#lightning speaks

[lewismcqueen]

Fanfiction Lewis being like "blah blah blah I'm so OLD will you still love me even if I'm literally FORTY with one foot in the GRAVE" meanwhile in real life he's infodumping about his video game collection and skateboarding across the paddock after his tenth flight to New York. Then he's gonna hit the club

[mournfulroses]

Margaret Randall, from her poetry collection Ruins: Poems; "Blood Lightning Speaks,"

[spotsupstuff]

I'm still working on getting the gardening ending for myself, but I've been collecting some ponderings I'd like to write down. So:

A congregate of thoughts on Watcher lore (as of now):

• I really like that this DLC is right now three kids in a spiritual trenchcoat. None of them is normal. I bet they'd all be friends if they met.

• I really like the color coding of these 3, as for what I've assumed regarding to colors' symbolism in this world: - Black stands for Nirvāṇa, the Void, being outside of the reincarnation cycle - Gold/yellow stands for holiness, ascension - Blue/purple stands for damnation/stagnation - White stands for Saṃsāra, the cycle of reincarnation, the physical world (the Watcher lingers in the physical world, unwilling to leave it)

On the account of blue and yellow being on opposing sides on the color wheel, I'd also gander a guess that the Rot and the Void don't entirely agree with each other/may be on opposing sides.

• Therefore, I don't think the gardening ending was exactly what the Rot Prince wanted to achieve, supported by his last two dialogues with the Watcher:

[Greeting lines]. As with all great deeds, my work is not without great challenge. It has taken eons and the light fades. The paths close and change. I can almost feel... a will... at odds with my own.

[Greeting lines]. Forgive me if I go on! You have done so much for me, I will not burden you with my troubles. Please, rest here as long as you wish. You are always safe here, my dear friend. You, who were there for me.

My guess is that the content that hasn't dropped yet will introduce either a new character/s in a sort of godly roles, or will explain the powers playing behind the wheel flowers and the Cycle.

• A light at the end of the tunnel (or something white/bright with a way to it?) is mentioned by both Spinning Top (at her ending) and the Prince (both as a flowerbud and in that first paragraph I copied up there).

I don't know what to do with this yet, I just found it interesting. Something something the white light within the Void Sea in the original game?

• ,,Outer Rim...?"

The Buddhist cosmology says the world is made out of 9 mountains (Mount Sumeru [the axis mundi], 7 golden mountain ranges and 1 outermost iron mountain range [maybe the withered buildings here are made of rusted iron, buried in stardust]) and 8 seas (7 freshwater and 1 saltwater), with 4 continents within the salt sea who's inhabitants each have a little something extra (except the South I guess, that's where *we* are. well apparently all Buddhas appear here actually, so you know. that's a something).

For an interesting example, the north continent called Uttarakuru is said to house the wealthy, owning no private property, where their food grows by itself and they live in the skies (Iterator cities, nudge nudge).

The name of this region could point to the Buddhist cosmological map being a physical fact for this world. I'd like to think that the dimension hopping aspect to the Watcher's worming through the space-time is at least limited to 4 continents(/realities?).

Also a fan fact: in Chinese mythology it is said the waters flow and stars fall slowly, because a water god with a bad tamper, Gònggōng, broke one of the pillars supporting the sky. Combining this fun nugget with the established lore in a pearl that everything is once eaten away by the Void down below, I'd say it is safe to assume on 89% that the dust mentioned in that pearl comes from the heaven itself and creates a sort of a cycle of the physical matter.

Suppose stardust is what creates everything, powers everything (just as is said in science). Suppose the Starcatchers are superstructures made for conversion of it into desired forms, these ones perhaps in the West of the world specifically, because of their circular shape.

(Meaning Signal Spires are perhaps of the South, while original game- aka Pebbles and Moon- are in the North of this world.)

• I find it fascinating and validating that Spinning Top needed some sort of an Embrace from one of the Five Urges/Hindrances (the third one, companionship) to be able to pass on.

It points to my idea of what the religion is Really supposed to be about: the Five Urges are what they are- urges- and they cannot run rampant. The point isn't to absolutely *eradicate* violence, pleasure, companionship, hunger and desire to live from oneself. The point is to be able to control these things and not cling on to them.

Because if one clings on to something, they stagnate, they cannot progress, they rot and they *fear* losing the something more than they can truly enjoy it or they get far too lost in it to feel it right anymore. To cling on to life means being afraid of taking risks, trying something new and really Living.

But now that doesn't mean going for the opposite is the correct way to go about it- that still creates a desire, a clinging- an urge for death is just as good as urge for life. It binds. It's extremism without careful consideration for what is really the best to do, feel and think in any given situation.

(This goes for love, too, it is GOOD to love, but going too far becomes unhealthy obsession instead of love. Going the other way results in hatred, another utterly useless and harmful thing to harbor. Same as indifference - that is stagnation again, that isn't picking up something, working with it to move forward. Love is a forward motion that is required, but cannot be overdone because as so it would be bastardized into something else, possessive and caging.)

