#i think we have some sort of a telepathic connection now

[jujianjes]

Me: *looks at my classmate while forming an answer inside my head*

Him: *looks at me, obviously thinking of an answer as well*

Me and Him: *looks at the teacher and tentatively raises hand at the same time*

[thebramblewood]

Time to wrap this history lesson up (for now).

Previous / Next

Helena, telepathically: What then?

Caleb, telepathically: She came home, of course. To me.

I mistook her for a nightmare at first, pounding so hard on my bedroom window the glass shook, bloodied and bruised, trembling and out of her head. She was sick for days but refused a doctor and only allowed me to see her. Fragments of memory returned, enough to give us some small idea of what she was turning into, as inconceivable as it seemed.

Upon transforming, she was immediately ravenous. I trapped rats in the alley and brought them to her. Hardly the fine dining she had grown accustomed to, but desperation overruled disgust. Their blood didn’t quench her thirst for long. The entire household was at risk. We decided we would go together to seek out her maker. I’m ashamed to admit we hardly took a moment to consider everything we were leaving behind, least of all our parents. The lives they wanted for us had never fit, and it seemed we’d been handed an opportunity to start over, as horrifying as the circumstances were.

-

Lilith: That’s him.

Caleb: Are you certain?

Lilith: It’s a terrible likeness, but it has the same sinister aura. Besides, I hear him calling. He’s been waiting for me.

-

[Continuing telepathic conversation]

Helena: It’s funny. I feel like I’ve seen him before, the vampire who turned her.

Caleb: It wouldn’t surprise me. Judgmental lurking is his favorite pastime. He founded Forgotten Hollow as his eternal enclave from the human world and refuses to accept it no longer belongs solely to him. Observing is how he fools himself into thinking he hasn’t lost control. His origins, his age, his connections, his wealth — it’s always been a mystery. He’s never liked me, and he and Lilith haven’t been on speaking terms for decades.

Helena: But why-

Caleb: It’s late. Lilith will be rising soon.

Helena: Can she… listen in when we talk like this?

Caleb: No. The psychic bond between two vampires creates a sort of veil. So long as one of you is in my head, the other can’t intrude. But being locked out will drive her mad. Best to stay on her good side for now.

Helena: You haven’t even told me yet how you were turned or-

Caleb: Patience, Helena. After all, we only have eternity.

[juniorig0327]

Revamped God swap AU Pt. 2

After thinking it out, I think this is the main AU I want to focus on. It isn't gonna be a full god swap AU, it's gonna be only the characters I want because I'm self indulgent like that.

Percy - Keeping Percy as a Son Of Poseidon but his family has deep connections to the Greek world way back to the ancient times, so he's also a legacy.

The two gods I decided that I wanted to give him connection to were Athena and Sol.

At first I opted for Helios but after realized that one, he's faded and that I wanted the connect to Sol to be rather strong I decided to go roman. And two (if I ever read trials of apollo lol) I could possibly have him conflict with Caligula which I think was Neo Helios. Now unlike him being a legacy of apollo, he doesn't get the things like archery or plagues, just pure sun. I think I'd want him to have a blessing sort of like Frank to always have a part of the sun with them. Some of his family members had stronger connections than others however.

Secondly, the main heritage I wanted to give him was Athena. The main reason for this is purely epic the musical related. I was listening to it and thinking about how much Odysseus reminded me of Percy and so here we are. I think I'd want him to be a first gen legacy. Sally never figured out she was a demigod until Poseidon came around and an incident happened where she found out. I feel like instead of the normal wisdom and smarts, Sally just ended up with emotional wisdom and maybe a bit of telepathic abilities.

This being said I feel like this would make Percy and Athena's relationship complicated. Athena would probably keep her distance and maybe slightly aid him sometimes from afar. She has complicated feelings. I can already imagine Athena and Poseidon fighting over him because he embodies both of their aspects surprisingly well. Poseidon with the unpredict ableness and wildness of the sea but the wisdom, knowledge, and battle strategy in a fight.

If I wanted to make this very much more canon divergent than before then maybe Athena comes to accept Percy publicly after TLO and they actually have somewhat of a relationship and then HOO happens and he's basically disowned out of nowhere and sent to follow the Mark of Athena. After he finds out about his role in the seven he's sorta pissed. The weight of the world is on his shoulders again, if he fails this means their screwed. And this time he doesn't have anyone to share the burden with, he's all by himself and has to do it all alone (which he does, and then he falls into Tartarus so uh thats gonna go well lol).

So yeah. Thats how I feel about that. I feel like its an interesting dynamic and it doesnt really change Percy that much I feel like except more angst (lol) and a new set of powers which I think I'll have fun balancing around.

Luke - Yeah, I already basically explained the Hades thing so yeah, I'm definitely keeping him as a son of Hades. But I think I can seriously use this to strengthen him and Percy's relationship to make the betrayal hit harder for him imo.

They're more chthonic gods and I feel like they're be somewhat feared, or at least Percy is. Luke was before but he just gained the trust of the camp slowly so they don't really fear him. It would just be another way they'd bond over.

Thalia and Nico - I'll be keeping these two the same respectively, just a bit more stronger probably. I think I could come up with some cool legacy heritages for them I think the only one I could really see being a legacy is Nico soo..

Annabeth - Annabeth is going to be an Apollo kid, but similar to canon she doesnt really have any useful powers. Her main weapons would be her dagger and then a bow gifted to her by Apollo that produces arrows out of light but I think thats it. She still keeps her intelligence thing because Apollo is the god of knowledge lol.

I do think like Will Solace that she'd eventually unlock plague powers, but also like Will Solace that would be a Tartarus thing because I believe they both deserve to go dark and apeshit in Tartarus so. Percy will probably have his Poison/Blood Bending and Annabeth will have her Plague Powers.

Leo - Decided midway through this post that I wanted to combine the AU of Luke just having a bunch of runaways with godswap because like why not so. Thinking of a Leo godswap is suprisingly hard. I'm personally thinking maybe Hermes but like chthonic Hermes. So like he'd have the typical Hermes abilities but could also like shadow travel. He'd still embody most of his canon traits I feel like and he'd be afraid of his chthonic abilities because of the incident with his mom but by the end he'd probably have overcome it.

Magnus - I think the idea of Magnus going to CHB surprisingly well and I've been thinking about a godswap for him because like why not. And so despite me have only read the first magnus chase book up to the point where he dies I'm thinking maybe Thor?? If you guys have any better suggestions please comment and tell me. Could have a cool arc of him and Thalia training together, some sort of Norse crossover, maybe an arc sort of like Jason's where he's just trying to figure out where he belongs. Also does anybody know if like, Norse demigods can use their powers before they die and go to Valhalla or if its like a after they die thing do they awaken them??

Last thing but I've also been considering making an oc for this. They'd be related to Percy but they wouldnt be like a sibling or like a child of Sally. They'd either be like a child of Poseidon or something or a child from maybe Sally's uncle's side which also somehow got roped into the greek world. I'm just a killer for sibling and family relationships and atleast in the original PJO series it's done SO GOOD. So if you would be interested please comment! I really like when you guys like and comment so please. If you have any ideas on this OC I want to make or maybe Magnus's godly parent I'd appreciate it so much!

[justwearthegoddamncardigan]

hello :) how are you ? i saw that you followed me, thank you by the way ! may i request a adhd!reader x thomas fanfic please ? They have a telepatic link together. She is mejack. Being in the glade wasn't easy for her because of the works, she needed to focus and being fast and it exhausted her also some gladers wasn't very nice to her so one day she has a ouburst and yell across the glade. Thomas her boyfriend was the first to comfort her.

sorry for my english im french

Hey! I'm doing pretty well, ty for asking

Yeah I looked at your page and saw maze runner, teen wolf, and taylor, so I absolutely had to follow ❤

Thanks for the request, I hadn't gotten to explore the telepathy thing from the books in my fics yet, so that was fun to write. Hope you enjoy!

Calm and Storm

Thomas x adhd!fem!reader

Set during tmr (movieverse)

Notes: I am not personally close with anyone with ADHD, so representation of ADHD in this fic is completely research-based, like my fic Tides which had an autistic reader. Let me know if anything should be changed.

More notes: I also added an emotional empathy-type bond on top of the telepathy thing. Canon divergence where Thomas is in the Glade for at least a few more weeks before everything happens i.e. Teresa coming, the Grievers attacking, all the stuff. it happens later.

Warnings: language, minor injuries, some asshole men and suggestive comments, I feel like it's not written that well :( hopefully it's ok

You remember the first time you met Thomas.

