#but the compassion ?? in tandem with the other two ?? absolutely

[punkmacabre-arc]

# ( 𝔮. ) — ◟ THE ARCHETYPE QUIZ.

39% REBEL: the     rebel     is     comfortable     throwing     caution    to     the     wind    —    &     bucking     the     system    —    if     that     means     getting     their     point     across.

33% CAREGIVER: friendly,     sincere,     &     compassionate,     the     caregiver     finds     their     reward     in     helping     others.     no     one     could     ask     for     a     better     best     friend.

28% ADVOCATE: the     advocate      is      the      one      everyone      wants      on      their      side.      in      the      name      of      justice,      they      are      not      afraid      to      challenge      authority      or      speak      up      for      others.

tagged by: @lusifr ( ty !! 🖤 )tagging: @lakeletters ( for zee ), @ofsoul, @loneheir, @iudicatus, @selinaes, @ducygnenoir, @riverspat & you < 33

[nincompoopydoo]

DEBRIS AND MISERY

SAME OLD LOKI ; PART 6 / ?

PAIRING: Loki Laufeyson x Female!Reader WORD COUNT: 3.3k (oops) SUMMARY: You find yourself venturing deeper into finding the Loki variant on the loose with the help of Mobius and Loki while maintaining your temper around the God of mischief and fighting with your own demons. A/N: Downtime apparently lasted for more than a week. I had absolutely no motivation to write but I eventually came around. There’s alot going on in this. Please tell me what you think, what you love, hate and look forward to. Thank you so much for showing so much love to d&m. gif from this gifset by @sersi WARNINGS: Swearing. Imagery relating to death (i think?). You and Loki’s relationship fluctuating like the goddamn economy. support my writing through ko-fi💖 MASTERPOST ; MASTERLIST

Blue. Your flight suit is blue.

Your eyes sting with worry, ticking to a pair of hands buckling the straps that lay across your chest. A man secures it tightly, forcing your back against the cockpit chair. Your gaze drifts to the concentric steel rings of yellow, red, and white that stretch overhead and around you—being suspended within a 3-axis gimbal sends another churning sensation within your abdomen.

You hear a voice. It courses through the room and vibrates within your ears like fluttering echoes in a tunnel. It’s a man. He calls out your name from below.

“You ready?”

In your periphery, you see him, tall with slicked-back hair, standing with other men that adorn similar flight suits of blue. You nod, inhaling deeply as your hands reach for the controls. Suddenly, a metallic clang echoes through the room and the machine whirrs to life. The rings begin spinning in tandem, tossing your body in all directions. Your grip tightens around the controls, clicking with every push and pull as you struggle to analyze the spin. But, the machine spins faster.

Faster and faster and faster.

The machine continues to whirr. Your hands are still shifting the controls.

Faster and faster and faster.

Your eyes begin to droop, nausea taking hold of your body.

Faster and faster and faster.

You only hear your breaths; every inhale and exhale—they're loud.

Faster and faster and faster.

Too fast.

Stop.

...

Click. Click. Click.

Footsteps. Not the clicks of the controls. You hear them clicking against tile floors from afar. From darkness, your eyes meet the color brown, shiny and polished—it’s wooden. The sound of the vast building’s acoustics hum in tune with the occasional chatter and echoing thump. You recognize the ambiance and it comforts your hasty thoughts as your brain tries to wreck itself in comprehending your current surroundings.

It’s one of those dreams again. The ones that kept you awake at night since the Sakaar incident, as if reliving the memories of another life. It isn’t yours but the realism to it makes it so complex that your brain cannot even comprehend the experiences during these dreams that occur.

To see, touch, hear, smell, and taste. Do dreams exceed the limit of disconnection and logic? Are dreams to be so immersive that it feels more like a memory, an echo of the past?

Through the turmoil of parsing between what’s real and what’s not, a tap on your shoulder hauls you back to reality. You turn to see Mobius, looking ridiculously exhilarated. Behind him lingers an amused Loki, hands tugging into the pockets of his jacket. The analyst says your name with a tone of equal exuberance to his manner.

“I thought I’d find you here. Do you always sleep at the archives?”

You snort, seizing yourself up as you wipe your face with your palm in hopes of feeling slightly more awake and alive than you were before. “No. Sometimes, I sleep at my desk too.”

Exhausted and sarcastic. Typical you.

Mobius rounds the table to sit beside you, gesturing Loki to his previous spot before he got up and ran away from you without any explanation. He shoots you a smile, lips pressed together, almost hesitant to sit across from you. You watch him through narrowed eyes as you address him with folded arms. “And here you are, back here again.”

Loki cannot fight the growing grin upon his lips, knowing all too well that you're referring to how he led you into an unnecessary chase down the corridors of the TVA for the sake of his entertainment. Well, it was not unnecessary. Things were turning out to be a bore and with the sudden thought of a proposition to help with his case, it doesn’t mean he has to drag out the fun of irritating the hell out of everyone else.

And you are not a bore.

-

“Loki! Where the hell do you think you're going?!"

You’re outright screaming at him but his long legs only stride faster than yours could handle, slumber still clinging to your face like a thick, waxen mask. He’s so quick, weaving through tangerine hallways, skidding across the tiled floors.

He saunters down the hall with quick feet but doesn’t sprint, clever enough not to draw any attention.

He ought to answer you. Throwing a glance over his shoulder, he flashes you a cheeky smile. He swears he saw flames burning in your eyes for a moment.

As you wind another corner, you already see him making one last quick dart through the elevator doors that slide open as it dings unceremoniously. Through your wide-eyed gaze, you signal him with eyes that carry a warning.

“Don’t you dare close that fucking door.” you snarl, voice booming from down the hallway and so does the clicking of the heels of your Oxford shoes as you march towards him like you’re on the hunt for prey.

Loki jams his finger onto the button to close the doors, unable to wipe off his grin. “Don’t you trust me?” is all he says to you, sending you a wink through the closing gap of the elevator doors as he raises his palm to wave you farewell.

-

You decided Loki wasn’t worth the time he has already taken from your assigned paperwork. So, you returned to your desk with a trace of bitterness in your tongue while attempting to suppress the regret for actually feeling sorry for Loki. Only because you know how it is like to be alone.

That’s the thing about Loki. He gets inside your head, makes you think that for once, he may be worth not pruning. He makes you think he is capable of change, capable of compassion. He makes you think he cares from the way he looks at you with those eyes that flicker the spark of hope in you. This Loki is the same old Loki.

Well, maybe the one in Sakaar had a good chance of earning your trust. But that’s gone now.

You shift in your seat, elbows now leaning against the edge of the table. “And to answer your question, no. I do not trust you. And I never will.”

Famous last words of the variant turned analyst.

Nobody trusts you either.

Except for the grey-haired analyst with the obsession for jet skis and you never understood why. Maybe, it’s because you’re the only one who is willing to put up with his ramblings.

Mobius eyes you and Loki’s interaction as the two of you seem to fall into the rhythm of making things even more complex than it appears. It's all part of his grand plan. Mobius knows you well enough to know you are possibly enjoying Loki's company no matter how much he irritates you. And Loki, it's clear how he admires you and how you constantly surprise him every time he crosses paths with you.

“What would I ever do without your trust?” the God sneers, each articulation of every word wrapped in mockery paired with dramatically placing his hand to his heart. Your eye twitches, the spitfire of your personality ready to fire back with a probable nasty insult. Yet, Mobius places his hand on your shoulder, while the other outstretched towards Loki as if trying to keep the two of you apart.

“Okay, okay. No need to get all riled up now. We only just had a breakthrough in the case, and I’m not letting you kill each other just yet.”

Your anger seems to immediately wash away, replaced by curiosity. You blink at your colleague. “Breakthrough?”

“Yes, and it was surprisingly Loki’s theory. Now—”

“Why do I smell...sulfur?”

You cut his sentence short as a strong whiff of a reeked scent began to descend upon you, billowing in the air. You inhale deeply, brows furrowing in concentration and confusion. An overpowering scent of a decaying body, faint but strong enough to seem out of the ordinary. The archives never smell rotten, always floor polish. Mobius and Loki share a look. Mobius is the one to speak up, attempting to distract you from your sudden strong sense of smell. “Sulfur? What, like when there’s a demonic manifestation? I mean, we are in the presence of Loki—”

“You went to Pompeii, didn’t you?”

In all of the time he has spent with Mobius who had a constant laid-back and confident nature to him, he has never seen him so red in the face. As the situation unfolds, he wonders why Mobius has made it a point to hide that information with so much eagerness which now has proved to be useless. You’re not only intelligent but also quick—only in terms of the mind rather than your physical capabilities.

You can hardly run, but your brain outshines everyone else he has met in the TVA.

Mobius is now waiting for the imminent chaos and mayhem you’re about to bring. You’re going to call him insane like every other time he has suggested an out-of-the-ordinary idea. Causing a scene is one of your talents. He has his hand on your shoulder again.

“You hate Pompeii, Mobius. Why the hell would bring him—Wait.” Your eyes are wide and blinking. “You went to Pompeii. Alone. I know that from the look on your faces. Which means no reset charge...No Nexus event.” You pause, pursing your lips. Then, you avert your gaze to Loki who watches you curiously. “Are you suggesting the variant is hiding in apocalypses?”

Mobius’ laugh comes off like a puff of air. He pats you on the back like a proud uncle. “Back on the game, Agent!”

Loki is slightly impressed. Only slightly.

“Okay, you two stay here. I’ll go get the files. Great work, you two.” Mobius gestures to the both of you with an outstretched index finger, grin so wide as he scurries off. Mobius loves a good case, especially when there’s a breakthrough. And with you finally familiarizing yourself with working together with Loki, everything is finally starting to look up.

The two of you end up finding each other’s gaze and for the first time, you smile at him. It’s small but genuine.

“You know you could have told me.”

“I would have, but you don’t trust me, remember?”

You hum, raising a brow. “And running away was supposed to gain my trust?”

Loki chuckles, eyes flicking to the table. “I never said anything about gaining your trust.”

Your smile grows wider, and Loki decides how he prefers you like this—relaxed and amused.

He oddly sees his mother in you. It’s the way you look at him. Like you know him.

Right, you have met him. Once.

“What was I like? The one you met at Sakaar.”

You blink, slightly taken aback by his sudden question that hasn’t got to do with insinuating you.

“The same as you—barely tolerable,” you say tightly, heaving a sharp exhale. ”Just…a lot sadder.”

You hadn’t mentioned how he willingly helped escape your execution because a part of you still believes it all to be a lie. The TVA has your complete fidelity but ever since the Sakaar incident, your trust in the way the system works has been swayed. After years of being trapped in your mind, the question of whether your capabilities in logic have been damaged due to loneliness still begs. Judge Renslayer believes in your incompetence but you believe she hides a secret about the Time Keepers.

The three beings, creator of the TVA, personally convicted you as innocent, allowing you to maintain your job. Nothing of this makes sense.

Maybe Judge Renslayer lost all her faith in you, her second-best analyst because your Nexus event relates to Loki. The one variant that has been causing havoc to the Sacred Timeline. And this Loki, the one that seems to be very curious about your place in the TVA and the Time Keepers, is no different than the others.

You find yourself feeling an uncalled sense of sadness that dwells in your chest at the thought of leaving the only friendship you secretly wished to have maintained back at Sakaar. Before you let yourself fall into the abyss of melancholic wishful thinking, you swiftly direct the conversation elsewhere.

"I’m sorry Mobius referred to you as the devil,” you say coyly. “You really aren’t.”

Loki, who seems to catch on with the sarcastic tone of your voice, leans farther into his seat. “Really?”

A smirk returns to your face. “You're worse than the devil." He snorts, noticing the vague hint of crimson growing upon your cheeks and how your eyes seem to crinkle a little more than usual.

He finds himself swallowing under your stare, fiddling his fingers in an attempt to calm his sudden erratic heartbeat. A stutter under your now kind gaze—no one ever stares at him with a smile. "You are not the first to say that."

There’s another pause; Loki’s face is set with a smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes. You feel a pang of guilt in your chest in remembrance of how you’re not the first to have treated him the way you did. He’s dangerous but, there’s no reason for animosity. Yet, it all boils down to the lives he has willingly taken. It doesn’t differentiate him from the rest of the TVA.

Mysterious variant.

The devil is always in the details.

Strangely, the work of the devil may prove to be useful in times of cul-de-sacs as an idea comes to mind. “I think...I think I know where you’re at right now.” Your voice is light, distracted by your now running thoughts. You’re on your feet, chair squeaking as you push it back. Your pen is in your grasp and you wave it in the air, reflecting the gears that turn at high speed within your brain.

Frankly, you’re not making any sense. Loki furrows his brows, slowly standing. “What do you mean? I’m right here—"

“No. The other one. The variant. And it has to do with gum.”

You’re still not making sense and it’s clear that in your eyes, he is invisible. You’re the only one in that frenzied mind of yours.

“What?”

You don’t answer him, feet quickly bringing you down the passageway along the vast rows of shelves that stretch along with the floor’s pristine balcony of white and the two of you are back to playing chase and run. Only this time, the roles are reversed.

-

Mission Haven Hills: not successful.

Really not successful. Far from successful.

You witnessed the doom of bombing the Sacred Timeline, firsthand. Employees scramble at the controls as you watch the screen that looms over the control room. What was once a single line, running along with time has now grown like a tree with fruits of chaos, caused by Nexus events scattered across time and places.

You wished the dust would settle and this was all simply a dream but you realize this was his plan all along.

Bomb the timeline. Distract the TVA.

There is one thing you know about Loki. He is moved by revenge and resentment.

As if you possess some sort of telepsychic powers, a part of you feels that danger itself is within the vicinity of the TVA. The variant is here, you just know it.

You hope Mobius is okay.

Scurrying down the winding hallways, past the hurried time hunters, and past the time theaters, you find yourself heading towards the golden doors of the Time Keepers’ chambers. In a time of uncertainty, your gut is your only source of guidance.

At the end of the hallway, you see bodies on the ground, nearly lifeless—time hunters, either unarmed or batons missing. You plucked one of the sizzling batons from the ground as you cautiously stepped around the laying bodies. You clutch it tightly to calm the blood rushing to your head, pounding along with your heartbeat as you take on the venture into the foyer of the grand chambers with secrets not wanting to be unveiled.

You round the corner, following the wooden panels for walls laid along the entrance. The glowing end of the baton within your grasp reflects off the black porcelain tiles beneath your careful feet. You hear voices, grunts, and shouting as if in combat.

Then, you see them. Loki in his variant jacket and a woman with locks of blonde and streaks of black. She adorns a headpiece of golden horns—one broken off.

Isn't Loki supposed to be at Haven Hills?

Recognizing the presence of another, the two turn to you, daggers still held to each other's throats. Loki eyes you with wide eyes, a silent plea whether to help or stand down, you’re unsure. Your gaze shifts to the woman once more who watches you with an equal resemblance to the other.

Then, it hits you. You recognize the dark emerald cloak she wears. You know exactly who she is. You just never thought it would be a she.

“You!” Your exclamation is bitter, and it’s directed towards the woman who seems to be strangely expectant of your remark as if she already knows who you are. She is L1190, a Loki variant. The one who slashed you with the TVA’s baton, scaring your left cheek. The one who hauled you through the time door and left you stranded in Sakaar for thousands of years.

You know exactly what she has done. She knows what she has done.

“You did this to me!” you gesture to the scar on your left cheek, eyes fixated solely on her, nearing the two with caution. You’re angry. Very angry. All pent-up rage begging to be set free.

Before Loki could even perceive the current situation he landed in between two women who very much want him dead, you’re already swinging the baton to her face with full force but she blocks it with her sword but slightly staggers in her step. You glare at her. She seems a little surprised. In an instant, you take a step back and go for another strike to her rib, but she blocks you again, sliding away and dodging your hit by a mere second. You growl out of frustration, seething through your teeth, and without hesitation, you strike again. The fight goes on—strike, block, strike, dodge. And with every blow, your intensity escalates, each a little harder than the one before. Loki stands there, watching, speechless and frozen.

You strike again, the baton crackling less than an inch away from her face but she dodges just in time, swinging her sword across your face. It grazes your cheek, now a gash of crimson on top of your scar, and with the sudden blow of searing pain, you lose your balance.

The variant spins into a kick that sweeps your legs out from under, knocking you hard onto the ground. The baton rolls out from your grip. Your hand flies to the gash, trickling with blood.

“Hey!”

The brawl comes to a halt. You seize yourself up from the ground, back and head aching, turning to see Judge Renslayer accompanied by two hunters, batons held up in defense position. You were about to reach for your own that was a stretch away when suddenly, you felt a hand grip you by the collar, hauling you to your knees. Her sword held to your neck.

“Come any closer and I’ll kill her.”

“Go for it.”

Your eyes are wide in shock, all anger towards the variant now turning into this churning feeling of betrayal that resides within your abdomen. Judge Renslayer doesn’t look at you, focus fixated on the two variants—it’s like you’re not even there.

The three start to charge towards you and you involuntarily shut your eyes. Then, as quick as a rattlesnake, Loki grabs the tempad hung at her waist and sends the three of you falling through the ground.

That’s the thing about Loki. He gets inside your head, makes you think that for once, he may be worth not pruning. Now, with your back landing hard on top of him, all you could think about is wanting to strangle him to death.

TAGLIST:

@lareinedususpense

@poubxlle

@mystoragehatesme

@the-maroon-panda

@kashasenpai

[stranger-who-writes-fiction]

Folks, FOLKS.  Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow #7 is here and it is SO HECKIN’ GOOD. 

And do you know what this Very Good issue of Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow is called???

CHAPTER SEVEN: “HOPE, HELP, AND COMPASSION.”

