#not even getting into kelvin's case

[lapetitepersonne]

*head in my hands* Kelvin said to his face that the rocking chair was stupid just to hurt him (because he was hurt) when Keefe probably spent hours on it and did it all for him and even put his NAME on it even though in the precedent scene at the carpentry Kelvin told him all about how Taryn perfectly replaced him and was so looooved by everyone and no one missed Keefe (BITCH YOU MISS KEEFE AND EVERYBODY KNOWS IT EXCEPT KEEFE WHICH IS THE PROBLEM) and this basically just confirmed to Keefe that he isn't needed but he still loves Kelvin so much and he was just desperate to show him what he could still do for him as a carpenter (because he failed him as an assistant youth pastor) and made him a fucking rocking chair and Kelvin said it was STUPID

[1shirt2shirtredshirtdeadshirt]

Today on popping the corn and feeding the children, what do you folks think of this discussion? :)

I'm always curious to hear what other Trek fans, especially queer Trek fans, think about our place in Trek history and how we fare as the queer participants within our fandom. What have your experiences been like?

Overwhelmingly I've found a great reception and a welcoming attitude, but I admit that has increased considerably since the 90s. However, there are still some Trek fans who seem to be vehemently in denial about queer history in Star Trek, or the fact that anyone who has worked on Trek has pro-LGBT attitudes. This always surprises me considering some of the blatant queer content we have already seen in Star Trek such as the Jadzia Dax and Lenara Kahn kiss.

Anyway, I enjoyed the discussion that followed and seeing the overwhelming outpouring of support coming from Star Trek fans in response to this thread.

Here was my two cents contribution:

"No, what they said was factual.

Have you forgotten Nichelle Nichols was indeed an African American woman in the core seven bridge crew back in 1966?

Or the fact that Gene Roddenberry went out of his way to write The Motion Picture Novel, creating the term "T'hy'la: friend, brother, lover" so that fans could choose which interpretations of Kirk and Spock they saw fit? He also embraced K/S fans and hired a number of them to write the earliest Star Trek novels, including the very first official one (The New Voyages Vol. 1 & 2) which included slash fiction as well as Gene's approval/forward in the books.

In case anyone has forgotten, here's a little bit of background on Gene Roddenberry and his perspectives on queerness in Star Trek.

He admitted that in his early life he was very affected by how society and culture treated the LGBT community, and that he too found himself subjugating and judging others for that lifestyle because it was what people did at that time. As he got older and had more life experience, he began working with a number of queer artists in Hollywood -- and through TOS, a number of queer individuals began asking questions about Kirk and Spock.

Instead of vehemently shutting down this perspective, Roddenberry was intrigued, and saw potential to tap into a large audience (LGBT) that most others didn't want to go near or acknowledge publicity-wise. He saw it as an opportunity to expand the fanbase while also pushing yet another envelope.

But with the heat already on the show for what they'd already pushed, he found he was often stuck between what he'd like to do and what production would let him get away with. There are a number of Kirk and Spock scenes in scripts that got cut out for leaning a little too obviously romantic. Tiny trickles of that content still made it in were infamous moments like the backrub scene in Shore Leave. Even the 2009 movie had a K/S moment while Spock Prime and Kelvin Spock talked that was written and filmed that was cut out of the final product.

Queer subtext and coding has always been relentlessly weeded away at with an excuse ready to go for why they always try to cut us out, but we all know it's because they are scared of the homophobic backlash and ratings hits. Look how violently homophobes went after the gay romance episode of The Last of Us **just this year**. This has always been our reality, so for someone like Roddenberry to make efforts in the 70s? That was massive.

But Gene as well as the queer/slash Trek community managed to accomplish some things in the 70s which I'm surprised more folks don't talk about or give much credit.

In the same TMP novel which features "T'hy'la" and the famous footnote, Gene cleverly wrote Kirk with a bisexual/pansexual lens: Kirk describes himself as *preferring* women but being open to "physical love in **any** of its many Earthly, alien, and mixed forms." (Direct quote from Genes book). Basically, Captain Kirk was DTF with whoever if there was a connection, which was a very progressive take for a character in a novel written in 1979, but made sense for the future which would have a lot less hang ups about sex and love compared to our current rather puritan/conservative society.

I also prefer women, but I married a man. Shout out to Gene Roddenberry for giving us a seat at the table back in the 70's when folks *still* try to insist there is no place for K/S or queer concepts in Trek, because he made efforts -- however small -- to employ queer people and show queer perspectives. According to David Gerrold, LGBT+ representation was a big thing that Gene personally pushed for in TNG and wanted various depictions of love/couples in the Risa scenes, to name one example.

In the 70s, fanzines led to meetings and swapped fanmade magazines, which got so big that they needed hotel centers, then convention centers, then one day the TOS cast came to one and what we know as modern fan conventions were born -- inspiring even George Lucas who attended Trek conventions in the 70s and saw how popular Trek was in syndication; it was a great climate to launch his Space Opera. Star Wars then became so huge that we got TMP.

But none of that would have happened without the level of organization, passion, and creativity that those fans poured into Star Trek and their characters after it got cancelled and went into syndication.

Without queer folks we wouldn't have George Takei, Theodore Sturgeon who gave us Tribbles, Bill Theiss and his amazing TOS costumes, Mike Minor's art direction, Merritt Butrick, David Gerrold (writer for TOS, TAS, TNG) to name a few of many queer contributors to Trek that Roddenberry respected and tried to go to bat for wherever he could in a climate that was absolutely impossible to gain an inch in.

At a time during the 70s and 80s when so many people resented and feared the queer community and wanted us to disappear, especially in the 80s during the AIDS epidemic which many homophobes claimed was "God's punishment to the gay community" or "Gods's answer" to our "hedonism", thinking we'd gotten our just desserts and should just disappear . . .

During that time, Gene Roddenberry gave us queer folks a place to say: "You know what? Sure. Write your stories. TV says you guys shouldn't exist, they pull books with queer people off the shelves and burn them. Laws exist specifically to forbid you guys from loving each other, and call you mentally ill. You can't even hold hands in public. But I'm going to validate you guys and invite you to write novels or work for me, try to see what we can get by production, and allow you to see yourselves in my characters if you want to. There's a place for you in our fandom."

He gave us bi/pan Kirk, he gave us K/S is open to interpretation. In Phase 2 Kirk's surviving nephew Peter, son of his brother Sam from Operation: Annihilate!, was going to be written as gay and living on the Enterprise with his partner -- that also got chopped and reworked into a script that wouldn't get used until decades later. That was huge at a time that being queer was officially listed as a mental illness, and villainized due to the AIDS crisis.

So before you try to dismiss or tell K/S + queer Trek fans whether or not they deserve a seat at the table, remember that Gene Roddenberry was among the **first** to pull that seat out for us in a climate that was ruthlessly against LGBT+ folks." -- 1Shirt2ShirtRedShirtDeadShirt

P.S: Have some cute bisexual/pansexual K/S pride gifs. :) Pride month is a hop, skip and a jump away.

LLAP!🖖💚

[darkspellmaster]

Can we talk about these two images! Hand offerings.

So in the recent Kuroshitsuji/Black Butler Chapter, there was an interesting image of both Doll and O!Ciel holding out their hands to Snake.

What's interesting to me is the choice of hands being held out and why they're important.

In the image, because of the way we're looking at it it seems like Ciel is offering his left hand and Doll her right.

The Right hand meaning = a place of honor and status, the favored hand of god, as well as the rational, conscious and logical, as well as aggressive and anxious, and connected to the idea of benevolent white magic.

The Left hand meaning = the hand of judgement, weakness, decay, death. Connected to intuition and also dark magic.

Thus one would think, oh it's implying that taking Ciel's hand means he was shaking the wrong hand.

But this would be WRONG!

We're looking at it from Snake's POV. So in reality...

Ciel is holding out his RIGHT HAND, while Doll is holding out the LEFT HAND.

We see this again with Doll in another shot from Chapter 208 a bit later in Snake's memory.

In both cases Doll is holding out the left hand to Snake, indicating that the offering is a less then ideal one. As we see, Snake witnesses them taking the kids, but he doesn't say a thing or question it, and it's the same later on during the Circus arc.

O!Ciel on the other hand gave him his right hand, showing trust and that he was being honest even though he was lying. What he told Snake was what he wanted to do, let them go, let the Circus people leave, because in the end even he knew they were victims. He could have easily had Sebastian kill them all there at the circus.

But he didn't, his goal was Kelvin. So he gave Snake a story to give him hope (as he said "say a lie enough and it becomes real (or the truth)").

It's interesting to note that even though the circus crew was friendly with Snake, getting him a costume, and other things, we've seen that he still was an outsider. He was kept in his own tent, away from the others. He was still being put on display, even though it was in a circus, it's still being put on display.

OCiel and the servants on the other hand, made him part of their group. He went with them, they all road in the same cart. On the Campania Ciel even told him he doesn't care what others think of who he associates with.

We also see in the naming of Snake by Joker that it's so very different than Ciel giving Finny his name.

For Snake, Joker just calls him what he looks like. Dagger even asks why, and Joker says he's bad at naming. Jumbo gives better consideration to naming the snakes than Joker did in naming Snake.