"And in here, we've got the Medjacks." Newt's voice floated in from the entrance.

You'd missed seeing the Box come up, cause one of the Gladers was sick and needed to be watched.

You turned and smiled at the new boy. "Hey, I'm Y/n."

You're a girl, you heard.

"You've got some stellar observation skills there," you said, smirking.

Thomas had looked surprised, and Newt looked between the two of you, confused.

"Uh- Y/n, what?"

...did Newt not hear what the Greenie said?

"Um... anyway, you here for a crash course on Medjacks?" You decided to just continue and skip over that weird exchange.

Little did you know that was the first of many telepathic conversations to come.

You found out about your mental link with Thomas the next night.

When he was stuck in the Maze with Minho, you'd called out to him in your mind, and been stunned when he responded.

After confusedly realising that you clearly had some sort of mental connection, you stayed up all night talking to him and supporting him.

Holy shit, I just killed a Griever

What the shuck? How is that even possible?

I ran and baited it until it was crushed between the walls.

You must've looked pretty strange that night, alone in the Medjack hut making hand gestures and facial expressions to nobody, and pacing around the room restlessly.

What're you doing now?

I'm with Minho, we need to get back to Alby.

Okay. Stay with me, alright? Just keep updating me.

Sure, oh- ohhhh shit!

What? What happened?

I just heard another Griever, I don't think I can kill another one, holy shit, what do we do-

Thomas! Calm down. Breathe. Focus on my voice.

Minho- Minho's saying something.

Okay, good, just follow him.

Shitshitshitshitshit

You realise you can feel emotions through the bond too, and Thomas' fear is spiralling straight into you.

Thomas?

Yeah, I'm here. Just say anything. Tell me about anything, just distract me.

Okay, you keep following Minho alright?

Yeah yeah, just talk to me so I don't hear the Grievers as much.

You got it.

You try to channel your own emotions too.

Hey, when you get back, I can ask Frypan to make pancakes.

There's pancakes in this place?

Only for special occasions. We put the good fruits on them and everything.

You mentally push as much comfort as you can through the bond. It feels weird, and you don't know if it works, until-

Hey, Y/n, is that you?

What?

I can feel like... calmness, or something. Are you doing that?

Shucking hell, it actually worked.

You just keep talking all through the night.

When he gets back, the two of you sort through how the bond works.

Basically, you can talk to each other through telepathy, and also send emotions through sometimes.

Usually, the emotions won't go if you don't push them across on purpose.

But, if it's strong enough, like Thomas' fear from that night, it'll be felt by the other person.

Having that bond brings you closer to Thomas, and before you know it you're practically attached at the hip.

You trade little jokes with each other during meetings and meals, and sometimes you chat while you're working.

⭒----⭒

It's a few weeks after Thomas arrives in the Glade that you start dating.

Boys had always tried to hit on you, cause you know, you're shuckin' pretty (and also hot, obviously), but you were never interested in any of them.

Until Thomas.

You started crushing on him when you became friends and got to know him better.

He makes you laugh, and his smile is intoxicating, and he has an insane knack for remembering the little things you mention in conversation.

Things you'd only mention once, for half a second, like bringing up the little flower garden by the lake.

But he still remembers.

And that's how he confessed his feelings to you.

You can still feel the nervousness coursing through the bond from him as he handed you a bundle of white flowers, smiling shyly.

Then you felt joy, both his and yours when you told him you liked him too, and you had your first kiss.

⭒----⭒

Aside from casual conversation and sharing emotions, the connection also helps you a lot, cause Thomas can feel when your frustration seeps through the bond, and he can come over to look after you.

As a Medjack, the work isn't always the best - sometimes it feels like you're fighting your own brain to do your job.

Most of your work includes sitting at a table in the Medjack hut and repetitively making cures for various ailments and injuries.

You often feel restless sitting at that desk, finding it hard to force yourself to stay seated and focus on the task.

That's not to say you're bad at your job.

You make the most effective hangover cures the Glade has ever seen, and you can bandage a wound faster than both Jeff and Clint.

You just hate doing one thing for too long.

Oftentimes you'll impulsively switch to rolling bandages halfway through mixing fever medicine, or you'll be constantly fidgeting during the Medjack segment of council meetings.

Essentially, being a Medjack can be a lot sometimes.

Like today.

Most of the Gladers are good guys, but there's still a few that you loathe to treat.

There's a Builder, Derek, a grade-A asshole who can never stop sending you that smarmy, suggestive grin and making obscene comments about you and Thomas, as well as outright insulting your work.

Unfortunately, Derek is clumsy as klunk, and is always getting cut up on sharp pieces of wood.

He thinks being littered with scars is cool, and wears his stupid shirt with the sleeves obnoxiously cut off, because apparently having scratched up arms from being unable to stay on a ladder is a good look that must be shared with the world. (or just wear a singlet bro, you didn't have to cut up a t-shirt).

Anyways, Derek is once again injured, and is yelling at the Medjack hut from where he and another Builder are working on the council hall.

"Oi! Can we get some help over here? People are injured!" His grating voice cuts through the peace of the hut.

Clint looks up in concern. "Shuck, must be bad. Y/n, let's go take a look."

You take a breath to steady yourself. You've had a rough day already, dealing with some difficult Gladers, and having to treat Derek might just push you off the edge.

Plus, you only got like, two hours of sleep last night, so you're pretty exhausted.

You gather some supplies and rush out of the hut to where Derek is waiting.

He's sitting calmly on a rock, legs visibly uninjured.

Even Clint's annoyed at this point. "Couldn't've even walked to the hut?" he mutters.

There's blood dripping from Derek's shoulder, which; how do you even get injured there.

Medjacks treat all patients with care, you tell yourself, gritting your teeth.

"I'll take Derek, you take care of John," says Clint, clapping a hand on your shoulder. He leaves to grab a needle for stitches.

You nod gratefully; Clint's probably remembering your many rants about Derek in the huts.

You carefully examine John's sprained wrist, grabbing supplies to make a brace before bandaging the injury.

"Hey Y/n," calls Derek. "Any chance you can hurry up with that? I need some help here."

Clint must be stuck in the hut with something.

"Just. Wait." you say stiffly, through clenched teeth.

At this point, you're about one more comment away from taking a swing at Derek.

You feel your anger start to build as Derek steps closer.

Y/n?

Shuck, you're mad enough to alert Thomas.

It's fine, you send back.

"Seriously?" Derek's leaning over John's wrist right now, inspecting your brace. "It's just a sprain. How is this taking so long?"

"Dude, back off," says John.

You ignore Derek despite being ready to punch him. "You should ask Frypan for ice later," you tell John. "Don't work for at least the rest of the day okay? I'm gonna bandage it now."

"That's how you're leaving the brace?" Derek stares down at your work.

"Look, do you wanna do it?" you huff, before berating yourself for giving in and speaking to him.

"I guess your hands are busy doing other things for Thomas to practice doing actual medical work."

You stand abruptly, hands clenched furiously.

"What is your problem?" you exclaim. "Just shut the fuck up and leave me alone!"

"Woah there," says Derek, laughing a little. "Chill out girly."

You're actually seething by now, and-

Y/n!

What.

Hey, you're okay. What's wrong?

Nothing. It's fine.

You can almost hear him sigh half-fondly and half-exasperatedly through the bond. I'm comin' out of the Maze now. I'll be at the hut in two minutes.

"Uh- hello?" Derek waves his hand in your face.

You shove his hand away before bending to bandage John's wrist.

"Finally," says Derek when you're done. "Can you do my shoulder now?"

"No," you say flatly. "It's a minor cut. You can wait for Clint."

"Hey, I'm pretty sure it's your responsibility. I'd prefer to wait for Clint, too, but I-"

"Shucking hell, enough!" you shout, voice rising quickly. "Can't you just leave me alone, you piece of klunk! God, you're always looking for someone to bother, finding some way to annoy someone. What, do you just want attention? Please just get out of my face."

The Glade seems frozen, with people looking up from their work to watch.

Then a soft voice breaks the silence. "Hey," says Thomas. He comes up behind you and gives you that signature grin.

"Derek, a pleasure as always." He flips him off with one hand, using the other to take your hand, and you let him lead you into the Medjack hut.

"Clint," says Thomas. "There's a dickhead outside who needs stitches. Is it okay if you..."

"Oh shuck, sorry." Clint grabs the needle and thread he'd initially come in from. "Got distracted," he explains.

You snort. "I get that."

Clint leaves, leaving you and Thomas alone.

