#preventing apotheosis

[amazingmsme]

I don’t think y’all are ready for me to revive Preventing Apotheosis

[pink-november]

here's your daily stp trivia

cheated is the only voice that prevents you from turning around and leaving the cabin during a chapter 3

[crowns-of-violets-and-roses]

I've had bottled apotheosis and apotheosis plus fusion hammer before but this is the first time I've had all three together.

[aethon-recs]

23 Tomarrymort Recs for 2023 (One-Shot Edition)

Happy birthday to Tom! 🤍 Here's a round-up of some of the most interesting one-shots that I came across in 2023. I tried to include a broad range of tropes and themes and ratings, but I haven't read everything published on AO3 in the past year, so feel free to suggest any others in the comment section or in my ask box!

Criteria for this list: one- (or two-) shot, complete, published in 2023. Can be read in 1 sitting. The 2nd part of this list (23 longfics updated in 2023) coming soon. Happy reading!

*

23 Tomarrymort Recs for 2023 — One-Shots

A Deathly Visit by @purplewitch156 (E, 7k, complete)

There once was a wizard who feared Death more than anything.

a dream is a wish by @funkyatheart (E, 5k, complete)

Harry is no stranger to wet dreams. Nightmares too, of course. They mingle, and blend together in all the wrong and most alluring ways.

A Total Absence of Light by @crowcrowcrowthing (E, 8k, complete)

My name is Tom Riddle, and I am the Boy Who Lived. Something happened to turn Harry Potter into the Dark Lord, and I will do whatever it takes to learn his secrets. I don’t care that he killed my parents. I don't care that he stole my childhood. All I want is to earn the right to call myself his apprentice.

and you'll forget who i have been by @apodius (M, 3k, complete)

Tom hugs you, and for a second you relax. And then you feel a sting on your bicep through your shirt, and the world goes fuzzy.

Anniversary by @vdoshu (E, 4k, complete)

There’s a feather-light touch to Harry’s scar, one that lingers before trailing around the side of his face, coming to rest over his lower lip and tugging it slightly. Harry steels himself, then opens his eyes. “Hello, husband,” he says, facing Voldemort’s hungry gaze. “Happy anniversary.”

Apotheosis by @duplicitywrites (M, 7k, complete)

Growing up side by side with Harry Potter, beloved prophecy child, Draco learned two very important things: One, Voldemort was a god, terrifyingly monstrous and more powerful than any wizard on the planet. And two, Harry Potter was his.

Banish Me to the Garden of Eden by @contrarywiseizybel (M, 7k, complete)

Harry Potter had expected the green of the killing curse, not the red of a stunning spell. He couldn't have guessed that Voldemort would discover the truth first, and chose to trap his wayward horcrux. And in his new cage there is a very simple rule: behave and be rewarded, act out and be punished. He had been asked to die, never told to live.

Cicatrize by @noumena-writes (T, 5k, complete)

When hit with Voldemort's killing curse, Harry awakens in King's Cross. Only thing is, Dumbledore is not the one waiting for him there.

Frigid by @mrviran (E, 3k, complete)

In which one of Voldemort's Horcruxes is broken, and needs to be fixed.

Game On by penn_and_paige (T, 13k, complete)

Tom Riddle didn't pay attention to Harry Evans — that is, of course, until Evans tried to kill him.

haunt me, then by i_am_a_tree (M, 5k, complete)

"Death," Potter says, an inexplicable expression on his face that Voldemort instinctively does not like, “is quicker and easier than falling asleep."  Voldemort does not deign that statement with a reply.

Honeyguide by @cannibalinc (E, 7k, complete)

“I need an Alpha," Tom states. "Someone older. Someone already established within the Ministry with strong connections. Someone kind, a bit stupid, and rich. A Pureblood, ideally. Someone who will soften my image.”

I'm Starving, Darling (Let me put my lips to something) by @winterdeath81 (E, 1k, complete)

Harry thought for a long time he didn't like kissing until he finds that he doesn't mind doing it with Voldemort.

Insatiate by @vdoshu (E, 2k, complete)

Voldemort stole both Harry and the Philosopher’s Stone, and doomed Harry to live a half-life. That was ten years ago.

it's kind of tripping me up babe, i've got it bad for you by @limonium-anemos (E, 3k, complete)

This could've been prevented if they were paying attention, Voldemort thinks. In which they get isekai'd into a cursed erotica book.

liquid luck by @toast-ranger-to-a-stranger (E, 12k, complete)

Harry is a mermaid who happens upon sea monster Voldemort, who has nefarious plans for her.

Love, Murder, Horcrux by @moontearpensfic (E, 8k, complete)

Tom makes Harry his Horcrux on the night of their wedding anniversary.

Ouroboros by @loneamaryllis (E, 5k, complete)

Red eyes followed Harrie wherever she was, in his class, in the Great Hall, walking down the corridors, out on the grounds. She could feel the weight of his gaze upon her, like scales sliding across her skin, cold, smooth, and prickling every defensive instinct she had.

Research and Development by @cannibalinc (E, 6k, complete)

Primary Objective: Establish with certainty that Subject IS or IS NOT a living Horcrux. Captured audio sample from Subject: You can’t keep me in here forever, Voldemort! Why don’t you come in here and face me, you COWARD! I’m not scared of you! Dumbledore will find me and—

Right in Front of My Salad? by IceLynx (T, 2k, complete)

In which Draco Malfoy is dead in the kitchen, Harry is regretting moving in with his boyfriend, and Tom has never been more in love.

