, while Daniel isn't a villain in any way, he is the major antagonist. Sam is as much an asshole Cobra as any of the S1-S2 Cobras are. So for the ending/Book II.

[zwoelffarben]

Highlights from today's DnD session.

It got brought up this session because of new players are entering candlekeep that last session I submitted as my entrence fee to candlekeep a manuscript of My Immortal which in universe Duonee penn'd himself (no harry potter isn't canon: my immortal is an original work in this universe).

I've adopted the York-Jacob school of Orc-lore where you just... say inane shit and slow paint an incoherent picture of the culture you came from.

It's against Duonee's peoples' beliefs to wear helmets (might generalize to headwear of any variety).

It's customary when asking to purchase something to ask for, not the seller's finest wares but their third finest wares; "Angler, I've need of your third finest net."

Duonee is aware of the difference between WIS and INT and calls it "the Fruit Salad Connundrum." His people are aware of tomatos or a similar fruit.

Dounee comes from a culture that at least in part shepherds "tiny sheep, you know, the itty bitty ones." They use fishing nets as one of their means of wrangling the sheep.

Orcs have very good ears and noses. I've not likened them to dogs yet, but bet I'm gonna.

The Linda is a title given to whomever runs a place. Not the person in charge of making decisions, but the person who makes those decisions actually manifest. (He has decided that the reference librarian is candlekeeps The Linda).

I made a kungfu panda reference with, "stairs, my greatest enemy." When the DM said to be mindful of the second floor because the ceiling are quite low, while looking at me because I mentioned earlier that Duonee's kinda tall, I then immediatly riffed myself with, "ceilings my second greatest enemy."

I'm currently of my own free will rolling evens-odds each time I pass the second floor to determine if it I bonk my head..

He's also an abnormally big eater. The mess hall of candlekeep has charcuterie boards set up as a your self style buffet. Duonee heard free food, picked up a whole ass charcuterie board as a plate and filled it up futher with two bowl of soup. He went back for a second board.

Sleepy Leo, a student who was nodding off in repair workshop, was woken up by a wombo combo static zap from echo and Duonee sneaking up next to him and loudly strumming his lute (which he's steel plated so it can also function as a mace). Duonee has developed an immediate platonic crush on Leo.

Duonee's developing a catchphrase of, "ugh, civilians." We'll see if it sticks.

Overhearing a conversation about stealling a book, Duonee casts his net and captures one of the book theives which he then slings over his shoulder and carries down the stairs, presenting it to the reference desk librarian. When asked what the hell he's doing, he says simply, "Book Theif." This results in a back and forth where he insists on his version of events, despite the person in the net being an estemed professor of the keep.

The reference librarian calls in someone with authority to deal with this, who then reveals himself to be in cohoots with the person Duonee had netted. Combat ensues. At the end of combat he simply says, "book theives," presenting them to the reference librarian. The session then wrapped.

[idreamtofmanderleyagain]

See, I was told if a character reminds a lot of people of their abusers, like Edward Cullen, then you should listen and think about what the narrative is saying. Look at most villain discourse and it's usually about white men like Loki or Kylo. And if a big trait of theirs is "manipulation", a word already with connotations of "abuser"? Then of course people will learn to see their abusers in them.

(I can't really tell if this ask is connected to the second one, but I think they aren't, so I'm going to just respond seperately, okay? Feel free to clarify yourself if needed.)

Alright, so.

There are actually quite a few characters who remind me of my abusers or remind me of specific experiences of abuse.

it's also always really notable to me that people pull out the "Edward Cullen/Kylo Ren/Loki /but that one shitty white dude!'" card every time this subject comes up, as if the people criticizing this shit aren't speaking in a much wider scope about characters who are female, POC, and/or LGBT, disabled, etc., as if the people who are fans of these kinds of characters aren't themselves often marginalized members of the community. Like, these popular white dudes (and their fans) are absolutely not the ones who get thrown under the bus the hardest, but people always seem to prop them up as a wholesale justification for this nonsense, always seem to sprinkle their names into conversations about totally different characters...and honestly? It's starting to really reek of bullshit to me. The more people pull that the more it feels like they are literally just utilizing them as convenient strawmen; a last resort/to save face/to claim a "not like other girls" badge.

Not that I think you intended any of this anon, I think you're talking about this because it's what you've absorbed from being aroun it, and you wanted to speak about that, so I get it. I don't blame you specifically for this problem.

(Also, Loki is now confirmed to be non-binary, he's not only ever male. He's a member of the LGBT community. But I digress... )

All that said I have a more important perspective to offer. Here's a connundrum for you:

Since my life and my trauma was directly impacted by being related to a terrifying violent serial criminal, how am I supposed to feel about the Hannibal fandom?

Should I be angry at them? Should I hate Hannibal/SOTL?

Should I assume that the Hannibal fandom condones the violence that occured in my family's life?

Have they personally transgressed against me in some way for enjoying and shipping Hannibal Lecter?

