#binary underground code

[goodlucktai]

hold the world to its best (6/?)

rottmnt word count: 2k pairing: raph & OC title borrowed from light by sleeping at last part of the archer au

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The storm rolls in later than the forecast called for, starting in earnest the next afternoon. 

The first crack of thunder is so loud, even underground, that it makes everyone jump and Mikey almost fumbles the huge mixing bowl of eggs he’s whisking. It even startles SHELLDON awake from the nap he was taking in the charging dock in the corner. The string of beeps he lets out must be something pretty foul in binary, because Donnie whips around as quick as a snake. 

“Watch your language in front of the impressionable youth!” he yells after his kid, who makes a quick escape down the hall. 

Raph’s about to step into the line of fire for his robot nephew’s sake and point out the obvious—that none of them have half an idea what SHELLDON said, let alone the four-year-old among them—but Leo beats him to the punch.

“Uhhhhh speaking of the impressionable youth,” the slider says, “where’s George?”

“He’s right—oh,” Mikey stops short. His tiny spotted helper has vanished from where he had been parked on the stool pushed up to the counter. 

Mikey puts his bowl down and joins Leo in looking around, a frown tugging at his mouth. While he’s distracted, Leo swipes a chunk of bell pepper from his cutting board, which may or may not have been his endgame all along. 

“That’s so weird, he was here two seconds ago,” Mikey says.

Raph pushes back from the table and gets up to check the living room. A Jupiter Jim movie is playing on the projector, and Gio has revealed himself to be as much of a fan as the rest of his siblings are, but there are no little turtles sitting transfixed in front of the screen. 

“Not in here,” he reports back. 

“Stay calm, people, we have protocols in place for this,” Donnie says, tapping his bracer until it projects a holographic screen of color-coded GPS location pins. 

“Donald, you did not microchip that baby,” Mikey intones ominously. 

“Of course I didn’t. That would be unethical,” Donnie replies. He even rolls his eyes, because he has no sense of danger. “I implanted the chip in his nineteen-year-old self two days after he first moved in, like a reasonable person.”

Raph pinches the bridge of his beak and reminds himself to revisit this conversation later. For the hundredth time in their lives. 

“Can you find the kid or not, Dee?”

“Please, name literally one time my Genius Built methods have ever failed us in any capacity. Of course I can find him,” Donnie scoffs, only to frown at the big error symbol that pops up on the holoscreen a second later. “Ah. Update, due to certain magical interference, the tracker currently does not exist. I can’t find him.” 

“Great contribution, Tello,” Leo says, sounding like he’s fighting for his life to keep a straight face. “Maybe now we can just look for him with our eyes.”

Another rumble of thunder bullies into the conversation. The new lair is a repurposed subway station, closer to the surface than the old one had been, and this is the first time it’s stormed this hard since they moved in, so none of them were prepared for the magnitude of the sound. It reverberates through the tunnels and pipes, amplified by the metal and cement and hollow spaces. 

“He probably went after SHELLDON,” Raph reasons. “I’ll go find him. You two bozos stay put and help Mike finish making lunch.”

“Are you punishing them or me?” Mikey demands. Behind him Leo steals a cherry tomato off the cutting board, because he also has no sense of danger. Raph gets while the getting is good. 

Gio isn’t in the lab, where SHELLDON is buzzing around singing Speed Drive by Charli xcx to himself, or the bathroom. 

Anxiety begins to stir in the back of his heart, where it’s lived for as long as he can remember. It sleeps some of the time, but not as much as it used to. 

The steps leading up to the front door have been baby-gated to lengths of absurdity, part of Donnie’s manic lair-wide Georgie-proofing—so the odds of Gio making it past the stairs and into the dark maze-like tunnels in the handful of seconds someone wasn’t actively watching him are slim to none. 

It doesn’t stop Raph from worrying. He doesn’t want to shout Gio’s name, because he doesn’t want to do anything on purpose that would make that little boy’s eyes get big and fearful, but he can feel his steps getting more frantic with every room that he checks that comes up empty. 

The door to Gio’s room is ajar—it’s rarely ever closed—and Raph pokes his head in without expecting much. Baby Gio got an eyeful of it on the whirlwind tour Mikey took him on but didn’t seem particularly interested in exploring the space. 

It’s a comfortable room. Cozy, even, which is a style that a total stranger might be surprised to find out that Gio subscribes to, but absolutely no one who knows him needed longer than one second to conceptualize before they realized it made perfect sense. 

There are string lights draped across the ceiling, and a huge felt board that takes up half the length and height of the back wall, where photos and drawings and little mementos are pinned. A downy polka-dotted duvet swallows up the bed, and the curtains strung across the front-facing window, to block some of the light that beams in from the living areas, are polka-dotted for good measure—because if there’s one thing this family loves, it’s leaning into a bit. 

And it would be tidy if not for Gio’s little siblings leaving evidence behind of their constant comings and goings. Donnie’s Switch and wireless headphones have been tossed on the bed, and Leo’s guitar is balanced crookedly on the chair by the desk, and the desk itself is covered in the half-inked pages of a graphic novel Mikey is brainstorming. Even one of April’s college textbooks has ended up in here. 

Growing up, Raph never understood why all three little gremlins wanted to be in his room all the time—sprawled on his floor bickering over snacks, or cramming into his bed to make him watch two hour long video essays about any obscure topic under the sun—and then Raph got a big brother, and it all clicked. The huge pink beanbag that used to live in Raph’s room gravitated to the corner of Gio’s, where it ended up staying as a permanent fixture. Half the time Raph just lets himself in and flops into his designated seat, in the exact same way that Donnie and Mikey and Leo consistently get on his last nerve for doing. 

Gio, who thinks everything his siblings do is silly or charming or both, complains about it a lot less than Raph does. 

“Georgie?” he says, just in case there are any turtle toddlers lurking.

Of course no one answers, and he’s turning to leave and find another place to look, when he hears two separate sounds. A vicious growling bark of thunder that echoes down the tunnel, and a muffled whimper from much closer. 

Raph stops dead in his tracks. Now he’s listening for that second sound again specifically, straining to hear it, all his ninja senses and supersoldier senses and—most of all—biggest brother senses on high alert. 

He hears it, and follows it down onto his hands and knees to peer under the bed at where a tiny spotted turtle is hiding. 

Gio’s face is streaked with tears and he’s shuddering from head to toe, hands clamped over his ears, limbs all curled up like every frightened instinct in his body is urging him to go inside his shell. 

Feeling his heart break clean down the middle, Raph trips over himself to soothe, “Hey, hey, kiddo, it’s okay! Gio, what—”

Thunder rolls, and Gio flinches and makes another quiet sound of fear, and Raph realizes immediately what the situation is. He is also about two seconds from bodily lifting the bedframe and flinging it out of the way to better scoop Giorgio up. He has always, historically, hated any potential barrier between himself and his siblings with a single-minded fervor. He can’t even function when someone he loves is crying and he can’t reach them. 

He reigns in the impulse to charge forward. It takes both hands and considerable willpower. 

Running in recklessly always worked out when he was a child, because stakes were low and his brothers would follow him anywhere even if they fully believed his plan would fall apart as early as step one. 

But as he got older, and had to force the leadership reins into Leo’s unwilling hands, and that charming and reliable guy who was forever on Raph’s right hand side with a clever idea or an exit strategy suddenly became someone willing to let them all fail just to prove a point, Raphael learned the value of thinking things through. 

And he can’t just throw the bed out of the way, he reminds himself with gritted teeth, because that would scare the baby. 

So instead he settles on his plastron right there on the floor, cheek pressed to the rug, and starts to rumble deep and low in his chest. April calls it his car engine sound, and Donnie has correlated it with the healing frequency of a cat’s purr more than once. Guaranteed to comfort frightened little turtles or your money back. 

Sure enough, after a moment, Gio’s eyes peek open. He’s crying so hard he’s hiccupping, but other than that he’s barely made a peep. Until he manages to focus on Raph’s face, and then his sobs have a little voice behind them. 

“Hey, big man,” Raph soothes. “Raphie’s right here. Nothing bad is gonna happen while Raphie’s right here.” 

Gio doesn’t budge from where he’s wedged against the wall but he’s listening. He’s such a good kid, always listening. His limbs are curled so tight they must hurt, it would probably feel better for him to just pull inside his shell at this point, but for whatever reason he stays in a miserable little ball. 