Plains of oblivion by @milkandmoon-ao3 (E, 3k, complete) 

Trapped in the past with no way home, a disillusioned Harry executes a plan to make an ally of the rising Dark Lord and reshape history.

That's Money, Honey by @dividawrites & @duplicitywrites (E, 10k, complete) 

Tom is a dear friend to many beautiful older women who love to treat him like their beloved son by spoiling him with presents. It is the perfect gateway to the perfect lifestyle—one full of frequent spa days, free holidays abroad, and all of the latest fashions. When Auror Harry Potter claims to be investigating Tom's 'inappropriate' relationships, Tom decides the best course of action is to instigate some 'inappropriate' behaviour of his own.

The Boy With the Green Ribbon by @meles-merrivale (T, 6k, complete)

In another world, what Sirius Black finds when he sprints into Godric’s Hollow that Halloween night is bad enough. In this world, it’s so much worse. It’s James—his best friend, his soulmate, the rest of him—dead in the doorway, and vibrant, warm Lily cold on the carpet, and there, standing in his crib seeing things no infant should see, is little baby Harry. And next to him, lying on the crib mattress, is the baby’s screaming head.

Would You Still Love Me? by @chiocchi (M, comic/artwork, WIP)

"Harry, would you still love me if I was a snake?" Harry knows how this question works. No matter how deranged and unreasonable it is, he has to say yes. A notion he may come to regret once Tom's questions start to get darker and oddly specific.

*

[pyrrhiccomedy]

I've been following your Heretic updates and I've been wondering, are the Hours akin to forces of nature - or they beings with desires and fears that are simply too alien for humans to comprehend?

They are beings with desires and fears that are for the most part completely comprehensible. Mother White is the only alien one. They are also forces of nature. The Hours are the aeonic powers that hold the universe together, and maintain an order in which life and the pursuit of apotheosis are possible. Their passions, rages, promises and burdens configure and power the architecture of the universe.

You know what, let's actually run through them.

The Madrugad (the First Hour) is the Hour of the Passage. She ensures that one side of a doorway connects to the other. She also presides over the passage from life to death (and back, if she allows it). She is invoked for summonings and resurrection magic. She attends the Sun-In-Rags in hospice, preventing him from passing into death. She is remote and solemn but broadly benevolent, though not necessarily generous.

The Queen-In-Chains (the Second Hour) is the Prophet's Hour. She presides over all causality and the organization of time. She is completely insane, but probably knows everything, and can act with searing and bewildering precision when she launches some petitioner on a called shot through the butterfly effect.

The Stranger (the Third Hour) is the Hour of Deception. She presides over everything that is unknown, and protects the secrecy of everything which should remain unknown. She's one of the three gods of the Wood, and is generally a real jerk. Trickster gods are almost universally manifestations of the Stranger. Her sister is the Ring-Yew, and the pair generally cooperate when called upon to do so. She is engaged in a friendly rivalry with the Black Captain.

The Rending (the Fourth Hour) is the Hour of Annihilation. He is the destroyer. Rage, cruelty, and pestilence are his offices. He wants to hurt you before you die. He loves the Sunflower King, and inflicts endless torments upon him to express his love. Doesn't really have a bone to pick with any particular other Hour. He intends to kill them all equally.

The Kithmark (the Fifth Hour) is the Hour of the Inner Reach. He maintains the boundary between 'you' and everything that is not 'you.' A lot of yogic practices get into Kithmark veneration. Mostly keeps to himself but if you end up fucking around in Idless at all you'll probably become a big fan of him. He is working very hard all the time to prevent you from being colonized by invading intelligences.

The Pyre-Hawk (the Sixth Hour) is the Hour of Exultation. His office is purification and ascension. He's absolutely 100% of the time in a state of ecstatic joy, and you will be too, if you pursue his favor for long enough! Nobody has beef with the Pyre-Hawk. He's the life of the party and we're all thrilled he's here.

The Sunflower King (the Seventh Hour) is the Hour of Triumph. It is by his will that your will has the power to reshape the world around you. Even the physical laws of the universe give way before the will of the Sunflower King. Proud and resplendent, haughty and flensing, in his kingly greatness he submits to be Rended to spare all of creation from facing the same scourge. The most beloved of the Hours for the greatness of his sacrifice. The Madderblade is his guardian and knight. All hail.

The Madderblade (the Eighth Hour) is the Hour of Conquest & Reconciliation. The fusion and fission of every atom in the universe are only the echoes of her towering victories in both love and violence. She is glorious. She is always serving. She is the first force that ever slew an Hour. Her blade bit the heart of Mother White. The Black Captain wants to fuck her so bad it makes him look stupid. She loves him too. They've been in a state of relentless war ever since acknowledging their passion, to prevent themselves from committing the calamitous Sin of the Sky.

The Bent Minstrel (the Ninth Hour) is dead, which is very bad. He was the second of the three gods of the Wood, and presided over the movement of nature. People who know about this sort of thing generally speak well of his memory, although often in the same way that they call the fairies "the good neighbors." Wild Hunts and horned gods aside, he was the right Hour to pray to if you wanted your harvests to be plentiful and the weather to be good. He also inspired art & music, which he perceived to be just more manifestations of the weather. Mother White ate him.