Do I now have the ultimate right to condemn and shame them?

The answer, anon, is no to all of the above.

Now, personally, I think Hannibal is a fun character, and he doesn't actually remind me of the monster in my life. They are very different individuals, one is very real and one is highly stylized fiction that resembles no real person that I can think of. But if I DID see a resemblance, I would have every right to that experience of the character. I would have every right to talk about it in my space.

But setting that aside, by the logic of the "rules" tumblr gave you above, my experience should definately count right? Somebody who is impacted by the most extreme form of violent criminal should count in the "who gets to dictate what this piece of fiction means" narrative, right?

The thing is, my experience of certain characters has NOTHING to do with other people's experience of a character. I absolutely have no right to demand anything of anybody, especially not to dictate to them what the right way to think and feel about art is.

My experience may be valuable, my voice may be valuable. I may have things to say that will feel relevant and compelling to others when I interperet a piece of fiction. But that is a vastly different thing than what tumblr/twitter means when they bring this up. Tumblr/twitter wants you to believe that there is a heirarchy on the truth when it comes to critical analysis, and that the most reactionary and bad-faith opinions deserve the loudest platform, and the most cowed obedience from others.

I fundamentally disagree.

Fictional characters, like Loki for example, can contain multitudes. Loki reminds me of my own experiences of abuse as the victim and not the abuser. That serial criminal I spoke about was my father. Loki's trauma stemming from the experience of having a "monster" as a father, of internalizing that horror? Of not being able to connect with his new emotionally abusive father, and the rest of his family? That was the first time I'd ever really seen something that fit my experience in that way.

But for someone else, Loki is going to remind them of their abuser. He's going to remind them of a toxic manipulator in their life.

And honestly, BOTH experiences are valid. BOTH experiences deserve a voice. But NEITHER of them wins anyone the right to be an domineering, controlling asshole to other people about it. NEITHER have the right to hurt and shame other people over it.

Art is fucking subjective, and it's time kids on social media actually fully absorbed that concept and what it means. It's time that they put down the ideological rhetoric for a while and just allowed themselves and other people to be fucking human.

If somebody who's literally related to a monster on par with someone like Hannibal can tell you that (the general you, not you specifically anon), then maybe it's time to re-evaluate your priorities, and time to assess just how beholden you feel to the emotionally toxic demands of strangers online.

[danteinthedevildom]

Ngl I’ve been thinkin over the brother’s fears stuff from the most recent (?) lessons (bc I’m a dirty cheat and saw spoilers so ofc I went and looked up as much shit as I could) and like,

Ok shovin thots under the cut bc it got long oop. Also bc spoilers but y’know.

1 - Lucifer thinkin the “light” (which is ofc God lbr) was his fear despite not fearin it at all is p. weird. Like there was no hesitation, no fear. He just looked at it and went “ew it’s you never thot I’d see you again” and killed it. So clearly that’s NOT his actual fear. Def. Simeon’s I think, like he says a lil later.

So either Lucifer knew it was Simeon’s and “claimed” it to save Simeon’s feelins or smthn or he legit figured it was his fear bc the only thing he could think to be scared of is the guy who threw him out. 

Which like. Is such a fuckin non-answer re: his actual fear (tho he did say once goin back to the Celestial Realm was his “greatest fear” or smthn so maybe that’s still true so they didn’t figure that bringin it up again’d be that fun), but is interestin bc it says a lot abt how he sees God. 

Like. He got beat and kicked out and had his sister (almost) killed, but he’s still got 0 goddamn fear of his dad. Literal creator of everything God with a capital G don’t scare him. I figure bc he already did the worst thing he could’a done, and he survived that, so what else’s there to fear?

Tho it bein Simeon’s fear is... hm. Def. makes it sound like Simeon’s fearin seein God again. Either bc that’s just smthn any angel’d fear - maybe they only see God one-on-one if they’ve done smthn wrong so that’d be like seein your headteacher pop up outta nowhere, knowin he only comes outta the teacher’s room when you done fucked up - or bc he’s hidin smthn that makes seein God a really Bad Thing. Guilt or worries over some kinda sin? 

I mean duh. He’s in love with MC. That ain’t a hidden thing anymore. He’s kissed MC plenty times and I think even said the L-word once or twice. That’s def. grounds to get murderised (as we know, RIP Lilith). 

Also hella interestin in a metaphorical sense tho. Like, God’s a light. Simeon’s scared of somethin comin to light. Da-dum-tss, but what a hella cool way of showin that it’s a (technical) secret that’s got him all wound up.

2 - Mammon and Levi both fearin demon-form Lucifer is... understandable, but also kinda sad. Like, legit sad, not “wow ur so sad lol”. 

Levi’s way of sayin it makes sense tho. Lucifer only goes full demon form when he’s hella pissed, or outta control. He’s so damn powerful he don’t need to go into that form often, bc he can handle p. much anythin without it - plus he’s just got a p. good control on himself, so no accidental demon-form slips.