*cue happy nerd flailing set to the rad guitar version of the Supergirl TV theme*

ISSUE CREDITS: “Hope, Help, and Compassion.” written by Tom King, art by Bilquis Evely, colors by Matheus Lopes, letters by Clayton Cowles, and edited by Brittany Holzer w/ asst. editor Jillian Grant and senior editor Mike Cotton.

THE PLOT:

Having captured Krem at the end of issue six, issue seven finds Ruthye, Comet, and Kara ready and waiting for the Brigands. 

Half the issue takes place on the surface of an oceanic/aquatic planet, where Ruthye and Comet keeps tabs on Krem.

The other half of the issue is set in space, as Kara takes on the Brigands’ ship, the Bonnie Prince Charlie.

Thus we’re back in True Grit territory, as this set-up is lifted right from the novel. (Mattie is left alone with Chaney while Rooster takes on Ned Pepper’s gang.)

(I also just realized the other day that Krypto being poisoned/needing an antidote is a nice stand-in for Mattie’s encounter with the rattle snake.)

SO there’s this really great balance of the tense, character-driven drama between Ruthye and Krem, while Kara gets this sweeping, epic space battle and it is just. So. GOOD.

I figure the best way to approach this one is to break it up into those two sides so LET’S GO.

A GIRL AND HER SUPER-HORSE

Alright so before we get into like, you know, the writing and the character stuff let’s talk about that ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT!!!!

I kinda touched on this a little bit in a previous post re: these pages but man, THE COLORS.

By now, it should come as no surprise that Evely and Lopes are MASTERS of creating unique alien worlds and populating them with amazing detail, but I gotta say. That water? The transparency and color transitions from the shore to the sea? A truly impressive flex.

Like there is. SO MUCH that goes into coloring a page like this. For one, aquas and purples are notoriously tricky in print, as CMYK doesn’t really play nice with them. So even getting that vibrant sea green takes a significant amount of planning/work, to say nothing of the color holds and textures and whatnot.

Just absolutely gorgeous, and such a great contrast to the yellows, reds, and oranges of Kara’s portion of the book!

Again, mentioned this in my previous post but I love the way the beach environs offset the reds of the...space apples? And Comet’s cape.

Speaking of Comet and space apples, some other Very Good Panels:

I love this one because it’s just adorable? Like, Evely is so great in this issue, reminding us that Ruthye is a very young girl who is in the midst of an emotionally trying ordeal--there’s excellent expression/character acting later on, but here? Just! A cute li’l panel of Ruthye’s physicality that emphasizes how tiny she is. And the little floating fish! 26/10.

(Ruthye’s legs dangling over the side of Comet reminds me of that great panel from issue three, where Kara’s putting her on the bench before they go flying.) 

Another detail I loved, Ruthye’s very tiny bite compared to Comet who takes like. Half. XD

Oh, right, should just like. Give major props to Evely for all of the HORSE DRAWINGS.

Horses are hard, man. XD

Also Comet EMOTES which is even TOUGHER to pull off.

Damn this creative team for making me like Comet the Super-Horse.

DAMN THEM.

Right, sorry, okay. So. As we’ve established, the colors and art are splendid, and work in perfect tandem with the writing.

The story starts out very light and airy (just like the art!) as Ruthye casually chats with Comet, and ultimately persuades him to let her talk to Krem.

Because, see, Kara has left Comet with Ruthye so that Ruthye doesn’t just. Murder Krem. 

There’s really great humor here, in the form of Ruthye sassing Krem. 

But while Ruthye initially seems in control, both in terms of the conversation, as well as in control of her own emotions, Krem quickly gains the upper hand, as he (also quite casually!) tells Ruthye how he came to kill her father.

I have said it before, and I will say it again: Evely is *so good* at nailing characters’ expressions and emotions--the body language, the subtleties in eyebrows and mouth shapes--in the above page, I love how Ruthye leans into Comet, almost trying to hide from the terrible things Krem is saying. And the fact that the action is given these three huge panels to let the moment play out over a period of ‘time’ and breathe is wonderful (along with the steady push-in on her face and tears. Which are beautifully rendered, I might add.)

CONTRAST THAT with Krem’s unchanged, unfeeling face! NOT ONLY does that emphasize his cruelty, but also let’s us know that this guy? 

We get an echo of these three panels on the next page, where Krem...kinda unknowingly makes a (potentially fatal???) error.

Like. Krem had her on the ropes! She was beat! Emotionally devastated!

But then he went and did a sexism. XD

She’s able to refocus her anger and hurt and thus is back in control and we get that same ‘hiding’ action but in a more overtly ‘I’m plotting your downfall’ way.

I mean. LOOK AT THAT SMIRK. XD

And then it’s here, at this point, where Ruthye’s portion of the story at last directly connects to Kara’s, so let’s backtrack a bit and discuss...

THE BATTLE OF CAPES

Kara’s entire half of the book is just!!!

It’s all caption boxes/narration, much like issue 6; however, as Ruthye reveals on the very first page, this information is not firsthand, and she had to do research in order to record what occurred in Supergirl’s showdown with the Brigands.

Ruthye also mentions that epic poems have been written about this fight which evokes a sense mythic scale/scope to what we’re about to read--this is not just Supergirl taking down a bad guy. This is The Battle of Capes. Poems have been written about it. So many poems in fact, that there are good ones and, in Ruthye’s words, ‘shoddy ones’ as well!

I. LOVE. THIS.

Like. I’ll be the first to admit that I like earthbound Supergirl stories. I think that’s an important part of her characterization, that she finds a home on Earth. (Eventually! She doesn’t have to love it at first. See: the Best Episode of Supergirl, “Midvale” XD)

But I also love the idea of the Super family just. Existing for millennia and their galaxy-spanning adventures becoming the stuff of legends. (See, the Extremely Awesome “Legion of Superheroes: Millennium” by Bendis and “House of El” comic by PKJ.)

So I love this set up, I love this mood, I love that Ruthye is like, ‘Yeah, I hate that part in that one poem, “The yellow of her hair, the red of her lip, the wreckage and ruin of every ship.” 

As I’ve said before, this book does such a great job of not only establishing all these alien worlds and cultures and whatnot but also making them feel lived-in. Like it’s cool that there are poems about this battle--it’s even cooler that a character has an opinion on a very cheesy line from one of those poems.

*Patrick Stewart voice* World building!

And, of course! The art works in perfect harmony, selling this sense of pure scale.

PAGE ONE! RIGHT OFF THE BAT! We see Kara, larger than life, even appearing larger than the planet below, thanks to the composition of the page! Solid, strong, resolute! We can EASILY imagine Supergirl besting any foe! Weathering any attack, no matter how savage!

And then BOOM.

HUGE DOUBLE-PAGE SPREAD OF THE REVERSE ANGLE, and Kara is now dwarfed in comparison to the Brigands’ ship--we see the literal size of the obstacle and we KNOW that Supergirl’s in for a fierce fight.

And it’s here, in said fight, that we get some cool, vaguely meta bits.

For one, Kara facing down the Brigands’ cannon fire calls to mind the shot of Superman beating back the ray gun from the classic Fleischer cartoon

(This isn’t the exact shot I’m thinking of, but hopefully conveys the idea. XD Like there’s a better one where Clark is actually flying and smacking the laser beams out of the way.)

ALSO Ruthye specifically muses on why a fight between Supergirl and the Brigands would be interesting, if you know Supergirl is going to beat 'em.

And this book has a pretty great answer, to the common complaint from readers that the Super characters are boring, or hard to write, because they’re too powerful, or too ‘good.’

‘You know they’re going to win, so why bother?’

As per Ruthye: “No one has a monopoly on power.”

Essentially: There are any number of threats one can simply INVENT or IMAGINE. Because this is fiction. You’re literally making stuff up, so. Make up some more stuff! XD

Again, as per Ruthye: “There are faster bullets. There are stronger locomotives. There are taller buildings. It is a universe of wonders and mysteries, and being born under one sun and raised under another does not mean you have mastered its limits.”

Brilliant. Amazing. Spectacular. Insert orsonwellesclapping.gif here. XD

Okay, time for my favorite paaaaage:

Gonna quote the text for easier reading, as it’s small on the page: “And so with that unprecedented barrage, one that might have laid waste to any number of solar systems...Supergirl fell from the sky and toward the planet below. The heat of reentry began to warm her and, as she described it to me, there was a feeling of comfort in it. It reminded her of Krypton, of coming home after school and her father overheating the laser grill, raising the temperature in the whole apartment. She could see him dashing though the kitchen to tell her that everything was all right, he’d got it under control, just don’t tell your mother when she gets home. And Supergirl would smile knowing she’d got something from her father not many ever got, a secret. And as she continued to fall and the flames hugged her even closer she saw her house burn, she saw her parents burn, she saw her world burn. Until all she had left was that secret and no one to whom she could tell it. And knowing that, that she was the only one in the whole universe who could tell the story of her father and the laser grill, she knew she could not die that day. Her life was one of trillions. But that memory was unique and needed preserving.”

SO LET’S SEE. BEAUTIFUL SPACE IMAGERY. MEMORIES OF KRYPTON, OF HER FAMILY AND HER WORLD. THE PEACFEUL MEMORIES GIVING WAY TO THE DESTRUCTION OF HER HOME. DECIDING THAT SHE NEEDS TO KEEP LIVING. SHE WILL KEEP GOING. SHE WILL NOT DIE THIS DAY.

1000/10 S-Tier Supergirl content, Tom King, Bilquis Evely, and Mat Lopes understood the assignment.

BUT THE GOOD KARA CONTENT DOESN’T STOP THERE. OH NO.

So Kara manages to board their ship and take the Brigands on directly but they gain the upper hand--she goes down, and it’s at this point that we’re BACK to where our stories converge!

BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER:

Gosh, this part was so good.

Down on the planet, Comet gets all squirrelly; something is wrong!

Cut to the Brigands above, and we get this moment:

The Brigands delight in Supergirl’s apparent weakness, in her BEGGING for mercy. 

And we, the reader, might even think, ‘WHOA, Kara’s in a tight spot!’

BUT THEN.

BUT THEN.

It is revealed that Kara is NOT begging for her life, but is in fact TELLING COMET TO STAY WITH RUTHYE BECAUSE SHE NEEDS HIM.

HEROIC, SELFLESS-TO-A-FAULT KARA, USING SUPER-HEARING, IN ADDITION TO THE OTHER GOOD STUFF?!???!???!

WE LOVE TO SEE IT.

Like, if I had a bingo board of all my favorite Supergirl stuff, this issue would check off so many boxes. 

Time for another quoooooote:

“Her power was great, greater than you can imagine. But it was not just measured in terms of the pull of her muscle, the cool of her breath, and the heat of her eyes. No, her power also derived from a whole life dedicated to kindness. From day after day defending others from the wicked. And thereby earning their loyalty. So that she did not often walk alone.”

I know for a fact there are Hardcore Supergirl Fans™ who, as recently as issue six, still feel that King is doing a bad job, and fundamentally doesn’t understand Kara. 

To which I say: We’re reading different books, clearly.

BECAUSE HERE SHE IS, LADS. 

IN A COMIC TITLED: HOPE, HELP, AND COMPASSION.

King better stick the landing so that I don’t look like a dang fool again, I swear. XD

Comet continues to become agitated, to the point where Ruthye realizes that Kara needs help, and Ruthye urges him to go assist her.

She swears on her dad’s grave that she won’t kill Krem, and so, Comet takes flight!

AT WHICH POINT WE REALIZE! This whole time, as Ruthye was giving Comet the space fruit and relating the story of her ponydog, she was cleverly gaining his trust, so that she could convince him to leave her alone WITH KREM! And that her promise to Comet was a LIE!!!

GASP!

And thus issue seven ends!

SOME ADDITIONAL MISC. ART APPRECIATION:

I love the mix of close-ups on Kara as well as these wider shots of action during the Big Brawl sequence.

And like, the shape here! Of the Brigands being pushed back by Kara, it’s immediately clear what is happening, and dynamic and oversized and super.

And here we get an absolutely brutal bit of panel-to-panel action, as in the first, the green Brigand has his arms open wide, ready to fight Supergirl, who is being both pushed and pulled through the air by chains and laser canons...

And then WHAM, the green Brigand’s hand is wrapped around Kara’s head, forcing her into the ground, which is almost alive with movement in the form of action lines and blur and grit and crackling energy bursts, snaking across the page.

You FEEL the impact in a collection of lines and colors on a page.

And these are just! A handful of panels!

The whole book--heck, THE WHOLE SERIES is just so expertly rendered! I can’t get over it! XD 

GAAAAHHHHH It’s just so GOOD.

Also, side note: Love all of the designs for the Brigands. 

It kinda reminded me of the great space...bar? Comedy club? brawl bit from Supergirl #24, drawn by Doc Shaner:

(And listen, I love Shaner’s art, but you can see the difference in style--there’s an inherently rigid quality in the more ‘traditional/classic’ superhero art; there’s very little fluidity and implied movement.)

(Static, I guess, whereas Evely’s inks--the heavily repeated diagonals and action lines--really get these still images to MOVE. They practically VIBRATE with potential energy!)

(Anyways!)

What else, what else.

Oh! I don’t know if it’s a deliberate nod or just a cool coincidence, but I like that Ruthye has purple eyes, because Lois Lane is typically depicted as having purple eyes as well.

(The Lois Lane image below is a Clay Mann cover, colored by Alex Sinclair. From...Action Comics, I believe?)

AND SO, IN CONCLUSION:

I can’t get over how great this book is. XD

It reminds me a bit of Matt Fraction’s Hawkeye. There was a book that took a character who was very firmly mid-tier in terms of ‘brand recognition’, and applied a heavily stylized, almost indie sensibility to a small-scale, self-contained comic series to great effect.

And I love that we’re getting the same treatment for Kara.

Like. Do I want this book to be an ongoing so that we can get more Evely and Lopes art? Of course!

But the tight focus and pacing, as well as having a fixed ‘end-point’ is really to the book’s benefit, and, hopefully! Will mean there’s an evergreen trade that will sell really well and convince DC to make more Supergirl stuff.

(Maybe once King has more time, he can do a sequel series. XD)

 Also, as I’ve mentioned before, I get the sense that Sterling Gates doesn’t care for the direction of this book, but I’m really glad that King incorporated Supergirl’s motto. (Which was penned by Gates.) I kinda feel like...as folks have praised this book, there’s been a tendency to throw previous Supergirl comics under the bus, which is a shame. Because Gates and Igle really did so much for rehabilitating Kara’s whole deal after the garbage early 2000s books. 

We don’t gotta tear down what’s come before to praise the new stuff that we got! XD

Anyways. It’s just a nice little nod to Gates’ impact/work on the character.

SO NOW WE WAIT FOR THE FINAL ISSUE. NUMBER 8. 

I’m not...too? Concerned? King is pretty good at narratively satisfying endings.

I am worried about Krypto, though. I NEED THE GOOD BOY TO BE OKAY. XD

Until next month!

[chaseatinydream]

pirate king (25) || atz

The door to the sickbay creaks as you enter.

Yeosang is the only one lying in the cots, the other injured crew having cleared out to give the navigator some space and reduce the risk of infection. That must explain why there’s nobody here, but that’s all the better for you.

You pull out a small chair and sit next to Yeosang, mentally preparing yourself for what you’re about to do. The sickbay is dark so you can’t see Yeosang’s face very clearly, but you reach for his fingers, giving them a tight squeeze.

He doesn’t respond.

You exhale, gripping his hand tight as you study him for a moment. He’s so silent, so still that you can count every eyelash that sweep his cheeks, watch the way his chest rises and falls as he draws weakened breaths. His skin is a waxy white, pale and bloodless, and you raise a hand to trace every part of his face.

His skin is unnaturally cool under your fingertips.

For minutes you simply sit there, watching him. It’s a silent, intimate moment, your fingers intertwined with his, you breathe when he does and wait for it to happen. Only when your hearts start beating in tandem do you finally apologize.

“I’m sorry, Yeosang-hyung.”

You remember the first time you had met, when he’d taught you how to address different people on board, when he comforted you before your first battle. A man of immense intelligence, great knowledge and a sagely wisdom. A person of infinite kindness, compassion and innocence. Your crew mate. Your family.

You bend down and rest your head next to his, hand in his. For some reason, you already know what is going to happen, you can feel it in your veins, from the way his every breath begins to weaken, from how every heartbeat is slower than the last.

You won’t be able to save him in this stage with only a limited offering of your energy. Pouring what energy you have into his body, in your emotional state now, is only going to mess his body up even more. You’ll wait, wait of his body to completely drain of his own energy, let his entire body still before you return him what he gave you; the gift of life.

An eternity passes.

Yeosang is approaching death.

A strange calm washes over you, as if you’re standing at a beach with the tide lapping at your feet. You watch in silence as Yeosang’s life slips away little by little, like sand in an hourglass, falling away with every passing second. It’s almost time.

“Thank you.” You whisper to him, gazing at his shut eyes as the sound of your heartbeat seems to meld with his. Something in you reaches out, like a wandering, probing hand, flowing through your joined fingers, up Yeosang’s arm and into his body. You search for him, an intangible soft warmth that you can only describe as pure, holding onto it as tightly as you can. “Thank you so much for saving a wretch like me.”

A part of Yeosang’s inner consciousness shifts, something in him starts to struggle to awaken, as if he can feel what you’re intending to do. Of course he can. Both of you are now connected almost as intimately as any two human beings can possibly be. The two of you are physically touching, you inhale when he exhales and your hearts beat together.

There’s only one last thing left for you to do.

“No!”

You can feel him thrashing against your hold on his soul, even if he doesn’t physically move the least. The most primal part of him, his subconscious, his memories, his character, his morals all rolled into one, the part of him that make the man before so wonderfully and uniquely Kang Yeosang. It’s fighting against you, because it knows what you want to do.

You want to redeem yourself.