The Ring-Yew (the Tenth Hour) is the Merciful Hour. Every lucky break you've ever gotten when the chips were down was thanks to her. She is the particular protector of children, prisoners, slaves, martyrs, animals, and the lost. She is the third god of the Wood, and by far the nicest one. Fortunate is he who glimpses the edge of her silver hand in his moment of despair, because a path to peace and freedom is about to open up before him. She is completely incapable of any kind of violence.

Mother White (the Eleventh Hour) is the Hour of Vibrance. Hers is the vital force which allows life to multiply and which reanimates the dead. She is constantly hungry and has no other motivation that anyone has ever been able to determine before she ate them. It's hard to even tell if she communicates, or if she's just mimicking communication in order to entice you to come close enough that she can get her jaws around you. She's an awful grub and probably unkillable, but who knows what she'd pupate into if she could ever get enough to eat? Maybe something that wouldn't be so alien and dangerous.

The Stone Beggar (the Twelfth Hour) is also dead, but it seems unlikely that he'll stay that way. He was the Hour of Inevitability, and presided over the turning wheel. His name is still invoked by revolutionaries, and cursed by those who would try to cling to power beyond their appointed time. It is thanks to his kindness and to his cruel indifference that the wheel always turns. He was noble, quiet, and implacable in war. Mother White ate him too.

The Uranian (the Thirteenth Hour) is the Hour of Daring. Alone out of all the Hours, he was once a mortal man. His offices are magic and the movement of the spheres. Kind of a dick tbh, very into backstabbing your way to the top. The kind of guy who would actually say "don't hate the player, hate the game."

The Black Captain (the Fourteenth Hour) is the Hour of Satisfaction. It is by his will that oaths, vengeance, and victory hold power. He used to be the greatest of the stalking kings of Mithra, before the Madrugad summoned him into mundus to defend her domicile (in which the Sun-In-Rags takes sanctuary) from the ravages of Mother White, during the War of Intercalation. Dutiful, cunning, ruthless, and skillful. He's the sink to the Madderblade's source, you know? The Romans were really into him.

Those are all the currently seated Hours. There are more beings you can petition: like the Ecdysiast, the Wakefire, the Flayed Widow, and the Hanged Rider, all of whom were killed during the War of Intercalation and their Thrones have subsequently been taken by others (the Madderblade, the Pyre-Hawk, the Uranian, and the Black Captain, respectively). There are also Great Leviathan and the First Ant, neither of whom have ever been Hours, but are sufficiently titanic beings that they have a lot in common with the Hours. But you get the idea. They're not incomprehensible at all, except for Mother White.

[thisisnotthenerd]

Records of the Aguefort Adventuring Academy: File AAA-BKQ-04-DOJ

This file summarizes the junior year quest of the adventuring party known as the Bad Kids and notes extraordinary achievements in this process. Reference this associated file [the rat grinders timeline] for clarification on the specific actions of the opposing party.

Quest Summary:

Heroic Party: The Bad Kids

Adaine Abernant | Wizard 14

Kristen Applebees | Cleric 14

Figueroth Faeth | Bard 10 / Paladin 3 / Warlock 1 / "Barbarian" 0

Riz Gukgak | Rogue 14

Fabian Aramais Seacaster | Fighter 6 / Bard 8

Gorgug Thistlespring | Barbarian 5 / Artificer 9

Villainous Party: The Rat Grinders & Associated Staff Members

Porter Cliffbreaker

Jace Stardiamond

Kipperlilly Copperkettle

Oisin Hakinvar

Ruben Hopclap

Ivy Embra

Mary Ann Skuttle

Buddy Dawn

---------------- AAA ----------------

Completed Quest Objectives:

These are separated into primary and secondary objectives achieved over the course of the quest, and have been generalized into categories for the sake of simplicity. All feats are listed numerically, but have no particular value inherent upon their placement; it may be based on chronology, the alphabet, related events, etc.

Primary Objective:

Prevention of the sundering of the name of Ankarna (Deity of Dawn, Justice, Fire, and Rage), the apotheosis of Porter Cliffbreaker, and the subsequent destruction of Elmville, home of the Aguefort Adventuring Academy

Notable Feats:

Gorgug Thistlespring remained in combat with Porter Cliffbreaker as a sole target, despite going down 4 times over the course of the combat. He further unleashed a flashbang which prevented Porter from lying to Ankarna and thus ensured Porter's demise.

Adaine Abernant worked within the bounds of utility casting to prevent environmental hazards and the opponents from downing her fellow party members. She further used her earworm to create a network between the Bad Kids, the villainous party, and the deities Ankarna and Cassandra, which allowed for Ankarna's divine intercession, after Adaine revealed the truth through divinatory skill.

Kristen 2 Applebees, with the aid of Kristen 1 Applebees, dispelled the effects of devil's honey that allowed Cliffbreaker to lie to Ankarna. Both Kristens kept their peers up throughout the combat, and brought the deity Cassandra back to her primary form, before establishing Cassandra and Ankarna as the first of a new pantheon worthy of her worship.