Unless ofc he’s so fuckin angry that it just leaps out. We’ve seen it. He gets murderous, and boom - form’s out. Or, situation’s so damn dire it’s got him on edge, and boom - form’s out. Him bein in demon form’s never good.

But him bein in demon form and after them is even worse.

Makes me wonder tho. If it’d just been angry Lucifer, why’d Levi specify it as his demon form’s anger? He gets angry at them hella often, and Mams esp. is strung up p. much daily, so clearly they’re not scared of him bein angry at them. 

It’s him bein angry at them while enraged. So either they’ve both pissed him off before bad enough that he’s gone full demon form, and whatever happened then was so fuckin terrifyin they’ve never recovered from it, 

Or they know that demon form Lucifer is scary shit, and even tho he’s not gone for them like that before, it’s smthn they’re terrified of in principle. Like, you’ve seen your dad mad on the phone before, and he’s never yelled at you like that, but you know he’s capable of it and that’s terrifyin as shit bc what if you do smthn that pisses him off enough to yell at you like that?

A lil part of me leans towards the latter bc tho they were scared it wasn’t smthn Levi said as tho it’d happened. More like smthn he’s hypothetically scared of. Plus idk what times Lucifer’d be so pissed he goes full rage at them? His demon form’s only really come out when the family’s in danger. Even shit like Lotan bein summoned don’t usually end in a demon form Lucifer (I’m p. sure anyway).

3 - Ok so like who was surprised by this. Asmo’s beauty is p. integral to who he is. He’s nothin if he’s not beautiful, and that’s what I think scares him. Not the bein ugly, but that bein ugly means he’s not Asmo.

Means he can’t get the attention he needs, can’t be loved by ppl, won’t get all the adoration and affection - he won’t be popular. And Asmo hella needs to be reassured that he’s pretty and loved. It’s who he is and what his identity is based on. 

Plus we’ve seen I’m p. sure a couple scenes where he’s been a lil worried/nervous abt if MC likes him for him. Beyond the beauty. He legit don’t think there’s anythin worth lovin if he’s not pretty, so ofc him bein ugly’s gonna be his biggest fear. Bc who’s gonna love him then. 

4 - Also smthn no-one’s gonna be surprised by. It’s his whole sense of identity. That’s not gonna go away for him overnight, y’know? The fact that it was angel Lucifer, tho - not just, like, normal Lucifer - was a p. cool touch.

That’s his roots. Not Lucifer the demon - Lucifer the angel. That’s what he’s based on. Smthn he never was but was always part of. 

He’s legit just the Lil Hal-Dirk connundrum which jfc that’s showin my fandoms huh. Is smthn that comes from smthn else its own unique person, or is it just a copy that’s always gonna get drawn back to what it was? How can it be original when everythin it is came from smthn else? 

That’s a hell of an identity crisis. Even bein Wrath and bein p. physically different and even likin different shit’s not enough to stop that feelin of ig imposter syndrome? Or of just bein a fragment of smthn else. Esp. when you know everyone else’s their own damn being. No one can understand where he’s comin from bc his “birth” was totally unique. He’s not just, like, Lucifer’s son or whatever - he’s legit a part of Lucifer’s emotions that just got plopped out one day. 

(Except ofc he’s not bc Lucifer knew he was different and felt him like a different presence for a while before the Fall but Satan’s got his memories and that’s kinda like bein someone anyway, ain’t it?)

So yeah, not surprisin, but also? I rlly hope he gets confident in who he is one day. Legit the idea that he’s still sittin there goin “who am I?” just hurts. 

5 - This bitch got trauma. Lbr it was either gonna be Belphie or it was gonna be Lilith and we all knew that was comin. Beel’s still not over the death of Lilith and his “role” in it (bc survivor’s guilt is a bitch and he’s still thinkin “not being able to save two ppl in two different places at the same time” is a sin), so losin anyone else is gonna hurt him.

But bein the reason he lost them? Oh that’s gonna hurt him even more. Esp. with the blame he’s still puttin on himself. It’s one thing to be like the passive cause that someone died but bein the active cause? Even by accident? Poor Beel. 

I don’t think anythin could’a been worse for him. That ain’t just a fear, that’s outright smthn he’s still strugglin with PTSD over. Like hell no shit he almost/did break down over it, that’s just shovin a trigger right in his face. 

6 - Bein alone, bein abandoned, not bein able to find anyone in pure darkness. That’s... damn. Either that’s lingerin trauma from bein locked up in the attic, knowin that no one was gonna find him or could hear him (which, fuck, how much did he try’n call for his brothers to come get him only to realise no one was gonna come?), or smthn set up that fear before the attic and the attic just made it hells of worse.

Like that wasn’t just “bein in a room apart from ppl”, it was outright “not knowin where anyone is, or seein/hearin/feelin them”. Total sensory deprivation. 

Oh. His worst fear’s not feelin anythin. That’s. Y’all. 