You can feel his heartbeat weakening from the strain of pumping blood through his entire body, the way his organs are slowly starting to shut down one by one. The tie his soul has to his mortal body is fluttering weakly, struggling to hold on as he desperately tries to survive. You’ll wait, wait for his heart to stop.

Every heartbeat echoes in your ears, each one growing fainter and fainter.

“I’m sorry, everyone.” You murmur softly, closing your eyes. You remember Wooyoung’s face of utter betrayal, the way he had been afraid of someone he would once have died for. You see the bloody back of your captain as he endures the whip. “I’m sorry, Captain. I’m sorry, Wooyoung. I’m sorry that this is the only way I can make amends. I promise after this… you won’t ever have to deal with me again.”

There’s a final thump, and then absolute silence.

Yeosang is dead.

You can feel it begin to happen. Every life supporting reaction in you slows all at once, the magical energy used to power your own body being drawn away from your limbs, gathering right above your heart like a small flame. The warmth grows steadily, until you feel like there’s an actual candle being pressed against your bare skin, and then the liquid heat suddenly streams down your arm and into Yeosang, leaving a cold, freezing sensation in its wake.

Ice seems to fills your veins, frost creeping over your body starting from your toes. At first, it’s merely uncomfortable, but then it soon grows into a painful, cold burning in your flesh. You ignore it and press on.

Suddenly you feel Yeosang’s body jerk upwards like a miracle come true, the whoosh of air entering his lungs, a loud, powerful heartbeat echoing in your ears. Ecstasy fills you, but then the draw changes.

Like a riptide, where your energy had once been streaming into him, the tides suddenly shift, and you feel his survival instinct desperately drawing on any source of energy it can get to save him.

The only one it finds is you.

Equivalent exchange. A life for a life.

A dam breaks in you and in a second, you feel the energy that was once flowing through you being torn away by him. You don’t fight back, letting him take everything from you have, weariness flooding through your limbs. Something snaps in you and you feel something warm trickling from the side of your mouth, but you’re too tired to care.

Sleep… Just let me sleep…

Suddenly, colours and shapes swirl together in front of you, voices echoing here and there, fading in and out. You’re confused for a moment, before the bright, vivid streaks flash before your eyes, and you’re one with the man that is Kang Yeosang.

You walk down a set of marble stairs, arms laden with thick, heavy books. You’re dressed in an expensive, fine wool coat and a pair of reading glasses perch on your nose, through them you see a maid scurrying across your path. She stops immediately upon seeing you, bowing low with a basket of laundry under her arm.

“Young master.” She greets politely, but you can see her glance away shiftily. You frown.

“Where is Father?”

“On another voyage, young master. He left yesterday.”

Disappointment sinks in your chest. That’s the third year you haven’t seen your father’s face. But you force your face into a smile. “I understand. You may go.”

The maid bows again and scurries off.

Years pass in mere seconds, flashing past your eyes.

You’re older now, sitting at a desk and poring over navigational books as you jot down notes on paper. You need to study hard and become a navigator fast, so that you can finally be of some use to your father and accompany him on his voyage to hunt down the legendary Pirate King. A knock sounds at the door, and you remove your glasses, glancing at the door.

“Come in.”

Another maid walks in, bowing before you. “Master will see you now.”

Ecstasy blooms in your heart, it’s been six years already, and you’re finally going to see the face of the man you call Father. When you stand and walk over to the door, there’s a new spring in your step, a joy that you can’t shake off. But before you can leave the room, the maid taps you on the shoulder and passes you a tin of creamy beige colouring.

“For your…” She gestures at the birthmark beneath your eye, and your heart sinks for a moment.

Darkness swirls before you, and then you’re at sea once again.

You’re standing on the deck of your father’s ship. The red rose emblem on this sail has been shredded by enemy cannonfire, as has the mizzenmast. The Pirate King stands before you, younger than you had ever expected, a young boy almost your age. He points the musket at your father, and for a moment, fear runs through you.

“Please, spare me and my men.” Your father begs and anger fills you at how he, the commander of one of the best privateer fleets in the Royal Navy, is bowing to a mere pirate. But the young pirate simply chuckles, loading the musket in his hand.

“Why should I?”

“I can offer you a trade.” Your father offers, almost desperately, and you see the pirate’s eyebrow raise. He pauses in raising the musket.

“What can you give me that I can’t take for myself?”

“A navigator.” Your father declares, and your heart sinks in your chest. “If I give you my navigator, let me and my crew go.”

The pirate’s eye narrows and he adjusts his eye patch. “Is your navigator not one of your crew?”

“No.” Your father says, with so much surety. He’s giving you away to a band of merciless pirates, who might enslave you, torture you, even kill you. Fear shoots through you.

“Father-”

“Shut up, boy!” Your father snaps at you and you can only fall silent, the Pirate King turns to look at you appraisingly with a single green eye. He contemplates the deal for a short moment.

“Throw in your navigational maps and we’ll make it a deal. If you refuse, I can always let Wooyoung play target practice with you. I assure you he’s itching for something fun to do.”

Your father’s eyes darken, but he can’t refuse the offer.

“Fine.” He spits, shoving you over roughly. You lose your balance, but the captain catches you.

These aren’t yours. There are Yeosang’s memories.

Then the noises and shapes flash past your eyes too fast for you to make out anything anymore, and you feel your own heartbeat starting to slow as Yeosang’s becomes more steady. You’re so tired, all you want to do is close your eyes and rest…

The door opens.

“Captain, I was thinking we could try to- What in the world are you doing!?”

San’s scream is hazy, as if you’re deep in sleep already, but you can hear the frantic desperation and horror in his voice once he realises what you’re doing. You hear the sound of something being knocked over in the background, but you’re too tired to care. Then something thick and hard shoves you hard to the side, off the chair, and you don’t have the energy to move. You merely topple off the chair, crumpling to the ground like a rag doll.

“Chin Hae! Chin Hae!” This is Wooyoung’s voice, you register sleepily. The shackles on his wrists dig into your back as he supports you against him, just like the time you got shot. You’d never tell him this, but getting shot in the ankle was one of the best things that ever happened to you.

Ah, you’d wanted to ask him why he wore the shackles, but you suppose you’ll never get the chance now. Your tongue feels too heavy to move but you force it to anyway, desperately needing to ask one last question before you can go in peace.

“Is Yeosang okay?”

You see his mouth move before you, eyes wide with terror and worry, but you can’t hear him. The purple in his hair is starting to return, peeking through the henna he dyed his hair with. For a moment, you think that may be your favourite colour in the whole world.

“Stay… Please… Don’t… You need… Stay awake…!” His words fade in and out. Something wet and warm falls on your cheeks, but you don’t know what it is. Is he still angry with you? You need to apologize to him, then you won’t bother him anymore.

“Sorry for lying… Love you, Wooyoung…” You murmur sleepily, and every muscle under you stiffens in shock.

“Chin Hae-” He begins to say, but then your eyes close. It’s warm here. You could just stay this way forever. The world around you finally fades into nothingness.

And then everything turns white.

The roar of the ocean fills your ears.

You are sitting at a beach. The same beach you see every time you close your eyes. The beach you reach every time you try so hard to gain your memories.

You’re here once again.

Your feet dangle in the cool water as dark brown runs with every lap of the tide, your fingers absentmindedly playing with the sand as you feel each and every grain beneath your rough, slightly deformed fingertips. It’s late at night, the stars have come out, a sprinkling of diamonds in the inky black sky. You stare at the necklace around your neck, the tiny clear cut crystal taunting you with its contents.

He’s coming.

You feel him before you see him, his footsteps sending vibrations through the fine grains of sand as he moves towards you.

“I didn’t expect you to see me off, ******.”

His name is in a language you can’t speak any longer, not with this tongue. He smiles fondly at you, his eyes twinkling like stars in the sky.

“You won’t tell them?” He asks, but he already knows what you will say.

“They won’t understand.” You answer, gazing at the sea with a look so fond and yet so sad. His smile becomes a little wistful as he gazes at where he can’t reach.

“They’ll try to stop you.”

Your smile matches his exactly, eerily identical. “I know.”

“I wanted to do it for you.”

The way he says it makes you know it’s so much more than just a simple action, more than just a parting gift. You look at him, and an aeon of understanding passes between you from your shared gazes alone. A smile curves at your mouth.

“Alright.” You breathe into the night air.

His face is nothing but a foggy memory, browns and greens swirl where his features should be. But his eyes. His eyes glow such a unique shade of green, twin pools of liquid viridescent emeralds, one that nothing and no one else in this world can replicate. You love him so much, more than the human tongue could ever describe, the opposing force to everything you are.

Your other half.

How could you ever forget him?

In his hand, he raises a dagger and presses the tip against your chest.

You press your face into his neck, a sad smile on farewell on your lips, his other arm embracing your body, pulling you tight against him. You’re leaving your other half behind, your very soul screams, but its call is too strong for you to resist.

“I wish you all the luck in the world.” He says softly, his voice caressing your ear more tenderly than any lover’s embrace. You nod, burying your face in his chest, seeking his comfort.

“I'm scared.”

“I love you more than anything else, ****.” He whispers intimately into your ear, his voice warm and strong as it has always been for as long as you've existed. His thumb brushes against the crystal on your necklace, burning and etching words into the cold silver.

When he pulls away for a moment to look deeply into your eyes, you feel a single tear fall down your cold cheek for the first time, tracing a dark line in the brown of the clay.

“I will be with you every step of the way.”

The blade sinks into your chest.

[the--sad--hatter]

Red - One-Shot (Loki x Reader)

Pairing: Loki/Reader 

Warnings: Injury, blood, moral compass shifting. 

Summary: When the cost of being a hero is too high, what will become of you? And when you’re on the precipice of change, who’s the person who helps you? 

Scores of hero’s had battled him before you had your turn, and it was only luck that placed you in his path when he was already exhausted. Or maybe it wasn’t luck at all.

 Maybe it was fate.

 Whatever it was, it was the crucible in which your downfall was contained. You might have been an Avenger, a fighter, a hero, but you were not equipped to fight a god and survive, let alone win. But he was already weakened by the Widows bite, his ribs bruised by the Captains Shield, his energy depleted by the witches power, his flesh scorched by Iron Man’s repulsors, his spirit sapped by his brothers ego. He had been battled into near submission and when you drove your dagger into his chest, he could not stop it. The blade pierced his skin, sliding between his ribs with ease, and crimson blood poured from the wound you had inflicted, spilling over your hand.

 His blood was cold, dripping down your wrist like icy water and coating your hand like a scarlet glove.  

You both moved in tandem, looking down at the dagger, each as equally shocked as the other. Your breath crystallised in the cold air as you gasped, heart hammering in your chest. It was in the moment you realised you may have slain Loki, that you realised you really didn’t want to. Fear gripped your heart, squeezing until it hurt so much that you couldn’t breathe.

 Had you just killed someone, killed the god of Mischief?

 “You missed.” He whispered, his voice filled with sympathy.

 You’d just stabbed him, and he was showing you sympathy? You dragged your eyes away from the terrible wound you’d inflicted, from your fingers wrapped around the handle of the blade sticking out of his chest. His words settled over the fog around your mind and seeped through it, until they made some kind of sense.

 “I missed?” You repeated hopefully, pleading with your eyes.

 His face softened exponentially as he gave you a small and fleeting smile.

 “Yes. You did not pierce my heart with your dagger.” He clarified, wrapping his fingers around your wrist and very carefully pulling your hand away until you released your grip on the fateful blade.

 You let him manoeuvre your shaking hand away, trying and failing to swallow down the whimper in your throat as blood continued to pulse out the edges of his wound.

 “Wait! No! Stop!” You yelped as he grasped the handle, stalling him before he could pull it out.

 “I must remove it so my body can begin to heal it.” He sighed, his already pale skin growing paler by the second.

 Right, Asgardian, or something. Not human. He probably wouldn’t bleed to death if he removed it, hopefully. You ignored the incessant buzzing in your ears, vaguely familiar voices demanding information, begging for assurances of your safety. All your attention was reserved for Loki, and for what you had done to him. He yanked the blade out in one swift movement, before you had a chance to prepare for it. Crimson liquid welled up in the gash left behind, streaming out of it in an alarming stream, and your hands moved of their own accord, twisting to press against the wound in a fruitless attempt to keep any more of his blood from spilling out. His blood was, quite literally, on your hands.

 What the hell had you done?

 You had trained for this, every day for months. You had been trained to be a hero by the best of them, but you hadn’t prepared yourself for what it meant to be a killer. Adrenaline and training had pushed you forward in your task, and only when the blade had sunk deep and it was too late, did you realise what your task really was.

 “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” You whimpered, choking on the fucking useless apology. “Please don’t die. I don’t want you to die.”

 “You don’t want me to die, or you don’t want to be my killer?” He chuckled weakly, devoid of humour and dripping with weariness.

 But even as he had asked the harsh but fair question, his hand cupped your cheek, gently lifting your face until you met his eyes. There was absolutely no anger in his gaze, none. No rage, no hate, no disdain. Just exhaustion, pain, and sympathy.

 “I don’t want you to die.” You admitted.

 You didn’t want to kill him, you didn’t want to kill anyone, you knew that now. But more than that, you didn’t like that he was hurt, and you couldn’t bear to see him injured any further. He was supposed to be the villain here, but he was the one comforting his attempted assassin, and the hero’s were the one ‘s who had put the knife in your hand and told you where to strike.

 Good and bad weren’t simple concepts right now, they weren’t black and white. They were just red, blood red.

 “In that, we have common ground. I would prefer to survive this as well.” He sassed, and against all odd you found a laugh bubbling out of your chest.

 “There, that’s much better.” He crowed softly, tracing the edge of your smile with his thumb.

 “Why? I hurt you. I…” You whispered against his fingertips.

 “You’re not like the others, you’re not like anyone. Of all those who have hurt me, and there have been many, you are the first to show any kind of remorse. Strong enough to stab a god, and kind enough to cry for him.” He explained. “You are not like them.”

 Your heart had been hanging on by a flimsy thread, but his admittance obliterated it. You could feel the fissure’s running through it, feel it tremble in your chest, and just as it was about to crumble into dust, he wrapped his arm around your waist and strode forwards, leading you with him in some kind of tragic waltz across the battlefield. Darkness fell over the two of you as he backed you into the shadows of a nearby building, pressing you further into the darkness as the sky shook and the familiar figure of Thor fell from the clouds and landed on the concrete.

 Loki’s arms fell away from you and he stepped to the side, letting you see what he’d left behind. You, held aloft in his grip, eyes filled with fear. An illusion, meant for Thor.

 “LOKI!” Thor bellowed. “Unhand her, and face me brother!”

 “Step out of the shadows, show him you are quite safe.” Loki, the real Loki whispered.

 An offer, not a challenge. One you didn’t understand the point of.

 “Or?” You asked.

 “Let The Avengers watch you burn into ash at my hand, and escape them and the life you so clearly do not want.”

 He was offering to kill you. To have your team watch you die. A cruel offer, a dark one, but…

 You didn’t want this life, he was right. And you never really had, you had only gone along with everybody else’s plans for you. You had let Earth’s Mightiest Hero’s mould you, twist you into one of them, suit you up as an Avenger, never once really telling you what that might mean. What it might cost you.

 Cruel, Dark, and Justified.

 “Kill me.” You hissed decisively.

 They would suffer, but they would survive. You weren’t close to them, not really. There would be some guilt, a little anger, and then they would move on. They would be more affected by having lost something to Loki, than actually having lost you. So you didn’t feel a shred of guilt as illusory flames roared to life over your doppelgänger.

 Thor’s roar was all rage, and not pain. His eyes were fixed upon the fake Loki, and not the smouldering remains of what he believed to be you. Loki’s illusion moved in tandem with him, both conjuring a glowing blue cube from nowhere. In the distance you saw the rest of The Avengers converge upon the scene, and you turned your back on them, concerning yourself with the only thing that mattered anymore.

 “Take me away.” You begged, ripping the jacket of your super suit off and pressing it to Loki’s wound.  

 The hero was dead, long live whatever the hell you were going to become now.

 “Come. Freedom awaits us.” Loki whispered in your ear, wrapping his arm around you once again as the world bled into blue.

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[chenoehi]

Thoughts on Ep. 15: Koga, Moroha, Zero, Riku, and Kirinmaru

First, now that good boy Koga is back in the game, a fun theory/headcanon I’ve had is that Moroha’s sword is actually Koga’s sword—you know the one he always carries around but never uses? They look the same as far as I can tell, and I noticed that immediately in addition to the other hints she was raised by the wolves (which I think most of us suspected, but it’s lovely to have it confirmed). That or the sword came from the wolf tribe at least, it resembles the kind of sword Ayame has, too. With the confirmation of Ep. 15 this theory is now becoming more likely.

Also, I just have to say that as devastating as it is that Kagome and Inuyasha did not get to raise their daughter and that they felt betrayed by Sesshomaru after coming to trust him (I absolutely believe he is helping them, not hurting them), it is comforting knowing that Koga had a hand in raising their daughter. He loved Kagome and treated well, having so much affection and respect for her by the end. He even showed some compassion for Inuyasha (in his own way). You can say he became their friend rather than simply being their ally. The fact that they trusted him to protect their child speaks volumes. And did you see how proud he looked when Hachi brought her to the tribe? Moroha is not his child but you know he will treat her like one. We don’t know the details yet of who raised her exactly or how she came to be separated from the wolves, but I have full confidence that Ayame and Koga treat Moroha like their own.

I know some people are sad that Miroku and Sango did not raise her, but knowing the threat against her and that their human friends already had a young family to take care of, it makes sense they would want to hide her away. And although it would have been perfect if Moroha could have lived in the barrier and been safe with her cousins (and possibly Rin), but again we’re not sure of the details yet.