You take a seat on one of the beds, and he sits facing you in a stool.

He gently kicks out a leg, nudging you in the shin.

"You alright?" he asks.

"Yeah," you say. "Just- you know."

"Just what?"

You sigh, scrubbing your face with a hand. "That was embarrassing."

Thomas looks at you incredulously. "Are you kidding? Everything you said was more than valid. Derek's just a horrible person, don't let him make you feel embarrassed."

"Yeah... but everyone was watching."

"I'd watch too. I'd watch the strongest, coolest, prettiest person in the Glade ripping into this sorry excuse for a human."

You huff out a laugh at his dramatics. "Thanks."

"Hey, c'mon." Thomas pulls you into a hug, before pressing a kiss to your forehead.

"Wanna have dinner in the flower field today?"

"I'd love that," you reply, grinning.

Heyy I'm loving the diversity of readers in my asks lately. Thanks for sending this one ❤❤

Also, I know my tense is messed up in this one. I usually write in present but idk this one's just funky. Hope it was alright.

In general I'm a little unsure about how this fic turned out, I feel like the writing wasn't really good. This weekend was pretty hectic and I didn't get in the flow of writing :((( idk I hope it was still an enjoyable fic.

Anyway, is asshole Derek based on someone I know? nope just an oddly specific OC. in other news I have a family friend I always have to see at get togethers who loves making his furniture from scratch and can never stay safe while making his fucking chairs and lets us know proudly every time he has to go to the ER. he's a douche not a misunderstood hot guy trust me on that

[nalyra-dreaming]

Thank you for all of your responses to these questions! Here’s another if you don’t mind: how do you envision the dynamic between the four (Louis, Lestat, Daniel, Armand) next season? They of course are going to pull from the book to guide and show the season but from new material they will include because there are creative differences, what do you see? Jacob has said that he believes that Louis sees Daniel as his little brother of sorts. Do you see Daniel worrying about Louis and wondering where he is? Telepathically or trying to find him other ways? How do you envision Armand post season 2 in relation to Louis especially? Does he feel guilt about how the chain of events (revaluations) unfolded? Or does he remain unaffected? What about how he sees rockstar Lestat? And Daniel? What about how Lestat could potentially interact with Armand if he sees him , now knowing that Louis knows that it was Lestat who saved him. You’ve discussed how Lestat and Daniel could interact already so I’ve left it out

Hey!

That... depends what time frame we are actually in when the show comes back on. Did really 4 years pass? Did the documentary happen already? Was Daniel still mortal when he interviewed Lestat? (Despite the book, Louis could still have an unopened advanced copy months later after all). Did the chase happen? Did Daniel try to find Lestat (as in the book) and got chased down by Armand? Did the reunion really happen?

You know :) A lot of questions before this can be answered I think.^^

As per Armand... I... am not sure where he is in his personal development. That also depends on where we are in the story. What kind of heartbreak did he experience with Daniel at this point? How did it change him? I am not sure if Armand actually regrets what he did to Louis, at least canonically he... does not seem to. He feels vague... pain/embarrassment wrt Claudia, but re Louis... no. Not really. And so I think that depends, a lot, on where we are in the story. But I do think he stays away from Louis for the time being.

I do think Daniel and Louis look out for each other a bit, at least I hope they do. They both deserve that, don't they?^^

As per Armand wrt rockstar Lestat - I go with Assad here, who said that Armand likely listens to that "double album" obsessively, trying to figure out which songs are about him :) I mean, we will get to see some of that obsession re Lestat in (the flashbacks of) season three... :)))

Lestat and Armand... I think if any of the tower scene was built on some kind of truth, then Lestat is going to do what he did in Memnoch, namely go "I hear Armand and I see him and I ignore him" :))) I mean... they kinda have some beef ongoing then still, right^^ Then again, it probably depends on whether he knows what Armand actually did.

Because... Lestat canonically is not after revenge - at all.

I know that seems a bit different in the tale we got so far, but Lestat is actually very forgiving. He is not out for vengeance. And as such... he would probably be happy to see Armand, despite there being some... well, grudges.

But when they meet again Lestat is very far from a fledgling himself. He knows how their life can be. By the time Louis accepts a few things about himself he as well will have come to terms with a few things.

This awareness of what their life is, namely dark and lonely, shapes them and their interactions.

I think if Lestat would interact with Armand it would be with a certain suppressed anger mixed with understanding, and both their emotional connection and their past would make them bleed, easily.

[paradoxcase]

Chapter 3 of Nona the Ninth

Huh, so:

I guess this is definition 7, then. I've never heard that word used to refer to a person before, but it's not marked as being regional

So Nona looks old enough that people are fine with hitting on her, but not old enough that anyone thinks she's graduated from middle school. This is not a fun fact

Also, this school has "almost 20 children", this is like a one-room schoolhouse from the 19th century except it's in the middle of New York City for some reason, what even

I mean, is it really that hard to pimp out Augustine? If she'd said "I'd have had better luck pimping out Mercy" that would have been something, but maybe it actually is easier to pimp out Nona and Camilla than it is to pimp out Mercy

Can Camilla and Palamedes have regular conversations with each other? Very curious as to how that might work

Quasi-telepathic abilities sounding more and more likely

There's been descriptions of it being hot, and I'm not sure if a) it's just summer, and that's what summer is like wherever New Rho happens to be, or b) this planet is just hotter than Earth by virtue of being closer to the sun or having a naturally thicker atmosphere, or c) some kind of climate change is happening here

It sounds like she has some still-repressed memories of learning this stuff?

So they live in basically a cop building, and Pyrrha did say that one of their neighbors is a cop and another one has militia connections, so I'm guessing they are probably being specifically kept there by BOE or some other entity because of their Nine Houses connection, and Camilla doesn't want Nona telling people where they live because people might infer that based on the building?

Given that a lot of people here don't speak each other's languages, I wonder how much of this is just another culture's kinship system being mistranslated into whatever language the kids are using. Like, Brother Father and Younger Brother Father sound like they're probably uncles, Eldest Father could be a grandfather, and New Father could possibly be a step-father

I mean, first of all, Palamedes has been living here for a while, I think he should be used to BOE (or whatever you want to call this culture) names by now, but also, Honesty is a perfectly fine name. Like, Wake's name was silly, Hot Sauce is a silly name, We Suffer And We Suffer and Crown Him With Many Crowns are at least fairly odd from an English-language naming standpoint, and many of our common names are borrowed from ancient languages and don't mean anything in regular conversation, but we totally 100% also name people things like Grace and Faith and Hope and Joy and Harmony and Prudence and Felicity and Constance and I'm sure there's plenty of cultures where boys are named this way too and Honesty is a perfectly fine and reasonable name. While we're at it, Beautiful Ruby and Born in the Morning are also pretty good names? The only thing odd about these names is that we're not used to seeing them

Anyway, possibly the kids are speaking some non-House language (or are at least named in non-House languages) and Nona is translating their names into House for this conversation? It's a little odd in that case that she's not translating "Kevin" at least in the narrative text, since Kevin is just an anglicization of Irish Caoimhín which means "of noble birth" in Irish. But if Nona's language abilities are based on some sort of telepathic sense, she might fail to translate Kevin's name because Kevin doesn't know Irish? Irish seems unlikely to have survived the apocalypse, at any rate

She definitely can lie, though, she successfully lied and told the teachers at the school that Camilla was her sister and Pyrrha was a friend of her father's and that she had been through many resettlements, didn't she? She just doesn't seem to know on her own when she should be lying and when she shouldn't be

There are some implications for how language is being processed for someone who really can't lie, basically the science fiction premise of Embassytown by China Miéville, and in that book the aliens who could not lie also had an empathetic aspect to how they understood language. But I don't think Muir knows enough about linguistics to write that kind of linguistics science fiction

Is this why Nona's legs are sore, she is running around with these young kids all day and having trouble keeping up?