“That storm is pretty loud, huh? Raph doesn’t like it either.” He reaches an arm under the bed, offering a hand. “But you know something? The best thing about being part of such a big family is that we keep each other safe. Even when it gets loud and scary and makes you wanna hide, you’ve got all of us here on your team.” Then, with a silly frown, he adds, “I’ll go wrestle that storm right out of the sky and make it say sorry for being such a bully and making my Georgie cry. How ‘bout that?”

Thunder rumbles again, and Gio jumps and shivers at the sound, but when he starts to squirm it’s forward, towards Raph’s open hand. He holds it with both of his much smaller ones, tears dripping from his chin, grip white-knuckled. 

Mouth wobbling, he bravely shakes his head. 

“No?” Raph says, playful and gentle in equal parts. “Okay, I’ll stay in here with you instead. Do you think I could fit under there? Scooch over a bit.”

Something that might one day grow up into a smile touches just the corners of Gio’s mouth. He shakes his head again. 

“Raphie’s too big,” he whispers. Raph scoffs in fake-offense and the almost smile on Gio’s face inches closer to the real thing. “We can go under the table,” he adds very earnestly. 

“That’s the best idea I’ve ever heard,” Raph says, down for literally anything that will make his babyfied older brother stop crying. “Come on over here, spots. We’ll go together.”

Some jangling, dislocated thing in Raph’s heart only settles when he’s got Gio in his arms, tiny, insubstantial thing that he is. He sits on the floor for an extra minute, rumbling extra loud, until Gio’s pulse slows its frantic leaping into something closer to its normal resting rate. The next time the storm tries to speak up where it isn’t wanted, Gio’s tucked safely under Raph’s chin absorbing his car engine sound and only shivers. 

Red catches Raph’s eye, a familiar hoodie hanging from the handle of the closet door. He’d given it to Gio months ago, when a cooking incident led to Gio’s jacket getting tossed into the wash, and Raph had said, “Here, you can borrow one of mine.”

He’d fished the old hoodie out of a basket of clean laundry and passed it over. It wasn’t anything to write home about, weathered and faded over the years, the hem stretched out and a corner of the hoodie pocket peeling away thanks to a loose string. 

But Gio looked stunned when he saw it. He took it from Raph’s hands robotically and pulled it over his head with a mumbled thank you. It was laughably big on Raph’s big brother, who would probably only have a few inches on the twins for a few more years.

Raph grinned and helped Gio roll up the sleeves, saying, “All my siblings steal this one from me constantly. Right of passage. Look, see? Perfect fit!”

“Yeah,” Gio said hoarsely, thumbing carefully at the frayed hem as if it was spun with gold. “Perfect fit.”

Since he seemed to like it so much, Raph let it keep mysteriously ending up in his room. And Raph reaches over for it now, tucking it in with his armful of Georgie as a makeshift toddler blanket before he finally pushes to his feet. 

“Sorry,” Gio says very quietly as they make their way back toward the light and laughter pouring out of the kitchen. “For hiding.”

“Don’t be sorry,” Raph says, startled. “Georgie, you got scared, that’s not your fault. Of course you hid, that’s what any smart little turtle would do. Mikey hides when the toaster pops too loud. And I get scared all the time.”

Gio clearly doesn’t believe him, frowning deeply. That stubborn face is one-hundred-percent their Gio.

“Raph’s too big and strong to be scared,” the spotted turtle retorts, as close as he’s likely to ever come to a more age-appropriate “nuh-uh!” 

“Hah,” Raph says, “I wish that was true.” He looks down at Gio and tells him, “The thing that always makes me feel brave is remembering that I have all of you guys with me. I have a thing I say that helps. Maybe you can try it next time you get scared. Just say I’m not alone.”

“I’m not alone,” Gio repeats obediently.

One day, Raph thinks, it’ll stick. 

Until then, they’ll keep reminding him. They’ll drag him out of the dark a hundred thousand times and lead him to a warmer, well-lit place, where his siblings will trip over themselves to put a smile on his face, even if that means eating frittatas on the floor under the kitchen table. 

Leo keeps stealing food from Mikey’s plate until finally Mikey snaps and goes in for the kill, and Donnie shrieks when they kick over the pitcher of lemonade because now he’s sticky and someone will be paying for it, and Splinter comes in to investigate the noise and takes in the scene playing out under the table and says, “Why are you like this? Who raised you?”

The rest of the storm passes the way storms always do. The next time thunder rumbles through the lair, Gio is too busy giggling to hear it. 

[laser-tripwires]

the librarians and the insane quintuple-entrande of an episode title

…an explanation thereof, because this had no right to be as smart as it was.

so. first glance, normal title. but the thing is, and the thing you'll know if you've watched the show (which i'm asusming you have) is that the words "Lies" and "Stones" there have two meanings. what i've seen people miss is that every one of those four configurations is perfectly coherent. think of it like a binary code - 00 10 01 11. and even that's simplifing it, because one of those configurations in and of itself has multiple meanings (see below).

meaning number one is obvious. what [is laying] beneath the [rocks]. cool. means "the thing hidden underground", which is i guess kinda what the episode is about. not very descriptive. BUT, flip to a homophone of lies -

because what [tells falsehoods] beneath the [rocks] is a pretty straight-up description of the episode's villain, right? hokolonote, deep underground, and telling lies while trapped away in it's chamber. neat! builds on the obvious meaning.

but wait. obviously, "Stones" also has another meaning. so what [lays] beneath the [Stone family]. this is the one people miss - i've heard folks call this episode title a triple-entrande but it's not, because "lays beneath" can also be metaphorical - in the sense of things being beneath you, hidden, of lower status. what is beneath the ideals of the stone family. aka, jake.

so what happens if you throw on both meanings at once? you get what [tells falsehoods] beneath the [stone family]. even THAT has a double meaning, because "beneath" can either be taken literally - the thing beneath them, the monster underground, another reference to hokolonote. alternately, you can take the "beneath" to be metaphorical, in which case we're talking about jake again.

so, the title can be about jake, about hokolonote. about the tomb or the deciet and pride at the heart of the stone family. but really it's about all of that simultaniously, and ooh lookie here -

it's jake fighting hokolonote, pretending to be jake, in the tomb, while having an argument about deciet and pride and family.

so.

yeah this is the best episode title ever.

[friedbrainzz]

Hi hi I come to u again w/ another faggot dragon

PEARLESCENT OF THE SEAWINGS (y'all know the drill more about him under the cut!)

12 years old (around 27 human years or so)

Cisgender - He/him - Verian (or Almondsexual - When a person is mostly attracted to men and or masculine alignment genders, along with androgynous and non-binary people. But rarely attracted to women and female aligned genders.) Bellussexual (Someone who is not interested in a sexual relationship but is comfortable with or enjoys behavior typically coded as sexual)

Voice Claim : Charlie Smith from Red Dead Redemption ||

Pearlescent is the oldest of his mother's first clutch. Being 12 years old. Though, he wasn't always the oldest. He had a few older siblings but they were disloyal to their mother. So, being a MAJOR momma's boy, he killed them.

His favorite pastime is whale hunting with his mother, Chondru. He hunts specifically for endangered species (and fun fact, also SPECIFICALLY pink dolphins) and he and Chondru sell them at the Dark Web (an underground marketplace that frequently moves to stay hidden. They mainly buy and sell illegal items (and substances) and contraband. The authorities have corruption in the outer circles because of this as they participate in the trading)

He collects the skulls and skeletons of whales that don't make the Dark Web's cut. Finds the anatomy of such creatures fascinating.

Seaglass's older brother, came from the clutch of eggs before her's and before their father passed due to being murdered. He know who Seaglass is, but doesn't *know* her. As her egg was traded away being the smallest egg in the clutch. (Chondru did not want such a delicate and innocent soul in her ring of crime. So she gave Seaglass's egg to her two closest friends, Abyss and Kraken.) Pearlescent didn't know this. He thought Seaglass was stolen away from their family. Because of this, he sought out Abyss and Kraken's home and slaughtered them to "save" his little sister. A one year old Seaglass, coming home from school, found this sight and attacked Pearlescent before fleeing to find help for her parents. But they don't believe her and Pearlescent gets off Scott free. Seaglass continues to fend for herself because of this.

