#incidentally its literally 2 years later

[ratective]

mandatory redraw of this in the month of halloween

[absolutebl]

These Weeks in BL - This Is Very Late, Or Right on Time depending on where you sit on the temporal debate team

Sorry I got distracted by work. In my defense: I was paid.

Organized, in each category, with ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

March 2024 Wk 1 & 2

Ongoing Series - Thai

Cherry Magic (Sat YouTube grey) ep 12 fin - Unfortunately, there was singing. But what can we do?

A soft charming warm hug of a show about crushes and mind reading and self worth, with no-fuss execution from a consummate team and an OG lead pair proving why they remain eternal and deserve to grow up. Look, here’s the thing, Cherry Magic is a great Thai BL in its own right not comparing it to any other iteration. But even when I do compare (and I've seen all the Cherries and read the manga) it still stands. This is a great show, a solid adaptation, and a pleasing take on the original yaoi. I personally like it better than the Japanese live action, but I think that’s because I just really like Thai BL and I LOVE TayNew. I doubted them for this and I shouldn’t have. They did a great job, as did the sides. I will say all the kissing was both present and better than any other iteration. As it should be. Definitely one for the rewatch rotation. 9/10 

Deep Night (Thurs iQiyi) ep 1 of 8 (10?) - Damn it, I love it. And I don't want to. It’s more classic BL than I thought it would be, and far less Only Friends or Playboyy. (Thank fuck.) We got a big cast and a lot of tropes going down out the gate, including SMITTEN popular hot guy versus nerd with secret identity. (Incidentally, Khem did drop into rude / informal when arguing with his Aunt and defending his ma. Bratty boy.) The leads have good chemistry (First always does), and everyone is very pretty. The main boy reminds me of J-Min's role (and look) in Love Class 2. I am entertained. (And faintly wonder why this isn't a MosBank vehicle.)

To Be Continued (Thai C3 Thailand grey) eps 1-3 of 8- High school sweethearts who had a bad break up reunite a decade later when both of them have full time jobs (celebrity & doctor). Dr Ji is a familiar face (hi Dream it's been a LONG time) and everyone is way too old for high school, but I guess I prefer this to child actors?

I'm enjoying it, actually, the cast may be older but they're solid as a result and the chemistry is on point for a pulp. Whether our celebrity is on the DL or cheating or something else remains to be seen but he sure is smitten. The way he LOOKS at Ji = hawt.

Frankly? Celebrity/doctor is a good pairing and this is a solid Thai BL. I hope we have a nice angsty reason for the break-up and we're not in another Promise situation. I like the sides too. Carry on, little show, I'm disposed to be pleased with you.

City of Stars (Fri iQIYI) eps 5-6 of 12 - I am enjoying it, actually. It’s incredibly silly. But I don’t really mind. STOP SINGING. 

1000 Years Old eps 3-4 of 12 - I love that these kids basically adopted a vampire pet. And one of them accidentally got a vampire boyfriend. This suddenly turned from a PNR into a family drama about domestic gays opening a food stall and I'm not mad about it. Nothing makes sense and I don't care because... rainbow umbrella!

A Secretly Love (Thai WeTV grey) eps 1 of 10 - I don’t love it. I make no bones about the fact that a pining uke rarely works for me, especially if he’s younger (cute supportive besties not withstanding), the power dynamic isn’t good. I always like Kimmon, he’s a stiff actor but v pretty. (I shallow af.) Still it’s time he started acting his age… literally. Having to watch ads again as well… for this? Ooof. I'm not sure I'm strong enough.

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Perfect Propose (Japan Fri Gaga) ep 6 fin - It was very cute. I liked that there was uke instigated kisses. However I have some reservations on this one, much as I enjoyed it.

Adapted from Mayo Tsurakame’s manga, production team included Tadaaki Horai (My Love Mix-Up!) and Takeshi Miyamoto (Old Fashion Cupcake). Essentially Perfect Propose was about finding hope in a person when all other hope is gone. This show focuses on apathy, and perforce is somewhat apathetic and un-engaging especially as the pacing was off (and with only 6 episodes? now) However, this is countered by great visuals, good archetypes, and a clean story of childhood sweethearts reuniting after loosing their way in life. I landed on 8/10 mostly for a demanding younger seme and some great kisses. 

Unknown (Taiwan Tues Youku YouTube) eps 2-3 of 11 - Oh it’s great. I love it. I’m still worried by how gritty and "Taiwanese short-esk" it feels, but wow does this hit all my favorite taboo tropes and buttons. I also adore the little found fam, they the cutest gay older bros ever. The younger one who wants so bad to grow up and take care of the older one and pushes himself because into self sacrifice that’s the only model of love he has. ARGH. BOYS. Why so much pain, just smooch already! Sheesh. It's on YouTube for some of us, here's the schedule.

AntiReset (Taiwan Fri Viki/Gaga) eps 6-7 of 10 - They remain questionably cute, and that is probably going to be my ultimate review of this show. Awe cameo! (Hi babies, hope the ghosts are leaving you alone.) The irony does not escape me that the person in the relationship with the most emotional acumen is, in fact, the robot and not the human. I'm sure that's meant to be deep.

Love is Better the Second Time Around AKA Koi wo Suru nara Nidome ga Joto (Japan Gaga) ep 1 of 6 - A tortured second chance romance featuring a reported and a successful celebrity(?) academic. The kid actors look nothing like their adult counterparts, but they do look much younger. So, okay. Ah the utter embarrassment of first love. Oh I like it a lot, so very messy Japanese emo. Sigh. Here we go again.

Although I Love You and You AKA Sukiyanen Kedo Do Yaro ka (Japan Thurs Gaga) eps 8-9 of 10 - They are a cute couple. They both trying so hard and so confused and awkward and polite in trying to understand each other but TERRIBLE at communication. 

My Strawberry Film (Japan Thurs Gaga) eps 3-4 of 8 - I don’t know how I feel about this. But I do know it’s not my thing because it’s not BL. I’ll finish it because it’s short but… meh. 

It's done, ready to binge, but I have no time

What Did You Eat Yesterday Season 2 AKA Kinou Nani Tabeta? Season 2 (Japan Gaga) 10 eps - will binge when I have any spare time. 2024 is crazy busy for me so far.

The Servant and the Young Master (Vietnam YouTube) - I will try when I have a window of time.

Began Beginning (Myanmar YouTube) - A Burmese BL? @heretherebedork vouched for it, so I will watch eventually.

It's airing but...

Dead Friend Forever (Thai iQIYI) - finished it's run and I won't be watching it. It's horror with BL elements and the ending, well, let's just say that's a "no thank you" from me.

Ossans Love Season 2 (Japan Gaga) - 5 years later, will anything have changed? This is Japan so… no. I'm not watching this. I dislike this franchise.

Time the series (Tue Gaga/YT) 10 eps - dropped it at ep 4.

Takumi-kun (2023) movie version AKA Takumi-kun Series 6: Nagai Nagai Monogatari no Hajimari no Asa released on FOD 3/5/2024. The original project was a 6 ep series. Having seen all the previous iterations and read the (terrible) yaoi I admit to being intrigued. If anyone finds eng subbed please let me know with a link in comments or in a DM? For those intersted in this show, probably the world's first true BL franchise I chat all about it here.

Gossip

James Supamongkon has withdrawn from the series Love Upon A Time and the NetJames pair is no more. Net Siraphop will continue with the historical BL project alongside a new partner. Can I interest you in Tod Techit... almost as pretty, legs for days...

The Complete Chronology of the Assault Case Against GMMTV Actor Win Pawin

I'm merely directing your attention to these articles, I do not wish for discussion of this content on this blog. Please don't ask for further info, I don't know the answer, follow the link that's why it's there.

Next Week Looks Like This:

Still Coming

3/21 Two Worlds (Thai IQIYI) 10 eps - announced here. One of those "he's dead Jim so time travel" thingames staring MaxNat. I'm over them but Asia flipping loves this trope and I do adore MaxNat. Phupha (Gun) and Khram (Nat) love each other but Phupha is murdered. Then Khram is pulled to a parallel world where, 12 years ago, Khram and Tai (Max) were in love. However, Khram was killed by Thai’s dad. Now Tai finds alter-Khram apparently alive. But then there is ALSO an alter-Phupha (played by Gun Thanawat who is Khom the repressed butler bodyguard from Unforgotten Night).

Upcoming BLs for 2024 are listed here. This list is not kept updated, so please leave a comment if you know something new or RP with additions.

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

How flipping adorable is this vampire with his big gay umbrella? SUCH A DORK and we got more vampire dorks coming.

Thailand has found its vampire line and it's awkward and geeky and quite cheerful. 'Bout what we expected, to be fair. It's a good look for them.

And vampires.

In other news...

That's your random moment of thirst, Lim Jimin shirtless AKA my Just B bias (I mean, I could talk about how good his extensions are and how I love a husky voice in Kpop but really, just LOOK at him). I'm very very very shallow, remember? Full vid is here.

Why am I mentioning Lim Jimin (aside from the obvious)? If Just B doesn't break soon, I could some of them transitioning to BL. Jimin in particular would be a win for us, obvs.

Also, can we talk about Bain (my bias wrecker) KILLING it on Build Up? I had no idea he was that good. Anygay, this has been your Kpop end note.

Seriously tho, is ANYONE else watching Build-Up?

(Last week - well, 2 weeks ago)

Streaming services are listed how I'm (usually watching) which is with a USA based IP

The tag bragade: @doorajar

If ya wanna be tagged each week leave a comment and I will. Easy peesy.

[pinchinschlimbah]

Still thinking about this article and also generally what we've seen of the new Dick Turpin series so far and was suddenly struck with a realization. Themes of queerness and gender nonconformity have always been present in Noel's work, but this really feels like the first time where those themes are the overall POINT of a media he's created rather than incidental.

Dick himself is heavily traditionally queer coded, both in his interests/character traits (fashion design, knitting, tea, crossdressing, the color purple, kindness and emotional intelligence, encouraging those around them to also be their most flamboyant and authentic selves etc) and the way others react to him because of it- much of the tension of the first two episodes comes from Dick's father and Leslie both looking down on Dick for not acting in ways they deem to be what a real man is like, and Dick being described as "strange" and "creative" feel practically like euphemisms not to mention him literally being called names like "foppy tit" to discredit his abilities as a highwayman.

In the first 30 minute episode alone we have 3 major characters (Dick, Moose, and Nell) presenting in gender-nonconforming ways. When we are originally introduced to the Essex gang, their leader Tom King immediately kills the most outwardly queer person in the group for no real reason, and the rest of the gang later admits that they hated Tom's oppressive and callous leadership style and start to come out of their shells more once they get to know Dick. Dick's first course of action before anything else is to help the gang be their most authentic selves- he encourages Moose to embrace his emotional nature by speaking about his feelings and then to embrace his femininity by making custom dresses for him AND in a bit of a throwaway line Dick admits that he once spent an entire year wearing dresses himself! While the reveal that Nell has been pretending to be a man initially comes as Dick saying he thinks its cool if she wants to dress as a man, it appears he also ends up giving her the safety and confidence to realize that she's still the toughest one in the group, disguise or not! So far Honesty feels like he just needed someone to generally look up to and show him what can be possible, but I'm hoping we'll get a more in depth arc from him in the future episodes. Everyone is given stylish new outfits to make them feel powerful and then brought out to show them off and get a portrait done together- already a bonded found family who'd risk their lives for each other! And episode 2, where were left at so far, ends with an indication that others in the highwayman community are becoming interested in Dick's softer kinder way of doing things.... It makes perfect sense to me that now, while promoting a show where the whole central messaging is that you can find success through creativity, compassion, authenticity, and of course a bit of panache, rather than adhering to old fashioned violent and restrictive societal expectations, we've gotten one of the clearest statements yet about Noel's relationship with his own gender, and I'm very excited to see where else this series might take us!

[pesterquestrewritten]

Sorry if this is an inappropriate question to ask, but why do you want to rewrite pesterquest? Was there anything wrong with its original version, or are you just doing this for fun?

brain is a Lil Loopy rn so please excuse if this answer is semi incoherent - recovering from ankle surgery rn.

im gonna try to not harp on the original pesterquest as a project/talk about my percieved issues with it. from what I understand about the work environment where it was developed, it was hell -- poor communication, tiny budgets, little overall direction. plus every artist/writer involved was likely busy with other things at the same time (for example finishing the development of Hiveswap Act 2). they had so much going against them, and... it sorts shows in the final work, which isn't their fault. the original PQ team was passionate and cared and like. the absolutely last thing i want to do is disrespect them.

(generally also stating for the record that calling the original PQ "trash" or "replaced" is like. not good vibes. please don't do this if you're trying to enjoy PQR -- the last thing the original postcanon team needs is more harassment.)

anyway.

pqr is fanfiction, fundamentally.

i started making pqr because in september i was sick with covid, i wanted to learn renpy, and i wanted to study homestuck more. i wanted to figure out what made PQ tick, literally, figuratively, all of the above.

plus i really wanted to write a different story arc for mspar.

i also really love the side characters in Homestuck, and wish they all got more time to shine. the pqr prologue including a set of Spades Slick sprites just for a brief encounter i think helps establish what i want to do with the like. raw potential of the premise of a Homestuck visual novel.

damara is the other big thing -- i've wanted to make a story with her in it work for ages. (if anyone remembers the old MEGIDO hades mod, that was my first big public attempt. she was gonna be the protagonist, breaking out of scratch's mansion. turns out coding in renpy is WAY easier LMAO)

like. the plan wasn't even initially to have the prologue be a full damara route? i just let the writing take me where it wanted to take me. it's been deeply fun and cathartic.

the prologue's "bad end" has some incredibly intimate themes of like. inevitability, and worrying you've let everyone you love down, and i showed it to a college friend who i hadn't spoken to for ages and she set a screenshot from it as her background.

like. to me. that's pqr. that's why i make it.

pqr is the laundry room ending of rose's route, a deeply personal look into my own fears and anxieties as an author reflected back through this girl's circumstances. pqr is also the retcon ending of rose's route, a wildly stupid and indulgent romp through my own past fanfiction for a silly gag that people seemed to really love.

pqr is about dave and myself looking for a place to stay simultaneously -- pqr is about jade leaving prospit, and how i was adding to that part of the game in real-time as i dropped out of college, changing both of our destinies to something unexpected but hopefully better, at the same time.

pqr is also a silly extended sleepover scene. it's just fun to see them interact.

pqr is an excuse to turn over corners of homestuck and see if we can't peek behind them. what was it like for roxy, to think she lost joey and then find rose's meteor barely a year later? of course she'd think it's impossible for her to succeed as a mother. pqr is about finding empathy for yourself for your own mistakes, reflected back at you through homestuck characters.

because really, isn't that what we're all here for?

pqr is me coming back to my last long-abandoned attempt at an act 5 rewrite. pqr is an excuse to watch my girlfriend grow in confidence and style as she makes all the endcards and incidental art (except for joey route pt 2, but THAT was an excuse to work with a NEW friend!!!!!!!)

pqr is a friendship simulator that i am winning by having an incredibly supportive and collaborative group of friends in the dev thread who are cheering me on with every segment of text i post, friends who will hop in vc to check out the newest segment. friends like @dare0451 who literally yesterday rendered out some new audio to upgrade the June route to be even more fucking amazing and terrifying than it already was, AND DARE HASN'T EVEN PLAYED IT????? IT'S LITERALLY JUST. IT'S FRIENDSHIP MAN. PQR IS FRIENDSHIP

what the hell was this question again.

oh right.

yeah it's been fun basically. that's why i do it lol

[randomvarious]

Technotronic - "Pump Up the Jam" 1989 House / Hip-House / Eurodance / New Beat / Eurohouse

Here we go, folks; it's the big one. Belgian dance project Technotronic's legendary debut single, 1989's "Pump Up the Jam," is, whether you like it or not, one of the most important songs in the history of music. And that's because it was the *very first* house track to ever *massively* cross over onto the American pop charts, managing to peak at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, while also dominating many other charts across the globe as well. And in retrospect, as far as the music itself went, it wasn't really anything all that new; but for people who were completely unaware of the underground house tracks that had been pumping out of Chicago since the mid-80s, this song sounded like it could have been shot out of a cannon from Neptune, before incidentally puncturing our very own troposphere. Like, do you know what the #1 song in all of America was when this thing hit its eventual peak in January of 1990? Michael Bolton's "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You." So, imagine getting bludgeoned by that literal one-two punch on your contemporary hit radio station in the dead of winter thirty-three years ago. Nothing like that had *ever* happened before.