O!Ciel on the other hand takes the time to consider a name for Finny, and gives him not only the name of his favorite hero, from his favorite book, one that holds a lot of significance to him both now and in the past, but (if you hold to the theory that O!Ciel's real name is Finnian) then he's giving Finny his NAME. He's sharing a huge part of himself with Finny.

(You can also point out that Ciel doesn't call Mey-Rin Owl, he only calls her by her real name, showing that he respects her as her own individual person.)

To me that image, I think, is showing readers that there's more connections and a deeper bond with O!Ciel and the Phantomhive Servants, with Snake than he had with the circus, even though he thinks there is a strong bond there.

[thoughts-i-have-had-in-passing]

The Spock Universes Theory of Star Trek

Recently I made a very quick, late-night reply to a post in which I mentioned my ‘Spock Universes’ theory which to my surprise ended up being somewhat popular with the people, and so I have decided to give it its own post.

The theory is simple. Every time Spock is played by someone different on screen you are watching a different universe’s timeline.

Why does this work? First off it is canon that there are different universes. For one, the Animated Series was disavowed by Gene Roddenberry as not canon, which by extension means it had to have taken place in another universe, but we also have the mirror universe  which continues to exist even when we occasionally wish it didn’t. So Star Trek was doing a multiverse from almost the very beginning. So what is the easiest way to tell them apart?

Spock.

Spock is the key to the whole multiverse. Behold:

TOS: Nimoy Spock, Prime universe

TAS: Voiced by Nimoy but disavowed by Roddenberry, ‘Animated Prime’ universe in which everything that happened in Prime Universe also happened here, but everything that happened here did not automatically happen in Prime.

Star Trek Movies I through VI: Nimoy Spock, Prime universe

TNG: Nimoy Spock appeared in Unification Parts 1 and 2, therefore TNG is in Prime universe

Star Trek: Generations: No Spock. NOT PRIME UNIVERSE.

The evidence: In the TNG episode Relics the crew discover Scotty, played by James Doohan, trapped in a transporter buffer on an infinite loop. This is considered god-tier engineering by Geordie, who did not believe it was possible despite 70 years of advancements in the engineering space (more on that in the SNW section).

Scotty makes a comment that he thought Kirk got the original Enterprise out of mothballs to come looking for him, and was saddened to find out this was not the case. In Generations, Scotty is present when Kirk get pulled into the Nexus and everyone think he is dead. In Prime universe Scotty was not there or he would not have made this assumption, however there is one person who has to be there in order to determine if the universe is Prime: Nimoy Spock.

Who was originally supposed to be there according to the original script? Nimoy Spock.

Who forced a change to the universe by not showing up? Nimoy Spock.

In Prime universe Spock was there instead of Scotty, who had not delayed his retirement to see off the Enterprise B and instead was already on his way to the Norpin colony when Kirk was ‘killed’ the news reached the colony but not the ship, which because it never made it meant Scotty never knew Kirk was gone.

It is important to note that everything else happened the exact same way, except Lursa and B’Etor got hold of a much better ship solely because I said so.

DS9: In the episode Trials and Tribble-ations, the crew was thrown back in time to the days of the original Enterprise, in which Nimoy Spock appeared, even without the various TNG crossovers it’s still Prime universe

Voyager: No Spock, but pilot episode crossed over with DS9, and the character of Barkley crossed over from TNG on more than one occasion. In addition, in the episode Flashback there was an appearance by Captain Sulu, played by George Takei, who was last seen playing his character opposite Nimoy’s Spock. Most likely Prime universe

Enterprise: Predates the Spock schism and therefore theoretically belongs to all universes. It has been referenced in several of the newer series in various ways, however there is a continuity issue in regards to the Klingons, which may mean that the event which lead to Spock being played by someone other than Nimoy happen even further back in the timeline, with the majority of changes being negligible by the time of Enterprise other than the Klingon ridge thing, which Discovery and SNW do not follow

‘Kelvin’ movies: Two Spocks. Nimoy Spock is specifically stated to come from the future Prime universe and the events featuring Quinto Spock are now a new, branched timeline. Further proof for the theory.

Discovery: Peck Spock, new timeline. Other notable changes include the style and advancement of technology and the fact that the Klingons appear to have solved their forehead ridge-flattening troubles, plus added extra for good luck.*

SNW: Peck Spock, crossover with Discovery. Peck universe. This also means that major continuity changes like the Gorn being both known and evil monsters are due to the different universe. In addition, Dr. M’Benga hides his daughter in a transporter buffer to slow down her illness. As previously mentioned, this was god-tier engineering when Prime Scotty did it in 2294, however in this universe technology is more advanced as no one bats an eye at the doctor’s technical prowess when they find out what he did.

Prodigy: Nimoy Spock facsimile which uses Nimoy voice recordings, Prime universe

Picard: No Spock, pick your poison. Basically because there is no Spock this could be Prime or it could be the same universe as Generations. Clearly there are a lot of similarities between Prime and Generations universe, but as the ending shown in All Good Things is not the one we see in Picard, it’s possible, likely even, that we have crossed universes again. I blame Q.

Lower Decks: Somehow exists in a universe where all shows are simultaneously canon, including TAS, probably due to some weird phenomena  

*Challenges to the theory and how it has adapted.

It was pointed out to me that Michael Burnham watches a recording of old Spock once she goes to the future, and that this recording was of Nimoy Spock, and so I have had to alter my theory slightly.

The Spock Checkpoint can only be done when Spock is a young man. This is because once Spock approaches old age, regardless of who has been playing him, he begin to morph into Nimoy Spock. As Mr. Nimoy himself claimed in his second autobiography: I am Spock.

Dude wasn’t kidding.

Personally I find that this theory helps me deal with the more extreme continuity issues that NuTrek has brought to the show. It's easy to pretend that Turnabout Intruder's claim that women can't be captains never actually happened, harder to believe that everyone met the Gorn except Kirk, and that somehow they demonsterfied in about five to ten years, or that a doctor could rig a transporter as well as a master engineer with technology forty years more advanced. Spock theory has calmed my mind and soothed my soul so I can better enjoy Trek. I hope if you felt the same way then it can do the same for you.

Thank you for reading my waffle.

[twst-kumi]

Weeping Maiden [ACT I]: CHAPTER 4

[ACT I]: CHAPTER 4

Vil couldn’t help but stare at her momentarily as they delivered the box to Kelvin. Now, that he looked more carefully, she looked similar to the Ramshackled prefect, but more delicate… and pretty.

“_That’s not a very common name, where are you from?

_Yes, it’s… from far away.”

[Name] answered vaguely. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to talk about her home, but she knew better than to tell everything about herself. Vil could see she was a little on her guard. She reminded him more and more of Yuu in a lighter way.

“_I see, it must be hard to be so far from home. How did you know Neige by the way?

_Well, Neige-senpai and I are in the same club at school.

_You are a student at Royal Sword Academy?”

Vil looked at her, up and down. He looked flustered for a moment. He thought that he was a girl. [Name] smiled a little as she knew exactly what he was thinking, making her want to tease him a little. Lowering her voice as much as she could, she imitated a boy’s voice.

“_Surprised? Or… Did you think I was a girl?

_Ah, uh… Well…”

Vil looked stunned, it was a talented actor. [Name] couldn’t be an amateur if even he, who grew up in the entertainment world couldn’t tell he was a boy acting like a girl. Seeing his flustered face, the young girl couldn't help but laugh. Realizing she was teasing him, Vil chuckled. There was a comfortable silence between them before Neige came and hugged the young girl from behind.

“_[Name], there you are! I was looking for you.”

Neige didn't like how close Vil was getting with her. He didn't know why, but it felt uncomfortable in his chest when he saw them laugh together. He was happy she was able to adapt quickly but somewhere within him, something ugly was brewing. It was like if didn't intervene she would slowly distance herself from him. It was strange, he didn't feel this anguish at the academy.

“_Sorry, I don't like staying idle so I was helping around.

_That’s…

_I noticed but you seem quite used to it. Are you in the film industry?”

Neige frowned as Vil cut him off. The actor just glanced at him with a small smirk. It was the first time in his life Neige felt that pang in his chest. It was heavy, like it was getting harder to breathe around the two.

“_I used to work in the industry when I was a child.

_Me too, how old did you start? Your acting was really good just now.

_ I … started at 3.”

… Maybe even younger if they counted the infant photoshoot or her appearance as a toddler in some tv show. Vil could see her flinching. He couldn't help but feel sorry for her. It wasn't uncommon in the industry, greedy parents who capitalized on their children. He could see it was the case for the young girl.

“_I see, that's really young. What agency are you with?

_Oh, I quitted 3 years ago. So I'm not an actress anymore.”

Vil couldn't help but pity his luck. She looked like she genuinely loved acting and would have loved to work with such a talented girl. Neige standing next to them, pursed his lips bothered by their proximity. Vil was taking [Name]’s attention away from him. He despised it, this seemingly dark feeling that was brewing deep inside. The young Idol wondered if he shouldn't have taken her with him here. If he didn't, Vil wouldn't be ogling all her attention from him.

“_Then maybe you could help me? I want to get better with my acting skills.” Said Neige, looking overly enthusiastic.

“_Ah, sure.”

[Name] smiled at Neige wondering if everything was alright for him. He looked a little stranger than usual. Neige subtly glared at Vil before taking the young girl with him. His hand gripped hers tightly as if to prove a point to the actor.