Spinning Top could move on only when she knew that the flipside of the Third Urge- a sickening loneliness- wasn't something to fear anymore.

• Yeah, I don't think we can count on backgrounds too much when it comes to size calculating on the basis that they are probably shaped around gameplay. Specifically thinking about how the spinning top toy changes sizes between it's in-game model and the art. When it comes to Ancients, I'd say the best one can do is do what feels right.

• The Rot Prince is some sort of a boosted up Preta, I swear to heavens. Hungry guy. Maybe the Rot as a whole is a Preta stand in, just way more physical.

• Can't believe my ,,Respawning is real" headcanon has been officially given the thumbs down... The *Strand* Theory is real. (Even though DP is separate from the Watcher, this at least explains why Artificer didn't just go back to the last shelter she slept in when her cubs were still with her. They went to a different strand, where a different Artificer managed the situation better and we are stuck in this reality without them.) (We see them in her Void ending either because they are the one thing her heart wishes for [the Void gives comfort to those who are passing, as far as I am concerned], or because the Void is where all the reality strands and times coincide into one another.)

• On that note, no Fucking wonder the Ancients wanna bail - we don't really know to what extend they were aware of reality's unwounding nature, but assuming it is Pretty Thorough, I too wouldn't wanna live with the knowledge that in one reality I might've died on my loved ones, leaving them broken, while in the other everything is just fine and dandy.

The endless wondering of ,,Did I die in a different reality at any point in my life? Did I leave these people I love behind to hurt, alone, and I can't do anything to help them? I can never know, I'm not allowed to comprehend..." would slowly kill anyone with a heart, I think.

• I wonder if the Prince is a puppet/the Rot made itself a puppet, - because the Starcatchers were Iterator-esque biomechanications with a different directive than iterating on the Big Problem and this is a consumed Starcatcher (something about its budding dialogue feels to me like there was a sense of a Self beforehand that was drowned out by the Rot and then was pulled forward again with additions) - because the Rot is at the edge of the universe (humming a tune) where a messed up slugcat decided to start ripping holes in the reality, therefore connecting different strands including to places where the Rot already existed as a plague upon Some Iterator, which gave spark to sapience and inspiration to a new mind

• The new karma set is definitely a droplet and the ripples it leaves behind. Makes sense, too, there's more ,,movement" within it the more Spinning Top yanks the Watcher around in time-space (accidentally, I'd guess. or the ,,blame" is more on Watcher *somehow*), messing up their physical existence more and more.

Maybe the karma symbols or the imagery itself have something to do with a combination of an axis mundi and the strand form of existence.

Something about there being a main timeline in which each action and decision creates a new ripple, a new strand.

• I wonder if the Watcher could've come across Spinning Top and effectively latch on/follow her, - because they were already dead/echoed (the dream sequence upon reaching the final karma level could mean they did go to the Void Sea and swam pretty deep but turned back and that resulted in Echo-ification? then again why can a lizard bite me. Spinny's laughing at me for it. Goddammit.) - because of their nature as someone who's so damn hesitant about things, who hangs in the backlines, only observes and learns. Very Echo-esque personality - because of their desire to have someone there

• Just realized that we have a canonical design for Spinning Top's mask, hot damn. ,,How do children's masks look like?" answered.

I don't know why, that kind of creeps me out.

• The portals existing outside of us are made by Spinning Top, I'm pretty sure. She's always over them.

Is it normal for Echoes to leave tears like that? I think if the Rot Prince met her and knew she's the one who started this whole journey that resulted in him coming to exist as a consciousness and to bloom, he'd see her as a friend the same way he sees the Watcher.

• I wonder if his approach to the Rot Triple Affirmitive is ,,it's going to get worse before it gets better". He has suffered, too- while he normally speaks gently, calmly, orderly, when he is a flowerbud he seems frantic to me. Like someone breathing through death before getting better.

• Is the concept of the Rot Prince created for the first time in all existences' or is he a repeating pattern, too? The Rot in the least seems to be a pattern, because of what Spinning Top says when we meet her in one of the original regions, eaten through by the Rot.

,,You shouldn't have come here. It's too far." Does that refer to this strand's/ripple's distance from the axis mundi/the water drop creating all these realities? The further out the little wave carries out, growing smaller and weaker, the more rotten through it is? Is it because still water is stagnation, just as the Rot is?

So the Cycle is change and movement, life and love, that exists in a hurtful matter not out of its design, but because it has to contend with absolute stillness/stagnation/the Rot? Or it's all part of the same system, truly designed like this?

Could a Mass Ascension be seen as an escape plan from a ripple growing old? Man...

• A quick attempt at illustrating the previous thought:

Some Pepe Silvia level nonsense going on here.

[vigrada-valley]

I’m curious, Flight Rising users, reblog and put in the tags why you joined the flight you did (when first making your account)!