Now, yesterday I got into Technotronic's biggest ever controversy, which was that the lycra-clad girl in the iconically curious and candy-colored music video, who was the same person that appeared exclusively in the group's album art, and who also even went on TV multiple times to perform the group's lone hit herself, was actually a lip-syncing model named Felly who didn't even speak any English. But I'm not going to be relitigating much of that in this post today.

What I am going to be doing, however, is digging into how this track itself came to be made, because there really is quite a long and interesting backstory to it, and it doesn't even begin with anyone who was actually in Technotronic.

See, the tale of how "Pump Up the Jam" first came to fruition actually starts in Chicago in 1988, with this house track here by the legendary Farley "Jackmaster" Funk called "The Acid Life." Trip on this tune and you'll immediately hear where Technotronic derived one of the most recognizable intros in the history of contemporary music from:

The rippling rhythm of the acid bass pulsations? And the idea to set them between incessantly rattling, pressure-cooked hi-hats too? All of this was actually Farley's invention. Crazy, right?

Now, as far as I can tell, Farley was never officially credited on any of Technotronic's own records as a songwriter for "Pump Up the Jam," but according to a very informative Google-Translated Belgian article I was able to find, he still did end up receiving gains from it 🤘.

But this was really just a starting point for the song. After its first few bars, producer Jo Bogaert would end up taking his tune in a very different direction from that of Farley's. And the first sign was the little taste of string synth that he gave that would later go on to define a piece of Technotronic's own sound.

Now, Jo Bogaert had already become something of a successful musician in Belgium before he'd ever even met the other members of Technotronic. He was a pioneer of this genre that was pretty much only popular in Belgium called new beat, with a trio of hits between '87 and '88 that were released under the moniker of Nux Nemo: "Hiroshima," "Chinatown," and "Asian Fair."

But at a certain point, his productions would end up seeing diminishing returns from the record-buying public, and, as a result, his own label, Clip Records, had found itself struggling too. Bogaert had another idea though, and it was fueled by Farley "Jackmaster" Funk's "Acid Life." He, like so many other European musicians, had a dream of actually breaking big in America. And he would end up using part of an American record to actually do it.

So, with his near-reproduction of the open from "The Acid Life" to kick off his own tune, he ended up cobbling together a similar pair of raw, absolute stompers and pressing them to a 12-inch. Both tracks sampled some dialogue from Eddie Murphy's Delirious set, and under the alias of Pro 24's, Bogaert would title this record...wait for it... "Technotronic."

And these two tunes would end up serving as the blueprint for what would later become "Pump Up the Jam."

Now, "Technotronic" didn't do too badly in Belgium, but the CEO at one of the country's biggest labels, ARS Records, thought that it could maybe become a much bigger hit if Bogaert had agreed to make some changes to it. There was a fusion genre that set party rap lyrics to house beats that was gaining popularity in other countries called hip-house, and he thought Bogaert's song could be retooled into a smash if he followed that formula.

But creating a hip-house record would require the talents of a rapper, and Bogaert didn't seem to personally know any. However, he had heard from someone about this sixteen year-old biracial girl originally from Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) named Ya Kid K, who was in a crew called Fresh Beat Productions, and who also had her heart set on recording an album. And as Ya Kid K likes to half-jokingly put it herself, she also happened to be the *only* female black MC in all of Belgium at that time too 😅.

So Bogaert sent out demos to some Belgian rappers and, fortunately, Ya Kid K ended up answering his call. She would take about fifteen minutes to write some inanely hooky lines over his track and then it would take another twenty minutes to record the whole thing itself. The first words out of her mouth ended up being "pump up the jam," so that's what they decided to call their song. They could've called it something like "Make My Day" instead, given how many times that that line was repeated, but M/A/R/R/S had a pretty big hit in "Pump Up the Volume" a couple years prior too, so Bogaert and Ya Kid K were probably trying to chase some of that tune's glory as well.

Bogaert would then release the record on his own Clip label under the name of Technotronik and take it to ARS. And upon hearing it, they were very impressed, but they also said that if they were to pick up the record, the vocalist would also have to be the star, and Ya Kid K didn't want to be in a music video or on an album cover. So, without her knowledge, they went and enlisted Felly to fill those roles instead.

ARS then released the record, and a bunch of labels in other countries picked it up too, and then, miraculously, this song was everywhere. Finally, there was this throbbingly weird and super catchy house tune with a very boisterous vocal that was awkwardly commanding us all to have a good time on the dancefloor; and it came equipped with rap lyrics that you could easily anthemically chant and a beat that you could seriously dance your ass off to as well, as Felly and some other kid would put on display for us in the music video themselves. Clearly, ARS was onto something with their vision for this earworm.

Now, were there better produced house tracks out there than this one in 1989 and 1990? Unquestionably. But because it happened to be unleashed upon a public that was largely unaware of house music altogether, this is the one that just so happened to really break down the barrier that was continually keeping house separate from pop.

And not long after "Pump Up the Jam" conquered, Madonna would drop "Vogue," a song that really managed to successfully mesh pop with house, and even featured a spoken-word rap on it too. It's not to say that Madonna was directly influenced by "Pump Up the Jam" to cut her own house track, but the extremely wide acceptance of Technotronic's debut single over the prior handful of months appeared to lay the groundwork for "Vogue" to then subsequently reign as the undisputed song of the summer for 1990. The door for dance music to finally make its return to the American mainstream for the first time since disco had died had finally been opened, and this unexpected triumph from Belgium seems to be the one that really kickstarted the whole trend. Jo Bogaert's dream of making a big American hit had come true, and Madonna, who loved working out to "Pump Up the Jam" herself, would take his group on her Blonde Ambition world tour as the opening act, with Ya Kid K as Technotronic's rightful frontwoman.

More fun videos here.

[knightotoc]

I thought of another insane TRoS interpretation (2 actually) bc the TRoS neurons in my brain are just that powerful and get so much exercise that they're still producing all these years later🪖🩹📿🗡🕵‍♂️🦰🧟‍♂️🌩👫🪦🐌🏳️‍🌈

So why does Kylo not have a ghost? Two explanations, both alike in dignity (which is to say barren of it):

1. (I thought of this one second but it's simpler so I'll explain it first.) When Rey died, she died-died, so when Kylo gave her his life-force he was actually transferring HIS soul to HER. So now he's literally walking around in her body. There is no Kylo ghost because he/she's still alive.

plot hole: so why doesn't Rey have a ghost? explanations: 1) the way she died was so thorough/spiritual that her soul is just totally wiped out of existence; 1a) the way she died was so close to Jedi Heaven that she just got fast-tracked past the ghost stage; 2) Rey's body can't see its own ghost; 3) Kylo is in denial that Rey is dead so he/she refuses to see her ghost

fun irony: Palpatine wanted to possess Rey's body, but now Kylo is, haHA! tfw grandpa and boyfriend are both trans for you😱

corollary: when Kylo-in-Rey's-body says his/her last name is Skywalker, that's actually not an adoption thing, that's just choosing Skywalker over Solo and Organa

observation: this means that Kylo has now had three names (Ben Solo, Kylo Ren, and Rey Skywalker), two bodies, and perhaps two genders. Lucky shmuck

incidental bonus: The annoying thing about the soul transfer power is that, if this is a real thing in star wars and I guess it is, then I don't know why Anakin never did it for Shmi or Padme, or why Obi-Wan didn't do it for Qui-Gon, etc. So this interpretation gets them all off the hook! It's not a thing after all!

2. (I thought of the first part of this one first and then the second part third.) There is no Kylo ghost because Kylo's soul actually died a long time ago due to Palpatine's meddling. Palpatine tells him, "I've been every voice you've ever heard inside your head," so whenever Kylo started hearing voices that made him turn evil, like when he was 12 or 16 or whatever, this external force pushed his own consciousness away. Over years of overwhelming evil influence, the fragile young Ben soul got crushed and totally wiped out/sent to Jedi Purgatory/damned to Sith Hell😱 So he's just a Palpatine Puppet the whole time we see him in the movies.

plot hole: so why does Kylo, as we see in the movies, still love his parents and Rey?

second part of the theory (thanks @waiting-for-ciena-ree for your huge brain): Puppet Kylo technically does not have a soul, but he still, as an empty shell, is capable of forming his own emotions and performing his own actions. This is why his moments of compassion are so rare and dramatic. It's like a Kingdom Hearts/Warm Bodies thing. But even though he's still kind of a person, there's not enough ectoplasm in there to make a whole ghost. Like maybe there was a little ghost but it blew away in a stiff breeze

What's an elegant way to end this post...

But that's just a theory...a main blog theory. Thanks for reading👏

[kkglinka]

I've been rehabbing my bike, which meant checking over my riding gear, during which all the existing armor disintegrated. I mean that quite literally — ittle pieces of out-dated sticky rubbery bits all over the carpet. Ugh. In the process, I discovered that the hip armor in my pants was fake, and that the knee armor had been height adjustable all along. Right. So. Ahem.

This lead to researching current armor certification standards, then shopping for all the right pieces in the right sizes. Now, I have three coats, which may seem like a lot, but one is stout leather, one is perforated textile for summer and the third is heavy, insulated textile for winter. The armor between the textile coats will be fully interchangeable, but the old leather jacket pre-dates most standardization in armor and has some unique sizes.

That means, one set of pants armor, interchangeable between leather and textile overpants, A full set of jacket armor for the old coat, trimmed to fit, though it keeps the heavily armored back protector since it has the narrower pocket anyway. Because it has an intra-liner entry, and chest room, I could also tack in some chest/rib armor if I feel like it. Then a second jacket set, in CE 2 D30, to swap between the two textiles.

This is a lot of money, but way, way less than the cost of injuries the armor helps mitigate. I know I wouldn't have gotten a dinged rib and knicked kidney if I'd gone down with a proper back piece last time. Incidentally, I'm wearing my leather pants right now and I was definitely carrying some depression weight that vaporized on its own a couple years later, once I was out of that depressing situation. They're comfy now, even with the thick CE 2 hip armor.

[only-lonely-lovers]

08.09.2022 (2)

tags: drinking, pantomime, roleplay (pretending to be a girl), dirty talk, blowjobs

notes: there's also a later short continuation of this scene

Bird is あ / Avvy is つ

あ：[...] if your brother just weren't so shitty…

つ：its not fair if amane's penis is a private secret you know. you guys are brothers

あ：though for fairness sake i think about things like tyrant boyking amane with a cold I think my actual most cumbrain'd thoughts are like, Amane makes Tsukasa suck him off while sick and this becomes a habit. and that is purely him being evil

whenever I think about Tsukasa incidentally doing something i really think of it as like, 1. amane's karma 2. tsukasa deserves a CRUMB….

i want there to be the room for harmless scattered incidents like this. so that way its not like tsukasa had to spend like years in this cursed phantom of his childhood home, and then go back to reality to be suspended in some tsundere-ism for several more years. and then locked in hanako's basement as his yorishiro for 50 years on top of it. I-- LIKE I WANT THE SHEER PROXIMITY TO MEAN HE GOT A WHIFF you know i know tsukasa is happy with being stabbed in the heart but like 😭……….

つ：BUT LIKE PLEASE TSUKASA!!!! A TASTE OF COME

あ：you deserve to at least SEE your brother jerkoff a lil. omfg!!! like please😭 … you never got to kiss….

つ：you wish he had a leetle sporadic hints of intimacy, anything. have a day amane discovers sake in a cabinet and encourages trying it but like your God-Infused body makes you kinda impervious to it and now Amane is just like. making out and won't remember this and thats that. going to be just sick and sad the next day . and get taken care of. and be like…. tsukasa wtf you aren't sick…. thats not fair

あ：myeah this is what it's all about… but you know it's like. They are both weird people and their relationship IS weird lol so… I feel like there's just room for scattered incidents

つ：its just plenty of years…. things left unsaid, unanalyzed, but, a little bit tasted.

….. proximity does mean you just have to assume there are little stories of little times this or that had to happen. god willing. the kokeshi makes me so mad tho what if amane was like lol look. [holds at cock level]

あ：I do resent how much he could've been like hey roachie it looks like youre havin SEX

つ：its like what ithink of it like sometimes and its awful to dealwith

あ：the problem is to tsukasa it would just be liek XDDDD

つ：I'M LIKE WHREES THE INTERRUPTION??? WOULDN'T YOU BOTH JUST BE LIKE lol xD aaahahahhahahahahah

あ：There is no hater in the room looks like COCK and its like ah… it does!

つ：stands next to fountain to look like peeing laps at fountain. amane gets mysteriously angry tsukasa you took it too far again

あ：Imagine Amane being like this, but like, the other week he licked a triangle cut sandwich down the center to look like eating pussy

つ：god. its like downright discrimination if amane can be like hey check this out [licks peach] but if tsukasa is like hey [does some cock shit] amane's like. i dont . like that

あ：like ah me too! [deepthroats soemthing]

つ：oh like scarily like mid throat

あ：and it's like HIEIUYASDHF [PULLS IT OUT]

つ：looks way too elegant for a second

あ：It's ilke m-mh… tsukasa why would you….. [feels. bullied?] I do think when tsukasa is like [drinks fountain water] hehe <3 that it makes amane feel bullied. why are you trying to make me ? feel bad oh making a joke like you would drink my piss. shut up

つ：like jesus ugh. game's over. thats it

there must be a peak time when you two are just unstoppable in your energy at least. ugh the boys are boys. they are just like. hahahaha. . boner its so hard to believe you wouldn'tboth just gaze at a porno together and like point out what you like or whats funny or cool and get quiet when its more riveting

あ：its literally something boys do platonically I think amane is like whatever if its some porn mag he found in the gutter. like oh sure. hey tsukasa check this out but i think anything thats actually like. i REALLY like this and i jerkoff to this. that's like hidden under the floorboards somewhere anything that gives you material. its like well…. not that [i cant let tsukasa know what really makes me cock hard]

つ：investigating them first alone before showing them to tsukasa. tsukasa: whoa theres a page ripped out amane, blank eyed: yeah huh i guess so. tsukasa: musta been really good amane: yeah.

あ：[puts hands in pockets] we can only guess though. what it was.

つ：one day tsukasa comes to YOU with something HE fuond and its a real gauntlet. please don't contain any thing i am into.

あ：acting cool but a little nervous

____________________

あ：> you wish he had a leetle sporadic hints of intimacy, anything. have a day amane discovers sake in a cabinet and encourages trying it but like your God-Infused body makes you kinda impervious to it and now Amane is just like. making out and won't remember this and thats that. going to be just sick and sad the next day . and get taken care of. and be like…. tsukasa wtf you aren't sick…. thats not fair

I meant to say I like this littol concept

But you know Amane comes off as someone who , like, with less inhibitions, would just. like. start doing some shit If you grease the wheels

つ：even just as a haha lol. impulse. he's…. he-- he likes pleasure. he is capricious and touchy. i can see it as a slippery slope.

あ：right just like. haha lol. YOU FEELIN IT?? [touches foreheads]

つ：its easy to like kiss on a funny fun impulse. and then be like haha… mmm wait…

lol how do they do it in those photos…. in the books? no magazines…. [GETS DISGUSTING]

あ：Just horrendous

Though amused thinking about Tsukasa pleasantly reporting like :) i dunno. [smacks lips] I don't really feel anythinb. and Amane being like whwaatt… liar. [with my whore fingers i open your mouth like and look inside cartoonishly] Here we'll both drink more. [passes it back and forth]

つ：

あ：god…

つ：precisely what i am imagine becomes

あ：[blasting hot breath into tsukasa's face] [burps]

つ：aouhghhh. okay [tsukasa, who is unusually horny as a result of amane rn] ah. i do feel something [doesn't understand] it feels good

あ：Amane: that's RIGHT!!!