Very curious if this is actually some kind of possibly war-related movement of things through the underground tunnels, or if this is just a vernacular name for something else

So BOE is recruiting children on this planet to join their militia, and they are also executing necromancers here by burning them to death

It's kind of funny that Honesty is calling her stupid here - he knows there are spies who are necromancers and/or zombies, and Nona is in fact a necromancer (or used to be one at one time) and she also lives with Palamedes for that matter, but it doesn't occur to Honesty that there is actually a chance that Nona or someone she lives with could be one of the spies

So this is what they call the resurrection beast? Except we know that resurrection beasts don't come for regular necromancers, or else they would be all over the Nine Houses, they only come for Lyctors. I guess it's entirely possible that this one could be here for any of Nona, Pyrrha, or Camilla/Palamedes, or it could just be here to eat a living planet because that's what they do. I wonder if the mythology of these people is that the resurrection beasts are like God's punishment for necromancy or something, it seems like Hot Sauce believes that to be the case, at least. Possibly it's not completely wrong, depending on what the relationship was between the deaths of the nine planets and the occurrence of necromancy

[eos-writes]

The Captain

We fell into Sublight speeds, the enemy troops hailing us with hundreds of thousands of voices. Our Weapons don’t stand a chance, no way to even activate them before an emp hits our shields. We are lucky, it doesn’t kill our most important systems, but it does kill our weapons and shields. They know we are now sitting ducks. We can’t speed up away from them, the forcefields keeping us in shooting distance.  

I look at captain Dartel. He is the first human Captain I’d seen and served under. Slightly biting at his thumb while all the transmissions are coming in at my station, me being the communications officer. The Cretiruna from the Battle stations are silently looking toward the captain too, knowing them they are already running all sorts of tactical scenarios in their head in which we are getting boarded. I connect to the telepathic network of the others of my species on board. We are almost sure that the highest possibility we still have for a successful mission is to send the message from here. 72% Chance of failing if we send now, 95% if we don’t send anything right now. 

“Captain.” I try to get Captain Dartels attention, ”Captain Dartel, if we send our message right now, we have the approximately highest chance that it gets through, shall I prepare the message?” I already start pulling out the message from the telepathic part of my mind. “No, don’t send it.” The strength and sincerity in the captains voice startles me. 

“Not?” I carefully ask, sending a telepathic question on how to notice if a human has gone haywire. His gaze, strong as I’ve never seen before, locked into one of mine. “No do not send it, I think I may have a plan.” With that said he turned around into his own little comms console. He activated the direct connection with engineering, asking loud enough for the entire bridge to hear, “Engineering? How much sublight power can you get me?” 

Engineering is also headed by a human. He isn’t quite as wise as our captain yet, so his voce is somewhat shaky as he answers, “Well I can get you up to light captain, if I guess correctly what you plan, but please don’t.” I don’t understand what he’s hinting at, and looking around I can clearly tell no one else knows what the humans are talking about. Captain Dartels slowly closes his eyes for but a second. “Don’t try to talk me out of it. Now begin charging the engines, I want a firework.” He turns to me “Ship wide, please.” I nod, opening the official telepathic paths as well as the technological paths for ship wide transmission of what the captain has to say now. 

“This is my last action as your captain, this is an order to abandon ship and to not give up any information to the enemy, even if there is a chance to finish the mission. Board the escape pods, force fields are going to let them through. All controls are now relayed to my station.” With that he quickly taps on his consoles, apparently entering coordinates leading to the approximate middle of the enemy forces, “I know many of you may not understand my plan, but trust in me one last time. I’ll see you all on the other side.” As he says these last words he has a weird glint in his eyes. I can’t discern whether it is just the lighting that shimmers weird in his eyes or what. 

I close the transmissions again, before asking “But the weapons are down, the ship is unarmed there is nothing you could do anymore!” He has a seemingly sad emotion in his gaze as he turns towards me, ��Yes that is also what they will believe, but I recently read some old stories from the cradle of humanity. This scenario reminded me that no spaceship is ever unarmed and that a captain goes down with his ship. Now I believe I have given the order to abandon ship.” 

I have problems keeping up with the others from the bridge, my mind in telepathic connection with the other octoids, sharing what I just heard. Some Cretiruna see me struggling and help me. I thank them as they help me to the octoid escape pod. Unlike the other races we just need one, so as I cram myself inside, I notice I’m the last and hit the launch confirm button. It is nice and comforting to the others minds this close, but I am worried as to the actions of captain Dartel. Why did he order us to not send the message? Why is he ordering to abandon ship? These questions and more race through us as we start flying. 

We decide to watch the ship. We see it starting to speed up, flying straight into the middle of the enemy ships, accelerating until it hits light speed. Then the light flash hits us before we can comprehend the clash of space grade metals against another. We were just about to cross the force field holding the ship in, but it disappeared signaling that most of the enemy ships must have at least lost power. The energy released by our ship crashing into the enemy at light speed was enough to immediately obliterate it, the mid-size battle cruiser of Tanik class it crashed into as well as a good hundred other ships that were to close by. The rest of the enemy forces doesn’t look much better, with many, many destroyed or seriously damaged and out of power. 

Not long after we were caught by rescue ships and were able to deliver our message. The mission that we all thought was lost turned into a success. After destruction counts came in, we noticed that our captains move took care of a good 83% of the enemy forces and he was postmortem ranked up to admiral. The enemy, now seriously low on forces decided to enter peace talks. After asking around a bit our little octoid group got to know that the move admiral Dartel did was known as “Kamikaze-flight”. We weren’t assigned to another human captain since. I am unsure whether that is a good thing or not. 

Felt like writing so here have this little short story around a ship that may never be named... also I joined the queue for an ao3 account...so I will eventually start posting there

[easily-distracted-by-fandom]

For the musical ask game, how about Apocalypse Lullaby by The Wailin’ Jennys for the Hive Future? (Or empires smp s1 if that’s easier, I feel like there’s a connection there but I can’t think of how it could lead to an au)

Also I can send multiple asks right? (No pressure to respond to any of them of course)

ok! I loved this song and I was thinking of two ways this could go! The first would be a Hive Falls! au where Amber and the others have to struggle through the wilderness to get to the Haven. The other would be a historical!au from an account of Amber's ancestors. I think this one would be more interesting as Amber searches the Hive for more pieces of the story (maybe it has something to do with the wild bee she's fighting, maybe she just feels like it would make everything clearer and she wants answers) or we could we could combine them, with Amber preparing to leave and it keeps flashing back to her ancestors arriving, she's looking for a way to stop the collapse and this is her last chance

basically Amber's ancestors wrote an account in their diary every night and then passed that diary down to their child, who passed it in pieces to their children and so on. Adopted Duty children don't get that passed down until their (bio)parents die and then it's delivered to them when they ask. So basically it only happens if they KNOW theyre adopted or unlock it. Amber got her father's page, which happened to have the name of her ancestor and the explanation of what was going to happen to the diary.

She started searching just for fun, but as she got more and more it turned out that her ancestor was a scientist who built the Hive's systems(which is what's failing right now, so Amber is hoping that there's some sort of formula in here on how to repair it, because knowledge on those systems is lost to time. (basically a chekhovs gun)

If she does find it, good! She's saved Hive Civilization as we know it and Hive collapse is delayed for a couple decades. If she doesn't find it, then it's her and the other members of her team (and the Hive), fleeing to the Sea Farm as the world collapses, and it ends with them almost to the Sea Farm, and Amber collapsing from exhaustion in Lucas' arms. Either one would end like that honestly, just one you know she survives and the other one its ambiguous.

that was a lot, so imma just write a small excerpt:

A package was sitting on my counter and I was scared. I looked at it warily and considered opening it. The package was addressed to me from Hive Genetics, but you couldn't trust these things.

The last package I was given was from Elden, despite being addressed as from my parents. I heard a laugh behind me and instantly linked to the familiar mind of Lucas.

"What's wrong Amber? You're looking like that package is going to bite you."

I winced, "Elden, he.. well the last package I got was from him and with Keith acting out I..."

His mind lit up with thought trails that I couldn't follow before they coalesced and he nodded, "There's no need to be worried Amber, Adika would be extremely careful with all your packages in the future."

I bit my lip, I knew that, it was just, as I learned from my time as a telepath, some fears weren't rational. Lucas knew that as well, I focused on his thoughts, hoping he'd get it.

Amber helped me so much during New Years, I could help her now...

His prevocal thoughts brought my attention

Amber, do you want me to open it for you?

I nodded, and he reached for the package, I held my breath.

"Don't worry Amber, look see it's just a... piece of paper?"

---

you can send as many asks as you like! I love getting asks!

[ninthprime]

was thinking about gurlence today so courtesy of the transcriptions have some gurlence moments that make me completely out of my mind

[description: transcript from partizan 19. text reads: "You’re not really a hundred percent sure, but in the room with you is Gur Sevraq, and the two of you are now looking at the same footage that you both saw in your brain, uh, last session. And, uh, he says to you,

AUSTIN: (as Gur Sevraq) They are called the Pact of Necessary Venture, Wolf. And, they are only the latest limb of the terrible body of the Divine Principality. I hope you are well.

DRE: (as Valence) Uhm… actually, I’m more well to see a face that I recognize now."]

