#like they’re just judging his terraforming the whole time

[brainrot-has-overtaken-me]

FALSE WON!! Demise is over and The Queen of Hearts, Heads, and Body Parts is our winner!!

The best thing about Beef, Iskall, and Ren staking out Bdubs for the kill is just them screaming at how bad/incompetent Bdubs is at the game

[thecorteztwins]

No Acolytes in this little fanfiction, just two squads of some of my favorite Marvel mercs---Force of Nature and the Serpent Society! With some Mindmeld and the Shaws at the end!

When the wealthy eco-terrorists that called themselves “Project Earth” had needed some super-powered muscle, they had hired four individuals that they had deemed “Force of Nature” for their elemental powers. Though Project Earth had disbanded, Force of Nature had kept their name, since it was now a known one. Not widely known, but better than any of them had done as indivuduals, and that meant brand recognition, which meant being hired for more jobs. Environmentalists in particular tended to choose them due to their past with the aforementioned Project Earth, though most green freaks didn’t have that kind of cash so they ended up with a lot of less noble merc jobs. Today though, their target was indeed one that their original employers would have loved to see taken down---the Roxxon Energy Corporation. The task was simple---get inside, get deep into the most highly secure area, and wreck everything. They had succeeded in this---but, to their surprise, they were not the only ones. ”Who’re YOU?!” demanded a huge hulking blonde woman as the quartet burst in. She was part of a larger group of people, and judging by their costumes---not to mention two of the men appearing to be part snake---she and her gang weren’t Roxxon employees any more than Force of Nature was. ”I could ask YOU the same question,” retorted Skybreaker/Aireo, a miniature whirlwind forming around on of fists. The woman’s biceps were probably thicker than his entire body, but he was not at all deterred. ”Who cares who they are?!” said one of the men in the blonde woman’s group, a sturdy fellow with light brown skin, the only one of them bigger than she was, ”They’re witnesses or they’re competition---either way, let’s get rid of ‘em!” With that, the man began to increase dramatically in size, his already huge frame getting even bigger. ”Good idea, Puffy!” said the blonde woman, and came swinging at the elemental---swinging with arms that were suddenly twice the length they had been before. ”Now wait just a---” an Egyptian woman in a white dress began, before being knocked off her feet by a gust from Skybreaker, who was airborne now, while Terraformer had taken on his tree shape to grapple with the blonde and the giant man was being kept at bay by flame blasts from Firewall. ”Hang on, I think I know these mooks,” said Aqueduct, who had been in the supervillain business longer than any of his teammates, “The Serpent Society!” The Serpent Society was the kind of mercenary guild you wanted to get in on, big time. They had insurance, benefits, all that kind of stuff, just like a real job. Hell, their package was actually a lot BETTER than most “real” jobs! It was a level of legitimate-like professionalism that was unheard of in the underworld; even organized crime like the Maggia didn’t typically offer that kind of gig. Unfortunately, you had to have a snake name to join up...maybe he should start calling himself Water Moccasin? ”That’s us,” confirmed an attractive woman with long black hair as she snuck up behind him, “And if you know that---you know you’re finished!” Aqueduct turned to attack, only to find himself face to face not with Black Mamba, the succubus-like member of the Serpent Society, but one of her life-sapping love phantoms----which he currently saw, as anyone would who it was targeted at, as looking like the woman of his dreams, a perfect composite of his every sexual fantasy put together in one flawless and nude form. A form that fell upon in a full lip-lock, which he surrendered to helplessly. “Be glad I’m the one that got you, lover boy,” said the love phantom’s mistress as she looked down at where he lay, submitting to his fate, “You’re going to go out with the GOOD kind of bang.” “Release him from your shadows, harlot!” Skybreaker shrieked, using his winds to scoop Black Mamba up into the air, levitating her high above the floor. “Or what, you’ll drop me?” mocked Black Mamba, though in truth she didn’t like the idea. “No---I shall roast you!” Firewall threatened, flying up beside her, her entire body ablaze. “Fine!” Black Mamba said, and the love phantom vanished, leaving a very confused and rather disappointed Aqueduct looking around in a dazed manner. He sat up and blinked at the closest person to him, the Egyptian woman in the white dress. In her daily life, she was Cleo. As a supervillain, she was The Asp. But he knew her by another name,... “Hey, aren’t you The Temptress?” The second it left his lips, he was sorry he had let it out. Now he was hoping that she WASN’T, and would have no idea to what he was referring. Alas, she was, and she did, and she looked down her beautiful nose at him, “You remember me. But I do not recall you. Which means you must not have been a good tipper. So I shall feel no guilt in doing THIS!” And she hurled a venom blast at him, hitting him square in the chest and knocking him out once again. As for Black Mamba, Skybreaker had dropped her anyway, but she had been caught mid-fall by the extendable and strong arms of Anaconda, aka the huge blonde woman. One of her arms, anyway. The other had shot out even farther to grab Skybreaker by his lengthy ponytail, as she growl-shouted up at him, ”Cut yer hair, ya hippie!” He shrieked in hopes that Firewall would help him, but she was distracted by another Serpent, the silent and scale-covered assassin of the team, boasting a spike-studded casing for his tail and titanium talons on his gloves that were filled with snake venom. Her flames allowed her to keep him at a distances, but she couldn’t be too liberal with them lest she hit her teammates, especially Terraformer the living tree, and Death Adder’s enhanced speed and agility made it easy for him to keep dodging her fireballs. Her best bet was to keep her entire body ablaze to keep him from touching her, while keeping him distracted from her more vulnerable teammates, which was what she was doing. But she spared a jet of flame for Aireo’s sake, causing Anaconda to drop him. Then she turned her attention back to Death Adder, hoping to finish him once and for all, -”A pity. I like you far better than your comrades---for you do not speak.” With that, she sent a wave of flame to engulf him---only to have him be snagged away by the long arm of Anacondna. Roland had died before, she wasn’t letting that happen again. ”You’re a real chatterbox yourself, Mabel!” she quipped, using the default name she applied to any woman she didn’t know. “What did you call me, you swine?!” Not being American, Firewall thought that “Mabel” must be an insult. And likewise, Anaconda thought Firewall was insulting her looks, when in fact she tended to call ALL Americans some variant of swine or pig. She seemed to like them about as much as Aireo liked humans in general. The two women abandoned their former opponents and began trying to get at each other. Speaking of Aireo, he was back in the fray, attacking one of the Serpents who had been trying to slash through Terraformer with the two huge blades strapped to his forearms. Like Death Adder, he was one of the more inhuman looking ones (though Skybreaker would of course not use that term in such a way) as from the waist down he was an enormous green snake. And like a snake trying to get at a bird, he tried to strike at Skybreaker as he flitted around him, distracting him from hurting Terraformer further while the tree elemental continued tussling with the giant-size Puff Adder. ”Get away from him!” the Inhuman commanded, trying to blow the snake-man back, but his naga-like lower half proved too heavy, giving him the opportunity to dig his arm-blades into Terraformer’s....not flesh, but bark...and take hold there. ”Monster!” Skybreaker cried in outrage as his teammate did the same in pain. This seemed to phase his opponent considerably, as the man suddenly looked upset, ”Who are you to call me a monster?!” “Among my people, I was Aireo. In the human world, I am Skybreaker. But to you---I shall be MASTER!” ”There’s only one master here,” the snake-man retorted, “And it’s me---Bushmaster! And I’m as human as you!” This was the wrong thing to say to Skybreaker, who let loose a whole new torrent that sent Bushmaster flying--along with a few chunks of Terraformer---backwards into the nearest wall. ”Human?! HUMAN?! You dare call me HUMAN?! Did you not HEAR what I just said?! I am no human---I am INHUMAN! I come from ATTILAN! And while it is a regressive place in need of reform--which I was cast out for trying to give it---it is still a superior world to yours, human man!” Bushmaster actually hadn’t been able to hear half of what Aireo had said over his winds, but he looked surprised at this last bit, and even...touched? ”You...think I’m human?” Aireo descended to stand before him, his thin arms cross over his thin chest, scoffing, ”Most likely; they’re a common breed with many variants. But if you’re NOT? Take it as a source of pride. I do.” Meanwhile, Death Adder was silently slipping up to the prone Aqueduct, who was still down from The Asps’s blast. But then Terraformer, seeing this, defended his teammate by at last letting the gargantuan Puff Adder slam him to the side---right into Death Adder, who went hurling out of the way to avoid being crushed, causing him to crash into The Asp, who reflexively venom-blasted him by accident, taking her own teammate down. ”Enough!” she decreed, striking one bare foot with elegant force against the floor, “Does anyone here even know WHY we are at each other’s throats?!” ”She’s got a point,” said Black Mamba, “Guys, cool it. You four---I’m willing to stop fighting for a minute if you are. At least til we figure out if we SHOULD be.” Firewall and Skybreaker objected, but cooler heads prevailed---Aqueduct, getting back to his feet, agreed it was a good idea, and Terraformer corralled his more tempermental teammates with his branches. Firewall of course could have burned through them, through him, but she would not do that to him. He was the most gentle and inoffensive of them, even from her easily-angered perspective. “Okay the,” Black Mamba said, taking the lead from Asp, “The hell are YOU here for?” “You first,” said Aqueduct, figuring it’d be best if he did the talking for his respective team. For different reasons, none of them were what you’d call good negotiators---and really, neither was he, for the reason that he was none too bright, but at least he probably wouldn’t set things off again.

“Serpent Crown,” Black Mamba explained, “Roxxon’s been after it a long time. In fact, their Mutagenics Division gave all of us except Puff Adder and Asp here our powers, all in order to recover it. And they finally got their hands on it...but we’ve long moved on to new employers. One who’d like it for themselves. You?” “Roxxon Energy Company used to be Roxxon Oil, and really, they still are,” Skybreaker interrupted,  “And like all oil companies, they are ecological monsters. They have damaged countless---” “So there’s no conflict then,” Black Mamba cut him off, “We want the crown. You want to wreck the place, I’m guessing, maybe make an example of some people. We’ve got no beef with that. And I’m sure YOU don’t want these “ecological monsters” having an object of power like THAT.” Force of Nature looked at each other, and Aqueduct finally said, “Well...no. I mean, maybe OUR employers would like it too---but they didn’t say so, so their loss!” He’d added that last part quickly when he’d seen the Serpents tensing to fight again at the very idea he might be thinking of taking their prize. “I don’t think ANY human should have it,” said Aireo, “But since they’re all the same, it doesn’t matter to me if it changes hands from Roxxon to another.” “Any corporation shall use it for gain without a thought of what damage it causes,” said Firewall, the flames around her still crackling. “But Roxxon pollutes even more than most corporations,” Terraformer pointed out. “So uh, I guess what my crew is saying is, it comes down to who you’re giving it to,” said Aqueduct, a little uneasily, not actually caring himself and knowing already that this would not go over well. “That’s confidential. We’re professionals, come on now,” Black Mamba said, and continued to negotiate, “Look, I admire that you guys clearly have a sincere moral stake in this, but you’re still mercenaries, just like us, and like you said, Water Boy, you weren’t paid to take the Crown. We were. If your next customer tells you that your mission is to get the Crown from us, then we’re ready to make you work for it, but since that’s not the case, what’s the point?” Aqueduct agreed with her completely, actually. Like, he liked animals and rainforests and stuff and all that, but he wasn’t actually invested in it like his teammates. Skybreaker and Terraformer both had good reasons to want a cleaner Earth---Aireo being an Inhuman meant that pollution affected his health much more than a normal person, and Terraformer literally WAS a sentient plant---and Theary aka Firewall, well, she was just angry at the West and anyone in power, just angry IN GENERAL really, and Aqueduct didn’t really think he blamed her, given her background as a Cambodian child conceived during the Vietnam War. But him? Man, he just wanted a paycheck. And he’d prefer to get it without any extra complications, like getting clobbered by psycho-snake-people when he didn’t have to. “Guys, let’s let them have it,” he said, turning to his team, “Odds are, whoever they’re taking it too, won’t be WORSE than Roxxon. And if it turns out that our client DOES want it for themselves? They have to pay us for a second mission.” Firewall snorted and said something about his typical American greed, and while Terraformer and Aireo didn’t DISAGREE with that, they too wanted to get back to the task at hand of merely hurting Roxxon, not doing battle with other mercenaries over something that didn’t actually affect their mission at all. “Okay then,” Aqueduct turned back to the Serpent Society, smiling and feeling proud that he’d taken the reins of leadership and actually succeeded in making his team go with it, “Crown’s yours, guys! Carry on! Just be sure to get out of here before we bring the place down!” “Man, we didn’t NEED your permission,” Anaconda growled, “Mamba just didn’t think we should smash you without getting paid EXTRA for it upfront. But me--” She flexed her massive arms, and Aqueduct, even at a good distance, gulped. “---I would have done it for free.” With that, the Serpent Society walked away and left Force of Nature to continue destroying the room even more than the fight already had...but returned to attack them once again in suspicion when they realized that the Serpent Crown was ALREADY GONE. *** “Well boys, here’s your little tiara,” the statuesque and silver-skinned mercenary known as Mindmeld sauntered casually into the Shaw’s meeting room, the priceless weapon dangling off her perfectly manicured index finger like a mere trinket. “I’ll take my fee now.” After a quick counted, she quirked an eyebrow in irritation, “Hey---if you wanna stiff me, there are better ways to do it than this. This is NOT what we agreed on, you owe me---” “Exactly that, once we deducted the fee for those “Force of Nature” fellows that you called in on my tab rather than fight the Serpent Society yourself when you realized they were after the same target,” said the senior Shaw coolly over his steepled fingers, “A clever idea, Miss Mindmeld, but they don’t work for free---much like yourself. Since you procured the prize successfully, I’m willing to overlook it, but touch my bank account again without authorization...and we shall be testing the limits of Krakoa’s resurrection.” Mindmeld didn’t doubt it. She also didn’t doubt Shinobi’s old man knew a whole lot of ways to just make you WISH you were dead without ever delivering the final mercy. So without further complaint, she counted herself lucky and slid the crown over, albeit to Shinobi rather than Sebastian, just to get a tiny little dig in because she was petty like that. Whatever, it was still a LOT of money. More than she’d ever made on a job. More than she’d ever made on all her jobs put together. Which was why, despite it usually being very much outside her professional protocol, she had to ask, “So what IS this thing? Besides hideous and not going to match EITHER of your wardrobes.” “This,” said Shinobi, his gaze fixed on the diadem of intertwined snakes, his finger tips running delicately yet firmly over the textured surface of false scales with the enraptured eagerness of a lover in foreplay, “Is why Billie Eilish wrote that song.” And that was why Sebastian Shaw had long given up anything his son said sometimes. END

[icyxmischief]

Ok, this has been bothering me for a while and I really like your meta so I was wondering what your thoughts on this might be. Sorry if this ends up being super long.