Chondru, upon hearing this information, casts Pearlescent out. Pearlescent, heartbroken and bitter, leaves reluctantly. And eventually gets caught trying to continue trade with the Dark Web only to be caught by the highest of authorities. Prince Azure and the battalion he leads. As he acts as a general for his mother, Queen Starfish. (Epic and sad yaoi ensues)

He meets Seaglass once more, six years after their original encounter. He is now a part of the Royal guard (haha kinda like Vi /ref) and eventually reconciles with her. Though, he has yet to do so with his mother because of her underground mafia

He is wary of Seaglass's partner, Hawk. This is because he is a SkyWing and the war that broke out between them and the SeaWings 10 years ago. But eventually warms up to the Skywing and they become as close as brothers.

He makes Azure promise that Starfish never finds out about Hawk. For the SkyWing himself being a criminal, and for his sisters sake.

A special thank you to @ilikemicrowaves for helping me come up with some of this character's lore and for his original design! I really enjoyed working with you on him and even though you said "I'm so sigma" SO MANY GYATT DAMN TIMES I'm still rlly thankful, danke lil bro 💪💪(Said design below)

[leoneedincorrectquotes]

Current state of the @4areincorrectincorrect arg

A post dedicated to the current findings in this, I have been trying to help on my smaller personal account (That I haven't shared) But thanks to @socks-wizard-money-gang and @ur-local-moon-goddesss (If you want me to remove the @ then do tell me

SO, background, this was originally a wxs incorrect quotes blog, around before even this account. However yesterday, they started posting encoded messages which led us to this arg. Currently, we know a few things to be true:

The character behind the account is called Lola, and seems to have been in a group with 4 other people. Lola, maybe importantly, was the name in the original version of Copa Cabana (A key thread). Lola speaks through binary code and messages encoded via caeser cipher, specifically a shift of 4.

One of these people was Rayla Brown, who is seemingly dead. The account posted edited lyrics to the song Copa Cabana, saying that Rayla was now 6 feet underground (dead).

We then were linked to a clarinet solo. There featured a comment under it, from a JayLamb. Going onto his channel is how we found Rayla's last name (the piece of info we were first tasked with finding). He was seemingly romantically involved with this Rayla.

We currently have solved all that we need to, but there are still some threads unsolved. we do not know what happened to Rayla, 3 of the members in this group (Perhaps one was Jay?), why lola is doing this, why is it in code story wise, and there was a picture of the letters j.aiw on the ground, with the w faded, that hasn't come up yet. so far, the most common theme is the number 4, which has came up several times so far.

I'll update this semi regularly, and will continue to try and find stuff out, I have a feeling we are going to start getting more complicated. Good luck solving all.

[conscious-margarine]

this scene from an underground hangout game, THIS GAME IS SO PEAK PLAY THE SERIES IF YOU WERE CONSIDERING IT ITS SO GOOD HAGAHHHHHHGGGHHHJGJGJGJHFHFH

also anyone who saw that one 1x and john doe drawing knows i love making the binary code say things, and here it’s some of Nia’s lines

(for spoiler reasons, i will not elaborate on why)

[hollowknightinsanity]

HOLLY REF SHEET ATTACK 💥💥💥🪳🪳💥🪳🪳💥🪳💥🪳🪳💥🪳💥🪳🪳💥

WOOOOOOO GIRLFRIEND WOOOOOO YEEEEAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH MY BELOVED WOOOOOOOOOOOO

they mean the world to me

INFO UNDER THE CUT 💥

Full name: Holly Bloom Eburne-Leaflet

Aliases: Princeling, Mx. Eburne/Leaflet

Species: Wyrm / Rootkin hybrid (Wyrmroot)

Planet of Origination: Earth

Age: 81

Height: 8’0”

Gender: Biologically intersex; identifies as transfeminine non-binary

Pronouns: They/Them/Theirs — She/Her/Hers (FRIENDS/FAMILY ONLY)

Sexuality: Biromantic, greysexual, polyamorous

S/O: Amaryllis Vigus (husband), Galetris ‘Gal’ Akrai (girlfriend)

Family: Chysanthus Heather Eburne (father), Viol Glory Leaflet (mother), Mystery ‘Ghost’ Evergold (twin sibling), Promise Evergold (sister), Deliverance Evergold (sister) Hornet Arac Eburne (half-sister), Albus Iris Eburne-Leaflet (brother), Ivory Zinnia Eburne-Leaflet (sister), Sombre Vigus-Eburne (child), Seraphim Vigus-Eburne (child), Gaia Vigus-Eburne (child), ~5 million other siblings (I am not joking)

Biological child of Hallownest’s Royals, otherwise known as The Pale King and The White Lady. Once lived as a Knight, born and ‘raised’ to seal an ancient Goddess whose land was stolen from her.

In a romantic polycule with Amaryllis and Galetris, planning on marrying Galetris in the future, and is already married to Amaryllis. Currently has three children with Amaryllis, who they named Sombre, Seraphim and Gaia, and plans on adopting a child to call theirs and Gal’s.

Narrowly avoided death after escaping the Black Egg at age 79; it takes a grand lot to kill her, and her sister Hornet as well as a Dirtmouth resident were there when they escaped, and prevented her from passing.

A quiet gentle giant, preferring to stay indoors or underground, either alone or with their family. She used to work as a Knight for her parents (enduring an unfortunate amount of neglect and abuse while doing so), and was used to seal The Radiance after She started an infection. They no longer do that sort of work — they’re far too old and weak to fight anymore — and currently remain jobless, as they are disabled and perpetually exhausted.

Has lived in Hallownest for her entire life; through their adolescent and teen years, they lived in the White Palace, which has since been destroyed and hidden away in the Dream Realm. Currently, they reside in a moderately-sized home on the surface town of Dirtmouth with their sister and partners, doing little other than caring for their children and resting.

She’s not necessarily built for battle anymore, but when she does need to fight, she resorts to her claws and fangs. On very, very rare occasion, they will use their taught Soul spells, but this is only in dire situations.

Hex codes

Both:

#121212 — Skin / Fur / Backside tail scales (base)

#302D2D — Scars / Inner ears / Tail underside

#C8D6E0 — Crown / Pale Ore prosthetic 1

#DEE8EE — Shell / Leaves 1

#98BBEF — Pupil (effect using same colour + regular inking brush, #blended until it looks right, layer blend mode Add)

#0E264B — Sclera (effect using same colour + airbrush, layer blend mode Add) (yay I finally figured out what it’s called)

#9ABFA7 — Leaves 2

#FFC184 — Kintsugi (courtesy of Ravine)

Casual:

#171A2B — Dress

#292233 — Shellwood prosthetic (texture using Wood brush, layer blend mode Overlay)

#5D6276 — Belt

Formal:

#0B0B0B — Cloak

#00061E — Dress fade

#020B31 — Dress base

#C7D1DA — Corset 4 (texture using same colour + a lace texture from IbisPaint X, layer blend mode Multiply)

#E2E7EC — Corset 1 (texture using a lace texture from IbisPaint X)

#D2E9FF — Corset 3 / Ribbons

#E0E8EE — Pale Ore prosthetic 2

#FFFFFF — Corset 2 (texture)

#FFDAA7 — Cloak chains / Cloak buttons / Corset… ring… things. Whatever they are.

Other:

#000000 — Tongue / Blood base

#3E0404 — Blood accent / Blush

das it :)) WIFE YAYAAYYAYAYAYAYYAYAYAYAYAYYAYA *explodes*

[fountainpenguin]

"So take it all... The city's yours! It's worth fighting for. It's all mine... it's all yours!" (x)

Chalaza

💙 Read on AO3

🧡 Multi-chapter - 192k words

💚 More Pixels Imperfect fics

He pushes his thumb against Martyn's gumline. Martyn rolls his eyes, but doesn't bite. Maybe just to mess with him, Bdubs hitches the curve of his lip higher. "Huh. You've still got all your spawnling teeth. I don't even see any budding fangs… Hey- you wanna punch me in the face?" "Yessir, but that's unrelated to the XP gain." "Oh, you're freakin' hilarious…" Bdubs withdraws his hand, wiping it dry against his leg. Since all of Martyn's friends have been jumpy, wide-eyed sheep with extra evasive sprinkles since they got here, Bdubs cracks the conversation open like a smacked walnut: "Where did you get your Education? Some sort of cult, right?"