Obviously, Inuyasha knew of the threat against Moroha’s life from Kagome who learned about it from Riku (a comment on that in a minute). I think the swiftness of everything and Moroha’s being sent away rather than being protected behind a barrier like the twins may be due to how immediate the threat became once Kirinmaru was awoken.

What’s unclear is 1. how long after Moroha’s birth is she whisked away? 2. why did they go somewhere specific to confront the maru bros and send their child away? 3. why would they delay sending her away in the first place (they had to with Kagome being there, and also Moroha’s hair is a little longer than the twins at birth so maybe this indicates it wasn’t immediate, or maybe not)? 4. if they delayed sending her because they just found out Kirinmaru had been awoken (by Zero) then who told them? Sesshomaru? 5. if so, did Sesshomaru tell them he had a plan or ask them to trust him while also explaining where to meet and that they needed to send Moroha away? 6. did Koga and co. know that Moroha was coming to them? They don’t seem very surprised, mostly just happy/pleased to see her, but also like they were expecting her. I don’t know how they would have gotten a message to them, but maybe they sent word to the wolves alerting them to the danger and the possibility that they may have to send Moroha away, Koga may have agreed to care for her, and when the time came to follow through they already knew to expect her.

Riku though...

Oh Riku. Seriously what the fuck. I thought I knew where this was going but..I’m trying to justify how Riku is introduced the same episode that we see Kirinmaru in the flesh. They are both shown eating grapes in their introductory scene. They both spit said grapes out and make some similar comments, showing that they have similar ideals and mannerisms (even if it is just grapes we’re talking about). They both are associated with water. They both are on boats a lot. Riku is referred to as a pirate washed up on shore or lost, trying to find his ship, etc. All the characters (human and demon) refer to him as lord or -sama. Kyuki (a peril) knew him. He has a personal grudge against the perils. The perils serve Kirinmaru. They both have green eyes (not a human eye color in feudal era Japan or even modern day Japan). They both have red hair (same comment). Riku is clearly shown to have some control over the pearls or ability to use them that might possibly exist in tandem with other abilities he possesses.

Riku also kind of just revealed himself to be something other than human in Ep. 15 when he commented that 18 years passing was nothing to him as we see visibly that he has the same appearance in present day as he had the year that the cousins were born. Could be that he means time itself means nothing to him because he can travel through time but that’s still unclear. Conclusion is that Riku is Kirinmaru’s hanyo child as he’s clearly not human but does not appear to be full demon either and has obvious visual connections to both Kirinmaru and Zero.

BUT. Kirinmaru doesn’t appear to have any love of humans like his doggy counterparts. He practically looks like he’s about to have a stroke when he hears that Sesshomaru married a human and sired hanyo heirs. It’s hard to imagine that person has a hanyo child floating around who everyone is aware of. However, he does seem to be contemplating something beyond what Zero is telling him and if he does have a hanyo child then he could be realizing that he potentially created a being that will kill him.

Another thing that is bothering me is how Riku warned Kagome. Obviously everything about that and Riku himself is shady af and we have no idea what’s going on yet, but what’s interesting to me is that Kirinmaru doesn’t realize that hanyous are a threat to him until Zero points it out—which is months after the comet when Moroha is born. Of course, this is all assuming that the moment Kirinmaru is awoken by Zero comes after Moroha has been born and not before. It is possible that Zero awoke Kirinmaru immediately after the twins were born and that Kirinmaru spent some time plotting but that’s kind of illogical. Why wait to kill a child until after it’s born if you can just kill the mother? Which then makes it even more sus that Zero waits to wake him up and tell him this. It’s also sus how Zero warns Sesshomaru of the threat on his daughters’ lives (the threat she’s making) only to send Jokka after them as a pawn before biding her time until after Moroha is born to then conveniently and casually point out to her brother that all half and quarter demons are a threat to him.

Zero’s movements make little sense until we have a better understanding of what’s motivating her and why the timing of everything was so important. I’m not leaving the possibility of her betraying Kirinmaru off the table honestly. Something’s not right. I have this feeling that Kirinmaru is just being used. I know he’s still supposed to be the villain and he does try to kill the girls (eventually) but something is very wrong. And Zero’s comment that she expected Sesshomaru to protect his children with a barrier...if she expected that to happen then why didn’t she attack when it would have been unexpected? Why didn’t she try anything when Rin was still pregnant? Wouldn’t that be devastating to lose your wife and two unborn children? Why the cloak and dagger? It seems that she’s purposefully trying to pit Kirinmaru against Sesshomaru, but she’s also not hiding her hatred of Sesshomaru and his whole family either.

This episode kind of further reinforces the Riku is a time traveler theory because Riku knows Kagome is pregnant when she’s not even showing and he warns her about Kirinmaru although at this time Kirinmaru doesn’t even know hanyous are a threat. In fact, he seems confident that the InuTaisho’s sons took care of the comet. He shows no inclination of wanting Inuyasha dead.

But one thing that’s bothering me is just how shook Kirinmaru is that Sesshomaru has a human wife and hanyo babies. He’s shook shook. Like, blindsided. Everyone but Myoga so far has taken the news with little reaction (to be fair, we’re not sure how the OG gang felt but Kohaku wasn’t in utter disbelief as far as I remember). Maybe that’s just because he knew Sesshomaru for a long time and he really can’t believe it, but I have this feeling we saw his reaction being a bit overblown (and honestly, kind of undignified) for a reason. Something clearly went down between Zero, Toga, Sesshomaru’s mother, and possibly involving Sesshomaru as well. Kirinmaru seemed to have made peace with Toga and he doesn’t appear to be on adversarial terms with his son, but something is wrong. Everything feels very personal, like somehow Sesshomaru marrying a human and siring children with her is an insult to Kirinmaru personally. If he already knew about the hanyo threat by that point it would make sense but no dice, so then why.

Also, if Osamu Kirin is in fact Kirinmaru in human disguise, wouldn’t he save himself a lot of trouble by just killing Towa in the Reiwa period when he had the chance? It’s not like she was hiding her presence, she didn’t even know she was a hanyo. So if that theory is true, did he choose to leave her alone for a reason or has he suffered memory loss? We already know Kirinmaru in the fuedal era was a little off so it’s not a stretch.

[anamatics]

so i’ve been watching rwby

and as I’ve been doing so I’ve been posting reactions to my friends. After S5, S6, and S7, in particular, I had a lot of thoughts and opinions. More under the cut. I’m going to write fic aren’t i?

Season 5:

1. Where is the first/autumn relic?! Like, we've established that Ozpin hid it well, yet for some reason it doesn't feel like that's the whole story - given where the relic was hidden this time, in some sort of n dimentional desert (where, if you looked closely you could see similar ##chemtrails - could people just walk through that desert to get to all of them? 2. I find it hilarious that Weiss just got out of Atlas only to go back, I'm very curious as to what sort of ~~damage this reveals about her in the coming seasons, but I'm also very intrigued by how reintroducing her to her father with the rest of team RWBY will shift/alter the narrative of powerlessness that he seems t be pushing toward her. I'm esp. intrigued as to what his reaction will be to Blake (as he seems very anti-faunus). 3. WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN FOR THE #YANGST. 4. The show has been pretty constantly showing us that most of Ruby and Yang's family seems like chill folks, but the ##absentmother trope is strong here. Given that it seems like only Blake has a mom, does Blake's mom adopt everyone? 5. Blake having a fairly functional nuclear family is fascinating to me, because it makes a lot of her choices seem way more political (at a very young age) as opposed to just a kid who got in over her head with a boy who was a bit older. I'd love to know more about this. 6. as a multishipper, I hurt all over.

xx

Season 6:

Item the FIRST: Weiss barely making it out of Atlas only to be dragged, albeit somewhat willingly back to the source of all of her ~ trauma & family drama ~ I am curious to see how this plays out and generally hope that Weiss somehow stabs her shitty dad and Draco Malfoy rip off brother while being reunited with her 100% Cooler Than U sister. Also that Cooler Than U sister works on the unresolved sexual tension she CLEARLY had with Qrow.

Item the SECOND: The show's thoughtful handling of Qrow's alcoholism and Ruby's gentle efforts to push toward sobriety without like being annoyingly moralistic about it. It could have been handled so differently and I really, really enjoyed that it was handled in the way it was.

Item the THIRD: Weiss' new red scarf. adsfajshfaksdjfhthatsgayweissaksdfhaksdjfh

Item the FOURTH: The various Poor Life Choices Salem made during our brief sojourn to the Department of Backstory. Also Jinn is amazing let's keep her around. She can join Jaune, Ren and Nora as a 4th member of their team and just hilariously be naked all the time. 10/10 would watch for hijinks adventures.

Item the FIFTH:  Ozpin sulking that he got all his relationship drama put on main like that

Item the SIXTH: Jaune's gay sister and sister-in-law and their baby and and and and (idk I just loved this).

Item the SEVENTH: BLAKE AND YANG HELD HANDS AND MURDERED THEIR TRAUMA TOGETHER PRAISE JESUS AND CAN I GET A HALLELUJAH? NOW KISS.

Item the EIGHTH: My multishipper ass saw that moment between Weiss and Yang when they were stuck in the basement and I'd just like to say I would be happy to see that too.

xx

Season 7:  Item the First: Weiss has a mother. Which we all logically knew she did but that scene with her in Jacques' office was just... a lot. Also raised some very interesting questions. When will Weiss and Ruby bond over alcoholic parental figures, I ask you. On this front, I am also now supremely, supremely curious about Winter's relationship with her mother. 

Item the Second: Leftist Weiss. Well we all knew that Weiss wouldn't have voted for her dad anyway, but I think the tension between Weiss's clear orientation toward helping people and government for good and her father/sister's appealing to/embodying other forms of authority (corporate/military). This also raises an interesting point of contention between Weiss and Winter, as Winter's sort of this embodiment of what I'd maybe call a conscientious soldier – where she’s clearly in possession of independent thoughts and opinions, yet also seems to want to appeal to a higher authority whenever she feels conflicted (e.g. “Ironwood is making the hard decisions so we don’t have to.”). This actually draws a very stark line between Winter and Weiss – as Weiss has always been a freer thinker, who can and does think for herself and operate from her own moral compass. The moment at the end of the season between Weiss and Winter was just so delicious as I hope (HOPE HOPE) that they’re setting up for a ~~moment of clarity~ for Winter where she has to make a decision on her own that defies orders in some way for the greater good that Weiss can see so easily. (Also, please, my good gay sisters: Hug. It. Out.)

Item the Third: Leftist Bees (well really, leftist Yang, Blake was always a revolutionary). I absolutely loved the Everyone Is Lying moments in this season, and I do hate that the Bees were the ones caught out in it first. Black and Yang telling Robyn the truth also struck me as something that the pair of them would do anyway – the only other character I could see possibly slipping and letting info get to Robyn is Weiss, but I also got the sense that Weiss understood the politics of the situation better than anyone else and because of this was playing it pretty close to the vest. The Bee’s decision really jives with their partnership. As did getting to watch them fight together so much this season, they’re evolving together, and seeing them fight in tandem is a delight.

Item the Fourth: Splitting whiterose. I like Penny. I actually love Penny. I love Penny and Roby’s dynamic. And their friendship. And how ridiculous they are. But it really struck me that how the whiterose partnership kept on getting split until the final fight against the Spice Force Five. I’m sure there’s a reason for this but I don’t like it and I won’t hear it or respond to it.

Item the Fifth: The Not Spice Girls/Spice Force Five. Love these idiots, but they’re all cops. Marrow is the most delightful of them and seems like he’s about to go on a journey similar to Winter, Harriet sucks a lot, Clover was a delightful almost rip but also mmmwhatchusay. I sort of hated the juxtaposition between team RWBY and them, with the ‘just following orders’ mentality and the lack of friendship/cohesion between these guys. I guess now Winter can join them and they so they can have their Posh Spice.

Item the Sixth: Schneewood Forest. I feel like I could write a whole elaborate backstory with these two. There’s something there – the unstoppable force meets immovable object of it, plus the idea of someone who challenges Winter’s entire belief structure just by being an okay person ~with a merry band of queers~. I feel a lot of things. I want to explore this. Stop me I am in a PhD program. 

Item the Seventh: The Tinman’s Heart. Having read all of the Wizard of Oz books, as well as the Wicked series, I actually appreciate that this series is taking nods from both sources for these characters. James’s decisions are … not great but I can see his logic – well right up until the part where he shoots poor Oscar. That was just rude. Also I do love watching him fight because he’s so very, very good.

Item the Seventh: Bisexual Bobs. How very Bi of you Blake. And how useless lesbian of Yang to be all flustered about it. Please kiss.

[rainbowcarousels]

You can blame @aimeelouart for asking about my keeping track of how each relationship between AGSZC progresses for the fact this meta now exists. It was somewhat hastily written in the back of my maths textbook so please excuse the lack of polish and put it down to the fact I couldn’t take another 2 hours of algebra.

Fives Company, not a Crowd

Relationships with Love

(or how AGSZC functions in the JBSWM universe*)

Cloud

Love is something that is given without expectation of return. This is applicable both platonically and romantically, he's willing to put everything on the line for the people he loves but he doesn't really expect them to do the same for him. Some of that comes from the fallout from his and Tifa's trip up the mountains and the subsequent responsibility placed on him for that but other parts stem from wanting to feel included but not being able to put himself out there so it's a lot easier to  be prickly and pretend you don't care when in reality, I think Cloud loves incredibly deeply and it's why he's easily hurt by it no matter how strong a front he puts up. At eighteen, he's still trying to find a balance between keeping everyone at bay so he doesn't get hurt and letting himself figure things out and take those risks. There's a fun parallel to Sephiroth there in that neither cut themselves any slack for mistakes so it's hard to get out there when you might make one when making a mistake – especially in his first real adult relationship –  feels like the end of the world. His only really obvious love up till that point is his mother and I do think he misses her a lot, but is also deathly afraid of letting her down and that weighs on their relationship.

The rest under the cut!

Zack

Loves to love (and he loves to dance, kudos to anyone who got that reference). The walking embodiment of a carebear, loves quickly, easily and casually. The more affection and love you throw at him, you'll get it back tenfold. The trick with Zack is that he lives his life with his heart so open that he has a natural connection with most people but it does make it more difficult to spot the differences between puppy love and intense, romantic love. This is one of the reasons he and Gen clash so much, Gen is 10000% passion and intensity and Zack always seems casual even when he's not. Ultimately, Zack is only 20 and still has a lot of trouble balancing his life between love, friendship and work. Since he's a social creature by nature compared with Cloud's more introverted nature, he's pretty decent at reading people and what they're feeling and absolutely wants to listen to them and hear about what they're feeling instead of having to guess. Compared with any of the other four really, he grew up with a strong sense of his social community and it helped instil a lot of compassion and resilience in his ability to love.

Sephiroth

Big yikes on this front. A walking talking advertisement for dysfunctional attachment and it would not surprise me in the least if he has some kind of attachment disorder as a leftover from a childhood which has probably left it's fair share of emotional scars. If I consult my Master timeline (and my attempts to make sense of Gast's timeline since he appears to have left Shinra on a fact finding mission around the time Sephiroth was born and left again for real this time two years before Aerith was born taking Ifalna with him), his first experiences of emotional connection are Hojo (yikes), Gast (who must come back sporadically from his fact finding between 1979 and 1983 so even before he dies when Sephiroth is four it's probably difficult to pinpoint as a positive attachment), Ifalna (here is where I get a little creative with canon but I do quite like the idea that if she did end up at Shinra before Gast left that he would have wanted to be like LOOK AN ANCIENT BABY and have her be like um no no that is not but also he was probably a toddler at the time and has no real strong recollection of her) and then SOLDIER. We know he served with adult SOLDIERs so I really doubt he connected in any strong way with them having had an extremely sheltered upbringing and oh yeah HE'S TWELVE. Man this one needs splitting up because it's Sephiroth.

So Enter Gen & Angeal when he's around 13, maybe closer to 14. What we know from Zack!Cloud and see from some of Zack's memories in CC, Sephiroth is not cruel but he is a hell a taskmaster and I think there's two big reasons why I put his connection with Angeal first. One, Angeal is a hard worker, he tries to do as much as he can and get himself out there and Sephiroth can respect that.Genesis on the other hand is talented, which...means he actually has to work hard at the things that don't come naturally to him for the first time and since he had the hero worship thing going on and Sephiroth was not social, they did not get along easily until they had a better understanding of each other. This is the same understanding that Gen gradually loses through degradation in canon, whereas Angeal and Sephiroth remain close-ish. Two, Angeal doesn't take anything personally and remains at a respectful distance, even when trying to connect. Sephiroth for his part was perplexed by his continual attention and has no idea what to make of it. It's only when Angeal is still doing it a few months down the line, when Gen has calmed down a little from his perceived slight, that they're able to forge stronger connections and I think there's a tandem effect with those two where Angeal is emotionally open and unobtrusive and Gen is not about to talk about anything emotional but he's physically affectionate. Most importantly of all, they aren't afraid of him, even the parts that a lot of other SOLDIERs may find disturbing, Angeal wants to just check in on and Genesis is mostly thinking 'meh, I could do that'. So ultimately, what would end up being his relationship with love is largely impacted by people who keep him at a distance or leave for a long time and then it's like a bus, you wait for one friend and two come along at once.

So then we have his concept of love being defined largely by friendship because his concept of it is so heavily defined by two people who were friends with each other and him first. The potential problem being that his world gets very wrapped up in only two people and as such, he's obsessive and possessive of them because it's all he has. Then Zack comes along and he's hyper affectionate, social, loving basically in a way he hasn't really had thrown at him and he doesn't fully know what to do with. To a degree, Cloud is easier – he's independent, prickly and does not get on with people which for him is relatable. Zack comes in like nothing he's ever experienced and the way he loves is so different that it's left him trying to figure out how he feels about this new kind of love coming into his life.