Idk how to end this now I’m just big hurty thinkin abt the last two jfc. No wonder Belphie’s always wantin to be asleep next to smthn. “He sleeps better with someone there” no sir you just hella fear sleepin bc your sin’s legit exactly what you’re terrified of and havin smthn there’s the best way to fix it. 

[rwbyvein]

Firen Lhain: Chapter 706: The Great Beasts:  Part III/III

The eight sat in the back of the bullhead as they flew back to the tower. "Alright," Jaune said, "Before anyone asks, I think we're all going to want to shower when we get home. What time is it?" he asked.

"Just after 16 hundred!" Taj shouted from the front.

"Then let's say," Jaune continued, "we'll meet at 18 hundred to talk about it over dinner."

"That's a LOOOONG shower." Nora stated.

"Nora." Ren admonished.

"Hm?" she asked.

"They might be otherwise occupied during that time."

"Meaning?" Nora asked, until it occured to her, "OH!" She then let out a nervous laugh.

Jaune then looked between his wives, "In the interest of fairness, I won't talk about it until then."

"What are we going to do in the meantime?" Ruby asked.

"'Shower'" Nora said with airquotes.

"Am I missing something?" Ruby asked, and Yang pulled her in for a hug.

"You'll see, sis." Yang whispered.

* * *

Jaune walked in the office to put the paper down and then walked back out. "I can trust everyone to not go in there?"

"Even Weiss?" Ruby asked.

"If she wants to get spanked." Jaune replied.

"A connundrum." Weiss said contemplatively.

"Uh-huh?" Yang asked, pulling off her top, "Enough of this." She then reached behind her back to undo her bra. She did it so vigourously that her breasts bounced around delectably as she pulled them off. "I can't be the only one looking forward do this after a day in the woods."

"Looking forward to what?" Ruby asked.

Yang then slipped off her short skirt before hooking her fingers into the panties, "Maybe we can make the tower shake again."

"No." Jaune said. "I'm a little tired, so we'll have to make this quick."

"An hour and half is quick?" Blake asked.

"For us, it seems." Weiss replied as she slipped out of her dress.

* * *

Jaune slowly hobbled down the stairs, RWBY moving passed him. They were all moving at a relaxed pace, but Jaune was just moving so much slower.

* * *

Everyone stood around the large table, now with centrepieces. They made it more lovely, but also harder to actually see people on the other side.

"LEADER!" Nora shouted as Jaune walked up to the table, and he had to look beside the centrepiece to see her, giving her a weak smile.

"So," Yang asked, "what the hell happened?!"

"I am curious." Weiss said, and Blake gave her a curious look, "Extremely curious."

"What was that?!" Ruby asked.

Jaune raised his hand, causing everyone to quiet up. He breathed in deeply, and it gave him enough energy to stand up properly. "So, the Black Hart is the King of the Woods, and I'm apparently an Earl."

"Why did you ask to be an Earl?" Blake asked with non-judgemental curiosity.

"That," Jaune voiced, "was actually Ren's idea."

"Way to go, Renny." Nora said as she loudly slapped him on the back.

"Okay?.." Yang asked him.

"He was asking for a number of specific allowances." Ren simply stated, "I turned it into a more general grant. I also felt that if we were the stewards of the Woods, then he would be more willing to accept our pressence."

"Okay?" Ruby whined, "but, i mean?.."

"The Black Hart was created by the Brother of Light." Jaune simply stated.

"I'm curious?," Weiss asked, "why no one has encountered him before?"

"It's kind of simple." Jaune stated.

"Kind of?" Weiss asked.

"He doesn't know what we are." Jaune voiced.

"He described us as between Humans and beasts." Ren added.

"He expels Humans from the woods." Jaune stated.

"But?," Nora asked, "the castle?"

"Someone had to come here?" Yang asked.

"They always had trouble." Blake stated, "I wasn't sure what to make about it. A black beast causing problems. I assumed it was a Grimm."

"But?," Yang asked, "I mean, before it was a castle, it was used for cows, wasn't it?"

"When they had sheep," Blake stated, "they were never attacked in the woods. But, they were harried into leaving. The Humans always came and went with the animals, as a form of protection."

"But, it was used, right?" Ruby asked.

"On and off." Blake stated. "They moved in an out a number of times. In the end, the isolation was too much for them, and just gave up."

"So?," Ruby asked, "they WEREN'T living here?"

"By the time of the Great War, the castle was abandoned." Weiss replied, and Blake nodded. Blake then looked at Jaune.

"Now, the big question, is what did you get out of him?"

"Freedom of the woods," Jaune stated, "the right to hunt and forage. The right to sustainable forestry."

"And?," Weiss asked, "the first thing you did when you saw a great black beast was to ask for the right to... forage?.."

"He?," Jaune asked, "talked to us."

"That's it?" Weiss asked, "He talked to us?"

"He didn't have a Grimm mask." Jaune said, "As I said, hang back until we find out what it can do."

"What the fuck was that?" Yang asked.

"hm?" Jaune asked.