“_Is everything alright?

_Yes.”

Neige faked a smile as they rejoined the manager. The sharp-looking woman seemed less hostile to her now. Maybe because the highschool girl was actually quite helpful and proved to be useful.

***

Everything was fine. Aside from how Neige’s behavior worried her a bit, the filming was progressing smoothly. Or so they thought.

It was a loud crash that made everything turn sour. The sound was followed by a loud scream as everyone saw the accident. One of the actresses, a side character in the story, had an accident. The frame holding one of the prop broke and fell down. Although the woman was alive, her right leg wasn't that lucky. Stuck under the heavy metal, she was good for a few months stuck in a cast.

[Name] stood next to the manager as everyone discussed the situation. It was unfortunate she got in such an accident but they also couldn't hold back the filming. It was a tv show so they need that scene to be ready for the next three months.

“_What about [Name]?

_What?”

The young girl jumped a bit startled by Vil. Everyone looked at her curiously as Vil continued.

“_The character Tonia was supposed to play never appeared in the story before, so changing actresses now shouldn't be a problem. And [Name] has some experience in acting that are good enough to be seen as professional.

_That’s…

_It will save us some time too, we would have lost a few weeks of production while waiting and finding another actress.”

Hearing this, another actress interjected quickly while glaring at her.

“_ Even if you said so, nothing proves she would be good at it. We also have many extras, why don't we use one of them?”

Vil sighed exasperated before glaring at the women. With a polite smile he looked at [Name].

“_ I'm proposing this role to her because she is talented, but we can ask her directly if you want. [Name] do you think you can do it.

_As long as I have the script it should be good.

_As if a simple nobody could!

_I see.”

She wasn't going to tell the other woman that she had around 10 years worth of experience. [Name] just calmly smiled at the actress glaring at her.

“_Then how about it, since Vil talks highly of your skills. Let's do a test. I will give you and Alice a part of Tonia’s script and you will play the scene.”

[Name] nodded calmly as the producer talked. The scene she had to play was simple, she was the main character’s childhood friend and old love who came back to him after studying abroad for a few years now. This scene was when she poured out her heart, crying after he rejected her. In the story, she waited for him even when she was studying abroad only to get heartbroken.

Maybe because she was sure to outshine her, Alice let her play the scene first. Taking a deep breath, [Name] closed her eyes before starting to act. Tears rolled down her cheek like translucent pearls as her shoulder shook. She looked weak and fragile as her voice broke. [Name] pleaded for him to love her back before slowly turning to resentment as she wasted so long to wait for a man that was never hers.

[Name] finished her scene and smiled confidently at the stunned group. It was almost like they just saw the characters become alive. Without surprise, everyone agreed for her to take on the role.

“_Incredible, you are really talented. Do you have an agency?

_No, I don't.

_Are you interested in acting? You…”

[Name] had a fake smile on her lips, her body shook a little as she was suddenly unable to see their faces. She is sure they're sincere in their compliment but something deep inside her couldn't help but feel repulsed.

“_ I'm sure we can make you famous with this sort of talent.”

The young girl could feel her heart drop at the manager’s words. A pit was forming in her stomach. It didn't change from her childhood even here people didn't see her as a human but as a golden goose. All she could hear as she felt the acid in her stomach reaching her throat was the nauseous laugh of greed of those around her. It didn't change, it never does, be it now or tomorrow.

Neige, and Vil noticed her subtle change. They looked both worried and uncomfortable for her. Neige knew he needed to do something, it was almost like her back was screaming for help.

“_ Are you alright? You look pale.”

Neige tensed as he saw Vil suddenly next to her. His arm around her shoulder protectively, he escorted her out leaving Neige with a feeling of inadequacy. It was like his heart was suddenly tainted by an unknown and ugly feeling.

The young girl rushed to the toilet followed closely by the Pomefiore dorm leader. He pulled her hair up as she emptied her stomach.

“_Are you feeling better?

_Sorry, you shouldn't have seen that.

_If I knew you were uncomfortable with it, I wouldn't have proposed you for the role.

_ It's not like that… I just ate something bad this morning.”

[Name] lied quickly. She did love acting, but memories of her parents always made her sick. As she was rearranging her clothes and cleaning her face up, Vil noticed the lockets around her neck. It was the same necklace Yuu described.

“_ It's a pretty pendant necklace, where did you get it?

_ Thank you, it was crafted specifically for my brother’s birthday, so there are only two in the world. One for me and one for him.

_ That really sweet, how old is he? What’s his name?”

[Name] raised an eyebrow at his sudden interest in her locket but brushed it off as simple curiosity.

“_He should be almost 19 this year. His name was Yuu, Yamada Yuu.

_He should be?

_Yes… My… brother went missing 3 years ago. He was 16.”

Vil felt cold, the Yuu Yamada he knew was 16. The girl smiled sadly before opening her locket. Inside, there was a picture of Yuu.

“_ It's the last picture we took before he disappeared.”

< previous. Next >

Tag

@cocomollo @owodi @illytian

[strawwritesfic]

Kelvin!Spock x Female!Human!Reader: Mr. Right

Summary: When one door closes, another opens—perhaps the door you were meant to enter all along.

Warnings/Tags: Starship Enterprise; post-Star Trek Beyond; friends to lovers; breakup; almost kiss; counselor!reader; Star Trek: The Original Series references; Star Trek: The Next Generation references

Relationships: Spock/Reader; Spock & Nyota Uhura; past!Spock/Nyota Uhura; past!Kevin Riley/Reader

Challenge: “160 Collective Drabbles” challenge by BobaPop on Lunaescence Archives.

Requester: @lovemesomeescapism

Tag List: @imaginesfire

Notes: For once, this is not a repost for this challenge…technically. I did write a response to the prompt "Mr. Right" ages ago, but when I was reposting, I decided that the Now You See Me one shot I wrote really wasn't worth keeping. Someone on Tumblr asked me for a Spock one shot, so I slipped him in as a replacement.

It's been a really long time since I finished something new. I realize that I am rusty. This is actually several drafts into attempts to write this one shot. For the first time ever, I actually cannibalized previous drafts while trying to get the meandering dialogue and point back on track. It still doesn't feel quite "right" to me, but it's probably going to take some time before I get back in the swing of things, and I'm ready to let this one go.

Mr. Right

Throughout Terra's history, human beings had sought the comfort of white noise. Quiet droning sounds proved beneficial for many aspects of mental health in the species. As a counselor on board the U.S.S. Enterprise, you'd recommended listening to white noise to dozens of fellow crewmates and patients alike. The best way to do this in the deep space you'd all been exploring for nearly five years was to turn everything in one's quarters down until the low hum of the ship's warp drive became audible. Many of those crewmates and patients reported back to you with decreased stress levels, improved mood, and a distinct uptick in ability to concentrate. Almost all of them said they got better sleep.

Now you learned that every single one of them had lied to you.

You'd spent the better part of the evening-adjacent hours lying face-down on your sofa, trying and failing to take a nap. The scratchy, standard-issue pillow beneath your face was soaked with tears. Your chest ached. Worst of all, any attempt on your part to get your mind off what upset you just ended with you crying harder. All the while, that awful rumble went on and on and on and on relentlessly, allowing you no respite long enough to drift off and forget your current predicament.

A chime cut through your misery. You paused without so much as lifting your head. As of three hours prior, you were officially off duty for the day. Nothing required you to answer the door unless an order came down from a superior officer, and they would call first. Probably it was only Uhura coming by to check on you. Having been through her own breakup during this voyage, surely she would understand when you didn't let her inside.

The chime sounded again, and with it came a surge of possibilities flooding your mind. What if your visitor was dealing with a crisis? Cases of PTSD had been on the rise since the events on Altamid. You could hardly ignore that in favor of your own small, personal crisis. Off duty or not, your role as a ship's counselor would not allow you to wallow in self-pity when someone might need your help.

As your boots hit the floor, you pressed one sleeve of your rumpled blue uniform to the corner of each eye. The gesture wouldn't do much to disguise what you'd been doing over the course of your time off, but you felt a little steadier afterward. Breathing deeply in and out helped too—until you hiccuped. But you could prepare yourself no more. Squaring your shoulders, you stood, walked over to the door leading to the corridor, and opened it.

Just outside stood the familiar, lanky figure of the ship's science officer. The second you spotted him, you wiped your sleeve across your face with greater urgency.

"You're not one of my patients," you said, "or Uhura."

"A very astute observation, Lieutenant [L Name]," Spock replied.

A long moment elapsed during which the two of you stared at one another. Several fellow crewmates in various uniform colors threw curious looks at his back as they passed by on their ways to wherever they were headed. Your friend, meanwhile, allowed a single dark eyebrow to drift toward his hairline. He clearly had no intention of moving on.

"What are you doing here?" you sighed at last.

The wayward eyebrow rejoined its brother. "Lieutenant Commander Uhura informed me that you left your office this afternoon in distress. I note that her assessment was an accurate one. If anything, you appear to be in more distress now than she described to me then."

You couldn't lie to Spock, not when you looked the way you looked after a crying jag like the one you'd just had. So you didn't bother to try. "Fine. I'm in distress. But really, Spock, it's not the kind of distress you can help with. I'm sure Captain Kirk will need you on a landing party any minute now, so if you'll excuse me—"

"Lieutenant Commander Uhura also informed me of the cause of your distress."