Angeal

Hands down a nurturer. It's all about putting his time and energy and heart into a relationship and letting whatever kind of love blooms happen naturally. While I don't think he forms connections easily, he tries to keep himself open and supportive of people around him and that lends itself to connecting with people. I do think he had a strong, loving role model in his parents (well, mother and stepfather, fuck you Hollander) and he had good relationships with them so he has some model by which to judge what love looks like. I also think canonly this is the thing he never really gets over losing, his mother and his connection to his parents.

I think Genesis has always been his great love story. They were, when they were a couple, one that would tell the story of how they met bit by bit until Angeal let Genesis take over telling it because he knows Gen never ever stops talking. I think it's one of the reasons they work well together – Angeal has the calm, quiet and cosy sort of love compared with Genesis who is passion and intensity 24/7. They balance each other out because Angeal does also try to push at his partners to behave, he will be passive aggressive or take small measures to try and correct things (a good example in 7s9s is that he will lock the liquor up knowing Genesis can break it but it's the fact he at least tried to get him to behave that helps him sleep at night) but ultimately, he is more passive as a person. When it was just the trio, Sephiroth added to some of the calm from Angeal but also more than matches Gen for obsessiveness. As things progress, Zack's casual nature adds to the calm but his excitement adds to the intensity and Cloud's introversion adds to the quiet but he's also a mouthy little shit.

One of the major things Angeal brings to the table is that his default setting is to care, same as Zack and that everyone at this table needs taking care of in some way. Cloud is obvious, he's struggling the most but he also feels that way with Zack because he can't completely separate the mentor-ship role even he tries to respect Zack as a First Class in his own right, Sephiroth has so few connections that being able to read him and react in a way as needed is extremely valuable and Genesis is just extremely responsive to the first instance of a seemingly unconditional love in his life and even if he would hate to admit it, loves that Angeal tries to take care of him. I think he's happiest when he can express how he feels to each person in turn in their own language and watch them respond.

Genesis

I think with Genesis there's a very large difference between his relationship with love and his relationship with romance. Romance is easy, he can be lyrical and affectionate and flirtatious at the drop of a hat but the emotion behind it being love is tricky at best. For some reason, I've always viewed him as someone who was a very clingy kid, who wanted parental attention constantly, was constantly seeking reassurance and often didn't get it. We know that Gen at that point was confined to Banora so I do think his parents would leave a decent amount when he was young and it's one of the reasons he latches on so hard when he meets Angeal. Angeal is not only present all the time but wants his attention and doesn't seem to mind that he chatters on and on. It's probably something to do with the idea if he keeps talking, he'll stay longer or trying to just fill silence because I think quiet disturbs him on some level because he's actually terrified of loneliness.

As he's gotten older and he turned out to be good at a few things, he got some of the loving responses he'd wanted but I also think as much as this reinforced the idea love is earned and you have to pay for it, a part of him from Angeal, from seeing his parents relationship with him covetously, knows that love can be unconditional but fears it's not so for him and probably spent a great deal of their early romantic relationship waiting for Angeal to realise and leave.

It's why his relationship with Sephiroth when they make the decision to expand the relationship to include him is initially categorised as casual, he can walk away any time and so can they, it's super casual, okay? Except I don't really think it was, it was just an out and then with Zack, he has no out. Zack is happening and it's love or bust. There's no out and then Zack does not seem that into making an effort and he is Not Happy about that. If you then contrast that to Cloud, who is incredibly responsive to his attentions but without demanding it. There's a lot of control on his end when it comes to his relationship with Cloud so it felt a lot less high stakes. Then Hojo happened and all of that went out the window because it was obvious how deep in he was at that point, he was willing to try and comfort Zack and keep him out of trouble, he was willing to care for Cloud in a way that isn't totally to his nature (if Angeal is the gardener, he's a very finicky plant – needs much attention and the right amount of everything to grow properly and will pretend to be dying if you miss a day) and show concern where he would usually rather jump off the plate headfirst than show emotions that vulnerable.

*This is your standard disclaimer that this only applies to how I see them in this verse, it's not applicable elsewhere but I might use examples from elsewhere to back up the point.

[ceruleangold]

The state has a number of fatality review teams addressing deaths due to domestic violence, child fatalities, drug overdoses, etc. One of the review teams sent us a records request for someone we attempted to serve last year. The function of these teams is to determine if and how the decedent sought services and if their death was preventable.

This happened a while back, and I’m just thinking of how this individual was in the middle of applying for our program at the time of their death and how circumstances could have been different if the application process had started even two weeks earlier. At the time they had been living in a motel with their child. Naturally, this is the most expensive way to experience homelessness, and thus is a huge pressure bomb. We try really hard to put a rush on these applications (in tandem with families living on the streets or in their cars). We really try our damndest.

Wen you look at the data points — that a significant percentage of those who die of an overdose were homeless at the time, that domestic violence is the leading cause of homelessness for women, that suffocation is the leading method of child homicide — there’s layers of interconnected issues. And I feel like the primary issue that has to be addressed, the one that needs most attention but is entirely intangible, is the wider context in which we all live and exist in this country.

This country is just brutal to those most in need — the stigma in help-seeking, of needing housing, food, therapy, respite from your kids or dependents, it’s so unnecessary and yet it prevails. Why are people like this? There’s not enough compassion, and I get it, compassion can be hard. Compassion takes practice (so much practice), but I wish more people would even try. The hard rigidity of our individualistic culture literally kills people. Class differences and lack of accessibility kills people. Insufficient care kills people. And I’m sort of stewing in my feelings right now — this is 47 sentences to actually say absolutely nothing — but why exactly can’t things be different? Why do we make it so hard to get any actual help? What the fuck.

(One of my clients at the time was friends with them, and she told me that her friend loved to eat sunflower seeds. So, she and her other friends planted a bed of sunflowers 🌻 and loudly ate seeds as a way to memorialize them. I always thought was lovely. We live on in the hearts of those we leave behind. And if there’s no one to leave behind, I have to believe the universe gives daylight to your spirit through those who may be unconnected to you, but still need it most.)

[wolfofwinchester]

♛. THE WOLF OF WINCHESTER

The birth of a title.

WARNING: Contains heavy descriptions of gore.

They’d half a mind to speed for the hills when they found the girl waving her blood-smattered arm along the side of the dirt road, their horses startled by the enormous wolf meeting her hip in height. The entire sight gave the humble folk and their steeds a terrible chill.

“Wait!”‌ The driver’s son grabbed his father’s shoulder, giving him a shake before he could slap the reins. “Pa, wait! That’s The Earl’s daughter, innit? It’s Lady Claudia!”‌

The much older man adjusted his dusty spectacles, then gaped and dropped from the wagon. “My Lady, what are you doin’ out here lookin’ in such a state?‌You poor thing, you–”‌ He stopped, cautiously, nervously, eyeing the beast at her side who seemed strangely docile, but highly aware of the man’s moves. The nerves rattling the farmer’s skin wanted to send him scattering from the beast alone, from its maw to its coat wet with crimson - but, there was white, dirty cloth wrapped around one of its legs. That, too, was red. The wolf was injured.

“I‌ had an unfortunate event occur to my poor self, good sir.”‌‌ Claudia spoke with a hand resting on her chest, teeth red and face a mess with what looked like dirt and mottled bruising, dressed with smears of blood. Someone struck the girl hard, her cheek was swollen. That was the sight that put the old man to ease, drawing out the compassion and the concern. “I‌ need to get home somethin’ terrible. Would ya help a Lady out?�� Her hand rested behind Gelert’s head, giving him a good scratch. “He ain’t going to harm ya, I promise.”

The farmer called for the boy on the wagon and he leapt off, scuttling to the back to let the panel down for the weary girl who hitched a burlap sack over her shoulder, the older man’s caging her shoulders to provide some semblance of comfort.

“Let me take that for you, miss,” Spoke the son. “I‌ can-”

“No.”‌ Claudia cut him off short. “I‌ appreciate that, but I‌’ll be carrying this.”

The skies of April 5th, 1947 rumbled, earning the farmer and his son urgency. No Lady of Phantomhive was to be left in the rain.

Her exposure to rain was the least of Hawthorn Phantomhive’s, the father and the man who was almost burning tracks into the carpet he paced in his office, arms crossed behind his back. The man had a face of stone for the most part, never giving way to any emotion and always donning a frown. Only drastic measures made his brow ever so slightly twitch. Right now, there was a terrible twitch that was beyond his control.

“Foolish.” He cursed.

“Now now, M’Lord,”‌ Spoke a voice that made even the stoic Earl’s spine tremble. It creaked like an old door on rusted hinges, cracking with age — you could practically feel the dust tumble off the tongue it belonged to. “the last thing you want to do is let out such grievances while the dear girl has yet to be found. Men have been in your place and came to regret letting their mouth speak without the mind’s leash.”

A look like ice flew in the funeral director’s direction, who merely canted his head, hands that’d been crept close to his chest clicking their talons. That grin of his was absolutely unchanged by the look that made many crumble. Made the few others in the room feel grateful such intensity was not rested on them.

“Keep your penny dreadfuls behind your lips.”‌ The Earl stalked past the giggling man, pouring over his desk and peeling through the files. Photos laid scattered, files laid opened. He swatted aside the uncharacteristically bright green bag, wrapped by silver string and a tag with “do m'iníon milis*” attached. “Woolwich.”

“Not a peep, Lord Phantomhive.”‌ Piped a man with black hair, puffing on his pipe. “The only trading is in tobacco and weaponry from America.”

“Twyford.”

“Nobility’s not been in their stock for some time,”‌ Piped another with blond hair, rested languidly on the deep rich blue couch. “Druitt’s kept me sharply informed.”

“Norwood.”

Again, the funeral director spoke, traipsing to one of the long windows that peered over the front. “M’Lord, have I given you reason to doubt my information?”‌ He could see it, even if the others didn’t. He’d long since grown to recognize the subtle signs in the great Earl — the man was frantic.

“If I‌ find nothing in West Ham, I‌ want to know where to look next. Alternatives.”‌ Lord Hawthorn answered sharp. “Trafficking highborn is fast-paced. If my men can’t find her in the auctions tonight, I‌ will have others stationed elsewhere. Norwood.”

‌Tension laid thick, exchanges of glances between the two quiet nobles. The reports went on as the Earl listed off location after location, shouldering his coat and drawing ‘x’s on some parchment. The funeral director, on the other hand, had grown silent; his attention was quite preoccupied, watching a humble wagon roll up to the Estate.

“Well now,”‌ The Undertaker lilted, pricking every ear in the room. The tapping of a black nail on the glass drew Hawthorn’s eye. “the long lost pup has returned of her own volition.”‌

The mortician was all but shoved by the Earl’s rush to his side, which earned something of a frown that would’ve translated to “rude”. “Are you sure?‌ Are you certain?”‌ Hawthorn eyed, watching as his heir hopped to her feet, joined by that infernal wolf of hers. There was no mistaking it, it was Claudia.

“Good God,”‌ Uttered one of the two stray nobles, joining at the window. “The girl looks like she was dragged through the shambles. What did they do to her?”

“Oh, ‘to her’ you think?”‌

“Look at her, Undertaker.”

“I am. Are you?”

A strange look, but all interjected with the Earl’s quick turn on the heel as he strode from the office, the other three in curious tow. It didn’t take long to come across the girl, who walked clear through a gaggle of maids and footmen keeping their distance due to the growling Gelert.

“Claudia –”‌ Hawthorn barely got to speak, the bloodied progeny bore into him with a fiery leer the second their eyes had met. His heart pierced, looking at the mottled discoloration on her cheek of purple, and the crimson drench on her jaw stained to her neck and soaked deep into her collar. There were remnants of pearls in her curls, but the strings had obviously been busted, leaving wild raven blue flowing free in disarrayed waves. Her emerald dress was soiled in long-dried gore, the leading stench of iron that permeated and baked into her clothing from the Spring sun.

He didn’t see a wound on her, strike aside.

His arms rose, and Claudia silenced him immediately; she flung that burlap sack with enough force to make him grunt when it struck him in the gut, embracing that instead in confusion. He pressed it, and smelled the same whiff of iron; strong. Strong enough to make the two noblemen at his side gag.

It was also Claudia that spoke full and first, and also last. “Stiúradh glan uaim, fear Béarla*.” The Lady snarled, smeared mulberry-painted lips tucking into a snarl to show her teeth, the sharp canines with their white only seen in streaks through the ichor. Gelert in turn gave the same warning with a guttural growl. The two sounded too in-tandem to be comfortable. Made gooseflesh rise.

Locks flew with the storm that was the Bastard of Phantomhive, turned on her heel and surging down the opposite hall. The wolf lingered only a moment, adding to the edge Hawthorn felt cementing his feet to the ground, seeing to the father not following before padding after his mistress.

“— Lord in Heaven.” Came gagging when the burlap was peeled open, heads veering while the mortician peered closer with a coo.

“Might I, M’Lord?”‌ Lilted Undertaker, whom received no verbal permission, but the slow glance from those icy sapphires was all he needed to pry into the sack and draw back the bloodied noggin to cradle delicately in his palms. He rolled it, he examined it, grinning ear-to-ear with fascination of the wounds upon the facial features. Skin ripped from the nasal bone to show off shattered cartilage and strings of torn, and to his sharp eye, missing muscle. Half an eyelid hung over a lifeless grey orb, while the other was clearly ruptured beyond recognition; practically blood yolk.

The gap of freshly missing front teeth, bloodying the pencil mustache of the upper lip. Then the matter of the decapitation itself; how delightfully visceral! Only a bit of spinal cord hung, violently broken.

The Lords grimaced at the sight, and one even uttered a noise of disgust when the Undertaker clenched the bone with two nails and tilted it for closer inspection.

“Alexander Moore.”‌‌ Hawthorn noted, taking a cool moment to study the gored features before putting a name to it. “The Trader from West Ham.”‌ Notorious in the Underworld for his.. requested “stock”, of highborn and those of wealth. His trade knew no restrictions other than those who paid him in advance; he was feared because his men never left a trace when they took someone, and because he himself took part in the act.

He was not a man known for his mistakes, and he wasn’t one to be reckoned with, either. No matter the guard and no matter how high you were in the eyes of society, people died in pursuit of him. He was better off paid than trifled with. Hawthorn Phantomhive, however, did not bend to anyone.

As such, Claudia paid the price.

And then, Alexander.

“Wolf did a number on him. I’ve never seen a lopping like that.”‌ One of the men traced the outline of the broken spinal cord. It wasn’t clean cut at all, and the sharp of an edge pricked the noble’s finger with a hiss and a fast withdraw.

The Undertaker giggled, turning the head upside-down so the men had a better look. His fingers splayed around the neck, tapping a black nail to bone. “Take a closer look, m’lords — do these marks look like the dear Lady’s beasty?” Squints all around, and then the draining of color in two faces, joined by a hardness in the Earl’s. “These are human.”

The quick scuff of shoes as the two lesser nobles cleared from around the macabre viewing. “You’re mad if you think we’re going to believe—”

“Are you suddenly undertaker, Carlyle?”‌ Hawthorn cut, side-leering. There was no response to that. “If I remember correctly, you work as my bloodhound — so fetch:‌ find me Moore’s warehouse.”

The sun set, and would find itself easing into the horizon once the stated warehouse was found. In the middle of nowhere as to be expected, and it was thick with the odor of decay. The door to the place was wide open, and flies had set to buzz and whizz about as three men investigated the sight for themselves; Hawthorn, Undertaker, and of course, Carlyle, who must have been the palest of the trio as they stepped over the death scene.

It was a massacre. The bodies all had signs of mauling, there was not one man laid here that hadn’t been torn into by teeth, or sharp implement. Some were pelted with bullet wounds, and one unfortunate fellow hung strangled by chain with the ceiling. The main event was the office in the building, where a headless corpse laid in a heap upon the floor as the most violent death of them all; his stomach was busted into, and that, by the Undertaker’s inspection, was the work of the wolf, down the half-eaten intestines. His arms were broken, and the leather holster for his gun was empty.

“Think it was quick?”‌ Carlyle inquired, giving a kick to the Trader’s very stiff leg.

“No.”‌‌ Hawthorn answered, examining the wreck of the office. A struggle was evident, and the print of blood on the wall meant the man has his head slammed hard into the concrete, because the wounds on Claudia’s bod were lacking outside of a few bruises. There was no dire injury to be found. “I‌ think it was slow.”

“Very slow, at that.”‌ The Undertaker hummed, examining the neck more closely. “and excruciating! She chewed through his neck, see?‌ The muscles are strong, especially in a man like the late Alexander‌ Moooore. He was a man of fine physique. I’d reckon he lived well until she went for the main artery.”‌ A titter. “How terrible.”

“You don’t need to sound so happy about it, you goddamn madman.”‌ Carlyle muttered, exchanging clashing looks with the chipper funeral director. “That’s a corpse you’re hunched over.”

“Aye, and corpses are my work, Mr. Carlyle.”‌ A tilt of the silver-mopped head. “Don’t you ever feel exhilarated by your field of expertise?”

“I’m not entertaining that with a comment..”‌ The more Carlyle was exposed to this man, the less he felt he’d sleep at night. A shake of the head, and he glanced to the Earl. “What’re you thinking, Phantomhive?” 

The Earl had given the neck a good, long look. One could only imagine what boggled through his mind, knowing this was the work of his heir, his daughter, without doubt. Teeth snapped through the bone. A slow, agonizing death. The girl rejected it so strongly, but there was no doubt in his mind that the cruelty of a Phantomhive was deep in her blood. Their family’s cruelty, after all, was something inherited. “I think I have a wolf from Winchester succeeding me.” Whether that was a very rigid and awkward attempt at humor was anyone’s guess. 

A beat, and he rephrased himself. “I think I have the Wolf of Winchester succeeding me.”

‌--

Irish translations;

*‌ for my sweet daughter. *‌ Steer clear of me, Englishman.