Riz Gukgak utilized a variety of tactical decisions and environmental hazards to strike at the enemies and fell them from hiding, in a pure display of roguish skill. He engaged in a one on one duel with Kipperlilly Copperkettle, and in felling her, prevented the disbandment of the Aguefort Adventuring Academy.

Fabian Seacaster, while an excellent combatant, released Bakur and brought allies of the party to participate in the combat from unconsciousness. He further initiated the correction of injustice that enabled Ankarna's reemergence with an untaught Divine Intervention.

Figueroth Faeth, after breaking the ancestral Curse of the Armor of Pride, served as the champion of Ankarna through the composition and performance of "Dawn of Justice" and "Righteous Rebel". She communed with the dead deity and took her rightful place as the Archdevil of Rebellion within Ankarna's domain. She further used this communion to trick Porter Cliffbreaker and the Rat Grinders with the false name Bacarath, while holding dominion over Ankarna's original domain. She then joined Kristen Applebees in establishing Ankarna and Cassandra as the bases of a new pantheon.

Secondary Objectives:

Achieve academic success at the Aguefort Adventuring Academy

Notable Feats:

Gorgug Thistlespring completed the coursework of three years of Artificer classes as well as one year of Barbarian classes. In this process, he discovered a new means of barbarian rage that could accommodate for Artificer spellcraft, thereby creating the Barbificer subclass.

Riz Gukgak found the Rogue professor Eugenia Shadow through months of careful investigation and dedicated effort and thus passed his junior year with an A+, though he maintained impeccable grades anyway.

Kristen Applebees attended her Cleric classes for much of the year without a present deity, performing miracles by her own hand and completing an independent study.

Figueroth Faeth changed her coursework to reflect a renewed interest in multiclassing; she completed independent studies on the Warlock and Bard tracks, and further incorporated Paladin coursework by attending Barbarian classes with the multiclass Barbarian-Paladin professor Porter Cliffbreaker.

Adaine Abernant maintained exemplary grades in Wizard coursework without the majority of the necessary material components. She further hosted an dance battle during her Wizard classes to defend the right of the Elven Oracle to be paid a competitive rate.

Fabian Seacaster joined the ranks of the dance Bards under Terpsichore Skullcleaver and completed the year with exemplary grades in both the Fighter and Bard tracks.

As a party, the Bad Kids faced the Last Stand Exam and were the first to achieve Arthur Aguefort's intended objective: living through the exam and spiting those who sought to send them to their death. Reference this document [The Last Stand Exam] for the proctor's notes on their performance.

Achieve extracurricular success at and outside of the Aguefort Adventuring Academy

Notable Feats:

Kristen Applebees, with the aid of her campaign manager Riz Gukgak, successfully ran for the position of Student Body President, beating out opposing candidate Kipperlilly Copperkettle

Figueroth Faeth served as the anonymous host of the "Complicated Women" podcast and opened her independent record label, which she used for the release of her sophomore album.

Riz Gukgak, after joining and participating in every extracurricular the Academy had to offer, became the school's Extracurricular Supervisor.

Adaine Abernant confronted the Court of Stars and successfully defended the right of the Elven Oracle, with Fabian Aramais Seacaster as her Champion, the Oracle of Dance.

Fabian Aramais Seacaster earned the title of Maximum Legend by opening his home to the many students of the Aguefort Adventuring Academy, serving as a pillar of the community, providing resources for studying, relaxation, and partying.

Gorgug Thistlespring continued his creation of the Barbificer subclass beyond the walls of the Aguefort Adventuring Academy, but proved his title of "Greatest Wizard of the Age", bestowed by Ayda Aguefort, by dunking on multiple adversaries: this included oinking at an officer of the law, soloing a purple worm, and getting Porter Cliffbreaker with a "Loser says What".

Adaine Abernant successfully created a remarkably British simulacrum of Kristen Applebees, named K2, who went on to participate in the murder of Wanda Childa (alter ego of Figueroth Faeth), apply to Hudol, call for the Divine Intervention of Cassandra in the form of the Nightmare King, and critically dispel the effects of devil's honey on Porter Cliffbreaker. The simulacrum was granted true life in the hands of Cassandra, but subsequently banished to a higher dimension, unreachable by mortal means in the world of Spyre.

Achieve investigative success with regard to the scheme of the villainous party

Notable Feats:

Figueroth Faeth took on an alter ego by the name of Wanda Childa to investigate the intentions and haunt the dreams of Ruben Hopclap. She capped this feat of social engineering off by orchestrating an elaborate death scene and mimicking the resurrection of the Rat Grinders.

Adaine Abernant, after speaking the name of Ankarna into the Material Plane, harnessed the energy of the breaking of the Curse of the Armor of Pride to release the soul gem of Bakur from the body of Lydia Barkrock, thereby allowing investigation of Ankarna's divine domain. She further used her arcane skill as the Elven Oracle to divine the intentions of Jace Stardiamond and cast Legend Lore upon the Temple of the Fallen Sun.

Riz Gukgak independently investigated the actions of the villainous party in the town of Elmville, including but not limited to: the nature of shatter-stars, the embedded crystals in Elmville's soil, the connection to Kalina the Shadow Cat and Ragh Barkrock, their travels to the Temple of the Fallen Sun, and the details of Porter's attempted apotheosis.

