#but that got boring real fast

[a-la-campanella]

Diamond and the Ten Stonehearts; who are they?

This was going to be part of a more comprehensive post about the Myriad Celestia IPC video, but fuck it, I've been scratching my head over this for hours now.

The Ten Stonehearts represents ten members of the IPC, led by Diamond. We know a few things about Diamond courtesy of this text. ->

This is from a larger post about the IPC, posted here. (According to the note left on Diamond's fandom wiki page, there was an official English translation, but it seems to have been deleted now.) Regardless, here's a translation for the above:

The Strategic Investment Department possesses the corporation's second-most long-term vision, and their investments are never constrained by short-term returns.

The investment department established an elite organization(1) of "Non-Performing Asset Liquidation Specialists" led by the mysterious supervisor "Diamond", one the few confirmed Emanator of Preservation leaders. They travel around the universe, actively liquidating lands with bad debts(2) produced by the Cancer of All Worlds.

Something to note, 使团 (which I translated as an organization above) refers to specifically a diplomatic corps or mission, like something more along the lines of an ambassador or representative for foreign relations.

It's basically the Topaz in Future Market situation. That's their job.

Note: I used a dictionary for most of the above translation, so it's a very literal reading on the text. My Chinese isn't good enough to translate this alone.

We can infer that the so-called Specialists probably refers to the Ten Stonehearts and maybe some other members of the IPC, or at bare minimum there's some level of overlap between these Specialists and the Ten Stonehearts. There's a reason Topaz was sent to Jarilo-VI instead of some low-ranking grunt, and those kinds of projects tend to be managed by people who can pull rank.

So we can confirm Diamond's the leader, and we assume to know what the Ten Stonehearts do. What else?

In the Myriad Celestia Trailer about the IPC (or what I like to call the IPC Recruitment video), we get an overview of how the IPC works and the different departments within it. We also get to see the gem representations of the Ten Stonehearts when the video starts talking about the Strategic Investment Department. What Owlbert says isn't important, he's talking fluff for the most part. What is important is what we're shown.

The picture on the left is cropped from before the person in the video picks up the gems. The one on the right is from after the gems are thrown, which is the image everyone else I've seen has been using.

But if you count these, there's nine gems before they get picked up, and eight after they're thrown.

I tried to match the numbers in both pictures to keep track of which gems were which, based on their colors and shapes.

Next train of thought: what's with the 9th gem?

A few theories, speculations, whatever you want to call it:

The boring answer: the producers working on this video straight up forgot about it. I find this hard to believe given the company's track record with lore in general.

It's hidden behind one of the other gems. I'm also skeptical of this answer, mostly because when you go frame by frame, it's still only eight gems, no ninth one. Besides, the only gem big enough to cover the missing one completely is the diamond, and for what reason? All the other gems are on display, why hide one?

Or? It's supposed to be missing.

In that case, why?

Whoever that gem is supposed to be is being withheld from working by the IPC board directly. The big guy who holds all the gems got to choose which ones to toss into the world, after all.

The person behind that gem is actually gone. Like, they no longer exist. Maybe it's a Garden of Recollection moment or something more sinister, or they woke up and decided to leave the IPC one day.

My friend's answer: that gem represents Topaz. She was, after all, demoted after her failure in Jarilo-VI. I personally don't believe that would've kicked her off the Ten Stonehearts group, but this is still worth considering.

There's more things we can consider, but this is what I think so far.

And what about number 10, the last gem?

I'm inclined believe it's actually represented by this heart-shaped gem seen right after the zoom-in on the diamond, in the Talent Motivation Department. It's literally a (gem)stoneheart. This one could not be any more obvious. Why are they here and not with the Strategic Investment Department? No fucking clue. Nobody said outright that all Ten Stonehearts had to be from the same department, I guess(?)...

We see the heart gem throughout the Talent Motivation Department section, so they're probably a big name in that part of the IPC. There's not much else to say here; we don't know enough to make any decisive comments and the readables about the Talent Motivation Department are rather scarce.

Fun fact, I guess! The two heads of the Talent Motivation Department? One of them named Yan Shiluo. Yan Shiluo is also the name of a cult leader in Honkai Impact 3rd. The more you know!