"You?," Weiss intejected, "equated feeling out an opponent's modus operandi with... talking to someone who looked like a Grimm?"

"He didn't have the mask," Jaune said, "skull?, whatever."

"And so?," Weiss asked, and momentarily paused to collect her thoughts, "your first insticts were to talk to the mayhap-a-Grimm?"

"What if it attacked?" Yang asked.

"I'm quite durable." Jaune stated.

"That's your answer?" Yang asked.

"He knew where we were." Jaune stated. "If I didn't come forward, there's a good chance he would have attacked us."

"So?," Yang asked, "he would have attacked us anyways?"

"Why did it have to be you?" Ruby asked.

"Because?," Jaune asked, "I wear armour? I have a shield? My primary fighting style is extremely close range? The rest of you are good at swooping in at the last moment and saving me?"

"He makes," Blake said, "several, good points."

"Unfortunately," Weiss stated, "he does."

"It doesn't mean I have to like it." Yang stated.

"No," Weiss fretted, "it does not."

"So?," Ruby asked, "Jaune did something crazy, and it worked out? I do that all the time."

"And it never ceases to surprise," Weiss stated, "and unnerve."

"My point is we should be happy." Ruby emphatically stated, "Jaune did something amazing."

"At that," Weiss voiced, "there is no doubt."

"Not that any of us doubted he would." Aurora stated. "Now that the big reveal is out of the way, I have prepared a meal for our hungry Huntsmen and Huntresses."

"And me?" Taj asked.

"But of course." Aurora stated.

"What about you?" Nora asked, and Aurora smiled brightly in reply. "Once I'm sure the rest of you are satisfied."

"We kind of already took care of that." Yang stated.

"We sapped what little energy he had left." Weiss quipped, and Yang just eyed her.

"Was that?.." Yang asked her.

"Perhaps?" Weiss said with a grin.

"The question?," Blake asked, "is what we do with it?"

"Jaune's spunk?" Yang asked, causing Weiss to cough.

"Perhaps a little too rich for her blood." Aurora interjected.

"It is blue." Blake stated, and Weiss started flushing light blue.

"Well," Ruby added, "the obvious answer is show Ironwood."

"That's obvious?," Weiss asked her, "is it?"

"No, I like it." Yang stated.

"And the sisters agree." Blake stated, "Either the world is going to come to an end, or they are right."

"Damn straight." Yang said, "I mean, uh?, darn."

"What was that?" Weiss asked, and Yang looked about nervously, before looking her back in her eyes.

"It's just, now that I'm certified as a adult," Yang added, "I figured I would start acting like it."

"Like what we did in the bathroom!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Well, no." Yang said, "Okay, I mean, well, yeah, obviously, and I don't intend to stop, but I mean, like, not swearing, and not being such a hothead and whatnot."

"Being a hothead is one of the most amazing things about you." Jaune said to her, causing Blake to eagerly nod.

"You can count on us to cool you off." Blake said to her.

"We so pledge." Weiss added.

"Really?," Yang asked, "I mean, I'm always getting us in trouble."

"Not as much as Ruby or Nora." Blake stated.

"You know it!" Nora shouted, and Ruby looked about nervously.

"Just count on us," Weiss warmly said to her, "to be there for you."

* * *

Note: It always bothered me about how they talked about the gods creating before Humans and Grimm, but this never gets brought up in the story.

[drsilverfish]

So, Who Has Been Resurrecting Castiel? (post 14x20 musings)

Riddle me this, SPN compatriots and comrades.

If the Cosmic Entity who guards The Empty is telling the truth in The Big Empty (13x04):

“Before God and Amara, creation, destruction, Heaven, Hell, your precious little earth, what was there?… Nothing. Nothing but Empty… Angels and demons… you all come here when you die…  I’m the only one that has any pull here. Not Heaven, not Hell, not G-O-D himself“

then how did Chuck-as-God resurrect Castiel (at least three times that we know of) previously?

Now obviously, this is, in some senses, perhaps a pointless exercise. It’s one of those cases where we can try and retroactively “repair the time-line” by making something coherent, looking backwards, that isn’t (in fact) coherent, because it was written forwards, not knowing, at the time in S5, where the metaphysics would end up by S15. The writers’ room may simply choose to leave this connundrum sitting there, like a writerly cosmic black-hole.

But, if God has no dominion in The Empty, and if The Empty is where angels go when they die, how was Castiel resurrected? 

We have previously been given to understand God did the resurrecting of our favourite angel.   

The first time Cas was resurrected, after the archangel guarding Chuck, “smote the crap out of him” (Cas) (5x01 Sympathy for the Devil), we learn, In 5x16 Dark Side of the Moon, from Joshua (the angel God still talks to) who talks with the Winchesters in Heaven, that:

JOSHUA: “He knows already, everything you want to tell him. He knows what the angels are doing, he knows that the apocalypse has begun. He just doesn’t think it’s his problem. God saved you already. He put you on that plane. He brought back Castiel. He granted you salvation in Heaven, and after everything you’ve done too. It’s more than he’s intervened in a long time. He’s finished. “

And, again, after Lucifer-in-Sam explodes Cas with a snap of his fingers in 5x22 Swan Song, this time Cas is the one who thinks God resurrected him: 

DEAN: “Cas, are you God?” CASTIEL: “That's a nice compliment. But no. Although, I do believe he brought me back. New and improved.”