First off, I want to point out that I’m not a Loki apologist insofar as I think that his actions can be justified or excused, but I do think that they can be understood in their context.

Ok, so the people who excoriate Loki for his behavior specifically relating to the Frost Giants and his invasion of New York really irk me, and it took me a long time to be able to pinpoint why. And I think it’s this- they’re judging Loki by human standards. And that makes no sense because he is many things, but human is not one of them.

I’ll start with the Frost Giants, and I’ll preface this with the fact that genocide is horrific (and that’s an understatement). And while it does not come close to justifying his actions, it is important to remember that the Aesir stopped the attempted Jotun genocide of multiple realms and peoples including Asgard/the Aesir and Midgard/humanity. (Obviously the Jotuns had more success on Midgard than Asgard itself.) And I do mean genocide here rather than just conquering because terraforming various realms into frozen wastelands (as they were trying to do with the Casket of Ancient Winters) would kill both humanity (who are incapable of travelling to a different realm) and the Aesir (unless they, in turn, conquer another realm and even then that would suppose that the Jotuns stopped their terraforming with Midgard and Asgard). The resulting lack of agriculture and the collapse of every ecosystem would wipe basically everything out. This establishes the Jotuns as genocidally minded themselves.

Again, this doesn’t justify Loki’s behavior, but it does explain why the Aesir are raised to hate or at least look very suspiciously upon the Frost Giants.

Now consider that the Jotuns have indicated that, given the opportunity, they are ready and willing to reignite conflict. They not only try to steal the casket, but Laufey attempts to murder Odin when he’s in such a position that he cannot possibly defend himself. (The fight between the Jotuns and Thor, Loki, and the Warriors Three is a different situation altogether. That’s more of a bar brawl than anything else.)

Yes, Loki provided those opportunities to the Jotuns. You cannot overlook his involvement in this; however, the Jotuns clearly indicated that they are not past their desire to use the casket to regain political and military power and neither are they above taking revenge on the Aesir for stopping their own genocidal campaign.

Consider the ramifications of both stealing the casket and murdering Odin; had they been successful the Jotuns would have thrown both Asgard itself and the political/military situation of Asgard and the realms it ruled or protected into chaos. The Jotuns are not innocent victims in this situation either historically or *even at the time Thor takes place*. In fact, they are enemy combatants at the time of Thor’s coronation and thereafter.

Once more for the people in the back- this does not justify Loki’s attempt to literally destroy Jotunheim and the entirety of the Jotun population.

It does raise a serious question, though. Loki is not stupid or one to really be controlled by his emotions (influenced by, yes; controlled, no). So why with his extensive training in both politics and military affairs would he think that attempted genocide would be acceptable and even celebrated?

Odin did not, as far as we know, commit genocide himself at any point. I suspect that Odin did not destroy Jotunheim and the Frost Giants because they were clearly defeated and with the casket confiscated they presented no substantial threat. Wiping them out would be a serious breach of ethics and violate the warrior code of Asgard. Where is the honor in destroying a weak, already defeated enemy?

This is why it was important for Loki to goad the Jotuns into reigniting the war. It restores honor to the fighting because to the rest of Asgard it appears as though they have been attacked and it was unprovoked. This reopens the acceptability of open conflict between the two realms and peoples.

Now, this is where things get sticky.

Genocide is acceptable under certain circumstances within the MCU’s Aesir culture.

This is established in The Dark World. Bor did not completely wipe out the Dark Elves, but he thought he had. This destruction is lauded in Asgard. Bor, hailed as a great king, stopped the Dark Elves from destroying creation and in so doing ostensibly wiped them out completely. Not “left the non-combatants alive on Alfheim”- the attack on Asgard after the Aether reappears is the first indication the Aesir have that there are any Dark Elves left. This indicates that there are times when genocide carried out against military enemies is acceptable to these people.

Which means there is cultural and military precedent for Loki’s behavior.

Now, again, consider that the Jotuns have in the past behaved genocidally and have indicated that they are willing to head down that path again by trying to steal the casket and murder Odin. They have aggressed against the Aesir reopening the war. Admittedly it had not progressed far, but conflict was reestablished.

Again, this doesn’t justify Loki’s attempt at genocide. Genocide should not be acceptable under any circumstances as far as humanity is concerned (I won’t get into the politics of whether or not it actually is because I don’t have time to write a dissertation, but I will say that people’s “outrage” about the Khmer Rouge, Mao’s revolution, Stalin’s starvation of the Ukrainians, the continued situation in South Sudan, the Hutus and Tutsis, the Ottomans/Turkey and the Armenians, and recent resurgence of white supremacy in the US indicate that people, broadly, don’t actually care a whole hell of a lot about genocide in practice and reality).

But it does show that Loki’s behavior *was not out of the norm* within Asgardian society and there was *established precedent* for him doing it.

Now, as far as the invasion of New York goes, let me first say that as a human myself, I don’t like it. He killed hundreds, if not thousands of people that day and doomed thousands more to die of illnesses related to the attack in the following years.

But, again, putting his actions into context indicates that his invasion with the Chitauri is not problematic in as much as it targeted humanity. Midgardians are less than in Aesir society. This is clear in Loki’s commentary at the beginning of The Dark World. Hell, he blatantly says he thinks he’s better than us in Avengers. And it’s clear in Odin’s commentary about Jane being equivalent to a goat that he holds no love of humanity. It’s even clear in Thor’s protection of the realm; that in itself is patronizing. Midgard isn’t capable of sufficiently protecting itself, so he swears that he will step up and do it. It’s not that Thor is ill intentioned in doing so, but that he feels the need to do it fairly clearly indicates that the Aesir as a whole consider Midgardians to be lesser beings.

So it’s not that Loki’s attack on New York was a problem because it killed people. After all, as Loki says to Thor, ‘the humans slaughter themselves in droves, while you idly fret.’ Humans are murdering each other all the time and Thor makes no move to stop it. It’s not the human deaths that are a problem.

The issue here is that Loki’s behavior violates two things: the honor code of not attacking a weak/defeated enemy incapable of sufficiently defending itself (see above commentary on the defeated Frost Giants and Odin and Thor’s drive to protect humanity where it cannot protect itself) and the precedent established by both Odin and Thor to protect Midgard.

Allow me to digress for a moment here and expand on an issue with Odin before I get to my ultimate point.

Loki’s attempt at genocide and his invasion of New York are why he gets punished. But it’s not because he tried to kill the Jotuns and it’s not because he killed people. Loki (in Norse mythology) is a master as putting the other gods in their place and reminding them they are not infallible. And, beautifully, he is in the MCU, too. And *that’s* why Odin punishes him.

Loki showed Odin that he was wrong to believe that Thor was ready for the throne. Loki showed Odin that he was wrong to believe that the Frost Giants were no longer a tangible threat. Loki showed Odin *and* Thor they were wrong to believe humanity needed their protection (after all, it was the Council that ultimately actually stopped the invasion by sending the nuke that Tony steered to destroy the Chitauri mother ship).

And so despite the precedent in their culture that says genocide is ok sometimes and despite the fact that Odin also thinks that humans are weak and inferior to the Aesir, Loki had to be punished. But Odin couldn’t say that he was punishing Loki for embarrassing him, which is the only thing he really did wrong as far as the society in which he was raised is concerned.

Now, as far as people judging Loki by human standards go, it’s pretty clear that the reason that they look down on Loki’s behavior is that it violates our own social codes. If you look at sci-fi and fantasy it’s clear that as a species we really believe in human exceptionalism. We’re conceited and think of ourselves as the center of the universe. Again, it was the Council and Tony Stark using a human invention that stopped a massive invasion of technologically superior aliens from conquering Earth. Even in Dr. Strange, it’s a human that outwits an ancient, hugely powerful alien in order in order to control the fate of the planet. Even Peter Quill is half human as he gallivants and ultimately works to save the galaxy. It all centers on Earth and on humans.

As such, we take offense to people thinking of us as inferior.

But I wonder why people don’t often consider the fact that we behave the same way towards other life even here on the planet as the Aesir do with us. With the exception of some vegetarians, vegans, and a few religious and philosophical sects (like Jainism and some Buddhists) we have no qualms about killing animals- that we view as *less than* humans- when it suits our needs. We do it for food, we do it for supplies (like we did/do for whale oil and leather) and we do it for convenience (like when we kill mice or chipmunks or raccoons who get in the trash). We even do it and say it’s for their benefit like when we “thin the herd for its health”.  For the most part, we as a species have no problems disregarding the will and lives of those beings we perceive as being less than us. Why would beings more powerful, intelligent, and technologically advanced than us feel differently?

I suspect that the problem these people have with Loki’s behavior re: the Invasion of New York and the resulting carnage is that it ultimately violates their perception (that is reinforced by society) that humans and humanity are the best. He transgressed by challenging that human maxim.

And I feel that the problem that people have with his attempted genocide, while well founded, is hypocritical. They will hold up his *fictional* attempt at genocide that stems from a place where that genocide would be culturally and militarily acceptable (if distasteful) as horrific while turning a blind eye to *real* and *actual* genocides that have happened and some that are ongoing in and around cultures and societies where it is *not* supposed to be acceptable. They hold his behavior to their theoretical standard of behavior (and not the standard that’s actually allowed in practice).

And none of this takes into consideration the emotional, mental, and physical trauma that Loki experiences across these films which colors his behavior and adds deeper nuance to what he’s doing. Even without that, though, the way he behaves is totally within the realm of acceptable behavior for the society in which he was raised with the exception of challenging and embarrassing Odin, which is what he’s ultimately punished for (and is why his punishment is so very personal).

And that’s the story of how I wrote 2000+ words about the Loki’s behavior in the MCU and fan reaction rather than working on my thesis.

I want to SINCERELY APOLOGIZE for never answering this, because for the past year my life has been very much in transition, but tonight I’m trying to empty my inbox and I found this profoundly elaborate, thoughtful meta in my submissions. 

I haven’t read it fully yet, but when I do I will try to offer comments and feedback. It sounds like you and I have a great number of theories about this character in common already, but I want to read closely for nuance.

For now I am posting it so that people can see the integrity of your work publicized! <3333 

[atrcompilelogs]

Aug 23

Starting day at 8:42AM bc I fell asleep again at 7.

Allara chillara stretching and walking around flexing all the while tensing about the day.

What's the point of yoga if you're stressed the whole time?

Be cool

Wait, what do I do? Do they reach out to me? Should I mail? it's 9:34AM.

Shit did they forget?

They can't fire me on the first day, right?

I swear if I get fired in under a month, I'm gonna give up this career and start painting.

And I could just opensource for the love of dev.

Chill!!

OKay, I pinged Rejulettan, they’re creating accounts and stuff.

11AM First standup. Said “Hi”. ;_; WHY? All that stuff you prepped?

That’s a lot of accounts

Digesting a jargon explosion.

WTF are all these for?

Terraform? Like what they plan to do with mars.

I have access to everything.

I can burn down the whole thing if I wanted to.

UNLIMITED POWER!!! !

... R+A helping me with setup. Cool.

X is helping with the a/cs. Isn't he busy? Okay, I'll never be able to do that job. Working and handling all this people and keeping in touch with every one of em to make sure everything's okay. I mean, I can't even properly eat lunch and watch a sitcom together.

I'm writing too much. If I put all this effort into working, I would be a lot more productive.

But if I stopped logging here, I would be distracted more.

Only writing helps me discipline now. Is it tho? I haven't explored more ways yet.