つ：so THIS is sake!!! effects! aaaaahhh… heeheeheehe

あ：Amane: Alright cool…. [kicks legs onto, like tsukasa is a footstool]

つ：just would like it to be a night amane doesn't remember at all and tsukasa remembers entirely

あ：He remembers all those horrible things you said and did

つ：going to be in agony tomorrow. barfing. headache. absolute baby in bed. but for the moment. he's peak form looking like a depraved monster making sex jokes

あ：lol tsukasa loook…. [tongues the bottle rapidly] can you do that

つ：hmmm….. takes… bottle. its very warm from amane's mouth on it excessively wraps.. lips around it. gets distracted

あ：[just watching, chin in hand] Hmm… Somehow I think I have the better technique

you really have to imagine Amane is doing that shit he does like as he is holding the bottle ambiently he is playing with it like tabbing his finger in and out of it and swirling around it Like by the time tsukasa gets it, it is like. ._. [my little pea…]

つ：stares. just kindof ruined by amane having breathed so much into his face earlier . also amane is all.. flushed. a look…. to observe. i like tsukasa being kind of. [quiet. hands in lap] when tsukasa is like [no mouth, simple gaze]. like the thunderstorms boy

あ：yes… just eyeballs. looking down blimks

つ：I guess I am feeling the sake. wow..... sake feels weird.

あ：So this is what grown ups are doing….

つ：i've figured it out, tsukasa! you're-- -I- do the stuff the GUYS in the pornos do, YOU keep copying the GIRLS, right?? you're all mixed up…. the lips around stuff…. like girls do. in them

あ：[amane spaces out for as econd as he says this. hm… yeah…………]

つ：i've cracked wh tsukasa is so bad at the jokes

あ：[stupid boy voice] that's soo funny. do you think about being the girls

つ：[staring] hmmm. [does not know? I'm just tsukasa] maybe

あ：somehow this isn't a question about sexuality like it's more like, lol… wondering what tsukasa is feeling when looking at stuff [its like so you want to RP being a girl??]

is it like. Fun ? [holds bottle …………….. but like makes a face. even just thinking about like. sucking it. no thanks lol]

つ：thinks about that… takes a bottle. just mouths it… it is stimmy. nods. a fun moment of sucking on it and lifting it up with mouth for a bit. we have fun

あ：Wow… [claps]

つ：heehee….. //

あ：Pretty good. for a guy

つ：amane, as a straight boy, can see the appeal of embodying a whore. he likes to do this in nene's body he gets it you know

あ：yes… its like hm hm mh… sou….

つ：the idea of being a girl is not lost on amane in reality. its like lol seems funny

あ：well girls have fun don't they lol…

Your whore brother having a thought though. gets up and sits behind you. and then moves arm on either side. and grabs your hand. yosh. Soo… like… [takes your hand and makes your pointer stick out, sticks it into bottle] does that make you feel anything. [moves it in and out.] compared to like. [and makes you wrap your hand around the neck] […. brain calculating . for a second.] [just uses other hand to manipulate the bottle, shove it in and out of hand]

つ：ough my little brain ouhh… aahha… [FEELING A LOT ABOUT AMANE BEING HERE RN… the sake is doing something to me] [its not] [just in some sort of state]

あ：he is distracting.

つ：[blinks out of sync] it's!! fun! aohhaha. all of it. [LEANS BACK INTO HIM...] ... because Amane is here....❤️ !!

あ：… ?? ?… ? [squints….] [trying to think about this in my binary. of cock adn pussy. it fails] just says. Oh yeah. so anything goes

you'd do like anything…?? pfhsh… tsukasa You gotta hafvf prebferences

つ：I do? hmmm… [thinking so gd hard] [literally doesn't understand the question, thinks they're talking about just the act of fiddling with bottles and stuff] my preference is Amane!

あ：laughs… the proximity, means the vibrations transfer to tsukasa's back. is breathing right by his neck.

Are you sure That's pretty bold How do you know. lol

つ：[was going to go UN but breath effects. him] [smaller] un [liking to think of a tsukasa on the same level of like. dokis as the amane that is like…. that girls ankles….. ]

a little 6.6 but cluelessly so. and feeling like… good… just like fiddles with bottle in hands

あ：can't be too self-aware as it be happuning to him. is just like ///

つ：the mythological sake…..

あ：the innate comfort between you two means, i dont think its like. upsetting at all to hear this as much as it is amusing/perplexing, amane's normal reaction wouldn't be much different. just kind of like 'tsukasa…' :/ and not believing him. but rn it's more like Lol! thats funny <3

[rambling] well i like girlsh so you 'd haveto be the girl. if I'm your preference. cuz i know what i like and it'ssz..z… doing the guy stuff. [slips finger into bottle, as its held in tsukasa's hand]

That's what I'm thinking about all the time

つ：impressive…..!

ah….. ……….. [CALCULATIONS???? equations] i can be…… the girl? [TRYING TO UNDERSTAND…TOO ABSTRACT for literal brain]

tsukasa earnestly watching amane finger a bottle: sugoi…..

あ：Huh. well……. ? if you want … to……….. [isn't replying clearly; brain leapt to this as a question of like, whether or not… you could… like… GENERALLY or something?? its like well… if you wanted to !?? it'snot like a crime.]

[furrows brow] ….. i mean like… for sex….. i guess you could do wahtever. but maybe just don't tell mom and dad. psfhhgf

But maybe you could get really good at. like. doing the stuff authentic role-play [loanwords]

つ：staring blankly at the space in front of them. continuing to feel amane behind. trying so hard to think

would you like that? would it be fun?

あ：Huh ? uhh. me? wait. [kombucha girl] well

つ：like….. [fingers together]…. hmmmmmmmmmmmm….. like…. carnivore-herbivore [their little dino game from childhood] [like a lightbulb] AH ROLES…. roles like that….. [IS THAT HOW? it all means? as a role…… ]

あ：[little pea frying] like… we're not literally dinosawrs… but… [sizzling sounds] we agree to… do the stuff

つ：HAI… hai! haiii….. hmmm…!! [thinking harder!!! BEING GIRL..]

あ： [amane is busy wordlessly running calculations like ?? nah… but well…….. i mean… -is shitty and sees girls as like . parts- well… it cant be pussy. but like mouth?? lmfaoo.. but itd be weird… but…. i dunno put a little english on it.. am ipicky.]

つ：[well, it's in his nature to dive headfirst in experimenting] [flops… forward, onto the ground…. flops arms behind head. pictures the pin-up in brain] [knees.. together, coyly! the pictures…. ah…. puts a finger to own lips. licks it. curves spine] [Tsukasa is canonically immaculate at impressions] it sounds unreal until you have to face that aidairo made this a canon thing tsukasa can turn on at will

あ：[record scratch]

つ：AMAZING--!!

あ：it's like jesus. [blurts] TSUKASA but it's not the right 'tsukasa' it's not the 'ugh no!' that he gets most of the time tone it's more like WOW WTF lol! How are you doing that… pshhgh

つ：did I do it? it's like the pictures! I'm doing it like that.

あ：Yeah!!! what the hell . ah, sugoi. it looks just like it

つ：AH, REALLY?!? [beaming at praise]

あ：… and here i was like… thinking… maybe you'd need like. a dress or something. a wig. i guess it's a lot simpler than i thought

つ：[stretches languidly. rotates onto stomach]

あ：[clap clap. whistles lol]

つ：[crosses legs behind. strokes through hair. leaning on elbows away from amane]

i feel like tsukasa is actually so master at this bc i think natsuhiko is peak normal straight boy and feels challenged by the capacity for feminine grace tsukasa can just turn on

あ：[gets up, starts pacing around him, looking down at it, just observing multiple angles] [it's just cool to see in 3 dimensions… not just a picture]

Are you sure you haven't practiced or something actually… you messin with me? [rests besocked foot on the small of your back for a second]

つ：ahhh amane really likes it….!! KICKS LEGGIES chigau chigau❤️❤️ its my first time…..

[thinking about porno dialogue] [a slow askance glance from side of eye] my first time… with you, Amane

あ：[-- talk slower] … so you can sound like them too… hahahah….. that was uh, good…. ahh, wait wait, do it again… no , wait. get on all fours…

つ：hai, hai….. ah lol. drags arms across the floor… raises up from knees first. there's flourishes…. more stroking through hair. embellishing spine curve…. swallows. ok. impression….. hmm…. a nice breathiness to the voice! yosh… yosh, yosh.

If it's with you, Amane… I know it'll be good…. [thinking bout him fuckin fingering bottles and shit like a caveman] [way too authentic] is a girl like me okay….? [virgin girl JK porno]

SAKE MAKES YOU SO GOOD AT THINGS, PERHAPS….! doki doki… amane is really watching me….

あ：amane had like. hurriedly moved to stand in front of tsukasa, to observe this, like a person at a museum observing art attentively. hand to mouth. but as it happens i think it really makes him like… shudder… blinks out of sync…

You know. the reality where mags and whatever shoddy AVs you can find are just OK. this isn't even a world where you're tabbing through tons of things on xvideos its really like whatever tf is around. so… being inundated anything with personal touch. it's like…. hhhs… ripple of heat. fidgets.[brainlessly, aloud] Oh, yyyeah… [comically not as well executed…] [speaking against hand] …. but then is like wait. i wont be outperformed. shakes head.

[sssstretches, tries to play off clumsy responses, hooks arms behind back, stretches a leg back. oh nbd…] Offf course you are, you're plenty good. [blinks. squints] [chuckling behind palm… its just like fhwhahah….!! amused again, by the circumstnace, 'isnt this silly.']

[amane in real time feeling it like wtf tsukasa can be a girl's name…?] [rushes] -- Tsuuukasa-chan is impressing me. She's got a lot going for her

つ：buries face in arms girlishly but like earnestly it just incidentally works for the play. kicks legs

あ：[breathes] wow…

つ：[trying to put on. the voice--!! a little more tsukasa leaks into it. squeaky as he gets talking to amane] i-it's overwhelming…..!! I---…… [feeling giddy… gotta get it under control! aheem….] it….. [gazes up at…. with doe eyes sparkling…..] could only be you, Amane…. for me, so….. if I'm good…. then I'm happy ❤️ let's ❤️ have ❤️ fun together ❤️

あ：[brain exits again. its like melts out his ears] [crudely, aloud] hhhh. hot. hot… egh [rubs face a lot]

つ：atsui crawls towards Amane… grabs his. pant leg.

あ：stares down

つ：a cute… like…. doesnt know what to do next❤️ its like uhm we dont really eat eachother as dinosaurs so…? how does role play. sex even work?

if we can't really do it [simple brain: we do not have the parts of in the porno,] [we are irl 2 boys, as much as we are two dinos, dame da]

あ：it's enigmatic for the intrepid tsukasa. but i'm really contemplating. i will say i think there's a timeline where amane like houghakay [drops pants] hats off to you madam

つ：the epic win timeline I think its like WHOA…. EYEBALLS ARE SEARING.. BRAIN SPINS IS THIS THE GAME?????? WHOA

あ：pretty crazy game

つ：the game of get sucked off standing up

i like the thought of amane mentally having a moment regretting having named her just tsukasa-chan like i should have named her . hinata or something new

あ：idk why i thought i was being clever or something

thinking though. i think it's fun if amane IS arrested and speechless for a second and is just like pat pat. good. girll. like hhhey.

つ：i'll do it just like in the magazines!!! 💭 hmmm.. maybe…. this is my preference?

あ： its like i call you good girl. and then immediately comment, like. it feels good to say

つ：[still putting on a voice] I like to hear it.... [brushes hair behind ear]

あ：[touches your hair like. as if it'd feel different or something.]

つ：nuzzles into it… a very tsukasa-like gesture, though. same as it ever is

あ：brain tinglies. it's really not so different… its almost like, your brain starts being like -- wait…. i think tsukasa just is suited to this ….

つ：just smoothly transitions back to mouth over cock….. ah. tsukasa very simply thinking: I can't talk like this❤️ i hope thats okay….. in the game….

あ：there is just a point where its like. this is fucking awesome……… fkdsgh

like ah wait wait… back to having whims--- [holds face at a distance, grabs self. rubs against] You…. you like that? Don't you….

つ：GETS STUPID-- NODS QUICKLY-- omg wait!!!-- ouhhg-- uh

あ：Yeeahhhh you do… [just continues seamlessly]

つ：clutches… hand into pants leg. 💭 sake is so…. weird…. it's hard to breathe…. dizzy…. pain? chest…. stomach

あ：[jerks off for a second like. stupidly] mm. yeah. IT'ssss pretty ccool to see righjt . tsukasa. you like. [brain cannot retain. like. concepts.] [i'm a shitty guy who doesnt even use honorifics oftne]

つ：💭 ah, he didn't use tsukasa-chan! is the role-play over….? confused… ueuhm? hmm….

💭 buh, stares. stupidl .y. wwwwhat woudl. tsukasa-chan or tsukasa say to this. [wind blowing through skull] 💭 SQUEEZES… PEAAA…. OUUHHGHH--

h-hot! It's hot! 💭 WHAT AMANE SAYS-- SAID EARLIER! YES you're hot, Amane!

あ：All this serious thought while Amane is just like relishing in the physical sensations. oooh its good

つ：amane is a complete idiot. also he is still inebriated i think it really is just lke. amnngnh ah hot breath on my cock ah

あ：feels good to meeee…. i like what you're saying [just grabs and drags mouth back on]

つ：homp

あ：oh but… its frustrating…. really going to just hump your face like an animal… no remorse at this point its like ffffffffffffffunnnnn. COCK SUCK!!!!!

つ：lose the plot. enjoy pleasure. tsukasa will love it emphaticallyyyyyyy

あ：no plot no more its just like blowjobs are good

つ：feeling the delightful sensation…. of being used…. whole new sensation of just being… fuck toy…. wow. feeling so so so directly like the toy…. being played with. like the bottle…. itself… in amane's hands . mmmm

ah sake makes you feel so good…. so good… like fireworks, in your head and heart….. [isn't in any way inebriated]

あ：indeed it is like, you're the bottle… You're the fun thing to touch and fiddle with, move this way and that. it's really comparable with how freely Amane subjects things to his. stupid pervert hands. just holding your head and moving it over cock

some sort of dokis though about how amane doesn't ever do something soo pointedly so hard for so long. fwee//// this is better tha n the AVs

つ：ah the narrative is delightful lol…. if I think about Amane…. just coming. I klf;skldfjksl he's going to say some horrible things compulsively feeling it shoot down throat like "thats right…. ddon'tt let any escape [IN CRAZY PORNO WORLD] take it… its for you…fffohr beingh ssogood…. " [LOSING ALL SENSE] [soft… grunt.. lip curl. holding tsukasa in place.]

simple delighted hums from Tsukasa… all he can manage… WAAAAAAHHH STUFF… COMING OUT?? hot…!!!!! hot, warm…. ah, inside??? swallowing…. something?!?! fklfkl from amane into … ???? PRIZE ??? for me ??? soueuroughg?

あ：mnn yeahh it would be that excessive… i like sloppily, arbitrarily engaging with the porno concept… not even good at keeping up with it, just fueling self to say whatever intrusive thoughts. and stoked by tsukasa's earlier dialogue -- being like, Make sure to swallow it all.. it's your fiiiirst… [trembling, rutting] and it could only be MINE!! [like he just remembered that part andw as like SHSHAHASH1!!!'1]

つ：💭 MY…. FIRST!!!!!! gkl;dfgk it could only be yours fksl;fskljfflfff.f aaouhh aoaaaaaa ah feel so good its scary AAAAAAAAAH!!! THISIS THE FUNNEST GAME XF evar… aougeorgjlj!!!!

あ：i'm sorry all other games….💔

つ：ah. tsukasa is tsukasa, so i imagine he's not at all going to stop or let go on his own.. has no sense for it.. its so funny if Amane has to be like [brow furrowing, SO TIRED IMMEDIATELY, fussy feeling] mmngnh tsukasa, aao, ow

pops off of undignified. grabbing by hair. tsukasa :9 :p

あ：huffs. like hey c'mon. don't be one of thos crazy girls not in the mood stuffs my cock away

つ：takes it all out of him. drained instantly. begins ambling for futon

あ：indeed i think its so. collapse

つ：nemui………..

i like the sheer rudeness of it ending like this. tsukasa just on his knees watching amane amble off like a zombie and just pass out as he hits the bed like :v wow…….