The third time Cas is resurrected, we learn in 7x17 The Born Again Identity that Cas has returned (after apparently being devoured by Leviathan in 7x02 Hello Cruel World) as the memory-wiped Emmanuel. He tells Dean that his wife Daphne found him:

EMMANUEL/ CASTIEL: “A few months ago, she was hiking by the river, and I wandered into her path, drenched and confused, and... unclothed. I had no memory. She said... God wanted her to find me.”  

In 7x23 Survival of the Fittest, we learn that Cas believes he was indeed resurrected by God again, after he was consumed by the Leviathan:   

CASTIEL: “If we attack Dick and fail, then you and Sam die heroically, correct?”

DEAN: “I don't know. I guess.”

CASTIEL: “And at best, I die trying to fix my own stupid mistake. Or... I don't die – I'm brought back again. I see now. It's a punishment resurrection. It's worse every time.”

DEAN: “I'm sorry. Uh, we're talking about God crap, right?”

Three times Cas has died and presumably, as a dead angel, gone to The Empty, and three times he has been resurrected. 

So, either (if the writers do address this) the Cosmic Entity in the Empty is lying and God DOES have power there. OR, (again if the writers address this) the Chuck-avatar of God didn’t bring back Cas, some other force with power in The Empty did. Perhaps, if we take the Gnostic view that Chuck is the Demiurge (the somewhat lesser manifestation of God who created the material universe) then the ineffable Supreme Godhead is the one looking out for Cas?  

Of course, it could be that there is a sort of cosmic wait-time, an ante-chamber, between angelic death and getting transported to The Empty, and Chuck snatched Cas each time in the ante-chamber, before The Empty swallowed him into its void. Why? Because Chuck enjoyed Castiel and his rebelliousness in the story.

Or, it could be that Chuck is pulling the strings of the story on a higher level (”writers lie”) and he does, indeed have dominion over The Empty, just as he did, in fact, have the power to smite Jack (or at least, Jack’s material form) after claiming the Nephilim could only be killed with his fancy-shmancy Hammurabi quantum equaliser gun.  

As Cas himself recently brought up his resurrection by God, in 14x17 Game Night, when talking about whether Chuck was an interventionist God or not, with Anael:

CASTIEL: “You know, he does meddle. God reached down, and he brought me back to life.”  

ANAEL: “So he saves one angel… and watches millions of people die screaming, every day. What does that say about him?”

I have hopes this will be addressed in the SPN multi-verse in S15.

I definitely got the sense Chuck was enjoying manufacturing Big DramaTM between Dean and Cas, over Jack. It was only once Cas returned to the scene in the graveyard, after Jack had blasted him out of the way, that Chuck started yelling at Dean to, “Pick up the gun and pull the trigger.” 

“What are the limits to the love between this angel and this man?”, he seemed to be asking himself.     

[yungchakra]

A strange phenomenon I've faced all my life is seeming to live a cliche. I was a loud, big, trouble making bully for most of my young life. I could hear other parents consulting there children with the usual cries of "don't worry, he'll end up being a loser, a no good child with a no good family, he'll be dead or addicted to drugs by the time your in university.", and they were right. I was intelligent, but in the classic smart-problem kid connundrum, I became disinterested in school, and everyone else in it, started smoking pot, drinking and everything else under the sun. Fueled by a childish sense of rebellion towards a feeling that I was an out cast, or had been hard done by by "the system", I seemed to want to live out the fantasies of these parents that hated me, and wanted nothing but to see me fail. A Vince Staples quote sums it up better than I can - "in this cage they made for me, exactly where you'll find me at". I left one school, kicked out of another, barely scraped my ass through to the end of year 12 in a school that basically guaranteed me that I couldn't fail, and found myself addicted to meth. I had become the junkie that the parents of my former victims, and the teachers who never took a liking to me always said I would be. I remember when I was child always thinking that there ideas of my future were stupid, and they didn't understand me or what I was capable of, but there I was. 19, addicted to drugs, homeless, an array of mental health and other personality issues. A wannabe SoundCloud rapper, with no dreams and nothing else but washing dishes on my resume; former bully; a cliche. Whether I'm the product of a failing system, or my environment; I'm completely unsure. What I do know is, I'm not that person anymore. I'm nice, caring, loving, accepting and understanding. I cringe at the thoughts of how I use to pick on other kids, and see now it was out of weakness, and fear of my own self. If I could go back and apologize to all of them, I would.