...that honestly isn't relevant to HSR players, since Yanqing was a rotten old man in HI3 and he becomes some Guy in HSR.

[chasmcritter-art]

caragan de vesphire! my mc from crown of ashes and flames

babbling about them below the cut

they started as a self insert but immediately morphed into something else lol they kept a lot of my usual self insert stuff but yeah uh

pierced all over and two tattoos! one is an option from the game itself, a snake around their thigh but i also wanted to do something written on their arm

edit: also an ankle tattoo now. a teapot with a moon on it, referencing the lil tea parties they had with alistair and their conversations about getting matching tattoos one day. alistair's would have had a star instead of a moon, but it would have been the same

never knew what til i realized, just a couple days ago, the line "no amount of self-sought fury will bring back the glory of innocence" from the song take me back to eden was. super fitting

also trying to figure out clothes was so hard?? while reading, i've only ever pictured them all dressed up or armored, so i sat staring at the rosea pinterest thing for like an hour

anyway!! they spend a lot of time climbing things they shouldn't. especially considering how clumsy they are. honestly, this scene was prolly like... 5 seconds away from them falling out of the tree and laughing about it for like 20 mins

also to be clear, they do try to dress properly when they have Responsibilities To Take Care Of but as soon as they get free time, they strip down as much as they can cause they hate being hot and they're basically a person shaped radiator

uhhh i think that's all i wanted to babble about

[skeletalheartattack]

[gaylos-lobos]

sketches from like two weeks ago that i forgot about

[neo-neos]

Can I rant/nerd out for a moment?

It is so wild to me that there are people out there that only consume English media (or media in their own native language) and hear me out on this one for a minute.

I am not trying to call anyone out for liking what they like, I am not trying to gatekeep or shit on what people consume or even have access to. I'm mostly trying to get to my own experience with consuming media from different countries and how it has positively affected me.

Because I don't often get the chance to say this to people in real life without facing judgment. But I don't think people are fully aware of how much it JOYS me to pick up on small pieces of language, social norms, or other bits of culture by consuming media from different countries.

Personally, I can almost say with certainty that I learned most of my English by consuming English media from a young age. English is not my native language but just by watching, consuming, and allowing my curious brain to explore this language, I am now on a level where (thanks to the silly papers I got) I am allowed to call myself a native-level speaker/writer/listener/reader. Of course, school had a big influence on this too, learning a language is always better with a teacher present. But that's not the point of this post.

The point is, even if you have no interest in learning a new language, just by consuming media in a language that isn't your native language will expose you to culture, social norms and even allows you to pick up a few silly words here and there and I think that that is the coolest thing ever.

[arctic-hands]

I like having joined a book fandom that's still new and fresh cause we get to nerdily bond as we devour a release of a new book in the series and I get to see all the theories and discussions and memes in real time as opposed to years later when everyone else knows how it ends so I have to block the fandom bc of spoilers. It's a feeling I haven't had since a teenager bc as of late I drag my ass into a fandom like a decade after its hayday and miss all the fun stuff

But it sucks ass that I am no longer as weirdly and eerily patient like I was as a child and the nine month wait for Heavenly Tyrant to come out is driving me crazy

[shoechoe]

Playing vanilla Minecraft for the first time in a while for the new 1.20 update and I know this isn't a new feature, but- holy shit I haven't had this much fun exploring cave systems in vanilla Minecraft since I did it for the first time as a seven year old

[gwydionae]

I love that my sister randomly sent me a video of my nephew playing his cello, having taught himself the short ditty that plays over each live action One Piece title card, and the only "dialogue" is her going "ARRRR" like a pirate at the end (with me nephew making a GRRR face in response).

(BTW this is a "watch out for lots of One Piece posts sorry not sorry" warning, lol.)

[floorpancakes]

i keep running into people in my fandom circles being elitist pieces of shit conflating popular=bad or 'i saw a teenager like it once so it and everyone into it are all awful uneducated assholes' with feigned moral superiority and it's pissing me off bad. if you want to be a hater at least be honest about it. stop pretending like you care about people's media consumption habits when you actually just want to hate anything you don't know and make yourself look better than everyone else. especially if you only start making these assumptions and comments the moment a piece of media blows up in popularity and you thought it was cool or left it alone before. this shit can have serious consequences but mostly I'm just sick of seeing it hate ethically please. and not in a 'im claiming my taste in media is ethically superior and everything else is for snivelling uneducated heathens and probably has bad rep in it or something and isn't a classic™ as deemed by the fandom elders so it's probably vapid and worthless and has something wrong with it and everyone that likes it is bad' way

[lucientheartisticfox]

Asleep Me, seeing fictional characters, things that break the laws of physics, and the world shifting every five seconds: Yeah this is how the world works, I'm definitely awake and not dreaming!