[feketeribizli]

diversity win! the cars from your childhood are bisexual

[mydairpercabeth]

One thing I’m really looking forward to seeing is how they convince Percy not to join Luke. Up until the end of episode 4, Percy doesn’t have any faith in his dad or the other gods. He resents them all for abandoning their kids and doesn’t like their excuses. He is disgusted by how Athena treats Annabeth. He detests the whole claiming system and that the gods can just choose to claim them if they feel like it. And he is also being actively targeted by Zeus. What will be the turning point for him to not join Luke?

[miidnightzone]

post canon kandreil where kevin steps out of the room or outside eden's when the other foxes pair off and get absorbed in each other. he should be used to this, the ache of feeling alone but never actually being alone.

he doesn't think anyone would have noticed until he's looking up from where he had found a quiet spot to sit elsewhere, neil staring him down with a frown and andrew not far behind. kevin inwardly sighs, knowing he won't hear the end of it when neil suddenly plops down and, after a moment, tips to the side, resting his head on kevin's shoulder. kevin freezes, eyes flicking to andrew.

but andrew doesn't say a word, only looking between the two, and then he's settling down on kevin's other side, not as close but not so far.

and for now, this is enough.

[toruq]

breaking the news

[lewismcqueen]

OKAY WAIT BELOVED MUTUALS AND OOMFS I HAVE A QUESTION:

I always see f1 fans bemoan the terrible questions and journalism surrounding the sport. That being said: what does *good* journalism in f1 look like, in your opinion? Like for example what would a good, rigorous question be? What should be the goal of interviewing drivers etc

[willmiwi]

not this literally being Eddie fresh out of therapy and a talk w the hot priest that made him realize things he didn't know about himself. And he's looking at Buck here, literally seeing him in a new light, and the camera pans over to Buck in golden lightning as he chats away with hen and chim, who have their back turned against him and only buck's facing him, and Eddie looks at him and he Knows !!!! And he PINES !!!!!

[cali-kabi]

~ have some Metadad with Sailor Dee pictures 🦇💫I took (since I don’t have much art made yet xD)

[vigrada-valley]

Very important assessment BY FLIGHT I MEAN ELEMENT. ELEMENT SPECIFIC.

No it doesn’t matter how often or how much you’re allowed to curse. If you can say fuck it’s ‘yes’ if you can’t, ‘no’.

Also tag your flight <3

(Adding this since it may be important, if you want a link to the General Flight Rising discord, or details on how to join the Lightning discord, please message me!

Note that these servers are community run and not official)

[letsplaythermalnuclearwar]

shout out to Katolis for being a diplomatic powerhouse. King Ezran is blood brothers with Azymondias, King of the Dragons. his aunt is Queen of the Sunfire Elves. his half brother is the only Human Primal Mage, and the only person to ever master two arcanum's. their staunch allies with the human kingdom of Duren. attack this kingdom, and the whole world's gonna attack back

[1doesnotsimplyhavejust1fandam]

Something that I’ve thought about several times since the lightning episode is the fact that Eddie only yelled out for Buck. He never said Evan. In fact, I never even considered that he might have used Evan, not even when I first saw the promo they released of basically just Eddie yelling for Buck (still such an insane promo). And it’s both easy and kinda difficult to explain why I think Eddie didn’t shout “Evan”.

The easy part: if Eddie actually had used Evan, I think it would have confused even dedicated fans of the show. He’s only ever used Evan once before, and nobody would’ve thought it was a normal occurrence, even for a horrifying situation like the lightning strike. I actually appreciate that they didn’t have Eddie (or anybody) call Buck “Evan” during the lightning strike, because it helped drive home the familial love point of the coma. I think he was full named by coma!Bobby, and irl!Athena, but he gets called Evan by his parents and Daniel while in the coma. And it’s meant to be a reminder that Evan is for the people who don’t know Buck. Daniel because he died, but his parents because they simply didn’t care to make the effort. Maddie and his fire family did make the effort. And so none of them call him Evan in this episode.

The hard part: the reason Eddie used Evan in the Will scene was to grab and hold Buck’s attention. To tell him that what he is saying is one of, if not the, most important things he could tell Buck. He says it to make Buck listen, to make sure Buck actually hears what he has to say. I don’t think we’ll see Eddie use Evan without that type of justification. And storming up the ladder with an unconscious or dead Buck is not enough for Eddie to need Buck to listen. This is especially significant because it also means that Eddie using Evan will be a sign for the audience to listen to Eddie too. Buck couldn’t hear Eddie use “Evan” while he was dead, and Eddie isn’t in the habit of mincing his words when it comes to telling his best friend the important things.

This post is meant to break down my thoughts about the lack of “Evan” shouting by Eddie, but also to get excited about the very distinct possibility of Eddie calling Buck “Evan” during a love confession! Even though there has only been one incidence of Eddie calling him Evan, it is clear that the meaning changes when in Eddie’s mouth. And I can’t wait to see how the meaning develops if and when it’s used during the love confession.

[pjo-tvs-version]

Unpopular Opinion: Percy should have remembered both Annabeth and Grover when he lost his memories in SoN. Annabeth is his Achilles heel and Grover has an empathy link with him. They were both his doorway into the Greek world. Also it will show how equally important romantic and platonic relationships are!

[inf3ct3dd]

abby core