[wisdomrays]

TAFAKKUR: Part 172

One Step, A Thousand Operations

How good are we aware of the operations of systems and mechanisms that make us walk?

Costly research and development efforts are under way in centers throughout the world seeking to build walking robots by mimicking human mobility. After 14 years of research, automotive firms built Asimo, a robot which can walk bipedally and climb stairs like humans. Even though the moves Asimo could make matched those of a one year old baby, it was still considered a great success for the robot technology.

Hardships encountered during these research projects proved walking to be a great miracle, apart from normal habits of movement. We often become aware of how extraordinary movement is and that the moves we repeat hundreds of times, such as walking, running, bending, sitting and standing, are blessings granted to us only when we see someone who has lost some of their mobility.

That humans can walk bi-pedally is truly exceptional. Most organisms have a front leaning skeletal structure and walk on four extremities; they only stand upright when absolutely required to, since it is very difficult for them. Human ability to stand upright and walk on two legs truly signifies them as special amongst creatures, and sets them apart from all of creation. The lively, regal posture of dexterous bipedal humans constitutes very important evidence showing they are "the most superior of all creatures."

The multifunctional, flexible nature of our skeletal system enables us to complete very simple moves automatically. Walking seems to be a very easy task, however, it occurs as a calculated outcome of many factors, such as determination of stepping distance, the toning of corresponding muscles of the same and opposite direction, relaxation and contraction levels, and relocation of the body's gravity center.

Walking takes place via the coordinated works of the locomotor (musculoskeletal) system, motor control system, and balance-coordination system.

Locomotor (musculoskeletal) system

The framework of the human body is built together with 206 bones of variable hardness. With their strong nature and capacity to endure extra weights, bones takes up 20% of a body's mass, and are the major load bearing part of the body's structure.

The main part of our skeleton is the vertebral column. It consists of 33 small bones, known as vertebrae, positioned on top of each other. Wear-preventing discs are found in between vertebrae to protect against motion related wearing over time. As the vertebral column holds the weight of the upper body, it is created in a way to keep the body upright. The spinal cord inside the channel that is surrounded by the vertebral column is a very important signaling network providing coordination between the brain and other organs.

Joints and ligaments are among the moving parts of our body. The most important joints for walking are the hips, knees, and ankles. The curvy shape of the foot and its contact to the ground at three spots supports bones against body weight and helps with balance. This is why flat footed people struggle with walking and get tired easily. The curves of our spine at the neck, back and waist regions, and the hips, knee joints, and curvature of the foot, are perfectly shaped for standing upright and walking.

In order to move we need a muscle system along with the skeletal system. Muscles are made up of thousands of contractible muscle fibers. There are more than 6 billion muscle fiber motors in the human body. We walk, run, eat, breathe, talk and do many more moves by using ability granted to muscles. Approximately 35 muscles in each leg, and around 100 muscles in the whole body, function during walking.

Ligaments and tendons are links that secure bones and muscles together; they also help to stabilize joints, thus when standing, joints remain in place without muscles contracting.

Four different mechanisms are involved in walking:

Proper upright posture and maintenance of balance during walking

Forward motion of body via muscle power

Reduction of shock-impact effect while stepping

Maintenance of motion with the least amount of energy.

A series of movements is generated in the legs to provide a forward motion and these are constantly repeated. These constant repetitions are called the "walk cycle." The "passing pose" is defined as the time frame when the leg is in the air, and the contact pose is the phase during ground contact. In the middle of the contact pose, even though body is in balance, because of the forward momentum of the body, balance is lost, thus the body leans forward. Balance is then restored by stepping on the ground with the leg in the air. As a result of this rhythmic loss and restoration of balance, the body moves forward.

In a person standing upright, the center of gravity is in front of the fifth vertebra. At the start of a walk, the body leans forward to carry the center of gravity towards the front; then the initiation of the motion via forward transfer of the power with toes and joints takes place, followed by the lifting of the heels, the bending of the knees, and the lifting of the foot, thus displacing the center of gravity of the forward leaning body towards the front.

Balance should be maintained when one leg is lifted in order to let the other leg carry the load of the body's weight. The gravitational center of the body is located in the distance between the two legs since each leg is located on the side. Body balance is maintained by the contractions of dorsal muscles located across the side of the stepping foot, working in parallel to support and transfer body weight to the foot via the hip and femoral muscles. These events happen so quickly that we often do not even notice all the complicated processes.

The great Sufi figure Abdul-Qadir Gilani was often asked questions such as, "Master, show us a miracle." He would stand up to walk three to five steps and sit back down. Everybody was confused, looking at each other. One person among them was heard saying, "Master, excuse us but we can all do that as well." Gilani replied then, "Is there a greater miracle than walking? You see it, but do not understand."

Motor control of walking

Bodily motions are controlled via the primary motor centers that are located on the side and cortex region of the brain. These centers are created in a way to prepare and organize motor programs involving body movements, and to integrate them with the proprioceptive memory. This synthesis of information enables the adaptation of motor commands to the present posture of the legs and arms regarding intended moves.

A desire to make a move is a necessary prerequisite for the stimulation of muscles pertaining to it. If we want to hold something, we can easily do it; when we want to raise our arm, our elbows bend; to run or walk, our leg muscles start to move and work. How do all of those moves happen? Is our desire enough to do so? Can the guidance of all the bones and muscles, working together towards the same target, happen by itself or occur via coincidences?

In order for muscles to move, our thoughts must be relayed to them and this is provided by the nervous system and nerve network. There is an amazing communication network present in our body. In case of an intended move, an electric signal is sent by the brain. During this journey, which seems to be complicated, the signal arrives at the spinal cord and then quickly diverts to the corresponding organ. Millions of motors that make up the muscle are stimulated by the electric signal, contracting the fibers instantly upon reception of the signal. In order to do a coordinated move, it is necessary to know the related body organs' positions and their relations to each other. Millions of transmitters that provide this information have been placed throughout the body. This data come from the eyes, the inner ear's balance and sensory organs, muscles, joints, and skin. There are billions of micro receptors located in muscles and joints programmed to send instantaneous positions of the body to the central nervous system. In every stage of a move, the positions of the muscles are reported instantly to the command center by these micro receptors inside the muscles. New commands are given to the muscles based on the assessments made here. This way, each second, billions of bits of information can be processed and assessed.

The cerebellum is another center that is in charge of functions such as maintenance of balance during walking and standing, carrying out proper and coordinated moves with visual control, providing coordination among muscle groups, promptly starting and stopping movements, and the maintenance and organization of normal muscle toning. The cerebellum is tasked primarily with hastened muscle activities like running, typing, and talking. Thus, fast moves necessary for the balance system are sustained properly and successively without abnormal oscillations.

Specific motion templates have been programmed in the spinal cord for all muscle-covered regions of the body. Rhythmic movements, such as forward and backward motion of the legs and arms, and coordinated activities of other body parts in tandem with walking, are controlled here. The task to control repeated moves like walking is assigned to the nerve network consisting of the spinal cord, brainstem and cerebellum.

Balance and coordination system

One of the requirements to walk and move is to stay in balance. Despite our advanced musculoskeletal system, without balance, this system of ours would be useless, or even dangerous.. Our balance system, which is in charge of the instantaneous control and fine adjustments regarding our body, is granted to us as a blessing of Divine compassion.

There are three systems that provide data involving the positions of the head and body: vestibular system (the apparatus of the inner ear), visual senses, proprioceptive senses

The vestibular structures are an essential part of the balance system. They are found in the inner ear, and are small and complicated systems. This 6.5 mm diameter wide system is composed of semicircular channels that contain specific fluid and ciliated sensory cells that cover the inner linings of the channels. This system constantly reports information involving our status in the outer world and instantaneous changes to the balance system.

When we move, the fluid inside the semicircular inner ear channels get displaced; this motion vibrates the cilia. This vibration causes an electric signal to generate in the cells. This electrical signal is then transmitted to the cerebellum; received information gets evaluated instantly in the cerebellum. This system is created to function autonomously without our will and control. When this system is impaired, balance disorders occur, such as dizziness.

Information regarding our position in the environment and the relative status of the environment according to us is sent to the cerebellum and brainstem via our visual senses.

Proprioceptive senses are formed via the activities of tension receptors built in muscle fibers, tendons and joint capsules. These are sensitive to motions and positions. These receptors regularly provide information to the central nervous system. The cerebellum receives information from all the muscles and joints of the body, including the eyes. These inputs are analyzed very promptly at the cerebellum, and the relative gravitational position of the body is finely calculated, thus the proper motions of muscles are determined. The resulting response is relayed towards muscles by nerves. These events take place in a time frame that does not even last for a hundredth of a second. We easily walk, run, and do complicated moves without feeling any of these activities happening inside us. Yet the calculations taking place in our body even for a single moment of those movements can fill thousands of pages.

To understand the fascinating side of our ordinary movements, let's consider a person climbing up the stairs. First, the eyes scan the surroundings, then the three dimensional information of positions acquired from the materials and belongings in the environment are transmitted to the brain. Once received, the information is analyzed and the necessary commands are sent to the target organ from the motor centers of the brain. Commands passing through related tracks and centers finally arrive at the musculoskeletal system. Many factors, like the height of stair steps, length and depth of the foot step, center of gravity and position of the body, are calculated and determined almost instantly

Proprioceptive signals constantly report the positions of organs, like the arms and legs, to the command center. Inner ear receptors are in charge of the prompt transmission of information necessary for balance, like motion, speed, and direction of the body. These inputs are calculated in milliseconds at corresponding centers in order to maintain the coordination and harmony of the entire body. A person who is running up the stairs may think to jump a couple of stairs. This change of command is rerouted to the locomotor system as a new and different command from the brain. All of these processes are completed in centiseconds. In the mean time, the head, shoulders, and arms are employed for rhythmic oscillations in order to adapt to the overall body momentum.

In conclusion, standing and walking are miraculous and take place via thousands of interrelated activities. Nonetheless, we usually do not notice any of the thousands of processes that are constantly taking place. One hopes that every blessing we have is seen through the window of thanksgiving and appreciation.

[guerilla935]

Review: The Incredible Hulk (Spoilers)

I was very hesitant to start this movie, this is because I had heard that it wasn’t great and I haven’t seen it before. But I knew that it tied into the rest of the MCU so I felt like I owed it to myself to give it a shot and I’m mostly glad that I did. The Incredible Hulk doesn’t start at the Gamma incident that creates the Hulk but rather starts showing a peace-of-mind seeking Bruce Banner (Ed Norton) who is running from members of the U.S. Government after learning that his Gamma research was not meant to help radiation victims, but rather to weaponize Gamma radiation in tandem with the super soldier serum (used to turn Steve Rogers into Captain America). Banner is being hunted by General Ross (William Hurt) who enlists the aid of Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth) and subjects him to human experiments that turn Emil into the Abomination. The rest of the plot follows Bruce fighting to regain his life of solitude while making things right with his ex-girlfriend Betty Ross (Liv Tyler).

So I mentioned before that this movie ties into the MCU, and it does, but also mostly doesn’t and that’s the worst part of this movie. The movie gives a very intimate look at the Hulk that we never get to see in any of the other Marvel movies. The film explains certain things that are never used, or never brought up again, things like Bruce wearing a heart rate monitor to manage when he is about to turn into the Hulk. These details are important to coloring in the battle that Bruce Banner has been fighting with his aggressive side. A scene in the beginning of the film explores how careful Bruce has to be with his blood which ultimately ends up revealing his position to the U.S. Government. I don’t even know if Hulk or Banner ever bleed again in the rest of the series but there are moments in other movies where I would have wished we could have explored cool details like that and have other characters in the MCU either show compassion and try to cure Banner or show interest and try to study him.

I want to take a moment to talk about the action scenes in The Incredible Hulk. The first action scene sees Banner disappear in the soda pop factory that he is working at and becomes the Hulk only to murder an entire squadron of soldiers (minus Emil) and does so hiding in the shadows and only very briefly showing himself. If you know absolutely nothing about the Hulk you are now given the same impression of the Hulk that the U.S. Government and Banner have of the Hulk and that is that he is a monster. This scene sets up really nicely the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde dynamic that leads Banner to so badly desire to find a cure for his illness. The next time we see the Hulk is back home when he confronts Betty Ross and in turn, General Ross as well. This is when Emil returns with the super soldier serum inside him and confronts the Hulk after the Hulk killed his entire team. Emil’s acrobatics in this fight are so reminiscent of Captain America and as an audience member it’s very easy to piece together the fighting choreography here that would set the stage for how the super soldier serum affects Steve Rogers in The First Avenger. Finally, the last confrontation between the Hulk and Emil (now the Abomination). I go back and forth about this fight, the CGI goes from very passable to slightly unbearable and I can’t sell myself on whichever green screen background that they decided on. The fight itself is fun and emotional however the special effects and CGI hasn’t aged as well as other movies from the same era. Also, when Ed Norton gets green eyes before turning into the Hulk it is so cheesy every time and I absolutely hate it.

I’ve talked a lot about Hulk now lets talk about Banner. Ed Norton’s performance as Banner is very sincere and I think he makes a great Hulk that could possibly compete with Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner. His relationship with Betty Ross feels in the realm of King Kong, which is something weird to think about but ends up working fairly effectively in helping the audience understand why they couldn’t be together in the end. In all hindsight, it makes no sense how General Ross lets Betty be around a secret operation to detain an incredibly dangerous monster, but the dynamic between the two becomes one of the most interesting relationships in the movie, setting up General Ross to be a cold villain, both in how he treats his daughter and how he treats his soldiers. Throughout the film Banner has a pen pal called Mr. Blue who pretends to help Bruce and I think that the reveal of who he actually is was something that I was definitely looking forward to but was ultimately disappointed by. At the end of the day the action scenes overshadow the scenes of plot development and that is true with most super hero films but is very apparent in the films like Hulk or Iron Man where the transformation from human to monster is so visual and obvious.

The Incredible Hulk is not a bad movie, but it has aged and has almost no plot significance to the rest of the series. After watching this film I have decided it has only hurt the Hulk of later movies to not include these humanizing details into his character. If anyone has told you to skip this movie then they were right because you don’t really have to, but if you have become a fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe then this is definitely worth a watch to see characters like Tony Stark and heavy plot devices like the super soldier serum represented even before they are shown to audiences.

[vexredain]

Vex’s Not-So-Brief Guide to Eureka Hydatos

Patch 4.55 is here, and with it, the two final parts of Eureka are here - Eureka Hydatos and the Baldesion Arsenal! I’ll be splitting Arsenal into its own guide as it is very, very different to the usual Eureka. This is a comprehensive guide to Eureka Hydatos, covering all aspects of Eureka Hydatos, and will serve you will for your adventures into this part of Eureka, the Forbidden Land! 

As with previous parts of my Eureka guides, I’ll open with my thoughts on Hydatos. The map is a lot more safe to run around in than every before, with most of the water ways clear of mobs, and I barely had to sneak my way around unless there was a particularly strange placement of a Happy Bunny chest. Hydatos has multiple ways to level, with some quicker than others, though all are completely viable. It plays a lot like Pyros and Anemos, with very little of Pagos to be seen other than chaining. The map is also pretty spectacular, if you haven’t gotten a chance to see it yet, it’s beautiful. 

Be sure to check out my master post >here< for the rest of my guides to Eureka Anemos, Pagos, Pyros, and when I get to it, the Baldesion Arsenal. As with previous guides there will be links to exterior content, as there are many people who have made much better content than I could have on elements of Eureka!

So! This guide will cover: 

Leveling

The Relic Steps

Moisture-Warped Lockboxes

Elemental Conflicts (Bunny FATEs)

Efficiency tips/tricks

That pesky extra-extra magicite

New Logos Actions and Logos Action Board Augmentation

Map

Baldesion Arsenal Entry and Support

This will be a long guide, so I’m placing it below the cut! As always, best of luck to all of you Warriors of Light who seek to venture to the penultimate part of the Forbidden Land, Eureka Hydatos!

1. Leveling 

Leveling is quite simple in Hydatos, depending on the method you want to take, as there are a good few open to you this time around! These are training, chaining, and reflecting.  Training. Just like the previous Forbidden Land instances before it, Hydatos’ NMs give an immense amount of E-EXP, with the first NM giving around 11 million E-EXP. You may also notice that a weather condition, Umbral Turbulence (Which looks a lot like the skies around Azys Lla) will spawn often, complete with an NM - Ovni - who’s up around every 10 - 15 minutes. He is a level 60 NM that is always worth going to, giving around 8 million at ELvl 50, and rising to upwards of 16 million or more at ELvl 59. He’s a quick way of getting E-EXP. He will also kill you... A lot. So make sure you’ve a party. 

Chaining. Back when Pagos first released you may have heard the phrase “The train is dead! Long live the chain!” This certainly was true back on release (though it has been fixed now and NM training is very much the more viable option there now) if you have the patience and time, chaining can easily work in tandem with training, or by itself. Chaining is the act of pulling mobs and killing them in order to benefit from the E-EXP percentage increases at 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 kills in a chain. For those who may not know, you can see your chain number on your magia board. Find some mobs around 4-5 ELvl above you and kill them, though be sure that they’re always around that number of ELvls above you, as the E-EXP given by mobs around your own is abysmal in comparison.

Reflecting. If you didn’t do a reflect party to level in Pyros, you’ll become quite intimately familiar with how it works in Hydatos - particularly if you want to progress into Baldesion Arsenal. Reflect L is a Logos action made through the combination of Wisdom of the Ordained, Protect L, and Shell L and reflects all magic damage back to the caster for 10 seconds. Reflect parties therefore will have one member cast Reflect L upon themselves and pull all Sprites in an area, who will then damage themselves until KO. Note that this only works on Sprites barring some certain exceptions. If you go into BA, you’ll be doing this often on Sprite Island in the south east of the map. 