Asleep Me, seeing my cat loose in my school: Nah that'd never happen, this HAS to be a dream!

[gothamcityneedsme]

gonna do the true neutral (or whatever tf you want to call it) smtv ending next. really annoyed that you only unlock special miracles if your alignment matches the ending you get. PLUS also very annoyed that if you do newborn ng+ you lose all the best miracles. its so maddening.

[inbabylontheywept]

i did wrestling in middle school. on one hand, i was actually quite good at it, which was nice. being good at any sport was a new achievement for me. on the other hand, i was bi, and i was trying very hard not to notice that i was bi, and getting folded into knots by very kind, very muscular dorks made that task somewhat difficult.

adding fire to the problem was that my parents and my grandparents wanted to watch my matches, because they were very proud that their Gangly Nerd Son was actually Sporting, and they wanted to cheer me on. which would've been sweet and all, but if there are four people you do not want there during a key part of your Burgeoning Sexual Awakening, it is your mom and your dad and your grandma and your grandpa.

right? i mean, imagine some guy's got your head in his armpit, and you're going you know, old sweat smells bad, but fresh sweat has a sort of and then you make eye contact with your grandpa in the stands and you remember you're swearing spandex so if you pop a boner people aren't just going to be able to see the outline, they're going to be able to count the veins, and the only way you will be able to restore your family's honor after that would be by moving to siberia and renouncing joy, forever. that, or lift your entire body up by your kneck then twist 180 degrees without paralyzing yourself.

it’s a lot of pressure, is what i’m saying.

still it did motivate me to win my matches really fast. because i was so tall and skinny, i was stupidly good at the double leg takedown, and then once someone was knocked down, i'd just do the half nelson and kind of flip em over for the pin. then the ref would count to three and i’d win. EZPZ.

i had one match where that went great. won in the first ten seconds, sat back down, and prepared myself for a good hour or two of doing fuck all. didn't even feel bad the parents/grandparents were gonna be bored. the matches went up from me in 5 pound increments (i was in the 115 lbs division) and it was going great until we got to the 145 lbs division. the other school's wrestler stepped onto the mat, and she turned out to be a girl so our guy flipped, because for straight guys, wrestling a girl is not a pleasant experience.

i'm not entirely unsympathetic. my experience wrestling dudes was definitely a little traumatic. but also, i dealt. guy could've dealt too. instead, he refused to wrestle, and the coach went - fine. not even worth fighting over.

so he went to the 140 pounder, and that guy said, nosir, my mom said mormons can't wrestle girls. next guy down, 135 pounder, now he knew he could pull the same card and thus did. 130 pounder, 125, both tapped out. he got to the 120 guy, and that guy was catholic, but he said he was considering being mormon, and thus would have to pass. as a precaution.

coach blew up a little at that. he said "is there anyone - anyone - on this entire goddamn team that is willing to wrestle a girl?" and then he pointed at me and said "YOU. MAT. GO."

and i'll be real, if i'd been paying more attention, i'd have pulled the mormon card too, but i'd just been putting all that audio into a buffer file because i was reading, so i was halfway across the mat before i even processed what had been said and by then it was too late to turn back.

still i had a plan. and my plan - my beautiful, perfect plan - was to do what i'd always done. tackle, flip, pin, win. sit down. read. bore my family to death. move on.

i got the first part right. she was bigger than me, but she wasn't taller. just an incredibly stout woman. god built me like a snake with glasses, just as he built her like a combat cube. the problem was the half nelson. soon as she was down, i tried hooking my arm under hers from behind and for both genders, the defense for this move is just clamping your arms really fucking tight against your sides. if you're a guy, that's whatever, but if you're a girl - especially if you're god's chosen combat cube - that pins your opponents hand right against your boob.