Bdubs and Etho wrestle a skin on their server hub’s newest cult escapee. The glowing, hissing Martyn lives in a fishbowl (and/or under Etho’s couch) until he doesn’t.

OR, after Martyn's escape from the EVO hub, Bdubs helps him integrate into a proper phantom hybrid flock. A study in pixel people biology, culture, and social dynamics. Enjoy!

(First 1,000 words below the cut)

Chalaza

Egg Crackers

💙  🧡  💚

Martyn is dead, but unfortunately, no one's had the chance to tell that to Martyn. Martyn's in a fishbowl. Well, like… Martyn's soul is in the fishbowl- his skin fell in the Void. Or maybe got vaporized? Not sure. He looks like glowing blue smoothie stuff, complete with weird sprinkle colors, but Bdubs is pretty sure Etho would strangle him if he tried putting Martyn in a cup. Can you get drunk on real souls like you can on raw binary code? Huh…

Nobody in New Star Station's ever seen nothing like this. Or if they have, they sure haven't said that to Bdubs. Etho said the guy's trying to fight a system overload - Martyn; Martyn's trying (Etho says) - but it sure is violent. Geez…

Every couple minutes, Martyn's consciousness seizes up like a kicked cat. It twirls around like mashed-together clay. You get a huge spiral. You might even get part of a face or a clawing hand. Bdubs has been carrying the fishbowl for two days, even to that way fancy restaurant Etho likes, because it's really cool and you get to show him off to so many people this way, and he gets to be all "Sorry- Etho said only I can hold him." And Etho's the best healer ever and he can fix anything, so it's going to be okay.

But… still, even if he looks cool, Martyn can't hold his form. He comes crashing down every time. So Martyn stays in the fishbowl, because it's better than a bucket, and frankly this was a stupid waste of glass a couple years ago and it's good to put it to some use now. Bdubs keeps chucking pieces of sausage in there because maybe Martyn'll like that, but so far it's just been Martyn and the sausage and the other sausage and the other other sausage in the bowl, and Etho's probably gonna slap him for that.

"This is the voidfish market," Bdubs says anyway, holding Martyn's fishbowl above his head. Oh- we skipped forward. It's Wednesday now and not much has changed. If Martyn's a soul, he maybe won't be able to see out his eyes. If he's got free-cam, then probably. It's complicated; Bdubs leaves all that coding stuff to Etho anyway. He gives the fishbowl a slight rattle, just to wake Martyn up. "I guess you already know this place, huh? You flew out of the Void! Like, what? I can't believe you found us! We're a secret underground portal hub, and you just flew right in from the bottom! I never even knew you could do that! Ohhh, Scott's gonna fix it. You watch. He'll figure it out; no one's ever getting in again. You're lucky, Martyn. You're so lucky."

Martyn rests like impossibly bright jam inside the bowl. He doesn't seem interested in the market. Huh. Oh well. Bdubs swivels on his heel and walks down the street, even though the bowl bonks his head on every step. See, it's funnier when you're like, talking to people all normal and suddenly Martyn lurches up and makes grabby claw hands before he falls into the bowl again. Pixels spurt and crackle like tiny, tiny fireworks. Maybe he can't respawn inside the bowl. Is it too small?

How much sand does it take to make a giant bowl? Hmm… And would it be weird to reuse a giant "soul bowl" for cereal at a later time? I mean, you don't wanna waste something like that. That's a lot of glass. It'd be washed first, obviously.

It's been like three days. Nobody's gotten close enough to put a skin on Martyn yet, so Bdubs can't even put a face to his name. Martyn's just a hissing, writhing mess of blue and dashes of white - He's all claws and wings and sometimes teeth or tail. But even if they had a skin tailored to fit him, how're they supposed to get it on him? This guy can't hold his form! The only reason they even know his name is Martyn is 'cuz that's what the new guy Jimmy called him, and Jimmy's having problems keeping his arm together, so it's just a party where everyone's in pain, huh?

"I could eat you," Bdubs says, just to make casual polite conversation. The streets down here in the underground are okay-crowded today, though most people back off when they see a phantom hybrid coming. This may also be 'cuz he just said he might eat somebody and people don't really assume that Martyn can hear them or even get that he's still alive. "My player file's in the server hub, right? So, y'know… I can cycle you through and you're s'posed to respawn just fine! My species' whole thing is stabilizing weird code like yours. Yours too! You're gonna join my flock, right? That'll be fun. A rest will make you less sleepy. You should let me eat you."

Martyn's soul doesn't do much unless he's thrashing around. You can kinda talk to him, but he's not much for conversation. Maybe he can't hear. He probably doesn't have ears. He can't seem to project enough conscious thoughts to signal anything to Bdubs' communicator- not even anything weird and panicky like "stop stop stop." He doesn't even swim around! Why's he in a fishbowl? That's stupid. Briefly, Bdubs debates dumping him in the town square fountain. Maybe cold water will wake him up. Maybe he needs more sausage.

"Oh, I've got an idea. Tango? You know Tango? You probably don't know Tango; you only saw him for like a sec before you melted, I heard. Yeah, I heard you crashed and went up in flames like two seconds after leaving the Void. Well, not flame, but you know what I mean. Hey, Tango's got this huge countertop! We should pour you on that and push a giant cookie cutter in you. Or maybe we should pour you inside a skin anyway and see what happens. I mean, skin's sticky on the inside, right? It's got… adhesion, or whatever."

Read on AO3

[varijeri]

god the FUCKED UP amount of shit that went down the past 10 days i dont even know what happened on which day (assume furniture stealing + waystone stealing + innumerable mines are also taking place) 1. eggs show up dirty and dishevelled. they don't remember the previous day 2. eggs disappear. their accessories are left on their beds 3. a lot of havoc is wreaked (bad tears shit up + tubbo creates mega drills + random holes and mines???) 4. forever gets drugged by cucurucho (he is Happy with capital H now (he is also going MAD) 5. pac gets himself drugged to make an antidote (it works because pac is awesome and a genius) 6. phil comes back (election tower is lavacast) 7. capybaras??? spawn is fucked up 8. fed workers start fixing up spawn (tubbo names the blue-capped one Fred) 9. phil, bad and cellbit manage to trap forever and pac and give them the antidote (pac recovers by the next day + forever enters a coma) -> forever hallucinates cucurucho and tells them cucurucho said "the eggs ran away from something worse than the federation and the codes" 10. fred discretely communicates with tubbo (a book in a hidden chest) 11. the next day roier, charlie and tubbo are grouped up to find something (sewers in the wall + ladder up to missa's base + huge maze (cellbit found a map for this maze with attached binary reading A1)) 12. they find evil cucurucho (cucurucho but with black skin and red eyes and smile) leading them to a room with a roulette wheel (I-VIII) in its center with the eggs' accessories scattered around it, encased in barrier blocks 13. tubbo glitches in and spins the wheel (rolls a 5 i think) -> lava starts falling from the ceiling (the pendejo trio have to GTFO while avoiding lava and mobs) 14. maze is sealed and fed posters are put up along with a countdown (egg accessories are now missing from their beds) 15. countdown ends after the mexican independence day event -> half the server enters the maze as it opens up. they find an archive room where a story about 12 eggs in a similar maze is written in a book. 2 eggs live at the end of the story. 16. they return to the room with the roulette wheel but its no longer there -> only chayanne's floatie remains 17. when everyone goes back phil finds a book in his basement that tells him to drop everything and haul ass to some random coords near uppies in the form of a story about a crow 18. phil does so and is trapped in a birdhouse by cucurucho with (seemingly a duplicate of) chayanne's floatie and tallulah's beanie. 19. bagi joins the server (forever wakes up) -> the players group up at the dome and a roulette wheel (yes, same wheel) shows up and is spun, spinning a 2 -> everyone is teleported into a forest surrounded by a glass dome with puzzles to solve -> after they solve the puzzles they free bagi from an underground area where she had been with walter bob 20. today. IS THIS EVERYTHING? DID I GET EVERYTHING?

edit: at 15. they also found an old conversation between two people about the eggs, and at 3. im pretty sure etoiles killed another code and got not only the full code sword but also a book telling him to "PROTECT"

[jesse-pinko]