The question is; where do I go now? I'm sober, medicated, mental health issues being faced, picked up a (very shitty) part time job and am saving money. For the very first time in my life, I am stable. Doing what I "should" be doing. It's nice, but it's mediocre. I'm hoping to start studying this year as well, back on track with all the other kids who are now two or three years into a university degree. What scares me, is the great fear I have of normality. The very thought of being amongst the very people I spent so long putting a divide between disgusts me. mediocrity, sameness, being responsible, boring; cliche.

I try forever to carve out my own lane, yearning to be different. I feel that most of the people around me have very little self awareness and don't realise how there are merely driving around the same track there parents did, with every bump and sight of there life which provides them with excitement, already been through a thousand times before. I want to be exciting, interesting, unique, but with every choice I make I seem to fall into another cliche. A strange existance.

[thundergoodspeed]

y’all, big preesh on informing me about the final space tax writeoff connundrum, i DO know about it and have been essentially spamming the appropriate tags on twitter for more than 24 hours even though i was also at a con 😅

i found a website you can still watch final space (for now), cannot download torrents since i don’t have a vpn

i’m not giving up on this show and neither should anyone else 💚

[whatisthisnonsense]

Heeeeey that sounds like a tutorial character to me!

What a good time for the game to realize I’m printscreening and crash again amiright? S I G H

Honestly, all that fuss for a title screen.

The Batter at least is decent enough to tell us how to walk once we get to bananaland I mean Zone 0 and uh--

Erm. Batter? Buddy? Is your face okay? You look a little-- how many eyes do you--?? Ah nevermind, it’s probably my imagination. Onward to adventure! We mosy on forward a bit, just long enough to be smacked by the Zone 0 moving title screen which I couldn’t catch because it was moving and just when you’re settling in with some super chill music--

G A S P

A KITTY!!!! A GOOD KITTY!!! WHO’S SOUND EFFECT IS PURRING AND IS A KITTY!! KITTY!!!!!!!!

Very...toothy...kitty...oh dear

Nah, it’s fine, this is The Judge actually. He appears to be tripping balls, as felines do, but otherwise he’s a pretty cool cat.

...Long winded, but cool. Moreover, he gets to introduce the fact that most characters-- or at least the important ones we actually care about-- are perfectly aware of our rank asses watching the game and directing The Batter. Sorry Juby, no anonymity for you! Anyway, the basic gist is it’s Tutorial Time (tm). Besides walking around, we gotta learn how to fight. We are also given the gist that our goal is to purify the world. Which sounds a lot like a good thing, doesn’t it? Right? Regardless, we gotta learn to punch before we learn to puzzle out what the hell this story is even, so it’s time we learn how to deal with battles! ...Or yanno, we would if the game would stop crashing. Is it me? Is it because I’m trying to liveblog? This doesn’t happen when I play games normally. We all must suffer for art I guess.

Two resets and a hot minute of realization it might be my loose headphones’ driver jittering about causing this connundrum and we’re finally at how to punch. I think most people just auto their way on through shit since it’s not honestly the most challenging of games, but please don’t Auto the kitty. He’ll die.

Also this game has some seriously negative views on just getting the heck up on outta there in a fight, so just brace yourself hombre because Flee might be a technical option but ya’ll ain’t gonna be getting much use out of it. Once we learn how punch real good, we discover the other big part of this game; puzzles.

Puzzles are usually pretty simple; find the code and use it on whatever lock, latch, or block that’s in your way. It’s easy! No problems at--

Ah.

(Protip, the answer to this puzzle was actually downstairs, but we ain’t got time to show going all the way back. Of course, you can always cheat and use a walkthrough instead.)

Well the cat’s eating so there’s nothing for it here besides learning how to memorize and getting out

Byoutiful

Basically, it’s a save point. The red ones also let you access the World Map, and both versions heal your bitch ass completely, so honestly running around in a circle like a nit next to one to level grind is a Fair Strategy Regardless, THIS one is red, so off we go into the world! Oh boy I wonder how pretty the world map is! So exciting!

...Oh.

[shellheadtmarc]

i don't know a lot about marvel. i'm still catching up about ten years later, but what do you mean tony has to have done something to himself? i'm just really curious

random asks : always accepting 

oh, no, anon, this is a good question, and it’s kind of a thing you won’t know about if you haven’t read the specific invincible iron man / tony stark: iron man runs from…2008?  to present?  because that’s where it’s talked about the most, as far as i personally remember.

(also points to you for reading my tags i always wonder if people do.)

so depending on the continuity of the comics/mcu/both, in nearly every version tony stark is horribly injured and forced to take drastic and invasive measures to survive and it all ultimately leads to the building of the mk0/mk1.  and from there we get the myriad of suits he later builds and wears through different iron man/avengers/whatever else comics/the movies.  and what disney has hinted at, but has, in a lot of ways, avoided coming out and shining a light on, is that the arc reactor isn’t the only thing tony’s ever done to himself, in either the mcu or in 616.

the mk42 - to me personally - was the first hint that tony’s going down the same path in mcu as he has in 616.  which is to say:  he’s tinkering on himself.  and what do i mean by tinkering?  i mean he’s changing himself physically through experimentation, science, and using himself as a great big lab rat.  in im3 he implants sensors for the mk42, to make it callable from another place.  this is something that has basis in 616 canon.  it’s also the same movie extremis is introduced in.