Kristen Applebees publicly opposed the Rat Grinders while running for Student Body President and thus stymied their attempts at gaining power over the school. She also, upon discovering the mutilated corpses of Lucy Frostblade and Yolanda Badgood, miraculously preserved their souls in the afterlife of Cassandra.

Fabian Seacaster's role as Maximum Legend and the resources of his home helped to prevent the escalation of rage that had been passing through Elmville by providing a space for recreation and relaxation that could alleviate the stresses that led to possession by the rage stars. He further sponsored the party's travel and connected with resources in Fallinel and Hell which enabled further investigation of the Rat Grinders' scheme

Gorgug Thistlespring, in between his establishment of the Barbificer Subclass, investigated the role of the Thistlespring Tree as Elmville's Root Warden, and the ritual performed there to transform Elmville into Ankarna's divine domain. He further used is skills as an artificer to adapt Seacaster Manor to flight and pilot it through the storm of the Nightmare King (dragon infested via ritual) such that the Bad Kids could face down the villainous party.

---------------- AAA ----------------

Documented Adversaries:

This table accounts for all of the enemies faced by the bad kids over the course of their junior year, with documentation of the relative difficulty of the encounters and their prospective experience (XP) growth. Reference this spreadsheet for recent additions and previous adversaries faced by the Bad Kids.

[alan-in-the-outernet]

Someone posed Mango calling on apotheosis Alan to bring back his son, but also. Depending on how the timelines match up, did Showdown occur before or after Gold was lost?

If it happened enough time before, imagine if Mango sees his son in danger and, desperate not to lose him, he prays for anyone, please save his son!

Imagine if Gold, being pulled apart pixel by pixel, reaching for his dad in terror, mentally begging for some higher power to rescue him!

And Alan... Alan is a father, himself. He has the color gang, and it's canon to the ava actual shorts that he has human children of his own.

He hears the pleas of a father to save his child, and a child wailing in terror, and he acts.

Gold is plucked from the deathtrap of a minecraft simulator, and the simulator itself is basically sealed up to prevent anyone else from being dragged in.

Maybe Mango and Gold are too busy holding each other for comfort and reassurance, but now there's like. An entire fairground of stick figures staring in awe and fear at the Cursor that just neutralized a glitching device and protected a kid.

Alan himself is hovering close (but doing his best not to loom ominously) to make sure the father-son duo are okay. That "panic bc my kids in danger" resonated really hard with him, have to make sure there's no bad after effects. If Gold is hurt he applies some form of instinctive healing.

When they're both okay, this intimidating floating cursor just exudes happy/relieved vibes, bouncing a little as it moves. He did a good thing!

Getting it out of the way that I LOVE THIS??? HELLO??? SO MUCH-

OUGH... this is very possible!!

I imagine that the Showdown occurred either around the time Gold was lost, or just a bit before! Just based on when the Minecraft Icon shows back up in the task bar in Wanted, and the fact that it leaves time for Mango to lose Gold, and then try to build stuff up to get Gold back-

But case in point! 'Noogai' would either be really early on in appearing or having not started being summoned yet- but! We're gonna go with really early on, because I love this idea-

Just. The idea that maybe one of his first summons as a child calling out, afraid of the dark... so he came, he came and he lingered, to be a light... and then- there's a child and a father calling out to him- crying out as one- scared of the darkness about to sweep the child up... and so he ACTS...

And Noogai lingers... his mind is muddled right now, but... to have saved the child brings him relief... to see the child and father hugging... it fills him with joy and content- as well as relief...

And so he stays, until he is truly certain they're both okay...

AAAAAAAAAAA I LOVE THIS SO MUCH-

[nezumithewriter]

weird dream tonight

[TRANSCRIPT: dream seemed to take place during a school performance of tgwdlm, given its licensing had released. The story was different though. Everything was the same up until paul is supposed to blow up the meteor. (also, emma is not injured in this version, but is instead missing.) He successfully blows up the meteor, and manages to get out unscathed, but he's slowly succumbing to apotheosis. He locks himself in a closet upon hearing someone who wasn't singing, and realizes that it's Emma. They share a conversation through the door, where Emma explains how most of the infected dropped dead or seized when the meteor blew up, and how Paul did it. Paul, meanwhile, is fighting himself, trying to explain to Emma how much he loves her and how she needed to go. She refuses up until she hears a note leave his throat. Emma hesitates at first, before saying how much she loved him too. The side of the stage Paul is on has the curtains slowly shut, with Paul beginning to cry and chokingly sing out about how he was going to miss Emma. Emma, on the other hand, places a chair in front of the door handle as it starts to jiggle, preventing Paul from leaving. She finds a gun on one of the dead bodies in the theater as Paul, finally losing, sings a whispery song about love. Emma moves the chair after loading the gun, and the moment Paul steps out, singing the last note, Emma fires.]

[transformers-mosaic]

Transformers: Mosaic #616 - "The True Meaning"

Originally posted on August 22nd, 2011

Story, Letters - Josh van Reyk Art - Rui Onishi Colours - Joana Lafuente

deviantART | Seibertron | TFW2005

wada sez: This strip is extrapolated from Pyro’s Autopedia profile published in Last Stand of the Wreckers issue #5, which revealed that his primus apotheosis condition (a pathological idolatry of Optimus Prime) began after Optimus Prime saved his life during the Simanzi Massacre. The profile specifically stated that “Optimus Prime prevented him (and a thousand others from falling into The Crucible”, which seems very different to the events seen here. Trypticon had previously had a few minor appearances under Furman’s pen. You know, considering this is a strip about primus apotheosis, I wonder if the otherwise inexplicable appearance of Sureshot here was actually related in some way to Generation 2 Sureshot—a renaming of the Hero Optimus Prime toy as a different character! See below for clean inks.