I know a lot of people think that the problem w Hollyleaf’s characterization was that they redeemed her at all but respectfully I literally couldn’t disagree more… first off I think part of the appeal of her character in a series that has been biting itself in the ass for 20 years by refusing to deviate from the good and evil binary- even (especially?) when doing so would make the story more interesting- is her moral ambiguity, like I think making her all-out evil would make her just as uninteresting to me as if they’d depicted her as always being in the right. Second of all I think it’s important to acknowledge that Hollyleaf’s more reprehensible actions are a direct result of her believing that she is always in the right. She has main character syndrome and she is making it everyone else’s problem!! She doesn’t do evil shit to be evil, she always does what she thinks is the right thing to do because she always has to be right. And while this is definitely more out of pride than genuine altruism, I don’t think it necessarily started out that way. With what we’ve been presented I think it’s safe to say that, while Holly has always been ambitious and self-centered to some degree, she is also fundamentally principled with a strong sense of justice and unwavering loyalty to her clan. She might have let her worst traits win out due to stubbornness and being allergic to admittance of wrongdoing, but actually turning on her clan? Committing conscious acts of evil against innocent cats (who haven’t committed any perceived offense against the warrior code)? Hollyleaf could never justify that to herself, and so it wouldn’t make sense for her character. I just hate the way that they went ab her redemption… like I liked the parallels between the fox cub turning on her and the way she treated Leafpool, but other than that, wtf was she supposed to have learned from dicking around underground for however many moons? How did that advance her character growth? I think they should have killed her in the tunnel collapse and sent her to the Dark Forest, bc being sent to cat hell might be the only thing that would ever make Holly admit she was in the wrong tbh. And then!! Bc she realized she fucked up and is still loyal to her principles and her clan, she could have acted as a sort of DF deprogrammer from the inside, warning the cats training in the DF ab what they were getting into and eventually fighting against the DF in the Great Battle. Then we could finally get a DF cat being admitted to Starclan after their redemption instead of this weird reverential treatment of punitive justice that the series seems determined to push on their child audience

[peppermakesart]

Since it’s the end of the year, I wanted to take some time to explore my favorite games of 2024. Not necessarily games that came out this year, some of them are just new to me.

If you’ve been following me for a little while, it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that Cassette Beasts is my game of the year. It was recommended to me by a friend whose opinions I trust implicitly, and I wasn’t let down.

I’ve always been a fan of Pokemon, but after 20 years the games themselves have started to feel a bit stale. The games haven’t gotten worse, I just grew up and decided I prefer a slightly different experience. I’ve always liked games with lots of upgrade decisions, where you spend a lot of time in menus crafting efficient builds.

I enjoyed how complex Cassette Beast’s combat system is, but the thing I really enjoyed about the game was the story. They did a really good job of crafting interesting characters, and also how intentional the sound design is in supporting the gameplay. The boss fight against Robin Goodfellow was my favorite point in the game, Viola’s speech hit me so hard, and when the fight starts and the vocals kicked in for the boss ost, was the most emotionally affected I’ve ever been playing a video game. I’ve cried playing video games before, but the best comparison I can make is the Pokemon Sword/Shield gym leader theme, when they’re down to their last Pokemon and the beat drops, but the best drop was so hard you need to just sit there crying for like 2-3 full minutes, just taking a good moment to soak in the moment before getting back to the game.

The portal is broken, there is nothing we can do

My second favorite game of the year is Minecraft, somehow I avoided it until this March, but it was definitely quite the experience. I feel like got to experience every emotion throughout the 2 months or so I was playing, mostly solo or with one of a few friends.

When I started, I had no idea what I was doing, but was having a lot of fun digging straight lines through mountains until the area was covered with pathways, and then when a friend came to play with me we’d go out and explore and they’d teach me a bit about the game. One time a friend took me into the underground and we explored the depths for the first time, but then he had to leave while we were still down there. At first I thought I was fine, but after 20-30 minutes I was starting to panic, and I hit a point where I decided the game was stressing me out to much and I had to put it down for a while. I then threw up. First time a game gave me a panic attack. Minecraft is truly a horror game. I was relaying this story a few days later to the woman who introduced me to Cassette Beasts, and she taught me how to show coordinates, which solves the problem for me. She also said, “poor baby, had a panic attack IN PEACEFUL MODE”

20 days later, I taught myself binary and hexadecimal code because I needed it for computational redstone. It was kind of a wild month.

My third favorite game was Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom. When I saw the first trailer it immediately piqued my interest, it seemed like a fresh concept, and it delivered exactly what it promised. It didn’t give me a life changing experience like the first 2 games, it was just fun, and quite possibly closest to being enjoyable 100% of the time of any game I’ve played. Most games, even really good ones often have certain aspects of the game that don’t appeal to everyone, or just small weaknesses that take away from the experience, and I barely ever felt that. The game wasn’t super long, I beat it in 3-4 days, but nothing overstayed its welcome, they didn’t fill the game with bloat.

[kadextra]

hiya :3

i haven't been able to catch up the last couple days, would you mind summarizing what happened with the countdown dungeon?

yes anon no problem! :] to summarize all of it:

Jaiden’s cucurucho tasks led her and The Jaidens (cellbit, bbh, foolish) to the “Noise Dungeon,” where they had to fight down 9 levels underground, cleared waves of mobs, ending up at the final room with that red countdown timer. The room being a freezer with 8 spaces/pods(?) in the wall, and the timer counted down for 3 days.

3 days later the “Time’s Up” event began. on this day it was pouring down rain that never stopped (it doesn’t usually rain on the island) and the binary code entity had seemingly hacked into the egg’s daily quests screen. The binary in the quests spelled out “your time is almost up.”

Everyone waited for the timer to hit 00:00:00, and when it did QSMP in chat told everyone online to go to the Noise Dungeon again. A unique screen also played saying “TIME IS UP” that glitched from red to green. back in the dungeon, they once again had to go down the 9 floors and fight through mobs, but now with more people coming along.

However, this time in the final freezer room, the code entity was just hovering there and waiting for everyone. It didn’t attack and simply dropped a book with instructions. It told the group of people to split into 2 teams and each go to different sets of coordinates.

At the coordinates, each team had to reconnect the wiring of two machines that started building train tracks.

Afterwards, everyone heard a loud sound from a train and got a message from QSMP in the chat that said “the train is leaving.” everyone started running asap to the train station and down the tracks. But it was too late, the trains were too fast and disappeared into the now-working nether portals at the end. some people managed to get into the nether but got kicked out right after (in meta admins don’t want them going there yet it’s still being worked on)

To close off the whole event, this image was posted by QSMPGlobal twitter as a teaser of what will come next…! :D

[anachronistic-falsehood]

whiskey help i dont watch qsmp what the hell is going on with charlie i keep seeing cool art please infodump 2 me (<< guy who is unfortunately weak for glitch aesthetics and also guy who enjoys charlie slimecicle)

OKAY. SO. You're aware of the eggs right? Slime and Mariana had one named JuanaFlippa (trans icon <3) and she died pretty early on which SUCKS because i LOVE HER!!! there are also these things on the island called Codes. they're just glitched out forms of binary code and they used to keep trying to kill the eggs. the codes can impersonate the eggs and have multiple times before to try attacking the islanders

ON CHARLIE'S BIRTHDAY. he goes to his house and finds this fucking underground cave. where did it come from? who fucking knows. HIS DEAD FUCKING DAUGHTER SHOWS UP. when she writes on her signs to talk, it's basically terezi speak, like a whole bunch of letters are replaced with numbers which is Weird bc she didn't used to do that. but charlie is a grieving father and it looks like his daughter is back. she says it's not safe for her here yet and leaves him alone in the cave

FAST FORWARD TO A FEW DAYS AGO. charlie finds juanaflippa again and she wants to hang out and do egg tasks with him like they used to!!! fun times!!!! she is killed multiple times throughout the night bc of Shenanigans but she always comes back. eggs don't do that. charlie doesn't care!! she's alright and that's all that matters!!!