THERE IS BODY HORROR BELOW.  BE WARNED.

now, in the comics, extremis works…kind of the same.  fire-breathing and all.  and basically you have to have a certain genetic marker to survive being popped with it (like there was a huge moral connundrum about it being the next big plague, could kill off a huge chunk of the population, etc).  tony stark carries the genetic marker to survive, and in the comics he does exactly what you think i’m about to say he does:  he doses himself with extremis, after he hacks the incubation time and what it’ll do.  when he comes back out of the scab-covered coma it put him in, he’s…well.  he’s a little different.  he starts storing the undersheath (in 616 he wears a specialized body suit under the actual armor) in the hollows of his bones.  he can call the pieces of the armor with his mind.  he can even control technology in general with his mind to a degree. he gets a real super power other than sensing where the future will go.

and most importantly, it lets him pilot the iron man suits by thought, because he’s basically…well.  rewired his insides.  and i mean that very literally.  at one point he’s opened up for a surgery to put the arc reactor back in, and they find wires in his lungs.  his brain isn’t a brain anymore, it’s a harddrive (that he proceeds to erase at one point but boy that’s another story altogether).  that kind of thing.  extremis let him do that, but it let him wire himself into the suit and make himself literally one with iron man.

and, with the bleeding edge suit of the 616 run, the nano machinery was literally stored under his skin.  fun.

and while that is most certainly not at all exactly the same as what disney’s put forth (even though he has a somewhat perma-housing for the nanomachinery (”this is removable!”) now, it’s still very, very much going down that path, in my personal estimation.  it’s why i want to know:  what else has he done like extremis, like rewiring his whole body, like that, beyond a silly little what is probably a subdermal implant?  because…

all the shit he does to himself that takes him farther and father from human and makes him more machine saves his fucking life after his fight with carol danvers in civil war ii.  yeah, he goes into a coma (and henry mccoy comments on how he’s scared to even draw blood because all of the genetic tinkering tony’s done to himself and can’t give a prognosis until he figures it out).  but his body literally, because of all this shit, reboots itself.  flushes itself out.  he lives.  he lives and comes back bald as a baby but he lives (and the hair grows back).  

he even uses the same process to reboot rhodey out of actual death.

and the reason i’m reasoning this (because the bleeding edge originally required the extremis enhancements for him to even pilot the damn thing) is because if he has, there’s a canon 616 out of him dying.  right there.  he’s rebooted himself at least twice in the comics.  and if he’s tinkered on himself that way as has been hinted, then tony stark may actually die.

but it won’t be permanent.

[sunilbhavar]

Silence..

July 18 2020

Silence could be in different hues. Sometimes it could be defeaning, at other moments it could be so appealing. Isolation could be silence, but silence can take a different take, when mind resorts to silence even in a crowded place.

There could be silence in a room or even in life. Perceptions dictate the effect of the vacuum of connundrum. Lack of activity or passivity in relations could also be termed as silence. Death is silence, so could be life.

We feign favourable noise but all we just do is to feign the absence of silence, which is all pervasive. There was silence before the supposed big bang, there will be silence well after all that could go through, has gone through.

An eveing by the beach is a welcome silence zone. You get time to introspect, or just think nothing. Nothingness could be a synonym to silence. It gives you a chance to reflect and at times also think of 'what ifs'. And there are many 'what ifs', even if we again feign about them.

Silence is alluring, it creates a bubble for oneself, to be safe within, to be protected from everything around.

Regards

[chubbysewcialist]

https://chubbysewcialist.tumblr.com I have way less of a connundrum about this wearable muslin, as its such an ugly color irl that I left the pockets out, having no interest in actually wearing it outside the house. Its less painfull to look at if I think of it as a weird brown rather than a failed purple. No wonder the linen store was selling it at 60% off. Shoulda known better, but at least I have plenty of material to practice with now? Still sad I used all of that dark blue up instead, tho. As for the pattern draft, I've seen other 'flared skirt' drafting instructions that include a step for balancing the front and back halves of the skirt that Armstrong either didn't include, worded badly, or I just missed it due to brainfog. This seems OK enough to me, maybe because I have such a big butt anyway? But I'll look over the slopers again and see if there's room for improvement (lol). Will link to that tutorial if/when I work on it, but otherwise this is also a good wovens pattern for me. You might have noticed by now that on this first weekend of March I took a lot of photos without the best lighting or ... best of anything, really. I installed a better photo app on my tablet, but the hallway I use for photos was so filled with junk that I just propped it up on a shelf and used the timer. I had enough spoons to either take photos for the blahg, or clean up the hallway. Better outfit, fashion-blahg style photos coming... someday. And the app helps a lot with some photos, but I still need to figure out a way to diffuse this awful glaring yellow light.