so, i got the hook in, she clamped, my whole arm pressed against something soft, my coach was yelling THE HALF NELSON. BABYLON! JUST FINISH IT! FINISH THE HALF NELSON! and i was just trying to press hard enough to finish, when then my brain went

...oh.

and i flipped out. of course i flipped out. i like girls, and touching a boob is an elemental experience, and i was not ready. i was not prepared. i had not committed the sacred rites. i recoiled like i'd just brushed my arm against the surface of the sun, stood up, and backed away. nobody in the room knew why i'd given up. all they saw was me, right about to win, suddenly flailing around and scrambling. so everyone started screaming at me to just get the half nelson again, and i couldn't really yell back there's a fuckin' boob in the way and it was very distressing, and the only way i could think of to make them stop was just doing it over again the right way.

so i did.

i hunkered down and prepared myself for Wrasslin' Attempt #2: The Sequel.

i knocked her down again, EZPZ. i went for the half nelson again, but she knew what i was about to do so she super clamped, and i knew she was gonna super clamp, so i wound my arm back like a pop-eye cartoon punch before swinging my arm through the gap between her bicep and her side, but the amount of time i spent winding back super signalled what i was about to to do, which gave her time to clamp even harder, which somehow redirected the entire force of the popeye punch to the bottom of her bra.

it spat out a single boob the same way an action hero might spit out one single tooth after getting a solid crack across the jaw. as if to say:

*ptooie.* "that all you got?"

i did not actually see this. my experience was that first there was an arm, then there was a bit of boob, but i was braced, i was ready, forward at all costs, tatakae motherfuckers, and then the boob went away, and i didn't know where it went but my team, and the audience, and everyone who was in front of me, they all gasped like i just kicked them in the stomach. except for my coach. he was behind me, and thus one of the four people in the room who did not see the boob. now my mom, my dad, my grandma, and my grandpa, they all got flashed but nooooooo, coach thunderbutt was behind me, and he didn't see shit so he was still yelling NOOOOOO BABYLON WHAT ARE YOU DOING JUST FINISH THE NELSON! GO FOR THE KILL! BABYLON! BABYLON!

but i did not go for the kill. i stood up and she stuffed her boob back real fast, and we just kind of circled each other awkwardly until time ran out and i won on points. that's not technically allowed, but the ref had some mercy on me.

my coach did not.

i barely had time to sit down before he strode over to the bench to chew me out.

"babylon," he said, in that very calm way people get when they're too pissed to yell. "why didn't you pin?"

and i didn't know how to say well coach, i tried, but there was a boob, and it kept getting in the way, and my mom was watching, and so was my dad, and so was his dad, and his mom, and god (like bible god) and that's a can of worms because i'm pretty sure he was already mad at me, and i'm wearing spandex, and i think i might have to move to siberia, so instead i said

"i uh. i forgot how to do the half nelson."

which is actually impossible. forgetting how to do the half nelson is like forgetting how to swallow your spit.

and he looked at me, like i was the dumbest person in the entire world, and i looked through him like i'd just survived my 250th day in a trench at verdun, and he said: fine.

fine.

but we're all going to practice it for an hour tomorrow because you forgot.

and then he left.

and my buddies had the gall to be salty about it. i got so many comments saying "dude, why didn't you just tell him the truth?" and i said "you can if you care so damn much. you could've wrestled the girl too. maybe someone else should do the hard thing today."

but they didn't. so the next day, we did an hour of half nelson drills, and i spent a decent amount of time getting thrown around the mat, and it was pleasant in exactly the way that i hated and the year after that, to the surprise of everyone but myself, i quit wrestling and joined the trivia team.

and if you want more reasons to love my mom, my grandpa joked after the match that i might have to talk to my bishop about it, and my mom told him he would be allowed to make jokes after he stood in front of a crowd of 110 people in spandex underpants while wrestling a woman that was not his wife.

he paused for almost five seconds after that. then he said: aw. hell. sorry babylon.

and i'd have preferred my apology from god, but getting it from him was pretty good too.

[arsonist4hire]

Wonder what it would be like to just grab a shuttle and explore space a bit. Maybe just me 'n' some buddies.

[babisawyer]

couldn't get the damn app to work to watch exorcist 2 so I watched the autopsy of jane doe instead.