yesterday. i was watching cellbit's stream so i might be missing some more context but the pov from the other streamers makes it sooooo much more fucked up. anyway SO. phil and cellbit go to visit charlie. they see juanaflippa. and their own eggs are missing right now, and they know juanaflippa's dead so it's... really weird??? but hey if one of the dead eggs is somehow back and charlie seems sure that it is her then let's just be calm and polite about it. (cellbit's "i must be the best tio ever" instincts kick in and he is so so nice to her in the beginning oh my god it was so sweet I MISS SEEING HIM WITH THE EGGS)

at some point charlie. sneezes??? kind of?? but it sounds like.... glitched out computer noises. that's not normal!!! but he treats it like it is. cellbit realizes that part of charlie's shoulder is.... black??? with green lines through it??? it looks kind of like one of the code entities OH FUCK THIS IS CLEARLY NOT JUANAFLIPPA. and her being an imposter gets more and more obvious. she doesn't take damage now, her signs are riddled with leetspeak and completely glitched out symbols, she wants to blow up mariana's house, and she doesn't remember a lot of things.

like this is so clearly not juanaflippa but charlie doesn't care. to him, this is his daughter!!! she's finally come back to him!! and yeah her shell is a little cracked and she writes a little weird and he can understand the strange symbols on her signs and his shoulder hurts and he just makes sounds that he can't control, but that's his baby. that's his daughter. he misses her so much. there's nothing wrong with him. there can't be. not as long as juanaflippa is here

[valleyrunearchives]

Binary

Rating: Teen and Up Audiences Fandom: Boku No Hero Academia/My Hero Academia Pairings: Aizawa Shouta/Yamada Hizashi Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence

Chapter 37/?

“Binary code is a series of zeroes and ones strung together in a specific sequence. On paper, it’s useless. Annoying. Worthless. But put that same string of zeroes and ones into a computer, and suddenly it’s a language far more complex than the human mind can comprehend. I was the same way. The world decided I wasn’t good enough in the physical plane, so I went digital. That’s why I chose the name Binary. And you should be very,” He smirks at the underground hero on the screen, “Very afraid of the reach I have here. Aizawa Shouta.”

Or

Midoriya Izuku is tired of the world treating him like nothing. So he decides to becoming a hacker to show the world that nothing can be anything.

Featuring Midoriya Izuku as the Genius Hacker Aizawa Shouta as the problem child wrangler Yamada Hizashi as the moral support to his husband Tsukauchi Naomasa as the man who needs a long vacation PLEASE Shinsou Hitoshi as the intentionally adopted one Toga Himiko as the unintentionally adopted one Dabi as the really didn’t want to be adopted one but he guesses this is his life now and Nedzu as the Rat God of UA

Previous | First

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Izuku does his best to not show a reaction to Nedzu’s statement. Internally, he’s freaking out. There’s no way Nedzu doesn’t know if he’s wording it like that. He’s the smartest creature in the world. There’s no way he’s dodging the Rat God of UA for any longer. He takes a deep breath to keep his composure. This could be the last free moment he has, after all. Better to handle it with as much grace as he possibly can. 

“What do we need to speak about, Nedzu-san?” He asks calmly.

Nedzu giggles with a sadistic sparkle in his eyes, “Oh I think you know. Don’t you, Midoriya-kun?” 

“Perhaps we do. But you should clarify. Just to make sure we’re on the same page before we say anything.” Izuku shifts a bit to get a bit comfortable in the hospital bed. He knows this is about to be a long and grueling conversation.

He also knows that Hitoshi is looking at him like he’s crazy and Himiko is probably biting on her nails in nervousness. He should remind Dabi before he’s locked up to get her some of that anti-biting nail polish. Nedzu doesn’t answer him right away. Instead, the stoat moves over to the only other chair in the hospital room to hop up into it. He guesses that Nedzu also realizes this will be a long conversation and would rather not be standing for it. 

“I’m here to discuss the fact that you are, indeed, Binary the hacker,” Nedzu says bluntly. 

Dabi sucks in a harsh breath as Mirko and Hawks both shout in shock. Himiko whimpers softly at his side, chewing harsher on one of her nails. Izuku reaches over without breaking eye contact with Nedzu to gently pull her hand away from her mouth and hold it between his own to comfort her. “And how have you come to that conclusion?” He questions levelly. He will admit to nothing until he knows what kind of proof Nedzu holds. 

“Oh many things really! Many, many things. The fact that you were spotted nearby the police station when the first Binary box appeared. The fact that the second Binary box appeared right after Shinsou-kun was taken into your home. The fact that the news crew that invaded UA grounds reported all of their connections dying just when your family was set to enter next. The fact that only you saw the main intruder that day. The fact that every single time an incident has occurred at UA, we staff members have been notified by an outside source that, for the longest time, we only knew as Catra.”

Himiko squeezes Izuku’s hand tighter. Izuku shows no outward difference and focuses on keeping his heart rate and breathing steady. Nedzu either doesn’t notice these things or doesn’t comment on them. Instead, he just continues, “Now, these could all just be marked as coincidences. Very strange ones but coincidences nonetheless. Until today, that is.”

Izuku raises his chin a bit as he stares at Nedzu. He’s not trying to establish dominance. He knows he wouldn’t get very far with that. He’s mainly trying to create a façade of indifference and confidence. Whether it does anything for him or not, he doesn’t care. At least they can’t paint him as resistant or cowardly this way. “What happened today?” He asks just as calmly. 

Nedzu’s smirk widens sharply, “I finally tracked Binary’s IP address. I’m guessing because you are here and not at your computer setup to block me. And your little companion, Catra, has been here with you.” 

Izuku closes his eyes. It truly is the nail in the coffin. And Nedzu is right, the only reason the IP address could be tracked was because no one was monitoring his firewalls right now. All Nedzu would’ve had to do was pick away at it until it gave. He lets out a sigh and nods. “So that’s that,” he says quietly. Nedzu just hums in agreement.

“No!” Hitoshi suddenly screams, jumping up, “No, no! That’s not that! You don’t get it! That can’t be it!” 

“Hitoshi?” Izuku asks, confused.

Nedzu blinks, obviously not anticipating such a deep objection. Especially from Hitoshi, “Shinsou-kun, what’s the matter? Do you have some objections to our accusation? If so, I can assure you that we’ve already had Tsukauchi confirm with Iwai-san. You were very clever in attempting to get him to redirect when questioned.” 

“No! I’m not-! That’s not-!” Hitoshi groans loudly, running his hands through his hair in frustration, “What happens now?! You have to tell us what happens with Izuku now!”

“Pardon? I don’t understand why that has to be discussed right now.” 

“Stop stalling! You know what CATRA is, right?!” Nedzu nods at the frantic question, trying to determine what exactly Hitoshi was trying to get at, “Then you know what she’s capable of! Trust me when I say, right now, you HAVE to tell us what happens with Izuku now that you know he’s Binary! We have to know now before it goes any further!” 

“Nothing will happen to him,” Nedzu says certainly, “Well, aside from becoming my personal student so his hacking profile can become more above board.”

“Nothing at all besides that? No jail time? No fines? No taking him away and locking him up somewhere? Nothing?” 

“No, of course not. He’s a minor and, even though hacking is a highly illegal thing, he only did it when assisting to capture criminals or those criminally aligned. We’re writing it off as a ‘dumb teenager doing dumb teenager things,’ so to speak.”

Hitoshi sighs in relief, slumping back down in the chair before pulling out his cellphone, “See CATRA? Abandon the order. Please.” 

Izuku whips his head around to him. Order? What order? Even Nedzu seems extremely confused. Hitoshi puts his phone away after a moment. A beeping sound comes from his vitals monitor. Everyone turns to his monitor screen to see a familiar (well, at least to Izuku and his family) cat displayed on it. She bows to the room, calling out, “Greetings. I am a Computer and Technical Real-time Assistant. CATRA for simplicity.”

Izuku can see Hawks’ jaw drop at her introduction. Nedzu stares for a moment before starting to cackle in what is clearly glee. “My goodness!” He exclaims, “I knew you were AI, but to be this intelligent is nothing short of incredible!” 

CATRA bows again in thanks at his praise. Nedzu’s hand then moves to his chin as he questions, “I am curious at Hitoshi’s insistence of me telling him what Izuku’s punishment would be. Which, as I stated before, is nothing beyond becoming my personal student.” 

CATRA glances at Izuku before her head turns away, ears folding down to her virtual skull in what seems to be shame. Hitoshi whispers to her quietly, “It’s okay. They should know. Izuku should know. Especially now that we know nothing will happen.” 