2. Relic Steps

The final relic step is here! So you’re all on the cusp of getting that shiny, fancy new weapon that will not fail to catch eyes, but how exactly do you get it? Well the good news is that it is a relatively simple grind in comparison to previous steps (Pagos I’m looking at you) and does not involve any items from BA to complete. The steps for both the relic weapon and relic armour can be found below!

Hydatos Relic Weapon Steps:

50 Hydatos Crystals. ILvl 390. 

100 Hydatos Crystals. ILvl 395.

100 Hydatos Crystals. ILvl 400. New model! 

100 Hydatos Crystals, 5 Crystalline Scales. ILvl 405. Glow!

Thus you will need 350 Hydatos Crystals and 5 Crystalline Scales in total! 3 Crystalline Scales are dropped each kill from the NM Provenance Watcher, who is spawned by killing Crystal Claws, in the FATE “Crystalline Provenance” so you’ll need to kill him twice. He spawns in any weather condition. 

Unlike previous Eurekas, there is an additional step that stands apart from the normal relic steps, and is completely optional to do. You can augment your completed relic into a Physeos weapon at the cost of 100 Eureka Fragments. I don’t recommend doing this at all unless you want to do progression into BA, as Eureka Fragments can only be found within the Arsenal, and are really only helpful for content within Eureka, as it will allow you incredible bonuses to your elemental damage within the Forbidden Land at +348 to elemental offense and elemental defense to whatever you’ve selected through your Magia board. You get 26 of these fragments from a full clear. 

Hydatos Relic Armour Steps:

A note about the Hydatos armor is that unless you want to venture into BA for progression, you do not need the +2 armour. The +1 has the same glow as the +2 and the additional step is only necessary for progression. 

+1 Armour. 50 Hydatos Crystals per each chest and leg piece. 30 Hydatos Crystals per each boots, gloves, headgear piece. ILvl 390. Glow!

+2 Armour. 35 Eureka Fragments per each chest and leg piece. 21 Eureka Fragments per each boots, gloves, headgear piece. ILvl 390. Eureka Effect. Glow! 

The Eureka Effect makes your Eureka gear more effective, giving you more elemental offense and defense depending on how you’ve outfitted your magia board. 

3. Moisture-warped Lockboxes

Moisture-warped lockboxes work much the same as the previous cold- and heat-warped lockboxes found in Pagos and Pyros. These are found by killing mobs that mutate or adapt within Hydatos, a good example of these are the Mylodons in the south west of the map. 

Items of note that can be found in Moisture-warped Lockboxes are:

Yukinko Snowflake minion

Onslaught Orchestrion roll

Tactical Logograms

Sharlayan Aether Oil

Ballroom Etiquette: Overzealous Affirmations (/fistpump emote)

Sharlayn Aether Oil is a reagent for one particular method of entry into Baldesion Arsenal. It is untradable and unable to be sold on the MB.

4. Elemental Conflicts

The Happy Bunnies are back to their usual tricks, though this time they’ve done nothing to aggravate any of the Forbidden Land’s creatures except drink from the Val River. There is only one Elemental Conflict in Eureka Hydatos, giving around 2.5 million E-EXP (perhaps a bit more), and works exactly the same as the previous instances. You get a bunny, look in your Duty Information or Key Items for a lucky carrot, and use it much the same as you would an aether compass. Take the Happy Bunny to where they direct you and find a chest! 

The items that drop from the Happy Bunny chests are as follows: 

Gold Chest: Aetherically Conductive Plate, Eurekan Petrel Horn, Offensive Logograms, Penthisilea’s Spear (DRG weapon glam), Absolute Lance (DRG weapon glam).

Silver Chest: Aethertight Flask, Inimical Logograms, Happy Bunny Triple Triad Card, Aetherically Conductive Plate, Mitigative Logograms.

You may notice and consequently ask what Aetherically Conductive Plates and Aethertight flasks are for. The Aetherically Conductive Plate is for one particular method of entering the Baldesion Arsenal, whilst Aethertight Flasks are for augmenting your Logos Action storage. Both of these are untradeable and unable to be sold on the MB. Everything else is fair game to sell! You can see the Eurekan Petrel mount below!

5. Efficiency Tips and Tricks

There are two aetherytes in Hydatos, Unverified Research in the southwest, and The Dormitory in the southeast, these are unlocked at ELvl 51 and 55, respectfully. 

Your Mount is unlocked at ELvl 60 after the completion of the Eureka Expedition Storyline.

Remember, remember, remember your Potion of Harmony (10% E-EXP increase made by Alchemists) and/or the Heat Of Battle FC buff (if you can have it on II or III even better!). This will make things even quicker!

Remember that mobs don’t aggro on to you if you’re 2 or more levels above them!

Hydatos Sprites aggro on cast and touch. Death Sprites (new) spawn in Gloom.

Hydatos Ashkin still aggro on low HP and touch.

Obscure Logograms are dropped by many of the different creatures within Hydatos, these are needed for the new actions. Many of the NM trigger mobs drop obscures. The ELvl 50 NM FATE “I Ink, Therefore I Am” and the ELvl 51 NM FATE “From Dusk Til Dawn” also drop these. 

Every NM FATE in Hydatos barring “I Don’t Want to Believe”, “The Baldesion Arsenal: Expedition Support”, and the Elemental Conflict “Drink Me” drops Hydatos Clusters necessary as reagents for one particular method of entry into the Baldesion Arsenal. If it’s not one of the aforementioned FATEs, it drops. 

Remember to get Hydatos Elementals for E-EXP and damage buffs! Also call out the position of the Elemental using <pos> in your chat box or ctrl-right-click on the map to alert other Warriors of Light to its position!

6. 7th Magicite

Yes, there’s another Magicite in Hydatos, and yes you’ll have to get it from NM drops just like the Pyros one. The required items are: 

King Goldemar’s Horn. ELvl 56 NM FATE “Duty-Free”.

Molech’s Horn. ELvl 52 NM FATE “Bullheaded Berserker”.

Ceto’s Claw. ELvl 59 NM FATE “Stone-cold Killer”.

7. New Logos Actions and Logos Action Storage Augmentation

There’s 6 new Logos actions in Hydatos to create, and all require a Mneme that is found through the new Obscure Logogram. These are drops from certain mobs and FATEs. All 6 of these are required to unlock the ability to augment your relic armour to +1 and +2. 

The new Logos Actions are:

Sacrifice L. [Magic Burst L, Raise L, Esuna L] 

Perception L. [Wisdom of the Breathtaker, Stealth L, Dispel L]

Wisdom of the Elder. [Wisdom of the Ordained, Magic Burst L, Wisdom of the Aetherweaver]

Wisdom of the Fiendhunter. [Eagle Eye Shot L, Spirit Dart L, Featherfoot L]

Wisdom of the Indomitable. [Double Edge L, Wisdom of the Platebearer, Incense L]

Wisdom of the Duelist. [Wisdom of the Skirmisher, Wisdom of the Skirmisher, Double Edge L]

You can now store 6 sets of Logos Actions in your Logos Board, up from 3 in Pyros. You can find Aethertight Flasks from Happy Bunny chests, and hand these in to the Expedition Alchemist for an increase in your storage capacity. 1 Aethertight Flask is required for each expansion, with a total of 3 needed. 

8. Map

You can find a map of Eureka Hydatos, along with a wealth of annotations and marks that are beyond helpful >here<!Credit to Noranda Lu’Luna of Excalibur World for the map, and the Eurekan Explorers Discord for the information within it.

9. Baldesion Arsenal Entry and Support

A lot of people will be doing Baldesion Arsenal whilst you’re making your way through Hydatos, and hopefully we’ll see you venture in there too! You’ll notice two FATEs that are tied to BA which will spawn, these are the ELvl 60 NM FATE “I Don’t Want to Believe” (Ovni) and the ELvl 60 NM FATE “The Baldesion Arsenal: Expedition Support”. I’ll speak more about what these do and why they’re here!

Baldesion Arsenal Entry: 

This FATE spawns a ELvl 60 NM, Ovni, who upon death will give all participants who are ELvl 60, have completed the Eureka Expedition Story and the Baldesion Arsenal entry quest, and got Gold participation, a buff which will enable you to enter the portals which will now begin to be strewn around Hydatos. These will have two different phases - Unstable, and Stable. 

Unstable Portal [Blue]

Stable Portal [Red]

All portals, after 5 minutes, will turn Stable from Unstable, indicated by their change from Blue to Red. So what exactly is the difference? Unstable Portals [Blue] require an Aetherial Stabiliser to use. This is purchased with one of two methods: 

1 Sharlayan Aether Oil, 1 Hydatos Cluster, 1 Aetherically Conductive Plate

500 Anemos Crystals, 500 Pagos Crystals, 500 Pyros Crystals

While this does indeed look intimidating as these are NM drops, and a lot of time farming previous Eurekas, worry not as these are not required to enter Baldesion Arsenal. The Aetherial Stablisers serve as VIP tickets, as they allow entry through the blue portals and are the only way to access BA through one. When the portals turn Stable [Red] they are able to be entered without the use of an Aetherial Stabiliser! 

This brings me to another point. If there are premade BA groups in the dungeon, it is far better to ask if they have space for you or your party instead of forcing entry through portals. Please do not do take portals in this instance! It messes with, and can ruin, pre-made group’s progression attempts. The best way to attempt to progress is to ask for entry into a group, or to join one of the many BA discords floating around! 

The link to the one I have been using can be found >here<!

Baldesion Arsenal Support:

You’ll notice that often a ‘Support Group’ from pre-mades entering the Baldesion Arsenal will use shout chat to foretell the coming of the ELvl 60 FATE “The Baldesion Arsenal: Expedition Support”. This NM, Tristitia, is responsible for giving Absolute Virtue his health regeneration and is required for a clear. Please assist the Support Group in killing the NM to assist the people inside the Arsenal in their clear attempt! Furthermore, Tristitia gives E-EXP and 10 Hydatos Crystals per kill. 

Thank you all so much for reading, and I hope this helps your expeditions into Hydatos! It’s been a pleasure writing all these guides and exploring Eureka with you all. I’ll have a final guide to the Baldesion Arsenal up when I can, and I look forward to writing more come the Eureka-Like Content planned for Shadowbringers! Some other thanks to all the people who’ve helped me explore Eureka and those in my FC such as Ririnzo in particular for their efforts.

May you ever walk in the light of the Crystal,

Vex 

[umichenginabroad]

A Darkness that must never be forgotten

By: Dustin Fletcher, Aerospace/Mechanical Engineering major, German minor

Program: Technische Universität Berlin (TUB)

My previous two posts have been very joyful and happy. However, this post will take a more somber tone. Before you begin reading this, I want you to remember a couple things; the following topics are can be very emotionally heavy, and parts of this might be difficult topics for some people to read. However, of all the posts I make during my exchange, this one is arguably the most important and I hope you read it all the way through.

Following the end of WW1, Germany was in shambles. The country as a whole needed to pay off the debt from the war, and this stemmed into riots, some demonstrations, and political vulnerability. As a result, it was very easy for people to find something, or someone, to assign the blame to. This is where Adolf Hitler comes in. As a young man and new politician, Hitler joined the DAP (Deutsche Arbeiterpartei -> German Worker’s Party), which later changed its name to the Nationalsozialistche Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP), or Nazi for short. This party was strongly opposed to the democratic style government that Germany had adopted during the Weimar Republik. Hitler quickly gained popularity in this party, since he was a riveting speaker, in fact the best in the party. Hitler’s charismatic speeches of anti-Semitism and nationalism largely unified the people of Germany and drew large crowds towards his cause. Many people thought “This is exactly what our country needs, a strong leader who will speak his mind and get the job done!” Scary… You may be thinking, how could someone with such strong hate be elected as a leader? Excellent question, and I’m glad you’re asking it. You’d be surprised how often people say that phrase about very hateful people. Anyways, remember the thing about needing to assign blame to someone? That’s exactly what Hitler did. Rather than directly spreading anti-Semitic hate, Hitler spread it by saying that the Jews were the reason Germany lost the war, that they sabotaged the war efforts, that they’re the cause of all the political and social unrest in Germany at that time… It’s crazy what desperation can do to people’s moral compasses. In 1933 Hitler was appointed Chancellor and soon thereafter a bill was passed that stripped all power from the Reichstag. This effectively made Adolf Hitler the dictator of Germany, and thus das Dritte Reich (The Third Reich) was born.

I won’t go into as much detail about the war itself, since that’s the part that everyone already knows, but I wanted to talk about the preceding events, as few people actually fully understand how Hitler came to power and how WW2 began. Hopefully this isn’t sounding like a history book, but you need the background knowledge to really feel the emotions.

As a group, we visited the “Deutsche Unterwelt”, which was a tour of one of the bunkers found in Berlin. During this tour, we got to learn a lot about events leading up to the war, as well as how the German government was able to mitigate panic or spread propaganda, which they used to “brainwash” the public. Leading up to the war, Germany needed to start preparing, but the big question is, how do you get an entire country to prepare for a war that you are starting as an attempt to “purify” the world? Simple answer, you don’t. Instead, Hitler told Germany that other countries were preparing to wage war against them, and enforced mandatory “defense” preparations, such as practice air raids (callback to bunker we were in), manufacturing weapons, so on and so forth. The German government spread propaganda during the practice raids by having magazines that contained the Nazi ideology. But don’t forget the children! To make the air raids family friendly, the government so generously provided board games depicting war and Nazi ideals for the young’ns! Learning about this was extremely important for me, because it really helped me to fully understand how Hitler was able to get Germany fully onboard with his radical ideas. Most people think that the German people knew Hitler’s plan from the beginning, which makes it really easy to judge them for joining in at Hitler’s side. I know I definitely judged them, because I just couldn’t grasp how people would just so willingly torture and kill people.  The reality is that it was a long, deliberate, and thought out process over a course of a decade where Hitler slowly convinced people to listen to him. Through these small things like slowly hiding Germany’s true intentions, to lying about the war, to feeding propaganda to children, it’s actually quite easy to understand how Hitler could manipulate the entire country. Some other things we were able to see were bathrooms, waiting areas, and the bunker rooms themselves. Sitting in a room with our tour group was already fairly crowded, and we were at about the maximum capacity for the bunker room. We were told that the bunkers were only designed to make the people feel safer, since the German government never thought bombs would reach Berlin, so they really couldn’t handle all of Berlin’s population. At the end of the war though, bombs started landing in Berlin, and so everyone that could fit in the bunker did. Imagine, 100 people sitting in a room. Now, imagine that the room was designed for 20 people. Now imagine that it’s unbearably hot, and people are using the bathroom right where they sit, and you have to stay there for hours. Sitting there thinking about that really made me appreciate all of the things I have, and how comfortable my life is in comparison. And finally, to drive the idea home of how terrible this all was, the people in the bunker were the lucky ones. Compared to the people in German concentration camps, the people in the bunker were living like royalty.

The thing that surprised me the most from the Unterwelt tour was the fact that the German post-war inhabitants tried to hide the past. Until around 1960, the survivors didn’t really talk about the events of WW2, and even when kids or young adults that didn’t live through the war asked about it, they would push the question aside and change the topic, and because of that, young Germans didn’t know what their country was responsible for. Eventually, people found out, and once they did, they decided that they couldn’t stand around and let the world nor Germany forget what they had done. This movement is what sparked the construction of many memorials all throughout Berlin, as well as the rest of the country.

While we’ve been here in Germany, we’ve had the privilege of visiting a couple of these memorials. So far, we’ve been able to see memorials such as the book burning memorial, Gestapo, Die Deutsche Unterwelt, the Jewish Victim memorial, the Neue Wache, and more. Each and every one of the memorials was very powerful, and all work in tandem to remind us of the past, so that we can never forget it.

The book burning memorial isn’t large, but the person who designed it did a very good job of getting its point across. In the middle of an empty courtyard surrounded by large buildings, including the Humboldt University, is a single plaque and a lone plastic window on the ground. The plaque basically says that when people burn books, it is only a prelude to them burning people as well.  In the beginning of the Nazi reign, young Nazis ran into the University and grabbed any book that contained knowledge opposing their ideas and beliefs. They then brought them out to the courtyard, where they burned all of the books. Under the plastic window in the ground is a room filled with empty bookshelves that would contain the number of books that were burned. Looking at the empty bookshelves really helps to visualize just how much knowledge was lost, and it helps us to remember how the destruction of knowledge leads us down very dark paths.

The Neue Wache is a roman-revival style building in the middle of Berlin. Inside is an almost empty room with a circular hole in the ceiling. Directly below this hole is a statue of a mother with her dead son. In front of the statue is an inscription on the floor that says “Den Opfern von Krieg und Gewaltherrschaft” which means “For the Victims of War and Dictatorship”. While I was there, I didn’t really understand the feeling that overcame me. I realized later after some reflection that the sensation was that of vulnerability. The statue is trapped in its place, unable to escape the weathering from the environment. In the winter, the statue is covered in snow, in the summer is baked in the heat, or drenched in a torrential downpour. The fate of the statue, much like that of the victims, is completely in the hands of the seemingly unwavering force that ails it. I can’t even come close to imagining the vulnerability and helplessness that the victims had felt, but the experience was powerful nonetheless.

Every memorial I’ve gone to has been very emotionally evoking, but the one that had the most powerful feeling for me was the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. The memorial is a grid of gray obelisks, and you can walk between them. As you come closer to the middle, the ground gradually gets lower and the obelisks get taller. I have absolutely no idea how to describe the feeling I felt while I was in the middle, but the closest I can come is an overwhelming feeling of loneliness and sadness together. It was one of the most powerful auras I’ve experienced in my life and was unlike anything I’d ever felt before. This is definitely a memorial that you need to see for yourself to find your own interpretation.