あ：snoring in seconds looking like a corpse really

つ：it must be so tiring to be 'the guy'

あ：:p ………

つ：

smacking lips…. in the silence, alone, touching throat…. licking cheeks, inside…. running tongue over teeth…. ah

a little bit of the taste is all over…. of the skin itself, and what came out ……. and the scent, familiar, of his sweat… that too…. mmm… wah…. that was so much fun…………

he thought I did it good…. doki….. Amane got really into it…. we havent played pretend that intensely for a long time….. like you're not lil kids anymore so you dont be doing dinosaur RP…..

あ：Awe yeah there is just this sort of happiness about having engaged in something like this, and for soo long… Thought Amane wasn't…. like… interested anymore…. /// but maybe the subjects are just different…? ^^

つ：amane is really interested in this kind of thing lately…

あ：sou sou…. thats how it is….

つ：tsukasa will just curl up next to him content and❤️ take a while to fall asleep. just watch him… snore… dead.

when amane wakes up sf sick he will be like.. never agaim… never agaim sake. tsukasa. which will feel..💔 ah…. okay. if you say so

あ：soooo funny to think about amane being so yucky tummy after

つ：[I guess I won't feel that stuff again….] […. but, if that was going to be the only time I feel it… I'm glad it was with Amane!] I'll remember it forever…..!

having ascribed all of the feelings of profound arousal to the sake… it's like a pocket dimension. and as the sake caused it to occur in a sense…. it really won't be repeated.

あ：going to space out sometimes drinking from glass bottles. side effects

つ：goes on believing up until the day he dies that it was the result of the drink and not his emotions

あ：random things triggering suck cock memories again its always funny to think about so many years later and being like. OH lol. this again

つ：OH ITS BACK... HIIIIIII

あ：so funny though i imagine its like. sees nene suck cock. kind of like. salivates. more than usual.

つ：mm its that good…. aaahh wow real girl doing it……. mm

あ：[watching this and replaying memories. was it like that…? ahhh……]

つ：you just hope one day in frnot of yashiro tsukasa can be like ah wait lemme try this! hey amane [hanako looking over lazily, lidded] what-- [tsukasa posing]

あ：i do think hanako seeing tsukasa do whore girl poses and stuff would be like ACK what are you doing!!!! but its funny if its like. [brain tingles a little also]

I was like also imaging a 4koma type aftermath situation where Tsukasa in any way references girl RP like hehe well… umm even if we never agaim ^^ …. does something to be cheeky like lol. hehe remember…. [since, it's not like we never talk about sex or something after this day] and amane is just like [LOOKS?] …

the most karmic thing also would be if amane was being shitty and was making some comment like lol you look like a girl rn… and it made tsukasa be like hehe. [rolls around]

つ：does a posie. heehee just gets sort of tazed. but does his amane thing and just like. looks away.

あ：[barks] amane is the boy! like… lol!

Amane is just like.. ngughd… Whatever. the hell you trying to do…

つ：tsukasa always remembars…. but it is just like… ❤️the sake must have made amane also feel.. those feelings, I felt its almost. tragic like😭 NO HONEY!!! 😭 YOU WERE IN LOVE

あ：😭 hyperion!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i am sorry your stupid horndog brother was just like feels pretty good. motuh on my cokc

つ：NOT SO DEEP….!

____________________

つ：what else. thinking idly of forks from the sake situation… its a good place to just like. sit around chew. enjoy the thought of pantomime…. just some good dogged humping. alsowould just make amane sleepy fast. exhausted. a nice thing

あ：hehe yeahh… i was actually gonna circle back… i DID want to think about an instance that was really as simple as like [kiss] …. wait. [starts REALLY KISS] … [topples over tsukasa in fervor]

for tsukasa this is the most like -- ?? /??? [bowie the ringneck parrot pinning eyes] WOO. WOO…..

つ：mmmm kissimh… HWOOO!!!!!

あ：Just being pawed at sloppily and really leaned into. makeout. fweee… I was thinking about this amounting to like, pinning tsukasa on the floor… entirely just Amane doing forward momentum goooo

つ：the effect of the lack of inhibitions and the momentum, mmmhmm… tsukasa is simply, passive for it all a lot of sexual tension in amane's lil body… finally diverting someplace, just for a bit.

tsukasa can only feel AAAH this is amazing… i feel really good! we're really having fun! it's so fun…. so fun i feel like im gonna explode to pieces.

あ：it's like delightfully simple… warmth trapped between bodies… the sheer familiarity of tsukasa… and then i think there are little sparks felt whenever tsukasa really sighs, giggles, hiccups out his name. it's like mmmmhyhh….

seamlessly start to hump against. rut against the ground kjkfjgh but god the way tsukasa is SO. wraps legs around you. it's actually brutal

つ：mmm its a real problem isn't it!! going to simply wrap all around! sorryyyy!!!!! you're gonna like it a lot. ah but in such a state…. amane just being like. AAHh yes haHAAHA good move--!! SHOVES

あ：brain is just like yes hot hyhe shhha ahg d [squeezes your waist] just like oh. my WHORE brother. fun

つ：ah is suited to playing a GIRL!!! hehaaawhaha

tsukasa's role is to just try his best to keep on a lil voice and be like~~ ah-- it, feels good-- ah, Amane!! Amanee . but I think the earnest noises, murmurs, work just as effectively. squeeze hard enough to illicit a gasp and get him slurring back "that'ss right"

あ：[sloppily] You're good at this !

In a moment like this… I'm sorry Tsukasa… but to ruin you a bit, by having Amane hold you by the ribs and move you up and down… create more impact… this like. just pure objectification that amane subjects one to

つ：ah it would ruin him for good….. natural instinct, impulse, for amane. ah i want more shove….. i want more slam….. if tsukasa was also moving… mngh

nice and exhausting for amane, this…. ah it would look so. horribly violent from afar imagines a nice distance shot

あ：Would love for it to look quite bad honestly Handling sooo carelessly far too aggressively. You should worry for the one underneath amane gonna have shakey legs after this When all your hump muscles hurt

つ：tsukasa's ribs reddened from the friction…..

あ：The skin just a bit more tender feeling, achey. really was sunk into

つ：ah funny for amane to wake up w headache and also like. my fucking muscles… wtf random muscles ive never even felt before hurting

あ：is that what hurts… after drinky… god…

つ：why can i barely walk… sake???? sake is horrible…

tsukasa would just be like ah really….? … mm.. well, I'm a little sore too, actually… pulls up shirt, shows messed up ribs. amane is like ?!? sheesh, what?! [as someone who was big sick once] ah, we really shouldn't mess with this stuff again i guess there's a reason kids aren't supposed to drink it?

あ：Seeing ribs is like wtf omg… and everything being a blur.. like, it's scary, none of that again… We weren't ready i guess…

but omg thinking about Amane steadily coming to while being soo sick feeling and Tsukasa is spiritually like [lying on side right next to yo… drawing hearts on your chest…]

つ：i think tsukasa is so flkdlf yeah. really gazing at amane, falling in and out of a content blissful sleep, having nice dreams, inhaling deeply. muttering like aaah Amane is so sleepy... [AMANE IS DEAD OUT OF IT, CANNOT HEAR]

あ：i always envision him waking up and like barfing a little on himself or something that unflattering and its justl ike hughf..gh.. [tsukasa rubbing his back while he's bent over a terlet]

but somehow even this part is like. tsukasa likes to be helpful in the next 24 hours as amane is a real princess. fall into that "yes master" mode

つ：like aahhh i guess there is a high cost to feeling good… hmmm… [learning something that will percolate later. but why should there be a cost.]

but kinda mysteriously feeling like… is that how it works? ah, but i'm not nearly as pained as amane… could he have actually felt better than me, proportionally? [pointless logic]

あ：endearing as he tries to figure this one out tsukasa really is here to be like💭 ……….. if only it could always be that fun

wistful upon the memories of Amane looking so engrossed in what he was doing and reveling in it… Special Amanes he has not seent before not like this… and Amane himself rambling about thinking about, sex all the time, its like fwuu….. ._. but… he likey… he wants this stuff…..

it's like suddenly knowing amane's favorite food but maybe it makes him tummy sick… but ._. if only… just the good tasting food part

つ：it is like that… like some time you ate a cup of butter and barfed a lot at like age 3

あ：this makes me contemplate a tsukasa that is trying harder to solve amane getting laid wwww but it's like… [sitting around looking troubled just from the sheer labor of squeezing his pea] and this makes amane go hey buddy. you alright. tsukasa just like looks at you sadly, i wish you didnt have to wait to drink more. which is like -- tsukasa!! omg but its like🥺 you just looked like you had so much fun…

つ：amane like omg but i dont even remember it… was i really going that hog wild i like the idea of keeping what they did rly vague but only bc tsukasa is poor at expressing wtf it was. he doesnt know what it was

its like ah yeah. amane: what did we… like do? tsukasa: [pea squeeze] ah! role-play amane: oh. like when we were littler? tsukasa: mmmhm amane: [ah thats kind of embarrasingly pure….]

あ：ah………… hazukashi. I do like amane just being like. completely in the dark. freaking blacked out

つ：tsukasa: i played… a girl! amane: sputter. oh yeah? what was I. tsukasa: a boy. amane: sputter again. what is that? amane: have i lost all subtlety and whimsy….. that's not even a pretend

あ：ahaha. what? …….. that doesn't sound like a very creative game, somehow. I just am a boy

つ：was it really so fun ?? tsukasa: hai! you had a lot of fun! amane: being a boy. tsukasa : hai. amane: [will never know what happened]

あ：like…….. uhhhhh…………. okay. [blinks, thinks tsukasa is kind of. being maybe a bit overly sad about something, like idk we played some silly game of. i dont even know what.] [imaginign something on the level of like bluey and bingo playing as a doctor and nurse assistant or something]

____________________

あ：Today's cumrot i am starting out with. Is thinking about sake makeout and Amane being like [disgusting RP voice] iiiii,,ffvvve never kissed. a girl before. and tsukasa being like [very innocently] ive never kissed a boy before……

つ：he's being so factual and literal. its true.

あ：Earnest in the middle of this porno

(~link to short continuation of this scene down here for convenience~)

[noelbobby]

The Penn Comics

I should probably transfer over my Penn comics to this Tumblr account. Who is Penn? Well, it all started with violent, pistol-wielding thug who said some weird dialogue that came t' me one day.

Then it evolved into an' occasional segment with a more realised violent, pistol-wielding thug who smoked and had delusions of greatness that he certainly didn't have who was part of a larger cast.

There's a fair bit to this story, 25 works total, so hit that 'read more' if y'am interested. Otherwise don't because you'll be scrollin' a while, I'm gonna be writing for a while... bloody Hell, its sinking in.

This is 'A Pack of Pens from the Pound Shop', it was written on the 27th of March, 2022. At this point Penn didn't have a name and I wasn't intending on ever bringing him back.

That changed on the 9th of September that year, when I created the second ever Penn work, called 'This Person Again' (at the time I hadn't decided Penn was a man).

This started a minor interest in Penn from me. So much so I drew the next Penn image on the 12th of that same month and named Penn as 'Penn' in this time. A crossover image between Penn and my at the time ongoing (now on indefinite hiatus) comic Treasure of Microchips character Gecko Onslaughter, called 'Onslaughter and Penn'.

Now, Gecko Onslaughter is a far more competent character than Penn, I won't get into them, but I made it quite clear that Penn was very outmatched (as a sidenote, Gecko Onslaughter could be described as 'non-binary', but its their culture, and all ToM characters cultures, more don't have a gender-binary culturally... no, I didn't know I was non-binary when I started Treasure of Microchips, no I'm not very smart).

2 days later on the 14th I gave Penn his second ever comic 'Penn's Negotiation Tactic'. Which demonstrated the direction I was goin' with the character

That is to say, he's a joke. An overconfident fool who thinks throwing pens at people makes him seem serious and respectable. Becca's last line is the perfect summing up of the absurdity.

Penn drawings continued but for some reason I only uploaded the next 3 images on me DeviantArt on the 9th of December, 2022.

Luckily, I know when my drawings actually were drawn. The next 'un would go back to the location of Penn's second image: Penn's Place and was drawn on the 26th of October.

Notably in this image you can see a pack of cigarettes (and a loose cigarette). This image, literally called 'Penn Smoking' drawn on the 30th of October 2022 would do what it says in the title.

Why did I make Penn a smoker? Well, Penn smoking cigarettes contrasted him nicely with Gecko again, who is also depicted smoking, but they smoke cigars. Also since Penn is always smugly smiling, so I thought it'd be funny to draw him trying to maintain his massive grin while smoking. This was also about when I decided 'Norm' was a name of Penn's. Is his full name Norm Penn? I've never actually decided.

But now things get interesting, on the 9th of December (the same day I uploaded the other 2 images to DeviantArt) I 'ad a funny idea. Penn is an incompetent fool who thinks he's a dangerous and tough mercenary. So, what if he thinks he's a rival of a real dangerous merc? That's when I drew 'Penn's 'Rival''.

Penn's 'Rival', Cox, was designed in contrast to Penn: ae wears a suit rather than casual clothes, ae's bald rather than having a baldspot (and is stated to shave aer head), ae maintains a 5 o'clock shadow while Penn has no facial hair and aer skin is a teal shade in contrast to Penn's red with green hair. However, we'll get into the biggest difference between the two soon enough.

Cox is also, as you may've noticed, an ae/aer user, that's nothing t' do with Penn, and is incidental to the character, really, but I think that adds to Cox's coolness.

I moved back to Penn exclusively for the next joke, Penn at a Shooting Range on the 3rd of January, 2023.

I love to imagine the delivery of the 'Sir?' there... also is it obvious I've never even seen a shootin' range? Probably.

On the 25th I drew a full-body image of Cox creatively called Cox Image. My January self said this in the description of this image

'Penn thinks that he is Cox's biggest enemy, but Cox would say aer biggest enemy is aer desire to always look aer best. The shaved head, meticulously maintained stubble and insistence on businesswear means Cox spends more time in front of a mirror everyday than ae would admit to most. When aer style looks effortless, that's when Cox is satisfied. Still, as eccentricities go Cox's actually ends up making aerself look more serious and competent, unlike Penn's which makes him look a bit weird. Cox would never use a prop in an attempt to convince a client of aer worth. Cox's reputation speaks for Cox.'

See, Cox and Penn are both into presentation. Penn's presentations are more literal, theatrical use of pens in a strange gimmick. While Cox's presentation is appearance-based and ae have skills to back up aer look.

Then on the 8th of March I decided to go into Penn's backstory in the image 'Norm', well, more specifically in Norm's description.

'Norm was an accountant who was arrested as he had defrauded his clients in a very obvious and stupid way. He was put in a low security prison, of course, but Norm started feeling... powerful after his arrest. His feelings of power and his ego grew and grew in prison. By the time he was released Penn had started feeling invincible... and he's been working under that feeling ever since.'

What can I say, I wanted to add some depth to Penn. I certainly didn't add anything new on the 31st of March, 2023. When I drew 'Penn is about to Fire'

I pointed out in the description that Penn wasn't aiming that gun even slightly.

It was only a matter of time before I drew or write a story where Penn actually managed to kill someone. He's funny, but he also is still alive, so of course sometimes he's gotta stumble into victories. A very literal title was created on the 3rd of April, called 'A Written Penn Scene with two Visuals'.

'Gunter could hardly believe this man standing in front of him. The man had walked into his office and loudly declared a murderous intent, pulling a gun from his trousers "You seriously think you can shoot me in my own office and get away with it? I don't know how you got past security, but you clearly know I am a connected and powerful man. Do you honestly think you can shoot me right now and escape this office alive?" "Yes." "You are the most imbecilic—" Gunther couldn't finish his thought before the man fired and... hit his computer. The man fired again, this time it hit to Gunther's left "Seriously?" Gunther thought in disbelief "This man can't even shoot straight at this range how did he think he can—" the thought was ended by the fourth shot, a bullet to his brain. Penn put his gun back into his holster and turned to leave another job well done. On his way to the stairs he thought "Typical inflated ego. No actual sense of self-preservation to earn it."'

(its still a joke because Penn is saying the last line)

Of course, Penn's compitence can't be too great. Which is why I created Trigger Discipline is Important when Posing on the 9th of May.

Description from the time: 'If Bradley-Anna had opened the door I'm sure they'd have found Penn's pose very cool before Penn shot them. As it is, Penn stood there for at least four hours after this and Bradley-Anna fled the country.' yeah, Bradley-Anna is non-binary. It's a stable of me works because since no binary artists add us, I might as well.