Am I a machine now? I need proper algorithms and instructions to do stuff now

The daily update doc.

2:30PM mentors mailed.

3:49PM finished up with email reply. Explained stuff.

4:05PM Setting up things.

Distracted 5:18PM - It’s okay. Complete the project in your own time. No one’s judging you for failing gsoc. If they are, fuck them.

When was the last time you failed sth? Exactly.

5:30PM - yea right, you can finish setting up by 6.. Haha. idiot. Stop blasting alice glass in your ears and you can focus more.

Pottathi!!

Setup - following doc https://3.basecamp.com/3910353/buckets/5944669/documents/2878232344

sudo apt-get install postgresql postgresql-contrib

Trying to start psql cli

Psql psql: error: FATAL: role "compile" does not exist

5:46PM - distracted again.

Distracted again 5:51PM. That lasted 30mins. Looks like an improvement tho

initdb /usr/local/var/postgres initdb: command not found

sudo -u postgres; psql psql: error: FATAL: role "compile" does not exist

sudo -i -u postgres - yaay

psql :D Yep. default postgres db exists.

pg_ctl -D /usr/local/var/postgres start

pg_ctl -D /usr/local/var/postgres stop pg_ctl: command not found

Okay, skipping to creating databases. Varnodth vech kaana

create database falcon OWNER postgres

create database falcon_export_wip OWNER postgres

create database healthgraph_export OWNER postgres

create database sheldon OWNER postgres

create database falcon_export OWNER postgres

\l gives only 3 dbs now. What?

Okay, all of those need semicolons, idiot

$ sudo -u postgres createuser anaswara

$ sudo -u postgres psql

ALTER USER anaswara WITH ENCRYPTED PASSWORD '@atr7070';

Wait, should I encrypt or postgres chythoolo? YEP!! IDIOT!!

What if postgres encrypts my sha hash again? NOOOO!!!

Okay, nthelum idu

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE falcon TO anaswara; GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE falcon_export_wip TO anaswara; GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE healthgraph_export TO anaswara; GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE sheldon TO anaswara; GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE falcon_export TO anaswara;

https://zulip.compile.com/user_uploads/2/pQztq9JGf4b0nhUOXHkWaAXm/falcon.schema.sql.gz

https://zulip.compile.com/user_uploads/2/SNCT7OHeOZQd2vq1PErA8rXd/falcon.data.sql.gz Unauthorized

OKay, got the files.

zcat ~/Downloads/falcon.schema.sql-1629724096467.gz | psql -d falcon -O -X /usr/lib/postgresql/12/bin/psql: invalid option -- 'O'

Try "psql --help" for more information.

It’s already 7:02PM.

7:14PM - Distracted again!!! Okay, it’s DA from now on. Don’t think about gsoc for 2 days.

zcat ~/Desktop/falcon.schema.sql-1629724096467.gz | psql -d falcon -0 -X The flag was actually 0 not o ………..(-_-)

But psql: error: FATAL: role "compile" does not exist.

zcat ~/Desktop/falcon.schema.sql-1629724096467.gz | psql -d falcon -0 -X -U anaswara -W

psql: error: FATAL: Peer authentication failed for user "anaswara"

Okay, https://stackoverflow.com/a/17443990

Can be solved with this https://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.0/auth-methods.html#:~:text=19.3.1.-,Trust%20authentication,-When%20trust%20authentication

But let’s just create new roles with same username and password as unix user. “Compile” - “compile”

Zcat

“

ALTER TABLE

ALTER TABLE

WARNING: no privileges could be revoked for "public"

REVOKE

WARNING: no privileges could be revoked for "public"

REVOKE

WARNING: no privileges were granted for "public"

GRANT

WARNING: no privileges were granted for "public"

GRANT

REVOKE

REVOKE

GRANT

ERROR: role "redash" does not exist

ERROR: role "gandalf" does not exist

REVOKE

REVOKE

GRANT

ERROR: role "redash" does not exist

ERROR: role "gandalf" does not exist

REVOKE

REVOKE

”

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE falcon TO compile;

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE falcon_export_wip TO compile;

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE healthgraph_export TO compile;

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE sheldon TO compile;

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE falcon_export TO compile;

Ignoring all the errors

sudo apt-get install -y python-dev build-essential git python-pip virtualenvwrapper mosh libyajl2 graphviz supervisor libpq-dev postgresql-client nginx libffi-dev libyaml-dev zip unzip apgdiff autoconf automake libtool libleveldb-dev python2-dev swig libssl-dev

Sds Reading package lists... Done

Building dependency tree

Reading state information... Done

Note, selecting 'python-dev-is-python2' instead of 'python-dev'

Package python-pip is not available, but is referred to by another package.

This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or

is only available from another source

However the following packages replace it:

python3-pip

E: Package 'python-pip' has no installation candidate

Cloning into 'healthgraph'...

The authenticity of host 'yoda.compile.com (139.59.30.154)' can't be established.

ECDSA key fingerprint is SHA256:N2I9nBx9N72puf3bUAYfBeMUr1V0ZmZVKTpx1nZzGp8.

Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no/[fingerprint])? yes

Warning: Permanently added 'yoda.compile.com,139.59.30.154' (ECDSA) to the list of known hosts.

git@yoda.compile.com's password:

Permission denied, please try again.

Retry

Cloning into 'healthgraph'...

sign_and_send_pubkey: signing failed for ED25519 "/home/compile/.ssh/id_ed25519" from agent: agent refused operation

git@yoda.compile.com's password:

What’s goin on? I added ssh keys this morning

Adding ssh keys again

Should I generate ssh keys again? Nop

Oh ssh-add

Yaay

That’s a hugerepo. Healthgraph. HUH. DUH.

Cause that’s the only way the roses bloom… in my mind.. Aaa

git clone git@yoda.compile.com:engineering/sheldon.git

Omu, they’re dorks.

It’s 9:11PM

Booo..

3 minutes to break time. I want break now. Well, you’re writing so it’s a break. Okay, put on some music.

Sheldon is a small repo. Young sheldon.

Wtf am I doing? Successfully wasted break. Nop.

10:48PM. I think I ate too much.

Okay, finish up.

[franthetutor]

Laurel, Yanni and McGurk: Why your life is a lie

Update: I’m not dead! I know I haven’t been posting regularly. I’m sorry. It’s down to two things really: a) I’ve been very busy with the new job and b) I’ve frankly really struggled to find any kind of inspiration lately - I suppose that’s what happens when your life is taken over by your job. And you’re an auditor.

But this week this whole Yanni/Laurel brought about a bit of a brainwave - not least because it’s done nothing but do my nut in. Literally every one of my social media feeds is infected with these words. Apart from Twitter - but only because it contains an option to mute words - but even then I’m still swamped by the overhyped, equally annoying sequel: green needle/brainstorm. 

However, as with most things I hate, I’m going to put my back into this.

A few things are going to happen in the next few minutes: we’re going to unpack the explanations behind these phenomena, and then I’m going to try to shatter your perception of the world.

The Yanni/Laurel thing has now been confirmed as an aural phenomenon: if you were to plot the frequencies present in the recording against time, much like something you’d get on Audacity or any other kind of audio-editing software, you would see that this clip is made up of a mixture of high and low frequency tones. Yanni is formed from the higher frequencies. Laurel is characterised by lower frequencies. It’s like listening to what are essentially two different tracks of music that have been overlaid. If your ear is more attuned to higher frequencies (perhaps the younger among you), or you’re the kind of animal that turns down the bass on your speakers, you’re going to hear Yanni. The vast majority of people however hear Laurel, because, well, we’re older.

Now we come to Laurel’s little sister: green-needle/brainstorm. She’s a little smarter, a tad more interesting and she was allowed to wear makeup from a younger age. What you can hear in this recording can be changed depending on simply the word you’re looking at when you hear it, which is much more than a physical phenomenon - it’s a psychological one. We know something to be true - that we’re hearing the same sound each time, but our perception of it changes. This is interesting for two reasons: firstly, on a psychological level it helps us to dissect how our brains work, and secondly, more importantly, it proves to us that objective truth is a fallacy.

Green needle/brainstorm is a slightly more evolved example of the McGurk effect, which is a widely known and studied phenomenon where your brain can interpret the same audio/visual recording as two different sounds depending on the context it’s given. This context often comes in the form of a visual cue, which is much better explained by the folks at Horizon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-lN8vWm3m0. Ultimately it comes about because of the top-down processing in our brains. What does this mean? Well, effectively our brains process a whole load of information all at once, and uses its analysis of this to work out the most probable explanation of our current circumstances to make sense of the world. For example, imagine you’re on safari. There’s not a cloud in the sky, you’ve got the sunroof down and you’re driving through a woody looking area. You hear a dense flock of startled birds swiftly fly out of the branches above you as your jeep slams through the undergrowth. They’re so close you can feel the beat of their wings in the air around you, and suddenly you feel something cold drip onto your hair and down your neck.

You’ve surely been shat on.

You look up and see a monkey peering down at you from the sunroof, drooling.

But for a second, you believed you’d been shat on, well, because you hadn’t noticed the monkey. Hey, we’re not perfect.

Additionally your analysis often relies on the outcomes of events that it’s seen before and it projects these probabilities on the current situation in order to work out what’s going on. For example, if you’ve had a horrid cough before and went to the GP, who told you it was pneumonia, the next time you get a cough you’re more likely to think it’s pneumonia again, even though that’s actually quite unlikely. The McGurk effect combines these two analytical phenomena. Most of the time you hear a hard “k” sound and seen a particular mouth shape, it’s turned out to be a word starting with that letter. But if that same exact sound is accompanied by a “g” mouth shape, your brain goes “Well, based on past experience, that word must begin with a G”.

TLDR: we can easily trick ourselves, and others based on the subset and quality of information we allow ourselves to see.

As well as being a fun illusion, like all other illusions it highlights something more insidious: we’re all primed for bias - it’s inherently how our brain deals with the mound of information it receives every single millisecond of every day. If we didn’t skip straight to conclusions we’d end up overthinking everything and ultimately not taking any action. Evolutionarily speaking, our ancestors would have died if they didn’t spring into action on hearing twigs breaking, assuming it was indicative of an imminent attack. The benefit of catching our predators pre-arrack vastly outweighed the excess energy expended on false alarms. Out of our ancestors, those who were the quickest to leap into action on hearing the quietest of sounds lived the longest. However, in modern day terms this kind of cranial processing doesn’t work as well. Sure, based on he gait of the person in front of you at Kings Cross, you might predict they’re going to take a hard swerve left to the Victoria line and you can use that information to prevent an embarrassing collision. I’m not saying this fundamental system of processing doesn’t have its merits - I’m just saying it has fewer: we don’t spend every waking moment fending off predators any more, because we’ve built infrastructure, terraformed land, driven predators out of their natural habitats and evolved societies that provide you with security against dangerous individuals in return for a cut of your income.

So we find ourselves in conflict. We have brains that are used to using whatever information is conveniently available and pre-existing knowledge to judge, but vastly reduced the need for that judgement. We’ve also reduced the benefits of this judgement - if anything it’s often frowned upon. We’ve developed a new term for unnecessary judgement: prejudice. And we often think we’re well aware of our own prejudices and can therefore escape them - but I’m here to tell you that the vast majority of us can’t. Take this for example:

Try to memorise these words: Adventure, curious, sun, brave, clean, friendly, ocean, white, fruit, learn, free, wholesome, holiday, talented.

Now read this: Alan is making plans for his gap year. He wants to visit the South America but is struggling to fit that in with his plans to take part in a motorcross rally. He missed it the year before because he broke his leg in the practice round. He needs to find his passport, which he lost on his last trip back from Bali and hopes his friend accidentally picked up. He also wants to visit India and needs to find time to move into his flat in Camden before he starts at his London uni.

What do you think of Alan?

What would you have thought had you memorised these words instead: Jealous, green, selfish, cocaine, petty, reckless, red, corrupt, idiot, lad, careless, clown, rude.

Go back and read the paragraph again - see what you think.

He might have seemed a bit of a gap yah wanker that time, methinks.

This is something called priming, which is an extension of the broken thinking we discussed earlier. It’s exactly how advertising works - we can’t help but associate things together when they’re close together, either spatially or temporally. You judged Alan because those lists of words made you linger on different sets of details in the narrative each time. If you start to form an opinion, you’re more likely to see details that reinforce them.

So what’s my point? I’ve just shown you that this kind of thinking is inescapable: you knew where this article was going and yet you likely painted a picture of two different Alans. I’ve told you that our brains are hard-wired for bias. That our perception of the world is inherently, inescapably warped. That we all have our blind spots. That we can convince ourselves of anything depending on what details we choose to notice. And that our choices of details are rooted in past experience. The logical conclusion of this is that as we get older, we get more biased. Something happens, we learn from it, maybe even form a slight opinion, we stumble across varied details in the subsequent hours, days, weeks of our lives, and out of these details our brains are primed to pick out those that are familiar, opinions and beliefs are justified and strengthened, our filter for details gets narrower, our opinion gets stronger, our blinkers come down even more, so on and so forth. Incidentally it’s eerily similar to how evolution works.

We’re built from bias.