[description: "transcript from partizan 23. text reads: "DRE [as Valence]: When are you gonna tell me more about Perennial?

AUSTIN [as Gur Sevraq]: What would you like to know about her? She’s…magnificent and terrifying. (Sigh) I can’t tell if she’s indifferent to us or…monitoring everything we say. (Pause) I’ll tell you more after the election. How about that? (Playfully) If you win, you’ll have executive privilege."]

[description: transcript from partizan 40. text reads: "AUSTIN: (continued) It really feels like Valence, you know, like there's a sort of, a uh, a systematic, step-by-step process of this, that you feel Valence shaping. And in fact, I think that goes against some of Gur’s natural instincts. Gur is, uh, tends to jump from topic to topic. Gur tends to, um, you know, very like lines of flight, very like, stream of consciousness, right?

Guided from one space to another one and, and, you know, notes all over the place. Valance’s presence. If you feel Valence’s presence on this interaction, because what it does is shape all of that chaos into like order. Valence is the one who's constantly. Okay. Let's slow down. Slow down, let's stay on topic here. Let's talk about this. Or, Hey, remember that connects us back, the topic we were talking about."]

[description: transcript from partizan 30. text reads: "Austin: So even if you believe that it's Gur Sevraq but Gur Sevraq is lying, it still hurts to know that he would lie, even under duress, right? Dre: Yeah. Can I throw a fun monkey wrench in here? Austin: Yeah. Dre: Because I think this is a combination of Valence’s Haunted and Righteous. Austin: Yeah. Dre: I think without even really thinking, this upsets Valence so much that they attempt to send like a— like to reconnect telepathically with Gur Sevraq. Austin: Yes. Dre: Something they have just never thought to do since they watched him die. But they are so emotional and so, like, jarred by this— Austin: [throughout] Uh-huh. Mhm Dre: —it accidentally comes out in the kind of, with the Tesla move where I think a lot of people in the crowd hear a message of 'Where are you?'"]

[factorialsotherfandoms]

@cubitodragon

Yaaaaaaas AU babbling, I hope you’re ready for round two of questions this morning :D 1) Are the Eggs recovered from the Federation in this AU, or is their recovery due to intercepting Fed scouting reports or the like? 2) how relevant are the aliens here to the Feds? Or are they everyone’s problem? 3) what are some fun and plot irrelevant but character/world building related facts for your AU? 4) which character(s) have you found fit the setting well unexpectedly vs who gave more trouble?

Hello again! I am absolutely ready though also having breakfast lol

*wriggles hand* the /first/ group of eggs are discovered by accident on a different mission. The team of six (Philza, Jaiden, Roier, Missa, Cellbit, and Etoiles) are actually on an assassination run of all things. I say assassination run. That makes it sound sneaky, not they kicked in through the front door, systematically murdered the entire security team, hacked a teleport pad to the target's respawn chamber, and then repeatidly murdered them while also taking chips out of the respawn device until it finally broke, allowing them to perma-kill their enemy. It being Chayanne and Bobby they've actually already broken themselves out, and despite being yk physically about 10 and literally only a few months old the two very much try to help fight, making things worse. The adoptions are basically on sight - Roier and Missa give their respective children knives, while Jaiden and Philza are immediately fussing. Etoiles and Cellbit do /not/ get it until Pomme and Richarlyson show up and are like 'oh I would die for them now'. The eggs are not able to communicate telepathically, but have a level of awareness of each other on a psychic level. Because of this the characters are aware there are more kids in need of rescue, and keep their eyes out. While some of the eggs have a stronger connection to each other than the rest, Dapper has the easiest time messing with it, so once they find him finding the rest becomes a lot easier. It wouldn't have worked for Trump/A1, however. For... Plot reasons. And whomever ends up in Tilin's place, whether it is Tilin or the memories egg, gets a very shaky time. If I'd done more of that sort of mission Tallulah would have had the same sort of problem, but I didn't, so she gets a reprieve. JuannaFlippa frequently breaks out to get herself food. Tallulah however is trying to be a good girl and well we see how well that goes...

Right okay! So in XCOM there's a sub-faction of aliens known as ADVENT. ADVENT are responsible for all human-facing alien interactions post-invasion, from political spokesmen to policing to healthcare workers. The last of these tend to be actual (if brain chipped) humans, while the others... They tell people they're human, at least. I am a strong believe in the QSMP of the Federation just being a branch of a much wider probably multi-island organisation. Ergo, the Federation are just a group under the aliens, ones where the aliens in their number are mostly humanoid and the rest of their staff are human. Workers like Fred and Walter Bob are non-human Federation workers, people like Aypierre and Jaiden are (ex) Federation workers. People like Baghera... Well... Baghera's a very fun case and I am sat here giggling with cruel intent just thinking about it. Needless to say that while the Federation has only legally existed since the invasion, its been on earth just by another name and much more secretly for much, much longer...

Oh man fun but not plot relevant... Hm... Half the crew are convinced Quackity and ElQuackity are the same person, just Quackity gets real bitchy when its nighttime. They're not. They're twins that co-run the on-ship bar, but because they're also the only bartenders and its a 24/7 establishment... ElQuackity isn't exactly like... /good/ or /above board/ here, but there's only so much damage he can do with serving alcohol so they kinda just let him hang out. Fred claims to have defected years ago. He actually only defected a few months ago because he saw a cute boy and didn't understand what it meant so followed him home. Everyone knows, nobody actually calls him out on this. Tubbo is not allowed to go out on missions, but he does control the semi-automated airship defences and I mean it isn't /really/ a plot important to say he absolutely gets to use them at one point. After the invasion, the aliens tried to break up the Brazilians by leaving all the ones they captured in different bits of the Americas. This obviously failed. So when they get their hands on another, they dump him in Australia. This still doesn't work and okay maybe its a bit plot relevant, but I've already written a bit about while Mike was missing and the fact he ended up in Australia so like... Please, please imagine how funny it is that the aliens keep capturing Brazilians and trying to split them up but no matter how far apart they put them /somehow/ they always find each other again. And, yes, they're specifically after the Brazilians, as those 5/6 are kinda the ringleaders of the whole shebang. Whenever they need to do a public announcement, the aliens wheel Cucurucho out. He's a whole lot less charasmatic than XCOM2's speaker, but a whole lot cuter. Contrary to popular belief no Bagi has not has a girlfriend before. Or a boyfriend for that matter. Or any other flavour of partner. Neither has Cellbit. Roier, however, has absolutely fucked an alien for information before. There have been at least three separate incidents of sex in the autopsy lab and, to everyone's surprise, none of them involved Slimescicle (he's a bit scared of tbh) (it's more private than anywhere else with anything that looks like a bed) Felps would like to claim he has had the best time out of all of the Brazilians. The worst thing is this is actually true. Cellbit's psychic abilities are not as self taught as he'd like you to believe, but anyone who can contradict him is long dead so it doesn't really matter. Given the limited resources a number of people had to get okay with communal living and touchy-feely things very quickly. This went better for some than others.

Okay kinda referenced her above, but while she's one of my later recruited units and came underlevelled and in a class I'm not as fond of so doesn't get much screentime (au is a type up of a playthrough, else she'd have got a lot more and Missa would have been demoted to house husband once Chayanne showed up ^^;), but Baghera. Oh, Baghera, she goes so neatly into all of this, poor girl. Aypierre was another unexpectedly nice surprise on how neatly he fits in, given the whole current lore with him and stuff. UNfortunately I have no clue how to write him and along with Tubbo and Forever, another pair that give me trouble, is writing half of the plot relevant documents as the fucking head of research *facepalm*. For unexpectedly hard... Wilbur Fucking Soot. You would think that with a near future style setting 'touring musician' would be easy but oh my fucking god he's a pain in the ass to work into this. Especially as I really love the idea of the Federation owning his record label. If it wasn't for Tallulah I'd have thrown him out the damn window already. A good number of them I haven't fully hammered out, but frankly literal demons are easier to work in than touring musicians, so I don't think it'll be so bad.

[deludedfantasy]

Trimax Vol 14 Ch 6-8

Well, here it is. My last post for book club. I can’t believe we’re actually here! I’m a little emotional. This has been such a fun ride and the highlight of my day for the past few months. It’s weird that it’s basically over.

I still have a few things I’d like to talk about so this isn’t quite the end for me, but for now, onto the post! I hope it makes sense as I wrote this either on a train or while sick.