"Of course she did." Sometimes you wished your two friends were a little lighter on the "amicable" part of "amicable exes." "Let me guess: You came by to tell me that you told me so."

"As a Vulcan, I have no reason to rub my correct prediction in your face, if you will forgive the Terra colloquial."

You let out a wet laugh despite yourself. "You're pardoned."

"What I have done is stopped by the mess hall. If I am not much mistaken, ice cream is a traditional consolation food in these types of situations."

He produced from behind his back a number of different colored tapes. So startled were you that you found yourself unable to say anything. Never in a million years would you have imagined Spock of all people standing in front of you and offering you junk food of all things. Your silence went on for so long that he had to prompt you to speak:

"Was I incorrect in my understanding of how to handle Terran breakups?"

"No," you said, then, "I just didn't want you to find out about the breakup until I could pull myself together."

"I surmised as much, given that Lieutenant Commander Uhura found out about your circumstances before I did, although you and I are closer friends. It would have been more logical for you to contact me for assistance than her."

Vulcans as a whole were difficult to read. Even factoring in your education and training, as well as your friendship with Spock that had gone on for several years now, you could only guess his feelings the majority of the time. Not so then. Something about his tone made him sound hurt. Maybe you could chalk that up to projecting your own feelings onto him, but you couldn't risk that assumption.

"It's just that you warned me against dating Kevin," you explained. "As ship's counselor, I should have seen the end coming a kiloparsec away."

"Perhaps. But one might also say that your extensive proximity to the crew's emotions might cause some loss in objectivity on your part."

"So you're not here to make me feel worse?"

"I came for consolation purposes. That is all."

"Well, all right, then."

You stepped away from the doorway. Spock followed you in. He paused only long enough to press the button to close the door before he came to join you in your sitting room. A crate sat on the floor along his path, and he looked at you questioningly as he walked by it.

"Those are Kevin's things," you said.

"Expedient," he observed.

Normally, you might have tried to go for a little more decorum around him, but that day you didn't have the energy to do more than flop back onto your couch. At least you were upright. Spock, on the other hand, claimed a dignified perch at the end of your chair. The two of you certainly made an odd pair.

"He had so many hair products!" you burst out when the awkward silence turned unbearable. "I should have known we wouldn't work out. Who brings that much hair spray into deep space?"

"Humanity can hardly be expected to iron out all its flaws when you all cling so hard to your baser emotions."

"Do you mean Kevin's desire to look nice, or my need to be in a relationship?"

Spock blinked, then smoothly said, "In this case, I refer to your former beau's preoccupation with personal grooming."

"Right. Either way, I'm about ready to get rid of all my own baser emotions. Not feeling them would be a blessing." You got back to your feet and thrust one hand in Spock's direction. "Ice cream tape, please."

He offered one to you.

"Spock," you said warningly.

"I do not believe that heartbreak is an excuse to overeat. I only brought so many because I was unsure which flavor you would select."

The glare you leveled at him seemed to make him think better of lecturing you on the dangers of gluttony—as well it should have. This was the same glare that you gave Dr. McCoy when you were tired of listening to him. Unlike with Dr. McCoy, you smiled once Spock dropped the rest of the tapes into your outstretched hand.

"Thank you." You headed for your in-quarters food producer, then turned your head to ask over your shoulder, "What flavor do you want?"

"I do not require ice cream."

"Come on, Spock. If you're going to spend the evening commiserating with me, you have to have some ice cream, too. That's a critical part of the Terran breakup process."

One corner of his mouth twitched. "I'll have pistachio, then."

You fed the yellow-green tape into the slot. A quiet beeping noise covered the hum of the warp drive as the computer worked. While you waited, you flipped through the remainder of the flavors until you found the one you wanted.

"I don't think it would be a good idea for you to give up emotions," Spock said.

"Huh?" Frowning at him, you replaced his tape with yours. "Aren't you the guy that's been talking about doing the Kolinahr when we get back to Earth?"

"That's different. I am a Vulcan."

"Half Vulcan."

"Vulcan enough."

A shriller beep put an end to this potentially sticky subject. The ice creams were ready. You dumped the rest of the tapes in a basket next to the food producer, picked up the bowls, and brought them back to the living room. Spock took his with a grateful nod, though he waited until you sat down again before taking a bite.

"Maybe I'd be a better counselor if I didn't have emotions," you mused. "If I wasn't blinded by my own feelings, I could help the crew more with theirs. I shouldn't have the same problems as they do after all the studying I've done."

"While that may indeed make sense, it is hardly realistic. Besides, if you did not have your human emotions, you would no longer be the [Name] that I know, and I believe that I would miss her."

You couldn't help but smile around the spoon in your mouth. Popping that out, you said, "I bet you say that to all the Terrans you like."

"Hardly. In fact, that captain may benefit from an hour or two without his usual emotions."

"I appreciate you saying that, Spock."

"I am only speaking the truth. I have no intention of bolstering your ego artificially, even if doing so is a part of the Terran breakup process."

"I know." You slowly lowered your spoon back to the bowl, staring off into space. Something was dawning on you—something that might have dawned on you sooner had you not been so enthralled with your own feelings. "You know what else I appreciate? You coming here to help me today. Not every first officer would go out of their way for a ship's counselor like that."

Spock fixed you with an unblinking gaze as he said, "You mean a great deal more to me than most ship's counselors mean to their first officers."

"I don't care what Captain Kirk says. You sure know how to make a woman blush."

"I have had some practice with the activity."

"Remind me to thank Uhura later."

"Thank her for what?" Spock asked.

Maybe you were reading the signs wrong. Maybe you were just desperate. If he had to ask, you had to be wrong. But you took a deep breath anyway, and said, "Helping me realize that maybe the guy I've been looking for this whole time has been my best friend all along."

How could it have taken you this long to work it out? No one else spent as much time with you as Spock did, not outside of your office hours. It didn't matter if you were in the mess hall asking for a round of Fizzbin after dinner or you wanted a quiet night in your quarters. He always seemed to be there. You felt comfortable around him. Maybe you didn't always understand Spock; maybe Spock didn't always understand. But you didn't enjoy anyone's company the way you did his. And you had to wonder when your eyes met just then if he felt the same way, and if this coming-to-see-you-with-ice-cream thing was his way of showing you that.

"Well," he moistened his lips before going on, "I certainly feel that our relationship is founded more steadily upon mutual interests and desires than it is upon a passion for hair products."

You leaned forward. "You know, that sort of relationship sounds really appealing right about now."

"It does?" Spock shifted closer to you.

"I think it's about time that I dated someone whose first thought in the morning isn't beating me to the sonic shower, don't you?"

By that time, you both had come so close that it wouldn't have taken much more movement on either of your parts to touch lips. Your heart gave a painful leap inside your chest. Was this too much too fast? Even if you had just realized you'd had a thing for Spock for a while now, you had only just broken up with your last boyfriend that morning. Treating Spock as a rebound was the last thing you wanted to do. He didn't seem to mind, though. His mouth drew closer and closer to yours until you could feel his breath on your face.

The communicator in your room chirped. You jumped. Spock paused before sitting back up in his chair. Then you rose wordlessly, stepped over to the panel, cleared your throat, and pushed the button.

"[L Name]," you said.

"[Name]?" Uhura did not remark on how breathless you sounded, thankfully. "I need to talk to Spock."

"It's for you," you said unnecessarily. Spock had already reset his face into its typical blank mask and made his way to the communicator himself.

"Spock here. What is it, Lieutenant Commander?"

"Captain Kirk needs you on the bridge. We have a situation up here."

"What kind of a situation?"

"There's a former United States President floating outside the ship. He says he needs our help."

"I will be there right away."

A second chirp signaled that communications between your room and the bridge had ceased. Spock turned back to you.

"My presence is needed on the bridge," he said.

"So I heard."

"I apologize. I believe we were in the middle of something."

"It's all right."

He didn't move.

"Spock, go. Don't you want to know why a deceased historical figure has asked for the Enterprise's help?"

"I'd prefer to stay here," Spock said. "But you are correct. I must leave. Will you still be here later tonight?"

"Yeah." You surprised yourself with the eagerness of your answer. "Yeah, I will. I promise I won't run off with any other lieutenants while you're away. I'll save the rest of the ice cream. We can share it when you get back."

There it was: The slight curl to Spock's mouth that told you that you weren't making up the mutual attraction between you both after all. "To use another Terran phrase, it's a date."

He hesitated another moment longer before he quickly exited your quarter. You grinned as the door slid shut behind him and the white noise returned full force. As you sunk into your couch and pillow this time, you found you didn't mind the hum as much. In fact, the sound did exactly what it was supposed to do: Relax you. Kevin and his excuses from that morning felt farther away than your own home planet. Maybe you owed him a thank you, too, because if you were still with him, you wouldn't have slept as well as you did that night knowing that Spock would be back soon.

[beardedmrbean]

Bad Dragon is suing SinSaint over copyright infringement of their dildo designs. What I want to know is, can you copyright the shape of a dog's dick? Because if you can, you shouldn't be able to.