This means that in order to even be able to grasp at objective truth, you have to work. Really work. Hard. And I think this is something that is totally overlooked in our current political climate. We all think that facts are facts - they’re not, simply by virtue of being beheld by us. We, these flawed, inherently biased networks of synapses in cages of bone and bags of skin. But we need to guard against this. No man is an island, and as a society we need to believe in the concept of objective truth, even if we accept we’ll never achieve it. If we don’t, we lose our baseline for discussion, leading to a society which is unable to sort opinion from fact: one in which radical, absurd and harmful ideas could propagate at the same speed as those more closely aligned with common sense, driven by whimsy. Truth is the tare weight for any battle of wits - without it, there could be no consensus.

So if we must believe in an objective truth, but can only ever see it through a glass, darkly, so to speak, how can we polish the lens?

This brings us full circle to audit, my bread and butter, and perhaps why the question of truth is at the front of my mind. Audit is fully preoccupied with objectivity and truth - firms drop clients and lose money because of it all the time. This is because our job is to take the draft financial statements a company prepares before they’re published and ensure that the figures in them haven’t just been made up, or tweaked. We need to assess whether the numbers show an adequately “true and fair” view of what’s happened to that company during the year. As with everything, we can never be 100% certain of the truth, or fairness of accounts, so we test the numbers to a reasonable level of assurance.

Believe it or not, there are a couple of aspects that are quite interesting about it:

Firstly, sampling. Much like biologists attempting to study animals in a large habitat, the feat of fully auditing every single transaction a company makes during the year is nigh on impossible. Instead we choose a representative sample of transactions and look at those in more detail to work out if they were recorded correctly. We’re always terrified of choosing the wrong number of transactions - if we audit too few, we might miss one large one which was fraudulent or recorded wrongly - one typo could change an overall profit to a loss. If I wasn’t thorough enough, I could lose my job over that.

Secondly, we rely heavily on the people running the audited company to tell us what happened during the year. If for example they failed to tell us that they underwent a huge merger, we might audit them against the wrong set of financial standards. We might think it’s all fine by those standards - but that’s a false positive. We used the wrong measure of truth, because we didn’t have all of the facts.

So why did I bother to tell you all this?

Because auditors measure truth for a living, and you might learn something from the highly discussed and regulated procedures we use day in, day out. The next time you find yourself judging something - anything, for that matter, however small - ask yourself these questions:

How much detail can I subtract from the situation before I change my view of it?

Is there a detail or perspective I’m missing because I’m being primed by my prior beliefs, assumptions or experiences?

If you find the threshold for Q1 and an example for Q2, you’ll be much closer to the truth than you were before.

You never know, you might end up finding truth in the most unlikely of places, and applying measured skepticism can lead to some of the most - sometimes surprising - eye-opening revelations. Those “MY LIFE HAS BEEN A LIE” moments. Never be afraid of disagreeing with your past opinions - it’s a sign of learning.

Some great resources:

On the illusion of pain, and how the perception of context guides belief: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3NmTE-fJSo

On humans as slightly wonky bipedal brain machines: Kluge - The haphazard evolution of the human mind, Gary Marcus

[parrotbeak]

I wrote that Steven Universe-The Simpsons comparison with the decision to not mention the colonial angle. But it’s become difficult to read posts, some critical, some not, relating to any of the Earth-made gems and spot the same indifference that’s interwoven with my life as Indo. Hopefully this post educates a little on what it means (or can mean; I only speak for myself) to be caught in-between. I normally couldn’t care less, but in this one case, don’t interact if anti-crit or non-crit.

The don’t-think-this-is-all short of the Indo experience is that the Dutch way back figured it’d be nifty if the Dutch East Indies had a supply of loyal people with a reason to stay right where they are. Marriages between Dutch men and Indonesian women were motivated in order to produce a new identity of people that’d be invested in serving the DEI because that, the colony holding both roots, was their home. The duality of being Indo plays a role to this day, past the violence of 1940-1949, the unwelcome by the Netherlands to which the arrival of Indos (and Moluccans) was inconvenient as well as never supposed to happen, and the undealt-with trauma that followed when quietly adapting was all there was to do. I’m not going into detail, but for me, having been born decades after the end of the DEI, I miss the place. Rationally and morally that’s ridiculous, but emotionally it promises so many answers I’ll never get. A lot of my life perspectives are based on considerations of what being in-between means. And though I love the Netherlands dearly (culturally), being part Asian also makes me different and alerts me of just how much my country still hasn’t given its DEI history a place.

So, for me the theme of home in colonial and war context is big and SU lines that stand out to me include “I never asked for it to be this way. I never asked to be made!”, “I don't have memories of it, just feelings. I know I can never go back to Homeworld, but it's hard not to have some feelings for where you came from.”, “I've been fighting from the second I broke free of the Earth's crust, because of what YOU did to my colony! Because of what YOU did to my planet!”, “Who knows what they would do to me back home after what I did to Jasper? I can't go back to Homeworld and I can't stay here.” I’m going to go ahead requesting that if the urge comes to throw a “you’re projecting”, don’t, because odds are I know better just how much SU fails at all of this. These quotes are just a selection reminding what the show could've been and that the writers do have an understanding of what they’re pretending to dig into before disingenuously scrambling back to the Status Quo of everybody getting along because nothing has meaning. I could’ve done without them shoving that nonsense out to a worldwide audience.

With “On the Run”, I don’t see a tale of “just” abuse as I get the impression generally is interpreted. What I see is a child stolen from her destroyed heritage who is given nothing to cope with that and forge herself a new identity. The happy resolution of what Pearl in particular has done to her isn’t giving her better access to the story she belongs to, but eradicating her psychological ties to it. Like, I know what it’s like to have to think about this stuff and I can’t imagine external judgement and disassociation would’ve helped me figure things out. And that would've come from my own parent, not an ugly outsider like Pearl, let alone an outsider responsible for the loss. That’s the bizarre part of “On the Run”. It knows there’s an inherent attachment difference between Amethyst and Pearl, but it lies around it because otherwise Pearl can’t be easily forgiven. The rebellion was right, of course, but sometimes in doing the right thing you can’t avoid causing harm and your moral compass is still on display in how you deal with the aftermath of your actions. Although it is insult to injury to me that RPG are conditional freedom fighters. Each one of them was ultimately motivated by own gain. Ruby and Sapphire wanted each other, Pearl wanted Rose, and Rose wanted human men. This isn’t something I fault them for, but it’d be nice if the show was honest about it and acknowledged the current passivity. The only original CG who is pure and operates by ideology and who could’ve pulled off shutting out Amethyst’s ordeal while still not being insensitive is Bismuth. Instead, she gave Amethyst a kind of support Amethyst usually only gives, never receives. She even shared a non-judgy detail what amethysts are like, which we’ve never seen RPG do! How come Bismuth is the one whom we’re supposed to believe is bad?

Where Amethyst has meaning to me in direct likeness, Jasper is a bit more complex, falling into my sympathy through my grandfather and the (violence-induced) personality traits that have been passed on, being mine and also not. Notwithstanding what I judge, I cannot disapprove of Jasper on the whole. I’ve grown up knowing of a man who was overly dedicated to his role as soldier, who couldn’t keep his home, whose successes were of lesser meaning than his non-whiteness, and who in response only became more dedicated. Pride’s funny like that. I’m not against NPD and child soldier interpretations for Jasper, though I don’t share them, but I experience frustration that the nature of her existence in relation to her uncomfortable place in society is not picked up on as a possibility too. I wondered for a while why Lapis’s lack of (consistent) characterization does not stop peeps from acknowledging the potential she has (had) while Jasper gets more of a “either/or” treatment, until I realized that with Lapis too the home angle barely gets talked about. Ditto for Peridot; my main problem with her redemption is that it wasn’t completed. We only got to see how she came to love Earth, not how she disconnected from Homeworld. I’ve only twice seen a post bring that up. Same disregard is reason #~4 I’m not dealing with HBA fans anymore.

I dislike posts that suggest Amethyst owes RPG anything. I dislike posts that pose that Amethyst feels impure for not being a CG by choice. I dislike posts that place Amethyst and Jasper on incompatible ends as if they’re not different expressions of the same duality conflict. I do not tell what to ship or not, but from the above it should be clear that I hold a negative opinion of ships involving any member of the Famethyst with anyone who has proven not to understand (do the people who ship understand?). A particular thing that’s been on my mind with Jasper and Lapis ever since “a lapis terraforms” is the theory -- a miniscule possibility that makes my hair stand on end -- that Lapis was involved with the creation of Beta. Roughly the only reason I want her arc to continue is to have confirmation that that theory is wrong. It needs to be wrong. And on a final matter, trying to put this as delicately as I can: I hope all who have compared Homeworld to Nazi Germany come from a place where they own those words. Because there’s a distinct lack of other (and at times more fitting) comparisons. Like, I’ve only ever seen one person compare Homeworld’s deal to the invasion of the Americas and nothing on any other. Just in general, I’m not comfortable with understanding evil only as an externalized condition. 

If possible, I’d like to see some more consideration whenever an Earth-made gem is the topic. A loss like theirs is a bad one, and even if you’d argue SU deals with it horribly in a way that can be ignored, both Amethyst and Jasper have made references to their troubles as a result of the loss. I may as well add, to any (future) writers, a piece of advice. When your worldbuilding requires you to create societal details, keep in mind that life’s stranger than fiction and nothing you can come up with doesn’t have a real-life parallel, sometimes with memory still fresh (there’s nothing colonial in SU that’s new to me) or even ongoing. It’s pointless to tell you to educate yourself because you can’t always do that if you don’t know what to look for (and as I can attest, even with a lead it can be difficult), but you can always be a decent person about what you try to do. If you decide on certain themes, carry them full and sincere instead of suddenly hiding behind claims of intentional naivity. It’s not difficult to think of how a certain event ought to affect each character and either reject the event if it gets in the way of the goal or plan for the outcome.

To end on a constructive note, these are specific things I would’ve liked SU to do instead:

Be clear about the place of imperfect gems in society, including the occurence of beta productions. We’ve got, like, five random sources right now and they’re contradicting and vague at best.

Be clear whether Rose (and any others of the pink court) is from Earth or not. It matters.

It creeps me out how the show refuses to decide whether Amethyst is an adult or a child and pretty much lets it depend on whether it wants Steven alone or not. Especially creepy given that Amethyst is stolen while Steven is the grand heir.

Be thorough on gem names. I never thought that moment where Peridot calls herself “Peridot” instead of her code was a moment for her, because in order to be “Peridot”, no other peridots may be around. No other peridots may share in what she has. That’s not “d’awww!”, that’s horrible. It bugs me with the Ruby Squad that we know them only by names Steven’s given them and I don’t get why we haven’t got a gem yet who chose their own name as a way to reject Homeworld’s identity rules. Only Amethyst’s scene of discovering her code made sense. (Needless to say, this non-commitment to name significance is why the DeMayo/Universe and Steven/Nora deals are laughable at best.)

Any plot necessity for Steven and Amethyst not to ask questions is dealt with by focussing on why they don’t ask questions. Fear of what emotions they might unleash? Fear of conflict between the teller and the not-teller? Fear of losing certainties? Fear of being unable to handle the answer? Fear of having to ask more questions? Or maybe they know the answers they need but not the questions to get at them. Stuff like this is like a sudoku; you have some answers and you know there’s more, but you can’t formulate a means to get those answers without finding the starter points first.

Garnet would’ve never said “For Amethyst to be herself“ in “Bubbled”, because, holy heckles, that’s rich coming from Ms. “We kept Amethyst”.

Going back to “Stronger Than You” after “Earthlings” leaves me with distaste. Jasper vaguely seems to respond to “And I won’t let you hurt my planet!”, a line that ought to hurt and infuriate her from what we know now, but it’s barely noticeable and gets contextually hidden by a closeup slasher smile. Either [my planet] should not be there or Jasper’s response should get focus. Yes, it’s Garnet’s song, but you can’t play over this like that. (I despise how the crewniverse hid an ethnicity context behind a sexuality one.) 

Malachite would’ve gotten Sugilite’s deal (and Sugilite something much better). Lapis would’ve fused with the aim to trap the fusion and give the CGs a clean shot, having nothing better to hope for than that Steven would save her from whatever fate would be Jasper’s. But the unexpected happens when the two fuse, Lapis’s knowledge that this one act locks her from her home for good and Jasper’s resurfaced trauma of the loss of her home mixing into a singlemindedness neither could’ve foreseen or can control. Malachite would’ve escaped and periodically resurfaced as a break from the Cluster plotline and something fresh in the gem recovery narrative.

The moment Peridot brings up the plans for the Earth colony in "It Could've Been Great", Amethyst would not respond identical to Garnet and Pearl, but rather with a hint of wonder. She was made for it and it was supposed to be made for her; shameful but her story nonetheless. Peridot becomes the person she tries to get more information from what happened and what things could’ve been like after all this time of RPG proving untrustworthy. That ableist nonsense of “Beta” does not occur.