I then got the idea of giving Cox an interesting tattoo on aer back. So on the 11th of May I drew 'Cox's Back'.

This also shows that Cox's name is W. Cox.

On the 16th of July, 2023 I had a hilarious thought: What if Penn met a less competent and more obnoxious person than himself? In a comic that's so big I needa divide it for Tumblr. It's the longest Penn Comic I've ever made so far.

This is called 'Penn meets Unicorn Browne' (and Mx Marko is another fine example of me many non-binary characters in this comic).

Original description also said 'The text that's blurred together reads: Unicorn "The greatest of all time, the new Goddess of mercenary work! Unicoooorn" Penn "I am the most expensive of all pens! You should go back to the pound shop!" And in the text under Marko's shouting Unicorn is going 'Broooooooo'[wne] and Penn is saying 'This pen is you: cheap!'.'

I fuckin' love Unicorn Browne, lemme upload me 19th of July image 'Cox, Penn and Unicorn Browne' an' then explain why.

See, Cox is a contrast to Penn in that Cox is more competent, capable and aer 'gimmick' is that ae wants to look competent and capable. Unicoooorn BROOOOOWNE! (sorry) She dresses a lot like Penn, she smiles like Penn, but she's even more overconfident than Penn. If his ego is Jupiter, he's is the Sun.

Design-wise she's also got the inverse skin and hair to Penn and she also is ever-smiling, but it's an open smile, all the better to yell her own name. Which is her gimmick, an even less fancy, even sillier gimmick than Penn's props. She contrasts Penn, but also Cox in many ways.

On the 30th of July I made this more explicit with these 'Unicorn Browne Drawings'. Showing that she, like Cox, has tattoos, but her's are knuckle tats that read 'UNICOORN BROOOWNE' rather than an elaborate back tattoo with a somewhat cool slogan.

On the 9th of August I had a weird idea called Penn's Invite, another long comic.

Penn's sister. No, I haven't developed this idea further. I maybe one day.

I really like Unicorn Browne, I like them all, but Unicorn Browne is such a strong gimmick I made a Unicorn Browne exclusive on the 12th of September, 2023.

This is called 'That's why she uses a Pool Cue' and the description says 'I think Council's face manages to say it all.' while its not as explicit as Mx Marko, Council is also a non-binary character.

Next few images'll be very quick. I've been writing for over an hour.

This is 'Cox Paint Drawing', drawn on the 13th of September, there's not much to say on it. I wanted t' draw Cox in Paint. Ae looks good no matter the program, I think. Hahahaa.

On the 16th of September I drew a non-Paint Cox drawing called 'Cox's Morning', Showing Cox after ae has finnished aer 5 o'clock shadow maintinence. Look at aer happy face.

Simplistic Penn character drawings on the 3rd of October is another Paint drawing. I wanted t' see if the three looked the part without the colours because I felt a tad self-conscious about me face-design that day.

9th of October, Penn in Pen. The creepiness of Penn's design shines through in pen, I think. He's funny, but since the original image he's meant to have a bit of an edge.

Now on the 20th of October is 'Unicorn Browne Thumbs Up'. Drawn because I wanted to do somethin' with her knuckle tats. I'm not entirely happy with this image. I also considered instead having her flipping you off.

And we am at the latest Penn Comic image. Which, ironically, has neither Penn, Cox or Unicorn Browne. On the 21st of October I drew 'Penn Comic Bosses (so far)': Becca, Mx Marko and Council.

I pointed out in the description that funnily none of these 'Bosses' are confirmed to have ever hired a main character.

-

Gordon Bennett, that was a lot, wasn't it? I'm rather tired after that, but, yeah, that's the 'Penn Comics' universe so far. Hope ya enjoyed it. I'm tired after this compiling, but I enjoyed writing it. At some point there will be more Penn Comics, but, luckily, that time I'll be puttin' 'em 'ere separately.

[volixia669]

X-Files and Metaphor

"It was then, I saw exactly what was killing us"

From Johanson, who incidentally did not specify what was killing his crewmates.

And I believe that line was intentional, even if some of the metaphor was due to later historical events.

But first! Some context!

Piper Maru came out in early 1996, 5 years after the gulf war. The war itself that Johanson fought in was WW2.

In the years between WW2 to 1996, there's been many wars and conflicts. Why? Well, either as proxy wars against Russia, or in order to advance imperialistic, colonialist, incentives. Just five years prior to the episode airing was the gulf war, notoriously involving oil in the motivations, and two "interventions" (Somalia and Haiti) ended the year before the episode aired.

Its also important to note the Piper Maru was believed to have contain a third atom bomb intended for the Japanese.

Johanson does also mention regret over the Japanese who died.

So, what is the point of all these quotes and context? Weeeeell...

What Johanson literally saw was the black oil alien infecting his crewmates.

But what was actually killing them? Was what brought them out there. The US war machine. Sure, World War 2 was a world war, but if the US hadn't been determined to test its new weapon on the Japanese people, if it hadn't decided three horrific weapons were a good idea, then they wouldn't have been there.

I believe its up for interpretation if the black oil was intended to be used as a bio weapon, or if the whole thing was a cover story, and it was just supposed to be a transport vessel.

But here's the other interesting thing. The visual metaphor. At the time there was only one recent war relating to oil, but it had lasting impacts on politics.

And while they couldn't have predicted it, these days, US involvement in the middle east is synonymous with its greed for oil.

That it continues to work as a metaphor, within the show and outside it is just (chef's kiss)

Bonus! Additional quotes from "Tunguska" that felt relevant

"Wars have broken out over far, far, less Mr. Skinner"

"2,000 time the bomb that hit Hiroshima"

[mywifeleftme]

83: The Family // The Family

The Family The Family 1985, Paisley Park

Prince wrote songs like newspaper cartoonists churn out comics, an untamed profligacy that would eventually bring him into open warfare with his own label and exile him to the pop wilderness. In his halcyon mid-‘80s days though, he channeled his productivity into a network of puppet acts for whom he would pseudonymously write and produce. This isn’t so different from, say, Smokey Robinson being simultaneously a top performer at Motown and a major songwriter for other artists, except that the Purple One was such an idiosyncratic weirdo that you can always tell right away who’s behind the curtain. Prince treated his protégés more like costumes to wear than collaborators. With Vanity and (to a lesser extent) Sheila E. we got Prince as a Woman; through Morris Day, the racially and sexually ambiguous Artist released his most decidedly Black, hetero music; and with The Family’s lead singer St. Paul we got White Prince. Look at this guy!

Lookit him!

Anyway, the Family were scraped together from the remains of the Time after Morris Day had tired of Prince’s domineering control, with bassist Paul Peterson promoted to lead vocal duties and joined by Prince’s sometime-girlfriend Susannah Melvoin as a secondary singer. The idea was to present the group as an independent project (Prince is only credited on the packaging for some incidental photography), but the result is Minneapolis Sound (almost literally) by numbers. While Day and Sheila E. were Prince’s peers (or elders) and had their own charisma, the younger St. Paul and his collaborators are completely subsumed by their mentor. It’s not St. Paul’s fault; I doubt he was given much choice other than to do the bargain Prince impression he trots out here. But these machines are built for one driver, and St. Paul lacks the shrieking charisma to make them go. It’s impossible to listen to a song like “High Fashion,” with its big-spending shit talk (“She had the nerve to ask what kinda car I had / I said, ‘Honey, I’m ridin’ in back of a Rolls Royce limo / Custom-painted PLAID!’”) and not wish the man had just taken it for a spin himself.

Still, this is Prince at the height of his powers, and he’s doing the kind of immediately pleasurable pop-funk things that were in increasingly short supply on his own albums of the period. You can easily throw on side one at a party and it’ll keep things moving. Yet the minimal, synthy ballads tucked away on side two represent a better use of the Family’s powers. The sublime “Nothing Compares 2 U” makes its first appearance here, and despite being essentially thrown away (though Prince was wise enough to specifically retain the publishing on it), it is several orders of magnitude greater than anything else here. This rendition is even more austere than Prince’s demo or Sinead O’Connor’s later hit: the arrangement is reminiscent of the intro to “Let’s Go Crazy,” only this time we stay in the futuristic cathedral, with St. Paul and Melvoin harmonizing over dream sequence keys and piercing blasts of sax. Though it will never be considered the definitive version of the song, it stands on its own as an intriguing oddity and a fine example of the deconstructed forms Prince experimented with throughout his career.

As a post-script, it won’t be too long before Prince Beefology is as accepted an academic specialization as the feuds of Alexander Pope. Nearly all of Prince’s proteges eventually fell out with him, and the Artist’s petty reactions have the flavour of a restaurant owner freaking out because no one wants to work for minimum wage. You can hear him hissing disses at Morris Day low in the mix on “Mutiny”; when St. Paul himself split in 1985, Prince added the song to his tour setlist and led audience chants of “St. Paul, punk of the month” (Thirty years later, Peterson has at least found a way to have fun with it). I don’t know how well he ever really understood other people, which may’ve been why when he wrote for them it almost never left them in a position to enjoy their own success without his continued involvement.

The Family has only once been officially issued on CD and was never repressed on vinyl, so if you’re hunting for a copy you’ll have to score a vintage one. Fortunately, it’s common enough that you shouldn’t have to spend a mint on it. In the realm of Prince rarities, it could be a lot worse.

83/365

[darkdansdarkestdays]

Yeah....so, again, great job uncovering "truths" that I would have had no difficulty freely admitting, and contradict nothing I have ever said, or written. There are, literally, 10s of thousands of messages that were exchanged between myself and the person in question over a period of 2-3 years. Undoubtedly, your collective gaze has fallen upon a couple of months worth during which I was attempting to rescue a friendship I could tell was on life support. I was, for a time, unsuccessful in this. Roughly 2 years later, we did experience a brief period of casual friendly acquaintanceshio...although, nothing like before. Incidentally, it was the discovery of dirt that had made its way onto this site, with which I was previously unfamiliar, that ended up killing it forever. What, exactly, did you believe you had found? What did you assume it meant? I have not read what was released to you, but am QUITE confident that does not give an accurate portrayal of the big picture....Anyway.....and, why does anyone care? Aside from the fact that I am using internet messaging to attempt to reach someone I do not feel is adequately accessible, at the moment (although it's because I do not really know her, not because we constantly hurt one another, purposely, on an almost daily basis over a period of months, and I ended up taking things WAYYY to far without realizing it. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't ALL me ...she was an asshole too....but, to this day, I hate myself for the way I behaved during that period....and, I'm not even sure how long it lasted, honestly. Drugs. No sleep. Etc) Whatever your opinion of what I am doing now, the fact is that, except for messages being involved, and the target being a woman, the two examples really bear no similarity or connection....and, as far as concern that the type of behavior that I so regret will resurface......dude....have seen some of the shit I have dealt with over the past few weeks on here? I think I have restrained myself fairly well. But, excellent work, gang! Your Sheriff Joe Arpaio Posse replica badges will arrive by the holidays.

[turtle-paced]

A:tLA Re-Watch: Fine-Toothed Comb Edition

This is what I mean by the recaps getting shorter. There’s still plenty here for a twenty-minute episode, it still moves the plot along, it’s just not as dense as those big plot-crucial episodes.

Book 1, Chapter 5 - The King of Omashu

(0:55) Previously, on Avatar, Aang owns up to being the Avatar. The Avatar who has friends all over the world. Aang realised he’d lost his friends and family, but Katara and Sokka decided to stick with him. The knowledge of the Avatar’s return became public, including to the Fire Nation.

(1:42) It’s winter in the Earth Kingdom, as we can see from the snow on the ground, but we’re also somewhere temperate enough that grass is still growing underneath.

(1:52) Aang introduces the city of Omashu (another cool design!), which he’s visited frequently in order to hang out with his friend Bumi. As the previously on reminded us, Aang’s done quite a bit of travelling around.

(1:58) Meanwhile, Katara and Sokka experience a bit of culture shock at seeing a city. Note that Katara focuses on the size of the city, i.e. the number of people, while Sokka focuses on the difference in construction. Without making a big deal of it, the show’s furthering its characterisation of Katara as most interested in social relationships and people, and Sokka as most interested in technology.

(2:05) After running from the burning village at the end of last episode, our protagonists start this episode by taking precautions and insisting that Aang wear a disguise. Learning! And note that they’re insisting on this even in a free, Earth Kingdom city.

(2:24) A mention of Sokka and Katara’s grandfather! I think the only one we get all series.

(2:44) The pan over the walkway to Omashu shows us some basic earthbending defensive fortifications. Aside from Omashu being basically a mountain with walls in the middle of a canyon, the walkway is narrow, sheer, and switches back and forth. It’s clearly not natural. Local earthbenders either raised Omashu or levelled the nearby mountains to give it a ‘moat’, then raised a high, narrow, switchbacked walkway. This has got to be the work of lots of earthbenders, over a long time.

(2:56) Aang says that Omashu is the friendliest city in the world, cut to our new friend the cabbage merchant being rudely dealt with by the gate guards.

Back on the defensive fortifications front, there’s no actual gate. Omashu needs a spot designated as a gate, but when you’ve got earthbenders aplenty, why bother having a permanent opening in the walls? Again and again we’ll see casual bits of setting design that show how the writers and animators actually put some thought into how a society where large numbers of people can manipulate various states of matter looks like. Here, we see it in the way Omashu is built.

(3:16) From the friendliest city in the world, to hovering a rock over an ‘old man’s’ head, just because. The war has damaged the social fabric of every society depicted in the series.

(3:31) “Bonzu Pippenpadalopsicopolis the Third.” It’s amazing that this isn’t the most ridiculous alias of the series.

(3:39) Major props to Katara for flawlessly going with it, though.

(4:10) Omashu’s walls open in three distinct stages. It is because most earthbending guards can’t open a wall that thick in one go? Who knows.

(4:27) Pan over Omashu, a free Earth Kingdom city. Lots of people, lots of green, the occasional bridge over a gap, and prominent ‘aqueducts’ for people to deliver things. Infrastructure in Omashu is based around earthbending.

(4:56) Aang flashes back to a hundred years ago series time, and what has to be only a few months previous, his subjective time. His friend Bumi has distinctive eyes and a noticeable gap in his teeth. He opens the flashback with a question for Aang and encourages him to think about their surroundings differently. Bumi also has a distinctive laugh.

(5:28) The fact Aang insisted on going to Omashu before anything else, after having accepted the Air Nomads were gone and that he can’t afford to stay in villages, is actually pretty heartbreaking. He just wants one slide down the mail chute. One chance to re-enact part of the life he lost.

(6:05) So much property damage. So much potential for people to get hurt.

(6:11) The joke here is that the Earth Kingdom soldiers were not prepared for three kids and a lemur to land a mail chute carriage in front of them, but again the context of this joke is that in Omashu, there are people being trained to go to active combat. The war gets into everything, even the comic relief.

(7:21) That poor cabbage merchant. It is not his day. Honestly, it’s fair enough Aang, Katara, and Sokka got taken into custody for that stunt.

(7:38) And so our protagonists get hauled into a big, empty, green-lit hall, with an old man in fancy robes. The old man reacts when he sees Aang.

(7:46) The earthbending guards address the old man as ‘Your Majesty’. The guard also shushes the cabbage merchant, saying that only the king can pass down judgement, handily introducing the monarchical structure of Omashu. Not as important as other monarchies we’ll be seeing, but yeah, it’s there.

(7:59) Close up on the king of Omashu, as he looks at Sokka, Katara, and Aang in turn. The king has distinctive eyes. This isn’t supposed to be super subtle. It’s way easier for viewers with knowledge of dramatic conventions to work this out than it is for Aang, who in-universe doesn’t have a director handing over a bunch of narrative cues. A few months ago, in his subjective experience of time, Bumi was his own age.

(8:15) The king of Omashu says to throw them…a feast! Which already shows us how Bumi works with expectations. The expected end to that sentence would have been “in the dungeons” or suchlike; “a feast” works grammatically, but isn’t what you’d think to hear.