Ch 6

Once again, I ask, does Vash have some sort of telepathic/mind reading ability? Because Meryl doesn’t say that part about being scared out loud, but he responds to her anyway. Is it just in really emotionally charged moments that he can hear it or does it have something to do with how he’s connected to the Plants and they way all their memories are being projected? 

At least Vash knows how terrified Meryl once was of Plants and himself (but I still wish they’d actually talked about it rather than Vash running away, but whatever, they don’t have time for that right now). 

I wish Meryl didn’t think that about herself either. She’s allowed to feel things! Including fear. It shouldn’t be about never being that scared again, but about feeling that fear and not being overcome by it. 

Ohhh, Vash did succeed in connecting with the Plants and what happened is their protective shells cracked and their memories started raining down on humanity. 

Here are Vash’s beliefs again coming out in full force. He doesn’t know what’s going to happen and he’s not going to try and control the outcome. People and Plants should have the autonomy to make their own decisions. All he can do is make sure they see and try to understand each other, and he says it beautifully. 

I remember this part really well and I still find it one of the most beautiful and moving parts of the manga. The feathers of memory falling on humanity, them experiencing all the good and bad of what Plants experience and suddenly being overcome by it all. 

I love that the Plants call him Red Brother. He’s the familiar guy in a red coat who’s always there to help them. 

And humanity is getting a full look at him too! Finally, they get to know him as more than an outlaw and the destroyer of July. They get to see him for who he truly is. 

At this moment the Plants say, “What would Vash do?” Will he give up or will he keep going? The conclusion they come to makes me wanna cry. “Let there be love and peace in this world.”

That’s all Vash has ever wanted, all he’s fought for, and now the whole world is finally getting the chance to see it. The depths of his belief and everything he’s done to achieve it.

Something that has bothered me for most of the story is how much Vash is about understanding, but how little he lets other people understand him. It’s how he ends up being the boogeyman and the bad guy all the time. He doesn’t let people in. Although this is done through supernatural means, finally, the world is coming to understand him a little. He’s getting some of that same grace he offers to others. Though again, I wish he’d been able to do it with his words and of his own will at some point. 

Even Knives is getting hit by the Plant memories. He’s trying to hold on to his connection with the Plants, but it looks like they’re falling further and further out of reach.

Also, this page looks a bit like Michaelangelo’s Creation of Adam but with very different connotations. 

Did Knives lose control of the Ark and cause it to crash? I’m not sure how we got from point A to point B. I feel like I missed something. 

This entire sequence makes me so emotional. After seeing all of the Plant’s experiences, the people of the ground immediately rush to help them. They aren’t scared! They understand how much the Plants have been through and are determined to do better.

The Plant scientists, not even knowing what the feather will do to him, uses it to communicate with them. The Plants are crying and in pain, in danger of dying without support, and it would be so easy to be scared and overwhelmed, instead they do everything they can to save them. Not because they need Plants to survive but because they care about them and they can’t survive without each other. 

And the scientist reaches out to touch the Plant without fear. It’s a very tender, intimate, and comforting touch. He strokes her hair. That’s not how you treat an alien entity, that’s how to treat a child, someone you care about deeply. I’m feel like I’m chewing on glass!!! 

The Plant is still crying, but now she’s smiling too. They’re truly working together and understanding each other for the first time. 

God, Vash. Never, not once in his whole life, has he ever promised to survive or come back. Something has changed though. He still wants to live and he wants to do it with his friends because he promises he’ll return to Meryl and Milly. 

Then like a badass, he just jumps right off the ship. What a guy.

Ch 7

At the end, Vash turns back to the beginning, where this whole mess started for him: the day of the Big Fall. What were Rem’s final words to him and his brother? What final words of wisdom has been trying to recall/reconstruct over the years as he fought and chased Knives? 

Knives can’t admit he was wrong even when he’s very obviously lost. He had to reconstruct his entire body and use up most of his power to do it. He doesn’t have the Plants anymore and he just watched humans fight to help Plants. Everything he’s known to be true has been proven wrong to him but he still won’t back down because he’s scared of the truth. He can’t face it and he’d rather fight Vash to the death. Much like his brother, Knives is too stubborn to give up on his ideals so easily. 

It’s more than that though, as Knives himself admits. Also just like Vash, he doesn’t see a future for himself anymore and he wants Vash to be the one to kill him. 

Amidst all the carnage on this page, the simple image of the twins as boys really stands out, along with the text on it. They can’t go back to the way things were. They can’t regain their lost innocence. They’ve come too far together to turn back now. The fight for humanity’s future might be over now that Knives has lost control of the Plants but the last fight, the more personal one between the two of them, still has to be fought. 

For the second time in this volume, Vash points his gun at someone with the intent to kill. But the moment he does, he finally remembers what Rem told him. “Don’t leave Knives on his own.” It’s why he stayed with him for 80 years after the Big Fall even though a rift had already developed between them. It’s why no matter how many times he faced him over the next 70 years, no matter how much he said he would kill Knives and get his revenge for what he did to Rem, he never did, why he hesitated every time he pointed a gun at his brother’s head. 

I truly believe Vash still loves Knives. That love is complicated after everything they’ve been through and the terrible things Knives has done to him and to the world. But it’s there. It’s one of the many things that has stayed his hand every time he’s confronted Knives and why he kept begging him to find a different path when most other people would’ve given up. He loves his brother. In the beginning, Knives was all he had. In some ways, Knives is the only person in the world who can truly understand everything Vash has experienced. It’s no wonder, then, that when Chronica points her guns at Knives, Vash uses his powers to save him. 

I’m 90% sure that Vash also used his body to shield Knives and took the brunt of the blast wave. (Edit: Whoops, I read that wrong. Vash doesn't take the blast, he takes Knives's blades in order to shoot a gate bullet at Chronica's attack. But my point still stands.) He’s never been so protective of Knives. The look on Knives’s face when he sees Vash to do this is so unlike him. It’s shocked and surprised and suddenly very vulnerable. I think it’s Knives realizing Vash actually cares about him. There’s also something about being on the receiving end of the mercy Knives has mocked for years that probably breaks something in him because he didn’t think he deserved it or that Vash would ever offer it. Maybe this is the moment he realizes how wrong he was about everything.

There’s something really poetic about Knives then using the last of his own powers to also manifest wings and fly away to save his brother. Knives has claimed from the start that everything he was doing was to save Vash from himself, but really, he was doing anything but that. This time, though, he does save him. 

Livio, being so polite and welcoming even when he’s threatening someone. He’s amazing, I love him. 

Wolfwood’s ghost has been haunting the story physically and metaphorically for four volumes now. This scene in particular makes me wonder if the ghost of Wolfwood thing wasn’t a literary device but an actual ghost watching over Vash and Livio to make sure they made it through the final battle. Now that it’s over though, now that Livio has survived his first conflict as a new man with his new ideals, Wolfwood’s watch is over. He disappears and goes to his final peace. 

His final words give Livio hope for the future, that he has one at all, where he can keep learning and doing better and being the person he wants to be. There’s more to come, indeed. The thing that makes me really sad though is Wolfwood never got to do the same. In the end, he proved himself to be more than a killer, but he didn’t get the chance to keep learning and improving. He didn’t truly get to live a life as a man who was more than a killer. He was forgiven, but didn’t survive to see the fruits of his own labors or the bright future they might lead him to. There will never be more to come for Wolfwood and that breaks my heart.

Ch 8

So here it is. The last chapter. It’s bittersweet to be here at the end after all these months because I don’t want the story to be over. I don’t want to let Vash go. But here we are. 

It’s never stopped pissing me off that the Earth Federation put out another bounty for Vash. It’s not made clear for what exactly, but after this read, I have a feeling it has something to do with how he let Knives get away. He’s been branded an accomplice. The Earth Federation is trying to find a scapegoat for why their rescue efforts failed so fantastically and Vash was conveniently on hand. It’s so unfair, especially because he was the one who saved them. 

Personally, I believe many, many people saw what he really did in Octovern or experienced who he was through the Plants memories. Most people would probably be more like the doctor and be willing to hide or help him. I don’t know, I just don’t like the thought of Vash constantly being forced to live on the run and never have peace now that the big threat that’s been hanging over him his whole life is gone. 

Knives desperately begging humans to save his brother is such an about face for his character. Right at the end, something happened to him. Something broke in him after seeing all the Plants’ memories and Vash ultimately being unable to kill him. I wouldn’t say he believes in humanity, but he understands now. Especially he understands how important humanity is to Vash and how important Vash is to humanity. Vash is the bridge between the two and it’s only through his conviction in their ability to communicate that allowed any of this to happen. He’s part of humanity’s future. He has to be if they want to survive and Knives saw that. 