I did knot need to hear about this one.

one more pun

TSG is gonna be one of the more reputable sources for this one

MARCH 25--A manufacturer of “fantasy-themed sex toys” has accused an upstart Brooklyn, New York firm of knocking off its distinctive designs, according to a federal lawsuit alleging that the defendant has infringed on copyrights for dildos such as “Spritz the Seadragon” and “Tyson the Water Buffalo.”

In a March 20 complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Arizona, Bad Dragon Enterprises contended that its “sculptural” products have been illegally copied by SinSaint, which is headquartered in a Coney Island warehouse and advertises that all its “Ethically Manufactured” toys are “made in Brooklyn, USA.”

Bad Dragon, which noted that it has had “significant commercial success” in the adult toy field, alleged that SinSaint has been selling the duplicative dildos through its website and other trade channels, including the recent AVN Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas (where the new firm’s exhibitor booth was next to that of the all-nude Palomino strip club).

The lawsuit identifies 13 separate dildos that Bad Dragon claims have been copied (and renamed) by SinSaint, which was incorporated in New York last year. The colorful silicone toys feature scales, tentacles, suction cups, and other design elements meant to mimic the genitalia of dragons, sea creatures, and other fantastical characters.

Some of the Bad Dragon products that SinSaint is accused of swiping are “Kelvin the Ice Dragon,” “Stan the T. Rex,” and “Vergil the Drippy Dragon.” SinSaint has not been accused of pirating other Bad Dragon offerings like “Jason the Demogorgon” or “Cuttlefish of Cthulhu.”

According to the lawsuit, SinSaint’s counsel last month stated that the company had begun removing “some of the allegedly infringing listings for product redesign.” This response, Bad Dragon contended, was “unacceptable,” adding that it “continues to be harmed by Defendant’s ongoing, unlawful conduct.”

The Bad Dragon complaint seeks an order enjoining SinSaint from continuing any further alleged

copyright infringement and seeks “disgorgement of all of Defendant’s profits” related to the artificial penises. The company may also seek statutory damages of up to $150,000 for each of the dildos in question.

For more than a decade, Bad Dragon has sought trademark and copyright protection for various product lines. While often successful, the firm’s application to trademark its “Cum Tube” was abandoned after a government attorney rejected the ejaculating dildo because the “applied-for mark consists of or includes immoral or scandalous matter.” The application included a very NSFW image, which can be found on the U. S. Patent and Trademark Office website.

According to an August 2023 trademark application, SinSaint’s owner is Oleg Semenenko, 50, a resident of Brooklyn’s gated Seagate community. Semenenko lives less than a mile from SinSaint’s warehouse, which shares an address with GlobMarble, an industrial molds business for which Semenenko is listed as “manager” in a separate trademark application filed this month.

In a brief interview today, Semenenko was asked how a dildo firm grew out of his original business. “We work with rubber,” he replied. Semenenko dismissed Bad Dragon’s claim that its products were unique and original: “How can octopus hand can be your idea?” (4 pages) ____________________________________________

Hope the judge that did the recent trump case gets this one, even though I know that's basically impossible, just the thought of making him listen to hours of testimony about how these rubber fantasy dildos are protected by copyright or trademark law, or something like that is funny to me.

It's not a revenge thing wanting it, just a keep him humble thing. I know you think you're hot shit now, so here listen to these arguments for a bit.

Totally different note, I'm wondering how long until the discourse starts up, or if it has already started up, where using horse dildos is either bestiality or a gateway to bestiality because what with the way people treat cartoons of fictional people I can't imagine it's far off or not already here.

Look to japan for the tentacle ones.........

[midnight-in-town]

On the matter of Snake’s allegiance

Considering Doll’s return, it shouldn’t be surprising that fans are worried about which side Snake will choose upon discovering that our!Ciel lied to him about what happened to Noah’s Ark, back when he became a servant of the household:

However, I’d like to point out two things as an answer: 

Yes, Ciel lied about erasing Noah’s Ark, but not about what they were doing (abducting children)

Doll has been lying to Snake as well in this chapter

In this chapter, Doll said: 

But that’s not true now, is it? Not only did Doll know where they went...

...but she also was told by Ciel what happened to Kelvin and Joker: 

In other words, Snake has been lied to both by our!Ciel’s side but also by Noah’s Ark.

However, if we analyze both circumstances, what do we get? That Snake was first rescued by Noah’s Ark but he was never exactly “one of them” because he was not working for Kelvin’s sake...

...whereas Ciel half lied to Snake about Noah’s Ark, sure, but he also rescued him and Snake eventually became one of them :

That’s why I think Snake’ll choose our!Ciel’s side eventually, even if Ciel initially lied to him, but also considering that this orphanage Doll works at is fishy and probably isn’t being very fair to those kids. Again. 

Worst case scenario: Snake ditches both undead!Noah’s Ark (BD!Doll and Joker) and our!Ciel’s side. Still, I think that Snake will also realize in this arc that our!Ciel lied mostly to avoid killing him and then gave him a home. That doesn’t mean that Snake shouldn’t confront our!Ciel about it, just that he’s been working with our!Ciel enough now to know that, in spite of his job as the Watchdog, our!Ciel is kind at heart. 

I hope this will help reassure some fans, even if we’re still in for one hell of a ride!

[a-bucket-of-trash]

Kelvin- Observations and theories (With major Spoilers)

This is going to be based on two endgame cutscenes, so if you haven't seen anything and don't want spoilers, please just get out of here because it's going to be very explicit. I can't go to half measures to camouflage spoilers here, sorry. Ahead Spoilers

First observation: How the fuck did Kelvin and Virginia get into the Cube?

Let's remember that neither of them enters any cave during the entire game, despite the fact that Virginia can reach the levels of being a mutant turret capable of killing twice as many enemies, she never goes to a cave, much less Kelvin for the reasons previously explained here (Short story, he is deaf, if you put him almost blindly in a cave, he would be eaten by bats).

Not only that, but both of them are being chased by "Silver Jacket Guy" (Who's name is Jianyu Zhang). That is in itself suspicious. Zhang could have killed us (AND Kelvin) early in the game, but he didn't for SOME REASON (possibly he was trying to find the Cube? IDK and IDC), and he never came across us on the island. Why was he following Kelvin and Virginia?

Theory A: Zhang finds them outside the cave and takes them hostage/chases them. This means that they did not defend themselves or hide. Perhaps seeing Zhang and his team as non-mutants/cannibals, they let their guard down believing they were safe. In fact, except for seeing them run in front of Zhang, at no time do we see that he is a danger to our babies.

Theory B: Kelvin and Virginia entered first (into the most beastly cave in the game) and Zhang followed them. Even weirder, since, again, they never enter a cave of their own free will. Did they enter voluntarily? Were they escaping from enemies and saw no other solution than to enter? Also, they both arrive QUICKLY. They were literally no more than 30 seconds away, like they were following us, hot on our heels. Why so rush? Did they know that they had to get in so as not to mutate? Zhang told them? (The only thing we need is Zhang being good all along lmao unless??)

Too many unanswered questions. The only facts: Kelvin and Virginia entered a monumental cave, unarmed, following us by no more than 30 seconds, sustaining no damage in the process.

Second observation: In relation to us, Kelvin sits the same in both helicopters.

One-way helicopter: Full health +50 music. With his back to the pilot, window to his left. Fisheye to the right of him, in front and diagonal to us.

Helicopter back: +50 trauma and -80 HP, facing the pilot, window to his right, Eric LeBlanc to his left and, repeating in front and diagonal of us.

Also, add the fact that on the way out he looks at Fisheye and us a couple of times, but on the rescue he never looks at Eric and just keeps his head looking out. It is obviously an indication of the difference in behavior. He went on a mission to chill listening to music, and comes out with a possible combo of traumas, possibly including a fear of getting on a helicopter. Although the fear of staying on the island must be monumentally bigger.

But in both cases, he has us in sight. As in the entire game, Kelvin has us in sight. We are his point of reference, his source of security, what he has to see to be sure that we are not only okay, but that he will also be okay. If he can see us, everything will be fine *Sound of heart breaking*

Here, too those with an RTX 3080 or a full 5K display or better eyes will need to help me confirm the following:

Does Kelvin have his eyes closed?? Has our favorite deaf person closed his eyes once we were rescued because he finally knows that we are safe (with emphasis on us)? Kelvin uwu are u ok?

Also, I hate that in the scene where we started out on the beach, we were literally at nothing away from saving Kelvin.

(lmao the screenshot)

If we had held him down, he might not have fallen into the arena from the sky, causing hearing loss and head damage. But he also might have fallen into the sea and drowned/trapped under the helicopter, so I don't know what to believe. I choose to believe.

Bonus: Screenshots of our sleeping baby (actually unconscious) because uwu Feel free to steal uwu

Peace off ♥

[backtraf]

Prompts or ideas if you’re interested

(I réally love the ones you made about Kelvin !)

-Because of the head trauma he sustained, Would Kelvin be prone to holes in his memories ? Or chronic headaches?

-can we get a situation where Kelvin saves Tim ? Considering he’s still a mercenary with military training drilled in his head (despite the trauma) and experiences from previous jobs (I haven’t played the game, I don’t know if it was mention if it was his first job or not)

-a soft post rescue/escape moment where Tim and Kelvin (and also maybe Virginia) live together? Like just domestic, or cooping with their trauma, Kelvin dealing with his disability in a more ‘populated’ setting etc etc

Tim hadn't come back in a few days, and Kelvin was getting worried. The most he had been gone before was a day while he had been exploring the far side of the island. Worry began to settle deep in his chest, creating a deep ache of anxiety.