Amethyst and Jasper “bond” after one or the other figures out the other’s identity, if only by playing into Jasper’s anger. Amethyst later defects (though never betrays), resulting in her own time of learning on HW and later visiting/being sent to the pink station, where her story can overlap with whatever is the equivalent of the abduction arc. Consequences of Amethyst leaving are progress in Garnet’s growth into leadership, major self-reflection by Pearl, probs something like Peridot boosting the ranks (Lapis and Bismuth deserve time to themselves), and, since I want Amethyst and Lars to be BFFs over Purple Puma, for this to be a hit on Lars that later helps Amethyst understand RPG’s choices and for which she’d apologize/make up in the equivalent of “Wanted” or thereafter. It could probably also be incorporated in Lars reflecting on his lost friendship with Ronaldo and the choices he made there.

I’m not sure what I want for Jasper. Her getting corrupted is fine by me, especially if she’d be crucial in developing a healing process, but I really wish SU had handled corruption better. Finding peace with her peers would be nice. I’d also like her being able to empathize with HBA (while not tolerating her actions) in a “I’m not where I’m supposed to be and neither are you” sense.

SU avoids talking about it, but it stands to reason some of HW’s planets were populated. You don’t have an army if you don’t have wars. It’s been my interpretation for a long time that Yellowtail is fully alien, Vidalia possibly part alien, and Onion at least half alien, all survivors or descendents thereof from another colonized planet. And after that odd scene between Topaz and Onion, I like to think Topaz is from that colony and that her encounter on Earth makes her think and spread the anti-colonialism beyond Earth.

[elaristalselin]

D&D Character Asks: Elaris Edition

I wanna do all of them because they’re all so good and I love my boy and Sara said to do all the odd ones anyway so....

1) A story for every scar. Do any of their wounds have interesting origins?

He doesn’t have many visible scars, actually! There is a stab wound on the right side of his back, that he sustained almost three years when he was still a naive, young adventurer newly out on his own. (For fellow party members, this is apocryphal and not part of his primary backstory) He met a drow woman known simply as “Darling” who recruited his help in a simple enough burglary job. Get in. Get out. Split the loot 60/40 and go their separate ways. They snuck in and out of a wealthy merchant’s manor while the family was out on holiday and made off with close to 2,000gp. He thought he’d be set for awhile, but when it came to part ways, Darling turned on him and took everything, leaving Elaris in the gutter with a dagger in the back. Luckily, in her haste she missed any vital organs or blood vessels and he recovered in time.

other than that, he’s made it through most of his life relatively unmaimed.

2) Three  five songs that show their character progression.

Ok so I have a playlist for this very reason! But it’s 37 songs long. If I had to narrow it down:

1. Beautiful Boys- CocoRosie

2. Bird Set Free- Sia

3. Dance Little Liar-Arctic Monkeys

4. Stars- fun.

5. All These Things That I’ve Done- The Killers

3) If they were a god which god would they be? (to quote my last post:)

Joanne the Scammer; next question please!

Seriously, though? I think The Traveler, among the Dark Six of Eberron is most like Elaris. His domains include chaos, charm, liberation, travel, and trickery, which is just about as close as I can find to what Elaris deified would be. Maybe add in a tiny bit of St. Anthony,the patron saint of the impoverished and oppressed. Elaris may not be a “good” person, but he empathizes and cares deeply for orphans, slaves, and minority races of Cartowitt. Other than those demographics, he’s always ready to charm and cheat his way into people’s wallets so I can’t really see him being even a chaotic good deity.

4) What was their favourite subject at school?

Elaris hated school as a child,but he found joy in music. It was something he was good at, and he loved weaving magic into each note of his compositions. He also enjoyed reading the ballads of the bards of old, and aspired to become one of them.

5) What does their voice sound like?

Elaris’ voice is a sultry tenor, with a vague, unplaceable but sophisticated-sounding accent. As a whole, he sounds a bit like a pretentious, highly educated asshole with a masters in Snobbery™

6) Animal, vegetable, mineral: what one thing symbolises them the most?

He’s got a small shell with mysterious carved runes on it that he has yet to decipher. The mystery of the shell is reminiscent of the secrecy he uses as a defense mechanism. 

If not, possibly his small pet mouse, Basil. He sees a lot of himself in Basil, from the petty theft to the insignificance of his role in the world, and would do anything to protect this old, fat mouse.

7) If they could control one of the four elements what would it be?

Probably Earth. I can Imagine him terraforming in a remote area trying to magically mine diamonds and other riches with the least amount of effort or sharing possible.

8) What would their favourite tv show be?

Probably some really ridiculous reality tv show, like Millionaire Matchmaker or one of the Real Housewives dramas. He takes joy in seeing the petty inconveniences of the rich and stupid, though deep down, his dream is probably to be a very wealthy and powerful sugar baby.

9) Would they ever use magic to gain love?

He uses magic to charm and manipulate others as part of his JOB. It’s what he was trained to do as a bard, really. He’s definitely used it to charm money out of people, but he wouldn’t ever like...sleep with anyone who didn’t approach him first or was too charmed to actually consent. 

He’s never truly fallen in love with someone, but if he did he wouldn’t want to magically ruin the integrity of their feelings. Being able to genuinely feel such things towards him is a huge step that he doesn’t think anyone would ever reach that point with him. By taking away that choice from them, he would be toying with them the same as any of the people he’s scammed and cheated.

10) What do they think of themself?

Elaris is confident in his skills as a bard, but he (justifiably) sees himself as a pretty shitty person. He likes himself just fine, but is afraid that others would turn on him if they knew who he really is. That’s part of the reason he works so hard on his facades; he doesn’t want people to really see the filth beneath his pristine mask.

11) Gender and sexuality?

Boring I know, but Elaris identifies as just a plain ol cis guy. He’s not afraid of femininity-- if anything he uses it to his advantage and keep people off guard. The way he explores fashion and gender expression as a whole leans towards androgyny, but his identity is still masculine.

12) Do they have a type?

Rich and stupid. If he can get a lot of cash out of them easily, he’ll go for anyone,really. 

If he were to get into an actual relationship, he’s attracted primarily to men and nonbinary folks. Regardless of appearance though, deep down he just wants someone he can match wits with that wouldn’t judge his past or skewed moral compass.

13) Playing video games, would they be a completionist, a speed runner, how would they play?

While WIlhelm would be a modder, Elaris wouldn’t mess with much beyond the occasional console command. He wouldn’t be a completionist per se, but he’d spend the vast majority of game time looking for workarounds to the conventional methods of playing. Will certain dialogue options affect ones later in the game? If you jump backwards 5 times after leaving the game on for three days, can you access a secret room that makes finding a rare item that much easier? He’d want to know

14) If they could solve one problem, what would they solve?

He’d really like to abolish slavery and diminish the roles and obsession surrounding the suits, sure, but most likely he’d want to set up plenty of soup kitchens, food banks, and homeless shelters to prevent children from ever dying from starvation and the effects of destitution.

15) What horoscope stereotype fits them the most?

He’s technically a Virgo, but he fits with the charming, diplomatic qualities of Sagittarius much better. 

16) Favourite terrain?

While not actual “terrain,” he loves the city and within the halls of the homes and manors within. Regal balls and social events have always fascinated him more than any wilderness, always dreaming of the danger and delight of court intrigue.

17) How do they dress?

His clothes range from masc to femme of center, but he cares more about the quality of materials used and the way they make him look. Rich furs, heavy velvets, and luxurious silks are his favorite materials to work with, especially if intricate details, such as embroidery or woven patterns are included. His favorite color is ultramarine, so often his outershirt will be similar hues. 

Please give this boy a reason to dress fancy. He loves fancy more than he loves himself

18) What would their ideal home be like?

It would be rich and luxurious, with fine furniture and fine trophies stolen throughout his escapades. However, it wouldn’t be too large. He may love the finer things in life, but also reviles absurd amounts of excess and the people associated with such extravagance. Fine and tasteful, rather than gaudy to the point of tackiness. To make it an actual home, he’d love to share it with the few friends he does have, along with those he had lost along the way. However, there’d always be a single extra guest room, intentionally left empty.

19) What would they like their mark in history to be? (to quote my last answer)

His whole schtick involves aliases and disguise to prevent infamy. If he were to gain a reputation as a conman, the gig would be up. In an ideal world, he would want to be portrayed as a young, famous musician or maybe even a charismatic diplomat who worked hard and built himself up from the ashes of his childhood to go on to live a fulfilling, preferably wealthy life. Maybe he’d have a beautiful, happy spouse and a life that’s normal and not too far beyond ordinary. Of course given his current circumstance and his outlook on the future, that’d never happen.

In this life, he’d be happy to fade into obscurity, living off the riches he’s swindled out of rich people through unnoticeable skimming and other forms of fraud.

20) If they could be a dragon, would they be a dragon?

To be or not to be, blah blah Hamlet is my favorite edgelord manbaby.

Really though, I don’t think he would be a dragon. Sure, he’ be powerful and rich beyond his wildest dreams, but brute force and intimidation aren’t his forte. He enjoys seduction and subterfuge too much to be a big lump of muscle, stomping around angrily to get his way.

[monsteronfire]

BTS AU Prompt

Okay, this got way out of hand. First let me do some background explaining. So a few days ago I came across a post on my dash about someone asking if a writer had ever considered a BTS pirate AU. I immediately started thinking of a Treasure Planet type of universe (because I’m a ho for those futuristic AU’s). Now let me let you all in on a bit of info. I love strong female protagonists. If there is an opportunity for me to write one, I fucking will with enthusiasm. In a world like this, how could I pass up on making a badass chick. If you ever give me an AU to write, I will like make the Read/OC a strong character that isn’t to be messed with. So I got this fucking idea and I was honestly just trying to write a tiny little prompt and post it to see what you guys thought, part of the reason I wrote it in the tense that I did. Seriously it was only supposed to be a few paragraphs long at most and then it turned into this. If you guys do like this, I will honestly be making this the first chapter. Anyway! So here it is, a prompt on a new idea I got and I wanted to see what people thought. Are you interested? Do you think it’s great? Do you want more? Is it stupid? Please let me know because if people are interested I want to write this. There will be more than just BTS added as I want various members from various groups to be a part of the crew. I’m hoping you can guess who the two mechanics are near the end. The pair is set up to be Reader/Jungkook and that’s my idea for right now, but for all I know my brain to take the story in a whole new direction and pit the Reader with someone else. I don’t know. This is a very rough idea and I have no idea where it’s going, but I would love to see. Please help a ho out and let me know!

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Imagine an unknown age of the future where people have become so advanced that they have also regressed. Beginning anew in a solar system where multiple planets have been discovered, terraformed and colonized for the lives of not only humans, but alien species as well. New forms of life have come to mix and intermingle with the race of man and all live in relative harmony on the inner planets of the federation, the outer planets of the free marches and the small moons of the common folk. Technology has birthed an age where ancient sea ships rule both water and sky in a new forms, all with an air of their father vessels.

In this age their are three prominent groups of people. The simple, hard working common folk; the righteous, protective and just armed forces with their largest and most prominent branch being the Navy; and the underbelly of all society. Criminals, goons, gangs and, more commonly, pirates. Sea pirates, sky pirates, space pirates. Pirates of all walks of life have become the leading head of the dark and dank underworld of society. The one thing the common folk are always sure of is that the Navy and Pirates are mortal enemies. This is the world now, the setting for this tale.

Enter one Jeon Jungkook. A young man filled with strength, will, determination and the drive to serve and protect the common folk. At first a member of the Navy, he spent three years working towards making the system a better place. But his dream was quickly snuffed out when a band of pirates aboard a ship both infamous and unknown attacked his vessel. Merely a legend to the common folk, the ship by the name of Bonreol (B-aw-n-ree-ol) is well known to all pirate kind though few would speak of it if prompted. Jungkook, with his skill and hardwork, has reached the rank of first mate on his crew’s ship, the S.S. Virtue, but that does not save him on the night of the attack. In the dark while most of the crew slept, the pirate crew of the Bonreol board, slaughter all, but six of his crew mates and attempt to take the ship. The captain is killed and by some sheer light of hope, Jungkook is somehow able to fend off the pirates and protect six of his crew mates until help arrives.

It is a famous event that only serves to get Jungkook honorably discharged from the Navy against his will. With nothing left to give purpose in his life and his insatiable need to protect the innocent not fulfilled, he turns to becoming a freelance bodyguard for all the common folk. He has done well on his missions so far and it has made him cocky. His current assignment is to protect and safely deliver the daughter of a low tier royal family (of some planet or other) to her parents by the evening of the next day. Unfortunately he has run into a local gang of goons and the girl has been stolen away as a hostage. Before they do, though, they make sure to show Jungkook that he is hardly much when it comes to a real fight and that if he were to try and take on their whole group himself to rescue the girl he would surely fail. He can do nothing else, but turn to a companion he has made in his time as a bodyguard.

A pirate captain by the name of Juda (Joo-dah). A surly old man of a different species with a stout, large and round body that was probably three times the size of Jungkook. His skin is smooth and shiny, often looking moist and he has a beard of short tentacles on the bottom edge of his face, much of it covering his mouth and jiggling around when he speaks. He speaks plainly, though lightheartedly, his laugh big and booming- and frequent. Jungkook is not one to make friends with pirates, his Navy instincts kicking in most of the time, but Juda has helped him on more than one occasion and the young bodyguard feels he can be trusted.