There are so many things I could talk about, but it would all be too much for a single blog post. I ~HIGHLY~ recommend taking some time to freshen up on the history of the war and post-war Germany and then take a trip to visit some of the memorials. Every single one is worth seeing, and I promise you that you’ll be glad you did it. The last “memorial” I’d like to talk about, and what I think is the most important, are the Stolpersteine. The first time that I had heard about Stolpersteine was in my 3rd year German class back in high school. Stolpersteine are golden bricks that are put into the sidewalk with the name of a Jewish holocaust victim, as well as their date of birth and date of death. When I first learned about them, I thought they were all gathered together in a single spot in Berlin. However, they aren’t all in one place, but rather spread all throughout Germany. Instead of looming monuments like most memorials, they’re just a single stone or small group of stones in the sidewalk around every corner, and you can spot one in the ground everywhere you go. What I think makes this idea so effective is the frequency at which you see them. Being able to see a Stolperstein anywhere you are really helps quantify the sheer number of people that fell victim to the Holocaust. Also, you see them almost every day, but still not quite often enough to start ignoring them, making them serve as a daily reminder to prevent us from forgetting the past. And as George Santayana said so well, “Wer sich seiner Vergangenheit nicht erinnert, ist dazu verdammt, sie zu wiederholen“ – He who does not remember his past is thereby damned to repeat it.

[ikesenhell]

Summoning Circle XVI

This is a continuation of Summoning Circle. You can find all other IkeSen works of mine here. NOTE: Tagging @katriniac at her request. 

They shoved back the furniture in the living room and prepared another circle. Sasuke prepped instruments she didn’t even know the names of around the room. Some whirred, some beeped, some made scrawling measurements like a seismograph. He monitored them all ceaselessly for a week before clapping his hands together. 

“Good news. We might not even need a machine.”

“How do you figure that?” She asked, propping herself up between two of them on the couch.

“Well, the problem is from the other side. Ergo, we’d need to get through to the other side to block the holes. And I think--” He paused, contemplating his words. “I think it’s a matter of reverse engineering the doorway you made in the first place to place a barrier.”

She narrowed her eyes at him, her brain nigh on meltdown mode. “English please.”

“Remember your sigil you drew to summon them in the first place?” Sasuke flipped the book open, teasing his fingers between the pages. “It’s like an algebra problem.”

“Fuck, Sasuke. The whole reason we’re in this mess is because I’m shit at math.”

He half-smiled, shoving his glasses back up his nose. “Alright. A better analogy. Think of each place in the universe was a door. Naturally, to get in a door, you need a key.”

“Yeah. Sure.”

“So, for instance, to ‘assemble’ the key to our having space travel, we had to map out the lock. The components involved velocity, calculating orbits, etcetera, but in the end it was a key nonetheless.” He tapped the pages to the book. “And this book details keys to other doors.”

She paused. “So basically what you’re saying is the circle is the door, we just have to figure out the components to get us in there. Like a password.”

“Exactly like a password.”

“And once we’re in there...” The details laid bare out before her like the mythical yellow brick road. “Then we block the route back?”

“It’ll take a little doing. But that’s the idea. It’s just a matter of assembling the component to create the block. And in the meantime, we’d have the assistance of Mitsuhide and Mitsunari on the other side.”

It wasn’t a perfect idea, but it was an idea, and it was better than any she had to boot. Besides. Sasuke had never, ever let her down before. Suddenly overwhelmed by the grace of him, she leapt to his side and crushed him in a hug. 

“Sasuke, you’re the very best friend in the whole goddamn universe.”

He pet her back gently. “This is as much a fun scientific adventure for me as it is helping you... but you’re welcome.”

Mitsunari stood in the eye of the circling storm. 

A thousand dreams swirled around him. He extended a finger and watched them ripple around him, fragments of unconscious thoughts flowing through his mind. Oh, he was so, so hungry for them, so tempted to delve in and devour them whole for their knowledge. But he was hunting first and foremost. That stayed him. Faster and faster the tide turned around him. He shut his purple eyes and focused to the full stretch of his will, feeling the ravenous desire in him fight for control. 

But not today. 

He felt the dream and latched on, pulling it out of the slipping current and laying it bare before him. There. She dreamed, and his heart screamed and pulled from his chest, threatening mutiny.

She dreamed of them.

There they were--himself and Mitsuhide, standing in her kitchen, fumbling over sandwiches. The contents made no sense, and neither did the fact that all the furniture was floating--but nevermind that. Dream logic had a way of creeping in. He absorbed himself in the details of her. 

He watched her hands reaching for them, the way she always fell just out of reach. The kitchen drifted farther and farther away until it was only a lonely blip, the infinite hallway extending before her. Mitsunari wanted so badly for Dream-Him to reach out, take her, grab her! But no. He could only stand arrested as at last, the whole apartment slipped into blackness, the shattering of a mirror sprinkling through her mind. 

“There you are.”

Mitsunari shut his eyes and tried not to feel angry at Mitsuhide. “Did we do the right thing?”

The silver-haired demon stepped to his side and stared down at the dream. It turned to a horror so easily. Now she dreamed of blood sprinkled over the vanity, fragments of a vampire skull scattered over her feet. 

“Yes,” Mitsuhide murmured, his voice shaking. “We did.”

“It doesn’t feel like the right thing.”

“The right thing often doesn’t.”

Mitsunari sighed. “I suppose coming from you, that means something. You’re the king of doing the right thing in the worst ways.”

The ghost of an amused smile played over Mitsuhide’s lips, but he said nothing. Instead he extended his hand toward his partner. “You can’t stand here in the stream forever.”

“I’m not.”

“You’re starved. You never made the trade I made. You can’t be away from your books this long.”

“I know,” Mitsunari answered miserably. “I know. But I keep coming back here.”

Nothing other than the rush of swirling dreams around them answered. At last, Mitsuhide sighed. “Whatever you’re looking for, I can stand guard for now. She wouldn’t want you to do this to yourself.”

A bitter laugh escaped him. “She wouldn’t want a lot of things that have happened.”

“No. You’re right. She wouldn’t have.” 

She took her cat to stay with another friend for a while. After all, whenever they broke through to Purgatory, Theodora couldn’t go without food and water. Kissing her pet a thousand times on the head, she finally resolved herself to the unknown. 

Both she and Sasuke threw themselves into working long hours every week, extending their paychecks as far as they could manage to accommodate an unknown length of time away from their respective bills and responsibilities. Each night, they dragged themselves back to the apartment and slaved over the books late into the night. Sasuke pinned an intricate system of notes onto her wall. One night she pointed out it looked like a meme and he struck the same pose, sending them into a several-minute long fit of giggles. 

And at last--at last!--they had something. 

“Holy shit.” Sasuke announced one midnight. “I think I got it.”

She pried herself from her notes to stare blearily at him. “What?”

“I’ve got it.” And he scrambled for chalk, etching the runes into the floor one at a time. Each of them pulsed and warped in tandem, shimmering a bright red through the apartment until a faint light pooled in the center. Sasuke inhaled deeply. “I haven’t set the last symbol, but when we do...”

“Oh my god.” She slammed the book shut, scrabbling over to him. “Okay. Okay okay. Okay!”

“We need to get supplies.” He nodded resolutely, and suddenly the two of them were scrabbling around the room. “Like a can of beans!”

A moment. She stopped and stared at him. “A... can of beans? Like, a singular can?”

Sasuke, astrophysicist and genius, stopped dead in his tracks, eyes glazed. “I... yes. We probably need more than one.”

“Sleep deprivation getting you there?”

“I’d be absolutely thrilled if we could just chalk it up to that.”

They crashed that night in the living room, and by the next morning, they both sent off emails to their respective employers about an unplanned, long-term absence from work. Shuffling their backpacks together, they checked it for the millionth time.

“A compass won’t be any use there,” Sasuke mumbled. “Do you know how to orient us once we’re in?”

“Not a single fucking clue, if I’m honest. I might be able to get us to the hot springs... if it dumps us out in the correct place.”

“Not likely, then.” But he smiled anyway, cranking one of his ten wind-up cameras he’d somehow procured. “This will be very exciting.”

“And scary. We need to be on our guard.” 

“Of course. But the scientific opportunity here is limitless.”

Count on Sasuke to make it fun. Shaking out her nerves, she nodded at him. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yeah. Let’s do this. Beam me up, Scotty.”

He gave her the usual muted smile and scrawled out the appropriate signs. Just as before, the whole living room began to swim with ruby light. Affixing the last piece, they stepped back as a massive gate appeared before them--and just beyond, a thick, purple haze. 

She exhaled hard and took Sasuke’s hand. “Alright.”

He squeezed it reassuringly. Together, they stepped through, and the gate closed behind them. 

“My friend?”

The demon frowned from his place atop a cushioned chair, but answered anyway. “Yes, Shingen?”

Smirking, the redheaded demon flopped into a matching one across from him, adjusting his red and gold robes. “I don’t suppose you’re in a mood for a patrol?”

Those mismatched eyes flicked open with interest. “Is it a vampire incursion? Perhaps some of those hungering spirits again?”

“No, no no, Kenshin, my friend. Nothing that we need to attack, exactly.”

“Oh.” Kenshin’s face soured immediately. “Then I’m not interested.”

“Come now! It’ll be fascinating.” Shingen chuckled, leaning in. “I heard the most interesting report. We have some interlopers out here.”

“If I can’t kill them, then I don’t know what you want from me.”

“I’m certain you’ll find them of interest.” The demon grinned broad, his horns like an ibex shimmering into view. “Because, my friend, they’re humans.”

[dnd-vigilante]

Monk Paths

Way of the Kensai

“Monks of the Way of the Kensei train relentlessly with their weapons, to the point where the weapon becomes an extension of the body. Founded on a mastery of sword fighting, the tradition has expanded to include many different weapons. A kensei sees a weapon in much the same way a calligrapher or painter regards a pen or brush. Whatever the weapon, the kensei views it as a tool used to express the beauty and precision of the martial arts. That such mastery makes a kensei a peerless warrior is but a side effect of intense devotion, practice, and study.” - Xanathar

Monks from this tradition receive hemalurgic limb replacements (the replacement or advancement of body parts with weapons or tools) called Guerdons. They are almost like practical trophies and are earned by accomplishing great achievements. The monks present their achievement to a council who decide if a guerdon was earned, and if so, what it should be. To outsiders, it may appear alien and horrific. These monks believe that the body can be improved, and there is honor in receiving these violent gifts.

Monks are assigned “years of construction” where they leave the temple to accomplish feats and improve themselves. The number of years they are assigned is decided by a council, though the monk is able to petition for less or more time. Most guerdons are earned in years of construction, but they can be earned in the temple too. Since these gifts enhance abilities a monk has shown prowess in, monks of this order can become hyper-specialized. (This is DM discretion)

Examples of potential Guerdons:

Navigating a ship full of refugees through a violent storm, and in return the monk received a magical compass set into their arm.

The Monk “saw through” political intrigue and foiled an assassination attempt, so they earned a magical eye to replace their own.

A Monk becomes renowned for their prowess at transcribing old works, so their finger is replaced by a calligraphy pen.

Way of the Sun Soul

“Monks of the Way of the Sun Soul learn to channel their life energy into searing bolts of light. They teach that meditation can unlock the ability to unleash the indomitable light shed by the soul of every living creature.” - From Xanathar

Beach dwelling tiny-home hippies. They are headed by an enigmatic central figure named Euphoric who they unequivocally adore (read, cult leader). Their leader is famously silent. They (he) will occasionally hold “gazing sessions” where they make meaningful eye contact with the worshippers that attend. Other than that, they haven’t made a public appearance in years, and in this void their followers are free to project whatever ideology they want to on their leader. This works in their leader’s favor because, if you actually cornered them to have a conversation you’d find that they are relatively immature and shallow. There are some books that the leader wrote years ago but they sort of aren’t talked about. The group is largely controlled by Euphoric’s “assistant” Bliss Delight. They try to appear publicly as Euphoric’s assistant at most, but they are absolutely the brains behind the operation.

Monks of this tradition are focused on their connection to the universe and to each other. They regularly meditate (solo and group meditations) on the cosmos and the way that, they feel, all living things are connected. Through this regular, focused meditation they unlock a power within themselves, unleashed as beams of sunlight.

Way of the Drunken Master

Long ago, a lone adventurer set out on the back of his young dragon turtle, seeking fulfillment in life through the creation of beer. Every year he would return to his home with his discoveries, convincing more and more people to come with him in his search. As the years passed, his dragon turtle became larger. Eventually she was so big that an island monastery was built atop her. Here, you can find the advancement and creation of the many different beers discovered throughout the years. Using the traveling island as a way to simulate drunkenness, young monks practice their skills stumbling around the island as it moves through storms and harsh waves, eventually learning to fight while consuming their prized beer. Through this training the Way of the Drunken Master pursues a form of tranquility with the perfect beer.

A rift exists between the Way of the Drunken Master and the Way of the Open Hand. In the continuous search for the best way to brew beer, the Drunken Masters perfected their techniques again and again. Each brew they create is better than the one before. This intrigues the Way of the Open Hand, as they always seek the best. This is where the problem occurs: the Way of the Drunken Master does not wish to share in the creation of the best beer. They have devoted their very existence to the cause of creating something perfect. The Way of the Open Hand simply wishes it to be given to them as if they deserve it or are entitled to it. The Drunken Masters believe in earning the hard way. More so, they believe that struggle creates beauty. There are skirmishes between these two factions often. The Drunken Masters have also been infiltrated by members of the Open Hand on occasion who pretend to stumble in a stupor, hoping to find their way to the brewery so that they can pilfer a recipe.

Way of the Shadow

The way of the shadow is heavily tied to the Umbral Winds. Their power over this natural energy allows them to step through the darkness of the world. Manipulating the dormant energy within all things, the way of the shadow is able to step into and out of one shadow into another. They have a strong dislike for the hundred oaths, they find them restrictive and unnecessary. To the Way of the Shadow, the hundred oaths limit the potential of growth. With the power gained through the Umbral Winds, the world remains in balance. The Umbral Winds whisper to these monks, directing and teaching them how to manipulate this energy. The Umbral Wind influences the monks, teaching them to fight and control their Ki using the dark energy of the world. The world is chaos; The winds are influenced through chaos. Through the Umbral Wind the Way of the Shadow find balance in all things.

Monks that hear the whispers of the Umbral wind are reclusive. There isn’t a concrete order or a figurehead. They are almost like feral cats, comfortable with detachment and confident in darkness. When monks of this tradition meet, sometimes they will group. Sometimes they will clash instinctively. Encountering a shadow monk is often unremarkable: a glint in the darkness or a feeling of unease at a shadowed alleyway before it passes. .

Way of the Elements

Monks of the Elements have the power to terraform. They wish to make a utopian planet someday. For now, they study our planet in order to learn the best possible ways of improvement. They are at odds with druid circles because of the the difference in how they view the natural world. In the eyes of the Monk of the Elements, nature is imperfect, and so it must be remade through the teachings and alterations from the Way of the Elements. Monks of the Elements have a tediously democratic system. A building can’t be built without extensive debates and multiple rounds of voting about the color the building will be painted. They view it as perfect society, but outsiders largely see it as needless. It also slows down their planet-building dreams substantially. There are so many things to vote on, so many factors that have to be decided upon, that it is difficult to imagine them ever finishing their plans. The Way of the Elements is taught within a small extremely well-planned city called Relojera. The growth of Relojera has been slow, but each addition has been exactly placed after long thorough arguments and discussions. Advancement within the Way of the Elements is difficult, as only members who have made contributions to the world which are accepted by a majority of the Way are promoted. After extensive reviews of their profiles and qualifications, once a month a handful of new trainees are accept to join the Way of the Elements

Way of the Open Hand

Travelling boat caravans, the Way of the Open Hand move from place to place seeking to consume/experience the best things in life as a way of reaching self actualization. Monks of the Open Hand (who refer to themselves as “curators”) will hear of interesting islands in the middle of nowhere. These locales have unique foods or clothing that the entire caravan will flock to and ultimately assimilate into their fleet.. Caring for and maintaining the fleet is vital. It’s a living metaphor for the importance of maintaining your body and mind.

Their “temples” or Reliquaries are massive, exquisite central ships that are expertly maintained. The Reliquary ships are roughly between 440 and 538 feet long by 210 feet wide. Each has nine masts on its deck, rigged with square sails that could be adjusted in series to maximize efficiency in different wind conditions. Along with these colossal ships, they have smaller faster ones used for quick travel and the movement of curators. The eight-masted ships, called Repositories, are about 2/3 the size of the Reliquaries, measuring approximately 340 feet by 138 feet. As indicated by the name, the Repositories carry sought after belongings and tribute goods. Seven-masted Sepulcher or tomb ships carry the fallen of the Open Hand. Sepulcher are about 257 feet by 115 feet in size. Finally, the small, five-masted warships or Feretory, each about 165 feet long, are designed to be maneuverable in battle.

The ships are loosely connected by long strips of brilliant cloth that act as highways or zip lines so that monks of this order can travel from boat to boat. They have to navigate expertly, keeping the ships in toe to avoid damaging or tangling. Their fleets move in tandem, nodding with the waves like an intricately woven blanket on top of the water. During combat, the Feretory ships (which are always kept on the perimeter of the fleet) are cut loose and are allowed to engage in direct combat while the rest of the fleet remains close to their Repository ships, keeping them safe. If a ship that is tied to the fleet begins to go down, it will literally drag the rest of the ships down with it. Because of this, a damaged ship has to be detached and left to sink. This mindset is echoed throughout the Open Hand tradition: if part of a whole is imperfect, it degrades the whole. Weak links are not accepted.

Needless to say, when they arrive at an island, seeking out the best music or woodwork or wine, they are incredibly intimidating and awe-inspiring. It’s no wonder many people are easily manipulated into supplying their most perfect, most treasured items to the curators of the Open Hand.