[liesmyth]

I think it was you who posted something about why Christabel was described as so dumb in HtN yet seemed very articulate and sensible pre-resurrection and I just saw that post about her namesake poem where she’s cursed to not be able to warn anyone…anyway something something Christabel figured out/remembered something she wasn’t supposed to and to protect John or herself Alecto did something so she couldn’t tell anyone and that’s why she came off so dumb…what if the OG diy lobotomy was performed on Christabel Oct

I love the implications of Cristabel's name trivia! I love Alecto, but I'm also definitely on team 'She will make things WORSE'. I believe there was a valid reason why Mercy and Augustine were so terrified of her, and John and Anastasia (who liked her!) went along with locking her up. Pyrrha and presumably G1deon liked her, but tbh I'm not sure they're necessarily good judges of characters. "You have not begun to see the horrors of love", well, I think SHE is the horror. Alecto deserves it tbh <3

Though it wasn’t me who made that original Cristabel post! I know which one you mean but can’t remember the OP so I can’t link it. I think it’s a fascinating take but I’m also not sure that there’s necessarily a discrepancy between Cristabel pre-Resurrection and after; I think it could also be a case of narrative bias.

All we know of Cristabel in NtN comes from John, who thought very highly of her. He made his space empire Catholic-themed, he called her “sister”, and her thoughts on the soul were a massive influence on the work he was doing in the last weeks before the nukes. She also made him God with her sacrifice — she left a mark. We’re also told that Cristabel worked closely with Alfred doing some accounting detective work, so presumably, she was good at numbers. I don’t think this goes against anything we’re told in HtN.

The person who describes Cristabel as dumb in HtN is Augustine, who hates her guts. ("Did not have the intellect you’d ordinarily find in a sandwich or an orange, and was a sickening twerp into the bargain" Oh Augustine :D) He also calls her “a fanatic and an idiot” and I don’t think this necessarily means that she was as dumb as a brick. It means that she was a single-minded zealot. This lines up with pre-Resurrection Cristabel, imo. She shot herself in the head in front of a close friend who was already on the edge of a mental breakdown, in the middle of a massive emergency, with no warning and only a cryptic explanation, for no good reason.

Yes, she thought (and was right) that her death would help John find the soul. But at that point, none of them had grasped the full extent and implications of John’s powers, not even him. Yes, her death sparked John’s apotheosis, but they hadn’t known this would happen. In a moment where it was in everyone’s best interests that he’d calm down — if he had been lucid, maybe he could have prevented the shoutout in the compound! — she just went and pushed him over the edge.

TLDR: I agree that Cristabel’s name means Something and possibly Alecto did something to her because there’s no faster way to get on Mercy’s shitlist than fucking with Cristabel. But I’m also team Augustine. She was a fanatic

[bogusfilth]

if you talk about like. classical liberal or early american political thought and you never bring up slavery or empire you are actually violently intellectually dishonest. it should just be unthinkable that you could say something like the following with a straight face.

Individual liberty, whether rugged or not, is certainly at the heart of the American political project, expressed in its founding documents, such as the Declaration of Independence. (Bruce K. Ward, Right Stuff, Literary Review of Canada January-February 2024)

individual liberty was at the heart of the American political project? how do we still let this level of open revisionism slide? it was a slave state. what next? "at the heart of the third reich was a commitment to the prevention of arson"? you should be forced by the merest ten seconds of thinking to encounter the real point, which is that american political thought is characterised by a contradiction between a nominal focus on liberty and an actual violent tyranny, not just a potential tyranny resulting from "too much" democracy.

It was Rousseau himself who acknowledged that in the liberal state he envisaged, based on the rightness of the general will, the recalcitrant would be “forced to be free.” In its extreme Communist form, this apotheosis of the state was to include the attempt, in the words of the Czech Canadian novelist Josef Skvorecky, to “engineer human souls.”

this has never been a problem. "we made the people too free and now they've enslaved themselves" has never happened. it's a conservative rhetorical ploy, it's an inversion in thought of the true premise - the thought that "subject and a sovereign are clean different things," the fear of the rabble that needs to be held down.

this should be the true struggle of modern liberals - how do you reconcile a universalist democratic ideal with the fact that the existence of anglosphere parliamentary democracy is fraught with its relationship to empire, the monarchy and landownership at home! i know this is me being mad about effectively marxist 101 problematization of the ideological framing of western democracy. but is the liberal project so weak that it simply cannot sustain itself without this kind of self-deception? is a liberalism that is actually committed to those values in some sense structurally impossible?

[pangolinheart]

Do you think that Rhiki and G'raha could mend their relationship one day?

You know, I don't think it's entirely impossible. It would probably take some concerted effort on of their parts.

Unfortunately, this is somewhat unlikely. Part of the problem is that G'raha doesn't seem like he really understands why Z'rhiki is uncomfortable around him (if he even notice that she is.)