“I need someone, Juda. Anyone that can fight. A few of your men perhaps.” Jungkook practically begs, determined to get this little girl back alive.

“I’m sorry, Kook. Ain’t have anyone ta spare. Ya should try lookin’ in on da pub, there ‘re always dem merc types lookin’ fer work.”

“I can’t use mercs, Juda, you know that. They’re just as likely to kill that girl in the crossfire as they are to take that gang out. I have to get her back, Juda. She’s just a little girl, isn’t there any way you could help me out?”

Juda is silent for a minute, staring at Jungkook as he wages some unknown war within himself. Jungkook can tell he’s nibbling on his lip, the tentacles jiggling slightly with the action. The pirate looks away for just a second or two before sighing heavily and turning back to the kid. He’s staring hard and Jungkook can tell this is not something he wants to do, but he’s willing to do it regardless.

“Der’s someone I can call. Dis won’t be no easy feat, mind ya! Da captian o’ da Lideo (Lih-day-oh) ain’t one ta be trifled wit.”

Jungkook doesn’t care. If this captain can help, he will do whatever the guy needs him to do.

“Okay, get him here as soon as possible.”

Jungkook is lucky. The Lideo is nearby and arrives within the next couple of hours, a medium sized air ship slowing to a hover over Juda’s old, docked ship. It looks like a hunk of junk at first glance, but as he watches it slowly descend to a more reasonably height to disembark, Jungkook can see that it is built to be far more than that. Under the rusting metal and permanent layer of general filth lie the components to make the ship not only sky worthy, but space worthy as well. The hull is too large to be a normal sky ship and he can see the outlines for hatches where weapons could come out. It is certainly more than it seems.

“Ya got a photo of da girl?” Juda suddenly asks and Jungkook is quick to pull out his holo-com, pulling up a picture of the girl. Juda takes it and grins at Jungkook.

“Brace yerself, boyo. Yer about ta meet da cream o’ da crop,” he says, slapping Jungkook on the back as he stands next to him. He turns to stare up at the ship and Jungkook can only mimic the action, the shadow of a body hoping from a now open hatch on the side. It drops quickly, but lands more gracefully than Jungkook is prepared for, the figure standing tall with ease and staring the two men down with an icy, hard stare.

“Alright, Juda. What’s this emergency?”

“(Y/N)! Ma dear, welcome back ta Horsalth! It’s been a whi-”

“Cut the shit, Juda. You want something done, what is it?”

She is a cold character, but heated at the same time. Jungkook is taken aback at her very presence before him. She is lovely to say the least and Jungkook is certain he has never seen a creature that has both drawn him in and frightened him more. She stands tall, almost rigid, but not in a nervous way. In the way of being ready for a fight. He is sure that if he were to throw out a sucker punch to her now she would have him on the floor before he is even aware of what’s happening. She has a photon pistol strapped to one hip and the hilt of a nano saber on the other. Straps of various kinds adorn her body, all holding onto something or other (he suspects mostly weapons), the most interesting of which is a staff on her back. It is pure black and long, almost as long as she is tall, and held at an angle there. Her clothes are tight fitting, but even he can tell they are made to be fought in.

This... This is a warrior and for a moment Jungkook is unsure if she is the right person for the task.

“We got a target fer ya,” Juda finally says, producing Jungkook’s holo-com with the picture of the little girl. (Y/N) takes it, staring at it hard for only a second before turning a dark glare on Juda.

“I don’t take out kids, you know that Juda.”

“Not take out ma dear, save. Dis here’s ma boy, Jungkook. He’s a freelance bodyguard and is s’posed ta be protectin’ dat little girl. Unfortunately he crossed paths wit da Dockboys and they took ‘er. He can’t take ‘em on alone, so he needs help.”

(Y/N) turns her icy gaze to Jungkook, her stare hard and it makes Jungkook’s skin crawl. She’s judging him, he can tell, but she says nothing. Finally she produces the holo-com back to Juda, who hands it over to Jungkook.

“I’ll get your girl back... Won’t be free, though, Juda. You know that.”

Juda looks sour for a moment, but nods.

“Eeh, I figured as much. Watchyer price?”

She’s silent for a longer moment than Jungkook is comfortable with and he can see something sparking in her eyes.

“I want your uranium.”

Juda looks stricken for a moment, quickly trying to hide it under playing dumb as he bumbles out a response.

“Br-br-m-my what?”

“Your uranium stash, I want it. All of it.”

He suddenly bursts into the laughter, the booming noise almost rattling many of the metal panels on his old ship.

“Dat ain’t gonna happen, missy and yer know dat.”

“Cut the bullshit, Juda. You’ve had that stash for half a millennia now and it’s still burning a hole in the back corner of your lower deck! You can’t use the stuff for anything what with this hunk of junk still running on crystalarium.”*

“I plan ter sell it!” He shouts at her as if trying desperately to grasp at something to deter her. She is not so easily swayed.

“To who?!”

“I got a couple o’ buyers!”

“Bullshit, again Juda! You haven’t had buyers in years since you won’t give it up to sell anyway. You’re not going to sell it and you’ve got no use for it! I want that uranium.”

“I’m waitin’ fer da right price!”

“And what price is that, squilleren?** A soul or two? Perhaps a first born? You want that little girl back, you’ll give me that stash of uranium.”

Jungkook is suddenly placing a hand on Juda’s meaty shoulder, practically pleading with him silently. Juda stares at him in anger for a long moment before finally he’s shaking the tentacles of his beard and harrumphing.

“Half,” he bargains.

“All,” she says back, resolute.

“Leave me a quarter o’ it then!”

Jungkook can tell he’ll never give it all away, desperately trying to keep as much as he can. (Y/N) is silent, glaring down Juda. For a moment Jungkook thinks she’s trying to get him to submit, but then something changes about her. Her strong stance slackens, her shoulders loosening and dropping a bit. Her eyes go very wide and her pupils dilate so much that he can no longer see them from where he stands. Then suddenly they are glowing, a bright aquamarine light that blocks out any other feature of them. Slowly her gaze drops from Juda and runs along the floor from him to her feet.

“What’s she doing?” He suddenly questions in a whisper.

“Checking,” Juda grumbles back lowly.

“For?”

“Anything. Everything.”

Jungkook is confused, shooting a questioning glance at Juda before his eyes are immediately drawn back to (Y/N). In all his years he has yet to see any supernatural abilities that other races possess, so he is unable to let his attention stray far from her.

“She’s checkin’ ta see if I’m goin’ ta stand true to ma word or back out, seein’ how many crew I got nearby in case da situation goes sour an’ we fight. Makin’ sure da uranium is actually on da ship.”

He trails off after that as if eluding that there is more to the power. Was there? What more could there be?

“Is that all?” Jungkook asks, unable to control his curiosity.

“Loads more. She can check, read, predict and plan accordin’ly wid just dat power alone. It’s one o’ her special abilities.”

Jungkook is blown away.

“She has more?”

Juda snorts.

“Dat woman dere is nothin,’ but a black box. Cream o’ da crop, just like I said.”

“Fine,” she suddenly says, her eyes returning to normal in the blink of a second and her gaze returning to Juda.

“Three quarters of your uranium in exchange for the safe return of the little girl.”

Jungkook just barely holds in a sigh of relief, (Y/N) lifting a hand so she can speak into a device on her wrist.

“Namjoon, I need you.”

The hatch she fell from is still open and another body jumps from it. It lands in a crouch, long and lanky arms stretching out in front of it to brace the fall on its palms. It’s a man, tall and wiry as he stands to his full height next to his captain. He slouches more than her and he’s quick to stuff his hands into his pockets, but he holds a similar air of power and authority as (Y/N). His skin has been kissed by the sun, tattoos of various colors splaying across parts of his face, arms and what little of his chest Jungkook could see. His hair is so blonde it is nearly white, shaved short on the under side and his long bangs styled up to reveal his forehead. He is handsome with big lips, sharp eyes and a strong jawline. Jungkook has a hard time believing he is a pirate.

“You and the rest stay here and keep our good friend Juda company.”

“What’s the job,” he questions in a deep voice.

“I’m off to rescue a charge. From the Dockboys no less.”

Namjoon turns a look of slight shock and disbelief on his captain.

“Those goons kidnap people now?”

“Apparently,” she says, suddenly producing fingerless gloves from somewhere and pulling them on. Finally, Jungkook can get to what he was here for.

“I can show you the way,” he says, already eager to move out. Both (Y/N) and Namjoon look at him with such condescending shock that it jars him to a halt.

“I know the way just fine, thanks. You’re not coming with me.”

Jungkook is just as shocked, his gaze easily turning into a glare.

“She’s my charge.”

“A charge you lost. Trust me, bodyguard, it’ll be easier and much quicker if I go alone.”

She looks serious, but unfazed in any way. She is not worried or afraid and Jungkook finds himself jarred by her very existence. Their hideout is filled with at least a dozen and a half men, yet she is going in alone to take them all on. He looks to Namjoon who looks equally unworried.

“You’re just letting your captain go take on a gang alone,” he asks, trying to say anything to get in on this mission. Namjoon looks a little taken aback for a moment before he’s finally shrugging his shoulders.

“Why not? She’s the strongest of any of us by a long stretch. Anyone else would just get in her way. Trust her when she says it’ll be quicker if she does it alone.”

Juda is once again slapping Jungkook on the back.

“Don’t ya worry, boyo. She’ll have da girl back before da settin’ sun. You’ll be able to return her by yer deadline.”

Jungkook is in disbelief. He is outnumbered on the subject apparently and can only stand back and watch as (Y/N) and Namjoon share a few more words before she’s simply gone. One second she is there and the next she isn’t, the only thing left behind being the familiar sound of a mini-warp. She has simply just disappeared without any other preparations and Junkook is left wondering if he can really trust any of these people. Even Juda. He looks back to Namjoon who is eyeing him in a way that makes his skin crawl a little. It only lasts a moment before he’s turning his attention to Juda who is glaring right back at him.

“So, Juda... How’ve you been?”

“Fine,” is Juda’s short reply.

“Good, good.”

He’s silent again for a moment, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet as he looks around the deck of Juda’s ship.

“Sely around?” He suddenly asks casually. Juda’s alien skin nearly turns the color of a tomato he’s so mad, but his voice is even when he answers.

“No. Back home wid her mum, thanks ta you. Even if she was about, I wouldn’t be lettin’ ya near ‘er.”

“I do apologize about that, it was a huge misunderstanding.”

Jungkook is convinced he isn’t sorry at all. His voice sounds apologetic, but he hardly looks it in anyway. Just a small smirk playing on his lips. Juda storms away back behind the counter of his on-ship shop and into his cabin. Unsure of what else to do, Jungkook simply nods at Namjoon and turns to follow the captain.

True to their words, before the sun has even begun to set Jungkook catches the sound of a mini-warp and a little girl’s laughter outside. He’d been pacing Juda’s cabin nearly the whole time he was waiting, but now he’s practically ripping the door off its hinges as he exits back out into the sun. Sure enough, (Y/N) and Namjoon stand there with small grins on their faces while a small girl sits atop (Y/N)’s shoulders laughing gleefully.

“Iyo (Ee-yo)!” He calls with relief, trotting up to her as (Y/N) lifts her up and places her gently on the ground. Iyo squeals with delight, bouncing in front of the female captain a couple of times before she’s running at Jungkook.

“Onii-san!”

Jungkook catches her easily as she rushes into his arms, lifting her with ease while she hugs his neck tightly. He hugs back lightly before pulling her away a little to check for any injuries.

“She’s not wounded,” (Y/N) says knowingly.

“She had a scrape on her knee when I found her, but I quickly healed that.”

Jungkook looks down to either knee on the small girl spotting a whole in her pants, but no wound. He looks up a little shocked, but nods.

“Thank you... For getting her back too.”

She smirks, a devilish yet attractive expression on her.

“Don’t thank me, I’m getting paid. Now, Juda...”

She trails off and turns her attention to the larger man who’s been standing back near his door this whole time. He looks sour, but nods and leaves his cabin. He heads to another door, (Y/N) grinning just as devilishly as she smirks and hitting Namjoon lightly as a signal for him to follow her. He does, smirking as well, and they disappear below the deck with Juda. Jungkook watches after them curiously for a moment before Iyo is pulling his attention back to her. She’s still giggly, telling him about how ‘onee-sama’ came and beat up all the bad guys that had taken her.

He’s still trying to get over his shock when a sharp rapping on the medal below his feet draws his attention. He stares at the spot below him for a moment before he’s forced to jump away, skipping off to one side as a large portion of the deck splits and begins to open to reveal the lower deck. Before the large panels are even done moving apart Namjoon is hopping up onto the deck in front of him, winking as he straightens and turns to face the hole. He pulls something from one of his pockets, fiddles with it a bit and then tosses it into the hole. Within minutes both Juda and (Y/N) are slowly rising out of the hole on top of a large pallet of crates, Juda’s side tipping lower than the one (Y/N) sat on.