(8:20) Pan over the feast. Lots of meat. Including chicken on Aang’s plate. Aang thanks Bumi for his hospitality, but says he doesn’t eat meat. Now this actually is subtle. Bumi recognised Aang, that’s clear by the end of the episode, if it wasn’t already. So what Bumi’s doing here is checking whether he can believe his eyes. Is this his old friend or just someone who looks like him? In his experience of time, it’s been a hundred years.

Note that even if vegetarianism was cultural to the Air Nomads, the overwhelming majority of Air Nomads have been dead for a century, and travel’s become much more difficult (particularly travel to Air Temples only accessible through airbending), limiting opportunities for others to learn about their cultural practices. Seriously, this is some excellent stuff from Bumi. Bumi knows Aang doesn’t eat meat. Who else would?

Aang’s dietary practices are also good characterisation for him. We know he loves animals, and we can understand his vegetarianism as a manifestation of how he respects life.

(9:04) The Kangaroo Island pun was exactly bad enough for Sokka.

(9:19) Then Bumi suddenly flings a drumstick at Aang without warning, testing his reaction. Which is airbending. Unlike people in previous episodes, Bumi distinguishes ‘the Avatar’ from ‘generic airbender’. Bumi knows it’s Aang in front of him.

(9:35) Bumi then becomes the next person to go with Aang’s ridiculous alias.

(9:58) Aang leans into the corollary of being the Fire Nation’s most wanted - the Earth Kingdom should see him as an asset. However, as the show starts showing us right here with the arrest of the party despite this reveal, the enemy of your enemy isn’t necessarily your friend.

I mean, in this case, yes, Bumi is literally Aang’s friend, but it’s not something the group can rely on. The show will go into more detail next episode and in a few other memorable instances.

(10:18) Bumi randomly decrees that Aang will face three deadly challenges.

(10:38) I do get a giggle out of the “who’s on first?” nature of the “newly-refurbished chamber”.

(10:50) Like the city walls, Earth Kingdom prisons don’t necessarily bother with doors. I don’t think I mentioned it before, but note that the light’s generated by mushrooms. (In the main hall, by contrast, there are crystal lights.)

(11:21) The party immediately starts planning their escape. Yet another situation that wouldn’t have been possible later in the series. This chamber couldn’t hold a trained earthbender.

(11:55) With the thwarting of Aang’s admittedly kind of half-baked escape plan, we get a skip to the next morning, when Aang wakes up completely alone in the cell. The terms of the deal are explained: Aang passes the deadly challenges, and his friends go free. If he doesn’t…something something. The danger is implied.

(13:00) The creeping crystal is arguably the most cartoony peril the series has included thus far. Until now, our protagonists have been dealing with deadly serious and actually pretty realistic issues - raiders, genocide, suspicious local authorities. The tone shift to “and now I will trap your friends in fast-growing crystal” is a jarring tone shift, which with hindsight we can take as a good indication that Bumi’s nothing worse than a troll. Avatar’s real villains would have thrown Katara and Sokka in a deeper dungeon or killed them outright. Even the one-and-done antagonists are more serious.

(13:30) “It seems I’ve lost my lunchbox key,” Bumi says. This episode isn’t even a little bit subtle about what Aang needs to learn (it doesn’t have to be, incidentally), and it will ultimately outright say what Aang learned from the episode. It’s Bumi’s over the top, trolling characterisation that helps stop the episode from being a dreary recitation of “Aang needs to think creatively to overcome obstacles.”

(14:01) So after Bumi sets Aang to fetching his lunchbox key from the middle of a waterfall with a ladder leading up to it against the flow of the water, Bumi says sarcastically, “Ooh, climbing the ladder, nobody’s thought of that before.” Which raises the question - how many people has Bumi tried this on? (My bet is that Bumi’s taught earthbending before and this is a standard lesson to get students to change up their thinking.)

(14:17) Also worth noting is the fact that after one unsuccessful attempt to get the key, Aang immediately changes his approach as he realises his previous angle won’t work. He’s entirely capable of learning Bumi’s lesson, and probably would have got there on his own eventually. Bumi’s just speeding this process up a bit.

(14:48) As we see when Aang gets the key on his third attempt. Didn’t take him long at all, really.

(15:02) On to a more pointed lesson, and one that applies to the viewers evaluating what’s going on in-universe. Bumi wants Aang to retrieve his pet, Flopsy. On screen, the viewer sees a cute rabbit.

(15:13) As soon as Aang says “come here, Flopsy,” however, he’s attacked by some sort of…sabre-toothed gorilla-goat?

(15:38) Until Aang’s shoulder-deep in a crevasse trying to catch the rabbit and going “hang on…”

(15:43) Aang addresses the sabre-toothed gorilla-goat by “Flopsy” and Flopsy, who is a very good boy indeed, very well-trained, stops on a dime, tail wagging. So there we go. Flopsy looks scary, but never meant to harm Aang.

This is a very gentle reminder to a boy who just learned that he’s the only survivor of a genocide but has duties to the global community, from a man who’s in contact with Fire Nationals working against their nation’s goals - don’t judge by appearances. And like I said, it’s a reminder to the viewer, too.

Also Aang’s enthusiasm for Flopsy is adorable. He gets past the scary exterior in a heartbeat.

(16:24) Our first look at an earthbending arena! Unsurprisingly, it’s underground.

(16:31) Bumi gives Aang an actually very simple final test - a duel. In which Aang may choose his opponent. Two very scary weapon-users leap down from above to flank Bumi. “Point and choose,” Bumi says.

(16:56) Aang points at Bumi. “Wrong choice!” Bumi says. For the first time in the episode, he stands up straight, and when he takes off his purple robe, he’s in remarkably good shape for a man of 112. He’s one step ahead of Aang here, anticipating that Aang would be smart enough to see that Bumi’s a valid choice, but twelve years old enough not to question why Bumi would leave this loophole.

This is the inverse of the previous point. Where Flopsy looked dangerous and actually wasn’t, Bumi doesn’t look dangerous and is.

(17:32) “I’m the most powerful earthbender you’ll ever see,” Bumi says. Almost certainly not - but given his helpless old man performance here, I think Bumi would be able to appreciate blind little Toph kicking serious ass.

(17:43) This is our first proper look at earthbending. In this episode we’ve seen it used to open doors, deliver mail, and threaten hapless travellers, but Bumi brings out a fight scene. He quickly and explicitly calls out Aang’s tactics (typical airbending tactics, he says) as predictable evasive techniques.

(18:01) “Sooner or later, you’ll have to strike back,” Bumi tells Aang. We’ve already seen Aang’s difficulties with this. 

The fight scene itself is a brief class on how a creative bender can shut down a predictable one, and one that shows Bumi knows airbending tactics as well as earthbending strengths. He stops Aang taking to the air by collapsing the ceiling, leaving Aang at risk of getting hit from behind by falling rocks. When Aang tries to use airbending-assisted speed over the ground, Bumi breaks the ground up, forcing Aang to slow down and swerve into the path of other attacks, and later dissolving the solid ground into dust beneath Aang’s feet. That’s two ways Bumi has to slow Aang down.

Meanwhile, Aang’s offense is casually blocked, and Bumi’s good enough to block when Aang dodges a rock that was going to hit them both.

Aang might be an airbending master, but this fight scene with Bumi shows how he’s outclassed as a combatant, at the moment. And yeah, that’s the sort of tactical depth the show’s bringing to a two-minute fight scene, because the point of this fight scene is to establish something about how Aang fights.

(19:59) The fight finishes with the biggest demonstration of non-Avatar State bending we’ve seen yet. Bumi hauls a giant chunk of rock into the air, Aang generates a tornado to redirect it. In the spirit of Bumi’s lessons, Aang uses the opening when Bumi’s forced to block his own rock to follow up with his own attack (having worked out that while his own offense isn’t good enough to defeat Bumi, Bumi may be vulnerable to his own attacks, and can’t recover instantly).

But as we saw when Bumi was one step ahead of Aang when he said “choose wisely,” Bumi’s anticipated that attack, too, and has a countermeasure - he grabs half the rock he just split apart and holds it over the both of them, the surface area too great for Aang to dodge if Bumi dropped it. Nevertheless, Bumi’s made his point and seen the improvement he wanted to see, so he calls it a match.

(20:45) “What’s the point of tests if you don’t learn anything?” Surprisingly deep educational philosophy here from Bumi. It’s not about the mark, it’s about the learning process.

(20:55) Bumi’s final question is apparently random: “What is my name?”

(21:10) The “Rocky” joke was too bad even for Bumi.

(21:35) Katara shows her own quick wits as she helps prompt Aang into the line of thinking he needs to work out Bumi’s name. 

This is also where Aang spells out the whole “think outside the box” thing. This isn’t a bad episode. (This show has two, maybe three, bad episodes. And even then those episodes are more just total nothings than they are actually bad.) But it’s this sort of heavier-handedness that makes season one the weakest of the three sseasons.

(22:00) Heartwarming moment. Aang’s old friend might now be an old friend, but he’s still the same person. They’re still glad to see each other.

(22:30) Here comes Sokka with his brains. Why do any of this?

(22:44) Aside from the fun of messing with people, Bumi says that Aang’s got some big problems on his plate. The world has changed. He also gives Aang Ozai’s name.

In response, Aang thanks Bumi for his wisdom. I suspect that what Bumi’s saying about confronting the Fire Lord and defeating the Fire Nation hasn’t sunk in properly, and that he’s not thinking about these things as things he’s actually going to have to do. But dealing with that is a plot point for future episodes.

(23:17) The episode leaves off on a much more positive note than previous episodes. Aang gets his slide down Omashu’s mail chutes, with the very friend who inspired the escapade to begin with. At the cabbage merchant’s cost.

[five-rivers]

Long Night in the Valley chapter 8

A young man walked in.  His hair was dark, the style conservative.  The only thing that stood out about him was his high-collared jacket.

Aizawa knows who this man is, for much the same reasons that Uraraka knew Skyrunner.  

Fidelity had literally written the book on underground heroism. It hadn’t been published until his death.  

The lights flickered.  The murmuring of the shadows rose, then cut off abruptly, the shadows disappearing along with Nana.  The projector screen changed.  It now read:

Greetings 9’s Friends!  (And teacher.)

“This was my last mission briefing before I died,” said the young man.  “At least, that’s what I’d say if I was really Fidelity.”

“You’re saying you aren’t,” said Aizawa, keeping his voice level.  

The screen behind him changed to read Vestiges: what you need to know.

“I am based on Fidelity.  I’m also based on Railgun.”

“The hero who took down Destro?” asked Uraraka, clenching her fists and briefly floating in excitement.  

Why was she not getting a better grade in history?  

“Not exactly.  He wasn’t actually captured until years later.”

“But you broke his charge, his army!  And all by yourself!”

“Railgun did, yes.  I’ve put together a little presentation for you guys.  Hope you don’t mind.  We all figured you wouldn’t want to go any further without an explanation of sorts.”  He said this all with an enviably flat voice, despite his friendly words.  His body language was controlled and to the point.

Darn Midoriya for managing to build a fantasy that was so close to what Aizawa had always imagined the man to be like.  

(He was not a fan of Fidelity.  Underground heroes did not have fans.  It defeated the point.)

(He pointedly ignored his memories of the bootleg Eraserhead merchandise Midoriya and Yamada had snuck to Eri.)

“You’d be right,” said Aizawa.

“Cool,” said Six.  “Before we begin, I want you to understand that much of what I’m going to tell you will be a lie.”

“What?” said Iida, confused.  “Then what’s the point?”

“The point is, there will be enough truth in it to get you through this safely, and enough falsehood to prevent the commission from taking advantage of Nine later, should they be watching what’s happening here with a quirk we can’t detect.”

“Nine?”  

“Izuku,” clarified Six.  

“Who you called Nine because…?”

“If we count in order of when we were supposedly born, he’s the ninth.  Although, really, he’s the first.  I’ll explain in a moment.”  He pointed to the screen.  “We call ourselves vestiges, and, like I said, we are all based on real people.  We’re part of Nine’s quirk.”  The screen switched to show Midoriya with eight shadowy figures behind him.  “I want to stress that Nine wasn’t aware of us until the sports festival. Specifically…”

The screen now showed Midoriya’s fight with Hitoshi, right before he broke his fingers.  Aizawa recognized the image as a still from one of the cameras.  Except those eight shadows were there as well, right in front of Midoriya.  

“You had something to do with him breaking his fingers and getting out of Shinsou’s quirk.”

“We don’t mix well with mental quirks, apparently. Nine minds all together at once are too many, even if eight of them are fictional.  It’s an interesting side effect.  Speaking of which.”

The new slide was a picture.  An edited picture.  Of a person giving a presentation.  

“Is that a meme?” asked Todoroki.

“Yes,” said Six.  

The slide read, You were never in All Might’s mind.  Nine was just confused.

That meme was so old Aizawa could feel himself taking psychic damage just by looking at it.  

“You’ve been passing through our, the vestiges’, mindscapes. Eight is simply based on All Might.”

That would be a relief, if not for the fact that that Six had admitted he was going to lie.  Also, there was something off about the whole explanation.  

Iida raised his hand.  “Excuse me!  You claim that you are part of Midoriya’s quirk, but you haven’t explained how!”

“I’m getting to that,” said Six.  “Todoroki-san, you’re the one who is always saying how similar Nine and All Might’s quirks are.  Do you have any theories?”

Todoroki’s eyes lit up, even though he kept his habitual deadpan expression.  “Midoriya is All Might’s secret—”

“We wish, but sadly no.  Pick a different one.”

Todoroki looked devastated.  He collected himself quickly, however.  “Midoriya’s strength,” he said, “he got it from All Might, didn’t he?”

“Yes.  Eight is a bit of a complicated case, since he’s based on someone who is alive and Nine knows personally, but in the end, he’s the same as the rest of us.”

“He said something about receiving Skyrunner’s quirk, earlier,” said Uraraka.  

“And Blackwhip…” said Iida.  

“You’re getting it,” said Six.  “Blackwhip originally belonged to Five, incidentally.”

“He has a copy quirk,” concluded Aizawa.  

Six nodded.  The screen changed.  “Right now, Nine has four quirks, three of which he can use freely.  Superpower, Blackwhip, and Float,” he read the quirk names off the screen.  

“And he’s going to get more?” asked Aizawa.

“Eventually,” said Six.  “We don’t want to overload his body—This whole process only kicked off when he met All Might.”

“And why you?” asked Aizawa.  “Why All Might, Skyrunner and these… Five others?”

“I would like to tell you,” said Six.  He raised a finger and waved it in a circle to indicate outside listeners.  

“What are the drawbacks?” asked Aizawa.  

“Hm?”

“The drawbacks.  I get dry eyes when I use my quirk.  Present Mic is deaf.  Vlad is anemic.  A quirk like this one has to have a drawback.”

“What, the broken bones aren’t enough for you?  Or the fact he didn’t hit on the activation conditions until he was fourteen?”

Aizawa stared, unimpressed.  

A tiny corner of Six’s mouth made itself visible over the collar of his coat.  “Well. I think you can make some conclusions but, again…”  He trailed off.  “There are a few more things you should be aware of.  First, Nine had no choice in who we are, although we all fulfil certain criteria.”

“Are you all relatives?” asked Todoroki.  

“Man, you never do give up, do you?” said Six.  “That’s a great quality in a hero.”

“Are you all heroes, then?” continued Todoroki.  

The slide on the screen changed again.  

Vestiges According to History:

8. Yagi Toshinori aka All Might – Hero

7. Shimura Nana aka Skyrunner – Hero

6. Tenma Rokuya aka Fidelity/Railgun – Hero

5. Banjo Daigoro aka Lariat – Hero

4. Vigilante

3. Terrorist

2. Terrorist

1. Unknown

 “Unfortunately,” said Six, “no.”

.

Toshinori caught sight of the feathers first.  He had more experience as a hero, and, as he was no longer the primary user of One for All, the mental strain he was experiencing was much lower, comparatively.  His awareness of his surroundings was better.

Stay calm.  Don’t speak. Don’t run.  

Hawks could receive sensory input from his feathers, though neither Toshinori nor Izuku knew how much.  Better to be safe than sorry.  

We need to get out of the city.

Out of the country, too, for that matter, as much as it would hurt Izuku—

They couldn’t leave all their friends behind to face Shigaraki.  

A compromise could be reached.   They knew a few places—An island, near—

But first, the city.  The first priority was to evade pursuit.  