At the beginning of the third day, still with no sign of Tim, Kelvin grit his teeth and grabbed one of the spare axes as well as a spear Tim had left for him just in case.

He was about to set out when a wave of dizziness caused him to stumble and second guess himself. What was he thinking? He couldn't go out on a rescue mission in this state. He was deaf and he didn't even know where to start. Tim could be anywhere on this island. A pang of fear shot through him as the thought of him being dead came across his mind.

He quickly shook his head, dispelling the thought, and instantly regretted it as another wave of dizziness caused him to sway. He grit his teeth and used the makeshift spear as a cane to steady himself. He was going to do this. He recalled the direction Tim had taken off to and followed the trail he saw him take a few days prior.

Every small movement made his eyes flick over to it. He knew what was on this island, and they were not friendly to outsiders. He held the spear aimed out in front of himself. Fear shot through him, and his face scrunched in annoyance. He was a goddamn mercenary, and here he was jumping at every shadow. He set his jaw and took slow, deep breaths. He could do this.

He immediately began looking along the trail for any tracks, grateful that it hadn't rained in those few days. It wasn't too long before he found the footprints he was looking for. The military boots moved along the trail, and not long after he found them, he saw them deviate off the path.

Kelvin gripped the spear tighter and followed the trail into the trees. He followed the trail for 30 minutes, careful to keep his eyes peeled for any sign of Tim. Eventually, he came to a wide clearing with the wreckage of a private jet. Swallowing thickly, he pushed forward, the trail leading him towards the aircraft.

He froze when he came close enough to see a bloody handprint on the door. His eyes widened, and he bolted for the door, stumbling as a wave of dizziness hit him but quickly adjusting his footing so he didn't fall. When he made it to the plane, he looked through the window and cupped his hands around his face to get rid of the sun's glare. Someone was inside, though he couldn't make out who.

Gripping the axe, he swung at the door, the desperation fueling him. Movement to his right cause him to pause for only a moment before his train kicked in, and he shoved himself away from the door, just barely dodging the club that hit down where he had just been standing. He gripped the axe tightly in his hand and faced his attacker, chest tightening ever so slightly in fear.

The cannibal swung again, and Kelvin caught the weapon with the head of his axe, hooking it and tugging, watching with a satisfied smirk as it was pulled out of the cannibal's hands. The cannibal's eyes went wide before it looked like it began to growl at him, their teeth grit. They jumped at Kelvin, and he swung his axe, the head of the weapon biting into their flesh. The cannibal fell to the ground and writhed for a moment before going still.

Heaving, Kelvins eyes darted around, looking for any more attackers. There was no movement, and he let himself fall against the jet, taking a moment to catch his breath before turning back to the door and swinging again. It was taking too long, each swing making his muscles protest, but he finally hit the mechanism holding the latch in place, and the door pushed open on its hydraulics. Kelvin ran inside and found Tim lying in a small pool of blood, pale, and Kelvin hoped, unconscious.

He leaned down and pressed his fingers against Tim's neck and focused, finding the thready beat of Tim's heartbeat, too weak for his liking. Kelvin checked him over quickly, finding a stab wound in his lower abdomen. With a grunt, Kelvin hauled Tim onto his shoulders, causing a groan if pain to leave the other's mouth.

Kelvin looked out of the aircraft and along the trees and didn't spot any enemies, so he exited the vehicle and ran as fast as he could with Tim on his shoulders. He finally made it back to their camp half an hour later and laid Tim carefully onto the ground, peeling away the tactical gear soaked through with blood. The wound was still bleeding slowly, and Kelvin quickly took a piece of cloth, pressing it hard against the wound to stem the flow.

Tim's eyes shot open, and he let out a cry of pain, looking at Kelvin with fear in his eyes. His hands shakily reached for Kelvin's, trying weakly to pry away his hands. Kelvin thought he saw the other begging him to stop, but he couldn't read lips very well. Eventually, Tim passed out again, and Kelvin was able to check to see if the bleeding had stopped, which it had. He tossed the soiled cloth away and grabbed another one to bandage his torso.

Finally, Kelvin let himself fall back and just watch Tim. He raise his hands to look at them, blood covering them. He shakily stood and washed his hands in the stream before returning to Tim's side to keep watch over him.

[calchexxis]

If you’re looking to play Path to Nowhere and don’t want to drop lots of money on the gacha elements, no worries. Like most gacha games, they shower you with freebie tickets for getting characters early on, from there even if you get zero S-Class Sinners, the A & B tier are still super solid. You just have to have the right team, so let’s go over it!

First thing’s first, PtN is essentially a tower defense game, so at the beginning of each mission you’ll place your Sinners to block enemy units as they spawn and advance towards you, the Chief. Different maps and missions usually demand different arrangements of your units, and in some cases you might need to invest in leveling up a new Sinner whose abilities might be better suited to solving the issue.

Let’s assume absolute shite luck and you have no S-class and start with the basics.

You automatically receive two A-Class and three B-Class Sinners during the early missions: Hella, Hecate, Wendy, Labyrinth, and Emp. They make a perfect core to build around.

Hecate is best girl. You need her. Get her to level 70 and Phase 3 ASAP. As you level her up she will gain the ability to spit out an extra unit capable of blocking two units and being able to break two enemy cores, which are how you kill bosses and heavy units because it stuns and weakens them.

Wendy & Hella are a bomber of a front line. Wendy can slice up hordes since her ultimate hits a wide area around her, and Hella’s ulti causes her to attack faster and double-attack. In addition, Hella regenerates so she can take a beating.

EMP is an archer with one of the longest attack ranges in the game, her ultimate also breaks a core. She’s good at getting distant picks but her output is a little low, so she is one of the replaceable characters. Labyrinth is an assassin-type, and her ultimate also breaks cores and can move her around the map freely. As a rule of thumb, core-breakers are good boss killers but not much else. So you want to have a good balance. I find that Hecate plus one additional breaker is sufficient for boss-killing.

Support: do not skimp on having a support on your team, it’s tempting to stack damage but they are absolutely necessary. If Hella is on your frontline, use Machiatto. She’s a B-class Healer, and Hella multiplies healing she gets. Machi also buffs her allies she heals as she levels up, and can perform some solid partywide healing later on. She should absolutely be your 6th member in a B-Class lineup.

Replacements: EMP & Labyrinth are replaceable if you want. If you replace Labyrinth it should be with Gekkabijin, another assassin, and whose ulti breaks two cores on hit. EMP should be swapped out with Kelvin, who has solid AOE and most crucially a move speed debuff for enemies around her, giving your team more time to beat face.

Mind you all the above advice is to build a lineup out of your two guaranteed A-Class and easily obtainable B-Class that you’ll get a ton of with your freebie draws. Most likely you’ll get at least one S-Class, but you still want to level Hecate first because you get so much value out of her since she both breaks cores and spits out a defender eventually. If you get Anne, an A-Class Healer, level her up IMMEDIATELY because her healing is so strong, and gives your team a ton of staying power.

Summer is an S-Class that is the best ranged damage dealer in the game. Nox is another S-Class melee who is the best melee frontliner.

Other than that, there are a lot of combos if you have a wide pool of Sinners, but decide early because upgrade resources are scarce later on. Settle on a strategy, pick six sinners as your wrecking crew with maybe one other with a different ability set as a substitute to change up your playstyle.

Cheers.

[hakka84]

Strange New Worlds S2

I don’t get how Strange New Worlds can still be sold as a TOS prequel at this point. Just admit it’s an AU and so be it. I swear.

People who spent the most part of the recent 10s shitting on the Kelvin Trilogy for changing the characters, insulting J.J. because he didn’t stick to TOS characterizations and relationships (despite the movies being officially marketed as an AU from the start)... have nothing to say on Strange New Worlds retcons and blatant ways of ignoring TOS-canon?

More behind the cut, in case you haven’t seen promos/trailers.

In TOS Chapel is basically 24/7 frustrated and sad and depressed because she has a one-sided unrequired love for Spock. Spock literally doesn’t care for her (he clearly respects her as fellow crewmembers and as competent nurse, but that’s the end of it. He never did and never will feel anything for her but respect for a competent co-worker). I know. The portrayal is very 60s, some might even throw in the misoginy card. You feel pity for her. Still, that’s the canon.

And I’m meant to believe that, in universe, 5 years before TOS, Chapel and Spock kissed/flirted/whatever-else? SERIOUSLY.

(as believable as Commander M’Benga choosing for some reason to be demoted from CMO to just doctor with no canon rank in the span of few years).

Strange New Worlds is an AU. Stop. A wonderfully made and crafted AU, but still an AU.

I mean, Spock-banging-Uhura - big no no, Spock isn’t a ladies-man. Kirk being rebellious and broken - how dare you rape my Jimbo Spock being more emotional and unable to control himself? - that’s not Spock, fuck you J.J.

But, for some reasons, Spock banging human-style T’Pring is fine. Spock flirting with Chapel is fine. All in character. Ok.

The next time I’ll hear a bip about the Kelvin Trilogy you will be spammed with Spock/Chapel gifs.