She’s grinning just like before, sitting with one arm resting on her bent knee and the other patting the crates she sat on almost lovingly. Namjoon is returning her grin with a smirk of his own and Jungkook can see their closeness in that moment. They are certainly brethren. He’s surprised by the pallet of crates, never having seen so much uranium in one space. It was one of the rarest forms of power anymore, not as powerful as some others, but still sought after by some of the less developed settlements across the system. Anyone who owned some could sell a single ingot for a hefty sum. Even on his naval ship- many of which still ran on nuclear power- he had only ever seen one crate at a time. Seeing this much was a sight most would never get in their lives.

Juda hops off his side and onto his deck with a thunderous sound, the pallet immediately righting itself so that it was floating evenly. Once it’s high enough it starts to float off to one side, Namjoon moving with it slowly and Jungkook finally notices another device in his hands. It’s similar to the one he’d tossed into the hole, a beam of green light arcing from the one in his hands to stretch across the pallet of uranium. As he brings it over the flat surface of the deck, he lowers it (Y/N) hopping off to land gracefully on her feet before it even touches ground. Iyo suddenly squeals in Jungkook’s arms, giggling as the older woman winks at her. She seems much more personable now that she has what she wants.

“Don’t know what yer gonna use this fer. Yer ship don’t run on nuclear power either.”

“Who knows, maybe we’ll sell it to the highest bidder,” she says nonchalantly, her voice light.

“Ya go an’ rob me blind only ta sell what I meant ta sell in the first place!”

Juda sounds angry, but he knows the transaction is over so he doesn’t look too put out anymore. (Y/N) lifts her wrist to her mouth again and speaks into the device like before, smirking a bit as she watches Juda.

“Mark, bring her around and park her up. We got cargo.”

Something blips and a voice comes through.

“On it.”

The Lideo suddenly roars with life and lifts a little higher in the air before moving forward a bit and starting to turn. It makes a wide arc around Juda’s ship as it turns completely around and lowers beyond some other docked ships where Jungkook can no longer see it. (Y/N) pats a hand on Namjoon’s shoulder and he lifts the pallet a little before heading up the ramp and onto the sky-dock. She turns back to Juda, smirking one final time at him and then Jungkook.

“Pleasure doin’ business with you again, Juda.” She says as she turns and waves halfheartedly as she leaves. Jungkook suddenly feels a twinge of panic as he watches her leave, his eyes darting from Juda to Iyo and then back to the female captain. Juda’s grumbling to himself as he slams a large hand on a button he passes, the deck beginning to close again. Jungkook turns his attention back to Iyo who is also watching (Y/N) leave, looking a little sad.

Finally he turns to follow Juda slowly, the gears in his mind cranking away as he keeps looking back behind him. He’d had so much trouble trying to take on only a few of those gang members, but she had done it all alone. He had strength and skill though, he took on that pirate crew when he was still in the navy. Why couldn’t he take on those goons. Was he just rusty? What about her? How was she so strong to take on a full gang alone? Before Jungkook knows what he’s doing, he’s rushing up behind Juda. He calls the captains name to get his attention, handing Iyo off to him.

“Take her for a minute.”

“Wha-? Oi!”

He turns quickly to run up the ramp and down the dock in the direction he’d seen the other two disappear in. Thankfully they aren’t far, the Lideo docked just at the end of the line with two other men joining the female captain and her companion. They’re both thin, one a little more lanky than the other, and wearing dirty mechanic’s overalls. One had the top rolled down and tied around his waist, only a black tank top on to reveal black inked tatoos up and down his arms and across his shoulders. His hair is dark and styled up like Namjoon’s and even from where he is Jungkook can see the spots of grease and dirt blotting his skin randomly. The other is a bit taller, long and lanky with the mechanic’s overalls on, but the front unzipped most of the way. He’s got a dark blue shirt on underneath and while he’s also covered in grease and dirt, it’s considerably less than his counterpart. His face looks fair and his orange hair is faded and loose, falling across his forehead lightly. He has a sucker in his hand, popping it into his mouth from time to time as they both listen to their captain. Jungkook slows as he gets closer, practically creeping up to the group silently as he nears.

“Did you tell them what we’re going to do with it,” the dark haired one asks.

“It’s none of their business, get it loaded up and make sure it’s secure.”

They both nod and Namjoon hands off the gravity device to the orange-haired one, both of them following the crate into the ship. Jungkook stands just off to the side now, his nerves getting the better of him as he watches only (Y/N). The way she stands, how she holds herself. She is strong and confident- powerful. Jungkook wants to taste strength like hers. Namjoon finally notices him standing there, smirking and motioning to him so that (Y/N) turns to see him. She frowns at him, eyeing him up and down.

“Now what?”

“What’re you going to do with it? The uranium,” he suddenly asks, curious.

“That’s doesn’t concern you, kid. You want something?”

“I deliver Iyo tonight,” Jungkook replies, not sure how else to word what he wants to say.

“Congrats to you,” she says, just as sourly as the first time, “... and?”

“My job is complete after that and...” He trails off, losing his nerve.

“And what?”

“I think he wants to come with us, captain,” Namjoon elaborates for Jungkook. (Y/N) snorts and laughs a little.

“No,�� she says simply- finally. Jungkook is taken aback, his inability to back down kicking in.

“Why not? You’ll likely stay the night to restock and leaving in the morning. My job will be done then and I’ll be free-”

“So? What use do you think we have for you. I got a full crew on this ship, everyone one of them with more experience and know-how than you.”

“C’mon, cap. He’s good looking, he could be handy at a pub,” Namjoon suddenly cuts in, speaking with a smirk on his face. He was enjoying this exchange.

“I’m not taking on some navy boy-scout so you can use him as a wingman,” she shoots back, glaring at her companion.

“I can fight.”

“So can my crew and last I checked I had to save your ass because you couldn’t keep a little girl safe from a bunch of goons.”

“The Dockboys are pretty low tier-”

“Shut up, Namjoon. Listen, kid-”

“I’m not a kid,” Jungkook shoots at her, glaring and trying to look strong.

“You are to me,” she suddenly replies, her voice hard and her eyes holding the same iciness he’d seen when he’d first met her.

“I’ve been the captain of this ship longer than you’ve been alive. This isn’t some free for all traveling fight club. We’re pirates. This type of life isn’t meant for boys just fresh out of the Navy. Go back to being a bodyguard, you wouldn’t cut it with us.”

Her words are so final and they sting, but Jungkook is determined. He has to get stronger. He’s lost his purpose with no one to fight for or protect. He is lost and the only thing keeping him going now is his ability to fight and protect, but he wasn’t strong enough to protect Iyo. He has strength and he can fight, he knows that, but he’s never tasted power like what (Y/N) has. He doesn’t know what he’s doing, but he does know that right now he needs her.

“I can fight, I have before. Against pirates from the Bonreol and-”

“The what?” Namjoon asks, suddenly looking serious.

“The Bonreol, they attacked the vessel I was stationed on when I was in the Navy.”

“That was you? The kid that saved six of his crew mates?” He asks and Jungkook is suddenly puffing with pride.

“Yes.”

“Captain,” Namjoon turns to reason with (Y/N), but she looks  unimpressed.

“That doesn’t mean anything. You think you took on some badass pirate crew? The men on the Bonreol are known for ‘playing with their food’ so to speak. They’re practically famous for making people think they’re weak before tearing them to shreds and you know better, Namjoon.” She suddenly stops, jabbing a finger at Namjoon before turning back to glare hard at Jungkook.

“The only reason you and your brothers survived is because your backup showed up in time. They got careless and took too long, but have no doubt that if you didn’t get help you would’ve died. Likely slowly and painfully.”

“Captain,” Namjoon suddenly says quietly, pulling her back to speak in a hushed tone to her.

“He took on their crew-”

“And they played with him, that doesn’t make him strong,” she shoots back.

“That’s not what I meant. Even if he isn’t that strong he’s fearless. He took them all on alone, that’s worth something. We can train him, teach him to be strong.”

“No.”

“Captain... Noona,” he says softly in a tone that makes Jungkook immediately uncomfortable. Like he’s invading on a private moment. They seem to stare each other down for a long moment before she’s turning her heated glare back on Jungkook. He sees his moment and tries one more time.

“I have strength and even if I’m not strong enough I can learn. I was in the navy, I know how to be on ship even if it’s a pirate one. I can be of use to you.”

So? What say you captain? Will you take him? This is his story, but this world is yours. What will you decide?

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Crystalarium* - A source of power and energy through crystals found on specific planets or moons.

Squilleren** - A race of squid-like people. With skin and various tentacle features they are able to live underwater, but don’t need to.

[magical-bellybutton]

Below are some of my thoughts about Steven Universe Future that I have has thus far. If you enjoy reading long essays, this may interest you, or you may continue to scroll on. I am not bothered either way; I just wanted to write down what I was thinking and share it with others. 

This homeschool gem thing that Steven is doing is basically providing an opportunity to provide therapy and rehabilitation for all these gems. I don’t think it’s fair to simply dismiss this as Steven simply having a Savior complex (if that’s the case, using that same train of thought, perhaps doctors and psychologists and therapists should just stop doing their jobs because wanting to help people with the skills and resources they have is being a savior I guess [or maybe it’s just realizing one has some appropriate skills, experiences, and resources that would benefit other's well-being if shared...]). Personally, I think that little homeschool is a metaphor for therapy treatment (particularly talk and behavior therapy/counseling [such as CBT] aimed at underserved or traumatized populations perhaps) and the gems helping out at little homeschool are supposed to represent those volunteers and semi and professionals who are helping provide services to those who may need it. Steven, I believe, is how a new counselor/coordinator feels when they first start helping people, and I think there are several examples that serve to support this theory of little homeschool being a loosely veiled metaphor for therapy.

First, let us examine Steven in these episodes thus far. Steven, someone who has experienced a lot of things (some horribly traumatic-like the whole pink diamond/rose quartz arc- and some really lovely things-like having a supportive father and supportive gems like Pearl, Amethyst, and Garnet to help raise him and work things out along the way). Steven has a lot of authority being half diamond, and he chooses to use his authority to dismantle the rigid social caste system, end imperialism, and no longer exploit gems. He essentially relieves them of their duties they were born to do and encourages them to fulfill their lives in whatever way they want, provided that way is healthy and does not provide harm to others. However, after observing how hard this was for gems like Peridot and Lapis to do without some additional help from other gems who knew what it was like to adapt to life on earth and create a fulfilling life, Steven decides to pool the resources he has (an empty barn outside of town and gem friends with lots of experience working with other gems and helping them eventually healthy adjust to life outside a rigid social hierarchy) to help cooperatively create and run an opportunity for gems to navigate this new, unfamiliar life without strict outlined rules on what they should do and who they should be. Steven has a lot of ambition and has a horrible work-life balance as well as deep-seated trauma that he desperately needs help working through himself (some people working in the field of providing psychological have this, especially when they first start out). You can tell he means well, and I don’t think we should be quick to judge him without acknowledging that for every mistake he almost always learns from it by the end of the episode. This leads me to my next example, which is about one instance that Steven made a mistake and learned from it- Jasper.

Looking at Jasper, there are a number of things that jump out immediately as quite concerning from a physiological standpoint. For one, Jasper is refusing to live differently in this new society that has new roles and new rules. Jasper reacted to this huge change by isolating on the fringe of society. They are quick to violence when confronted and chooses isolation over change. One might see Steven asking Jasper if they want to join the homeschool thing as trying to force them to change when change is unneeded and interpret that as disrespecting Jasper’s wishes. However, self-imposed isolation and refusal to change isn’t a healthy long-term coping mechanism for anybody. While one may need time alone to process things, long term isolation is not a healthy coping mechanism, and neither is a fixed mindset. Self-imposed isolation is often a symptom of depression (or similar mental health disorders). Being around people is beneficial for people’s mental well-being (this is a fact and not up for debate-this is proven time and time again in various psychological studies and theories). Interacting with others helps can help people feel accepted, loved, and can help create a positive self-image. In addition, talking to others and being around others can help one work through what’s on their mind- one can verbalize what they’re feeling, they can sympathize with others who feel the same way which helps them realize that they are not alone in their struggle. It is alright for Jasper to need some time away from people, but long term-isolation is not healthy, especially accompanied by rumination and violence. Steven recognizes this and that’s perhaps one reason he asks Jasper seemingly again and again to give Little Homeschool a chance- like a friend trying to convince their friend that therapy can be helpful if they give it a try. It’s not so much that Steven is trying to change people who don’t need changing. Jasper does indeed need to change- they are living in a way that is not sustainable and it is not healthy for them (especially after everything Jasper has experienced - corruption and the end of gem society as they knew. That is a lot for anyone to handle and wrap their head around by themselves.) The way that Steven ultimately ends up approaching Jasper (ie engaging in battle) is not the healthiest way to do it (far from it). However, it is clear that Steven himself still has a lot to learn, especially in his technique for approaching others, and he is also attempting to meet Jasper on terms they are familiar with (using violence and proving physical strength). It also shows us that one needs to want to change in order to start to change and accept help and start practicing healthier habits, not have the change forced upon them at the wrong time when they are not ready for it. Jasper is not ready to change nor wants, and perhaps that is why they are not ready or willing to join the other gems at little homeschool. I think this fits well into the therapy metaphor, as this also applies to real people, not just gems- people need to come to want to become healthier and bring their own motivation to truly improve. It is not wrong to want to help others, but it has to be on the person’s own free-will to be the most effective.  I think one such example of someone that chooses to improve comes in the form of the Lapi.