The sound that comes from the monitor sounds like a long meow but Izuku knows it as a sigh. This doesn’t seem good. She turns her face back to Nedzu’s direction and says with conviction, “When it was discovered that you were actively attempting to trace Izuku down, I enacted a plan: Should it come to light that you knew of Binary’s true existence and were planning to place extreme punishments on him, all files that existed within Binary’s mainframe would be deleted.  Forever.”

Himiko, Dabi, Hawks, and Mirko don’t react to that with anything more than confusion. Nedzu’s eyebrows (Does a stoat even have eyebrows? Eye ridges, maybe?) raise in response to that. Izuku, on the other hand, scrambles to fully face the monitor without dislodging his leg from its propped position, “CATRA why would you do that?! Do you know what would’ve happened if you had?! You would’ve been completely deleted as well!” 

Himiko gasps with a stricken look on her face. Dabi’s hands come up to cover his face but he doesn’t say anything in response to that. CATRA refuses to look at Izuku, “I know, Izuku-kun. I knew from the beginning what would happen if project 00 ever came to pass. As I told Hitoshi, it would’ve been worth it; Even if you were angry at me afterward. Your safety and wellbeing are worth more to me than my existence ever would be.” 

Izuku lays back heavily, his mind blank. He doesn’t know what to say. He knew she had developed some form of caring for them but he didn’t think it would be that deep. He thinks the others and Nedzu are talking around him but he can’t focus on their voices. His AI mom basically just said she’d rather die than risk him being in jail. It’s a hard thing to swallow. Especially knowing in the back of his mind that she cares for him more than his actual biological mother did. 

Himiko must somehow be sensing his internal dilemma as she takes him into her arms and tucks her face into his curls. He appreciates the comfort. For some reason, the mental reminder of his biological mother makes something in his head focus. He sits up a bit straighter, placing a hand on Himiko’s arm as a way to say that he’s not trying to escape her hug. He starts coming to several conclusions that he hadn’t thought of before. His breath hitches a bit at the ideas now swimming in his head. If he’s right… then…

“Nedzu-san!” He exclaims, interrupting Nedzu’s conversation with CATRA, “I would like to request assistance from UA in the form of a UA guardian!” 

Dabi sputters before shouting out, “What?!”

“Not a permanent one!” He reassures his older brother, “Just a temporary UA guardian for us. Preferable Eraserhead and Present Mic!” 

“May I ask why?” Nedzu asks.

He levels his most serious look at the stoat, “I have reasons to believe that my family and I are in a lot of danger!”

[vig1lantnakia]

:// LOADING FILE: 𝟶𝟷𝟶𝟶𝟷𝟷𝟷𝟶 𝟶𝟷𝟶𝟶𝟶𝟶𝟶𝟷 𝟶𝟷𝟶𝟶𝟷𝟶𝟷𝟷 𝟶𝟷𝟶𝟶𝟷𝟶𝟶𝟷 𝟶𝟷𝟶𝟶𝟶𝟶𝟶𝟷 𝟶𝟶𝟷𝟶𝟶𝟶𝟶𝟶 𝟶𝟷𝟶𝟷𝟶𝟶𝟷𝟷 𝟶𝟷𝟶𝟶𝟶𝟶𝟶𝟷 𝟶𝟷𝟶𝟶𝟶𝟶𝟶𝟷 𝟶𝟷𝟶𝟶𝟶𝟷𝟶𝟶 𝚉𝟹𝚁𝚉𝚅𝚁𝙰 𝙽𝙰𝙺𝟷𝙰 𝚂𝙰𝙰𝙳 ...

... 𝙿𝙴𝙽𝙳𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝙰𝙲𝚃𝙸𝙾𝙽 𝙵𝚁𝙾𝙼 𝚈𝙾𝚄𝚁 𝚂𝙸𝙳𝙴: INPUT ACCESS CODE TO PROCEED...

Character Name: Nakia Saad Nicknames: Kia, [ Hacker Name: N1X, Nix ] Place of Birth: NYC, USA Birthday: February 12th, 1985 Sexuality: Panromantic Demisexual Gender Identity: Non-binary ( They or Him ) Zodiac: Aquarius MBTI: ISTJ Occupation: Intelligence Agent, Hacker Languages: Arabic, English, Spanish, Japanese Moral Alignment: True Neutral Love Language: Acts of Service

THE BIOGRAPHY ( very mild bullying tw )

Born to a family of immigrants, the importance of hard work is ingrained into you from a young age. NYC isn't an easy city to grow up in, and you see your parents work through numerous shifts at the hospital, one a surgeon, and the other a nurse, they work day and night to make a living. You are a sharp child from a young age, and even if you tend to cause trouble every once in a while, it's nothing that can stick to you. Your teachers call you too smart for your age, just that you need to focus. It's not that you don't work hard- it's just that the moment you get your hands on your first laptop, you spend nights illuminated by its light. You have always had a perchance for gadgetry, trying to break technology apart, and then enhance it or fix it back up, but now, with your own computer, you feel like a new world has been laid in front of your feet. You revel in it. You are lucky that your parents don't realize the sheer amount of time you spend there, and you learn how to code like a pro when you are in high school. Named sort of a recluse, you keep it to yourself most of the time. Again, some teachers find this worrying, but you manage to fly under the radar long enough, get a friend or two, and live through the various nicknames tackled onto you. You don't care about what the bullies think, but you do enjoy hearing them screech when one day, their entire internet history has been posted on the corridors of the school. Who would have done that? Such a shame, guess they will never find out. You get into a prestigious college as a computer science major, full ride, and you find it much easier than high school. People care less about what the silent kid is doing, and the professors don't particularly care if you show up or not. You learn a lot, and it's during your senior year in college that they scout you. Men in black, most would think, are dressed as older college students. This is your first interrogation in which they give you an offer for a new life, which you are reluctant to accept. You love your freedom too much, you love your hacking, you love learning about things before anyone else. It's the offer to teach you more than that that convinces you, and you sign up to be an intelligence agent. Years pass, you learn a lot, and you grow a lot. Though, deep down, you are that same kid who just likes getting the dirt on people. You fly too high, or too low, whichever way the Icarus myth goes, and you get caught by an underground organization. Highly illegal, who dare to blackmail you into doing their dirty work. All you can do is say yes, and try to weave the threads in the background, to get back at them, to free yourself before the agency catches wind of everything that has been going on. Then, before anything else that can be figured out — you wake up on a ship. And you realize things can get more complicated after all.

THE INTERVIEW

“What is the last thing you remember before arriving on the island?”

The light of the sun bothers them. The sense of scenery feels familiar, even though the last time they were interrogated, it was a sterile room with fluorescent lights. This time, the warmth of the sun burns into their skin. "I was working." It's a simple answer, the calculating glare focusing on the person in front of them. They try to soften it up, knowing apprehension is not the best trait when interrogated. They would know, going off from the number of times they have been in this exact spot. The silence makes it clear the person is looking for a better answer. "It was- just like another day, man. I swear." A huff of breath masked as a laugh. "I was in front of my laptop, coding the night away- trying to catch up on some of the tasks that I couldn't finish back at the HQ." A softened truth. Nakia was not working on anything related to his official job at the agency, but the second job they were forced to do. The ultimatum given to them by the underground organization, once they caught wind of Nakia's other 'hobbies' which consisted of them collecting dirt on the rich and the powerful. They aren't here right now, which makes Nakia unsure how to feel. "I was reaching a breakthrough and then — I found myself with a headache on that goddamn boat."

“Do you think you will be remembered or forgotten?”

A loaded question, one that threatens to raise their hackles. This back and forth, which they have little control over, makes them less likely to give up honest answers. "Depends on how long." Their leg shakes up and down under the desk, they begin with a shrug. "If you mean far into the future? I'll be forgotten. In the great expanse of time and space, I do not fool myself to think I am important enough that people will remember me by name." Maybe their deeds, or the event in which they would whistleblow who they wished, or managed to turn down that organization. However, as it stands, with them being in the middle of nowhere, it seems completely impossible. As much as Nakia wants to go back, they have an inkling it's not going to be as easy as some residents were thinking.

“What do you feel you could contribute to life on the island?”