G'raha has always loved tales of heroes, has always wanted to be a hero, so I don't think he necessarily recognizes how his elevation of the Warrior of Light to the apotheosis of epic heroes could feel dehumanizing to someone. He lavishes them with praise, attention, and accolades - how could that be a bad thing? He may not even realize that his image of the Warrior of Light, cultivated over 200 years of reading or listening to second-, third-, and fourth-hand sources, might not be completely consistent with who Z'rhiki is as a person.

He also appears all too happy to move past the things he, personally, put the WoL through on the first. Rhiki tries not to hold the fact that he kidnapped her and her friends and put them all in extreme danger both intentionally and unintentionally against him - he didn't have much of a choice if he wanted to save the First. These may have been unpleasant, but they were necessary. What wasn't necessary to save the First, however, was him lying to her and manipulating her, and she'll happily hold those things against him. It definitely feels to Rhiki like he was positioning her as a prop for the heroic tale he wanted to be a character in. He didn't try to sacrifice himself because he cared about her. He did it because that was the role in the story he wanted to play, because it was the ending to a story he had scripted for himself.

Unfortunately, Rhiki is probably not aiding in a reconciliation either. She understands that he went through more than his fair share of hardship in order to prevent the destruction of two worlds. He was in an impossible position and had to do the best with what he had. And she also knows that he idolizes her (or at least the pristine statue of her he's constructed in his mind), She doesn't want to be mean to him. She doesn't want to hurt him, despite everything. A part of her wants to scream at him until her voice is hoarse, or maybe to punch him as hard as she can at least once, but she knows that's not fair, and she doesn't want to pass her pain onto someone else. She also feels like trying to force him to recognize her as a person would rob him of his hero, his personal symbol of hope... which might break his heart. However, all this means she just avoids the issue. She doesn't try to talk to him about it, doesn't try to set him straight. She just tries to avoid having to be around him, or maybe makes some snide comments to lightly discourage him from wanting to hang around her.

Mending their relationship would probably require a lot of awkwardness for everyone involved. It would require Z'rhiki to actually talk to G'raha about her feelings and frustrations, which might involve hurting his feelings. And it would require some self-reflection on G'raha's part, and a willingness to see from her perspective. He would need to recognize his past shortcomings - and not just the self-deprecating ones he already sees in himself. He would need to give her space for a while. Deep down, she wants to forgive him, but she's just not there yet. It would also probably take some bonding experiences (and no, studying Ancient Allag does not count as bonding in Rhiki's eyes). He would have to get to know Z'rhiki as a person and let go of his conceptions about the Warrior of Light, and Z'rhiki would have to let him. It would be less "repairing their relationship" and more "rebuilding it from the ground up." It would be tenuous at first, but if they kept at it they might be able to forge a new friendship.

[strangepersonthefirst]

interesting pieces of strange lore, for everyone.

My physical, IRL family has had a history of magic, too.

Mother's side? Seers, divinators, oracles. Disaster-Preventers, and my mother at some point managed to strike a deal that made her into a fae queen, or at least a noble in her own right. She was why I incarnated here- I was trying to become a fae, see if it would get me closer to apotheosis.

My father.. he was born on hotspots. His parents were born of hotspots. And he developed from an incarnation of wrath to the incarnate of goodwill itself. You see it in his eyes- in some ways, that man has hit his own nirvana. And all he will do is offer people who deserve it help.

They named me the Guardian of Laughter- that I was to protect joy for others. And so I made it true for so long, it is now my calling, the harbour.

I live to both their names, in spite that I am only theirs on the physical. That I can only be theirs here.

[so-true-overdue]

In a world teeming with microbial assailants, the quintessence of human ingenuity has manifested in a simple, elegant solution: vaccines. These minute miracles, conjured through the alchemy of modern science, have transcended the mundane and achieved the extraordinary, transforming our collective fate.

Vaccines, the stalwart sentinels of our immune system, have unequivocally altered the trajectory of human health. They have extirpated smallpox from the annals of endemic diseases and relegated polio to the brink of oblivion. Their efficacy is not merely anecdotal but robustly corroborated by empirical data. Consider the paradigm of the measles vaccine: a triumph that has diminished the global incidence of this virulent scourge by 99% since its inception. Such statistics are not mere happenstance but the result of meticulous research and rigorous clinical trials, which have consistently demonstrated the unparalleled efficacy of vaccines.

The statistics delineating the benefits of vaccination are irrefutable. The World Health Organization (WHO) attests that vaccines prevent 2-3 million deaths annually. The historical reduction in morbidity and mortality rates from diseases such as diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis is a testament to their unparalleled potency. Moreover, the introduction of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine has precipitated a precipitous decline in the prevalence of HPV-related cancers, illustrating the prophylactic prowess of vaccination.

Yet, in an era rife with misinformation, the discourse surrounding vaccines is often obfuscated by fallacious narratives. The specter of adverse reactions is frequently invoked by detractors, yet the preponderance of evidence elucidates that such occurrences are exceedingly rare. The incidence of severe allergic reactions, anaphylaxis, is approximately 1 in a million. By contrast, the morbidity and mortality associated with vaccine-preventable diseases are exponentially higher. The juxtaposition of these statistics underscores the irrefutable verity that the benefits of vaccination overwhelmingly eclipse the infinitesimal risk of adverse effects.