A bus pulled into the stop ahead of them, and they got on. If they could get outside city limits, where there were fewer people, fewer witnesses, Izuku could float them away. Also, Hawks was less likely to trap his feathers on a bus.  

We might be dealing with the Hawks problem earlier than thought.  

Izuku slouched back on the bus seat, covering his eyes. Toshinori looked up at the ceiling. The Hawks problem.  AKA, the others’ theory that Hawks had been raised as a child soldier, and Toshinori had missed the signs.  

Izuku put his hand on Toshinori’s knee.  

“I can’t believe it,” said one of the other passengers, a few rows ahead of them.  “I really just can’t believe it.  It’s like something from a horror story.”

“What?” asked someone else.  

“Look!”  

“Someone kidnapped All Might?”

The bus filled with chatter.  

Toshinori still couldn’t believe people thought Izuku kidnapped him.  The reality was closer to the opposite, honestly.  He’d have to apologize to Izuku’s mother…

There was a tiny incensed gasp from Izuku, and Toshinori saw Izuku glaring up at him.  Izuku made a series of gestures that could probably have been interpreted as ‘You can’t kidnap anyone, you’re All Might!’ even without the psychic link they were currently enjoying, then went into an enthusiastic tangent about how the commission was probably playing up the ‘crazy stalker fan’ angle.

Toshinori sighed, ruffled Izuku’s hair, and studiously avoided any and all thoughts about what he’d done to Aldera Middle School after Izuku had shown up to training with a black eye and bloody nose that one time.

“What?” squeaked Izuku, his eyes gone very wide.  

Drat.  

Out of the corner of his eye, Toshinori saw three passengers near the front of the bus stand up and felt his heart drop.  One of them had an obvious eagle mutation, the second had a bulging, almost spherical, neck, and the third had broad, flat-ended fingers.

Decades of hero experience told Toshinori exactly what was going to happen next.  Even before the guns came out.  

“Well,” said the eagle-headed man, “with all the heroes looking for the ‘Symbol of Peace,’ I guess this is our lucky day!”

“Nobody move!” demanded the man with the round neck. “This is a hijacking!”

Izuku let out an incredulous grunt next to him, but Toshinori could literally feel his mind whirring at a thousand miles a minute, analyzing the quirks of the hijackers and possible motives.  

Really.  There was no way they weren’t going to help.  

.

“By the way, not all of Nine is awake, so, out in the real world his body is operating according to consensus.”

“Consensus of…” said Aizawa, not wanting to finish the thought as he stared at the two entries labeled ‘terrorist.’

“All nine of us together, yes.”

“That’s a pretty big drawback,” said Aizawa, his voice rasping against his throat.

“Eh.  It has its benefits.  Besides, Three and Two lived over a hundred years ago.  We didn’t even have the hero system back then.  Things change.”

“Excuse me!” said Iida, raising his hand.  “Why don’t the last four—the first four? —have names?”

“They asked me not to share them with you quite yet,” said Six.  “Don’t call Three a terrorist though.  That’s a bit of a sore spot with her.”  He looked off to the side.  

“And the quirks?” said Aizawa, hanging on to the very last bit of his will to live by the tips of his fingers.  “The ones I’m presumably going to have to teach Midoriya how to use?”

“Right.”

 Our Splendiferous Quirks

 8. Yagi Toshinori aka All Might – Hero.  Quirk: Superpower.

7. Shimura Nana aka Skyrunner – Hero.  Quirk: Float.

6. Tenma Rokuya aka Fidelity/Railgun – Hero. Quirk: Internet Perception.

5. Banjo Daigoro aka Lariat – Hero.  Quirk: Blackwhip.

4. Vigilante.  Quirk: Danger Sense.

3. Terrorist

2. Terrorist

1. Unknown

 Aizawa was not surprised to see the last four entries, once again, had little information attached.  

“You know,” said Uraraka, “if you ignore the terrorists, this actually makes sense.”

“If you ignore the terrorists?” asked Iida, incredulous.

“I mean, think about who we’ve seen so far.”

“It is like Midoriya to have a split personality based on All Might,” agreed Todoroki.  Because split personalities were going to be his go-to theory, now that figments of Midoriya’s quirk’s imagination had shot down his ‘Dadmight’ conspiracy.  

“If you want to think of us as split personalities, sure,” said Six.  “We really don’t interact that much with the outside, though.”

“And Skyrunner is basically supermom,” said Uraraka. “Like, if she was All Might’s mentor, it makes sense that that’s what he’d envision her as.”

“Ah,” said Iida, “so she reminds you of Midoriya-san as well?”

Aizawa noticed Six shift uncomfortably and look away but decided he honestly did not want to know.  

“Oh, and you,” said Uraraka, spreading her hands to indicate Six, “are kind of like Aizawa-sensei!

“Except with more memes,” said Todoroki.  

“Yeah, except with more memes,” agreed Uraraka.  

Six faked a cough into his fist.  “Anyway, I think that’s everything…  No, wait.  Hawks.”

“Hawks,” repeated Aizawa.  

“Yeah.  We’re pretty sure he was raised and conditioned to be a slave for the commission from a very young age.”  Another pause.  Six turned to face Todoroki.  “Also, Dabi is probably your dead older brother, Todoroki Touya.”

“Oh,” said Todoroki.  

“What,” said Aizawa.  

“We’d just like someone in a position to do things with this information to have it.  Even if we were sure Nine would retain all this, he, ah.  The commission is doing a very good job of trashing his reputation.”

“Is this revenge?” whispered Todoroki.  “Did I push Midoriya too far?”

“Kid, you could beat Nine up on a weekly basis for ten years, and he’d still barely think of revenge.  Come on, I need to take you guys to Five.”

Barely, he said.  Meaning, he did think about revenge.  They had to get out of here fast; Bakugo’s life was in danger.  

.

There were lives in danger.  A simple robbery wouldn’t require this kind of setup.  These three needed hostages for some reason.  

Or…  Izuku traced the direction the three villains kept looking to the college student in the corner.  The young woman’s clothing was high quality, and she looked vaguely familiar.  

He couldn’t help but be exasperated.  Shigaraki Tomura was running around out there somewhere, and these guys were doing… whatever this was.  Causing problems.  He and Toshinori would have to try and evade Hawks after this.  

But exasperation wasn’t going to keep these people safe.  

Eagle-head looked like the leader at first glance, but on closer inspection, he was taking cues from the man with the squared-off fingers. The man with the round neck seemed to have a body expansion quirk of some type, possibly similar to Kendo’s, considering how his joints pulsed and how his clothing was designed with extra folds.

… He’d shown Toshinori a catalogue with similar clothing, once. But Toshinori had said that the ill-fitting look added to his disguise.  

In the tight confines of the bus, that would be dangerous. The best thing to do to him would be to throw him out when the bus came to a stop.

The quirk of the man with the square finger was a problem. It was probably an emitter type, rather than a transformation type.  Something to do with his hands, perhaps?

Honestly, the best thing to do for all of them, at least with regards to the people on the bus, would be to toss them off and then get the driver to gun it.  But then, what about people on the street?  These guys didn’t have any scruple against taking hostages, obviously.

“Hey, you, hand over the briefcase,” said the man with the round neck.  

Izuku glanced at Toshinori, who nodded.  Coils of Blackwhip ran up and down his arms under the sleeves of his suit, much more controlled and complex than Izuku had managed to date.  

Thanks for the help, Five.  

He slammed the briefcase into the eagle-headed man’s beak. Toshinori hadn’t skimped on anything when stocking the hideout, and the metal made immensely satisfying contact with bone.  Blackwhip shot out from near his elbow—like Sero—and wrapped around the hands of the gunmen, forcing their aim down.

The man with square fingers reacted first, raising his hand. Each fingertip emitted a flat, square pane that traveled in a straight line and got progressive larger.  Izuku pulled, slamming the man into the back of his own shield, because really, that was too slow, and how similar was this quirk to Crust’s?  Could the villain change the trajectory of his panels, or no?

Not the time.

The shield cracked as Izuku hit it from the other side, and Toshinori was throwing open the back door.  The man with the expanding quirk—and it was an expanding quirk—seemed to finally realize what was happening, and lashed out, but Izuku was faster than he was.  The spherical throat was evidently a weak point.  

“Can you stop?” Izuku asked the bus driver, who, tense as he was, slammed down on the brakes, making Izuku stumble.  He hauled the villains off the bus, Toshinori hopping off the back with the eagle-headed man a moment later.  

Well, that had happened.  

Izuku caught a flash of very distinctive red out of the corner of his eye.  

.

Six stopped.  “That isn’t good,” he said, looking slightly up.  There was nothing there that Aizawa could see, except for a collection of pipes.  They were travelling through a series of underground concrete passages in an effort to find ‘Five.’

“What is it?” asked Uraraka.  

Six’s form abruptly flickered and vanished.  Oh, that couldn’t be good.  

“Sensei.”  

Aizawa turned to see Midoriya standing behind them, wearing a truly godawful pinstriped suit.  He held his right wrist in his left hand, an odd bracer wrapped around it.

“Is that the Full Gauntlet?” asked Uraraka.  “Why-?”

Midoriya flashed a quick smile in her direction.  “I’m sorry, sensei, this is really last minute, but I need you to tell me how to use your quirk.”

.

We absolutely can’t strike first.

They wanted to.  They knew this would turn into a battle.  The first strike was an advantage they couldn’t discount.  

Win the battle and lose the war.  

He could see the cell phones already out, held bystanders not quite broken from the habits gained in All Might’s era.  Even with the Hero Commission already slandering him, this would affect the narrative.  If he ever hoped to be welcomed back to hero society, or even the public’s good graces, in any way shape or form, he could not be seen starting a fight with a hero.  Much less the current number two hero.  

“I don’t suppose you’ll make my job easier and release All Might from your mind-control quirk,” said Hawks, tone conversational despite the fact he was standing at least two stories above them in the air.  

“I don’t have a mind-control quirk,” said Izuku, reaching up to the knot of his tie.  

“And I’m not being mind-controlled,” said Toshinori, loosening his mask.  

Hawks actually paused.  “Oh my gosh,” he said, raising one hand to his mouth like a scandalized housewife, “I didn’t realize that was you!  What happened to your hair?”

“I… cut it off.”

“That’s, uh.”  Hawks quickly regained control of his expression.  “Terrible that this villain made you do that.”

Hawks’ heart wasn’t entirely in this apparently.  

Just as apparently, that had no bearing on what Hawks was actually going to do.  

.

“You’ve seen me use my quirk,” said Aizawa.  

“I know, and that’ll be helpful, too, but how do you use it?  What’s the feeling you get when you use it?  How do you activate it?  What’s the internal mechanism?  This is important.”

“Why?” asked Iida.  “What’s going on Midoriya?”

“It’s—” Midoriya’s form flickered.  He took a deep breath.  He was now wearing a t-shirt and sweatpants.  “I’m in a fight right now, and it would be useful,” he reported, calmly.

“Please tell me it isn’t with my mind-controlled unconscious body,” begged Aizawa, “or the League of Villains.”  

“It isn’t.”

Thank goodness.

“I’m fighting Hawks.”

Why.  

No, ask questions later.  The Problem Child needed help now.  To fight the number two hero.

He didn’t know how knowledge about his quirk could be useful in a fight against Hawks, but the claim was far, far too stupid to be a lie.  

“When I turn on my quirk, I—”

.

Blackwhip unfurled from his arms like a dark version of Shouji’s quirk, tearing his sleeves to shreds and dislodging the feathers that had been imbedded there.  The ends wrapped around feather after feather, splitting into dozens and dozens of pseudo-arms.  Izuku was amazed.  

Someday, he would be able to do this on his own.  

For now—

For now, he was fighting Hawks, who had trained since childhood to fight on behalf of the commission.  

For now, he was a hero student, with only a few months of practical experience.  

For now, he was a fugitive, on the run and desperate.  

For now, he was host and member of One for All, and collectively they had been heroes for over a hundred years.  

And Toshinori had his back.  

They wrapped the silk tie around his knuckles.  Any protection for the bones in his hands was valuable.  In the other, they adjusted the briefcase.  They had only rarely used weapons in the last hundred or so years. Usually, their quirks made weapons overkill.  

But before that—Before that, things were different.  For a while, One and Two had used swords, of all things.  

This battle was much more even than it looked.  

Their victory condition: Escape with Toshinori.  

Their failure conditions: Civilian injury, serious injury to Izuku or Toshinori, or capture of either Izuku or Toshinori.  

To avoid the first point of failure, it was best for them to get away from the vulnerable civilians.  They didn’t want to give away float so soon in the game, so…  

They grabbed the edge of a building with Blackwhip and launched Izuku upwards, flinging feathers away from him.  Toshinori would follow and provide the group with a second perspective.  

Hawks did not expect to be joined in the air.  An incredulous smile graced his lips.  Izuku smiled back and catapulted himself directly into Hawks.

“You know,” he said, “I think that’s the first time I’ve seen you smile for real!”

.

“What?” asked Hawks, startled.  He wasn’t one to have meaningful conversations with people he was supposed to bring in, but a statement like that had to be responded to.  

Even if most of his attention was on the quirk that Midoriya controlled with much more proficiency than indicated by his school records.  The kid was good, had good instincts when it came to battle, but he wasn’t quite fast enough to get past Hawks’s guard, or to really close the distance between them.

“Your smile!” said Midoriya.  “When I was younger, I didn’t realize it, but once I knew the truth behind All Might’s smile, I understood!”  

“Did you, now?” asked Hawks.  

“Underneath,” said Midoriya, “your face is a lot like Todoroki’s!  It’s—”

Conversation during a battle was usually a distraction, to the person employing it as a tactic as well as the target.  Somehow, though, Midoriya was subverting that rule.

“It’s actually really sad!” exclaimed Midoriya, breathless, but apparently genuine, not mocking.  “Who hurt you?”

“Heh,” said Hawks.  This kid knew.  How? “Shouldn’t I be the one asking questions here?”

“Gotta hand it to the commission, they really did a number on you,” said Midoriya, briefly touching down on a rooftop.  “Why do you keep doing their dirty work for them?”

He was using that second quirk, but not his strength.  Was it a matter of ‘won’t’ or ‘can’t?’  Either way, it was something to keep an eye on.  

“Why don’t you—” Hawks briefly managed to pin Midoriya by the edge of his jacket, but the boy tore free easily.  “—fly free?”

“You’re one to talk,” said Hawks.  “What did you trade to All for One for those quirks?”  He didn’t actually believe Midoriya was in league with All for One.  Even tangentially, through proxies, they’d been at odds too many times, not to mention the videos he’d been shown by the commission of Midoriya and All Might interacting.  The connection there couldn’t be faked.

He’d know.  He’d tried so many times.

(Was trying now, with the League of Villains.)

(Midoriya wasn’t one of them.)

But he had a job to do.  

Besides.  Even he had to admit the commission had a point.  The quirks had to come from somewhere.  

(Just because Midoriya didn’t willingly associate with All for One didn’t mean he hadn’t been forced.  Didn’t mean he hadn’t gotten out.)

(All Might was protecting him.  How did they know each other?)

“Wouldn’t you take any hand offered to you if the person behind it offered to make you what you always wanted to be?”

Midoriya tilted his head to one side.  “Nope!” he responded, cheerfully.

.

On the street below, Toshinori coughed, blood splattering his sleeve.  What had Izuku been doing when he was younger, to get involved with so many dangerous and disturbing people?

It wasn’t my fault!

Kid really is a trouble magnet.  

Oh, heck, I think I recognized that one—

Really, with that sharp mind, and Izuku’s propensity for both curiosity, helpfulness, and, well, finding trouble, it was a miracle he’d stayed alive for so long.  

Wouldn’t call it a miracle, sonny—

HAHA I can’t believe he thought that was a dream.  

In his defense, a dream makes more sense than—

Guys.  Focus, please?

Yes.  This was not the time to discuss… that.  Now… Well.  Toshinori had a role he could play in this battle, even as he was, and—

Hawks and Izuku’s path over the rooftops mapped itself out in his mind.  

Oh, no.  

Izuku wasn’t evading Hawks.  

He was being herded by him.  

.

They tucked and rolled across the pavement, Blackwhip cocooning them and breaking their fall.   This was significantly more than what Five, what Daigoro, could use back when he was alive.  It took everyone’s efforts to keep everything going.  