Oh…did Knives use his powers to heal Vash? I mean, from what we know about Vash, the wound could have closed on its own because that’s just how his body works, but there’s something to Knives being the one to do it that makes my heart twist. Just like Vash, Knives couldn’t kill his brother, despite the many times he said the opposite. He couldn’t let him die. He used up most of his power healing him and when he started to run out, he asked humans for help. I’ve already said it, but I can’t help stressing how unlike Knives this is, at least, the one we’ve come to know. It feels like a different Knives, the younger one we briefly met. Who could he have been if he hadn’t seen Tesla in that tank and gotten so twisted up on the inside?

The fact that Knives’s final act is one of creation rather than destruction says a lot. He makes an apple tree that will provide sustenance and be helpful for the family that’s helping Vash. Sure, it’s to help keep his brother alive, but it’s also a small gift to the humans who took him in. It’s an astoundingly kind action for someone who has been hellbent on the destruction of humanity for 150 years. 

Vash’s face after being told he should go live a quiet, peaceful life somewhere and that he’s done more than enough is peak Vash fake smile. It says, “I will never do enough to deserve a peaceful life.” I want to shake him like a rag doll, he’s so stupid. Yes!! Yes, you have done more than enough. He himself once said that there’s nothing wrong with a normal life. I frankly believe that’s what he wants deep down. But he doesn’t think he deserves it and he has a mission and an ideal he’s devoted to that supersedes his own wants. Sometimes, I wish Vash could learn to be a little selfish, just a bit. After everything he’s been through, he’s more than entitled to a little peace and quiet. 

The silly tone is very reminiscent of early Trigun and it’s so nostalgic. It’s a return to that old world, a sort of reset and coming full circle. This is Vash’s life after all. It’s equal parts tragic and silly and ridiculous and it all comes in cycles. 

The push and pull between being Vash the Stampede and just living a normal life fascinates me. Vash dons the red coat again to help the people who saved him. He says it’s just this once, but we know it’s a lie. Every time someone needs help, he’ll put that coat on again. But, and this may be my own biases talking, I’ll say it again: I think Vash does want that peaceful life, deep down. He wouldn’t keep bringing it up if he didn’t. A life where he isn’t the famed outlaw, Vash the Stampede and can just exist. But he also doesn’t know a life without his mission, so he keeps falling back into it. 

Yay, insurance girls! Or more accurately, reporter girls!

Vash, you do not deserve the reporter girls. They spent six months looking for him! He promised them he would return, one way or another. But he never kept that promise. The girls could’ve assumed he was dead like everyone else, but they didn’t. To then find him alive and well and up to his old tricks…I think he deserves a little more than a light scolding from Meryl. At any point during those six months, he could’ve tried to send them a message or something to let them know he was alive. Vash, king of avoiding all important human relationships. Ah, well, some things never change. 

Vash has suddenly discovered something more terrifying than insurance girls, reporter girls, with cameras and microphones and what I personally believe is a mission to clear his name. They are stubborn and will follow him everywhere. It’s his worst nightmare (I say this affectionately). 

Oh my god, Meryl and Milly gave him a little theme song. That’s so cute. 

“Stay tuned for wardrobe malfunctions too.” Meryl and Milly are giving the fans what they want: Vash the Stampede fan service. 

These last few pages are beautiful. We get to see some old faces we haven’t seen in a while as they find out that Vash is still alive and doing his thing. The panels we’ve been getting throughout this chapter, of an empty horizon, are repeated over and over again as Vash starts to run. And then there’s Vash laughing. Because this is his life and he gets to live it, however he wants for as long as he wants it. To me, it feels like he’s realizing that he has a future. It’s compounded by the focus on him running into the bright, empty desert, a mob at his heels. But it doesn’t feel like he’s running away from them so much as he’s running towards that empty horizon. It might be optimistic of me, but I think that’s what Vash would want. 

The last page took me out. We’ve come full circle. This is how Trigun started, with that same song of humanity still singing. At times, that song was cruel and devastating, but also full of love and hope against all odds. Things aren’t perfect. They never will be. This ending is, after all, bittersweet. Vash has lost so much and still hasn’t truly found peace. In some ways, he sees a future for himself, but even then, it’s just a continuation of the life he’s always lived rather than something new. He has a bounty on his head, but he has his friends by his side. He’s helped people and had a deep impact on them along the way. But still, humanity continues, the world keeps turning, and in the end, that’s all we can hope for. To be there to experience life in all its glory, both good and bad. It truly is a never ending song.

Thanks for following along! It’s been a blast sharing my thoughts here weekly and reading everyone’s amazing takes. A big thank you goes out to @revenantghost for organizing this whole thing. Trigun kinda took over my life in the past four months and book club has been a great place to channel all that obsession. Fun fact: the Google doc where I prewrite all my posts is 100 pages long. Honestly, this is the most fun I’ve ever had in a fandom. I don’t really know how to close this all out and I’m full of a lot of emotions about this coming to an end so uhhhh thanks again for reading all my thoughts and see you around Tumblr. Love and peace!

[starcrossedjedis]

Actual footage of me coming up for air after being stuck in planning / plotting / hyperfixation hell for days xD

So the plan was that Athena - curious about the "human experience" and intrigued by Odysseus for the virtues they share - offers him personal mentorship in exchange for a place in his crew for the duration of his journey home to Ithaca under the guise of a Trojan girl named Thea... and things happen.

Now that I have been busy brushing up on the Iliad and Odyssey (and being stuck in an "Epic The Musical" spiral as it's the current hyperfixation of the heir to my ADHD) I am having doubts as to the plausibility of this set up.

Because I have a feeling that a lot of the stops and pitfalls that make the Odyssey would be reduced to three minute discussions of the "yeah no maybe let's not to that, I know everyone's very hungry but there are ONE EYED GIANTS WHO EAT HUMANS on that island sooooOoooo" variety xDD

So, new and improved set up - in the prologue Athena is furious after witnessing Odysseus' men desecrating her temple in Troy and Zeus offers to punish them/teach them a lesson. She tells her father to pick Odysseus for punishment since it was his men and thus his responsibility.

Zeus puts the infant son of Hector in Odysseus' path, telling him he has to kill him (knowing full well that the child must remind the man of the son he left at home; the son he saved by going to fight another king's war).

But because he is this story's male protagonist (and because I am a wuss who always skips "Just a Man" because it makes her too sad), Odysseus dosn't kill the boy. He instead takes him out of the city and leaves him to grow up with a pair of farmers (probably telling them some sad tale about a Trojan girl who fell when the city got sacked and how the child didn't deserve to die blablabla).

Athena, while still iffy about her temple, is intrigued by the fact that a general, who is very much responsible for the fall of Troy, would spare this child, even though he was told the boy would grow up to avenge his father and his city.

Long story short, she wants to spend some time with this human - nothing new to the Gods as they always crave what mortals have, but unique to Athena, who has always - always - kept her distance to the human world, because she felt that it would have been unwise to get too close to them (can we blame her, look at her dad).

However, there are rules to these "Human Experieces"

she gives up her physical link to Olympus, there is still a spritual/telepathical of sorts connection with the other gods, but no "magic" / no "sees all, knows all" / no "blink and you're outta here / flick your favourite human pet out of harm's way"

her "human" form might be immortal (since it's not realy a human, but only a guise for her to "wear"), but that is as far as being a goddess will get her - she is still a great warrior and exceptional with many a weapon, but she is neither superhumanly strong, nor is she immune to being decked in the face (which is relevant as she duels Odysseus for a place in his crew)

no intervening, no straight up telling the humans what to do to save their asses, she may offer guidance, she may assisst, but she cannot point blank tell ppl to just shoot the cyclops in the eye

And that's why even with Athena on board, the Odyssey doesn't get reduced to to three minute discussions of the "yeah no maybe let's not to that, I know everyone's very hungry but there are ONE EYED GIANTS WHO EAT HUMANS on that island sooooOoooo" variety... ^^

Also, it's been too much thinking and hyperfixating so I can't tell if that's actually better or worse.

HELP x'D

[thefirstknife]

Hey I was wondering if you have any knowledge on techeuns and how they use their abilities and I wanna compare it to strand and maybe make another theory post. Please take your time and I hope you have a happy holidays!

Thank you!

Not much info on how specifically they use their abilities. Whenever we see them doing anything, they just kinda stand around. I presume most of it is done entirely telepathically. They seem to have some innate powers, but can be augmented with gems.