[evilminji]

Been Watching Weird Fruit Explorer(?)... and I just...

W-Who let Bored Danny have BooTube?

Sorry, YOU-Tube. He has TWO Apps now. BooTube is bigger. Way more random, yet... somehow more niche? Meh. It's what happens when you get billions of billions of people who all have their own Obsessions to rant over, on a site.

Ember's channel is pretty lit, tho, ngl.

He stopped using YOU-Tube almost overnight. Too many ads, weird algorithmic pushiness. No thanks. It was too small and too "trying to take my money". You know?

Buuuuut? See.... TUCKER is the Tech guy.

Coding and that sort of stuff. HE does hands on work. You want a toaster? He can MAKE you a toaster! With LAZERS! Runs off The Goo! But a program? Eeeeeeeh? Hit it with hammer maybe? Monkey make fire? Hit with stick? Blergh.

Yeah, he can SORTA push through.

But he suuuucks.

And like... he had a headache, okay? His project had just, quiet literally, exploded in his face. So when he looked at his phone? All the apps were blobs. He clicked the one that LOOKED kinda right. Shoved his arm in his phone and brute forced a channel set up.

He figured he could ramble about Space!

It's not like he cared is anyone LISTENS or not! It's a "for him" thing, you know? Like a diary. But more... putting on a ☆~show~☆?

So he rambles from the floor of his Lair's Lab, crashs and wails in the distance, green sky occasionally visible as he lazily floats by windows. Dropping... juuuust past human knowledge understanding of Space. Talking like he's STUDYING somewhere. Referencing PAPERS no human will ever be able to find.

But a few they WILL.

Some of which, are currently? Only half written.

But then? Oh YEAH... he should eat! You know... Sam keeps bringing him fruits and veggies and stuff from her internship at that Botanical Lair. Stuff never seen before of Earth. Or hasn't been seen in centuries.

Again, like, a FEW that? Randomly? Have???

He picks up something sharply purple, bright orange insides. Crisp crunch. He makes a face. And starts to ramble about it, distracted from Space. "Weirdly mushroom-y" he notes. "Kinda bubblegum sweet? But like... CHEAP bubblegum. Like it hits you all at once and is kinda chemically. But it disappears real fast? Huh. Spicy too..."

It's the first video on the Playlist. One of hundreds. Two of the green Lanterns RECONIZE that fruit ad HIGHLY toxic to humans, can't recognize what planet they're seeing. Or how this alien teen got himself on YouTube.

He seems... unaware of how incredibly famous he's become.

But his strange techno Pharoah friend has not. HE is both perfectly aware and apparently amused. Has taken to feeding him rare and hazardous flora and fauna, to see if it tastes good.

....there have been an alarming number of plants from dead planets.

And the comments the kid makes? Alarming as hell.

Sam's just pleased everybody's getting their greens. Danny's glad him n tuck get to hang and do "try weird foods and fuck around, bro time". They've made lazers! Talked about stuff! Debated why Martian Manhunter is THE superior Justice League member.

Danny understands. Wonder Woman is a BAMF. But he's biased, Tucker. He doesn't CARE if she has a sword and flowy, impressive locks! Shape-shifting telepath! From MARS!!! *imaginary mic drop*

And Tucker? Is conquering the YouTube scene with this charming, weird, relatable young alien. Who rambles about Space, debates nerd stuff, eats weird plants and describes them, and makes sci-fi technology! Theme? WHAT THEME? Phantom is a weird channel, man. You never know what you'll find!

And no one can get rid of it.

Believe them, governments have TRIED. Censorship? Not possible. Not without removing the whole SITE.

[jaysgirlx]

"Need help sweetheart?" Bookstore Customer!Jason Todd helps you reach the books on the higher shelves. You were his favorite employee and he wanted to make your day easier. He'd been coming here for a while but you always forgot how tall he was and how good his body felt pressed against yours. You only knew how to mumble out a couple words because you didn't know what else to say to a man like that. "Uh sir, you don't need to-"

"Please call me anything but sir sweetheart, you know I'm not new here"

Bookstore Customer!Jason enjoyed teasing his favorite employee aka you of course. He teases you about working at the bookstore even though he's constantly there and he'll always be flirting with you even if you're working the counter that day. He knows he's holding up the line but he's a paying customer so he doesn't care.