Wait for it, they reminded themselves, bouncing back to Izuku’s feet.  

Izuku looked up.  This… was not a good position.  Hawks had forced them into the entertainment district.  They couldn’t trust that the fancy facades and art instalations of the buildings would hold up to Blackwhip.  Not to mention, in places like this…  He glanced around.  

Fourth Kind.  

Kesagiriman.

Slugger.  

Death Arms.  

There would be more, soon.  This was… less than good.  Maybe they should just grab Toshinori’s body and launch themselves with Blackwhip and Float, as far as they could.  They’d lose a lot of their advantage on Hawks, but at least then they wouldn’t be fighting five different heroes.  

Izuku gritted his teeth in something like a smile.  Five different heroes.  Well.  Nine on five wasn’t bad odds.  

.

Suzuku pulled himself along the ground, trembling.  He had been falling for—for ages by the time that witch woman had disappeared.  Why she had disappeared, he couldn’t guess, but…

Falling.  

So much falling.  

And hitting the ground again, and again, and again.  

You invaded our minds, said the woman, don’t complain when we counter with something psychological as well.  

Something like a laugh bubbled up from his throat.  

You can leave whenever you want, can’t you?

He’d show her.  He’d show her and find all her secrets.  Just see if he didn’t.  

.

Fourth Kind, Kesagiriman, Slugger, and Death Arms all had very physical, straightforward quirks.  Out of all of them, though, Death Arms was probably the most problematic, followed by Slugger and his long-range attacks.  

None of them held a candle to Hawks, of course.  Which was the reason why Death Arms in particular was so problematic.  

In order to deal with Hawks’s feathers, they needed Blackwhip. But using Blackwhip and One for All’s signature superstrength at the same time wasn’t something Izuku’s body was used to.  They were limiting it to small bursts.  Death Arms’ own physical enhancement quirk, while miniscule compared to One for All’s current stature, was nothing to sneer at.  

If Death Arms—or any of the other heroes—landed a solid blow, that could be it for Izuku.  

They refused to be locked away again.  

That’s when it happened.  

A scene played across Izuku’s inner eye:

A frosty morning.  A little boy with dark hair.  A farewell. Tears.  

He flubbed the landing and a sharp pain lanced through his ankle. Blackwhip wrapped it, giving it much needed support.  

He started to rise, only to drop to avoid one of Slugger’s patented Home Run Pitches (tm).  

The ball spun, ricocheting off the stainless steel of an art installation before drilling right through a wooden beam on a bit of scaffolding holding up part of a building that was being refurbished.  Izuku let out a breath of relief (there were still people around who hadn’t learned how to run away from a dangerous fight) before they returned to the dance with Hawks’s impressively huge number of feathers.  

Blackwhip could keep up with them, barely, but Izuku was tiring. He couldn’t take much more of this.

He needed an opening to get to Toshi—

Another scene:

She couldn’t be pregnant.  Not now. Not right after giving away another. The next time Sorahiko suggested drowning her troubles in sake, she was going to shove it straight up his blowholes, no matter that he was probably just as drunk as she was.  

This slip almost resulted in Izuku getting his face punched in by Death Arms.  Considering what he’d just learned, he’d almost welcome that fate, if it made him forget.  Plus, it might have been funny for the ultimate battle of ultimate destiny, the show down between One for All and All for One, to take place between not one, but two potato-headed individuals—

There was a sharp crack from above as the damage Death Arms had done to the scaffolding made itself known.  

Izuku didn’t have to think before moving.  

.

“Alright,” said Midoriya.  “I think I’ve got it.  Thank you, sensei.”  He looked young, now.  Barely primary school age.  

“I’d feel a lot better,” said Aizawa, “if I knew what you needed this information for.”

“Oh!  That’s simple.  You see, it’s my theory that the overlap in mechanisms between my quirk and Saito-san’s might allow for interesting emergent behaviors.  Specifically, her quirk bridges a gap I’d normally have no way of crossing, although there’s certainly drawbacks.  It’s like what we tried earlier, when I asked you to use your quirk.  Although, I am hoping for different results than what I was looking for back then.  I think, with what you’ve given me, and this processing time…  Yes, this should work.”  He clenched a fist.  “These remnants—I can use them!”

Remnants.  Vestiges.

Aizawa frowned.  Something… something wasn’t right, here.  The explanation Six had given them…

“Just keep going this way, for now.  Six will try to get back to you as soon as possible.  I have to go now!  I love you guys!”

He then faded out.  While waving.  

“Wow,” said Uraraka.  “Izuku-kun sure was a cute kid.”

Aizawa couldn’t argue with that.  

“Aizawa-sensei,” said Todoroki.  “You’re blushing.”

He wouldn’t lower himself to argue with that.  “This conversation is illogical.  Let’s go.”

“Sensei is weak to little kids,” observed Todoroki.  

And if they ever discovered they could remove the ‘little’ in that sentence and have it still be accurate, he’d never live it down.  

.

Hawks saw the eyes first, shining through the dust like two perfect green coins.  Then every one of his feathers went dead, and he started to fall.  

Sensation returned just in time for him to avoid hitting the ground at speed and, just as quickly, vanished again.  

A breeze blew cleared the dust away.  

Midoriya Izuku stood under the collapsed scaffolding, holding it up with black tendrils and sparking green arms.  If this scene had been all that there was, an observer might be forgiven for wondering why he was holding up the scaffolding like that.

But Hawks knew.  If Midoriya hadn’t caught the scaffolding, even he wouldn’t have been able to get those civilians out from underneath it in time.  He glanced to the side, where the almost victims were standing up. Normally, he’d just trust his feathers, but…

“Is that Eraserhead’s quirk?”

“Don’t worry, I asked Eraserhead-sensei for permission, first.”

“What kind of monster—” started Death Arms.  

“Don’t you dare, Mister ‘my quirk isn’t suitable.’” Midoriya shifted the scaffolding to one side and shrugged himself out from underneath it.  “As heroes, aren’t you supposed to consider the civilians around you?”  He laughed. “I guess we’re still a little bitter about that.”

.

Izuku was putting on a good show, but he was reaching the end of his endurance.  Plus, he could already hear the sirens of police cars and the exclamations that followed large groups of heroes on the move.  

Good thing, then, that Toshinori was about to round the corner in three… two… one… There!

To an outsider, Blackwhip wrapping around Toshinori probably looked violent.  In reality, everyone operating the quirk was intimately aware of everything wrong with Toshinori’s body and did not want to add to his problems.  They could have probably grabbed an egg like this.  

Grabbing the newly-exposed concrete and rebar of the building behind Izuku, they launched themselves up.  At the top of their arc, they activated Float.  Blackwhip reeled Toshinori in, and they held onto each other as Izuku prepared to use air pressure to launch themselves forward.  

He hadn’t blinked yet.  

His eyes really hurt.  

(And so did everything else.)

He aimed and kicked against the air, sending them soaring away.

They had escaped.  

.

Tomura ducked behind the wall at the top of the building, glad that his party had put so many points into stealth, because he was not touching what had just happened with a ten-foot pole.  He’d rather be shot again.  He’d rather fight Machia for a week straight with no rest breaks.  He’d rather listen to Sensei try to give him the birds and the bees talk.  

What was that?  Huh? What kind of a broken character build allowed for that kind of combat ability?  The mods had to be asleep.  If he were in charge, he’d nerf it, pronto.  

That was a lie.  He’d take it for himself.  

Still.  

“Uh, Shigaraki?  Boss man?  You okay there?” asked Spinner.  

“No,” decided Shigaraki.  

Suddenly, making all of them jump, Toga squealed.  “Did you see him?  Did you see Izuku-kun?  He was so cute with his nose bleeding like that!”

“Hey,” said Dabi, “are we going after the green kid or what?”

“No,” decided Shigaraki, for the second time in as many minutes.  And then, “Gimme the phone.  We need to call the doctor to get us out of here.”

They did, but that was pretty much secondary to his primary objective, which was to cuss out the doctor concerning the cursed knowledge that was currently trying to escape his skull with a pickaxe.  

.

“Um,” said Inko.  “Aren’t you going to get that?”  She pointed at the phone that had been buzzing on the table for the past several minutes.

“No,” said Garaki, pretending to sip at his tea.  “You were saying?”

[papirlife]

Miraak Appearance Headcanons

MIRAAK PRE-APOCRYPHA 

Miraak was in his early to mid-twenties when Hermaeus Mora first approached him.

Before his imprisonment, Miraak was a liked and respected figure among the dragon priests and was fairly popular. 

He was thought to be handsome and charming, and took great pride in his looks, and was more than a little vain because of it.

Was likely part of a Dibellan cult, or a devoted worshipper of Dibella at the very least. But he refuses to confirm or deny these speculations. 

He was of average height for an Atmoran, about 6 ft 4", which is tall for Nords. Most Nords today range between 6 ft and 6 ft 2”

He had a muscular and sturdy build but wasn't overly bulky.

 Despite being a priest, physical activity such as sparring and dueling was encouraged in Atmoran society, so Miraak trained and spent quite a lot of time outdoors. As a result, his skin was lightly tanned but still fair and healthy. 

Miraak's hair fell just past his shoulders and was russet brown in color. He was very particular about his vanity and prioritized his beauty and wellness but being the famed Dragonborn meant that there was no shortage of people willing to pamper him. 

His eyes used to be this really bright blue, the kind that looks a little purple in the right lighting. 

Miraak had a handful of scars from sparring sessions before the rebellion however he was not bothered by them.

For a visual representation, this was the closest I could get to in artbreeder. 

MIRAAK POST-APOCRYPHA 

Miraak post-Apocrypha is a widely different story.

It is logical to assume that Miraak would likely suffer from his prolonged exposure to Hermaeus Mora's influence. This occurs mainly in the form of daedric corruption altering his appearance over a few millennia. 

Miraak was aware of the fact that his time in the daedra's realm was affecting his body. This was because he began to notice that his skin was slowly losing its color, going from its originally fair and healthy complexion to something white and almost sickly. By the time the LDB frees him from Apocrypha, Miraak resembles a corpse more than a person. 

Soon after, his hair also started to drain of its color, turning from brown to black. 

Miraak ultimately started to lose muscle mass, as if Apocrypha was quite literally sapping away his strength. His body became more lithe and agile, and surprisingly a lot more flexible. 

In addition to these changes, he occasionally noticed that a few scars had begun to manifest on his body in the later years of his imprisonment. They resembled black tendrils, the patterns akin to the branches of a tree. There is a large cluster climbing up his left leg, while another snakes its way along his right forearm. Two smaller patches twine across the skin of his abdomen and finally, a large gathering makes its way over his spine. 

Incidentally, Miraak realized that the marks were converging over the wounds he sustained during his fight with Vahlock. He had concluded that in some perverse way, Apocrypha was slowly healing his injuries but at what price he could not say. 

While Miraak did not necessarily age in the literal sense, as his appearance changed, he did begin to look slightly older than his previous self, with the pronunciation and gauntness of his features and the affects of stress and corruption. While still technically possessing the body of someone in his twenties,  the subtle effects of aging are still noticeable if one pays enough attention. though this is really only an aesthetic alteration as he still has the skills, speed and stamina of his younger self. 

Perhaps the most jarring and drastic transformation for Miraak was his eyes. After noticing the earlier developments, he had assumed that they would be corrupted as well but a part of him still hoped that this wasn't the case. Unfortunately for him, hope was a cruel mistress. 

Once again, the color faded away and they transformed into an incredibly light-grey that bordered on white and was almost shocking in its intensity. But that's not the most unsettling part. Remember, how the text on the pages of the black books is kinda swirling around and traveling on the page? 

Well, Miraak’s eyes resemble the very things that symbolize his ruin, you can clearly see the words traveling around his iris, and sometimes in the sclera as well. 

Overall, it's a very drastic transition that has occurred over centuries and has left Miraak looking a lot more like a corpse that's been drained of all color, with a sickly pallor, corrupted eyes, and generally gaunt appearance.

Here's what I managed to scrape together in artbreeder. The eyes unfortunately are not how I envisioned them, but it's as close as I can get. 

[quidfree]

this is kind of out of the blue but since you’re (or were) planning on goldfinch fic at some point i was wondering if you could disclose some thoughts on it? love your commentary in your author’s notes

god anon i have so many thoughts on that book it could fill half a tartt novel ! where to begin? upon consideration i’ve decided to drop some of my controversial goldfinch opinions below but feel free to ask again if you wanted to hear my thoughts on something specific

1. the single most disturbing and poignant part of the book is actually theo running into platt and learning the details of andy’s death. no spiralling addiction or parental death quite hits that surreal, cold sweat horror of andy barbour, loather of boats and reluctant passenger, swept overboard into the black seas. i love the water and it still made me viscerally discomfited. and the layers to it- kitsey should have, could have been there, would not have died, could have avoided any deaths- deliciously cruel. i know the barbours are not primary characters in the book but i think there’s really a lot to be analysed with regards to them and the way they play off theo. kitsey herself is a very fine character that i liked very much to have on the page. and i loved andy.

2. theo and boris might love each other very much (which they explicitly do) -> be in love with each other (which they arguably are), but that doesn’t mean that they’re devoted to each other in some grandiose love-conquers-all type of way. i mean this in the sense that a lot of people take the snideness and the bite out of their interactions but also in the sense that, for eg, when boris and theo run into each other in ny and they’re in the car, boris doesn’t trust theo (thinks theo knows about the painting and is trying to get back at him) to the point where he goes calculating and cold and makes significant mobster eye contact with his driver. like, people tend to ignore this scrupulously when they characterize them but boris is a cool pragmatist beneath the effusive emotiveness (hello, not running away to new york in the first place) and his seeming undying friendship has its limits. this is just one example but they’re both selfish, suspicious creatures. and i say this as a ride or die theo/boris type. it just makes their dynamic all the more messy and interesting.

3. theo’s relationship with pippa is actually extremely important and it’s hard to say who would come first to him if he had to choose. yes, pippa is correct to say that they’re fundamentally caught together on the basis of their trauma, but the same goes for boris and theo in many regards, so discarding theo and pippa’s clear muddled infatuation/affection because of the theo-boris thing is turning a blind eye to one of theo’s most telling relationships in tgf. i would also argue that pippa is a foil to theo, kitsey AND boris all in one, at a relatively obvious level of the text. people not mentioning pippa at all in their goldfinch adjacent works is just misogyny.

4. the goldfinch ends on an extremely dour philosophical note, but it is possible to write stories that get to a happier point without ignoring the ideas that theo engages with at the end of the book. the most obvious way to do so is just to take theo for the sour and unreliable narrator that he is- we have literal chapters of his warped perspective that get in-text corrections from boris, so we know he lies constantly. the end of the book is an accurate reflection of theo then, just back to the city stuck on some tragic plan for pippa’s hand and trying to restablize after the implosion of his new reality, but try again in two months, a year, five, you know? the second method of choice would just to have this perspective challenged and debated- whether by deus ex intervention, direct dialogue (boris, hobie, kitsey, pippa, whoever) or just events unfolding in such a way that theo budges on some point or other, maybe accepting the beauty he revolves around in slightly broader forms than he’d surmised. my point is really just that it feels disingenuous not to acknowledge his mentality by the last point we see him.

5. the best character by far is actually mr bracegirdle. second best character is popchik. any other suggestions are incorrect.

6. i think my favourite bit of fanon (in a surprising way, actually, considering how i usually veer clear of anything too openly sweet or cutesy w tartt characters) is hands-down theo giving boris the emerald earrings. it works because there’s ways to make it work, and symbolically it’s just too good. what’s mine is yours is mine and theo post-kitsey drunkenly and bitterly thinking about the necklace, and pippa, and what a bad idea that would be, and so just thrusting them at boris (“here, bet you know someone to sell these to”) in a moment of poor decision-making (“always black moods, potter”); boris knowing theo and knowing quality jewellery and so not selling them at all, wearing them as cufflinks or one dangly earring or a pendant enough time later that theo has to blink twice to recognise them. boris maybe even knowing, from pictures, from memory, seeing how canon boris still recollects so much of audrey with ease, and so boris being careful. or not. either way it’s lovely stuff.

incidentally after my exams this week i plan on finally reading TSH so if it hits the same way goldfinch does expect great willingness to discuss the subject too!