[fandomshatepeopleofcolor]

Hi, I would like to talk to you about your comment under my friend Summer's post. As a lesbian, I have to say that saying that "bisexuals exist" under a post about a character being seen as a lesbian/lesbian-coded is pretty lesbophobic of you even if you didn't mean it, as many times posts about characters being seen as lesbians whether canon or not get derailed with people saying that the character "could/should" be bi(and thus making it so that the character is into men). Also Summer is a bisexual Black woman so them getting rid of Percabeth isn't misogynoir and it's certainly not bisexual erasure because, like they said, Percabeth is incredibly cisheteronormative and REEKS of comphet. Also a lot of lesbians see themselves in Annabeth and agree that she is lesbian-coded and that her relationship with Percy can be seen as comphet, including myself. Respectfully, this was not your place to go "bisexuals exist". Yes, we know that bisexuals exist, as op is a literal bisexual himself, but that doesn't excuse derailing a post about a character being perceived as a lesbian with "okay but they could be bisexual ackshully". Yes, bisexual erasure exists, but a character being seen as a lesbian when they are portrayed straight in canon ain't it. Women and lesbians in particular face a lot of pressure to be into men and to center men in their lives, so you saying "bisexuals exist" is adding to that societal pressure even if you think it's not, even if you think you're doing something good. If you see Annabeth as bi, then make your own post about it. Don't come onto a post about her not liking men to remind us/op that she could like men. We already know that women are expected to like men. I'd appreciate it if you apologized and deleted your reblog. Thank you.

Hi thisismisogynoir, I appreciate that you and your friend are of a certain opinion here wrt Annabeth being lesbiancoded.  But I’ve been in fandom for over 20 years, and I’d like to share my perspective. 

There are two fundamental topics going on here, race and queerness.

First, race: there’s this urge when there’s a racebent female character (and Annabeth is now Black) that fandom wants to sever her ties to the main character and usually its romantic.  

For example, take cw’s the flash. In the comics, Iris was white but for the tv show the CW hired Candice Patton, a black woman. Lots of people were angry about this and  were insisting that the white redhead in the cast (caitlin snow played by danielle panabaker)  should be Barry’s love interest instead. They were very persistent and made fandom unbearable.  Another example,the original Roswell series had Maria DeLuca played by a white actress, but for the reboot, Roswell New Mexico, they racebent Maria Deluca and cast the afrolatina Heather Hemmens in the role.  Now that Heather was Maria, everyone wanted Maria to not be in love with Michael anymore  and the showrunners just so happened to give Michael another love interest, the whitepassing Alex. Michael was still one of the main characters and Maria, who was now a Black girl, was separated from him in favor of this whitepassing male character Alex.  There’s even an older, much more blatant example of this in the form of Nyota Uhura (yes I know she’s never been racebent but bear with me).  Back in the original series Uhura had chemistry mainly with two people, Chapel and Spock.  (  Now granted I loved original series Chahura (not really sure on the actual spelling of their shipping portmanteau sorry) shipping but now in the reboot Kelvin timeline there’s this urge to declare Uhura a lesbian again, when she has a canon romance with Spock.  There are plenty more examples of this pattern.

I realize you’re both Black and I’m not, and I really don’t want it to seem like I’m dismissing your lived experiences.  With all due respect though, it kinda doesn’t matter that you’re Black in this case?  It doesn’t really matter that you don’t intend misogynoir but rather what the impact is of this particular post. If the intent is to make Annabeth a more fleshed out character, that I can wholeheartedly agree with.  However you’re opening up a dangerous avenue where white fans can point to you and say "well here’s two Black women who agree with me that Annabeth should be kept far away from Percy!!!”  except they won’t word it that way they’ll use your words and say “here’s two Black fans that want Leahbeth to be a lesbian because she’s lesbian coded!!”

Speaking of, let’s talk about queerness.I get that there’s lots of different readings for canon but I’m kinda worried that you are mistaking your fanon reading of Annabeth as a lesbian and trying to project it on Leah/Annabeth, Imagining additional experiences unaddressed in canon is fair game, but it’s honestly hurtful to undercut, take away, and reduce a character’s experiences. IMHO you can advocate for a more fleshed out characterization of Annabeth without excluding the fans like me who really appreciated Percabeth. And yes I am biromantic asexual so I would love to see another bisexual character be the main focus of a new, mainstream show.

mod ali

[darkspellmaster]

Have we been overlooking the Key to Snake's survival

Spoilers for Recent Chapters of Kuroshitsuji.

So for those who have been reading, I hope this makes sense as I think it's an important factor in this arc. While I know everyone is wondering what is going to happen to Snake, I've noticed that there isn't much discussion about a few players that usually show up when someone dies and the rules the manga has for telegraphing a death.

(I should note that this tends to pertain to important characters usually, and not one offs like Mina and her husband, as I don't recall seeing a Grim Reaper in that arc at all.

During the first arc of Black Butler we met Grelle, who was hanging out with Madam Red. As noted, she was dressed as a normal human butler rather than her usual amazing self.

It wasn't long after that we got her true reveal and Aunt Anne wasn't with us.

We then get the Reapers showing up, namely William, in the circus arc early on as Specs (If I recall correctly).

William hangs around as a hint that death will be coming since he practically tells Sebastian this. Thus we see him reviewing Joker's records at the top of the burning mansion. Signaling that he's collecting the other members as well at some point or did so already. (Since Reapers can be just about anywhere.)

During the Murder arc, we don't have any reaper (sans the former one in the form of Undertaker at the end) and since we know Sebastian is a demon, we can safely assume that the normal mortal way of killing him is out. So no reapers, no deaths for important or known characters.

In the Campania arc (Luxury Liner arc) Ronald runs up and we get him saying hello with his outfit given we're shown his eyes and his suit.

So, again, we know for sure that someone is going to die, or at least there's going to be deaths happening. We also get Grelle back, and Will at the end, it's important to note that the trio do play a big role in giving us lore in this case along with collecting the souls of the dead, more importantly one of the bigger players in the arc, Ryan Stoker. (As with Baron Kelvin, both men have ties to Ciel through their connections. Stoker via Undertaker, and Kelvin to his past within their circles.)

In the Public School arc (Weston) we don't have a reaper at all, (other than Undertaker) and, once again, no death of players occur (as with Mina, and the Banker, the Queen's nephew is a lesser character). So we see the pattern continuing.

Emerald witch sees William and Grelle in Germany with our two German Reapers (Ruger and Sasha), and we have the deaths of several important villains.

Following this we have the Blue Cult, and yet again, no Reaper to be found in the music hall aspect of the Arc. But Grelle and Othello show up following this portion of the arc, and what does Grelle say to Sebastian and Ciel when they meet after finding the dead nobles. She'll see them again soon.

Not long after, Agni dies.

There is no Reaper during the time Ciel is on the run and by Lau's, and there is none during Mei-Rin and Ran-Mao's arc. It's only when we get to Baldroy's arc that we get Ronald once again.

And that leaves us with a twist that Sebastian saves Baldroy's life, along with Lau giving him his blood to save him. Ronald and will then confine Layla/Al, and we're left to wonder what this means in regard to the other arcs.

What have we learned so far, that nearly every time a Reaper shows up some form of death happens. That when a death may occur for an important character a Reaper will show up. So far this has not been broken, save Baldroy's story.

Most are thinking, we'll she's going to twist it. Snake will die because even though we don't see a reaper, that's a really bad cut, and we're getting a flashback.

However I propose that Snake has more of a part to play in this story. He mentions that he and the snakes are from an unknown, far away place. We also have hints of him being in an orphanage. We know from Finny that there were children being experimented upon, and part of the whole arc seems to be showing how similar Snake and Finny are. So I don't believe he's going to die, and I suspect the reason why is due to how influenced this is by Promised Neverland.

In the story there is a character known as Sister Krone, who helps the children out, but for selfish reasons.

In the end, while she does somewhat help the children, she pretty much betrays them for her own safety, though it does her little good in the end.

However, I want to present a character that I think is a call back to Sister Krone, and she has no name as of yet for some reason.

Our Maid on the Right Lower corner has no name, yet is shown to be someone who plays a part in things. She's always around so we see her a lot even though, unlike Susan or (was it Jamie?) the other younger maid, she has no name. Why is that? Why be so prominent yet not have a name? It's an odd thing, and normally a character like her would have some name at this point, why is hers being kept secret it seems.

She's also been shown to be the most nervous about everything. Even in her first appearance she's being shown to be quiet and later when Doll insists, she has a more worried look about things.

She's the one that dropped the plate, and thus again given prominence above the other characters, and, to be blunt, she's one of the few POC characters shown in this place, and I think the only maid here.

What's got my suspicions up is that People keep saying "There's no Ada to save Snake" and yet, we see three maids go down to the lab. Three of them, meaning that all three know how that stuff works.

Susan, the one in the front, Jamie (the girl with the curly hair) and our last unknown maid, who, unlike the other two -who are all business, is looking upset, nervous, and other unknown emotions. She's clearly not a fan of this, and doesn't like this at all, as shown in their entry in Chapter 203.

Come Chapter 204 we get these two exchanges with her.

She questions things, and note her stance. While the other two are, again, all business like, she looks honestly unhappy and uneasy.

Body language reads as:

Upturned brows = can indicate anxiety or worry.