"How's my favorite pretty girl doing?"

"M'tired today Jay, I can't handle your nonsense right now"

"Okay that was mean- wait, Jay? that's a first"

"Buy a book or get out Jason"

You could easily tell Jason liked classics and poetry but for some reason he was willing to read your favorites even if they were a smut-filled mess. One time, he backed you up into a corner, after reading one of those books you liked, "Hmm, you like this kind of shit baby? cause I can do all that to you and so much more"

Over time, you learned that Jason also likes to follow you to the store, whispering to you about all the things he could do to you if you'd let him. His hand is always on your hips, pressing his body fully into you. He knows you like it especially when you roll your hips into his when nobody's looking. He wishes you'd use your words and just say you were his but he knew he wasn't even close to getting that, at least not yet.

Jason tried to buy a new book every week, sometimes not even to read. He needed an excuse to be there since your boss has never been fond of him ever since he had caught him feeling you up near the back shelves once. He learned his lesso so now he purposefully buys the books you like, just so he can watch you ramble on and on about them without getting kicked out of the store.

Bookstore Customer!Jason thrived on the feeling he got from watching you go from being so nonchalant around him to the most talkative girl in the world. he wants you comfortable if he's going to fuck you. You find yourself shutting up one time because you thought you had bored him but he quickly gets rid of that thought for you, "Keep talking sweetheart, I'm just wondering how pretty your mouth would look with my cock stuffed down your throat"

"Jay I don't- I can't- I haven't-"

"Don't worry, you will and I'm sure you're a fast learner"

It wasn't that hard for you to notice that Jason got a little jealous when his brother Dick hits on you the first and last time he brings him to the bookstore. Dick easily chats you up and Jason watches the two become a bit too friendly for his liking but it wasn't his place to speak, "Now I see why my little brother brings home so many books"

"It's good he does, I like guys who read"

"I actually quite the fan of classic literature-"

"Oh shut up Dick"

Bookstore Customer!Jason had all your coworkers wondering if you'll ever let the poor guy hit. They weren't sure if Jason was interested in you or your body, regardless they couldn't ignore the smile you got whenever he walk in. Or the way you'd laugh at his dumb jokes. You had him on a leash and you didn't even know what to do with him. He's begging to take you out or just even spent a night with you. He didn't just want you, he needed you. "C'mon I promise to take care of you princess, I'll even take you to that little coffee shop in Bludhaven"

"Who told you about that?!"

"…Dick"

When he finally manages to convince you to let him kiss you, you're nervous as fuck. You thought this was just another one of his antics but no, this was real. He'd promised to stop hitting on you if you felt nothing and you should've know it was bad idea when you could hear your own heartbeat still your let his lips touch yours. It was such a bad idea because before you knew it, he's got you pushed up against the wall, leg parting your thighs with your hands gripping at his shirt. "Jay, more please" Suddenly after all this time, you're pleading for him. Oh how the tables have turned. You're begging for all he's got, and you know he has so much more to give.

"Just give me a moment baby, got be patient" Within a matter of minutes your pants are discarded on the floor, and your panties are still on but being pushed aside while two fingers are being pumped in and out of your pussy. He's got one hand on your hips holding you down while one of your legs is wrapped around his waist. "Didn't I tell you I could do some much for you baby?"

You nod quickly while he's sucking on your poor neck, that would definitely be red all tomorrow. you feel his teeth sink into your skin, not too hard but rough enough to leave a mark. "Now keep quiet, I don't want any of your coworkers hearing us back here" The next thing you know you're cumming on the boy's fingers and he wants you to do it again. and again. and possibly 50 more times if you're willing.

The next time Jason comes, he's holding what you think is flowers and you know he'll be your victim today.

"So I thought real flowers would be cheesy and you'd probably not want to take care of em, so my brothers taught me how to make these paper flowers and…here just take them"

"Wow, I'm getting hand-crafted flowers from THE Jason Todd? Someone must have a really big crush on me huh? Are those bandaids on your fingers? Want me to kiss your boo-boos? "

"Are you going to finally go out with me or do I have to make you cum-"

"Yes yes! Just do not finish that sentence out loud"

"You are soooooooooo in love me"

"Jay, get out"