Petra has some insight into the training because she initially wanted to become a Techeun, but it was hard for her. She shows that telepathic connection is crucial, as well as the ability to manipulate things inside of dreams.

Speaking of manipulating things, one of the Techeun powers is creating illusions:

Working with the Techeuns and the Crows, they created an enormous visual illusion of the Harbingers

Speaking of Harbingers, they are... a special type of a weapon that is also somewhat a living creature, sort of. Techeuns bond with them and have to learn how to communicate and control them. They are all gone now, except one, whose location is only known to Mara. Some lore about them from Shuro Chi's Pilgrimages in the Dreaming City. This is them at Battle of Saturn:

Techeuns can also travel and explore the Ascendant Plane and can utilise the Ley Lines. This is helped with the use of queensfoil:

"Are you trying to brew queensfoil?" Petra laughed.

"I was," Sjari replied, "but I… got lost."

"You're lucky I came," Petra chided. "Too much of that stuff, and you'll leave your mind in the Ascendant Plane."

"We need to find the Ley Lines," Sjari said, as if suddenly recalling her original purpose. "We need to find Queen Mara."

"You're right." Petra was suddenly somber. "We do. Queensfoil is a good idea. Keep at it."

More about that here from the perspective of a Techeun. And more. And even more! A lot of information is also on the full seasonal set from Season of the Lost which has a lot of various details about Techeun powers, the Ascendant Plane and the Ley Lines.

They also have some sort of implants and are also capable of some really cool things in the Ascendant Plane:

His eyes drift to another conquest: crystalline implants torn from the forehead of an Awoken Techeun. He hunted her through the Ley Lines for three days, tracking her by the stench of her fear. When he found her, she brought the Ascendant Plane down on him. He did not fall for this trick twice.

And of course, I think most relevant to strand would be the Ley Lines. We didn't get any full and clear explanation about what they are, however:

Crow: Are Ley Lines natural phenomena, or something the Awoken created?

Mara: They're naturally occurring paracausal forces that predate the Awoken. The only entities that might know their true origins and makeup are the Nine. But I don't think they're telling.

Them being a naturally occurring paracausal force is interesting. Ley Lines may be some form of interaction with strand that's known to the Awoken.

Techeuns also mostly seem to be using their powers telepathically, in dreams, meditations and trances. Once they enter that other state, they can then manipulate and shape things as they wish which is helpful for traversing the Ascendant Plane and Ley Lines. I do really wonder if strand will somehow play into this.

[mojaves]

hehehehe pick five questions u really wanna answer for alex <3

✈️ AIRPLANE — does your oc like traveling, or do they consider themselves a more homey person?

see the thing is he does NOT have to travel. ever. he generally just. materialises wherever he is needed at literally any point in the day. so realistically he Could do that for simple things like. running errands. thats literally all he would use it for he has nothing else to do actually. ANYWAY. the materialising at will thing takes a LOT of energy, especially if he does it very often, so while it would be kind of more convenient in the long run, he would much rather just spend hours or days driving to his destination whenever he gets the free time to do that. keeps his energy in check. makes him feel a little more Human again. yknow. getting stuck in traffic. needing to stop for gas. the little things. he needs that more often than he would ever like to admit.

💙 BLUE HEART — does your oc have any cool/special powers and/or abilities? how are they with magic, if it exists in their world?

he is Undead. sort of. thats like. the best way to describe it. kind of a ghost??? but also not really. he exists in the same way we exist. but he also exists on an entirely different plane of existence. on his days 'off' from work [walking people through the journey between life and death. simplest way to describe it] he is basically. stuck. in this plane of existence. not necessarily powerless, like i said before he can de/rematerialise at will which is very useful for getting out of. sticky situations. which he finds himself in a lot bc he's insane and sometimes forgets people can actually both see And perceive him in this reality so he cant just. steal whatever he wants from a store. he can also communicate telepathically/read minds - which is very useful for getting a sense of how someone feels when theyre dead so he knows how to deal w them. even though he is the same with literally everyone he encounters anyway regardless. he's an asshole <3 and i hate him. these also drain his energy but to a lesser extent. and he can and will use these to cause problems on purpose.

☕️ HOT BEVERAGE — does your oc prefer coffee, tea, hot chocolate, milk, water, or some other drink? how do they like to take this drink (ex. coffee with milk, hot chocolate with whipped cream, a specific kind of tea, etc)?

triple shot espresso. black coffee. the more likely it is to make you feel like your head is about to explode the better. he thinks it's 'delicious'. but he may also be lying to himself. i couldnt tell you one way or the other.

😖 CONFOUNDED FACE — is your oc an introvert, an extrovert, or an ambivert? do they let people in easily, or are they more reserved?

ambivert fits him best i think.... he thinks he prefers his time alone always and forever [and he DOES need to be alone sometimes] but his existence is a very lonely one and some company every now and again would do WONDERS for him. unfortunately he is very unpleasant to be around!!! he does NOT let people in he doesnt need to. they will be dead one day anyway. or theyre already dead. whats the point <333 [DUMBASS!!!!!!!!]

🤓 SMILING FACE WITH GLASSES — is your oc chatty or quiet? are they at ease in social situations, or are they more shy?

he is a Talker alright. to the point where he will NOT shut up. is he doing that to cause a distraction for more nefarious reasons??? is he doing it for his own entertainment just to annoy people???? is he doing it because he is so painfully desperate for contact and communication and connection with other people that he will go anywhere and talk to anyone to possibly have a chance at receiving it????? for even just a moment?????? who's to say!!! not me

[itwaslegendary]

“That song I’ve just sang is called marjorie and it’s a song I wrote my grandmother, my mom’s mom, so you guys just all telepathically deciding to put your flashlights on your phone on during that song on Mother’s Day? Oh my god, what are you doing? What are you doing? That was so beautiful... You know, I am probably gonna talk about the fact that it’s Mother’s Day more than one time because we have to, right? I mean, like, I honestly— Okay, so I’ve been playing shows since I was like 13, so that’s like 20 years of my life of looking out into crowds and getting to connect with you in that way and some of the most beautiful stories that I’ve heard throughout this tour, The Eras Tour, is people saying ‘my mom brought me to your show and now I’m bringing my kid to your show’ and it’s just the most special, wonderful thing, you have like multi generations coming to these concerts and, you know, getting to share these memories with you and build them over 20 years is, like, it’s been really special for me to see bonds between mothers and their children and mothers and their mothers, and when I say mother I mean, like, I think that there are a million ways you can mother someone and be mothered, don’t you think? You know, a lot of people have like a complicated relationship with the word ‘mother’ or maybe directly just in a confusing place with it but I think, today, it’s a really amazing thing to think about whoever has mothered you in any type of way, has been sort of like a guide for you or someone who has loved you unconditionally, someone who has imparted wisdom on your life, and thinking about how you can do that for someone else, you know? Anyway, Mother’s Day is awesome, my mom’s my best friend, I’m obsessed with my mom, so this is not the last year of Mother’s Day.”

Taylor Swift’s speech about Mother’s Day at The Eras Tour in Philadelphia, PA, night 3.

14.05.23

[strywoven]

It’s established in novel-canon that the Guardians have this strong , telepathic link , this inseverable bond.  In the last novel , Nightlight – now officially Jack Frost – demonstrates that Pitch and his creatures ( whether once-human and irreparably mutilated by his presence / magic or those that are entirely consumed by his power / possessed by him ) share a v e r y similar link ; some sort of HIVEMIND .  When Jack cuts the scar he received from protecting Pitch from harm in the fourth novel , we see that the theory is confirmed.  As he puts it , “[...] — and if Pitch felt this pain, then so must all his minions” (p. 303).

Like , I am not joking when this stands to reason that Pitch and his subordinates are this MASSIVE COLLECTIVE OF FEAR & DARKNESS , setting Pitch himself – not as the head of the beast – but the very HEART of it , the core upon which all its power and focus is centralized , beating throughout every darkling , nightmare , and foul creature he has ever manifested in h i s image.  There are pieces of himself in each and every one.  And that , in prospect , is horrifying when the novels continue to tell the reader that Pitch has control over thousands upon thousands of these hordes , that his power over them CANNOT be thwarted or dispelled unless he , himself , grants them freedom.

Genuinely , I wonder if he f e e l s it when the Guardians destroy his creatures … And , to some detached sense , I want to say he does ; like an ache , though it’s nothing like grief.  I think , too , there is room for telepathy / communication in this connection ( plausibly , he can likely track his hordes and give them orders through the shadows in their thoughts ) .

I dunno , I just thought this was a neat thing.