To deny the efficacy of vaccines is to eschew reason and embrace anachronism. It is to dismiss the incontrovertible evidence amassed through decades of scientific inquiry. Vaccines epitomize the zenith of human ingenuity, embodying the impeccable synergy of science and medicine. They are not merely an option but an imperative, a societal obligation to safeguard public health.

In summation, the perspicacious embrace of vaccination is not merely a testament to individual sagacity but a communal bulwark against the inexorable tide of infectious diseases. Let us not be swayed by the cacophony of misinformation but remain steadfast in our commitment to empirical truth. The science is incontrovertible, the benefits unassailable. Vaccines are the apotheosis of prophylactic medicine, and their continued utilization is nothing short of imperative.

[fictionfixations]

made up a jujutsu technique for a fic

haha havent posted in a hot minute. forgot i had this account acutally.

anyway im writing a jjk crossover, and im so stuck on Fontaine and Furina's story you can see its influenced it a lot. its not a genshin crossover though lmfao. i still have the dialogue memorized. "For the sinner, the curtain call has come."

this is also influenced by. well. MANGA SPOILERS (for like the. preparation arc whatcha ma call it? post-shibuya). but. you know. that guy who when he hits like the jackpot he gets like. basically immortal for as long as like i think the theme song lasts?? but he can like, keep triggering more of like th thingies so if hes really lucky iirc, he could keep going on and on?

(Melpomene, the innate technique where he’d put on a ‘mask’ and perform for an invisible audience. Effects vary depending on the type and/or popularity points gained. Unable to be harmed when this is in effect, however in turn, making an error such as going off script, messing up, or being boring/unsatisfying will grant him punishment.

Alternatively, if he goes off script or does an action not in the performance but making it entertaining will grant him bonus points with the audience. This can include attacks against enemies, especially with the use of cursed energy and whatever weapon he has, however messing up will of course provide consequences.

Think of it as a judgement scale but based on audience reaction. Horrible performances leave him ‘sentenced’. One of those sentences include the death sentence (more likely to be triggered by a shameful defeat, where he’s facing an opponent so overpowering that the audience isn’t happy. When it happens, the blade of a guillotine will rise above his head, and he will perform [The Curtain Call], dancing his last moments away, before finally lowering his head, bowing to the audience, and decapitating himself), the risk granting him more power then otherwise. 

When giving what could be considered a perfect performance (very rare), he will trigger [Apotheosis], automatically forming a domain named [Sinner’s Finale] with a sure-hit factor, where the opponent is on the stage, facing the judgement of the audience. 

Like all domains, if the opponent is strong enough, [Sinner’s Finale] will fail, and [technique user, im not giving away who] will get punished in their stead, triggering [The Curtain Call]. The risk of [Sinner’s Finale] however boosts him to where it is very unlikely that it’ll happen, as most strong opponents will get the idea of what conditions he needs to trigger and thus prevent him from performing a perfect performance.

He cannot use Domain Expansion otherwise however.)

[beguines]

François Laruelle is an interesting case of a philosopher seeking to question the subject of the proletariat, since his intervention, following Lazarus, has less to do with a reaction to workerism and more to do with an understanding, but ultimately a rejection, of what the notion of class is actually about. In Introduction to Non-Marxism Laruelle claims that the figure of the "non-proletariat" is the revolutionary subject. Related to the proletariat but also its material prior to the philosophical decision that named the proletariat, this figure is "the plebe, minorities, the excluded, etc." Ultimately he settles on the figure of "the Stranger," something other and outside of the classification of proletariat but that is its material following the philosophical decision that named the proletariat as the subject.

The connection with this "Stranger" and the young Marx's conception of "estrangement" is not an accident. For Laruelle, concepts like "proletariat" are philosophical decisions that are a priori classifications generated by "non-philosophical" materials. In this sense he understands that the conception of proletariat (and bourgeois, for that matter) are classifications, and not pre-existing essences, but attempts to reject the notion of such classification altogether. Laruelle's rejection of the proletariat is motivated by its workerist instantiation: only familiar with the workerist notion of class, his rejection of this category is based on the workerist notion of it. Due to an understanding of Marxism premised primarily on workerist variant of the theory, Laruelle cannot recognize precisely what makes the Marxist conception of class significant: theoretical classification and categorization. Such a refusal, however, leads to the same vagueness noted above, if not a worse vagueness—what is this "non-philosophical" Stranger?—which tells us more about the failures of philosophy in thinking the social than the problems of the proletarian subject.

The number of intellectuals and activists who seek to replace the figure of the worker with the figure of another, and usually vaguer, revolutionary subject are too many to list. Largely, these substitutions are motivated by the sense that the economistic conception of class—the apotheosis of which is workerism—cannot account for a more complex social reality of marginalized and oppressed subjects. But their complaints about social classification, though interesting, also occult social reality. There are workers who share a common experience of exploitation and, though these workers might not be homogeneous, capitalism cannot exist without them. Indeed, we began this project by discussing the prevalence of this post-worker perspective and how it was already being called into question. Although it is correct to recognize that the prevalence of economism has led to a mechanical conception of class that also prevents us from apprehending social reality, these attempts to find a new revolutionary subject are the inverse of workerism because they proclaim that the economistic definition of class was correct in the first place.

J. Moufawad-Paul, Politics in Command: A Taxonomy of Economism