Down turned eyes = indicate feeling uncertain or Guilty.

Hands in the folded position = can indicate being less confident, unsure, insecure, and nervous.

All together it shows that this maid is questioning her role in this, and, as we see with her questions, her slight hesitation, it's clear that she's not sure about what they're doing, and, more than likely, feeling guilty over it.

We see the same reaction from her again when the other maid gives her the dress Ginny was wearing when she was fledged. So it becomes blatantly obvious that we're supposed to pay attention to this woman who is feeling guilty.

We don't see her leaving but we have to assume that she did due to the fact that she's not there during the confrontation.

Which brings us to the big point of who they're hearing.

The kids and Finny are running away from the sounds, but, more than likely the one that's going to run into them is going to be this maid.

So why do I think it's likely going to be this maid that the kids and Finny are hearing.

We Don't see her leaving, but we know she was there with Susan and the other dead maid.

We can assume since she went down with them that she knew about the tunnel and what was going on with Doll, since Susan mentioned bringing out the Radiance in front of her.

Since neither women came back, she's the most likely to go down to see what is going on.

Given that she knows what they are doing she knows how to work the machines, and would have to know how to help. It's also clear from earlier that she was close enough to Susan to go with her down to the area where they kept the children.

Which brings us back to the situation in promised Neverland. In the story Kone gave information to the children, but as I said, betrayed them. If Yana-sensei is using the idea, given all the implications with the story there's something there, from the early arc (Jailbreak I think?) of PN, then it's possible that, unlike the original story, this maid will actually help Snake and the kids.

Given her reactions and her expressions, she's harboring guilt. Finny wanted to stay and help but had to leave. More than likely it's not beyond belief that this maid will run into them on their way out, and, probably use Finnian's blood, or one of the kids blood to save Snake.

Now why would she do that over taking the kids away?

Simplest answer, Finny asks her too and her desire to save a life, over taking one, would probably lead her to do the right thing in this case.

Why Finny's blood?

According to Celtic Legends Finnian, the mythic character, was given the gift of healing from the salmon of Knowledge. When he gathered water into his hands, and one drank from this the person will be healed.

We know that Finny is an experiment, and, given that the scientist shot his siblings/fellow experiments in the head rather than the chest or other body parts to kill them, indicated that the experiments healed. We also see this in the fight with Jumbo that Finny survives Jumbo's hit, and it's good by the next day.

So my theory is that the maid will meet the kids, give aid to Snake, and then likely take the kids away.

To be honest, The one I think has the death mark on him is either Tanaka, or Real Ciel again. Yana did state that Ciel will not make it to his 14th birthday. But O!Ciel is NOT Ciel, and never was. So the Ciel she's probably talking about is R!Ciel.

I know this isn't perfect, but it seems the most likely over Snake being turned into a Bizarre Doll, or outright dying.

The other option is that there are some snakes that can heal their own wounds, or he could shed his skin and heal himself that way.

[abybweisse]

Has it been asked if Doll and Snake were friends or acted like family with each other during the circus arc? How much does Doll and Snake know about Baron K., Joker, Beast, and the others being dead? And that Sebastian and Our Ciel being responsible for that? And would either one of them blame Finny for his part?

Doll and Snake asks

Some of these topics have been discussed before, and some of this is depicted in the manga.

1. Doll and Snake were pretty close at the circus, though he didn't know what Doll and the others were up to. Doll was the one who initially reached out to Snake and cared for him, as well as for his snakes. The others might have even been the slightest bit stand-off-ish, but she wasn't at all. Besides Snake, Doll seems to be the only circus member who handles his snakes. This is why Emily associates Doll with a "comforting scent".

2. Snake might not know the others are dead, especially now that he's seen Doll (who is actually also dead). Our earl said the circus troupe was kidnapping children, but he didn't say he was able to track them down, nor did he say any of them attacked the manor. Snake just knows they disappeared after our earl infiltrated them to investigate the missing children. However, he might have ideas about the truth, since he's now had a few glimpses at how our earl and Sebastian deal with adversaries. Out of the first-string members, he's the only one who wasn't involved with kidnapping those kids, so I suspect he doesn't know much about Baron Kelvin. Snake only rose in the ranks so quickly because his act was a crowd pleaser.

Doll is a slightly different story, since our earl says he killed them... just before having Sebastian kill her. She didn't see any of their deaths for herself, but there's no reason for her to not believe they really are dead. And that would include Kelvin and Joker, too, since she confronts our earl right outside Kelvin's burning manor. She knows that Joker had gone there and had probably not already left again, since she didn't cross paths with him on her way. Since Undertaker collected her body from Kelvin's estate and also collected the bodies from Phantomhive Manor -- Beast, Dagger, Peter, Wendy, and Jumbo -- he could have taken cinematic records from them to add to hers. Or he looks at the records that are intact enough and simply tells her how they died. But he probably didn't get to look at the cinematic records for Kelvin, the doctor, and Joker. If he did, would he use their records somehow? Would he tell Doll exactly what Kelvin and the circus doctor did to those poor kids she helped kidnap?

3. Snake only knows for sure that his young master had infiltrated the circus to investigate this case of missing children. Our earl deceived him by making him think they might still be alive and just in hiding. Once he finds out the truth, I expect him to initially blame our earl and Sebastian. But I'm hoping that he also learns the full truth of what those circus members were doing. He might end up wishing he'd never befriended Doll or the others. However, he did say he'd never forgive our earl for whatever happened to them.

Doll fully blames our earl and Sebastian for their deaths (and hers, of course), since she rushed forward to attack them while saying she'd never forgive them (or at least never forgive our earl, since their deaths were ordered by him, and Sebastian and the other servants were merely following orders).

4. It's hard to say what either Doll or Snake would really think about Finny's part in their friends' deaths. They might take into consideration the fact he was just following orders. However, there's so much pent up frustration and anger about it all... that they might take it out on him, simply because was involved and he's there as a representative of our earl.

[destinyc1020]

confession time - i think that if any OTHER actor (particularly film twitters faves) had given the caliber of performance that tom gave during the crowded room, then critics and film twitter would be going wild for it. the fact that most of the critics reviews mentioned the mcu when it was unrelated to the subject matter tells me that they are not seeing tom in an unbiased light. honestly, i've kept up with young actors from tim to austin to kelvin to jharrel to paul (and my ranking of them would be very controversial but i would stand by it) and tom's performance in tcr is in my top 3 of actors under 30. it's right up there with jharrel in when they see us for me. tom delivers in a way that few of his peers do and i look forward to him getting his flowers because absolutely that is inevitable if he keeps delivering performances like this

confession time - i think that if any OTHER actor (particularly film twitters faves) had given the caliber of performance that tom gave during the crowded room, then critics and film twitter would be going wild for it. the fact that most of the critics reviews mentioned the mcu when it was unrelated to the subject matter tells me that they are not seeing tom in an unbiased light.

Thnx for your confession Anon😊

RE: The Red... I definitely think that there could be some of that going on. I feel like Hollywood (and even the GP!) at times tries to pigeon-hole actors into a specific role or type. Sometimes it's just because it's easier to compartmentalize ("It's just easier for me to only view this actor as a fill in the blank type of actor"), and other times it's because of money ("This actor is making us waaay too much money in this franchise...we can't have him venturing out and doing too many other things...."). I've seen that happen before, so I def wouldn't be surprised if there were a little bit of that going on in Tom's case.

Which actors, in your opinion, would get praised if they had done the exact same job in TCR? Just curious...

Honestly, i've kept up with young actors from tim to austin to kelvin to jharrel to paul (and my ranking of them would be very controversial but i would stand by it)

Uh oh...now, you got me wondering what your ranking of these actors would be lol 🤭

I feel like while Kelvin has done some lead roles over the years, I'm not sure how much I can really compare him to others who have had more lead projects.....like Tim and Tom for example. But everything I've seen Kelvin in so far, I've been very impressed w/his acting.

Austin as well is still very green imo. He did one lead role with "Elvis" that did well, but I feel like in this era that he's in now, I think we need to wait until his other filming projects come out before making more of an assessment on his acting in this more adult era of his. But if THEE Denzel Washington was impressed by him, then I think that's definitely a promising step in the right direction. Honestly though? Austin might come to fall in the same predicament that Tom is in since the role he did was so iconic. While some still call Tom "Spiderman", Austin might still be only seen as "Elvis" by critics in his future roles if he's not careful. Jmho. I guess we shall see. I think every actor can fall into that trap if they're not careful when one of their films is super successful...especially if that was the film that most people came to know and associate you with. I think that's probably one reason why some actors are a little hesitant in doing a superhero role. While it's great, I can see how some can get typecast into that role if they play it for too long.

tom's performance in tcr is in my top 3 of actors under 30. it's right up there with jharrel in when they see us for me. tom delivers in a way that few of his peers do and i look forward to him getting his flowers because absolutely that is inevitable if he keeps delivering performances like this

Oh wow Anon! Better than Jharrel Jerome in "When They See Us"?? Okay...wow!

Well, I definitely think that Tom is one of the best actors under 30 out here in the business today😊, and I'm VERY sure that TCR will get some award buzz come award's season. I'll be shocked if it doesn't get any nods. I definitely think the series (as well as Tom's acting) will get some nods. I can't wait to see those mean and biased critics eating crow when that happens lol ...