A practical question, one all of them have thought of for they are stranded here, with little from home but their own skills. They nod, a hum at the back of their throat. "Sure. I have an engineering background - when anything technical goes wrong- or we need a solution to an infrastructure problem, I am the person to call." A little smirk on their lips, their eyes move down to their palm, the crackling of energy that could not be seen, but one that they felt. "Plus, these powers, will only help us further as we try to make a suitable living here." And then, besides the basic needs of shelter, food, and drinkable water, there are also other aspects Nakia is useful for. Namely, solving mysteries, investigating, and digging where people do not want them to dig. They know how to set up a case, how to gather information. Even if they were almost always behind the scenes back at home ( and behind their computer ), it does not feel that much different to look for clues as to why they ended up here, to learn where these powers came from. "I also have a… Useful background when it comes to solving problems. I think it is particularly handy to have here, considering everything."

“Do you think with your heart or your brain?”

There is the true answer, and then there is an answer they are willing to give. Of course, it ends up being the latter that's uttered from their lips. "I think with my brain. I am a scientist at heart." With their degrees in computer science and industrial engineering, this is the most palatable answer that they are willing to give. Not the one where they feel irrationally annoyed at being plucked from where they were, or the revenge that swims in their veins when they think of the organization that dared to blackmail them. There have been decisions in Nakia's life where they acted on emotions rather than rationality, though those have often led to less than favorable outcomes, which is why they do not wish to accept it out loud. "I am a highly analytical person, I like calculating various outcomes, and choosing the best one after." when they aren't wrapped in thoughts of fury or revenge, this is the truth.

“What are you most curious about regarding the island?”

Fingers tap on the surface of the wooden desk, a plethora of questions that have been revolving around their mind, threaten to reach the surface. Tongue pressing to the inside of their cheek, they try to pick one that would make them seem less irritable, less apprehensive about everything. "I suppose- the powers, to begin with." A supernatural feat, one bestowed to each and every one of them- but for what purpose? What was the aim? "And where exactly we are would be good to know." So that they could get out, eventually. When it comes to actual questions they would ask, it would simply be 'Why?', putting them all here, on this island, cameras everywhere, phantom eyes at every corner, without a purpose — it all seems like someone is playing a game on them. A fucked up one, and Nakia does not have any answers yet. They hate this with their entire being.

THE CONNECTIONS ( mostly pre-island! )

- People from another life: Childhood friends / enemies who knew Nakia in high school or university. Before they disappeared from the face of the earth and became an intelligence agent. This could go a few different ways, maybe they kept in contact, and Nakia told your muse they have been working for a tech company, or they did disappear and this is the first time these two would be meeting after almost two decades. - Family friends: Nakia's parents work in healthcare, so anyone they touched / saved / helped would be very interesting. Nakia never wanted to pursue that career themself, and they would be apprehensive about someone who knows their past to this extent. Free to explore. - Government colleagues: If your muse has a job related to the government, maybe Nakia and they could have met up for work. Nakia could have done work on your computer, or database, or any other thing. Maybe your muse knew about what he was doing, or they just told them they were an IT guy. - Actually just an IT guy: Okay, hear me out, maybe they lived close, and your muse actually needed an IT guy. Nakia found this all too amusing, and actually played into it. So now, when you need your laptop to be fixed or your TV isn't working properly, you can Nakia, and they come by. Payment would need to be non-monetary, they'd want homemade food or something like that, but we can discuss. Maybe friends or other stuff can be plotted. - Coffee pals: When Nakia is in a slump, they go to this small café, and spend hours there. Maybe your muse was in a slump of another variety, or they just found Nakia interesting and approached them. This became somewhat of a routine, and they became friends.

[pupstim]

Unhinged QSMP Theory #9

So this one is going to be wild but stick with me. I've been thinking a lot about the code and how it ties in with the eggs especially with recent evidence that the eggs themselves might be code instead of dragons. More under the cut because it is a LONG ONE.

Like I'm about 98% sure that some of the code are dead eggs at least the ones that have been disguising as eggs. THOSE Codes look different from the beginning Binary Entities that attack the eggs. Going back to when the first disguised eggs showed up the code entities look like this (I'll be calling these Disguised Codes)

While the beginning Binary Entites that attacked the Eggs looked like this (I'll be calling these Beginning Codes((I really need a good name for them because Beginning Code isn't good and Straight Code is... yea)))

In my mind that makes these TWO separate kinds of Codes especially with how the Disguised Codes I don't think have ever attacked the eggs or like just tried to kill the eggs. I think they've only gone after players from what little I've seen of them so feel free guys to set me straight and correct me.

There is a third kind of Code too that's come out more recently and I think this pic is pretty good at showing all three codes together.

Little scuffed but hopefully it shows what I mean. Mangled Codes are new and we haven't seen much of them. AFAIK the only other time I've seen a Mangled code is when a Code attacks I think Forever or Cellbit in a jungle before they found that strange Cube underground (which is a whole nother can of worms in itself)

And then Maximus does the wonderful of showing it even more.

Maximus and a Beginning Code and Disguised Code is shown and I think the Disguised Code is actually Trumpet but then who is that Beginning Code. And Then it gets even better

Max turned into a Mangled Code, SO We have Disguised Codes being potentially Dead Eggs, Mangled Codes being potentially infected players but where does that leave the Beginning Code.

This is the truly unhinged part. I think Beginning Codes are actually Eggs but in their true form. Or rather not being forced to be looking like the eggs, either having "hatched" or they just shed their Egg form.

Think about it! We've gotten significant evidence that the Disguised Codes could potentially be Dead Eggs and the Disguised Codes just look like the Beginning Codes but a bit more messed up... like the Beginning Code is healthier than the Disguised Codes.

We also had recent evidence from Cellbit about the Memories Egg (RIP Hope) about there being other Adoption Centers all over the server.

But these ones don't look recent, they look a lot like the buildings did when the islander's first came in so I don't think Memories Egg was for the current batch of players. It was for the past batch of previous players, ones who probably failed whatever experiment the Federation is doing with all this. And just in my mind, if there was one Adoption Center with one lonely egg there probably was more out there. Ones that would have been filled with different kinds of Eggs so potentially one of those Eggs could have escaped and made it out, maybe even learning the truth of the island and its why the Beginning Code was so against the eggs and players trying to kill the Eggs to prevent whatever the Federation is planning.

Now what the Federation is planning to be honest IDK, there seems to be a running theme with perfection. I do think the Eggs are codes and so they're gathering data the Federation is trying to use for something. Maybe trying to create the perfect being? OR find the perfect parent to raise something? Maybe there is some eggs that a Momma dragon left behind but the Federation wants to make sure that raising the eggs is perfect and so do all this convoluted shit instead of just being normal and buying parenting books like the rest of us. My personal theory is that the Federation is trying to make their own End Dragon for some reason but that might just be me. But yea...

tl;dr - I think Beginning Codes are what the eggs normally look like, Disguised Codes are Dead Eggs, Mangled Codes are infected players and this all ties in somehow to Federation and their quest for Perfection.

[mezmer]

In the heart of the Amazon rainforest... the brutal death metal band 01101111011101100110111001101001 (known for their binary-coded moniker and guttural vocals) found themselves in an unlikely feud with the UK blackened deathcore outfit, 1024.

It all started with a misunderstanding over a shared sample. Both bands had unknowingly used a rare recording of a jaguar's roar in their latest tracks. When 1024 accused 01101111011101100110111001101001 of plagiarism, the Brazilians, fiercely proud of their indigenous roots, took it as a grave insult.

A war of words erupted online, with each band's fan base rallying behind their champions. The feud escalated when both bands coincidentally booked a gig at the same underground festival in London. Tensions were high as both bands prepared for their sets.

When 1024 took the stage, a mysterious technical malfunction cut their power. Rumors spread that the Brazilian band had sabotaged their rivals. 1024, however, refused to be silenced. They continued their set acoustically, their raw energy captivating the crowd despite the setback.

01101111011101100110111001101001's performance was met with a chorus of boos from 1024's loyal fans. In retaliation, the Brazilians unleashed a barrage of insults and expletives in Portuguese, further fueling the animosity.

The feud continued to simmer, with both bands exchanging cryptic messages and threats on social media. However, the shared experience of performing under challenging circumstances seemed to have sparked a grudging respect between them.

Months later, an unexpected collaboration emerged. Both bands released a split EP featuring a remixed version of the jaguar's roar sample. The feud, it seemed, had ultimately led to a unique and unexpected artistic alliance, proving that even the most bitter rivalries can sometimes spark creative fire.