Lapis Lazuli has a long and traumatic past-trapped in a mirror without a way to communicate for thousands of years, then thrown into an unhealthy fusion with a violent gem for months, then realizing their original purpose for creation is no longer needed, and they have to forge a new life on Earth. Lapis has been through a lot, and she has come so far. I think Lapis is a wonderful example to what happens when one is surrounded by those who support them, love them unconditionally, and help them in their journey to a healthier life. I think this can especially be seen in the episode where Lapis encounters the other two Lazulis who are terraforming the planet and destroying things. Lapis sees a lot of her old self in them, and she tries her best to use her experience to help the other two Lazulis realize that their destructive habits are not only harming others (the environment and other life forms in the way of their carnage) but are also harming themselves. Steven and Lapis do their best at first to simply show the other two Lazulis the positive and healthy alternatives that exist so the Lazulis can still channel their power and expression but in safer, sustainable, and more fulfilling ways. However, when the other two Lazulis begin to show aggression and harsh words towards Lapis, going so far to personally attack her physically and verbally, Lapis momentarily reverts back to using destruction to show power (this is similar to what happens when Steven fights Jasper as well- trying to use brute force to convince others to change). However, Lapis then realizes the same thing that Steven comes to realize- one must want to change in order to accept help from others. This is confirmed in the last moments of the episode when the freckled Lazuli willingly shows up to the little homeschool to seek some guidance. In the end, it was not the brute power that reached her, but instead the two showing her that they would be there for her when she was ready and seeking help. It is also shown in this that it isn’t just one person that can change someone’s outlook, but is rather a result of the combined efforts of multiple people whose strengths and weaknesses help balance each others out. Another great example of this can be seen in the episode with Amethyst and Steven.

Amethyst and Steven both work for the homeschool, however, they take care of different sectors where their strengths lie. Steven is pretty good at overall coordination and planning whereas Amethyst really excels at working with individuals. Amethyst starts a program to place gems into jobs in the community where they will thrive and gain positive experience working with others while doing something they enjoy. Steven is incredibly pleased to hear this but worries that the roles were chosen superficially due to what their original roles were on homeworld, not based on what they want to do now. This is a valid concern, however, by the end of the episode, it is made clear that what at surface seemed superficial to Steven was actually a result of lots of listening to other’s individual needs. This demonstrates the strengths and weaknesses of Steven quite well- he seems to excel at viewing things from a distance, being orderly and being in charge of many (showing this in tasks such as such as coordinating schedules, gathering resources, talking diplomatically to leaders, leading, etc.) while he struggles with detailed matters sometimes, such as really listening to others (this could be a result of him being very introspective and not perhaps not listening to others as much as he could/should, but that is up for debate I suppose). Amethyst is the exact opposite, as she is loose and very intune with other people’s feelings, and she is able to listen to others and find what works for them specifically. Steven and Amethyst both thrive with different sectors with different jobs and balance out each other, and I think this episode really shows that people with the same goals (in this case, helping gems find a new purpose and overcoming trauma) can help in different ways using their strengths.  

I hope that the show continues to explore how other gems are helping other gems grow and overcome trauma (like how Pearl helped Volleyball Pearl) as well as exploring how Steven will come to terms with his own trauma and strike a healthier balance between life and work. I am excited to see what is left to come :D

Anyways, here’s the tl:dr- Little Homeschool is basically provides therapy for gems and we need to realize that, while Steven is far from perfect and has a lot to learn and perfect, he really is trying his best to provide the opportunity for gems to overcome any trauma they may have from being corrupted, from being part of the gem war, and/or experience they end of society where they had defined roles with defined jobs and purposes as well as providing a safe place for gems to try out new things and find a new sense of purpose for their own life of their own choosing.

[swipestream]

New Release Roundup, 3 November 2018: Science Fiction

This week’s roundup of the newest releases in science fiction features the return of many beloved series–Starship Grifters, The Four Horsemen, Renegade Star, The Frontiers Saga, and more!

Anomaly (Legacy War #7) – John Walker

Humanity has unlocked the secrets of the Orbs but the race to collect another of the powerful devices has put them on a collision course with their enemy, the terrorist group known as the Tol’An.

One final Orb remains at large in the wild and the Gnosis is dispatched to get it. Lost somewhere in a space station on the edge of civilized space, early intelligence reports suggested it would be a milk run…until a team of Pahxin technicians went missing there. Altering their mission parameters to include rescue, they load up an extra team of marines and head off on the mission.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, AIA operative Christina Dawson closes in on the traitor selling out humanity to the Tol’An. Her people have located an old military base currently occupied by the mercenary group responsible for attacking Gamma Alpha. She gathers a former marine and newly appointed AIA agent to investigate in person.

Deliverance (Forgotten Colony #1) – M.R. Forbes

The war is over. Earth is lost. Running is the only option. It may already be too late.

Caleb is a former Marine Raider and commander of the Vultures, an elite search and rescue team that’s spent the last two years pulling high-value targets out of alien-ravaged cities and shipping them off-world.

Now he’s on the last starship out, under orders to join forty-thousand survivors on their journey to a new home. It’s not the mission he wants, but it’s a mission he’s doing his best to accomplish. When Caleb meets the colony’s head sheriff, she represents an opportunity for a fresh start and a chance to leave his old life behind for good…

Only the mission will be harder to complete than either of them realize.

And the colonists will need the old Caleb more than he ever imagined…

Devastator (AI Fleet #2) – Isaac Hooke 

Jain thought he’d never go back.

Ten years had passed since he last had dealings with humans and their machines. He was happy. He’d built a base for himself and his Void Warriors around the barren moon of a gas giant, where they planned to live out their immortal days in peace.

And then humanity came looking for them.

Hunting them.

Now they have no choice but to return.

But what they find waiting for them in human territory will make them wish they’d never left their new home.

The Lost Star Gate (Lost Starship Series #9) – Vaughn Heppner

The Swarm is coming!

This time, enemy science vessels study us as Hive Masters gather hundreds of thousands of starships for an avalanche invasion.

Instead of facing massed bug fleets in hopeless battle, we have a desperate plan: use a Builder nexus, create a hyper-spatial tube and send suicide-ships thousands of light-years into Swarm territory. There, our ships must find and destroy the nexuses that are the only way back home, all in order to stop the bugs from using the nexuses to reach Human Space.

Despite the grim mission, Captain Maddox is determined to bring his people back. But deep in the Sagittarius Spiral Arm, disaster strikes. All alone in the stellar night, the crew must face a primordial alien that even the Builders feared and the Swarm avoids.

Now begins a deadly battle as Maddox, the crew and Galyan are pitted against a horror of legendary evil as a Swarm battle fleet waits to annihilate the victor.

Luck is Not a Factor (Four Horsemen Tales #6) – edited by Chris Kennedy and Mark Wandrey

It’s the Twenty-Second Century. The galaxy has opened up to humanity as a hyperactive beehive of stargates and new technologies, and we suddenly find ourselves in a vast playground of different races, environments, and cultures. There’s just one catch: we are pretty much at the bottom of the food chain.

What do you do when the odds are stacked against you? Mercs plan, strategize, and sometimes even scheme, but there is one thing they all believe—luck is never a factor.

Unless it is.

Enter the Four Horsemen universe, where only a willingness to fight and die for money separates Humans from the majority of the other races. Edited by bestselling authors and universe creators Chris Kennedy and Mark Wandrey, “Luck is Not a Factor” includes all-new stories in the Four Horsemen universe by a variety of bestselling authors—and some you may not have heard of…yet. The nineteen authors take on various aspects of the universe, giving you additional insight into a galaxy that isn’t at war…but definitely isn’t at peace. There’s only one thing for sure—anything’s possible for a fistful of credits!

Nameless: A Renegade Star Story – J.N. Chaney 

Abigail and Clementine were just a couple of orphans looking for a home.

But when the two girls witness something terrible, they have no choice but to leave their orphanage and go into hiding. The only person willing to take them in is a man named Mulberry, but his home isn’t the safest place for two innocent children.

Abigail and Clementine quickly discover that their new caretaker is the head of a guild of assassins, and the two are thrown into a whole new life of danger. To survive, they’ll need to adapt to a world they can barely comprehend, all without losing who they are along the way.

Discover intrigue, death, and contract killers in this exciting new scifi series from J.N. Chaney. If you’re a fan of Black Widow, Cowboy Bebop, or Altered Carbon, you’ll love this new adventure in the Renegade Star universe.

Retaliation (The Frontiers Saga: Rogue Castes #10) – Ryk Brown 

A ship unable to defend itself…

A captain determined to revive her…

Worlds dependent on them both to survive…

An enemy bent on their destruction…

With the Aurora unable to fight, the Karuzari Alliance must find a way to not only repair their flagship, but to make the enemy pay dearly.

Sometimes, you just have to make do with what you’ve got.

The Roundabout (The Only City Left #3) – Andy Goldman

The Roundabout has given Earth one week to deliver to it the members of the Fifth House or face planetary destruction. In an abandoned city the size of a planet, and facing off against god-like opponents, this will be no simple task for our three groups of heroes.

Allin and Copper are captives of the four remaining members of the Fifth House. To fight them, they must first work together against the Roundabout.

Tyena is joined by a ghost, a treasure hunter, and the mind of her worst enemy inside a cat’s body. This unlikely group will need to navigate through and across the planet before they can even try to rescue Allin and do the Roundabout’s bidding.

Emperor Tumble’s first duty is to keep his citizens safe as they flee the Invasion of Pudlington. Saving the planet comes in at a distant second on his list of priorities.

Above all their heads hovers the fleet of Roundabout daggerships, waiting to see if Earth can save itself or must be annihilated.

Rumors of War (Stellar Main #2) – Richard Tongue

After destroying the pirate flagship Fortuna, Captain Victoria Carter and her crew were hailed as heroes across the Stellar Main, but though a great battle was won, she knows that her private war is far from over.

The leaders of the criminal gang escaped, fleeing into deep space to a hidden base lost somewhere among the stars, plotting their revenge against those who drove them into exile, and fermenting a conspiracy that could shake all of human space to its foundations, and launch a civil war that could destroy the Commonwealth forever.

With untold millions of lives at stake, Captain Carter and the crew of Pandora must assemble a rag-tag battle fleet and face off the pirates, or watch as the galaxy collapses into chaos and anarchy…

Seeds of Gaia – Rick Partlow

Revenge is heading to Earth at the speed of light…

The Gaia probes left a dying Earth millennia ago in a bold effort to spread life to a lifeless universe.

Unfortunately, not all of those worlds were uninhabited…

The aliens watched their world die to swarms of nanite terraformers, but with their last breath they launched a terrible, unstoppable weapon to kill those who’d stolen their home.

Patrol Captain Sam Avalon is the first human to encounter it, a missile the size of an asteroid, tearing through anything in its path, destined to impact Earth in four years and leave nothing but ashes. Together with the mysterious government operative Priscilla and the cyborg soldier Telia Proctor, they do their best to unite old enemies in a desperate attempt to save the cradle of humanity from the sins of their fathers…

Wrath of Cons (Starship Grifters #3) – Robert Kroese

Interstellar con man Rex Nihilo and his long-suffering robot sidekick Sasha are back, and they’re neck-deep in their most outrageous scam yet: selling black market planets!

Terraforming uninhabitable planets and selling them to criminals right under the nose of the repressive interstellar Malarchy is good work if you can get it, but there’s a price: as the pair’s profits soar, they find themselves on the run from… well, pretty much everybody. With the Malarchy breathing down their necks, the malevolent cult known as the Sp’ossels hot on their heels, and the Ursa Minor Mafia out for their cut, Rex and Sasha hop from planet to planet, with nothing but their wits and a motley crew of loyal friends to keep them alive.

But when their antics draw the attention of an ancient intelligence determined to wipe humanity from the galaxy, they put their moneymaking plans on hold–and team up with their biggest rival–to save the galaxy once again.

Your Life Is Forfeit (Judge, Jury, & Executioner #4) – Craig Martelle

Red has a price on his head. Rivka is determined to find those who put it there.

Criminals commit crimes. Career criminals do it in secret. They are good at hiding.

Rivka’s latest case has her hunting fugitives. Red is on a mission to find them and make them pay for what they’ve done.

Her search leads her through dark warrens of political intrigue and ecological disasters. All the while, Rivka is swinging the scales of justice, judging the guilty, and delivering punishment.

Villainy and scum have toe-holds throughout the galaxy, but Rivka doesn’t mind stepping on their toes even when she’s not judging them. She considers it her job because no one is above the law.

Is Rivka’s search sanctioned or has she gone rogue? Will the Federation back her play?

Magistrate Rivka Anoa is the legal eagle you want on your side. No better friend. No worse enemy.

New Release Roundup, 3 November 2018: Science Fiction published first on https://medium.com/@ReloadedPCGames